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After losing contact with sister school Etomba Combined School in Africa, Marshall has a new partnership with students in India through Girls Learn International, a club founded by Marshall alumna Ritika Jain and currently headed by her younger sister, junior Eisha Jain.

Marshall’s GLI chapter will be establishing regular communication with a GLI chapter in New Delhi. The chapter in New Delhi is made up of 15 girls who all live in the village of Dakshinpuri.

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A fear frequently confronted by budding artists stems from the prospect of having their work put on display for others to critique. Art teachers have had the opportunity to teach their students to overcome this anxiety by example. Art teachers Nicole Walter, Carol Trost and Kim Jenkins all submitted work to the fourth annual Artist-Teacher Exhibition. Walter’s and Jenkin’s submissions were each selected for display at the exhibition.

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Outlet malls are the best place to shop this holiday season.
They are family friendly and the overall environment is less rushed and stressed.
Their bargain prices are often marked down even more for the holidays.
Outlet malls offer designer and well known brands of merchandise, which ensures the quality of the items.
Also, besides offering last year’s designs and styles, many of them stock special exclusive items.
A common misconception about outlet malls is that they only carry clothes. However, most outlets have a variety of electronics, home goods and sports stores.
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With the holidays just around the corner, tis the season to find a new hangout to explore with friends or family. These conveniently close shopping centers are perfect for getting some last minute gifts too!

Reston Town Center
Ambiance:
The town center is geared more towards entertainment and less towards shopping. While it is not particularly decorated, the ice skating rink adds to the holiday spirit of the town center.

Entertainment and Shopping:
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Africa. The South China Sea. Australia. Geosystems and government teacher Bob Bowdey has not only been all over the world, but has also captured some of the world’s most beautiful and terrifying animals with his camera at the ready.

Having 25 years of experience under his belt, Bowdey performs his hobby as a wildlife photographer during summers when he and his wife travel to wildlife utopias around the world.

He has a unique story to tell with each trip.

In one of his recent trips to Africa, Bowdey came across a male lion sleeping in his camping spot.

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Their winter concert had not even passed, but the Statesmen Singers were getting plenty of showtime through gigs in the community. The holidays are a concert season for the Statesmen Singers, who performed at five caroling gigs around the area in addition to this year’s pyramid winter concert.

“For the Statesmen Singers, the whole season is their performance and the concert to them is another gig,” choral director Keri Staley said. “Each performance that they do in the community is an opportunity.”

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Looking back on elementary school, I remember how confidential grades were. Even if I willingly attempted to share my score on something as innocent as a reading quiz, my teacher was always quick to remind me that “we don’t brag about our grades” to other students. At the time, I thought this was a pointless rule; any child would want to bask in the glory of an A with his or her friends.
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The internet is sometimes considered the freest place to express oneself. Well not anymore. There are two bills that are being discussed in Congress called Protect IP Act and Stop Online Piracy Act, and their aim is to allow Media Corporations to directly interact with websites and take down any content that they feel is breaking their copyright. The Protect IP Act and Stop Piracy Act are an excuse for corporations to start a full monopoly over all the media.

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FCPS has reason to be proud what it has achieved with its new FCPS Google Apps. Faculty and students now have a powerful suite of professional software at their fingertips. FCPS’ new Google Apps network is a strong step in a smart direction, but it needs work and time before it becomes useful. At the moment the Apps implementation is underpowered.

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DECA is expecting to provide INOVA Fairfax Hospital for Children with what is likely one of the largest-ever lump donations to the hospital, said DECA member Rachel Killmeyer.

“We just decided to work with them and come up with what they needed,” she said.

Members of DECA have spent the past week collecting items for patients at the hospital as part of their “Treats for Treatment” project.

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Gymnastics has a core group of returning athletes, but it also has new talent joining the team with varying amounts of gymnastics experience.

The “group has a lot of talent and depth stemming from their individual participation in the sport in the past at both the competitive and noncompetitive levels,” coach Sue Walton said.

“The first meet went well and helped the girls work out all their jitters,” Walton added. “We scored our highest team score [107.9] since I’ve been coaching, but have the potential to score much higher.”

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As a senior on the 2006 varsity boys’ basketball team, Daniel Dixon may not have known that, after hours of practice that led his team to the state finals, he would return to the basketball program as a coach for the 2011-2012 season.

Dixon, along with former teammate Qaiser Ahmed came back this year to coach, taking over the assistant freshman and assistant JV coaching positions, respectively.

Having on-the-court experience at the school, Dixon said, gives you “an understanding of who Marshall is.”

Ahmed also noted the benefits of coaching after experiencing the player’s role.

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Grand Revival, junior Nate Wilkinson’s band, put on an energetic and surprisingly well put-together set on Nov. 21 at Jammin’ Java in Vienna. Wilkinson is the lead guitarist for the blues and hard rock foursome which is comprised of members from various regional high schools.

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Group 4 has experienced a dramatic increase in participants, having grown from 174 members in 2010 to 234 participants this year.

This increase made it difficult for some groups to collaborate on topics and come to agreements on what steps to take next, resulting in groups having to start over in some cases.

“We tried to use Google Docs to share our research, although some people did not use [it], making it hard to compare data,” junior Becca Toser said.

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The Gay-Straight Alliance club is attempting to become a large, active and positive force within Marshall, after a year of relative dormancy.

Currently, the club is attempting to garner publicity for pro-tolerance activities such as their sponsoring of classrooms as “Hate-Free Zones.”

An anti-bullying campaign of sorts, these zones are marked by large colorful signs and symbolize areas in which students can work or socialize without the fear of harassment.

A number of teachers have agreed to sponsor these zones by putting posters in their classrooms.

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“Santa has left the building. I repeat, Santa Claus has left the building.”

With that announcement the holiday expo, held on Saturday Dec. 10, ended, marking its second year as a Marshall Community and holiday event.

The event showcased various small businesses in the area, in addition to having entertainment like pictures with Santa, periodic raffles that offered items donated by the vendors and performances from both orchestra and choir students.

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A universal pleasure:
Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa may draw different crowds, but they all gather around a dinner table. Food has the ability to make us feel comfortable and nostalgic. Holiday dishes often are rooted in individual cultures and family memories. For the juniors interviewed, the recipes they make during the holidays reconnect them to their cultural and familial traditions.

Annelisa Crabtree’s Christmas Vanille Kipferin
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Martin Scorsese, the man who directed famous blockbusters such as Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980) and Goodfellas (1990) has recently stepped out of his comfort zone to unleash his first 3-D film Hugo.

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The night before an IB Biology test, I am distraught by the amount of information I am unclear about. Upon posting a Facebook status and tweeting about my distress, to whom do I turn?

Salman Khan.

Salman Khan is the creator of the project khanacademy.org, a site that holds over 2,700 videos—topics covering calculus to history—all taught by Khan.

The site also includes numerous lessons in biology. I watched one ten-minute lesson on oxidative phosphorylation, and the subject became clear to me.

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The girls varsity basketball team lost to Fairfax High School with a score of 43-60 on Dec. 13, making the current team record 4-2.

Marshall started slow during the first quarter and trailed during the second quarter.

“We needed to talk more on defense,” junior Elyse Smith said.

The Statesmen played substantially better during the second half with senior Christine LaBarbera’s rebounding skills, two three-pointers and three more points for nine.

Junior Maggie MacDonnell, scored nine points with two threes.

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Most holiday movies consist of lovable characters on a heartfelt and somewhat sappy journey. New Year’s Eve follows this pattern, except instead of covering one or two characters on a journey, it covers 18. As a result, the characters and plotline are poorly developed.

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The area in front of the makeshift stage remained standing room only as MC and senior Keith Boylan energetically encouraged the crowd to “buy books!” and Marshall’s first Barnes & Noble Open Mic Night ended.

The event, which stretched from 7 to 9:30 p.m. on Dec. 2 and raised more than $660 for the All-Night Grad Celebration, featured two poetry readings, the dance crew FcDc/Rhythm Ground Breakers and The Thirteenth Story, along with solo or two-person musical performances.

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The orchestra’s annual winter concert, which took place last Wednesday, centered around “music from around the world, different time periods, winter time and holiday spirit” according to orchestra teacher and concert organizer Catherine Prosser.

Senior and second chair Hannah Perlman said that the orchestra, which performed a number of works including “The Snowman,” has become a more unified ensemble.

“It’s challenging to stay lined up with a score, so it takes a lot of focus and cohesiveness,” Perlman said.

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The varsity wrestling team won their first tournament of the winter season against Richmond area and local schools on Dec. 3 and went on to place tenth out of 32 in the annual NOVA Classic tournament on Dec. 9.

The team also won 49-21 and 47-24 against Lee and Edison high schools respectively on Dec. 14 in scrimmage matches. Junior Robert Gonzales said “we should have placed higher as a team” at the NOVA Classic tournament but “we had three weight classes where nobody wrestled.”

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With members coming and going with the release of each album, The Roots has drawn from a diverse pool of musical talent. As a result, founding members Black Thought and Quest Love have been able to appeal to people across the musical spectrum. Their latest album, Undun continues this trend as it combines instrumentals ranging from classic to electronic and vocals ranging from soul to rap. This diversity combines to form an incredible album, worthy of The Roots’ prestige.

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Students Against Animal Cruelty is holding a donation drive for the Fairfax and Loudoun County animal shelters.

According to club sponsor and special education teacher Andrea Wallace, rescued animals typically overburden shelters this time of year. The drive—which ends in February and is the third since Wallace became the sponsor of SAAC—ordinarily collects two to three boxes of contributions.

“We’d like to see more,” Wallace said. “Animals need help [too.]”

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Social media is a powerful tool. It can be used to gain support for a movement, raise awareness of an issue or voice opinions of current events. When used effectively, social media makes these things possible; its nature is to connect people and serve as a platform for discussion. However, as with any power, the power of social media can easily be abused. High school students need to figure out how to use social media without abusing it.
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The lull of maracas and strumming of a ukulele accompany the voice of sophomore Sammy Hakim in her Colbie Caillat-esque song “About You,” which is the final song in her first extended-play album Locked You Out.

“Guitar and piano are my go-to instruments for composing and more intricate melodies, but I like other instruments like ukulele and violin to brighten up or add to the song,” Hakim said.

Hakim’s pursuit of her musical career began when she was joking a round with a friend.

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1. Skyrim

This is by far the best game of 2011. Its huge open world map and extensive character customization make it a great role playing experience. The gameplay is fun and smooth, thanks to the simple and fluid controls that easily let you switch between your assortment of weapons and spells. The high replay value, engaging story and intriguing gameplay easily place it in the top of the list.

2. Batman: Arkham City

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