Lacrosse is not the only team with a manager though. According to athletic director Larry Dukes, lacrosse, football, field hockey, basketball, wrestling, and swimming all have managers. “Managers are hugely important,” Dukes said. “Most teams are budgeted for only two coaches and it’s tough for a coach to do all the jobs during competition.”

            “Very few teams have managers but we’d love to have more,” Dukes said. “One reason there aren’t many managers is because 72 percent of our student body plays sports.” “Students that are athletes that want to play a sport can play in any season. If they don’t make one team they can make another.” This does not leave many extra students to be managers. Dukes said that most of the managers come in the winter, since that season has the least number of sports.

            “We are trying to make [sports managing] more attractive to students,” Dukes said. “You get a varsity letter and at one point we tried to give service hours but that never happened. Coaches are asking kids in their classes to help and players are asking friends.”

            Ey began managing the lacrosse team midway into this season after about three or four games. The team needed someone to come and record statistics and Ey stepped up to the job. Ey does more than just record stats though. “I give the teams motivational speeches to get them fired up,” Ey said. “I don’t go to the practices but I do go to every game, home and away.”

            “[Managing] is a good thing because if [it didn’t happen] the coach would have to keep statistics and manage all the players alone,” Ey said. “I love doing it [managing]. The boys are great to work with and it is a lot of fun. If you enjoy lacrosse and understand the game, then definitely do it.”

            Ey said managing the team is not too tough. “[Managing] is pretty easy to keep up with. I miss something once in a while but not too often,” Ey said.

            Sophomore Rawlison Zhang manages the women’s varsity lacrosse team. “I started because I enjoyed watching lacrosse and wanted something to do in the spring since I did not play any spring sports,” Zhang said.

 “I enjoy getting out of class early and it is a pretty fun thing to do.” Zhang said the hardest part is keeping stats accurate and helping coaches. He believes that the team can use more help as far as managers go. “I definitely need help. The team is really nice and they are all awesome. Definitely do it.”

            Some teams have more than one manager as well. Junior Alex Kane manages the wrestling team in the winter along with sophomore Merina Novak. Basketball also has multiple managers.

“I began freshman year because coach Watson told me I had to be either a wrestler or a manager,” Kane said. “I keep the book for all the matches, run the clock, and help keep the wrestlers in line.” Kane goes to every meet and also says the job is not too hard. “I love doing it.”

Cole Alban is a Managing Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Chocolate Cupcake Ingredients

1/2 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup water

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two 9-inch round baking pans with wax paper; grease and flour wax paper.

2. Combine first four ingredients in saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring often. Remove from heat. Combine flour, sugar, and baking soda in large bowl. Stir in cocoa mixture until blended. Beat in buttermilk, eggs and vanilla until blended. Pour into pans.

3. Bake 22 to 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

3 tablespoons milk, or as needed

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

DIRECTIONS

Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with a mixer. Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for at least 3 minutes. Fill a decorator bag and pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Top with peanut butter cup.

Emily Cassidy is an A&E Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com. 

The contestants’ faces were not as red as the hot sauces they tasted.

The four hot sauce brands were Tabasco, Frank’s Red Hot, Louisiana, and Kikkoman Sriracha. Sophomores Grayce Moran, Scott Walczyk, Ola Ekundayo, Selena Ranney, Susan Kim and Justin Hawkins, and senior Iris Kim completed the taste test. Moran, Susan Kim, Iris Kim, Ekundayo, and Hawkins believed Tabasco to be the hottest, while Walczyk and Ranney claimed Louisiana as the winner.

Each hot sauce contained the three standard ingredients of aged peppers, vinegar and salt. Each hot sauce had additional ingredients to create their specific taste, like garlic. From the test results, the hot sauces with fewer ingredients were hotter than those with multiple ingredients. “[The Kikkoman Sriracha] tastes like barbecue sauce,” Walczyk said as he tasted the cup labeled hot sauce number four. “I have hot sauce all the time, so I’m used to it.” The Kikkoman Sriracha hot sauce contained 12 ingredients. The addition of water, natural flavors, xanthan gum, and sugar toned down the hot sauce.

Neither Susan nor Iris favored the Louisiana or the Frank’s Red Hot sauce. They expected Tabasco to be the hottest because of the small bottle it came in. Their expectations proved to be true.

The price of each hot sauce varies depending on size and brand popularity. Tabasco topped at $4.72 for a two ounce bottle. Kikkoman Sriracha cost $2.50 for a 10.6 ounce bottle, Frank’s Red Hot cost $3.62 for a 12 ounce bottle, and Louisiana hot sauce cost $2.75 for a 12 ounce bottle. In addition to being one of the hottest, Louisiana is the best buy at 22 cents per ounce.

According to the Chicago Tribune, hot sauce speeds up your metabolism by raising your temperature, which can be good for dieters. “Capsaicin, the compound that gives red chili pepper its powerful kick, creates the largest bump in heat generation, which helps burn more calories immediately after a meal.”

“I’m really used to hot food … if you can’t handle it you have weak taste buds,” Ekundayo said.

When it comes to purchasing the hottest hot sauce, the tasters found Tabasco to be the best choice. Its few ingredients  rate it the hottest in our book.

Brianna George is the Print Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

English teacher Matthew Blair played varsity lacrosse for two years at Dundalk High School.

“[Lacrosse] was a lot of fun. I made many new friends and a lot of good memories,” Blair said. “My most memorable experience was definitely my last game in my senior year of high school when my team had a fight with Randallstown.”

Health teacher, physical education teacher, and badminton coach Tess Gauthier played field hockey and lacrosse for four years at JC.

During her freshman and sophomore years, she was on JV for both sports, but moved onto varsity junior and senior year for both sports.

One of Gauthier’s memories is of the grueling practices the players had to go through. When she was a part of the JV lacrosse team, the varsity team lost its game and the members had to run 600 meters around the track.

From her years of playing high school sports, playing the actual sport isn’t what Gauthier remembers most. “I remember being a part of a team,” she said.

Gauthier believes that being an athlete in high school and college has helped her to be a better coach. “I was able to look at the positives and negatives of my coaches and fine tune them while also bringing my own personality,” she said.

Being an athlete has helped her in more ways than one. “I think being a competitor makes you tough at all the things in your life, [like] financing, health, whatever things you need strength to overcome,” Gauthier said.

For social studies teacher Brian Powell, playing a sport has taught him “dedication to anything, whether it’s art or music or sports. I think there’s an element in performance in everything we do.”

During Powell’s freshman and sophomore years at Joppatowne High School, he played varsity soccer both years. After transferring to Calvert Hall College High School, he continued his soccer career by playing on the varsity team for both junior and senior year, where he was a starter.

His team won MIAA championships during his junior and senior years. “Back-to-back championships in the MIAA, it was not unheard of, but really difficult to be champions twice in a row,” Powell said.

Along with his memories of MIAA championships was playing against Curley High School at University of Maryland Baltimore County.

“My greatest soccer memory is playing in my junior championship under the lights against Curley at UMBC. There were thousands of people there. There were more people at my high school championship my junior year than any game I ever played in at college,” he said. “Playing in front of the Curley and CHC fans, it felt like I was playing in front of all of the Baltimore soccer [community]. It was awesome.”

In high school at JC, Associate Director of Enrollment Ed Maynard played varsity soccer for all four years, JV lacrosse during his sophomore year, and varsity swimming and diving during his sophomore and junior year.

“[Being an athlete] has taught me the importance of achieving a goal as a team along with the importance of hard work and preparation,” Maynard said.

Along with the other teaches, Vice Principal Gary Scholl also pursued an athletic career during high school. For all four years, Scholl wrestled for varsity and played varsity tennis at Bel Air High School.

“I was captain of wrestling and tennis. We had great teams,” he said.

“In wrestling, I wrestled a fellow from Brooklyn Park High School, Lloyd Keyser. He eventually went onto the Naval Academy and wrestled there. He became a world champion. I beat that kid in high school,” Scholl said.

With his hard work, Scholl learned about the importance of discipline. “Wrestling especially teaches a tremendous amount of discipline. It takes hours and hours of practice,” he said.

“For me, wrestling became a part of my career. I coached wrestling for 16 years,” Scholl said. “I learned to stay in good cardiovascular shape and how to stay strong.”

Sydney Setree is a Managing Editor for the Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

On April 27, students were able to combine their knowledge of physics and their love of roller coasters at Six Flags Amusement Park in New Jersey, which hosted a Physics, Math, and Science Day.

All physics classes were invited  to go on this field trip. While this type of event was not the first time this event has been held at Six Flags, it is the first time JC has organized physics students to attend.

Physics teacher Jorge Piquer was the first to suggest the trip. He also organized the trip and chaperoned.

Piquer wanted students to enjoy the rides in addition to completing a worksheet supplied by the park.

“The park gives an assignment, but [physics teacher Christopher Yeung] and I [made] some changes,” Piquer said.

As AP, honors, and regular students attended, the worksheets had to be adjusted according to the level of the student.

Although it was not during normal school hours, the field trip was mandatory for Piquer’s honors classes.

According to Piquer, the field trip was intended to be a fun way to review. If students were unable to attend, they had to complete an alternate assignment.

While students generally agree that the field trip was fun, reactions about its effectiveness were mixed.

Although Sullivan did have fun at the park, “I didn’t do any work,” he said.

Jones didn’t do much work either. According to Jones, “it was a good experience, but not a lot of work was accomplished.”

According to Sullivan, the success of the field trip relies on its intent. If it was intended to be fun for the students, then it achieved that. However, “if it was to teach us physics, then it was not a very effective field trip.”

Jones, however, believes that she did learn from the trip.

“It was really interesting to see the parts of the rollercoaster that I wouldn’t normally pay attention to.”

Rebecca Driver is a Copy Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Senior Hunter Kothenbeutel organized the Ma and Paw 5K race combined with a one mile walk to benefit the Humane Society on April 21 for his Senior Project. Runners could either race solo or with their pets.

“I wanted to reach out into the running community to get people to work out with their dogs. I see so many out of shape and obese dogs at Churchville Vet [Kothenbeutel’s employer] and it can be easily remedied if the owner understands what to do,” Kothenbeutel said.

Twenty-seven runners attended the race, ranging from veteran 5K runners to a girl who had never run a 5K before. According the Kothenbeutel, there were “around 10 or 12 dogs,” but “only a few dogs ran the course with their owners.” Most of them participated in the one mile walk.

According to Kothenbeutel, the attendance at the race was very successful. “For a small club race, the turnout was spectacular and far larger than I had anticipated,” he said.

At the end of the race, Kothenbeutel awarded prizes sponsored by the Humane Society to the first person to cross the finish line, the first dog to cross the finish line, and the youngest runners, two kids both under the age of 10.

To contribute to the education portion of his project, Kothenbeutel gave handouts about canine health to all the participants for them to keep and quizzed them on the information to make sure they paid attention. “That was the whole idea behind my project, education and awareness for the community,” he said.

Another goal of Kothenbeutel’s was to raise money for the Humane Society. The society set up a booth next to the registration table collecting voluntary donations and providing dog treats for the canine runners.

“I was ecstatic that the Humane Society was able to raise over $300. That money will help the abandoned pets in the community find owners,” Kothebeutel said.

Overall, Kothenbeutel believes that, in helping the running community and their pets, his project was a success. According to him, “I helped people realize that running and just walking with their dogs can be fun and enjoyable for both parties involved.”

Brianna Glase is the Online Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com. 

For Kelble’s Senior Project, he is helping design and build a new press box for the football and lacrosse field. According to Kelble, the current one has become old and rundown. Wrestling coach Keith Watson encouraged him to do something about it.

In addition, as Kelble is “trying to do engineering in college,” he felt the project would help him get some real life experience. He hopes the new press box will “help the next generation of football and lacrosse players.”

With the help of his father, who is an engineer, he started by working on the beginning of a design for the press box. His design currently includes two stairwells and three sections inside the press box.

Due to regulations on building structures, he had to send his original design to be perfected by a professional engineer. Once that was approved, he began the process of receiving a permit so that he could begin his work.

As far as paying for the project, Kelble did not have to worry.

“I am getting the money from the school. They originally said I have $10,000 to work with. I’m only costing them $4,000,” he said.

Kelble hopes to begin construction May 4, but he is still in need of volunteers. This is further complicated by the fact that volunteers must be over 18 years old in order to operate power tools.

According to Kelble, he hopes that “the structure will first off stand, and then fit the need of the football and lacrosse teams.”

Hope Kelly is a Managing Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

According to the CSPA website, “they consider all aspects of value to the reader or viewer: content, design or presentation, coverage, photography as well as writing and editing.” The Patriot also won the Gold Crown in 2011 and the Silver Crown in 2010.

The Patriot also received individual awards from the CSPA. Lifestyles Editor senior Ashley Beyer received a Certificate of Merit in the category Non-Fiction Interview for “I cut myself” and a Second Place in the category First Person Experience for “Junior learns valuable lessons through Friend-to-Friend program.”

Copy Editor senior Rebecca Driver received a Certificate of Merit in the category Personal Opinion, Off Campus for “9/11 should be revered as a day of service,” her first Opinion article that she wrote.

In addition to stories, the CSPA also recognized achievements in graphics. Cartoonist junior Brynly Wilson won Third Place for Art/Illustration for her “Pro v. Con” cartoon. Multimedia Editor senior Shannon Vinton won Third Place for the “Sports Photograph” category for a soccer photo.

Staff editorials received a First Place and a Third Place for “Administrative spending downsized by small problems” and “Summer reading day riddled with imperfections,” respectively.

During the Quill and Scroll International Honorary Society for High School Journalists induction ceremony on April 26, Patriot Moderator Mark Ionescu gave out individual and group awards from the 2013 International Writing and Photo Contest from Quill and Scroll.

Multimedia Chief senior Martha Schick was a National Winner in the category of Infographics for her “Wrapping Up Sports Injuries” on the back page of issue three. She was also declared a National Winner in the News Writing category for “Administration alters lockdown,” and a Sweepstakes Winner in the Photo Illustration category for “The Shadow of Tragedy” front page of issue three.

In-Depth Editors juniors Lauren Fabiszak, Meredith Haggerty, and Hope Kelly were declared National Winners in the In-Depth category for “Bullying effects,” the in-depth story in issue one.

Martha Schick is the Multimedia Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

JC isn’t the building that you’re in or the uniform you wear every day. It’s the traditions we keep, the people we meet, and the teachers we learn from. If nothing else, four years at JC has taught me that the teachers at this school make it what it is. Everyday teachers are here doing their best so that we, in turn, can do our best.

Teachers and administrators this year have been extremely successful in their reactions to horrendous events. When the school received a bomb threat, the administration took decisive measures to ensure student safety. When the Newtown shooting occurred and schools across the country tightened their security, JC made sure it had a new lockdown drill in place.

JC responded appropriately and with zeal. We all heard Vice Principal of Academics Gary Scholl tell us at the Quarter Three Honors Assembly that it is not how we start a challenge but how we finish it. Why not finish the year out strong by actively planning for the next year?

Go out and be proactive. If future classes want a Variety Show, make plans now. Talk to students now. Come up with solid skits and scripts now. Work with teachers who are on your side now.

Want to actually do something about increasing school spirit? Look into the past for old ideas and apply them to the future. JC has tons of old traditions that slowly faded away. Work on updating those traditions to make them work again. Old yearbooks have pictures of Spirit Weeks that were filled with boy cheerleaders, homecoming floats, and crazy competitions with teachers. Bring back things that were fun and exciting, but not rule-breaking.

Changes do not come from sitting back and waiting to react to the next big event.  Seek new ideas and new horizons that force people to see JC as the example to be followed. Bring about that change yourselves.

Emily Clarke is the Print Chief for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.