By Ian O’Neal
Staff Reporter
Freshman Charlie Schirmer is defined by his passion. Whether it’s on Greenbrier field playing football or at home dreaming of being featured in a Simpsons episode, Schirmer dreams big. In his experience with freshman football, Schirmer has developed a strong passion for the game and a tight bond with his teammates. Schirmer brings commitment, energy and drive—traits developed on the football field—to all of his everyday activities.
“Most definitely football is my favorite thing, being around teammates and friends along with playing a sport I’ve always enjoyed,” Schirmer said.
The highlight of his day comes after school, when he gets to be part of a brotherhood between teammates and coaches. Schirmer’s devotion to football is not the only thing on his mind.
The Sentry covers many topics, but Schirmer’s heart lies with sports, which is the main reason he is pursuing journalism. His dream career and future goals are very similar to what he will be doing this year.
“I initially did this because, going with a friend into this class, I’ve always been pretty interested in journalism—mostly sports journalism—so that’s what I’m looking forward to doing in the future,” Schirmer said.
He cannot wait to write in our sports section, as it is his favorite topic. Sports isn’t the only thing Schirmer is interested in, as he cares very much about the local community.
“I think everyone should be more accepting of each other and just overall get along better and understand that everyone is unique,” Schirmer said.
His love for Arlington motivates him to participate in any activity that positively impacts others who live around him.
The world needs people like Charlie Schirmer. His passion for school, sports and the community is truly inspiring. He will dedicate morning, noon and night to any task that he finds important and beneficial to others. Schirmer cannot wait to be able to write as many articles as he possibly can about our community, especially sports. A valuable member of the football team and The Yorktown Sentry, Charlie Schirmer is destined for greatness.
By Charlie Schirmer
Staff Reporter
Confident reporter Ian O’Neal is entering his second year as a member of The Yorktown Sentry. Coming into his sophomore year, Ian is looking forward to another great year on staff. He has established his presence on The Yorktown Sentry as well as on the football team; however, his athletic interests don’t just lie in football.
“Another passion of mine is weight lifting. I just love lifting in general. Even with football, school or whatever it is, I’ve always found time to just go to the weight room,” O’Neal said.
Throughout all his endeavors, Ian’s mother has been right there with him. A former high school journalist, she had an influence on his decision to return to staff.
“I’m a returner this year, and my mom described how she was in her high school newspaper. The environment, being in an active community and writing about issues that really impact your community seemed really fun to me, and I wanted to give it a try. Last year, I had a blast in this class,” O’Neal said.
However, his academic passion seems to lie in the hands of AP European History. He has always had a passion for history and has visited Europe before, where he really fell in love with the continent. He describes his fascination with the in-depth study of European history as nothing short of obsessive.
“I really love history, anything history. I mean, [I enjoy] going in-depth with, personally, European history, but just going in-depth in any history possible,” O’Neal said.
When asked to describe his dream vacation, his answer seemed to correlate with his interests in school.
“I would tour Europe, but especially the UK area. I’ve already been to London, and it was my favorite place in the whole world. I would totally go there again…. I think the furthest East I would go is Greece as well as the Czech Republic, Germany, France, Spain and Belgium. All those sorts of places,” O’Neal said.
One of the things Ian admires the most about Europe is the beautiful environment and landscape; he believes it is vital that humans maintain these because of the ensuing issues and other unforeseen consequences a lack of responsibility might have.
“One thing I would change is probably how the world handles our environment. The majority of the people in the world kind of just push it aside or ignore the fact that the environment’s changing whether it’s global warming, climate change or whatever it is. But it’s a problem and it needs to be fixed because that should be the priority, the Earth before everything else,” O’Neal said.
Ian is committed to spreading the message concerning the environment, throughout the community and finds that the Style section is the best way to connect with the people around us. Naturally, he finds this section the most appealing and hopes he can follow in the footsteps of previous great Style reporters.
“Whenever you write about something that involves your community that’s fun or unique, the Style always covers it. So I would love to write in style this year,” O’Neal said.
Even with all the activities Ian participates in, he still finds himself with some downtime. His favorite way to pass time is listening to music.
“I wouldn’t say I have a favorite genre of music, but I would say my favorite artist will be either J. Cole or Drake; old Drake stuff is always really good,” O’Neal said.
His sports teams always perform well and are very popular, just like his music taste. Some may call him a bandwagon, but he assures people he isn’t, at least in the world of sports.
“People consider me a bandwagon because I like teams that are good. It’s not my fault that my teams that I like are good, but I prefer UNC teams, my dad and his whole family went there. So UNC basketball and football, that’s about it,” O’Neal said.
Although we can’t prove whether or not O’Neal is a bandwagon, one thing’s for sure: Ian is looking to leave his mark on the paper this year. The Yorktown Sentry is lucky to have such an avid writer on staff, and Ian is on track for a remarkable year.
