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rocky mountain
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Volume 36 No. 5 January 23, 2009
inside
Bryan Peters receives Gold Helmet and state recognition, A8
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events
Invisible Children book sorting Jan. 24 at 9 a.m. Sophomore and junior planning night Jan. 28 at 6:30 p.m.
Survivor winter dance Feb. 13 from 8:30-11 p.m. $5 per ticket
No school Feb. 16- Presidents Day
quote of the issue “The main struggle with me isn’t with him. It’s how people perceive people with special needs. He doesn’t think he has a disability; the world is just his playground” -Sarah Bailey on having a special needs sibling, B1
fyi
The first video announcements of this semester air on Jan. 28
John Denver • Rocky Mountain High
Now online at RMHighlighter.org
, DO N ASS GO P T O N DO
College admissions look for numbers by Torrie Moss RMHighlighter reporter
Most students goals when they decide to go onto postsecondary education do not include retaking a class they learned in high school. The Colorado Commission on Higher Education recently reported that 30 percent of students in Colorado are going to need to take at least one remedial course in college. This is a huge problem not only concerning colleges, but also high schools. The real question is who is to blame? Colleges would say the high schools are at fault. However, the question is, why are colleges accepting students who require remediation even though they may have passed the class in high school? “This is a huge topic,” said Matthew Lopez, the Admissions Director at the University of Colorado. “There are many people and arenas that can be blamed, but I don’t think anyone really knows how to fix the
Rocky Mountain High School 1300 W. Swallow Rd. Fort Collins, CO, 80526
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Behind the YouTube phenomenon and what some students are doing to get their 15 minutes of fame, B8
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problem.” Colleges sort out students that need remedial work by their GPA and ACT scores. Some Universities also require students to take placement exams to test the knowledge learned in high school. The more difficult the college is to get into, the more likely that college will have fewer remedial students. “A d m i s sions at CU are very holistic,” Lopez said. “Academic qualifiers (i.e. course rigor, GPA, test scores) are very important but we also look at co-curricular activities, work experience, essays, etc. The whole person is reviewed.” According to the CCHE
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Stats swayed in CCHE remedial students report by Sam Hyland
RMHighlighter Co-editor-in-chief
report, 1.2 percent of first time students admitted into CU were in need of remediation. In contrast, 9.5 percent of Colorado State University students admitted needed remediation. Even if the test scores are Jump to COLLEGE, page A2
After the release of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education’s report on students in need of remedial education, the blame game has officially begun. The colleges are blaming the high schools for not preparing their students adequately enough. The work force is blaming the colleges for not teaching the students important skills for their job. And the high schools are blaming the colleges for accepting unprepared students. Since 2005, the CCHE reports that across the state, 30 percent of students go on to college in need of remedial education in at least one subject. This year the most frequently needed remedial subject is reading followed closely by math. According to the report, 20.8 percent of Rocky stu-
dents require remediation in at least one subject, the most common being math. “If you think about it, are colleges really the best source?” language arts department head Tom Smailes said. “I mean is the report talking about four-year public schools, community colleges,? What about all the students who go out of state? There are just too many factors that sway these stats, so the data is very interesting but the real question is how accurate is it?” Among other Poudre School District schools, Rocky has the lowest percentage of remedial students in college while Poudre has the highest with 24.1 percent. However, Principal Tom Lopez agrees with Smailes when he questions the reliability of the stats. “The sample population is extremely limited,” Lopez
Jump to REMEDIAL, page A2
Proposed cell phone ban aimed at distracted drivers by Kenna Alexander RMHighlighter reporter
Efforts to pass a driver with his or her cell phone glued to his ear are mostly in vain. White knuckles grip the wheel, as the gas pedal jerks up and down in an effort to keep up with the car’s inconsistent speeds. However annoying a choppy stop-and-go drive to school may be, it’s much
less damaging than other effects studies have shown talking on a cell phone while driving may cause. Horrific accidents and tragic deaths have come to be common results when dealing with distracted drivers. The National Safety Council is advocating a total ban on use of a cell phone while driving. They have named talking on a
cell phone while driving “clearly dangerous” and also stated that it “leads to fatalities.” The council suggests that “states should ban drivers from using handheld and hands-free cell phones, and businesses should prohibit employees from using cell phones while driving on the job,” Jump to CAR, page A2
Kenna Alexander
DISTRACTED DRIVING: Senior Katie Cova talks on a cell phone while driving through the parking lot. The National Safety Council has been advocating a ban that would make cell phone usage illegal in all vehicles.
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news
rocky mountain highlighter Jan.23.2009
Iguanas up for adoption by Courtney Bellio RMHighlighter Features editor
Science teacher Tom Creegan is famous for his vast collection of exotic animals. But as of this semester, Creegan has taken medical leave from teaching, and the pair of iguanas currently housed in his classroom have been put up for adoption. Science teacher Jan Harrison has been put in charge of overseeing the iguanas in Creegan’s absence and handling their adoption. “We have so many students coming next year, so all the classrooms need to be shared,” Harrison said. “Creegan can’t have his own classroom and we’ve run out of space. They (iguanas) just take up so much space.” Marcus Kehmeier, a 2008 graduate, took care of the iguanas while he was here, and has recently been taking care of
them while he’s been back from college. “When she was a student here, my sister had Creegan and she told me about him and I just fell in love with all the animals in the room,” Kehmeier said. The iguanas have been here for over seven years, and have not lived separately ever since. Because of this, one requirement for adopting the iguanas is that they be adopted as a pair. “Those two are always around each other,” Kehmeier said. “Creegan and I both believe that if they’re separated, they’ll become really depressed.” “We want to adopt them together and with the habitat so there is as little disruption as possible,” Harrison said. According to Harrison, the iguanas’ cage is 9 ft. long, 9 ft. tall and 4 ft. wide, taking up quite a lot of space. Another rea-
son that the iguanas have not yet been adopted is that caring for them is a detailed task. Harrison said that few people know how to take care of reptiles or want to learn. “The most strenuous thing is cleaning,” Kehmeier said. “You have to clean it several times a week, otherwise it smells- then just feeding them and getting them some exercise.” So far, Harrison has advertised only through word of mouth. She recently turned down a man who was interested in the iguanas who contacted her through Craig’s list for various reasons. Senior Amanda Baker has learned to care for the animals and has assumed the responsibility until a home can be found. “We don’t need it to happen very fast,” Harrison said. “As long as Amanda (Baker) can
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I think students feel very prepared leaving Rocky. With all the teachers and Advanced Placement classes offered here, you guys are very prepared.
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Char Mulnix College and Career Counselor
The government has showed concern about the number of students in need of remediation as well. According to John Karakoulakis, the director of legislative affairs at the CCHE, the Governor’s P-20
Council passed legislation last year aiming to better align the secondary and post-secondary systems, and changed some of admission requirements for college in an attempt to make sure that students are prepared to succeed in college and will need less remediation. Despite the statistics, the teacher community assures the preparedness of the Rocky students. “I think students feel very prepared leaving Rocky,” College and Career Counselor Char Mulnix said. “With all the teachers and Advanced Placement classes offered here, you guys are very prepared.”
College continued from A1 enough to get into a college, there is always a placement exam that will show if the student is ready for the next level of a class. The placement test will also show if students actually learned and retained the subject information in high school. Lopez thinks that the easiest way to help slim the remedial class numbers is to complete a college prep course in high school. “Colleges accept students knowing
that they will need remedial work because they need the numbers,” Char Mulnix College and Career Counselor said. “They need the funding. They do it for money and numbers.” Although the ACT and GPA scores are big factors in college admissions, sometimes colleges just need to make the cut. “I don’t know,” Counselor Chrystal Kelly said. “I think that it all comes down to the placement test.
Rocky Mountain High Teachers and Students you are invited to a special day at Cuppys Coffee
50% off all drinks
Tuesday Jan. 27th when you show your school ID
353 West Drake Road
(next to Life Fitness, across from CSU Vet School) Serving Lattes, Smoothies, Frozen drinks, Desserts, Burritos and more
Maybe the writers of the tests don’t know what the high schools are really teaching.”
Winter Survivor dance date set Come as a tribe, try and survive. That is the theme for this years’ casual winter dance, which will be held Feb. 13 on the rocks. The dance will be from 8:30-11 p.m. Tickets will be $5 per person and will be on sale the week of the dance at lunch and at the door for the same price. Students are encouraged to come in groups or tribes pertaining to the “survivor theme” and there will be a prize for the team with the best identity.
briefs
Katelyn Hunter
“Cuppy’s has the best lattes and smoothies in town!”
Bruce Dick, RMHS Boys Basketball Coach
Allison LeCain
take care of them, we don’t need it to happen fast. We just need to find the right place.” A few of Creegan’s relatives
have expressed interest in adopting them, but, if not the iguanas will be given to an animal rescue and sanctuary in Castlerock.
Car continued from A1
Remedial continued from A1 said. “There aren’t any clear stats for RMHS because so many people do different things.” Lopez also says that as a district, they have four goals that they strive to meet as a way to prepare students for whatever they choose to do after high school. The goals include: all 3rd graders be proficient in reading on the Colorado Student Assessment Program, Adequate Yearly Progress and No Child Left Behind requirements are met, a successful transition from junior to senior high is achieved, and finally students accomplish post-secondary education readiness.
HOMELESS: 2008 graduate Marcus Kehmeier holds Izzy the Iguana, a former exotic pet of Tom Creegan’s collection. The Iguanas have now been forced to find a new home due to Creegan being on a health leave.
Sophomore, junior college planning set It’s the time for sophomores and juniors to start looking at colleges. Sophomore and junior College planning night is coming
according to the Coloradoan. Currently, only Utah, California, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Washington already completely ban the use of handheld cell phones while driving, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. A study conducted by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis approximated that cell phone usage while driving causes nearly 6 percent of all vehicle crashes, with 12,000 serious injuries and 2,600 deaths per year, according to Janet Froetscher, the council’s chief executive and president. Senior Emily Schiola and junior Craig Buchanan both admit to driving and talking on their cell phones. “Cell phones can be distracting to drivers,” Buchanan said. “But I up on Jan. 28 at 6:30 p.m. That night the counselors will explain the steps to choosing the right college. Financial aid will also be discussed as well as how to write a college essay, the NCAA eligibility center, college entrance tests, how to apply, looking at colleges admission requirements, the scholarship process, military opportunities, community colleges, and choosing a major. All sophomores and juniors are encouraged to attend to help make the college selection process easier. Allison LeCain
Invisible children call for books, help The Invisible Children Club concludes its book drive today. The group has been collecting children’s books as part of a nation-wide book drive to benefit war-torn schools in Northern Uganda. A violent, 20-year civil war continues to plague education in the region where only 4 percent of Ugandan children
personally am able to concentrate on the road; I don’t need two hands on the wheel all the time.” Schiola on the other hand finds that it is difficult to drive and talk. “(Driving and talking on the phone) is dangerous,” Schiola said. “Your brain is somewhere else while your body is driving.” Both students agree the proposed ban may be a good idea. “(The ban) is probably a good thing,” Buchanan said. “It would cut down on accidents from drivers talking on their phones, and I’d follow that law.” “I like the idea (of a ban),” Schiola said. “But I feel like there are some situations where you need your phone, like asking for directions. I think it should be a secondary offense.” have access to books. The city of Fort Collins has a goal of collecting 10,000 books and the Invisible Children Club has set a goal of 2,500 books for Rocky. Club president Angela Komar is optimistic that Rocky will meet this goal, saying that only a week into the drive they had already collected nearly half the desired amount. Invisible Children is looking for volunteers to help sort, count and pick-up books on Jan. 24 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Anyone interested in helping out should come to the Commons Saturday morning. Jill Petrie ► Senior Alex Frucci carries books from the Invisible Children book drive
Ethan Farnsworth
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rocky mountain highlighter Jan.23.2008
Smarterer Than You Colton Klemperer
New show calls out character Picture this: you walk into a deli to get something for lunch. You hear some commotion in front of you. An employee behind the counter is refusing to serve a certain customer because of his/her race, and is calling him/her racial slurs in front of a crowd of people. Would you stand and watch it play out? Or would you intervene? We all claim that we always do the right thing… when we know we’re being judged by others. But what about when no one is watching? ABC has a new show on Tuesday nights called What Would You Do?, and it has been answering that question for many people. The idea behind the show is to see what the average person might do in a situation that tests their morals. Actors are hired to create these scenarios while a film crew sets up hidden cameras. In the scenario listed above, a man at a deli was refusing to serve a group of women because they were Latino. The employee told them that he didn’t like them and that they should go take their business somewhere else like Taco Bell. This man and the Latino customers, of course, were actors. However, none of the other customers in the deli were aware of this. Some of them simply stared uncomfortably at what was happening, hoping to leave the situation as soon as possible. Others chose to step in. One woman told the guy that she would no longer be eating at that deli. Another guy offered to pay for the meal for the two Latino women. The show deals with a lot more than just racial prejudices, however. One episode features a man and a woman on a date at a bar. When the woman walks away briefly, the guy pours what appears to be a drug into her drink. Another shows a group of teenage girls insulting a girl about her looks and social status. In every situation the show focuses on, there are always people who choose to be bystanders, and there are people who step in and try to fix the problem at hand. When it comes down to it, everything depends on what kind of person you want to be. When we want to impress others around us, we put up a front that isn’t necessarily who we really are. It is our actions when we are around total strangers that really define us. So what kind of person are you? Colton Klemperer is a junior and a reporter for the Highlighter
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news
SAR not final word
High ranking only piece of picture by Sam Hyland
RMHighlighter Co-editor-in-chief
On Dec. 10 the Colorado School Accountability Reports (SAR) for the 2007-2008 school year were released to the public presenting Rocky a high ranking in overall academic performance and a low rating in academic growth of students. The scale rankings include low, typical, high and excellent. Collins and Poudre also received a high ranking this year while Fossil Ridge was ranked excellent for the second year in a row. “It is very frustrating from a school standpoint,” Assistant Principal Karen Bennett said. “People don’t realize the difference. Statistically it is very difficult to compare a school of 1800 (Rocky) to a school of 1200 (Fossil Ridge).” Bennett is also in charge of the Colorado Student Assessment Program administration, which plays a huge role in the overall academic performance ranking that is received. The SAR looks very closely at several different areas of the school in
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It certainly doesn’t reflect all the elements of brilliance of our school. Rocky excels in so many more areas.
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Tom Lopez, principal
order to determine the ranking. Among the items that make up the rankings are CSAP scores, ACT scores, Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) of students, school employment such as teacher salaries and professional experience, students per teacher ratio, safety and discipline, elective offerings, attendance, drop-out rate, and the number of socioeconomic students “It certainly doesn’t reflect all the elements of brilliance of our school,” Principal Tom Lopez said. “Rocky excels in so many more areas.” “The SAR represents only a few aspects of a school, primarily those things that are measurable and comparable,” said Dan
Domagala, Chief Information Officer for the Colorado Department of Education. “There are so many intangible elements that could never be fully portrayed in a written report. It is those immeasurable attributes that make each school unique and individually successful.” The most closely scrutinized parts of the SAR are the CSAP scores and ACT scores of subgroups such as minority groups, the special education group, and the free and reduced lunch group. “Because one group didn’t make it, the AYP ranking was dropped to low,” Bennett said. “However with the No Child Left Behind Act requiring 100 percent proficiency by 2011 the bar (of AYP) goes up every year. So even though it looks like we aren’t doing as well, we could be doing just as well if not better.” Despite the low AYP ranking, the administration remains committed to the Lobo Way and a general school excellence. “CSAP is just a snapshot of a point in time and how students
show learni n g growth,” ►SAR, Lopez said. 2007-2008 “It gives relevant info but the SAR is just a rating.” Both administrators hope that to improve the SAR ranking they can try and have fewer students opting out of the CSAP testing. The more students that option out the more zeros the school receives in that category. Overall, Lopez says there is always room for improvement but has a major goal in mind for the school at all times. “The thing is not all students start the learning race at the same starting line.” Lopez said. “However the hope is that they all finish at the same place.”
LA teachers upset over credit changes by Jessica Powers RMHighlighter reporter
Often with great change comes great frustration. That is where the school’s language arts department finds itself after the school and district administration dictated changes in the English graduation requirements. Rocky’s administration has proposed to lower the English graduation requirement from 35 credits to 30 for the incoming freshman class without consulting the members of the language arts department. In addition, the district administration now grants three of Front Range Community College’s high school programs English credit—another surprise to the language arts department. “Colleges are telling us that we need to strengthen our rigor in our language arts courses,” said teacher Joan Ruberry, a 29-year veteran of the language arts department. “I do not understand why we are decreasing it. We have an obligation to these students to prepare them for whichever avenue they choose to take, one of those being college.” “This could potentially have a huge impact on the students, and in the long term will have an impact on the department,” said language arts department chair Tom Smailes. Although the English graduation credit change will still leave the school five credits above the district requirement, the 35-credit requirement for Rocky has worked well since 1992 according to Ruberry.
Trevor Mueller
The proposed changes include increasing the overall credits for graduation, starting with the Class of 2013, from the current 220 to 240. Credit requirements for all other core study areas will remain the same except for physical education, which will increase by 2.5 credits. “Other credit” options for students will increase from 60 to 85 credits. English credit is the only area with a proposed reduction. “In raising the ‘other credits,’ we are hoping that students will broaden their horizons and gain experience in other areas that they might not have had the chance to before,” Assistant Principal Brett Larsen said. “In lowering the English requirement, this gives us fewer opportunities down the line to impact (students) from a reading-, writing-, research-side,” Smailes said. “Students may still choose to take English courses as their elective credit,” said Ruberry, “but what teenager is going to want to take an English course that they don’t have to? I wouldn’t want to at that age.” In addition to the English
SPARKING INTEREST: Senior Bailey Fleming listens to representatives from Front Range Community College present their medical program. The medical program has now been given permission to give students taking their courses English credit.
credit reduction, another area of contention from the perspective of the language arts department is students now being able to earn five English credits through high school programs at FRCC. “FRCC has been trying for three years to have some of their courses receive English credit,” Larsen said. “The district has now granted three of their courses five credits of English, meaning they now meet the requirements.” Those FRCC programs are Animal Technology and Research, Medical Careers Exploration and Wildlife Forestry and Natural Resources. They have been approved to receive five credits of biology and five credits of English. “Students in these courses have to write research papers and do a lot of reading, so they should receive English credit,” said counselor Greg Knoll, who is the school’s FRCC high school program coordinator. “It can be difficult for some students to get that last five credits of English here, so this helps them.” Because it is a college, FRCC does not have to adhere to the federal No Child Left Behind
guidelines like Rocky does. NCLB guidelines require public school courses to be taught by “highly qualified teachers” —meaning teachers with documented expertise in that academic subject area. The FRCC programs where high school students can earn English credit may not have highly qualified teachers in the area of language arts studies, which could hurt students down the line. “There is inconsistency, outside of (Rocky) and in it,” Smailes said. Although the credit changes to the FRCC programs have already been finalized, the changes to the school’s graduation requirements, including the reduction of English credits, has not yet been approved. The proposal will go before the district’s principals and then to the Poudre School District cabinet for approval. Still, the changes—approved or proposed—are being made in how and how much English credit a student earns while at Rocky without consulting the school’s language arts department has irked those who teach in that department. “I was shocked that Rocky administrators would decide this at this junction,” Ruberry said. “I think reducing the credits here should be discussed after the district has decided on the new requirements. I am not against looking at, reviewing and changing requirements, I just think such a major change should have been discussed over time and with the department and staff.”
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Staff editorial
Pressure is on new Lobo 101 class
Education thrives in a democratic environment. One of the tenets of the Rocky mission statement, this mantra may be of Is the new i n c r e a s e d Lobo 101 class importance for the going to be school in effective for the coming year. incoming As this students? quarter progresses, a committee is meeting to design a new course Lobo 101 has to add to potential, but our curricuknown only with careful lum, as Lobo 101. evaluation An effort of class. to smooth the transition for freshmen and sophomores, the class will be mandatory for new students. It is an attempt to define the “Lobo Way,” a concept that tends to govern the unwritten rules of school. With the pressure that rides on this class as the first impression that the hordes of new students next year will take, a few important things must be considered to make it a success. Inevitably, we believe
At Issue:
Our view:
Letters to the editor
Be aware when commuting Dear Editor, Is it that hard to stop at a stop sign or red light? Apparently, it is. I am an avid biker who rides to school most days of the week. I try to obey all the traffic laws. However, while I was driving to school during my off-hour, I was waiting for the green arrow. As I stepped on the gas, out of the corner of my eye I saw a bicycle rider. I slammed on my brakes and somehow avoided hitting the cyclist. The cyclist thought they could make the red light and it almost ended in an accident. I urge all drivers to be on the lookout for cyclists and also for cyclists to obey traffic laws. It will make commuting a whole lot safer for everyone. Aaron Vernon, senior
this class cannot be a joke. Seriously. Students will have to be unequivocally convinced of the merit of the class, as a class that means something. It can be assumed that the class will have a negative connotation going in. Therefore, it must be fantastic to change the student perception. We have three steps to achieve this lofty goal. The first and most important is the class instructors. To
have students “buy-in,” the teachers have to buyin as well, which means each and every teacher should want to teach the class. Many teachers became teachers for the opportunity to help shape young people’s character, and this class can be an excellent chance to do that. But others have a greater passion merely for the subject they teach and would prefer to stick to their subject matter. With
understanding for scheduling difficulties, the class has a potential for failure if those who teach it don’t want to. Second is that it must be based on discussion. The democratic environment we preach must be evident in the classroom. With the loose definition that is the “Lobo Way,” student input is at a premium. Instructors cannot dictate from a textbook on how to achieve success in high school. Many universities have freshmen seminars in similar style, where a professor leads discussion on anything from dating habits to testtaking strategies. But it is as important as anything to this program’s success that we walk what we talk. If we expect freshmen and sophomores to abide by a code of respect, it can’t just be taught; it must be shown. Everyone from upperclassmen to the staff to the administration must come to school with an attitude of character and respect to put on display what is taught. Excellence proceeds from the top, and those who lead our school have to show this tenet of respect. The future of the Lobo Way may depend on it.
Reevaluate the appeal of fur Fake fur was designed so that people didn’t have to wear real fur. It is just as warm and looks basically the same as real fur, and is also cheaper and definitely more humane. So why do people still wear real fur? Does wearing a dead animal’s skin really appeal to people in today’s society? Most of the time the animal isn’t dead when they decide to make it into a jacket. That’s right. Fur companies use deadly doses of electrocution to the animals’ genital areas before they are skinned, usually alive. People who wear real fur support that whether they are aware of this or not. You can’t say “Well, they would have killed it anyway.” Not true. If you didn’t buy that rabbit fur hat or jacket, those companies would see that people don’t want to buy and wear dead animals and they would slow down production or stop making fur-wear altogether. It’s called supply and demand. The only animal-wear products I support are leather and wool. We kill the cow for food, and I think it’s better to use up the rest of the body, like the skin, for purposes other
Talkin with the Ex-prez.
rocky mountain highlighter Jan.23.2009
hi hli hter Rocky mountain
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The Rocky Mountain Highlighter is published nine times during the school year by the newspaper staff of Rocky Mountain High School/1300 W. Swallow Rd./Fort Collins, CO 80526. Contact Rocky Mountain Highlighter staff members at 970-488-7090 or 970488-7091 for advertising information. Also the Rocky Mountain Highlighter staff is in the Highlighter room, Room 528, during 4th period. Editors-in-chief Sam Hyland Jill Petrie
OT Editors Sam Hyland Paul Lukens
News Editor Sam Hyland
Reporters Austin Adams Kenna Alaxander Shelby Brown Alex Clinton Ethan Farnsworth Michael Hoppal Colton Klemperer Allison LeCain Greg Lewis Paul Lukens Alex Marwitz Torrie Moss Trevor Mueller Chris O’Grady Jessica Powers Adam Walker Aliese Willard
Viewpoint Editor Katelyn Hunter Sports Editor Loren Collins Features Editor Courtney Bellio Center Section Editor Jill Petrie Limelight Editor Chris Peters Advertising Managers Holly Adams Alexa Zafarana
Artist Seth Roberts Adviser Stephen Wahlfeldt
RM Highlighter editorial policy
The Rocky Mountain Highlighter is a student news publication which strives to report school and community events with truth, accuracy, objectivity, and clarity. The Highlighter will also comment on issues of interest to its readers. The purposes of this publication are to report the news to the Rocky Mountain High School community, to provide the school community with a public forum for thoughtful discussion and debate, and to provide students on the newspaper staff with practical journalism experience. In order to make the Highlighter as professional a publication as possible, important legal and ethical guidelines will be followed. Senate Bill 90-99, enacted by the Colorado General Assembly during the 1990 legislative session, declares that “students of the public schools shall have the right to exercise freedom of speech and the press.” (Colo. Rev. Stat. Sec. 22-1-120) We, the staff of the Highlighter, are prohibited by law from publishing certain materials. We will respect these laws. No material which is libelous, encourages illegal acts, or causes material and substantial disruption to school activities will be published. Expressions which are obscene will not be printed. Profanity will not be printed unless it is considered absolutely necessary by the Highlighter editorial board to express the views of the writer or quoted person. Expression which is false “as to any person who is not a public figure or involved in a matter of public concern” will not be printed. “Expressions which are in violation of lawful school regulations designed to control gangs” will not be printed. In the event of a potential controversial item, the editorial board --consisting of all the editors, the advertising manager, and the adviser --will meet to discuss the merits of the item and then decide whether or not to print the item. Coverage of deaths which occur within the Rocky community will be carefully considered by the editorial board. Natural or accidental deaths will be reported for clarifications of death and will contain a memorial. Except in extreme circumstances, suicides will not be covered to reduce glorification of such acts. In general, the Highlighter observes the guidelines presented in the “Code of Ethics” of the Society of Professional Journalists. The Highlighter will not allow source review prior to publication, unless there is a clarification issue. Source anonymity will be granted only after careful consideration by the editor, with the editor reserving the right to make the final decision. Staff editorials shall be presented logically and will represent the views of the majority of the staff. Editorial criticism, of either individuals or groups, will be based on fact and will be constructive. Guest editorial space, the “Open Forum,” is available to anyone in the Rocky community, including students, parents, faculty, and administrators. Anyone interested in writing in the “Open Forum” should contact the editor-in-chief or the adviser, Stephen Wahlfeldt. Letters to the editor are welcome. They should be signed, and a home phone number should be included. The writer’s name may be withheld upon request, provided the editor agrees that the reasons for withholding a name are valid and compelling. Try to limit letters to 300 words and place them in one of the “Letters to the Editor” boxes, located in the Media Center and the Main Office, or give them to a Highlighter staff member, Highlighter adviser Stephen Wahlfeldt, or drop them by the Highlighter room, Room 528, during 4th period. Letters may also be mailed to the Rocky Mountain Highlighter, Rocky Mountain High School, 1300 W. Swallow Rd., Fort Collins, CO 80526. To talk with anyone on the Highlighter staff, phone (970) 488-7090. Columnists express their own views and not necessarily those of the Highlighter staff. No expression made by students of the Rocky Mountain Highlighter shall be considered an expression of school board or Rocky Mountain High School policy. Furthermore, Poudre School District and its employees are immune from any civil or criminal action based on any expression made or published by the students. All advertisement is welcome. To place an ad, contact Highlighter advertising managers at (970) 488-7091. The Highlighter, however, reserves the right to refuse advertising which the staff considers inappropriate for our audience. The Highlighter is a member of the ASNE/MCT Campus High School Newspaper Service, and some material is courtesy of that service. The Rocky Mountain Highlighter reserves the right to edit anything it publishes.
Alex Clinton than simply throwing it away. And with wool, it is shaved off of the sheep, and it repeatedly grows back. I am not the kind of animal rights activist who will dump red paint all over your fur coat. I believe in education not humiliation. I would rather sit down with someone and explain to him or her the barbaric factors of fur than to yell and scream and humiliate him or her. So the next time you think of buying a dead animal laced product, think of your animals at home (or your favorite animal if you don’t have pets) being electrocuted and skinned alive. That should hopefully deter your mind from buying that thousanddollar fur coat. Alex Clinton is a senior and reporter for the Highlighter.
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rocky mountain highlighter Jan.23.2009
For Peters Sake
The grades or the scores: Which is more important?
Chris Peters
Value comes from the ‘free things’ “The best things in life are free,” is the single most overused statement in modern history, yet it holds true time and time again. A time where laziness, above all, is valued for a few precious weeks; winter break holds a certain reputation with teenagers nationwide as a much needed time of relief, yet one where time is of the essence to fit in as much fun as possible. In my last winter break, I came to learn just how valuable the free things in life can be. I vacationed back to Nebraska to spend time with my friends and family after the holidays. During that time, I was pulled every which way toward different sects of my family, each part trying to spend time with me in an already limited schedule. After numerous days go-karting, at the movies, bowling and laser-tagging, I realized that the most value I took from the entire trip consisted not of any of the aforementioned activities, but rather it came down to one low-cost moment. This moment came with my father, who I see roughly three times a year. We sat down in his basement and for three hours we just watched Nebraska football. Granted, cable TV costs money, and so does the food we ate while watching the game, but in theory it was just relaxing and watching football. Yet this simple task held great value; it was a true father-andson moment only seen on TV. Not a single moment the rest of the trip could measure up to the enjoyment I got from that game. A long car ride back helped me to realize that you don’t need money to have a fun time. In a society dominated by the almighty dollar, nearly every commonsense activity for teenagers involves a price tag that many times soars high above the average teenager’s budget. It isn’t hard to find cheap entertainment around town; in fact most of these choices can be much more valuable than a normal night at the movies. Simple pleasures accessible to teens include pickup sports games with friends, riding one of Fort Collins’ many bike paths, or even sitting down with your family and breaking out a board game. Whether your wallet is erupting with hundreds or bone dry; whether your family is toting you around town or you’re just looking for some weekday entertainment, the best things in life are free. Chris Peters is a senior and Limelight Editor for the Highlighter.
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GPA reflects work ethic of students Ask any elementary school student and they can probably tell you that you should never judge a book by its cover, and unfortunately, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. However, when it comes to applying for college, often times a first impression is the only chance students get to separate themselves from thousands of other applicants. Colleges are overwhelmed with a plethora of eager students, and without really getting a chance to know them, a
large part of the decision regarding who is qualified and who is not comes down to the student’s GPA and ACT scores. With this in mind, there is a fair amount of controversy between students over which score is a better representation of an applicant’s qualifications, the main factor being which number more accurately shows their potential and work ethic. Although there is no doubt that a high test score should get colleges excited, one test could not possibly represent a student’s accomplishments as well as the grades that they have worked for. Throughout a student’s high school career they are faced with
countless opportunities to fail or succeed, and they make that decision based on their intelligence and work ethic. Despite the aura of stress and importance surrounding it, the ACT is just another test among the hundreds that students take during their lifetime. Some students are simply bad at test taking, while others may appear more knowledgeable when taking tests than they really are. And like all tests, the ACT should be a way for students to show what they know and for students with lower GPA’s to prove themselves. One day hunched over a test booklet doesn’t do justice to the effort put into years of school.
A student’s work over an extended period of time shows parts of their character that can’t be seen in test results. It shows consistency or improvement, it shows areas where students show commitment and excel and the areas where they challenge themselves. It also reflects the personal struggles that high school students deal with and determination to overcome those struggles. There will always be controversy surrounding what impacts a student’s future the most. Everyone is different and shows their strengths in different ways, but time is a better test of character than any exam.
Grades can be dependent on any number of things. But standardized tests are objective. Every student takes the exact same test with identical questions, so there are no other elements that could factor in or alter scores. Tests accurately show just how much knowledge a student has accumulated. If he or she does not have the knowledge that person should by that point in his or her education, then the test will reflect that. Each of the four sections of the ACTs measures a students understanding of that subject. That score is then compared to college standards and what each
score should be to access whether or not the student has attained the necessary knowledge. A grade doesn’t reflect knowledge at all. A student could do everything the teacher asks and get the grade they want, but still not learn anything. Furthermore, ACTs are more accurate in predicting a student’s success in college. Different schools have different curriculums and grading systems. School “X” may have fairly laid back, classes, while school “Y” may have a rigorous curriculum where students must challenge themselves it order to be successful. Students from
both schools could get as, but the knowledge they received will be vastly different. If colleges were to base their admission decisions primarily off of GPAs, then that would be an inaccurate representation of how intelligent and prepared for the future students are. A student may get away with skating by barely working and still receive high marks, but they are less likely to encounter that same easy, laid-back way of education in college. If that is the only educational experience a student has had, they are unlikely to be successful in college.
-Greg Lewis
Topic Tug -oWar
Beat of the street Do you think ACT scores or GPA is a better reflection of a person’s intelligence?
ACT tests: The accurate measure of intelligence Every year, high school seniors apply to college and are faced with the task of trying to impress colleges, and make their resumes as appealing as possible. Colleges take into account such things as extra-curricular activities, grades, and test scores. In particular, there has been debate about whether or not grades or test scores are a more accurate means of assessment. However, ACTs are clearly the superior of the two. Grades are subjective. In one class a student may earn an “A” just for coming to class and trying hard, whereas in others a “B” may be a difficult feat. “Both-GPA is about working harder and ACT is about what kind of a test taker you are.” Duncan Nelson, senior
“GPA-ACT is your test taking skills. It’s more about knowing sections and how the test is set up.”
Lauren Wilson, senior
“GPA-It is the areas of skills, the classes that you choose to take versus the ACT which is just one test.”
Alissa Bradley, junior
-Courtney Bellio
“Both-GPA shows how smart you are academically. The ACT tests different skill areas.”
Morgan Drager, sophomore
“GPA- It is taken over the course of a period of time instead of just one sit-down test.” Todd Pfeifer, teacher
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rocky mountain highlighter Jan.23.2009
Getting down to business
Girls’ swim team approaches conference with confidence by Trevor Mueller RMHighlighter reporter
For the girls’ swim team, the regular season is over and they aren’t looking back. The team hasn’t had the best regular season ever, but they are hopeful and optimistic for the conference meet. “I believe that we will place higher than last year,” sophomore Geneva Mueller said. The team has had much more focused training thanks to their new coach, Wendy Madder. “I feel like our coach planned out the whole season from the beginning and so we’re working on exactly what we need to be working on in this part of the season,” Mueller said. The team has been focusing on different aspects of their training throughout the season, all in the effort of gearing up for the current postseason stretch. “She (Madder) has helped everyone…on getting up their endurance,” sophomore Mary Ellis
Trevor Mueller
CRUNCH TIME: Senior Callie Anstett (right) prepares for an event against Monarch High School on Jan. 13 at EPIC. Senior Emily Stout (above) performs in the same meet in a freestyle event. The Lobos now head to conference on Feb. 4.
said. Now they have changed focus in order to ready for conference. “It was rough to have…four meets in seven days, (but) we’ll do a lot more event specific training (that is) heavy on volume,” Madder said. The team is really looking forward to how high energy the conference meet will be.
“I’m looking forward to such a high energy meet where you have to put forth effort to be successful,” Mueller said. Although Madder has her concerns, she is looking forward to the conference meet. “There are too many meets and not enough training time, but we’ll be ready to rock,” Madder said. “I am very excited for
Trevor Mueller
(conference) to be coming.” Some of the other members of the team have mixed feelings about all of the people watching them at the meet, such as in their last, in which the Lobos lost 199113 to Monarch High School. “I like all the excitement, (but) it depends…I either get nervous and do worse, or I might do better,” Ellis said.
Overall, the team is excited for the postseason, as they already are sending two swimmers to state, senior Callie Anstett and sophomore Gabby Smith. “(Madder) has worked hard on getting us better, so we’ll be pretty well prepared,” Ellis said. The conference meet is at 10 am on Feb. 4 and 1 p.m. on Feb. 5.
Standout talent leads wrestling by Adam Walker RMHighlighter reporter
The Lobos wrestlers have been impressive all season long and hope that their success will carry over to the state tournament. The 5th ranked Lobos are 112 this season and have been very successful in tournaments so far this season. In the Weld Central tournament the Lobos took first and finished 8th out of 32 teams in the Warrior Classic. The Lobos also took 3rd in the Arvada West Invitational and had three 1st-place finishers. “We have a really good nucleus on this team,” head coach Ken Taylor said. “We have very good
leadership which will hopefully allow us to go very far in the state tournament.” Seniors Tino Laureles (135 pounds) and defending state champion Casey Norgard (189) are both top-ranked in their weight classes and look to lead the team to a state title. Norgard and Laureles are both 17-1 in duels this season and are focused on getting back to the state finals. As a junior, Laureles had a remarkable year and finished 2nd at state to Loveland’s Tyler Graff. “Winning a state championship is a goal that I’ve always had since I started wrestling,”
Laureles said. “I’ve already accomplished all of my other goals, so now I’m motivated twice as much to win a state championship.” Juniors Jeremy Luna (119) and Jeremy Schmitt (112) both bring back valuable experience. Schmitt is having an impressive year after he was state champion as a freshman and took 4th place at state last year. Schmitt has posted an impressive record of 15-3 so far while Luna is 144 this season and leads the team with 31 takedowns. One wrestler who has been remarkable so far this season is junior heavyweight Greg Smith
Greg Lewis
TAKING HIM DOWN: Freshman Derick Padilla (140 pounds) battles a Collins wrestler to the mat in a match at Collins on Jan. 15. The Lobos this year are once again brimming with talent and look to finish big.
(285). Smith is 16-2 in duels so far and leads the team with 12 pins. Sophomore Thomas Schofield and freshman Derick Padilla have been two young and impressive wrestlers. This season
Schofield is 12-4 while Padilla is 12-6. “(Our) work ethic is what separates us from everybody else,” Luna said. “(Everyone) works their tail off in practice everyday to get where they want to get.”
Winter adventure opportunities abound for members of Highlife by Ethan Farnsworth RMHighlighter reporter
Snowboarding, snow skiing, snow angels, snowball fights; you could probably even convince this group to get snow cones. This group is the Rocky Mountain Riders: The Highlife Club. This is the school club for all students who want to partake in winter sports. Seniors Nate Beard and Kyser Parrott, along with junior Travis Honn lead the Highlife Club. The three love winter sports and really enjoy getting together during Friday’s lunches in math teacher Bob Haddad’s room to watch snow sport videos as well as just discuss the oportunities that winter brings. “The club only has like 20 kids and I think it is because not many people know about it,” Honn said. This is a club that is not just for boarders but also for skiers.
photo courtesy of Travis Honn
The once brutal rivalry between the two groups has apparently died down, at least at Rocky. “It doesn’t matter if they ski or board,” Beard said, “It is all just one love.” Love is exactly the word to describe it. “Most of us three go up every weekend,” Parrott said. “But we haven’t scheduled an official trip. We just meet other members up there.”
ON TOP OF THE WORLD: Members of the Highlife club pose on top of a run during a riding trip. The Highlife is a club open to both skiers and boarders.
The Rocky Mountain Boarders have yet to schedule an official ski trip but they are hoping to do so in the near future, possibly complete with a bus ride up. “We haven’t really started going up yet because there hasn’t been much snow yet,” Beard said. “So we have resorted to local things like snowball fights and stuff. It’s a lot of fun but hopefully once it snows we can put an official trip together.”
rocky mountain highlighter Jan.23.2009
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Girls’ basketball looks to improve, finish strong by Paul Lukens RMHighligher reporter
Although the girls’ basketball team has played over half of their season’s games, they have just begun their conference games without reaching their highest potential. The girls are 9-5 with one conference loss to Monarch High School, but with eight conference games left, they still have a lot to prove. “We play a really tough schedule,” head coach Barry Bessert said. “We always want to do better. We just need to keep improving defensively and work on rebounding.” Another aspect the team must improve on is free throws, as they can often make or break a game. With the girls only making an average of a little over half of
their free throws, it is probably breaking the game. In their first conference loss, Monarch had 32 free throws made- the final score was 44-60. “Free throws are huge,” Bessert said. “We’re not doing well on them but we spend a lot of time on them.” However, a bright spot has been sophomore center Kara Spotton, who has an average of 15.8 points per game and a team high 142 total points. This is her second year of varsity and nothing intimidates her on the court. “It’s a nice challenge to play senior centers, but I don’t think about it during a game,” Spotton said. “It makes you want to play hard every game.” Intensity on the court is another thing the Lobos have a firm grasp on.
“Our intensity comes from all the players,” junior point guard Paige Applegate said. “If we play as hard as we can, like it’s our last game, the intensity spreads like a disease.” Intensity can’t be sparked unless there is a lot of chemistry between the players. Four of the five starters are seniors, with the exception of Spotton, but when there is a class difference on the court, the girls play just as well. “It’s cool having a lot of different girls on the team,” Spotton said. “Being with them is a lot of fun. We all bond really well.” The Lobos certainly will have a chance to prove themselves in the coming games of the stretch run. “If we play together we can compete against a lot of good teams,” Spotton said.
Paul Lukens
SMOOTH MOVES: Senior forward Jordan Connolly dishes a pass to sophomore center Kara Spotton on Jan. 8 against Brighton. Despite a 9-5 record, the Lobos still look to reach their peak performance level this season.
Crowds for girls’ games disappointing to Lobo faithful by Alex Marwitz RMHighlighter reporter
Imagine entering the gym, excited to watch a game. As you head over to the bleachers to watch the game start soon, you realize you are among 10 or fewer students. Odds are, you’re at a girls’ basketball game. “Fan attendance has really decreased over the last couple years,” Athletic Director Wayne Moddelmog said. “It’s to the point that it’s almost embarrassing.” This is likely due to the decline in their play over the last few years. In the `05-`06 season, the girls finished with a 21-4 record. The next two years showed declining numbers with a 16-10 record in the `06-`07 season and a 10-15 record in the `07-`08 season. This season, though, the girls have jumped to an 8-5 start. “We’ve really come together a lot as a team,” senior Forward Jordan Connolly said. “It can be tough to get energy, though.” Although they’ve showed improvement, the few students that
Peters
SAD TURNOUT: Fans fill up a row in the stands during the girls’ basketball game against Brighton Jan. 8. Low fan attendance to girls’ contests have been disappointing to both fans, staff and players. Paul Lukens
do attend the girls’ games have familiarized themselves to seeing a minute amount of fans. “I’ve gotten used to seeing the same 10 or so students at their games,” said senior Doug Edgar, a regular fan at girls’ games. “It’s kind of disrespectful that nobody goes.” In response to this lack in fan attendance, the school has started a raffle at girls’ basketball games only. Prizes include $10
Taco John’s gift cards every game and will incude an iPod touch and a 32 inch flat-screen TV at mid-season. “This raffle was started in an effort to have people come support the girls,” Moddelmog said. “The awards were donated to try to generate a little better attendance.” Whether or not these raffles will actually increase the attendance is up to the marketing. If
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toughness,” head baseball coach Scott Bullock said. “He is mentally tough as any kid I have ever coached. You just don’t rattle him. That is why he is such a great competitor. His ability to win clearly outweighs his athletic ability.” Peters is also a starting forward for the Lobos basketball who hold an overall 10-3 record. Although Peters’ athletic focus isn’t on basketball, his quickness, work ethic and leadership contribute to him playing a signifcant role on the court. Aside from Peters’ fierce competitive nature in the athletic arena, he compliments his athletic accomplishments with success as a student. In the classroom, Peters holds a 4.04 g.p.a.- taking 5 AP classes, and is ranked 22 in a senior class of 559. “I have watched Bryan play
basketball, football and baseball,” Peters’ AP Calculus teacher Todd Pfeifer said. “He brings a similar approach to the playing field as the classroom: determination, thrives off of teamwork and always trying his absolute best. Bryan continually strives to reach his potential in the classroom and in athletics. He works very hard for both, and in return he is rewarded with great success.” And indeed he has been. Besides receiving the Gold Helmet Award, Peters has also been awarded the Gatorade Colorado 5A football player of the year, the Old Spice player of the year, named the male Heisman athlete at Rocky, and has accepted a fullride baseball scholarship to play for the University of Nebraska Huskers. “He deserves every single
award because he has performed at a higher level,” cornerback and starting point guard de la Torre said. “He just goes out there and does it.” “Without a doubt, I believe that Bryan deserves all of the awards he has been receiving,” Pfeifer said. “He is such a wellrounded young man. His integrity in the classroom and in the athletic arena is seldom equaled by others. What I love about Bryan is how genuine he is and that with all of his successes he is not arrogant. He has worked hard for what he has achieved.” “I don’t tell a lot of people about my accomplishment because I don’t want them to think any differently of me,” Peters said. “I don’t want to be put on a pedistal and I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for all the people around me.”
they don’t get the idea known, it will have had no effect by the end of the season. “I didn’t even know there was a raffle going on,” said senior René Harosipes. “They should probably get the word out better.” This raffle could provide a boost in fan attendance, but what’s so different about boys’ and girls’ games? The most common answer is that the boys play
faster. “Normally, its more energetic at the guys games,” Harosipes said. “The guys play faster than the girls and also play above the rim.” People who consistently go to the girls’ games, though, don’t know why there’s such a difference in attendance. “I don’t understand why people just don’t go,” Edgar said. “If you’re busy, that’s fine, but going shows respect and support.” Historically, the girls’ teams haven’t been able to match the guys in attendance. “Attendance is related to how successful we are,” Moddelmog said. “When they’re doing well, it goes up. I don’t think the girls’ attendance has ever been as high as the guys’, though.” Perhaps, with the help of the raffle, and an improving season record, the girls might finally get a boost in energy and recognition. They have recently come out of a few rebuilding seasons, so crowd improvement is probable. However, it will truly be up to the Lobo fans themselves.
Markstrom Markstrom was recruited by the University of Colorado and played football there for two and a half years as he pursed a career as an engineer. His college career was cut short by ankle problems and he was a medical redshirt until he graduated. Currently, Markstrom is working as a hydrologist for United States Geological Survey national research program. Markstrom said he still follows his Lobos as much as he can, although it can be difficult because he lives in Lakewood. He unfortunately did not get to see the Lobos play this year, but he did get to see them the previous season. “I had really great experiences from football and that’s what Peters should take away from it,” Markstrom said. “He has everything going in the right di-
“
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He has everything going in the right direction...just enjoy it and have a good time.
”
Steve Markstrom, Rocky alum
rection… Just enjoy it and have a good time. It seems like Peters is having a great time in whatever sport he is playing but Markstrom thought his sport playing days went too fast. He hopes for Peters that his days don’t go too quickly, and that he takes as much as he can from the ride. “A blink of an eye and high school is over, blink of an eye and your college career is over,” Markstrom said. “So take it all in and have fun because it goes so fast.”
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Inside: Girls’ swimming looks ahead to postseason, A6
Collin You Out
Shout on, stern coaches
Loren Collins is a senior and sports editor for the Highlighter.
Jan.23.2009
The quiet legacy
Loren Collins
Well, basketball season has rolled around once more, and this means that once again Rocky fans get to sit back and watch their favorite team and its most animated coach. Sure, the Lobos are again rich in talent this year, but also attribute a lot of the credit to our very own coach Bruce Dick and his dynamic, shrewd style of coaching. However, even with virtually everyone at Rocky well familiar with Dick’s game-time intensity, often being seen shouting at both refs and players during contests, I have seemed to notice that it is not necessarily understood by everybody. Some may say that his approach seems rather hard and rough on the players, but I for one would like to say that I value tough, in-your-face coaching. After participating in sports for a long time myself, I have seen many different coaching styles. While more easy-going coaches may make the atmosphere more comfortable, I found that the tough, hardliner coaches provided the better lessons, not only in athletics but in life in general. With hard coaches, they bring your shortcomings up front and make you deal with them right there, often joined with a stern reprimand which will only get worse after you continue to make an avoidable mistake. While I may not enjoy getting shouted at for doing something wrong, the experience is nonetheless powerful. As a player, you then learn not necessarily to be afraid of making mistakes, but you learn how to not make them again. That is the value of the tough coaching. For instance, according to SportsScience, a popular show on Fox Sports, strict coaches, such as the NCAA’s Bobby Knight, produce better free throw shooters than equally legendary coaches such as Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, who are well known for their more laid back, less stern approach. So what I take away from all of this is that even though they may yell, shout, or chew you out, it’s the tough coaches who make you stronger, both as a player and person.
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rocky mountain highlighter
Graphic by Loren Collins
Senior Peters turns in stellar performance both on, off field by Katelyn Hunter RMHighligher Viewpoint editor
There is something to be said about humility. As a three-sport standout athlete, 4.0 student, and active community member, senior Bryan Peters has a lot to brag about. But he doesn’t. After p receiving the 58th i Denver Post Gold Helmet Award on Dec. 21, a prestigious honor given to one student-athlete who excels in school, football and giving back to the community, Peter’s humility was undoubtedly apparent. “Bryan never tells us (his friends) about any of his awards; he is so humble,” said senior Jake de la Torre, who is a close
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photo courtesy of Bryan Peters
friend and football and basketball teammate of Peters. “We found out that he won the Golden Helmet Award because we overheard a conversation with him and Mark Brook (football coach). He freaked out and told us not to tell anyone.” “Whether it’s on the field or in the classroom or with his friends, he is a team-first kind of guy,” head football coach Mark Brook said. “A lot of star athletes are ‘me, me, me.’ Bryan is not that kind of guy.” On the football field, Peters led the Lobos in their first undefeated regular season and a Front Range League championship by completing 150 of 214 passes for 2,536 yards and 31 touchdowns. He also ran for 1,013 yards and 12 touchdowns. Besides playing quaterback Peters also played spot duty on defense, starting at safety as a junior and filling in as a senior. With unreal arm speed, field smarts, quickness and strength Peters’ leadership was nearly unstoppable as one of Rocky’s greatest quaterbacks.
1982 Rocky graduate Markstrom last local winner of prestigious award by Austin Adams RMHighlighter reporter
photo courtesy of Bryan Peters
“Bryan is an electric athlete,” Brook said. “He is constantly busy in some sport. He devotes a lot of his life to sports and is extremely competitive.” On the baseball field, Peters helped the Lobos to a 23-4 record, and their second straight 5A state title. Named second-team all state as a pitcher, and starting 3rd baseman when not pitching, last year Peters went 5-0 with a 1.30 ERA, while hitting six home runs, 27 RBI’s, and 41 runs scored, while sporting a .436 batting average. His “never quit” attitude and powerful arm strength is demonstrated each time he steps on the mound or at 3rd base. “Bryan is a very, very good athlete, but I think what separates him from most athletes his age is his Jump to PETERS, page A7
As one walks into the school’s main entrance, he might look to the left and see a Gold Helmet Award trophy. But this one does not belong to senior quarterback Bryan Peters--this year’s recipient--but instead belongs to 1982 graduate Steve Markstrom. The Gold Helmet Award is given out by the Denver Post every year to the best senior high school football player with outstanding academics. While Peters won the award this year, the only other player to win this award in the city was in 1981 and that was graduate Markstrom. Markstrom was 6-foot-6, 220 pounds and played offensive tackle at the time. “I had no idea that my coach had even nominated me,” Markstrom said. “So I was even more surprised when I found out that I had won.” That season Markstrom helped anchor the offensive line and the Lobos ended up winning confer-
Markstrom
ence that season with a 102 record. He also played basketball throughout high school but he claims he was more skilled at football. His former football coach Pat O’Donnell only had great things to say about him. “You never had to ask him to do something twice,” O’Donnell said. “That’s where he would separate himself from others.” “We had quite good players,” Markstrom said. “We were a very run heavy team and we did not have the amazing statistics that the offense put up this year.” After high school Jump to MARKSTROM, page A7
Boys’ basketball team continues to roll by Chris Peters
RMHighlighter Limelight editor
Sam Hyland
THROWING IT DOWN: Senior Jacob Stewart dunks during a game against Monarch Jan. 16. Stewart and the Lobos sport a 11-3 record.
One down, three to go. Helping football players and underclassmen adjust to varsity play, beating Fairview High School, winning the Front Range League and lastly conquering the state playoffs are the ultimate goals and obstacles for this year’s boys basketball team. The team is on the right track so far heading into league play, but has a long way to go if they want to achieve a great season. After the football players joined the team late, the Lobos began to grow as a whole, in preparation
for the regular season. The team’s trip to Arizona in late December helped to spur team unity. “(The Arizona trip) always helps with the team,” head coach Bruce Dick said. “It helped the younger players get acclimated to varsity play and for the football players to get in a basketball mode.” Non-conference play has gone well for the team so far, as they’ve compiled a record of 11-3 (9-1 in state). They are right where they need to be headed into conference play: on the rise. “We’re definitely in an upward direction,” senior forward Keenan Smith
said. “We’ve got teamwork going, everyone is making their shots.” Now that the team has had the time to grow together and warm up with various opponents, they bring their solid record into conference play, where new challenges await with the additions of top-ranked Fairview, Boulder High School and Mountain Range High School to the Front Range League. Before the team focuses on Fairview and other teams down the line, they’re trying to concentrate on improving little by little, taking it one game at a time. “One of the main things
that we could improve on is our energy level,” said senior center Peter Travers, the team’s leading scorer. “When we play with a high energy level, we get excited and into the game and are able to play more to our full potential.” If the team can harness this energy and hold it through conference play, it could prove to be quite helpful in huge matchups vs. Poudre tonight at 7 p.m., vs. Fairview and at Collins in the coming month. Wins at each of these stops could be crucial to the team’s success down the road, as they could provide momentum for deep into the playoffs.
rocky mountain highlighter Jan.23.2008 Simply ReBELLIOus Courtney Bellio
Commericals for charity leave lasting impact Everyone who watches TV has seen the commercials advertising for various charities. They always start out with the really sad music to set the mood and then continue on with two minutes of sad pictures trying to convince people to donate. I never really bothered to watch these commercials. Most of the time I would either change the channel or occupy myself with something else until my show came back on. But one day, completely by accident, I watched one of these commercials, and suddenly became overwhelmed by sadness. The pictures shown were of small children in Africa who were barely living, and had to dig through garbage just to find scraps of food to nourish themselves. Those pictures made me realize just how lucky I am to have the life that I do. There are millions of people in the world who go hungry every night. Many even die from the hunger. And I can walk to my fridge and have food whenever I want it. I took for granted things like this. You don’t realize just how good you have it until you see someone who has it much worse. Those commercials made me thankful for everything I have. Courtney is a senior and Features editor for the Highlighter.
f Life is beautiful eatures
Tanning more popular in winter for teens, B2
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Matt and Sarah Bai ley Living with special needs siblings gives different perspective on life by Katelyn Hunter RMHighlighter Viewpoint editor
At 8 years old, senior Justin Hersch’s younger sister was able to smell flowers for the first time. Hersch’s little sister, Taylor Hersch, has battled Pfeiffer’s Syndrome, a physical disability, for the duration of her life, and because of congestion problems caused by this disability, the scent of flowers was unknown to Taylor through the first
eight years of her life. “We would sniff the flowers and Taylor would breathe in as if she were smelling,” Hersch said. “One of my favorite memories with my sisters is taking Taylor after one of her surgeries to smell the flowers in the garden for the first time. We have no idea how lucky we are and we shouldn’t take anything for granted.” Senior Kelly O’Connor has a similar story.
O’Connor has a 13-yearold sister who has never been able to be fully diagnosed, but suffers from mental delay. At 13, Shelby O’Connor has the mind of a 3 or 4 year old. “I wouldn’t be who I am today if it wasn’t for my sister,” O’Connor said. “There are a lot of joys when I’m with Shelby. Everyday is different. You never know what to exJump to SIBLINGS, page B2
Kelly, Shelby and Grandma O’Connor
Misuse of term highly offensive, disrespectful by Aliese Willard RMHighlighter reporter
It’s not unusual to hear the phrases “that’s so retarded” or “you retard!” in the midst of casual conversation. After all, with such popular influences as the recent film “Tropic Thunder” advocating their us-
age, there does not appear to be a dilemma. However, the adjective “retarded” not only describes an involuntary medical condition, but has morphed into a hurtful expression. “It’s an ugly word,” Scott Bullock, P.E., health teacher and head baseball coach said. “I have a child
with Down’s Syndrome. Even before I had a child with a disability, I disliked the term. I think it’s bad manners.” “Because the word (retard) turned into an insult, it can’t be used professionally,” Shannon Kummer, resource and special ed. teacher said. “It used to be
a term for limited mental capacity. Students we work with don’t have that.” Of the 187 students enrolled in the Resource/special ed. classes, only a very small percentage actually have severe physical needs. Yet none of the students deserve society’s cruel label of “retarded.”
“I’m not ashamed that I’m in resource classes—I don’t make a big deal about it,” junior Thomas Newton, a JV and varsity football player said. “Special ed. isn’t bad. Everyone has a different learning style. People shouldn’t make fun Jump to LANGUAGE, page B2
Chickens become legal pets by Michael Hoppal RMHighlighter reporter
Austin Adams
LUNCHTIME: Fort Collins resident Sam Slaten feeds his chickens in his backyard. Slaten is one of several people in the city who has gotten a chicken license to keep chickens as pets.
Unlike a cat and dog, this pet can produce food. As odd as it may sound, it is now legal for Fort Collins residents to keep chickens as pets. It is an idea that is getting more popular around the city everyday, by more people applying for a chicken licenses. Even locally, people are starting to have chickens as pets. To keep chickens, a person must first apply for a chicken license. The owner can have up to five chickens and they can’t kill
them. Two of the people in the attendance area that either have a chicken license or are applying for one are Sam Slaten and Randy Bridger. According to them, chickens have many benefits and make perfect household pets. “I always had chickens when I was growing up on a farm so it only seems natural to have them,” Slaten said. “Goofy little animals, chickens are.” One benefit, according to Slaten and Bridger, is that unlike other pets,
chickens can produce food by laying eggs. This is beneficial because the pet gives back to the owner, unlike most traditional pets, which mostly use resources. But not only do the chickens produce food, but they also eat all of the owner’s scrap food according to Slaten and Bridger, which eliminates wastefulness and garbage production. “Chickens compost up all of your scrap food,” Slaten said. “And they give you eggs.” Jump to CHICKENS, page B2
b2 features Winter tanning gains popularity rocky mountain highlighter Jan.23.2009
by Allison LeCain
BRILLIANTLY BRONZED: Junior Anni Quinones tans during the winter months. Tanning salons see an increase in business during the winter months in preparation for warmer weather.
RMHighlighter reporter
Over the years, it has become increasingly popular to be tan year round. Kelly Smith, whose name has been changed, is a manager at a local tanning salon. Smith said that most of her customers are frequent or seasonal, but holidays bring in random, one time customers. “People that come to tan during the winter want to get warm,” Smith said. “Some people come in to just feel better, since winter is known to put one in the dumps.” Many high school and college students come in late winter to get ready for spring break, although it is not recommended by doctors to get a base tan before going on vacation. “We are seeing younger patients coming in that have overused tanning beds,” Cava Rounsaville, a medical assistant at the Dermatology and Laser Center, said. Some people believe tanning beds are a less harsh substitute for sun bathing. The truth is that tanning beds are no safer than natural sunlight, and they can even be more harmful. The UV radiation given off by tanning lamps are often more intense than natural sunlight, because the amount of ultraviolet radiation a person gets is unclear since it is unknown when the tanning bulbs have last been replaced. No matter when the bulbs
Language of other people because of how they learn.” Newton, who was diagnosed with a learning disability in junior high, is not afraid to tell others about his disability, nor to redress them when they use the word “retard.” “I’ll correct my friends when they say it and tell them to change their words,” Newton said. “It’s not right to make fun of people because of their disability. I know what I have and have trouble with.” Kummer also constantly corrects people who abuse the word.
Torrie Moss
have been changed, using a tanning bed just once doubles a person’s risk of getting skin cancer, although there are some medical reasons for tanning. “Tanning can be beneficial to someone with a medical condition such as Lymphoma,” Smith said. “The UV exposure is known to help clear facial acne.” People with such a condition can use a tanning bed that has a set amount of UV light. These are located at some dermatology offices. Most people that go to salons are not using tan-
ning beds for medical treatment. They use them to keep a summer glow. As of this year, senior Kayla Machado has used tanning beds a few times a week since it has gotten too cold to sunbathe outside. For her, this is a new occurrence. “Last year I didn’t do it (use tanning beds), but I got a free pass this year so that’s what changed it,” Machado said. Machado knows she is at a higher risk since she goes to tanning salons, but said that she is not too worried about getting
Siblings
continued from B1 “We use ‘people first’ language, meaning never regard someone as their disability,” Kummer said. “For instance, you don’t call someone an ‘autistic kid,’ but a ‘kid with autism.’” “Without a doubt, because of close ties in the family, I’m more inclined to correct people,” Bullock said. “I worry about RMHS— whether all of our teachers would correct someone who said (retard).” According to Bullock, the main reason for the word’s transformation into a commonplace insult is a general lack of understanding
about disabled people. “I don’t think kids mean to discriminate when they say it,” Bullock said. “I think our students are sensitive to special needs. It’s more of just not being educated about the word.” “People don’t realize that you all have struggles in life—everyone has their stuff,” Kummer said. “We have students born with a struggle and it’s not their fault— there’s nothing they can do. I wish people would understand that students don’t deserve to be treated differently—they’re the same.” As for a method to resolve the insulting language and misapprehension surrounding people with disabilities, Kummer’s solution is simple. “We need to raise awareness and acceptance,” Kummer said. “To be honest, we don’t have enough interaction with students with disabilities. Groups in the school should get more involved.”
Chickens
Supports the LOBOS Happy Hour
From 2 p.m.-4 p.m.
skin cancer. “Skin cancer is really rare in my family,” Machado said. “It’s probably because we’re Native American.” Not only do tanning beds increase the risk of skin cancer, the skin damage causes premature skin aging such as wrinkles, spots and leathery texture. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, there are 450,000 Americans newly diagnosed with skin cancer each year. Ninety percent of these cancers are caused by exposure to the sun and tanning beds’ ultraviolet
Slaten and Bridger said that chickens also serve as pest control for gardens, because they eat insects. On top of this chickens also provide good fertilizer, the in form of waste, for the garden. “They get rid of pests and stuff,” Bridger said. “They will eat any kind of insects.” Unlike Slaten, who keeps his chickens in a pen in his backyard at all times, Bridger explained
rays. “Colorado sees a lot of skin cancer patients,” Rounsaville said. “We see cases every single day in our office.” Doctors recommend sunless tanning products as a good way to get a desired glow without damaging skin. Self-tanners contain dihydroxyacetone (DHA) that gradually stains dead skin cells on the outer layer of the body. The color fades in a week when the skin cells are washed off. So far, there have been no tests that show that these products damage skin.
continued from B1
pect, but everyday is fun with Shelby.” Like any other siblings, O’Connor enjoys the presence and ridiculous memories that solely link sisters. “My favorite time with Shelby is when we are alone,” O’Connor said. “That is when I can just be myself. We like to cook with the music blasting. One time I was teaching her how to do hip-hop and the peace out sign.” Slow down. Live patiently and gratefully. Be confident in the fact that special needs kids are just like everyone else. These are all ideas that have been embedded into the minds of those who can discern what it is like to live with a special needs sibling. “Because of my brother Matt, I have learned to slow down,” said senior Sarah Bailey, whose 20year old brother has Downs Syndrome. “The world doesn’t have to be so fast. I have learned to take the excitement in the small-
est things, how to live a stress free life. Looking at Matt, he doesn’t have a worry in the world.” However, living with special needs kids also brings some challenges to the families. Money often times gets tight because of financial bills and the views of society often skew the perception of these kids. “The main struggle with me isn’t with him,” Bailey said. “It’s with how people perceive people with special needs. He doesn’t think he has a disability, the world is just his playground.” But despite the difficulties, whether it’s their laughter or kind heart, the joys of having siblings with special needs continuously overcome the struggles. “There are just too many joys to count,” Hersch said. “It’s nothing different than having regular brothers and sisters. Their handicaps doesn’t change my views on how much I love them and how much joy they bring to me.”
continued from B1 that he will let his chickens be mobile. Bridger believes that chickens are a fun animal to watch and he wants them around. “Each of the chickens have their own personality,” Bridger said. “They just calm me down.” Although some people think chickens are good for city limit pets Wade Troxell, a city council member, disagrees.
“You have to be concerned about the neighbors around,” Troxell said. “You have to look at the well being of the community.” The owners stated that they bring many benefits to your household that other pets don’t. “They give us food, fertilizer, and also lower the need for insecticide,” Bridger said. “We can all benefit from them.”
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MUSICALLY INCLINED: Paul Falk plays the piano for his choir class. Piano playing has given Falk many oppurtunities including playing on Broadway and teaching music at Purdue University. Allison LeCain
Q&A
Musically inclined Torrie Moss
Paul Falk brings vast experience to teaching by Torrie Moss RMHighlighter reporter
Great, grand and awesomeness are the words used by choir director Timothy Tharaldson to describe fellow choir director Paul Falk. Falk is the director of four vocal groups: Prima Voce, Capriccio, Spotlight, and Sirens. Prima and Capriccio are classical women’s choirs and Spotlight and Sirens are both a small jazz group. Spot-
light is a mixed (boy and girl) choir and Sirens is an all girls choir. Falk was inspired to teach by his own choir director at North Glenn High School, Mike Cornelsen. Cornelsen knew he was a talented piano player and wanted to hear him sing in his choir. “I was just the accompaniment for the choir and he asked me to sing for him one day,” Falk said. “I was given a duet for a Phantom of the Opera song they were singing before I even entered the class.” Falk has been playing the piano since he was in the first grade. Music had always interested him, but when he was in high school he decided he wanted to be a teacher. After graduating, he attended
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the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) because of their amazing programs in teaching and the performing arts. It was in his first year that he fell in love with jazz. “I really got into jazz freshman year,” Falk said. “I decided that I wanted to get my Masters in it, and after I got my teaching degree I went to Chicago.” Falk went to Roosevelt University of the Performing Arts and received his Masters in Jazz. In Chicago, he became friends with all of the other jazz performers and was offered to play piano for the Broadway musical Wicked that was opening in Chicago. “It was really cool to work with the show,” Falk said. “Because I wasn’t anyone big and I was giving the opportunity to work with pros.” After he graduated with his Masters, he applied for a job at
Purdue University to be the music instructor. Although the university doesn’t offer music majors, they still offer classes. Falk worked there for two year and then came back to Denver where he subbed for several different schools. A friend of his, Laurna Broger, heard of a permanent sub job here for the rest of a quarter. After subbing at Rocky, he wanted to be the choir director and applied for the job when both of the old directors left. Falk said that it has been a very cool experience working at a school where they take pride in performing arts. He also thinks that ‘the kids down here are cool cats’. He’s hilarious and spontaneous,” senior choir student Nichole Tschetter said. “And he always picks the best music for us to sing.”
Exchange student teaches school about Ghana by Kenna Alexander RMHighlighter reporter
Just as the sun’s brilliant, golden face peeks over the hills and the clock strikes 4 a.m., Emmanuel Yamson’s eyes snap open. He rolls out of bed and walks a kilometer to the bus stop. Two buses and an hour and 15 minutes later, he arrives at his school in Takoradr, Ghana. That routine has drastically changed for Yamson since he entered into the student exchange program. This process first began with an agency near Yamson. Then, the agency contacted Poudre School District and looked through available, local host families. Eventually, Yamson was placed with a family in Rocky’s attendance area, according to counselor Gregg Knoll. There have been nine exchange students total at Rocky this school year. Since Yamson’s advent here, he has encountered countless cultural differences. “It’s fun (being at Rocky),” Yamson said. “Back home, I went to an all boy’s Catholic school,
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but here there are so many girls.” At his previous Catholic school in Takoradr, Yamson was joined by roughly 1,000 other students and 60 teachers. The students would remain in the same classroom all day, while the teachers would move around to the different rooms. At 2 p.m. everyday, the young men would have to recite prayers. In addition to a different atmosphere at school, Yamson faces a new social life in Fort Collins. Back home, Yamson would spend a large quantity of time during his weekends doing chores, such as washing clothes by hand, cutting weeds with a machete and cleaning the entire house. When he had time to himself, he would just hang out with friends or play soccer. Yamson was a member of the soccer team as well, where he played center mid and forward. “He loves science and math and learning about how his world works,” chemistry teacher Glenn Gainley said. “He loves music, his iPod and soccer.” During first semester, Yamson gave several presentations about Ghana to students. He talked
with Junior Class president Tyler Janzen, on the prom theme, A Dark Knight in Gotham Q: How did you guys come up with the theme? A: On the StuCo retreat we were bouncing around ideas and we bounced around that idea and that was the one that just resonated clearly and that we could really do a lot with and make cool. Q: What other themes did you guys talk about? A: We had talked about everything from underwater to everything else. We talked about a lot. Q: How many people are on the prom committee? A: I want to say probably about 12 kids including the junior class officers. And anyone who wants to join and be a part of it can. Q: What does the prom committee have to do? A: We do everything from look at locations to deciding decorations, invitations, tickets. We pretty much run the whole thing, hire the dj. Q: When and where is prom this year? A: It’s at the Lincoln Center on April 17.
Courtesy of Emmanuel Yamson
CULTURAL AWARENESS: Emmanuel Yamson presents to Amy Barrier’s class in September. Yamson is trying to bring awareness to the problems in Ghana.
about education, the economy and daily life. He gave four presentations total, to geography and chemistry classes, as well as one during lunch. “I’m teaching the problems of Ghana,” Yamson said. Although students here have learned a great quantity from Yamson, he has learned from the community as well. “Since he lives so close to the equator, he doesn’t experience much weather,” Gainley said.
“So we all enjoyed showing him his first fall and especially the snow.” “I’m learning a lot,” Yamson said, “especially American speech. I’ve learned many new words, and my accent isn’t as deep as it was when I first came here.” “I think Emmanuel is having the time of his life here,” Gainley said. “He has truly immersed himself in Rocky and the city of Fort Collins. I think he likes the American way far better.”
Q: What kind of decorations are there going to be? A: I can’t give anything really specific, but it’s going to be classy and elegant. We’re going more towards the movie rather than the comic books because we want it to be really classy rather than cheesey. We’re really excited tor the opportunites we have with the theme. Anyone who wants to help or has any ideas can come to the meetings which will be Fridays at lunch in Mrs. Annis’s room. -Courtney Bellio
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enter special
Where did you get your idea of what is
Right Wrong? &
Adolesence is a time most teens spend figuring our who they are and where their values lie. But what happens when those values don’t conform with the law? The RM Highlighter investigates.
Controversial and outspoken, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden answers RM Highlighter questions about teens, the law and right and wrong... Q: What is the Importance of following the law? A: Well obviously laws are not imposed by the police, laws are imposed by society. They’re a set of norms and rules that are necessarily for people to form an orderly society. If we had no laws or rules of regulation, everybody could just do whatever they wanted to. They have to be certain rules and guidelines to follow in an ordered society or things just aren’t going to work.
81% of students admit to breaking the law.
79% think that it’s only important to follow
Q: Why do you think that people choose to break the law? A: You know, I think it’s changed somewhat over the years as to why. There are certain people who do it because that’s their lifestyle. They do it because they’re unemployed or that’s how they choose to their living, you know, selling drugs or doing burglaries. It’s a whole class of what we call career criminals who do it consciously. I think there’s a lot of people who do it inadvertently, due to some sort of substance abuse or just being stupid, they do things and then all of a sudden they find themselves in trouble with the law. Q: Is that reason different for teens? A: I think a lot of today’s generation, I could even relate to some family members. They’re just never thinking, ‘if I do this, this will be the consequence.’ They don’t make that connection. They just act out of whatever’s going to feel good in the moment, without thinking the consequences, repercussions or the impact they have on a second or third party.
‘serious’ laws, i.e. theft, murder, assault, etc.
66% think that parents, teachers or peers play the largest role in shaping a teens understanding of right and wrong.
42% think they have a good understanding of
right and wrong, but it isn’t always reflected in their decisons.
384 students surveyed
Q: Do you think that when teens break the law, they realize that their actions are against the law? Or is it more of an issue of ignorance? A: I think it’s both. A lot of times, it’s just inadvertent. We all do stuff, we’ve all done stuff, I did stuff that I probably could’ve been arrested for just because I was young and stupid. They think they’re funny, showing off. Well it could get you in trouble; part of it is just a lack of maturity, particularly when it comes to the youth. Q: Is that different from the way that teens thought in your generation? A: I think it is a little bit more, because I think in my generation there typically were consequences if you messed up. You were going catch it from the church or school or when you got home from your parents. And today we see a shift of, when I was growing up I was less afraid of the police than I was of my mom and dad, and now you can catch kids cold turkey and the parents will still say ‘my child wouldn’t do that.’ They defend their child’s actions instead of holding them accountable. Q: So, do you think that parent’s have created an environment in which kids find it more acceptable to have disrespect for the law? Why did the change occur? A: I think you’ve just seen the whole shift and change in society, changes in religious upbringing. you’ve got society that is so much more mobile. When I grew up, it really was like the neighborhood raised the childe. If my parents didn’t catch me, the people across the street would and would say something. Now society kind of closes it’s eyes to it and says I’m not going
to get involved, its not my problem. Q: You mentioned entitlement earlier. We interviewed a couple of kids from Rocky who admit to breaking the law, and especially with minor laws they said they thought the law was stupid or didn’t matter. Does that in any way connect to the feeling of entitlement do you think? A: Sure. We’re seeing that even in hiring police officers because they’ve grown up with it. Even as employees, they aren’t used to being held accountable for their actions. Whatever they’ve said, whatever they’ve done, it’s always just been okay. It is a complex problem. It’s a sense of the rules applying to everybody else, but not to me. And ‘I don’t agree with that, so I’m not going follow it.’ They’re thinking of their own self-interest as opposed to the interest of everybody else. Q: Now the second thing that we wanted to talk to you about was Amendment 20, which has become a point of interest for the community. Can you please give our readers some background information on it? A: It was medical marijuana amendment passed in 2000. Q: You were very public about disagreeing with it. Why did you disagree with it? A: A couple of things. My first thing was that that sort of law should never be written into the constitution. Once it gets into a constitution its almost impossible to amend it and it’s really embedded in the legislature and this path that Colorado has taken to put everything into amendments instead of statutes, I think, is just horrible. It’s very difficult to fix. Beyond that, it was very poorly thought out, because it didn’t spell out the law. But if you just throw out there ‘this is what we’re going to do,’ it leaves all the stuff open for interpretation, it’s almost impossible to fix. They came up with regulations, saying you can have six plants and two ounces if it’s used for a debilitating medical condition. But they haven’t finalized it, ‘I’ve got six plants for myself and for my wife, with my six and your six and his six and six for Joe down the street...’ And then you go from six to 12 to 40 and none of it is statutorily regulated, it’s just kind of out there. You can interpret things. And in the meanwhile, we’ve got to keep all this stuff, and there’s no way for us to maintain it, when we seize two thousand marijuana plants for someone who claims to be the primary caregiver to 200 people, well that’s just nonsense. Q: So, your objection was to the formalities or the spirit? A: No, I’m okay with the spirit. I haven’t seen anything that suggests to me that medical marijuana use is legitimate. None of the medical associations endorse it. What they’re relying on is one study form 1999 that say there may be some therapeutic, but then it continues and says they don’t recommend smoking it because that causes other problems. It’s just the one sentence in the one study. That aside, the issue is just how this thing’s crafted. Q: Is the police force of Fort Collins currently abiding by that amendment? A: No.
Teens break laws to test their own boundaries by Paul Lukens RMHighlighter reporter
Q: How is policemen deciding not to follow the law, either for reason of objection to it or because they can’t house the plants and the intricacies of it, different from a teen deciding not to follow the law? A: Well, because in our estimation, the way we’re reading the law, we are following the law. When you tell me that you have a debilitating medical condition that allows you six plants and you’ve got two thousand, that’s not following the law. We’re not taking plants from the guy who’s got six or two ounces. But when they say here’s my cards and two hundred other cards for all the other people that I’m a caregiver for, we believe, I believe that that’s in violation of the statute. And that’s when we take enforcement action. Q: If you were to run into a situation where you felt that the person with the plants was legitimately using them, would you care for the plants in that case? A: No, we wouldn’t take them if it were legitimate. Q: In that case, Amendment 20 is designed only for people under investigation? A: No, it’s designed for everybody. But here’s the kicker, its also in violation of federal statues. If the police were order to return them, they’d then be in violation of federal statute puts us in kind of a bad situation. Q: Do some of the problems that you pointed out with Amendment 20, could they maybe apply to some of the laws that teens are breaking, either because teens find them unclear or unfounded? A: No, I don’t think so, I think that the definitions and regulations are there. Its not a matter of defining it like it is with Amendment 20. Q: Isn’t maybe having amendment 20 not apply in fort Collins picking and choosing which laws to follow, by choosing not to enforce it here? A: The police force is following it here. We’re following it as we interpret it. And that’s differently than some people sometimes interpreted it and until there’s case law, we’re not arbitrarily saying we’re not going to follow it. There’s different interpretations of it base don our legal advice. We think we’re following the law the way it’s written. Q: What can we do about teens not having respect for the law, or just not following it? A: I don’t know if it will get better with time. What we have tried to do is promote character development, to our people to our inmates to schools. I believe that that’s where it all starts that with you got to make the conscious decision that I’m going to be a good person and this is important and somehow in society we have to enforce that it is important. We can’t individually decide which rules apply and which rules don’t. We need to come to the realization that rules are for a reason, we’ve got to decide if we want to have an orderly society or not. We can’t pick and choose which ones to follow.
On Dec. 17, 2008, Junior Tom Williams had his license taken away for losing six points out of a maximum of five on his license. After rear-ending someone, he lost two points. Shortly after, he was going 60 mph in a 40 mph zone, causing him to lose four more points. Williams is not eligible for his license until March 17. “It sucks not being able to drive,” Williams said. “I was speeding because I was frustrated. It was calming until I got pulled over. Then I felt like crap.” In 2007 there were 1,435,817 arrests in the United States by people under the age of 18. The thought process to breaking the law is a complex idea. For some it starts at home with parental problems. But it could also be that peer pressure breaks down some teens. Overall there are many factors that create the idea to break the law. “For some, breaking the law is a major seeking for truth,” drug counselor Johnny Mason said. “There are too many factors for why someone breaks the law.” From Jan. 9-12 senior Palden Sherpa was spending his weekend in jail. He was on probation, but over winter break he did not go to his blood and urine tests. Because of this he had to go to court. The judge decided he needed to spend time in jail. “It was not terrible, but it was still pretty boring,” Sherpa said. “The walls were a really gross brown, and all you could do was sit in your cell or read.” According to Students Against Destructive Decisions, in 2005 about 10.8 persons under the age of 21 consumed alcohol in the past month, and three out of four high school students will try alcohol before the graduate from high school. “No matter what the consequences are, kids are going to drink in high school,” Sherpa said. “I’m not that different from an average high school student, I was just one
who got down.” The third Monday of every January, the nation celebrates a man who, along with thousands of followers, broke the law. Martin Luther King Jr. decided that the laws were unjust. Although we celebrate him now, he was arrested over twenty times. “Sometimes it’s not the law breakers that are the issue; sometimes the law is the issue,” Mason said. “Most of our current freedoms started with people breaking laws. One hundred and eighty years ago, you wouldn’t have the right to vote unless you were a land owner.” This country was founded on rebelling against a corrupt government and the laws they made, King did this through peaceful situations. But we became a nation by going to war with the British. All these people believed that the laws were unfair for any human being, but how can a high school student decide which laws to follow or not follow. “Sometimes there are silly laws, but they have to be obeyed,” School Resource Officer Michelle Leschinsky said. “Laws are the results of stats and actions people have made. You can never get the entire community to buy in to them.” If someone does not buy in to a law, then they see nothing wrong in breaking it. So for a teen, not only do they have to buy in to the law, but it is a complex process to helping them to not break the law. “They need to be educated and held accountable for their actions,” Leschinsky said. “It doesn’t always help to throw them into the court system. It should be a teamwork approach involving the youth, family and the school.” Williams has been without his license for a little over a month and regrets every speeding in the first place. “I have to loan rides from my friends or parents,” Williams said. “I will follow every traffic law when I get my license. I would rather be late than speed and be on time.”
rocky mountain highlighter
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Jan.23.2009
c
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enter special
Where did you get your idea of what is
Right Wrong? &
Adolesence is a time most teens spend figuring our who they are and where their values lie. But what happens when those values don’t conform with the law? The RM Highlighter investigates.
Controversial and outspoken, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden answers RM Highlighter questions about teens, the law and right and wrong... Q: What is the Importance of following the law? A: Well obviously laws are not imposed by the police, laws are imposed by society. They’re a set of norms and rules that are necessarily for people to form an orderly society. If we had no laws or rules of regulation, everybody could just do whatever they wanted to. They have to be certain rules and guidelines to follow in an ordered society or things just aren’t going to work.
81% of students admit to breaking the law.
79% think that it’s only important to follow
Q: Why do you think that people choose to break the law? A: You know, I think it’s changed somewhat over the years as to why. There are certain people who do it because that’s their lifestyle. They do it because they’re unemployed or that’s how they choose to their living, you know, selling drugs or doing burglaries. It’s a whole class of what we call career criminals who do it consciously. I think there’s a lot of people who do it inadvertently, due to some sort of substance abuse or just being stupid, they do things and then all of a sudden they find themselves in trouble with the law. Q: Is that reason different for teens? A: I think a lot of today’s generation, I could even relate to some family members. They’re just never thinking, ‘if I do this, this will be the consequence.’ They don’t make that connection. They just act out of whatever’s going to feel good in the moment, without thinking the consequences, repercussions or the impact they have on a second or third party.
‘serious’ laws, i.e. theft, murder, assault, etc.
66% think that parents, teachers or peers play the largest role in shaping a teens understanding of right and wrong.
42% think they have a good understanding of
right and wrong, but it isn’t always reflected in their decisons.
384 students surveyed
Q: Do you think that when teens break the law, they realize that their actions are against the law? Or is it more of an issue of ignorance? A: I think it’s both. A lot of times, it’s just inadvertent. We all do stuff, we’ve all done stuff, I did stuff that I probably could’ve been arrested for just because I was young and stupid. They think they’re funny, showing off. Well it could get you in trouble; part of it is just a lack of maturity, particularly when it comes to the youth. Q: Is that different from the way that teens thought in your generation? A: I think it is a little bit more, because I think in my generation there typically were consequences if you messed up. You were going catch it from the church or school or when you got home from your parents. And today we see a shift of, when I was growing up I was less afraid of the police than I was of my mom and dad, and now you can catch kids cold turkey and the parents will still say ‘my child wouldn’t do that.’ They defend their child’s actions instead of holding them accountable. Q: So, do you think that parent’s have created an environment in which kids find it more acceptable to have disrespect for the law? Why did the change occur? A: I think you’ve just seen the whole shift and change in society, changes in religious upbringing. you’ve got society that is so much more mobile. When I grew up, it really was like the neighborhood raised the childe. If my parents didn’t catch me, the people across the street would and would say something. Now society kind of closes it’s eyes to it and says I’m not going
to get involved, its not my problem. Q: You mentioned entitlement earlier. We interviewed a couple of kids from Rocky who admit to breaking the law, and especially with minor laws they said they thought the law was stupid or didn’t matter. Does that in any way connect to the feeling of entitlement do you think? A: Sure. We’re seeing that even in hiring police officers because they’ve grown up with it. Even as employees, they aren’t used to being held accountable for their actions. Whatever they’ve said, whatever they’ve done, it’s always just been okay. It is a complex problem. It’s a sense of the rules applying to everybody else, but not to me. And ‘I don’t agree with that, so I’m not going follow it.’ They’re thinking of their own self-interest as opposed to the interest of everybody else. Q: Now the second thing that we wanted to talk to you about was Amendment 20, which has become a point of interest for the community. Can you please give our readers some background information on it? A: It was medical marijuana amendment passed in 2000. Q: You were very public about disagreeing with it. Why did you disagree with it? A: A couple of things. My first thing was that that sort of law should never be written into the constitution. Once it gets into a constitution its almost impossible to amend it and it’s really embedded in the legislature and this path that Colorado has taken to put everything into amendments instead of statutes, I think, is just horrible. It’s very difficult to fix. Beyond that, it was very poorly thought out, because it didn’t spell out the law. But if you just throw out there ‘this is what we’re going to do,’ it leaves all the stuff open for interpretation, it’s almost impossible to fix. They came up with regulations, saying you can have six plants and two ounces if it’s used for a debilitating medical condition. But they haven’t finalized it, ‘I’ve got six plants for myself and for my wife, with my six and your six and his six and six for Joe down the street...’ And then you go from six to 12 to 40 and none of it is statutorily regulated, it’s just kind of out there. You can interpret things. And in the meanwhile, we’ve got to keep all this stuff, and there’s no way for us to maintain it, when we seize two thousand marijuana plants for someone who claims to be the primary caregiver to 200 people, well that’s just nonsense. Q: So, your objection was to the formalities or the spirit? A: No, I’m okay with the spirit. I haven’t seen anything that suggests to me that medical marijuana use is legitimate. None of the medical associations endorse it. What they’re relying on is one study form 1999 that say there may be some therapeutic, but then it continues and says they don’t recommend smoking it because that causes other problems. It’s just the one sentence in the one study. That aside, the issue is just how this thing’s crafted. Q: Is the police force of Fort Collins currently abiding by that amendment? A: No.
Teens break laws to test their own boundaries by Paul Lukens RMHighlighter reporter
Q: How is policemen deciding not to follow the law, either for reason of objection to it or because they can’t house the plants and the intricacies of it, different from a teen deciding not to follow the law? A: Well, because in our estimation, the way we’re reading the law, we are following the law. When you tell me that you have a debilitating medical condition that allows you six plants and you’ve got two thousand, that’s not following the law. We’re not taking plants from the guy who’s got six or two ounces. But when they say here’s my cards and two hundred other cards for all the other people that I’m a caregiver for, we believe, I believe that that’s in violation of the statute. And that’s when we take enforcement action. Q: If you were to run into a situation where you felt that the person with the plants was legitimately using them, would you care for the plants in that case? A: No, we wouldn’t take them if it were legitimate. Q: In that case, Amendment 20 is designed only for people under investigation? A: No, it’s designed for everybody. But here’s the kicker, its also in violation of federal statues. If the police were order to return them, they’d then be in violation of federal statute puts us in kind of a bad situation. Q: Do some of the problems that you pointed out with Amendment 20, could they maybe apply to some of the laws that teens are breaking, either because teens find them unclear or unfounded? A: No, I don’t think so, I think that the definitions and regulations are there. Its not a matter of defining it like it is with Amendment 20. Q: Isn’t maybe having amendment 20 not apply in fort Collins picking and choosing which laws to follow, by choosing not to enforce it here? A: The police force is following it here. We’re following it as we interpret it. And that’s differently than some people sometimes interpreted it and until there’s case law, we’re not arbitrarily saying we’re not going to follow it. There’s different interpretations of it base don our legal advice. We think we’re following the law the way it’s written. Q: What can we do about teens not having respect for the law, or just not following it? A: I don’t know if it will get better with time. What we have tried to do is promote character development, to our people to our inmates to schools. I believe that that’s where it all starts that with you got to make the conscious decision that I’m going to be a good person and this is important and somehow in society we have to enforce that it is important. We can’t individually decide which rules apply and which rules don’t. We need to come to the realization that rules are for a reason, we’ve got to decide if we want to have an orderly society or not. We can’t pick and choose which ones to follow.
On Dec. 17, 2008, Junior Tom Williams had his license taken away for losing six points out of a maximum of five on his license. After rear-ending someone, he lost two points. Shortly after, he was going 60 mph in a 40 mph zone, causing him to lose four more points. Williams is not eligible for his license until March 17. “It sucks not being able to drive,” Williams said. “I was speeding because I was frustrated. It was calming until I got pulled over. Then I felt like crap.” In 2007 there were 1,435,817 arrests in the United States by people under the age of 18. The thought process to breaking the law is a complex idea. For some it starts at home with parental problems. But it could also be that peer pressure breaks down some teens. Overall there are many factors that create the idea to break the law. “For some, breaking the law is a major seeking for truth,” drug counselor Johnny Mason said. “There are too many factors for why someone breaks the law.” From Jan. 9-12 senior Palden Sherpa was spending his weekend in jail. He was on probation, but over winter break he did not go to his blood and urine tests. Because of this he had to go to court. The judge decided he needed to spend time in jail. “It was not terrible, but it was still pretty boring,” Sherpa said. “The walls were a really gross brown, and all you could do was sit in your cell or read.” According to Students Against Destructive Decisions, in 2005 about 10.8 persons under the age of 21 consumed alcohol in the past month, and three out of four high school students will try alcohol before the graduate from high school. “No matter what the consequences are, kids are going to drink in high school,” Sherpa said. “I’m not that different from an average high school student, I was just one
who got down.” The third Monday of every January, the nation celebrates a man who, along with thousands of followers, broke the law. Martin Luther King Jr. decided that the laws were unjust. Although we celebrate him now, he was arrested over twenty times. “Sometimes it’s not the law breakers that are the issue; sometimes the law is the issue,” Mason said. “Most of our current freedoms started with people breaking laws. One hundred and eighty years ago, you wouldn’t have the right to vote unless you were a land owner.” This country was founded on rebelling against a corrupt government and the laws they made, King did this through peaceful situations. But we became a nation by going to war with the British. All these people believed that the laws were unfair for any human being, but how can a high school student decide which laws to follow or not follow. “Sometimes there are silly laws, but they have to be obeyed,” School Resource Officer Michelle Leschinsky said. “Laws are the results of stats and actions people have made. You can never get the entire community to buy in to them.” If someone does not buy in to a law, then they see nothing wrong in breaking it. So for a teen, not only do they have to buy in to the law, but it is a complex process to helping them to not break the law. “They need to be educated and held accountable for their actions,” Leschinsky said. “It doesn’t always help to throw them into the court system. It should be a teamwork approach involving the youth, family and the school.” Williams has been without his license for a little over a month and regrets every speeding in the first place. “I have to loan rides from my friends or parents,” Williams said. “I will follow every traffic law when I get my license. I would rather be late than speed and be on time.”
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limelight
rocky mountain highlighter Jan.23.2009
Games and Entertainment Seth’s Comic Corner - Seth Roberts
Culture Calendar Release Dates
School Events
January 23 -
February 20
In Theaters
January 30 The Uninvited February 6 He’s Just Not That Into You February 13 Friday the 13th The International
On DVD February 3 Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist Zach and Miri Make a Porno February 6 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa February 10 W.
Sudoku Challenge From the mathmatical brain of Brad Avery, math teacher
The objective of the puzzle is to complete the 9 x 9 grid so that every column, every row, and every 3 x 3 grid within the 9 x 9 grid contains the digits 1 through 9 exactly once. Each puzzle can be solved with pure logic, so guessing should not be necessary. Name: ___________________________
School Events
January 30 Boys Basketball vs. #1 Fairview – 7 p.m. February 1-3 All-State Choir at CSU February 13 Winter Dance (Survivor Theme) – 8:30 p.m. February 16 No School (President’s Day)
Video Games February 10 F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (XBox 360, PS3) NASCAR Kart Racing (Wii) February 17 Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned (XBox360) February 20 The Sims 3 (PC)
Submit solutions to the box outside of Room 528, to be eligible for a prize drawing. by Colton Klemperer and Trevor Mueller
Name/Grade Todd Pfeifer, math teacher
Worst Potential Wii Game
Duncan Last thing you’d bring to Nelson looks a desert island like...
Wii Ultimate Ice Cream Frisbee
Hannah Montana or Jonas Brothers
His Brother
Jonas Brothers
Alex Layman, junior
A wii game of you playing a wii game
Sarah Palin
Yoda
Neither Kanye
Jonathan Layman, senior
Wii Soda Shaker
My Brother (above)
Luke Skywalker
Suicide
A
Hannah Montana
Geneva Mueller, sophomore
Wii Kite Flying
Sarah Palin Marshmallow
Go Home Saturnian - Kristen Lockie
Difficulty Level:
TOP TEN Worst Valentines
6. Eric Schultz 10. A quart of Ice 5. A bloody one...in 3D Cream and The 4. Sarah Palin Notebook 3. Rod Blagojevich’s hair 9. Osama Bin Laden 2. Sarah Jessica Parker 8. Clay Aiken 7. Anything inflatable 1. Duncan Nelson by Chris Peters, Paul Lukens, Loren Collins and Alex Marwitz
rocky mountain highlighter Jan.23.2009
limelight
Eastwood adapts
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Actor, director impresses with performance in ‘final’ film, Gran Torino by Loren Collins RMHighlighter Sports editor
If legendary 79-year-old actor Clint Eastwood aims to go out with a bang, he certainly got his wish with his latest, and quite i possibly last, performance in the solemn yet heartwarming flick Gran Torino, in which Eastwood, once again, both stars in and directs. Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a Korea War veteran who is still stuck in the 1950’s in more ways than one. Walt has trouble dealing with both his family and his past. He currently lives alone,
m evovie ew r
Warner Bros./MCT
IMMORTAL INTIMIDATION: Threatening with a rifle, Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) scares away a group of gangsters. Eastwood’s performance in Gran Torino has been said to be his last.
steadfastly in his original Detroit neighborhood along with
Highlighter Teen Film Awards
The Academy, while sometimes accurate, often disregards teen opinions. To satisfy readers’ opinions, we at the Rocky Mountain Highlighter have developed a list of what we believe are the true award winners in teens’ eyes. Film: The Dark Knight (right) Action Film: The Dark Knight (right) Honorable Mention: Iron Man Comedy Film: Step Brothers Honorable Mention: Pineapple Express (Below) Supporting Actor: Heath LedgerThe Dark Knight (Above) Honorable Mention: Tom CruiseTropic Thunder
Actor: Sean Penn - Milk Honorable Mention: James FrancoPineapple Express (Above)
Piracy
Actress: Angelina Jolie - Wanted Honorable Mention: Frances McDormand - Burn After Reading
continued from B8
Humberto Cruz, a junior who has been illegally downloading music almost everyday since 7th grade, says that he doesn’t think the RIAA’s new technique will do much good. “It’s pretty hard to stop (pirating),” Cruz said. “I know tons of people that do it.” According to the RIAA, piracy causes 12.5 billion economic losses every year, the loss of 71,060 U.S. jobs, a loss of $2.7 billion in workers’ earnings, $422 million in tax revenues, $291 million in personal income tax and $131 million in corporate income and production taxes. Piracy results in thousands of layoffs, songwriters without work, and new artists having trouble getting signed and into the business. While the amount of music files shared over the Internet has increased greatly, music sales continue to drop heavily. In 2003, the industry sold 656 million albums, which fell to 500 million in 2007. Piracy is the most massive hazard to US Copyright industries in videos, music, movies, radio, television, video games, software, and more. The record industry accepts that there is no solution that is either immediate or completely efficient. However, they have learned that the key is to work more with the consumers, which is what the new system of anti-piracy is believed to do. The
industry is convinced that the answer is to reach more people and generate awareness that pirates’ activities are not anonymous, which may help decrease the amount of piracy in the long run. The days of ridiculous lawsuits against 13-year-olds, deceased persons, and single mothers may finally be over.
his original ‘50’s customs and prejudices. Virtually his only
Marley and Me realistic, touching A new marriage, cross-country move, new jobs and raising a family are all very real, very difficult situations that many people face; add in a nightmare of a dog and a film sure to rise to the top of the box office has been born. On Christmas day, John Grogan’s New York Times bestseller Marley and Me became a major motion picture. It is a likeable, relatable comedy based on the true events of a new family and their troublesome pooch. The story picks up when John Grogan (Owen Wilson) and Jenny Grogan (Jennifer Anniston) adopt a pet as a stepping-stone to parenting. Marley, their new dog, drives everyone crazy, but with one look or gesture readily redeems himself.
movie minis
YouTube by anyone simply by registering for a free account. With such an accessible medium available, many students have posted their own wacky videos on YouTube. “I put it on as a joke just to see how many hits I would get,” Holter said. Many people rely on the Internet for entertainment because it
companions are his dog and his prized 1972 Ford Gran Torino. Not surprisingly, Walt is the sole remaining Caucasian resident, as his community has been subject to a recent influx of Asian residents. The residents remind him of the very adversity he fought and killed in the war and the past that haunts him. Although Walt coldly isolates himself from his diverse neighbors at first, he finds himself eventually both friend and protector of the local populace, especially to his young next door neighbor named Thao Vang Lor. However, Walt’s newfound
ties pit him as the only thing standing between his new friends and the merciless Asian gang that patrols the local streets. In what has been talked about as possibly Eastwood’s final film, the star seems to take one step further in his trend of finally accepting roles which suit his current age. Despite the fact that Eastwood is no longer the gun slinging cowboy or ruthless police detective that he used to be, he once more delivers a superb performance that quite frankly only Eastwood himself can deliver.
Every pet owner’s worst nightmares are realized by Marley throughout the movie. Marley and Me, focusing on trials and tribulations of a high-energy dog with a big heart, makes you roar with laughter, while other moments can encourage tears. This movie appeals to most people, as a bittersweet comedy. It is one of few books that has not been ruined by Hollywood when converted to film. It is without a doubt worth a watch.
dedicates himself to saying “yes” to every opportunity, and if he goes against his promise and says “no”, he will suffer. Carrey proves he still has some funny left in him when he says “yes” to driving a homeless man to a park. Carl’s car runs out of gas, he then has to walk to a gas station and finds Allison (Zooey Deschanel) filling up her motorbike. They end up kissing, and thus begins the exciting experience that would have not occurred if Carl had not said yes to take a homeless man to a park. Throughout the film, Carl bungee jumps, learns Korean, saves a man from suicide, and falls in love, all because of simply saying “yes”. Yes Man evolves into a great comedy, far better than many of Carrey’s other movies. If you are looking for a good laugh, learn how to be more optimistic by watching Yes Man.
Grade: B+
Jessica Powers
Yes Man worth a good chuckle Saying yes to opportunity is saying yes to life. In Yes Man, Carl Allen (Jim Carrey) learns that it is better to be open to what life has to offer after being a boring, unenthusiastic man for several years. He then
Grade: A
Grade: A-
Allison LeCain
continued from B8 has become so easy to access. “With the technology that currently exists, we like immediate results,” media analysis teacher Doug Cole said. Smith and McCain thought their video would be funny for friends or others to watch. “Most students put videos on YouTube to simply share them with their friends,” Cole said.
“However they don’t always think about how anyone could access their video.” Most students who have put videos of themselves on YouTube have no interest in stardom. It’s just such an easy way to share; that’s what makes it so popular. “We don’t want to be famous,“ Smith said. “We just aim to entertain.”
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The Highs and Lows.
Sam Hyland
Celeb deaths deserve privacy On Jan. 2, tabloids buzzed with the breaking news of John Travolta and Kelly Preston’s son, Jett Travolta, after he died of a seizure. And the one thing the media can’t give this family is privacy. Now I, as a member of the press, agree that the public has a right to know, and should then be allowed to voice their opinions and support to these families, but the extensiveness to which these deaths are being covered is beginning to border on outrageous. After Anna Nicole Smith’s death, her family and friends had to go through months of being badgered by the press due to the paternity and custody battle between the two potential fathers of her newly born daughter. How is the family ever going to come to peace with her death if the press keeps beating a dead horse that the public really could care less about? The most recent case of an over publicized death was that of Jett Travolta. Yes, there should be a story on his death, but seriously a week later there is no need to keep covering the death of this young man. Jett had been diagnosed with Kawasaki disease and within a day of his death, mental illness groups were urging the Travolta family to become the new face of their awareness campaigns. I could understand if the family had been approached after the funeral and if they had some time to grieve but waiting only a day to pressure the family into some huge promotion stint is just wrong. Jett was a normal boy who wasn’t in the spotlight much. If his dad hadn’t been famous, this wouldn’t have been a media feast and the Travolta family would be left to grieve in peace. My only request is that the media realize that celebrities are people too and it is not fair to bombard them with questions and take away their privacy, especially after the loss of a loved one. Sam Hyland is a senior and co-editor-in-chief for the Highlighter.
l Broadcast Inside: Clint Eastwood’s final performace leaves a lasting impression, B7
imelight
rocky mountain highlighter Jan.23.2009
Yourself:
The phenomenon that has swept an entire generation off its feet Chris Peters
Students find 15 minutes of fame on YouTube by Allison LeCain RMHighlighter reporter
Graphic illustration by Chris Peters
YouTube spreads worldwide, affects an entire generation
by: Chris_Peters RMHighlighter_Limelight_Editor
In just over three short years, YouTube has grown from a garagebased website to a global video giant, boasting nearly 100 million viewers and over 5 billion videos streamed. YouTube is a website that allows users to upload and share personal videos on the site, as well as post comments on videos posted by others. The site advertises popular videos and also offers an array of search options to find videos by genre or keyword. Within a year of its existence, YouTube quickly grew to one of the five most popular sites, as ranked by Alexa Inc., a company that ranks the top sites on the web. By mid-2006 the personal video
limelight
special
site had over $10 million in funding, and had already worked its way into the minds of America’s youth. Jonathan Layman, a senior who has watched YouTube off and on since its premiere, believes that teenagers have embraced YouTube because of its accessibility. “YouTube is very interesting because it provides instant content and instant news (directly to the viewer),” Layman said. This content can be anything from news conferences, blogs and tutorial how-tos to original songs, movie spoofs and video game walkthroughs. “(YouTube) has a lot of videos about a lot of different subjects,” media analysis teacher Monica Kauffman said. Music videos, for example,
Over the years, the Internet has become a valuable resource for studying, communicating and entertaining…especially entertaining. Senior Brandon Holter posted his video Redneck Birth Control on YouTube 11 months ago just for entertainment. So far he’s accumulated over 13,000 hits. In this video, Holter shoots off a gun and it back fires into his groin. Seniors George Smith and Kory McCain, whose names have been changed, posted their video Nipple Shock on YouTube one year ago and have almost 2,000 hits. Smith attached himself to McCain’s truck with jumper cables and was shocked when McCain revved the engine. YouTube, founded in 2005, is the leader of online videos worldwide. YouTube allows anyone to upload their own videos online to be viewed
bring many people into YouTube every day. As YouTube is a free website, any user can access most mainstream songs. “I go on (to YouTube) usually for music that I don’t want to buy,” said senior Jason Page, who has used YouTube since approximately 2006, primarily for music videos. This, however, doesn’t hurt the record companies, as they are the ones uploading the videos, showing a positive business side to YouTube. “If anything it helps the music industry,” Page said. Overall, YouTube is undeniably a multimedia giant, affecting most everyone connected to the world of technology; led by a word of advice to America’s youth: “Broadcast Yourself.”
Jump to YOUTUBE, page B7
Pogo over fence RMHLT Groin, meet bat RMHLT FORE!!! RMHLT CuRb StOmP!?! RMHLT Highway swordfight
Record industry ceases pursuit of music pirates by Shelby Brown RMHighlighter reporter
►Bryan Dick, senior A music pirate, listening to his iPod
There can’t possibly be any better way to spend five years in jail and $250,000 than for the crime of piracy. Fortunately for the pirates out there, this consequence will be showing itself less and less. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is
leaving behind its method of suing pirates thousands of dollars for the illegal use of copyrighted material. Piracy is known as the unauthorized uploading, downloading, or reproducing of music, games, videos, software and others. According to the Wall Street Journal, The RIAA will no longer be filing mass lawsuits against people who
have supposedly stolen music online. The industry has created a new strategy of fighting online piracy. The RIAA, whose main goal is to protect the artists and producers of the industry, will be teaming up with Internet Service Providers (ISPs). An email will be sent to a person’s Internet provider, informing them of the customer’s actions.
The ISP will then send an email to the customer, warning them to stop. If pirating is continued, the customer will receive one or two emails along with slower Internet service, while remaining anonymous to the provider. The final consequences will be a complete cut off of Internet access. Jump to PIRACY, page B7