by Cuneyt Dil

Class of ‘14

J oel Owens knows he wants to study classical languages in college. Like many graduating high school seniors, he isn’t

100 percent sure yet on what to ma-jor in. He duly filled out his college applications in the fall, and was ac-cepted into four schools.

But he won’t be pursuing his classical languages study just yet; instead he is taking a gap year to work and travel the world.

Owens says he will spend his

summer after high school working two jobs to raise money for college. In September, he will pack his bags and begin a six month missionary program, traveling the world. Owens said he was thinking about Hawaii as his first destination, but he hasn’t made his mind up yet.

‘Take a gap year, and travel the world’ is commonly whispered to graduating seniors around the country, urging students to immerse themselves in other cultures before going straight into college out of

by Cuneyt Dil

Class of ‘14

Upper School Student Council mem-bers were scheduled to take their Yearbook photo at the start of one of their weekly Tuesday lunch meetings on April 1. But with the head of the Council absent that day, some members argued for the photo to be rescheduled, to include the council’s leader in what will be his senior yearbook. However, the councilmembers were un-able to persuade their faculty adviser to reschedule, and the photo was taken.

The inability for Student Council mem-bers to decide for themselves when to take their Yearbook photo, a decision that most predominantly student-run clubs across the Upper School had a few days of flexibility with, underscores a potential lack of stu-dent independence in a council which its head, senior Walter Deleon, labels as “the only student-run organization.”

In a new Sumus Leones Student Coun-cil poll, which will be conducted annually, 73 percent of councilmembers believe the

Student Council’s independence divide

RESULTS OF SURVEY THAT POLLED COUNCILMEMBERS

Council to boost community outreach

INSIDE MAY

cont. page 3 council

SUMUSLEONES.COMSeniors reflect: Advice to my former selfstudent life, page 11

Prom and after-prom on May 16news, page 2

cont. page 4 gap year

year iii, issue v may 2014 washington latin

Sumus LeonesThe day is upon us: Seniors decide

Recap of college process with statistics, college map page 5

High marks on DC CAS afford Latin independenceby Cuneyt Dil anD

niara iman

Class of ‘14 anD ‘16

There are some District schools that reward students for scoring high on the DC CAS (D.C. Comprehensive Assess-ment System), the city’s stan-

dardized test. Then there are some that don’t feel the need to incentivize student achieve-ment with material goods. The former is completely alien to students at Washington Latin.

Latin’s Middle School and Upper School test scores (re-

ported separately) have ranged from between 59% and 84% since 2010, with a general-ly upward trend, allowing the school to spend less classroom time on explicit test prep and exercise more independence in curriculum decisions. But some

District schools with lower test scores — under the watch of the Office of the State Super-intendent of Education (OSSE) — do all they can to improve students’ scores, fearful of more scrutiny from the District.

cont. page 2 dc cas

May 2014Sumus Leones2

Samuel Leonard, member of the English and History fac-ulties, told Sumus Leones that at Cesar Chavez PCS, a former school he taught at, students that scored proficient would be awarded in front of the school with awards such as $50 gift cards. Rachel Breitman, En-glish faculty, said at SEED PCS, a school she used to teach at, would give $100 rewards to students for scoring advanced.

Emphasis on test prep and awards for scores is not uncom-mon across some other Dis-trict schools. And this test prep yields high scores for schools such as BASIS DC, a char-ter school, among many other charter schools.

“Every Tuesday and Thurs-day, beginning a few weeks be-fore [DC CAS] testing started, we would take about 20 min-utes to go over a few points and do math worksheets,” said an 8th grader at BASIS DC who wished to remain anonymous.

Latin prepares

“This year my classes focused more on asking students to make their thinking and reasoning more clear in their writing, and draw connections between the meanings of texts we read and the structures of the texts,” said Nathan Day, chair of the En-glish Department.

Instead of expos-ing students to explic-it test prep, Day said, his classes focused on skills that overlap with what the test aims to ask of students.

“It is not clear to me that a standardized test necessari-ly measures the quality of the education the student has been exposed to,” said Day.

Math teacher Christopher Richardson said he provided his math classes with warm-up problems drawn from the DC CAS, but added that those problems were also related to the Geometry they were study-ing.

“I think [Washington Latin]

has the right policy, which is we teach the courses as appropriate for the kids, and not specifically for the test,” said Richardson. “I don’t know what’s right for other schools. But I think ed-ucation is a very complicated process, and focusing on spe-cific standardized tests is not a good strategy for meeting the educational needs of students.”

Importance of scoring wellLatin is still judged to a

certain degree on how well

students perform on the test. The school is responsible for complying with federal laws, and the Public Charter School Board assigns the school a sta-tus based on factors such as DC CAS scores. Latin has been a Tier 1 school for all three years that the Performance Manage-ment Framework (PMF) has existed.

To monitor student prog-ress, Latin creates and adminis-ters benchmark tests every fall

Latin devotes little classroom time on explicit test prep

Latin readies for May 16 junior, senior promby Karrin thompson

Class of ‘14

This year’s prom is to be held at St. Francis Hall in Brookland Friday, May 16. Tickets are $70. Seniors chose Masquerade Ball as the theme earlier in the year in a poll cre-ated by the prom committee.

“I’m excited to see the scenery at prom,” said Danisha Rogers, a senior.

St. Francis Hall has an elab-orate walk-through garden with different flowers and vintage doors and steps.

“I’m looking forward to my squad, and dressing to impress,” said senior Kianei Brown.

Prom committee’s work

The Prom Committee, com-prised of four seniors, took

risks this year, and considered the voices of the whole senior class. St. Francis Hall was found and named the venue, and a prom theme was chosen

for the first time.“The juniors and seniors can

come together and celebrate,” said Kelly Rivera, senior and member of Prom Committee. “I expect prom to go really well.”

Price tag“I understand that the price is scaring off a lot of people,” said Vanessa Rodriguez, senior and member of Prom Committee. She admits she is not too happy to have to pay $70 for a ticket, but she also notes it is the last dance she will attend with all her classmates.

Chart courtesy of Ryan Benjamin, Director of Data and Assessment

“‘I understand that the price is scaring off a lot of people.’ ... But it is the last dance.”Vanessa RodriguezSenior, Member of Prom Committee

cont. page 4 dc cas

cont. from front page

May 2014 Sumus Leones 3

Survey shows council’s opinions on how they’re doing, being student-run

council should be “indepen-dent from the school adminis-tration.” But councilmembers are nearly equally divided as to exactly how independent the council currently is. For-ty-seven percent believe the council is “independent,” while another 47 percent believe the council is only “somewhat independent.”

Among the 47 percent who believe the council is currently “somewhat inde-pendent,” 71 percent believe it should be “independent.”

“It’s likely that the coun-cil won’t be [fully] indepen-dent from the [school] admin-istration,” said Laurel Seid, faculty adviser and Assistant Principal.

“From what I’ve seen, the Student Council is very independent, and that’s my view from the outside look-ing in,” said Peter Findler, history faculty. “Students need to have a strong voice in a school where they come to grow and learn. And growth is helped by an independent council.”

“The only thing we need from the school adminis-tration are dates [to plan events],” said a 10th grade councilmember speaking on the condition on anonymity.

“We are pretty indepen-dent, but it would be nice to be more so,” said Sylvie Ash-ford, 9th grade councilmem-ber. “But [students] control the direction of the conver-sation. Of course the adminis-tration has the final say, but we bring forth the decisions inde-pendently.”

“If students are running [the council], then it’s easier to get other students’ voices heard,”

said Kelly Rivera, 12th grade councilmember. “If [students] come up to councilmembers, then their voices are heard. If they don’t try to be heard, then it’s difficult for them to be heard.”

“Needs of the student body”Also in the poll, 80 percent

of councilmembers believe the Council is currently “serving the needs of the student body.” But what are those needs?

Rivera says, “students need more ways to come together as

a community.” “I believe the student

council is meeting the needs of the students,” said Deleon. “I think we have provided an incredible amount of events that unite the students, in more than just dances. We’ve tried to get away from just having four dances a year.”

Most councilmembers agree that the council’s main objective is to enhance stu-dent life by planning events and community service op-portunities, and by being an ombudsman to students.

But some students be-lieve the council is not trans-parent enough, or that the council is not serving their needs.

“I don’t know exactly what [the council] does, but I know they’re open to open-ing new clubs,” said an Up-per School student speaking on the condition of anonym-ity. “They should have more school dances and more community service opportu-nities.”

“Nobody knows that [the council] does anything,” said a freshman, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “I know that [the council] ex-ists, but I haven’t heard a thing about what it’s doing.”

Community centric pivotIn attempts to broad-

en the council’s services, throughout the year Deleon has introduced bills aimed to further the school’s commu-

nity outreach. On February 10, Sumus Le-

ones reported that the council would vote on a $400 budget appropriation to create a “Lit-tle Free Library” – similar to a

cont. from front page

cont. page 4 council

May 2014Sumus Leones4

Community centric pivot by student council

large outdoor mailbox in struc-ture, it will house books acces-sible to the community – and legislation to create a commit-tee in charge of “Adopting-A-Block.” These legislative pieces passed February 11, but neither have happened yet.

Deleon said in an interview April 28 that ordering, getting the “Little Free Library” to school and setting it up will be completed in three weeks time. The price tag is the only stum-bling block, he said.

“The finances are finicky,” said Deleon. “The amount of money we believe we have, around $4,000, is not the amount of money the business office has.”

As for adopting a block, Deleon said “we are ready to submit paperwork” by the week of May 10 to adopt a minimum of two square blocks of residen-tial or commercial area near the school. Deleon drafted an exec-utive order on April 29 to estab-lish Latin Corps, a new agency in the Community Outreach Committee tasked with first finalizing the Adopt-A-Block program requirements, which he says will go in effect May 6.

“I think the Student Coun-cil is really underrated,” said Ashford. “If people were made aware of what we do, that’d be great, because we do a lot.”

DISCLOSURE: Cuneyt Dil ‘14 is a Student Council representative.

cont. from page 3

How students at Latin prepare for the DC CAS

and spring for students who will be taking the DC CAS. Ryan Benja-min, Director of Data and Assessment, then analyzes the results of the benchmark tests to gauge how well each class will do, and to track individual student progress.

“We want to look at students and how they’re growing,” said Benjamin.

Benjamin says that it is important to spend some time giving DC CAS test prep to stu-dents, “but too much time is ineffective because it

takes away from actual learn-ing.”

Chart courtesy of Ryan Benjamin, Director of Data and Assessment

cont. from page 2

senior takes gap year to work, travel world

high school.“[Gap years] help students

become better thinkers and scholars, filled with passion, purpose, and perspective,” wrote Joe O’Shea for Inside Higher Ed earlier this year.

“I recommend to all the ris-ing seniors to not think that tak-

ing a gap year is a bad thing,” said Owens. “It can be really good to take a break and focus. [But] it’s a time to get a lot of things done, or else colleges won’t like it.”

Owens is joining the

non-profit missionary pro-gram Youth With A Mission (YWAP). Founded in 1960, the program currently works in more than 1,100 locations in over 180 countries, according to its website.

“I heard about the program because a few of my family members have done it – my brother and two sisters,” said

Owens. “I saw them going through the phase, and so I de-cided early on in the college process that I wanted to take a gap year and start college the year after.”

Although Owens said he

was accepted into a few col-leges, he did not defer his admissions. He will instead go through the process again during the fall – before he leaves to travel and while trav-eling.

He explains: “I learned about new colleges [this year] that I wasn’t able to apply to due to missed deadlines. So I

will apply to many more col-leges [next year].”

When he returns from his missionary program, Owens plans to try to help coach the Ultimate Frisbee team.

cont. from front page

“[Gap years] help students become better thinkers and scholars, filled with passion, purpose, and perspective.”Joe O’SheaInside Higher Ed

May 2014 Sumus Leones 5

Seniors reach deadline for choosing college to attend

CLASS OF 2014

37 out of 46

145Number of total

acceptance letters received by seniors.

45 out of 46Number of seniors who have received at least

one college acceptance.

1Number of students taking a gap year or

longer.

0Number of students

who have deferred an acceptance.

View the interactive map online at sumusleones.com, keyword: College Map 2014

Map graphic credit Cuneyt Dil ‘14. Statistics and data for above college map released by College Counseling Office. Stats are accurate as of May 7, 2014.

$1,980,000Total sum of money Class of 2014 has received from

scholarships.

Number of graduating se-niors planning to start at a 2-year or 4-year college in the fall.

COLLEGES SENIORS ATTENDING: Allegany College of Maryland, American University (2), Barry University, Garrett College (3), George Mason University, Hampden-Sydney College, Hampton University, Howard University, Liberty University, LIM College, Lycoming College (2), Marymount University (2), Montgomery College Rockville, Montgom-ery College Takoma Park (2), Mount Holyoke College (2), Mount Saint Mary’s University, Roanoke College (2), Seton Hill University (2), Stevenson University, The Catholic University of America, The College of Wooster, University of Mary Washington, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Wesleyan University.

The Eleanor Holmes Norton of Latin’s Student Councilby eriC Wright

reporter

STUDENT GOVERNMENT HAS come to the middle school – drawing representatives (non-voting) Good-

ness Ukaegbu and Isaiah Mays from the 7th grade, and Dev Bhojwani and Fatima David from the 8th grade. However, the council has been off to a disappointing start.

The effect on student life has been un-derwhelming. In a survey of 25 8th graders, 24 students said they have not been affect-ed at all. Fourteen weren’t even aware that

it existed in the middle school. A main responsibility of the student

council is to organize the formation of clubs. This aspect hasn’t been carried out. Ms. Courtney Farrel-Brouse, Middle School Latin faculty, and a group of hock-ey enthusiasts have been trying to establish a club since last year, but are caught up in red-tape.

“I don’t know what’s taking so long,” said Sean Lovett, an 8th grader and pro-spective member of the club. Councilmem-ber Bhojwani explained that their applica-tion lacked critical information required to start a club.

When asked about a recent meeting, councilmember Mays said, “it wasn’t as productive as it could have been.”

The main cause of the lack of action appears to be that in a council dominated by Upper School students, Middle School issues are not given any priority. It would be better for both the Upper and Middle schools if these councils were independent from each other. The first step should be a different meeting schedule for the Middle School council. Other crucial steps would be a constitution for the Middle School council and participation from the 5th and 6th grades.

May 2014Sumus Leones6

EDITORIALS

editorial board

Cuneyt Dil ‘14 Editor-in-Chief, PublisherAmal Riley ‘14 Managing editor, SportsEmily Hall ‘14 PhotoSamantha Anderson ‘17 Student LifeSophie Collier ‘17 Student Life

Teacher Copy EditorsMs. Rachel BreitmanMr. Ryan BenjaminMr. Howard Alpert

Sumus Leones5200 2nd Street NW, Publication Lab,

Washington, D.C., 20011sumusleones.com

Sumus Leones is an independent, student-run newspaper at Washington Latin Public Charter School. It was founded

in 2012 by Cuneyt Dil ‘14 and Alistair Andrulis ‘14.

Submit a tip or an error to sumusleones@gmail.com

this issue’s contributors

Niara Iman ‘16 News, S&AEric Wright ‘18 EditorialsDusan Murray-Rawlings ‘16 SportsTheo Shoag ‘17 Student Life

NOTES FROM THE EDITOR: Addressing my Student Council articleby Cuneyt Dil

eDitor-in-Chief

While reporting for my story [“Student Council’s indepen-dence divide, pg. 1] and polling

Student Council representatives, some have expressed concerns regarding my conflict of interest. I am a member of the Student Council, but I will explain here why I chose this story, how I went about my reporting and why I believe my conflict of interest has not affected my story.

I chose to write this story because as a journalist I saw that students and teach-ers at Latin, for the large part, don’t know what the Council does. The poll I chose to conduct is mainly a self reflection by coun-cilmembers, and the findings show readers what kind of organization the council sees themselves as.

Once readers understand what the council really is, then it’s important for them to know what the council does. A sec-

tion of my article reports what the council has been working on and what students and councilmembers think the needs of the stu-dents are.

I went about my reporting as a journalist would, not as a member of the council. Any journalist who works closely with

their sources, interviews officials and reg-ular folks, and stays on top of their beat – as all journalists do – could have obtained the same information I used in my article. Did I have insider knowledge due to being a councilmember? Yes. But this knowledge wasn’t confidential (and even if it was…), and any other persistent and diligent re-porter could have also obtained the same information. Journalists always have insid-er knowledge; it is their job to judge what information is appropriate to report and then accordingly inform the public.

But even with the knowledge I had as a councilmember, I learned a lot through re-porting for this article. For one, the results of the poll were very interesting to me. I

also learned what regular students think of the council, and what some councilmem-bers think the council should be doing – opinions that sometimes aren’t voiced in Student Council meetings because of var-ious reasons.

Yes, by simply being in the council and writing this story, there is a conflict of interest. But, with disci-

pline and diligence, anyone can reduce the effects of their conflict of interest.

We are a small school, and as a result we don’t have a news staff of writers only a part of newspaper; our staff writers are all involved in other activities as well – sports teams, other clubs, performances, et cetera. Our staff writers frequently report on topics that would seem like a conflict of interest – e.g. sports players reporting on games they play in, and musicians reporting on concerts they participated in. But with an objective approach and rigorous revising, our news stories turn out unbiased, and I believe the same to be true for my article.

LIONS WIN AT PENN RELAYSAn array of impressive performances from track ladies

by Dusan murray-raWlings

Class of ‘16

Eight Lady Lions of Washington Latin’s Varsi-ty Track team raced at the Penn Relays, a top track & field competition, from April 24-26, and grabbed first place in both the 4 x 100 meter and 4 x 400 me-ter races. The team also set personal records of 51 seconds in the 4 x 100 me-ter race and 4 minutes and seven seconds in the 4 x 400 meter race.

The Penn relays are the oldest and largest track & field competition in the United States, and are the height of the track & field competitions in the coun-try. Hosted at the Universi-ty of Pennsylvania, Wash-ington Latin, as well as schools from all over the U.S. and Jamaica, partic-ipated in the well known event, staying overnight in Pennsylvania.

The team was able to qualify for the event ear-lier in April by winning an indoor 4 x 400 meter track meet, aptly named “Last Race to Penn.” Only the ladies quali-fied – freshmen Maggie Dalzell and Gracie Burchard; sopho-more Diamond Barlow; juniors Natalie Vicente, Leandra Nye-meck and Ajai Brooks; and se-niors Tayler Ables and Moriah Jones.

“It was really fun and a great experience,” said Ajai Brooks, junior and co-captain. “I never thought I would have

so much fun before. It was also very tiring, but I was okay with that.”

To prepare for the events, the team trained hard every day. Even with head coach Mark Reed out of town, the team got together over Spring Break to practice. They knew the Penn Relays would not be an easy walk down U Street.

Many also had their own personal ways to prepare for the race.

“I meditated, prayed, and

put myself in the mindset of ‘I can do it,’ said Brooks. “So I re-ally had all positive thoughts in my head.”

“For me, I mentally pre-pared myself that it was a huge meet that counts for colleges,” said Leandra Nyemeck, junior and a team captain. “I had to prepare myself to do my best, for it’s what I trained for.”

Track is known to be a chal-lenging sport, especially in the spring, when allergies begin to reappear along with rising tem-

peratures. Despite there being no weekend com-mitments, all track athletes have to practice Monday through Friday for two hours at least.

“The workouts have been harder than any other years, and I think our suc-cess has increased overall, and we are just constantly improving,” said Donte Branch, a senior captain and longtime member of the track team.

The outdoor track team has had an explosive year, placing in favorable posi-tions in races throughout the year.

In the Drapers invite (May 2 - 3), the team won the 4 x 100 meter relay, 4 x 200 meter relay, 4 x 400 meter relay, 400 me-ter, 200 meter, and the distance runners won all their races. Nyemeck has also been crowned the in-door track state champion, meaning she is number one in the state for indoor track.

“It’s been nice to watch our team develop into not just great track athletes, but also amazing morale leaders at Washington Latin,” said Mark Reed, coach of indoor and out-door track, who will be leaving this year, having been deployed to Spain. “It’s a fun team to be part of and great to watch us grow from 11 people five years ago, to 60 athletes today. It’s been a privilege and honor to know each athlete & coach them, and I’ll miss them all.”

Sumus Leones

SPORTSMay 2014 7

The eight track runners who competed at the Penn Relays hosted by the University of Pennsylvania last week (Photo courtesy of latinpcs.org).

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

Sumus Leones8 May 2014

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

9May 2014 Sumus Leones

STYLE & ARTSMovie Review | Captain America: The Winter Solider

by samantha anDerson

Class of ‘17

Nothing will ever be the same. That is the message left in the

audience’s mind by the latest blockbuster in Marvel’s Aveng-ers franchise, “Captain Ameri-ca: The Winter Soldier,” which grossed $96.2 million in box office sales on opening week-end.

The First Avenger’s sec-ond movie finds the hero, Steve Rodgers (Chris Evans), having woken up from this seventy years of cryogenic slumber, trying to adjust to as-pects of 21st century life, such as the Internet and Thai food.

The main conflict revolves around the issue – perhaps fit-tingly – of government surveil-lance and total loss of citizen privacy. When SHIELD’s Di-

rector, Fury (Samuel L. Jack-son), and Chairman Pierce (Robert Redford) plan to unveil three new helicarriers to snipe criminals before they become dangerous, Rodgers disagrees with his superiors, telling them about freedom, honesty and

righteousness. It becomes clear that nothing is what it seems to be, and Rodgers fights for truth and justice with his unorthodox sidekick Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), literal wingman Falcon (Anthony Mackie), and Agent Hill (Cobie Smulders).

The superhero posse fights the infamous Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) himself and other bad guys across Wash-ingtonian landscapes, like the familiar National Mall and the not so familiar city of Cleve-land, Ohio.

Elapsing over two hours, The Winter Soldier delivers a tight narrative with snappily choreographed fight scenes, emotional moments, and more new characters who, although known by comic book readers, are not very well developed for

new audiences. Where the first Captain

America movie chiefly set the stage for the first Avengers film, the star-spangled hero’s second movie tells it’s own story, gen-erating suspense and providing exposition for “The Avengers:

Age of Ul-tron”, al-most to such a degree that not enough closure is provided to satisfy fans.

A dark p o l i t i c a l thriller that still displays the char-a c t e r i s t i c s i t u a t i o n -al humor of Marvel films, this movie is sure to be

enjoyed by comic book geeks, casual fans and even those who watch for the eye candy. Al-though relatively blood-free, it may be too intense for some younger viewers.

Latin holds “First Annual Senior Honors Concert”

From left: Steve Rodgers (Chris Evans) and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson). (Screenshot from online video of trailer.)

by niara iman

Class of ‘16

On April 30, Washington Latin held its First Annual Se-nior Honors Concert; seniors who participated in both choirs and jazz band were honored.

The night started with the 8th grade choir. With a passion they sang “True Colors” by

Cyndi Lauper. Afterwards, high school concert choir sang their reggae version of “Treasure” by Bruno Mars. The concert choir was accompanied by sopho-more John Akinsaniya playing the drums and several other stu-dent musicians.

The honors choir sang a few beautiful songs. The highlight was “Fix You” by Coldplay,

which was rearranged by Justin Bineck for the honors choir.

The Jazz band performed classic Jazz songs and “trad-ed fours”. “Trading fours” is a Jazz term which describes when two instrumentalists al-ternately take solos, mimicking each other while adding their own touches.

Before the last song, Mu-

sic Director Melissa Nevola honored all of the student per-formers who were seniors and would be leaving. The last song was performed by the 8th grade choir, concert choir, honors choir and jazz band, they per-formed “Blue Skies”.

Student Features

STUDENTS OF MS. EMILY RASKIN’S statistics class have been studying correlation and surveying fellow students for projects. The survey on the right shows that out of the stu-dents surveyed, many go to the locker room often for reasons other than to use their lock-ers. Survey was conducted by seniors Michelle Abundez and Jalivia Kelly. Graphic was put together by Cuneyt Dil ‘14.

Students often go to locker room for reasons other than using their locker, a Statistics class survey finds

10 May 2014Sumus Leones

STUDENT LIFEHumans of Latin

“High school can be very suffocating, and I think that Washington Latin really gives the feeling of everybody’s welcome, everybody’s equal, everybody should be comfortable.” Daryl Brown, Class of ‘16

HUMANS OF LATIN is run by Emily Hall ‘15, documenting the lives of the Washington Latin community. Inspired by Humans of New York.

Like Humans of Latin on Facebook.com/humansoflatin

Students compete in sports outside of schoolby theo shoag

Class of ‘17

What motivation is there to go skiing two hours away or

rowing in the Potomac every day of the week?

Hours of homework doesn’t stop athletes from competing out of school. Washington Latin students have a wide variety of out of school sports to choose from, such as JV and Varsity Crew, gymnastics, soccer, ref-ereeing, ballet and swimming, among others. Students take time out of their lives outside of

school to practice and compete in various sports that the school does not offer. Some do it just for the fun, and many don’t get sports credits.

Freshman Kevin Young is a competitive swimmer, swim-ming year round five to six days a week. “I never stop practic-ing,” he said. And Young says he won’t get a sports credit for it.

Freshmen duo Alex Davis and Karl Loots both do crew on the same team. They commit two hours each day after school to practice. They are one of the few that get sports credits for

doing a sport outside of school.“There are no morning

practices currently, but they might come next season,” says Davis. This would add an even bigger commitment to the al-ready heavy work load of prac-tices. They have a regatta every month, they are all day events on either Saturdays or Sundays

It’s hard to balance week-ends of sports with weekday school responsibilities. Fresh-man Alex Crute skis every Thursday after school, going to Liberty ski mountain two hours away. The one day Crute doesn’t have his study hall, he

will go to the library and fin-ish any unfinished homework during break.

Many out of school student athletes have to strictly manage their time in order to keep up with school, using their study hall as the main way to do their homework.

Freshman Sylvie Ashford’s dance classes keep her away from home until 10:30 pm or 11 pm. “I have to do [it], so most nights I need to give something up. It’s normally sleep,” she says.

11May 2014 Sumus Leones

STUDENT LIFE

If I could give myself advice, I would say not to

be so lazy and that I always have had the potential I possess now. I would tell myself to leave the drama behind and not to let people get in my head. I would tell myself that it was indeed possible to contain my now dysfunctional temper. I would give myself hope and a better future. So many things would’ve been different. The advice I would give myself now would have changed my past and created a bigger, bet-ter, and brighter future because anything and everything is possible.-Sierra Logan

As a present me, I would say to former me: “Open your eyes. The world around you will move past you unless you decide to move with it. Stop pitying yourself for the

slight stress you have now, because life only gets tougher. If you let it beat you now, you’ll have nothing to look forward to in two years. You’re going to do great things. Just wake up and prepare yourself for the great things about to come.”-Donte Branch

The mistakes you made do not depict who you are or will be. I wish

you knew that sophomore year. I mean it’s okay to make mistakes in high school. Sadly, you let one mistake almost ruin your entire junior year. Really, you did! Anywho, I wish you knew that old actions don’t open new doors. Also, honor roll isn’t that serious. You got upset multiple times over it, but honor roll is not for everyone, kiddo. You did dumb stuff, but it’s cool.-Erika Perry

Don’t let people that are going nowhere with their lives throw you

off track. Never settle for less, you only deserve the best. Also, always do your best.-Tayler Ables

I always wish I was the per-son I am now, back when I was younger. I probably

would have handled certain situations better and would have definitely saved myself from mumbling “What the hell was I thinking” anytime I went down memory lane. So if I had a time machine, I’d tell these things to my younger self:

The mistakes we make in the past almost never have per-manent consequences. While your grades and certain drug problems (just ask my friend Adam what going to rehab is like) do have an impact on your development both mentally and physically, most mistakes turn into rather silly stories for the future.

* For Pete’s sake, do your homework!

* People change. You change.

People will always be changing. You will always be changing. Trying to fight this basic fact of life is pointless. Accept it

and move on.

* Sleep well. Going to bed at 2 am is a habit reserved for crack addicts.

* Rewinding the memories in your head doesn’t change them, so don’t dwell on the past.

* Travel. Staying on one corner of the earth all your life is the catalyst for prejudice, closed-mindedness, and lame people.-Walter Deleon

Advice to my former selfGraduating seniors reflect on their high school careers

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

Sumus Leones12 May 2014

How will you get your copy of the 2013-14 Yearbook?

Want to get it online? Go to www.ybpay.lifetouch.com,

and enter the Yearbook ID#:11158714

Or get it in person!! Get cash or a check made payable to “Washington Latin PCS” and turn it in to Ms. Roberts!!

Don't forget to get a receipt!!!

The Yearbook costs $40.00!!! Get yours while supplies last!!!

Questions? You can ask any of the following Yearbook Staff:

Ms. Guthrie Kayla Samuel Mr. MufukaVanessa Rodriguez Ms. Roberts Kelly Rivera

Emily Hall Niara Tarleton-Allen Micah GuthrieMs. Cloutier-Simons Micailah Guthrie Ms. (Patricia) Kolb

PAID ADVERTISEMENT