The SUN 2009-2010 Year Issue 4

www.mcsun.org making the sun shine online

the Mt. Carmel

High School

SuN

FRIDAy November 20, 2009 VOL. 37 No. 4

9550 carmel mountain rd., san diego, ca 92129

Administration cracks down on cheating, warns students of consequences

WHAT’S

INSIDE CHOIR TRAVELS TO FESTIVALS Choir looks forward to trips across the country and concerts at MC. news page A2

tj rivera-alonso staff writer

EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH Read both points of view, and take a side on whether or not embryonic stem cell research should stay legal.

Opinions page A7

VOLUNTEERING

A look at nurse aids, homeless helpers, and runners for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. centerspread pages A4 & A5

ONLINE

www.mcsun.org

MAKING THE SUN SHINE ONLINE

FIVE things to do:

during break

1

FOOTBALL

Watch the big game on Thanksgiving day or challenge your best friends and neighbors to a friendly flag football game.

2

BLACK FRIDAY

We know it’s crazy out there, but it is an experience that you don’t want to miss out on! Get up early and score some great deals.

3

FORGET EVERYTHING THAT YOU LEARNED FIRST TRIMESTER

[self explanatory]

CATCH UP WITH COLLEGE BUDDIES

4

Alumni will be making their way back home during the holiday break, so spare some time for them.

5 PIG OUT

Eat, eat, eat and eat some more. Turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie .. OH MY!

UPCOMING

EVENTS blood drive dance concert

DEC. 1 DEC. 17

class comp pep rally DEC. 18

INDEX NEWS CENTERSPREAD OPINIONS SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT FEATURES

A2-A3 A4-A5 A6-A8 B1-B3 B4-B5 B6-B8

Their way to the top

MACKENZIE LANCE news editor

Three papers. Two labs. A calc test. SAT review. It’s Tuesday night. Everything is due Friday, the test is Thursday and SAT is Saturday.

Two choices arise: study for hours on end and not accomplish all the assignments, or get a little “extra assistance,” in the form of cheating. Cheating within the realm of AP students has always been an issue, but it seems to be more widespread within the senior class.

“Cheating within the AP classes is very prevalent,” senior William Collins* said. “The kids, especially ones who take more than two to three AP classes, are more inclined to cheat than any other type of student.”

Often AP students will work together on homework, splitting up the material in order to minimize the amount of time spent on each assignment.

“We don’t cheat because we’re not smart enough to get the right answers,” Jane Bennet* said. “It’s scary to go into a class unprepared and if you miss an assignment, the teacher gets a bad impression.”

A major issue with cheating is a “code” which students study by that seems to allow some rulebreaking, but is seen as acceptable.

“Surprising as it sounds, there are certain “rules” within the boundaries of cheating,” Collins said. “Many cheat because they are too unsure of their own answers. One student may get answers from another person, but that student will do the test on his own or “compare” what he gets to the information received.”

Students who start by simply copying a homework assignment or two can digress into cheating on major exams or completely plagiarizing.

“The worst cheating I’ve seen is one student receiving an essay from student who took the class last year and used it as a “basis” for their own essay,” Collins said. “Cheating in the essay category is way over the line of ‘cheating boundaries.’”

So with such egregious disregard for the rules, why aren’t these students being punished? The fear of becoming a social outcast, or being turned in is often a motivator against reporting cheating.

“Many students do not report cheating because

of two reasons,” Collins said. “Many are not comfortable with the fact that they will be failing one of their peers. When you are reporting a cheating incident on your best friend, there will no doubt be repercussions in that relationship.”

The risk of losing a personal relationship often deters students from reporting cheating among their piers. The mentality of certain types of cheating being “less bad” than others has led to widespread cheating, and more guilty students.

“I would guess that 99 percent of AP students have cheated in one way or another,” Bennet said.

“Whether it’s a glance to someone else’s test to check answers, or storing math equations in a calculator, or sharing homework, it seems like everyone does it.”

The circle of cheating leads to a silent agreement between students not to report cheating.

“Most of the time, the student who witnesses a peer cheating does not report it because they have cheated as well,” Collins said. “This becomes an “eye-for-an-eye” ideal, where if one student reports another’s cheating, he or she will then exact revenge.”

The pressure that pushes AP students to cheat comes from two sources: peers and parents.

“I never cheated until my junior year,” Bennet said. “I was taking APEL and I needed to copy notes to get credit for the homework. The constant talk about colleges from my fellow students made me paranoid about being rejected from universities and I did whatever necessary to be competitive with the top of my class.”

Parental pressure starts at a young age for some AP students and continues and increases in high school.

“AP students naturally have more pressure in their home setting because of their parents,” Collins said. “Many of the three, four, five AP taking students are extremely pressured at home.

The parents of many of theses students tend to have come from backgrounds where they have excelled in their childhood classes and wish to see that glory carried on by their sons and daughters.”

Parental and peer pressure, along with the need to satisfy teacher expectations, push AP students towards cheating. As long as heavy homework loads exist along with days of multiple tests, it seems the cheating will flourish and go unreported. *Names have been changed for privacy

Photo illustration by amanda stintsman | photo editor

Cheating is an option that many students regret taking. Students who cheat and are caught find that their actions have deeper ramifications than they thought.

Every year teachers and administrators try their best to catch cheaters so that they are punished.

These adults state that cheating at school means that the students are cheating themselves out of a quality education, and even worse, they say that this behavior may lead to a lifestyle built on cheating and lying.

Even knowing these consequences, students still choose to cheat.

English teacher Stacey Rodillon has observed many techniques for cheating that students have used in her class.

“Some students write on the inside of water bottle labels,” Rodillon said. “Some people text during tests. The most common cheating method though is simply copying another person’s work or getting someone else to do the work for you.”

Math teacher James Lafferty had a student this year that went to great lengths to get credit for homework he did not do.

“This kid tried to turn in homework that wasn’t even his,” he said. “He erased the names on top of the homework and added his own. It was a joke.”

Lafferty felt appalled by this obvious attempt to cheat in his class so he assured that the student received the worst punishment for his actions.

Every year students at MC are given a student handbook which describes all the school rules and expectations for students.

Assistant principal Greg Magno advises students to take a look at the handbook so that they know what to expect when it comes to cheating.

“There is a wide range of possible consequences for different levels of violation,” Magno said. “It can range from a parent conference to suspension and/or a withdrawal/fail from the course.”

Although the repercussions are obvious to students, many still choose to take the risk. The pressure of having to succeed in many classes may come from parents, coaches, or teachers. Still, Rodillon believes there is no excuse for cheating.

“It’s absolutely pathetic and desperate,” Rodillon said. “I also feel personally insulted when a student cheats because it’s as if they are saying, ‘I think you’re too stupid to notice.’”

The effect of getting caught cheating for a student can bring many problems for the rest of their high school career.

Students risk their reputation among peers, teachers, and administrators.

“The lack of respect that an action such as cheating shows is often enough to severely weaken, if not destroy, many relationships,” Magno said. “You will remember forever the memories and relationships that you build with peers, teachers, and coaches, and to cheat…can ruin all of that.”

Rodillon knows of these broken relationships first hand. She believes that cheating is just pointless and not worth the risk.

“In my opinion, cheating is reprehensible because it destroys the trust that I have for that student,” Rodillon said. “It makes me lose respect for them. I believe if you’re not prepared for something, you should have the guts to live through the consequences of your actions.”

The widespread opinion among teachers and administrators is that cheating is careless and worthless, and most definitely not worth the risk. To them, cheating at school has in fact a reverse effect, a false feeling of achievement, on the culprit.

News

A2

Mt. Carmel SUN

November 20, 2009

Grad Nite ticket prices at year low; Choir learns from festival experience, anticipates trips Bhairi Staff writer ‘nite’ of fun, celebration promised Vandana Andy Bolin Staff Writer It’s not very often that a professional hypnotist is one of the many events at a high school function.

This is one of the great things that were happening inside the gym, last year at Grad Nite.

The theme of Grad Nite last year was Indiana Jones.

There were many games and other activities involving this theme. There was also a casino at Grad Nite that gave you the real effect of a casino.

Some of the “gambling” activities included craps, black jack, and five card poker.

Also, there was a wide variety of food.

Some of the food included lumpia, all different sorts of candy, nachos, and all the drinks that any person can think of.

Even though there has not been much advertisement about Grad Nite this year, most seniors know about it.

But it helps when many of the former graduates talk about how much fun they had while at Grad Nite.

“Grad Nite was a great experience,” MC alumni Colin Burke said. “It is something I will never forget.”

But the night would more than likely, be more memorable is more seniors showed up.

This is where the ticket sales come into effect.

A person’s wallet feels much fuller when it has 40 extra dollars in there.

Even graduation still months away, seniors should still be looking to buy their Grad Night tickets while they are still cheap.

“If you buy tickets now, they are around $60,” Donna Cardenas who is one

of the many parents helping with Grad Nite said. “For many students, and their parents, the night will be more enjoyable when you know that you spent almost half the money as some of the other kids that are attending the same event.”

For most seniors one of the things on their mind is graduation.

One of the many events that come with the pleasure of graduating is Grad Nite itself.

But for many students, Grad Nite is difficult to attend because the cost is so high.

For this reason and others, the parents that work Grad Nite agreed that ticket sales should increase as the year goes on, so more seniors can attend.

“The more the better,” Cardenas said.

“This is one of those nights that none of the kids will ever forget. But for this to happen, having tickets sold at a reasonable price only makes sense.”

Even though there has not been much advertisement about Grad Nite, every senior does know about it.

Since the price of tickets is so low now, students are going to be able to not worry about buying tickets at the last minute, and losing all the money they saved up.

If you have not bought your ticket by the night of Grad Nite, then the ticket is going to be 110 dollars, as to if you buy it now, when it is 60 dollars.

Every single month, the price of tickets increases dramatically.

In December, the ticket sales are going to go up five dollars, and that rate is going to continue until the night of Grad Nite.

Tickets can either be bought at Mary Ellen Sp. desk in the administration office, or they are available online at the MCHS website.

The choir’s program is rolling along and their first couple festivals and their concert are under their belt. Senior Jennifer Martin explains what the choir has to do in order to be top notch at festivals.

“Especially in classical choir, I expect everyone to work their hardest and care about the product that we come up with,” she said.

“You have to really want to do it and put your heart into it to do really well at festivals.”

The choir’s first festival was at Palm Springs from October 26-27. Senior Tyler Barnes believes that the trip was a great way to start off the year and although it wasn’t a competition, MC received great feedback.

“It was basically awesome,” he said. “We bonded a lot as a choir because we got to sleep over there. It was more of a showcase of many schools. The judges said that we had great tone and our song choices are very difficult

and very diverse, which is always good, but they said we need to work on tempo.”

Sophomore Brianna Gibbs, a member of the Bel Canto choir thinks that although Bel Canto made a few mistakes at the festival, it was overall a good experience.

“Since it was the beginning of the year it’s all about just improving and getting to hear other choirs and learning from them,” Gibbs said. “We did pretty well, there were some mistakes, and hopefully we won’t make them again when it comes to the concert.”

This concert was on Nov. 6 and encompasses all of the beginning and festival pieces.

Sophomore Vianae Jarrell says that the concert went really well, especially since it was earlier in the year than previous years.

“It the concert went really smoothly actually,” she said. “There was nothing that went wrong…we fixed everything that we were told to fix during the festivals. The hard work definitely paid off.”

Martin feels that choir is a big responsibility and requires a lot of effort.

“Choir is basically like an AP class because you spend so much time out of school with rehearsals and practices, and we even had a summer assignment; it’s a huge commitment,” she said.

In order to be able to attend all of the future festivals and trips, fundraising is very important.

One key fundraiser is MC’s Got Talent.

“We host MC’s Got Talent,” Barnes said.

“We did it last year and we got a great response from everyone who came. We’re hoping to make that an annual thing.”

Martin believes that with determination and perseverance, the choir program can achieve anything.

“We all need to get a little more focused and know the potential we have,” she said.

“We can do well if we work hard…I’m just dying to get out there and show how good of a music program MC has!”

photo provided by Scott Hanson

Choir director Marty Martinez rehearses with the choir before a performance at a Palms Springs festival.

Sunspot H1N1 Vaccinations

On Saturday, the Poway Unified School District in Partnership with the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency, Palomar/Pomerado Hospital and the City of Poway, will offer four H1N1 vaccination clinics for Poway Unified students and their siblings ages six months to 18 years of age and for pregnant women.

via powayusd.com

MC

TJ Rivera- Alonso STAFF WRITER The Homecoming dance for MC occurred on Oct. 31 at the gym.

It was the culmination of a week which included dress-up days and the Homecoming football game against San Marcos, which the Sundevils won, 42-20.

The Homecoming court was announced at halftime.

The Homecoming King was senior Troy McClelland and the Queen was senior Jodie Ha. Other members of the court were seniors Wesley Wallace, Kellie Fox, Mike Nelson, and Angelica Rocha.

The junior court members were Matt Rochelle and Tess Moore.

Sophomore court members were Nick Vasko and Falesha Herrera, and the freshman court members were Billy-Ray Hunt and Chanel Enriquez.

The week was filled with dress up days. Tuesday was scary movie star day. Wednesday was Hollywood star day. Thursday was Halloween costume day. Friday was extreme red and gold day.

Not very many students went to the Homecoming dance compared to last year, but those who went enjoyed it.

“There weren’t that many people,” junior Deanna Cherry said. “But, it was still fun.”

The dance proved to be as unique as its theme: “A Haunting in Hollywood.”

News

Mt. Carmel SUN

November 20, 2009

Vandalism strikes the ‘MC’; suspects not yet identified

Band perfects “snake” show, slithers toward Fiesta Bowl

LAURA SLUSSER STAFF WRITER

ANGELA KIM COPY EDITOR

After the anarchy sign was painted over the MC, most of the students were wondering why the security cameras hadn’t caught it.

“Our ability to store footage is balanced out with the resolution needs of the camera and images that we want,” assistant principal Ron Garret explained. “When there’s plenty of light, you don’t need high resolution.”

Over the weekend, he said, the resolution is compromised with the need to record 72 hours.However, he also said that regardless of the resolution, it would have been hard to identify the suspect.

“We actually did see the suspect on the recording,” he said. “In this particular case, I still think it would have been difficult to identify the him” he said. “We got a good view of the back and side of the person, but probably not enough to identify even if we had a higher resolution,” he said.

Also, the administration deduced that the vandalism on the track field was not related to the anarchy sign. Poway Unified School District is actually one of the most graffiti free school districts.

“One of the reasons we cover up the graffiti right away… is so that students don’t say ‘Oh, the way to get my message out is to paint it on the walls and sidewalks,’” he said.

Unfortunately, in this case, many of the students saw the anarchy sign before it was covered up.

“I was actually really impressed with how students didn’t come up and say: ‘Oh, look at that, I could do that too.’ All the conversation I heard was: ‘Oh, who did this? I can’t believe this.’ ” he said.

A3

“charming” begins.

With just the Arcadia tournament left in the season before the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in Arizona, the band spends its days rehearsing the “snake” routine everyday, especially on Wednesday nights for three and a half hours. On occasion, the band has Saturday practices. Senior Alex Terzian explains the need for all this practice.

“The basis of our show is a

snake,” she said. “The first movement is cobra and it’s all about the movement of the snake—the slithA brooding, exotic tune laces er. And it’s very difficult to capture the air then in waves, each marchthat with something as specific and er wiggles himself next to another stiff as marching posture.” marcher, forming a winding coThe “waves” and “ripples” in bra snake. As the music proceeds the show poses a challenge to a crescendo, people dart in and “The woodwinds have to do out, and the snake comes to life. this thing when they’re in formaThe colorguard dancers pop out tion and they bow down at differof snake charmer baskets and the ent times so it looks like a snake is slithering across the field. It’s really, really cool, but what nobody understands is that eight people have to come down at the exact same spot while playing and counting together.”

While creating a snake, the band also has to coordinate with the costumed, snake charming Colorguard. With a demanding show, Terzian feels the need for perfection.

“We run things over and over and over again because it has to be perfect,” she said. “We have to have perfect posture; we have get to the exact spot on the field. You are 1.5 steps from the sideline. If you’re 1.2, you are off.”

With semi finals in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 4 and the famous Arcadia tomorrow, perfection to the band is somewhat seen as mandatory. However, to the seniors especially, perfection and winning isn’t everything.

“The seniors want to win so bad. The older you get the bigger and more important it gets,” Terzian said. “Sometimes a lot of the seniors want so much to do their best, but they never let it get between them and the underclassmen. The band is all about family.

It’s all about the experience and MARY CARMEN GONZALEZ | PHOTO EDITOR Drum major Monica Riturban (12) leads the band during a parade the journey—it’s never about winning.” practice.

Westboro Baptist Church protests; students act silently against group JARED SERVANTEZ STAFF WRITER Holding their signs in the air, members of the Topeka, Kansasbased Westboro Baptist Church stood on the side of the road near the entrance to Rancho Bernardo High before school on Oct. 19, protesting as students arrived for class in the morning.

According to the church’s leader Fred Phelps, the protest was staged in “an effort to bring truth to the students.”

The WBC is known for its virulently anti-homosexual, anti-Catholic, and anti-Semitic views.

According to its beliefs, incidents such as the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are God’s way of punishing America for being a sinning, homosexual nation.

The church has gained a reputation in recent years for its protests at public events and military funerals, and its signs claiming that God hates homosexuals, Jews, the U.S. military, and various other groups.

Members of the church, along with some of their children, protested at RB as part of a four-day stay in San Diego that included demonstrations at San Diego High School, The Rock Church, and the San Diego Jewish Academy, as well as over 20 other locations.

Many RB students were extremely upset upon learning that the church would be protesting at their school. Soon after the news got out, a Facebook group entitled “the Humanists” was created by RB students Mateo Vargas, Kevin Romero, and Robert Bojar as a response to the WBC protest.

Initially, they planned to stage a counter-protest, but after speaking with RB principal Paul Robinson

they agreed that the best course of action would be to leave the protesters alone in order to attract as little media attention to the church as possible. One member of the Humanists group, RB senior Jeric Chapman, agreed that a hyped-up counter-protest would only give the WBC undeserved media coverage.

“The key to the WBC’s success is that they are loud and obnoxious about their radical beliefs,” Chapman said. “Because of this, the media has done nothing but inflate the group’s importance.”

Instead of staging a counterprotest of their own, the Humanists decided to show their disapproval for the WBC’s beliefs by wearing shirts that expressed pride in groups that the WBC opposes, from homosexuals to Jews.

Their tactic seems to have been effective, as the WBC’s protest resulted in no major incidents and passed by with generally little impact.

“Throughout the day, many students expressed disappointment in the WBC’s low turnout,” Chapman said. “It occurred to me, seeing just the six or seven of them with their ludicrous signs on the corner, that the entire thing was wholly insignificant for the amount of hype surrounding it.”

The group of protesters standing on the corner did attract some attention, and cameras and television news crews could be spotted at the scene. However, many students refused to provide ammunition for the group’s attacks and chose instead to go about their day as normal. “{The church} had the right to go; it is freedom of expression after all,” Chapman said. “But at the end of the day, the most attention anyone should give to the WBC is none at all.”

A4

Sun Spread

Mt. Carmel SUN

ART BY MELANIE DICKINSON | CENTERSPREAD EDITOR

Mt. Carmel SUN

November 20, 2009

A5

Kellman enjoys library work despite slobbery kids

Lambert helps elementry school students in E.S.S. Elementary school days are the days of imagination and creativity. Playing “house” with sticks and rocks is something that many remember doing at school when they were eight.

Sophomore Meagan Lambert is very familiar with games like these from volunteering at Sunset Hills Elementary School.

“The [kids] will pretend patches of dirt are different rooms, and the sticks and rocks are furniture and food,” she said.

In addition to playing house, Lambert also helps the students with homework, and makes sure they have a fun time at E.S.S. “I help them with homework and play with them,” she said. “I try to keep them entertained until their parents come pick them up.”

Lambert feels volunteering is beneficial

to both the volunteer and the student.

“Volunteering is a good way to get community service hours, and I love kids,” Lambert said. “I love being able to help children in any way possible.”

Although Lambert loves to help children, she tries to balance volunteering two hours each day with school work.

However, she does believe that volunteering is well worth the struggle of a staying up a few more hours for homework.

She enjoys spending time with the students to help them feel a part of something.

“It reminds me of when I went to E.S.S.,” she said. “It’s basically re-living my elementary school days. I want to make their experience the best I can.”

ALISON ASHWORTH BUSINESS MANAGER

JENNIFFER FARRELL | PHOTOGRAPHER

Emma Kellman (12) helps a child in the Rancho Penasquitos Public Library’s after-school craft program. She has volunteered at the library for two years. To volunteer at any public library, ask for the volunteer coordinator at the front counter and fill out a volunteering form.

Every Thursday after school, senior Emma Kellman walks around the block to the Rancho Penasquitos Public Library.

Week after week, for several years now, Kellman has volunteered at the library, doing various jobs. Currently, she helps with an after-school craft program, from which she gets some pleasant benefits.

“I get free snacks, because I work with kids at this craft thing called ‘Wii Get Crafty,’” Kellman said. “We play Wii and make crafts. There’s a snack table that the kids are fanatical about, and if we don’t put it up, they get really mad.”

Kellman finds that the job is rewarding

in other ways, as well.

“It’s nice when I get to work with nice, cooperative kids. The best part is probably that they’re really cute.”

Kellman has a second job; she helps clean up the library at closing time.

“I clean up the slobber-coated blocks and books that kids gnaw on, which isn’t that fun. What I enjoy the most is shelving books,” Kellman said. “A while back, some kid stole some books, so we’re not allowed in the back room, but when I could, my favorite job was shelving.”

DENNIS SUN ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

Shelters offer help for homeless, perspective for volunteers The starving people walked through the doors of St. Vincent de Paul desperately looking for food. Sophomore Janis Yue welcomed them with a smile on her face as she serves them their meal.

Volunteering at homeless shelters such as St. Vincent has become a popular way for many MC students to get volunteer hours.

Yue, who got involved because Key Club offered St. Vincent as an event, gained a new perspective.

“It just seemed like a really good place to volunteer,” she said. “I’d never really gotten to see homelessness first hand, and it honestly seemed like an eye-opening experience into some of the difficulties people have to go

through.”

Sophomore Danielle Bradley, who also volunteers at homeless shelters, such as the Oceanside Bread of Life, had a powerful moment while volunteering.

“There were two kids, maybe ages 15 and 10, and you could tell that they didn’t have a mom because they weren’t very well kept,” she said. “And they were just so grateful… it’s one thing when you see adults, but when you see kids, it greatly impacts you.

Bradley said the experience made her more appreciative.

“It gave me a new perspective for sure,” she said. “There was this one guy…who was saying how he hadn’t eaten in two days and

how he was so hungry…We take food for granted and little things like that but they’re not little at all because there are people who don’t have those things.”

Yue says that this event is one of her favorites and that she will continue to help out at St. Vincent.

“I most definitely plan to keep volunteering there,” she said. “You get such a great feeling, and it’s just overall a fantasmic thing to do, and I encourage everyone to give it a chance.”

VANDANA BHAIRI STAFF WRITER

5K runs provide fun volunteering opportunities

JENNIFFER FARRELL | PHOTOGRAPHER

Meagan Lambert (11) helps an elementary school student with homework at the Sunset Hills E.S.S.

Inspiration, fulfillment found in hospital volunteering For most hospital volunteers, the process to get the job is long and often tedious, but the experience is worth the wait.

Junior Amy Cheu volunteers as a “nurse’s aid” in the Surgical Acute Center of Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla and finds inspiration nearly every visit.

“The medical education is interesting, but it’s also touching and kind of heart-breaking,” she said.

Cheu said that one patient suffers from mental hallucinations.

“She has something called dementia, she basically lives a bad dream,” she said. “She can’t wake up

from it…the entire time she was just screaming and crying. She was calling for her mother. She’s 80 years old! She doesn’t know her husband came by; she didn’t even know who he is. Do you know how hard that is?”

This and Cheu’s many other experiences at Scripps further galvanizes her desire to enter the medical profession and try to help those in need.

“When you stand there, you’re helpless: you’re just a volunteer,” she said. “I have a real passion, and I want to be a doctor.”

Another junior, Clark Scally, works in a similar department in Rady Children’s Hospital. He shares the same sentiment to just be of help.

“There’s something kind of holy about being in a hospital; it’s like being in a church,” he said. “All the best parts of me get to come out. When you go there, you feel a change, you feel like you’re on holy ground. You just wanna be as good as you can for the kids.”

ANGELA KIM COPY EDITOR

Every year Key Club participates in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation 5K walk in order to support juvenile diabetes.

“It’s a great way to give back to the community while getting exercise,” junior Emily Myers said.

Five kilometer walk runs are held practically every weekend at Balboa Park for almost every cause and often only cost around $20.

“I do 5Ks because they’re a great way to give back to the community and they’re fun because I can do it with a small group of people or a large group like Key Club,” Myers said.

Runs and walks are open to both individuals and large groups that fundraise in order to participate, like Key Club who raised around $800 for the JDRF

walk.

“I usually go with my aunt and her friends but I end up leaving them behind because they’re too slow,” Myers said jokingly.

Often these runs create a fun atmosphere that keeps you wanting to participate in more.

“I always enter the Father Joe Thanksgiving one and last year I wore my turkey boxers that were white but then it started raining and I was so glad I had spandex on under because my shorts became see through,” Myers said. “But it was still so much fun.”

NICOLE BUSTAMANTE STAFF WRITER

JARED SERVANTES | PHOTOGRAPHER

Sundevils gather to “walk to find a cure” for juvenile diabetes. Key Club frequently participates in similar 5K walks and runs.

Opinions

A6

November 20, 2009

THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID

Common teenage problems seem selfish compared to global issues seen by others

MACKENZIE LANCE

VANDANA BHAIRI STAFF WRITER A couple weeks ago, I made my daily trip onto Facebook and saw on my News Feed that my friend’s status was “FML.” I asked her what had happened and she proceeded to tell me that her mom wouldn’t let her go to the movies alone with a guy, and other things that made up her pathetic sob story.

For some reason, this extremely upset me. We have so many problems in our world such as poverty, disease, and famine (to only name a few), and not being able to chill with friends is no where close to being a global condition.

In Third World countries such as India and South Africa, there are children who don’t have an education, proper living conditions, or even daily food, and here we are complaining about our mediocre problems.

A “novel” journey The first book I ever read all the way through was “Raz-Ma-Taz.” It was about a sheep. I only read it because I thought the cover was cute.

Soon after I conquered “RazMa-Taz,” I delved into “Mr. Penguin,” “A Quilt Story,” “Little Critters,” and “Goodnight Moon.” After I mastered picture books, I found the holy grail of kiddy books, “The Bearenstein Bears.”

That series introduced me to the concept of connecting with a character. My mom was Mother Bear, my dad was father bear, JJ was Brother Bear, and I was Sister Bear. They even had a little sister Honey, later in the series, to make my fictional family completely mirror my own sister, Tessa. Eventually I had read every book in the series at least three times.

I was forced to move away from my adopted bear family and transition into novels.

Old people novels. Novels that had talking characters that used words longer than four letters and were not animals. Novels that started with “The” and ended with a noun like “The Stranger” or “The Call of the Wild.” My transition to these novels included “The Boxcar Children,” “Gossip Girl,” and a plethora of young adult fiction.

One day I worked up the nerve to walk up the three stairs to the nonfiction/ fiction section. I was engulfed in thousands of books from romance novels to biographies, how-to manuals, and plays.

I picked the first book I saw that seemed interesting. It was “Ulysses”

by James Joyce.

Bad choice.

Long, bad, boring choice.

All the book did was scare me away from classic novels and make me hate James Joyce. The sentiment was nearly unanimously shared by my AP lit class as we read his “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.” So my first pick was a bust.

There had to be books that wouldn’t put me to sleep. I eventually read through most of Steinbeck and Oscar Wilde, but my summer assignments really helped me to pick my favorite books. Just a little side note. I in no way support summer assignments and sincerely wish they did not exist.

But APEC did help teach me that I didn’t like Dumas, at the same time APEL taught me to love Hemingway. Yeah, I was that one girl in your class who actually liked Hemingway and all his death and crazy alcoholic characters.

I went to the library to find more Hemingway and passed the P section when I found “Fight Club” by Chuck Palahnuik.

I’d seen the movie and wanted to know how much it differed from the book and read through the novel.

I got hooked on Palahnuik. I read “Fight Club,” “Lullaby,” and “Diary.” At this point I had exhausted the library’s supply. On my final fateful run to the P section, I found Plath.

Sylvia Plath wrote “The Bell Jar.” It seemed like one of the books with the generic “The + noun” title.

I read it anyway. It had a cool cover, just like “Raz-Ma-Taz.” I fell in love with “The Bell Jar.” It’s not exactly a normal book to fall in love with. It’s about a mentally unstable girl and her journey as a magazine intern and a mental patient in 1920s New York.

The main character reminded me of myself. We both wrote, we both were starting a new period of our lives, we both suffered from panic attacks, but we both got through it.

Even though her life was pushed to farther extremes than mine, I still felt a connection.

Easter Greenwood was my new Sister Bear.

Books have always enabled me to escape into a new world, but the best ones for me are where I become a part of the story.

Mt. Carmel SUN

We hear it a million times: “Think about what you do have, not what you don’t.”

But how often do we actually take the time to take a step back and look at our life on a largerscale?

Oftentimes, it’s not enough.

Let’s get things straight: it’s not a crime to be sad because of a bad day.

But there’s a fine line between being sad and being selfish, and time and time again that line is being crossed.

Even when we think we are having the worst day of our lives, we have it so much better than many people around the world, and that is the first thing to understand.

As a society, we need to disregard the negatives in any situation and focus on the positives.

We should appreciate and be thankful for the many things that we have such as our family, friends, health, and love.

I once saw a show on “Oprah” describing the life of people in poor villages in Africa.

The people being filmed lived in squalor and in dangerous conditions.

The most impactful part of that entire segment was to see that the people in those villages could find something to smile about every, single day.

Whether it was the fact that they had eaten food or that they were alive for another day, they were content.

This really made me realize that all those times I had been complaining about my little predicaments were nothing in comparison to some of the huge obstacles certain people have to face.

I should be grateful that I haven’t had those challenges in my life.

We are surrounded with so many good things in our life and we should emphasize that instead of what we think is going wrong.

CHRISTIAN JUN | ARTIST

Being Manly 101: Follow the Bro Code, eat food, respect women CORDELL HUNTER STAFF WRITER

In the vast amount of time better known as human history, many people have attempted to define manliness; and failed.

Therefore, I feel the human race has gone long enough without an answer and will try to the best of my abilities to resolve the question.

Men are not complicated.

In fact, we are probably the most easily understood creatures on the planet and we live our lives by few rules.

However, there are some very specific laws governing what is manly and what isn’t.

These make up what is known as the Bro Code.

For one, to be manly, a man MUST like sports. Even if he doesn’t really like sports, a man likes sports.

A man without sports is like a hobo wear-

ing an Armani suit; it just doesn’t work.

You don’t have to play sports, watching them is enough, but playing a sport makes you extra cool.

Next, manly men watch manly TV shows and movies.

These include the likes of “24”, “Saving Private Ryan”, “House”, “The Bourne Trilogy” and of course, the most mantastic of all: “Rambo”.

Pretty much anything violent, explosive or laced with sexual jokes is manly and therfore watchable.

On the other hand, a true man NEVER, and I will repeat this twice for emphasis, never ever watches something like Gossip Girl.

That is sin, and when you die, your spirit will not go to the Playboy Mansion like everyone else.

Instead you will descend into a giant lake of lip-gloss and be damned there for eternity.

Men also like to eat. But like everything else, there is manly food and what I like to

call “no-go food”.

Good, healthy, manly food is steak, stew, burger…etc. Steak is god’s gift to the male species.

It tastes good and is loaded with protein to make you buff.

No go food is the exact opposite. It might taste good, but watch Supersize Me, and you will know what it does to you.

Men are also not emotional.

By emotional I do not mean men don’t get happy or angry, but that men are not touchy-feely like girls are.

A manly man does not talk about his feelings with his bros.

There is no explanation for why this is, it just does not happen.

Manly men also do not cry during movies.I do not care who died, or who got divorced or who broke up with whom. Don’t do it.

If you feel like you must cry and there is no way to avoid it, pretend to have to go to

the bathroom or something, because even if your self-respect is destroyed (and it should be), at least your buddies will still have respect for you.

And finally, and most importantly, a true man does not disrespect girls.

It seems like this would be a no-brainer, because the goal of most men is to get girls to like them, but some dumbasses can’t seem to understand.

A manly man does not call women names such as bitch or ho, and he certainly does not hit his girlfriend or wife.

Yes, I understand relationships have their problems, but that does not mean you need to pull a Chris Brown and freak out.

There is no gray area between what is manly and what isn’t.

It’s completely black and white; either you are manly or you aren’t.

Men who follow these rules are manly.

Their bros like them, girls like them, but most importantly, they like themselves.

Best Buddies experience teaches selflessness, patience JAY HUEY STAFF WRITER Developing lifelong bonds with mentally disabled children is the objective of the Best Buddies Club.

Some members of this club form personal buddy pairs and interact with one another, sharing an experience filled with the unexpected.

One thing members can be certain of; spending a single minute of their time with these children can really change the way they view life as a whole.

Coming into the club and being paired with a student with disabilities, my initial thought was that my duty was to play the role as a mentor and teacher to him; tell him what’s right and what’s wrong, and when to do and not to do something.

Ironically, someone was playing the role as a teacher, and it wasn’t me, but my own buddy instead.

Your priorities become insignificant beIt’s been only a month that my friend and cause you know instinctively that your buddy I have been a Best Buddy pair, but it’s amazneeds more attention than you do. When you ing how much I’ve learned from him in so compare your situation with your buddy, it’s little time. no contest; Spendand when you ing time with see how fora student with mental tunate you disabilities My buddy has brought into my life some values I are, your brain teaches you tells lacked going into the Best Buddies club. He’s taught suddenly and instills you to go out values in me a lot more than I could ever teach him. of your way to your life that Possibly, I needed him more than he needed help out your you may not buddy. me.” have been He has taught me intaught in directly that your lifebeing his peer time, such buddy requires as the golden me to be patient with him, even to the point rule of respecting others, and learning to not where I may have to repeat myself to him nutake your life for granted. merous times.

In Best Buddies, your buddy teaches you Patience is a major virtue within this to become selfless.

“

club. It is critical to adapt to them and not let such a little thing annoy you to the bone.

Don’t try to be someone you aren’t. Your buddy looks up to you; he or she isn’t looking to make judgments about your appearance, and especially your personality.

There’s nothing to be fake about, and sometimes your buddy can sense if you’re hiding something.

Over that past month, I feel that I’ve gained a greater appreciation of my own life.

Once you really get to know a child with mental disabilities and learn about the struggles they put up with on a daily basis, you’ll find out that you have it easy; your life is much more fortunate compared to the lives of these children.

My buddy has brought into my life some values I lacked going into the Best Buddies club. He’s taught me a lot more than I could ever teach him.

Possibly, I needed him more than he needed me.

STAFF EDITORIAL

Cheating builds unfair advantages, raises grade at expense of others

CHRISTIAN JUN | ARTIST

From a very early age, almost all children are taught the phrase: “cheaters never prosper.”

Unfortunately, as we progress through our school careers, we see that many students choose not to live by this mantra.

As the years pass in high school, there develops a clear difference between the students who choose to advance themselves by working hard and studying, and those who just use others to succeed.

Those students who choose to cheat give themselves an unfair advantage over those who prefer to be more honest about how they approach their schoolwork.

Some students cheat by occasionally copying homework assignments, while others peek at

their fellow classmate’s tests, and some have even taken it far enough that they even copy essays or get pictures of tests beforehand.

The students who choose the honest path end up feeling cheated by the dishonest students, and some even end up feeling angry at them.

Students who cheat on tests sometimes end upsetting the curve and therefore lower the grades of those who spent their time studying hard and doing their homework.

This lowering of grades occasionally affects students’ grades so much that it might get the students stuck with a lower letter grade at the end of the grading period.

Then, because a few students choose to cheat on a couple tests, another student’s GPA is lowered and could be negatively affected

when it comes time to apply to colleges.

To try to counteract cheating, the school has set up a zero tolerance policy against it.

However, every teacher has a different definition and level of tolerance for cheating, so there are some classes in which students get away more easily with cheating.

Teachers need to step up their enforcement on cheating and create a common definition for it so that there is no loopholes that students can find and so that they will be less willing to cheat.

Since cheating as it is running rampant, more and more students see that it is okay and that it is benefiting the students who choose to partake in it. Something more must be done about the cheating at MC.

Opinions

Mt. Carmel SUN

A7

November 20, 2009

Should embryonic stem cell research stay legal?

An embryo is defined as a fertilized zygote. However, when used in scientific stem cell research, the embryo has not been derived from a woman’s uterus by force. These cells are from donors with prior consent. Stem cells are basically naked cells that can be manipulated to grow into specialized cells that can be implanted into a recipient’s body. These cells may possibly be used to fix spinal cord injuries, cure cancer, and even be used to model certain genetic disorders.

YES

KELLY FAN STAFF WRITER Modern medicine is moving forward at warp speed; scientists have propelled us to newer and greater heights.

Recently, scientists have experienced an enormous breakthrough: embryonic stem cell research, which could potentially cure hundreds of diseases now considered “incurable.”

Embryonic stem cell research involves the most primordial of human cells, the first cells that form when the egg is conceived by the sperm.

Pre-clinical studies have shown that these cells have the potential to cure countless debilitating disorders, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis, and diabetes.

In fact, earlier this year, scientists utilized mouse stem cells to re-grow an actual strip of mouse heart, one

that even beat spontaneously.

Those who oppose embryonic stem cell research feel that extracting the cells of an embryo is an act of homicide.

Many believe life begins the moment the sperm reaches the egg, and it is wrong to take the “potential” of human life.

However, note that the embryo is not sentient: it is, at the moment of extraction, just a bunch of cells with no brain, ability to think, memory, awareness, or consciousness.

They have the potential to become humans, but not human beings nevertheless.

Those cells, however, have the great potential to save the lives of millions of humans, humans who have already established a lifestyle, humans who have families, and humans whose lives are torn apart by disorders and diseases.

NO

DENNIS SUN ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

In fact, the stem cells are taken from embryos that are created through in vitro fertilization for the purpose for extracting those cells.

These cells have never been implanted in a woman’s womb and would never would have had a chance to grow into anything more.

So why wouldn’t one be willing to sacrifice cells, that can’t feel, can’t think, if it could result in the relief so many more, suffering humans?

Opponents of embryonic stem cell research always seem to push the immorality factor. But in that case, do they feel it is moral to leave millions of people hanging, waiting for a cure?

As the professor of biomedical ethics at Johns Hopkins University said, “the obligation to relieve human suffering binds us all and justifies the instrumental use of early embryonic life.”

As with many topics regarding human life, stem cell research remains shrouded by a fog of controversy and ambivalence.

While some may believe that killing a human embryo is alright, they are sadly confused.

Embryonic stem cell research is immoral and dangerous.

It eliminates the chance for human life.

It is, in essence, murder.

This research involves the destruction of a blastocyst, the most basic form of an embryo, which is essentially the foundation of all human life.

Though the research shows some unclear potential for helping save lives, one must ask: Is it worth killing one life simply for the small

chance of saving another?

Is that enough justification for the murder of future children?

Some believe this is reason enough to kill.

Not only does stem cell research destroy the value of life, but its benefits are also unclear.

Scientists are still unable to ensure that these cells can be manipulated far enough to create complex organs such as hearts and livers.

Nor are they sure that such hypothetically synthesizable organs will be readily accepted by hosts.

Such research, if effective, gives rise to the possibility of such monstrosities as human cloning.

Embryonic stem cell research is far too dangerous and immoral to be continued.

It takes away one life in the hopes of possibly saving another.

Instead of focusing on killing an

innocent lives, scientists can search for alternatives to embryonic stemcell research; there are other ways to acquire stem cells than through the killing of embryos.

Adult stem cell research is a burgeoning field that does not require the murder of future children.

Though it is more difficult and requires extracting cells from the marrow of adults, it is a much better alternative.

Adult stem cell research eliminates moral problems.

It should be the definite alternative to the current trend of embryonic stem cell research.

In almost all aspects, embryonic stem cell research is frightening and unethical.

Its use and growth should be cut off as soon as possible, so that the murder of future generations may end.

Should embryonic stem cell research stay legal?

52% 37% 11% Yes

No

No opinion *230 students polled

LAURA SLUSSER | ARTIST

Freshman

Amir Robertson

“No, because it doesn’t seem right.”

CHRISTIAN JUN | ARTIST

Sundevil Perspective

Sophomore Brittany Smith

“Yes it should stay legal, but it shouldn’t be government funded.”

Editors Mackenzie Lance News Melanie Dickinson Centerspread Shayon Said Opinions Mt. Carmel High School 9550 Carmel Mtn. Rd., San Diego, Kevin Lage Sports CA 92129 (858)484-1180 ext. 3211 rmercurio@powayusd.com Dennis Sun Entertainment/Web http://www.mcsun.org Rachel Martin Features Angela Kim Copy Our mission is to provide the MC community with an informative, Mary Carmen Gonzalez Photo accurate and respectful student-run publication. The SUN seeks to Amanda Stintsman Photo stimulate the discussion of issues in order to promote a more aware Staff Writers student body. Whether informing, voicing opinion, or entertaining, Vandana Bhairi the SUN strives for standards of balance and good taste.

Andy Bolin Nicole Bustamante Cathy McDermott Kelly Fan Editor-in-Chief Brittlyn Foster Lauren Hall Rick Mercurio Jay Huey Adviser Cordell Hunter Zachary Jensen Abby Mansour Catherine Jaravata TJ Rivera-Alonso Assistant Adviser Jared Servantez Sara Shantz Craig Racicot Laura Slusser Photo Adviser Jordan Ugalde Staff Photographers Jennifer Farrell The Mt. Carmel SUN is the official newspaper of Mt. Carmel High School, published by its Journalism 2 students. Abbas Mamdani Jared Servantez The views expressed in the SUN do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Mt. Carmel High School Artists administration or PUSD Board of Education. Unsigned editorials reflect the beliefs of the SUN editorial board.

The SUN is a student open forum, and all final content decisions are made by its student editors. Letters to the Christian Jun editor are welcome and should be signed. For advertising rates and information please call, email, or write the Kelly Fan Laura Slusser SUN at the address above.

Business Manager Alison Ashworth

AMANDA STINTSMAN | PHOTO EDITOR

Junior

Staff

Senior

Andrew Ccapatinta

Eric Hurd

Denise Ray

“No, it’s wrong to experiment with it because it’s tampering with life.”

“No. Life starts at fertilization.”

“Yes, because it will save lives and cure very sick people.”

MT. CARMEL SUN

Sundevil Secrets are mak- College apps are due soon. ing their debut. Shh, don’t There goes my Thanksgivtell anyone. ing break.

-Kevin Lage

-Cathy McDermott

Thumbs It’s almost Thanksgiving.

I’m thankful for a whole week off.

Thanksgiving is here. The Pilgrims never had to worry about college apps.

-Jay Huey

-Mackenzie Lance

A8

Opinions

Mt. Carmel SUN

November 20, 2009

Liberals support solving domestic issues first; believe in public option, amnesty

Conservatives defend traditional values; citizens responsible for personal welfare

JARED SERVANTEZ STAFF WRITER

JAY HUEY STAFF WRITER

The ideological split between liberals and conservatives is one of the most significant divides in modern American society.

A liberal agenda would be best because many of the most pressing problems with American society can only be effectively dealt with by the extensive resources that the federal government has to offer.

We must focus on remediating our own domestic problems before we decide to take on the role of the world’s policeman and military power, as conservatives would hope for.

Socialized Healthcare America’s many problems establishing an effective, affordable healthcare are an example of something that would benefit from a greater governmental role.

Under our current system, private insurance companies wield too much power, which allows them to raise premiums and make coverage too costly for those who truly need it. A public option would ultimately lower healthcare costs and would force private companies to improve in order to compete with a government-run insurance program.

the poor would struggle to pay taxes while the rich enjoy what would essentially amount to a tax cut.

Immigration Policy Immigration reform should be one of our government’s top priorities. There are currently a large number of undocumented immigrants residing in this country, and we should first provide them a path to amnesty before reforming our current immigration policy to alleviate the problem of illegal immigration.

Rather than just building a border wall and hoping everything works out, it would be much more effective for our government to deal with the problem at its source with comprehensive immigration policy reform that includes an amnesty

program for those already here.

Government Subsidies With our recent economic troubles, government subsidies, or financial assistance to the private sector, have become a common topic.

Although they may not be the most popular form of government intervention, we have been forced into this situation by our nation’s ongoing love affair with rampant, unbridled capitalism.

Subsidies have become necessary as a result of corporations growing too large without enough regulations placed on them.

They become so powerful that once their bubble bursts they simply cannot be allowed to fail, so the government has no other choice but to assist with subsidies.

One thing I learned in my AP Government class is that “younger people, especially teens, tend to be more liberal.”

I would consider myself as someone who is a young man. And yet, my views are totally non-liberal and very conservative. Right wings, or the conservative party, strive to maintain traditional values in America regarding social and economic issues.

They believe that people should be responsible for their own personal welfare, and the government’s duty in America is to give people the freedom to provide themselves with the best life possible.

It would be best for America to

follow a conservative policy with an agenda that focuses on ways to benefit everyone in America, instead of helping one group at another’s expense.

Socialized Healthcare Healthcare should be a private matter and not universal. Some people would say a socialized healthcare would offer “free” medical services.

In reality, this “free” healthcare is funded from the money we use to pay for our taxes.

In order to pay for the expenses of a universal health care, taxes would have to be raised, or else we would have to cut the funds for defense and education and use it to pay for universal healthcare.

Flax Tax Citizenship is a privilege, not a right. If America wants to strive for equally, it should start with adopting a flat tax for all citizens, regardless of their income level. No one would pay more or less of a percentage than the other.

This system of taxing would not only be simpler, but more importantly fairer for all taxpayers.

Some argue that rich people should have to pay more taxes, but how is it fair to enforce a greater percentage of income tax to those hard working individuals?

Immigration Policy Regarding the immigration policy, America needs to control the amount of immigrants that come to live here.

We shouldn’t have to support those who are unable to support themselves and their family; it will hurt us financially.

According to socyberty.com, only 33 percent of the immigrants become legal U.S citizens. There is no problem with coming to America in search for a better lifestyle, as long as they go through US citizenship to come here. But an overpopulation of them can lead to fewer job opportunities for Americans who live here legally.

Flat Tax

Government Subsidies

A flat tax refers to a proposed taxation system, generally favored by conservatives, which would tax all incomes at one constant rate.

This is in contrast to the progressive tax system we currently employ, in which people in higher tax brackets pay a proportionally larger portion in taxes.

A flat tax would only widen the gap between wealth and poverty as

Obama’s bailout plan rewards those who waste their money on buying expensive houses. It advocates risky behavior and poor decision making.

People would just take advantage of government subsidies by using their money unwisely, knowing that the government has a bailout plan for them if they ever need the money.

CHRISTIAN JUN | ARTIST

Moderation permits free will, infuses personal ideals with politics SHAYON SAID OPINIONS EDITOR The war between liberals and conservatives is probably one of the largest splits in the modern American civilization.

Since the war between the two is so jampacked, there is a need for an in-between: Moderates.

Being moderate allows one to mix their own ideas into the infinite controversial topics that liberals and conservatives constantly argue.

Moderation is also beneficial to a person because, unlike conservatives and liberals, a moderate isn’t closed-minded.

Most liberals will argue only for left-wing ideas, such as giving priority to domestic issues, while most conservatives would argue

only for the right-wing ideas, such as military power and global image.

Unfortunately, this causes many to believe only in what they think is right and ignore other plausible amendments to their idea.

A moderate, however, could allow changes to their ideas because they don’t have a set belief; their beliefs are based off of what they think is right from both sides.

Universal Health Care

There are two main arguments that are made by politicians about America’s current state of health care.

Liberals would believe that private insurers have too much power allowing them to raise costs and premiums, making it difficult for those with little to no income to afford health care.

However, conservatives would argue that socialized health care would give a low quality insurance to some that would prefer being insured by a private company.

The best solution is to keep private insurers for those that prefer private insurance, and provide health care to those who can’t obtain private insurance until they have the ability to afford it.

Of course, they would be given a cut-off date to obtain private insurance.

Flat Tax

A flat tax, an interesting taxation process that would tax all income levels at the same rate, can be looked at in different ways.

It would create an equal tax for all tax payers making taxation seem fairer.

However, our current system causes

greater taxation to those with greater income.

So a set rate would also cause more money problems for those in low to middle class households, but also substantially retain a rich person’s income much more because their taxes are less.

In the end, it’s like running in a circle, and therefore our taxation policy shouldn’t be changed until a better idea is proposed.

There could be a flat tax for those that receive high incomes each year, while those who receive a low wage would be taxed corresponding to their income.

Immigration Policy

Regardless of what ideology you believe in, illegal immigration is simply intolerable. Illegal immigrants have no right to be in this country just as legal residents have every

right.

However, we shouldn’t focus on kicking the illegal immigrants already in the nation out. That would be a large hassle and waste of time. We should work on enforcing borders and visa applications to stop any more from coming in.

Government Subsidies

Government shouldn’t intervene when the private sector has downfalls.

On many occasions, the reason government does intervene is because the company has grown so powerful that it might become shameful to let it fail.

However, since everyone else in this country deals with our current economic troubles, private corporations and sectors should do the same.

ARE YOU A CONSERVATIVE, LIBERAL, OR MODERATE? 1. Your terminally ill uncle should have the option of physician assisted suicide.

2. Same sex marriage should be allowed.

3. Once you graduate from high school, you should have to serve one year in the military.

4. Bill Gates should pay the same taxes as a grocery store employee.

5. The death penalty should be abolished.

6. A woman should have the right to an abortion.

7. Voluntary prayer in public schools should be allowed.

8. Victimless crimes, such as smoking marijuana and prostitution, should be legalized and regulated.

9. Millions of illegal immigrants should be granted the right to stay in America.

10. The federal government should not establish universal health care.

AGREE

DISAGREE

A liberal would...

1. Agree 2. Agree 3. Disagree 4. Disagree 5. Agree

6. Agree 7. Disagree 8. Agree 9. Agree 10. Disagree

A conservative would...

1. Disagree 2. Disagree 3. Agree 4. Agree 5. Disagree

6. Disagree 7. Agree 8. Disagree 9. Disagree 10. Agree

SPORTS & ARTS WHAT’S

INSIDE SPOTLIGHTS Check out the spotlights on your fellow Sundevils Shelby Jones, Danny Ettelson, and Sierra Moran. page B2

THANKSGIVING

Cheap, tasty Thanksgiving recipes that will have your mouth watering

page b5

IT’S A SECRET Read your fellow Sundevils’ innermost secrets and confessions. page b8

JV SPORTS

on www.mcsun.org

MAKING THE SUN SHINE ONLINE

Do you participate in a JV sport?

Have friends or family on JV? Log on to MCSUN.org to check out articles and pictures of your favorite teams.

Read up on the final games of the junior varsity water polo, tennis, cross country, and volleyball seasons.

Keep an eye out for upcoming articles about the junior varsity wrestling, boys and girls basketball, and boys and girls soccer teams.

reasons why tonight’s game will be

EPIC

1

KEN JAMES

Watch the record setting (most rushing yards in a single game in San Diego County history) running back in action.

FIRST CIF HOME GAME SINCE 1992

2

It’s going to be history in the making.

3

it’s the last home game! [enough said]

UPCOMING

GAMES

B. Basketball G. Basketball B. Soccer G. Soccer G. Water Polo Wrestling

NOV 30 @ AWAY NOV 27 @ AWAY NOV 23 @ HOME NOV 30 @ AWAY DEC 3 @ AWAY DEC 17 @ HOME

B Mt. Carmel SuN

XC captures league title, look to CIF Brittlyn Foster Staff Writer Through the excruciating physical pain and relentless training the cross country athletes have endured during the season; the CIF match outcome will depend on one thing: mental endurance.

“Training is physical and racing is all mental,” Coach Nathan Boyer said.

Last Saturday the boys and girls teams both won the Valley League championship despite fierce competition from Westview and Valley Center.

“Today was a team day, so coming through winning leagues with a record of 11-1 is pretty impressive,” senior David Vasko said. “We’re looking forward to racing in CIF and competing even better than we did this week.”

During the race senior Madeline Goldkamp focused on closing the gaps and pushing herself to her most optimum level in order to not let her teammates or herself down.

“Joining cross country, I would have never guessed how close I would get to these girls,” Goldkamp said. “That’s why when I feel like giving up I just remember that this race is not just about me it’s about the rest of my team and that’s why I keep going.”

The anticipated CIF battle tomorrow at Morley Field will test the athletes mentally and stretch them to their physical limits.

“We’re going to go into the meet like we’re the underdogs but we know we have a good chance of winning; this is our seaMary Carmen Gonzalez | Photo Editor son,” senior Kiersten Iwai said.

(From left to right) Brandon Latifi (11), David Vasko (12) and Jacob Wood (12) run in the The bond the cross country athletes Valley League championships. The top seven boys and girls will be competing tomorrow in CIF have with one another is the ultimate eleat Morley Field. ment that gives them the will to compete

every weekend.

“We are a very close team so it makes our team even better,” junior Brandon Latifi said. “And when we rise to the challenge in competition it makes it all worthwhile being close as a team.”

The athletes realize that even though cross country is looked at as more of an individual sport, the runners strive to do their best not for individual success, but for the ultimate satisfaction of team glory.

“You’ve been training with your teammate for months and you know them well and you KNOW he or she is giving 100 percent and there’s no way you’re going to let your teammate down,” Boyer said. “You’re able to reach down and find another gear, you’re able to reach down within yourself and find that determination.”

Goals have also been vital to success this season.

According to sophomore Victoria Ung setting goals helps the team focus and go into each meet with a purpose.

“The goals were to work on our pack through races which has really improved and our time gap has decreased but the only goal left is to win CIF,” Ung said.

Boyer believes that the training the team has done from the summer until the league match has set them up for a competitive CIF match and will hopefully help them capture the league title.

“Ultimately they’ve already done the preparation (to compete in CIF). They’re a great team and they know it,” Boyer said.

“It’s just trying to be the best that they can be. If they run the course tough and smart and believe in themselves and their teammates while keeping their goals in mind, then I believe our boys and girls teams can be the best team in San Diego this year.”

Boys polo drowns Canyon Crest in pool of tears Kevin Lage Sports Editor A cheer rose up over the entire pool deck as the clock ticked down to zero. The cheerleaders, drumline, and parents all on their feet cheering as the boys water polo team climbed out of the pool, victorious over Canyon Crest clinching a share of the league title, with a score of 9-7.

“It was the greatest feeling in the world to pull of the victory,” senior Drew Carlson said. “We’ve come so close to it over the last four years so finally get it. The game was neck and neck for the first three quarters, but then in the fourth we just managed to pull ahead and run down the clock.”

The next day, the team beat Valley Center, 7-5, to clinch a tie for the league title for the first time in six years. Even though they won, the team was disappointed with its performance.

“I think we just overlooked Valley Center,” senior Evan Heise said. “We were just so excited from our victory over Canyon Crest that we didn’t even see them as threats. We still managed to win, but there were times when they managed to close the gap. Our coach had a long talk with us afterwards about always staying fo-

cused.”

After clinching the title, the team refocused and looked onward to the first round of CIF against Fallbrook.

“We worked really hard to prepare for them,” Carlson said. “We came in before school to watch footage of our games and to review our mistakes. After school we had some really intense practices in which we prepared just for how they play.”

However, last Wednesday when the time came for their big game, the Sundevils fell just slightly short.

“It was really the second quarter that killed us,” Carlson said. “We were closely matched the first quarter and then just fell behind during the second. We managed to pull back again in the second half, but it was just not quite enough and we lost 11-10.”

Regardless of their loss, the boys closed out the season with their league victory and the hopes of moving on to CIF next year.

“I know the seniors were just ecstatic to win their first league title,” junior Danny Ettleson said. “Unfortunately we couldn’t make it in CIF but next year, with some extra hard work, we should be able to move further and potentially bring home a CIF banner in the 2010 season.”

Lady Sundevils finish CIF undefeated, look onward to future season without seniors

Sara Shantz Staff Writer

THREE

Friday

November 20, 2009

At the beginning of the season, the girls tennis team set aside three goals. They wanted to win the Valley League, get the number one seed in the division II playoffs, and win the CIF championships.

“Those were lofty goals, but those were the goals we set,” coach Jim Wrage said. “We met all of our goals, winning the Valley League with a 12-0 record and then winning all of our matches in the CIF playoffs was quite an accomplishment.”

Wrage attributes the girls’ success to their hard work and determination.

“All of the girls kept their focus all season long and kept working on improving their games to the very end,” Wrage said. “They never let up and that’s why they accomplished what they did.”

The team is losing two standout seniors that they will miss next year.

“We are losing Sabbi Leon-Chao; she is the all time leader for MC in the history of the school,” Wrage said. “She leaves with two undefeated league championships and three CIF titles. To show you how dominant she was this year, you only have to look at her record.”

Leon-Chao had a record of 46-3 and she won 275 games while only losing 29. She is close to 180 wins for four years and will be attending San Jose State on a tennis scholarship.

“You just can’t replace a talent like Sabbi…”

“We also lose Emily McKeon from the dou-

bles lineup; she was a leader down the stretch and leaves with two CIF championship in her three years of hard work,” Wrage said. “She was a fierce competitor who hated losing and that kind of player is also hard to replace.”

Losing Leon-Chao and McKeon aren’t the only challenges the team will have to overcome next year.

“Next year will be very challenging,” Wrage said. “We move back into the Palomar League, which is the toughest league in the county. We have Torrey Pines, the perennial powerhouse with 20 straight division I championships. We have Poway and Rancho Bernardo which are always in the top five in the county, we have ourselves and Westview, the top two teams in the division II and Ramona which has some new talent and some strong doubles teams.”

Although moving back to the Palomar League will make league play a lot more competitive, Wrage believes that it will better prepare his team for CIF. “Facing the best competition in the county week in and week out should prepare us for the playoffs,” Wrage said. “Winning matches in this league will be a test every single time we take the court. I am hoping that all the girls will play a lot more in the offseason in order to get ready for the level of competition we will have to face next year.”

While the girls have a lot of added challenges to their season next year, they have positive things, such as their strong team chemistry and hard work in practices, going for them that are sure to make them successful.

mary carmen gonzaleZ | photo editor

Evan Heise (12) passes the ball during the game against Canyon Crest.

The Sundevils beat the Falcons 9-7 to win a share of the Valley League title.

Girls golf finishes undefeated season, conquers second league championship TJ Rivera-Alonso Staff Writer

The ultimate goal of winning the league title has been achieved by the girls golf team.

The girls conquered the Valley League with an undefeated record.

Senior Caraline Goodman said she is ecstatic about the team’s success this season.

“We exceeded our expectations as a team,” she said. “And on top of that, we all became such good friends “It wasn’t at all what we had thought at the beginning.”

Senior captain Shelby Jones said she feels that the team’s accomplishments exceed simply those on the golf course.

“We have definitely achieved our expectations for the season,” Jones said. “At the start of season we set a few goals: to have fun, to improve individually, to go undefeated again, and to set a new team record for our lowest score. We accomplished all of these goals even with a new set of coaches.”

The team is convinced that its accomplishments are due to the overall cohesiveness of the team.

A special bond held the girls together on the golf course as the team dominated this season.

“I love knowing that our team was so cohesive,” Goodman said. “It didn’t matter who got the best score or who really sealed

the deal on our win. We were a team.”

The sense of camaraderie among a golf team can be somewhat of an oxymoron considering that at its core, golf is an individual sport.

The team, however, disproved this theory and feels that golf can be a team sport.

“Even though golf is an individual sport, our team loves each other,” Goodman said. “Our coaches were always there for us.

That was the best part.”

For the Valley League finals, junior Tracey Huynh won overall league, freshman Julia Kang came in third, Jones came in fourth, and sophomore Silvia Torrez came in tenth.

The team also competed in CIF. At the competition Jones tied her best round ever with an 85 on Day one, and shot an 84 at finals, setting a new personal record.

Jones, Huynh, and Kang qualified as individuals.

They all placed in the top 50 girl golfers in San Diego and Imperial Counties, and Huynh almost made the cut to play in the Southern California Regional Championship.

The team met and surpassed the expectations of their coaches, including David Rudgers.

“The team did better than last year,” Rudgers said. “The players were very committed and showed improvement over the year. It was an overall great effort and great job.”

Sports

B2

Mt. Carmel SUN

November 20, 2009

Seniors lead field hockey to success lauren hall staff writer The girls field hockey team is ending their season on a positive note with many strong games and some very close games in which they pulled through in the last second.

The girls beat Canyon Crest Academy 1-0 in triple overtime on their senior night home game on Nov. 6.

“It was our senior night so our seniors were definitely pumped up,” senior Ashley Romano said.

“Our underclassmen really wanted to work their hardest for the seniors. We wanted it more than Canyon Crest did, which allowed us to bring the energy up on the field.”

The team’s desire to win allowed them to win as many games as they did, including one over the third-ranked ream in the county, giving them a league record of 6-4.

They also won against Orange Glen, 6-0, and 1-0 against Del Norte.

“In the beginning of the season we started out kind of weak, just getting to know each other with a lot of new girls on the team, but we got stronger,” Romano said. “We had a couple of games where we struggled a bit, but by the end of the season we became a lot stronger and had some amazing games.”

By the end of the season, this team proved to their competitors that they were no easy match and other

teams would have to fight very hard to beat them.

“We have progressed in the sense that we are all willing to play every minute of every game to the fullest, and we wanted to win so badly,” senior Jennifer Martin said.

Martin is also very proud of how far the team has come from last year.

“We have a better record this year so we really put ourselves on the line and gave it everything we had. We have gotten better at positioning and for the most part have stopped making little mistakes.”

The seniors’ strong ability to lead, as well as the team being like a family, has given them these many successes and improvements.

With a strong group of underclassmen and juniors, the seniors know that after they graduate, their jobs will be taken care of.

“I’m really going to miss the group of girls that are on the team,” Martin said. “We have so much fun and get along so well and have so many inside jokes. It’ll be sad not to go back to that team. Of course we’ll stay in touch in some way or another but it won’t be as if we are playing on the same team.”

This being the last year for many of the team’s starting players, Romano has a few words of advice to next year’s returning players and future players.

“Never give up. Try to get more people out to play who have never tried it before. Listen to our amanda stintsman | PHOTO editor coach because she knows what’s best and she has Jennifer Martin (12) passes the ball to a teammate during practice. She and other seniors led the field hockey done a lot for our team.” team to a league record of 6-4. They narrowly missed out on earning a spot in the CIF playoffs this year.

North County Conference realigns leagues; MC to face tougher competition Brittlyn Foster staff writer Say good-bye to San Marcos, Orange Glen, Valley Center and the rest of the Valley League.

Say hello to tougher teams with more rigorous athletes.

The 2010-2011 Palomar League will include MC, RB, WV, Poway and Torrey Pines.

According to Athletic Director Randy Wright, the North County Conference voted to switch leagues due to financial reasons.

“The biggest reason is because of finance,” Wright said. “They wanted to find schools in proximity of each other so they could draw bigger crowds to offset the cost

of transportation.”

Not every sport will be affected by the change; football and field hockey will be the only sports to stay in the Valley League for next year.

“A lot of the decision (for field hockey and football to stay) was based on competitive equity and school size,” Wright said.

For the rest of the MC sports the switch will immediately impact the teams’ schedule and work ethic.

“I think that we’re going to have to step it up big time; we’re going to need to practice extremely hard and work out more,” sophomore volleyball player Ally Ruiz said.

According to junior Emilie Votel the shock of new teams will hopefully lead athletes to training harder and earning their

Compiled by kevin lage, nicole bustamante, sara shantz | sports editor and Staff Writers

wins more.

“We’re going to have to forget playing easy-win teams in volleyball like Orange Glen and Oceanside and prepare ourselves for more competitive teams next season,” Votel said.

Votel believes keeping an optimistic attitude and increasing our teams’ competitive edge will hopefully lead MC to acquiring more CIF banners.

“I think it’s going to affect us for the better because playing with tougher teams will improve us on our game,” Votel said.

Sophomore tennis player Sammi Arnold believes that next year’s team will need to make cuts for the JV team so the team will be able to compete at a more optimum level in the new league.

“We will need to get rid of the slackers and actually make cuts this year instead of letting everyone on the team, along with having longer, more intense practices,” Arnold said.

Some students feel playing more local teams will make their team more ready to step up and fiercely compete against teams like RB and Poway.

“It’s going to be more of a challenge because it’s a better league but we’re just going to have to try a lot harder,” junior volleyball and soccer player Will Harris said. “It’s good because the teams are more local and we’re rivals with a lot of them, so we will want the win even more.”

According to junior Chad Eckman, fearing next year’s competition is very

Sundevil Spotlight

unproductive because being mentally prepared is half the picture in winning.

“You can be the most well trained and physically fit team in the gym but come game day and you’ve psyched yourself out, your team won’t stand a chance in winning,” Eckman said. “That’s why mentally preparing yourself is the best way to crush our new rival teams.”

MC athletics has been handed a big challenge for next year.

According to sophomore swimmer Brice Hilburn this challenge will be easily overcome.

“People are naturally competitive, so that alone should be motivation enough for us to dominate next season’s competition,” Hilburn said.

all photos by abbas mamdani | PHOTOgrapher

sierra moran

shelby jones

danny ettelson water polo

volleyball

After playing on this team for four years I have watched this team grow in talent. I couldn’t have asked for a better season to finish my high school golf experience.”

Water polo is great because it is unlike any other sport in the world. It is one of the most physically demanding sports out there.

It is a sport of endurance, cunning, and strength.”

Sundevil volleyball means everything to me. My whole life is centered around volleyball. When it’s not school season, I play club and work out hard so that I can contribute to my team during school season.”

golf

QUICK HITS Name one person or group of people that you admire.

My grandpa because he is always there for me and he has completed the full Ironman Triathlon five times, placing third once.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

The ability to heal any injury.

If you could un-invent one thing, what would it be and why?

Gunpowder and explosives because the world would be peaceful and much safer without them.

What do you plan to do after high school?

I plan on becoming a public service geologist and maybe joining the Peace Corps.

When did you start playing your sport?

The summer before entering ninth grade.

Why did you decide to start playing your sport?

I started playing golf after I injured my shoulders because it was one of the few sports I could play.

What’s the worst injury you have received in your sport?

I had tendonitis in both my shoulders which kept me from doing any sport for two years, and I have ground down/swollen cartilage under my knee cap.

What’s your weirdest food combination?

My favorite sandwich is peanut butter, chocolate chip, and honey.

If you could own any brand of clothing, what would it be?

“Life is Good” clothing; I love the little stick figure.

What’s your greatest fear and why?

The pain/injury in my shoulders and knees returning.

QUICK HITS

QUICK HITS

If you had $100 to spend on anything, what would you spend it on?

My future girlfriend...interested?

What do you plan to do after high school?

I would like to go to college, in California hopefully.

If you had $100 to spend on anything, what would you spend it on?

A sound system for Isaiah’s car.

When did you start playing your sport?

I started playing volleyball in seventh grade.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

The ability to control time.

Do you hope to continue playing your sport in college?

Yes. Preferably in California, and I will probably swim also.

What is your greatest fear? Why? Clowns because their faces and clothes are just creepy.

What’s the worst injury you have received in your sport?

An ankle sprain where I tore my lateral collateral ligaments.

If you could own any brand of clothes, what would it be?

I would be the CEO of Ripcurl.

What is your favorite T.V. show?

Seinfeld and Monk.

If you could un-invent one thing, what would it be and why?

Clothes.

What’s your biggest pet peeve and why?

Newspaper surveys.

When did you start playing your sport?

Birth.

Name one person or group of people that you admire.

Lord Bagül.

What is your greatest fear? Why? Drowning.

What’s your weirdest food combination?

Strawberries with sour cream and brown sugar.

Why did you decide to start playing your sport?

My family migrated to the U.S. from Atlantis so it just felt right to play water polo.

Why did you decide to start playing your sport?

My parents both played and my mom still plays, so it was inevitable that I would play.

If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

To breathe underwater because I play water polo and swim, along with playing volleyball, so being able to breathe underwater would make practices a lot easier.

If you could un-invent one thing, what would it be and why?

A curfew because weekends aren’t long enough, especially if you have to be home early.

What’s your weirdest food combination?

Virgin strawberry margaritas with tortilla chips.

What do you plan to do after high school?

Go to a four year university.

Name one person or group of people that you admire.

Misty May because of her incredible stamina and amazing skills.

What’s your biggest pet peeve and why?

When people are too hyper. People just need to mellow out.

Sports

Mt. Carmel SUN

Football defeats Westview

B3

November 20, 2009

Jumping on the bandwagon TJ RIVERA-ALONSO STAFF WRITER

ANDY BOLIN STAFF WRITER The match-up between the WV Wolverines, and the MC Sundevils was arguably the most anticipated game of the season for both schools.

MC ended the regular season with a convincing win over the Wolverines, 4932, last Friday.

But, nobody had any idea that history was going to be made in this instance.

The Sundevils scored first with a touchdown run by Blake Decker.

Then, the magic started.

Senior running back Ken James Jr. was unleashed the rest of the game and no WV defender could hardly even see the fast James, let alone bring him to the turf.

It also helped that the Sundevils offensive line dominated the trenches to help James have the day that he had.

“I just hit the holes, and everyone made their blocks,” James said. “Everyone played a part in it.”

James ended the day against the Wolverines with 424 yards and four touchdowns.

The 424 yards was not only a single game rushing record for the Sundevils, set

by Marlin Carey in 1992 with a total of 316 yards, but it set single game rushing record in the history of San Diego high school football.

“It feels great to be mentioned with one of the best running backs ever at Mt. Carmel,” James said. ‘To break Marlin Carey’s record, that means a great deal to me.”

It’s not like this was the first week that James really busted through and ran free.

Two weeks before in the Homecoming game against San Marcos, James rushed for 289 yards and then it had seemed like he had the greatest game of his high school career.

One big reason why James has had the astounding numbers that he has had in the previous two games is because of the great offensive line play by the Sundevils.

“We realized that we needed to step up our play in the last two weeks so we did,” senior offensive linemen Nick Mesleh said.

The Sundevils also had a key upgrade to the offensive line with senior center Brandon Mendoza coming back from injury.

“He makes great line calls and is a very dependable center to have,” senior quarterback Wesley Wallace said.

“I’m just going out there doing what I’m told,” Mendoza said. “It was great getting back on the field and beating Westview.

Also helping James get the all time rushing record means a great deal to me.”

The Sundevils finished the regular season with a 4-6 record and a 3-3 record in league.

They will be hosting Morse in the first round of CIF playoffs tonight at 7 in Sundevil Stadium.

This is the first time since 1992 that MC has hosted a CIF playoff game.

“It’s the biggest football game of all our lives,” Wallace said. “It’s great to be playing at home and hopefully we will bring a victory home for the Sundevils.”

JARED SERVANTEZ | PHOTOGRAPHER

Tyler Wilson (12) poses as a “bandwagon” sports fan. A “bandwagon” fan’s loyalty to a team tends to depend on the record, rather than the team itself. Overall, “bandwagon” fans are looked down upon by self-proclaimed “die-hard” fans.

All sports fans dream of their team being a winner.

Whether it be an NFL, MLB, or NBA team, fans always want the trophy at the end of the season.

The word “fan” is an abbreviated form of the word fanatic.

According to dictionary.com, a fanatic is “a person marked or motivated by an extreme, unreasoning enthusiasm, as for a cause.”

Some sports fans, however, are not so committed to their team.

Many choose to root for their team only when the team is winning.

Sometimes they even switch teams if the one they normally root for is not playing particularly well.

These fair-weather fans are often slammed with the label of “bandwagon fans.”

“Bandwagoners are super lame,” senior Kyle Pfleghaar said.

“It’s almost like they only watch sports to brag about their so-called teams’ win.”

True sports fans have always been enraged at those who are not truly committed to their team.

Since the beginning of professional sports, people have become fully engaged with teams. The topic is usually taken very seriously and some people at MC take the issue of bandwagons very personally.

“No matter what, when a team starts winning, you’re going to see more jerseys,” senior Brad Catcott said. “But nothing pisses me off more than when their team sucks and then they leave it for another team that is doing well. It’s just people being unfaithful to their team. It’s

ridiculous.”

After a Chargers or Padres win, it is common to see more jerseys the next day at MC. Fans, however, clarify that not all these people are bandwagoners.

“Not all of the people who wear jerseys or brag after a win are bandwagon fans,” Catcott said. “Just the ones who do it excessively, you just know it’s fake.”

Some students say that there are exceptions, and on a rare occasion, fans are allowed to switch teams.

“It kind of depends, if the person has a team that got knocked out in the playoffs or something and they want to root for a team,” junior Robert Bitman said. “That’s fine.”

Although many fans do ostracize so called “bandwagoners,” others have more of a relaxed approach.

They believe that the more fans a team has, the better, or they simply think it doesn’t matter, such as junior Jordan Dominguez.

“I just don’t know why people think it’s such a big deal,” he said.

“Who cares if a guy that roots for your team is a bandwagon fan. That doesn’t affect how much he’s going to root for the team anyway. But I also understand that you should be loyal to your team because that’s just the way it should be.”

Overall, fans are often guilty of shunning bandwagon fans.

However, it is crucial to look at why fans do this and where it all begins. Sports at their roots are competitive.

Players are taught to believe that they are the best and no one can be like them, so that is the attitude that has been adopted by the fans.

MC sports fans support teams near and far ANDY BOLIN STAFF WRITER Just because the San Diego Chargers and the San Diego Padres are the “home” teams in San Diego, doesn’t mean you can’t be a true fan of a team that is outside of San Diego.

“I have been a Kansas City Chiefs fan all my life,” senior Andrew McComb said, “In the years where they were making play-off runs, or even in the struggling times like now, I have always been a diehard Chiefs fan and I don’t see that changing any time soon.”

There are many different reasons why people like teams that are not local, but the main one seems to be that parents are fans of their home teams, and they carry on their team support to their kids.

“My dad grew up as a Raider fan so that’s who I grew up watching,” senior Bryan Waters said. “Ever since I was little, every Sunday we would watch the game together. We never really watched the Chargers so I never got into them.”

Even though these “die hard” fans are big fans teams outside of San Diego, does not mean that they don’t support the local team.

“I still support the Chargers when they are not playing the Chiefs,” McComb said.

“Since they play in the same division, I like

to root for them when they are playing the Broncos and the Raiders.”

Another reason why many people might like teams outside of San Diego is because they grew up somewhere else and they never became a Chargers or Padres fan when they moved here. San Diego is a very di-

KELLY FAN | ARTIST

verse city and attracts many different families who move here from all around the country and sometimes even the world.

When people come here, they bring their own home team spirit with them.

“I was born in New York, and I am a die hard Yankees fan,” junior A.J. Posa said.

“I watch every game on TV, and I am able to because our family pays for the Extra Innings package. When they won the World Series this year, I had never been prouder to be a fan.”

Also, with San Diego being such a military town, many students move often and grow close to one team.

“I have lived all over the United States and also lived in Hungary for a little bit,” senior Ty Wojtysiak said. “I love the St. Louis Cardinals and always will. Even though I now live in San Diego, the Cardinals will always be my number one team.”

Many MC students are huge sports fans and because of the diverse culture that lives in San Diego, many professional sports teams are going to be represented here in San Diego.

Volleyball reflects on season, impressed with improvements CORDELL HUNTER STAFF WRITER

AMANDA STINTSMAN | PHOTO EDITOR

The volleyball team huddles together during their match against Westview on Nov. 5. Although they lost this match, the girls are still satisfied with the season as a whole. They finished with a league record of 7-5.

Although their season is over, the girls varsity volleyball team won’t let their loss to Patrick Henry in the quarterfinals tarnish the achievements of the past three months.

“Our record did not reflect how truly exceptional our team was,” senior Sara Shantz said. “Our coach kept a huge team of 16 girls and never in a million years did I think that all of us would have formed such a tight bond.

Our team chemistry was excellent and our level of play improved as the season progressed.

This season was full of ups and downs but the good thing about our team is that we learned from our losses and mistakes and they made us stronger.”

Although, their record was not as good as the girls wanted it to be, the team always found a way to improve from their losses.

“Our coaches were amazing. They would spend hours talking after games about what they could do in order to make us better and they always came into practice with positive attitudes

and fresh ideas on how to better our team,” Shantz said. “My co-captain Sydney Benson and I also did things like have team talks about problems we were having, we wrote letters to our team to try and inspire everyone, and other little stuff like that when we felt our team needed a pick-me-up.”

As with every team, there were a few girls who stood out throughout the season for their leadership and overall talent.

“Some obvious standouts were Sierra Moran, Carly Voris, Sidney Benson and Carolyn Zin,” Shantz said. “All four of those girls were a huge part of our team. Sierra and Carly did a great job of putting balls away for us, especially under pressure. Sydney passes nails consistently and is a huge leader on the court. Carolyn has great hands and is able to make any pass look perfect.”

Other players stood out for the improvement they made as the season went on and rhe contributions they made to the team.

“Lauren Dorsey was one of those players that just come out of nowhere,” senior Anna Oh said. “She improved so much from the begin-

ning of the season. She also helped us solve some of our team issues by bringing them up during our meetings with the coaches.”

Another player who impressed her teammates was Kaeli Saner.

“I am really impressed with how much she improved this season,” Shantz said. “Her timing with our setter Carolyn got a lot better as the games went on.”

Of course, the best part of being on a team is the memories that come with it.

“There were so many amazing things that happened I don’t even know where to start,” Shantz said. “Kidnapping the rookies is definitely one of the best. We stayed up until 2 a.m. at our sleepover, where we picked out what the rookies were going to wear and had a team dinner. None of the rookies expected a thing. I’ll never forget walking into school that morning with my whole team singing the fight song.”

The end of a season is always an emotional time, especially for the seniors.

“Its really hard to leave a team you’ve played on for most, if not all of your time at Mt. Carmel,” Oh said.

Entertainment

B4

Mt. Carmel SUN

November 20, 2009

Internet provides comedic gold mines ZACHARY JENSEN STAFF WRITER

Let’s be honest here: people find humor in the pain of others, and fmylife.com fully embraces this form of comedy. People submit their life’s funny stories, usually failures, pains, or horrible luck.

As funny as FML is, you can never verify the truthfulness of the posts.

Some posts are depressing, while others make you fall over laughing. Either way, FML is a great time-waster and always fun on a boring afternoon.

One of the top rated posts reads: “Today, I saw an elderly man fall in a crosswalk, so I jumped off my bike to help. As I helped him across, the light turned green. At that point I noticed my phone had fallen out of my pocket in the street and was run over by several cars. I then watched across a 6-lane street as someone stole my bike. FML”

Self described as “a place to share your everyday mediocrity,” and, “to post the mundane things in your life,” mylifeisaverage.com observes comedy at an earthly perspective.

MLIA, as it is referred to, is filled with stories of humor disguised by normality.

Many postings comment on irony and events that simply make you smile.

A recent post points out an ironic product label: Today, I bought a necklace.

The warning label said, “Do not wear around neck, as this product can cause strangulation and death”. So where am I supposed to wear it? MLIA.”

Everyone has seen something that makes their head turn and causes them to simply wonder why.

Failblog.org is a collection of funny photos depicting the strange things seen in life. Whether it’s awkward roadside signs, or the aftermath of stupid decisions, Fail Blog keeps you awed and laughing.

One recent post is a picture of a sign that reads “Vote Yes!” Too bad the “no” box is the one with a check.

Pointing out the eccentric and odd, peopleofwalmart.com is a collection of

photos of Walmart customers that seriously need to look in the mirror. Whether it’s a family with matching mullets, or a man who is you can see clearly is wearing a bra, People of Walmart keeps you questioning what has become of our society.

Not as funny as Fail Blog, this site keeps you laughing nevertheless, especially with the funny captions.

One photo is of a woman with colorful nails that nearly touch the floor. The caption reads, “I should NEVER have to take a double take at your hand to determine whether you are holding a few snakes or have really long fingernails.”

Hate Post, a relatively unknown humor site, is based on the submission of pet peeves.

This site allows you to laugh at the hilarious things that upset people, to relate with others who share an annoyance with you, and to allow you to realize things you do that tick other people off.

While not as funny as some other sites, it is still a great distraction and is worth a few laughs.

One post reads: “I hate when sports fans say ‘we’ and ‘our’ when they talk about their favorite teams. You’re not a member of the team. You did not play the game of your life last week. You did not win a big championship last year. Stop it.”

KELLY FAN | ARTIST

MC alumni realize dream of succeeding as a band JARED SERVANTEZ STAFF WRITER

REVIEWS

Many high school students dream of someday making it big in the music industry. Countless garage bands are formed with grand intentions, only to reach their peak playing a small house party or two.

For MC alumni Ian Hoey and Charlie Santilena, this once unthinkable dream has become a reality.

Hoey and Santilena make up half of the local pop-punk band Chasing Claymores, which is currently enjoying a rapid rise to the top of the San Diego music scene.

After releasing their debut album, PROVIDED BY ANDREW MCCLANAHAN “The Art of Letting Go,” this past Left to right: Ian Hoey (drummer), Charlie Santilena (bassist), summer, Chasing Claymores began Joey Shelley (guitar/vocals), and Robbie Blatt (guitar/vocals) form touring, landed an endorsement deal the band Chasing Claymores. Hoey and Santilena are MC alumni. with San Diego-based Carvin Guitars,

and shot a music video.

The newfound success comes as a shock even to the members of Chasing Claymores themselves.

“I started playing in bands and just did it all for fun just because I really liked playing music,” Santilena said. “I never thought that I would be where I’m at right now.”

The endorsement deal with Carvin is a significant stepping stone on the band’s road to nationwide success. They all enjoy various perks as a result of the deal.

“We get 40% off of anything they have in their shop,” Santilena said.

“They’re getting a stage at Warped Tour San Diego, so we’re gonna play that with them.”

Along with the Carvin endorsement, Chasing Claymores is looking to earn a sponsorship from Rockett Clothing.

“Rockett Clothing supplied us with t-shirts for the music video and we’re working out a deal with them to get a clothing endorsement,” Santilena said.

The music video, which was recently shot to accompany their song “Smile and Fake It,” has already been released on the Internet, and the band is looking to spread it through other means as well.

“We primarily shot it just for promotions through YouTube and MySpace, but we are talking with Fuel TV to get it on TV, and we’re submitting it to Fuse,” Santilena said.

“We just got contacted by a festival called South by Southwest—it’s in Austin, Texas—and they want us to submit our music video.”

Tomorrow night, Chasing Claymores headlines a show at the Epicentre in Mira Mesa. It will likely

4.0//5.0

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be another successful local show for the band, but they are hoping to expand their fan base beyond southern California and become a national touring act.

“The San Diego music scene is great for bands starting off, but eventually you have to captivate the San Diego market and then branch yourself out into other regions,” Santilena said.

The members of Chasing Claymores are excited about their recent success, but they all hope that it is only the beginning of more to come.

“We’ve been busting our tails lately,” Santilena said. “I mean, we all work regular jobs and do the music thing full-time too, so we’re really just pushing ourselves to chase our dreams and to be able to do this professionally.”

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Title: Meeting at the Metaphor Café Author: Robert Pacilio Genre: Fiction

Album: The Resistance Artist: Muse Genre: Alternative

Title: White Collar Rating: TV-14 Genre: Crime/Drama

Name: Borderlands Rating: M Genre: FPS/RPG

ZACHARY JENSEN STAFF WRITER

ANGELA KIM COPY EDITOR

ABBY MANSOUR STAFF WRITER

JORDAN UGALDE STAFF WRITER

Written by MC’s own Robert Pacilio, “Meeting at the Metaphor Café” takes the perspective of four teenagers dealing with high school. After teaching for over 20 years, Pacilio has gained insight on teenage life that allows him to communicate what high school students actually go through.

The book is fictional, and narrated through the voice of four diverse students.

They all come from different families and cultures, so readers can connect with at least one of the characters.

The students that narrate the book deal with relationships, school work, and pressure from parents.

The book is very well written, and is full of interesting information. Many of Pacilio’s class lessons are included, and make an interesting blend with all the music and history that’s intertwined.

The only issue I had with the book, is occasionally being confused by which character was speaking. At just over 200 pages, the book can be easily read in a week, and gives a lot of life lessons.

If you enjoy reading books with a plot that pulls you in, and rich characters, “Meetings at the Metaphor Café” is a great addition to your reading list.

The U.K. trio Muse, with lead guitarist and singer Matthew Bellamy, is back with a new album: “The Resistance.”

I find it surprising that this album surpassed the group’s last (“Black Holes and Revelations”) on the charts—somehow the integrity of the classic, kind of creepy, falsetto-laden Muse seems deplete.

The record is definitely more upbeat: the third track, “Undisclosed Desires” features a catchy, R&B beat.

The lyrics are hauntingly seductive still, but I’m missing the falsetto screams and chillingly honest emotion of the band’s previous work.

“The Resistance” appears like an experimental project, and an ambitious one at that. All the songs are quite long, most way over four minutes, and I am especially impressed with the three part “Exogenesis Symphony” which features some beautiful piano.

Overall, the many instrumentals on the record are superb and very reminiscent of “Queen.”

But some tracks are perhaps too electronica for my tastes. I appreciate the trendiness of the album, but Muse, I like your classic angst better.

Whenever I see a new crime related show: “How many CSI’s can you make?”

Because, to be honest, most of these crime shows are eerily similar.

But thank goodness for the new show “White Collar” on the USA network. Not only is the plot line fresh and interesting, but the amount of talent of the leading actors is simply amazing.

The story is set around Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer), a formerly convicted mastermind of “white collar” crime. The con artist finds an unlikely partner in FBI Agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay).

The deal Caffery has made with the FBI is that he will work as a consultant on cases while he is in the custody of the FBI. Throughout the show, Caffery gets tips through his sources on the whereabouts of his mysteriously vanished girlfriend, Kate. I get the sense that this is obviously going to become the running plotline, not resolved for many episodes, if not seasons.

The fresh faces of actors, along with Bomer and DeKay, include Tiffani Thiessen, Willie Garson, and Natalie Morales.

The bottom line is this show is a success because of new talent, wit, and quick pace, and fresh plotline that will keep you hooked.

“Borderlands” blends the genres first person shooters and role playing games to a level of entertainment that has not been seen since “Fallout 3.”

The only negative aspect of “Borderlands” is that the storyline is short and lacking in depth.

However, the lackluster story is made up for in gameplay, graphics, and replay value.

With classic FPS controls, and the leveling and skill trees +any RPG fan would expect, the player gets the best of both worlds by being able to get in a firefight with an enemy, using abilities in addition to guns.

And speaking of guns, according to the game’s creators, there are over 17 million different guns, from lightning based alien weapons to shotguns that use rockets as bullets.

The graphics are somewhat cartoonish, emphasizing the game’s more lighthearted feel.

Four classes and a second playthrough with harder enemies allow virtually limitless playtime.

Though not a game to be taken seriously, “Borderlands” is easily one of the best games of the year.

Entertainment

Mt. Carmel SUN

November 20, 2009

mouth-watering

Turkey DENNIS SUN ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR At every classic Thanksgiving dinner, the centerpiece is most always a large hunk of delicious oven-roasted or honey-baked meat.

While ham is sometimes the main protein dish of a Thanksgiving dinner, when most people think of Thanksgiving, they think of one meat alone: turkey.

Despite its infamous ability to drive people to sleep due to its high tryptophan content, turkey is still the most ideal Thanksgiving meat.

Prices for turkey can be a bit high, at around $22.00 for a 20-pound turkey, but the price per

pound for a large turkey is lower than the price per pound of other meats; turkey sells for about $1.19 a pound, as of this year.

So, what to do with this large, plucked beast? Most people glaze and roast it, and stuff its hollow chest cavity with stuffing, then serve it with gravy and other dressings.

Allrecipes.com supplies this excellent recipe for the cheap and tasty Thanksgiving bird.

The dried bread mix, onion, celery, and sage total about $4.00 to $5.00, with a 12-pound turkey at about $13.00 to $14.00.

So, for about $19.00, or around $20.00 with tax, and a little bit of effort, anyone can cook a good, cheap Thanksgiving turkey.

Guide to an AFFORDABLE

Thanksgiving

Dinner Allrecipes.com ‘s Sage Stuffed Thanksgiving Turkey

PROVIDED BY NENOINVITE

INGREDIENTS -1 (12 ounce) package dry bread stuffing mix -5 cups water -1 large onion, chopped -4 celery, chopped -4 tablespoons dried sage -12 pounds whole turkey, neck and giblets removed

scrumptious

DIRECTIONS

MASHED

potatoes The potato: a versatile root vegetable whose starchy juices once hydrated sickly stowaways in the Middle Ages.

Today, we boil it, chop it, and bake it. But, particularly on Thanksgiving: we mash potatoes.

As many people are looking for ways to save money this season, mashed potatoes are quite economical. A five pound bag of russet potatoes costs about $3. For basic mash, all one needs is a pot, some water, salt and some butter.

If you aren’t into plain old mash, try mashing sweet potatoes or yams with olive oil, salt and pepper, and fresh rosemary sprigs.

Don’t feel like mashing?

Potatoes, especially fingerling ($4 per pound) are delicious roasted with olive oil, coarse sea salt, and dill.

However you eat your potatoes, they are sure to please your palate and your piggy bank.

A simple mash recipe costs around $10, a meager fee.

Here is a cheap and easy recipe for some bacon and cheese mashed potatoes that should serve eight to 10 people.

INGREDIENTS -5 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut in chunks -2 to 3 cups of heavy cream -1 1/2 cups bacon bits -1 cup of cheese -bunch of snipped chives -salt and pepper to taste, butter if desired

DIRECTIONS In a pot, boil peeled potato chunks in generously salted water for 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan under low heat, heat the cream (and butter, if desired.) to a gentle simmer.

Drain the potatoes, and return them to the same pot they were cooked in. Mash the potatoes, then slowly pour in the cream as you mash. Start with a little, then add more to avoid too dry or wet potatoes.

Next, add bacon bits and cheese. Stir well. Then add salt and pepper to taste. Then garnish with chives. Serve hot.

To make this recipe vegetarian, just omit the bacon bits. Cheeses that work well with this recipe are mild cheddar, parmesan, and white cheddar.

Ralphs’ Pies are typical of the classic grocery-store pie. Their taste is hardly extraordinary, but they will still fill in the pie quota at the big table, and they are much cheaper than the Marie Calendars’ pies. Each jam-packed pie weighs 34-41 oz and costs $2.99.

Cranberry Sauce

Staffer Laura Slusser tries to do it the old-fashioned way

LAURA SLUSSER STAFF WRITER Any true American citizen knows that a good Thanksgiving dinner could never be complete without a big plate of cranberry sauce.

However, at one point it occurred to me: what would’ve a real colonist— my ancestors—have thought of today’s Thanksgiving dinner?

And I had an epiphany. What would my ancestors really think of that giggling, gelatinous, cylinder-shaped mess we call cranberry sauce? They would be disgusted with it, even if they were a little amazed with today’s technology!

So for this Thanksgiving, I decided not only to make my cranberry sauce from scratch—I decided to make it from dirt. Dirt and seeds, that is.

Luckily, my sister already had a fully grown cranberry bush, so all we had to do was harvest the fruit. If you want to try this at home, you can buy a bag of fresh cranberries for about $4 to $5.

To get the full colonial feeling,

INGREDIENTS

ABBY MANSOUR STAFF WRITER

RALPHS

Prepare stuffing according to package directions, and set aside in a large bowl.

Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, and stir in the onion, celery and sage.

Boil 10 minutes, or until the onion is soft. Stir into the prepared stuffing.

Rinse turkey, and pat dry. Loosely fill the body and neck cavities with the stuffing mixture.

Place turkey in a large roasting pan and cook 3 to 3 1/2 hours in the preheated oven, or until the internal temperature of the thigh meat is 180 degrees F (80 degrees C) and the stuffing is at least 165 degrees F (75 degrees C).

fresh, homemade

Paula Dean’s Pumpkin Pie

Pies MARIE CALLENDERS

PROVIDED BY GRANITEE.WORDPRESS

I wrapped my feet in zip lock bags and smashed the cranberries with my toes. I smashed a cup with my feet, and another cup with a spoon, and the spooned batch didn’t taste nearly as good.

I then threw in a couple of cinnamon sticks and two cups of brown sugar, and let it simmer on the stove for about one and a half hours, stirring every ten minutes to get the right consistency.

I then poured them into turkey-shaped molds and left them in the refrigerator for a day until they had gelicated.

And then, the moment of truth— the taste test. I set out a plate of my own, home-grown sauce and then another plate

of the canned sauce, which only cost around two dollars, and had my family try it.

It tasted way better than the canned stuff, although both tasted a little weird without turkey.

So did home-made cranberry sauce taste better? Yes. Is it worth all the work? Probably not.

In conclusion: Just buy the cranberry sauce.

PROVIDED BY ECLECTIC EPICUREAN

delicious

Marie Callenders pies definitely are the most gourmet and rich.

However, they are a little bit more expensive than most, with their apple pies priced at $11.49 and their pumpkin pies priced at $10.99.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Angela Kim’s Mashed Potatoes

ANGELA KIM COPY EDITOR

As per tradition for many generations, a Thanksgiving dinner is simply incomplete without some delicious pie to finish it off.

B5

PROVIDED BY JUST2GOOD.WORDPRESS

TRADER JOE’S If one wishes to keep his or her pie purchase local and organic, Trader Joe’s will definitely be the best option. Currently, Trader Joe’s delicious, two pound apple pie is priced at $6.49. Their classic 24 ounce pumpkin pie is priced at $4.99.

Not only are these pies pleasantly cheap, but both of these pies are freshly baked and are sure to satisfy one’s appetite for pie.

If you prefer to make your own pie, Paula Deen’s pumpkin pie recipe won’t disappoint.

The cost to make it yourself is a bit great; around $12 per pie.

-1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened -2 cups canned pumpkin, mashed -1 cup sugar -1/4 teaspoon salt -1 egg plus 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten -1 cup half-and-half -1/4 cup (1/2 stick) melted butter -1 teaspoon vanilla extract -1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon -1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, optional -1 piece pre-made pie dough -Whipped cream, for topping

DIRECTIONS Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place 1 piece of pre-made pie dough down into a (9-inch) pie pan and press down along the bottom and all sides. Pinch and crimp the edges together to make a pretty pattern. Put the pie shell

back into the freezer for 1 hour to firm up. Fit a piece of aluminum foil to cover the inside of the shell completely. Fill the shell up to the edges with pie weights or dried beans (about 2 pounds) and place it in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil and pie weights and bake for another 10 minutes or until the crust is dried out and beginning to color.

For the filling, in a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese with a hand mixer. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined. Add the sugar and salt, and beat until combined. Add the eggs mixed with the yolks, half-and-half, and melted butter, and beat until combined. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, and ginger, if using, and beat until incorporated.

Pour the filling into the warm prepared pie crust and bake for 50 minutes, or until the center is set. Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature.

Cut into slices and top each piece with a generous amount of whipped cream.

PROVIDED BY EMILE HENRY USA

Features Jasmine De Andres

B6

Mt. Carmel SUN

November 20, 2009

“

lives life to the fullest despite her life-threatening situation

Our life is a race. We sometimes look at our life in a way that is like, ‘Oh great, I have no hope,’ but I choose to look at my life from a different perspective.”

LAUREN HALL STAFF WRITER

“Our life is a race. We sometimes look at our life in a way that is like ‘Oh great I have no hope,’ but I choose to look at my life from a different perspective.”

For senior Jasmine De Andres, this perspective is what has pulled her through the struggles in her life.

“My faith and all the blessings that the Lord has provided me with keeps me going,” De Andres said.

De Andres suffers from a congenital birth defect known as biliary artresia, a disease that basically prevents the liver from being able to filter toxins through the body properly.

“She got a bile block and they needed to correct the problem so she went through an eight hour surgery when she was less than a month old,” Lita De Andres, Jasmine’s mother said. “It didn’t guarantee that she was going to have a good liver, but for five years after that she basically lived in the hospital to prevent infection.”

The disease can make everyday life more complicated, especially for high schoolers who already have so much on their plate.

“Because my liver’s not filtering, I have a whole bunch of waste accumulated, and it makes it hard for me to explain things, and find the words I want to use,” De Andres said.

With the stress of her health as well as everyday life struggles pressing down on her, De Andres turned to her faith to pull her through the tough times.

“I believe that we only have one life to live and the Lord has blessed me with this life, and even though I’m sick I’ve found that Jesus Christ has proved Himself so faithful to me,” De Andres said.

“My physical body is weak. Every day I get weak. I can’t do it on my own, but I’ve been living on the hope that I have in Jesus Christ, and knowing that He is going to carry me when I can’t go through my life anymore,” De Andres said. “I feel that I’m safe in His arms because He holds me in His hands.”

With this positive attitude De Andres has been able to live a happy, hopeful life. She is now looking forward to the near future when she will have a new liver.

“I’m so excited because I know that when you get a new liver it has to be a perfect match,” De Andres said. “I believe that there are no accidents and no coincidences and that everything happens for a reason.”

De Andres is now on top of the waiting list, and will be expecting the transplant in around two months. This change will

allow her to live a healthy life and pursue her passion, which is helping people.

“I used to travel to the Philippines every year to do mission work, and that’s my heart. I want to be there for those who are unfortunate,” De Andres said.

“I want to be able to give hope to those people, and also for those who are battling the same thing as me. I want to encourage them and let them know that I’ve been through the same thing too.”

Even after all that she has been through, De Andres uses her selflessness to help others and appreciates what she has in life.

She looks forward to returning to the people she loves and the school that has supported her through her challenging times.

“I am so grateful for Mt. Carmel and I’m not ever really able to express my appreciation,” De Andres said. “I’m just so grateful for all of the people that make everything so much easier for me.”

Club Corner Featuring...

NICOLE BUSTAMANTE STAFF WRITER “The purpose of {MC-Go-Green} is to inform people of the damaging things that our lifestyles do to the environment and we help them find ways to improve on their impact,” president junior Diana Ching said.

Out of all the clubs that students attempted to start this year, it was only a matter of time before two clubs had the same idea.

“We kind of had a little issue with other students that we happen to be friends with and they pretty much wanted to start the same type of club we did,” vice president junior Nicole Balagtas said.

“So we compromised and decided to merge together.”

The two clubs, now happily one, are thriving with a full classroom every Thursday at lunch in U2.

Her motivation for starting this club started when she realized that people do really make an impact, mostly negative, on the environment and that the school wasn’t doing anything to help.

While the purpose of this club may seem similar to a larger, more popular environmental group, Greenpeace, the creators of this club feel that they are different.

“Although it is similar to Greenpeace, the president, Diana Ching, and I do not completely agree with their actions, we try to do things as friendly and morally right as we possibly can,” Balagtas said.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY JASMINE DE ANDRES

Jasmine De Andres (12) helps children during a mission trip to the Philippines. Although she suffers from a congenital birth defect that affects her liver, De Andres keeps a positive outlook on life.

Facebook a leading cause of procrastination on homework ANDY BOLIN STAFF WRITER

MC-Go-Green plans to help the environment in different ways which include beach clean-ups, recycling, and fundraising for donations.

“We plan to sell canteens and reusable bags in order to raise money so we can donate it to environmental friendly organizations and companies,” Balagtas said.

Along with fundraising, the club plans, and has started to launch, a campaign in order to get students, teachers, and staff to put their bottle cap lids in a separate bin.

“The caps on the plastic water bottles can’t be recycled easily because the plastic is too tough, so a company called Aveda offers to completely recycle them,” Ching said.

“So we are starting a campaign to have a separate container in each class for the caps so that our club can collect them and send it to Aveda.”

The club is always accepting new members and ideas.

“It is important to join this club because watching the effect of our actions on the planet will be important for the survival and prosperity of human life,” Balagtas said.

Furthermore, members of the club seem to be enjoying being part of it.

“You should really join this club because it will give you a chance to change the world’s outcome and you will feel better about yourself for helping your planet,” junior Julie Hogstrom said.

“Yay environment,” she said.

“What is the point of doing my homework, when I could be on Facebook talking to all of my friends?”

This is the thought of many Sundevils including senior David Vasko.

“Homework might be the most boring activity on the planet,” he said. “So I might as well save it until I have to do it, and in the mean time, do something that is actually worth my time.”

Procrastination is when you put something off until the last minute.

It affects most students in high school. Most of the time students are just not in the mood to do homework, and anything that is not homework seems like a great idea.

“I always find something better to do,” senior Allison Raymond said. “Even stuff like chores, or walking my dog seem like something that is more productive then homework. Especially texting.”

Homework is not the only thing that people procrastinate on. Other things that students might want to wait until the last second to do is chores, and for many seniors, college applications.

“I just started doing college apps,” senior Alex Lange said. “I always said that I would start them during the upcoming weekend, but then when it came down to actually starting them, I could always think of something better to do with my time.”

Many college apps are due Jan. 1, but that doesn’t mean wait until

the day before to submit all applications.

“I’m trying to get a jump start,” Vasko said. “These are very important and I am not going to risk turning them in late.”

Even those who are usually on top of things, procrastinate on college apps.

“I am one of those kids who always get’s my work done early, so

I don’t have to do it later,” Lange said. “But there are those days when you are just not in the mood to do something, and things are put off until the last minute.”

Procrastination is something that every student goes through during high school.

There are always going to be times when the thought comes, “I just don’t want to do that.”

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ABBAS MAMDANI | PHOTOGRAPHER

An MC senior imitates a student distracted by both Facebook and his cell phone. High school students are often hit by waves of procrastination. Homework and college applications are common things to be put off by students who may otherwise be hard workers. Sometimes it seems as though anything is better than doing homework.

Features

Mt. Carmel SUN

B7

November 20, 2009

Campo begins ‘Sundevil Heroes’ tradition RACHEL MARTIN FEATURES EDITOR

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY JOSE CAMPO

MC alumnus Joe Tezak poses in his senior picture above.

Below, he is pictured with coach Jose Campo, on right, after a life-changing injury.

A little over 10 years ago, MC alumnus Joe Tezak could never have imagined losing the feeling in his legs. But it happened.

In a freak accident involving a Murphy fold up bed, Tezak became paralyzed. Once a star wrestler under Coach Jose Campo, Tezak is now confined to a wheelchair.

Tezak had the opportunity to tell MC students the story of his injury and how he has continued to be successful, despite it, in a new program called Sundevil Heroes. Campo had the idea for the program when he found out about the Challenged Athletes Foundation.

“They raised money to try to help former athletes that are paralyzed or lost their legs to raise money so they can get prosthetic legs or racing wheelchairs,” Campo said.

About nine years ago, Campo decided to participate in a triathlon sponsored by the foundation. With the money he raised, the foundation was able to buy a racing wheelchair for Tezak.

Then, almost three years ago, another MC alumnus, Joe Grady, lost his arm while serving in the military in Iraq.

This summer, Campo realized it would be the 10-year anniversary of Tezak’s accident.

Campo decided he wanted to bring back both of his former wrestlers to “be part of the triathlon somehow.”

Campo then had the idea to bring Tezak and Grady back to MC to speak to students about their lives and appreciating what you have.

Campo wanted students “to hear about successful Mt. Carmel graduates that have not only gone on to college but overcome severe obstacles.”

During an Oct. 23 assembly in front of 450 students, Grady and Tezak spoke about how their lives changed so dramatically in such a short period of time.

Grady recalled his experience in Iraq and described his fellow troops

as his “brothers.” He was injured during an explosion in Fallujah. Grady was one of two people who survived.

Throughout his long recovery in Germany and later Bethesda, Md., Grady said the hardest thing to learn was how to write with his left hand.

He is now studying to become an English teacher at the University of Wisconsin.

Tezak told the story of his accident by describing the night it occurred. It was New Years of 1999, and Tezak was reminiscing about his high school wrestling days with a fellow MC alumnus. A friend flipped up the Murphy bed where Tezak was sitting.

He hit his head and neck on the wall.

At first, he only felt a few pops in his neck, but it led to severe paralysis.

Tezak said he treated his recovery like wrestling practice. He went to rehab twice a day for three months.

Now, he participates in wheelchair rugby and dance.

Injuries like these do not only affect the victims. Tezak said he thinks his friends have new perspectives on life because of his injuries.

Tezak also thinks some people have the wrong idea about disabled people.

“People with disabilities are going to be out there doing things,” he said at the assembly.

Tezak was recently inducted into his college Hall of Fame in North Dakota and now lives in Washington, D.C., working for the United States Customs and Border Protection.

Despite all of these obstacles, both men said if they had the choice to have their old lives back, they wouldn’t take it.

“Despite everything, I don’t think that I would change it,” Grady said. “I enjoy where I am right now.”

Tezak agreed, calling his injury a “blessing.”

Campo’s reason for beginning this tradition of Sundevil Heroes is to help students realize all that they have.

“I think we have a great school,” Campo said. “I love our school. I love our teachers. But I think a lot of kids don’t appreciate what they have.”

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY JOSE CAMPO

MC alumnus Joe Grady poses in his letterman jacket above. Below, he is shown with California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger after losing his arm in Iraq.

Boys bathroom quicker stop than girls; unstated rules force males to comply

Bathroom breaks: social meetings for girls; disgusting sinks, long lines daily occurrence

JAY HUEY STAFF WRITER

CATHY MCDERMOTT EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The boys bathroom is generally thought of as a place for guys to go do their business and then come out right away. What a lot of people don’t realize is that there is a lot more to boys’ bathrooms than just a few Number Ones and Number Twos every hour.

Most guys would know about the guidelines of the boys bathroom.

Nowhere are they written, rarely are they ever spoken about, but males know instinctively what to do and not to do inside the bathroom.

During snack, lunch, and passing periods, you can find the boys bathroom more packed than usual.

Some boys inside are doing their thing on the urinals, but most of urinals are not occupied.

Even with all the empty urinals, a line forms as guys wait for their turn, not wanting to do their business directly next to another. Some may ask, “Why hold it if you can do

something about it?”

“The every-other-urinal rule is definitely an important unspoken rule between the guys,” senior Aris Alteza said. “It certainly is uncomfortable to have someone standing right next to you while doing something that’s supposed to be private.”

All over the bathroom, there are “rules” related to each appliance.

Waiting in line to do a number one is the only option unless you don’t mind doing your business next to another. An open stall is last resort, as some say using one is either inconsiderate or a sign that you’re trying to hide something.

“Guys who use stalls to pee either have security issues, or button flies,” junior Alex Heck said. “Either way there are usually enough stalls for the guys who need to take a number two, and if there aren’t it isn’t like they have to wait long.”

The biggest pet peeve about guys taking a number one inside the stalls is when guys totally “miss”

the target, regardless whether it was intentional or not.

“When haven’t I been to a bathroom with someone pissing on something?” Heck said. “If it isn’t the toilet paper, then it’s the floor, and all of that creates the ‘pleasant’ odor that we’ve come to associate with high school bathrooms.”

While girls supposedly pretty themselves up in front of the sink, guys have some strange routines themselves that many consider as uncommon behavior.

“I’ve seen guys shave at the bathroom, or do a quick bath. I’ve even seen a guy brush their teeth, which I don’t recommend under any circumstances,” Heck said.

We may not be girls, but the bathroom is much more to guys than just a place to pee and poo.

Though unspoken, rules are definitely followed each time they visit the bathroom.

Behaviors considered to be “strange” are pretty normal to us guys.

It’s break. You get 15 whole minutes to do what you need to do before heading back to endless class lectures and tedious exams.

Before you make your way to the Sun Center to talk to your counselor, you make a “quick” stop at the girls bathroom.

But what do you know?

The line is just about as long as the lines at Walmart on Black Friday.

How is it that every girl in the school has to use the bathroom at the same time?

Thankfully, the line only appears to be 1000 ft. long because for every one girl that has to actually use the restroom, there are five girls with her for “moral support.”

Why girls need an entire posse to take a squat beats me. In fact, wouldn’t you think that it would be a bit awkward for all your best friends to be waiting for you to do

your business?

That’s a lot of unnecessary pressure.

After standing outside for five minutes, you finally get inside, but upon entering, you lose all breathing room.

It makes it difficult for one to figure out who is actually waiting for a stall and who is waiting for a friend.

So you spend about two extra minutes asking those around you “Are you in line?”

Once you get to the actual front of the line, it becomes more civil. You wait for a stall, do what you got to do and then come out feeling relieved.

That is until you realize that every single sink is occupied. But not with girls washing their hands.

Instead there are 10 girls for only eight sinks applying their makeup and fixing their hair.

You wait patiently, well you wait while tapping your feet with an annoyed look on your face. But

the beauty shop girls don’t even acknowledge your existence, nor do they offer to let you wash your hands.

They continue to smear on their eyeliner, while you now have about one minute till they bell rings.

Once they have perfectly plastered their face on and locked their flawless hair into place, they, so nicely, move aside and allow you some space to use the sink.

You begin washing your hands, only to find foundation smeared across the sink and a hair ball in the drain.

Not only that, but the girl who had already occupied the sink is now peering over your shoulder, again fixing her hair.

Once done with the sink, you fight your way through the mass of girls back to the door.

The bell rings just as you open it, so much for using break to get things done. On the bright side, you survived the girls bathroom during “crunch time.” Congratulations.

CHRISTIAN JUN | ARTIST

B8

Features November 20, 2009

Inspired by PostSecret

Continue to submit your secrets to envelopes in your English class. Look in future issues of the SUN for more secrets.

Mt. Carmel SUN