Windsock

Milk in Crisis

A horrible atrocity has occurred at this fair institution, one which has shaken our beloved community to its very core. The screams of protest ring loud and clear, torn from the throats of the suffering masses, all crying out "Where is the 2% milk?"

If you didn't notice(you boorish philistine), the standard, wonderful purest 2% milk has been replaced by a gross, putrescent imitation, that is 1% milk. The very appearance of it disgusts me. Under the guise of being more health conscious the overbearing lunch staff hegemony has decided that the 1% milk being lower in fat, is more healthy than the 2%. Even if this were true (highly unlikely- Has the lunch staff ever been really concerned about your health? Consider Breakfast for Lunch. Yeah, I dont want to either) aren't we we losing something precious and integral to the our school experience? 1% just doesn't have the same aesthetic appeal that 2% has. Lunch doesn't feel right without 2% milk. 1% milk is not even half of what 2% milk is (despite the mathematical evidence). This is why I hope you join me in a mass protest of this travesty. 2% milk is the only milk that is fit to drink (can I get an Amen? Post it in the comments).

- Joe Phillips

The Tests are Coming! The Tests are Coming!

Tomorrow is the day that students throughout EMHS will clutch sharpened #2 pencils and fill out circle after mind numbing circle on Tera Nova, ACT, and PSAT test forms. For a school with such a diversity of perspectives on even the most uncontroversial subjects, the students of EMHS have expressed a remarkable uniformity of opinion concerning Testing Day. There is no controversy here. October 17th is the day of doom, nothing more, and certainly not anything less.

"Horrible!" the sophomores groan. "Awful! We are all dreading it. It will be the end of our lives."  Senior Freeman Bendfeldt reflects on past years of his experience as a veteran test taker: "My hands would hurt from writing so much and filling in bubbles that are a waste of time. It was an awful experience. I wanted to escape."

Despite students' less-than-rosy view of the process, EMHS has found these tests to be an indispensable tool in determining the school's strengths and weaknesses. Though the tests are not perfect, they give a surprisingly accurate profile of EMHS students' abilities. In the past, EMHS as a whole has performed well, scoring an average 84% where most public schools score an average 50%.

- Hannah Cranston

Basil Marin: Spiritual Renewal Week

Another Spiritual Renewal week has come and gone. Another week of long chapels and short bells, of good moods and 'Wasn't it awesome how?'s.' Another week of experiencing community and love. Another week of EMHS as One.

Our speaker was Basil Marin (left), father of sophomore Liz Marin. He used the week to tell us about how we have the "Power to Connect Four," with the sub theme "YOU are Highly Favored."

At first, this reporter was under the impression he was being told that he was highly flavored, but after getting that misconception out of the way, he got to thinking. What does it mean to be highly favored? Does it mean you're mom's golden boy? Does it mean you're the teacher's pet? How does this change how we behave? If you knew, walking into a classroom, that the teacher loved and cared about you immensely, would that change how you acted? Would you always be on the move to impress them, or would you take that gift of love for granted, and treat it as diplomatic immunity, unconditional? I'd like to challenge each and every one of you, as well as myself, to look upon God's favor as gift. He didn't HAVE to love us. He doesn't HAVE to forgive us every time we fall. This is God's choice. His forgiving spirit is what gives us life.

Family, Friends, Others and Self. Basil talked at length about how we, through the grace of Christ Jesus, can connect these in our life. Family plays a major role in every Christian's life. Family are those who will love you when you love them, and love you when you hate them.

Friends. Friends are those you can always go to. Even when the world seems to have forgotten you're there, your friends know. Your friends will speak the truth, even when they know it won't be popular.

Others. This means you. You are "Others" to almost everyone you see. Make a difference while being an "Other." Change the way people view people, and you will have made a serious impact on someone's life. Be a smiling unfamiliar face.

Self. This also means you. This means you and no one else. No one but you, God, and the Devil can be the voice in your head, no one but you can make your decisions. God gives us complete freedom in how we live our lives, for love without an alternative is no love at all. God makes us choose for ourselves to follow him. He sent his son to pay atonement for our faults, and he died for all, but that doesn't mean that we can't spit in his face. That doesn't mean that we can't reject him. We need to accept God's gift of love and accept God's gift of grace. You have the power to connect four, and you are highly favored. Believe this, live if this out and I guarantee you'll never look back.

- Mikey Cranston

SAT Scores Are In....

The SAT Reasoning Test. Even if you haven't taken it, you've certainly heard of it.

The grueling multi-hour assessment, with its strange, partially wordless title (the letters "SAT" don't stand for anything,) its controversial essay section, and its seemly infinite rows of answer bubbles, is a primary factor in the admissions process at many colleges and universities. Most of EMHS's students will have taken the test by the time they graduate. Some seniors have taken it already; for others, the SAT yet looms in the future, ominous, inevitable, and potentially disastrous in perception, sort of like Norse Mythology's Battle of Ragnarok, except much less interesting.

The good news is that, despite the SAT's intimidating nature, EMHS students tend to do surprisingly well on it. Last year, Eastern Mennonite students averaged 565 on the math section, 562 on the reading section, and 554 on the writing section, compared with national averages of 515, 502, and 494, respectively. The scores are made more impressive by the fact that around eighty five percent of EMHS's seniors took the test, while, according to Guidance Counselor Tina Glanzer, only forty to sixty percent of seniors take the test in many public schools. Because the students most likely to do well on the test are those most likely to take it, having a higher percentage of students take the test tends to translate to lower average scores.

Mrs. Glanzer believes that a number of factors are responsible for EMHS's impressive showing. Parents who send their children to EMHS generally have the desire and financial ability to give their kids a top-quality education, and EMHS, in her opinion, is equipped to help give students such an education. "I think that learning is valued by the parents here," she said, "and, of course, we value it." She also believes the the school's "faith aspect," with its accompanying work ethic, helps the students achieve academic success.

Some have criticized the heavy importance placed on the SAT by the American educational system. Mrs. Glanzer sympathizes somewhat, saying that the SAT is "overvalued," but that, though imperfect, the SAT and the similar ACT are vital tools in evaluating college bound students. All the same, she stresses that regardless of a student's future educational plans, developing solid work habits is as or more important than performing well on any single test.

- Dustin Crummett

What is Reaccreditation?

Why is reaccreditation important to you? Going to an accredited school means your school has complied with certain standards. These standards are nationally recognized and therefore give official recognition to the students at EMHS.

Receiving your college transcript from an accredited school gives the transcipt more weight. In addition, the behind the scenes work done to keep our school accredited looks better to anyone hiring or evaluating a person's education. While it's easy to not realize all the work that goes into EMHS's reaccreditation, each of the faculty members, many of the teachers and a fair number of students and parents contribute to this lengthy process every five years.

Reaccreditation is the process by which a school, every five years, checks up to see how it is doing on the self-created goals and ideals which it and an outside committee created earlier. Of course, this whole process has to be planned out in some manner.

The accreditation steering committee, made up of Ernie Martin, Steve Yoder, Kim Johnson, Susan Guengerich, and headed by Sherman Eberly, is the committee which organizes and assigns jobs to the rest of the teachers and faculty. The teachers and faculty then look at their assigned aspect of the school. Every department of EMHS gets self studied in this very involved process.

They try to see if EMHS is up to the standards it says it's up to. Of course, outside professionals also come in and review everything, normally trying to check into every classroom, evaluating each area of the school.

The accreditation process also includes a very in-depth initial study. In this study, a visiting committee comes onto the campus for three days, meeting with faculty, parents, and students, eventually writing up recommendations for the school. This study was done last in 2002, and is a much larger event than the upcoming interim visit.

The current committee will write up informed reports based on how well they think the school is following the recommendations given by the visiting committee. The visiting committee will look at the reports, and around at the school, determining whether EMHS is doing everything that it said it would do at the initial study. The amount of writing done, just for an idea of how much work actually goes into this, is around 93 pages for this interim visit.

The committee was afraid, not too long ago, that it might have to do even more work. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and the Virginia Association of Independent Schools (VAIS) are both school accrediting organizations. EMHS used to only get accredited with SACS, but due to inner turmoil within the organization, EMHS didn't get listed among the rest of Virginia's accredited schools. EMHS decided to include VAIS after that, because the committee decided it was safer, just in case SACS fell through.Luckily, the workload required to get accredited by both instead of just one wasn't that much more work, only having to write one report for both organizations, so EMHS thought it would be worth it.

The amount of work done behind the scenes to make EMHS tick is truly amazing.

- Eric Broderson

Ted and Lee: The Show Must Go On

September 18, 2007: Ted Swartz and Canadian actor Jason Hildebrand, backed by local musician Trent Wagler, delivered a moving and humorous performance of “Fish Eyes” to several hundred receptive people at Eastern Mennonite High School. Until last spring Swartz was part of a well-known duo, Ted and Lee. Swartz’s partner and close friend of twenty years, Lee Eshleman, took his own life last May after a long-fought battle with depression.

“Lee hid his illness pretty well,” said Swartz (left, with Curt Cloninger), in an interview this week. “Lee would say that he was being the best he could be onstage.”

“The shows (without Eshleman) developed until I felt good about them,” said Swartz earlier this week. “The challenge was waiting for the other guys to develop their roles.” Swartz and Eshleman performed mostly religious comedies, delighting their Bible-literate audiences with a new twist on scripture and giving them permission to laugh affectionately at well known stories.

November, 1987: Ted Swartz planned to perform some short comedy pieces for a conference retreat before moving his young family to Harrisonburg, Virginia, in hopes of attending Eastern Mennonite University’s seminary. He intended to go into ministry. Several days before the conference, his weekend partner became unable to go. Faced with this dilemma, Swartz followed former university president Joe Lapp’s recommendation and asked Eshleman, a stranger at the time, to serve as a replacement. The weekend was a success. Though this was not the beginning of the partnership, it was the beginning of their friendship.

Returning to the present, “this past week was good,” said Sue Swartz, Ted’s wife and a teacher at
Eastern Mennonite High School, “I miss Lee, but I need to look at the shows they did as different.”

Overall I feel very positive about the direction,” she added. As good as the new team was, some audience members commented on there being a void where tall, goofy, talented Eshleman used to be. Yet, Sue noted that each actor brings something of himself into the roles and they will be portrayed quite differently depending on who plays them. She feels they will take on new life.

“One time this weird guy wanted to know how much they made,” began a memory of John Leonard, a tall, solidly built Eastern Mennonite High School English teacher who was a close friend to the duo. Smiling slightly he continued: “The guy kept bothering them about it and was becoming pretty agitated, so they put me in front of them to help protect them.” He laughed at the recollection. Since Ted & Lee were a tall pair, it seems unlikely that they would need too much protection.

Ted & Lee were under contract to film thirty two stories with Abington Press, a United Methodist publishing house, when Eshleman died. The publishers “didn’t rally have a choice (on continuing the project), they had so much time invested,” said Ted. He chose some of his many acting friends, often met on the road, to work with him on this major filming project— “people that I knew well. I thought it was important the wake of Lee’s death to be working with people that I knew.”

Leonard has known Ted and Sue Swartz since his childhood and was the ring bearer as a six-year-old at their wedding thirty-one years ago. As an adult Leonard spent free time back stage helping out with the Ted & Lee production. He usually traveled with them about once a year, calling himself “the Roadie.”

“Lee had us laughing pretty much nonstop,” Leonard notes, while reminiscing over the trips. “For some of their shows it was helpful to have someone along who knew the show. I did whatever needed to be done, lights, videotape, drive, etc.”

“Lee was much more cautious (than Ted),” said Sue. Lee was reluctant to start big projects like the recent filming turned out to be. During the interview, Ted mentioned that he always wanted Trent to do the music for the “Fish Eyes” show but that Lee thought it would be too much work. After Lee’s death, Ted was able to incorporate Trent’s music into the performance but, Lee was right, it was a lot of work.

“I think that Ted & Lee’s great gift was their ability to humanize the stories that we all revere in the Bible,” said Bonnie Lofton, who saw the production of “Fish Eyes” recently. “This gift has been preserved in the new production I saw. At times I laughed uproariously. I did notice, though, that the acting team enveloped Ted in hugs at intermission. This transition must be really hard for Ted to make.”

- Kara Lofton (picture courtesy of Ted Swartz)

Tutu Speaks at JMU

I am sitting at the press conference in a plastic folding chair, next to a large sign with the Gandhi Center Logo on it. It is overcast and many are concerned about the rain. I see a black sedan pull up, and a slightly hunched figure in the back seat, flanked by several escorts. He is wearing a rumpled cap and through a gap in his jacket, I can see a large, Anglican cross. This was the first time I ever laid eyes on Desmond Tutu, the famous and influential Noble Prize winner, whose brave actions led to the end of Apartheid.

He is old, but he moves a speaks with an energy that you would hardly expect from someone of his age. He retains a sense of humor, comparing himself at this press conference to "a lamb before slaughter." He spoke about "the world's deep hunger for peace," and praised the Gandhi Center for not giving up on human beings and their common sense of decency. He commented on inter-faith peace, saying that he could think of no faith that "promotes war, that promotes injustice and oppression." he also said that religion itself is morally neutral, and its adherents are what make faith good or bad.

On the subject of peacemaking in general he had this to say; "Frequently, it is not what people say; it could be a gesture or a smile...I have considerable faith in humans and we should not discount every little victory...soon like it is the sea, made up of little drops of water."

On the subject of AIDS in Africa, he said, "I think the gains we have made could be easily subverted by AIDS."

His speech was full of humor, and teachings that were targeted at peacemakers and Christians. He asserted that this is indeed a moral universe and that goodness and virtue do indeed win out over evil. He cites the recent struggle for supremacy of General Musharaff in Pakistan, and the crumbling of his power base, even lowering himself to the point of trying to negotiate with the very people he overthrew. He mentioned Milosevic, who was powerful, but eventually was tried before the Hague, a broken man. Archbishop Tutu called these men and others like them "the flotsam and jetsam of history." He closed by saying, "We are indeed made for goodness, for laughter, for gentleness, for caring, for sharing, for compassion, for we do indeed inhabit a moral universe and, yes, goodness is powerful."

- Joe Phillips

Peace Pole Placement

"May Peace Prevail on Earth." That is the slogan which is rerpeated in nine languages upon the many faces of EMHS's new peace pole. Peace poles, which were the brain child of Masahisa Goi, have been placed in over 200,000 locations in 180 countries by such figures as former president Jimmy Carter, The Dalai Lama, and Mother Teresa. September 21st is recognized as national Peace Day, and EMHS celebrated right along.

In chapel we had nine EMHS students stand up and recite, in their own language, one of the pole's readings. This included French (freshman Christophe Languet), Spanish (8th grader Kaitlin Torres), Swahili (junior Jenny Leaman) and others. The pole was then carried outside and placed in front of the school. Mr. Hartzler then led us in a song and we were dismissed to our 2nd period classes.

As I entered the building and saw all my classmates laughing and smiling, I was reminded that every day can be Peace Day if that's what you want. All it takes is a Christ-like attitude and an open heart.

- Mikey Cranston (Photo by Helen Furry)

Do the Rot Thing: Composting

Last year two seniors, David Jost and Nathan Hershberger, developed an interesting proposal. They wanted to see if the school would start composting the uneaten food from lunch, instead of throwing it away. The proposal hit several red lights and did not go through.

Nathan said that they had talked to Paul Leaman and Eunice Kratz, our food services director, about composting. Mr. Leaman was cautiously supportive, but wondered about the management, odor, and vermin. Mrs. Kratz said she could put a bin up and label it for composting. Nearing the end of the year Dustin Crummett, our SCO President, promised to get the school involved in composting.

At the beginning of this year the SCO began discussing plans for composting. Concerns had come up about vermin the management and accountability of a compost pile. According to Rose Jantzi the SCO wants to start with smaller projects first, such as recycling.

         One idea that arose as another method of food disposal was feeding a piglet with the food scraps. This would help a piglet grow and when it was older it could be butchered to possibly make some money. Composting could generate some money if it was sold, or it could be used as an alternative for mulch.

Some students, like Nathan, have decided to take their own composting measures. He has suggested using compost tumblers at EMHS, but until then he might take the food scraps home for his family’s pigs.

        Eric Bendfeldt, an Area Specialist for Community Viability, has done work in the past with composting and has agreed to help our school with the composting proposal. He said there are several concerns that could be eliminated through efficient composting and management, such as flies, odor, vermin and feral dogs.

       Each day the fruits and vegetables could be collected and added to more mature compost, which could be purchased locally. They could then be mixed in and covered by sawdust from the Tech Ed classes, which would eliminate the odor and stop animals from coming.

       We would need an appropriate site and supplies for the compost pile. Compost requires a slight slope so rainwater will not collect around it. The supplies necessary would be bins, made by wood or chicken wire, mature compost, a pitchfork and scoop, and sawdust. Once we found a site the supplies would be fairly easy to come by, according to Eric Bendfeldt.

Our New Internet Firewall

A new policy has been put into practice this year concerning the schools computer access; an internet firewall has been put into place. The administration has thought it prudent to do so, due to the trouble  last year with viruses and slow processor speed. When asked why, Mr. Leaman said, "Last year the computers ran really slowly, because they had to scan all the websites as we were visiting them... Now the firewall sever scans the websites first, so the regular sever is not working as hard." The new firewall is using what Mr. Leaman says is the standard school package that the supplying company provides, blocking social networks, blogs, shopping websites, websites involving weaponry, and other websites deemed appropriate. "if something is heavy in sales, that type is blocked," said Mr. Leaman.

However, there are some initial problems with the new firewall. According to Mr. Leaman, the new firewall has 100 slots, or licenses, that allow different profiles to access the internet. This would not be  a problem, but according to Mr. Leaman, "Once logged on, its counts as a slot even once the profile is logged off, so what we've found is that we are capping at 100 licenses too easily, and people are unable to access the internet at all, even emhs.net," Mr. Leaman said. Another 100 profiles have been ordered, but until then, the problem has to be manually corrected.

Another point is the student opinion. At the beginning of the year, a point was raised that the popular internet encyclopedia, Wikipedia, was blocked by the firewall. Many students use Wikipedia as a research tool, and were angered by the lack of access. The issue was quickly corrected, but had raised doubts in some over the overall usefulness of the firewall. "There's no consideration of the fact that you have different age groups and maturity levels...There's no consideration of the fact that a 12th grader may need to look at questionable content for a paper versus a 6th grader  looking at questionable content" [just because they can], said Student Body President Dustin Crummett. Opposition to the new firewall may shift policy slightly, but for right now, the administration seems dead set on maintaining the current restrictions on internet access.

-Joe Phillips (Photo by Annie Brunk)