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Table of Contents
Iowa State Cheer: Overdue Recognition By TIM WEIDEMAN - High school assembly Editor
Student Life | State Football: Best Dressed Students 5 Student Life | Iowa State Cheer: A Real Sport
6
State Cheer Photos
8
Student Life | Sugarland CD Review
10
Student Life | Texting Kills
11
Student Life | Christmas Favorite: Cookies
12
Academics | Prepare for College with High School Classes13 College Prep | The College Finals Experience
14
College Prep | Scholarship Hunt
15
One of the goals of High School Assembly is to recognize
the students and activities they are involved in throughout their
high school careers. We try to focus on giving as many students
and student-athletes as we can the recognition they deserve. A sports that gets overlooked far too often, however, is
cheerleading. Not only do these young women and men work
hard to put together routines that entertain and pump up the
crowds at many sporting events, from football, to basketball
and wrestling, but they also take as much pride in perfecting
their technique, form and skill as any other student involved in
athletics.
For cheerleaders to perform at their best, countless hours
of practice must be put in. No part of cheerleading comes to a person overnight. And yet, for all the hard work put into
cheerleading, today’s media doesn’t seem to think the sport
worthy of much recognition. Sure, there might be a great article
in a local paper, but what about the bigger papers? Nothing.
That’s where the High School Assembly tries to step in. We
believe that these girls deserve recogntion from a medium that
reaches the entire state of Iowa.
Assembly
Everybody who’s ever gone to a sporting event knows
that cheerleaders play a huge role in making the event more
enjoyable. That’s why a major portion of this issue was devoted to covering the Iowa State Cheerleading Competitions.
2928 Ingersoll Ave. Des Moines, IA 50312 PH: 515.283.1933 FAX: 515.283.1646 isceditor@iowasportsconnection.com
Volume Six | Issue Two Mike Rickord | President
mrickord@iowasportsconnection.com
John Streets | Business Consultant
The cover of this issue features the cheerleaders from
Nashua Plainfield, the Class 2A Small Team champions. The
feature story on page 6 tells the story of a day at the state
competition. The centerspread offers a glimpse of this year’s
action. High School Assembly and The Iowa Sports Connection
want to congratualte all the teams that competed at this year’s
state competition. Without you, let’s face it, athletic events would not be the same.
jstreets@iowasportsconnection.com
Joe stasi | Account Executive
jstasi@iowasportsconnection.com
Enjoy life,
Tim Weideman | Editor
Tim Weideman
Ethan Clevenger| Student Writer ADAM OESTREICH | Graphic Design Intern HUNTER PETERSEN| Graphic Design Intern 4
Volume 6 Issue 2
Visit us on the web @ www.highschoolassembly.com
Student State Football Championships: Best Dressed Students Tim Weideman Editor
Many Madrid students chose the classy overalls look.
While everyone else was watching the games at the Iowa High School State Football Championships, High School Assembly was busy making note of which schools brought the best fans, specifically the student sections. Now, there are plenty high schools that represent their teams well with crazy students in awesome outfits during the regular season. But these are playoff games that mean a lot! Students need to pull out all stops and go all out for this game.
Students from Dowling Catholic in Des Moines showed how the whiteFortunately, most of the schools did not out is done. disappoint, with students dressing up very creatively throughout the playoffs. Some student sections, however, didn’t do anything different from what has already been done at regular season games. Forget the football jersies. While they are cool, jersies don’t complete a fanatic’s outfit. Here’s to all of you crazies out there that filled the UNI-Dome for the playoffs.
Armstrong-Ringsted’s students rocked awesome face paint.
Good December 1 - 31, 2010. Visit us on the web @ www.highschoolassembly.com
Volume 6 Issue 2
5
Student A Real Sport 2/ 16 Ethan Clevenger
2/ 23
Staff Writer
November 6th marked the 20th annual Iowa Cheerleading Championships, a growing tradition. Over 142 teams showed up from 93 schools, a number that keeps getting bigger Usher every year.
Raymond v. Raymond
For those of you not familiar with cheer 2/ 2/ competitions, it’s a very diverse breed of 23There are several types of teams.23 sport. A stunt group does only the lifts and other “stunts” that many people associate with cheerleading routines. There is also a sideline competition in which cheerleaders execute a routine similar to what they might do on the sidelines of the football field while the game is going to pump up the crowd. Performance teams do it all in just two and a half minLifehouse utes. They’reSmoke judgedand based on confidence, Mirrors jump height, facials and coordination aside from executing moves correctly. All 2 simply / 2/ this culminates to someone going home the 23 23 winner. Upon arrival, it became obvious that it isn’t just the teams in on this. When one person is cheering, their whole family is right there behind them in cheer t-shirts. That means big brother and dad, too, and sometimes dad even gets weepy when his kid wins.
Alkaline Trio This Addiction
3/
3/
Following the final exhibition performance day, so for a while I was escorted around by 2 a flood of combefore the morning’s awards, Krystal 5 Fitzpatrick, one of around ninety-five petitors hit the mats in front of the awards people working the competition, many of table while the room erupted into noisy whom are volunteers. Krystal took me behind anticipation. Contrary to what one might the scenes in our quest to find Huether and believe, few tears were shed when first place Ehn, where I got to see what goes into somedidn’t go someone’s way. The tears were thing like this. saved until first place was awarded, and suddenly people leapt from the mats, shouting The competitors’ preparation begins about crying and hugging like they’d won theLittle Boots an hour before they’re set to perform. They Theand Rocket Summer at the Olympics. I got a chance to Hands first get a chance to stretch before undergoOfgold Menmedal and Angels talk to coach Kristi Hannemann of 2A division ing the first step in an extensive effort to winners Nashua Plainfield.3 / keep competitors safe. They have their nails checked, jewelry removed, hair put up, and 9 “It’s a very big deal,” she said. “These girls aren’t allowed to use spray-on glitter. Next are in every moment. They put in the practice the teams have their pictures taken before and the hours.” moving on to a hallway with several stations where they get a chance to practice their rouAnd indeed they did. Hannemann said the tine before going out on the big stage. girls would often practice twice a day, showing up at 6 AM before school to drill their After a lot of searching, Krystal and I manroutine. She didn’t have long to talk, but left aged to track down Huether and Ehn, who Daniel Gorillaz me Merriweather with the team’s motto: were having a quick lunch in the middle of Love and War Plastic Beach their busy day. “Athletes practice until they get it right. / can’t get it Champions practice until 3 they The first thing we talked about, and the big wrong.” thing that stuck out to me about this event, 9 was the safety of the cheerleaders. Obviously this worked out for them. “The cheerleaders are number one,” After the morning’s awards I looked for Huether said. The important thing is that they an opportunity to talk to co-executives of have a good time, and safety goes hand in the Iowa Cheerleading Coaches’ Association hand with that. Nancy Huether and Jeanne Ehn. Of course, these two ladies were very busy on such a big
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Volume 6 Issue 2
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Student “As cheerleading gets more popular, coaches are getting educated,” Ehn explained. The National Federation of State High School Associations is in charge of that. They offer programs to properly educate school coaches so that the girls’ safety is assured. Also watching the competitors’ safety are the judges. There are three sets of judges. Two of these sets of judges are watching performance, the “Bring It On” look, Ehn explained. The other set is purely judging safety. Should anything not be up to standards, teams are deducted points.
“Each team dedicated themselves to being the best they could be by practicing long hours and committing to their teams. We are very proud of all of them!” For full results, check out:www.iowacheercoaches.org/state.htm
First Place Teams Small Team - Williamsburg 1A - Newman Catholic 2A - Nashua Plainfield 3A - Assumption 4A - Hempstead 4A Large - Valley
In addition to ensuring the safety of the cheerleaders, Huether and Ehn have a lot more on their plates for this competition. Finding a venue has been difficult enough. Huether noted that this year’s venue, Hy-Vee Hall, wasn’t the ideal place. Seating was difficult there. But they were very excited about next year’s venue, hopefully Jacobson Arena on the Iowa State Fairgrounds, which will offer more seating and a better show for everyone involved. Planning an event like this is a year-long process. Huether and Ehn told me they started work on next year’s event before this year’s had even finished. They expect it to be even bigger. In recent years the event has jumped as much as 50 teams between competitions. All in all, this year’s show was a big success. Huether summed up the event with this thought:
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Volume 6 Issue 2 11/16/2010 8:54:06 AM
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Iowa High Cheerleading
h School Championship
Student CD Review Ethan Clevenger Staff Writer “The Incredible Machine” is the latest album from Sugarland, and as of writing ranks #4 on iTunes best selling albums. It debuted in October at #1 on the Billboard 200. There is a phenomenon of pop-rock infusing the country scene lately, and this is no exception. The second and title track, “Incredible Machine” features a drum break reminiscent of Coldplay while the first track seems like some sort of offset rock number. Both tracks are very light on lyrics with short verses and lots of repeated phrases. When talking about the album, Nettles and Bush used the word “steam-punk” in describing the album, and for many of the tracks, this stands true. Anyone looking for a country experience from Sugarland in their fourth studio album should probably skip to tracks three, seven, and eight. “Stuck Like Glue”, which has been lighting up country music stations, still manages to feel a little bit country, and it’s catchy lyrics provide a stark contrast to the first two tracks. Jennifer Nettles has a short reggaestyle segway that many might raise an eyebrow at, but that I found lovable after a couple of listens. “Find the Beat Again” breaks the steampunk thing a bit, but still isn’t quite country. Heavy rimshots and a bouncy guitar give it a mainstream pop feel.
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Volume 6 Issue 2
Several tracks feature Kristian Bush more prominently than in past productions, something we first saw in “Life in a Northern Town” from Sugarland’s last CD. This continues with some nice harmonies and Bush even taking lead vocals in “Stand Up” and “Incredible Machine (Interlude)”. This is refreshing, as in addition to playing a mandolin like he was Angus Young, Bush can sing, too. The first thought seeing this album debut #1 on Billboard was probably, for many people, “how did a country group do that?” The answer lies in the fact that this is hardly a country album. After lots of success with their first three albums, Sugarland seems to be search-
ing to appeal to a wider audience, and their attempts succeeded as this album has been doing very well. I’m giving this album a 3 of 5. Don’t take this to mean that it’s bad, however. I’ve never been much of a steam-punk or country-rock person, so I’m in love with “Stuck Like Glue” and a bit passive about the rest of the album, but sales and other reviews will tell you that if you aren’t necessarily looking for a country experience, this could be a great CD for you. But if you’ve got an aunt who loves George Strait and Josh Turner, this probably isn’t the album to buy her for Christmas.
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Student Texting Kills Ethan Clevenger Staff Writer As we near the holiday season, more and more drivers are going to be on the roads, which means greater opportunity for crashes. Unfortunately, many crashes are avoidable caused by irresponsible driving. One of the most prominent forms of irresponsible driving today is texting while driving. According to a report by the National Safety Council, up to 28% of car accidents are caused by drivers texting or talking on their phones. Around 60% of teenage drivers, who are inexperienced as it is, admit to texting while driving. Many states have made efforts to curb these effects by enforcing laws against texting and driving. In 30 states, plus Washington D.C. and Guam, texting while driving is illegal and will get you a ticket. In Iowa, you can’t get pulled over for it, but it’ll garner you at least a $127 ticket if the cop can find another reason to pull you over. That’s right, it’s illegal for everyone. Should you get in an accident that results in serious injury, you can get a $500 ticket, and if someone dies as a result of you texting, the ticket is $1,000. Keep in mind that any of these numbers can be superseded by an alternative, more expensive fine, and are accompanied by a
period of restricted license use. Additionally, 28 states plus D.C. ban cell phone use in general for novice drivers, which for some states means with a learner’s permit and in others means anyone under the age of 19. In Iowa, this means anyone with an intermediate or restricted license. Why all these laws about texting and driving? Because it’s dangerous! Experts cite three types of driver distraction: manual (taking your hands off the wheel), cognitive (taking your mind off the road), and visual (taking your eyes off the road). The scary thing about texting is that it results in all three. A Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study shows that texing makes a driver 23 times more
likely to crash, and 2008 statistics suggest that texting results in car crashes killing 11 teenagers every day and causes over 300,000 distracted-driving related injuries per year. On the topic of holiday travel, however, it’s likely worth noting that none of Iowa’s texting laws apply to GPS use, so you won’t get lost on your way home for the holidays. However, we still suggest setting destinations before taking off, as general driver distraction is cited as the critical cause of 18% of motor vehicle crashes. So from all of us here at High School Assembly, we wish our readers a both a safe and merry holiday season.
The leading cause of death in young Iowans, aged 16-20, is fatal car crashes. The Iowa Department of Public Safety-Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau (GTSB) is focused on helping deter one of Iowa's and the nation's bleakest statistic: Nationwide, a total of 58,000 drivers ages 16-20 were involved in fatal crashes; crashes which took the lives of 6,400 individuals. Additionally, in 2009, 41 young people ages 15-20 were killed in Iowa fatal crashes.
Several factors contribute to these unfortunate statistics: Distracted Driving - Texting While Driving - Alcohol Use Speeding - No Seatbelts - Inexperience
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Volume 6 Issue 2
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Student Christmas Cookies Ethan Clevenger Staff Writer More often than not, high school is a time to be strapped for cash. Looking ahead, if you’re one of those people who are big into giving gifts, the holidays can be a bit daunting trying to find gifts that fit your budget. Whether its friends or family, here are a few ideas to get you started: First, for friends. Buying a CD or DVD would be a great idea: it’s cheap and inexpensive. However, if you have a lot of friends, it can get costly fast. An alternative is burning CDs for friends. Not only are blank discs increasingly inexpensive, but this can be much more personal than any old CD. Like the classic mix tape, a burned CD is a great way to show someone you care. Or, if you’re really stretching the dollar this year, you can loan out your flash drive to different friends for a month with the mp3s on it. If music isn’t really your cup of tea, food will never fail! No, don’t go buy fruitcakes for your friends. You’ll just get them back. Instead try cookies. You can bake a lot of them at once and so it covers a lot of friends, not to mention everyone loves cookies. If you’re feel-
ing particularly ambitious, you can even make holiday cookies with a cookie cutter, frosting, the works! As a final option, and note that not everyone will appreciate this as a gift, you could get some construction paper and make a card. It’s the though that counts, right? This would probably be better suited for your parents, but a girlfriend or boyfriend might appreciate the intrinsic value of it. Speaking of your parents, they need love, too. Luckily, mom and dad are much more appreciative of quirky and meaningful gifts, and you can blow a little more money on this if need be since you don’t have twelve of them. If you have old projects from kindergarden like a picture you drew, you might consider buying a frame for
it. As high school comes to an end, your parents are going to be thinking about how you grew up so fast, and this will be a great send-off gift they can remember your childhood by. And there’s always that age old gift of a packet of gourmet coffee with a “World’s Greatest Dad” mug, too! With these ideas, hoepfully you can spread holiday cheer to everyone on your list this year!
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Academics Prepare for College with High School Classes Minnesota Board of Higher Education Final tests are done and you’re already looking forward to next semester, right? No? You’d rather enjoy Winter Break and then think about classes? OK, that’s fine. You’ve earned it. But keep in mind what classes you’re going to take and how they will prepare you for college. It’s always important to take this into consideration. It can get you ahead of the game! The Minnesota Board of Higer Education offers some good tips on what areas should be concentrated on in high school before you get to college: Once you reach high school, you have choices about the courses you take. While it’s tempting to take only the classes you need to graduate, you will be more prepared for college if you take more challenging courses. Completing classes like those described below will help you meet the basic admission requirements at most colleges, but your high school graduation requirements may differ. Key Subjects
Your knowledge and skills in language arts, math and science go a long way in determining how well you’ll do in college. * Language Arts (Recommended: 4 years) People who succeed are people who can read and write. No matter what you end up doing, it pays to be able to speak clearly and write well. You should prepare by taking as many classes in reading, writing and speaking as you can fit into your schedule. * Mathematics (Recommended: 4 years) Everyone uses numbers in the real world to solve problems. Math teaches you to think logically and abstractly. Two years of algebra and one year of geometry are recommended for all high school students, but it’s always good to take even more than that. * Science (Recommended: 3 years) Learning how things work and studying the world around you will help you understand how scientific discoveries affect you, your community and the world. Biology, chemistry and physics are good subjects to prepare you for college.
Other Vital Subjects In today’s world, it’s more important than ever to understand what’s going on around you and connect globally. * Social Studies (Recommended: 3 years) Classes in geography, civics, history and economics will help you understand what is happening in the world and how you fit in it. They also prepare you for college-level courses. * World Languages (Recommended: 2 years) Studying different languages is a great way to understand how other people live and think. You’ll not only learn more about another culture but your own as well. This will help you work with people from all over the world. Take at least two years of the same language. * The Arts (Recommended: 1 year) Art helps you explore and appreciate your creative side and those of others. Classes might include music, drama, dance and the visual arts.
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Volume 6 Issue 2
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College College Finals Ethan Clevenger Staff Writer I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: there are good test-takers and there are bad test-takers. I am thankful every day that I am one of the former, but when asked to write about taking finals, it occurred to me that my account isn’t going to be very interesting. I’ve never gone into finals stressed and worried, and I’ve never spent all night cramming. Then I saw this as an opportunity to help people get a new mindset about finals. First off, finals is, quite simply, just a lot of work. This is probably the best way to think about it. Don’t stress about taking the test itself, but recognize that it’s a lot of work, and allocate time accordingly. Several other students are taking the same final, many students have taken the same final in the past, and tons of kids are taking finals across the nation which means that you can do it too. Just allot time to get the studying done and don’t procrastinate. If you can go into the final confident that you know the material, it’ll be that much easier to concentrate and not make silly mistakes in addition to having the knowledge to answer the questions correctly.
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The number one thing not to do while studying is think about winter break. While it’s just around the corner and you probably won’t have homework, the last thing you want to do is reinforce the idea that you’re on the downhill slide. Finals are really important for your grade, and so the worst thing you can do is to blow them off daydreaming about break. In preparation for future finals, make sure you save all of your notes over the course of the semester. Finals are usually comprehensive, and so any old notes and assignments will be very useful to study from. If you’re like many fortunate students, your school day ends early during finals. This is not an opportunity to go home and play video games or watch television. This time is allotted to you with the expectation that you will use it responsibly. While it’s not a bad idea to take a few minutes and relax, don’t forget that there’s work ahead. Study for tomorrow if you’re at all unsure about the content. And finally, in case you missed our article on test-taking strategies last month,
be sure to note some general test-taking strategies. Get a good night’s sleep and eat a solid breakfast. Going into the test, bring extra pencils and batteries for your calculator if you need to. Stay relaxed, and make sure to address questions that you know the answer to and are worth more points first. And lastly, when you’ve finished the test, don’t spend the rest of your day thinking about it. It’s over and you can’t change it, so there’s no sense in letting question nine keep you up all night. Just let it go! The bottom line is that you’re taking the test, don’t let the test take you.
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College Prep Scholarship Hunt: Where To Look Tim Weideman Editor Scholarships are great, plain and simple. Who wouldn’t accept free money? And with the price of attending college only rising, scholarships are looking better than ever. The thing is, you have to know where to look for scholarships. Some are easier to find than others. Some of the best sources for college scholarships can be found online. A very good website that serves as a good tool to find scholarships is Fastweb.com. For no charge, you can sign up and Fastweb.com will keep you updated on available scholarships that suite you based on your college choice, interests, hobbies, etc. Fastweb.com has about 1.5 million scholarships online that are worth about $3.4 billion. That’s a lot of cash that can go a long way in helpign you pay for college.
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Plus, Fastweb.com offers excellent financial aid advice for high school students and families preparing their students for college. The website can also help you find an internship in your area or the area where you’ll be attending college. Fastweb.com also offers high school athletes assistance in college recruitment. Fastweb works with the National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA) to help student-athletes locate schools and help them find scholarships. Athletic scholarships can be a great way to help pay for college—no, you don’t have to be an athletic star to get an athletic scholarship. A good local resource for high school students searching for schol-
arships is the Iowa College Access Network or ICAN, which helps middle school students, high school students, college students and even graduate students in Iowa achieve their academic goals. ICAN offers many tips, from high school study help to college planning tips. Like Fastweb.com, ICAN also offers a scholarship database. ICAN’s website, www.icansucceed.org, also links to other scholarship resource websites, including Fastweb. What’s cool about ICAN is that once you’re on your way to college, you can still use the site as an excellent resource. ICAN offers a budgeting calculator (believe me, a budget is important to have), advice from college students, financial aid advice and advice for every-day college life. Take advantage of these resources. They’ll help you save money (parents love that) and they’ll even make college a little less scary.
Volume 6 Issue 2
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