2008 Issue 10

A little real talk

Television show gives kids a new perspective on issues today.

pg. 3

INSIDE

pg. 2 Dress code policy pg. 4 Dealing with teen depression. pg. 6 straight to sponsorship pg. 7 Unfair testing for bilingual students

Going against the norm

Sophomore proves that high school cheerleaders don’t have to be girls

pg. 5

CHALLENGER

HOOVER PUBLICATIONS 4800 AURORA DES MOINES.IA. 50310 515.242.7313 4.24.09 V.42 I.10

Students become teachers GSA students teach college students about handling discrimination Neﬁ Torres/Tanner Buckley staﬀ writer/entertainment editor

Block it out

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Students, teachers evaluate eﬀectiveness of block scheduling initiative Chloe Gamble features editor Reactions were mixed when the decision to use block scheduling at Hoover was first made. Now that all who attend or teach classes in 80 minute time periods have had the opportunity to adapt, minds have resolutely been made up on the matter. Junior Amber Anderson attends Central Campus for first half of every school day. She then takes a bus that drops her off at Hoover about halfway through the lunch period. Though Anderson understands the logic behind block scheduling she said she has yet to witness its effectiveness. “I don’t like it because teachers use the same teaching style,” Anderson said. “They don’t change anything; you just have to listen to it for that much longer.” Anderson feels that longer class periods can not be expected to automatically equal better learning. The attention of students needs to have something intriguing to capture its focus. “Block scheduling gives teachers more time for hands on activities, especially in the science classes,” Anderson said. “Most of the teachers don’t know how to fill that time and the kids can’t focus on one subject for that long.” With each class meeting every

other day, students go at least 48 hours without time set aside solely to discuss the subject. Anderson said having an extra day sounds appealing but is too often used as a tool for further procrastination. “You have more time to do your homework because there is a day in between each class but some kids don’t take advantage of the extra day. They just procrastinate until they don’t know what the homework is about,” Anderson said. “It is easy to forget what you’ve learned.” Senior Jordan Taha said she appreciates the extra time in classes like theatre arts where she feels engaged. “Theatre arts is my favorite class because there are sweet people in there and it’s not a regular classroom environment. It’s nice being able to spend more time in classes I like,” Taha said. Spending more time in a single classroom has helped Taha discover which teachers cling to former education styles and which branch out in order spark interest in students. “Block scheduling has made me realize that some teachers are really, really bad teachers and some teachers are really, really great teachers,” Taha said. “It’s boring when teachers don’t have good lesson plans.” Business teacher Judith Renoux served on the professional development committee, placing her front and center

in the training process for faculty. “The staff had meetings where we talked about block scheduling but it is a difficult thing to prepare for. Until we actually did it we couldn’t have any real hands-on experience,” Renoux said. In her classes Renoux uses the extra time provided by block scheduling to make the lessons more lab-oriented. Renoux believes focusing on one aspect too long causes students to become disinterested in the entire subject. “In my area what I like the most about it is that I have more time to present material and students have more time to work on projects,” Renoux said. “You have to switch it up more so that you have different things going on.” Renoux said that throughout this past year she has really enjoyed the fact that block scheduling has given her the opportunity to become better acquainted with her students. “Since I have longer time it’s okay for me to spend time just talking to my students so I really get to know them,” Renoux said. This school year brought new experiences because of block scheduling. Renoux said she knows challenges come with change but is confident that experience will generate improvement. “It’s still a learning process for me,” Renoux said. “You have to understand that if you try something new at first it won’t be easy.”

Dropout numbers increase

More than 4,400 ninth-12th graders dropped out of Iowa’s public high school system, according to the Des Moines Register. Research showed Cedar Rapids, Council Bluﬀs, Davenport, Waterloo and Des Moines reported the highest percentage of dropouts. Lawmakers are going to have a session about raising the age you must stay in school �ll to 17. In Iowa last year 4,438 of the 155,611 ninth-12th graders enrolled in Iowa public schools dropped out last year. In Des Moines the number of students who dropped out increased to 710 in the 2007-08 �� school year, up from 421 in 2005-06. �� : ��

The week of June 8 students in the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) will be teaching students of all ages about how to handle certain situations regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) issues at Upper Iowa University. The class, “Diverse cultures in America,” will be about tolerance and acceptance in today’s diverse society. The Hoover GSA members have taught at Hoover, Meredith, Drake University and Simpson College. Sophomore Logan Sanders has been in GSA since her freshman year. Sanders believes that things have changed this year for the GSA program. “We are doing a lot more stuff this year,” Sanders said. Sanders said that the GSA has stepped up and is cracking down on students using discriminatory words. “If a student has used a bad term, we write down when it happened, if there was a teacher present and we also get the name of the student,” Sanders said. GSA co-president Stephen Boatwright has been to statewide events in the past. “We go to statewide events and train normal students on how to handle LGBT issues,” Boatwright said. People should look at diversity as a good thing and respect each other, and saying things such as “that’s so gay” shouldn’t be taken lightly, according to GSA sponsor Scott Reicker. “It makes me sad that people use diversity as an excuse to tear people down instead of as a source of strength,” Reicker said. GSA members also have to do some training of their own in order to be able to teach others. Carmen Winters is in charge of organizing the trip to Upper Iowa University. “GSA trains by sharing their stories so that people realize that they are human beings that benefit and contribute to the well-being of our planet in making us all healthy, joyful, loving and peaceful in our mind, body and soul. Your training by telling your stories help us all respect and appreciate the total human condition of our planet,” Winters said. GSA hopes portrays a sense of togetherness, respect and diversity. The group at Hoover consists of about 20-25 people. They have three co-presidents, Boatwright, senior Stephanie Mondon, and senior Trang Dang. “I know it’s making some sort of impact. I don’t know if it is a negative or positive impact but all I can hope for is the best,” Boatwright said. GSA is a place where people understand and don’t judge you whatever your sexual orientation according to Riecker. “I want to say that GSA is open to anyone regardless of their orientation and if they’re interested in equal rights for everyone,” Riecker said.

2 news

special 2-part series

NEWS BRIEFS

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Comedy Fest underway Comedy Fest is a 100 percent student-run production. It is a night of written comedy sketches. Auditions were April 21, and rehearsals started yesterday. Jordan Taha, the co-director of Comedy Fest said she plans to keep the cast relatively small and looks forward to a fun couple of weeks.

Drake Relays today Drake relays will begin April 22 and go until the April 25 for its 100th track and field tournament. 113 events will be held on the track and field of Drake stadium, including 15 events for high school girls, as well as 15 for high school boys. ��

NHS induc�on next week The National Honor Society (NHS) will be selecting new officers in the upcoming weeks. The first duty of the new officers will be to induct next year’s members into NHS. The induction ceremony will take place Apr. 27 at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium. Current NHS member Katie Zenz served as an officer this year and had some advice for students thinking of joining. “It’s a good group to be involved in because it’s good for your college applications and scholarships because it shows you’re involved in your school and community,” Zenz said.

Blood drive coming up StuCo will be holding another blood drive April 29 in the small gym. StuCo will be going to homerooms to sign people up but students can also talk to Kirk Stevens and get signed up. Students will need a driver’s license and parent permission at the time of donation. Stevens wants students to know how easy it is to donate blood and encourages students to donate.

DM concert band fest May 1 Concert Band Fest is on Friday, May 1.The festival will be held at Roosevelt. The program is purely educational, no contest or ratings involved. The students will, however, be critiqued by a panel of judges and will be singing for a different school. Band conductor Randy Hoepker is looking forward to the experience. “It’s a nice opportunity for our students to hear some music from other schools,” Hoepker said.

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Limits on expression

�� Edward Rodriguez co-editor in chief As a freshman in high school more than 40 years ago, Superintendent Nancy Sebring can remember the long list of rules schools had regarding expression. She remembers the rules about how long hair could be, the rules about girls having to wear dresses to school and the rules about guys having to tuck in their shirts. But in the following years Sebring saw the rules relax, schools adapt and communities change. She found that “much bigger” things were happening in the world and administrators started worrying less and less about the length of students’ hair. “Civil rights and desegregation and the war in Vietnam. People were preoccupied with those things, so I think that the rules about dress codes in schools kind of seemed smaller in comparison,” Sebring said.

But 40 years after those events, students are beginning to realize once again that there are limits to how much of themselves they can express. “However, there are still some limitations,” Sebring said. “There are still some lines that even with the Tinker case, in regard to personal expression, there are still some things you can’t do...in a school.” Freshman Alex Woods found out quickly about some of those limitations. Woods had taken a government class at Central Academy that covered a section on student expression. Even with the information he got from that class he chose to wear his grey wife beater to school. And despite being told not to wear it by an administrator he chose to wear it again. “I just wore it because I don’t feel that I shouldn’t be able to wear it, so I just chose to wear it again because that’s the way I feel,” Woods said. After reviewing the Iowa law, Woods said his wife beater did not fall under the category of any of the exceptions. Administrators have classified the wife beater under the categories of “obscene” and “can cause a material and substantial disruption to the normal school environment.” Principal Doug Wheeler said wife beaters and other similar clothing cause too much of a distraction. “(A wife beater is obscene) in the way that it exposes too much of a person to their classmates. It’s like almost not having a shirt on at all. Which is why, I mean we allow students to wear a wife beater as long as they have a shirt on over the top of it,” Wheeler said. Sebring said dress codes are all about respecting each other. “I think the purpose of a dress code in today’s schools is more about disrespect for one another or for the environment you’re in,” Sebring said. John Tinker, one of the three former students involved in the 1969 Supreme Court case, believes that dress codes are influenced by the society surrounding the school. Although Tinker doesn’t necessarily agree with every clothing choice that students make, he said administrators should be careful when imposing restrictions because they can add up. “If students get the idea that it’s a free country and the actual fact is there are so many exceptions to the rule of freedom, then you might as well not even think of it as a free country,” Tinker said. And some students like Woods are beginning to feel just that. “I feel that school officials are basically just deciding that it’s not our freedom of expression to wear that type of clothing; that it’s just inappropriate and they don’t feel that we should be able to,” Woods said. Sebring, however, said that most students understand their rights and are respectful of the rights they’ve been given. “You know it’s always sort of fascinating that most people get it,” Sebring said. “Most people are respectful, kind and they understand their rights and they don’t try to infringe the rights of others…I don’t know that we all recognize the degree to which we value that unless it was taken away.” One of Woods’ biggest issues was that he said his dress code issue was unnecessary and “took time out of the day that you don’t need.” Wheeler disagrees and said teachers and administrators work to create a safe and orderly school environment. In order to do that, Wheeler said, certain rules have to be followed. “In other words, you don’t check your rights at the front door. But in order to maintain a safe and orderly environment, we have to make certain rules; we have to enforce certain rules,” Wheeler said.

a CLOSER look ��

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A look at how dress code policies have changed and the rights students do and do not have.

�� 52 students in grades 9-12 were chosen at random to complete a survey on the dress code and first amendment rights. The following is the result of that survey. % could not list all five rights 78 guaranteed in the first amendment

% believed students could 90 not be asked to change clothing because of a certain color

% felt that their 38 rights as a student had been violated. % believed school 65 officials can not regulate what students wear.

�� Section 280.22--Student exercise of free expression 1. Except as limited by this section, students of the public schools have the right to exercise freedom of speech, including the right of expression in official school publications 2. Students shall not express, publish or distribute any of the following: a. Materials which are obscene b. Materials which are libelous or slanderous under chapter 659. c. Materials which encourage students to do any of the following: -Commit unlawful acts -Violate lawful school regulations -Cause the material and substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the school

www.hooverchallenger.com

features 3

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A li�le real talk

�� wrongs is a pretty overdue idea. Michael Roby back page editor

Junior Alexis Andrews speaks for televevision talk show. The show is targeted at teens to encourage them to make positve decisions, be open to ideas and try new ac�vi�es. “It’s really fun,” Andrews said. ��

�Party favors Good �mes

Teens use par�es as a way to socialize with peers. While underage purchase of alcohol is strictly prohibited, underage consump�on of alcohol is not explicitly prohibited. Iowa law does however state that consump�on of alcohol in a public place is prohibited. Regardless, par�es for under 21 crowds o�en ﬁnd it a simple process to gain access to both alcohol and illegal drugs.

Busted ��

Jason Reichenbacher opinion editor Senior Jessie Smith* was afraid of what kind of trouble he would get into when the cops busted into a party he attended. Smith was among many of the people who were drinking. Smith has simple reasoning behind why he drinks. “I usually have a good time when I’m drinking,” Smith said.

The television show, Real Talk is a kind of blend between sitcom situations and a talk show format. The show is targeted at teens to encourage them to make positive decisions, be open to ideas and try new activities in the ever expanding world around us. The show is co-hosted by junior Alexis Andrews. Andrews joined the group in January, and has since worked on set as a moderator to keep conversations going and interest fresh. Since she joined, the group has done everything from segments about teen pregnancies to supporting the “Creative Visions” center to learning “The Ancient Language of the Fist,” in a martial arts piece. “It’s really fun, it gets kinda weird sometimes, we once changed a baby live on set, but it’s usually just really exciting,” Andrews said. Andrews said she is looking to be a host on a radio or TV show, and thinks that this will be good practice. Sophomore Gretchen Matthews thinks a show teaching kids rights and

“Kids are stupid. A parent can tell them these things but there’s no way they’ll listen, but if they just hear it on TV, maybe they’ll actually pay attention,” Matthews said. Junior Jessica Chapman also thinks a show aimed at teenagers is only going to help reinforce what they’ve already heard time and time again. “And it’s also really big when it is one of them, you know, another teenager, saying it, we listen to ourselves more then we listen to anyone else,” Chapman said. Andrews has had to deal with her fair share of struggles on the show however. With only so much money, little advertising can be done and viewers are limited. “This show is probably just watched by whoever just flipping through the channels and happens to stop on it, that and my friends who call me to say, ‘Hi! We’re watching you on TV!’” Despite this and lack of funding in some places, Andrews believes Real Talk can teach teens to make the right decisions. “It’s only going to help you if you watch it, but if you do, it could change you,” Andrews said.

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Bad times Selling alcohol to underage ci�zens is strictly prohibited in the state of Iowa. Anyone found providing alcohol to underage ci�zens can be faced with criminal charges. Underage ci�zens found consuming alcohol in a public place can face having their driver’s license suspended or revoked. Also, possession of illegal drugs, such as marijuana, is prohibited and consequen�ally can be also be faced with criminal charges.

HILLARY OLSON ILLUSTRAION

Smith has had experience with both cops breaking up a party he attended and cops breaking up a party he hosted. “I was at a house on the south side, the party was packed with about 50-60 people. Some cops came in the back door yelling ‘Cops!’” Smith said. Legally, nothing happened to anyone that night. The host was not even ticketed for hosting the party. Smith thinks that the police showed up at the party because a neighbor complained about the noise. Smith also hosted a party that police ended where drinking and the use of drugs took place. Smith was ok with his friends drinking and using drugs at this party because he trusts his friends. “I trust my friends who might be under the influence,” Smith said The party was busted at around 12:30 that night because of a noise complaint. “It was like a scene out of Superbad,” Smith said. The cops sarcastically walked in the back door making jokes about watching

Worse times

Having par�es busted where there is underage drinking or illegal drug use going on can bring long term consequences. The legal BAC level for underage ci�zens in Iowa is 0.02. Any one underage who exceeds this level can face criminal charges. A criminal convic�on will stay on a person’s record for life.

everyone run away. “They told us that if anyone came back they would come back. (After everyone left) I cleaned the house,” Smith said. School resource officer Joe Frentress has been a police officer for around nine years. Fentress has dealt with his fair share of underage parties. “Usually the public will call about a house where underage drinking is involved. (When I show up) I will find responsibility, contact parents and usually file charges,” Frentress said. Frentress said that he deals with these situations on a case by case basis. “Every situation is different. I have had situations where everyone has been respectful and all I have done was notify parents,” Frentress said. Iowa law gives police officers the ability to make decisions. “The greatest power an officer has is discretion,” Frentress said. Officer Nick Lloyd agrees with Frentress about dealing with situations individually. “Every police officer polices differently, and I’m not going to be a hypocrite and say that I have never had a sip of alcohol under the age of 21, just be respectful.” Llyod is not mandated by the state to arrest everybody caught in these situations. “I’m not required to do any certain thing. It’s not my job to be your dad, its all based on attitude,” Lloyd said. *Name withheld from story

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CopQuote “Usually the public will call about a house where underage drinking is involved. (When I show up) I will find responsibility, contact parents and usually file charges.” -Joe Frentress School officer

4 health

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4.24.09.v42.i10

Dealing with teen depression ��

Jessica Thrane opinion editor

Junior Irma Zimic has not been ofﬁcially diagnosed with depression but has been depressed and is currently in counseling for it. “Depression pretty much sucks,” Zimic said. Helpguide.org is a website for help for people with disease or disorders. According to Help Guide, “feeling down from time to time is a part of life, but when sadness takes over your life it might be depression.” School social worker Barb Petersen has dealt with kids with all ranges of depression, “from mild to suicidal. ” There are different ways of knowing if a person has depression. “Well, the difference between being sad or mourning and being clinically depressed is mostly the time frame. I think it has to be consistent over time for more than two weeks,” Petersen said. For most people understanding depression might be hard. Understanding depression is key to helping a person but so is getting him or her diagnosed. “I personally am not a doctor, but if I do see signs of depression I do recommend that they go somewhere for further assessment,” Petersen said. According to Help Guide

feeling sad or disappointed about a situation is a normal reaction to surroundings but depression takes someone’s whole life. “When someone is just sad or mourning it usually gets better over time,” Petersen said. Depression also affects their body and their relationships with the people in his or her life. “A person with severe depression has little or no interest in work or hobbies, and may even have trouble getting out of bed,” according to Helpguide.org “When a kid is depressed they usually don’t show much interest in many activities and other things,” Peterson said. Depression can be caused by

multiple things. “Depression can be caused by many different things, it could be a chemical imbalance. Or sometimes it can be a situation like if there has been a death, a divorce or a break up,”Petersen said. Depression can be caused by problems at home. “I was depressed because of problems at home. There were other things but it was mostly that,” Zimic said. Helpguide.org supports the idea that there are many factors why someone might have depression. Some factors are genetics, childhood trauma or abuse, loneliness or lack of social support,

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recent stressful or traumatic life experiences, alcohol and drugs, ﬁnance, or health problems.” There are different ways to treat depression but two are the most common. “It depends on the level of depression but usually they treat it with medication and counseling,” Petersen said. Some methods may not work for everyone though. “Counseling doesn’t help me; it just makes people mad,” Zimic said. Not everyone can fully recover from depression. “I’m recovering right now but there will always be a part of you that feels that way,” Zimic said.

Don’t let the (fake) sun go down on me

�� -Tanning beds can cause skin cancer because the UVA rays seep deep in the skin and damage ﬁbers and cells. -A study conducted in Sweden helped to prove that tanning beds are the major factor in the development of malignant melanoma. -Tanning beds also cause problems to the eyes, because UV lights are absorbed by the cornea which can eventually cause a form of cataracts. -Wear goggles at all �mes in the tanning bed, and make sure that the goggles have no cracks in them. -Never tan on a daily basis, at the max you should only tan every other day. -Use tanning lo�ons that speciﬁcally protect you in tanning beds. -Never tan longer than the recommended �me advised by the salon. ��

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sports 5

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HUSKY BRIEFS Huskies out of the park

Spring ball has begun for Husky baseball players. Sophomore Aus�n Damm is looking forward to this season. “Everything is looking good,” Damm said. Although the team is struggling with pitching, Damm said everything else is looking great. “Our hi�ng is looking good; we’re taking things serious this year,” Damm said. The baseball team has begun prac�ces which take place from 3-5 p.m. every day.

Girls track in the running

Students watch as sophomore Joe Wildt stretches out on the ﬂoor. Wildt s�ll enjoys the sport, even if some people have been giving him nega�ve comments. “I’m going to ignore them because I did it for me and not for them,” Wildt said. ��

Going against the norm Cheerleading. It’s a sport that often involves tight uniforms, perky bows and bright smiles. Then again, there are also boys that like to try out for cheerleading. One of these boys is sophomore Joe Wildt. Wildt tried out for the cheerleading squad in March. He didn’t make it last year, but this year he made JV. Either way, this year was a different experience. “(It was) nervous for most people, but I’m used to trying out for stuff so it wasn’t a change,” Wildt said. Last year Wildt said students learned the basics for tryouts, along with two jumps, two cheers and one dance. This year students learned the same standard set, except with different cheers and dance. “We did two cheers, a dance and jumps,” Wildt said. Wildt didn’t think he was going to be taken seriously, yet he still wanted to be on the squad. However, he wouldn’t go to extreme measures just to make sure he got on. “I didn’t think most people were going to take me seriously, but I wanted

to do it. I would not do anything illegal or anything I don’t want to do,” Wildt said. Wildt met new people his freshman year during tryouts, but this year he just saw familiar faces. “I was familiar with most people from last year,” Wildt said. Wildt worked on his cheers with the group and ended up making it on the squad after tryouts. He said he wasn’t going to tell anyone about his success in the beginning. “At first, no. I wanted to be sneaky and get people guessing, but then I told (drama director Chelsea) Cunningham. She made me feel good when she congratulated me,” Wildt said. His reaction to getting on the squad for JV was also positive compared to some of the feedback he received. “I was excited both then and now. I didn’t know what people would say so I kept it a secret for a couple days,” Wildt said. On JV cheerleading, Wildt said he expects to do various things at football and basketball games. “We cheer, go to home basketball and football games. I get a megaphone,” Wildt said. During the summer, cheerleaders also have practice to learn cheers and dances.

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“There’s a camp and we practice and learn cheers,” Wildt said. Some people have reacted strongly to Wildt making the team. He said he has heard of some of the comments. “Most people were congratulating me. Some said it was a good idea. And a few people called me gay,” Wildt said. Wildt said he was just going to ignore people’s comments unless they were positive. “I’m going to ignore them because I did it for me and not for them,” Wildt said. Junior Anna Swan also thinks it’s a good idea for Wildt to be on the cheer squad. She says it’s something new. “To be honest, I think Joe has a lot of courage to try out in the first place, since this is not something most guys would even consider doing. I think it’s great that he’s on JV cheer if it’s something he enjoys, and I completely support him,” Swan said. Freshman Alexis Buckley agrees. “I think it’s funny yet influencing. I think it’s a good thing because he can dance,” Buckley said. Even with Wildt ignoring comments, he still thinks he’ll work well with other girls on the squad. “I think it’ll be a fun year. I’ll bring some fun to basketball and football games,” Wildt said.

Athlete of the Issue

Nathan Evans

Heaven Slye sports editor

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to try something new. Before Evans played tennis, he played soccer. “I wanted to try something new,” Evans said. “Soccer just got boring to me.”

Age: 18 Height: 6’5’’ Year: Senior Sport: Tennis

Future

Evans said that he was accepted into the Tulsa School of Welding in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Evans will not be playing tennis in college because he doesn’t think Senior the college he was Nathan Evans has been playing tennis accepted to has a since his sophomore tennis team. year. Evans started playing tennis because he wanted ��

Bio

There will be no high school classes for juniors Apr. 24. Drake Relays will be held on Friday Apr. 24 and Saturday Apr. 25. High school track teams from all over Iowa and surrounding areas will be present. There will be a girls track Hoover invite May 5. There will be a boys and girls track district meet May 15.

Boys tennis oﬀ to a start

Boys tennis started a�er spring break. They prac�ce Monday-Friday at 3:00 p.m. each day. Boys prac�ce on Hoover courts one week, then switch with the girls. On weeks they don’t prac�ce on Hoover courts, they take cars to ﬁnd their own. Recently the boys ﬁnished their fourth tennis match against SE Polk. Other opponents include Marshalltown, Dowling Catholic, and Mason City.

Girls tennis The girls of Hoover high tennis team had a match April 14. They played against Marshalltown. They prac�ce from 3-5 every day. Junior Senajda Dolic said she chose tennis because it’s a fun athle�c sport. The girls have two meets coming up against Urbandale and Lincoln.

Boys track Varsity runner Haris Kobacedic said he feels things have become a li�le tougher now that he runs varsity, but supporters cheering him on help. He said the track team could s�ll always use more support from peers. “It’d be nice to have people other than parents come,” Haris said. “We are always looking for new people. It isn’t as hard as most people think, just takes a lot of dedaca�on and �me.” Drake Relays are April 23-25.

Game dates Boys TennisApril 28- @ Hoover April 30- @ East Girls TennisApril 27- @ Urbandale April 28- @ Lincoln Boys TrackApril 23-25- @ Drake May 1- @Cedar Rapids Girls TrackApril 23-25- @ Drake April 30- @ Carlisle Boys SoccerApril 24-25- @ Adel April 27- @Hoover Girls SoccerApril 27- @ Valley April 30- @East

6 entertainment

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Strait to sponsorship ��

EASIEST AND HARDEST TRICKS OF SKATEBOARDING

TANNER BUCKLEY PHOTO ILLUSTRATION

�� Payton Quinn news editor Sophomore Josh Strait does more than just go to school everyday. He makes skateboarding part of his every day life. “I started skateboarding when my friend started, it just kind of became something I did,” Josh said. It’s one thing to skateboard for fun but in this case SPY Optic Glasses and Monster are involved. The two companies sponsor Josh in any competitions or big things he comes in to. “I got involved with the sponsors by sending in a video of me, and they really liked me,” Josh said. “I think that they liked me because I have a positive attitude towards things and I just care about my image.” According to Josh people get the wrong idea about skateboarders and its not true with all of them. “People think that we all drink, smoke and have long hair; I have long hair but I don’t do the other stuff,” Josh said. Strait also said people get the wrong idea about where they skate. Police get mad and they kick people out. “I’ve been in trouble once with the law and it was because I was skating on Grandview. The cops took pictures of me and told me if I come back that they will arrest me,” Josh said. “I board dry land, basically

everywhere,” Strait said. “I board with the same people basically which is (Hoover alumni) Alton Radar, Tim Gager and Alex Nicholoson.” Josh’s sponsors don’t have their home base in Iowa. They are located in California. The way they communicate with Strait is through email and videos of his improvement. “I was working with SPY first then I sent in something to Monster but they haven’t been that cooperative, I try to stay mostly in touch with SPY,” Josh said. Josh said the benefits of sponsorship extended to discounts. “I get a discount with the companies which can range from 40-50 percent, which is the good part,” Josh said. Strait’s family is very supportive and his sister Anna Strait thinks it’s cool. “It’s something he likes to do and is excited about it, so I support him,” Anna said. A dream of Josh’s is to one day be pro and make his name known. He looks up to many skaters such as Kevin Booker and Terry Kennedy. Strait has also met Bam Margera and Tony Hawk in the last years. “It was cool that I got to meet them. They inspired me to keep skating,” Josh said. Strait doesn’t think that people should stop skating due to obstacles. “Keep trying to be your best, and don’t get involved with the drugs,” Josh said. “Prove people your better than what they expect you to be and you will get far.”

4 SIMPLE TRICKS OF SKATEBOARDING Ollie- A skateboarding trick where the skateboarder pops the skateboard into the air. The eﬀect is the skateboarder jumping with the skateboard stuck to his or her feet.

Kickﬂip- Flick the board with your foot to make it spin underneath you while in the air.

Heelﬂip- To perform the heelﬂip a skateboarder ollies and slides his or her front foot to the toe side of the board and kicks the board with the skater’s heel.

180- A 180 is when the skateboarder turns the skateboard quickly 180 degrees while in the air, so that when the skater lands the nose is where the tail was. TANNER BUCKLEY SIDEBAR

Staying safe at prom Prom night always seems to include news reports of drunkdriving accidents and deaths, date rape, pregnancies or STDs, where teens display poor judgment and make dangerous choices. 

Know exactly what after-prom activities are taking place and where—if at a friend’s house, call the parents to conﬁrm and make sure that alcohol will not be present



Congratulations Graduates! Enjoy your summer & remember to keep EdCo in mind when making final college decisions. There’s no financial problem we can’t help fix! Also check out our website for teens, which is full of helpful tips and useful info for young consumers. Simply follow the link on our website. EdCo Community Credit Union � 609 38th St Des Moines, IA 50312 � 515-274-4100 � www.edcocu.com

Establish an agreed-upon curfew with parents so if anything happens they know where you were, what time you were there and what time you were coming home from there.



Alcohol slows reaction time and impairs vision, clear thinking, judgment and coordination. So be safe with the amount you consume.

There are more drunk drivers on the roads during the weekend. Keep a eye on oncoming drivers, as impaired drivers tend to drive toward lights. Keep that in mind when you’re driving 

Drive on well-lit roads, and carry a phone if possible.



Keep the radio volume turned low enough so your driver can concentrate on getting you to and from the fun. KEONNIE WARREN SIDEBAR HILLARY OLSON ILLUSTRATION SOURCES: ADVICE4PROM.COM, PROMGUIDE.COM

Christian Photo Dick Christian

Sales 515-270-8030 Fax 515-270-8056

Brian Christian

6721 Douglas Avenue Des Moines, Iowa 50322 West of Merle Hay at 68th www.christianphoto.biz

www.hooverchallenger.com

Tes�ng unfair for bilingual students In early March, Storm Lake teenager Lori Phanachone was suspended from school because she refused to take a test for students who are not fluent in English. Because she listed Lao as her home language, she was required to take a test for students who lack basic English skills. This incident in Storm Lake, Iowa questions the effectiveness of standardized testing and the categorization of students who speak more than one language. Phanachone took the test once and put down all wrong answers because she felt insulted by taking a test that clearly did not measure her real performance in school. The second year that she was forced to take it, she boycotted it, which forced school administrators to take action. One reason she was punished was because the school administrators were required by law to give her the test or else the school would lose federal funding. In reality, the school would not lose any federal funding at all based just off one student. She has a near-perfect gradepoint average GPA, and excels in all her advanced courses taught in English. Even though she clearly shows her proficiency in English and was never given English as a Second Language or other ELL

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CHALLENGER

To make it fair, you all get the same test, climb the tree!... Ha, you don‛t ﬁt the standard. You lose!!!

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service services before moving to Storm Lake as a sophomore, she was still mislabeled as an English Language Learner (ELL) Phanachone’s attorney from the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) Khin Mai Aung expresses her views over the unfairness of her situation. “It was unfair that she was labeled as an ELL learner without testing, but was tested later,” Aung said. By law, it is required for schools to test anyone who lists any language other than English as their home language during registration. Phanachone was not tested right away in the first place. “Iowa law says that you are an ELL learner if you speak another language at home and need more help with English skills. What is illegal is how Storm Lake misapplied the law,” Aung said Phanachone was suspended for three days, got her National Honor Society membership revoked temporarily and had some school activity participation opportunities threatened These punishments were too harsh and

The Challenger staﬀ voted 13-0 for this editorial

Standardized tests do not accurately assess a students’ actual intelligence

discriminatory because they punished a girl who felt degraded for having to take a basic English assessment test just because she put down Lao as her home language, which necessarily does not mean she is lacking in English. “You cannot dump all bilingual kids into the ELL category,” Aung said. Many bilingual students choose to put English as their primary language to simply avoid taking an English placement test. In Phanachone’s case, she actually listed Lao as her home language out of cultural pride and because Lao is what she speaks at home. Basically, the Storm Lake school district failed by not just giving one test to Phanachone in the beginning, but made her take it multiple times. This is belittling and demeaning to Phanachone. Although Storm Lake School District has reclassified Lori Phanachone as English proficient and restored her National Honor Society membership due to the help of the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) in New York, there still needs to be more awareness over the issue. Standardized tests do not accurately assess a students’ actual intelligence or progress. Although they test the general knowledge of important topics, they are not correct measurements of a students’ actual performance.

Student Sound Oﬀ

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Does standardize testing accurately display your abilities?

”

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Katlin

Perkins staﬀ writer

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state we’re planning to move to? Doesn’t it sound great there?” She always tries to make it sound like we’re going to be living in Disney World by saying it’s the most beautiful, amazing place on earth. I don’t see how ice-covered roads and 15 feet snow drifts can compare to Snow was hitting 50 on a 30 mph road, wind White’s castle. rushing through the car, music turned to My mom always liked to end the call with the top notch and a big smile stretched “It’s going to be great sweetie, I promise.” But across my face. I couldn’t wait to get home this time I didn’t even give her the chance to and tell my parents the news that I would be finish telling me the moving date. I hung up designing shirts and helping run The Cage, my the phone, turned it off and tossed it to the school’s clothing shop, when I heard my cell floor board. phone ring. Tears filled my eyes and streamed down I almost didn’t hear it because the music my face like a water hose on full blast. It got was so loud. Looking back I wish I didn’t. to the point where I couldn’t even see the road When I answered the phone my mom’s voice through the tears so I had to pull over. was scratchy and shaky and she sounded like I pulled into an old bowling alley parking she needed to tell me something important. lot that I drove past every day after school. It We made small talk for a few minutes and usually had a lot more cars for a Friday but then her voice got serious. I knew the news was quite dead for that particular one. wasn’t good because it always starts out the I was glad because I didn’t want people to same. see me sitting in my car crying my eyes out. “So… what do you think about whichever I couldn’t help but sit there and think about

I

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how much I hated my parents for doing this to me. Again. I was thinking of everything I could possibly say to get them to stay, but it was useless; they were stubborn. My mind wandered for about an hour and a half, thinking about friends and school. I thought about how I was going to tell my friends the news and how they would take it. My life was finally getting back on track. Just the rest of junior and senior year was left and I wasn’t going to be there to spend it with my friends. My parents promised to let me stay here for the rest of high school and it was a lie. Promises meant nothing to me anymore. They had already broken so many. My eyes were red and puffy and it looked like I was squinting because I cried so hard. I picked up my phone and turned it on to watch the missed call list grow from two to 19. I didn’t care that they were worrying about me. I didn’t care about anything after that. I just wanted to freeze time and stay lost in those last days before we moved away.

�� Publica�on dates for 2008-2009: • august 21-orienta�on • september 26-homecoming • october 15 • november 7 • wednesday, november 26thanksgiving • december 19-winter break • january 23-semester 2 • february 13-black history month • march 6-spring break • april 3 • thursday, april 24-prom • may 15-gradua�on • thursday, april 24-drake relays subscrip�on rates $10/year

Ad rates for 2008-2009: 1/16 page (2.5” x 2.75”) $25 1/8 page (5” x 2.75”) $45 1/4 page (5” x 5.75”) $80 1/2 page (10” x 5.75”) $130 full page (10” x 11.75”) $230 banner (10” x 1.75”) $80 (across bo�om of page) The CHALLENGER is published by the newspaper staff of Herbert Hoover High School, and exists to serve as an open forum for the students, faculty, staff, administration and community. All state and federal laws regarding the publication of student materials shall apply, and the CHALLENGER will not publish materials which also fall under the guidelines established by the Des Moines Public School system, and are deemed libelous, obscene or a material and substantial disruption to normal classroom activities. The views expressed are not those of Des Moines Public Schools, faculty, staff or administration. All articles are researched, written, edited and designed by the staff, and are the result of editorial decisions made by the entire staff. Any student, faculty, staff, or community member wishing to contribute materials will need to submit copy within deadline restrictions; however, final publication is at the discretion of staff. Letters to the editor are encouraged, and must be 250 words or less in length and signed; letters may be edited for length, grammar, spelling, etc. Every attempt will be made to verify the authenticity of the author, and no anonymous letters will be published. Advertising will be accepted for all products or services that are legal for minors to possess or utilize. Advertisers wishing to reserve publication space should call 242-7313 and leave a message.

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7 THINGS TO DO

Support Hoover rock ban as Vaudville Muse presents The Manicds s, Keno and Safety Hazard April 30.

See the Drake Relays today and tomorrow!

April

Catch Young Jeezy at 7 Flags Event Center on April 25th

Catch a taste of down south at the Rodeo, Wells Fargo Arena on May 8.

Monday

Tuesday

Feel like a kid again at the Za-Ga-Zig Shrine Circus at Vets Auditorium.

Drake Relays

Check out the Farmers Market for good �mes, good food, and fun!

27 Golf

First Baseball Prac�ce Soccer at Valley

Sleepy Hallows Sports Park, athle�c fun for anyone!

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Friday 24

Wednesday Thursday

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Dalton Jacobus

Senior Dalton Jacobus won a scholarship to ISU from ACE for $2000. MICHAEL ROBY PHOTOS

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Ottumwa at East Boys and Girls Tennis

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29

Blood Drive

1

Soccer and tennis matches at East

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Sunday

Saturday Drake Relays

G Track at SE Polk

25

26

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5 Places to go

Ritual Cafe, for great food, great service, and hospitality. Juniors and seniors, get using those college visit days. Take a few at Big Creek or Gray’s Lake, the weather’s great! Adventureland! They’re open!

Good movies are out there, check a few out.

EDWARD RODRIGUEZ BOARD DESIGN

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