At the time of his first fish-butchery, Franklin was four years old, fishing in Green Lake with his dad. Now, Franklin comfortably roams the halls of Garfield as a full-bodied high school junior. He isn’t the only one of his kind (those who can’t resist the enjoyment of fish homicide) though: many a Garfield student claim fishing, whether recreational or commercial, to be one of their hobbies.

Last summer, Jacob trekked north to Alaska to work on a commercial fishing vessel with his dad. When he wasn’t pulling in fishing nets with the rest of the crew, Jacob spent lots of time exploring the intimacies of recreational fishing.

“Commercial fishing is basically just a lot of manual labor,” says Franklin. “I prefer taking out and anchoring a smaller boat, and fishing off of the side of that instead.”

When fishing on his own, the amount of time that Jacob waits for a nibble can fluctuate greatly.

“The amount of waiting time varies based on how good a particular fishing spot is,” says Franklin. “It usually takes me around half an hour to get a catch.”

But even when Franklin does manage to reel in a catch or two, there are some types of fish that he usually decides to throw back.

“If it’s a good catch, like a trout or something, then I’ll eat it,” he says, “but if it’s a rockfish or some other nasty bottom dweller, then I’ll usually throw it back or cut it up.”

During his summer employment, one of the most important skills Jacob learned was how to filet his own fish.

“You hold the fish by its tail, make a cut down the length of its backbone, and then slice off the two sides of the fish,” Franklin says. “Most of the stuff in the middle of the fish is stuff you don’t want to eat, like the spinal cord and the organs.”

According to Jacob, most experienced anglers have a certain catch that sticks in their memory for the rest of their lives. For Jacob, this special catch happened last summer.

“I somehow was able to catch a 15-pound King Salmon,” says Franklin. “It was awesome.”

This catch doesn’t always have to be edible though. For Garfield junior Luke Evans, who usually fishes for recreation, this memorable catch was far more aggressive.

“While fishing in the Caribbean, I caught a barracuda that was nearly three feet long,” says Evans. “It bit my dad’s thumb, so it was tight.”

In general though, most of the fish that Franklin and Evans catch are smaller and less exciting. In fact, Evans used to keep the fish that he caught in buckets as pets. That is, until he learned how to eat them.

“When I was 10 years old, my grandpa taught me how to filet fish, so I started to eat the fish that I caught,” says Evans. “But I’ve never really gotten the hang of it; I’m usually too sympathetic for the fish.”

Although Evans releases many of the fish that he manages to reel in, he’s had a lot of luck with one particular type of bait: cheese.

“When I first used cheese as bait, it was because I didn’t have anything else to use,” Luke says, “but it ended up working surprisingly well.”

Although Evans doesn’t fish as much as he used to, he recommends the hobby to anyone who thinks they might be interested in it.

“It takes patience, but it’s really relaxing and it’s a great thing to do on a nice day,” he says. “All you need is a stick in one hand and a hook in the other.”

Franklin agrees that fishing takes a lot of patience, but he’s convinced that if one can demonstrate patience, the hobby almost always pays off.

“Fishing is a lot like jacking off,” says Franklin. “You sit down and do a repetitive motion for a long time, and then it cumulates into something that’s truly pleasurable.”

The survey found that while nearly 25 percent of American adults could name all five Simpsons characters, only one in 1,000 could name all five freedoms of the First Amendment. Until recently, I didn’t know all of my First Amendment freedoms either. Then I met Mary Beth Tinker.

Her story starts years ago, when then 13-year-old Tinker and a handful of her friends were suspended for wearing black armbands to school in protest of the Vietnam War—told that they couldn’t return to school until they agreed to remove the armbands.

But, scathed by the blistering blade of injustice, young Tinker—with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union—wrestled her way to the Supreme Court, which, in 1969, ruled that “students don’t shed their constitutional rights … at the schoolhouse gate.”

Now, Tinker travels from school to school, informing American students about their First Amendment rights while encouraging them to stand up against injustices they face. And recently, Tinker made a guest appearance at Garfield High School, calling for student action and activism in front of a packed audience.

“Instead of accepting the way things are, you have to think of ways to take action,” said Tinker.

Forty years after her 1969 victory in the Supreme Court, Tinker still exhibits the same activist approach that she developed as a youth.

Tinker largely attributes her outlook to the influence of her parents, who, when she was only 12 years old, traveled to Mississippi to help prevent brutalities that were being committed against protesters in the Civil Rights movement.

“My parents were always about putting their beliefs into action,” she said.

In returning home from the South, Tinker’s parents brought back with them stories of bravery and courage that inspired Tinker, as young as she was, to stand up for what she believed to be right.

“I thought to myself: that’s how I want to live,” said Tinker. “I want to stand up for what I believe in and have the courage to do the kinds of things that I heard about in my parents’ stories.”

The same fervor that led Tinker to the Supreme Court decades ago is still alive in abundance today. And according to Tinker, its presence is just as important today as it was forty years ago, if not more so.

“The climate in schools has gotten worse over the last ten years,” Tinker said.

“There are often metal detectors,” she said, “and I recently saw a student being dragged out of class in handcuffs.”

But Tinker is certain that America’s youth will continue protesting injustices that they face, even in the classroom and at school.

“Young people are the best ones to speak up and stand up for the issues that they care about,” she said. “Kids just have a natural sense of fairness.”

While fighting for individual rights isn’t easy, Tinker shares with us some examples of where student activism has made headway across the country.

“There’s a school in Ohio where students sit on a panel and help decide which teachers are hired,” she said. “There’s also a movement called Child Friendly Cities where the idea is to make urban settings safe for children.”

But before Tinker puts down the mic, she makes a final pitch for student activism.

“Find an issue that you care about, and don’t just complain about it, do something about it,” she says. “Now is always the time to deal with injustice.”

Given upcoming budget cuts that threaten to cut Garfield programs, the violence that surrounds our neighborhood, and other injustices that Garfield students face every day, perhaps Tinker’s message couldn’t have come at a better time.

In recent months, Sarah’s relationship with her mother has been a source of tremendous stress. Sarah often feels like a disappointment to her mom, who wants her to get better grades in school. And one of the worst fights that they’ve had took place a couple weeks ago on a Friday afternoon.

When Sarah’s mom returned home that evening, she was frustrated to find Sarah watching television instead of doing homework. What started out as an argument about watching TV soon turned into a discussion about Sarah’s grades. “My mom called me a spoiled little brat that can’t get into college,” says Sarah. At the end of the evening, Sarah sat alone in her room, feeling alone and vulnerable. Overwhelmed by pressures that she has been experiencing at home, Sarah acted on an impulse and began cutting her wrists. She started by using her fingernails, but then began using the scissors on her bedside table. “Afterwards, I just sat in my room and cried,” she says.

Newport students consistently score above average on both their AP exams and their SAT tests; at Newport, A’s are average. And in recent years, Newport has even been identified by Newsweek as one of the best high schools in the country.

Newport’s national standing is based on a single, controversial ratio: its “Challenge Index.” Devised by educational commentator Jay Mathews, the Challenge Index corresponds to the average number of AP tests taken per graduate. Last year, Newport was ranked 34th place on Newsweek’s list with an index of 5.348. Newport’s Challenge Index is – at least in part – a contributor to the enormous pressure that Newport students face to register for more AP classes; pressure that once was applied by the school administration, but now comes primarily from within the students themselves.

Many Newport students cram their schedules with AP classes, hoping to boost their class ranks and stand out in the college admissions process. For those at Newport that are not top-performing students, this competitive atmosphere generates a lot of stress. But Newport has not always been the competitive college-prep high school that it is today.

Senior class president Sam Staples remembers a time when academics were not top priority at Newport. “This school has taken a full 180 over the past ten years,” he says. Sam remembers when his older brothers went to Newport back in ’98. Back then, there was a ton of school spirit and people were involved in more extra-curricular activities. “But now, the focus is entirely on academics,” Sam says, “People feel like they’re in a prison here.”

Sam is especially frustrated with the administration’s attempt to enroll all Newport students in AP classes – even those that are already struggling with regular classes – in an attempt to raise the school’s national ranking. “The administration wants Newport to be a high-ranking school and a model for other high schools around the country,” he says, “And the way to do that is to get more kids to sign up for AP classes.”

To perform well in all of their AP classes, many Newport students rely on ADHD medications such as Adderall, which they obtain illegally from their ADHD-diagnosed peers. “During finals week, and the week before it, everyone buys Adderall so they can focus on studying,” says Sarah. According to Sarah, the use of Adderall on finals is mostly by upperclassmen with AP-heavy schedules. “I tried it once to see how it felt,” she says, “And I was able to sit down for three hours and make Spanish note cards.”

“It’s very difficult, as the bar keeps getting raised, for you to not hang yourself on it, literally,” says Newport’s chairman of the health department Barbara Velategui. According to Velategui, cutting behavior at Newport is becoming increasingly common. “Cutting has become almost normative behavior,” she says. “If you ask a classroom full of students how many know of a student involved in cutting, half of them will raise their hands.”

“The amount of academic pressure at Newport is pretty overwhelming,” says Velategui. Many Newport students, including Sarah, face a phenomenal amount of pressure from home too. Combined, pressures from home and at school can become overwhelming, having serious psychological consequences for students.

“A good 30 percent of kids report pretty involved depression,” says Velategui. Already this year, she has led six suicide interventions for Newport kids, and has committed the same number of students to mental health facilities involuntarily. But even with the support of these institutions, it’s usually a long and difficult road to recovery.

Sarah is one of the few Newport students that has recovered from the depths of depression without the help of anti-depressants. She still doesn’t understand why she began cutting in the first place, but admits that a part of her wanted to get back at her mom. Sarah thought that if her mom saw her in pain, her mom might take it easier on her. “They weren’t very deep cuts, and it wasn’t worth it,” Sarah says, recalling the night that she cut for the first time.

Sarah’s mom is always harassing her about her grades, which have fallen considerably since she took on two extra AP classes in the fall. Sarah got mostly A’s last year, but this year her report card consists mainly of B’s and C’s.

“My mom says that if I get all A’s I can be ungrounded,” says Sarah, “but for me to get all A’s is practically impossible.” While Sarah’s grades are adequate, she often feels intimidated by her more studious friends. “All of my friends have A’s and maybe a B in AP Physics,” she says. “People look at students with B’s and C’s as stupid.”

Velategui never forgets the students that she works with in suicide prevention. “I had a young man who attempted suicide because he had gotten a C in some class,” says Velategui. When the boy was five years old, his parents had paved their walkway with the names of the schools that were acceptable for him: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and the rest of the Ivy Leagues.  But with a C, he has convinced himself that these schools were out of reach. When Velategui asked the student why he felt like he needed to kill himself, he looked into her in the eyes and said, “It’s game over. I’ve shamed my family, so I might as well die.”

On another occasion, Velategui was dealing with a student that was very suicidal, but whose mother refused to leave work to come and see him. “We sat with the boy all day, and brought in a crisis counselor, but his mom simply refused to leave work early,” says Velategui. When his mom finally arrived she just said, “You play too many videogames. Get in the car.” Velategui has observed that, in most cases, there are disconnects between the students and their parents. Often times, parents don’t understand why – or know that – their kids are suicidal or cutting.

But the Newport administration is actively taking steps to make parents more aware of the psychological challenges that their kids are facing. In early February, the superintendent of the Bellevue school district held a parent meeting at Newport to discuss a new suicide prevention program that is being piloted in Bellevue schools.

In the next few weeks, Newport staff will be declaring a new instructional target. Velategui predicts that the new target will be about building strong relationships and connectedness within the school. “Not enough of the kids have a significant adult on campus,” she says. “Hopefully we’ll be able to help kids [like Sarah] feel more supported and connected. Kids who don’t feel hopeless can spiral up.”

When Tino personally invites me (or doesn’t) to the StreetFam Jumpoff at Club Diamond, I have to respectfully decline.

Last Friday, I left school at 1:30 P.M. to play in a college showcase soccer game in Tukwila, after which I raced to Issaquah to perform in a violin master class. Only when I took exit 17 did I realize that I had forgotten my violin at school. After calling my violin teacher to apologize, I drove home and fell asleep crying into my pillow; I also missed that party.

Regrettably, there are only so many hours in a day, and I am spending too many of them completing homework assignments.

As a junior at Garfield, I am experiencing [some of] the negative effects of homework: frustration and exhaustion, a lack of time for other activities, and conflict at home.

Daily exhaustion and inadequate free time are the most pressing issues that I am facing. To beat the morning bell, I wake up at 6:30 A.M.; so, to get the nine or so hours of sleep recommended for teenagers, I would have to go to sleep at 9:30 P.M. the night before. My heavy homework load, however, combined with the jumble of extracurricular activities that I am passionately committed to, makes a 9:30 bedtime a virtual impossibility. On a typical weeknight, I finish my homework at about 12:00 A.M.

The more recent symptom that I have been facing is conflict at home. My parents are frustrated with my general lack of participation in family life, and insist I am overcommitted and overextended. I’m making a serious effort to change the status quo, but it is difficult to find time when it is all sapped by homework.

So now you know: My life is out of balance. But the reality is that it doesn’t have to be; I would thrive on less, more meaningful, homework.

Too often, homework is assigned thoughtlessly or out of habit; a mistake not solely of individual teachers, but also of the high school default in America. Seattle School District policy, like that of most school districts across the country, says “It is the responsibility of the teacher to assign homework on a regular basis.”

Yet, I believe it is crucial that we, the teachers, the students, and the parents, approach homework critically: rethinking what is assigned, under what conditions, and why. We must not allow the importance of expected homework assignments to surpass that of thoughtful instruction.

To think about homework critically, we must first understand what the research is telling us: that the positive effects of homework are largely mythical.

While certain assignments can be beneficial, such as daily reading and math, no correlation has ever been convincingly demonstrated between homework and academic achievement. In fact, students that attend schools that don’t assign homework flourish. Relieved of the pressures of conventional homework, these students also avoid a common negative symptom of homework: academic disinterest.

We must acknowledge and understand the potential negative effects of homework.

What is most curious about homework is that it is, in reality, counterproductive. Every time a student receives a photocopied, prefabricated “busy work” worksheet, that student becomes less likely to develop an interest in becoming a life-long learner.

Negative effects are apparent and well-established: exhaustion, a lack of time for other activities, and familial conflict.

We must accept that the negative effects of homework outweigh the positive effects. Then we can change the default.

Students shouldn’t be taking home an assignment unless there is reasonable likelihood that the assignment will benefit a majority of the students in the class. No more photocopied worksheets, assignments that are checked for completion, or assignments that fail to add value to work done in the classroom.

Furthermore, the amount of homework that is assigned to students should be drastically decreased, allowing us students to invest time in activities that are truly valuable to our greater education, such as learning and playing instruments, playing team sports, or committing to clubs.

Teachers that are reluctant to rethink their long-standing reliance on traditional homework will have to take a first step: Might I suggest experimentally teaching a one or two-week unit without homework.

Parents will also have to remain open minded, recognizing that if teachers don’t assign homework, it isn’t [necessarily] because they aren’t dedicated to teaching.

I’m not foolish; I realize that the abolition of homework is as unlikely as me actually getting personally invited to a StreetFam party. But with less homework, all of our lives could be more balanced.

Originally, both pieces of equipment were supposed to be part of a new pre-engineering class at Garfield: Project Lead the Way (PLTW). Theoretically, the class would offer Garfield students a uniquely engaging, hands-on introduction to engineering.

“The district picks and chooses what programs it wants to invest in,” says Principal Ted Howard II. “When the building was renovated, it was decided that Garfield would implement Project Lead the Way, so [the district] went out and bought all the materials.”

In addition to purchasing the 3D printer and the laser engraver, the district also invested in a robotic arm, nearly 30 robots, and other costly technology.

“We have a whole bunch of equipment that’s ostensibly to teach students about beginning engineering concepts,” says Helene Martin, who teaches the new creative computing and computer science classes at Garfield.

According to Martin’s estimates, the total value of the equipment may exceed $200,000.

Unfortunately, PLTW never became fully operational at Garfield. The curriculum demands a teacher with a strong engineering background.

“We couldn’t find anyone that would actually teach PLTW,” says Howard. “We ended up going through five or six teachers.”

According to Howard, these teachers lacked the background necessary to teach or were unwilling to teach the PLTW curriculum. Ultimately, the district decided to offer computer science as a substitute.

“There’s a lot in computer science that you would get from a pre-engineering program,” says Martin. “You have critical thinking, you have hands-on applied knowledge, and you have a lot of tie-in from math and science.”

Moreover, the new computer science classes are economically viable.

“There’s no equipment need,” says Martin. “My operation is free; my software is free; basically everything I’m doing is free.”

Garfield’s replacement computer programming class also avoids some of the other drawbacks of PLTW curricula.

“PLTW programs try to cater to people that are more vocational as well as to people that are more academic,” says Martin. “But trying to be somewhere in the middle generally means it ends up catering to nobody.”

Another concern that Martin has with PLTW curricula is that it suffers from the amount of prep time required for student use of the machinery.

“Realistically, it’ll take three weeks to complete safety training for a class of at least 26 students,” says Martin. “How much time is anyone going to have on the laser engraver?”

Howard also seems to lean in favor of Garfield’s new computer programming classes.

“The Career and Technical Education department did a survey,” says Howard. “Turns out, what the students are really interested in is programming and computer science.”

Still, Howard hopes that PLTW’s pre-engineering class will soon be offered at Garfield.

“The district really wants us to do [PLTW],” says Howard. “We’ll just have to see what happens with the budget.”

But for Garfield to offer PLTW’s pre-engineering class, it will need to find a teacher.

“The only person in the building that has that background is Mr. [Alan] Carpenter,” says Howard. “I hope that next year we will be able to get PLTW off the ground, but it will take someone that is very invested in the building.”

One day, students may be able to use the 3D printer or the laser engraver, but until that day, PLTW isn’t going to be very “hands-on” after all.

Also referred to as “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the Black National Anthem addresses the importance of perseverance and hope, themes that remain as pertinent today for African Americans as they have been in the past. Unfortunately, the song’s racial tone may be doing more to divide the student body than it is to unify it.

Accordingly, Garfield’s Associated Student Body (ASB) initiated discussion about the problem during its second period class.

“As ASB, we talked about how we can represent all cultures, and hear every voice,” says student body president Najee Siu-Chang. “We decided to tentatively discontinue the singing of the [Black National Anthem].”

However, ASB’s proposal was rejected by Principal Ted Howard II.

“We spoke with Mr. Howard,” says Siu-Chang. “He felt that we should continue to sing [the Black National Anthem].”

In light of Mr. Howard’s executive decision, ASB remains open to the idea of supporting open dialogue amongst the student body.

“If half the school thinks [the Black National Anthem] shouldn’t be sung then we can start talking about partnership debates,” says Siu-Chang, “But if it’s only four or five people, then we’re not going to stop.”

Personally, Siu-Chang believes that the Black National Anthem should always be sung with the American National Anthem.

“I feel [the Black National Anthem] should be sung, because the song itself represents more than just black people,” says Siu-Chang. “The song represents what America is: uplifting.”

On the other hand, the arguments against the song’s performance at Garfield assemblies are compelling.

“To segregate us by emphasizing our differences is counterproductive,” says junior Angela Zhang. “The [American] National Anthem applies to everyone that lives in the United States and is proud to be an American citizen.”

Similarly against singing the Black National Anthem is junior Annika Brauer.

“I think that it’s inappropriate for a school that represents so many different cultures and ethnicities to sing a song that only represents one,” says Brauer.

Garfield often boasts of its cultural diversity; how can we acknowledge and celebrate the African American minority with the Black National Anthem without similarly celebrating the other Garfield minorities?

If we sing the Black National Anthem at assemblies, shouldn’t we also sing the Gay Anthem, Nuestro Himno, the Feminist Anthem, and other anthems to represent all of the other cultures at Garfield?

Coincidentally, my quest for personal elegance began immediately after I was dumped by my girlfriend in the second grade, a separation that she attributed to my supposed “lack of classiness.” And it was on that day that I made the resolution to hone my skills of enticement and flattery until I earned the title of “the classiest man in the world.” With my goal finally achieved, I now offer a golden opportunity to the legions of freshmen hunks that look to me as their role model: a moment to read on and learn from my past mistakes.

DON’T engage in catfights.

Meddling with a dispute between two women stands as one of my romantic career’s greatest mistakes. Knowing that two gorgeous best friends both had mad crushes on me, I made the only wrong decision; asking one of them out while ignoring the affection of the other.

This was just plain stupid. As all sensible men know, women are temperamental creatures. Therefore, it is important to approach them with caution, remaining completely respectful of their ability to hold grudges for long periods of time and effectively make your social life a living hell.

With this knowledge in mind, and had I been given the chance to do over the situation, I would have approached the friends as a pair and offered them one of my classy pickup lines such as: “are you ladies into trying new things?”

As I [painfully] recall, however, the girl that I chose to ask out promptly dumped me the next morning.

DON’T reengage in catfights.

This one is incredibly straight-forward; just promise me you won’t do it. Within a few days of being dumped by the first girl, I decided to ask out the second girl. If my memory serves me well, we lasted approximately three weeks before I was broken up with again.

DON’T be short.

Not only is being short a serious sin, it is also one of the biggest mistakes men can make if they want to have any chance with the girl, or girls, of their dreams. If you’re shorter that 5-foot-10, consider converting to a religion that doesn’t have a vengeful God, and that way when you die you won’t get sent to the deepest layer of hell, where short people fit in. Here’s the thing: being short, as a guy at least, isn’t classy. Period.

Although I, at the towering height of 5-foot-4, don’t suffer from this illness, it is something that I urge diminutive freshmen guys to address before going through puberty. A simple trip to the family doctor should serve sufficient, as long as they provide you with a medical subscription for growth hormones.

If you have already experienced the extended adolescent hell that is puberty and still want to avoid the sin of being short, have no fear, there are still options. An underrated solution lies in the use of attaching metal rods to your legs, one at a time, for extended periods. When performed correctly, this method can, over the course of two years, increase your height by up to three inches by forcibly lengthening the bones in your legs.

I’m no expert, but I suspect that if you asked a short guy (Max David), he would tell you that getting girls is really hard for him.

DON’T ask out girls that are out of your league.

I once went out with one for two seconds.

DON’T reveal embarrassing shower habits in a coed game of truth or dare.

One of my more recent mistakes with the female sex, this late-night incident eventually led a girl that I dated over the summer to break up with me on account of her greatly decreased attraction to my admittedly rock-hard abs and buns of steel.

We all know how late-night social games, such as truth-or-dare, 10 fingers, and strip poker can get, but unless you are confident that what you say won’t be used against you in the future, try to keep information about personal hygiene out of the conversation.

If I could redo that game of truth-or-dare, knowing what I have since learned the hard way, I would have never shared such embarrassing and personal information with a coed crowd. Instead, I would have subtly marketed my attention to cleanliness with interjections such as “Hey Tory, is that what dandruff looks like? I wouldn’t know, because I shampoo and condition my hair with Herbal Essences products twice a day.”

I lasted three more days before this jewel of a girl broke it off with me. But hey, at least I learned some Chinese along the way.

Final Words of Wisdom

Be humble. Even if you’re God’s gift to women, which you’re probably not, there’s no need to boast about it in front of your friends or write an article about it in the school newspaper. One of the most consistent morals possessed by great men is that of humility, with the sole exception of Napoleon, who was actually way too short to be a great man anyways.

Respect the privacy, humanity, and power of the female sex, even when its members give you every reason not to. As entertaining as it may be to spread information about a girl’s personal life, this is a definite no-no. Which reminds me: I’d like to present a special thank you to RK, KH, KS, and JH for providing me with the experiences necessary to write this article.

To borrow from a common mother’s phrase, think about what you say before you say it. Don’t share embarrassing information about yourself with people that you can’t trust to keep a secret. And most of all don’t publish anything in a school newspaper or online that admits embarrassing facts about yourself such as that you have a crush on a freshman girl (or multiple freshman girls) or that you were one of the only guys that auditioned for the Garfield dance team and [probably] still didn’t get on.

After reading a brief and incomplete history of my dating life, my freshmen admirers may come to the conclusion that I am not classy at all and that I shouldn’t even be writing this article. But I urge you to remember that making mistakes in life and with women is excusable as long as you learn your lesson.

There are many different roads to classiness, and although aspiring male freshmen probably won’t ever reach the level of raw classiness that I have attained, there’s [almost] always room for improvement.

In the past, concerned communities have based the majority of their arguments against teenage drinking on moral grounds, at times referencing religious texts such as the Bible. But as Americans progressively turn to science and medicine to maximize personal health, adults are beginning to replace their old-fashioned moral arguments with new, neurobiological ones.

According to a recent study by University of Washington researchers, teenage binging, defined as heavy alcohol consumption over a short period of time with the intention of becoming intoxicated, “may lead to altered decision making in adulthood.”

For the purposes of their study, UW researchers utilized a rodent model, raising two test groups of rats from early adolescence to adulthood. While one group of rats was allowed to binge for a three week period during their “teenage” years, a control group was kept abstinent throughout their adolescence.

As young adults, the two test groups were given a choice when it came to food: they could either accept a guaranteed but modest ration, or they could take their chances with a larger but uncertain meal. The study concluded that test subjects which heavily consumed alcohol, as opposed to those that remained sober during adolescence, “demonstrated greater risk preference,” being more likely to take the risk for a greater payoff.

The UW study also included an analysis of the MRI scans of binge-drinking versus abstinent teenagers, which may link the “greater risk preference” exhibited in rats to poor decision-making in young adults.

According to Susan Tapert, who co-authored the study, the MRI scans showed a “lower coherence of white matter fibers” in the binge-drinking subjects, a physical indicator that the brains of binge-drinking teenagers lack hardwiring necessary for more mature decision making.

“This is just another reason why binge drinking is stupid,” says Garfield junior Julia Thompson. “It’s all about moderation.”

While Thompson doesn’t advocate teenage drinking in any form, she acknowledges that “if students are careful about drinking, they know their limits, and they’re in a safe environment, [teenage drinking] isn’t that much of an issue.”

Although many Garfield students partake in the social drinking activity, most seem to understand the risks.

“Honestly, bad things can happen at parties,” says Garfield junior Catherine Berner. “Teenagers sometimes don’t have the best judgment, and when a bunch of drunken teenagers get together, they’re even more likely to make bad decisions.”

“What scares me,” says Thompson, “is drinking and then driving.”

Thompson’s fear of drunk driving, shared by other Garfield students, may be the result of scare tactics used in driver education classes that show videos such as “Red Asphalt 5.” A proven technique, videos such as “Red Asphalt 5” display gory images of real car crashes to effectively dissuade new drivers from driving drunk.

But scare tactics aren’t limited to the domain of driver edudation classes. Parents often use similar strategies to discourage their own children from “throwing their lives away” by drinking alcohol.

And yet, moderate drinking has positive effects. Health benefits of low alcohol consumption include improved metabolic conditions, prevention of cardiovascular diseases, and improved bone mass in women. Additionally, the consumption of half a drink per day increases lifespan in both men and women.

Parents probably won’t tell children that there are exceptions to underage drinking in Washington State. Underage drinking is legal for medical and religious purposes, and is also allowed on private, non-alcohol-selling premises with parental consent. In some states, such as California, underage alcohol consumption is legal for “educational purposes” and on private premises without parental consent.

While studies demonstrating the negative effects of teenage drinking are abundant, few address the potential pros that accompany moderate alcohol consumption as a teenager. What if moderate drinking as a young adult increases longevity or offers other positive health benefits? Should the scientific community be focusing solely on negative consequences of teenage drinking? Or should it include variation in studies to offer a fuller view on teen drinking?

For now, at least, American society seems solely focused on one angle of teenage drinking: the negative.

Don’t be fooled by the name. Although the exciting new store, owned by Artez Ford, does provide healthier options such as salads and veggie dips, the hot food specials are where it’s at. According to Healthy Options employee David Domineck, the best thing you can buy from the store is the barbeque chicken, which, dare I say, may be better than Ezell’s.

“We have our basics, but we also have our specials,” says Domineck. “There’s always going to be something different; it’s never going to be the same boring menu.”

Since Healthy Options is such a new franchise, however, the choices available to customers are somewhat limited. But according to Domineck, one of the store’s major goals is to expand its variety, hopefully having at least one or two items that are popular with each culture at Garfield.

Almost as important as the drop-dead deliciousness of the food that Healthy Options offers to Garfield students are its plans to integrate Garfield history into the store.

“We’re going to have the hall of fame posters in [the store] of all the great Garfield alumni,” says Domineck, “and of the upcoming ones too.”

Although he didn’t graduate, Domineck fondly summons memories of attending Garfield alongside Jimi Hendrix and Bruce Lee and admits to having maintained deep roots in the local community.

Another gripping feature of Healthy Options not offered anywhere else is the music. Healthy Options has already hired DJ Lyrically Inclined, referred to as “Nephew” by Ford and Domineck, to select and mix music for the store’s customers.

“We’ll play music on Fridays,” says Ford. “If you hear any noise, it’s just me and my boys in here.”

Don’t be surprised if Healthy Options ultimately replaces Alder as the crucial afterschool hangout spot.

In a survey of the nation’s top 500 schools conducted by education company Kaplan, 10 percent of admissions officers reported using applicants’ online profiles as part of the student application review process.

“Let’s face it, the application of 20 years ago is now obsolete,” says Eric Furda, Dean of Admissions at University of Pennsylvania.

While Penn does not routinely utilize students Facebook pages as part of the application process, its admissions office does follow-up on information that they receive from students or from third parties. While the incentive of different informers varies, Furda recognizes a trend.

“I would characterize it as parents that aren’t happy about something that another child did,” says Furda. “It’s usually anonymous.”

Here’s the bad news: according to the survey, information gathered online had a negative impact on the admissions officer’s view of applicants 38 percent of the time. In light of this statistic, account deletion may be an excellent route for some Garfield students; however, a quick profile cleanup will often suffice.

Allen Grove, who writes a blog on the college application process, recommends that students improve their online image by blocking photos that portray illegal activity, contain rude gestures, or are sexually suggestive. Grove also advises “unsubscribing from any groups that show bias or bigotry.”

Kaplan’s survey also has some good news: online profiles positively contributed to the students’ applications 25 percent of the time.

As a result, Grove encourages students to recognize their ability to increase their chances of success by portraying themselves in a positive light.

“[Facebook] can certainly provide a different dynamic within the [application] process,” says Furda, “but as with everything, there’s going to be certain boundaries that you want to recognize and not cross.”

One of these boundaries is the friend requesting admissions officers. Based on Kaplan’s college survey, 71 percent of admissions officers receive friend requests from high school students, the vast majority of which are ignored.

“We have specifically instructed [Penn admission officers] to make sure their profiles are locked-down,” says Furda. “[They] really don’t need to be friended by people in the applicant pool.”

On the other hand, Furda recognizes the possibility of an online screening process ultimately complementing the existing written college application.

“The method by which information is getting across is changing, has changed, and will continue to change,” says Furda. “Whether the content is being delivered through paper or through other mechanisms, the decisions that we’re making are going to be based on quality.”

In a world that is becoming increasingly dependent on the internet, it is admittedly difficult to envision a future without internet screening as a part of the job and college application processes. While there would be those who would object to such a component, its adoption would be perfectly legal; anything that is posted on the Internet is up for grabs for those that want to see it.

“Because you can [check an applicant’s Facebook] is not an acceptable reason to go and do so,” says Linda Criddle, who founded the web site lookbothways.com and has guided three of her four children through the college admissions process. One of Criddle’s main concerns is that the information retrieved by college admissions offices from online sources is unreliable.

“I understand that people use Facebook without the intent of having it present themselves [to colleges],” says Haverford student Becca Varon, who conducts admissions interviews and acts as a tour guide for the school. Varon hopes that Facebook remains a part of the social, and not professional, realm. According to Varon, Haverford doesn’t look into the Facebook profiles of its applicants, a practice that she hopes and expects to continue.

For now, social networking sites continue to be a frontier in the sense that there are no strict laws governing what can and cannot be accessed by those seeking information. Take this as a warning: college admissions officers are gradually abandoning their historical function as passive recipients of applications and transitioning to an information-seeking role. Now middle-aged men aren’t the only ones stalking your facebook profile.