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Volume 85 No. 8
mghLIFE
44
I
How sad
it is to see
people on
the streets of our states
begging for money and
shelter. It is evident
that America spends
exhorbitant amounts
of money on wars but
does not take care of
its own poor.
55
De’Shawn Jones
News
GHS Alumni Association
celebrates yet another
successful fundraiser
with its ever-popular
Whirlie Walk, an
annual affair, page 2
Opinion
Student questions
whether admissions offic
ers really prefer average
grades in college-level
courses over top grades
in honors and college-
prep courses. 3
Features
Enjoying Spring Break
did not necessarily
mean a visit to the beach
for some students who
chose a change of venue
this year. page 9
Sports
Committee adds golf
and rugby to schedule
of 2020 Olympics at
the expense of wrestling,
one of the oldest sports
recorded. page 10
Index
News
2
Opinion
3-4
Features
5, 8-9
Spread
6-7
Sports
10-12
I II IF*
I I ta t
I I ■■■ I I ■■■
Grimsley High School
801 Westover Terrace
Greensboro, NC 27408
Anticipating
prom? Enjoy
some helpful
hints to prepare
for the grand
occasion.
pages 6-7
April 17,2013
Vatican City welcomes first Latin American,
first Jesuit pope, former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio
BY MAC BALL
Editor-in-Chief
As of March 13, 2013, the
Catholic Church welcomed a
new, non-European Pope,
Francis I. Elite Cardinals from
around the world elected Jorge
Mario Bergoglio, former Cardi
nal and Archbishop of Buenos
Aires, Argentina, in a generally
short election period; less than
a week of discussion and vot
ing was necessary, much
shorter than other papal elec
tions in history. Bergoglio is the
first Pope in history to come
from the Americas, as most
have emerged from Europe.
Pope Francis is the first to take
the name of the infamous Saint
Francis of Assisi. St. Francis is
known as the patron saint of ani
mals, the environment, and nu
merous other categories recog-
ni2ed by the church. He was also
very well known for his work in
aiding the poor in Italy. Pope
Frands assumed the name to show
his main focus as head of the Catho
lic Church will be helping impov
erished Catholics, especially those
in his home of South America,
which has the largest population
of Catholics in the world.
Pope Francis greets the crowd on Thursday, March
14. At his side were Cardinal Santos Abril of Spain
(left) and Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the Vicar General
of Rome. Internet photo
As the Archbishop of Buenos
Aires, Pope Francis lived a very
simplistic life. Generally, the
Archbishop lives in a very nice
home and has a personal driver
to take him to work and else
where; however, he refused to
take either and instead lived in
a one-room apartment down
town and rode the city bus to
work in order to meet with the
general public every day. South
Americans consider him a be
loved figure, as evident on the
night of his election when
devout Catholics flooded
the streets of Buenos Aires
in celebration.
Even so, many people are al
ready ridiculing Pope Francis
for his strongly fundamental
ideals, which Catholics have
followed for hundreds of years.
As a member of the Jesuit or
der, he is a strong supporter of
same-sex marriage, openly
fighting against gay marriage
in a recent Argentinian refer
endum, a battle which he lost
in the end. In addition, the Pope
is strongly against women's
empowerment and influence
within the church.
Pope, in the dictionary,
means Papa in Italian, and in
Latin, it means father, thus
the Pope is the father figure
for the Church, a role that
Pope Francis's predecessor,
Benedict XVI, did not take se
riously enough, according to
some members of the Catholic
Church. Much of the Catholic
community hopes that Pope
Francis will take his role very
seriously and act similarly to
Pope John Paul II, who passed
away in 2005. John Paul II is
now known as the Great
John Paul II because of his
world renowned kindness,
care for the poor, and work
to bring the Ghurch, both
the Catholic and Eastern Or
thodox, closer together. John
Paul, who is now in the pro
cess of becoming a Saint, was
beatified by Pope Benedict XVI
in 2011. Pope Francis demon
strates similar characteristics
of Pope John Paul II, sparking
international interest in his
new leadership role.
YAMFest draws crowd due to optimal
planning, engaging speakers, programs
BY LUKE SUMERFORD
Layout Design Editor
On Saturday, March 16, se
nior Kassra Homaifar and math
teacher Roberta Rohan hosted
the Greensboro Youth and Me
dia festival, YAMFest. First of
its kind in the area, the event
brought together speakers from
across the country to converse
with parents, teachers, and stu
dents about the relationship be
tween youth and media.
YAMFest's mission is to encour
age such conversations be
tween adults and today's youth
in order to improve their com
munication and understanding
of each other. More than 200
people were m attendance.
In this day and age when so
many children are browsing the
Internet, some adults have little
or no understanding of social
media's impact on teenage life.
At YAMFest, speakers tackled
issues ranging from cyber bul
lying to computer hacking to
music on social networks.
"We wanted to have a well-
rounded group of speakers in a
variety of topics related to so
cial media. In the end, through
hard work and persistence, we
were able to draw speakers
from Harvard, NYC, and A&T
as well as students and teach
ers from Grimsley." said
Homifar, the project manager.
From Harvard University's
School of Engineering and De
sign, Hugo Van Vuuren deliv
ered the Keynote speech. He
later lectured about innova
tions in transportation, com
munication, and education and
technology's impact on all of
them. Meredith Beaton, along
with Sandra Cortesi, a direc
tor of the Youth and Media
Project, hosted a session called
Mythbusters, in which they
tackled common misconcep
tions regarding social media.
Another highlight of the festi
val was listening to Byron
Turman, a professor from A&T,
who addressed how social me
dia has affected the music in
dustry and will continue to do
so the future.
Music director Marshall
Johnson also hosted a session.
He demonstrated how people
can record studio-quality
songs directly from their per
sonal tablets through advance
ments in technology.
Following the sessions, at
tendees of YAMFest were eli
gible for raffle prizes that in
cluded an IPAD mini and two
Kindle Fires.
"Since the festival, we have
received great feedback from
students and adults alike and
have been encouraged to con
tinue hosting the festival for
years to come. We are excited
to have underclassmen take the
reins and hopefully gain even
larger attendance next year,"
said Homaifar.
Planning for the event took
several months, beginning in
October or 2012. Committee
eetings occurred in the morn
ing before school started on
Whirlie Wednesdays. Eighteen
students, along with faculty
members and community
leaders collaborated on
all of the logistics involved.
For instance. Judge Lawrence
McSwain from the Commu
nity Foundation helped
sponsor the Big Ideas
competitionand announced
the first-place winners, jun
iors Akash Akaggandi and
Akhil Bondlela..
Homifar was pleased with
the number of people who
attended YAMFest, especially
considering it took place on a
Saturday afternoon when the
ACC tournament was
in full swing.
"The event was a blast, and
we were really-pleased with
the conversations that each
speaker fostered in their work
shops. Overall, it seemed like
the students, teachers, par
ents, and community leaders
all enjoyed learning about is
sues relevant to them
and their communities,"
said Homaifar.