by Zameer Khan
Dee-1, also known as David Augustine, was previously a middle school math teacher before deciding to spread his message across the county. He promotes the idea of the three R’s: to be real, righ- teous, and relevant. He desires a new perspective in music, where rappers promote the importance of education and coping with struggles listeners have difficulty with. This desire has led him to believe all students have the potential to follow the steps of scholars.
As the crowd entered the auditorium, staff handed out phone rings and hold-ers with custom engraved “Sallie Mae” lo-gos on the back. Dee-1 performed his 1.3 million view single “Sallie Mae Back” in front of the audience of Hillcrest students and staff.
By Zameer Khan
Mr. Jackson and Mr. Chen are longtime friends in Hill-crest High School. Both Global History teachers had the same goals this past summer: to travel. Mr. Chen planned to go scuba diving in Bali and convinced Mr. Jack-son to join him.
Thirty minutes later things began to settle. While the bus stops were packed, all stores were closed and most streets were empty. Mr. Jackson described it as a "ghost town." The next day Jackson and Chen decided to go back to where they had been scuba diving when the earthquake hit. The beach was almost completely empty and they were the only people scuba diving. As soon as they went in the water, they noticed that all the incredible marine life they saw the day before had completely vanished. They could also see the cracks between corals and rocks split almost feet away from each other.
By Eric Nunez
The athletes on the cross country teams deserve credit for the dedication, sweat, and pain they put into this sport. This is especially true when considering how the boys team started their season racing in heavy rain through a muddy 3.1 mile course in Van Cortlandt Park.
by Ashanti Holder Cubero
Despite already having a successful career as a teacher, Mr. Cichon had a desire to give back to his community and became a volunteer firefighter in Port Washington in 2013. “Most join at 17 or 18 years of age. They have very few responsibilities. There I was joining at 42. I had three kids, a wife, and a career...I was a significant minority.”
During his six years of volunteering he has encountered various dangers. He recalls his first experience as “wild.” Instead of running out of a burning building to find safety, he was running into it. The smoke was so dense that inside the building was completely black. “You couldn’t even see your hand in front of you. And as you got closer, the heat you felt...it was just totally intense.” He found him- self asking, “Why am I doing this? Why do I need this additional aspect in my life?” Looking back now, how- ever, he believes that it has definitely been a worthwhile experience.
By Jessica Alejo
The Black Box Theatre was at full capacity, leaving some of the performances standing-room only. Of course, with such a large audience comes many nerves. Aaquib Abdullah, who starred as Leon Tolchinsky, stated, “Right before I went on stage I was still reading the script, you know just flipping through it.” Despite any pre-show jitters, each and every one of the cast members delivered and the end result was a tremendously successful run of shows.
By Medina Shahid
This year the team was under the guidance of a new head coach, Deborah Ziozis. While it was her first time coaching here at Hillcrest, she has years of coaching experience, having coached the gamut of middle school, high school, and college basketball. Ms. Ziozis says, “college basketball is not different from high school. You have to form and push forth your philosophy.”