Lakota East Spark 2011-2012 Issue 1

Spark

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OF AS TH T V E .W GA E M ST E OF TH

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Lakota East High School October 26, 2011 $4 Newsstand lakotaeastspark.com

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Spark

Volume XX Issue CXXXVIII

Contents

NEW RIDE: Superbowl champion and Lakota graduate Troy Evans has a new busing service helping Lakota.

18

PACKAGE: CHANGE IN WEST CHESTER

06

TRANSFORMING TRANSPORTATION With the implementation of phase two transportation cuts, Lakota tries to work out glitches in the system.

31

POPPED UP ON THE GRID

Looking around the community, it is hard to grasp how West Chester Township was developed in a matter of a decades to the booming commercial center it is today.

36

EDUCATIONAL GROWTH

A perfect history lesson of how things used to be and how education has evolved since 1887.

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42

KNOCK OUT IN ROUND 2

A crew of four East juniors have assembled into a high school hip-hop group to generate music and lyrics in pure rap form, unburdened by the cynicism of adults.

TALES OF A JOURNEYMAN

Five positions.

Offense and defense. Two high school conferences.

East senior linebacker Max DeZarn truly is a high school football journeyman.

ON THE COVER: The change in West Chester is depicted where Dudley Farms used be, and that land is now used for West Chester Hospital design and photo tommy behan

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 3

opinion | letter to the editor

Dear Spark, I love that a conversation is going on about the Lakota levy. But the conversation has changed from useful dialogue into unnecessary fighting, all at the expense of our schools. The longer we continue to bicker and fight over the ways and means of children’s educations, the worse our school district gets, and the worse off our children are, going into a world where education is valued above almost all else. The figurehead of this antischool movement is Rich Hoffman.

Now, I’m not trying to say that Mr. Hoffman is wrong. In reality I agree with much of what Mr. Hoffman is saying. Does schooling have a funding problem? Of course.

Is the Board of Education incompetent?

Seemingly so. Do we need drastic change?

Yes, and fast. Unfortunately the direction Mr. Hoffman wants to take the school district is in reverse, and only promises to push our schools farther toward a lousy, second-rate education.

Take the levy for example. Mr. Hoffman’s main argument against the Lakota levy is the overpayment of teachers due to “very large union obligations.” He is correct. Yes, we have union obligations. Consider this: these are salaries for working professionals who have dedicated their lives to helping children succeed in school and the world beyond.

Like it or not, education is needed today. It is seemingly impossible to get a well-paying job without a college degree. The teachers we employ help prepare our children for that future. Even if they decide not to go to college, the critical thinking skills and logic they learn in schools is essential to advancement in any work environment.

Mr. Hoffman points to overpaid teachers as the root of the problem. Well, no. The

average teacher in Lakota makes less than $50,000 a year. To be brutally honest, that is not an incredible amount of money. Take into account also that a vast majority of these teachers hold Master’s degrees due to state requirements. In any other industry, a master’s degree would entitle you do $60,000-80,000 minimum. Teachers forfeit that ideal to help children learn and succeed. Why are we punishing them for that by demanding they get paid less?

Now, I agree with Mr. Hoffman that taxes are not pleasant. I don’t enjoy seeing 30% of my paycheck disappear before it even gets to me. But when it comes down to it, isn’t the education of children the most important thing? Isn’t it important to see our kids coming out of excellent schools, with an education they can be proud of ? Costs of this education have gone up, and we need to

respond to this change.

Additionally, as costs go up, revenue is coming down. The schools are losing money from the state; anyone who attends a Lakota School Board meeting hears Lakota’s treasurer, Jenni Logan, stand and deliver an unfortunate report about our falling state funding levels.

This money needs to be replaced and that is the purpose of this levy.

I realize that we all are buckling down, trying to save every penny. But that is no reason to sacrifice the education of children.

If this levy does not pass, Lakota schools will continue on a slippery slope into oblivion. As a Lakota graduate, I remember the excellent quality education I received. I had amazing teachers and formed great professional relationships. Lakota certainly can tighten their belt a bit more. There are some superfluous programs we can diminish or eliminate.

But now is not the time to hold the district hostage to make a point. Now is the time to pass the levy. Talking can come afterwards.

Fiscal responsibility will now always be on the table. Let’s pass this levy first.

–Andrew Breland, Cleveland Dear Spark, I wanted to take the time to personally thank the sports section for doing an excellent job of covering all sports as well as the boys’ varsity tennis team that I played on last year.

I look forward to this section’s amazing coverage in the future.

Overall, I believe that Spark has done an outstanding job of covering both sides of the issue in all topics. It is very interesting to see that a high school publication can be unbiased in its in-depth coverage of hot topics that concern both the district and the nation.

–Akash Umakantha, Nashville, Tennessee

Website Commentary www.lakotaeastspark.com Irfan Ibrahim’s “American Muslim”

Laura Shrake’s “Senior Pictures Change: Now in Cap and Gown”

“You speak about the incident with a calm head and you get your point across really nicely. I look forward to seeing more of your columns.”

—Aakash Patel, Columbia City, IN

If there are seniors that can’t afford to have senior pictures made, how is it they can afford a $75 yearbook? You can go (as we did) to JC Penney, have a single pose made for the yearbook and it [will be relatively inexpensive]. Glad we made it in before the change! Hope it’s changed back before 2014!

—Emily Ball, East sophomore

“I enjoyed this. I’m actually using it for an rhetorical analysis for my Rhetoric and Composition class.”

—Emily Cottingham, Terre Haute, IN 4 | Spark | October 26, 2011

Editor Note: The Spark received overwhelming community response to Shrake’s piece. Since the story was published on our website, the yearbook staff and school administration have decided to revert back to last year’s format. The updated story explaining the change is now on our website.

GOT SOMETHING

TO SAY?

The Spark, which provides an open forum for students, faculty, subsribers and community members, encourages letters to the editor. Letters can be sent to the publication at the address on the following page,dropped off in the journalism classroom (room 118), comments on our online stories and tweets to our account listed below.

Letters must be signed, and the staff reserves the right to edit letters for length, grammar, invasion or privacy, obscenity or potential libel. The opinion editors will contact letter writers for conformation. twitter | @LakotaEastSpark website | www.lakotaeastspark.com e-mail | lehs.spark@gmail.com

opinion | letter from the editor

from the editor

FREE AND FAIR I always knew I was a free spirit. Now I have a medal that says “Free Spirit” to prove it to doubters. My sense of self was reaffirmed over last spring break when the Fed-Ex truck delivered a letter from the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute. It announced that I would be representing Ohio in the Free Spirit Scholarship and Journalism Conference in Washington, D.C. as one of 51 upcoming high school senior journalists.

Three months later, I boarded a tiny plane on my first flight solo. That week, I met founder of USA Today Al Neuharth, Freedom Riders and the White House Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest. The advice of these and 42 more presenters along with the interactions with the friends I made follow me everywhere I go, whether it be hearing “Karli from

Spark

South Carolina’s” voice in my head every time I drink sweet tea or recalling a journalism professor’s remarks that journalistic skills are, “the icing on your educational cake.”

The overarching theme of my experience was that journalism is evolving into a new creature: one that will not just be on the breakfast table but also on the internet, tablets and cell phones. In the coming years, the traditional newspaper may die out but news will permeate daily life in new mediums.

At the conference, I sat through presentations by Val Hoeppner, the director of education for the Freedom Forum and the conference’s resident media expert. Val explained countless apps that aid in the journalistic process, from Evernote, which helps the user take notes, to Pulse, which combines news services into one feed. She gave the Free Spirits what some considered a gift: iPod Touches to upload pictures and quotes to the Free Spirit Twitter. Personally, I will lose nine times out of ten in a tech-savvy competition; I know how to use my point- and-shoot digital camera and sync my iPod, but that is about all. Therefore, I never managed to figure out how to log onto the Wi-Fi connection.

Although I didn’t learn how to use the TwitPic or the QRReader apps during the week, I realized that new media has a greater capability for invasiveness than most people imagine. At this point, not everyone has an iPad or an Android tablet but in a few years, Dropbox, AudioBoo and iTimelapse apps will be all the rage.

Media cynics can argue that journalism will fail to adapt and thus die out, but

c/o Lakota East High School 6840 Lakota Lane Liberty Township, OH 45044 Phone: (513) 759-8615 ext 15118 Email: lehs.spark@gmail.com

Devin Casey, Rachel Podnar, Christian Roehm Editor-in-Chief Victoria Reick-Mitrisin Broadcast Manager Devon Lakes Business Manager Shivang Patel Graphics Manager Megan Fogel, Sean Lewis Managing Editor Sierra Whitlock Photo Manager Tommy Behan Webmaster Zach Armstrong, Christina Wilkerson Copy Director Rachel Knock Public Relations Director Zach Fulciniti, Dillon Mitchell Entertainment Editor Michael Tedesco, Jasmine Tuazon Feature Editor Tabbatha Hall, Bridget Lally Lifestyle Editor Alex Griffin, Kaitlin Lange, Mohinee Mukherjee News Editor

Raika Casey, Emily Chao Opinion Editor Nugeen Aftab, Rachel King, Sophia Li, Drew Souders Package Editor Jeff Back, Hannah Lee, Natasha Rausch Sports Editor Lauren Barker, Lisa Cai, Ian Castro, Irfan Ibrahim, Arvind Madhavan Art Editor Ellen Fleetwood, Kali Martin Photo Editor Amber Jagpal, Maddie McGarvey Business Associate Jill Stelletell Public Relations Associate Cheyenne Blanchette, Samantha Hauck Survey Coordinator Hannah Berling Multimedia Associate Brett Colburn, John Grasty, Ian Smith Multimedia Editor

from what I saw in D.C., journalism is very much ahead of the game: the rest of us just haven’t caught up with the new mediums yet.

Spark is changing too. In August we launched a new website, www. lakotaeastspark.com, which is updated with new stories every few days. Now our coverage can focus on events as they are happening, ushering Spark into the new age of journalism. Whether it is “Week in Photos,” “Newswire” or the scores from last night’s game, our website is always up-to-date and relevant, taking the reading experience beyond our monthly issues into the daily news cycle.

While journalism evolves and carries Spark with it, the Lakota community is also growing and transforming. In the past decade, Lakota has seen changes in demographics, business development, schools and more. Whereas this area was once cornfields, it now has three highway exits and is the seventh largest school district in Ohio. Liberty Township and West Chester Township have ushered in a freshman school, library and fire station, not to mention countless shopping and recreational centers.

Although our community and Spark are changing, our publication will not abandon the journalistic principles it was founded on. At the end of my Free Spirit experience, Al Neuharth delivered his benediction speech, leaving us with only two words: free and fair. He said that these words should dictate what the press strives to be but more often than not journalists forget that message. No matter how much media changes, it must strive to be free and fair.

Spark is a publication that is produced at Lakota East High School. The magazine is completely studentgenerated through the efforts of the Journalism I, Journalism II and Journalism III-Honors classes. The publication material may not always reflect the views of the Lakota Local School District or the publication as a whole. Content is controlled and edited by the staff editors. The staff will publish only legally protected speech adhering to the legal definitions of libel, obscenity and invasions of privacy.

The publication is produced every five weeks on recycled paper. Production costs are covered through advertising, subscription sales and fundraisers.

Advertising information is available by writing to the address below or at sparkbusiness@gmail.com.

The purpose of Spark is to inform the students, faculty, subscribers and community members of news, information and issues that may influence or affect them.

Spark accepts news releases, guest columns and sports information releases.

Spark, a Gold Crown, Pacemaker and Gallup winner, is a member of the Ohio Scholastic Media Association, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, the Journalism Education Association, Quill and Scroll and a Hall-of-Fame member of the National Scholastic Press Association.

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 5

news

DISTRICT EVENTS

Transforming TRANSPORTATION With the implementation of phase two transportation cuts, Lakota tries to work out glitches in the system story and infographic rachel podnar | photo ellen fleetwood

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raffic details, crossing guards and new side walks are on the agenda as Lakota looks for ways to improve its transportation after implementing phase two cuts at the start of the 2011-12 school year and after a teacher at Cherokee elementary was struck by a car while directing traffic.

Currently, Lakota transportation is at state minimum levels: no high school transportation and a two mile radius of no transportation fior all early childhood, elementary and junior schools. These phase two cuts left about 3,200 more students without transportation than phase one cuts: which cut services for about 7,602 students, roughly 5,100 of that number coming from the elimination of high school busing. Out of Lakota’s total enrollment as of October 2011, roughly 11,000 out of 18,400 students are without transportation under phase two cuts.

This change has caused stress for all involved: students, parents, teachers and administrators. Executive Director of Business Operations Chris Passarge, who is in charge

6 | Spark | October 26, 2011

Transportation: BY THE NUMBERS Pre-Cuts

0

students without transportation out of 18,554

Phase 1

Phase 2

7,702

10,874

students without transportation, effective Jan. 18, 2011 no high school trans, 1 mile exclusion zone for elementary, early childhood and junior high

students without transportation, effective Aug. 25, 2011 in addition to no high school transportation, 2 mile exclusion zone

of leading Lakota’s transportation, attributes the problems to the volume of students not riding buses.

“The biggest problem is the sheer number of students without transportation,” Passarge said. “At some buildings, like Woodland [elementary], there are 500 to 600 kids without transportation. In the elementary schools, few people live more than two miles away so they are all being driven to school.”

School resource officer Doug Hale said that problems arise when parents do not follow protocol and keep safety in the forefront of their minds; 99 percent of parents do really well but a small percentage get upset and fail to follow the plan.

“I know it is a hardship on everybody,” Hale said. “Parents are frustrated but they do not know what a nightmare it is for us.”

East Principal Dr. Keith Kline agreed.

Deputy Doug directs traffic in front of East.

“The process would go much smoother— and take less time—if everyone follows the plan as we have communicated it,” he said.

“For the most part, students are doing well with their piece of the puzzle. We counted that there were 500 cars that drop someone off each morning. That process slows down significantly when parents do not pull all the way forward and students have to get items out of the back seat or trunk.”

East is not the only school encountering confusion during drop off and pick up times.

On Sept. 15, Cherokee teacher Darryl Berry, who could not be reached for comment, was struck by a parent driver while directing traffic. According to Passarge, Freedom, Union, Woodland, Independence, Heritage, Adena and East staff who were directing traffic on main roads like Berry have since stopped.

Passarge recently met with the West Chester Police, Butler County Sheriff ’s Office and Hale to discuss having detail units direct traffic versus Lakota staff members directing

traffic. Traffic details, however, are an expense Cherokee elementary parent Mary Troupe that would add up to around $100,000, taking lives in Aspen Trails, where students walk the savings from phase two transportation directly across Kyles Station to school cuts down from $2.8 million to $2.7 million. every day. She says because she walks her Currently, the detail requests are pending own children to school, she is not directly for Woodland, Cherokee and Heritage concerned for their safety, but the lack elementary schools for both arrival and of transportation is a major issue in her dismissal and for East and East Freshman neighborhood community.

Campus during dismissal. Hale is waiting for “There is concern in the two officers to pick up the extra work. neighborhoods with kids crossing Kyles “It is hard to get somebody to come out Station Road. We have discussions of how for one hour of pay day. If I can get a couple we can make this safer. It is hard to organize of days filled a week that is great. I put it up and have volunteers to get the kids across the in a calendar at the Sheriff ’s Office as a traffic street, and with winter weather and ice coming detail with the times and people can sign up,” up it is an even bigger problem,” Troupe Hale said. said. “I am frustrated but I have not sought The issue is whether or not officers out solutions to the problems because I can will pick up the shifts. Passarge says if the still get my kids to school because I am not a Sherriff ’s Office or West Chester Police working mom.” cannot find the resources, they cannot provide Aspen Trails parents requested a crossing the services due to limited officers on the road guard last year and the position was advertised at one time. Both are dealing with cost-cutting but never filled. Currently, parents take care issues like Lakota. of getting their own children to school but In addition to hiring traffic details, Lakota the neighborhood would appreciate a crossing is working with grant money from Safe Routes guard to help their children cross the busy to School to build sidewalks, hiring crossing street safely. guards and working with the Butler County Like police detail units, crossing guards Engineer. and sidewalks come at a cost to the district.

Safe Routes to School is a federal grant Passarge estimates that at eight dollars an program that administers money to states to hour, for two hours a day, crossing guards at give to school districts that design routes for several schools could cost the district around students to get to school. Passarge said that in $20,000 for one year. order to receieve funding, the district created Lakota Board of Education President a one mile radius plan to certain schools that Joan Powell said that the cost to the district shows safer routes that can be used. must always be re-evaluated to ensure that the “It shows routes that exist and some savings are worthwhile. [routes] that are safer,” he said. For example, “[The Board] did this to save money and if a student is walking down Cox Road to get we must constantly assess the consequences to Hopewell [elementary], well maybe there is and the net savings,” she said. “Not that we a back way they could go that is not idea but have the money to [bring back transportation], is safer. but what are our priorities Approved for and what is the cost in money, Parents are construction next educational time and student frustrated but they summer are sidewalks attention? These play into do not know what a around Ridge and a comprehensive view of nightmare it is for us Freedom. According its worth. I trust it will be to Passarge, $475,800 reevaluated. It is a long term from the Ohio Department of Transportation issue; I don’t see how we can afford to bring (ODOT), administerd through safe routes [transportation] back without allocation of to school has been approved to be used public dollars for transportation.” over the next 18 to 24 months to build these That sentiment is echoed throughout the sidewalks. These projects take large amounts district; reduced transportation is a challenge of time due to the planning and coordination and a hassle to deal with, but a necessary evil between Lakota, the Butler County Engineer’s to maintain opportunities for students in the Office and ODOT. Passarge says that he will classroom. According to Passarge, it is unlikely submit another application for more funds for transportation to come back in the near this November, hoping to secure funds for future. sidewalks at other schools.

“This levy will replace lost money from Crossing guards could also help ease the the state,” said Passarge. “We have to reduce morning mayhem. While they cannot direct other areas whether it is class sizes or traffic, crossing guards are a visible sign to opportunities for students [in order to bring drivers to be safe and slow down. According back transportation.] It will be a long term to Passarge, Hopewell, Endeavor and issue, as long as schools are funded the way Freedom elementary schools have crossing they are. We will be dealing with it for a while guards and other schools are looking for them. it is not just Lakota.” n

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lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 7

news | district

The New Face of Lakota Lakota’s seventh superintendent Dr. Karen Mantia brings new ideas and leadership to the district as Lakota continues to face financial hardships. story shivang patel photos ellen fleetwood

LEFT: Dr. Mantia addresses the Lakota Board of Education at the weekly meeting on Oct. 9.

RIGHT: Mantia discusses Lakota’s budget.

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he Thunderbird conference room at Lakota Central office was packed with teachers, administrators, community members and journalists from WCPO-TV, WLWT, Cox Media and the Cincinnati Enquirer on Jun. 16, as the Lakota Board of Education unanimously approved the hiring of Dr. Karen Mantia as Lakota’s seventh superintendent.

“I’m honored to be selected and believe that through a clear vision, community involvement and collaboration, we can manage the fiscal challenges facing Lakota and continue the excellent academic results,” Mantia said.

“We will build on the district’s successes and advance the 21st century learning experience for [students].”

Mantia was previously the superintendent of Pickerington Local School district, in Pickerington, Ohio, from 2007 to 2011, serving 10,500 students. Prior to that, Mantia was the superintendent of Sycamore Community Schools. She guided both districts from a rating of Continuous Improvement to Excellent and Excellent with Distinction, respectively.

“Dr. Mantia has a combination extensive education experience and

8 | Spark | October 26, 2011

central office experience. She knows how superintendent expires in two years. education works and how it runs. She On Jun. 27, during his last Board looked at it much more as a business with meeting as interim superintendent, costs and benefits,” Board Vice President Spurlock was given a standing ovation Dibble said. “Dr. Mantia could clearly by all attendees as he addressed the state why you have a program and a lot of community for the final time. it involved around how much the program “The standing ovation was definitely would cost and how much benefit would an emotional time for me. I have a come from that program.” tremendous amount of respect for Need for a superintendent arose after the entire Lakota community. When I former Superintendent Mike Taylor’s received the standing ovation I felt they resignation was approved Nov. 29, were saying that they approved of the 2010, when Assistant Superintendent job I did and that meant the world to Ron Spurlock was appointed interim superintendent, effective Feb. 1, 2011. of 747 East Spurlock, along with his students know Dr. executive team, looked at many Mantia is the new reductions during his time as interim PERCENT superintendent superintendent. After the levy failed in Nov. 2010, many cuts were needed in order to reduce costs. Spurlock went me,” Spurlock said. “As exhausting as as far as eliminating his own position of it was to take on both the assistant and assistant superintendent, which he has superintendent positions, I realized for since resumed until his contract expires the first time that I was going to miss this and the position is cut. leadership role.”

“I’m in the 35th year as an educator so On the Dec. 13, 2010 Board meeting, I am eligible for their retirement system. I the consulting contract with the search think it’s just common sense that I would firm Hudephol & Associates was be the one that would need to move on approved in order to conduct a search if they decide to cut the position,” said for a new superintendent for Lakota.

Spurlock, whose contract as the assistant This was a split decision–Board President

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Joan Powell, Dibble, Board member Paul Lohr were in favor of the decision, and members Lynda O’Connor and Ray Murray against it.

Murray stated that he was wrong voting against using the decision to use Hudepohl & Associates, and that he strongly approves of Mantia and all the work she is doing.

Dibble, who was the liaison between the Board and Hudepohl & Associates, stated that the Board authorized a maximum of $50,000. The base price for the search, set by the search firm, was $40,000. According to the Lakota Treasurer’s Department, an additional $2,266 was used to place an advertisement in an education magazine. “[The Board] decided to put [an advertisement] in Education Weekly, which is a national magazine. We were really looking for more local candidates but certainly if an outstanding candidate from California was interested, we were going to consider them and we wanted to know about those people,” Dibble said.

The Board created a position profile, which included details of the Lakota Local School District such as the number of students, annual budgets and history; general responsibilities of the superintendent position, qualifications and leadership competencies. This was given to Hudephol & Associates, who used their resources and methods to find candidate that matched the Board’s profile.

“Our primary recruiting strategy is targeted recruiting of leaders at pre-selected targets (i.e. other school districts) based on key academic and financial performance indicators,” Principal and Managing Director of Hudephol & Associates Gary Hudepohl said. “Additionally, but secondarily we network—leveraging an extensive and current network within public education.”

According to Dibble, an advantage of using Hudepohl & Associates was that a search firm could conduct initial interviews and match candidates to the profile given by Lakota. This removed all applicants, from the list who were not able to meet the minimum requirements, reducing the number of people the Board had to personally examine.

By May 25, there were 24 people who had applied. There were also those who were considering the position but had not officially applied due to the fact that their applications would be public information, potentially causing tension among a candidate and his or her current employer.

Mantia among those was in this situation.

“I was recruited to come to Lakota.

I got a phone call [from Hudepohl & Associates] asking if I would be interested

Doctor’s Diagnosis Education: Wright State University: B.A. in Political Science, Master of Education in Educational Leadership University of Sarasota, Florida: Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership Experience: Northmont City School District: High School Social Studies Teacher, Assistant Principal, Director of Curriculum and Assistant Superintedent; Sycamore Community Schools: Superintendent; Piqua City Schools: Superintendent; Pickerington Local School District: Superintendent Salary: $165,000 Awards: Martha Holden Jennings Foundation 2011 Ohio Superintendent Oustanding Performance, Pickerington Chamber of Commerce 2010 ATHENA award

in coming to Lakota, so I did my research to analyze cost, we’ll look at costs ratios, and I found out that this is a very highand we’ll look at the cost of delivery. It is performing district—that there are quality a very thorough analysis of the costs and teachers and pretty awesome students,” outcomes.”

Mantia said. “I had lived previously in Mantia believes that students need Cincinnati, so I had a general idea of how to not only learn deep analysis, but lovely the area was.” also problem solving; both of these In addition to her previous things, according to her, require a employment as superintendent of Piqua strong foundation in elementary literacy.

City Schools, she served as the assistant After talking to corporate executives, Superintendent, director of curriculum, business owners and universities, Mantia assistant principal and high school teacher has discovered that students need to in the Northmont City School district in be critical thinkers, and be able to use Clayton, Ohio. Her broad experience is technology to collaborate. an trait that was attractive to the Board.

I am hopeful that her leadership will really “[Mantia] comes to us with some invaluable experiences from help Lakota to move to a whole new level. many other high-performing districts. With that experience, she brings She also acknowledged the fact that Lakota new ideas and different ways of Lakota has not refreshed their technology, looking at things,” Spurlock said. “I am specifically computers, in years. hopeful that her leadership will really help Currently, Mantia is going to all 22 Lakota to move to a whole new level.” schools in Lakota and talking to teachers Mantia believes that keeping the in order to help evaluate where the quality of education current for students district’s priorities should be. Manita, who is very important because of rapidly has been successful in reducing costs changing expectations of the work world. while maintaining the school system in She wants to make sure expenses are both Pickerington and Sycamore hopes to controlled, which will involve analyzing bring the same efficiency to Lakota. and balancing costs.

“I have developed processes by which “I think that is the number one I can analyze the cost of the service we discussion we have to have is where are providing and by looking at the costs, resources are going to be allocated to, we can ask the questions of whether we and for what purposes. [Resources] need want to streamline, consolidate, eliminate to be apportioned in the right places so or modernize [the school district],” that [students are] ready for the world that Mantia said. “What I bring to the table are they have to work in,” Mantia said. We are processes that really allow us to take deep going to go through a lot of processes analysis of how we spend our money.” n

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lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 9

news | district

Riding the New System Lakota Busing Service makes a difference for families who lost busing in phase two cuts.

East students board buses from the Lakota Busing Service, a system to aide students in need of transportation that was implemented this year.

story ameera khalid photo ellen fleetwood

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hen busing was cut at the start of the second semester of the 201011 school year, Sandy Lehman, mother of East sophomore Ryan Midkiff, was just one of the many parents left struggling to get their kids to school. Lehman and her husband both work, and the busing cuts made getting their son to school almost impossible.

At the start of the 2011-12 school year, however, another option became available.

Lakota graduate and National Football League linebacker Troy Evans started Lakota Busing Service (LBS), a private busing company.

Midkiff is one of 1,200 high school, junior high and elementary students that ride LBS buses. Evans began the company in an effort to give back to his community.

“I’m just trying to get kids to and from school safely,” said Evans, who said that he tried to charge the lowest fees possible to make the busing more accessible.

Lehman pays $60 per month for LBS services, which pick her son up two blocks away from her house at 6:00 a.m. and bring him home around 3:00 p.m. For Lehman and her family, this $60 a month was a last resort.

With high property taxes and falling property value, Lehman feels that $60 per month is difficult to pay. For her, it is just another price to provide a decent education for her son and another reason that she is considering moving out of Lakota.

“When Lakota cut busing, it really messed up our family,” Lehman said. “We were left stranded.”

In fact, she did not know what she was going to do until she saw LBS advertised in the Pulse Journal. With the exception of the first couple days, things have been running smoothly for Lehman and Midkiff. Her only complaint is that her son must get up an hour

10 | Spark | October 26, 2011

earlier to get on the bus at 6:00 a.m.

“It’s no big secret that the first day was rough,” Evans said. “We were late the first day and not everyone got picked up.” After that day, Evans received phone calls from irate parents. As a father of three, he agreed that the parents were right to be upset, and started resolving problems.

Evans also attested that high school routes tend to run about an hour, while the simpler elementary routes tend to run about half an hour to 45 minutes.

“The elementary kids are easy. They’re all in neighborhoods together. We pick up high school kids from all over the place,” he said.

He said that even though he would like to be able to pick up even more kids and make the busing available to everyone within Lakota, the costs involved in running a busing company are formidable. With the current price of gas, filling the 75 gallon tanks every day is a large cost.

Aside from gas, purchasing the buses was not cheap. School buses cost anywhere from $75,000 to $100,000, which does not include the maintenance costs, insurance and the salary of the 18 bus drivers LBS currently hires. Evans would only say he pays competitive salaries and the average salary for a school bus driver in West Chester, Ohio is around $30,000.

In addition to financial costs, time and work required to run the service. Much time and effort is spent trying to work out routes and fleet management. Evans and the other employees at LBS also had to find out the number of buses they could send out at once.

Being a new company, however, they had to find out all the possible glitches the hard way.

On the first day of school, Evans said, one of the buses had a transmission failure and another bus had to come take its place, but it took longer than could be afforded. The routes had also been running too long and needed to be readjusted.

East Principal Dr. Keith Kline agreed that the first days were “pretty shaky.”

“However, since they’ve reinstated busing, things have gone very well,” Kline said.

Since then, LBS has managed to smooth out the wrinkles. Evans said he looks at the first few days as a learning experience.

“I realized that fleet management is so important,” Evans said. He was able to find out how many buses could be out at once while still having enough in reserve in case one of the buses malfunctions. He said that it

“ Without Lakota providing

”

busing, LBS was the only way.

is a balancing act between trying to improve efficiency, and safety and the rest of the year has progressed without any major upsets.

Although parents have to contact LBS personally to make arrangements, Lakota has been working with the buses and coordinating arrivals and departures.

“You know, they get hung up in traffic, just like everybody else does,” Kline said. “But we’re doing our best to get them on and off campus as quickly as possible so they can make their other routes.”

Through collaboration with Lakota and LBS, students are able to get to and from school promptly and efficiently. For parents like Lehman, it has made a world of difference.

“Without Lakota providing busing, LBS was the only way,” Lehman said. n

news | around east

East Adjusts to the Absence of Block Days Due to budget cuts, East dropped the modified block schedule that had been in place for 13 years for a straight seven period schedule. story jenn shafer | photo ellen fleetwood

T

he sweet aroma of doughnuts no longer lingers in the halls every Wednesday and Thursday morning at East. Many students looked forward to buying Stan the Donut Man treats during the 10 minute morning class change, but due to recent changes because of budgetary problems, the block schedule that students have grown accustomed to was switched to a seven period schedule every day at the end of last year.

For 13 of its 15 years, East has had the combination of a normal block schedule and a typical seven period schedule: Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays were seven periods, Wednesdays were odd numbered periods and Thursdays were even with fifth period for lunch. Most teachers taught five classes plus one period for planning and one for a duty for the school such as monitoring a study hall or helping in the main office. The duty and plan periods were scheduled for one odd and one even numbered period to ensure that teachers had at least one period a day that did not require teaching.

“As we worked through the negotiations with teachers, they agreed to teach six periods

40

of 747 East students surveyed miss PERCENT block days

instead of five and instead of going one day nonstop we thought it best to go straight with a seven period day,” East Principal Dr. Keith Kline said. “As we evaluate [the schedule], block days could come back later but they may not.”

During the course of last year, negotiations for budget cuts started with the possibility

of going down to a six period schedule. don’t have when 53 minutes is the longest This change, however, would eliminate the you ever get,” said East science teacher John opportunity for many students to take elective Severns, who serves as Vice President of the classes. To save electives and save the cost of Lakota Educators Association and is currently hiring new staff, the teachers agreed to teach part of the teacher negotiation team. “There an extra period. have been a couple labs I’ve had to modify, With an additional teaching period, there but nothing catastrophic.” would be a block day each week where The shortened time calls for new teachers would have a class for the entire day arrangements that Severns has planned for which, according to Dr. Kline, is essentially his class. For longer labs, the classes can be the reason that bock days were taken out of staggered throughout the week so that some the picture for now. class periods do a lab in the beginning of the Because of the extra work for teachers and the many changes taking place in within the two high schools, When the period is shorter, seven periods seemed to be the best students have more of a option because of their predictability.

Cutting block days may have been a sense of urgency and are logical decision, but the modified block more focused. schedule did have its advantages.

“I am a fan [of block days],” Kline said. “I was part of the group that set up week and the other classes perform the lab block days because of the flexibility. It was an later in the week so that they can leave their opportunity to blend the two schedules and equipment out each day. If the equipment give us the best of both worlds.” does not need to stay set up, the lab is simply Not only did the modified block schedule divided into two days with an additional allow students to experience varying assignment which has proved to be proficient schedules, but it also enhanced their learning for Severns. opportunities because of the extra time.

“I have been pleasantly surprised. I think “[The original reason we established block my students are more efficient now. When you days was to] provide a different length of time have the whole block period to complete a for labs and research which is usually hard to lab, people kind of drag it out a bit,” Severns fit into a 48 minute period,” Kline said. “As said. “When the period is shorter, students soon as you get out all of the equipment and have more of a sense of urgency and are more set it up you have to put it back. This also focused. This is only after five weeks, but I am applies to other classes like art and cooking.” ahead of where I was this time last year.”

Because of the removal of block days, Although science was one of the major science teachers have had to rearrange labs subjects affected by the change, other classes, and tweak their schedules. such as Advanced Placement (AP) courses, “As a science teacher, it was nice to have have to adjust to the new schedule as well. the flexibility [with block days] you simply In the old block schedule, AP teachers took

“

”

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 11

news | around east advantage of the extra time to administer practice AP tests, allowing students to gauge the amount of time they will have on the real test in May. “[The hardest part] is with the 100 minutes of writing practice because I can’t do that anymore,” said Tisha Menchhofer, who teaches AP Government and Politics. “So for the writing in the spring, students can’t practice writing for that amount of time and your hand does hurt after that. It really is not the same practicing in two 50 minute periods.”

Despite the disadvantages, Kline does not think the removal of block days will affect the students’ scores.

“The good news is we have smart kids,” Kline said. “We know what kinds of questions will be on the test and how to answer them and that’s not going to change. For the stamina piece, everyone has been taking standardized tests since second grade so it’s not going to make much of a difference. It’s about the material and the teaching strategies.”

Students have had to adapt to life without

block days, and the opinions of staff and students are still divided on the pros and cons.

According to Kline, the days go by faster without block days because students are not sitting in one period for an hour and a half, but some students think the week goes by faster with block days and homework does not seem as intolerable.

“One benefit of having block days is that homework is more spread out throughout the week. Also, the week seemed to pass by quickly with block days,” senior Laura Harsch said. “A con of having block days is that some classes can seem endless. I believe, however, that the pros of having block days heavily outweigh the cons.”

For students like Harsch, some block periods were unbearable.

“With some students it is very hard to keep them focused that long,” Severns said. “That depends on what class you’re teaching. To them 110 minutes seems like an eternity. If you don’t like a class or not engaged [in] that class then that 100 minutes is just forever.”

Without block days, teachers and students see each other every day, which makes communication easier to remind students of assignments or responsibilities.

“The good thing is I see everyone everyday to remind them of community service,” Menchhofer said. “Last year I would want to remind students of babysitting or something but then I wouldn’t see them that day.”

The absence of those long periods may not give teachers and students a long enough time together to develop a solid relationship.

“Having a longer period of time with the students, you get to know them a little better,” Severns said. “Particularly with labs, it’s more relaxed on block day and you can connect better with students during that time, but it is still early in year so I may still get that connection.”

Kline understands that it is hard to suddenly change the schedule after spending nearly 13 years with block days, but “it will take time for East to settle in [to a new routine].” n

On the Edge Edge increases in popularity due to busing cuts story elaine laux | photo ellen fleetwood

W

ith East no longer receiving busing service, numerous students have been left scrambling to find a place to go until they can find a ride home. Edge Teen Center has become this place for some, mainly because of the close proximity to East.

“We used to average around 40 kids per day,” Edge Teen Center’s manager Rachel Ryan said. “[Since Lakota Local School District has cut busing] we average around 100-130 [kids per day].”

Many East students, as well as their parents, remark on their positive experience with Edge.

East sophomore Parklynn Petty is one of those students. Petty has attended Edge since January of her freshman year, when busing for Lakota was cut.

“I go to the Edge when I do not have a ride home,” Petty said. “I love it because I can get my homework done and they have delicious snacks.”

Study sessions and video games are just a few of the activities offered at Edge. Many groups, such as Young Life and the Anime Club, meet here regularly. Ryan believes some of the most important experiences one can receive are the lifelong friendships and communication skills developed while hanging out at Edge.

“We have the most eclectic group of students. The more you interact with people

12 | Spark | October 26, 2011

who are not like you, the more you grow as a person,” Ryan said.

Edge opened its doors in March 2009, and has recently decided to expand, with the hopes of seeing an Edge beside every high school in the region.

The Center is at a tipping point, describes Edge owner and founder Steve Holt. Due to busing cuts, an influx of students has brought an increase of revenue to Edge, though not enough to expand. “[Lakota] West is next,” Holt said. “Our ultimate goal is to get an Edge next to every school in the area.”

Holt recounts how he established the teen center after seeing countless kids outside of The Rave in Union Centre. He decided that those kids needed a safe place to hang out, and from that idea came Edge.

“I thought that there has got to be something else for [these kids] to do,” Holt said.

The Teen Center is staffed by 23 members of West Chester and Liberty Township who volunteer their time to impact the lives of teens. The volunteers first have a meeting with Ryan, go through a background check, and then finalize their training.

“All of the workers here are volunteers from the community,” Ryan said. “You just need a passion for high school students and you’re good to go.”

East students hanging out at Edge.

Edge is free for students on school days, but does have a fee for weekend attendance because of theme nights, karaoke and local band concerts. The fee is never more than five dollars stated Ryan.

Community grants help to fund programs within Edge, especially the service aspect.

Edge offers community service programs each day to kids to help them fulfill government

18

of 747 East students surveyed go to the edge a PERCENT few times a week

class requirements, and also to give them experience working outside of school.

“First the goal of Edge was to get students in here,” Ryan said. “Now it is to impact them.” n

news | board of education

MEET THE

CANDIDATES story alex griffin | photos ellen fleetwood

mark ETTERLING

luke HALL

lynda O’CONNOR

INFO:

–Bachelors in Business; Ohio University –Resident of Lakota for 25 years –Board member of Cincinnati Tea Party

–Lakota East, Political Science; Sophomore at Miami University –Resident of Lakota for 18 years –Legislature aide for Margaret Conditt–Representative for 55th district of Ohio

–B.A. in Speech and Language Pathology; Elmhurst College, Masters of Education; University of Nevada in Las Vegas –Resident of Lakota for more than 20 years –Incumbent Lakota BOE member

GENERAL:

We need someone to think out-ofthe-box as far as how we finance our school system. We need to figure out what our school system will look like in the future. So we need leadership that is going to be able to step in that is not going to be the same brick order style.

The most obvious [aspect that separates me from others] is my experience as a recent Lakota student. You see that going on in a number of different school districts around the nation. The district gets a sense of perspective, without it our creativity and innovation will decrease.

I have done all sorts of work with special needs kids. I have worked with deaf, visually impaired, at risk preschoolers, multiply handicapped kids with my husband all over Ohio. We travel all over and I have the chance work with these kids.

ISSUE 2:

Collective bargaining forces the district to have a straight line compensation for all teachers, [but] the market demand for all teachers is not equal. [Without] it, we could pay each teacher for what they’re worth. It doesn’t matter to me, just how the teachers disperse the money amongst themselves.

I don’t think it is the ideal bill, and I don’t think people are happy about it. But I do think it is necessary at the state level. Not in the sense of throwing teachers under the bus, but the other critical parts of the bill necessary to the education system. Cuts are needed for better change.

Issue Two is an ugly piece of legislation. During the time of negotiations, the Board looked at it and asked what we needed to take out of it for Lakota’s sustainability, regardless of whether it passes or not. And we achieved that—we pulled out the critical pieces.

TRANSPORTATION:

The while reason I voted for the levy was for busing. I think it is a safety issue. This community was never designed to not have busing.

I think it is abhorrent that we even considered the idea of not having busing.”

If the levy passes, it should be a priority to reinstate that transportation. We really need to focus on that because we can have the best teachers and the best learning environment, but that doesn’t mean anything if kids cannot arrive at school on time.

I am very concerned in regards to transportation. We know that there are 4,000 more cars on the road because of the phase one and two.

I would like to bring busing back, but I don’t think that there is a way to do that without taking from somewhere else in the budget.

14 | Spark | October 26, 2011

The following candidates for the Lakota Board of Education attended Spark’s Meet the Candidate Forum on Oct. 12 at East. All five candidates were given the opportunity to discuss their platforms and plans for Lakota if elected to one of the two spots up for grabs on the Board.

Election Day

Nov. 8 – 6:30 a.m.­to 7:30 p.m.

Issue 5 julie SHAFFER

jamie GREEN

–Bachelors in Economics with a Finance Minor; Colby College –Resident of Lakota since 2005 –Lakota Finance Committee, Treasurer of Lakota District Parent Council

–Bachelors of Science in Chemical Engineering –Resident of Lakota for 15 years –Former Lakota Board of Education president

I think the fact that I have three students currently in Lakota is very significant. I want the best interest for all of our students, and the Board needs the perspective of what is actually happening in schools—especially from a parent viewpoint.

I am tirelessly working around the Cincinnati area with a variety of non-profit organizations that support kids in need. This kind of work gives me perspective. And I also have a daughter with a disability, so it gives me kind of a unique insight into Lakota.

I am concerned that it is going to be another layer of regulation for the school district and when you look at it, I believe it will just cost the district additional money.

When you look at the pieces they’re touting as cost savings, those are things the district is already doing.

There are pieces that I appreciate and pieces I am concerned with.

I am not sure that some of the performance components in Issue 2 around teacher compensation and evaluation might be the most effective to use here in Lakota.

Transportation is critically important. I supported the last levy that would’ve had busing in the budget. But I think we have to be careful about making promises that we can’t keep. Right now we don’t even know what the state budget for Lakota will look like next year.

Since 2003, my position on the critical need for busing has been well known. I have never valued the need to reduce or cut busing. This bucket we have of discretionary funding is so small it’s the only opportunity to try and stretch the budget.

The Lakota Board of Education is asking residents of West Chester and Liberty townships for a tax levy of 4.75 mills. It will bring in about $12.6 million. The levy is an operational levy, to stabilize current operating expenses. It will cost taxpayers $147.47 per year for a house valued at $100,000, equating to a tax hike of $12.12 per month.

The Board has not released details of what cuts will be made if the levy fails. The last levy taxpayers passed, in Nov. 2005, was 5.6 mills.

Issue 2 After Senate Bill 5 was signed into law on Mar. 31, 2011 by Gov. John Kasich, a referendum was signed by Ohioans. This suspended the law and now it is on ballot. If approved Issue 2 will ban strikes and require workers to pay all of their pension contribution and at least 15 percent of their health care premiums, among other things. If Issue 2 does not pass, unions will continue to have bargaining rights. information from Butler County Board of Election, Ohio Secretary of State, Lakota Treasurer’s Office

Spark

High School Lakota East n Online Editio

lakotaeastspark .com

news online

read more about the candidates and the election online

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 15

feature

COMMUNITY CULTURE

The Karvelas family brought culture to Liberty Township with their restaurant, Greek Isles.

Isle Work, Isle Cook story rachel king | photos sierra whitlock and provided by the karvelas family

Hoping to bring some semblance of authenticity to Liberty Township, Kosta Karvelas and his wife Maria offer a slice of culture through their restaurant, The Greek Isles. Their love for food, family and tradition combines with a hospitable atmosphere, offering each visitor a unique experience.

I

t is all about connecting with the heart. Literally. As a perfusionist who spends his weekdays in the operating room assisting with cardiac surgery, Kosta Karvelas can’t afford to make one wrong move.

As an owner of a Greek restaurant and cook on the weekends, Karvelas realizes the power that one great recipe has to communicate a love of food, of culture, of life. Whether he’s seen wearing scrubs or a chef ’s apron, Karvelas is never far from the heart of his patients or his customers.

The Greek Isles is a restaurant that Karvelas and his wife, Maria, who currently practices law, established five years ago. It is their home away from home.

It is a place that allows them to showcase their culture with an authentic menu and Greek music playing in the background.

There are pictures of his family in Greece hung on the walls and in the napkin holders. It is a place where any stranger becomes a part of a big, Greek family the moment they walk through the doors.

Having to balance a 90 to 100 hour work schedule is not easy, but “it forces you to prioritize, keeping the ultimate goal in mind,” says Kosta, which is “to build something for the future, create something for the community and have fun doing it.”

With his profession, Kosta spends 70 hours a week between eight hospitals in Kentucky. Coming then to work at the restaurant on the weekends is a different kind of stress.

16 | Spark | October 26, 2011

When in the operating room, “surgery is very cut and dry,” Kosta says with a grin (and follows it with a chuckle and ‘no pun intended’).

At the restaurant, however, Kosta says he is “in a position where [he] has to please everybody.”

But the stress in both environments is well worth the pride that comes from making a difference in the lives of his patients and customers.

The hope of bringing a taste of Greece to Cincinnati began long before the Greek Isles first opened in July of 2006 on Yankee Road. It is more or less a love story, where the very same thing that separated the future couple turned out to be what brought them together.

Maria Karvelas was born in Kastoria, Greece and left her family at the age of 15 to pursue an education in the United States. Living with her two uncles in America while working on her degree, Maria waited ten years before returning to Greece to visit her mother and father.

A New Yorker by birth but Greek by blood, Kosta moved to Cincinnati only one year after Maria for the very same reason—to attain a quality education. Growing up in two different countries, separated by thousands of miles of ocean, it was their heritage that connected the dots. In 1996 at a Greek Festival, Maria and Kosta met.

A year later, the two were married.

In keeping with the tradition that brought them together, Maria and Kosta volunteer at their church’s annual Greek festival where they make and serve food.

“Every year, you hear people commenting, ‘We wait all year for this— the gyros, the baklava, the food,’” Kosta says. “That showed me there was a need.”

In hopes of addressing the lack of authentic Greek restaurants in the Cincinnati area, the Greek Isles became a reality. The restaurant began with a small billboard hung on the front door with ‘Greek restaurant coming soon’ and Kosta’s cell phone number written on it.

“I received so many phone calls that week from people asking, ‘When are you going to open?’ and telling me how thankful they were to have a restaurant that serves authentic Greek food in the West Chester area,” Kosta says.

For the last 5 years, business has been booming.

The hospitality invites customers in, and the authentic menu keeps them coming back.

It’s why Pete Pemberton makes the Greek Isles part of his weekly routine.

“The menu has become more sophisticated,” he says. “Kosta is constantly creating new things, and I enjoy the opportunities when I get to try whatever he’s cooking up in the kitchen.”

When he was a student at the Ohio State University, there were many places where Pete would go to enjoy traditional Greek cuisine. Since moving to West Chester, Pete says that he is “always looking to find a good gyro.”

Pete has known Kosta from the time the restaurant first opened and stops by for a gyro, or sometimes just to chat with Kosta, between four to six times a month.

“Most of the customers at the place are regulars,” Pete says. “It’s a very homey atmosphere with good food and good company all the time.

People know to expect that when they make a visit to the Greek Isles.”

Customers who have dined at the restaurant can submit a review of their experiences to UrbanSpoon.com. One reviewer commented, “As soon as you enter the restaurant, you are taken away with the sound of Greek music and the aroma of authentic Greek food.

The owners of this establishment, Kosta and Maria, make you feel like part of the family with their hospitality and friendship. Their food is

amazing! Glad to see a restaurant of this caliber in West Chester.”

The Greek Isles encompasses both Kosta’s personas as a Greek cook and perfusionist by offering a cultural atmosphere and a healthy menu.

“Our cuisine leads to the least incidence of cancer and heart disease per capita, because we eat more vegetables and lots of fish, more so than any other country in the world,” Kosta says.

When he and his wife first had the idea to open a Greek restaurant in West Chester, they knew that they would have to modify authentic Greek recipes to better suit the taste buds of their targeted demographic.

“Here, we’ve had to ‘Americanize’ the food.

Like putting feta cheese on salad,” Kosta says.

“We try to keep our menu as authentic as possible, although there are certain things that people expect. But if you’re willing to try something new, I will pizzazz you.”

And their recipe for success is working.

As a non-franchise restaurant organization caught in the middle of an economic crisis, Kosta admits that even he is “amazed the place is still open.”

The decision that he and his wife made five years ago to start a business in the food industry was a risk, considering that “three out of five restaurants close within six months of opening,” Kosta says. “But we’re still here and we’re busier than ever.”

The future of Greek Isles looks promising. Kosta hopes to start a franchise and open up five more restaurants within the Cincinnati area.

But until then, the original Greek Isles on Yankee Road is a gift Kosta plans to give to his son, Antonios, who is currently 12 years old.

“This will be his—the concept, the name, the following,” Kosta says.

“Of course, I’m hoping he keeps it, but whatever he wants to do, it belongs to him.”

The Greek Isles is more than just a restaurant. It’s a part of a family.

It’s a living dream. It’s a sample of culture. It’s a beloved home.

“I pour my heart into this place—my blood, sweat and tears,” Kosta says. “As long as God’s willing, I’ll work. I’ll cook.” n

“

[The goal is] to build something for the future, create something for the community and have fun doing it.

LEFT: Photographs of the Karvelas family sit on the counters at the restaurant.

MIDDLE: The restaurant is decorated with Greece’s colors and images of the picturesque country.

RIGHT: Kosta Karavelas sits in a booth at the restaurant he and his wife created.

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 17

feature | transportation profile

After hearing the struggles that local families have sending their kids to school, Lakota High School graduate and former New Orleans Saints linebacker Troy Evans has created a new service to help students find a

New Ride

story irfan ibrahim | photo sierra whitlock and used with permission from mctcampus

I

t’s a 50/50 decision. As the referee asks for head or tails, number 54 calls out heads. The coin is flipped. 48 touchdowns later, Lakota High School graduate and former New Orleans Saints team captain Troy Evans finally does it. Leading the Saints to their first Superbowl win in history, he would finally have the glorious ring he wanted all his life.

His parents, who attended nearly 250 of his

NFL games, were beyond proud of their son. They were blessed.

And his dream all began in a diary.

“In my second or third year of the NFL, my mom showed me a diary [I had] when I was 10 years old,” says Evans, who graduated from Lakota in 1996. “I wrote one entry in it, and it said I want to be a quarter back in the NFL. Although I wasn’t a quarter back, I got pretty close.”

Troy Evans (54) tackles Jonathan Stewart (28) during a regular season game on Jan. 3, 2010.

18 | Spark | October 26, 2011

In fact, Evans was a multi-sport athlete, playing both varsity basketball and football.

In high school, he was always booed by opposing teams during Greater Miami Conference (GMC) games. He didn’t mind—he embraced it. Evan’s childhood friend, Nick Rabin, explains Evans only really cared about his own personal values.

“Troy’s core qualities include his hard work ethic, determination, and confidence, which are things he’s always possessed,” says Rabin, who has known Evans from when they played for the Lakota Tomahawks football team at Liberty Junior High. “He used [these qualities] to become successful in his football career, and the same goes for his business career.”

Now, Evans is taking a chance for the Lakota students without a ride to school by providing his own transportation company, known as Lakota Busing Service (LBS). He was inspired by his sister-in-law, Michelle Evans, to provide transportation for her three kids after the levy failure.

“I am sitting at a family barbecue,” says Troy. “My sister is talking about how in the world she was going to get three kids in three places at relatively the same time.”

Troy brought the idea of providing his own transportation for kids without rides to a meeting he had with former superintendent Mike Taylor. He wanted to give back to the community and district that taught him so much about diversity.

Troy’s mother Shirley Evans works with her son as an LBS associate.

“Lakota did a great thing for me even though I didn’t realize it back then. When you go to school with so many people, where you have to experience so many things, it really prepares you for life,” says Troy.

“Jumping into a big colleges like University of Cincinnati wasn’t a huge culture shock for me because I walked down Lakota’s hallways not knowing everyone’s names.”

Troy is now in charge of the 18 buses that provide a ride to and from school for approximately 1200 students. He has provided jobs for former Lakota bus driver, Kathy Hamel, who was laid off because of the 2010 levy failure.

“He’s been very nice and down to earth,” says Hamel. “I was laid off from Petermann buses earlier [this year]. I might still be looking for a job [had it not been for LBS].”

Troy’s mother and LBS associate Shirley Evans says that Troy has always tried to reach his full potential, for even as a kid, he practiced football exercises.

“To [perfect] his spirals, he would throw at a tree,” says Shirley, who Troy says is the most influential person in his life. “If he missed, back [farther away to increase difficulty]. He kept going at it for a couple hours until he knew he had it down..”

The mentality Shirley gave Troy since the very beginning has always influenced his decisions, especially with the massive undertaking of providing busing to kids spread over the Lakota district and other private schools.

“Do unto others as they do on to you,” says Shirley. “I think that’s just a very basic but yet humanitarian way all people should be. And I believe all of my sons listened to

that, and we’re raised by it.”

Troy has applied his work ethic to his career, and applied it tenfold to LBS. Many Lakota parents are very thankful for having safe transportation for their children, including Darcy Marsh. Because she lives inside the two-mile radius in which Lakota can still offer busing to elementary kids Marcy had to drive her son, Colton, to Union Elementary everyday for the first week of school.

“It’s been a blessing,” says Darcy, who works as substitute teacher in Lakota. “I can always rely on that transportation. As a substitute teacher, if I didn’t have that busing, it would be harder for me to take different jobs.”

Darcy goes on to say that she is very grateful for Troy’s philanthropy and service to the community, as well as how easy it was to transition from Lakota’s former busing provided by Petermann to LBS. “[Troy] is very personable and came across as really trying to help and make things work, says Darcy. “They’ve come at a real good time. I am glad someone stepped up and filled the need. [LBS] is pretty much the same, as far as consistancy. There’s not as many kids on the bus, seeing as there were normally three people per seat at Lakota’s buses and LBS only has about one person per seat. As far [Colton’s] concerned, it’s a perk.”

LBS helped save many parents like Darcy the trouble of organizing a carpool. Rather than make changes to a family’s schedule,

I can’t say enough about the community.”

However, Troy says that even if the levy passes, he’s not going to “cry over spilled milk.”

“Obviously I have money invested in this. But I really did start this to be a service to a community that’s in need,” says Troy.

“If I have some buses, I have some buses.”

Almost as if he’s been thrown into the GMCs again, Troy now deals with different kinds of opposing teams i.e. no-voters and yes-voters.

“I don’t follow the levy as much as I probably should, but I am aware of what’s going on, and I get phone calls every day from both sides,” says Evans. They think I must be [some] kind of mediator to this.”

Amidst dozens of one-way cell phones for bus driver communication, a basket of lollipops for the kids, and mountains of route information and thank you letters, Troy can be found in his desk, making calls with his Saints jersey framed behind him, as he grips his Skyline cup. At the front desk, Troy’s manager and secretary, Molly, working hard to return calls of parents who are interested in getting their kids to school in the morning and home in the afternoon, as she takes a glimpse at the intricate board of routes on the walls.

Before reaching Troy’s office, however, one can see a piece of paper outside the secretary’s door with a quote that reads, “You had the courage and character to take risks to love life, and let your life happen...”

That is exactly how the Superbowl champion

“Lakota did a great thing for me even though I didn’t realize it back then. When you go to school with so many people, it really prepares you for life.”

LBS was able to maintain the original transportation routine of many Lakota students, and Shirley says many parents have already expressed their appreciation.

“We’ve had such positive feedback from the Lakota district, especially from the parents. They have been amazing,” says Shirley. “Through all of their trials and tribulations, the majority of people have stood by us and have also been encouraging.

has lived out his life. Whether it was flipping a coin at midfield infront of millions of zealots, or buying 18 buses, Troy has always taken risks for his significant others, which entail his family, his teammates, and his community.

Because Troy never stopped throwing spirals at that tree. Not until he hits it right, because he doesn’t quit until he knows he has done the best he can. n

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 19

feature | foreign exchange

Top from left: Kshirajaa and a friend eating French Fries and mayo, a common German snack. Kshirajaa pending time with South American exchange students. The Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

Bottom from left: Kshirajaa in her host community. Kshirajaa upon returning to East. Kshirajaa and a group of friends in Germany.

From East to Emsdetten While Lakota does not accept foreign exchange students due to a recent change in policy, senior Kshirajaa Ramesh made the most of her year in Germany. story tabby hall | photos sierra whitlock and provided by ramesh family

S

he steps off the German train into a beautiful, historically rich city, Berlin, which she has never seen before. She slowly absorbs the sights and sounds of the world around her. Everything is vibrant, bursting with life and culture. It is like a new world.

East senior Kshirajaa Ramesh, who studied as a foreign exchange student in Germany for 10 months through the American Field Service (AFS), decided to go to Europe to find out what her life would be like in another country.

“I wanted to see another culture,” Ramesh says. “I wanted to see people with a worldly perspective.”

To be accepted into the exchange program, Ramesh to had to write long essays, obtain recommendations and transcripts and meet several application deadlines. “[The amount of work she put into the application] was pretty interesting,” Kshirajaa’s mother Sharanya Ramesh says. “She kept on top of [all the requirements] because I told her she had to do the work to prove she could go.”

20 | Spark | October 26, 2011

After a receiving scholarship from the U.S. Congress and German government to cover the $12,000 cost of her trip, Kshirajaa, along with 49 other exchange students attended a series of culture shock classes and German schooling workshops. The group left Washington D.C. on Sept.

11, 2010. They embarked on an eight-hour standard flight to Frankfurt, Germany.

“My host family picked me up [after a train ride from Frankfurt], and we drove 30 more minutes to Emsdetten,” Kshirajaa says. “I unpacked, showered and went to sleep because of the jet lag.”

The transition to her everyday life in Germany began with becoming used to the time change. This is a similar transition that exchange students who come into the U.S. experience during their time overseas.

“The students are very energetic,” AFS volunteer and liaison Jason Blackard says. “To you and I, going to the grocery store in our country is pretty boring, but some of [the students] have never been to one before so it’s exciting for them.”

For exchange students in any foreign country, school is one of the

“

She will say something in German and try to correct herself, and the correction will be in German instead of English. She gets so frustrated.

–Sharanya Ramesh

most interesting experiences. Kshirajaa went to school at 8:00 am and sometimes left as late as 5:00 pm.

“My schedule was kind of like a college one,” Kshirajaa says. “I would have some classes one day, and the next I would have different ones.

It was so confusing that I had to carry my schedule around with me forever.”

While at school, Kshirajaa originally had difficulty making friends, but eventually some of the German students warmed up to her, as well as some students from the foreign exchange program.

“Because of the program, I have a friend from almost every country in the world,” Kshirajaa says.

She made six or seven close German friends while abroad.

“We would attend parties, go mini-golfing and make food a lot,” Kshirajaa says.

The connections she made with other people in the exchange program helped to make her friendlier and more accountable for her own actions.

“She has become more understanding,” Sharanya says. “She gives people the benefit of the doubt now and has become more responsible.”

This responsibility developed from Kshirajaa’s freedom to go to weekend parties and to ride long-distance trains without her host parents.

Blackard explains that any exchange student has an experience such as this, it makes them want to help out with the program.

“Once you have been an exchange student, you feel obligated to stay involved with the program,” Blackard says.

“Personally I find my job very fun; it’s great to see the reactions [the exchange students] have.”

Since she has returned to America, Kshirajaa says that she has continued to be involved in AFS. “I’m volunteering now, and I’m a trainee,” Kshirajaa says. “I will be reviewing applications that students submit for the exchange program in a few months.”

She believes that exchange students can teach the people of their host country many things and show that there is a different perspective to life other than the one they are used to.

East principal Dr. Keith Kline agrees.

“I think [exchange students] bring a lot to us, and I hope we bring a lot to them,” Kline says.

Students that hope to be an exchange student in the U.S. will not be able to be placed in the district because of a recent decision made by the Lakota Board of Education.

“The administration decided that it is more expensive and time consuming to educate exchange students,” Board Vice President Ben Dibble says. “Given our limited money situation, we agreed not to allow these students in [the district] anymore.”

Kshirajaa believes that foreign exchange students can teach a lot to their host country’s students and can clarify stereotypes about their own country.

“They thought everyone was a cheerleader or a basketball player,” Kshirajaa says. “They kept telling me to rap for them because it was what

they saw on TV.” Kshirajaa learned about these stereotypes as well as other beliefs that the Germans had when she talked to the locals during traditional German festivals such as Karneval, which celebrates the passing of winter and the coming of spring. “It’s a huge festival where everyone dresses up like it is Halloween,” Kshirajaa says. “Everyone goes to the center of the city where they have floats and people throwing out candy.

A festival prince and princess are also elected.”

Being exposed to these types of cultural celebrations and other aspects of German life, Kshirajaa began to pick up on the language after living in the country for a month. Shortly thereafter, she had her first dream in German.

Kshirajaa was introduced to the German language, and says that her first word was the word “duck.” By the end of her stay, Kshirajaa learned enough of the language to speak fluently in everyday conversations.

Because she was able to connect to Germany through the language, Kshirajaa became emotionally attached to the country. When the flight attendants on the plane ride home announced they were landing in the U.S., she cried because even though she was glad to be home; she missed her life in Germany.

“When all [of the other German exchange students in AFS and I] got to the hotel in D.C., we refused to speak English because we didn’t want to lose the German we learned,” Kshirajaa says. “It really hit me that I was home when I looked in the toilet and saw it wasn’t like the German ones [which do not have water in them]. We were so upset we just wanted to get on the plane back to Frankfurt.”

Ironically, adjusting back to her life in the U.S. was much harder than adapting to the German lifestyle.

“It was very funny,” Sharanya says.

“She will say something in German and try to correct herself, and the correction will be in German. She getss so frustrated.”

Kshirajaa, who returned from Germany on July 12, 2011, still feels like life in America is bizarre compared to her life as an exchange student.

Because of her experience in Germany , Kshirajaa would like to become a foreign affairs officer and would like to be an exchange student again in college.

However, Sharanya feels it would be more difficult for her to cope if Kshirajaa left for another exchange program.

“I know I would miss her,” Sharanya says. “I never exactly felt safe about it because I could not just get on a plane and be there to help in an instant like I would be able to if she were in America.”

Although her mother would miss her if she went abroad again, her trip to Germany allowed her to gain a new family.

“I got 50 new brothers and sisters,” Kshirajaa says. “We ended up becoming really close because in a strange new country, we were all each other had.” n

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 21

lifestyle

HEALTHY LIVING

A successful school year depends on the health and well-being of the student. Experts explain how to

FUEL YOUR BODY TO

FUEL YOUR BRAIN

story bridget lally | infographic jack dombrowski

S

tarting a new school year can be overwhelming. It is exciting to never drink soda. When teens choose soda over milk, they are lowering see old friends, meet new friends and begin new classes. Sports their Vitamin D and calcium intake. practice resumes, football season starts and life is running again.

Turon-Findley warns that unhealthy teens at the risk of developing But sometimes life starts to move too fast. At the start of this year, osteoporosis, a bone disease that can be prevented by drinking milk and prepare to handle school in the healthiest way possible. consuming other sources of calcium such as yogurt, broccoli, cheese, There are several ways to improve eating and fitness habits. Cincinnati almond and soy nuts.

Children’s Hospital Medical Center Dietician Mary Pat Turon-Findley An additional obstacle to nutrition is the serving size of food in advises eating foods that are nutrient-rich. restaurants.

“I pick foods for teenagers that have nutrient value, kind of like “Many people let the media dictate their lives,” Turon-Findley says. more bang for your buck,” Turon-Findley says. “People should eat “For example, when teens see a McDonald’s commercial they are four to six small meals per day rather than three large meals. The ideal tempted to go to the restaurant to satisfy their cravings.” eating plan should include breakfast, a mid-morning snack, lunch, a preOthers are boredom eaters and eat because they can. Besides performance snack, dinner and a snack before bedtime.” restaurants’ portion distortion issue there is the problem of overeating.

A pre-performance meal should be nutrient-rich because that is Living a healthy life requires good behaviors and good choices, like the time when nutrients such as proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and eating a nutritious breakfast and getting enough sleep. 73 percent of minerals, are needed to fuel teens for their after-school activities.

East students get seven or less hours of sleep nightly, when teenagers Of these nutrients, water is one of the most essential elements. require 8-9 hours each night.

Hydration is key to leading a healthy lifestyle. Teens should consume “Eating six mini-meals, hydration, relaxation time and giving positive eight 8-oz glasses of water each day. Unfortunately, 60 percent of 747 kudos to oneself,” Turon-Findley says, “are all necessary to living a East students surveyed have suffered from dehydration. healthy life.”

“I do like it when schools allow kids to have water bottles in class,” Exercise and fitness are as equally important to good health as Turon-Findley says. “A lot of schools don’t. But if you are allowed to nutrition. eat and drink, drink 16-20 oz of water and eat your pre-game snack at Robyn Byrnes, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, the end of the day.”

Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Physical Therapist says, “Exercise Turon-Findley advises water as the best choice for hydration. G2 definitely helps with stress management and mental health.”

Gatorade and Propel water are other options that have electrolytes, “Adding a little exercise each day can reduce stress levels and even which supply the body with salt lost during exercise and contain less improve sleep. Making exercise fun also improves your mood, so sugar than soda drinks. playing sports or games from your childhood, like tag, can really make There are some common downfalls in teen nutrition. Eating fast you smile and forget about your stress,” Byrnes says. “Exercise has also food, drinking too much soda and shown to improve thinking, learning and retaining energy drinks and not enough knowledge, which is definitely another awesome milk and being inactive are some Eating six mini meals, hydration, bonus.” of the habits of high school The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxation time and giving recommends that all children and adolescents students that make Turon-Findley “so frustrated.” positive kudos to oneself are all participate in at least 60 minutes of exercise daily.

“Fast food all the time is should include a variety of exercises such as necessary to living a healthy life. This bad,” Turon-Findley says. “But aerobic/cardio, strengthening, stretching and core I understand every now and then stabilization. because it is convenient for busy kids with active lifestyles. But you must “Walking, biking and jogging are some great exercises to get one’s be careful because fast food has so much fat, sugar and salt.” heart rate elevated,” Byrnes says. “Resistance training helps to build Energy drinks are considered the beverage equivalent of fast food. muscle to support the bones and joints, and core strengthening maintains Turon-Findley says that consuming drinks such as Monster and Rockstar a healthy spine.” can result in kidney damage, headaches, anxiety attacks and dehydration.

There are creative ways to add short periods of exercise throughout She suggests Starbucks be used as a treat, as a “post-game celebration.” the day. Byrnes suggests using the stairs, taking a short break from The high-calorie Starbucks drinks can be made healthier. Some ways homework to go for a brisk walk outside or studying while riding a to do so are using nonfat milk, not adding whipped cream or choosing stationary bike. Exercise can be added effectively by doing so as part the “light” version of a drink. of a daily routine.

One percent of East students drink soda all the time, 41 percent of 42 percent of East students currently have gym memberships. The East students drink soda sometimes and 14 percent of East students top five exercises that Byrnes suggests that all people should perform at

22 | Spark | October 26, 2011

A Roadmap to a Healthy Life

Healthy and unhealthy eating habits all start in our early years, but are hard to break later on.

That’s why you should start down the healthy path now, and avoid potentially life threatening behaviors.

Sleep is vital. One study found that 15% of teens don’t get the sleep they need which can limit learning, concentration and problem solving; Lack of sleep may cause acne and skin

problems

10) 9)

Fiber! Portion fiber is Sizes. necessary It’s about to promote how much intestinal health. you are eating.

6) Be 8) Eat Safe Knowledgable Foods. about Nutrition.

The risk of Studies show food borne illness teens who are well is higher in students informed on nutrition who don’t properly eat healthier refrigerate foods

7) Eat Breakfast

Everyday.

4) Excersize Daily.

3) Take Time to Exercise can make you Relax.

5) Sleep is feel good secondary Relaxation decreases to endorphines and Important! stress. Stress can improves mood and change to anxiety makes people more and mood problems at peace.

FUEL YOUR

Students who eat breakfast test higher than those who don’t.

Breakfast also helps provided needed glucose from the fast caused by sleep and is proved to help in weight control.

NUMBERS

70-75% of the body can be water- it is needed for may body parts and functions.

Also aids in getting rid of toxins and waste in the body.

Imbalance of water and 2) Stay electrolytes may cause serious injuries, illness Hydrated! and even death.

1) You Are What You Eat. People who eat a lot of junk food/fast foods and snacks tend to have increase risk of obesity and secondary possible issues in high blood pressure, diabetes, joint problems, heart issues, sleep apnea, metabolic syndrome and psychosocial effects.

HypertensionTo avoid hypertension, stay away from eating fried foods, and foods with high amounts of salt, and sugar.

HypertensionAlso known as the “Silent Killer”, is the tightening of arteries. The danger is high blood pressure, which can cause heart attacks.

High

UNHEALTHY

EATING

HEALTHY EATING

CholesterolIs the plaque build up in arteries causing high blood pressure.

DehydrationIs the insufficient amount of water in the body.

42

of 747 East students currently go to PERCENT a gym

60

of 747 East students have suffered from PERCENT dehydration

High CholesterolTo avoid High Cholesterol, stay away from foods rich with saturated fats.

DehydrationLack of water may cause serious illness and even

14

of 747 East students say they never PERCENT drink soda

death.

Information from: Mary Pat Turon- Findley, RD.LD.MS, Registered Dietitian III, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and www.livestrong.org

a gym are any sort of cardiovascular training, planks, lunges, squats and push-ups.

East life sciences teacher Patti Toman also understands the importance of making exercise a habit.

“There’s really no magic to it,” Toman admits. “But you have to have structure. Find time that fits the best for you to exercise. Then schedule that time like it is your job, then with time it will become a habit.”

Toman offers health advice sporadically to her classes. She leads a healthy lifestyle because her mother and father raised her in an active environment. She stays healthy by exercising to feel good and relieve stress, as well as eating a well-balanced diet and surrounding herself with things she enjoys.

“Endorphins are a natural release, they make you feel good,” Toman says. “Endorphins are the natural happy juice.”

Endorphins, which are neurotransmitters released in the brain after heavy exercise, give the body a boost of energy and positive emotions.

Since endorphins lift moods, they help one feel motivated to succeed in school. For academic success, Toman says one should have good study skills, balance and structure. Students can form study groups, allowing them to be social, reduce stress and review.

Another key aspect to success is organization. Having a designated,

23

of 747 East students get less than 5 PERCENT hours of sleep

clean spot to do homework everyday helps to create an organized, structured lifestyle.

East senior Lauren Haller knows how to live a healthy lifestyle.

Working out at the Fitworks Fitness Center four to five days a week, Haller trains to pass the fitness test required to apply for the Navy and Airforce Academies.

“It’s my normal habit. I feel like a bum on days when I don’t go to the gym,” says Haller.

Haller drinks water every day, specifically when exercising. She does not eat a lot of junk food and she only drinks soda about once a week, if that.

“Don’t be afraid to work out,” Haller says. “I used to dread running years ago. Now I love it. Running is hard, but you feel so much better afterwards. I’m definitely in a better mood after I work out. Don’t dread working out, because it’s not even bad.”

As the first quarter of the 2011-12 school year continues, set a schedule for the rest of the year. To maintain good nutrition, follow the advice of Turon-Findley and eat nutrient-dense foods. Stay in shape by following Byrnes’ exercising tips. Develop organization and time management skills with Toman’s recommendations. Developing healthy habits now will make for a longer and happier future. n

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 23

lifestyle | student lifestyle

Hardcore Parkour

East senior Quentin Russell stands out from the crowd with his unusual hobby: parkour. story rachel podnar | photos sierra whitlock infographic daham marapane

HERE: Russell executes a wall run at East.

RIGHT: Russell smiles while balancing on a railing.

“F

irst of all, we would need to define what parkour is,” Spiderman says.

This isn’t really the Marvel comic book character, one that would appear unassuming and nerdy-cute by day but secretly scales buildings and rescues young women in distress by night.

Contrary to popular belief, East senior Quentin Russell is no Spiderman. He does not wear a mask to hide his identity, or fight villains and defend the innocents. He is just the guy in the third row of his Advanced Placement BC Calculus class. During school hours, that is.

After school, he might be found scaling a building or nailing a precision; a term Russell used to describe a dangerous parkour maneuveur.

But back to defining parkour.

Russell says he’s no philosopher but his working definition is “the physical discipline or training to overcome any obstacle in your path in the most efficient way possible.”

Basically, he is Spiderman without the bite of a radioactive spider. To an uninformed bystander that sees him do a wall run, Russell looks like Spiderman. But parkour is not about the action, the glory or the comic book theatrics; it is about training and gaining strength, working up to the gravity-defying stunts.

“People see parkour, then go out, do it and break an ankle,” Russel says “That’s not what parkour is. You have to start at a lower level and build up. If you get hurt, you’re not training properly.”

Much to the disappointment of his screaming fans, Russell refuses to pander to the crowd and go about his stunts recklessly. In fact, he is anything but reckless; he is meticulous and precise. He has never broken a bone or suffered any injury more severe than a bruised shoulder.

Instead of starting out with stunts at dangerous altitudes, he honed his coordination, making sure he could stay upright at three inches off the ground before he tried to balance ten feet up on a swing set railing.

“To an extent it is dangerous,” he says. “But that is only if you are dangerous about it. In all seriousness, if you get scared about overcoming an obstacle, you probably should not do it because you will not be calculated enough in your approach.”

Quentin’s father Chris Russell says that he is not worried about his

24 | Spark | October 26, 2011

son getting hurt because he has always been cautious.

“He started attempting simple stunts before working up to larger ones,” he says. “I saw his progression at a reasonable rate, so I never really felt concerned for his safety. I never felt like he did things beyond his ability to stay safe.”

This level of parkour prowess was not something he was born with.

Quentin discovered it one day on Youtube, when he came across a viral parkour video. Instead of rushing out and busting his head open, he exercised his iron will and began training.

“I tried swim team that summer,” Quentin says. “I was in summer gym so by August I was super fit. Actually, I was only ‘decently moderately’ fit so I started parkour then.”

When Quentin started he was 15 years old and could barely execute a push-up. Now, at 18 years old, Russell can perform a variety of stunts, from vaults to cat-leaps, to underbars.

Chris says he has developed amazing strength because of his parkour and Quentin can make many difficult moves look easy. As Quentin’s self-proclaimed, “biggest fan,” Chris often videotapes Quentin’s parkour moves and enjoys watching his son maneuver around their home.

“When Quentin walks through the house,” he says, “he doesn’t actually ‘walk’ through the house. He—bounds—through the house.

When he walks into the kitchen, rather than walk, he normally does a pretty cool vault over the counter-top. He definitely has a different way of doing things which livens up [the home].”

But he doesn’t perform these kitchen stunts to show off for an audience—he is too modest for that. Youtube crawlers will not find Chris’s videos of Quentin among the countless parkour hopefuls.

He is too modest to mention that he organizes training events for his friends through the Facebook group Lakota Parkour. That fact would have to come from his best friend, East senior Justin Reed, who says that Quentin plans workouts for the group and trains them between the hours of 7 and 11 on Saturday mornings at Fort Liberty Playland.

Reed’s speech gets faster and his eyes light up when he talks about Lakota Parkour; he shares stories of his little brother failing a roll, and Quentin shocking him by executing a jump from ten feet in the air.

parkour glossary

reading deep religious theology around third grade and has since increased his desire to grasp spiritual concepts.

“Quentin understands that those things which are unseen are more vital than those things which are seen. He has found the joy of experiencing a personal relationship with God, and he sincerely wants his friends to enjoy that same experience with the Creator. It has been exciting for me as his Dad to see that faith come alive in his life over the years.”

In the future, Quentin does not see himself in California training with a parkour team, but rather, as a minister of his own church. He imagined being a missionary in a foreign country like China or Afghanistan until he reconsidered what it means to be a Christian.

Quentin says that here in the United States, anyone can claim themselves to be a Christian and uphold that claim without challenge or trouble, whereas in a country like Afghanistan, Christians must commit to their faith because they risk their lives for it.

“Faith is built through trials against your faith,” says Quentin. “We are ridiculously wealthy—I apologize for my pessimistic world view—but— we have an incredible amount of resources and freedom, anybody can be a Christian. Evangelical leaders here are just humbled by Christians in other countries because they have to struggle as Christians.”

Quentin seems to seek out trials in his life—whether it be through striving to be a genuine Christian in a superficially Christian culture or challenging himself to jump higher and balance longer in parkour.

The two loves of his life may be disjointed but Quentin feels that God has given him his faith and parkour abilities for a reason, regardless of whether or not they ever come together in his life.

“This is more of a toy thought, satirically noted,” Quentin muses.

“Maybe God gave me an interest in self-defense and parkour so I can go fight Afghanistan secret police someday [as a missionary].” n

as told by quentin russell vault: using arms and legs to overcome an obstacle cat-leap: jumping into a hanging position underbar: jumping through a space without touching the sides precision: jumping from a balanced position to a precise spot “The first time I saw him jump off a tall object it was at least ten feet tall and I was like ‘Dude!

You’re gonna hurt yourself!’ He did it and he was totally fine,” he says.

Reed says that Quentin does not stand out to him solely because of his secret parkour skills but also because of the example he sets as a person. Whether it is pushing him through a difficult exercise or helping him finish a pre-calculus problem, Quentin is unflagging in his help.

That generosity comes from another surprising attribute of Russell: his faith. Not only does this Spiderman go to church, but Chris is the minister of Veritas Church and Quentin has followed his father by dedicating his life to serving Christ.

“Almost all I do is homework and read my Bible,” Quentin says.

“Parkour is just this thing I occasionally do.”

Chris describes his son’s relationship with God, citing the hours Quentin spends reading his Bible each day. He says Quentin began

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lifestyle | how to

HOW TO:

Decode Denim The jean-on-jean look, otherwise known as the Canadian suit, is a daring outfit to attempt in the fashion world. With careful planning and a few helpful pointers, anyone can be a diva in denim. story tariq carimichael | art lisa cai

S

porting two different pieces of denim within the attention to the naked same ensemble can be a tricky feat. For most people, wrists. it poses too large of a risk. Many doubt they have Selecting the right the charisma or nerve to even consider pulling off such an pair of dungarees may outfit. If executed correctly, though, anyone can pull off the serve as another obstacle dicey double denim look. in the quest to pull off Joe’s Jeans store manager Chris Fox sheds light on the this daring look. Against various ways to put together the perfect “Canadian suit,” the suggestion of a few a term he says tabloids like People and US Weekly have fashion bloggers on coined as the unofficial term for a denim top and jeans.

Yahoo! answers, matching “People come in all the time asking for advice on how tonalities (dark jeans with to rock the “Canadian suit,” he says. “In urban areas like a dark jacket) is not fashion downtown Cincinnati, people tend to wear the same forward. It lacks creativity tones of denim together.” and would showcase the fact Fox adds that in the high fashion world, matching that too much time was spent denim is not the most desired look. on gratuitous detail. The “In Europe, designers don’t typically match their objective is to pull off this denim,” Fox says. “Denim with a different rinse gives a look effortlessly. Choose a more authentic look.” white camisole under a fitted Take emphasis away from the denim by pairing the jean vest to exude confidence. outfit with complimentary accessories. East senior Rachel For ladies, it is assumed Pairing denim of matching wash is a fashionable Jencen advises on how to effectively accessorize to bring a that most will choose a pair of look if done correctly. refreshing twist to the classic staple look. skinny jeans. Another option “I would definitely break up the outfit with a patterned would be vintage flare jeans that emphasize the right curves. belt that emphasizes the waist,” Jencen says. “I would use One can complete the look with red boat shoes or neutral bright accessories like earrings and bracelets to bring some boots. originality to it.”

Wilkerson advocates wearing a loud shoe.

Girls should integrate necklaces and other jewelry at their “I would opt for an animal print shoe,” she says. “I choosing. Make sure jewelry is the same accent. Accessorize think a leopard-print pump or a red pair of heels would go in a tasteful way and try to ensure that all jewelry matches; seamlessly with the rest of the outfit.” for example, gold with gold, black with black, etc.

A man should choose a pair of jeans best suited for him, Fashion merchandising and the same advice applies to women. Do associate Cindy Wilkerson agrees not feel obligated to wear slim fit jeans. It all Denim with a different that accessories are a great way to boils down to personal taste. A dark wash rinse gives you a innovate with denim. pair of boot-cut jeans will blend perfectly “I’m a big fan of oversized with the rustic denim jacket and black more authentic look. costume jewelry,” says Wilkerson.

V-neck. Finish off the look with a dark pair “I would tie in some gold bangles with a huge cocktail ring, of boat shoes or desert boots. When wearing a leatherbut they should never clash. Metallic tones should stay the strap, try to coordinate a uniform color of leather. Unlike same throughout.” denim, leather is an accessory and should not detract from For guys, a black V-neck under a rustic denim jacket the look. provides a noticeable contrast that is aesthetically pleasing Try not to stress over the outfit. The goal is to make and comfortable. If the weather permits, roll up the jacket a statement. If these simple guidelines are followed, there sleeves a few inches. Make a statement by slapping on a is no reason why anyone should be unable to pull off a braided rope bracelet or a leather-strap watch that draws brilliant Canadian suit. n

“

”

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 27

lifestyle | photoshoot

Inspired by Navajo tribal prints, colorful hair feathers and basic earth tones, the look this autumn is

Hot and

Dangerous story christina wilkerson photos sierra whitlock models ethan leonow and alessandra blackburn

S Tribal sweater poncho (Papaya): $27.99 Earth tone sweater (H&M): $29.95 Faux deerhide moccassins (Urban Outfitters): $68.00 28 | Spark | October 17, 2011

ticking feathers in someone’s hair has been in style since the Native Americans and has returned, as all trends do. When American Idol judge Steven Tyler flaunted them on the reality show earlier this spring, the infamous feather extensions’ popularity skyrocketed in the months following.

Mitchell’s Salon and Day Spa has seen an enormous increase in the popularity of their feather extensions since the trend’s rebirth.

“One of the best problems a business can have is anything being so popular that the demand exceeds the supply,” Mitchell’s Managing Vice President Vivian Moore says.

“This would describe the overall situation of hair feathers in our industry.”

As their popularity increases, so does the feather’s price.

“I tested the popularity initially with single

feathers priced $15 each, with complimentary application and removal,” Moore says. “[The feathers] were so widely popular that I quickly upgraded to higher quality ‘bundles’ which are more unique and compared to $15.00 each are still a good value at $50.00.”

The fact that some feather extensions are expensive does not stop avid trend-followers like East senior Maggie Finney.

She caught on to the trend as early as March of this year with the help of a hairstylist who convinced her that “they were fun and the bright colors would pop against my hair color.”

Moore agrees that the feathers come with benefits for those who wear them.

“Some of the benefits of using the extensions are adding different colors to hair without having to apply chemicals and wash and style the feathers just as you would

Spark

High School Lakota East n Online Editio

lakotaeastspark .com lifestyle online

go online for more photos from this month’s photoshoot

White T-shirt (Forever 21): $4.50 Green knit sweater (Forever 21): $17.80 Tribal print skirt (H&M): $17.95 Faux deerhide boots (Minnetonka): $59.99

Tribal print T-shirt (TJ Maxx ): $5.99 Denim over shirt (H&m): $14.99

normally style your hair,” she says.

In addition, buyers can choose between natural bright colors and eye-catching patterns.

“There is something for everyone, no matter the individual style,” Moore says.

But there are downsides, as in Finney’s case, when the feather extensions do not always maintain their perfect condition.

“I had mine for about four months,” she says. “They grew out so far and were so worn out and faded that I finally took them out at the end of July.”

Even though feathers became a hot commodity months ago, the demand still manages to exceed the supply. These feathers come from roosters that are bred specifically for the long plumes on their tails. The roosters are euthanized at 18 months so that their feathers can be harvested effectively. Because

of this, farms and other producers have not been able to make the supply keep up with the demand.

Regardless of the rooster euthanasia, women of all ages still flock to the trend.

“The range of ages of women who are wearing extensions is surprisingly wide,”Moore says. “I’ve seen girls as young as their early teens and [women in their] 60’s wearing them.”

It is not certain how long the feathers will survive in the fashion industry after their resurgence in the spring, but for now, they are here to stay.

“As with many things, they are a fun way to creatively express individual style in much the same way as selecting what to wear or the color of eye shadow or nail polish,” Moore says. “It’s all part of the fun of being both a girl and a woman.” n

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 29

With the constant growth of population in West Chester Township, Spark highlights the aspects of our community that have

POPPED UP O story sean lewis | photo illustration makenzie walters and sophia li | infographic devin casey and megan fogel

L

ooking around the community, it is hard to grasp how West Chester Township was able to develop so rapidly in a matter of a decades from what was once acres of farmland to the booming commercial center it is today.

In 1993, the 20/20 Committee of Butler County—20 people who looked 20 years into the future—prepared their “2012 Vision” for the Union Township Trustees. Not only was their vision successfully implemented, but the initiative for change it brought to West Chester also played a huge role in the incredible transformation of the community. West Chester has been recognized as one of the finest places to live in the country— ranking number 32 out of 100 on CNN Money’s 2010 list of best places to live.

The most remarkable aspect of this growth is to look at what exactly brought upon this commercial explosion and to answer the golden question: why West Chester?

Residents who have lived in the area for more than 20 years agree that the construction of the Union Centre Boulevard interchange on one of the most heavily traveled highways in the United States, I-75, played a vital role in the area’s commercial explosion. Following its completion in December of 1997, interchange traffic accommodated about 5,000 vehicles daily.

Today, an average of 44,000 vehicles pass through the Union Center Boulevard exchange.

“We try to partner with organizations. In fact, that’s been the genius of West Chester,” says President of the West Chester Board of Trustees Catherine Stoker. “The farmers that owned the land, the developers that were in the process of buying land, the businesses that wanted to expand and government representatives all sat around the table and asked where they were going to find approximately $26 million to build that intersection.”

After getting a small group together to help privately fund the interchange, construction began. The project was completed within eight months and businesses started planting themselves in Union Centre.

“Marriott was one of the first [businesses] that went up, and after that, they just started popping up all over,” says Stoker.

In addition to the services provided by the businesses, the size of the commercial development made it so that residents were required to pay only less than 50 percent of their property tax shares. Together with the financial success, the amenities and additional benefits like the school system, Union Centre became extremely attractive for residential growth.

“If it hadn’t been for everyone getting together and reaching a consensus on the goal, which was to build that intersection and the boulevard, [as well as agreeing on] how it was going to happen, [Union Centre] couldn’t have happened,” says Stoker, “but it did.”

1970

POPULATION:

12,795

In 2004, there were

1,515.33

acres of farmland in West Chester.

The Hughes School was built in

1887

and housed grades one through eight

O N THE GRID 2010

POPULATION:

60,958

Rave Motion Pictures West Chester 18 opened in

2003

The Square at Union Centre, built in 2006, cost

$2.2 million

After Lakota High School split, Lakota East and Lakota West High School were built in

1997

2010 lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 31

gro th

The West Chester Firehouse is one of the many public buildings that have undergone renovations.

In addition to the commercial growth that resulted from the construction of the interchange, the reasons for West Chester’s booming development can also be attributed to its unique location.

“Being along the interstate and smack dab in the middle of two major metropolitan areas—Cincinnati and Dayton—has brought tremendous growth,” says West Chester Township Administrator Judith Boyko.

The 2012 Vision, along with its plan to create a business and residential hot-spot, also made preserving the ecology and resources of the area a primary commitment. From requiring that green space remains around 15 percent of the total land area to ensuring that all water, sewage and electric utilities are renovated, the initial goal of the 20/20 Committee was to support long term development in the community. Before the interchange was constructed, Stoker campaigned for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise the substandard water and sewage systems throughout the area, which ultimately helped provide for the community’s commercial growth.

“I can still remember sitting there [listening to] the head of the Ohio EPA’s drinking water department saying, ‘But we don’t see why you keep complaining. [The water system] complies with most of the laws.’ And I said, ‘Most of the laws? How do we know which of the ones count?’”

Stoker says. “[The FBI] got involved and told Ohio EPA to ‘fix it,’ and that’s when they put all the new water reservoirs around here.”

Among all of this development, the controversial idea of incorporating West Chester has been a subject for debate for a number of years. By definition, a city is an incorporated municipality with its boundaries and legal powers delegated by the state, which largely contrasts the limited local government that townships hold by themselves, usually by means of an elected board of trustees. While cities expand, they have the option of incorporating (annexing) land that belongs to nearby townships, which can ultimately lead to the township entirely disappearing, as what happened with Mill Creek Township in Hamilton when Cincinnati was expanding.

“The biggest threat to a township form of government is annexation.

Mason grabbed all kinds of land. If you do your job as a township, there is no economic incentive in becoming a city,” says Former Union Township Trustee Dick Alderson. “A township has to keep a balanced budget, which keeps everything nice and clean.”

The point that big businesses can thrive without fear of government

32 | Spark | October 26, 2011

intrusion is paramount to the success of a township. And similar points, such as the fact that townships do not assess an income tax, help to facilitate business growth.

As a result of several factors, including the immense business growth throughout the area, the population of West Chester has almost doubled from 37,879 in 1990 to about 60,958 in 2010 and is expected to grow to nearly 80,000 over the next 20 years. At that point, the land will be almost completely developed, and the area will be close to reaching its critical mass, or maximum expansion. The 2012 Vision’s spiritual predecessor, the 2025 Vision Plan, aims to preserve West Chester’s status as one of the finest places to live in the United States through sustainability.

However, growth is still encouraged, as the 2025 Vision plans to have 67 percent of property taxes contributed by commercial and industrial sources by 2015.

The trustees regard some of the ambitious goals of the 2025 Vision as “lofty” and cannot say whether some strategies may exceed the authority of a township versus a city. By 2020, West Chester can expect to see a number of improvements in the thriving community, including universal wireless access, a significant increase in park development and bike paths and neighborhood gathering places within half a mile of all homeowners. In addition, the trustees plan to bring a nationally recognized institution of higher learning and a research facility to West Chester by the same year. In order to facilitate the goal that this area can be a regional center for medicine, West Chester’s goal is to construct an innovative medical complex that is on par with a leading, state-of-the-art facility like that of the Cleveland Clinic in 2025.

In all, the plan is to foster the mentality that brought West Chester up from the quiet, small-town community of farmers to its current role as a groundbreaking commercial leader in the Cincinnati-Dayton metroplex, and to sustain that leadership.

“The ‘in’ place was Blue Ash. Eventually, West Chester became the ‘in’ place. When another community takes West Chester’s place, I want us to be the ‘Blue Ash of the future.’ I don’t want us to be another Hamilton where all of the businesses left,” Stoker says.

The greatest realization is that, despite limited resources, West Chester has a remarkable opportunity to put the finishing touches on a prospering community that can provide a lasting groundwork for generations to come.

The Rave Revolution A modern movie theater has become the center of an entertainment area known as the Streets of West Chester, further revolutionizing the township. story nugeen aftab | photo sierra whitlock

I

t really was not that long ago when West Chester had more farms than it had stoplights. The little town that West Chester was known as was filled with farmers and small business owners, a town of only 24,000 residents in 1980. That has changed dramatically, however, with the growth of West Chester from a small, rural town to a lively, modern suburb.

The 1997 construction of the highway interchange to I-75 played a huge role in that.

“One of the reasons why we’re a hot spot is being our location, on highway I-75,” Board of Trustees president Catherine Stoker says. “We are exactly halfway between Cincinnati and Dayton.”

The highway interchange and the construction of Union Center Boulevard provided a convenient place for businesses to locate.

“Larry Shumacher paid to create the Union Center Boulevard from the intersection over to 747 to convince people to form that intersection to highway 75. Immediately buildings started coming up,” Stoker says.

“Marriott was one of the first ones that went up and they just started popping up all over.”

One of those businesses is an 18-screen megaplex theater called Rave Motion Pictures West Chester 18, which opened in 2003. More commonly known as the “Rave,” it has become the center of an entertainment area called the Streets of West Chester.

“There was a zoning hearing to allow Rave Motion Pictures to build at the Streets of West Chester. They needed to have a zoning hearing to come there,” former West Chester administrator Dave Gully says. “The competitor, Showcase Cinemas, showed up with a room full of people, warning us that if Rave Motion Pictures built their movie theater there, [the Rave] would be out of business in one year. Well not only has Rave Motion survived, but it even bought out 3 showcase cinema locations…

I’m pretty proud of that.”

West Chester’s population has multiplied by more than one and a half times, from 40,000 to 63,000 in the last 17 years, the great amount of young families contributing to the growth in demand for the Rave.

“We’ve definitely seen much more clientele, much more diverse clientele [because of the growth],” Rave general manager David Clemons says. “Because of that, we’ve made improvements to our building to attract that clientele.”

The growth has been especially big in the last few years because of the economic recession.

“Business has increased [over the last few years],” Clemons says.

“Business usually is always increasing in the theater industry but especially in poor economic times [like this one].”

Corporate businesses like the Rave, which owns or manages 65 theaters across the nation, use the area’s demographics, rate of growth, surrounding businesses, traffic flow, and rate of development in order to choose a location for their cinema. The area that was chosen, Clemons feels, is a great one for both the Rave and its surrounding businesses.

“We’re mostly surrounded by restaurants,” Clemons says. “There’s a clientele that, us being the anchor of the complex, we’re able to provide a customer base with those restaurants so they’re doing quite well.”

Barnes and Nobles store manager Kristina Lafary agrees.

“It’s been really great for us,” Lafary says. “We get a lot of people

Rave Motion Pictues has become the weekend hotspot for moviegoers in the West Chester area.

to come into our store while they’re waiting for a movie to start so they come in before or they come in after and get a cup of coffee with us.”

She also says that the business, though it runs by itself, caters to avid moviegoers alongside book readers.

“Usually if there’s a movie coming out that’s related to a book, we’ll have a table to go with it set up and a few more people working,” Lafary says. “We have a DVD section in our store and usually have lots of really great sales going on back there.”

P.F. Chang’s assistant manager Katie Keyanzwy says that there is more business later in the evening on movie premiere opening nights.

“People will come in before going to see the movie, so we get a later crowd in here,” Keyanzwy says. “Even if it’s on a Tuesday, we will still get more business.”

Keyanzwy also says that P.F. Chang’s does trade offs with the Rave, swapping gift cards for movie tickets.

“Sometimes if we have a special couple that’s out for their anniversary, we’ll give them movie passes to treat them extra for coming in to dine with us,” Keyanzwy says. “We’ll give them a little incentive to go over to the movie and come back and see us again.”

East student Hannah Marshall says she enjoys going to the Streets of West Chester. “[Me and my friends] will go eat dinner and then go see a movie,” Marshall says. “Everything being so close makes it a really fun time.”

West Chester tries to put an emphasis on entertainment, with six percent of all land being used for retail.

“West Chester’s a fun place to live in. We got the cardboard regatta and the zip-line over in Warren County,” Stoker says. “This is a fun area to live in, raise a family in, and work in.”

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 33

ORIGINAL PHOTO: 2001 Due to the construction of the I-75 Union Centre Interchange, Butler County Transportation Improvement District saw widened West Chester Road. The project was completed at the end of Sept. 2001. photo sierra whitlock

DEC. 2, 1997 Once a transmitter site of American radio programming during WWII, the Voice of America relay station halted operations in 1994, shifting to satellites. photo sierra whitlock

2002 The number seven schoolhouse on Dudley Farm was located on the corner of Tyersville and Cox roads since the 1880s and converted into a private residence in 1916 and now replaced by a Walgreens. photo sierra whitlock

SEPT. 3, 2003 Construction of the 38-acre stocked lake in the 435acre Voice of America Park cost $2.3 million and was funded by the Butler County MetroParks Board. photo makenzie walters

gro th

Educational Growth The changing facades of the school buildings that line the West Chester area are a minor indicator of the changes occuring in the system. story jenn shafer | photo makenzie walters | infographic shivang patel The old, one-roomed Hughes Schoolhouse still stands next to Liberty Elementary. Liberty is an old building itself, but not nearly as historic as the small building beside it, with its old-fashioned chalkboard and real wooden desks. It is a perfect history lesson of how things used to be and how education has evolved since 1887.

The one room in the school house might not even fit an entire class now. Lakota has built 14 elementary schools and early childhood centers, four junior highs, two freshman buildings and two high schools.

Chalkboards have mostly been taken over by dry-erase boards and almost every class has a computer and 3M projector. Students used to come to school when they could, but harvesting crops was more important to kids in farming families. Now daily attendance is required by the law.

While many major modifications have been made over the past 100 years, the education system continues to adjust to meet new academic standards and to keep up with new scientific research and technological advances. Just within the last 20 years, education has grown exponentially in the Lakota district and nationwide.

Lakota was mainly rural farmland a couple decades ago. White farmers made up a majority of the population, but as the demographic has changed, so has the school district.

“Culturally we are a more diverse district with more special-education students and more ESL [English as a Second Language] students,” Assistant Superintendent Ron Spurlock says. “In Lakota there are over 900 students that speak English as their second language. There are over 72 different languages spoken. We welcome diversity because it is a representation of what this country is all about.”

The school district has grown rapidly in diversity and also in overall population over the past couple decades and has become too big for one high school. Lakota High School split into East and West 15 years

Diversified Demographics

1

Over the last 50 years, West Chester’s population has increased tenfold, making it the largest township in Ohio.

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 Medium Household Income data not available

=$10,000 in Medium Household Income

1823

Liberty Township was divided by the Butler County Commissioners, creating Union Township

36 | Spark | October 26, 2011

1957

Union and Liberty Townships consolidated schools to form Liberty-Union School District

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

2000 2010

Residents voted to change the name of Union Township to West Chester Township

West Chester becomes the largest township in Ohio

information U.S. Census Bureau

Race info not available White Asian American Hispanic or Latino Black or African American American Indian and Alaskan Native =3,000 people

ago and has had to continue to build more elementary schools and early childhood centers. More students are attending school because of the greater emphasis on education.

Education has become a top priority in the United States and other countries around the world with the numbers of students furthering their education continuing to rise. Between 1990 and 2009, the number of high school graduates rose by about 700,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. A high school education was once the basic requirement needed for a student to find a job that would provide a salary to keep him or her above the poverty line. Now a college degree is expected for most higher-paid careers. Higher education has become an expectation for many families, so the numbers of students attending college following high school also went up by about 700,000 between 1991 and 2009.

In order to get into the college of the students’ choice, teachers are encouraging them to challenge themselves with more rigorous courses.

“We push academic rigor and encourage kids to take more Honors and Advanced Placement (AP) classes and college prep classes,” East Principal Dr. Keith Kline says. “There are fewer kids in the regular classes because we are pushing students harder each year.”

At Lakota East alone, the number of AP tests taken has more than doubled since 2003, rising from 251 tests taken to 618 taken last May. There are now more AP classes than ever, Psychology especially, at East with several sophomores enrolled in these classes, including AP U.S. History.

Taking more challenging classes shows rigor on a college resume and helps to prepare students for college level classes, especially since they can earn college credit by taking AP tests in May. “We are trying to get more customized instructions for the students,” Spurlock says. “There is a more flexible curriculum with programs like

credit-flex, which allows students to get credit for things outside of class.

There is also dual credit, online learning and Post-Secondary options.”

The AP tests give students a chance to earn college credit, but the tests cover a wide range of topics that teachers have to cover quickly, so there is not much time for depth. The same is true for all standardized tests and the curriculum overall.

“The accountability of tests has been streamlined and there is no time for in-depth analysis of a topic because students have to know a lot for the tests,” Teachers Academy instructor Crissy Lauterbach says.

“With the AP tests at the beginning of May, teachers lose a whole month of class time. OGT’s are in March which forces teachers to cram in more by just skimming the surface.”

Spurlock knows that there is a greater emphasis on testing and data than before, which drives the school curriculum. The 35-year old educator said that schools have become more state-content driven and nationally mandated because of the No Child Left Behind program.

According to Lauterbach, although students are challenging themselves by taking more difficult classes, the growing trend is that they are not putting in the suggested level of effort.

“There has been a decline in students’ work ethic,” Lauterbach says.

“I’ve noticed that the quality of work has gone down overall, especially since the grading scale was changed because students know they can do less to get the same grade.”

She also thinks students expect more from teachers and that they want to be led through without taking charge of their own education.

“There has also been a shift in responsibility,” Lauterbach says.

“Student’s used to be responsible for the information and today a lot of that responsibility has been pushed back to the teachers. Kids think ‘you have to teach me, you have to show me.’”

Some of these changes are caused by the environment in which kids have grown up during this generation. Kids are growing up in a fastpaced world where they can get their information at the touch of button.

“A huge difference you see is the interaction between students and teachers. Before the interaction was teacher-dominant, they were ‘sit and get’ classes, you sit and get the information from the teacher,” Lauterbach says. “Now students have shorter attention spans and tend to think ‘what’s in it for me? What skills do I have to learn to be successful?’ Now it has to be more personalized with games and simulations. Teachers have to use different learning styles and put students on the spot.”

Teachers also used to fill their rooms with brightly colored posters to decorate the room and stimulate the kids. Because kids are surrounded by distractions at home and have shorter attention spans, however, newer schools are trying to calm kids down. The new Wyandot school for kindergarten and first graders is decorated with monotone colors like white and gray which helps to get the kids to focus. Older students also have a hard time focusing, but not because of posters on the wall. Students have a hard time absorbing the information when the information is given through basic lectures.

Hughes School, located next to Liberty Early Childhood Center, is the oldest schoolhouse in West Chester.

process and let them work in teams to solve it because kids learn better that way,” Coats-Haan says. “During a lecture you can watch, sleep, take notes, anything. With other activities, they are more engaged.”

The 3M projectors have enabled teachers to show students more examples to keep them interested, but some teachers feel that the machines are relied on too much.

“Technology is a tool and should be used as a tool,” Lauterbach says. “It should not be the dominant factor because kids need to learn to communicate and read emotion by interacting with people. It has become a very impersonal world.”

The advancement of technology has given teachers new ways to teach with visuals. Although it has decreased face to face interaction, it has made it easier to communicate at any time.

“Technology has evolved and is so important in daily lessons at school,” Spurlock says. “Technology is making the world smaller and smaller. It is impacting everyone’s lives.”

Before the days of high-tech devices, students walked to the old schoolhouse to expand their knowledge. Many aspects of education have changed, but the purpose has stayed the same.

“Students still come to school and want to learn, make new friends and find acceptance,” Spurlock says. “That hasn’t changed.”

The standard of education has remained constant as well. Lakota has been rated “Excellent” for 10 years, which has attracted families to the area and allowed for the growth of the thriving, suburban community.

“TECHNOLOGY HAS EVOLVED...[IT] IS MAKING THE WORLD SMALLER AND SMALLER. IT IS IMPACTING EVERYONE’S LIVES.” East physics teacher Sandee Coats-Haan explains that she has never been a fan of lectures. The changes in student’s mentality has allowed her to slowly move away from straight lectures and allow the kids to think things out on their own and with others.

“Instead of lecturing, it is better to guide students through the

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 37

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Innovating Infrastrucure photos makenzie walters and permission from west chester township administration

Library of Change story christian roehm In 2009, the West Chester Library was struggling.

The library reduced their hours and closed on Fridays. They laid people off and stopped buying books. Times were rough for the library, but not because there was a lack of public interest. In fact, the need for the West Chester Library has grown along with the West Chester and Liberty Township populations.

“The main issue is that the population in [Butler County] has grown but our budget has not,” says Anita Carroll, Director of the Middletown Public Library system.

State funding was no longer enough to keep up with the growth of the area. West Chester Library put a levy on the ballot in 2010 for the first time in the Middletown Public Library system’s history, which passed with 50.2 percent of the vote in Butler County.

“Libraries are primarily funded through the state of Ohio,” says Steven Mayhugh, who is the Branch Manager of the West Chester Library. “For many libraries, including the [West Chester Library, the government] is the sole source for funding. But with budget cuts that began in the early 2000’s, which climaxed a couple of years ago, we just didn’t have the funds to fully operate anymore so we had to get on the ballot and raise funds at the local level. And [by passing the levy], we’ve been able to bounce back a little bit.”

Mayhugh has been the Branch Manager of the West Chester Library since 1996 and has helped the library keep up with community demands.

“When I started with this system 15 years ago, we were working out of a building that that was 14,000 square feet large,” he says. “We had about 300,000 items checked out each year from the library. Our new building is 48,000 square feet and we have 1.2 million items checked out here each year. We’re one of the busiest libraries in southern Ohio.”

Since its construction in 1983, the old library on Cox Road experienced several expansions. Despite the construction, the building was not fit for the size of the expanding community it was serving “It was far too small,” Mayhugh says. “That building was built when West Chester was just a small, small suburb. By the time we moved [to

35

of 747 East students surveyed go to Union Centre to eat, watch a movie at Rave Motion Pictures PERCENT or shop on a weekly basis

the new location], trying to check out 1.2 million books out of a building that size was just unattainable.”

The new West Chester Library in Union Centre opened in 2009 and is located next to Lakota West High School. Because of the close proximity to the high school, many West students use the library as a place to study.

“One of the reasons we’re here is to provide a place for all students and teens to study and work,” he says. “And not only do have West

38 | Spark | October 26, 2011

Before and after photos of the West Chester Library’s construction across from Lakota West High School.

[students] here, but we also get students from Antonelli College and Indiana Wesleyan University who study [here]on a regular basis as well.”

East senior Farah Hussain uses the library to stay focused while working on homework. “[I don’t] get interrupted when I go to the library,” Hussain says. “At home there are many distractions, such as TV and Facebook. The library keeps me focused because [I don’t have those distractions].

While some students prefer to work alone, others would rather study in groups with their friends. The traditional library stereotype has shifted to reflect the changing needs of the community.

“We’re encouraging collaboration,” Carroll says. “It’s obvious by the way the furniture is arranged that they created a space [to gather].”

Along with encouraging more collaboration, the West Chester Library recognizes that in order to stay relevant, it needs to adapt alongside with the changing community.

“I think for a long time libraries had the standard that if you didn’t behave correctly or if you didn’t do this correctly, we didn’t want you anyway,” Carroll says. “It’s completely different because we’re actually functioning a lot like a business. We realize that we have to market ourselves and alter our services as society changes.”

As e-readers are increasing in popularity, the library is trying to stay modern is by offering people the opportunity to check out e-books. The library currently offers e-books, but starting January 2012, the library will be pioneering a new product called the 3M Cloud Library. This service will allow people to check out e-books and have them transferred onto their e-reader, tablet or smart phone. A 3M e-reader can be used to read e-books without buying a device.

When it comes to the West Chester Library, Carroll and Mayhugh are making sure that the library remains an important part of the community, even as the way people go about their reading and research changes.

“The library changes just as technology and [the community] change,” Mayhugh says. “One of the reasons libraries are [still] around is because

The West Chester Township Hall Administration Offices.

we see how society and the community are changing, and we keep up with it. But especially nowadays, we’re not just watching. We’re being proactive and trying to be at the forefront of change.”

Extreme Makeover: Township Edition story sophia li West Chester used to be a bleak scene. With only two traffic lights in the entire town, the rural community was little more than corn and soybean fields and the occasional warehouse.

“We had friends that would ask us if the newspaper was delivered out here,” long-time community residents Dick and Patti Alderson say.

“That’s how far out in the country it was.”

In just 20 years, West Chester has transformed dramatically from a farm town to what community members can now call an “employment epicenter” and the second largest township in Ohio.

Just think of it as “Extreme Makeover: Township Edition.”

The exponential growth of West Chester and Liberty Township’s infrastructure and economy in the past two decades can be traced back to a meeting in the late 1990s, where community members and trustees decided to urbanize West Chester.

Amidst opposition from older residents who, at the time, wanted to preserve West Chester’s rural communities, the trustees decided that urbanization was the best choice for the area’s future.

The biggest factor that contributed to the growth of West Chester has been the Union Center Boulevard (UCB) interchange. According to West Chester Township Board of Trustees President Catherine Stoker, the interchange has directly supported $2 billion of new commercial construction, over 20, 000 new jobs, and all the restaurants and shops found in the Streets of West Chester entertainment district.

Not a change that came easily, the UCB interchange required township trustees, developers, businesses and Ohio Department of Transportation officials alike to sit around a table and “somehow make [the $26 million it cost to build the intersection] happen.”

A development that happened more by chance, the growth of Voice of America (VOA) was, according to previous West Chester Township Administrator Dave Gully, “an entirely different set of circumstances from UCB.”

“When the government decided to abandon the VOA property, they asked us what we wanted to do with it,” Stoker remembers. “[VOA] had big open areas and everyone simply wanted to leave it as park land.”

Gully, along with MetroParks of Butler County, was able to acquire more than 500 acres of parkland from the general services administration. The government, which needed to recoup losses from

taking down the antennas previously in VOA, designated a portion of the land for commercial development, known as the VOA Centre.

After VOA was developed, McGinnis Park, a 45-acre plot of land off Cox Road that consisted of several baseball and soccer fields, suddenly became very valuable because of its proximity to VOA. To free up the land for development, West Chester did a land swap, turning the ground near Beckett Ridge into Beckett Park so it could sell McGinnis Park for $45 million. The addition, along with VOA Park, has quadrupled the amount of park space in West Chester.

While the development of UCB and VOA has encouraged huge business success, “The biggest infrastructure story in West Chester and Liberty Township really isn’t roads and interchanges—it’s schools,” Gully says. “The community has built more schools and bigger schools and spent more money on schools than anything else. The amount of money [invested into their construction] dwarfs all the money for roads and shopping centers and hospitals.”

When Gully first came to West Chester, the only junior high and high school were both in the building where Creekside Early Childhood School is now. Since then, Lakota has grown to include 22 buildings, with two high schools for grades 10-12, two freshman schools, four junior highs, 10 elementary schools and four early childhood schools.

Lakota, however, is not the only educational system in the area that has expanded. Miami University has also increased infrastructure in West Chester by opening a campus in VOA. The rise in jobs and commercial businesses throughout West Chester in the past couple of decades has not only attracted more residents but also helped the community by paying a greater percentage of taxes.

“When I first became a township trustee, residents paid about 75 percent of property taxes in West Chester,” 17-year trustee Stoker says.

“Now commercial development pays for 50 percent of property taxes.”

Although Gully considers additions of infrastructure headed by large corporations—such as the recently-built GE Aviation complex— “wonderful acquisitions,” he is more impressed by the fact that 80-90 percent of the businesses in West Chester are small businesses.

“We pay attention to the big fish when we catch them,” Gully says, “but West Chester’s bread and butter are its small businesses. For every big business in West Chester like GE, there’s probably 5,000 small businesses. I think that’s the beauty of West Chester—the diversity of all those [industries].”

Gully also appreciates the stability that results from having a variety of businesses in West Chester.

“A town like Evendale has one big business, GE. If something happens to GE, Evendale’s [economy] is going down the tubes,” says Gully. “West Chester doesn’t have [to worry about that] because it has every kind of business you can imagine. There may be problems with one sector of our economy, but as long as there is not an across-theboard problem, West Chester will stay strong.”

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 39

INDEPTH REVIEW

BLINK-182 NEIGHBORHOODS

entertainment

indepth review dillon mitchell art daham marapane

T

he three members of Blink-182 should be shriveled up by now.

They should be crotchety old men, shooing kids off their yards, a trio of Clint Eastwood’s circa Gran Torino, sans racial epithets.

They should live in old, paint-chipped houses in the bowels of a suburban wasteland by now. They should be the antithesis of everything they so proudly and obnoxiously loathed 10 years ago.

It’s been eight long years since their last record, a well-received eponymous album, was released, after which Blink descended into a period of indefinite hiatus. The times have seen each member with their own side projects and personal tragedies. Drummer Travis Barker and bassist Mark Hoppus formed the band 44+, now also on indefinite hiatus, while frontman Tom DeLonge found success with his alternative rock band, Angels & Airwaves. Devastation fell upon the entire band in 2008 when their long time producer, Jerry Finn, died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Barker narrowly avoided death in an airplane crash, also in 2008. The combined tragedy of both events is cited by each member as a definitive cause of their reformation. Essentially, Blink-182 only exists again because of death.

And now there’s this. Neighborhoods is a weird album for Blink-182. It’s not a huge departure from their previous style. Sure, there’s some experimentation with synthesizers, but that started all the way back in 2003. The biggest change is in the lyrics. The familiar spritely youthfulness from their past albums is still here, but along with it comes a much darker tone. On the first single, “Up All Night,” DeLonge repeatedly sings, “All these demons/They keep me up all night.” It’s definitely their most angst-y record, almost an entire album made up of songs like “Adam’s Song,” off of 1999’s Enema of the State. Not like Blink didn’t already have heaps of sorrow and selfloathing, but before it was in a teenage punk, hate-your-parents sort of way. Now it’s a man in his forties who has seen too much pain in his life.

But even with all this misery, it’s still hard not to think of Blink-182 as those spiteful punks with no respect for authority. The types of songs that made them popular among teenage degenerates like “Dammit” and “The Rock Show,” are mostly missing on Neighborhoods. Instead, there are tracks like “Natives,” on which DeLonge sings, “I’m just a bastard child/Don’t let it go to your head/I’m just a waste of your time/ Maybe I’m better off dead.” It’s down trodden in typical Blink, teenage despair fashion, and while that’s nice and all, it’s impossible not to think that Beck did it better in 1993 when he sang “I’m a loser baby/so why

don’t you kill me?” And of course there’s heartbreak, specifically on the album’s best track, “Heart’s All Gone.” With a rougher tone, DeLonge sings “You say you speak from your heart, but your heart’s all gone.”

They’re simple and heartfelt. That’s all they need to be.

Blink-182 was the voice of teenagers and twenty-somethings with mohawks in their prime, but they struggle to prove it now. On the second single, “After Midnight,” Hoppus takes over the chorus, singing “We’ll stagger home after midnight/Sleep arm-in-arm in the stairwell/We’ll fall apart on the weekend/These nights go on and on.” It’s stereotypical and boring, especially considering Blink-182 has spun first dates and puberty into raucous, head-banging rock songs. The closest they come to matching their old attitude and tone is on “This is Home.” DeLonge sort of melodically grunts, “We fight like f***ing vagabonds/We dance like f***ing animals.” They get points for using vagabond in a song, but it’s not enough to sasiate the need for more songs like “What’s My Age Again?”

Aside from the lyrics though, Blink-182’s general sound isn’t too far off from previous works. The guitar is heavy, the drums are obnoxious, and the bass is mostly negligible. Everything just sounds heavier. Each song is a wave of sound building up before it comes crashing down, usually in the chorus. It’s formulaic, but it works to their advantage. Neighborhoods is a more controlled, more precise album compared to Blink-182’s earlier work. It is essentially juxtaposition almost. Everything about the new album is dark and dingy, but it’s their tightest record to date. The songs flow into each other and the themes of despair and loss are consistent throughout.

Neighborhoods should have never existed. Not because it’s a bad album, it’s not. It’s a great album, and a nice change of tone for Blink-182, but it sprouted from tragedy. That said, Neighborhoods is only sort of about letting the sorrow out. Hoppus said in an interview that the album’s name came from the idea that a neighborhood is a place for personalities of all types to conflict and converse. Neighborhoods is the medium on which these three men with completely different styles and attitudes can collectively channel their separate woes. It’s about getting their sorrows out; it’s about a 19-year-old band finally being able to connect with each other. Really though, it is about how everyone has to grow up eventually.

Even the band your mother didn’t want you listening to when you’re younger. n

“Essentially, Blink-182 only exists again because of death.”

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 41

entertainment | feature

KNOCK OUT IN

ROUND 2

East juniors Kevin Flynn, Chase Martin, Justin Brown and Garrett Loyd pose before going on stage.

story dillon mitchell | photo mandi ellsworth

A crew of four East juniors have assembled into a high school hip-hop group to generate music and lyrics in pure rap form, unburdened by the cynicism of adults.

I

gaze in horror, a certain type of horror that only the socially inept know, around the large room. The walls, a sickly, off-white color, are surrounding nothing at all really, just empty space with a few arcade cabinets sprinkled in for good measure. Behind me is a dark and empty ice rink. It would be a perfect setting for a B-horror film if it weren’t for the hundreds of teenagers packed into line, waiting for the doors to open. A girl wearing short shorts and a shirt that barely covers her breasts pushes past me, squealing, and jumps onto the back of a boy with his hair spiked like one of the self-proclaimed “guidos” from Jersey Shore. I imagine Hell is very similar.

And there I was, plastered against the edge of the ice rink. It was either that or the wall and I still wasn’t completely sure that the walls wouldn’t start bleeding at any moment.

Located in the heart of Sharonville’s rolling

42 | Spark | October 26, 2011

grey hills, the dingy family fun center, also known as The Sphere, seems like a weird meeting place for hundreds of teenagers, but tonight is Saturday, and that means the Greater Cincinnati Mixer, a “dance” held for high school teenagers, is about to start. Most of the dancing that takes place there looks like a less organized, less tv-friendly version of the William McKinley High School glee club’s performance of “Push It.” But I wasn’t just there to watch the little innocence I have left curl up and die.

I was there to watch some white guys rap.

More specifically, I was there to follow the Round 2 Crew, a four man hip-hop group, on the night of their first concert. Two weeks before, they self-released their “Back 2 School” mix tape via the online streaming service Soundcloud. It would be brash to claim the eight tracks are radio-ready, but the

beats are catchy enough and the lyrics are decent and school-appropriate. Their raciest line involves the word “homo,” but not in an offensive way. Tyler, the Creator would be disappointed, but most sane listeners will enjoy it to some extent. It’s pure hip-hop music, unburdened by the cynicism of adults.

The crew itself is made up of four East juniors: Justin Brown, Kevin Flynn, Chase Martin and Garrett Loyd. Justin and Kevin even have their own stage names. Justin calls himself Paper Face, or Pape, and Kevin affectionately refers to himself as K-Fly. Their producer, Garrett, has labeled each song as a “Gloyd Production,” even dropping the name at the beginning of some of their tracks, similar to what Jason Derulo does for the first half of his songs.

Men working the admissions table begin letting the hordes of teenagers into the party

“

IF KEVIN WAS NERVOUS EARLIER, HE DOESN’T SHOW IT ONSTAGE. WITHOUT HESITATION OR DOUBT, HE TEARS INTO THE ULTRAMASCULINE CHORUS

zone, and as the crowd surges forward, my photographer is approached by two guys, one of which she knows—East senior Sam Butler.

He is wearing a Round 2 Shirt, so I figure I should introduce myself. He asks if we’re here to support Round 2, and I tell him about the story I’m writing. Turning, he asks the nameless man if they can get us back stage.

He shrugs, and they go off to check. Ten minutes later, I spot the two coming back to the desk taking payments from the herds of teenagers waiting to be corralled “You two, VIP’s, come on,” they say, pointing at us. We go around the desks and follow them into a large gymnasium. The nameless man reveals himself to be Nick Morena, or, as he prefers, Nickel Nick. Sam and “Nickel” aren’t part of the group, just friends, supporters, fans. They lead us around a corner and through a green door with no

knob. Backstage, it turns out, is really just a small room, complete with the Round 2 backpack that adorned their mix tape’s cover.

Inside, Justin, Kevin, and Garrett are sitting on folding chairs.

Two hours before they perform.

The guys greet us and go back to talking.

They’ve just gotten back from a sound check and, from what they’re saying, everything went well. They’re constantly double-checking their lines to make sure everyone remembers them. Music is already flowing throughout the building, the bass echoing through the tiny room.

“Nervous?” I ask them.

“Not really,” Kevin says back, with an air of confidence in his words. Before I can ask any more questions, Nickel Nick starts jumping up and down to look through the tiny rectangular window eight feet up the wall.

“I see girls, I see girls!” he says excitedly.

The guys unanimously agree to go check out the female patrons that attend this sort of dance. Everyone files out of the tiny room and back into the dark passage by the gym’s eerie basketball court. We walk around the corner to the dance floor, barely filled up with people. The only sources of light are the spot lights and strobe lights surrounding the DJ, not too far off from an actual schoolsponsored dance. We’re only there for a few minutes before the group wanders off to the lobby, greeting friends and fans as they walk.

There are more “hellos” and “good lucks” once we get to the lobby, and Chase finally arrives, coming from his hockey game. Then it’s back to the tiny “backstage,” to relax and double-check everyone’s lines.

One hour before they perform.

We’re moved into a bigger room by some staff. Wires cover half the walls, criss-crossing behind chairs and across the floor. A man wearing Davoucci jeans and a yellow polo shirt starts talking to Garrett while the rest of the group is goofing around, trying to relax.

Garrett calls Justin and Kevin up to meet with the man, and when they’re done talking, Kevin looks shaken up. He tells me that the man added “Girls on Deck” to their set list, a song they hadn’t prepared for and a song on which Kevin both raps and sings the chorus.

Thirty minutes before they perform.

The group gets into a team huddle of sorts. Nickel Nick is giving an inspirational speech, the usual “you can do this,” and “this is your time.” Everyone seems hyped up, with the exception of Kevin. He’s sitting outside the circle, staring at the ground, mouthing his lines in “Girls on Deck.” It’s a sharp contrast from his attitude earlier, his nerves obviously getting the best of him.

Ten minutes before they perform.

I split from the group as they go up onto the stage to prepare for their performance.

The dance floor exhibits the true devastation of reality television upon today’s youth as girls bend over to allow their guys more opportune grinding angles, and I less-than-eagerly shuffle through the crowd for a front spot. Most of the music being blasted through the speakers is the stereotypical radio hits, and no one notices when the DJ switches over to Round 2’s “Ice in My Sprite.” But maybe that’s just because everyone is so focused on grinding.

Show time.

The DJ announces Round 2 Crew, and Kevin and Justin burst onto the stage to a wave of applause. They rip into “Famous,” the second song they released ahead of their mix tape. It’s a call to the fame they’re striving to achieve with a catchy chorus sandwiched between Justin and Kevin’s respective rap riffs. The crowd is going wild. This is just as good as anything from T-Pain or Soulja Boy to them. “Famous” comes to an end and the crowd bursts into large, raucous applause.

On stage, the guys are grinning, their smiles stretching from ear to ear. They waste no time before going on to the next track, the last minute addition, “Girls on Deck.”

If Kevin was nervous earlier, he doesn’t show it onstage. Without hesitation or doubt, he tears into the ultra-masculine chorus on which he raps, “Girls on deck/Got me howling what’s next/Signing off these checks/ It ain’t nothing I just flex.” Kevin lifts his shirt to showcase his abdominals for the crowd to faun over. The girls in the crowd go wild and bumrush the stage, surrounding “Pape” and “K-Fly” with all the women they could ever want. Justin and Kevin look at each other, a mutual feeling of general badassery passing between the two.

“Girls on Deck” is over just as quickly as it began. Round 2 has whipped the crowd into a frenzy, and the girls slowly rejoin the clothed, soft-core orgy.

The guys have one last song to perform, and they whip out the perfect one to end the concert, “Living My Dreams.” It’s their aptly named ode to fantasies come true, and it encompasses everything this concert means to them.

Justin raps the chorus of “Living My Dreams” for the last time, and the show is over. It was short, only a little over ten minutes, but the crowd is enthralled. An orchestra of claps and a symphony of squeals fill the air as Round 2 retires from the stage for the night. Behind the stage, past the tiny room, the guys are celebrating with friends and fans that came to support them. There are “congratulations” and “good jobs” and “that was so sicks,” everyone agreeing that the Round 2 Crew’s first performance was a success.

In their opinions, it’s only a matter of time before they’re famous. n

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 43

entertainment | film reviews

Film Reviews Moneyball · Paramount Studios · 133 Minutes · PG-13

tradition.

Enter Billie Beane (Brad Pitt): not a motivational guy.

He was the general manager (GM) of the 2002 Oakland Athletics team, and had to deal with the team’s severe lack of money. To make matters worse, the team’s three best players leave the Athletics for richer teams after losing to the Yankees in the last game of the World Series. The loss was a great upset, because it almost proved the underfunded Athletics could never win a fight against the Yankees, who grossed over $125 million a year.

Beane gets lucky when going to meet the Cleveland Indians GM

The way he treats baseball like the stock market shows the audience his willingness to try anything to get the team to win.

However, as well as Pitt plays the part, the movie would lose a lot without Hill playing Pete Brant. On screen, his logic and timid personality perfectly foils Pitt’s straight forward personality in the film. A particular scene where Beane tries to teach Brant how to cut players displays their odd, yet captivating relationship throughout the entire film.

Sure it has humor and relentless montages of games, both won and lost. But what sets this film apart is the fact that it is a battle of philosophies, and still truly captured the spirit of the underdogs, in this case, Beane and Brand. Accepted beliefs are challenged so much that Beane sets the new standard of baseball, which is truly remarkable.

So, in the end, the games themselves don’t matter. It’s all about the numbers.

Because not even Billie Beane watches the games. He lets them play out until he knows he has won.—Irfan Ibrahim

Every good film critic understands the importance of introducing the movie’s plot without giving away major plot twists. It’s simple, really. Set the scene for the reader. Give the reader just enough information to allow them to decide whether or not to see the film. No more, no less.

Every movie trailer is supposed to work the same way, without the criticism. If put together properly, the trailer is supposed to be what draws people to the theater.

That’s how movies make most of their money. Trailers are a tease to attract attention. To get people interested.

Just a tease.

Dream House is a suspense

thriller about a family that moves into an old, abandoned house a New England town. Will Atenton (Daniel Craig) leaves New York City with his wife Libby (Rachel Weisz) and two young daughters to focus on his novel. Soon after moving in, the family realizes that their house was the murder scene of a wife and two girls only a few year before. With the help of neighbor Ann Patterson (Naomi Watts), Will and his family are attempt to make sense of the murder and discover who killed the family.

The tease shouldn’t give away any more than that.

This is a movie review, but it’s hard to just review the movie without looking at the big picture.

That big picture includes the trailer.

It’s part of the package. Part of the movie viewing experience. But a trailer shouldn’t give away half the movie. It shouldn’t give away the plot twist that occurs halfway through the movie. It shouldn’t give away that Will Atenton is really Peter Ward, the man blamed for the murder of his family five years ago.

It’s a shame. Going in to the theater blind, Dream House is full of mystery and suspense. The actors have decent chemistry and the storyline is fun and interesting.

The movie is enjoyable because it’s surprising. Take away the suspense and you’re left with nothing of substance, nothing worth seeing.—Christian Roehm

Editor’s Choice

Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) and Peter Brand (Jonah Hill) in Moneyball.

S

ports movies trump live sports. Maybe if the MLB dramatized the games more and had speeches in locker rooms with epic music, I might be a little more interested. More people would watch golf on television if Bagger Vance was there to give advice on Tiger’s natural swing, in more ways than one.

Moneyball, based on the bestselling novel by Michael Lewis, is not the cookie-cutter sports movie though. It’s not all about a baseball team pushing themselves to win the last game of the World Series. Rather, it’s about a coach who wanted to revolutionize the game of baseball entirely and deny

Dream House

 

·Universal Pictures ·127 minutes ·Rated PG-13 44 | Spark | October 26, 2011



for possible player trades, however.

He doesn’t come out with new players, but a new assistant GM by the name of Peter Brant (Jonah Hill),a Yale grad and previously a player analyst. Brant also suggests a new strategy for the Athletics, focusing more on buying people who can get on base versus overall baseball ability.

The scouts find Beane’s methods ridiculous, stating baseball is not all about statistics and equations, but the game itself.

Beane and Brand keep using their method, trading players left and right in order to get the right players at the right time. Although a little indifference is met here and there on their methods, the Athletics go on to do one of the greatest achievements in all of baseball .

They win 20 straight games; the highest streak in all of MLB history.

Pitt does an excellent job as Beane, playing the big-time, tobacco-chewing GM to a tee. Not only is he able to balance the GM side of Beane, but also the player he never was, and the father that wants to be there for his daughter.

Killer Elite

·Open Road Films ·116 mintues ·Rated R

 If actor Jason Statham is known for anything, it would be for his extremely vigorous performances, packed with intense action scenes. It is no surprise that he has a similar role in Killer Elite, which is “based on a true story.”

Killer Elite wants to be portrayed as two different types of movies: an intense thriller and an incredible action extravaganza with explosions, car chases, shootouts, and dangerous stunts. Jason Statham is Danny and Robert De Niro accompanies him as Hunter.

The two highly-trained operatives take various jobs as assassins around the world. After a job in Mexico and upon seeing a young boy terrified and clearly scarred by the game, Danny decides he wants to quit the business.

After Danny quits his dangerous lifestyle, he begins his new life and predictably starts seeing an attractive young blonde (Yvonne Strahovski). While in

his new Australian home, Danny receives a letter from an old contact saying Hunter is being held captive in Oman by a sheikh (Rodney Afif). The Sheikh gives Danny certain instructions on how to go about killing three members of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) who killed three of the sheikh’s four sons. He must acquire taped confessions and proof that each man is dead, as well as stage each death to look like an accident. Danny must perform all of this in order to set his friend Hunter free. The movie is based in 1980, in the midst of an oil crisis, which ties in with the sheikh who owns a desert with millions of gallons of crude oil. Danny has enemies of his own, however, specifically fellow assassin, Spike (Clive Owen). From there, the plot proceeds in a manner typical of the film’s genre.

Unlike many suspense-filled films, Killer Elite falls flat. The

Taking a comedic approach in producing a movie about cancer is rather risky. The movie could easily shift between cheesy and offensive. 50/50 pulls it off flawlessly, however, with a balance of tear-jerking and side-splitting moments that are sure to leave a lasting impression upon any audience member.

The lifelike portrayal of a cancer patient’s journey would not have been possible without screen writer Will Reiser, the man whose story inspired the movie.

The plotline flows naturally due to its actuality. Reiser has an ability to recreate his story without preaching the life lessons he learned through his struggle.

He prefers to show rather than tell the theme, a technique that prevents the film from becoming too overbearing. Reiser writes the script so that it is not only a movie about a man dealing with cancer, but also about learning to live passionately in the face of fastapproaching death.

A number of factors contributes to this movie’s success, but the actors are by far the most essential part. Joseph GordonLevitt nails the part as Adam Lerner, a 27-year-old who has been diagnosed with a malignant spinal tumor. Every line and every facial expression is so genuine that one may become convinced that Gordon-Levitt actually has cancer.

Contrasting his mild-natured and heart-warming character is Seth Rogen’s role as Adam’s outspoken and loyal best friend, Kyle. Rogen has made his mark as the “funny guy” in numerous films, most notably 2007’s Knocked Up, and he acts no differently in this movie.

His witty remarks and hilarious one-liners help carry 50/50 by keeping it fresh and original in a world post-Funny People. More importantly though, Rogen’s ability to capture the emotional struggle of a confused friend attempting to cope adds to the overall depth of his character and of the movie.

50/50

·Summit Entertainment ·100 minutes ·Rated R

plot was nothing more than obvious and not at all original.

Advertisements for the film presented showdowns between Own and Statham but, viewers only recieved one, in the very last half hour of the production. The moviw took you everywhere you expected to go, but it was going nowhere worth going at all.

People are kicked, mostly below the belt, shot at, attacked, hit by moving vehicles and blown to pieces in explosions. Allegro, frightening music plays when the men are on deadly chases, and docile music is indeed saved for the more romantic scenes.

Needless to say, Killer Elite isn’t entirely brainless and corny, but does not provide much beyond the confinement of the genre. It is not boring, but it isn’t overly exciting either. The lack of powerful dialogue and insight from the two sides leaves it as just another common action film. —Jill Stelletell



However, the most relatable character is easily Katherine (Anna Kendrick), the caring and awkward amateur therapist who attempts to help Adam through his stages of grieving. Despite her countless mistakes, Katherine’s continuous effort to properly counsel Adam gives the movie an incredibly realistic character with which the audience members can relate. Every character adds their own respective angle on how those close to people diagnosed with cancer deal with the trauma.

Using an irreplaceable array of actors and a creative plotline, 50/50 subtly prompts audiences to face mortality with reality.

Each character deals with Adam’s life-threatening situation in their own unique ways, to which the audience can easily relate. The character interactions never feel forced, which is a rarity among most modern cinema. Touching, amusing and endearing, 50/50 is arguably one of the best movies of the year—Lauren Barker

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 45

entertainment | album reviews

Album Reviews Switchfoot · Vice Verses · Atlantic Records Editor’s Choice

lthough they’ve released three studio albums and earned a Grammy since 2003’s The Beautiful Letdown, Switchfoot still has the terrific sound they did in the breakout album. All those accolades aside, the band displays a strong combination of thought-provoking lyrics and diverse, excellently crafted music consisting of steady bass, defined drumming and admirable guitar work. Their last release, 2009’s Hello Hurricane, went in a new, more mainstream direction. As fantastic as that was, it is now

clear that Hello Hurricane was a necessary step toward something bigger, bolder and even better— Vice Verses.

The core theme of hope in Switchfoot’s music is still intact in Vice Verses. Frontman and guitarist Jon Foreman’s lyrics are as insightful and meaningful as ever.

This level of quality has always been a staple in Switchfoot’s albums, and it’s still prominent in Vice Verses as they ponder the polarity of life. The diversity of songs also hasn’t been lost either.

Vice Verses has some of their heaviest rock songs yet, such as the

intense lead single “Dark Horses,” while still including sonorous and mellow tracks like the title track, “Vice Verses.” “Vice Verses’s” beauty rivals that of “Sing It Out,” from Hello Hurricane.

Compared to Oh! Gravity and Hello Hurricane, there’s an overall brighter, more upbeat sound, and the lyrics are still as thought-provoking as ever.

“Blinding Light” does the best job epitomizing this new combination of the two different styles The best aspect of the album, however, is how it comes full circle, with the last song connecting back to the first.

“Afterlife” kicks the album off strong with a fantastically intense rocker. In the breathtaking closer “Where I Belong,” Foreman sings about hope in the next life, using the lyrics, “I still believe we can live forever/You and I, we begin forever now,” from the second verse of “Afterlife” with a similar meaning yet also very different,

Das Racist Relax

Rap is treated poorly by insufferable crackers because in their opinions its subject matter is limited to smacking booties and acquiring money. These honkies are wrong, because rap has also expanded into subject matter approved by the white man, such as how a male singer finds a woman attractive or how there are things wrong with the world, but that if we just carry on it will be okay. Das Racist hates all of these things, and in order to express to you how much they hate it, they recorded a song called “Booty in the Air” in which they rap “your booty is my lifeline,” because they cannot emphasize enough how dumb rap is sometimes. But they also make references to NineteenEighty-Four and 90s sitcoms, and if you don’t understand it, get

yourself over to rapgenius.com and get a dose of their “white devil sophistry.” And if you don’t get that, go to Wikipedia. And if you don’t get that, listen to something more Caucasian, like Simon and Garfunkel.

The Brooklyn-based group, composed of college-educated rappers Kool A.D. and Heems, along with their hype man Dapwell, first came into the public consciousness with their ridiculous joke song “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell,” which confused, bemused and terrified everybody. Relax is nothing like that song at all.

They’re not serious rap either, though. Relax is all over the place.

There’s a lot of indecision over whether or not it wants to be seriously good rap, or seriously

Switchfoot performs at the 2010 Lollapolooza music festival in Chicago.

A

Greedhead



46 | Spark | October 26, 2011

 melodious sound.

While every song on this record is terrific, “Where I Belong” falls in a league of its own. With the help of Drew Shirley’s stellar guitar work, shining vocal harmonies and beautiful lyrics, it is easily Switchfoot’s strongest album closer. Although it’s almost seven minutes long, “Where I Belong” is a majestic and conclusive end to the album as the entire band echoes back the second verse of “Afterlife.”

Vice Verses could be Switchfoot’s best album yet, possibly having the same kind of lasting appeal that 2005’s Nothing Is Sound still has. All comparisons aside, Vice Verses features some of the highest points of the band’s career with bold steps outside their usual style. The entire album is an absolutely excellent and nearly flawless addition to Switchfoot’s already impressive discography that should not be missed.

—Shivang Patel good rap parody. There’s great songs on both ends of the spectrum, with “Happy Rappy” and the title track standing out as genuinely great songs. And then there’s the intentionally vapid silliness of “Girl,” and the aforementioned “Booty in the Air,” which is...just listen to it.

Your life will never be the same.

But as for the actual sound of the album, it’s extremely experimental and endlessly creative. There is no consistent song structure or rhythm, and it’s wonderful. It’s a slap to the brain.

Relax is a rap album with a lot of things to say about rap albums, but that’s pretentious and boring and stinks of white devil sophistry. So instead, it’s the most sarcastic rap album of 2011.

That’s a category.—Zach Armstrong

Never Shout Never Time Travel

Wilco · The Whole Love · dBpm Records

Sire

 “I want you to cry and I want you to cry for me.”

If any average Joe said that to his girlfriend, it probably wouldn’t sit well. Needless to say, Christopher Drew Ingle is not just any guy.

Ingle’s music has captured the hearts of millions across the globe. With an angelic voice and honest, heartfelt lyrics, Ingle, known more commonly by his stage name, Never Shout Never, has adopted a new, low-fi-esque aesthetic with the release of his latest album, Time Travel.

This record is different from any of his previous work. He experiments with a full band and dabbles with reverb. In the intro song, “Time Travel,” Ingle uses the echo to add passion to his words in order to, as he says, tell the story of his “spirit molecule travelling through the universe and travelling through time.”

“Silver Ecstasy,” the only song on the album not written by Ingle, is a slow and simple love song that transforms into a loud, passionate ballad with a greater emphasis on instruments that convey the mood. On “Complex Heart,” Ingle contemplates how he is getting in the way of his own relationships, the piano dischords tying, accenting his inner conflict. “Lost At Sea” perfectly concludes the album, as the reverb and purely instrumental conclusion leave a sense of closure and peace.

Time Travel has a perfect mix of up and down tempo songs, instrumentals and vocals, love songs and life struggles.

On “Robot,” Ingle compares himself to an emotionless being, but in “Simple Trance-Like Getaway,” he croons about the highs of a relationship.

It’s trippy. It’s relaxing. It’s electronic.

Time Travel is a strange departure from Never Shout Never’s strictly ukuleleand-vocal style of the past. It explores the depths of creativity and expression, leaving the sensation of actually travelling in time.—Nugeen Aftab

It could be said that one cannot do too many good things. This is false. Wilco has done too many good things.

It works like this: The Beatles and Radiohead are both wonderful. They both made music that no one really understood at first but eventually came to love because it was miles ahead of everything else at the time.

Listening to The Beatles is wonderful, and listening to Radiohead is wonderful. But to take Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, arguably their magnum opus, and cross it with Kid A, arguably

Radiohead’s magnum opus, doesn’t necessarily mean that Kid Sgt. A Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band would be the auditory equivalent of Megazord.

While Jeff Tweedy may be as courageous as the greatest of Power Rangers, Wilco’s The Whole Love is, unfortunately, more akin to Frankenstein’s monster than an amalgamation of the Rangers’ various Zords. It’s sort of a ragtag collection of the finest rotting body parts, roughly spliced together so that the muscles and arteries can be seen below the surface.

But with guitars and drums.

That’s not to say it doesn’t sound good. Even Frankenstein’s monster had that beautiful, long black mane. There’s “Art of Almost,” a bass-heavy, synth groove that serves its purpose as a successful foray into Kid A territory. “One

 Sunday Morning (For Jane Smiley’s Boyfriend)” is flatout gorgeous, a sprawling 12-minute narrative about a man who laments his overly pious father’s death, while enjoying freedom from his judgment for the first time. And were the year 1969, “Sunloathe” would undoubtedly have a place on Abbey Road.

But it is certainly not 1969, and Tweedy certainly is neither Thom Yorke nor John Lennon. That’s not a bad thing, but people generally thought that he understood that. Apparently he does not, so it’s necessary to remind him that the purpose of experimentation is to find new sounds, not rehash and combine old ones in search of new life within something long dead.

Victor Frankenstein never understood that either.—Zach Fulciniti

Demi Lovato · Unbroken · Hollywood Records

The stereotypical Disney product has always had a predictable plot with a happy ending. Demi Lovato seemed as if she was following that same path with a couple albums under her belt, a hit TV show and a promising future ahead of her. But that all came screeching to a halt after being diagnosed with a number of mental issues, and checking into rehab. Now recovering from bulimia, anorexia, and self mutilation, she triumphantly returns with Unbroken.

Lovato’s latest album is extremely different compared

to her previous work, consisting of more depth and emotion than her former Disney-rocker style. The album begins with an R&Bpop mix of songs featuring Missy Elliot, Timbaland, Dev, Iyaz and Jason Derulo.

This change is surprising considering her past styles, and the mixed sound does not give her a chance to properly showcase her voice.

Nevertheless, the songs are catchy, giving the album a fun start before diving into deeper problems.

As listeners go further into the album, the songs have stronger meaning behind them with more powerful vocals. Her song, “Fix a Heart,” alludes to her history of cutting with lyrics such as “It’s like you’re pouring salt in my cuts/And I just ran out of bandaids.” The new hit “Skyscraper” is all about overcoming obstacles, which



is very fitting for her current situation. But the most sincere of all her songs is “For the Love of a Daughter,” which reflects Lovato’s own fatherless childhood.

Past the first four songs, the rest of the album is solid with a few pop tracks and heartfelt ballads, allowing Lovato to open up with more sincerity than she had before and giving her the chance to really stretch her gifted vocal chords. Lovato has grown up a lot since her debut role in Disney Channel’s Camp Rock, and her newest album seems much more real and relatable, not just the stereotypical Disney fluff. As Lovato has matured, so has her music, especially in the latter half of the album. She still has enough pop beats to keep her former audience engaged but she also attracts a larger, more mature crowd.

—Jennifer Shafer

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 47

sports

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT

hannah SIGALA “In eighth grade, my mom made me try out. If [my friends and I] didn’t make the volleyball team we were going to try out for every sport.”

ashley EVANS

“Back in fourth grade I was playing every sport under the sun. The same girls on my soccer and basketball team decided to try out for volleyball with me.”

ali LAKE “In seventh grade my best friend and I wanted to do something other than basketball.”

THE

COMMON LOVE The notorious “gym rats” have verbally committed to Division One universities to pursue their passions. East juniors Ali Lake and Ashley Evans have one more year as Thunderhawks, while East senior Hannah Sigala plans to spike the competition on the national stage next season. story and photo illustration hannah lee | photo sierra whitlock

T

he quotes above are not something that would ever be expected to be heard from three six foot division one (D1) volleyball scholarship recipients.

East juniors Ashley Evans and Ali Lake and East senior Hannah Sigala have verbally committed to Purdue University, Ohio University and Morehead State respectively on scholarships.

Not every volleyball player, however, can get a D1 scholarship. An extensive amount of time and effort are necessary to accomplish this.

“All three of them are gym-rats,” says varsity coach Casie Garland,

48 | Spark | October 17, 2011

who has coached at East for two years. “They have gotten this far [by] themselves. They push themselves and they push each other.”

Not only do the girls play for East, but they also play year-round on National Junior Olympic (JO) and sand volleyball teams. Keeping up their skills by practicing all the time is what elevates these players.

They had to eliminate other sports because they could only manage one sport in high school.

The common love was volleyball.

“I chose volleyball because it is a team sport,” Lake says. “You

cannot expect to go out there and play every ball like it’s yours. You have to be aware of what is going on all around you and on the court.”

The choice to play volleyball was made easier when the girls started to receive letters at such a young age.

“I got my first letter in eighth grade, [which was] my first year playing JO,” Lake says.

A letter in the mail from a college’s athletic program is the first step of the “kabuki- themed” recruiting process according to Hannah’s dad, Kimball Sigala. Then, it is up to the player to develop a relationship with the coach via phone calls, a nerve-wracking predicament.

“My first call was to the assistant coach at the University of North Carolina (UNC). I was so nervous and the coach didn’t pick up so I had to leave a message. I wasn’t prepared and it was so embarrassing,” Lake says. “Finally, I got a hold of the coach and she said my voicemail was the best she had heard in a while.”

Paving the way for future relationships with the coach and team, the player can foreshadow the feeling they will receive from that school.

“In the end it all came down to chemistry,” Kimball says. “The family environment of the team is very important. I want to know that Hannah will be somewhere” More daunting than the phone call is the college visit, during which the girls examine life as a college athlete.

“My first visit was to Ohio State University. I stayed overnight in the athletic dorms. They were almost like an apartment,” says Evans.

East junior Ali Lake jump serves during the home game against Oak Hills on Sept. 22.

“They push themselves and they push each other.”

“I stayed with the freshmen and the other potential recruits.”

The college visit gave the girls the perspective of living on campus and aided in their decision to attend that school.

Mirroring a cheesy and cliché movie scene, they just got that feeling.

“I was in the bathroom [at Morehead State] with my mom and I just said, ‘mom, this is it,’” two-and-a half year varsity player Sigala says. “It is really that corny.”

Besides deciding the location of the school, majors played into the college search.

“Purdue has over 200 majors which is perfect for me because I don’t know exactly what I want to do. It’s only 3 hours away so my parents can come see me play. Everything fell into place,” Evans says.

“I visited Purdue my freshman year [of high school] to see a game around Thanksgiving time. Then, I stayed [overnight] in March [of my sophomore year]. I really connected with the girls.”

Although the recruiting process is perceived as an organized process, it comes in one big blow.

“Multiple schools all came at the same time and they all wanted an answer,” Hannah’s mom, Cindy Sigala, says. “How are you supposed to manage those expectations?”

Besides receiving letters from multiple schools the parents were also surprised about the early age at which recruiting begins. “[Recruiting] came very quickly and very early,” says Ashley’s mom, Ann Evans, who played college volleyball at Bradley University. “The process is out of your control.”

Natural talent and a good work-ethic were not the only factors that played into receiving the scholarships. Personality gave the girls an edge over the other recruits.

“They are a very class act,” Garland says. “They are all tremendous students and are very positive. They all lead [the team] by example and are very team oriented.”

The girls agree that playing as an individual is not an option in volleyball—a team sport.

“It can’t be all about you,” Hannah says, “You can’t be a bitch.”

The girls’ volleyball team has even come together to support her, while she recovers from a torn labrum.

For Hannah, however, it has been difficult to set up on the sidelines.

“It sucks. I can’t play at all. My trainer described it as taking three steps forward and two steps back,” Hannah says. “I had the surgery in May and recovery is going really slow.”

Hannah, one of the team captains, not only helps the team to improve, but also works harder in order to push herself to maintain the D1 scholarship to Morehead State. Scholarship regulations state that she must work to recover to keep her scholarship.

“I have JO and college to think about,” Hannah says. “[To get healthy] I am in the trainer’s [office] everyday icing and on the stem machine. Sometimes the girl’s yell at me when I do things they know I’m not supposed to. But I know they have my best interest in mind.”

Besides a supportive team, Hannah’s home front helps her push through the difficult time.

“My mom always tells me that God is teaching me a lesson— patience,” Hannah says.

With diligence and patience Hannah is hoping to jump back into the game to get back on track to Morehead State University.

Evans and Lake will follow Hannah’s example next year when they head to college with their D1 scholarships in hand.

“It takes work and some luck [to earn a D1 scholarship],” Ann says.

“You have to realize what you were given; it is not something to take for granted. This is just the beginning.” n

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 49

sports | inside east

BIG KICK IN A SMALL SIZE story and photo illustration natasha rausch photos used with permission from eric sadlere

S

Through the gripping mud and bitter cold, Abbie VanFossen manages to acheive a personal record time at the Xavier meet.

50 | Spark | October 17, 2011

he’s a prodigy. A tough cookie. A hard worker. A modest winner. A force to be reckoned with.

She achieves what some would consider crazy, and others impossible. But Abbie Vanfossen does it anyway.

“Everyone asks ‘why would you want to run, it seems so hard.’ I enjoy it,” VanFossen says.

“I never thought I would be able to run seven miles without stopping. You work into it.”

Prompted by her dad, William VanFossen, Abbie began running different courses around her neighborhood as a fifth grader with her younger brother, Tyler.

“We entered [Abbie and her brother] in some 5K’s [when she was younger],” William says. “And that was when I discovered that she had a talent.”

Abbie went on to join the seventh and eighth grade cross-country team at Liberty Junior School.

Two years later she is ranked third in the Greater Miami Conference (GMC) as a freshman.

Leading the pack at her first freshman practice of the season, Abbie astounded the team. Her hard work ethic, coupled with natural talent, made her the new stand out for the coaches. They knew she would be something special.

To draw out the coaches’ astonishment further, Abbie placed second overall at the first meet of the season, the East Fall Classic, with a time of 19 minutes and 44 seconds.

For each mile of the 3.1 mile distance, Abbie

Abbie VanFossen races her way to a second place finish against Turpin.

maintained a time of about six minutes and 22 seconds.

East Junior Kelly Burrows, who finished third at the meet, has taken Abbie under her wing according to head varsity cross country coach Adam Thomas.

“Freshmen coming in and running at the front of the pack and winning races can put a lot of pressure on a kid,” says Thomas, who has been coaching at East for four years. “Kelly went through the same thing so she has helped keep [Abbie] calm and relaxed.”

Having experience as a successful freshman, Burrows has not only helped Abbie become acclimated to her new team and daily mileage, but has become a close friend.

“I haven’t had a running partner in a while,” says Burrows, who is currently ranked seventh in the GMC. “I’ve known for a couple of years that she was good because we recruited her. We started running together and it has been that way ever since.”

Friday night spaghetti dinners have brought the team closer, according to Burrows. This time spent together before a Saturday meet gives Abbie a chance to relax.

“I get so nervous [before a race that] I don’t

talk, but I also get really excited,” Abbie says.

“I look at the other team and I’m like, ‘Oh my God she looks good, she looks like she’s good, oh goodness, this isn’t going to be good.’”

As soon as the gun fires however, nothing else matters to Abbie. Her mind is cleared except for one word—focus.

Her eyes narrow on the 3.1 mile path ahead as she hits a runner’s high, propelling her to the front of the pack and to the top of the GMC’s.

“My expectations for Abbie are to be the number one or two [runner] in Lakota and in the top 20 at state,” William says. “Compared to other runners she still has a little ways to go, but she is very determined.”

With her number three ranking, the state competition is in reach.

“Getting Abbie to the state meet will be pretty impressive as a freshman,” Thomas says.

“Once she gets [there] it is a different ball game because it is an overwhelming atmosphere. But a kid like Abbie, who is pretty focused, might be able to tune that stuff out.”

By taking rough conditions in stride, Abbie has proven to be even more successful in stressful situations.

She placed second overall in the biting cold

with mud-caked shoes and managed to achieve a personal best time of 19 minutes and one second at the St. Xavier invitational on Oct. 1.

Most likely going to state, Mason senior Monica Lake and Colerain Junior Kristin Seiler with top times of 18:08 and 18:57 respectively, still stand above Abbie in the GMC rankings.

Besides also being a top contender for reaching the state competition, Abbie also shoots for top college scholarships.

“I feel like I am running at a high enough level that colleges will look at me,” Abbie says.

“My dad has always told me that is how you get a scholarship. And that is how I am going to get a scholarship.”

Abbie’s father has encouraged her to work hard in cross-country to improve on her talent and to benefit her in the long run.

“I am always a big person on return on investment,” William says. “If she does well, then there will be rewards [and] if she keeps her grades up and does well at cross-country, she may end up with a free ride to a very good school.”

Running is not the only pursuit that will make Abbie a candidate for a college scholarship; she also carries a heavy load in school with all honors classes. A load of homework resulting with a 2:30 a.m. bedtime is not an unusual occurrence for Abbie on any given weekday.

Although her schedule is not filled with an abundance of leisure time, Abbie is proud of the sacrifice she makes in order to reach her success.

“I can’t really have sleepovers on a Friday night knowing that on Saturday I am going to have a meet,” Abbie says. “I know it is [a sacrifice] but I also know it’s going to be worth it.”

Acknowledging the sacrifices she makes, Abbie’s friends and family support her to accomplish her goals.

“My friends always say, ‘Oh Abbie is so awesome no one is going to beat her,’” Abbie says. “But my dad is the one who says, ‘You need to win, you need to get there.’ And my mom is always the one supporting me, saying, ‘As long as you do your best.’”

Abbie races with a fool-proof support system and the coaches are keeping their fingers crossed for her qualification at state and her prospects for the future.

But for Abbie, she is just focused on the next step. n

“I never thought I would be able to run seven miles without stopping.

You work into it.”

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 51

EAST

sports | rivalry

East and Lakota West will meet on the gridiron for the 14th time on Oct. 28. The Thunderhawks have not come out on top since 2004, but the rivalry becomes the center of the district each year. infographic devin casey | photo kali martin lakota west photo used with permission from mark ferland

EASTSIDE

TESTIMONIALS The team with the better colors wins. EAST’s colors are superior.

–Dwight Hu, senior EAST will win. [The Hawks] have had a pretty good season and are finally playing more like a team.

–Megan Caldwell, senior

4-4

Defensive back Brady Sowders

[East is] actually doing pretty good this year, so I think EAST can pull it off if it tries.

–Jacqueline Butterfield, junior

East’s offense is terrible, WEST will probably win again.

–Ainsley Ellison, senior 1997 District splits, no football game played.

1998-2001 Games played at Galbreath Field.

1998 First game of cross-district rivalry is played. Lakota East wins, 15-8.

52 | Spark | October 17, 2011

2002-03 Games played at Miami University.

2004 Game played at Lakota West. 8,000 fans fit into West’s 4,000-seat stadium.

74%

2005-10 West holds longest win streak in rivalry with combined score of 134-72 in six straight victories.

WHO WILL WIN?

627 EAST STUDENTS SURVEYED

WEST WESTSIDE

TESTIMONIALS Although we haven’t won much this year, WEST will win. We are always determined to beat East.

–Lizzie Wheatley, junior

Wide receiver Kayaune Ross

2-6

SIDE-BY-SIDE OFFENSE

24.5 PPG 18.6 268.5 YPG 262.5

DEFENSE

21.9 PPG 27.3 282.6 YPG 335.8

26%

WEST will win because of the motivation we have when playing against our most important rival.

–Reid Becker, senior It will be a TIE, even though I know that’s not possible, but I have attended both schools and love everyone from both schools.

–Ali Zieverink, senior I believe WEST football will win this year. We always seem to get fired up for East and pull out a win.

–Elle Nguyen, junior

RAGING RIVALRY 1998: E, 15-8 1999: E, 10-3 2000: W, 41-14 2001: W, 21-7 2002: E, 24-14 2003: E, 49-28 2004: E, 38-15

2005: W, 30-27 OT 2006: W, 12-0 2007: W, 28-14 2008: W, 20-19 2009: W, 17-5 2010: W, 27-7 2011: @ East, Oct. 28 lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 53

sports | hawk culture

Trimming the Transportation Budget cuts across the district have left the athletic department with minimal funds, causing East athletic director Richard Bryant to reduce athletic transportation by 50 percent. story sophia li

A

BY THE

NUMBERS

474 points the East girls’ volleyball team has outscored its opponents by this season

81 0 4 25 4.8

less yards allowed per game

by East’s defense this season compared to last season

boys’ golfers that are in the top 10 in the GMC

weight of a football player’s equipment in pounds

weight of a cross country runner’s shoes in ounces

vans instead of buses, other teams, such as the cheerleading squads, have almost lost schoolprovided transportation altogether. They were given the option to ride to away games with the football team, but they would have to leave much earlier than they have in the past.

To deal with this problem, the cheerleaders have continued their tradition of having team dinners for each away game, but instead of meeting at East to board a bus after they finish eating, parent volunteers transport the squads to the game directly from the team dinners.

“It’s nice being able to take our time and leave later for games,” East senior and varsity cheerleader Ashley Gamble said. “But sometimes we miss being able to all be together on the bus.”

East junior and varsity girls’ soccer player Madelyn Strahan echoed these sentiments and would prefer having the buses full time. “[Riding the bus] is a good time for a team to connect with each other and prepare for upcoming games,” Strahan said.

No matter what alternative transportation method the athletic teams choose, coaches still worry about the increased liability and responsibility put on their shoulders.

“From a coach’s perspective, [having students transport themselves] makes me a little nervous, as far as managing who gets [to the games] and what time they get there,” head girls’ soccer coach Amy Kreider said. “If someone shows up late then you’re wondering what happened, and [on the issue of safety] it makes me a little nervous to have kids driving themselves. That’s 40 people on the road driving, so I feel a bit of responsibility that they get there safely.”

Sports like football, swimming and track and field have kept, and will keep, all busing for safety and parking. According to Bryant, there is currently no way to safely transport teams with close to or over 100 players without buses. Even if all those players were able to drive themselves, Bryant does not know if there would be enough spaces to park their cars.

Bryant has acknowledged that the busing reductions have not been equal in each sport, and he attributes the imbalance in transportation to the adaptability of the teams.

As with many of the other recent Lakota budget cuts, students, parents and coaches have had to make adjustments and get accustomed to the new policy. Bryant is no stranger to unhappy calls from disgruntled parents and frustrated coaches, dealing with what he characterizes as “an absolute destruction of athletic funding” day by day, one game at a time. n

Joe Postlewait – second in interceptions

l

“[This is] an absolute destruction of athletic funding.”

members of the All-First team GMC girls’ tennis not from East

GMC TICKER:

cting in response to the district-wide budget cuts, East athletic director Richard Bryant has reduced athletic transportation by 50 percent.

In order to save $30,000-40,000, Bryant has made what he feels are the most logical cuts for each sport, depending on the size of the team and the number of players. Bryant has worked with coaches and players to create an adjustable plan that works best for everyone.

In addition to being flexible with transportation for different sports, Bryant has also had to prepare for inclement weather in the winter season. “[Because of] rainouts and weather, schedules change,” Bryant said. “I need to build in a little bit of flexibility [for the] significant number of weather issues in the winter.”

One of the major ways Bryant has cut costs is by switching to drop-onlys—games where a bus will drop the teams off but players’ parents must take them home. This method has worked sufficiently thus far with the East girls’ volleyball team. Almost all volleyball games have been drop-only events.

As opposed to last year, when one bus took the Freshman team and another bus took the junior varsity and varsity teams to the away games, one bus must make two trips to transport all three teams to the away game destination.

While girls’ head varsity volleyball coach Casie Garland acknowledges that there have “definitely been some complaints” from parents, she said that there have not been any major problems with losing transportation.

Although drop-only transportation has worked for volleyball, other sports such as boys’ and girls’ soccer have opted for an all-ornothing approach, where they either get busing to an away game and back or no busing for that particular game at all. This method works on a game-by-game basis compared to the drop-only method. It has allowed the soccer teams to get busing to and from games that are far away, leaving the players to drive themselves only to schools that are closer to East, such as Mason High School or Fairfield High School.

While some teams with a low number of athletes, like boys’ and girls’ golf, have been able to keep all away game transportation by using

l

Carlie Haddad – fifth in kills per game

Teamwork Changes Tide for Girls’ Golf The East girls’ golf team utilizes teamwork to soar past GMC’s and sectionals into success. story drew souders | photo kali martin

G

irls’ high school golf is a sport full of paradoxes.

A golfer must stay focused, but cannot think too much before a swing. She must try to drive the ball as far as possible off the tee, but should never swing the club as hard as she can. Success in the sport means improving each shot from the last one, but all coaches instruct their girls not to think about bad holes.

The 2011 East varsity girls’ golf team has created a new paradox. In a sport characterized by individual performance and drive, the girls have instead chosen to focus on improving their game through team unity.

“The kids just constantly help each other out and are constantly supportive,” girls’ golf varsity head coach Cindy Feltman says. “Just the little stuff like what to wear [to matches], they all want to look alike and to look like a team. If someone is struggling with putting, it’s ‘Hey, well my pro told me this.’ The idea of the individual doesn’t come into play.”

East sophomore Christina Brinkman says that it is teamwork and companionship that helps push past the mental pressures of the sport.

“The best part[s] of the season [are] our van rides to the matches, preparing each other,” says Brinkman, who golfs sixth for the Hawks.

“We just make each other laugh and we’ll really get each other in a good mood. We don’t go in saying ‘I’m going to shoot this.’ We go in saying ‘I’m just going to have fun,’ and nobody cares how high you shoot.”

But the girls’ do not limit their camaraderie to positive attitudes and cheerleading. Countless hours spent together at practice and matches have led them to develop a system where each member has her own unique role in promoting team unity.

“Allie [Dunham] runs practices, and she’s good at planning,” she says.

“Once we’re there Hannah [Lee] keeps everyone working smoothly.”

East junior Erin Smiddy, the third-ranked golfer on the team, even went as far as to buy bright-colored index cards and write motivational phrases for the girls to stick in their bags. Second-ranked junior golfer Lee writes “FOCUS” down her arm in Sharpie so that she is forced to think about her swing before teeing off.

The different quirks and strategies used by the Hawks have led to a 9-4 record and a fourth place finish in the Greater Miami Conference

Erin Smiddy lines up for her turn, as Allie Dunham takes her putt.

(GMC) and fourth place at sectionals. The team will now advance to the District Tournament on Wednesday Oct. 19th.

Feltman attributes the team’s fourth-place finish to the strength of the GMC conference rather than to any lack of talent on her team.

“Mason has won three state championships in a row. The one year they didn’t win it [Lakota] West won it, and this year Sycamore is one of the favorites,” Feltman says. “In girls’ golf, [the GMC] is the best conference around. If you win our league, you might be state champ.”

Dunham says that the best chance the team has at advancing further into the tournament will be through the strength of the team.

“Coach puts a lot of pressure on me to shoot well and to start it off,” Dunham says. “So when I don’t play well and our number two comes in playing really well it really helps, and usually that’s what happens.” n

HAWK CULTURE A look into the lives of East athletes and coaches infographic irfan ibrahim

Mikel Horton VARSITY FOOTBALL

Allie Dunham VARSITY GIRLS’ GOLF

Cindy Combs VARSITY CHEERLEADING

Leah Floyd VARSITY GIRLS’ TENNIS

VARSITY BOYS’ SOCCER

Jimmy John’s or Penn Station?

JIMMY JOHN’S

JIMMY JOHN’S

JIMMY JOHN’S

PENN STATION

PENN STATION

NEITHER

OKAY

SEXY

DIDN’T WATCH

OKAY

A STUD

I DON’T KNOW

COLLEGE AND LEADERSHIP

ADVANCED METALS

AP BIOLOGY

PSYCHOLOGY

EARLY RELEASE

ALL MY PERIODS

Do You Miss Block Days?

YES

YES

YES

NO

WITH ALL MY HEART

YES

Homecoming was...?

GREAT

AMAZING

DIDN’T GO

AMAZING

UNDECIDED

A GOOD THING

Ashton Kutcher in Two and a Half Men is...?

Favorite Class?

l

Boys’ Golf – second in average score

l

Kyle Souders

Tom Prohaska VARSITY FOOTBALL COACH

Girls’ Tennis – undefeated in conference play

sports | feature

TALES

OF A

JOURNEYMAN Five positions. Offense and defense. Two high school conferences. East senior linebacker Max DeZarn truly is a high school football journeyman.

story john grasty photos kali martin photo illustrations jeff back 56 | Spark | October 26, 2011

F

or East senior Max DeZarn, change is nothing unusual.

At the age of nine, DeZarn was no longer able to meet the weight limit required to play Tomahawks youth football. In order to stay on the field, he signed up to play in the Ohio Valley Youth Football League (OVYFL) in Evanston, where there was no weight limit. Playing quarterback with a group of boys he had never met, DeZarn had to adjust quickly.

“When [Max] got to Evanston, he was not the biggest, fastest or meanest anymore,” his father Mark DeZarn says. “[Max] had to realize that he had to work if he wanted to be successful.”

The triumphs he made as an Evanston Bulldog has led to many more successful changes in his life.

A few years later, Max faced even more change. But this time it was voluntary. After his eighth grade year at Liberty Junior High School, he decided to attend high school at Archbishop Moeller.

For him, the decision came naturally because of a lifelong affiliation with the school.

“Every Friday night I would go to the Moeller games, just like everyone would go to the East games,” he says.

“It’s just how I grew up. I was a Moeller kid.”

This was only the beginning of change for Max. Within two seasons as a Crusader, he would play a total of six positions: quarterback, running back, fullback, wide receiver, linebacker and defensive line—five of which he had never tried before. Besides continually moving around on the depth chart, the talent pool at Archbishop Moeller was much more competitive than any other one Max had seen.

“The competition [at Moeller] is really tough,” Max says. “There were guys bigger, stronger and faster than me everywhere. It taught me to compete and deal with adversity.”

Through all these hardships and fluctuations, however, Max was able to have the best moment of his football career.

During his sophomore year, he was one out of only three other sophomores to make varsity for the Archbishop Moeller versus Elder game. With both teams highly ranked, the game quickly commanded media attention.

As a lifelong Notre Dame fan, Max was in awe after walking to the locker room before the game when he saw then Notre Dame stars Jimmy Clausen and Elder graduate Kyle Rudolph standing on the sidelines.

Towards the end of the game, when Archbishop Moeller was near victory, Max got his chance to shine.

He did just that.

Off an Elder screen pass, Max, as linebacker, sprinted in and pummeled the Elder running back, quickly putting

him on the ground and knocking his helmet off. This play in front of two Irish players was a real dream come true for DeZarn.

But this dream was short lived.

Three of Mark’s four part-time jobs fell through and as yearly tuition rose to $10,190, the DeZarns were unable to afford the financial burden.

According to Max, changing high schools is tough. But Max had never strayed away from a challenge before. “[Max] is a different kid in that I’ve never seen him shy away from challenges,” says Mark. “If he thinks he can do it, he’s going to do it.”

And as the challenges became greater, Max became determined to demonstrate his effort.

“When I came [to East], I wanted to work as hard, if not harder, than everybody else, giving my best effort to make sure I got along with everybody,” says Max. “I wanted to make sure I had their respect before I stepped out onto the field with them.”

Thankfully for Max, his efforts paid off.

He has twenty solo tackles and twenty assisted ones as of October seventh.

“Max is a kid that always seems to brighten up your day no matter what kind of mood you’re in,” junior teammate and fellow linebacker Jake Chestnut says.

The entire team sees DeZarn with this attitude—they voted him as a captain this season and even further, the whole senior class voted Max as its Homecoming king for 2011.

According to Chestnut, Max’s leadership is the cause of all this. “[Max] could tell me to go jump off a cliff and I would probably do it, honestly,” says Chestnut. “He’s just the kind of kid you want to follow.”

His funny, gregarious personality has just as much to do with it.

“Max is a funny and cool guy,” his girlfriend East junior Erin Lowell says. “He knows how to make someone laugh.”

Even after transferring high schools, change occurred again when he was requested to switch from offensive fullback to defensive linebacker after his junior season. According to Max, the position changes have good and bad sides.

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 57

sports | feature “While a bunch of guys get to progress and grow, I was always thrown into a different spot,” he says. “With all the positions I played, it just made me a better overall football player. Wherever they put me on the field I feel at least a little bit comfortable.”

His father agrees on the benefits of moving around on the field.

“I think [playing many positions] has helped him,” says Mark. “When he plays all these positions, it is because he is athletically talented enough that he can play the position. I just think he is a good player all-around.”

Max says having film of multiple positions has also been a good thing for college recruiting. He is able to show a college everything he can do. This has led Max to recruitment offers from big name schools such as Princeton University, Columbia University and The University of Pennsylvania.

As someone who has played on both sides of the ball, he sees the benefits of knowing what both college and high school offenses are seeking.

“I know what the quarterback is looking for when he’s throwing the ball,” says Max, who recorded his first varsity interception against Fairfield. “When I play defense that really helps me out.”

In hindsight, however, Max would have played things out differently.

“I just wasn’t the stereotypical Moeller quarterback,” he says.

“Looking back, I wish I would have played as fullback or running back.”

The same cannot be said about his transfer from Archbishop Moeller.

“In one regard I wish I would have stayed at Moeller,” he says. “I

was successful there. But then again, now that I’m at East, I could not imagine being back at Moeller.”

Although he admits the winning tradition at Archbishop Moeller was exhilarating, setting a new tradition for East is even better.

“Would I like to win a state championship with Moeller? Yes,” he says. “But now that I’m at East, am I having a good time? I really am. We have the same chance to get to the playoffs and see how far we advance.”

When he informed his Archbishop Moeller teammates that he would be returning to East, they did not seem to think he would have the same chance in the playoffs—they still viewed East as “loserville.”

“There’s nothing snobbier than a Greater Catholic League football team,” he says.

To Max, this arrogance just fuels his fire while playing.

When asked about a possible state playoff matchup with Archbishop Moeller, his face lit up with excitement.

“That would be crazy, that would be my dream come true,” he says.

“I guarantee you I would play the hardest game I had ever played in my life. I feel like my goal would be accomplished if East competed against Moeller because then things would be turned around.”

In the end, Max is satisfied with where he has ended.

“I thought about returning to Moeller, but where we are now, I’m glad I didn’t,” he says. “This change is going to happen. This is possible.

The people here now are sick of being thought of as losers. We really care about winning.” n

[Max] could tell me to go jump off a cliff and honestly I would probably do it.

Dehy ration Dro s infographic jeff back

Following the hottest summer in the United States in 75 years, dehydration has affected East athletes more than ever. East Athletic Director Richard Bryant even requested teachers to allow football players to carry water bottles in class during one of September’s hottest weeks.

Eight-Glass Absurdity

While drinking eight eight-ounce glasses of water a day is often accepted as an adequate amount of daily water consumption, studies show that a more acurate number is 2/3 of a person’s body weight in ounces.

8-oz. Glasses of Water per day

96 lbs.

125 lbs.

150 lbs.

175 lbs.

200 lbs.

58 | Spark | October 26, 2011

75 percent of citizens in developed countries are chronically dehydrated.

A 1 percent loss of water results in a 10 percent drop in exercise performance.

Vigorous exercise for more than hour will cause dehydration and low electrolyte levels. Gatorade and other sports drinks can replace these lost electrolytes.

An average adult loses 10 cups of fluid daily through sweating, exhaling, urinating, and bowel movements.

information healthy-water-best-filters.com

Weight (lbs)

The average person will drink about 16,000 gallons of water in a lifetime.

60 percent of East students say they have suffered from dehydration.

sports | opinion

Jeff Back SPORTS EDITOR

VACILLATING VIRTUE contact jeff at j.a.back2@gmail.com

S

portsmanship is dead.

We no longer live in a society where winners play by the rules and shaking hands at the end of a contest is something more than a formality.

It’s impossible to discredit my great-uncle Don Williams who boasts that sports were cleaner, fairer and more righteous when he pitched in the Majors, back when dinosaurs grazed the outfield. He is right. It’s our age that added, “It’s the only thing,” to the older, better-known and more appropriate, “Winning isn’t everything.”

It’s sad, really. Heartbreaking. Agonizing, even. And I can’t stand it.

Sportsmanship is dead, and winning is holding the smoking gun.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. took a cheap shot at sportsmanship while its head was turned. Mike Tyson bit its ear off. Tonya Harding hired someone to cripple its knee. The New England Patriots videotaped the whole thing. And the Fairfield High School girls’ soccer team killed it.

The girls on that team took the already struggling-to-survive idea of athletic integrity and gave it a death worthy of its own CSI episode.

After a Fairfield defender took the brunt of a long shot to the stomach outside of her 18-yard box in the scoreless Sept. 20 GMC contest, East’s Mariah Combs gave in to the shouting pleas of the Fairfield team and booted the ball out of bounds in Indian territory so that the injured player could receive medical attention.

Trainers jogged onto the field and assisted the girl, who took a sip of water and insisted she could continue playing. The Hawks readied for an offensive possession, as it was a customary act of “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” to receive a “botched” throw-in from the Indians.

Then something peculiar happened. Indians Allie Curry and Lauren Hoover kept the ball, and sprinted past the paralyzed East defensive line until Curry blasted a shot into the back of the East goal past the hapless goalie.

It was the only goal of the match, and East’s undefeated GMC recorded was suddenly tainted with the black stain of a controversial loss.

“The shot heard round the GMC” rightfully stirred up a great deal of controversy around the area. In the Pulse Journal, Fairfield girls’ varsity soccer coach Patrick O’Leary expressed remorse for the situation, but defended his players and said that East should have been paying attention, despite the unique situation.

Had O’Leary been the one taking two sucker-punches from Floyd Mayweather Jr. in place of Victor Ortiz in the pair’s Sept. 17 bout, maybe he would have reconsidered his comments.

O’Leary must recognize that the legality of the action is not all that matters. There are certain precepts of fairness and dignity in sports that exceed victory and competition. At least there used to be. It is a matter of humanity and decency. We are humans first, and athletes second. As a human, you don’t shoot someone in the back. As an athlete, you don’t aim to injure your opponents.

And you do not take advantage of a blatant act of sportsmanship.

Any person who used to scurry around on the miniature soccer fields in bright jerseys sponsored by local pizza shops in the “candy league” has been taught to kick the ball out of bounds when a player is injured.

They will say that they were also taught to return the ball to the team that was courteous enough to allow the injured player to receive assistance.

But apparently they don’t play by those rules on the other side of State Route 747.

However disheartening that may be, the reaction from East girls’ varsity soccer head coach Amy Kreider provides a faint shimmer of hope for sportsmanship. She said her team would do the exact same thing if the situation ever arises again.

“We did the right thing, but because they did the wrong thing doesn’t mean that things should change for us,” Kreider said.

But these discrepancies in fair play expectations even in the GMC are greatly contradicted in the unwritten rulebook among athletes for similar situations. Fairfield must have misplaced its copy.

But I’ll write them all new fair play rulebooks. Mayweather. Tyson.

O’Leary. Each and every one of the girls on that team. I’ll even throw in a signed copy for Illinois linebacker Jonathon Brown for having the guts to knee Northwestern offensive lineman Patrick Ward in the groin, all while in plain view of the referee.

And most certainly, I will drive east on Tylersville Road to hand deliver Mason High School junior and varsity golfer Alex Ebel’s copy.

Ebel and his coach, Tim Lambert, can sit down and discuss it while reminiscing about Ebel’s attempts to shave strokes off of his scorecard at this year’s GMC Boys’ Golf Championship.

Then about how Lambert let Ebel play in the next round despite his cheating.

East varsity boys’ golf head coach Jeff Combs says that he informs his players and their parents at the beginning of the season the consequences of intentional cheating. They are kicked off the team. Combs reluctantly admits he had a similar situation three years ago at the same GMC tournament.

He kicked the player off for cheating.

The actions and comments of Combs and Kreider really do provide hope. They make me proud to be a Thunderhawk. I am proud that East achieves its victories with honor and takes its losses with dignity.

Sportsmanship may be dead at the professional and collegiate levels, and even at other schools in the GMC, but it still thrives on Lakota Lane.

I continue to hope that at each game, in every meet and at all matches, East’s athletic integrity may spread to just one more athlete. Because maybe East can breathe a little life back into sportsmanship. n

“HEARTBREAKING. AGONIZING, EVEN. SPORTSMANSHIP IS DEAD, AND WINNING IS HOLDING THE SMOKING GUN.”

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opinion | column

Raika Casey OPINION EDITOR

WAR FOR WOMEN

“W

contact raika at raikanicole@yahoo.com

omen are not capable of partaking in combat roles. They are emotionally unstable and cannot withstand rigors of combat.

They are physically and mentally inferior to men.”

I stood up. Looked him right in the eye.

“Motion to challenge the speaker to a push-up contest.”

“Uh..uh… that doesn’t pertain to the point I am trying to make.”

I laughed at his hesitation.

He, who refuses to do a push-up challenge against a 5’3, 100-pound half-Indian girl, by law, is more worthy of serving in direct combat situations than I am.

I can do more push-ups than he can. I can run faster than he can. I can shoot straighter than he can, but I cannot serve in a direct combat role in the military.

He can.

My abilities do not matter. Regardless of proof to show the appropriate physical strength, the undying patriotism and the willingness to put my life on the line, I, and other women are denied serving in direct combat roles.

I have always been taught that it is our job as citizens of the United States to protect and fight for our country, regardless of what gender we are.

Yet I have been misled.

Women are allowed in the military, but we are not allowed to partake in elite combat units, such as the Army Rangers.

For years, American women have been able to serve in direct combat in air and sea missions, but when it comes to ground operations, they are forbidden to fully participate.

Women are already doing dangerous work in Iraq and Afghanistan and are often attached to combat units there.

According to the Post Traumatic Stress support website, the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq are 10 percent women. They do the assigned work, no matter how dangerous. They get sent out to the front line. They have seen combat, and they have been killed. Yet, sending women out as combat troops is illegal.

Many people argue that assimilating women into the military would break the cohesiveness of it. Women have legally attained roles since 1948, and there have been no significant issues with the overall cohesion and bond of the military. Broadening their opportunities in what they can do would not have much effect since they have been normalized in the military for years now.

The Military Leadership Diversity Commission, cited a RAND(Research and Development) study which found that “gender differences did not appear to erode cohesion.’’ The same issue was raised in terms of allowing Blacks into the military, and people argued that it

would break the unit cohesion. It had no effect on the unit cohesion and it ended up helping the military in respect to its numbers and power.

Just because some men may feel uncomfortable, it does not justify infringing on the woman’s freedoms. We should not be basing who can and cannot fight off of whether the person would “like” to fight beside them. If they have a problem with it, no one is forcing them to fight in the first place. Americans are supposed to be promised equal opportunity.

Genetically, men are physically stronger than women. But there are some women out there who prove this wrong and are undoubtedly stronger than most men and they possess the physical attributes suitable to become combat soldiers. But because the majority of women do not possess these, the ones who do are not allowed. There are millions of men out there who are not physically fit enough to become combat soldiers, but they still have the opportunity to try to be one. There should not be a difference for women.

People that are not at the physical fitness level are not allowed into the combat unit, so if women are allowed to try, they would have to be at the appropriate level as well. There is absolutely no legitimate reason that could prevent women from serving in any combat unit if they prove to be physically capable of performing the required tasks that men have to.

People seem to reiterate a certain argument that women could be captured and subjected to sexual abuse whilst out in combat. In any working environment, a woman is at risk for sexual abuse. That is just how the world is, and unfortunately the military is not different. The women who are willing to be in the military are aware of the risk that they are taking and would not let this stop them from serving their country in the best way possible.

When more than 40,000 American women served in the war against Iraq, the Marine Corps awarded 23 women the Combat Action Ribbon for service in the Persian Gulf War because they were engaged by Iraqi troops.

There is no longer a clear distinction between combat and noncombat zones in war, they are melded together now. It does not make sense to cling to semantics, when the war is not.

This issue of allowing men and women in the military is an issue of military effectiveness. The United States is known for being the worlds’ strongest military power, and if we want to keep this reputation, we must have the best person for each job.

Regardless of their gender. n

“I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN TAUGHT THAT IT IS OUR JOB AS AMERICAN CITIZENS TO PROTECT AND FIGHT FOR OUR COUNTRY, REGARDLESS OF WHAT GENDER WE ARE. ”

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 61

opinion | east speaks out opinion | column

Tommy Behan WEBMASTER

COOKIE CUTTER contact tommy at tom.behan730@gmail.com

I

am a packer.

Not the quarterback who refused to accept retirement. Not the obsessive fan who wears an oversized jersey with a painted face and a cheesehead hat. Not the zealot who waits anywhere from 30 to 955 years for a season ticket, but then dies, passing his ticket-voucher to his baby, who finally gets to the game as an old man and then dies.

No. I do the impossible. I do what only the bravest will do. I pack my lunch in my old blue and gray double decker. The crumpled lower level contains my ice pack and Capri-Sun. The stained upper level holds my sandwiches and on a good day, my thermos. And it’s obvious know I’m a hardcore packer when I ignore the trendy brown bags.

The only thing I love more than my lunch box is the lunch it holds.

There is something satisfying about taking a break and eating the fruits of my hard labor. To enrich that experience from time to time, I indulge myself by buying cookies for dessert. One cookie is not enough. Two cookies cannot satisfy my feral hunger. I only stop at three cookies: three cookies for one dollar. On the first day of school, however, I sensed something was amiss.

They looked promising, stacked neatly in their respective drawers. I suspected nothing when I saw the familiar wax-like bottom that always indicates a good cookie. But something was different. The shade was just a hint browner. As I gave the lunch lady a dollar, she explained how they were now more expensive. Three cookies cost $1.10. When I went back to the table, thinking my $1.10 well spent, one bite was all it took to tip the scales.

I had never felt so betrayed.

The change in the cookies was as traumatic for me as when my family started eating whole wheat bread instead of white bread. The cookies tasted dry, and left me not wanting to take that sweet second bite. I forced myself to finish all three, for the sake of my feral hunger. My taste buds and I were not on speaking terms for nearly a week. Consequently, those were the last three cafeteria cookies I would eat during my sacred lunch period.

Shocked, horrified and puzzled at the same time, I made inquiries about the changes in the cookies. After putting on my Sherlock Holmes hat and doing some extensive investigative work (talking to a lunch lady), I deduced that the cookies were made of whole grain.

Cookies are not the only food going on a diet. Chips, milk and most a la carte items are now regulated, or going to be regulated, by several sources, primarily Ohio Senate Bill 210.

Under the bill’s restrictions, the baseline for a la carte items must be less than 100 calories, less than 35 percent fat and less than 35 percent

sugar by weight. On paper, these guidelines add up to healthier foods in the cafeteria and thus healthier meals. When the district looks in the vault for the money it uses on food, however, it will only find a dark, empty room, the taxpayers’ money long gone. This is because the state continues to mandate changes within school districts without providing additional funding to cover the new and increasing costs.

Take cookies, for instance. Lakota’s cookies are made by Otis Spunkmeyer. Due to Senate Bill 210, Otis Spunkmeyer had to reformulate the cookies to make them fit conform to the new cafeteria food regulations. This change cost Lakota six cents—per cookie. This cost, multiplied by the thousands of students who buy cookies on a regular basis means Lakota is spending thousands of dollars on cookies alone, not counting other a la carte items.

The state of Ohio has good intentions. They want to prevent obesity.

I could say the same thing about Brett Favre. He had good intentions coming back to the National Football League after he announced he would be retiring. The result, on the other hand, was more destructive than it was beneficial.

Representatives seek to prevent obesity by forcing schools to improve their cafeterias, even though the outcome is bleaker than a fourth down with oh-somany yards to go.

This method is clearly more destructive than beneficial.

While eating healthy is a good lesson to teach modern teenagers, it is also a lesson that should not be taught by the state, but rather, taught in the home by parents who hold responsibility for their child’s nutrition.

There is nothing wrong with having a good balance of healthy meals and not so healthy meals, like cookies, from time to time. When students buy a cookie (or three), they are obviously not trying to make a healthy choice. They are trying to make a judgment based purely on the craving for melted chocolate and soft cookie dough. It is not a decision where the calories and fats are put into consideration, but a decision where the sometimes-too-influential taste buds and the roaring stomach are contemplated.

Packers’ fans will always boo the referee’s decision to flag a receiver on an excessive celebration call. The referee may make what they see as the right call, but the fans will always disagree. The Ohio Congress may think it is looking out for kids eating cafeteria food, but the students will always disagree. Especially when it comes to the cookies. n

“THE COOKIES TASTED DRY...AND I FORCED MYSELF TO FINISH ALL THREE, FOR THE SAKE OF MY FERAL HUNGER.”

62 | Spark | October 26, 2011

the world

editorial cartoon ellen fleetwood

?!

whole wheat

...Healthy cookies? Isn’t that like dividing by zero?

Nick Hansen, junior To an extent, not necessarily as much as they have. I think it should be up to the school a bit too.

Kendra Thomas, junior

Manuel Aleman, junior

Claire Casper, junior

Cookies are dessert and so you don’t want to have a nasty dessert but maybe instead of making the dessert more healthy, maybe adding more healthy meals to the menu.

I don’t think it will change the general population’s weight problem but eating a cookie that’s not very nutritious won’t change or benefit anything.

If they wanted to go with the healthier thing, they [can] change the food, but I personally feel like since cookies are dessert that they should still be unhealthy because they’re cookies.

East Speaks Out Do you think the government should regulate cafeteria food?

opinion | head to head

emily chao

“

art lisa cai

If the U.S. had not taken the initiative to demand Gadhafi to step down, the rebels would not have been able to accomplish their goal for a free Libya.

64 | Spark | October 26, 2011

”

Libyan

Libya’s Dark Lord is gone.

Gone are the oppressive soldiers of Libya, gone are the atrocious acts that stain Libya’s history, gone is the man who has held the country in his grip for 42 years.

Moammar Gadhafi has been defeated by the rebels fighting for democracy in Libya and has vanished almost as quickly as Voldemort apparated out of the Ministry of Magic. His flapping tunic has made it more dramatic.

Yet, this victory for Libya’s citizens would not have been possible if the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had not become involved—and this was no mistake.

The whole revolution sprung from a speech President Obama gave at 10 o’clock at night.

One Tomahawk missile was all that was needed to set the events in motion.

After the U.S. initially started this mission, NATO soon took over the command operation to enforce the United Nations’ no-fly zone over Libya. Over 900 strikes later, the United States and NATO made an impact significant enough to allow the rebels to take over Tripoli on Aug. 21. They came armed with Blackberry’s, AK47’s and a fighting spirit only comparable to the troops siding with the Boy Who Lived.

According to British newspaper The Telegraph, Gadhafi himself fled his country in one of the convoys that left Tripoli daily.

If the U.S. had not taken the initiative to demand Gadhafi to step down, the rebels would not have been able to accomplish their goal for a free Libya. They would not have continued to have greater dominance in Libya’s revolution.

They would not have continued to nurture the flower that has come into full bloom during the Arab Spring.

Battles between Gadhafi’s faithful soldiers and the die-hard rebels could have been prolonged for many more months, even years.

Other revolutions have taken years—the American Revolution took eight years and the French Revolution took a decade. Libya was freed from Gadhafi in a mere six months. Their Ministry was infiltrated with people wanting good for their country, not with followers of an evil, snake-faced, half-human terror.

Despite the casualties and the sometimes inaccurate bombings, NATO has provided a gateway for Libyans to live a potentially better life. According to the news organization Reuters, after the air strikes ceased, markets were reopened in Tripoli and basic utilities such

as electricity and water were restored. “Out in the desert, some oil flows,” it said. A quick return to normalcy, accomplished better than Warren G. Harding’s futile promise.

Consider this: Gadhafi promised his country economic reform, but instead, he turned against his people, calling them “backwards.”

Corruption covered up the wounds of Libyan children’s malnutrition and workers’ high unemployment. Libyans lay in the middle of Africa awash in a sea of oil with barely any freedoms.

TIME sent reporters to the deserted Gadhafi compound, where only a few months before, the leader had lived with his wives, sons, and daughters. Photos revealed a palace of gold, expensive furniture, lavish architecture.

Digging deeper beneath the magnificent Bab al-Aziziya, photographers and Libyan officials revealed deep crypts, reeking of rotten flesh and littered with skeletons.

These wretched images are the full proof that Gadhafi had to go.

When a country’s people is pleading for assistance, almost screaming for help in the fight for democracy, the U.S. and other developed nations have a duty to help. This is not Iraq or Afghanistan, where the U.S. barged in based on our own interests. No preemptive strikes took place. No misjudged invasions of a country that did not pose a legitimate threat occurred. No retaliation of the Taliban has surfaced. This was a conflict that should have been fought because the Libyans came begging for assistance. The United States and its European allies were the perfect people to help.

They, with plentiful resources and manpower, were the forefront of the whole democratic movement.

Even though Gadhafi never stole money from his citizens, his government was full of corruption. Many of his officials lived in lavish surroundings, himself living in a gilded palace.

He took mysterious vacations to unknown locations, as seen from a photo album that was released to the media.

He did not keep any promises and neither did the government. The Libyan people did what they had to do. They fulfilled their civic duty when faced with an intolerable system: overthrow the government and set up a new one. Freedom only comes this way when people decide how the nation should be governed.

Popular sovereignty. Only this time, the United States bore the lightning shaped scar. n

Conflict

mohinee mukherjee

Being a super hero is overrated. There are too many expectations, too many villains and too many tight clothes. Besides, heroes should get a day off once in a while from saving the world. Apparently the most powerful hero in the world thinks differently.

For more than 60 years, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) has felt obligated to play the role of Superman in world affairs.

The purpose of NATO is to provide aid when one of its member nations is attacked by an aggressor country. Libya is not a member of NATO and thus NATO should not have flown to Libya to pursue Moammar Gadhafi.

Gadhafi is the evil villain. Just look at the state of his country. Libya had a 30 percent unemployment rate and people were unable to afford the basic necessities: rice, flour and gasoline. The government cheated farmers out of money by subsidizing their products with funds that equated to a fraction of the goods’ actual value and then selling them for an inflated price which went straight into Gadhafi’s evil lair. Under his rule, dissent was cruelly oppressed, which led many civilians to fear saying their ruler’s name out loud in public. Gadhafi even described his people as “backwards,” when he was the one who had barbaric policies.

Gadhafi needed to go. The United States and the rest of the world watched behind Clark Kent’s glasses as the rebels fought for freedom from tyrannical rule. But the U.S. should have only been watching.

The United States has a reputation for using their super-strength to meddle in other countries’ affairs, but the independence of South Korea has been the only positive outcome of U.S. interventionism. With that kind of record, the United States should’ve thought twice before entering into another conflict. Besides, the policy has always had a heavy cost in both money and human lives.

During the Vietnam War, the U.S. spent $2.6 billion in financial support, and overall, the war cost the United States approximately 350,000 casualties. When the U.S. took part in the Bosnian War, more than $15 billion was spent in incremental military costs and economic aid between 1991 and 2004. More recently, over 4,000 U.S. service personnel have been killed in the Iraq War since the invasion in 2003. Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard Professor Linda Blimes estimated the true cost of the war to be $3 trillion when impacts on

the U.S. budget and economy were taken into account.

Foreign civilian casualties are not among these figures, but those numbers also cast a dark shadow over the United States’ history.

Although these deaths were not intentional and the United States is mortified by these mistakes, when a war takes place, civilian deaths are almost unavoidable. The United States should only take that mortal risk when they are part of a conflict that they have a take in.

When compared the causalities that resulted from the U.S.’s previous involvements, the number of deaths in Libya due to NATO involvement is low. Towards the beginning of NATO’s raids, one of the strikes intended for pro-Gadhafi fighters unintentionally hit close to seven rebels who were spotted with captured government tanks. NATO forces also accidently targeted a column of rebel vehicles near the eastern city of Port Brega. About two months later, Libyan officials blamed NATO for a bomb strike on an apartment complex that was mistaken for a military missile site.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the residents of the complex were against Gadhafi and stated that the building was not near any military installations. This incident was at least the fourth friendly-fire occurrence in which NATO hit rebel forces, despite the fact that it signed an agreement to prevent such accidents. As of Oct. 4, The Kansas City Star reported that the total death toll from all the NATO bombings is still unknown, implying that NATO is deliberately trying to downplay civilian casualties, even after the strikes had ceased.

Regardless of these accidents, NATO is still responsible for the deaths of those rebels and civilians. The United States is also responsible for spending over $80 million for the operations in Libya.

But a greater issue hangs over the costs and casualties. As the United States and the rest of NATO continue to use their superpowers in matters outside of their member countries’ jurisdictions, the rest of the world will become dependent on these nations. The United States will feel obligated to return the distress call with forces of its own. This has to stop at some point, or the United States will continue to sacrifice money and innocent lives. It is time for the U.S. and the rest of NATO to take a step back in global affairs—and watch, with the cape hung up in the closet. n

“

The United States and the rest of the world watched as the rebels fought for freedom from tyrannical rule. But the U.S. should have only been watching.

”

lakotaeastspark.com | Spark | 65

opinion | finishing touch

devinCASEY

DEAD[LINE] AND GONE

I

f a fight broke out in Detroit, no one would bat an eye. If an inebriated homeless man decided to shout obscenities at a fire hydrant, no one would miss a beat. If 42 young Asian-Americans walked single-file alongside Detroit’s Gold Coast, it might turn heads.

The Asian-American Journalists Association Camp in Detroit and East Lansing, Michigan featured 42 high school seniors of various ethnic backgrounds from across the nation. It was the only place where being half-white made you exotic and a 34 on the ACT became a skeleton in the closet.

As the typical ice-breaker session began to close and we had all established each other’s geographical locations and Ivy League destinations, we gathered into a small conference room with no air conditioning to watch a special screening of “Page One: Inside the New York Times.”

While many students were jet-lagged and battling sleep, I could not take my eyes off the screen. It wasn’t because of the unprecedented amount of profanity used by New York Times reporter David Carr. The aspect of the film I found most intriguing, however, was its insider’s perspective on how the paper handled the change in media and how heavily other papers relied on The New York Times.

If one could sift through Carr’s care-free usage of foul language, he or she would find the root of his agony–the internet. Not only did the implementation of online journalism cause writers to be fired faster than a Tommy gun, it left the door wide open for plagiarism and hackers to waltz in and wipe their mud-caked shoes on the carpet, much like Maureen Dowd did to the pristine rug of The New York Times. In all fairness, Dowd claims that her lazy copy-and-paste ability from excerpts of an online column was an “accident.” As Carr’s hairline began to recede with stress throughout the film, I was left with one thought ringing in my mind.

Journalism is dying.

The paper is playing out its death like a thespian on Broadway, and the nebulous field of online journalism leaves few opportunities for prospective journalists. It is only a matter of time before print media is completely usurped and journalists are left without jobs and papers like the one you are holding become obsolete.

While I had only been in the summer camp for the duration of one movie, Terrell Brown, an alumnus of the program, spoke to us the next day about his feelings on being the youngest correspondent in CBS history.

“I’m 24 and I feel like I’m 42,” Brown said. “If I could do it over again, I would change a lot of things. I would have a life.”

The austere statement not only shattered expectations, but it decimated dreams.

Right before our eyes was a living example of the toll the current journalism climate takes on a person.

I came into the workshop hoping to hone my writing and interviewing skills in order to solidify my career’s goal of informing the public of pertinent information.

When given the opportunity to speak directly with professionals in the field, such as People magazine managing editor Cynthia Wang, two words became ingrained into my mind: double major.

Apparently the value of a journalism degree won’t hold any weight by the time we receive our diploma–in hand or via email. If internet media continues to increase in popularity, its credibility will decrease with journalists like Dowd because of its lack of filter, leading to the ultimate demise of the field of journalism.

On our last day in the Great Lake State, we were finally given the opportunity to speak with the featured guest of the trip, New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. I asked Sulzberger what had been on my mind all week in order to see if my career visions could be salvaged. I asked if he believed that what The New York Times was doing allowing Twitter, Facebook and its website to publish stories rapidly is working. I asked if he knew what their next step would be.

“No, you tell me.”

Looks like I’ll be double majoring. n

66 | Spark | October 17, 26, 2011