The County Chronicle

The online newspaper of Loudoun County High School

Apr
22

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Carr signs book contract

Category: Arts and Entertainment Tags: , ,

Jevote Herron | Staff Writer

A headshot photo of Karen Carr that was taken February 2020 at Clear Brook Park in Winchester, Virginia.

Algebra teacher Karen Carr is publishing a book called “Allegheny Front” on July 6.

Carr has been writing her whole life but started taking it seriously not so long ago. She didn’t plan on creating a novel, but the idea seemed to take on a life of its own.

“I was intrigued by the idea of, how well could you really get to know somebody if you knew they were hiding their identity?,” Carr said. Her question turned into is a contemporary romance where two people fall in love while one is trying to hide their true identity.

According to Carr, it was a six-year process of writing this book and finally getting it to the stage to publish, and one of the most challenging parts about being a writer is finding time.

“Between being a full-time teacher and a full-time mom, time is a precious commodity,” Carr said.

“From when I started to the date of publication, it will be a little over six years,” said Carr. For the math teacher, it was a learn-as-you-go situation as she navigated through writing, editing, rewriting, and publishing. It took four years to polish the piece until it was ready to query publishers. Finding a publisher took an additional six months.

As for her interest in writing and her choice to teach math, Carr says she could have taught English instead.

“I actually scored higher in English on my ACT then I did in math, however in late 1990s I was told I would have a much easier time finding a job teaching math,” said Carr, who credits her math background with helping her grammar in English.

“Diagramming sentences is a lot like doing mathematical proofs, so it made the grammatical part of writing very easy for me,” said Carr.

Some advice she gives to people that might want to publish a book: don’t ever fear writing a book because it is something she did and wasted time. “Don’t let fear stand in your way,” Carr said. “I wasted a good year just sitting on the project thinking it would never be good enough.”

Apr
15

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Stephanie Woshner’s painting is selected to be displayed at The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley

Category: Arts and Entertainment Tags: ,

Alexis Shugars | Staff Writer

Art teacher, Stephanie Woshner’s watercolor painting, titled “Grandpap’s Garden”. Woshner’s painting was chosen to be displayed at The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley.

Loudoun County High School art teacher Stephanie Woshner was chosen by the Shenandoah Art Council this year to have her painting displayed at The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester.

Woshner had previously known about Artscape, Baltimore’s largest annual arts festival, and has even had former students submit work of their own. Woshner was reminded of the project by a Facebook post. “It was always something that I wanted to enter but never really took advantage of the opportunity for one reason or another,” she explained. “I saw the post and decided that this was the year.”

Woshner admits that the application process for Artscape was “surprisingly easy.” She was required to complete an online form, write an artist statement, send a photo of her piece, and finally pay an entrance fee.

From April 19th to April 24th, Woshner’s watercolor painting will be on display at The Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester. Following that, the painting will be photographed and printed on a banner. This banner will be hung on a lamppost on the Old Town Walking Mall in downtown Winchester. It will be hung in July, and remain there for a year.

Woshner was very excited to hear the news that her work had been selected. “It has always been on my bucket list,” she said. Although she is thrilled to be accepted, Woshner admits that “I didn’t know what to expect. I just wanted to try and see what happened,” she said.

The painting titled “Grandpap’s Garden” took about three weeks for Woshner to complete. It was originally completed for a watercolor class she was taking in order to obtain her teaching license recertification. A big inspiration for Woshner’s painting was a picture she had taken a photo of chili peppers growing in her father-in-law’s garden. “The color and light of the peppers in the garden were what drew me to paint it,” said Woshner.

Some other art related activities that Woshner has participated in include paint nights as fundraisers and occasionally being hired to paint a pet or a family member. She says that she’d like to work as a professional artist once she retires from teaching and adds that date is far away. “Right now, my main art media are my students,” said Woshner. ”I mold and shape them into future artists.”

Apr
15

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Chris Colston on how he became an author

Category: Arts and Entertainment Tags: ,

Karen Cortes | Managing Editor

Colston poses for his author photo. Part of being an author is self-promotion. Photo courtesy of Chris Colston.

Most people know that Chris Colston is the yearbook adviser and a 9th grade honors teacher for LCHS. What many may not know is that he is an author and has several published sports-related books. He takes pride in them because he worked hard on those books.

Colston started writing when he was 11 years old. “I would write stories about my friends and I in the neighborhood, and our various adventures. I wrote them in longhand and drew pictures to accompany the stories and stapled the pages together. I did it just to make myself laugh,” he said. “And then in junior high school I teamed up with a neighbor to write a teenage mystery book. It was based on the old “Three Investigators” books. We sold them in the cafeteria for whatever money our classmates had on them: A nickel, a dime, fifteen cents, whatever. We printed them on an old-fashioned mimeograph machine. I think we sold about 30 of them.”

He says his goal is just to entertain the reader, and he explained his process before he started writing books. “What I really want to start doing is re-reading what I wrote the day before out loud,” he said. “That will help me find errors and verify the flow of the narrative. That will get me going so I can write the next 500 words.”

Colston said it took him about twenty years to write his first book. “What I really want to start doing is re-reading what I wrote the day before out loud. That will help me find errors and verify the flow of the narrative. That will get me going so I can write the next 500 words.”

As for deadlines, Colston said he sets goals for when he wants something completed. “But if I miss it, I don’t beat myself up about it,” he said. “As long as I do something productive every day, I’m happy.”

Colston has written about five books in his American Sportswriter series, with two published and the other rolling out by June. He has also written a psychological horror/thriller called I Am the Wolfman. It takes place here in Loudoun County, but the book is written for a mature audience. He has also written eight non-fiction books about Virginia Tech football titled “Go Tech Go: The Inside Story Behind Virginia Tech Football.”

Colston shared a word of advice for people who want to become authors. “If you want to be a good writer, you must do two things: Read great writers every day, and write every day. That’s it. It’s that simple. Even if you read for just 15 minutes, do it. And then try to emulate what you read by writing something. Eventually your own voice will emerge.”

Apr
15

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Cheer team perseveres through COVID

Category: Sports Tags: ,

Olivia DeWan and Liberty Harrison | Staff Writers

In this photo from the team’s Instagram page, the Captain’s cheer team practices a routine in the school hallway. For a few months, COVID prevented the girls from practicing in the gym.

As school opened back up one of the extracurricular activities most affected nationally by COVID has been sports, including cheerleading, posing unique challenges to coaches and participants as seasons have begun. Loudoun County High School’s Cheer team in particular has also had to adjust to the change in mascot from Raider to Captain that took place over the summer.

“We are really excited to use Captains as the team mascot this year,” varsity head coach Samantha Mancini said. “So we are hoping that the new mascot and new uniform will really give us a good vibe.”

These concurrent events have resulted in a distinctive year for the team, as they navigated new rules and regulations and found ways to continue supporting the other sports teams also affected by COVID.

Changes have contributed to both physical differences and the psyche of the team.

“We had to push back our season to the spring,” said sophomore Mia Rodgers. “We didn’t even know if we were going to have a season.”

Much to the relief of the girls on the team, they did have a season. However, there were significant changes that caught the girls off-guard.

“It’s disappointing and not the same without the fans rooting us on during our competitions,” sophomore Riley Fox said. “It’s very quiet and we have to be more creative to keep the team spirit going for the players and cheerleaders.”

The new adjustments were especially difficult for the freshmen.

“Because a lot of our team is freshmen, it’s very hard [for them] to understand what the other girls have already experienced in regards to like school spirit,” Mancini said. “It’s really hard for the freshmen to grasp what it feels like to be out of football game on a Friday night and a competition full of fans in the crowd because they’re only allowed to have one parent per athlete so in that regard.”

The team had also experienced changes caused by the reduced number of students that tried out this year, affecting both JV and varsity teams, but having the most impact on varsity. This was both due to the fact that the high school had to change its cheer season from fall to winter, making it coincide with a different cheerleading program’s All Star Cheer season and the general apprehension around participating in team sports during COVID.

“I know this is a countywide issue, a lot of schools have lost like some of their girls because All Star Cheerleading is too big of a conflict for them, so a lot of girls had to choose, which really stinks,” Mancini said, noting that the number of students trying out dropped from around 42 last year to 22 this year, leaving 17 on varsity and five on JV.

“The ones who came out,  they’re making the best of it so we’re going to make it the best we can this season,” Mancini said. Tryouts were also changed for COVID regulations, which caused some difficulties. Whereas usually during tryouts groups were able to be rearranged to see who worked best together, due to COVID regulations cross-contaminating groups was not allowed.

“That was really tough trying to figure out based on size and all of that,” wrote Mancini. “Then making the competition routine has been really difficult because of that as well but I think we’re finally at a good spot now.”

Less time during the season has also affected the procedures usually followed, especially in regards to choreography.

“Usually the seniors, it’s their role to teach the younger girls, but we didn’t really have that much time this year so we had to upload all the cheers to our Instagram account so the new girls had to learn it off of that,” said Mancini. “But we have had some practices to learn it.”

Choreography, as well as chants, have also been directly affected by both COVID and the mascot change.

“For the cheers for football games, the motions are all the same from what they used to be, we just kind of changed the word from the old mascot to captains,” Mancini said. For games, the team has no trouble following guidelines. On the sidelines, there is more than enough space to be 10 feet apart, especially with fewer participants this year. “Luckily that all is working in our favor,” Mancini said.

Competitions have been more challenging. As in previous years an independent choreographer does the more complicated choreography for competitions and there are more regulations for competitions, many of which have been changed by the Virginia High School League because of COVID.

Some of these changes include the banning of pyramids and basket tosses. Prop regulations have also been tightened, meaning items such as signs and pompoms are not allowed to be exchanged between two girls, which has greatly affected the crowd involvement portion of the cheerleading route.

“We are not able to stunt,” Rodgers said. “Stunting is very important to cheerleading and we have to work with what we are allowed to do. For competitions we are allowed to stunt, but it’s very limited.”

Participants in competitions are given the choice whether or not to use a mask, although according to Mancini most of Loudoun County High School’s cheerleaders have chosen to wear them throughout their competitions.

“We’ve been having to do more dancy sections and a lot more jump sections,” Mancini said. “That’s actually good for us I would say because we’re strong and those areas”

Still, coming up with routines that followed COVID regulations has been a challenge. “That was really interesting and tricky trying to make sure that each girl only holds their sign,” Mancini said. “So we have three different sign sections this year, so we had to switch a lot of stuff around for that.”

The mascot change, which affected chants, didn’t pose as large of a challenge, although it did add another layer of change to be adjusted to.

“We didn’t have to come up with new cheers,” said Rodgers. “We just changed Raiders to Captains. There are some cheers that we can’t flip over to Captains because it doesn’t sound right or it has too many letters.”

Even Mancini noticed the girls struggling to accommodate for the rapid change.

“The girls were at first still saying Raiders,” Mancini said. “Mentioning how old the school was, and subsequently how many years of cheers they had to change, she continued. “It really wasn’t that hard. Once we changed the new mascot to Captain, especially for the girls that did winter cheer, it just became a habit.”

Funding has not been a problem, particularly because they were already granted money to buy new uniforms because of the mascot change. Along with this the team also purchased two different sets of team masks, one for practice and a tighter one for competitions. The school has also been providing supplies related to COVID such as hand sanitizer and specific shoes to be sanitized and used when on the mat.

Regulations for transportation to away games have also stayed fairly similar to other seasons.

The rules limit how many athletes can travel on a bus, but that has not impacted the team. “I know our athletic directors have been dealing with this all winter season, so luckily they have a hold of all that,” said Mancini.

On the bus the biggest change is the seating regulations to be followed, which includes a seating chart where each person sits along and at least one seat away from the bus driver.

Throughout changes and challenges, however, the cheer team has continued to keep a positive attitude both in relations to COVID mitigation procedures and the mascot change.

“I am definitely sad we didn’t get to have a normal season,” Rogers said. “But this new season gives us a chance to bond and better ourselves as a team.”

Regardless of all the challenges the team has faced, they persevered and continued to have an amazing season.

“I’ve really enjoyed watching our teams do so well this year,” said Fox. “But I miss the student section!”

Apr
15

By

Second semester bell schedule easier for teachers

Category: Perspectives Tags: ,

Karen Cortes | Managing Editor

At the start of the school year, Loudoun schools operated on a bell schedule that only required students to connect online with their teachers for an hour. Students were allowed to disconnect from their laptop twenty minutes before their next class, this being called a learning lab. The goal was to offer students a screen break but also a chance to see teachers for extra help. The schedule also gave students longer lunch periods, with approximately 45 minutes for the entire school to eat at the same time. When the new bell schedule was imposed during the second quarter, learning lab was no more and both students and teacher lunches were shortened to 30 minutes, happening at assigned intervals with the goal of preparing students for the return to in-person learning. Some students disliked the idea and even created a petition, but how did teachers feel?

Kathryn Ives an AP teacher who teaches at LCHS said, “The reality is that this year, screen time is the status quo. No matter they schedule, all of the assignments and assessments are on the computer, so getting away from the screen is impossible.”

Nicole Daniel, AP psychology teacher, said, “Personally, I am ambivalent about the change in the bell schedule. I understand why administration made the choice to do it: it’s important that the transition to in-person learning be as seamless as possible when it happens, it mirrors our traditional school day, and it makes sense to set a major change like this at the start of a new semester rather than in the middle of a marking period.”

During the first half of the school year. Classes ran shorter, and the last twenty minutes being “learning lab” where teachers could use this time to provide extra help, answer questions for students who needed it. Most teachers dismissed students at this time, this time was meant for students to complete missing work or take a screen break. But some teachers, especially AP teachers preparing for an end-of-year exam, experienced challenges with the shortened contact time.

“I am happy that Learning Lab is going away,” Daniel said. “Teachers need the flexibility to decide when to plan asynchronous work, rather than being forced to always put it at the end of the block. Learning Lab was a nightmare from a lesson planning perspective, and I (as well as many of my colleagues) felt that its existence was an overreach into what should always have been a decision made by professionals in the classroom,” said Daniel.

Ives said that once students came back to school it made perfect sense, “It is the normal rhythm of the day and teachers can certainly let students have non-screen time at their discretion.

Daniel also understood why students might have been upset, “Students resent the change to their established routines, the shortening of lunch, and what they perceive as an increase in class time. Learning Lab was always meant to be part of the class block, but I know that many students would log off of class and  go do something else during that time, so they see the change in schedule as an “extension.” And, I understand how difficult it is to maintain focus in front of a computer for so long every day. And I too will miss my 45-minute lunches.”

For Ives, the switch in lunch time was the most difficult obstacle. “I loved having the 45 minutes lunch break in the middle of the day. I have never liked having lunch so early in the day.”

Although the bell schedule was changed a while ago, Students have gotten used to this new bell schedule, it was a bit difficult and I can speak for most students, but the teachers tried to make it a smooth transition for us.

Apr
13

By

Behind the Brush: young artist featured in Micro Gallery

Category: Arts and Entertainment Tags:

Braydon Kelman | Guest Writer

Caption: Martin’s oil painting “Nirvana Illusion” is on display at the Brambleton Libraries Micro Gallery Exhibit.

Artist Sydney Martin is involved in the art program at Loudoun County High School. To those who know her this is no surprise, as the junior has been creating since sixth grade.

“At first I was obsessed with drawing eyes, and from there, faces,” Martin said.

Martin has been creating since she was 12 and has been making major improvements ever since.

“I first realized Sydney had a ton of potential way back in Art 1, when she drew an amazing pencil portrait of her favorite author,” Stephanie Woshner, Art Teacher and Artist said.

With five years under Marin’s belt she is still having a hard time knowing what theme and style fits her and represents her art best.

According to Woshner, art classes in ninth and tenth grade lean toward representational and realistic, where students are learning technique and developing a style. This year Martin has transitioned into a more surreal, abstract style which I LOVE,” Woshner said. “It is very unique and much her own.”

Woshner, Martin’s art teacher of three years, has seen Martin develop and learn multiple styles and themes. Woshner believes that Martin has a great amount of potential and has been a key factor in developing Marin’s love for art and for her own style.

“I strongly look up to El Greco and David Foster Wallace,” Martin said. “El greco’s dreamy realism has a quality of seamlessness which I hope to obtain one day. David Foster Wallace wrote with the detail I try to include in my paintings, and made familiar topics into deep and chaotic theories that cause the audience to think beyond the surface they are presented with.”

Martin’s passion for art and creativity has led her to think about her plans for the future.

“I have no certain colleges in mind for art, all I know is that a place that happens to be warm year round would help me stay motivated to create my best work.”

Martin hopes to make it big one day as an artist and hopes to be recognized and she wants to be able to sell her work to the world.

“In ten years I see myself making commissioned oil paintings with an atomic level of detail and mastery that I will have absorbed from my years at college majoring in fine arts/ painting!”

Woshner is ecstatic on watching how Martin does these next few years and is excited to make major progress and strives in college to be the best artist she can be.

“She is no longer timid or shy in her work,” Woshner said. “She is making her art for herself and no one else – that is a huge jump for an artist.”

“My goals with art is to develop a voice through my work, one that is perceived through interpretation but heard loudly by whomever the audience may be,” Martin said.

Apr
13

By

Officer Josh Carter: meet County’s new school resource officer

Category: News Tags:

Jevonte Herron | Sports Writer

Officer Carter provides security for Chief Brown at a Fourth of July parade as he walked the parade route. Photo courtesy of Josh Carter.

After spending time at Park View High School, Josh Carter says he feels confident about being the new school resource officer for the Captains.

“I was [school resource officer] at Parkview High School, so I’ve got some experience there,” Carter said.

Carter says he feels confident with Loudoun County High School, especially since he is familiar with a few people already, noting that he knows history teacher Kevin Hale from church, and science teacher Crystal Wolfgang and athletic director Mike Petrella from Park View. Carter says he has gotten to know the school administration well, and several students from County live in his neighborhood.

Carter is looking forward to making new connections and coming back and actually being in a school building, making his life more normal again after a year changed by COVID.

“I’m definitely looking forward to everybody just getting back at school and having some type of normal,” Carter said.

Carter is looking forward to making connections, and just getting to know people, especially because he loves to teach.

“I love to get into the classrooms and talk to students, either about law enforcement or life experience,” Carter said.

Carter always wanted to be a police officer, but he was too scared to chase his dream until his wife helped boost his confidence.

“It’s probably been one of the best decisions I’ve made career wise,” Carter said. “It’s my niche, it’s my thing.”

Apr
13

By

Gifts and Munch Munch More: student business returns during hybrid learning

Category: News Tags:

Emily Banner | Staff Writer

One design for a Captains button available from Gifts and Munch Munch More. Photo courtesy of Alyssa Casanova.

Two designs of beaded lanyards. Photo courtesy of Chelsea Eddy.

The student-run business Gifts and Munch Munch More was started last year to sell snacks and drinks, as well as student made items such as candle holders and bookmarks to school staff . It is run by students in Workspace Skills and CII (Community Independence Instruction)

“The students would analyze the orders, stock the cart, and deliver the items each week within the school,” said Alyssa Casanova, one of the two teachers helping to run the business. “Unfortunately, doing the initial shut down and full distant learning environment, we really couldn’t do much so the business was placed on hold.”

When students began returning to campus in October, the business began selling Captains buttons and beaded lanyards for masks.

“The students who were in-person were able to make the items and the online students helped with advertising and managing the orders online,” Casanova said. “We changed the selling process so now anyone (staff, students, or community members) can now order a button or lanyard.”

Now that staff are back in the building, Casanova and her fellow teacher Chelsea Eddy have introduced a new delivery system for snacks.

“Staff members pre-ordered a snack and/or drink for 10 weeks,” Casanova said. “The students will pre-bag their items and quarantine them ahead of time. We are going to deliver the items each Friday afternoon, but unlike before, staff cannot change their order each week. It’s like a magazine subscription where the same thing arrives each week. The beauty of this setup is that staff could order almost anything they wanted since we purchased items based off their orders instead of the other way around, so we’ve actually had more buy in. Our first snack delivery is set for the week after spring break.”

Students, staff, and community can order from Gifts and Munch Munch More via the school website.

What class (course) does this store run through?

Apr
13

By

Dining During COVID: Tuscarora Mill adapts to pandemic

Category: News Tags: ,

Alexis Cuatlacuatl | guest writer

Management at Tuscarora Mill transformed the front parking lot into an outdoor dining tent that allowed outdoor dining during the easier months of the COVID pandemic.

The life that COVID-19 gave us was unexpected. But restaurant manager Colin Malone didn’t give up no matter the circumstances. He has adjusted to this new lifestyle and has helped his restaurant, Tuscarora Mill in Leesburg, adjust as well.

With COVID being with us for about a year now, normal day lives have changed and there was plenty to reflect on. Restaurants like Tuscarora Mill have had to shift their operations in response to frequently-changing CDC guidelines and governor’s orders. In the beginning of the pandemic, the restaurant closed, they lost their revenue and their weddings, banquets, and special events. Then, as it began to slowly reopen, they created a curbside pick-up program and an outdoor seating area. “We are hoping that we are nearing the end of this situation we are in,” Malone said. “It’s been a trying year and very stressful at times and we have learned with our employees because they are very resilient and very adaptable with all that we have asked them to do.”

Adaptations to the COVID lifestyle were needed. Malone’s life quickly changed as the pandemic disrupted everyday operations. “I have to wear a mask and our children aren’t in school anymore,” Malone said. “So our day to day routine has changed a great deal.”

Not only did Malone need to adapt, but his staff needed help too. When the pandemic first hit, a lot of people had to file for unemployment and this caused them to not have a source of income for their necessities, and in the time that they were in, they needed aid with their financial life. Malone wanted to make sure that they would also move smoothly and get help if they needed help. “We’ve set up a GoFundMe page, so any needs they have or financially speaking we’ve been able to assist with that and we’ve helped with health insurance and paying for that, so we’ve done everything we can to help people get through this,” he said.

The restaurant needed to change too. Some things were lost while new things were created to help keep social distancing. “We had to somewhat change our business model and put out a tent on our front parking lot for outdoor seating, of course, to space the tables and adjust our menu,” Malone said. “For a long time during COVID we didn’t have any seating at all so we had to create a curbside program, but we did lose our banquets, weddings, and special events, so that has been a big blow for the business.”

There are some things that the restaurant has lost, but with that loss was an opportunity for new things to be created. “We’ve tried new things that have been successful and therefore will probably stick with,” Malone said. “The curbside program is something that we will continue to do and it has helped us build a brand with the program and has helped us in many ways.”

There have been challenges and obstacles that the restaurant faced. But regardless of those challenges, Malone is happy with how the business still runs. “Everyone has done a great job and has been very adaptable and there have been some people that had to take on different roles that they had not anticipated,” Malone said. “It’s not been ideal but we’ve had to deal with what we’re given but everyone is in the same boat so we are all happy that we are not alone in this.”

As with much of the globe, this pandemic has really affected the Leesburg area and it has made life very difficult and made us all eager for life to go back to the way life was before COVID. “If I had a wand I would make it so that COVID never happened, but there have been some good things to come from it,” Malone said. “As a net it has not been great for the restaurant and of course the public at large, but who could’ve seen this one coming?”

Malone believes we just have to give it time before life can go back to normal. “We do hope that once it gets back to whatever normal is on the other side of this, will be better for it and more successful, but this experience will help us learn,” he said. “We’ll have weddings come back and all of that fun stuff and people will be ready to get out at it again.”

For Malone, if this pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that we have to make adaptations to this lifestyle but it doesn’t mean that we should let it have complete control over us. The community has been understanding with the business and has been donating money to help with their revenue and these donations have been very generous and they wouldn’t be where they are if it weren’t for the community. “Without the community we wouldn’t be in business still, so the greatest appreciation we have is for the community and all the people that have supported us,” he said.

Apr
9

By

Loudoun County’s field hockey team perseveres despite season changes

Category: Sports

Charlotte Edmonds | Guest Writer

A field hockey teammate hits a ball during a game. This year, the team has had to adjust to multiple changes due to COVID.

It’s the middle of March, yet the girls of Loudoun County High School’s field hockey team are mid-season. Predominately a fall sport, field hockey has been pushed back due to the coronavirus. All sports that usually take place in the fall are now ensuing in early spring.

“Having a [sports] season during a different season is something that athletes have to adapt to,” Coach Maggie Darby said. “We normally play in the fall with much warmer temperatures. Playing during the spring season with much colder temperatures affects the equipment and the athlete’s body.”

Although there were many changes brought on by COVID, one of the most severe seems to be the temperature change for outdoor sports.

“I think it’s been a little bit harder, just because we’re so used to playing in the fall time, and even though it does get colder [in the fall], I think right now it’s been pretty brutal,” defender Lauren Bukovsky said.

However, most people agree that playing during the spring is better than not having a season at all. The players are willing to play regardless of restrictions that may affect them.

“I’m just happy that kids are getting to play,” Kate Cassidy, Loudoun County High School’s athletics director, said. “The option was either to cancel a whole entire season like we had to last spring… This way, at least everyone’s getting the opportunity to do their sport, it just might not be in the normal time that they’re used to, and it’s fewer games.”

The season time was also shortened, to ensure that all athletes across a range of different sports could have a chance to play.

“I was worried how my team would perform with the condensed season,” midfielder Olivia DeWan said. “I felt like we didn’t have as much time to prepare for our games.”

Since the pandemic began, rules have been changed frequently by the Virginia High School League (VHSL). They’ve governed everything from temperature-taking to spacing required between athletes to the number of spectators allowed at games.

“Just the constant change of the illness itself, and the constant change of information, and regulations, whether it’s been by the governor, or the state, or the county. It’s ever evolving; every day something changes,” Cassidy said.

The athletes are still adjusting to the new rules put into place.

“Running with a mask is really difficult,” midfielder Ava Pietrzak said.

Masks are required for the teammates throughout practices but are optional during games.

“[Masks] make it really hard to breathe, and I was so relieved when we found out we were allowed to play games without them,” DeWan said.

Also, temperature checks are required before every practice and teammates have to social distance while on the sidelines.

“I know it’s harder on them… you’re used to being close to your teammates, high fiving, encouraging them, and now we’re telling you to stay six feet apart; wear a mask… it goes against everything you’re used to doing in sports,” Cassidy said.

If someone on the team gets COVID, practices are suspended for two weeks, taking a huge chunk of time out of the already-shortened season.

“Having our season only being about a month long, this will greatly hurt the team’s chances of going further in the district tournaments,” Darby said.

Despite the shortened season, the girls are grateful for the opportunities they do get to have.

“I’ve gotten to meet a bunch of new people, which is cool,” Pietrzak said.

They’ve still been able to have an enjoyable team experience, despite the changes.

“I am super proud of everyone on the team though, because regardless of the shortened season everyone is putting in so much work and effort,” DeWan said. “Everyone is committed and we are determined to do our best.”

Despite restrictions, the players still feel as if they are able to bond with their teammates.

“A silver lining could definitely be the way we connected so quickly,” DeWan said. “We all just immediately became friends. Everyone is always so welcoming and friendly. Nobody ever gets mad at each other and there is never any negative feedback from teammates.”

However, it still contrasts drastically with seasons before the pandemic.

“It’s kind of hard when someone makes a really good play, and then you almost go to slap their hand and or something, and tell them ‘good job,’ and I think that’s been kind of annoying, but it’s understandable,” Bukovsky said.

The changes have also affected the athletics staff at County. However, just like the players, they strive to look for the good.

“I love being able to see my players and build that team bond. I truly enjoy all my players and watching them grow as athletes and young adults,” Darby said.

All in all, the athletes are grateful that they even get a season, and they’re willing to play regardless of restrictions.

“I think our team has adjusted well considering the situation. It really has made me value the sport and team more,” midfielder Charlotte Penberthy said.

“[The season changes] make you just kind of appreciate the sport for the joy of the sport, not necessarily the win-loss or the championship at the end of the season,” Cassidy said.

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