may 2014
sports/fea tures
the stentorian | ncssm
David Rlgsbeei a Life in Poetry, Academia and Beyond
By Hannah Walrath
To David Rigsbee, the North
Carolina School of Science
and Math isn’t just a place he
teaches, but also happens to
be where he was bom, when
NCSSM was the former Watts
Hospital, of course.
This 2013-2014 year,
Rigsbee found himself in the
place where it all began and has
been a member of the NCSSM
Humanities department.
Rigsbee grew up in Durham
and attended Durham High
School, where the Durham
School of the Arts now is.
He went on to attend UNC
Chapel Hill as a Morehead-
Cain Scholar, getting a degree
in Russian and English. He then
earned his graduate degrees in
philosophy and English, while
also publishing poetry.
Rigsbee has earned various
awards for his poetry, including
a 2012 Pushcart Prize for his
poem “Russians.”
At NCSSM, Rigsbee has
taught courses in Creative
Writing- Poetiy, Creative
Writing- Eiction, Southern
Literature, and WECS I-III.
When asked why he is a
poet, he responded, “Because I
like making life difficult.”
His thoughtful poetry
includes a poem in his book
School of the Americas titled
“Shum.”
The poem is about a lecture
he attended with his poetry
teacher at UNC. He says he
was simultaneously admiring
and shocked at what he learned
from her.
“The poem is mostly about
the double nature of poetry,”
says Rigsbee.
Rigsbee’s intelligence
is apparent through simple
conversation, though most
conversations with Dr. Rigsbee
are never tmly simple. Rather,
one does not step in and out
of the open door of the poet’s
well-suited office without
having spent a good bit of
time together pondering some
aspect of life or without the
name of author or poet with
which to do further exploration
on the matter or matters.
ft is Rigsbee’s ability to
provide kind, eloquent and
thoughtful discussion which
fuels the constant stream of
students who frequently stop
by for a chat.
Rigsbee’s interests do not
end with poetry, Russian or
conversation, either. Currently,
in his free-time, Rigsbee is
translating Dante’s Paradiso.
He also enjoys spending time
with his daughter Makaiya,
who Rigsbee often thinks of
when writing poetry.
Makaiya is currently in
Ireland attending graduate
school, having seemed learned
the beauty of words from
her father. He also spends
time in New York and might
additionally spend time in Italy
this summer.
Unicorns celebrate 2013-2014’s athletic
accomplishments at awards banquet
By Steven Liao
Athletes at NCSSM
attended the first annual
athletic awards ceremony in
the PEC on May 20, 2014.
The event started off with
opening remarks from NCSSM
Athletic Director Gregory
Jarvis and Chancellor Todd
Roberts. Chemistry Instructor
Darrell Spells, a former Duke
football captain, then took the
floor to address the athletes.
Spells commended the
athletes for their willingness
to both compete at the
highest level athletically and
academically, as well as their
willingness to tread into an
unknown athletic environment.
“Because in addition to the
unsurety of how you might fit
in to the athletic environment
here, you chose to come
anyway. And in addition to
that uncertainty, you came to
the most rigorous academic
environment many of you will
ever see.”
“So not only were, you
competing at the highest level
of high school sports, but
you’re also competing at the
highest academic level, and
you were willing to take on
that challenge.”
NCSSM Vice Chancellor
of Student Life Joan Barber
then made her presence felt
with a run-through of the team
accomplishments of the year.
In honor of her impending
retirement, the athletic
department presented Barber
with a life-long pass to
NCSSM athletic events, along
with a plaque signed by several
NCSSM athletes.
At this point, the ceremony
shifted to individual rewards.
Athletes named to all
conference and all-state teams
were honored, and several
coaches handed out team-
specific awards as well.
Among the athletic
achievements this year, four
athletes were named All-
Conference Player of the Year
in their respective sports. Nick
Walker was named Runner
of the Year in Men’s Cross
Country, Lydia Yuan was
named Player of the Year in
Women’s Tennis, Matthew
Nichols was named Wrestler
of the Year, and Danny Oh
was named Player of the Year
in Men’s Tennis. In addition,
Bryon Spells was named
Defensive Player of the Year in
Men’s Soccer.
Seven coaches were named
All-Conference Coach of
the Year (Richard McClenny
was named twice as Coach of
the Year for both Men’s and
Women’s tennis).
Several school swimpiing
records were broken.
For the first time since
becoming an NCSSM sport
three years ago, the Women’s
golf team finished in the top 8
in the state.
The ceremony came to a
close with NCSSM Athletic
Director Gregory Jarvis
announcing the second annual
Men’s and Women’s Athletes
of the Year.
This year’s awards went to
Jacbb Vosbufgh, w'ho hblds five
NCSSM swimming records
and the NCHSAA 1A/2A state
record in the 500 freestyle, and
Ashleigh Cleveland, a three-
sport athlete in tennis, indoor
track, and outdoor track, who
over the past two years has
placed highly in and won
several conference and state
tournaments in track and field.
The Athlete of the
Student performers wow at concert
By Jungsu Hong and §u
Cho
On May 11, the annual
NCSSM concerto concert
featured soloists Mallory
Carnes, Daria Nonnemaker,
Holly Slang, Rebecca Shen,
Emily Nicholson, Michael An,
and Daniel Ren accompanied
by the NCSSM Orchestra.
Soloists were selected in
the fall of 2013 through a
competitive audition process.
Senior Mallory Carnes
played the 1st movement
of the Handel/Casadesus
Viola Concerto during the
performance.
“It was an awesome
experience to be able to play
a movement of a concerto
with an orchestra. Having the
whole group playing with you
and supporting you provides a
whole new level of energy to
the piece,” said Carnes.
Daria Nonnemaker, junior,
played the 1st movement of
the renowned Mendellssohn
Violin Concerto.
Senior Holly Slang played
the Vaughan Williams Oboe
Concerto.
“I’m really proud of how
well the orchestra prepared for
the concert. I felt like I could
rely on my fellow musicians
to give a good performance!”
said Slang.
Rebecca Shen, junior.
nearly two straight hours of
challenging pieces is a true
testament to the progress
we’ve made as an ensemble,”
said Shen.
Senior Emily Nicholson
played the 1st movement of
the Barber Violin Concerto.
Shen, along with the other
soloists, has been practicing
and preparing for this concert.
The NCSSM orchestra began
preparations for the concert at
the beginning of third trimester.
“Being able to put on
a fabulous show that was
was the only soloist who
used her voice instead of an
instrument. She performed
“Per picta, bell’idol mio”
written by Bellini. This was
Nicholson’s second year
performing as a soloist.
Michael An, junior,
performed a violin solo with
his performance of the first
movement of Tchaikovsky’s
Violin Concerto.
“One major challenge we
faced was weaving together
soloist and orchestra, making
these independent parts a
great-sounding
E whole. It certainly
w has not been easy, but
z 1 couldn’t be more
0 proud of these seven
S’ performances,” said
1 An.
° Working closely
with the soloists
and having to adapt
as an ensemble, the
orchestra learned
many lessons
ensemble playing
“Performing
a concerto setting
allowed me to gain
a greater insight
about the various nuances
and intricacies of music from
a different perspective, and
explore the diverse realm
of emotional expression
associated with orchestral
music,” said junior Daniel Ren.
Ren played the 1st move
ment of Rimsky-Koraskov’s
Trombone Concerto.
m
in
Year awards are decided
based on a combination of
factors, including multiple
sports played, excellence in
performance over both the
junior and senior years, as
well as excellent academic
performance.
According to Jarvis,
next year’s athletes can
expect increased signage in
the building and possibly
equipment upgrades if the
budget allows.
"And if■“Spblls" 'tt) '“be
believed, next year’s athletes
can once again be glad they are
not ‘poor spirits.’
Spells left the student
athletes at the ceremony with
the following quote from
Theodore Roosevelt:
“Far better is it to dare
mighty things, to win glorious
triumphs even though
checkered by failure, than to
rank with those poor spirits
who neither enjoy nor suffer
much, because they live the
grave twilight that knows^not
victory nor defeat.”
Continued from Page 2
Haughton
Lab on way
Haughton Fabrication Lab,
a space intended to be used
as a student maker space for
clubs and organizations from
all around campus, as well as
classroom space.
The lab is named after an
1989 alumnus of NCSSM
who died in 2006. Alumni
contributed to a fund in his
name to help create such a
maker space for NCSSM
students.
Following the trend of
diversification, this space
aims to provide all students
with a hands-on working
environment.
The idea of it being hands-
on opens the lab up to be used
by a variety of student groups,
ranging in interest from
FIRST Robotics, NSBE, and
Science Olympiad, to physics
and engineering classes, to
theater students working on set
designs.