“A beacon of truth.” Issue 2, Volume 34 HuntingtonDispatch High School Oakwood and McKay Roads Huntington, NY 11743 06 Homecoming Fallout DECEMBER Future of school events PHOTO: AARON COHN in jeopardy news in short by SAMANTHA ROLLINS been under the influence of alco- Scholars in the running hol, all of whom were suspended The day after Homecoming, from school. However, many be- Hannah Payne and a studentʼs online away message lieve that more than 12 people Matt Rienzo were recently displayed the following: were intoxicated at the dance. named semifinalists in the “The results are in...300 [stu- “It put me in such a diffi- National Merit Scholarship dents were] drunk, 24 suspended, cult position, because I can only competition. 11 in the hospital.” deal with the visibly drunk,” said Of the 1.4 million stu- While these numbers were Ms. Hefele, who chaperoned the dents who took the PSAT simply hearsay, there is no deny- dance. last October, only 16,000, ing that the annual Homecoming Many students declined to or slightly over one per- dance caused an uproar of con- comment for this article. cent, were selected. troversy when the administration “I thought there were more The criteria for selec- discovered that many students ar- people who should have been tion include performance rived intoxicated. suspended, it was sort of unfair on the PSAT/NMSQT, an “Many more kids were under that only 12 people were caught, essay, and an official rec- the influence than at any other when so many others were just as dance in the past six years,” Mr. drunk,” one remarked. ommendation from the SAM CONEYS PHOTO: school. Jarrett Stein said. Upon arrival to The administration is not the dance, the administration ob- simply concerned with punish- Eagle Project finished served the behavior and coordina- ing students, but also with the tion of the students and was able The pond and waterfall to determine 12 students to have see FALLOUT on page 2 in the courtyard adjacent to the cafeteria have been completed. The project was designed and imple- mented by Chris Patrikis, Shining in a New Light who is in the process of be- coming an Eagle Scout. Performers showcase their talents in outside venues INSIDE FEATURES by SHANNON LEE CONNORS ny of their friends, Laura Dab- rowski forgoes such pastimes Holiday Performing arts students at HHS are often in order to take part in a unique required to juggle schoolwork, sports, clubs, dance group. Dabrowski, a ju- Gift part-time jobs, and family commitments. nior, is entering her third year However, some have further extended them- with The Polish American Guide selves to take part in productions outside of Folk Dance Company, a multi- school. For these students, the time commit- generational dance troupe. The ment is more than worth the experience. folk dance company performs “It never seemed that anyone minded in concerts at New York Cityʼs What to give p. 4 giving up their time and sacrificing something F.I.T. and Alice Tully Hall, as in their life, because they loved the activity well as festivals in Boston and OPINION so much,” said Josh Blumberg, a junior who Poland. The dance company marches with the Syracuse Brigadiers Drum has been known to meet up to Why ‘no and Bugle Corps. four times a week prior to cru- pass days’ While the majority of Huntington High cial performances, SAM CONEYS PHOTO: School students spend their Friday nights in “I feel that it is completely Lillienstein, Porter, and Meszaros play their strings in LIYO. should Huntington Village or enjoying the compa- worth the seven hours I put in each Friday be- there to work and loves music just as much as be done cause the company is preserving Polish tradi- you do, and thatʼs not something you experi- away with tions, customs, and culture for generations to ence on a high school level,” Blumberg said. come.” Dabrowski said. In a different realm of music, some HHS Editorial p. 6 Dabrowski represents a highly dedicated students participate in the Long Island Youth group of students within the Huntington High Orchestra (LIYO). ENTERTAINMENT School community; those who are willing to “I love it...and it is one hundred percent go to extreme lengths in order to pursue their worth it to be around such an amazing group passions. of musicians,” Senior Aimee Lillienstein said. Juniors Josh Blumberg and Alex Prince She has played in LIYO for the last three years. are members of the Syracuse Brigadiers Drum Seniors Vivian Porter and Samantha Rollins and Bugle Corps. The corps, which is part of and junior Matt Meszaros are also members Drum Corps Associates (DCA), participates of this elite orchestra. in marching band-style competitions with oth- The group practices for three hours ev- er groups from across the country. Rehearsals ery Sunday at C.W. Post, though practices How to ‘woo’ women; JOLESCH.COM PHOTO: take place every other weekend from January can last for up to four hours before a concert. sort of to April, and intensify to every weekend until LIYO takes part in four concerts each year at Top 10 Tips p. 8 early September. Blumberg and Prince took the Tilles Center, and last year performed at INDEX part in the DCA finals in Rochester on Sep- Carnegie Hall in New York City. fashion.........................7 tember 3rd, where their corps placed sixth out The Huntington Village Theater Compa- entertainment..............9 of the 16 participants. ny (HVTC) also benefits from the dedication “I do drum corps because you have the sports..............back page see PERFORMERS on page 3 Josh Blumberg blasts for the Brigadiers. opportunity to learn so much...and everyone is The Dispatch 2 DECEMBER06 NEWS Plagiarize at your own risk Teachers turn to “Turnitin.com” to catch cheaters by HENRY BAUGHMAN on Turnitinʼs server. This going into getting other pro- the fight against it. not only allows for easy ac- grams. Despite its downfalls, the Students beware; Huntington cess but also creates a unique According to advocates of Turnitin service was a relative High School is looking to crack massive database for the pro- Turnitin.com, the primary goal bargain financially, costing the down on plagiarism with the in- gram to search. is to help educate students about school only seventy-five cents corporation of the Turnitin pro- Turnitin does not only plagiarism. Unfortunately, this per student. If only for the data gram. offer a plagiarism detec- may be all that the application is access, this would be a worthy Turnitin has acted as a pla- tion program, but also capable of doing, as in one program. The plagiarism detec- giarism detection service for includes a peer review no instance Turnitin failed tion just an added benefit. over a decade; it is used in scores system, an opportunity to to realize that a fake sub- According to Mr. Florea, of nations, and thousands of do all grading online. mission was taken word Turnitin can greatly help in pre- schools, including Huntington While most teachers for word from an old paring students for “what college High School. While searching the immediately saw the Wikipedia article. Be- will be like.” internet or books to determine the advantages of an cause Wikipediaʼs ar- While Turnitin is far from a validity of a students work has al- online submission, ticles can be modified foolproof solution to the problem ways been an option, this was a many may be re- by anyone, their ever of plagiarism, it offers many ad- very time consuming endeavor. luctant to relinquish changing content is vantages over the manual check- According to Mr. Florea, an their red pen and hard to pin down. Other ing. This program exceeds the old advocate of the program, the goal there are currently techniques of assign- method of “learning the students is to “teach [students] e ff o r t s ment fabrication writing [techniques],” by leaps about paraphrasing.” ILLUSTRATION: DAN RABINOWITZ & LEIF DRACE were also success- and bounds. Turnitin is arguably Some students Another useful fea- Edited by Alexander Chisholm ful. As such, Turni- the best anti-plagiarism system have trouble ture of the program is that tin will not be able to available today, and is a critical turning in papers assignments can no longer be guarentee an end to tool in the schools arsenal against on Turnitin.com lost or misplaced, because plagiarizing, but is a cheaters. everything is backed up significant victory in Administrators deal with Homecoming aftermath FALLOUT from front page Despite the plans to help the district recover from this turn parents away from sending their children here.” controversial event, many are still concerned about the ef- Parents and members of the faculty feel that if these safety of each student. fect of the dance on Huntington High Schoolʼs reputation. functions were cancelled, then this problem would be “School isnʼt just about books, itʼs about learning...we solved. Mr. Stein, however, disagrees. need to educate the whole child, not just academically,” “Canceling the dance is not the solution, we shouldnʼt Mr. Stein said, adding that students who made poor choic- punish many students for what a few have done,” he said, es on Homecoming night put themselves in danger. Good kids made remarking that no activities have been cancelled yet. Although there has been much negative attention, the “bad choices...they “It is a question of whether we as a building can as- administration is confident that there is a solution to this sure parents of the safety of their students. If we cannot looming problem. “Good kids made bad choices...they embarrassed themselves assure that for the parents, then I donʼt think we can have embarrassed themselves and their families,” Mr.