Christine Zhao
Senior Andrew Wang asks senior Rachel Lee to homecoming “with a K-Pop dance to the tune of “If You Do” by GOT7.

Me and one of the dancers [Jason Zou] were both into K-Pop, so we just thought this choreo was really cool, and I thought the title of the song, “If You Do,” would go well with our asking, so we started practicing [from] September for about a month. They would come over to my house and practice for an hour.

Senior Andrew Wang

Angel Kim
Junior Ishaan Dey and sophomore Pari Parajuli dance together at their homecoming asking.

“I remembered that Sean [Ji] and Anthony [Thomas] and I had done a dance during Lock-Up two years ago and so we decided to do [the dance asking],” junior Ishaan Dey said. “I was trying to make sure that I didn’t forget the choreography that we had made a week before.”

Oh, “The Flash,” I went to you looking for solace when “Arrow” started going downhill. You were a soap opera that wasn’t too sappy, a science show that wasn’t too elitist, funny without being too . But I must admit, I was afraid going into the third season. Would number three be the kiss death just as it had been for “Arrow?” Would the writers jump the shark with too many alternate timelines? Would the quality of the storyline be weighed down by fanbase’s desire for romance? For now it’s safe to say these fears have been put to rest. With its season three premiere, “The Flash” was able to stick with its winning formula and still bring something new to the table.

The critically-acclaimed second season ended with Barry going back in time and preventing the death of his mother, jumpstarting an alternate reality, dubbed Flashpoint, in which life is drastically different from the one he knew. In the alternate timeline, Barry is blissfully happy living with his very much alive parents. Given his tragic upbringing in the “real” world, quotidian joys make his life seem like a utopia in which his only concern is asking true-love Iris on a date. While he still works in CSI (and still doesn’t have his own place), Barry doesn’t have to worry about saving the city. There’s a new speedster superhero in town and it’s not him. It Wally West. Except he’s not Wally and he’s not The Flash either, he’s his own animal: Kid Flash and don’t you forget it. Kid Flash is a refreshing addition to a show that already has a host of quippy charm. Working with him is Iris, who finally gets to come into herself. In the second season she was an oddball – essential yet disposable at the same time. She was a half-thought out character that only got to shine at the tail end of the season. With “The Runaway Dinosaur” we finally got to see her as something other than someone’s love interest, she was smart, clever, and still looking out for Barry without resembling a Mary Sue – a trend that continued in Wednesday’s premiere. Caitlin Snow, while we didn’t get to see much of her, was also freed by the second timeline. She’s finally someone who doesn’t have to be defined by her two failed relationships.

Other characters haven’t fared so well – Joe is a drunken, failure of a cop who makes a habit of coming into work late. His behavior means he has a strained relationship with both his children. Cisco Ramon is no longer an adorkable nerd, instead he’s a barely sentient, cocky billionaire with a pretty girl on one arm while he uses the other to cut checks.

To everyone’s chagrin, the imprisoned Eobard Thawne is the only one who understands something isn’t right. Barry ignores his warnings and assembles the team to fight this realities new villain – Rival. When the plan goes awry, Wally is critically injured and Barry’s memories begin to fade, it’s up to Thawne to save the day – by killing Barry’s mother and restoring the timeline, just as he predicted he would early into the episode.

But the timeline is not completely fixed, Iris and Joe apparently had a falling out and no longer speak. The episode ends with Edward Clariss – Rival in Flashpoint – being awoken by this season’s Big Bad: Doctor Alchemy.

Overall, this episode fell just a hair short of spectacular. But I still have my reservations. The use of too many villains and elements have bogged down many shows, as has shaking up the structure (I’m looking at you “Veronica Mars,” what was season three?). The dynamic between The Flash and Kid Flash seems forced, and if Wally retains his powers, I suspect relations between him and Barry will be strained. I have my concerns about Barry as well. How many times is he going to come to terms with his past then decide to undo a seasons worth of character development when the dust settles? Despite my worries, I am confident that “The Flash” will deliver, it ended on too high of a note in season two to go downhill just yet.

Walking around the construction site that is Thomas Jefferson High School, I can grasp the issues causing most distress among students.

I see students sprinting from the Weyanoke trailers all the way to the new IBET wing, thumbs looped around their backpack straps, desperately trying to make the onerous trek across the campus before their next class begins.

“I guess I’ll just have to interrupt my learning next period to go to the bathroom,” I hear students sigh after peeking into the overcrowded restroom in the main hallway.

I watch seniors resign to eat their lunches on the floor while college representatives domineer their only senior privilege, the “S-lounge” in Franklin Commons.

But I believe that the gravest threat facing the Jefferson community today is far more insidious than these problems. Unseen by administrators, the unreliable temperatures of Jefferson classrooms are jeopardizing students’ educations and pinning students against each other.

“Every day I walk into Ms. [Mildred] Harris’s room and I am forced to put on layers upon layers of sweatshirts because it is too cold to maintain my body heat,” senior Tarun Singh said.

A student standing next to him maintained the opposite opinion about the same class, A.P. Government: “I think it’s very hot in this building. Maybe it’s just me because I can’t handle my own hotness, but I think we could increase the air conditioning a little more,” senior Avinash Tummala said.

“Is this detrimental to your learning?” I probed.

“Yes, it is. I couldn’t take my Gov test because I was sweating.”

I experienced this issue myself today in Geosystems: as I fanned my face, feeling tangible heat, my friend sat shivering in her sweatshirt. Jefferson students can’t decide whether the building should be kept colder or warmer. How can we create a safe learning environment when students are concerned with their physiological needs?

Senior Omar Hatim mentioned that on red days, he has to bring a jacket around with him all day in case his seventh period class is cold while he is too hot to wear a sweater in his morning classes. He worries that his school performance is suffering as a result.

“I think that the fluctuation of temperatures in the different rooms is really detrimental to my education because I have to be focusing on my equilibrium temperature when I should be focusing on the lecture instead.”

But senior Jashan Matharoo thinks the cold indoor climate conditions that detriment his fellow students serve to better his day-to-day experience at school. Instead, he says, we should focus on prevention of sweat secretion during class.

“So I know the temperature can be quite cold at times, and even sometimes nipple-hardening, but I appreciate that it’s not too cold because I am a sweaty Indian child and sweat stains are really an issue. There needs to be more awareness about that. So I’m happy that they took steps to prevent that and made the building colder.”

Hatim hopes that Jefferson faculty and staff will ameliorate this issue by conforming to a single temperature setting.

“Teachers can help this situation by advocating for more regulations in cooling their rooms. There should be a set temperature throughout each and every class at TJ,” Hatim said.

I believe that if we were to attempt to choose one single temperature, though, we would never reach a consensus. Clearly, students disagree on which condition, hot or cold, would be less optimal for the intensive learning required of us at Jefferson. Should we prevent sweat stains or keep students comfortably warm? We may never agree.

Senior Gabi Gresenz has experienced this struggle as well.

“I wear the same sweatshirt every single day because I’m freezing and one day I forgot my sweatshirt and it was the worst day of my life and I was so distracted by the cold that I had trouble learning.”

She proposed a radical solution to this serious issue when I interviewed her.

“How do you think that teachers should fix this?” I asked Gresenz.

“I think they should use the thermostat.”

The Jefferson cross country team raced at the Conference Coaches’ Invitational at Burke Lake Park on Oct. 4.

At the meet, both the Jefferson girls and boys team did not race their varsity runners so they can rest for an upcoming invitational. Despite this, many of those who competed had improved times from an earlier meet on the same course.

“The team had better times at this meet compared to the Monroe Parker meet held at Burke Lake on the first week of September this season,” freshman Hana Wong said. “The weather was great for running, while at the other meet, it was so hot it felt like summer.”

In addition, as a team, the girls’ team placed second to Marshall High School with 78 points, and the boys’ placed sixth with 150 points.

“The other teams were racing some of their faster runners so obviously we didn’t do the best we could if we had run varsity,” sophomore Sebastian Ibarraran said. “For the people that ran, I think most of us had pretty good races, and I’m proud of how the team did.”

The course at Burke Lake Park is .3 miles shorter than a typical course, at 2.98 miles long. However, as one of the older courses in the region, it holds historical significance. Its combination of paved and dirt trails is similar to Jefferson’s home course at Mason District Park, but hills, especially in the last mile, make the Burke Lake Park course more challenging.

“When I’m running up a steep hill, what I focus on is one step at a time, just keep pushing and eventually you’ll make it to the finish,” Wong said. “I also [think to myself], ‘I’ve done it before, I can do it again.’

The team will continue to work on staying in shape and maintaining their stamina for the state championships.

“There’s really nothing our team can work on besides just practicing,” senior Alyssa Lee said. “Cross country requires a lot of training and building endurance.”

Deborah E. Lipstadt always knew she would be picked out and chosen from when she was a child. Now, this was finally her chance.

Directed by Emmy-award winning film director Mick Jackson, “Denial” features the Academy Award winning actress Rachel Weisz as Lipstadt, a history professor at Emory University and a published author at Penguin Books Ltd of “Denying the Holocaust” .

The movie begins by zoning in on Lipstadt in a lecture hall, standing confident as she presents to an audience of university students.

“Whatever the reasons that people become deniers, they often have an agenda which they won’t admit to,” Lipstadt said.

Whatever the reasons that people become deniers, they often have an agenda which they won’t admit to.

Little did Lipstadt know that her words at that moment and her claims that denier David Irving (Timothy Spall) was a racist, an anti-Semitic, and a falsifier of history, would shove her into the public’s spotlight. Unbeknownst to Lipstadt, Irving himself had flew from England to question and scrutinize Lipstadt’s book and amass support for his radical views. The eventual result of Lipstadt’s remarks was a libel suit filed in England against Penguin Books, arguing that Lipstadt had written defamatory and false assertions in “Denying the Holocaust.”

To Lipstadt’s horror, she begins to realize that as a defendant in an English court, the entire burden of proof would be on her side, and she herself would be responsible for preventing Holocaust denying from becoming a widely accepted ideology. After over two years of meticulous research and eight weeks of furious debate, Lipdstadt, her legal team, historical witnesses, and Irving (after being egged by protesters) gather inside the packed courtroom to await the judge’s decision.

“Denial” is beautifully filmed with care to the sensitive nature of history. Lipstadt continually battles with her respect of the Holocaust survivors and the firm stance of her lawyer who forbids them from testifying. This film is emotional, leading the audience through the eerie ruins of Auschwitz itself and the intimate moments that Lipstadt experiences with a survivor. This film is intoxicating, capturing the viewer in the film’s universe with personal exchanges between all of the main characters. This film is quality at its finest, convincing me to rise up at 7:00 A.M. to watch the first showing of “Denial” the day after its premiere at Angelika Film Center. “Denial” will be yet another movie to add to my list of favorites and list of movies to rewatch on the occasional unoccupied evening.

[The trial] was uncertain, and exhausting. But they had to do it. Only in hindsight do things get called heroic. At the time, you’re just afraid. Afraid of how things will turn out.

Deborah Lipstadt

Wherever murder mysteries are concerned, it is commonplace for us to think about discovering the killer, or whether a suspect is guilty or innocent. “Amanda Knox”, released on Netflix on Sept. 30 takes a different approach, accounting for the media’s role in the case and contributing personal narratives to Seattle native Amanda Knox’s trial story.

For those who are not familiar with her, Knox was beginning her study abroad in Perugia, Italy in Sept. 2007. On Nov. 2, police found her flatmate, British student Meredith Kercher’s body in their apartment, with a slit throat and evidence of sexual assault. Knox and then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted, and Knox was ultimately held in Italy until 2011, being exonerated by their highest court in 2015.

Directed by Rod Blackhurst and Brian McGinn, the documentary is told through interviews with Daily Mail reporter Nick Pisa, prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, Sollecito and Knox herself. Despite hearing the story told from each person’s point of view, “Amanda Knox’s” creators are clearly siding with Knox, portraying her as the Italian justice system’s victim. This is justified, however, as aspects of the film suggest that whether Knox is innocent or guilty of Kercher’s murder, the way that the media and prosecution treated Knox was unwarranted.

One such aspect of “Amanda Knox” is in the interview with a reporter that encapsulated the press’s attitude towards Knox so well. Pisa’s recounts his experience in covering Knox’s conviction and trial, blatantly admitting that he and competing journalists would make up facts for the sake of gaining readers.

Jarring headlines such as “Meridith sex killing” and “Foxy Knoxy”, taken from her MySpace profile, are displayed throughout the film. A commentator in a news clip says that Knox, walking into the courtroom, “could use hair and makeup, but I guess you don’t get that in jail.” Pisa (crassly) mentioned the appeal of the trial stemmed from, “girl-on-girl crime, if you’d like.” Overall, “Amanda Knox” bears many examples of societal misogyny, and hopefully will make viewers aware of its presence in today’s world.

“Amanda Knox” also examines the poorly conducted investigations in gathering evidence against Knox. For example, interviews with forensic expert Dr. Stefano Conti and Dr. Carla Vecchiotti discuss how key evidence was invalidated due to contamination. Mignini, who was one of the first people to suspect Knox, however, discusses her behavior. The documentary does not delve any further into this, leaving the viewer with questions concerning Mignini’s credibility.

Though the film adequately cites occurrences of injustice towards Knox, it fails to analyze the events to give viewers a deeper understanding of the events. In the end, “Amanda Knox” does not provide new information that has not already been written or reported about. The documentary also could have explained Italy’s judicial system, explaining prison sentences and appeals processes.

Over the years, many of us probably have forgotten about Knox’s conviction, or are too young to have heard of it at all. “Amanda Knox” simply presents Knox’s story with intriguing personal accounts, and with visuals equally as engaging.

While our school is similar to most fairfax county school in their system of “block schedules”, we differ from most schools with our addition of anchor days to our school week. Most schools will have red and blue days (referred to by different names at different schools), but their schedule is made so that every other day you have the same classes, even on mondays after a weekend. At our school, we have anchor days right after the weekend, so we have every single class on Monday.

One of the reasons block schedules are used is because they make the best use of time. On anchor days we have five transition periods where we walk to our next class, while on a regular day we only have two. That means we waste half an hour more just walking between classes. Then, the classes are only 45-50 minutes. Often these short class periods are inefficient, and many times it feels more like we showed up to class just to be assigned more homework, rather than actually having an in depth lesson. Removing anchor days and replacing them with a rotating red and blue day schedule would make better use of student’s educational time.

Having every class on one day also means having all for your homework due on one day. This means students must do homework for every single class over the weekend. Students already have enough issues and stress from homework when they have their classes every other day, making homework due for every class right after the weekend makes it even harder for student’s to have weekend time to relax, play sports, and participate in extracurriculars. Removing anchor days could slightly improve the current issue students have with an overload of homework over the weekend.

It is well known that high school students often have very heavy backpacks. Contributors to this unfortunate truth is that some classes require students to bring back and forth a textbook and others often need students to bring laptops. Of course, on top of that, almost every class needs a binder or notebook. The point is, the weight adds up. Carrying materials for every class is like carrying two backpacks, the one you would bring on a red day in addition to the one you would bring on a blue day. So for those of you wondering why these days are called anchor days, personally I think the term anchor is referencing to how heavy our bags are.

I acknowledge there are some possible issues that could arise with the removal of anchor days. There would have to be a different time for JLC and eighth periods would work slightly different. A potential way to reschedule the classes, is to have JLC during the time eighth period would normally occur on Mondays, but in that case JLC would only occur every two weeks. This may not be a perfect solution, but it shows the schedule could clearly be arranged to continue incorporating JLC and eighth periods.

While there are pros and cons to having anchor days, overall I think we need to take away the anchor and start sailing in a better direction. I think many would agree that the removal of anchor days could greatly help lighten students weekend workload, lessen backpack weights on Mondays, and foster a more efficient learning environment.

15 students from each class convened in front of the art gallery during lunch on Oct. 11 to depict their class’s homecoming theme by creating sculptures made out of canned food that will later be donated to charity.

The seniors, for their final homecoming at Jefferson, built a TV set surrounded by popular characters’ logos, for their theme “Fandom Frenzy.”

“Me and my partner heading the event, Pranavi Nara, started planning in August 2016,” senior Sean Tran said. “It was quite difficult to come up with the design, as our theme is quite broad, but we were happy with what we came up with.”

The freshmen’s homecoming theme is “Beauty and the Beast”, and their sculpture consisted of cans arranged to form two “Bs”.

“One of them was supposed to be very pristine looking and perfect to represent beauty, Belle, and the other is very not-perfect, like we had a bunch of pasta boxes and [it was] very uneven and that’s to represent Beast,” freshman Lucas Bronstein said.

Meanwhile, the sophomores created a TV playing a title card for a television show, following the theme “Seasonal Switchup.” While most classes gathered cans and boxes of nonperishable food items by directly asking for cans, but the juniors collected money donations to purchase cans for the sculpture.

“We decided on making an image of a turtle, it’s a land and sea animal and land and sea is our theme,” junior Nicholas Begotka said. “We decided to do that because when creating the image you need a specific number or each color of cans.”

Though this may have given the juniors a slight advantage in assembling the cans, other students are not concerned by it.

“We have always asked the class for canned food donations, and it has worked for the past two years I have led it. It makes the process feel more personal,” Tran said. “But, it’s not something to worry about. It all goes to charity, so if you get more cans, why not?”

As many students conjectured, the seniors won the sculpture contest, and won 300 points. The juniors, freshmen and sophomores were awarded 250, 200 and 150 points respectively.

Expect to see new changes with the homecoming t-shirts at TJ this year, as a result of the SGA’s (Student Government Association) and class councils’ efforts.

Starting with this year’s homecoming, all t-shirts will be black and have the same design across the four classes. TJ’s faculty and students have voiced their opinion in favor of the change, as there are numerous benefits including a larger emphasis on school unity than class unity, and less aggressive competition.

“I always felt that making t-shirt part of homecoming a competition singled out the students. One is singled out as in they win, but the other students are singled out because they lost”, TJ’s football coach and math teacher, Michael Auerbach said. “Why not show school unity by having everybody wear a shirt that’s the same color as this jersey, which is black. So, it kind of shows that the whole school supports the football team.”

Along with TJ faculty, much of the SGA and class council students are in favor of this change for similar reasons.

“I loved the idea because it’s a fun way to switch up the traditional homecoming events, while hopefully serving as a reminder that although homecoming week may be a competition between classes, we ultimately come out together on Friday night to support our team”, class council member and t-shirt designer Sherry Xie said.

Although most SGA members, class council, and TJ faculty members have shown approval and excitement over the t-shirt homecoming change this year, there are still some drawbacks of making the t-shirt more unified across the classes. For example, the tradition of having a class t-shirt competition is lost in the process, which concerns some TJ faculty and students.

“I haven’t heard any of the SGA kids, who I am with on a regular basis, mourn the loss of the individual t-shirts, at least for this year. Even the seniors, who could be the most affected by this, have all been positive at least from when I’ve talked to them. People don’t like to get rid of traditions — 100 percent true”, SGA sponsor and math department division manager Marianne Razzino said.

Even with the t-shirt design changes, the class colors will still be worn at the pep rallies this week. It is encouraged that students wear their black t-shirt to the homecoming football game this Friday night.

“Everyone should still be wearing class colors and togas for the pep rally. The shirts can be worn during the rest of the day and definitely at the game”, Xie said.

On a final note, this year serves as a trial for homecoming t-shirt change. There is a possibility that the t-shirt change will occur next year if the votes after this year’s homecoming consider this homecoming t-shirt idea to be a success.

“There is a chance that this will happen in the future”, Razzino said. “Talk to your class officers, you know they go to the homecoming packet meeting and they can say, ‘Yeah we’d love to keep t-shirt this way or oh my gosh that was a terrible experiment’. They’re the ones who do everything and it really is student government.”

Admittedly, I had been waiting for the date to arrive since the moment I first booked my tickets six months prior.  Seeing Adele in concert has been one of my biggest dreams since “Hello,” and it finally became a reality at the Verizon Center on Oct. 11.  Yes, I saw Adele live – and it was more than just a performance.  It was an experience.

Adele’s voice is phenomenal.  Hearing it in a music video or through a television screen is one thing, but hearing it in person is another entirely.  She commands the stage with an enrapturing presence, and it’s clear that she puts her whole heart into every note she sings.  She shows off her immense vocal range in songs like “When We Were Young,” adds a hint of attitude and flair with “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” and gets raw and raspy in “Set Fire to the Rain” – all in the span of two hours.  Her ability to master a myriad of vocal techniques and combine them with a sincere delivery left me, along with the rest of the Verizon Center, speechless.

But perhaps what surprised me the most from the concert was the realization that Adele is more than just a singer – she’s human, too.  In between songs, she took the time to talk to her audience, asking us how we were feeling and if we were liking the show so far.  She candidly joked about the struggles of maintaining her balance on a stool during the acoustic section of the concert, then gushed about stalking her favorite singers on Google.  I was one of thousands of attendees at the concert, but the night still felt very personal.  I came away feeling not only blown away by Adele’s voice, but also her ability to connect with people just by being who she is.  Even though it’s been a few days since I packed myself into an auditorium of thousands and sang along to all of my favorite songs, I can’t help but relive moments from the concert in my head over and over again because I don’t want to forget a second.  

I first fell in love with Adele after hearing “Rolling in the Deep,” and haven’t looked back since.  Hearing Adele sing live in concert took me back to that very first moment.  It reminded me what I love so much about Adele and her songs – that while her command of her voice is stunning, it’s her ability to bring listeners together that truly makes her special.  

Oh, Adele.  I doubt we’ll ever find someone like you.

For easier viewing: https://www.thinglink.com/scene/843685941456404481

HeartScribe is an app that allows to users to log information about symptoms, blood pressure and weight. This information can then be sent to medical practitioners as well as caregivers, who also play a role in looking over a patient’s health data. Senior Rohan Taneja started developing the app in March after his grandfather was diagnosed with heart failure, and his main goal for the app was to make sure it could be utilized by users of all ages. In order to learn more about the app, tjTODAY interviewed Taneja about it and the process behind creating it.

Q: Do you mind telling me a little more about your grandfather, who inspired you to create the app?

A: Two years ago he had heart failure, so he started saying home a lot more, and he looked a lot worse and he had to go to the hospital very frequently. A year ago I started to get involved in his treatment so I saw the types of notes he was taking. He had to record his blood pressure, his symptoms, his blood sugar levels, and other data. He would write it himself, and it was kind of messy because he was really weak and couldn’t write legibly, so I figured his doctor couldn’t read it because I myself couldn’t read it. In January I had the idea of an electronic way of recording this data. He passed away in March but he got to see the app before that, and he did like it, and I just want to help other people.

Q: How long did it take to develop the app?

A: It took around three months. I was new to programming when I started so it took me a few hours every day, but that’s just because I was learning the language. I think coding an app like that now would take me around three weeks.

Q: Did you work with someone to create this app, or did someone guide you throughout the process?

A: My dad motivated me to work on it, but he himself didn’t know how to work on it. My parents gave me motivation, but I had to learn how to do it myself.

Q: What exactly do you want people to get out of this app?

A: I think it’s just important that people tell their grandparents and their parents that they can get involved with technology, because the big thing with apps these days is that they’re mostly aimed towards younger populations, and the fact is that technology can help everyone. So if you develop technology for seniors, you can use the things we’re using nowadays to help them, and they’re usually the ones who have the worst chronic conditions, so I think it’s just important to get them more involved with technology.

Q: When are you planning on making it available on the App Store and online?

A: It’s actually available on Google Play right now, and I’m working on the Apple version right now, which should be available in January.

Q: What do you think is something unique about your app that similar apps may not have?

There’s a few other apps on the app store that are made for people who have diabetes or blood pressure problems, but they only record only blood pressure or only glucose, they don’t record everything that is involved in heart failure. My app is more catered towards people who have heart failure. The biggest thing is that other apps are usually made for people who are 30 or 40 at most, but parents can’t figure out how to use them because they have tons of buttons and complicated graphs, and they’re not made for people who are 70 or 80 who actually have these conditions. HeartScribe is extremely simple and it only has six big buttons, and it’s catered towards seniors who can use it without assistance, so it kind of empowers them.

Q: What do you suggest someone do if they want to create their own app?

You just need YouTube and a drive. You also have to care about what you’re working on. With this app I didn’t care enough to make it until my grandfather’s condition got really bad. That’s when I realized that it was worth spending several hours a week working on it, so you just have to be passionate about it, and you have to be willing to be patient with learning the process.

Q: What’s something you got out of this experience that you really enjoyed?

I got to visit senior citizen centers after the app came out, and I became more aware of how widespread of a problem heart failure and other chronic diseases are in America. Several people in the county alone have some of these diseases, so it made me a lot more aware. It also took a lot of patience because when I first went to a senior center, a lot of the people there couldn’t use the app until I made adjustments, so making an app as simple as possible is the only way you can get senior citizens involved.

A: Can you please tell me a little more about visiting senior centers?

I think it was about June when I started visiting senior centers, and the purpose of that was so that I could see how the app had to be modified, and also so I could get input about what they thought about the app, and if they were able to use it. I also wanted to get feedback about the app from people who had Android phones who could get download it and start using it. That was pretty successful and I got a lot of people to start using the app by just visiting the centers. Also, that’s where I got the advice to make the buttons bigger and just make the app more simple in general.

A: Are you planning on doing anything to raise awareness about the app?

News about the app was published in the Fairfax Times, and I’m pretty sure that should help a lot with getting the word out to seniors. If I also get out information out about my website, I think more seniors will be able to see it and find out what it’s about it. In the future I want to email app review websites or probably get the information to more newspapers.

One police officer’s fight for life. An evil twin’s mission to usurp the life of her sister. The first meeting of a now-newlywed couple.  Somehow, the CW’s “Jane the Virgin” manages to successfully integrate all of these plotlines, along with emotional baggage galore, into its season three premiere.

The show’s initial premise was of Jane (Gina Rodriguez) becoming accidentally artificially inseminated with the baby of rich hotel owner Rafael Solano (Justin Baldoni).  Since then, it has incorporated a host of lovable and not-so-lovable characters into a consistently captivating narrative.  The first episode of its third season was no exception.

The overall arc of the episode itself is extremely sad – and it’s supposed to be.  The night of his marriage to Jane, Michael (Brett Dier) is shot point-blank by crime lord Sin Rostro (Bridget Regan), who has been masquerading as his police partner for almost a season.  Jane finds him, helps rush him to the hospital and struggles to stay calm in a situation that is anything but.  Gina Rodriguez’s performance in this episode is simply phenomenal, poignantly capturing the breadth of Jane’s feelings – worry for her husband’s life, uncertainty when a key medical decision is put into her hands and just pure grief.  When Jane holds her emotions in long enough to step away from her family, then lets them out in wracking sobs when she’s finally alone, it’s impossible not to choke back some tears of our own.  

But what really made this episode one of the show’s best was its use of other storylines to supplement the main arc.  In this episode, we also learn about one of Jane and Michael’s first encounters – namely, how Jane worked through a “love triangle” between Michael and long-time crush Sam (Miles Gaston Villanueva).  When Michael pulls Sam’s car over while he is on a date with Jane, effectively busting her, it’s hard not to stifle a laugh.  The juxtaposition of this storyline with the heart-wrenching hospital narrative occurring simultaneously is one that wouldn’t work on any show other than this show.  “Jane the Virgin” ties intense grief, light-hearted humor and tender love all into one episode, and does it brilliantly.

There are a myriad of plotlines just waiting to be explored in season three of “Jane the Virgin,” and its stellar premiere sets up a promising outlook for just about all of them.  If anything, the episode is a reminder of just how unique this show is – there is always another plot twist lurking just around the corner.

Anticipation of homecoming started almost a month ago when asking week began on September 26th. After two weeks of watching askings, students had a week of pep rallies, spirit days, and competitions between classes during the week of Homecoming. This past Saturday night homecoming was finally completed with the dance which took place in Gym I.

While the dance went on from eight to eleven, most students did not stay for the entirety of it. My homecoming group spent a lot of time at dinner and taking photos before the dance. Some groups went to the start of the dance and then left to go to parties at people’s houses. Other groups skipped the dance altogether and went to other activities.

Although I wasn’t at the entire function, I really enjoyed homecoming. I have to say, I think the fun of it was less about the actual dancing and more about getting together with friends.

The dance seemed to be mostly filled with freshmen, with a small percent of upperclassmen attending. It was nice to see the freshmen enjoying themselves and being a part of the school, but as a sophomore I wish that more people from my class went.

Most of the cheering at the dance was a good way to get people excited and spirited, however I did not appreciate when students started chanting class cheers out on the dance floor. I’m all for spirit, but the homecoming dance is a place for students of all grades to come together after a week of competition between the classes. At the dance, I noticed many students actually leaving the dance floor because they were not a part of the grade that was chanting, and it ruined the feel of school unity in my opinion.

Despite this aspect of the dance, there were a lot of improvements from last year. At this dance, there was a lot of food and snacks for students, my favorite being the chocolate fountain. I know a lot of people enjoyed the snacks, and as a school known to love food, I think it was smart to invest in more food than last year. There was also a photo booth station that had props that could be used to take funny group photos. These things served as fun activities for people who wanted a break from dancing, or just did not want to dance at all.

The DJ was also really interactive with the students and kept encouraging everyone to get energized. I thought the music was pretty good overall, although there were some songs that it seemed a lot of people were not familiar with or did not feel like dancing to. For the most part though, the songs were fun to dance to, and I think the DJ this year was a good selection.

While I think there are some aspects of the dance that could be improved, I would definitely go to the dance again if it was as fun as it was this year. I encourage people who like to party with friends, whether they are good at dancing or not, to attend.