The Green & Gold

Summer Edition, July, 2021

Vol.4

A Student Written Newspaper See further in article 8

Welcome to The Green and Editor in Chief: Charlotte McKinley Gold, a student newspaper written exclusively by Viking Contributing writers: students. The journalism Nia Bedard students created the Samantha Watkins MIranda Cincotta newspaper to inform, entertain, Anna Hou and inspire readers, while Jasmine Milbourne striving to become better Josephine Leslie writers and communicators of Laney Riesett their ideas Laura Newmark

1

The Unprecedented Year: Recap

By: Jasmine Milbourne

The 2020-2021 school year year Saint John’s adapted. Tape will forever and always go down in the hallways, masks, reminders as one of the most interesting on every wall, and screeners were school years in history. Though some of the things our Saint John’s will be opening up community had to overcome for the upcoming school year, together. last year was definitely one to Students did all they remember. From six feet could to have a normal school distancing to mandatory masks year. In late August, the school mandates, everything changed welcomed the class of 2024 with a for the school. five-day orientation. Seniors, In July of last year, the juniors, and sophomores were news broke that students and not far behind on those. In late faculty would be returning for on September, some students had campus instruction- at least an at-home homecoming dance partially. The hybrid schedule while others were able to enjoy was introduced, and throughout their friend’s company through a the screen. Overall the Viking family As the new schedule proved that they can get through ensued, this became the new anything. normal. Sports were reintroduced in October with heavy restrictions. Students and coaches did all they could to follow guidelines while still playing their best. Fall, winter, and spring sports were all able to display their commitment throughout the year. Overall, Viking sports delivered one of best years with over half the student body participating in sports. Clubs were able to meet virtually and some new ones formed. Clubs like Science Olympiad and Mock Trial flourished in their respective competitions. In Fall, the sophomore class was able to be together for their retreat. By December/January the talk of a vaccine was underway. Though students weren’t able to receive it until April, many of the faculty acquired the earliest possible dose. In the early spring, the junior class was able to enjoy each other’s company for their retreat. In May, the Vikings said goodbye to their class of 2021, held senior prom, had their last retreat together, and wrapped up sports. School wrapped in early June, leaving behind one of the most eventful school years. The mandatory mask mandate was lifted halfway through June amid the hope that the Saint John’s community could get back to normal. 2

Advice For Incoming Freshman

By: Nia Bedard

Dear Incoming Freshmen, former freshman of SJCP, I am giving you my top seven pieces Starting high school can of advice to survive your be very intimidating- that is a freshman year. very simple observation and does not change despite the 1. Don’t be nervous chaos of 2020. Regardless of that, the comfort of normalcy is in I understand that this statement sight heading into the 2021-2022 is a bit ridiculous. This is a big school year with the hopes of the transition and of course you are school returning to full capacity, going to be nervous throughout clubs returning, and sports your freshman year about some teams having normal seasons. things. That being said, don't Despite the return to normalcy, become encapsulated in your starting high school is still a nerves of starting at a new daunting and even scary school, making new friends, transition, so speaking as a learning new things, etc. The moment you begin to let go of 4. Get involved in your nerves, start being yourself, extracurriculars and just live in the moment, you will proceed to get the most out Freshman year is a great time to of your freshman year whether get involved in extracurriculars. that’s with friends, in sports, or in Whether it’s a sport or a club, the academics. options are limitless for students to get involved in activities. 2. YOUR TEACHERS ARE HERE TO Sports teams include: Baseball, HELP YOU Basketball, Competitive Cheer, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Notice that this statement is in Indoor/Outdoor Track, all caps. This is a very important Lacrosse,Soccer, Softball, Tennis, piece of advice. Your teachers and Volleyball. Clubs and want you to succeed, they don’t Student Organizations include: enjoy it when you fail a test, turn Book Club, Black Student Union, something in late, or don’t Campus Ministry, Cooking, understand a topic. Your Environmental Club, teachers are there to help you International Club, National Art and support you throughout Honors Society, National Honors your time in school, so don’t Society, Student Ambassadors, hesitate to ask a question if you Student Government Association, don’t understand something. and many more. It is even Talk to your teachers if you need possible to create new clubs extra help or tutoring, try and such as the Sign Language Club make a plan with your teacher if which was created by Kalia you are falling behind on an Espenlaub, Class of 2023. So with assignment. Bottom line, your all of those options, go try out teachers are here to help you, for a team, join a club, or create not hurt you. a club. It can be a fun way to make new friends and be 3. Organization is key involved with the school.

If you start out the year being organized, it will only make it 5. Be attentive in class much easier to find information by the end of the year. Whether This one will be a bit difficult to you organize your information in do all the time, so it’s okay if you a binder, notebook, or on your zone out in the middle of class. I computer, being organized and will warn you now that you will, knowing how to find information especially during that 5-7 week is key to making it through your stretch from President’s Day to freshman year. Spring Break, want nothing more than to be done with school. Despite that, there are ways to keep yourself from zoning out during a long lecture or a boring video. If you are being given a lecture, enjoy here and make the most start taking notes so that your of your time at SJCP. Go to brain processes the information football games, go to dances, being given to you by your join a club, make a club, try out teacher-- plus, writing down for a team, manage a team, information helps you retain it make new friends, make new better. If you are watching a memories, take classes you are boring video, you can take notes, interested in, get to know your but the visuals from the video will teachers, get to know members most likely distract you, rather of staff, get to know your take a tiny mental break to bring classmates, but most you back to focus. This can importantly enjoy the next four include tapping the table with years. your fingers ten times, taking five deep breaths, or just stepping I hope that all of this advice is out of the room can help reset beneficial to those of you who your brain to focus on the take it, and for those of you information. who decide not to, that's totally

fine too. I just hope that any 6. Take charge incoming freshman could read

this and get some peace of If you put effort into what you mind about heading into next are doing you will see an year. Good luck class of 2025! improvement, whether that is in academics, sports, or any other school activity. If you are not seeing improvement, then ask for help. Teachers can give you extra Green & Gold Staff help or help you find a tutor from Highlight the National Honors Society. Plan a get together with friends Nia Bedard has been an from your sports team to run example of excellence at some drills or a scrimmage. You The Green & Gold. She is have the power to improve while a talented student, writer, at Saint John’s so long as you singer, and classmate. take charge. Thank you Nia for all your hard work!

7. Enjoy every moment

As a senior I will tell you that these next four years will go by so fast, I still haven’t processed that I’m going to start my senior year in 7 weeks. Since your time here will go by very quickly, I highly recommend that you do what you

Beat3 the Boredom

By: Samantha Watkins

This summer, do not fear boredom, there are plenty of If you would rather do something ways to stay occupied. The more social you, could hang out best way to stay physically with friends or maybe use your and mentally active is to learn time to volunteer. Helping others something new. This can be a is a great way to use your time new language, game, skill, and it usually makes everyone's anything you can think of. It day a little better. Combating can inspire new hobbies such boredom can be as easy as as exercise, drawing, writing, listening to music or taking a cooking, and many more. You step outside for some fresh air. could also use this time to do Even if these solutions are not something that you have working out, boredom is not been putting off, or make such a bad thing. It can inspire plans for the future. Another new thoughts or just give your way to beat boredom is to brain a moment to decompress. read a book, watch a movie, or find a new TV series. Indulging in a good book, movie, or TV show can be a great mental vacation even if you are stuck at home. ourselves in odd ways, can further skew what we might expect to see in photographs. Since we spend more time looking at ourselves in the mirror than in photos, we best recognize and are most familiar with that version of ourselves. Familiarity is the basis for our being attracted to something, so by seeing our face in the mirror 4 more frequently than in images, Selfies VS Mirrors, we like the version of ourselves in Why We Look Odd the mirror better. This phenomenon is called “mere in Photos exposure” theory which states By: Josephine Leslie that the more one is exposed to something, the more likely they are to prefer that thing. Similar to how a mirror Have you ever gone to distorts our face, the lenses of an event, dressed up, and taken cameras change how we look. If photos only to look at them we have a camera lens that is later and think, “Wow, these are close to our face, like in a selfie, bad photos of me” no matter our features can be enlarged, how hard you try to look nice? flattened, widened, and further You are not alone. Many distorted making us look older people experience discomfort or less attractive. The use of a and confusion over the pictures camera’s flash feature also taken of them by phones and makes an image less true-to-self other devices with cameras. because of the extreme contrast Mainly, three factors cause us drawn between lights and to prefer our faces in the mirror shadows. to those in photos: familiarity, So while those photos you mirroring, and individual quirks took at the party the other night of each camera. may look odd, remember that When we look into the there are many factors at play mirror, we see a reversed for why they look different from version of ourselves. So, what you see of yourself. whenever we look at photographs, we expect to see the reversed version of ourselves and are often Sources surprised by what we look like. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/selfies-vs-the- The more asymmetrical mirror-face_n_5a4faf77e4b01e1a4b14cdf9 our faces are, or when we pose https://www.distractify.com/fyi/2018/07/30/29Yp Yr/why-do-i-look-different-in-pictures https://time.com/40254/selfies-science/ The New Warner Stadium Is Coming 5 By: Laney Riesett7

Saint John’s Catholic Prep due to the area where the has had plans to build a stadium stadium will be located, it was for quite a while, starting in 2015. not allowed. The school had to With the company Gale as the go to the state as well as the architect and Warner county to receive permission contracting along with SCG fields which took almost two years. as the contractors, the stadium There was a previous contract will include a bathroom, with FC Frederick to lease the concessions, and lights with ball fields which also had to be tracker technology. It will consist redone since that space was of a turf field with metal being taken away. The school bleachers that will seat 400 has now received the permits people, all being connected to and as of late May, the turf has the Willard Family Patio. The arrived, waiting to be installed. back parking lot will also be The fence has also been paved and adorned with lights installed, so the next step is to to accompany the new start the process of digging the stadium. SJCP hoped to get the field out. stadium in sooner, however, they In order to install turf, the ran into problems along the way. ground must be dug up and the In order to get the correct appropriate layers must be filled permits, water and sewer are back in, with the turf as the top required to be installed. However, layer. Once digging commences, there is an estimation of about four months before the stadium is complete, putting the Project Hail estimated end date around Mary by Andy September 15th. Weir The stadium will be used by soccer, lacrosse, football, and cheerleading. To any sports that may not be able to use the stadium, there will still be a Andy Weir, author of the #1 practice field behind it which will New York Times bestselling novel, be open to use. The plans The Martian, recently published however do not stop there, Dr. his new science fiction book, Powell hopes to additionally add Project Hail Mary. Perfect for a baseball and softball field, a lovers of science, math, and track, and perhaps even tennis astronomy, this exciting and courts with parking and a incredibly well researched novel pavilion on the school’s land by follows Ryland Grace, a man who the neighboring farm. With wakes up light years from Earth plenty of excitement for the in a spaceship, with no memory future, the stadium has hopes to of who he is or why he is in space be done for next year’s fall to begin with. What he soon season where the students can discovers is that the sun is dying enjoy its new perks. and he is humanity’s last hope for survival. Tasked with this mission, he sets out to find a solution, finding help from something he never expected. Ryland Grace is humorous, compassionate, and imperfect which creates a main character that is easy to relate to. What also makes this book great is the fact that Andy Weir thoroughly researched all the science in this book (and let me tell you there is a lot of it), but he explains it in a 6 way that is understandable and New Books You thrilling, then effortlessly ties the science into the story. Have to Read This Heart-warming, funny, and Year thought provoking, Project Hail Mary is one of the best science fiction books of this year and if By: Miranda Cincotta you are a nerd at heart, this book is the one for you. Firekeeper’s Daughter by Sooley by John Grisham Angeline Boulley John Grisham, a former attorney, Angeline Boulley is a member of is a very successful author Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of famous for legal thrillers. His Chippewa Indians and wrote her newest book, Sooley, is unlike recently published debut novel many of his other novels, Firekeeper’s Daughter because, however, his excellent as she writes in her author’s story-telling abilities shine note, “there are simply too few through. Perfect for those who stories told by and about Native love basketball, this book follows Americans, especially from a a 17-year old South Sudanese contemporary point of view.” basketball player, Samuel Boulley’s book is groundbreaking Sooleyman, who is chosen to and includes real aspects of play for an international travel Native American culture team heading to the U. S. A. including language, history, and However, during the tournament, tradition. Daunis, the main tragedy strikes his family back character, is an 18-year old home when rebels ransack his biracial girl with a white mother home. Only his mother and two and Native American father who younger brothers escape to a agrees to become a confidential refugee camp in Uganda. informant for the FBI and Throughout the entire book, provide them with information Sooley’s hardwork and about the growing drug determination stand out as he trafficking problem within her works towards going pro, the community, taking the lives of only way he can bring his family those close to her. Daunis is a to America. A classic underdog tough, smart, and powerful story, Grisham creates a vivid heroine that you root for main character who is motivated throughout the entire story. to succeed by his love of the Firekeeper’s Daughter is layered game and his love for his family. with deep and meaningful Fans of sports and moving themes of strength, novels won’t be disappointed preservereance, and community. with this book. 7 The Importance of Community Service: an Interview with Mrs. Ryczko

By: Laura Newmark

Community service is a staple of the high school experience. A daunting number for many high school students, her take on the importance of the eighty hour requirement can community service, Mrs. Ryczko feel challenging to reach. Yet the answered; “It is a two part thing, act of service comes with the first comes from helping benefits from enriching the someone in the community. community that far outweigh the Research shows that helping effort put in. An interview with others actually makes you feel Mrs. Ryczko shows her better“. Community service allows perspective on the value of for people to feel happier, as the community service and her tips joy of seeing someone else at finding the right service become content because of you project to participate in. brings internal joy. The second With scrambling seniors part Mrs. Ryczko referred to was trying to determine the meaning the importance of service related behind completing the eighty work experience. Mrs. Ryczko hour requirement, the states service; “is a great way to importance of service is not figure out what you are always clear. When asked about interested in by volunteering your time”. Through volunteering, accomplish with restrictions, the people can discover their 2021 class persevered and many passions, and discover what they helped enrich a group of elderly enjoy doing. The work experience individuals in need of support. gained from volunteering is a Given the challenges, Mrs. Ryczko great way to determine future encourages students to “think careers. outside the box”, much like this In fact, Mrs. Ryczko year’s seniors. suggests that, for students less Ultimately, community enthusiastic about fulfilling the service is about assisting others service requirements, they look and giving back to the to use this opportunity to community, and with that comes determine their career interests. internal happiness. As Mrs. Additionally, Mrs. Ryczko highly Ryczko said; “seeing joy in others recommends group service raises your spirit”. activities; she claims “larger groups are more fun, for example the blessings of the backpack where students are laughing and working together”. When asked about her favorite projects, Mrs. Ryczko once again mentioned the value of groups, saying her ideal activity was; “where students can get together”. For those in need of ideas for community service or looking to enhance their experience. Mrs. Ryczko proposes you choose an 8 activity that can be done with Juliana Workman’s friends, something to work on Art Highlights the together. Viking Spirit However; given times of social distancing, working with friends isn’t always possible, By: Charlotte McKinley particularly for the class of 2021 graduates. Nevertheless these seniors proved to be creative as The Green & Gold wants to Mrs. Ryczko described the thank Juliana Workman for her unique ways this class sought to contribution of her art to the enhance the community. She issue. Juliana’s art reflects the states; “This past year several spirit of SJCP and the Green & students were able to help the Gold. Her talent is sure to grow elderly”. During a time of elderly into the future and SJCP is lucky isolation, this project is of utmost to have such a rising artist. Her importance. While service may latest work is highlighted on the have proved challenging to cover of this month’s issue.