It’s that time of year again...Valentine’sDay 2016 has arrived! Many peopleeither anticipate or dread the fourteenthday of February. It is a holiday daydesignated to spend time with your lovedones, whether it be your parents, friends,or significant other. It could also be atime that you realize that you need to fixyour love life! No matter the case, thereis always a way to enjoy Valentine’s Day.It is what you make of it. There are manydifferent ways that the SBA communitywill be spending Valentine’s Day.

Senior Jackie Matkowski said,“This is my fifth Valentine’s Day withmy boyfriend, John. He lives in CapeMay, New Jersey, and every Valentine’sDay, I visit him in Cape May. We go toDelaney’s Restaurant and sometimes wego on a horse and carriage ride! I lookforward to it every year.”

Junior Elizabeth Mahoney said,“This Valentine’s Day, I will eat lots ofchocolate, watch romantic movies andcuddle with my dog! I do not have anyplans with boys, ew!”

Freshman Melissa Olimpo said,“I will be hanging out with my friends onValentine’s Day! We are going to themovies and getting frozen yogurt!”

Sophomores Maddie McCrea,Brooke Shissler and Molly Deal arespending Valentine’s Day a littledifferently than most people. They aregoing on a triple date with La SalleCollege High School sophomores. Mollysaid, “I am very excited to be spendingmy Valentine’s Day on a triple date! Ihave never been on a date on Valentine’sDay before, so it should be fun. I am lessnervous because I have two of my bestfriends on this date with me. I do notknow how they are feeling, though! Thiscould be a great night or one we want toforget!”

No matter what your Valentine’sDay plans are, you are alwayssurrounded by love. So this Valentine’sDay, take in all that God has given youand know that you are loved by manypeople. Do not be afraid to sit alone onValentine’s Day, spend time with yourparents or go out on a date! This dayonly comes once a year, so do not let itaffect you negatively; it is meant to be aday of love and happiness, andcelebration. So put on your best smile,and enjoy this day of love. Alwaysremember that you have your family,friends and SBA sisters to share in all thatlife has to offer.

Basilian PillarFebruary 12, 2016

Saint Basil Academy

711 Fox Chase Road

Volume 83 Issue 4

How will you be spending Valentine's Day?Christina Foley '16

Julia SassaneSenior Julia Sassane and her boyfriend enjoying a nice date to a Philadel-phia Eagles game.

BasilianPillar Staff

Co-Editors:Christina Foley '16

Jackie Matkowski '16Grace Caldwell '16

Lisa Toroni '16

Staff:Lauren Bello '16

Elizabeth Brazukas '16Caileen Dolan '16Riley Weldon '16

Mallory Hagee '17Kristina Westervelt '18

Sneak-Peek at SBA CaresOne of the projects that Saint Basil

Academy girls are most proud of is theirservice organization, SBA Cares. Foundedby Mrs. Hartey and Mrs. Kleinle, the SBACares organization works to make thecommunity around us better through variousservice projects. Since Lent has just nowbegun, it is the best time possible to getinvolved in community service. We all wishthat we could help those around us butfinding a service project is not always asimple task. Thanks to the SBA Caresgroup, it becomes possible to have newexperiences, meet new people, and developa greater appreciation for our lives and

blessings.SBA Cares has many plans for the

Spring 2016 season, including the dance forsixth, seventh, and eighth grade students inorder to raise money for our mini THON onFriday, May 13. Mrs. Hartey said, “SBACares has plans to have a pep rally to getstudents excited for Basil’s second annualMini-THON. This is a great cause, so weare very excited for it!”

Junior Kayla O’Malley said,“Mini-THON was one one of my favoritememories from last school year! It is fun fora great cause, and I cannot wait toparticipate in this year’s Mini-THON.” Inaddition, SBA Cares will prepare Lent mealbags every Wednesday throughout theLenten season. Tutoring at La SalleAcademy High School continues every

second and fourth Tuesday of the month.Junior Stephanie Noel said, “You

learn from each other! Tutoring is a greatway to help the younger kids and becomingmore involved in the children of ourcommunity.”

Other upcoming events include atrip for the freshman and sophomore classesin April to the Ronald McDonald House.Students will help to prepare meals for thefamilies and will get to enjoy conversationswith parents and playing with the children.On February 28th, SBA Cares has alsoorganized a trip to St. Joseph’s Soup Kitchento prep and serve meals for those in need.This experience is very valuable not onlythose being served, but to students whomake it possible.

Mallory Hagee '17

Throughout the past year, words like“Terrorists”, “Jihad”, and “ISIS” have rangthrough our ears and become part of everydayconversation. Hearing some of these words

may make many of us confused, angry, butmostly scared. And there is reason as to whywe feel such an uneasiness when faced withthese words that have become a life-threatening reality.

What is ISIS? Isis stands for theIslamic State of Iraq and Syria. Afterbreaking away from the terrorist group Al

Qaeda, ISIS has become one of the mostpowerful and dangerous groups in the middleeast. They target minorities and attackinnocent people. The goal of this terroristgroup is to create a “pure” Islamic state. Thiswar is not one fought between two feudingcountries, but a global war for all ofhumankind.

One of the most recent and horrificevents occurred in Paris, France, onNovember 15, 2015. After a series ofexplosions in several restaurants and aroundStade de France, a sports stadium in Paris,three armed men opened fire into a crowd ofa small concert hall where a U.S. band wasplaying. According to CNN, at least 130people were killed and hundreds more werewounded. In comparison to the thousands oflives ISIS has taken in total, these numbers

are rather small.Unfortunately, the acts of malice

committed by this group, are also causingproblems for all Muslims. Although ISISmakes up a very small percentage ofMuslims, they have created a negativestereotype for all people of the Islamicreligion. Innocent Muslims who reject theideals of ISIS are now receiving threats.

In addition, with the vastness of theinternet and easy access to informationthrough social media, ISIS is attempting torecruit more soldiers for their cause.

This ISIS crisis is not something totake lightly. However, remember that the goalof these vicious groups is to radiate fearthroughout civilians of the world. We mustnot let these terrorist guide us to live our livesin fear.

Grace Caldwell '16

An ISIS Crisis

Christina: It is the beginning of the second semester, and everyone is relieved that midterms are finallyover! Whether you aced your midterms or you did not do as well as you would have liked, do not let thefirst semester bring you down. Positivity is the key for good grades and a good semester. So remain pos-itive, and enjoy the next four months we have here at SBA. They will go by quickly. So sit back and enjoyall that SBA truly has to offer. Set goals for yourselves and make an effort to achieve them by the end ofthe year. Soon we will find ourselves at graduation, wondering how we ran out of high school semes-ters enduring the battle against positive and negative thoughts.

Jackie: With only four full months of school left, it is hard to believe where the time went. It feels likejust yesterday we were dusting off our saddles and returning to school with a warm summerglow; now we are breaking out those heavy winter coats and sweatpants. Now that midtermsare over, it feels like we are beginning a whole new school year. Use this opportunity to wipe theslate clean and start fresh. No matter what it may be, there is always time to start new. We stillhave so much to look forward to! With prom looming in the horizon, you are bound to hear con-stant discussion on the topic at all times of the day. Do not miss all of the activities happeningat SBA every day!

NOTES FROM THE EDITORSChristina Foley '16 & Jackie Matkowski '16

FEBRUARY 5TH, 2016

SOPH HOP

Feeling lonely this Valentine’sDay? Have no fear, we are here to help. Youdo not have to worry about your lack of asignificant other. You can have a blast thisValentine’s Day with just your friends. Graba group and go to the movies, bowling, oreven make a cake. You don’t have to worryabout not having a date. Friends are very im-portant and you can celebrate your friendshipinstead of a significant other! Your friendswill always be there for you and you can turnto them whenever you need them. So insteadof focusing on the perfect date, focus on yourfriendships and celebrating them.

Are your friends busy? Spend timewith your family this Valentine’s Day. Fam-

ily is a very important aspect in your life andthey will always support and love you. Showthem how much you appreciate them thisValentine’s Day by maybe getting themsome candy, or give them the present ofbeing present and put your phone away andappreciate your time with them. Who saysyour Valentine can not be your mom?

Going through a recent breakup? Iam very sorry, but I promise you it will getbetter! You may think that the world is end-ing and your life is over but I promise youthat it is not the end. It is only the beginningof living the single life. If the fact that youare no longer in a relationship is draggingyou down, get over those breakup blues thisvalentine’s day by eating as much food asyou want, watching some romantic come-

dies, or snuggling with a pet. Don’t focus onyour ex, focus on your future and how youwant to make it better! You were too goodfor them and there are plenty of other fish inthe sea.

Do you feel like sitting in by your-self on Valentine’s day? That’s ok too! Youcan spend your day catching up on your fa-vorite television show. You can go shoppingfor yourself and buy some clothes that youwouldn’t normally even think about getting.Appreciate yourself. Treat yourself to someice cream solely because you can. You are astrong independent women and you deservesome time to yourself. Most importantly donot forget to spread some love to yourselfthis Valentine’s day.

With Valentine’s Day only a few short daysaway, love is in the air! Because of this holidaywe decided to ask one teacher about her love story.

Mrs. Kazimir is primarily a freshmen WorldHistory teacher, however she teaches variousgrade levels in her other classes which includeFrench and a few electives. She and her husband,Joe, have been married for about seven-and-a-halfyears and have one daughter. They met while theywere both undergraduates at the University ofBuffalo in 2002. They met right before a finalexam when Mrs. Kazimir helped Joe to study.“Joe asked me out first. When I finished the finalexam and walked out, he followed me out. Helater told me he never finished the exam and leftso he could meet up with me again,” recalls Mrs.Kazimir.

She and Joe dated for about five years when Joeproposed. Mrs. Kazimir was teaching in Le Mans,France and when he came to visit her they wenton a weekend trip to Paris where he asked her tomarry him: “It was about one o’clock in the morn-ing and we were on the Pont D'Iena Bridge infront of the Eiffel Tower, my personal favoritespot in Paris.”

When Mrs. Kazimir returned from France, theygot married almost immediately. Their wedding

was in October on Lake Erie in Ontario, Canada.This location holds a special place in Mrs. Kaz-imir’s heart not only because it was the locationof her wedding, but also because it is where sheand her family vacationed during summer whenshe was a little girl. Mrs. Kazimir also told me,

“This part of North America has a lot of historyrelated to the War of 1812, so we got to shoot anold cannon after the ceremony in front of all ourguests. Because, history is cool, and cannons areawesome.”

Jackie Matkowski

The newly wed Mr. and Mrs. Kazimir on their wedding day at Lake Ontario.

Teacher Feature: A Love Story“It was about one o’clock in the morning and we wereon the Pont D'Iena Bridge in front of the Eiffel Tower..."

Do You Need A Cure ForThe Valentine Day Blues?

Jackie Matkowski ' 16

Betty Brazukas '16

What is love? It is a question thathas crossed everyone’s mind a leastonce in their lifetime. The conceptof love has eluded many: "a puzzlethat seems to be made out of onlycorner pieces" but even if we fail torecognize it, love is all around us. Itcan be found in the smile of afriend, a hug from a parent, or in aterm of endearment from someoneclose.

People show love in the sim-plest ways and sometimes we don’teven realize it. Love doesn’t have

to be dramatic romance, like thekind that is written in a NicholasSparks novel or sung in an 80’spower ballad. Love can be morethan chocolate and roses and overstuffed teddy bears. It can be hang-ing out with someone in your sweatpants and ordering Chinese food. Itcan be giving up your last stick ofgum even if you really don’t wantto. It can be watching that person’sfavorite movie for the hundredthtime, even though it’s a little irri-tating having them quote everyline, but you do it anyway becauseit makes them happy. Love doesn’t

have to be wrapped in shinny paperwith a perfect red bow on top anddelivered with Amazon’s two-day-shipping. It can be handed to us ina slightly used bag found ingrandma’s basement, wrapped inyesterday’s newspaper, and tiedwith some dollar store string.

Love comes to all of us in a va-riety of ways, some of them CyndiLauper and Ed Sheeran sing aboutand others can be received insmaller yet no less significantways. Love is everywhere and it’sonly up to us to see it.

What is Love?Lauen Bello '16

February 12, 2016 Page 3Basilian Pillar

Hap

pyV

alen

tine’s

Day

This winter sport season has been very suc-cessful for our Saint Basil teams and all of theathletes. As usual, the SBA basketball team hashad another successful season, beating rivals,scoring a lot of points, and making our schoolproud. To start the season off right, our basket-ball team took home a championship trophy intheir South Carolina tournament. That excitingwin jumpstarted their successful season, prov-ing to be a tough competition for teams both inand out of the league. At the end of the season,the panther finished third in one of the mostcompetitive leagues inthe Philly area. Co-captain and seniorLindsay Joyce said, “Ithink over all we had areally good season.Even though we didhave some roughpatches along the way,we stuck together as ateam. We are going tofinish out the year witha district champi-onship and a run forstates!” SophomoreJules Gura states, “Oneof the most exciting moments of this seasonwas when we all came together as a team tobeat the Mount with a buzzer beater. Everyoneworked their hardest and it payed off. It wassuch a great moment to be apart of.” Also, a bigcongratulations to Karen Lapkiewicz, the teamcaptain, for scoring her 1000th point! Karen isthe fourth player in Saint Basil history to score1000 points in her high school career. Congrat-ulations Karen and good luck to the basketballteam with the rest of their season.The trackteam started off their season fresh with a newcoach, Lloyd Sharpe. ”As a freshmen, cominginto track with a ‘new' coach isn't that chal-lenging considering everything is new, but I doknow that everyone really seems to be enjoy-ing him!”, freshman Sophia Mahoney says. “In-door track was a season to remember. Manypeople enjoyed our new coach and his newcoaching style he brought to the team. All in all,the team had an awesome season and I’m look-ing forward to outdoor.” Erin Gilsenan, sopho-more, states. In a recent meet at Lehigh

University, the 4x200 meter relay, consisting ofBridget McShane ’19, Lisa Toroni ’16, DelaneyGayton, ’19 and anchor Kelly Anne Ryan ’17,came in first place in their heat beating theschools’ rival, Mount Saint Joseph Academy.This win was a huge accomplishment for theteam. Junior Sophia Barnett made it to states forthe 60m hurdles, coming in second overall atone of the Friday night Lehigh meets, runningher fastest time. Sophia Mahoney, ‘19 is cur-rently ranked 5th in the state for freshmen longjump. Both girls will compete in the “Meet ofChamps” this year, which is a huge honor. Jun-ior Claire Cassidy was awarded the gold medalin the 1000m race at Lehigh, coming in first outof many runners. Freshman Cara Huges also

medaled in the 600mrace. This is the kind oftalent we like to see herat SBA, coming from allages. Our talent is re-flected upon our hardwork and motivationfrom teammates andcoaches! The cheerlead-ers are well-known forkeeping the fans andplayers at SBA basket-ball games in positivespirits. However, theypractice hours each weekto participate in numer-

ous competitions throughout the year. Our SBAcheer team achieved their goal of beatingNazareth Academy this year. Sophomore EmilyMcCarrick says, “This year was pretty roughfor us because of injuries, but we workedthrough and came out on top with our most re-cent win against Nazareth. It has been a reallygreat building year and we've really advancedas a team with better skills. Next year is look-ing very promising for us, especially if we gainnew team members.” Best of luck to the cheerteam in their upcoming Abington competition!Each and every athlete at SBA has played an in-tegral part in making their team the best theycan be. Through the wins and the losses, thereis one thing that all SBA teams have in com-mon, and that is sportsmanship. Our teams haveformed bonds unlike any other. We are alwaysthere to motivate and keep each other up duringhard times. Being a member of an SBA sportsteam, or even just a fan, is a wonderful feeling.Congratulations and good luck to everyone!

Chipotle is loved by many as the best Mex-ican restaurant, but sadly this past December,things took a turn for the worst. Many Chipo-tle restaurants had an E.coli outbreak. E. coli isbacteria that is found inthe intestines of humansand animals. You can beinfected by E. coli inmany ways, most com-monly through food pro-cessing. It started nearBoston College wheremany students felt sickafter eating from a near byChipotle. The first out-break infected 55 peoplein 11 states. The most af-fected state was Washing-ton. The second outbreakinfected 5 people in Okla-homa, North Dakota, andKansas, with a differentstrain of E. coli. The lastrecorded outbreak was on December 1, 2015.

This past summer in August, there was acase of salmonella poisoning caused fromChipotles’ tomatoes, when sixty-four peoplewere poisoned.

This could have started the E. Coli outbreak.Chipotle still does not know what specificfood caused the outbreak. They believe it wasa main ingredient found in each of their items.Chipotle’s’ profits have dropped immensely,almost closing the entire establishment.

Senior Yana Churiy said “When I heardabout the outbreak, Istill ate at Chipotle be-cause I didn’t mind.”Some people ignoredthe outbreak stating itwas not in their area,while others did notwant to take that risk.

Junior MollyO’Donnell said, “I amnot going to Chipotleanymore; I am not tak-ing the chance of get-ting E. Coli.” Chipotlewas one of the mostpopular food chainsbefore these unsani-tary findings. Hope-fully the restaurantrecovers from this

business drop. As of January, 2016, Chipotlestores are reported as E. coli free, and have a“new plan” in place for management and foodprocessing.

The basketball team holds their trophy high as they celebrate a win in SouthCarolina. Hopefully they will earn another District Championship trophy

Hailey Lutz

Senior Hailey Lutz enjoying a bur-rito pre-outbreak

Chipotle: Dig it or Ditch it?

Kristina Westervelt '18

Caileen Dolan '16

If you have never seen an SBA basketballgame, it is not too late. It is a fast-paced, in-tense game of basketball that promises tokeep you on the edge of your seat all fourquarters. Whether the Panthers win or lose,the game is worth attending. However, whatmakes the SBA basketball season so great isthe athletes on the team. Each member of theSBA basketball team has contributed to theteam’s success in a specific way, and itwould take too long to mention them all.

In this issue we recognize Senior KarenLapkiewicz as our athlete of the issue. Sherecently scored her 1000th point. February2nd, which happened to be an important dayalready -- Basketball Senior Night, and it be-came even more special when it became thenight Karen would score her 1000th point asan SBA basketball player.

The crowds were filled with excitementand suspense as Karen inched her way closerand to this special basket. The moment theball swished through the net for the 1000thpoint, Karen was flooded with hugs, flowers,balloons, and congratulations. This was amemorable moment that Karen will takewith her for the rest of her life. “Scoring my1000th point alongside of all of my sisters on

senior night was the best feeling. I wouldn’thave wanted to accomplish this on any othercourt or with anyone else. It was truly a nightto remember,” said Karen. Sadly, the finaldays of the SBA basketball season are com-ing to an end. When asked what she will missmost this season, Karen said, “I will defi-nitely miss my team the most. We have spentso much time together, even the holidays. Ijust hope we can go even further than lastyear so I can spend as much more time aspossible with my best friends.”

“Cross your legs!”, “Sit up straight!”, and“That’s not ladylike!” are all phrases that arerepeated over and over again on a daily basisto girls across the country. From a young age,we are told how to think, how to feel, and howto dress to follow certain stereotypes. We aretold girls like pink, dolls, dresses, and that weare supposed to wear makeup and dress pretty.Media highlights ideas that have been passeddown from one generation to the next and havebecome engrained in the modern world. Oftenthere are cases where individuals are shamedbecause they do not fit cultural ideals, and so-ciety views such individuals as outcasts,freaks, and deviants. In general, conclusionscan be reached almost instantly and can dam-age an individual’s confidence. So how do wehandle it? To start, individuals should strive to

surround themselves with people who under-stand and accept them for who they are. Youngadults, and all people, deserve to feel comfort-able with their identity. Second, aim to acceptothers. Many times we judge individuals basedon things that we fear or do not understand.Third, be confident. Confidence is key to feel-ing comfortable in one’s own skin. If a personis confident in something that they enjoy theyneed to embrace their life. If a person is outand about and someone gives an odd look, re-turn their glance with a confident smile. Con-fidence in one’s own identity is instrumentalto being a healthy adult. If a person cannotlove themselves then how can they expect tolove anybody else? Start with awareness, andknow stereotyping can be a negative influence,and loving who you are is important to thegrowth and health of one’s identity.

Athlete of the IssueLisa Toroni '16

Owning Your DifferencesRiley Weldon '16

Karen Lapkiewicz '16

Senior Karen Lapkiewicz smiles bigafter scoring her one-thousandth

Panthers Fight inGold and White

Senior Lindsey Joyce

We are going tofinish out the year

with a DistrictChampionship and

a run for States!

Page 4 February 12, 2016Sports & Health