May 31st, 2013

FOCUS

Photo of senior Ryan Sugnet by Hannah Lasky

Midland High School | May 31, 2013 | Volume 35, Issue 9

Track All-Stars

Students prepare for their races at one of the toughest meets of the season Page 21

Senior Issue Pages 8-15

Exam Diet Page 17

Taiwan Follow-up Page 19

Baseball Page 22

able of Contents

O P I N I O N

3 Editorial

S EN I O RS

8-15

N

E

W

S

4/5 Op-Ed

6/7 Seniors Op-Ed

16 17 18

FEATURES

19 Taiwan follow-up A

22

Focus Editors

Sam Poznak Editor in Chief Erika Collin Managing Editor Natalie Sloggett News Editor Rachel Sinclair Features Editor Marisa Jachens A&E Editor Jack Duly Sports Editor Elizabeth Waskevich Photo Editor Scout Parsch Design Editor Michiah Arguello Ad Coordinator Emily Resmer Exchange Editor Michelle Demo Website Editor Jim Woehrle Adviser Midland Daily News Printer

Joey Stevens 20 & E

23 Focus established in 1977, previously the Vic Tribune established in 1936, is the official school sponsored newspaper of Midland High School. Focus is published monthly by the journalism classes at Midland High School and is distributed free of charge. It is a member of the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA), the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association (MIPA), and Quill and Scroll.

Adviser membership also includes the Journalism Education Association (JEA).

Focus is designed as a forum for student expression and as a realistic lab experience. Focus, however, reserves the right to contest the challange of an administrator who attempts to censor and/ or remove an article or graphic element.

SPORTS

21 State track meet

24 You got something to say?

If something annoys you about us, school, or life in general,

write a letter to the editor.

If something amuses you about us, school, or life in general,

write a letter to the editor.

If we got something wrong,

write a letter to the editor.

If it’s coherent and under 300 words,

we’ll run it.

Drop them off at room 345 with your name.

EDITORIAL

Stressed to test

With the change from trimesters to semesters each exam will now be worth twenty percent of the overall grade. This large percentage is putting pressure on kids to perform well on the semester exams

What do you think?

Do you think that exams should be worth more, less, or the same amount?

“The same because exams show how well you can review your homework and study for tests. “ Freshman Kyler Hanson

“Less because if you do poorly then you can’t make it up.”

Sophomore Joey Guettler

T

hough the days until summer dwindle, there is still one more thing weighing on everyone’s minds: exams are closing in. As the school switches to four marking periods, instead of the previous format of trimesters, all exams will now be worth 20 percent of the final grade. Focus disagrees with the percentage that the exams will account for. We believe that exams should be worth a smaller percentage of the grade in every subject.

Because exams are the very last thing to be entered into each grade, there is no way to make up for a poor performance. If students do badly on their exams they cannot do anything to raise their grades after. This increases the pressure for students while studying for and taking exams because it can make or break their grade, yet it is impossible to recover if the outcome is detrimental.

Some students are not good test takers. It is a simple fact and it is not something that they can control. No matter how many times test taking strategies are gone over in class, it will not make a significant difference if a student cannot help but panic come test time.

Therefore, exams are not an accurate indicator of each student’s knowledge and should be treated accordingly. Making an exam twenty percent of a semester grade is not fair to those

who have done their best to prepare but have the natural disadvantage of being a poor test taker.

Each exam lasts between one and a half and two and a half hours. Each marking period is nine weeks. It seems ridiculous that one test accounts for half of a marking period’s worth of work. This puts too much pressure on students and can even drive students to unhealthy measures. Many students stay awake late into the night cramming their brain with information that will not be retained past the exam. Other students do not sleep at all for nights beforehand due to their incessant, never ending studying. This is not healthy for children. The amount of pressure for students to perform well on exams is, at times, excruciating.

The Focus believes that there should be requirements for test preparation for each class. Review guides should be required in every class because students do indeed appreciate having guidance for what to study and practice problems are very helpful for math and science classes. The review guides also should be given out at least a few weeks before the exam. Earlier is always better in terms of review guides because this will help to prevent the last minute cramming that is

Illustration Illustration

by Christiana Haight

by Tyler Kish

so greatly discouraged by teachers. Some review time, preferably at least a week, is also necessary. It is important for students to have time to ask teachers questions in regards to the content that will be covered on the exam.

Teachers should also refrain from continuing to teach new material right up until the exam.

Though we understand that it is important for all of the curriculum to be covered, students need time to absorb the information before exams. It also adds more stress and work onto the already massive load of studying for exams when kids must study for regular tests and complete assignments and projects that go towards their marking period grades.

The purpose for exams is to test students on their general knowledge of what has been covered throughout the semester. It is unreasonable to include questions over minute details that were not significant towards the major concepts of the class.

Questions like this make students feel as though they are being set up to fail.

Students also take a multitude of tests throughout the semester. These tests heavily influences their grades. By making exams worth 20 percent of each grade this makes tests overall far too important in the grading system.

“The same because some people aren’t good at test taking so it would hurt their semester grade to raise it; and if it’s lowered then people won’t put much effort into studying for them.”

Junior Savannah Wheeler

“Less because exams test your ability to cram instead of the information that you actually learned in the class.”

Senior Leah Grinwis

@MHSfocus1 | FOCUS | 3

O P I N I O N

Carrying M o t h e r N A T A L I E the Banner E a r t h S L O G G E T The shock factor storm R A C H E L Of their own cord SINCLAIR Every time I see clouds form themselves into something resembling a wall over Midland, panic sets in. Memories rush back from when I was four, and a tornado touched down in the Meijer parking lot while my mom was in the back of the store, and the rest of us were home and had no idea what was going on, until the storm moved north and passed right over our house. Everyone was fine, but that was when tornadoes became my worst fear.

When I first heard about the tornadoes that ripped through Oklahoma and the death count of 51 people, my stomach dropped and I felt more deeply for the people involved in this tragic event than any other event that had happened this year. At first I was angry, thinking that the same thing that happened last summer would happen again: the routine tornadoes that tear through Tornado Alley would be brushed to the side for some trivial news story. Last year, that trivial news story was “The Royal Wedding”. American news networks were more willing to run a story about a wedding in another country than a terrible tornado in Joplin, Missouri.

Even though the response to the horrible events in Moore, Oklahoma has been far more significant and charitable, it makes me angry. What is upsetting, though it is also a relief, is that the initial body count of 51 was sensationalized. The actual number of people dead is 27. I don’t know if this was an overestimate based on the damage, or a sick attempt to get media attention. What ever it was, it worked.

People finally started paying attention just

E M I L Y HOHMAN

Clutch time Shout outs

4 | FOCUS | 5/31/2013

because the death toll was unusually high, even though tornadoes destroy entire towns every single year.

Tornadoes are the most misunderstood weather phenomenon in the world, and are therefore pushed to the side, because they’re so uncertain. Hurricanes are predicted weeks in advance. Although we may not fully understand how they form or how to predict them, we do know how to shelter ourselves from them. The most effective way of doing this is going underground, whether it is a basement or a tornado shelter.

What I found most shocking about what happened in Moore was that so many houses and buildings didn’t have basements or shelters, which is insane. Oklahoma is in the middle of Tornado Alley, and everyone knows it, so why isn’t it mandated in Tornado Alley for all buildings to have a basement? I understand that it would be impossible to add a basement to a building that doesn’t have one, but digging a communal tornado shelter on every block isn’t unrealistic, I think.

From here on out, people will hopefully be more aware of how often and how devastating it is. The increased awareness and willingness to help Tornado Alley states rebuild is going to be necessary this summer and in coming years. Meteorologists are predicting that increased temperatures will cause more frequent and violent storms every year. I hope that the terrifying events in Oklahoma will finally shake the country awake and provide more resources to protect people against what is, in my opinion, the most frightening form of weather in the world.

This is the last column that I will probably ever write. This was an awesome experience and I am so proud that I have been able to write a column for every issue of the Focus this year.

Honestly, I just took journalism as an extra class to fill my schedule but it has turned into one of my favorite classes. I want to give Mr. Woehrle a shout out because gave me the opportunity to be a column writer and I jumped on knowing nothing about the newspaper or how it worked. I would just write my opinion on sports and anyone in the school who wanted to read it could. I thought not many people would read it but a lot of people would come up to me and say how they loved my column and I would just say

Commencement is an exciting time for everyone, and is also seen as a time to show off your achievements from the past four years of your high school career. There will be kids walking with all different colors of cords and sashes, demonstrating GPA point levels, IB Diploma candidates, and National Honors Society members. All of these are important, and the people should be proud to wear them, but there are eight people who will not be allowed to wear one of their achievements.

This spring, eight people were awarded as “Donors For Life”. To be awarded with this, each student had to have donated more than six pints of blood before graduating. One pint of blood can save three lives, so combined; this small group of donors saved up to 144 lives together. When they were given this honor, they were handed a certificate, and a bright red donor cord. Unfortunately, they will not be able to wear these cords at commencement because they are “not academically based”. Even though they

BY THE NUMBERS

thanks but really it means a lot when someone says they like your work.

I learned a lot of my writing skills from Mrs. Murphy who was my English teacher for three years. So I want to give her a shout out for just being awesome. She affected my high school experience greatly because she would see me for an hour a day for three years in a row. I think she finally got my sense of humor by sophomore year -- because then I didn’t get in trouble in her class anymore.

Also Mrs. Leach deserves a shout out for being my math teacher for two years in a row.

I have her sixth hour, so I would always have to miss that class because of sports and she was always more than accommodating when it came to making up quizzes and getting

aren’t academic cords, they are still just as impressive and show that these students took the opportunity to try to save the lives of the people in their community.

I am not a donor for life, but I think that those who are should wear their cords at graduation.

But, since they were given cords, and were told not to wear them, here is the top ten list of things to do with your donor for life cord: 10. Use it to take your dog for a walk 9. Fashion yourself a new belt!

8. Practice your herding skills by lassoing nearby animals 7. You could wear it as a scarf and walk around town 6. Tie your long hair back, or your curtains 5. Use it as a whip 4. To tie your boat to the dock 3. Use as a tourniquet in case of injury 2. Throw it into Mt. Doom in Mordor 1. Wear it when you walk at graduation

42 EXACTLY

People are going out of state for college

homework early.

Another person who had a big impact on my high school experience was coach Mahabir so I want to give her a shout out. Even though I was only on her team for two years I was part of the basketball program for four years. She is more than just a basketball coach to every single person that goes through that program, and she becomes friends with all of us. She talks about how before big games former players call her and wish the team good luck; that will be me.

The most important shout out goes out to all the students at MHS though. Every single kid is great here and made the high school experience the best that I could have asked for.

O P I N I O N

S A M U E L P O Z N A K

Sam, I am

Come on, seniors

Quick, raise your hand if you remember last year’s senior prank.

Congratulations, you are a member of last year’s senior class. Because no one else remembers what they did -- which can be seen as a good or bad thing. On one hand, it’s probably good that they didn’t go overboard and hurt anybody by throwing thousands of marbles down the hallway, but on the other hand, they didn’t have any fun with it. Unfortunately, our senior class seems to be heading down the same road.

In fact recently, a piece of paper started circling around the halls of MHS with proclaimed “senior pranks.” I won’t tell you non-seniors what these pranks were (you can find out for yourself, the pieces of paper were littered around eyeball), but I will tell you one thing. They sucked.

In fact, most of the pranks weren’t even pranks at all, instead they seemed more like senior spirit days that we could all partake in.

I asked one member of the senior class why the pranks were so lame and he just replied, “Well, we don’t want to get into trouble!”

But come on, all good senior pranks have a little risk involved. I’m sure the famous “let pigs go wild in the hallway” prank wasn’t consequence free. We just need someone to have enough courage to go through with the plans.

But no one with courage will come forward, because what our senior-prank-committee lacks is leadership and unity. No one has any idea what the real senior prank, because there haven’t been any meetings and almost half of the class is in the dark. Nobody knows who to talk to about it.

And that’s why I feel comfortable sharing my idea for a senior prank that will be remembered. Because the seniors will never be able to come together for this to work.

My idea is for everyone in the senior class to purchase a $5 bag of sand or dirt. Then, one dark, dark night, we all come to the school and dump all of our dirt and sand into one big pile in the parking lot. We top it off with a sign that says “Donated by class of 2013. Have fun cleaning this up.” Then we lay low for few days, and if we all stand together, they can’t have us all not walk at graduation.

The Ultimate Do and Don’t List of Dorm Shopping: or what I found on some blogs written by college age people

DO

Bring/buy cleaning supplies, and air freshener, and disinfectant. It’s going to get nasty up in there after a while.

DON’T

Bring absolutely everything from home. Bring the essentials, then try to buy simpler stuff like shampoo, hangers, and bedding from a nearby Wal-Mart or Target.

DO

Buy a mattress pad. Dorm beds aren’t exactly known for being luxurious, so make yours as comfy as you possibly can.

Prepping for your dorm?

There’s one place which has all you need, and that’s not where it ends.

DO

However casual everyday life may be, pack some fancy duds that you would normally wear for a wedding or an awards banquet.

There are going to be some formal events along the way that you’ll want to look classy for.

DON’T

Bring a weird, quirky thing that you can hang on your wall or throw on your bed to start conversations with. No, seriously, guys. I keep reading these blogs that say they’ve literally used random items like unicorn posters and huge stuffed elephants to overcome awkward silences. I think this is a worthy investment.

DON’T

Packing appliances to make your own smoothies or any other kind of food in your dorm is a waste of time. Between classes, clubs, and meeting up with friends, you’re not going to have time to make anything.

There’s a reason why you’re paying for a meal plan

DON’T

If you want to hang stuff on the walls, don’t plan on hanging them on a nail. Buy some stick-on, damage free hooks for your posters and pictures.

Campus Den, or as we say in our culture, Campòus Denisatiòn. The one and only stop for your dormitory needs. When you enter the store you are greeted with wonderful college shirts folded in that motherly square fashion which we all love. Immediately you feel at home.

The stores items range from: stuff with college logos on it, to more claptrap with college logos on it. The assortment and extensive selection is priceless; except not priceless, because this stuff costs money. What did you think this was? A free lunch? You have to fork over a bit of that universal lubricant. Your precious scholarships don’t pay for these quality goods.

You have your straw hats, your scarfs, your sweaters, your beer glasses (we know what you do on weekends), your school flags, your hoodies, your headbands, your sports memorabilia, your all you need. These all could be yours if you are willing to pay. Unless someone steals them from you, in which case, it was yours, but it’s now Richard Doogan’s.

Be sure to also pick up a school baseball bat,

DO

Buy a white board. It’s fun to leave messages on, plus it could be helpful for studying. I know information always sticks in my brain when I write it down. It could be small, if you just want to use it for leaving messages for your roommate or for personal reminders, or you could make it bigger if you want to use it for academic purposes.

DO

College doesn’t require a wardrobe makeover.

It’s going to be super casual, and you don’t have to worry about looking cool all the time. If you buy anything, buy some more sweatpants.

DON’T

Relying on vending machines for your beverages is a waste of money. Invest in a filter pitcher, like those sold by Britta, and bring a durable water bottle. This way, you don’t have to fill it up with tap water from your sink -Natalie Sloggett

in order to protect your precious campus den materials from suspicious intruders. Your dorm is your dojo, take a lesson from the samurai and protect it. Or else you will have dishonored your clan and must commit seppuku on the University courtyard, and die the death of 1000 suns; believe me it’s not pleasant. You may have disgraced your clan, but the suffering you put yourself through will ensure you a safe passage through the afterlife, if you are into that kind of thing.

Where were you last Friday? They ask. I was at Campus Den preparing for next year. You can say. This place specializes in college attire as well as other nifty college items. Whether you are there for the selection or for the free air conditioning because your parents are too cheap and bring out those dumb rotating fans every summer. You will find everything to your liking.

Trust me, I know what I’m saying, cause I’m not going to Delta next year, I swear.

-Mark Emmendorfer

@MHSfocus1 | FOCUS | 5

O P I N I O N

Stat Central

Hittin’ the road Breaking down the walls

with Jordan Jachens

223 9 95 exactly

7.54

Number of votes that decided the millage.

Number of points girls track won the valley by.

Number of days until the first day of school next year, sorry guys.

Number of seconds Aaron Chatman beat Avery Chatman’s personal record in the 400 meter dash. as of Feb. 04

C O R R E C T I O N S

PAGE 14

Two months ago the scout retreat “Philmont” was spelled “Filmont.”We found this extremely funny because the FOCUS advisor is totally a Boy Scout committee chairman

6 | FOCUS | 5/31/2013

PAGE 24

Two months ago we miss-took the full metal alchemist to be a full metal alchemy in our last issue. Our editors are all really sorry but I think they honestly might have just been scared of the hot metal.

What scares you?

Look deep inside yourself. Find that dark spot inside your mind that your dare not explore, and ask yourself again, what scares you? What is the one thing in this world that you fear above all else? What is the monster that hides under your bed? Is it spiders, snake, the dark, heights?

For me, its loneliness.

The feeling of being adrift in this world with no one around to bring me comfort. That thought scares me more than anything. If you get to know me, you may realize how ironic this fear is. People are always wondering why I act the way I act. Why I am so blunt, rude, and downright weird. Well here is why.

I always push people away from me.

Whether it’s consciously or subconsciously, I am always finding ways to make myself feel alone. This all started when I was younger. In middle school, and even the first years of high school. My self-esteem was totally dependent on the opinions others had of me. I wanted people to like me, but most of the time I just scared them away.

Over the years, I then erected walls around myself. I barricaded myself inside of them and thrown away the key. I built these walls to protect myself from the world around me.

They come in the form of my sarcastic and witty behavior, my ability to play almost everything off as a joke, or if necessary, my ability to be rude and hurtful. This allows me to be able to pretend that nothing hurts me, that I am invincible. A defense mechanism of my own making, designed to protect myself from outsiders. To give off the illusion that above all else, nothing bothers me. But it backfired. It worked too well.

PAGE 5

Our rookie columnist Juli LaRose had her name spelled Julie LaRose. We have no idea where the extra ‘e’ came from, it was probably because we didn’t have an Op/Ed editor last month...

J D

A C U L

K Y

Now I don’t need my walls like I used to.

I’ve grown up. I have stopped caring about how people view me. I am perfectly content with the way I act, and if that scares people away the good riddance. But now I’ve found that my defense mechanism works too well.

My walls have been built to high to be broken.

I’m trapped within them. What was originally meant to be protect me has been turned into a weapon. A weapon I use to keep other people away.

My blunt personality, and rather rude demeanor, makes it so I blend with people like water and oil. I’m so used to looking for other people’s weakness. I can always find the one thing to say to them that will make them cringe, and sometimes I’ll say it. Even if there’s no reason to, just to put them on the defensive. I am always on the offensive, even when there is no need to be.

So I live in my biggest fear. It is my punishment for the weapon I created. I’m now stuck with a habit I can’t seem to break.

I’ve pounded it into my head for so long it has become second nature.

So here I am now, presenting myself to the world. For once I am showing off my weakness. This is me trying one last time to break down my walls. To let people see why I am the way I am. This is my attempt to escape my greatest fear. To stand here totally bare, without any form of protection. To remind you, everyone is human. No matter how much we try to prove differently, we all hurt one way or another and we all have ways of pretending we don’t. So remember, there is a story behind every person; a reason why they act the way they do.

PAGE 17

The last sentence of the story got cut off. It was meant to end saying, “get over those fears?”

Well one of my fears is there being mistakes in the FOCUS.

TIDBITS

Pieces of information told in less than 50 words

3 THINGS you don’t have to worry about this month Missing an Art Van sale

Finding something to do on June 8 (because of the absurd amount of grad parties).

Tweet OF THE

Month #tweetliketheoppositegender why do girls say they can’t find a nice guy? I’m so nice to the ten girls I’m talking to @katiekochanny

Whether or not the Great Gatsby movie premiere will be a letdown.

and one thing you still do...

Scoring above a 70 percent on your exam because of all those “sick days” you took this semester.

799 around

BY THE NUMBERS

Number of licks it takes to get to the center of a brown tootsie pop.

Information courtesy of gwax.com

K

Y

L

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BLACKWOOD

Back in Blackwood my top three

For some people it’s heights, fist fighting, guns and warfare, maybe their smart phone breaking, Not me, I like heights, and later in my life I’d like to be a professional wingsuiter.

I’m definitely not afraid to fight, even though I know it is really bad to fight. However, as I have been doing mixed martial arts for a while now at Cosens MMA, fighting is something I have learned to enjoy quite a lot. My father was in the National Guard, and hearing from all of his experiences, I am not afraid of joining the military and facing combat for my country’s safety and wellbeing.

Everyone is careful with their phone, but at the end of the day it’s just a phone. Since not one of these are my top three fears, potentially forcing my heart skip a beat, I’ll name them!

1 Tropical centipedes. Those things are huge, okay? Could you imagine a 2-foot-long centipede with deadly venom in its pincers?

Why are we all mad here? M A D D Y Scaredy Cat

When I was little, I had a yellow plastic steering wheel. It was one of those V-Tech contraptions that made ridiculously adorable noises when you pressed its brightly colored buttons. I was a madwoman with that thing.

If a gas pedal was included, I would have been a speed demon. I’m sure that my mother was terrified of the day I would get my license, but I remember being exceptionally eager. I don’t know when that excitement turned into total terror and dread, but at some point, I no longer found comfort in that toy steering wheel.

It’s not that I don’t want to drive. If I could grab my keys and get myself to my friend’s house, it would certainly make things easier.

Maybe I’d even be a bit more social. It’s just that I’m practically a pro at riding in the passenger seat. I’ve probably spent at least a quarter of my life with a seat belt on. I was so excited for driver’s training that I hardly minded getting up at ungodly hours over the summer to attend classes. Learning how to drive? That’s the easy part. It’s the thought of getting behind the wheel when the passenger doesn’t have a break by their foot that really freaks me out. I still haven’t gotten myself over to a segment two class, and I’ve put in maybe four hours of driving total. Each of these has been filled with terror and haste.

I guess the scariest part of the whole ordeal is that every time I speed up above 25 miles per hour, I feel like I’m in Mario Kart, and I start looking for those iridescent item boxes to run into. I think it’s a little petrifying that In my worst nightmares, I am being chased by 20 or more of them. I try to step on one, but it’s so long that it wheels around and sticks me with its pincers, killing me in a minute.

If I, for some reason, ever happen to see one, I plan on grabbing whoever is near me and getting out of there.

2 Spiders. I’m not talking little baby spiders, or daddy longlegs. I’m talking huge, hairy, 10-eyed arachnids and, again, pincers dripping with venom while leaping toward me. Also, the spiders that ends up being the size of the spiders on Harry Potter. Either one of them don’t work for me, and would most likely send me running.

3: Clowns: Clownstraphobia- yeah, it’s a thing, and I definitely have it. I don’t know what it is, and I don’t know why, but I hate clowns. I have always thought that clowns are evil and they always will be my deadliest fear.

I never had a monster in my closet, it was

WHEELOCK I have to constantly remind myself that the wheel in front of me does not plug into a Wii remote. You’d think it would be cool to feel like I was in a video game, but mostly it just gives me crippling anxiety. Whenever I check my blind spot, it’s like I’m afraid Bowser’s going to come up behind me and smash my car into smithereens. Thank goodness Swede isn’t anything like Rainbow Road, but I’m still worried I’ll fall off the edge.

If it was just the Mario Kart thing, though, I could probably get over it. After all, the more you look into things, the more realistic they become. Right? But every time I get in the car, I’m pretty sure people are judging me on how close my seat is to the pedal and how fast my windshield wipers are going. Shifting into reverse? That girl on the sidewalk is definitely furious that I didn’t wait for her to cross the street. Stopping at a stop sign? If I don’t stop for exactly two seconds, no more, no less, the person behind me is going to get road rage.

Whatever the situation, someone is angry or annoyed. And they’re absolutely going to get hostile and possibly crash into my car. Maybe I’m being a little over-cautious, but I swear I’m just doing my job as a defensive driver.

My segment one teacher told me to always be on high-alert, after all.

No matter how much I pound on the steering wheel, it still doesn’t play songs and sing the alphabet like my trusty old toy once did. Maybe someday I’ll muster the courage to get my license, but for now, I’ll stick to the passenger seat.

always a clown. I don’t find them funny, or nice, I just want them away from me.

Everyone has some things in their lives that give them goose bumps, make the hairs on the back of their neck stand up, or make them run for their lives. My fears might be weird, but I’m most likely just as weird too.

Although all of these would make my heart skip a beat, I don’t think I will ever be scared stiff. In the middle of the summer last year I got my first tattoo, a cross with a streak of red in the center (my favorite color) covering my left shoulder blade and part of my back.

On the cross it says my favorite verse, Psalm 23. My favorite part is “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear evil, for my Lord is with me.” If I believe the Lord is my savior and died for me, what then should I fear?

@MHSfocus1| FOCUS | 7

Where are you heading off to?

By Elizabeth Waskevich | Photo Editor

Northern Michigan University Victoria Kerlin

Michigan Tech University Audrey Ortiz

Delta College Dalton Pangborn Kalamazoo College Ian Kay Michigan State University Danielle Lewis

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Michigan Colleges Albion College Grace Freeman Shannon Murphy Alma College Erika Brown Miles Kilbreath Megan Sanborn Tyler Sauve Natalie Sloggett Annamarie Williams Baker College of Owosso Ashlie Dewey Central Michigan University Matthew Barrons Gabe Blalock Chesanie Carey Aaron Chatman Christian Cousar Jillian Dawson Josh Deschaine Lexi Dibenedetto Ashlea Dull Shelby Ernst Rose Ferguson Alec Johnson Nikita L’Esperance Katherine Linkert Cody Maier Marc Quinones Elaina Rhead Kallie Schloemann Carson Schutter Cam Short Emily Swierzbin Bryce Tendler Terrence Thomas Sarah Warren Lauren Wenban Concordia University Sam Warren Davenport University Katie Dawson Delta College Alicia Allen Kaitlyn Arn Matt Baker Paige Barber Mitchell Barrons Hannah Bauer Debroah Berry Jenny Bober Shawn Boyer Jennifer Carlton Kelsey Cline Emmet Cookenmaster Heaven Cosey Adam Crane Mikey Craven Katie Cronkright Erin Dachsteiner

Out of State Colleges Lauren Deshano Zack Duford Zach Dunlap Jessica Durfee Mark Eddy Mark Emmendorfer Autumn Enszer Mikka Etelamaki Shane Fick Leah Fillmore Grace Finney Stephanie Gezequel Laura Gillings Adam Goodwin Amanda Gordon James Graczyk Phillip Graham Leah Grinwis Mikayla Gross Manny Hall Jared Haviete Bryanna Hiatt James Hignite Dylan Hite Darrion Ives Musab Jawed Samantha Jayo Jenny Jenkins Abby Jinerson Deveon Johnson Megan Jones Madison Kelsey Erik Kent Austin King Nathan Klopfenstein Hayley Konieczka Spencer Koppi Catie Kramer Chad Krzyzaniak Evan Kuhn Julie Leto Sapphire Lohr Matt Lopez Kayleigh Lowry Nicholas McCann Drake McClendon Mandy McDonald Zach McKenna Caitlyn McPhillips Leighcia Meylan Cody Mizer Brandon Murphy Max Nartker Charlie Nestle Nate Niinisto Taylor Northrup Evan Novak Bernie Nowak Marissa Nowak Travis Ogden Katy Ortega Dalton Pangborn Travis Patten Cody Pedlar Kyle Petzold Jonathon Phipps Alex Planer

Jordan Poland Kacie Proctor Kevin Redfern Austin Rosado Lacey Scharich Taylor Schneider Ben Schulte Rachel Sinclair Rebecca Skym Nicholas Smith Thomas Smith Marshall Snyder Sam Stevens Carter Stoll Nicole Sypniewski Alysha Tate Morgan Townsend Justine Tuma Bella View Taylor Voneitzen Chas Wakeman Leeza Wallick Darrien Weir Maija Wendt Mackinzey Whittlesey Gator Whyte Callie Wright Chandler Zablocki Hannah Zablocki Eastern Michigan University Emily Ortiz Abigail Robertson Ferris State University Matthew Clark Marisa Jachens Nicholas Keel Marissa Kraut Anne Seeburger Tyler Sowels Elizabeth Waskevich Grand Valley State University John Ames Gabby Axtell John Beery Allison Bis Emily Butler Christopher Cady Erica Clark Erika Collin Sydney Ecker Nate Foura Amanda Haiderer Emily Hohman Abby Hutter Miranda Irwin Stephanie Mendyk Kelsey Taylor Hope College Elliott Digison Anna McGee Carly Pollins

Kalamazoo College Ian Kay Megan Rochlitz Kellogg Community College Alex Goodwin Kettering University David Frank Jeremiah Herzberg Bradley Pankow Ben Yats Michigan State University Jared Beach Matt Beale Matt Bender Nathan Blanke Julia Blumenshine AC Crane Pauline Flamion Ryan Fullwood Collin Gagnon Allison Gorton Sammi Gregg Gretchen Holzhauer Lauren Johnston Quinn Leins Danielle Lewis Jon Lynch Anna MacDonald Sarah Maki Eddy Maxwell Katelyn Melton Nick Miller Forrest Parsch Katelyn Perry Kelsea Pohl Dan Radler Ryan Singer Philip Steinbrunner Ryan Sugnet Andrew Wandor David Warner Michael Wright Michigan Tech University Colin Hogue Kate Kiekhaefer Shelbie Koenitzer Caroline Maday Audrey Ortiz Joseph Ryan David Tascarella Devon Valko-Dib Matthew Vaught Teresa Wieber Northern Michigan University Jacob Cantrell Kara May Steve Trombley Austin Comiskey Nick Ade Victoria Kerlin

Northwood University Kyle Clark Brady Harbron Ben Johnsey Scott Naples Chase Toland Jennifer Wontorcik Oakland University Laura Heinrich Adam Weckle Saginaw Valley State University Lorelei Beasley Dylan Bradley Breanna Brown Zoie Bucci Emily Burrell Taelor Conley Thailor Conley Zoe Dull Jenae Eddy Katlin Flavin Sidra Jawed Kaitlyn Klein Nicci Konze David O’Keefe Jacob Richard Michael Roof Ali Sanford Ellie Sciba Grant Trebilcock Jessica Wade University of Michigan Sydney Bigelow Kellen Bixler Ethan Bledsoe Avinash Bommakanti Yooree Chung Benton DeGroot Derek Jacob Stephen Lindsly Emily Marinan Justine Miller Sam Poznak Travis Smith Matt Somers Brionna Spencer Wayne State Greg Marsh Western Michigan University Kelsey Brooks Tyler DeJong Kelsey Ennis Amy Felzke Lauren Hufford Makenzie Simmons

California

Santa Barbara Community College Haley Moulton Santa Monica Community College Jimmy Orlando

Florida

M o t o r c y c l e Mechanics Institute Alex Salter

Illionois

DePaul University Kaila Smith Harrington College of Design Hailey Smith North Central Community College Loraine Merriss Lake Forest College Alex Ham Moody Bible Institute Dylan Matthews Northwestern University Katherine Guthrie University of Chicago Sylvia Klosin

Indiana

Holy Cross Notre Dame Aoife Carey Ball State University Jamison Greschaw Trine University Mariah Crampton

Louisiana Xavier University Tyler Slater

Massachusetts

Wellesley Zoe Peeler

Minnesota

University of Minnesota Kyle Wagner

New York

Culinary Institute of America Zach Moquin

North Carolina UNC Chapel Hill Andrew Peters

Ohio

Ohio State University Jeremiah Herzberg John Kaczmarek Anna Lunsford

Pennsylvania

Penn State- Altoona Logan Madill

Montana

Montana State University Hannah Fisher

Ohio

Kenyon College Grace Potter

South Carolina

Anderson University Emma Moore

South Dakota

Mount Marty College Katherine Adam

Texas

Northeast Lakeview College Jacob Spenrath

Utah

Brigham Young University Dallin Jones Samantha Smith Hyejoon Kim

Virginia

University of Richmond Chase Rossman

Washington

University of Washington Sara Vanbebber

Wisconsin

University of Wisconsin Ashley Roman

Airforce Ricky Shook Marines Samantha Finch Michael Lowry Tanner Welch No college-Working Aaron Calverly Cortne Muller Austin Roberts Michael Van-Y

Undecided

Cody Bauer Stephany Hutchison Ryan Kantak Christian Lambert Katie Longoria Kimberly Miles Bobby Ross Josh Skelly Cassandra Thrasher

@MHSfocus1| FOCUS | 9

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A Delta difference

Over one hundred students from the senior class will be attending Delta College in the fall, some students on scholarships, some because of deferrals, and some because of low tuition costs By AC Crane | Staff Writer & Rachel Sinclair | Features Editor

Illustration by AC Crane and Erika Collin

D E LTA

BY THE NUM BE RS Here is a look at the cost of tuition for one year at an in state university compared to one year at Delta College On average, in state university tuition for one

year is

$22,261

On average, in district tuition at

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One quarter of the senior class is planning on going to Delta due to deferrals and its low tuition fees. ext Fall, students of the class of 2013 will be waking up to go to college classes. The kicker is, one fourth of them still get to say “Hi” to their moms every morning. These students are attending Delta Community College to start off their college careers. Delta Admissions Advisor Lonnie Griffin says that the numbers of students attending Delta from Midland High have somewhat increased from last year. In fall of 2012, they received 99 applications from MHS, and had 62 students enrolled.

“In 2013, we have gotten 110 applications,” Griffin said. “It’s still very early for us, so we’re expecting more students to enroll.”

Griffin also believes that because of rising tuition costs for universities, community colleges are becoming a more popular option.

“There’s no question, especially for students looking to get their Masters’ degrees. If you can take one or two years at a community college, then you will save a significant amount of money,” Griffin said.

A number of students from Midland High were waitlisted this year when they applied to Michigan State University. Associate Director of Admissions Patty Croom says it was due to the record-setting 31,000 applicants.

“We offer a certain number of admissions each year, realizing that some students will say no, but last year students said yes in very high numbers and we had a very large class,” Croom

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said. “This year we’re being careful to bring in a smaller class for space reasons.”

Even though not all the applicants can be admitted this coming fall, admittance for the spring semester had been offered for many students, though these students do not have to commit to attending in the spring as of now. “[To decide admittance] you look at a pool of applications, and try to balance them out, and look at the numbers,” Croom said. “We know that some applicants will reply right away, and some later so we have to be careful not to let in way too many students.”

Senior Nathan Klopfenstein was anticipating going to Michigan State University to pursue a degree in civil engineering, but was not able to attend the school in the fall.

“I was surprised [when I was deferred for the fall semester],” Klopfenstein said. “A lot of people had told me that I would get in no problem. I had just gotten into the mind set that it would be easier to get in.”

After being not admitted in the fall, Klopfenstein was offered admission to the spring semester at MSU. He then decided to attend Delta for a semester and then possibly transfer to Michigan State.

“Michigan or Michigan State are really the only two schools I want to go to, and I thought I would be okay with going to Delta for one or two years,” Klopfenstein said. “I didn’t really want to spend money to go to a school that I

didn’t want to go to 100 percent.”

Senior Carter Stoll was dual enrolled at Delta this past year, and had a co-op at Mid Michigan Health in their Radiology program.

“I think it’s a great alternative, it’s local, it’s definitely a lot cheaper than going to a full blown university,” Stoll said. “I want to be an X-Ray Tech, and they actually have one of the best programs in the state, so in my eyes it just makes a lot more sense to do that [attend Delta].”

Stoll was also accepted to Ferris State University, so he plans to attend two years at Delta, and then transfer his credits to Ferris to finish his education for another two years.

“The financial aspect is a huge thing, I think Delta kind of has a stigma of being just a community college as being “not as good” or whatever,” Stoll said. “But I don’t think that. I mean its education at a lower cost, it’s convenient and right here, I think it’s a great idea.”

Stoll was also recently awarded the Tom Dostal Memorial Scholarship from Delta College. This was the first year it was being offered and grants $500 per semester.

“I was just grateful [to receive it]. I mean my family, we do okay, but it’s always nice to have that little extra cushion of financial support, going into college especially,” Stoll said. “I was just happy they felt I deserved it, and I was just grateful for it.”

Delta College for one

year is

$2,064

That’s a difference of

$18,133

$2,217,542

Is the amount saved by the 110 MHS students attending Delta for one year instead of going to an average college in just tuition

Source: CNN.money, and Delta Admissions Office

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Remember that?

2009 - 2010

NEW YORK APPROVES GAY MARRIAGE JUNE 24, 2011

This marriage bill was approved 33 to 29 and New York became the largest state where gay and lesbian couples are allowed to wed.

“I felt like it was incredible. It was about time that more states approved of it; I think every state should.”

Senior Kara May

2011 - 2012 Photo by Erika Collin

BIG POPPA VIDEO DECEMBER 3, 2012

This music video remake of Notorious BIG’s Big Poppa starred six seniors.

One journalist, one swimmer, one football star, one scholar, one tennis player, and one photographer. This eclectic group of young men worked together to greatness.

HAITI EARTHQUAKE JANUARY 12, 2010

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We take a look back at some of the biggest events from the past four years. By Erika Collin | Managing Editor & Hannah Fisher | Staff Writer

SNOW DAY STRIKE WINTER 2010

This earthquake hit with a magnitude of 7.0. Around 3 million people were affected by the quake with approximately 220,000 deaths.

After the school district didn’t close school on a day with rather awful road conditions, 50 to 75 students gathered in eyeball and protested the lack of snow day.

“There was over a foot of snow on the ground. Students definitely didn’t put up with having school with such hazardous weather.”

Senior Nathan Foura

REBECCA BLACK -FRIDAY NOVEMBER 14,2010

KID GOES THROUGH GLASS NOVEMBER 12, 2010

This catchy yet awful tune was released as a single and almost immediately became popular- for all the wrong reasons.

“That’s my jam, girl.”

Senior Logan Madill

JERRY SANDUSKY DECEMBER 7, 2011

A football coach at Pennsylvania State University was arrested on 52 counts of sexual abuse of young boys over a 15-year period. This also led to the punishment of Joe Paterno.

“The whole Jerry Sandusky scandal was really sad and disappointing for our whole country.”

Senior Grace Freeman

BABY POWDER CHEER OCTOBER 19, 2012

At the Midland/Dow football game the student section chanted the “I believe that we will win” cheer. As the cheer ended fistfuls of baby powder were tossed to create a cloud.

“It was fun leading this and seeing the student section participating in such a great event that highlighted Chemic Pride.”

Senior Ian Kay

A group of boys horsing around in eyeball alley after school resulted in one of them falling through one of the huge panes of glass. The student was bleeding everywhere and ended up needing surgery to repair his arm.

“Honestly it didn’t hurt until later that night because I was in so much shock.

I’m just thankful it wasn’t any worse.”

Alum Lawyer Jones

NORTHEAST ARSON MARCH 7, 2012

Vandals broke into Northeast Middle School and set fire to a classroom that damaged a large portion of the building. It caused about $100,000 in damage. The perpetrators were never caught.

SENIOR HALL DECORATING OCTOBER 18, 2012

The senior class used the theme of “Star Wars” for hall decorating. The hall turned out great and we won of course, “I didn’t tell my parents I would be staying out late and my mom came in from the pouring rain so mad. She still tells all her friends ‘The only time Kelsea ever got in trouble was for staying at school too late.’”

Senior Kelsea Pohl

H1N1 FLU PANDEMIC

Otherwise known as “swine flu” this virus was an influenza-like virus that killed more than 17,000 people worldwide by the start of 2010.

“I felt like death, worse than I’ve ever felt in my entire life.”

Senior Danielle Lewis on getting H1N1

2010 - 2011 LOST TO DOW IN FOOTBALL OCTOBER 22, 2010

The only time our varsity football team lost to Dow in our four years. It was a very sad occasion and there was a lot of bitterness. We remember T.J. Wilson crying.

KONY 2012- MARCH 5, 2012

This video was created and released by the organization Invisible Children and had over 97 million views on YouTube. It promoted the arrest of African cult and militia leader Joseph Kony. However, controversy sparked over the project, which led it’s director to have a naked breakdown.

“Everyone was really in to Kony 2012 for like a week and then we all just forgot about it.”

Senior Josh Deschaine

2012 - 2013 Photo courtesy of Brendan Varilek

@MHSfocus1 | FOCUS | 11

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As seniors say goodbye to the halls of MHS forever, here is how they will be most remembered

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BEST / WORST

By Sam Poznak | Editor In Chief & Matt Beale | Staff Writer

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I’m disappearing before graduation...

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Sara VanBebber, voted most likely to disappear after graduation

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1) Steve Elmer was voted most likely to become a professional athlete. Tennis sounds good enough. 2) Hannah Fisher and Eddy Maxwell both won the award of best eyes. Dreamy. 3) Sara VanBebber won best tattoo. Nothing says “I want this job” more than a neck tattoo. 4) Aaron Chatman won best muscles. Here he is in a wet T-shirt. 5) Adam Weckle earns the award of fastest hallway time. He has been training for the last four years, while making it to class on time. 6) Brady Harbron is the senior most likely to be on Duck Dynasty. Unfortunately, he has to work on his beard. Photos by Matt Beale and Sam Poznak.

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Best smile: Best eyes: Best nose: Best ears: Best muscles: Best facial hair: Best hair: Most hair: Best dressed: Best tattoo: Best laugh: Best skin: Fastest hallway time: Most responsible: Least responsible: Best liar:

John Ames and Anna Lunsford Eddy Maxwell and Hannah Fisher Sam Poznak and Anna McGee Nathan Klopfenstein and Erika Collin Aaron Chatman and Marissa Kraut Derek Jacob Cody Maier and Anna McGee Bryce Tendler and Megan Sanborn Dallin Jones and Kelsea Pohl Terrence Thomas and Sara VanBebber Ben Yats and Marissa Kraut Cody Maier and Anna McGee Adam Weckle and the Conley twins Dylan Matthews and Sydney Bigelow Jimmy Orlando and Alex Planer Ben Johnsey and Autumn Enszer

Worst liar: Most dramatic: Most laid back: Most competitive: Most Chemic Pride: Biggest flirt: Most sarcastic: Most confident: Best artist: Best singer: Biggest teacher’s pet: Best car: Worst car: Best friends: Best couple: Best bromance:

John Ames and Pauline Flamion Chase Toland and Emma Moore Spencer Koppi and Emily Hohman Kellen Bixler and Emily Hohman Max Nartker and Zoie Bucci Alex Goodwin and Autumn Enszer Michael Wright and Mackinzey Whittlesey Alec Johnson and Jenny Jenkins Dallin Jones and Annamarie Williams Ben DeGroot and Grace Potter Ben Yats and Lorelei Beasley Derek Jacob and Kaila Smith Evan Novak and Kara May Sylvia Klosin and Sydney Bigelow Philip Steinbrunner and Victoria Kerlin Nick Ade and Austin Comiskey

MOST LIKELY TO

Trip while getting their diploma: Matt Somers Marry for money: Disappear after graduation: Sara Vanbebber Get married right after high school: Be in a fraternity: Elliott Digison Become a stand up comedian: Be in a sorority: Justine Miller Find a cure for cancer: Attend high school parties while in college: Kevin Redfern Rule the world: Be seen on COPS: Jimmy Orlando Have their own talk show: Be on Duck Dynasty: Brady Harbron Get a novel published: Have their own art gallery: Annamarie Williams Win the Nobel Peace Prize: Become a billionaire: Kellen Bixler Become president: Become a self-entitled Hollywood type, who Become a famous actor/actress: drinks a lot of coffee: Erika Collin Become a professional athlete: Have way too many kids: Jillian Dawson Become a superhero: Wander into the woods and never come back: Charlie Nestle Climb Mt. Everest: Be best friends with Ke$ha: AC Crane Live a short and scandalous life: Become an MHS teacher: Adam Goodwin Get plastic surgery: Have a sweatpants wedding: Emily Hohman Appear naked in public:

Taylor Schneider Zoie Bucci Sam Poznak Nick Miller Chris Cady Zoie Bucci Natalie Sloggett Sylvia Klosin Dylan Matthews Audrey Ortiz Steven Elmer Ryan Warnbier Ellie Sciba Lexi Dibenedetto Lexi Dibenedetto Austin Comiskey

@MHSFocus1 | FOCUS | 13

HALL of

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Volunteering |Dylan Mattthews & Pauline Flamion Dylan Matthews has spent approximately 850 hours volunteering in the past four years.

Matthews has volunteered with Kids Against Hunger, mission trips, and worked at local food shelters. He has also volunteered and helped run and plan the Midland County Youth Leadership each year.

Matthews has helped build homes in at an Aid camp in the Bahamas and plans to volunteer at an orphanage in Haiti this summer.

“My best memory at MHS would have to be the friends I’ve made and the memories with them,” Matthews said.” I especially loved leading the ‘I Believe’ chant with Ian Kay at the Midland/Dow football game with the baby powder.”

Next year Matthews will study theology at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. He hopes to become a pastor one day.

Pauline Flamion was the Vice President of Key Club her junior year, and President her senior year.

Flamion has volunteered at many things through Key Club such as bell ringing, working the concession stand during the football games, organizing the blood drives, and doing stadium clean ups. She also volunteers at the hospital, delivering newspapers to patients and bringing them food.

Flamion helped to organize the Pink Outs at the football games, even selling pink beads at lunch.

“We only had a week and a half to put it [Pink Out] together and at the football game it was great to see how big it became,” Flamion said. “It was a good feeling knowing that I helped make a difference.”

Flamion will attend Michigan State University next year to study dentistry.

Leadership | Sam Poznak & Hannah Fisher Sam Poznak has been on the Focus staff for four years. His junior year, Poznak was the features editor for the Focus and his senior year he was editor-in-chief.

Poznak is on the National Honor Society and has been part of the boys tennis team for three years.

Poznak has won many personal Michigan Interscholastic Press Association awards and lead the Focus to their 21st Spartan award.

“I was honestly so excited because all of our hard work paid off and I was extremely proud of everyone in the class,” Poznak said.

“Focus this year really came together as a team and cohesive unit.”

Next year, Poznak will attend the Univeristy of Michigan to study chemistry.

Athletics |

Aaron Chatman & Emily Hohman

Aaron Chatman has participated in track for all four years, swim for three years, and cross country for two years.

Chatman made it to track regionals this year and has qualified for states. Chatman will compete in the 200 meter dash, qualifying with a first place. He also is going for the 400 meter dash, which he qualified for with a fourth place finish.

“As an athlete my favorite memory would be witnessing Miles Kilbreath win the mile and make it to states,” Chatman said. “We have worked hard to get to where we are now and he deserved to win.”

Chatman will possibly be attending Central Michigan University next year on a track scholarship.

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Hannah Fisher has been on Student Council for all four years of her high school career. She has been in executive office as vice president for her last two years. She has been on the girls varsity tennis team all four years and was captain for the past two years.

Fisher is also involved in the National Honor Society, the commencement committee, and is a student leader for Young Life youth ministries.

“I like having the ability to work with others and know that my leadership can better themselves,” Fisher said.

Fisher will be attending Montana State University participating in the honors program, majoring in psychology.

Emily Hohman has played basketball for four years and has been on varsity for two years. Hohman played softball her freshman, sophomore year and played doubles tennis her junior and senior year.

Hohman made Saginaw Valley League Honorable Mention for varsity girls basketball her senior year.

“One of the best memories was senior night this year when I scored ten points in the fourth quarter to win over Saginaw High,” Hohman said. “Another great memory would be when I helped run the basketball summer camps with my team, and teaching younger kids how to play basketball.”

Next year Hohman will attend Grand Valley State University to study sports medicine.

Technology | Kellen Bixler

Kellen Bixler started programming one his sophomore year. The next semester he took programming 2 for more of a challenge.

Mr. Fox introduced Bixler to a training website for USA Computing Olympiad. The following year MHS became the top team. The

next fall MHS took 5th place at the Eastern Michigan ACM competition.

Bixler will be attending the University of Michigan in the fall majoring in Computer Science and Math. He plans to pursue a PhD in Computer Science.

Music | Spencer Koppi & Zoe Peeler Spencer Koppi is a self taught guitarist who has been playing for six years. Koppi plays guitar in the band Drift Lifted. Drift Lifted plays shows all over Michigan and some in Ohio. The band is planning on recording a EP, a album containing only tow or three songs.

Koppi also plays the bass, drums, mandolin, and the banjo.

“If it was not for Bob Dylan, I would not play gituar,” Koppi said. “He is my greatest infleunce. The emotion he has in his songs, that’s what inspires me.”

Koppi will attend Delta College to study science or math. For the future, Koppi hopes to one day be able to make a living off his music.

Zoe Peeler has been involved in a variety of musical activities during her four years in high school.

Peeler was part of symphonic band, orchestra, pit orchestra for spring musicals, drum captain, and marching and concert band. She plays percussion and hand bells as well.

“Playing my marimba solo of Hungarian Rhapsody at Rhapsody was a great moment.

It was my first time performing that solo in front of that big of a crowd,” Peeler said.

Peeler will attend Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts and will double major in chemistry and studio art.

FAME

S E N I O R S

By Ellie Sciba | Staff Writer & Marisa Jachens | A & E Editor

Academics | Phil Steinbrunner & Yooree Chung Phil Steinbrunner particpated on the boys tennis team for three years and was the JV captain, he also was on the swim team for four years and was captain his senior year.

Steinbrunner is also part of National Honors Society and Blessed Sacrament’s Y2Y team.

He has recieved many scholarships including a College of Engineering scholarship, Midland distinguished scholarship, the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award, and Scholar Athlete.

“Being Scholar Athlete was a huge honor and it feels good to have all your hard work pay off,” Steinbrunner said.

Next year, he will attend Michigan State Univeristy and study engineering and biosystems. Steinbrunner has all been accepted into Michigan State’s honors college.

Yooree Chung has been part of Business Professioals of America for four years. For her senior year she qualified for nationals and received 6th place. She is also involved in National Honor Society, is the varsity team swim captain, has been a four year member on Student Council, winner of the senior physics award, and is second in her class.

“I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of going to a school in-state with an awesome biomedical program,” Chung said. “They also had a lot more research and abroad opportunities, which is one of the main reasons I chose University of Michigan .”

In the fall, she will be attending U of M majoring in biomedical engineering to be an optometrist.

Spirit | Max Nartker & Zoie Bucci

Technology |

Miranda Irwin

Miranda Irwin started programming 2 during her senior year in high school. In programming she likes to building robots instead of using the computers to program them.

This year, the programming class was able to go to Worlds which was held in St. Louis,

Missouri. Irwin also took first at the 19th Annual American Sewing Expo in the 15 to 18 year old age group.

Irwin will be attending Grand Valley State University in the fall majoring in biology or chemistry.

Drama | Ben DeGroot & Gracie Potter Ben DeGroot has been part of the drama club for four years and has been in every production of the drama club, he has also been part of Teenage Musical Inc. the past two summers, performing in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Cats.

DeGroot was the lead in last years spring musical Radium Girls, Anything Goes, and was also the lead this year in Man of La Mancha, playing Don Quixote.

“One of the best memories was during Man of La Mancha. After I sang the “Impossible Dream,” I got a standing ovation,” DeGroot said.

DeGroot will attend the University of Michigan and major in vocal performance.

Gracie Potter has been part of many Midland High Drama club Productions.

She played the lead role of Jasmine in the production of Aladdin.

Potter was part of the Michigan Interscholastic Forensics Association state competition show Quilters, which took first place.

“We all worked hard trying to pull that show together,” Potter said. “In the end, it paid off more than we ever expected it would.

It was absolutely incredible.”

Potter will attend Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. She plans on studying English or history. If Potter pursues drama in college it will be purely extracurricular.

Max Nartker has participated in cross country and track. He has also been the girls basketball manager for the last three years.

Nartker went to every basketball game, traveling with the team and riding on the bus to the away games, pumping up the fans, and even selling Booster Bash tickets to the fans in the crowd. For a couple years, he announced the freshman girls basketball games.

At the football games he would start cheers.

One of his favorite memories was being on Homecoming court junior year.

“I loved getting all the fans to cheer at the basketball games,” Nartker said.

Nartker will go to Delta college next year then transfer to Central Michigan University and study sports broadcasting.

Zoie Bucci has been on Student Council for all four years of her high school career. She has been in executive office as secretary for her junior and senior year.

She helps run assemblies, plan yell night, and helps with fundraising such as The Magazine Drive. Bucci loves to watch all Chemic sporting events from the football games to the girls tennis matches.

“My favorite memory was the Midland/ Dow varsity district basketball game with the giant white-out in the student section,” Bucci said. “That truly was one of the best displays of Chemic Pride I have ever seen in my four years, and I was so happy to be part of it.”

Bucci will be attending Saginaw Valley State University this fall and will be majoring in social work.

Art | Dallin Jones & Annamarie Williams

Dallin Jones found that he had the knack for scultping in elementary school when he ordered a sculpting book from school. At home he started the book and surprised himself at how much he liked to sculpt the clay to make different objects with it.

Jones also creates outfits for spirit days, showing off his artistic abilities.

His best art accomplishment was composed during his senior year in 3D art.

“My bronze sculpture went to the state level in the Michigan Arts Education Association competition,” Jones said. “I also won best of show for the Midland Daily News ‘Desing an Ad’ competition.”

Jones will be attending Brigham Young University majoring in Visual Arts.

Annamarie Williams receieved a six out of seven in her IB Art SL class for her junior year.

For her senior year, she was in IB Art HL and both classes helped her decide her major at Alma College next fall. Alma also gave her a full ride to attend because of her talent.

Williams will be majoring in biological illustration, which is creating illustrations for science textbooks.

“My greatest accomplishment would have to be getting the Senior Art Award in my IB Art class,” Williams said.

Williams received the James F. and Mary R. Hopfensperger Art Scholarship, which provides an annual award to a graduating senior art student in the Midland Public School district.

@MHSfocus1 | FOCUS | 15

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Inspired by students

As registrar, Ravon Boyle comes close to completing her final year at Midland High, and looks back on the generations of students that have impressed her with their strength and success By Michael Adams | Staff Writer

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Photo by Sarah Wontorcik

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832-6661

Absolute Confidentiality Midland Coalition for Choice Box 2386 Midland, MI 48641

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Midland High Focus Follow us on Twitter! @MHSFocus1 16 | FOCUS | 5/31/2013

ust as students receive their education from Midland High School, registrar Ravon Boyle has become well-educated and experienced in making Midland High School run smoothly. She has received this education in various departments over more than twenty years at Midland High School, including the counseling department, the attendance office, and her current job as registrar, meaning she is responsible for keeping student records. She has made the decision to retire after this year.

Through Boyle’s experience over the years, she has observed how the young women at Midland High School have changed socially since she first started working at the school.

Boyle feels girls are more independent, in-charge, and academically successful.

“My favorite memory was, as a whole, seeing how far the young ladies have come,” Boyle said. “It’s not a man’s world anymore.”

The strength of the students at Midland High has strongly affected Boyle.

“It’s so poignant, sometimes sad, but I hear such heroic stories from our students. It just makes me so proud,” Boyle said. “I learn more from students. I laugh. I’m entertained.”

Throughout the years, Boyle has always felt pride for the students at Midland High.

Even a simple “thank you” from a student when she does a simple favor reminds her of how appreciated she is within her workplace.

However, Boyle wants to spend more time with the people that she loves.

During retirement, Boyle said she is planning to spend more time with her family, her grandchildren specifically. She retires June 28.

“I just felt it was time [to retire],” Boyle said.

“I don’t see my grandchildren that much.”

Boyle is a firm believer in the success of students at Midland High School.

“Everyone has always found their way,” Boyle said. “It may not be our way, but it works for them.”

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Eat well, study better

Find out how to be at peak performance for exams by eating all the right foods and staying away from food that will hinder your testing By Katie McIntyre | Staff Writer & Michiah Arguello | Ad Coordinator FRUIT

Fruit is a great source of energy because it contains glucose, which is the preferred type of sugar for the brain. Fruit is a type of carbohydrate which is the brain’s first source of energy. Eating fruit gives the brain more energy and allows you to stay focused. Fruit also contains fiber which allows energy to release at a steady pace, as opposed to refined sugar, such as candy, which releases all of the energy at once, resulting in a sugar high. Specifically, blueberries improve your ability to learn and memorize.

PROTEINS

Proteins are good to eat before a test because they will keep you full for a long time. Proteins slow down the digestion process so that you feel full for longer. They are also made out of amino acids which help make specialized brain cells which will increase mental activity and motivation.

BREAKFAST

Although everyone has already heard this, breakfast is very important. Even if you do not normally eat breakfast, try something on the day of your test. If you are not able to stomach food in the morning, trying going for a protein shake, a smoothie with fruit and yogurt, or a grapefruit half. Your brain gets energy from the food that you eat, so it is important to make sure that your brain has a source of energy. Eating breakfast will improve your short term memory and attention span. However, stay away from high calorie breakfasts, because this will leave you lethargic and hinder concentration.

COFFEE & CHOCOLATE

VITAMINS

Omega-3 Fatty acids are necessary for learning, concentration, and memory.

These can be found naturally or they can be ingested through supplements.

Vitamin B also helps the brain function more productively. Iron, Calcium, and Zinc all help the body’s ability to handle stress.

These can all be found in a multivitamin.

NRG tablets are non-prescription pills that improve focus, mental alertness, and energy. These can be purchased at various nutrition specialized stores.

Water

AVOID

Vitamins

HYDRATE

Drink a lot of water or unsweetened tea. Staying hydrated increases your focus which will improve your performance on tests. Do not wait until you feel thirsty to drink, if you feel thirsty that means that your body is already partially dehydrated. “Never drink carbonated soda or energy drinks because these will make you jittery and contain lots of sugar which will give you a sugar crash,” said nutritionist, Rhonda Jolly. The ingredients in these drinks will also dehydrate you.

HOW T O S TAY AWA KE STUDYI NG

Take a break from looking at a screen. It can cause eyestrain and increase fatigue.

One cup of coffee will improve your focus and mental performance, as well as lengthen your attention span. One cup has the right amount of caffeine in it to help you on your test; however, more than one cup will leave you jittery and diminish your focus. Dark chocolate is also good to eat before a test in moderation. Like coffee, it contains stimulants, such as small amounts of caffeine, which will enhance your performance on your test. However, too much chocolate will give you a sugar high, which will lead to a sugar crash.

Illustration by Michiah Arguello

Get up and move around every so often. A ten minute walk can increase energy for two hours- it will pump more oxygen to the veins, brain, and muscles.

Stay away from things with white flour such as cookies, cakes, and muffins, because these take a lot of energy to digest. This will make your brain function slow. Also avoid refined sugar found in candy and sweets because it will metabolize quickly, which gives you a short sugar high and will leave your brain tired and slower. Also avoid turkey because it contains L-tryptophan which make you feel tired and will hurt your focus.

Don’t eat heavy carbohydrates, such as pasta and rice, because this will also leave you feeling tired during the test. Right before exams is also not a good time to try new foods. You do not know how your body will react to some things so exams are not the time to test them out.

Turn up the lights. Dim lighting will aggravate fatigue. @MHSfocus1 | FOCUS | 17

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iPads powering down

Photos by Erika Collin

Charles and Autumn (above), first graders in Mrs. Clancy’s class at Eastlawn Elementary, use their iPads for math games. Other first graders have used their iPads since November as a part of the action research initiative, a test drive for the iPads.

The community declined the technology bond on May 7th, but the MPS administration will contemplate the idea once again in hopes to bring it back in the future By Will Hackbarth | Staff Writer

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art of a first grade class sits in a circle in the corner of the classroom, tapping away on their iPads. Two children excitedly point out all the things they like about the iPad. One clutches his iPad to his shirt claiming, “It really helps you learn!”

Another kid shows off how fast she can type with her thumbs. They all share their expertise with proud looks on their faces. These children are some of the many kids who participated in the Midland Public Schools action research initiative, giving children in different grades in each of the seven elementary schools iPads with the goal to enhance learning.

MPS hoped to give every student and teacher K-12 personal mobile device, such as an iPad, in the 2013-2014 school year. They planned to use some of the $20.8 million in taxpayer money they would have received from a technology bond to pay for these devices. The community voted on the technology bond proposal on May 7 and it lost by 223 votes.

Since the technology bond did not pass, it is unlikely that children K-12 will be receiving iPads next year. Marty Legge, a Kindergarten

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Teacher at Woodcrest Elementary School, participated in the action research initiative.

Legge believed the technology bond would have been beneficial.

“Technology is going to be such a big part of each student’s life if it isn’t already. We have to realize that technology is one of the tools of the future,” Legge said.

However, some teachers saw less benefit in the technology bond.

“I support the development of a sound program but have reservations as to whether or not MPS has a good plan,” said Jefferson teacher Mark Pobocik. He believes that with the rapid obsolesce of devices and hardware that buying devices in such great quality might not be the most cost effective way to progress.

Despite the outcome of the vote, Blake Sobol, director of technology at MPS, still believes in the one-to-one mobile device initiative. “[This proposal would] provide our students with greater access to technology and more current information and will better prepare them for college and careers,” Sobol said. “We are raising a generation of students that are

surrounded by technology everywhere they go and with everything they do. It’s important that we offer a similar environment for learning which leads to increased engagement and student achievement.”

Technology is going to be such a big part of each students life if it isn’t already. We have to realize that technology is one of the tools of the future.

Marty Legge Chris Sabourin, Curriculum Specialist in Technology and Media for MPS also believes in the one-to-one initiative.

“When it comes to learning basics, tablets

can give immediate feedback to children: math facts, word families, handwriting, and so much more can be practiced and the students will get immediate notice on how they are doing,” Sabourin said. “This frees up the teacher in the classroom to work on higher level learning skills with other students in the classroom.”

Sobol and Sabourin would like to still be able to implement technology like the iPads into the school system. However, without the money from the technology bond they are unsure of how this will be possible. The MPS administration is now regrouping and deciding how to move forward with their technology plan.

“We are still in the process of gathering input to determine next steps,” Sobol said.

As the administration looks to the future they will contemplate what is best for the students.

“I want my children to have the same access and experience with technology as those in other districts,” Legge said. “When they get to college, my hope is that they are prepared and on an equal playing field as the student sitting next to them.”

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An educational experience

Photos courtesy of Mary Hillman (From left to right) Nate Fisher, Melinda Kothbauer, Eddie Mulford, Elizabeth Ladwig, & Emily Kessler at the Lover’s Bridge in Tamsui, Taiwan.

From spectacular scenery to interesting food, students and staff enjoyed their trip to Taiwan By Michelle Demo | Web Editor & Sarah Wontorcik | Staff Writer

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he day was just beginning in Midland, but in Taipei, Taiwan, the sun had already set. MHS students and teachers filed off the plane and entered an unfamiliar land, where the culture was different from anything they had ever experienced before. Juniors Emily Kessler, Nate Fisher, Elizabeth Ladwig, Eddie Mulford, and Melinda Kothbauer all agree that going to Taiwan was the most memorable experience they have ever had.

As they entered the airport, Principal Janet Greif hoped that there would be someone holding a sign that read “Midland High.”

None of the group spoke Chinese, and they were not sure how they would get around the airport without assistance. This was not Greif’s first time in Taiwan- she had come on a previous trip to plan the exchange- and she was excited to show the group around.

Everyone was immediately impressed. “[I kept thinking that] this is the coolest thing I’d ever done, or this is the coolest thing I’d ever seen,” Ladwig said.

The students all agreed that everyone they met at Fuhsing Private School, where they 1

attended, was kind and welcoming. They all made many new international friends, and still keep in touch with them through social networking.

“They just liked us. They wanted to be our friends, [even though] we weren’t with them for very long,” Kothbauer said.

During their time in Taiwan, the five students saw many things that differed from what they knew. They were amazed by small sites they saw, like how everyone who was sick wore masks to keep from contaminating the people around them. Mulford thought that there must have been a flu going around, but it was really just precautionary.

Another small shock to them was all of the new foods they saw and tried. Meal after meal containing pig stomach, liver, fish eyes, raw sea urchin, pig blood popsicles, jelly fish tentacles, or quail egg made them cherish any “normal” food they saw. Each member of the group had their own least favorite treat, but Fisher’s was the stinky tofu.

“The taste [of the tofu] mixes with the smell, so it tastes bad, and smells bad while you’re eating it,” Fisher said.

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As the students and teachers experienced all the things there were to see in Taipei, they couldn’t keep their eyes off of the streets. A sea of mopeds took off in masses every time the light changed.

“Normal cars would park and then all the scooters would come up behind them and weave through the traffic, just to get to the front,” Mulford said. “I thought it was insane, [scooters would go through] tight alleys where two people couldn’t walk next to each other.”

Although they saw many new sites. The student’s favorite part of their trip to Taiwan still remains to be the people who they met and the friendships that they made.

“We got really close with the kids in the class, not only the host family students, but everyone else. We were with them for four days and I was in tears because I didn’t want to leave them,” Kessler said. “It’s so cool how there can be so many different things about the countries and climate and activities, but yet we are still able to bond with these people and form close relationships.”

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1. Janet Greif at one of the sights of Taiwan in the mountains. This was one of her favorite memories of the Taiwan trip. 2.Elizabeth Ladwig & Emily Kessler in two large wooden shoes at Fort Santo Domingo in New Taipei City, Taiwan. The two shoes are to celebrate Taiwan’s first colonizers; the Dutch. 3.Melinda Kothbauer broadcasting at Fuhsing Private School during the announcements.

WANT TO A PPLY?

“Spend time on your application because it is the most incredible experience ever.”

Melinda Kothbauer, junior

“You should want to go because you want to learn about the culture and want to make international friendships. Don’t just go to get out of school for two weeks.”

Elizabeth Ladwig, junior “Make sure that you keep your grades up, because they do look at your transcript.”

Nate Fisher, junior

Eddie Mulford, junior

“This summer there is going to be a free Chinese language class at SVSU that will be very helpful. “

“Be adventurous, and gracious.

Be interested in history, in culture.

Someone that’s a risk taker, not afraid to try new things and to immerse yourself into a new culture where you don’t know the language.”

Janet Greif, principal Sidebar photos by Kayla Keyser

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Rebuilding a dream

Sophomore Joey Stevens enjoys spending time with his father restoring old vehicles. He is passionate about this hobby and plans to pursue a career in mechanics in the future

By Emily Resmer | Exchange Editor & Hannah Lasky | Staff Writer

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s they connected the final wires and worked on the finishing touches, sophomore Joey Stevens and his father, Tim Stevens, began to realize that they were finally finished with the truck they had been working on for three years. They grabbed the key that dangled in the ignition and turned it forward. At that moment, they heard the sound of the engine roar to life.

“The first time it started, whoa. It misfired, popped, sputtered, and then it finally started,” Tim said. “It was exhilarating.”

When Joey Stevens was eleven years old he began mowing lawns in order to raise money so he could eventually buy a vehicle. Once he earned one thousand dollars, he found a 1994 Ford F150 that was for sale in his neighborhood.

The truck was in rough shape with a few holes and rusted bumpers hanging on the back and the front. It had a rusted tailgate sitting on the back bumper and rusted fenders that he eventually covered with black fender flares.

The tires were small and the interior was tan.

He bought the truck knowing that it would need some tuning up, so he and his father put in many hours into making the truck look as good as it possibly could.

“I always wanted to be the kid that came up into school in a nice car. I didn’t really have a whole lot of money so I decided instead of buying a really nice vehicle, I would just make one,” Joey said. “I’m kind of a grease monkey, I like doing all of that stuff.”

Joey learned all of his mechanical skills from both his father and grandfather. His grandfather and uncle own an engine store, which is originally where Joey learned to repair smaller engines. He and his dad rented service manual DVD’s so they could learn how to build the truck on their own.

“I hate seeing classic cars, or any car, go to trash,” Joey said. “Seeing one that I could bring back was just a good feeling. I don’t

HOW TO CH A N G E A F LA T T I R E

Information provided by: My Ride is Me

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Photo by Emily Resmer

Joey Stevens works to repair his white Ford. He checks the engine to see if the oil needs to be changed. Changing the oil helps to keep the truck in the best condition and contributes to having better gas mileage. think I’ll ever buy a new car, I’ll keep restoring old ones.”

After working on repairs for the truck, it has become more appealing and usable. The truck is now white with two red pinstripes and has black bumpers. He put on thirty-two inch tires with chrome rims. He refurbished the interior with camouflage fabric. And put a homemade steel tailgate on the back.

“I felt accomplished. We tore a combustion engine apart and made it so it would run again,” Joey said. “It was just a great learning

Step 1

Gather tools and jack your car up

Most cars come with spare tire, lug wrench, and a jack. Find where to place your jack; look for the chassis, or metal part of your vehicle. Never put your jack on the bottom of the engine. Your car needs to be parked on a flat surface. Place a wood block diagonal from the tire you’ll be changing to prevent the car from rolling.

experience.”

The Stevens family has encountered a few setbacks while rebuilding the truck. One morning Joey realized that the door to his truck wasn’t closed all the way. He approached the truck to see that his radio had been taken apart and thrown on his floor, a tool box from the back was missing, and a GPS had been taken.

Despite the hardships that the Stevens family encountered, Joey was able to finish the truck.

“At times it was frustrating,” Joey said. “For the most part it was really fun and I got a nice

Step 2

vehicle out of it.”

Joey’s love for mechanics continues to grow and he plans to pursue this hobby in the future.

He hopes to become an Aerospace Mechanic in the Air Force. Joey now uses the old Ford as his primary vehicle, which is an accomplishing feeling after all of the work that went into it.

“It was a proud moment for a father, seeing it done and knowing that he did a good job,” Tim said. “It was a good feeling seeing him take the initiative to go out and work on the truck on his own.”

Step 3

Remove the tire

Put the new tire on

First remove the hubcap. The lug nuts under the hubcap need to be loosened before jacking the wheel up. Grab your lug wrench and begin loosening each lug nut by turning the wrench on one bolt. After all of the lug nuts are loosened, you can jack the car up. With the car lifted, you can take out the lug nuts and take the tire off.

Lift up your new tire and line it up where the lug nuts will go. When putting the bolts back on, place them in a star pattern to help the tire remain even. With your hands, put each lug nut on most of the way and tighten. Lower the car down and remove the jack. With the tire on the ground, use your lug wrench to finish tightening each bolt.

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The final countdown

As the state meet gets closer, the boys’ and girls’ track teams are getting prepared for the biggest meet of the season. Eleven athletes have qualified to compete in the meet, which takes place on Saturday June 1, 2013 Jack Duly | Sports Editor & Emily Resmer | Exchange Editor

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t was a cold, wet, rainy day as the regional track meet began. Senior Evan Novak did his final run through before the pole vault competition started. Going into this meet, he had something to prove. The previous year Novak went to the regional meet and had already achieved the height needed to qualify for states, but was not able to meet the height at the qualifying meet. This year he was equipped with more experience gained from practicing in the off-season. All of that extra time spent working on his technique was obvious as he vaulted over the bar set at 14 feet, placing first in his region.

“I couldn’t believe I had actually done it, I was really happy that I made it this year,” Novak said.

Novak is one of the 11 athletes from the boy’s and girls’ varsity track teams who will be attending the state meet. The athletes from the boy’s track team include senior Aaron Chatman in the 400-meter run and 200-meter dash, senior Miles Kilbreath in the 1600-meter run, and Novak and senior Ryan Sugnet will be pole vaulting. Athletes from the girl’s track team are junior Jess Walter, senior Katelyn Perry, freshman Madison Tarnowski, and sophomore Kailey Warner in the 400-meter relay; Perry and Warner in the 100-meter dash; and sophomore Mariah Sherman, freshman Amy Smith, senior Stephanie Mendyk, and Warner in the 1600meter relay.

Over the past few years, the number of athletes who have qualified for states has increased due to athletes practicing more during the off-season to improve their performance.

All of this started a few years ago when Ben Reed substantially improved his performance between his junior and senior year by working out in the winter.

“Everyone noticed he improved and thought ‘Wow if I could make close to that improvement it’s well worth it,’” boys’ assistant coach Martyn Hollenbeck said. “Probably in the last two to three years we have seen an increase in

motivation to train in the off season that we really didn’t see before.”

Girls’ head coach Diane Sugnet thinks that a key to the relays success is their practicing of their handoffs and starts. In relays, good handoffs can make the difference between first and second place.

“Our handoffs were getting really good at regionals and hopefully will at states so we can prove just a little bit more and get just a little bit faster,” Sugnet said.

Preparing for meets has been more difficult this year due to the weather. A lot of meets were cancelled due to poor running conditions, making it more difficult to do the workouts necessary to be able to run at the state level.

Sugnet is hoping that the girls team continues to peak in their performances at the state meet.

“This year is a lot different because we had barely any meets to practice at because of strange weather,” Perry said. “It is also different because I am a captain, which motivates me to work a little harder and I really want to do well for my team.”

Even though they were set back by the weather, they were able to do workouts inside to help them reach the times needed to qualify.

To qualify for the state meet, runners either have to place first or second in the region or meet the qualifying standard, which is determined by averaging the eighth place time at the state year for the previous three years.

“If you have a tough region and you meet the qualifying time, you still get to go; which is nice,” Sugnet said.

Boys’ head coach Keith Seybert is expecting the team to do well at the state meet, and attributes their success so far to their hard work ethic. He thinks this is a great opportunity for them to show off their athletic ability. While he is expecting them to do well at the meet, he is wary of the competition.

“If an athlete qualified, they cannot be overlooked or taken for granted. Our guys need to focus on doing the right things,” Seybert said.

1. Senior Evan Novak pole vaults at the valley track meet. Novak placed first with a height of thirteen feet four inches. 2. Senior Katelyn Perry hands off to sophomore Kailey Warner in the 400-meter relay at the valley meet. Their relay team placed first with a time of 51.17 seconds.

3. Sophomre Kailey Warner who is running in three events at the state meet, runs the open 200-meter dash at the valley meet, placing fourth with a time of 27.12 seconds.

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Photos by Hannah Lasky

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@MHSfocus1 | FOCUS | 21

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Athletes of the month

Photo by Elizabeth Waskevich

On the field and on the dance floor, these athletes work to show off their skill

By Emily Fisher | Staff Writer & Dylan Rocha | Staff Writer

Audrey Ortiz Her sport: dance Grade: senior

Ortiz has been dancing for fourteen years. She says that it is a good way for her to express herself. In her spare time, Ortiz works to become skilled at many different types of dance.

Personal achievement: When I started doing partnering. It’s when the guy throws you up in the air.

Plans for future: Continuing to dance in college

Brendan Varilek His sport: JV lacrosse Grade: junior

Varilek has been playing lacrosse for f o u r s e a s o n s n o w, although he did not play last year.

“Personally I think overcoming obstacles and improving as a team is a great part about the sport.

Though I also enjoy having an awesome game and winning,” Varilek said.

Personal achievement: Captain, three hat-tricks in a row so far this season Plans for future: Would like to play lacrosse in college

22 | FOCUS | 5/31/2013

Heading for the homestretch

Senior Austin Comiskey takes a swing at bat during a game at Loon’s stadium against Bullock Creek.

With the post-season fast approaching, the baseball team heads into districts with determination, new tactics, and a strong senior lineup

By Emily Resmer | Exchange Editor & Kayla Keyser | Staff Writer

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ith two runners on base, senior Michael Wright approaches the plate and takes a final look into the outfield. As the pitch is thrown, Wright cranks the bat and the ball flies out into center field, barely missing the fence. As two varsity baseball players round home plate, Wright comes to a

last year’s squad but they had not received the experience or playing time they are getting this year.

“We have a senior dominated lineup. The juniors that are contributing are fewer than they have been in the past,” Coach Eric Albright said.

“We really depend on our older players.”

Putting in work during the off season has

Whether it’s our lead-off hitter or the guy batting ninehole, we know we are going to get that game changing play that will swing the momentum in our favor.

Senior Elliot Digison halt at third base. The team now takes the lead over their opponent.

“As a team, we’ve been getting better every single game since the beginning of the season,” Wright said. “There’s room to improve, as always.”

After the strong leaders in years past, this year’s team has had to work hard to fill the void left by the seniors who have graduated.

Many players on the team are returning from

helped to fill this void. Between summer baseball games and new first and third base offenses, the team has worked to lengthen their run in this year’s post-season. Throughout the course of this season, each player has become acclimated to their role on the team.

“Whether it’s our lead-off hitter or the guy batting nine-hole, we know we are going to get that game changing play that will swing the momentum in our favor,” senior right fielder

Elliot Digison said.

With only seven losses so far this season, compared to last year’s eight losses, the baseball team is still looking for new tactics to improve their game and reach their full potential by the time post season action comes around.

“We could improve on our pitching and fielding,” senior third baseman Austin Comiskey said. “If we don’t give them the chance to score, then they can’t win.”

As this team progresses into post-season play, they all have one goal in mind: winning the district.

“We have to get through Bay City Western; they’ve got the best pitcher in the district,” Albright said. “It’s about beating their best guy in an early round of the tournament.”

After winning the district, the team will advance into regionals where they will look to continue their season in hopes of making school history.

“Just like every other team we want a state championship. If someone says their goal isn’t to win a championship, then they are lying,” Digison said. “The path to get to Battle Creek is definitely difficult, but that’s where we want to end up.”

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A new tune

Photo by Maddy Wheelock Sophomore Erica Bigelow is extremely excited to be attending boarding school. She loves singing, and can’t wait to practice all day long.

Many students who are serious about pursuing a career in the arts find improvement and success by attending the Interlochen Arts Academy By Maddy Wheelock | Staff Writer & Tyler Kish | Staff Writer

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hen sophomore Erica Bigelow first heard about Interlochen Arts Academy in eighth grade, she was immediately intrigued. It became something she dreamed of doing, but it certainly was not a school she realistically thought she would attend. Her adoration for singing has always been prominent in her life, but she never expected she would be able to spend her whole day performing.

The Interlochen Arts Academy is a boarding school outside of Traverse City for high school students who are serious about their art. They are required to audition or send in a portfolio for a spot in the school, and not everyone is accepted. There is a long list of successful people who have gone to Interlochen, such as Jackson Rathbone, who played Jasper Hale in Twilight, and Josh Groban, a famous singer. Every student picks a major, which they focus on through their day at school.

Before her audition, Bigelow had never visited the Interlochen campus, and she wasn’t sure how she would like it. During their tour

of the school, she and her mother, Kim Zielke, were able to attend both a choir rehearsal and an English class called “The Psychology of Literature.” They were both very impressed.

“I was watching Erica for her reaction to the school, and she seemed to light up as soon as we walked onto the campus,” Zielke said.

Nerve-wracking auditions were nothing new for Bigelow, who has been singing ever since she could talk. But this was different from trying out for a part in a play or choir. Zielke sat outside as Bigelow sat in front of a group of judges.

“I have been through many auditions and competitions with Erica, and I am always tense and nervous,” Zielke said. “I could hear her from where I sat, and I mostly held my breath.”

Bigelow was accepted into the program in the beginning of May and will be starting at Interlochen in the fall. She will be majoring in vocal performance. At the Academy, school goes from 8:30 in the morning to 6:00 at night, with an hour break for lunch. Most of the classes Erica will take focus on her major, and her schedule will be different every day.

There are many options for majors at Interlochen, including creative writing, vocal performance, visual arts, dance, and motion picture arts. Sophomore Lija Wendt, who is good friends with Bigelow, was a student in Midland Public Schools for eight years before attending Interlochen with a creative writing major.

Wendt found out about Interlochen through her uncle, who was a dance major in the program when Wendt was young. She would go and visit him there, and fell in love with it right away.

“It always seemed like a magical place to me; a place that breathes art,” Wendt said. “It was always my dream to go to school there one day.”

As soon as Wendt began attending classes, she knew that the school was perfect for her.

She said she had never been to a place with so much love for art and thirst for learning more about their skills. The teachers were like parents to her, and taught her how to excel and find herself in her writing.

“At Interlochen you are taken seriously, not only as a person, but as an artist,” Wendt said.

Bigelow hopes that she will also have a good experience in her time at Interlochen next year.

She knows that she will miss her family, but she is too enthusiastic to think about that yet.

“I really can’t wait,” Bigelow said. “I haven’t had time to think about all the negatives of being away from home. I’ve only thought about how happy I’ll be.”

Although Bigelow will be away from her parents, Zielke is very excited for her and all the things she will experience next year. She knows that Bigelow will have a fantastic time, and she can’t wait to hear back about all the things she’ll learn.

“She will be able to live, breathe, and be immersed in the thing she loves to do more than anything else-sing,” Zielke said. “After Erica finishes school, I hope she does something that brings her joy… If you’re able to follow your heart and listen to what it tells you, you can never go wrong.”

@MHSfocus1 | FOCUS | 23

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Your Summer Bucket List

Before all you non-seniors return in the fall, be sure to complete Focus’ list of the top ten activities in Midland that you must do this summer By Scout Parsch | Design Editor & Jack Duly | Sports Editor

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THE TRIDGE ROPE SWING The rope swing is located a short walk from the Tridge on the Chippewassee River. Don’t worry, the Chippewassee River is much cleaner than the Tittabaswassee; almost no one has grown a third arm from swimming in it.

2. BE A KID FOR A DAY There is a water spray park here in Midland, right next to the Tridge. Try to go at night before it closes at 10 P.M. to avoid trampling little kids; otherwise, you’ll just have to settle for going during the day and getting weird looks from all the parents.

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SOAK UP SANFORD’S SUN Take a day out of your busy schedule - sleeping until noon, eating, sleeping some more - and spend it at the beach sunbathing and swimming instead. The only downfall with this one is that you’ll be spending the next few days finding sand in parts of your body you didn’t even know you had.

4. GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE Restaurants shouldn’t be passed up just because you think they look "sketchy" or "weird" on the outside. Midland is full of those "hole-in-the-wall" restaurants that you would never think about going into. Midland not only has Mexican cuisine, but we also have Japanese and even Indian cuisine.

Fuji Sushi: Don't let the fact that it's located between a Verizon shop and a dentist office scare you; on a scale of one to Genji's, it's definitely up there. The best part is the lunch special, giving you two sets of six sushi rolls of your choice with a side of soup or salad for only $8.99. And, sushi has practically no calories.

You're welcome.

LaZeez International Market and Deli: Not only does this restaurant provide dine in or carry out options, but you also have the chance to buy your own ingredients to bring home and cook a nice homemade Indian dish. LaZeez is most popular for its lunch buffet special of Indian and Pakistani cuisine for less than $9. And for all you hipsters out there, this restaurant is also known for its vegan and vegetarian dishes.

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6. GET TO KNOW YOUR ELDERS For all you early birds out there (which is probably none of you) spend the early hours of the day surfing through the crowd of old people down at the Farmer’s Market. Although this doesn’t sound too appealing to the typical teenager, the apple cider slushies definitely make up for spending the morning carrying all the groceries your grandma just bought.

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KAYAK DOWN THE TITABAWASSE RIVER Spend a morning taking a peaceful sunrise kayak trip down one of Michigan’s most polluted rivers. Kayaks can be rented at Ike’s Mobile Kayak Rentals for only $30 for 2 hours located at the intersection of West Larkin and Jerome Street. Just don’t fall in unless you are trying to bleach your hair.

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HAVE A BALL Grab an overpriced hot dog and a ball cap and head out to Dow Diamond for some minor league baseball. Unlike major league baseball, the Loons Stadium offers lawn seating for only $7. Just be sure to watch out for those foul balls and the crowd of seven-year-olds that follow.

8. GO FOR A NIGHT SWIM This one is simple. Just grab your swimsuit and a couple of friends and go for a dip in the pool or lake. Just hope your neighbors don’t call the police.

10. PUPPY LOVE Many people know that Pretty Puppies has a selection of adorable pups to swoon over. What you may not know is that the shop offers a room where you can bring all the puppies in to play with. Nothing’s cuter than a room full of puppies; at least until one of them pees on your leg.

SPEND A NIGHT AT THE FAMOUS “DOW MAC” In most other towns, teenagers spend their Friday nights doing fun and exciting things. Here in Midland, teenagers spend their nights at McDonald’s. Join them for a night to see what all the fuss is about. Though the real question is, why do teenagers find Dow Mac to be the go to place? Is it the quality of the food, the inviting atmosphere, or is it the Dollar Menu because we are all broke?

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Illustrations by Jack Duly