For the best year of our lives, senior year sure is tough. Sifting through piles of rejection letters is hard on anyone's fingers - not to mention egos - and the colleges we were accepted to have the nerve to request final transcripts. Wasn't learning supposed to end after AP tests junior year? I am a second semester senior and my rights are being infringed upon!
You didn't really think something as lame and tacky as a writer's strike could keep us away forever, did you? As of April 21, "Gossip Girl" is back on the CW, and our extended spring break made the drama hotter than my new BCBG Max Azria prom dress.
A group of ten mobs the SAC stage, angling for a turn on the microphone. The cafeteria is about to burst with anticipation, the near-capacity crowd cheering and jeering as the next brave soul lets his rhymes fly. "Look at this fool, man, he thinks he's nice. He bought a fake ID so he could get lunch twice!" The crowd whoops in pleasure and the verdict is: officially fried.
PG SPORTSPLEX, March 15- Blair qualified three athletes to compete in three different events at the Nike Indoor National (NIN) Championship track meet on Saturday, March 15. NIN has hosted hundreds of athletes from across the country in the premier high school indoor track meet every year since 1999.
The Baby Boomers had the Beatles — four dashing young Brits in matching suits — to hold their hands. For Generation "Me" Blazers, fond childhood memories are be conjured by none other than the Spice Girls — five stylish, harmonizing ladies from across the pond proclaiming girl power. The Beatles never reunited after their 1970 break-up, but luckily for Blazers, the Spice Girls proved that even after a six-year hiatus, their "friendship never ends;" the group reformed late last year for a reunion tour.
The 50th annual Grammy Awards show is approaching and for once, people are showing some interest. With the striking Hollywood writers announcing that they will not picket the yearly music extravaganza, the Grammy Awards may be the only major awards show to fight its way onto a live telecast this year.
As the curtains unfurled to reveal Magnet Arts Night (MAN) 2008 on Feb. 1, a strange sense of déjà vu seemed to permeate the Blair auditorium.
For every innocent snowball fight there is a wayward chunk of snow that finds its way crashing through a window. For every delicious helping of pumpkin pie there is a tooth-shattering slice of aunt Bertha's fruit cake. And for every street corner Santa with a heart of gold and a cowbell there is a creepy, child-molesting shopping mall Santa. Luckily for loyal readers, Silver Chips Online has solutions for all potential Blair-related holiday dilemmas.
Sweeping across the stage, she recalls the first time she met Arthur Miller - the playwright responsible for "The Crucible" - and the way she was ignored for the likes of Winona Ryder and Daniel Day-Lewis. But at the read-through for the 1996 movie version of the renowned play, she summoned her annoyance from her earlier dismissal to deliver a spitfire, passionate rendition of Tituba opposite Miller himself, who decided to read the part of Reverend Parris. Later that day, Miller visited her trailer, proclaiming, "Oh my god, you are Tituba!" In her trademark feisty manner, she simply replied, "No, I'm Charlayne Woodard."
For all the kids who thought the "1-2 Step" was two steps too long, for everyone whose "Chicken Noodle Soup" never had a soda on the side, for anyone who has not mastered a dance since the "Macarena," there is still salvation. Silver Chips Online is here to help with a comprehensive written and pictorial guide to the latest dance craze − "Crank That (Soulja Boy)." With only a week left until homecoming, it's time for "YOUUUU" to start practicing your moves and picking up your own "Soulja Boy" or "Soulja Girl."
The National Merit Scholarship Program recognized forty-three Blazers as National Merit Semifinalists on Sept. 12.
Last year, U-16 Washington Area Girls Soccer (WAGS) coach Ian Oliver presented his team, the D.C. Blast, with the opportunity to select a foreign locale to visit. Much to his surprise, the group of 14 to 16-year-old girls bypassed Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower for two weeks in South Africa, educating poverty-ridden girls their age about HIV and AIDS.
Late January marks the end of the indoor track season. Most members have long since disappeared, whether from the onset of studying for exams or not qualifying for the regional meet. The remaining runners face the frosty track each day after school, and they are not alone. Their coach sprints alongside them, feeling the same shin splints and fatigue. She who dares to join her athletes in the dreary weather instead of comfortably standing by on the sidelines is Heather Amell.
The Booster Club recognized spring athletes by sponsoring the spring sports awards ceremony on Wednesday evening.
As soon as he felt the crisp, cold metal of the baton slap onto his palm, senior Muhammad Roberson bolted from his expectant stance to sprint up the curve of the track. Salty sweat dripped down his brow, blinding his eyes as he caught the leader of the race. Halfway through the backstretch, Roberson suddenly felt a sharp pain in his hamstring. An aching grimace spread over his face as the pain intensified and Roberson wanted to stop, but couldn't – not in front of the 46,000 fans who had come out for the 113th annual Penn Relays Carnival. For the first time in over twenty years, Blair sent the boys' 4x100m and 4x400m relays to Philadelphia, joining a legacy of Blair faculty who have competed in the meet throughout the years.
Blair's boys' and girls' track teams performed brilliantly at the Montgomery County Outdoor Track and Field Championship meet, placing in the top ten for the first time in recent history. Under the leadership of speedy senior sisters Ashlyn and Halsey Sinclair, the girls' team placed sixth in the county with 35 points. Anchored by strong relay squads, the boys' placed seventh with 29 points, just one year after failing to score a single point in the meet.
The spring pep rally May 4 featured the first powder puff football game in four years. According to SGA sponsor Rondai Ravilious, poor organization and scheduling problems have posed problems for holding the game.
The boys' outdoor track team dominated the last dual meet of the season today, beating Seneca Valley by the widest margin of any other dual meet this season, 120-13. With a 6-0 season record, the boys were crowned Division IV champions. The Lady Blazers defeated the Screaming Eagles by a more modest margin of 73-63, and end the season with a record of 5-1.
The Maryland Association of Student Councils (MASC) last month awarded the Senior High Felix Simon Award for Leadership and Service to Blair's SGA.
While the Blair boys' outdoor track team dusted Clarksburg by 22 points, the Lady Blazers' 69-68 victory over the Coyotes was a nail-biter. The two teams swapped the lead until the last event, the 4x400m relay.
Where only first names appear, names have been changed to protect the identities of the sources. Willing herself to finish a suicide sprint at practice, Jane, a senior, clutches her throbbing temple. Her concerned teammates' blurry faces bob before her eyes. Her legs stagger, then buckle as she loses consciousness. When she comes to a few seconds later, Jane's mother is standing over her with a popsicle in hand. Jane consumes the popsicle and feels her blood sugar spike back up, replenishing some of her energy and relieving not a case of dehydration, but malnutrition; Jane had eaten nothing but a pear that day.
Both the boys' and girls' outdoor track teams defeated Northwood in their season opener, 76 points to 50 and 92 to 30 respectively. However, while the boys improved their season record to 2-0 by defeating Paint Branch 72 to 69, the girls fell to the Panthers 61.5 to 79.5.
Last night, the Blair Booster Club hosted the winter sports awards ceremony in the Blair auditorium. After a slide show commemorating the past season was displayed, baseball coach John MacDonald introduced the awards ceremony in place of Blair's athletic director, Dale Miller.
Blair junior Will Bucher is one of two final candidates in the countywide Student Member of the Board of Education (SMOB) election, which will be held in April. Student delegates from Montgomery County high schools and middle schools selected Bucher and Walter Johnson junior Ben Moskowitz for the SMOB candidacy at the 30th SMOB Nominating Convention this afternoon.
A nonstop flow of yelling in Arabic is the only sound in the film as an unidentified object swings in and out of the dark, grainy scene. A few more seconds reveals the object to be the dead body of Saddam Hussein, former Iraqi dictator. That's all thanks to YouTube, a widely popular and controversial home video uploading and sharing service. Now, anyone with a working email address and the savvy to change one's birth year to earlier than 1988 when registering for the site can access the disturbing footage with the click of a button.
Senior sisters Ashlyn and Halsey Sinclair capped off their high school indoor track careers with one bronze medal each, in the 800m and 1600m races respectively, at the 4A/3A Maryland State Championship. For the first time in their four years at Blair, the twins were joined at the state competition by two boys' relay teams who ran the 4x200m and 4x400m, placing eleventh and tenth respectively.
The girls' indoor track team scored 20 points to tie Damascus for eighth place, while the boys tied Springbrook with 14 points to place tenth at the 3A/4A West Regional meet.
A lot of hype comes with the words "Magnet Arts Night." Rumors of auditions, cuts, "the list" and epic performances seem to fire like neurons through the 300s hallways in early February. And while the excitement may be contained upstairs, the whole school feels the after-effect of what is said to be one of the most impressive showcases at Blair. This year, Magnet Arts Night lived up to it all, making for a knock-out blend of new and old, tradition and modernity.
The boys' sprint relays continued to improve at the Last Track to Philly meet, cutting three seconds off their 4x400m relay time of 3:35.18 from the Montgomery County Championship. The invitational served primarily as the indoor track team's final tune-up for the 3A/4A West Regional meet, which will be held Feb. 13.
The SGA is sponsoring a party for the junior class this Friday, Feb. 9, in the SAC from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. According to junior Cindy Ayala, SGA Director of ESOL Outreach, the SGA will show a movie and BNC will provide music. Light refreshments will be provided.
Varsity Vocals, a student a cappella organization, will feature Blair's a cappella group, InToneNation (ITN), on the upcoming Best of High School A Cappella (BOHSA) 2007 album. Varsity Vocals receives submissions for BOHSA from high school a cappella groups all over the world.
The Blair girls' indoor track team placed 9th with 31 points and the boys' team scored 18 points to tie Wooton High School and place 12th out of 21 teams at the Montgomery County Championship.
Although no official overall team scores were tabulated at the 6th annual Montgomery Invitational, the Blair indoor track team placed well in several events, establishing the squad as one of the best in Montgomery County.
DEC. 27, PG SPORTSPLEX-
"Dreamgirls" was jinxed from the start. Any film generating Oscar buzz for months before its theatrical release is doomed to suffer the curse of unfulfilled expectations. Add that the semi-biographical film centers around the 1960s black music industry and stars Jamie Foxx and comparisons to Foxx's 2004 Oscar-winning film "Ray" are unavoidable. Unfortunately, "Dreamgirls" is nowhere near the same caliber film as the impeccable "Ray."
Once upon a time, Gwen Stefani was one cool chick. She was blue-haired sometimes, fearless all the time and sang girl-power anthems while fronting as the only female in third-wave ska band No Doubt. However, upon reaching "senior citizen" status as a 30-something, Stefani felt compelled to record "Love.Angel.Music.Baby.," throwing her rock cred out the window in favor of synth-heavy Madonna-wannabe singles tailor-made for repeat on 99.5 FM. Released Dec. 15, Stefani's sophomore solo album, "The Sweet Escape," is recorded in a similar vein to "L.A.M.B.," failing to introduce anything new and causing listeners to feel nostalgic for the good old "Tragic Kingdom," No Doubt's 1995 breakthrough hit album.
Although no scores or results were officially tabulated at the Montgomery County Developmental track meet Dec. 13 at the PG Sportsplex, some of the Blazers' individual and team performances rank them at the top of county competition. The event served as notice that Blair could be competing for some top awards come the end of the season.
The SGA collected 3,272 cans in this year's canned food drive, improving on last year's 2,456 cans. This year, the proceeds from the canned food drive were used to benefit a local food bank in White Oak.
The Blair music program is performing this Thursday, Dec. 7, in the auditorium from 7 p.m. to around 8:30 p.m. The concert will feature the beginning jazz band, honors jazz band and percussion ensemble.
Blair Network Communications (BNC) is hosting the first BNC Media Festival Thursday, Dec. 7, at the Silver Spring Stage in the Woodmoor Shopping Center. The Media Festival will begin at 7 p.m. and end around 9 p.m. Admission is free for participants and $3 for the general public.
Senior sisters Halsey and Ashlyn Sinclair represented Blair at the Maryland 4A State Championship meet, placing 8th and 33rd respectively with times of 20:17 and 21:23 on the three-mile course.
The PTSA will be reviewing minigrant applications next Monday, November 13 in room 164 from 3:00 p.m. to around 5:00 p.m. Members of the SGA will be assisting the PTSA with the reviewing and selecting process, but non-SGA members can also attend and earn community service hours. The PTSA will provide refreshments.
NOV. 2, WATKIN'S MILL H.S.- Blair finished in typical form this afternoon at the 4A regional cross-country meet, with the girls placing 8th out of 11 teams, and the boys placing 12th out of 12 teams.
Scary slasher flicks are the essence of Halloween. Blood, guts and gore always are the perfect ingredients for a movie, right? But for those who get nightmares from "Scooby-Doo" and keep on the 100-watt nightlight by their bed, there is still hope for surviving a Halloween movie. Turn all the lights on, curl up into a little ball and enjoy the five best SCO-approved scream-free films!
The Blair girls' cross-country team placed 8th out of 20 teams, and the boys placed 14th out of 24 teams at the Montgomery County Championship this morning.
The Bethesda Chevy-Chase Barons outran the Blair boys, 19-40, and girls, 21-40, to claim victory in the last county meet of the season. The defeat leaves the Lady Blazers with a season record of 3-2, and the boys with a record of 0-5.
For many party-going Blazers, there is but one epic question that is all but unanswerable: cookies or brownies? Now, an answer has finally descended from the heavens. These chocolate chip cookie bars present the perfect balance between cookies and brownies. Whatever you decide to call them, they are perfect for parties as well as after-school and late-night snacking.
Already feeling overwhelmed by school? Do you miss the carefree days of summer? Are you wondering what to do with your surplus of summer peaches? Reminisce about those sweet summer nights over a delicious peach cobbler.
The Lady Blazers placed tenth out of fourteen teams in the elite girls' race, and the boys finished eighteenth out of twenty-eight teams at the Bull Run Invitational Saturday morning.
The year is 1917 and while the rest of the world is engaged in World War I, the United States is still clinging to its neutrality. Americans looking for a good fight have the opportunity to hold their own against the Germans by enlisting in the Lafayette Escadrille, a French squadron of fighter pilots made up mostly of American volunteers. Based on the true story of the first American pilots in the Lafayette Escadrille, "Flyboys" has the potential to soar but crashes with its weak plot and one-dimensional characters.
The girl's varsity cross country team beat the Gaithersburg Trojans, 29-26, while falling to the Churchill Bulldogs 24-37, this afternoon at Gaithersburg. The boys lost to both teams, 49-15 to Trojans and 42-18 to Bull dogs.
No one would accuse successful solo artist and former boy band heartthrob Justin Timberlake of low self-esteem. His new album, "FutureSex/LoveSounds," shows that J.T. is back, and just as cocky and self-assured as ever. From the first lines of his pulsating summer smash hit, "SexyBack," Justin lets us know that he's bringing sexy back—whatever that means, and providing millions with good dance music.
The girls' cross-country team outran both Magruder and Wooton at Lake Needwood this afternoon to start the season off with a record of 2-0. The boys did not fare as well and lost to both teams.
SEPT. 5, WALTER JOHNSON HS- Despite the extreme rain and the mud, Woodward Relays went on as scheduled at Walter Johnson High School.
M. Night Shyamalan's latest offering once again proves that he is a master of supernatural suspense. However, "Lady in the Water" does deviate from Shyamalan's typical creepy-crawly formula to flirt with the fantasy genre. The movie is essentially a fairy tale set in modern life. As much of a political statement as a bedtime story, "Lady in the Water" enchants and inspires.
As the new alpha girl on campus, Jenny (Taylor Momsen) finds herself struggling financially to keep up with the expensive escapades of her new crew. Photo courtesy of CWTV.
Junior Jonathon Haughton and seniors Louis Varella, Joe Ward of Bladensburg High School and Mohamed Mansaray comprised the 4x200m relay quartet that placed 8th at Nike Indoor Nationals.
Spice girls
Senior Alexia Paleologos is a loyal Spice Girls fan.
Senior Alexia Paleologos shows off her Spice Girls concert tee from the Newark, NJ show.
The girls' varsity softball team looks on as coach Louis Hoelman reflects on their winning season.
The varsity girls' basketball team stands on the auditorium stage and listens to head coach James Mogge's remarks.
The varsity boys' basketball team listens to head coach Paul DeStefano's speech during the winter sports awards ceremony.
Senior Halsey Sinclair runs a strong pace during the 3200m race at the 4A/3A Maryland Indoor State Championship.
Senior Halsey Sinclair maximizes her stride during the 3200m run at the 4A West Regional meet.
Senior Emanuel Waktola stays with the pack during the 3200m run at the 4A West Regional meet.
Sophomore Amber Seals strides a strong leg of the 4x200m relay at the 4A West Regional meet.
Junior Nilan Schnure sprints to the finish of the 500m dash at the Montgomery County Championship.
Senior Zach Hall sprints the first leg of the 4x400 meter relay at the Montgomery County Developmental meet on Dec. 27.
Senior Zach Hall runs through the pain during the 4x400 meter relay at the Montgomery County Developmental meet.
Sophomore Lucas Alvarado-Farrar races the first leg of the 4x800 meter relay at the Montgomery County developmental meet on Dec. 13.
Freshman Jeremy Tousley flies down the straightaway in the second leg of the 4x200 meter relay at the Montgomery County Developmental meet on Dec. 13.
Senior Halsey Sinclair (first on right) paces with the front pack at the Maryland State XC Championship.
Senior Ashlyn Sinclair concentrates on her race during the Maryland State XC Championship.
Senior speedsters Halsey and Ashlyn Sinclair show off their third-place and sixth-place medals from the Montgomery County Championship at Gaithersburg High School on Oct. 21.
Junior Mike Willems dashes down a hill toward the finish in a cross country race at Lake Needwood.