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The Bulldog Reporter

April 2019

Sophomores Explore Washington, D.C.

By: Hope Zheng

Every year since 1993, the sophomore Honors and AP US History classes have had the opportunity to go on a three-day field trip to Washington D.C. This year from March 13th to March 15th, they explored the rich his-tory of the United States through the historic streets and sights of our nation’s capital.

Ms. JanaLeigh Olszyk, the current D.C. Trip Director, describes the trip as “a one-of-a-kind opportunity for students to experience their government in action: from visits to Washington’s famous monuments, me-morials, and institutions, to meetings with their Con-gressional delegation on Capitol Hill, students get a first-hand look at the American political system and consider what role they, as students, play in our democ-racy.”

This trip brings the curriculum to life and allows stu-dents to experience the history of the government and the people of the nation. It is a trip that is made mem-orable not only by the important educational experi-ences but also by the many opportunities for fun, as students explore famous sites with friends. As put by Ms. Olszyk, “The experience enhances students’ abili-ties to learn while also enjoying themselves on an amaz-ing adventure.”

During the trip, students wake at the crack of dawn to make the most of each day. This year, their first stop in D.C. after a three-hour bus ride was the National Mu-seum of the American Indian and the National Air and Space Museum. After eating lunch, students visit-ed historic Ford’s Theatre and viewed a matinee perfor-mance of “Into the Woods”. That night, they took part in a walking tour of the Reflecting Pool Monuments, which include the Washington Monument, the Vi-etnam War Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial.

The next day, students visited Capitol Hill to tour the House gallery and the Capitol Building. Afterwards, they went to Mount Vernon, the historic home of George and Martha Washington, where they explored the mansion and the expansive grounds. At night they took a bus on a tour to see the Capitol Building and the Jefferson, FDR, and MLK Memorials.

On the final day of the trip, students toured the White House, as well as the National Ar-chives and the Smithsonian Muse-ums of Natural and American History. Arlington National Cemetery was their last stop before the students settled in for the drive back home, their minds now full of fresh knowledge and un-forgettable memo-ries.

Inside This Issue:

Page 2: Limited school entrance preposition

Page 3: Discussion on earlier school times

Page 4: The dos and don’ts of the college essay

Page 5: Information on FBLA competition

Page 6: Students recognizing art month

Page 7: Learn about Emily Pan

Page 8: Enjoy a game of mad libs

Paz Baum. Shriya Karthikvatsan, Lauren Morici, and Sarah Eschelman in front of the United States Capitol building.


Tired of Early School Starting Time

By: Eva Nee

Many of the one thousand teenagers who make up Hopewell Valley Central High School’s student body have one thing in common: they’re all really tired. Whether it’s staying up late to finish a research paper, going to track practice after school, or working at a part-time job, many CHS students have busy daily schedules that force them to go to bed at midnight or even later, only to wake up after a few hours of rest at 6:00am.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Preven-tion, a 2015 nationwide survey showed that 72.7% of high school students did not get enough sleep on school nights (less than eight hours of sleep). Not only that, but the Amer-ican Academy of Pediatrics called this problem a “public health epidemic” in 2014. HVCHS should move the school’s starting time from 7:45am to 8:30am to improve their students’ mental and physical health, in order for a happier and healthier student body.

At first glance, the most obvious solution to get more sleep is to go to bed earlier. It is true that many teenagers may watch TV episodes or go on social media before bed, caus-ing them to go to sleep later. If teens cut out these distrac-tions and went to bed earlier, they would get enough hours of sleep. However, this solution simply is not possible for a teenager’s biological clock.

Due to their change in circadian rhythm (their body’s daily tendency to feel tired or awake at regular times) upon hit-ting puberty, teenagers begin to feel tired at around 11:00pm, while prepubescent children feel tired around 8:00pm, as stated in a UCLA Health article. As a result, it is natural that a teen goes to bed late. The problem occurs when they are required to wake up early.

When teens do not get enough sleep, there are many nega-tive effects on a teen’s mental and physical health. In an article published by the National Sleep Foundation, stu-dents who slept less than eight hours per day had a greater chance of being depressed, driving while drowsy, and being obese. Students also were more likely to fall asleep during school, be late or absent to class, and have poorer grades. Additionally, in an article published by Stanford Medicine,

students experienced an inability to concentrate, anxiety, panic attacks, and thoughts of suicide. At this point, not only does the student’s performance in school suffer, but more importantly, their overall wellbeing suffers as well.

The Hopewell Valley Regional School District’s mission statement promises that “we [the district] will provide suffi-cient resources… [to] create[] a safe environment where all individuals flourish.” Unfortunately, due to the effects of sleep deprivation, students cannot achieve their full poten-tial. The founder of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic, William Dement, MD, PhD. Dement says, “[Sleep depriva-tion is] a huge problem. What it means is that nobody per-forms at the level they could perform.”

It is possible that if schools shift their starting times later, students will simply go to sleep at a later time than usual. However, in 1997, the Minneapolis Public School District pushed back their school starting times from 7:15am to 8:40am and found that students slept five more hours each week. Further, students had overwhelmingly positive effects, like increased motivation and attendance.

Locally, Princeton High School students start school at 8:20am. Compared to 7:15am, CHS’s school starting time of 7:45am doesn’t seem all that bad. Nevertheless, the "ZZZ's to A’s" Act (House Congressional Resolution 135) encourages individual schools and school districts to move school start times to no earlier than 8:30am. In 2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics voiced their agreement.

Of course, changing HVCHS’s starting time will not be easy. One possible solution is to switch the high school’s starting time with the elementary school starting times, which would align with the circadian rhythms of both groups. Busing could then also be switched. Other issues include schedules for after-school practices and childcare or carpool responsibilities; if school started at 8:30am, it would end at 3:30pm.

Yes, reworking the district’s schedule is a task that requires time and effort from the entire community. But for HVCHS students, this time and effort is invaluable for their wellbeing.


The Don'ts Just as there were three things you should do in your college essay, there are three things that you definitely shouldn't do.

First, and most importantly, don't be afraid to be your-self. You may think that expressing your personal views or opinions may make a college less likely to ac-cept you. On the contrary, colleges want to know what makes you, well, you. It's important that you separate yourself from the rest of the horde of students who apply to colleges every year.

Second, don't kiss the college's behind in your essay. College admission boards are comprised of people who are able to detect when you're trying to tell them what they want to hear and will immediately turn against you. Instead, you want to emphasize what you're passionate about. That way, they get a sense that you truly love a certain field of study, and that's what they truly want to see. (And if you don't have any real passion, then look for a few subjects that interest you and pursue those. Who knows, you might just come across your dream profession.)

Third, don't use grammar check as your only source of editing. As much as we may all love the speed and ease of sites like Grammarly, you're going to want a real person to look at your essay to see if it looks good from another person's perspective. A machine can't truly grade the quality of an essay.

The Dos When writing your college essay, there are three main things you want to do.

First, you want to choose an essay topic that relates to you. The Common App has seven essay prompts, but some colleges may request that you answer a prompt of their own design. The three most com-mon essay prompts used by students are an essay about a topic of the student's choosing, a time that led to the student growing as a person, and a time that the student had to face and overcome adversity.

Second, you should be concise by sticking to the word limit and by avoiding just listing facts about yourself. One method you could use is to follow Hayakawa's Ladder of Abstraction. When you’re more specific in your essay, more personal in your stories, and more concrete in the examples you give the reader, you go farther down the ladder. Mean-while, when you're describing the big picture of your essay or answering "So what?", you're going up the ladder.

Third, you want to connect your essay to whatever subject you want to pursue in college. For example, if you want to study engineering in college, then tell a story about how you made something in your par-ents' garage and how it inspired you to pursue an education and career in engineering.

The Dos and Don’ts of the College Essay

By: Paul Frank

David Sherwin, Supervisor of the English Department, held a workshop with students and parents on how to write a good college essay.

Here is an overview of the meeting held on March 7th:


Hopewell Makes Mark at DECA States

By: Daphne George Hopewell Valley recently attended their DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) Conference. DECA is a club to prepare students interested in entre-preneurship in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. The club offers 25 different individual and team events, as well as the opportunity to write a manual. They also offer 20 different manuals, ranging from five to twenty pages. In the regional events, about 40 participants are in each event. In the state events, the top eight teams and top fourteen individuals advance to the competition. From there, the top six move to the international con-ference held in Orlando, Florida at the end of April. In the regional state conference in early March, Hopewell had students place very high at the regional and state level. At the state level, senior Eric Goldberg and sophomore Matt Linthorst competed in the Business Law and Eth-ics event and won fourth place. Further, seniors Mar-guerite Wiley and Anna Torpey wrote a winning paper in the Buying and Merchandising event. As a result, Eric, Matt, Marguerite, and Anna will travel to Orlan-

do this week to compete internationally. Marguerite and Anna will also attend a leadership academy because of their performance. Congratulations to all of the DECA members who competed, and best of luck to those who are competing internationally!

Regional Results 1st Eric Goldberg and Matt Linthorst Business Law and Ethics

2nd Lauren Coppings and Julia Rubin Hospitality 3rd Anna Torpey and M. Wiley Buying and Merchandising 5th Sean Dolan and Carmen Zangrilli Travel and Tourism

5th Emily Flanders and Gretchen Hvizdos 6th John Raskin Principles of Business Management

5th Mike Vanover Principles of Marketing 6th Rob Cacciabaudo and John O’Connor Buying and Merchandising

6th David Mezynski Financial Consulting 8th Ally Oldfield and Molly Martin Buying and Merchandising

8th Brandon Bowman Financial Consulting 14th Dan Amon Quick Serve Restaurant Management

Senior Eric Goldberg and sopho-more Matt Linthorst at the DECA conference.


Future Business Leaders of America Going to Atlantic City

By: Alanda Zong Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA, is an organization that combines community service with competition in business, marketing, media, and com-munication. With over 230,000 members from around the world, FBLA is the largest student career business organization in the world.

At Hopewell Valley Central High School, Mrs. Brown, a personal finance teacher, coordinates the student ac-tivities for FBLA. In FBLA, members are able to devel-op their leadership by communicating with business professionals and attending business-focused work-shops. The club members then compete at regional, state, and national levels, where they take objective tests and give presentations on various topics.

FBLA members also demonstrate their leadership through community service. Each year, the members select a few projects out of a list from the national FBLA organization. This year, members chose to make care packages for kids who are going through chemo-therapy.

From March 20th to the 22nd, FBLA members went to the State Leader-ship Conference (SLC) held in Atlantic City. There were three groups who were able to ad-vance to the finals. Con-gratulations to all mem-bers!

School Substance Of-fence

Vandalism Violence Weapons HIB Reported HIB Con-firmed

TMS 2.0 0..0 3.0 0.0 8.0 4.0

CHS 2.0 1.0 3.0 0.0 3.0 1.0

Total 4.0 1.0 6.0 0.0 11.0 5.0

2017-2018 2018-2019 2016-2017

Violence 7 6 11

Vandalism 1 1 2

Weapons 0 0 2

Substance Offence 4 4 24

HIB Reported 30 11 30

HIB Confirmed 11 5 12

2018-2019 Violence and Vandalism Report

By: Paul Frank

George Angelkis, Ethan Block, Rehan Yadav


CHS Art Students Recognized by Youth Art Month By Anna Salvatore Hopewell art students have channeled their creative energies into several projects this year, from surreal perspective drawings of our hallways to pastel donuts to self portraits. A select number of these stu-dents were recognized by Youth Art Month in March, a program that accepts artistic submissions from students and then displays them in county, state, and national exhibitions.

The purpose of Youth Art Month, accord-ing to CHS art teacher Lora Durr, is to celebrate “the importance of arts educa-tion in schools.” She added, “It’s a time that our teachers try to do a little bit of extra advocacy for their programs, making sure everybody knows how important the arts are, what the arts do for our students, and the role they play in education.”

For the state exhibition, Ms. Durr and her fellow CHS art teacher, Ms. McGrath,

submitted one piece from each AP Art student to the county chair. The chair then decided which piece should be sub-mitted on behalf of our high school, even-tually choosing a colored pencil drawing by senior Abi Goodman.

“My drawing in the show is a symptom of my ‘my art needs to be different’ complex,’” said Abi in an email interview. “Our [AP Art] assignment that week was to do a self portrait in a reflective object, and my first thought was water.” She then found a glass palette in her house, poured water over it, and took a picture with the glass above her face. She considered painting the image in watercolor, but opted for colored pencil because it looked the most realis-tic.

The state exhibition took place at the New Jersey Statehouse on March 8. “When I went to see the art, I was most surprised at how different it all was,” said Abi. “The styles ranged so greatly from realistic like mine to photography to very graphic piec-es.”

Abi was not the only CHS student to par-ticipate in Youth Art Month. At the coun-ty level, fifteen CHS students ranging in age from freshmen to seniors were recog-nized by the program. The opening recep-tion for the county exhibition was March 20th at Trenton Artworks, a visual arts center. There, art from Hopewell Valley was displayed alongside art from Ewing High School, Trenton High School, Stei-nert, and other Mercer County schools.

Mercer Green Fest 2019 By: Paul Frank

Rider University hosted the annual Mercer Green Fest--an event that unites local artists, officials, businesses, and public project groups in the name of helping the environ-ment. During the free, five-hour event on March 16th, Pam Mount, one of the event organiz-ers, held public discussions and workshops on issues of organic food, electric cars, etc.

"Who doesn't love food? I know I do, and I can tell that all of you do too. I've been get-ting plenty of people asking me about this growing interest in locally grown organic food, and they ask, 'What exactly is organical-ly grown food?' I also get a lot of calls about Teslas and electric cars, and people ask how to tell which car is best for them. My purpose in being here is to answer these questions."

Sustainable Lawrence, an organization dedi-cated to teaching people about how they can be more environmentally friendly, started

The Mercer Green Fest--formerly known as the Living Local Expo--in 2006.

About 70 booths promote eco-friendly art-ists, businesses, and organizations–ranging from solar companies to public works pro-jects to a company that makes clothing and wall installation out of hemp fiber. Venders offered information and incentives to help Mercer County go green. There are also booths that promoted walking and bicycle trails, composting, and exercise. The event also held the largest display of electric cars in New Jersey history, with 43 cars on display.

Artists who take “found objects” and re-use those them to create their art can be seen scattered around the event space as well. One such example was that of Margarete Napers, a resident of Langhorne, Pennsylvania who picked up art after retiring. "After I turned fifty-five," Margarete said, "my back gave out, and I had to quit working. So I moved, you see, to live closer to my son who was then in college. And there was this old barn house

that was decaying, and the mortgage people told me I needed to remove it... So I thought to myself, 'Well, hell, let's just cut it down.'" Margarete makes paintings, boxes, and sculp-tures out of wood that she says is at least a hundred years old.

Meanwhile, the local farmer’s market offered fresh artisan food products; like cider do-nuts, Parmesan focaccia bread, gluten-free chocolate brownies, and more. Terhune Or-chards, one of the vendors, also invited all of its customers to attend one of the summer programs where people can help grow food, feed and assist livestock. And since the Mercer Green Fest is at its heart a family event, there was entertainment for children. From the Eyes of the Wild trav-eling zoo to Solar Man–who showed children how solar energy is generated through solar panels–the children at the event were thor-oughly entertained.

Abi Goodman at the state exhibition


Alumna Interview: Emily Pan By: Anna Salvatore and Sophia Stivala Emily Pan, having graduated 2006, returned to Hopewell Valley Central High School in March to give a presentation about her debut novel, “The Astonishing Color of After,” and mental ill-ness. What kind of a teenager were you? I was a musician, and extremely devoted to that. Any of my time that wasn't given to homework or music was spent reading and writing. I spent hours and hours dreaming up stories, filling note-books with outlines for potential novels. When you were in high school, which authors were most influ-ential to your writing style and why? My favorite stuff to read back in high school was fantasy and my-thology. I reread “His Dark Materials” and “Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter” who knows how many times. Junior year, we read “On Writing Well” by William Zinsser, and that fundamen-tally changed the way I thought about my sentences. I still love that book, and now I assign it when I teach writing. When did you realize that you wanted to be an author? What are the steps that you took to become one? I started telling people I wanted to be an author when I was seven years old. Some of the desire must have come from watching my mother write and publish her essays. And, from the time that I could speak, my father had carefully nurtured my love of storytell-ing. I loved disappearing into fiction and frequently got in trouble for reading when I wasn't supposed to be. I think that's the first step to becoming an author: reading anything and everything. The second step is of course to put one's butt in the chair and write—and the most important thing about that is to actually fin-ish something. I finished many projects over many years before I began to understand how I would go about revising something. I started trying to find a literary agent when I was 15 years old. I didn't actually sign with an agent until I was 27. It's a process that takes patience, and the ability to recover from many, many rejec-tions. Perseverance and resilience are the name of the game. On your website and in interviews, you mention the importance of Scrivener in your writing process. How did this program help you structure your book, with all its flashbacks and alternating timelines? Scrivener is an incredible tool. Pretty much anything you could possibly think to need is doable. I break my chapters up into sepa-rate documents and use the list of contents on the left to always have a bird's-eye view. For “The Astonishing Color of After”, I color-coded the “Smoke & Memories” sections, the recent flash-backs, the present day storyline—that was how I made sure the puzzle fit together, and how I kept an eye on the pacing. I used the corkboard to keep track of connections between the threads, and sometimes to shift chapters around and see how that felt. I don't think I'll ever learn all the functions in Scrivener, but even

Synesthesia is a major aspect of “The Astonishing Color of After”. On page 294 Leigh says, “Sometimes [the colors] form shapes, or even faces. Sometimes they try to soothe me, draw-ing themselves like crystals in a pale dusty blue.” What kind of sources did you consult, or who did you talk to, to put yourself in the mind of a synesthete? I purposely left the color elements a bit open to interpretation. At the line level my focus was on what I felt matched the emo-tion and atmosphere of a scene, so sometimes I chose based on the color itself, but there were also times when I chose based on the sound or shape of a word. To get more in the head of some-one who relates things to color, I spoke to my husband. Back when I was working on short stories all the time, I would ask him to read and offer feedback, and he would say things like, "Wow, that story was so green. Like a deep, almost forest green." It was his way of accessing the stories, and he was always so spe-cific about the color. What was the most challenging part of rewriting and rewrit-ing this novel over the past few years? One challenge, which is true for just about any piece of creative work, is that there's always the fear that you won't finish, or you won't get your art to be what you want it to be. And secondly, the writing of this particular story was very emotionally exhaust-ing. I lost track of how many times I read it, but every time I had to send myself right back into that spiral of grief. How do you cope with writer’s block? It's a matter of building the discipline to make myself work even if I'm not feeling particularly inspired. Putting down crappy words is better than putting down zero words—I can always go back and make them better, but if I don't move forward I might never reach the end. For me, inspiration is synonymous with excitement. It often happens that once I get some words on the page there's this tremendous relief at having been productive. That relief swings open the door and the excitement rolls in, and boom. There's my inspiration, and I feel like I can work through the night without sleeping. How did it feel to come back to Hopewell to give a presenta-tion about your book and mental illness? It was pretty surreal to visit the same halls that I walked so many years ago! I remember the dreams I had as a teenager. It's wild to remember all the things I didn't know about myself back then, and to think back on how I've grown and changed. What’s your advice for aspiring writers at Hopewell Valley Central High School? Read everything. If you love something you read, figure out why. If you hate something you read, figure out why. Make writ-ing a habit, and stick to it like it's your job. Start projects and make yourself finish them. If you get bored, stick with the pro-ject but change whatever element you need to make it not bor-ing. Make it fun.

The Bulldog Reporter Executive Editors: Contributing Writers:

Eva Nee Paul Frank Daphne George

Anna Salvatore Sanskar Agrawal Eva Nee Hope Zheng

Sophia Stivala Anna Salvatore Alanda Zong

Sophia Stivala

Layout: Puzzle:

Jade Gamelin Kao

Sophia Stivala Abby Van Selous Maia Wilenius

Interested in joining the newspaper? Stop by 217 during lunch on Wednesdays or

email [email protected] for more information.

The First Egg Hunt By: Maia Wilenius ___ (number) score and ___ (number) years ago, a(n) _____________ (adj) bunny was born in a(n) ___________ (noun) on Long Island’s West Egg. This bunny’s name was Easter, and he loved __________ (noun). His favorite part of spring was ____________ (-ing verb) the __________ (adj) breez-es ripple through his ___________ (body part). One day, Easter decided to celebrate the ____________ (adj) breeze by _____________ (-ing verb) the colors of the wind, but there was one problem—Easter didn’t have a(n) ____________ (noun) to paint on. But Easter was a(n) ___________ (adj) bunny. He noticed that Lady Kluck’s eggs were as _________ (color) as the lingering __________ (month) snow and _____________ (adv) began to paint on them instead. However, when Lady Kluck realized her eggs were being used as canvases, she _____________ (-ed verb). “How will I hide my eggs from the ___________ (animal)?” she ____________ (-ed verb). “Now they’re as _____________ (adj) as Holden Caulfield’s language!” Easter puzzled ___ (number) hours till his puzzler was ____________ (adj), then he thought of something he hadn’t before. “Don’t ___________ (verb), Lady Kluck,” he assured her, “I’ll ____________ (verb) them.” So Easter gathered all of the painted eggs in a _____________ (noun) and began _____________ (-ing verb) through the meadow. Every few hops, he would _____________ (verb) one among the ______________ (adj) grasses. He thought they were hidden as well as Romeo and _____________ (name)’s relationship, but we all know how ______________ (adj) that turned out…

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