INSIDE:

Special interestrally

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Religious

clubspage 5

S’MACfood chronicle

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Wrestling success page 8

CLASSICtheTownsend Harris High School at Queens College

January - 2012Vol. 28 No. 4

Voters elected Rick Perry (senior Richie Bonilla) to be their republican candidate in the election simulation votes, held on January 13.

The votes for this elec-tion were determined by the delegate system in accordance with New York State. In this mock election, Rick Santorum (Samier Trabilsy, senior) and Jon Hunstman (Marcin Roz-kowski, senior) each received 1 delegate. Candidate Ron Paul (Adamn Boiardi, senior) placed second receiving 22 delegates, and Rick Perry won the election, receiving 108.

Based on the delegate sys-tem of New York State, the elections have a “winner takes all” policy. Each district is as-signed a delegate, and based on the popular vote within that district; the candidate is awarded that entire delegate.

Assistant Principal Susan Getting gave insight on this

delegate system. “According to the United States Election Commission, during a Pri-mary election, you had up to a certain date to do proportional

de lega-

tions,” she said. “After that date, the states decide how to proceed with the elections.”

Ms. Getting explained on Harris’ use of the system. “In this election, the official classes served as the districts. Since students voted online,

their votes were automatically grouped with their official class. Which ever candidate had the

majority of votes in that class received the class’ delegates,” she said. “As always, fresh-man votes are counted higher than other grades. A fresh-

men official

class counted as 7 delegates, a sophomore class counted as 4, a junior class counted as 2, and

a senior class counted as 1.”The candidates voiced

their opinions on the delegate system.

Adam Boiardi said, “The gap between us was really large, the popular vote should be used instead of the del-egates. Popular vote would have provided a more accurate reflection.”

“I didn’t like it because it created too large a margin between the candidates,” said Richie.

Samier said, “I wish the ratio wasn’t as radical. Fresh-man always have a higher per-centage, but along the lines of the results, I’m pretty satis-fied.”

“The delegate system would’ve looked better if the popular vote was counted,” said Marcin.

The Republican candidates argued about key is-sues during the debate on January 6, which served as the final event in the election simulation.

Following a brief introduction of each candidate, senior hosts Leighvanni Sison and Kristie Chen mod-erated a question and answer session.

Michele Bachmann’s campaign manager, Mari-cel Fee, announced that Bachmann had suspended her campaign. She said, “President Obama has failed you. We need permanent solutions. We need to re-store this land to the Christian nation it was before. Although she has dropped out, she will not stop try-ing to defeat Obama’s presidency.”

Molly Fagan, senior, who plays Michele Bach-mann, later said, “God spoke to me and told me it was my time to leave the election. This door closed but another will open and I will be back and better than ever.” She also said, “I’m officially endorsing Rick Santorum. I think he is the best candidate to go against Obama.”

Throughout the debate, the candidates expressed their views on various subjects, including the envi-ronment, abortion, immigration, government spend-ing, and gay marriage.

Immigration engendered controversy among the

candidates, as they each shared different views on how to deal with illegals.

Perry Katz, playing Mitt Romney, said, “We need to build a fence and man the border. We need to make sure [illegal immigrants] leave.”

Marcin Rozkowski, playing Jon Huntsman, did not agree with him. “Building a fence is a very negative image for the US.” Adam Boiardi, playing Ron Paul, also expressed disagreement, saying “It’s not practical to build a wall or fence on the border.” Joshua Luchan, playing Newt Gingrich, said, “Ille-gals can’t be kicked out if they have worked here, raised families here, and followed the laws. How we control the border is still open for debate.”

One student told Katz that her grandfather was an illegal immigrant, and asked if she, therefore, should be deported. He responded, “For no reason are you an alien. At least, I hope not.”

Fariha Hussain, junior, later said, “I thought it was very informative and they really knew their views. I would just like to call out Mitt Romney for contradicting himself about illegal immigration.”

As Republicans, all of the candidates are pro-life, and consider rape, incest, or endangerment to the mother the only reasons for an abortion to take place.

Adam said, “I know how precious a baby’s life is. We have to work to protect the unborn.”

The candidates then spoke about government spending cuts.

Katz spoke of making cuts in companies, bring-ing money spent overseas back into the U.S. Marcn talked about ending corporate welfare. “I don’t think the government should be involved in business.” Samier agreed with making corporate budget cuts, and making sure that money stays in the US. Joshua, however, believes in drastically reducing the Envi-ronmental Protection Agency and eliminating the Department of Education. Richie spoke of creating a balanced budget amendment. “I’ll never sign a bill that’ll make us spend more money than we make in revenue.”

Adrienne Lee, sophomore, said, “I thought that some candidates didn’t put their name out there enough until the debates, and it’s harder to know how those people stand because they only recently expressed their views. It was a good conclusion to all the work the candidates put into the election.”

Following the debate, Sarah Radar, junior, said “I thought that all the candidates are all flakes

Election simulation debate brings issues to prominenceby Vanesa Martinez

continued on Page 4

Rick Perry defeats competition in election simulationby Michael Sanchez and Fran Horowitz

continued on Page 4

Rick Perry speaks his mind at the debates.

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OPINIONsound off!

The ClassicJanuary 2012

2

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Genna Mastellone & Michael Sanchez ADVISOR Caroline CrossNEWS EDITOR Ella Leviyeva PRINCIPAL Kenneth BonamoFEATURE EDITOR Vanesa Martinez SPORTS EDITOR Dimitri Theofanis Townsend Harris High SchoolCOPY EDITOR Max Bacchuber 147-11 Melbourne AvePHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Karen Rose Kim Flushing, NY 11367ART EDITOR Richie Bonilla

Writing Staff: Ashley Ahn, Chris Artun, Suswana Chowdhury, Andrew Eichenholz, Yelena Dzhanova, Stephanie Geier, Magdalena Grabos, Fran Horowitz, Margaret Jia, Katherine Maradiaga, Salma Mohamed, Juliet Monclova, Catherine Moskos, Ariella WagnerPhotography Staff: Rebecca Chu, Nicole Godreau, Alice Kim, Joanna Woo, Simone WrightArt Staff: Mei Jun Chan, Jenner Chen

The Classic is an open forum for the expression of stu-dent views. The opinions expressed therein should not be taken to represent those of the administration or faculty, or of the student body as a whole.

We always welcome opinions. Email letters to the editors at

thhsclassic@gmail.com.

Recently, Congress has tried to pass the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), which have sparked major controversy for the citizens of the United States. These acts are intended to defend against copyright infringe-ment and property theft across the Internet; which in theory sounds like a fairly justifiable idea. However, the wording of the acts opens up doors to copyright owners to protect their products in any way they see fit, even at the expense of others. Any website having any connection to illegal distribution sites are de-clared “dedicated to the theft of U.S. property.” As a result, websites like Google, Wikipedia, and Reddit can be shut down. In response, these websites participated in the 24-hour Internet blackout January 18.

By jeopardizing the freedoms of ordinary citizens, these acts lose all credibil-ity. SOPA and PIPA give rights to corporations that allow them to violate the free-doms of others. In order to stop the illegal trade of products, corporations, under SOPA and PIPA, have the liberty to shut down any website connected to illegal foreign sites. This includes any website that is showing advertisement for that illegal site, has a payroll account connected to it, or even has an accessible uni-form resource locator (URL) anywhere in its databases. This endangers each and every user content website. Websites like YouTube, Facebook, and even Google, which millions of active users log on to every day, can be completely shutdown if one user posts a URL to the illegal website. This is completely against equal rights. Why must a multitude be punished for one person’s illegal actions? Not to mention the proprietors of these user-generated sites lose millions based on one person’s crime. Acts of these proportions doesn’t only endanger social websites, but can endanger man’s livelihood as well.

Right to fair trail, a Constitutional law, can easily be violated by the SOPA and PIPA acts. Under these acts, any copyright owner can shut down a website based only a suspicion. So, if a copyright owner thinks that there is illegal solici-tation of his product on YouTube, it would be shut down. Where is the fair trial in that? If we adopted these rules into day-to-day society, any man can imprison another, based on petty assumptions. Obviously people are going to abuse that right; using this power of assumption to get rid of any unwanted competition, or pretty much anyone they have bad tidings with. These acts are biased: only ben-efiting the accuser and taking away the rights of the accused.

Probably the most infuriating part of these documents is the disregard for the right of privacy. If copyright owners fear infringement and cannot see a Fa-cebook profile, for example, because of privacy settings, they can then have the entirety of Facebook shut down. The same can happen to a website forum only accessible to registered users. If this was applied outside the Internet, it’s like be-ing arrested for closing our doors to prying eyes.

When rights like these are taken from the citizens, it’s obvious they’ll retali-ate in some way. America has always been praised as a land of freedom, and its citizens will not stand by and relinquish those rights, no matter how menial the change. Ultimately, the people who will gain more out of this act are the upper class; those who own popular media. Did the government really think that the lower working classes, whose yearly income is like a bonus to the higher ups, would relinquish their freedoms so copyright owners could make more money? That’s a ridiculous endeavor.

Annualization hurts elective changes SOPA and PIPA threaten to end internet

Letters to the editors are always welcome.If you have an idea for an article, an issue you want addressed,

or a response to a piece we’ve written in The Classic,email us at thhsclassic@gmail.com.

In the past, the end of a term signaled the beginning of a new chapter in the life of a Harrisite. Students threw away old notebooks and program cards in anticipation of the new schedule with a slate of new teachers, and classes.

However, an attempt at annualization of schedules has become a new policy in recent years. This annualization process takes away the students’ freedom of choice. Each student has gone through freshman year, where ev-ery class is required and we get to choose none of them. We have all looked forward to sophomore, junior, and senior year, and choosing our favorite gym to take, and selecting our favorite subject as an elective. Now, we only get to pick from a handful of courses because they fit into our programs is entirely unfair. It’s like like saying a person has a choice of food--red apples or green apples. In the end, we’re still eating an apple. The minimal choice for spring electives makes us feel as though we are not electing our courses at all.

Electives and gym are often a student’s ‘fun’ bands throughout the day. They are the classes we look forward to, where we don’t mind doing the work or studying. Taking away our ability to choose ‘fun’ bands therefore takes away from our high school experience, replacing the excitement of learning something new with boredom and far too much repetition.

Electives that are annualized are mostly AP-level classes, along with others such as TV production. Some of these classes need to be annualized, for the sake of a standardized test or a curriculum that cannot be squashed into a single semester. This is not the problem. The problem is that when the year long electives are removed from the list, we see how few electives re-main. The classes that are single semester classes have been stripped down to the bare bones. Any student who is excited to change their class for the new semester is in for a real shock when they see the short drop down list appears on their Daedalus accounts.

Now, when choosing a course, the options are limited to what fits into the open slots in our schedule. A student who chooses a science elective at the beginning of the year has multitudes of choices. When the spring term rolls around, however, and the student has finished their semester of robot-ics or forensics, they’ll see only a handful of choices listed, because most of the science electives are year long courses. Now, regardless of what they want to choose, they have to list all of the science options in either the first, second or third slots in their program choices, because that’s all there is to choose from. And no matter which elective came first on their list, because the one that will be chosen for them is most likely the one that fits most easily into their already existing program. This is to say nothing of upper classmen who may have already taken most of the electives.

Whether a student wants their program to be annualized or not is a dif-ferent story. But if our schedules are now going to remain the same for the whole year, having a new elective at a new time will ease the pain of walk-ing into first band Spanish for every day during the year.

3The Classic

January 2012

news

Consultative Council Report

notes from the monthly Consultative Council meetings

compiled by Ella Leviyeva

Club Approval Members of the Consutative Council voted on the proposed club ideas. The vote for the Jump Rope Club is still pending in attempts of passing it as a team. The Dance Team was aproved with 9 Yes and 8 No. The Zumba Club got 11 Yes and 6 No, and the Korean Club didn’t pass with 6 Yes and 11 No.

New Approach to the Senate The SU Board is working on changing the student union constitution in hopes of creating a more interested and committed senate.

Old Events Founder’s Day influenced new dress coderegulations, details to be released soon. The new SING teams of freshiors and semores was success-ful.

If you would like to submit suggestions or commentary, please email

Ms. Widman at awidman@schools.nyc.gov.

The most recent Phoenix poetry reading, held on January 13, was sur-prisingly cheerful, considering its theme “Friday the 13th: 7 Years of Bad Luck”, and was host to many new faces.

Max Buchuber, a senior Phoenix editor, read “Grandma Explains her Gifts,” a comical excerpt in which a

grandmother ex-plains her odd choices in birthday gifts for her grandson. Jennifer Gersten, an-otherseniorPhoenixeditor,readflashfiction-six-wordsentencesthatareca-pable of telling an entire story. “At least I never voted Republican” and “Normal

person becomes psychotic on Twitter” received the most laughter. Even love poems such as “Compliment,” a sweet poem about the affection between a boy and a girl, and “Cohesion,” a dra-matic love poem about an inseparable relationship, were read. Junior Anna DiTomasso also read her Latin fable assignment, in which a kernel of corn

learns to “be careful what you wish for”. Other interesting pieces that deviated from the theme were a Spanish translation of Pablo Neruda’s “Who Dies” and a satirical New York Times excerpt about the ironies of anti-semitism.

M a n y young fresh-men were eager to participate in the reading and easily gained a c c e p t a n c e from the audi-ence. Allegra Santo, a fresh-man, read an untitled origi-nal short story about a murder victim who came back to life and faced dire challenges. Allegra said of her performance, “It’s kind of like going to an acting audi-tion. When I go, I feel great. This is one of the times I feel I performed the best.” Nicole Gleizer and Syeda Ahmed, both freshmen, shared a poem about the power of music in everyday life, called, “Divine Art.” When asked about their performance, Nicole replied, “I felt a little nervous. But when I looked up and saw people from Townsend, I felt better. It was short but fun”.

Freshman Monica Maharjan was ecstatic about the reading. “I wasn’t sure if [the reading] would be interest-ing. But they were awesome. I really loved it. I’lldefinitelycome to future

ones. I so will.”English teacher Peter Wamsteker

agreed. “I was impressed. I liked that there were a lot of people who wanted to hear poetry.” Aside from the sheer pleasure of hearing poetry, he stressed another important aspect of these read-ings. “I like how it’s poetry in an in-formal setting. In the classroom, you just read poetry. But here, you realize poetry is a performance art, something you can’t realize in the classroom.”

Phoenix poetry reading sparks literary interestsby Yelena Dzhanova and Stephanie Geier

The Special Interest Rally on January 5 shone a light on the Special Interest groups, who expressed their views and supported candidates through skits with a humorous bent.

Kristie Chen, senior, commented, “I thought it was good and informative. I enjoyed the skits, they were funny.”

Sharon Richardson, however, said, “It was not informative. It was merely a requirement. I think people took it as a requirement, not as a ‘let’s educate the students’. They thought ‘let’s get an A’.”

The Business Round Table made a skit where an immigrant lost his job, and wasn’t sure of how to support his family. Two people in capes showed up, ready to save the day. They said, “Like a good neigh-bor, we will help provide you with insurance you can afford.” The heavily accented man said, “Hey! Be a man! Do the right thing!”

The Citizens for Tax Justice, supporting Obama, depicted students dressed as ‘fat cats’. “How lovely it is to be a fat cat. We get all the milk and treats.” Two rappers came in to represent those less fortunate, and argued with the fat cats over the unfairness of their situation

Cynthia Caceres, from the Project for the Amer-ican Century, said, “We were really nervous, but I think it all turned out well. We supported Bacchman, but we support Romney now after research [to see who would best support their causes]. Everything worked out in the end.”

Federation for the American Immigration Re-form, FAIR, also supported Perry, in a skit where a man lost his job, only to be replaced with a man who was an illegal, had no papers, and would work cheaper,foradollaranhour.Themanwhowasfiredgoes to Rich Perry and says, “That illegal immigrant stole my job!” Perry picked up the illegal and carried

him away, literally. Lina Sultan, freshman, said, “I thought it was

really good. Perry really got his message across be-cause he had 4 or 5 skits.”

The National Education Association, NEA, did a skit in which students in classrooms had no papers to make copies, and the computers were from the 1980s. They showed the importance of maintaining a healthy budget for education, ending with a girl wearing a cape shouting, “NEA is here to save the day! Yeah! NEA!”

The Sierra Club actually depicted a ‘school’ of fish. Students dressed as fish came forth to learnabout the harm pollution does on their underwater homes. One said, “Pollution is when our homes get destroyed.” They ignored their lessons, until the day came when their homes were badly polluted. “My goodness, I can barely swim. I can barely breathe.” Itendedinthefishgoing‘belly-up’.“GoClean,GoGreen.

Rebecca Enis, senior, said, “I found it to be a good way to learn about other groups’ ideas, because you could enjoy the skits. It gave us a fun way to learn about what other groups were for.”

The Service Employees International Union, SEIU, skit began with ‘workers’ walking down the streets chanting, “We are the 99%!” Their boss, who appeared to be an elephant, ignorant of their rights, cared only enough to say, “This is my daily peanut eating hour. I always have a daily peanut eating hour, and no one interrupts!” They emphasized that people need rights.

Ms. Getting said, “I thought that [the rally] was very clear, and addressed all issues. The portrayal was accurate, and cute, and entertaining. It’s a good way to learn. Humor never hurts.”

Special Interest Rally showcases groupsby Vanesa Martinez

Phoenix editors introduce readings.

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Students listening to poetry.

The ClassicOctober 2011

4 feature

Following the last Student Union Election in Spring 2011, Earnestiena Cheng was appointed Townsend Harris’ new SU Secretary.

Earnestiena said, “I really wanted to be a part of the SU Board, to help to organize school events and be an active member of the school.” She believes “once you’re part of the Townsend Harris community, you shouldn’t just be a pas-sive student, but you should become involved in clubs, school productions, or whatever interests you.”

“I think I’m connected with a lot of the stu-dent body and can responsibly represent their opinions.”

Earnestiena ran for SU President in the elec-tion, but lost to Heidi Chang. However, she was offered the position of Secretary after the loss. “That was disappointing, but I’m glad that I can serve as secretary,” Earnestiena said. “I can’t think of a better person than Heidi [who] is de-voted to the school and will be great as president. I’m just really grateful that I still have the opportunity to serve the school in this capacity.”

As SU Secretary, Cheng has many responsibilities. Some of these duties include at-tending and taking minutes at SU meetings and Consultative Council meetings.

Earnestiena said, “[Though the school year has just begun,] the SU has already tried to be involved in [the school]. [The] pep rally was really fun. There’s a lot of work that goes into it. We really try to make everything as fun and engaging as possible.”

She continued, “Spirit Week is going well! Unfortunately, I didn’t get to experience my last hallway decorating because I had bowling, but I’ve been having fun anyway. I love the solidarity of everyone with their grade colors.”

Earnestiena also mentioned how she balances her social life with her SU obligations while completing college applications. “Right now, my main concern is getting into col-lege! I hope to study something business related then. I’m taking 4 AP classes and I’m applying early action to a college so it’s a generally busy time for me.”

“SU has been pretty great. It might seem overwhelming at first, but I wouldn’t be a part of it unless I really wanted to be. I love being with other students who love the school and Ms. Widman is great with helping us,” Cheng said. “It’s been good so far and I know it’ll just get better!”

Donna wants to make a difference

Donna Chung’s new position as Student Union Vice-President keeps her busy nowadays. Her responsibilities include attending and running SU Board meetings with the SU President and assisting all SU board members in their various activities.

“(My position) is to assist the President and the other SU board members whenever needed. This support system is very important for this to work.”

Donna’s decision to run for the VP position was influenced heavily by a desire to be involved in how Townsend Harris functions. Al-though motivated by her goal to “One of my goals was to voice the opinions of the student body in addition to the school administra-tion’s opinions but I did not want the giant responsibilities that come with being SU President.”

Donna has en-joyed other leadership positions in Townsend prior to her SU execu-tive board election. She was Arista’s Vice President and Key Club’s President. “I have a true love for Townsend,” and felt that by accepting this position on the SU board she would be making a difference in her school and developing valuable leadership skills for the future.

In addition to her current SU board job, Donna is also on the Con-sultative Council and Senior Council for the 2011-12 school year.

Chun oversees treasuryGina Chun obtained the position of SU Board treasurer last

spring. The duty of the SU Treasurer is to go over the budget al-located for various clubs and discuss how it should be used on cer-tain important club events such as the upcoming SING!

“I felt that by running for treasurer, I could kill two birds with one stone: I love planning things, so I could coordinate events and help formulate plans, while helping Townsend in any way I can. I also felt that the experience in a leadership position would definitely be of help to me in the future, especially in terms of learning from and adapting to a group work-ing environment.”

As Gina mentioned, working in a group en-vironment is important within the SU Executive Board, as she is not the on-ly one that makes decisions, as she must confer with the President, Vice President, the rest of the board and Ms. Widman.

As the school year progresses, there are a couple of things Gina emphasizes are important objectives to cross off of her list. “I think for the most part, the events ran well, but as always, there’s room for improvement…I’ll make sure that every club and event has an efficient budget, because I’ve noticed that throughout the years, a lack of money has always seemed to have been one of the biggest student complaints.” As treasurer Gina can do just that and have an important role as the school year progresses.

Lastly, Gina noted that, “I think the SU board can and will defi-nitely step things up a notch this year!”

With hopes of changing school dynamics, senior Heidi Chang reigns as the 2011-2012 Executive Board President.

No stranger to the SU Board, Heidi’s for-mer position as secretary has her determined to spread knowledge and assist students in need. Heidi states that “the sense of responsibility” is what drove her to run for the position of SU President in the elections last year.

“I just want to do good things for my school. The main problem is that kids don’t know what is going on within their own com-munity. I want to get information out as fast as possible so people stay informed and in-volved,” said Heidi.

With her esteemed position, Heidi looks forward to using her power to better the school. “I’ve always liked helping people and guiding them. With this title, people know to come to me for advice. This kind of puts my name out there for people to know that I am here to help.”

As SU President, Heidi leads SU Board meetings and Consultative Council meetings,

where she promises to provide flair. “Those meetings can be boring sometimes and I understand that, so I just want to make them a bit more bearable. I like to add humor to boring meetings to lighten the mood. People say I’m funny!”

“I think I’m right for this position because I am really easy to talk to, but at the same time, I know when to put my fist down and be a leader. You can come to me with anything, I’m very open to new ideas,” said Heidi.

Heidi has some suggestions of her own for the upcoming year, some of which in-clude a silent dance and charity events. “I really want to hold a silent dance. We would send out a playlist for everyone to put on their iPod’s and each person would be listening to the playlist while dancing with everyone. The fun of it is that there is technically com-plete silence and no one knows what song you’re dancing to except for you. I also want to try to add more fun activities, especially for juniors because the year is so difficult.”

As for charity events, Heidi states, “I really want to enforce more community service events this year. I want to do something bigger. I’m really into the eco-friendly stuff, but it never gets done. Hopefully that changes this year!”

Earnestiena scores secretarial spot

by Ella Leviyeva by Salma Mohamed

by Andrew Eichenlolz

by Catherine Moskos

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New SU Board takes officeNew SU President plans for the future

5The Classic

October 2011

featureCheating scandal raises questions about SAT

From the Daily College Board emails to parental nag-ging, the SATs seem to be a cul-mination of all the hard work done in high school. With so much riding on this one exam, it’s easy to allow the pressure to mount and think, hey, why not?, when it comes to cheat-ing.

Sam Eshaghoff of Great Neck, New York, decided to profit from the pressure that stu-dents face. He sat for the SATs for six different students and made several thousand dollars in his scheme. After his arrest, The New York Times reported, “testing officials said it was an isolated event. But school offi-cials and prosecutors disagree, and a continuing investigation is focusing on other schools and students.”

Many Townsend Harris students have mixed feelings about the topic.

“I think cheating on SATs is as easy as cheating on a classroom test. It’s the same thing – there’s a proctor, and the same amount of kids. It’s even easier because the teacher

doesn’t know you or your testing habits,” said one anony-mous junior.

Eleni Stellatos, sopho-more, agreed, “I’m sure that people at THHS cheat on the SATs. Just because it’s THHS doesn’t mean we’re above cheating – we’re more likely to cheat because [succeeding] means more.”

Senior Avi Mamenko said, “The main form of cheating that students utilize would probably be going back and working on other sections or going forward and working on the next sec-tion. I am positive that THHS students do this, because it is just too easy to get get away with. However, it is risky.”

Cheating on a standard-ized test is viewed by some as no different from cheating on a regular classroom exam. Prin-cipal Kenneth Bonamo says, “I think that it’s the same type of transgression. Cheating is cheating. Unfortunately, there is too much placed on the SAT; the pressures are greater. It’s more significant than a regular test. [The pressure] doesn’t ex-

cuse [cheating]; it explains it.”“At the bottom line, you

cheated. I don’t care if it’s a classroom quiz or a standard-ized exam,” said Veronica York, Assistant Principal of Pupil Personnel Services.

However, some students feel that cheating is not a prev-alent issue facing the school.

“The SATs and our current school system do put a tremen-dous amount of pressure on students by making one test play such a pivotal role in the college process. Yet, that pres-sure does not justify cheating,” stated Emily George, senior.

“I think that at THHS you work up more of a work ethic, so you’re more motivated to study,” said Shannon McCann, junior.

Most students and faculty perceived this kind of orga-nized cheating as an isolated case. “This kid had SAT scores that placed him in the top 5% of the country. He had the time and motivation to create this profit making operation. I would hope that most kids in his stratosphere of intel-

ligence have a sense of ethics that would prevent this. There are not too many opportunities to do what he did,” said Mr. Bonamo.

“[Organized, profitable cheating] is not a problem at our school. I don’t think any-one has enough energy to do that,” said Despina Leontiadis, junior.

“I might be naïve, but I think that it happens less of-ten,” said Mr. Bonamo.

Jillian Burke, junior, be-lieves differently. “I think that they just happened to catch that guy, but it happens a lot more.”

“I think [THHS students] would [cheat], but I think they wouldn’t hire someone because if they get caught doing that they will probably not get into the college that they want, as opposed to just regular cheat-ing which would just [cause] cancellation of scores,” an-swered Chirayu Patel, senior.

Shannon said, “I think that people would cheat on the SAT, but definitely not hire someone else.”

“Our society has this ‘win-at-all-costs’ attitude, but they don’t talk about how [it’s achieved],” said Alex Wood, history teacher.

The reasons that people cheat on the SAT can all be chalked up to increasing con-cerns about college statistics and costs, as well as mounting pressure from parents, teach-ers, and even peers.

Dr. Stephen Mazza, math-ematics teacher, agreed. “For a lot of kids the pressure comes from themselves, and some it’s their families.”

“I understand why people [cheat], there’s a competi-tion [to get into] college. It’s intensely competitive. The pressure comes from expecta-tions.... [every Townsend Har-ris student] should still be able to go to a very good college,” said John O’Malley, social studies teacher.

Students agreed that the emphasis placed on the SAT can cause pressure to arise from a multitude of sources.

continued on Page 6

by Genna Mastellone

College trip spotlights New York state universitiesby Joshua Solomon

Members of the senior class ex-plored New York state schools on the annual college tour trip. Social Stud-ies teacher Mr. Franco Scardino chap-eroned the trip, which spanned from September 23 to 25.

The group visited six schools: Vas-sar College, Renselear Polytech Insti-tute (RPI), Syracuse University, Col-gate University, Cornell University, and SUNY Binghamton.

Mr. Scardino said that he

chose these colleges because, “When I was a senior in high school I didn’t have the opportunity to visit any schools outside of New York City. So I wanted to organize this trip so that students could see schools they might want to apply to.”

The trip began with an early start on Friday. As underclassmen went to their zero band lab or gym class, se-niors boarded their coach bus for three days, two nights of exploring possibili-ties for their academic futures.

Alex Jaloza, who went on both this triep and the one last March, said, “I thought it would be fun. I was in-terested in seeing as many colleges as possible.” Students visited a total of 13 colleges between the two trips.

Fellow senior Richard Bonilla said, “I’m not going to get a chance to go to any of these colleges on my own so it was a good opportunity to see them.” He continued, “I learned a lot about

the college process, criteria, and where you stack up for these colleges.”

The bus first arrived in Arlington, New York, the home of Vassar College. Harris alumni and a tour guide met the prospective students on the cam-pus. The students followed their guide through the library which holds what was once the world’s longest horizon-tally suspended tree branch.

As the tour concluded, the group took their seats in a typical lecture hall, and listened to an admissions counsel-

lor speak about the school’s academ-ics, athletics, extra curriculars, and the application and admissions processes, followed by a Q and A.

With Townsend Harris 2010 alum Christopher Wang sharing insider in-formation on the school, the group entered the dining hall for lunch. Cath-erine Perrone, who also went on both the spring and fall trips commented, “I hate college food, it’s worse than the food in our cafeteria and that’s saying

something. Go to school in an urban environment so that you can leave campus and get something decent.”

RPI was next on the agenda for the day. Ms. Dafne Manhart, the par-ent co-ordinator and the other chap-erone, offered her perspective on the school. One of her sons attended RPI, which allowed Ms. Manhart to field questions from interested students.

The small school offered a new possibility to the students. “Even if not every college on the itinerary is one in which you are interested, you

may discover upon seeing them in per-son that they hold an appeal you did not previously anticipate,” Kari Wei said.

When the visit to RPI concluded, the group returned to the hotel for the night. Seniors chatted and laughed as they moved in with their friends and unpacked their bags.

“The hotel rooms!” Richie Bonilla identified as his favorite part of these trips. “When [else] do you get to stay in the same room as your friends and live together?” He felt that this experi-ence foreshadowed dorming in college. Friends become closer to each other as they share a room together.

Bonilla went on to say of the trip, “It’s an experience you’ll never get. It’s

normally a dry experience, but instead you’re learning and hanging out with your friends.”

Syracuse students greeted Har-risites when they arrived the next day. When the Harris group arrived, Syra-cuse students were pouring into the Carrier Dome for a football game. The tour took the students throughout the hilly campus.

Colgate, a remote school which appears on many “Most beautiful campuses in America” lists showed a different view of a college campus. Seniors asked students they saw walk-ing around campus questions, such as why they chose Colgate, and questions about various aspects of campus life.

Following the tour, students had free time on the quadrangle. A game of Frisbee spun out as others spent their time relaxing and discussing their ex-periences.

Students dined at a restaurant af-ter moving to a new hotel. As friends broke off into groups, a sense of family was noticeable among the students on the trip.

The next morning, after a night of video games and gossip, students met with alumni at Cornell University, followed by a meeting with alumni at SUNY Binghamton in the afternoon.

Mr. Scardino commented on the value of these visits. “A visit to a per-spective school tells them that you are very interested in attending and shows that you are doing the research. It is also important because you will physi-cally be there and can know if this is a place you want to be or not. Sometimes you walk onto a campus and you real-ize this is where you need to be.”

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Students at one of the colleges on the trip.

Members of the senior class explored

New York state schools on the annual college

t o u r t r i p . S o -c i a l Stud-i e s

teacher Mr. Franco Scardino chaperoned t h e t r i p , span-n i n g f rom S e p -t e m -b e r 23 to 25.

The ClassicJanuary 2012

6 feature

Straights and Gays Educating Students (SAGES) held three movie screenings during the month of January centered on the theme of homosexuality and its relationship to faith. These 90-minute movie screenings were held every Wednesday afternoon in the auditorium and were open for all students to attend.

The films, titled Trembling Before God, For the Bible Tells Me So, and Jihad for Love, talk about homosexuality with regard to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, respectively. Each of the three movies aimed to share the opinions of traditional and untraditional religious members who lived as homosexuals, were in support of them, or preached against them.

“I wanted to come see it as a part of SAGES,” said Carly Lan, junior. “I didn’t know much about the [Jewish] religion before and it was interesting to see

how the people in the film reconciled their faith and sexuality.”

All of the films portrayed the ordeal that homosexuals face when first accepting their sexual identity, followed by trying to find a balance between it and their religion.

“It really struck me when they were sitting Shiva [In Judaism, the week-long mourning after a funeral] for their daughter even though she wasn’t dead, just gay. It was sad, and hard to understand how anyone could be so unloving,” said Eli Betts, freshman.

The people who stayed to talk about the film’s contents agreed on the fact that religion and homosexuality have always butted heads.

Carlos Perez, senior, said, “It was good to see the movie discuss the way in which people often read the Bible – in a sometimes too literal a manner,”

when referring to the film about Christianity and homosexuality. “An ‘abomination’, for example, does not mean innately immoral as we now consider it to mean; in the past, it meant going away from traditions.”

“It was eye-opening and it made me more aware of their struggles,” commented Katherine Dominguez, senior.

“This topic is new and not often discussed out in the open,” said SAGES advisor Franco Scardino. “It’s important to talk about because there are lots of religious people who are just coming to terms with themselves being homosexual. The topic is popping up on many college campuses and it’s great to be able to share it at Townsend Harris.”

The symphonic orchestra, added this year as a Townsend Harris music course, has been involved in various school performances already. The orchestra participated during Founder’s Day as well as the Winter Concert. The orchestra is currently involved in another honorary event, the charity for St. Mary’s Children’s Hospital. The members of the orchestra already visited the hospital to play several songs for children with diseases such as birth defects.

Ms. Verga, the orchestra’s instructor, said, “[Playing for the children] was a very rewarding experience. [The children] love music!” she added enthusiastically. Ms. Verga also said that she was originally trying to look for local charities when she encountered the opportunity at St. Mary’s Hospital. “I wanted to find a local hospital to see how I can help”, Ms. Verga said.

Even though the symphonic orchestra already played at the hospital for the children, it is planning to host an in-school concert for charity. St. Mary’s Hospital is currently in the process of building a music therapy ward, and also instituting a school within the hospital for children with disabilities. The money raised from the “Have a Heart Benefit Concert”, which will be held at 7:00 P.M on February 15th, will be donated to the hospital for the benefit of the defected children. The concert will be open for anyone who wishes to participate. Ms. Verga said that it would be constructive if any artists are interested at making any drawings for decoration, and she also wishes for the student body to vote on the pieces that the orchestra will play in the concert, which include some up-beat songs and medley from Harry Potter. The concert will be a good way to raise money for charity and to simply enjoy music.

SAGES Film Fest Sheds Light on Religion and Sexualityby Katherine Maradiaga

Symphonic Orchestra helps raise money for childrenby Ashley Ahn

Musical style from classical to jazz seeped through the auditorium doors as Townsend Harris musicians showcased their talent at the annual Winter Concert.

The night started off with music from the Intermediate Band, directed by Mr. Peter Lustig. The music varied from Christmas songs like “Sleigh Ride” to “Korean Folk Rhapsody” and finished off with a lighthearted rendition of “Smooth”.

One member of the Intermediate Band, Jasmine Teu, sophomore, said, “I think we did really well. The past three months of hard work really paid off.”

The next performance was executed by a newly formed Symphonic Orchestra directed by music teacher Ms. Victoria Verga.

Ms. Lisa Mars, Assistant Principal, said, “This is the first year we have a symphonic orchestra. It’s a wonderful addition because it gives students an opportunity to play in a band with a new sound.”

The symphonic orchestra performed three different pieces, including a melody with selections from the Lion King. Pertaining to the music selections, Ms.Verga said, “The pieces were chosen randomly. I chose “Greensleeves” because it’s one of my favorite pieces and both the music from the Lion King, as well as the ‘Can Can,’ were chosen unanimously by the students.”

In regards to the overall performance Ms. Verga said, “I think we did really well. Everyone practiced and worked hard every day. It was a lot of work but everyone came together and had a lot of fun.”

Tenth band, also known as Jazz Band, took the stage next with both entertaining and fun pieces. The

Christmas spirit was kept at a high with “Dashing through the Snow.”

Senior Kimberly Hassel said, “This was my first time performing in the concert with the Jazz Ensemble: I was nervous, but I had loads of fun! I genuinely think

that the Winter Concert was able to bring everyone into the holiday spirit. I can only imagine what the Spring Concert has in store for everyone!”

The band also performed “Gettin’ Good News,” a piece composed by John Yao, a composer with whom the students had the privilege to work. Mr. Lustig said, “It was a hard piece, but we kept working on it. It was nice that the students had a chance to work directly with the composer.”

Ms. Mars added, “It’s great that our students can work with professionals, like with those from the NY Pops. Next year we would like to continue working with them, as well as take our students to the Opera and Lincoln Center.”

The Chamber Ensemble, directed by Dr. Mariko Sato Berger, performed afterward, with both instrumental and vocal performances. They played pieces from the Sound of Music and Anastasia, and

sang “Winter Song”. Dr. Sato beamed, “Tonight’s concert was fantastic. Every concert is better than the last. Overall the music making is at a very high level in Townsend Harris.”

The final performance of the night belonged to Concert Band, as it does every year. They played three pieces, one of them being “In the Bleak Midwinter”.

Sophomore Abbey Li said, “Overall, I think the performance came out nicely, but something that could have came out better was that at the end of ‘In the Bleak Midwinter.’ The audience began clapping too early, and it kind of ruined the effect of the sudden silence.”

They also performed a Motown Revue which

was a medley of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, “My Girl”, and “ABC”.

Kimberly Hassel added, “The Winter Concert has always been a fun experience for me: this year was no exception! You could tell that everyone practiced diligently for the concert, and poured their hearts and souls into the performances. We truly have some excellent musicians and instructors in our music program! I really enjoyed playing with the other members of the Concert Band.”

Mr. Lustig said, “We always have excellent concerts. There was challenging music but these good bands played the pieces very well.”

Mr. Kenneth Bonamo, Principal, wore a smile on his face as he stated, “I thought the concert was wonderful. It was a great way for the students to show off their hard work and practice. Everyone did a great job.”

by Magdalena GrabosWinter concert exhibits different bands’ musical talents

Dr. Sato conducts Chamber Music Ensemble. (photo captured from video.)

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feature 7The Classic

January 2012

Comfort food is the only cure for indescribably awful days. But if you’re reaching for powdered, industrial macaroni and cheese from your pantry, you need to S’MAC yourself.

S’MAC, Sarita’s Macaroni & Cheese, is a quaint restaurant with a menu solely consisting of macaroni and cheese dishes. It first opened in 2006, and is located at the center of Manhattan’s East Village.

The steaming hot dishes are served individually in the skillets they are cooked in, removing any speculations about Kraft’s participation in the meal. S’MAC offers 12 original recipes, ranging from the traditional All American Mac & Cheese to unique recipes such as the Cheeseburger Mac & Cheese and the Buffalo Chicken Mac & Cheese. Gluten-free friends need not fret, as Sarita created a menu for them as well.

The dishes come in three sizes, from smallest to largest: Nosh, Major Munch, and Mongo. I ordered a Major Munch, and soon realized that the meal was overwhelming; ordering the Nosh would have been ideal.

Making the trek to the well-known establishment, my expectations for Sarita’s cooking were high. The restaurant is miniscule, making it practically impossible to find seating. But after a long wait and an intense stare down with the overly eager tourist couple next to me, I claimed a table for my party.

Minutes later, my order of the

Napoletana Macaroni & Cheese arrived. I broke the bubbling coat of Mozzarella cheese at the top of my deep skillet and pulled out some of the tender macaroni at the bottom, releasing a sensational aroma into the air. The pizza-inspired concoction contained roasted tomatoes, roasted garlic, and fresh basil, a mellifluous mesh of mouthwatering materials.

I sampled of my sister’s Cajun MAC, a dish with a completely different flavor, cointaining a mild kick. Sarita’s Cajun spin on the American classic contained cheddar and pepperjack cheeses mixed in with green peppers, celery, garlic, sausage, and Cajun flavoring. The Napoletana and Cajun astonished me with their polar opposite flavors, for I thought all macaroni and cheese was created equal.

But as I indulged in my heap of carbs, I couldn’t help but feel the eyes of the waiting customers impatiently digging into my back. This compelled me to leave as soon as possible, somewhat ruining my experience at the establishment.

After finishing less than half of my Napoletana, I couldn’t even think of cheese anymore; I asked for a container and wrapped up the leftovers. The meal was delicious, but at that point I reached my lifetime dairy limit. I took that as a sign I should give up my table to the middle aged woman breathing heavily over my shoulder. Next time, I’ll be sure to try different S’MAC recipes…to go.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a good film, which is unfortunately wrapped in two aggressively mediocre films. One can’t be faulted for stereotypical murmurs of “Who’s that?” and “How did they get there?” in the theatre, as there are rapid jumps between the various plotlines with no warning. Are we meant to feel the most pity for the oft-abused Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara), the oppressed journalist Michael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), the victim of the murder which they investigate, or the victim’s enigmatic uncle (Christopher Plummer)? The focus is never clear to us, and the storylines fall short as a result.

The most well-developed plot involves the disappearance and probable murder of Hannah Vanger in the 1970s and its renewed investigation by Blomkvist and Salander. Blomkvist is reeling from a recent libel lawsuit that threatens to bankrupt his magazine, and Salander is a sexual assault survivor, hacker, and social misfit with the all-too-common movie superpower of photographic memory. The build-up to their meeting and investigation is meant to show a contrast between the powerful and the weak, our protagonists being the latter, but it comes off as merely a pretext for brutal revenge later in the film. Much of the movie seems obsessed with revenge and cruelty, and makes no concessions to protect the sensibilities of its audience. We not only are treated to a violent rape, but later to the equally brutal retaliation, neither of which serve to add much to the film itself. It

forces one to consider if the scenes were inserted merely in a misguided stab at schadenfreude or if everyone through the production process truly thought that such artless anger has its place in what is presumably meant to be an artistic statement.

Executed more sloppily were the near-afterthoughts of the overblown romantic subplot and the backstory of

Blomkvist himself. It’s almost a given in predictable blockbuster cimena that if our stars are a man and woman, there will be a romance between them. While I concede that the chemistry between Craig and Mara was a very natural one, falling into a comfortable rapport

that can only be seen as that of lovers, there was an excess of eye-rolling at the attempt to portray their eventual romantic disconnect as being the dramatic equal of rape and murder. It says something when the audience squirms more during the last, plodding half-hour than they do during the graphic assault.

Fincher’s direction is undoubtably a style at this point. Girl could almost

be pointed to as a synthesis of the quiet ambient feel of The Social Network and the cutting look into human nature that he gives us in Se7en. This movie shares key elements with those two as well; sparse and dimly-lit apartments, protagonists who are heroes by virtue of

not being as awful as the villains, and explosive scenes of drama surrounded by quiet introspection and awkward misplaced attempts at comedy. Perhaps the most baffling choice that Fincher makes is the subdued mumbling that he allows Craig to engage in for most of the film. The opening scenes were nearly unintelligible, which jeopardizes any chance that the viewer might have to feel pity for the broken-down man. Someone whose life resembles nothing more than a series of crises would be expected to, at the least, surpass a flat affect in scenes where he is in mortal danger. Fincher is quickly morphing into an auteur, and not the good kind. Lazy reliance on a handful of tropes, hazy lighting, and

book adaptations can only be held up by excellent Trent Reznor soundtracks to a point.

There is something beyond polarization when it comes to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It can be loved or hated for sure, but the reasons why one might feel those ways range far and wide. Do you like it because of the themes of overcoming obstacles? Do you hate it by virtue of having a delicate sensibility? Can you sit

still for nearly three hours? If you can, you’ll surely find something you like within this film, though I can scarcely imagine anyone liking the entire product unabashedly. For every high point, be prepared for disappointment at a missed opportunity. I’m sure you will find no shortage of those.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo impresses and confusesby Max Bacchuber

S’MAC offers excessive amounts of cheese and macaroniby Ella Leviyeva

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The Cajun macaroni n’cheese at S’MAC.

AddressesThe East Village address 345 East 12th Street between 1st and 2nd avenues

Its phone number is (212) 358-7912. It is open 7 days from 11am-11pm. Takeout, delivery and catering are available.

The First Park address is 3 First Avenue, New York, NY 10002. There is a kiosk in the park at the corner of 1st avenue and Houston street. It is open noon-5pm until January 2012. Takeout is available. Advance orders, delivery, and catering are not available at this time.

Sizes AvailableThe sizes available are Nosh, Major Munch,Mongo, and Partay. Prices

vary by dish, from $4.75 to $19.Dishes Available

Food options are All American, 4 Cheese, Cheeseburger, Napoletana, Mediterranean, Alpine, La Mancha, Parisienne, Garden Life, Cajun, Masala, and Buffalo Chicken.

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Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig star in their new film.

The ClassicJanuary 2012

8

Practice does make perfect, or very close to it.

The Boys Varsity Wrestling team had a successful season, finishing off 10-1, with their only loss being to Benjamin Cardozo High School. They also advanced to the New York City PSAL Varsity Wrestling semi-fi-nals, marking their first time in the playoffs in over five years. The team lost to Petrides high school in the semi-finals of playoffs. Coach Raymond Adamkewitz said, “We had a more cohesive team this year, with quality leaders who did a great job of running and or-ganizing the team. They really set a precedent for the rest of the members.”

The team lost to Cardozo on Decem-ber 20 by ten points, in a close 45-35 point match. If the team won the game, they would have been crowned division cham-pions and it would have marked the first time that the Boys Wrestling team had an undefeated season in Townsend Harris history. “They just outwrestled us,” said Mr. Adamkewitz. “We didn’t capitalize on their mistakes, and they capitalized on ours. Hopefully each individual saw what they did wrong so they can do better

the next time we face them.” The rookies of the wrestling team played a large

role in the team’s success. “Our rookies made the commitment to last throughout the season and they learned a great amount of technique and discipline. We were able to fill in gaps in our weight-class line ups,” said Mr. Adamke-witz. Freshman rookie Dylan Biscardi said, “Training was intense, and it was a really good season. The senior leaders were pretty great. The Cardozo match was a close one, and there is definitely room for improvement next year.”

Sophomore Joel Mampilly said “We were a lot more motivated this season, and coming off a really good start, we had the momentum to take it really far and we made it to playoffs. We started off the season undefeated, 9-0, un-

til we lost to Cardozo. We- learned from our mistakes from our Cardozo match and we know what to do to win next year.”

“We had motivated leaders and captains who really worked the guys hard. Also, the rookies were really determined this year, more so than last year. I think we made our school proud,” said team manager Sarah Manrakhan.

Boys Varsity Wrestling team reaches “pin”nacles

The wrestling team listening to coach Adamkiewicz.

by Dimitri Theofanis

“Touchdown! The East Dillon Li-ons are going to the high school state championships!” Friday Night Lights follows a high school football team in the small town of Dillon, Texas, shad-owing the plot of a community con-gregated together around high school sports. High school football teams are popping up like tests during finals week. Between the recent telecast of the Under Armour All American Game on ESPN, and or the local papers de-tailing the excitement of the recent PSAL championship game at Yankee Stadium, high school football plays a prevalent role in the high school com-munity.

Townsend Harris High School has a plethora of sports teams, some of which go on to compete for the PSAL City Championship, and some even ad-vancing to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association State Championships. Adding to the ath-letic department are teams that are not so brightly displayed in the spotlight, fighting for personal pride and the en-joyment of the game rather than the title of champion. Then, there are the sports that cease to exist completely.

Popular culture paints a scene of the typical high school: studying and struggling in class, frolicking and flirting in the halls, and cliché teen-age problems. The focus then moves to what is a prominent portion of the high school society: over 14,000 high schools in the United States have a football team. The classic scenes show the popular quarterback, the hooligan offensive linemen, the cheerleading squad, and much of the school hanging out at the games cheering the team on to victory.

Harris teams include baseball, basketball, fencing, bowling, soccer, wrestling and a few more. Noticeably lacking is a football team. In New York City, the Public School Athletic League has 54 football teams, the CHSAA has 56, and many private schools in the city also have football teams.

Though the class of 2012 is departing in five

months, those Harrisites that are leav-ing us believe that a football team would be a positive influence on our school’s atmosphere. “It might bring the school closer together because schools seem to like to go to football games” said senior Michael Nittolo. The common consensus according to

multiple seniors is not whether or not students would want to form a team, but whether or not it would be able to happen. Possible detrimental factors to the formation of a football team at Townsend Harris include the glaring male to female ratio at our school, the budget, and a place to play.

Senior Sandy Wu said, “football would be so much fun, but it would be hard to create a team that would do somewhat well since we are genetically disadvantaged as a school.” Though al-most ninety percent of a diverse group of students, including those who do and don’t play sports, an anonymous student said, “I have nothing against football, or a football team in general. I just feel that football would change the

dynamic of our school and that change wouldn’t be good.” Be it cuts to other clubs or school functions in order to create a team, a football squad would affect the rest of our community.

Some students, such as Richard Cox, sophomore, believe that the cre-ation of a football team would do more

than just create a team, but possibly aid in the academic life of a Townsend Har-ris Student. “It will produce more team spirit in the school. It might also cause stu-dents to keep working hard in school to be able to participate in this sport; I think we should have a football team.We should make

a petition saying we want one and also show that we have enough ath-letes that want to participate on the team.”

A n o t h e r sophomore and

member of the wres-tling team, Daniel Plotkin, felt that a football team would

change the atmosphere of the athletic department as a whole. “I would very much like Townsend to have a foot-ball team, and since football is a very uplifting sport, the atmosphere would be electric, especially on game day. I think this would be a great change to the atmosphere because of the lack of support for many of the teams currently representing Townsend.” In an athletic department that boasts a state qualify-ing girls cross country team, and other playoff contenders, a football team would add to the athletic atmosphere.

Junior Carl Deleon believes that the formation of a team would change the dynamic of the school. “There would be a homecoming, a major school/sports event that people would go to,

and there would possibly be cheerlead-ers too, so there’s just more public-ity that goes around having a football team.”

As a whole, the bigger issue of creating a football team comes down to possibility. According to , “I really don’t know if we could have one. I think we are missing a crucial link, and that is an actual field, but other than this, I don’t think that the number of boys will be as great of a problem.”

Faisal Hossain said, “I would love to have a football team at school. I think that in order to be a successful team, whoever wants to join should have time in the weight room so that they can build themselves up.”

Another freshman, Kasey Wagner, said, “I would want a football team to form. It would give the guys a chance to become better friends with each oth-er, which would be good for the school being there are so few guys.”

Athletic Director Keith Hanson, long time weight management and health teacher, believes that geneti-cally it just wouldn’t be able to hap-pen. “We’d have to have about twenty Terells,” referring to the build of junior Terell Drayton. He also believes that we would need “50 kids on the team” comparing the male student body of our school to those of larger schools in sheer population and size. Adding to this, the rest of the athletic department would be affected according to Mr. Hanson. “You would have track indi-viduals and the basketball and wres-tling teams overlapping.”

Although many students felt that they would welcome a football team at our school, there are more factors than simply saying “let’s make this hap-pen.” A football team takes away bud-get from other parts of the school, re-quires coaching, gear, space for games and practice, the support of faculty and, most importantly, players.

Will Townsend Harris hold a foot-ball team one day? Only time will tell.

Under the lights, if they turn on at all: Harris footballby Andrew Eichenholz

A possible logo for the school football team.

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