The Quill • April 2021-2022

April Issue : 2021 -2022

In this issue... Designers:

Cover Design: Advanced Writers: Gretchen Langhans
Mary Ngangá
Mary Ngangá Alena Stewart Lola Tanguay
Maggie Valentine Anmarie Trolli
Design Editor: Anna Blubaugh Joel Villa
Elisa Skaggs
Chuck Keener Mariana Perez Flores Profile on
Paulina
Editor in Chief: Fairly Odd
Parents A compelling in-
Devon Kerwin terview with a 14
A sneak peak on the year old Ukranian
Writers: interesting careers
girl.
Rhoda Asiamah of SFD parents.
Jodi Mohler Mechanical
Joseph Behrendt Doping
Sophia Hipolite
Vritsy Martinez A look into the
Gregory Jones illegal cheat
Mimi Tesfay
Faith Gantz sheet for athletic
Annie See competitions.
Melia Harvey
Jessica Lipp
Pierson Bryan
Coco Lipp

What Does Russia Want With

Written by: Ukraine?
Rhoda Asiamah
Featurting an interview with Paulina:
Designed by: A Ukrainian teenager.
Lola Tanguay

As seen on the news everywhere
recently, Russia has involved

Ukriane in war. The two have been
trending daily all over Twitter, Goo-
gle searches, and news outlets.Al-
though there is much speculation,

many may not know the reason-
ing behind why Russia is invading
Ukraine. It is believed that Rus-
sian President,Vladimir Putin, wants
Ukraine for their own, forming an
empire. Although that could be the
case, that does not explain every-

thing.

The history between Russia and Ukraine

Ukraine won its independence and became a Soviet Republic in 1991, after
being a part of the Russian Empire for decades. In 2014 Ukrainian President Vik-
tor Yanukovych, rejected an association agreement with the European Union due
to his loyalty to Moscow, which led to many protests.Viktor fled to Russia, and
was removed as the leader of Ukraine. Russia’s response was to invade Ukraine
and annex Ukraine’s Crimea.The main issue of the current Ukraine crisis is that
Russia does not want Ukraine to be a part of the North Atlantic Treaty Or-
ganization, also known as NATO. NATO is a military alliance that was formed
in 1949 between European and Asian countries along with the United States.
This was to ensure peace and security of its members. Putin had previously ex-
pressed that he feels threatened by NATO with its weaponry system and mili-
tary training centers in Ukraine.

Since March
3rd 2022,
Background on Voldoymr Zelensky over one mil-
lion Ukraini-
Known Ukrainian comedian,Voldoymr Zelensky, ans have left
was elected President in 2019. Zelensky was able to Ukraine, due
use his platform and voice against corruption to gain to Russian
a 73% landslide win. Once in office, Zelensky took no- troops invad-
tice of the conflict with Crimea and Russia. During his ing the city
sit down with Russian President Putin, Putin stated that
the fighting would only stop if Ukraine would become
a part of Russia. Zelensky refused the offer, and Putin
continued to cause tension between the two countries.
Throughout this war, Zelensky has become a known
figure for taking a brave stand against Putin, even taking
to the streets with other citizens. Making a video trying
to bring comfort to the Ukrainian people he said,“Our
troops are here, citizens are here, all of us are here
protecting our independence of our country, and it will
continue to be this way.”

Update on invasion

Since March 3rd 2022, over one million Ukrainians have fled Ukraine, due
to Russian troops invading the city. Russian troops have been able to get to se-
rious parts of the Ukrainian land, threatening to cut off Ukraine’s access to the
Black Sea. Poland has taken in over 2 million Ukrainian refugees.There have been
videos all over social media of Russian soldiers stating that they don’t want war
with Ukraine, and that they had been tricked, lied to, and forced. However, Pres-
ident Vladimir Putin told the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, that Russia
would achieve its goal in Ukraine “no matter what.”

Whether the reason for Ukraine being invaded is known or not, we
must keep them in our prayers. No one on either side of this conflict
wants war to ensue, but unfortunately history will repeat itself. Re-
search on this topic is needed as well, it is best to stay informed on
this situation.

Prof i le on Paulina:

A Ukrainian's Journey to Ohio

It’s sometimes hard to understand major
events, especially if they don’t directly affect
our lives.

We can sympathize with others, but we don’t fully

understand their experiences. One major instance

is the war on Ukraine.The onslaught of war and

danger in Ukraine has caused many Ukrainians to

flee to places all over the world, including Ohio. On

April 12,The Quill sat down with Paulina, a fourteen

year-old Ukrainian refugee who toured DeSales as a

Stallion for a Day. She talked about her experience

leaving Ukraine, her hobbies, and how she felt during

her journey.

Paulina’s journey started over two months ago, “It could be months, it could be a year, I
when a news station and airport near her city were
bombed.“It happened far away from me, but I heard have no idea.”
the bomb and my family woke up.” Paulina explained.
A few days later, Paulina, her brother, and her moth- Although Ohio might seem like a strange place to flee
er left for Poland.“The drive from Ukraine to Poland to, it made perfect sense to Paulina and her family.“My
was four hours but we were stuck at the border for grandparents, aunt, and uncle live here (Ohio),” she ex-
ten hours because there were some breakdowns plained. One member of her family who wasn’t allowed
and the queue was very long.Then we had to stay to flee Ukraine was Paulina’s dad. Due to the fragility of
in Poland for a month while we waited for our visas the situation in Ukraine, men ages 18 to 60 have been
to come.After that, we flew from Poland to Chicago banned from leaving, in case of war. Fortunately, Paulina’s
and then Chicago to Ohio,” said Paulina. dad has not been deployed to fight.“He stays there (in
Ukraine) in case he needs to fight,” she said.“He stays
Fun Facts about Paulina ! at our house with my cat, Hollister.”

“I do contemporary dance, but used to Paulina’s journey out of Ukraine isn’t unheard of; many
do rhythmic gymnastics and acro.” Ukrainians have fled the country over the past cou-
ple of months.“Many of my friends have left Ukraine,”
“I used to play volleyball!” recalled Paulina.“They’ve gone to Ireland, Poland, and
many other countries.” No one knows how long it will
“I love all music, but like K-Pop a lot. I be until Ukrainians are able to return to their home
like Blackpink, Stray Kids, and TWICE.” country.“It could be months, it could be a year, I have
no idea,” Paulina said sadly.There’s no way to know how
“My favorite subjects are Algebra, long Russia’s war on Ukraine will be, but it’s important
English and PE.” to be accepting and open minded to all those in crisis
right now.

The Quill

Fairly went on the
hunt to find
the oddest

Odd jobs or
hobbies of

Parents SFD parents

written by: You always hear about the roles
Sophia of doctors, teachers, and bankers
Hipolite since they are commonly held jobs.
While all parents have their
designed by: respective jobs, there are always
Gretchen a few that come around that can
Langhans make a very interesting
conversation starter. The Quill went
on the hunt to find the oddest jobs
or hobbies of SFD parents. These
were the oddest jobs we
found:

Church Goods’ Seller

Senior Matty Letzelter’s dad, Matt

Letzelter works for a company called Root
Candle. Root Candle is a company that
was founded in Medina, Ohio. They have
been selling church goods to churches all
over the country for over 150 years. The
goods they sell include: Palms and Ashes,
Tabernacles, Vestments, Statues, Advent
wreaths, but mostly devotional candles. He
said that his main request when
getting a job was he wanted to be around
to watch his daughters grow up. His father
was working for Root Candle already and
offered him a job so he took it. He said he
“has been working for Root for 17 years
and has been able to work from home the
entire time” so he can go to all his
daughters special events.

Emergency Dispatcher

Senior Khalia Henderson’s mom,

Keisha Henderson is an Emergency Dis-
patcher. As a 911 dispatcher, you answer
calls from people who are experiencing an
emergency. This job can be extremely
stressful and intense. You can answer the
phone to a very panicked caller and
depending on how you handle the situation
the caller’s life could be altered. She said
her craziest call was “what I thought was a
prank call”. Someone was breathing heav-
ily on the other line and not talking so she
told them she was going to disconnect the
call. She ended up calling them back and
heard a weird noise, so she sent officers to
check on them. The officers found a man
who was shot several times. “The first call
I thought was a prank was the man taking
some of his last breaths”.

Psychologist for Imprisoned Sex Offenders

Junior Isabella Trostel’s mom, Katie

Trostel works in a prison as the Director of
Sex Offender Program. She works with in-
dividuals and groups of “high risk sex of-
fenders” and provides them with therapy
as they get ready to be released. She loved
the movie Silence of the Lambs growing
up and became interested in the FBI, so
she began “ a career in corrections work-
ing with the mentally ill before
interviewing with the FBI”. Sadly she was
not selected to be in the FBI so she her
continued her career in corrections and
that led her to what she does now, working
with high risk sex offenders.

Beekeeper

Senior Ben Konicki’s dad, Matt Kon-

icki has a hobby of beekeeping. He told
us all the stuff that goes into being a bee-
keeper. He wears an outfit that resembles a
plant to avoid getting stung when inspect-
ing the hives. He also uses a certain smoke
to cut off communication from bee to bee,
so the bees won’t alert each other of an in-
truder and attack. Most beekeepers check
for three primary things when inspecting
a hive: “queen productivity, quality of the
colony, and any problems in the hive”. His
overall goal as a beekeeper is to spend as
little time in the hive, “let the bee’s do their
thing in peace,” he said.

DJ

Senior Natalie Schwartz’s dad, Mark

Schwartz has a hobby of DJing. In order
to get a crowd energized at parties and
events, DJs will play mixes of popular
songs. A DJ really makes a party a party
and is usually a must have at many events.
Mr. Schwartz has even DJed some of the
events that St. Francis Desales holds, in-
cluding the annual Father Daughter Dance.
He said he got into DJing after he “was
asked to bring some music to a friend’s
daughter’s birthday party and enjoyed it so
he decided to buy some equipment and do
it professionally”. Since then he has been
DJing as a hobby and has learned a lot
along the way.

After talking to many individuals, we learned that not
everyone has your normal 9 to 5 job, but all are necessary in
one way or another. It was very interesting to look into jobs
that are heavily shown in tv and movies, and other jobs we
never even knew existed. Remember not everyone’s parent is an
accountant or teacher, some students have Fairly Odd Parents.

The

UPHEAVAL
of the

College Basketball
Hierarchy

Written by: Jackson Carawan Designed by: Anmarie Trolli

The month of March is well known for a multitude of reasons: the volatile weather, St.
Patrick’s Day, and Women’s History Month. In the sports world, March is also home to
one of the most lucrative sporting events in the world: March Madness. The massive 64
team basketball tournament is run exclusively by the NCAA. In 2021, the NCAA made
roughly $1.15 billion in total revenue for the year. March Madness represents around
90% of the total revenue. What’s even more astonishing is that in 2022, American cit-
izens bet around $3.1 billion dollars on the tournament. This leads to the question of
how a school from Jersey City, New Jersey, with a total enrollment of roughly 3,000 and
a total basketball budget of just over a million dollars, is able
to disrupt a multi billion dollar industry?
St. Peter’s success on the court this year wasn’t chock full of
dominance, contrasting from what their tournament run
suggested. Their season in all actuality, got off to a rough
start. Through their first 9 games, the Peacocks started off a
measly 3-6. On December 22, 2021, St. Peter’s ran into a bout
of Covid that spread throughout the team. This postponed
their season for the next 5 games up until January 14 of 2022.
However, this postponement may have been the best thing
for them.
Coming out of their extended break, St. Peter’s strung
together a nice amount of wins, finishing 19-6 after the break
for a total record of 22-12 and 14-6 in conference play. They
went into the MAAC (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)

“But you know, we just—
don’t take away from what
these kids did. This was
really disappointing, dev-
astating. But this team
brought a lot of joy to a lot
of us. Just hate that it ends
this way.”

tournament as the two seed. Their three straight wins in this tournament won them the
conference title and an automatic bid into March Madness.

Going into March Madness, St. Peter’s was drawn the 15 seed with a matchup against
the perennial powerhouse program, the Kentucky Wildcats. In terms of odds in this

game, 97% of completed brackets on the ESPN app
chose Kentucky to win, while 98% chose
Kentucky on the CBS app. Despite these towering
odds, St. Peter’s went into the game with no fear. The
Peacocks defeated the Wildcats 85-79 in a thrilling
overtime victory. After the game, head coach of
Kentucky, John Calipari, issued a statement on the loss.
He said, “But you know, we just—don’t take away from
what these kids did. This was really disappointing,
devastating. But this team brought a lot of joy to a lot of

us. Just hate that it ends this way.” Although disappointing
for the heavily favored Wildcats, the Peacocks marched on.

In the second round, the Peacocks
continued their run against the
Murray State Racers team- who
came into the game with a record of
31-3. However, the Peacocks once
again showed their
perseverance with a solid 70-60
win. After the game, head coach of
St. Peter’s, Shaheen Holloway (who

was a former player himself), commented on the “These guys are just out
team by saying, “[They] came back and won a there doing what they
second game against another great team, Murray love to do and that’s
State. These guys ain’t worried about no moments hooping, man, that’s it.
like that. These guys are just out there doing what How can you be afraid of
they love to do and that’s hooping, man, that’s it.
How can you be afraid of something that you love to
do?” The Peacocks brought this kind of energy into
their sweet sixteen game against Purdue. Purdue, something that you love
were obviously the heavy favorites, yet St. Peter’s to do?”

showed that they were ready for the moment. They
squeaked out a 67-64 win, making them the first ever
15 seed to make it to the Elite Eight.

St. Peters’ run came to an end in the Elite Eight with a
loss to the North Carolina Tar Heels. Their record break-
ing run in the tournament was not only an impressive
feat on the court, but off the court as well. In terms of the
economic gravity of the Peacock’s run, these statistics
may be more impressive than their actual wins. St.
Peter’s win over Kentucky marked the largest
financial upset in the history of the tournament.
St. Peter’s walked into the 2021-2022 season with a
basketball budget of $1.6 million. This may sound like a

lot to someone who may be
inexperienced with college basketball
statistics, but Kentucky’s basketball budget for
this year stood at $18.72 million. The almost 12
times larger budget made for the largest
budget difference in March Madness history.

Everyone loves a good underdog story, and in this past tour-
nament, St. Peter’s definitely provided one. As for today,
the St. Peter’s program has already drastically changed.
The head coach, Shaheem Holloway, left to go coach at his
alma mater Seton Hall along with the benefits of a significant
pay raise. Three of St. Peter’s players, Matthew Lee, Doug
Edert, and Daryl Banks III have entered the transfer portal
looking for higher profile teams, and senior KC Ndefo is
graduating. The core nucleus that carried the Peacocks
through the tournament has already been deconstruct-
ed shortly after the tournament. Ultimately, it shows that
although there will be that rare occasion of David
beating Goliath, making that kind of success sustain-
able is even more rare. However, this makes these
occurrences even more exciting and even more
unpredictable.

Days left of
school for. . .

20seniors
24underclassmen

Mechanical Doping

Athletics capture the minds of
millions every day. The captivating
drive to become great in a sport
has pushed some to the peak of
human capabilities, however, this

equal playing field may be at risk.

This risk comes in the form of
technological advancements in

certain athletic gear. This gear
may give athletes unfair
advantages, making the

competition less legitimate and
more unfair. The most common
example of this would be
performance enhancing shoes.
This issue in athletic technology is
known as mechanical doping.

Written By: Pierson Bryan
Designed By: Joel Villa

Shoes can give a competitive advantage in almost every
sport, so it is no surprise that so much money and research
has gone into their development. What was once an exciting
test of technology to see, has now spiraled into something
extremely dangerous. The most recent case of this came up
prior to the 2020Tokyo Olympics. The subject in question
was Nike’s new running shoe called the Vaporfly.
Many believed that the shoe gave an unfair advantage to the

participants, as the four fastest marathon times were
set by runners who wore the shoe. The reason for this

advantage is a curbed carbon fiber plate which is embedded
in a thick foam insole that provides an impressive and consis-
tent return of energy. The rules set by World Athletics state
that shoes “must not be constructed so as to give athletes
an unfair assistance or advantage.” These rules are
regarded by many as outdated and so the Vaporfly, to the
disgruntlement of many, were allowed to stay.

The Vaporflys were not the first major
controversial shoe involving potential
mechanical doping. A major controversy
occurred in a similar fashion back in 2011.
A shoe made by APL (Athletic Propulsion
Labs) claimed to increase one’s vertical leap
and was banned by the NBA. This action was
taken rather quickly because further
studies showed that they might actually
decrease one’s vertical leap due to the heavy
springs in the shoe. This is evidence of how
much of a threat that some feel mechanical
doping may present to sports.

Science will always be an important face of sports, but
there must be a line drawn between helping an athlete
perform their best and making the athlete perform
unfairly. If science and the sports world can coexist
peacefully, then the future of sports is extremely bright.

BANNED f
BOOKS

Written by: Faith Gantz and Mimi Tesfay
Designed by: Devon Kerwin

Reading plays a very important role
in a student’s life, it is one of the first
things we learn in kindergarten. We
read books and explore genres as
we grow. The Critical parts of our
English curriculum are made up of
reading and analyzing novels. We
are told to read as much as we can,
due to the various educational
benefits it has for us. Though litera-
ture is a key component of
academics, several books have
been getting banned from school
districts and libraries.

In 2020, the American Library
Association (ALA) released a list
of the top reasons books are
being challenged. The list
included topics of sexual content,
offensive language,
unsuited material for age group,
religious viewpoints, LGBTQIA+
content, violence, and racism.

“Books are an To Kill a Mockingbird is banned
important outlet because of the issues of race and rape
for students to be in the book. The Kite Runner
exposed to these has sexual assault, and Harry
Potter promotes witchcraft, bad
sensitive and behavior and morals. Marshall
mature topics University Library stated that
Stamped is censored for its selective
rather than storytelling incidents and it does not
having students encompass racism against all people.
Looking for Alaska and 1984 contain
sexual content and language.
Fahrenheit 451 includes profanity and
pro-communist context.

discover these
elsewhere.”
These books are ones that have

been sent to the Graveyard...

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
1984 by George Orwell
Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram
X Kendi
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
by JK Rowling
The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini
Looking For Alaska by John Green

“The titles listed above have been read in “Though
classrooms for years. Books are an literature is a
important outlet for students to be exposed key component
to these sensitive and mature topics rather of academia,
than having students discover these several books
elsewhere. They can learn about these
issues in the classroom, in a safe have been
environment. I teach To Kill a Mockingbird getting banned
every year because this teaches students
the value of empathy and identity, while from school
also touching on important topics from the districts and
Civil Rights Movement during this unit,”
said English teacher Molly Wilson. libraries.”

Banned books are believed to be an
assortment of books that have been taken
away from school libraries to refrain
students from viewing the reality of the
world. Some parents prefer to prevent their
children from reading and viewing books
that mention raw topics.

Our librarian, Mrs VanArsdale, states that,
“Many books that we incorporate into
classes, and summer reading are also
being banned… Some books used for book
clubs are now banned as well.”

“Freedom to read is essential to our
democracy. It is continuously under
attack. Private groups and public
authorities in various parties of the country
are working to remove or limit a
ccess to reading materials, to censor
continent in schools, to label “
controversial” Said in the American Library
Association. This regards all thoughts and
feelings, towards our freedom to read and
educate ourselves first handedly, and
through our free right to.

Affirmed by Senior Maura Gibson, “ I agree
that we should read them and I feel like
they’re seen as ‘ banned books ‘ because
of their maturity levels, but if you don’t read
then, you won’t learn about life. Some of
these are even necessary, because of their
significance in history, but it’s better to be
taught now than later so it doesn’t get
repeated.”

Though some books contain mature topics, it is
important to read and expand our knowledge through
these mind-opening pieces of literature. The mature
topics in these books are still major problems in our
world. There is no point in preventing us from
learning about the topics when we will be exposed
to them in the real world at some point. When we are
faced with these problems, we must be able to form
our own opinions through the facts of the problems.
If we continue to shove it aside, the problem will not
improve. Books are an opportunity for us to
recognize what we need to do in our lives, in order
to help change our world.