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Members of O’Connell’s championship Cross Country team proudly display their award.Student ArtworkReceives AccoladesCongratulations to Su Jin Kim, ChrissieMoten and Pawnee Maiden whose artworkwas recently published in the annualchildren’s issue of the Arlington Connection.The newspaper chose two piecesfrom Su Jin Kim to include in this issue.Her charcoal of a young girl singing waschosen as the cover art for the newspaper.In February, seniors Joo Ho Lee and SuJin Kim entered their works in the 2012Gonzaga All-Catholic High Schools ArtExhibition. Senior Joo Ho Lee’s self-portraitStudent SpotlightCharlie Fidler ’12If you’ve ever heardsenior Charlie Fidleron his violin, you mightthink he was bornwith the instrumentin his hand. Fidlerplays in the school’sorchestra and pitchesin around the schooland the communitywhen someone needs a“little bit of music” at aspecial event.“Charlie has a uniqueview of music in that itmakes intrinsic senseto him so he is able to compose as well asperform music,” says Music Program DirectorTodd Mastric. “Because of his understandingof music, when he performs he isable to sense the shape of the music whichleads to what we would think of as a ‘moremusical’ performance of a piece. Thisawareness, coupled with his ability anddesire to work hard, makes him a specialmusical talent.”won 3rd place in the competition, and Su JinKim’s drawing received honorable mention.Seniors SignLetters of IntentSo far this year, four seniors at BishopO’Connell signed National Letters ofIntent with their colleges of choice, in thepresence of their families, coaches, schooladministrators and teammates. Lacrosseplayer Courtney Cross signed with VillanovaUniversity, baseball player GregKrug signed with La Salle University,soccer midfielder Regan Houston signedwith the College of William and Mary, andsoccer defender Shannon Nasca signedwith Radford University.Fidler was honored this year at the VirginiaBand and Orchestra Directors’ Association(VBODA) District XII Orchestra auditions,by being named Concertmaster. This is thetitle given to the principal violinist of anorchestra. More than 80 violin players frompublic and private schools in the districtperformed scales, orchestral excerpts andsight reading for a panel of judges.Said Fidler of this experience, “I was ableto work with a group of extremely talentedmusicians. There was quite a bit of stressover the intensive two days of practice, butit culminated in a great performance thatmade it all worthwhile.”He also volunteers his time, teaching violinto younger students at a special programat Thomas Jefferson Middle School inArlington.But Fidler is far from one dimensional; heis also passionate about rowing. He is a captainthis year of the O’Connell crew team,where he and his teammates have theirsights set on challenging national championshipboats this year.Unlike the violin, which he took up as aseven-year-old in a small town in Nebraska,Running to FifthStraight State TitleFor the fifth year in a row, the girls crosscountry team captured the Virginia IndependentSchool title and the WashingtonCatholic Athletic Conference (WCAC)championship. O’Connell junior DevinNihill won both races, finishing at the statemeet with a time of 19:46, and at the verywet and cold WCAC meet with a time of21:24. Senior Emily Blagg finished in 4thplace in the state meet and in 3rd place atthe WCAC race.“This a talented group of girls,” said CoachCindy Walls about their state meet victory.”They were able to win because they be-rowing is a pastime that came to Fidlerrelatively recently. After his freshman yearat O’Connell, a friend suggested he jointhe crew team “for fun.” He participatedin a fall learn-to-row program and he wasinstantly hooked. He has seen his team risein the ranks at the annual Stotesbury CupRegatta in Boston—the largest high schoolregatta in the world. He trains six days aweek with the crew team, sometimes onthe water and sometimes on a mind-numbingindoor rowing machine, or “erg” as theycall them.Fidler has managed to stay on the honorroll at O’Connell while balancing his schoolwork with both his music and his rowing.His favorite subjects are English and Theology,as he enjoys reading and analyzing materials.Fidler hopes to row competitively atthe college level and is still waiting to hearfrom a few of his top choices. He wouldactually like to be able to continue both hismusic and his rowing pursuits, while studyingpsychology and business.Come to the O’Connell Spring Concert onTuesday, May 1, 2012 at 7 p.m. to enjoy amusical evening with Fidler and the rest ofthe school’s musical ensembles.10