The Falcon Flier Volume XIX, Issue 2 November 2010

Cross Country examined: a detailed look at FAXC SPORTS I PAGE 6

Fredericksburg Academy [

TOP 2 around town

]

A fl aming red head of hair can be seen all the way from across the up-per school commons as new teacher Robert Fi-thian lopes down the halls to the biology lab room. At the end of the day, his tall and wiry frame can be spotted running around the soccer fi elds, looking like a student himself.

25-year-old Fithian, who earned his Master’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth Universi-ty, has stepped up as long-

term substitute teacher for biology teacher Debra Garcia.

Born November 26, 1984 in New Arlington, Virginia, Fithian grew up in Springfi eld with his two younger siblings and attended West Springfi eld High School. He played both soccer and basket-ball and favored math and biology classes.

Fithian attended the college of William and Mary where he earned his Bachelor Science de-gree. During his sopho-more year, he took part in a summer internship

to study human impact on threatened bird spe-cies’ nesting sites, which continued on for three summers. Fithian had a positive experience with the internship and was surprised by people’s re-sponse.

“What I had to do was to watch over the human resting site interface, and surprisingly I met a lot of people who cared about the environment, and once they were informed of why we were protect-ing these sites responded well. They would tell other people to stay away from the sites or asked more detailed questions like ‘why’ and ‘how’,” said Fithian.

Fithian then attended VCU for two-and-a-half years to earn a Master’s degree in Biology. He graduated in December of 2009 and completed his thesis on avian wildlife disease.

While looking to publish his thesis on avian wildlife disease and searching for a job, Fithian stumbled upon a website that told him of FA’s open biology position. After a week of interviews starting Sept. 20 with Head of School Karen Moschetto, Head of Upper school Tony Durso, Garcia and upper school students, Fithian was hired.

Expecting to be shad-owing Garcia’s classes on Oct. 1, Fithian was thrown into his fi rst day of teaching. Although he was prepared, he was also very nervous for his fi rst teaching job outside of a university.

“It was a combination of being nervous and very excited. I was coming into a situation of teaching in-telligent students which makes it that much more important because I’m playing a big role,” he said.

Fithian will also be tak-ing over sponsorship of the Blue Crab Bowl team and fi lling in as senior ad-visor, positions previously held by Garcia.

Students have already included Fithian in the extracurricular activities of FA. The junior class asked him to drive their Homecoming fl oat and he serves as assistant coach of the men’s varsity soc-cer team.

Students have noticed Fithian’s effort to be in-volved.

“You saw on his fi rst day, he came down to the podium and talked to the community. Not only is he outspoken, but he wants to be involved in the community, like with soccer,” said senior Kahlil Gedin.

Students are also ac-knowledging Fithian’s ef-forts in the classroom and his approach to learning.

“Mr. Fithian loves to teach using interactive techniques like jeopardy,” said freshman John Ha-zel.

So far, Fithian is enjoy-ing his FA experience.

“The tight-knit com-munity [has made an im-pression on me]. From parents to the students to the faculty...Everyone seems to care about ev-eryone else,” Fithian said.

A 23 minute break was added to the middle of the upper school aca-demic day after the ad-ministration realized a strenuous schedule with minimal free time was not benefi ting the students.

Head of Upper School Anthony Durso said the concern of a schedule lacking a lunch break started at the beginning of the year with teachers keeping an eye on how it was affecting the stu-dents.

Durso held a faculty meeting where the com-mentary of the faculty created the fi nal push to make altercations to the schedule.

“I asked the teachers how it was affecting the students and said they felt the lack of a lunch period and a break at the end of the day was adversely af-fecting the students to perform at their best abil-ity,” said Durso.

Forming a new sched-ule that coincided with cross-over teachers and adding an ample amount of time for a break led to several drafts of a new schedule before decid-ing on a three minute cut from each academic class.

“I looked at everything. Taking three minutes from every period did the least to affect the cross-over teachers and provide the time for the students,” said Durso.

According to Durso,

Eagle Pipe Band Concert

WHERE: University of Mary Washington George Washington Hall, Dodd Auditorium1301 College Ave., Fredericksburg

WHEN: Saturday November, 20; 7 p.m.

COST: Free

1. THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

Of course we love school, but just think: 25 days until Christ-mas break, then � rst semester is over and we’re half-way through the year.

things to be thankful for this november

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS

The prayers of Harry Potter fans will soon be answered. The � rst half of “Deathly Hallows” is to be released November 19 (buy your tickets early!), marking the � nal stretch for our favorite wizard and his friends.

2.

New schedule incorporates lunch breakbefore the revision of the schedule, 22 percent of upper school students had no time to eat lunch. Another concern was 11 percent of upper school students had four or more classes to fi nish the day.

The long strand of classes posed a concern from teachers that after having four or more class-es in a row, their ability to perform well on a quiz or test would be lacking.

“I remember Mrs. Hoppel saying ‘if I have a math test at the end of the day, and if they have three to four classes before, I can guarantee that they

are not going to do their best work’,” said Durso.

Though the new sched-ule has been set, Durso still feels a concern with the affect it poses on the amount of time classes taught by cross-over teachers are allotted.

“One time a week the cross-over upper school class, taught by a cross over teacher, loses about ten minutes and I’m not happy about that. The teachers felt that the sac-rifi ce of class was worth the improved mental health of the students. It seemed worthwhile,” said Durso.

by ISABEL STEVENthe falcon flier

by LINDSAY DAWSON

the falcon flier

Robert Fithian steps in for biology teacher, Debra Garcia.PHOTO BY LAUREN FALKENBERG

Fithian welcomed into mily

TENNIS SEASONWRAP-UP pg 5 ZAC BROWN BAND review pg 9

SUBSTITUTE EMBRACES ROLE AS BIOLOGY TEACHER AND SOCCER COACH

continued on page 2

ILLUSTRATION BY PRESCOTT CASTLES

THE SOUND OF MUSIC pg 3

by SIMONE WICKERthe falcon flier

HEALTH CLASS LACKING IN

CURRICULUM

With no upper school health class,

FA’s curriculum lacks an accurate source of information for ninth through twelfth grade students regarding general nutrition, sex education, alcohol, and drug use.

Recently, the annual weeklong visit by preven-tion specialist, Brenda Conlan, was cut from the budget. Some parents and students are concerned about this hole in FA’s curriculum.

FA parent Patti Hoff-man believes a health program for upper school students should be a prior-ity. With a master’s degree in counseling, Hoffman has taught sex education and was associated with the Rappahannock Teen Awareness Program, which promotes teen ab-stinence. Through the program, Hoffman vis-ited several public schools in the area, providing in-formation on abstinence, sex, STDs, and relation-ships.

“Sex education is im-portant so that you have the knowledge to make the right decisions,” Hoff-man said. “When I would go out and do these talks, I was amazed at what kids knew, and I was amazed at what kids didn’t know. Statistics are scary. One-in-four teens end up with an STD, and people don’t know that.”

According to school guidance counselor Shel-ley West, a health class at any age level could pro-vide students with a good understanding of how the mind works and how the body functions.

“I think there should defi nitely be a conver-sation about our health education,” said West. “It would be important to have a school-wide, [pre-kindergarten] through twelfth grade health pro-gram.”

West believes a school wide health program would consist of age and culturally appropri-ate topics beginning with friendships and nutrition in lower school and pro-gressing to more sensitive discussions in the upper school.

Break - 12:43 (Period Brk)

US Break12:20 - 12:43 (Period Brk)

US Break12:20 - 12:43 (Period

23 MINUTEShave been added between 5th and

6th period for break

2 newsThe Falcon Flier November 2010

The challenges of cellos, crunchtime, and cost

Richard McGrady is the latest addition to the mid-dle school faculty, bringing books, knowledge and sister in tow.

An avid comic book col-lector and father to one-year-old Finnegan, McGrady, the sixth grade social studies, seventh grade writing work-shop, eighth grade English, and eighth grade film stud-ies elective teacher, joins FA for his fifth year of teach-ing. Though relatively new to teaching, the James Madison University graduate has expe-rienced a multitude of ages in the classroom.

“I previously taught at Bishop O’Connell High School. I have taught ninth, tenth, and twelfth grade Eng-lish, ninth and eleventh grade history, and Intro to Ameri-can Film to tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades,” said Mc-Grady.

McGrady’s previous school differs from FA in size and appearance.

“My last school was high school only and the students were required to wear uni-forms. My former school

was much larger, about 1400 students, and my classes were about 25 students,” said Mc-Grady.

T h o u g h M c G r a d y is primar-ily an English teacher, he is able to con-tinue his pas-sion for film through the eighth grade film studies elective.

“I minored in film stud-ies in college and at my last school I taught a history of A m e r i c a n film to tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade students,” said McGrady.

Outside the c l a s s r o o m , M c G r a d y passes by fa-miliar faces of his students and sibling. Sixth-grader Tess McGrady shares the hallways with her brother, something

by Rachel FRied

the falcon flier

by lindsay dawson

the falcon flier

New teacher McGrady persists with passions for film and family

Jumbled sounds fill the sophomore hallway at 7:20 in the morning as students slide bows across strings to get them in tune.

On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, the upper school strings orchestra and their in-structor, Debra Anker, prac-tice in the band room for half an hour until school starts. Many students may not know that the program has grown a great deal since its start in 2006 and that it continues to improve each year, with the students playing more com-plex pieces.

“[In] 2006 we had seven people, all in the middle school. This year we have 23 [in upper and middle school]. Six … students in upper school, plus [fifth-grader] Mina Park, who started cello as a 5-year-old, the rest in middle school,” said director Debra Anker.

Junior Aaron Anker saw the need for a strings pro-gram when he was in Middle School and decided to try to make it happen.

“In the middle of sixth

she has become fond of. “I like having someone to

talk to and not feel awkward with; it’s kind of fun. I like

having someone I know and look up to. It’s different from being with other teachers,”

said Tess. McGrady also takes note

of the advantages of having his family close by.

“It is cer-tainly inter-esting. So far, though, I’ve really enjoyed it. My wife and I lived for the last four years in Northern VA and as such, I did not see my sister very of-ten. With the big disparity in age I think this experience will help us to be closer, as siblings should be,” said Mc-Grady.

Being a new father, Mc-Grady enjoys having his family nearby to take part in his son’s life.

“The big advantage is that with a baby around, it is wonderful hav-ing my family nearby. Since

we are so close, my family is able to see Finn often which is great. As a result, unfor-tunately, my son’s favorite person is my sister; it’s pretty insulting when we take him from her and he screams and cries at his own parents,” said McGrady.

Though McGrady appreci-ates having his family readily available, it also sets him up for embarrassing situations.

“A major disadvantage is the potential for my parents to embarrass me, something I’d hoped I’d outgrown. Al-ready there have been two instances. I had car troubles the first Friday of school and as such had to call my dad to pick me up. When he dropped Tess and me off, he couldn’t help but add ‘Have a nice day at school, kids!’” said McGrady.

Tess also sees the restraints of having family being an in-tegral part of her education.

“Well, there are a lot more disadvantages than advan-tages, like if I talk out in class in something. Also I have to work hard on my grades and I have to be on my best behav-ior,” said Tess.

grade I was thinking, ‘gee, this school could use a string orchestra.’ So I wrote up a [petition] and I got most of the middle school and upper school to sign it. I handed it to Ms. Moschetto and she said ‘go for it,’ and we agreed Mrs. Anker [Aaron’s mom] would teach it. It was a shaky start and it’s grown to 23 people and that’s not counting when we start with the fifth grade here,” said Aaron Anker, a cellist.

The upper school strings orchestra will be perform-ing December 6 at the winter concert. Some members also performed in the pit orches-tra for the production of The Sound of Music.

Debra Anker said it’s sometimes a challenge to find the right pieces to perform.

“I try to find a mix of styles [from different eras] I’m not sure what were go-ing do [for the concert]. I’ll toy with things and settle in a couple weeks,” she said.

Organizing the two strings orchestras is also a challenge.

“When they go to Busch Gardens, I don’t like those because we’re such a small group. There are 15 in the

middle school. I won’t do that in the contest. They just don’t know what to do with us, it just doesn’t work,” said Debra Anker.

The middle school, with more children and more in-struments, is a bit more con-ventional string orchestra.

“Because we added fifth graders this year we have a much better balance instru-mentation wise this year in the middle school. I definitely have more violins. When you have one cello it’s equal to one violin,” said Debra Anker.

For Aaron Anker, strings is another foray into the world of arts. He has been playing the cello and dancing ballet for years. Not a day goes by without Aaron Anker stick-ing his feet in the air through dance, but on strings morn-ings, he is in a seat. The group is relaxed and laughing between songs, some stretch-ing as Aaron Anker does, volunteering for positions, or waiting for Debra Anker to assign their roles, “You take the top,” and so on.

Then the group begins playing again, and the serious faces watch their conductor and their music, glancing up

and down between the two. Besides all the work Debra Anker must do, she continues her optimism and her famous laugh.

“The coolest thing [is that we] started in ‘06 and this is the first year that we’ve had a really upper school group. I see a future…” said Debra Anker.

Debra Anker believes you can never have too many cel-los, which is the group’s un-official motto.

“I’ve broken two cellos in my life. Aaron has broken one, Spencer [Marshall] slips on ice coming out of his car and breaks [one], then, to make him feel better I say: I really guess you’re not a cellist until you’ve broken one,” joked Debra Anker, with another hearty laugh. The orchestra has also had problems with strings instru-ments that were not good quality.

“This happens every win-ter; when everything gets dry and cold, cellos in particular have trouble getting tuned, and cellos are particularly evil about it. Couldn’t get [Charles Edward’s] cello to stay in tune for anything! Then last year

we had a gal…bought this thing on EBay—never con-sidered buying it without looking. It was okay in fall, and then it just would not stay in tune. Only [meeting] for 30 minutes, I don’t have time. Spring comes and it starts to stay, then we get into the spring concert last year and were trying to tune it and it didn’t like the heat or lights but it was just…there was no way, the strings would not go up. Unplayable. I ended up giving my instrument to the child and I borrowed Isabel’s so we could get through that part of program, but the stu-dent didn’t get to play it later. I’ve never had that happen in class before when it didn’t even work. Stay away from EBay,” warned Debra Anker.

In the sophomore hallway outside the band room, some-one yells, “The Republicans are winning!” Then a loud voice started speaking French and someone laughed. How-ever, the door always remains open to let out the music and laughter and pizzicato.

“I had my doubts about [the program], but stick with something and it grows, you know?” said Aaron Anker.

photos by Rachel FRied

The McGrady siblings pose next to the lockers on first day of school.photo by beth hunley

Upper school string orchestra members Eric Boggs, Erika Boggs, and Lauren Anker each play a different instrument.

Cellist Aaron Anker sits across from two violinists.

Isabel Steven concentrates playing sheet music.

Cellists Aaron Anker and Mimi Wack share stands.

Upper school string orchestra takes on challenges as it expands

Currently, the only formal health education program is in the seventh grade.

Head of School and for-mer health teacher Karen Moschetto believes seventh grade is the appropriate time to learn general information on smoking, alcohol use, drugs and sex.

“You’re trying to prepare them for what’s coming. My philosophy on it is that you’re not trying to scare them, but to give them some basic knowledge so that when it comes about, they can reflect back and remember what they learned,” said Moschetto.

Prior to adding a middle school health course in the late 90s, originally proposed by Moschetto, FA had not constructed any form of a health course. Following Moschetto’s arrival to the FA community in 1996, four years after the school’s found-ing, the first accreditation brought about questions cen-tered on health education.

“It’s not that the accredita-tion team came in and told us we had to have a health class,” explained Moschetto. “But within the accreditation process, we completed a self-study and realized we needed to put something together.”

FA has not completely ne-glected the idea of health ed-ucation in the upper school. For years, Brenda Conlan, or better known as “the drug lady” was a part of the FA community. Conlan spent a week every year, until 2008, to interact with FA students on a personal level.

“It was a hard decision because we loved having her here. It’s not that we aren’t [putting in an effort], it’s the price tag. We thought about cutting her days down, but it’s still a lot to pay for every accommodation,” said Mos-chetto.

In the past, Conlan, coun-selors, and other preven-tion advocates were typically brought in annually. West began a workshop with the upper school students in the 2009-10 school year to de-termine which health issues students are interested in learning about, but did not continue due to scheduling conflicts.

“I don’t think it has to be your traditional health class,” said Moschetto. “There are different ways that we can be creative about doing it. We just have to figure out the best way to make that work.”

The main expectation at FA is that school work is a student’s number one prior-ity, resembling the focus of many colleges. With this mis-sion, Moschetto trusts that most students have good re-lationships with their parents, allowing them to carry out conversations at home about what is going on.

“A creative, out-of-the-box way of presenting health would be effective to the stu-dents of FA, rather than a daily course,” reasoned Mos-chetto. “It’s a big misconcep-tion that you’re in this envi-ronment so that you don’t have to deal with the real world. But when you put a group of students together, you’ve got issues, and you have to deal with them.”

continued from front page

UPPER SCHOOL LACKS HEALTHCOURSE

A creative, out-of-the-box way of presenting health would be effec-tive to the students of FA, rather than a daily course.

“

”-Head of School Karen Moschetto

3The Falcon Flier November 2010feature

It’s a party in junior Matt O’ Donnell’s car ev-ery morning during the 30 minute drive until his pas-sengers reach school be-fore community meeting.

“Well, on the way I drive… listen to music, basically party. Who-ever is with me usually sleeps though. I usu-ally get to school pretty early, like 7:45-ish,” said O’Donnell.

The carpool consists of O’Donnell, his sister Regan O’Donnell in sixthgrade, and sophomore Anna Iglesias, who lives in Lake of the Woods, Locust Grove along with the O’Donnells.

Music and sleep are the reality of most students’ mornings; especially those who have a long commute.

“[I] relax, listen to my iPod or radio, or even try to review any notes or worksheets for a test that day,” said senior Marqeaux Ducoing, who wakes up around 6 am for her 20 to 30 minute drive,.

While most commuters have to wake up very ear-ly, few commuters claim to be morning people. When asked what they would rather be doing, a unanimous “sleeping!”

Name: Kahlil GedinLocation: Westmoreland CountyCommute: 1.5 hoursRise time: 4:00 A.M.Departure: 6:00 A.M

Name: Sydney Hawkins

Location: Orange County

Communte: 30 minutes

Rise time: 5:45 A.M.

Departure: 6 :50 A.M.

minute drive until his pas-sengers reach school be-fore community meeting.

drive… listen to music, basically party. Who-ever is with me usually sleeps though. I usu-ally get to school pretty early, like 7:45-ish,” said O’Donnell.

of O’Donnell, his sister Regan O’Donnell in sixthgrade, and sophomore Anna Iglesias, who lives in Lake of the Woods, Locust Grove along with the O’Donnells.

reality of most students’ mornings; especially those who have a long commute.

iPod or radio, or even try to review any notes or worksheets for a test that day,” said senior Marqeaux Ducoing, who wakes up around 6 am for her 20 to 30 minute drive,.30 minute drive,.

have to wake up very ear-ly, few commuters claim to be morning people. When asked what they would rather be doing, a unanimous “sleeping!”

FA Commuters

was heard from sopho-more Kirstie Harry, se-nior Maddie Huddle, and senior Maya Brown.

Getting up sometimes becomes a problem for Harry, who agrees to not being a morning person.

“I get to school late. So late. I mean, I wake up... put my contacts in, brush my hair, do my hair, wash my face, brush my teeth…you know, get ready for school. Put my clothes on, walk down-stairs, eat breakfast… I usually eat breakfast in the car actually.”

Harry’s mother drives 25 minutes to school each morning from Spotsylva-nia, leaving the house at 7:30 am, with Harry ei-ther listening to music or “just sitting there”.

Although Harry usually gets up at 6:45 in order to reach school on time, she does not defi ne herself as a commuter.

“I wouldn’t say I com-mute, it’s more like a lei-surely drive,” said Harry with a chuckle.

O’ Donnell sums up the general commuter morning sentiment with; “I mean, I’m a pro driv-er, so every day is a good day.”

by RACHEL FRIED

the falcon flier

In the life of a commuter...“Getting ready for school, I � nd myself half awake half asleep- an experience similar to a

mummy’s,” explained senior Kahlil Gedin. “In the car, on the way to school, I either take a power nap or do homework.”

“In the afternoon, I try to do all of my non-internet homework in the car. As we get less and less daylight it becomes di� cult to do homework, but it’s nothing a � ashlight can’t � x (I forgot to mention I use a � ashlight in the morning),” said Gedin.

“Although, at times, I hate the long commute-because I want to be home or the long com-mute hinders me from an event- I cherish them because this time brings the family closer to-gether. I am able to discuss subjects with my uncle as well as joke and laugh with my sister.”

SENIORS19/23 have a license

JUNIORS17/29 have a permit 12/29 have a license

SOPHOMORES5/29 have a permit

Dealing with Parents

Late LicenseSOFIE WACHTMEISTER-

I got my learner’s the day I was able to, which meant I could get my license on Hal-loween of my junior year. I tried to get my mom to sign me up for Driver’s Ed during the summer before junior year so that I didn’t have to deal with it during the school year. That didn’t happen. She wouldn’t sign me up online because she wanted me to focus on school-work rather than Driver’s Ed. I kept pestering her about it so fi nally she signed me up in the beginning of summer and I got my license 10 months after I could have gotten it, right be-fore the school year started. I died a little inside when Em-ily White, who is younger than me, got her license before me. But I use my mom’s car and my neighbor’s and she doesn’t freak out about when I use the

car like some parents.

ERIC BOGGS- I remember that my parents were very hesitant when I got my permit and my license and they didn’t re-ally let me drive that much. When I fi rst got my license they didn’t let me drive for the fi rst month then fi nally accepted it. [My sister Erika] will probably have to go through the same stuff I did. Eventu-ally they will let her though.

BLAIR FRAZIER- I was with one girl in behind the wheel who had never driven before. She got in the car and before she started asked, “Where’s the brake?” She then backed into a curb, ran into the side-walk, drove on top of the side walk, and then fi nally asked how to put the car in drive. When we went on the highway, she was going 90 in the right lane, and then slowed down to 50 mph if someone came around.

BEHIND THE WHEELThrilling Experience

There are over 5.5 million licensed drivers who reside in Virginia,

31 of whom belong to FA’s upper school.

License check: Are you a legal driver? by SIMONE WICKER

the falcon flier

Liz Benavides: “What time is it?” Andrew Murphy: (Looks at his watch) “Yes.”

“”

“Aaron, do you have a business card?”

Miss Eschen: “Okay, let’s go into the theater guys!”

Mr. Pristas: “Everyone to the theater!”

Allegra Massey-Elim: “Wait, where are we going?”

Jess Hoover and Liz Benavides, who played Maria and Liesl, are shorter, the same height, or not much taller than the lower and middle school kids who played the younger von Trapp Children.

“

In rehearsals, laughter always resulted from the cast’s mispronunciations

of words with German and Austrian origins.

PHOTOS COURTESY TO LINDSAY DAWSON

PHOTO COURTESY OF STOCK.XCHNG

PHOTOS COURTESY OF STOCK.XCHNG

PHOTO COURTESY OF STOCK.XCHNG

Secrets from The Sound of Music:Sam King played the male butler, Franz, but her “heils” were high-pitched, because she couldn’t make her voice go lower.

by LIZ BENAVIDESthe falcon flier

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH CAST AND CREW OF THEACCLAIMED MUSICAL, PERFORMED FOR PACKED HOUSES NOV. 3, 6, 7

4 featureThe Falcon Flier November 2010

by Simone Wickerthe falcon flier

Grabbing only her rabbit foot keychain, her grandmother’s necklace and a few sets of clothing, Elizabeth Wiley packed her duffle bag and left home. She was 16 years old.

Lugging her duffle five miles, Wiley spent the fol-lowing three days at her friend’s house. Finally, her father and the local sher-iff dragged her home. Little did they know that running away was more than Wiley’s expression of teen rebellion; it was a symptom of her mental illness.

According to the Na-tional Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), mental illnesses are medical con-ditions that disrupt think-ing, feeling and the ability to function. They can af-fect people of any race, age and gender, and can severely affect how a per-son copes with the “ordi-nary demands of life.”

Five years after running away, Wiley was diagnosed with depression. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder 28 years later. Shifts in moods and ir-

rational, out-of-character behavior are two symp-toms of bipolar disorder, symptoms that explain her three-day escapade.

“When I was first diag-nosed with bipolar [disor-der], I was scared to tell my parents face-to-face. So, I wrote them a really long letter and mailed it to them. I wrote ‘this is what I have and what I suffer from, this is how I plan to manage it, and this what I need from you.’ Two months later my mom wrote a letter back saying that [bipolar disorder] ex-plained a lot of my behav-ior over the years,” Wiley said.

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depres-sion, is an illness that stems from a chemical imbalance affecting cer-tain parts of the brain. A person dealing with bipolar disorder experi-ences periods of a “high” or mania, and periods of depression.

Though Wiley wasn’t aware of mental health organizations as a 16-year-old in 1974, there are now 4,546 official mental health organizations in the United States, according to the Center for Medical

Health Services.Active Minds, one or-

ganization that works to increase students’ aware-ness of mental illnesses, attracted junior Natalie Ducharme-Barth’s atten-tion over the summer at the National Youth Lead-ership Conference on Medicine. Cameron Mack, an Active Minds represen-tative, helped convince Ducharme-Barth to bring the organization to FA.

“[Mack’s] talk was so moving, and I realized that I really wanted to bring Active Minds to the community because mental health is such a big part of my family, it is so important for me, and I see how people view mental health in our school,” said Ducharme-Barth. “It is something I want to change.”

Created in 2001, Active Minds was founded by Allison Malmon after her brother ended his life be-cause of the pressure of his mental illness. Brian Malmon was diagnosed with schizoaffective dis-order and never felt like he could talk to anyone or find the tools to get help.

“The worst way [to deal with a mental illness

is] to keep the feelings in-side and try to deal with them on their own or dis-miss the feelings, think-ing they will just go away. Most mental illnesses are managed by people with the right help and support system,” school counselor Shelley West said.

Wiley, now 54, has cre-ated a solid support sys-tem to help manage her bipolar disorder.

“I just call my friends. They know if I am de-pressed and if I [am] bouncing off the wood-work. I know I can call them when I need to talk,” she said

Ducharme-Barth hopes to explain through Active Minds that creating a stig-ma around mental illness has the opposite effect of a support system. Stigma, defined as a negative la-bel or mark of disgrace, makes it hard for people suffering from a mental illness to feel comfortable reaching out for help.

“Teenagers isolate themselves when they believe they are different from everybody else. I re-ally hope [Active Minds] will bring some mental health awareness. Getting help shouldn’t be some-

thing to be ashamed of,” Ducharme-Barth said.

Ducharme-Barth made a presentation to the up-per school on Oct. 4, the National Day With-out Stigma, and plans to talk to the middle school about self-esteem and how it relates to mental health.

According to NAMI, one in four Americans ex-periences a mental illness at some point in their life. Approximately 57.7 mil-lion adults and 10 percent of children and teens ex-perience a mental health disorder in one year.

Wiley remembers deal-ing with depression as an adolescent.

“My mind would race and I would feel over-whelmed, I would feel extremely sad and didn’t know why. That whole time I never realized that people didn’t think about suicide. I thought that it was normal. It’s not,” Wiley said.

Though bipolar disor-der is not curable, Wiley has learned to control both her depression and mania with activities such as drawing and knitting, but also through organi-zations like NAMI and

Active Minds.NAMI has a branch in

Fredericksburg.The center offers “Teen Consumers,” a discussion group for teens in the Fredericks-burg area that are dealing with a mental illness.

To help teens deal with mental illness, West urges the FA community to “reach out and help oth-ers. You never know what that person is dealing with in their lives.”

by AuSten Dunnthe falcon flier

Mental health awareness is promoted by

1. GET EXERCISE: Even just taking a walk outside can trigger endorphins in your body which can help improve your mood.

2. GET InVOLVED: Find a group to be a part of and keep yourself out of your room and around other people.

3. TALK TO OTHERS: Find someone to confide in. This is usually better than being alone or secretive.

4. SLEEP: Make sure you’re getting enough rest.

5. SET REALISTIC GOALS: Also, break large tasks into smaller ones. Take things one step at a time.

6. REMEMBER YOU ARE NOT ALOnE: There are others who feel just like you do.

7. EAT HEALTHy: Help your body get the nourishment it needs. But also try comfort foods.

8. BE HOPEFUL, PERSISTEnT AnD PATIEnT: Don’t stop reaching out until you find the help you need.

Parents, organizations work to prevent suicideAt 4 feet 11 inches tall, Carol Anne Brown was small but had a personality that could take charge

when she walked into a room.Many would have described her as the perfect child — a Governor’s School student who was active in the arts,

cheerleading, and horseback riding. But her life came to an abrupt end on April 12, 2009, two days after her mother found her nearly lifeless body in

her bedroom. Eighteen-year-old Carol Anne had hanged herself with a belt on Good Friday, two months after her parents came to the realization that she suffered from bipolar disorder.

Out of their despair, her parents have found purpose. They have made it their mission to prevent tragedies such as their own by educating others about bipolar disorder.

“It wasn’t Carol Anne that took her life; it was this horrible mental illness driving her insane,” said Todd Brown, father of Carol Anne.

For years, the Brown family dealt with Carol Anne’s irrational behavior during her teenage years, which they later came to understand as symptoms of her bipolar disorder.

“Carol Anne had written that she was this person that she wanted to be, and this person that she hated to be,” Brown said.

With over 300 community service hours completed, Carol Anne accomplished much in her manic phase, sometimes not sleeping for days, he said. In her depression phase, she was sometimes not even able to get up and go to work.

Carol Anne attended Riverbend High School, Stuart Hall, and Hyde School during her high-school years, and was accepted into James Madison University (JMU). She attended JMU until her illness took a turn for the worse in the middle of her freshman year, when she ended up in the hospital after a nervous breakdown

and cutting incidents. Her parents decided to take her home. After a period of recovery in January 2009, her mental illness peaked, leading to her suicide in April.

Currently, 21 million people worldwide suffer from depression, as documented by the World Health Organization. In the United States, suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for adults between

the age of 18 and 65 and is the eleventh leading cause of death overall, according to facts collect-ed by the National Center for Health Statistics (2007). Over 34,000 people die by suicide every year, and over the last two decades the suicide rate has doubled for young people ages 10-14.As part of Todd Brown’s attempt to cope with the loss of his eldest daughter, he created an

interactive website, www.bipolaraware.org, where visitors can learn more about Carol Anne, take a bi-polar assessment, enter support rooms, and purchase items to show awareness. The website’s popular-ity has grown tremendously, with over 300,000 hits to date. Brown launched this website to not only educate, but to allow people the courage to come forth and say that they have a mental illness.

“I think this website can save some lives,” he said. Like the Browns, many people have turned their grief over losing a loved one to suicide into efforts

to prevent future suicides. Founded in February 2006, the nonprofit movement To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA) began as

a written story. The story, entitled, “To Write Love on Her Arms”, was written to help a friend believe that a better life could be attained. Currently, the organization is devoted to those dealing with depres-

sion, addiction, self-injury and suicide, according to the online mission statement. The organization’s website explains the founding of the movement.

“The story and the life it represented were both things of contrast — pain and hope, addiction and sobriety, regret and the possibility of freedom,” it states.

Branching out through music, merchandise, blogging, Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, and Tumblr, the movement has achieved a high level of awareness among teens. TWLOHA provides facts and figures accessible to anyone to inform people of the depres-

sion, suicide, self-injury and addiction occurring in the United States. In Spotsylvania, an annual community walk, “Out of the Darkness,” attracts many participants in the area to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

(AFSP). Out of the Darkness community walks take place nationwide full of participants who walk to honor a loved one lost to suicide and walk to raise awareness. Over the last decade, AFSP has invested over $10 million in new studies, according to the organization’s website, www.afsp.org.

Dr. Susan Tucker, a Fredericksburg psychiatrist, sees patients who suffer from mental illnesses including depression and bipolar disorder. “We can’t prevent every suicide,” she said. However, there are some predictors for suicide including previous attempts, depression, and suicide among blood relatives,

according to Tucker. Mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder and certain levels of depression are often connected to suicide. “[Lithium] is one medicine for bipolar that has been proven to reduce completed suicide,” said Tucker. “It’s the anti-depressant medication given to bipolar patients

that can increase the risk of suicide.”In addition to depression and bipolar disorder, suicide is linked to schizophrenia and substance abuse (including alcoholism), according to Tucker. Unless there are certain signs present at the time, the average diagnosis for bipolar disorder can take up to two years, Tucker explained. This lag time was exactly what

occurred in Carol Anne’s case. Her parents did not admit to themselves that she was mentally ill until two months before her suicide, and Carol Anne herself did not ac-knowledge her bipolar disorder to her parents until two weeks before she took her life.

Todd Brown hopes his efforts to increase awareness, through the website he created and through his other outreach efforts, will help other families get earlier treatment for children with bipolar disorder and therefore prevent suicides.

“Nobody can imagine how bad it really is. It’s horrific,” Brown said. “But it is what it is. And it brings us a lot of peace to know that we will be reunited with Carol Anne in heaven for a lot longer than we’d ever have her on earth.”

Warning SignS of SeriouS DepreSSion

r Unrelenting low moodr Pessimismr Hopelessnessr Desperationr Anxiety, physical pain and inner tensionr Withdrawalr Sleep problemsr Increased alcohol and/or other drug user Impulsiveness and unnecessary risk-takingr Threatening suicide; expressing wish to die r Unexpected rage or angerr Giving away prized possessionsr Sudden or impulsive purchase of a firearmr Obtaining means of killing oneself, such as poisons or medications

Source: AmericAn foundAtion for Suicide prevention

www.afsp.org

For resources, FAQs, and information about eliminating the stigma of mental illness, visit Activeminds.org

if you or someone you know needs immediate help, call the national suicide Prevention Lifeline at

800.273.tALK

5The Falcon Flier November 2010sports

www.aikidoinfredericksburg.org • 540.582.9600 • 6155 Hickory Ridge Rd • Spotsylvania 22551

2-for-1

SPECIAL!Sign up with a friend for three months

(valid for 30 days from print date)

CALL OR VISIT US TODAY!

Non-competitive, effective martial art•

Great cross-training for other activities•

Daily classes speed progress toward blackbelt•

Huge new dojo located on 20 beautiful acres•

Train in a welcoming, supportive environment•

5th degree blackbelt head instructor•

Their record is similar to past years, but this

has defi nitely been a dif-ferent season.

The girls varsity fi eld hockey team has offi cially completed all of their reg-ular season games, fi nish-ing with a 14 – 1 record, as well as being crowned DAC regular season and tournament champions. Preparing for the state tournament, the girls and coaches look back on their season.

Two of the team’s cap-tains, Megan Sullivan and Paige McDermott, con-sider the season to have been a solid one. While they have had plenty of good seasons, they said this year was different for a few reasons.

“This year has been way more relaxed. We are not so focused on winning, so we have fun, but win at the same time,” said Mc-Dermott.

Sullivan said that this was mainly due to the overall chemistry and ca-maraderie that the girls share for each other.

“This is the closest team we’ve had. We all get along really well,” said Sullivan.

Head Coach Karen Moschetto feels the same way.

“This team defi nitely has good chemistry, as well as balance. This group has a nice mix; not overly dominated by one age group,” said Mos-chetto.

The team has had one setback this year. Assis-tant Coach Debra Garcia adopted a baby mid sea-son, which has limited the time she has been able to spend with the team. While she has been able to make some practices and home games, it has still been hard for the team to adjust.

“It has been different without her. We’ve had Mrs. Garcia for fi ve years, so it’s weird without her,” said McDermott. She went on to say, “There’s a lot more pressure on us

in practice. Mrs. Garcia was usually the one who would work with us indi-vidually while Ms. Mos-chetto ran the practices. Without her, we have had to work harder and fi x our own mistakes.”

FA hosted the DAC fi nals on November 5, and defeated Foxcroft 6-0. The Falcons de-feated Hampton Roads Academy 7-0 in the state quarter-fi nals and headed to Virginia Beach to take on Cape Henry Collegiate in the semifi nals Nov. 12. The semifi nals and fi -

nals had not occurred as of The Falcon Flier’s press time.

Moschetto, overall, felt good going into states. She said that while her players have fun and get along, they are also very skilled hockey players who truly love the sport.

“They don’t just play because they have to; they play because they want to. They have developed a passion,” said Moschetto.

Moschetto is also opti-mistic because the team’s record is a good refl ection of their talent. They have

beaten two of the top fi ve teams in the state, and have only lost to one of them.

“We’ve played them, and we’ve beaten them,” said Moschetto.

McDermott and Sul-livan have hope that fu-ture teams will be just as strong even though the team is losing fi ve strong seniors after this season.

“Every year we lose a lot of people, but we have always been surprised with how good the team turns out to be,” said Sul-livan.

Another incredible season

Paige McDermott � ghts for possession of the ball during the DAC championship game versus Foxcroft . Falcons won 6-0.

“For games I have to make sure that the clothes that I wore for the last game all get washed to-gether, and there can be no other clothes mixed in with them. I also have this habit of collecting stray items; these are usu-ally things that I fi nd on the fi eld or sidelines. I hold onto them in a bag that goes into my coach-ing bag. It is weird and I can’t explain why I do it, it’s just something that started one day and be-came important.”

“Ms. Moschetto and I both got a new blue coach’s jersey last year. It was really nice and so I wore it for our fi rst away game which was against Covenant. We lost that game 3-0. I will never wear it again. It is tainted. I always wear the same clothes, the blue or white coach’s shirt, a baseball cap, khaki shorts and sneakers. I also eat Dum-Dum lollipops during the game and give two to the person doing the book. I always warm up the goalie before a game in the same way for years. I always put my wedding ring in my back right pocket when I warm up the goalie. Ev-eryone sits in the same spot on the bus for away games. If somebody sits in the wrong spot, they have to move to where they originally sat in the past. Anytime hawks are circling over the fi eld be-fore a game, we win. A double rainbow appeared before the state champi-onship games two years ago so a double rainbow is always a good sign.”

HOCKEYCOACHESREVEALGAME-DAYSUPERSTITIONS

A CURSED SHIRT:VARSITY FIELD HOCKEY COACHKAREN MOSCHETTO

LUCKY LOLLIPOP:VARSITY FIELD HOCKEY ASSISTANT COACH DEBRA GARCIA

Girls Varsity Ten-nis- DAC Regular Sea-son Champions, won the quarter-fi nals game against Norfolk Col-legiate 5-4. The team is scheduled to play Cape Henry Collegiate during their semi-fi nals.

AN INSIDE LOOK“This year, we have

such as strong line up, this is our year to bring it all home. Having Catherine, Emma, and Mimi on the team really benefi ts us in practice and in our match-es. They have contributed so much Other than our fi rst match, which was against Collegiate, who is in Division 1, we have won every single match 7-0 with only a couple exceptions of 6-1. We are defi nitely the most domi-nant team in our confer-ence.”

-junior Anne Douglas Goforth

“It’s pretty cool that we’ve come this far, as a team and I’m really excit-ed about moving on.”

-senior Catherine Meyer

TENNIS SEASON WRAP-UP

by SIMONE WICKERthe falcon flier

The team poses after winning the DAC Conference title.PHOTO BY SIMONE WICKER

PHOTO BY LAUREN FALKENBERG

by Matt Kirchnerthe falcon flier

PHOTO COURTESY OF STOCK.XCHNG

SEASON RESULTS9-1 Collegiate -Lost9-14 Foxcroft -Won9-17 Covenant - Won9-20 Seton- Won10-1 Wake� eld- Won10-5 Highland- Won10-15 Wake� eld- Won10-19 Covenant- Won10-26 RMA- Won10-28 Foxcroft - Won10-29 Highland- Won

by Matt Kirchner the falcon flier

FALCONS

FLY

6 SportsThe Falcon Flier November 2010

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR FEET...Figuring out your foot type or pronation is essential to selecting the right running shoe. Whether you have � at feet or high arches, each one a� ects the movement of your foot. See below to � gure out which type of pronation you possess.

For normal pronators, the heel is the � rst part to make contact. The foot will then roll inwards around 15 degrees, allowing your foot to equally support your body weight.

Normal pronation:

After the heel makes contact with the ground, the foot will roll inwards over 15 degrees. This causes the ankle and foot to have problems stabilizing the body.

Overpronation:

For underpronation the process starts o� the same way. However, instead of rolling the foot inward the pressure is placed towards the outside of the foot along the edge.

Underpronation:

GETTING TO KNOW YOUR FEET...GETTING TO KNOW YOUR FEET...Figuring out your foot type or pronation is essential to selecting the right running shoe. Whether you have � at feet or high arches, each one a� ects the movement of your foot. See below to � gure out which type of pronation you possess.

For normal pronators, the heel is the � rst part to make contact. The foot will then roll inwards around 15 degrees, allowing your foot to equally support your body weight.

Normal pronation:

After the heel makes contact with the ground, the foot will roll inwards over 15 degrees. This causes the ankle and foot to have problems stabilizing the body.

Overpronation:

For underpronation the process starts o� the same way. However, instead of rolling the foot inward the pressure is placed towards the outside of the foot along the edge.

Underpronation:

SETON

ST.

MICHAELS

FA

WAKEFIELD

HIGHLAND

F CR HE RD. I S T.

QUANTICO

TANDEM

RMA

WCDS

MEET 1

MEET 2

MEET 3

TOTAL

TEAMS

1

1

1

3

3

5

2 47

2

2 7

5 4

6

8

10

63

9

6

4

9

3

8

9

8

7

5 10

10

10 11 16 18 18 19 20 20 30

Trail Blazers: DAC Boys XC teams race to beat the clock

understanding your injuries From shin splints to sore muscles, get to know how it happens and how to � x it.

DATE FOR DATEFOR

FREDERICKSBURG ACADEMY 10800 ACADEMY DRIVE FREDERICKSBURG, VA 22551

Stress Fracture Increase in pain causes a greater chance for a stress fracture to occur. When the stress becomes too much a stress fracture can happen.

How to fix it-Immediate medical attention should be sought.

FOR Sore Muscles

FREDERICKSBURG ACADEMY 10800 ACADEMY DRIVE FREDERICKSBURG, VA 22551

DATE

Having tight muscles after a tough run is common for even the most seasoned athletes. How to fix it-Soak your sore muscles in cool water to bring down the swelling.

FREDERICKSBURG ACADEMY 10800 ACADEMY DRIVE FREDERICKSBURG, VA 22551

FOR DATE Shin Splints Shin splints are a pain within the muscles attached to your bone on your shin. How to fix it- Add arch supports to your shoes or add an ankle weight to strengthen your leg muscles

*results are from earlier standings; results are subject to change

the ins and outs of XC from start to � nish

Rabbit: a runner who pushes the � eld to get better times and drops out at the end

Negative split: running the secondhalf of your race faster than the � rsthalf

Kick: � nishing sprint at the end of the race

Flopper: a runner who collapses in adramatic fashion at the end of the race

Double clutch: a breathing pattern where two breaths are inhaled

Bull pen: the teams spot during the line up

XC: Terms to know

(http://www.abc-of-running.com/running-dictionary.asp )

by LINDSAY DAWSON

the falcon flier

FINISH

“I always just try and build my con� dence and keep from getting nervous, tell m

yself I’ve done it before and I can do it again.” -Devin Holladay

CROSS COUNTRY RUNNING

7The Falcon Flier November 2010opinion

With the recent mid-term elections having transformed Amercian politics, the country’s di-rection is greatly chang ing. M a n y

teenagers are learning about politics in school and have become in-formed enough to make thoughtful, insightful de-cisions on who should be leading the country.

But none of that really matters, because teenag-ers are too young to vote.

The fact is, if teenagers are given the right to vote, they will use that privi-lege. Out of 56 FA stu-dents, 50 said they would vote if given the chance. The choice would be in-formed, since politics and current events are taught in most history classes. Of course, not every indi-vidual teenager is capable of making a well thought out decision. But neither is every adult. There’s no reason to deny the right

to vote from a 16 year-old who

s t u d i e s c u r -

rent

events on a daily basis, while allowing an adult who never watches the news to make that deci-sion.

Some people believe that those who have not reached adulthood are not capable of making a deliberate decision about leading the country. Se-nior Nathan McNabb argued, “Since I’m 18, I understand more about politics. People should really hit that age before voting.”

Hitting the age of 18 doesn’t necessarily mean one is capable of mak-ing an informed decision. That said, those under 18 aren’t automatically inca-pable of making that de-cision. This capability is based on maturity level, not a number.

Freshman Jeff Good agrees that the voting age should be lowered.

“We have just as much of an entitlement to an opinion as the rest of the world,” Good said.

This doesn’t mean that 10-year-olds should be able to vote. There’s an obvious difference in in-tellect and maturity that occurs between the ages of 10 and 16. The differ-ence is not so obvious be-tween 16 and 18.

In a test given by the

We The People compre-hensive law program, students scored better than adults. 96% of stu-dents could name the vice president, while only 74% of adults could. Most teenagers learn about cur-rent events in school, and know what’s going on. So why are they still seen as incapable of voting?

History teacher Jeff Eckerson thinks that it’s a matter of fear, and that a government class should be required to graduate

I walk down the junior hallway. My laptop bag is falling toward the ground and my semi-loaded back-pack pulls at my shoulders. The weight of an AP biol-ogy book, AP US history book, several folders and an advanced algebra note-book tugs from my neck down to my back, making my muscles strain.

I reach the door leading to the outside world— to freedom. I take a deep breath, fi nally feeling relaxed with the thought of fall break. Un-fortunately, my stress-free moment soon vanishes as the weight on my back and throbbing muscles

high school.“I think that… they

are intimidated and don’t believe they can make a good decision,” Eckerson said. “If all seniors take a class before they graduate, hopefully some of their fear and apathy would be eliminated and they can make an informed deci-sion about which candi-date to choose. “

Every teenager has the potential to be a good, educated voter. All they need is a chance.

Teens seek a

remind me of the work I had to accomplish in the short four days off.

I can honestly say I don’t remember the last time I had a break or weekend where I had no obligations related to school. While this is the reality of life, it’s a little extreme for being a junior in high school.

h. Even during

fall break, I felt stressed. Mainly because the day school would begin again, I would have a test in one of my AP classes. Even though it is an advanced placement class, there should not have been a test the day we returned from school. FA’s hand-book states “No major assignments will be due for Middle and Upper School students during the two days immediately after the conclusion of these breaks, and teachers will refrain from assigning work that requires stu-dents to use the internet or collaborate in groups during school breaks and holidays.” I know of few teachers who follow this rule.

My break was not a relaxing, stress free es-cape from the pressures

of school. Instead, it was a race to fi t in relaxing, devoting enough time to studying for the AP test, completing a large amount of questions in the same AP course, a math worksheet, and two very long diffi cult sheets of 35-40 questions for my

other AP course.

The worst part about my break and the work I had to complete dur-ing it- I knew the work-load would be ten times worse when I returned to school. I couldn’t even have a break from school during our fall “break” to rejuvenate.

Weekends and holi-days are designed to be a break from school and stress — a breather. In my opinion, they are not. Teachers view weekends as students having three days to complete their assignments. Weekend homework should be the

equivalent of one regular night of homework so we can come back Mon-day focused and ready to work.

I can’t blame it all on the school— I do admit I waste time and do not use my unscheduled periods effi ciently and effectively. However, I strongly be-

lieve that this is not my fault. My wast-ing time is evidence of a burnout from an extreme amount of work. When I come home from school, all I want to do is relax. I can’t motivate myself to go the extra mile and make it easier on myself for the future and, to be honest, I can’t even mo-tivate myself to do my nightly homework any-more.

While I realize pro-crastinating does me no good and only leads to a late night of completing

School ‘breaks’ not providing suf�icient rest

WITH PROJECTS AND ASSIGNMENTS DUE, SCHOOL BREAKS CAN BE JUST AS—IF NOT MORE—STRESSFUL THAN REGULAR SCHOOL DAYS

by LIZ BENAVIDES

the falcon flier

AGE SHOULD NOT LIMIT ABILITY TO INFLUENCE POLITICS

a large amount of work, I still can’t seem to get motivated. I’m burnt out and in desperate need for a break.

If I wasn’t in my junior year, I would consider switching to a different school.

However, when I think about going to a differ-ent education system I remember how much this is going to help me in the future and realize that this is where I want to be. I want to learn how to man-age everything going on in my life, which is what FA is about. But not hav-ing a break from school every once in a while will not help me achieve that in the slightest bit. It will only worsen my perspec-tive and motivation and increase my procrastina-tion and negativity.

I love FA. However, I really do wish I could have a break every once and a while. I’m not say-ing to take away all week-end and break homework, but I am saying it should be lowered. Students need to feel relief.

Holidays and weekends need to accomplish their purpose- a break from school. Right now, they’re not. It’s depriving me of sleep and increasing my stress level.

chang ing. M a n y

year-old who s t u d i e s

c u r -rent

If I wasn’t in my junior year,

I would consider switching to a

different school.

“

”

by LAUREN FALKENBERGthe falcon flier

by Matt Kirchnerthe falcon flier

When I was in the eighth grade, Mrs. Daw-son caught me doing my history homework in sci-ence class. She could have easily scolded me and given me a detention, but instead she pulled me aside after class, and asked me about it. I explained to her that I was having a long week and that I really just felt like I couldn’t do any more homework the night before. She didn’t try to give me a million lessons on time manage-ment; she just sat back and listened. It really helped me cope with my stress.

All teachers need to be more understanding, like Mrs. Dawson, when it comes to students’ stress over homework and proj-ects. When a student tells a teacher that he or she didn’t get their work done because they had a rough night, the teacher should show some compassion and try to understand why, not just say, “Well, you should have talked to me yesterday.”

The thing is that it’s hard to predict when I am going to have a stress-ful evening. In school, I sometimes think that I will be able to fi nish all my homework easily. But that thought quickly changes when its past midnight and I still have two subjects to study for.

It’s also not the easi-est thing to confront a teacher about this sort of thing. It is especially hard to do when there has been a lot of time to work on the project. Some-times it’s so frightening to ask for an extension, that it just seems like a better idea to just suck it up and do the whole project the night before.

I understand that teachers don’t have the time to talk to every stu-dent who didn’t do their homework for that night. It just seems like every time I have a legitimate reason that I couldn’t get the work done, they see it as an excuse.

I am hopeful that teach-ers will become more understanding with the new awareness of mental health at FA.

While it is common to stress out about a proj-ect or paper, too much stress can lead to anxiety and depression. This is when I feel that the con-nection really drops off with teachers. Instead of trying to fi gure out what they can do to help, they usually say something like, “and how long have you had to work on this as-signment?”

When I have had a stressful night and I am feeling depressed, the last thing I need is for a teach-er to give me a hard time about procrastinating. I have already beaten my-self up enough, so when a teacher does this, I stress out even more.

Upper school teachers lack sympathy

in electionsVOICE

you should have talked to me yesterday.”

hard to predict when I am going to have a stress-ful evening. In school, I sometimes think that I will be able to fi nish all my homework easily. But that thought quickly changes when its past midnight and I still have two subjects to study for.

est thing to confront a teacher about this sort of thing. It is especially hard to do when there has been a lot of time to work

10 Reasons why teens should be allowed to vote1. Teens can be tried as adults for major crimes.2. Teens pay taxes. In fact, teenag-ers pay around 9.7 billion dollars in taxes per year. Teens who work even have to pay income taxes.3. Politicians would have to cre-ate more laws to cater to America’s youth. The would have to make laws that bene� t America as a whole, not just the adults.

4. Teenagers can describe what people that age want more accurately than an 18-year-old.5. The life of an 18-year-old is hectic and always changing. Those who are 16 are more stationary and closer to their community.6. If a youth gets in the habit of vot-ing at an early age, there is a better chance that they will continue to vote into their adulthood.

7. Uninformed adults vote in every election. Why should well-informed Teens be prohibited from doing so? 8. Teenagers who are uninformed about politics will most-likely not vote.9. Lowering the voting age will give teenagers a sense of self-worth and responsibility.10. There is no such thing as a wrong vote.

This is a youth-led organization that strives for more civil rights for teenagers. With members in every state, approximately 10,000 people are involved in the NYRA.

The central focus of this organization is to have the U.S. � nally begin to recognize its teen-agers as � rst-class citizens.

They strive to accomplish this goal by work-ing to lower the drinking age, lower the voting age, and repeal curfew laws.

Their argument is that some of the laws placed on youth are against the Bill of Rights.

On the website there are many papers, com-ments, forums, and � yers about youth rights.

To � nd out more information, or to get in-volved, go to

www.youthrights.org.

National Youth Rights Association: giving voice to America’s youth

8 opinionThe Falcon Flier November 2010

Darting out of the corner of aisle three, you quickly scan the registers and the number of peo-ple stacked in line. Picking the shortest wait possible, you park your cart behind a woman loaded with options for this week’s lunch when the cashier announces into the loud

People change. I am an entirely different person than what I was last year or even last week. I have different views, I have dif-ferent tastes, and I defi -nitely would have made some choices differently if the person I am today was making them.

Technology, and our “internet presence” has taken away some of this freedom to change. Your identity no longer consists only of your physical per-son and personality. Now whatever you post on the internet also infl uences others’ opinions of you. This cyber identity is less escapable. If you say or dosomething embarrassing, it is more easily forgotten, but once something is posted online, it is harder to get rid of. A current example of this is demo-cratic congressional can-didate Krystal Ball. Dam-age was recently done to Ball’s campaign when racy photos of her surfaced. As time goes on, this type of thing will probably become more and more commonplace.

We are the overshar-ing generation; we don’t think twice about post-ing things online that are less than professional, but a picture you think is cute or funny now will not be so amusing ten, or even fi ve, years from now, when you are a totally different person. Having such a broad internet self makes it harder to really be aware of what your infl uence is on others and what the consequences of your actions will be in the future. Every mistake you make on the internet is permanently up there for anyone to fi nd if they look hard enough.

As long as you have a positive presence all the time this shouldn’t be a problem, but that is rarely a realistic situation. Just like in real life, people have bad days, and they say things they normally wouldn’t. We’ve all seen those Facebook status-es proclaiming that the writer hates the world, or the ever popular an-gry declaration directed at some unidentifi ed person. Eventually, the people who post these things are going to look back on this random outburst of emo-tion as something they’d rather forget ever hap-pened, and the fact that they chose to display it publicly will probably get in the way of that pro-cess. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I do enough stupid things in real life to last me forever, without storing them in the internet’s eternal fi ling cabinet.

The one, the only, the SAT: one word able to send chills down any high school senior’s spine.

This test has, for me, become the single most stressful aspect of the col-lege application process. Even with good scores, I can’t help but strive for perfection. Who am I kid-ding though? According to the Princeton Review, less than 1% of the one million or more SAT tak-ers achieve a perfect score, why should we even try?

The college applica-tion process has become increasingly skewed as the application pool grows larger each year. Uni-versities no longer have the time to read thou-sands of essays, activities, and achievements but rather have come to rely on numbers to create a benchmark standard.

Colleges’ emphasis on standardized testing just results in frenzied high school seniors. Prepara-tion for SAT testing be-comes a three-ring circus of students competing for the best tutor, the best class, or the best “hidden

secrets” book. When I fi rst started the SAT pro-cess, I tried to stay away from the circus and sim-ply took the test with the knowledge I had. Now that it’s crunch time, with applications due in Janu-ary, I’ve found myself in the center of the circus ring.

Feeling the heat to be accepted at top universi-ties, I can’t help but ques-tion my score. Under pressure to raise sectional scores over 700, I’ve suc-cumbed to hiring a private tutor. Twice a week, for the fi ve weeks prior to the test, I have one hour prep classes to review basic math and learn the fastest way to accomplish each section.

The SAT has become a game of strategy. If you have the best teacher then you will get the best scores regardless of your natural talent. At least that is how it seems. How can I run the risk of allowing someone to look smarter than me on paper, even though they clearly aren’t, just because they had a better teacher before the test? I guess I’ve come to the conclusion that I can-not run that risk.

The college admission process has led me to believe that colleges are looking solely at my test scores to determine ad-mission. The importance given to the SAT has caused me to question the validity of the application process. Can there really be a test where individu-

als can be compared as easily as scientifi c speci-men? It sure seems like the SAT has provided just this to universities around the country, the ability to rank and sort American teenagers based on a few Saturday morning hours.

I feel like I must pro-duce scores high enough to represent the years of accomplishments I want my college to value as much as that four digit number. According to Robert Sternberg, in-terviewed for the PBS Documentary Secrets of the SAT, “The problem isn’t quite with the SAT, it’s with the use of it. What we need to do is include other kinds of abilities, such as creative and prac-tical abilities and at the same time, recognize that they’re modifi able, that all these tests can do is give us an approximate read-ing at a given time.”

Rather than stress over trying to achieve unattain-able perfection on the SAT, I should be glad that I have a perfectly good score, and would urge others to do the same.

Perhaps trying to gain admission to prestigious universities isn’t worth the stress, if they value the SAT over personal achievements. Finding a university that wants me for my accomplishments in the classroom, athletics, leadership and commu-nity outreach is the type of place I want to be; not somewhere where all that matters are the numbers.

Unneeded perfection for SAT

by LINDSAY DAWSON

the falcon flier

by ELIZABETH GEYER

guest reporter

by PAIGE MCDERMOTT

guest reporter

Patience is a virtue that most don’t havespeaker that she needs a price check on a package of Mott’s apple juice.

Leaning over the clear plastic bar, handles gripped, your patience be-gins to melt like the two for fi ve carton of Edy’s lying in your cart.

As a nation, we are constantly crunched for time, schedules packed, cramming as many ac-tivities possible into a 24 hour period. We now ex-pect things to come in an instant or to be as simple as pressing the Staples ‘easy’ button.

We rush through traf-fi c, grocery lines, and even our meals to squeeze in those extra few min-utes, like they really make that much of a difference.

Our growing need to get things done now has sped up the pace of life blend-ing and blurring events together until they seem to vanish.

Aggravated drivers dodge through traffi c, tires enthralling the hot asphalt only in pursuit to get home a few minutes earlier while risking their lives along the way. Once home, people rapidly scan the take out menu and hit the speed dial button awaiting the Styrofoam packages to arrive on their doorstep.

The meal simultane-ously takes place with idle chatter so that perhaps if one is lucky, taking plea-sure in watching your weekly programming may

come into play. Blaring noise emanates

from the alarm clock as work approaches. Sliding in to the seat of the car you automatically turn on your favorite station, to drown out the sound of the ticking clock. The ac-tion of the day before re-peats itself; drive through breakfast, earsplitting horns, skidding tires, checking your watch as the elevator slowly rises.

Once reaching the of-fi ce the bustle of the day ensues again. Lunch is in-haled while glaring at the computer screen and calls are screened for your con-venience.

We have succumbed to letting a clock dictate the running of our lives and

the way in which we live them. Taking the time to have a quiet conversa-tion has morphed into a simple text message and leisure time is considered to be a luxury.

I myself admit to be-ing conditioned to believe that I must plan my day around a circular ticking object with miniscule plas-tic arrows. Slowing down the steadfast pace of life is no easy task; however, by learning patience, and streamlining our busy lives, we can increase the quality of our lives.

Patience is said to be a virtue, one that has been long forgotten. However, letting the ice cream melt in our cart may not be so bad after all.

The Falcon FlierSTAFF

2010-2011

associate editor

Mary Gray Johnson

Lindsay Dawsonmanaging editor

Beth Hunleyadviser

Austen Dunn

editor

copy editor

Simone Wicker

Rachel Fried

advertising manager

reporters

Liz Benavides Lauren FalkenbergCourtney Ho� man

Matt KirchnerIsabel Steven

WANTS YOU! The Falcon Flier

Send letters to the editor, comments and concerns

to: adunn@

fredericksburgacademy.org

This page features editorials written by senior AP English students. These

three were selected by The Falcon Flier sta� as being the best in the

class.

Senior Editorials

FOUR WAYS TO SLOW DOWN AND STILL GET THINGS DONE1. Eat slowly, and take as much time as possible to actually enjoy it.Chew every bite more, analyze tastes like you’re a foodie, and generally savor the experience. It likely won’t

add more than 10 minutes to your meal time, yet it will give you the chance to seep into the moment.

2. Say no to making commitments when you can.Saying no can gives you a chance for “me-time”: an hour when you don’t have to keep any commitments or

please anyone else; or a half-hour when you can just kick back and do absolutely nothing.

3. Do nothing for 15 minutes after waking up.Taking 15 minutes to just lay with your thoughts allows you to ease into your day without such a sense of

urgency.

4. Block a half-hour of unplanned time in your planner.Plan to do whatever you end up doing. Get up, walk around, and see where that takes you. Nothing makes

you feel present like spontaneity.

Information gathered from Lori Deschene at www.tinybuddha.com

Can’t erase online past

9The Falcon Flier November 2010opinion

The Staff’s Stand

by Austen Dunnthe falcon flier

You get what you expect in Zac Brown’s You Get What You Give

Alternative to Keeping theRecycling Bins Organized

The commons’ cleanli-ness (or lack thereof) has surpassed “broken re-cord” status.

We heard it from for-mer Student Government President Fred Daniel, we hear it from current Pres-ident Kahlil Gedin, and we never stopped hearing it from Head of Upper School Tony Durso, who even resorted to sending warning emails via stu-dent messengers.

The administration is demanding that the prob-lem be solved by universal self-responsibility. Each student is expected to pick up all of their own trash all of the time, re-sulting in a trash-free up-per school.

“I think that it’s very dangerous for any individ-ual to develop an attitude that other people are re-sponsible for them,” said Head of Upper School Tony Durso.

While we’d like to be optimistic, and imagine a time when all of us picked up all of our own trash all of the time, it’s unrealistic to hold such an expecta-tion. Books deeply rooted in the FA curriculum re-pudiate the ability of a community to reach this perfect state, or “utopia.”

In The Scarlett Letter, which is currently be-ing studied by juniors in American Literature, Nathaniel Hawethorne deems the creator of a utopia also the creator of a prison and a cemetery because a truly perfect state cannot exist.

In Durso’s most recent e-mail to the student body regarding cleanliness, he eliminated one denim day and threatened that the following denim day be cancelled unless the fol-lowing conditions were met in the upper school commons and hallways: “not a water bottle, lone

book, or piece of trash not properly put or thrown away.”

Realistically, a clean-up chart must be created to ensure cleanliness in the upper school. Students should share in maintain-ing a tidy commons so that when trash is forgotten it doesn’t sit, rotting for days on end. We don’t want to listen to morning meeting announcements, receive warning e-mails, and risk our unique privileges as students at FA because a spilled iced tea was never taken care of. In this situ-ation, there is a demand that structured clean up duty be organized. While a world where people take partial responsibility for each other may not be a perfect ideal, it is the only feasible way to maintain a clean upper school.

In the clean-up system, a chart would be created to assign one to two mem-bers of each class with 8th period unscheduled times to be responsible for cleaning up remaining trash in their sections of the commons and their hallways. The chart may be reverting back to a middle school style of re-sponsibility, but promises improvement greater than what we are seeing now. The chart even indirectly promotes self responsi-bility, since students on duty will encourage oth-ers to clean up, and those not on duty avoid having their peers be responsible for their trash.

While flaws in the phi-losophy of a cleanup sys-tem seem too great for the administration, we must take a new approach to a problem that is showing almost no forward prog-ress. Thomas Moore says it perfectly in Utopia.

“What you cannot turn to good, you must at least make as little bad as you can.”

Mess calls for cleanup system

cartoon by isabel steven

I think that it’s very dangerous for any individual to develop an attitude that other people are responsible for them. -Head of Upper School Tony Durso

“

”

For those of you who, as you dig out your cor-duroys for the colder sea-sons, are wishing it were still sweet tea and barbe-cue season, have no fear. Zac Brown Band’s You Get What You Give pro-vides summer lovers with something to carry them through the fall.

Brown’s savory croons make up for the end of warm weather and hicko-ry-honey stained napkins. His voice, sweet, smooth, and southern, could have been well-marinated in its own bowl of Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce.

The album, released Sept. 21, is one guaran-teed to please.

After only three days out on shelves, 153,000 copies of You Get What You Give were sold, sur-

passing Maroon 5’s re-cently released Hands All Over by 142,000 albums according to Billboard 200’s Sept. 23 report.

It isn’t hard to see the album’s attraction. Even though Brown’s lyrics might lean toward the cli-chéd side, and nothing can be compared to the band’s previous hit “Chicken Fried,” the Georgia sex-tet has incredible consis-tency, each song as solid as the last.

Lead vocals, harmonies and fiddle solos are all im-pressive and can contest that the band is more than their plaid button-ups and unshaven faces. “Knee Deep,” an island-pop in-fused number featuring Jimmy Buffett, opens with a fiddle and guitar pluck-ing catchy melody. This 10-second opening to the song is provides a hook to keep you listening.

“Cold Hearted” and “Martin” both take a dif-ferent route and are beau-tiful ballads about friend-ship, love and loss. They easily spotlight Brown’s tenor and the band’s har-monies. The album title,

“you get what you give,” is a line from “Martin.”

“Quiet Your Mind,” a song that shows off Brown’s bandmates with overlapping harmonies, is another song to be rec-ognized. While the har-monies add a dynamic to the song, lyrics like “it’s a game you can’t win” con-tradict the albums easy-breezy attitude that moral Brown has instilled in his audience throughout the

whole album. The album focuses on

morals like “enjoy the ride” and “heart above your head and your eyes wide open... you’re not the only ship out on the ocean” that lend them-selves to the unrealistic sermon popular with country artists since the early 2000s when country superstar Kenny Chesney brought a little Jimmy Buffett back into main-

stream country.Keep in mind, Zac

Brown Band isn’t re-ally country through and through. Some tracks are laced with traces of jam-band, and rock and blues that can provide a reason for those who typically don’t like country to try this album.

Though Zac Brown Band didn’t take any risks with the lyrics or style of music, they gave their au-

dience exactly what they expected—a tactic that is sure to satisfy the band’s already-devoted fans.

Zac Brown Band takes the stage as a favorite of many due to their summer-linked southern sound.

photo courtesy of GooGle

Falcon Flier Rating

the back page The Falcon Flier November 2010

It’s Kind of a Funny Sto-ry isn’t a very funny story at all.

But, at the same time, it’s hilarious.

This movie is thought provoking as well as mindless. It’s serious as well as light-hearted. It’s everything that a movie can be and everything that it shouldn’t be, but that’s what makes it be-lievable. It’s real.

Based on the bestsell-ing novel, It’s Kind of a Funny Story follows a boy, Craig, living in New York who admits himself into a mental health hospital when he feels like he’s going to commit suicide. He had everything he could ever want; admit-tance into a prestigious school, money, a nice

Sit down: By allowing yourself to take the time and eat a healthy breakfast, you have mental-ly told yourself that you have eaten a meal. If you spend your time rushing around in the morning, your mind will only remember how many times your parents yelled at you for being late.

Protein portion: Include some protein in your morning meal. Proteins are digested slower than carbohydrates which keep you feeling fuller, longer. This also allows your blood sugar levels to remain low. Yoplait yogurt, eggs, or lean turkey are a perfect portions of your morning protein.

Whole grain: Fiber keeps you full and focused. Fiber is harder to digest at a slow rate; there-fore it occupies space in your stomach which tells your mind that you h a v e had a satisfying meal. Fruit and whole grain bagels are a great source of � ber and easy to take on the go if you’re low on time.

family, good friends. But his drive for perfection (and his crush on his best friend’s girlfriend) pushes him into a depression that no one else takes serious-ly, even though it’s a clini-cal disease.

Craig (whose last name is never mentioned) is played by Keir Gilchrist. He shows each emotion perfectly, as if he actu-ally is Craig. His boyish grin and awkward tenden-cies throughout make the viewer fall in love with him instantly, and he stays consistent with it. This movie could push him into stardom.

Emma Roberts is an-other rising star who makes an appearance in this movie. She’s gone on a completely differ-ent path from her “Un-fabulous” and “Hotel for Dogs” days, and it has

defi nitely paid off. She plays Noelle, the troubled girl that Craig meets in the hospital, and puts depth into the character that she hasn’t portrayed in her other movies. It was defi -nitely a surprise.

Zach Galifi anakis is a familiar face who brings comedic relief to the movie. But don’t watch this expecting to see Alan from The Hangover. Gal-ifi anakis plays Bobby, a man that Craig meets in the hospital who has lost everything. Instead of his usual role as the stupid guy who ends up being hi-larious, Galifi anakis plays someone wise, who’s try-ing to be funny but his troubles put a darker spin to his jokes. He’s hilarious, but it’s a different type of hilarity.

This movie isn’t de-pressing, even though it’s

about depression. Some of the scenes are sad, but the overall sense of the movie is happy.

It has an awesome soundtrack, so at least watch it for that. It also has the sense of an inde-pendent fi lm with a low budget and a powerful message.

The message of the fi lm isn’t something that is talked about frequently. This movie shows that having a mental illness does not take away from a person’s character. In one scene, Craig says that he didn’t think the mental ward was a “good place to meet girls.” But he ends up meeting, and falling for, a girl he meets there. Being mentally ill doesn’t make someone “bad” or “weird.” It’s an illness, and it makes them exactly like someone suffering from

cancer or diabetes. This movie has some-

thing for everyone. It has mindless jokes, along with a deeper message. It’s a movie that’s hard to explain, even though the view-er will want to explain it to anyone who will listen. There are tons of aspects to this movie that can’t even be put into words; it just has to be seen.

Also a plus: it’s ex-actly like the book.

So see this movie. And pick up the book, too. Then give it to ev-eryone you know. Give it a chance. It might not change your life com-pletely, but it’ll defi nitely change how you view it.

‘It’s Kind of a Funny Story’ delves deep, gives optimism

STAYSTAYfueledFighting the mid-semester burnout that creeps up behind you, devouring all will to produce decent work, requires special

attention to keep your body going. The retreat is long gone, spirit week is now in the past, and homecoming is a distant memory. Check out a few tips to counter the dreaded mid-semester crash.

by LINDSAY DAWSON

the falcon flier

by MARY GRAY JOHNSON

the falcon flier

by LIZ BENAVIDESthe falcon flier

Keep your energy up!Adding a teaspoon of sugar or having a quick sip of tea or co� ee for a ca� eine boost is a great way to get an extra bit of focus. Dried fruit or nuts are also an easy option for a pick me up.

3.

2.

1.

Investing in a solid breakfast is key to starting your day right. Fueling up in the morning will allow you to stay focused for longer and more productive.

Information courtesy of www.cookinglight.com

Tips for a good breakfast:

PHOTOS COURTESY OF STOCK.XCHNG

DOPPELGANGERSEEING DOUBLE IN THE UPPER SCHOOLSEEING DOUBLE IN THE UPPER SCHOOL

Is it the strawberry blonde locks, or strik-ingly similar smiles that make Jonathan Kepcke and American Pie’s “Sherminator” (Chris Owen) identi-cal?

Is it her changing hair color or tendency to make the edgiest fash-ion statements that make Prescott Castles a Gaga look-alike?

Maya Brown’s pouty lips and pop star hair-do make her a carbon copy of Rihanna. Did we mention she can sing?

Not only does big guy Je� Eckerson resem-ble Pixar superhero Mr. Incredible, but his super powers don’t fall short of the � c-tional hero either.

Mr. Durso’s infamous smirk and eyebrow raise isn’t his only Steve Carrell-like qual-ity. He’s a comedian too!

Davies’ spiked hair and onstage charisma make him seem like Racal Flatts lead sing-er Gary LeVox’s alter ego.

Prescott CastlesLady Gaga

Mr. Eckerson

Mr. IncredibleMr. Durso

Steve CarrellWyatt Davies

Gary LeVoxJonathan Kepcke

‘Sherminator’ Maya BrownRihanna

FA PHOTOS BY LAUREN FALKENBERG AND ISABEL STEVEN

Falcon Flier Rating

Weigh down with water Staying hydrated helps all as-pects of your body. Drinking enough water helps to carry food throughout the body. Staying hy-drated helps to keep your mind sharp and prevents headaches.

MeditateRoll out your mat and make a pose. Another source of adding ox-ygen to the brain is through yoga. Yoga is also proven to relieve stress which can make cramming in that extra paper, not so over-whelming.

Add some oxygen There’s a reason that people go for walks to try and clear their head. Walking increases the amount of blood circulation in the brain, al-lowing more oxygen to reach brain cells. Try going for a short walk before studying for a big test or after � nishing up some homework to refresh your mind.