Issue 8 (April 9, 2012)

Volume 51, Issue 8

Monday, April 9, 2012

TheVoice of Prospect since 1960

ROSPECTOR

While writing about them may be too mainstream, this issue takes a deeper look at the recent trend of hipsters.

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In-Depth, pages 8 and 9

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District ends quartile ranking District 214 eliminated quartile reporting at the recent board meeting on March 15. Seniors this year will continue to have class rank on transcripts as the elimination of quartile reporting begins with the class of 2013.

Quartile reporting is the system that replaced numerical class rank last year. This year, freshmen, sophomores and juniors were split into four quartiles of their classes, according to their weighted GPAs. For example, students who would have previously been ranked 20th in their class were now placed into the first quartile, or top 25 percent, of their class.

At a board meeting last year, members decided that all district schools would begin using the quartile system, starting with the class of 2013. It would be recorded on students’ report cards and transcripts.

However, District 214 board members then discussed whether quartile reporting was the best idea for the high-achieving district.

Making the final decision of eliminating class rank and quartile reporting was met with controversy over which option would best benefit the students.

One reason why some people argued that quartile reporting should be eliminated is how competitive the district is.

“You can be a excellent student and be really successful in college, but still be at the bottom of your class,” guidance counselor Diane Bourn said.

According to Bourn, for the class of 2011, the top 50 percent of students had a GPA of 4.25 out of 5 or higher. If students had a 4.24, they were at the bottom of their class.

“Usually schools that get rid of class rank are high-achieving schools where students have amazing GPAs,” Bourn said. “To try to put all the GPAs within a rank, some of them have to fall at the bottom.”

Bourn feels some students do not take classes that appeal to them because it is not an AP class, and taking it will negatively affect their GPA and class rank.

Bourn spoke with members of the College Counseling Association from the Chicago area that had already gotten rid of class rank. Schools feel it benefits the student, and they have yet to find a downside.

Districts that have eliminated class rank in recent years include Township High School District 211, Stevenson District 125, Maine Township High School District 207, Naperville District 204 and Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200.

According to Bourn, districts that already decided not to include class rank on transcripts asked colleges at a college fair what would happen if class rank was not provided to them. A lot of colleges said they do not even look at class ranking that is sent to them. Other colleges that look

See CLASS RANK, page 2

Photo illustration by Ian Magnuson

By Jenny Johnson News Editor

Losing control Eating disorders leave students with low self-confidence, struggling with self-image

By Maggie Devereux and Maddy Moloney Online Managing Editor and In-Depth Editor With blonde hair, long legs and an impressive chest, Barbie holds high authority in modern culture of dictating young girls’ perception of women.

However, standing in real life at 5”9’, 110 pounds and with a bust of 30 inches, if Barbie were created in human proportions, she would have a body mass index of 16, which would classify her with an eating disorder, according to CBS News.

As girls’ perception of the average woman becomes unrealistic, it sends the message that they are

Bunch of beats

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Opinion, page 6

Dubstep has hit the American music scene with full force, but its history starts far beyond U.S. borders. To learn about the origins of Dubstep, see...

Entertainment, page 13

not good enough, which can lead to low self-esteem and low confidence, two major factors that lead to eating disorders.

The week of Feb. 26 was National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, but there’s more to eating disorders than just knowing they exist.

According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Other Associated Eating Disorders, eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. Despite the tragedies surrounding this illness, it is still shadowed with misconceptions.

Though “eating” is in the title, a common misconception about eating disorders is that the disease is centered around a person’s diet or appearance; however, the disorder

is focused more around control.

“The whole thing behind an eating disorder is you want to feel you have control over something,” said junior Joanna Orzel, who was diagnosed with Anorexia Nervosa last May. “That’s our addiction — the feeling of being in control. I felt like I was out of control of my life, so I just took charge of something, and it manifested itself in a way that I would restrict [what I ate],” she said.

Clinical psychologist Wilhelmina Shoger, who specializes in eating disorders, explained that eating disorders are an obsession with using food to control one’s weight, feelings or mood.

See EATING DISORDERS, page 2

Taste test Caffeine helps students stay awake during the day. To hear students sound off on their choice of caffeine, turn to...

Features, page 11

VS

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NEWS

Monday, April 9, 2012

EATING DISORDERS: Support helps students CONTINUED from front page

don’t always have to go with the eating disorder thought; “It literally consumes your entire I can go with a thoughts and thinking,” Orzel said. “I normal thought,” went to Italy [over the summer], and I Orzel said. “I can can still tell you where I ate, what I ate, actually focus on how much of it I ate.” c o nve r s at i o n s Orzel said it didn’t take long for her with people inparents to realize she had a problem. stead of thinking She became much more “secretive and about what I ate two sneaky,” and often lied, not only about hours ago.” what she was eating, but also about Orzel has found where she was and what she was doing. the most support in She also compulsively exercised and her family and friends, showed signs of depression, which she and having them underbelieves furthered her eating disorder. stand her disease has been Shoger explained withdrawal is a an important, major indicator but difficult, part. of eating disor“Support is just ders and said ofhaving someone to be ten times people there to listen,” Orzel who suffer from said. “If you educate eating disorders people about eating dislose friends beorders, there’s less of a cause of their stigma, and they know tendency to pull how to react if you tell away, which someone you have an junior Joanna Orzel causes them to eating disorder.” have the eating Educating her friends about eating disorder as their only companion. disorders wasn’t always easy for Orzel, Later in the year that Orzel was dias there are many ways to analyze them agnosed, she entered Timberline Knolls without ever having a full understandresidential treatment center, where she ing. worked on recovering from the eating A big concept involved with an eatdisorder. ing disorder that makes it hard to unThe treatment center focused on derstand is it is both a mental and physchanging her mentality and her beical disease, which can make it harder havior through setting daily goals and to treat. People who struggle with eattherapy. ing disorders could have physically re“The point where I saw I was getting covered, but may still struggle mentally better was [when] I could distance mywith their body image or controlling self from those thoughts and see that I

“I can actually focus on conversations with people instead of thinking about what I ate two hours ago.”

Weight loss on the Web One of the more recent trends involving eating disorders are Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia websites, which feature blogs supporting eating disorders by posting extreme tips on how to lose weight or how to hide a eating disorder.

The trend includes Tumblers, Twitters and independent websites. Junior Joanna Orzel is recovering from Anorexia Nervosa and had frequented ProAna and Pro-Mia websites but no longer does because of how triggering they can be.

“I was like, ‘I can’t look at this,’ because it was just awful,” Orzel said. “It’s just sad. Now that I’m in a better state, I can see how bad it is.”

“They’re definitely well known,” she said. “They’re scary to look at just because it’s really tempting to go back to old behaviors.”

Photo by Ian Magnuson

their calorie intake. support groups for stu“They always say the thoughts and dents recovering from eatthe body image are the last to go away ing disorders, but according out of all the behaviors, and so every to Roth, sophomore health classes eduday I have to challenge the thoughts cate on the disorders. and make sure I do what’s right for my Roth also sponsors a stress/anxiety recovery,” Orzel said. support group that, even though it isn’t Returning to school after treatment specifically directed towards eating diswas a struggle for Orzel, which she de- orders, is still an option for students scribes as a “trigger” to compare her- wanting to talk.

Expressing her self to others physifeelings throughcally and socially. out her recovery According to has played a major school psychologist Eating disorder triggers role for Orzel.

Selby Roth, while There is no one specific Even though school and peers can cause for an eating she was open about be a factor, eating disorder, but according her disorder from disorders can be trigto clinical psychologist the beginning, she gered by almost anyWilhelmina Shoger, there has learned over thing. are certain triggers: time that talking to “[An eating disorfriends and family der] is something that - Genetic composition about what she was could be triggered by - Nature vs. nurture going through has their self-image or - Family dynamic made an impact. self-esteem or what - Diet intensity “Honesty is the they think of them- Peer groups key,” Orzel said. selves,” Roth said.

- Media “As long as you’re “It could be from - Body type open and honest anywhere, from any - Depression and anxiety I’ve found that it’s setting,” she said. “It really the most could be from other helpful. peers, from televi“People aren’t sion, from magazines [or] from what society feels is the cor- going to be angry at you; no one is going to yell at you for having this. No one’s rect body image.”

At Prospect, there are currently no going to judge you.”

CLASS RANK: Students react to district decision CONTINUED from front page at class rank will try to make their own ranking according to recent Prospect students, if they feel the need.

“By eliminating rank, it encourages colleges to look a whole lot more at a GPA, which is a much truer indication for our students,” Bourn said.

Some students disagree with the change. Sophomore Felix Saji was upset about finding out he will no longer have an overall ranking for his grades.

“I feel eliminating quartiles lowers opportunities to grow because you don’t know how you’re doing in comparison to your grade,” Saji said.

“I feel like class rank shows how students work so hard to get their grades,” junior Carolyn DeSalvo said. “Without class rank, how can students prove to colleges that they have worked so hard?”

“I am glad they kept class rank for [the] class of 2012,” senior Michelle Wander said. “I think it shows what you

have achieved and what you are capable of doing.”

Wander can see why class ranking or quartile reporting is not good for students, either.

“I feel like getting rid of it could lessen the pressure on a student [of] always competing to be first,” Wander said.

“I think the board made the right decision,” Bourn said.

The right decision?

Eliminating class rank is an issue some students are divided on. For The Prospector’s opinion on whether or not eliminating the quartile reporting system was the right choice, turn to...

Staff Editorial, page 5

pGET ON MY LEVEL: Originally, District 214 decided to get rid of class rank and replace it with quartile reporting. However, quartile reporting appeared to have to many flaws for the highachieving district, leading to the elimination of class rank and quartile reporting all together.

(Cartoon by Anna Boratyn)

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NEWS

Monday, April 9, 2012

School in the sand Students take advantage of online summer courses

By Meghan Doyle Executive News Editor Sophomore Callie Leone wanted to fulfill one of her graduation requirements early, so she decided to take Information Processing in summer school.

However, her class looked a little bit different, as Leone woke up later than usual and went to school in her pajamas. Leone was able to do this because she took the course online.

“I figured either way I’m going to be taking [the class], and it’s not going to be that difficult, so I might as well take

What’s in a name?

Students will no longer be able to take E-Consumerism next year, either in person or online.

Instead, the class will be called Personal Finance and focus on the younger generation’s handling of money, according to Business Education teacher Paul Hennig.

Hennig said while the name is changing, the class will remain basically the same, covering the basics of real-world finance.

However, the new class will use both textbooks and computers to learn, as opposed to just computers.

The change also allows students to earn dual credits for Harper College, as the new material will line up with Harper’s.

u

p Wondering

it at home, where I can sit in my PJs and do it at 9 a.m., as opposed to 6 a.m,” Leone said.

Online Information Processing and E-Consumerism, now called Personal Finance (see “What’s in a name?”), have been offered over the summer for at least eight years, according to Associate Principal for Instruction Michelle Dowling.

The online option is not available to incoming freshmen and requires a minimum of five hours of work per day, as would be completed in a traditional, face-to-face summer school class.

With the online courses, students are required to attend the first day of the class at school to receive their materials, including a binder with hard copies of helpful notes, and the last day of the semester to take their final exams.

The online class “takes a unique student,” according to Assistant Principal for Student Services Luke Pavone.

Both him and Dowling agree online courses are only suitable for those that are good organizers, with substantial self-discipline, which also explains why incoming freshmen are not allowed to enroll.

Elk Grove Information Processing teacher Chad Froeschle, who teaches the class both online and in-person, agrees the online option is perfect for a busy, yet self-motivated student who has the technology know-how to succeed in the class.

“You need to know what kind of learner you are,” Dowling said. “If you have that ability to know who you are and how you can function, I think that will help [in making the decision to take

the online class].”

Other than the first and last days of class, students complete all of the course work on their own time at home.

Leone said she would check her e-mail every morning to see what her instructor had sent out. The e-mail would contain the necessary lecture notes, the day’s assignment and any required readings.

Leone said that while it felt “unnatural” at first, she had to get used to the focus necessary to learn the material on her own, instead of just being able to raise her hand when she didn’t understand something.

However, resources are available to students, such as links to online instructional videos and Microsoft Office tutorials, according to Froeschle.

As a last resort, students can e-mail their teacher for help, although that’s not how the class is designed.

Daily assignments can be found on Moodle, as the majority of the course is run through the site. Leone was able to use the site to her advantage by getting ahead in her work.

Certain aspects, however, were more difficult than in a face-to-face class, as communication with the teacher was all through e-mail and demonstrations were hard to do.

Other areas of the class also had to be altered for the online version. According to Pavone, students must comply with equipment requirements before signing up for the course, such as having a computer with Internet.

Froeschle, who has taught the class online for four summers, said the changes to the curriculum were minor,

A Dallas woman has opened The Anger Room, where stressedout stiffs can go to blow off some steam.

Get the full story on prospectornow.com.

about Disney’s new action flick, “John Carter,” which hit theaters March 9? Head to prospectornow.com to read what Matt Bajkowski thought about the recent release.

as the technology used is adaptable.

Overall, Leone said the online class seemed to be more curriculum-focused and less social-oriented than a face-toface class. And for Information Processing, Leone didn’t mind the change.

“The way that particular online class was run was mainly just ‘get it done, get it done fast,’” Leone said. “It was effective for getting through the material efficiently; [however,] I don’t know if it’s the best quality way to teach a class.”

Pavone also acknowledged the lack of “interpersonal relationships” found in an online course, but said it depends on the student’s learning style whether he will succeed in this environment.

Even still, due to the accommodating nature of the class, Leone found it to be a convenient way to knock out her requirement.

“For something that’s kind of [an easy] requirement, like Info, [taking it online] was an effective way to get it done,” Leone said.

“The best part is that it offers flexibility for kids that are trying to get in a lot of things and be afforded a lot of opportunities,” Dowling said. “We’re always trying to find ways to be flexible with students’ schedules to give them every opportunity that we can.”

i Online registration for all summer school classes, including online courses, ends April 20 for first semester and June 8 for second semester.

Stay updated on all Prospect spring sports, including baseball and softball results, on t prospectornow.com!

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NEWS

Monday, April 9, 2012

Seminar teaches girls awareness, defense

By Nabi Dressler News Editor School psychologist Selby Roth attended Girls Fight Back, a seminar on safety and self-protection, when it was first offered to District 214 in 2010 at Forest View Educational Center after hearing about some of the struggles of teenage girls.

Roth supported the program because she is “all for supporting any type of cause, especially to help out with teen girls and their safety.”

Before Roth left for college, her mother constantly told her she had to be safe and aware of who she was hanging out with, to avoid putting herself in an uncom-

fortable situation and to follow her gut feeling.

While Roth was able to discuss personal safety with her family openly, Girls Fight Back can break the ice for reluctant mothers and daughters about self-defense and assault prevention.

Junior and senior girls in the district, their mothers and female district employees can attend this year’s Girls Fight Back on April 16 at Forest View.

The self-defense education program, paid for by the district and free to all participants, is biannual.

According to PE teacher Aaron Marnstein, who acted as the middle man in bringing Girls Fight Back to the district, the thought is that current juniors and seniors can attend Girls Fight Back, and the program will return when the current freshmen and sophomores are juniors and seniors.

Marnstein believes all upperclassman girls and their mothers should attend because Girls Fight Back makes it easy to discuss safety aw a r e n e s s and self-defense. “[Girls Fight Back] gives the parents a vehicle to speak to their daughters,” Mar nstein said.

Roth also believes mothers who attend the program with their daughters show huge support.

Marnstein believes all females in ation if it were to happen,’” Roth said. the district, including staff members, Marnstein believes Girls Fight Back should attend the seminar so they can teaches students that no one is safe from be ready to defend themselves if such a criminals and that friends can also be situation arisattackers. es.

“When someDuring Girls one assaults you, Fight Like a Girl Fight Back, a it’s not always the professional masked man in the Senior Maddy Mazanek attended speaker trained bushes,” MarnFight Like a Girl at Prospect last in self-defense stein said. year, a self-defense seminar that talks to attendMarnstein beteaches girls techniques to fight off ees about topics lieves the self-deand get away from an attacker. like awareness fense skills gained Fight Like a Girl is more and risk reducfrom Girls Fight interactive than Girls Fight Back, a tion.

Back teaches lecture that educates women about Marnstein women not necesstopping assault through a speaker describes Girls sarily to get ready and little hands-on learning. During Fight Back as to fight someone, Fight Like a Girl, females learn to a more sit-andbut instead to be defend themselves from an abuser listen program aware of the situby fighting a fake attacker. that is roughly ation they are in “They showed us different things an hour long. at all times. Roth we could do in a bad situation,” The hands-off agrees.

Mazanek said. seminar is in “You see evcontrast to aneryone walkother self-deing through the fense program, streets, having Fight Like a Girl, which consists of their earplugs in and listening to their roughly three hours of hands-on train- iPods, and they’re not really paying ating (see “Fight Like a Girl”). tention to their surroundings,” Roth At the end of the presentation, the said.

Girls Fight Back speaker talks about According to Marnstein, the skills the program being “just the tip of the gained from the program don’t apply iceberg,” according to Marnstein. exclusively to students leaving home to “[Girls Fight Back] is the thing that live on a college campus. should implement you into looking into “Not only can a mother talk to her a further hands-on self-defense course,” daughter about the fears she has of her Marnstein said. going away to college, [but Girls Fight Roth also believes Girls Fight Back Back] also empowers the mother with raises awareness about being prepared the same information,” Marnstein said. for assault.

“The girl could be assaulted at col“It makes you feel empowered that, lege while the mother could be assault‘Okay, I feel that I could handle this situ- ed in the parking lot of Jewel.”

OPINION

Monday, April 9, 2012

Easy ‘goodbye’ to class rank

The Staff MANAGING EDITOR Emmy Lindfors COPY EDITOR Carly Evans ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR Maggie Devereux ASSOCIATE EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Jane Berry Andrew Revord NEWS EDITORS Meghan Doyle Nabi Dressler Jenny Johnson Danielle Keeton-Olsen OPINION EDITOR Kiley Walsh FEATURES EDITORS Anna Boratyn Khrystyna Halatyma Angela Larsen IN-DEPTH EDITORS Katie Best Zak Buczinsky Maddy Moloney ENTERTAINMENT EDITORS Tallyn Owens Tim Angerame Kyle Brown SPORTS EDITORS Jack Mathews Alyssa Zediker Matt Bajkowski Jordan Fletcher ONLINE EDITORS Miranda Holloway Tess Bauer Heather Dove PHOTO EDITORS Ian Magnuson Nick Cartwright Maria Chiakulas Olivia McAleer Josie Sajbel ADVISER Jason Block Some material is courtesy of the American Society of Newspaper Editors/MCT Campus High School Newspaper Service.

Published by students in Journalistic Writing courses, the Prospector has won, most notably, the 2004-05 and 2006-07 National Scholastic Press Association Pacemaker and the Gold Crown from Columbia Scholastic Press Association in 2006.

Mission Statement The primary purpose of the Prospect High School Prospector is to report news as well as explain its meaning and significance to our readers and the community. We, The Prospector, hope to inform, entertain and provide a school forum for the unrestricted exchange of ideas and opinions.

Advertising For ad rates, call (847) 718-5376 (ask for Emmy Lindfors), fax (847) 718-5306 e-mail or write the Prospector, 801 West Kensington Rd., Mount Prospect, IL 60056, prospectornow@gmail.com.

Letters to the Editor Drop off letters to the Prospector in the box in the library, in Rm. 216 or email letters to prospectornow@ gmail.com. All letters must be signed. Please limit letters to 400 words. The Prospector reserves the rights to edit letters for style and length.

It has become cliche for would only be listed as being parents of high school stu- in the top 25 percent of his dents today to remark about class. how much more pressure Now, the district has detheir children go through cided to eliminate class rankcompared to when they were ing starting in 2013. Current in school. GPA’s, ACT scores, seniors will still be ranked AP and Honors credit and in- under the traditional system. volvement in extracurricular We, The Prospector, supactivities now weigh more port this move. Class rank is heavily on the average high- supposed to help distinguish schooler’s mind than ever individual students within before as they embark on a their class, but it can also painstaking quest to impress be misleading, often telling the colleges of their dreams. more of a story about a stuThough it won’t elimi- dent’s high school and gradunate all the pressure students ating class than about the inface, District 214 has decided dividual student. to follow a growing This is often number of schools the case with around Chicagoschools like Prosland and across pect that have For Against strong academthe nation in eliminating class rankics and generally ing. high-achieving Previously, the students.

Studistrict board had dents applying to voted to change Voting results of The Pros- colleges should pector staff in regards to this the long-standing be considered editorial. class rank system, based on their inwhich assigned dividual achieveevery student an individual ments, not in relation to rank within their class, to a those of their peers. more general quartile sysFor example, a student tem, starting with the Class who has 4.25 out of 5 GPA of 2014. who attends a poor high With the quartile system, school with a smaller gradua student ranked 10th in his ating class with a 3.7 average class of 450, for example, GPA will probably be highly

Staff Editorial

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Maddie Conway

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ranked in his class.

If the same student attended a more s u c cessful and w e l l funded s c h o o l with a larger class with an average GPA of 4.5 out of 5, he or she would be ranked lower.

In other words, how a student’s classmates perform can hide or highlight that student’s own academic performance.

The quartile system might seem like a good compromise at first, since it eliminates individual ranking, putting students in quartiles, which better reflect their overall performance. But it has drawbacks.

For example, the firstranked student in a class of 400 would just be put in the first quartile with along 100th-ranked student. The

Cartoon by Anna Boratyn

201st student would still fall within the bottom two quartiles, or the lower half of the class.

The pressure is still on students to succeed, but eliminating class rank allows them to focus more on themselves and their performance without having to worry about being affected by how their classmates are doing.

They deserve that much.

Lessons taught in empathy Similar to how Cinderella changed when the clock struck midnight, I, too, become another person, but it’s when the clock hits 1 p.m.

I am no longer Emmy, the high school student, but I am Miss Lindfors, the second grade teacher.

I have 23 smiling faces greeting me, informing how they beat their latest score in Temple Run or how they finished reading one of their “Magic Tree House” books. I stand up in front of the class and help them learn about equivalent fractions, presidents and telling time by using SmartBoards, iPads and, of course, a pencil and Emmy Lindfors Managing Editor paper.

I can do this every day because of Education Academy, a district-wide class intended to help future teachers discover the ins and outs of teaching.

To get involved in the program, I had to go through an extensive application process last year, including essay questions and a face-to-face interview with the teacher Linda Pribyl.

On non-teaching days, we are at Rolling Meadows learning how to write objectives about student learning, manage classrooms and write lesson plans, which I have quickly learned is no piece of cake.

But mostly, being a part of the Education Academy has given me an even greater sense of empathy.

Empathy has always been a big point for me. I believe that, to quote Atticus Finch from “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

By being placed in a teacher’s role, I was able to climb into their skin and get the full experience, like dealing with upset or misbehaving students or having an unexpected fire drill disrupt a math lesson.

Now, when teachers are frazzled because the projector won’t work, and they have to reorganize their plans, I feel their frustration. Students do not understand how annoying it is when a lesson doesn’t pan out as planned. Teachers have dedicated a large amount of their time into a PowerPoint or worksheet, and it can get thrown out the window because some piece of technology decides it doesn’t feel like working, thus all that work goes to waste.

Before this experience, I assumed that teachers taught out of a lesson book provided by the textbooks they were using.

However, I soon learned the lesson books are more like guidelines, and teachers have to be the one to create the lesson.

At first that seemed easy to me; after all, I just needed to explain a topic to the students. How hard could that be?

Oh boy, was I wrong. While writing my first lesson plan, I realized how creative teachers need to be. They need to have an anticipatory set, an activity to get students motivated at the beginning of the lesson. They need to have multiple points in the lesson

to check for students’ understanding and use numerous styles of teaching in one setting. This means not just lecturing, but working with partners, moving around the room and playing games all within a time constraint.

Just thinking about cramming all of this into an hour made me want to pull my hair out; no wonder teachers always say the clock moves too fast.

It was at this point that I realized how difficult teaching is, and it isn’t a job to take lightly.

It is more than standing up in front of a class talking about various topics because there is so much prep work that needs to happen, like creating and copying worksheets. There aren’t magic copy fairies who magically get it done.

Teachers don’t just encounter problems in the classroom, like misbehaving students, but also outside. They say those who can’t do anything will teach. This could not be more false. To be a teacher, you dedicate more than the eight hours you’re at work by creating lessons, attending conferences and always having a creative mind working. But, in the end, it is all worth it. Your students think of you as a superhero. Your superpower? The ability to change lives.

The Education Academy is not just about how to become a teacher, but how to become a better human-being.

Thank You

Graphic by Emmy Lindfors

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OPINION

o t g n i l g g Stru e k a w a y sta

o:

Everyone has those nights where sports, activities and even dinner with the family seem to take up all your time after school. With a load of homework on top of that, it can turn into late nights of working until 2 a.m.

Then, all you can think of the next day is how comfortable your bed would feel.

Here’s a few Do’s and Don’ts of staying awake in class. By Kiley Walsh Opinion Editor

Graphic by Heather Dove

DON’T’S

:

’s there ss, so ur faa l c o in king e of y to r drin u have on ep it only o g n i o u e t y o a k f y e t i u s g .B ake ove kin one l taying aw your desk don’t wal d.com, y r e v s E s m on -Eat: chance of ks sitting — teacher ing to web t of ens d r n k r r i e n o t r u i c a d b r g c e d r a gr eal. A on have a lp. Chewin cks o d bottled a m n e s l t s e n e t r o m i a e h p o r i p l r h il ck vo a uf full C help ll sna ater w ep yo a sma g in with a nack, can ottle of w hing to ke s b n et walki a mid-day t or even a find som u r g re eatin ruit, yogu long as yo you a r F as r if e e t t t t ergy. so works, . a a o m o m al class ss, n ing, or n ason to a n gum l i c f f t a re rn go r wh ome e lea om, dozin matte hat you’r re, find s alth.c he e o h N e o : t w t h te s to lates u’re t rding icipa -Part y obliviou e that yo ion. Acco nd, stimu ticipata t l k r i s e h a l p is ue let ur comp uch you d nd ask a q aising yo p. Also by r e y. a m e p n l d e e s w e n v l o o e h but s rge t ur ha vement, o u g y n r i e u a rais nyth f mo erride yo e you ind o u’re a ill giv n your w any k nd can ov em like yo m i o a e over n athro you s brain the b slouching more tha akes o t m t g u r i f n o o o i y o k d t g i ing, n a f a dri g to oom: und inste will bene r t h e t g a n o the b move aro s of class uggli n als -Use to te ou ca really str u Y e s n . i u d c m e o e ex ar eri good ng fiv ole p ce if you Missi g the wh a f . k r s u e o d y in ream er on day d some wat h splas ake. w stay a

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DO’S

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W e ’re all gu u sleep, c class. So ilty han try sweatpan ts or a sw not to come to sc ces are you will fa hool in y ll eatshirt mind you our pajam — simply r body th a wearing at you’re jeans wil s, at school l reand not in -Sit in th your bed e back o . f class: A back of c llowing y lass is ju our st going to bother th asking to fall asle self to hide in th e kid in th ep. Nobo e away, wh dy in cla e cor ner ich will o ss is who’s qu nly make the front, ie g tly snooz oing to sle this will ing ep easier. force you keep you By sittin to consta r head a g in n n d eyes on tly pay a webmd.c ttention om the teach and er. Also, on wheth , the amount of li accordin ght in a r er it shou g to oom effec ld fall as window o ts y lee r even go ing outsid p or not. So if it’s our brain some wa e during y to seek sitting by yo the sun, fo a r it will h ur lunch period, fi e nd lp keep y -Let your ou awake head or e . ye tal game , and allo s rest: To stay aw ake can b wing you your hea e rself to c do lose your a very mentake your n your desk is li eyes and ke forfeit first “extr rest ing. The emely lon for the r moment est of th g blink,” you at class. th propped e r e is n’t much Fin up in you hope r desk, an d a reason to ke ep your d fight th body at urge to lay down .

Is ‘Kony’ a phony?

By now, you have probably his charity have gained as heard of the brutal Ugandan much negative attention as warlord Joseph Kony and his Kony in the weeks following the video. They’ve been acarmy of child soldiers. cused of dishonestly Thanks to the viral playing to people’s “Kony 2012” video, sympathy to get attenwhich gathered 86 million views on Yoution and money. tube as of Mar. 30, Many teens were as quick to believe and millions of Facebookrepeat the accusations using Americans against Russell and teens started caring Invisible Children as about an issue on another continent that others were to repost did not personally afthe Kony video all fect them in any way. Andrew Revord over Facebook. Both You are also now Associate sides have become probably familiar Editor-in-Chief bandwagons. Scrutiny with the charity Inis a good thing, but visible Children and its found- only when it’s constructive.

By focusing on the messener, Jason Russell, who narrates the video and appears in it ger and not the message, we miss the point and the chance with his son.

Unfortunately, Russell and to actually make a difference.

Monday, April 9, 2012

No, repeating claims against Invisible Children doesn’t make you more informed or countercultural, any more than just reposting a video on Facebook means you’ve saved Africa. Both sides have become bandwagons, which isn’t helping anyone.

Russell was taken in Mar. 15 for running through the streets of San Diego in his underwear in a hysterical state and hospitalized for malnutrition and dehydration. Russell’s wife has said his meltdown was the result of all the stress caused by all the often personal attacks.

Rusell’s breakdown didn’t help anything, but he couldn’t have predicted the amount of attention had and the video would get. For Hollywood stars and politicians, negative atten-

Making sense of the viral video, that took the world by storm tion comes with the territory.

That isn’t necessarily true for someone like Russell.

It is naive to think that a bunch of people who care now because of a slick campaign are all it will take for Kony to be brought to justice, but it is equally naive to write off the efforts as futile. Nobody was expecting a bunch of ordinary Facebook-users to stop Kony by themselves, but we can get those with more power to care.

To do this we can contact our congressmen and senators and tell them how important it is to stop Kony.

Already, the awareness Kony 2012 has raised has gotten U.S. and foreign leaders to notice. Celebrities like Justin Bieber, Oprah Winfrey and Rihanna have already spoken out against Kony through Twitter. Several congressmen have

mentioned the issue since the video went viral. On Mar. 24, the African Union approved of deploying a multinational force of 5,000 troops to combat Kony. These are exactly the kinds of things that will lead to Kony’s eventual defeat.

Kony 2012 isn’t just about Russel, Invisible Children or even stopping Kony. It is a chance for American teenagers of the Facebook generation to prove to the world that we’re not one of the most selfcentered groups on the planet.

To demonstrate the power of social media to make a huge impact for good. To show that in a year of political division, Americans can still come together for a common cause.

You don’t have to completely agree with the messenger to support a message like that.

On Prospectornow.com...

Read a respone to some of the criticisms of “Kony 2012” and find out more about Cover the Night on April 20, “Kony 2012 part II” and how you can help.

Also, you can follow the links to Invisible Children’s website, Facebook and Twitter pages, where you can learn more about the organization and get involved.

One of the ways you can help is by telling your congressman and senators how important it is to stop Kony.

There’s links to their websites where you can drop them an e-mail. Show them you care!

7

FEATURES

Monday, April 9, 2012

THE REAL ANSWERS FROM STUDENTS AND STAFF TO THE REAL IMPORTANT QUESTIONS AT PROSPECT

By Khrystyna Halatyma Features Editor

...A STUDENT EARNS A SCHOLARSHIP? COLLEGE AND CAREER CENTER ASSISTANT KATHLEEN MOODY: 1) For an in-school scholarship, the money would go straight to the student account and be withdrawn from their total. 2) A private scholarship, the student has to let the organization know what school they will be attending and the money will be transferred into the students account at said school. 3) The check is made out the student on a trust policy. Money is expected to be used for educational purposes, but there’s no way to facilitate it.

SENIOR MEGHAN GROTT: Grott applied to many schools and has gotten scholarships from them, but they were all in-school scholarships. This meant she was not given any money or check directly, and she would get the scholarship money once she picked her school of choice.

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...A STUDENT REPORTS BULLYING?

Magnuso Photos by Ian

DEAN DR. PATRICIA TEDALDI-MONTI: Whether it’s the victim or a witness reporting it, the school tries to get the facts straight before any actions are taken. They need to know who the bully was, what he/ she was doing, if anything has ever been done about it and how long it has been happening. The result can range from changing classes to a no-contact order from court. Tedaldi wants to make it clear that witnesses and victims have the option of staying anonymous throughout the entire procedure.

...A STUDENT CALLS ...A STUDENT PARKS IN “STAFF”?

ATTENDANCE ASSISTANT CINDEE SCHOEPS: First offense: warning. Second: a fine. Repeated: tow the car. A security person would write down the plates, give them to the Student Resource Officer, and he would run the plate number. The student would have to move the car as soon as possible.

SENIOR STEFANO DOLOMAS: He parked his car in staff multiple times throughout the this year. “I don’t think I’ve ever [parked in staff] and not gotten caught,” Dolomas said. “First offense, I got the yellow slips, but then during class I would get detentions.” Dolomas started to park in the staff parking spaces because there weren’t any spaces left when Dolomas got to school and, not wanting to park all the way out by the tennis courts, he took his chances. “I thought it’d be fine if I parked in staff because I’m a senior and I deserve it by now ... the dean told me that if I got one more parking violation my car would get towed, but it never did,” Dolomas said. “I guess it was just a joke to scare me ... I stopped because they fined me for it. Right when I would park there they told me to get out before I could even get out of my car.”

ATTENDANCE ASSISTANT CINDEE SCHOEPS: Signs of a fake call:

1) The tone of their voice, are they nervous? 2) The words and phrases they use, the way things are said. 3) Is there background noise? If the secretaries are suspcious, they write down the number they got the call from and check if it matches with the guardian’s number on file. If not, they then contact the number they have on file and confirm with the parents why the student is not at school.

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8

IN-­DEPTH

Monday, A

Hipsters: Â Beyon

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Some time ago, I was sitting, reading and drinking black coffee in a Starbucks in downtown Arlington Heights when the bell on the door jingled and three teenagers I didn’t know walked in.

They were decked out in flannel shirts and skinny jeans, and two of them were wearing cowboy boots. I know it’s cruel to define people by the way they look, but let’s be honest: People dress the way they want to be defined, and I immediately pegged these three as hipsters.

Now, I’m a bit of a hipster, to say the least, so when these three walked in, I felt a bond with them, like we are part of some secret cult preparing to sink the earth into anarchy. But as they passed where I sat, each of them shot me this look of absolute spite like three gossiping lizard hipsters, and when they sat down behind me, with sugary vanilla lattes and chai teas, they started talking about absolutely nothing.

I listened for almost 30 minutes as they ranted about their teenage drama and First World problems. Then I came to a realization: Hipsters are the counter-culture of this new generation, but they are useless when it comes to the humanities. Hipsters also have no goal or purpose, and as such, the hipsters are becoming laughable and mainstream.

The term “hipster� actually began in the ‘50s, with one of the first countercultures that people called “the beatniks.� The beatniks were like the modern day hipsters on drugs — they shot around the country on a penniless journey of self-discovery and knowledge Zak Buczinsky through literature, art and jazz music.

In-Depth Editor Then came the great ‘60s and ‘70s: the hippie generation. With the birth of rock and roll and great writers like Hunter S. Thompson and Ken Kesey, this counter-culture was dedicated to fixing the wrongs of society, from Vietnam and Nixon’s regime to the psychedelic movement and the “free love� campaign.

The American counter-cultures began a downward spiral in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but then in the new millennium, American counter-cultures hit rock bottom.

Unlike the beatniks and hippies, the hipsters have no great writers, artists or poets to define them; instead, they have YouTube videos. The only famous writers of this generation are people like J.K. Rowling, Stephanie Meyer and that loser who wrote “The Hunger Games.� The writers of this era have no idea behind their work. They just try to help their readers pass into a numb fantasy world and shut down that part of the brain that’s meant for thinking. The very fact that these writers are mainstream means the hipsters won’t read them; instead, hipsters lose themselves in the vast and numbing drug that is the Internet.

And, yes, this new counter-culture has its music, but unlike the Beatles to the hippies, the hipster music has gotten absolutely no recognition, and it never will, because the moment it does, hipsters will declare them sell-outs and jump to whatever new unknown band lurks out there.

Because hipsters have no great art or literature, they become prone to memes and pop culture references that constantly attack their lifestyle. And those people are right; hipsters are a joke.

All counter-cultures had a purpose and a cause to fight for — until now. The hippies and the beatniks were the culture of fighters who marched in thousands for what they believed was right. They were non-conformists, but they were non-conformists because of their ideas, unlike the hipsters, whose very idea is not to conform.

The hipsters need art and literature to make them a serious movement, but they also need a cause to fight for so the common population will have their beliefs put into question.

When the hipsters have a cause, it will become a taboo to be a hipster like it was a taboo to be a hippie.

Just being a non-conformist for non-conformity’s sake isn’t enough. There needs to be a reason, because the true non-conformist has nobody; the true non-conformist is an insane hermit living alone because he can’t stand the golden arches of McDonalds and has tried to run for mayor six times.

The hipster culture is a brilliant one, but it’s dying away, not because people don’t like it, but because everyone likes it.

So whether it’s initiating a quest for knowledge through literature and music or just supporting “Kony 2012,� the hipsters need a reason to be, or everyone will be a hipster.

I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want is all of my friends telling me they were hipsters before being a hipster was cool.

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‘7

IN-­DEPTH

April 9, 2012

9

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The history of the hipsters

By Katie Best Executive In-Depth Editor Every decade had its fads; the ‘60s and ‘70s had the hippies, the ‘80s had disco and the ‘90s had bad hair. However, as the new millennium came, a new fad emerged that seemed to be a conglomerate of the decades before it. This fad was deemed the “hipsters.�

According to Urban Dictionary, a “hipster� is defined as “a subculture of men and women typically in their 20’s and 30’s that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indierock, creativity, intelligence and witty banter.� However, according to sociology teacher Jason Cohen, hipsters are more than that.

Hipsters did not magically appear in mainstream society, though. According to Cohen, the “hipster mentality� starts

when a certain group (mainly 20- to 30-year-olds and high schoolers) gets an idea that is then specifically marketed toward others like them. The group generally expands on the original idea, and more people become involved, thus creating a trend or fad.

As Cohen explains, hipsters are about independence, non-conformity and “going against ‘mainstream’ society.� “[The hipster culture] comes together through bits and pieces,� Cohen said. “Take Chicago’s Bucktown area or independent movie makers and music labels, for example. All of them make a more powerful stride toward this independence in the grand scheme of things.�

School psychologist Selby Roth lives in the Bucktown/Wicker Park neighborhood, where hipsters frequent.

Roth said hipsters are often seen in her neighborhood because there is an Ur-

ban Outfitters, boutiques, concert venues and coffee houses in the area. “All these different places have a frequent flood of what is typically stereotyped as a ‘hipster,’� Roth said. “[Hipsters] have this unique mentality and individuality that fits into my neighborhood.�

Hipsters also contribute to the “development of culture� in the sense that they create their own changes in society. However, because hipsters want independence and change, they often are politically active and involved in “causes for the greater good.� According to Cohen, most of these effects can’t be determined until decades after the fad fades. “Hipsters’ change might just be the rebelliousness of mainstream society,�

Cohen said. “However, clothing might change, art might change ... it could happen until the fad actually becomes ‘mainstream.’�

Another main point of being a hipster is not actually admitting to being a hipster. If people admit they are hipsters, they admit to being mainstream, which defeats the point of actually being a hipster.

Sophomore Amanda Basalaj does not consider herself a hipster; however, she does admire and dress like them.

The hipster style is one way their culture is slowly affecting society. “[Hipsters] wear a lot of vintage clothes,� Basalaj said. “And I love vintage clothes and old-looking outfits; they can look so pretty.�

Clothes are not the only way hipsters are changing culture, though. Roth believes their “hipster mentality� also influences the people involved. “[Hipsters’] uniqueness and their want to be an individual really changes the way people view them,� Roth said. “It kind of gives off this ‘coolness’ that they possess.�

10

FEATURES

Monday, April 9, 2012

Coolest rooms you have never seen

While a math classroom must be equipped with calculators and textbooks and a literature classroom should have spare copies of novels, some classrooms have different necessities. These classrooms, while unknown to some students, teach more than a textbook ever could and can sometimes prepare them for future careers. For more cool rooms and The Prospector’s picks for the best room, head to Prospectornow.com.

By Danielle Keeton-Olsen News Editor

Dark room

For art students, a great photograph takes a lot more work than just catching something beautiful at the right moment. Developing a photo enhances the detail and clarity.

Instead of taking photos to Costco to get them developed for a price, Photo 1 to AP Photo students can develop them themselves in Prospect's dark room.

According to art teacher Barbara Shaffer, Photo students use the dark room to learn the correct way to develop their prints in a chemical bath.

Prospect has always had a dark room, but it moved to from the childcare room to room 1 in the art hallway after a renovation in 2003-2004, according to Buildings and Grounds Supervisor Oscar Acevedo.

After the renovation, the new art rooms, including the darkroom, were larger and more up-to-date, giving art students and teachers more space to accommodate larger art classes.

AP Photo senior Isabelle McGuire, while preferring to edit and print her photos digitally, has enjoyed her use of the dark room because she feels "more connected to the prints."

As she continues to major in photography at the Art Institute of Chicago, McGuire hopes to create a dark room in her house so she can use it to enhance her prints.

"You have to have a dark room in your house, or you have to be able to know a place like Prospect that has one," McGuire said.

Senior Isabelle McGuire

in the dark room

Costume shop

Underneath Prospect’s stage, hundreds of costumes line the walls. Behind the costumes, there is enough sheet music to supply a small symphony for years.

The costume shop, which was created in 1957, was originally intended to be a costume and prop-building shop.

According to Buildings and Grounds Supervisor Oscar Acevedo, the basement also doubles as a bomb shelter. The cement walls made it a great place to nail set pieces together, as well as run for cover.

“If there’s ever a tornado, that’s where I’m going,” Acevedo said.

When the floor isn’t covered with costume pieces and sheet music, actors and stage hands can read the last lines of past theater members.

It is tradition for the actors and stage hands that pass through Prospect to sign their names on the cement floor after their last show.

Junior Shannon Kobler, who acted in “A Midsommer Night’s Dream,” “Uno Part Deux” and “The Electric Man,” likes to read some signatures when she spends time in the costume shop during shows.

“It’s like you’re leaving your own little legacy,” Kobler said.

While still a few shows away from her final performance, Kobler is excited to sign her name next year.

“I don’t think it matters what I’m going to say; it’s just leaving your mark on the school,” Kobler said. “You did something really awesome here.”

pMAKE-UP AND MEMORIES: (Left) Junior Shannon Kobler and senior Nick Cartwright admire costumes in the costume shop. As they explore the room, they walk across the signatures of past theater students (above).

Athletic training room

pSCOOP IT UP: Athletic training aides sophomore Shannon Koch and freshman Brittney Warke scoop ice for injured students’ ice packs. (All photos by Danielle Keeton-Olsen)

Although Prospect’s athletic training room sees plenty of students every day, few know how much the room has evolved.

The athletic training room has gone through four renovations to make it as efficient and convenient for gym students and athletes.

Athletic Trainer Matt Guth worked with the architectural staff for one year to improve the former room when it was modified in 2004.

“We were lucky that this renovation

Junior visits her Irish heritage, rural life every summer break

By Jane Berry Associate Editor-in-Chief Between the mountains in the northwest of Ireland lies a single hill with a flag on top.

To the people who live here, it is said that a giant was buried

underneath the hill, but for junior Erris Rowan, this hill causes excited anticipation.

After over 11 hours of travel, this landmark means she’s less than a half hour from her grandparents’ homes.

All of Rowan’s extended

came late enough in my career that I pretty much had established what I felt was important,” Guth said.

Freshman athletic training aide Brittney Warke loves the athletic training room for the “many different things you can find” within its walls.

The athletic training room currently has an ice machine close to the door, a hot water tub to soothe injuries and a private, closed-off office for Guth.

The renovations have also made it more accessible to students when they are injured. Whenever someone is hurt, they can walk in and use the ice machine, located close to the door, while not getting in the way of seriously injured students.

family lives in Ireland, so she visits at least once a year. To be specific, they all live on farms in Belmullet, Ireland. For about three weeks every summer, Rowan spends time just hanging out with her family on their farms.

Rowan’s mother, Josie, believes all of her kids seem more Irish than American, so they really fit in when they visit.

When Rowan was younger, she would milk the cows on the farm or pretend to herd the sheep in the fields.

“Our family is pretty much normal,” Rowan said. “At least for us, finding grandma sheering the sheep isn’t surprising.”

One of her favorite activities was moving the cows to another one of her grandfather’s 10 fields.

“The cows were dumb, and they would wander off, and I thought it was fun to keep them on track,” Rowan said.

Rowan doesn’t work as much on the farm now, but her weeks in Ireland are rarely

When a student gets a serious injury from a sport or PE class, Guth is able to administer treatments to students, like physical therapy, with a doctor’s consent.

Warke hopes to apply her experience as “an extra set of hands for the trainers” to her career goals.

She volunteered to help in the training room to learn about physical therapy, her possible major, and all the equipment and processes that it entails.

The new equipment and layout make it easier for Warke and Guth to assist all of the bruised and battered athletes who walk through the door.

“If the door’s open and the light’s on, [a student’s] here,” Guth said.

boring. The main town is only about 15 minutes away from the farm. Rowan said everyone there knows each other.

“People we have never met will stop me and my siblings in the street to talk to us just because they know our family so well,” Rowan said.

Rowan’s uncle, Johnny, has always been an avid fisher. Two summers ago, they went fishing in the Atlantic Ocean on a boat he made himself.

“We could only go out when it was relatively calm, but it was still really rocky, and the wind and water were whipping us in the face,” Rowan said.

Rowan and Johnny caught many mackerel and one fish that looked like it had a crown on its head that they put back.

Once Rowan started high school, she began to visit her family only once a year, rather than twice. Rowan believes this makes her appreciate the time she has with them more.

Josie said although she supports whatever makes her

daughter happy, she hopes Rowan never stray too far from her heritage.

“I’m always sad leaving, but I love my life here,” Rowan said.

Josie believes their family traditions are smaller, but it’s more comfortable that way. The family gets up for Christmas, and because they don’t have to be anywhere, they spend the day in their pajamas.

“We have a very close relationship because we are such a small family unit,” Josie said.

For her, Chicago has more energy, life and places to go.

“Even the St. Patrick’s Day parade is more exciting here,” Rowan said.

Rowan doesn’t see her travels as unique; in fact, she describes her family as the normal meat-and-potatoes-fordinner type.

“For me, it’s just like how people visit their grandparents in Florida, except this just takes a little longer,” Rowan said.

FEATURES

Monday, April 9, 2012

Sounding off on coffee vs. tea

11

By Anna Boratyn Features Editor

Though a lot of students drink coffee to stay awake in class, there are different options to get energized. In a survey of 200 students, a majority preferred coffee to tea (see right). Though a third disliked both forms of caffiene, the debate continues. Coffee or tea?

Coffee couture

Coffee-flavored coffee

Freshman Katrina Espanola remembers first having coffee in middle school.

Even though she thinks coffee tastes better than tea, she has a policy regarding the beverages.

“If I’m tired, I go for coffee, but if it’s just a regular day, I go for tea,” Espanola said.

Espanola doesn’t know the specifics behind the health benefits and drawbacks of tea and coffee, but she does know that coffee can be harmful when it prevents normal sleep.

Espanola usually buys coffee at Starbucks and tea at Teavana. She believes that both beverages, especially coffee, have become fashion statements.

“You can look cute with a coffee mug. You can get cute little sleeves for it,” Espanola said. “I think those are cool.”

Coffee is one of the things English teacher Michael Andrews remembers most from his childhood.

Most people in his family drank coffee, and remembers liking the taste of it from a young age.

Now, as a teacher in high school, Andrews drinks coffee in the morning, but tea throughout the day.

Each morning before school, Andrews stops by the local Dunkin Donuts to pick up coffee with social science teacher John Camardella. Dunkin Donuts is Andrews’ favorite coffee place. He even knows the cashier, David, by name.

“I don’t like fancy coffee or flavored coffee.

I just like coffee-flavored coffee,” Andrews said.

Some like it hot

Home roast

Junior Isheeta Shah’s family has Indian tea imported from her Uncle Bhavan.

According to Shah, Indian tea contains more spices than its Western counterpart, and is very popular in India. Spices like ginger, cinnamon, fennel, peppercorn, nutmeg, and licorice root are all common.

Shah recalls seeing locals reading newspapers with a cup of tea on the side in the mornings during her travels to Gudjarat, a region of India.

Though her father, Mitan Shah, favors traditional Indian tea, comprised of sugar, mint leaves, spices and milk, Shah doesn’t usually drink Indian tea because she doesn’t want to become dependent on it, and doesn’t drink coffee because it tastes “disgusting.”

“I’m happy with my orange juice,” Shah said.

Sophomore John Loving’s favorite beverage is coffee, which he likes because of its taste, not its energy-boosting capabilities. As a result, he doesn’t drink it habitually.

Loving began drinking coffee mainly because his parents were coffee drinkers and there was plenty around the house.

Junior Sarah Trutza also began drinking coffee partially because it was readily available, but partially because she needs to wake up more quickly than she did in middle school.

Back in middle school, Trutza thought coffee tasted bad, but her opinion changed after she got used to the taste in high school.

Photo by Ian Magnuson

Who Knows You Better?

This issue, The Prospector interviews sophomore Jenny Ruda’s boyfriend, sophomore Josh Arshonsky, and best friend, sophomore Andi Hayes, to see who knows Jenny better.

Who is her favorite Disney character?

4

Ariel

Who is hisisfavorite Disney What her dream character? vacation?

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What are her favorite shoes?

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What was What was histhe firstfirst job? show she was in?

What does she eat for breakfast?

4

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Sophomore Josh Arshonsky

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Sophomore Jenny Ruda

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The Best Friend

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Sophomore Andi Hayes

“The Music Man”

“A Christmas Carol”

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12

ENTERTAINMENT

Monday, April 9, 2012

‘Titanic’ maintains melodrama, production value

By Tallyn Owens Executive Entertainment Editor When I was a little kid, we owned James Cameron’s 1997 film “Titanic,” on VHS (remember those?).

However, I was too afraid of the film after the ship got hit by the iceberg to continue watching and hid in my kitchen or bedroom to read books about the actual ship instead.

A decade later, basically everyone in the world has seen “Titanic,” but Cameron felt like adding on to the $1,843,201,268, it made world-wide during its first theatrical release, and the epic love story is being re-released in 3D on April 4. $2 billion is just chump change for Cameron, especially since he made another sizable chunk — $2.8 billion — off of 2009’s “Avatar,” the second time he’s made an all-time highest

grossing film.

The problem with all the money that “Titanic” will be raking in during the re-release is the love story set on the illfated ship isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Most people know how it goes, but basically, an upper class English broad, Rose (Kate Winslet) gets on the ship with her mom and her oil-tycoon American fiance, Cal , who is a huge jerk.

She meets Jack, played by Leo DiCaprio at his dreamiest, when he saves her from jumping off the boat to escape her arranged marriage.

Then, they fall in love after Rose realizes the vagabond life Jack leads is more fulfilling than her high society existence.

I understand Rose was in an emotionally vulnerable place, moving to the states and being married off to some rich dude so your family won’t lose their reputation, but as daunting as that all may seem, it hardly justifies abandoning the only life you’ve ever known for a guy you just met.

The scene shortly after the ship is first hit by the iceberg and Rose actually leaps off of a lifeboat back on to the sinking ship is probably the best indication of just how dumb this love story really is.

She runs down back into the lower decks of the boat, which are slowly filling with water, to free Jack after he had been handcuffed to a pole after be accused of stealing the infamous (and fictional) “Heart of the Ocean” necklace, pictured at right.

Upon seeing Rose re-enter the room, Jack holds her face in his hands and shouts “you’re so stupid, Rose!”

Which, coincidentally, is the same thing I shout at the screen for the majority of the film.

Although this defining pillar of the film seems so morally unsound, nobody can deny that the film was impeccably made, down to the costumes, the special Effects and the acting that accompany the melodrama.

Don’t forget the 11 Oscars, including Best Picture, “Titanic” earned at the 70th Academy Awards that are sure to silence any skeptics of the film’s su-

perior production quality.

Despite the misguided romance, the second half of the film (SPOILER ALERT) where the ship sinks, is actually a pretty great disaster flick.

If it was good enough on a 42-inch TV to send 7-year-old me cowering into the kitchen, then it may or may not have me hidden halfway under the seat in front of me on an 864 inch IMAX screen.

Think about it.

There are too many parts of the movie to name that were stunning 15 years ago in two dimension, but will blow audiences out of the water in three.

Or rather tumbling into the water from 150 feet, crashing into railings and propellers on the way down.

All of Cameron’s stunningly created disaster imagery remastered in 3-D will make the re-release well worth seeing, even if some poor, misguided souls will be heading to theaters to see Jack and Rose’s doomed love through their 3-D glasses.

‘Titanic’ by the numbers 4: the number of Grammys won by the film’s theme “My Heart Will Go On” performed by Celine Dion yT ic b

ph

Gra

11: Academy Awards won by the film. The most won by any film, a record which was tied by “The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King” in 2004

im An ger

14: The number of Academy Award Nomina-

am e

tions received by “Titanic,” which also ties the record set by “All About Eve” in 1950.

100: Years, almost to the to the day (April 2,

2012), since construction on the Titanic was completed.

Complex auditions enhance Orchesis’ ability, success

By Tallyn Owens Executive Entertainment Editor Orchesis director Kristin Burton faced a serious dilemma at the conclusion of the 2009 school year.

Out the 31 dancers who comprised that year’s group, 16 were seniors.

When Burton started working at Prospect in 2004, the standard was only to allow current Prospect students to audition, but at the end of the her fifth year, she decided reinvent the standard by allow incoming freshmen to tryout.

Burton said she doesn’t look for anyone grade level when selecting the group’s new members. In fact, she doesn’t choose the final members at all.

During the two-day audition process, the dancers learn two short routines in jazz and contemporary.

They also learn three skill combinations that consist of leaps, turns and technical ballet.

After the first day of tryouts, Burton chooses which dancers will move on to the second round.

From there, a panel of judges, comprised of former students and professional dancers, evaluate each dancer on a score sheet.

The scores are tallied and ordered.

The members of the group are chosen

based on a “drop off score” determined

by Burton.

Although the number is never exact, the amount of people in the group usually stays between 24 and 30.

This way, Burton believes she is able to avoid the “politics” many people associate with auditioning by being able to step back and have an outside opinion.

Although her original intentions were to have the freshmen fill the gaps left by the graduating seniors, Burton says she has gained several strong freshmen in the last three years.

“It’s really nice to see how they grow and improve through the four years,” Burton said.

Burton also noted there are certain exceptional incoming freshmen who she has been happy to have right away without having to wait for them to be sophomores.

In terms of the effect of losing 10 experienced dancers will have on the group, Burton feels that her older members have consistently maintained a good example for the younger girls while integrating them into the group.

“The older members are always good at setting an example of how hard we work,” Burton said. “Everybody’s on the same page; we all need to work really hard and help the new people.”

pSO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE?: Senior Orchesis member Sam Roberts helps prospective members of Orchesis learn a combination during the first day of tryouts on Wednesday, April 4. For the past two years, Burton and a panel of judges with dance experience have added two smaller groups of underclassmen in addition to a few upperclassmen, based on technique instead of age, in order to create the best possible group. (Photo by Ian Magnuson)

13

ENTERTAINMENT

Monday, April 9, 2012

Going dub-ster diving A reporter’s journey through the musical labyrinth of dubstep

Watch the throne

Kyle Brown Entertainment Editor I, like many of my fellow Chicagoans, am a connoisseur of deep dish pizza.

To be honest, I get rather distraught when I hear my friends say that deep dish is disgusting.

But if you look at a deep dish pizza and compare it to the thinner, healthier looking and altogether more basic thin crust Roman pizza, you can understand why outsiders might be taken aback. There’s a reason some call our pizzas “pies,” and that’s because it resembles the baked, fruit-filled dessert more than it will ever bear a likeness to its Italian forefather, and in my mind, that’s just fine.

This cultural distancing found in pizza can be found in another medium as well: the dirty, filthy, grimy (that’s what the kids say, you dig?) art of dubstep.

There are two sides to the dubstep coin: those who get it and those who don’t. I am part of the former. The appeal to the cacophony of barking wubs and whining treble is beyond me. As a musician, I have a greater capacity to be open to more styles of music, but for me, dubstep is something I may never grow accustomed to.

I realized not too long ago that I probably wouldn’t be able to listen to dubstep for more than eight minutes without feeling like I was about to have a seizure (that’s normal, right, WebMD?). With that said, I still felt like I had an obligation to seek out the meaning behind the electronic war

One step, 2-step A 2-step garage beat, a trademark of dubstep, is an irregular dance beat that doesn’t conform to the typical garage “four-on-the-floor” (pictured below), or a four kick drum hits per measure, one on every beat.

Usually they will have a kick on the first and third beat of a measure with a shuffled rhythm on top of it (pictured at right), usually incorporating syncopation or off-beat triplets.

Graphic by Heather Dove screeches known as dubstep. And so my quest began.

Dubstep is a form of dance music that originated in the London underground music scene a little over a decade ago. The atmosphere of a dubstep performance was originally a bunch of enthusiasts crowded around a DJ while he live-mixed and crafted his art.

Dubstep in its most basic form is a dub, which can be either a remix of an existing track or an original synth melody, over a 2-step garage beat (see “One step, 2-step”). In the beginning, it was trimmed, danceable and relaxed.

As soon as artists used the dub as the wubby bass we know today, the genre was tarnished.

The dubstep most students know today is the recent triple Grammy-winner Skrillex, famous for his hit “Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites,” which samples a viral video of a girl saying “Oh my gosh!” over and over again.

Skrillex, however, is not “real dubstep,” at least not the way European artists see it. Instead, Skrillex is more of an Americanized, fattened-up version of the British art. We tend to do that a lot, don’t we?

There’s no way around it; even classic dubstep was strange. However, there was a way to dance to

2-step garage beat

Four-on-the-floor beat

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British dubstep — essentially, it was akin to the robot, jerking about to the beat in a stiff, mechanical modus, whereas American “Brostep,” as the Europeans call it, can only be danced to if you shudder uncontrollably.

WARNING: Do not attempt if you have high blood pressure, nursing or are pregnant.

And here we are, in 2012 America, where we have a bunch of kids hopped up on Four Loko going to raves throwing glow sticks around because they’re psyched about some guy playing around on his laptop. Am I missing something here?

That’s the opposite of the indie culture the European Dubfathers intended to create, and that’s why they continue to ignore America’s interpretation as an art form.

In the fashion of the British men who pioneered the style, I will not give artists like Skrillex an ounce of recognition until they bow down to their masters, get off their high horse of sold-out concerts and create something with a discernible melody persisting the length of an entire track.

Modern day dubstep is loud, obnoxious and, most importantly, scary. One can only hope that a return to the old way of mixing might be able to salvage the souls of the scene boys and girls who have chosen to listen to the thundering sludge of Skrillex and company.

What I’m about to say my shock, appall and disturb you.

I, Tallyn Owens, have never seen “Lord of the Rings.”

My boyfriend (the dummy on the left) has expressed vast disapproval, and I am legitimately afraid to tell my LOTR-obsessed cousin for fear that she may stop speaking to me.

I have, however, closely studied the fantasy phenomenon of the past year — HBO’s epic “Game of Thrones,” based on the book series by George R.R. Martin.

The second season of the latest HBO money-maker premiered on April 1.

The most efficient way to explain the appeal of “Game of Thrones” (GoT) is to quote a character from a show I’ve already written about in this very space, NBC’s “Parks and Recreation.”

Ben Wyatt, played by Adam Scott, is forced to defend GoT to his coworkers, and he offers this nugget of advice: “It’s a crossover hit. It’s not just for fantasy enthusiasts; they’re telling human stories in a fantasy world.”

As with most other aspects of life, the writers of “Parks and Recreation” hit the nail on the head with this one.

The reason the human aspect of the show is so important is because fantasy can be intimidating, as silly as that sounds.

It’s why I’m still afraid to tell my cousin I’ve never seen LOTR. Even if GoT does tell human stories, the fantasy world they’re being told in is REALLY confusing.

The show takes place in a land called Westeros where seven kingdoms exist.

The most interesting indication of how puzzling the world of Westeros can be is the main title sequence of the show, which actually won an Emmy for its portrayal of a map of Westeros come to life.

The several semi-royal families competing for an opportunity to rule are the primary aspect of the show that might puzzle new viewers.

However, Season 2 opens on the brink of a war between the North of Westeros and the reigning boy king and the worst person on TV, Joffrey, for beheading the former Lord of Winterfell, a city in the North.

Basically, Joffrey was fathered by her mother’s twin brother. It’s a medieval fantasy world, so incest isn’t as weird.

But it’s still weird enough for the Lord of Winterfell, Ned Stark, to be killed by Joffrey for his treasonous knowledge of who Joffrey’s father really is.

I told you it was confusing.

Despite the relative confusion around the endless hands grasping for power, the emotion, whether blatant or subtle, creates an intricate portrait of a society in which too many people desperately want to rule.

There are also some ridiculous fight sequences.

Battle, both small and big, is common in Westeros, but this isn’t a “Medieval Times” show. The fighting on GoT is of a silver-screen caliber with jousting, sword fights and blood by the bucket.

If “Lord of the Rings” is the fantasy godfather that always seems to elude me, then “Game of Thrones” is the conniving grandson I keep bumping into.

Let’s just hope I don’t sustain any sword wounds.

14

SPORTS

Monday, April 9, 2012

State athletes to lead badminton team

By Alyssa Zediker Executive Sports Editor

Helping hand

The girls’ badminton team has two returning state qualifiers, the doubles team of senior Shea Gallus and sophomore Noreen Caporusso. They finished in the top 16 at the state tournament last season.

This was Gallus’ second state tournament, and she felt she had to be more relaxed to help Caporusso through her pre-match nerves.

“I was the one who knew all about state and what to expect,” Gallus said.

“It was fun seeing [Caporusso’s] face and how she was reacting.”

Now that they have both competed at state, Gallus and Caporusso are able to share the knowledge and experience they gained with the rest of the team.

“I think [having returning state qualifiers] gives the team hope, because state seems like such an unreachable goal, but if I was able to make it as a freshman, maybe they think they can make it too,” Caporusso said.

Caporusso and Gallus will be No. 1 doubles, and sophomore Kiley Walsh and senior Allison Walsh will be second doubles this season.

Badminton head coach Jean Rezny is hoping to get both these teams qualified for state.

Singles is still up in the air, though Rezny feels senior Maura Benson will have one of the top spots, since she’s a returning varsity player and won eight matches last season.

Benson played in the third spot for singles for their match against Hersey on April 3, where she won her match in three sets.

Benson played behind Caporusso

pRACQUETING IT UP: Senior Shea Gallus and sophomore Noreen Caporusso face off against Palatine on March 20. The two finished in the top 16 at the state meet last season and will be returning this season with hopes to head back. (Photo by Ian Magnuson) and Gallus, who she feels are also really good singles players and playing against them has helped to improve her game.

“It is good seeing [Gallus and Caporusso] under pressure; you look at them as a model,” said Benson, who tries to model her composure after them.

“This year we’ve got a lot of talent, and so far everyone is working hard,” Rezny said.

Though the team finished third in

Vote in the latest poll on rospectornow.com

conference last year, Rezny feels they did not have the same level of talent as Fremd and Buffalo Grove, who finished first and second respectively.

However, this spring she feels differently because of the experience the team gained last year, and she expects to improve the conference finish to first.

“I think we have a leg up because we have already been playing with each other for a year,” said Gallus, who feels she and Caporusso figured out the tech-

‘07 grad Lindsay Gibbel, who placed first in state for badminton her senior year, has been helping out during practice. She works with the girls by playing against them, and the current players learn by observing her.

“I would like to think they learn when I play against them from the different patterns I hit,” Gibbel said.

Head coach Jean Rezny said senior Shea Gallus and sophomore Noreen Caporusso have benefitted from playing against Gibbel, since she feels they are the top players in the program right now and are able to compete against her.

“Really, what has been fantastic is that she has been able to hit with some of the players,” Rezny said. “They’ve improved tremendously since [Gibbel] came on board.”

nical skills last season.

The team has more experience because of their nine seniors, eight of whom have played since freshman year.

“I think because we are all seniors [there is] more of a drive to win and make it a good senior year,” Gallus said.

“Everyone is trying as hard as they can, which is great,” Rezny said. “ It’s never, ‘Oh, I am just playing my teammate’; it’s a competition, and they know that.”

Sprinting toward success Girls’ track sets indoor records

By Matt Bajkowski Sports Editor The girls’ track season started off with excitement this year when seniors Melissa Jones, Kathleen Kennedy, Abby Banna and Christine Grossman broke the 4x200 relay record with a time of 1:51.

According to head coach Dave Wurster, no other track team he has coached has started a season in such an exciting way. Wurster said the records indicate that this season should be an interesting one for the girls.

While the outdoor track season didn’t begin until after spring break, the indoor has been in full swing since the first time trial on Feb. 17 and wrapped up after spring break.

Jones said the indoor track season is one of the shortest of all sports at Prospect, but she feels that the girls’ track team accomplishes a lot in the short amount of time.

She feels the indoor season gives the team a good

15

SPORTS

Monday, April 9, 2012

look into how they are shaping up for the season and provides the coaches with good feedback on how they have set up their runners.

Wurster said he agrees with Jones, as he gets the best look at the season after looking at all the data and results from indoor track.

He is then able to make important decisions about who is participating in what event before the main outdoor season begins.

Wurster sometimes sees the indoor track season as more practice than anything else.

“We get an opportunity to warm up and prepare for the outdoor season with competition that is very similar to the regular season,” he said.

Jones thinks the team is on track to do well this year, based on how the team did last year and how they have done in indoor track so far.

Last year, the girls were divisional champs, and Jones said she wants to continue with that level victory and go further this year.

“The team is strong with seniors and juniors who all have some track experience,” Jones said. “We want to take advantage of that.”

Wurster also believes this year’s team has a lot

JACK One-and-done is no fun

pRECORD RUNNING: Sophomore Damira McPherson runs relay at the April 3 track meet. The girls’ track team has already set records during the indoor track season. (Photo by Ian Magnuson) of returning experience, which will help it have success this year.

He cites junior Brooke Wolfe as a good example of a strong competing athlete who has been on varsity since her freshman year.

Wolfe said she doesn’t see herself in a leadership role, even with her experience on varsity. She believes that next year she and the other current juniors will need

to take the leadership positions.

Several other juniors have taken a leadership role on the JV level, which Wurster said shows the high level this year’s team has risen to already.

“They have shown their ability to compete really strongly so far,” Wurster said. “I want that level of competition to be carried outdoors.”

PREP seeks recognition from local schools

By Aungelina Dahm Staff Writer Over two million hockey fans packed the streets of Chicago with an overwhelming amount of pride and excitement after the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup June 9, 2010.

Since then, Illinois has been the 24th fastest growing state in hockey, according to unitedstatesofhockey. com.

Even though hockey is on the IHSA emerging sports list, it is still not an official sport in Illinois high schools.

However, PREP is a team that provides competition for the students who want to continue hockey throughout their high school career.

PREP stands for, and is made up of players from, Prospect, Rolling Meadows, Elk Grove and Palatine. There are 3,422 youth hockey teams currently ranked nationally and within districts, according to thehockeysource. tv. PREP is not one of them.

Head varsity coach Dave Mugavero only wishes that his team could get a fraction of the recognition that other teams do.

“Quite often we play against rival teams, and they have kids from their schools coming out with signs and banners, and they’re cheering,” Mugavero said, “or they’re just there as a general presence, and we don’t really get that. We just have family coming out.”

Junior Chris Dolan has been on

You Don’t Know

pPOWER SKATE: Junior PREP player Chris Dolan skates into position for a play during a tournament in Cincinnati in January. PREP is a hockey team composed of students from Prospect, Rolling Meadows, Elk Grove and Palatine. (Photo courtesy of PREP) PREP since the spring season of his eighth grade year, and he thinks one of the main reasons Prospect doesn’t get noticed as much is because there are so few Prospect players on the team; most of the team comes from Rolling Meadows.

Another reason Mugavero thinks PREP doesn’t receive recognition is they have been around for only six years. While the team has grown in popularity, it has not been as much as Mugavero and his team would like.

“PREP is newer, but because of our

Team rivalry Despite the rivalries created in other sports between teams in the MSL, it doesn’t create friction between teammates on PREP as one would think.

“It’s the exact opposite [with PREP],” freshman Joey Catalano said. “We play as a team and there has never been any hatred. We’re all like brothers.”

Junior Chris Dolan loves that the team gets to interact with players from different schools, too.

“I’ve kind of just developed a relationship with some of these guys,” Dolan said. “I think it’s cool that it’s not just with kids from your school.”

success we hope it gets us all recognized,” Prospect freshman and varsity player Joey Catalano said. “That’s why we want it to be more highlighted. We want people to look at us and say, ‘Wow, I want to play for them.’”

PREP has already been recognized by various high school newspapers, Journal Online, TribLocal and other local newspapers. However, since Mugavero was just named Director of Hockey Operations, he is more handson with trying to get participation from the schools to increase the popularity of the team.

He hopes it will start to gain appreciation from the schools and getting clips on the announcements.

“We need to get into the schools; we need the schools to recognize their student athletes just a little bit in order to get them support,” Mugavero said.

“That’s one thing we need to do in order to raise awareness of the team and to get people to come out for the team.”

As March ends, another NCAA tournament is over, and even though this year’s championship game well made up for last year’s, it also confirmed how irrational the “one-and-done” rule is.

The rule that started in 2006, which requires players to attend college for a year or wait a year after they graduate high school to be eligible for the NBA draft, has not been beneficial to NCAA. Even though many NBA players Allstars drafted before 2006 did not go to college, both the NBA and NCAA thought this would be advantageous for their respective leagues.

The rule does improve the marketability of many teams in the NCAA, but some players have no business making a one year pit-stop in college before they enter the NBA. One example is Kentucky freshman and NCAA champion Anthony Davis, who will almost certainly make like his eyebrow and go “one-and-done.”

Davis would have been much better off right now as a player if he were in the NBA with NBA coaches working on adding muscle and developing his post moves. Instead, he’s using his 7’4” wingspan to stand in the paint, swatting any attempted lay ups into row G and dunking any lob within a 20-foot radius of the basket over the under-sized forwards of the college ranks.

Guys like Davis, who could have been a lottery pick out of high school, have no intention of working toward a degree, and no one has taken advantage of this more than his head coach at Kentucky, John Calipari.

Calipari runs essentially an NBA farm team where he sends a majority of his team to the NBA lottery and replaces them the very next year with a different crop of freshmen.

To Calipari’s credit, he has done a remarkable job of getting so much talent to work together and win, but for fans of college basketball, it is starting to become like playing against a varsity starter in gym class basketball.

Yes, we know you’re good at basketball; you don’t need to score 20 straight points in a make-it-take-it game every day to prove it. Let the soccer player take a shot.

Keep in mind that everyone who attends college, even athletes, are supposed to have some kind of motivation to get a degree, but it seems Calipari’s only idea of a graduation ceremony is the draft.

The “one-and-done” rule has made a mockery of the term “student athlete” in Division I basketball. The latest analysis of graduation rates of Division I basketball teams’ players showed that Kansas has a 91 percent rate, which is 22 percent more than Kentucky, who beat them in the national championship. Other prestigious basketball teams like the University of Connecticut are only graduating 25 percent of their players.

In effort to boost these graduation rates, the NCAA is now pressuring the NBA to raise the entry age even higher.

The NBA benefits from the rule because their future players get more national exposure before they enter the league, as well as because teams are able to scout a player for another year, meaning teams have less a chance of drafting a Kwame Brown. But not allowing someone to pursue their dream with millions of dollars on the line seems unjust.

At the end of the day, players should have the right to go straight to the NBA from high school to pursue their dreams, especially if they have no real intention of pursuing further education.

SPORTS Monday, April 9, 2012

On Prospectornow.com ...

Check out video footage of the Big Knight and watch the badminton, basketball and dodgeball tournaments hosted in the field house on March 16.

Senior ‘sacrifice’ Boys’ volleyball has dedication, talent in experience of upperclassmen

The underclassmen According to JV volleyball coach Daria Schaffeld, JV and varsity are thought of as one big team, and most of the time they practice together.

But while varsity is extremely experienced, JV has three players who have never played volleyball at Prospect before: freshmen Eryk Krzyzak and Kyle Formanski and sophomore Danny Thomas, along with only two juniors.

According to Schaffeld, this has not been a disadvantage.

“At times I have had to simplify things a bit to make sure the new guys understand the system, but their teammates have been very helpful to them and allowed them to blend in pretty seamlessly,” Schaffeld said.

By Jack Mathews

Executive Sports Editor

pBUMP, SET, SPIKE: Senior Drew Edstrom spikes the ball against Barrington. This year, the varsity boys’ volleyball team is made up of 10 seniors on a 12-man roster, where JV has three players who have never played volleyball before. (Photo by Ian Magnuson)

Coach Camardella The volleyball program has a new addition to its coaching staff this year.

Social science teacher and varsity basketball coach John Camardella will be coaching the freshmen team.

As a player at Hersey, Camardella led the Huskies to their first trip downstate and won the sectional championship. Camardella himself was All-Conference, All-Area and First Team All-State during high school.

Although he coached volleyball at Prospect earlier in his career, he stopped when he took the head basketball coach position, but he couldn’t stay away long.

“I really missed [coaching volleyball], and [it] is one of my favorite sports,” Camardella said. “When there was an opening this past summer, I jumped at the chance to get back in.”

“Sacrifice” is the word written on the back of this year’s boys’ volleyball T-shirts. According to JV coach Daria Schaffeld, they wanted to find a slogan that summarizes what it takes to be an athlete.

Although the motto is different this year, head coach Mike Riedy said the expectations for the team are the same as always — to win.

With 10 seniors on the 12-man varsity roster this season, Riedy thinks the team has a lot of potential.

“We have a lot of talent [this year], but the question will be whether we can bring it all together and win matches,” Riedy said. “So far some guys have stepped up and contributed, while some have work to do.”

Senior John Doughty said because of all the seniors, the attitude of the team is more direct this year.

“I think [having 10 seniors] brings more focus to the team because we all know the drill, and we’ve been playing with each other since freshman year,” Doughty said.

With so much experience, they can spend more time at practice working to prevent injuries.

Over the summer, Riedy and Schaffeld attended a coaches’ clinic at Penn State University, where they learned active stretching exercises and plyometrics, which they now make sure they implement into the beginning of every practice.

“We are starting practices with more dedication to maintaining health instead of trying to prevent re-injury,” Schaffeld said. “We want to be proactive, not reactive.”

Besides the abnormal number of seniors they have and more stretching in practice, Doughty thinks this year is different for other reasons, too.

“This year is more about winning and working together,” Doughty said.

“Even practices are really intense, and we have some really serious tournaments in the beginning of the season.”

One thing that keeps practices intense is the fact that the varsity and JV rosters can fluctuate depending on who the coaches think is playing best.

“This keeps guys motivated to work hard to either keep the jersey they’re wearing or earn a [varsity] jersey,” Schaffeld said.

Dealing with an extremely tough early schedule, the varsity team has yet to win a match as of April 2, with a record of 0-6. Facing the favorite to win the Mid-Suburban League, Barrington, twice and other top ranked state teams, like Vernon Hills and Glenbard East, senior Pat McIlwee thinks the boys will be able to turn things around.

“I don’t think we’ve played our best, but I think playing those teams earlier in the season will get us ready for the conference games that matter the most,” McIlwee said.

Although Riedy agrees it has helped in some ways, he thinks the slow start has hurt the team’s confidence.

“It has prepared us physically, but mentally it is disheartening when you go 0-6 to start the season,” Riedy said.

“Now we’re trying to convince the team that they can win and not everything is over.”

MSL East play started on April 3, and this is where the Knights will look to build their confidence and start a winning streak.

Dividing them up

pTEAMWORK, TEAMWORK: Head volleyball coach Mike Riedy huddles with the varsity team before their match against Barrington. Although there are two separate teams, varsity and JV players are constantly changing levels, and the majority of the time the two teams practice together. (Photo by Ian Magnuson)

Varsity Roster

JV Roster

Pat McIlwee James Doughty John Doughty Kevin Somogyi Patrick Atwood Drew Edstrom J.D. Fischer Max Triveline Richard Lenke Kacper Swedura Mark Mir Curtis Glennon

Grant Andler Matt Burikas Max Cahill Kyle Formanski Max Gancarz Mike Gattuso Alex Goneh Eryk Krzyzak Matt McPartlin Jake Schwister Danny Thomas Eric Wilms

“When [coach Mike] Riedy and I decide our teams, we don’t look at years at all,” JV coach Daria Schaffeld said. “We hold a competitive try-out and pick the best players, but this year is atypical in terms of how many seniors and how few juniors we have.”