December 2012

Dress code editorial• Winter Sports Preview • Holiday Recipe

Inside this edition....

Service Reflection • green/outdoors club update • post-Hurricane sandy coverage

Editorials

Will iam Penn Charter School • 3000 W. School House Lane, Philadelphia PA 19144 December 2012

S i n c e 1 7 7 7

Turn to page 3 for a discussion of the role that Quakerism plays not only in the administration of Penn Charter but also in the daily l i fe of i ts students.

How does Penn Charter’s inner light shine?

Fall Sports Wrap-up • Quaker Dating Advice • James Bond Review • Pop Culture Grid

¡Bienvenidos a los Estudiantes y profesores de Martín buber!

On November 27, 2012, President Barack Obama appointed Dr. Darryl Ford to the National Board for Education Sciences, a national educa-tion advisory board. Ford, the Head of School since 2007, joins four other new members for Senate confirmation. The National Board for Education Sciences, comprised of distinguished academic elites, is the governing body of the Institute of Education Sciences, a research branch of the U.S. Depart-ment of Education. The Institute, founded by Congress in 2002, evaluates federal programs and provides helpful research to educators and policy-makers. Congratulations Dr. Ford, and we wish you the best of luck!

Darryl Ford ReceivesPresidential Appointment

On Sunday, December 2, eight stu-dents and two teachers from Escuela Martín Buber arrived in Philadelphia after a long trip from Buenos Aires, Argentina. For the remaining weeks until Winter Break, the Argentinean group will be at Penn Charter, staying with host families, visiting classes, and going on day-long trips. The group will travel to New York City, Washington DC, and various sites around Philadelphia including the Art Museum, the Constitution Center, In-dependence Hall, the American Jewish Mu-seum, and the University of Pennsylvania. Their visit is part of the exchange program set up between Penn Charter and Escuela Martín Buber in Buenos Aires. The program was started seven years ago and has continued to this day. Head of the Foreign Language Department David Brightbill ex-plains that such exchange programs are vital to learning a new language because of the unique cultural experiences they provide. Most recently, a group of six Penn Charter students and two teachers travelled to Argentina in the summer of 2011. Another trip is planned to Buenos Aires this June, and there are still places available for more students to participate.

NEWSPAPER • APRIL2012

2

News and Community Page 2

Eliza Jacobs, Mirror StaffGreen/outdoors club starts new projects

This year the Green Club has ex-plored many new and exciting activities such as rock climbing and hiking. During the fall, a few students went rock climbing at the University of Pennsylvania accompanied by teachers Jonathan Howe and Tom Rickards. The next rock climbing excursion will take place on Friday, December 7th between 3-5 PM. Many students have also participat-ed in the Green Club-sponsored hikes. Soph-omore Sylvia Miller, recalls “The hike was a great time, we had a chance to get outside and appreciate the nature surrounding our campus.” Later in the year there will be more rock climbing and hiking trips, and maybe even canoeing or white water rafting. According to Tom Rickards, the aim of these outdoor activities is to “think about physical exercise in a non team-based or competitive way. The goal is to get students out of the rat race and use the natural ar-eas around us like the Wissahickon trails or Schuylkill River. We want to create opportu-nities for students to have a sense of adven-ture.”

Tom Rickards and Jonathan Howe on a kayak trip.

Hurricane Sandy Impacts PC

The monstrous Hurricane Sandy was the largest Atlantic storm ever recorded. At times during the storm, Sandy was over 1,000 miles wide, stretching from Georgia all the way to Maine. The hurricane also was one of the most intense weather events the eastern coast has ever experienced, with winds reaching up to 110 miles per hour and causing over 100 deaths in the United States alone. Although Philadelphia was not hit as harshly as the Jersey shore and other coastal areas, the City of Brotherly Love still received its fair share of rain and damage. Heavy rains caused flooding of the Schuylkill River and Wissahickon Creek. It soaked the ground causing trees to fall down, many on houses and cars. In addition to damaging property, the downed trees blocked road-ways making travel both difficult and dan-gerous. Power outages occurred which left many people without power for several days. Sophomore Owen Davis recalls,“The hurri-cane knocked out my power and Internet and caused the three largest trees on my proper-ty to fall down, one of which was blocking my entire road, another smashing my childhood tree house, and the third wrecking my entire

Danielle Reisley, Mirror Staff

Green club is planning other pro-jects as well. It is trying to emphasize the im-portance of recycling, specifically out on the sports fields. Everyday in the fall and spring, tons of plastic cups go to waste and are ei-ther put in the trash or thrown on the ground. To solve this problem, the club is trying to put recycling bins out on many of the sports fields.

In his 10th grade Quakerism course, Tom Rickards approaches the class with the goal of exposing students to different types of community service. Recently, my class went to the Willard School, a public school in Philadelphia about twenty minutes away from Penn Charter. We went to help the teachers in several kindergarten classes. This experience was eye-opening for the entire class, and has helped us learn a lot about the Philadelphia Public School System. We have also seen how fortunate we are to at-tend such a successful school where all of the graduates attend college, as opposed to the mere 10% who earn a college degree af-ter graduating from the Philadelphia Public School System. The Willard School is located on Elkhart street in Philadelphia. The school building itself is in pristine condition, but

fence and my pool cover.” Many students indicated that their homes continued to lack power and/or In-ternet service for several days. Junior Leigh Steinberg reported, “My family lost power for a week, and even though we still had hot wa-ter, we didn’t have cable, Internet or phone service. Also, my house was really cold and dark, but thankfully, no trees fell down. I did my homework at my local library, we ate din-ner out the whole week, and I slept in lots of layers.” Since many roads were unsafe to travel on and rail travel was interrupted by power outages and debris on tracks, the Phil-adelphia public and regional transportation system closed. Philadelphia’s public schools also closed down for the entire week of Octo-ber 29th - November 2nd, along with various private and suburban schools. Penn Charter was closed on Mon-day, October 29th and Tuesday, October 30th, but reopened on Wednesday, October 31st. There were some schedule changes such as the postponement of the annual Halloween parade and other such festivities which were pushed back two days. Although numerous areas along the East Coast remain irreparably damaged and some families are still struggling, the Philadelphia area, quite fortunately, seems to be back to business, as usual.

Big YEar for Mrs. Moyer

The 9th and 10th Grade Dean is a position that was recently created to offer Upper School underclassmen more indi-vidualized support. Last year, while a search committee looked for a permanent dean, Elizabeth Coombs, the Upper School Guid-ance Counselor, served as the interim dean. The committee ultimately selected Andrea Moyer, who now serves as the 9th and 10th Grade Dean. Moyer moved to Philadelphia from Minnesota in 2005, and began teach-ing at Penn Charter four years ago. In her first three years at PC, Moyer taught 9th grade Ancient Civilizations and 11th grade United States History. She continues to teach the ninth grade while performing her role as Grade Dean. The selection process for the grade dean was an intensive search within the PC community. First, interested faculty submit-ted a resume for consideration. Next, candi-dates spent a day being interviewed by ad-ministrators, faculty, and students. Finally, through Quaker consensus, the grade deans were chosen. Moyer initially wanted the position because of her desire to increase her connec-tions with students especially the freshmen and sophomores. Moyer says she applied so she could “get the whole picture [of what was] going on with students”, subsequently expanding relationships with the 9th graders in her classes as well as with those students she does not have the privilege of teaching. As Moyer has learned, being a grade dean comes with a tremendous amount of re-sponsibility. Some of her new duties include organizing the 9th Grade Retreat, helping the sophomores design PC/GA Day shirts, and working on the advisory curriculum. Moyers

Glynis Braun, Mirror Staff

calls herself a “liaison” for students, or an-other “layer of assistance beyond advisors.” Frequently, Moyer serves as the “middle-man” between students and Dean of Stu-dents Brian McCloskey, and manages parent concerns. Moyer says the biggest challenge she has faced so far is balancing her class-room responsibilities with her new respon-sibilities as Grade Dean. Occasionally, Moyer has to sacrifice preparing for class to lending assistance to a stressed student or worried parent. In order to juggle the responsibilities of a being a grade dean, Moyer teaches few-er 9th grade Ancient Civilizations courses, which she says makes it harder for her to get to know the students. Moyer set many goals for herself this year as 9th and 10th Grade Dean. She states her first line of business is to help with the “9th grade transition” from middle school to upper school. Equally important to Moyer is assisting the 10th grade in estab-lishing what she calls a “10th grade identity.” Moyer is hoping to create several opportuni-ties for sophomores so that they can find a more concrete place in the Upper School. Moyer’s new position is not the only recent, exciting change in her life. On August 18th, 2012, Moyer, formerly Barnett, mar-ried Danny Moyer... at school! The ceremony took place on the stage behind the art room where graduation is held. It was followed by a reception at the Timmons House. Further adding to the excitement, Mr. and Mrs. Moyer are expecting their first child in late February and will wait until then to find out its gen-der. As thrilled as Moyer is to be the 9th and 10th Grade Dean, she is even more ecstatic to soon be called “mom”.

The Mirror Staff2012-2013

Editors-in-Chief Ani Schug

Kidder Erdman

News & CommunityHeidi Zisselman

Aaron Mandelbaum

SportsBennett SamuelLeigh Steinberg

Online SportsTed Foley

EditorialsGlynis Braun

Greg Nazarian

EntertainmentIzzy Hirshberg

Lauren Matt

Photography Anna WillsJulia Vahey

Online EditorRachael Garnick

Faculty AdvisorFred HuntingtonLiz Spagnoletti

Check out our website at www.pcmirror.org!

The newest project that the Green club is focusing on is a recycling project in-volving old ink cartridges, old cell phones or mp3 players and small electronics. If anyone has any of these extra items, bring them to school and place them in a box that will be in the front of the Upper School. This project is not only beneficial to the environment but is an easy fundraising project for our school.

Service learning: A personal ReflectionSophie Eldridge, Mirror Staff

during the bus ride there, the neighborhoods became increasingly impoverished. Further into the city, an overwhelming amount of trash littered both sides of the street. How-ever, pulling into the clean parking lot was very uplifting for me so I hope Willard stu-dents also can see their school’s beauty in the context of its community. Inside, signs plaster the walls, ad-vertising the fact that Willard reached “Ad-equate Yearly Progress.” Adequate Yearly Progress is a marker in a standardized test-ing program that is part of the No Child Left Behind project. Students are tested on what they have learned every year, which consists of basic information of reading, writing, sci-ence, and math. The tests have been both a help and a hindrance: they ensure students know the material, but the teachers also begin to teach children just the material on

the test and how to take the test, rather than helping students truly understand important concepts. This is a trend in public schools across the country. Even though the tests are not always accurate in gauging a student’s abilities, in Philadelphia they have helped more children reach their proper grade read-ing level. In my assigned classroom, there were about thirty kindergartners and one teacher. In addition, not all of the students spoke the same language: some spoke Span-ish, while others solely spoke English. The teacher switches back and forth between Spanish and English, depending on the ma-jority language of the classroom at a given moment. Despite these difficulties, I watched as the teacher managed to maintain order in the classroom. After several trips to the Willard School, my class watched Waiting for Super-man, a documentary film directed by David Guggenheim, which discusses problems facing public schools nationwide. The film, coupled with our experience at the Willard School, made my classmates and me realize that compared to the majority of the popula-tion who suffer from inadequate education, we are extremely lucky. Furthermore, the class has strengthened our sense of duty to help others in our communities.

NEWSPAPER • APRIL2012

3

Editorials Page 3

How can a Quaker school, whose testimony of the year is “equality,” be con-tent with forcing a quarter of its student pop-ulation to choose between religious obliga-tions and school? Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are just two days at the beginning of the year. For Jewish students, they mean two days away from classes, meetings and practices. For others, they are just simply regular days. But they are not really, right? How can a teacher have a productive class when almost one-fourth of her students are absent? What about Upper School Administrative Assistant Rose Mary Cavalcante, who fields over 100 pink absent sheets per holiday? The truth about the Jewish holidays is that they are not fair to anybody. Two types of classes occur when the Jewish students are away. The first involves a teacher with an “I’m not going to get any-thing done anyway” attitude, which usually leads to a movie, or a few worksheets so that the other students will not have to make up

Why we deserve off for religious holidaysLeigh Steinberg, Mirror Staff

any work. This type of class leaves students with a “why bother?” mentality, and the day becomes useless. The second class is taught by the teacher who thinks, “I don’t care that a quar-ter of my class is missing because I have things to teach and they will be taught.” While this seems like a productive class pe-riod that keeps the syllabus on track so that no ground is lost, all of the kids sitting in syn-agogue have to make up extra work on top of the already heavy workload and jam-packed schedule of a Penn Charter student. The teachers, too, have to use their free blocks to meet with students to ensure that no one falls behind. So, no one can win. Either the teach-er loses a day of class but still needs to keep a dozen students busy, or the students miss a whole day of classes and are forced to do extra work to keep pace in the class. Winter break is designed around Christmas. Why should we not have two days off for the Jewish holidays? Many stu-

dents receive the answer, “Quakers do not celebrate holidays.” However, the validity of that argument is lost because last year we had Good Friday off from school. It may have also “happened” to have coincided with the beginning of Passover, a holiday that is cel-ebrated in the evening. Jewish students did not need off for Passover, so the real reason we did not have school was Good Friday. This year, as well, Good Friday occurs during Spring Break so Penn Charter will not have to make a tough decision as to whether or not to close school. Stephanie Judson, a long time Quak-erism teacher and Associate Head of School weighed in on the conversation, arguing that “One understanding is that everyday is a holy day [for Quakers].” She went on to say, “I also don’t believe that religious holidays, when they come during the school year, we should not have school, because we as Quakers...see that everyday is a holy day and there is no understanding that [the Christian holidays] are more religiously important in [a] tradi-

tionally Quaker school.” However, Judson did acknowledge how religious these holidays are for Jewish students and she “think[s] it’s important for Jewish students to be where they need to be.” Furthermore, Judson be-lieves “that the wide diversity of students that [Penn Charter has] is really important. The Quaker missions of the school are what makes Penn Charter a Quaker school and... in the strategic vision, the first point that the Overseers said is ‘Keep it Quaker’ [and] deep-ening the Quaker missions of the school.” Despite Penn Charter’s Quaker un-derpinnings, it should be a priority of the administration to make their students come first. These are days for the students. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the most re-ligious and sacred holidays of the Jewish year. Services, dinners, lunches, grandpar-ents, prayers, and fasts do not equate to a day off for students who are not in school; it is simply not fair to the Penn Charter Jewish population to have school during the High Holidays.

The cell phone chimes and the overt snoring in recent Meetings for Wor-ship prompt me to question how PC could be “more Quaker.” In reality, worshipers have probably been falling asleep while contemplating their inner spirits since the days of George Fox, but, besides staying awake, what can we do to enhance the Quakerism in our school community? PC boasts one of the most com-prehensive service-learning curricula in the country, but can this be improved? James Bal-lengee, Director of Service Learning, states that “on a yearly basis about 40 to 45 stu-dents use service for their activity require-ment, while about 75 percent participate in some way during the course of a year.” Some Quakers believe that service learning should be coupled with efforts to acquaint students with the political, social, and economic conditions that make ser-vice necessary, a course of study many stu-dents grapple with in service-based religion courses. Ballengee estimates half of the high

school student body participate in a service learning course to complete the religion course requirement. One idea to increase this already high percent-age of students taking service learning courses is to incorporate a service component in all religion classes. Senior and PC Lifer Rachael Garnick re-members, “Lower School was the place where we spoke most about why we do community service... [I believe] the Quaker spirit-uality is deemphasized as you move up through the grades.” As the 1992 Statement of Philosophy states, PC “is a Friends school, both by birthright and by convic-tion.” So why is PC in the Inter-Ac and not the Friends League, the only league of Quaker independent schools in Pennsylvania? This

is an indicator that Quakerism is not fully ex-tended to all realms of PC life, specifically the athletic fields. Upper School English teacher,

Teacher Fred Huntington, tells a story: Once, during the be-ginning of his tenure as Head of School, Dr. Earl Ball, Dr. Dar-ryl Ford’s predecessor, made a suggestion that PC move to the Friends League. As Teacher Fred remembers, the faculty responded to Dr. Ball with a stunned silence. The idea was never raised again. Maybe now is the time to reexamine the idea of moving to the Friends League. Another future possibil-ity that was mentioned in Penn Charter’s 2012 Strategic Mission is building a Meeting

House, which would be a center of Quaker-ism for the school and surrounding commu-nity. A Meeting would be the heart and soul

Should Penn Charter Be More QUaker?Heidi Zisselman, Mirror Staff

of the school, not the Performing Arts Center or the athletic fields. The amount of Quakerism infused into daily student and faculty life may in fact represent our current population’s desires. When asked how Quakerism has affected his PC education, senior Sam Jolinger states “I honestly don’t think about [Quakerism.]” When the same question was directed to freshman Luca Fortina, he immediately re-sponded “It hasn’t affected my education.” However, Fortina is quick to add that he does not want the amount of Quakerism at PC to change. Greg Nazarian, a senior, explains “I don’t know how Quakerism has affected my time [at PC] yet. I think it will take a few years for me to see how Quakerism has affected me... but I definitely do not see myself com-ing back and saying how much I miss Meeting for Worship like all those other alumni.”

Artwork by Rachael Morris

The cell phone chimes and the overt snoring

in recent Meet-ings for Worship

prompt me to question how PC could be “more

Quaker.”

NEWSPAPER • APRIL2012

4

Around 10:15 on PC/GA day, Boys and Girls Cross Country began the last race of the season– against rival Germantown Academy. Both teams fell short of a victory, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have a vic-torious season. The Girls Cross Country team had only 2 Inter-AC losses (to SCH and GA), many invitational meet successes, a 3rd place fin-ish at Champs, and a 5th place finish at the PAISAA state championships. The four other times Girls XC had raced GA they lost, but last year PC had won four times against GA and lost PC/GA day. The team was hoping that this fifth race would be lucky, and as senior Emily Diaz said minutes before the race, “Revenge can accomplish more than skill.” It was clear this would be a close race. Despite losing the race (24-31), the team showed lots of talent and promise for next season. The team will be very young (there are currently only three Juniors), but it will also be very talented. Freshmen Mc-Kenna Krall and McKenzie Case have been strong Varsity runners all season along with Sophomore Maya Pressley. The JV also has tons of young talent with Freshman Kolby Kaller frequently placing high at invitational meets with many sophomores and freshmen

Lela Lerner, Mirror StaffCross Country

close behind. This season the Cross Country team had 12 seniors. Senior and Captain Ella Di-Giovanni is sad because of the end of her last season, and explains how in her fresh-man year, she “and eight other 9th graders joined the team, a team that only had six other girls before our addition. This year, our team consisted of 32 girls! Needless to say, it is sad that we are all moving on because our grade really kick-started the cross-country program!” Many of the seniors ran for all of high school including MVP of the PC/GA Day race, Catie Skinner. Skinner also runs Win-ter and Spring Track. She has finished 1st in three out of four PC/GA Days (she didn’t run her sophomore year). There will be a huge gap to fill next year and the team will miss Catie and all eleven other seniors- Ella Di-Giovanni, Rachael Morris, Heidi Zisselman, Marlaina Stuve, Olivia Roak, Emily Diaz, Julia Vahey, Kira Hastings, Caitlyn Farrell, and Ani Schug.Nevertheless, DiGiovanni is very excited for the team next year and says “we are leaving behind a large group of very talented under-classmen who will hopefully make a splash in the Inter-Ac next year.” Even with all this

talent, the team will have to step it up to fill the huge gap left by the Seniors. Boys Cross Country will also have a good shot next year at PC/GA Day next year (they only lost by 3 points this year!). This season has been one of Boys Cross Coun-try’s most successful seasons. They came in 1st at the Quad X Invitational, George School Invitational, and Briarwood Division 2 Race. Head Coach, Anthony Farrell de-scribes this as “perhaps the most prestig-ious race the Boys have ran in”. They also took 2nd in the Paul Short White Division Race which Farrell describes as “perhaps the best finish ever for any Inter-Ac Boys XC team.” Towards the end of the season, the boys claimed 2nd again at the Inter-Ac Champs and PAISSA (both were the boys best finish in 5 years). Overall, the boys have raced 119 teams from around the re-gion with an impressive record of 113 – 6. They also have three All State runners, Sen-ior ET Dumas and Sophomore Ben Szuhaj (first team), and Junior Scott Mason (2nd team) The team has four Seniors that they will miss very much. Captain and re-cord holder of the PC course: ET Dumas along with Nic Hanson, Adam Costarino, and

Sports SportsPage 4

Fall season wrap-up: PC wins pc/ga DAy for the first time since 2007

The 126th PC/GA Day culminated in the schools’ football teams facing off for one of the most anticipated games of the season--Penn Charter Quakers versus the Germantown Academy Patriots. GA received the opening kickoff and began the game’s maiden drive. Penn Charter senior Daryl Wor-ley intercepted a pass to start the game, and the energized Yellow and Blue crowd roared in celebration. After, the game saw little ex-citement from either team from an offensive perspective for a while. Penn Charter’s of-fense struggled, but so did the opponent’s. GA’s receiver #12 was able to get open down field, but then dropped the ball when it was thrown to him. Then, the Quaker offense finally had a huge play in the first quarter. Sopho-more quarterback Pat McCain threw to Darell Worley, who ran 75 yards to put the Quak-ers up 7-0 after senior Tyler Gottlieb’s extra point. The Quaker defense, as OPC ‘84 Marc Shipon explained, could be characterized as “Bend-but-don’t-break.” Germantown Acad-emy was running the ball well, but did not have any points to show for it. The game was in a lull until PC’s Junior Freddy Perri inter-cepted a GA pass and returned it for a touch-down, putting the Quakers up 14-0 late in the 2nd Quarter. The same score would be true at the half. At half time, many flocked to the re-strooms of GA’s newly built stadium, chatted a little bit, and went to concessions stands while both teams were in the locker room lis-tening to their coaches speak. GA came out of the locker room with

Bryan Shipon, Mirror Staff

Footballtwo big pass plays, but the PC defense made a nice goal line stand to keep the Patriots off the board. Later in the third Quarter, PC did what GA could not: score on the goal line. Senior Eric Neefe took it in on a 2 yard run to make the score 21-0 until he again scored on a speedy 90+ yard run. Sophomore Kenny Bergman made an interception with around three minutes remaining in the 3rd. The Quakers performance could be described by one word: Dominant. GA was able to score on a 40 yard pass before the end of the quarter, but GA’s fans could do nothing as PC’s fans were chanting the word “Scoreboard” at the end of Quarter 3. The board read PC 28, GA 7. The fourth quarter began with an-other lull but ended with Charter’s Notre-Dame-bound Mike McGlinchey scoring a touchdown on a short run. Penn Charter was up 35-7 with about 7 minutes remaining. The score would remain to the end. The last ex-citing play occured when Junior Steve Cohen intercepted a Patriot pass. After the big win, Penn Charter students stormed the field, and the play-ers themselves were pretty excited as well. Ricky Peterson wanted to make sure that he “got that tackle in there,” Frank McGlinchey reported he was “feeling great,” Jelani Buie said he felt “absolutely amazing,” and Mr. Hitschler responded,”I’ll talk to you later.” Coach Jeff Humble gave the game balls to Seniors Mike McGlinchey and Eric Neefe. As the players jumped up and down holding their trophy, all could see that even though it was an up and down 5-4 campaign, the team went out on a really high note.

2-1. Not the score the Quakers were looking for. After 60 hard-fought minutes, the Penn Charter Field Hockey Team came up short. Earlier in the season, at the first league match-up, the Quakers shut down the Patriots, winning 2-0. Going into the game, they had hoped for the same outcome. Coach Channing Weymouth had the team arrive at 9:00 for a game that began at 10:30, so that the team could get mentally ready for the biggest game of the year. In a circle, every player mentioned something they would do in the game. With such positive energy in the air, a Quaker victory seemed imminent. However, Germantown Academy came out more excited than the Quakers expected, playing scrappy and keeping the score tied 0-0 for most of the first half. Both teams played aggressively, with tempers flar-ing. Then, sophomore Avery Shoemaker scored late in the first half, putting the Quak-ers up with around 9 minutes left on the clock in the first half. The elation on the side-line kept the team going, closing out the half up by one. Opening the second half, the Quak-ers used the momentum from the end of the first half to put the pressure on the Patriots. Penn Charter kept the ball in its offensive end

Anna Wills, Mirror StaffField HOckey

for a good fifteen minutes to start the first half, but a breakaway and a 2 vs. 1 knotted the score at 1-1. Sophomore goalie Kennedy Kline attempted a diving save, but it slipped by her. The Quakers then went up the field again, but lost the ball just outside the of-fensive circle. Another fast-break put the Patriots up 2-1 with only 2 minutes left on the clock. In the last tense minutes of the game, Senior captain Molly Pighini dribbled up the field, dishing it off to fellow senior Claudia Stedman on the right. She drove it in, and Katy Decker forced a penalty corner with about 30 seconds left. The Quakers then drew fouls two more times, causing two more corners. However, the third insert went wide and the game ended as it stood. Weymouth reflects, “I’m so proud of how the girls worked during the game, and how they worked all season. It wasn’t the end result we wanted, but it was a great game.” With most of the team in tears, the teams shook hands. Stedman says, “We just couldn’t put it away. I love Penn Charter field hockey, and I’m going to miss this team so much next year.” Well said for a team that put it all on the line on November 10th, even if they didn’t come away with the win. The Quakers finished their season with a record of 9-9-1, with a playoff win and loss as well.

PC golf, captained by seniors Luke Angelakis, Andrew Glatz, and Erin Lo, played during the 2012 fall season for its second year since the switch from the spring season. This was also the first year golf counted as a point in PC/GA Day. The PC/GA Day match was played on the Tuesday before the actual day, and the team provided a critical point for the PC total. The early win began the mo-mentum for the school, as the golfers won in the chilly November afternoon. The format was match play, with the pairings dependent on the final individual standings in the In-terAc. The final score of the match for Penn Charter was five wins, one loss, and two ties,

Erin Lo, To the Mirror Golfor halves, totaling six wins, two losses. LO halved her match after an intense match ending with an unsatisfying split on the final green. Fellow seniors Angelakis and Glatz won their matches, with Angelakis win-ning on the last hole of a competitive round, and Glatz finishing two up with one hole left to play. The sophomores held their ground with three wins with J.B. Bradbeer finishing his match half an hour before anyone else and Owen Davis’ winter hat leading him to victory. Fellow sophomore Christian Teuber edged out a win on the last hole after an even match. Freshmen Paul Glatz and Cesar Cen-teno also played commendable matches.

It has been a solid year for both boys and girls water polo. The boys team ended the season with a record of 25-4, were undefeated in the Inter-Ac, and placed 5th at States. They then capped their amazing season with a 19-10 victory over GA at PC-GA Day. The team was led by a large slate of seniors, namely Dave Hubert, Michael Lordi, Jamal Willis, Charles Giunta, Michael Pao-lini, and Jared Karpf. All InterAc titles went to captains Dave Huber and Michael Lordi, as well as juniors Connor McGoldrick and Pierce Kraft. Junior Carl Christoph, who had his teeth knocked out in late InterAc play, re-ceived All-InterAc honorable mention.

Nikhil Krishnan, Mirror StaffWater Polo

In most games, the water polo team played like men against boys. The team had three of the InterAc’s highest scoring players, Dave Huber with over 100 goals, Connor Mc-Goldrick with over 90 goals, and Pierce Kraft with over 60 goals. In addition, Dave Huber received MVP honors at the east coast all star game. The team will most likely have another successful season next year because, despite losing so many seniors, they also have a strong class of juniors and lowerclassmen. The girls team ended the season with a record of 7-11 after a loss against GA at PC-GA day. Led by seniors Meredith Wurtz, Kate O’Malley, and Carly Zurcher, the team held a strong position among other teams

in the area. While there is no “All-InterAc” title for girls water polo yet, Carly Zurcher and Meredith Wurtz did achieve 1st and 2nd team at Easterns respectively. The team set a strong base for the future, as junior Amanda Beck stated, “We’re a small team, but really hard working and we have good players, especially our under-classmen who will be really good next year!” The girls team looks to improve for next year with its young and new talent.

PC finished 5th out of six in the league, ahead of one competitor, al-though the most important, German-town Academy. J.B.’s scores were not allowed to be counted as part of league rules, but he will be included in scoring next fall and counted in the PC/GA Day match. Penn Charter finished 4th twice, 5th three times, and 6th once during the league matches. Despite some ups and downs, PC golf had a successful season and will continue to be a great team next fall.

Photos by Michael Paolini

Photo by Anna Willis

NEWSPAPER • APRIL2012

5

Cross Countrytalent, the team will have to step it up to fill the huge gap left by the Seniors. Boys Cross Country will also have a good shot next year at PC/GA Day next year (they only lost by 3 points this year!). This season has been one of Boys Cross Coun-try’s most successful seasons. They came in 1st at the Quad X Invitational, George School Invitational, and Briarwood Division 2 Race. Head Coach, Anthony Farrell de-scribes this as “perhaps the most prestig-ious race the Boys have ran in”. They also took 2nd in the Paul Short White Division Race which Farrell describes as “perhaps the best finish ever for any Inter-Ac Boys XC team.” Towards the end of the season, the boys claimed 2nd again at the Inter-Ac Champs and PAISSA (both were the boys best finish in 5 years). Overall, the boys have raced 119 teams from around the re-gion with an impressive record of 113 – 6. They also have three All State runners, Sen-ior ET Dumas and Sophomore Ben Szuhaj (first team), and Junior Scott Mason (2nd team) The team has four Seniors that they will miss very much. Captain and re-cord holder of the PC course: ET Dumas along with Nic Hanson, Adam Costarino, and

Taylor Jobes have all been strong members of the team. Dumas has been on the team for 2 years and is a top finisher. Despite los-ing him next year the team is very excited by how much potential they have. Sophomore and top finisher Ben Szuhaj says that the team is “incredibly optimistic for next year. Honestly--I’m not going to mix words here--we’re going to win the state next year.” Backed up by other top runners Scott Ma-son, Tre Williams, Hans Stedman, Charlie Hoyt, Jamir Brown, and Geoffrey Zlobin-sky, Szuhaj’s goal seems quite possible. Summer training will be crucial for the team’s success next year. Farrell thinks that “the team will do very well if the runners use the summer to build adistance base,” and Szuhaj agrees, saying “assuming everyone does his summer running and stays healthy, we should come out next fall and top our achievements this year.” Coach Farrell also wanted to add that “the coaches appreciate all the hard work the runners have done, and wish to thank the team for a very good season.”

Sports Page 5

Fall season wrap-up: PC wins pc/ga DAy for the first time since 2007

As this is the first JV report of the year, I want to congratulate the fall JV ath-letes on a great season. We’ll get started with JV boys soccer, lead by senior captains Aaron Mandlebaum, Gataum Nagaraj and Dan Amchin. The boys were runners-up for the JV InterAc title, winning their final game against GA 1-0. Girls soccer also finished strong with great performances from un-derclassmen who will need to fill the varsity voids next year. Our JV girls field hockey team was ferocious as usual, lead by soph-omore goalie Emily Omnisky. The boys JV water polo team had quite the season, once beating GA’s varsity team (as they should). Girls water polo did not have enough play-ers to form a JV team. The XC squads did not have too many JV races during the year but featured many new freshmen who will help win the Inter-Ac titles in years to come. Fi-nally, the JV football had a tough season, los-ing three very close games. Ian “Mini Moss” McCabe was the leading wide receiver with freshman quarterback Evan Farrell stepping into a new role. Other leaders were Steve Cohen, Jake McCain, Kenny Bergmann and “Nasty Nile.” A final shout out to the O line for playing well all season. Thanks to all the JV athletes who participated this year and will continue to keep playing at the highest level.

Bennett Samuels, SportsJV report

Golf

in the area. While there is no “All-InterAc” title for girls water polo yet, Carly Zurcher and Meredith Wurtz did achieve 1st and 2nd team at Easterns respectively. The team set a strong base for the future, as junior Amanda Beck stated, “We’re a small team, but really hard working and we have good players, especially our under-classmen who will be really good next year!” The girls team looks to improve for next year with its young and new talent.

The girls varsity tennis team brought its season to a close with an aston-ishing victory over Germantown Academy on the 126th annual PC/GA Day. The win for Penn Charter tennis was one of the most memorable comebacks in PC/GA Day girls tennis history. Although the match had a rocky start with the majority of the first sets ending in losses, Penn Charter caught up in the second set, and dominated in the third to win the day. “It’s the first time we’ve won in four years, and it went down to the wire!” ex-claimed the girl’s varsity tennis coach, Rose Weinstein. There were four split sets which are extra third sets that must be played to de-termine the winner of a match. Singles play-er, junior Margoux Losty, contributed to the victory with the score 6-4 of her final set and took MVP for the day. Senior co-captains, Erin Lo and Ryan Shaffer, also triumphed in

Jordyn Schwartz, Mirror StaffTennis

their third set. With the overall score of the match tied at 3-3, the day depended upon the dou-bles team of Paige Hodges and Rebecca John to win their final set. Fellow teammates, parents, and members of the Penn Charter community gathered around to watch the nail-biter. The excitement further mount-ed when the set ended in the need of a tie breaker. When the GA girls could not return Hodge’s powerful serve, the silence around the court was broken by Penn Charter cheers and screams, and a mad rush onto the court by the entire tennis team. Senior Erin Lo, enthusiastically stat-ed, “I’ve been on the team for four years and it’s the first time we’ve won. It feels amaz-ing!” Senior Carly Stern added, “I couldn’t ask for a better end to my tennis team expe-rience at Penn Charter!”

Penn Charter’s soccer teams have had one of the best seasons they’ve had in a long time. The girls’ soccer team finished in second place in the InterAc, just falling

short behind Episcopal Academy by one point. The boys’ soccer team

also finished in second in the league.

The boys had a tough loss to SCH during the season, but that did not inhibit their

overall success. Also, both teams played spectacular games on PC/GA day, with the

boys’ team coming home with a win, and the girls’ tying after a double over-time nail biting game. After the girls’ soccer team’s historic season, the girls advanced all the way to the PAISAA state championship, defeating

Abington Friends, Friends Central, and Agnes Irwin to reach the finals. Although the girls’ team lost in the champi-

onship 3-2, it was an extremely close game, and the team could not have played better soccer. However, a highlight of the season for the team was PC/GA day. Looking to make history and be-come the first Penn Charter girls’ soccer team to beat GA on PC/GA day, the girls fought to the end and shutout their rivals. The team faced two 5 minute overtime pe-riods, but the score still remained 0-0 at the end of the game. Senior starting goalie Ash-leigh Brown was a key factor in helping the girls attain the shutout. When asked about her first varsity season, Brown states, “The season overall was great for the team. We came together better than we have in pre-vious years and were able to stick together until the end. It was just upsetting that we were unable to win the InterAc. However, second place is still not too bad compared to where we had been in previous years.” Brown had an outstanding season

Alexa Herskowitz, Mirror StaffSoccer

and kept the team in line and in reach of their outstanding accomplishments throughout the fall. She further explains of the PC/GA day game, “It was nerve racking playing be-cause I went in with the idea that all I want-ed was to have a shutout. During the first half, I was nervous that I would let in an easy goal, however that didn’t happen. Once Juls got hurt, it just became pure anger, fueling me to play my hardest, because they took her out, and I just tried to win even harder for her. The second half I was just having fun, and I guess just doing my thing because I was not challenged at all in the goal. That half was just making sure that I didn’t fall asleep in the cage. Overall, playing is like the best feeling you will ever have because you know that this game helps the school’s score and just finishing it out as a team strong was a great feeling.” Captains Emma Ebert and Kelly Kubach could not have done a better job running the team, and the pair lead the team to a very successful and vic-torious season. All the underclassmen look forward to another great season next year. The boys also had a similiar experi-ence. “Playing in my first PC/GA day game was surreal. It felt like a dream. At first I was nervous, but with encouragement from my teammates, the nerves went away. There was no better way to end the season,” com-ments starting Freshman forward Harrison Williams. The boys’ soccer team had an outstanding win against GA. Their 1-0 win even helped the school win the overall com-petition. Senior Ted Foley scored the game winning goal and received the game MVP award. Drew Paisley and Andrew Verdi split the time in net for the Quakers, but both had shutouts in the game. Penn Charter’s boys’ soccer team was unbelievable this season, and they truly dominated on the field. The boys went 6-3-1 in the league and 11-6-2 overall. The tri-captains of the team, Ted Foley, Sam Agre, and Josh Cannon were key to motivating their teammates throughout the fall. The team played amazing all sea-son, and they will again next season under the leadership of the current junior class.

PC finished 5th out of six in the league, ahead of one competitor, al-though the most important, German-town Academy. J.B.’s scores were not allowed to be counted as part of league rules, but he will be included in scoring next fall and counted in the PC/GA Day match. Penn Charter finished 4th twice, 5th three times, and 6th once during the league matches. Despite some ups and downs, PC golf had a successful season and will continue to be a great team next fall.

Phot

o by

Jul

ia V

ahey

Photo by Allison Stern

Photo by Michael Paolini

Photo Courtesy of Penn Charter

Photos by Michael Paolini

NEWSPAPER • APRIL2012

6

News and Community Page 6

Sports teams gear up for Winter SeasonLeigh Steinberg, Mirror Staff As the Fall season winds down, and athletes hang up their cleats and helmets, put away the soccer balls, field hockey sticks and raquets and the weather forces us in-doors, we look ahead to a promising winter season. Seven teams suit up once again full of new faces and seasoned veterans. From the courts to the pool, here is all you need to know about the upcoming winter season. We begin in the Graham Athletics Center where the Quaker Crew will be bring-ing the ruckus once again for a promising boy’s basketball team. The Quakers return stars senior captain Mike McGlinchey and junior Sean O’Brien. While McGlinchey will continue his athletic career on the football field at Notre Dame next year, he will be a key contributor to the Quaker’s success in the upcoming season. Although the team lost First Team All-InterAc Captain John Mod-erski, they still have a strong group of upper-classmen, which includes senior Dave Huber. McGlinchey feels that working together will be an important part of this season, saying, “We will build on the way we play as a team, and on defense.” The team hopes to build on momentum from last year, more specifi-cally their 56-44 win over a 17-0 Malvern team at home in front of the Quaker Crew. McGlinchey commented on the outlook for this season, believing that “We are going to have to work hard to get wins. But I think we will be able to do so.” The girl’s basketball team looks to young talent to replenish a team that lost significant seniors in the Class of 2012. First Team All-InterAc Captain Dee Thomas-Palm-er graduated with the class of 2012 after scoring her 1000th point. MaryKate O’Brien continues her career at Williams College and leaves a hole in the leadership on and off the court for the Quakers. The team will turn two freshmen Hannah Fox and Ayanna Mat-

thews, who both played last season as eighth graders, to fill the big holes left by last year’s seniors. The Quakers look to build on a mo-mentous victory over GA on senior night, the first time PC had defeated GA in 16 years. The team now turns to seniors Nicole Weitz, Katie O’Malley and Kelly Kubach and junior Kristina Kubach to lead the young team to another successful season. Moving across Schoolhouse Lane to the Squash Courts, the girls squash team looks to rebuild after losing two key sen-iors, captains Tara Harrington and Amanda Roberts. However, the top of the ladder is strong, headed by junior Margaux Losty and sophomore Izzy Hirschberg, who returns for her third year of varsity play. Senior cap-tains Emma Ebert and Ryann Shaffer hope to lead the team back to success throughout the season and at Nationals, where the team placed 8th in the country last year. The team welcomes a crop of new freshmen and other varsity-newcomers to help round out the var-sity roster. The boy’s squash team is looking at a promising season, returning a strong group of seniors and many contributing underclass-men. First Team All InterAc Randy Beck and Second Team All InterAc Luke Angelakis and Max Reiff lead a pack of seniors, also includ-ing August Crofton and Scott Marcus. Owen Davis and Aiden Proges return as sopho-mores to bring strength to all parts of the lad-der. Lead by long time coach Geoff Sheilds, the team hopes to continue its success from last season. The Penn Charter swim teams never cease to excite the crowds in the Graham Athletic Center pool. The boys squad returns both First Team All InterAc selections from last year, senior captain Jamal Willis and jun-ior Connor McGoldrick. Willis is coming off a record-setting year and is excited for the up-coming season, stating, “I’m looking forward

to a fun, hardworking season out of the team. It will be a good season and we are all striv-ing to set personal records by the time our championship meet is over.” Willis went on to focus on this year’s prospects: “Everyone can make an impact on the team because everyone has a chance to gain points in a meet. Connor McGoldrick will have another big year along with Ross Wood. Also I predict this to be Carl Christoph’s big breakout year.” Finally, Willis believes in his team’s ability to overcome adversity: “We have a lot of chang-es in the coaching staff but I think we will be able to handle it. We are a good bunch of guys and we will be able to push ourselves to do great things just like last year.” Sharing the pool with the promis-ing boys team is Penn Charter’s girls swim-ming team. Lead by senior captains Meredith Wurtz, who will continue her swimming ca-reer at Marist College, Carly Zurcher and Ma-ria Georgiou, the team looks to continue on a strong 2011-2012 season. However, they

lost two key swimmers: Lela Garner OPC ‘12 and Ariel Barber. The swimmers will look to juniors Amanda Beck and Glynis Braun to help guide the team through another suc-cessful winter. Known for their strong work ethic, crazy schedule and spirited dress-ups, the girls swim team hopes to dominate the lanes against InterAc rivals Episcopal and GA. Finally, the wrestling team takes the mat in the Pit. Returning two captains from last year, seniors Eric Berger and ET Dumas, the team hopes to have more success than last season. The team produced two national qualifiers and returns a balanced group of underclassmen and season veterans. After losing four wrestlers to the Class of 2012, the team will need to replenish and reinvigorate a strong Penn Charter athletic program. Best of luck to all of the winter sports teams. We hope Quaker Crew will show support across the board and all around campus, from the mat to the courts to the pool!

Seniors Austin Williams and Mike McGlinchey practice with the Varsity basketball team.

What’s so wrong With wearing Leggings?

A Closer look at the PC Dress Code Yes, we can all agree that there are certain outfits sported throughout the hall-ways of Penn Charter that make us think, “Please, leave that in your closet next time!” From way too short shorts to see-through tops and pants that sag to the ankles, there are some articles of clothing that we can all agree should be avoided, if not prohibited. To the defense of the “distasteful dress-ers,” however, the current dress code at Penn Charter is sometimes unclear, and its inconsistent enforcement often leads us to believe that the clothing we are wearing ad-heres to the rules. A student whose outfit is “Okayed” by one teacher may have her outfit condemned by another and thus may receive a consequent detention. This current situa-tion is creating visible tension throughout our school. Now, I am not advocating that the administration completely “crack down” on students, but I do believe more consist-ent enforcement is necessary. This could prevent students from trying to slip through the cracks, and could even result in students actually following the dress code…imagine that! Times are changing, however, and with changing times come changing fash-ions. The styles that are deemed “appropri-ate” or “acceptable” by our culture are by no means fixed. While some students may be wearing promiscuous clothing, others may simply be wearing a style that was not popu-lar when we last amended our code. In mid-dle school, I was so ardent in protesting our old “no hoodie policy,” that I wore a hoodie to school almost every single day in seventh grade. While I faced the repercussions of my actions with a large handful of lunchroom detentions, I would like to believe that my determination had something to do with changing this policy. Now, middle schoolers wearing hoodies are free to roam the hall-ways so long as they do not place the hood over their heads.

Rachael Garnick, Mirror Staff Similarly, many girls in the high school are seen wearing leggings almost every day. Dean of Students Brian McClo-skey recently sent out an email reminding students “leggings are not part of our dress code. If [students] are out of dress code, [they should] be prepared to serve a morning de-tention.” While I will be the first to admit that some of the current trends are unbecoming and outrageous and should remain prohib-ited at Penn Charter, I will also advocate that some new styles that our current code disallows should be considered permissible – one such style being leggings. Senior Ma-ria Georgiou, an avid fashionista, shared with me that “undoubtedly, the black skinny leg look is shown everywhere in stores and has become the new ‘classic blue jeans.’” Geor-giou went on to say, “If worn with a long tunic or sweater—something to cover [your] rear from hanging out—leggings are a chic addi-tion to your outfit.” Sometimes even more important than style, however, is comfort. Some stu-dents often express that they do not feel comfortable wearing jeans or other pants and consequently break the current dress code by wearing leggings. Shouldn’t stu-dents be comfortable and not have to worry about discomfort or how they look while learning? Last week I spoke with a Friends Central senior about her school’s no dress code policy. She told me that because stu-dents “love the freedom of having no dress code,” they are actually less likely to dress inappropriately. Rather, she said, many of her peers “like to dress comfortably” in clothing such as sweatpants. Now I am not suggest-ing that we completely remove our dress code (though I would love to live to see the day that happens). I am just advocating that some amendments be made to our code both to keep up with changing times and fashion,

Continued on Page 8

Highlights from HalloweenPhotos by Jeffery Soffer, Mirror Staff

NEWSPAPER • APRIL2012

7

Entertainment

Pop Culture GridJulia Vahey, Mirror Staff

Name Favorite PC/GA event? What was the most untraditional food on your

Thanksgiving Table?

What Christmas gift would you get Mr. Larrabee?

How will you be spending your winter break?

Sam Agre, Senior

Lela Lerner,Sophomore

Harrison Williams,Freshman

Boys Soccer

Page 7

Football

Salmon

Chocolate Turkeys

Grits

New neighbors, lol jk Rogaine

Golf Shoes

Some Hair

At Josh’s...but he doesn’t know it yet

Dean Roseman, Junior

Boys Soccer..... Sully looked so good with the

mohawk

SteakA brand new TaylorMade 3

(it’s a golf club)

Costa Rica for a family vacation

Ella DiGiovanni,Senior

Football....I have to say that

I’m Italian so.... Macaroni and Meatballs

New shoes, he always wears those brown

ones

Watching movies with my sister

Relaxing and watching movies

I’m going to Disney to play soccer

What movie are you excited to

see?

Mama

Wreck it Ralph

Wreck it Ralph

Wreck it Ralph

Football Skyfall

Romeo and Juliet ReviewHannah Kramer, Mirror Staff Penn Charter’s fall production of Romeo and Juliet brought a classic play to the Kurtz Center in early November. The tragic love story was acted out by a cast of both experienced and novice actors from every grade. While the story is well-known, director Jessica Bender’s take on it was never commonplace, and the show was stolen by a solid group of lead actors. The leading cou-ple of Romeo and Juliet was played by sen-ior Stanton Young and sophomore Lyndsey Bentham, whose on-stage romance stole the hearts of the audience. Bentham’s charming-ly lovesick Juliet combined with Young’s pro-found and passionate Romeo made a devas-tating example of teen love gone wrong. The performance of freshman Samuel Zakheim as the couple’s best ally, Friar Lawrence, was

also exceptional. Alongside these characters, there were many who left the audience want-ing more. Junior Daniel Post Jacob’s Tybalt was violent, engaging, and killed way too soon. His vibrant anger coupled with senior Mary Cain’s exceptional acting as Mercutio brought out an amazing sense of the deep hatred between the Capulets and Mon-tagues and shed light on the tensions within the script. Sophomore Sylvie Miller gave a strong performance as the Prince, delivering the compelling final monologue that made the audience wish she had intervened just a little sooner. Between these scene-stealing characters and the tragic but loveable lead duo, Penn Charter actors brought Shake-speare to life on the Kurtz Center stage.

“Youth is not a guarantee of innovation” Quin Crofton, Mirror Staff In the words of James Bond, “Youth is not a guarantee of innovation.” For over fifty years, audiences have been drawn to the action, espionage, and romance of the James Bond series, and with the new film Skyfall out in theaters now, that is clearly never going to change. With each subsequent feature, fans of the series, both new and old, are treated to the the thrill of watching 007 take down the world’s most villainous people in the name of the crown. As the series progressed from the Connery, to the Moore, and now into the Craig era, the character of James Bond re-mained an enigma people have been mysti-fied by for half a century. The gun-totting Brit has gone from goofy to ultra serious. Now in Skyfall, Bond gets personal. In Skyfall a cyber terrorist by the name of Silva sets his sights on MI6, the Brit-ish Intelligence Agency. Bond, who disap-pears after an unsuccessful mission returns to MI6 after receiving the news of a bombing at headquarters. He rushes back into service, and as the mysteries surrounding the elusive Silva begin to be solved, his true motives are revealed. A threat greater than any other in the history of the Bond franchise is exposed. By far the most personal of the Bond movies and the most classic of the

Craig movies, Skyfall is a must see for anyone who wants a few answers, a few throwbacks, and a few hints as to where the series is go-ing. From start to finish the action is incred-ible, and mixed with some of the best perfor-mances the series has seen in years; this will definitely go down as one of the best Bond movies ever made. The return of characters like Q and Moneypenny are welcome, and the addition of the Aston Martin DBQ, the classic Bond car, is absolutely one of the more enter-taining aspects of the movie. Skyfall is the first Bond movie in years to go back to some of the gadgetry the series has known in the past. It even pokes fun at some of the more ridiculous tools Bond has been known to utilize, in particu-lar his exploding pen. Bond’s latest weapon is a gun that only he can use and a tiny ra-dio emitter that can bring in backup at any time. What this Bond movie does the best though is go back to what made the series popular in the first place while retaining its deadly serious tone. For example, one scene in particular involving komodo dragons is something one would not expect to see in the more modern Bond we’ve come to know. The throwback to the original formula of Bond working with a little bit of help is great,

and seeing Moneypenny out in the field is much better than seeing her sitting at her desk outside M’s office. And M, well, you’re going to have to watch the movie if you want to know about M. Though this movie is such a throwback, it’s only the second in the series to make reference to who Bond really is, where he came from, and what he’s doing at MI6. The entire climax of the movie is all about Bond, his life, and the people he cares the most about. The whole movie is a homage to the new and the old, and is definitely an exam-ple of how, “Youth is not a guaran-tee of innovation.” This Bond movie is definitely the best in years, and one of the best in the series. Sky-fall shows that sometimes you have to return to the basics to be better, but a healthy dose of new ideas is always welcome. Overall Skyfall is an exciting and moving film about a man fighting a personal battle on an international scale.Skyfall, Directed by Sam Mendes is in theaters now.

Photo Credit: http://www.imediamonkey.com/wp-content/up-loads/2012/09/skyfall_poster.jpg

Quaker Dating AdviceRachael Morris and Kevin Kelly, to the Mirror

The First Date1) The date begins when the first person enters the room, takes a seat and enters into

silence.

2) In order to really impress a girl, maintain silence and speak only when moved by her beauty.

3) Remember, it is customary to stand up when speaking.

4) Allow a few moments of silence between speakers.

5) Simplicity is key.

6) To check if her inner light is pure, ask her how often she goes to Meeting.

7) If you are not enjoying the date, wander off somewhere to contemplate a new plan of action in silence. This is only an extreme measure.

8) Maintain equality by splitting the bill evenly.

9) At the end of the date, shake hands with her to signify that your meeting is done.

10) If you follow these steps you will be able to show her your inner light.

* The Quakers, being a loving people, do not wish to offend anyone, so feel free to replace our pronoun choice with the gender of your liking.

Photo of sophomores Lyndsey Bentham and Julia Truten courtesy of Donna Uettwiller

NEWSPAPER • APRIL2012

8

Izzy Hirshberg, Entertainment

Are you interested in writing, taking photos, or making videos for The Mirror ?

If so, talk to Ani Schug or Kidder Erdman... there are still spots available!

HOLIDAY PEPPERMINT BARKEntertainment

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups white chocolate pieces cut in chunks from a 20 ounce bar. 1 teaspoon peppermint extract 6 tablespoons heavy cream 10 ounces semisweet chocolate chips 40 mini candy canes crushed

Directions: Cover the bottom of a cookie pan with parchment paper.Melt half (1 ¼ cups) of the white chocolate in a double boiler on low heat.Spread the melted white chocolate in a 15 x 6 rectangle, and sprinkle 1/3 of the crushed peppermint canes on the top and let chill in a freezer for 5 minutes.While the white chocolate chills, place the cream, peppermint extract and semi-sweet chocolate in a double boiler. Stir until melted and combined. Let smooth chocolate sit for 3 minutes.Spread on top of the set white chocolate in an even layer. Let chill for at least 30 minutes. Place the second half of white chocolate in the double boiler and heat until melted, smooth and easily spreadable. Let sit for 3 minutes.Remove the pan from the freezer.Spread the white chocolate on the first two layers.Note: be careful not to mix the semisweet chocolate layer with the top layer of white chocolate to avoid the colors combining.

Sprinkle the remaining 2/3 of the crushed candy canes.Let sit for one hour and break into small pieces.Give as gifts to family and friends and enjoy by a warm fireplace with warm milk or hot chocolate.

Enjoy!

Did you know that Penn Charter houses its very own movie stars? Recently, a movie about a girl’s rowing career, Back-wards, came out. It shows both the highs and lows that come with crew, and Penn Charter rowers can definitely identify with the mov-ie’s story. In fact four PC students and OPCs were in the movie! Backwards takes place in Philadelphia, and the main character rows out of the same boathouse as the Penn Char-ter crew team, Vesper. OPCs Sami Kapneck, Tess Reinhold, Dylan Smith, and current sen-ior Heidi Zisselman all were featured in this film. Zisselman recalls her experience with a smile, “I was only on set for a day, while I know Tess and Dylan were both there at least three full days. I rowed in a double in a race scene against two of the main charac-ters. It was funny because the main charac-ters didn’t know how to row, so we were go-ing so slowly and had to row the racecourse about ten times to get that one scene.” She continues to explain how important crew is to her Penn Charter experience, just as it was for the main character in the movie. “The girls on the team are probably the nicest in the school, though I am a little biased. What has made crew such a great experience for me is the friendships made on the water, in the erg room, and at 6:15 am in the weight

Dress COde Articlecontinued from page 6and to cater to students’ need to be comfort-able and confident while learning. There is an old saying that goes, “Opportunity may knock only once, but temptation leans on the doorbell.” I feel as if temptation is the administration’s inconsist-ent enforcement of our dress code, inducing students to see how far they can push the limits. Temptation has been leaning on Penn Charter’s doorbell for a long time now, and it will not go away until the administration agrees to make changes. If the inconsist-ent enforcement continues, and no changes are made to our current code, students will continue to rebel and come to school out of dress code. While in this case opportunity may knock more than once. Opportunity is banging on the door, waiting to change to an issue that has been looming over Penn Char-ter teachers and students for years.

Crew TEam Members featured in filmRachel Gordon, Mirror Staff

room. We go through so much and spend so much time together that we have all become so close.” All rowers have a mutual respect for the sport. The biggest sacrifice is free time. Crew takes up at least 80% of your free time during the week and 90% on the weekends. For example, in the movie Abi is forced to miss her date due to crew. At the same time, however, the bond between a team is unlike any other sport (even though many consider crew to not be a “real sport”). If one person in your boat is off, then the whole boat is off. All rowers understand not rowing your hard-

est is not an option. One must have complete trust in one’s teammates. In the movie, two characters, Hannah and Susan, race in a dou-ble together and learn they can only row well when they get along off the river. Crew is a sport like no other. Many say that crew is not a real sport, but they are greatly mistaken. This movie emphasizes how important it is for rowers to work to-gether to achieve a common goal. Ultimately, crew is not just a sport but a lifestyle that teaches the importance of community, time management, determination, and hard work.

Photo Credit: http://s152051.gridserver.com/backwards/gallery/

Penn Charter rowers can be seen in the background of this race scene in the movie Backwards.

Photos by Izzy Hirshberg