Eagle Eye Issue 5 2012-2013

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FINAL FOUR BASKETBALL

Everything you need to prepare for tonight’s state semifinal basketball game against Eaglecrest.

Page 37

Mountain Vista High School • 10585 Mountain Vista Ridge, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126 • March 15, 2013 • Vol. 12 Issue 5

Eagle Eye 2 Advertisements

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( ) 2013 BEGIN MARCH

thisISSUE

put in what “You you get out and

“I wasn’t afraid of going to Spain, I was afraid of coming back.” ge — Tesia Barnes, junior pa

20

“We got so much stuff that we can’t even take all page 18 of the things I got.”

— Emily Wagner, senior

“We’ve gone to church for as long as I can remember, as long as I’ve been alive.” page — Kirsten Dixon, senior 14

singing

31

weeks.”

22

— Nick Zayas, junior

— Jack Strunc, junior

“i mean, our basketball team gets all up in the air that they’ve beaten twenty teams or whatever, but that’s not even close to the amount of teams that i’ve debated.”

— Jake Laughlin, senior page

page

have kids that “We have just started

for two “

e pag

page

24 “Dance is 12 irreplaceable.”

— Hope Parker, junior

“I’ve been page

if you work hard 16 you will be successful.”

rock climbing this page year and now they 38 are on varsity.”

— Charles Peisert, junior

page

28

At first I though t That the cancer was going to ruin my life because it had such a bad rap.

But I’m not going to let it.”

— Lauren Alfino, junior

“They have become uncle-like figures for me.”

— Maggie Mather, senior

“I would love to become a

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pediatricpagneurosurgeon or opthamologist.” e 10

— Eric Hankinson, senior

The Economy: 1

2

3

12008 Financial Meltdown BEEN ARE WE’RE GOING F FromRECESSION 2 WHERE WHERE WHERE

WE’VE

WE

Riley mccloskey

3/10/00

ToRECOVERY

Although the excessive risk-taking of American banks in the mid-2000s incited the Financial Crisis, the United States has been the first to recover, in just five years. Europe, on the other hand, isn’t so lucky and leaders still struggle to reinvigorate their economies.

FOR EXAMPLE...

Source: Bureau of Labor and Statistics

UNEMPLOYMENT

USA 10% 7.7% October 2009

FEBruary 2013

SPAIN 19% 27%

Source: Google Public Data October 2009 November 2012

What Are We Doing Differently?

D

USA Strategy

SPAIN Strategy

The Federal Reserve Bank has spent more than $3 trillion buying bonds, mortgages and other securities in an effort to flood financial institutions with money and drive down interest rates so banks will lend and people will borrow. This policy has worked, as consumer confidence in the economy has increased (as seen in the growing stock market) and record low interest rates encourage people to take out loans and spend money.

Because Spain has a much smaller economy than the United States, the Bank of Spain can handle much less debt than the Federal Reserve and quantitative easing is not an option for the country. So, under orders from the European Central Bank, Spain has taken on a policy of austerity, which means that they raise taxes and cut spending until they can pay off their massive $2.4 trillion budget defecit and debt obligation.

D

rom 2000 to 2007, housing prices more than doubled as a “real estate bubble” formed, inflating the values of homes across the United States and drawing investors from all over the world. The housing market’s rapid growth prompted economic expansion and record-breaking highs in the stock market as companies involved with the “real estate bubble” grew to monumental heights and investors reaped massive rewards.

Large banks, especially those on Wall Street, saw the money that could be made in the housing market and began buying mortgages from lenders, expecting that home values would continue to rise. The banks then grouped mortgages together and sold them to investors as bonds, and as long as housing prices rose, so did the yield of these bonds, called mortgage-backed securities.

Wall Street was making absurd amounts of money from these securities, so they went to the lenders and began pressuring them to give out more loans. Since they were already lending to people with good credit, some lenders lowered their standards and began giving loans to people with bad credit and required those buyers to put little or no money down. Lenders would give borrowers a “teaser rate,” a low interest rate with limited payment requirements, for a couple of years and when the two years were up the interest rate would increase dramatically and borrowers couldn’t pay, leading them to default on their loans and eventually lose their homes to foreclosure. This became known as the “subprime mortgage crisis” and was the main cause of the financial meltdown.

Banks knew that holding subprime mortgages was risky, so they bought an insurance policy called a “credit default swap” (CDS) from global insurer AIG (American International Group) to protect their investments if borrowers defaulted on their loans. In 2008, when borrowers everywhere began defaulting on their debt, investment banks began losing massive amounts of money, and banks all over the world claimed their CDS insurance at nearly the same time. AIG itself was losing money and, as the company had issued more insurance policies than it could pay for, it was unable to pay the banks. If the banks couldn’t get their CDS, they would have to report massive losses and many would declare bankruptcy. If that happened, the global financial system would collapse, sending the U.S. into the Great Depression Version 2. Luckily, that didn’t happen, as the Federal Reserve paid $85 billion to purchase 80 percent of AIG so they could keep the financial system from failure.

Corporations everywhere suffered massive losses and shares tumbled to all-time lows until the market hit rock-bottom on March 6, 2009. Between the market peak in October 2007 and the low in March 2009, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 7,000 points, or just over 50 percent.

The financial meltdown of 2008 also marked the beginning of the worst recession in years, second only to the Great Depression, that America is just now recovering from — the rest of the world isn’t so lucky as most of Europe is still reeling from the near-collapse of the global financial system. Unemployment in the U.S. spiked above 10 percent after the crisis, the dollar deflated slightly and even Douglas County School District was impacted by this recession. In 2009, at the height of the recession, DCSD cut more than $26 million from the 2009-2010 budget — with the total amount of cuts over the past four years numbering somewhere above $69 million. But, it appears that DCSD, which has announced that there will be no budget cuts for the 2013-2014 school Tech stocks year, and the stock market, which broke the 2007 record on March 5, represented by the 2013 after a 125 point surge, are back on track along with the rest of NASDAQ composite the country.

Quantitative Easing

Austerity

News 5 Eagle Eye

So what happens when the Fed stops buying?

3

While Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke believes that the benefits of bond-buying outweighs the potential risks, an inflation burst could send America back into recession. Yet, the Fed chief has stated that he will continue until unemployment reaches 6.5% as long as inflation stays in check.

1. Interest Rates Rise 2. stock prices fall ends and interest rates skyrocket, consumer confidence will take a Bond yields kept near zero by the Many economists believe that hit and the stock market will “corFed’s bond-buying programs will the increase in consumer confirect” or fall significantly. shoot up when the Fed begins to dence in the economy and in the 3. INFLATION Surges unwind Quantitative Easing and stock market is mostly based on sell some of the $4 billion or more the public belief that the Fed is a While inflation has remained in in bonds, mortgages and other “safety net” for the US economy check so far, it could surge more securities that the Fed expects and the fact that ultra-low bond than 10% as the Fed continues to purchase by the end of 2013. yields compel Americans to take easing. A 10% increase in the The rise in bond yields will on more risk to earn a potential- price of everything would place a also raise interest rates on ly greater return, stocks for ex- burden that recovering American JPMorgan buys mortgages and other loans. ample. When quantitative easing families cannot afford at this time.

85 year old Wall St.

5/30/08

bank Bear Stearns for $10 a share after it fell from $159 to $2 in a year.

The US Treasury takes control of and bails out home-loan giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for $800 billion.

9/15/08

Lehman Brothers, 150 years old and the fourth-largest investment bank at the time, files for the largest bankruptcy in US history—$600 billion— after shares fell from $66 to $0 in six months.

10/9/07

The Dow Jones hits an all-time high of 14198 at the peak of the housing bubble.

2000-2013

2000

2002

The Fed purchases bonds and mortgages to increase demand which increases the price and in turn lowers the yield of bonds.

9/16/08

5/6/10

3/6/09

The Dow Jones bottoms out at a 12 year low of 6547.

The “Flash Crash” occurs after technical glitches incite a recordbreaking 998 (9%) freefall in the Dow Jones before it recovered 650 (6%) 20 minutes later.

By purchasing their bonds, the Fed floods financial institutions with money so they will loan, and low bond yields encourage consumers to borrow.

When consumers have more money, they begin to spend it on products and investments, stimulating economic growth.

3/5/13

The Dow Jones breaks the 2007 record and closes at a new high of 14253.

12k 11k 10k

The Financial Meltdown of 2008 ushers in the worst recession in the U.S. since the Great Depression

2004

2006

2008

2010

14k 13k

Recession

Recession The Dotcom Crash of 2000 brings about a short and mild recession in the U.S. in 2002 and 2003

Four Steps to a Healthy American Economy

Companies earn higher profits and increase their market value, leading to growth in the stock market.

AIG shares fall from $1,308 to just $1.25 in a year. After a credit rating downgrade, the Federal Reserve bails out the insurance giant for $85 billion.

Dow Jones Industrial Average

reach all-time highs at the peak of the dotcom bubble.

How Does Quantitative Easing Work?

9/6/08

9k

2012

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the Meaning of

Stuff That

TICKS

journalism

Me Off

Photo Courtesy of creativecommons.org

Ski & Snowboard Edition Tyler Kraft

T

his column is about the techniques on how to parallel ski.

Okay, now that all of the snowboarders are gone because they have too short of an attention span to get this far, let’s get down to business. This column is actually about things that really tick me off when I ski. Let’s begin, shall we?

As you, faithful reader, may have guessed, one of these annoyances is the sect of snow lovers that call themselves snowboarders. These so-called “boarders” of snow are hateable for many, many reasons. First piece of evidence: they scrape all of the snow off of the hill.

Colorado has had minimal amounts of snow all year. Scraping the little snow that we have off the hill has not helped the mountains at all.

Second piece of evidence: crashing when getting off lifts. It’s not that hard to get off a ski lift. The lift travels at about six feet per second. That means that after the last support pole, you have about ten seconds to prepare yourself. That is nine more seconds than you need. Still, snowboarders fall and cause everyone to wait on a chair in sub freezing temperatures and wind. Now, before you start getting mad and thinking, “This stuff only happens on bunny hills,” I feel that I should inform you that I ski black and double-black hills. I should not be stopped when riding up the Imperial chair in Breckenridge.

Third piece of evidence: randomly crashing and/or stopping. At least with skiers you can see when we are going to crash. A foot comes off the ground and the skier tips sideways just before the skier catastrophically destroys him or herself. With snowboarders, there is no warning. They are just down, begging to be run over. Other times, they just stop.

Do not stop in the middle of a run. Stop somewhere where if you are hit, the person that hits you will also hit a pole

Photo by Tyler Kraft or sign or something.

Now before I get slaughtered by hateful comments from snowboarders that are somehow still reading this, know this. I do not hate you if you are a good snowboarder. I don’t have anything against you. I only have problems with you if you do any of the things that I have listed. If you are a beginner, I ski different runs than you and do not have a problem with you.

But I’m not done yet. I strongly dislike when people ski out of their difficulty. There is no shame in skiing a green or blue run if you are not ready to attack the black and double-black runs. There is shame if you ski out of your difficulty.

If you pizza on a black hill, you not only risk getting others mad, but also getting yourself hurt by way of an angry skier/ snowboarder. By the way, 70 percent of on mountain collisions are caused by snowboarders, according to Mail Online.

Just a thought. Seriously though, know your difficulty. Don’t learn the hard way.

Last thing. Tourists. Everyone in Colorado feels the same way. As soon as any Coloradan hears the word “y’all” in that deep Southern accent, they know there will be problems. Tourists come from all over the world and act like they own the place. They do not realize that the Colorado natives do not take kindly to their snootiness on the hill. There are places for tourists to go up in the mountains.

They are called airports. These airports would serve the purpose of taking these tourists to where they belong. Back home.

Hopefully, some of you now realize how annoying you are being. Please fix what you are doing. The track that you are on will get you or someone else hurt. It isn’t fun to have to pay $12,000 for someone else’s broken arm.

If I did my job, the mountains will be safer and possibly a little more fun for the masses.

Photo by Riley McCloskey

Ending Teen Drama

Co-Editors In Chief Bridget Cooper Joanie Lyons

Copy Editors Taylor Blatchford Gabi Capocelli Bridget Cooper Jessi Wood

Content Editors

Hannah Addison Wes Edwards

I

Social Media Editor

Riley McCloskey

Design Editors

Erin Kim Joanie Lyons

We selected different aspects of students’ lives to focus on for our “Meaning of...” theme section. For us as a journalism staff, journalism is a huge part of our lives, so we chose to write our staff editorial about what journalism means to us and the Mountain Vista community.

A

s a VISTAj, the Mountain Vista journalism staff, our main objectives are to provide the truth to our audience (largely you, the student body), and to tell stories that no one else can tell.

An important role of journalism is to give the public a glimpse of things they would never see otherwise. As a staff, we strive to not only uncover the truth, but to also tell the unique stories within our school to the best of our abilities – stories of a varsity swimmer fighting cancer, two debaters filled with passion or a budding singer-songwriter, stories of a team working for years to win its first state championship or teenage voters taking part in their first election.

Storytelling in journalism goes beyond the walls of high school and can be applied globally: without journalism, today’s government and free society would be much different. Journalism essentially acts as the unseen “fourth branch” of the government, acting to check and balance the executive, legislative and judicial branches. Journalism that is independent from the government makes the government transparent and accountable, and

most importantly, aims to provide the public with the truth. Independent media sources care not for appearances, only the truth and making it available to their audience. The media serves to hold both officials and everyday people accountable for their actions.

Sometimes as journalists, we’re faced with the task of telling a story that some people might not want told. Thanks to the First Amendment and court decisions made in the past, we have the freedoms of press and speech to protect what we say, but that doesn’t mean that everyone will like it. Journalism can be controversial, and it’s nearly impossible to make everyone happy – but above all, we try to speak the truth.

Without journalism, the public would not be nearly as informed or educated about current events, and wouldn’t have a reliable, objective, independent source of information.

Journalism is an essential part of any free society, and we as a staff want it to also be an essential part of Mountain Vista High School.

7 Eagle Eye

VISTAj STAFF

Photo Editors

Francesco Viola III

t all starts with a couple who decides to end their relationship. The guy heard that the girl was cheating on him.

They break up, and then it seems the whole school is embroiled in one big fiasco.

Drama can start in the blink of an eye, and it starts to completely consume a teen’s social life.

This raises the question that teens have been asking themselves since the end of time: How can the drama finally end?

In order to find a solution to ending teenage drama, the drama itself has to be understood and analyzed.

In popular culture, a group mentality is constantly enforced. Hanging out with a group of friends is considered cool, and being alone is considered the characteristic of a loser.

This is already a bad idea, but the reactions to this are what truly cause the drama.

The fear of being alone becomes so great, that some people feel it is necessary to cast out others who they used to consider their friends in order to elevate their own status.

The other person finds out, and this usually leads to one big feud that spreads across the school.

This isn’t the only way that drama is initiated. Another popular form of drama is lying.

A guy could want his friends to feel that he is cool, so when they start insulting someone he knows, he will go along with it. The person finds out, confronts him about it and eventually it seems that the two are trapped in a situation where people only want to know more about their fight.

Throughout all of the drama, a common idea is present.

Despite other people not having anything to do with them, some teens feel the need to make everyone else’s life a priority to them.

It may sound odd, but teens need to not care as much about other students, and more importantly, what they think of them.

Ending drama doesn’t stop at ending gossip. Teens need to be honest with others about who they are.

It may seem that it is easier to make friends by lying, but the friends will like the lie, not the person. Down the road, this will make even more drama when the person telling a lie doesn’t act in accordance to their lie.

While the opinions and lives of others may seem important, they really don’t mean much. By finding friends who love others for who they are, people can ignore the unimportant aspects of the lives of others. Life becomes a hell of a lot easier.

Opinion

Advertising Manager

Shannon VanDok

Adviser

Mark Newton, MJE

Staff Members

Taylor Atlas Zoe Blandon Amani Brown Madeline Carlson Hannah Chatwin Logan Clark Caitlin Cobb Emma Cooper Gretchen Cope Cameron Cox Shelby Crumley Kenna Dougherty Amanda Ellingson Delaney Fitzsimmons Antonia Fornaro Dylan Freeman Libby Galligan Bailey Gambrell Scott Grimm Kenzie Haberkorn Chase Howell Amy Huang Dylan Ingram Mitch Kampmann Jason Keller Tyler Kraft Taylor Krason Ana Krasuski

Web Team

Peter Cleverdon Nicholas Lawrence

Peter Leonard Emilie Love Kelsey Luke Mark Maggs Maeve McCloskey Whitney Merrill Devon Miner Roxy Montero-Atencio Rachel Nunnelee Michael O’ Sullivan Claire Oliver Sydney Ostdiek Anna Pippin Renee Probetts Peyton Reeves Alia Reza Ashten Ritchko Gabe Rodriguez Katie Simon Emma Singh Kara Stockton AJ Stowell Erica Tagliarino Anna Theis Shannon VanDok Cesco Viola Kelsey Warden Kyle Waters Taylor Yaw Kaitlin Zenoni Eric Robinson Dylan Tran

Policy

Eagle Eye, a legally recognized public forum for student expression, is published six to nine times a year by the Journalism class for students at Mountain Vista High School. Expression made by students in the exercise of freedom of speech or freedom of press is not an expression of Douglas County school board policy. The views expressed in Eagle Eye do not necessarily represent the views of the entire staff, adviser, MVHS administration or the Douglas County School District administration. Board policy regarding student publications (JICEA and JI/JIA) are available in the journalism/publications room (U328) or in the principal’s office.

Letters to the Editors

Eagle Eye welcomes and encourages letters to the editors. This is a chance to express your viewpoint on important issues. Letters should be limited to 250 words. Letters will be edited for splace and legal considerations, but not for inaccuracies, grammar or spelling.

Letters must contain information pertinent to the students of MVHS. The staff retains the right to not publish any letter not meeting these requirements. Unsigned letters will not be published. Please submit typed letters in person to Room U328 or via mail or e-mail.

Contact

Eagle Eye, Mountain Vista High School, 10585 Mountain Vista Ridge, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126, Phone: 303-387-1500.

Adviser email: mark.newton@dcsdk12.org.

Publication email: EagleEyeEditors@dcsdk12.org

Cost

Single copies are free. Where available, additional copies of this paper are available for purchase for 50 cents each. Contact Eagle Eye for more information. Taking more than one copy of this paper is prohibited (C.R.S. 18-4-419). Violators, subject to prosecution and penalty under C.R.S. 13-21-123, will be prosecuted.

Open Forum Content

Some material courtesy of American Society of Newspaper Editors/ MCT Campus High School Newspaper Service and Creative Commons licensing. ©2013 Eagle Eye/Mountain Vista High School. All rights reserved.

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the Meaning of

Life A

s the Eagle Eye Newsmagazine looked into our theme for the upcoming issue, we realized that a lot of what we do is covering stories that are unique and -interesting. Yes, we do the usual stories of the what, when and how, but usually these stories are quickly released on our website, VistaNow.org. Mountain Vista as a whole is a diverse student body — almost everyone is involved in something. Whether it’s school work, sports, religion or clubs, everyone has his or her own extracurriculars, his or her own values and his or her own interests.

“The Meaning of…” is just that. We identified people through their influence in our school in the activities they participate. The nine people we profiled show us the meaning of life: Why we do what we do. Their participation makes Mountain Vista what it is. Their pride and efforts made us realize without them, life at Mountain Vista would be completely boring.

While these nine students epitomize the different aspects of life at Mountain Vista, they also embody the qualities, passions and hopes that thrive within each member of our student body and the school as a whole.

With

Mountain

VISTA Eric hankinson school

hope parker expression

kirsten dixon religion

jack strunc sports

emily wagner service

tesia barnes travel

maggie mather

relationships

jake laughlin meredith tolleson participation

the Meaning

eric

hankinson

high-achieving scholar, age 17

Interviewed By peter leonard February 16, 2013 / Photography By taylor blatchford I would love to become a pediatric neurosurgeon or opthamologist.

A lot of people just focus on math and science or English and history, but I think that having a balance of all the subjects has really helped me.

I’ve always been attracted to medicine. Both of my parents are pharmacists and I think it’s a worthwhile field to go into. I would love to be helping children get better, for them to go out into the world and do the best that they can.

I went to a private Catholic school in the seventh grade that had a very strong program academically. I think that Mountain Vista really compares to my past experiences and the teachers legitimately care about the students; that the teachers really try to prepare students with real world information to do the best that they can.

I really love school because I just love to learn. I love the competition of being in a classroom environment. I like being able to increase my knowledge and be able to do a lot of things.

Vista has a very rigorous academic program that has helped me accomplish my goals.

I’ve already been accepted to School of Mines, but I’ve also applied to Washington University in St. Louis, Notre Dame and Yale. I’d love to go to Yale, but I don’t know if I’ll get in.

I am in mock trial, National Honor Society, I’m the treasurer of Spanish National Honor Society and I’ve been playing piano since I was four years old. During my freshman and sophomore years I was a third degree black belt.

I like mock trial because it’s a competition based on your intellect and it requires an extensive amount of preparation. It requires a knowledge of basic law that actual lawyers use. We use actual federal rules and go into actual courtrooms with actual judges, which is ERIC takes AP Art History, cool. Just being exposed to that is awesome.

As treasurer [of NHS] I have to count all the fees that are going in. I monitor all of the AP Government, money going in and out for programs that we do.

AP Literature and NHS has helped me because I’ve been exposed to some new community service Composition, AP Calculus opportunities that I wouldn’t have known about. Even just the social aspect of meeting BC, AP Physics anD SPANISH people is cool.

[In SNHS] we still focus around community service activities [like NHS] and we do a lot of similar things, but it’s more towards the Spanish community. This year we’re trying to amp up the program by doing more culturally related Spanish activities.

Taking five AP classes and three activities is very stressful, but it’s all about time management. It’s all about prioritizing and remembering why I originally took these classes. I just love to be a part of a community that promotes learning.

It’s all about relaxation and just remembering that the classes are there to help me. I think that being second in my class becomes too much about competition at times.

I think a lot of kids in high school don’t really have their priorities straightened out. I think that since I’ve been an only child my whole life that my parents expected a lot of excellence and for me to do my best. I’ve always had my priorities in line and I’ve always done specifically what I’ve wanted to accomplish with what I wanted to do.

The decisions that you make as a freshman are very important and I, being a senior, now understand this. The classes that you take are setting the standard for the track that you’ll have as a senior, so classes are very important. I also think that being aware of what’s going to happen in high school like standardized testing and community service is important.

Some teachers that have influenced me have been probably Mr. Charles Patrick for AP History or Ms. Doreen Smith for AP Government. They’ve really pushed me to be a better student and they’ve really allowed me to be myself. They really understand who I am and have helped me with my individual needs.

There’s a lot of pressure on kids to do well and because of that it’s sort of become more of a competition to do well. But I think that the schools in Highlands Ranch are particularly good from a national perspective on helping people.

School is a great thing for kids to have. Speaking from personal experience, by having developed this level of motivation from a young age and pushing myself to do well [I’ve done better in school]. I think it has its benefits and I’m happy to be where I am.

My favorite classes are either AP Calculus or AP Art History.

My advice for my kids would definitely be for them to do their best and to enjoy the learning. I would want my kids to do what they love: to do sports, school, and just do their best at it. They should go into their future roles just doing what they love to do and doing what they wish to do.

of

SCHOOL

the Meaning

Hope

Parker

Dancer, Age 17

Interviewed By Whitney Merrill February 19, 2013 / Photography Courtesy of Hope Parker Most girls start dancing when they are 2. They start at a young age and just keep doing it. I was 9 when I started dancing, so I had to make up for lost time and do a lot of private lessons.

I love ballet because it is the basis of all dance. The type of dance that is most fun is lyrical. It’s like ballet but it is more emotional. I started out with poms because of the dance studio I was at, and then I did hip hop and ballet.

Dance is irreplaceable. If I couldn’t dance, I would find another field within dance to adapt to, like choreography and instruction.

My plan right now is to get into a really good dance college, a conservatory, either in New York or L.A. and then I’ll go from there. Most of the time, people go out and they audition for schools. Then they keep auditioning for jobs and then you just get connections from there. You can’t really follow an exact plan.

I decided I wanted to dance professionally at the end of my sophomore year, when I realized that poms was taking away from my true training. I valued my training and made the choice to excel even more. It was a hard decision and I gave up a lot. However, it was worth it because I am happy with my progress and all of my accomplishments since then.

Don’t settle for mediocracy.

I teach little babies that are 5, 6 and 7 ballet and a leaps and turns class. I really like teaching because they get so excited and are so happy to be there and it makes me happy. I focus on both teaching and dancing for myself. Teaching helps my dance because I can perfect my skills when I Parker was accepted am explaining to them how to do it. into the Joffrey Costumes are a motivator because they make you feel good and you get excited to dance.

Jazz/contemperary Dance is the one thing I can do. I love being creative. I’m not an actress, I can’t sing, I don’t do summer program and anything else, and drawing is definitely not my thing. will be part of the I can be an individual [when I dance] and there is a lot of freedom. Dance is the one way that I can elite group with a 75 express myself.

Dance is what makes me happy. percent scholarship There is always jealousy but that’s how a lot of dancers are. You’re always trying to be better than the people around you which is probably why people get so good at it. They push themselves because they want to get better and become competitive.

My inspiration is anyone who really works hard and is amazing. I’ve aways looked up to those who are better than me, because they push me to work harder I have had a couple of really bad performances. I’ll practice my solos so much and then I’ll choke. It happens but you just get through it because you know you’re better than that. You can’t let nerves get to you.

My parents and teachers push me, but overall I push myself the most. I can’t stand it when I don’t accomplish a move or the technique that I want. I have a discipline and personality that doesn’t let me give up or settle.

You have to understand that whenever people give you criticism it’s good criticism usually, especially the teachers. They want to help you and your goal is to make it as perfect as you can so you never stop working. That’s probably why they keep giving you corrections. They want you to make it perfect and consistent. You just have to push through it and know that you’re getting better as long as you work for it.

My dad comes to every performance, which is nice because the other dads don’t always come.

The best advice I have been given is to not be lazy. With laziness you will never accomplish anything and constantly be stuck at one level. Dance doesn’t come overnight. It takes dedication, time, passion, talent, discipline, and hard work.

I’m always really hard on myself but I think that that helps me because I’ve been able to perfect a lot of things now. If I don’t get a skill right away I work on it until I get it. Then I feel good about it.

When I compete I’m just in my happy place. I don’t know how to explain it. You have no worries and you really are just content. There isn’t anything going on in your head besides what you are doing at the moment.

School and friends aren’t an issue. It’s just dance. It’s just a happy feeling. Most of the time I’m able to I can get myself to be focused and be happy and just not worry about it. Sometimes you look at the judges and start to worry, but you just have to get past that.

Dance is absolutely not something you can learn overnight or in months. True dance and true technique take years to perfect and lots of commitment. Taking a class once or twice a week doesn’t make you a dancer, passion does.

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Expression

the Meaning

Kirsten

Dixon

Latter-Day saint, age 18

Interviewed By Gabi Capocelli February 16, 2013 / Photography By Gabi capocelli My parents have both been members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the official name of our church, but we are commonly called Mormons) for their whole lives, so I was born into the Church.

We’ve gone to church for as long as I can remember, as long as I’ve been alive.

My religion has helped me realize I can be better every day and if I have a day where I make a mistake, I know that through Christ, I can be better tomorrow.

My freshman year, I had switched from Platte River Academy to Mountain Vista and it was kind of a hard transition for me. Luckily, everyone was super nice, but I feel like my relationship with God was strengthened because I was praying a lot. I asked Him to help me meet new people and make good friends for the rest of high school. At that point, I was really grateful for my church being in my life.

My religion really helps me set goals for myself.

My relationship with my family would be weaker without my religion and I’d probably have a lot of different friends, I would dress different and I would have different standards.

Every school day, we have seminary in the morning, it really plays a big role in my life because it’s a cool way to start out the day. You start with a prayer and do scripture study and it has a big impact on my life.

One thing I really love about my church is it puts an emphasis on the fact that everyone is a child of God and we should serve everyone, serve our fellow men. Sometimes it is hard Kirsten plans to study at to see people as children of God, but when you constantly learn it, you realize everyone is struggling and has personal trials. You should just treat everyone equally. byu provo next year and When you treat people with kindness and try to make their day better rather than major in nutritional worse, your relationship grows with them. When you look back at it, you don’t regret how sciences. She also plans you acted, you’re just glad you did it. to go on a mission Sometimes people make fun of Mormons, and it’s just a joke and they usually aren’t trying when she turns 19 to offend you. to share her faith.

More often than not, I get questions about my church, which is totally understandable because you know the church you go to the best, you’re most familiar with it. I get a lot of questions, but not a lot of persecution.

I have been praying a lot lately to know what my future should be and what I should major in.

I think it’s good to set habits for scripture reading and other aspects of my church because when you’re at home, your parents can encourage you to do certain things, but when you go to college, it’s just you.

My parents have always been really trusting and they’ve always shown that church is a high priority for them. All the sacrifices they’ve made have helped me realize how important our religion is to them. Being part of the Church has always made our family stronger.

They’ve always taught us kids to not use bad language and to have high standards just because those are teachings of our church and what they’ve taught me has helped me stay out of a lot of things that could really harm me.

We follow something called the Word of Wisdom, where we are encouraged not to drink alcohol, smoke or drink hot drinks like coffee and tea with caffeine in them. I think the main reason for that is to avoid addictions because they can be very harmful. One of the bigger things people can see is we dress modestly.

One of the common misconceptions is that our church is not Christian, actually our church revolves around Christ and the teachings of Christ.

We believe in the Bible and actually it’s what we’re studying this year for seminary. I also believe in the Book of Mormon and it’s basically just another testament of Jesus Christ and has the teachings of Him in it.

I believe my family can be together forever in heaven and I believe that if we do make a mistake, we can repent and work on not making that mistake again.

To tell you the truth, it’s not hard when I encounter people who aren’t of my religion. People are just interested in learning what other people believe. When we do have trials after high school, we’ve been taught just to keep moving forward.

We’re always being helped and there will be better days ahead. We should have an eternal perspective in mind.

Religion means being happy and being comfortable in life and realizing through Christ and the Heavenly Father, you can be better every day.

of Religion

the Meaning

of

sports

Jack

Strunc

Varsity baseball Shortstop, age 16 Interviewed By AJ Stowell February 18, 2013 / Photography By AJ Stowell

My favorite part of baseball is getting lost in the game while competing. It’s when I’m myself and I’m very competitive at the same time.

As far as routine, I am very superstitious. I am constantly thinking about baseball and what will affect me. I eat the same lunch every day, no matter what I can’t take any stuff out of my backpack (before practice), I have to stretch before I get to the field, I always warm up with two bats and so on.

I started playing very early (at four years of age). I think two years earlier than usual. My dad used to give me a tennis ball when I was like two years old.

It’s been good being the youngest child in the family. I have definitely benefited from having two older brothers in my family. Both my older brothers have been great role-models for me. My brother, Nick, is very smart and still pretty good at baseball and my brother, Tommy, is playing in college at Creighton University.

I’ve learned that the game leads into your school work as well. When you work hard in school you will work hard on the field.

My hero is probably my brother Tommy. His work ethic and passion to keep getting better is inspiring. He never takes a single day off and is always working.

Last year, Jack If I had the opportunity to play at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., I would definitely play had a .389 batting there. I’m already pretty familiar with the coaching staff there. If I were to play there I would hope percentage, the third my brother had already left, because it would mean that he was drafted. highest on his team.He It’s fun watching my brother play. I definitely think he has a chance (of being drafted). During was also the youngest the summer he participated in a college all-star game and was throwing in the 90s (miles per hour). He also pegged a guy at 94. And yes, he can strike me out. When he comes home during player on Varsity. the winter from college, and goes to pitch in the bullpen I’ll sit in for him.

One time, a time where I chose not to wear a helmet, he almost hit me in the head. I probably would have been killed if the ball hit me.

I have had injuries in my career. In third grade I double-dislocated my elbow and broke it, and this stopped me from being able to pitch. I still could play other positions but at one point I was told I couldn’t play again. It was probably one of the worst feelings I’ve had in my entire life.

Currently I’m working through growing pains and have been going to physical therapy. You have no idea how good it is to be able to run again.

I am supposed to grow a lot. Currently I am feeling a little pain in my knees from it. Most likely I’ll be as tall as my six-foot-two older brother though.

So far in high school, the best experience I’ve had playing baseball was probably during the freshman season and playing on the sophomore team. We beat (Cherry) Creek that year, and only lost once, to ThunderRidge. We won almost every game that season.

The greatest accomplishment I have had is where I’m at right now: being on the varsity team for two years now and having great relationships with other players all over the country and state. My motivation is to get better every day.

This is the year. The baseball team has a really good shot this year.

If I want to get looked at and have colleges watch me, it will be this season and summer. I would definitely want to play baseball past high school if I had the opportunity.

There’s more to life than just sports. It’s just a game. You want to have fun at the same time and the game teaches you so many lessons. You put in what you get out and if you work hard you will be successful.

So far in life I believe that I am headed in the right direction. I have not at all reached my destination yet.

My greatest passion is baseball, it’s on my mind all the time, and if you took the sport away from me, I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am today as a person.

the Meaning

Emily

Wagner

Girl Scout and Community Service ACTIVIST, Age 17 Interviewed ByJoanie Lyons February 20, 2013 / Photography By Joanie Lyons It’s been 11 years since I started Girl Scouts. I wanted to stick it out to win the Gold Award which is the highest service project award you can get in Girl Scouts. It’s not really worth it to go this far and not get the award.

When you join Girl Scouts, the Gold Award is that far out vision that every girl has in Girl Scouts. There’s three different awards: there’s the Bronze Award which you earn in middle school, there’s the Silver Award that you can win in late middle school or early high school and then there’s the Gold Award. At first I didn’t know the Gold Award really existed but after I did the bronze and silver award, I wanted to do the Gold Award.

The Gold Award is a lot harder than the two awards I had done before but I went for it.

My project is going to directly benefit the people I am helping in Haiti.

The orphanage I am bringing backpacks to has over 2,000 kids. They house and try and teach all of these kids and they have organizations throughout Haiti that they work through and that’s how I’m going to get all of these things to these people.

I put up 900 flyers in the neighborhoods for my project. I assumed I would get one bag of supplies every 20 houses, but then when I got back to my house I had two trucks full of supplies. We got so much stuff that we can’t even take all of the things I got. I had an overwhelming response from the community.

I got a note from a kid who drew me a picture on the back of my flyer. Parents would write letters and notes about my project, telling me good luck.

While collecting, I also got money for my trip to Haiti and for the collection boxes I will be shipping Emily is up down to Haiti. for the Boettcher I really liked working with a bunch of people who were as dedicated to helping out as much as I scholarship where am. I was so surprised that so many people came out and helped me on a Saturday collecting bags 40 kids receive and dropping off flyers. I mean, who really wants to give up their own Saturday and do that? full-tuition These backpacks with stuffed animals and school supplies I’ve collected to send to Haiti for my scholarships Gold Award are tailored to kids. If I can’t send these all down to Haiti for my project, they may go to any colorado down there later or to other countries around the world. I want to try and help in any way I can. college/university.

This is something I love to do and I have dreamed about doing for a while. I’m going down to Haiti over spring break, which makes this all the more important to me because I want to be successful if I’m going to go down there.

When I go down to there, I’m going to do some teacher training, play with some of the kids at the orphanage, perform some repairs on the orphanage and maybe some other construction stuff. It’s really tough to make a big influence in just seven days or eight days, but I’m going to do what I can.

I’m just going to play it by ear and see what it is I can do in the time I am there.

When I end up handing all of things I’ve worked so hard on, the backpacks, to these kids in Haiti, that its going to be my favorite part of my service project.

The problem with other people’s Gold Award projects is that they don’t care. They just do it to get the award and get the project done. However, when I was doing my project, it was something that I really cared about doing. It has been a dream of mine to go to Haiti. Last year, there was a group of people from my church that were going to Haiti. I ended up not being able to go but from all of the stories they told me, I kind of wanted to bring attention to Haiti because of the condition the people there are in. Even though the media has moved on from the earthquake that hit Haiti a couple of years ago, we still need to help them.

People go to these affluent parts of Haiti on a cruise or on a trip and they don’t venture out farther into the unknown. People assume that these people in these countries are fine. These people don’t have food, water or medical supplies. Everyone is sheltered from the reality of Haiti’s condition.

I want to go to medical school eventually. My goal in life is to get my medical degree and go on medical missions in 3rd world countries like Haiti.

Some of the colleges I’ve applied to have spring break trips or summer trips where you can help in a clinic where people don’t have any care that they need.

My inspiration behind my service project is that there are kids living lives that are so much harder than mine. Yet, I complain every day about something. They live every day and it’s fine and it’s normal. Somebody else is ten times happier, with ten times less than what I have.

One of the most vivid memories I have of a mission was when I went to Mexico was when I gave this kid a pair of socks. I mean, it was a pair of socks. His mother was so incredibly grateful of what I gave to her son that she spent all day making me this meal in her little tiny house and that food was probably all that they had for that day. The people that have nothing are the most grateful in the world. They will give you back anything even though they have nothing to give.

I’ve put in so many hours to this project. I’ve made a rough estimate that I’ve put in 120 hours so far. That’s probably a more conservative number to say the least. I’ve spent so much time going around, giving presentations to people about my project. It’s all worth all of this time I’ve put into it though.

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SERVIce

the Meaning

Tesia

Barnes

Traveler to spain for a semester, AGE 17 Interviewed By Anna theis and hannah chatwin February 17, 2013 / Photo courtesy of TEsia Barnes I decided to go because of college and because it would look really good on college transcripts. Of course it turned into something more than I originally expected.

I also wanted to be bilingual, that was a big thing. I now consider myself fluent. My idea of fluent is understanding what you’re being told and responding with an answer and I can do that.

I wrote nine essays for this trip application and I was so behind that I took the entire spring break and did nothing but stay home and write essays. I wanted them to be good.

If there was anything I wanted the host family to know then I could put that on a small piece of paper, but other than that it was blind.

I don’t think I was scared. I was nervous. Actually, I suppose I was scared. I wasn’t afraid of going to Spain, I was afraid of coming back. What if everything was different? I was afraid of the things that would happen when I was gone, but you keep all the nasty things at bay.

There was no specific event when I felt the trip meant something more than college transcripts. I think it was just really knowing my family. Just meeting them for the first time made it more real.

In my host family, I had two little brothers, a 6-year-old and a 2-year-old, Francisco and Santiago.

My host mom’s name was Puri and my host dad was named Luis.

I stayed in Murcia. They made it so I was in a smaller town where I could walk to school and to friends’ houses but at the same time, I could go downtown in 15 minutes.

The food was amazing. There were so many Spanish dishes that I miss still today and I’ve only At school In spain, tesia had been gone three weeks. two classes, a break, two Whatever churro you’ve ever had, I swear to God, the ones in Spain are 15-hundred-thousand more classes, a break then times better. You’d just go to a stand and buy an entire bag of hot churros. Then we’d make chocotwo more classes. she got late and dip the churros into it. It’s a delicacy. out at 2:30 p.m., ate lunch There were also a lot of crops. My favorite was the oranges, lemons and limes. You could walk and then went back for into a field with bags and just fill them up. There were no fences. We’d go to my host grandmother’s classes. house because she owned these fields of oranges. And we would walk in there with bags and stuffed them with oranges. We ate oranges in everything.

Another thing was that every house had this ham to eat. It was their thing. I felt the need to point out the ham because when I walked downstairs my first day, I literally just stood and stared at it for like five minutes, just trying wrap my mind around this animal.

I actually tried really hard to get one (a ham leg) to bring home and my mom was like, “no.”

I really missed the people. Besides that, Taco Bell. I swear. I’d get cravings some days. But of course you always miss family and friends.

I didn’t really play the part of the tourist there. I didn’t live in a touristy place either. I went to Madrid and I got to tourist it up there and buy all the key chains I wanted. But, you get used to it (Spain) to a point where you don’t feel like a tourist anymore.

If you want to talk about something silly, I don’t watch TV very much anymore. We would hardly ever watch TV, maybe twice a week we would sit down for half an hour before bed. The computers there were ancient; they didn’t have Apples or anything. We are the exception in Highlands Ranch.

When (the computers) didn’t work there, they were fixing them instead of buying new ones. They didn’t waste money how we do sometimes.

As far as technology goes I didn’t see or hold an iPhone 5 until I came home. They’re just not very centered on it there, not like us. It was different, it was nice, and I enjoyed that part. I never really believed that America was like that until I lived in this other country.

Family there is so close and school almost comes second there. Here, it feels like people would always choose school first; it just feels like the order.

My family in Spain and my family here just seem a lot more important all of a sudden.

Pop culture was kind of the same. It was like gossip overload, people just telling me all these built-up stories about stuff that I thought would never happen. I’m still playing catch up. It just kind of comes and you either hear about it or you don’t. It doesn’t really bother me.

I took a lot from this trip. I think the thing that I am most thankful for is the family. I am 100% thankful that I even went to meet these people and to have this relationship with them. If I never knew Spanish or never went to Spain, knowing these people is probably the thing I am most thankful, most excited to have.

Secondly obviously is the Spanish language. I think that it is a fantastic thing. I love being able to hear a Spanish song and know what it’s saying and be able to talk to my Spanish teacher.

One thing I’ve learned on this trip about technology is that you don’t trust Google Translate! Now it’s like a game, I’ll go on google translate and type something in and see what shenanigans they’re up to this time.

Spain has jaded me. I’m a little bit too attached to it at this point. I have this family there that I am so utterly close to. I’m not sure I’ll be traveling other places unless we figure out a solution that has me seeing my family there.

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TRAVEL

the Meaning

Maggie

Mather

Theatre studentage 17

Interviewed By Renee Probetts, Emma Cooper, Anna Pippin and gretchen cope March 1, 2013 / Photography by Amanda Ellingson Maggie Mather: The student-teacher relationship is one that isn’t usually thought of when it comes to high school relationships (friendships, boy/ girl relationships). I’ve been a part of the theatre program since freshman year, so the bond between the theatre teachers and me has really had time to form and develop.

Our understanding of each other has become one in which it is 50 percent friendship and 50 percent them in authority: they are still my teachers and directors during the school day and at rehearsal.

They have become uncle like figures for me: (Jeremy) Goldson is the one I would go to for a laugh and (Michael) Wright is one more for advice or words of wisdom.

When I go to college, I’ll keep in contact with them via email and I’ll come back to see shows. I want to try to stay in touch with them, I’m going to miss them and I won’t forget them and I hope they won’t forget about me.

I have a family here at school with them. You spend so much time at school, especially during productions, so it’s important to have people there. I tell them things that I wouldn’t necessarily tell others at home nor people at school.

I’ve been able to develop a relationship with them because I’m an agreeable and re“THE RELATIONSHIP THAT spectful person, but I don’t try to suck up to them. I try to be a genuine person, so people genuinely get to know me and I care about them, which helps them care about me more.

MAGGIE AND I SHARE IS It’s really cool to have someone you trust so much who you can talk to about friendWHAT IT IS BECAUSE WE ships and stuff like that. Especially when that person is someone other than a parent or a HAVE THE SAME SENSE peer.

OF COMMITMENTS TO THE Auditioning is relaxed and laid back but with structure and their authority still in place.

PROGRAM AND TO WHAT They don’t make it business like; it’s a fun time instead. For the auditions for 45 Seconds WE DO IN LIFE,” Jeremy from Broadway, the play I’m in now, I went in with one of my best friends and we spent GOLDSON, Performing arts half of the audition just chatting. It showed me how comfortable I’d become around TEACHER, SAID. them.

Through the positive relationship we have, we work really well together. When you care about people, the better experience you will have working with them, which is what the teachers hope to achieve.

Honesty is key when it comes time to work and to socialize. I am how I am around my friends and the theatre teachers; I don’t change for them and they don’t change for me.

We don’t have the unrealistic expectations for each other and that’s important when it comes to getting what needs to be done, done.

According to Mr. Goldson, we help him figure out who he is. And I think the same thing goes for how he helps us; that makes the connection that much more important.

The relationship between teacher and student gives each person the opportunity to develop a sense of trust and guidance with the other. Without trust, there is no reliability or depending upon each other.

Supposedly the teachers teach because they like students, which is great for us. We like them a ton and that makes the whole theatre experience even more enjoyable, with people you care to spend your time with and vice versa.

Us thespians truly look up to and admire both Mr. Goldson and Mr. Wright. They have set a really great example, which many of us strive to live up to ourselves.

This relationship has really influenced what I think I’m going to do in the future. I’m not sure if I will do theatre professionally. But I will definitely keep doing it recreationally because I’ve seen what kind of community you build in theatre and this has really helped my reach out to people.

MIchael Wright: Students need to make a positive connection with a teacher because it helps each [person] gain trust and have an open dialogue for learning.

Teachers need to be consistant, especially in their personality, students have expectations of who their teachers are, which helps them to communicate better.

Students gravitate to you because they look up to you and from that a relationship is born.

Jeremy Goldson: I work because I like kids and people, and you work better when you care about people. A certain level of relationship is going to be formed the way we teach.

Our goal was not to create an individual bond necessarily, we wanted to be able to work together in a way where we are there for each other with more than just with the production. That goal got us here, with an irreplaceable and unique bond that is unlike others at Mountain Vista.

of Relationships

JAKE LAUGHLIN MEREDITH TOLLESON VARSITY DEBATeRS, Both age 18

Interviewed By Peter Leonard and michael o’sullivan February 25, 2013 / Photography By peter leonard Meredith Tolleson: I started debate my freshman year. I heard about it on the school announcements and I was like, “Hey! I actually think that I’m fairly decent at arguing. I mean, I can hold down a fairly decent argument with my parents. Might as well just go and give this a shot.” We all were in this room, sitting around and listening to people talk and I realized that this was something that I really wanted to do, so I joined the team.

Jake Laughlin: I was in a competitive speaking class my freshman year. When you were a part of the class you had to compete on the debate team for half of the year. I really enjoyed it so I continued to compete.

JL: The type of debate that we do is called public forum, which is a partner debate. You debate a topic that’s based on current events, like whether or not we need to mitigate climate change and stuff like that. It’s usually based on facts and how well you speak.

MT: I actually have had an interesting journey. I started off and I didn’t win a single round. My freshman year I was a miserable failure at debate. I probably won two rounds that entire year, and I went to every single tournament.

JL: I have been the top debater on Vista’s team since I was at least a sophomore. I debate on the national circuit. I’ve been to five or six other states for debate. I’ve competed against almost every state that there is for debate. I’ve been in the top eight for the state for two years running and this year I have a shot at winning the state tournament. I’d like to be modest and say, “Oh, I’m okay in debate,” but I’m pretty good.

JL: There was this college professor of communications at the University of Kentucky who said that he wanted to run his own tournament. So they [the National Forensics League] said, “Why not make it another national tournament that is more competitive than the actual nationals?” The Tournament of Champions itself is a tournament that goes on during April that is made up of all the best debaters in the nation.

MT: The Tournament of Champions is a toss in the dark. I think Jake and I can at least make it to quarterfinals and potentially semifinals. Winning could be a stretch, but I’d like to win. I think that if all things go right, we can definitely win.

JL: I think we have a shot to win; it’s up in the air.

MT: I spend my Saturdays at tournaments and I spend my days after school at practice. last year at the Basically I will spend my days either at practice, working on debate stuff, or working on other Tournament of Champions, homework. jake and meredith went JL: I enjoy the competitive aspect of it. I mean, our basketball team gets all up in the air to the octafinal round, that they’ve beaten twenty teams or whatever, but that’s not even close to the amount of meaning that they were teams that I’ve debated.

AMONG the top 16 teams MT: You expand your knowledge base so much. I can still recall facts from my freshman in the entire nation year when we were talking about the United Nations and judicial topics. I’m able to take that information and whenever it comes up during a class, I’m able to spout off that information and actually sound like I know what I’m talking about.

JL: Debate has made me a better public speaker and more charismatic. In that way it helps for school. I’d also say that it’s made me a lot more confident in a lot of ways, which I wasn’t so much in middle school, and confidence kills in high school.

MT: I use the skills from debate even right now. I serve on the Douglas County Youth Congress, where I helped change a curfew law, which is now unified across all of the counties. I was able to use the diplomacy skills that I’ve learned in debate in that setting.

JL: I’ll be 100 percent honest, I still barely understand most of world history and literally almost no geography. But I’d say that what I have learned about debate, the facts about the world, the facts about history, and the statistics has mostly stuck with me.

MT: Debate has driven me towards people who are more like me, because I’m able to meet people from across the country. You meet amazing people, who are just loving and caring and will support you no matter what. I have really good friends in California, Utah and in Missouri. Just all over because I’ve been able to meet them through national level tournaments.

JL: Learning how to speak well has definitely helped me and will continue to help me if I continue on to be a lawyer or a politician. Hell, if I go to work at Sears I’ll be able to convince people to buy more stuff I suppose.

MT: Debate has been the pinnacle of my high school experience because I’ve been able to meet people who I love, I’ve been able to push limits as far as I’m able to go in the national community as well as pushing myself to learn more about the structure of debate and the information that’s needed.

JL: A lot of people don’t want to try debate because it sounds hard or it sounds nerdy; or they don’t like the arguing. But I think that it fits everyone’s mindset. I already know it’s really rewarding because I know I’m getting into colleges solely because I’ve done debate.

MT: I’ve just been able to drive myself to any new limit. I’ve been able to accomplish so much more than I thought that I would have been able to, and it’s all through debate.

the Meaning of

participation

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Feature29 Eagle Eye

A Fight to Win

Junior Lauren Alfino battles cancer in the hopes of swimming again TAYLOR ATLAS

Photo Courtesy the Alfino family

“I am trying to remember what I still can do.”

A

swimmer since she was a young girl, junior Lauren Alfino dove into the pool at the 2013 conference swim meet for the 500-meter freestyle just as she had done so many times before. The water swallowed her up as she began her traditional swimming routine of repeating one song after another in her head to help the time go by for this long event.

But this swim meet was not like all the other ones that came before it.

This is not because of her fourth-place finish or because she swam the second fastest meet of her life. In fact, it was for a much different reason.

This would be her last swim meet for a while.

About three weeks weeks before the conference meet, on Jan. 23, Alfino was diagnosed with borderline stage three non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a tumor found inside of her intestine. The doctors proceeded to remove the tumor along with five inches of her bowel, and she

only got cleared to swim two days before the meet. But that didn’t stop her from swimming.

“I wanted to try my hardest and finish the best that I could,” Alfino said. “Now I’m happy, because after all of this stuff I have been through I did something super amazing.”

Following the meet, she began what would be a harsh six-week chemotherapy treatment. The medicine entered her body through a port in her chest from an IV, each session lasting for a different length of time, from 15 minutes to six hours.

“It’s really, really short but aggressive treatment,” Alfino said.

The doctors are taking every precaution to make sure that the cancer doesn’t return, because even though the tumor is gone, the cancer may not be.

“Lymphoma is cancer through the blood, so even though they got the tumor out the cancer could still be floating around in my blood,” Alfino said.

Photo Courtesy the Alfino family

But getting rid of the cancer for good does not come without a cost, as Alfino now faces painful side effects from the chemotherapy.

“I get really bad migraines,” Alfino said. “Last week, I was sleeping all week because of them.

At one point I couldn’t see, so I fell. Luckily my parents were there.”

She calls her parents her heroes throughout the process so far, and she is grateful for their sticking by her side and for making her strong and physically fit while she was healthy. She says this makes it easier to fight.

“My mom and dad are both endurance swimmers, so they inspired me to be, too,” Alfino said.

“The fact that I am physically healthy, strong and athletic, it increases my odds [of it going away forever] to the upper 90 percents.”

The hardest part for her, though, has been that she cannot do the things that she used to do. Things such as climbing the stairs are hard now, and attending school is nearly impossible.

“I am so tired all the time,” Alfino said. “I am just trying to see if I can make it to school for an hour at this point.”

Right now, Alfino is out of school, but she is still trying to keep up in her A.P. biology class and take the A.P. exam sometime this summer.

“My friend Kaitlyn Elliott set up a video recording system so that I can watch Mr. Shores’ lectures

from home,” Alfino said. “I want to study marine biology, so I really want to finish this class.”

Tiring quickly means that it is not possible for her to swim like she used to, which she describes as the hardest part of everything.

But this isn’t going to stop her for good.

“I want to start training again this summer, and I am going to start physical therapy to make sure that I don’t lose too much muscle during the process,” Alfino said. “I hope that I can swim at a Division II or III college [too].”

These past few weeks, the effects of chemotherapy have really hit her hard, as the first strands of her hair fell out. But her spirits remain high.

“At first I thought that the cancer was going to ruin my life, because it has such a bad rap,” Alfino said. “But I’m not going to let it.”

Swimming the conference meet was what reinforced her belief that she could overcome cancer and any other struggle, and that she will come out of it a tougher and stronger person.

“Sometimes I have breakdowns because I can’t do everything that I used to do,” Alfino said. “But the fact that I could still do this [swim in the meet] after everything just proved to me I can do it.”

“I am happy this happened when I am young and healthy, because it just increases my odds.”

To see two different stories from 9NEWS about Lauren, scan here.

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The Critique

1

Photo by Peter Leonard

An Unexpected Contestant

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Sophomore Nick Zayas shares his new interest of singing for his first time at Vista Idol

Reporter Jason Keller reviews some of the latest school events and pop culture topics.

2

3

Props & Flops PROPS to girl’s basketball for making it to the second round of the state playoffs.

PROPS to juniors and seniors having late starts during the two TCAP weeks.

PROPS to the rock climbing club for placing sixth in state at the varsity level.

FLOPS to the school bathrooms for being dirty and not well maintained.

FLOPS to TCAP for wasting class time that could be used more productively.

Hallway Talk

“Do you want to go to Whole Foods with me and make fun of the vitamins?”

“I keep smelling your dictionaries because they smell so good. Doesn’t anyone appreciate the smell of a good book?”

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Feature 31 Eagle Eye

Photo by Taylor Blatchford

1 Boy’s Basketball QQQQQ Critiqued by editor Taylor Blatchford

The Mountain Vista men’s basketball team has had a standout season, being ranked second in the state for the majority of the season and at one point holding a 19-game winning streak. After earning a number one seed and a first-round bye in the 5A state playoffs, the team defeated Lincoln in a buzzerbeater to advance to the sweet 16, then went on to defeat Cherokee Trail 78-76 in double-overtime March 6 to advance to the Final Four for the first time in school history. The success of the basketball team has revived Mountain Vista school spirit and drew remarkable numbers of students to the games, especially the memorable home rivalry game against ThunderRidge when the Golden Eagles filled over three quarters of the bleachers. This team has clearly been working hard the last few years to get to where they are, and I think they deserve all the credit they’re getting right now.

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Snow Days

QQ I I understand that safety is a concern of ours, and I know that the district needs to clock in a certain number of school days per year, but is that number really threatened by a snow day here and there? With the February 29 snow storm, it probably would have made more sense just to call school that day. Not only were the roads icy and slick, but many students decided not to show up. I get that the last part is out of the district’s control, but at some point the powers that be have to wonder if it’s really worth it to have school. Yes, I’m probably a little bit biased because I’m a kid and obviously would love a day off, but looking at this whole situation makes me feel like we’re trying too hard to get in all the days we can. I appreciate the delayed starts, especially concerning staff and student safety, but I guess I’m just saying,

quit trying so hard.

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“Babel” by Mumford and Sons

QQQQQ Mumford and Sons’ newest album “Babel” has been taking the music industry by storm, and it wasn’t all that surprising when it won album of the year at the Grammys. “Babel” comes in at about 52 minutes over the course of 15 songs in total. Each song is interesting in its own way, combining a blend of folk and rock to create an album that’s worth listening to all the way through. The vocals are great and not fatiguing, but where this British folk rock band shines is their guitars. And yes, they do rely a bit on the tension and release dynamic, but it’s honestly implemented very well, enough so it doesn’t seem gimmicky, rather a staple of Mumford and Sons. Overall, “Babel” may not be new, but if you haven’t heard it already, give it a listen.

“Harlem Shake” Videos

QQQ The “Harlem Shake” videos are a relatively new pop culture trend, that have grown to explosive popularity in a relatively short time. Essentially, the “Harlem Shake” videos can be summed up as one person dancing in a seemingly normal situation to the song “Harlem Shake” by Baauer, and at the apex of the song, the scene changes and now everyone is dancing or doing something out of the ordinary.

And, I’m a sucker for stuff like this. It’s not even the “up front in your face” kind of funny, it’s a rapid change of pace without much of introduction that I end up finding funny. Unfortunately, the humor wears thin after a couple of videos, and can get boring pretty quickly. I don’t predict this trend to last all that long, so enjoy it while you can.

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GABE RODRIGUEZ & WHITNEY MERRILL

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t Vista Idol during Hero Week, a surprising contestant entered the ranks of the other hopeful singers.

Sophomore Nick Zayas sang a self-written song accompanied by guitarist Erik Garcia, sophomore.

“It was just something I wanted to try,” Zayas said, “I think it worked out.”

Zayas’ song, “By My Side,” was written for his girlfriend, sophomore Hannah Scholz.

Upon being asked who the song was for at Vista Idol, he gave a shout-out for Scholz as the crowd followed with an “aww.”

Zayas also said if he had not written this song, he would not have participated in Vista Idol.

Sophomore Emy Pye, a friend and fellow contestant, moved him to audition for the competition.

“She heard the recorded version of that song I wrote,” Zayas said. It was listening to this song that made Pye tell him to audition.

This isn’t the first time Zayas has played on the stage, however. Zayas originally played the drums and later expanded his horizons as a singer and a guitar player.

“I’ve been playing drums for six years and guitar for

around three years. I’ve been singing for two weeks,” Zayas said.

Zayas’ music career started as the drummer of a band with sophomores Erik Garcia, Carter Lane and Nikolai Bielecki. Drumming and the band is no longer a part of Zayas’ music plan, as his focus has changed to recording music with Garcia.

Zayas said he finds it very different to sing rather than play the drums in the back of the stage.

Zayas decided to stand in the front for a change and move to the center of the spotlight.

Singing at Vista Idol was his first time ever singing in front of a crowd.

“You’re in front of the crowd [when you sing], and with drumming, you’re more in the back. With singing, it’s all about your voice,” Zayas said. “Before I got on stage, I was pretty nervous but once I started singing, everything was fine.

I always liked singing but it was never my first choice of instrument.”

“By My Side” was Zayas’ first song, and he does plan to continue his songwriting career.

In fact, he is already working on his second song.

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Photo by Gabe Rodriguez

The benefits of taking four years of a foreign language A

Feature 33 Eagle Eye

Forsythe’s Timeline

Lina Forsythe as she helps Marin Lusk, junior, in class. “[Ms. Forsythe] is really nice and she’s a good teacher. I’m glad she’s teaching us,” Lusk said.

Now

January 2013-present: Student-teaching for Linda Hammerton-Morris

mitch kampmann

t least two years of a foreign language class are required to graduate from Mountain Vista. Most people know that, but how many students really continue to take a third or fourth year learning a language, and do they continue to broaden their knowledge of the language throughout college and onward? There are five language courses available: German, Spanish, French, Chinese and American Sign Language. Why are students required to have two credits of foreign language instead of four, and how does learning only two to four years of a language really benefit them in the long run?

According to research by the National Education Association in 2007, learning a second language at a young age helps connect a child with another culture, and staves off age-related mental decline. The study also shows that knowing a foreign language can influence career opportunities.

GERMAN

Eva Kiss

Sandra Nesmith

Linda Hammerton-Morris

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Fall 2012: Observes Linda Hammerton-Morris at Vista

In a survey of 581 alumni of The American Graduate School of International Management in Glendale, Ariz., most respondents said they had gained a competitive advantage from their knowledge of foreign languages and other cultures.

“Learning German personally gave me a fresh new perspective on everything. Learning the German language is important because Germany is one of the stronger countries in Europe and has a higher standard of living.

The English language is closely related to the Germanic language so in learning German, you learn more about your own language.

Germany has also had a major impact on our culture as many Germans love to tour the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.”

FRENCH

“Learning a foreign language opens your mind and horizon. It really helps you appreciate the culture and helps your understanding of your own language. Studying a language also has benefits on a personal level, it has helped me learn about people, and for me, studying the German language provided a way for me to meet my husband.”

SPANISH

“Spanish is important because of the growing Hispanic population. Taking a foreign language helps you appreciate the relationship between the culture of the language you are learning and your own culture. Also, learning a second language really helps in the long run as it increases your marketability. I also believe it’s important to keep learning a foreign language throughout college and not just through high school because if you don’t use it, you lose it. Language can enhance everything you do in life both personal and professional and it’s good to have an edge over those who haven’t studied it.”

Learning to Teach Photo by Gabe Rodriguez

Student-teacher Lina Forsythe overcomes language, culture barriers in her pursuit to become a teacher

DYLAN INGRAM

Katherine Dannen

ASL

“Learning a foreign language is important because it helps you to learn about minority cultures and how to treat them. ASL is becoming especially important because hearing loss is becoming more prominent in the U.S. as people grow older. Learning a visual language like ASL is important because it means more communication.

Learning another language has especially become important in my life as now there are two cultures of people I can interact with. Also in many cases when you fall in love with a culture, you often fall in love with a person within that culture. I’d also love to have more boys in my class because ASL is heavy with girls.”

To learn some basics of American Sign Language, scan the QR code with your smartphone to go to ASLPro.com.

L

ost in unfamiliar territory, unable to speak English and separated from part of her immediate family, the beginning of student teacher Lina Forsythe’s time in the United States was filled with difficulty. But after more than a decade, she is using her heritage to improve the lives of Linda Hammerton-Morris’ Spanish students.

Forsythe has been living in the United States since 2001, when she emigrated from Colombia with her parents and one brother.

“The rest of my family stayed [in Colombia] because of family and profession,” she said. “My brother and I decided to stay here and my parents went back to retire.”

Since she and her family had never left Colombia prior to moving to the United States, Forsythe had numerous difficulties.

“The culture, [even] the food was one of the biggest challenges for me,” she said.

However, the largest challenge for Forsythe was communicating.

Nobody in her family spoke English, but she was surrounded by Englishspeakers all day at Bear Creek High School in Denver.

“[I’ve been studying English] ever since I got here,” she said.

“Being immersed helped me a lot, although I would go home having a terrible headache from hearing English.”

Forsythe did not always know how to cope with the language barrier.

“People who learn a second language go through stages and I went through all of them,” she said.

“I went through a silent period.”

In addition, she received little help from the school faculty.

“We used to have English as a Second Language [class], but that didn’t help much,” Forsythe said.

“We didn’t do much [in that class].”

By the time of her citizenship test, though, Forsythe was fluent enough to pass.

“I had to postpone [the test], but I had to apply for my citizenship,” she said. “I had to [prepare for] 100 questions, and they test you orally, writing and in speaking.”

Now, Forsythe is studying to teach Spanish and studentteaching several of Linda Hammerton-Morris’ Spanish classes.

“I’ve already [begun fully teaching Spanish V], which is

Advanced Conversation, and coteaching level three,” she said.

To Forsythe, teaching is the most important aspect of her life.

“It’s an opportunity to give back to the community,” she said.

“It fulfills me in the fact that I can see [students’] faces when they understand something.”

Since she learned English as a second language while she was in high school, Forsythe has specific ideas about what is important for a student in a foreign language class.

“What is important for students who would like to take a class, like Spanish, is that they understand why they’re taking the class and that they are the ones who have the will to take the course and are not taking it for anyone else,” Forsythe said. “What’s important is the drive and will to respect and learn the language.”

Forsythe also knows from personal experience the benefits of learning a foreign language. “[Foreign language] expands your culture views, diversity, and obviously allows you to speak with people who speak another language later on in life,” she said.

“There are so many beauties to the language.”

September 2012: Becomes a United States citizen Spring 2012: Observes Judi Welch at Mountain Ridge Middle School

Summer 2011May 2013: Finishes her education degree at Metropolitan State University of Denver, with Spanish as her major and Linguistically Diverse Education as her minor January 2011: Attends to Community College of Denver for one semester 2001-2003: Attends Bear Creek High School in Lakewood July 2001: Moved to U.S.A.

2001

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Feature 35 Eagle Eye

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LAST CHANCE buy a yearbook 2013 AERIE

GET ON THE WAITLIST: Bring full payment to Mr. Newton in U328 $87.50 until April 30 | $97.50 after May 1

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Senior class president Laura Londono got to meet and introduce Jayden to the school. “It was great to see him. He’s a little kid that’s been through so much and doesn’t even know it. I got to hear his story and see how strong he is,” Londono said.

Photo by Jessi Wood

A Spirit Shock: Making Vista History Kara Stockton, Kelsey Warden, Devon Miner, Erica Tagliarino

Photo by Kara Stockton

THe Final Four WHAT?

5A Varsity Men’s Basketball Final Four

WHERE? Coors Events Center Question and Answer with Mike Santini, junior:

Senior Tyler Greene performs at the halftime show during the Mountain Vista vs. ThunderRidge basketball game.

Photo by Jessi Wood

A

s a small child walked onto the basketball court, the overwhelming crowd went completely silent. In just a few moments, one kid put 2,000 chatty teenagers at ease.

Jaidyn, a small boy fighting cancer, appeared at the first assembly of HERO Week, in front of the entire Mountain Vista High School student body.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation challenged Vista to raise enough money for Jaidyn to go to Disney World. The students were determined to grant Jaidyn’s wish.

As HERO Week progressed, students got more excited to support Jaidyn by being a part of the events held by Vista. The hype was building up as more people got involved.

The week started out great, but people were looking forward most to the rival basketball game between Mountain Vista and ThunderRidge. “I’m new

Spirit Days

A quick glance at students who participated in HERO Week…

Monday Photo by Jessi Wood

Jake Pemberton, junior

here, so I’m just learning this rivalry, but I hear it’s pretty big,” sophomore Matthew Morris, a transfer to MVHS, said.

The pressure was on. The stands were packed. The Vista vs. T-Ridge game was overflowing with Vista spirit. Vista proved its dominance on its home court by taking over more than half of the stands. The cheers boosted the energy as Mark Hatcher, senior, led the exciting sumo cheer. “It felt good to be a part of the school. The best part was how packed it was, and seeing everyone there, to support the team. The fans were the best I have ever seen,” Hatcher said.

The Vista community raised $20,700 by the end of HERO Week. Vista wanted to make a difference and the students and staff did just that. A goal was what students needed to gather the courage to get rowdy for Mountain Vista, and the people who contributed were truly heroes to Jaidyn and his family.

Tuesday Wednesday Photo by Jessi Wood Photo by Jessi Wood

Hope Ruskaup, junior

Q: Why did you decide to dress up on Disney Day? A: “It’s always fun to dress up and show support, which is the main reason behind the dress up days.”

Q: What was your motivation to dress up?

A: “If people are dressing silly, then it encourages other people to not care if they look weird, plus I just love Winnie the Pooh.”

Q: What were people’s reactions to your costume?

A: “I’d like to think that people think that it was funny and I got called cute a few times, so that made it worth it.”

Steven Giesler, senior

Thursday Photo by Jessi Wood

Bradley Colebank, junior

Saturday Friday Photo by Jessi Wood Photo by Jessi Wood

Hayden King, senior

VS

@the University of Colorado Eaglecrest

WHEN? Friday, March 15

@8:30 p.m.

TICKETS?

$7 School Student Price $10 Box Office STudent price $3 Fan bus

To Go to the Denver post Chat room go to DenverPost.com/ Preps

To Watch online go to chsAA. Playonsports. com

Eagle Eye

Everything you need to know about tonight’s game

HOW? Photo by Ashten Ritchko

WHITE-OUT Friday Itinerary in Boulder: Places to Eat:

Cosmo’s Pizza (Huge slices of pizza that Are cheap and very tasty) Location: 30th Street and Baseline Road (right by the CU Events Center).

Places to Go:

Pearl Street Mall (Cool experience vibrant walking mall with some cool shops).

CU student store (Get the latest and greatest Buffs gear).

FOLLOW THE ACTION @vista_now #MVFinal4 #MVHS

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Evan Kilcoyne, freshman

WHO? Mountain Vista

Sports37

CU campus (check out all the ins and outs of the beautiful boulder campus).

Final Four Games: Legend vs Denver East at 7 p.m.

Mountain Vista vs.

Eaglecrest at 8:30 p.m.

Photo by Ashten Ritchko

At the CU Events Center. Be there early.

Eagle Eye 38 Feature

Sports 39 Eagle Eye

swimming State Ten girls compete in 5A state meet Kenzie HaberKorn & Kyle waters

O

Above: Cole SImonet, junior, rappels after a successful climb.

Right: Ryan Schroeder, junior, scales the wall at LifeTIme Fitness during practice.

Climbing Terms

Bould-er-ing n. The practice of climbing close to the ground without belay ropes Clip-ping in

n. The

process of attaching to belay lines or anchors for protection

Ra-ppel-ing v. Climber decends on a fixed rope using a friction device

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Climbing Their Way to the Top Climbing team excels in first year of competition

Kaitlin zenoni

U

sually the first year of a team in competition is a struggle. Learning the sport, rules and how to work as a team hinders the team from achieving desired results. The climbing team at Mountain Vista is an exception.

In its first year of competition, the team has placed second in the Colorado High School Climbing League as well as second in five of the six competitions. With seven invites to the varsity state competition, the team has proved their spot in the sport.

Sophomore Sean Harris notes, “We already have half the spots for varsity[at state).” The team secured these eight spots at state qualifying tournaments.

Many students take the popular physical education credit Adventure I, a class taught by the team’s coach Jen Vidal. The love and passion for climbing ignited by the class had many students interested in the sport. “Vidal proposed that we start (the team) and people flocked to it,” says junior Charles Peisert.

Others such as Harris who have been climbing for 11 years are more experienced, but know that prior experience is not a requirement. “We have kids that have just started rock climbing this year and now they are on varsity,” he said.

Rock climbing is more physically and mentally challenging than many believe. According to junior Cole Simonet, the hardest part is climbing itself. Relying

on fingers to grasp objects less than an inch wide and twisting your body in awkward positions is no easy feat. But he also notes the club has unity and does not feel like hard work when surrounded by his friends.

State competitions were held Feb. 22 for JV and Feb. 23 for varsity. Competing at JV was Carter Lane, Andrew Pavone, Connor Turner, Tessa Andrezejczak, Annie Lyons, Elizabeth Workman, Benjamin Palmer, Bobby Thomas, and David Madden. Darren Hauk, Dillon Ackerly, Anthony Marinelli, Ryan Schroeder, Cole Simonet, Sean Harris, Nick Arnot and Charles Peisert were the varsity all league players competing for a state title.

Overall, the Varsity men were sixth in state with Dillion Ackerly ranking twelth. JV men and women were equally competitive, with men taking seventh and women taking sixth, respectively. Tessa Andrzejczak was 11th in state and Elizabeth Workman climbed well enough to be 20th Next year the team hopes to improve their results for the state title and add new members to the team.

Peisert says the best part is,“You can just do what you love.” With high school sports increasing in competition level, this team is giving a new definition to unity and ability to try something new.

n Feb. 8, the Mountain Vista girls swim and dive team sent 10 swimmers and one diver to the state swim meet in Fort Collins. The girls competed at Epic Pool and Ice Center against the fastest female swimmers in the state and in Missy Franklin’s case, the fastest in the world.

Captain Kara Stockton, junior, said she likes “the hype” of the state meet and being with her team. “It’s really special to qualify for state so that’s a big part of the experience,” Stockton said.

The state meet for girls swimming is set up as a prelims and finals meet where all the swimmers who qualified swim in the prelims on Friday.

Then after each event results are put up. Only the top 16 in each event come back on Saturday. Those top swimmers get the chance to swim and place in finals.

Jenny Penneck, sophomore, was the only swimmer from Vista to make it back to finals. “I just gave it everything I had to qualify for top16,” Penneck said. “I was determined to do my best and it wasn’t so much about making finals. I had it in my mind that I wanted to get there but

it was more about myself and my swimming than about anyone else at the meet.” Penneck qualified in the 100-meter backstroke, 100-meter butterfly, 200-meter medley relay and 400-meter free relay and made it to the finals in the 100-meter butterfly where she swam personal bests.

Ashley Peterson, senior, also made it to finals for diving. Peterson has gone to state for diving every year since she moved to Colorado junior year.

Peterson said she is going to miss all the fun things we get to do. “I’m definitely going to miss going to state,” she said. “State is a really awesome experience and all the girls that get to go are really close. It’s also really competitive and fun to see all the club girls who are there.”

“This season was super good, but I want to make it even better next year,” Stockton said. “I just want [swimming] to be the best experience possible.”

State team ellen woon

Kenzie Haberkorn Jamie Nats Erin McMullan Christina Chavez Ashley Peterson Kara Stockton Jenny Penneck Bri Salanitro Gretchen Pokrant Photo by Kenzie Haberkorn

Missy the missIle

Photo by Kenzie Haberkorn

Missy Franklin is an Olympian, a World Record holder and a high schooler just trying to help her school win a state title. Franklin swam the 500-meter freestyle, 200-Meter individual medley, 200-meter freestyle relay and 400-meter freestyle relay at the state meet, winning first place in all of the events she swam. In addition to her new state record in the 200-meter individual medley she also holds the record in the 100-meter backstroke, 100-meter, 200-meter and 50-meter freestyle. Franklin will be attending the University of California Berkeley next fall and leaving the Regis swim team to defend its title without their Olympic weapon.

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