Crystal Luo will be competing with a historical paper, Fae Montgomery and Honora Overby will be competing with their original performance, and Jessica Kemp and Alissa Forbes will be competing with an exhibit.

The students started working on their projects at the beginning of the semester and they now take the final step in the competition. They all began their research by choosing a topic that related to this year's theme which was "Innovation in History: Impact and Change." Along with choosing a topic, the students had to do primary and secondary research in order to get to their final product.

After doing months worth of research, the students competed in a local competition, then the state competition and now the national competition where they are competing this week.

So here's what happened: a few seniors managed to sneak into the school after hours and relocate all of the cafeteria tables onto the tennis courts. Here's why it failed: members of the Mason faculty found out before students arrived, and back-up tables were put in the Mustang Café. Also, the tennis courts are on the far side of the campus, behind Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School, where few students would see them (the football field, on the other hand, would be in plain sight).

In years past, seniors have pulled a variety of different pranks. Last year's graduating Class of 2009 stood up during the awards ceremony at the end of the year and sang part of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.

This year's senior prank was so unsuccessful, numerous members of the senior class didn't know about it. When asked what they thought about the prank, some seniors looked confused and said, "We had a senior prank?"

Though the prank of the senior Class of 2010 wasn't necessarily successful, some say that it's the thought that counts.

"I'm proud that our grade was successful and pulled off something that wasn't harmful but funny," said senior Yates Jordan. "It's not going to go down as one of the best pranks, but it was something to remember."

Graduation caps and gowns will be distributed today at 2:00 p.m. in the cafeteria. With only three days left until the seniors graduate at Constitution Hall, it is very important to pick up the required outfit.
Seniors are reminded that in order receive their caps and gowns they must have returned completed pink forms to Ms. Baldo in the finance office. All fines from this academic year should be cleared in addition to any previous ones. All school materials, including textbooks, calculators and novels, should also have been returned.

The George Mason Mustangs defeated Nandua High School 2-0 in the state quarter finals on Tuesday night. The victory over Nandua propelled the Mustangs into the state semifinals, which will be played in Radford.

The early minutes of the match were very even as both teams found themselves creating opportunities on goal. Nandua had the first chance on goal in the match, from a free kick on the corner of the eighteen. The ball was driven across the six but two unmarked Nandua attackers were unable to frame the ball on goal.

Failure to place the ball in the back of the net was an issue for both teams. The Mustangs were awarded with numerous corner kicks, but the well organized Nandua defenders kept the ball out of the net. The Mustangs defense also remained strong in the first half, keeping the score even at 0-0 heading into halftime.

The Mustangs started out strong at the beginning of the second half, finding themselves setting up for another corner. On the corner as the ball was floated into the air by senior Smirniotopoulos, a Nandua defender shoved a Mustang attacker, which resulted in a Mustang penalty kick. Senior Andrew Arias put away the penalty kick giving the Mustangs a 1-0 lead in the fiftieth minute. With a one goal lead, the Mustangs began to put a lot of pressure on the Nandua defense.

In the sixtieth minute, the Mustangs found the back of the net once again. Smirniotopoulos dribbled the ball down the right side of the field and sent a low driven ball across the six yard line to senior Teddy Rueckert. Rueckert slotted the ball into the right side of the goal, giving the Mustangs a two goal lead. The Mustang defense closed out the game leading the Mustangs to a 2-0 victory.

The Mustangs will head into the single A state semifinals as the defending champions. The Mustangs are set up to play John S. Battle High on Friday at Radford University. A win over Battle High would put the Mustangs in a position to reclaim the state title.

The librarians ask that as the library resources have helped many students this year, please return books and pay fines before the above date.

Though the warm weather and pool season can be quite distracting as the end of school draws near, students should not push away their textbooks just yet (which, by the way, are due to teachers no later than Friday, June 18).

With only two more school days left before the start of final exams, Mason students are cramming in last minute studying before the summer break begins next Friday. Exam week starts Tuesday, June 15 and ends Friday, June 18. The first morning exams last from 8-10:00 a.m., with a 30-minute break period before the second exams commence at 10:30. All students will be dismissed from school at 12:30 p.m. and busses will be available to take students home at that time.