It's no secret that at Blair the lunch bell signals the start of hundreds of off-the-wall conversations. On the week of Feb 24, Chips reporter Meg Cassedy-Blum overheard some unusual and hilarious dialogue.
Combs in hand, two black girls work diligently and delicately to finish cornrowing their friends' hair amidst the bustle of 5A lunch. Next to them, three Latino boys are sprawled out among the benches talking, and a few feet away, two white students finish their lunches before the whole group rises and joins the student body of the most diverse school in Montgomery County—a school that 50 years ago accepted only white students.
Sophomore Jocelyn Dowling has one thing on her mind as she fights her way through the Potomac River's raging rapids in July 2003: staying afloat. Capsizing could mean the loss of three days' worth of food and supplies tied loosely to the seat behind her. Water sprays across her face as she maneuvers through the whitewater, edging past jagged rocks that dwarf her red canoe.
A phone in one hand and a clicking mouse in the other, senior Denise Sylla taps her foot and scans FastWeb, a scholarship search web site, as she waits on hold with admissions officers from Wellesley College at the computer in the Student Government Association (SGA) office during lunch on April 30.
The Safety Committee has begun patrolling hallways and stairwells during lunch, keeping out students without passes. Blair's administration is also more aggressively enforcing school policy in the hallways and might restrict students to the SAC during lunch.
Pep rally will be on Wednesday, March 31 and will be a combination of winter and spring sports.
Dressed modestly in black, Sister Phillip Mary arranges her 68 students into two separate lines as they enter class for their first day of second grade at St. Margaret's Grade School in Bel-Air, Maryland. Once they are settled, the nun leads her students in prayer as their little voices chime together, heads bowed and palms crossed.
Two before first period. Another on the walk home. A few more throughout the evening, and by the time she goes to bed, junior Kimberly Montgomery will finish a half pack of cigarettes. "I am an addict,” she admits with a shrug. "It's as simple as that. I need to smoke.”
Silver Chips Online special on Hispanic Heritage Month.
Senior traditions include harassing freshman, loud spirit at pep rallies, and… whiffle ball? A bit unusual, but the 2003 senior class has indeed begun a new Blair senior ritual: lunch whiffleball games.
With the clock winding down in the girls' basketball team's game against the Walter Johnson (WJ) Wildcats, the Blazers were forced to foul in order to stop the clock. This is a common technique, but Blair failed to grasp one key aspect of the strategy: Foul the other team's worst free-throw shooter. Blair, instead, fouled Wildcat star Alex Porter four times late in the game. She hit all her shots to keep the lead for the Wildcats. So despite a valiant effort from the Blazers, WJ proved to be too strong, and Blair lost, 47-38.
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