EDITION 14 2008.Indd

T H E V I K I N G Volume XLI Edition 14 March 20, 2008 CSPA Gold Medalist SagaThe Student Newspaper of East Lyme High School East Lyme, Connecticut Heading East A Little Corn Beef ELHS teachers plan summer trip to China and Tibet Goes A Long Way by Ellie Kleinhans she study with a lama (a While the student Tibetan teacher.) body is awaiting summer Along with about dismissal, World History 20 other teachers from and Religions teacher Connecticut, Ms. Alice Pembrook and Pembrook and Ms. African American Studies Anderson will embark on teacher Cortney Anderson their voyage on June 26th are anticipating their trip and return on July 12th. to Tibet. “If you go by yourself, “We’ll be fl ying into you do not have a Beijing, visit Shanghai and sounding board and the Great Wall of China. ability to brainstorm. Then we will visit schools You don’t have the initial to try to make connections contacts that you have and visit three different when you go with people monasteries,” said Ms. who are really interested Photo Submitted/J. Christensen Anderson. She became in the topic,” said In spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, ELHS freshman James Christensen nurses a 1-year old vulture interested in Eastern Ms. Pembrook. back to good health with his mother’s corn beef. Christensen was taking a walk in the woods philosophy last year The group will be behind his Grassy Hill Road home with his brother and friend when they came across a when her acupuncturist in guided by Pit Peng, a citizen vulture stuck in a coyote trap. By poking the bird with a stick, they concluded that it was alive East Lyme suggested that (See Tibet page 4) but weak. The boys trekked the two miles back home with the bird wrapped in a jacket, where it was nurtured by the family for one day before being released back into the wild. I American Studies Replaced? N Page 4 To Graduate, or not to Graduate... Senior graduation only requirements for exit stipulations. Schools successfully complete T What does your requirements at East ELHS seniors to graduate like Lyman Memorial the senior project to H backpack say are passing CAPT and High School have “a graduate in June.” Lyme High School I about you? acquiring 25 credits required senior project “We thought it would S Page 7 by Andrea Chrunyk in certain subjects, for that involves a lengthy be benefi cial for Lyman Study Hall The most celebrated example, half a credit of research paper and students and would E Etiquette moment of your high Civics. Many schools, concludes with a multi- translate well to Lyman, D Page 7 school career usually like Stonington High faceted presentation and the recommendations I Defend Yourself comes at graduation, but School, have similar to a team of faculty of the State Department Page 9 does this come easier for requirements to ELHS. members in the spring of of Education and the New T East Lyme High School But a number of senior year,” said Lyman England Association of I Vantage Point students that those of surrounding schools Memorial High School Schools and Colleges,” O Movie Review surrounding schools? employ vastly different guidance counselor Dave said Mr. Tedesco. N Page 11 As of right now, the approaches regarding Tedesco. “Students must (See Exit page 5) The Viking Saga Opinion March 20, 2008 Our Two Cen news channels. By the time I realize I have you, or creativity does (at least for me). tossed away hours of precious work time, I It is in these moments of am about ready to get down to business with irrationality where you write the my homework, pressured by the deadline of getting to sleep at a reasonable hour. world’s best term paper. It is in these On weekend and summer nights, the late moments when you have a heart-to- hours take on a whole new excitement. These heart phone conversation with an hours are when the largest chunk of fun- old friend. In these moments when happening occurs. It is in these moments that you later refl ect and wonder “why you realize that you should really be in bed did I do that?” Then you realize when the best laughs come and you feel the closest with your friends. Then there are also that these were the best moments of those exciting minutes you spend rushing to your life. get home before curfew while the rest of the Looking back, I see high school as a string town seems to be sleeping. of late, sleep-deprived nights. Memories of __ No one remembers the nights they stayed These are the times that I love—the cranky that midnight dive into the ocean, or that night home, watched television and went to bed and sleepy, yet giddy or quiet or stressful I was working on the Warykas community at 7:30. moments at night when you realize how early project until 4:30 a.m. (only to wake up in a There is a special energy about the wee you must be up the next morning. half hour to go to Early Bird P.E.) fall into place hours of the night that cannot be matched After hours of procrastination—organizing like plastic beads of a friendship bracelet. during any other part of the day. pencils into their correct location atop your They form a circle of images and smells and During the school week, I manage to desk, seeing what everyone did over vacation sounds that I will never forget—leaving out the diddle away the hours of daylight after (via their online photo albums) and stacking groggy, Diet Pepsi-jolted, pajamas-to-school school that I consume with facebook and the cans of soda you have consumed in the mornings that I never seem to remember until internet browsing, or just fl ipping through the past hours, your conscience gets the best of I do it all over again. Does East Lyme High School have a clique problem? “A little between the Salem and East Lyme kids.” -freshman Theresa Horan V.Ferdon/Saga “I think there are cliques, but I S.Felitto/Saga think it is a natural part of high “Yeah there are cliques, but school for kids to divide into if you approach another their friend groups.” S.Felitto/Saga group there won’t be -senior Julia Murphy a fi ght.” -sophomore Dan Hornik Page 2 The Viking Saga Opinion March 20, 2008 ts are Free: Teachers preached throughout elementary and Saturday detention for various reasons, each middle school about diversity, acceptance and representing a stereotypical social group. compassion in hopes that students would feel At the end of the fi lm, the Breakfast Club comfortable in befriending every classmate writes a letter to their principal which says: they come across. While this is all said and Dear Mr. Vernon: We think you’re crazy good, the reality is that they were attempting to make us write an essay telling you who to eliminate a universal aspect of society. we think we are. You see us as you want to Cliques are present in the form of college see us: in the simplest terms, in the most sororities and fraternities, in neighborhood convenient defi nitions. But, what we found associations and in the workforce. Cliques out is that each one of us is: a brain…and an are a way of life, but they are not always bad. athlete…and a basket case…a princess…and Friendships and associations are a criminal. Does that answer your question? somewhat concrete in the real world. Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club. We meet people, decide if we The truth is, ELHS has cliques. We have like them or not and if we do, the jocks, the hippies and the brains. Our lunch They are the school administration’s room is so clearly divided that a map could worst nightmare. They are strong. Their we keep them. If not, we don’t. be made of the different “groups” equipped power is deep rooted in the social realms of And although people come in and with labels of who sits where at the table. high school. They part the sea of students out of our lives at different times, there What people fail to understand is that in the hallway. They have been present is always our core group made up of it is not a problem. From my observations, in every generation of human existence. longtime friends and family from whom these group divisions and labels are for They are unbreakable. They are…cliques. we seek love, advice, comfort and support. the most part dropped in the classroom This description of cliques is exactly how The classic example of cliques is the setting, where students easily mingle. But they have been portrayed by adults since 1980s fi lm, The Breakfast Club. It is the when it comes to friends, we know who we entered kindergarten at the age of fi ve. story of six high school students who get we like. And that’s the way it should be. Have an opinion? “Yes, everyone has their own Send your letters, questions and comments to Th e Viking Saga at little group and you can always [email protected] tell when there is a new person because it is obvious that they haven’t blended into a The Saga Staff: group yet.” Stefanie Felitto & Featured Writers: -junior Sarah Mooradian Valerie Ferdon V.Ferdon/Saga Editors-in-Chief Alex Addabbo John Kleinhans Hannah Barner News Editor Kit Brown Mollie Teeter Features Editor Andrea Chrunyk Kyle Weiss Ryann Foulke “I think there are defi nitely Sports and a few groups who isolate Back Page Editor Matthew Heath Kate Eberle Ellie Kleinhans themselves but there are also Entertainment many who are open to meeting Editor Amy Li Jeff Beale Emily Newton new people.” Advisor -senior Leah Clement Ramona Ostrowski Ariel Nicolosi V.Ferdon/Saga Featured Illustrator Brendan Welch Page 3 The Viking Saga News March 20, 2008 The Modern World Takes Over the Classroom Civics class to potentially replace American Studies by Hannah Barner tudents may soon say goodbye to sophomore Isabelle Celentano.

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