InFlight Dec 2015 Issue

InFlight

Auburn Riverside Student Voice Dec 15, 2015 • VOLUME 21 • ISSUE #3

Happy Holidays from InFlight

I N SI D E:

Holiday Favorites! see pages 10-11.

2

News

InFlight December 15, 2015

ASB spreads holiday cheer Sasha Terry Staff Reporter

PHOTO BY SASHA TERRY

ASB works on the Winter assembly and prepares everything. They plan to host the assembly on December 18, the day before winter break.

ASB is ready to find cool ways to fundraise while spreading spirit throughout the school.

ASB sold senior class T-shirts on December 2 through December 4. The seniors in ASB designed their class T-shirts. The Tshirts were on sale for $12.

ASB is helping Winter Wishes by asking businesses for donations. Winter Wishes helps students in need and donations will continue until the winter assembly on Friday, December 18.

Junior Mckenzie Ruppert is excited for all the things ASB has prepared. “I’m looking forward to the winter assembly,” she said. “We are keeping up the spirit.”

ASB also helped with hosting senior elves, and the auction was held on Friday, December 11. Senior Micah Metje is helping organize the senior elves. “I announced each of the elves and what they provide to

other students,” Metje said. “I organized with other senior leaders to help create this event.”

ASB plans on taking Santa pictures this winter to fundraise for Winter Wishes. The cost is $1 per person and the pictures will be taken on December 15 and 16 during both lunches.

Sophomore Kristina Pogosian loves to help organize the assemblies and she believes that the assembly will be fun. “It’s a great way for the school to come together and express school spirit,” she said. “It’s also a chance to give students fun and excitement during assemblies.”

A spirit week will take place before the assembly. Spirit week will happen from Monday, December 14 through Friday, December 18.

ASB hopes they will be able to give back to the community with events such as fundraisers and donations. They are excited to see how the assembly will turn out and they hope students will have a great time at the last assembly of 2015.

Another wish come true by Winter Wishes Trevor Little Staff Reporter Winter Wishes started on Tuesday, Dec. 1. It is being run and organized by ASB. All of the grade levels are contributing to Winter Wishes in many ways this year. Winter Wishes is a program that can help students in need of the necessities for living, or for those wishes they were hoping for out of the wishing well. The well for Winter Wishes is located by the commons where there is typically two different ASB students manning the table.

The freshmen this year worked on the wishing well, the sophomores worked on candy cane grams, the juniors are working on granting wishes. The seniors are going to be getting other seniors to be senior elves.

The senior elves have the jobs of making Winter Wishes more memorable. “The jobs are to make it more fun, to give people

Greetings from Newspaper

for example, cookies and to spread Christmas cheer,” senior Micah Metje said.

Metje explained who was going to be a senior elf. “Half of the senior class. A lot of people want to be a senior elf, it’s just something you look forward to,” Metje said.

ASB had their own thoughts on Winter Wishes. “I think it’s a really good idea because it helps people celebrate Christmas who don’t have money,” freshman Makenna Price said.

Sophomore Kristina Pogosian also believes it’s a big help. “I think it’s an amazing event to help families in need in a great way,” Pogosian said. “I think it’s a great way for the school to come together.”

Winter Wishes has affected many different people throughout the school in past years. “It has helped [students] be more inclusive, and Riverside like more of a family,” junior Kerry Dolan said. “It helps [students] with basic necessities.” editor-in-chief Jessica Perez business manager Sara Koenig photographer Kayna Kliewer social media editor Jessica Perez cover Dylan Grenz

Happy Holidays from Newspaper! We wish you all a happy winter break and a Merry Christmas!

adviser Patrick Swenson

staff reporters ZaReah Barren Dylan Grenz Hannah Kazlauskas Kayna Kliewer Kira Kopcho Sara Koenig Trevor Little Jessica Perez Sasha Terry Tashana Williams guest reporters AJ Britt Holly Andersen

Many believe Winter Wishes will have an impact on the school this year. “I believe that there are a lot of people out there right now who have their head down because they won’t get a present,” Metje said.

Dolan has similar beliefs. “It definitely will have an impact. It’s going to be lots of fun, we have some new ideas that everyone will like,” Dolan said.

Along with Metje and Dolan, Pogosian believes that winter wishes will have an imapact on the school this year. “I definitely think it will make an impact on the school it always as,” Pogosian said.

Price has simmilar beliefs, “I think it will have an impact on our school because it promotes kidness at our school,” Price said.

PHOTO BY KAYNA KLIEWER

Winter wishes began on December 1, but students are still able to donate towards it until December 11.

InFlight

InFlight Policies InFlight is compiled by the student newspaper staff at Auburn Riverside High School, 501 Oravetz Road, Auburn, WA 98092.

The InFlight staff strives to maintain accurate and objective reporting for our stories. However, opinion stories are included.

Any commentary which is signed by the author accounts for his or her opinion only, and not necessarily that of anyone else on staff. An unsigned editorial reflects the majority opinion of the InFlight staff.

InFlight accepts student, faculty, and community members’ letters to the editor, artwork, opinions and comments. However, we will not print any unsigned let-

ters or work. Please contact us in room 402, through email at pswenson@auburn. wednet.edu or by calling 253-804-5154.

Advertisement is available through InFlight. Advertising gives business the opportunity to reach more than 1800 faculty and students. Support students going to the state and national journalism conventions, help with publication costs, hardware, software, and resource purchases. We encourage students, faculty and community members to contact us through e-mail at inflightnews@yahoo.com or by calling 253-804-5154 for further advertisement information.

News

Auburn Riverside High School

3

Speech and Debate: moving towards finals Tashana Williams Staff Reporter

PHOTO BY TASHANA WILLIAMS

Senior Madison Thibodeau and sophomore Hailey Bragg are two of the semi-finalists from the tournament at Auburn Senior High School.

One of the many activities at Riverside is speech and debate, led by chemistry teacher Mark Davis.

Davis has been the forensics coach for 20 years and participated on the speech and debate team while he was in high school.

On Davis’s high school team, he did a lot of the debate options such as the Lincoln Douglas debate: a different form of debating where students argue with one other person.

Speech and debate has many different speech tournaments students can enter. The tournaments consist of three rounds. In debate, one duo team will go against three different duos. Afterwards, judges see if they made it to semi-finals.

In speech tournaments, the singular person, unless in a duo interpretation, will perform in front of three different judges before seeing if they made it to semi-finals.

During one of the earlier competitions, held here, Riverside had three semi-finalists. Those lady ravens

were seniors Katarina Zhuravel and Madison Thibodeau and sophomore Hailey Bragg.

Bragg was a semi-finalist for interpretive reading. “This is my first year of speech and debate,” Bragg said. “One of my friends was in it last year. I also talked to Mr. Davis and others who did it in the past and it seemed like something I’d want to do.”

Thibodeau and Zhuravel were semifinalists for debate. Zhuravel has been participating for two years and this is Thibodeau’s first year. “The first round was shaky, and I felt very overwhelmed!” Thibodeau said. “I was surprised to find out out we actually won it.

But Kat and I pulled through in rounds two and three, and put our best effort in and came out of our rounds very confident in our ability to debate together. We really surprised ourselves and everyone else considering we were the underdogs.”

Many more competitions are coming up, nearly every Saturday. During that time, the other students participating in the class can also become finalists.

“Speech and debate is a very valuable class; it’s something students will need later on in life,” Davis said. “It teaches them to be able to speak in front of people, be quick on their feet, and feel confident about what they say. Debate helps develop a valuable life skill.”

Local events promote sense of community Zareah Barren Staff Reporter Students celebrate different ways during the holiday season. Events range from hanging out with family, to going to a parade, or even going to a holiday with lights event. Every year, millions travel to participate in holiday events such as the Santa Parade or Holiday with Lights at Wild Waves.

Holiday with Lights at Wild Waves is a Christmas attraction that runs from December 4 to January 2. In this event, all of the park is lit up with thousands of lights, and more than 20 of the amusement park rides are open to everyone. Santa and his elves make an appearance every year to take pictures with kids 12 and under. There will be a Frosty and Rudolph sing-a-long every night starting at 7 p.m. and holiday treats.

Many students have never been to Holiday with Lights. “I never knew about it until just now,” sophomore Ryan Hess said.

There are discounted tickets on the Wild Waves website starting at $10, and discounted tickets are for sale at Safeway.

There are multiple events on December 5 this year, and the Santa Parade in downtown Auburn is among these events. It starts at 4:30 p.m. and the lineup begins on E St. NE. It is free and there will be a pre-

parade at 4 p.m. in front of City Hall.

Leashed pets are welcome at the parade, and there will be snacks and crafts at Washington Elementary from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. for families to make gingerbread houses and ornaments for the holiday season. Pre-registration tickets are $3 for a resident and $4 for a non-resident. Tickets cost $5 at the door.

Another Christmas lights event in our area is Zoo Lights. The Seattle and Tacoma zoos are participating in this event. The tickets are $13.75 for ages 13-64 and $9.25 for 12 and under.

“It was really nice,” freshman Phillip Odarchuk said about Zoo Lights.

“They have penguins, wolves, and lions.

The coolest animal was a flamingo.”

Many of these events offer competitions and raffles students can take part in. Some students participate in ugly sweater competitions, or at least want to. “I would participate in one,” sophomore Ceekay Fernandez said.

Raffles are also something that goes on during these events. Some students enjoy participating in raffles for a chance to win free prizes. “I like them, they’re really fun,” Fernandez said.

PHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA

Auburn has many Christmas activities in December. One of these activities is the Santa Parade that occurs every year.

4

News

InFlight December 15, 2015

School clubs offer students options Kira Kopcho Staff Reporter Among sports and other events at school, numerous clubs meet on campus.

Since the school year is now in full swing, these clubs are starting to have events and activities.

One club currently running is Tabletop Gaming. This club meets Wednesdays after school to play games like Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. Students in this club all share interest in these games, and are welcome to introduce new games as well.

“My brother brought me into the lineage of the nerd club,” sophomore Charles Cowan said. “I’m not sure if there are any events coming up.”

Key Club is another club currently running, and they have lots of events around the community. This club is about community service, and is a way for students to earn their required community service hours to graduate.

“I joined Key Club because I wanted to make a difference in my community,” freshman Hailey Blum said. “We sold poinsettias at the craft fair recently.”

Japan Club is a club that meets once a

month to learn and honor Japanese culture. Students in this club get to watch Japanese films, play traditional games, and learn to cook different types of Japanese food.

“I joined this club because I’m interested in Japanese culture, especially anime,” freshman Martina Ferrer said. “Currently we’re fundraising for Sakura Con.” SkillsUSA is a club that focuses on both leadership and skills for the work force. They have competitions based on the skills acquired in the club.

“We’re working with Key Club for the Hygiene Drive,” SkillsUSA president junior Hanaa Hameed said. “In January and February we have regional competitions, and other than PHOTO COURTESY OF BILL SUMNER that we do fundraisers.”

TSA/Robotics is a combina- Team 3456 A, which includes seniors Trey Marez, Matt Dickson and Adrian Tong. This VEX robotics team shows off tion of two clubs. Two different the robot that made it to the semi-finals alliance. robotics programs run during the year: FIRST Robotics Challenge and VEX competition consisted of 30 teams, five of “[I joined VEX] to expand my skills Robotics. VEX robotics is currently running which were from Riverside. VEX is also part and teamwork in engineering and math,” and had its first competition Dec. 5. The of the TSA program. FIRST kicks off Jan. 9. sophomore Colby Tong said.

Key Club spreads cheer during holiday season Sara Koenig Staff Reporter

PHOTO BY KIRA KOPCHO

Freshman Nate Campbell helps out at the Hygiene Drive. Key Club, Builders Club, and SkillsUSA all partnered up for this event to give back to our community. Key Club holds many events like this during the year to show their support for our community.

This holiday season Key Club will be incredibly busy.

Just look at their calendar in the main hallway to see when events are upcoming.

Currently, Key Club is selling poinsettias along with their parent club, Kiwanis.

All of the poinsettias are locally grown. Each costs $11 and they come in three colors: white, pink, and red.

Key Club also hosted a stocking stuffing party on Dec. 9. The purpose of it was to provide presents to children in need who usually don’t receive anything for Christmas. On that same day, Key Club’s hygiene drive began. The hygiene drive asks for hotel-sized soaps, shampoos, conditioner, toothpaste and toothbrushes, and hand sanitizer. Key Club then packs the assorted bottles into kits for a homeless shelter to distribute.

During the Santa Parade on December 5, they helped out and sold hot cocoa to all

of the participants and visitors.

This month Key Club also paid a visit to Mt. Baker’s Builders Club to build gingerbread houses for a social. Some of the alumni of Builders Club also now participate in Key Club. Annually Key Club also competes in painting windows across Downtown Auburn’s stores and shopping areas to add holiday spirit to the area.

Also going on is the Aussie exchange.

This year ten students are being hosted. All of the Australians will arrive in January to join their host families for the ten day duration of their trip. While here, the Australians will be touring Seattle, skiing; otherwise, on the weekends the host families have the freedom to take their Australian students to a variety of places, Key Club manages to fill their schedules with all kinds of community service throughout the year. For any students interested in joining: they meet regularly after school on Wednesdays to discuss upcoming events open for participation and events that they are hosting as well as doing community service.

Key Club students have gathered together this season to give back to our community and make a difference in our world.

These students may have a busy schedule, but their work pays off in the end for both them and the people they help.

Opinion

Auburn Riverside High School

5

Neighborhoods ‘deck the halls’ too early Kira Kopcho Staff Reporter

PHOTO BY KIRA KOPCHO

Displays of Christmas lights are put up every year on streets. Those who live around this particular area begin to put their Christmas lights up even before December starts, sometimes even on Thanksgiving.

It’s that time of year again that is filled with “Christmas cheer.” The commercials start running, people start singing, and everyone gets in the holiday spirit. This is fine and dandy by itself; the problem, however, is that all of this starts way before the actual holiday.

I understand that the sole purpose of this is to get people hyped for the holiday season, but by the time January rolls around, I am so tired of people talking about Christmas.

What peeves me off to no end are all the holiday commercials. They’re on almost every station, and they start in November. Isn’t November supposed to be about Thanksgiving, not Christmas? I hardly ever see commercials or ads about Thanksgiving festivities. All that’s advertised are holiday deals or Black Friday ads, so basically we’re stuck in a two month loop of repetitive commercials.

I know Christmas is a widely celebrated holiday, so it makes sense to have promotions and themes, but what about those people who don’t celebrate? Plenty of other holidays are celebrated in December, but most of them get ignored. It seems promotions for these holidays aren’t taken seriously, and that they aren’t represented very well.

We have the phenomenon that I like to call “Christmas bombardment.” This is the season in which we have endless ads, TV shows, movies, and other media relating to the “holiday season.” The most obnoxious part is it starts earlier every year. It used to be that there was at least a week before it started, but now it’s like boom, November 1 is when Christmas starts.

The holiday promotions are bad enough, but it doesn’t stop there. Holiday movies start on TV far before the Christmas holiday. I’ll just be aimlessly flipping through channels and there are at least a couple of them already showing the cheesy movies in November. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the holiday films, but showing them before Thanksgiving is ridiculous.

Then there are the crazy people who put up all of their Christmas decorations right after Halloween. Seriously people, at least have the decency to wait until Thanksgiving break. I don’t really mind a couple of lights here or there, but when you have all of your inflatables and everything up before December 1, I don’t understand.

Christmas cheer is inevitable, and I understand that. It’s perfectly fine to celebrate the holiday, but it’s obnoxious when you get in the spirit a month early.

Wider variety needed for school spirit days Jessica Perez Editor-in-Chief Spirit weeks at school are the best. They give students a chance to show some school spirit and they add some fun to the school week. What I am sick and tired of though is the same spirit days repeated over and over again. Repeated spirit days annoy students and make them not want to dress up anymore; the spirit days are fun for the freshman, but once you’ve gone through pajama day 30 times, it gets old.

The ASB members do a great job of organizing spirit weeks and pep assemblies, and we all appreciate it, but honestly would it really kill anyone if things were mixed up a bit? A change in spirit days would motivate the older students, such as juniors and seniors, to dress up again because they wouldn’t be going through all the same ones they went through in their previous years here.

The main three that are always repeated are pajama day, color wars, and twin day.

Pajama day is always on Monday, and color wars is always on Friday. If you’re going to bore us with the same spirit days, at least mix up the days please. I honestly don’t even think pajama day is an actual spirit day, since everyone wears pajamas to school anyway.

A new spirit day I think students would

enjoy seeing is western day, when everyone would dress like a cowboy or cowgirl. Another one that I think would be fun is superhero day, where everyone would wear their favorite superhero gear. A change every once and awhile would be nice so the students would be more encouraged to participate. It’s not fun showing up to school and seeing only five students dressed up, out of the 1,600 students that go here.

I know there are some reasons why certain spirit days are not included, either because they are not school appropriate, or because they are too much of a distraction, but is it really that hard to come up with at least two new ideas that are within school policy? I’m not saying ASB has to change all the spirit days they already have planned, I’m just saying a few new ideas would be nice to mix things up a bit. We are not talking about complete anarchy here, so it PHOTO BY KIRA KOPCHO surprises me to see when I suggest a Instead of repeating spirit days like white out day or ugly sweater day this winter spirit week, why not try to get change to some of my pals in ASB new ones, such as Santa hat day? and they give me the most offended look in the world as if I have just kicked a put some serious consideration into adding together and whip out something new to new spirit days into the next spirit week if catch us off guard and get us excited about bunny or something.

ASB works hard in all they do, and I’m you want anyone to dress up. Spirit weeks dressing up again. not trying to offend anyone, but you should could be revived if you all put your heads

6

Opinion

InFlight December 15, 2015

Early Christmas music causes holiday burnout Dylan Grenz Staff Reporter Christmas music, like everything else Christmas-related, starts earlier and earlier each year. I love the holiday season as much as the next guy, but it gets a little ridiculous when you’ve heard “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” eight times before Thanksgiving.

Radio stations should stop frustrating me by either waiting until after Thanksgiving to start playing Christmas tunes, or by widening their variety of holiday songs.

Most people have experienced hopping in the car and turning on the radio. They listen to many different things. My family loves listening to holiday songs, even in early November, despite my occasional protests.

Later on, usually around mid-December, we’re burnt out on all the holiday songs. Every year I wonder how I can prevent this in the future. I tell myself I’m not listening to the songs until after Thanksgiving. Yet I’ve never followed through. Every single year I end up hating “Sleigh Ride” and “Mistletoe” before Christmas even arrives.

One possible solution could be for radi-

os to simply widen their variety of songs.

If they stopped playing “All I Want for Christmas” 10 million times and played some lesser known songs more, that would be great. I always enjoy hearing “O Holy Night” or “Little Drummer Boy,” so if I heard more songs like this I probably wouldn’t get burned out as easily. There are so many different Christmas songs out there, and most of them are pretty good, so I don’t get why radio stations don’t widen their variety.

Another solution could be for radios to play the songs later, in order to force people to not listen to it. Christmas shouldn’t start in early November people, there’s still Thanksgiving before Christmas. If Christmas music starts earlier and earlier each year, soon the celebrating will start on Halloween, and nobody wants that. Either way, as long as I don’t get sick of holiday songs, I will be happy.

So this plea goes out to radio stations everywhere. Please fix the holiday burnout in whatever way possible. If you can do this, it’ll really be the most wonderful time of the year.

PHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, WIKIMEDIA.ORG

Radio stations should stop playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving, and they should stop overplaying the same songs to the point that I want to break my radio.

Spirit Weeks

64% Students share their opinion on current topics and pop culture

Celebrating the Holidays

100%

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! It seems like Riverside is full of holiday cheer.

Black Friday Shopping

75%

‘Twas the night of Thanksgiving and all through the shops, no one came by to buy up their stocks.

Thanks to ASB,we do have spirit weeks that Riverside likes to participate in.

Mockingjay Part Two

72%

After a year of suspense, Mockingjay Part Two was released; however, our Ravens haven’t flown to see it.

Winter Sport Participation

89%

Riverside has many athetes throughout the school, but winter is just not their season.

Christmas Music

76%

Christmas music is a yes at Riverside. The holiday tunes fill us with cheer every year.

Opinion 7 Washington state laws prove ridiculous Auburn Riverside High School

Tashana Williams Staff Reporter In Washington state, laws are constantly broken. In saying this, I am referring to laws such as robbery and speeding.

However, there are some ridiculous laws that even goodytwo-shoes citizens have broken. With a little investigation, I was able uncover some of these laws.

I’ve narrowed it down to the top five laws I believe to be the most questionable in Washington state.

Law five, which I’ve already broken a few times this year, is that one may not walk around in public with a common cold. Well, excuse me, I’m not going to limit my personal activities just because I have a cold. Behind my fever and sniffles, I have a life.

I’m not going to miss a week of school because it’s against the law. If they can repeal the law against woman breastfeeding in public, then they can repeal the law of people walking around with a common cold.

I see that it is to help prevent the possibilities of others getting sick; however, the law still affects the function of a person’s life.

Law four is quite inconvenient: one may not buy a mattress on Sunday. What’s next? I can’t buy a pillow on Wednesday? No sheet Saturday?

I’m not old enough to actually have my own house and I don’t need to buy a mattress for my new home. However, when I get older, whenever I’m in need for a mattress, I will

in fact buy one on a Sunday just to be passive aggressive about a law I doubt the government is even aware of.

Law three: one may not buy meat on a Sunday. My parents go grocery shopping on Sundays and I promise you, one-third of what is in that grocery cart is pork, chicken, ribs, and sausage.

We buy all kinds of meat on Sundays. Oops, another “necessary and proper” law broken.

Law two: one may not spit on a bus. I agree 100 percent with this one. However, this means someone, or people must have been constantly spitting on buses to make this a law.

That’s just weird and gross.

Although I don’t think this law should be enforced to the point that someone could get arrested. It should just suspend the person from riding buses for a while.

Law one, and the most ridiculous one of all, is that one may not paint polka dots on the American flag. I’d think that’s a given.

You should not be doing anything to vandalize the American flag. The fact that someone actually thought “Oh what if I painted polka dots on the American flag,” makes me question humanity.

These laws make me feel like a rebel. I guess it’s the only danger a goody-goody like me will ever get into.

Washington has some interesting laws, and some interesting people to make these laws even exist. With laws like these, I suppose even a hardcore rule follower breaks laws every so often.

Resist unnecessary fashion trends Kayna Kliewer Staff Reporter

PHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, WIKIMEDIA

Lately, it has become a trend in the fashion business to add unnecessary pieces onto clothing items, such as the abomination of the strings left on shirts.

Some layers of clothes are just tacky and should not be in style.

Many students have decided to layer tank tops and strapless shirts over long-sleeved shirts or turtlenecks. This is not only unneeded, but forces individuals to buy clothes far out of season for their layers.

This is an absolute abomination.

Even more of an abomination are fake pockets!

Have you ever bought an item of clothing thinking it had pockets and then you put it on only to realize that the company played you?

Moments like this are terribly sad and only cause less people to buy the product. Honestly, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t add pockets. I would recommened not adding thousands of pockets, but one on each side would do quite well. In fact, I would be more likely to buy a product if it had pockets. On the other hand, I would be even less-likely to purchase an item if it had the horrible phenomenon of fake pockets.

Speaking of abominations and sad tragedies, shall I mention jumpsuits? These long and uncomfortable clothing items create several challenges, including issues involving using the bathroom. Why someone would want to wear a jumpsuit voluntarily beats me,

because while they are indeed “trendy,” they are absolutely unreasonable, as are most of the previously mentioned articles of clothing.

Clothing companies aren’t the only ones making horrendous mistakes. Shoe companies as well have joined in the madness and started putting out shoes with fake buckles, laces, and zippers.

Some shoes are even made with two, three, or four different tongues, meant to be folded over each other. What is the meaning of all this?

I can understand that all clothes have a different style or type that matches the personality of some individuals out there.

The simple fact is, some additions to clothes deserve to stay tucked away in the ideas book and saved for another day. Oh, and a rule that would be great for future designs would be something along the lines of “pockets are always a good idea.”

InFlight December 15, 2015 Opinion Christmas movies spread holiday cheer

8

Hannah Kazlauskas Staff Reporter With Christmas looming around the corner, and another year coming to a close, an increasingly popular entertainment opportunity during this time will come from watching holiday-based movies, fulfilled mainly by two competing channels: ABC Family and the Hallmark Channel. ABC Family, founded in 1977, and the Hallmark Channel established in 2001, have dominated the holidays with movies that have become some of my personal favorites. These two channels have produced some of the most influential and unforgettable films during this era.

ABC Family contains some of the best Christmas movies of all time. In this category, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, based on the 1957 children’s story has been my all-time favorite comedy. It was redone in 2000 as The Grinch. This is a hilarious, well-done movie that brings forth laughs and joys of the holiday, displaying a time best spent celebrated with family and loved ones. Following that, The Polar Express, made in 2004, was based off a book written by Chris Van Allsburg, is an excellent animation film that brings out the smiles of viewers. It’s a story about a boy whose doubts of Christmas lead him on a journey to restore his belief. This reaches out to everyone, whether they be a child, or not. The truth is Christmas is an example of how we are all still children. We still believe. No matter if it’s in Christmas or in something

else, we still have faith.

The Hallmark Channel follows the same path as ABC Family does by broadcasting an array of delightful Christmas movies over a span of multiple weeks leading up to the actual day, as a sort of anticipation for the celebration. A Boyfriend for Christmas, which aired in 2004 as a roman-

tic holiday film, sends a message of not giving up, and having the strength of forgiveness. A time best spent not apart, but together. One movie that has dug into my emotional side is The Christmas Heart,” a 2012 movie that spins a story of a boy who needs a heart, and a community who won’t give up on him. Christmas gives them hope where they can’t find any in a time of despair. To everyone who struggles, or is put down, Christmas allows those hopeless to rise above what holds them back, even if it’s only for a day.

That day can make the difference they need.

Christmas is coming, and along with it is joy, reprieve, belief, forgiveness, and hope. These films have created in us a fierce love of Christmas while watching these exceptional stories. They have also driven us to want to be exceptional. The ABC Family and Hallmark Channels are symbols of the true meaning of Christmas, expressing the importance of this holiday.

Shop ‘til you drop: best Christmas shopping places Tashana Williams Staff Reporter Christmas has come around once again, known as the season of giving. However, how can one give if one does not know where to go Christmas shopping?

During this time, stores usually have sales going on such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday, which contributes to stores people would rather shop at. My all time favorite places to go Christmas shopping are Hot Topic, Walmart and Target.

Hot Topic has a wide selection of neat things for anyone. Although I feel like a good amount of people don’t necessarily like Hot Topic, I buy a lot of gifts there. I can say I buy about 95 percent of my gifts for my friends at Hot Topic.

Walmart’s slogan is the reason I shop for Christmas gifts. Walmart has inexpensive products that if I were to go to different stores, it would cost twice as much.

Target is another store I enjoy. It may be a little more expensive, but it’s family friendly, not to mention those great holiday deals.

I’m not the only one who believes in these stores as the best places to go Christmas shopping. In a recent survey, 66 percent of students agreed on three stores in particular.

Those three stores are Nike, Target and Walmart.

Although Hot Topic didn’t make it to the top three, the store will always rank number one in my book.

Twenty-six percent of students go to the Nike store.

The nearest one is located at the Auburn Outlet Collection.

“A lot of the shoes are nice,” freshman Ryan Kramme

said. “I can get things pretty cheap and I also can make my own online.”

I personally don’t enjoy shopping at Nike, but I’ll admit their holiday deals are really good. I agree that the shoes and other products in the store are nice. I could see myself maybe buying a shirt for someone there. However, as a sophomore, I don’t have enough money to buy everyone a pair of Nike Frees.

Twenty-two percent of students voted for Target.

Target typically participates in Black Friday shopping.

Therefore, people can go and take care of their Christmas PHOTO COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, PIXABAY.COM shopping then.

“Target has a wide va- Nike, Walmart and Target are the top three best places for students to Christmas shop. The prices are riety to choose from and right and the quality is great. they’re pretty inexpensive.”

“Walmart is where my family and I go every year,” sophomore Shayla Moawad said.

Target may not be number two in my book, but it’s still sophomore Jai’Shon Berry said.

Save money, live better, is correct about Walmart. The in my top three. Target is pretty expensive in my honest deals during Black Friday are incredible. opinion, but Cyber Monday makes up for it.

Amongst the 56 other stores voted for, Riverside stuThe final top store is Walmart, which 18 percent of the students voted for. Every year Walmart has a Black Friday dents believe Nike, Target and Walmart are the top three places to go Christmas shopping. sale. One starts at 6:00 p.m. and the next at 12:00 a.m.

Feature 9 Obama’s accomplishments benefit nation Auburn Riverside High School

Jessica Perez Editor-in-Chief Many people criticize Barack Obama; as the president, that is something he must accept. Although many people question his methods and the Republican party constantly shoots down his policies, he has done some important things to improve the nation.

Obama has come up with many policies that were helpful to the citizens of this country and to the economy.

In 2008, right after he took office, he ended Bush’s torture policies. These policies “allowed detainees in U.S. custody to undergo certain ‘enhanced’ interrogation techniques considered inhumane under the Geneva Conventions.” Acoording to Washington Monthly, he also released the secret legal rulings of these techniques. Obama ended up winning the Nobel peace prize for not acting unilaterally like Bush did.

Obama also created a few policies that have helped the environment. According to the Wilderness Society, Obama expanded wilderness and watershed protection. In 2009, he signed Omnibus Public Lands Management Act, which created thousands of miles of recreational and historic trails.

This act protected more than 1,000 miles of rivers. That same year, he made the dangers of carbon dioxide a known aspect and regulated the production of it.

According to the White House website, one of Obama’s biggest accomplishments was ending the war in Iraq and cutting down troops in Afghanistan. Obama also increased

support for the veterans coming home from these wars by increasing the Department of Veterans Affairs budget by 16 percent in 2010, and increasing the budget by 10 percent more in 2011.

President Obama has also made quite the effort to ease people’s minds when tragic events happen. He constantly addresses the public in speeches, in an effort to ease the public’s minds on topics such as gun control, school shootings, and more recently, the ISIS Paris attacks. During the recent Paris attacks he addressed the public and urged the nation to stand with France in their time of grieving. “This was an attack not just on Paris…” Obama said. “Not just on the people of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share.”

Obama helped stimulate the economy by signing 787 billion dollars American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 to spur economic growth. Weeks after this stimulus went into effect, unemployment claims began to drop, and more jobs were being created than lost.

According to Washington Monthly, “for twenty-three straight months, it created a total of nearly 3.7 million new private-sector jobs.”

Although Obama may not be seen as the best president, in his seven years of being president, much of the nation sees him as having improved our nation and helped stimulate the economy in many ways that has kept the United States on top.

PHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, WIKIMEDIACOMMONS.ORG

President Obama has addressed the public on several occasions about mass shootings and other recent disasters occuring in the nation. Lately, Obama has been focusing on trying to change gun control laws. Although the nation is split on this issue, he is determined to amend the law.

Newspaper's Ho

Tas ha

na

My favorite Christmas movie is How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the live-action version, directed by Ron Howard. I love this movie because it reminds me of my dad and how towards the end of the season, he starts to enjoy the season. It’s also a spin-off of the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas, made in 1966. Not to mention that it stars my favorite actor, Jim Carrey. The best holiday song is the original and dubstep remix of “Carol of the Bells” because it has a catchy beat to it, and nearly every instrument, especially the ukulele, sounds great playing it. My favorite Christmas snack is fruitcake. I know that sounds bad, but my mom makes the best fruit cake. The best holiday memory for me was last year. We spent the weekend in Leavenworth (also known as the Christmas town) and once we came back, we celebrated Christmas with a family brunch.

Kir

My favorite Christmas movie is Elf. I love this movie because it depicts the modern holiday season from the perspective of someone who isn’t used to it. The best song to sing during the Christmas season has to be “Grandma got Run Over by a Reindeer.” On the days surrounding December 25, I love to eat peppermint bark and everything else peppermint flavored. My most distinct memory of the Christmas season was several years ago when my family and I drove all the way down to California to see our family there, whom we hadn’t seen in years. It was weird the whole time we were down there because in the morning we would go outside and see if there was snow only to find a sunny and warm day.

a

Kayna

My favorite Christmas movie has to be Christmas Vacation, because every year my family gets together and watches it. We like to joke about the characters, and how each of them relates to us. My favorite Christmas carol is “Greensleeves” because it is really beautiful and it’s fun to play on the violin. We actually got to play a variant of it in eighth grade orchestra. The best holiday snack is peppermint bark, because when my family makes it we combine chocolate and crushed candy canes. Sometimes we make two separate batches with different types of chocolate. One of my fondest memories of the holiday is when it snowed really bad, and we weren’t allowed to go anywhere.

The next morning, I woke up and everything was covered in snow, so my brother and I decided to walk up to the school and go sledding.

Some of our friends were there and we ended up sledding for hours.

My favorite Ch tle-Tones. I lov such a sweet fu way they move ie. I binge watc during the hol Christmas song Hear” because i it has such a pow ite holiday snack the popcorn-fla vorite holiday m I got to open a mas Eve becaus

Sash

a

My favorite Christmas movie is Mickey’s Christmas Carol, directed by Burny Mattinson.

I love this short film because it’s a play on the original, A Christmas Carol and it just gets me in the holiday spirit. The best holiday song played this time of year would have to be “Jingle Bells” because it’s a basic song. Eating candy canes during the holidays is one of the perks of the season, especially if it’s flavored. One of the best memories I have from the holidays happened last year. My extended family came to my house for Christmas and we sat around the dining room table and played a game called, “Will you buy my duck.” The purpose of the game is try to to sell your duck in certain way or with a certain emotion, so we were just sitting there laughing while my grandmother tried to sell an imaginary duck to my aunt while fake crying.

Jessica

My favorite Ch Grinch Stole Ch one of my favo because she is s one has a good h cause it’s fun to once every year. is “Let It Snow” Christmas. I lik during this seas memories I had Christmas with went to Leaven before Christm Christmas, my fa that they opene was wonderful.

oliday Favorites

Sara

Z

ah

e aR

hristmas movie is The Misve this movie because it’s unny story, and I love the things along in the movch it like 80 million times liday season. My favorite g is “Do You Hear What I it still sounds beautiful and werful meaning. My favork is gingerbread, and I love avored gingerbread. My famemory was last year when all my presents on Christse I was going on vacation.

hristmas movie is a How the hristmas. Cindy Lou Who is orite characters in this movie sweet and believes that everyheart. I also love the movie bewatch with my family at least . My favorite Christmas carol ” because I love having a white ke to eat frosted sugar cookies son. One of the best Christmas d was last year because I spent my family, aunt and uncle. We nworth, Washington two days mas which was amazing! On amily loved all of their presents ed, and the Christmas dinner

Dy

lan

My favorite Christmas movie is a Nightmare Before Christmas, directed by Tim Burton. I love the stop motion animation used. They had almost a thousand heads for Jack Skellington because they would break so often and he had to have so many different facial expressions. As for songs, I’d probably have to say “Walking in a Winter Wonderland.” It’s a classic that I can’t help but sing along to every time I hear it. Around Christmas I spend time on the mountains skiing, eating lots of food—especially my dad’s winter cheesecake—and procrastinating all of the homework my teachers assign. The most interesting memory I have of Christmas is last year when I got six sets of colored pencils, an art desk, and oil paint brushes but no oil paints.

My favorite Christmas movie is probably A Christmas Story. A Christmas Story depicts the average American family around the holidays, and can be surprisingly relatable at times. Ralphie is probably one of my favorite movie characters ever, and the slapstick humor gets me every time. My favorite Christmas carol is “O Holy Night,” because it reminds me of what Christmas is really about. Around the holiday season I love eating my grandma’s world famous Christmas cookies, but I also enjoy my share of candy canes. My favorite part of Christmas is just being with family in general. Every year my family heads up to Gig Harbor to our grandparents house, where we open gifts and have dinner with our whole family.

Trev or

My favorite Christmas movie would have to be The Polar Express. Every year since I could remember I’ve watched this hilarious and sweet holiday film. It seems to be more of a tradition to watch this movie while drinking hot cocoa and eating Christmas cookies with my mom and older sister. My favorite Christmas carol is “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” recorded by Frank Loesser.

It has a very catchy tune, and lyrics that are fun to listen to. My favorite thing to eat around this time are Danish cookies we buy at Costco every year. Christmas holds my favorite memories.

My favorite memory would have to be when I was in elementary school. My neighbors and my older sister helped me build a fort in the front of my house one snowy day. When some of the boys in my neighborhood stopped by and tried to start a snowball fight, we smoked them. It was awesome.

Hannah

My favorite Christmas movie is probably A Christmas Story, because it shows the struggle a kid named Ralphie who really wants a Red Ryder B.B. gun and attempts to convince his teacher and his parents that getting it would be a good idea. My favorite Christmas carol is “Joy to The World” because I believe it is just a good holiday song. My favorite snack for the holidays would probably be my family’s chocolate covered peanut butter balls, and Christmas cookies. My favorite Christmas memory was when we had the ice storm two or three years ago and we were able to go outside and grab icicles from anywhere.

During that ice storm all of my friends and family were able to go out into the snow and it was up to our ankles. It was an amazing time for my family and I to be able to bond, so I remember it very well.

12

Feature

Dress code Sara Koenig Staff Reporter

The dress code is becoming one of the more heated trends of the news. Many students are in an uproar about what they consider stupid dress code rules. However, the dress code exists for legitimate reasons, and these reasons are for the sole purpose of keeping students safe and comfortable.

Many students and news companies argue that rules like “no straps thinner than three fingers” is teaching girls that their education isn’t as important as a boys because they are forced to spend part of their school day changing or even sent home. It also teaches boys that sexualizing a girl’s shoulders or collar bones is appropriate.

According to the National Review and Time online some dress code rules are a contributing factor to the growing number of rapes and rape culture. In these cases many students can be frustrated by dress code arguments that holes in pants are inappropriate, thin straps show too much skin, or when leggings are not equated with pants even if they are opaque.

Our school manages to allow the dress code to give a large amount of freedom to students of Auburn Riverside, only asking that undergarments aren’t revealed, and that hoods or hats aren’t worn, as those can be inappropriate, a gang representation, or simply prevent teachers from being able to see whom is wearing it.

According to Administrator Nola Wilson, Riverside tries its very best not to pull students away from class, if it can be changed immediately then students are simply asked to adjust whatever they’re wearing by adding a jacket or removing a hat or hood. If not, then they are asked if a friend might be able to provide a jacket so that their outfit is no longer inappropriate. The next step is to call home and see if a parent can bring clothes that would be approPHOTO BY KAYNA KLIEWER

InFlight December 15, 2015

fits school

priate. In the worst cases, students are asked to go home. In all situations it is the administrators and staff ’s highest hope not to take a student away from their education, but if it affects the comfort of the rest of the school then it impacts other students’ education.

Wilson said, “Our dress code follows district expectations and anytime you have to fit one thing to 1600 people, one size never fits everyone.”

The dress code is simply there to assure everyone— both students and staff—to feel comfortable at school.

Dresses like these are against the school dress code, because they are too short, and a student wearing this will most likely be told to cover up or change.

What do students think of Riverside’s Dress Code?

Fair Inbetween Unfair

55%

20%

NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS

“Find a girlfriend.”

—Jadrick Lata

“Make it to State in track & field individually.”

—Aulane Mpouli

“[To make] JV tennis!”

—Kiara Kim

“Get my driver’s license.”

—Victoria Cegielski

“Illuminate what’s in the dark.”

—Kenzi Kvemper

25%

Feature

Auburn Riverside High School

13

Friends made, lives changed in Campus Connect AJ Britt Guest Reporter Campus Connect. The club name may be unfamiliar to students. The club originally started off as Manna Club, changed to Jesus Club and now is currently called Campus Connect. The club has not only changed names but has also changed curriculums.

Senior Katerina Zhuravel changed Manna Club into Jesus Club and then into Campus Connect. With the supervision of the advisers, teacher Cheryl Moyd and librarian Lisa Gallinatti, she runs a successful club.

Despite what one may think, Campus Connect is not all about Jesus and religion. “Campus Connect is a club where people gather, religious or not, to discover more about the Bible and build friendships,” Zhuravel said.

A new member to the club, senior Kyle Sutrick, who is not religious, said he likes going to the club to just listen to discussion, but he does wish that they would talk about more controversial issues.

Zhuravel wanted to change the traditional club into one that doesn’t focus so much on religion but reaches out to the community and is more about building friendships.

In a typical meeting members eat food,

play icebreakers, have discussions about Biblical items and personal life, and plan charity events, according to Zhuravel. Some charity events that they participate in are sponsoring children from different countries and cleaning up trash around campus.

Zhuravel has big plans for this club.

“Future plans for the club are to get more involved with the community, participate in fundraising and reach out to more people.”

Zhuravel also does more than just run the Campus Connect at Riverside. In addition to her duties as club president, she is the coordinator for all of the Campus Connects in King County. She has to run all of the local Campus Connects on top of all of her duties as president. “I plan the program schedule, set up volunteer work, plan games, fundraising, assign people roles and buy food for everyone for their meetings,” Zhuravel said. All of the Campus Connects are branches from the main one that is at her church, which is where she originally got the idea for the club.

In a recent poll, 93 percent of students believe that extracurricular activities and clubs are important to student success. On the contrary, only 50 percent of students have attended a club.

Sutrick thinks the club is “pretty cool.”

Senior Taylor Johnston agrees it’s a good thing. “It’s good to incorporate some

religion into school again.” Her favorite part of the club is “being with others who feel the same way about religion as I do and to have discussions about it.”

Throughout the years the Manna Club has been changed, it has undergone name

changes, curriculum changes and changes in leadership. It has shifted from being a club solely focused on religion to one that is more involved in helping the community and accepting to all.

14

Feature

InFlight December 15, 2015

Who’s behind locker #...

Melyeah Parker

My Do

Abbigayle Lair

Andres Madrigal

7084

7082

6122

8055

InFlight: What is your favorite season?

MP: Summer. It’s warm and there’s no school.

InFlight: What is your favorite color?

MP: Teal.

InFlight:What was the last movie you can remember going to?

MP: Inside Out. InFlight: Where do you invision yourself in five years?

MP: In college.

InFlight: How many pillows do you sleep with?

MP: One. InFlight: Which of the five senses is your strongest?

MP: Sight. I can see really far.

InFlight: Are you currently involved in any sports or clubs at this school or outside of it?

MP: No. InFlight: What is one of your biggest fears?

MP: Dying.

InFlight: What is your favorite song?

CN: “C’est La Halloween.”

InFlight: Do you have any nicknames?

MD: No, because my name’s short.

InFlight: Do you love or hate roller coasters?

MD: I love roller coasters.

InFlight: What is your favorite drink at Starbucks?

MD: Green tea lemonade.

InFlight: What Hogwarts house would you be in?

MD: Hufflepuff.

InFlight: How would you spend a million dollars?

MD: Now? I’d put it towards my college tuition.

InFlight: What do you wish would go out of fashion?

MD: The whip and the quan—dances like that.

InFlight: What is your biggest pet peeve?

AL: I really don’t like it when people use the wrong “you’re” and “there.”

InFlight: Who is your favorite author?

AL: Roald Dahl.

InFlight: What is your favorite kitchen appliance?

AL: The microwave.

InFlight: What’s your favorite movie?

AL: Silver Linings Playbook.

InFlight: If you were the ruler of your own country what rule would you introduce first?

AL: All food would be free.

InFlight: If you had to live your life without one of your five senses, which one would you give up?

AL: Smell, because I wouldn’t want to lose any of my other senses.

InFlight: What’s the most unusual food you’ve ever eaten?

AM: Duck fetuses and chicken feet.

InFlight: Is there anything you wished would come back into fashion?

AM: Wearing jean jackets with jeans.

InFlight: If you had a warning label, what would it say?

AM: Beware of swag.

InFlight: What celebrity would you like to spend the day with?

AM: Arnold Schwarzenegger.

InFlight: What is your inner spirit animal?

AM: A manatee.

InFlight: If you could master one skill you don’t know how to do right now, what would it be?

AM: I want to learn how to unicycle!

Auburn Riverside High School

Arts & Entertainment

15

star wars fever awakens Holly Andersen Guest Reporter

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a movie called Star Wars: A New Hope was bestowed on the general public. Full of neverbefore-seen special effects, high-energy action scenes and an immense amount of symbolism, this cinematic feature was something that the people of 1970s America had never seen before.

Star wars is a ompletely groundbreaking movie, the story’s plot and characters completely enamoured fans, resulting in the franchise becoming a booming success.

So much so, that Lucasfilms released five more movies and created tens of thousands of fans.

These fans received an enormous shock when they learned that a seventh Star Wars movies was in production and set to release in the December of 2015.

This news made fans of all ages incredibly excited. However, people are being cautious, given how the second trilogy was received.

“[The second trilogy] was okay, but it wasn’t the best,” principal David Halford said.

English teacher Katy Nuttman remembers when episodes one, two and three were released, and being disappointed with how they turned out.

However, this isn’t to say that fans of the movie have given up all hope. Despite a major internet controversy on Disney buying Lucasfilms in 2012, people know that Disney has no shortage of money and recruited an established director on their team for this project.

A new installment in a movie series means there is a lot to be excited about with this new movie, and it seems that different people are excited for the new additions, “Female Jedi!” Nuttman said. “We’ve never seen one before, so I’m super excited for that.”

Some are excited to see their favorite series come back to life.“Just to see how and where the story picks up,” history teacher Chad Guisinger said.

Some students are excited for seeing all new characters. “A strong female lead, Han Solo’s daughter and Kylo Ren,” junior Gabriel Wilson said, “ I feel like those will be interesting to see in a movie like this.”

Some students are leary with how the movie will turn out however. In a recent student poll 58 percent of students said they did not think that the new Star Wars movie will live up to people’s expectations, and only time will tell if they are right.

Part of the reason for the hype for Star Wars 7 is because people grew up with these movies, with the average age being six or seven when people first saw the Star Wars series.

“It’s 40 years of pop culture and it’s so huge.” Guisinger said. “It totally changed pop culture forever.”

It’s an old school, classic hero story that people can relate to and is something that everyone can find themselves in. Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens December 18.

Creed enjoyable new Rocky film ZaReah Barren Staff Reporter Creed was a movie that is part of a franchise about Rocky, and takes place many years later with Rocky’s friend and Apollo Creed’s son, Odonis Creed, who is played by Michael B. Jordan.

It was a really good movie, but Sylvester Stallone, who is Rocky Balboa, is getting older, so it makes it hard to understand him. There was one part where he was introducing Creed to some of his old boxing friends, but I couldn’t understand him so I went the movie not knowing who they were.

Bianca, who is Creed’s girlfriend, is played by Tessa Thompson. You can tell that she is into her character. She is also a good singer, and sings in the movie at a bar, so that’s how she and Creed become friends, and eventually start dating. Thompson has three songs on the “Creed” album, which are “Grip,” “Breathe,” and “Shed You.” In the movie she has progressive hearing loss, but they don’t address her hearing that much except for one part where she takes out her hearing aids because she wants to ignore Creed.

His mom makes the movie good because she isn’t supportive, but she gives him his father’s shorts to fight infor the ending scene fight.

In the beginning of the movie she tells Creed that he doesn’t need to bother with calling her when he tells her that he is going to Los Angeles to be a boxer. She is upset because his dad, Creed Sr., died because of a fight that happened in the ring. Even though she is upset, she still watches his fights and press conferences. Phylicia Rashad plays Creed’s mom, who is a great actress in my opinion.

Rocky invites Odonis to stay with him after they meet and he figures out who he is. They also stay together so they can practice and prepare for the upcoming fights. Rocky ends up getting sick and Creed goes to jail for beating someone up because he was mad at Rocky for not wanting to get treatment to help him fight the disease. After Odonis gets out of jail, he goes home and he and Rocky exchange apologies.

I feel like this scene was one of the most emotional in the entire movie because there are two strong men and they open up to each other.

In the end, Creed fights the pound by pound lightweight champion of the world, “Pretty” Ricky Conlan, because he is awaiting trial for a gun charge, so it might be his last fight. The ending fight was amazing; it doesn’t turn out like you would expect it would.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie because it really took me along with the story and I felt like I was in that world.

16

Arts & Entertainment

InFlight December 15, 2015

Devastatingly uninteresting: Mockingjay, Part 2 Sara Koenig Staff Reporter The finale of the Hunger Games was disappointing and mediocre. The second Mockingjay movie managed to follow the plot of the book phenomenally, but unfortunately was rather slow, including quite a bit of film which felt unnecessary.

There were several moments when the camera held a still shot of Katniss for a few seconds only for nothing to happen, causing the audience to lose significant interest in what was happening. They also wasted five minutes showing scenes of Katniss and Prim attempting to talk to Peeta who was so out of it that he just kept screaming about killing her.

One of the other downsides to the movie series is that they excluded a lot of the disabilities included in the books.

Some of these include Peeta losing his leg after the first book when Cato stabbed him and opened an artery, the Capitol deemed it unsavable by the time they were finally released from the arena and chopped it off. It affects him in many ways in the second book, slowing him down in many instances and causing him to fall at a couple of key scenes.

Katniss also went deaf in one ear after the second book during the explosion that destroyed the 75th Annual Hunger Games arena. On top of this, the Capitol and the Hunger Games are said to have many avoxes walking around and doing the servant work for the Capitol’s government. Avoxes are said to be traitors who had their tongues cut out. In the first book a scene is referenced when Katniss and Gale saw two lovers whom were running away from District 12

get picked up by the Capitol. She sees the girl later when she is chosen for the 74th Annual Hunger Games. Thankfully they did include the avox, who was her cameraman in Mockingjay from the books.

On the positive side, the movie included all major plot points, covered plot holes, and managed to include a lot of details from the book despite its small flaws. Prim’s death was done as well in the movie as it was in the books. In the beginning Katniss overheard Gale and Beetee talking about a strategy of the rebels to send in a bomb and then wait until medics rush in to help survivors and bomb it again. Towards the end Katniss sees her sister killed this way except the plane is marked with symbols of the Capitol.

I found the movie had spectacular videography but left me bored due to some mediocre acting and stretches of nothing happening, not even dialogue. Jennifer Lawrence seemed to be off her game in this movie, her acting seemed sub-par, especially when compared to her other movies. It felt as if she didn’t know her character anymore even though this is the movie when Katniss truly finds her purpose and the person she is. Liam Hemsworth’s portrayal of Gale was also lacking, with little to no emotion shown, even when he was involved as a major part of a love triangle. I did not see any show of his love for Katniss. The only actor who truly impressed me in this installment of the Hunger Games was Josh Hutcherson playing Peeta Mellark. His insanity due to the torture he endured

during the first part of Mockingjay was exactly as I imagined when I read the books and as he began to remember Josh felt the same guilt, regret, and disbelief as in the books.

Overall there were good and bad things to the last installment of the Hunger Games, but I felt it could have much improvement.

Artist of the Issue: Tori Kelly Hannah Kazlauskas Staff Reporter

PHOTO COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, WIKIPEDIA.ORG

5 songs you should know:

1.Dear No One 2. Silent 3. Nobody Love 4. Funny 5. First Heartbreak

Growing up in Wildomar, California, Victoria (Tori) Kelly is a singer, songwriter, and over all instrumentalist who was born on December, 14 1992. Kelly got publicly noticed at age fourteen after posting videos of herself singing on YouTube. A couple years later she created her first EP album titled Handmade Songs. Tori signed with Capitol Records releasing her first major debut album Unbreakable Smile, making Top Ten on Billboard 200. One of her songs called “Dear No One” was the first song I ever heard by her, and it has been my favorite song since then. It communicates that no matter a person’s independence, there are going to be moments when all they want is to be dependent on someone. Another one of her songs, “Silent,” expresses how people sometimes hold it all in, too afraid to speak what’s on their mind. Tori Kelly has very inspirational music with captivating lyrics; she is an amazing artist who speaks her mind, and has a voice that is as beautiful as it is raw.

Sports

Auburn Riverside High School

17

Wrestling takes down competition Trevor Little Staff Reporter The boys and girls wrestling season has just started, and the boys’ first match was on Wednesday Dec. 9.

The boys have worked hard, although the first couple weeks were rough. “Our

guys have really worked hard the first couple weeks,” coach Kyle Jones said.

“It’s been really hard for them the first couple weeks because it’s a lot of mental focus.”

Jones also believes that some of his players are poised to do well this year.

“Jose Juarez, Diego Cabanas, Marco Galeano, Gabe Tugade, and Jonathan Richards are all poised for a breakout year,” Jones said.

Along with a new season comes new challenges, such as facing other opponents. “Last year Auburn was the hardest team to face,” sophomore Sam Onishchenko stated. “Last year we did not win any of our matches against Auburn.”

Onishchenko also has high hopes for his team this season. “I think we are going to do really well. We are going to be scoring in the top 5. That’s our goal,” he said.

With these challenges comes the excitement of facing these many different teams, such as Auburn High School

PHOTO BY AARON BAKER

The wrestling team hopes to have another successful season.

and Sumner, according to sophomore Jonathan Richards.

The girls wrestling team has a small roster this year consisting of four players: freshman Kaitlyn Packer, senior Melissa Chamberlain, junior Mercedes Sosa, and sophomore Kyla Poquiz.

The coach stated that the girls showed great effort in their tryouts. “All of our girls are brand new. They haveall shown great interest in learning every day,” coach Amberle Montgomery said.

Montgomery also has hopes for some her players. “Kyla and Kaitlyn

are both hardworking and dedicated,” Montgomery said.

Packer also has high hopes for her team. “I think we are going to do pretty well,” Packer said.

Girls basketball rebounds from previous success Kayna Kliewer Staff Reporter

PHOTO BY SARA KOENIG

Senior Kiana Drumheller made the first shot of the game thanks to the help of her teammates Faith Turner and McKenzi Williams.

The girls basketball team had their second game on December 8 which ended in a win over the Sumner Spartans 50-28. During their first game against Kentlake they won 43-41.

Their roster is full of players, many of whom have played together for multiple years.

“We didn’t have to start learning the game from the beginning,” junior Brooklyn Forte said. “We all already knew each other and we all know how everyone plays.”

Several of the girls remarked that the team has a lot of good chemistry and they’re all like a big family. The girls all work hard in practice and in games.

“For our team to be successful we all have to work together,” Forte said. “On our team, it works because everyone plays their individual part.”

The team captains for the girls basketball teams are junior Olivia Denton and senior Ali Thurston. The way the girls all work together on and off the basketball court is what makes this team stand out from other years.

“Some of the most important players on our team are Olivia Denton and Mckenzi Williams,” Thurston said.

The girls expressed that their team stands out from other teams because they all have the individual skills and their team also has good teamwork throughout, while most teams only have one of the two.

“Yes, [there are standout players] but our entire team is very talented,” Forte said.

The girls basketball team hopes to win league and then make it to State this season. While there is a lot of competition at their level, their teamwork proves to be a large contributor to helping them make it to State.

“Our team is definitely a big family because we all get along really well on and off the court,” freshman Autumn Lee said.

18

Sports

InFlight December 15, 2015

Gymnastics new talent brings success Sasha Terry Staff Reporter Gymnastics has started up again and the girls are ready to compete to make it to Districts this year. They hope to improve their skills by working hard to clean their stunts while pointing their toes.

Sophomore Nancy Farias contributes to the team by helping her teammates with their tumbling. Farias competes on the bars and vault.

She competed in gymnastics this year because, “It is what I like to do and it’s fun being on the team,” Farias said. “I hope to make it to State with the team this year.”

Senior Cierra Deissler competes in all of the events as an all-around. She hopes that her scores will have a good huge impact on the team’s overall score.

“I love the sport!” Deissler said. “My goal this year is to learn some new skills and clean skills from last year.”

Freshman Makenna Price competes in all of the events. Price hopes that she will become a stronger gymnast throughout the season this year and she believes that she will contribute to the team well.

“I will bring in a lot of energy and encouragement to the team,” Price said. “It is a really

strong team and everyone is nice.”

Senior Kristin Freitas loves to help others with learning new skills and leading warm-ups. Freitas competes on the bars, vault, and floor routine. She is looking forward to improving her skills with good forms and higher scores.

“I would like to improve on my back tuck during the floor routine and clean skills on the bars,” Freitas said.

“Everyone has such a good attitude and is determined to do well in their events.”

Coach Cathy Robinson has been coaching gymnastics at our school for eight years and she is training the girls to compete in the state tournament.

She believes the girls are hard-working and fun spirited.

“It’s great to see newcomers grow in skills and be competitive in the sport,” she said. “Even though gymnastics is a team sport, it is individualized and the girls support the team well.”

The girls hope to work through challenges and compete well this season. The first home meet will be on Wednesday, December 16 at 7:00 p.m. against Auburn, Kentlake, and Thomas Jefferson.

PHOTO BY SASHA TERRY

The gymnastics girls practice their beam routines for their next meet on December 16 at Kentlake. From left to right, the gymnasts are freshman Jamie Jaeckel, freshman Riley Roland and junior Brittany Ly.

Boys basketball counts on experience Dylan Grenz Staff Reporter

PHOTO COURTESY SHARON MANIVANH

Boys basketball has rocketed off to another hot start, hoping to build off of the successes of last year. Varsity and JV have high expectations, while C team, with players such as Noah Elwell (left) and Dylan Molina (right), look to improve each and every game.

Boys basketball has begun another campaign, coming off of one of the most successful seasons in school history. Things are looking up for the varsity squad this year, with eight players returning that were on varsity last season.

Head coach Kevin Olson is in his second year of coaching at Riverside, and has high expectations for the team this year. “We looked good last year,” he said. “I’m expecting all the returners to come back bigger, stronger, faster, and hopefully that will translate to games.”

Among the many school records broken for the team, were most single season wins, and the first ever sweep of Auburn. Olson is hoping to break some more of these this season.

The team has no shortage of experience. Among the returners is sophomore Isaiah Prescott, who has been practicing in the offseason. “I’ve been improving my jumpshot and handles,” Prescott said. “As a team we’ve really been working on our chemistry so we can be more clutch.”

Prescott is looking forward to play-

ing Auburn and Mountainview because of how crazy the fans get and how good the rivalries are. However, Olson is looking forward to some other matchups as well.

“Obviously Auburn and Sumner are always fun to play, but Mountainview and Peninsula were also really high in the standings,” Olson said. “Both teams have a lot of returners, so they’ll be tough matchups as well.”

The team will play at Auburn in what could be a huge game, as it is the last game of the regular season in early February. Riverside is also hosting the “Holiday Classic” tournament over winter break.

Olson is looking to returners such as junior Julian Gulchuk, senior Quintin Bethea, and O’darious Shaw to be positive leaders with significant roles on the team. All three were on varsity last season.

Other players, such as seniors Dennis Beard, Adrian Hollingsworth and Ty Rivers are also expected to have leadership roles while helping fellow teammates.

The team got off to the hot start they were looking for, beating Mt. Ranier 5350 to open the season. They then followed with a dominating 68-27 win over Franklin Pierce. The team looks to keep the momentum going in hopes of having another successful season.

Sports

Auburn Riverside High School

19

Gymnast flips to victory Dylan Grenz Staff Reporter

Senior Amanda Bunger is entering her final season of gymnastics, making varsity for the third straight year.

Many of her fellow teammates are looking to her to lead the team this year.

“I’ve been doing gymnastics for about six years now,” she said.

“I did club before, but it took up too much time, so I just stick to school now.”

PHOTO BY KAYNA KLIEWER Bunger battled a sprained ankle earlier this year, but is hoping to bounce back and return to the level she Senior Amanda was at last year.

Bunger works on her technique in a “I’ve really been working on my tumprevious gymnastics bling on floor this year,” she said. meet. Bunger is enAs a team, she hopes to see a lot of imtering her final seaprovement from the incoming freshmen, son of gymnastics.

Coach Robinson helping them however she can. “Hopefully and her teammates as the team improves it will translate to look to her to be a some wins,” she said. leader on the team.

Gymnastics coach Cathy Robinson has high expectations for Bunger this year.

“I want her to have a fun and productive PHOTO COURTESY AMANDA BUNGER year,” she said. “Hopefully she qualifies for

Districts and possibly State.”

Gymnastics is not Bunger’s only sport.

She also participates in cross country and track. She is looked to as a leader in these sports too, becoming the only player to reach districts for girls cross country earlier this season.

Bunger finished with the best time for 5000 meters and 4500 meters on the team, both coming in the Three Course Challenge.

Her 4500 time was the second fastest in school history. She also posted a solid time in the 2 mile race.

She is also very excited to begin her final track season this spring, starting with the Bellevue Track and Field Invitational on April 23.

Last year Bunger did well, producing her best times in the 800 and 1600 meter races. She also did very well in the relays, posting solid times with her teammates.

While she may not pursue gymnastics or track after high school, Bunger has thought about doing cross country at the college level. Her goal is to go to either WSU or WWU. She has yet to decide if this is what she wants to do.

Bunger is looked to as a leader in all three of her sports she is in, due to how she carries herself both in sports and in the classroom.

Boys swim starts season confidently Kira Kopcho Staff Reporter The boys swim and dive team has recently started the winter sports season. They have only had one meet so far, but they all come from different skill levels to represent our school in the water.

The boys started swimming a couple of weeks ago, and had their first meet against Auburn Mountainview on December 3.

Fourteen boys competed last meet, the majority of which were sophomores.

“We had our first meet,” senior Daniel Godfrey said. “A lot of people improved their times.”

Some boys have already set personal records this season, despite only having one swim meet. Most of the boys on the team agree that they have some good swimmers this season.

“I PR’d (personal record) in two events; the 100 and the 200 relay,” sophomore Ryan Hess said.

So far in the season, the times have been pretty well for most of the swimmers.

Most of the boys are improving.

“It’s been a pretty good season,” senior Tyler Smith said. “The times weren’t record breaking, but they were pretty close.”

The boys not only spend their time in

the water, but they also have to do dryland workouts before practice starts. These workouts consist of both weight training and bodyweight exercises.

“This season has been pretty good,” freshman Chris Zavala said. “I’m getting a lot of great workouts.”

The boys have their sights set on qualifying for Districts. Along with setting personal records, getting to Districts is the main aspiration for most athletes on the team.

“My goal is to break the 500 record, and hopefully make it to State,” Godfrey said.

The team had two seniors competing at the meet on the third. These boys will be graduating out of the team this year.

“It’s really going to be my teamates I miss,” Smith said. “There are a lot of cool people on swim team.”

So far, they are confident in their abilities. A lot of the members of the team say that they are sure they have a good chance of going far.

“I think we have a pretty good shot for [making it to Districts,]” Hess said.

The swimmers have their goals set for the season, and are continuing work to improve themselves.

“It’s really just the same goals every year,” Smith said. “You always want to beat your time.”

PHOTO BY KIRA KOPCHO

Freshmen Matthew Smettzer and sophomore Ethan Celver lift weights for dryland before swim practice.

Exercising before getting in the water is a fundamentlal part of swim practice.

InFlight December 15, 2015 Sports Varsity cheer has high goals, high hopes

20

Trevor Little Staff Reporter The competitive cheer team won State last year and then moved on to Nationals, but ended up losing.

Even with the loss, the cheer team has hopes to do well this year, with their goal being to get back to where they were last year.

“We are trying to make it to state competition,” senior Mikaela Brewer said. “We all did great last year. So we have the motivation to do well this year.”

Freshman Skylar Erickson also has hopes for a good season. “I do think that we will go far because we are connected and all comfortable around each other,” Erickson said.

Senior Chelsea Shearer, along with the rest of her team, believes the team has a chance to go far. “I think we are all working hard,” Shearer said.

With the new season there are new challenges and excitements such as facing teams from other schools. These schools have improved as well, and will be sure to provide a challenge. “We always look for-

ward to competing against Ballard and any of the Highline schools,” Shearer said.

Many of the girls have been doing cheer for many years, even before coming to Riverside. “I’ve done all four years in high school and I did three years before I got into high school,” Shearer said.

For others this is a new experience.

“This is my first year doing cheer for school,” Erickson said.

Inspiration can make a big difference whether or not someone decides to compete. “I did cheer before I got into school in middle school, and my sister was here, so [my inspiration is] probably my sister,” Brewer said.

Others have had their inspiration as well. “I just love getting new sports into our school and I love seeing new people get into it every week,” Shearer said.

Erickson had her own inspiration. “I really wanted to get involved with the school,” Erickson said.

According to Brewer some of the harder teams to face will be Bothell and Skyland.

“But mostly Skyland,” Brewer said.

PHOTO BY SARA KOENIG

Varsity cheerleaders look on during a Lady Ravens basketball game. They include (from left to right) juniors Isabella Ayers and Alexis Wynne and seniors Katrina Williams, Nicole Johndrow and Chelsea Shearer.