The Harbinger: Issue 11 2011

Harbinger the

ISSUE 11 SHAWNEE MISSION EAST PRAIRIE VILLAGE, KS FEB. 22, 2011 SMEHARBINGER.NET

ON

OFF

PUBLIC

PRIVATE

PUBLIC

PRIVATE

PUBLIC

PRIVATE

PUBLIC

Same product, different price.

An investigative look at whether the more expensive college is worth the value KevinSimpson

able. The description of the honors program was vague, at best.

McClannahan, a National Merit Finalist and co-president of the Spanish National Honor Society, decided to cut UC-Irvine from her list. This fall, she will head to the University of Kansas to study Korean.

“If I had to finance $200,000 [over four years] and then get more degrees,” McClannahan said, “I wouldn’t be making that kind of money per year [after college], so I would just be going rapidly downhill in debt.”

read more on page 2

www.theatlantic.com

Senior Susie McClannahan didn’t think it was worth it.

She stood with her mother on the green campus of the University of California, Irvine, for a college visit. Price tag: $50,000 a year.

Already, she was being told that the 30 college credits she had earned while in high school may not be transfer-

Get cultured with the layman’s guide to the news.

p. 4

Learn more about Coalition’s annual Take an inside look at insomnia Love146 benefit concert. and its effect on East students.

p. 5

p. 18

A photographic look into the Sunflower League wrestling meet.

“I really was sorry that things had to end like this. That things had to end with no one able to say anything.”

p. 32

Senior Brian Williamson, page 3

NEWS 02 02-22-11

WORTH THE COST?

The Harbinger investigates the value of elite, private institutions

PUBLIC

PRIVATE

continued from page 1 McClannahan is one of the many high achieving scholars across the nation that are being forced to determine the value of an “elite” education. This determination was the focus of a recent article in the New York Times entitled “Is Going to an Elite College Worth the Cost?” The story cited multiple studies that called into question whether private universities are worth their higher costs of tuition.

Experts question whether or not the increase in prestige can lead to more successful future jobs. They worry that it might not be wise to pursue lower-paying careers at more expensive universities. Finally, they are wary of the detriments of long-term commitments to pay off loans.

Lee Furbeck, a senior associate director in the KU office of admissions, pointed out the fact that students like McClannahan that hope to attend graduate school at a more expensive institution can often help themselves out by choosing a public or in-state school for undergraduate studies.

“I often talk with students planning to continue their education after earning a bachelor’s degree about the economical advantage of attending a top public institution like KU as an undergraduate,” Furbeck said. “This makes attending a $50,000-$60,000/year graduate school more feasible.”

For the students that take the opposite approach and choose a more elite school right out of high school, the financial consequences down the road can have a longlasting effect on the student, according to Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FastWeb, a scholarship matching service, and FinAid.org, a student guide to financial aid

Kantrowitz has seen students that take out loans to pay for college and end up with six figures of debt after four years. Oftentimes, the student’s salary out of college is insufficient to repay the student loan debts.

“If you’re going to end up borrowing too much money for your education, it’s really not worth the sacrifice,” Kantrowitz said. “You’re better off at a less expensive school than spending like there’s no tomorrow and regretting it later.”

According to Kantrowitz, a heavy factor in college decisions should be the future career and salary of the student. While majors in nursing and computer science have the potential to pay back some of the loans, Kantrowitz said that students studying subjects like art or religious studies might not be able to lead to a high enough salary to pay off the college debts from attending an elite institution. In situations like these, Kantrowitz recommends to attend a more affordable school.

“One measure of a quality education is the amount of

graduates employed in jobs that they enjoy,” Kantrowitz said.

“Unfortunately, the students who borrow excessively may have to choose a job that is not ideal for them but pays them more in order to repay their debt.”

Everyday, Gary Carpenter, executive director of the National College Advocacy Group, hears from college graduates struggling to pay back the massive debts they accumulated from attending private institutions.

“It can be a very sobering situation when all of a sudden you realize, ‘I have $100,000 in debt and I have a job that just can’t support that kind of debt,” Carpenter said. “[The students wonder,] ‘How am I gonna get through this?’ They may end up going back and living with their parents.”

However, not all students that attend private universities accumulate massive debts. Cristin Weekley, East class of 2005, graduated from Stanford University in 2009.

Cristin said she feels fortunate to have parents that were able to financially support her college decision.

Last February, Cristin used the connections she had made at Stanford to help get a job at the University of California, San Francisco as a research assistant. She attributes the high volume of Stanford graduates in the Bay Area as on of the reasons it has paid off to attend the school. Cristin’s father, Ky Weekley, agrees that the higher cost of tuition has paid off.

“We would have been happier with less expenses,” Ky said. “But I don’t feel like that was a bad investment.”

Carpenter concedes the investment in an elite, private university can help a job applicant stand out.

“It’s definitely going to get you in the door for the interview,” Carpenter said. “There’s no two ways about that. That’s all it’s going to do. Once you get hired, you’ve got to perform.

If you don’t perform, it doesn’t matter where you went to school - you’re out.”

Carpenter can think of a situation within his own family when a student from a less expensive, state university was able to match up with the elite college graduates. His younger brother went to the State University of New York at Buffalo and received his space engineering degree. Now, he’s a space engineer at Boeing, working alongside graduates of

MOST EXPENSIVE PUBLIC COLLEGES

1. University of Pittsburgh 2. Pennsylvania State University 3. University of Vermont 4. St. Mary’s College of Maryland

$12,876

$12,844

$12, 054 $11,989

5. University of PittsburghBradford 6. Pennsylvania State University-Erie Behrend College 7. New Jersey Institute of Technology

Stanford and M.I.T. “The student is going to get out of their education what they put into it,” Carpenter said. “If they’re really excited about the school they’re going to and they’re excited about the major they’re in, they’re gonna dedicate themselves and they’re going to get an excellent education. The student makes the school - the school doesn’t make the student.”

McClannahan plans on making the most of her education at KU. She has researched several clubs and activities at the university, including one that pairs international students with American-born students to help the former adapt to American culture. McClannahan also plans on studying abroad, and she has been accepted to the school’s Honors Program, an opportunity that Furbeck believes can help lure students from elite universities.

“Students who are trying to decide between KU and [more expensive, private universities] are often interested in the University Honors Program, which actually can be more difficult to gain admission to than some highly selective institutions,” Furbeck said.

The KU Honors Program is one of the main reasons McClannahan’s mother does not see paying for a private, out-of-state school as a wise investment. When McClannahan’s parents attended a meeting for potential members of the program and their families, they were told that the KU Honors Program was ranked fifth among honors programs in the nation, tied with Harvard. And as she considers her daughter’s future, she has settled upon an analogy that works for her.

“I’ve always believed it’s just like shopping,” Cindy said.

“If you can get two things of equal value, and one store offers it at half the price, then you should go there. If you’re going to be in the honors department that’s ranked fifth in the nation and you’re paying half the cost of a private university, then that’s worth it.”

$11,660

$11,464

$11,350

Based on in-state tuition for one full academic year http://www.cappex.com

NEWS issue 11

03

REMEMBERING

BOBBY

Students Brian and Matt Williamson cope with the death of their father photo courteosy of The Williamson Family

EvanNichols

Tuesday, Jan. 18., 7 a.m. The Williamson brothers were running late. Brian, a senior, and Matt, a sophomore, were just about to leave their apartment at Colonial Gardens to head off for school when they received the news. Their aunt had just called their mother from her home in Fort Worth.

Bobby collapsed. Brett is doing CPR now. He’s still unresponsive.

But the news itself hadn’t shocked Brian, or Matt. Before he even heard the words, he had felt, known, that something had happened to his father. He had prepared himself for this—the moment when his father was finally unable to support his 510 lb. body.

“I really wasn’t surprised when my mom got the first call,” Brian said. “I knew what the call was about, when she said that Anita had called and something had happened.”

Despite receiving this ominous news, both the boys still made the trip to school in their green Ford-150, their father’s car. They hoped that the routine familiarity would provide some normalcy to the day.

It was only a half hour later, as Brian was sitting in the cafeteria with his friends and Matt was in the library, when they each received the second call.

I’m really sorry, but your dad passed away while he was at your uncle’s house. Brett tried to do CPR on him, but his heart stopped.

The rest of the day was a void for both boys, who struggled to emotionally absorb the day’s event. It wasn’t until that evening until the news started to sink in.

“It didn’t really hit me until probably later that Tuesday night, because I started getting calls from uncles and aunts,” Brian said. “And that really sent it home that, yeah, things were going to be a lot different now.” *** Bobby Williamson passed away at age 48 in Fort Worth, Tex., leaving behind four sons: Jason, 19, Brian, 18, Matt, 16, and Tim, 12. The cause of death was congestive cardio myopathy. Like Brian, Bobby had thrown shotput throughout high school. He was a state champion in his senior year in North Dakota. From there, he had played football for Dickinson State University as an offensive linemen. After moving to Kansas City in September 2003, he taught at JCCC and Johnson County Harmon as a math teacher for seven years, until his health conditions forced him to stop at the conclusion of the 2009-10 school year.

He played Legos with Tim. He coached Brian in shot put, giving him tips on his technique, pushing him towards that goal of throwing 60 feet. Whenever Matt got upset or depressed—fights with older brothers, problems at school— they would get in his truck, and take a drive around town. Bobby would tell Matt all the things he was proud of him for.

He would look more towards what I had good going for me, while I was focused on the things that I was doing wrong,” Matt said.

But these good memories seemed to be overshadowed by the realities in Bobby’s life. After a divorce in September 2009, Bobby took residence in Broadmoor Courts, living with Tim and Jason. Brian and Matt lived with their mom, Jennifer Garrison, in Colonial Gardens.

Bobby struggled to control his obesity. He ate fast food constantly and rarely worked out, a combination that chewed away at his health and physique. Brian had started to notice the changes when he was in eighth grade. The truck’s floor was coated with a sheet of McDonald’s

and Arby’s bags, empty pop bottles and chewing tobacco tins.

“When he was at home, he was really inactive,” Brian said. “He would just sit on the couch. It was frustrating in itself, since we almost had to care of him at that point.

Brian and Matt would urge him to cut back on his fast food, improve his diet, and start exercising daily. But Bobby lacked the will to change. Frustration set in for both boys as a cycle of avoidance started to occur: he would agree with the boys in earnest when they confronted him on his habits, but failed to follow through on changing them.

[He would say] he wasn’t eating fast food even though the last time you were in the truck it was clean, and the next time you got in it, there would be a McDonald’s bag or something on the floor,” Matt said. “His truck was a reflection of how he wasn’t making any effort.”

These habits created a constant fear within Brian. Fear gnawed at him as he constantly worried about his father’s condition. He realized that Bobby’s lifestyle was unsustainable—he wasn’t going to be around much longer with these habits. If Bobby didn’t show up to their shot put sessions on time, that fear was triggered instantly within Brian.

“If he was five or ten minutes late, the only thing I could think of was, ‘What if it happened today? What if he had a heart attack, or didn’t wake up this morning?” Brian said.

Bobby’s home was in poor condition. With Jason going off to Pittsburg State this year, only Bobby and Tim remained at the Broadmoor Courts apartment. According to Brian, the house was constantly dirty, messy, and cluttered. A social worker had been sent to make sure the housing was suitable for Tim to remain in. The custody agreement had granted full custody to Garrison, but, despite the ruling, Tim still chose to live with Bobby. By going against the ruling, Tim would be sent into the foster care system if the living conditions ever got too bad. He wouldn’t have the option of living with Brian, Matt and his mother. Brian, fearing that this would happen, made attempts to persuade Bobby to bring Tim to live with them at Colonial Gardens.

But the efforts were fruitless. Tim remained at the Courts, with a man who was struggling more and more to take care of himself.

Bobby needed help. *** Sunday, Jan. 16. Brett Williamson, one of Bobby’s younger brothers, and his wife Anita arrived in Kansas City, coming from their home in North Dakota to visit Bobby. After visiting in 2005 when Bobby had been hospitalized, Brett had realized that obesity wasn’t the only problem he was facing. He suspected neurological damage, brought on by the estimated 25-50 concussions that Bobby had received during his college football career.

“The coaches would put my brother’s helmets up on display halfway through the season, because he would destroy his face mask and front of his helmet,” Brett said. “Now, that would be appalling. There are rules now saying not to lead with your head.”

The family had began to discuss ways that they could help Bobby’s slowly deteriorating condition. Although the subject had been brought up with him before, this January trip marked the first time that Bobby had agreed with the prognosis: he was suffering from brain damage.

Brett’s goal was to get Bobby diagnosed with Chronic Traumatic

Encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease commonly found in professional athletes who have received multiple concussions and other head injuries. According to Brian, the fact that Bobby was so obese kept this diagnosis from being made—doctors would never consider the diagnosis of neurological damage over obesity.

Bobby didn’t need to be convinced. After a blunt talk about his current living conditions with Brett and Anita, plans were made for the three of them, as well as Tim, to come with them to Fort Worth.

There, he could seek medical attention from neurological experts, and possibly move into assisted living to help monitor his health.

They were on the road by 3:30 that afternoon. *** Tuesday, Jan. 18, 6:30 a.m. Brett wakes up to prepare for the day.

He hears Bobby stirring on the ground level as he walks downstairs.

They exchange “Good mornings,” and Brett heads outside to take out the garbage. Bobby heads upstairs to use the restroom.

Yesterday was a good day. A productive day. The car ride back to Fort Worth was one of high spirits: Bobby was relieved to be heading in the right direction. No more worries about his home, or how to handle his health situation—they were taken care of. Since it had been Martin Luther King Jr. Day, all the health facilities had closed, but Brett was still able to arrange for a doctor to see Bobby on Thursday of this week for a neurological exam.

“It was a good direction we were going,” Brett said.

He returns inside, and started to walk up the stairs, where he discovered Bobby collapsed, face down on the stairs, He wasn’t moving, and unresponsive.

Anita, call 911!

After removing Bobby from the stairs, Brett began CPR as he waited for the paramedics to arrive. *** Saturday, Jan. 21. Hurst, Tex. Only the immediate family and Brett and Anita are in attendance at Bobby’s cremation ceremony. Soft music echoes throughout the plain, white-walled cremation room in Lucas Funeral Home. The boys’ father lays before them, covered with a Pendleton blanket, tobacco leaves, sage and hand-written letters from family members. Bobby was part Métis Indian, so these objects hold a special significance. The Pendleton blanket was one of the first items traded between Indians and Americans, a common object used in adornments of loved ones. The tobacco was an offering from the native people, a way to send prayers to God. The sage purified and cleansed, purging the body of evil.

Brian stood in the corner, thinking. Thinking of all the times he had been too severe or harsh to his father, when he hadn’t treated him right, or pushed him to change too hard.

“I really was sorry that things had to end like this,” Brian said.

“That things had to end with no one able to say anything.”

The family left before the actual burning of the body. Brett has Bobby’s ashes, which they planning on releasing at Mount St. Helena, close to where Bobby had grown up.

After they left, the smoke and herbs started to burn, lifting the stresses, burdens and fears the family had struggled to bear during the last few years as his health worsened. Bobby, carried by the smoke, purified by the sage, and safeguarded with the letters of love, finally reached the peace he had been searching for.

NEWS 04 02-22-11

LAYMAN’S GUIDE TO THE NEWS Having trouble following the news? That’s A-OK with us. Read this beginner’s guide to current events to stay in the loop.

WIKILEAKS WikiLeaks was an organization origi-

The scoop nally founded by Julian Assange. It is,

by the organization’s description, a “non-profit media organization dedicated to bringing important news and information to the public.” Although the name has a “wiki” title in front of it, the content is no longer editable by just anyone; only a select secret group of people work to unleash information submitted secretly to them. They have published previously confidential information about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and have now started to publish a series of 251,287 diplomatic cables, which contain supposedly damaging information for a lot of people in both government and business-related fields. WikiLeaks asserts through their website and Twitter that they are under constant attack from the government in an attempt to close them down.

Only one percent of the newest cables have been released, and already people are wondering what the rest of the information could be about. Discussions over WikiLeaks involve inherent principles of journalism: what role does the journalist play in exposing truths, and at what cost to human life? As they even expose other news networks as pulling or covering up stories, they keep the journalism world on edge. The US government has made statements that they are looking to pursue the theft of information, and they have voiced concern over the release of the identities of people feeding them information secretly from foreign countries. As attempts to squelch WikiLeaks continue, debates over freedom of speech and responsible journalism will heat up. Once the cables are fully released, the havoc they cause in world affairs may cause serious issues and even break down full alliances or governments.

Why you should care

The One-Sentence Synopsis Secret government cables leaked by even more secret organization; world waits for the 99 percent of cables still unreleased.

EGYPT President Hosni Mubarak had been

The scoop the president of Egypt for nearly 30

years before stepping down on Feb. 11. Egyptians flooded Cairo’s Tahir Square on Jan. 25, protesting for the end of Mubarak’s rule. Mubarak initially did not step down, but looked to increase military protection at the protests. It is estimated tens of thousands of people attended these protests, and the Human Rights Watch organization estimates over 300 people have died as a result of government force, most of them from Cairo. The protesters have been upset over the poor living conditions in Egypt, including low wages and high prices for food. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton vowed to help Egypt move towards a more free government. After Mubarak finally stepped down, the Egyptian Military took control, and it is still unclear what form of government will eventually be formed.

While Egyptians Why you should care were under the rule of Mubarak, they were stripped of freedoms. The Emergency Law, reenacted by Mubarak when he rose to power, gives the government the power to restrict the freedom of speech and the freedom of assembly, among other constitutional rights, during an emergency. The protests were important for Egyptians looking to finally have freedoms and fair elections, but they also were important in America. The US government was forced to make another decision in terms of foreign policy: at what point and at what cost does the government intervene with other countries to help other citizens? The US pledged support to the Egyptian citizens, but it is unclear to what extent they will protect them. Now that the Egyptian Military is in charge, the world must sit and try and predict what ways they will restore the freedoms of Egyptians.

The One-Sentence Synopsis Massive protest breaks out in Egypt, and President Mubarak steps down after 30-year-reign.

HOW TO STAY INFORMED DRIVING TO SCHOOL

The best way to stay on top is to get little tidbits of news updates everyday.

National Public Radio (89.3) is a good mix of informative alerts and entertaining discussion and trivia. It may not always be news, but you always feel more cultured after listening in.

BROWSING THE WEB

News aggregate websites like Digg or Reddit compile the news of the day. Usually you can look at the top-voted results and see what other users see as important. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start. Plus, there’s usually a good dose of humor on the top-voted options as well.

AndrewGoble

THE BUDGET President Barack Obama recently

The scoop released his 2012 budget proposal.

The proposal, which is available in its entirety at www.whitehouse.gov, aims to “rebuild our economy and win the future by out-innovating, out-educating, and out-building our global competitors and creating the jobs and industries of tomorrow,” according to the website. It proposes that it will save $1.1 trillion, a new effort to cut the national $14 trillion debt. In the budget, there are over 211 “terminations, reductions, and savings measures” that they hope will cut the budget. In Obama’s letter regarding the budget, he discussed a primary emphasis of revitalizing the economy and growing jobs for citizens. He also seeks to bring the infrastructure of the country—”roads and airports, high-speed rail, and high-speed Internet”—to the top level in the world.

The budget is important on many levels for teenagers. The Pell Grant, which is a need-based grant for students that over 9 million students utilize, will have summer school funding cuts along with limits on the grants during regular semesters. A proposed $77.4 billion is on the budget, a 4 percent increase from last year, and Obama’s Race to the Top program has been expanded to try and bring students back to the top levels in the world. The budget also hopes to reform primary and high school education funding by “supporting high standards, encouraging innovation, and rewarding success.”

Obama’s goals involve increasing college graduation rates, which he says have fallen from first to ninth among other countries in proportion to the amount of students. For students, the new budget keeps pressure to succeed and to create new teachers, while maintaining relatively the same budget.

Why you should care

The One-Sentence Synopsis President Barack Obama releases new budget for 2012, slashing costs in an attempt to cut the federal debt.

SURFING CHANNELS

There are lots of television networks pitching the news, even 24/7, but it takes a mix to understand the liberal and conservative biases to each. Check out a combination of CNN, Fox News, and the local news. Also, if you get Comedy Central, see Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert rip their points to shreds.

NEWS

issue 11

SPREADING THE

LOVE

05

Love 146 concert represents latest philanthropic effort by Coalition

CarolineCreidenberg

“Hey Lancers! Are you in a band or musically inclined? Do you also want to help stop human trafficking?” senior Bob Martin’s voice fills the speakers during announcements and kids giggle. Although it may sound funny, it’s a serious matter for members of SME Coalition. Love 146 is a non-profit organization that helps stop “today’s slavery” — human trafficking. Human trafficking is the trade of human beings for sexual exploitation and forced labor. Love 146’s goal is “to work towards the abolition of child sex slavery and exploitation through Prevention and Aftercare solutions.” And East Coalition wants to help.

“Love 146, I think, is awesome because anyone can be involved in it,” said sophomore Coalition member Brennan Williams. “Everyone thinks Coalition is just ‘The Africa Club,’ but [Love 146] concerns the whole world.”

On Saturday, the district Coalition will be holding a 5K run/walk to raise awareness and money for Love 146. The run will be held at Shawnee Mission Park and will start at 9 a.m.

East Coalition will also be holding their second annual Love 146 concert to raise money for the organization. The concert is the night of March 10. It will be at Village Presbyterian in the Youth Loft and all proceeds will be go to Love 146.

“It’s a Thursday night so I don’t think anyone has any huge plans,” William said. “There’s no reason to not go support this for half an hour.”

Last semester Coalition raised money for the organization Charity: water. They held a bake sale and sold water bottles to raise money for the organization. Members of Coalition also went to First Fridays in the Crossroads district and asked for donations from passerby. Walking through downtown Kansas City with water jugs filled with murky water strapped to their backs, the students went around telling bystanders facts

and information about Charity: water. They wandered the streets in the frigid cold, raising awareness and asking for money.

“Even though we didn’t have signs or pamphlets [the people] were relatively open-minded and were like, ‘Oh we want to help your cause,’” sophomore Roberto Sada said.

First Fridays ended up being a success, and they raised around $150.

“Some people were disappointed,” Roberto said.

“I thought that was pretty good considering we were just standing out on a sidewalk just saying give us money.”

By the end of the semester, Coalition had raised enough money to build a well through Charity: water.

Coalition has also done multiple smaller projects with an organization called Change the Truth. During the winter season they had candy cane sales, where people would buy a candy cane to send to a friend.

All this has happened with a new sponsor and president leading them. Last year, Coalition sponsor David Muhammed left East and new sponsor James Meara took his place. Likewise, after the graduation of Sarah Are, last year’s Coalition president, senior Emily Collins took over.

Meara was recommended by Muhammed because he thought Meara would be a good fit for the spirit of the group.

“He’s a young, kind guy who I thought was passionate,” Muhammed said.

Muhammed knew Meara from college: both attended Emproria State University. Muhammed had seen him around school during college and knew he was an artsy guy. He thought he would be an open-minded passionate guy and

UNITED TO TEACH AnnaMarken

With over three million members nationally, the National Education Association (NEA) has become the nation’s largest union. Around 70 percent of East’s staff pays the $600 annual fee to retain membership in the union, despite the recent economic downturn. Members receive support in creating lesson plans and protection of their rights, according to East NEA representative Linda Sieck. The stated mission of the union is “to advocate for education professionals and to unite our members and the nation to fulfill the promise of public education to prepare every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world.”

The benefits of being a member outweigh the price, according to Sieck. These benefits include the protection of due process rights and the negotiation of contracts. The only benefit teachers who do not pay the membership fee receive is the outcome of contract negotiation. Twenty-eight states across the nation require teachers to pay the union fee, even if they do not believe it is in their best interest to become a member.

Membership for teachers in Kansas, however, is voluntary. “[NEA] is a professional group that is promoting a great public education for students and giving teachers the best experience possible,” Sieck said. “It is definitely worth the price.”

Despite the economic situation and a push from the Kansas Legislature to abandon the current system and allow schools and districts to fire teachers and staff members whenever they want, most teachers have continued to renew their memberships. According to Sieck, veteran teachers who are NEA members have better protection from being replaced by those that are younger and less experienced than teachers

Coalition president Emily Collins leads the planning of the concert

CarolineCreidenberg

good for the job.

East Coalition formed in 2008 after East graduates Sarah Are and Jessie Light heard about SM South and the Coalition group they had formed. Are and Light immediately started emailing faculty after they learned about it, wanting to bring the group to East. They got it approved and started East Coalition right away. “[Coalition] is a vision in action for students who can’t just sit still while others are hurting and alone,” Are said.

She believes Coalition revolves around action and awareness. The first year the group only raised around $500 and raised less awareness. After learning from their mistakes the group raised around $7,000 the next year.

“We definitely got more involved in the community and created a more established name for ourselves,” Are said.

Coalition hopes to have a good turn out and raise awareness at the concert. Williams wants people to come who aren’t so involved so they can learn about the cause.

“I want [them] to learn more about Coalition,” Williams said. “And see what it’s about and maybe get involved.”

East teachers seek security from union

who are not members. The longer a teacher remains at their school, the higher pay they receive and the less “replaceable” they become. Seniority amongst teachers is not guaranteed with membership to NEA, but according to Principal Karl Krawitz, it is a guideline used by both the union and the district to determine staff cuts.

Schools and teachers are not protected from the recent budget cuts by NEA. Dr. Krawitz says that NEA has no control over the funds given to the district by the state. What they can control, however, is the way the funds are distributed.

“The union and the district meet to talk about and negotiate the distribution of funds,” Krawtiz said. “The teachers get a say in what they want, but the union represents them.”

The contract and budget negotiation process begins with teachers putting in their opinion of what they want. The union then bargains with the district’s administration and superintendent. The next round of re-negotiation, which occurs every two years, is beginning soon.

Science teacher Kim VanNice has opted out of membership to the NEA. While she understands that the program does good things for its members, she feels that $600 a year is quite expensive. VanNice sometimes worries about being at risk because she is not a member, but she knows that she is still somewhat protected. She is also cautious of joining the union due to recent political controversies concerning NEA. One such controversy is the claim that the NEA puts the interests of teachers ahead of the students. Despite these controversies, there have been no cases in which the union has been called in to defend a teacher in the past 15 years, Krawitz said.

Sieck feels that there are many misconceptions about the NEA, but the organization has very few negatives. For the 23 years that Sieck has been teaching, she has always had the union dues taken out of her paycheck. She feels that even in the economic downturn, it is smart to remain a member.

“It’s like insurance,” Sieck said. “If I ever need it, it will be there. And if not, it still helps me learn and gives me a voice in my contract.”

STATE OF THE UNION

BY THE NUMBERS

Founded in 1856 Budget: $300 million 3.2 million members Costs $600 per year to belong Merged with American Teacher’s Association in 1966

06

NEWS

02-22-11

TOO MUCH, TOO SOON SERVING UP STATISTICS

A survey of East students’ drinking habits

{

How many times have you consumed an alcoholic beverage in the past month?

45%

6+

24%

5 4 32 1 8%

2% 5% 7%

{

0

9%

If so, how many drinks do you have on average in one sitting?

1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9+

{

19% 25% 28% 18% 10%

When was the first time, if any, that you drank alcohol?

19% 5% 10% 18% 18% 30%

SENIOR JUNIOR SOPHOMORE FRESHMAN 8TH GRADE OR BEFORE HAVE NOT DRANK

Data based off Feb. 13 survey of 136 East students

HollyHernandez

At a party last fall attended by mostly freshman, 11 East students received a Minor in Possession (MIP) charge. The party was taking place in the garage, when, about an hour in, the police arrived on the scene. Freshman Michelle Johnson* was one of the girls who ended up with an MIP charge.

“I was really scared,” Johnson said. “No one knew it was going to happen. Some ran and some didn’t. There were 40 kids at the beginning of the night and about 20 by the end of it.”

After the cops searched through the garage and found the alcohol, they proceeded to put everyone in a line and conduct a series of Breathalyzer tests.

Johnson’s parents picked her up from the party; the car ride home was silent. She knew when she got home her parents would give what she called a “motivational speech.” They ended up grounding her and putting a tracker on her phone just a short time later.

She says she regrets her actions that night.

“The whole entire thing caused a lot of stress on my parents,” Johnson said. “It’s a long process, going through the MIP program plus the fines for diversion and all of that.”

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the average age for a boy to start drinking is now 11 and it is 13 for girls. In 1965, the age for both boys and girls was 17.5, and in 2003 was 14. Principal Karl Krawitz thinks that students are being exposed to alcohol earlier and that is why kids are beginning to drink at

Photo Illustration by ClaireWahrer

East copes with students’ exposure to alcohol at younger ages

that age.

“I know that the overall age of when kids start drinking has been getting lower and lower each year, and that has been a trend probably for the last 12-15 years,” Dr. Krawitz said. “Either they’re gaining access from older brothers or sisters or they’re invading the alcohol cabinets of their homes or their friends’ homes.”

Based on two surveys that were sponsored by the American Medical Association, twothirds of underage drinkers said it was easy to get alcohol from an adult at home without their parents finding out. According to Dr. Krawitz, East shouldn’t be singled out among other high schools for its drinking related issues.

“In this country I don’t know if we deal with drinking any more or less than anyone else,” Dr. Krawitz said. “I think that what is more prominent here is the fact that the kids aren’t as secretive. It seems to be an accepted social norm at this building and even among our parents in our community.”

Freshman Erin Wilkins says she hears about students drinking on a day-to-day basis.

“On Monday when we come back from the weekend, there’s always some story about some kid that got really drunk and did something stupid,” Wilkins said.

She says she feels like the age has been getting younger and that her brother who is now a senior never talked about students drinking to her until sophomore or junior year. Freshman Molly Hiett agrees that students at East

are into drinking more than she expected.

“I think drinking is in every grade at East but in the freshmen a lot more than I thought it would be,” Hiett said. “Our grade is just kind of crazy, and people don’t realize how it’s going to affect them in the long run.”

According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, almost 80 percent of high school students have tried alcohol. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), reports that when younger kids drink it’s shown that they tend to intake at a heavier rate consuming 4-5 drinks at a time. Student Resource Officer Joel Porter doesn’t condone drinking in high school.

“In so many ways, drinking in high school is a bad idea,” Porter said. “Obviously there is the school side: if you have enough offenses they can expel you.

From the police side of it, people that host parties can get arrested for hosting or endangering the life of a minor. You are looking at charges, fines and possible jail time.”

Porter also doesn’t think kids are consuming alcohol at an earlier age. He says that kids have been drinking for a long time and that the age that they start trying things out is most likely the same as it has been.

“I’ve arrested a lot of kids for DUIs, MIPs and a number of things,” Porter said. “Most of the time it ends up being a complaint; a party is too loud or kids are drinking and running around.”

Senior Max Smith* also disagrees that kids are starting to drink younger.

“I don’t think that it seems that kids are getting into drinking that much younger,” Smith said. “I mean you hear stories, but I feel like it has always been that same certain age that kids start to drink.”

The NIAAA reports that kids are more apt to drink because they’re in a transition phase between adolescence and adulthood.

“It’s probably because of their older sibling influences,” Hiett said. “When they see what is going on they think it will be fun and that it doesn’t matter.”

One of the NIAAA’s recent studies have shown that increased drinking in teens can lead to brain damage and impairment of other brain functions.

“Kids are still developing,” Porter said. “It’s a major reason why laws are in place the way they are along with age restrictions because minds and bodies are still developing when you’re young.”

Dr. Krawitz believes drinking in high school has been a continuous trend for years and that it will continue to be a problem in the future.

“Sometimes fads come and go,” Dr. Krawitz said. “I don’t think this is necessarily going to go away. I suspect if anything it will probably get worse and then to what extent will things change? I really don’t know. It’s going to be a tough call.” *names changed to protect identity

NEWS issue 11

BRIEFS: THE BRIEFS A look at East’s upcoming events and more AlysabethAlbano JenniferRorie

Jazz Band Concert “Secret Love”, “The Chant”, and “Summertime” are only a few of the jazz tunes that East’s two jazz bands, Blue Notes and Blue Knights, will be playing in their concert this Wednesday. Directed by Kim Harrison, the two bands will be performing in one of the few concerts that they put on every year.

The Jazz bands allows students like junior trombonist Kristen Shedor the opprotunity to play what they feel. Jazz music iteslf has less rules and style techniques than classical concert band music, so it provides more room for the musician’s interpretation.

“In Jazz band it’s more free-form,” Shedor said. “To get it to really sound the way it should everyone has to feel [the music].”

According to sophomore trombonist Andy Robinson, the two bands have been practicing for two months and their pieces are real crowd-pleasers. For Robinson, the music is also about making it your own and adding your own style.

“The type of music we play [is unique] because you’re going from complete written music to taking a piece and elaborating your [own] song from

10

9

8

Week In Photos all photos by LindseyHartnett

23

it,” Robinson said.

Robinson and Shedor like being in Jazz band for different reasons. For Shedor, it’s the “power of the section,” and the close bonds she has formed with her section mates. For Robinson, it’s the type of music they play.

“It allows me to play music that normally, if i wasn’t in jazz band, I wouldn’t be able to play,” Robinson said.

Shedor has great expectations for the upcoming concert.

“I think [people] should be expecting some songs they haven’t head before, maybe a new twist on an old classic,” Shedor said.” “Some talented musicians workin’ it out there.”

7

6

5

At the Sweetheart dance, senior Cole Turner dances with friends.

25 27 29 31 1

07

UPCOMING

Swim and Dive banquet 2/27 Spring Sports Begin 2/28 Advanced Rep Tour 3/1 District Choral Festival 3/8 For breaking news and additional coverage of East events including photos, videos and broadcasts visit smeharbinger.net Every year SHARE hosts an American Red Cross Blood Drive in hopes of showing students that doing something small could help someone in a big way. On March 3, every student 16 years old and older will have the opportunity to “save a life.” SHARE will be hosting their annual blood drive in the little gym from 8 a.m to 2 p.m. Signed permission forms are due February 25.

The ability to help a vast amount of people in a short amount of time is exactly why SHARE chair Olivia Lynch decided to get involved with the blood drive.

“We did a [blood drive] last year and it was so much fun,” Lynch said. “I wanted to be able to get a ton of people involved and help a lot of people.”

According to Lynch, the blood drive is a great opportu-

3

nity for people to get involved. There is no limit to how many people can participate and everyone can leave knowing they’ve done a great thing.

Even though last year’s blood drive had a great turnout, Lynch and the other SHARE chairs hope to see even more people participate this year. Because of this, they have handed fliers to students entering school, made announcements and plan to visit freshman, sophomore and junior seminars.

“We really want a lot of people to come in, we’re are expecting a lot of people to show,” Lynch said. “We also want to get a lot of new donors this year so they will keep coming back.”

SHARE Blood Drive

Senior Chase Woofter takes down his opponent from Olathe Northwest.

The meet was at East for senior night.

Senior Amy Cosgrove laughs with her fellow nominees during her coronation. “I couldn’t believe that I won after only a year and a half of being here.”

Seniors Alex Rorie and Emily Welter dance during the finale of Beauty and the Beast.

“The musical was a ton of fun. You don’t get the opportunity that often to spend time with a group of really good people doing something we all love,” Welter said.

EDITORIAL 08 02-22-11

SNOW WAY

With huge mounds of snow and no traffic enforcement, East parking lots are dangerous and a nuisance When it’s sunny outside, the East park- snow piles on the medians made visibility ing lot is a dangerous place. With teenag- weak and students had to be extra careers driving amuck and parents speeding ful when pulling out of the lot. After one down the carpool lane, no one is safe from snowy day, the parking lots weren’t even an accident. After a few days of snow and plowed and no one could see the parking below-freezing temperalines. Because of the icetures, it’s even worse. The majority opinion of the covered roads, one teachCars slide and snow piles Harbinger Editorial Board er has been sent to the for against absent hospital with broken ribs make two-way roads oneway and ice makes the and a punctured lung. blacktop and sidewalks Students have also taken extremely slick, causing plenty of falls this year students and staff to fall walking from their car to and injure themselves. school and one teacher For the first time fell and had a bleeding since 1983, when the district first began elbow. The junior lot has had issues with recording snow days, school has already cars being unable to leave because a lack been cancelled six times this winter due of snow removal caused parking probto inclement weather. KMBC chief meteo- lems. Now, in an effort to keep that probrologist Bryan Busby estimates the Kansas lem from happening again, the district City area has seen 30 inches of snow this treats the parking lots daily in the early winter. More snow could be on the way morning with salt and sand, according to and students, parents and staff all have Principal Karl Krawitz. While we applaud increased responsibilities when it comes this step, in the future, the district should to the East parking lot and surrounding do a better job of taking preemptive mearoadways. sures and not just reacting after someone The first responsibility falls upon the gets hurt. district’s operations and maintenance Secondly, parents need to have student team to make sure that, should we experi- safety in mind. The East parking lots are ence snow or ice again this winter or any- bad enough with traffic when there’s no time in the future, they properly treat and snow on the ground, so when a two-car plow the parking lots and sidewalks. Huge lane only fits one car due to snow then

1100

Harbinger the

a publication of shawnee mission east high school 7500 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS 66208

Andrew Goble Annie Sgroi Kevin Simpson Kat Buchanan Jack Howland Jennifer Rorie Logan Heley Bob Martin Matt Gannon Chris Heady Staff Writers Chris Heady Julia Davis Zoe Brian Caroline Creidenberg Paige Hess Holly Hernandez Kim Hoedel Maggie Andriani Katie Knight Drew Broeckelman Alex Lamb Editorial Board Andrew Goble Annie Sgroi Corbin Barnds Logan Heley Kevin Simpson

Feb. 21, 2011 issue 11, vol. 52

Jennifer Rorie Jack Howland Evan Nichols Kat Buchanan Bob Martin Katy Westhoff Photographers Grant Kendall Sammi Kelley Samantha Bartow Claire Wahrer Caroline Creidenberg Emma Robson Brendan Dulohery Jake Crandall Sara Baumann Ads/Circulation Manager Vanessa Daves Erin Reilly Staff Artists Peter Hung DJ Burton

photo by JakeCrandall

all drivers in the lot need to be patient and courteous. Rushing to the turning lane and cutting other drivers off is not only impolite, but dangerous. Another obstacle in bad weather has been students and parents turning into the senior lot going north on Mission Rd. While this is generally a problem throughout the year, bad weather adds another element to the conditions. Parents and students driving south to turn into the lot need to do the best they can to allow cars coming from the south to also turn in. If the Prairie Village police or a district police officer were to direct the road traffic on these icy days, getting to school would be an easier and safer task.

Whether Mother Nature has more snow in store or not, students, staff and students need to take care to put in the extra effort on snowy days. The district needs to make sure the lots are clear and students can park without fear of tires spinning out or breaking a leg walking into schools. Ensuring safety is always a priority. It is our collective duty as members of the East community to make an extra effort on days with poor driving conditions to prevent accidents from occurring.

Keep our Lancer family strong by driving safely.

Letters to the editor should be sent to room 521 or smeharbinger@gmail.com.

Letters may be edited for clarity, length, libel and mechanics and accepted or rejected at the editor’s discretion.

Copy Editors Natalie Parker Anne Willman Photo Editors Lindsey Hartnett Samantha Bartow Multimedia Editor Maggie Simmons Asst. Multimedia Editors Thomas Allen Nathan Walker Live Broadcast Editor Jeff Cole Asst. Live Broadcast Editors Dalton Boehm Duncan MacLachlan Convergence Editor Maggie Simmons Asst. Convergence Editor Drew Broeckelman Homegrown Editor Mason Pashia Asst. Homegrown Editor Jackson Dalton Podcast Editor Robert Martin Blog Editor Natalie Parker

Video Editor Alex Lamb Multimedia Staff Riley Watson Duncan MacLachlan Natalie Parker Live Broadcast Producers Thomas Allen Tom Lynch Drew Broeckelman Anchors Andrew Simpson Maggie Andriani Chloe Stradinger Becca Brownlee Meagan Dexter Alex Goldman Haley Martin Riley Watson Paige Hess PR Representative/Business Managers Becca Brownlee Meagan Dexter Photographer Gail Stonebarger Adviser Dow Tate

Features Editor Editors-In-Chief Sarah McKittrick Andrew Goble Features Page Editors Annie Sgroi Christa McKittrick Assistant Editors Haley Martin Evan Nichols Alysabeth Albano Kat Buchanan A&E Editor Head Copy Editor Aubrey Leiter Kevin Simpson A&E Page Editors Art and Design Editor Kennedy Burgess Emma Pennington Tom Lynch News Editor Sports Editor Jack Howland Corbin Barnds News Page Editors Sports Page Editors Jennifer Rorie Matt Gannon Editorial Editor Anne Willman Katy Westhoff Freelance Page Editors Opinion Editor Anna Bernard Raina Weinberg Matt Hanson Opinion Page Editors Photo Editors Will Webber Harbinger Online Grant Heinlein Anna Marken Editors-In-Chief Dan Stewart Mixed Editor Logan Heley Assistant Photo Editor Emily Kerr Pat McGannon Eden Schoofs Spread Editors Assistant Editor Copy Editors Chloe Stradinger Maggie Simmons Evan Nichols Toni Aguiar The Harbinger is a student run publication. The contents and views are produced solely by the staff and do not represent the Shawnee Mission School District, East faculty, or school administration.

NOT SO SMOOTH

moves

OPINION issue 11

09

Staffer talks about living in four states in seven years

SaraBaumann

A

An opinion of VanessaDaves

fter a long day of yard work in the Alabama heat, my parents and I retired to the kitchen for a snack.

“Nessie,” my dad said tentatively, using his favorite nickname for me, “you know, dad works for a big company and we’ve got offices in a lot of different cities.”

My eight-year-old self sat at the kitchen table, barely paying attention to what my dad was saying.

“One of those offices is in Savannah, Georgia. Do you know where that is?” he said.

I nodded naively.

“Well, I’ve taken a job in Savannah.”

I stopped eating as what he was trying to tell me sank in.

“You’re moving?” I asked him, sadly.

He and my mom started laughing. How could they laugh at a time like this? Dad was moving.

“No,” he said with a smile. “We’re moving.”

*** I’ve lived in four states: Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Kansas.

A friend from South Carolina wrote me a letter when I left that said “Before you know it, you will be thinking about how different everything would be if you had stayed here!” And she was right. Everything would be different, especially me.

If I had never moved, I would be a completely different person. I can’t even imagine how different I would be if I had stayed in Alabama all my life. Moving has made me a stronger person.

I was so young when I left Alabama, but I remember it clearly.

I woke up one morning to find I was running late and that school had already started. My mom was not concerned, and she got me ready for school as usual.

When I arrived at school nearly an hour later I opened the door to a dark classroom.

“SURPRISE!” My teacher and classmates had planned a going away party for me and I realized why I was the only one to arrive late to

school: my class had spent their entire morning preparing for this.

At the end of the day, the support of my classmates as I went around and hugged each person goodbye was evident. And I knew I was going to be okay, no matter where I ended up.

Driving away from the school, I remember turning around and staring out the window as silent tears streamed down my cheeks. I watched the school slowly recede from my sight, getting smaller and smaller until it completely disappeared.

*** The one thing I loved about Savannah was the beauty of the area. If you’ve ever seen “Forrest Gump” or “The Last Song” have seen its beauty.

Although the scenery was different from Mobile, the people were the same and my family immediately felt welcome.

Nearly two years after living there, my dad informed me that we were moving a second time. I was 11 years old and furious.

My parents simply wanted to move because it was more convenient for them. But what about the new friends and school I had just gotten used to?

They told me we were moving an hour away. I could still see my friends, but I would be at a different school.

My eyes were blurring through my tear-stained, scrunched up face as I blindly threw the brochures and pictures of our new house at them.

“I don’t care!” I yelled. “It doesn’t matter!”

How could they make me leave again? Why would they do this to me?

I thought about how much I had changed since I had moved to Savannah. I was tougher and had experienced things I never would have done had I stayed in Mobile, like crabbing (its like fishing, except with crabs).

I thought about how I had learned to love Savannah and until I moved to Bluffton, I would cling to the hope that I would learn to love it there too. *** Bluffton is a small town with barely two main roads and only one public and one private school. The only place to hang out was a small shopping center.

For the first two years, I went to the private school. But I was finally introduced to public school the first semester of my eighth grade year; it was an overcrowded, sketchy middle

school called McCracken.

McCracken brought me to the real world and away from the sheltered life my parents had kept me in. After being at a small private school with a class of 18 for the two previous years, the change was drastic.

I was only at McCracken for a semester before I moved a fourth time. I found out in October of 2008.

They had some big news, my dad said. We were moving again. To Kansas. He received yet another promotion.

“Kansas?” Growing up in a small southeastern cities all my life, I had rarely even thought about Kansas.

My brother, B, was crying. He was 11 years old, and for the first time, moving was going to be as hard for him as it had been for me every other time. I had to stay strong for B. I diverted my attention away from the friends I would be leaving behind. I focused on B, because I remember clearly when I was his age and needed to believe that it was going to be okay. *** This year on the Sunday night after WPA, my best friend called me sobbing.

“Vanessa,” she said, “my grandpa died last night while we were at the dance. And my grandma is in the hospital.”

I got the details: when she found out, how was she doing, how serious was her grandma’s condition.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I said.

When I told my dad, he simply gave me a hug and told me I could stay as long as she needed me. I thought about the lousy night she had at WPA, on top of this, and just started crying.

“I just feel so bad,” I said over and over. “Why did all this happen to her?”

“Nessie,” my dad said, bringing back memories of the first time I moved, “if you go over there, you can’t feel sorry for yourself. You have to be strong for her.”

I thought back to the support my third grade class gave me when I needed it most. I thought back to my determination when I moved from Savannah. I thought back to how I was strong for B when we moved here.

“I can do it,” I said.

If I had never moved, I wouldn’t even have lived here to be there for her. I wouldn’t have been able to be strong for her.

I wouldn’t have been the first person she called after hearing the news.

I wouldn’t be me.

Home Sweet Home Vanessa’s family shares pictures of their house in each state South Carolina

Alabama

Georgia

Kansas

Photos courtesy of the Daves family

10

OPINION

02-22-11

Physical Frustration Staffer expresses dissatisfaction with mandatory gym system

An opinion of: KatieKnight

It’s 5:30 p.m. on a Monday night, and I have finally finished my three hour mound of homework: two geometry worksheets, three chapters in “The Odyssey,” and a study guide for geography. Now that my brain has been fried, it’s time to head to volleyball.

Once changed and ready, we head to the gym, early to being early. At 6:30 p.m., the team gets together, and we split off into groups of three. It’s weight lifting time. Each group will either be doing calf raises, squats, arm raises, or sprints.

Once an hour has passed, we clean up the weights and transition into practice. Practice most often consists of hitting, passing or blocking drills that keep us constantly on the move. If our goal isn’t met, sprinting lines is our usual punishment. At extreme cases, it will often be followed by puking or dizziness.

Each week I will play 10 to 20 hours, the amount of time varying with tournaments. Tournaments are more often than not out of town, causing most of us to miss a day or two of school for each one.

It’s Tuesday morning, and now I have to go to gym class first block. After groggily changing into our uniforms, the class of 30 heads up to the gym.

We start off with a few minutes of light jogging and walking, then ten to twenty minutes of stretching. After several water breaks, we get together in our assigned groups of five, and practice our jump rope routine for the remainder of the hour.

According to PE teacher Debbie Odgen, the purpose of PE foundations is to keep kids active and exercising. For people in situations like mine, any form of PE is a waste of time. I use far more energy and get far more benefit in a single volleyball practice than I do in a block of gym.

There is a simple solution for this common problem. At the beginning of the year before school starts, students interested in substituting gym should take a fitness test. This exam should consist of any combination of timed running, heart monitor testing, and/ or a pacer test.

Every day during gym, I’m always thinking about how else I could be spending my time. I could be taking Computer Apps, getting out of the way for next year. I could be in a study hall, getting some that English paper done. I could be in ceramics, actually enjoying myself. Practically anything, for me, would be more productive and useful than PE foundations.

Many competitive athletes at East are in the same situation: already in good shape, yet still wasting time and energy in required gym classes. Freshman Brooks Kendall is a competitive tennis player for the Kansas City United team. His team travels around the region around every other weekend, and they practice nearly five times a week for five hours each. His practices usually consist of hitting drills, playing points, and competitive games.

Brooks also feels his time is wasted in PE. “I don’t accomplish anything in gym. I already know most of the fundamentals of all the sports they teach, and I’m also already in shape from tennis,” Kendall said.

Clearly, students involved in competitive sports already understand the importance of exercise and are in good shape, and thus don’t gain anything PE classes.

A similar issue is the controversy over drill team counting as a gym credit. In a typical drill team class they will start off with a short amount of cardio, like jumping jacks, followed by stretching,

then do crunches for a song or two. For the remainder of the hour, the girls rigorously practice their dance routines.

Freshman Taylor McCullough is a JV Lancer Dancer, and also feels that changes need to be made.

“In our opinion we work so much harder in class compared to what we do in gym. It’s such a blast to be in drill team and it would just add to it if we got that option of taking out gym class.”

In my opinion, it is ridiculous that the ROTC program is counted as a gym credit, while drill team is not. I definitely don’t want to discount what students in ROTC do. But drill team works as hard, or harder than the ROTC members in their classes, and yet they get no credit for it.

Now it’s Wednesday night, and the practice cycle repeats, although this time, we’re mixing up our usual weights routine. Now, we are doing squats with resistance bands, repetitive arm strengthening with resistance bands, and four sets of 2-minute long wall sits. By the time our legs feel like noodles, we realize that that’s the cue to go downstairs to start practice.

Although volleyball is draining and I do get sick of it sometimes, I get more out of it than I can ever explain. I have improved not only in volleyball skills, but on mental toughness as well. Volleyball has taught me how to accept defeat, but come out as 10 times the fighter I used to be, for the next time.

With the amounts of physical and emotional exhaustion that GrantHeinlein comes with volleyball, it should count for something. The effort of myself and other student athletes shouldn’t be overlooked.

I also don’t want to downplay the importance of gym for certain groups of people. For those students who have a passion for art or schoolwork or theater, who don’t get much exercise, gym is a wonderful thing.

What issues are there with athletes testing out of PE? “Every person has their thing that they love,” McCullough said.

“Equality is the biggest “Obviously it’s not dancing for evthing. You want every kid to eryone. I feel like for people who feel comfortable in Physical don’t do other physical activities Education and that applies outside of school, gym would be a workout. But compared to what in all forms of education.” dancers and athletes do, it doesn’t ShawnHair compare at all.”

Drill team should count as a gym credit, and athletes should have the option of testing out of gym. Testing out of gym wouldn’t What is the overall advantage of Foundations PE? any different than a student testing out of Computer Apps. If a student “All kids take PE and it helps knows all the material in a computto give everyone the same er class, taking that course would be expectations. For a lot of a waste of their time.

With gym, it’s the exact same kids , this is the first time concept. they’re being exposed to

Coaching Points Gym teachers voice their opinions

Q:

Q:

things like weightlifting.”

ChipSherman

OPINION

fixated on

issue 11

11

FASHION Freshman discusses style at East and the effect it’s had on her An Opinion of MaggieAndriani Boldly stitched and studded jeans, a miniscule crocodile stitched into a polo, a dangling “J” zipper off of a velour jacket.

Maybe it’s just a girl thing, but I recognize the subtle signs of designers immediately, almost like a sixth sense. East’s hallways are filled with different designers and brands. Some people wear them to fit in, some people wear them simply because they can afford it. My reason was different: for me, it was a necessity.

During my first few weeks as a freshman, I learned very quickly that East’s culture was one partially based on fashion.

Particularly designer fashion. Sure, Uggs and North Face jackets were a common sight to see at Mission Valley, but East was a whole new level of designer, and about twice as expensive.

The plain Aeropostale jeans worn at Mission Valley were upgraded to True Religion. Now, instead of carrying notebooks and folders around in a simple zippered binder, girls carry the contents of their lockers around in metallic Coach totes. And although Sperrys were a fairly common thing for girls to wear last year, now it seems as though all the preppy guys have at least one pair. It’s no longer just the girls wearing designers: now, it seems to be everyone.

I panicked at first, seeing how I owned almost nothing designer. Last year it seemed to be enough to have a couple of Juicy jackets, but this year I felt pressured to wear designer head-to-toe. Jewelry, shirts, jeans, shoes--I didn’t think the generic brands would cut it anymore. If people at East wore preppy designer labels, then why shouldn’t I? Being at a new school and meeting new people, I felt like I had to wear the right clothes if I wanted to make the right first impressions.

Sure, you’re supposed to make friends based on their personalities, but I figured clothes could count for something, too. I know I’m guilty of sometimes judging people based on their appearance, so I always assumed others judged me in the same way.

Little by little, I tried to make changes to my wardrobe. I bought what I could off the sales racks of Nordstrom and Halls, and surprisingly found some great deals. It especially helped that my mom’s job at Hallmark gets her major discounts at Halls. Unfortunately, well-paying babysitting jobs are rare for me, so I couldn’t afford to spend hundreds of dollars overhauling my closet. Begging my parents for money wasn’t an option either, since they‘re opposed to spending their money on clothes that are double the price they should be just because of their label. I’d always try to reason the price with them, defensively saying it’s the price you pay for quality, but they never budged. Although a few new pieces were added to my closet, overall everything stayed the same.

To me, it seemed like there was some unspoken quota of designer brands that must be met if you are to be at least halfway socially acceptable. No one will openly criticize someone because their boots don’t have an Ugg label stitched onto the back, but people at least take some notice. I notice.

I had become so obsessed with having the right clothes that I had come under the impression that people criticize me as harshly as I criticize myself. I’m always judging myself if my jeans don’t have adorned pockets, or if my jacket doesn’t have a North Face symbol on the side, and I only assumed that people judged me in that way too.

After a couple months’ effort, due to my lack of money and perseverance, I decided to accept what I have already and not be so concerned with the names I wore. I found that people

GrantHeinlein

still treated me the same, and I still made new friends. They couldn’t care less about what I wore, so I started to think that maybe I shouldn’t care either.

On the days where I wake up 10 minutes before school or the days where I don’t particularly feel like trying, I roll out of bed and put on a pair of sweats with some tennis shoes. When I first started doing this, I felt uncomfortable, like I should be trying harder. It didn’t feel right to not put effort into my morning routine. Once I started to relax and realized that no one cared that I wasn’t dressed to the nines, it became more of a regular routine. In the wise words of my dad, “You don’t need two hours to get ready in the morning. You aren’t going to a fashion show.”

In the back of my head I know people don’t care as much about clothes as much as I do, but for some reason I put so much thought into it. I spend most of my money shopping, going through sales racks with a fine toothed comb. It’s become almost obsessive, and now I’m finally beginning to learn that clothes aren’t everything.

The person who cares the most about what I’m wearing is me; I’m my own toughest critic.

THE GOOD, THE FAD AND THE UGLY Popped Polos- Double-popped polos gained popularity fast and lasted far too long. Those adventerous enough dared to layer three.

Flannel Shirts- No one should go

The Good

Moon Boots- Our middle -schoolselves blamed wearing this fashion disaster on heavy snow but truthfully, we all just wanted to wear them.

The Fad

The Ugly

Senior Drew Auer models clothing that was once in-style and flopped, as well as what made it into current fashion trends.

without a flannel shirt in their closet.

Thankfully, these comfy tops are no longer exclusively worn by lumber jacks.

12

FEATURES

02-22-11

Photos courtesy of the Kamin family

TINY

STEPS Freshman learns how to live with her younger sister’s unique condition EmilyKerr

Worn out from a two and a half hour cheer practice, freshman Keyli Kamin steps out of her mom’s Jeep. She and her mom walk up the front porch steps into their mocha-colored front room. Tossing her bag aside, she glances at her younger sister Jaedyn, whose eyes are glued to Mickey Mouse on the T.V. screen. With a quick “hi,” Keyli walks past her and is off to her room. No rushing to the hospital to stop the vomiting.

No quick thirty-minute surgeries turning into six hour ones.

Things are normal tonight.

Normal means something different to Keyli. It means a break from the worrying about how her sister’s latest surgery will go. It means a night at home knowing her sister is nearby, not in a bed at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Keyli’s definition of normal changed when Jaedyn was born with a condition so rare that none of her doctor had ever seen it before.

Taking on the nickname “Jaedyn syndrome,” the doctor’s diagnosis took up half a page: abnormal tracheal rings, a cleft palette, an extra thumb, spinal stenosis, and a kidney located in her shoulder were just a few of the conditions. *** Jaedyn had her first surgery at six-months-old in order to correct some of these problems. The doctors soon realized they had no idea what they were getting into. They were overwhelmed by her complications and almost lost her. The Kamin family brought Jaedyn back again two months later for what was supposed to be a quick 30 minute surgery. Thirty minutes turned into six hours. Once again, the doctors were surprised by the oddity of her condition and were at a loss for a solution. “ . . . They told us there is nothing they could do,” Keyli and Jaedyn’s father Jason Kamin said. “Basically we were just going to have to take her home to watch her suffocate.”

Jaedyn was born with 16 completely round tracheal rings, whereas normally these rings are horse-shoe shaped. As the rest of her body grew, the rings could not. The first couple months of her life, in order to conserve energy, she didn’t do anything besides eat and sleep. They fed her the bare minimum amount of food necessary to survive, but not too much so that she wouldn’t outgrow her tracheal rings.

“It was like [she was] breathing through something the size of a stir straw,” Jason said. “They were shocked that she made

it that long.”

With the grave diagnosis that faced the Kamin family, they scrambled for another opinion. Many phone calls later, they discovered that the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital specialized in airways and would be able to help. The only problem was the hospital was located 600 miles away from home.

Despite the distance, the family has made numerous treks to Cincinnati to consult with the doctors. These trips have thrown loops in their routine. This summer Keyli went along with her family to one of these visits. Twelve-hour long days in hospital waiting rooms. Only one small T.V. for entertainment. It was a long and grueling three weeks.

“I read the entire Twilight series in that time,” Keyli said. “I went because it was summertime, but I was not expecting to be there for three weeks.”

Even outside of these trips, a substantial amount of Keyli’s life is centered on Jaedyn. Because Jaedyn is unable to eat regular food, she must be fed through a G-tube, a device which inserts food directly to her stomach. She must be fed four times a day and the feedings last an hour and a half each.

An added difficulty to this is her condition of cyclic vomiting.

They must time the feedings exactly right so that her stomach won’t react badly to the food. Once the vomiting became so bad that they had to knock her out with a shot for 24 hours. “[Before Jaedyn came] We did a lot more,” Keyli said.

“When she came we had to plan around her feeding schedule, because she can’t go places.” *** Despite these physical deformities, Jaedyn still displays a spunky demeanor. One moment she will be pressing the refrigerator buttons spewing water about the kitchen, and the next she will getting into the kitchen tupperware.

“My Dad will tell her no and she’ll just laugh,” Keyli said.

“Then she’ll just come back and do it again.”

But it’s impossible to be mad at her. Just seeing her threeyear-old grin is enough to take away any anger Keyli might feel.

“The best part is that with all she has had to endure, we can see her giggle and see her smile,” Jason said.

Jaedyn’s resilience is what impresses Keyli the most. Keyli recounts Jaedyn’s first day of school as a moment that defined

UNDERSTANDING “JAEDYN SYNDROME” A look at a few of the conditions Jaedyn Kamin has coped with

Pierre-Robin sequence

PR sequence is a birth defect with two components: an abnormally small lower jaw and a tendency for the tongue to fall back in the throat and block the airway.

Spinal Stenosis

Spinal stenosis is narrowing that can occur at the center of the spine, the canals branching off the spine or between the vertebrae. It puts pressure on nerves and the spinal cord.

how she thought about her sister.

“On her first day of school she was running and face planted on the concrete,” Keyli said. “She was crying for like 30 seconds and then laughing again. The teachers were freaking out and getting her ice, but she was fine.”

Whereas younger sisters typically look up to their older ones, Keyli has often taken inspiration from Jaedyn, a threeyear-old who can’t even talk.

“I now try to take more risks because life is so short,” Keyli said. “When I am at cheer and I don’t want to throw my tumbling or something, I’m like well I should throw it.”

Through all of these sacrifices, Keyli tries her best to appreciate her sister for who she is. She chooses not to dwell on the challenges or question why Jaedyn was dealt this unfair hand. She focuses on enjoying the time that she gets to spend with her; whether it be on walks or jumping on her moon bounce together. Although Jaedyn is unable to talk, Keyli and her have developed a system of communicating.

“She gets things, she just doesn’t say it,” Keyli said. “When she wants to rock she lifts herself up. You normally have to show her things.”

Although it may be an unconventional relationship, they have found a way to make it work.

“Sometimes I think yeah I wish she was normal, but then I realize that I should just be happy with what I have,” Keyli said. “It’s much better to have her like this than to not have her at all.”

As for the future, the doctors and family are unsure of what will come.

The next big surgery that Jaedyn will have to face is one for her spinal stenosis, which if not fix could possibly cause permanent paralysis “It seems like once we’ve got a handle on things, another thing will pop up,” Jason said.

For now, the Kamin family is just focusing on taking it one day at a time.

“I don’t think about the future much, I just think about what is happening right now,” Keyli said. “I really wish she could talk and eat, but you gotta just take tiny steps.”

Torticollis

Torticollis is a twisted and tilted neck, which can appear temporarily or, as in Jaedyn’s case, can be congenital, or present at birth.

Dysphagia and Gastroesophageal Reflux (GERD)

Dysphagia is the formal name for trouble swallowing and GERD is having stomach contents move backward into the esophagus.

Hemifacial microsomia

Hemifacial microsomia is the second most common facial birth defect involving small or underdeveloped part of the face, most commonly the ear and jaw.

Cincinnati Children’s and Seattle Children’s Hospital

FEATURES ChrisHeady

Senior Carolyn Morris* begins gasping for air. She hyperventilates as she tries to stand up. She tries to look around, but her eyesight is shot. Everything is black.

Unable to sleep, Morris hears clocks ticking. The one in the kitchen. The one by her beside. She stares at the ceiling while she lies in bed. She waits for her 18-year-old body to give in to the exhaustion. She wants to fall asleep.

She needs to fall asleep. Her clock glares at her: 4:45 a.m.

She counts polka dots on her wall... 32, 33, 34. The technique has betrayed her. Her eyes are still open. Her mind is working on overdrive. Her heart is pounding from the lack of sleep. She begins sobbing out of frustration as the panic attack dies down.

The clock reads 5:45 a.m. when she finally falls asleep—45 minutes before she has to wake up for class. *** Morris suffers insomnia, a sleeping disorder that 30-50 percent of the nation suffer from at one point in life, including many East students, like sophomore Annie Sullivan.

Sullivan has been suffering insomnia since age 12, as a by-product of of her Attention Deficient Disorder.

“With ADD, one thought bounces to the other which bounces to the other, which sucks because I can’t control it,” Sullivan said.

When Sullivan was 12, she suffered through dozens of all-nighters. She tried to read, watch TV, get homework done. None of it helped.

“My brain just won’t shut up,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan fit every symptom of insomnia as a seventh grader, including difficulty falling asleep, waking up often throughout the night, having trouble going back to sleep and feeling tired upon waking.

The lack of sleep agitates Sullivan, so she’ll try to find productive ways to use her six

Z

Z

hours of thought. She has been active in drama throughout her life, and will sometimes spend the extra time to rehearse lines for her parts while she lies in be. Though the time is helpful for her when it comes to theater, she says the memorization isn’t worth the hours of sleep lost.

A recent prescription for Ambien, a sleep medication, helps Sullivan, giving her 5-7 hours of sleep a night. But in doing so, it steals her memory.

“I’ll wake up and look at my phone to see I’ve texted my friends weird, uncomfortable things like, ‘Let’s go on a road trip tomorrow,’ or, ‘I can see the bears dancing,” she says.

The Ambien doesn’t work all the time.

There are still the nights where Sullivan is left to the silence of thoughts.

Junior Andrew Beasley’s trouble began this year.

At the beginning of this school year, Beasley began to have insomniac-like symptoms, and by the third night in a row of getting two hours of sleep, he knew something was seriously wrong.

“There were a couple nights where I actually didn’t sleep at all,” Beasley said.

Beasley’s first bout with Insomnia may have been attributed to a side-effect of a throat medication. His father, a physician at St. Lukes Hospital, advised his son to abandon the medication, since Beasley was up late on most nights he took it. So he did.

But Beasley’s sleeping troubles didn’t improve after he became interested in lucid dreaming.

A lucid dream is the sensation of being aware that you are dreaming. It usually happens when the dreamer experiences something strange, and then beings to question their reality. Lucid dreaming isn’t a trait you can acquire, though many claim it is possible to learn. Intrigued by the summer blockbuster “Inception,” Beasley was determined to find

the secret of lucid dreaming.

He followed “How-to” lists online, wrote his dreams in a “dream book” and wrote “Dream” on his hand every night before he went to bed. His plan: if he realized he was dreaming and looked at his hand and it didn’t have “Dream” written on it, he would know he was dreaming.

This altered Beasley’s sleep cycle to the point he was up all night, and with what sleep he did get, he would wake up tired and fatigued. He sometimes forgets how he got to school. *** Waking up in the morning is somewhat of a chore for Morris. Usually no one is home, making it tempting to sleep through first block. This year, the temptation has reached to the point where she has slept through first hour so often, she had to drop her first block class, Pre-Calculus.

Morris has always stayed up late and never thought anything of it, but this year when she was going to bed at times like 4 a.m. every night, she knew it was something out of the norm. Finally, she went to the doctor.

Morris was prescribed Trazodone, a pill that is usually taken as an anti-depressant but is also used to treat insomnia.

At first the medication didn’t work. Morris found herself still up either watching TV or indulging in her “dangerous addiction” to games on her cell phone. After two months on the medicine, it is only now starting to make her drowsy.

“The worst part of insomnia is that you are staying up focusing on anything, you have nothing to focus on,” Morris said. “So your mind is just thinking for five hours and you don’t really realize how much time has passed until you look at a clock. It’s infuriating.”

Morris hears five alarms at 7:15. Four alarms on her phone play songs, the fifth is a plastic watch alarm.

issue 11

13

She sits up and stares at the wall, not wanting to get out of bed just yet. Willing her way to the bathroom, she washes her face to wake up.

She gets into her car. She drives to school, listening to Taylor Swift CDs. She arrives at East around 7:30 a.m., making a path toward the East coffee shop. “[My insomnia] is just a part of who I am,” Morris said. “Its not like when you have a broken leg you wake up every morning and say ‘I have a broken leg.’ You just go about your day. It’s the same thing with insomnia. I just go through my day and see what happens, not complaining about not sleeping. It’s not something worth complaining about.”

Morris enters the coffee shop as Beasley leaves.

Beasley has abandoned the goal of lucid dreaming and is back to a somewhat normal sleeping schedule. He abandoned the “dream book,” and now gets six or seven hours of sleep somewhat regularly. The medication he used for his throat is no longer the pill, but an inhaler with no drowsy symptoms.

Beasley will still have the occasional night where he is up into the late hours, but the fact he has stopped his quest for a lucid dream has put his sleep schedule back into reality.

Beasley glances to his left as he walks out of the coffee shop, Sullivan is at her locker getting ready to go to first hour.

Sullivan’s insomnia has simmered down with her prescription to Ambien and she is back to sleeping during the night, usually getting 5-7 hours of sleep. But sometimes the Ambien is still not enough, and Sullivan will have the occasional all-nighter. She still catches herself spacing off during class and will occasionally sneak a mid-class nap.

Insomniacs are not “medicated” or “crazy.”

“We just can’t sleep,” Morris said.

*name changed to protect identity

More than 30-50% of the population suffers from insomnia at some point in their life, 10% suffer from chronic insomnia than twice as likely to have insomnia than men are Z People now sleep 20% less than they did 100 years ago z Women are more z About 10 million people in the U.S. use prescriptions to help them sleep Stress often triggers short term insomnia

emedicinehealth.com

battling

insomnia East students struggle to deal with sleeping disorder

photo illustration by GrantHeinlein

14

FEATURES

02-22-11

More than his disease Senior copes with serious illness through involvement in Sargon Robotics KennedyBurgess

The high-school Robotics competition held at Hail Arena in Kansas City was about to start. Rob Kelly, with his wired rimmed glasses and shaggy curly black hair, stood next to his Sargon Robotics teammate Tyler Cecil in their team box. Rob was finally happy.

It was April 2010 and Rob, then a junior, was participating in his first robotics competition. Rob suffers from a chronic disease known as Eosinophelic Gastroenteritis, a dysfunction of the immune system in the intestinal tract, which causes the body to fight against itself. For six years, the illness altered Rob’s life.

“I try not to think about that chapter of my life,” Rob said.

“I don’t let it define me.”

Rob joined robotics late in his sophomore year after the initial build season, the period of time during the year in which members of the robotics club work together to build a functioning robot for the annual spring competition.

At a young age, Rob’s grandfather bought him a small radio from a local garage sale. He gave it to Rob along with a set of real tools. At an age when he could barely walk, Rob would take apart the radio and assemble it back together - piece by piece, over and over again, mesmerized by how each component of the radio fit together.

This interest in how things are built, in understanding the way they work was what drew him to programming.

“You can figure out ways to do the most amazing things with simple equations,” Rob said. “That’s really what programming is.”

Programming is not just a side hobby for Rob though; it helped him cope with E.G. *** As he sat in his room at home early in his 5th grade year at St. Paul’s, incisive, throbbing twinges in his lower abdomen stung Rob’s side, as if someone was continuously stabbing him. The throbbing continued and worsened from occurring every few days, to every few minutes, to every few seconds.

For Rob, stomach flu-like symptoms, upper respiratory pain, sinus, lung, and ear infections continued to recur, each spiraling into long, drawn out illnesses.

The cutting aches in her son’s stomach and persisting illnesses began to concern Rebecca Kelly.

Rob visited countless doctors, each was baffled at the rarity of Rob’s physical state. With medical conditions like Rob’s, diagnoses would usually take up to two or three years and eight to 10 doctors.

At first sight, Rob was diagnosed with mono, but as his doctor studied his charts closer, he found it to be much more serious.

Rebecca was recommended to take Rob to the top G.I. specialist in the country practicing at Children’s Mercy Medical Center in Kansas City. There, doctors ran tests exposing abnormalities in his health. “We were relieved to know what it was,” Rebecca said.

After his diagnosis, Rob would lie on a hospital bed, hooked to an IV feeding him nutritional replacement liquids, as a heart monitor repeatedly beeped beside him. He no longer could eat normal food due to his body’s inability to digest it.

“The hospital trips were a nightmare,” Rob said.

At times, Rob had to resort to eating formula food fed into his intestines or nose from a small tube. Rob however, being strong willed, refused to be fed in such a way. He drank the tasteless formula for years as his only source of nutrition.

“It tasted nasty,” Rebecca said. “I don’t know how he did it.”

Rebecca and her husband tried everything to help prevent Kelly’s illness from deteriorating further.

They put in new heating and cooling systems in their

house with Heppa Filters and UV lights to remove mold and allergens. They took out the old walls, carpeting, floors and bathrooms in their house. They checked into Senior Rob Kelly (far right) a hotel for six weeks - perhaps the works with fellow Robotics renovations in their home were members programming causing flare ups in Rob’s im- their new design.

JakeCrandall mune system.

The immunosuppressants Rob was prescribed, though they helped treat his chronic condition, began to take their negative effects on his body and mental state. His immune system became extremely weak to the point where he would frequently become sick. The combination of the E.G. and suppressants caused Rob to miss out on normal social activities teenagers his age participated in, including school.

Rapidly gaining a social disconnect from the world outside of his home fueled Rob to develop slight depression. Rob looked for anything to do, anything to keep his mind off of the physical hurt and mental anxiety he was enduring.

Comedy would occupy most of Rob’s television and radio during the day. David Sedaris’s witty jokes and George Carlin’s TV hilarity helped Rob cope; the laughs and humor overshadowing the downbeat note his life was constantly hitting.

“When you spend a lot of time by yourself like I unfortunately did,” Rob said. “You sort of begin to rewrite how you illustration

by GrantHeinlein think socially and Iphoto think the comedy movies sort of rubbed off on me in a way.”

Rob started developing a unique sense of humor, a personality trait his peers in robotics appreciated in him.

“Half of our inside jokes involve science and math,” Cecil said. “Rob made a list of all of his jokes he’s made during robotics called ‘Robeth the I.’” With his prevalent interest in math, Rob began to program web codes into his computer to pass time. Each code represented a different component to what Rob was crafting through his computer. Different colors and languages meant and stood for different things. It wasn’t simply numeric equations, programming was communicating with the computer with various words and tasks to create whatever he wanted.

“He spent a lot of time alone,” Rebecca said. “Programming kept his mind off of the pain.”

Rebecca had noticed a fast wit for math in her son from the start. In the prime of his illness, Rob would struggle at night to fall asleep. A doctor recommended Rebecca buy a tedious book for Rob to read before he went to bed. The idea was the book would tire him, and eventually he would fall asleep sooner. Rebecca went to the bookstore and purchased a couple books relating to science and advanced physics, expecting her son to nod off quickly from the material.

Instead, at only 13-years-old, Rob would stay up until late hours of the night, enthralled in each book, rapt by the formulas and equations.

That’s when Rebecca and her husband knew their son needed a challenge.

Rob would spend countless hours at home when he was too sick to attend school, typing away codes into his computer, building layers upon layers of simple mathematical functions and equations.

Programming gave Rob recurrent optimism to carry on.

He could create anything he wanted through programming games, websites. It distracted Rob from his health, giving him continual hope even though at times, he felt overpowered by his illness.

“In a situation like that, you physically and emotionally

cannot control yourself,” Rob said. “But you have to.”

All Photos by Jake Crandall *** Ten months after his first robotics competition, Rob sits in the computer lab connected to the main scope of the robotics club room, typing an assortment of codes into the computer in front of him. It’s the crucial peak of build season. Rob is perfecting the camera that will be mounted into the master robot for the 2011 spring competition. He is the mind behind all visual aspects that go into constructing the robot. Like a painter coating the finishing touches on a meticulous oil painting, Rob types in the concluding formulas as DeadMau5 blares through his earphones. He’s in his zone.

Cecil first saw potential in Rob during their sophomore seminar. Cecil was entering simple codes into his laptop when Rob looked over and began correcting the current code he was entering.

“At first I was kind of angry that he was correcting my coding,” Cecil said. “Then I thought, ‘Okay, this kid needs to be on robotics.’”

Cecil saw a tremendous amount of drive in Rob as he worked on the robotics team. Rob cared about more than just the robot, but the people in the club as well. When Cecil and other members suggested a JV robotics team Rob simply told Cecil “No, everyone needs to be a part of this.”

Cecil and Rob quickly became friends through their time spent on robotics together. Robotics provided Rob with a social anchor, something he had missed six of his teen years because of his illness.

“It’s really a fantastic feeling getting together with friends and creating something as crazy cool as this,” Rob said. *** Six years after his original diagnosis, Rob is in remission.

Rebecca and her husband, Rob’s stepfather, never quit seeking enhanced medication – the type of medication that would eventually allow Rob to finally begin to heal.

“We were desperate,” Rebecca said.

Through extensive online research for alternative medication and options to the current suppressants Rob was on, Rebecca came upon a medication known as Ketotifen in 2007.

The medication, though not FDA approved in the U.S., became approved by Rob’s doctors for him to use in an effort for him to finally begin to heal.

“Rob is unique in the fact that he is in remission now,” Rebecca said. “Not many kids with E.G. as severe as Rob’s find relief.”

Though E.G. will always be with him, he’s now able to focus on what he loves. Currently a National Merit Finalist, Rob still looks towards the future. With colleges such as KU and KSU offering scholarships packages to him, Rob wants to one day turn his love of math and programming into a profession as an engineer, or possibly even work for a company like Google. Rob’s illness can no longer control his life.

“While I don’t want to say that I have been defined by my illness I would definitely be a very different Rob Kelly if it weren’t for that very large chapter of my life,” Rob said. “I try not to think about the individual ways it has effected me. But it has.”

PHOTO ESSAY issue 11

15

Senior CC Creidenberg, left, tosses out a pitch during his team’s win during the quarterfinals. “It’s fun to have an event during a school night,” Creidenberg said. “It gives us something to look forward to.”

GrantHeinlein Arguing a call, senior Corey Neidl, below, futilely tries to change the referee’s mind. “[My team] all got dressed up in crazy clothes,” Neidl said. “It was fun to see everybody participating.”

DanStewart

Grand Slam for Charity DECA seniors Hayley Bublitz and Hannah Roste host wiffle ball tournament to raise money for Mothers Against Drunk Driving

A volunteer from Mothers Against Drunk Driving speaks to the participants of the wiffle ball tournament prior to the beginning of play. This is the second year for the tournament, and was inspired by the sudden death of fellow student Bryan Barrow in March of 2009.

EdenSchoofs

Senior Caroline Doerr, right, awaits the pitch from her teammate. “[My team], The Alphabets, won our first game ever,” Doerr sad. “It was a great way to start the tournament.”

EdenSchoofs

Screaming for their teammates, seniors Caroline Marland, Elise Kuklenski, and Drew Auer attempt to direct the baserunners after a long-hit ball.

“It was an awesome event for a great cause,” Auer said.

DanStewart

16

T O H S A T I G GIVIN

SPREAD

02-22-11

SPREAD issue 11

17

eilly KimHoedel and ErinR

phy ra g to o h p d n fi ts n e d tu S y to be a rewarding hobb

As many East kids do, junior Anna Dancinger signed up for Photo 1 with the mindset that it would just be another fun elective. Instead, she discovered that this wouldn’t be just another art course to her: it became her new passion.

“I really like how every picture shows a different self expression,” Dancinger said. “I also love that every picture is unique and special to the photographer who took it.”

s

rew Wa tkin

And

ph

om

or eL au

ra M

ss hki otc

ior

so

sH

arle

sen

junior

Ch

Each photographer talks about their favorite photo

effects on the computer and other design programs.

“Currently, I have a long focal lens [eliminate depth] and a fish-eye lens [which looks like the view from inside a fishbowl],” Dancinger said. “My favorite one to use is the fish-eye lens . I like to use them because they affect the picture before it’s processed on the computer.”

When her friends aren’t available to shoot, Dancinger turns to her most loyal models: her sisters.

“I use my two sisters, Audrey [10] and Kate [13], on most of my shoots,” Dancinger said. “My favorite part of shooting is being able to find the perfect poses and finding the best way to use the natural light for the shot.

Dancinger is serious about her photography, and wants to pursue it in college. However, if it doesn’t work out, she says said it wouldn’t be that big of a setback.

“Even if I couldn’t go professional, it wouldn’t be the end of the world to me,” Dancinger said. “I’d still continue it as a hobby.”

After shoots, Sophomore Laura Metz was introduced Watkins often While the idea to photography at a young age. It started with uploads his picof photography in her dad, Brian Metz, who had a passion for photures onto Flickr, an has always interested love.” tography. image hosting webhim, it wasn’t until this Her dad then intertwined that passion with his love for his “He was always taking pictures, site that allows phopast year that senior Charles family by taking his family on trips to gorgeous locations for and the pictures turned out so tographers and artists Hotchkiss made a hobby of it. vacation, and his camera was never far away. cool that I wanted to try,” to share and critique each Inspired by several of his friends, The hallway leading to the living room of the Metz house Metz said. “Once I got other’s work.

Hotchkiss began shooting on his own, is covered in picturesque scenes from the family’s trips. kan wildlife. the camera in “It’s an easy way to as well as in group shoots.

There’s a photo Laura and her sister Megan standing next to “My favorite place to shoot by far was the Galapagos,” my hands, share with the people you “I think photography helps to get difa sea lion cocking it’s head for the camera in the Galapagos Laura said. “It was just a gorgeous setting. Since people I fell shot with and the people who ferent perspectives of the world,” Hotchkiss Islands. A shot of a sperm whale flipping its tail as it dives into aren’t very common there, the wildlife isn’t afraid of them and couldn’t make it,” Watkins said. said. the Pacific in Baja, California hangs next to it. they were always coming up and investigating, which made To get his photos online, AnHotchkiss was drawn to photography when he According to mother Jane Metz, Laura’s dad got the for some great shots.” drew has to scan the pictures and noticed how it revealed things in ways that had never whole family cameras three years ago so they could Laura’s preferred style is modeled portraits. Getting photo load them to his computer beforebeen seen. He also realized how many different ways one shoot together during their Spring Break vacashoot ides from her daily experiences and surroundings, she hand, since he prefers film photogthing can appear from different views. For instance, a buildtion on an Alaskan cruise. Therefore, Laura then likes to shoot friends and family. raphy to digital. Film means more ing could be shot from a hundred different angles, and each has her own addition to the collec“If I see the light hitting an object or a person in a cool way, to Watkins because, with digital, the one would look completely different. He also noticed how little tion in their hallway: a portrait I’ll pull out my camera and tell whoever is with me ‘stop so I entire process of developing photos is things that usually go by unnoticed can be photographed to of a long plank walkway can get this shot!’” Laura said. “I’ve shot most of my family, but eliminated. become a piece of artwork. covered in netting my sister hasn’t let me do her yet. I’ll get her soon.”

“Digital isn’t nearly as rewarding with“Photography just gives you a lot of insight into the nestled in the Laura’s family and friends have been very supportive; her reading the criout the process of developing it yourself,” things that you wouldn’t normally recognize,” Hotchkiss said. midst of mom has readily paid for extra classes, and her dad has taught tiques off of Flickr Watkins said.

Opposed to staging shoots, Hotchkiss prefers to photograph Alasher everything he knows. also helps Hotchkiss to Unlike digitally taken images, film leaves nature and architecture. He enjoys the challenge of finding a “She was really fun to work with,” friend Jessie Burnes, a get more ideas of what possome mystery as to what the photos will actunew fresh angle to something that people see every day. Not fellow sophomore, said. “You can tell how much she likes sible things to shoot. Having phoally end up looking like. Watkins also loves the only is photography a fun challenge, it is also an easy way it just by working with her and watching her. She’s tography as just a hobby makes it easianticipation of waiting to see how his pictures have for Hotchkiss to relax. very serious about what she does, but at the same er for Hotchkiss; he can go out with an idea turned out.

“When you are shooting, you don’t have to worry time she’s really fun and upbeat when she’s of what to shoot or new angles to try, and then “The surprise you get after developing the roll of about anything other than what you’re shooting and shooting.” just lose himself in the shoot and relax. film is the best part, since you never know what you trying to capture it,” Hotchkiss said.

Because Hotchkiss feels that photography has such have beforehand,” Watkins said. “If you’re interested in Once Hotchkiss captures his shots after a day of a relaxing aura around it, he keeps his shooting completely photography, film is definitely something you should try taking photos, it’s easy to share his photos with evseparate from his school work. For Hotchkiss, photography is and before going straight to digital.” eryone through Flickr. always will be just a hobby and once it starts being part of school, its Even though Watkins lacks the time to be completely “Flickr is really helpful because people can starts to seem less like a free time activity, and more like work. devoted to photography alone, shooting with be a life long see your photos and tell you what you could “I like to think of it as just my personal thing that I do in my personal time hobby driven not only by a love for it but also the satisfaction do better or what you’ve done right already,” because I enjoy it,” Hotchkiss said. he feels seeing his finished photos.

Hotchkiss said.

Seeing other peoples works and

or

PIC picks

portraits,” Dancinger said. “They take pictures of people dressed up and made up in ways you’d never think of trying. I like their really simplistic portraits as well as the ones that are ridiculously abstract. I’m not really a middle ground sort of person.”

She then tries to emulate those photos with her own personal twist.

“I did a shoot with my friends where I teased their hair really crazy and then did their makeup really heavily,” Dancinger said. “It was one of my favorites to shoot, because it was fun and there were a lot of different angles to go with it.”

To expand her knowledge of the subject, Dancinger is taking Photo 3 and AP Studio Art with a focus on photography. She wants to learn about the different lenses, their effects on photos, and how to make natural effects before the processing stage, where you edit

i sen

Senior Andrew Watkins had always been intrigued by his mother’s old cameras that she kept around the house. When he was younger, Andrew used to play with the cameras and take fake picture of things he saw that sparked his interest. Now, with a Penta MX camera of his own and a larger variety of potential shots, Andrew continues his love of photography in his free time.

“I like the idea of recording a moment in time,” Watkins said.

The casual photography started when Watkins was eight-years-old, and by the time he reached high school his time spent playing with old cameras had paid off: he was able to teach himself how to take real photos.

Watkins was never interested in creating an artificial scene or setting up shoots of his own, but, instead, has always found joy in taking pictures of the elements of nature.

“I’m more drawn to shoot things that accrue naturally,” Watkins said.

In the summer, when there are less time constraints, Andrew is able to go out about once a week to photograph with his close friends. Since their group shoots are predominantly spontaneous, their choice of location is usually done at random. Often he visits downtown or the Crossroads, areas he and his friends know well, to see if they can find a new angle somewhere, or photograph something they’ve never noticed. Their common interest in photography is driven by the idea of documenting something in a way that it’s never been seen before.

“We’ll shoot anything: nature, people in nature—sometimes candids of strangers,” Watkins said.

Dancinger draws inspiration from a variety of sources. Firstly, she gets ideas from projects assigned in her Photo 2 class. She also is also a huge fan of a photographer named Wendy Ewald.

“What I like about her photos is that she takes them of completely ordinary people and situation but makes them look beautiful,” Dancinger said. “For example, she had taken some pictures of these kids, then printed them and let them draw all over them.

That way her style and their style were reflected in the picture.”

Dancinger prefers to shoot portraits in creative and unique ways. She’s inspired by spreads from the high fashion magazines she reads (Vogue, Glamour, etc.).

“I like that these are the most daring

“

We just drove around until we saw some place we liked. It was nice to find a cool location we’d never been to before. We were lucky to get there when the lighting Senior AndrewWatkins was perfect.

”

et

“

This is my favorite photo because it was one of the first photos I took with my Nikon D40. I also like how the white lights appear to contrast the red lights. Finally, I think the fence in the foreground adds Senior CharlesHotchkiss a nice rough edge to the photograph.

”

z

“

I really like the clean lines and how the rounded edges of the light the sharp lines of the walls play off each other. This picture is a light writing with a flashlight and a long expoSophomore LauraMetz sure.

”

Anna

Danci

nger

Laura has advanced her love of photography by taking Photo 1, is planning to take Photo 2 next year, and is deciding on which extra classes to take through Johnson County Community College. She is also considering taking classes through a special organization, Nikon Photography Classes, that comes to town every three years.

“My main goal for the future is to get more familiar with the different kinds of cameras, lenses, and other equipment, and I’d also like to get to know my camera a lot better,” Laura said. “I was also recently certified for SCUBA at Padi Scuba, and would be really interested in eventually taking an underwater photography class at their location in Kansas.”

While she is committed to expanding her knowledge on the subject of photography, for now it will still remain just a pastime.

“While I really like it, I would never consider becoming a professional photographer,” Laura said. Although she plans on becoming a dermatologist, she will always make time for her passion.

For additional photos from these photographers, visit www.smeharbinger.net all mugs by DanStewart photos courtesy of students

“

I like this photo because it’s so simplistic. It’s something we see literally every day of our lives, but with the right angles and lighting it becomes Junior AnnaDancinger a piece of art.

”

16

T O H S A T I G GIVIN

SPREAD

02-22-11

SPREAD issue 11

17

eilly KimHoedel and ErinR

phy ra g to o h p d n fi ts n e d tu S y to be a rewarding hobb

As many East kids do, junior Anna Dancinger signed up for Photo 1 with the mindset that it would just be another fun elective. Instead, she discovered that this wouldn’t be just another art course to her: it became her new passion.

“I really like how every picture shows a different self expression,” Dancinger said. “I also love that every picture is unique and special to the photographer who took it.”

s

rew Wa tkin

And

ph

om

or eL au

ra M

ss hki otc

ior

so

sH

arle

sen

junior

Ch

Each photographer talks about their favorite photo

effects on the computer and other design programs.

“Currently, I have a long focal lens [eliminate depth] and a fish-eye lens [which looks like the view from inside a fishbowl],” Dancinger said. “My favorite one to use is the fish-eye lens . I like to use them because they affect the picture before it’s processed on the computer.”

When her friends aren’t available to shoot, Dancinger turns to her most loyal models: her sisters.

“I use my two sisters, Audrey [10] and Kate [13], on most of my shoots,” Dancinger said. “My favorite part of shooting is being able to find the perfect poses and finding the best way to use the natural light for the shot.

Dancinger is serious about her photography, and wants to pursue it in college. However, if it doesn’t work out, she says said it wouldn’t be that big of a setback.

“Even if I couldn’t go professional, it wouldn’t be the end of the world to me,” Dancinger said. “I’d still continue it as a hobby.”

After shoots, Sophomore Laura Metz was introduced Watkins often While the idea to photography at a young age. It started with uploads his picof photography in her dad, Brian Metz, who had a passion for photures onto Flickr, an has always interested love.” tography. image hosting webhim, it wasn’t until this Her dad then intertwined that passion with his love for his “He was always taking pictures, site that allows phopast year that senior Charles family by taking his family on trips to gorgeous locations for and the pictures turned out so tographers and artists Hotchkiss made a hobby of it. vacation, and his camera was never far away. cool that I wanted to try,” to share and critique each Inspired by several of his friends, The hallway leading to the living room of the Metz house Metz said. “Once I got other’s work.

Hotchkiss began shooting on his own, is covered in picturesque scenes from the family’s trips. kan wildlife. the camera in “It’s an easy way to as well as in group shoots.

There’s a photo Laura and her sister Megan standing next to “My favorite place to shoot by far was the Galapagos,” my hands, share with the people you “I think photography helps to get difa sea lion cocking it’s head for the camera in the Galapagos Laura said. “It was just a gorgeous setting. Since people I fell shot with and the people who ferent perspectives of the world,” Hotchkiss Islands. A shot of a sperm whale flipping its tail as it dives into aren’t very common there, the wildlife isn’t afraid of them and couldn’t make it,” Watkins said. said. the Pacific in Baja, California hangs next to it. they were always coming up and investigating, which made To get his photos online, AnHotchkiss was drawn to photography when he According to mother Jane Metz, Laura’s dad got the for some great shots.” drew has to scan the pictures and noticed how it revealed things in ways that had never whole family cameras three years ago so they could Laura’s preferred style is modeled portraits. Getting photo load them to his computer beforebeen seen. He also realized how many different ways one shoot together during their Spring Break vacashoot ides from her daily experiences and surroundings, she hand, since he prefers film photogthing can appear from different views. For instance, a buildtion on an Alaskan cruise. Therefore, Laura then likes to shoot friends and family. raphy to digital. Film means more ing could be shot from a hundred different angles, and each has her own addition to the collec“If I see the light hitting an object or a person in a cool way, to Watkins because, with digital, the one would look completely different. He also noticed how little tion in their hallway: a portrait I’ll pull out my camera and tell whoever is with me ‘stop so I entire process of developing photos is things that usually go by unnoticed can be photographed to of a long plank walkway can get this shot!’” Laura said. “I’ve shot most of my family, but eliminated. become a piece of artwork. covered in netting my sister hasn’t let me do her yet. I’ll get her soon.”

“Digital isn’t nearly as rewarding with“Photography just gives you a lot of insight into the nestled in the Laura’s family and friends have been very supportive; her reading the criout the process of developing it yourself,” things that you wouldn’t normally recognize,” Hotchkiss said. midst of mom has readily paid for extra classes, and her dad has taught tiques off of Flickr Watkins said.

Opposed to staging shoots, Hotchkiss prefers to photograph Alasher everything he knows. also helps Hotchkiss to Unlike digitally taken images, film leaves nature and architecture. He enjoys the challenge of finding a “She was really fun to work with,” friend Jessie Burnes, a get more ideas of what possome mystery as to what the photos will actunew fresh angle to something that people see every day. Not fellow sophomore, said. “You can tell how much she likes sible things to shoot. Having phoally end up looking like. Watkins also loves the only is photography a fun challenge, it is also an easy way it just by working with her and watching her. She’s tography as just a hobby makes it easianticipation of waiting to see how his pictures have for Hotchkiss to relax. very serious about what she does, but at the same er for Hotchkiss; he can go out with an idea turned out.

“When you are shooting, you don’t have to worry time she’s really fun and upbeat when she’s of what to shoot or new angles to try, and then “The surprise you get after developing the roll of about anything other than what you’re shooting and shooting.” just lose himself in the shoot and relax. film is the best part, since you never know what you trying to capture it,” Hotchkiss said.

Because Hotchkiss feels that photography has such have beforehand,” Watkins said. “If you’re interested in Once Hotchkiss captures his shots after a day of a relaxing aura around it, he keeps his shooting completely photography, film is definitely something you should try taking photos, it’s easy to share his photos with evseparate from his school work. For Hotchkiss, photography is and before going straight to digital.” eryone through Flickr. always will be just a hobby and once it starts being part of school, its Even though Watkins lacks the time to be completely “Flickr is really helpful because people can starts to seem less like a free time activity, and more like work. devoted to photography alone, shooting with be a life long see your photos and tell you what you could “I like to think of it as just my personal thing that I do in my personal time hobby driven not only by a love for it but also the satisfaction do better or what you’ve done right already,” because I enjoy it,” Hotchkiss said. he feels seeing his finished photos.

Hotchkiss said.

Seeing other peoples works and

or

PIC picks

portraits,” Dancinger said. “They take pictures of people dressed up and made up in ways you’d never think of trying. I like their really simplistic portraits as well as the ones that are ridiculously abstract. I’m not really a middle ground sort of person.”

She then tries to emulate those photos with her own personal twist.

“I did a shoot with my friends where I teased their hair really crazy and then did their makeup really heavily,” Dancinger said. “It was one of my favorites to shoot, because it was fun and there were a lot of different angles to go with it.”

To expand her knowledge of the subject, Dancinger is taking Photo 3 and AP Studio Art with a focus on photography. She wants to learn about the different lenses, their effects on photos, and how to make natural effects before the processing stage, where you edit

i sen

Senior Andrew Watkins had always been intrigued by his mother’s old cameras that she kept around the house. When he was younger, Andrew used to play with the cameras and take fake picture of things he saw that sparked his interest. Now, with a Penta MX camera of his own and a larger variety of potential shots, Andrew continues his love of photography in his free time.

“I like the idea of recording a moment in time,” Watkins said.

The casual photography started when Watkins was eight-years-old, and by the time he reached high school his time spent playing with old cameras had paid off: he was able to teach himself how to take real photos.

Watkins was never interested in creating an artificial scene or setting up shoots of his own, but, instead, has always found joy in taking pictures of the elements of nature.

“I’m more drawn to shoot things that accrue naturally,” Watkins said.

In the summer, when there are less time constraints, Andrew is able to go out about once a week to photograph with his close friends. Since their group shoots are predominantly spontaneous, their choice of location is usually done at random. Often he visits downtown or the Crossroads, areas he and his friends know well, to see if they can find a new angle somewhere, or photograph something they’ve never noticed. Their common interest in photography is driven by the idea of documenting something in a way that it’s never been seen before.

“We’ll shoot anything: nature, people in nature—sometimes candids of strangers,” Watkins said.

Dancinger draws inspiration from a variety of sources. Firstly, she gets ideas from projects assigned in her Photo 2 class. She also is also a huge fan of a photographer named Wendy Ewald.

“What I like about her photos is that she takes them of completely ordinary people and situation but makes them look beautiful,” Dancinger said. “For example, she had taken some pictures of these kids, then printed them and let them draw all over them.

That way her style and their style were reflected in the picture.”

Dancinger prefers to shoot portraits in creative and unique ways. She’s inspired by spreads from the high fashion magazines she reads (Vogue, Glamour, etc.).

“I like that these are the most daring

“

We just drove around until we saw some place we liked. It was nice to find a cool location we’d never been to before. We were lucky to get there when the lighting Senior AndrewWatkins was perfect.

”

et

“

This is my favorite photo because it was one of the first photos I took with my Nikon D40. I also like how the white lights appear to contrast the red lights. Finally, I think the fence in the foreground adds Senior CharlesHotchkiss a nice rough edge to the photograph.

”

z

“

I really like the clean lines and how the rounded edges of the light the sharp lines of the walls play off each other. This picture is a light writing with a flashlight and a long expoSophomore LauraMetz sure.

”

Anna

Danci

nger

Laura has advanced her love of photography by taking Photo 1, is planning to take Photo 2 next year, and is deciding on which extra classes to take through Johnson County Community College. She is also considering taking classes through a special organization, Nikon Photography Classes, that comes to town every three years.

“My main goal for the future is to get more familiar with the different kinds of cameras, lenses, and other equipment, and I’d also like to get to know my camera a lot better,” Laura said. “I was also recently certified for SCUBA at Padi Scuba, and would be really interested in eventually taking an underwater photography class at their location in Kansas.”

While she is committed to expanding her knowledge on the subject of photography, for now it will still remain just a pastime.

“While I really like it, I would never consider becoming a professional photographer,” Laura said. Although she plans on becoming a dermatologist, she will always make time for her passion.

For additional photos from these photographers, visit www.smeharbinger.net all mugs by DanStewart photos courtesy of students

“

I like this photo because it’s so simplistic. It’s something we see literally every day of our lives, but with the right angles and lighting it becomes Junior AnnaDancinger a piece of art.

”

18

FEATURES

02-22-11

THE MEN BEHIND THE

A closer look at the male teachers in the art wing PaigeHess

ARTDEPARTMENT JAMES MEARA

JASON FILBECK DRAWING As a sibling rivalry progressed over a few years for art teacher Jason Filbeck, he eventually couldn’t take it anymore. His brother was older and very analytical. He could draw any picture that was given to him exactly as it looked, which Filbeck always believed made him a good artist.

So Filbeck began to draw more since he couldn’t let his brother beat him at something. It was not until junior high that he realized he was good at drawing as well.

In class, he stresses that students need to be able to draw what they see, but a good artist can go beyond just that. His goal for his beginning classes is for the student to draw what they see accurately.

As the student progresses, he wants them to be able to put their own voice into it to show what they are trying to portray.

“The upper level classes are more fun because the projects are more in-depth,” Filbeck said. “It is where I can give the students a challenge and see what they come up with.”

He believes that East has a great art department and faculty. Finkelston and Filbeck have been working together for a few years now so they have become pretty good friends. This friendship was “put to the test” when they competed against each other in a chicken nugget eating contest during a pep assembly. Although Finkelston beat Filbeck, they still get along. Filbeck considers this a “bad memory” and believes that had the competition been set up differently, he would have won.

Looking back, Filbeck remembers a

COMMERCIAL ART

“weird” parade that the faculty had to put on one year for a Link Crew presentation. The six art teachers dressed up as the color wheel with orange being the color of choice for Filbeck. He says that it will be something he will always remember for being fun and random, a mood that always seems to fill the art rooms.

According to Filbeck, one thing that sets him aside from the other male teachers is that he is more aggressive and “in your face.”

“It is usually as a joke and I use it as a front but I am definitely more of the bossy type even though they know I am being facetious,” Filbeck said.

Filbeck likes the idea of being wellrounded and different which comes into play since he teaches art and is a football and wresting coach. When Filbeck is not dealing with his “hectic” life as an art teacher, coach and parent, with an almost two-year-old son, he likes the refresh his skills by drawing any chance he gets. Artists’ styles develop as they grow, and he is trying to also improve.

“The people I work with are fun and easy to get along so we share stories and ideas,” Filbeck said. “And the students here are eager to work and are excited to be in the classes they are in. The environment overall works really well.”

Art teacher James Meara first became inspired to pursue art when he drew with his twin brother John and older brother Brendan. In high school, Meara became very serious with art.

That was when he decided that he wanted to make art for a living and began thinking about teaching.

Last year at East was Meara’s first year as a teacher. Here, he teaches classes ranging from Commercial Art to Print Making to Art Foundations.

“I really like all the classes I teach,” Meara said. “[Introduction to Art] is really fun because you get to do a bunch of different projects and use all different kinds of mediums.”

He is still impressed by the work ethic of his students and how serious each is about their artwork.

“We all really respect each other and it is a great environment,” Meara said. “I could not ask for anything better.”

Meara enjoys how he can draw ideas from teachers: they are all really close and interact just like the other departments in the school.

“Especially with just starting teaching, I have this support where they can all help me and discuss ideas or projects,” Meara said.

Meara looks forward to lunch every day because that is when the other male

all photos by SammiKelly

art teachers and him get together. One of his favorite memories was when Filbeck played a joke on him and took all of the computer mouses out of his commercial art room.

“The joke was really funny because those are our only tools for that class,” Meara said. “I definitely got him back by surrounding his computer and desk with Christmas wrapping paper.”

He believes that art is a great arena where you can communicate thoughts and ideas.

“It is really powerful and affects everyone in a different way,” Meara said. “If you make an art piece for some particular reason, once you put it on the wall, it is no longer yours and it open to any interpretation.”

He finds this open variety to be very valuable in artwork. He tries to explain this to his students as well as pursue this more as a teacher.

“I really want my students to have experience working with different mediums because they are at the beginning of their art making careers and should see what each of them do and the ideas with each,” Meara said.

ADAM FINKLESTON Drawing and creating art are what pulled art teacher Adam Finkelston into art. His mother really encouraged him to keep up with it. Finkelston teaches everything from IB art classes to Introduction to Art. He enjoys his advanced classes because they are really varied. There are people doing many different ideas but there are also people doing things that he is not especially comfortable with.

In his fourth years working at East, Finkelston has no plans for leaving anytime soon, and he says he could not ask for a better place to work.

“The community supports the arts here and we have great enrollment and colleagues who all really get along and help each other out,” Finkelston said.

To Finkelston, art is a combination of all the different kinds of knowledge a person can have. It is a visual expression of what a person knows and what a person feels so it incorporates all the areas of knowledge. He stresses that one has to understand social studies and people’s responses. Also, you have to understand mathematics in creating

PHOTOGRAPHY

a composition. He believes that art shows what people know and what they care about so artists can express these ideas visually.

“Art leaves loose ends so you are not being distracted by what you should do or be this way,” Finkelston said. “You are saying, ‘This is a possibility.”

Finkelston’s favorite memories of East include the time of the year when his students start to get into college and the excitement that accompanies it.

“Teaching is all about helping people fulfill their dreams and that may sound corny, but it’s true,” Finkelston said. “It’s about doing the things you want to do and living your life and being who you are.”

He is trying to show his photographs in galleries and exhibitions, as well as work on his master’s in photography at UMKC. It was a core belief of his going into teaching that he wanted to be a practitioner.

“When I got to college, I thought it was amazing how the level of education that I received was from people who

were practicing art, as opposed to teachers that I had had that were teachers first and artists second,” Finkelston said.

He tries to make a point of doing his own work and try to “practice what he preaches.” All of his artwork has an element of mystery to it and he likes the idea of what you see is not what you get. Finkelston sees two sides to things and a mysterious aspect to everything. He thinks that art is just like people; complex and multi-faceted.

He believes that art takes a lot of ambition and personal drive. Finkelston also wants his students to realize all the visual skill that goes into all the items that are around us.

The fact that everything is made by the idea of a human being and “not a guy in a white room doodling with a beret.”

a gleeful group

FEATURES issue 11

19

East parent founds a show choir

all photos by GrantKendall

AnnaBernard

The room is a sea of blue shirts — light blue for girls, cobalt for the boys, each with bright white script spelling out ‘Vocalocity’ on the chest. Some are standing, others sitting on worn red vinyl chairs. Three people crowd around an old upright piano, playing random chords on the keys.

Director and East mom Donna West calls everyone to the middle of the room. West announces that the choir now has to put girls on a waiting list, evoking applause and a few cat-calls. Since the beginning of the year, Vocalocity has become so popular that they can’t take everyone who wants to participate. With 36 members, 19 of whom come from East, they are one of the only show choir in Kansas.

It’s the practice after their first performance, so after introducing new members, West begins her critique. Dancing and faces. If they want to do well at Nationals, they’ve got to work hard on these two things. The group is planning a trip to Branson, MO to watch other show choirs, what West calls a “spying and stealing” mission. But the vocals: West thinks they’re some of the best she’s heard.

West tells the choir she’s been watching videos of choirs at Nationals. “If you listen to some of the winners...we’ve got a shot.” *** As a private music teacher, West was displeased with a lot of different performing arts companies because it seemed to her that it was more about who participants knew rather than about their abilities. After a while, she decided to form her own performing arts company. Stage Right Performing Arts was born.

“Everybody has an equal shot,” West said. “It doesn’t matter how well I know you or anything like that....”

Stage Right started last summer as a theater-focused group. Then, with the television show Glee becoming more and more popular, some of West’s kids asked if she would form a show choir. She was all for it, especially because West met her husband in her middle-school show choir. Joining a male director from Bonner Springs, Brian White, they formed Vocalocity. Some of the first members were West’s children, senior Alex West and freshmen Garrison Mathews and Olivia West.

“When we first started out, people didn’t know who we were,” West said. “We took people, who, as long as they weren’t tone-deaf and they could sing pretty well, I thought I could work with them.”

To audition for Vocalocity, students sing a piece of their choice in front of the directors. According to West, in most auditions, candidates only get 16 or 32 bars of music to make an impression, but for her choir, they get an entire piece. Afterwards, there is a dance audition. More experienced dancers receive a harder audition for the chance to be soloists. For performances, half of the dances choreographed by students and half are choreographed professionally.

Freshman Karl Walter was in Stage Right’s production of “Fiddler on the Roof” when he heard about the new show

choir. Having more of an interest in acting, he was skeptical at first, but mom and West urged him to join. He doesn’t regret his decision at all.

“I’d say [my favorite part] is probably the songs we sing,” Walter said. “They’re very interesting and fun. Some of them you know really well, and others are very new and foreign to you, yet fun to sing at the same time.”

West chooses the songs in a variety of ways. She attends listening sessions to hear the songs in their specific arrangement, and she gets input from members. Recent songs have been “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay, “Bless the Broken Road”

by Rascal Flatts, and the theme from Avatar. West also likes songs from the ‘80s and ‘90s, especially Michael Jackson, because she says that he’s so easy to dance to.

“Having four teenagers myself, I’m pretty up on current music,” West said.

Senior Amy Cosgrove loves to dance and sing, so when she heard about Vocalocity from Alex, she was eager to join. During her tryout, she made up a quick dance showing off her talent with kicks, jumps and turns. “Falling Out of Love Can be Fun” from the musical Miss Liberty completed her audition.

“I love regular choir so much, but this kind of show choir is totally different,” Cosgrove said. “You can have personality and dance instead of just standing and singing...I’ve always done musical theater... but this is just singing and dancing, so it’s perfect.” *** Girls to the left, boys to the right. The four sections sit in their designated areas, waiting to practice their new song, Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.” “Baritones first!” West calls out, pointing to the far right, and a group of six guys high-five each other.

“At the last performance,” West tells them, “I had so many people come up to me and say, ‘Man, your guys can dance.’”

She turns on the boom-box, and the song begins. The choir sings along with the recorded singer, breaking off into parts.

They go through the entire piece together.

West warns that they’re going to try it with the instrumental next: “Now, you all need to sing. I’d rather have you sing something wrong that I can correct.”

The music starts again, this time without the help of the recorded singer. The baritones start off, singing together, but at “gonna make it right,” the high part is too much. The note is way off.

Scattered giggles go around the room. One director winces comically. With a small smile, West restarts the music.

“Let’s try it again.” *** Belton, Ruskin, Liberty. Shawnee Mission, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Bonner Springs. Vocalocity members come from all across the Kansas City Area, but that doesn’t make them a splintered group. They all refer to each other as a family.

Forty members came to Cosgrove’s performance of Singing in the Rain at Christian Youth Theater. They have two

”

We encourage performing and cutting loose, like in Glee. Also, everyone gets a chance at the spotlight! comparing Vocalocity to Glee

Director Donna West

”

”

whole rows reserved at South’s upcoming musical, Annie.

During a South vs. East football game, 36 people from both schools stood up to cheer for a South drum major.

“You look on Facebook, and if somebody says they’re having a really bad day, the next 25 comments will be from their Vocalocity family,” West said. “They’ll say...’What can we do?

We’re there for you. Who do we need to beat up?’”

One thing West is particularly proud of is the outside accomplishments of Vocalocity members. One singer is an allconference varsity football player. The average grade point average is a 3.9. They also want to share their success with each other. West says it is common to see students helping out other members with their Algebra homework when practice is over. They go to WPA across state-lines. It’s more than just a show choir.

“At first, it was just really exciting, getting to know new people,” Cosgrove said. “You’re kind of shy and not very talkative, but now you get us all together in a room, and it’s hard to get stuff done.”

Cosgrove says West is just a part of the Vocalocity family as anyone in the group. They all hang out together, and she hosts get-togethers for them, while still being a great musical coach. Even though she’s their friend, Walter says she’s not afraid to get the group back on track.

“She keeps us all together, attempts to keep us focused,” Walter said. “She just makes sure that the train keeps moving and that we are hitting our notes right, helping us when we’re not quite getting it, just making sure we have a good finished product.”

West is looking to take Vocalocity to competitions.

They’ve planned to attend local contests, but their main goal is to attend Nationals next year. This year, 25 members are going to watch, and West thinks they’ll be more than ready when they do compete.

“After watching some of the national winners and listening to their sound, I see what we need to do and I feel we are very competitive, because we’ve got some of the most talented kids in the metro-area involved,” West said. *** The lights are dimmed, only one row being used as a make-shift spotlight. All the members stand in one long line, 16 girls and 13 boys holding hands and singing.

West sits in front on a red vinyl chair. Occasionally she snaps, trying to get them to pick up the tempo, or she swings her arms for more volume.

When the song ends, West stands. She’s smiling and there is happy chatter across the room.

“This song is hard,” she says. “Even I had trouble with rhythm. There’s that dangerous section: you guys nailed it.

You gave me goose bumps.”

They’re different because we all don’t go to the same school and we’re all from different backgrounds...but we all come together.

Senior Amy Cosgrove

”

We’re both sort of a family and we’re very close...[Glee] can just pop out in song and dance, which is amazing, and we can’t quite do that.

Freshman Karl Walter

”

MIXED 20 02-22-11

mixed

Friday

Spent: Movie on Demand for $3.50 Thrifty tip:

^

{Make your wallet happy}

refreshing

the page about life HaleyMartin

Easy ways to cut costs on everyday items

Spent:

Saturday

Manicure in Brookside for $20

You can rent a movie for $1 at any Redbox location, found in various convenience stores and fast food Thrifty tip: restaurants.

Sunday

Spent: Treats for school $10

Instead of buying treats at the store Buy nail polish and get together for class, you can make your own. with friends to paint your nails.

It’s fun and you can still have a Thrifty tip: Dig up some recipes and spend the day making tasty snacks salon experience! all photos by CarolineCreidenberg

REVIVE.

Ways to refresh your mind, wallet and environment before Spring comes

{Love your Earth}

Camelbak: These water

Little ways you can be eco-friendly 2 Make the switch to fluorescent light 1

bulbs. They are sold about anywhere light bulbs are sold and add flare to a

You can bring your own mug to coffee places. It will not only save cups, but it will personalize your coffee experience.

light socket.

3 Carpool! It saves gas and you have time to chat with your carpool buddies.

4 Instead of a rider lawn mower, buy a push lawn mower. It will save on gas or electricity and you will get great exercise.

Buy local foods, you can go to the farmers market and pick up some delicious fruits and veggies.

bottles are said to be indestructible. They are great to use for sport or bringing around school.

Sigg: The Swiss com-

pany makes many styles of waterbottles so they are easily reusable and later recyclable.

This greatly reduces the amount of fat

{

With these fun yet practical water bottles, your hydrating experience is sure to be enjoyable!

Healthy alternatives to spruce up your diet desserts

sandwiches

Sip in Style

Nalgene: These water

5

{Eat this, not that} Instead of using mayonnaise, you can switch it up by using dijon mustard. Along with that, instead of processed meat, use leftover meat from dinner for your sandwich.

bottles are equipped with something straw-like on top of it. The straw-like structure makes it basically leak free.

Instead of chowing down on average amount a cookie, grab a rice cake and of calories saved: you’re good to go. There’s a multitude of different flavors, ranging all the way from chocolate to ranch.

75

smoothies Smoothies: Although smoothies have both fruit and yogurt in them, they can also have additives. Opt for fruit and yogurt a la carte.

homemade smoothies are okay if you know the ingredients

Creating your story at JCCC …

“This is an incredible experience that prepares you for the future.”

Sandra, Student Johnson County Community College 12345 College Blvd. | Overland Park, KS 66210 913-469-3803 | www.jccc.edu “Like” JCCC at facebook.com/JCCC411

22

A&E

boutique critique

02-22-11

y l k n a fr c basi

Staffer reviews local boutiques ChloeStradinger

327 E. 55th Street, Kansas City, MO

atmosphere

When I walked in, the first things I noticed were the neat displays and high ceilings. Since there wasn’t a huge selection of clothes, I didn’t feel overwhelmed hours like I do in stores like ForMon-Sat: 10a.m.-6p.m. ever XXI, where I have to Sun: 11a.m.-4p.m. rummage through racks to find things. Surrounded by phone number the store’s soft white walls 816.444.7797 and rustic wooden floors, I felt relaxed in a very lowkey way, which matched the style of the clothes.

s ’ a n atmosphere n do ss dre p sho

style

The majority of the clothing in the store is in neutral colors, such as shades of gray, brown and blue. Embellishments such as ruffles on plain shirts, buttons down the front of dresses and big pockets on plain skirts ensure the clothes have a stylish twist. The clothing also keeps up with fashion trends, such as nautical stripes, modern tanks, and dark straight jeans.

price

Frankly Basic’s prices are very comparable to those of Urban Outfitters. Dresses and skirts range from about $40-$60, while dark, straight jeans are about $70. Though some of the pieces of clothing are expensive, the nicely-made clothing feels like it would hold up and be worth the investment. Since many of the clothes are classic and plain pieces, they would be easy to layer and wearable in many situations.

signature piece

Priced at $44 and made of a soft, silk-like fabric, this skirt has nautical stripes in varying sizes to keep it from looking ho-hum.

Small pleats right below the waistband give the skirt the right amount of volume to wear with a plain navy tank or a ruffly blouse. Comfortable and easy to wear, it would be perfect for spring.

Just like the store, this skirt is trendy and casually stylish.

1410 W. 39 Street, Kansas City, MO

The sound of ‘50s radio music greeted me as I walked in to this vintage-inspired store. With old wooden floors and racks full of quirky deals and first-rate finds, the store was a perfect mix of a fun thrift store hours Mon-Sat: 11a.m.-7p.m. and stylish dress shop- a place where you could find Sun: 12p.m.-5p.m. both your MORP outfit and phone number Homecoming dress.

816.931.0022

shop girls

price

Donna’s Dress shop has great deals. A bright red, strapless Homecoming-type dress can be found as cheap as $50, and a vintage dress is can be priced anywhere from $30$80. Their jewelry (outlandish and vintage inspired) are around the price of $30. One of the main brands they carry in the newer part of the store is Arc & Co., a brand that is also carried at Standard Style that makes formal dresses around the price of $100.

signature piece

One of the store’s dresses that caught my eye was this Arc & Co. dress. The short cut and V-neck front with a zipper around the collar kept this little dress fashion forward, while the full skirt and vintage-inspired red and black pattern was a throwback to the ‘40s. The brilliant balance of old and new made this dress similar to the fabulous store.

6245 Brookside Plaza, Kansas City, MO

atmosphere

All of the rich colors and fun fabrics of both the jewelry and the clothing made me want to touch everything in my reach. The light yellow walls and vintage silver hours Mon-Sat: 10a.m.-6p.m. wall tiles were a nice touch to the store’s eccentric feel.

Sun: 12a.m.-5p.m.

Hanging in the windows are phone number cheery purple and pink lace 816.363.0229 underwear that ensures the store doesn’t take itself too seriously.

all photos by DanStewart

style

The front part of Donna’s store is full of racks with stylish dresses, such as sequined, ruffled, and embellished Homecoming-style dresses in contemporary cuts. The store only stocks one or two of each size, so it’s not likely you’ll see someone else in your same dress. The back part of the store has fun vintage clothing, like below the knee skirts and bridesmaids dresses from the ‘80s.

style

This store has earthy clothes and accessories with splashes of bold color.

Hanging on the organized racks, you can find anything from a tie-dye tank top to a striped Free People maxi dress to a vintageinspired faded Nirvana T-shirt. Even if your style isn’t quite as daring as the store’s clothes, many of their pieces would be fun to mix.

price

ShopGirls can be pretty expensive depending on which brands of clothing you’re looking at. One of the main brands they carry is Free People, which has earthystyled clothing in bright colors with a large price tag. A Free People embroidered sundress that caught my eye was $130. However, the store also has less expensive things, like $20 initial necklaces and playful cloth bracelets.

signature piece This one-of-a-kind clutch purse has both fun vivid colors and nicely constructed leather. At $61, the purse is pricey but worth the cost because it could match multiple outfits. The over-sized clutch could be carried around during a daytime shopping trip or a night out. It’s earthy, nicely made and eye-catching just like the store ShopGirls.

For maps showing the location of each boutique visit www.smeharbinger.net

FORGET YOUR CAMERA? WE DIDN’T. SMEPHOTOS.COM

<

<  

 

 

DEN

the

 

barbershop



 

 

 

 

  

 

5908 Woodson Mission, KS 66202

24

A&E

02-22-11

Best Picture

HARBINGER’S Top Pick: The Social Network No other film in 2010 captured today’s society and culture better than “The Social Network.”

So while the Academy typically loves classic Oscar fare like “The King’s Speech,” this generation-defining movie about Facebook’s creation is the most important and relevant film of the year, and looks to take home the top prize.

127 Hours - Spending the majority of its runtime with the main character trapped in a single spot by himself, “127 Hours” delivers a truly gripping ride about one man’s incredible will to survive.

OSCAR

PREVIEW

AlexLamb From a king of royalty to a king of the Internet, an underdog boxer to a scary ballerina and a team of subconscious thieves to a gang of toys that’ll make you cry, the 2011 Academy Awards represent cinema at its finest. With 10 Best Picture nominees again, the films this year are more eclectic than ever, and it’s a battle between old-school and new-school as “The King’s Speech” dukes it out against “The Social Network” for the highest honor. Here are my top picks for the main categories, so place your bets and tune into ABC on Sunday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. to see the winners.

BEST DIRECTOR

BEST ACTOR

Top Pick: David Fincher

Top Pick: Colin Firth

Black Swan - Ballet is finally cool because of this beautiful yet terrifyingly intense psycho-thriller, following a ballerina striving for perfection as her world spins out of control.

The Fighter - This inspiring, all-American reallife story shows one boxer’s amazing struggle to not only overcome his opponents in the ring, but his overbearing family as well.

Inception - Even though it’s a summer action flick, the mind-bending, sci-fi heist thriller “Inception” offers an original, unparalleled cinematic experience that will stand as one of the most influential and awesome films of our time.

This is the blockbuster of the future.

The Kids Are All Right - A portrait of a modern family where two lesbian parents and their teenage kids meet their sperm donor, this dramedy is both sweetly funny and profoundly true to life.

The King’s Speech - A traditional, crowd-pleasing period piece centered around the friendship between the stammering King George VI and his speech therapist, older audiences simply adore the rousing “The King’s Speech.” However, Oscar seems to lean more toward the modern communication problems of Mark Zuckerberg instead.

Toy Story 3 - If proof was ever needed that Pixar makes the most emotionally engaging movies around (animated or otherwise), then “Toy Story 3” is it, as their best film yet and a perfect close to the series that started them off.

True Grit - The Coen brothers strike gold again in this update of the classic John Wayne western where a spunky young girl teams with a mean old marshal to hunt her father’s killer.

Winter’s Bone - This indie darling creates a superb sense of place in deep woods Missouri as a 17-year-old girl must find her drug-dealing father or her family will lose everything.

The Social Network

Fincher’s only worthy competitor in this category was “Inception” director Christopher Nolan, but with Nolan snubbed of even a nomination, Fincher’s got this in the bag. The Academy ignored Fincher’s master craftsmanship and perfection on 1995’s “Se7en” through all his films until “Benjamin Button” in 2008, so while this is only his second nomination, he’s long overdue for the Oscar.

Thankfully, he’s being rewarded for a masterpiece that absolutely deserves it.

Darren Aronofsky

The King’s Speech

Jeff Bridges beat Colin Firth in this category last year with an accentuated, bravado performance in “Crazy Heart,” while Firth gave a much subtler, but just as nuanced one in “A Single Man.” The tables have turned this time around, and now Firth has the more outstanding offering. His role and way of speaking required great skill and finesse to portray, and he produces an astounding representation of King George VI that’s a performance for the ages.

Javier Bardem

Black Swan

Biutiful

David O. Russell

Jeff Bridges

Tom Hooper

Jesse Eisenberg

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

James Franco

The Fighter

The King’s Speech

True Grit

True Grit

The Social Network

127 Hours

A&E

issue 11

25

Who was snubbed? Harbinger staffers talk about who they think should have gotten a nomination Jack Howland Christopher Nolan should have received a Best Director nomination for the mind-blowing “Inception.”

He created an original and inventive work, worthy of Oscar praise.

Evan Nichols

Tom Lynch

Vincent Cassel should have earned a supporting actor nom for his outstanding role in “Black Swan.” He helped drive Natalie Portman’s transformation.

Barbara Hershey‘s performance in “Black Swan” epitomizes the parent living vicariously through her child, and was worthy of a nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Maggie Simmons Andrew Garfield has been in several smaller British films, and I think his role as Eduardo in “The Social Network” was worthy of being nominated for best Supporting Actor.

BEST ACTRESS

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Top Pick: Natalie Portman

Top Pick: Christian Bale

Black Swan

Of all the performances this year, none transfixed viewers and got them lost in the world of the character like Natalie Portman did in the dazzling “Black Swan.” She trained in ballet for an entire year as part of the role, but what’s more impressive than how she pulled off the intensive dancing is her spellbinding transformation from a timid, sweet girl into a ferocious, lustful enchantress.

The Fighter

Despite how people may feel about his Batman growl, Christian Bale is an ardent method actor who completely devotes himself to his characters. Here, as a washed-up crack addict in the dysfunctional-family-fromhell, he’s a stunning revelation. Nothing like you’ve ever seen him before, Bale shines as a despicable yet endearing sibling, causing more trouble for than he does help his boxer brother. And the spot-on Boston accent is endlessly entertaining.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Top Pick: Melissa Leo

The Fighter

Even though it’s a boxing film, the real action of “The Fighter” comes from the dynamic between the larger-than-life family members who never stop fighting each other. As the mother and head of the family, Melissa Leo exerts a fierce control over everyone else, and is by far the most intimidating person in the film. Instantly switching from caring supporter to the raging ringleader of her trashy daughters, Leo proves herself a force to be reckoned with.

Annette Bening

John Hawkes

Amy Adams

Nicole Kidman

Jeremy Renner

Helena Bonham Carter

Jennifer Lawrence

Mark Ruffalo

Hailee Steinfeld

Michelle Williams

Geoffrey Rush

Jacki Weaver

The Kids Are All Right

Rabbit Hole

Winter’s Bone

Blue Valentine

Winter’s Bone

The Town

The Kids Are All Right

The King’s Speech

The Fighter

The King’s Speech

True Grit

Animal Kingdom www.allmoviephotos.com

A&E 26 02-22-11

old movies that never get old STAFFERS SHARE THEIR FAVORITE FILMS WITH STAYING POWER

TOY STORY

SHE’S THE MAN

VHS

JenniferRorie Buzz Lightyear zooms across the cloud covered background of Andy’s bedroom, and Woody the cowboy calls the shots to the army men from atop Andy’s Star Galactic comforter. All of the toys that make up Andy’s toy box have come to life and are scattered all over the floor of the bedroom.

As the toys hear Andy’s footsteps come running down the hall, they all flop down in their respective spots and become lifeless once again. These common scenes from the iconic “Toy Story” scatter my childhood, and they never get old.

Many movies you can watch once, maybe cry, but the next time you see it you just get bored, and ultimately feel nothing. Some movies are one and done, and you just don’t have the desire to watch them over and over again. Some movies you get annoyed with, and can’t stand anymore. Some are just plain bad.

For me, “Toy Story” is not one of these movies. “Toy Story” is a movie you can relate to at any point in your life. It is a simple animation that has humor for your inner kid, and humor an adult can relate too. It’s a heartwarming story that has all ErinRiley the makings of a classic. Toy Story is one of those With unoriginal plots and remakes flooding movies you can come into with only 30 minutes left, and watch until the end. It’s a story that is fun the industry these days, the classic story of Cadfor all ages, one that you can watch over and over dyshack is a breath of fresh air whenever my channel guide fails me. What makes this movie again. the best, in my opinion, is it’s unending stream of humor.

The movie’s tagline “The snobs against the slobs” pretty much sums up the plot of this movie: an uproarious summer at Bushwood Country Club, complete with a caddy/college hopeful, a boisterous real estate tycoon, a snooty club owner, a dimwitted assistant greenkeeper, an easygoing playboy, and a resident gopher. The story plays If there is one movie that is a classic “chick out with the same tone as the tagline, casually flick” it is “The Notebook.” The movie is based off poking fun at the snobby stereotypes of country of Nicholas Sparks’ novel The Notebook, and stars clubs and all that they incorporate; Judge Smails Ryan Gosling (Noah) and Rachel McAdams (Al- puts it nicely when he tells caddy Danny Noonan lie) who portray two young lovers constrained by (Michael O’Keefe) that “some people just don’t a short summer, and Allie’s protective mother. It belong.” The comedic styles of Chevy Chase is a classic story that I could watch time and time (Ty Webb), Bill Murray (Carl “Cinderella Story” again.

Spackler), Rodney Dangerfield (Al Czervik), and It is a movie that we can all relate to. Maybe we Ted Knight (Judge Smails) combine to create this haven’t spent a summer in South Carolina or were slapstick comedy, resulting in scene after scene of alive in 1940, but there is an underlying theme of smooth jabs and witty one-liners. love that everyone can relate to. The story of “The While widely attributed as one of the best Notebook” is a story that never gets old, because comedies of the ‘80s and regarded one of the you never get tired of rooting for your favorite best golf films of all time, this movie garners more characters. I could watch “The Notebook” a thou- than audience acclaim: it gets my number one sand times and always shed a tear. pick.

THE NOTEBOOK

CADDYSHACK

AlysabethAlbano So you’re probably wondering how “She’s the Man” even managed to make this list but really, guys, think about it: it’s “She’s the Man.” It’s only the best Amanda Byne’s movie ever made. Who doesn’t love an insanely cheesy romantic comedy where a girl pretends to be a boy so she can play soccer? No one.

The cast and the witty dialogue absolutely make this movie one that never gets old. There’s Channing Tatum, playing the stereotypical jock, Duke. Either Tatum requested to be shirtless 98 percent of the time or the directors really understood their target demographic, because let’s face it, he’s dreamy. Then you have Amanda Bynes (What a Girl Wants, The Amanda Show), who plays Viola (and Sebastian when she pretends to be her own brother). Obviously, Bynes isn’t the best actress but she is great at making awkward situations even more awkward. And that is what “She’s the Man” is: a 105 minute awkward situation.

The other great thing about this movie is how easily quotable it is. Everyone knows the “Welcome to Illyria” song and I know people say “I got a lifetime of knowledge.” These along with other fan favorites like “New school, new babe pool” and “Chick won’t stop dogging me” are what make this movie so amazing.

By far the most hilarious scene happens when Malcolm’s pet tarantula Malvolio escapes and finds its way to Sebastian (Viola) and Duke’s dorm. Remember Duke still doesn’t know Sebastian is actually Viola, even though he kissed Viola at the carnival. This along with their fear of spiders makes for the funniest scene in any movie I’ve seen yet. Duke and Sebastian (Viola) both freak out, jump on the bed and hug each other. Be prepared to laugh so hard you cry, at least I always do.

But like every romantic comedy there comes a time for the comedy to end and the romantic part to begin. The last ten minutes of “She’s the Man” take place at the Cotillion Ball, something the old Viola cared nothing about. However, new Viola desperately wants Duke to forgive her and be her date to the ball. You can guess what happens when she steps outside for some air. It is horribly sappy, so sappy you may want to stop right there, but don’t. You’ve watched 95 minutes, you may as well hold for a little longer; trust me it’s worth it. And spoiler alert you get to see Tatum in a suit, which is never a bad thing.

Truly, this is a movie that I could watch a million more times without ever getting tired of the cheesy jokes, the Amanda Bynes moments or the obvious misrepresentation of high school life.

all photos by WWW.ALLMOVIEPHOTO.COM

A&E issue 11

27

LACKING

LAUGHS

Sandler’s new comedy low on wit and originality ZoeBrian

There was a moment early in “Just Go With It” where I thought, “Hey, this might actually be good.” A witty joke had been made in an understated way and the film looked promising. Unfortunately the thought was almost immediately undermined by jokes about popping breast implants and nipples.

But aside from the adult humor, this film comes dangerously close to a family flick reminiscent of a Disney movie because of it’s ‘heart-warming’ moments and cheesy antics.

The film follows middle-aged plastic surgeon and habitual liar Danny (Adam Sandler) who uses a wedding ring to pick up chicks and then never speak to them again.

But his whole scheme is flipped upside down when he meets someone he thinks he actually cares about, 23-year-old Palmer (Brooklyn Decker). When she finds his wedding ring and begins questioning him, Danny feeds her another lie: he’s divorced. But when Palmer asks to meet his ex and get her blessing, Danny has to concoct a fake family which consists of his work assistant Kath-

SIX DEGREES OF SANDLER

allmoviephotos.com

erine (Jennifer Aniston) and her two kids (Bailee Madion and Griffin Glick).

With star actors like Sandler and Aniston it was surprising that the only redeeming actor is Decker. In her first performance in film Decker brings life to a paper-thin character as Palmer blindly believes Danny’s lies.

Decker portrays Palmer with true compassion while playing the dumb-blonde without taking it too far (i.e Amanda Seyfried as Karen in “Mean Girls”). Her unwavering trust and devotion for Danny sets her up as a character the audience sympathises with but is easily forgotten when Danny pursues Katherine.

“Just Go With It” has all the formulaic characters, plot-lines and kicks to the groin (three in the first half) needed to produce a film that is simple enough for the audience to not get confused and clichéd enough for the audience to feel comfortable. The shopping montage, a trademark of any terrible movie, is not used once but twice with only a five-minute pause in-between. Weaved in

with the typical rom-com (romantic-comedy) scenes are moments that seem straight out of the first “Parent Trap.” The emotional moments with the kids and life lessons are, to say the least, trite and eye-roll inducing.

But where “Just Go With It” veers away from the typical comedy is what makes it truly terrible. Instead of comedic jokes and witty dialogue, Sandler delivers lines that simply tell the audience exactly how he feels or what he is thinking. Instead of using a simple smile or laugh to show how Danny felt he blurted out whatever came to mind.

Lines like “That was fun,” and “I’m so happy” were only a few sentences that gave the feeling that the writers didn’t even try.

Yet the dialogue isn’t the only serious flaw in the film. Nearly every great comedy, from “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” to “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, is around 90 minutes, keeping it long enough to have a decent plot but short enough so that the movie doesn’t get old. But this movie was a whopping two hours of

sentimental dribble and jokes that seemed to never end. At least twice it seemed the movie was over when another ‘twist’ was thrown in causing it to extend to another false ending 30-minutes later.

But every film has at least one good thing and for “Just Go With It,” it’s the setting. When Danny decides to take the family to Hawaii, we trade the cold scenes in a doctor’s office for the warm, sunny beaches and waterfall paradises. While the scenes were beautiful to look at, they didn’t make up for the impossible storyline and gave the impression that the sudden travel was added to the script last minute.

Instead of making a comedy worthy of notice, it seems Happy Madison was just looking to make a quick buck and take a trip to Hawaii. “Just Go With It” may have been number one at the box-office opening weekend but the film’s unfathomable plot, two-dimensional characters and two-hour length prove it to be a film that will be easily forgotten.

AIRHEADS THE MASK

STEVE BUSCEMI BILLY MADISON

CAMERON DIAZ

BRANDAN FRASER AUSTIN POWERS

BRUCE ALMIGHTY

TAKE ME HOME TONIGHT 9/4/11

THE HANGOVER 2 11/26/11

SHREK

JIM CAREY JUST GO WITH IT

ELIZABETH HURLEY

FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS 13/22/11

ADAM SANDLER

JENNIFER ANNISTON

STAR SCALE

UPCOMING COMEDIES

BEDAZZLED

MIKE MYERS

STAY AT HOME

RENT IT

WORTH SEEING

OSCAR WORTHY

SPORTS 28 02-22-11

B

ending up more than $1000 in the hole. but after he started gambling, he needed “That’s when I got out. I knew, it just them win so he could get his money. wasn’t getting any better.” Beam said.

Only last year when he needed money The stress was too much, and Beam did Williams see an opportunity to conreached out to his father for support, and vert his friendly gambling into a more the two withdrew $1500 from his fathers serious business. bank account to pay off Beam’s debts to The money Williams made as a bookSmith. ie is called “the juice”, or a 10 percent “It was probably one of the worst cut taken off of all the losing bets. As a months of my life.” Beam said. “Just the bookie, it was Williams job to create the stress and no sleep. It pretty much domi- spread, or how much a team would win nated my life for that by, so that when all the while. I wasn’t really fobets were taken in, the bets cused on anything else.” on both sides would be Beam said.

I think it was the first even.

Beam’s case was an “Lets say KU is playing day of March Madness extreme of the type of K-State. You try to get $100 and I put $50 dol- bet on one side and $100 sports gambling that oclars on the first round bet on the other, and you curs at East. Many of the games, and I got to be take 10 percent of the losgamblers stayed with Williams, with whom one of down probably 200, ings. So if it works out perthe largest bets was $120, 250 bucks just right off fectly, it will end up $100 compared to the $250 to $100, and you get an Junior John Beam automatic $10.” Williams Beam bet on average with Smith. said, “It’s basically what Williams began his gambling career Vegas does but you do it yourself.” by placing family bets with his dad and While bets were placed on most prograndfather when he was in fourth grade. fessional and college football and basThe betting quickly spread among him ketball games, the most popular events and his friends, where the gambling add- included basketball games, and local ed an extra layer of interest to the games. colleges such as KU, K-State, and MU. Before he only wanted his teams to win, For Williams, the biggest event that was

“

”

bet on was last years Super Bowl, where a $300 was set down for each side, for a total of $600 bet on the event, and an automatic $30 for Williams.

The fact that betting and running money is illegal everywhere but Las Vegas never bothered Williams, as he felt that the group wasn’t large enough to attract any attention from the law.

“We weren’t really pulling in that much money, and nobody that we were taking money from was getting in harms way or anything.” Williams said, “It was all their parents money, so we never really cared about it.”

Without much profit, Williams saw no reason to continue his business this, and has stepped down from his position as a bookie and let two others take his place. And even though the gambling has returned to its streak as betting between friends, Beam says that he has learned his lesson, and will not returned to betting.

And from Williams point of view, this is a good decision.

“Usually, everyone ends up losing, because they win half, and they lose half, and they end up losing that 10 percent.

So basically everyone’s just screwed in the end. Except for me. And I make that 10 percent.” Williams said. *names changed to protect identity

CONFESSIONS OF AN EX-EAST-BOOKIE:

BY ONE PERSON AT EAST

1500

POPULAR EVENT TO BET ON

THE

BOWL

BETTING

THE MOST

SUPER

MOST LOST

DOLLARS

background photos couresy ESPN

AndrewSimpson

At first, he was only betting $10 a game, and maybe one or two games a night. And then he started to win. In two months he made $400. He felt confident, lucky, unbeatable. The money began to flow between him and his bookie. The first round March Madness struck, and within a week, junior John Beam* had lost nearly $1,500.

“I think it was the first day of March Madness and I put $50 on all the first round games, and I got to be down probably 200, 250 bucks just right off the bat.” Beam said, “And I knew I had some money set aside, around $400 or $500 set aside just from my winnings so I kept on betting.”

Beam began his spiraling downfall of sports gambling in December of last year, when he and around 40 other East students began to bet with current junior and former bookie Jack Williams*. The bets started out with small amounts of money, and for most others, they stayed small. According to Beam, when he switched bookies from Williams to former East student Scott Smith* at the beginning of March Madness was when he really began to bet.

For an entire week, Beam bet on eight games a night, setting down $250 for every game. Beam won some, but lost most,

NUMBER OF PEOPLE

THAT BET WITH

WILLIAMS*

40 EAST

STUDENTS

photo by EdenSchoofs

ETTING to make ANK

*name witheld to protect identity

Hattieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fine Coffee 4195 Somerset

Show your school ID and get 50 c off any large latte beverage 6 pm-Close M-F

Bring your own mug and we will fill it with brewed coffee for just $1 6 pm- Close M-F

architecture / planning / interior design www.hmnarchitects.com

/ blog.hmnarchitects.

Craig Kelly, SIOR Director of Land Services 2600 Grand, Suite 1000 Kansas City, MO 64111 T 816.412.0279 C 816.305.0655 F 816.842.2798 Craig.Kelly@cassidyturley.com cassidyturley.com

Commercial Real Estate Services

Cassidy Turley

30

SPORTS

02-22-10

SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW AnneWillman

BOYS’ GOLF

Coach: Ermanno Ritschl

The golf team lost two seniors, Grant Burnside and Ian Boat, from last year’s state team. Although the two seniors will be missed, Seniors Andrew Morrison and Nick Lucas are willing to take the lead. Juniors Conner Schrock, Henry Simpson, Zach Kasmiskie and Sophomre Chase Hanna will also help the team to another championship. Coach Rtischl expects that winning regionals and the Sunflower League are not going to be difficult. He said the key to a successful season is for them to be focused. Ritschl said that the only thing that will potentially get in the way of a state title is thinking that winning will come easy. If the team focuses on playing for not only themselves but for the team, the state title should be easily obtained.

Coach: Jamie Kelly

GIRLS’ Record:SOCCER Last season’s record: 15-2-1

Returning this season with nine of 11 starters, the team is expected to develop this year. Expectations are high, because the team went to the quarterfinals last year and lost 2-0 to Blue Valley Northwest. Blue Valley West, Blue Valley Northwest and Olathe East will be some of the hardest teams to beat this season. The main goals for this year, according to Coach Kelly, are to win league and play as an unit throughout the entire season. Senior midfielder Molly Rappold, sophomore forward Addison Steiner and senior defender Kirsten Clark will help lead the team to many victories this year.

BASEBALL Last season’s record 12-9

GrantHeinlein

Coach: Jerrod Ryherd

SOFTBALL Last season’s record: 15-7

EdenSchoofs

Coach: Coach: Rob Cole

For additional coverage and broadcasts on girls’ soccer visit smeharbinger.net

Coach: Deon Slemp Last year the softball team exceeded expectations. It was the furthest the team had gone in quite a while. The team had no seniors last season, but that will change this year. The team has a year of experience together and want to use that to their advantage. Coach Slemp would like to finish well in the Sunflower League and to continue to improve. The team feels good about their defense and that will help the team win more games. This season, Slemp said there is an opportunity to do some special things and become closer as a team.

GIRLS’ SWIMMING

The team is returning with a state championship under their belt and is ready to come back into the season with a positive attitude. They have won the Sunflower League five years in a row and expect that they will win again. Seniors Katy Richardson, Sarah McKittrick, Emily Fuson, Lauren Stanley and Dana Sherard are expected to lead the way to another state championship. One of the main components this season will be the 200-Free relay. If the team executes and performs to their potential, a championship will be likely.

GrantHeinlein

BOYS’ TENNIS

After making progress last year and doubling the amount of wins from the year before, the team should demonstrate some potential. Coach Ryherd said that he saw some young players over the summer that showed progress and could be really good in this league. One of the strengths this year will be the middle infield, according to Ryherd, it will be one of the best in the league. Although the baseball team has made strides, several guys that should be really good players for East this year do not have a lot of varsity experience. Coach Ryherd will focus on helping the kids reach their full potential as a person and a ball player LindseyHartnett and doing this will contribute to wins this season.

EdenSchoofs

Coach: Sue Chipman

Winning state is possible for this season.

The team has been the runner-up at state two years in a row to Blue Valley North.

One of the main keys to having a successful season is to have a good doubles team.

According to Coach Chipman, it is very important to have a doubles team that flows together. At this point, a doubles team has not yet been determined. It is difficult each year to find two people whose games fit together, but if a good one is found this year, it could make the road to a state title easier.

TRACK AND FIELD

Coach: Brie Meschke

DanStewart

Last year track sent 24 kids to state and expects to send at least that many this year. Some members have been doing winter conditioning and outside training. According to coach David Pennington, if kids come into the season in shape that will contribute to success this season. Hanna Jane Stradinger, Perry Jackson and Troy Wilkins are some of the few that will be back this year to be contenders. Kelsey Kost will also be expected to be a contender this season in state for throwing the javelin.

GrantHeinlein

SPORTS

Remembering the Winter Season moments that mattered GrantHeinlein

issue 11

31

Surprises of the Season

Boys’ Basketball’s Thriller With Rockhurst

The performance of the Hill brothers his season

After losing three straight in McPherson, many people wrote off the boys’ basketball team’s chances against a far more athletic and experienced Rockhurst team. Despite going on multiple runs throughout the game, Rockhurst had all they could handle in coach Shawn Hair’s squad. The game came down to the final minute, where the Lancers had the opportunity to take the lead on numerous possessions. Vance Wentz’s desperation three was too little, too late, and Rockhurst snagged a 42-41 win.

Out of the nine East placers at Sunflower League, a third of them were related to each other. It’s hard to imagine this Lancer team a contender without Blake winning the 160 lb division, Blaine placing second in the 171 lb division and David placing second in the 189 After winning the Sunflower League meet last year, the wrestling team knew that they lb division.

Wrestling Getting Second at League

could be a contender at this year’s installment, this time in their own gym. The Hill brothers dominated, with Blake Hill taking first place, and Blaine and David each getting second, all in their respective age groups. Gavin Jorns also was a champion. Three other Lancers received second place finishes. By a slim margin, the team placed second.

The two month losing streak for Coach Hair’s squad

After the 6-15 season last year, many expected the Lancers’ record to improve with experience. Despite not having a win in two months, there is no question that the team is vastly improved from last season.

During the team’s 13 game losing streak, just two of the losses have been more than 12 points. Although the Lancers have come close in many league games, the losing season will linger in the minds of the fans.

LindseyHartnett GrantHeinlein

Nass Comes Through in the Clutch

The Lancers can attribute one of their few and more recent wins to senior Zach Nass.

At the Hy-Vee Shootout against Lee’s Summit, Nass entered the game when the Lancers were down, but they weren’t down for long. Throughout the game, Nass scored 17 points, not just by his three-point shooting but he scored in various ways to lead the Lancer to a 58-51 win. As of Feb. 16, Nass is a perfect 6-6 from behind the three point line on the season.

Boys Swimming Completes the Eight-Peat

Wrestling continues to finish at the top of the league

There have been times in the past eight years when the Lancers have won the Sunflower League by larger margins, but this year’s victory will be just as memorable for numerous reasons. Freshman Zack Holbrook set the tone early for the Lancers by winning the 200 free. Going into the 100 breast, the winner of the meet was still up in the air, but after seniors Collin Enger and Nathan Simpson moved up three and four spots respectively, and runner-up Olathe East knew they were finished.

EdenSchoofs

Not many people expected Coach Ufford’s squad to remain at the top after last season’s Sunflower League win but they did exactly that and they have given reason to believe that they can continue to compete for League championships for as long as Ufford is at the helm.

These Athletes Performed

Swimming: Zack Holbrook Wrestling: Blaine Hill

Girls’ BBall: Shannon McGinley

Zack Holbrook has certainly matched the hype this season.

His performance in the 200 free at League wasn’t necessarily a surprise for the swimmers on the team.

Shannon McGinley was expected to put the team on her back this season and she did exactly that for Coach Stein. Averaging nine points and three assists per game, McGinley is the unquestioned leader.

Over the summer Blaine Hill put in all of the work necessary to have a huge season, but nobody anticipated this. He placed second at league, losing only to the returning state champion.

OUR SAY

the sports panel

BBall vs. SM South

Matt Gannon

Kevin Simpson

Kevin Simpson Patrick Mcgannon

Despite a change in coaching style and the loss of last year’s dominating post presence, the girls continue to win. After a tough loss to start the season, Stein has the girls on a roll heading into playoff season. The emergence of the junior class, with Shannon McGinley, Caroline Dodd and Caroline Nick, has been a huge part of this year’s success.

Where the Road Ends for Girls BBall Winter Sports MVP

SM East

Corbin Barnds

Coach Stein’s first season a major success

In this rivalry game anything can happen, and like East, South is down.

State Quarterfinals

The girls’ run will get cut short in the quarterfinals.

Peter Frazell

This diver often gets overshadowed, but Frazell is a top-two diver in the state.

Blake Hill

Moment to Remember

Nass at HyVee Shootout Although he may not normally get the glory, he gave us a great memory.

SM East

State Semifinals

SM East

State Quarterfinals The girls will continue their great teamwork on their way to a substate win.

Shannon McGinley

McGinley has been the steady leader and deadly shooter for her surprising Lady Lancers.

Wrestlers at League

SM East

State Quarterfinals

Chase Woofter

Swimming Eight-Peat

East will snap their two month losing streak with a big win against the Raiders.

The three game skid vs. the Raiders will end in a big way as Wentz and Hanna rain threes all night long.

After the O. South performance, the Lancers are motivated to end the streak.

Coach Stein has got this team pumped to make a deep run in the playoffs.

I can see the team making a good run to Emporia, but not enough to go deep.

This junior wrestler established himself a leader with his recent Sunflower League win

He became the third winningest wrestler in East history and finished second at league

BBall vs Olathe South

The team showed promise for the future with this thriller against their #1 ranked opponent

Blake Hill and the mighty Gavin Jorns led a parade of first and second place finishers.

Lancer boys’ swim and dive kept the impressive streak up by defeating O. East.

32

PHOTO ESSAY 02-22-11

Wrestling team places two individuals first in their weight classes, but ultimately finishes second at the Sunflower League Meet

Sophomore Tommy McGillicuddy struggles to pull a wrestler’s hand off of his face. “The whole team did really well,” McGillicuddy said.

“Certain individuals definitely stepped up to help us out.”

Pulling back the arm of a wrestler from Olathe North, senior Chase Woofter, left, attempts to pin his opponent and end the match.

Junior Ben Randolph, below, talks with coach Jason Filbeck prior to his first match. “We were doing mental reps before my match,” Randolph said, “going over what to do after each of my opponent’s moves.”

Reading over the bracket, sophomore Gavin “Chipper” Jorns and freshman Grant Hollingsworth prepare for their next match during a break in the action. The Lancers ended up in second place out of 12 teams.

Sophomore Jack Mitchell, right, gets his eye checked out by the referee after getting poked by the thumb of an opposing wrestler.

Mitchell lost in the championship match in the 140-pound weight class. all photos by GrantHeinlein