features
Openness with a capital "O"
By Sophia Deng | Nov. 22, 2008, midnight | In Features »
Tenth grade Communication Arts Program (CAP) journalism teacher Anne Cullen had not expected a response. After watching an episode of "Oprah" during her maternity leave in summer 2008, Cullen was inspired by the daytime queen to apply CAP to the talk show host's O Ambassadors program, an international program that encourages youth to participate in charity. In October, a surprising reply came: CAP sophomores were officially O Ambassadors.
Healing hearts and minds
By Rose Wynn | Nov. 21, 2008, midnight | In Features »
It has been more than a year since the father of Jeremy and Justin Herring fatally shot his sons in their beds one tragic night at the end of July, and the memories still resonate clearly within the John F. Kennedy High School community. Jeremy, 18, was a leading Kennedy basketball player for four years, an outstanding scholar and a quietly humble friend to many. Justin, 20, a Kennedy graduate who attended Montgomery College, was just as athletic and admired. He offset his brother's calm persona with a dynamically outgoing personality and a vigorous innocence that was well-loved by family and friends alike.
Taming tempers
By Deepa Chellappa | Nov. 17, 2008, midnight | In Features »
At lunch a couple of weeks ago, junior Leon Scales almost had a meltdown. He was trying to speak to his ex-girlfriend, but she brushed him off repeatedly to talk to someone else, leaving Scales feeling hurt, confused and upset. He felt his anger starting to get the better of him, pumping through the veins of his clenched fists and pounding heart - but instead of picking a fight, he turned around and walked down Blair Boulevard towards the band room. Picking up his drumsticks, Scales sat down and began to play.
The presidential probe
By Lucas Alvarado-Farrar, Susie Branson | Nov. 2, 2008, midnight | In Features »
As the election draws near, polling predictions and Electoral College selections seem to bombard us nearly ever hour. To respond to these forecasts, we at Silver Chips Online have devised out own, more scientific predictions for those Blazers who are simply unsure who will win this heated contest. We have created, using only the most trusted techniques in the industry, eight key tests for the outcome of the 2008 election.
Counselors can prevent college fears from graduating
By Julia Wynn | Oct. 31, 2008, midnight | In Features »
A fresh start. Slack rules. Less parental pressure. These are terms high school students associate with the college lifestyle. But the application process is a bit more of a fiasco, filled with seemingly never-ending deadlines and concerns. Many wonder how they will balance their parents' wish that they remain close to home with their own need for privacy and solitude. Others are worried about the cost of college and the possibility of rejection.
Beyond the pumpkin patch
By Susie Branson | Oct. 26, 2008, midnight | In Features »
Reds, oranges and yellows blur before the eyes of juniors Adam Hallberlin and Justin Rattey as they leap through the air. Plunging into their first annual pile of leaves for the autumn season, smells of dirt, grass and sweat engulf their senses. Even though their arms ache and their hands are covered with new calluses from raking all day, the corners of their mouths curve into a smile as they both think the same thing: it's fall again!
A gem in the neighborhood
By Ya Zhou | Oct. 13, 2008, midnight | In Features »
Students mill around in the courtyard, throwing around a football. Others sit around picnic tables, some chatting with friends and some alone, engrossed in textbooks. The students' voices are accompanied by sounds of construction, as older buildings are in the process of being renovated into state-of-the-art facilities. This may be a picture of any four-year university, but it depicts Montgomery College (MC), the community treasure that high school students often overlook as they conduct their college search.
Silver chic, back in action
By Susie Branson | Oct. 2, 2008, midnight | In Features »
Silver Chic is back for its second year of announcing and denouncing the most popular fashions on the Blair Boulevard runway. Silver Chips Online is here to report the hottest trends from horns to hooves of the new back-to-school fall fashion. Leave it to Blair to take the top trends and twist them into their own, devilish ways. Congratulations Blazers for an impressive, fashionable entrance into the fall semester - we can't wait to see what you do with the rest of the year!
Experiencing the "life is life" in Egypt
By Poorna Natarajan | Sept. 24, 2008, midnight | In Features »
Almost every morning this summer, senior Vanessa Hoy rode a rickety minibus, watching a little boy stand hanging out the door, collecting fare and yelling out the bus's destinations. The bus passed through a barren desert strip where the wind blew, raising dust into the air. At her stop, Hoy entered into a bustling street, where vendors handed out sweet fruit juice in glasses. As she crossed the street filled with traffic to go to school, Hoy could hear the distant but loud trains rolling across the tracks. Hoy finally reached her summer school, located half a world away from Blair in the city of Cairo, Egypt.
Musical dream comes true for Blair senior
By Sophia Deng | Sept. 14, 2008, midnight | In Features »
French soldier Adam Carey lies on the floor, face calm, eyes closed and mouth shut. His body is limp and lifeless, around his corpse a battle rages. Suddenly the scene changes, Carey pops opens his eyes and quickly feels his way off the stage.
Jazz maverick striking a major chord in community
By Fran Djoukeng | Sept. 12, 2008, midnight | In Features »
For Marcus Johnson, Silver Spring is more than just a hometown. It is "the wind beneath my wings," says Johnson, who graduated from Blair in 1991, set up an award-winning music label a few blocks away and is a key component of Saturday's annual Silver Spring Jazz Festival.
McManus, Mary
By Katie Sint | July 3, 2008, midnight | In Teacher Feature »
Jasmine green tea, stacks of student papers and open textbooks surround Mary McManus on a covered desk in a hot computer room. McManus teaches a variety of classes ranging from Software Applications to Computer Programming in the Business and Computer Science Department.
Haigh, John
By Jenna Bushnell | June 30, 2008, midnight | In Teacher Feature »
John Haigh is a typical Blazer: he plays soccer constantly, loves the outdoors, wears American Eagle clothes and enjoys hanging out with his friends and jamming to alternative rock music. He could be just a typical teenager – which is why it is easy to forget that he's a teacher.
Jessell, Margaret
By Sophia Deng | June 30, 2008, midnight | In Teacher Feature »
Margaret Jessell may not be a teenager, but she still plays Truth/Dare, hosts murder-mystery parties and goes to R.E.M. concerts with her friends. A petite woman with piercing blue eyes, Jessell seems solemn and very serious. But in reality, she is the complete opposite. "Oh, I'm mean and uptight," she jokingly describes her personality. Then, cracking up at her joke, Jessell reveals the hidden goofy and outgoing side that her students, children and friends have the privilege to see.
Swaney, David
By Rose Wynn | June 30, 2008, midnight | In Teacher Feature »
The lights are dimmed as social studies teacher David Swaney sits among teenage students, below a stage decked with flashy costumes and dramatic actors. He sits as those around him do: with their violins propped steadily on their shoulders and their right arms flying wildly to create an energetic stream of music, as background for the torrent of song coming from the stage. Swaney plays with his fellow pit members, delighted to be engaging in one of his favorite pastimes while supporting his students' extracurricular interests.
Gonzalez, Dora
By Sonalee Rau | June 30, 2008, midnight | In Teacher Feature »
The foreign language academic support classroom is perpetually jam-packed during lunch as students filter in and out, looking for a teacher to help them. The environment seems chaotic – that is, until the commanding presence of Spanish teacher Dora Gonzalez enters the room. She hands each student the material that they need in a businesslike fashion. Then, noticing a former student complaining about his work, she addresses the classroom jocularly as her smile belies her seriousness. "If he had taken a class with me, he would have experienced a lot of fun," she says.
Murley, Kevin
By Lauren Kestner | June 30, 2008, midnight | In Teacher Feature »
A young man sits at a crowded desk in the Business and Entrepreneurship Office, flipping through pages of student reflections found in a lopsided pile of journals. Eyebrows furrowed in concentration, he reads a student's account of relatives faced with nearly insurmountable debt — a financial burden that could have easily been avoided, had they taken a business course. When the student begins to express her gratitude for the financial acumen she has developed through his business class, Kevin Murley's deep blue eyes brim with a newfound resolve to teach.
Davis, Celita
By Deepa Chellappa | June 30, 2008, midnight | In Teacher Feature »
The bustle in Celita Davis's classroom can be heard from down the hall. Groups of students fill the room, some chattering loudly in Spanish, others crowded around a computer watching YouTube clips. In a corner, four friends are busily engaged in a fierce game of Uno. Colorful pictures from a Pi Day activity cover the back wall, and inspirational posters adorn the front board. A box of calculators lies abandoned on a desk and caricatures replace math equations on the white board. The scene is not unusual except for the time of day—it is 5B lunch, and these students have voluntarily abandoned the cafeteria for the comfort of their math classroom, room 235.
Stallings, Franklin
By Fran Djoukeng | June 30, 2008, midnight | In Teacher Feature »
Swiveling in his chair and contemplating his typical weekend plans, Franklin Stallings chuckles and says, "Work." Since he was 16 years old, Stallings says, he can't remember a period in his life when he was not working.
Holt, John
By Jeremy Gradwohl | June 30, 2008, midnight | In Teacher Feature »
Technology teacher John Holt idly twirls a file in his hands as he sits on a mini-stool in a third-floor tech lab on the third floor overlooking the courtyard on a bright blue-skied afternoon in May, as he recalled how he had made his career choice and ended up at Blair. Having grown up right down the street from Blair, Holt is accustomed to such afternoons.
Darwish, Sawsan
By Poorna Natarajan | June 30, 2008, midnight | In Teacher Feature »
Wearing a black headscarf and clutching a rolling backpack that follows the short steps of her petite frame, language teacher Sawsan Darwish stands out at Blair. But in just a year, Darwish has managed to merge into the Blair community with her charismatic personality.
A world of difference
By Emily Hsiao | June 6, 2008, midnight | In Features »
After a long school day, a voice over the intercom announced a long-distance phone call for Joseph Bellino, a bewildered new English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher. The caller was a teacher in Arizona, who had subscribed to Silver International, Blair's international newspaper that Bellino created. She needed to share with Bellino an "amazing thing that had just happened."
A game to die for
By Lucas Alvarado-Farrar | June 2, 2008, midnight | In Features »
Knock, knock – the sound resonates throughout the house. A bewildered student picks up his crutches and hobbles out of bed to his front door. Cracking it open, he gazes out and turns pale. Seeing his killer before him, he quickly tries to slam the door, but is pushed to the ground. His attacker moves in and utters a single phrase. Junior Eliot Gold has just been killed.
Silverlogues: collected, posted, preserved
By Greg Kohn | May 20, 2008, midnight | In Features »
It is safe to predict the eventual fate of the 2008 Silverlogue yearbook, soon to be delivered to Blair students. It will end up a collector's item. One of those collectors is likely to be 1970 Blair graduate Donna Guiffre, who has three rooms brimming with high school yearbooks inside her antique-filled Germantown home. Her collection now amounts to more than 2,000 yearbooks from 48 states, including Silverlogues covering 50 of Blair's 79 years as a school.
BLAIR PAIR: the first date of '08
By | May 9, 2008, midnight | In Features »
A guitar "shredder" meets a programming girl who's got it together. Will Carr hand over the keys to her heart? Or will Hans fly solo?
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