Richmond High School - Register - February 12, 2014 by Richmond High School Publications

Thursday February 13, 2014

Richmond High School

Since 1908

Issue 6 Volume 105

A win at Regional, moves Trawick and Bane on to Semi-State

Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella comes to Civic Hall

Season turns gloomy for some. See page 7

See page 2

See page 7

New Class Options For Students Next Year BRIA WILSON REPORTER For some students, fire and rescue or photography may be a path they would want to walk down in their future. With new classes added at Richmond High School next year, they will be able to gain some experience in those fields. Five new classes are being offered which are Fire and Rescue, a new Biomedical class which is an extension to the ones being taught now, an additional AP Physics, AP

Computer Science and Photography. “The classes are being offered as an enrichment and some jobs may need real life experience,” Assistant Principal Joe Spicer said. The classes fall under different types of credits for students. Fire and Rescue will be an elective or career education

credit. Biomedical and AP Physics will be a science credit. AP Computer Science will be a career education or business

credit. Photography will be an elective art credit. All the credit for each class will apply for all three diplomas. Teachers proposed the new classes and they went through an approval process. “Classes are approved by myself, Mrs.Woolpy and the department that the classes are in,” Spicer said. Some classes will also offer students the chance to earn college credits.

“There aren’t any dual credits at this point in time but we are working on them,” Career Center Director Rusty Hensley said. There are some grade requirements for these classes. “Photography and Computer Science are offered to grades 10-12 students, and Fire and Rescue and Biomedical classes are offered to grades 11-12 students only,” Spicer said. To RHS students this could mean more career and really life opportunities.

Photo By: Bree Walter

Artists Compete Breathe In Contest

Junior Madison Dillon works on her Breathe In project.

The Movements Word of the Month VEATRIZ VARGAS REPORTER Thanks to Core Essentials Values, a publishing company, the word of the month is “courtesy.” Courtesy means showing others respect with good manners. “The word of the month idea came from a group called the Movement, and it is a part of a community project to get adults and kids on the same page, talking about things that matter,” Challenge Day volunteer coordinator Leslie Bolser said. It’s a way for students in elementary, middle and high schools in Richmond to learn about new words and its definition.Every month there is also a activity related to the word. “Try the activity each month because it is designed to be fun,” Bolser said. “It is fun to see the other students react and participate in it” You can join the Movement by showing up at their meetings, which are announced on the announcements, or you can stop by Mrs. Bolser’s office and ask her about it.

Word of the month

COURTESY

the showing of politeness in one’s attitude and behavior toward others.

BREE WALTER COPY EDITOR reathe In is a county wide art competition for middle and high school art students of Wayne County sponsiored by Reid Hospital. Students are given the ability to show their artistic abilities through a

petition for being tobacco free. Students create artwork supporting their interpretation of the reason to be smoke free. The voting for the canvases are on the Facebook page, Breathe In Wayne County. The student’s canvases will be put up in Reid Hospital for an

open house, giving them the opportunity to explain their paintings. The first, second and third prize winners of both middle and high school students will each get a medal. The first place winners will receive a pizza party for the art class or art club they are attending.

FAFSA Takes Over Seniors’ Lives ROBERT SCHOEFFLER DESIGN EDITOR It is the time of year for seniors to prepare for college, which can be a very stressful process. Luckily, students are able to receive financial aid to help ensure that they are able to get an education beyond high school. For those who are not fully capable of paying for college, it is very important to fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid. This application, abbreviated as FAFSA, evaluates how much financial aid each applicant shall receive. “The amount of financial aid students receive varies, but it is possible for a student to get their full tuition paid,” counselor Sally Porter said. Students and their families can use all the help they can get to relieve some of the pressures of preparing for college, and every student is free to fill out a FAFSA, whether they will be eligible for financial aid or not. “We encourage every student to fill out a FAFSA even if you don’t expect to receive financial aid because you never know when your financial situation will change,” Porter said. Students seem to have taken this advice, as the number of FAFSAs submitted per year has increased by an expected ten million in the past eight years according to finaid.org. “I plan to fill out a FAFSA even though I don’t necessarily need the financial aid currently,” senior

Robert Spencer said. Although filling out a FAFSA may seem like an intimidating task to some, it isn’t one to be regretted. “If it’s your first time filling out a FAFSA it can be a little tricky but it’s not as difficult as it used to be now that you fill it out online,” Porter said. To ensure that no student misses out due to inability to fill out a FAFSA on their own, the counselors have set up sessions to help. “We have two FAFSA dates coming up to help students fill theirs out. The dates are February 26 and March 6,” Porter said. Families filling out a FAFSA for the first time are encouraged to attend one of these sessions.

“I plan on going to one of the sessions because I don’t have an older sibling with FAFSA experience,” senior Mark Wages said. Any students who have issues trying to fill out their FAFSA should attend one of these sessions, as it is necessary to meet the deadline to be considered for financial aid. “March 10 is the FAFSA deadline for Indiana and none will be accepted after that date with no exceptions,” Porter said.

Page 2 Sports

BY A.J. COX SPORTS EDITOR The wrestling team has waited all year for this opportunity. “I think our wrestlers will do very well going into NCC and sectionals,” sophomore wrestler Wade Shipley said before the conference match. “Our team has improved a lot.” That turned out to be the case in the regional tournament. Junior Nathan Trawick and freshman Alston Bane advanced to the SemiState meet by winning the regional in their weight class. The wrestling team has a few standout stars. One of these stars is junior Nathan Trawick, who made it to the regional tournament last year. Trawick has only suffered one loss and the team fuels off of his energy. “I feel the team really gets going when I start doing well,” Trawick said. “My energy gets the team going.” Head Wrestling Coach Jeremy Bane trained the wrestlers hard in preparation

Freshman Alston Bane

SPORTS

WINTER

for the upcoming state tournament. “Our whole team should be well prepared for the upcoming tournament,” junior wrestler Ryan Weireter said before the regional. “Coach Bane makes practice even harder the closer it gets to the state series.” A few other standout wrestlers are senior Blake Hillard and freshman Alston Bane. Hillard has gained 20 wins, while freshman Bane had 30 wins on the season. “We have a chance to go really far,” junior wrestler Andrew Rice said before the regional. “We practice hard and have one of the best coaches in the area.” The wrestling team has shown its talent in the regular season, and this talent will come out in the big tournaments, both this season and in the future. “This is our year,” Rice said. “We have all of the tools to become a great team.” There were signs of that both for this tournament and the seasons looking ahead.

Junior Nathan Trawick

WINDING

DOWN

Senior Chasity Wampler

Senior Sami Decker

The boys swimming team kicked off this season with a new head coach, in hopes of a good season. The boys fought hard this season with tough opponents and being a young team. The team has no lack of dedication, arriving early in the morning for intense cardio and swimming regiments. Looking forward, the boys will only grow as their team gets older and most experienced over the years.

Junior Isaiah Rader The Red Devils have had an outstanding season so far. They got a share fot the NCC title on February 7th witha 4-0 record.. They host Warren Cental tonight at 7:30. Record: 15-2

RHS gymnastics team has come a long way as a team. “We’ve improved a lot since lasy year. We support each other and push each other.” “Its awesome to have Chasity Wampler who is #1 in the state,” Senior Alexis Sparks said.”

Photo By: Emily Lady

Photo By: Kaitlyn Harrison

Senior Matt Holt

The girls swimming team started the season with a new coach. The girls faced defeat during sectionals and suffered the same fate during the NCC Meet. Placing 7th at the Noblesville Meet and taking 4th at the Talawanda Invite, the girls started rough, but improved as the season continued. With standout diver Mariam Khamis winning the regional meet, she continues to the state tournament.

KEELEY VANDERPOOL REPORTER With the Lady Red Devils being such a young team this season, nothing has stepped in the way of their work ethic and confidence. The Red Devils drew the Anderson High School Indians for their Sectional game opener at Connersville High School tonight. Previously in the season, the Lady Red Devils ended with a win against the Indians with a final score 84-33. “We’re really working hard on having a solid defense and going hard every minute of practice,” senior Sarah Richards said, before Thursday’s game. “I think our confidence as a team has grown a lot and as we learn to trust each other on the court, our offense will become impenetrable.” The Red Devil set priorities coming into Sectional this week. “We are making sure we have our plays down perfect and have back up options set,” junior Tahsiah Ferguson said. “ We are working hard on defense and offense to help better our confidence.” Sectional often becomes a telling week most

times. After the first round of Sectional, things can definitely change a team’s atmosphere depending on circumstance. For the Lady Red Devils that moment is this week. “It really just depends on the outcome, we will stay serious the whole time,” freshman Destiny Perkins said, last week. Another advantage leading to a stronger team is bonding. Team bonding is meant to bring people closer together which could bring a better outcome. “We have become really close as a team off the court which helps us have faith in each other when we are on the court playing,” junior Mackenzie Taylor said. Confidence can be a key to success, but on the other hand, being worried can lead the other direction for the RHS Lady Red Devils both this season and in the future. “I’m always nervous for Sectional but I know my teams good and we’re only going to get better,” Richards said. “It’s going to be a challenge, but I know we will be the best we can be.”

Photo By: Emily Lady

Photo By: Maria Cummins

Confidence is Key for Lady Red Devils

Senior Baiiley Hillard

Photo By: Nick Brown

Photo By: Emily Lady

Red Devil Wrestling Advances to Next Step

Junior Mackenzie Taylor

Page 3 Feature

RHS Drafting Classes Guide Student Careers JALEN SLEET REPORTER

he RHS career center went above and beyond takes pride in its to help me get a co-op.” success in introducing students Other students who to potential career fields attend the class rather and opportunities to enter than an actual job site technical professions while still have been heavily in high school. One particular influenced in their college line of classes, taught by Dean searches. Knapp, focuses on drafting “The drafting classes and career readiness through I have taken led me to opportunities to acquire reallook for colleges with world knowledge, obtain dual drafting and architectural credit, and even work with programs,” senior Dylan local businesses. Ball said. “All of the classes usually Outside of the financial lead to another drafting class, benefits surrounding but at the end of the line we career placement that want them to have a career, students involved in you know, ready to have a the drafting courses decent entry level job as a experience, the premise drafter,” Knapp said. of the class and its basis The drafting class is much on creativity is an aspect different than the typical high that many students enjoy school class - its participants and thrive on. Junior Paul Wolf uses a computer program to work on his project in Mr. Knapp’s drafting class. take part in projects that take “Nearly all of the work instant effect in the local is done on computer,” community and throughout RHS. built structures around the RHS campus of attending class because of the Sowder said. “The class is enjoyable for networking he gained in the class. In the past, drafting students have for athletic teams. those that like to create. Other classes Currently, senior drafting student “Never in my life have I had a teacher are typically hand outs or read and designed and built structures for private homeowners throughout Richmond, as Dallas Sowder works as a designer for who seemed to care so much about his speak. I, for one, like to create and this well as local businesses, and have even a local miniature train shop instead students,” Sowder said. “Mr. Knapp class gave me that opportunity.” BECCA PHEANIS REPORTER he tension of competing is pressuring, it’s difficult to present in front of a crowd. To compete in front of others require “nerves of steel.” Business Professionals of America, otherwise known as BPA, is a co-curricular organization that challenges students to speak up and compete based on categories of business. “BPA to me is a way to work on leadership and professional skills while also getting to work with my friends,” senior Emily Jetmore said. This is Jetmore’s third year of competing in BPA. At the beginning of any event, BPA members recite a pledge: “We are met in a spirit of friendship and goodwill as we prepare for careers in a world-class workforce. We work together to develop professionalism and leadership through Business Professionals of America and pledge our loyalty to our nation.” There are three stages of competitions; District, State and Nationals. Last year BPA went to competition with 25 Richmond High School students in district, and all 25 qualified to compete at state. To prepare for competition all of the students created, developed and wrote business plans. “Last year was the first year that the entire team advanced to State,” sophomore Sierra Wilson said. Wilson is not a team member anymore, but competed last year. Last year the team competed in many skills, and as a whole, they won first place in Nationals. “Each group member supports each other,” Business Technology teacher Angela Witham said. Just like a regular sports team, the BPA team has to support and recognize each other as a whole. They practice with each other and prepare for competitions. BPA had a competition on January 18th, and although not everyone made it to State, many students advanced. Kaitlin Kramer received first place in Administrative Supports Concepts, and Economic Research Project Individual. “I felt a lot of stress while doing the applications because I had to use my knowledge in both interesting and difficult ways,” sophomore Henry Jetmore said. This is his first year of competing. He presented in Fundamentals of Web Design and placed second out of seventh. BPA is a team organization, it requires cooperation of others, and “nerves of steel.”

Students Rise Above and Beyond with BPA

Students Strive to Succeed in Academic Competition

JENNA SAYLOR COPY EDITOR

t started with romance and revolution and it has led all the way up to westward expansion. However, for members of the academic team, it’s not just about learning and memorizing the facts, it’s a chance to learn a broad horizon of different topics. “If they’re on a team for four years they get four different topics,” English teacher Dr. Karen Kimball said. “So if they’re a team member for four years they get a curriculum of scholarly material that they may not have ever been exposed to in any other curriculum so it adds a lot of depth, and breadth, to their knowledge base and their understanding.” The academic team, while not as well publicized as football or basketball, still has plenty of students on it’s teams. According to Kimball, there are about 60-70 students on all the teams together. The teams are split up into five different categories - Fine Arts, History, Language, Math, and Science. “I am on both the social studies and science Academic Teams,” junior Lydia Joyner said. “[In social studies] we have a book we all read and then answer multiple questions about the book. [In science] We don’t have a book like the social studies team. Thrasher, the supervisor, finds sites online and has us read about certain topics that the questions will pertain to.” For members of the science category, the hardest thing may not be the questions they have to answer. “Science is tough because there’s three different content areas they have to be able to do,” Chemistry teacher Renee Thrasher said. “There’s biology, chemistry, and physics. So it asks them to know a lot of different topics. They may not even have those classes

depending on what year they’re in or if it’s a class they may have not opted to take. That’s the hardest thing, that science is such a broad area.” Likewise, for the math team it’s hard to follow the theme as math is

Chemistry teacher Renee Thrasher instructs the science academic team.

pretty one dimensional. There wasn’t really much going on in the ways of math from 1783-1900, so what exactly does the math team do to follow the theme? “We have like five historical people we’re supposed to know about and what they did,” math teacher Amy Beauchamp said. “Those five people were in the time period of westward expansion.” Their first competition was February 3rd. The history and math teams got first place, while the language fine arts, and science teams got second place. Their next competition will be February 19th, following that competition will be April 9th. Then after that the teams will go to the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl is a competition where schools from surrounding counties come to compete to see who advances to state, which takes place in May.

Page 4 InFocus

Honors Academy Comes to RHS IAN RILEY CHIEF COPY EDITOR Richmond High School has entered a renaissance period. We’ve seen the symbolic and physical restoration of Lyboult Field over the past year, as well as the massively improved academic marks RHS has received, taking the school’s average grade to a B+. Perhaps the crowning achievement of this scholastic flourish will be a school within a school, a place for Richmond’s best and brightest, and honor’s academy. “The purpose of the academy is to, obviously, increase the academic prowess of Richmond High School, but an underlying goal is definitely to attract students from the surrounding area and increase enrollment,” Doctor Karen Kimball, one of the teachers developing the academy, said. “Look at it this way, every three, four or five that you can score on the various AP tests can translate to college credit. If you were a sophomore enrolled in the new program track, you could potentially have a year of college done by the time that you left Richmond High School. It goes without saying that the ability to skip a year of college tuition is revolutionary.” The academy would operate separate-

ly from the school both physically and academically. The academy may be in a building off the main high school building. In addition the school will be, as the name suggests, operating under a level of academic expectations far higher than the normal school. “If, as a student, you are

worried about passing scores on the AP tests, don’t,” Kimball said. “The thing that people don’t understand is that, because of the intensive training that each AP teacher has to go through, we can provide a virtual safety net of success. We’re being trained by people who have taught these classes for years, people who have shown their prowess in their fields. We’re using

tried and true techniques. The students that go through this program will, as long as they study the material we give them, basically be guaranteed a three, four, or five.” The project is said to give immense freedoms and liberties to those akin of a college class in the hands of students. Open lunch, and possible even open schedules, are on the table. So, in theory, a student enrolled in the honor’s academy could only have three classes on a certain day, and then four on the next, much like the typical college semester. Speaking of semesters, the AP academy might not operate on the typical RHS trimester schedule, instead running on the more college like schedule of semesters. The honor’s academy curriculum will include all of the AP classes that are offered now, and will likely add to that list as the project shows success and receives more money, both from the community and the grant, to hire new teachers.

“Mr Hill went around a surveyed all the English classes,” Kimball said. “As well as each AP teacher taking stock of their own classes, we’ve really been trying to get input from students. We want to listen and develop ideas off of suggestions from the students. We’ve heard requests for all sorts of things ranging from new AP classes, like AP Macroeconomics or AP World History, to a counselor specifically for the honor’s academy. While none of these requests are sure to be implemented, all of them will be considered.” At this point, the honor’s academy will happen. How soon it will happen however, is still up in the air. The faculty members involved in planning hope that it will be operating by next year, but with the kind of weather that we have been interrupting the planning session, that might be wishful thinking. The original meeting was pushed back due to a school cancellation, and then the rescheduled date was once again pushed back because of another school cancellation. Regardless, everyone’s eyes should be on the honor’s academy, as this development might truly revolutionize Richmond’s academic standards, and propel us into a new era of academic achievement.

AP Students Face Break Between End of Class, Exam MEADOW WEHRLEY GRAPHICS EDITOR Along with all the usual stress that weighs on the shoulders of an AP student, this year brought in a whole new wave of nausea when thinking about the AP test; a three month gap between learning the material and taking a test on it. “This gap is the equivalent to trying to take your final for a class after summer vacation,” AP Environmental Science teacher Renee Thrasher said. AP Biology, AP Environmental Science and AP Statistics are all new courses

offered at Richmond this year that will be ending second trimester while testing in the Spring. “The gap will hopefully not affect my grade, but the gap is stressful,” senior Lauren Griffin said. “I would rather be in the class third trimester.” Added stress and forgotten material are all voiced concerns about the schedule. “Since this is the first time we have offered AP Statistics it is hard to say how the gap will affect student scores,” AP Statistics teacher Annette Jetmore said. “I don’t think students will

have as much confidence going into the test after being out of the class for 11 weeks.” Hard work and dedication from both teacher and student will be what decides whether the gap will be detrimental or not. “I don’t think this gap will greatly affect my score,” senior Emily Jetmore said. “Much of the studying I have done for past AP tests has occurred independently. This year will be very similar.” There are many opportunities being made for students to receive help during the gap between class and test. Teachers

are offering study sessions and independent study classes during third trimester in addition to the Saturday sessions that are brought to the school through Notre Dame with the AP-Tip IN grant that brought the classes to Richmond. “I know that in AP Bio, Mr. Hilbert is going to be continuing the class online through moodle so we have time to learn everything,” sophomore Maya Van Buskirk said. With this large gap, independent work from students will be necessary to retain information. Some students already have plans

for what they can do to keep the curriculum fresh. “I plan to use the released exams available on the college board website to practice,” Emily said. Collegeboard.org offers test questions and answers from AP tests spanning back many years for all subjects that can be utilized by anyone with a smartphone or computer. “I have a fantastic group of students taking AP stats and I know they will push themselves to prepare for the AP exam on their own,” Annette said.

Basement Holds Treasure For Student Dances

Photos by Bria Wilson

VEATRIZ VARGAS REPORTER With over 600 dresses, the RHS Dress Shop is looking for people to put them on. The dress shop all started a couple of years back with the Life Skills students. “We wanted to take the Life Skills girls to prom so we made them dresses, and newspapers wrote about us and we started getting donations,” Special Ed teacher Jama Crowe said. After every season Formal Affairs, a dress shop located on 1912 Strightline Pike,donates their unsold

dresses to the school. The dresses come in all different sizes and colors to fit anyones style. The store is managed by students in Crowe’s Life Skills class. “Mrs. Crowe and her students have done a wonderful job making the Prom and Snowball store look great,” Community In Schools coordinator Kris Lopresti said. If you want to rent a dress make an appointment with Lopresti or Crowe and you can visit the prom store located in the basement either during homeroom or after school. Once you find

what you’re looking for you can rent any long dress for $15 or any short dress for $10. You don’t have to wash the dress after you wear it, just be sure to return it. “We ask for $15 for it to be dry cleaned so the next person who wears it knows it’s clean and if you can’t get the money we will try to get someone to sponsor you,” Crowe said. “There’s no return date. Just return it at a reasonable time.” They are open to everyone who needs help finding something to wear for any formal occasion.

Drama club to present...

Page 5

Fea-

Rogers and Hammerstein’s

inderella

MOLLY HOLT ASSISTANT DESIGN EDITOR lass slippers and evil stepsisters. Generally when people think of Cinderella this is often the first thing through their mind. On February 22 and 23 Richmond students will perform not Disney’s Cinderella, but the Enchanted Version written by Rodgers and Hammerstein. “A lot of our decision on the play being Rodgers and Hammerstein’s had to do with what was available to be put on stage,” director Christina Coffin said. “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s is better adjusted for that. It was written for the stage to begin with.” The cast of the play is ready to work as hard as they can to make their performances the best they can be. “Seeing as though I am Prince Charming I am really working on being princely and charming, because I tend to lack in those areas,” senior Jarrod Lemar said. “Other than that I’m spending time memorizing my lines and finding the correct voice inflection to use when delivering them.” A lot more goes into play preparation aside from memorizing lines and learning how to be ones role. “We just started our rehearsals and we designed our set and things already so we’re going to try to get a partnership with the art department and the construction department now to get that ready and Senior Jarrod Lemar and sophomore we’re working for a couple hours after school every day,” Coffin

Sarah Holt practice their waltz.

Above: The cast gathers for vocal practice. Left: Seniors Emily Jetmore and Sarah McFarland practice the waltz.

said. To every prince there must be a princess, and the role of Cinderella was cast to Sarah Holt. “She was one of my favorites because she was always true to herself and always kind,” Holt said. Both Holt and Lemar believe that the characters they are playing will be an interesting way to challenge themselves. “I believe that playing a role that is closer to home is more difficult than one that is purely acting,” Lemar said. “The prince is a very sincere character; this is closer to home, making it more challenging for myself.” Holt sees her role a little bit differently. “I was interested in playing Cinderella because she is such a challenge for me. I usually play insincere, outrageous characters and she’s nothing of the sort,” Holt said. Though everyone seems very confident and content with the role that they received it wasn’t an easy decision to the directors. “Casting was very difficult,” Coffin said. “We actually had a lot more talent than we had parts for, but a lot of the decision did come down to singing.” The cast and crew of Cinderella will be working intensely up until the night of the play. “We’ve been running through the basics and we’re really going to be focusing on the music for the following weeks,” Coffin said. Make sure you come out the last week of February to support your peers in their performance.

Above: Senior Emily Jetmore and junior Sarah Holt practice one of their songs. Left: Ryan Shuminoff and [insert Jarrod Lemar’s dad’s name] unload sets for the play.

IU focused on YOU. iue.edu

Page 6 Culture

Travel Club Plans Trip to Costa Rica to Aid Locals KEELEY VANDERPOOL REPORTER Do you like to travel for a hobby? Do you like to have a good time and explore? A good way to do the following is to join the Travel Club here at Richmond High School. “The RHS Travel Club seeks to passionately journey on an annual summer humanitarian adventure that encourages students to form new relationships, enjoy different cuisines and customs, and experience the culture of others,” RHS Travel Club co-coordinator Kate Hogg said. The club was brought forth by Freshmen English teachers Kate. Hogg and Megan Rayburn, two best friends and educators who seek to adventure across the globe and provide students the opportunity to discover the incredible world around them. The key objective of the club is to travel of course, but not just in the United States, but possibly to different parts of the world. Hogg and Rayburn allows any RHS students to join however, there are some requirements followed along.

“We welcome any student to join the club as long as they maintain a GPA of 3.0, an attendance rate of 95%, have no discipline referrals, are committed to exploring and learning about new and unique cultures and are willing to have a positive and a sustainable impact on the world around them,” cocoordinator Megan Rayburn said. Last year, the club tried to do their best to travel to Japan but failed to succeed. Nothing stopped them from trying another cross country travel experience again. To kick off the summer of 2015, the Travel Club will be traveling to Costa Rica in June with the Women Like Us Foundation as well as Peace Through Yoga Foundation sponsors. Their main goal is to form a relationship with the International Girls School established by those sponsors. Also, They will pen pal with students from the new International Girls School, as well as sponsor 1-2 students from 2014-2015 with cost of uniform, transportation and tuition. The Travel Club’s rationale is to travel to Costa Rica to assist in teaching students, complete building projects, explore the customs of the people, the cuisine and the environment. This trip is an example of how RHS is forming global relationships.

Movie review

Captain Phillips Movie Brings Action To Screen JOHN PERALES REPORTER

On an elementary level, Captain Phillips would appear to be just another film inspiration that had yet to be crossed off the idea list. With only a mildly interesting concept, a seemingly bland perspective, and the supposedly surefire bet of over dramatic action sequences, the Captain seemed fated to sail a course of little more than the mediocre. To my genuine (and pleasant) surprise, the film doesn’t merely exceed my expectations; it wipes the very thought of the film being anything but a splendid experience clean from my mind. Indeed, Captain Phillips clearly defines what separates the subpar from the sublime. The movie star Tom Hanks as Richard Phillips; a senior captain of the US merchant Alabama Maersk through its voyage through the Somali Basin, a location infamous for its rampant piracy. The movie forgoes an unnecessary introduction, opting rather to get to the tense showdown within 30 minutes of the start. Tension is a thing that Captain Phillips is obliged

to express, and express is what Captain Phillips does supremely well. In fact, I experienced a sense of nailbiting, heart-palpitating tension that few other movies have successfully delivered. This is a movie where negotiations without the threat of a gun are the exception rather than the rule, and in any action movie the easy answer would be a hero swooping in to save the oppressed and terrified crew. But like the real world, there are no stereotypical heroes in this film, and this is where the film truly stands out. It is entertaining enough for film, but complex enough for life. The tone of the movie is where it truly shines. It isn’t angry, despairing, nor criticizing in any way. What this movie does so well is that it detaches itself from it all, while still allowing for an engaging experience. This aspect allows the audience to progress through the story without feeling that they are being pressured into an synthetic experience. The movie’s initiative is also one of definite maturity and discrete portrayal. Rather than a juvenile illustration of the

two opposing sides, crew versus Somali, as printerink contrast good and evil, writer Billy Ray does well to go much deeper to subtly induce the viewer to entertain such an idea that both sides are morally and ethically correct. As the plot progresses, the viewer can easily discern change and growth in characters, just as easily as in the situations in which the characters are placed. The natural camera shots also do wonderfully in adding to

perfection. For instance, there are hiccups and lulls in the otherwise competent plotline, especially towards the midpoint of the film. I felt that certain parts not essential to the story were dragged out a bit too long, and for a tense movie like this, an audience away from the thrill can quickly become uninterested. Also many of the characters, while logical and complementary to the piece, had a lack of depth disproportionate to the

the viewer involvement that a movie like this requires; in short, Paul Greengrass’s personal, intense camera work perfectly suits Captain Phillips, and many parts reminded me of other Greengrass works like the Bourne series. However, there are aspects that prevent Captain Phillips from reaching

extended time they were on screen. However, these are relatively minor qualms for an otherwise superb film. I entered the theater expecting nothing more than average, and left with one of the most curiously adhesive experiences in a long time. Overall an excellent example of a real story brought to theater.

“Official Pizza of the Red Devils”

765-966-1166 217 National Road West

Winter “Blahs”

Page 7

Feature

Seasonal Depression Ruins Winter Wonderland for Some

SAVANNA GOBLE EDITOR IN CHIEF As the winter winds roll by and snow begins to fall, some people notice more changes than just the weather. Some find a change within themselves, one that is harder to plow away than four inches of snow - seasonal depression. Seasonal affective disorder, or seasonal depression, is a type of depression that affects a person at the same time every year, usually the winter. The reasoning for this is believed to be because of the general lack of sunlight, which does not allow the body to produce enough melatonin. “I do see changes in students in the winter time,” school based therapist Kayce Stewart said. “Some of it can be just because you are cooped up inside because of the weather. I also see a change in mood in students during the end of each trimester. I see a lot of students with symptoms of anxiety to bring their grades up before the end of the term.” Stewart works for Centerstone and is at Richmond every day besides Monday. “I provide individual and crisis therapy for students,” Stewart said. “I also help advocate for students and help them find resources to help them succeed.” The symptoms of S.A.D. are eating more, an energy level decrease, a withdraw from friends, extended sleeping hours or a lost of interest at work or school, according to ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. “I feel tired and sad when the winter time comes even if it does look pretty outside,” senior Savannah Miller said. “I feel like I need to lay in a pile of blankets and sleep all day.” People who are most affected by this disorder are people who live in colder regions during the winter months. About six percent of the U.S. population has claimed that they suffer from S.A.D., of which between 60% and 90% of these people are female, according to psychcentral.com. Although this disorder is typically only affecting people during the winter weather time period, it should still be treated with the same amount of care as depression. Simply making sure to get a few hours of sunlight a day can improve mood for someone with S.A.D. Opening blinds or curtains, leaving house lights on, or any artificial lighting can be a substitute for going outside for the sun. There are also medications that can be prescribed by your physician. Although it is hard to see the light at all times, it is good to know that you are not alone. Depression, seasonal or manic, can be treated. Spring comes eventually and happiness is just around the corner.

@WestEndBank

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hat to Expect in 201 Feature

IAN RILEY CHIEF COPY EDITOR

When the ball dropped in New York City signaling the end of 2013 and ushering in 2014, some of us partied all night, some of us made resolutions to lose weight or get fit, but all of us woke up the next morning in a new year with all that entails. What is going to change this year? How will Richmond be different, and how will I be different? Will I get the new iPhone or will I get an Android? What should I expect in 2014?

In 2013, the tech world was revolutionized. Twitter entered the stock market publicly making enormous headways, with their stocks soaring over 73%. Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos announced they will start testing deliveries by unmanned drones in areas near distribution centers, which would shorten the delivery time of a product exponentially. The new iPhone 5s and 5c dropped on September 20 to uproarious applause, sparking fierce competition from HTC and Samsung. Both the next generation gaming consoles have been released, inciting fierce flame wars from fans of both the Xbox One and the PS4. That, however, is old news. So what can we expect from the tech sphere this year? Without a doubt, there will be more of the same kinds of things we saw in 2013. More than likely, a new version of a popular phone will come out or a new game will be released that does really well, but that’s pretty much how it always is. Towards the end of the year new technology was being experimented with, for instance the smart watches or smart televisions.

However, this brand technology is gimmicky. It doesn’t really improve the base function of the product. Adding a phone app to a watch doesn’t make it tell time any more easily, it just makes it a tiny phone on a strap. Gimmicky technology like this rarely catches on, and when it does, it’s always something that is really revolutionary. Watches have been around for quite a bit, and 3D has never really caught on despite it being thrown at the consumers at pretty much every technological turn. Despite all the gimmicky technology right now, there have been some legitimately revolutionary innovations lately. Being able to save anything from documents to music to an unseen storage library eloquently titled “the cloud” is really cool. Although “the cloud” is far from the only technology like this, all of these unseen storage technologies are truly innovative, the kind of innovation that is important. It could completely change how computers work, without the need to have a ton of hardware space, computers could become more and more powerful in a smaller and smaller package.

The school is definitely going through a change in culture, even if it is, at times, a slow and subtle one. Richmond High School over the last couple years has really pulled their stuff together, taking the school off academic probation and improving graduation rates. That trend will likely continue, although it will probably plateau before too long, at least as far as graduation rates and other statistics go. There is only so much you can do with the graduation rates of a public school in a community when 65% of your student population has family income that qualifies them for free or reduced lunches. Still, the effort made so far is more than admirable, and I, as well as most of the members of the community, are excited to see where the school, and inturn where the community, is headed. Richmond is also steadily moving towards a more balanced calendar, and while that might not come to fruition fully in 2014, you will definitely start to feel its effects over the coming year. In addition, hopefully the powers that be will be able to do something about the paper budget that seems to be eaten away so quickly, although next school year might be the soonest anything can be done about that.

What is for certain, however, is that Alaska is set to vote on legalizing marijuana this year, which could potentially cause a wave of other states to follow suit. Whether or not marijuana is moral to legalize, or whether or not it is safe to legalize, is really up to the experts to decide. What is for certain, however, is that the idea has become much less taboo in the houses of government over the last few years. Colorado legalized pot, and it was so successful there was nearly a shortage. You can say what you want about the morality of that decision, but the money coming from those sales has a way of speaking to politicians in a way that morality doesn’t. Although Indiana will likely be one of the last states to do that, we likely won’t see marijuana legalized for recreational use in Indiana for a long time to come, if ever.

As far as Indiana politics, not much can be said for sure. Since Indiana is a notoriously Republican state, and a very conservative one at that, we likely won’t see radical change as far as policy goes, especially with controversial subjects like abortion or marriage equality. As far as important figures to watch go, as a student or as a faculty member, all eyes should be on Indiana Governor Mike Pence and his Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz. Over the course of 2013, they butted heads quite publicly, and to a certain degree, hold the delicate fate of the Indiana education system in the their hands, even if they do like playing partisan tug of war with it. Hopefully this year they’ll be able to move past all the bad blood that we saw in 2013, and we can finally get back to solving the overwhelming issues in the Indiana educational system. That stuff is all fair enough, but what is going to be happening here? Well, the school is definately going through a change in culture, even if it is, at times, a slow and subtle one. Richmond High School over the last couple years has really pulled their stuff together, taking the school off academic probation and improving graduation rates. That trend will likely continue, although it will probably plateau before too long, at least as far as graduation rates and other statistics go. There is only so much you can do with the graduation rates of a public school in a community when 65% of your student population has family income that qualifies them for free or reduced lunches. Still, the effort made so far is more than admirable, and I, as well as most of the members of the community, are excited to see where the school, and inturn where the community, is headed. Richmond is also steadily moving towards a more balanced calendar, and while that might not come to fruition fully in 2014, you will definitely start to feel its effects over the coming year. In addition, hopefully the powers that be will be able to do something about the paper budget that seems to be eaten away so quickly, although next school year might be the soonest anything can be done about that.

Same sex marriage will likely be legalized in a couple more states. This, much like legalizing marijuana, is a complex issue. People are divided on the issue for obvious reasons, making it an extremely hot button issue in politics right now. However this progress on this issue is much harder to predict. On the one hand, a notable number of states legalized same sex marriage in 2013. On the other hand, the climb to make it legal nationally only gets steeper as more states legalize it, forcing conservative controlled states to dig in even deeper to try and defend their position. Marriage equality does not bring in money like marijuana does, and so it will be largely up to the people of the state in question to advocate for the issue if it is to succeed, especially in the more conservative states like Indiana.