The Tiger Print — October 2007

Categories squad kicks off new season

The Blue Valley Categories team has been practicing for a new season of trivia competition. It is the first year for math teacher Adam Wade to sponsor the team of 11 people. The team is optimistic about this year.

“We have a lot of potential,” senior Jeff Smith said.

The show will appear on channel 2 and the first match is Nov. 11 against Shawnee Mission West.

Diversity club plans tolerance event

In 2006, 54 percent of hate crimes were racially motivated. That is according to the Hate Crime Statistics of 2006 and is also why the Diversity Club is trying to prevent prejudice.

On Oct. 25 and 26, Blue Valley will be joining forces with Blue Valley West for the annual Our Town program. The program was previously known as Uni Town.

Twenty-five students from each school will be participating in positive interactive exercises that will teach them how to step out of their comfort zones and begin to understand themselves and others.

Melissa Hansen, BV assistant principal, is one of the coordinators of the event.

“This is one of the most powerful experiences I’ve had with students in my 15 years of teaching,” Hansen said.

Participants and sponsors alike look forward to sharing this experience and benefiting from what it will do for them.

“The students learn a lot in these two days,” Hansen said. “I hope they will take from this and teach and promote tolerance to other groups in the school.”

Of the 50 students participating in the program, 10 hold the title of counselor. These students will be learning to teaching the exercises in which the other 40 students willl participate. The counselors were chosen because they had previously attended an Our Town program.

Students involved will work from 3 – 10 p.m. on Oct. 25, and then will spend the night in the school. The second day, they will start at 7 a.m. and work until 2 p.m.

Diversity Club sponsor Manal Siam may be new to the school, but this is not her first experience with Our Town.

“I volunteer with the program that sponsors Our Town in the summers and have been doing that since 2003,” Siam said. “I also attended the program at my high school the two years it was offered – my junior and senior years.”

By providing students with the opportunity to participate in the program, organizers hope this will be the driving force behind making a prejudice-free school.

The program is sponsored by the organization, Harmony, which sponsors many additional diversity activities.

Nespaper-ad:Layout 1 9/10/2007 9:17 PM Page 1

holiday cards to local seniors this year. Photo by Nina

Band to conclude competitive season

The Stridin’ Tigers plan to conclude their competitive season tonight after a performance in St. Louis as part of a Bands of America Super Regional event. They will compete against bands from across the Midwest and South.

This performance comes after the band’s trip to the Union High School Renegade Review in Tulsa on Oct. 6. Blue Valley

placed third in its division in preliminary competition and ninth out of 16 bands in finals. Lake Hamilton (Ark.) and Bixby (Okla.) placed first and second respectively in finals.

The band also hosted seven bands in a festival on Sept. 30. Bellevue East (Neb.) took first place and Lawrence Free State received second place. The Stridin’ Tigers performed in exhibition.

“It’s pretty big for your school to host a marching festival,”

senior band member Molly Hartz said.

The band program will shift to its concert season beginning next week in which students will be divided into the concert and symphonic bands based on chair audition. Students will also be auditioning for the District Band on Nov. 10 in Baldwin City.

Chess club begins

tournament circuit

Blue Valley Chess Club competed in the Grade Level Championship on Sept. 22, at Washburn Rural High School.

“We were in position to finish higher than we actually finished which means that we still have some work to do,” sponsor Richard Gill said.

Freshman Jessie Harkl finished fifth in freshman division, competing in his first tournament. Gill said sophomore Brady Jerome showed improvement from last year, finishing eleventh in the sophomore division. Seniors Cam McCallie and Ryan Siemers were seventh and sixth, respectively, in the senior division.

“Although Cam beat Ryan in head-to-head competition they were actually pretty even,” Gill said. “Kyle, Cam and Ryan were all about at the same level, doing well some rounds, not so well other rounds.”

The next major event for the chess club will be the State Chess Tournament here at BV.

Senior Thuy Nguyen and sophomore Emma Mosier work on making stained glass at a recent art club meeting. The club is also planning to deliver

Humphrey.

Charges dropped in racially fueled fight, tensions remain

mitchsmith news editor

Six black high school students in Jena, La., have been arrested and charged with attempted second degree murder stemming from a racist incident last December. The racial tensions in the small southern town grew after three white students hung nooses, decorated in school colors, from a tree on school property, known to locals in the still partially segregated area as “the white tree,” after three black students sat under it.

“Criminal justice and race are inextricably intertwined in the South,” Loyola University-New Orleans professor Bill Quigley said in an interview with USA Today.

The school quickly discovered the culprits of the noose situation and the school principal recommended expulsion for the three involved. Superintendent Roy Breithaupt and the Jena school board, however, disagreed, setting the punishment at only a three day in-school suspension. Breithaupt argued that the nooses were just an innocent adolescent prank, not intended to discriminate against anyone, and that expulsion would be an unfit punishment.

“Adolescents play pranks. I don’t think it was a threat against anybody,” Breihaupt said in an interview with the

Chicago Tribune.

After the outrage that followed, LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters spoke to Jena’s student body at a school assembly in which he said, “I can end your lives with the stroke of a pen.”

Following the school board’s decision, many black students protested the ruling and asked to take their case to the school board. The school board denied hearing their arguments as they said, according to New York’s Black Star News, the noose situation had been “adequately resolved.” Some Jena High students disagreed.

“Toilet paper, that’s a prank,” accused student Robert Bailey said on a Louisiana radio show. “Nooses hanging there, nooses ain’t no prank.”

After the school board refused to hear the black students’ case, chaos broke loose in Jena.

On Nov. 30, an unknown person attempted to burn the school to the ground. Within a week, black students were not allowed at a party in which it is alleged a white Jena man, not a high school student, broke a beer bottle over one of the students’ heads. Then, an argument broke out at a local gas station in which a white Jena High student who had attended the party pulled a gun on one of the black attendees.

“That’s the way [Jena has] always been,” white resident Kristi Boyett said

in an interview with CNN. “I’ve lived here for 16 years, and it’s been segregated since we’ve lived here.”

These events have led Blue Valley minorities to question whether such a turn of events could ever occur here.

“I don’t think anything like that could ever happen here,” junior Shelley Sparling said. “People at Blue Valley are really accepting.”

Principal Scott Bacon agrees, saying he believes such an incident would be unlikely in Blue Valley.

“I’d like to think we have the culture here is built upon respect.” Bacon said. “We have policies that deter harrassment of any kind.”

Following these racially fueled disagreements in Jena, a white student who had apparently taunted black students for being attacked at the party was allegedly assaulted by six black students. The white student, 17-year-old Justin Barker, was made temporarily unconscious by the attacks but was discharged from the hospital later that day. The six black attackers were arrested and initially charged with aggravated assault; however, those charges were changed to attempted second degree murder. Five of the students in question were charged as adults as, under Louisiana state law, 17-year-olds are considered adults One 16-year-old was charged as a minor while another, Mychal Bell, was

brought to trial as an adult.

Bell’s charges were reduced to aggravated second degree battery and conspiracy to commit the same crime at his trial last June. The conviction of aggravated battery requires the use of a deadly weapon, a requirement which Walters argued was fulfilled through the tennis shoes Bell was wearing. The jury agreed, finding him guilty and facing up to 22 years in state prison. Bell was originally scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 20, but his conviction was recently thrown out in the Louisiana Appeals Court as it was decided he should not have been tried as an adult. Bell was released on bail on Sept. 27.

“I pray the judge will go easy on him,” Mychal Bell’s mother Melissa said in an interview with CNN.com.

After Bell’s conviction was overturned, five of the six alleged attackers, known widely as the “Jena 6,” are still awaiting trial and are free on bail.

Bell, however, was re-arrested on Oct. 11 because authorities ruled that the fight in question was a parole violation of an earlier offense. He was sentenced to 18 months in a juvenile correctional facility.

Protests of the treatment of the teens charged have been led by Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and the recording artist Mos Def

Ticket shortages anger young fans

andrewfiori staff reporter

Students who have tried to buy tickets to the upcoming Hannah Montana concert have been disappointed to find out that the concert is sold out. In fact, many people have run into this problem across the country. The Hannah Montana concert, scheduled for Dec. 3 at the Sprint Center, sold out just minutes after the tickets became available.

Junior Sarah Miller was very disappointed by the fact she didn’t get the tickets in time.

“I filled out the form at the website at 10 a.m. the morning the tickets came out and I still wasn’t able to get any,” Miller said. “The tickets for the few available seats now, if any, are more than $200 and I am not spending that kind of money, even though I think Hannah Montana is the idol of young culture.”

There were only 4,200 tickets given out to the general public, the rest being given to Montana’s fan club, Sprint employees, and Montana’s own friends and family.

“My daughter is in her fan club,” teacher Ange Sullivan said. “I was able to get the tickets in the presale the Tuesday before they came out. My daughter turned seven and it is part of her birthday present. She is ecstatic about going.”

The main blame for this

KC hopes for pro team in new arena

controversy seems to center on Ticketmaster.com, the website where one can buy tickets at the moment they come out and with there being a transaction limit of four tickets, where the tickets were snatched up quickly. Representatives of the Sprint Center said that it is the promoters and the artists who decide how many tickets will be available and how much they will cost. There are also lawsuits currently for some scalpers who tried to sell the tickets way over their face value of $26 to $56.

Sprint Center is now, however, allowing 1000 more tickets to come out on Oct. 20 at 10 a.m with a limit of two tickets per customer.

With the Billy Joel concert taking place on Dec. 6, right after Hannah Montana’s, Sprint Center representatives have held back up to 12,000 tickets in order to avoid further controversy. And, in order to avoid scalping in the future, purchasers will be required to appear at the box office on the concert date and present picture identification and the credit card they used to purchase the tickets.

Garth Brooks also made news when he decided to play nine concerts at the arena.

Chemistry teacher Manal Siam was surprised that she was able to find tickets to one of Brooks’ concerts.

“Me and my friend were able to get tickets,” Siam said.

ajbarbosa staff reporter

What once was an empty parking lot at the corner of 14th and Grand has transformed over two years into the cornerstone of downtown Kansas City redevelopment. The Sprint Center, an 18,500 seat arena, opened last Saturday with a performance from piano-rock legend Elton John.

City officials announced the Sprint Center in 2005 in hopes of bringing big sports and entertainment names to the city to go along with the revitalization of the downtown district. With the announcement of the arena came the proposal to build a large entertainment district adjacent to the arena. This district came to be known as the Power and Light District, with most funding coming from Kansas City Power and Light. The district is mapped to provide entertainment venues, luxury condos and a second-tonone shopping experience.

Because the Power and Light District is nowhere near completion, the Sprint Center has been in the headlines all throughout the year. Announcements of concerts have filled pages of the Kansas City Star for months, building further anticipation for the fall concert season.

Although only housing one permanent tenant, the Arena Football League’s Kansas City

Brigade, many hope for an NHL or NBA team to come to the arena.

All year, rumor had gone around about the potential migration of the Seattle Supersonics. This proposal was soon out with negotiations being made with Oklahoma City, and the NBA stating that a move to Oklahoma City would be more likely. Fans in Kansas City, however, won’t likely wait long to greet a new basketball team at the Sprint Center.

“Kansas City has naturally good fans,” sophomore Alex Doolittle said. “They’d support anything that comes here.”

The possibility of bringing

an NHL teamhas also been discussed within the city. In early 2007, Kansas City came close to bringing in the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are owned by NHL legend Mario Lemieux

The plan was short-lived however, as the city of Pittsburgh agreed to renovate their current arena in order for the team to stay. Speculation has also surrounded a possible move from the Nashville Predators to the arena. Kansas City is in a neck-and-neck race with Hamilton, Ontario, for the team, with ticket drives underway in both cities as well as efforts by fans to keep the team in Tennessee.

Debate team competes, donates to Africa

amandablue photographer

There is one thing the debate team can agree on—it is time for a change. AIDS and extreme poverty are taking over Africa and the debate team is not hesitating to do something about it.

“There’s a lot of horrific things we’ve found out through debate and research and we feel like we should do something about it,” debate coach Chris Riffer said.

For the first time, the squad is debating in order to raise money to donate to the Bread for the World Institute, a non-advocacy organization. The organization is the research branch of the ONE campaign. Anyone can pledge a certain amount of money per win or they can donate a flat amount. So far, the squad has earned more than $200.

The squad has been successful at several tournaments early in the season.

“We always set the goal every year to win a state title,” Riffer said. “I genuinely believe the squad can do that this year.”

At the recent Derby tournament on September 22, seniors Brian Israel and Andy Irwin finished 6-2 and got second place out of over 50 debaters. At Spring Hill, seniors Courtney Carlson and Justin Prelogar placed fourth while senior Kelly Lembke and sophomore Emily Li placed first. The team also received the overall sweepstakes award as well.

Previously, the team kicked off their year at Washburn Rural, where seniors Megan Ritter and Megan Adams placed eighth while seniors Andy Beye and Simon Yu, and juniors Taylor Nichols and Josh Dean placed fourth. The novice team was also successful with freshmen Daniel Willis and David Motsonashvili placing second. Willis was awarded eighth speaker and sophomore Howard

Grimberg was awarded second.

“I think we have the potential to be one of the deepest teams this year,” Riffer said. “Our top fourth-year’s to our lowest first-year’s are all really good.”

The team has two new sponsors as well, Blue Valley teachers Adam Wade and Jill Gouger. Each teacher has had plenty of experience with debate. Wade was coached by Riffer on the Blue Valley debate team all four years of high school. Gouger competed for three years on her debate team in high school as well.

“[Adam] Wade and [Jill] Gouger are the absolute best sponsors,” junior Emily Nichols said. “They actually know about debate.”

With a solid group of seniors, and a couple of new sponsors, the debate squad hopes to continue being successful and to earn over $1000 for the Bread for the World Institute.

Junior Taylor Nichols and senior Sean Elliott prepare for a debate tournament during a recent class.

Photo by Amanda Blue.

Nall construction brings traffic, controversy

coleowen staff

reporter

Construction on Nall Avenue for 16 blocks near Blue Valley has caused students and faculty frustration getting to and from school.

The project includes widening the road to four lanes of traffic, a raised median, concrete sidewalks on both sides of the road, an eight-foot bike trail and two new bridges. The construction should be done by July 2008.

City officials chose to complete work on Nall based on a number of factors.

“We have a fairly elaborate ranking system,” Project Manager Larry Blankenship said. “We rank streets on safety issues and amount of capacity the roads had. Nall, also, had a bunch of engineering problems like it being a narrow road, and it had ditches on the sides.”

Many students are concerned that widening the road during the school year isn’t worth it and that all it is doing is wasting time and money.

“It takes me an extra eight minutes to get to school,” sophomore Taylor Carlberg said.

On the other hand, some feel like the construction will be beneficial it in the long run.

“I think in the end the construction will be great,” junior Austin Wright said. “But right now, it’s a pain.”

Struggles to get in and out of

neighborhoods have forced students to find alternate routes.

“I think it’s a good idea that the road is getting widened even though I won’t be able to enjoy it later,” senior Courtney Crape said.

The project is expected to cost nearly $12 million. Johnson County has a program that is taking care of part of

the project while Overland Park and Leawood both contribute for other costs of the project .

Some students and faculty feel that this project could have used better planning. Students think that if they started the construction during the summer, then the construction would be done half way through the school

year rather than facing irritating traffic all year around.

“The summer is construction season,” Blankenship said. “We just wanted to minimize amount of miles of construction during the summer. Also, on the south mile of construction (151ST street to 159th street) has two bridges, and bridges tend to take longer.”

BV receives Standard of Excellence, 80 students earn AP Scholar recognition

torifreisner staff reporter

Eighty Blue Valley students have recently been recognized for their high performance on Advanced Placement Exams last spring. The group of AP Scholars was the largest in school history.

“Nobody likes taking tests. I don’t like taking tests,” senior AP Scholar Simon Yu said.

Blue Valley staff members are encouraged by these results.

“We’re very pleased that so many people are doing so well,” counselor Keith Elmore said.

There were three different types of AP Scholar Awards earned by BVHS students. The first is an AP Scholar, where a student earns a grade of three or higher on three or more exams. The second, AP Scholar with Honors, is awarded to those who earn a minimum grade of 3.25 of all AP exams taken and a three or higher on five of those exams. An AP Scholar with Distinction is a student who receives an average of 3.5 on all AP exams taken and a score of

three or higher on five of those exams. Seventeen Blue Valley students successfully completed the requirements for becoming an AP Scholar with Distinction.

“It was really kind of stressful at the time,” senior AP Scholar Nathan Kerkoff said.

“It was three tests in two weeks.”

Blue Valley encourages participation in these courses and last year experienced the highest enrollment in school history in AP courses.

“The number [of AP students] is expanding,” Elmore said. “Almost every school has AP Scholars.”

In addition to their achievements on the AP Exams, Blue Valley students also earned the Standard of Excellence on three state assessments taken last school year. Students earned this distinction for their high scores on the reading, writing and math exams.

The following Blue Valley students, both current and graduated seniors, have earned these honors:

AP Scholars:

Ava Azad

Jennifer Bernard

Anthony Britt

Travis Brockmeyer

Emily Brown

Rohini Chakravarthy

Christy Chau

Ryan Clark

Kelly Cosby

Joel Cox

Emily Crooks

Brent Curry

Jenna Dennis

Brian Dess

Sean Elliott

Tiffany Evans

William Gilliam

Ann Gorsuch

Nathan Hess

Joel Hill

Sarah Kelly

Nathan Kerkhoff

Andrew Keyser

Andrew Kuehler

Ryann Lucansky

Amanda Magee

Cameron McCallie

Michael McDonald

Lauren Meyer

Brandon Mikel

Ronald Morgan

Kelly Nichols

Karaline Nunnally

Lauren Penn

Alexandra Perel

Austin Quarles

Michael Rawitch

Nicholas Renaud

Megan Ritter

Hannah Rodlund

Ryan Siemers

Jefferey Smith

Andrea Strutz

Victoria Tiller

Alyssa Urso

Malissa Wolfe

AP Scholars with Honors:

Annette Ahlmann

Megan Adams

Elizabeth Baldwin

Kimberly Burczyk

Molly Hartz

Chelsea Irvine

Igor Kantor

Teresa Kellerman

Christopher Martin

Karen Melton

Mathew Mulligan

Caroline Nyman

Ashley Rasa

Hilary Schloemer

Kyle Skaggs

Sarah Stinson

Simon Yu

AP Scholars with Distinction:

Daniel Anderson

Lauren Friedlander

Jennifer Hansen

Tyler Kennon

Stefanie Krull

Kiley Laemmli

Taylor Laemmli

Xiao Liu

Meridith McKaig

Elizabeth Minoofar

Sarah Nelson

Alexander Nichols

Yu Qiu

Chelsea Paxson

Kelsey Sparrow

Marshall Stula

Ellen Thomas

Construction on Nall Avenue causes traffic backups for students heading to and from Blue Valley. The road is currently closed for 16 blocks from 143rd to 159th Streets. Photo by Amanda Blue.

raise your voice

editor-in-chief

sarah weaver

managing editor

brooke thurman

assistant editor/news

mitch smith

opinions editor

megan van sooy

sports editors

braden miller

sara ster

photo editor

nina humphrey

reporters

aj barbosa

kelly cosby

andrew fiori

ally francis

tori freisner

noopur goel

kylie hennagin

karen liebentritt

nathan lindshield

katie louis

cole owen

allison kohn lauren penn

steven reno

stephanie roche

drew rogers

emily strickland

kyra storm

jason wood

photographers

kelly aubuchon

gwen bergerhofer

amanda blue

tom roudebush

ashley stickler

advertising manager

sara ster

circulation manager

noopur goel

adviser

jill chittum

The Tiger Print is published nine times a year for 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 newspaper do not necessarily reflect the views of the administration of Blue Valley School District #229.

The Tiger Print encourages guest photography. Photos should be submitted to room 450 with information pertaining to the photo.

Front page photo: The annual bon fire was held on Oct. 10 to burn the mascot of Ottawa. Photo by Ashley Stickler.

Letters to the editor and reader responses are also encouraged. Letters must be signed in order to be considered for publication. The Tiger Print reserves the right to edit all submissions and encourages letter to be no more than 500 words. Letters should be submitted to room 450 or mailed to:

The Tiger Print c/o

Blue Valley High School

6001 W. 159th St. Stilwell, KS 66085 email: thetigerprint@yahoo.com

913-239-4800

i need a...hero

Celebrities and athletes seem to be getting into more trouble than usual these days. With everyone in rehab or jail who do students have to look up to? Being a role model means serving as an excellent example in a particular behavioral or social role for a person to emulate. Well, I sure hope no one behaves like the latest “it” girls or athletes because everyone would be shaving their heads or on roids.

Anyone who reads Us Weekly or People magazine knows the average night of a celebrity consists of dinner with some friends at the hottest restaurant of the moment and hitting the clubs without mention that they are under 21, where they decide to let loose. You know, have a couple (or more) drinks and dance their butts off. After that, the night gets a little blurry. What they do remember is waking up the next morning in a hospital with police in their room interrogating them. Apparently they crashed their car into a tree or something along those lines.

Sound like an exciting way to spend your night? Yeah, many people do not think so either.

The biggest problem with athletes is that they lead kids to believe they can do anything, but forget to mention that you may have to compromise your health in order to advance yourself in the game. Barry Bonds breaking

Hank Aaron’s record of 755 home runs should have been an exciting time but instead it was shrouded in steroid controversy. A national poll conducted by the University of Michigan says that approximately 3.5 percent of American high school students have used illegal anabolic steroids at least once by 12th-grade. That comes as a result of kids seeing pro athletes with muscles the size of watermelons.

Many athletes have been arrested for gun possession or taking part in some sort of illegal activity. Honestly, who is going to harm a 6-foot tall guy who weighs 275 pounds? If students get the impression that it is okay to carry a gun around, the number of “accidental” deaths will for sure go up.

It also disgusts me even to think about what Michael Vick did. Soon, everyone will begin to get the idea that it is acceptable to break the law because his or her punishment will only be a few years in jail. Vick could end up with anywhere from 12-36 months for his crime.

Which brings me to the next problem – celebrities. If you have not heard about all the celebs going in and out of rehab and jail, what rock have you been living under? Celebrities like Lindsey Lohan, Britney Spears and David Hasselhoff have been visiting rehab centers as if they were spas. Most parents do not want their daughters – or sons – to have drug problems. Lohan, who has just turned 21, has already been charged with DUI

twice. Not only is she sending a bad message to kids about drinking, she is also ruining her career. California Department of Alcohol and Drug programs said about three in every 10 Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some time in their life. Students should consider this fact before acting like the latest crazed celebs that are drinking too much.

Even though most people in the public eye act like idiots, I realize there are some good people in this messed-up world. Reese Witherspoon is an excellent role model for girls. You never hear about her driving drunk or even drinking for that matter. She is also a great role model for single moms. She works and still has time to take care of her children. In August of this year, she was named Avon’s first ever Global Ambassador. The Avon Foundation focuses on raising awareness about breast cancer, domestic violence, and emergency relief initiatives.

A great athlete to look up to is Peyton Manning. He is a family man who goes out and performs to the best of his ability every Sunday. Peyton received the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award in 2006. This is the only NFL award that recognizes off-the-field community service as well as excellent playing. So please, try to find a role model who you can look up to. It may be hard to find someone right away, but look closely – there is always at least one diamond in the rough.

en ehret, he’s large and in charge.

” r. riffer because he is a good debate coach ”

who is your idea of a good role model?

“

-senior cory hendrickson

c oach house. He knows stuff, and he’s funny.

“

-freshman david motsonashvili

m ”

“

-sophomore marissa welsh

o prah, she helps people and gives to charity.

“

-junior shane burton

b

myviews stephanie roche

photos by ashley stickler, survey compiled by karen liebentritt

with so many celebrities in the public eye choosing to make bad choices, how can teenagers find someone to look up to?

The Stridin’ Tigers perform during halftime of the Blue Valley Northwest game. Shown here are junior Danny Wood, sophomores Gavin Weir and Ryan Cauffield and freshman Skyler Trieu.

Middle schoolers raise mayhem at games

Why are middle schoolers sitting unsupervised at high school football games?

After sitting peacefully in my band uniform during this season’s home opener, I was shocked when a projectile struck me on the back of the head. When I looked back, a mob of short brats in rec football jerseys were giggling uncontrollably. Talk about a blow to your ego.

Exactly why would we allow this to happen? If middle school students genuinely wanted to support their future high school, that’s great. Thing is, they don’t. When these hormonal little monsters become bored after the second play of the game, problems arise. This situation quickly becomes dangerous for all parties involved, especially those sporting feathered hats, when the runts resort to chucking the remnants of their dinner However negligible it may sound, it just takes one person turning around at the wrong time for a stray pop bottle, lid or mini football to put an eye out.

Parental supervision is now required. These kids are still at an age where watching Spongebob reruns is still a favorite pastime and Hannah Nevada (or some other Western state) tickets are prized possessions. Considering this,

U.S. voter turnout shrinks with each passing election

myviews drew rogers

the polls like a slow drip of water from a faucet?

parental supervision at high school athletic events is a necessity. While I can’t imagine too many eighth graders getting excited about a night on the town with Mom, it is just this sort of hardnosed stance that is needed to stop these runts in their tracks. How many assaults would take place when sitting next to Mommy? I wouldn’t think too many.

Sit down, shut up or go home. When the little terrors aren’t too preoccupied with hurling dinner scraps at the marching band, other destructive activities seem prevalent amongst the middle school crowd. Reloading on edible ammo while clogging the concession lines and playing tag behind the bleachers seem to provide alternatives to the dreaded concept of actually watching the game. Seriously, it’s a football game and not a school dance.

We need to do our part. Perhaps ignorance is a valid excuse for some of these immature brats. What we need to do is have a group of upperclassmen and a security officer go to each school and explain exactly what the expectations are when visiting our school. Some of the actions that are unacceptable here may be commonplace in the terror zones that are Blue Valley and Prairie Star Middle. If this fails, we have great reason to be concerned about the next generation of Blue Valley High students.

Americans may be the leaders of the free world, but only about 50 percent of our population votes in presidential elections, as opposed to the 78 percent in Germany and 80 percent in France, according to the international institute for democracy and electoral assistance. If we look at mid-term elections and local elections, those numbers fall even further. If these numbers are embarrassing to adults, then teenage voter participation should have teens hiding in a closet.

Political participation has been a problem in the United States for some time. However, it has not always been like this. Teens especially used to vote with gusto when political issues dominated their lives.

Nowadays, teens act as though political issues don’t affect them at all. In fact, the national average voter turnout for eligible voters between 18 and 29 was a drastically low 25 percent in the 2006 mid-term election.

“What you have to do is realize that you are a part of the process,” social studies teacher Greg House said. “Being a spectator is watching debates and reading, but being a participant is voting, casting that ballot.”

In Kansas, the teen voter turnout is even lower than that of the national average. A whopping 20 percent of Kansas teens voted in the mid-term election, a full 5 percent lower than the national average, which at 25 percent, was an embarrassing amount in itself.

Why do Kansas teens show up to

“I think people in general are politically apathetic and ill-informed about public policy and elected officials,” senior Ashley Rasa said.

Rasa said she plans on voting in the next election, her first.

This year’s election will be Nov. 6. There will be 96 seniors that will be able to vote by the election date. We need to do our civic duty and cast our views along with our ballot. The youth of America is becoming a faction that is largely ignored in politics. If we want to be heard on Capitol Hill, we need to start by being a part of the elections that decide who is in Washington. That starts with local elections and school board decisions. Beyond that, the 2008 election has already begun, with campaigns spending millions already. It is time for everyone, especially seniors and also juniors to become educated in the issues and candidates so we can make our views heard and gain recognition in Washington.

If we as a demographic want to be heard, we must start by voting and earning our voice.

presidentalelection 2008democratic republican

Record-breaking number of National Merit Scholars deserve to be congratulated

Blue Valley is home to 15 National Merit Scholars, ranking among the top five percent in the nation of those who took the PSAT last year.

So why is it that adults continually have the misconception that most high school students are unmotivated slackers? The hours of studying through the years have paid off for these individuals on their PSAT exam last year. Heartfelt congratulations and thanks from all of us are due to these individuals who have taken the academic initiative to disprove this unfair stereotype.

Walking the halls of Blue Valley there are 15 students who are recognized as National Merit Scholars: nine semifinalists and six commended scholars.

So what does it mean, exactly, to be a National Merit Scholar? When every high school student is a junior they take the PSAT in October. The students who score in the top one percent of all scores in

the state are recognized as semi-finalists, and those who score in the top five percent in the nation are recognized as commended scholars.

This year, the class of 2008 broke the school record with 15 total National Merit Scholars.

Not only does being a National Merit Scholar look good on a résumé, it also reflects well on the school. BV will be looked at differently (in a great way) because we have such intelligent students that score high on standardized tests.

We should be proud of these students, their hard work over many years has paid off, and has given our school a great image.

Maybe this trend of record-breaking numbers of National Merit Scholars will continue, and there will be even more National Merit Scholars in the years to come.

So isn’t it a little ironic how adults think of us

teenagers? Why do so many adults have such a negative opinion of teenagers when there are plenty of intelligent, well-rounded ones?

If some adults knew what kind of challenges teenagers were able to overcome, maybe their idea of teenagers in general would be completely altered. It would only take a handful of teenagers to change adults’ minds.

Our generation greatly appreciates students who step up to the challenge and prove that teens aren’t just a bunch of slackers. Although it is easy to slack off, these students have chosen to be responsible and strive for success.

These students could be future leaders and will undoubtedly go on to do great things.

So thank you, National Merit Scholars, from all of us. With your success, adults really have no reason to roll their eyes when they see a group of teenagers.

myviews mitch smith

Photo by Tom Roudebush.

Junior travels to Honduras to help build town’s church

emilystrickland staff reporter

Parents are always telling their kids to reach out to others and help them when they’re in need. Junior Tori Litardo took this lesson to heart.

Last July, Litardo traveled to Honduras with the Church of the Resurrection. She helped nish construction on a local church and ran a vacation bible school for kids.

“When I rst heard about it last year, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go,” Litardo said. “But I’m so glad I did. I loved every single second of it and it was the best experience I’ve ever had.”

Litardo traveled to Ciudad España, a town about 45 minutes outside the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. Ciudad España was built in 2000 for the victims of Hurricane Mitch, which killed almost 10,000 people and left about 1 million homeless in 1998. Ciudad España was built the by Red Cross of Spain for all the families who were displaced by Mitch. Church of the Resurrection joined with the United Methodist Mission Church of Honduras to construct the city’s rst church.

“This whole experience was humbling more than anything,” Litardo said. “It made me realize how grateful I should be for everything I have. The rst day with the kids, we didn’t really have anything to play with, just a couple of soccer balls, but they were still the happiest kids in the world.”

Living in southern Johnson County, Litardo sometimes gets caught up in the materialistic life. Some of these things may seem like a big deal to teenagers but not to the kids in Honduras.

“Sometimes I nd myself frustrated with a lot of things, like how I’m one of the only juniors who doesn’t have a car,” Litardo said. “It gets really annoying to still be waiting for my mom with the freshmen. But then I stop and think about everything from the trip. Compared to everything else going on in the world, my problems seem so unimportant.”

Litardo spent hours and hours with the kids every day she was there, playing games with them and teaching them stories in the Bible.

“I felt like not only was I helping physically by building the church, I was also helping them mentally and emotionally,” Litardo said. “I bonded with so many new people, especially the kids, and I feel like I can really make a di erence. I really, really miss everyone.”

It doesn’t look like this will be the last mission trip Litardo will go on, either. Her church is already planning a return trip to Ciudad España next summer. In 2009, there might be a trip to Malawi, Africa, in the works.

“My dad’s been to Africa a couple of times for work and he brought back pictures and stu ,” Litardo said. “Hearing about Africa and how amazing it was inspired me to go. I love experiencing new cultures. I’d really love to be able to go.”

Back in Kansas City, Litardo plans on doing more work. She’s interested in working in soup kitchens because it is a good opportunity to really connect with the people she’s helping.

“Mission work is great anywhere in the world, locally or internationally,” she said. “I really enjoy doing mission work and bonding with everyone in need.

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I feel like I’m really giving back to the world.”

Litardo is hoping to inspire others to reach out. She said helping others makes a huge impact in the lives of those in need, even if it doesn’t seem like it.

“I think everyone should go on a mis-

sion trip,” Litardo said. “Helping anyone in need is a great feeling. You’re not just helping others; you’re helping yourself and making yourself a better person. As humans, we were created to serve others who are in need, not just serve ourselves.”

On a mission trip junior Tori Litardo spent most of her time with Evangelia (left) and Linda (right) while helping out with their vacation bible school. Photo submitted by Tori Litardo.

Dating Violence

Teen dating violence is not something most teenagers think about; however, it’s a subject frequently talked about in magazines and on the news.

On Aug. 31, De Soto teen Griselda Del Real saw her boyfriend, Johnny Landa, with another girl in a De Soto parking lot. The Kansas City Star reported that when she walked up to his window, he began backing up. She stepped up on the running boards and held onto the driver’s side window.

According to Landa, he stopped three times and tried to get her off. A witness told authorities he heard the sound of screeching tires and a thump outside his home. When he looked outside,

he saw a woman lying in the street, but no vehicle. Landa has been charged with seconddegree murder for the death of Del Real.

Once a hidden problem, teen dating violence is receiving some serious attention. More teens seem to be affected by it lately. A 2005 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that of 6,888 high school girls surveyed nationally, 1 in 11 had been

hit, slapped or punched by a boyfriend. Although physical abuse is the most commonly known type of abuse, it is not the most prevalent.

According to a Harvard survey of

and is affected in the same ways,” Basinger said. “Everyone knows how they feel when something really terrible is happening to them. They have a hard time sleeping, eating,

simple.

“It’s really important to stay friends with a victim and not just get frustrated and back out on her,” Basinger said. “Unless you have been in her exact situation you don’t know what it is like.

Be a friend and listen because you might be the only person she is choosing to talk to.”

4,163 public high school girls in 2001, nearly one in five reported experiencing emotional abuse in a relationship.

“Dating violence isn’t any more common now than it was years ago,” said Allison Basinger, Education and Prevention Coordinator of SAFEHOME Inc. ”I think people are just becoming more aware of the issue because people are really out there talking about it.” No one knows what causes such behavior. Some theories state that boys may have examples of violence in their home; even the smallest influence can make the biggest impact. Violence in movies, video games and on the Internet can tell teenagers that violence isn’t a big deal. Teenage relationships are affected by the media’s influence.

“A healthy relationship is all about equality and respect. Unhealthy relationships are all about power and control,” Basinger said. “I know teenagers don’t want to hear it, but the majority of TV shows portray relationships with an imbalance of power. Watch some MTV reality shows while questioning relationship roles – you’ll know exactly what I mean.”

No matter what causes it, dating violence is becoming a major adolescent health issue. It affects victims’ academic lives, lowers their standards for future relationships and can completely destroy their selfconfidence.

“A victim usually experiences the same kinds of feelings

and concentrating on school, work and family. It’s the same with dating violence – a victim’s whole world is altered.”

However, dating violence is more than just arguing and fighting. All relationships have good and bad times, and part of what makes dating violence so confusing and painful is that there is love and affection mixed with the abuse. This can make it hard for victims to understand when they’re being abused.

“Every single person has an instinctual feeling that ‘talks’ to them: their conscience,”Basinger said. “That is the first place to know if you are in an unhealthy or dating violence situation. If you get an uneasy feeling each time you’re around him, even if you can’t exactly define it, then it’s time to break it off. Your body is sensing danger and it is essential you listen to it.”

It takes a long time for victims to realize how unhealthy their relationship actually is. Many victims believe that they alone are responsible for solving the problems in their relationship and that no one can help them.

“It’s embarrassing for victims to admit that they are in an unhealthy relationship,” Basinger said. “Plus, they have no idea who to tell.”

Most teens don’t want to talk to their parents about it and their friends might not be able provide all the help they need. Victims are often afraid to say anything because most of the time the only advice they’ll get is just to leave him. It’s not that

Basinger said that teens should know that there is always help available, whether it’s from a website, hot line, trusted adult or counselor.

“Tell someone, tell someone, tell someone!” Basinger said. “If you know there is something not right about your relationships or a friend’s relationship, talk to someone about it. Tell someone you can really trust, not the gossip queen who doesn’t care about anyone’s health but just wants the latest dish.” After escaping abusive relationships, the trauma can linger for an extensive period of time. Each victim has her own timeline. Some people get out of a bad relationship, deal with those issues and move on to a healthy relationship, while other victims just find themselves back to where they started, either with the same person or another abusive person.

“I’ve always thought this was a good rule of thumb – the amount of time you were with someone is the amount of time you should give yourself to work through the issues of being with that person,” Basinger said. “I would be very skeptical of someone who starts dating just a few weeks later.”

Teenagers want to be accepted, but it’s more important that teenagers accept themselves and take care of themselves. Everyone deserves a healthy relationship.

“Healthy relationships now build healthy relationships later,” Basinger said. “It’s important to get on the right track now.”

“ p ” art of what makes dating violence so confusing and painful is that there is love and affection mixed with the abuse.

emilystrickland staff reporter you’reugly I don’t even like you I didn’t mean it

It’s your fault I’m mean to youI’msorry,butyoumademe

BV has record breaking number of National Merit Semi-Finalists

get too stressed out,” senior Nate Hess said. “It’s really not worth it!”

This year, Blue Valley had a record number of nine semifinalists National Merit Scholars. These seniors had to take the PSAT in their sophomore or junior year and received a score in the top 1 percent of the entire state of Kansas. The nine BVHS semi-finalists were some of the highest scoring entrants in the state.

“I was surprised that I became a semi finalist,” senior Jenn Hansen said. “My sister was in it, so my parents had high expectations for me, but I wasn’t so sure because of my Pre-PSAT test score as a sophomore.”

As a Semifinalist named in the fall of 2007, these students have to advance to Finalist standing before they can be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, which will be offered in 2008. They must meet all specified requirements and deadlines which include: continuing to meet all program entry requirements, be enrolled full time in their last year of high school, be planning to attend

Hilary enjoys singing, playing the piano and reading.

Elizabeth is in Student Council, NHS, NSHS, Kay club, cross country, soccer Tiger Mentor and debate.

Vikki loves reading her favorite book “You don’t know me” by David Glass. Simon plays rec basketball for the “Big Nuggets”, and rec baseball for “Sus Padres.”

college, have a consistent high academic performance in all four years of high school and take the current SAT, which will

Mellisa enjoys singing, reading, hanging with friends and knitting. Jenn loves stargazing, tie dye and playing rec basketball for the “Big Nuggets.”

prove that your PSAT score was not a fluke.

While continuing to maintain high grades throughout high

BV welcomes junior Katrina victim

nathanlindshield staff reporter

It killed 1,695 people, displaced 770,000, and accounted for more than $96 billion in damages. Despite recovery efforts that the city of New Orleans is still going through nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina, many residents are growing angry with the lack of progress made and the lack of funding for restoration of the city.

Major coastal cities such as New Orleans are still in the process of restoring communities and neighborhoods flooded and ripped apart by the wrath of Katrina.

One BVHS student gives her firsthand knowledge of what it was like to be living in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina.

“When my father told me that a category five hurricane was on its way, I was stunned and concerned about what would lay ahead for my family and I,” junior Maxine de Wolf said. “We were living in a suburb just outside of New Orleans called Mandeville at the time. Before the hurricane hit, we had to make preparations to temporarily move to Texas for a couple of days until the hurricane passed.”

Fortunately for de Wolf and her family, their home sustained minimal

damage with the exception of some shingles blown off by the high winds. Most of their belongings made it through the hurricane safely.

Louisiana had been home to home to de Wolf for most of her life where her father worked with an oil company. After the hurricane hit, much of the equipment and machinery that the company used was damaged. Her father had no choice but to relocate with his family to Kansas City in June.

“In many ways Mandeville is very much like Kansas City because both cities have that same small town feel to them,” de Wolf said. “The only difference is that I now have to make the adjustment of going to a new school and finding new friends to fit in with.”

Although many residents of New Orleans decided to stay and try and rehabilitate their lives, other former residents of the city decided it would be best to start a new beginning somewhere else. For de Wolf and her family, they have been occupied adjusting to life in Kansas City.

“If I were to take one lesson out of what my family and I had to go through, it would be to not always think that something negative won’t happen to you,” she said. “Always be prepared for the hurdles that life has.”

Kelsey enjoys horseback riding, writing and drinking Gadorade. Philip is in band, jazz band, NHS, NSHS and Categories.

These nine students insist that they are still normal, even if they are ranked as some of the highest scorers on the PSAT.

Many students are striving to achieve the same success as these nine seniors.

Nate enjoys playing football and listening to music.

school, these students maintain a healthy attitude towards school.

“Enjoy your four years and don’t

“Students hoping to become National Merit Scholars should know that it is based on the PSAT test itself,” counselor Tom Hult said. “Students should take challenging courses and understand the concepts taught in these classes so that they can be prepared for the test. Students should also have a good understanding of the test by having an idea of the time they will have, the questions on the test and their own expectations. To be better prepared, students may also take the Pre-PSAT test as a sophomore.”

Seniors Kelly Cosby, Emily Crooks, Bunmi Morohunfola, Ashley Rasa and Ryan Siemers ranked top five percent on the PSAT and receive National Merit Commendation.

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allyfrancis staff reporter Semi-Finalists

Fall fashion made easy

Ask another student in the Blue Valley district what they think of when they visualize a typical Blue Valley student, and an image of a crusty, wrinkled, camoclad, Deer-hunting, Podunk kid is what you’ll hear. Okay, so maybe this is harsh; maybe we even like this image. But being fashionable is not that hard. (If the likes of Jessica Simpson and Paris Hilton can put themselves together, anyone with an IQ of 80 can). The key to dressing well is learning how to transition a look from a magazine or runway into real life.

Predictably, the developing trend on fall runways this year was “prepster”. But don’t worry, just because you don’t spend your free time at the country club or within the ivy leagues doesn’t mean you can’t participate.

Ladies, argyle sweaters, tweedy fabrics, and hints of plaid such as houndstooth

Runway toReal way

What BV Thinks about Fashion

“I usually never dress up on Fridays. I just do spirit wear because we usually always have a game.”

-junior Lauren Taulbee

Why The U of A?

Getting dressed doesn’t have to be rocket science

mini skirts and scarves are great ways to incorporate the current trend into your closet without looking Scottish. As seen at Marc Jacobs and Yves Saint Laurent, patent leathers are also returning this year on shoes, bags, and statement belts.

“The one item I want most for fall are patent leather shoes” Social Studies teacher Courtney Bu ngton said. When choosing silhouettes, lean towards bubble shapes on top; when it comes to jeans, the “skinny” is still in, but the most of the moment style is the wide leg. High-waisted styles should be reserved for only the most daring, as they are un- attering on most body shapes. Keep denim dark; it slims. Save your lighter jeans for warmer months.

Minimalist colors and practical lines suit guys best this fall, and the return of 1960’s and 1970’s inspired looks will soon be present at a retail store near you. Au-

“I actually do care what I wear. I usually shop at Abercrombie because it’s comfortable and ts me better… and the ladies love it (it’s science).”

-senior Brock Brown

tumn means layering, and a great way to pull o this look is with di erent combinations of polos, blazers in moleskin, corduroy, or tweed, and hoodies. However, make sure the jacket’s pattern is minimal if paired with a sporty print underneath. For a more athletic look, layer a long sleeved t-shirt under a short sleeved one of a di erent color or style. Many of these combinations look great with khakis or at front pants. The most popular style of jeans for men is the ever-popular boot cut, a style that atters nearly everyone. When shopping for jeans, or any other item, keep t among one of your top criteria. It doesn’t matter how trendy or well priced the item is if it doesn’t look good on you. Keeping within a neutral color family extends versatility to your wardrobe; that means picking out what to wear is close to foolproof.

Of course, these rules are only guide-

“I usually go for things that are on sale and unique.”

-sophomore Grace Becker

“I think if people can’t accept you in sweats, then they don’t deserve you dressed up!”

-junior

Mikayla Dreyer

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• Non-Resident Tuition Award for qualifying students

• Honors College and global study abroad opportunities

“I’ve felt at home at the U of A since my first visit. Everyone knows each other. No matter where you go, there’s always someone to talk to.”

lines, and it’s much more exciting to twist them into your own original style. So give mom a break, and start picking

“[I bought] cute bolero jackets and peep toe pumps. This season is all about wearing a pop of color. My rule of thumb is if Mrs. O’Bryan is wearing it, I’m not wearing it!”

-social studies teacher

laurenpennstaff reporter

Courtney Bu ngton Kristen Ellison rocks the plaid.

Photo by Kelly Aubuchon.

- Chanta Givens , Senior Accounting Major, Little Rock AR

ADD distances students from peers

ninahumphreyphoto editor

More than 2.5 million children nationwide are labeled as having ADD. People with attention deficit have several symptoms; both the inattentive and the hyperactive type are diagnosed as a “combined type” called ADHD. Sophomore Chelsea Schumacher found out in the seventh grade that she had ADHD.

“It runs in my family,” Schumacher said. “I was tested mostly because of my bad grades and also because my brother has ADHD. He used to be on medication for it, but he’s grown now and has a family.”

People with ADHD have symptoms of hyperactivity, but ADD does not. The terms have gained so much momentum these days because technology has, in a sense, evolved children’s brains to process information visually and in a rapid pace. This may be why many struggle in school and are tested for ADD.

Sitting still is a challenge for Schumacher because she feels the need to always be doing something.

“I am impulsive,” she said. “If I have something on my mind, I must do that; I can’t let it go. When something needs to be done. I really can’t ignore it or put it off.”

Activity is the key; it gives Schumacher a sense of more

control over her ADHD instead of it controlling her.

“When I was put on medication my social life was really affected,” Shumacher said. “It made me quiet and shy to everyone and my personality is not like that at all, I’m very outgoing.”

It’s not uncommon for people to notice a slight personality change when someone is taking medication. For some, it is worth the ability to focus in school, but for Schumacher it was not worth losing friends over.

“I stopped taking medication last year. I only use it when I have a test because that’s when it helps me. It doesn’t help with anything outside of school.”

It is still a struggle for Schumacher to make good grades, and if she doesn’t, she is faced with consequences.

“My mom used to be more understanding with my grades,” she said. “Since I have wanted to stop taking the medication she disagrees with me and still wants me to take it.”

Schumacher has teachers at BV to help her.

Teacher Jocelyn Rabbitt and Lisa Eastwood are mentors to Schumacher and other students. They specialize in helping students by checking their grades, keeping organization and any additional academic help.

“Most of them become diagnosed

because they were forming a deficit in a curriculum area,” Rabbitt said.

Rabbitt helps students overcome their learning disabilities by encouraging them to get work done and teaching them ways to study more according to their learning styles.

“My job is to teach the general education teachers about these kids, so that they won’t punish them for not turning in an assignment or not excelling in a class,” Rabbitt said.

ADD children are very observant and extremely sensitive; however, they may sometimes sit and stare into space for a very long time and often cannot complete simple arithmetic.

“It’s not something that these kids can control — they don’t want this,” Rabbitt said. “So I help them deal with it using different coping mechanisms.”

Being impulsive, distracted and hyper are the three basic symptoms.

“There are two extremes to the controversy. Some think that you should naturally learn how to manage these issues, change your attitude and learn to better organize your life. The other extreme truly recognizes some signs as the need to be looked into for additional help,” counselor Keith Elmore said.

“The medication is hit or miss and having the dosage correct is important,” said Rabbit.

Adderall is prescribed to a quarter of the 2 million children taking drugs for ADD/ADHD according to the Christian Science Monitor. The numbers of children, even preschoolers, have increased dramatically, up to 20 percent, in the past 10 years. Helpful for some, Adderall helps students focus but can cause negative side effects. Photo by Nina

Brick-by-Brick artist incorporates global view in design

katielewis staff reporter

The office aide handed junior Alyssa Huff a pass as she sat in her second hour class. “Come to Mr. Bacon’s office now,” it read.

Unwillingly, she made her way through the school to his office. All the possible reasons that she would be called to the principal’s office were running through her head. The first person she saw is art teacher Cheryl Mattke waving happily through the window.

Huff is the chosen artist to paint the Brickby-Brick mural this year. She missed this news, which was on the morning announcements and didn’t find out until after she arrived in principal Scott Bacon’s office.

“I was really nervous,” Huff said. “I saw Mrs. Mattke and then they started asking me all these questions about my design for Brick-byBrick.”

Huff put it together and when she finally found out she was surprised and excited.

Huff’s design was up against other students’ designs. Her winning design includes a tiger with a globe in its paws, and the word “tiger” written in different languages surrounding the mural.

“I just wanted to create something positive for our school that other people could enjoy too,” Huff said.

But her design stands for more than that.

“I thought that in high school we represent a small community and a goal we could have is to affect a larger community and to help people everywhere,” she said, “which is why I have the globe and other languages in the design.”

Huff paints every fifth hour, which is now her favorite class of the day. The rewarding commitment is quite a workload, and Huff will have to be on top of it all of first semester to complete the mural.

“It’s a lot of work,” she said. “But it’s really enjoyable, and I love it.”

Sitting out in a main hallway during lunches can have its disadvantages, Huff said.

“It is distracting when people walk by and you hear them talking about things positively or negatively,” she said. “Negative comments are even more annoying because I think it’s hard for them to comment on something that’s not finished yet.”

After graduating and making her mark on Blue Valley, she’s not sure if she wants to continue with her art.

Humphrey.

This year’s Brick-by-Brick is designed and painted by junior A;yssa Huff. The design features a tiger holding a globe. The globe symbolizes how our BV community should reach out to others outside of our small community. Huff believes it is important for our school to affect a larger community, and she wanted her design to reflect that. Also to add to the cultural feel, Huff decided to paint the word “tiger” in various languages around the whole design. Photo by Nina Humphrey.

amandablue photographer

Now I’m dreamin’/ well I’ve got stars in my eyes/ now I’m dreamin’/ I’m gonna dream of her tonight.” For BV junior Brendan McReynolds, BV North senior Sam Mendel and BV West sophomore Evan Bell, it seems as if their dreamin’ has paid off. These three high school boys compose one of the biggest bands in local music, Rockesh.

“A Price Chopper bulletin board and a breakup Sunday,” junior Brendan McReynolds said of how they got started.

McReynolds is the band’s front man, playing guitar and singing lead vocals. He and drummer Evan Bell first started playing together in My Inner Frampton in August 2005. They played in local coffee shops and “anywhere we could find someone to let us do it,” McReynolds said. In May 2006, the duo met bassist Sam Mendel, who joined the band later that summer.

On Sept. 30, 2006, only one month after playing together as a trio, the band traveled to Lawrence to compete against 49 other bands in the Exposure Showcase at the Granada. It was the first show that they had played together as a band, and they won.

“We walked away with money and people knowing who we were,” McReynolds said. “That day in Lawrence will always go down as the most wild day of music for me.”

Since then, Rockesh has played with major bands such

Star Watch

stardom, fame

as Josephine Collective (Warner Brothers), Band Camp (Atlantic Records), and Quietdrive (Epic Records). This past summer, their first album was released on iTunes. McReynolds says some of the highlights of being in such a successful band include getting the opportunity to travel and meeting all the people they’ve met. But most of all, McReynolds said, the highlight is finding out they have a shot.

When it comes down to the music, McReynolds describes their sound as late-60s pop music mixed with modern pop music with a psychedelic spin.

“Straight up pop music has no surprises,” McReynolds said. “We always try to find that one angle we haven’t possibly covered yet and we want to take you there.”

Some of the band’s influences include The Who, The Killers, Cream, The Beatles, and any project that Jack White has ever played in. Their style has somewhat changed since their first album, which was released in Spring 2007.

“All of our new stuff is a blend of simplistic, good songs that are done in a modern way,” McReynolds said. “You can’t deny that kind of weight in a recording.”

Although fame has its plus sides, it has its setbacks as well.

“It’s affected [relationships] in the absolute worst ways possible,” McReynolds said. “The ultimate job description for the music industry should be: Your family’s gonna hate you and

your friends are gonna leave you, but at the end of the day, you’ll always have that platinum record to keep you company.”

As for the future of the band, they plan on taking the world by storm.

“I want [the band] to go as far as it possibly can,” McReynolds said. “We are three people that enjoy being with each other and are closer than brothers. We’d really love to make it. That’s why we’re trying so hard.”

Junior Brendan McReynolds practices on his electric guitar. McReynolds, guitarist and lead singer, is one of the cofounders of Rockesh. Photo by Amanda Blue.

BVN senior Sam Mendel and BV W sophomore Evan Bell have a jam session at one of the band’s bi-weekly practices. Photo by Amanda Blue.

Local high school students strive for

Band members from left to right are BVN senior Sam Mendel, BV junior Brenden McReynolds and BVW sophomore Evan Bell. Photo submitted by Rockesh.

TC-sections. If you thought Addison’s new life in laid-back, sunny southern California would be a relaxing one, you thought wrong.

like a cheap imitation of the phenomenon that is personalities, a bright new setting and a new love interest or two and that’s about it. All of these were doubts and prejudices I had coming into this show and yet I found it interesting and strangely captivating.

the medical cases on these types of shows usually don’t happen in reality. Perhaps though, this is why it is so fascinating. I mean, have you ever heard of a man who has a stroke while he is donating sperm?

decides she still wants the sperm, even though it is from his cold, dead body? This poses a problem when his wife

Grey’s spino follows ex-Seattle Grace doctor,

compare to the old McHotties but there are a few possibilities.

She questions the “crazy voodoo doctor” Pete and his Indian-like natural remedies, but nds him intriguing enough to share a steamy kiss.

Next is Cooper, the sweet pediatrician, who is addicted to Internet dating and, we’ll say, irting.

Combinations CD mixes catchy lyrics, love inspired songs

torifreisner staff reporter

On Eisley’s 2005 debut, “Room Noise”, those prodigious DuPree’s spun lush tales of losing someone you love and watching those around you grow up. The Texas quintet is back with this year’s “Combinations.”

they surprise you yet again.

All medical complications aside, there is a necessary subject to be discussed... There is an exciting new dating pool for Addison as she leaves her frantic, action-packed life at Seattle Grace to join a small family of specialists at Oceanside Wellness Center. In my opinion, none of the new doctors in her life

Last is Dell, the surfer boy with dreams of “midwi ery”. He’s the only one of the boys I am completely turned o by. All of the women in the o ce nd him Abercrombie-model worthy but I’m just not seeing it. I don’t have the slightest idea why those intelligent, successful women would ever nd that pre-pubescent boy attractive. He’s a nurse-wannabe with a tiny trashstash!

Bad facial hair and all, I haven’t completely given up on Private Practice. Maybe it’s my undying devotion for Grey’s Anatomy but I’m going to grant this new series a second, and possibly third chance. It boasts the same witty dialogue and dynamic characters that Grey’s has because the two shows share some of the same writers. Of course this new series can’t meet the same expectations we have for the best hospital drama ever made, but given time, I think it can make its own splash in the ABC lineup.

The opening song, “Many Funerals”, Eisley rips into you with distorted guitar lyrics about sailing away and leaving those you love. “Many Funerals” reveals a darker side of Eisley that can be traced back to their earliest EP’s, and displays some of the best lyrics on the album. Not to mention they manage to break your heart in less than three minutes. The title track “Combinations” is a somewhat cheesy (but adorable) love song. “Invasion,” the rst single, inspired by the book, “Invasions of the Body Snatchers,” packs a punch with a catchy chorus: “You, you would take the breath from my throat/And you, you would take the cherished people that I hold.” They may not be body-stealing aliens, but Eisley’s charm and heart-stopping melodies will take your breath away.

the other

Halo 3

Third game in fantasy series releases, fans swarm stores

The sweat dripped down sophomore Alex Hiesberger’s face as he waited in front of a GameStop store in Town Center for his copy of Halo 3 at 11:30 p.m.

“I’m so anxious,” Hiesberger said. “It feels like I’m about to lose my virginity.”

It was a long night for Hiesberger and his friends; they had been the first to arrive in line, but were sent to the back of the line to make room for older gamers who had participated in a Halo 2 tournament. They had been harassed by several security guards for allegedly making obscene gestures, put up with the annoying high pitched squeals of 12-year-old geeks, and held their own pee for four hours. But at the stroke of midnight, it all became worth it.

Thousands of people, including many Blue Valley students stayed up late on Sept. 24 for the chance to be the first to play arguably the most anticipated game of all time. Set several centuries in the future, Halo 3 chronicles the final installment of the three-part story of super-soldier Master Chief’s crusade to save humanity from extinction.

The trilogy brought many firsts to the game industry, including the largest console online multiplayer mode with Halo 2. The multiplayer mode still holds records for being the most played online game in the world. Even from its release to the day before Halo 3’s debut, people still played it religiously.

“It has the best online multiplayer mode of all time,” sophomore Andy Bell said. “It’s also the best game to harass people on because a lot of them take it so seriously.”

Even with the outstanding popularity numbers, Halo 2 received a lot of criticism for its meager portrayal of the storyline, one of the crown jewels of the series. This put unmeasureable amounts of pressure on developers, because this was their last chance to make up for their mistakes, and end the trilogy with a bang.

The teasing began in May 2007 when Bungie conducted a public beta testing of Halo 3 available to

all Xbox 360 users that purchased Microsoft’s Crackdown. The beta introduced three new multiplayer maps; “Snowbound”, a snow covered military base, “High-ground”, a sloped map with a large wall running through the center of the map, providing an offensive and defensive approach, and “Valhalla”, a grass-covered river valley with two bases at each side, drawn with the inspiration of Halo: Combat Evolved’s “Blood Gulch” and Halo 2’s “Coagulation”. The beta introduced the three new weapons to be included in Halo 3 including the new re-vamped version of the Assault Rifle, the Master Chief’s weapon of choice in Halo: Combat Evolved, the new Spartan Laser, a shoulder mounted gun that shoots an penetrating laser straight through the skulls of opponents, and the Brute Spike, a gun resembling the Needler that shoots out 40 spikes per clip, each inflicting major damage. Also to be included in the game are several new available vehicles in both the campaign and online mode. The Mongoose, a Halo equivalent of a four-wheeler, provides faster speed than the previous Warthog and Ghost, but leaves players extremely vulnerable to snipers and battle rifles, and the Elephant, an enormous mobile base that can house up to seven vehicles at a time, and houses several turrets for gunning down opponents.

While most students were well into their night’s sleep on that Tuesday night, some students had already put in that sacred disc and were indulging in the game they had waited so long for. It also wasn’t too odd to hear of people skipping school the following day to stay at home and play the game.

“I woke up pretty early, ate some breakfast, and just played all day,” a junior who chose to remain anonymous said. “It was pretty liberating.”

When most people would have gotten angry and disorderly, Hiesberger and his friends sustained the harassment from security guards, tuned out the pre-teen geeks discussing their World of Warcraft accounts, and binge drank cans of Mountain Dew on a school night, all for a plastic case with a disc inside of it. All across the country, in early hours of the morning, people grasped their controllers for the first time, and prepared to experience the greatest Xbox game of all time.

Review: New features inhance gaming experience, capitalize on previous game

If you wasted $600 on a Playstation 3,

Xbox Dashboard makes setting up game parties a whole lot easier. Also, when in online matchmaking, you have the opportunity to veto a game type if the host chooses a map or weapon sequence that is undesirable. The majority of the players have to veto along with you, causing the host to be forced to make a change in either the map or the game type, or you’re going to be stuck along for a boring 10-minute game.

One of Bungie’s most proud additions to the trilogy also packs a punch in the multiplayer game mode. The “Forge” mode gives each player the opportunity to spawn weapons, vehicles, grenades, or any other useful tools for themselves at the touch of a button; but there’s a catch. Each weapon has a credit value,

and each player is given a balance of credits to use per match, so you can’t go spawning unlimited amounts of guns.

Bungie also included a feature that allows players to save clips of online play to their hard drive for review. So now you can finally send clips of that crazy headshot you got in the last round to your friends, so they can see it for themselves.

Some of the more impressive additions to the series come in the form of new artillery options. The game now features more than the usual plasma and frag grenade, with new options such as trip mines, shield regenerators, and bubble shields. New guns are also available, most noticeably, the new default weapon. Resurrected from Halo: Combat

Evolved, the assault rifle is now available to you when you begin, and each time you die. The covenant needler’s power has significantly increased, and the sniper rifles are now easier to target with. However, certain old weapons have significantly suffered in quality, such as the covenant brute shot and beam rifle. After 30 minutes of playing, it’s obvious that Bungie realized the mistakes they made in Halo 2, and capitalized upon them, developing a fantastic closing of the series.

If you don’t like it, you should probably stick to playing computer RPG’s, because this game is easily going to be named the best first person shooter around, and it’s not going to be going away any time soon.

barbosa staff reporter

barbosa staff reporter

Freshman James Hickock and Austin Martin play Halo 3 at Freshman Brock Humphrey’s house. Some student fans of the game camped out at local stores, in order to be one of the first to get their hands on the game. Photo by Nina Humphrey.

iPod debuts new Nano design

“One, Two, Three, Four. Tell me that you love me more. Sleepless long nights. That is what my youth was for. Old teenage hopes are alive at your door. Left you with nothing but they want some more. Oooo, you’re changing your heart. Oooo, you know who you are.”

Yep, there is no doubt you have seen the ad for the new iPod Nano if you watch TV.

Apple denitely can a ord to buy all those ads with the recent success they’ve had.

Only 74 days after its release, Apple declared they had already sold one million iPhones. In comparison, it took nearly two years for the iPod to reach that milestone.

Over the past month, Apple released the new iPod Nano and the new iPod Touch and a lot of students have already

bought one for themselves.

The iPod Touch is essentially a phoneless iPhone, the same look and the same touch display. The Touch also shares the same interface for browsing and the same YouTube application and Safari web browser. However, the Touch is not in the preferred price range of many of students. The 8GB knocks out at $299 and the 16GB rises to $399.

The new iPod Nano now includes video, cover ow and it also shows o a different look. It’s only 6.5 millimeters thick and has a more compact and wider frame than the older model.

“The best new feature is the video, and the new side by side screen is pretty sweet too,” sophomore Nick Schweiger said.

The 4GB Nano is priced at $149 and the 8GB Nano is $200.

“The new Nano is the same price I got my old one for but it holds four times as many songs, can plays videos, and has lots of other new features,” Schweiger said.

Mexican restaurant combines high quality food, low prices

mitchsmith news editor

In the quest for a reasonably priced Mexican restaurant with English-speaking servers and great tasting food, Blue Valley students are left with few options. At least that was true until La Fuente Mexican Restaurant, located at 149th and Metcalf next to Goodyear, opened its doors last year.

La Fuente’s combination of succulent entrées and delicious appetizers make it a great option for a quick meal for a high school student on a budget. Free chips and salsa as well as great tasting cheese dip are a great way to start the meal. The restaurant’s sh tacos, although a bit pricier than other menu items, are delicious. The food is just greasy enough without overdoing it. Also enjoyable are cheese enchiladas and quesadillas. While great-tasting food is obviously a main ingredient in any dining experience, La Fuente’s attentive wait sta also goes beyond expectations. Frequent o ers for re lls, on both chips

and drinks, as well as a quick turnaround on food orders add to the pleasant environment. In fact, the only negative aspect of eating at La Fuente is that your time with your amazing appetizers is limited by a very quick preparation time of your main course. However, this becomes a positive aspect as it makes the restaurant an even more opportune spot when wanting high-quality Mexican food without an excessive wait.

Finally, the icing on the an for La Fuente is their extremely reasonable prices. With lunch specials starting for less than $5 and many dinner entrées available for $7 or less, La Fuente o ers better food than its competitors for almost half the price.

Don’t let these reasonable prices trick you; the food is much more generously portioned than in many other local Mexican hot spots and many main courses come with a generous helping of Mexican rice or beans.

Considering its superior service, excellent food and a ordable prices, La Fuente easily warrants a ve star rating and comes highly recommended.

From beam to bar BV gymnasts are big time

She steps on to the mat, and approaches the chalk bowl. She dips her hands in the white, chalky powder and rubs her hands together quickly. She claps a few times and a large cloud of chalk dust surrounds her. She walks toward the beam. She is nervous and somewhat anxious but full of excitement. She runs and jumps onto the beam. Maintaining her balance, she completes a combination of complicated and graceful flips. She lands with a sigh of relief and hopes she sticks it.

This mixture of relief and happiness is just one of the things running through senior Megan Ferguson’s mind as she completes her routine.

Her interest in gymnastics goes far beyond something that is appealing as an extracurricular. It is who she is, what she does and how she lives. Megan has been participating in gymnastics for the past 12 years. She started when she was six and has loved it ever since.

“I’ve always had a lot of energy and used to always be running around the house,” Megan said. “So my parents put me in gymnastics as a summer thing. I guess it just clicked.”

Ever since, Megan has been dedicated to becoming the best of the best. Her drive and deter-

mination has made her one of the top performers at Eagles Gymnastics. She has competed in local, state, regional and national competitions and has earned numerous titles and awards. She has recently been named the two-time Junior Olympic National beam champion and is a two-year National Theme Champion.

Despite the accolades, this demanding sport can have its downside. Last year, Megan did not make it to the World’s Team and missed the opportunity to train for the Olympics due to a back injury. While many other athletes would have given up, her love for gymnastics made her push on.

She has also missed out on some of the social aspects of high school. Last year, Megan did not attend Prom because of the state gymnastics meet.

“She’s never regretted anything, but she’s given up a lot,” Megan’s mother Mary Ferguson said. “It’s the little things you lose out on.”

With the competitive season drawing near, a sense of anticipation has taken over. State meets usually start in March with regional meets later in May. The regional meet is comprised of many different state’s gymnasts.

Another big part of competing is the travel.

“Traveling is pretty much all

we do,” Megan said. Since she doesn’t have a seventh hour, she leaves school immediately after sixth hour and goes directly to Eagles, where she practices for four hours every weekday. It might be hard to find time to do schoolwork between practicing 24 hours a week, but Megan has been able to do so. She manages to do her homework in the small amount of time between arriving at the gym and her 3 p.m. practice. Even so, she has been able to maintain a 4.0 GPA, and her course load this year is full of AP classes such as AP Communication Arts, AP Calculus and AP American Government.

However, school isn’t the only place where Megan is presented with challenges.

“I like the challenges gymnastics presents me,” Megan said. “I am always nervous before I go on, but I love to go out there and perform.”

A few years ago, Megan faced a tough decision. She had to decide whether to begin serious and professional training like other girls at her gym or get an education. After weeks of deliberation and numerous talks with both her parents, she eventually chose to get an education. She now plans on attending the University of Oklahoma in Norman, on a gymnastics scholarship.

“People always said when you get there, it’ll feel right,”

Mary said, “and it does.”

Megan is faced with another dilemma. The national meet is the same day as graduation. This gut-wrenching decision can only be made by her. She’s worked so hard on two levels: academic and gymnastics. OU has already told Ferguson that there is no pressure to attend Nationals.

Another gymnastics star at BV is sophomore Sarah DeMeo. She has her very own official website which has gotten more than 210,890 hits. What people may not know is that she’s one of the elite at her sport. She is ranked fifth in the nation and was a member of the TOPS National gymnastics team and is currently a three-time member of the World’s team.

DeMeo got her start in gymnastics when she was five years old and by the age of seven, was already competing in numerous gymnastic competitions.

“I first started out ice skating and that just didn’t work out,” DeMeo said.

DeMeo practices at Great American Gymnastics Express six hours everyday.Like Megan, DeMeo does her homework between the time she leaves school after fifth hour and her afternoon practice.

“I usually do my homework on the car ride to the gym,” DeMeo said. “It’s a 35-minute ride.”

DeMeo is a three-time

memeber of the US Championship National Team.

Like Megan, DeMeo is one of the best on her level. DeMeo competes on the international level against 10 other countries.

“When I go out to compete, I just want to go out there, do my best and hit all my tricks,” Sarah said.

These international teams are first decided at camp in October. At camp, all the gymnasts are divided into age groups and then are assigned what international team they will be competing on and what meets they will be participating in. This year, DeMeo hopes to become part of the Junior Pan Am team.

“I love traveling for international meets,” DeMeo said. “Not only do I love to compete, but it gives me the opportunity to see what other countries are like. I get to try their food, speak their language, and get to know their culture.”

Whether it’s in the classroom or in the gym, DeMeo has always been a problem solver.

“I love the challenges gymnastics presents me, which is why I love math so much,” DeMeo said.

DeMeo aimed her goals high this year and is trying to make the Olympic team.

DeMeo plans on going to University of Michigan or UCLA, both with highly ranked gymnastics teams.

kyliehennagin staff reporter

Senior Megan Ferguson does a planche mount on the beam at Junior Olympic Nationals in Mason, Ohio last May. Photo submitted by Megan Ferguson

Sophomore Sarah DeMeo performs a shushunova on the bars at the 2007 US Championships in San Jose, Calif., in August. Photo submitted by Sarah DeMeo

Soccer team on its way to winning season

After Aquinas victory, Tigers show improvement late in season

andrew fiori staff reporter

The men’s Blue Valley soccer team has made amazing strides so far this season. With the 2-1 defeat over defending state champions, St. Thomas Aquinas, on Sept. 4, Blue Valley had a great confidence boost for the rest of the season.

“The Aquinas win has really shown us what we as soccer players can do,” coach K. Dean Snell said. “It has been nine years since our last Aquinas victory and my first since I started coaching seven years ago.”

Aquinas has been a big sports powerhouse in all sports for many years. Their soccer team was ranked 43 in the nation until the loss to Blue Valley.

“The Blue Valley fans swarmed the field as the game ended,” junior Corey Devine said. “The Aquinas fans cried in shock and disbelief. It was a really good game.”

Blue Valley’s games last year against Aquinas didn’t turn out quite as well as this year’s; with Aquinas winning the first game 4-2 and winning 8-1 in the sec-

ond game. However, with some new additions to the BV offense, the Tigers were able to come out on top. Junior Martin Craig scored both goals, with an assist from junior Ben Kerkhoff, and the other unassisted. The soccer team will hopefully continue to improve greatly upon this success and come out with a winning season.

“I am expecting to win at least 10 games out of our 16 this season,” Snell said. “This team proves to be one of the better boy’s soccer teams that Blue Valley has seen.”

Since the Aquinas game, the Blue Valley boys soccer team has won six out of the 12 games, with wins over Bonner Springs (5-0), Bishop Miege (3-1), Ottawa (3-1), Louisburg (6-1), Sumner Academy (11-1), and Blue Valley West (1-0). Their record for this season is now 8-7.

“This is definitely the best team we have had so far and we have great potential to continue in the playoffs,” senior Andy Heyen said.

The soccer teams most recent triumph was against Blue Valley West on Oct. 9. And to

add insult to injury, it was on their senior night too. Senior Quintin Liberty had the game winning goal which added a big

win for the team. The Tigers still have one more game left before the season is over. They face-off at Emporia , on Oct. 18. The Ti-

gers can still end their season on a good note heading into the postseason.

Students spend countless hours betting on fantasy football teams

stevenreno staff reporter

Some people have no idea what it is and could care less. But to others, it is a hobby that includes intense trash talk and a lot of pride riding on the outcome.

Fantasy football leagues create an environment for NFL fans to test their knowledge of the game and compete against their friends for pride and sometimes cash. When joining a custom league, people get together and come up with a price that everyone must pay in order to participate in that league.

It involves creating a “fantasy” roster of NFL players who score for the fantasy team according to their performance in each respective week. A normal league has one quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, one tight end, one kicker, and one team defense starting each week. Points awarded just like they are in a game; touchdowns are six points and field goals are three points. Points for yards differ depending on what league you’re in.

“Everyday I get home, I check ESPN.com for the latest news, and watch at least three hours of ESPN, while doing my homework,” sophomore Tyler Kalmus said.

One of the first things someone needs to do when starting a fantasy football league is decide what website to use. Every sports website imaginable has fantasy football: NFL.com, ESPN.com, YAHOO.com, FOXSPORTS.

com, and SPORTINGNEWS.com are just examples. They all have their unique qualities. Some have options for free or pay leagues, others have free live scoring but they all have the same concept. Success in fantasy football doesn’t just depend on how much you know about the NFL players but it also relies on plain

TV coverage and the relentless attention to individual performance during the actual game. They say football is the ultimate team sport because superstars can’t win by themselves and that’s exactly the reason why fantasy football hurts the game because it promotes the individual and not the team.

“Coverage is still focused on the game. It gives the fans added involvement that doesn’t affect the happenings on the field,” sophomore Zach Garber said.

Fantasy football players sometimes run into a dilemma where they have to choose between rooting for their favorite team or their fantasy players playing that team. In these situations, most players wish for their team to win, as well as, their fantasy players performing well too.

luck. The most obvious example is what position you get in a live draft or if you’re in an autopick league, your whole team is out of your hands. Then it goes to how healthy your players stay throughout the year, whether or not your high picks turned out to be busts and if any of your other picks were sleepers who come out of the blue and dominate.

“With my strategy I don’t need luck but for most people it’s a factor,” sophomore Jamie Goldenberg said.

Old-fashioned football fans believe the media attention fantasy football receives is excessive on many levels, such as the restless stat ticker running across NFL

Fantasy football isn’t the only fantasy sport out there. There’s actually a plethora of fantasy sports.

Fantasy football is no doubt the most popular but fantasy baseball is home to the more hardcore players given the fact that baseball is a stat-filled game with a 162 games compared to the NFL’s 16.

“Fantasy baseball is too long for me,” Kalmus said. “It’s harder to follow your roster because they are playing everyday. But with fantasy football you have more control over your roster and more time to consider roster changes.”

There are fantasy leagues for the NBA and NHL but they are more of an attempt to copy the success of fantasy football and baseball.

Senior Quintin Liberty holding off a defender during the Blue Valley West game on Sept. 20. The Tigers lost a tough one to the Jaguars 2-1.

Photo by Tom Roudebush.

”

“

t gives the fans added involvement that doesn’t affect the happenings on the field.

i

-Sophomore Zach Garber

Fall sports begin to prepare for postseason

Tennis team comes home with the gold

With the varsity record at 6-3-1, only their good sense of teamwork can be thanked.

“The varsity team feels like my sisters,” junior Adrienne Brown said. “We’re all really close.”

Ashley Tiefel, Karaline Nunnally,Katherine Nunnally, Shelly Sparling, Brianna Ortbals and Adrienne Brown are all apart of this incredible varsity sisterhood.

On Sept. 15, they made their way to the annual invitational tournament at Mill Valley. They were ranked number one, leaving with 14 wins and a gold medal.

Volleyball cracks top 10 in the Metro

For the rst time in school history, the Tigers varsity volleyball team is ranked ninth in the Top Ten Metro schools.

“I think this is an excellent opportunity to get our kids recognized for all their hard work this season,” varsity coach Christyn

Haberly said. “I believe our program and Varsity team deserves the recognition, and I hope that it becomes a goal for all our volleyball athletes to be in this poll consistently.”

On Sept. 21, at Louisburg was the rst tournament of the season. The Tigers fought hard and won ve matches. Lansing was the only team in the tournament to challenge the Tigers and grabbed the win by only two points in the deciding third game. The Tigers walked away with a second place plaque.

The Tiger’s second EKL win this season came on Sept.28 in a dual at home against Blue Val-

Senior golfers qualify for state

Thanks to the seniors Stacy Yowell, Mary Keegan, Kayla Pollock, Kodi Miller and Courtney Kreamer, the Tigers placed seventh out of 20 teams at the Lawrence Invitational. The team shot an astounding 363, the best BV has golfed in 10 years. Seniors Stacy Yowell and Courtney Kreamer quali ed for statein the EKL tournament at Swope Park on October 3.

Runners get ready for EKL and Regionals

Regionals are this Sat. and will determine which athletes will represent BV at the state competition. On Sept. 28 the Tigers grabbed third at Rim Rock in Lawrence, with winning times from senior Devin Wiegers with a 15:58, then junior Devin Freedman came in second with a 16:34 and in third

came sophomore

Il-

the boy’s 5K race, Ben Loats ran a 17:34 with sophomore Tyler Smiley and freshman Ben Gaede following closely behind.

Football blows over North and Ottawa

The boys varsity football team isn’t bursting out of the gates like last season. Their record is a mediocre 4-3.

On Sept. 27, the Tigers faced Blue Valley North. The Tiger defense was astounding . With junior cornerbacks Christian Ensz and Tyler VanGerpen each having an interception return for a touchdown, along with a fumble recovery by Ensz, the Tigers came out with a huge victory, winning by a score of 41-0.

On Oct. 5, The Tigers went up against a good Blue Valley Northwest team. With senior wide receiver senior Mike McIntire, leading the team in receiving yards with 80 and leading heading into the fourth quarter, the Tigers couldn’t come out with a victory. There has been a little bit of a quarterback controversy between junior Tanner Purdon and sophomore sophomore Anthony Abenoja.

The Tigers have two more games left before the postseason begins. They play tonight at 7 p.m., against Gardner Edgerton and BVW, on Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. The West game is televised by Metro Sports, for the high school game of the week.

The Tigers took on the Ottawa Cyclones in the Homecoming game Thurs., Oct. 11. Junior Tyler Vangerpen intercepted the ball and ran in for a touchtown. The Tigers conquered the Cyclones 76-32. Photo by Ashley Cook.

Melissa

lies with 16:38. In

freshmen join upperclassmen at varsity level

PLAYIN’UP

Each year at Blue Valley a select few freshmen athletes are given the honor of playing on a varsity sports team. So far this year two such athletes are playing on varsity teams.

Ashley Tiefel has been playing tennis since she could pick up a racquet. Eleven years later, Tiefel is now taking the tennis courts by storm as the only freshman player on the varsity team. Tiefel knew the probability was high that she would be selected to play varsity tennis. At the end of the 2007 summer season she ranked ninth in the 14’s age division of the Missouri Valley section of the United States Tennis Association. The Missouri Valley section of this competition covers a five-state area across the Midwest.

Most people would be a little frightened to play on a team with all older players, but Tiefel is not one of them.

“I knew the girls on the team already, so I pretty much knew what to expect,” Tiefel said.

Upperclassmen on the team are excited to have such a strong player on the team.

“Ashley contributes so much to the team and is a great tennis player,” senior Karaline Nunnally said. “I’m glad I get to play along side her this year.”

Nunnally is Tiefel’s doubles partner.

Tiefel comes from a family of tennis players and spends much of her free time playing the sport. She also plays year round at the Mike Wolf Tennis Academy.

“She has so much tennis experience and she is a great addition to the varsity squad,” sophomore and fellow varsity player Katherine Nunnally said.

“It doesn’t really matter what grade you are in as long as you work hard and bring effort to the team.”

“Ashley is first and foremost a team player on and off the court,” varsity coach Nelson Elliot said. “She embodies what I like to call the Blue Valley Way.”

So far Tiefel has enjoyed her first two months at BVHS on the tennis courts with many wins for both doubles and singles competition.

Tiefel said she is very optimistic about her next three years playing tennis at Blue Valley.

“I hope our scores get better each year,” Tiefel said.

A few hundred feet away from the tennis courts, another freshman is making a name for himself on varsity. Tom Adams has been playing soccer for more than half his life, but when he was placed on the varsity soccer team, he was rather surprised.

This fall, he is the only freshman playing alongside 17 upperclassmen on the varsity team.

“The players and coaches are helpful and nice,” Adams said. “I don’t think they really care that I’m a freshman.”

At press time, with one more game to go, varsity soccer has eight wins and seven losses.

“It seems like we get better every game,” Adams said. “Everyone combines their skill really well and we work as a team.”

allyfrancis staff reporter

Freshman Ashley Tiefel, ranked ninth in her divison, serves against BV West at home on Sept. 18 before the match was postponed due to lightning.

Photo by Tom Roudebush

Tom Adams, the only freshman on the varsity soccer team, sprints to the ball against rival BV West on Sept. 20.

Photo by Tom Roudebush

Homecoming

Standing around the flames of tradition, students dance and snack on free chicken at the annual bonfire. Students celebrated spirit week with the themes:Holidays, salad dresing, classic Hollywood and gameday.

Senior Danny Woods, junior Sami Steinmetz, senior Becca Silverstein, sophmore Sally Stromme and senior Allie Manning. Photographs by Gwen Bergerhofer, Ashley Stickler, Ashley Cook, and Nina Humphrey.