September 2008 Issue
Pop quiz: could you legally drive your friends at this time last academic year?
If yes, you are probably eighteen. And if you are eighteen, and we know many seniors and even some juniors are, you must register to vote.
Famed political scientist V.O. Key theorized that some presidential elections are “critical, changing political alignments and affecting the electoral map in future Congressional and presidential races.
If he's right, this election would certainly fit the mold. Both candidates claim that they will revolutionize Washington if elected, and traditionally Republican states like Virginia and Colorado are threatening to turn blue. As of now, Obama and McCain are in a statistical tie in key swing states.
Athletes looking for a sport more graceful than football and less wet than swimming now have a new option: dance team.
Dance team is a new fall and winter varsity sport offered at South. Stemming from a club originally started in 2007, the team specializes in hip-hop dance.
Athletic Director Scott Perrin helped the team apply to the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) to become a varsity sport. After a year of meeting with administrators, the club was finally accepted by the MIAA as a varsity sport.
Lying on the shores of Lake Pleasant in Oatisfield, Maine, lies a camp that at times can be anything but pleasant. Every summer around 300 teenagers from different conflict zones descend upon Seeds of Peace for the opportunity to better understand the other side while sharing their story.
The camp resembles any summer camp that can be found in the New England area, except for the fact that it hosts flags of over 20 nations which have participated in the program. A row of seven wooden huts sits nestled along “Dialogue Alley, where for two hours each day a dozen teenagers from each nation gather to discuss the conflict in semi-organized dialogue sessions.
Last week, we watched as the US national debt nearly doubled, a 158 year old Wall Street firm declared the largest bankruptcy in history, Bank of America swallowed Merill Lynch, and the market had its worst day since 2001. Scarier than anything, for the first time since the Great Depression, turmoil in the financial markets is causing turmoil in the economy'€not the other way around.
It might have been easy for us to ignore the financial calamities over the past few days, but rest assured we will all experience the reverberations of Wall Street's disaster scenario very soon, and no one sooner than seniors applying to college.
By Jeremiah Davis
Despite South's budget concerns, the PTSO agreed to purchase much needed computers for the school's library and faculty.
The new purchases include 30 new Apple computers, expected to be installed by mid-October, to replace the library's current computers, and 200 new Apple laptops for the teachers, arriving in December.
The school currently owns 20 computers in the library, most of them bought three to four years ago. The majority of teachers have iBook laptops.
Several of the library's computers have recently experienced serious problems according to Newton South's Library director Dorothy McQuillan.
By Annie Orenstein
Vacation was not the word. The word was experience. For two weeks, the common goal of 40 strangers from around the world was to serve in 103 degree weather and volunteer in the Israeli army.
The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), or Tsva HaHagana LeYisrael in Hebrew, was founded in 1948 after the state of Israel achieved independence. During the Galilee War, most of the able bodied soldiers were sent to the northern border on to fight which left no soldiers at the army bases to care for and package equipment and supplies. This led to the founding of Sar-El, a non-profit organization that brings people from all over the world with the opportunity to serve for Israel.
With the rising college costs, tuition is becoming less and less affordable for students.
According to the College Board, the average cost of tuition for private, four-year colleges in 2007-2008 was $23,712, 6.3 percent higher than that of the previous academic year.
Sports Spotlight: Niko Lambrianidis, John Mitkevicius, and Brian Lui
By Denebola | Published: September 2008
By Josh Podrid
As a new school year begins, many athletes are eager to start playing their fall sports. For senior soccer captains Niko Lambrianidis, Brian Lui, and John Mitkevicius, their season has been going on all year. To describe these captains as hard-working would certainly be an understatement.
In the off season, Lui, South's starting center and outside midfielder, played for multiple club teams, including Bay State Soccer. He has also played in year-round leagues in various other districts.
As the fall season opens, South looks to be very successful in boys' and girls' cross-country, but for some runners, it is a bittersweet feeling as they enter their final season with the Lions. For the seniors running for the last time in high school, this may or may not be their last season of cross-country. Some will continue to pursue their running endeavors in college, and some will hang up the spikes for the last time.
By Roxanne Glazier
Students and faculty have mixed opinions over the new teacher absences policy created after substitute-teaching positions were eliminated due to budget cuts.
Four substitute teachers were available to cover for absent teachers in the past, but now if a teacher is absent, administrators will post on the classroom door. Students must go to the lecture hall, where a campus aide will take attendance. Upperclassmen may leave for a free block but up the first four classes of underclassmen to arrive in the lecture hall must stay for a directed study.
Because the system allows one campus aide to cover the same number of classes as would have been covered by the four substitutes, the effect of the new policy on the number of free-blocks will be small.