Students fear athletics taking priority over arts program

By KELLY TOPITA, Archbishop Spalding High School

Throughout Maryland, the creativity and mental-stimulation of students is contingent upon quality of school sponsored art programs.

In 2005, construction began for a new $5.2 million gymnasium at Archbishop Spalding High School; meanwhile, some music students were having classes in a storage room. The argument for new gym was that it was a facility which would benefit the whole student body, providing a place for dances, a fitness center open to the entire student body, and eight new classrooms. However, the ones who will inevitably get the most use out of the gymnasium are the athletes. When art programs are overcrowded and short on supplies, it begs the question, do schools focus their attention more on athletics than they do on art?

"If it was art fair over football, it'd be football all the way," says Becky Katafiasz, a senior at Northeast High School. Obviously not every school can boast both outstanding athletic and art programs, but it is important for schools to supply a healthy balance between physical activity and creative thinking for students of all ages.

"Different schools are going to have their strong points with different things," says Karissa Strawley, a music student, and member of Archbishop Spalding's Women's Varsity Ice Hockey Team.

In the debate between art and athletics, art students feel their programs are being compromised whether they are visual-such as painting or sculpture-musical-either instrumental or choral-or performing arts-like dance or theatre.

Renee Tobin, the art chair at Archbishop Spalding, has an average class size of about thirty people, leaving her unable to provide each student with personalized attention. Due to a desperate lack of materials and funding, she has purchased art supplies for her students' use herself. Of course there are annual concerts and plays, but there are grievously few school-sponsored poetry readings or art exhibits.

Christina King, a senior and choral scholarship student at Archbishop Spalding High School, admits there are many people interested in athletics "so schools feel they have to focus more on sports to attract people." The widespread interest in sports may also be due in part to scheduling.

"Sports perform more often," says Brittany Benson. She has been a member of the Archbishop Spalding choir for three years. "Any average Joe can play- just look how many people make the football teams. You need skilled people for art."

"If they had more art classes," says Stefanie Paskal, a varsity lacrosse player and member of the Vocal Ensemble at Archbishop Spalding, "it would allow students who need other credits and have conflicting schedules a better chance to participate in music and arts."

Possibly the most important thing needed for a wholesome experience of the arts is space. Whether students are on stage, playing in the band, or working with oil paints, an essential part of creation is breathing room.

Every child, teenager, and young adult deserves the opportunity to pursue an interest in the arts-whether it is painting, or playing an instrument, or performing on stage. If more people would advocate the arts and lobby for more funds and facilities for the fine arts, every student would have the ability to thrive in whatever area of art interests and suits them. All schools from kindergarten through the high school and college levels owe it to their students to provide them with the opportunity to experience art.

By CHRISTINA ROSS, Archbishop Spalding High School

According to USA Today, 42 percent of American adults approve of Bush, 54 percent brutally refute his actions, and, knowing that, the question of how the teenage population is going to make their voices heard, regarding the war, begs for an answer.

The majority of the major statistics about the war, taken in the United States, are based on the opinions of adults. However, today's generation of teens are the next voice of action, and their opinions are going to have an immense effect on the world to come. When asked whether or not the war that America is involved with currently against terrorism is justified, Mick Klakring, a local Republican teen, said, "Yes, because terrorism can't just be ignored or left alone to flourish and kill more innocent people (as) it already has done."

However, Alex Murray, a politically independent teen from Crownsville, claims that, "the war we are fighting at this very moment has [nothing to do with terror." He suggests that the war is related to oil and America's dependence on it.

Laura Garrett, a Democrat and a junior at Seton Keough, wonders why troops are still stationed in Iraq and comments that, "We freed them from Saddam, (but now) we're their mom, trying to help them with everything, and more and more of our people are getting killed."

The teens of Maryland have differing views concerning the topic of terrorism, much like the adult world. Teens debate and challenge each other on their political views, regarding current events, knowing that they are preparing themselves for the world to come and their influence upon it.

What is the United States fighting? What do the teens think that America is actually at war with? Alex makes the point that, "You can't fight an 'ism.' You can fight a nation, a regime, or a singleperson, but you cannot fight and expect to defeat an 'ism.' Terrorism is an 'ism.' Will it ever end? Aside from all out nuclear warfare . . . not in my lifetime."

When it comes to a plan of action, many teens have ideas regarding America's future in world affairs. Some teens, like Laura, think that once a new president is elected, this nation will "come to its senses and get us out of there." But other, more optimistic teens, such as Mick think that "terrorism will begin to struggle, and only really end if everyone supports the war and prevents it from spreading throughout the world."

By ALEX LUDKA, Archbishop Spalding High School

The growing difference in statistics of the number of divorced and married parents in Maryland in recent years creates an astonishing and eye-opening gap.

Recently, divorce has become an accepted and normal principle of a teen's life. No longer forbidden or unheard of, roughly 50 percent of marriages ended in divorce in 1997 reports DivorceMagazine.com. Since 1997, the average divorce rate has become 2.5 million per year. This is a titanic contrast from the statistics shown for the 1950s, when the percentage of divorced couples was down to 2 percent.

According to the United States Census Bureau, in the year 2005, 53.4 percent of citizens age 15 and older were married. The same year, 18.2 percent were divorced. The increase in divorce rate from 1 percent in 1900 to 2005 is almost inconceivable.

Although the percentage of divorce has increased in the 21st century, the difficulty for teens to cope has in no way decreased. Over one million children are involved in new divorces every year. An Archbishop Spalding alumnus, Steve Bonolis, has parents who separated when he was a junior at Spalding. When the separation occurred, he said "it changed everything." He said his attitude and way of life was altered by his experiences.

Another victim of divorce, Spalding senior Matt Graves, had a slightly different take on his parents' divorce. The divorce occurred when Matt was only six years old. "I cried a lot but I eventually accepted it," he says. His dad was remarried when Matt was 12 years old. "Of course I wish my parents were still together. Some of the happiest times of my life were with my family before they got divorced." Statistics show that the likelihood of new marriages ending in divorce in 1997 was 43 percent. The truth presents countless questions about love, marriage and if the two could ever co-exist in society today.

Divorce has an enormous impact on everyone involved, especially teenagers. Adolescents whose parents are divorced often engage in destructive behaviors such as drinking, smoking, and self-mutilation. Several teens who were interviewed supported this fact. One student even stated, "Being a teenager is hard enough. Imagine having the one stable thing in your life be completely broken in half. You look to your parents for guidance and as role models. To see them suffering is unbearable. To see that they're not perfect is definitely a realization that came to me sooner than it should have."

Another theory supported by teens is that the younger the child is when the divorce or separation occurs, the easier it is to cope. A teen that has grown up with two parents that were always there might have a much harder time accepting that his or her parents are no longer together. On the contrary, a child under the age of ten may not have the memories or need for such stability in life. Steve Bonolis said, "There are so many more ways to escape things when you're older." By escaping the reality of life, teens everywhere are delaying the time in which they will accept their parents' divorce, making the separation even more difficult to handle.

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