JagWire | Volume 5 | Issue 5 | March 4, 2005

AN OPEN FORUM FOR STUDENT EXPRESSION

Seattle Sonics Key Arena vs. Detroit March 4 $10-$840 Seattle Thunderbirds Key Arena $12-$20 Seattle Mariners Opening Day Safeco Field April 4 $7-$50

Oklahoma!

ERHS Auditorium March 3-5, 10-12 w/ASB $7 w/out $9 Nunsense Auburn Dinner Theater March 4-15 $16-$28 Modern Dance Company The Paramount March 12 $22-$45 Man of La Mancha Lakewood Playhouse March 18 - April 9 $12-$18

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Duran Duran The Everett Events Center March 9 $37-$77 My Chemical Romance Everett Events Center March 26 $25 Battle of the Bands ERHS Gymnasium March 26 w/ERHS ASB $5 w/out $6

Be Cool PG-13 Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Ceric the Entertainer The Pacifier PG Starring: Vin Diesel The Jacket R Starring: Adrien Brody, Kiera Knightly .

Robots PG Starring: Ewan McGregor, Robin Williams The Ring Two PG-13 Starring: Naomi Watts, Simon Baker

EMERALD RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL

12405 184TH ST E SOUTH HILL, WA 98374

VOLUME FIVE ISSUE FIVE MARCH 2005

3/3/2005 2:38:10 PM

INSIDE Coming soon: JagWire online at www.getjagwired.com

Marilyn – I love this CD. She always sets the mood for however you’re feeling. The beats are totally upbeat and she has songs featuring T.I. and Ja Rule (as always). It’s genius!

3.04.05

Matt – OK , so R&B has a wide audience. But I still hate most of it. Maybe Ashanti should hang out with Martina McBride, seeing as how they both really suck.

Carissa – She is an amazing singer.The beats are crazy awesome. I love that she did a song with an amazing guitarist.

The melodies are something I wouldn’t be ashamed of bumping out to in my car.

Lindsey – It never ceases to amaze me how many talented singers waste their voices on over-synthesized beats and stereotypical lyrics. Granted, Ashanti got hers, but she’s better than this. These songs make me cringe. A waste, pure and simple.

08

Lindsey – Ahh … the refreshing sound of stereotypical country music. What is the appeal of this crap?

Her melodic voice harmonizes with the background instrumentals like the incessant bray of a donkey.

Can’t we even stay out of the farmyard for a few short minutes?

concrete rose

Carissa – I absolutely love this CD! It has a mixture of slow and fast songs. Martina knows what style of music she falls under and sticks to it! The lyrics in her songs are always insightful.

Marilyn – Country really isn’t my forte. Depending on my mood, it’s either good or bad. I’m really not in the mood for songs about broken love and sad stories.

Melody

09

Singer wins scholarship Senior Lauren Nance recieved a music scholarship to attend PLU next year, to both sing and act.

Music is ingrained in everyone’s life, whether or not that is apparent to each individual. JagWire takes a look at the music program both within our school and bands that practice outside of school, as well as funding for the music in our school and a scholarship winning student.

Matt – Pretty much every country song I hear makes me feel ill. This entire CD is no exception. I’ve tried on numerous occasions to give country a chance, and I’ve failed miserably every time.

Matt – It’s common knowledge that Les Claypool of Primus is a bass god. Every time I listen to this CD, I’m blown away by his bass playing. Say what you will about the vocals. He’s amazing.

Lindsey – This is intriguing. The first song draws you in from the very beginning. The vocals are pure crap, but the music itself has so many twists you can’t help but listen. Hire some new vocal talent, but props to the band.

Carissa – I think I would only listen to this CD if I was clinically psychotic and depressed. The music playing is fine but the beats are depressing.

Marilyn – The beginning sounds like the intro to a carton when the villain is doing something superdevious and evil. Their voices sound like they have clogged sinuses combined with a mild Australian accent. Very annoying.

07|s Chemisty teacher Douglas Reis isn’t just a teacher.

More The Puyallup native then is also a muscican, woodworker, and just your father. Meet Emerald average Ridge’s nicest teacher teacher.

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greatest hits

14| Multi-faced Meyerhoff

Jim Meyerhoff has as many faces as he does activities.

Find out whether or not he really is the meanest teacher at Emerald Ridge.

Seniors Adam Sturdivant 15 | and Justin Mertlich Swimmer, ended the season both placing in the diver show top eight during well in state the state swim competition and dive meet.

shake the hand that shook the world

Carissa – The music beats and guitar solos are awesome. It’s the lack of any kind of sensible lyrics that are not filled with cheese that is bothering me. I don’t know much about bands, but this one sucks.

Matt – I was very wary of PeppersGhost, seeing as how they were touring with Ashlee Simpson.

But I actually found myself enjoying them a bit.

They’re kind of a weird mixture of sounds.

Marilyn – I’m not the most knowledgeable rock/alternative person. But this is a’ight (wince) on some songs. Their voices remind me of the Beatles, but at least I can understand what they’re saying (in most songs).

sailing the seas of cheese

Lindsey – What is this? It sounds like a horrific cross between the Barenaked Ladies and Maroon 5, with a touch of Irish Oldie Country thrown in for good measure. Ouch. There are too many boy bands in the world – pick a new career, please.

3/3/2005 2:10:16 PM

18

A&E

JagWire

JagWire

Student arrested

Have Oscars lost their touch?

Efforts to rush speakers and cut down on the ‘walk to the stage’ on March 27 proved to many that time constraints rule the Oscars

I

n addition to sporting the lowest ratings in Oscar history (5 percent less than last year), the 77th Academy Awards seemed rushed when compared to previous years. There’s a distinguishable drop in quality from the Billy Crystal/Steve Martin hosting era, and the flaws did not go unnoticed.

Non-major Oscars, in an effort to conserve time, were awarded in the aisles. Several categories had their nominees already on stage, because apparently walking the twenty feet to the stage just took way too long.

There were only a few acceptance Matt Click speeches that didn’t get cut off by the Commentary “you’re rambling!” symphony music.

Even the producers of “Million Dollar Baby,” which won best picture, were cut short. That’s just ridiculous.

Every year, you can just see the producers of the Academy Awards scrambling to save time. Cut a few

seconds off his speech, a couple off hers. In all honesty, you could always tell, even in the past. But this year was just insane.

Who cares if the Oscars run over a while? I understand that maybe people don’t care about the guy who wins Achievement in Sound Mixing as much as Best Picture or Best Actress, but he should receive the same amount of time for his acceptance speech. What are we missing if the Oscars run over? Nothing. Well, the Barbara Walters After-Oscar Special … and I think maybe all of two people stick around for that.

However, beneath all the glamour and acceptance speeches, there lies the heart of the Oscars. The awards and the films that are nominated for them. This is why we watch the Oscars, isn’t it? In most cases, I was very happy with the way the awards went this year. Jamie Foxx received his well deserved Oscar for his role in “Ray.” Morgan Freeman, one of the most talented actors of our time, got his first Oscar for his supporting role in “Million Dollar Baby.” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” my favorite film of the year, received the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Sidney Lumet and Roger Mayer, two very influential men in the industry, both received honorary awards for their work and contribution to film.

The real surprise came when Clint Eastwood (“Million

Prosecutors charge junior with felony harassment after he allegedly threatens to kill other students

Dollar Baby”) beat out Martin Scorsese (“The Aviator”) for Best Director. I don’t know about anyone else, but all my money was on Scorsese. Don’t get me wrong, Eastwood is a brilliant director, but Scorsese deserved it more. He’s been nominated five times for Best Director and has never won. He directed “Good Fellas,” possibly the greatest gangster movie of all time next to “The Godfather.” He’s been a directing icon for many years, and has never been recognized beyond nomination. I thought Scorsese had it coming.

Overall, the Oscars this year were mediocre. The presenters were awful, the jokes tacky, and Chris Rock was about the least funny I’ve ever seen him. You could tell he was holding back. But hey, at least he was better than Whoopi.

In the long run, do the Oscars even matter? Of course, I’d be more inclined to rent a film that has “Winner of 11 Academy Awards!” plastered on the front, but what is that except bragging rights? The winner of Best Picture is never my favorite film of the year, and the Academy rarely even picks movies that were released more than six months before Oscar season. So, will I watch the Oscars next year? Of course I will – it’s still the greatest gathering of artistic minds and great talents in Hollywood. But I still miss the old Oscars. Most of all, I miss Billy.

“

HE WAS THE LAST PERSON ON EARTH I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF IN THAT CONTEXT. HE WAS VERY NICE.

‘Constantine’ puts new spin on monster genre Keanu Reeves plays excorcist John Constantine in this new monsterhunting action thriller BY

MATT CLICK

REPORTER

18, 03.indd 2-3

Just another day on the job for John Constantine. Can you believe he doesn’t get paid for this?

of “Constantine” manage just fine.

The film is just plain cool. I was wary of it to begin with. There have been so many monster-hunting movies, that you’d think they’d have run out of ways to kill them. But I underestimated Constantine.

He knows his way around hell pretty well, and he knows exactly what demons need: a gold, crucifix-laden shotgun with a flamethrower attached to it. Um, heck yes!

But the whole film isn’t just him blowing demons apart with his holy shotgun; an intriguing and surprisingly deep back story lies beneath the action. Apparently, God and Satan made a wager when the world began, to see who could win over mankind. The rules are simple: no direct

contact, only influence; which means that demons can’t cross over into our plain of existence, and neither can angels. It’s called “The Balance.” But when Mammon, the Devil’s offspring, bends the rules and allows demons to cross over, it’s time for Constantine to even the scales a bit (with the aforementioned holy shotgun).

“Constantine” is the right balance of horror and action. If you were a fan of “Hellboy” or “Blade,” you’re going to love “Constantine.” If you like a good action flick, you’ll love it. If you enjoy a good plot and deep characters, you’ll love it. If you need a little push to keep you alive until the summer movie season, much like I did, then see “Constantine.”

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

I’m going to be honest – there’s a lot of crap out in theaters right now, and the trailers I’ve been seeing leave me little hope for the future.

The wait for May (the first official month of the summer movie season) seems unbearable, doesn’t it? I’m personally one talking-animal movie away from losing it.

Why, just last week, two films were denied critic screening (“Man of the House” and “Cursed”), which usually means that the filmmakers know they made an awful film.

But “Constantine,” by Hollywood’s good graces, has been released to keep us going a little longer, to make the wait for summer seem bearable.

Remember when Keanu Reeves was in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure?”

Remember how utterly moronic he was?

Well, Keanu’s stoic delivery of dialogue and impassive facial features haven’t changed much, but, luckily, he’s choosing roles that require him to act stoic and impassive.

REVIEW Reeves plays John Constantine, a man who’s literally been to hell and back. Fearing that he will not be granted entrance into heaven due to a mortal sin he committed many years prior, Constantine has used his knowledge of the occult and his gift for seeing the unknown to do God’s work on Earth. Basically, Constantine is trying to “buy” his way into heaven.

When we are first introduced to him, Constantine snuffs a cigarette only to reach into his pack for another one. His work day begins with drawing a demon from a little girl, who gave her mom quite a scare when she started crawling on the ceiling. After wrestling with the demon, drawing it into a mirror, and shattering it on the street below, Constantine lights another cigarette and gets in a taxi. This is the kind of stoic, nonchalant attitude I crave in heroes. A kind of, “I’m just trying to make my way into heaven, don’t mess with me,” demeanor.

The movie itself seems to draw upon a variety of films for its inspiration. There’s a lot of “Excorcist” in there, a good amount of “Blade,” and just a pinch of “The Matrix.” Three films you wouldn’t think would mix well, right? Well, the makers

report and not find someone guilty,” said Wist, who is chief of the juvenile division of the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office.

One student who believes he was included in a group the student threatened to kill said his safety didn’t feel

BY JESSICA RITCHIE threatened.

REPORTER “To be honest, I didn’t think he was serious,” junior Lloyd Jackson said. “I An Emerald Ridge junior was arrested didn’t feel safe for a while, I guess. late Feb. 9 at his home after he allegedly You always have to keep your guard up, made threats to kill groups of male stuthough. When they said he said he had dents earlier that day at school. a gun and stuff, I thought he was just According to court documents obtained blowing smoke, but you never know what from the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office, people are going to do.” the student, a 17-year-old boy, is being Jackson has had a number of confroncharged with felony harassment, possestations with the student. sion of stolen property in the third degree, According to Jackson, there was a and unlawful use of drug paraphernalia. dispute earlier this year between some A deferred disposition hearing is set for of Jackson’s friends and the student March 4. that involved some less-than-friendly According to the documents from the language.

Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office, a bong Not everyone agreed with this portrayal was found in the student’s possession durof the student.

“He was quiet in class. Very cooperative,” said Candace Loring, the student’s first semester design teacher. “We had some nice conversations when I was getting to know him. He was very respectful and a model art student.”

She went on to ex— Candace Loring, art teacher press her disbelief that the student seemed like the type to ever have ing the arrest, and the student admitted said or done anything like that. to smoking marijuana out of it the night “I got the impression that he was a before the arrest. nice kid and had a lot of friends in my Also found was a stolen triple-beam class. I didn’t see any behaviors in my scale from Puyallup High School and four room that would make me think he was large-caliber bullets. capable of that. He was the last person The student’s father also brought out on Earth I would have thought of in that a rifle that matched the description of a context. He was just very nice,” Loring weapon the student allegedly talked about said. killing students with.

Whether the student will be coming Also according to the documents, the back to Emerald Ridge is between him, student referred to some of the African- his parents, and the school. It is unknown American students as “negroes” when for now. talking to deputies about students he felt “I don’t think if he came back he would animosity toward. get beat up or anything. People would Pierce County Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew just know where they stood with him.”

Finley and Principal Brian Lowney both Jackson said. said they were limited in what they could All of this leaves some students thinksay. ing that the community will see Emerald “We don’t comment on student disci- Ridge with a sense of uncertainty. pline,” Lowney said. “We deal with student “I think people are thinking this is a discipline all the time. It’s a matter be- bad school, but it’s not,” Jackson said. tween students and their parents.”

“The security guards are good. They’re not Finley had only slightly more to add. just professionals but friends, and there “I can’t go into that because if there’s are a lot of them, so if there was a kid who a trial, that will come up,” Finley said. had an altercation, they would be able to “There have been past experiences.” go to them as if they were best friends “I’ve never seen a judge look at a police and they would handle it.”

”

NEWS

03

Career and Tech Ed classes feel effects of No Child Left Behind BY

DREW SCOTT

REPORTER

Students taking Career and Technical Education classes next year may have to pay a class fee to attend those classes.

In order to build on the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush is redistributing the Perkins money, the main source of funds for Career and Technical Education classes. It is possible that those classes will lose benefits or will have to require students to pay for them.

“Yes, it will severely impact getting dual credit for students, field trips, summer internships for teachers and students, curriculum development, career development materials at all grade levels and pathway honor cords for the district,” said Shelly Calligan, Puyallup School District director of Career and Technical Education.

Emerald Ridge has a large number of Career and Technical Education classes, so many that some teachers only teach those kinds of classes. With the redistribution of the Perkins grant those teacher’s jobs may no longer be secure.

“There is a real possibility that students will be limited on their elective choices,” Family and Career Sciences teacher Lisa Kelsey said.

Some classes could be greatly hindered due to the lack of funding.

“I may have less equipment in the future when equipment becomes broken and outdated, and there is no funding to replace that,” video productions teacher Gary Osborne said.

Other additions to Career and Technical Education classes might be lost altogether.

“With the loss of the Perkins (money), many of our program enhancements will disappear,” business teacher Christi Horton said. “These enhancements include field trips, career education materials, conferences, and professional development.”

Calligan urges people who want to keep this funding from being lost to contact their members of Congress in the House and Senate. Contact details and a sample letter are available on the ACTE’s Legislative Action Center website at http://capwiz.com/acte/home/.

3/3/2005 2:33:53 PM

04

NEWS

JagWire

World Week reviews mixed BY

ROBIN STOYLES

REPORTER

Although World Week didn’t go as smoothly as hoped, Lisa Kusche, co-director of the week, said it went OK and that there weren’t many big problems, just a lot of small difficulties.

Among these problems were unmotivated people who thought World Week was just a joke, while another hitch were differences from student to student; some thought World Week was too structured and others thought it gave too much freedom.

“There was the old challenge of motivating the unmotivated,” Kusche said. “Every advisory is different.”

Some thought it was very tough to do everything in the time given.

“The time management was very difficult,” advisor Patti McMullan said.

Other advisories found that it wasn’t too hard to do well. Sophomore advisor Lisa Loveland didn’t find it too difficult for her advisory to earn a gold standard.

“Teamwork, time management, and communication were instrumental in our advisory receiving gold medal status,” Loveland said. “We really connected and had a blast.”

During the week, more than 150 strategic options such as trade negotiations and peace treaties were completed. The strategic options were brand new for this year.

Overall, 80 percent of the school ended the week at a gold standard.

“I think the strategic options were a good idea,” said Amma Bofa, co-director of the UN headquarters with her sister Anna Bofa. “The countries that got a gold standard were the ones that did a lot of strategic options such as peace treaties and trade negotiations.”

Not all agreed on the serious nature of the week.

“I loved it,” senior Trevor Omoto said. “I came late and left early without repercussion. When I was here I was either sleeping or playing games.”

Some advisors such as Omoto’s had a tough time holding students accountable.

Omoto’s advisor, Mimi Lampert, said he was unreliable and just floated around as he wanted, which many students seemed to do.

Some students, such as junior Rose Velasquez, thought World Week was good, but focused too much on AIDS.

Prepare fair is coming BY

DARRIN JONES

REPORTER

The Prepare Fair is coming to Emerald Ridge to connect students with their future college choices. The times to attend the fair will be March 14 and 15 from 10:20 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. at Emerald Ridge High School in the lower gym.

“It gives students an opportunity to get in touch with community service organizations and students can connect with different college recruiters to learn about their school so that

Major Tournament Performance Fourth Place: State Meet First place: League and Regional Meets Third Place: Pacific Coast Championship Meet

a ar Senior Jocelyn Fowler of World Week’s China helps to collect money for tsunami relief.

“World Week could have focused on a larger variety of topics,” said Velasquez. “AIDS Week was great, but next time let’s focus on more issues.”

Most people liked parts of World Week, but had some constructive criticism.

“World Week was great,” sophomore Caitie McKenzie said, “but I think they need to do a better job at preparing us for it, because a lot of people didn’t really know what was going on at first.”

Comments such as these have been given to Cindy Watters who led the UN, but until planning for the next Winterim Week – Science/Technology Week – starts, no changes can be confirmed.

Start a bachelor’s degree ... or career today

they are able to make decisions about post high planning,” said Patti McMullan, career specialist at Emerald Ridge High School.

The fair will be host to more than 15 colleges and community service organizations such as Pacific Lutheran University, ITT Technical Institute, and Clover Park Technical College. The fair will also have former ERHS students in college as guest speakers.

School officials are encouraging students to take the Prepare Fair seriously and use the fair to help them make a plan for their future.

n on

ow b r

What has been your biggest obstacle?

Keeping focused in my academics.

Who is your favorite professional athlete?

Ray Lewis because he is one of the most aggresive players in the NFL, and he always plays with heart.

What is the biggest difference between junior high and high school sports?

The competition is definitly harder. Everyone wants to be number one.

What were your goals coming into the year?

To be succesful and have a fun season.

Where do you see yourself after graduation?

Going to college and playing football, and maybe wrestling.

“I love Pierce. The teachers are good at what they do, and Pierce offers cool classes.”

- Sally Linn

LAKEWOOD (253) 964-6500

Who has been your biggest motivator this year?

My coaches and my parents because they will always get on me about my grades and doing my best.

P U YA L L U P (253) 840-8400

FORT LEWIS (253) 964-6567

MCCHORD (253) 964-6606

w w w. p i e r c e . c t c . e d u

04,17.indd 2-3

athlete of the month

What has been your favorite part of the season?

Wrestling at the state tournament.

17

3/3/2005 2:47:51 PM

16

SPORTS

JagWire

JagWire

BY

NICK KAJCA

REPORTER

The girls basketball team has been working almost every day for three and half months towards one goal: The playoffs. All of their hard work, Saturday morning practices, hopes, and dreams all came together in the form of a first-round SPSL playoff game against Kentridge on Feb. 17 at Auburn High School.

The girls played an intense game that could not be decided in regulation time.

Unfortunately for the Lady Jags, Kentridge prevailed in overtime, 66-65.

The game turned into one in which both teams played so hard that neither deserved to lose. The Jags were led by sophomore Lakea Arceneaux, who had 22 points, and senior Ciera Gero, who added 14.

The two teams were evenly matched, although Kentridge did create a slight edge by playing a press defense that gave the Jaguars trouble.

“We did not expect them to press; it definitely caught us by surprise,” senior Taryn Cartledge said.

If the girls had won the game, they would have moved on to face Sumner.

The winner of that game would have advanced to the West Central District Tournament – one step away from the 4A

state tournament.

“I was so disappointed after the game I almost cried,” Gero said. “It’s hard to realize that I will never play another high school basketball game again.”

Although the girls were disappointed, they did not go their separate ways but instead came together in the locker room as a team.

“After the game we talked about the wonderful journey we had just completed together and we thanked our five seniors for leading our program forward,” coach Greg Farias said. “All together we had a great feeling of accomplishment.”

The team definitely agrees that overall this season was a positive one.

“We really came together as a team and learned a lot on the court,” Cartledge said.

This year, the girls also focused a lot on being goal oriented. They have been setting different goals throughout the year as a way of driving the team towards meeting the accomplishments they want.

It is not always easy to meet all of your main goals, but the team feels they came very close.

“I believe we reached the point we wanted to by winning double-digit games and reaching the playoffs,” Farias said.

The team ended up finishing the season with a 10-8 record in league and a 10-11 record overall. The girls played the remaining nine games of the season by starting five seniors. These seniors will be missed next season but Farias feels his underclassmen are very capable.

Despite students’ best efforts to produce a successfull fund and health kit drive, the result was less than satisfying, leaving some to speculate whether students are just too comfortable where they are BY

CARISSA CARTER

EDITORIAL BOARD

16, 05.indd 2-3

$10,000 Enumclaw High School

$10,000

KASSIE GREEN

Student Council and Interact Club – formerly known as Service Council – have been working together for the past month to raise money for the tsunami victims.

They have made a total of $871.27 towards the relief fund, which has some people wondering why a school like Emerald Ridge couldn’t do more.

“I don’t know how to get students to open their hearts,” leadership teacher Pam Kin– Pam Kinkela, leadership teacher kela said. “How do students know what happened with the tsunami, and not want to give?”

For example, Enumclaw High School raised more than $10,000, and Aki-Kuroce Middle School, one of the poorest schools in Seattle, raised more than $900, according to Kinkela.

Kinkela believes students here always want to know what they will get for bringing the most money.

“Why don’t (students) just give? Why do they have to get something back?”

Kinkela said. “Students here are too comfortable with what they have.”

Kinkela and Interact Club advisor Patti McMullan would like to get more people involved.

“Everyone is invited to the Interact Club meetings,” McMullan said.

They also agree that they want the fundraising to be all student work.

“We want for the lime light to be on the students,” McMullan said.

Kinkela believes that this school has a harder time doing fundraisers “Last year for the blood drive we only got 30 people to participate,” Kinkela said. “Rogers had 137 different people participate. It doesn’t take anything to give blood and it saves lives.”

“

$8,000 $7,000 Puyallup High School $6,000 Gig Harbor High School

WHY DON’T (STUDENTS) JUST GIVE? WHY DO THEY HAVE TO GET SOMETHING BACK?

Senior Theresa Capestany sets up on defense against Puyallup junior Stephanie Wheless.

“Our younger players put in a lot of minutes this year and can move our program another step forward,” he said.

The younger players will start training for the next season over this coming summer where they will participate in

seven and a half weeks of training. The training will consist of games, tournaments, practices, individual skill work, and especially defensive improvement skills – one of the team’s main problems this year was defense.

“I wish we would’ve played hard throughout the whole season and finished out stronger in fourth quarters,” senior Donnell Calhoun said.

The team still had one game left to play in its regular season against Curtis but experienced similar problems as the Bethel game, getting outscored in the fourth quarter, 22-5. The team lost the game 76-39.

“Nobody had any drive because everyone knew we weren’t going to postseason,” junior Lloyd Jackson said.

Although the team has had its share of disappointments, the season wasn’t a total loss.

“For the most part we worked hard and together as a group, of taking care of each other and becoming a team. They completed hard each time they were out on the floor,” coach Bob Horton said.

At the beginning of the season the team had strong goals of being a defensive team.

“Being a defensive team worked for big teams like Federal Way, who averages 80 points a game, when we held them to like 40,” junior Ed Carter said.

Injuries were another issue haunting the team’s success, with injuries forcing two starting players, Calhoun and junior Nathan Losch, to miss significant time.

“When we got hurt, we couldn’t complete our full game plan,” Calhoun said.

Without being able to fully execute the team’s game plan, the team lost sight of early-season goals.

“I think our injuries affected how we played throughout the season and kept us from achieving some of our goals,” Horton said.

The team is losing five seniors on varsity this year, leaving a questionable outlook for next year’s season.

“I think we’ll have a strong team next year because we still have key players like Nate (Losch), Jordan (Thaanum) and (David) Swendsen,” Calhoun said.

Next season, the team will have only a few varsity players returning, including juniors Jackson, Swendsen and Thaanum, and four players including juniors Patrick Thomas and Torey Wambold, and sophomores Bryn Allen and Emmanuel Bofa, who all played varsity minutes this year.

”

$6,000

$4,000

$2,000 $900 Aki-Kuroce Middle School

$0

$871.27 Emerald Ridge High School

Amount of money raised for tsunami relief

Source: Pam Kinkela, leadership teacher

Fine Photography

McCutcheon’s Studio

Just ask Laura!

Photo by Carissa Carter

The boys basketball team finished sixth in the SPSL, missing the chance to achieve its preseason goal of going to the postseason.

The team played the top four teams in the SPSL – Puyallup, Federal Way, Bethel and Curtis – in its last five games of the season, which determined whether the Jags made it to the postseason.

The team struggled against Bethel, ranked No. 3 by The News Tribune, having only one player in double digits.

The Braves had a 14-2 run in the last two minutes of play in the first half to outscore the Jags 22-8 in the second quarter, leaving Emerald Ridge with a 14-point halftime deficit. After halftime, the team came back fighting with an 18-10 third quarter, but failed to bring it out in the end losing the game, 62-47.

After the game against Bethel the team had no chances of going to postseason because Rogers (in fifth place) was two games ahead of the Jags and the team only had one more game left in the season.

A visual comparison of relief between schools

REPORTER

Boys basketball ends season short and dissapointed BY

05

Relief efforts dishearten

Girls basketball places fourth After staring stereotypes in the eye and beating all odds, the Lady Jags make it to the postseason

NEWS

120 West Main Ave. Puyallup, Washington 98371 253-845-2101 Located next to the Liberty Theatre

3/3/2005 2:33:28 PM

06

OP/ED

JagWire

JagWire

studies. The Bush Administration has said that vocational programs have performed unsatisfactorily overall, but what about schools such as Emerald Ridge, whose technical programs are thriving? The redistribution of the Perkins Loan affects all schools, not only those with CTE programs that are floundering.

We understand what President Bush is attempting to accomplish with the No Child Left Behind Act, and acknowledge that this decision was made with the best of intentions. However, selfishly, we feel that this is not the best solution for Emerald Ridge and for other schools with similar situations.

We understand that the money from this grant will now go towards helping low-income schools, and acknowledge that they need and deserve more funding. But the money from the reallocated loan won’t fund technical programs at those schools. Shouldn’t technical money stay technical money? Bush is attempting to leave no child behind, yet by limiting educational opportunities he might be leaving behind the students that could only be reached through these programs.

How can we find a solution to this problem? Start by identifying those schools with strong programs and recognize that continued funding of vocational programs

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The boys swim and dive team finshed out the season with two personal best finishes at the state meet

is crucial.

There is no easy solution. Education is multifaceted and one could make the case that there is no way to please everyone involved. In fact, if Emerald Ridge was an under-financed school, we might be rejoicing in the redistribution of the Perkins Loan.

The American public education system is fragile. A drastic change like the redistribution of the Perkins fund could have unforeseen consequences. This change will affect every school differently. It might come as a blessing for some. Here at Emerald Ridge, however, this news is disheartening.

BY

KAITLYN GOLDEN

REPORTER

Senior Justin Mertlich placed third in the 1-meter dive competition at the state swim and dive meet on Jan.18 and 19, while senior Adam Sturdivant placed eighth in the 100-meter butterfly.

Mertlich finished with a final score of 350.25, 85.45 points behind winner Thomas Evans of Inglemoor and only 8.25 points behind Ben Shea of Wenatchee, who placed second.

After his eight preliminary dives on the first day of competition, Mertlich’s score was 264.10, only 30.75 points behind Evans. Mertlich had three dives on Saturday to catch Evans, but ended up not performing to his ability.

“His last three dives he did what I would call ‘tanking’ them,” dive coach Michelle Dorbaugh said. “He scored much lower than usual; he should have been a solid second place.”

Mertlich feels that he did well, but wanted to place higher.

“I did alright because I was hoping to get top three, but it would have been really cool if I got second,” Mertlich said.

STAFF EDITORIAL BOARD ....................................CARISSA CARTER ................................................................................... XANDER KNOX ............................................................................ LINDSEY MAXFIELD .......................................................................................TYLER QUINN ................................................................................JAMES STANFORD DESIGN EDITOR ......................................MIKEL ARMSTRONG PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR .................KATINA MATHIESON BUSINESS MANAGER ........................... LINDSEY MAXFIELD CIRCULATION MANAGER ........................ ROBIN STOYLES REPORTERS .............................................................. AMMA BOFA .......................................................................................... ANNA BOFA ...................................................................................ERICA BOSNICK ...........................................................................................LISSY BRYAN .......................................................................................... MATT CLICK .................................................................................MARILYN DIXON .................................................................................... MARLEAH FEIST ......................................................................................... TAYZHA FOX ............................................................................ BRITTANY GENTILE .............................................................................. KAITLYN GOLDEN .......................................................................................KASSIE GREEN ......................................................................................DARRIN JONES .......................................................................................... NICK KAJCA .............................................................................BRITTANY LAWBER ..............................................................................ELAINE RAYMOND ................................................................................... JESSICA RITCHIE ..................................................................................NICOLE SANTOS ....................................................................................... DREW SCOTT .......................................................................... KRISTIN WELLENTIN ...........................................................................JENNIFER WHITHAM .......................................................................... GRANT WOODRUFF ADVISER....................................................................... JEFF NUSSER

New friendships were formed as the girls on the gymnastics team made it through a building year

AFFILIATES

BY

BRITTANY LAWBER

REPORTER

LETTERS POLICY JagWire will accept unsolicited copy from students, staff and community members. Only signed and dated letters with address and phone number from community members, or grade level from students, will be accepted.

Letters must be limited to 300 words and will be published as space is available.

All letters are the sole opinion of the writers, and the staff reserves the right to edit any letter for space and/or clarity.

We will not publish material that may substantially disrupt the school process.

Letters to the editor may be submitted by mailing them to

06, 15.indd 2-3

Jagwire c/o Emerald Ridge High School, or by e-mailing them to jdnusser@puyallup.k12.wa.us EDITORIAL MISSION As JagWire enters its fifth year, our goal is to first and foremost continue to serve as an open public forum for student expression. JagWire strives to remain a quality, hard-hitting, informative, and entertaining communication link between students, faculty, and the Emerald Ridge community. Our publication will tackle issues that impact our readers and raise awareness while maintaining the highest journalistic standards.

JagWire will keep the values of an award-winning newsmagazine by creating a viewpoint that is unique to ourselves and our school, while recognizing the accomplishments and events that require our coverage.

Our mission is to continue learning, to constantly work on self-improvement, and always bear a reflective eye towards our work. We will make an effort to represent ERHS and the surrounding community, while also providing a publication in which to take pride.

ADVERTISING MISSION The JagWire publication staff accepts advertisements for most products and services available to the public. However, the staff reserves the right to reject, edit or cancel any advertisement that the staff deems offensive in light of normal public standards.

Ads identifying students as athletes by photo or text (WIAA 18.20.0 and 18.20.1) also will not be accepted. The staff will not accept advertising for products or groups which are racist, sexist or illegal for high school students.

Photo by Erica Bosnick

THE FINE PRINT

Coach Raymond Belleza is pleased with Mertlich’s performance in the meet.

“I was hoping he’d place in the top five,” Belleza said. “He got third, which I am really happy with.”

Sturdivant’s performance in the state meet was one of consistency. He went into the meet ranked eighth, (which means his fastest time before districts was the eighth fastest in the state,) placed eighth in the preliminaries, and finished eighth in the finals with a time of 54.53. He swam a faster time of 54.47 in the preliminaries, but both of his state times were faster then his district time of 54.86.

Belleza thinks Sturdivant did a good job in the meet.

“Adam has improved a lot from placing 18th last year, so I’m happy with him,” Belleza said. “He also has improved his time by two seconds since last year.”

Sturdivant agrees that he has made a great improvement in the past year.

“I think I did pretty good,” Sturdivant said. “I moved up 10 spaces, I made it to finals, which not a lot of people do. I could have done a bit better; I could have worked harder.”

As for Mertlich, Dorbaugh still believes he has enormous potential.

“He has just as much talent as the first place diver,” Dorbaugh said. “He could easily be a college diver right now. (Today) he just didn’t execute as well as he could

Adam Sturdivant took eighth in the finals of the 100-meter butterfly at the 4A state meet.

have. … It was all mental; he has all the ability in the world.”

As for the future of the team, Belleza thinks it will be decided by a lot of the younger members.

“We’re losing a big core of the team,” Belleza said. “A lot of boys that I’ve started out with as freshman are going next year. I think a lot of the juniors coming up next year are going to be stepping it up, and there’ll be another shipment of ninth graders and underclassmen.”

Several members of the team already stepped it up by qualifying to compete in the district meet for the first time this season.

“Some of our first timers this year were Ryan Barker, Orval McKenzie, Ty O’Bryant, Matt Vangunda, and J.T. (Jeremiah Turner),” Belleza said. “Some of them made it on a relay, but they proved they were fast enough to be on a relay. I only expected two or three to make it to districts, but I brought on a lot more then I thought.”

Gymnastics works together on a personal level

CSPA, JEA, NSPA, SPJ, WJEA, WSJA

Emerald Ridge High School 12405 184th St. E. South Hill, WA 98374 | 253-435-6300

15

Success continues at state

Children being left behind?

President Bush’s campaign to “leave no child behind” has significantly changed things in the education world.

In fact, it may be doing the exact opposite of its intended goal. Bush recently presented a plan to redistribute funds from the Perkins Loan, one of the ways Career and Technical Education is funded in the Puyallup School District. In layman’s terms, much of the money that has been coming to classes such as Teaching Academy, interior design, video productions and digital photo will no longer be available.

How does this affect Emerald Ridge? Considering the fact that Emerald Ridge High School has historically been privileged enough to have strong vocational programs and the necessary funding to provide the equipment for these technologies, this new development could fundamentally change the way our school operates.

Its effects could be as minimal as a slight raise in the fees you pay for honor cords as a senior, or could be as significant as the loss of an entire CTE program.

But why would a bill focused on reforming education for all limit the diversity of educational opportunities in such a way? The Pell Grant and included Perkins Loan focuses on providing students educational opportunities outside of core subjects like English, math, and social

SPORTS

This year’s gymnastics team did not measure their season by wins or losses, but by the relationships they built and the foundation that they have set for the future.

“The season didn’t go as well as I thought it would but it was fun to meet all the new people,” sophomore Dani Hatcher said.

The team had a wide variety of talented members and some inexperienced girls. Often times, out on the mat, the inexperienced sophomores showed their youth. The seniors were forced to step up to more of a leadership role.

“The girls worked hard and shared their areas of expertise when I was busy with

other girls,” coach Christi Giste said.

“We needed to teach them about sportsmanship and team unity, and it worked out well,” senior captain Kayla Henke said.

As the girls learned to start working together and helping each other with their mistakes, the team started to show major potential and the future started to look brighter.

One of the keys of having a good gymnastics team is working well together on a personal level. This year’s team definitely accomplished that.

“Towards the end of the season we all got along. Although we weren’t the best team, we were the most involved,” Henke said.

On and off the team some other girls hung out. The team just was very big on just being close and making it fun, which they did.

“It was a very interesting season.... I’m looking forward to next year,” sophomore Jamie Sagdahl said.

Something that has happened in past years is that the team has lost key players.

This year however, the team has a lot of talent staying with them. Henke will be returning as an assistant coach next year, to try to improve the team.

Catch Eyes and Smiles!

After being disappointed on the results this year, the team is encouraged to do better next year.

“Next year we’re just looking for as strong a team as we did this year, but just more successful,” Henke said.

(upper-level stylists slightly higher)

Puyallup – (253) 845-8100 Between Gart Sports and Starbucks

3/3/2005 2:23:24 PM

14

SPORTS

JagWire

JagWire

The many faces of Jim Meyerhoff ELAINE RAYMOND

REPORTER

Before getting to know Jim Meyerhoff, he appears to be an intimidating guy.

When students see him at school with that stern scowl on his face, they either look the other way or turn down another hallway, fearing that they will say or do the wrong things, making him appear even angrier than he already does.

However, after taking the time to talk to him, students often realize he is a nice guy who takes his responsibilities seriously. As the wrestling coach, girls golf coach, yearbook adviser and teacher of Digital Photo and Web Design, Meyerhoff certainly has a lot of responsibilities and interacts with hundreds of students. Some of these students initially believe he is a scary person to be around.

“Before I came to school, I heard he was scary and mean,” said yearbook Managing Editor Savanna Bryan, a junior.

Senior and yearbook Editor-in-Chief Lauren Baker agrees with Bryan: “I thought he hated me at first.”

Meyerhoff is aware of the fact that many people who do not know him well are quick to get the wrong impression.

“A lot of people who don’t know me well think that I’m mean,” he said. “And I can be kind of a jerk sometimes. But people who know me know I just want to hold them accountable.”

Assistant wrestling coach Craig Fredrikson agrees that Meyerhoff often is misjudged.

“He can come off a little rough sometimes,” Fredrikson said. “A lot of students around the school say they are scared of him. I find it a little hard to be scared of him. He’s really kind and big hearted. He’ll bend over backwards for you.”

Bryan and Baker agree that he will do whatever he can to help you.

“If you do something wrong, he’ll let you know, but if you do something right, he’ll let you know too,” Bryan said.

Bryan also praises the way he handles his many responsibilities.

“Even though he has so much to do, he gets it all done,” Bryan said.

However, wrestling is a priority. After

Jim Meyerhoff wants you ... to see his famous scowling face, one of the many faces of Meyerhoff.

a season of hard work, it all paid off as Meyerhoff was awarded SPSL Coach of the year. The team finished league undefeated, went on place second at the SPSL League Tournament, win the Region 2 Tournament and place sixth in the Mat Classic 4A state tournament at the Tacoma Dome.

“In wrestling, the coach of the year typically goes to the team who wins league,” Meyerhoff said. “People recognize we’ve worked hard over the last couple of years.”

Not only has Meyerhoff done well with wrestling, but it seems every activity Meyerhoff becomes a part of achieves some sort of success.

Girls golf was SPSL South champions, finishing with a 9-1 record. Yearbook has done well, too, being named the best yearbook in Washington by the Washing-

ton Journalism Education Association for two years.

Senior Cydney Anderson, the girls golf captain, believes Meyerhoff’s success is due to his love of what he does.

“He enjoys everything that he does,” Anderson said. “He loves golf and all of his girls and he loves wrestling and all of his boys. I think he has a passion for everything he does. He enjoys being a part of our lives and seeing us be successful.”

Junior Dustin Snyder, who is in Meyerhoff’s advisory as well as a varsity wrestler, thinks Meyerhoff is successful because of his work ethic and pushing others to be the best they can be.

“He’s pretty determined and he knows the potential that we can have,” Snyder said. “He works us hard.”

Not only has Meyerhoff achieved

75

success in the form of awards, but also personal goals.

“One of my goals was to start a wrestling program, not take over anyone else’s because you’re always following someone – either a good coach or a bad coach,” Meyerhoff said.

Meyerhoff was the first head wrestling coach at Emerald Ridge and has been coaching here for all five years of the school. Additionally, he coached for five years as an assistant coach at Jackson High School, three years as an assistant coach at Vashon Island High School and was head coach for one year at Cascade Junior High School previous to Emerald Ridge.

“A huge part of his life is dedicated to the sport of wrestling,” Fredrikson said.

“It’s been a huge part all his life.”

Not only is it important in his life, but also that of his family.

“We grew up as a wrestling family,” Meyerhoff said. “I can’t remember not being at a state tournament. That was what we did together. I got to see a lot of the United States because of wrestling. That helped our family stay together.”

Now that Meyerhoff has a family of his own, they do a lot of those same things together.

“A lot of my life is the sports environment, but the best part for me is I get to spend time with my family during it,” Meyerhoff said. “We try to make the things we do family.”

While some may think sports would separate Meyerhoff from his family, his family joins him at weekend tournaments and his daughter, Angela – who is now a freshman at Western Washington University – was on the girls golf team.

“It was a fun thing to do with my daughter,” Meyerhoff said. “It was fun to do her thing.”

Angela also was wrestling manager for five years as well as editor-in-chief of the yearbook, both of which are activities her dad is very involved in.

In addition to a daughter, Meyerhoff has a son, Tyler, who is an eighth grader at Ballou and his wife, Dawn, is a fourth grade teacher at Midland Elementary.

Photos by Erica Bosnick

14, 07.indd 2-3

Photo by Mikel Armstrong

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Science teacher, musician, and famliy man with one kid, and one on the way

FEATURE

07

ANNA BOFA

REPORTER

Douglas Reis is quite familiar with the city of Puyallup, and he should be, as he has lived here his entire life. He went to Sunrise Elementary, moved up to Ferrucci Junior High and graduated from Rogers High School.

“I definitely know my way around,” Reis said.

Keeping with the Puyallup tradition, Reis decided to do his student teaching at Rogers after graduating from Western Washington University. Reis thought about being a doctor, but teaching eventually won out.

“It would have meant a lot of time away from family and a lot of school,” Reis said.

Becoming a chemistry teacher almost seemed natural to him.

“I grew up liking science,” said Reis, who saw teaching as a challenge. “I liked working with people but I knew that teaching would really stretch my personality.

“I always liked the thought of imparting knowledge.”

Reis says that teaching high school was appealing because that was the time in his life that he was able to discover who he was.

“I teach to help others realize who they are as well,” Reis said.

Many people at this school would agree that thinking about others is not a stretch for Reis. He is famously known as the nice guy, which, of course, he’s modest about.

“I’m not perfect, I have many faults, but my wife did say she got to marry the nicest guy in the world,” Reis said.

Reis says that teaching brings him joy and it fits well into his life – one that is very busy at the moment. Reis and his wife Kimberly, whom he met while teaching at Rogers, are expecting a second child. The new baby is due March 21.

“We are so excited to be adding a new addition, especially since Maggie has brought us so much joy,” Reis said.

Maggie is the Reis’ first child, who is just over two years old.

The Reis’ don’t know if the new delivery is a boy or a girl.

“We want to wait and be surprised,” Reis said.

Although that is yet to be decided, names are in thought.

“If it’s a boy, we’re naming him Jack and if it’s a girl either Aubren or Rosey,” Reis said.

Aside from teaching and being a family man, Reis has many other interests. He has been around music as long as he’s been around Puyallup.

When he was younger he started a band with his sister and a friend.

“My sister played the clarinet and I played the accordion – we called ourselves The Heritage,” Reis said.

The accordion seems to be in the Reis family blood. His father played and in 1982 Reis was crowned the Accordion Prince of the Northwest.

Reis also did some more “mainstream” music. He got together with some guys from his high school jazz choir and did a few recordings.

“We called ourselves the CD’s – for Chris, Doug and Derek – plus it was the time when CDs just came out, so it seemed cool back then,” Reis said.

Reis thought about being a choir director and even sang in college, but these days he keeps the music in the family.

“I play the piano and I like to write songs,” Reis said. “I wrote one for my family and Maggie calls it, ‘Daddy’s Song.’ ” If he’s not tuning a piano then is picking up a hammer.

“I like woodworking and one day I’d like to have my own shop,” Reis said, who also said he’d like to have his own boat one day, too. Unlike his future child, Reis already has got a name picked out for his future boat.

“It’s called Long Term Goal,” he said.

3/3/2005 2:32:35 PM

JagWire

SPORTS

13

Wrestling places sixth in state State in Review 112: Nick Webster, junior – 1 win, 2 losses 125: Julio Rodriguez, sophomore – 0-2 130: Fernado Rodriguez, senior – 0-2 135: Kevin Willis, sophomore – 1-2 140: John Gallagher, sophomore – 0-2 160: Keith Schlect, junior – 4-2, (fifth place) 171: Aaron Brown, sophomore – 4-2, fourth place) 189: Brynsen Brown, senior – 6-1, (third place)

Junior Keith Schlecht (left) wrestled his way to fifth place in the Mat Classic XVI. Two other athletes competed for the finals, both placing in the top four.

Eight wrestlers competed in the Mat Classic XVI; three finished in the top five BY

JENN WHITHAM

REPORTER

Senior wrestler Brynsen Brown capped off a stellar career by placing third in the 189-pound division at Mat Classic XVI, leading Emerald Ridge to a sixth place finish in the state 4A tournament, held at the Tacoma Dome on Feb. 18 and 19.

Also, sophomore Aaron Brown took fourth at 171 pounds, and junior Keith Schlecht placed fifth at 160 pounds. Five other wrestlers participated, but did not

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place: sophomores Julio Rodriguez (125 pounds), John Gallagher (140), and Kevin Wills (135), junior Nick Webster (112), and senior Fernando Rodriguez (130).

Brynsen Brown, who placed second last year, has had a dominating season, as he was undefeated heading into the tournament and expected to take the title this year. However, after winning his first match, Brown lost a heartbreaker to Jon Wilbourne from Lake Stevens, 11-10. In a wild affair, Brown lost when he appeared to trip near the end of the match and Wilbourne covered him for the winning takedown as time expired.

“After the third round, I felt myself getting more and more tired,” Brown said. “I just let myself down, but there’s nothing

I can do about it now.”

Brown had been sick during the tournament and he believes that contributed to how well he had done.

“It was the third round and I was sick; I had bronchitis and I was tired,” Brown said.

The loss would keep him from taking first, but Brown didn’t quit. In every successive match, he pinned his opponents and won matches rapidly one after the next. He still was able to come back with a state medal and his third place standing after winning his final match, 7-1.

Aaron Brown made it to the semifinals before losing to Michael Johnson of Tahoma, who would finish second. He showed confidence during his matches.

Though each match was liberating, his first match the second day, was, to him, the most intense.

“I knew I was going to lose with 15 seconds left and I was down by four,” Brown said. Next time, he said he’ll relax a little more in order to reach his goal of placing in the top three next year.

Schlecht had high hopes of placing in the top three. He was able, however, to wrestle his way to fifth place after wrestling Casey Finnicum from Mountlake Terrace, who he had lost to in the quarterfinals 17-14. He was able to turn it around for fifth place and won, 7-4.

“I was more confident the second time wrestling him,” Schlecht said.

The wrestlers who participated last year took things with them that have given them more confidence.

“I was less scared this year, of just the big dome, and everyone watching,” Schlecht said.

The wrestlers already have goals for next year they want to work on to ensure success as individuals and as a team.

“I want to work harder in the practice room and get everyone else to work harder too,” Schlecht said.

You have options.

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Photo by James Stanford

1209 6th Avenue, Tacoma

8

08, 13.indd 2-3

3/3/2005 2:25:15 PM

BY

MARLEAH FEIST

REPORTER

BY

NICOLE SANTOS

REPORTER

tion, today’s generation of garage bands are what keep the music industry fresh and entertaining. While some emulate their favorite bands as either a “cover” or “tribute” band, others aspire to be unique in their own musical genres, hoping that one day they, too, will be signed.

Five representatives of Emerald Ridge’s independent garage bands each spoke on behalf of their band: senior Patrick Murray of Embalmed, senior Steve Mintey of Desario, junior Chase Molloy of The Rats, junior Matt Pierce of Red Light Murder and sophomore Jeff Carlson of Copromesis.

Embalmed and Copromesis play “death metal.” For someone who may not know what death metal is, Carlson explains that it has low growling vocals, fast drumbeats, and pounding guitar riffs.

“Take a band like Metallica,” Murray said, adding to the explanation.

“Make the drumming 10 times faster, the guitar work 100 times heavier, and turn the vocals into the deepest, scariest growl you could possibly think of.”

Embalmed composes all of its music and lyrics. Murray said the songs are about everything from problems

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12, 09.indd 2-3

in the world today to fun, cheesy horror stories.

Carlson said Copromesis writes some of their riffs beforehand, and the rest are finished at their practices. Their songs are mainly about fear, pain and gore.

Desario, formerly known as The Harvey Mulligan Band, plays “Folk Indie Rock,” which is a combination of acoustical arrangements of folk rock backbeats and a hint of the Indie style. The reason Desario changed its name was because the other was “like a sentence long,” Mintey said. Mintey said that Desario’s songs are about girls and made-up stuff with themes covering love and irresponsibility.

12 The Rats play “punk rock,” which, as Molloy explains, is “rock n’ roll in its most basic form with its own attitude towards life.” Writing their own songs is a way to vent their frustrations: “Most of our songs are about our hate for society and the media,” Malloy said. “If we see something wrong in the world, we speak against it.”

Pierce describes Red Light Murder’s style as “Experimental/MetalCore/ZStep,” which is, in essence, metal music with hardcore components.

They compose all of their own material and Pierce said their songs poetically describe significant events of their lives.

Although each band is different in terms of their styles, all seem to be united by a common vision that they want to succeed in life with their music.

Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines the word “success” as “an accomplishment of an aim or purpose.” To each representative,

they all had the same idea about success.

“Success in our genre of music is a little different than more mainstream music,” Murray said. “To cut a few records, gain a good fan base and have a handful of places to play some shows around the country and maybe even the world would be more than excellent. Making a little cash along the way is always fun, too, though.”

While Carlson said that success is being signed as a band and recording a CD, he added that he wants to be a recognized band and be respected.

The same is true for Red light Murder: “We’ll continue to play until people quit caring,” Pierce said.

Mintey’s definition of success is making money doing something they have a passion for.

But to Molloy, success is what you make it: “To me, success is not being a white-collar drone, being screwed over by bigwigs. Success in life is completing your dreams, not conforming.”

What inspires these musicians to do what they do is the love for music. Even despite the stereotypes that come with each style, these musicians strive to hold true to themselves and their backgrounds.

“Death metal,” for instance, is thought to be evil, noisy and annoying, as Murray explained.

“The stereotype gets old,” he said. “Kids these days say they are so open-minded to different things, but they really have the s a m e mindset as

their generations before them. Anything out of the ordinary must be a bad thing … right?”

Carlson agreed that there is a stereotype that comes with death metal.

“It just appeals to different people,” he said. “Not many people are into that scene but it’s what we love, so we do it.”

As for stereotypes against hardcore music, Pierce answered simply: “To people outside of our scene, it doesn’t look positive. But that’s okay with me.”

Mintey did not say whether Desario or “Folk Indie Rock” is stereotyped.

He said they receive positive reaction and goofy presents from people.

“Being a punk band, of course we are stereotyped,” Molloy said. “We are part of a movement and it’s fine with us.”

Each representative said that they dislike today’s music. The Rats, Red Light Murder and Embalmed each agree that today’s music is “crap,” while Desario said there wasn’t enough musical variety. Copromesis believes the local scenes are being mixed up and therefore ruined when they’re supposed to be separate.

“Music needs to be about one thing – music,” Murray said. “Once that focus is lost, everything starts going downhill.”

This bubbly double threat, senior Lauren Nance, not only loves music, but she loves acting, also.

“I not only sing, but I love to act,” Nance said.

She has been in choir for eight years and has always been around music. Nance’s father is a music professor at Pacific Lutheran University and her mother sings also.

“I have been singing since I could talk,” Nance said.

Considering these facts, Nance would be the perfect candidate for a music scholarship, which she recently earned to Pacific Lutheran University. She wants to go to PLU because that is where her father teaches.

“My father is a big influence in life. He is the one that I look up to for music, along with Josh Groban and Bernadette Peters,” Nance said.

Musically, her big achievements have been mainly in the last two years. The last two years she has been the first alternate to the state Solo and Ensemble Contest. She also went to state last year.

While doing her acting she has achieved the lead female role in “Oklahoma!”

“She is involved in all the drama activities at school,” said Jenny Barkowski, a close friend to Nance.

Photo by Jessica Ritchie

During the late 1960s, “garage” was the term acknowledged for the different, edgy and sometimes eclectically brilliant sounds produced by the unsigned bands that populated the local music scene.

In the wake of a musical revolu-

As a person, Nance seems to get along with all different types of people.

“She is the type of girl who likes to break through social stereotypes,” Barkowski said.

“Lauren is unique in many ways – she can be friends with just about anyone, she has achieved a lot, and she loves what she does,” said Rachel Malinen, a good friend to Nance.

For the music scholarship, Nance had to audition on Feb. 27. She sang two opera songs, one from “Romeo and Juliet,” and the other “In His Eyes from Jekyll and Hyde.” The money that is given away is usually done in many different ways. The top prize winners receive almost a full ride scholarship. Nance plans on studying to become a theater teacher and minor in music.

With all the activities that Nance does, such as Chamber choir in the morning before school, “Oklahoma!”, the Northwest Honor Choir, and the rest of her acting and singing commitments, she has had enough experience for the scholarship.

“She deserves this scholarship most definitely,” Malinen said.

More of her hobbies include cooking, hanging out with friends, and traveling. This is something fun for Nance to do to get her mind off the stress of everything that she does.

9

3/3/2005 2:32:16 PM

BY

MARILYN DIXON

REPORTER

BY

KAITLYN GOLDEN

REPORTER

BALANCE

WAVE

BASS

In the Puyallup School District, the amount of money received by music programs hasn’t changed since 1992, according to K-12 Arts Specialist Kathy Gustafson. Because of inflation and rising costs, that funding isn’t enough, making it difficult for music programs to operate.

The money spent by the music programs comes from three areas: the ERHS building budget, the district budget, and ASB. The funds from the building are just the standard money that each department in the school gets, Principal Brian Lowney said. The choir, band, and orchestra classes receive $300 to share between them per year, compared to up to $1,500 for other departments such as Language Arts. That money is used for purchasing office supplies such as tape, white board markers, erasers, pencils, etc. It is only a small chunk of all the money that each of the departments receives.

The district funds are used for purchasing sheet music so each school can build a musical library. The band and choir programs both receive $2,000, while orchestra is given $1,300. Orchestra receives less, because there is only one class at every school, while there are three or four band and choir classes.

The funding for the music program has what is called a “line-item” budget. The amount of money is based on the number of students enrolled in the music program. They receive a specific amount of money per student.

Dealing with funding is especially relevant at Emerald Ridge because the teachers are trying to begin a program within the school.

“The first year the school was open I received double the normal amount of funding from the district, but after that it went back to $2,000,” choir teacher Rob Dennis said.

Even though the budget technically has not been decreased, inflation and the rising cost of sheet music has devalued the amount currently given.

“The cost of sheet music has rocketed since 1992,” Gustafson said. “There’s a lot of sharing between the high schools in our district. Or directors end

10

10, 11.indd 2-3

TREBLE

SYNC

LEVEL

up buying music for their students with their own money.”

Dennis says that there are multiple ways to get music with the limited funds from the district.

“The district is pretty generous, but is the funding enough? No,” Dennis said. “It is $2 for a copy of music and there are about 20 pieces a year per student. So it’s $40 a student. You really have to spread the funds out. Sometimes you can find old music for free online; you just get creative. We share a lot with other music departments.”

Band director Doug Minkler feels that although the funding may not be enough, it is adequate.

“We get $2,000 a year for sheet music, equipment, needs that come up,” Minkler said. “I think its okay, although our program is growing and one instrument costs over $2,000. This year we got a lot of mallet percussion we’ve been waiting for for five years. And our pep music is paid for by ASB, so we only have to buy our concert music with the district money.”

In Dennis’ opinion, the budget for music is not going to increase anytime soon.

“It’s going to be decreased; it always is,” Dennis said. “Right now, priorities are reading, math, and science, so that’s where the funding is going. I’m not expecting a big wave of money.”

Gustafson is optimistic that the budget will increase.

“We’re working hard to get the budget to increase,” Gustafson said. “We’ve asked each year, but haven’t gotten approved yet.”

Some other reasons it may be decreased could be because students often make the decision to quit their musical classes to take other courses that will fulfill graduation and/or college requirements.

“Because of all the requirements the state is putting on students, (students) have to make choices,” Dennis said. “There aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything the state wants you to.”

For example, at the junior high level, every student originally had to take either choir, orchestra, or band. Now

those requirements have been expanded to a music, art, or drama class, which is cutting down the size of the programs. That means smaller music programs in the junior highs, which leads to even smaller programs in high school.

“It’s a numbers game,” Minkler said. “We get a lot of good quality, but not a lot of numbers. Stahl has a large program, so we’re expecting to get a lot of new students from them. Ferrucci has always been a big quality school, but not a lot of quantity.”

Said Dennis: “Right now, science is more important then electives.”

ASB funding supplements the building and district money and is earned through fundraisers done by students or requested from the general budget.

“We request money each year from the general budget,” Dennis said. “This covers both our fees to our accompanist and fees for those who attend Honor Choirs.”

Fundraised money goes towards things like trips, retreats, or getting robes cleaned. The fundraisers are led by the teachers, which can cut into working on their music.

“We do three to four fundraisers a year,” Dennis said. “They’re a big pain, but its part of the reality of being a public school music teacher. We do as much as we can, but it’s hard to find the balance between raising money and teaching music.”

Emerald Ridge is full of unique and interesting music classes such as Guitar Technique, Chamber Singers, and Percussion Ensemble – each different, but full of dedication and fun.

From acoustic to electric, rock to jazz, beginners to intermediates, the newly added Guitar Technique is a class that definitely deserves a look. Led by teacher Robert Dennis, the class definitely is a popular music class here at Emerald Ridge. With more than 50 students, Dennis is getting a chance to teach the musical arts to an entirely new and refreshing group of music lovers.

In comparison to his choir classes, which he has been teaching for more than four years, he’s been given the chance to teach the musical arts to what was prior an audience of students he had never reached before.

“Yeah, the class is fun,” Dennis said. “It’s a different group of people compared to my other classes … amateurs, kids who play in bands … they’re different from my ‘choir kids.’ They’re just people who all like playing guitars.”

In this class that only Emerald Ridge offers, the students learn about the general basics of playing the guitar, music theory, how to read music and about the varying forms of the blues, rock, jazz, and classical music. In an environment that teaches so many contrasting musical forms, it is also a place full of many contrasting students.

“It’s great to be in an environment full of people that I wouldn’t have met otherwise,” said beginning guitarist Amanda Pisetzner, a junior. “I’m glad I took it, it’s fun. A Guitar Technique (class) is such a novel idea and I’m glad Emerald Ridge offers it.”

This new addition to Emerald Ridge’s music department is definitely going to be a great and wellloved fine art choice to the large audience of guitarists-to-be. If you are a guitarist hopeful, sign up for the class next year – just make it a first choice, as it’s sure to be popular once again.

Although the Guitar Technique class is full of fun and contrasting people, the Chamber Singers class is truly a class full of dedicated and spirited singers.

With true music dedication, a cup of coffee, and maybe even an extra caffeine pill in hand – just in case – the advanced choir class, Chamber Singers, begins early in the school-day morning promptly at 6:40 a.m. As the truly dedicated 16 members of the class loyally enter the choir room ready and prepared to sing in the wee hours of the morning, their teacher, also Dennis, begins his first and distinctive class of the day, every school day.

At an hour where the majority of students are still in the process of readying ourselves for the long day ahead, Dennis and his faithful Chamber Singers already are hitting it off with the day’s music and challenges.

Music truly is embedded in their souls. Dennis has always wanted an advanced music class, and for a while, wasn’t able to get it.

“I wanted an opportunity for my advanced, ‘in depth,’ experienced students who had a desire for more,” Dennis said. At the same time however, he finds himself facing several difficulties. “It’s a hard class to teach because I’m afraid of disappointing them. It’s hard to push them, challenge them, to just get them to work hard because they are already so advanced. It’s difficult to provide the tools and music that they need.”

As Dennis himself obviously is committed to the class, his students themselves also sacrifice much of their beauty sleep and time, all in the name of music.

“I love the way music sounds in a choir,” junior Kelsey Rochester said. “I love the class and it’s full of my favorite people.”

Despite the dedication and sacrifices, there are always benefits.

“You never get caught in the morning traffic,” said Rochester, laughing. “And you always get a great parking spot.”

“It definitely takes a level of commitment to come to school so early in the morning,” senior Brandon Myking said. “I like it a lot, and I get to meet new people. Waking up so early in the morning is bad though, but I wanted to try something new.”

If yearning for a chance to be among advanced singers and wanting to learn about different types of music and skills, feel free to join.

A student just has to be a junior or senior, go through two levels of auditions, and dedicatedly arrive to class at an hour you normally are brushing your teeth every morning everyday. But don’t let that dim your spirits. You’ll learn how to gain confidence, experience more performance time, perform in a small group, and – oh yeah – learn how to sing … better.

If singing isn’t your strength, and the guitar looks too complicated to learn, the Percussion Ensemble is just what percussionists need to end their manic Mondays.

Every Monday from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., walk on by to the band room and the drums and beats of Emerald Ridge’s Percussion Ensemble group can be heard deep in practice. Advised by Robin Blumenthall, this male-dominated after school activity is full of life and fun.

“It’s a great chance to build teamwork and leadership,” said junior Heather Pike, the only girl in the group. “We get to play with different instruments, and it’s just something fun to do. … I love the class, even if it’s full of guys.”

Percussion Ensemble is a class that needs a certain level of dedication, but if met, can be really fun and rewarding.

“Joining the class was just natural for me. I enjoy playing at a performance level weekly at my church,” said senior Austin Glass, a member who has been playing percussion for six years. “But (Percussion Ensemble) is just a formal way for me to play traditionally.”

The group itself is an outlet for him, as well as a requirement for Wind Ensemble.

If there’s nothing better to do on Monday afternoons, then any percussionist can join. Just show up.

11

3/3/2005 2:17:52 PM

BY

MARILYN DIXON

REPORTER

BY

KAITLYN GOLDEN

REPORTER

BALANCE

WAVE

BASS

In the Puyallup School District, the amount of money received by music programs hasn’t changed since 1992, according to K-12 Arts Specialist Kathy Gustafson. Because of inflation and rising costs, that funding isn’t enough, making it difficult for music programs to operate.

The money spent by the music programs comes from three areas: the ERHS building budget, the district budget, and ASB. The funds from the building are just the standard money that each department in the school gets, Principal Brian Lowney said. The choir, band, and orchestra classes receive $300 to share between them per year, compared to up to $1,500 for other departments such as Language Arts. That money is used for purchasing office supplies such as tape, white board markers, erasers, pencils, etc. It is only a small chunk of all the money that each of the departments receives.

The district funds are used for purchasing sheet music so each school can build a musical library. The band and choir programs both receive $2,000, while orchestra is given $1,300. Orchestra receives less, because there is only one class at every school, while there are three or four band and choir classes.

The funding for the music program has what is called a “line-item” budget. The amount of money is based on the number of students enrolled in the music program. They receive a specific amount of money per student.

Dealing with funding is especially relevant at Emerald Ridge because the teachers are trying to begin a program within the school.

“The first year the school was open I received double the normal amount of funding from the district, but after that it went back to $2,000,” choir teacher Rob Dennis said.

Even though the budget technically has not been decreased, inflation and the rising cost of sheet music has devalued the amount currently given.

“The cost of sheet music has rocketed since 1992,” Gustafson said. “There’s a lot of sharing between the high schools in our district. Or directors end

10

10, 11.indd 2-3

TREBLE

SYNC

LEVEL

up buying music for their students with their own money.”

Dennis says that there are multiple ways to get music with the limited funds from the district.

“The district is pretty generous, but is the funding enough? No,” Dennis said. “It is $2 for a copy of music and there are about 20 pieces a year per student. So it’s $40 a student. You really have to spread the funds out. Sometimes you can find old music for free online; you just get creative. We share a lot with other music departments.”

Band director Doug Minkler feels that although the funding may not be enough, it is adequate.

“We get $2,000 a year for sheet music, equipment, needs that come up,” Minkler said. “I think its okay, although our program is growing and one instrument costs over $2,000. This year we got a lot of mallet percussion we’ve been waiting for for five years. And our pep music is paid for by ASB, so we only have to buy our concert music with the district money.”

In Dennis’ opinion, the budget for music is not going to increase anytime soon.

“It’s going to be decreased; it always is,” Dennis said. “Right now, priorities are reading, math, and science, so that’s where the funding is going. I’m not expecting a big wave of money.”

Gustafson is optimistic that the budget will increase.

“We’re working hard to get the budget to increase,” Gustafson said. “We’ve asked each year, but haven’t gotten approved yet.”

Some other reasons it may be decreased could be because students often make the decision to quit their musical classes to take other courses that will fulfill graduation and/or college requirements.

“Because of all the requirements the state is putting on students, (students) have to make choices,” Dennis said. “There aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything the state wants you to.”

For example, at the junior high level, every student originally had to take either choir, orchestra, or band. Now

those requirements have been expanded to a music, art, or drama class, which is cutting down the size of the programs. That means smaller music programs in the junior highs, which leads to even smaller programs in high school.

“It’s a numbers game,” Minkler said. “We get a lot of good quality, but not a lot of numbers. Stahl has a large program, so we’re expecting to get a lot of new students from them. Ferrucci has always been a big quality school, but not a lot of quantity.”

Said Dennis: “Right now, science is more important then electives.”

ASB funding supplements the building and district money and is earned through fundraisers done by students or requested from the general budget.

“We request money each year from the general budget,” Dennis said. “This covers both our fees to our accompanist and fees for those who attend Honor Choirs.”

Fundraised money goes towards things like trips, retreats, or getting robes cleaned. The fundraisers are led by the teachers, which can cut into working on their music.

“We do three to four fundraisers a year,” Dennis said. “They’re a big pain, but its part of the reality of being a public school music teacher. We do as much as we can, but it’s hard to find the balance between raising money and teaching music.”

Emerald Ridge is full of unique and interesting music classes such as Guitar Technique, Chamber Singers, and Percussion Ensemble – each different, but full of dedication and fun.

From acoustic to electric, rock to jazz, beginners to intermediates, the newly added Guitar Technique is a class that definitely deserves a look. Led by teacher Robert Dennis, the class definitely is a popular music class here at Emerald Ridge. With more than 50 students, Dennis is getting a chance to teach the musical arts to an entirely new and refreshing group of music lovers.

In comparison to his choir classes, which he has been teaching for more than four years, he’s been given the chance to teach the musical arts to what was prior an audience of students he had never reached before.

“Yeah, the class is fun,” Dennis said. “It’s a different group of people compared to my other classes … amateurs, kids who play in bands … they’re different from my ‘choir kids.’ They’re just people who all like playing guitars.”

In this class that only Emerald Ridge offers, the students learn about the general basics of playing the guitar, music theory, how to read music and about the varying forms of the blues, rock, jazz, and classical music. In an environment that teaches so many contrasting musical forms, it is also a place full of many contrasting students.

“It’s great to be in an environment full of people that I wouldn’t have met otherwise,” said beginning guitarist Amanda Pisetzner, a junior. “I’m glad I took it, it’s fun. A Guitar Technique (class) is such a novel idea and I’m glad Emerald Ridge offers it.”

This new addition to Emerald Ridge’s music department is definitely going to be a great and wellloved fine art choice to the large audience of guitarists-to-be. If you are a guitarist hopeful, sign up for the class next year – just make it a first choice, as it’s sure to be popular once again.

Although the Guitar Technique class is full of fun and contrasting people, the Chamber Singers class is truly a class full of dedicated and spirited singers.

With true music dedication, a cup of coffee, and maybe even an extra caffeine pill in hand – just in case – the advanced choir class, Chamber Singers, begins early in the school-day morning promptly at 6:40 a.m. As the truly dedicated 16 members of the class loyally enter the choir room ready and prepared to sing in the wee hours of the morning, their teacher, also Dennis, begins his first and distinctive class of the day, every school day.

At an hour where the majority of students are still in the process of readying ourselves for the long day ahead, Dennis and his faithful Chamber Singers already are hitting it off with the day’s music and challenges.

Music truly is embedded in their souls. Dennis has always wanted an advanced music class, and for a while, wasn’t able to get it.

“I wanted an opportunity for my advanced, ‘in depth,’ experienced students who had a desire for more,” Dennis said. At the same time however, he finds himself facing several difficulties. “It’s a hard class to teach because I’m afraid of disappointing them. It’s hard to push them, challenge them, to just get them to work hard because they are already so advanced. It’s difficult to provide the tools and music that they need.”

As Dennis himself obviously is committed to the class, his students themselves also sacrifice much of their beauty sleep and time, all in the name of music.

“I love the way music sounds in a choir,” junior Kelsey Rochester said. “I love the class and it’s full of my favorite people.”

Despite the dedication and sacrifices, there are always benefits.

“You never get caught in the morning traffic,” said Rochester, laughing. “And you always get a great parking spot.”

“It definitely takes a level of commitment to come to school so early in the morning,” senior Brandon Myking said. “I like it a lot, and I get to meet new people. Waking up so early in the morning is bad though, but I wanted to try something new.”

If yearning for a chance to be among advanced singers and wanting to learn about different types of music and skills, feel free to join.

A student just has to be a junior or senior, go through two levels of auditions, and dedicatedly arrive to class at an hour you normally are brushing your teeth every morning everyday. But don’t let that dim your spirits. You’ll learn how to gain confidence, experience more performance time, perform in a small group, and – oh yeah – learn how to sing … better.

If singing isn’t your strength, and the guitar looks too complicated to learn, the Percussion Ensemble is just what percussionists need to end their manic Mondays.

Every Monday from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., walk on by to the band room and the drums and beats of Emerald Ridge’s Percussion Ensemble group can be heard deep in practice. Advised by Robin Blumenthall, this male-dominated after school activity is full of life and fun.

“It’s a great chance to build teamwork and leadership,” said junior Heather Pike, the only girl in the group. “We get to play with different instruments, and it’s just something fun to do. … I love the class, even if it’s full of guys.”

Percussion Ensemble is a class that needs a certain level of dedication, but if met, can be really fun and rewarding.

“Joining the class was just natural for me. I enjoy playing at a performance level weekly at my church,” said senior Austin Glass, a member who has been playing percussion for six years. “But (Percussion Ensemble) is just a formal way for me to play traditionally.”

The group itself is an outlet for him, as well as a requirement for Wind Ensemble.

If there’s nothing better to do on Monday afternoons, then any percussionist can join. Just show up.

11

3/3/2005 2:17:52 PM

BY

MARLEAH FEIST

REPORTER

BY

NICOLE SANTOS

REPORTER

tion, today’s generation of garage bands are what keep the music industry fresh and entertaining. While some emulate their favorite bands as either a “cover” or “tribute” band, others aspire to be unique in their own musical genres, hoping that one day they, too, will be signed.

Five representatives of Emerald Ridge’s independent garage bands each spoke on behalf of their band: senior Patrick Murray of Embalmed, senior Steve Mintey of Desario, junior Chase Molloy of The Rats, junior Matt Pierce of Red Light Murder and sophomore Jeff Carlson of Copromesis.

Embalmed and Copromesis play “death metal.” For someone who may not know what death metal is, Carlson explains that it has low growling vocals, fast drumbeats, and pounding guitar riffs.

“Take a band like Metallica,” Murray said, adding to the explanation.

“Make the drumming 10 times faster, the guitar work 100 times heavier, and turn the vocals into the deepest, scariest growl you could possibly think of.”

Embalmed composes all of its music and lyrics. Murray said the songs are about everything from problems

12

12, 09.indd 2-3

in the world today to fun, cheesy horror stories.

Carlson said Copromesis writes some of their riffs beforehand, and the rest are finished at their practices. Their songs are mainly about fear, pain and gore.

Desario, formerly known as The Harvey Mulligan Band, plays “Folk Indie Rock,” which is a combination of acoustical arrangements of folk rock backbeats and a hint of the Indie style. The reason Desario changed its name was because the other was “like a sentence long,” Mintey said. Mintey said that Desario’s songs are about girls and made-up stuff with themes covering love and irresponsibility.

12 The Rats play “punk rock,” which, as Molloy explains, is “rock n’ roll in its most basic form with its own attitude towards life.” Writing their own songs is a way to vent their frustrations: “Most of our songs are about our hate for society and the media,” Malloy said. “If we see something wrong in the world, we speak against it.”

Pierce describes Red Light Murder’s style as “Experimental/MetalCore/ZStep,” which is, in essence, metal music with hardcore components.

They compose all of their own material and Pierce said their songs poetically describe significant events of their lives.

Although each band is different in terms of their styles, all seem to be united by a common vision that they want to succeed in life with their music.

Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines the word “success” as “an accomplishment of an aim or purpose.” To each representative,

they all had the same idea about success.

“Success in our genre of music is a little different than more mainstream music,” Murray said. “To cut a few records, gain a good fan base and have a handful of places to play some shows around the country and maybe even the world would be more than excellent. Making a little cash along the way is always fun, too, though.”

While Carlson said that success is being signed as a band and recording a CD, he added that he wants to be a recognized band and be respected.

The same is true for Red light Murder: “We’ll continue to play until people quit caring,” Pierce said.

Mintey’s definition of success is making money doing something they have a passion for.

But to Molloy, success is what you make it: “To me, success is not being a white-collar drone, being screwed over by bigwigs. Success in life is completing your dreams, not conforming.”

What inspires these musicians to do what they do is the love for music. Even despite the stereotypes that come with each style, these musicians strive to hold true to themselves and their backgrounds.

“Death metal,” for instance, is thought to be evil, noisy and annoying, as Murray explained.

“The stereotype gets old,” he said. “Kids these days say they are so open-minded to different things, but they really have the s a m e mindset as

their generations before them. Anything out of the ordinary must be a bad thing … right?”

Carlson agreed that there is a stereotype that comes with death metal.

“It just appeals to different people,” he said. “Not many people are into that scene but it’s what we love, so we do it.”

As for stereotypes against hardcore music, Pierce answered simply: “To people outside of our scene, it doesn’t look positive. But that’s okay with me.”

Mintey did not say whether Desario or “Folk Indie Rock” is stereotyped.

He said they receive positive reaction and goofy presents from people.

“Being a punk band, of course we are stereotyped,” Molloy said. “We are part of a movement and it’s fine with us.”

Each representative said that they dislike today’s music. The Rats, Red Light Murder and Embalmed each agree that today’s music is “crap,” while Desario said there wasn’t enough musical variety. Copromesis believes the local scenes are being mixed up and therefore ruined when they’re supposed to be separate.

“Music needs to be about one thing – music,” Murray said. “Once that focus is lost, everything starts going downhill.”

This bubbly double threat, senior Lauren Nance, not only loves music, but she loves acting, also.

“I not only sing, but I love to act,” Nance said.

She has been in choir for eight years and has always been around music. Nance’s father is a music professor at Pacific Lutheran University and her mother sings also.

“I have been singing since I could talk,” Nance said.

Considering these facts, Nance would be the perfect candidate for a music scholarship, which she recently earned to Pacific Lutheran University. She wants to go to PLU because that is where her father teaches.

“My father is a big influence in life. He is the one that I look up to for music, along with Josh Groban and Bernadette Peters,” Nance said.

Musically, her big achievements have been mainly in the last two years. The last two years she has been the first alternate to the state Solo and Ensemble Contest. She also went to state last year.

While doing her acting she has achieved the lead female role in “Oklahoma!”

“She is involved in all the drama activities at school,” said Jenny Barkowski, a close friend to Nance.

Photo by Jessica Ritchie

During the late 1960s, “garage” was the term acknowledged for the different, edgy and sometimes eclectically brilliant sounds produced by the unsigned bands that populated the local music scene.

In the wake of a musical revolu-

As a person, Nance seems to get along with all different types of people.

“She is the type of girl who likes to break through social stereotypes,” Barkowski said.

“Lauren is unique in many ways – she can be friends with just about anyone, she has achieved a lot, and she loves what she does,” said Rachel Malinen, a good friend to Nance.

For the music scholarship, Nance had to audition on Feb. 27. She sang two opera songs, one from “Romeo and Juliet,” and the other “In His Eyes from Jekyll and Hyde.” The money that is given away is usually done in many different ways. The top prize winners receive almost a full ride scholarship. Nance plans on studying to become a theater teacher and minor in music.

With all the activities that Nance does, such as Chamber choir in the morning before school, “Oklahoma!”, the Northwest Honor Choir, and the rest of her acting and singing commitments, she has had enough experience for the scholarship.

“She deserves this scholarship most definitely,” Malinen said.

More of her hobbies include cooking, hanging out with friends, and traveling. This is something fun for Nance to do to get her mind off the stress of everything that she does.

9

3/3/2005 2:32:16 PM

JagWire

SPORTS

13

Wrestling places sixth in state State in Review 112: Nick Webster, junior – 1 win, 2 losses 125: Julio Rodriguez, sophomore – 0-2 130: Fernado Rodriguez, senior – 0-2 135: Kevin Willis, sophomore – 1-2 140: John Gallagher, sophomore – 0-2 160: Keith Schlect, junior – 4-2, (fifth place) 171: Aaron Brown, sophomore – 4-2, fourth place) 189: Brynsen Brown, senior – 6-1, (third place)

Junior Keith Schlecht (left) wrestled his way to fifth place in the Mat Classic XVI. Two other athletes competed for the finals, both placing in the top four.

Eight wrestlers competed in the Mat Classic XVI; three finished in the top five BY

JENN WHITHAM

REPORTER

Senior wrestler Brynsen Brown capped off a stellar career by placing third in the 189-pound division at Mat Classic XVI, leading Emerald Ridge to a sixth place finish in the state 4A tournament, held at the Tacoma Dome on Feb. 18 and 19.

Also, sophomore Aaron Brown took fourth at 171 pounds, and junior Keith Schlecht placed fifth at 160 pounds. Five other wrestlers participated, but did not

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place: sophomores Julio Rodriguez (125 pounds), John Gallagher (140), and Kevin Wills (135), junior Nick Webster (112), and senior Fernando Rodriguez (130).

Brynsen Brown, who placed second last year, has had a dominating season, as he was undefeated heading into the tournament and expected to take the title this year. However, after winning his first match, Brown lost a heartbreaker to Jon Wilbourne from Lake Stevens, 11-10. In a wild affair, Brown lost when he appeared to trip near the end of the match and Wilbourne covered him for the winning takedown as time expired.

“After the third round, I felt myself getting more and more tired,” Brown said. “I just let myself down, but there’s nothing

I can do about it now.”

Brown had been sick during the tournament and he believes that contributed to how well he had done.

“It was the third round and I was sick; I had bronchitis and I was tired,” Brown said.

The loss would keep him from taking first, but Brown didn’t quit. In every successive match, he pinned his opponents and won matches rapidly one after the next. He still was able to come back with a state medal and his third place standing after winning his final match, 7-1.

Aaron Brown made it to the semifinals before losing to Michael Johnson of Tahoma, who would finish second. He showed confidence during his matches.

Though each match was liberating, his first match the second day, was, to him, the most intense.

“I knew I was going to lose with 15 seconds left and I was down by four,” Brown said. Next time, he said he’ll relax a little more in order to reach his goal of placing in the top three next year.

Schlecht had high hopes of placing in the top three. He was able, however, to wrestle his way to fifth place after wrestling Casey Finnicum from Mountlake Terrace, who he had lost to in the quarterfinals 17-14. He was able to turn it around for fifth place and won, 7-4.

“I was more confident the second time wrestling him,” Schlecht said.

The wrestlers who participated last year took things with them that have given them more confidence.

“I was less scared this year, of just the big dome, and everyone watching,” Schlecht said.

The wrestlers already have goals for next year they want to work on to ensure success as individuals and as a team.

“I want to work harder in the practice room and get everyone else to work harder too,” Schlecht said.

You have options.

Care Net Pregnancy and Family Services

253-984-6222 253-383-2988 11102 Sunrise Blvd. E., Suite 107, 253-770-8697 Puyallup 24 hour: 1-800-395-HELP (4357) 10828 Gravelly Lk. Drive SW, Suite 101, Lakewood

Photo by James Stanford

1209 6th Avenue, Tacoma

8

08, 13.indd 2-3

3/3/2005 2:25:15 PM

14

SPORTS

JagWire

JagWire

The many faces of Jim Meyerhoff ELAINE RAYMOND

REPORTER

Before getting to know Jim Meyerhoff, he appears to be an intimidating guy.

When students see him at school with that stern scowl on his face, they either look the other way or turn down another hallway, fearing that they will say or do the wrong things, making him appear even angrier than he already does.

However, after taking the time to talk to him, students often realize he is a nice guy who takes his responsibilities seriously. As the wrestling coach, girls golf coach, yearbook adviser and teacher of Digital Photo and Web Design, Meyerhoff certainly has a lot of responsibilities and interacts with hundreds of students. Some of these students initially believe he is a scary person to be around.

“Before I came to school, I heard he was scary and mean,” said yearbook Managing Editor Savanna Bryan, a junior.

Senior and yearbook Editor-in-Chief Lauren Baker agrees with Bryan: “I thought he hated me at first.”

Meyerhoff is aware of the fact that many people who do not know him well are quick to get the wrong impression.

“A lot of people who don’t know me well think that I’m mean,” he said. “And I can be kind of a jerk sometimes. But people who know me know I just want to hold them accountable.”

Assistant wrestling coach Craig Fredrikson agrees that Meyerhoff often is misjudged.

“He can come off a little rough sometimes,” Fredrikson said. “A lot of students around the school say they are scared of him. I find it a little hard to be scared of him. He’s really kind and big hearted. He’ll bend over backwards for you.”

Bryan and Baker agree that he will do whatever he can to help you.

“If you do something wrong, he’ll let you know, but if you do something right, he’ll let you know too,” Bryan said.

Bryan also praises the way he handles his many responsibilities.

“Even though he has so much to do, he gets it all done,” Bryan said.

However, wrestling is a priority. After

Jim Meyerhoff wants you ... to see his famous scowling face, one of the many faces of Meyerhoff.

a season of hard work, it all paid off as Meyerhoff was awarded SPSL Coach of the year. The team finished league undefeated, went on place second at the SPSL League Tournament, win the Region 2 Tournament and place sixth in the Mat Classic 4A state tournament at the Tacoma Dome.

“In wrestling, the coach of the year typically goes to the team who wins league,” Meyerhoff said. “People recognize we’ve worked hard over the last couple of years.”

Not only has Meyerhoff done well with wrestling, but it seems every activity Meyerhoff becomes a part of achieves some sort of success.

Girls golf was SPSL South champions, finishing with a 9-1 record. Yearbook has done well, too, being named the best yearbook in Washington by the Washing-

ton Journalism Education Association for two years.

Senior Cydney Anderson, the girls golf captain, believes Meyerhoff’s success is due to his love of what he does.

“He enjoys everything that he does,” Anderson said. “He loves golf and all of his girls and he loves wrestling and all of his boys. I think he has a passion for everything he does. He enjoys being a part of our lives and seeing us be successful.”

Junior Dustin Snyder, who is in Meyerhoff’s advisory as well as a varsity wrestler, thinks Meyerhoff is successful because of his work ethic and pushing others to be the best they can be.

“He’s pretty determined and he knows the potential that we can have,” Snyder said. “He works us hard.”

Not only has Meyerhoff achieved

75

success in the form of awards, but also personal goals.

“One of my goals was to start a wrestling program, not take over anyone else’s because you’re always following someone – either a good coach or a bad coach,” Meyerhoff said.

Meyerhoff was the first head wrestling coach at Emerald Ridge and has been coaching here for all five years of the school. Additionally, he coached for five years as an assistant coach at Jackson High School, three years as an assistant coach at Vashon Island High School and was head coach for one year at Cascade Junior High School previous to Emerald Ridge.

“A huge part of his life is dedicated to the sport of wrestling,” Fredrikson said.

“It’s been a huge part all his life.”

Not only is it important in his life, but also that of his family.

“We grew up as a wrestling family,” Meyerhoff said. “I can’t remember not being at a state tournament. That was what we did together. I got to see a lot of the United States because of wrestling. That helped our family stay together.”

Now that Meyerhoff has a family of his own, they do a lot of those same things together.

“A lot of my life is the sports environment, but the best part for me is I get to spend time with my family during it,” Meyerhoff said. “We try to make the things we do family.”

While some may think sports would separate Meyerhoff from his family, his family joins him at weekend tournaments and his daughter, Angela – who is now a freshman at Western Washington University – was on the girls golf team.

“It was a fun thing to do with my daughter,” Meyerhoff said. “It was fun to do her thing.”

Angela also was wrestling manager for five years as well as editor-in-chief of the yearbook, both of which are activities her dad is very involved in.

In addition to a daughter, Meyerhoff has a son, Tyler, who is an eighth grader at Ballou and his wife, Dawn, is a fourth grade teacher at Midland Elementary.

Photos by Erica Bosnick

14, 07.indd 2-3

Photo by Mikel Armstrong

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Science teacher, musician, and famliy man with one kid, and one on the way

FEATURE

07

ANNA BOFA

REPORTER

Douglas Reis is quite familiar with the city of Puyallup, and he should be, as he has lived here his entire life. He went to Sunrise Elementary, moved up to Ferrucci Junior High and graduated from Rogers High School.

“I definitely know my way around,” Reis said.

Keeping with the Puyallup tradition, Reis decided to do his student teaching at Rogers after graduating from Western Washington University. Reis thought about being a doctor, but teaching eventually won out.

“It would have meant a lot of time away from family and a lot of school,” Reis said.

Becoming a chemistry teacher almost seemed natural to him.

“I grew up liking science,” said Reis, who saw teaching as a challenge. “I liked working with people but I knew that teaching would really stretch my personality.

“I always liked the thought of imparting knowledge.”

Reis says that teaching high school was appealing because that was the time in his life that he was able to discover who he was.

“I teach to help others realize who they are as well,” Reis said.

Many people at this school would agree that thinking about others is not a stretch for Reis. He is famously known as the nice guy, which, of course, he’s modest about.

“I’m not perfect, I have many faults, but my wife did say she got to marry the nicest guy in the world,” Reis said.

Reis says that teaching brings him joy and it fits well into his life – one that is very busy at the moment. Reis and his wife Kimberly, whom he met while teaching at Rogers, are expecting a second child. The new baby is due March 21.

“We are so excited to be adding a new addition, especially since Maggie has brought us so much joy,” Reis said.

Maggie is the Reis’ first child, who is just over two years old.

The Reis’ don’t know if the new delivery is a boy or a girl.

“We want to wait and be surprised,” Reis said.

Although that is yet to be decided, names are in thought.

“If it’s a boy, we’re naming him Jack and if it’s a girl either Aubren or Rosey,” Reis said.

Aside from teaching and being a family man, Reis has many other interests. He has been around music as long as he’s been around Puyallup.

When he was younger he started a band with his sister and a friend.

“My sister played the clarinet and I played the accordion – we called ourselves The Heritage,” Reis said.

The accordion seems to be in the Reis family blood. His father played and in 1982 Reis was crowned the Accordion Prince of the Northwest.

Reis also did some more “mainstream” music. He got together with some guys from his high school jazz choir and did a few recordings.

“We called ourselves the CD’s – for Chris, Doug and Derek – plus it was the time when CDs just came out, so it seemed cool back then,” Reis said.

Reis thought about being a choir director and even sang in college, but these days he keeps the music in the family.

“I play the piano and I like to write songs,” Reis said. “I wrote one for my family and Maggie calls it, ‘Daddy’s Song.’ ” If he’s not tuning a piano then is picking up a hammer.

“I like woodworking and one day I’d like to have my own shop,” Reis said, who also said he’d like to have his own boat one day, too. Unlike his future child, Reis already has got a name picked out for his future boat.

“It’s called Long Term Goal,” he said.

3/3/2005 2:32:35 PM

06

OP/ED

JagWire

JagWire

studies. The Bush Administration has said that vocational programs have performed unsatisfactorily overall, but what about schools such as Emerald Ridge, whose technical programs are thriving? The redistribution of the Perkins Loan affects all schools, not only those with CTE programs that are floundering.

We understand what President Bush is attempting to accomplish with the No Child Left Behind Act, and acknowledge that this decision was made with the best of intentions. However, selfishly, we feel that this is not the best solution for Emerald Ridge and for other schools with similar situations.

We understand that the money from this grant will now go towards helping low-income schools, and acknowledge that they need and deserve more funding. But the money from the reallocated loan won’t fund technical programs at those schools. Shouldn’t technical money stay technical money? Bush is attempting to leave no child behind, yet by limiting educational opportunities he might be leaving behind the students that could only be reached through these programs.

How can we find a solution to this problem? Start by identifying those schools with strong programs and recognize that continued funding of vocational programs

Got Opinion?

Write a letter to the editor Submit to room E157

The boys swim and dive team finshed out the season with two personal best finishes at the state meet

is crucial.

There is no easy solution. Education is multifaceted and one could make the case that there is no way to please everyone involved. In fact, if Emerald Ridge was an under-financed school, we might be rejoicing in the redistribution of the Perkins Loan.

The American public education system is fragile. A drastic change like the redistribution of the Perkins fund could have unforeseen consequences. This change will affect every school differently. It might come as a blessing for some. Here at Emerald Ridge, however, this news is disheartening.

BY

KAITLYN GOLDEN

REPORTER

Senior Justin Mertlich placed third in the 1-meter dive competition at the state swim and dive meet on Jan.18 and 19, while senior Adam Sturdivant placed eighth in the 100-meter butterfly.

Mertlich finished with a final score of 350.25, 85.45 points behind winner Thomas Evans of Inglemoor and only 8.25 points behind Ben Shea of Wenatchee, who placed second.

After his eight preliminary dives on the first day of competition, Mertlich’s score was 264.10, only 30.75 points behind Evans. Mertlich had three dives on Saturday to catch Evans, but ended up not performing to his ability.

“His last three dives he did what I would call ‘tanking’ them,” dive coach Michelle Dorbaugh said. “He scored much lower than usual; he should have been a solid second place.”

Mertlich feels that he did well, but wanted to place higher.

“I did alright because I was hoping to get top three, but it would have been really cool if I got second,” Mertlich said.

STAFF EDITORIAL BOARD ....................................CARISSA CARTER ................................................................................... XANDER KNOX ............................................................................ LINDSEY MAXFIELD .......................................................................................TYLER QUINN ................................................................................JAMES STANFORD DESIGN EDITOR ......................................MIKEL ARMSTRONG PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR .................KATINA MATHIESON BUSINESS MANAGER ........................... LINDSEY MAXFIELD CIRCULATION MANAGER ........................ ROBIN STOYLES REPORTERS .............................................................. AMMA BOFA .......................................................................................... ANNA BOFA ...................................................................................ERICA BOSNICK ...........................................................................................LISSY BRYAN .......................................................................................... MATT CLICK .................................................................................MARILYN DIXON .................................................................................... MARLEAH FEIST ......................................................................................... TAYZHA FOX ............................................................................ BRITTANY GENTILE .............................................................................. KAITLYN GOLDEN .......................................................................................KASSIE GREEN ......................................................................................DARRIN JONES .......................................................................................... NICK KAJCA .............................................................................BRITTANY LAWBER ..............................................................................ELAINE RAYMOND ................................................................................... JESSICA RITCHIE ..................................................................................NICOLE SANTOS ....................................................................................... DREW SCOTT .......................................................................... KRISTIN WELLENTIN ...........................................................................JENNIFER WHITHAM .......................................................................... GRANT WOODRUFF ADVISER....................................................................... JEFF NUSSER

New friendships were formed as the girls on the gymnastics team made it through a building year

AFFILIATES

BY

BRITTANY LAWBER

REPORTER

LETTERS POLICY JagWire will accept unsolicited copy from students, staff and community members. Only signed and dated letters with address and phone number from community members, or grade level from students, will be accepted.

Letters must be limited to 300 words and will be published as space is available.

All letters are the sole opinion of the writers, and the staff reserves the right to edit any letter for space and/or clarity.

We will not publish material that may substantially disrupt the school process.

Letters to the editor may be submitted by mailing them to

06, 15.indd 2-3

Jagwire c/o Emerald Ridge High School, or by e-mailing them to jdnusser@puyallup.k12.wa.us EDITORIAL MISSION As JagWire enters its fifth year, our goal is to first and foremost continue to serve as an open public forum for student expression. JagWire strives to remain a quality, hard-hitting, informative, and entertaining communication link between students, faculty, and the Emerald Ridge community. Our publication will tackle issues that impact our readers and raise awareness while maintaining the highest journalistic standards.

JagWire will keep the values of an award-winning newsmagazine by creating a viewpoint that is unique to ourselves and our school, while recognizing the accomplishments and events that require our coverage.

Our mission is to continue learning, to constantly work on self-improvement, and always bear a reflective eye towards our work. We will make an effort to represent ERHS and the surrounding community, while also providing a publication in which to take pride.

ADVERTISING MISSION The JagWire publication staff accepts advertisements for most products and services available to the public. However, the staff reserves the right to reject, edit or cancel any advertisement that the staff deems offensive in light of normal public standards.

Ads identifying students as athletes by photo or text (WIAA 18.20.0 and 18.20.1) also will not be accepted. The staff will not accept advertising for products or groups which are racist, sexist or illegal for high school students.

Photo by Erica Bosnick

THE FINE PRINT

Coach Raymond Belleza is pleased with Mertlich’s performance in the meet.

“I was hoping he’d place in the top five,” Belleza said. “He got third, which I am really happy with.”

Sturdivant’s performance in the state meet was one of consistency. He went into the meet ranked eighth, (which means his fastest time before districts was the eighth fastest in the state,) placed eighth in the preliminaries, and finished eighth in the finals with a time of 54.53. He swam a faster time of 54.47 in the preliminaries, but both of his state times were faster then his district time of 54.86.

Belleza thinks Sturdivant did a good job in the meet.

“Adam has improved a lot from placing 18th last year, so I’m happy with him,” Belleza said. “He also has improved his time by two seconds since last year.”

Sturdivant agrees that he has made a great improvement in the past year.

“I think I did pretty good,” Sturdivant said. “I moved up 10 spaces, I made it to finals, which not a lot of people do. I could have done a bit better; I could have worked harder.”

As for Mertlich, Dorbaugh still believes he has enormous potential.

“He has just as much talent as the first place diver,” Dorbaugh said. “He could easily be a college diver right now. (Today) he just didn’t execute as well as he could

Adam Sturdivant took eighth in the finals of the 100-meter butterfly at the 4A state meet.

have. … It was all mental; he has all the ability in the world.”

As for the future of the team, Belleza thinks it will be decided by a lot of the younger members.

“We’re losing a big core of the team,” Belleza said. “A lot of boys that I’ve started out with as freshman are going next year. I think a lot of the juniors coming up next year are going to be stepping it up, and there’ll be another shipment of ninth graders and underclassmen.”

Several members of the team already stepped it up by qualifying to compete in the district meet for the first time this season.

“Some of our first timers this year were Ryan Barker, Orval McKenzie, Ty O’Bryant, Matt Vangunda, and J.T. (Jeremiah Turner),” Belleza said. “Some of them made it on a relay, but they proved they were fast enough to be on a relay. I only expected two or three to make it to districts, but I brought on a lot more then I thought.”

Gymnastics works together on a personal level

CSPA, JEA, NSPA, SPJ, WJEA, WSJA

Emerald Ridge High School 12405 184th St. E. South Hill, WA 98374 | 253-435-6300

15

Success continues at state

Children being left behind?

President Bush’s campaign to “leave no child behind” has significantly changed things in the education world.

In fact, it may be doing the exact opposite of its intended goal. Bush recently presented a plan to redistribute funds from the Perkins Loan, one of the ways Career and Technical Education is funded in the Puyallup School District. In layman’s terms, much of the money that has been coming to classes such as Teaching Academy, interior design, video productions and digital photo will no longer be available.

How does this affect Emerald Ridge? Considering the fact that Emerald Ridge High School has historically been privileged enough to have strong vocational programs and the necessary funding to provide the equipment for these technologies, this new development could fundamentally change the way our school operates.

Its effects could be as minimal as a slight raise in the fees you pay for honor cords as a senior, or could be as significant as the loss of an entire CTE program.

But why would a bill focused on reforming education for all limit the diversity of educational opportunities in such a way? The Pell Grant and included Perkins Loan focuses on providing students educational opportunities outside of core subjects like English, math, and social

SPORTS

This year’s gymnastics team did not measure their season by wins or losses, but by the relationships they built and the foundation that they have set for the future.

“The season didn’t go as well as I thought it would but it was fun to meet all the new people,” sophomore Dani Hatcher said.

The team had a wide variety of talented members and some inexperienced girls. Often times, out on the mat, the inexperienced sophomores showed their youth. The seniors were forced to step up to more of a leadership role.

“The girls worked hard and shared their areas of expertise when I was busy with

other girls,” coach Christi Giste said.

“We needed to teach them about sportsmanship and team unity, and it worked out well,” senior captain Kayla Henke said.

As the girls learned to start working together and helping each other with their mistakes, the team started to show major potential and the future started to look brighter.

One of the keys of having a good gymnastics team is working well together on a personal level. This year’s team definitely accomplished that.

“Towards the end of the season we all got along. Although we weren’t the best team, we were the most involved,” Henke said.

On and off the team some other girls hung out. The team just was very big on just being close and making it fun, which they did.

“It was a very interesting season.... I’m looking forward to next year,” sophomore Jamie Sagdahl said.

Something that has happened in past years is that the team has lost key players.

This year however, the team has a lot of talent staying with them. Henke will be returning as an assistant coach next year, to try to improve the team.

Catch Eyes and Smiles!

After being disappointed on the results this year, the team is encouraged to do better next year.

“Next year we’re just looking for as strong a team as we did this year, but just more successful,” Henke said.

(upper-level stylists slightly higher)

Puyallup – (253) 845-8100 Between Gart Sports and Starbucks

3/3/2005 2:23:24 PM

16

SPORTS

JagWire

JagWire

BY

NICK KAJCA

REPORTER

The girls basketball team has been working almost every day for three and half months towards one goal: The playoffs. All of their hard work, Saturday morning practices, hopes, and dreams all came together in the form of a first-round SPSL playoff game against Kentridge on Feb. 17 at Auburn High School.

The girls played an intense game that could not be decided in regulation time.

Unfortunately for the Lady Jags, Kentridge prevailed in overtime, 66-65.

The game turned into one in which both teams played so hard that neither deserved to lose. The Jags were led by sophomore Lakea Arceneaux, who had 22 points, and senior Ciera Gero, who added 14.

The two teams were evenly matched, although Kentridge did create a slight edge by playing a press defense that gave the Jaguars trouble.

“We did not expect them to press; it definitely caught us by surprise,” senior Taryn Cartledge said.

If the girls had won the game, they would have moved on to face Sumner.

The winner of that game would have advanced to the West Central District Tournament – one step away from the 4A

state tournament.

“I was so disappointed after the game I almost cried,” Gero said. “It’s hard to realize that I will never play another high school basketball game again.”

Although the girls were disappointed, they did not go their separate ways but instead came together in the locker room as a team.

“After the game we talked about the wonderful journey we had just completed together and we thanked our five seniors for leading our program forward,” coach Greg Farias said. “All together we had a great feeling of accomplishment.”

The team definitely agrees that overall this season was a positive one.

“We really came together as a team and learned a lot on the court,” Cartledge said.

This year, the girls also focused a lot on being goal oriented. They have been setting different goals throughout the year as a way of driving the team towards meeting the accomplishments they want.

It is not always easy to meet all of your main goals, but the team feels they came very close.

“I believe we reached the point we wanted to by winning double-digit games and reaching the playoffs,” Farias said.

The team ended up finishing the season with a 10-8 record in league and a 10-11 record overall. The girls played the remaining nine games of the season by starting five seniors. These seniors will be missed next season but Farias feels his underclassmen are very capable.

Despite students’ best efforts to produce a successfull fund and health kit drive, the result was less than satisfying, leaving some to speculate whether students are just too comfortable where they are BY

CARISSA CARTER

EDITORIAL BOARD

16, 05.indd 2-3

$10,000 Enumclaw High School

$10,000

KASSIE GREEN

Student Council and Interact Club – formerly known as Service Council – have been working together for the past month to raise money for the tsunami victims.

They have made a total of $871.27 towards the relief fund, which has some people wondering why a school like Emerald Ridge couldn’t do more.

“I don’t know how to get students to open their hearts,” leadership teacher Pam Kin– Pam Kinkela, leadership teacher kela said. “How do students know what happened with the tsunami, and not want to give?”

For example, Enumclaw High School raised more than $10,000, and Aki-Kuroce Middle School, one of the poorest schools in Seattle, raised more than $900, according to Kinkela.

Kinkela believes students here always want to know what they will get for bringing the most money.

“Why don’t (students) just give? Why do they have to get something back?”

Kinkela said. “Students here are too comfortable with what they have.”

Kinkela and Interact Club advisor Patti McMullan would like to get more people involved.

“Everyone is invited to the Interact Club meetings,” McMullan said.

They also agree that they want the fundraising to be all student work.

“We want for the lime light to be on the students,” McMullan said.

Kinkela believes that this school has a harder time doing fundraisers “Last year for the blood drive we only got 30 people to participate,” Kinkela said. “Rogers had 137 different people participate. It doesn’t take anything to give blood and it saves lives.”

“

$8,000 $7,000 Puyallup High School $6,000 Gig Harbor High School

WHY DON’T (STUDENTS) JUST GIVE? WHY DO THEY HAVE TO GET SOMETHING BACK?

Senior Theresa Capestany sets up on defense against Puyallup junior Stephanie Wheless.

“Our younger players put in a lot of minutes this year and can move our program another step forward,” he said.

The younger players will start training for the next season over this coming summer where they will participate in

seven and a half weeks of training. The training will consist of games, tournaments, practices, individual skill work, and especially defensive improvement skills – one of the team’s main problems this year was defense.

“I wish we would’ve played hard throughout the whole season and finished out stronger in fourth quarters,” senior Donnell Calhoun said.

The team still had one game left to play in its regular season against Curtis but experienced similar problems as the Bethel game, getting outscored in the fourth quarter, 22-5. The team lost the game 76-39.

“Nobody had any drive because everyone knew we weren’t going to postseason,” junior Lloyd Jackson said.

Although the team has had its share of disappointments, the season wasn’t a total loss.

“For the most part we worked hard and together as a group, of taking care of each other and becoming a team. They completed hard each time they were out on the floor,” coach Bob Horton said.

At the beginning of the season the team had strong goals of being a defensive team.

“Being a defensive team worked for big teams like Federal Way, who averages 80 points a game, when we held them to like 40,” junior Ed Carter said.

Injuries were another issue haunting the team’s success, with injuries forcing two starting players, Calhoun and junior Nathan Losch, to miss significant time.

“When we got hurt, we couldn’t complete our full game plan,” Calhoun said.

Without being able to fully execute the team’s game plan, the team lost sight of early-season goals.

“I think our injuries affected how we played throughout the season and kept us from achieving some of our goals,” Horton said.

The team is losing five seniors on varsity this year, leaving a questionable outlook for next year’s season.

“I think we’ll have a strong team next year because we still have key players like Nate (Losch), Jordan (Thaanum) and (David) Swendsen,” Calhoun said.

Next season, the team will have only a few varsity players returning, including juniors Jackson, Swendsen and Thaanum, and four players including juniors Patrick Thomas and Torey Wambold, and sophomores Bryn Allen and Emmanuel Bofa, who all played varsity minutes this year.

”

$6,000

$4,000

$2,000 $900 Aki-Kuroce Middle School

$0

$871.27 Emerald Ridge High School

Amount of money raised for tsunami relief

Source: Pam Kinkela, leadership teacher

Fine Photography

McCutcheon’s Studio

Just ask Laura!

Photo by Carissa Carter

The boys basketball team finished sixth in the SPSL, missing the chance to achieve its preseason goal of going to the postseason.

The team played the top four teams in the SPSL – Puyallup, Federal Way, Bethel and Curtis – in its last five games of the season, which determined whether the Jags made it to the postseason.

The team struggled against Bethel, ranked No. 3 by The News Tribune, having only one player in double digits.

The Braves had a 14-2 run in the last two minutes of play in the first half to outscore the Jags 22-8 in the second quarter, leaving Emerald Ridge with a 14-point halftime deficit. After halftime, the team came back fighting with an 18-10 third quarter, but failed to bring it out in the end losing the game, 62-47.

After the game against Bethel the team had no chances of going to postseason because Rogers (in fifth place) was two games ahead of the Jags and the team only had one more game left in the season.

A visual comparison of relief between schools

REPORTER

Boys basketball ends season short and dissapointed BY

05

Relief efforts dishearten

Girls basketball places fourth After staring stereotypes in the eye and beating all odds, the Lady Jags make it to the postseason

NEWS

120 West Main Ave. Puyallup, Washington 98371 253-845-2101 Located next to the Liberty Theatre

3/3/2005 2:33:28 PM

04

NEWS

JagWire

World Week reviews mixed BY

ROBIN STOYLES

REPORTER

Although World Week didn’t go as smoothly as hoped, Lisa Kusche, co-director of the week, said it went OK and that there weren’t many big problems, just a lot of small difficulties.

Among these problems were unmotivated people who thought World Week was just a joke, while another hitch were differences from student to student; some thought World Week was too structured and others thought it gave too much freedom.

“There was the old challenge of motivating the unmotivated,” Kusche said. “Every advisory is different.”

Some thought it was very tough to do everything in the time given.

“The time management was very difficult,” advisor Patti McMullan said.

Other advisories found that it wasn’t too hard to do well. Sophomore advisor Lisa Loveland didn’t find it too difficult for her advisory to earn a gold standard.

“Teamwork, time management, and communication were instrumental in our advisory receiving gold medal status,” Loveland said. “We really connected and had a blast.”

During the week, more than 150 strategic options such as trade negotiations and peace treaties were completed. The strategic options were brand new for this year.

Overall, 80 percent of the school ended the week at a gold standard.

“I think the strategic options were a good idea,” said Amma Bofa, co-director of the UN headquarters with her sister Anna Bofa. “The countries that got a gold standard were the ones that did a lot of strategic options such as peace treaties and trade negotiations.”

Not all agreed on the serious nature of the week.

“I loved it,” senior Trevor Omoto said. “I came late and left early without repercussion. When I was here I was either sleeping or playing games.”

Some advisors such as Omoto’s had a tough time holding students accountable.

Omoto’s advisor, Mimi Lampert, said he was unreliable and just floated around as he wanted, which many students seemed to do.

Some students, such as junior Rose Velasquez, thought World Week was good, but focused too much on AIDS.

Prepare fair is coming BY

DARRIN JONES

REPORTER

The Prepare Fair is coming to Emerald Ridge to connect students with their future college choices. The times to attend the fair will be March 14 and 15 from 10:20 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. at Emerald Ridge High School in the lower gym.

“It gives students an opportunity to get in touch with community service organizations and students can connect with different college recruiters to learn about their school so that

Major Tournament Performance Fourth Place: State Meet First place: League and Regional Meets Third Place: Pacific Coast Championship Meet

a ar Senior Jocelyn Fowler of World Week’s China helps to collect money for tsunami relief.

“World Week could have focused on a larger variety of topics,” said Velasquez. “AIDS Week was great, but next time let’s focus on more issues.”

Most people liked parts of World Week, but had some constructive criticism.

“World Week was great,” sophomore Caitie McKenzie said, “but I think they need to do a better job at preparing us for it, because a lot of people didn’t really know what was going on at first.”

Comments such as these have been given to Cindy Watters who led the UN, but until planning for the next Winterim Week – Science/Technology Week – starts, no changes can be confirmed.

Start a bachelor’s degree ... or career today

they are able to make decisions about post high planning,” said Patti McMullan, career specialist at Emerald Ridge High School.

The fair will be host to more than 15 colleges and community service organizations such as Pacific Lutheran University, ITT Technical Institute, and Clover Park Technical College. The fair will also have former ERHS students in college as guest speakers.

School officials are encouraging students to take the Prepare Fair seriously and use the fair to help them make a plan for their future.

n on

ow b r

What has been your biggest obstacle?

Keeping focused in my academics.

Who is your favorite professional athlete?

Ray Lewis because he is one of the most aggresive players in the NFL, and he always plays with heart.

What is the biggest difference between junior high and high school sports?

The competition is definitly harder. Everyone wants to be number one.

What were your goals coming into the year?

To be succesful and have a fun season.

Where do you see yourself after graduation?

Going to college and playing football, and maybe wrestling.

“I love Pierce. The teachers are good at what they do, and Pierce offers cool classes.”

- Sally Linn

LAKEWOOD (253) 964-6500

Who has been your biggest motivator this year?

My coaches and my parents because they will always get on me about my grades and doing my best.

P U YA L L U P (253) 840-8400

FORT LEWIS (253) 964-6567

MCCHORD (253) 964-6606

w w w. p i e r c e . c t c . e d u

04,17.indd 2-3

athlete of the month

What has been your favorite part of the season?

Wrestling at the state tournament.

17

3/3/2005 2:47:51 PM

18

A&E

JagWire

JagWire

Student arrested

Have Oscars lost their touch?

Efforts to rush speakers and cut down on the ‘walk to the stage’ on March 27 proved to many that time constraints rule the Oscars

I

n addition to sporting the lowest ratings in Oscar history (5 percent less than last year), the 77th Academy Awards seemed rushed when compared to previous years. There’s a distinguishable drop in quality from the Billy Crystal/Steve Martin hosting era, and the flaws did not go unnoticed.

Non-major Oscars, in an effort to conserve time, were awarded in the aisles. Several categories had their nominees already on stage, because apparently walking the twenty feet to the stage just took way too long.

There were only a few acceptance Matt Click speeches that didn’t get cut off by the Commentary “you’re rambling!” symphony music.

Even the producers of “Million Dollar Baby,” which won best picture, were cut short. That’s just ridiculous.

Every year, you can just see the producers of the Academy Awards scrambling to save time. Cut a few

seconds off his speech, a couple off hers. In all honesty, you could always tell, even in the past. But this year was just insane.

Who cares if the Oscars run over a while? I understand that maybe people don’t care about the guy who wins Achievement in Sound Mixing as much as Best Picture or Best Actress, but he should receive the same amount of time for his acceptance speech. What are we missing if the Oscars run over? Nothing. Well, the Barbara Walters After-Oscar Special … and I think maybe all of two people stick around for that.

However, beneath all the glamour and acceptance speeches, there lies the heart of the Oscars. The awards and the films that are nominated for them. This is why we watch the Oscars, isn’t it? In most cases, I was very happy with the way the awards went this year. Jamie Foxx received his well deserved Oscar for his role in “Ray.” Morgan Freeman, one of the most talented actors of our time, got his first Oscar for his supporting role in “Million Dollar Baby.” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” my favorite film of the year, received the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. Sidney Lumet and Roger Mayer, two very influential men in the industry, both received honorary awards for their work and contribution to film.

The real surprise came when Clint Eastwood (“Million

Prosecutors charge junior with felony harassment after he allegedly threatens to kill other students

Dollar Baby”) beat out Martin Scorsese (“The Aviator”) for Best Director. I don’t know about anyone else, but all my money was on Scorsese. Don’t get me wrong, Eastwood is a brilliant director, but Scorsese deserved it more. He’s been nominated five times for Best Director and has never won. He directed “Good Fellas,” possibly the greatest gangster movie of all time next to “The Godfather.” He’s been a directing icon for many years, and has never been recognized beyond nomination. I thought Scorsese had it coming.

Overall, the Oscars this year were mediocre. The presenters were awful, the jokes tacky, and Chris Rock was about the least funny I’ve ever seen him. You could tell he was holding back. But hey, at least he was better than Whoopi.

In the long run, do the Oscars even matter? Of course, I’d be more inclined to rent a film that has “Winner of 11 Academy Awards!” plastered on the front, but what is that except bragging rights? The winner of Best Picture is never my favorite film of the year, and the Academy rarely even picks movies that were released more than six months before Oscar season. So, will I watch the Oscars next year? Of course I will – it’s still the greatest gathering of artistic minds and great talents in Hollywood. But I still miss the old Oscars. Most of all, I miss Billy.

“

HE WAS THE LAST PERSON ON EARTH I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT OF IN THAT CONTEXT. HE WAS VERY NICE.

‘Constantine’ puts new spin on monster genre Keanu Reeves plays excorcist John Constantine in this new monsterhunting action thriller BY

MATT CLICK

REPORTER

18, 03.indd 2-3

Just another day on the job for John Constantine. Can you believe he doesn’t get paid for this?

of “Constantine” manage just fine.

The film is just plain cool. I was wary of it to begin with. There have been so many monster-hunting movies, that you’d think they’d have run out of ways to kill them. But I underestimated Constantine.

He knows his way around hell pretty well, and he knows exactly what demons need: a gold, crucifix-laden shotgun with a flamethrower attached to it. Um, heck yes!

But the whole film isn’t just him blowing demons apart with his holy shotgun; an intriguing and surprisingly deep back story lies beneath the action. Apparently, God and Satan made a wager when the world began, to see who could win over mankind. The rules are simple: no direct

contact, only influence; which means that demons can’t cross over into our plain of existence, and neither can angels. It’s called “The Balance.” But when Mammon, the Devil’s offspring, bends the rules and allows demons to cross over, it’s time for Constantine to even the scales a bit (with the aforementioned holy shotgun).

“Constantine” is the right balance of horror and action. If you were a fan of “Hellboy” or “Blade,” you’re going to love “Constantine.” If you like a good action flick, you’ll love it. If you enjoy a good plot and deep characters, you’ll love it. If you need a little push to keep you alive until the summer movie season, much like I did, then see “Constantine.”

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

I’m going to be honest – there’s a lot of crap out in theaters right now, and the trailers I’ve been seeing leave me little hope for the future.

The wait for May (the first official month of the summer movie season) seems unbearable, doesn’t it? I’m personally one talking-animal movie away from losing it.

Why, just last week, two films were denied critic screening (“Man of the House” and “Cursed”), which usually means that the filmmakers know they made an awful film.

But “Constantine,” by Hollywood’s good graces, has been released to keep us going a little longer, to make the wait for summer seem bearable.

Remember when Keanu Reeves was in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure?”

Remember how utterly moronic he was?

Well, Keanu’s stoic delivery of dialogue and impassive facial features haven’t changed much, but, luckily, he’s choosing roles that require him to act stoic and impassive.

REVIEW Reeves plays John Constantine, a man who’s literally been to hell and back. Fearing that he will not be granted entrance into heaven due to a mortal sin he committed many years prior, Constantine has used his knowledge of the occult and his gift for seeing the unknown to do God’s work on Earth. Basically, Constantine is trying to “buy” his way into heaven.

When we are first introduced to him, Constantine snuffs a cigarette only to reach into his pack for another one. His work day begins with drawing a demon from a little girl, who gave her mom quite a scare when she started crawling on the ceiling. After wrestling with the demon, drawing it into a mirror, and shattering it on the street below, Constantine lights another cigarette and gets in a taxi. This is the kind of stoic, nonchalant attitude I crave in heroes. A kind of, “I’m just trying to make my way into heaven, don’t mess with me,” demeanor.

The movie itself seems to draw upon a variety of films for its inspiration. There’s a lot of “Excorcist” in there, a good amount of “Blade,” and just a pinch of “The Matrix.” Three films you wouldn’t think would mix well, right? Well, the makers

report and not find someone guilty,” said Wist, who is chief of the juvenile division of the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office.

One student who believes he was included in a group the student threatened to kill said his safety didn’t feel

BY JESSICA RITCHIE threatened.

REPORTER “To be honest, I didn’t think he was serious,” junior Lloyd Jackson said. “I An Emerald Ridge junior was arrested didn’t feel safe for a while, I guess. late Feb. 9 at his home after he allegedly You always have to keep your guard up, made threats to kill groups of male stuthough. When they said he said he had dents earlier that day at school. a gun and stuff, I thought he was just According to court documents obtained blowing smoke, but you never know what from the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office, people are going to do.” the student, a 17-year-old boy, is being Jackson has had a number of confroncharged with felony harassment, possestations with the student. sion of stolen property in the third degree, According to Jackson, there was a and unlawful use of drug paraphernalia. dispute earlier this year between some A deferred disposition hearing is set for of Jackson’s friends and the student March 4. that involved some less-than-friendly According to the documents from the language.

Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office, a bong Not everyone agreed with this portrayal was found in the student’s possession durof the student.

“He was quiet in class. Very cooperative,” said Candace Loring, the student’s first semester design teacher. “We had some nice conversations when I was getting to know him. He was very respectful and a model art student.”

She went on to ex— Candace Loring, art teacher press her disbelief that the student seemed like the type to ever have ing the arrest, and the student admitted said or done anything like that. to smoking marijuana out of it the night “I got the impression that he was a before the arrest. nice kid and had a lot of friends in my Also found was a stolen triple-beam class. I didn’t see any behaviors in my scale from Puyallup High School and four room that would make me think he was large-caliber bullets. capable of that. He was the last person The student’s father also brought out on Earth I would have thought of in that a rifle that matched the description of a context. He was just very nice,” Loring weapon the student allegedly talked about said. killing students with.

Whether the student will be coming Also according to the documents, the back to Emerald Ridge is between him, student referred to some of the African- his parents, and the school. It is unknown American students as “negroes” when for now. talking to deputies about students he felt “I don’t think if he came back he would animosity toward. get beat up or anything. People would Pierce County Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew just know where they stood with him.”

Finley and Principal Brian Lowney both Jackson said. said they were limited in what they could All of this leaves some students thinksay. ing that the community will see Emerald “We don’t comment on student disci- Ridge with a sense of uncertainty. pline,” Lowney said. “We deal with student “I think people are thinking this is a discipline all the time. It’s a matter be- bad school, but it’s not,” Jackson said. tween students and their parents.”

“The security guards are good. They’re not Finley had only slightly more to add. just professionals but friends, and there “I can’t go into that because if there’s are a lot of them, so if there was a kid who a trial, that will come up,” Finley said. had an altercation, they would be able to “There have been past experiences.” go to them as if they were best friends “I’ve never seen a judge look at a police and they would handle it.”

”

NEWS

03

Career and Tech Ed classes feel effects of No Child Left Behind BY

DREW SCOTT

REPORTER

Students taking Career and Technical Education classes next year may have to pay a class fee to attend those classes.

In order to build on the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush is redistributing the Perkins money, the main source of funds for Career and Technical Education classes. It is possible that those classes will lose benefits or will have to require students to pay for them.

“Yes, it will severely impact getting dual credit for students, field trips, summer internships for teachers and students, curriculum development, career development materials at all grade levels and pathway honor cords for the district,” said Shelly Calligan, Puyallup School District director of Career and Technical Education.

Emerald Ridge has a large number of Career and Technical Education classes, so many that some teachers only teach those kinds of classes. With the redistribution of the Perkins grant those teacher’s jobs may no longer be secure.

“There is a real possibility that students will be limited on their elective choices,” Family and Career Sciences teacher Lisa Kelsey said.

Some classes could be greatly hindered due to the lack of funding.

“I may have less equipment in the future when equipment becomes broken and outdated, and there is no funding to replace that,” video productions teacher Gary Osborne said.

Other additions to Career and Technical Education classes might be lost altogether.

“With the loss of the Perkins (money), many of our program enhancements will disappear,” business teacher Christi Horton said. “These enhancements include field trips, career education materials, conferences, and professional development.”

Calligan urges people who want to keep this funding from being lost to contact their members of Congress in the House and Senate. Contact details and a sample letter are available on the ACTE’s Legislative Action Center website at http://capwiz.com/acte/home/.

3/3/2005 2:33:53 PM

INSIDE Coming soon: JagWire online at www.getjagwired.com

Marilyn – I love this CD. She always sets the mood for however you’re feeling. The beats are totally upbeat and she has songs featuring T.I. and Ja Rule (as always). It’s genius!

3.04.05

Matt – OK , so R&B has a wide audience. But I still hate most of it. Maybe Ashanti should hang out with Martina McBride, seeing as how they both really suck.

Carissa – She is an amazing singer.The beats are crazy awesome. I love that she did a song with an amazing guitarist.

The melodies are something I wouldn’t be ashamed of bumping out to in my car.

Lindsey – It never ceases to amaze me how many talented singers waste their voices on over-synthesized beats and stereotypical lyrics. Granted, Ashanti got hers, but she’s better than this. These songs make me cringe. A waste, pure and simple.

08

Lindsey – Ahh … the refreshing sound of stereotypical country music. What is the appeal of this crap?

Her melodic voice harmonizes with the background instrumentals like the incessant bray of a donkey.

Can’t we even stay out of the farmyard for a few short minutes?

concrete rose

Carissa – I absolutely love this CD! It has a mixture of slow and fast songs. Martina knows what style of music she falls under and sticks to it! The lyrics in her songs are always insightful.

Marilyn – Country really isn’t my forte. Depending on my mood, it’s either good or bad. I’m really not in the mood for songs about broken love and sad stories.

Melody

09

Singer wins scholarship Senior Lauren Nance recieved a music scholarship to attend PLU next year, to both sing and act.

Music is ingrained in everyone’s life, whether or not that is apparent to each individual. JagWire takes a look at the music program both within our school and bands that practice outside of school, as well as funding for the music in our school and a scholarship winning student.

Matt – Pretty much every country song I hear makes me feel ill. This entire CD is no exception. I’ve tried on numerous occasions to give country a chance, and I’ve failed miserably every time.

Matt – It’s common knowledge that Les Claypool of Primus is a bass god. Every time I listen to this CD, I’m blown away by his bass playing. Say what you will about the vocals. He’s amazing.

Lindsey – This is intriguing. The first song draws you in from the very beginning. The vocals are pure crap, but the music itself has so many twists you can’t help but listen. Hire some new vocal talent, but props to the band.

Carissa – I think I would only listen to this CD if I was clinically psychotic and depressed. The music playing is fine but the beats are depressing.

Marilyn – The beginning sounds like the intro to a carton when the villain is doing something superdevious and evil. Their voices sound like they have clogged sinuses combined with a mild Australian accent. Very annoying.

07|s Chemisty teacher Douglas Reis isn’t just a teacher.

More The Puyallup native then is also a muscican, woodworker, and just your father. Meet Emerald average Ridge’s nicest teacher teacher.

02, 19.indd 2-3

greatest hits

14| Multi-faced Meyerhoff

Jim Meyerhoff has as many faces as he does activities.

Find out whether or not he really is the meanest teacher at Emerald Ridge.

Seniors Adam Sturdivant 15 | and Justin Mertlich Swimmer, ended the season both placing in the diver show top eight during well in state the state swim competition and dive meet.

shake the hand that shook the world

Carissa – The music beats and guitar solos are awesome. It’s the lack of any kind of sensible lyrics that are not filled with cheese that is bothering me. I don’t know much about bands, but this one sucks.

Matt – I was very wary of PeppersGhost, seeing as how they were touring with Ashlee Simpson.

But I actually found myself enjoying them a bit.

They’re kind of a weird mixture of sounds.

Marilyn – I’m not the most knowledgeable rock/alternative person. But this is a’ight (wince) on some songs. Their voices remind me of the Beatles, but at least I can understand what they’re saying (in most songs).

sailing the seas of cheese

Lindsey – What is this? It sounds like a horrific cross between the Barenaked Ladies and Maroon 5, with a touch of Irish Oldie Country thrown in for good measure. Ouch. There are too many boy bands in the world – pick a new career, please.

3/3/2005 2:10:16 PM

AN OPEN FORUM FOR STUDENT EXPRESSION

Seattle Sonics Key Arena vs. Detroit March 4 $10-$840 Seattle Thunderbirds Key Arena $12-$20 Seattle Mariners Opening Day Safeco Field April 4 $7-$50

Oklahoma!

ERHS Auditorium March 3-5, 10-12 w/ASB $7 w/out $9 Nunsense Auburn Dinner Theater March 4-15 $16-$28 Modern Dance Company The Paramount March 12 $22-$45 Man of La Mancha Lakewood Playhouse March 18 - April 9 $12-$18

20, 01.indd 2-3

Duran Duran The Everett Events Center March 9 $37-$77 My Chemical Romance Everett Events Center March 26 $25 Battle of the Bands ERHS Gymnasium March 26 w/ERHS ASB $5 w/out $6

Be Cool PG-13 Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Ceric the Entertainer The Pacifier PG Starring: Vin Diesel The Jacket R Starring: Adrien Brody, Kiera Knightly .

Robots PG Starring: Ewan McGregor, Robin Williams The Ring Two PG-13 Starring: Naomi Watts, Simon Baker

EMERALD RIDGE HIGH SCHOOL

12405 184TH ST E SOUTH HILL, WA 98374

VOLUME FIVE ISSUE FIVE MARCH 2005

3/3/2005 2:38:10 PM