stentorian
vol. XXXV, issue 2
north Carolina school of science and mathematics
September 2015
stentorianl23@gmail.com
Twelve students win senatorial elections
and join Student Government
By Max Schlenker
Editor-in-Chief
In the month of September,
nearly 50 students campaigned
for coveted positions in
Student Government, leading
to some controversy and hope
for a productive year for SG.
After a record-breaking
82% voter participation,
BT Babatunde, Avra Janz,
Jordyn Jones, Raymond Gao,
Amruth Sriperumbudur, and
Tia Valakuzhy were chosen as
Junior Senators for the 2015-
2016 school year.
The political buzz began
early with the announcement
of the Junior Senator race.
Petitions circulated through
the student body as 35
ambitious juniors officially
entered tbe race, competing
for one of only six spots on the
Student Senate.
After the petition signing
came the storm of posters
hanging from the walls of every
building on campus. Slogans
and catchphrases covered the
PFM, ETC, library, elevators.
Hill classrooms, and main
hallway doors.
The primary election was
held on Sept. 11, and only a
dozen candidates moved on
to the final round of voting
the following Tuesday.
Students were invited to hear
each of the potential senators
speak about their ideas for
Student Government in the
auditorium, after which the
final voting would take place
online.
As always, the Junior
Senator speeches proved
to be a roller coaster of
emotions for all. Not every
candidate played fair, and
more than a few sly remarks
were exchanged even during
the speeches themselves.
Despite the foul play
and occasional aerial from
Raymond Gao, every
speaker did an excellent job,
and at the very least provided
a night of entertainment for
their fellow classmates.
The student body had a
short rest of only a few days
after the Sept. 11 election
Junior Senator candidates pose after delivering speeches.
before the announcement of
the Dorm Senator elections the
following week. These races
are often less flashy because
students can only campaign
for and vote in the election for
their own dorm building.
After a week of petition
signing students gathered last
week once more to listen to
their Dorm Senators deliver
their own speeches.
The results of the Dorm
Senator election were
published just last week.
Michelle Roh, Kimberly
Andreassen, Lauren Emer,
Nisbma Vias, Caleb Caton,
Trey Duvall, and Wyatt
Jemigan were chosen to
represent Bryan, Reynolds,
Royall, Beall, Hunt East, Hunt
West, and Hill respectively.
With the induction of
Junior Senators and Dorm
Senators, the SG body is
almost complete for the 2015
- 2016 school year.
The last opportunity for
students to be directly involved
with Sftident Government is
to be selected as a Senator-
at-Large by President Vikram
Aikat. Applications for this
position will be open in the
coming weeks.
Unicorns show pride at LGBTQ+ festival
By AJ Goren
Editor-in-Chief
Where there’s rain, there’s a
rainbow - or, in the case of the
North Carolina Pride Festival,
hundreds of rainbows.
The LGBTQ+ community
celebrated North Carolina’s
31st annual Pride on Saturday,
Sept. 28, despite wet and
gloomy weather.
Neither the weather nor
the handful of evangelical
protestors were able to put
a damper on the festivities,
where many NCSSM students
were in attendanee.
The school’s LGBTQ+
alliance. Spectrum, had a float
in the parade, which began at
1 p.m.. Many students also
marched with the organizations
Planned Parenthood and
InsideOut.
Spectrum’s float, fashioned
by Joe McTaggart and Roger
Ehrlich with assistance
from volunteer NCSSM
students, was in the shape of
a large wedding cake reading
“Marriage and More!’’ to
celebrate the recent national
achievement of marriage
equality, and to acknowledge
the many fronts on which
LGBTQ-f rights still need
improvement.
Several students rode on the
back of the trailer behind the
cake, while up to four students
were on top of the cake and
three more sat at the base of
the cake ringing a large bell.
Senior Raven Rusk, who
rode on top of the cake,
expressed joy at seeing the
sheer size of the crow ds from
atop her perch: “You were
able to see so many people
that supported the cause from
the top of the float. It made
me very happy to know that
so many people want change
and social acceptance for the
LGBTQ+ community.”
Junior Anthony Bishop
rode on the back of the
float: “the best part... was
realizing that I didn’t have to
just wateh the parade, I was
part of the parade if I wanted
to be,” Bishop commented.
Many students chose
to march with Planned
Parenthood of the South
Atlantic, a branch of the
national women’s health
organization which has been
embroiled in controversy
reeently due to conservative
opposition to its abortion
services.
Supporters of Planned
Parenthood point out that the
97% of the organization’s
work centers around making
women’s reproductive
healthcare and other basic
healthcare, including cancer
screening and STI testing.
NCSSM students ride on the Spectrum float on Main Street. The
parade came within 2 blocks of NCSSM’s campus.
accessible to all.
Senior Maggie O’Daniel
said she marched with Planned
Parenthood because she believes
that “reproductive health is
a vital component of overall
health and every woman should
have a right to her own body.”
Students marching with the
organization also distributed
free condoms among the crowd.
“I felt like I was helping people
prevent potential problems and
live healthy and happy lives,”
O’Daniel said.
Several . NCSSM students
also marched with local youth-
led organization InsideOut,
which brings together gay
straight alliances and queer-
straight alliances from around
the Triangle region.
For the second year in a row,
InsideOut was the very first
group in the parade, marching
just in front of the Spectrum
float.
Junior Meredith Tobin said
she felt “liberated” by the
experience of marching with
InsideOut: “Feeling celebrated
and loved by such a large group
of people created this sense that
what we want and who we are
really does make a difference.
It was especially empowering
knowing that this time, the law
is on our side.”
EUin
refugee
crisis
By Cheryi. WANCi
Editor-in-Ciiief
59 men, eight women,
three children, and one infant
were found dead inside a truck
trailer by a highway in Aastria
on August 27. Austrian police
found the bodies packed
inside the truck like cattle
after notieing fluids from the
decaying corpses seep out of
the truck doors.
These 71 people were
found ten miles from Austria’s
border with Slovakia and
Hungary, where thousands of
refugees have recently made
similar suicidal attempts to
enter Western Europe from
Syria, Afghanistan, and parts
of Africa. Austrian authorities
believe that the refugees have
been locked inside the truck
until they suffocated to death
under the 90 degree weather.
Europe is facing its
biggest migration crisis since
World War II. With incidents
of fleeing refugees dying
in a truck by the Austria-
Hungary border immediately
followed by 54 deaths on the
Mediterranean reported by
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