Ah springtime, the season of love. In high school, finding that special someone requires more than just instinct; it requires time, money and patience. But Silver Chips has a solution for your stale love life: Blair Pair, where we pair prospective soulmates on dates!
If American boards of education are known for anything, it's their winning ideas. Maryland alone has come up with countless dazzling concepts in recent years: yearly MSA testing, mandatory tornado drills and of course Edline, alerting our parents to our every academic failure since 2006. But this year, our nation's school boards have outdone themselves. Eight inches of snow forecast for tomorrow morning? Well, set your alarms for 6 a.m., kids, because it's time for online school on a snow day.
It's noon on a Saturday, and cars are streaming into the back parking lot of a boxy brick building on the corner of Piney Branch Road and University Boulevard. Families get off the Ride On bus that stops directly outside and move toward the building's back entrance, where a dark purple awning that reads "Mega Supermarket” covers a long line of shopping carts. Inside a purple booth under the awning, a woman bundled in winter clothing sells food: tamales, taquitos, pan con gallina. A few feet away, families get Christmas photos taken under a crowded white tent. Shoppers bustle up the steps, past a large bulletin board and a giant, bright yellow advertisement for Del Frutal juice. From just outside the doors, the shoppers can hear the twang of guitar music and Spanish vocals.
As junior Nathan Foley walks onstage, he enters a historic space. The same stage has hosted performances from artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, The Strokes and Jay-Z in the early years of their careers. This night, Foley competes against a group of mostly adult artists and eventually joins the ranks of the many successful performers who have won the Apollo Theater's Amateur Night competition.
Senior Ian Anderson coasts his skateboard down Fenton Street in Downtown Silver Spring (DTSS), scraping his wheels against the sidewalk just feet away from the new Veterans' Plaza. A police officer calls out to him as he rolls by. "Get off your board!” he shouts. "Don't get back on, or you're walking the [expletive] home.”
A land with no real voting, no freedom of speech and no voice for its people living under an oppressive government rule – it sounds like a description from a history textbook or a fantasy novel. But for 11 years of her life, this was reality for senior Thu Nguyen in her home country of the Vietnam.
In writing a movie review, a reviewer's first priority is always to see the movie in question: Watching the film is the only way to judge the quality of the acting, shots and choice of music. But the Maryland school system is writing the review without even entering the theater – that is, conducting evaluations of teachers but barely looking into what actually goes on in the classroom.
It all starts with eye contact. In the middle of a party packed with other high schoolers, Jacob, a junior, might lock eyes with a girl — then, the two might strike up a conversation or, if he's lucky, start dancing. From there, it's a series of tests: casual touching and flirtatious whispers to gauge her interest. Before long, the two are hooking up – usually making out, sometimes more. When they're done, Jacob says, he walks away, moving back into the party.
The Poolesville Falcons (4-6) beat varsity baseball (3-9) 5-3 in Blair's fourth loss in a row. Head coach John MacDonald attributed the loss to poor base running and a failure to make proper hitting adjustments.
Varsity baseball (7-2) lost 15-7 to the Magruder Colonels (3-8) in a game that started out with dominant Blazer offense, but lessened as the team succumbed to defensive mistakes. While defense was their greatest weakness, the Blair team was also hurt by multiple strike outs.
The Sherwood Warriors (7-1) beat varsity baseball (3-7) in a 3-0 game, scoring the game's only three runs with three consecutive batters in the top of the ninth inning. Senior pitcher Sammy Denenberg was a superior force on the mound.
Despite putting on what head coach John MacDonald thought was a solid performance, varsity baseball (2-5) lost to Bethesda-Chevy Chase (2-3) in a cold, rainy game. Blair committed multiple fielding errors, but was mostly set back by a commanding B-CC pitcher who kept even Blair's strongest hitters from their full potential.
Varsity baseball (2 - 4) fell to undefeated Wootton (6 - 0), ending the game with a disappointing 13 - 1 loss. The Blazers have developed a group of skilled hitters this season, but they were outmatched by a strong offensive showing on the part of the Patriots.
Baseball lost its second game against Walter Johnson this season 9 - 5, due to isolated Blair mistakes and a skilled Walter Johnson team. The Blazers started the game with a 3 - 3 tie, but could not outplay the Wildcats' powerful lineup.
Varsity baseball had its first win of the season against Seneca Valley, thanks to both offense and defense contributions from the entire bench and stronger pitching performances than the team had seen earlier in the season.
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed similar versions of a $15 billion jobs creation bill, initially created by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Reid drafted the new bill as an alternative to a bipartisan Senate jobs proposal and after the House passed a $155 billion jobs bill in December.
It's somewhere between a sport and a dance form, a means of expression and a medium for competition, a source of pride and a lesson in self-discipline. A dance form that originated in the United States, stepping brings the members of the Lady Blazers, Blair's step team, together as artists, teammates and, most importantly, as family.
In a "Battle of the Boulevard" rivalry game against Northwood High School (5 - 6), the Blazers (1 - 12) fell to the Gladiators by a single point.
When the starting gun sounded on President Obama's administration, the races to reform health care and repair the ailing economy began, each facing ruts and bumps along the course. But with Race to the Top (RTTT), Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's new education reform project, the administration has reached a winning stride.
JV boys' basketball (1-2) opened an encouraging season with strong performances against Clarksburg on Dec. 4 and Kennedy on Dec. 8, but suffered a tough loss to Paint Branch on Dec. 11, according to head coach Richard Porac.
The Blair administration has initiated a push for seniors to complete the 60 Student Service Learning (SSL) hour graduation requirement, according to resource counselor Marcia Johnson.
Framed by the gleaming walls of Strathmore's reception hall, the scene could have been lifted from an upscale country club: Blair alumni, dressed to the nines in tailored suits and dresses stand in clumps, chatting over drinks and twirling on the dance floor to old hits like "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry. But immersed in conversation with old friends and classmates, the former Blazers hardly seem to notice their elegant surroundings.
For most Blazers, a graduation year is a symbol of both pride and rivalry, a number to chant competitively at pep rallies and emblazon on colorful class t-shirts. But this Friday, Blair alumni with their class years written on small, white nametags met at Strathmore's Auditorium to reminisce about a Blair shared by students for more than seven decades.
"To my brother. To my dear, dear brother. I do love you. But I really don't like you." Freshman Ellie Musgrave wrote these words to her brother on a September evening after the two had a fight, but she never sent them. Instead, she vented her anger in a page-long rant and posted it on her public Web log.
Text messaging while driving is now prohibited by state law and punishable by a fine of up to $500, according to Maryland Delegate Frank Turner (D-Howard).