Eric Driskell was announced as the new head football coach Feb. 11.
Athletic Director Bob Whitehead made the announcement to freshmen through junior players.
The coaching choice was made after more than a month of consideration and input from parents and players.
“I’m honored to be trusted with such a responsibility,” Driskell said. “The football program here is first-class.”
Driskell has some reservations about following Blue Valley legend Steve Rampy, who left for a coaching position at Pittsburg State University just before winter break.
“I don’t think you can [compare to Rampy],” Driskell said. “I don’t think you can fit into someone like that’s shoes. I think you have to bring your own shoes. We have traditions here that we’re going to carry on, but I have to be my own man, do my own thing.”
Junior football player Cooper Page thinks the appointment will help ease the team into the change.
“It’s a good thing that he knows the players and knows the system,” he said. “It will be a smooth transition.”
Although Driskell’s previous position is empty, the coaching staff from last year is still intact. The team has been working hard in the lull between coaches and Driskell expects to compete for State next November.
“I’m excited about the opportunity,” he said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity. I’ve been here a long time. This is exactly where I wanted to be.”
By Ryan O’Toole.The Gay-Straight Alliance, started by junior Rebecca Richardson, formed a month ago to promote acceptance and unity in the school environment.
GSA meets on Thursdays after school at 3 p.m. in room 401.
“I saw that there is a very small gay community,” Richardson said. “Acceptance is really small and we are trying to expand that.”
The club is used as a vehicle to talk and open up about LGBT issues.
“It is a really great place for people to talk about anything,” junior Mai Bonomo said. “Everyone is real with each other and everyone is accepting. It is like a big family.”
By Sam Brennan.District officials announced Feb. 11 the staff members who will be moved to Blue Valley Southwest for the 2010-2011 school year. All staff members received an e-mail listing the teachers and other administrators from both Blue Valley and Blue Valley West who will be moved to the new school. BV will lose the following staff members to BVSW in the fall:
Aaron Ballew
Tom Hult
Lynda LaPlant
Holly McCarty
Robert Putnam
Dan Schmidt
Deborah Sisk
Kim Spencer
Rich Troxel
Leann Voor Vart
Laura Wilcoxon
by Allison Kohn.
2009. For more coverage see pages 12-13.
Science projects, demos and models will be displayed in Blue Valley’s first Science Night on Feb. 23 and 24.
Students will showcase their projects on the two nights.
Science teacher and event director Larry Hare said students will have a great opportunity to show their classmates and parents what they’ve been doing in class.
“Students get to demonstrate what is going on in the science department,” Hare said. “Every science department and science class will be there.”
The first science night, Feb. 23, focuses on life sciences (such as Biology and Zoology).
The second night, Feb. 24, focuses on physical sciences (such as Chemistry and Physics).
Hare said parents are encouraged to attend and support what their students are doing in class.
He said this event will affect most students because so many
Students in certain science classes are required to attend the night their class will be showcased.
Some students may be at both nights if they’re in both life and physical science classes.
Hare said there are challenges in making this a successful evening that can become an annual event.
“We’re a bit nervous about Science Night,” he said. “If we do it well this year, then we’ll do it next year, if not, then we won’t.”
The students participating in Science Night will start presenting their projects or classwork around 6 p.m.
The tour begins in the office, then the parents and students will visit rooms in the 200 hall and look at student projects created over the course of the year.
Once the parents reach the end of the hallway, they will be led toward the door.
This progression is designed to prevent an overflow of students and parents in the hallway.
“It’s going to be a lot of work,”
Hare said. “This is a great way to showcase what students are doing in their science classes.”
Hare also gives credit to all of the other science teachers and departments.
“Mrs. [Charlena] Sieve has worked really hard on this,” he said. “I think all science teachers deserve a pat on the back.”
Senior Ryan Cauffield said he’ll be doing a demonstration on the physical Science Night.
“I will be in the physics room demonstrating how the stressstrain lab works,” Cauffield said. “We put masses on a spring to find the spring constants.”
Cauffield said the demonstrations of the lab are mainly for the parents to see how it works.
He said Science Night should be interesting and a good time for everyone.
“I’m excited to have the opportunity to bring more people into science,” he said. “To me, physics is the most intriguing science.”
Science Night begins at 5:30 p.m. and ends at 8:30 p.m.
Taylor graduated from Blue Valley in 1998 and traveled to Haiti for various volunteer and mission projects since 2004.
the catastrophic site of a 7.0 earthquake.
katielouis features editorThe day before the earthquake, Jan. 11, Amanda was with her younger sister Natasha Taylor, also a BV graduate, was already in Haiti when Amanda arrived, working at the Faith Hope Love Infant Rescue. The rescue is run by a close friend of the Taylor family, missionary Dorothy Pearce
“There is a tight-knit missionary and volunteer base over there,” Amanda said. “Everybody knows everybody and Dorothy is just the sweetest woman. We have known her forever.”
Amanda and Natasha spent the day together, running errands for the children’s home.
The next day, the sisters visited HIS Home for Children, a Christian-ministered orphanage in Port-au-Prince. They played with the kids and Amanda got to spend the afternoon with the little boy she had been hoping to adopt for a year, Isaac
Eventually Pearce came to pick up the sisters and take them to Sacred Heart, a French hospital in Port-au-Prince where one of Pearce’s recovering kids, Poutchino, was being treated. Poutchino, or Poutchi as Amanda likes to call him, is 7 years old and suffers from hydrocephalus and other health problems.
“He is just the sweetest child,” she said. “He will be crying because of pain but then when it’s over he will be smiling at you. You can’t help but fall in love with him.”
However, when the women were 20 yards away from the hospital gate where Poutchi was, the earthquake struck.
“We didn’t know what it was,” Amanda said. “My sister and I both thought we were being bombed. It was like a big wave — buildings falling in, roads coming up and dust everywhere. It was crazy.”
Amanda realizes just how blessed they were to be in the car at the moment of the earthquake.
“We were so lucky that we were driving Haitian-style down the middle of the street,” she said. “Because we could have been in so many other places at the time and not be here today.”
Amanda, Natasha and Pearce drove on into the hospital where they found Poutchino’s nurse in the parking lot in shock. She had never experienced an earthquake before. The women got Poutchino and the hospital did not fall, even with the aftershocks.
“There were so many aftershocks,” Amanda said. “I heard there were 28 just that night. It’s really unsettling because you’re sitting there and all the sudden it just starts shaking.”
The hospital quickly turned into chaos. Amanda said it was like what was shown on TV, but even worse.
“Sacred Heart’s parking lot turned into a makeshift hospital,” she said, “And people were constantly banging on the gate to get in. It was unreal.”
Amanda and Pearce walked around to help where they could while Natasha stayed in the car with Poutchino.
“A lot of the people, when they saw white people, would scream to us for help,” Amanda said. “I saw grown men in unbearable pain. There were dead bodies lying all over the ground. If people couldn’t move on their own, like people with severe burns or broken limbs, then they were just kind of stuck there. It was so hard to watch.”
The sisters and Pearce spent more than 24 hours in the Sacred Heart parking lot and surrounding area.
“What was really amazing was just watching the people walk ing in Haiti, amidst it all, singing and praying,” Amanda said.
They couldn’t get the car out of the lot easily, because the makeshift hospital had sprouted around it, so they made do on the supplies they had with them: one pot of coffee, one sand wich, a box of Ritz crackers, cookies and a Gatorade that mostly went to Poutchino — because he needed it.
The next day, the women got their car out of Sacred Heart’s parking lot and made it home to their neighborhood, Delmas 75. They saw a lot of damage on the drive but were all relieved to find the buildings standing and the children outside on mat tresses.
“It was kind of crazy,” Amanda said. “It was one of those things that we couldn’t talk about that night because we had no idea if they were okay. So we just waited.”
She got to see Isaac and hold him. Even though it was only for a few minutes, she knew he was okay.
The next battle for Amanda was getting back home. Natasha dropped her off at the airport on Sunday morning and Amanda stayed there from dawn until nightfall.
“It was another whole experience, kind of scary,” she said. “There was no form of communication at all and no gas to come back and forth.”
Amanda said there were many Americans trying to get home right away. There were families in line and sick or injured people. The first flight out was for the young and the sick. Amanda got out on the second evacuation flight.
“I always joke around with people I talk to that the only injuries I have from Haiti are from fighting mobs in the airport,” she said. “They all had U.S. passports — just herds of Americans, totally sunburned, tired, hungry and sick. It was an absolute mess.”
She flew into Miami and Isaac was flown in to meet her there. They came home together to Kansas City, Mo., a few days later. The earthquake actually sped up the adoption process for Amanda. She has been working on it since December 2008, but still didn’t expect to have Isaac with her for another two years.
“I didn’t sleep for the next week — at all,” she said. “I just sat on that couch and watched everything they showed on CNN. I couldn’t stop.”
Amanda said she struggled with being here and not there at first. She wanted to be helping the earthquake victims.
“Initially, I just wanted to raise money and go back,” she said. “I want to strap $10,000 to my back and go to the kids.”
However, she is finding ways to help Haiti from K.C. Amanda helped start a nonprofit organization, Embrace Point, to help poverty-stricken areas. Currently all work the organization does is for Haiti.
She has been doing interviews to keep people informed and concerned. She is speaking at churches and schools, and is using her position as manager at Mosaic Lounge to raise money and awareness for Embrace Point.
“I think a lot of what students at BV can do is educating themselves and others,” Amanda said. “I mean, I went to Blue Valley. Anyone in that school could be me. Part of it is just opening our minds to it — to what is happening in the world.”
When she left Kansas City for Haiti this winter, she had no idea she would find herself atFrom top: Amanda poses with orphans at Cabaret Baptist Children’s Home, one of the orphanages she volunteers at in Port-au-Prince. Injured children lie on mattresses in the makeshift hospital at Sacred Heart’s parking lot. Amanda spends time with her adopted son, Isaac. The earthquake destroyed streets, houses, cars and more in Port-au Prince. Photos submitted by Amanda Taylor.
The senior class at Blue Valley Southwest for the 2010-2011 school year features a total population of 52 students, not including transfers.
The seniors committed to one more new experience before their time in the Blue Valley district is up.
This number is comprised of students from around the district, but mainly Blue Valley and Blue Valley West.
Junior Maddy Fowler plans to attend Southwest with friends from BV, BV West and Blue Valley Northwest.
"I really narrowed it down to taking an adventure or not," she said. "It was either the
Name: Scott
Roberts
Hometown:
Shawnee
Family: Married, four kids
Previous teaching positions: BVHS, seven years; BVW, seven years
Words of wisdom: “As a teacher, I truly believe in the power of words. And I truly believe in the power of ideas. And put together, words and ideas create action, and action changes the world.”
same experiences or doing something different and taking a leap."
With such a small class, hopes are high in terms of personalization for students.
"We'll be able to do some special things for the students in regards to all their college prep," Southwest principal Scott Roberts said.
Decisions on which courses will be offered to seniors are being evaluated on a case-by-case basis until early spring, according to Roberts.
He said a goal is to offer as many AP classes as possible, and that individual class sizes should not differ substantially from the class sizes at other BV schools.
Fowler believes senior year is a time to enjoy a final year together and build strong bonds with friends before venturing out into the world.
"I hope we'll all get really close," Fowler said. "Senior year is when everyone hunkers together. I hope we'll still feel that and be really kind to each other."
Roberts believes the small class will bring the students closer than a typical senior class.
"It's going to be really personal," he said. "It'll be a tight-knit group since there's not many of them."
Fowler said being the first class to graduate from a school will be special, especially many years from now.
"Future classes looking back 50 years from now, thinking something like 'Oh look how small they were,'" she said. "Not many people get to be a part of something like that."
Programs such as Chambers and choir, which Fowler is involved in, will be smaller, but she believes smaller does not mean they will have any less talent.
"It'll be challenging with less people, but everyone will still be really close and have a lot of fun," she said.
Spanish 4?
Reasons for enrolling in regular or honors:
Regular
Not interested in taking Spanish 5
Desire to focus on improving reading, speaking and listening skills
Honors
Interested in taking AP exam after Spanish 5
Looking for a more rigorous challenging course
Considering continuing Spanish through college
sambrennan staff writerThe 2010 - 2011 school year will feature a non-honors Spanish 4 class. The class curriculum focuses on speaking and listening skills.
The class is designed to fit the needs of students who are interested in continuing Spanish classes, but may not be ready for the rigors of Honors Spanish 4.
“We know students that leave Spanish 3 for Honors Spanish 4 are a little bit frightened for the course,” said Diane Denoon, the district-coordinating teacher for foreign language.
The regular Spanish 4 class will not substitute for the Honors Spanish 4 class, and is not advised for students who are interested in taking the AP Exam after Spanish 5.
“This is a course that will help solidify the reading, speaking and listening skills,” Denoon said. “We want to focus on the more practical skills of the language.”
Sophomore Megan Kuharich is currently enrolled in Sherrilyn Perez’s Spanish 3 class and plans on continuing next year with the regular Spanish 4 class.
"I need four credits of foreign language for a college I'm looking at getting into," Kuharich said. "It is a new class and it seemed appropriate for where I'm at in speaking Spanish. I'm not great and I'm not bad at it."
The class will not be weighted or have a College Now option.
“This is a good credit for students who want to pursue four years of a language,” Denoon said.
Spanish 4 became an option when teachers looked over what students wanted and what met their personal needs.
“It was teachers looking at needs of the students knowing some students are not best served in the honors class,” Denoon said. “The teachers are close to their students and know how to best serve them.”
With Blue Valley Southwest opening next year, many teaching changes are anticipated at BV, and it remains unknown who will be teaching this course.
“We are working on the changes with Southwest,” said Brett Potts, Assistant Principal for Curriculum and Instruction. “We don’t know who is teaching what [for next year].”
“This is a good credit for students who want to pursue four years of a language.”
foreign language coordinator Diane Denoon
1: Performers from the Schlagle High School marching band in Kansas City, Kan., visited BV to participate in the first Diversity Assembly Jan. 21. 2: The Blue Valley North step team, X-pressions, also performed. 3: BV Chambers group opened the assembly with the National Anthem. 4: Senior Yanjie Yu performed a classical piece on the violin. 5: Freshman Sarah Hill performed with the concert band. 6: The Schlagle marching band, a crowd favorite, closed the assembly. The band performed songs by Michael Jackson and Drake. Photos by Jackie Lippert.
Expires 5/31/10
Expires 5/31/10
Expires 5/31/10
quickly see we’re a predominantly white team playing a school with a more diverse group of athletes.
But this “thing” isn’t subject to just skin color. Religious beliefs or sexual orientation are topics usually not fit for everyday conversations.
It’s February of 2010, and as our country ventures further into the new decade, advancements in our society seem limitless.
However, something of the past is still sitting silently in the background, a taboo subject that’s hardly addressed in our community.
It can’t be specifically categorized as racism or intolerance of others. Actually, there is no clear definition for it at all.
To better explain what we mean, here are a couple of examples:
When you see a bi-racial couple, you do a double take. You think twice, questioning the relationship.
When our teams take on other schools, fans
co-editors-inchief
Allison Kohn
Stephanie Roche
multimedia editor
Sara Naatz
news editor
Caitlin Holland
opinions editor
AJ Barbosa
features editor
Katie Louis
entertainment editor
Rachel McCullough
sports editor
Ryan O’Toole
photo editor
Jackie Lippert
ads manager
Jacob Pruitt
We’ve become comfortable with the mindset that everyone is the same. When we see something out of the ordinary, something not quite cookie-cutter perfect, we question it. We’re quick to make judgments on the unfamiliar.
Yet BV deserves some credit. Our first Diversity Assembly last month proved to be an outstanding presentation. The assembly recognized our classmates’ differences in a positive way. And yeah, there’s no denying the Schlagle High School marching band was pretty cool, too.
We’ve made another large step toward becoming a more open-minded and mature student body. The recently formed Gay-Straight Alliance is unlike any club BV has ever seen.
circulation manager
Chris Roche
staff writers
Sam Brennan
Emily Brown
Annie Burress
Connor Cape
Brice Goldenberg
Matthew Gruber
Matthew Holloway
Jordan Huesers
Jordan McEntee
Carlee Ray
Haley Schroer
James Statham
Jane Webb
photographers
Haley Hickman
Christian Huesers
Maegan Kabel
Emma Mosier adviser
Jill Chittum
And that’s a good thing.
A diverse student body is something we can all learn from. BV should appreciate the diversity we do have and be proud of our peers. Understanding and accepting each other’s differences now can only benefit us in the long run.
Time and time again, The Tiger Print’s staff editorials have referenced the “Johnson County bubble;” it shelters us and protects us. But it’s no secret JoCo lacks diversity in its public schools and community as a whole. So, when BV students leave for college and move away from Stilwell, they will encounter hundreds of different ideas, beliefs and cultures.
The journey to being open-minded begins now.
We’re moving closer toward becoming an accepting and tolerant community, but it requires active participation and understanding from everyone.
So, that double-take we do when we see something that, in our opinion, isn’t quite picture-perfect, is better left in the past.
The Tiger Print is published nine times a year for the students, faculty and the surrounding community of Blue Valley High School. It is an open forum for student expression. Therefore, the opinions expressed within this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the administrations of Blue Valley Unified School District #229.
Letters to the editor and reader responses are encouraged for publication. The Tiger Print reserves the right to edit all submissions for both language and content and encourages
Sophomore Manvitha Marni “Diversity is people helping each other out, no matter what their beliefs are.”
Sophomore Marissa Locke “Everyone being different, and being comfortable in your own skin.”
letters to be no more than 350 words. Letters should be submitted to room 450, e-mailed to thetigerprint@ yahoo.com or mailed to:
The Tiger Print c/o Blue Valley High School 6001 W. 159th St. Stilwell, KS 66085 phone: 913-239-4800
The Tiger Print also encourages guest photography. Photos should be submitted to room 450 with information pertaining to the photo.
Check this out.
Today on Facebook, after you check your notifications, scan your “Live Feed” and respond to all your wall posts, hit the profile button at the top of the screen.
Once your profile loads, click on the little tab that says “info.” It’ll have all the profile information about yourself that you put in, your music and movie favorites and all the dumb quotes your friends have uttered throughout the years.
Now imagine your wall right below that, no Facebook chat bar along the bottom of your screen, no “videos of you” option under your profile picture, no “Top Friends” or horoscopes on the side, no mini-feed and no Farmville (God forbid).
That’s what Facebook used to be like.
As you get older, you’ll realize that your opinions on the classic versions will usually be higher than the newer versions. That’s just how life is.
I believe that I don’t stand alone when I say that I wish Facebook was the way it used to be.
Back in the day, you had to find out when So-and-So and her boyfriend broke up the hard way. You’d have to wait until first hour on Monday to hear the news.
Now, their breakup shows up next to a pixelated broken heart and is soon followed by “likes” from a bunch of creepy dudes who are chomping at the bit for a chance with the newly single girl. Gross.
Back in the day, you couldn’t click on the little photo icon on the bottom of the right corner of the screen to instantly creep on all the photos your friends just put up. You had to luckily stumble upon someone’s “Photos of Me” button to see what really happened on Friday night.
Now, it’s our first instinct to click on that button to check out any album put up in the past three years. Sure, everyone calls it “Facebook Creeping,” but no matter how many times you condemn it, you know that you do it, too.
Facebook used to be ridiculously simple. You had your profile picture, your interests and all that jazz and a wall. It was a place to put up pictures of good times with your friends, leave dumb wall posts and communicate in a simple and effective way.
Since 2006, when I first got my account, Facebook has single-handedly monopolized my Internet experience.
I used to think MySpace and Xanga (oh boy, don’t you remember Xanga?) were cool until I started seeing ads all over the screen. The owners of both networking sites then sold their souls to companies for a few fast bucks and the ad for Natural Male Enhancement next to my “Weblog Entry.” People started to jump ship.
Mark Zuckerberg just couldn’t keep it in. He had to follow suit, and now every time I get on the site I’m greeted with sponsored polls and advertisements for games you can load onto your account. Don’t forget those “stories” on my News Feed that consist of some underclassman girl peddling off inside jokes via a webcam video on her friends wall.
No matter how polluted with e-commercialism Facebook gets, we aren’t going to leave until there is a better alternative. When MySpace came around, people left Xanga. When Facebook hit it big, people bailed from MySpace. Twitter had its shot to become the next big social networking playground, but people are so jaded due to Facebook’s complexity that Twitter won’t quite cut it.
Somebody has to come up with something. A social networking site that allows you to do just that. Interact with your social network. Let you upload your photos from the weekend, joke around with people and see what’s going on in the world around you.
When I get on Facebook, I want to talk to my friends. I want to see all those crazy pictures from the weekend. I want to see what people say to me, what other people say to them, and what’s going on within my social network on my News Feed.
Not that the girl in my fifth hour “stumbled upon a lonely bull in Farmville and it could use a home!”
Sorry, I’ll pass on that one.
Marian Wright Edelman, Founder of the National Children’s Defense Fund once said, “The most dangerous place for a child to grow up in America is at the intersection of race and poverty.”
31st and Troost.
I stand on the sidewalk, a panoramic view of poverty in front of me.
Boards cover windows. Graffiti covers walls. Faceless people sit, slumped, against the buildings, the bus stop or idle on corners. This is a completely new place for me.
I look up and see a large, clean structure on the corner of race and poverty. It’s bright sign reads: Operation Breakthrough.
It’s out of place on the corner of 31st and Troost Street, Kansas City, Mo.
I walk inside. Children’s artwork is displayed everywhere. Huge chalkboards covered in drawings fill the hallways. Light floods into the reception area at the front of the building. I love it here. It’s a beautiful place, a refuge.
Operation Breakthrough is a safe haven for kids living in poverty in Kansas City.
More than 1,000 children are shuffled through its doors every day. Six-month-olds come to be held while their parents go to work, elementary school kids come to receive tutoring and teenagers like you and I come to hang out.
Unfortunately, coming to Operation Breakthrough is the only safe experience most of the kids have to look forward to.
Out of all the kids at the center, 25 percent are homeless, another 25 percent are in foster care and 98 percent live below the federal poverty line.
A majority of the kids belong to single parents who make less than $14,000 a year.
Kids at BV have cars that cost more than that.
My first day helping out with the kindergartners, I saw a boy sitting against a wall all by himself in the classroom. My friend was sitting next to him, comforting him. I walked over too, and watched as tears of frustration rolled down his cheeks.
When I asked him what was wrong, my friend answered for him.
“He doesn’t think he’s getting anything for Christmas.”
That was probably the first time it actually registered for me.
Another day, I worked with a second grader who was crying because she was worried the backpack full of food
Harvesters provides for the kids wouldn’t be enough for her over the weekend.
Not everyone in the world is as privileged as I am or you are. We are very, very lucky people to have what we have. We aren’t obligated to do anything for anyone else, help anyone else. But why wouldn’t we?
I finally am thankful enough for what I have that I want to level the playing field a little, because I think that’s what is fair.
It takes a bit of maturity and strength to reach out and help, and I think most of us are capable of it. There are plenty of ways to do so, I’ve really only found one.
Adrenaline pulsed through my body as I threw punch after punch.
Eyes. Nose. Throat. Groin.
One last hit almost sent the large dummy to the ground. My turn ended and the next girl in line began launching her own set of self-defense moves.
Although my heart was racing, I couldn’t help but laugh at how I’d shown the scowling-faced dummy absolutely no mercy.
For the second year in a row, I participated in the Ali Kemp Runway show and T.A.K.E. self-defense class. And for the second year in a row, I came home feeling more empowered and in control of my own safety.
Ali Kemp graduated from Blue Valley North and attended Kansas State University. In June of 2002, while working at a Leawood pool, a stranger sexually assaulted and brutally murdered Ali.
There were no witnesses to the crime and it took police three years to track down the killer.
The Kemp family, with support from the Johnson County Park and Recreation District, Blue Valley Recreation Commission and Leawood Park and Recreation, established The Ali Kemp Educational Foundation (T.A.K.E.).
The foundation honors Ali’s life while teaching self-defense classes at colleges, high schools and other venues across the country. Thousands of women each year learn skills to keep themselves alive and arrive home safely.
In my opinion, it’s one of the most valuable things a woman can learn.
There are so many ways a woman can put herself in danger. The world is so connected now, nothing is private. Addresses and cell phone numbers are accessible to almost anyone with the click of a mouse. The female
instructor for the T.A.K.E. self-defense class is quite possibly the most intense woman I’ve ever met. She’s a 5’2”, ninth-degree blackbelt and a two-time Karate Woman of the Year. Her body is a lethal weapon, to say the least.
However, one message she pressed upon all the girls in the class was that it doesn’t take difficult martial arts moves or a bodybuilder physique to keep yourself safe. Being equipped with the right skills and knowing how and when to use them is the most crucial point of self-defense.
The class made me realize I have to be able to keep myself safe. In a worst-case scenario, I can’t freeze. In the moment of panic, I have to know I’m in control and I can do whatever it takes to keep myself alive.
Boys, you can laugh.
“I’m pretty sure no girl other than the Olympic weight-lifters could hurt me.”
Girls, you go ahead and believe nothing like this could ever happen to you.
“I live in a safe place. There’s no way I could be kidnapped, let alone murdered.”
Unfortunately, that’s probably what Ali thought, too.
Think about someone you love going missing.
Gone, kidnapped, never to be seen again. Imagine the pain it could cause to you, your family, and the rest of the community.
Our area is safe, but the worst things happen when we least expect it. Things like this do happen. Our community isn’t impenetrable. We have to be prepared, protect ourselves and look out for one another.
Every young woman needs to understand that she is in charge of her life, and it’s important to keep herself safe and be aware of her surroundings.
Guys, you need to look out for the girls. Offer to walk to her car late at night and make sure she arrived home safely.
It’s just the compassionate and safe thing to do.
According to my instructor, the attacker is almost always someone we’ve seen before — at the store, in the neighborhood or
Dear President Obama, Congratulations, you’ve survived your first year as America’s president. In spite of all the optimism surrounding your election, I think your Nobel Prize might have been a little premature.
Let’s review.
According to The Washington Post, 598,000 Americans lost their jobs in January 2009 because of the struggling economy. You, however, were seen at professional basketball games and throwing parties on the South Lawn.
The man leading the United States of America should be doing all that he can to improve an economy that hasn’t been this down since the Great Depression.
The new health care plan has been out there since the beginning of your campaign, but is it really best for everyone?
During that questionable 1 a.m. vote on Christmas Eve, the Senate split exactly along party lines. Blame it on Republican
vs. Democrat feuds all you want, but 40 percent of the Senate voted against this bill.
The people of Massachusetts disapproved this bill so much that they voted a republican, Scott Brown, to the Senate for the first time in 30 years.
At first glance, the bill sounds like a good idea. Everyone wants to be equal, especially in anything that concerns money. However, the very fine points show that there’s a catch.
Right now, every citizen is theoretically allowed to choose their own health care system and what they want in it.
According to CNN.com’s Money, the actual bill will require a list of components in minimum coverage, and Americans won’t have the privilege of knowing the requirements until the bill becomes a law.
This will make it difficult for the citizens to express their views on the bill.
Most importantly, you’ve been saying from the get-go that people with existing plans will be allowed to keep their coverage. Well, the bill says otherwise.
Anyone with existing health care is technically allowed to keep their plans unless the components of their plans
change after the bill is passed. On average, employer-provided health care plans change at least once a year, depending on the employer.
Overall, every American will eventually have to use the government-approved options whether they want to or not. Hopes were high for you last January. At the start of your term, you had an 83 percent approval rating. Eight years of the Bush administration finally ended and a serious change was needed. With your catchy slogan, you seemed like the perfect candidate.
Somewhere, though, you lost your way. Your approval rating last December dropped to 47 percent in the Gallup poll — the lowest rating of any president at this point in your term. In order to continue the economic rebound, I think you need to focus on this issue first and save health care for your second term…if there is one.
You have a whole nation to back you up and three more years to get back on track.
Focus on the unemployment rate and rethink that health care bill. For the sake of the country, I really hope you succeed. Good luck.
Lead custodian Carol Hunke’s ears ring as the doors of the 300 hall slam open and shut, starting at the eastern end and moving closer to the custodial office. No, it is not the end of the school day. It is 2 a.m., and Hunke is just now leaving school.
“That freaks me out because the building alarm is on,” Hunke said. “There would have to be an army of people to slam the doors that fast. Not meaning to sound like a chicken but I got my stuff together and left.”
Blue Valley’s hallowed halls are not as empty as they appear when students leave the building.
“Even before I came to Blue Valley High I had heard that it was haunted,” Hunke said. “Most of the custodians that work for the district know that this school is haunted.”
Hunke believes the haunting began before her first year at BV, 16 years ago, and still continues today. Hunke heard this legend from her predecessors on the custodial staff.
“A year or two after the school was opened a young man was mad at a teacher and he and his friend decided to break into this teacher’s classroom and shoot it up,” Hunke said. “As
the first boy started to climb through the window, the gun went off and shot the boy in the stomach. The other boy ran home to get his dad, the fire chief. But by the time they got back the boy had bled to death.”
Belief in the otherworld is not restricted to the custodial staff. A legend about a construction worker affectionately nicknamed “Steve,” who hung himself in the PAC also has believers. PAC technical director Tyler Lasche coined the name Steve. Junior Joseph Davies and senior Scott Bolton say they’ve experienced him personally.
“[It’s] rumored that he hung himself from Baton 8, which we hang lights from,” Davies said.
Davies and Lasche were both unclear on the actual story behind the death, despite Lasche’s research on Steve.
“When the PAC was being built, there was an unexplained death,” Lasche said. “It was very hard to find.”
Davies first-hand experience with Steve happened in the PAC, the place he supposedly died.
“I was helping build platforms, and Tyler Lasche stepped out for a minute, and I stepped to center stage to practice my monologue,” Davies said. “Suddenly, lights in the sound booth flipped on, the glass windows shook violently for about three seconds, then the lights turned off.”
Bolton believes he encountered the ghost of the PAC after last year’s musical, 42nd Street
“I was on the fly system when all of the headsets and lights went out,” Bolton said. “Something actually, physically, touched me on the back of the head.
Theater Director Dan Schmidt has his own opinions on the legend.
“There is no ghost named Steve,” Schmidt said. “It was all made up by Tyler Lasche. I think we just have electrical problems in the house. Or we are built on an Indian burial ground, that’s what all the kids say.”
Steve, the infamous construction worker, continues to make his presence known.
“One night I was in the PAC, alone, standing by the stage filling out some papers when someone said ‘hello’ in my ear,” Hunke said. “It was so close that I should have felt his breath on my ear.”
The night custodial staff continues to brave the haunted halls, despite their personal beliefs.
“I have had so many things happen to myself and others that I could write a book,” Hunke said. “But I do know that when I am here late at night, there’s one thing for sure: I’m not alone.”
Cautious skepticism filled me as I strolled through Blue Valley, fighting my way through the crowd emptying the gym after the basketball game. I couldn’t help but think about how unprepared I was for this encounter, with nothing but a flashlight, a NOS energy drink and my trusty cell phone.
I was on my way to experience Steve first hand.
I met senior Jackie Lippert and 2009 graduate Katie Beeks outside of the PAC, where they were equipped with marshmallows and chips.
Lead Custodian Carol Hunke met us in the Commons with an extra surprise: a tape
recorder. She told us that if we recorded the sounds in the auditorium we would be much more likely to have evidence of the presence of Steve.
At first, I was very clear about my policy with the lights: they would stay on until I left. Somehow, I lost that fight. I tried to keep up my brave face for the ladies, but my extreme phobia of the dark sapped my courage as we sat in the pitch-black PAC.
Our stay started out smoothly, but then we started hearing sounds. Creaky walls is how we explained it away. Then loose floorboards. Finally it was a rusty catwalk. But we couldn’t explain away what happened next.
It was just a glimpse, no more than two seconds. But each of us saw the same thing: a green light floated across the stage. It had no form... the first time.
The second time, Steve stuck around for longer. He floated neatly across the stage,
even descending the steps. There was no mistaking what the light looked like; the head and body were clearly defined, and I was even beginning to pick out individual facial features.
Jackie and I screamed at the top of our lungs at the sight of this unholy apparition, while Katie just seemed mildly amused at our antics.
I struggled to remove my standardissue Swiss Army flashlight from my pocket as Steve floated off of the set. The light flickered, and went out. I slammed it against my palm and it flared to life, extinguishing Steve’s light.
I had to be physically restrained from leaving the haunted PAC, but I stayed.
We took a break to listen to our tape recorder that we had strategically placed on the stage. It had turned itself off. Twice. We went back to our seats in the middle of the haunted auditorium. All was quiet for
nearly 10 minutes.
Then our ghost hunting group heard an extremely loud thump emanate from the stage, almost like someone had slammed their foot down on the top pieces of stage covering the orchestra pit.
After that, nothing could keep me down. I tore out of the high school, locking the doors to my truck as soon as I got in.
I left the other members of my group in the PAC. Some may call that cowardly, but, even though I tried to convince myself otherwise, I saw a light flicker in the Commons as I raced down 159th Street.
The girls had moved to the sound booth in my absence. No other sights or sounds, but they both felt a presence and felt very unwanted.
To be honest, I probably didn’t convince you. I barely believe it myself. Even so, I won’t stop looking for a green light over my shoulder for a long time.
The doctor walked into the room and silently closed the door.
"We've got some news, Alexis. Would you like your mom to be in the room?" he asked.
"No, you can tell me first," she replied.
She burst into tears as her doctor broke the news.
On Aug. 8, senior Alexis Simmons found out she was 17 weeks pregnant with a baby girl.
"I was crying and I was just so freaked out," Simmons said. "The first thing I could say to the doctor was 'I don't even like kids!'"
Simmons' mother, Rebecca Alport, was with Simmons at the doctor's appointment in the waiting room.
When Alport heard her daughter was pregnant, her face instantly turned pale, her body felt faint.
"I pictured Alexis as my little girl, her hair in pigtails, swinging her feet, saying, 'Mommy, I'm pregnant,'" Alport said. "I almost fainted. I turned white and I just cried my eyes out."
On Jan. 14, Kierra Dawn Simmons entered the world, at seven pounds, eight ounces.
"Right after I had her, I cried tears of joy," Simmons said. "I couldn't stop thinking, 'That's my baby.' When the doctors handed me my baby, I immediately had this feeling of motherly instinct. It was so natural, I knew how to do it."
For the first semester and beginning of her second semester of her senior year, Simmons took online classes to ensure she would have enough credits to graduate with her class in May.
On Feb. 16, Simmons returned to Blue Valley with a full schedule to finish out the rest of the school year. While at school, Alport will watch the baby.
"I have to ease my way back into everything," Simmons said. "I'm starting with a week of half-days before coming for full days. Being away from Kierra will be hard."
Although finishing high school is extremely important to Simmons, she already knows it will be difficult to juggle raising a baby while worrying about school work.
"The other night Kierra woke me up four times," Simmons said. "Each time she wakes up, I'm awake with her for an hour. So spending four hours a night with her, then having to get up early for school will be very stressful."
From the beginning, abortion was never an option for Simmons.
She was too far along with her daughter, and her only choice was to have the baby.
"I didn't want to go through with an adoption," Simmons said. "During the pregnancy, and especially now, I became very attached. She's mine and it's my responsibility to raise her."
Because Simmons felt none of the common pregnancy side-effects, the final months of the pregnancy were fairly easy. However, Simmons looked to her own mother for a majority of the emotional support.
"My mom has been the most supportive through everything," she said. "Financially and emotionally, she was always there."
Simmons' close friends also played a key role throughout the pregnancy.
Their acceptance and friendship created a strong support system for both Simmons and her new baby girl.
"When I first found out about being pregnant, nobody knew other than my mom and family," Simmons said. "Eventually I told my closest friends. At first they were shocked, there were more tears. But they were supportive and excited for me."
Simmons said Kierra's father did not sign his daughter's birth certificate and is not financially involved with his daughter. The father was unavailable for comment.
Simmons will be raising the baby on her own, with her mother's help. To work toward financial stability, Simmons' mom and stepdad pay her $150 a week to clean their home rather than hiring a cleaning service.
"It scares me to think I won't be able to financially support Kierra," she said. "I want to give her everything she needs."
Other than the money Simmons earns from cleaning, her parents provide most of the finances for Kierra.
"It will be difficult for Alexis to balance motherhood, school and having a job," Alport said. "We'll help financially but she has to realize that she needs to make money and support her baby."
Alport feels her daughter's compassion and maturity will prepare Simmons for motherhood.
"It's not about her anymore," Alport said. "Most teenagers are selfish. There can't be anymore selfish. Everything has to be for the child."
Through the pregnancy, Alport saw her daughter embracing motherhood, educating herself on what to expect through delivery and the first few months of being with the baby.
"Alexis understands this is a full-time job," she said. "This is life. She will have to make decisions that affect not only her but the baby for the rest of her life."
Missing a large majority of senior year was a challenge socially for Simmons.
When most students are out at basketball
games or parties, Simmons knows where her responsibilities lay.
"I was still able to hang out with my friends," she said. "But it's harder now because there's a baby here that I have to take care of. She's not just in my belly."
Simmons anticipates mixed reaction from students upon her return to BV.
"It will be different seeing people I'm not close with," Simmons said, "Walking down the hall hearing, 'Oh, that's the girl who had a baby,' from people."
After graduation, Simmons plans on attending Johnson County Community College for the next two years. From there, she will see what university can best accommodate her needs.
"Before I found out I was pregnant, my plan was to become a vet through a six-year program," Simmons said. "Now I have a baby, and everything has changed. I'm going to have to find another program that isn't as
long at a college where I don't have to stay in the dorms as a freshman."
The pregnancy was unplanned, but Simmons is working to do everything she can to provide for her daughter.
However, Simmons wants young women to understand pregnancy and raising a baby at such a young age is an enormous challenge.
"It's nothing like what girls imagine having a baby would be like," Simmons said. "It's expensive, it's hard and it changes everything. Thinking 'Oh, it's so easy to have a baby and play with it, it's not a big deal,' that is so wrong."
Although Simmons admits the next few years will not be easy, she holds no regrets with any of her decisions.
"I wouldn't change anything," Simmons said. "Maybe a few months ago, before I had Kierra, I would have given a different answer but now she's here and she's my everything."
Sophomore Jessica Becker imagines that she is exploring a place deep within the countryside of England, Chillingham Castle. It is rumored to be one of the most terrifying and haunted castles in the world.
Guests have reported seeing a blue glow above their heads, hearing the sound of rustling silk in the corridors and hearing uncanny screams in the famous Pink Room. A place where skeletons were found in the walls and the home of a former torturer, it is a ghost hunter’s dream.
Junior Daniel Tabakh envisions himself standing on the edge of a plane. High above the clouds, the seemingly ant-like city awaits his arrival.
The instructor gives him the “thumbs up” sign and he steps off the plane into the unknown.
The air whooshes around him and his stomach drops, but the exhilaration and pure rush are worth it. He grins as the parachute opens and he floats to the ground.
Sophomore Danny Theisen dreams of slipping into scuba equipment and plunging into blue water. He dives beneath the ocean and is surrounded by a whole new world. Bright fish swim past him but his attention is drawn to the very thing that brought him there, the Great Barrier Reef.
When he finally swims back to the surface, he has mixed feelings. Theisen believes the tropical reefs will be gone within the next 50 years due to ocean temperature increase. This could be, quite possibly, the last time he ever lays eyes on the reef.
If you had one day left to live what would you do? In the new MTV show, “The Buried Life,” four men set out to explore this question.
This show documents their adventures as they try to cross items off their “bucket lists,” a list of things they want to do before they die.
With every item crossed off their own personal lists, they help strangers live out their dreams.
Many students have their own bucket lists and each list portrays the different interests of each student.
Some people strive for knowledge of the unknown, others crave adventure and a few dream of changing the world.
For Becker, Chillingham Castle is only one
of the many castles she wants to visit.
“I have always believed in the supernatu ral so I want to try and visit some haunted places,” she said. “Maybe even one of the most haunted places in the world someday.”
She believes bucket lists can bring confidence to the writer by helping them to complete some of the more nerve-wracking activities.
“Even if I think of backing out on the last second, the thought of it on my bucket list will make me go through with it till the end,” she said.
Becker is set on completing her list that also includes traveling the world.
“I am determined to do these things that I have been waiting for my entire life,” she said. “When I actually do them I can think to myself, ‘I can’t believe I am actually doing this!’”
Besides skydiving, Tabakh wants earn a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, learn Russian and Hebrew and spend time in Israel and Russia.
“I want to be an engineer and MIT is the best,” Tabakh said. “I also want to have a doctorate or a professorship in that field so MIT is my dream place.”
Tabakh believes that people make bucket lists so they can keep track what goals they have set, and death shouldn’t be the driving force behind making them.
“I would say that death is a distant reminder and thinking about it should only happen if someone close dies,” he said. “Living life to the fullest should happen anyway.”
Theisen’s bucket list includes seeing the disappearing coral reefs and making a major discovery in one of the science fields.
“I am a huge science fanatic, and I want to make a lasting impact in the field of sci ence that I choose to specialize in,”Theisen said.
“The prospect of new discoveries and sur prises are what fuel me everyday, but I also want to leave a ‘surprise’ of my own by mak ing some form of lasting impact. Regardless of if there is an afterlife or not, people will still remember me long after I am gone.”
Bucket lists have a deeper meaning for Theisen.
“People make bucket lists to have something to shoot for when life isn’t going the way you planned,” he said. “Let’s face it, life can really suck at times. Everyone needs something to pull them through, the light at the end of the tunnel.”
Sophomore Erin Dalke arrives at Petland a few minutes before her shift begins. She clocks in and walks to the back. She gets out a puppy for one of the customers. There’s never time to stand around in this constantly busy atmosphere.
This is a typical day for Dalke, who works at Petland on 151st street.
“I usually work from 4-9 p.m. on Tuesdays, 5-9 p.m. on Thursdays, and about five hours on the weekends,” she said. “And I get paid on commission, so the more I sell, the more I make.”
Having a job can sometimes take up a student’s entire schedule, but Dalke doesn’t completely agree with that.
“It doesn’t take up much of my time on weekdays because I don’t really do much,” she said. “But on the weekends it definitely takes up some time that I could use for other things.”
Sophomore Kellen Rios has two jobs. He works at Increda-bowl and mows lawns.
“I have two jobs because I want to have money to spend on things,” he said. “And I feel bad when I always use money from my parents. My parents said that I don’t have to work at all if I don’t want to, but I really like having spending money to get things I want.”
Rios has to manage his time to fit in hours for both jobs.
“In the winter I just have to work at Incred-a-bowl,” he said. “I’ll normally go in at 11 a.m. and leave around 5 p.m. But during the summer if I have to do both jobs in one day, I’ll wake up around 8 a.m. and I’ll mow four or five yards then go to work from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Incred-a-bowl. On a normal school week, I work around six to 12 hours.”
Freshman Makenzie Hanson doesn’t have a full-time job, but she babysits occasionally.
“I babysit about once or twice a month,” Hanson said.
“That’s really the only way I make money.”
Once students have earned their money, they spend it on various things.
“The only thing I really have to buy is gas,” Dalke said. “Other than that I don’t have much time to go shop for things.”
Because Hanson does not make much of her own money, her parents buy some things for her.
“I spend most of my money when I go shopping with friends or go to a movie — really just hanging out,” Hanson said.
The responsibility of having a job also comes the responsibility with keeping up with school work.
“I usually only work two days a week so it’s not that hard to get my homework done, but sometimes I’ll come home and I’ll just want to sleep,” Dalke said.
Hanson said that most freshmen don’t have jobs.
“Some of my friends babysit, but that’s really it,” she said. “There are some times I wish I had a job, so that I could make more of my own money.”
Dalke said working allows for more financial freedom.
“I like being independent and making my own money,” she said. “And [sophomore] Helena Dunn works the same hours as me on weekends, so that makes my job pretty fun.”
katielouis features editor
She is a modest National Merit semi-finalist with a 4.0 unweighted GPA. She is an artist, a violinist, a member of Robotics Club and an older sister to three. She is afraid of spiders and after watching I Am Legend, added fear of the dark to that list.
Like most seniors, senior Caitlin Wilson is nearing the end of her college decision process — after applying to nine schools. Wilson applied to Smith College, Wellesley College, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Minnesota, University of Iowa and Kansas State University — not to mention Harvard University, Princeton University and Yale University.
With many options before her, Wilson is still not sure which school she is going to choose.
“Right now I want to go Yale,” she said. “And if I don’t get in there, Smith and Wellesley in Massachusetts are my next picks.
If asked to describe her daughter to someone who didn’t know Caitlin, her mom Carolyn Wilson would say Caitlin is “a little bit shy, articulate, interested in everything, trustworthy and compassionate.”
Caitlin studies hard but none of it is forced by her parents. It is her own selfdiscipline and determination that causes her to succeed academically.
“My parents do influence me a lot,” she said. “They expect me to do the best that I can. If the best I can do is a B, then that’s awesome.”
Carolyn said Caitlin’s motivation isn’t a matter of competition with others.
“It’s something inside of her,” she said.
Carolyn Wilson“She just has a drive to do the best she can. It’s certainly not a drive to be better than someone else — it’s just to be better than what she was. It’s certainly an intrinsic quality.”
However, Caitlin said discipline isn’t something that necessarily comes naturally to her in all the aspects of her life.
“I make myself disciplined, “Caitlin said. “I’m usually not very organized. My room looks like a torando hit it — either that or a couple of bombs went off in there.”
Caitlin usually studies three to four hours a night, amidst the weekly games and activities of her three younger siblings. She also finds time to do things she enjoys besides
school work.
“Music makes me happy,” she said. “I have played the violin since fourth grade; however, I had to quit orchestra last year so I haven’t gotten to play quite as much this year.”
Caitlin took AP Biology with science teacher Azadeh Taghizadeh last year and loved it. She succeeded with the material and really enjoyed studying genetics. The class has definitely influenced her current career ideas. She wants to study genetics research in college.
However, her mom pointed out that genetics is only one of many options available to Caitlin.
“She has very diverse interests,” Carolyn said. “At the moment, she is very interested in genetics and how they connect to human health. That really interests her. However she also loves antique books and languages. I can see her being a surgeon, but I can also see her being a historian or making some big archaeological discovery. The world is open to her.”
“She just has a drive to do the best she can. It’s certainly not a drive to be better than someone else — it’s just to be better than what she was. It’s certainly an intrinsic quality.”In center, senior Caitlin Wilson works on calculations for a circuit lab in physics along with her partners, senior Briana LaFuria (right) and junior Kristen Olson (left). Wilson is a National Merit semi-finalist with an unweighted 4.0 GPA. Photo by Haley Hickman.
Conan O’Brien gone
Jay Leno is back
$45 million deal
O’Brien’s new pilot for a show on NBC
Those were just some of the headlines surrounding the Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien controversy a little more than a month ago. Fans are still buzzing about all of the drama.
The facts from the deal have been released and the fans of both shows are adjusting to the new lineup.
“I’m glad [Leno] came back to the 10:30 slot, so now I can watch him while having a late night snack,” senior Michael Luong said.
Network officials told O’Brien he will not be able to host a show on a competing network for seven months. Some students are upset their favorite late night personality will not be able to host his own show for a while.
“I am upset that Leno just took The Tonight Show back from O’Brien after only seven months,” sophomore Drew Ferguson said. “He went on Oprah and tried to act innocent, but you could tell he wasn’t really sad about O’Brien.”
Students are also going to miss the way he ran his late night shows.
“I think he is funnier and appeals more
to the younger crowd,” sophomore Emily Eltomi said. “His jokes are funnier and I like his sense of humor. I think his hair is awesome also.”
Viewers of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien are left in the dark and trying to find a new show to watch.
“I will most likely just watch whatever happens to be on TV until O’Brien is back,” Ferguson said.
Conan’s last show Jan. 22 was starstudded with appearances by Steve Carell, Neil Young and Will Ferrell. He ended the show with a heartfelt goodbye to his fans. Then O’Brien joined Ferrell and others on guitar during a special rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Freebird.”
“I think his last show was great and hope his new show is just as good,” Eltomi said.
Some think he didn’t express his true feelings toward NBC on air because he is writing a new pilot that he plans to propose to NBC.
“I think he held back a little because he didn’t want NBC to be angry and reject his show,” Luong said.
According to Yahoo.tv, the show, Justice, tells the story of a Supreme Court justice who quits his lifetime appointment to open his own law practice.
Leno plans to start his second run at The Tonight Show on Feb. 29.
I had read the book Dear John, but I wasn’t sure if I would like the movie. I’m not a huge fan of sappy love stories, but I thought I’d give it a chance. I’m glad I did because it actually wasn’t too bad.
This emotional love story was released in theaters on Feb. 5. It is based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks, bestselling author of The Notebook
Channing Tatum appears as John Tyree, the boy who’s back in his hometown while on leave from the military.
Savannah Curtis, played by Amanda Seyfried from Mamma Mia!, meets John when he jumps off a dock to retrieve her purse from the water. Their eyes meet and they fall in love, just like in most romantic movies.
They spend two weeks together before it’s time for John to go back for another year in Germany where he serves in the Army.
While all of this love drama is going on, John is also dealing with a complicated relationship with his father, who is obsessed with collecting coins.
Long-distance relationships are thought to fall apart over time, but the lovers in this film find a way to communicate through letters with every free moment they have.
Their relationship seems to work throughout the film, but the movie offers a shocking and unexpected ending. The movie wasn’t bad, but there is so much more description and detail in the book that doesn’t appear in the movie. Students who have read the book and are hoping that the movie is just as good, it might not quite live up to your expectations. But for movie-goers who just want to see a good romantic film, they will most likely be pleased with this movie.
By Jordan McEntee.People often think of celebrities as modern gods.
But what’s so important about them?
They’re not much different from everyday people like you and me.
the shelves on either side of you are about 75 percent gossip magazines rather than national or world news.
Those are just some of the top stories that have been talked about.
matthewhollowayWe idolize them and follow their every move on a daily basis with the help of magazines, Web sites and even TV shows.
It seems like there’s an endless supply of things to know about famous people.
Society clings onto information that it sees, usually believing every word that’s heard.
It only seems like they’re more important because the media often puts celebrity news above everything else.
Yet we still want to be just like them, and the closest way of doing that is to follow them everywhere.
Not all celebrities have perfect lives, though. In fact, some get themselves in the worst situations.
Think about bald Britney Spears, drunkdriving Lindsay Lohan, Tiger Woods with his multiple affairs and overdosing Billy Mays
If you’re at the counter in a grocery store,
If you turn on the TV, there are shows strictly about celebrity gossip that are on everyday.
Just look at some of the stories that are talked about, and think why any of it would matter.
Because most of it doesn’t.
Kate Gosselin payed $7,000 for a new hair-do.
Taylor Swift and Taylor Lautner break up, and then he gets together with Selena Gomez
Madonna and Sean Penn are supposedly back together again after their divorce.
Who cares how much Kate Gosselin spends on her hair?
Who cares who Taylor Lautner is dating?
Who cares about whether or not Madonna and Sean Penn will marry each other again or not?
If you would just take a step back and look at what your reading, you would realize all of this doesn’t matter to your life at all.
Knowing about Kevin Jonas’ marriage, or Simon Cowell’s leave from American Idol might be interesting, but it is a bunch of unneeded information that will not change us one bit.
“I think he is funnier and appeals more to the younger crowd. His jokes are funnier and I like his sense of humor. I think his hair is awesome also.”
sophomore Emily Eltomi
A cast of around 70 — a pyramid chorus, regular chorus, brothers and wives, a choreographer and two directors — all working together for three months on the production Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Brothers and wives
Senior Andy Hieber, who plays one of the brothers, Naphtali, understands good leadership is important for the play to go smoothly.
“We’re supposed to set an example for the pyramid chorus and chorus, just like with a lead there’s more expected of us,” he said. “We kind of set the tone for the rest of the cast.”
He said with a large cast sometimes rehearsals are chaotic, but the best part of the experience is being with friends while working hard at the same time.
“It’s fun to put in a lot of effort and see the really good result come of it,” he said. “The show is fun, but I think it’s more fun during the practices and backstage.”
The directors and choreographer ease the stresses of having a large cast by working with each group separately and then combining all groups to make sure
all parts fit.
“The cast of the leads are a huge part of the show, but what really makes a show, a musical especially, is what is going on in the background,” Hieber said.
Directing Team
Directing team member Jay Coombs, who was hired to direct the musical, wants this year’s production to be one thing, and one thing only on opening night. “Perfection.”
Coombs enjoys working with the Blue Valley musical students, and cites their work ethic as his reason for coming back often to direct. Cast members are expected to stay concentrated on their work at rehearsal and at home.
“There just aren’t enough hours,” Coombs said. “They need to do work on their own.”
For Coombs and the other two members of the directing team, choir teacher Marsha Moeller and choreographer Ann McCroskey, musical planning begins far in advance in order to make rehearsals run smoothly.
“It’s really well planned out,” Coombs said. “The directors are working together. Nobody is sitting idly very often.”
Coombs runs around at rehearsals, working individually with each section. He keeps his drive and intensity up and expects the cast members to do the same.
“I expect them to come with their acting tool box and make it work,” Coombs said. “Ready to practice every day.”
The remaining performances are 7:30 p.m. tonight and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20 in the Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $7 and may be purchased in the Commons.
Tiger Band members were selected as All-State Musicians and choir members were selected for state competition this year. Students share their previous achievements, and what they are looking forward to most at state, pictured left to right.
Senior Ryan Cauffield
Tuba
First year to state Hopes for State: “Challenging music and good experience with working with talented musicians.”
Senior Ben Cooper Trombone
Third year to state Hopes for State: “Spending time with the people from our school who are going.”
Sophomore Matt Cooper Trombone
First year to state Hopes for State: “All the musicians are all really great, so the jazz band is going to be top notch.”
Senior Abby Douglas Clarinet
Second year to state Hopes for State: “I have never played in the orchestra before so it is a new experience.”
Sophomore Stephen Hennerberg Trombone
First year to state Hopes for State: “Reconnecting with people I have met through past competitions.”
Sophomore Bryan Wallraff Basoon
First year to state Hopes for State: “Playing with other talented musicians.”
Choir
Junior Sarah Berguson
Second Alto
First time to state Hopes for State: “The chance to learn from the other singers, the directors, and the experience as a whole.”
Senior Victoria Malone
First Soprano
First time to state
Hopes for State:“Getting to hear how wonderful everyone is going to sound, and I will get to hang out with a bunch of other singers I never get to see.”
Senior Jessica Mussato
Second Soprano
First time to state Hopes for State: “Getting to sing with people all around the state; people you don’t normally get to interact with.”
Sophomore Alex Peterson
Second Tenor
First year to state Hopes for State: “More difficult music and the great voices there.”
Senior Austin Stang
First Tenor
Second year to state Hopes for State: “Meeting up with kids I don’t normally see all the time.”
Information collected by Jordan Huesers.
QuikTrip is the place to go for those who are on-the-go or trying to save money.
Students are able to grab a cheap drink or snack and fill up their gas tanks all in the same stop.
QuikTrip offers coffee, cappuccinos, shakes, energy drinks and “freezoni” slushies that BV students can easily carry with them to class.
“I like Quik Trip because it’s cheap and the donuts are amazing,” freshman Xavier Adams said.
QuikTrip is great for students running late or in need of some caffeine from pulling an all-nighter.
It may be a bit difficult to get right in to fill up on gas with so many people trying to do the same, but this convenience store is only a mile or two from the school.
Places like Robeks and Smoothie King are great options for anyone looking for something fresh, healthy and tasty. This morning stop may be a little slower than QuikTrip, but employees have gotten pretty good at whipping smoothies out fast. They offer a wide variety of smoothies, shakes, freezes, juices and other healthy snacks.
“Unlike other places, you see [your smoothie] being made,” sophomore David Maricle said. “It’s fresh and they make it out of real fruit, not artificial flavors. It’s natural.”
There are also supplements that can be added to a smoothie to make it even healthier.
Have a big exam today? Use supplements such as Intellibek to support memory and concentration.
Need extra energy for tryouts? Use supplements such as Powerbek or Creatine from Robeks or a power boost supplement from Smoothie King.
Smothie King also offers supplements that aid in weight loss and allow people to trim down.
Starbucks is a second home for many coffee lovers.
From frappuccinos to espressos, Starbucks has it all for students’ coffee needs.
But Starbucks isn’t only for all those people who need their caffeine fix.
Besides the many types and flavors of coffee, this stop offers teas, juices, smoothies, milk, hot chocolate, lemonades and more.
Not to mention all the hearty pastry treats that make a delicious breakfast.
“They have strawberry blended lemonade and it’s pretty much the best drink ever,” junior Cayleigh Feller said.
Starbucks customers are allowed free access to WiFi, a great way to make any finishing touches to an English paper while warming up with a freshly brewed coffee.
“It has comfy seats, beautiful music and heavenly drinks,” senior Aziza Moola said.
Students can also sit and relax with friends before a hectic day at school.
New “skinny” lattes are now available.
To raise awareness at Blue Valley, Clubs for Change is planning a benefit concert later this semester with current bands and singers performing for the students.
Senior Emily Mosburg, the president of Clubs for Change, and senior Dalton Homolka thought of the idea earlier this year.
“Music is a big part of our lives,” Mosburg said. “It would be great to relate that to the students.”
The main purpose of the concert will be to aid the Invisible Children charity, which sends help to the children armies in Africa.
The charity’s focus is to free the children armies and make peace treaties as well as teaching the children life skills.
Performers for the concert are still undecided but the goal is to get popular artists to participate.
“I will be totally annoying and beg them to be a part of it,” Mosburg said.
The back-up plan is to invite local bands to play in a battle-of-the-bands style.
Because the club is still focusing on third quarter’s directives of women’s rights and hunger, Mosburg is the main person planning and researching for the concert, which she says makes her nervous.
“I’m just a high school student, not an event planner,” Mosburg said. “ I’m scared to organize a huge event like this, but if you are passionate about something you can do anything.”
Mosburg also wants to invite other clubs at BV and schools around the Johnson County area, such as Blue Valley, Olathe and Shawnee Mission schools, to participate in the
event.
Along with posters and promotional videos, Clubs for Change plans to advertise the concert by chalking sidewalks.
However, because Clubs For Change anticipates the concert in April, Mosburg feels some don’t think the concert will happen.
“A lot of people say that we can’t pull it off,” Mosburg said. “But I think we can, everyone will know about this.”
Clubs for Change gets no funding from the school or Student Council so to pay for the show the club is planning a school-wide tye dying party.
“Even if some people aren’t fans of Clubs For Change, it would be awesome for the whole school to be involved in this,” Mosburg said.
The concert date is tentatively set for April 30.
“It will be a wonderful way to end a great year in the club,” Mosburg said.
Late arrival offers time for students to stop for things such as food, coffee, or smoothies
The softball team welcomed Kim Cobb as the new varsity coach for the upcoming spring season.
Hoping to build off of last year’s success in the state tournament, Cobb sees potential and talent in the team.
“We have a strong, talented group and we plan to compete with everyone we step onto the field with,” Cobb said.
Before coaching at BV, Cobb coached high school softball for 15 years, club teams for three years and was a graduate assistant coach at the University of Kansas.
Cobb’s strong history of coaching brings players high hopes for the season.
“Coach Cobb knows what she is talking about,” senior catcher Jessica Scarlett said. “She has the experience and I can see that through the way she runs workouts.”
Cobb considers softball to be much more than just a sport; players are taught many important qualities.
“Softball is an avenue to learn what it means to work with a team for a common goal,” Cobb said.
Cobb plans to teach the girls how to be the best people they can be through
Previous Action: 2/9 @ KC Central L(65-49)
Record: 7-9
Key Athletes: Senior Anthony Abenoja, junior Hayden Murray
Upcoming Action: 2/19 Blue Valley West 2/26 Blue Valley Northwest
Previous Action: 2/5-2/6 @ EKL 4th/6
Key Athletes: Senior Andrew Fraser, juniors Adam Chinery, Cameron Gallet and Nick Sobczynski, sophomore Austin Averkamp and freshman Vaughn Ericson
Upcoming Action: 2/19-20 State @ Topeka
the softball season.
“I want to try to provide opportunities for the athletes to develop not only as softball players, but as people,” Cobb said.
Planning to work hard in every practice, Cobb wants to prepare the athletes day in and day out for their success.
“My expectations for this team are to work very hard,
from last year with this new coach.”
Senior right fielder Sarah Smith expects a new and exciting season; including a fresh start for all players.
“Everyone, even us seniors, have to prove ourselves to Cobb,” Smith said. “Show her that we can play.” Smith not only forsees Cobb bringing motivation to the team, but also present-
be fundamentally sound and to pay attention to those little details,” Cobb said.
Scarlett perceives Cobb as a coach that will provide many benefits to their team.
“I hope she can bring more focus and fundamentals,” Scarlett said.
Sophomore second baseman Becca McDonald anticipates Cobb to be a committed and positive addition to the coaching staff this year.
“I could tell she was very dedicated to making the team better,” McDonald said.
“I hope to grow as a team
ing passion to the girls.
“I hope she brings energy and enthusiasm, which she has already begun to do through workouts,” Smith said.
Smith and Cobb both believe the senior leadership this year will immensely enhance the abilities of the team.
“We have lots of experience from the returning players who are very strong leaders,” Cobb said. “All of their experience gained from the last seasons will prepare them for this season.”
Previous Action: 2/9 Blue Valley Northwest W(37-25)
Record: 11-6
Key Athletes: Senior Nicole Gloor, junior Aerial Smith
Upcoming Action: 2/25 @ Blue Valley North
Previous Action: 1/30 @Shawnee Mission North 3rd/12
Key Athletes: Seniors Nick Pearch and Parker Madl, junior Tyler Hendrickson, sophomores Lukas Bjorgo, Logan Bjorgo and Kellen Rios
Upcoming Action: 2/20 Regionals
“My expectations for this team are to work very hard, be fundamentally sound and to pay attention to those little details.”
coach Kim Cobb
The BV cheer squad traveled to the Wichita Cheer Challenge on Feb. 6, where they took a top rating in stunts and finished their season strong
3 Immediately after competing, junior Caitlin Pittman long day of injuries and health problems. “I was nervous it was going to give out in the routine,” she said. “I was worried I wouldn’t be able to tumble, after tumbling I was in so much pain. I started bawl ing during the routine and fell on Lindsey [Benefield]. Jumps, that didn’t feel so good. When it came time for the pyramid I really didn’t know what was going on. Right after pyramid during the dance I couldn’t see, then I passed out.”
Friday
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Tonight’s show starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $7 at the door.
Wednesday
Senior Countdown: 94 days
Inconvenience Yourself Day
Take the scenic route home.
26
Friday Levi Strauss’ Birthday
You know that favorite pair of blue jeans that match every outfit? Courtesy of this guy.
Saturday Elton John and Billy Joel
After pushing back the concert two months, Elton is finally here. A few tickets are still available, starting at $98. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Sprint Center.
Sunday Olympics End
Fingers crossed that Team USA dominates all competition.
March
Monday
01
24 27 28 03 04 06 11
Spring Sport Tryouts
Dust off your bats, track shoes, soccer balls, golf clubs and tennis rackets. Good luck making varsity.
Wednesday
I Want You to be Happy Day
Let me see those pearly whites from your gorgeous smile.
Thursday
District Choir Festival
The festival starts at 6 p.m. at BVNW. Support the BV choir as they sing their hearts out.
Saturday
KU vs. MU in Columbia
The border war continues today at 1 p.m. Who will you be rooting for?
Thursday
Spring Break starts
Enjoy this precious time away from school because once fourth quarter hits, we have no more days off.
FEBRUARY