The County Chronicle

The online newspaper of Loudoun County High School

Jan
12

By

Podcast: Episode 2 (Tariq Sims)

Category: Sports Tags: , ,

Check out our latest podcast in which we interview Tariq Sims on football, babies, and how the pandemic has impacted him: https://youtu.be/2-CoRZC_SwI

Jan
5

By

Practicing Through COVID: A look into how athletes are preparing for their upcoming seasons.

Category: Photo Spreads, Sports Tags: ,

Casey Hughes | sports writer

Matt Starchville | sports writer

With this photo feature, seven athletes explain how COVID has changed their practices and caused restrictions. Disclaimer: In compliance with governor’s orders, all school-sponsored activities followed physical distancing and mask requirements, but due to the nature of COVID-19 limiting school activities, the community was invited to submit pictures for the newspaper. Many of these photos occurred on private residential property and therefore may not conform to the regulations binding school-sponsored activities.

Senior track and cross country runner Andrew Abbott: “COVID has a big change in practices, since everyone has to stay distanced and wear a mask at all times. This has made me get used to running alone to work on my mental toughness since I can no longer run in groups and look for motivation from the people I’m running with.” Photo taken during private Nova Athletic Club race at Occoquan Regional Park. Photo courtesy of Andrew Abbott.

 

Senior track athlete Mckenna Giannos competes in the high jump as a junior during the spring track season 2019. Photo courtesy of John Klimavicz. “Practice has definitely been different, our workouts have been changed to accommodate that COVID guidelines, which has definitely made it harder to get back into the swing of things, but being able to see and practice with my teammates again makes it all worth it,” Giannos said.

 

 

Senior forward Kiefer Cummings warms up before a huge playoff game vs Millbrook during the 2019-2020 season .Photo Courtesy of Kiefer Cummings. “Practices have been a lot different because of COVID,” Cummings said. “We are forced to wear a mask and it makes it much more difficult to breathe while practicing. But it is what we have to do in order to stay safe and be able to play our season.”

 

Senior soccer player John Trowbridge plays at Ken Lawrence Park during a private club league game. Photo courtesy of John Trowbridge. “Practice was a lot stricter in how or what we could do,” Trowbridge said. “In the beginning we couldn’t practice at all. Then at first we couldn’t share the balls at practice. But now the restrictions are less than before and we can actually play. COVID affected me biggest with my recruiting process. Because it happened right before my junior season which is where the most recruitment happens.”

 

Sophomore Catcher Braydon Kelman: “COVID has put great emphasis on the players work ethic to make up for the time lost from the reduced practice schedule due to pandemic.” Photo taken at Virginia Sports Complex by team parent. Photo courtesy of Braydon Kelman.

 

Senior wrestler Zach Rios: “COVID has made practices a lot more difficult. It is hard to keep a practice intense at all times when we are wearing masks and washing out hands every ten minutes. Meanwhile, meets are a lot different. We aren’t able to warm up as a team, and we have to stay 6 feet apart at all times, even when we are cheering on our teammates.” Photo taken at Independence High School by a team parent. Photo courtesy of Zach Rios.

Jan
4

By

Photo feature: Students social distancing edition

Category: Photo Spreads Tags: ,

Michaela Scott | editor-in-chief

Over the summer and extended social distance and shelter-at-home mandates, students were forced to isolate with their families, which offered a chance to bond much more than they ever had before the global pandemic struck. Some teens picked up hobbies, like painting, skateboarding, and exercise; others followed safety precautions to travel among their families. Students submitted photos of what they have been doing in their pastime to make up for the things 2020 has restricted.

Junior Riccardo Iasci skates at the Wy’East Mountain Academy in Sandy, Oregon. “I was lucky enough to be able to practice during this time, but we all wore masks and followed COVID-19 guidelines to insure safety the whole time we were in the skating school,” Iasci said.

 

Sophomore John Penberthy and junior Charlotte Penberthy swim with siblings in Arizona during late July. “The highlight of my trip was White water rafting in the Colorado river through the Grand Canyon. Surprisingly, the water was pretty cold, but refreshing from the humid air,” Charlotte said.

 

Sophomores and Juniors, (left to right) Joey Fitzpatrick, Hunter Whitt, Daniel DeLargy, Wilson Kern, Lillian Kern, Maris Kern, Owen Fisher, Payton David, Mason Stuck share their quarantined family vacation in the OBX, North Carolina.

 

Senior Audrey Luhr at her father’s house in Nebraska during the early Fall. “My dad lives in Nebraska, so it was nice traveling a bit over this crazy time. My favorite part of being here was my nature walks around this lake!” said Luhr.

 

Junior Imani Stringfellow stands at Oceanside PIer in Ponto Beach, California. Stringfellow visited her family there for Thanksgiving, making sure to follow strict COVID-19 guidelines. “I was so lucky to visit the beach every day I was here,” said Stringfellow.

 

Junior Isabella Mitchum on a hike in Montana with her sibling. “Over quarantine I visited Montana with my family when they came home from college,” said Mitchum. “It was really great to get out of NOVA for a little.”

 

Junior Stephen Massaqoui celebrates a quarantined birthday with family. “I got to safely celebrate my step sister’s birthday with our cousins during the summertime,” said Massaqoui.

 

Disclaimer: In compliance with governor’s orders, all school-sponsored activities followed physical distancing and mask requirements, but due to the nature of COVID-19 limiting school activities, the community was invited to submit pictures for the newspaper. Many of these photos occurred on private residential property and therefore may not conform to the regulations binding school-sponsored activities.

Jan
4

By

SCA emphasizes student participation for holiday challenges

Category: End Zone Tags: ,

Michaela Scott | editor-in-chief

Sophomore Hailey Kalinowsky’s submission for the SCA Door Decorating Contest. Kalinowsky was the sole finalist for the holiday challenge because her door best reflected the cheery holiday spirit. Photo courtesy of Hailey Kalinowsky

This year the Student Council Association hosted numerous schoolwide contests, including the Holiday Door Decorating Challenge to help kickstart the joyous season. The door decorating event consisted of a contest between photos submitted by students of their festive front door or house entrance.

“The rules of the event were simple,” sophomore SCA member Austin Trinh said. “Starting from the beginning of the month of December until December 14, students interested were to take a picture of their decorated doors and submit them via a Google Form in Schoology. All submissions would then be compiled and one submission would be picked by the school faculty to be the ultimate winner.”

As a representative of SCA, Trinh was given the opportunity of creating the initial Google Form for the holiday door decorating contest. His tasks were to organize each Google Form and photo submitted regarding the challenge. In addition, he assembled the sequence of events the challenge would undergo and what the timeline of the contest would look like.

“My swift decision to volunteer and my organizational suggestions unofficially made me the director of the event,” said Trinh. “Offers like these have definitely come up in the past and they most certainly look intimidating, especially to a first-time SCA member like me, but the experience was rewarding in the sense that it gave me a humble feeling of responsibility, and it was interesting seeing things from an insider’s scope instead.”

Officially, SCA has only hosted the holiday themed challenges twice, however they hope to continue the tradition in the future. The idea to host events during the holidays initially began during the previous school year in the springtime for seniors only; according to the SCA, the events had excellent past success.

“We thought it would be nice to bring the whole student body together, instead of just seniors,” Trinh said. “We thought students would enjoy another holiday door decorating event, but with the winter holidays being the theme.”

Overall, the submissions were low, although a unanimous winner was decided by the staff and was awarded a $15 DoorDash gift card. The faculty voted through an online ballot and analyzed each submission to see which best reflected the festive spirit of the winter holiday season.

“I was so surprised that I had won, you have no idea,” said sophomore Hailey Kalinowsky. “It was a fun sibling bonding experience because my sister, Gianna Kalinowsky, and my brother, Sean Kalinowsky, helped out as well with all the decorating.”

Kalinowsky explained that she participated in the contest using only the decorations stored away from previous years. She expressed how this was more of a fun activity rather than a competitive one because she assumed there would be lots of competition within the other students’ submissions.

“I wasn’t that determined because I thought there would be much better ones out there,” said Kalinowsky. “But, the lights were my favorite because they really illuminated the door.”

Overall, the challenges were a success and a great way to kick off the holiday season for the student body. However, the SCA has reported that participation toward spirit events has been drastically low ever since distance learning has started.

“We have been deliberately working on our advertising to encourage more students, so every spirit submission brings a warm heart to SCA now that we are in some weird times!” Trinh said. “I just wanted to enforce that we need spirit more than ever during this school year!”

Jan
4

By

Marching Band continues despite pandemic and lack of competitions

Category: Arts and Entertainment Tags: ,

Emily Banner | staff writer

Jazz band rehearses with masks during the first half of the school year. Photo courtesy of Anita Kau.

During most years, summer and fall are marked with drumming and music as members of the LCHS Marching Band practice on the field. At the start of this school year, however, most in-person activities were cancelled due to the pandemic. As the year continues, people are trying to return to some semblance of normalcy.

Marching band was unable to meet in the summer and fall due to school guidelines, but as of November, groups have begun to practice again. Pit and drumline began to come into school starting on November 2, and marchers started coming in on November 9. Safety precautions are being taken to prevent coronavirus from spreading among the group.

According to drum major Anita Kau, all musicians must complete a health check form. On arrival, a faculty member takes their temperature, and they are asked to use hand sanitizer upon entry. Social distancing of six feet is enforced at all times.

Weather permitting, marchers always practice outside, using masks and instrument bags. Currently there is no competition being held to work towards, but Kau says they “have our fingers crossed for a possible spring season.”

Marching band met until winter break. However, cases rose after break, and the band put their practices on hold for the time being. “As much as we enjoyed having in-person practice, we felt that it wouldn’t be responsible of us nor would it be safe to continue practice under the current circumstances,” says Kau.

Dec
17

By

School Board decides Coronavirus metrics for return to online learning, sparks discussion on viability of decided metrics

Category: News Tags: ,

Liberty Harrison | staff writer

November 17, seven days before LCPS’s Thanksgiving break, an emergency school board meeting ruled in a 6 – 3 decision that all hybrid students would be moved to 100 percent distance learning if two separate metrics were both passed for five consecutive business days.

The first metric is passed when the number of new cases per 100,000 residents exceeds 200 during a 14 day period.

The second metric is passed when the positivity rate of coronavirus tests reaches 10 percent. This means that out of all people tested if 10 percent of tests come back positive the metric would be passed.

This image features an image of the LCPS COVID Case Data webpage, containing information on the two metrics decided to indicate return to 100% distance learning by the Loudoun County school board, as of November 17.

As of December 15 the metrics stood at 573.9 cases within the last 14 days and 11.7 percent of test positive within the last 14 days. This means that the metrics have been passed for five consecutive days and children already in hybrid learning were returned to 100 percent distance learning. There is no confirmed effect on plans for introduction of new students to in person learning in January.

This decision had the majority of support with 6 out of 9 members of the school board voting in favor of it. According to a Loudoun Now article, many supporters are in favor of the motion because it allows parents to easily track metrics. This ability would help the school board be clearer about how they are deciding switches to online and hybrid, and may allow parents the ability to prepare for a switch to distance learning from watching the metrics.

Parents are able to see daily updated metrics, monitored by the Virginia Department of Health, on the LCPS COVID Case Data webpage.

There were also dissenters to the motion, who found the metrics used and the plan overall to be unsatisfactory.

Some think the chosen metrics should be completely changed .

John Beatty, the school board member representing Catoctin district, wrote in an email dated November 20, about why he opposed the decided upon metrics and what, in his opinion, would have been better: “They affected the whole district, rather than each school or grade level individually. We need to consider in school Covid cases and transmissions, and we need to do so on a school by school basis.”

Others believe that they should be changed in smaller ways, or supplemented.

“The two metrics are helpful, but wholly inadequate. The most important metric is in-school transmission rate. If we have no transmission in schools, then that likely means the environment in schools is actually safer than outside the school. The CDC agrees with this,” wrote Jeff Morse, school board member representing Dulles district, in an email dated November 20.

School board members have also had dissenting opinions on the plan based on the metrics.

“This plan provides no flexibility, either shutting down or opening back up. We might want to scale back hybrid, or if we are 100 distance learning, we might want to scale it up. And it might take a few days to phase the hybrid students back into the classrooms. The current policy means students could be out of school one day, in the next, and out the next!  We need to fix that,” Morse wrote.

“Taking students out of in-person instruction is very disruptive – that’s why I had supported an alternative to pause bringing new groups of students into school if our numbers get high, but to not automatically take everyone out of hybrid without having a conversation about it first,” wrote Ian Seratokin, school board member representing Blue Ridge district, in an email dated November 20.

“I firmly believe  that we should have enabled the school board to continue to make decisions allowing some high risk/high need students to continue in hybrid while others may have their hybrid scaled back or deleted,” Morse wrote.

The majority of support is behind the use of metrics as the school board decided, even with some finding the metrics used, or subsequent plan, unsatisfactory.

Parents and students can keep updated on where the metrics stand with this link: https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus/key-measures/pandemic-metrics/school-metrics/

Supporters of the motion including Beth Barts (Leesburg), Harris Mahedavi (Ashburn), and Leslee King (Broad Run District) were contacted for comment but did not reply.

Dec
4

By

Pandemic Changes Thanksgiving Celebrations

Category: End Zone Tags: , ,

Emily Banner | staff writer

Summer Orledge | staff writer

Junior Callie Shaw visits her family home in Topsail Beach, North Carolina. Shaw celebrated Thanksgiving with her sisters by the ocean, while following COVID-19 precautions.

Thanksgiving is usually celebrated with family, but this year the pandemic made that far more difficult. With several states imposing restrictions on social gatherings, many Captains scaled down celebrations, celebrated virtually, or changed traditions.

“We’re just staying home and having a small meal,” said Emily Yasko, a senior at LCHS. “The pandemic definitely changed our usual plans. Usually we go to visit family in Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving and have a big turkey with lots of family. But because of COVID everybody is really hesitant to meet up and ultimately we decided not to do that this year.”

Junior Chase Breda also cancelled travel plans. “For this Thanksgiving I was supposed to go to New York to visit family but can’t due to Covid. I will be practicing Thanksgiving this year with my close family instead which should still be fun.”

Many people met up with fewer family members than normal due to pandemic restrictions. “We are planning to still make some family traditional food, however, it will only be us four. Friends and extended family would not be attending because of the pandemic,” junior Sarah Charah said.

Junior Sarah Moshrefi had a similar plan. “We were initially going to invite my aunts, uncles, and cousins but to keep it on the safer side, it’s just going to be me, my mom, dad, and brother,” she said.

Other people are moving their celebrations outdoors for safety. “We are having our Thanksgiving dinner on our screened-in porch,” said English teacher Arlene Lewis. “We bought one of the heaters restaurants use for outdoor dining. We tried it out this week. With jackets on and blankets around our legs, it was really surprisingly pleasant. Thanksgiving is actually supposed to be pretty mild, so I think we will be fine having dinner with our son, his wife, and our little granddaughter.”

Freshman Cat Pizzarello also celebrated outside. “My family and I had a picnic outside with my grandparents and we ate traditional Thanksgiving food, while playing fun thanksgiving games and listening to music,” she said.

May
17

By

Coronavirus survivor reveals her story: “We need to put aside this individualist culture and protect the greater good of our community.” 

Category: News Tags: ,

Michaela Scott, Editor-in-chief

COVID-19 has impacted each and every single one of people’s lives drastically, and has created a “new normal” for the next months going forward. Although the virus is frightening in theory, with its unprecedented symptoms, it means so much more when it becomes personal. LCHS graduate and JMU senior Victoria Brown was within the first ten cases in Loudoun County to test positive. 

“As a young person it’s easy to have this perspective of ‘nothing bad will happen,’” said Brown. “I cannot relate the feeling of Corona to anything. I was someone who thought this was ‘just a cold’ for young, healthy people, but it was without a doubt the most pain I have ever experienced.”

Brown’s initial symptoms began after her return from a cruise to the Bahamas, despite the fact she was certain to have followed the ship’s various safety precautions like pre- and post- health screenings. The cruise line also had increased food safety and included hand sanitizing stations everywhere. 

Just days after arriving home, Brown began experiencing intense symptoms. “I had extreme tightness of chest, constantly feeling out of breath, a deep, dry cough that made me feel like someone stuck a match in them, a stuffy nose, the worst headache I had ever experienced, eye pain and horrible body aches,” Brown said.

After roughly four weeks of complete isolation and reliance on two prescribed inhalers to reduce chest tightness and her cough, Brown began her road to recovery, although lung pain still lingered. She has now been working to get her lungs up to full capacity again and easing into normal activities, although Brown still has been unable to take full breaths.

“Please follow the recommended guidelines by the true doctors and experts and please take this seriously,” mother Connie Brown shared. “Myself and Victoria’s father were potentially exposed, but neither one of us experienced any symptoms. Parents, protect your babies as best as you can. Although we were fortunate nothing bad happened, it is unimaginable the feelings of what could follow.” 

The US has now surpassed over one million cases with the death toll exceeding nearly sixty-thousand, at the time of this writing, yet states like South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee are days away from reopening, which has sparked a political debate on whether it is necessary to reopen so soon. Hospitals across the country are low in every needed supply according to an NBC News report, which is based on interviews with administrators from 324 hospitals and hospital networks of varying sizes. Germs are being heavily spread in grocery stores due to the cloud of aerosol particles carrying Corona, which can remain in the air for several minutes after someone infected coughs or sneezes; as stated by Ville Vuorinen, professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Aalto University in an interview with ‘Live Science.’ Experts have continuously warned that the spike in cases America will witness if the country does undergo reopening too quickly, will be devastating.

“I think it’s a slap in the face to all health care workers who are working tirelessly to save lives and prevent the spreading of the virus,” said Brown. “Even though the ‘average person’ may not be most at risk to die, we have got to put aside this individualist culture and protect the greater good of our community. Testing is imperative and reopening should not be an option until we have adequate equipment.”

This experience has substantially altered Brown on her perspective both from being sick and being a member of the community. She also emphasised the great importance in mental health during this dark time along with staying fit. Keeping your brain acclimated to its routine is key while we are in isolation from the world, although it is vital to remember one exposure is all it takes to put yourself or someone you love at risk.

“I had my senior year abruptly ended too, which has made me realize how quickly things you love can be ripped away without warning,” said Brown. “That applies to loved ones as well. It has also made me appreciate my friends, family, and community to a greater degree than before, as I do not think I would have survived three weeks of complete isolation without everyone’s love and support.”

“Overall, I have grown a greater sense of gratitude and appreciation for the life I have and the people in it,” said Brown.

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