Hanchen Ou ‘26 and I talk about our experiences of being a student-athlete on our new podcast the Buzzer Beater.
On the podcast we speak on topics like making that transition from student to athlete. “I mean, the best way to do that is just manage your time,” Ou said. “have your schedule every single day and do as much work as you can in your study hall.” This is the story of many student athletes that truly love their sport and aren’t just doing it for something to fill up their schedule. Hanchen is someone who already has a rigorous schedule with school, but he adds to it through his practices through school but also has outside training with The Lab. Another topic we spoke on was how athletes that miss many classes due to leaving school early for games stay up to date with the work and material being taught in the class. “I mean, it just I would always think at different points, I would think about different things. So if I already left the class, I should not care anything about the class. The only thing I'm focusing on is just playing the game. But when I get back to the classroom, I should not think anything about baseball. I should just focus on the class work and the homework and do as much as much as you can. So it's kind of like that mental switch on and off and like where are you all that,” said Hanchen. Differences on how schools affect the life of a student-athlete came up. Both of us coming from different schools on two different sides of the spectrum helped us get an experienced point of view on the situation. Hanchen who came from China where the school days extend over 13 hours. I came from Salem where the material was a little less and not as difficult due to the eight classes a day school plan. “It's a big difference because at Salem one the work wasn't half as hard. I mean, it's not that it wasn't as hard. It's just the way that it was handed out was a lot different. and it's like it was a whole different ball game. Like and it was just like so they kind of were a little less understanding, but it was a lot less work” I said in my Salem to NCS comparison. After a good conversation between my good friend, podcast member, Hanchen and I, we went on towards the future and how we will balance this load in college. With my school, Randolph College, no classes are held on Wed. giving me more time to finish work from my professors. In Hanchen's case he wants to go to an Ivy League school. “I will try my best. So for an Ivy league school, they like a lot of good athletes who don't choose to go there because if you don't have a strong academic like level, you couldn't graduate from those schools. So if you want to go to an Ivy League school, you have to have confidence in your academics. So for me, I would just say, I would just focus on getting the work done during classes, just like high school and also try my best to play baseball,” Hanchen said.
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State Bound: Our boys 4x400 meter relay team wins the heat solidifying their qualification in the state meet. (Photo by Jennifer Britton).
After a long day of running in the frosty, whipping wind Parker Britton ‘28, JD Grubb ‘27, Jase Rhodes ‘26, and I came together to run the 4x400 meter relay at the Terrier Team Classic at William Byrd High School on April 12. We all had events before this and were tired and cold. Jase had done the 400, long jump and triple jump. JD had run the 100 and 200. Parker ran the 400 in the Distance Medley Relay and the 400 meter dash. I long jumped and ran the 400. After this long day of pushing out good times despite the weather, we all came together to try and do a one and done, run once and qualify for the state tournament 4x400. We needed a time of 4:08.49. I started the race in lane four. As soon as everyone came around into that first straight away, it felt like running into a brick wall with how bad the wind was. After catching the person in front of me, I handed the baton to JD for his first 400. Even though this was his first ever 400 and was very nervous about how to run it, he did very well and kept us in first place. JD put out an impressive first time 400 keeping us in 1st place. After finishing his leg with a pained look on his face JD handed the baton to Parker Britton. Parker held the first position as he passed the baton to Jase. Jase took off and by the end was competing side by side with the anchor from Northside, but pulled away to a decent sized win. As Jase crossed the finish line we all looked towards the clock and saw the time of 3:46.93. As we won the heat and hit the qualifying mark by a long shot we celebrated. “The boys’ 4x400 at the end of the day where our boys showed tremendous heart to win their heat in 3:46.93 and place a close fourth overall [in the total meet],” head coach Ed Dickenson said. There are many challenges faced when moving from a place where someone is
surrounded by people who look like them, to a place where there are significantly less people who resemble them. Even if a minority grew up in a predominantly white institution (PWI), many challenges can still be faced. “I think it’s depending on the point of view, because like some people that like aren’t able to fit in as easily will have a more hard time since like there’s not a lot of people who look like us, you know,” Rabia Ferron ‘25 said, “so I feel like it can be a struggle, but also on the bright side, if you can fit in, it’s not really that much of a problem.” Coming from a PWI, Rabia is very knowledgeable about growing up not seeing many people who look like her. Although she may not have grown up in the NCS PWI, she still has plenty of experience with the subject. “At my old school I was in first grade and my brother was in preschool,” Ferron said, “and me and him were the only black kids in the whole school.” There are a few minorities who grew up in the PWI we call home. Although they grew up through this circuit it still has to be difficult. “It was not easy growing up [at NCS] especially through my third through eighth grade years,” Maggie Bibby said, “I was the only black kid in my class, so it felt very isolated up until I got into the high school and saw the different walks of life because I really didn’t experience that through most of my elementary and middle school years.” As the only Brazilian student and one of two Brazilian people on campus, Pietra Adelino Fischer definitely has the title and space to say minority. “My other school like it was way bigger, like a big big school. It was like more than 1,200 students, like in the whole school and a lot of people are like the same thing, and do the same thing.” Fischer said. “So here I’m like the only Brazilian I can show my friends what we do in Brazil, like parties, the customs, and what we do.” Fischer said, “It was a change for me to have to speak in a different language and to learn new things in that different language.” As someone who grew up surrounded by a large amount of just about every culture, it was very different to make that change to NCS. While NCS does have a wide variety of cultures, it is still a PWI. Some argue since there are many different countries involved in the community, it can’t be a PWI. This is a misconception because there can be many cultures but if there is still a dominant culture, then there are still minorities. Many people who are the majority in the PWI don’t realize an issue, and may be blind to the inequality they have unknowingly witnessed everyday. “Despite being in the same school, our experiences aren’t really the same. It’s easier to get along in school when you feel like you share a lot of common ground with people,” Bibby said, “It can be hard when you feel like you don’t match with any of your classmates.” I never thought it would be like this. I was always so excited for the day. I held everyone in suspense as I made my decision. I always looked forward to this moment, but there were so many choices. Which one to choose? So many ways I could go toward my future and everyone is telling me something different. But the time is here, the big day. I have to commit to the next four years of my life, leaving the only place I have ever known and restarting.
Let me give you a little background. Hi I’m Trey. I’m a senior trying to figure out my next steps. I can either go for sports, or I can go for my studies, or I can go for comfort, but one thing I won’t go for is to please the people around me. Yes I’m talking about college choices. All I know for sure is that ever since I was young I knew I wanted to go to college. I would be the first one in my household to actually go to a college. This feat is definitely not the only reason, but also I wanted a better life. I wanted to say, I went to college and got a degree in whatever field I chose. Thankfully, I had a family that backed me all the way and showed me that they would support me with whatever choice I made, within reason of course. Not only was it my family but my best friends that I have been consulting with the whole process. Even with this support, I knew I couldn’t go far due to the help I still needed to give to my family as well as the money side of the decision. So as I grew and matured, the closer my “dream college” became, going from Florida, to North Carolina, even Tennessee and Kentucky weren’t off limits, but eventually ending in my own home state. Although I’m considering landing in-state, that doesn’t mean I’m staying only 30 minutes away. I’m planning to go on with my life, opening a new chapter and escaping the void of my small city, which I resented when I was younger, but grew to love due to the people who also dealt with the struggle of this no-man's-land of a city. I have my eyes set already, only allowing those closest to me to know which door I will choose. When I ended my junior year, I was a mess on where I wanted to go and even what for, but as I spoke with many colleges and sat through many forced speeches, it became more clear to me the route that works best for me. Now that you know a little more to the story I have to go to my signing day. Thank you everyone for being here. We have all of our seniors, and we are so proud of them, starting with our Trey. He will be attending. HAPPY FAMILY: Multiple sets of siblings run cross country as well as the entire team celebrate the success of the girls first state championship.
Kerrigan ‘25 and Finton ‘27 Chaney, Josh ‘25 and Caleb ‘28 Miao, Harry ‘25 and Peter ‘27 Anderson, twins Madison and Olivia Ball ‘29, all ran for the varsity this year. The Ball’s ran with younger brother Gavin ‘30 on the Middle School team. Last year Alex ‘24 and Gabe Dickenson ‘29 shared workouts on the cross country team spanning seven years, the boys and girls team. Not many people were aware of the coincidence of the amount of siblings that inhabit the team. Kerrigan and Finn’s mom, Darcy McGrath, suggested that someone in the newspaper should talk about the amount of siblings on the team. This opened not only my and the team's eyes but fellow journalist and cross country teammate, Kaitlyn Perkins ‘28. “I don’t really notice because on the team like siblings would,” Perkins said. “We push each other and compete to get better.” The wave of eighth graders got to shine on the varsity and assisted on the first ever win for girls cross country in the history of NCS.”It was a team effort from beginning to end,” Head Coach Ed Dickenson said, “reflecting the character and heart that our girls' team has shown all season. Amazing performance!” Twin troubles: Olivia Ball ran a 21:51, the fourth fastest time among the Raider girls and cementing the championship with her 24th-place finish. In only her second varsity race, her sister Madison came in at 23:33, putting her at 63rd overall. More than 150 girls ran in the Div. II race. Another sibling duo that seems to fly under the radar is Josh ‘25 and Caleb ‘28 Miao. “It’s been pretty fun to be able to run with Caleb this year because even though we’ve been on the same team before . . . we haven’t, you know, both like been varsity, like running together, so that’s been a pretty cool thing,” Josh said. “It’s also been cool to see how much progress he's made, because the last couple of years he’s been in middle school, and I’ve been in high school, so we’ve been running together in practices but never in a race.” Caleb finished his season at Panorama Farms in Earlysville, running a very solid 21:27. Running a sub-20 minute top-five time for the team, Josh has not finished his season and high school career yet. He and his teammates are eager to go out with a bang at the Foot Locker meet, Nov. 30th in Charlotte, North Carolina, with the majority of his fellow senior runners. Finishing third overall in the race, the boys were paced by Spencer Britton ‘27, who placed second overall, and Finn Chaney, who placed 10th overall. Meanwhile, Justus Horner ‘28, whose sister Lydia ‘24 ran with the team for many years, placed 20th. Those three Raiders earned all-state honors. Five seconds after Justus, Harry placed 21st. Maidah Ahmad ‘27 (right) and Anna Ciccozzi ‘26 dress up with their bowling team as Scooby Doo and the Mystery gang.
Friday night December 6, was a night to remember for many NCS students. Oliver Lacy ‘26 held a fundraiser through the bowling night to raise money for his Eagle Ecout project of building a masthead kiosk for a river in Franklin County. “All of the money raised went to wood and screws,” Lacy said. With NCS taking up almost half of the lanes at Lee Hi, that covers a good amount.In addition to an entry fee of $12.50, many brought donations to give an extra helping hand for Lacy’s project. To nobody’s surprise Leyton Sturm ‘25 won best bowler. This is Sturm’s third time winning best bowler of the NCS bowling night. “The threepeat was awesome,” Sturm said. “Overall I had a great time with my team that night so it was a lot of fun.” He still happened to grab this feat despite having a smaller team with Alejandro “Bob” Almenas ‘25 and Cesar Suarez ‘25. Leyton took home this prestige title for the third time with a score of around 180. Hunter Basile ‘25 and Jahanvi Patel ‘25 also won very different awards. Basile brought home second place best bowler and Patel won best worst bowler. Hunter had four strikes in a row. One of which was for Anna Ciccozzi ‘26 as she was away, but still a feat nonetheless. Basile’s including classmates Thomas Greer, Tyler Bloomfield, Henry Schumm, and Henry Lugar. This band of brilliant bowlers took home the best bowling team. “I would say it was a fun night with my friends and classmates,”new student Jonas Koegl-Wallner ‘27. “Even though my bowling skills need some improvement, I have a lot of fun.” Joining Koegl-Wallner on his new adventure at NCS was Nikheel Sherigar ‘26, Ameer Albishah ‘26, Anderson Ratliff ‘26, Thomas Frieben ‘28, and Walker Reel ‘27. Coming back to school the next Monday SCA advisor Susan Wenk shared a heartwarming video of a compilation of pictures and videos from the bowling night on the Friday night before. Many laughed throughout the video reminiscing on the fun times shared with friends and classmates, whether a good bowler or not. Ambassadors of DEI and GSA clubs host a LGBTQ+ table celebrating important events and people in history.
On Oct. 25 the DEI club and GSA had many tables outside of Willis Hall. These tables were not open to the whole school rather just the Upper school. A question wheel with historical questions about LQBTQ+ was run by me, Jacob Johnson ‘25, Kayleigh Johnson ‘26, Caroline Welfare ‘27 and Abby Landry ‘26. After answering a question correctly, students won a pack of Skittles. Many people praised the cake pops from History teacher Hannah Ewing, who worked at the table with GSA Club members asking students to answer trivia questions in order to win a cake pop. The majority of the DEI crew contributed to the success of the tables. “The LGBTQ+ table was successful,” DEI coordinator Debbie Taylor said. “We had students playing games and taking an active interest in learning. One ninth-grade student playing trivia said, ‘I am learning,’ and students with whom I had a very in-depth conversation about acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community two years ago, came over and played trivia. That makes me happy. Those are highlights for me. Some of our football players stopped by to play the game. Our students are becoming more accepting and willing to learn.” For the prize of a shirt supporting the LGBTQ+ community, there was a choice between two questions: 1) Q: The Stonewall riots took place in which New York City neighborhood?” The second asking,Which contemporary TV show features the longest running queer character in TV history? (Dr. Callie Torres Grey’s Anatomy) Even teachers felt stumped. One person on the table and walls of the Upper School took most students by surprise. Many people didn’t realize that the famous singer songwriter who produced masterpieces such as “Blond(e)” and “Channel Orange",” Frank Ocean, identifies as bi-sexual. “I really didn’t know about Frank,” Chris Carter ‘25 said. “I never really got into his music, but I definitely know his work.” “We are in the business of teaching here at North Cross and in the DEI program about acceptance and kindness towards everyone”, Taylor said. “We are a community that has space for everyone regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion.” ![]() New student, Kaleb Robinson ‘26, drives to the basket against Patrick Henry High School. Kaleb Robinson is a new addition to the NCS community bringing his astounding height standing at 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds. Robinson was previously a student at Christiansburg, where he played basketball. First getting involved with the NCS summer league Robinson began building chemistry with his future teammates. Coming in and putting in hard work and efforts to get ready to have a promising season with other NCS basketball players Jaziel Hart ‘26, Siah Haynes ‘27, and fellow new student Daven Reed ‘28. Kaleb claims to being confident in the potential they hold for a great season “It’s hard to describe, he’s good at everything. He has a center size but can handle like a point guard, and I’m excited for his first season.” JV basketball player, Hanchen Ou claims. “Really it was for basketball and also a better opportunity to go to college because Christiansburg, my previous school, wasn’t really great at that,” Robinson said when asked about the reason for his transfer. As it did with many students who transfer into NCS, it was a big change for him. Most students, especially ones who transfer after going to another highschool, show signs of not so smooth adjustments.“It [the transfer] was very tough for me, especially with the 45-minute drive from Christiansburg to here,” Robinson said. “Also just the expectations that are way higher. Everyone here is on another level from public school. Definitely the drive is the toughest.” A s school is only a few weeks in, Robinson has already immersed himself into a handful of activities. Robinson has begun attending many meetings with the African-American and Latin X affinity group. Also he has been doing offseason training with head boys’ basketball coach, Jamiel Allen. “My previous coach was not reaching out to coaches for me,” Robinson said, “and it’s better for other coaches to reach out. And Coach Allen would have done that. With him doing that, it would give me a better college opportunity,” Kaleb said when asked about expectations from the basketball team. Many have different opinions about NCS and the way the community is run. “The people have been very welcoming, the environment, and the teachers are very personal,” he said. “I like how teachers give you breaks because they know you have vigorous work and they’ll work with you.” Another controversial topic is the phone policy. “It’s not a problem for me because my mom makes me keep my phone at home and gave me a flip phone for emergencies,” Kaleb said. Meanwhile, Robinson has high hopes for the athletic teams. “Im expecting NCS to go far in the playoffs for all sports,” Robinson said with confidence. ![]() Attempting to overlook the fact that this is our last time together, this picture across the street from the NCS dorm collects a sentimental last moment between separating friends (Aren Barranco ‘26 on the left and former NCS Gabo Ramirez-Lugo on the right). This was the night I stayed at the NCS dorm before they closed for the summer. This experience was needed because Gabo had told us just weeks earlier that he was transferring to a school in Connecticut for a better chance and getting far with soccer. “It’ll be okay, this isn’t goodbye but just see you later,” Gabo told me before he got on the bus the morning of the dorm closing. That night we did everything together, making sure we wouldn’t be able to say we wish we would have done this or that. As I watched that bus take the best friend I’ve ever met, my brother, drive off to start a new separate life, I tried to fight the feeling of sadness as I realized he’s gone. ![]() Mortiz Mittendorfer ‘24, DeShannon Reed ‘27, and Nate Bonds ‘25 prepare to get treatment from NCS’ beloved Athletic Trainer, Holly Marshall. With many injuries plaguing athletes, they limit the team from having a fully healthy season. Most of these inconvenient injuries are due to either hamstring pulls or just hamstring tweaks in general. According to- -Marshall there have been three hamstring injuries in just the spring alone to runners such as Nate Bonds, DeShannon Reed ‘, and most recently newcomer, Jiale Qin ‘26. Some such as Bonds and Reed have carried these burdened hamstrings since the indoor season. “It delayed me a little bit,” said Bonds./ “It set me back but taught me to stretch more.” To truly show how much injuries affected the track team, runners are the first ones in Marshall's room before and sometimes the last ones to leave after practice. “Before practice I probably see about six and after about four,” Marshall said. Most people in the room are getting ice, helping stretching, or just even checking in with her about past injuries that may still need to be shown attention. Which is more than needed while going through an injury. “Holly checks my progress and where I am compared to where I was,” Reed said, “and then she evaluates what stretches I can do and how hard I should go in practice.” While coaches don’t like the time spent in Holly’s room before practice, it is important to the performance during practice. Practicing while hurt there will be more chances of performing at a lower level than at a healthy level. Also there are more chances of reinjuring that spot. “She [Holly] asked me to come before practice to check up on it. She knows how to help me do better during the practice and hold me from harder practices so I can work on it and let it heal,” Qin said, ”It will help me work on it without hurting it again or making it worse.” For the runners who were suffering from an injury earlier in indoor season and even tweaks this outdoor season are now back to running. For instance Bonds and Reed are now back to running the 4x100 relay and 100meter dash. For the more recent injuries, Qin, who is suffering from a pulled hamstring, is on the verge of returning to practice and is excited to run in his first meet. “I’m feeling better and ready to go for the next meet hopefully,” Qin said. |
Jacob JohnsonAbove is a picture of me participating in retro day for Homecoming spirit week. Were an Allen Iverson 76ers jersey. Finding myself enjoying the small things before life gets real. Archives
May 2025
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