September 2010 • Vol. 34 No. 1
Corona del Sol • Tempe, AZ
SUNRISE
8
schools
1
decision
See story on page 8
2 • News
September 2010 • CdS Sunrise
AIMS scholarship facing possible changes CdS bonfire BY STEPHEN KULURIS Online Editor in Chief
The Arizona Board of Regent’s High Honors Tuition Scholarship (known as the AIMS Scholarship) will still be in effect for the graduating high school class of 2011. As more and more students qualify for the tuition waiver, coupled with the recent economic challenges in both the state and nation, there has been talk of eliminating or amending the waiver. “The reason (forthreat of not having the tuition waiver) is colleges want freedom to use that money how they want and it has also grown further than they thought,” counselor Dan Brugger said. But for at least another year the scholarship will be offered and the requirements will be same. If these requirements are met, the qualified student is entitled to an in-state tuition waiver in where the actual dollar amount is based on the university’s tuition. The scholarship is given by the Arizona Board of Education and is a full state university tuition waiver. This is a scholarship that can be
renewed for another three years while at the university. Many students from the class of 2011 are excited that the tuition waiver is secured for their class. “I was happy to know the AIMS scholarship was still around,” senior Taylor Eno said. Underclassmen will be affected if a recent proposal passes that would lower the scholarship amount for their classes. This proposal presented by the Arizona Board of Regents, (ABOR) changes the class of 2012 scholarship money to 50 to100 percent based on GPA or class rank. It also states that the class of 2012 must exceed AIMS sophomore year and they will not have a chance to retake them again in the fall. “It’s unfair for students who want to try again (to pass AIMS) after not exceeding the first time,” junior Nitin Gupta said. There will be a public meeting on the issue of the tuition waiver on Sept. 23 and 24. A vote will determine the ultimatum of the proposal on Sept. 24. Check cdssunrise.com for more information on the final decision.®
Current and proposed requirements
forced to find new location
Class of 2011
BY TATUM HARTWIG Managing Editor
•At least a “B” in all 16 core classes •GPA of 3.5 in all 16 core classes or must be in the top 5% of graduating class •Exceed on all three AIMS tests or exceeding on two AIMS tests, meeting the standards on the other tests, and must score a 3 or higher on two AP tests
Class of 2012 •GPA of 3.8 in 16 core classes or in the top 3% of graduating class, for 100% tuition waver •A 50% tuition waiver requires a 3.5 core GPA or must be in top 5% of class •The only opportunity to exceed on the AIMS will be the spring of sophomore year •AP and IB exam scores can still be used through senior year
Class of 2013 •GPA of 3.8 in 16 core classes or in the top 3% of graduating class, for 100% tuition waver • Must have ACT score of 27 or SAT of 1310 or a minimum PSAT score that has yet to be determined.
This year Corona’s tradition of the annual bonfire will be facing some major changes in location. Due to the district replacing the track around the football field, the bonfire pit will be relocated. The area behind the goal posts where the flame is usually kept is now the new long jump pit and pole vault area. Student Council is taking matters into its own hands to make sure the tradition will live on. “We’re building a permanent bonfire pit that will be around for years to come,” Student Council sponsor Ben Forbes said. The new pit will be placed on one of the practice fields. But this new location brings up another set of problems. “The only downside is that we have to rent fences and lights now,” Forbes said. Student Council remains optimistic for a good turnout for this year’s bonfire on Thursday, Nov. 4.®
It's a rite of passage your own transit pass. It’s time to decide where you’re going in life. Getting to the mall, the park or the movies takes direction. So, let TIM be your guide. You can go wherever you want, whenever you want. Let freedom ring. Kids who live in Tempe can ride transit for free. To get a youth transit pass, stop by the Tempe Transit Store at 200 E. Fifth St. with your parents. And to find bus routes, bikeways and light rail stops all around Tempe, visit tempe.gov/tim or call 858-2350.
bus · bike · walk · rail
September 2010 • CdS Sunrise
Robert Corwin English Department
What high school did you attend? I went to Mountain Pointe. What are your hobbies? I don’t really do much. I coach badminton so that takes up a lot of time.
Katie Kelly
Science Department What did you want to be when you were younger? When I was in high school I wanted to be an interior designer and then an orthodontist, but I always thought of becoming a teacher as well. What high school did you attend? I went to Kofa High School in Yuma, Arizona.
Sheila Conneely
Fresh faces on campus
News • 3
COMPILED BY ALEX NJUGUNA | Staff Writer
This year, there are some new staff members at Corona, as well as some returning teachers. Here’s a glimpse into who they are.
Brynne Evans Art Department
What teachers inspired you the most? I would say there are three teachers that influenced me the most. Ms. (Lynn) Smith inspired me to keep pursuing art after high school. Ms. (Karyn) Dempsey allowed me to think freely and learn what was important to me and Mr. (Mike) Trimble.
Foreign Language & English Departments
Kelly Nelson
What high school did you attend? Main West High School in Des Plaines, Illinois What was your best experience in high school? Sports-I was a three-sport athlete and in model UN my junior year in AP history.
Other new (and returning) staff members:
Darren Ridge Eric Schilling Zane Zamenski Chris Klein Amber Towns
Special Education Department What was your favorite subject in high school? I enjoyed math because I had some amazing teachers. Did you always want to be a teacher? I have always wanted to teach. Both my parents are in education, so I think it’s in my genes.
Awareness Day makes changes BY SARAH DINELL Editor in Chief
Awareness Day has had a long tradition of uniting students through acceptance of all people and not judging others. However, this year, the unity club leaders have decided to make some changes and focus more on issues relevant to Corona, like expanding friendships with others. “Instead of trying to change the social community within the school, we’re trying to encourage the students to meet other classmates,” Awareness Day coordinator Emily Monahan said. “A lot of students don’t take the time to get to know one another.” Awareness Day typically consists of four or five skits that try and identify with struggles that many people face, like feeling alone. The skits are then followed by a short video, then the students break up into small groups. This year, students will do more activites to meet
other people as part of the new theme. The changes to Awareness Day are taking place because the Unity Club wanted to try and keep things fresh and interesting for those students who have been to Awareness Day in years past. “We’re expecting lots of returning people and we want to take it (Awareness Day) to the next level,” Monahan said. “We want to inspire them to be the change.” Also, Awareness Day will now be held two days throughout the year instead of the six or seven in previous years, due to administrative changes. “Administration had too many complaints from faculty members that freshmen students were missing a class,” Sponsor Jan O’Malley said. “So we went back to two days, which are now open to all classes.” The first Awareness Day will be on Oct. 12, and applications are available in E097.
4 • Life & Times
CdS Sunrise • September 2010
Corona sophomores’ band Stand Club raises gaining success, popularity $8,000 for Darfur BY ERIN MALONEY Staff Writer
Some kids play sports, others are in clubs, but these particular Corona sophomores boys are in a band called Aloha Joe. Aloha Joe has five members: Jake Maloney on bass; Cody Jackson on drums; Noa Kelly on guitar; Josh Ortega also on guitar; and, the newest member of the band, Mike Ornelas on lead vocals. The origin for the name of the band is an interesting story. Jackson saw a sign in Maui that said ‘Aloha Oe,’ which is a famous Hawaiian song, jokingly he added a “J” in front of the “oe” and then the name stuck since. Aloha Joe was formed in 2007 by members Maloney and Jackson for fun. But with Aloha Joe the addition of Kelly the band started to take themselves seriously and began playing local shows around the valley. The band has many musical inspirations ranging from Led Zepplin, Blink 182 to NOFX. Even though they all have different musical influences, the band members all came to the agreement that their musical style would be described as pop punk with a mixture of Ska, a fusion of punk and reggae. Aloha Joe practices at least once a week in Jackson’s garage for two hours. They also meet with Bryan Kuban, music instructor at Music Masters and band coach, weekly as well.
“Bryan has been an extreme factor in helping us turn our music into something worth listening to,” Maloney said. The band loves playing live shows over practicing without a crowd and always looks forward to them. “When I play on stage, all I feel is amplified adrenaline,” bassist Maloney said. The band has gotten the chance to play shows with headliners such as Jeffree Star, Brokencyde, Watch Out! There’s Ghosts, Tmills, The Dreaming and Electric Valentine. They have also played shows with Corona alumni bands including Backyard Remedies, Sound the City and Let Fade Decide. Aloha Joe’s aspirations do not stop at just playing with loPhoto courtesy of MAGGIE JACKSON cal bands around the valley. They would love to have the opportunity to continue to perform together after they all graduate high school. “We are all brothers trying to make something of ourselves,” Jackson said. “We want to keep playing as long as it’s fun.” Aloha Joe is currently working on its first sample record, which will be released within the next few months. Their next show will be Sept. 26 at The Clubhouse in Tempe. For more information on the band, upcoming show details and samples of their music visit their website, www.myspace.com/alohajoe.®
BY CHANEL ALVIS & WILL MORGAN Opinions Ediotor & Staff Writer
This past year the CdS Stand Club raised more than $8,000, twice the amount in the previous year. Each year the Stand Club raises money for genocide victims in Darfur through fundraisers and its annual fashion show. The money raised benefits victims in Darfur by offering safety, providing solar cookers and building schools. Without the solar cookers, the people had to travel far to cook their food and it was much less safe. This year however, the Stand Club is going to send reclaimed water that will help people in Darfur by making water more accessible. Last year, in an effort to increase their funds, Stand Club members began selling Krispy Kreme Donuts once a month on Friday mornings, and it has been a huge success. Also, the club has been advertising much more which has helped bring in more money. “We are hoping to earn the same amount or more,” said Brandy Walker, English teacher and Stand Club sponsor The Stand Club’s main source of funds comes from its annual Strut 4 Stand Fashion Show. The show has been growing more and more each year, with a record $4,000 raised last year. This year Stand Club members are eager to continue this progress with continuous fundraising and an even larger fashion show. “We are going for $9,000 this year,” said senior Stand Club member Heidi Liou. ®
PHOTO BY VIKTORIA FALUDI
Senior Amanda Baker, president of Stand Club, leads a meeting. Meetings are held weekly Brandy Walker’s, Stand Club Sponsor, classroom.
Students chosen by ASU to participate in GLEE-inspired choir program But despite his cautions, Brown was still enthusiastic for the opportunity. “I was still very excited though. I love this type of Thirty-one Corona students were selected by Arizona State University mentors, GLEEders to perform performance and while the Corona choirs do the ocin a show choir inspired by the popular television casional choreographed number, I don’t get to perform much ‘show choir’ repertoire very often. This show Glee. Three separate show choirs were selected from will finally give me a chance to do exactly that.” Junior Emily Catellier was also one of the thirtyCorona and the two other choirs will be made up of one students to be selected. middle school students from the Tempe area. “I thought it (the show choir) was a great idea,” GLEEders, founded by ASU junior Amanda NguyCatellier said. “I thought at first it was overreaching en, is composed of fifteen ASU students sponsored by slightly and with high expectations, but once the proBarrett Honors College. In an interview with the ASU State Press, Nguyen gram kicks off it will be a great time with great instated that she chose Corona over other local high struction that can tie in with our performances in the choir program.” schools ‘because of its strong choir program.’ Students were selected for the show choir through Senior Noah Brown was one of the few selected for a series of auditions. Sixty-seven of the 71 students the show choir. “I was a little wary,” Brown said. “Nothing turns who auditioned were selected. “The process itself was very stress-free,” Brown out the way it does on television, after all. I’d rather be in a solid choir than a choir that strives to emulate said. “Everyone auditioning was required to sing 30-seconds of a contemporary piece, as well as sing a television series.” BY BREE PURDY Managing Editor
‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ with piano accompaniment. I’m not going to question the ASU students on that one. There’s got to be a reason.” The show choir will perform popular songs featured on Glee, including ‘Defying Gravity’ from the Broadway musical Wicked and ‘Rehab’ by Rihanna. Part of the draw to the show choir was the popularity of the television show. “I was and am a faithful fan of the show, however, to be honest, I’ve always loved the singing and dancing part of a show choir, the fact that there is now one at Corona is extremely exciting,” Catellier said. “One of my favorite show choir arrangements I’ve seen the Glee adaptation to is ‘Somebody to Love’ by Queen,” she said. “It’s so inspiring and it looks like fun to perform. I really hope we have a chance to perform that this year.” The show choir will perform their first show on Dec. 9 in the Arizona Ballroom at the Memorial Union and at Corona on Dec. 10 and 11 at the Winter Choir Concert. ®
September 2010 • CdS Sunrise
Life & Times • 5
Foreign students attend CdS through exchange programs BY Lilly Berkley Staff Writer
Starting the school year as the “new kid on the block” is always challenging, but just imagine being the new kid in the country from overseas and speaking an entirely different language. There are a few new faces at CdS who know exactly what it’s like. Seniors Daniel Strannelind, Anastasia Jonsson, Tuva Bueggeland and junior Viktoria Faludi are all foreign exchange students this year at Corona. They all had the same three opinions of living in the valley: First, everything is really “super sized.” For example schools, stores, houses, and people are a lot bigger than in their home countries. Second, Arizona is very hot. Third, Americans are much more friendly than the people in their own countries. Something that the four of them have also noticed that is different are the schools. In Sweden, Hungary and Norway the education is much more diverse than in American culture. In each of those countries, they take three languages; English, the language they speak in their country, and then a third language of the choice. Also the school
sizes are a great deal smaller compared to the ones in America. Each class has 30 students who stay together through out the entire school year. Strannelind came from Sweden one month ago, with the foreign exchange program called E.F, or Education First. Education First was started in 1965 by Sweden capitalist Bertil Hult. In the program, Strannelind had the opportunity to attend school in either Florida, Arizona or California. “I wanted to go to Arizona because I like the heat, and I like pools. In Sweden a lot of people live in apartments, and don’t have pools. Here everyone has pools,” Strannelind said. So far, during Strannelind’s time here, he has joined the football team, which has helped him to meet new people. “I’ve really liked meeting new people being here at CdS,” Strannelind said. Just like Strannelind, Jonsson is here from Sweden. She has been in the U.S. for seven weeks, and she came with the foreign exchange program International Student Exchange (ISE). Jonsson was given the chance to attend school in Florida, Arizona or North Carolina. She picked Arizona because
Chang works with NASA BY Stephanie Dayton Staff Writer
While Corona students were sleeping in during the summer, senior Eric Chang spent his summer working on an internship with NASA. Chang has been actively involved in Corona’s Robotics club and found out about the internship online. The first Chang step in the application process was that Chang had to join an online community more than 2,000 students nationwide. These students were then split up into 10 different NASA work sites around the county. Chang helped figured out what the thrust, turns and climb would be on the Remote Controlled Airplane. Chang recommends this for other students interested in mechanics or the workings of NASA. Eight other students were chosen to work with NASA’s technology with Chang. “My parents were really happy, but they were concerned that it was out of state,” Chang said. Chang spent eight weeks in Palmdale, Cal where he spent a total of 40 hours a week working on the station. “I really enjoyed how the working environment was and how the people were able minded and really set on doing their work,” Chang said Being active in Robotics club and getting to know the world of mechanics helped Chang get into the internship and enjoying working with technology, even while Corona students spent their summer sleeping away. “This experience really helped open my eyes deeper into the world of mechanics.” Chang said.®
she wanted to go to somewhere completely different place from her former home. “I really wanted to come to America because American high schools are completely different from Swedish high schools,” Jonsson said. Lilly Berkley For Bugge- From left: Viktoria Faludi, Anastasia Jonsson, Tuva Buggeland and Daniel land, who has Strannelind are foreign exchange students attending Corona. been speaking her home country. Buggeland said she English for seven years, coming to an believes the people are just as nice as the American high school wasn’t too much country. of a shock for her. Buggeland and her Faludi, who goes by the name Kiwi, family moved here from Norway. In agrees with Buggeland. Norway Buggeland would be a junior “America is the country of freedom,” this year, but as an American student Faludi said. she is a senior. But the one thing that Faludi said she has enjoyed the didid shock her was how hot the summers verse types of people and how everyone are. is very welcoming. In Hungary people “At first I hated the weather, but now are constantly working, not as happy, that it’s cooling off it isn’t as bad,” Bug- and not as open to new people and exgeland said. periences, according to Faludi. In Buggeland’s opinion, she has en“Everyone seems to ask how are you joyed things in America, more than in feeling in America,” Faludi said. ®
Speaker asks students to be warriors BY AUDREY WHEELESS Staff Writer
Aztectown is a familiar camp for many on campus. For some, it is more than just a four-day camp, but a life-changing experience. Calvin Terrell has been running of the activities at Aztectown for 11 years and for 19 years he has been inspiring people around the world to look at those around them with different eyes. “I have had a lot of inspiration,” Terrell said. “Everything I know has been recycled and come through me Kathryn Valentine through those before me.” Motivational speaker, Calvin Terrell, spoke to students on Sept. 7 in the auditoOn Sept. 7, Terrell came to speak rium. He focused on teaching about treating each other with respect. to Corona by Science teacher Jan O’Malley’s suggestion. One of Terrell’s main focuses is the concept of “Because of the economy and the recession, Cal- being a “warrior.” vin felt that kids in general are having to face a lot “This is when you allow the best to come of troubles with family matters as well as normal through you,” Terrell said. “Sometimes you have to teenage stuff, so he wanted to come talk to Corona fight love harshly.” about coping skills,” O’Malley said. Terrell said that his heart has always been in tune Throughout the auditorium, tears, laughter and with seeing people as one human family. He had a sense of unity could be found among students. friends killed through hate because of race and genTerrell captivated students with his sense of humor, der which led him down the path of seeking unity. but also with his brutal honesty. “I felt that what he was talking about is some“I am going to try to get to know people before thing people tend to avoid. He was very real, very I make judgments,” freshman Patrick Mandarino honest, and I respect that about him,” sophomore said. “I think he did what he intended to do.” Asada Njuguna said.®
6 • Ad
CdS Sunrise • September 2010
Septemeber 2010 • CdS Sunrise
Opinions • 7
Got to love how quick people are to jump to conclusions. I was recently faced with a situation where this conclusion-jumping led me to think I was going to be knocked out cold with one swift punch. It all started with a grand old time hanging outside of QT after an ultimate frisbee game (it’s the cross country hang out, post ultimate games). While sitting in a circle talking, this man walks outside of the convenience store and takes a glance at us and says, “What is this? The swim team?” Proud of being a runner, I corrected him and said, “No, actually we are the cross country team. We’re runners.” With no hesitation the man turns around on the spot and walks over to me yelling, “What did you say to me, you hippie!?” He proceeds to get about a foot from my face while I’m sitting on the ground, continuing to yell at me. I’m a little freaked because he is about 6-foot-5 and I’m pretty sure he is going to punch me, so I try and understand what happened and talk myself out of the situation. I just tell him I didn’t mean to offend him in any way. He then says that I didn’t offend him and I need to say it. A little confused, I just say, “I’m sorry I didn’t to offend you?” I can see the anger building in his eyes and I’m just bracing myself for this powerful hit to fall upon me. But his girlfriend stepped in at the last moment and pulled him back, which saved my day from ending very badly. He walks away yelling “crazy hippies” and such, but I was just glad I’m not holding my face with a swollen eye right now. I just thought to myself about what might have gone through his mind and how things could have been so different if he had just stopped and figured out what I had actually said. From this incident though, it actually opened my
eyes a little and it further developed my thoughts that I need to be an understanding person. A lot of people jump to certain conclusions in many different situations. No matter how many times these conclusions are wrong, we still find it easier to rush to our own thoughts rather than taking the time to realize what is actually going on. We are all so quick to get mad at someone for any action that has a negative effect on us. Something such as getting cut off in traffic or if someone decides to call you a name or make fun of you it often leads us to saying some unpleasant names to the other individual. And this starts the ripple affect as the negative energy keeps being passed on through the day. But I’ve had this thought of “what if.” Such as, what if they are in a rush to get to the hospital because their mom just had an accident? Or what if something tragic happened in a person’s life that leads them to this making fun of you? Yes, it sucks they cut you off or they made fun of your clothes, but can’t you be a little forgiving for the chance that their reason has a background behind it? No, their background doesn’t make the actions right, but I believe that we can at least understand the situation and see it in a different light. There is a saying that we’ve all been taught that I think we can use in conjunction with this understanding concept. These are the words our parents have all told us before, which is to “be the bigger person.” And I like to think that this saying can teach us how to be cautious about rushing to conclusions, because if we go along with this saying, we can get over situations instead of letting it affect us. Any time a situation arises that has an effect on me I try to just think of reasons why this might have possibly happened and consider where this person might be coming from. This causes me to be more understanding and be a lot less stressed. I hope people can have a change in their outlook towards others and try to be able to consider why they are the way they are. This, in turn, could make us get along a little better in life. But if there's one thing you can get out of this article, please just stop hatin' on the hippies.®
Sunrise Staff 1001 E. Knox Road • Tempe, AZ • 85284 Editor in Chief | Sarah Dinell Online Editor in Chief| Stephen Kuluris Managing Editors | Tatum Hartwig & Bree Purdy Opinions Editor Chanel Alvis Life & Times Editor Preslie Hirsch Sports Editor Nathan Samuels Photo Editors Erin Blevins & Kathryn Valentine Graphics Editor Laci Ahlquist Adviser Kris Urban
Staffers Taylor Beese, Lilly Berkley, Alex Bernal, Jacob Cordas, Stephanie Dayton, Grady Douglas, Kiwi Faludi, Maranda Fellows, Erin Maloney, Will Morgan, Asada Njuguna, Audrey Wheeless Cartoonist Alyssa Gerwig
The Sunrise is an open forum for student expression and welcomes letters on all matters. The staff reserves the right to edit as required. All materials submitted for publication must be signed. Views and opinions contained herein are those of the author and not considered to be the opinions of the Sunrise staff, the adviser, the Corona del Sol administration or the the Tempe Union High School District. Unsigned editorials reflect the views of the editorial board. Some material courtesy of American Society of Newspaper Editors/MCT Campus High School Newspaper Service.
Face your FEARs BY SARAH DINELL Editor in Chief
BY STEPHEN KULURIS Online Editor in Chief
Don’t judge too quickly
Have you ever wanted to do something, but then didn’t because you were afraid of what would happen? Have you ever beaten yourself up afterwards for not doing it, and thought, “I’m so mad at myself for being scared.”? Fear is a main driving force of people in general. Most children, at some point, have been afraid to sleep because they were scared of the supposed monster in their closet. While most teenagers and adults are not scared of physical things anymore; they are instead scared of less concrete things. Rejection, failure, being made fun of; the list goes on and on. And if we let it, fear has the power to control our lives. One instance where fear briefly ruled my life was when I switched churches my sophomore year. I didn’t really know anyone, and I was scared to go up and talk to someone new. I would try to give myself pep talks, like, “Come on, just go over there and say hi. Introduce yourself. Talk about the weather. It’s not that hard!” Well, nope. I just couldn’t do it. It was ridiculous, because I wasn’t sure exactly what I was scared of. It’s not like people were going to laugh in my face after I introduced myself. But that’s the whole point; fear is irrational. It was running my life and I felt there was nothing I could do about it. I was reading an article in the dentist’s office the other day titled, “Fear: False Evidence Appearing Real.” While this acronym is a bit cheesy, it does have a ring of truth to it. When we are afraid of something, we convince ourselves that we will fail, and whatever we are trying to do will end in disaster. We never give ourselves a chance to succeed, because we have already predetermined that we will fall short of the goal. When this happens, fear has already won, and we feel there is no point in even trying to accomplish anything. I’m not saying that we should never put ourselves in unfamiliar situations just so we don’t feel frightened. It is impossible to grow as a person if we go that route. However, I believe that if we are afraid of something, we need to face that fear even if it makes us nervous or uncomfortable. Getting back to my personal story, I just got tired of sitting by myself and feeling miserable. I started to make small talk with other people, and lo and behold, they actually talked back. Nothing bad happened, and no one laughed at me. I finally faced my (admittedly kind of lame) fear. Now it’s your turn.®
8 • Sports
September 2010 • CdS Sunrise
Corona alum Pollak making name in NFL awards including First Team All Pac-10, Most Valuable Offensive Lineman, and served as varsity captain durFrom an Aztec in orange to a Colt in blue, 2003 Co- ing his junior year. rona graduate Mike Pollak has been successful over the Pollak excelled at ASU and stunned many when he past few years. was drafted as a guard during the second round by the He first started playing football freshman year at Colts in 2008. Corona because former Coach Cory Nenaber had sug“It’s one thing to be able to play for any NFL team, gested it to him. but when the Colts called The first week he hatme I knew I was going to ed it, but he didn’t want to a team that was going to upset the coaches. win a lot of games,” Pollak “I won’t quit,” Pollak said. “It was such an extold himself at the time. “I citing day for me and my don’t want to disappoint family.” Coach Nenaber, Coach Pollak’s family was so Kelly and Coach Venturo.” excited when Mike was His first love was baseball, and his parents had hoped drafted that they went to the mall and bought every he would get a scholarship for it. However, during his Colt’s item they could get their hands on. junior year Pollak received many letters from colleges “Both his dad and I are very proud of Michael,” interested in having him play football instead. mother Julie Pollak said. Pollak had a successful senior year playing offensive His parents have tried to attend as many games posguard and tackle at Corona and his hard work paid off sible in Pollak’s three year career with the Colts. when he received a full scholarship to play football at “Going to the Super Bowl in Miami last year was by Arizona State. He played starting center and won many far our best trip,” Julie Pollak said.® by Erin Maloney Staff Writer
?
Where are they now
Photo courtesy of INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
2003 Corona graduate Mike Pollak was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts after playing at Arizona State. Pollak is in his fourth season as guard.
Todd Peat narrows down college recruitment choices the playoffs. “As a freshman, I went to his games and gave him pointers and advice,” Tim Kelly said. “at the end of his Senior defensive tackle Todd Peat Jr. has received more than 20 offers from Division I colleges and he is freshman year, we brought him up for the last two looking to narrow down his choices from eight schools games.” Peat’s eight schools include Arizona State, Stanto five. ford, Nebraska, Miami, Arizona, Alabama, Wake For“I’m in the process of the next cut,” Peat said. “I have to choose five schools to take official visits to, and est and Oregon State. “It’s up to him to find the right comfortable place that will be my top five.” Peat has selected to take one of his official visits where they treat him well,” Kelly said. Peat’s prime time was his sophomore year where to the University of Nebraska on Saturday, Oct. 16 where he will attend a football game against the Uni- he accumulated 25 tackles, 40 assisted tackles, 17 tackles for loss, six sacks, one fumble recovery, and versity of Texas. “Nebraska has got so much tradition and I always three broken up passes. He missed many games his juhear about their ridiculous fan base,” Peat said. “I nior year due to a knee injury suffered at the Desert wanted to witness it first hand at the biggest game of Ridge game. “It was an illegal chop block,” Peat said. “Everyone the year.” Peat has been on the varsity team at Corona since is always trying to make a name with me and I will he was pulled up at the end of his freshman year for always have a big target on my back.” By Alex Bernal Staff Writer
The Peat family has always been involved with football ever since he can remember. Peat’s brother, Andrus, is a top college recruit for the class of 2012 and has many offers from Division I schools as well. Their father, Todd Peat Sr., played both collegiate and professional football for the St. Louis/Phoenix Cardinals and the Los Angeles Raiders, and has helped Todd and Andrus become not only great football players, but also well-rounded people. “(Todd’s) dad is always trying to keep them on the straight and narrow,” Kelly said. Todd Peat credits Peat Sr., Kelly, long-time Corona football coach, Gary Venturo, and his teammates who played a huge part in his development as a player and person over the past three years. He also thanks Kelly for helping him with the recruiting process. “I wish him all the best,” Kelly said. “I will miss coaching him his senior year and I’ll be following him wherever he decides to go.”®
Fewer divisions in select sports following AIA changes coach Tim Kelly anticipates the changes will make it more difficult for the athletes because it will cause less participaOn Aug. 23, the Arizona Interschotion. lastic Association (AIA) changed the “I think in some aspects it has made divisions for some sports for the 2010it more elite for athletes,” Kelly said. “It 2011 school year. The seven divisions will take away participation because the from previous years were all comteam will have to go to smaller meets to pressed into four divisions according to participate more than one time.” school enrollment sizes. Kelly believes that without regions, For track and field, there are 58 the state meet may have a diminished schools in Division I alone. In Divisions number of athletes. II, III, and IV there are 56, 52, and 55 “Two years ago there were 45 Coschools respectively. Track and field rona athletes that attended state, 41 last by Nathan Samuels Sports Editor
year, and this year it may reduce the number of kids that get in.” Swim and dive coach Caleb Guest doesn’t believe the new division changes will affect the team in the regular season. However, Guest believes the state meet will be affected. “The dramatic cut in divisions and ultimately in state meets will definitely make it much more challenging for us to get a good group of swimmers into state,” Guest said. Senior swimmer Matt Hayhurst isn’t too fond of the division changes either.
“It robs a lot of athletes the chance of experiencing state and big meets because the competition is so much bigger.” Guest believes the change will mean the team will have to become more focused during the season to qualify for the state meet. Because of the huge number of schools, competing in the state meet is quite the honor. “I think it’s important for parents, athletes, coaches, and spectators to now realize how big a deal making it to state really is,” Guest said.®