This, however, was not a reality TV show or a movie. The Senior Field Day is a seven year, standing tradition which was started in 2007 by Mr. Johnson and the class of 2007.

Not only is Field Day fun, it is a great way to come together as a class and bond before graduation. Since Field Day takes place after all senior classes and exams are over, seniors are stress free. This allows them to let loose and have a good time with the people they’ve been around for the past four years.

Since there are 14 teams with 14 different team captains, no one gets left out. Team captains are given the freedom to pick their own team theme which allows the seniors to get creative. This also creates a laid back atmosphere. Although there is a winning team, Field Day is by no means overly competitive.

Because Field Day is now a standing tradition at JC, seniors have something to look forward to. Amongst the stress of senior project, exams, and graduation, seniors still have that one day to look forward to where they can have fun and celebrate their four years at JC with students and teachers they’ve come to know so well.

Perhaps most importantly, Field Day allows the seniors to run around and goof off like they are little kids again. Seniors are faced with so many new responsibilities and pressures, along with the looming realization that they will soon leave their safe bubble of JC to be launched into the real world. Field Day gives them one day where they can forget all of that and just be kids again.

Caitlin Wolfarth is a News Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

The Color Run is a five kilometer race where a different color is thrown at the runners once they run past each kilometer. The dust that is thrown is an edible dyed corn starch.

At every city the Color Run is held at, the event donates a large portion of their money to a different local organization. Baltimore’s organization was Cool Kids Campaign, an organization, which is dedicated to improving the lives of children who are suffering from cancer.

Before the race started, there were many festivities that got everyone active and moving. The M&T Bank Stadium parking lot was filled with thousands of color runners decked out in their color run t-shirts. There was a stage for Zumba dancing, and crowds were following the lead of the Zumba instructors. A beach ball was bouncing among the crowd. The festivities may have been more fun than actually running the race.

When the race finally began, an eight year old cancer survivor counted down from ten to kick off the race.  After this, the crowd was let out in waves. Volunteers for the race threw out free items such as t-shirts, sunglasses, and fanny packs. They also cheered on the crowds as they were let into the race.

There were people on the sidelines who would give us high fives as we ran down the race path. The first color that was being thrown was yellow, the second was blue, the third was orange, the fourth was green, the fifth was pink, and the end color was purple.

As runners approached the giant arches of color being thrown by volunteers, and we could see huge clouds of yellow, blue, orange, green, or pink. The volunteers were enthusiastic, and runners could tell that they wanted to be there.

After the race, each runner got a packet of color and the runners had a color throw. The giant mass of people then threw their color up in the air which created a giant cloud of color.

The Color Run was definitely the best race we’ve ever been to. Not only was it fun, but it also raised money for a great cause. Additionally, the volunteers made it one of the most fun days of our lives. We wish The Color Run could happen every day.

Emily Cassidy is  an A&E Editor Caitlin Wolfarth is a News Editor and Meredith Haggerty is a In-Depth Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com

After the candidates gave their speeches, the National Honor Society elected officers on May 17 in the auditorium for the upcoming school year.

According to NHS moderator Paul Lazor, this year three people ran for president and two people ran for vice president which he found “good” compared to last year when everyone ran unopposed.

After voting, junior Travis Nelson was chosen as President, and junior Madison Meyer was selected as Vice President. In addition, junior Alex Gromacki was elected Secretary, and Lindsay Kraus was elected as Senior Member at Large.

“I think they are all very enthusiastic,” Lazor said. He thinks they will work to improve the group service project NHS is required to complete each year by getting students involved and excited.

“I’m very excited to be NHS president next year,” Nelson said. “Something that I want to focus on is our group service project, as well as increasing our honor society’s presence in the community. It’s a great opportunity.”

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

“I was kind of surprised. We’ve never been in the finals before. This year though, since we were in the B conference, it gave them something to work for,” badminton coach Tess Gauthier said.

In previous years, only one division of badminton existed for high school teams. However, after the creation of many other badminton teams in other high schools, another division was added.

Gauthier explains that the team “never had a chance to beat other schools….e’ve always been in the middle[in past years],” she said.

At championships, every singles player or doubles pair was given her own seed based on her individual record. The player or players would then play against each other in a bracket format. If a competitor lost in the first round, she would play in a consolation match against another opponent, since everyone was guaranteed to play in at least two matches.

With the bracket style tournament, members from the same team could play against each other. Consequently, junior Fiona Van der Steur and junior Beth Boniface played against senior Carol Zubrowski and senior Heather Kirwan in the semifinals.

“It was a lot of fun, very laid back and easy going,” Van der Steur said. “Beth and I even beat a doubles team we kept losing to in the regular season.”

For every win, the team was given three points. For every win in consolation, the team was given one point. The score for each team was then calculated based off the number of individual points each player contributed.

On May 1, the single tournaments were held. Senior Mary Kate Luft advanced to the semifinals, but lost to an opponent from Maryvale Preparatory School.

Additionally, senior Stephanie Almasy won in every singles match in the second ranking section. “It was an awesome overall experience,” Almasy said.

Singles player junior Kirsten Kyburz said, “It was a really cool experience. I haven’t seen that many good badminton players in a room until now.”

The following day, the doubles pairs competed against each other.

On May 3, semifinals and finals were held to determine which team would bring home the gold. Van der Steur and Boniface lost to Zubrowski and Kirwan in the semifinals. Zubrowski and Kirwan then went on to win the doubles tournament.

“Carol and Heather have been playing for four years together. It was great to see them become champions as doubles partners,” Gauthier said.

At the end of the tournament, the results were finally announced.

“We all thought we were the runners up because we were adding up the points, and St. Tim’s was in front but we must’ve added wrong. When we heard they were runners up and we were the winners, we went crazy,” Almasy said. “It was insane and definitely one of the most memorable moments in high school.”

Kyburz shared the same reaction. “We were so excited to hear St. Tim’s as the runner up. When they said first place JC, we all screamed,” Kyburz said.

“Winning the championships for the first time in badminton history was incredible,” doubles player and junior Caitlin Johnson said.

By playing badminton, Almasy has “learned that you can do anything if you put your heart to it.”

Johnson also learned to be patient with her teammates by “learning to not take it out on a teammate if [they] lost.”

As for next year, Gauther said, “I think we’ll be just as competitive next year. Good JV players improved throughout the season.”

At the Spring Athletic Ceremony, awards were given to players from varsity and junior varsity who excelled competitively and supported the team throughout the season. Junior Emily Cassidy received the triple threat award for junior varsity and Carol Zubrowski won the varsity triple threat award.

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

Reid is not the only junior struggling to balance AP exams, senior exams, and regular school work.

Many juniors find themselves taking classes with seniors because they take higher level classes like Physics. Because of this, instead of taking their exams the same time as the rest of the juniors and under classmen, those students exams occur when the seniors get out at the end of the senior’s year.

This year senior exams were May 8, 9, and 10. These exams took place during regular school time for juniors and underclassmen, so non-seniors taking the exams had to miss class time.

This year, senior exams also happened on the first week of AP testing which went from May 6 to May 10. However, AP exams also continued into the next week from May 13 to May 17. The same students that participate in senior exams also often participate in AP testing, which requires them to miss even more class time.

While these tests continue to take students out of the class room, classes usually go on as normal. Students are held responsible for studying for their exams and making up missed classwork and homework.

Students taking higher level classes and trying to get college credit are being hurt by the unnecessary scheduling. It is unfair to pile on students the normal level of school work while they are trying to study for senior and AP exams and are missing large amounts of class time.

Teachers need to be more aware of the burdens being placed on students during this two week period of craziness. While in a perfect world, students should be exempt from assignments and teachers should try to structure class so students do not fall behind. In reality, school is still in session and teachers need to keep moving.

Therefore as a compromise, teachers should be more lenient on homework and allow students to have longer amounts of time complete assignments.

For juniors taking senior classes, the administration should work with teachers to ensure that juniors have at least the option of taking their exams later at the normal scheduled time for juniors at the end of the year. However, if this is not possible, senior exams should not be scheduled during the weeks of AP testing.

At the end of the day, students can only balance so much work at once. Juniors, like Reid with two to four AP tests, senior exams, and school work being piled on them, can only exert themselves so much before it becomes too much.

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

 Haley Kyger is a Sports Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

As a huge fan of Taylor Swift, I was unbelievably excited for the concert. When my friend gave me a phone call in the summer telling me that we were going to the concert, I screamed like a little girl and actually cried tears of joy. I could not believe that I was finally going to a Taylor Swift concert. After all the years I spent wishing for an opportunity to go, my dreams were finally coming true.

The concert began with “Red” and the fans went absolutely wild. The entire time, the Verizon Center was filled with singing that actually sounded more like screaming song lyrics. Everyone was simply admiring the 23-year-old singer who was standing before us.

The greatest thing about the concert was that even though there were 14,000 people, Taylor Swift found a way of making it feel like she was talking directly to me. She would sing a song or two, and then talk to us about how happy she was we that were there and about hard times and bad breakups that led her to write these songs.

My favorite part happened to be while she was in a dress change and there was a video reel of her life.  It was all-encompassing: it was from age two to elementary, middle, and high school, and even included her recording her first record and the “Fearless” concert tour.  Finally, the screen said “22” and it was a live video of us at the concert. She then came onto the stage and sang “22.”

Swift also incorporated songs from past albums, such as “Don’t You Ever Grow Up” and “Love Story.” Every song had a theme to it that coordinated with the dancing and backgrounds. This made me feel like I was at a play and a concert at the same time. For example, the finale, “We Are Never Getting Back Together,” had a circus theme where some of the dancers were on stilts, and Taylor Swift was the ringmaster.

All in all, Taylor Swift’s “Red” concert was an unbelievable experience which made me love her as an artist even more than before, if that is possible.

Meredith Haggerty is an In-Depth Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.

            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.