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Page 6 The Walrus: School News November 2009 Marine Biology Club Underway By J. DONOVAN ‘12 and M. FECHTELKOTTER ‘12 As of now, the Marine Biology Club consists of a group of sophomores and seventh graders sharing one box of Dunkin’ Donuts. However, this will all change very soon. In our meetings so far, we have discussed many field trip options such as attending lectures and films at the aquariums in Boston, Woods Hole, and Gloucester, and possibly even a fishing trip. The club was started last spring by Mr. Stratton, who happens to be truly interested in marine biology. Due to the fact that the club was started so late in the year, the club was only able to embark on one field trip. They went to the Imax Theater at the New England Aquarium located at 1 Central Wharf, Boston, Massachusetts, 02010 (Phone 1-617- 973-5200; web address http://www. neaq.org), to see a film about the deep. The most fascinating aspect was that the flick was shown in 3-D. While sitting in the theater, schools of fish would suddenly flash by, flashing and dancing inches from the face. Then, bursting through the school, a whale would charge out from the screen. Every detail was portrayed with spot-on accuracy and it was very easy to distinguish the different types of sea creatures. The club returned that night satisfied and with a new understanding of the world of marine biology. The Marine Biology club is unique because it is mainly run by students rather than faculty. Mr. Debate Makes Early Noise in By JOE ALBANESE ‘10 DANEIS As the end of the fall sports season rolls in, it isn’t hockey that is on the collective minds of St. Sebs, or basketball, or even squash. Or swimming or skiing. No, it is Varsity Debate that has captured the imaginations of countless souls. While sports seasons have come and gone, Debate has already had a busy schedule, and will continue to immerse itself in argument during the weeks to come. Led by Coach Nerbonne, the St. Sebastian’s Debate Team (as he insists it be called) has already had a busy year. Students have competed in the Stoneleigh-Burnham Public Speaking Competition, and in their own novice tournament, while the St. Paul’s Prepared Oregon-Style debate has twice been delayed; no doubt an illustration of the highest cowardice. Sundays will be hectic in the late fall, with the Andover Parliamentary Extemporaneous on November 18th, Hotchkiss on November 15th, and Roxbury Latin on December 6th. The Novice Tournament at St. Sebastian’s took place on Sunday, November 15th with great success. There was a turnout of 12 schools, from Exeter to Roxbury Latin to the infamous Hotchkiss. Many of the schools brought 16 debaters and 2 judges with them, a hefty load; and this was only the novices. Thanks to the efforts of studious seniors doing paperwork behind the scenes, and judging debaters, as well as other St. Sebs students working as speakers, the tournament went off without a hitch. Our own debaters had some success in the ring: the team of Julian Matra ’13 and Michael Petro ’13 came through with a record of 3-0. Chris Riley ’13 also won an individual speaker award as the speaker with a score of 66, the best score from St. Sebastian’s. The Novice challenge is not the only event St. Sebastian’s will be hosting for debate. Another Parliamentary Extemporaneous tournament will be hosted here on Sunday, February 21. For those who are unfamiliar with the club or with the concept of debate, here is a quick overview. Students devote occasional Sundays to competing at another school’s tournament. The most common format is Parliamentary Extemporaneous, in which teams of two compete with other Stratton is a great organizer and planner; however, he leaves to us the major decisions and trip planning. Mitchell Emerson says this about the club, “Well it's laid back and it’s not strict or anything and we get to do what we want to do for activities. It’s a good club for students because they can do what they want and learn at the same time.” The future of the Marine Biology Club looks promising with leaders Severin “Sovereign” Chambers, Tom Kelly, and Mike Healey at the helm. It was stated by Mark Cunningham, “Marine Biology club is the best thing since sliced bread.” He also said, “I think that it's a good club but it's really only starting up, and we need to jump start it and if we do we can do some pretty cool trips.” As Mr. Stratton says at every meeting, “This club is what you guys make of it.” It can be great or just another small group. Anybody is welcome to join the club, but some interest in Marine Biology is required because this is club is intended to be not only fun, but also informative. It can’t be stressed enough how important it is to be involved in the school’s many activities, whether it is Football or Debate Team. And if you aren’t involved in any of these activities, please go out and support the teams. The only club you won’t get any credit for is the 2:30 club. GO ARROWS! various teams throughout three rounds in a single day. The topics are not known beforehand, but are given once each new round begins. It will usually be a statement such as “the pen is mightier than the sword”, and it is up for the teams to redefine it as a debatable topic. As each side debates, it escalates into a frenzy of things such as “sign-posting”, “clash”, “rebuttals”, and of course scathing “heckles”. Each speaker is scored on the basis of his or her speaking, organization, and argument. The scores of both speakers factor into the overall score of the team. The speakers from each side are ranked from 1st to 4th, and the team with the most overall points wins the round. At some tournaments, after the third round, the day finishes off with a dinner and some kind of finishing competition, whether a final debate between the top two teams with the audience as the judges, or an impromptu competition where a topic is given and a speech must be formulated nearly on the spot by one person from each school. If the concept of proving someone else wrong excites you, or you desperately want to know what in world “sign-posting” is, it may be time to join the ranks of students who comprise this large and vibrant club. Furthermore, it is a chance to bring home some hardware and glory for your school, as well as some welldeserved bragging rights. There has already been some great success for our school this year, as can be seen from the early successes of this year. The hordes of plaques and awards in the library also give an idea of the level at which our school is competing. It is an exercise that can be fun, challenging, and enlightening as well. Spending a Sunday at some faraway school is by no means a chore or an ordinary school trip. It is a chance to spend the day with many other students, gaining experience in public speaking and argumentation technique. Dozens of kids from all grade levels have already signed up, and there remains a full calendar for the rest of the year. For more information about the debate club, you should see Mr. Nerbonne or check the schedule, rules and scores of past tournaments online at www. DANEIS.org. POINT - COUNTERPOINT: Which TV Show is Supreme? “The Office” “Entourage” By TOM GREGG ‘10 Every week I look forward to one night of television: Thursday night on NBC. Why? Because ‘The Office’, arguably the best half-hour show on television, fancies me with a new episode. For those unfamiliar to the show, ‘The Office’ follows a workforce at a failing paper company name Dunder-Mifflin. The boss, Michael Scott (played by Marshfield resident Steve Carell), is an immature and over-promoted leader that oft manages to embarrass himself. Under Michael is Jim Halpert, an underachiever and procrastinator, who just recently was promoted to Co-Regional Manager of the Dunder-Mifflin Scranton branch, and a misfit group riddled with shenanigans. One of the better parts about ‘The Office’ is its reality. The show is based around a workplace with a horrible atmosphere. The workers all dislike their job, their coworkers, and their bosses, and use Dunder-Mifflin simply as a means to get by. Inside this sea of misery remains Michael, who over-enthusiastically attempts to rally his troops and create better work chemistry in the hope he will be respected and loved. I can connect with being in an environment I dislike. I understand how these people can drag themselves through a useless work day just to have a paycheck at the end of the month. The other great thing about ‘The Office’ is the characters on the show, most notably the sidekicks. No show has people like Creed Bratton (played by Creed Bratton), Andy Bernard (Ed Helms), and Kevin Smith (Fat Actor). Dynamic and utterly useless characters such as these gems bring true comedy to the show. On top of Michael’s embarrassment, Jim’s pranks, and Dwight’s naivety, the sideshows enlighten the viewer with at least seven solids minutes of sidesplitting laughter. For example, Creed Bratton, head of Quality Assurance, once did not do his four-hour examination that he has to do once a year. Instead of manning up for his mistake, Creed blamed the inappropriate water mark on the paper on a woman who was home sick the day he was supposed to go. The woman was then fired, so Creed collected money for her from everyone in the workplace. In the final scene of the episode, Creed ditches the envelope and stashes the nineteen dollars he raises. Comedy like this from supporting characters goes unmatched in any show on any network. ‘The Office’ blows ‘Entourage’ out of the water when it comes to characters. I have watched Entourage religiously over the past six years, and as much as it pains me to say this, the show has rapidly gone downhill. The characters have transform like the auto bots into figures unrecognizable to those in the first seasons. Vinny and the boys have become caught up in the glamour of a Hollywood lifestyle, something that they promised would never happen to them. Turtle, the greatest character on the show, went from New York tough guy to a preppy Los Angeles brat. Turtle lost his attitude and gained a sensitive side. As much as I believe a show should have growth, Entourage took a step back with its characters. Once E becomes a manager in an actual business, he develops into a gungho rat who steps on the people around him to get ahead. Vince loses his laidback attitude and begins to take an interest into success, a policy he vocalized he would never delve in to. As much as I loved the first few seasons of ‘Entourage’, the show took a turn for the worst. It lost its dreamy aura and developed into the biography of a struggling actor and his friends. When ‘Entourage’ blessed my eyes as an exciting new show, I wanted to be Vincent Chase. I wanted to take my boys with me to L.A. and live the American dream, but now, I do not want to. The once surreal lifestyle lived by the entourage lost its glamour and became a depressing reality. They stopped being close friends and began to go their separate ways. If given the option of watching an episode of either show, I know I would much rather sit down and watch the office. Kanye West Causes a Ruckus at VMA’s By WILL VIETZE ‘11 “I’m gonna let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time…one of the best videos of all time.” As you all know by now, Kanye West and his enormous ego interrupted the speech of our beloved Taylor Swift during the Video Music Awards this year. He completely ruined the moment for Taylor, and made himself look like a fool in front of the entire country. I think this incident especially hit home in the St. Sebastian’s community, due to the widespread obsession with Taylor Swift across all grade levels. Nick Cortese even said last winter, “There are very few girls I can think of that are more beautiful than Taylor Swift.” It is quite evident that the collective school community now hates Kanye and his haircut with a passion. Although Nick’s opinion is not my own, or in any way valid, I think his appreciation of Taylor Swift is similar to if not lesser than that which most of our school has for her. Brand new Arrow, Ty Wiik even said. “If I was a foot taller I would totally look Taylor in the eyes and ask her out.” Even the youngest in our community profess this love of Taylor without any embarrassment or trepidation. By choosing Taylor’s side, the Seb’s community has waged war on Kanye and his supporters. Our nation’s celebrities hate him as well, and many have expressed this deep hatred through the use of Twitter. Kelly Clarkson, an avid Kanye hater, tweeted, “What happened to you as a child?? Did you not get hugged enough??.... It’s absolutely fascinating how much I don’t like you.” Kelly’s creative insults and use of Twitter mobile has taken hating to an entirely new stratosphere, which can only be reached by the most creative minds and the most avid Tweeters. Heidi Montag, new soldier of Christ and star of The Hills, tweeted, "Congrats @taylorswift13 on your vma!!! you deserve it more than anyone!! I saw the devil in action when kanye west stole your mic! u rock!!!" I have seen people call Kanye a jerk, but to say that the devil Kanye West ignited controversy at the VMA’s last month By CHIP CABOT ‘10 HBO’s Entourage is a show about Vincent Chase, an actor played by Adrian Grenier and his exploits living with his ‘entourage’: brother, Johnny Drama, and two long time friends from Queens, Turtle and Eric Murphy, or ‘E’. The show follows each of the characters as they pursue careers and women throughout the sunny city of Los Angeles. Johnny, Vince’s brother and an out of work actor faces frequent rejection from producers while his anger management issues and tough-guy persona always keep him interesting. The Office is a show about people in an office. Sweet. Don’t let this high-intensity setting let you think that the show is anything to be proud of, its not. The only character worth listening to is Dwight Schrute, and even his paranoid-ramblings begin to wear on the nerves after just a few episodes. Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is the single other interesting character on the show. I’ll admit, his childish humor is funny sometimes—but his sense of humor is not enjoyed by all. In contrast, Entourage is rich with always interesting characters such as Ari Gold and Lloyd, his gay assistant, who always make the show great to watch. Celebrity appearances also set was working through him has taken Kanye-bashing to a new level. This tweet is also coming from a person who is married to Spencer Pratt, who is most likely the worst human being currently living on our planet. As good as these insults are, in my opinion, one tweet sums up the moment the most succinctly and creatively. Katy Perry, of “I Kissed a Girl” fame, tweeted, “Its like you stepped on a kitten.” Though her apt use of simile, Katy perfectly describes the incident. Kanye West ruined the moment of a nineteen-year-old girl when she was most vulnerable and made her cry, very similar to the action of stepping on a little kitten. Even our president Barack Obama, supposedly had something to say about Kanye in an off-the-record interview. Although this seems to be the most publicized Kanye outburst, he has had a plethora of other rude interruptions at various award shows in the past. During the MTV Europe Music awards, when his video for “Touch the Sky” failed to win, he went up on stage and argued that he should have won the award. After losing to Britney Spears at the 2007 VMA’s, Kanye even suggested that the voters were racist, so they didn’t vote for him. No other artist in recent Entourage apart from The Office. In a recent episode, the boys take part in a fund raiser celeb-golf tournament. One of the guest appearances is by Tom Brady and Mark Wahlberg. Turtle, a Giants fan, takes issue with this and sets out to ruin Brady’s day. In a bizarre and comical twist Turtle realizes that he actually likes Brady and they begin to act like friends— making snide remarks about each other. Entourage has so much more to offer than the Office. First, the setting changes. Following the life of the superstar Vince to exotic locales like Kahn, in France and Medelin in Colombia to name a few. Second, with the abundance of characters there is never a dull moment. In another recent episode, somebody breaks into Vince’s house and steals all the underwear in the laundry room. Who would commit such a heinous act other than a creepy stalker? After finding an ID in the couch, Drama sets out to beat up the alleged stalker, who turns out to be working in a porn store. Upon confronting the dude, Drama realizes that the ID was just from the red-haired creep’s earlier days working in the furniture store. Twists like this make Entourage a great show to watch, much better than the stale humor of The Office. “The Office” and “Entourage” are both awesome TV series memory has gone on stage to argue his or her case, because most people have enough dignity to accept defeat. Throughout his career, he has interrupted even more people than Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon on ESPN’s popular show PTI. He has even had an entire episode of South Park devoted to ripping on everything about him, a thing that very few people have achieved in their lifetime. As many haters as Kanye has, he also has a lot of people who adore him. I myself enjoy his music, but I can in no way say that I like his character. When asked about Kanye, our very own Ben Thai said, “ Yo Vietze, I tried to get some Air Yeezy’s on eBay yesterday, but they cost 900 bucks.” If you are not familiar with sneaker culture, Ben was referring to Kanye’s signature Nike shoe, which sells for close to 1,000 dollars. It is clear that Ben loves Kanye, in contrast with previously mentioned Ty Wiik, who adores TayTay. Even our Junior Senior Walrus editor, Edmund Murphy, quoted Mr. West in his chapel speech last year. In conclusion I would like to quote Kanye himself: “Somewhere far along this road he lost his soul…how could you be so heartless.”
November 2009 The Walrus: School News & Sports Page 7 “FENCES” Entertains Frosh By CHRIS PICHER ‘13 This fall, the ninth grade class had an optional trip to go see the performance of “Fences’. On October 4th we went to the Hunington Theater to see a serious play based on the relationships in the Maxson family along with their family friends. “Fences’ is a play appropriate for all audiences, a serious play that has its storyline based on every day conflict between family members and friends. “Fences’ is a play that has a consistent setting throughout that displays the back of the house, the porch and the backyard, in a 1954 Pittsburgh home. The protagonist in the play is Troy Maxson, a 54-year-old former baseball star in the Negro Leagues. He currently works for the sanitation department and he spends his days lifting garbage into trucks. Troy’s best friend is Jim Bono, to whom Troy tells many stories from his past, extending the truth while telling his compelling stories. Cory, the son of Troy Maxson, and his father have a relationship conflict throughout the play due to the fact that Cory refuses to do anything other than play football and refuses to invest his time in finding a job down at the A & P. Rose, Troy’s wife and Cory’s mother, values the essence of family and loving one another. Rose tends to get frustrated during the course of the play because fighting in this play is a reappearing event. The center of Troy and Cory’s arguments are about getting a job versus playing football. During the play, Troy talks about his disappointing sports career and he tries to tell his son Cory that investing your whole life in sports is not a smart idea. The football scouts convince Cory that playing college football is the right decision instead of getting a job that will help you with your future. As the play progresses, Troy becomes more distraught due to the fact that Cory has acted oblivious to his dad’s advice and quits his Cross-Country Battles Down the Homestretch By KEVIN WOLFE ‘12 weekend job to play football. In the end, Troy refuses to let Cory play college football, so after graduating high school, Cory looks for a job. In the second half of the play, Troy partakes in a secretive relationship with another woman while Rose has no clue about what is going on until the day her heart is broken when Troy revels the truth to her first and true love, Rose. Rose struggles to move on from the devastating news but in the end she agrees to be the mother of the baby girl. Troy’s second lover dies while giving birth to the healthy baby girl named Raynell but Troy admits to Rose that he was happy with Alberta. Alberta represents Troy’s dream world where he is free from worries and problems. In the end of the play, Troy and Cory’s relationship doesn’t end on a high note, Cory and Troy have a fierce fight involving swinging a baseball bat. Ultimately, this fight between Cory and Troy strengthened Cory’s belief in himself. The reason for the title, “Fences’ was chosen due to the fact that there is a fence that is put up As the 2009 Cross Country reaches its end, there is no doubt that the team has put all of its effort forth to fully reach its potential. Because of the tough demands of the sport, each member of the team has been forced to look deep into the depths of his physical and mental strength and push his body to its highest capacity. From this hard work, the team has been able to build upon a strong foundation needed for competing well in the two most important races of the year: the ISL Championships and the New England Championships. After a strong victory at the home course in Dover, the runners headed up to Governor’s Academy for a match against the home team. Though a somewhat challenging course with seemingly obnoxious hills and turns, St. Sebs finished strong with all solid race times. Captain Ricky Mulroy `10 led the team with a 17:37 and not too far behind was Will Adams `11 with a 19:05 finish. Terry O’Connor was also able to break the 20 minute mark, running a strategic 19:59. Finishing at number four and five for the time were Tom Murphy `11 and Robbie Spencer `11, the former running a 20:03 and Spencer a 20:40. Peter DeMatteo `11 finished with a 22:08 and Nick Cortese `11, rising through the ranks, ran a 22:22. Sean Sullivan `11 also finished strong with a 23:19. JV runners Andrew Bono `12, Kevin Wolfe `12, and Sam Racine `11 also helped the team out with strong races. Although the Arrows left the race with a 21-38 loss, the team grew from this experience, helping make the following races even more successful. The next week the team was greeted by a surprise appearance from former captain Brian Horne `09. Back on fall break, Horne decided to visit his old teammates and offer some motivational advice that he has learned at college and from his rigorous ROTC program. That week the team trained quite intensely in the cold weather, and Horne even came out to run in the practices, further motivating his teammates to put their best efforts forth. On Friday race time had come, and the team was prepared to face off and dominate St. George’s squad. As the runners lined up on the start line, two large SUVs came rushing down the parking lot. In these two cars came some of St. Sebs’s finest football players ready to cheer their fellow Arrows on. As the runners rounded their first and second miles, the football team was there to motivate everyone to run even faster. The cheering of the footballer players and the inspirational words of Brian Horne led the team to run one of its best races of the year. Mulroy led the race again, finishing first out of all the competitors. He also set a course record with an amazing 18:04 finish. Adams finished at 19:05, while O’Connor, Murphy, Spencer and DeMatteo all stayed under the fast 21-minute mark. After battling back from a knee injury, Kevin Lynch posted an impressive 21:00. Sam Racine, shaving off 2:17 from his first home race, ran a wellearned 24:26. All runners showed drastic improvements from their first races at Caryl Park in September. After another week of strenuous training, the runners were ready to take on Roxbury Latin, Middlesex, and Nobles at Nobles’ home course. Although the 5K loop may have seemed manageable in the warmups, the course showed no mercy as its runners battled through its hills and windy turns. Mulroy led the team again, posting a 17:26. Adams ended the race close behind Mulroy, and following him with a valiant finish was Tom Murphy. From the last 100 yards of the race, it did seem as if Murphy could pass the contender in front of him, but Tom was determined to escape defeat. A split second before an unknown racer was about to cross the finish line, Murphy leaped past this young man and stole his placement in the race. Nick Cortese `11 (20:42), Lynch (20:48), Racine (22:43), and Wolfe (21:43) all set personal records for the year. Spencer, DeMatteo, and Sullivan continued to improve upon their earlier race times. Andrew Bono also showed great improvement, finishing with a 22:22. Although the Arrows lost to the three other schools, the strong finishes for all of the runners instilled a new sense of confidence in the team. during the play that surrounds the Maxson family property. I believe that the title ““Fences’” has a deeper meaning than just then just a wooden barrier; it symbolizes a task of work that Cory and Troy are responsible for completing but fail to accomplish. “Fences’ was a great play to see in a theater because the characters were able to bring the play to life by truly expressing the character traits of the people in the play. As Matt Donovan describes the play, he says, “The actors were phenomenal and they were able to portray the roles and emotions that were necessary.” Teddy O’Hara enthusiastically says, “The actor of Tory Maxson successfully captured the intensity of the rough times in segregated America.” These sentiments express their love for the play that all of the freshman boys had when sitting in the Hunington Theater. October 4th was a great day for thirty boys in the freshman class because we were able to see great theater as well as learn about the play that we will be reading in the spring. Although not a freshman, Paul Lee ‘11 has “Fences” fever The week before Halloween brought neither rest nor relaxation for the team. The runners struggled through hill runs, track workouts, and long tempo runs, but this brutal exercise would be needed in the days to come for the next three races. On Saturday, the team traveled to Groton to compete against St. Marks, Milton and Groton. The first two miles of the course were quite flat, which was a strong indicator that the runners would be entering the third mile with some fast times. Unfortunately, this was no PR course for the entire third mile was uphill, and quite steep at some points. Coming in first for the team and finishing third overall in the race was unsurprisingly Ricky Mulroy. Adams and Spencer both finished under 20 minutes, earning impressive placements amongst the other racers. Much recognition is awarded to Spencer, who on one of the most challenging courses of the year managed to set a PR of 19:54. O’Connor, toughing out a painful hip injury, posted a 20:30. Lynch, Murphy, DeMatteo, and Cortese all stuck close together in the race and gave St. Sebs helpful finishes in the race. Although Sean Sullivan struggled to find the right air on the third mile, he fought his best on the hill to earn a 22:59. Wolfe (21:43), Bono (22:54), and Racine (23:31) all raced well for JV. The Arrows had no victories over the other schools, but nonetheless the runners learned from this challenging course. With the New England Championships only days away (the ISL championships will be completed by the time this article is printed), the runners will have to use all their abilities and strength to end the season in a victorious fashion. Although powerhouses like Roxbury Latin or St. Paul’s may seem out of competition, the Arrows can surely triumph over teams like St. Georges or Middlesex. The St. Sebs cross country team has reached great heights over the past two months, and the runners must enter the next races with awareness, toughness, and a deep competitive spirit in order to make the season one of success. Seb’s Welcomes Mrs. Madsen By SAM RACINE ‘11 On a Wednesday afternoon, I sat down with Mrs. Madsen for an interview about her new position as a Spanish teacher here at St. Sebastian’s. Where are you from originally? I am from Indiana. So, what brought you to MA? I went to college here in Massachusetts. What college(s) did you go to? Well, I received my undergraduate degree from Tufts University, and a graduate degree from Middlebury College in Vermont, where I majored in Spanish. How did you hear about St Sebastian’s School? I applied through a teaching agency. My info was given to St. Sebastian’s directly, and they accepted me to teach here after an interview. What classes are you teaching this year? I’m teaching Spanish 1A, Spanish 4H, and Spanish 5H. What are your impressions of the school so far? I really like it here, and I feel like everyone is supportive and respectful. This is a very nice community. What do you think about the “all guys” atmosphere? Well, it’s not too different, because I had two older brothers, so this kind of atmosphere isn’t a huge shock to me, but then again there are things I didn’t expect, like the sort of lifestyle and physical joking around. What do you like to do in your spare time? I enjoy reading and cooking, I also like going to the movies. What would you say is your favorite lunch at Sebs so far? Well, I don’t often get a hot lunch. I just usually have a salad, but I do really like the pudding they have. So what is your favorite movie? I can’t really think of my favorite movie all time, but a good one I recently saw was “Drag Me to Hell”. Nice choice. Favorite TV show? I’d probably say “The Office”. [See page 6 for more information.] How about your favorite musical artist/band? I really like “Travis” and “The Weepies”. Anything else you’d like to share? I spent last year in Madrid, which I enjoyed very much. Well, there you have it. Mrs. Madsen, we welcome you to St. Sebastian’s and we hope you enjoy being a part of this community. We’re delighted you’re here. 2009 Mag Drive: Cashing In By JOHN O’CONNOR ‘10 It’s everybody’s favorite time of year again! On the Friday before Halloween, the majority of the student body attended the best assembly of the year, the magazine drive assembly. In previous years, someone would come into Ward Hall and shout at us for about 45 minutes about how awesome selling magazines can be and about all the amazing prizes you can win. Although I was not present at the assembly this year, I assume it was similar to previous years with two major differences. The first being that a stampede of gorillas charged through the assembly midway through, and the second being that there were new and exciting prizes offered this year. The prizes are clearly the incentive for students to sell magazines, though working to sell them can be tedious and is not required. The magazine people have found the correct formula for getting kids to do something they may not want to do, however: give them money. The only prize you can win by doing the magazine drive is money; the creativity comes into play with how you receive this money. There are basically 5 different ways you can win money by selling magazines. The first way is simple, but hardly anyone ever does it. If you handed in your magazine orders by November 5th, you can be entered into a drawing for $50. The second possible way to win money is by selling $125 dollars and praying your name is picked out of everyone in the entire student body to win a hefty $500. To my knowledge, nobody has ever won this $500 because the person picked out of the hat never sells $125 worth of magazines. It The International Club is collecting books for Hands across the Water, a non-profit agency based in Stoneham, Massachusetts. The organization combines two worthy causes: the reuse and conservation of books with the education and literacy of children and adults in the United States and throughout the world. Books that would otherwise be disposed of are collected and sent to areas of the country and the world where reading materials are scarce. In this way, two issues are addressed: donated books are not taking up valuable space in landfills and people who might not could pay off big if you win, but I wouldn’t bank on it. The chance that you are the lucky person picked out of the hat is .274% or 1/365. Assuming you want a more guaranteed way of making money in this deal would be to take a look at the 3rd, 4th, and 5th prizes. The third way to win money is through lollipops. This prize is not based on how early you turn your sales in, nor how much money you make with magazine sales, but actually based solely on skill. Students receive 1 lollipop per every 2 magazine sales they make. Every lollipop is marked on the bottom with colors. The colors indicate how much money each lollipop is worth. They have lollipops worth, $1, $5, $10, $20, and the elusive $50. Or so they say, as there has never actually been a recorded sighting of a $50 lollipop, and precious few $20 or $10 sightings, but they are rumored to exist. Those aforementioned prizes have all been used in previous years to get people to sell magazines, but this year, there are new prizes as well. One such new prize is getting to play in a dodgeball tournament. If you sell $125 worth of magazines, you not only get entered into the mystery student $500 drawing, but you also get 2 envelopes filled with unknown sums of money and get to play dodgeball against other students who sold $125 of magazines. The rules of this magazine drive dodgeball are roughly the same, except when you get hit with a ball, you have to give an envelope of money to the guy that hit you, and you leave the game with your leftover envelopes. The extra fun twist is that for every $50 over $150 you sell in magazines, you get an have books to read are getting them. The organization recognized a dichotomy in that some areas of the world have an abundance of books and other areas have too few. From time to time, schools and libraries must get rid of parts of their collections to make room for new books. Publishers often discard older editions of books to make room for newer editions. These books are still in good condition. Even if they are recycled – shredded and reduced to pulp – there are issues. In the process of recycling books, harmful chemicals are released into the environment. Hands across the Water has come up with another option extra envelope, so if you sell $300 worth of magazines, you start the game of dodgeball with 5 envelopes of money. If you are very good at dodgeball and selling magazines, this game has potential to earn you a lot of money. A final way to get money through the magazine drive is by selling over a whopping $250 worth of magazines, and playing this game called plinko. Plinko is a board with a bunch of randomly spaced nails in it. At the bottom of the board are pockets worth various dollar amounts, such as $1, $5, and $10. To play plinko, you drop a plinko chip into the top of a vertical plinko board and you get whatever amount of money is in the pocket that your chip lands in. Similar to the dodge ball game, you get an extra plinko chip for every extra $50 worth of magazines you sell. Theoretically speaking, if you sell over $250 worth of magazines, you could play every game, and win a great deal of money, but before you go to the trouble of calling up everyone you know and filling out long magazine order forms, it is important to remember that all of these prizes are based entirely on luck and it is unlikely you would win any decent amount of money. Over my years at St. Sebastian’s I have sold hundreds of dollars worth of magazines and have earned at most $20 in total. Though I am telling you that the prizes aren’t worth quite as much as they seem, all the magazine money you earn goes to this great school, and it would certainly be admirable to sell magazines for the benefit of the school. That being said, happy magazine drive season to everyone – including the gorillas. International Club Needs Books Hands Across the Water benefits suffering children overseas By SAM RACINE ‘11 for these books. They have taken the steps to collect them and send them to areas where books are scarce. Since this group began in 2007, they have collected over five million books and donated them to schools and libraries in Haiti, India, the Philippines, Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Malawi, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. English is the language that is used for education and literacy in many developing nations, so the books collected by Hands across the Water are a good match for the people in these countries. The group has been able to provide books to schools and libraries on five continents. Books are also provided to disadvantaged areas of the United States. The organization is growing and in addition to Massachusetts, has collection centers in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Georgia, and Washington. The agency welcomes donations of all sorts of books: hard cover and paperback, fiction and nonfiction, books for children and adults, textbooks, books on tape, and DVDs. We ask all St. Sebastian’s students, teachers, and parents to look around their homes and offices and bring in any unwanted books to donate to this cause. You will be helping schools and libraries to expand their range of reading materials and enabling the people who read them to broaden their horizons.
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