Mountain Brook Scholar's Bowl Returns After Hiatus

→ Scholar’s bowl, page 3
→ Yik Yak’s short-lived rampage, page 5
→ Just a Chat with Eli York, page 10
→Best of Birmingham: Dating Destinations, page 12
→ Alabama’s new 7A class, page 15
INSIDE
SNOWPACOLYPSE 2014
page 11
the Sword & Shield
Vol. XLVIII No. 4 Mountain Brook High School February 24, 2014
Spartan swag heads to
the Final Four
Womens basketball
ends successful season
Photo courtesy of Image Arts
Junior guard Tawarren Grant handles the ball in the Spartans’ 77-68 win against Wenonah.
to compete in the third final four
(and second in two years) in school
history.
Following a year where the
Spartans made history, winning the
first state championship in school
history, seniors Patrick Keim, Alex
Peters, Spencer Einhorn, Ben
Shearer, Matthew Weisman, and
Will Brewster are hungry to expe-rience
the same accomplishment.
See “Mens Basketball,”
continued on page 16
and 6 rebounds to this
game as well.
“I felt more motivated
since the boys won last
year” said junior Neely Francis. “It
shows that it can be done, and that
hard work pays off.”
The Mountain Brook’s Lady
Spartans Varsity basketball team
had yet another winning regular
season with an overall record of 22
Senior Mary Katherine Pinson attacks the basket in the
Spartans’ 56-36 game against Vestavia.
wins to 8 losses and also ranked
#8 in the state in 6A. Ogilvie led
the team in points with 285 for the
season and sophomore Sara Carr
led the team in rebounds with 70.
See “Womens Basketball,”
continued on page 17
By ALEC LEWIS
Sports Editor
In what was arguably the great-est
regular season in Mountain
Brook basketball history, the neon
has returned to style as the Spar-tans
are headed to play at the BJCC
to play in the Final 48.
With wins against Vestavia
and Woodlawn, Gardendale,
Lee-Huntsville, and Grissom, the
Spartans have advanced to the
BJCC for the second straight year
By BROOKE TUCKER
Staff Writer
She shoots, she scores!
The Lady Spartans lived
up to their expectations
by getting to the fourth
round in the playoffs for
the third year in a row.
They played a nail-bit-ing
game that went into
overtime against Hunts-ville
at Jacksonville State
and the final score was
69-64 in the Huntsville
Panthers favor.
Unstoppable sopho-more
Sarah Carr led the
team with 16 points at
halftime and 31 points in
all. Senior Collier Ogil-vie
contributed 12 points
Annie Reich crowned Miss Olympian 2014
By NATALIE JONES
Staff Writer
Mountain Brook High School’s
Miss Olympian Pageant proved to
be another sell-out success on Feb.
1, 2014.
Despite having a week off from
pageant practices and rehearsals due
to weather conditions, the pageant
staff was still able to pull off the
event without any delays.
One of the pageant’s Directors of
Production, senior Virginia Flem-ing,
said, “We worked around our
very limited schedule and put on a
pageant that we were truly proud
of. I think I can speak for everyone
involved in the making of the Miss
Olympian Pageant when I say we
devoted all of our time and work to
making this the best pageant yet.”
Fleming was on Mountain Brook
High School’s pageant staff along
with fellow senior staff members
Caroline Bramlett, Elizabeth
Hymer, Mae Rose Tyson, Beatrice
Kalish, Allie LeJune, Sarah Cain,
Cate Armstrong, Molly Barstein,
and Hallie West.
Junior staff members included
Emily Owen Mendelsohn, Mary
Seldon Andrews, Catherine Turn-er,
Mallie Given, Cate Harmon,
Emma Abele, and Sarah Bragg.
The MBHS Miss Olympian
staff is in charge of publicizing the
pageant as well as orchestrating the
event.
Publicity Chair Catherine
Turner said, “It was great seeing a
full auditorium. Everyone is always
excited to come out and support
their friends in the pageant.”
The pageant was divided into
group dances, a talent portion, and
an eveningwear showcase. Judges
scored the 18 contestants based on
Photos courtesy of Image Arts
Top left: The contestants line up in their group dance costumes. Bottom left: (from left)
male escorts included seniors John North, Austin Chapman, Larkin Delk, and Trace
Blakely. Right: Junior Annie Reich receives the Miss Olympian crown.
See “Miss Olympian,” continued on page 3
News: 2-6 Features: 7-10 Sports: 14-17 Reviews: 18 Opinions: 19-20

2news
Letter from the editors
The Sword & Shield
Co-Editor-in-Chief: Olivia Burton
Co-Editor-in-Chief: Rick Lewis
Art & Photography Editor: Claire Davis
News Editor: Kary Reynolds
Sports Editor: Alec Lewis
Features Editor: Ben Jackson
Opinions Editor: Mary Nix Roberson
Reviews Editor: Brooks Glover
Business Manager: Mathilde Sharman
Managing Editor: Sarah Michel
Staff Writers
Sponsors: Ms. Catherine Lowe and Mr. Peter Perez
Letters to the Editors Policy
The Sword & Shield welcomes Letters to the Editors from its readers. We re-serve
the right to edit any letters for grammar, length, or libel; however, the
meaning will be preserved. Whenever possible, changes made with a letter will
be discussed with the author prior to publication. All letters must be signed, but
names may be withheld upon request. Email letters to gosands@gmail.com.
The Sword & Shield
Mountain Brook High School
3650 Bethune Drive
Mountain Brook, AL 35223
Telephone: (205) 414-3800
Fax: (205) 969-8113
Printing made possible by
Alabama Web Press
1793 Eva Road
Cullman, AL 35055
Telephone: (256) 734-5104
John Cooper
Will Davis
Chandler Gory
Margaret Heath
Natalie Jones
Scott Lepley
Caroline Lowe
Coke Matthews
Frances Hancock
Chamblee Shufflebarger
John Sisson
Brooke Tucker
Daniel Bolus
Madeline Mitchell
Maddie Sheffield
Annual Betty Gunn Debate
Tournament a success
Junior Ben Jones works the main desk at the Betty Gunn tournament.
By KARY REYNOLDS
News Editor
If asked to describe a typical de-bate
in a word, the Mountain Brook
Debate Team would probably tell
you, “Stressful.” The event can get
even more pressuring when you
are the one actually running the
tournament as well.
There was a lot more arguing
in the halls of the high school last
weekend as Mountain Brook’s
annual Betty Gunn Speech and De-bate
Tournament kicked off on Fri-day,
Feb. 7. The tournament hosts
over 15 schools that enter from
around the country to compete in
a large variety of events including
public forum, impromptu speaking,
and Lincoln-Douglas debate.
Betty Gunn was Mountain
Brook’s first debate coach and
helped lead the team to many
prestigious victories in nationally
Photo by Kary Reynolds
ranked tournaments until her re-tirement,
leading the school to hold
a competition in her honor. The
tournament is hosted in February
each year and is run by the cur-rent
debate team and Coaches Jeff
Roberts and Greg Wald. While the
tournament can be a lot of work to
prepare for, senior Amelia Put-nam,
the team president, says, “It’s
always rewarding to see it come
together at the end. And it’s nice
to see everyone you compete with
over the year.”
As the tournament coordinators,
the MBHS debate team does not
compete in the tournament itself
but helps it run smoothly by taking
ballots, setting up matches, and
finding judges to watch and decide
the rounds. However, according
to sophomore debater, Angela Fu,
“the best part of Betty Gunn is
getting to see friends from around
the country.”
Blizzards, avalanches, and snow-pocalyses
oh my! But seriously, we’ve
experienced some crazy weather lately.
Snow, inches of the white powdery
stuff, has come and gone, causing both
celebrations and disasters, but it left
everyone with a good story.
Between the accidents on the roads,
the soaking wet (and not to mention
cold) shoes, the countless days without
school (whether that’s a blessing or a
curse is up to your discretion), and the
cabin fever, we’ve been through a lot.
Perhaps we can liven your spirits
upon you return to reality. Slaving
away in arctic conditions by candle-light,
our staff has created a fine collec-tion
of articles to pique your interest.
Be sure to check out the recap on our
basketball teams, the best teacher love
stories, the newest spot for biscuits
in Birmingham, and coverage of the
Sochi Olympics.
Hopefully you have survived the
winter unscathed, as spring is seem-ingly
peeking its head around the
corner. Buckle down, stay on top of
your studies, and get outside and enjoy
it. Thanks for picking up our February
issue of the Sword & Shield, and happy
reading!
Sincerely,
Olivia and Rick
Monday, February 24, 2014
The Sword & Shield

new3s
Scholar’s bowl returns to the Brook
By CLAIRE DAVIS
Art & Photography Editor
Quick! What’s the capital of Nige-ria?
What about the name of the lead
character in Crime and Punishment?
And while you’re at it, what is the sum
of 2 +3i and 4-5i?
Our Scholars’ Bowl team doesn’t
even flinch in answering questions
like these and more. While knowing
pointless facts may seem like a waste
of brainpower, this team delights in
remembering most everything about
everything.
While it may seem new, this isn’t
the first scholars’ bowl team Mountain
Brook has had. Mrs. Karen Tishler
sponsored a team several years ago,
but after she left Mountain Brook,
the team was disbanded with a short
interim where Mrs. Melissa McClure
led the team. At least until last year,
when current juniors Vince Bolus and
Cooper Barnes attended a meet last
year with a few others, the team was
completely forgotten.
Around this time last year, Bolus
and Barnes approached current spon-sor
and chemistry teacher Mrs. Ivey
to sponsor the team. “I like trivia, and
I thought it’d be fun, so I agreed,” she
said. “We all just go to have fun. And
learn useless stuff. If you ever want to
learn lots of random stuff, you should
join Scholars’ Bowl.”
There are only eight members to the
team this year, since it was formed a
little last minute with no advertising.
Seniors Kary Reynolds, Ben Jackson,
and Daniel Bolus; juniors Bolus and
Barnes as well as Richard Rice and
Claire Davis; and the lone sophomore,
Angela Fu all meet to practice after
school once a week.
When asked for any specific strat-egies,
Mrs. Ivey shrugged. “We just
make sure everyone is playing for the
Scholars’ Bowl team members work intently on the worksheet section of the
match against Altamont in the recent District Tournament.
same amount of time and is confi-dent
to answer. Sometimes when we
compete, the other team has this one
superstar kid and the other three
people don’t answer unless they
know he doesn’t know, because if
they beat him to the punch and get
it wrong, he’ll get angry. We don’t do
that.”
“We also make sure that there is
a mix of experts in the game at all
times,” Daniel Bolus said. “You know,
one English person, one math person,
one history person, and one science
person. You don’t want both your
science experts out at the same time,
obviously.”
So far the team is doing well,
competing against schools like Hoover
and Randolph, who have more than
one team. Since each team needs only
four members, many schools have four
or so separate teams, which means a
team could play the same school up to
4 times.
“It’s kind of weird sometimes,” Fu
said concerning the multiple teams.
“You’re not just playing several schools
Photo by Claire Davis
Meet Score
Hoover Invitational Won 1 of 6 matches
West Point Invitational Won 4 of 7 matches
Huntsville Invitational Won 3 of 7 matches
District Won 1 of 4 matches
throughout the day, you’re playing
several different teams from several
different schools all day.”
Even with this slightly threatening
disadvantage, though, the team still
manages to have fun. “I like hanging
out with people who know useless
stuff and competing them for the an-swer,”
Rice said.
“Mrs. Ivey is also a great sponsor,”
Reynolds added. “She’s learning how
to do this along with us. We’re just
testing the waters of knowledge.”
Ms. Ivey added that it would be nice
to have two Mountain Brook teams
next year, thus maximizing the playing
time for each participant. For more
information on how to join, see Ms.
Ivey for details.
The Sword & Shield
Miss Olympian
(p. 1)
their individual interviews, talent
portions, and eveningwear.
This year’s pageant theme was
“Candyland,” and the Masters of
Ceremony were seniors Hannah
Mouyal and Jack Royer. Contes-tants
started the night off performing
group dances clad in sparkling candy
attire and props.
The pageant then moved into the
talent portion, covering a variety of
contestant talents including vocal,
dance, and instrumental performanc-es.
The talent portion was followed
by an eveningwear section where
contestants were escorted to the
stage by seniors Trace Blakely,
Austin Chapman, Larkin Delk,
and John North.
At the conclusion of the pageant,
the judges crowned junior Annie
Reich as Miss Olympian 2014. The
runners up were as follows: junior
Emily Sink, junior Kelsey Platt,
junior Mary Kathryn Parrot, and
senior Katie Seeger. Senior Barrett
Potter won Most Congenial.
Miss Olympian 2014 Annie
Reich said, “A lot of time was spent
practicing my song, walk, and
interview questions. I was honestly
shocked when Hannah called my
name! I became so close to so many
amazing girls, which was the coolest
part of the pageant. I am so proud
of everyone’s diligence and hard
work.”
While the pageant’s primary
purpose each year is to raise mon-ey
for the school’s yearbook, the
Olympian, the night proved to be an
enjoyable one for the whole commu-nity
as family and friends came out
to support the 2014 contestants.

4news
The Sword & Shield
Don’t feel sick over physics: curriculum
changes make physics courses more accessible
By MADELINE MITCHELL
Staff Writer
Physics. For some, the word
elicits thoughts of a challenging,
engaging course that they are
dying to take. For others, how-ever,
physics= too much math +
flying objects= death.
At MBHS next year, there will
be three levels of physics offered-high
school level, algebra-based,
and calculus-based. These three
levels have been divided between
four courses, including regular
physics, AP Physics I, AP Phys-ics
II, and AP Physics C, in order
to make physics more accessi-ble
to students of all ability and
interest levels.
Physics includes the study of
fluids, or the flow of gases and
liquids; thermodynamics, the
flow of heat; light, classified as
either optics, for eye glasses or
mirrors, or waves, such as sound
and light; and atomic and nucle-ar
physics. In addition, the AP
Physics C course covers me-chanics,
or how and why things
move, and electricity and mag-netism,
which include circuits
and generators.
Because of its many branch-es,
physics can be utilized in a
multitude of professions, such
as physical therapy, engineering,
medical equipment mainte-nance,
(From left) Seniors Sam Cochran, Jack Fitzpatrick, and Patrick Hauth work
together on one of Dr. Davis’s hands-on labs.
and science education, so
students desiring to major in one
of the above fields should plan
on taking physics courses either
here or in college.
Dr. Sue Davis and Mr. Mi-chael
McGovern teach all of the
physics classes at MBHS. Davis
teaches all of the AP classes and
says she usually assigns five to
ten questions to be completed on
the computer every night. Mc-
Govern teaches all high-school
level courses and relies solely on
paper and pencil for his home-work
assignments.
Below is a breakdown of
each physics course available
at MBHS according to various
characteristics which should
be considered when choosing a
course.
For those deciding between
chemistry and physics and who
are concerned about the levels
of math involved, Dr. Davis says
chemistry and physics require
equivalent amounts of math.
A student’s choice depends on
what he or she would like to
pursue. Senior Selah Wood,
one of Mr. McGovern’s regular
physics students, says, “Physics
is a great subject for those who
are mathematically inclined.
The homework is not often but
is crucial to understanding key
concepts.”
Junior Claire Davis finds
physics “very useful in real life”
and the hard work students do
“is worth it.” Regular physics
student Ann Thomas describes
physics as “very interesting,” but
it does “require work outside of
class.”
Daniel Bolus, a senior
physics student, enjoys “the
real-world applications.” He
said, “Everything we do ties into
something I see every day. Phys-ics
has been really fun this year.”
Trey Lockett, who has taken
both AP Physics B and AP Phys-ics
C, says physics homework
“helps apply what we learned
in class and is not for accuracy,
only a completion grade.” Wood,
Lockett, and Bolus all agree
that both the classwork and the
homework help students under-stand
the topics better and are
not purposeless.
And if you need one more
reason to take physics, how
about the fact that you get to
throw things and shock people?
However, Dr. Davis describes
physics as “a science that makes
you rethink your experience
from a new perspective and
teaches you a different way to
think.” So, reconsider that fear of
math and flying objects and sign
up for Dr. Davis’s or Mr. McGov-ern’s
physics class.
Course High-school level AP Physics I AP Physics II* AP Physics C
Number of periods 1 1 1 2
Math course prerequisites Algebra II w/ Trig Algebra II w/ Trig Precalculus AP Calculus BC
Teacher approval required? Yes Yes Yes Yes
College credit None 1 semester 1 semester 2 semesters
AP Exam offered? No Yes Yes Yes
*Physics II also requires students to have taken AP Physics I or regular physics.

new5s
Short-lived Yik Yak rampage leads to conversation
about appropriate social media usage
By OLIVIA BURTON
Co-editor-in-Chief
Hundreds of students returning
from winter break became caught up
in the herd mentality as the Yik Yak
app reared its ugly head.
The free app is supposedly com-pletely
anonymous. It allows users
to post messages that can be seen by
anyone with the app in that location,
but since users’ identities remain
secret, many students began using the
app as a means to post offensive or
untrue messages about others.
“We did have some students who
misused that form of social media,
and in a very negative way,” explained
Principal Amanda Hood. “But what I
was proud of was that we had a large
majority of our student body that
stood for something more. By their
response to not download that app,
to delete that app from their phone,
or to not serve as a reader of those
inappropriate comments, they took a
stand.”
“Everyone was scared that their
name was going to come up, but I
think the majority of people weren’t
actually posting stuff; they were just
looking,” said senior Tatum Jackson.
Yik Yak’s community guidelines
state that users should not use the
app to bully others or post personal
information. While the creators of the
app do not actually monitor the con-tent,
they recommend that yakkers
who see a “useless or offensive act do
[their] part to downvote or report it.”
In other words, the content is us-er-
generated and user-monitored.
While the app became popular in
Mountain Brook at first, it quickly
spread to other schools in the area,
including the Junior High, Vestavia,
and Indian Springs.
“It was very interesting for us to
talk to other school districts in the
over-the-mountain area as the wave
rolled into their schools the days fol-lowing
us,” said Mrs. Hood. “Their
student bodies were also faced with
a decision about deciding whether to
buy into the negative mass or to stand
for something more.”
While Yik Yak’s popularity died
only a few days after its rise to infamy,
it led students, teachers, and faculty
to consider the role of social media
both during and outside of school.
“Yik Yak is not the first piece
of social media that has ever been
misused, nor will it be the last,” said
Hood. When asked how the school
district generally handles conflicts
caused by social media misuse, she
explained that because social media
changes so quickly, the school district
is very methodical in the way that
they respond. “We’re not going to
overreact,” she said.
In response to the short-lived
uproar caused by Yik Yak, Mrs. Hood
sat down with several groups of
students in the mall during their free
time to discuss their ideas on tech-nology
usage in school. “Probably the
most profound thing that I learned
was that maybe our student body
does not understand that having their
phone in school is not a right,” she
said.
She then described Mountain
Brook’s unique technology policy.
“At the beginning of the year, our
administrative team shared that we
know Mountain Brook students have
the privilege of experiencing more
freedom than the average high school
student,” she said, explaining that
the administration has no desire to
closely monitor the cell phone usage
of each and every individual student.
“But when the misuse of that de-vice
creates a disruption to the learn-ing
environment in our school, we
have to consider that those privileges
may need to go away,” she continued.
“We hope to stay away from that.”
So what counts as appropriate
usage of cell phones in school? The
rules are clear in the student hand-book:
“Students may use smart-phones
and other electronic devices
during non-instructional time and
or free periods. These devices are not
permitted in the classroom unless
consent is given by the teacher.
Failure to follow the teacher’s instruc-tions
in regards to smartphones or
other electronic devices may result in
disciplinary action.”
“A lot of teachers don’t let you have
[phones] in class, which doesn’t really
bother me, but a lot of people think
that it should be your own choice to
have it out in class or not,” said Jack-son.
“I think it’s nice that we can use
it outside of class, except a lot of stuff
is blocked on the wifi, which is kind
of annoying.”
Sometimes, misuse of social media
enters the legal and criminal realm.
Officer Bryan Kelley explained that
the police would get involved when
something posted on social media
causes someone to fear for his or her
own safety or have difficulty going
about their normal way of life. While
the police might not get involved
with a case of libel, the victim could
certainly sue.
“The thing people don’t realize is
that all of these websites, whether
it’s Snapchat, Yik Yak, or whatever,
anytime you enter anything into a
computer, there are multiple records,”
Kelley said.
“First, there’s a record within your
iPhone. The only way you could get
rid of those records for sure is to
Cartoon by Claire Davis
destroy the hard drive. The second re-cord
is that as soon as you hit send, it
goes through multiple servers. Every
one of those servers is going to have a
record, and it’s pretty permanent, be-cause
those companies hold on to it.”
Snapchat, he continued, saves
everything in their servers, and the
police can obtain those records with a
court order.
Officer Kelley stressed that stu-dents
should talk to their families
first if they see anything offensive or
untrue about themselves online, and
they should talk to the police if it is
threatening.
“The first thing you do is ignore
it,” he advised. “That’s part of growing
up. But that being said, I don’t ex-pect
that someone who is constantly
harassed to ignore it. And if you’re
the person posting these harassing
things, they can come back for you.”
Most of the issue, many students
and faculty would agree, has to do
with growing up.
The Sword & Shield

6news
The Sword & Shield
Mountain Brook Brew Co.
By FRANCES HANCOCK
Staff Writer
Many students will remember
the survey that was presented
earlier this school year where
students voted on what they would
like to be sold in a new coffee
shop. Well, now the wait is over
and the shop is expected to be
open sometime this spring.
The idea of a school coffee shop
was originally presented by the
SGA and has been a collabora-tive
effort between the SGA, our
special education department, and
the school’s administration.
“We think that it could be an
exciting experience for students to
be able to buy coffee at their high
school rather than at other places
around the community, and hope-fully
it will save them time” says
SGA officer Ben Jackson.
As a part of the survey, students
were asked to give their sugges-tions
for what the name of the
shop should be. The SGA looked
through the student’s ideas and
decided that the coffee shop will
be named the Mountain Brook
Brew Co.
The shop will be open at all
times throughout the day with a
student or office aide assigned to
the location during each class pe-riod
and will be tentatively located
near the water fountains in the
mall area.
Using environmentally friendly
cups, the coffee bar will serve var-ious
flavors of coffee, hot tea, and
hot chocolate. All of the flavors
and items were determined from
the student survey.
The Mountain Brook Brew Co.
will be a
self-serve
station
that is be-ing
used in
an increas-ing
number
of business-es,
includ-ing
Google
offices. There
will be a touch
screen that
will accept the
student’s order and
prices will range from $1-$2 de-pending
on the size of the cup.
“Mr. [Dickie] Barlow has
proposed that the current hot
beverage policy that can be found
in the Mountain Brook policy
manual be removed. In February,
if the school board votes to re-move
the policy, we will then be
able to open the coffee shop within
the week” says Principal Amanda
Hood.
Hopefully in the near future, if
you get to school and feel like you
are about to fall asleep in your
desk, or if you just want a hot bev-erage,
the Mountain Brook Brew
Co. will be there to help wake you
up.
It’s Time: Relay for Life
The Luminaria ceremony lit up the dark at last year’s Relay for Life event.
By MATHILDE SHARMAN
Business Manager
The community’s biggest charity
event, Relay for Life, is fast ap-proaching.
Set for Friday, April 4
from 4:00 PM to midnight, Relay
teams will once again spread out
across Mountain Brook’s football
field to fight for a cure.
Senior Interact Club President
Mackenzie Grant explained the
driving forces behind Relay’s suc-cess.
“Everyone has their own rea-son
to participate. Some people do
it out of their competitive nature,
which I completely understand.
And you’d be hard pressed to find
someone who hasn’t been affected
by cancer, which is a the main rea-son
behind the decision to Relay.
Senior Anne Peyton Baker,
a leader for this year’s Relay, de-scribed
fighting back through an
event whose energy is contagious.
“It’s sad because you can see that ev-eryone
has been affected by cancer,
but it’s this one night where we’re
dedicating to not letting this hap-pen
anymore. Everyone feeds off of
everyone else’s energy.”
Catherine Kinney, Baker’s
fellow senior and Relay leader,
explained the motivation behind
her choice to Relay year after year.
Kinney praised the support of the
community but said, “The Survivor
Lap at the beginning of Relay and
the Luminaria Ceremony toward
the end are what truly renew my
drive to Relay.”
A focus of this year’s Relay fund-raising:
untapped resources. Baker
pointed out how leaders of this
year’s Relay looked to explore new
areas of the community. For exam-ple,
elementary schools were given
a renewed focus in the Relay cam-paign.
Kinney shares Baker’s vision
toward. “We really hope to expand
our influence in the community.”
Grant encouraged Relay partici-pants
to adapt creative approaches
to their fundraising. “Start raising
money now. Try to verge past that
one path of car washes and bake
sales.” A team should take advan-tage
of fundraising time now.
Relay falls early on April 4 this
year and has potential to catch
many Relayers off-guard. Kinney
echoed Grant’s message of seizing
fundraising time now. “My hope is
to get teams fundraising as soon as
possible this year! Also, the more
that teams fundraise before the
night of Relay, the less they will
have to worry about onsite fund-raisers.
We like to consider those
the ‘icing on the cake.’
A proactive nature is key to
successful fundraising, according
to Kinney. “Ask for help if you can’t
come up with a fundraiser, can’t fig-ure
out how to sign up online, etc.”
Grant explained that fundraising
can be challenging, but it’s import-ant
to stay energized and dedicated.
“It’s not always easy to go out and
ask people for money. It can be hard
to get up on a Saturday morning
and do a car wash or a bake sale, so
it’s the willingness that’s so import-ant.”
Looking forward, Relay leaders
are excited about the events of Relay
night. Baker explained the possibili-ty
of more space for teams to spread
out, but she can’t make any prom-ises.
However, Relay leaders can
guarantee that favorites like power-buff
volleyball, kickball, fried oreos,
bench presses and local bands are
all part of the lineup for this year’s
event.
Relay leaders understand that in
order for Mountain Brook’s Relay
to reach its full potential this year
and for years to come, the energy of
community and students is vital. In
whatever way you Relay, be a part
of the effort to celebrate, remember,
and fight back.
unpackit.org

Featur7es
Standardized Tests: The Good, the Bad, and Why We Take Them
By DANIEL BOLUS
Staff Writer
It’s a government conspiracy
driven by greed and corruption that
does no good but stress students
out. I believe this is how most of us
have felt about standardized testing
at some point in our lives, minus the
occasional relief of having college
credit, a homework grace period, or
getting exempt from school exams.
But are we justified in our anger
at these tests if we know nothing
about them? Where did they orig-inate?
Are they fair? What are the
benefits?
According to Time magazine,
essays were actually preferred for
measuring students’ abilities in the
past because it favored the Greek
Socratic way of thinking. However,
when the Industrial Revolution hit
along with population growth and
an “efficiency” mindset, standard-ized
tests became a way to examine
large number of students in a short
period of time.
A standardized IQ test came first
in 1905 as a way for the US Army
to test all recruits on their intelli-gence.
This test was followed by the
SAT in 1926, originally taken by
academically gifted boys for scholar-ship
applications on the basis that it
measured pure intelligence. Howev-er,
by the end of WWII, the test was
received by most universities and
administered as a college acceptance
test. The ACT came last in 1959,
which was developed to compete
with the SAT and cover overlooked
topics.
According to College Advisor
and Counselor Karen Svetlay, the
SAT is based more on how one
thinks, while the ACT is more
curriculum-based. Because of these
differences, students tend to do well
on one over the other. Each test has
also become favored in different
regions in America: the SAT in the
East Coast and West, and the ACT
in the Midwest and South.
When asked how important SAT
and ACT scores were to colleges,
Ms. Svetlay replied that high school
grades are the first aspect schools
look at, while standardized tests ad-dress
how one compares to the rest
of the country.
And while standardized tests
may be necessary for efficiency
when dealing with so many college
applications, Ms. Svetlay believes
success comes from the classroom.
She argues that colleges place too
much of an emphasis on these tests,
pointing out that they appeal to
certain types of students and there
are clear strategies to the tests that
not everyone has access to. She also
says that that some universities are
moving towards holistically measur-ing
a student’s abilities and are now
offering test-optional applications.
In the meantime, however, while
most colleges continue to use these
tests, Ms. Svetlay recommends
students to start taking these tests in
the middle of their junior year and
to prepare for them by looking over
practice tests and online questions.
Oh, and get a good night’s sleep!
But the SAT and ACT (which,
by the way, have no modern-day
official acronym) are not the only
standardized tests high school stu-dents
take. The dreaded AP tests are
forever looming in May.
To get an inside scoop on what
AP teachers thought of these AP
exams, I interviewed Ms. Wanda
Burns, who teaches AP Calculus
AB/BC and Dr. Glenn Lamar, who
teaches AP U.S. History and A.P.
European History.
To my pleasant surprise, both
teachers believe that the AP pro-gram
enhances classroom experi-ence
and their teaching. Because the
AP program allows him to teach at a
college level, giving students access
to the college classroom experience,
Dr. Lamar says that it “gives me the
freedom to teach the way I want to.”
He mentions that his students in
college already know the material
and can tutor people just because
they took his class.
Ms. Burns also enjoys the bene-fits
of the AP program, which “has
not just taught skills and processes,
but real-world applications that
involve cross-discipline skills.” For
Ms. Burns, the AP program makes
teaching the course more interesting
because the AP test is different every
year, adapting to the growing uses of
technology that applies foundation-al
calculus in real-world situations
such as physics and economics. Ms.
Burns is so passionate about the
benefits of the AP program that she
had to stop typing numbers into her
calculator for the interview.
But are these AP tests “fair”?
Both teachers found this question
naturally debatable. Ms. Burns ad-mits
that some tests can be racially
or sexually biased just because
different groups of people tend to
think in different ways.
Dr. Lamar believes that standard-ized
testing on a national level runs
into problems because not everyone
has the same access to education
and background as opposed to a
more local, homogenous school
like Mountain Brook. However, Dr.
Lamar points out that when com-paring
people, the AP program does
a great job to make more objective
measurements of students’ abilities.
Overall, standardized testing, ac-cording
to Ms. Burns, is, no matter
Cartoon by Daniel Bolus
how one looks at it, “a measure of a
student’s learning and thought pro-cesses
at a certain time. I don’t think
it’s going away.”
And so the next time we set in
an uncomfortable desk taking a test
that takes hours and hours to com-plete,
turning our brains into mush,
remember that there’s a reason we
take them. It’s not all bad when
looked at holistically (like a student’s
application), but at the same time if
we do poorly at them even when we
try our best, try to remember that
in no way does it mean one person
is, on a broader scale, smarter than
another.
The Sword & Shield

8Features
Valentine’s day or not, it’s always a good time to buy your honey a present
By MADDIE SHEFFIELD and
JOHN COOPER
Staff Writers
Valentine’s Day was a week ago,
and hopefully you have already giv-en
a present to your girlfriend. But
if you might be wondering, “Was
my gift adequate?” You’ve seen it
in chick flicks a billion times, and
you’re wondering how to make her
day special. Well, don’t think too
hard.
Flowers. They’re classic. You
need to find a new girlfriend if she
doesn’t like flowers. The only catch
about flowers is that they have to
be outstanding. Even though you’re
a boy and you don’t know about
flowers, she will. You can’t just buy
any old clump of roses and pass
it off as a five-star bouquet. They
don’t have to be super personal-ized,
but you will get bonus points
if they are. Casually figure out what
types of flowers are her favorite,
go to Whole Foods, and get them
to make an arrangement. Whole
Foods has the best flowers. It’s a
fact. Plus, they’re on sale right now.
The next step is getting the
flowers to her. Don’t leave them in
your car; they will wilt. Put them
in a vase, fill it with water, and tie a
ribbon around them.
The same goes for candy. That’s
on sale right now too, but don’t let
her know you bought her candy on
sale. If your girlfriend likes sweets,
you need to take a few precautions.
Don’t leave them in your car. You
might be thinking, “February is in
the middle of the winter: it’s too
cold for chocolate to melt.” You are
forgetting one thing. We live in Al-abama,
and it still gets hot enough
to melt chocolate.
Secondly, assorted chocolates
won’t work. She’ll probably only
like half of them, and by the time
she reaches the half she likes, she’ll
already have a bad taste in her
mouth.
We know that giant stuffed heart
looks appealing, but don’t get it.
Or the stuffed bear. It will just sit
in her closet, only to be taken out
when you come over. Whenever
she opens her closet, she’ll scream
because the creepy life-like bear
will be staring her in the face.
While you’re at it, walk past the
balloons too. They will only last for
a few days anyway. She’s not sick,
and y’all are not going to a party.
Just don’t buy her balloons. You
can do better.
Gifts should also be based on
how long you’ve been dating. If
you’ve only been dating for two
weeks, don’t get her a ring with
LOVE inscribed on the inside.
Even if you’ve been dating for
years, it’s still too soon to buy
an animal to share. Puppies and
kittens will most likely last longer
than your relationship. You don’t
want to have to pay alimony when
y’all break up.
There are many bad gifts, but
don’t be discouraged. Wait until
birthdays or anniversaries to give
the big presents. Valentine’s Day
is only one day, and most people
forget about it.
The Sword & Shield
Photo courtesy of Lee Cooper
Senior Maddie Sheffield rejects John Cooper’s poorly-planned gift of a puppy.
winnipeghumanesociety.ca

Featur9es
The Sword & Shield
falling in love
TEACHER STYLE
By CHAMBLEE SHUFFLEBARGER
Staff Writer
Mr. and Mrs. Martin
History Department
It was early November and Mr. Martin was about to have a
birthday. Mrs. Martin worked with their family and friends
to throw him a surprise party. According to Mrs. Martin,
the party was a complete hit and a complete shock. As the
party started winding down, he came to the front of the
room to thank everyone for coming. When he said to her,
“…I cannot think of a better time to do this…” and surprised
her even more than she had him when he proceeded to get
down on one knee and asked, “Will you be my wife.” All in
the spur of the moment. He didn’t even have a ring! Mrs.
Martin said, “The sincerity of that moment became so much
more meaningful knowing that another moment could not
be permitted to pass where we would not be fully committed
to each other. Our story is special; it’s unique; it’s ours, and it
is still being written.”
Mrs. Ivey
Science Department
Mrs. Ivey’s first date with her husband
was their high school prom senior
year. She remembers dancing with her
now husband to the theme song of
the prom, “We’ve Only Just Begun” by
the Carpenters. How fitting! The two
will celebrate their 40th anniversary
in December of this upcoming year.
Sadly, her husband doesn’t celebrate
Valentine’s Day. He says they shouldn’t
have it during basketball season!
Sometimes it’s difficult to see
people past the roles you see
them in every day. Like in ele-mentary
school when everyone
assumed that the teachers slept at
the school, it’s difficult to imagine
teachers with lives outside of their
profession. To many it may be even
more surprising that they have
spouses or love lives. But many do
have cute stories of their love, and
here’s the proof.
Mr. Major
Math Department
Mr. Major was indirectly introduced to his
wife when one of his friends set him up with
his now wife’s roommate. They dated a couple
of times but he ended up with his wife not
the roommate. He proposed to her at Camp
Sumatanga at Creel Chapel at the top of the
mountain. Obviously the perfect romantic
setting. In the chapel, there was a group get-ting
ready to have a wedding of their own. Mr.
Major was worried that they had ruined his
plan, but he had gone all that way and couldn’t
abandon it. So they went to the chapel and
he went through with the planned proposal
despite the group, and she said yes!
Mrs. Ray
English Department
Mrs. Ray and her husband first met in a class they shared at The
University of Alabama when the professor assigned “Who We
Are” speeches to the class. A guy in the class asked Mrs. Ray if
she had any ideas for him. Being the enthusiastic future teach-er
that she was, she helped him come up with a detailed plan
for his speech. The plan was to use the keys on his keychain to
describe all his different characteristics, such as, the house key
to for his love for his family, the car key to represent his love
of travel, and so on. On the day of the presentation, she asked
if he had remembered to bring his keys. He told her that he
wasn’t going to give that speech and he never was planning on
it. She says, “He had just wanted to meet and talk to me that
day, so he made up the story that he needed help with finding
an idea.” Little did they know that that conversation would be
the first they had with their future spouse.
Mr. Perez
English Department
Mr. Perez and his wife met in the Tiger Band
at LSU and were in the band together for 3
years but had never really even spoken. After
they graduated, they both went to a wedding
that neither of them was supposed to attend.
“She was the prettiest girl there,” he says. After
dating for a while, he took her to a private
club to which neither of them were members
to propose to her. He called the club and used
the love story to get the reservation. He invited
her to the club for a date, and while she was
suspicious that something was up, she agreed
and they got a beautiful table overlooking the
river with rose petals and a placard saying “Mr.
and Mrs. Perez.” With such a grand romantic
gesture, it was no surprise she said yes!

1Fe0atures
Just a chat with Eli York: Mountain Brook’s only musher
By BEN JACKSON
Features Editor
The Sword & Shield: How are you today,
Eli?
Eli York: I’m well, Ben, thanks for
asking.
S&S: We heard that you recently re-turned
from dogsledding in the Iditarod.
Tell us about that.
Eli: Well, that’s partially true. Over the
Winter Break, I went on a dogsledding
trip in the Minnesotan Wilderness, but
it wasn’t the Iditarod. The Iditarod is a
famous dogsledding race in the Alaskan
Wilderness. The difference, of course,
was that we were in Minnesota and we
weren’t racing. It was rather extreme.
During the day, it got up to -15°F.
S&S: Wow. You’re like Jack London. How
did you find out about this program/sign
up for it? Walk us through the process.
Eli: The program is called Outward
Bound. I just heard about it from some
friends and thought that it would be
a cool experience, so I filled out some
forms and did sort of a vetting process
through the mail. They want to make
sure that you’re physically fit and that
you’re not crazy because they need to
make sure that when you get out on a
frozen lake at -30°F below zero that you
won’t try and quit. That would be bad.
S&S: From where did you leave? Was
there training? How far did you go?
Eli: We flew into Duluth and then went
to Ely, MN, where we were to begin. I
missed a few flights and got there a day
late, so I missed the better part of the
training. (laughs) But I survived alright.
The trip was around 100 miles and was
5 days.
S&S: Did you sleep with the dogs?
Eli: No, the dogs slept separately. If
you’ve ever seen Snow Dogs, it’s some-thing
like that. But you didn’t really
want to sleep with them… I mean,
some of these dogs are pretty aggres-sive.
They’re more like wolves, in some
aspects. The key, of course, is to show
dominance.
S&S: What kind of food did you eat?
Eli: Very cold food.
S&S: You didn’t cook it?
Eli: No, we did, but when its -30°F,
you can only get something so warm. I
mean, I guess 50°F food is warm when
everything else is frozen, but it certainly
wasn’t piping hot. We had a lot of frozen
peanut butter, which isn’t much differ-ent
from normal peanut butter.
S&S: You’re known for your eclectic
music interest. What’s your go-to jam for
mushing in the wilderness?
Eli: Well, there’s no electricity out there.
And no iPods. The cold prevents the
batteries on anything from lasting more
Eli York lives a life of constant adventure that most students can only dream
about. This image was not photoshopped.
than a few hours. But if I had to choose
one jam, I’d have chosen “Chicken &
Meat” by Das Racist because that’s what
I was thinking about the whole trip:
chicken and meat, chicken and meat,
people in the street eatin’ chicken and
meat.
S&S: During the Snowpocalypse of 2014,
did you use your superior dog-sledding
skills to move people about in the frosty
wonderland?
Eli: (laughs) No, but I wish I had. I have
two pugs, and they aren’t really good
The Sword & Shield
Photo by Brooks Glover
for dog-sledding. I mainly walked back
and forth to my friends’ houses until
everything thawed out.
S&S: Would you recommend dogsledding
to anyone?
Eli: Everybody. Anyone who is ready to
freeze should definitely try it.
S&S: Lastly, did you kill any bears? If so,
how many and using what?
Eli: Yes. 17. With my bare hands.
S&S: Thank you for you time, Eli.
Eli: Thanks for having me.

The Sword & Shield
Snowpocalypse Now
It was cold and hard to sleep, but
the staff was nice trying to keep us
comfortable and feel at home.
It was really cold and I wanted to go
home. But it was fun to run around
school looking for sweatpants and
clothes to bundle up with to walk
home. I will be okay if I never have
to spend another night in the
library again.
-Elizabeth Turner, Sophomore
-Haley Lewis, Sophomore
Mary Seldon Andrews, Sarah Bragg, Jessica
Sirkin, Catherine Turner, Anne Pickering , Ma-dalyn
I got to spend time with people I haven’t
talked to in a long time.
-Richard Rice, Junio r
1
Haley Lewis and Coach Chris
Yeager party it up inside the school
(where it’s nice and warm).
Photo credits:
1. Frank Phillips
2. Haley Lewis
3. Madalyn Rosenthal
4. Carlton Cooper
5. Carson Ennis
6. Dara Buggay
7. Frank Phillips
From left: Seniors John Cooper, Maddie Sheffield,
Brooks Glover, Olivia Burton, Margaret Pitman, Adele
Smith, Mary Glenn Waldrop, Drew Dickson, Eli York,
Annie Sheffield, George Perrine, and Dara Buggay slide
down Oakdale drive on their way to pick up some deli-cious
mac n’ cheese from the Pig.
Senior George Perrine gives Dara Buggay a
lift. Behind them, several stranded cars had
slid off the road.
2
3
4
5
6
7
Rosenthal pose for a wintery group shot.
Caroline Bramlett, Carlton Cooper,
Virginia Flemming, Allie Lejune, and
Mae Rose Tyson enjoy the snow.
“I surfed everywhere. I had boots on so
I just kind of slid down the hills. It was
awesome. Snow can’t stop me. ”
-Annie Reich, Junior
“I got lost in the snow and had to
use maps on my phone but it wasn’t
working, so that was scary.”
-Mary Reeves Drake, Junior
“I left the school at 3 o’clock
Tuesday and I didn’t get home
until 9 o’clock Wednesday.”
-Mrs. Ivy, Teacher

the best of Birmingham dating destinations By CHANDLER GORY, MARGARET HEATH, and NATALIE JONES
....Staff Writers
.... Oak Mountain State ParkCouples, tired of the typical “sum-mit
Barons Bash at Regions Field .....
If you and your significant other are
into sports, then a visit to the baseball
diamond could be the thing for you.
Support Birmingham’s baseball team,
the Barons and enjoy the comforts of the
new Regions Field.
Located in downtown Birmingham
across from Railroad Park, the ballpark
is easy to find and close to home. Tickets
for some of the best seats are also rela-tively
inexpensive, ranging from $7 to
$14 per person, and no matter where you
sit, you always get a great view.
The concessions are also fully stocked
with local foods such as barbeque and
other great items such as Dip N’ Dots
and ballpark favorites such as nachos and
hotdogs.
Although just watching the game is al-ways
fun, it is not the only thing to do at
Regions Field. You can test your batting
skills in the batting cages allowing you
to show off your skills (or lack thereof).
T-shirts and food from Mama Goldberg’s
are sometimes given away free during the
game, and you
even have
the chance to be on the dance and kiss
cams.
If you are looking for something
nearby to take up time before or after the
games, there are plenty of places. As you
head to the game you can drive through
Rainbow Tunnel which is an underpass
decorated with thousands of LED lights
or take a walk through the Downtown
Historic District on Morris Avenue and
enjoy the views surrounding the last cob-blestone
street in Birmingham.
Railroad Park, literally right across
the street from Regions field, has a nice
walking area and plenty of places to just
sit and admire the urban scenery. You
might also consider a trip to the Peanut
Depot at 2016 Morris Ave. They offer
every type of peanut imaginable, all of
which are perfect for eating at the base-ball
game.
Even though there are not any games
until late March, the Barons’ new
field is a great place to visit for a
date, and the lovely surrounding
area makes for a great downtown
experience.
scene” date including a movie
followed by Johnny Rockets week af-ter
week, have turned to Oak Moun-tain
State Park for a more adventur-ous
afternoon.
Even the glacial sub-30 degree
temperatures and snow have not kept
couples from exploring Oak Moun-tain
State Park’s 50 miles of hiking,
biking, and equestrian trails. Armed
with plenty of warm clothing, cou-ples
may even take advantage of the
park’s beach and swimming areas,
which offer scenic views of the park’s
two fishing lakes.
While gas-operated motors aren’t
allowed on the lakes, couples can
try their hands at canoeing or even
pedal boating. For couples seeking
more of challenge, the park offers
rental horseback riding as well as
rental mountain bikes. The cost for a
day horseback-riding pass is $27 on
weekdays.
Other couples may be content
with simply enjoying lunch or snack
in the picnic pavilions, which in-clude
both tables and even grills for
those wishing to cook out for lunch.
The park is also home to over
2,000 injured animals cared for in
the park’s wildlife center, which is
Alabama’s largest rehabilitation cen-ter
for injured or orphaned animals.
While couples will not be able
to handle any of the animals, the
creatures can all be seen through
glass windows that allow visitors to
learn more about the wildlife living
in the park.
With all the activities offered at
the facility, more couples are start-ing
to prefer the refreshing trails of
Oak Mountain State Park over more
typical dating spots.
The park is likely to become an
increasingly more popular couple
destination as temperatures rise with
spring just right around the corner.
Photo by Natalie Jones
Photo by Margaret Heath

The Alabama Theatre..........
View from Vulcan ...........
If you’ve ever driven through downtown Birmingham,
you’ve probably seen that giant dude sticking out over the tops
of the buildings. Vulcan weighs 100,000 pounds and is 56 feet
tall, making it the world’s biggest iron statue. Funny thing is,
you can actually visit it because Vulcan is a park and museum.
It’s open seven days a week, Monday – Saturday from 10 am -
10 pm and Sunday from 1 - 10 pm.
You get a spectacular view of the city both day and night be-cause
after purchasing a ticket, you can go back as many times
as you like in one day.
But the fun doesn’t stop there. You can also have a picnic
lunch on the overlooks and enjoy the impressive panoramic
view of Birmingham or have your picture taken beside a life-size
replica of Vulcan's foot.
Along with all of this, Vulcan Park features a museum. It
includes many key pieces of Birmingham’s history such as its
involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and its beginning
as an iron ore mining town. There are also interactive exhibits
where you can put together Vulcan or view many places in Bir-mingham
on a touch screen map.
For another fun idea, if you go past the entrance to Vulcan
towards Birmingham, there’s a parking lot where you can find a
trail. It’s around a mile, and you get a wonderful view of Vulcan
and the city as you walk. It’s another different way to view the
city and spend time together on a date.
Although the Alabama Theatre does tend to come off as eerie, it’s
actually a wonderful idea for a fun and unusual date. Built in 1927
by Paramount's Publix Theatre chain as the flagship theatre for the
southeastern region of the United States, the Alabama Theatre con-tinues
to be a magnificent landmark in Birmingham.
You’ve probably seen the giant, glittering sign while driving
through the streets of downtown at one time or another. Located at
1817 3rd Ave N, the Alabama Theatre is just down the road from
the McWane Science Center. It houses about 2,500 people and hosts
events like the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, the Alabama Ballet,
and a variety of theatrical productions alongside the showings of
classic films. Tickets for events can be purchased at the Alabama
Theatre box office one hour before show time. There’s a huge selec-tion
of events put up on the calendar year round, so there’s bound to
be something you and your date would enjoy. Along with pickup at
the box office, tickets can also be reserved via Ticketmaster through
The Alabama’s website.
So rather than do the usual and see a movie at the regular old
movie theater, you can soak up some history and enjoy a beloved
classic such as “Casablanca,” which was shown Valentine’s Day.
“Casablanca” is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by
Michael Curtiz about a man who must choose between his love for a
woman and helping her husband, a Czech Resistance leader, escape
the Vichy-controlled Moroccan city of Casablanca to continue his
fight against the Nazis. Other movies lend themselves to date night,
and surrounded by the atmosphere presented at The Alabama, it
will be a date not easily forgotten.
The Alabama has a certain character that you just can’t find
anywhere else. Though it’s gone through renovations to keep it in
good shape, it’s still very similar to the theatre your great grandpar-ents
would’ve gone to when seeing a silent film. It has a life to it that
makes The Alabama perfect for a romantic and special date.

1Sp4orts
Spotlight on Sochi: 2014 Winter Olympics update
The Sword & Shield
Indoor track team participates in state championships
By WILL DAVIS
Staff Writer
The Mountain Brook Spartans
indoor track team participated in the
AHSAA indoor track state champi-onships
on Friday, January 31, and
Saturday, February 1, at the Birming-ham
Crossplex.
Prior to the event, Spartans Coach
Greg Echols said, “It’s been a re-building
year, so a lot of young kids
are trying to step up and fill the void
of some of the seniors that graduat-ed,
but we are getting better; we’re
going to do our best.”
The teams competed in four
events at the Crossplex earlier this
year and were familiar with the new
facility. This was the biggest event of
the indoor track season and a total of
1800 athletes participated in it.
Some of the Spartans’ partici-pants
on the male side were juniors
Marshall Smith, Michael Clark,
and Davis Kelly, while a few notable
female participants were juniors Ra-chel
Reddy, Julia Leonard, Martha
Smith, and Anna Grace Morgan.
In the state championships,
Morgan finished fifth in the girls 6A
meter run, and sophomore Frances
Patrick finished seventh.
In the first 6A meter run, the
Spartans were able to claim the top
two overall spots as Kelly and Smith
finished first and second, respective-ly.
“We were just hoping to compete
to the best of our abilities, and we
did that,” Kelly said.
In the 6A girls meter hurdles, se-nior
Emma Fasking finished second
in the “Heat 3” group, while senior
Arthur Smith finished fifth in the
“Heat 2” group of the 6A boys meter
hurdles. Finally, Leonard won the
high jump with a mark of 5’2”. The
girls were able to notch a top three
overall finish. Photo courtesy of Image Arts
Rachael Reddy leads the heat with a runner from Spain Park close behind.
By JOHN SISSON
Staff Writer
Before the Olympics opened on
February 7, most of the news coverage
regarding the games focused more on
aspects on security and the potential
for protest. Little attention was award-ed
to the actual athletes who have
trained years just for this one moment.
However now that the games have
commenced, several outstanding ath-letes
have stepped into the spotlight.
The Opening Ceremonies for the
22nd Winter Olympics showcased over
90 countries who sent athletes to the
Russian city overlooking the Black Sea.
Team USA consisted of over 220 com-petitors,
many of whom won medals in
Vancouver in 2010.
After the opening ceremony, ath-letes
from countries big and small,
developed and undeveloped, came
together to compete for the ultimate
goal: winning a gold medal. The games
will last approximately two weeks with
the closing ceremonies taking place on
February 23.
At press time, Team USA had a total
of 29 medals: nine gold, seven silver,
and eleven bronze. Many of these
medalists were a little bit of a sur-prise.
Some team members who were
favorites to reach the podium came up
a little short and did not medal. Several
young athletes made a name for them-selves
on the world stage and look to
be superstars in their respective events
in the future.
As usual, snowboarding headlined
the Olympics as one of the most antic-ipated
events. Team USA sent multi-ple
Olympic veterans to these games.
Shaun White, the only man ever to
score a perfect 100 on a halfpipe run,
competed in only the halfpipe after
dropping out of the slopestyle. White
disappointed most fans as his perfor-mance
scored a 90.25, and he finished
fourth. “I-Pod” of Switzerland grabbed
the gold after landing his famous
Yolo flip. In slopestyle, the US men
and women had more success. Jamie
Anderson won gold in the women’s
division, and Sage Kotsenburg finished
first for the men with a score of 93.50.
Perhaps the biggest excitement for
Team USA was in the Men’s Ski Slope-style.
For only the third time in US
Winter Olympic history, Team USA
swept the podium. These men showed
extreme precision and concentration
during their twists and turns on the
rails. The jumps that these three men
pulled off were some of the hard-est
anyone has ever attempted. Joss
Christensen finished first, followed
closely by Gus Kenworthy and Nicho-las
Goepper.
The men’s hockey team skated
through the first two games by man-handling
the Slovakians and Slove-nians.
However, the game against
the Russian Federation was much
closer. TJ Oshie delivered four goals
in a shootout to lead the Americans
to a victory over the host nation. The
Russian team expected to take home
gold, but the United States and Finland
spoiled their dreams. Canada played
their hearts out to defeat the US 1-0.
This is the second Canadian victory
in two days after the Canada women’s
team defeated the US for the gold
medal.
Bobsled always seems to intrigue
viewers across the world who are fas-cinated
by the exhilarating speed and
precision of the sport. Steve Holcomb,
the driver of the four-man sled that
took home the gold at Vancouver in
2010, drives for the US men’s team. His
two-man team finished third, but the
famous BMW “Night Train” four-man
sled has yet to compete. Surprisingly,
Lolo Jones and Lauryn Williams were
both selected for the women’s team.
Both of these women are sprinters
better known as medalists on the 2012
Summer Olympics track team for
Team USA. They hope to compete for
a spot on the podium in Sochi.
For the first time since 2002, the
Jamaican men have qualified for
this event, but funding was a
major issue. As a result of online fund-raising,
the team reached their goal
of $80,000 to cover expenses. In fact,
people from all over the world came
together and donated almost $130,000
to the team.
Meryl Davis and Charlie White won
the first ever US ice dancing gold med-al
with a score of just over 195. The
pair has been dancing together for 17
years, with all their hard work culmi-nating
on the Olympic ice.
Overall, Team USA is sending a
very competitive team to Sochi that
hopes to secure the Olympic victory.
Pressure is huge as thousands of peo-ple
will pack the stands to watch events
and millions more will watch on TV,
but it is the ultimate goal of any athlete
to overcome this pressure and win a
medal for their home country. Sochi is
in the spotlight; the world is watching.
Photo courtesy of USA Today
Joss Christensen, Gus Ken-worthy,
and Nicholas Goepper
celebrate after seeping the
Men’s Ski Slopestyle.

Sppoo1rrtt5ss
Alabama’s new 7A
Super Class confirmed
By ALEC LEWIS
Sports Editor
After being introduced to a new
region only a year ago, Mountain
Brook and other schools have now
been selected for a newly created
region, the new “super class” in Class
7A.
Although this will provide more
revenue throughout high school
sports, the fact that there will only
be 32 teams in the new division is
upsetting to some as only 16 teams
will make the state playoffs.
“There will only be sixteen 7A
schools in all sports that will be
qualifying to go to the state playoffs,”
Mountain Brook Athletic Director
Terry Cooper said. “However, the
way we all get there will be the
same as we all will have the same
opportunity; there just will be more
regions.”
Over the past 30 years in Alabama
high school sports, there have been
6 different classes, all composed of
schools with comparable amounts of
students that fit the range of students
needed to compete in each class.
This past January in an annual
board meeting conducted by the
Alabama High School Athletic
Association (AHSAA), members
of the board unanimously voted to
create a 7th region for schools with
the largest number of students.
Following the decision made by
the board, many people, including
coaches, players, and fans, were
curious why the decision was made.
“The seven-classification system
will allow more student-athletes to
participate in championship events
and more will experience first-hand
what it means to play in some of the
best venues in our state,” AHSAA
President Lamar Brooks said.
Brooks added, “With the addition
of an extra championship game,
revenues should increase which
will mean much-needed additional
money for all schools through the
AHSAA revenue sharing program.”
This classification, which has a
total of 32 teams, is set up into four
regions from the four major cities in
Alabama (Huntsville, Birmingham,
Mobile, and Montgomery).
Mountain Brook, the 3rd smallest
school to be added to this new region,
will play in “Region 3” with over-the-mountain
teams such as Vestavia,
Hewitt-Trussville, Spain Park, and
Hoover, ultimately renewing rivalries
that the Spartans had two years ago in
a similar region.
Others selected are Thompson,
Oak Mountain, and Tuscaloosa
County, all of which will compete in
Region 3.
In football, each team will play
games against most, if not all, the
other teams in that region. And in
most other sports such as baseball,
basketball, and volleyball, the team
will face its designated three other
teams (in close proximity) to play for
their area.
“I feel like our coaches and
our athletes will continue to be as
successful as we’ve ever been because
we’re still competing against who
we’ve been competing against to reach
state championships,” said Cooper.
The overall reaction to this new
region has been extremely mixed,
but in reality it will set up for greater
competition and bigger rivalries for
years to come.
The Sword & Shield
Church League Basketball
comes to a close
By SCOTT LEPLEY
Staff Writer
This season, LJCC Church League
basketball was better than ever with a
few teams taking the league by storm.
The league consisted of high level
competition and extremely skilled
athletes displaying their skills in front
of enormous crowds. Fans from all
over Birmingham came from afar to
witness greatness in the LJCC gym.
Reigning champion LJCC Red, led
by Church League MVP senior Aus-tin
Garrett, capped off an undefeated
regular season by defeating rival
LJCC White in their season finale.
LJCC White finished their season
with a 5-2 mark, which was good for
a top playoff seed.
"We had our chances to win", said
LJCC White forward Sam Hirsberg.
"We definitely let the game get away
from us. We feel we have the talent
and chemistry to compete with these
guys.”
Unfortunately, injuries derailed
many teams, including the up and
coming Birmingham Yarn. For-ward
Hunter Chitty saw extra bench
time after taking a blow to the face,
resulting in a bloody nose. Chitty is
recovering swiftly.
Coach and player of the Grizzlies,
Jack Tucker, said, “Thankfully my
team stayed healthy and avoided
physical contact at all costs. There is
no reason for us to be in there trying
to get rebounds over guys like Parker
Henley and Patrick Doud. We are a
team of three point specialists.”
The Grizzlies finished with a
disappointing 2-6 record after losing
their playoff opener to Saint Lukes.
Photo by Scott Lepley
David “El Flamenco” Gardner of Highlands
drains a three-point shot over Andrew
Creveling of Advent.
Senior team BBC, or Boys Bible Club,
led by All-Star Alex Boozer, breezed
through the league, suffering losses
only at the hands of LJCC Red and
LJCC White. LJCC White Center
Daniel McCool drained a game-win-ning
shot as time expired to defeat
BBC.
This year's playoff picture featured
few elite teams. Of the 16 teams
competing, favorites consist of LJCC
Red, LJCC White, and BBC. LJCC
White continued to have home-court
advantage throughout the entire
regular season and playoffs yet fell at
the hands of the Birmingham Yarn in
the semi-finals.
In one of the biggest upsets in
league history, BBC took down LJCC
Red in the semi-finals as well. The
league championship game between
BBC and the Birmingham Yarn came
down to the final seconds as the Yarn
hit a half-court shot at the buzzer to
take home the league championship
with a 48-47 win.

1Sp6orts
Mens basketball makes another championship run (p. 1)
Senior point guard Patrick Keim lays it in against
Wenonah at Birmingham-Southern.
The Sword & Shield
Photos courtesy of @mtnbrookhs
Top: (From left) Seniors Brandon Bartels, Stewart Hawk, Alan
Dunn, and Demi Leara cheer for the Spartans against Lee-Hunts-ville.
Middle: The student section packs the stands. Bottom: Stu-dents
become quiet to support the Spartans during a free-throw
against Lee-Huntsville.
“This team has more offensive weapons,”
said Coach Bucky McMillan. “We’ve always
played really good defense here and this is
obviously a really good defensive team as well,
but this team has size, shooters, slashers, and
ball handlers, and that size and shot blocker (in
Alex Peters) has really set this team apart.”
After starting the season with a loss at home
to Ramsay, and a few other losses to the likes
of Parker and Hillcrest, the Spartans have
rallied winning their last 21 games, propelling
the team to the #1 overall ranking in 6A and a
44th ranking in the country according to USA
Today.
“After our first loss, we really realized we
still had a lot of work to do as a team, which
ultimately has led to our current success,” said
Einhorn.
Although this season has been one in which
the seniors have stepped up, junior guards
Tawarren “G-Man” Grant, Will Hartley, and
Jordan Rich, as well as Deke Marbury, Hunter
Lucas, Matt Creighton, and sole sophomore
Jack Kline have added key baskets and played
solid defense, also contributing to Mountain
Brook’s successful season.
“This year’s group of seniors has done a
great job leading this team and helping us
grow, and I’ve just tried to improve my game
every day in practice to help my team be suc-cessful
in the best way that I can,” Kline said.
Throughout this season, the Spartans have
played many games and won the majority of
them, but the strength of schedule has been
huge for the Spartans throughout this entire
season.
“This schedule has allowed our team to
find leaks in our team that our guys could find
out about early in the year and it allowed us
to correct them,” said McMillan. “Mountain
Brook has never played a schedule this good,
and although I am not big on wins and I never
talk about them to the team, knowing that the
schedule is as hard as it has been and know-ing
that this year we’ve had the most wins in
school history is a pretty cool thing.”
With a win against Carver-Montgomery
earlier this year, a team that Mountain Brook
will face on Wednesday at 1:30, the Spartans’
chance to repeat seems to be more likely, day
by day.
“As a whole, the success of last year’s team
has allowed us to set goals that weren’t as re-alistic
before the success of last year’s team,”
said Brewster. “More importantly though,
the success of last year’s team has given our
team a standard of preparation, effort, and
accountability that we try to play with every
time we take the court. And with that, we
know we can always be successful, win or
lose.”

Sppoo1rrtt7ss
Super sophomore Sara Carr fights for a rebound against rival Vestavia.
The Sword & Shield
Womens basketball (p. 1)
It’s obvious that seniors Mary Kather-ine
Pinson, Collier Ogilvie, and Michelle
Wu have been three major contributors to
the lady Spartans basketball team.
“They have been a huge part of the
team!” gushes junior Abby Garrett.
“They are veterans of the program and
bring so much experience and basketball
IQ to the team. They are a huge factor on
both offense and defense, and next year
we have some really big shoes to fill. But
honestly, I will miss all three of their per-sonalities
the most. They are all so funny
and our team has gotten really close this
year so I will miss seeing each of them
everyday at practice.”
The Spartans successfully won a
major area game against school rival
Vestavia Hills on Friday, January 7, with
a score of 56 to 36 giving them just the
right amount of confidence they need to
play Monday, February 10, against rival
Shades Valley in the area finals to ulti-mately
play at Jacksonville State against
Huntsville.
“I think that our season was very
successful. I think we got a lot of experi-ence
through our tough schedule.” said
Ogilvie.
After last year’s performance, there’s
no question that expectations for Spartan
Basketball have risen, taking the sport
to a whole new level at MBHS. The Lady
Spartans’ talent and hard work has ulti-mately
proven that they have grown as a
team.
“My hopes for the playoffs were to sim-ply
finish strong as a team,” said Ogilvie.
“I think all of us are satisfied with how far
we got and what we have accomplished,
and we definitely all miss each other
next year!”
Photo courtesy of lhsbooster.com

1Re8views
Young the Giant releases new album: “Mind over Matter”
By RICK LEWIS
Co-Editor in Chief
****
California-based alternative rock group
Young the Giant released their second full-length
studio album “Mind Over Matter” on
January 21.
The band’s first, eponymous album, “Young
the Giant,” enjoyed radio popularity with tracks
such as “Cough Syrup” and “My Body” top-ping
the US Billboard Alternative Songs chart;
however, the album received mixed reviews by
both critics and listeners alike, many asserting
that the band had yet to fashion a unique sound
for themselves. Well, after four long years of
writing, recording, rewriting, and rerecording,
Young the Giant seems to have found their
muse.
Deviating from the Californian, sun-bleached
feel of the band’s first release, “Mind
Over Matter” delivers a developed, mature
sound with a solid grounding in heavier alterna-tive
rock.
Lead singer Sameer Gadhia offers a no-ticeably
more emotional performance; while
his vocals still possess an instrumental - even
animalistic as in the howled opening of “Crys-tallized”
- quality, floating easily with both
strings and guitars, they enjoy a heftier and
more pronounced precedence, leading most
tracks instead of simply acting as
placeholders.
Two singles were released
prior to the album’s debut:
“It’s About Time” and “Crys-tallized”
offered listeners a
taste of what was to come. “It’s
About Time” established the less
innocent and more powerful/
The Sword & Shield
true-rock sound the band was hoping to intro-duce;
choruses of electric guitars, heavy drums,
and energetic vocals draw upon the band’s influ-ences
such as Beck and Radiohead. “Young the
Giant” could be considered tamer, more acous-tic,
and structurally inhibited in comparison to
Young the Giant’s newfound voice.
In an interview with Rolling Stone’s Ken-ny
Herzog, Gadhia explained his band’s new
direction: “It takes bands many years to finally
hone in on their intent. It’s like writing a book:
You think you know what you want to write
about it, and then afterwards it becomes some-thing
completely different. For a lot of fans and
music listeners and lovers, those are the types of
records that are most interesting because they
can sense this discovery for the band.”
With a fresh, clearly directed, and ultimately
ever-morphing sound, the new Young the Giant
has, perhaps, found their niche. “Mind Over
Matter” can be streamed on iTunes, Spotify, and
is available in CD and vinyl formats as well.
sfstation.com
Alabama Biscuit Company serves up unique, artisan biscuits
By BROOKS GLOVER
Reviews Editor
The biscuit, while a breakfast staple,
remains unvaried in its form. Count-less
diners and fast food restaurants
serve biscuits with only a handful of
different toppings or fillings varying
from the typical breakfast meats to
eggs and cheese. Alabama Biscuit
Company, a small shop found in
Cahaba Heights attempts to better the
biscuit beyond its typical offerings.
Owners Jonathan and Meredith
Burch believe they have found their
niche by creating and selling all
natural biscuits. Using organic and
local ingredients, the Alabama Biscuit
Company serves unique whole-grain
biscuits made with spelt, a seldom
used wheat, instead of flour, and with
pecans, goat cheese, and almond but-ter
used as toppings the biscuits could
be described as gourmet or artisan.
Most biscuits are named after their
ingredients, with the exception of the
Alabama, the shop’s specialty, which
coats a biscuit with brown sugar sauce
and toasted pecans. However, Alabama
Biscuit Company does offer sausage
and ham biscuits as well.
The biscuits absolutely taste gour-met
too and demonstrate how much
even a simple food can be improved
using fresh ingredients. The Goat
Cheese, Pecan, and Honey biscuit may
have been the best biscuit I ever had.
The Almond Butter and Jelly was al-most
as good, and even The Standard,
a plain butter biscuit, proved that the
spelt grain does not sacrifice any quali-ty
for the sake of being organic.
In addition to their biscuits, Ala-bama
Biscuit Company offers cookies,
scones, and even biscuit mix. As for
drinks, Alabama Biscuit Company
serves typical coffeehouse fare with
Octane coffee providing the beans.
However, it’s difficult to fully rec-comend
Alabama Biscuit Company,
not because of any of their food, but
because of their prices. I am aware
that cooking with all local and organic
ingredients is something that should
be fully encouraged, but when a single
biscuit approaches seven dollars, the
satisfaction of promoting all natural
food is outweighed by how expensive
it is.
A single standard biscuit’s price is
four dollars. It’s hard to justify paying
seven dollars, when a slightly lower
quality biscuit can be bought at Piggly
Wiggly for a dollar and 50 cents.
While I might still stick to Bojan-gle’s
for a quick Saturday breakfast,
Alabama Biscuit Company must be
applauded for demonstrating the
qualities of all natural cooking and
attempting to try something new with
such a simple meal. Why not treat
yourself?
Photo by Brooks Glover
The quiet, homey atmosphere of Alabama Biscuit Company makes it a good
place to study or relax when you’re tired of the coffee shop scene.

Opini1on9s
A sophomore reflection on the high school
By CAROLINE LOWE
Staff Writer
As the frigid winter drags on
and sophomores, including myself,
are no longer “new” to the high
school, I start to realize that the
year is three-fourths over. Moun-tain
Brook Junior High seems like
a distant memory, or compared
to the high school, a nightmare. I
had been told that the high school
would be a great improvement over
the junior high, and I can definitely
say it’s true.
Sophomore William Scott states
the obvious when he says the high
school allows “more freedom, more
soft drinks and a more fleshed out
theatre.” Obviously, being able to
hang out in the mall or library and
do whatever we want during our
free period (if we have one) makes
study hall at the junior high seem
like prison.
Having more freedom in the
mall and other areas outside of the
classroom makes the high school
a much easier place for students
to get to know and socialize with
people other than those in their
old cliques. Not only are more and
more sophomores hanging out with
people that they never really hung
out with before; they also seem
friendlier and more accepting of
one another than they were when
they were in junior high
Junior high seemed to be all
about popularity. Everybody was
always so concerned about what
people thought of them. High
school seems to be a little bit more
about being yourself and finding a
niche.
As someone who was very shy at
the junior high, I have found that
the free time at the high school has
given me the chance to come out
of my shell. Because students are
more accepting and open, I find
myself making more of an effort
to talk to people I don't know very
well. Some people I didn't know at
all are turning out to be some of
the nicest in my grade.
“High school seems
to be a little bit more
about being yourself
and finding a niche.”
At the junior high, it just seemed
so much harder for me to come out
of my comfort zone.
As a sophomore on The Sword
& Shield newspaper staff, I have
also gotten to meet interesting and
witty juniors and seniors who I
probably never would have met in
any other conventional setting. The
opportunity to hang out and learn
with these students has made soph-omore
year better then 7th through
9th grades put together.
Another improvement has to do
with courses. Adelaide Kimberly
states, “I like that there are tons of
different options when choosing
your classes so that you’re bound
to find a class you like.” Also, the
teachers don’t treat us like little
children like they did at the junior
high. Sure some teachers have
strict classroom rules such as no
food or cell phones, but at least
they expect more of us and make it
clear that they are preparing us for
college.
Almost every sophomore I asked
said they like the high school much
better than the junior high. Of
course each one of us has differ-ent
reasons, but one thing is true:
each and every one of us will have
a different story coming out of the
high school, but it is up to each of
us what that story will be.
Why education is the most important thing you’re not caring about
By BEN JACKSON
Features Editor
At Woodlawn High School in
Birmingham, only 41% of students
will graduate this year. And yet,
turn on the local news, and you
won’t hear anything about it, or
the other four high schools in the
Birmingham system that graduate
fewer than 60% of their students.
You’ll hear about the economy, oil
prices, the Syrian Crisis, or Chris
Christie’s potential 2016 bid for
President, but not a word about
education.
The reason for this, of course, is
that most people don’t care about
education. It’s not sexy. Kids can’t
vote, they don’t generate revenue,
and a school’s return on invest-ment
acts substantially slower than
a treasury bond. Once students
graduate, their concern with the
primary and secondary education
system falls off.
But it shouldn’t. If anything,
your interest in the educational
system should heighten after grad-uation.
Your job—and your coun-try—
depends on it.
It’s easy as a Mountain Brook
student not to think about the
abhorrent state of public edu-cation.
After all, we’re in a great
place. We’re not plagued by the
same problems as other schools,
like under-qualified teachers and
stifling poverty. This year, over 98%
of Mountain Brook students will
graduate, with most going on to
higher learning institutions where
they will study to become doctors
or lawyers or successful business
people.
So why should it matter to you?
Well, for starters, a bad education
system elsewhere hurts everyone,
not just those that are recipients
of a poor education. Dropouts are
expensive to the American econo-my.
According to the U.S. Census
Bureau, each dropout will cost
$242,000 in taxpayer money over
the course the dropout’s lifetime.
This should be compared to the
meager $20,000 annual salary he or
she will earn. The Bureau also esti-mates
that students without a GED
earn more than $10,000 less than
students who have one, and more
than $36,000 less than students
with a Bachelor’s degree.
But the cost doesn’t end there.
That dropout is over 60 times more
likely to serve prison time, accord-ing
to the Center for Labor Market
Studies, the standard 4-year term of
which costs around $136,000—the
cost of K-12 at a private school.
And this isn’t just one or two
schools. It’s a nationwide epidemic.
Over 6,000 schools in the United
States are “dropout factories,” a
term used by reformers to label
schools in which 60% or less of
students graduate. These “dropout
factories” beget poor neighbor-hoods
that reinforce a vicious cycle
of poverty.
But what about the rest of
students, you may ask? The vast
majority that receive GEDs and
the growing number of students
attending two and four year insti-tutions?
Sure they’re graduating
and doing better than the dropout
students, but are they really receiv-ing
a quality education?
Most experts agree: No. Ac-cording
to the 2012 Program for
International Student Assessment,
the United States ranks 37th among
industrialized nations in reading
and math yet spends more per
student (about $9,500 per student,
per year) than almost any other
country.
By the year 2020, the US econ-omy
will have 150 million high-skilled
jobs available, but less
than 50 million Americans will be
qualified to fill them. Chances are,
some of us won’t be a part of that
50 million.
What does that mean? Well,
essentially, every sector of the
American economy depends on a
well-educated workforce. Without
good public education, no one will
need doctors and lawyers and busi-nesspeople.
Climate change, pov-erty,
hunger, war—all of the major
issues facing the world today—can
be solved by a better-educated pop-ulace.
Education is the foundation
of change.
But things will only get better if
people like you start caring about
education. Good schools are made
by good teachers. America needs
its best and brightest students to
become teachers and administra-tors.
According to Ken Robinson, if
we cut the dropout rate by half, we
will save the American economy
over one trillion dollars in the next
ten years. I’m not suggesting how
we fix the system; I’m just implor-ing
you to care about it.
To steal an idea from the ex-cellent
documentary “Waiting for
Superman,” it takes you to change
education. There is no hero coming
to save us. We’re all that’s left, and
we need to care.
“If anything, your
interest in the
educational system
should increase after
graduation.”
The Sword & Shield

2Op0inions
The Sword & Shield
How do we rise above the crowd as Spartans?
By JOHN SISSON
Staff Writer
On Saturday, January 4, a group of
people vandalized school property by
the baseball stadium. Within hours,
the MBHS custodial team was outside
toiling away to remove the careless
work of criminal offenders.
This is not the first time that school
property has been defaced, and the
trend is disturbing. After seeing the
libel on the concrete and walls about
our hard working teachers and ad-ministrators,
anger built up inside of
me. Although there is nothing that we
as students can do about these past
actions, we can make a change for the
future.
Here at Mountain Brook, people
take facilities and teachers for granted.
Custodians work countless hours to
keep the campus spotless. Teachers
work one-on-one with students to
answer their problems. Administrators
converse with students and help them
get through their daily problems. How
do people repay them? Is vandalism
going to solve your problems?
Over the last few years, Mountain
Brook has been fortunate enough to
build state-of-the-art facilities. Spar-tan
Arena has been upgraded with a
beautiful court, great locker rooms,
and a weight room. The football field
house underwent construction to have
a bigger locker room and an upgraded
weight room installed. Several years
ago, the dugouts at the baseball field
were renovated. Altogether, Mountain
Brook has some of the nicest facilities
in the state.
By using graffiti, these people
disrespected our school. The offenders
portray a side of Mountain Brook that
other communities can see. Do you
want Mountain Brook to be seen as a
group of people who do not respect
what is given to them?
We are Spartans. As students at
Mountain Brook High School, we are
called to higher of academic, athletic,
and personal excellence. We are the
best of the best, and we need to show
it. Be proud of your school and cherish
all that is given to you. By coming
together and reversing the trend of
ungratefulness, we can show the com-munity
that we rise above criminal
actions and take a higher road.
You can take a can of spray paint
and deface public property, but that
will get you nowhere in life. If you
have an opinion, speak up. Our
community seems to always voice our
opinions only when talking behind
This retaining wall, located near the baseball fields, had to be completely repainted
following recent vandalism.
someone’s back. Stop being a coward.
If you have a problem with someone,
speak to him or her and you will prob-ably
be able to resolve the issue.
It is time for a change in Moun-tain
Brook High School. A few good
people who change their attitudes can
go a long way. Be proud of your school
and all that it represents. We are lucky
to have all the resources that we do at
Mountain Brook, yet someone always
finds a way to complain. Reverse the
trend. Challenge yourself. Go thank a
custodian for all that he or she does.
Photo by John Sisson
Thank that teacher that is spending
extra time to help make sure that you
understand your material. Go talk to
the administrators and thank them for
keeping the school running smoothly
and always talking to you no matter
what.
Mountain Brook is constantly
changing and every class leaves a
different legacy. How do you want to
be remembered? If you don’t like the
way that your class is headed, it is your
time to act.
Pride or Prejudice? The war on the confederate flag wages on
By COKE MATTHEWS
Staff Writer
Even today in Alabama it is com-mon
to see Confederate flags on
bumper stickers, clothing, and post-ers.
Many view the flag as a symbol
of racism, slavery, and hatred. Others
believe that the stars and bars flag
symbolizes Southern heritage and
pride in the region and its people. I be-lieve
the public use of the flag should
be strongly discouraged.
Was the Civil War about slavery or
was the conflict about independence
and freedom from intrusive govern-ment?
Are you black or white, is your
family from the South, or is there a
Confederate soldier in your family
tree? How you feel about the flag is
probably linked to how you answer
these questions. The debate has raged
since the Civil War ended. Just last
year, an Arizona high school student
was expelled for fighting with another
student over his right to fly the Con-federate
flag on his truck as a symbol
of his heritage. While both students
were suspended for fighting, the
school deemed the flag as generally
offensive to some groups and banned
its display on school grounds.
In 1993, the State of Alabama
removed the Confederate flag from
its capitol building. Closer to home,
Vestavia removed the Confederate flag
from its official crest almost ten years
ago. Even though Vestavia still refers
to its sports teams as the Rebels, it dis-courages
the flying of the Confederate
flag at sporting events.
On one hand, how could anyone
be proud of the horrific institution of
slavery and that chapter of our histo-ry?
On the other hand, our
Constitution guarantees
the right of free speech.
The question is how we
balance these conflicting
views.
I have concluded that
people, not just Southern-ers,
love to rally behind
something that makes
them feel different and
therefore special. It is
nothing more than pride.
So even if the flag is offensive to me,
I believe that the right of freedom of
speech should protect an individu-al’s
right to display the flag. It is an
important constitutional right in this
country, though it can be uncomfort-able
when exercised.
However, I don’t believe that the
Confederate flag should be flown in a
public building or as an official symbol
due to the extremely negative histo-ry
that many associate with it. It can
create an environment of divisiveness
instead of inclusiveness. No matter
how you feel, it is clearly more than
united-states-flag.com
just a flag.
As the debate over the Confederate
flag continues, we should try to find an
approach that makes room for differ-ing
views even if they are unpopular.
Clearly, the flag stirs deep emotions
on both sides, so our goal should be
education. We should make sure that
flag-wavers know of its terribly offen-sive
meaning to some and make sure
flag-attackers realize that to others it
is a symbol of heritage and pride. If
you want to rally behind something or
show your pride as a Southerner – fly
your state flag instead.
NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATION: The Mountain Brook School system does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability or age in any
of its programs and activities and provides equal access to the Boy Scouts and other designated youth groups. The following persons have been designated to handle inquiries re-garding
nondiscrimination policies: Dr. Dale Wisely—Director of Student Services (Title VI), (wiselyd@mtnbrook.k12.al.us); Mrs. Sylvia Harper—Personnel Director (Title IX),
(harpers@mtnbrook.k12.al.us); Dr. Missy Brooks—Director of Instruction (Title II), (wildman-brooksm@mtnbrook.k12.al.us); Mrs. Shannon Mundy—Special Education Director
(Section 504), (mundyl@mtnbrook.k12.al.us). Contact Information: 32 Vine Street, Mountain Brook, AL 35213, 205-871-4608.

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