April edition

{central focus} francis howell central high school | volume seventeen | issue seven | 4.11.2014

The balance between

Freedom & safety T h i s w eek on

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Questions of the week

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Tune into FHCtoday.com each week as students are asked to ponder questions like “If you could be famous, what would you be famous for?�

delve 3-8 | sweat 9-13 | in focus 14-19 | the scene 21-26 | be heard 27-30 | interact 31 | aperture 32

FOUR {wicked wi-fi} The Wi-Fi system and all its holes and gaps are explained in technological detail to provide insight into why the school's Wi-Fi works the way it does.

SIXTEEN {coming soon} Soccer in America was founded on the backbone of the hard-working St. Louisans. Now, St. Louis has a chance to live up to that reputation with a professional soccer team starting in 2015.

TWENTY {speak cautiously}

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local bands

Students have restricted First Amendment rights while at school. Learn why administrators and students often differ in their interpretation of this rule.

THIRTY {sticking to the stage} Life after high school opens up a world of opportunities, and some students choose to follow those opportunities straight to the stage by pursuing a career in theatre.

THIRTY-FOUR {tfm or nah?} getting a head start

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opening shots | april 11, 2014

zero tolerance

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Tyler Tran argues in favor of fraternities in the debate over whether frats are misogynistic or not. Cast your vote after reading his opinion.

{delve} An Air Force recruiter speaks to senior Cody Crocker during lunch. Recruiters visit frequently to speak to students planning on joining the military.

Marching into the future

By Emily Klohr staff reporter

E

nlisting in the Marines has always been a goal for senior Tyler Wilson. From being fascinated by the weapons his grandpa brought back from Japan after World War II to seeing strong Marines on TV, Wilson has known he wanted to serve his country by being a part of the military in some way.

Seniors often have difficulty deciding what to pursue after high school and debate between whether to go to college or get a job, but Wilson has always known that he wanted to be a part of the military.

“I was watching Tiger Woods golf in my grandpa’s living room and a commercial came on, a Marine commercial, and in it a guy was climbing a mountain.

He was struggling to climb it, but he eventually reached the top, and when he did, there was a Marine standing there at the top,” Wilson said.

After seeing that commercial and thinking it looked cool, he decided that he wanted to be a Marine too.

“I told my grandpa, and he laughed of course, some five-year-old wanting to be a Marine, but I guess that’s the day I had an idea of what I wanted to do, and I stuck to it,” Wilson said.

Wilson goes to Physical Training, or PTs, every

Saturday, which is a training program people can do before and after they enlist. He plans to serve for at least 20 years in the Marines and then retire happily, and he also wants to go to college.

“College is something I want to do, but I need a long break from school to mature a little, and then I’ll go,” Wilson said.

His great grandpa was a Marine in World War II and was one of the first people to go to the Japanese islands after the United States bombed them.

“He brought back a lot of cool Japanese weapons, and when I first found out about all that, I was about ten, I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” Wilson said.

Senior Justice Barber also plans on joining the Marines after graduation.

“I saw opportunity as soon as I heard about the military, and I look at the goal in life more than the consequence. This has always been something I’ve wanted to do, all by serving the U.S. country at the same time,” Barber said.

Barber sees the Marines as a way to learn new things and grow as a person.

“I see the Marines as an opportunity, a way to start learning trades that will benefit my future while I gather knowledge, benefits and a productive lifestyle,” Barber said.

Senior Jessica Monroe has also decided to be involved in the military after high school, but her path

photo by julia becker

Seniors pursue military careers after graduation

is a little different.

“After high school, I am attending the University of Memphis and studying nursing. My goals are to become an officer in the Navy as a nurse and, ultimately, a leader,” Monroe said.

Monroe plans on attending college, going through the Naval Reserve Officers Training unit, and getting her Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.

“I chose college because I want to get my BSN degree and become an officer rather than enlist and just hope I become a nurse,” Monroe said.

Monroe has always been interested in working in the medical field, but hasn’t always wanted to be in the military.

“I became more interested in the Navy when I was a freshman. I knew I didn’t want an ordinary civilian job, but I wanted to go out and serve my country alongside fellow shipmates with the same goal,” Monroe said.

Working as a petty officer in the Naval Sea Cadet Corps, a junior league of the Navy, has furthered Monroe’s interest in the Navy. She has also attended a mini boot camp where she achieved her swim qualifications as well as leadership skills.

“I chose to go into the Navy because I want to be the first in my family to serve our country. I feel we as Americans are very lucky, and it is my honor to give back,” Monroe said.

Jessica Monroe

Justice Barber

Tyler Wilson

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Wi-fi woes

Too many devices, not enough access points cause student complaints of weak Wi-Fi in school

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Wireless Access Points (WAPs)

staff reporter

It seems to get harder and harder each year to be able to use the Wi-Fi at school, as it kills phone batteries, is too slow and kicks devices off of using the Wi-Fi. Part of the reason the Wi-Fi is so insufficient is that many students and faculty have a device that uses the school’s Wi-Fi. “The school Wi-Fi is good,” said junior Darien Hayes. “It could be faster, but it’s not even that bad considering that 90 percent of the school is constantly on it.”

Our district uses the Wi-Fi system ARUBA. To be able to use the school’s Wi-Fi, the school must have Wireless Access Points (WAPs). WAPs are used to connect devices in the school to the Wi-Fi that the school offers.

These WAPs are found throughout the building in the hallways, and the radius of the WAPs is around 50 feet, depending on walls and how close the WAPs are to each other. If you come within the radius of a WAP, your device will drop connection with the last one and then connect to the closer one.

“A device will drop connection if it detects another access point nearby,” said Junior Greek Squad member Gina Cole. “The device will raise power when not nearby an access point.”

Most WAPs are in the hallways because you can get basic coverage from there, which is a huge reason as to why it is difficult to connect to the Wi-Fi when you’re in a classroom. Now that there are more devices in the building, more WAPs are needed in classrooms to get better coverage. Starting in the 2014-2015 school year, students will only be able to use the guest Wi-Fi. “The FHSD Wi-Fi will use device authentication as opposed to the current user authentication to grant a device access,” said Mr. Ryan Kelly, the school’s technician. “This will limit it to

district computers only. It is a work in progress. It’s important for users to understand that our wireless needs are increasing every year as well as our number of access points. It’s hard to keep up with the amount of laptops, tablets, and smartphones using the wireless networks.”

Increased users makes way for increased WAPs. It also causes the school to use up the bandwidth, which is 250 mega bits per second (Mbps). The school usually peaks at about 150 Mbps, according to Cole.

The school’s Wi-Fi has to stay within a certain bandwidth, so certain phone applications, like Instagram, NetFlix, and YouTube are blocked by the district.

“YouTube, NetFlix, and similar applications are blocked because streaming videos takes up a lot of the school’s bandwidth,” Cole said.

Also, a site may be blocked some of the time because a teacher may ask for access to it at a certain time of the school day. Another reason a website could be blocked is because the school pays for a content filter, and it could go down sometimes, so previously blocked websites will become accessible, according to Cole. Kids have also found ways around the filters set up by the school.

“Right now we are using netsweeper,” said Mr. Kelly. “It doesn’t go down often.”

According to a survey conducted at FHC, 35 percent of the students say that the Wi-Fi system is too slow.

“I use it everyday,” said freshman Tori Hancock. “But sometimes it doesn’t work.”

42 percent of students surveyed use the school’s Wi-Fi for social media.

“I use the Wi-Fi for Twitter and iMessage,” said junior Jake Drnec. “And the worst part of the Wi-Fi is that I have to reconnect after every period. It’s not very good at all.”

What the Wi-Fi was rated

Number of Students

By Joey Silver

The staff of The Central Focus conducted an online poll of 46 FHC students to get their opinions on the school Wi-Fi.

What the Wi-Fi is used for

Number of students

Rating

Best hour that the school Wi-Fi works

Place in school where Wi-Fi is the worst Upstairs - Math Department Upstairs - Science Department Upstairs - Foreign Language Department Upstairs - Art Department Downstairs - Social Studies Department Downstairs - English Department Downstairs - Gym Downstairs - Lunch/Library

Other

Number of Students fhctoday.com | delve

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Not all tests created equal Fourth quarter offers numerous tests left for students to conquer.

By Erica Swanson staff reporter

The start of fourth quarter brings a sense of almost finishing yet another year of high school. Yet, with the end in sight, there are also many hurdles fourth quarter brings, especially in the area of standardized testing.

With EOCs in April, the ACT test also being added into the mix for juniors, as well as both Advanced Placement (AP) tests and finals in May, students have to be ready to use those freshly sharpened number two pencils.

All juniors will take the ACT test in the midst of EOC testing on April 23 at FHC. The scores from the test will counted like a regular ACT, and Francis Howell School District will pay for the tests this year. Next year, the state will pay for the tests, and the ACT will count as another subject for EOCs while still being able to be used as a score sent off to colleges.

Guidance counselor Mr. Tim Holmes sees this as a good decision because of students’ apathy towards EOCs. “The state does it next year, turning it into an EOC, which is smart because then students will take it seriously,” Mr. Holmes said. “A lot of students are like ‘who cares about EOCs’?”

The ACT provides more of an incentive to many students to give more effort compared to EOCs, which could help increase FHC’s scores, according to Mr. Holmes.

“To me, students will try harder on this one, because it

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means something for them,” Mr. Holmes said. “With EOCs, the average student does not care. They are like ‘it doesn’t matter.’ Students do not know that it can be used for Cum Laude and for honors. They just do it [EOCs] and go through the motions, which can affect our scores because of their efforts. This will be good I think.”

The ACT and EOC are two of the three tests that will be given to all students in Missouri in April. AP and ACT are national tests. The vast amount of testing brings students tremendous amounts of stress.

“It makes me want to crawl into a hole and die,” sophomore Jared Tredway said. “I’m so emotionally and physically drained from all of the different tests because of the pressures and stakes that come with them.”

As a sophomore, he will be taking the English II and Biology EOCs, the AP World History test as well as the ACT outside of school.

“I think the ACT and AP tests are most important because the ACT will show how I measure up to everyone in the nation and state,” Tredway said. “It can also help me get good scholarships. I think the AP test will be a good opportunity to get college credits which means less loans later in life.”

And colleges agree with Tredway. Ms. Lauren Titterington, a college admission counselor at Truman

State University, believes the ACT is most important to colleges and universities.

“ACT scores are really the most important of the three exams to colleges—this (or the SAT) is the exam that every student has to take in order to be considered for admission to a university,” Ms. Titterington said. “Usually a higher ACT scores gives students better chances of scholarships.”

AP tests are the second test that matter to colleges with the opportunity to earn college credit.

“AP tests are only applicable to a certain group of students, so the scores those students receive aren’t going to hinder their acceptance into a university,” Ms. Titterington said.

“The only bearing that AP scores have is on the amount of credit that a student can bring in to the university by taking that specific class and by passing with a specific score (usually 3-5).”

As for EOCs, colleges such as Truman State University do not even have access to the scores, and thus, do not have influence in any admission or scholarship decisions.

“EOCs, AP exams and ACTs are all very, very different exams in the world of college admissions,” Ms. Titterington said. “In fact, EOC exams didn’t really exist when I was graduating from high school. To the best of my knowledge, colleges don’t know the results of EOC exams, at least in my experience at Truman.”

photo by Dohen Gallagher

Senior Brianna Little studies for Mr. Range’s AP Biology class. The AP Biology test is on May 12, the week after three weeks of EOC testing ends.

Seniors’ choice SCC, Mizzou, Missouri State top graduate destinations

By Katelyn Viola staff reporter

People go into their senior year with an idea of what they want to do after high school. The majority of students want to go to college. The most popular colleges for this year’s seniors seem to be St. Charles Community College (SCC), University of Missouri (Mizzou) and Missouri State University (MO State).

Senior Callan Wylie considered Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Truman State University, Lindenwood University and Missouri State University. He ultimately decided to attend MO State in December of 2013.

“I wanted to get a few hours away from home, enough to get some independence, but close enough in case I need to get back,” Wylie said.

In addition to the location, Wylie also chose the school because of the price.

He believes it’s affordable and a good school. Also, the fact that he knows a few friends going there adds comfort.

“The tuition wasn’t bad compared to some other schools I’ve looked at,” Wylie said. “I have a few friends going, which makes the transition easier.”

A lot of factors go into deciding what college one wants to go to for the next few or several years of their life. MO State tipped the scale after Wylie heard good news about their art department.

“I want to major in graphic design and hopefully find a career in that field,” Wylie said.

Wylie believes that visiting colleges is an important opportunity because each student should feel that that school is where they belong.

“I went down when I was still

deciding between schools. It seems there’s a lot to do in and around the campus. And the campus itself, while big, is very nice and easy to get around,” Wylie said.

After spending four years in Cottleville, he is ready for new experiences and meeting new people in a new environment.

“It’s a lot to take in, but also a lot to look forward to,” Wylie said.

Senior Alexandra Behlmann decided in the middle of March that she is going to Mizzou.

“The school I wanted is in Texas and too expensive... and Mizzou has a beautiful campus,” Behlmann said.

Her primary reason for sticking to her choice in Mizzou is because of the high student involvement opportunities.

Behlmann likes to stay socially active.

“It has a wide variety of clubs and organizations and a strong Greek life, which I really want to try out and mostly because of the sports atmosphere and strong student section,” Behlmann said.

Before making a choice, Behlmann was also looking at MO State and Texas Christian University. Though Mizzou seems to be the best instate school for Behlmann’s outgoing personality, she admits her strategy in choosing the school wasn’t well thought out.

“I actually don’t really want to go to college,” Behlmann said. “I played eenie meenie.”

But Behlmann does have a specific idea on what she wants to study. She wants to focus in child psychology and hopes to have a career as a play therapist.

“I would play with little kids who were abused and subconsciously find out

the information if they were to draw a violent picture or something like that,” Behlmann said.

She has much love for kids. She wouldn’t mind being a child care specialist either.

“It’s a therapist who works with children having surgeries or life threatening procedures or cancer etc. and explains what the doctor is saying in kid terms and stays with them and the family for the whole thing,” Behlmann said.

Senior Taylor Huskey considered several other colleges before deciding she would be going to SCC. She has known SCC is definitely where she will be attending since January because she’s offered a huge price reduction.

“I got a scholarship to play softball there,” Huskey said. “I’ve been playing softball since I was five years old, so I couldn’t give up the offer.”

Huskey wants to start out at SCC but hopes to transfer to Lindenwood University or MSU during her sophomore or junior year.

“I hope to keep playing softball at Lindenwood if I go there,” Huskey said.

She wants to major in early childhood education and work in an elementary school. Her career plan is to work with children as a second grade teacher.

“I absolutely love little kids. By second grade all the kids should know how to read,” Huskey said.

Like Wylie, Huskey is very excited for the college life. She looks forward to growing up and not being dependent on her parents as much.

“I look forward to having more freedom and to be more independent,” Huskey said. “And to get away from all the lower classmen.”

Total cost for an FHC student Choir: $30 (All choirs) Sports/other activities: joining fee, gear, equipment, uniforms, practice outfits- various amounts starting at $100$1000+

DECA cookies:

$1 for two, $0.75 for one, about $30 per year for someone who buys two cookies a week

School dances: tickets, fees to

buy dresses, suits, shoes, jewelry, appointments-- starting at $30-$800+

Theatre (3 shows): tickets $20-$25 for all shows throughout the year

Activities pass: $25 Lunch: $15 per week on average, $450/year

Spartan merchandise: $25

hoodie, $10 T-shirts (assuming student buys three a year--$30)

Yearbook: $50-$65

Total cost for an FHC

$790$2480+ per year student*:

*Figures calculated for a student involved in all of the activities above.

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watch On the

By Erin Rowland delve editor

The beginning of fourth quarter brought some drastic new changes to the halls of FHC. Students were shocked to return to the school to discover new hall monitors on patrol. The new monitors are all substitute teachers well-known in the FHSD community. The monitors, currently only in place for fourth quarter, were put in place in order to create a safer school environment for students and staff during stressful standardized testing.

“One of the things we do as a district, and also do in the building, is constantly evaluate how school years go every year. One of the things we evaluate every year is how can we ensure the safety of the school year all the time, but then towards the end of the year is where a lot of the silliness starts,” Principal Sonny Arnel said.

The decision to implement hall monitors came from district superintendent Dr. Pam Sloan.

After examining how the end of the year has gone in the past, she decided to ask each high school to hire hall monitors for their buildings during fourth quarter.

“Sometimes kids feel as though they can’t pass, or there are frustration levels for whatever reason. It could be seniors wanting to do pranks, it could be lots of different things,” Dr. Arnel said.

Dr. Arnel asked Mrs. Terri Voss and Mr. John Clark to join the staff as hall monitors for the rest of the year.

“Both of the people we’ve hired … are people that have subbed a ton in our building and that our students really engage with and like, and that I think will approach and handle our kids well. I didn’t want someone to come in and be a hammer,” Dr. Arnel said.

Mrs. Voss received a call from central office offering her the position and she accepted it.

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“The decision came down from central office as just a little extra precaution. Nothing has happened at our school, but we just wanted to make sure that the students and staff are safe,” Mrs. Voss said.

Mrs. Voss and Mr. Clark both patrol the halls of FHC, checking hall passes and keeping an eye on the building.

“We make sure the students in the hallways have passes and are where they’re supposed to be. We check the restrooms just to make sure there’s not graffiti or smoking or drugs going on, and we make sure that it’s a safe environment for everybody,” Mrs. Voss said.

It is currently unclear if the hall monitors will be a permanent addition to the school or just in place for the end of the school year.

“We might be the only school in the area that doesn’t have [hall monitors] all year long,” Dr. Arnel said. “All the Zumwalts do, Rockwood does, Parkway does, Pattonville does.”

From Dr. Arnel’s perspective, the hall monitors have already made a huge difference in the school.

“In just the week we’ve had them, they’ve really created a better sense of support for our teachers. Yesterday we found out that a kid had snuck out of class, and the hall monitor brought them back to class… We were able to work with that young person to make sure that they made good choices,” Dr. Arnel said.

The final decision on if hall monitors will stay a part of FHC comes down to summer meetings and resource allocation.

“There’s always a cost. A resource cost, a time cost, a financial cost. And with all decisions we make, there are only so many resources to spread around,” Dr. Arnel said. “I’d love to have that all year. We’ll evaluate it at our meetings over the summer.”

“

FHC hall monitor Mrs. Terri Voss patrols the upstairs hallway. Ms. Voss and Mr. John Clark were asked to join the staff for the fourth quarter this year.

We make sure the students in the hallways have passes and are where they’re supposed to be. We check the restrooms just to make sure there’s not graffiti or smoking or drugs going on, and we make sure that it’s a safe environment for everybody.

Mrs. Terri Voss {hall monitor}

photo by ashleigh harding

Hall monitor system implemented as resource for teachers, students during fourth quarter

photo by ashleigh harding

Lifting the burden

Administrators consider organizing a study period for next year

By Brayden Densmore staff reporter

Teachers and administrators are always on the lookout for ways to better students’ learning environment, aid students with the heavy burden of school and extracurricular activities, and make FHC a better place. With the year already winding down to a close, administrators and teachers are turning some of their focus towards next year.

Instead of brainstorming new ideas, some teachers are working to revise and re-institute a program called Spartan Advantage, which was used far before this year’s seniors even set foot in FHC’s halls as freshmen. The program was a weekly class period reserved for individual working, studying, and tutoring. While many students may have benefited from the program, many took advantage of the period as a time to sleep, talk, or simply skip. This prompted the faculty to scrap the program entirely.

“Spartan Advantage was a built-in intervention time for kids to study, get help from teachers, and work on projects during the ‘06’07 school year. It was set up as a drop-in program where students could go visit other teachers at their leisure. Unfortunately, some students would say they were going to visit another teacher and, instead, roam the halls,” said FHC Associate Principal Mr. Lucas Lammers.

As of right now, FHC is the only school in the district who does not have a weekly free period. With the initiation of the program, administrators would be following the lead of our sister schools, Francis Howell and Francis Howell North, who both have a weekly homeroom and study session very similar to Spartan Advantage. Both schools have seen great success with the study period, with students utilizing the time to lessen their load of schoolwork.

“On Wednesdays we have an hour after second hour called ‘Howell Time’ to do homework, go visit teachers, retake tests,

or work on projects. Some students just sleep, talk to friends, or play on their phone if they don’t have anything to do, but most use the time in a constructive way. We can get passes to go to other classes to work on projects or talk to another teacher, which is great if you can’t find time to work on a project or are struggling in a subject,” said Francis Howell senior Haley Crosby.

Senior Miranda Eastman is optimistic about the idea of a weekly homeroom and study hall, hoping that the free period will relieve some of the stress of students’ school work. If the program emulates that of the district’s other schools, students would be allowed passes to visit other classrooms, maximizing the benefit of the study hour.

“I think the period would be most beneficial if, during the study period, students were allowed to visit their teachers or other classrooms for help or work time,” said Eastman. “Being able to talk to teachers about subjects I am struggling with or go to a teacher’s class to work on a project would definitely help me. I think my grades and overall understanding of some of my subjects would greatly improve.”

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Snow days fail to put damper on break School-sponsored trips, vacations taken during spring break were not affected by excessive make-up days

By Rachel Large Staff Reporter

This winter has been the coldest in years, with snow storms almost every weekend and wind chills reaching negative 15 degrees.

Because of this, school has been canceled a total of eight times, and those snow days added school days onto spring break and to the end of the school year.

Students, like the ones who went to Scotland and England during spring break, had to miss days of school and make up homework from the missed days.

Mrs. Patricia Shockley, who was the chaperone for the AP Literature trip, wasn’t worried about

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the missed days.

“We missed the three snow makeup days, but the students took care of assignments beforehand, and I planned those three days for subs,” Mrs. Shockley said.

Even after having to make up work and miss days of school, students weren’t too concerned with the situation either.

Senior Karrin Nettles, who went on the trip to Scotland and England, didn’t mind missing three days of school. Nettles had to make up some homework and a few tests from the missed days.

“I think it was worth missing those days of school because I got to go on a really fun trip,” Nettles said. “I

had to make up more tests than homework, so I had to study a little bit, but in the end, it was worth it.”

Nettles stated that she liked having days off of spring break instead of the end of the year, but in the end it doesn’t really matter.

Other students, like junior Zachary Harrellson, went on their own trips and had to miss days of school.

Harrellson went to Arkansas to spend two weeks with his grandparents. He planned to leave on March 9, the first day of spring break, and return on March 23, the last day of spring break, without missing days of school, but because of the snow day make-ups, he

missed three days of school. Even so, he wasn’t concerned with missing those days because he only had to make up a little work.

“I only had to make up some science worksheets, which isn’t too hard,” said Harrellson. “I also had a sheet signed by the teachers so the missed days were excused.”

Harrellson stated he would like the make-up days to be placed at the end of the year instead of at the beginning of spring break.

“I would like to see the snow days be made-up at the end of the year because spring break is the last real break before summer, and I don’t want to spend half of it at school,” Harrellson said.

“I think it was worth missing those days of school because I got to go on a really fun trip.” { Karrin Nettles } Senior Nettles explains why missing three days of school didn’t reallly matter in the long run.

{sweat}

photo by julia becker

The last dance

Departing dancers leave void to fill in dance squad

By Tori Cooper

T

staff reporter

he Sensations just wrapped up their season last month; for them this means saying goodbye to a good portion of their team.

They watched 11 of their 18 varsity members finalize their high school dance experience this season. For Sensations such as sophomore Morgan Drury, this will cause a huge change for the team. The team will be much smaller than it has for the past four years. There will be new girls coming up from the JV team and incoming freshmen dancers next year that will help make up the new Sensations.

“We won’t be as big, so I think that will change the dynamic of the team a lot, because with a bigger team you’re not as close, and I think that next year we will probably be a little bit more closer

with each other,” Drury said “Since it will be a younger team we will have time to grow as a group and get better.”

The smaller team won’t be the only change for the girls. They will also have to get used to the absence of the team’s seniors. The more time spent as a team, the closer the team will get, and for the Sensations, this is more than true. For sophomore Megan Butts, this is the hard part about seeing the seniors move on to college. The feeling of emptiness on the dance floor next year was soon realized by Butts.

“It will feel empty probably because those girls meant so much to each one of us, and they had a huge impact on the team,” Butts said.

For senior Allison Benney, this is also the hard part about leaving the Sensations. The close bonds that the girls have shared over the past four years is hard to see break as they move

on in their lives to go to college and make the decision to continue on with their dance career. The girls’ friendships have been strong, as they all share the same passion for dance. Like the other girls, Benney will miss the camaraderie among the team.

“I’m going to miss my friends and everything; I’ve gone through high school with all of them, and they have become my best friends, so I’m going to miss them,” Benney said.

The hopes are high for next year’s Sensations. Even though the team will be smaller, seniors such as Benney and Stephanie Henry feel that the team will do well. The girls are convinced that the leadership for next year’s team is very strong and that they will have a good season.

“I think that they will do well, even though they will be a smaller team,” Henry said.

Looking back on all of her high school performances, Benney said that nationals in Florida was her favorite competition to perform in every year.

“I love nationals because we get to go to Disney, and the competition is so high, and everyone is so good,” Benney said.

For seniors like Henry, who will be trying out for Missouri State’s dance team, if they will be dancing in college has already been decided.

They will take on more challenging dance competitions and will get a chance to meet new girls that share the same passion as they do. There are some like Benney, who will be attending Mizzou next year, that have not yet decided if they will be continuing their dance career in college.

“I haven’t decided if I want to dance yet, I guess it depends on what happens next year,” Benney said.

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Josh Call Andy Moats Garrett Allsman Jake Muehlenbrock Erik Webb Justin Thurman Graham Nave Tyler Kuhlmann Tony Berra

Boys Tennis

While the boys tennis team didn’t have any official offseason practices or training, some of the Spartan tennis players took it upon themselves to maintain and improve their skills over the school year.

“I’ve been doing a lot of tournaments, as well as learning a lot from a coach who works at the Whitmoor Country Club,” said junior Allen Yu. Compared to last season, players report seeing an increase in coachplayer interaction, mainly through the Dylan Cochran Dylan Commerer improvement of the team practices.

“This year, the practices are more organized. We get instruction based on our performance, and we’re doing drills this year, which we hadn’t done before,” said Yu. The players have been taking an active role in their own practices, some doing research on their own time on new drills that target the fundamental skills needed.

“We’re working on individual skills, like

Key Players Rising Corey DeBlaze Casey Nielson Nick Vadalabene Chris Wieland Christian Wiskoski Allen Yu

Girls Soccer Key Players Jenna Adkins Sydney Chalcraft Molly Donovon Caitlyn Eddy Jazmin Garcia Morgan Graczyk Lauren Nosal Rachel Schreyer Katie Wood Jaclyn Zilch

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Rising Madelyn Kreienheder Mackenzie McDowell Sam Patton Abbie Rademacher Emmalee Schroeder Payton Steiner Lacee Wesloh Summer Zakrzewski

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The

serves, getting our kick serves and cross serves down,” senior Chris Wieland said.

Meanwhile, the team has also been focusing on playing challenge matches determine ranking so that games scheduled between schools result in relatively even matches. These challenge matches also create a competitive atmosphere at practice, encouraging players to improve which in turn will make for a stronger team.

This year the primary theme for the girl’s soccer team is speed.

Focusing on overall fitness and the fundamentals the team aims to create a fast paced environment every game.

“We’ve really been working on increasing pace of play with passing, working up the ball and to the ball, making sure we’re first to the ball,” Coach Eddie Mulholland said.

The team has also been taking advantage of the new turf field which has allowed them to practice outside more despite the sometimes less than ideal weather conditions. With the ability to practice outside the team has also been able to get more conditioning in, which is a key part of their focus this year.

“Our conditioning is a lot better this year. We’re in a lot better shape than we were last year and we’re getting a lot more touches,” junior Lauren Nosal said.

Strategically the team employs several different defensive formations which can be changed on the fly to fit their needs.

If the team needs more protection in the back they’ll use a 4-42 or the diamond which has one player hanging back who can sweep up the ball if needed. If the team is feeling aggressive

spring sports

panel

By Tyler Tran & Devin Chen staff reporters

photo by ashleigh harding

Cody Calhoun Tyler Emery Zach Lehmann Jake Schneider Mitch Miller Jack Webb Ryan Schindler Eddie Wyatt Troy Newell

photo by ashleigh harding

Key Players Rising

situations.

To achieve this, the team has been constantly finetuning their hitting during batting practice and putting in hours of fielding so that they’ll know what to do with the baseball before it even comes to them.

Going along with practicing the little things is the team’s overall strategy of playing small ball.

“We’re not the kind of team that’s going to be hitting triples and doubles off the wall, instead we’re doing a lot more bunting and stolen bases. Just a lot of gritty baseball,” junior Andy Moats said.

Through all these strategies and all the hours of practice put in, the team aims for a successful season.

photo by abigail kaplan

Baseball

After a busy off season, the baseball team is ready to hit the dirt and show what they’re made of. This year, the team is working on the little things in order to win big.

“Baseball is a game of fundamentals, and we’ve got to make sure we’re doing those correctly. We may not have as much talent as other teams out there, but we’ve got a bunch of guys who can go out there and get the job done,” senior pitcher Troy Newell said.

By focusing on concise and nearly flawless execution, the team will minimize errors and mistakes, effectively shutting down other teams.

That means making the most out of every play, going for double plays and performing well in different hitting

they’ll implement the flat four formation which allows the players to step up and attack more by sending more runners up the field, sacrificing protection for offensive capability.

Using these strategies the team shoots for a successful season and aims to clinch the district championship.

photo by jeremy karp

photo by darby copeland

fluid passes. The team’s serve receive formation has also been improved, and boasts a higher passing percentage which will set up big plays. Overall, the team is constantly working on fine tuning their game, analyzing each aspect of their game play after each match to work on their weak spots during practice.

“Usually after a game Coach McAfee will tell us our strengths and weaknesses and what we did bad is what we’d work on at practice the next day,” senior Jeff Connor said.

By constantly adapting and improving the team hopes to rack up wins, and maybe even a championship.

The track team hits the ground running this year armed with strong preseason conditioning and the same classic strategies aimed to help their athletes reach their full potential. For Coach Heather Spirz, her goal is to find each runner’s race and give them specialized coaching based on that race.

“I try to find where their passion is, because if their heart is there and the passion is there then they’ll work harder for it,” Coach Spirz said.

photo by abigail kaplan

Volleyball, ultimate, track & field, girls soccer, boys tennis and baseball enter their seasons armed with new strategies and tactics aiming to help them improve on the field and have a winning season

Returning from a less than satisfactory season last year the volleyball team enters their season hungry for another state title. Armed with new strategies and experience from off season training the team hopes to repeat their incredible state run two years ago that cumulated in a state title.

“We had some open gyms during the offseason,” senior Scott Halbert. “Also, every one of our starting six was playing club volleyball, so everyone has been working, and improving.”

This year the team is employing a new defensive formation, setting up blocking points in certain areas that cover certain parts of the court in order to set up more

Coming just short of a state championship last year, the Ultimate Frisbee team returns this year with a chip on their shoulders and an eye on the championship.

The team has many returning veterans but also some new players that

Boys Volleyball Key Players Rising Dylan Ostmann Jeff Connor Scott Halbert Nick Crofton Cody Crocker Jacob Ficht Zach Smith Jordan Krumwiede

For sprinters the week is broken down into aerobic and anaerobic type workouts.

On days that are more focused on aerobic capacity the runners must work through a series of increasing or decreasing distances with little rest. On anaerobic days the runners run short distances repeatedly at 90% capacity with full recovery to simulate a race environment On the other side of the track there is the distance team, runners who specialize in longer distance events such as the 1600 meter run and the 4x800 meter relay. Their practices are broken down into speed and distance days; speed days consist of interval work which focus on training in oxygen debt and developing the foot speed needed in these fast paced races, distance days on the other hand focus on endurance.

“We need both speed and endurance if we want to be able to run well enough to medal,” senior Patrick Brown said.

will play a key role this year such as senior Spencer Hawkins who was recruited from Christian High to play for the team. This year the team sticks to the basics, reinforcing the fundamentals of the sport such as the different throws and cutting drills to veteran players and newcomers to the team.

“We’ve really been trying to teach the new guys how to read the disc’s movement and how to catch,” senior Nick McCullough said.

The team has been employing several offensive formations such as the horizontal and vertical stack that use these skills to break down their opponent’s defense and set up scoring opportunities.

Veteran players have also been working to impart their knowledge of the game to newer players in order to create greater depth the the lineup.

“We’re focusing on getting all the newer players up to speed so hopefully by the end of the year they have a better understanding of how the game works so when they fill in we don’t miss a step,” senior clay Goodman said.

With a strong returning foundation of returning player teaching the newcomers the ways of frisbee the team hopes to build a strong team that can go all the way.

Blake Carter Kyle Deubner Daniel Tedder Taylor Summe

Track & Field Key Athletes Rising Zach McKinley PJ Brown Luta Young Ricky Spraggins Derick Hatten Madison Grumich Kristy Eslinger Abby Woods Markell Sutton Joe Rucker Derrick Pierce Jake Baumgartner Devin Chen Madi Jilek Erica Swanson

Jake Drnec Jerry Joseph Dyllan Lindsey Megan Ryan Zach Painter Devin Enochs Taylor Fawcett

Ultimate Frisbee Key Players Rising Ethan Anderson John Davidson Ethan Degenhardt Clay Goodman Jonah Greco Kyle McCormack Nick McCullough Brendan Sullivan Daniel Yates

Clayton Newburry Spencer Hawkins Brian Miles

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A fresh start

By Alex Buhse sweat editor

A fork in the road rises. One path could allow things to stay as they are, the other could offer a brighter, more successful future but requires change. The decision for which path to take ultimately comes to this: stay in place with one path, or accept change and seek success with the other.

For Mr. Andrew Morgan, the head boys swim coach, the fork in the road for his life was to either remain in St. Louis or pursue a new job position with his company elsewhere. Leaving for this new opportunity, Coach Morgan explained his decision to leave, speaking of his career and his reason for relocating to New York.

“I’m leaving to take a job with my company in New York City. I’m not a faculty coach, so I don’t work in the building, but I’ve been working here in St. Louis for the same company for about three years now,” Coach Morgan said. “I’ve been coaching at Central since I was out of college, [which was] about six years ago. I just recently got offered a position in New York, and I’m taking it.”

With his new opportunity comes the emotions of departing from his coaching career and the students he has helped train.

“It’s definitely bittersweet. It’s been so much for me working here for the last six years, because since I wasn’t a faculty member, I kind of just got to see all t h e fun parts of F H C activities,” Coach Morgan said.

“For me, the

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coaching part was a break from work; it was a job, but it was also a break from what I was doing day to day. It’s something I [looked] forward to every year, so I’m sad to leave, and I’ll miss everything that goes on here.”

Coach Morgan isn’t the only one on the team feeling grief over the loss. To some of the swimmers on the team, Coach Morgan leaving will leave a hole in the team’s overall atmosphere. Sophomore T.J. Buchanan expressed his feelings about Coach Morgan moving to New York City.

“It’s going to be really weird not having him since I’ve had him as a coach for two seasons, but I’m sure that they’ll find a suiting coach,” Buchanan said. “Coach Morgan, or ‘Dude Coach’ as we call him, was really laid back with us, and because he’s a younger figure, it gets us more nervous about having a new coach that might connect as well with us as he did.”

One of the possible candidates being considered for replacing Coach Morgan is Mr. Jonathan Iwaszkowiec. Having swam during his high school and college years, Mr. Iwaszkowiec is a person with plenty of experience to fill the position.

“I swam YMCA and club swimming, and I went to - without getting into the technical swimming jargon - what’s considered United States swimming, which is like the junior/senior national level,” Mr. Iwaszkowiec said. “And then [I swam] YMCA - which is kind of a separate thing - and I went to YMCA nationals.”

Given his background with swimming, this has made Mr. Iwaszkowiec an ideal person to recruit to fill the position. The former competitive swimmer described why FHC is considering him for the job as the new swim team coach.

“It’s not one of those things that most people can coach; it’s one of those sports that’s very specialized,” Mr. Iwaszkowiec said. “So if you have experience doing it people are like ‘Oh hey, why don’t you coach’.”

As Mr. Iwaszkowiec stated, expertise attracts attention, and Mr. Iwaszkowiec has been no exception to this. Mr. Iwaszkowiec spoke about the offer he received to coach at Howell.

“They actually asked me to do [coaching] at Howell. Right now, I teach

Coach Andrew Morgan (right) holds the 2011 GAC plaque with varsity swimmers senior Derek Mielke (left) and alumni Andrew Smith (center).

Coach Morgan has coached the boys swim team for six years.

my first two hours at Howell, and here the rest of the day, and they asked me to coach guys and girls swimming.” Mr. Iwaszkowiec said. “They offered it to me the day I got hired, but I basically said no because I wanted to spend time with family, and I didn’t know which school I wanted get more involved with. Now I know [though], because I’m going to be here full time [next year].”

Not nervous about the idea of coaching, Mr. Iwaszkowiec feels confident that he could lead and train the swim team well.

“It’s not that hard; swimming doesn’t change essentially,” Mr. Iwaszkowiec said. “There are some new things, and I swim still for fitness, and so I know what I’m doing in terms of that, but it’s not like that there’s revolutionary training that’s required for it.”

The factor keeping Mr. Iwaszkowiec from accepting the position is the problem it makes with his schedule.

“The big issue is the time,” Mr. Iwaszkowiec said. “If it was right after school, I’d do it, [but] it’s because they

File photo

The boys swim team looks for a new head coach to replace departing Andrew Morgan

swim at night that it conflicts with my schedule.”

With practices lasting from 8:30 p.m. to 10:00 pm., training the swim team leaves little time for Mr. Iwaszkowiec to spend with his family, one reason for him not accepting the coaching position at Howell.

“My kids are three and one [years old], so I don’t see them all day; I don’t want to be gone all the time,” Mr. Iwaszkowiec said. “I don’t if [coaching is] worth it financially for that.”

Whether Mr. Iwaszkowiec decides whether or not to take the coaching opportunity, the rumors about him possibly coaching have still caused some excitement amongst the swimmers.

Buchanan described the hype among those on the team.

“From what I’ve heard, I feel like he would be a fitting coach,” Buchanan said. “[For] some of the other swimmers, that’s kind of who they’ve been hoping for because he’s close to school, and they know who he is.”

Varsity football players Lindenwood camps

tackle

Opportunity to visit the Lindenwood football camp will aid team’s preparation for next year

By Morgan Brader staff reporter

Any student walking by the football field after school can easily see that the boys are being worked hard. Football season doesn’t officially begin until the first day of school in August, but the football players start talking about training only one week after the end of their season. As the spring sports athletes begin their training, the football players are right alongside with them, training for their fall sport.

As soon as the games ended and the season came to a close in the first week of November, the football players kept their focus on their sport and marched straight into weight training to prepare for the following season and keep themselves fit.

Varsity player, junior Kevin Bayer can be seen practicing outside after school with

photo by Abigail Kaplan

Next year’s football team plans to improve their performance through extra training.

They will be attending the Lindenwood University football camp over the summer to help them with this.

some of his soon-to-be varsity teammates.

“Until the start of our season, we can’t have an official practice. When practices start, we can do full pads, but we have camps all summer long to prepare for the season,” said Bayer.

This year, the football players get the opportunity to train at a Lindenwood camp, where the high school players can get a taste of what college football training is like.

Nearly every football season is consistent when it comes to training, so the boys know what to expect when practicing with the school. They usually participate as a team in various camps over the summer, but this year, Lindenwood is a new idea for them.

Junior Alex Chiles is on his second year of varsity and has gotten the gist of what the coaches stress at practices.

“At first, we usually just do some simple drills to kind of get back into it, because we don’t really want to rush in. Then we kind of start getting flow for game days and put in our defense, offense, special teams, etc.,” said Chiles.

Bayer and Chiles are more than excited to train at Lindenwood and see it as an amazing opportunity for themselves and their team.

“I think it would be cool for the guys who want to play in college in the future. They get to experience training with colleges while still in high school,” said Bayer.

The varsity boys are expecting to be pushed to their limit. Having been to many football camps before the school seasons every year, they have an idea of what the Lindenwood trainers will be looking for.

According to Bayer, a good football player needs to be big, fast, strong, and they have to listen to their coach.

“At Lindenwood, we were just going to be doing football drills and getting into shape and improving on our footwork,” said Bayer.

Aside from Lindenwood, their team plans to get together with other camps and high schools to practice before games. The summer is their main target to start training full time for their sport.

“We’re trying to set up stuff with other high schools, where we go do seven on seven and other training like that. It prepares us for our games. And the people at camps expect to see us there in good condition, excited and ready for the season to start, and want you to have a good mindset for this year,” said Chiles.

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Much more than a game St. Louis is often regarded as the birthplace of soccer in America; now the city has a chance to back that statement with the possibility of getting a professional team looming

By Joey Silver

T Chelsea and Manchester City play in a friendly match at Busch Stadium on May 23. Chelsea won the game 4-3 in the dying minutes of the game. photo by Joey Silver

Argentina and Bosnia and Herzegovina warm up before the international friendly at Busch Stadium on Nov 18. Argentina won the game 2-0. photo by Joey Silver

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staff reporter

o St. Louis, soccer is much more than just a game. It is our culture, our heritage, our DNA. 2013 proved that by having St. Louis host three professional matches from teams across the world. With each match drawing more than 30,000 fans, the urge for St. Louis to get a professional team is stronger than ever.

The first match, a friendly game against two powerhouses of the Barclays Premier League (BPL), Chelsea FC and Manchester City FC, was held on May 23 at Busch Stadium and had a record-breaking attendance of 48,263.

The match ended in a comeback victory for Manchester City, winning 4-3.

“My initial thought was meh, who cares.

I’m a fan of the underdog, so neither of the teams were of interest to me personally when Chelsea vs Manchester City was announced,” said Steve Olsen, the owner of Soccerstl. net. “The enthusiasm for the games that I saw across my social media accounts as well as at the many games I cover increased my appreciation for the impact they would have.”

The second match was held at the Edward Jones Dome on Aug. 10, and it was a La Liga (Spanish) team, Real Madrid, and a Serie A (Italian) team, Inter Milan. The event hosted 54,184 fans, making it the largest soccer event ever held in St. Louis. Real Madrid ended up winning 3-0 with goals from superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Kaka.

Sophomore Coleton Brown was able to walk onto the field at the Edward Jones Dome because his club team, St. Louis Scott Gallagher Premier, won State Cup in his age group.

“It was pretty intense,” Brown said. “Walking out onto the field and having all the people staring at you, and seeing yourself on the big screen. It was awesome.”

The third match, held at Busch Stadium on Nov. 18 had 30,397 people attending. It was Argentina versus Bosnia and Herzegovina in an international friendly. Argentina won this game 2-0, with the two goals coming late in the match from Manchester City star Sergio Aguero.

Houston Dynamo captain, United States player, and St. Louis native, Brad Davis, said St. Louis is a city who’s rich history nurtured his love for the game and believes the area would provide great support for a professional team.

“In St. Louis, I grew up with a ton of support stemming from my dad’s love of the game and my brother’s ability to carve a path for me. I always grew up playing with older guys and wanted to follow in my brother’s footsteps. I feel unbelievably lucky that I was able to be part of youth soccer in St. Louis,” Davis said. “My youth club (Scott Gallagher) coaches and mentors were at the top of the charts in our nation as far as youth soccer development was concerned. I was never the biggest, strongest, or fastest, but my skill and technical ability has made my career what it is today. I’m extremely lucky and blessed to have been born into the tradition and history of soccer that St. Louis has.”

Davis went to Chaminade, and also played at St. Louis University for two years. He thinks a professional team in St. Louis would flourish, but under the right ownership group.

“A team in St. Louis would obviously be great for the economy and would create a ton of jobs. I think St. Louis is the greatest sports town, with the Blues, Cardinals, and the Rams, St. Louis has shown it can support their professional teams.” Davis said. “In my opinion, it would have one of the greatest academies for youth soccer as well. Until St. Louis gets a true investor with deep pockets, they will never get a team. I do think if they find an investor and do things the right way

which includes a stadium downtown, it would be an unbelievably successful organization.”

Davis believes that without St. Louis, soccer in America wouldn’t be anywhere near as competitive or successful as it has become.

“St. Louis created soccer in America. I don’t think anyone will or can dispute that.

Without the rich tradition and history that St. Louis has had with soccer, I truly believe the game would not be where it is today in North America.”

Davis, a relative of Coach Nick Beckmann, has been in the MLS for 14 years, where he was drafted third overall by the New York MetroStars (now named New York Red Bulls) and has played for the United States national team.

“Professional soccer hasn’t affected my life, it has been my life,” Davis said. “To be a pro, you have to be fully committed to it. Off the field stuff is just as important as on the field stuff.”

Being a professional athlete is difficult, especially when trying to raise a family. It is a much different job than people would expect, and fans don’t really get to see the full effect that being a professional athlete has on someone.

“All people really talk about is the fact that you get to play a game on Saturday in a full stadium,” said Davis. “They don’t talk about the training everyday, the travel, living out of a hotel room and a suitcase for days on end, and most importantly, not seeing your family for long periods of time. I have had to make many sacrifices to make a career out of soccer.”

With some disadvantages come many great things. Davis is able to do what he loves while supporting his family, and he can travel the world.

“On the other hand, it has provided me a wonderful life,” Davis said. “Financially, it has supported my family and I for the past 14

In 2013, St. Louis hosted three high profile soccer matches, drawing clubs from England, Spain and Italy, as well as the national teams from Argentina and Bosnia & Hezergovina.

Those three games drew more than 130,000 fans to Busch Stadium and the Edward Jones Dome.

Photo by Joey Silver

years. It has allowed me to travel the world and Ice Soccer Club, and the Illinois Piasa.

“The St. Louligans started at AC St. Louis and see many places. It has allowed me to represent my country, which is a dream come (NASL team) in 2010.” Bradley Demunbrun, true. So for me, all the sacrifices have been the leader of the St. Louligans, said. “When worth it because soccer eventually will come AC St. Louis folded (later that season) some of us stayed together and started going to to an end, and you can never get it back.”

St. Louis has always been a contender to St. Louis Lions games. Now we go to Illinois receive a professional team, but has lacked an Piasa and Fire & Ice SC games too.”

Demunbrun believes St. Louis isn’t ready to owner willing to spend the money necessary receive an MLS team to get a professional just yet, saying the city team here. needs a team to start “St. Louis is a market I’d love to see out, and successfully that the same group professional outdoor compete in, a lower of soccer promoters soccer in St. Louis. I’m level division to get a have done a great working with a group to shot at a team. job selling out soccer try and make that happen.

“Realistically we need events,” said MLS Its a long process, and not to prove ourselves at a Commissioner Don easy, but hopefully we’ll see professional outdoor lower level first. USLGarber in his State of soccer in St. Louis for the Pro (United Soccer the League Address.

2015 season.

League) or NASL “St. Louis could be Andrew Haines {St. Louis Ambush Owner} is the way to go,” another great market.”

Demunbrun said. “The Olsen believes St. last several MLS teams Louis is ready for an MLS team, but lacks a good ownership group (Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Montreal and willing to pay the price. According to MLS, now Orlando City) have had a successful run two new clubs will enter the league in 2015, in a lower division.”

That owner Daviss and Olsen spoke of, a Miami team owned by David Beckham who paid $25 million for the team. The second however, may have just come. Mr. Andrew team, out of New York City, paid $100 million Haines, the owner of the St. Louis Ambush (Major Indoor Soccer League team) and Mr. for the team.

“I’d like to think that we are (a good Tony Glavin, the owner and coach of the candidate for an MLS team). I don’t believe St. Louis Lions and former Steamers player, there is a lack of belief in our willingness created St. Louis Soccer Partners, a group or ability to support a team within Major trying to bring a USL-Pro soccer team to St. League Soccer. The real hurdle is finding Louis by 2015, according to Glavin in a radio an ownership group that believes that is the interview on 590 AM The Man on Feb 15.

“I’d love to see professional outdoor soccer case,” Olsen said. “We need an owner with deep pockets. We need to attract an owner in St. Louis. I’m working with a group to try and make that happen. Its a long process, and with deep pockets.”

The St. Louligans, a group of hardcore not easy, but hopefully we’ll see professional soccer fans, have tried to do their part in outdoor soccer in St. Louis for the 2015 getting a professional team to St. Louis by season,” Haines said. “I can’t get into too supporting teams like the St. Louis Lions, Fire much detail. St. Louis Soccer Partners was

“

formed to bring outdoor professional soccer to St. Louis. There are a handful of people part of that and more details will be coming soon.”

Glavin wants to bring a professional team to St. Louis because there is no outdoor professional team in St. Louis. Glavin would be both a coach and investor in the team.

“It has always been a goal of mine to bring professional outdoor soccer to St. Louis,” said Glavin. “We’re in the process of putting together an investment group to bring a team.”

The St. Louis Ambush, although an indoor team, was a good first test run for a professional team. After seven years of no indoor soccer team, The Ambush finally returned to St. Louis in 2013 under the ownership of Haines.

“Being that I owned the arena football team in St. Louis I was looking at other potential ventures to invest in,” said Haines. “The MISL approached me about owning a soccer team. When we first started down the path to bring a team to St. Louis we hadn’t decided on the team name. After lots of research and suggestions we decided to bring the Ambush name back.”

Even though the Ambush haven’t been very successful in winning games, they are third in the league in attendance averaging 5,636 people per game, according to the MISL website.

“There really are a lot of great things about owning a MISL team,” Haines said. “I think one thing we are doing is creating memories for people; we have a lot of families attend our games. I hear all the time about how people remember going to Ambush games when they were kids, and how they want to have that same experience with their kids nows.”

Soccer has always had its place in St. Louis, and the hope of getting a professional team is looking more and more like a reality.

The St. Louis Ambush and the Missouri Comets warm up at the Family Arena before their game on Nov 23.

Photo by Joey Silver

St. Louis’ soccer professionals St. Louis has produced a number of notable professional soccer players, due to its thriving youth soccer scene and the success of St. Louis University’s soccer program.

Will Bruin (DeSmet Alum) of the Houston Dynamo, Tommy Howe (CBC Alum) and is now a coach for Sporting KC and Sporting STL, Tommy Heinemann (CBC Alum) of the Ottawa Fury, Jack Jewsbury (SLU Alum) of the Portland Timbers, Steve Ralston now a coach for the Houston Dynamo, Tim Ream (St. Dominic Alum) of the Bolton Wanderers, Chris Klein (DeSmet Alum) now a coach for Los Angeles Galaxy coach, Pat Noonan (DeSmet Alum) now a coach for Los Angeles Galaxy, Cole Grossman (SLUH Alum) of the Real Salt Lake, Tommy Meyer (SLUH Alum) of the Los Angeles Galaxy

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The phrase in loco parentis, defined by Merriam-webster. com as, “In the place of a parent,� is usually used to describe the role of schools. When children are at school and away from the protection and control of their parents, it is believed by many that the school should take on that role. This idea is the foundation for many rules that compromise constitutional rights in favor of the safety and security of minors.

In many instances, students are unaware of the ways in which the law and the Code of Conduct differ. These six pages will attempt to make clear lines that have been blurred and outline exactly the rights of students at FHC.

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“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

- The Fourth Amendment of The U.S. Bill of Rights

Protection of rights, students T

By Joey Silver staff reporter

he Fourth Amendment places limits on how and why search and seizure can be done. It protects our right to freedom and privacy.

The amendment only protects people if they have a legitimate expectation of privacy. The U.S. Supreme Court explained that what “a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected.”

For example, a person who uses a public restroom expects not to be spied upon by a video camera, so the person has an expectation of privacy. Most people, including judges and juries, would consider that expectation to be reasonable. Therefore, the installation of a video camera by the police in a public restroom will be considered a search and would be covered by the Fourth Amendment.

On the other hand, when the police look for and find a weapon in a car, it is not considered a search under the Fourth Amendment because it is highly unlikely that a person would think that the car is a private place, and even if the person did, most people are not willing to extend the protections of privacy to that particular location according to nolo.com.

But, under the Safe Schools Act, the school can search anyone as long as they have a suspicion regarding the safety of the school. So the “expectation of privacy” doesn’t really exist when it comes to the safety of the school.

The Missouri Safe Schools Act, which was passed

in 1996, deals with the policy development, student admission and enrollment, residency requirements, and reporting and recordkeeping. Each district must develop a written document, the Code of Conduct.

“Any school official, whether they are a teacher or principal, has a responsibility for the general well being of any and all students enrolled in school. As such, the official has certain privileges that a law enforcement officer does not have in dealing with one who may be in violation of the law. A school official is not bound by the restriction of the Fourth Amendment. Reasonable suspicion alone is sufficient for a school official to question a student, request that he/she surrender any drug(s) and/or weapon(s) or search his/her person, property, locker or vehicle. Any student who refuses to be searched may be suspended,” taken from FHC’s student handbook.

FHC focuses on the safety of it’s students, but also want to take into consideration the rights of the individual being searched.

“First off, it’s really important for [the faculty] to realize and respect our young people’s rights, we take search and seizure very serious,” said Dr. Sonny Arnel. “All of our kids have rights, no matter what the age. If I’m searching for a machete, I’m not going to look in your phone.”

When it comes to search and seizure at FHC, the protection of rights are the most important thing. The rules are made to protect rights of the individual being searched, the student body and the faculty of FHC. Also, treating the individual being searched with dignity is also an important part of the search and seizure process.

“When I hear a rumor that someone is selling drugs, that

suspicion allows me to search the person to make sure that we are in a safe school environment,” Dr. Arnel said.

“Our main focus at this school is to keep bad things out, whether that be drugs, weapons or even trespassers, and makes things in here really conducive to your learning.”

Search and seizure at our school is a balancing act, where the faculty must make sure to respect the rights of the individual being searched, treat them with dignity and then see what’s best for the other 1,900 students at FHC, not just that one individual.

“What I’m looking for has to fit the scope of my search,” said Dr. Arnel. “If it doesn’t have a correlation or connection to what I’m searching for, I’ve got to respect your rights during that search, I’ve got to treat you with dignity, I’ve got to do what is best for my kids.”

The biggest priority at school is to keep the students and staff safe, and when something interferes with that safety and deters students from getting an education is how the school bases the search and seizure.

“We got to make sure that it is a great environment,” Dr. Arnel said. “It always starts with safety.”

According to Dr. Arnel, a search is conducted about once a month, or once every two months throughout the year.

“It’s a fine line because we have to protect all 1,900 students, all the staff, and at the same time we have to respect the dignity and the rights of each individual student as well,” said Dr. Arnel. “We have to be cognitive of that, and one thing that I think is important is that we make our students understand what rules we have in place and that they’re logical. It’s because of caring young people that want to be productive society members want to make sure that this place is safe.”

fhctoday.com | in focus

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Censorship in shade

Slam poetry assembly unearths questions surrounding students’ freedom of speech, censors

By Emily Herd staff reporter

Speech, passion, the simplicity of words. All of these flow from the small strokes of a pen or from the movements of our mouths. One word or a three-hour speech, words affect our lives and the lives of people that hear our words. When words are censored and our freedom of speech is restricted, our speech goes uninfluenced. In America, the First Amendment is what separates us from countries who oppress this same freedom that we are privileged with. Although we have this freedom, it has its limits while students are in school.

On Feb. 28, three members of Washington University’s slam poetry club, WUSlam, were asked to share their poems about diversity and its effects during two periods in the auditorium. The poems encouraged students to embrace their uniqueness and to oppress stereotypes, tying off Diversity Week.

Students from the slam poetry club have shared their poems for years at FHC, always stirring conversations among students about the art of slam poetry. This year, the conversations differed from previous years due to the presentation of one poem within the first period of the assembly.

During the presentation, Assistant Principal Marletha Davis noticed guest speaker, Chris Nguyen, giving descriptive sexual imagery and body motions in his poem. He was allowed to finish his poem, but was quickly pulled aside and told he couldn’t read that poem for the next performance.

In 1985, the Bethel School District had a student give a speech nominating another student for elective office. In the speech, it had vulgar and sexual metaphors that caused the student to be suspended for two days. The student then sued the school district and the case was eventually taken to the Supreme Court. The court ruled in favor of the school district because the First Amendment does not prevent punishment for vulgar speech at a high school assembly.

Schools throughout the nation are dealing with student speech issues and the manner of the situation.

Whether or not student censorship is handled in a justified manner has been battled in many United States Supreme Court cases and schools throughout America. Although Mr. Nguyen was a guest speaker,

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in focus | april 11, 2014

his speech was censored, but in a justified manner with no punishment. His speech was considered vulgar, and it was acceptable to censor his speech, but would the punishment have been different if it was a student speaking from our school?

“We wouldn’t have had that happen with one of our students since we would have heard the poem prior to the assembly and said ‘no you can’t say that,’ and we would have them take parts out,” Ms. Davis said.

Junior Andrea Kohrs attended the assembly and saw Nguyen’s performance and others. Her opinion of the poem censorship differs from the outcome of the situation. Although the poem was sexual, Kohrs believes it was age appropriate and humorous. Since the speaker was a guest to our school, she says that it was acceptable for him to give the speech.

“He didn’t say the poem just to be crude or funny; there was a purpose to the sexual references,” Kohrs said. “It was appropriate since we knew what he was talking about, and the poem also had meaning.”

Censorship isn’t just black and white when deciding if it is justifiable or not. There are many gray areas that are difficult to define if the speech or article violates the First Amendment. Due to this gray area, students and administrators may battle to determine if censorship was allowed. When censorship violates student rights, students try to fight for their rights and so do their teachers, who boldly stand to ensure their rights as well. Former publications teacher, Ms. Cathy McCandless educated and encouraged her students about their rights while teaching in the Wentzville School District.

“I personally have dealt with censorship when I taught publications; it was rough, but it also was a great learning experience for my students. It taught them what rights they have and how to make sure that

they don’t get violated,” said Ms. McCandless. “In the end, our paper and other articles got censored, but it wasn’t a total loss, and we have grown from that experience.”

Ms. McCandless’s situation is just one of many instances where a decision was made, but the grey has not faded. The grey is prominent, but the black redacts the grey, overriding its pigments, its voice.

The jurisdiction of school boards, extinguish the light, causing utter darkness for the voice of the student.

Mr. John Bowen, the Journalism Education Association’s chairman of the Scholastic Press Rights Commission, believes students know their basic rights, but don’t know the depth of their rights and freedoms. If students are informed and more aware of their freedoms, then censorship will become less frequent and will be handled appropriately.

“I think so many are ‘okay’ with a censorship situation because they do not know better or have not been given educational justifications to think there is anything different,” Mr. Bowen said. “Many students know the USA is a country supposedly based on free speech and a constitution that guarantees free speech and press, etc., but what they see is just the opposite.”

The opposite of what students know can cause oblivion to what the First Amendment guarantees. In school, students’ freedom of speech can be limited if it contains obscenity or has probable cause of considerable classroom disruption, as laid out by the Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier decision. Due to these limitations, students are not allowed to verbally do as they please, but this does not allow administrators to suppress all student speech.

Administrators sometimes revoke students’ speech simply because they believe that they are

following school and disruption. Al this does not perm speech based o administrator’s per the students’ articl be censored. Due evidence and rea student and their s “Some administ they follow the la It is hard to find a censorship in mo exists,” said Mr. Bo In 1983, the s Hazelwood East the principal due inadequate. The to court, making in 1987. The justi School District w causes controvers Mr. Bowen define that causes strain students have nev journalistically free and the impact tha “Censorship, wh creates a gulf of un to thrive. I think o so prevalent in ou has been around f teachers and stude seen the positive responsible schola then, should they b

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishmen or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging t of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people p assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress -The First Amendment of The U.S. Bill of Rig

es of grey

ship in school

nt of religion, the freedom peaceably to of grievances. ghts

Washington University student Chris Nguyen, a member of the WUSlam poetry group, speaks during the group's sixth hour performance on Feb. 28. This performance featured questionable content in one of Nguyen's poems and he was subsequently asked to not perform the piece during the seventh hour performance.

fhctoday.com | in focus

photo by zach grau

policy while preventing conflicts lthough speech can be restricted, mit school officials from censoring on their personal opinion. The rsonal opinion does not prove that le or words are in violation and can e to this, it is hard to find legitimate ason to punish and censor the speech. trators who censor honestly think aw or good educational practice. a legitimate educational reason for ost situations where censorship owen. school-sponsored newspaper at High School was censored by to two articles considered to be students took their censorship their case to the Supreme Court ices decided that the Hazelwood won against Kuhlmeier, but it still sy. es censorship as a current epidemic on students and the school. Since ver had a school that is completely e, people can not comprehend it at it would have. hen and where it is seen by others, nderstanding that allows the censor one of the reasons censorship is ur society now is that Hazelwood for 25 years,” Bowen said. “Some ents, and administrators, have never impact of free and journalistically astic media in their schools. Why believe or act otherwise?”

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“People confuse freedom of speech with freedom from responsibility. We have freedom of speech, but with freedom of speech comes the responsibility for that speech. I can be fired, I can receive consequences at a school, at my work, for the words that I say, for the expressions that I make.

You have freedom, but you are still responsible for what you say and the way you express yourself.�

-Mr. Lammers

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in focus | april 11, 2014

social media carries consequences

E

By Emily Klohr staff reporter

verywhere you go, people are seen tweeting, taking selfies to post on Instagram, and updating their Facebook statuses. Social media is prevalent for students and adults and has become the cornerstone of communication. Due to its prevalence in our daily lives, our rights regarding what we can and cannot post has become an important topic of interest.

FHC boasts about our zero tolerance policy for bullying and threats, but it throws into question how applicable it is in response to social media and the online lives of students. We see students making ignorant comments about teachers on Twitter. Students also threaten each other on Facebook, but we don’t recognize that the school is allowed to intervene in these situations.

Students are not educated about their rights regarding social media use inside and outside of school; therefore, they torment others with a few keystrokes. They assume that school officials can’t take action when things are said on social media rather than at school, but that isn’t necessarily the case.

According to Associate Principal Mr. Lucas Lammers, schools can only punish students for things they post on social media if it takes place during school hours or involves school in some way. Even if a kid posts inappropriate things in class, on the bus, or at a football game, the school can still take action against them. If it is posted from the time they leave their house in the morning to when they get home or to work in the afternoon, the school can intervene.

“There has to be a direct and substantial tie to the day-to-day operations of the school,” Mr. Lammers said. “From the time a student leaves their home in the morning all the way to when they get home after school that day, their actions are under our purview.”

If the school recognizes that someone is posting inappropriate or threatening things on social media, but their is no tie to school, they can only take limited action.

Administrators, counselors and teachers can talk to the students and parents that are involved, but they can only give guidance about what to do. If a harassment or cyberbullying situation gets too out of hand, the school will advise parents to call the police.

Punishment for students posting inappropriate or threatening things on social media during school can range from a conversation with administrators or their counselor to being suspended for 10 days and having a hearing at Central Office. It all depends on their case

and the extremity of what they have done. However, if something is posted on social media outside of school, there is little to nothing the school can do about it.

“If a couple of kids are at a party on a Friday night and take pictures of themselves with beer or something like that and put it on Twitter, the school can’t punish them directly. The only way they could be punished is if they were part of a team and the coach took action,” Mr. Lammers said.

When a coach sees members of his team posting pictures of themselves with alcohol or drugs and thinks they’re creating a bad image for the team, he can punish them by having them sit out of games or even kicking them off the team. The administrators could also make the school resource officer and Cottleville police aware of the situation, since they couldn’t directly discipline the student.

In addition to not being able to punish students for posting about drugs or alcohol outside of school, the school cannot give a student a drug test just because they have posted on social media about doing drugs or have a reasonable suspicion that a student is using drugs or alcohol.

In response to harassment situations that come up on social media, the punishment all depends on how the recipient receives it and the impact it has on them.

According to Mr. Lammers, this is something that comes up when students make sexual statements about their teachers or peers online.

“In harassment situations, one of the critical points is how the target takes it. If the person takes offense to what is said, feels harassed or threatened, or they don’t like what is being said and expresses that they want it to stop and it doesn’t stop, we jump in on that. If the person doesn’t mind or chooses to ignore it, we don’t,” Mr. Lammers said.

Junior Lauren Crane has strong feelings about the use and misuse of social media and doesn’t use any social media for this reason. She recognizes that it can be a useful tool for staying updated about school and club events, but believes the cons outweigh the pros.

Despite her negative view of social media, she doesn’t believe students should be punished for what they post.

“I don’t think that people should be punished for what they say online, rather I feel that people who do use social media with malicious intent should just grow up. It’s not something I think should be regulated because that borders internet censorship, which I don’t advocate,” Crane said. “Nonetheless, without that censorship, there will be cowards who utilize that freedom to try and hurt others.”

Abigail Holman, a junior Magazine Journalism major at Mizzou, has been highly educated about the uses of social media through her work on the Community Outreach team at the Columbia Missourian. One of her jobs there is to use social media to bring community needs and expertise into the newsroom’s coverage.

“At the journalism school, we hold ourselves to professional standards that the industry of journalism has. We are taught to be very conscious of what we are saying online and to be aware of what affects our posts have on our image and reputation of the organizations we are a part of,” Holman said.

Even though social media creates the same distraction for college students as it does for high school students, they must watch what they post for different reasons.

College students can potentially lose job opportunities for the things they post on social media, while high school students can be punished by their school, as well as not being accepted by certain colleges or jobs. In addition, college students are taught the importance of watching what they post online.

As a journalist, Holman supports freedom of speech and one’s right to an opinion, but she does believe there’s a limit to what students can be allowed to put on social media and there are certain circumstances where the school should be able to step in and take action.

“If the post is offensive to the school, its population, or targets a student, teacher, administrator or faculty, I believe the school has every right to step in. Matters that disrupt the school environment and the learning process should be addressed as well,” Holman said.

Just like there is a limit to what students can post without getting in trouble, Holman also believes there is a limit to what schools should be able to punish students for.

“While students should be conscious of what they are personally posting, using foul language or something of that nature is not something I think schools should punish students for,” Holman said.

People often see being punished for what they say on social media as a violation of their freedom of speech, but Mr. Lammers believes it is not.

“People confuse freedom of speech with freedom from responsibility. We have freedom of speech, but with freedom of speech comes the responsibility for that speech. I can be fired, I can receive consequences at a school, at my work, for the words that I say, for the expressions that I make. You have freedom, but you are still responsible for what you say and the way you express yourself,” Mr. Lammers said.

fhctoday.com | in focus

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WHIRLWIND still on sale!

Yearbooks are on sale until May 1! Make sure you get your copy of the 2013-14 yearbook to relive all the amazing, crazy things that have happened during this school year.

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advertisements | april 11, 2014

{the scene} A volunteer for the Cinderella Project reshelves dresses on their clothing racks. Every year, the project collects hundreds of dresses to donate to girls who cannot afford them.

Once upon a prom night

The Cinderella Project helps hundreds of girls make dress dreams come true

By Erin Rowland

F

delve editor

or high school girls, buying a Prom dress is a huge concern. Finding a dress that is simultaneously flattering, stylish, unique, and reasonably priced seems like an impossible task. But for some girls, the task doesn’t just seem impossible, it practically is.

The Cinderella Project, sponsored by the Community Council of St. Charles County, helps girls who are otherwise incapable of affording expensive Prom dresses to get their gowns at massive discount, or even for free. They accept donations of dresses and money at local malls starting in December and usually open the store at the beginning of March.

Before the dress sale is open to the public on “Pink Saturday,” the project accepts referrals from local high schools for girls who would not be able to afford Prom dresses for themselves. These girls get first access to the store and pick out their dresses for no cost. This year, the project awarded free dresses to 197 girls from 43 different high schools.

“I love seeing how the store grows. Each year we have to get a bigger store because more and more dresses come in each year,” junior Ally Benz said.

Benz has volunteered for the project with her mother for three years. Last year, her mother was put in charge of the program. She and junior Tara Parnacott volunteered as “Fairy

Godmothers” on VIP (Very Important Prom-Goer) Day this year.

“I love the experience, but my favorite part is being a fairy godmother to the VIP girls. It gives me the greatest feeling to help a girl who can’t normally afford a dress find her dream gown,” Benz said.

This year, the Cinderella Project saw 125 volunteers, including members of NHS, such as juniors Alyssa Fakes, Julia Becker and Kathleen Crank.

“As a volunteer, I got to see the sheer enormity of all the dresses that had been donated, and they kept coming in,” Fakes said.

This year, 300 of the donated dresses were sold after the VIPs chose their dresses. Whatever was not bought was donated to similar projects in North County, Jefferson City, or Marshall. Some dresses were also donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters.

“I think the project itself is a fantastic idea that has turned out wonderfully and helps girls to get a dress when they might not otherwise. It is an amazing project that I hope continues for a long time,” Fakes said.

Inspired by the Cinderella Project, the FHC Spotlight Players began planning a similar program called Once Upon a Time to act as a fundraiser for the department. Senior Hailey Stephens, sophomore Katrina Krieg, and Krieg’s mother came up with the idea and coordinated with director Ms.

Michelle Moll to make it happen.

“We have asked students and community members to donate any slightly used Homecoming or Prom dress that they will no longer wear. Our plan is to resell them at a cheaper cost than what you would pay at a department store. Our thought was that since girls typically only wear their dresses to one dance, that re-selling them in this way will help girls save money since dress prices are so high,” Ms. Moll said.

Any dresses that were not sold were going to be donated to the Cinderella Project.However, the department only collected about 50 dresses, which motivated them to postpone the sale until next year.

“So far, we have a decent amount of dresses, just not enough to put on a full resale,” Krieg said.

The department will try the program again around Homecoming next school year. Any student who donates a dress will receive a 50 percent off coupon to use at the sale.

“Our goal was around a little under $1000,” Krieg said.

For those looking to get involved with either program, there are plenty of ways to do so. Both The Cinderella Project and Once Upon a Time accept dress donations, and The Cinderella Project also accepts monetary donations.

“Anyone can get involved when the time comes by just asking someone connected to [the project],” Fakes said. “It is quite simple, really.”

fhctoday.com | the scene

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photo by ashley marlo

photo by ashley marlo

Senior Logan Slone slaps the bass while performing with his band, Clockwork, at this year's Prom Fashion Show.

By Madison Viola staff reporter

Work hard, rock harder

Some teenagers these days spend their weekends watching Netflix, catching up on homework or going out to eat with their friends. Senior Logan Slone, however, is busy playing shows at Cicero’s, The Mad Magician or other venues. Logan sings and plays bass for Clockwork, an indie rock band. The other members of the band are alum Jordan Slone and recent graduate Logan Mohler. Clockwork is one of the more well-known bands from FHC. They have been together for 2-3 years and have written about 30 original songs.

“It usually takes a day to write a song. We just have to come up with the basis and once we have that, we can put it together pretty quickly,” Logan said.

Logan and Mohler of Clockwork originally decided to become a band because they wanted to participate in the Saeger talent show when both of them were in seventh grade. After some time, Jordan joined the band and they became Clockwork.

“We played Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.’ We decided we wanted to keep playing after the talent show, ” Logan said.

Logan and Mohler have been playing in a band for around six years now. Clockwork currently has one EP and one album out.

“We would prefer that people listen to the album. The EP isn’t awful, but the songs aren’t as good in my opinion,” Logan said. “You can find both the EP and album on iTunes or Spotify or you can get a hard copy on Amazon or at our shows.”

Each member of Clockwork has many different musical influences. Mohler, who is the drummer, listens to Deftones a lot.

“Jordan and I listen to a lot of The Beatles, Coldplay, Radiohead and Muse,” Logan said.

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be heard | april 11, 2014

As far as success for the band, Logan likes to think that things are starting to happen. He and the band stay hopeful.

“We are hoping that this is what we can do as a career, but, obviously, it’s going to be difficult. We just have to try really hard and do the best we can, but if it doesn’t work out, then it doesn’t work out I guess,” Logan said.

Junior Jack McCoy is another person who hopes that his band, Minus Me, will be his life. They have been together for two years now.

“My band is definitely serious. We don’t want to have jobs because we all dread the thought of having to sit behind a desk for the rest of our lives. Having to perform instead of working a day to day job would be the dream,” McCoy said.

McCoy sings lead and plays guitar for Minus Me. Senior Jon Grieve and junior Josh Hayden are also in Minus Me. Their band plays hard rock and alternative music.

“We do mostly original songs. We actually just released our debut single, ‘Miracle,’ on March 22,” McCoy said.

To find the song, you can go to the Minus Me Facebook page, Bandcamp or any other type of social media they have.

Minus Me rehearses whenever they can at Hayden’s

While a lot of teens dream of creating music, five local bands are living that dream house. They practice at least twice a week.

“We have a pretty open environment. We are all influenced by a bunch of different people so we pull ideas from everything. The writing process is kind of interesting because of all the different influences. We just try to take the best of everything and bring it together,” McCoy said.

Minus Me is currently writing more theme-based songs, whereas in the past, they have written about personal experiences.

“We have written about experiences such as love or when people stab you in the back. We have one song called ‘Man in the Moon.’ It was written in the middle of the night. The band was just sitting outside, tinkering around. We just let our brains do some thinking. We can just write about anything,” McCoy said.

McCoy’s influences include hard rock bands such as Alter Bridge and There For Tomorrow. He is also a fan of Michael Bublé.

“Michael Bublé is my guilty pleasure. You can hear

Clockwork's Jordan Slone, Logan Mohler, and Logan Slone plays one of their songs during the Prom Fashion Show. The band, made up of two current students and an alumnus, have played many school events.

those influences in our music. Our influences range from everything,” McCoy said.

The band doesn’t play shows very often. They prefer to space out shows so they can get more people at each show.

“We tend to make it a special occasion,” McCoy said.

Though Minus Me may play sparingly, Wisteria hasn’t played a show yet because they formed just a couple of months ago. Sophomore Landon Boyd sings for Wisteria.

“I just moved from guitar to vocals. I haven’t been singing for even a year, yet. I’m not the only one singing, so I’m pretty comfortable with it,” Boyd said.

Wisteria plans on using the next year to write songs and make plans. They currently have three original songs.

“On a good day, it will take us a couple of days to write a song,” Boyd said.

Unlike the bands already mentioned, Wisteria is more easy going and isn’t too urgent to become a big success just yet.

“Maybe later on, we will get serious. Right now, everyone is kind of busy. Eventually, we are going to get going and play some shows,” Boyd said.

Sophomore Edmond Berry plays in a Christian metal band called Reconcera with sophomore Jake Roach and senior Josh Roach as well as high school graduate Josh Smith.

“We are just four best friends doing our thing,” Berry said.

The band has been together since May of 2013.

Originally, the band was just a joke, but Berry has stated

that he and his bandmates put their own meaning into Reconcera.

“Reconcera just means that if you ever feel like you’re going through rough times, you should never give up.

There’s always hope at the end of the tunnel. There’s always going to be light there,” Berry said.

Currently, Reconcera has an EP which consists of five songs that you can find on iTunes or Spotify.

“We are in the works of writing a new album, which should come out in 2015,” Berry said.

As I Lay Dying and The Devil Wears Prada are some of the musical influences of Reconcera; though there are other ways the band is influenced.

“God plays a huge influence in our band,” Berry said.

Reconcera has written around ten or twelve songs. They used to play one or two shows a month.

“Lately, we have been taking a break for the past two months because we have been writing so much,” Berry said.

Senior Cory Mercurio has played drums for his band, The Ragstripes, for two years now. FHC graduate Nick Jones sings and plays guitar for the band.

The Ragstripes have around 20 original songs but also do a few covers.

“Sometimes, if none of our friends come to our concerts, we will do Coolio’s ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ and a remix to ‘Ignition’ by R. Kelly,” Mercurio said. “We’ll practice them for fun.”

photo by jacob roach

Senior Josh Roach is the drummer for Reconcera. He and the rest of the band rehearse at the Roach household.

Sophomore Edmond Berry fiddles with his guitar during band practice for Reconcera.

Practices are usually held on Sundays.

photo by jacob roach

Senior Cory Mercurio plays on the drums during a jam session with Jones (top left).

They practice in Mercurio's basement.

photo by ashley marlo

photo by kortney sheahan

photo by kortney sheahan

Alum Nick Jones sings and plays guitar during one of The Ragstripes' practices. He and Mercurio (bottom left) face each other during practice.

The original versions of those covers are quite different from The Ragstripes’ usual sound.

“We play indie, acoustic, harder stuff. I can’t really put a name on it,” Mercurio said.

The Ragstripes used to play two or three gigs a month.

Now, they are busy recording an album which they are almost done with. So far, The Ragstripes have completed six songs for the album.

“We have four more songs to go to make an even ten tracks for the album,” Mercurio said. “We will probably release it online and pass it around to anyone who wants one.”

As far as getting along as a band, Mercurio and Jones are best friends and work together well.

“We have this weird connection. We just feel it out with each other,” Mercurio said.

Mercurio was brought into the band by Jones and a former member of the band. As of now, it’s just the two of them.

“We thought about adding a bass player, but no one is as close as me and Nick are so it would be kind of weird,” Mercurio said.

Mercurio and Jones play music because they enjoy it, but they don’t plan on pursuing it as a career.

“It would be awesome if we could play music for the rest of our lives, but we really just want to have fun and make music with each other,” Mercurio said.

fhctoday.com | the scene

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playlist “Springtime throwbacks” Spring is finally on it’s way! In order to defrost a little, it would be nice to take a trip back in time with some of the springiest, most sunshiney

by Erin Rowland songs of the past.

“Walking on Sunshine”

by Katrina and the Waves

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Musical sunshine at its finest! This is one of those songs that you can’t resist jamming out to. The catchy melody will be stuck in your head for hours,

“Wouldn’t it Be Nice”

by The Beach Boys

While the lyrics might not have to do with spring, the mellow tones of The Beach Boys always scream warm weather. This classic tune is a sure-fire way to put yourself in a good mood.

“Blackbird”

by The Beatles

“Blackbird” is a Beatles classic. The soft chirping of birds in the background just screams springtime.

Furthermore, it’s a song about renewal. For anyone looking for motivation to start over, this song is a great place to start.

“You Make My Dreams”

by Hall & Oates

Almost everyone has heard this song at some point or another. It’s another song guaranteed to give your step a little bounce. There are very few songs that sound like happiness. This is one of them.

“Don’t Stop”

by Fleetwood Mac

A

mped up for the mphitheater

Kennedy Meyer breaks down which artists are coming to STL this summer and why FHC loves the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater.

If you’ve ever been to the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre for a concert, then you know what the experience is like. Laid back, good people and a memorable night, all while watching your favorite band or artist preform. It’s a recipe for a good experience. Maybe this is why some people, like junior Caroline Green, are returning this year for concerts they may have already been to in years prior.

The Megaticket lineup was just released on Jan. 24, and some people can barely contain themselves. Being the country music fanatic that Green is, she is beyond excited for this year’s concerts. Having purchased the Megaticket last year as well, she is already expecting a great time.

Paramore

Fall Out Boy

want to see more? scan the code above to read about what makes Verizon Wireless Amphitheater worth coming back to

or visit fhctoday.com

Keith Urban

“Don’t Stop” is all about looking optimistically to the future.

As the school year goes on and the stress builds up, this is my go-to song for relaxing and focusing on the exciting prospect of summer.

“My Girl”

by The Temptations

“I’ve got sunshine, on a cloudy day…” Nothing fits this springtime better than those lyrics. Despite our chilly start to the season, things are looking up weather-wise. And on that perfect sunny day, this is a great song to go driving.

“Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows”

by Lesley Gore

The sweet innocence of these lyrics are relatable to almost anyone. The optimism of this song is almost cheery enough to be annoying, but when you’re sitting in the springtime sunshine, you’ll be bopping your head along to the rhythm.

“I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”

by The Proclaimers

You know those songs that just seem like the perfect songs for driving around on a warm day with the windows down?

This is one of them. While it may get stuck in your head for the next few hours, you’ll be jamming out at the time.

“April Come She Will”

by Simon & Garfunkel

Simon & Garfunkel are sort of the hipster cliche, but for good reason. Their lyrics are pure poetry, and the bittersweet atmosphere of this song makes it perfect for a rainy spring day.

“Here Comes the Sun”

by The Beatles

And once the rain finally lets up, nothing fits the moment better than another iconic Beatles song. This is one of those songs that is an instant mood boost, and it’s a great reminder that spring is on its way.

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[Pop] Coming from these two pop/punk bands you’ll be sure to have the time of your life on July 6.

Haley Williams’ energy is ridiculously off the charts. Anyone who has seen her live knows she keeps going and going and going. The lead singer of Fall Out Boy, Patrick Stump, is known to make the show memorable. The two mix together so well you won’t know what hit you.

Watch FHCtoday.com for info on how to win tickets to this show in May.

[Alternative] The Maine

This softcore rock band is on their way to The Lou this summer, along with an abundance of rock/alternative artists you won’t want to miss. Warped Tour is a great concert to attend if you’re looking to have a crazy time with great people. You will not forget your time Warped Tour. From the scorching heat to meeting some of the band members to jumping into the mosh pit, it will definitely be a memorable experience.

[Oldies] Styx

[Country] This smooth-talking Aussie is coming to St. Louis on Aug. 1, and you can be sure to experience a great show. You’ll encounter a lot of great experiences that come with the Megaticket, Keith Urban’s show being one of them. Not only is the show entertaining, but the people you meet is all a part of the experience.

If you’re looking to take your mom to a summer concert, look no further. Styx is coming to town in early June, and their concert is the perfect concert to attend if you’re looking to have a rocking time with your fellow elders.

By Simran Kooner

their high school career.

Senior Madison Jilek purchased Scheduled to take place on the evening her dress from a website specializing in of Saturday, May 3, Prom will once again Prom attire fairly early in March. She had be held at the St. Charles Convention originally planned on going to boutiques to Center this year. Students often begin look for dresses, but she decided to look preparations for this highly anticipated on the web to see if there was anything event weeks ahead of time by selecting she liked. Although she looked through plenty of dresses prior to deciding, Jilek and purchasing their outfits early.

From strapless to one shoulder and was fortunate enough to find a dress she high low to cap sleeve, the possibilities for liked online months ahead of time.

“I went through so many dresses online,” Prom dress styles are essentially endless.

Because there are so many different Jilek said. “I knew kind of what I was options available to select from, choosing looking for so I could narrow it down while the perfect dress for Prom often proves to looking, but I probably scrolled through at be difficult. For most girls, this experience least a hundred.”

From the start, Jilek knew that she was is generally both exciting and stressful.

For senior Jessica Reid, however, it was not looking for anything similar to the primarily the former. Rather than having sparkly on top, colored on bottom dress to frantically search for the perfect dress, she wore to her junior Prom. Knowing that Reid was graciously given a beautiful white she wanted something a little different dress with a cutout back by her friend for from the previous year’s dress made it free. She was thereby able to eliminate somewhat easier on her when she was making her final the frustration decision.

She that typically ultimately decided accompanies the on a gorgeous search for a dress.

“I went through so many cream-colored “The main thing dresses online. I knew kind dress with intricate was that she came of what I was looking for, so beading all over the to me with it months I could narrow it down while top. Although she in advance,” Reid said. “I fell in love looking, but I probably scrolled scrolled through dozens of dresses with it and didn’t through at least a hundred.” before coming to even have to start { Madison Jilek } a conclusion, Jilek worrying about senior was able to find the [finding another Jilek’s problem is a common one for girls who are shopping perfect Prom dress dress].” for the perfect dress for Prom. for herself in the Because Reid end. received her dress Senior Madi Wagner visited a local from a friend, she was able to avoid most of the stress commonly associated with boutique called Helen’s Bridal in search of dress shopping. She did not ever need to a Prom dress that was right for her. She begin her search for a prom dress because only needed to try on around five dresses the entire process of getting it from a before she decided on the one she liked friend was so much quicker and easier best.

“It stood out to me because it was than spending countless hours going from unique, and it fit right,” Wagner said. “Also, store to store would be. “[This dress] is beautiful, fits well, no one the color worked really well with my skin else will have it, and it’s free! It won’t cost tone, and I fell in love with it!”

It only took Wagner a few different tries me three weeks of working to get it,” Reid before she decided on the stunning light said.

Along with saving time, Reid was also pink dress she would wear to her senior able to save a significant amount of Prom. She was able to easily determine money. In most cases, prom dresses can that this was the perfect dress for her final range anywhere from $50 to more than high school dance based on the way it $500 dollars. By wearing a dress given to looked and fit. Although she does not have her by a friend at no cost, Reid was able to any specific expectations for her senior prevent herself from wasting valuable time Prom, Wagner hopes the evening will turn and money. Not all students, however, out to be a memorable experience.

“Because it is senior Prom and my last were lucky enough to do the same. Many girls ended up having to invest a decent high school dance, I just want to go out amount of time and effort into finding the and have as much fun with my friends as I dress they would wear to the final dance of can,” said Wagner. staff reporter

Picking the

PERFECT dress

Seniors share what went into choosing the right dress for their final high school dance

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Pursuing their

PASSION Students formerly involved with the Spotlight Players chose to commit their lives to the world of theatre

Kellie Grezinger and Sean Gundersen perform in the Spotlight Players 2011 production of "The Crucible." Grezinger is currently working as an actresss and model in LA. “I'm not stopping until I get where I want to be,” Grezinger said.

I

By Hannah Beckmann Staff Reporter

n this school, there are several students that boast membership to the Spotlight Players. They are the students who will stay late after school to build a set or run scenes. They will come in for rehearsal over spring break, stay for hours during the weeks leading up to a show, and ultimately give their all to a department that is dedicated to putting out the best possible performance for the community.

There is no doubt about the passion that these students show for theatre.

Former student, Sean Gundersen, is among those who found their calling on the stage. His time in high school was spent running from rehearsal to rehearsal, performing in over 50 shows across the St. Louis area and serving as Vice President for Central’s thespian troupe.

His experience developed a passion which has led to a deep love and appreciation for the art. For Gundersen, his participation in theatre is not only a reflection of his own

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than he would be if he had chosen to love of theatre, but a necessity.

“In an ever-changing world, we need simply study theatre. “ I firmly believe that everyone should theatre to guide us, to explain, to mold and form, and ultimately to push those bring a scholarly discipline and work ethic boundaries once more,” Gundersen to the table,” Gundersen said. “Despite said. “I’ve always been someone with the innate emotional characteristics and a stockpile of thoughts and emotions. general dramatic talent needed and for the artistic I find that theatre process, a base of accomplishes the cerebral know-how fullest expression in an array of topics of those things, “For what I hope to do, I can open so many and through it I am can’t take a day off. It is doors to a piece of able to find truths, pertinent that I push myself theatre that strikes share deeper life mentally and physically.” to the core of a experiences, and { Sean Gundersen} subject or feeling.” access the feelings class of 2013 Gundersen and reception of hopes to expand an audience in his theatrical real-time.”

Gundersen is currently attending experience by landing a director positions Northwestern University and plans to for the play he is adapting, a summer major in both theatre and history, as internship at the Muny, or be accepted well as pursue a certificate in Integrated to the Oxford’s British American Drama Marketing Communications. It is his Academy summer program. It is a strong belief that this array of education will work ethic that Gundersen believes to be make him a more well-rounded scholar essential in ensuring a future in theatre.

“For what I hope to do, I can’t take a day off. It is pertinent that I push myself physically and mentally to become a fully formed artist capable of taking on the world.” Gundersen said.

Also facing the theatre world headon is former student Kellie Grezinger.

Grezinger found a place amongst the Spotlight Players during high school, branching her experience from cast to director positions.

“My experience with theatre in high school was incredible,” Grezinger said.

“I was so fortunate to have Ms. Moll as a sort of director/mentor. She really was one of the first people to open my eyes to the true craft of what it means to be an actor and she was the first person to ever really believe in me.”

Since graduating high school, Grezinger has moved to Los Angeles and is starting her career as a working actress and model. She hopes to continue her work with theatre, but also branch out and find roles in independent films and shorts.

Senior John Emery rehearses for his upcoming role as the Baker in the Spotlight Players' production of “Into the Woods.” “There's nothing else I'd rather do. Theatre is the only thing I've ever been good at,” Emery said.

Gundersen performs in the Spotlight Players' production of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."

"Art is life affirming, and the world is constantly looking for the next elevated experience, a new attempt at feeling. This all comes from the inherent truth of good theatre," Gundersen said.

“I chose to pursue acting because I want to tell stories that move, inspire, affect, and challenge people,” Grezinger said. “Acting is the medium of storytelling that fascinates me the most. It’s such an amazing study of human nature!”

According to Grezinger, it was her experience in high school that pushed her to where she is today.

“I think, in high school, the door to this field of work was opened by me blindly falling in love with the craft of acting in that theatre-- and now I’m exploring what’s inside of the door,” Grezinger said.

Much of Grezinger’s appreciation for theatre is due in part to the direction she received under theatre/speech teacher and Spotlight Players’ director Ms. Michelle Moll. Though Moll did not participate in theatre for her entire high school career, the time she did spend there were heavily involved. It wasn’t until college that she found herself spending between 40 and 50 hours a week on the stage, increasingly developing her passion for the art. She went to school

Ms. Michelle Moll directs a rehearsal for "Into the Woods" which will run from April 24-26. As the director for every Spotlight Players production, Moll will spend several hours working with students in the department.

to pursue a degree in theatre/speech my passion. I thought this would be a education, and therefore spent much of great way to do both,” Moll said.

Throughout her years as a teacher, Moll her time gaining valuable experience for has seen several students build a passion her future as a teacher.

“I performed, stage managed, worked for theatre with the Spotlight Players. in the box office, student directed, Among them is senior John Emery. helped in the costume shop, and worked Emery came into the theatre department backstage.” Moll said. “There were so during the 2011 production of “The Crucible.” Emery many opportunities came into the to get involved that it was hard not to “I truly believe that you should play later than the other actors and be consistently busy do what you love and never was given two with something work a day in your life.” weeks to learn theatre related.” his part. However Moll was hired { John Emery} senior daunting and as the theatre and frightening the speech teacher in the fall of 2010, and has since dedicated experience seemed to him at the time, much of her time to the Spotlight Players. he claims that it was during that show Under her direction, the Spotlight Players that he fell in love with acting and theatre.

“It changed my life. I couldnt imagine have performed several well-received productions from her first play, “Barefoot doing anything else. I found my passion in the Park,” to this year’s musical, “Into and my talent,” Emery said.

Since his first performance in “The the Woods.”

“I went into teaching because I love Crucible,” Emery has not stepped out working with people and I love sharing of the Spotlight Players, performing in

every show since. For his last show with them, he will be playing the part of the Baker in “Into the Woods.” High school theatre will be Emery’s first step into a life of acting as he plans to be in Missouri State’s BFA Acting Program, a highly prestigious program for aspiring actors.

After college, Emery hopes to pursue an acting career in Los Angeles.

“Acting is the most fun I’ve ever had.

I love being a new person,” Emery said.

“Thats the thing that excites me the most.

I love the psychology behind acting by getting into the head of that person.”

Pursuing a career in theatre, as with anything, requires a strong degree of dedication and motivation. One has to be able to accept defeat, but not failure, to spend every day trying to master their craft, and have a passion for the art that will carry them through.

“I truly believe that you should do what you love and never work a day in your life,” Emery said. “And living my dream is exactly how I’m going to do that. I am not afraid of failure.”

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By Hannah Beckmann staff reporter

Now that both the fall play and Student Directed One Acts are over, it is time for the Spotlight Players to look ahead to their next big production, the spring musical “Into the Woods.”

This year, the cost of putting on such a show has placed an added stress to the rehearsal process of the musical. Rehearsals for the show have been under way for several months, with both cast and crew working tirelessly to ensure that the high standards of the department are met with another successful show.

“I think this show will be a different type of musical that many people have never experienced before,” Director Ms. Michelle Moll said. “It’s a dark twist on familiar fairytales and has a wonderful message that

people of all ages can relate to.”

Every year, the Spotlight Players are faced with the challenge of meeting the financial demands that its selected musicals provide.

“Into the Woods” in particular is expected to be incredibly expensive, with money being poured into the costumes and set as well as the rights to simply perform the show on a high school stage. The total cost of the musical is expected to be close to $8000.

“Musicals are always more expensive because you have more elements to cover, more actors to costume, and the rights/ rentals of scripts are always about three times as much as plays,” Ms. Moll said.

This year the Spotlight Players sold butterbraids and held a trivia night to raise money for the department, as well as channeling the money raised through events like One Acts and Talentpalooza towards the

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Rehearsing a scene from “Into the Woods,” senior John Emery reaches for the baby sophomore Esther Davis is cradling. The musical is set to play later this month.

musical.

“We have very little parent/adult help, and the quality of the work is up to the students,” Ms. Moll said. “We held rehearsals almost every day over spring break and take the work pretty seriously.”

Every show produced by the Spotlight Players has been well received by both the school and the community. It is the professional nature of the department that drives this

photo by michayla pordrea

Musical’s costs means more money needed

success. For the students involved, theatre is more than just another extracurricular activity.

“I’m always proud of the work our department puts in to our shows,” Ms. Moll said. “It’s amazing to witness kids put so much passion and energy into something they care deeply about. I hold high expectations because I believe that students will rise up to meet them. With every show I’ve directed, this has proven to be true.”

{be heard}

Not so easy way out

Consequences of cheating are much more serious than it may seem in high school

If you were to ask any elementary schooler whether or not cheating is wrong, they would most likely tell you that without a doubt, cheating is totally and completely wrong (think one of those AT&T commercials). What if you were to ask your parents? They too would say that cheating is wrong and doesn’t get you anywhere (with a little

By Claire more of a lecture thrown in there). But Richardson what about for high schoolers? That is the scene editor where, unfortunately, the lines become a bit more blurred.

A big source of confusion surrounding the epidemic of cheating is due to the inconsistency in student’s beliefs of what cheating really is. For most high schoolers, cheating isn’t some long, drawn out, elaborate plan to steal the answers to a big test or the ACT as movies sometimes portray.

It can be as simple as giving yourself a few extra points when you grade your own assignments in class, or even copying down a few homework problems that you didn’t understand from your friend. And this is where the real problem with cheating begins. Where is that line drawn? Is using the internet

to check your work on an online quiz or homework cheating?

Or is it, as it is frequently called, “using your resources”?

With all of the resources available to students today, cheating has become easier than ever before. What used to require “hiring a nerd” to do can now be accomplished by picking up that little brick that sits in your pocket at all times. And that’s what is most worrying about the cheating epidemic, and it is indeed an epidemic — a recent survey by Donald McCabe of Rutgers University found that 95 percent of students say they have participated in some form of cheating — in our schools: what happens when there comes a task that “resources” can’t help you with?

And while it isn’t fair to always play the pressure and technology cards, it’s true these are two very large influences on students today. It has impacted what level we are held to, what we spend our free time doing and what justifications we come up with for cheating.

Colleges do hold high schoolers to sometimes unattainable levels, and somehow that makes cheating seem okay for some teens; although, it’s important to remember that one, or even quite a few, bad homework or test grades will not completely ruin any chance that a student has of getting into college.

On the contrary, students are getting themselves in too deep

in college, after years of cheating, which has essentially taught them nothing, save the ability to shirk responsibility.

That’s the sad reality of cheating and what most students don’t realize. Much like running up an escalator going the opposite direction, cheating grants no opportunity to get ahead. Without some degree of intellectual curiosity — which cheating undoubtedly robs students of — students who cheat are just going through the motion of education, doing just enough to get by, but never enough to get ahead.

This poses a threat to the future of this entire cheating generation. It is impossible to find your own future or path when you can’t even form your own opinions on a piece of literature or on a current event for an essay that you didn’t write. Like Robert Frost once said, and every parent, teacher and adult has reminded us since, it is important to take the “road less traveled by.” It’s just a little sad that not cheating has become that less traveled road.

But maybe, just maybe, cheating is not a matter of all of the pressures on students today at all. Maybe these are scapegoats for a larger issue plaguing teens today: a lack of strong morals. After all, cheating is just as much a moral issue as an educational offense, a gateway to lying and a barrage of other moral issues.

fhctoday.com | be heard

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The portrayal of fraternities in pop culture raises questions to the reality of frat life

In the last few years, the frat culture has trickled its way down the educational pyramid to a younger audience: adolescent boys.

Thanks to YouTube stars like Jimmy Tatro and

By Tyler Tran websites like Total Frat staff reporter Move, teen boys have begun to sport Polo Ralph Lauren, Oxford dress shirts, and Sperry Topsider. As the frat culture sweeps through the nation’s male demographic, many have begun to argue that this new culture encourages misogynistic and sexist views among males, reinforcing gender stereotypes and encouraging an overall disrespect for women. While I am sure that there are some sexist fraternity members, they are a small minority and not representative of the fraternity culture.

Fraternities are often portrayed in TV shows and movies as a collection of rowdy

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men who wear Polo, drink too much, and objectify women.

In reality, this is simply not the case.

Fraternities do have social functions to have fun and enjoy the college years, but they also serve to cultivate the character of the men that reside in them. For example, the mission statement of Sigma Nu is “To develop ethical leaders inspired by the principles of Love, Honor and Truth. To foster the personal growth of each man’s mind, heart and character. To perpetuate lifelong friendships and commitment to the Fraternity.” If you go online and look at the mission statement of other fraternities, all of them have something along the same lines.

Fraternities often participate in countless charity work and community activities, staging events to raise money for various charities. At Penn State, fraternities hold the The Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon every year for children’s cancer research and support. It raised more than $7,000,000 in 2010 and is said to

be the largest example of a student-led philanthropy event. In 2011, the greek community in the University of Kentucky raised more than $124,000 in their annual Greek Sing, which forwards its earnings to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. The examples of a positive fraternal influence in society are endless.

Now granted, there will be some rotten apples in the barrel, fraternities that are not respectful and are unruly. But association does not necessarily imply causation; simply because there are groups of bad kids who are part of fraternities does not mean fraternity life is the root of their behavior.

Many fraternities also have moral contracts that must be signed in order to gain membership. If a member violates one of the conditions in the contract, the offender can easily have his membership revoked at the snap of a finger.

If a chapter becomes unruly, the national headquarters of the fraternity can revoke the chapter charter, taking away membership

of the entire chapter. An example of this can be found in Miami University, where a Sigma Chi chapter was axed by the national Sigma Chi organization due to “excessive drinking, hooliganism, and disrespect for others.”

All this shows how the frat culture we see today is one that has been twisted from the true ideals of ethical behavior, charity, and brotherhood that fraternities were built on.

I believe that this misconception lies in the satirical portrayals of fraternities in movies such National Lampoon’s Animal House and websites such as Total Frat Move.

While these are not meant to be taken seriously, young men seem to have misconstrued the satire for truth. When you search for Total Frat Move, the results turn up as frat humor, further indicating the site’s purpose as entertainment, not a handbook for wanna be frat boys. It’s not that the frat culture is spreading sexism and misogyny, but a misconception of the true fraternity ideals by a younger naive generation that failed to separate truth.

A note to starving artists Artists held back from following their passion due to society’s idea of success

When you’re a senior, you get asked a lot of questions.

The future is looming over you, vast, unclear and utterly terrifying, and it seems as if every teacher, parent, aunt, uncle, grandparent, older sibling, and random friend of your parents is incredibly

By Hannah keen to prick and prod at it, Beckmann to find the holes in your story, staff reporter to guide you down the path that they deem most worthy.

It’ll start simple. “What college are you going to?” they’ll ask. That one’s easy enough.

You’ve spent the past several months going over your options, looking at different campuses, and weighing the pros and cons of each school. You’ll put on your best polite smile and coolly respond.

They’ll nod, perhaps putting in their own two cents about the school, and then they’ll ask the question you knew was coming the second the topic of conversation changed to college. They big doozy that makes your smile falter and instills into you just a bit of apprehension. “What do you want to do after college?”

Now, for some students there is no answer.

That’s to be expected. We’re only 18, and

there’s no reason that every single one of us should have concrete plans for the next 40+ years of our lives.

Others of us will be able to continue the conversation as if nothing has happened.

They’re the ones who want to be doctors, or lawyers, or teachers, or senior vice presidents in charge of advertising. They want respectable, attainable careers.

Still, there are others who don’t fit into either category. They know what they want to do, some have known since they were kids, but the ever wise adults, the ones with years of experience in the “real world” under their belts, will find their answer neither respectable nor attainable. I fall into the third category.

“What do you want to do after college?” they’ll ask. I’ll grit my teeth, and knowing that the truth will no doubt bring on either ridicule or lecture, I’ll lie.

I’ve found over the years that the lie was necessary. Experience has taught me that there is a list out there of all the “useless majors.” Your math teacher could probably recite it just as easily as the first several digits of pi.

For me, telling people that I plan to major in theatre can go one of three ways. Sometimes people will just laugh it off. “So you just want a degree in waiting tables?” they’ll ask, smiling

as if they’ve just reached the epitome of clever comebacks.

Other times they’ll opt for condescension.

“You’ll learn soon enough,” they’ll promise.

After all, I’m only a teenager, and therefore completely incapable of forming logical thought.

And sometimes, if I’m lucky, I’ll be met with support, with well wishes, and respect. There isn’t anything shameful about pursuing what you love to do, even if it doesn’t fall under the umbrella of typical careers.

Since we were kids, we were always told to do what made us happy, whether you wanted to be an astronaut, president of the United States, or even a movie star. As we grew up, those constant affirmations turned sour. You can’t be an astronaut without an impossibly long list of qualifications.

Being president of the United States is not only unlikely, but also not really as attractive an option as your six-year-old counterpart originally thought. And, according to the Book of Odds, the chances of becoming a movie star are 1 in 1,505,000.

It’s no wonder teenagers receive the title of moody; we’re slowing becoming aware that the world isn’t made out of gumdrops and rainbows.

I’m not delusional. I know that I’ll probably

never become famous as an actress, and I’m not setting out to. I love theatre.

I love pouring over a script and discovering my character. I love watching a play develop from the first read through to opening night. I love reaching an audience by telling a story.

I love staying late after school every day to create something that I can really be proud of. I love everything about theatre, and I know that, regardless of the outcome, if I pursue a career in that I will be happy.

I believe that’s where my definition of success differs from those that shoot down art majors without a second’s thought.

Success isn’t defined by the size of your house or the number of digits on your paycheck. If you’re happy and doing what you love to do, whether it’s acting or science, writing or business, music or teaching, you are successful.

This is a note to every starving artist, every struggling author, every aspiring actor- don’t believe for a second that your chosen path is unworthy.

Stand beside the future entrepreneurs with your head held high. Don’t believe that you should be ashamed for straying from the traditional path to a solid future. Success is what you make it, so do what you love and don’t let anybody tell you differently.

fhctoday.com | be heard

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Admin, students face a two-way street

With each season comes change, and with this new testing season comes an added measure of fun for FHC students: hall monitors.

For us, it’s just another T to cross, another I to dot. To us, it’s just another pointless measure on the part of our

By Devin oppressive Chen q u a s i staff reporter masters. The overarching attitude of us, the humble high school students, has never been too kind toward our administrators, and for good reason: they never seem to do the “right” thing. Each arbitrary measure that they impose inflicts yet another layer of red tape on us. Need to use the restroom? Sign out, then obtain a pass. Watching a rated-R movie in class? Obtain a parent signature, even if you happen to be over 17. Need to sharpen a pencil? Obtain a weapon permit and a concealed carry if you plan to carry that sharpened pencil in your pocket. Can the administration really be surprised that to us, it seems that sometimes the interests of the district looks to be more focused on covering their own behind than using common sense?

Imagine a scenario: you’re the superintendent of a school district. To be specific, the Virginia Beach City Public Schools district. You hear that a student has violated the school’s zero-tolerance policy

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toward weapons by bringing a weapon to school. A response of suspending the student seems to be appropriate, yes? But what if the weapon in question, a razor, was taken by the student in question from a peer who was contemplating suicide? While most of us (hopefully) would be commending the student for their part in preventing a tragic suicide and recommending that she be awarded a medal, the actual school district, citing their zero tolerance policy toward weapons, decided that the appropriate course of action was to suspend the student and recommend that she be expelled.

No joke people; this really happened. How about another case from Grand Junction, Colo., where a girl shaved her head in a show of solidarity with a friend who was losing her hair as a result of chemotherapy.

While normal, decent people like you and I would expect that said student’s support of her friend in a time of crisis would be recognized and congratulated by the school, the school had other things in mind. Caprock Academy does have a detailed dress code policy, which was created to promote safety, uniformity, and a non-distracting environment for the school’s students. Under this policy, shaved heads are not permitted.

The student was not allowed to attend classes because of the dress code.

In another national-newsmaking story, one that took place right here in Missouri, a mother of a special needs child

was arrested while attending to her son after she was informed that he was panicking. The mother was buzzed in by school officials, who recognized her as a parent of an attending student, but did not pause to sign in at the main office before dashing off to console her son. The school responded by placing the school in lockdown and arresting the mother.

These events, which all happened within a month of each other, illustrate a growing concern of school administration: that schools have become more concerned with following the letter of the law rather than the intent.

That schools have become so obsessed with avoiding liability by blindly following protocol that they ignore common sense.

What has failed to be recognized is that the whole matter is a two-way street. Just as we see them as mindless robots hell bent on enforcing needless rules, they see us as deviants hell bent on establishing drug rings in school and setting up fight clubs. Just kidding, but they are honestly just trying to do their jobs. It’s tough to be administrator, and part of being an administrator is being the person who has to make the tough calls, which is becoming more and more difficult in this day and age.

The fact of the matter is, unfortunately, good intentions aren’t always met with good results. The caring mother might get arrested. The helpful friend might get suspended. But, however slim, the possibility

of missing a potential threat to students is too tragic to risk.

Would it be better to make a type I error, in which a person with good intentions is apprehended, or to make a type II error, in which a person with bad intentions is not apprehended. For a school administrator, whose job is to ensure that the students they are responsible for are in a safe and secure environment conducive to learning, the choice is clear.

So, while we tuck away our winter jackets and fuzzy hats and welcome the coming season, let us remember to play it safe.

Our administration recognizes that the world isn’t just black and white, but at the same time, it must do everything it can to ensure that the students here remain safe. Play it smart. Have a pass when you are in the halls, sign in/out when you enter the building. Not too long ago, both Howell and Union were placed in lockdown when an alumni unknowingly alerted the main office when he neglected to sign in when entering. It’s stupid, it seems senseless and arbitrary, but it’s just how our school works.

Blame it on the administrators, blame it on the politicians, blame it on society, on parents, on students, on anyone you want.

Just remember that it’s as much our responsibility to cross the T’s and dot the I’s, to toe the line and to goosestep when necessary as much as it’s the administrator’s to make sure none of us do anything stupid now, on the cusp of freedom. It’s a two-way street. So look both ways before crossing.

illustration by erin schroeder

When administator and student interests clash

staffeditorial

Ending the blame game

I

n our day-to-day lives, our rights as students usually rank low on our list of concerns. With so many other, more immediate problems demanding our attention, taking the time to learn and understand what we are and are not entitled to gets put on the back burner. It is not until these rights are infringed upon that these rights are called into question.

Generally, this is not a problem at FHC. It seems that appropriate disciplinary measures are taken when there is an offense that has been seen before. For instance, when a fight breaks out, authorities know exactly what punishment is necessary because they have dealt with this before.

It becomes unclear when students find innovative ways to violate school rules.

Take, for example, when a student decided to decorate the school with post-it notes as a senior prank two years ago. This student thought the simple prank was not vandalizing the school as there was

no damage to the building and the messages were not inappropriate. To the student’s dismay, he was initially greeted with suspension and was denied the right to walk at his graduation. Eventually, after great protest from students, his punishment was reduced, allowing him to participate in his graduation.

This, along with many other situations, was due to a lack of clarity for punishment and student unawareness of their rights. Although these punishments are clearly drawn out in the Code of Conduct, students still remain ignorant of these rights. This lack of communication exists because of student apathy and vagueness from administration.

It is unfair to point fingers towards any party in this matter, because achieving clarity must come from both parts. Students should be more interested in learning the depth of their rights as a student.

Teachers should focus on student rights, as they are much more important than they are stressed.

Administration should be more clear when enforcing

these punishments to avoid instances like the postit note situation.

This response by students shows a widespread attitude of feeling entitled to these rights as they wallow in ignorance of their true rights. What they don’t understand is that the public education system is legally obligated to protect students although it may infringe upon their natural rights.

This idea, in loco parentis, was derived from the English common law and legally allows schools and colleges to act as a parent would and insure the safety of students as they see fit.

As teenagers, our adolescent decisions have to be accounted for by the public school system whether or not the law agrees. With this being said, the school should not exceed their right in punishment.

The miscommunication between administration and students about policies should be cleared in order to insure students that their rights are not being infringed upon.

fhctoday.com | be heard

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Paramore.

You. Fall Out Boy.

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Those listed below help support the publishing endeavors of FHC Publications through their time, money and past service.

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The staff members of each publication would like to thank those listed above for their continued support of scholastic journalism.

To become a patron of FHC Publications, please contact Mr. Matthew Schott at matthew. schott@fhsdschools.org

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Francis Howell Central High School 5199 Highway N St. Charles, Mo., 63304 Phone: 636.851.5636 Fax: 636.851.4111

Erin Schroeder - Print Executive Editor Madelyn Newton - Multimedia Executive Editor Claire Richardson- The Scene Editor Ben Morrison - Be Heard Editor Jessica Mugler - Copy Editor Kortney Sheahan - Photo Editor Ashley Marlo - Photo Editor Hannah Beckmann - Reporter Olivia Biondo - Reporter Morgan Brader - Reporter Alexander Buhse - Reporter Devin Chen - Reporter Tori Cooper - Reporter Brayden Densmore - Reporter Emily Herd - Reporter

Emily Klohr - Reporter Simranjot Kooner - Reporter Rachel Large - Reporter Kennedy Meyer - Reporter Erika Paar - Reporter Erin Rowland - Reporter Joey Silver - Reporter Erica Swanson - Reporter Tyler Tran - Reporter Katelyn Viola - Reporter Madison Viola - Reporter Mia Baker - Photographer Darby Copeland - Photographer Katie Evans - Photographer Nora Frank - Photographer Bre Gajewski - Photographer Dohen Gallagher - Photographer

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the central focus, along with fhctoday.com, are student-run publications which look to serve the francis howell central community through relevant, reliable journalism. the newsmagazine is meant to have an analytical outlook on topics and stories which matter to our readers. we are always looking to improve, and feedback is always appreciated. fhctoday.com | interact

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Mr. FHC: A successful return On March 29, Student Council brought back Mr. FHC, which hasn’t been around since 2008, in order to raise money for freshman Bella Jones, who is struggling with Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, also known as HLH, which results in liver failure. The fundraiser raised over $700 for Jones. Nine handsome men competed in various categories for four different titles, but junior Andy Moats won the overall title of Mr. FHC. photos by kortney sheahan

Moats performs the classic dance from the movie "Napoleon Dynamite" as his talent. The dance contributed to Moats' crown as Mr. FHC.

Junior Andy Moats thanks the crowd after being named Mr. FHC. The nine contestants competed for the titles of Mr. Flirt, Mr. Charisma, Mr. Moneybags and Mr. FHC. LEFT: Brody Allen is escorted by his little sister, 11 year old Kylie Allen. While they were introduced to the audience, each contestant posed with his chosen escort.

MIDDLE: Senior Jake Schneider and junior David Beecher dance and rap together in the competition's talent portion. The two contestants wrote the rap for last year's Mr. FHC competition but were unable to perform it until this year, as the event was canceled last year.

RIGHT: Senior Brendan Sullivan sings “You've Got a Friend in Me” with his close friend, senior Justin Allen, in a duet from the movie “Toy Story.” Sullivan posed as Buzz Lightyear, while Allen acted as the character Woody.

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aperture | april 11, 2014

Senior Brody Allen sings "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as Tiny Tim. Each contestant chose a performance for the talent portion of the competition.

Freshman Bella Jones finishes speaking to the audience about her struggle with HLH and receives a standing ovation. The proceeds of the event, more than $700, were donated to Jones.