For the past week, teachers have begun taking attendance before every class.  The main question that comes to mind is why.  Do teachers not trust us?  Have we done something to lose their trust?

Taking attendance should be a one a day thing, and then if students choose not to show up to class it’s their own fault.  When students get a job, teachers will not be there to make sure they are there every day at the right time.

JC is a college preparatory school, and at college, teachers do not take attendance at all.    It is the students’ choice on whether or not they show up to class, and it is their choice on whether they want to succeed or fail in the class.

It’s embarrassing when the teacher has to look around and make sure everyone is in class that was there at the beginning of the day.  I feel that I have done something to lose their trust.  The thing is, I don’t know what.

Instead of just putting in this new rule immediately after exams, the school should’ve held an assembly for each of the classes telling them what has been going on, and why they were considering taking action.  They should have explained their reasoning behind their actions.

If taking attendance in every class is absolutely necessary, then something needs to be changed so that the process can be quicker.  Maybe instead of writing down all the names of the students who are present, write down the names of students who aren’t there.

This new attendance policy is not very efficient or worthwhile.  It wastes a lot of class time for only a little change in attendance.

Amanda Graziano is an Opinion Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

According to the FTC website, “FIRST is a not-for-profit organization devoted to helping young people discover and develop a passion for science, engineering, technology, and math.” For more information on the FTC, click here.

According to robotics team moderator Rebecca Jansing-Kaestner, the teams “started building towards the end of September.” Along with building a robot, the teams are required to keep an Engineering Notebook, which documents their building and team experience.

According to senior robotics team member Ana Beain, “Competitions are pretty intense. They’re an entire Saturday. Besides doing the matches themselves, you have to present in front of a judge what your robot can do.”

During the matches, each team is paired with another, forming an alliance. The matches are conducted as two-on-two games. The games are played on a 12 ft by 12 ft mat, covered in foam.

The game challenge is different every year, with this year’s theme being “Bowled Over!” According to the FTC website, the alliances compete to guide racquetballs into colored scoring goals. There are also two bowling balls on the field used for scoring points.

In each match, there is an autonomous period for the robots, where they cannot be controlled by the teams. There is also an operator-controlled period lasting for two minutes.

The teams built different robots in preparation for different tasks. Team 4506, composed of junior Andy Beain and sophomores Jon Kolson and Austin Schap, also won the motivate award.

According to the FTC website, this award “celebrates the team that exemplifies the essence of the FIRST Tech Challenge competition through team spirit and enthusiasm.”

Team 4621 is composed solely of seniors, including Ana Beain, Amanda Weerasooriya, Jenny Yang, AJ Stewart, Matt Zoltoski, and Shawn Pessagno.

According to the FIRST website, “teams of up to 10 students are responsible for designing, building, and programming their robots to compete in an alliance format against other teams.”

Weerasooriya likes the team aspect of the competition. “I like working with team members to create a functional robot to complete the tasks required,” Weerasooriya said.

Weerasooriya also volunteered at the FIRST Lego League (FLL) robotics competition hosted at John Carroll on Dec. 17. For news on the FLL competition, click here.

According to Schap, “Design is my favorite because I get to tinker around, see what works best, and change it for the better if it is inefficient.”

Sometimes design is difficult, though. “The worst thing is when you have a good idea, and something unexpected happens, and it doesn’t work, and you have to work around it. You get a great feeling though, when the problem is solved,” Schap said.

Weerasooriya echoes these sentiments. “It’s difficult creating and seeing if it works or not. If it fails, it is hard not to get down,” Weerasooriya said.

Team 4621 member Ana explains the preparation process. “Actually working on the robot is the hardest part of being on the team. We’re pretty good about coming up with ideas, but it is hard to motivate our whole team to actually build the robot,” Ana said.

“The most enjoyable thing about being on the team is seeing the progress we’ve made throughout the year. We started out with basically four wheels and a chassis and finished with a good robot,” Ana said.

According to Weerasooriya, the team members are “apprehensive” about the upcoming state championship. “Our two drivers will be on a ski trip, and our leader Ana Beain will be at a piano recital,” Weerasooriya said.

Ana is also unsure as to the team’s future success. “We’re excited to be in states, but not optimistic,” she said.

If the team wins at the state tournament, then they will move on to the world tournament.

Adam Kuester is a News Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Science Department Chair Rebecca Jansing-Kaestner introduced juniors to the option of graduating with a distinction in science at a class meeting a few weeks ago, to the joy of many students.  “I was about to jump out of my seat.  I was going nuts,” junior Carol Zubrowski said.

To graduate with a distinction in science, students would be required to have a total of five science credits and center their senior project on science.  The last part of the requirement is up to the student:  he or she could participate in an internship, take a summer science course, shadow three different scientists, or participate in a science extracurricular activity for two years, according to Jansing-Kaestner.

“I was seeing a handful of students doubling up on science and also doing summer internships.  They were really beefing up on sciences,” Jansing-Kaestner said.

Junior Hunter Kothenbeutel was one of these students who planned on signing up for extra science courses even before the option to graduate with a distinction in science was offered.  “I had always been interested in science, and I wanted to take AP Biology and Physics,” he said.

Jansing-Kaestner strongly suggests that students do an internship if they are able to.  “Colleges see that you’re serious about moving into training.  Part of that job training is being reliable and learning to work with others,” she said.

Jansing-Kaestner “can’t guarantee everyone an internship,” which is why Zubrowski is looking into the job shadowing option.  Zubrowski grew up in a family full of scientists and engineers.  “My family’s one big group of nerds and I love them for it,” she said.  She hopes to be able to become involved with her family’s work in the field of computer engineering.

Zubrowski had first gotten hands-on experiences with different types of science during a summer science camp at Stevenson University during middle school, where she learned about physics, forensics, and how to ride a hovercraft.

Jansing-Kaestner hopes that students will take advantage of the new option to graduate with a distinction in science in order to have that same kind of hands-on experience that Zubrowski did.

According to Jansing-Kaestner, a few options for students would be shadowing various engineers and scientists at the University of Maryland or signing up for internships at Aberdeen Proving Ground or Edgewood Proving Ground.

Sophomore Abbie Swanson is looking into these various summer programs to find the one that best suits her interest in anesthesiology and medicine.  “I sent in an application to APG [Aberdeen Proving Ground] and SEAP [Science and Engineering Apprentice Program] for this summer.  I might be too young, because the age is 16, but I’m hoping I’ll still get in,” she said.

Swanson also hopes that graduating with a distinction in science will make her stand out to colleges when the time comes to start searching.  Jansing-Kaestner similarly feels that a diploma with a distinction in science will give students a leg up.  “When colleges find out about it and look at the rigor that the student has done, it may open up the possibility for scholarships and getting into a better school,” she said.

Jansing-Kaestner hopes that, in the future, more students will be interested in graduating with a distinction in science.  “I’m hoping for more [students] to be interested, because we have to look more towards science and engineering.  I don’t know that this generation realizes that that’s their task to work on…I don’t think they understand the ramifications of not doing it. It opens up so many doors,” Jansing-Kaestner said.

Brianna Glase is a Managing Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

To read more about the upcoming STEM Academy, go here.

Well, that’s not exactly what the government says is happening, but make no mistake, that’s what is going on.

On Aug. 1, 2011 the Department of Health and Human Services’(HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that, beginning in August 2012, or 2013 for Catholics who get an extra year, private health insurance plans will be required to provide free coverage of all contraceptives for women approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This requirement also covers “emergency contraceptives” such as Plan B and Ella, both of which are drugs that can cause abortions.

This decree, however, also applies to all Catholic institutions in August 2013. Catholic colleges, schools, hospitals, and charities are being forced to give their employees a “benefit” that goes against their beliefs. The Catholic doctrine firmly states that they are against abortion and the use of contraceptives.

Seeing this as a violation of religious freedom, bishops, along with other Catholics across the country, appealed to President Barack Obama asking him to excuse Catholic institutions from this law.  The Obama administration responded by rejecting the exemption sought by the Catholic Church. Instead, they said that Catholics would have an extra year, until August 2013, to comply. Basically, the Catholics have an extra year to abandon their morals.

So let me put this into perspective for you. If a JC teacher wants to buy Plan B to have an abortion, the school, our CATHOLIC school, has to pay for it.

Apparently, religious freedoms are only conditional.

How can the government create and stand by a law that is a direct violation of the First Amendment? They can’t. The First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Last time I checked, the fact that I, along with other Catholics, believe abortion and the use of contraceptives is wrong was a way to exercise my right of religious freedom. The law clearly states that my right can’t be prohibited, yet that is exactly what the government is doing.

So my question for Sebelius and Obama is why can’t Catholic institutions be exempt from this law? If employees at a Catholic institution want to use contraceptives or receive an abortion, let them pay for it themselves. Besides, working at a Catholic institution implies that you understand and respect Catholic beliefs.

My problem here isn’t with the law. It’s with the government’s refusal to exempt Catholics based on their right to religious freedom.  If you have a problem with this, like I did, talk about it in your religion classes. I talked about it in mine.

Don’t sit around and expect things to change. Stand up for what you believe in. If you think this law is wrong, talk about it. Write a letter to the government. You may think your one letter might not make a difference, but the more noise people make, the harder it’s going to be for the government to ignore us.

Bishop David A. Zubik of Pittsburg wrote a column in response to Obama’s rejection of the Catholics’ request called “To Hell with you.” He said that the Obama administration was saying “to hell with your religious beliefs.”

Well I say “to hell” with this law.

Emily Clarke is a Managing Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Stephanie Plum (Katherine Heigl) has just gotten a divorce and has been unemployed for six months so she begins working for her cousin at his bail bonds shop as a recovery agent.  Plum gets several files on felons who haven’t paid their bonds, including Joe Morelli (Jason O’Mara), a cop on the run. Bringing him in would get Plum the 50,000 dollars she needs to get back on her feet.  Not only is Morelli worth 50 grand to Plum, but he also “nailed her then dumped her” in high school, and Plum still holds a grudge. This fuels her throughout the movie to “nail” Morelli and collect the 50 grand.

Since Morelli is a trained cop, Plum has to step up her game, and enlists the help of “Michelangelo’s ‘David’ dipped in caramel,” Ricardo Carlos “Ranger” Mañoso (Daniel Sunjata) who is a bounty hunter. Plum realizes that she is in way over her head when one person she talks to turns up dead and the psychopathic rapist boxer Benito Ramirez (Gavin-Kieth Umeh) is after her to keep her quiet. With a little help from an unlikely source, Plum might just get out alive.

Though the plot was interesting, there were many parts in the movie that seemed important, but didn’t amount to anything. There was one scene where Plum’s gun was in full view, where someone easily could have stolen it or used it against her.

Though it was a comedy, the movie still had an air of mystery and danger. There were exploding cars, murder, and Plum still had to figure out who was really behind it all. The danger and mystery were main parts of the plot and were portrayed very well, and did not overshadow the comedic side of the film.

The romance aspect was also strong. Morelli and Plum have many encounters throughout the movie, and the physical and emotional tension is almost always present. This worked out well in the movie, because the viewer was constantly wondering whether or not Plum and Morelli would end up together.

Even with mystery and romance, the writers were able to give the movie comic relief with the situations Plum gets herself into and the people she meets. Combining comedy, mystery, and romance brought a much larger audience and made for a much more entertaining film.

Although “One for the Money” has tons of mystery and drama, it also has a bit of romance and a lot of comic relief.

Ashley Beyer is a Lifestyles Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com

On Jan. 12, Principal Madelyn Ball sent a letter to the teachers about how the school is addressing the Twitter controversy.

Ball decided to separate the students who have gotten in trouble for inappropriate Twitter usage into “three different categories.”  The first group includes kids who said inappropriate things to or about a teacher.  The second group is composed of students who openly stated on Twitter that they were tweeting during class.  The third group encompasses students who posted things about drugs, alcohol, or sex abuse.

Ball revealed that parents will be notified about everything.  “When there is something that is shocking and has come to my attention, I have to share it with parents.  Parents will be called and they will know what it is, and then it’s up to the parents with what they want to do with that information,” Ball said.

As of Jan. 30, “The students have been identified and we first dealt with the students that made inappropriate comments about teachers.  We’re still in the process of dealing with students that wrote about drugs, alcohol, sex, things like that that we had to make their parents aware of what they were writing about.  Not necessarily because this happened in school but because we operate under contract law.   As an administration, if we know of a child writing about these sorts of things we have to share it with the parents,” Ball said.

For those students, no school disciplinary action was taken, however parents were called in and shown the tweets.

Thus far, the administration has given detentions to those students who have been identified and proven to be tweeting in class.  Because tweets are date stamped only, the administration can only give detentions to students who explicitly state in their tweets that they are tweeting in class.

For those students who have tweeted inappropriately regarding teachers, the administration has sentenced them to suspensions and a disciplinary board in which they will “plead to go back to school,” according to Ball.

Even though the administration is taking action in regards to Twitter, Ball does not think that this will be the end for Internet abuse.  “We have had these things with Facebook, and there will be other things,” Ball said.

“We shut down Twitter for now, I’m not going to say we shut down Twitter for good, but it’s shut down right now until we get a handle on this,” Ball said.  To listen an audio of the interview with Ball, see above.

Other schools in the area have also had problems with inappropriate Internet usage.  Archbishop Curley High School Technology Director Joseph Jancuk said that teachers don’t use Twitter in class, but some of them use Facebook.  “Essentially students outside of school must keep Christian values and respect others,” Jancuk said.

Archbishop Curley High School Assistant Principal Jamey Becker said that students who tweet inappropriate things have the same penalties as if they had said the things that they tweeted in school.  “Nothing major has ever happened, only some inappropriate student-to-student tweets,” Becker said.

“The only use of Twitter on campus is done by our communications department in conjunction with our media strategy.  Twitter is not used in the classroom and social media is typically blocked on campus,” Calvert Hall High School Network Administrator Austin Ewachiw said.

“We strongly discourage the use of social media during school including Twitter and Facebook,” Mercy High School Director of Communications Tess Veloso said.  She stated that the punishment is the issue of demerits, but so far, they have had no incidents regarding social media and Twitter.

Amanda Graziano is an Opinion Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

Additional reporting by the Patriot staff.

Who is responsible for this heinous crime? Rorschach, a masked vigilante, is determined to find out what happened to Blake, who was a government-employed superhero called The Comedian.

Even though “Watchmen” was published 26 years ago chapter by chapter, it has recently been published in a collected format, and the themes are still relevant to today’s society. Who watches the watchmen? Who protects us from our protectors? With issues of police brutality and political corruption becoming increasingly exposed, these are important questions to answer. Through his well-crafted graphic novel, Moore shows that there is no easy answer to these questions.

Despite common skepticism surrounding the ability of the graphic novel format to convey a compelling story, Alan Moore’s “Watchmen” is as sophisticated as any well-written novel, and much more complex than most comic books. It crushes the idealism of the superhero archetype and contains themes that are still relevant in today’s society.

“Watchmen” is set in America in the mid-1980’s in an alternate history, which has been affected by the rise of superheroes.  America has won the Vietnam War, and now the Soviet Union and America are on the brink of nuclear war. However, the Keene Act has banned any superhero who is not employed by the government from fighting crime, and now Rorschach is the only costumed vigilante that remains.

The extreme views of the six main characters highlight their opposing moralities. Rorschach thinks that all criminals should be severely punished.  His ultra-conservative views contrast with the liberal views of Adrian Veidt and Dr. Manhattan, who think that principles of just retribution can be sacrificed for the greater good.

Dan Dreiberg, formerly known as the Nite Owl, is childish and naïve in his views of justice.  He represents the glorified view of superheroes that is present in most comics. The Comedian, on the other hand, sees that world through a cynical lens. He sees the entire superhero gig as a big joke, with the world’s problems too big to handle. All these conflicting moralities make interactions between the characters interesting, and often insightful.

The only glaring weakness in the effectiveness of the plot is Laurie Juspeczyk, the only major female superhero.  Her character seems to be used only for sexual pursuits.  She seduces Dr. Manhattan, providing him a reason to side with the US and to stay on earth. Moore uses Laurie to provide the romance that most stories have, but unfortunately, her relationships with Dr. Manhattan and Dan Dreiberg are little more than sexual.  She contributes no political, philosophical, or moral perspectives to the novel.

The intricacy of the novel is further developed by the extensive back stories of the major and minor characters. The multiple flashbacks amongst all of the protagonists give the reader a more personal connection to their past.

Dave Gibbons’ illustrations by no means cheapen the story. This artistic medium adds an extra layer of depth, such as the bloody smiley face visual motif that can be found throughout the pages. It’s a nice change for readers who wish they could actually see symbols instead of just reading about them.

There is never a dull moment in “Watchmen.” Endless paragraphs of description are not something that one will find in this book. For anyone who is tired of reading blocks of text but still wants a compelling story, “Watchmen” is the book to choose.

Adam Kuester is a New Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com

Scott Novak is an Opinion Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com

Approximately 350 students bought bands, raising about 3,500 dollars for the senior class. In past years, the Variety Show generated about 6,000 dollars towards the senior class, according to Senior Class Moderator Sue Greig.

Many students decided to participate because they wanted to feel more relaxed during exam week. “I just wanted to wear sweatpants and be comfortable,” freshman Eric Johnson said.

The price had originally started out at 15 dollars, but was reduced to twelve dollars after initial complaints from the student body, according to Senior Class President Maria Edwards.

Some people still thought the bracelets were too pricey after the price reduction. “It was only three days and I did not want to pay twelve dollars to dress down when we are only in school for a few hours,” junior Katherine Langrehr said.

“Simply put, it was a risk vs. reward situation. We felt that lowering the price of the bracelets would actually help us to make more money, and the huge number of students who participated in the dress down days shows that these reductions paid off,” Senior Class Vice President Nick Henninger said.

With the cost of prom tickets estimated at 100 dollars or more, additional fundraisers are coming.

Henninger encourages members of the senior class to get involved. “We have some ideas in mind to raise money, but we really need the ideas and manpower of our entire class as we move forward. We have a Facebook group, which I ask that all members of the Class of 2012 join. We need all members of the senior class to reach out to Maria, [Senior Member-At-Large Maggie Cassidy], or I, tell us their ideas, and/or offer to lend a hand in future fundraisers.”

“We are doing a black light dance and we have some other little things we are working on that hopefully will pull through and become fundraisers,” Edwards said.

According to Greig, the black light dance is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 24, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Tickets will be sold for 10 dollars each.

Sarah Kearby is a Lifestyles Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.