A Public Forum for News, Opinion, and Creative Thought of The Governor’s Academy APRIL 29TH, 2009 VOLUME 50, ISSUE 10 Kenyan Students Visit Govs N H I S S S U E I T I : The option of boarding is just by Katie Reilly ‘ 1 1 one of the commonalities between their schools in Kenya and ED I TO R I A L S A p p roximately 7000 miles f rom Boston, Massachusetts is the G o v e r n o r ’s. Both Lesley and Twitter 2 African country of Kenya. Lydia are boarders at their R e c e n t l y, two high school stu- schools. Lesley’s real home is dents from Kenya traveled this about an hour-and-a-half drive distance to visit he Governor’ s f rom his school, while Lydia’s is A c a d e m y. Lydia Katini an hour away by plane. Despite, Mwangasha and Lesley Owuor this similarity, both students agre e that there is a great diff e rence in http://twitter.com/goddamnelectric O p e re left their home country for the first time to visit and experi- the atmospheres of the classro o m . ence America for six weeks. “In Kenya, I have 40 students in G ay Marrige Now ! 2 Lydia, who comes fro m one class,” says Lydia of her all- Kenya High School in Nairobi, is girls school, “and the teachers OP I N I O N come to the classrooms, rather 16 years old. “I wanted to come to Lydia and Lesley Print vs Electronic 4 America and see what high school Photo by Bonnie Xia ‘09 than the students changing class- C o r r e c t i o n s 4 es.” “There are teacher- s t u d e n t in the U.S. is like,” shares Ly d i a , physics, and math, is pursuing her favor the Kenyan food, Chapati, relationships here,” adds Lesley, “And for fun.” Lesley, fro m newfound interest in photogra- which is like a pancake without FE AT U R E S “The teachers get to know the stu- Alliance High School in Nairobi, is p h y. Lesley, on the other hand, is any toppings on it. B eyond Byfi e l d 6 dents.” He also notes that the facil- 17 years old. “I wanted to have a trying out Advanced Chemistry, Lydia and Lesley have also ities are better here at Gov’s. look at the American board i n g Honors Algebra II and enjoyed their involvement in Just as the schools share life,” says Lesley. Lesley and Photography for the first time. He afternoon activities, participating similarities and differences, so Lydia are fluent in the English lan- is also continuing his previous les- in yoga and lacrosse, re s p e c t i v e l y. do the teenage lifestyles. “You guage, though both teens learned sons in Honors Physics. Lesley had neither played nor wit- like a lot of fun compared to Swahili as their first language. Outside of the classro o m , nessed a game of lacrosse, as its us,” says Lesley. “You are They learned English in school Lydia enjoyed her first taste of a popularity in the U.S. is not mir- more independent of parents,” and, in Lesley’s case, the home as root beer float. Food is something ro red in Kenya. Even so, sports www.bu.edu adds Lydia about the well, since his family is bilingual. that is vastly diff e rent between the competitions between Kenyan teenagers she has met here. Even in their limited amount Kenyan and American culture s . high schools are just as common H o w e v e r, teenagers are of time here, Lesley and Ly d i a Lydia’s favorite foods from back as they are in the U.S. and of Fashion Forum: Spring 6 teenagers, wherever they have built up an impre s s i v e home are Biriani, spicy rice with course, there is always the option might live. “We’re both lazy,” course load. Lydia, while continu- d i ff e rent foods mixed into it, and of playing for fun, as Lesley does ing her studies of German, Pizza. Both exchange students with basketball. Continued on page 4 Seniors Look Forward to Days of Service www.howtobetrendy.com to offer enrichment programs by A r iel Shapiro ‘ 0 9 to elementary school stu- The annual Capstone pro- dents. Students, working in gram gives seniors one final groups of two to four, will The Geek Beat 8 reminder of the school's plan and lead projects in art The Endof the Globe 8 motto: Non sibi sed ailis: Not and science. Seniors in years for self but for others. past have taught dance and SP O RT S This year, on the ceramics, in addition to other Yoga is Tr e n dy ! 9 We d n e s d a y, Thursday, and areas. Art and science teach- Friday before graduation, the ers at The Governor’ s BAC KPAG E senior class will serve at a Academy have alre a d y B i r t h d ay s 1 0 variety of area locations. offered to provide materials, Some students will head to support and ideas. Due to the Audubon Society in limited resources, children at Kids at The Ford School Ipswich to repair infrastruc- The Ford School do not have Photo from Governor archives ture and ready the reserve for many opportunities to the coming summer. Last path so that the patients at connecting Triton Regional explore these areas, so these this rehabilitation center can School to The Governor’ s This issue of The year, students painted many days truly expand their hori- take pleasure in the fresh air Academy. Not only will stu- Governor is printed on s t ru c t u res and cleaned and zons. and sunshine. This year, stu- dents on campus benefit from 30% recycled paper. raked the grounds. Their Capstone combines coop- dents will build a gard e n this path, but it will also allow experience this year will be eration and service, two hall- similar. fence, a wheelchair accessible Triton students to bypass the marks of The Governor’ s Some students will work patio, and a sun deck for the m o re dangerous roads and A c a d e m y. “I’m excited to patients to enjoy. enjoy running through the at the Hogan Regional Center serve the community and Some students will remain woods during daily practices. in Danvers. In years past, stu- spend these last days with my on campus, working on a run- A fourth group will trav- dents built a garden walking class,” says senior Elizabeth ning path in Duff’s Wo o d el to The Ford School in Lynn Cieri. Op/Ed THE GOVERNOR 2 Editorial: Gay Marriage Now! Alex and Veronica have two children, are in a loving rela- A Public Forum for News, Opinion, and Creative Thought of The Governor’s Academy tionship, and have been together for 15 years. All of their APRIL 8TH, 2009 VOLUME 50, ISSUE 9 friends tell them that they are the perfect couple, and are role models. There is only one problem: Alex and Veronica can not marry. Even though they are both wonderful, compassionate E d i t o r s - i n - c h i e f : Photography Editors: people, they are not allowed to marry because they are both Gabriella Riley ‘09 Bonnie Xia ‘09 S t a ff Wr i t e r s : women. Outside of Massachusetts and Connecticut, gay mar- Julia Blanter ‘09 Abby Wallman ‘10 Shaan Chatterjee ‘10 riage is illegal in the United States. This is not only wrong, but Will Kavanagh ‘09 Maiki Kaneko ‘09 Lindsay Mackay ‘10 John T. Aleixo ‘11 unconstitutional. Gay marriage should be legal throughout Skylar Frisch ‘11 the United States because not allowing it violates the four- Managing Editors: Editorial Advisor: Kayla Jenson ‘11 teenth amendment. Even many religious denominations, who Katharine Brine ‘09 Ms. Judy Klein Nora Kline ‘11 Dylan Press ‘09 Katherine Reilly ‘11 may not allow same-sex ceremonies in their houses of wor- Jen Migliore ‘10 Back Page: Rachel Cabitt ‘12 ship, support the legal basis for gay marriage. Lindsay Grant ‘10 John Damianos ‘12 Gay marriage is when two people of the same sex get married and therefore have all the rights of straight marriage. Gay marriage has been very controversial throughout recent Editorial: history, and only in the last couple of years has been legalized anywhere in this country. Currently in the United States only To Twitter or Not to Twitter two states has legitimized gay marriage: Massachusetts and Connecticut. Gay marriage will be legal in Iowa on April 27 Twitter has grabbed headlines recently in good. President Obama used his Twitter page and in Vermont on September 1. many newspapers. To even the tech-savvy, to tweet about his campaign last year, letting Even though gay couples do not make up the majori- however, the ins and outs of how Twitter his followers know how things were going on ty of the U.S. population, the majority of the people do sup- works have been a bit confusing. In some the campaign trail. In 2007, the Los Angeles port gay marriage. As of March 2006, 53 percent of US citizens ways, Twitter is the “new Facebook.” Users Fire Department used their Twitter page to believe that gay people should have same legal agreements create a Twitter page where, instead of posting give their followers updates on the October which give them the exact same rights as traditional marriage.