Issue 9

the

Issue 9 1.24.05

harbinger a publication of Shawnee Mission East • 7500 Mission Road • Prairie

Village, KS • 66208

A COOKIE CUTTER SCHOOL?

Life at East doesn’t always fit the story stereotypes. on page 9

the harbinger

Tsunami support Amanda Allison

Death tolls continue to rise. Pictures of missing loved ones are placed on update boards daily. And now, in the 11 devastated countries of Southeast Asia, concerns have gone from finding shelter from the 10 m. tall wave, to finding clean water and preventing fatal illnesses. Though no one from East is missing, it is evident from the numbers, horror stories and the amount of devastation that this event is being felt by the whole world.

Spanish teacher Anne Hunt was the first at East to take action in raising money to aid the regions hit by the tsunamis. During the last days of Winter Break, Hunt watched the programs on CNN, checked websites for updates and planned her course of action.

“My experiences in poor Latin American countries allow me to know the difficulty of rebuilding,” Hunt said. “I just thought about the children and my heart, and now apparently the students’, went out to them.”

Her first task of the day upon arriving back at school on Jan. 3 was to send an email to every staff member, asking them to help collect money. That email was the beginning of an allschool drive, with the gathered money going to UNICEF. UNICEF is a world-wide organization that focuses on the prevention of HIV/AIDS and the equality and health of women and children in poor areas of the world. Their main cause now, and what the East drive is raising money for, is hygiene.

With the salt water having washed away clean food and contaminated once-drinkable water, victims have been left without shelter and countless diseases caused by a severe lack of sanitation products.

East Librarian Chris Larson, who

responded quickly to Hunt’s urging, has helped to organize the Cappuccino Day on Feb. 4 which will feature all profits going to Heart to Heart International, which was founded in Kansas City by Dr. Gary Morsch. It sends 98% of its donations to areas of need (Most charities use a more sizeable amount to pay for staff, etc.)

“I was vacationing in Prague when I heard,” Larson said. “I felt so terribly sorry for those who went on a holiday and met with such disaster.”

STUCO, who had not planned on having any kind of drive, joined in with Hunt and helped to make Jan. 10-14 the official days to bring in money. Signs on teachers’ doors urge students to bring just $5, which will provide one person an emergency health kit for three months. The class that brings in the most money will receive a pizza party; a prize that World History teacher Paul Debarthe and his classes feel is unnecessary.

DeBarthe’s classes unanimously decided that to spend the money on the pizza party would be greedy and unproductive, but that to give that money instead to UNICEF would be more beneficial.

“Having that party defeats the purposes of the drive,” sophomore Lauren Dunn said. “You should give from your heart and not expect a prize.”

On a table in the front of Sra. Hunt’s room sits the entirety of her Spanish classes’ donations atop a brightly colored scarf from Ecuador, symbolizing ethnic diversity. A candleholder that Hunt picked up from Peru depicts children lifting the world: a sign that children hold the power to rise up and make a difference. Next to the candleholder sits a Native American jar, stuffed with wadded dollar bills.

news BRIEFS

Fashion Affair What: The annual district-wide Fashion Affair

where students have a chance to show off their clothing designs.

When: Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. in the SM East auditorium How: Entry forms are available in the front office and are due by Feb. 11. The cost is $5 per model.

Questions? Ask Cynthia Goldman, Emily Boullear and Emily Gairns

Students and teachers collect money for disaster areas So, exactly what happened?

The force of the earthquake causes giant waves, known as tsunamis.

LAND

graphic by Cynthia Goldman

2

news

The two continental plates converge creating an earthquake.

Schools getting involved

In the first five days of Hunt’s drive within her classes, students raised $785. For one student, this was the perfect opportunity to give back.

Junior Chelsey Funk received $200 in Christmas money and had already spent half of it when she returned to school from break.

When Sra. Hunt mentioned the drive during her Spanish class, something clicked.

“I had this instinct: ‘I don’t need this money or the things that I could buy with it’,” Funk said.

Choosing to stay anonymous to her classmates, Funk arrived in Hunt’s classroom before school and stated that she would like to contribute to the cause. Hunt was gracious, but as Funk pulled out a one hundred dollar bill from her pocket, that thankfulness turned to utter shock.

“That means everything…to see kids, teenagers, giving like this…. it’s beautiful.”

Carnation Sale

What: The Love Fund’s an-

nual Valentine’s Day carnation sale. Students can send carnations to students or teachers for Valentine’s Day.

Why: All profits will benefit SME families who need financial assistance.

When: All order forms and money must be turned in by Jan. 31.

How: Carnations cost $1 each, and students must fill out a separate order form for each recipient.

Order forms will be available in the office or at the Love Fund table during lunch on the north ramp Jan. 27, 28 or 31. Students will be notified of their carnations on Feb. 11 and will be able to pick them up on Feb. 14.

Questions?: Call Elaine Hodgson at 381.8523

Jan. 24, 2005

East

Students have raised over $2,000 through classroom donations. More money will be made through WPA tickets and the Fashion Affair.

North Stuco raised a total of $7,000; 4,000 of it through a dodgeball tournament in which teams had to raise $100 to even enter.

South

A company has agreed to donate additional money for every dollar students are able to raise.

State Festival Qualifiers After receiving chairs in the District Music Festival, the following students tried-out and were selected to play in the 2005 State Music Festival.

Band:

Rieta Drinkwine, Jenny Stromsted, Jonathan Steiner, Garrett Parker, Melanie Rutherford, Ben Thomson

Jazz Band:

Patrick Montgomery

Orchestra

Christie Coffman, Melanie Mohn, Kat Forster, Katie Hersh, Todd Johnson, Liz Johnston, Lauren Jones, Devin Kennedy, Max Clinkingbeard, Erik Deddens, Matt Owens, Suzie Specker, Tori Olson, Marianne Melling

Choir

Camryn Reynolds, Sarah Nichols, Renee Blinn, Reed Fagan, Jonathan Lerner, Sean Stenger

news

issue 9

‘Departed’

Even after two snow days, slapstick comedy is ready to hit the stage

takes off

The East theatre department will be performing a comedic play called Dearly Departed on Jan. 27, 28, and 29, which tells the story of a family living in a whitetrash town dealing with a relative’s recent death.

“It’s hard to describe because it’s so crazy and random and fun,” senior Camryn Reynolds, the student director said. She added that there are many side plots, including a character who has had eight miscarriages and another who cheated on his wife.

The comedic nature of the play is different and less intense from other recent East productions, such as “Adding Machine” and “Our Town,” theatrical director Brian Capello said. “The audience won’t have to overanalyze it.”

Another large difference is that the entire play takes place in the orchestra pit.

“It’s so close to the audience that the front row is not two feet away from the actors,” she said. “It’s a very intimate setting.”

Still, Reynolds said, it does have similarities to past plays, such as some of the same actors and a similar type of slapstick comedy that has been seen in East performances like “4 By Ives” and “Scapino.”

Unfortunately, putting the play together was more difficult than normal, Capello said. The snow days cut into rehearsal time and “it had a shorter production

time anyway.”

Even in the shortened time, “they have done so much character work,” Reynolds said.

“They’re playing a bunch of hillbillies,” freshman Claire Marston said. “The audience can relate a bit because [they] know the stereotype.”

Marston is one of the Joy of Life Singers, which is a gospel-type choir used to help transition between scenes by moving props and singing to set the mood of the upcoming scene.

“They just come on and smile and snap their fingers and look good as they come across the stage,” Reynolds said.

The Singers are used to introduce a scene in a car.

This scene is special because it uses a screen, which is in the position of the back window, Reynolds explained.

The setting is on a video that is projected onto the screen.

Other aspects of the show include a bible-beating mother who calls her son in the morning demanding to know if there is a “harlet laid up with him” and a 300 pound girl who just sits on stage and eats.

“Whenever she talks, she says one word phrases or belches,” Reynolds said. “When you look at her you just want to laugh.” photo by KATE LARABEE

Libby Nachman

3

‘Dearly Departed’ Information

When: Jan. 27-29 Time: 7 p.m.

Where: the auditorium

Ticket price: $7 Plot summary: A comedy in which a family in a whitetrash town must deal with a relative’s death - and lots of weird characters.

Jan. 24, 2005

JUNIOR Rachel Richardson practices the part of Juanita, a selfabsorbed, yet lonely girl, in a rehearsal.

4

opinion

the harbinger

To Dave, Michael Pope in my own words

I’ve decided that I’m going on an indefinite hiatus from life. I mean, I just need some time away, you know, to be with my family and help raise my youngest daughter. I might even take a break from breathing, too; it always felt like a lot of unnecessary work to me.

At least, this is the message that I feel Dave Barry is sending to me. Mr. Barry, I’ll remind you, is the criticallyacclaimed, Pulitzer Prize-winning and countless other hyphenated-adjectived humor columnist for the Miami Herald, or at least he was until he recently announced his temporary resignation a few weeks ago from the job he’s been performing for the greater part of three decades.

Now, I know a lot of you are like me (but wish you weren’t) and are extremely shocked by this seemingly reckless action, while others of you are still wondering whether or not I actually have a daughter. All the same, I’d like to hijack the remainder of this column and use it as an open letter to Mr. Barry with the hopes that somehow, some way he might hear it, causing him to hesitate at the curb a split-second longer, the sedan full of senior citizens that would have splattered him all over the sidewalk skidding helplessly by. So, here we go.

Dear Dave, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?!? Has all of that Floridian indecisiveness made you insane?

You had the greatest job on earth: you got to sit around your office and write elaborate booger jokes that were published and adored by millions of people worldwide!

You even said so yourself ! I mean, it’s the line of work any English major that doesn’t have his will crushed into teaching high-schoolers dreams about, and you’ve been doing it for as long as anyone can remember. So why stop

with love

now? You’ve already raised one kid during your career, and look at all the material it brought you. And that was only a boy! Think about how much more you could get from your little girl. It’s guaranteed comedic gold! Your wife, being a journalist herself, would understand if you missed a dance recital or three.

It’s just that, Dave, we’re gonna miss you. You know that.

But I don’t think you understand the kind of impact you’ve made on the art form during your illustrious career. Your sarcastic approach to journalism has forever changed the way we look at the events happening around us. John Stewart owes his life and well-being to you. You had the gall to insult Reagan, the low-flow toilet, and journalism altogether. You knew that though a story was interesting to a journalist, it did not mean that it was interesting to the reader. On the contrary, most front-page news was only something that got in the way of the reader’s search for the sports page and that day’s crossword puzzle. You taught me this, Dave, for you were my idol and I ate up everything you said like so much alphabet soup.

Dave, we know that we’ve asked a lot of you these past few decades, but don’t you think you could stick around just one more year? I mean, it’s only January, just think of all the stuff you’ll miss out on by not writing! Jennifer Lopez might marry every other conceivable male lead actor in Hollywood and then divorce, and you wouldn’t want to miss out on that, would you? And if you stay for this year, you might as well stay for the next, and the one after that as well. The world would not be able to thrive without someone like you there to report all of the cow-explosions and toilet overflowings in a timely and informative manner.

But I guess whatever you do, Dave, just know that Kansas will miss you. All thirteen of us.

The Scott Peterson in my own words

Tables

WPA is just another awful high school event

TURNED

When it comes to formal dances, creativity becomes a contest, people try to find the most imaginative way of asking that special someone, or to find that perfect dress. However, this contest of creativity is missing one thing: the creativity.

Women Pay All is a tradition extending all the way back to the baby boomers. The girls get their chance of paying for dinner, and for taking the guys to the dance. They get a shot at asking in their own ways. The variety between the dances needs to be much more vast than just which gender asks the other gender.

In fact, if it weren’t for the gender flip-flop, WPA would be just like any other formal dance. Ladies, this is your chance to shine. Will you sit back and have the same old dance that occurs three times a year?

It would be a nice twist on proposals instead of the cliché rose-in-the-locker.

It would be a competition, “Should I ask Sally, or will Amy get to me first? Maybe they should have a fight to the death.” Every year people jump up and down in expensive shiny black dresses and suits they bought for one night to hip-hop, rap, Justin Timberlake, and, for an amazing twist of variety, slow rap, which serves the purpose of the romantic couple dances. This is the Sweetheart Dance, and frankly, it isn’t very romantic having 50 Cent and Outkast played ten times throughout the night.

Variety has become a thing of the past, and we have become zombies of the same old routine.

Instead of just hiring a disc jockey used to hosting mixers at the local country clubs, the people in charge of the dance should go around getting input (preferably from girls) on songs the disc jockey should play.

They should also get input on ways the dance could be different, and more fun, because changing the color of balloons every year just isn’t cutting it.

If the dance isn’t going to be any different then there is no point in having a “Women Pay All” dance in the first place. If every dance is the same, then we should stop fooling ourselves with names and titles. People shouldn’t be pressured with who-should-ask-who if all the dances are the same repetitive things.

I agree that MORP is a dance that adds the variety we need, however it isn’t a formal dance, and the return of the dance itself is questionable. So now we need to make the formal dances count.

Now, let’s face it, when it comes to dances, East isn’t exactly standing on solid ground.

The people of this community cringe when they hear the words “dance” and “East” together. This would be a nice way to prove that we can do something special gtwithout the required assistance of the paramedics.

East’s recent history of dances can only be described as lousy. It’s time that we get on our feet and make the dances something other than a night of playing dress-up and eating dinner at the same restaurants.

Jan. 24, 2005

issue 9

Catching a bad case of

opinion

5

Seniors slack off as the end nears

Ross Boomer in my own words Something felt wrong the first day back from Winter Break.

When I drove in at 7:30, the senior parking lot felt empty. When I walked through the third floor to my locker, the hallway seemed void of seniors. When I looked down at the second semester schedule handed to me in homeroom, I felt like I was looking at a blank piece of paper.

And then it hit me: I’m a senior, and it’s second semester.

I’m a SENIOR, and it’s SECOND semester.

I’M A [EXPLETIVE] SENIOR, AND IT’S SECOND [EXPLETIVE] SEMESTER. [EXPLETIVE]!!!

I felt an instant mix of joy and fear, for another reality existed at the same time: I still had to get through 20 weeks of Shawnee Mission Wonderful. None of these things – the parking lot, the hallway, the schedule – were actually different. The only thing that had changed was my attitude towards school.

I simply don’t care anymore …

I never thought I would get senioritis: I’m too motivated.

When other kids in the third grade gave presentations about how they wanted to be doctors, football players or professional mommies, I was the kid who proudly stood up and said he wanted to go to an Ivy League school, not knowing at all what that actually meant. Regardless of this, I have been working hard for a very long time, and it seemed inconceivable that I would just not care some day.

After going to East for three years and writing a story on senioritis last year, I knew all its symptoms and negative effects. I had heard about the Tuesday morning hangovers

and seen the random bouts of insanity in the senior hallways. It just couldn’t happen to me.

Unfortunately, it did.

My senioritis became more noticeable the evening after the first day back.

Instead of starting my homework around six like I usually do, I surfed Xanga sites for three hours straight.

Although the world n of drunk Pembroke ma old G girls, diehard hia ynt Shawnee Mission yC b art Northwest feminists, and Blue Valley theater boys with pictures of East wrestlers on their web pages is altogether fascinating, by nine that night I sadly admitted to myself that I too had caught the unavoidable disease that every senior gets.

And really, why shouldn’t I? From the first day we awkwardly put our arms around one another to ask God to watch over our beloved Columbia blue, black and white, we were already planning our futures, contemplating what our classes were going to be like, how we would form an Ivy League-worthy resume, and whether we could ask that hot blonde freshman girl from Mission Valley with the two-inch miniskirt and the pink spongy flip-flops to Homecoming.

But things have changed. Teachers, parents, thousands of college guidebooks – all created the mentality that college is the most important impetus for achieving anything in high school. But when you’re done applying to colleges, when you’re

done taking standardize tests, when you’re done putting together your well-rounded resume of nine extra-curricular activities (with the all important leadership positions in at least three), you’re left clueless and confused as to why you are still doing anything in high school. Senioritis thus becomes inevitable.

The only thing left pulling seniors along is the prospect of a new life in college, that idyllic beacon of freedom and independence creeping in over the horizon. What we have to realize, however, is that tiny flame of inspiration will turn in to a roaring fire and burn us to a crisp if we come into college with a lackadaisical attitude left over from senior year. We still have a semester left. We still have to go to class. The work is only going to get harder, so there is no use giving up now.

Still, though, I have to admit that I had an extremely hard time mustering up enough motivation to finish this column.

I entered my freshman year, even my senior year, like a charging lancer, ready to attack whatever got in my way from academic and extracurricular perfection. Now I am drudging along in survival mode.

READ

FIGHT for your to RIGHT

Bryan Dykman in my own words

In 1953 Ray Bradbury published “Fahrenheit 451”, a tale of firemen who no longer extinguish fires, but started them. Today parents from the Blue Valley School District are taking on rolls similar to Guy Montag. Instead of getting students to read, they are attempting to ban some of the most important books ever.

These parents have created a petition to ban 14 books that currently appear on their children’s reading lists for school. The reason for the attempted ban is that parents feel these books, which contain vulgar language, sexual explicitness, and violence, are not suitable for their children.

In fact the parents have produced a list that sights every instance of a sexual act and vulgar language. Did you know that Holden Caulfield says “hell” 249 times? These instances are taken so out of context that I wonder if the parents have read the books that they dispute, or if they

searched an online text for every instance of the f-word.

In addition to banning books, they are replacing English teachers by deciding exactly what their children will be reading. Instead of reading “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, written by Mya Angelou, they have suggested that the students read “Moby Dick.” I have to admit that replacing Angelou’s work about the black experience in America, and rising up and becoming independent despite an unwanted pregnancy, would be well supplemented by the story of the White Whale.

These parents aren’t only foolish they are racist!

In fact the alternate books that parents are suggesting come from a reading list supplied by collegeboard.com that recommends and contains many of the books which the parents are trying to remove.

I can understand that the parents are concerned with the handling and the teaching of such delicate social issues.

But they have to understand that by the time their kids are in high school, it is a very different world than the one they grew up in. Most of the issues that they want to ban (rape, murder, incest, child molestation, torture, etc.) are already recognized by students, and if not, they need to be brought up and shown why these acts are written about and their implications on society.

The students are hit with these everyday by music,

Jan. 24, 2005

My inner knight is dying.

Many popular books face a potential ban in Blue Valley schools

television and the Internet. But instead of banning all forms of communication, we should allow the information to be presented by someone all students and parents can trust: teachers.

These are the men and women that have given us their lives in order to help mold each and every one of us into strong, socially aware, grammatically correct, historically accurate men and women. They are the perfect way to show why Angelou would write about rape and through their teaching show us why the changed bird sings.

High school is probably the most vital years of all our lives, and students have the greatest resources right now to help them work through these social issues. Parents should have the right to raise their children, but let the teachers teach them.

Banned Books The following books are being considered for ban by the Blue Valley school district: Bless Me Ultima Stotan Animal Dreams Boy’s Life Catcher in the Rye Bean Trees Black Boy

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Song of Solomon All the Pretty Horses The Awakening Beloved

The Hot Zone I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Lords of Discipline Slaughterhouse Five This Boy’s Life Fallen Angels

6

editorial

Shock and Awe

the harbinger

Americans tend to give to charity only in overwhelming circumstances

America is a country of extremes; normal clues to tell Americans when to of excess. It’s so accustomed to being pay attention. We’ve trained ourselves loud and florescent and raging that it to sniff out tomorrow’s mini series. tends to drop from its radar anything No one ever wrote a mini series about that isn’t. The recent tsunami was loud, water purification, we think. and raging, and in-your-face, and from Obviously, aiding those affected thousands of by the tsunami is miles away important.

But America pays too little it was as doing so doesn’t attention to the smaller glamorous make up for ignoring and exciting everything else 80 problems in the world. as movie percent of the time. stars or freak There are smaller accidents. things out there; And people quieter things. agree disagree absent tend to reach The body count of for their the tsunami will pocket books. eventually finish The only problems is, for decades growing, whereas these other disasters and decades there have been human perpetuate themselves endlessly. rights problems all over the globe.

On the whole, Americans live in Third world countries have been in almost grotesque comfort. We’re one desperate need of humanitarian aid. of the richest countries in the world, Africa has one of the world’s biggest and even though we’re at war, we never water purification and transportation feel it. We’re wrapped up in gauze and problems, and it’s something that kills plugged full of drugs and food and people every day. There is trouble money, and it’s unbelievably easy to controlling disease, trouble getting forget that there are gunshots in the medication for HIV, and believe it or distance. not, an unbelievably low amount of The point is, we should be able to people pay any attention. The pocket do both; fund tsunami efforts and help books stay closed. change those other, quieter crimes.

This is because America believes in Its great to get involved; it’s great to the face of a starving child. It believes lend a hand. It’s great to open up that in video tapes of bombs going off in pocket book for something that really streets. It puts its stock, its attention, matters. All we need is a society that’s and its money into things like the more in tune with what really matters tsunami. all the time, instead of one that sits in it’s The tsunami was huge. It made living room and tisks sadly over video your jaw drop open. It smacks of the footage, commenting that it reminds end of the world, plus, George Clooney them of The Day After Tomorrow. talks about it on TV. These are the

11 - 0 - 0

harbinger

Shawnee Mission East Editor In Chief Assistant Editors Art/Design Editors Head Copy Editor Photo Editor News Editor News Page Editors Features Editor Features Page Editors

Libby Nelson Annie Fuhrman Gordon Culver Cynthia Goldman Mallory Toombs Stephen McKim Linda Howard Courtney Condron Katie Jones Ally Heisdorffer Laura Nelson Ellie Weed Kathleen Bole Jayne Shelton Libby Nachman Meg Fracol

A&E Editors A&E Page Editor Sports Editor Sports Page Editors Opinion Editor Opinion Page Editor Editorial Editor Special Section Editor Copy Editors

Staff Writers

Letters to the editor should be sent to Rm 521 or smeharbinger@gmail.com. Letters can be edited for length, clarity, mechanics, and libel, and accepted or rejected at the editors discretion.

letter to the editor

The new thing is here. Most of us have bought them. All of us have seen them. The Blue Lancer Cancer Wrist Bands are here. Yes, the econ class has found a new hit with the kids, and everybody is getting on the rubber band wagon. We buy them because they are cool, only cost $5, and they support… wait, what do they support? They must be supporting something.

The yellow Livestrong bands show your support for cancer research, and the pink ones show your support for breast cancer research. But what do the East Lancer ones support? I am sure it is a very worthy cause, considering they cost three times as much as the other bands. Our band supports nothing. All proceeds go to the students selling them. So that imitation band you are wearing doesn’t support a worthy cause, it supports a fellow SUV-driving, country club golfing, stairwell-chatting, popped collar Lancer, who will buy a hula skirt in Hawaii this spring break with your money.

Paul Kaldahl Senior

Editorial Cartoon at the basketball

games...

Cynthia Goldman

it’s the

!

R E

Z Y AL

H T EA

...at the dances...

Ian McFarland Evan Favreau Erin Morrissey Curtis Shank Peter Goehausen Ben Whitsitt Sara Steinwart Tom Grotewohl Cay Fogel Amanda Allison Amanda Allison Courtney Condron Cay Fogel Bryan Dykman Evan Favreau Danny Mapes Ross Boomer Derek Martin Clare Jordon

BR

Staff Artists Ads/Business Manager Asst. Ads/Business Contest Coordinator Public Relations Photographers

Adviser

Scott Peterson Joey Soptic Davin Phillips Sara McElhaney Michael Pope Bryan Dykman Maggie DiSilvestro Lauren Kelly Erin Morrissey Meg Fracol Emily Rappold Samantha Ludington Molly Magoon Kelsey Stabenow Aimee Slater Kate Larabee Katy Garringer Kevin Grunwald Dow Tate

The Harbinger is a student run publication. The contents and views are produced solely by the staff and do not represent the Shawnee Mission East or SMSD faculty, student body, or administration.

Jan. 24, 2005

Shaken Shaken Shaken

BY THE

features

issue 9

7

Students’ biological clocks aren’t matching school’s schedule

bell

Clare Jordan

At 6:30 a.m., most East students are about to awake or are already in the process. They scramble through their morning routine barely even knowing what they’re doing. The same students swear they weren’t tired at 10:30 p.m. last night when they should have gone to bed to get their needed 8 hours.

The truth is, they probably really weren’t tired. “Teen sleeping patterns are a popular topic because there have been numerous tests to show that high school age kids have hormones that wake them up later at night and often don’t feel the need to go to bed until 11:30 to midnight,” Kerry McCartey a sleep specialist at Total Sleep Diagnostics, said.

When 6:30 a.m. comes around though, they are no less tired then the next person that only got 6 to 7 hour of sleep the night before. In fact, most likely they are more tired. Not only are teens more awake at night, but are less aware in the morning.

Sleep deprivation can cause depression, easy mood swings, an inability to deal with stress, and obviously lower performance in school. With such an early starting schedule many students sleep

through class, or if they’re not actually asleep they’re just in a daze and will easily forget what they’ve been taught.

Certain schools, such as Blue Valley have made changes to their starting time to accommodate later sleeping. Every Thursday they have a late start at 9:00 a.m. They are able to do this because they have modified block scheduling on Wednesday and Thursday. On Wednesday they have hours 1, 2, 5, and 7, and on Thursday 2, 4, and 6 which allows them to start •Take long breaths. Shoot for five second inhales and exhales. later.

•Take a deap breath and hold it in for 30 seconds. Relax as you Sophomore Doug Altman at exhale.

Blue Northwest said, “The hour before school starts on Thursday •Take a hot bath or shower right before you go to bed. is called academic support, it’s a •Right before you head to bed, eat one once of protein. good system because it gives you •If you can’t go to sleep after 15 minutes, get out of bed and listen an hour either to get help from

Get to SLEEP!

to light music or meditate.

•Don’t watch t.v. or turn on lights, they stimulate your brain to high gear.

•Drink a cup of chamomile tea with Valerian root in it.

•Exercise regularly. Exercise helps to regulate the sleep cycle.

teachers or to sleep in one day a week.”

In Shawnee Mission it is the belief that there is not enough time in the day to have a late start. Shawnee Mission East Principal Angelo Cocolis said, “Everyone should get adequate sleep, but they should plan their schedule such as sports, clubs, and studying so they don’t have too many activities, it’s all about time management.”

McCarty said, “It’s not only about adolescent hormones, sleep deprivation can also be attributed to the cycle of “binge sleeping.” On the weekends they sleep during the day and go out and night. Then they expect their body to adjust to the school schedule, no ones biological clock can work that way.”

Studies show that 9.25 hours of sleep a night is needed to be fully aware. Students going to bed at 10 p.m. are not even getting the sufficient amount of sleep. Adolescents are the ones with the delayed sleep phase, but are also the ones getting up earliest for school.

RECEIVE A FREE TAN WITH ANY SERVICE MANICURES-PEDICURES-ACRYLICS-HAIRCUTS PERMS-HIGHLIGHTS AND WAXING

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Jan. 24, 2005

features

the harbinger

S cl

Senior Kyle Kleiboeker stars as the Cat in the Hat

Meg Fracol

euSS i a

It’s a week until the Seussical was neat musical performance, and the countdown because I didn’t really have to think begins. So do the rehearsals. about anything that much. I just Senior Kyle Kleiboeker starred as the got to do funny stuff onstage and Cat in the Hat and was just one student act goofy, so a lot of it just came from many around the KC area to be a part from practicing during the day,” of Music and Theatre for Young People’s Kleiboeker said.

(MTYP) Seussical production. They put Being an animated and goofy the show together in one week. person himself, Kleiboeker found To prepare for the role, Kleiboeker it easy to assume the role. The type tried to connect to the audience. He imagined of person to use words like “supe directing the play to children, as though it were excite” for super excited, he was a book being read. In one of the songs he was a natural Cat in the Hat. At MTYP able to go out into the audience and talk to the though, there’s more to acting little kids. than just taking on a role. They “It’s just a really fun and animated SENIOR Kyle Kleiboeker enjoyed have a special saying about how character. And I’m kind of like that in real life playing the Cat in the Hat for its the moon needs the sun’s light so it wasn’t that much work,” Kleiboeker said. animated faces. to shine, but the sun shines on Despite claims it wasn’t “that much work”, its own. The young actors and Kleiboeker, sophomore Peter Spitsnogle, and senior Lizzy Griffith, spent a week of their winter break practicing actresses at MTYP strive to be their “own sun”.

Kleiboeker says, “As cheesy as it sounds, it’s from 9 in the morning ‘til 9 at night. The whole week rehearsing is really just kind of made me realize what I want to spent cramming lines. The three kept cramming ‘til hours before the Jan 1 performance when they practiced songs to a tape in the car. do in life and believe in myself. I mean you learn so Other than the twelve hour rehearsals to prepare for the role, Kleiboeker’s much theatre-wise and performing and that’s like the best training you can get in KC for our age. It’s the best mother served as his first audience and critiqued him.

“I practiced with my mom. The role was really cheesy and just fun and it opportunity, but it’s also a lot more than that.” photo courtesy of Kyle Kleiboeker

8

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features

issue 9

as others

Local high schools express stereotypical views of SME

SME drinking

rich

drugs

Sara McElhaney “Rich kids, cocaine, cheerleaders, credit cards, and drinking,” bluntly states Shawnee Mission South graduate Evan Rump when asked what stereotypes SME brings to mind. Though Rump says he’s been influenced by pep assemblies in which these traits are parodied for the sake of rivalry, he’s also heard a handful of stories from his friends at East that lend credence to these ideas.

Where should one draw the line between a stereotype and a blatant exaggeration to get the home team psyched up for the game?

Shawnee Mission South Junior Hilah VanderLippe spent her first two years of high school at SME, and was surprised at the first South pep assembly in which pep club members dressed up like students from the different Shawnee Mission schools. Their Lancer was depicted as a spoiled aristocrat, dropping classic lines such as “Can’t my daddy buy it?” Senior James Harrold has a different take on mockeries like this, which have been present in SMS assemblies for as long as he can remember.

“I don’t think anyone personally cares; it is just something to laugh at during assemblies and at sporting events,” he said.

East may as well be spelled with a dollar sign: the most talked about stereotype of SME is its wealth. East’s boundaries encompass much of Mission Hills where a three-bedroom house can be marketed at $5.99 million.

It may be hard for people not to associate East with a parking lot full of sport utility vehicles and a country club membership.

“The stereotypical East kid to me has a pair of Birkenstocks, shaggy hair and a North Face jacket,” Shawnee Mission West senior Stephanie Gray said.

East’s mythical wealth may not be overrated, however there are 48 students this year receiving free lunches paid for by the state as well as 27 receiving a reduced price lunch.

9

us

Rockhurst Junior John White describes the generally disdainful attitude his classmates sometimes have towards East and other public schools, not only in their economic superiority, but academic as well.

“In one of my classes we had a discussion on how someone getting Cs and Bs here could get a 4.0 at East easily,” he said.

Others have a different opinion towards SME academics: it is the “smart school” with an impressive track record of test scores. To those who know about it, the IB program is also an intimidating factor.

“The [IB] program is more preparatory and advancing, so a kid wanting to transfer may be likely choose that over a normal Northwest education,” Shawnee Mission Northwest senior Bryce Blankenship said.

This reputation comes with a price, however, as substitute teacher Barbara White says, “When other schools hear about East getting new programs... sometimes they grumble because it seems like we’re favored.”

There are also conflicting views on SME as a school with problems concerning drugs and alcohol.

“I know that we have a reputation of being kind of spoiled, but that does not necessarily mean that East is riddled with drugs and dead heads,” campus police officer John Betzer said.

Very few students have been arrested under influence of drugs or narcotics this year, and East is described as “on par with other high schools.” SRO Steve Taylor says that alcohol is a bigger problem than it was 3 years ago when he started at East, but the task force begun last year is bringing numbers down with its arrests. In recent months he says there have been 4 or 5 DUI charges for juveniles in the area, but that these numbers climb near breaks. Taylor says that the incident last year concerning the suspension of fifteen varsity cheerleaders from the squad for violation of the drug and alcohol

Jan. 24, 2005

policy has had a damaging effect community’s impression of SME, but he emphasizes the need for a positive movement in the student body away from alcohol.

Without all the hype of a rival school’s screaming pep assembly, do these stereotypes really hold any water for East’s student body?

“To some extent there’s always one person that embodies a stereotype, but people just have to be open and give everyone a chance... it’s only there if you’re looking for it,” Gray said. This sentiment is echoed in Shawnee Mission North Junior Joe Donaway’s explanation that a few isolated personality clashes can easily be exaggerated into a rivalry between schools.

White understands that though his classmates throw some jokes around, it’s all in fun, and may even be the result of frustration. He says, “As mean as it might be, it just makes people feel good to think their school is better.”

on

the

Over the past two months, three Harbinger writers visited three different schools- one rural, one urban, one small private school, finding out other schoos’ perceptions of us and discovering what it’s like for them. Each spent a day shadowing a student, going to classes, and...

getting a new

“These kids will probably hate gay people, and minorities,” I thought to myself. Driving up to the Piper complex I had already made up my mind as to how things would be. Some kid in overalls and a plaid shirt would stroll down the hall and say “Howdy, folks.” From everything I’d heard, Piper was a “rural” school. It only took five minutes inside to realize how wrong I was.

After stumbling around trying to find the office, I finally found myself standing in a brightly lit room, talking with the principle.

“I think the kids here are a bit more naïve than the kids at East,” Assistant Principal Marge Eckard said. “Our kids even look younger than the kids in Shawnee Mission.”

I was taken aback at hearing a staff member talk about her own school in such a manner.

You’d think the head of a school would convey a positive image of that school, but apparently they do things differently at Piper. I didn’t have long to question her about it, though, because the guy I was shadowing showed up.

After we did our introductions, we started down the hall to his first block. Piper runs on a block schedule, meaning that they only have four, 95-minute classes a day. I got some weird looks as I walked, but everyone seemed friendly enough. In a school of around 450 people it’s easy to pick out someone new.

We made it to his first class, College Composition, and I started talking to the people around me. No one that I talked to really had any preconceptions about East. To them, it was “just another Shawnee Mission School,” meaning we were “more city-like”.

I didn’t have a chance to talk long before the teacher came into the room and I quieted down, ready to be bored out of my mind. My

PIPER

expectations were met and exceeded as I proceeded to sit through a lesson taught in monotone, and an hour of time to work on things silently. It seemed all too familiar.

I noticed a few things while I was sitting quietly. Not one single pair of Birkenstocks were to be found, nor were there any North Face fleeces in the building. Other than that, well, I didn’t notice anything. It was the same; it seems class is class wherever you go.

As the hour drew to a close people started talking and I took some time to ask the guy I was shadowing, Derek, some questions.

He informed me that the only thing remotely close to Piper was Village West, home to Cabelas, Nebraska Furniture Mart, and The Great Wolf Lodge. To do things, most of the Piper kids came “into the city” even though they technically live within Kansas City.

In the second block, things were a lot more relaxed. It was journalism, but journalism at Piper is a bit different than journalism at East. The entire newspaper staff consisted of eight people all in one class. Here at East, we have two hours with a total of 45 people. At Piper their paper comes out eight times a year, and here we come out eight times a semester.

While I sat making conversation with the various people in the class, I couldn’t help but notice how at ease I felt. Even when I was just roaming the halls, everyone seemed close to each other, not in an over-crowded sense, but there didn’t seem to be tension. In the morning when I first got there everyone was sitting around and talking. There wasn’t any obvious division among students.

All of these qualities come from the fact that Piper is a small school. In the Piper school district there is one high school, one middle school, and two elementary schools. Most of the kids in each class have known each other since first or second grade.

As the second block came to a close I began to get a better feel for what makes Piper different than East. At East blending in is unavoidable: with so many people it’s hard to stand out. At Piper, blending in becomes a difficult task, because as soon as one person knows something, everyone knows everything.

LEFT: Going through the lunch line, students get a nice variety with a school-bought lunch. BOTTOM LEFT: A view from the outside of the school shows the similarity to SM schools.

BOTTOM RIGHT: A less-crowded lunch room makes for a more relaxed and personal half an hour to spend with your friends.

Piper High School

Piper Unified School District #203 12036 Leavenworth Road Kansas City, Kansas 66109 Phone: (913) 721-2088 Public School, Co-Educational “...The kids here are a bit more naive than the kids at East. Our kids even look younger than the kids in Shawnee Mission,” Assistant Principal Marge Eckard

photos by Katie Westphal

Derek Martin

perspective..

..

TURNER

A few weeks ago I ventured outside my Shawnee Mission East bubble to a mysterious land without Ralph Lauren Polos, iPods and Jeep Grand Cherokees. Yes, my fellow Lancers, a place like this does indeed exist!

I spent a day shadowing at Turner High School in KCK. Gasp! Upon telling this to the East population I received the following reactions.

Your’re going to get shot.

I didn’t, and witnessed no violence of any kind. In fact, I felt just as safe as I do at East. The students welcomed me, and I never felt uncomfortable.

Everyone there is trashy.

Another uneducated Turner stereotype. Does making less than a six-figure income equivocate to “trashy?” Of course not! A more appropriate word to describe them is “real.”

Turner is more in-tune to issues such as poverty and unemployment. Thirty-seven percent of the students are on the Free or Reduced Lunch Program, compared with three percent for East.

These students come from blue-collar backgrounds and aren’t guaranteed the opportunities that we Lancers often take for granted.

“If a Shawnee Mission kid wants to become a doctor, his or her parents probably know a doctor personally who can set up a shadowing or rounding opportunity.

Those types of connections don’t exist with the families at Turner,” said Assistant Principal Paul Colwell.

Thirty-one percent of Turner’s 2002 graduating class went to a junior college, such as Kansas City Kansas Community College, which was dubbed “Turner North” by students because of the high percentage of students who attend the college after graduating. Fifteen percent went to a four-year college, such as KU or K-State.

“Going out of state for college is practically unheard of,” said Colwell.

“My goal is not to end up at Turner North next year,” said a senior who is a varsity debater and President of the Business Professionals of America in Kansas. “Hopefully I’ll go to KU.” Mindee Hoit, Co-President of Turner and the student I shadowed, is also going to KU next year.

You will be the only white guy in the entire school.

Seventy-five percent of the students at Turner are white (East is ninety-seven percent), eight percent are black, and 12 percent are Hispanic. Whites, blacks, and Hispanics don’t intermingle much.

Wear neutral colors. Avoid pink, black and red – those are gang colors.

I saw no gang activity at Turner and I didn’t witness a single fight.

Guys dressed casually, most wearing jeans and a t-shirt.

Girls at Turner dressed similarly to girls at East, except without Uggsboots. I didn’t see a single popped collar, Ralph Lauren polo or Livestrong Band.

That school is ghetto.

No. The four-year-old school is nicer looking than East. Turner’s pool makes ours look like a self-inflating kiddy pool, their weight room is nearly twice the size of ours, and the halls are cleaner. The classrooms look about the same and the teachers that I saw seemed to be as good as the teachers I have at East.

Students participated actively in class and were generally open with one another. This was apparent in Family Life, a senior only version of a health class where some students confessed that they were “oops babies,” having no problem doing so.

Class sizes were similar to East’s, but all of the honors classes I shadowed had many of the same people in them, and everyone seemed to know everyone else on a personal level. Students seemed happy and had a positive attitude.

The new tardy policy, instated to correct attendance problems, is harsh, yet effective. If any student is late to any hour without a pass, that student is sent directly to the Tardy Room, where they sit in silence and do work for the remainder of that hour. In the four hours that I shadowed, not one person was late.

My only complaint was the food. Options were hamburger, pizza, fries, milk, and one other item each day. “Having a hamburger every day gets really old,” one senior said. There is no open lunch for seniors.

After hearing all of the stereotypes, I was surprised to find that Turner was nothing like we East students might imagine it to be. It’s a great school in which I wouldn’t hesitate a second to enroll.

photos by Kevin Grunwald

Ian Stanford

TOP LEFT: Standing in front of the mascot mural, writer Ian Stanford checks out Turner’s gym. TOP RIGHT: A view from the principal’s office shows the similarity to the offices at East. BOTTOM: Turner Senior Mindee Hoit shows Ian Stanford around Turner High School.

Turner High School Turner USD #202 2211 S. 55th Street Kansas City, Kansas 66106 Phone: (913) 288-3300 Fax: (913) 288-3301 Principal: Allen Voth Co-Educational, 9th-12th Grades “These students come from bluecollar backgrounds and aren’t guaranteed the opportunities that we Lancers often take for granted.”

continued on page 12: Kansas City Academy > > >

KCA

12 features a new perspective... photos by Katy Garringer

the harbinger

KANSAS City Academy has a particular focus on arts. Here, STUDENTS at Kansas City Academy spend lunch in a student lounge. With only 75 students, they can fit comfortably. students participate in a drama class.

WRITER Lauren Kelly observes a class at KCA Students in most classes are on a first-name basis with their teachers.

Lauren Kelly When I walked into Kansas City Academy I saw a hallway full of sculptures, colorful murals and vibrant masks decorating the wall. What I expected to see is a hallway full of kids in uniforms stampeding through white walled hallways on their way to class. Kansas City Academy was the exact opposite of what my perception of a private school.

The students, teachers, and curriculum can be summed up in one word: nontraditional. They have no bells, and are given a 5-minute passing period, which is more than enough time to make it through the two stories of the building and still have time to talk with their friends. The students are on a first name basis with their teachers and the classes rotate daily so that they never have 1st through 7th hour in one day. Wednesday is when the entire school has an activity day, where they go out on fieldtrips. For example, one week they’ll get a list of certain places they can go, such as a bowling alley.

Kansas City Academy is on 79th and Main in KCMO. The neighborhood is in a housing area, and is particularly calm. The location is perfect for students who live in the inner city, because there is a metro bus stop about 50 yards from the front doors.

Most of the students over the age of 16 have cars and the rest either walk or are dropped off by parents. The building itself is about 100 years old, and it shows on the inside. Classrooms all have wood floors and chalkboards.

East is a very sport oriented school, and it shown when students walk around in basketball sweatshirts and football jerseys.

But, at the academy, they have no sport teams. Instead, of jerseys and basketball sweatshirts, you see band t-shirts and skateboarding sweatshirts.

Each classroom has its own style when it comes to the curriculum and teachers. The U.S. history class has a teacher who speaks through a microphone and had students speak into the microphone when answering questions. In all of the classrooms I visited the students were attentive and polite when their peers were speaking and have flawless manners and are more than willing to participate in class.

After I visited the history class, I went to the Acting I classroom. I walked in, and it was nearly pitch black except for the lights focusing on the class down below. While descending down the stairs, I knocked over some ones soda. I immediately turned bright red and yelled “SORRY!” To my surprise, the

entire class said, “oh its okay!” and they invited me and the photographer I was with down to participate in their warming up activity. This struck me as weird, because I was pretty sure at least one of them would have laughed, but instead they were very polite. We played a focusing game, where we go around in a circle and look at the person next to us, and clap, and then we speed up.

Next, we played a game that was meant for students to loosen up and get comfortable with each other. We went around, and said our names in the tone we were feeling that name. For example, if we were feeling sad, we’d say our name melancholic manner.

In one of the classes we visited, we asked how they think their school differs from East. One girl replied that the fact that their school doesn’t have cliques or sports makes a huge difference on how there school functions socially. Kansas City Academy is like a small, rural town; everyone knows everyone.

For teachers and students at the academy, lunch isn’t a hassle at all. No lines, no gross food, no high prices. They “brown bag” it and sit in a student lounge, instead of an overcrowded cafeteria. The school has refrigerators, microwaves, and sandwich machines to accommodate students.

kansas city

academy

•

• • • • •

Tuition pays for about 72% of the schools funds and the other 28 percent is made with fundraisers.

About 75 percent of students are white School has 75 kids Average 8 students per class, maximum 15 Financial background: varies Tuition: $6,975

Students are able to go off campus for lunch, as long as they are 16 years or older.

Kansas City Academies individuality and kindness is what really won me over.

From the second I walked into the door, everyone, the teachers, students, welcomed us with open arms and did whatever they could to help out. If I had the chance to attend Kansas City Academy, I would in a heartbeat.

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Jan. 24, 2005

mixed

the harbinger

student eureka-questions profiles. teacher snapshots. college of the week.health drinking fountain napshots. answered.eureka-questions college previews. answered. t-shirt of the week.previews. drinkingt-shirt fountain reviews. advice. hot reviews. health advice. hot spots around price check.rooms.

ACED hot list. cool info. student scholarship info. hot jobs.student profiles.previews. teacher snapshots. college previews. heck.

ACED hottown. list. cool student scholarship hot rooms. jobs.student profiles. teacher snapshots. college of the week. drinking v. health advice. spots around price check.rooms.

ACED hot list. cool info. student scholarship info. hot jobs.stude ngt-shirt v. health advice. hot spots around town. pricehot check.

ACED hottown. list. cool student scholarship hot rooms. jobs.student profiles.previews. teacher snapshots. college of the week.health drinking fountain reviews. health advice. spots around town. price check. ACE s. college t-shirt of the week.previews. drinkingt-shirt fountain reviews. advice. hot spots around town. pricehot check.

ACED

second 30thoughts

with to m d a r n al l

mixed

!eureka !

the section about life

What is really at the end of the rainbow?

Lucky Charms, obviously.

If you could be a cookie, what kind would you be?

Snicker Doodle.

What would be the name of your band, if you had one?

The Dutch Ovens.

How did you deal with your most embarassing moment?

Got on my knees and cried.

The Harbinger researches questions from students and faculty

Are you afraid of spiders?

Only tarantulas.

“What backs US currency?”

Asked by: Clem Rogers, US History teacher No real facts could be obtained about what exactly backs US currency, but numerous sources said that simply the confidence, or lack thereof, backs the money of the US.

drink

UP

Staff member Kathleen Bole reviews her favorite water fountain

“Can you use heat to create

Asked by: William Opsahl, energy?” freshman You cannot create energy-you can transform it. Yes, you may take heat and put it through something like a turbine in order to use it, but you cannot just take something, heat, and simply have it work as energy, powering objects.

Have a question that needs a researched answer? Bring it in to 521, along with your name, grade, and contact info.

After testing every water fountain in the school, I believe I have found the ultimate best. Not only does it provide clean, crisp, delectable H20, it has by far a prime location in the school. This fountain provides an intimate seclusion for those who enjoy their privacy at the drinking fountain. Although it may be far away from many classes, it is perfect for a little break during art classes. While taking a drink one can gaze at a beautiful mural on the adjacent wall.

topgrade yesterday today what’s cool

what’s hot

Lean forward, lean back, turn the corner..... No, these are not the lyrics of the latest rap song: they are the movements that allow you to drive a Segway Human Transporter. A new innovation, these splendid modes of transportation are the newest in robotic technology and allow you to merely move a little in the direction you wish to go, and BAM! you’re there. Plus, they run on batteries that may be recharged in an outlet. Yay for the environment! So go out, you environmentally conscience people who like to stand up as they cruise down the street at 8-10 mph. It will be fun!

“Hey, I’m going to go run some errands now-on my Vespa!” Ah, how proud you all were of your minimotorcycles commonly seen in Italy. Oooolala!

They came in such pretty colors, like pastel blue and tickle-me pink, or my personal favorite, lighter than light, almost translucent Andes Mint green. They have been replaced though, in our hearts and in our driveways, by more functional and safe vehicles. I hope you all have kept your Vespa helmets, just to glance at occasionally, remembering the good times.

Jan. 24, 2005

lookout

Feet. God, Allah, etc, gave them to us for a reason. Yes, they help us enter buses and push the gas pedal, but this act commonly known as walking is quite nifty too. Walking as a mode of transportation allows one to get out in the open air and smell the flowers all while receiving a cardio workout. YES! And if the thought of walking makes you gag, just remember that every vehicle you step into pollutes the environment even more. Please guys, stop and think about where you’re going and if you can walk there. For all of us and for the place that we call the world.

14

a&e

the harbinger

concerts

2005 Entertainment

Interpol - Feb. 18 Liberty Hall Modest Mouse Feb. 22 Uptown Theater

Preview

The movies, concerts and CDs to look for this semester

movies

Star Wars Episode III - May 19 Starring Hayden Christenson, Ewan McGregor Directed by George Lucas (Star Wars) The Ring Two - March 18 Starring Naomi Watts, Simon Baker Directed by Hideo Nakata (Ringu)

Constatine - Feb. 18 Starring Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz Directed by Francis Lawrence

t n e l ’ o t i V ssaul ‘A

Being shot in the head has never been so boring.

Assault on Precinct 13 is the latest standard action flick with more bullets than minutes. You might not find

Ian McFarland

Flogging Molly March 11 Beaumont Club

Motley Crue - March 15 Kemper Arena Sarah Mclachlan April 30 Kemper Arena

cds

Sin City - April 1 Starring Bruce Willis, Clive Owen Directed by Robert Rodriguez (Once Upon a Time in Mexico)

Motley Crue Red White & Crue Feb. 1 3 Doors Down Seventeen Days - Feb. 8 Brian McKnight Gemini - Feb. 8

Kingdom of Heaven- May 6 Starring Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson Directed by Ripley Scott (Gladiator) Robots - March 11 Starring Ewan McGregor, Robin Williams Directed by Chris Wedge (Ice Age)

Film features high death toll, little else

George Strait March 4 Kemper Arena

They Might Be Giants Here Come the ABCs - Feb. 15 Tori Amos The Beekeeper - Feb. 22 Jennifer Lopez Rebirth - March 1

any strong characters, but you will find a strong force of artillery.

Ethan Hawke stars as Jake Roenick, the Detroit cop who’s lost his love for the job six months after losing two partners in a drug bust. But on New Year’s Eve, all Roenick has to do is be stationed at police department precinct 13 for its last night before it’s demolished.

But there’s some bad news: Precinct 13 prisoner Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne) has got the dirt on many top ranking Police officials- ILLEGAL dirt. So in an attempt to protect themselves, these officers launch a siege on the almost completely empty building to kill Bishop.

And the violence ensues.

From this point on, a sort of treaty forms between the prisoners and the resident police officers to fend off the baddies. Aside from that, there’s a conspiracy theorist junkie played by John Leguizamo and Ja Rule as a thug

who refers to himself in the third person as “Smiley,” both of which are played for comic relief.

It’s not so much the constant barrage of violence that bothers me, it’s more the fact that we have to see many guys get shot in the head, and I do mean see. See as in after the guy is shot, the camera lingers on that fatal spot in between the eyebrows for five seconds. And this happens all of the time.

There’s also the fact that well over 75% of all main characters die by the end of the movie.

It’s irritating to get to know a character, like them somewhat, and them see them die for no necessary reason.

For what it is, Assault isn’t a total failure: the characters aren’t too bad, the sets are nice and the film can keep your attention even though it seems to be an elongated gun fight. I just wish the movie could appeal to people who aren’t entertained by a movie with chronic gun action.

Assault on Precinct 13

“ ” Being shot in the head has never been so boring.

Jan. 24, 2005

a&e

issue 9

Just plain awful.

15

‘Elektra’ boasts some of the worst story lines and characters this side of the century Ian McFarland I don’t like to use the label “Worst movie of the year” before we even get out for President’s Day, so I’ll put it this way: Elektra is the worst movie to come out this year or last.

Jennifer Garner stars in the least requested spin-off that I can think of. Her title character first appeared in the generally disliked Daredevil. In Elektra, the assassin for hire comes back from the grave via some mystical crap that no one cares about and finds herself feeling emotionally dead.

The real question is how can you carry a movie when the main character has no reaction to anything?

Apparently, director Rob Bowman didn’t spend time on thinking about this and just moved on to the story that I’m guessing was written by 100 monkeys locked up in a room with typewriters.

In the plot, so-called 13 yearold “prodigy” Abby has the foretold legacy of balancing out the forces of good and evil. But even though she is supposed to bring peace to both sides of the perspective, bad guys “The Hand,” an ancient organization of evil that resides in a stainless steal conference room, just can’t deal with happiness, and plot to kidnap her.

It’s not a mainstream action flick without a love interest, so around the middle of the movie you’ll find Elektra kissing Abby’s father. Why she’s doing this we’re not sure because there was absolutely zero chemistry, flirting or anything else that would lead you to believe that Elektra was interested in her fellow shallow character. If something like this happened in real life, you’d find the dude slapped with a red handprint on the

face, but it’s a brainless movie, so instead it’s a romantic scene.

Now to be fair, there is one cool aspect of this movie. One of the members of “The Mark” has a body littered with tattoos of various beasts. When he feels like it, these animals crawl out of his skin and try to give others some nasty boo boos.

To be honest, it’s not even anything worth a hoot, but it’s the best thing you’ll encounter in the film (unless, of course, you’re counting the previews that come before it.)

The movie is an insult to anyone who had a hand in it. Hell, I don’t even know if I would hire the caterers they used while making the movie. But no one gives as big of a let down as Jennifer Garner, who continues to play a complicated and diverse character in the TV show Alias every week. Elektra, on the other hand, is about as complicated as one of those word searches you find on your little brother’s place mat from the Olive Garden.

So while the main character may steal people’s lives for a living, the only thing this movie will steal from you is the price of admission.

Elektra

“ ” The worst movie to come out this year or last

‘Elektra’ soundtrack delivers goods

Joey Soptic

You wouldn’t expect for the soundtrack of a movie based purely on sex appeal to be any good, right?

While cruising down the street however, I noticed that it seemed to be the opposite of what I had originally thought. Most of the songs being fast paced rock tunes, or slower blends of guitar and piano licks. The few good songs however are what saved the CD. One of the most memorable of the songs is by Jet called “Hey Kids.” It’s in the same retro-rock style as most of Jet’s songs, but as always, the song is still up to par with their other hits. Hopefully it won’t be too overplayed on the radio and commercials like “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” or “Cold Hard Bitch.” With well made driven guitar

riffs and a minute long interlude towards the end, this is one song that many people will be repeating several times in a row.

Later in the album, Switchfoot makes an appearance with “Sooner or Later.” This is a good instrumental song, even with how simple it is to begin with. A steady guitar part mixed with an occasional violin/ cello part tossed into the mix, gives a relaxing style to it, and build up the song until the guitars kick on their distortion and the song goes into full swing.

Obviously the band Dreaming was not talking about their song when they named their contribution to the CD with “Beautiful.” With an intro riff that sounds like a song straight off of a Hoobastank album, they contribute to the Elektra album with this annoyance to the mind. Usually bands can get away with the slightly accented singing, but to me, Dreaming didn’t quite pull it off. The singer’s almost out of breath singing didn’t land quite as good of a song as if it had just been sung normally. The singer also

Hey, like Jennifer Garner (left), you’d look angry if you just starred in the worst movie in recent memory

repeats the line “you’re beautiful” far too many times.

Also on the CD are tracks by Evanescence, Taking Back Sunday, 12 Stones, and Finger 11. Some are good listens, while others are not. The different mixing of songs on this CD was a change from many soundtracks. A few of the songs are kind of weak and were made by little known bands, but still was a decent combination. Regardless, you may be better off with this than seeing the movie. With a broad range of recording artists to choose from and a very guitar and/or pianodominated sound to the CD, the soundtrack is definitely worth checking out, even if the movie is not.

Elektra the Album

tracks

1) Never There (She Stabs) by Strata, 1) Hey Kids by Jet, 3) Everyone is Wrong by The Donnas, 4) Sooner or Later by Switchfoot, 5) Thousand Mile Wish by Finger Eleven, 6) Wonder by Megan McCauley, 7) Your Own Disaster by Taking Back Sunday, 8) Breathe No More by Evanescence, 9) Photograph by 12 Stones, 10) Save Me by Alter Bridge, 11) Hollow by Submersed, 13) Angels with Even Filthier Souls by Hawthorne Hights, 14) 5 Years by The Twenty Twos, 15) In The Light by Full Blown Rose

Jan. 24, 2005

16 a&e

aa e o k

the harbinger

High school bands face hardships in their quest for stardom and fans

Tom Grotewohl

photo by Tom Grotewohl

photo by Sarah Theurer

Inspiration can come from the dullest of places. High in a couple hundred dollars and go to a school band The Case (Taylor Hinson, Johnny McGuire, professional recording studio, but at the Joey Soptic) somehow managed to write an entire song moment that’s just not possible,” McGuire sitting in a waiting room before a doctor’s appointment. said. Instead, The Case finds it is easier to “If you’ve ever been in a waiting room, you know the simply skip the paying process altogether. boredom is excruciating,” sophomore Johnny McGuire, the “Right now we’re just using a program Case’s vocalist and acoustic guitarist, said. “I couldn’t take it called CakeWalk that we downloaded off any more, so I just started writing. Ideas were popping in my of Kazaa and then recording our music head, just out of nowhere. Eventually I had an entire song.” onto a home computer,” McGuire said.

Stories like McGuire’s become more and more common Even if a band is lucky enough to record as high school garage bands become plentiful, but very their music, whether on a downloaded computer few last more than a few years. “There are so many program or in a professional studio, getting their difficulties that garage bands must face,” senior Andy songs heard can prove to be even more difficult.

Launder said. “Practically none last past high school.”

“The only way to get the word out is by Launder’s new band (Jack Bresky, Andy Launder, Matt starting small and eventually giving out burnt Mahoney, Stephen Powell) can sometimes attract twenty CDs to friends,” Mahoney said. “It may take a people to their Friday practices alone. “So the talent is long time, but you’ve got to start somewhere.” definitely out there,” Launder said. “I have no shame in Other easy methods of making music admitting I think we’re talented, but the restraints we have public includes free music websites. “Right right now make it hard to get anywhere without a higher now you can listen to a few of our songs at level of dedication, money, and a way to get our music out.” www.purevolume.com/thecase,” McGuire In addition to the difficulties Launder mentioned, said. Websites like PureVolume allow bands technological obstacles like recording often impair a to quickly and easily make their music band’s chances at fame. Senior Matt M a h o n e y, available to their friends and other web surfers. whose last band Mike W. won first place in Even with the luxury of the internet, The Case East’s Battle of the Bands, finds that recording still plans to take Mahoney’s advice and start their music is an essential step handing out burnt CDs to friends and family in in developing as a group. early February. “Eventually we want to try to put “Unfortunately, most together a portfolio of our music and send it out bands -- ourselves included to small record labels and recording studios, so SENIOR Spencer McElhaney plays his bass during practice with his -- can only record on a we can actually develop a fanbase,” McGuire said. band, Boy Scouts of the Apocalypse. cheap computer program in Even if a band manages to get as far as their drummer’s basement,” the portfolio stage, more obstacles still await bands like Pham’s is college. “Once college comes, that’s Mahoney said. “We’d like to them. Senior Nam Pham, lead guitarist and vocalist for pretty much the end of it,” he said. “If all your members get better equipment, but it’s the Boy Scouts of the Apocalypse (Spencer McElhaney, don’t go to the same college, you’ll just dissolve.” not happening any time soon.”

Nam Pham, Michael Pope, Ben Smith), finds it extremely Countless groups like the Boy Scouts of the Apocalypse Like Mahoney, most high difficult for his band to stay together past high school. will find themselves unable to weather the storm of difficulties schoolers find getting money to be a “We started out with real ambition, but now it’s turned before them, and, as Pham put it, do nothing more than real hindrance. Some bands never into more of a project just to pass the time,” Pham dissolve. Fortunately, this bleak outlook does not keep the even make it to the recording stage said. As the years go by, bands resign themselves music from coming. For every song that remains unwritten, a because they can’t afford studio more and more to the fact that they may not succeed. new one is born everyday in doctor’s offices across America. time or computer software. LEAD vocalist for The Case, Johnny McGuire, also plays the guitar.

Another major “We’d like to all pitch difficulty for senior

It can happen!

The Beatles

(John Lennon and Paul McCartney only)

Although their success rate is not high, teenage bands sometimes make it big. Check out these bands that started in high school or college and had successful careers.

No Doubt

Good Charlotte

The Ataris

Jan. 24, 2005

Phish Creedence Clearwater Revival

issue 9

sports

A

17 photo courtesy of the Rockhurst Prep News

Rivalry revived

photo by Samantha Ludington

One of the biggest rivalries will continue Friday against Rockhurst

ROCKHURST senior Tom Farmar driving the lane in a recent game. Farmar leads the 12-2 Hawklets into Friday’s game.

JUNIOR J.D. Christie drives the lane in a victory over SM North. Christie finished with 22 points.

Ellie Weed

Christie dunked it with little time remaining to ensure an East win.

Even in the spacious East gym, there’s virtually nowhere to get a seat. In the Rockhurst gym it’s even harder because of the smaller size. While the East gym seats a spacious 1,700 people, the Rockhurst gym has a maximum occupancy of a tight 1,500.

“Get there early,” senior Adam Miller said. “Or else it will be impossible to get a seat.”

It’ll be so tight and crowded that there’s not even room for all of the cheerleaders. Only the seniors will be cheering, while the sophomore and junior cheerleaders will be at a girls game in Topeka.

But even though this is a big game, preparation is always the same. Hair has been watching game film to study their strong points and has also been to 3 Rockhurst games this year.

“We prepare the same for every game,” Hair said. “But whenever we play Rockhurst, it always comes down to a couple of points or some big play.”

While both teams are consistently strong, each has their own powerful advantages.

“Rockhurst has more height,” senior guard East- Rockhurst Game Jeff Winters said. “We’ll really have to step up When/Where- 7:00 p.m. at Rockhurst. Located at 9301 Stateline Road. on our outside shooting. It’ll probably be a About Rockhurst- The Hawklets have won 8 of their last 9 games... They are currently ranked lot of fast break points.”

Even with Rockhurst’s strengths, East number 10 in the Missouri 5A poll.... Their best player from a year ago , D.J. Hoard, quit to work on his collegiate football career at Notre Dame... Five years ago, Rockhurst contacted Hair to coach, he may have an advantage due to one of their declined though...Rockhurst has won two of the past three years in this rivalry... Rockhurst is a Jesuit key players quitting. DJ Hord, a senior and a school, and the only all males school in Kansas City. strong player from past years, quit this year About East- Junior J.D. Christie leads the team in points with 23 a game... Coach Hair attended to focus on football after signing with Notre Rockhurst, and won a state championship in football... The Lancers are ranked fifth in the Kansas 6A polls, the highest Shawnee Mission school ranked... The team competed in a tournament last weekend Dame. in McPherson, Kansas and was a six seed... So far this season, East is 0-2 Hair also considers the fans a huge versus Missouri schools. benefactor for the outcome of the game.

Bottom Line- By this time, the Lancers will have seemingly “We have such tremendous basketball hit their stride and are ready to start their run for state. A small gym supportersit’s been that way for all nine combined with a raucous crowd will create an intense environment for years that I’ve been coaching here. This the game. East must prove that they can beat a legitimate opponent on the road, and this is their chance. Expect big games from juniors J.D. game isn’t any different.”

Christie and Garrett Webb.

-Peter Goehausen After some complaints about unnecessary Every seat filled, every fan in attendance, every person screaming- no matter what gym, the East/Rockhurst basketball game is always one of the most exciting games of the year. It’s one of the biggest rivalries even though they’re not in the Sunflower league.

The game this Friday at Rockhurst won’t be any different.

“It’s a great game, but it’s not like it’s for the league title or anything,” varsity basketball coach Shawn Hair said. “But it has the same atmosphere as a game that big.”

Nine years ago, when Hair first started coaching at East, he noticed that the previous coach had taken Rockhurst off the schedule. Having played basketball and graduated from Rockhurst, Hair wanted to play their team. He also knew how good of a game it would be because of the strong rivalry.

“When I put Rockhurst back on our schedule, people were always telling me how good they were,” Hair said. “But I want our players to have good competition. People like the close games, it’s more exciting that way.”

Regardless of the crazy fans, there are always crazy things that happen at the game. In 2003, a referee went down and was taken to the hospital. Last year, at East, JD

Jan. 24, 2005

chants in previous games this year, some seniors have been confronted about the content of the cheers for the Rockhurst game. They were warned about the repercussions of yelling anything explicit.

“We’re kind of hoping that the administration will be a little bit more lenient with the content of the cheers for the Rockhurst game,” senior Jordan Steadman said. “Everyone always says how Rockhurst has all these good cheers, but, I mean, we would have good ones too, it’s just that we aren’t allowed to use them or know that we’ll get in trouble for them.”

But that doesn’t stop some of their plans for the game.

“We have some things planned…” Steadman said. “Some of it is a surprise, but I mean, there’s going to be a lot with the rainbow.”

Miller agreed. “We’re planning on bringing the whole arsenal for this game.”

Along with many other rituals, the Rockhurst students also have themes for their biggest games, such as the East and Aquinas games. Last year, it was the pink shirts, but for other games, it’s different themes, such as Braveheart and hillbillies. But for last year’s game, the intention for the pink shirts was to show their attitude about the homosexuality stereotype.

“We just kind-of played along with it,” Rockhurst JV player Mark Campbell said. “People always start chants about it and everything, but this way it showed it wasn’t getting to us.”

Because of the East win last year, Rockhurst is looking for revenge. Since the game is in their gym this year, it may affect the outcome.

“There’s always that whole home court advantage to take into account,” Campbell said. “This year it’s revenge because of last year’s loss.”

Even though it doesn’t count for our league or any title, it’s still a big game for the varsity team to win.

“It’s a big bragging rights game,” Coach Hair said. “It’s a good one to win.”

18

sports

the harbinger

Fresh face at the point Freshman Taylon Johnson waited in line. And waited.

And waited. Basketball tryouts were over, and every girl who had made it through the cuts was waiting to talk to Coach Rick Rhoades about a position on a team.

Freshmen were last.

“Tryouts had been a really nerve-wracking situation for me,” Johnson said. “I didn’t know many people the first day, because it was almost all juniors and seniors, but the most anxious moment was waiting to see what team I would be on. I was so excited when I found out I had made varsity. I wanted to meet all the girls on the team, and I couldn’t wait for the first practice.”

For Johnson, the experience of playing at a higher level of basketball is not a new one. During the off-season, she plays on a basketball team with girls who are sometimes two to three years older than she is. Through her past experiences in basketball, she has been able to make her time on varsity successful.

Summer traveling The East team is playing Shawnee Mission West, and the game is starting to heat up.

Johnson, who plays point guard, snatches the ball away from a towering West forward and dribbles down the court.

She shoots a lay-up from under a forest of arms to a thunder of cheering.

Johnson’s basketball experience started early; she began playing in the second grade with the Briarwood Bombers.

Since then, she has progressed to the Kansas Dream Team, a team sponsored by the Amateur Athletic Union, where she has played for three years.

Players try out for the AAU teams once. After their first tryout and possible season, spots are awarded to returning members by invitation only.

According to the AAU, all teams they sponsor compete at the national level, some compete at the Junior Olympics and teams frequently travel across the country for tournaments.

“We traveled all over this summer!” Johnson said. “We went to Las Vegas, Portland, North Carolina, Minnesota, Chicago––it was great.”

Taking charge Third quarter time out. Johnson, who has played the

SP

entire game, comes onto the sidelines with sweat-streaked hair, panting. The other girls slap her hands and scoot over to give her room on the bench beside them.

Being the only freshman on varsity is not as difficult an adjustment as it might seem. Johnson met –seniors Kristen Fisher and Allison Owens on the Kansas Dream Team. Fisher made her transition onto the varsity team easier.

“Kristen is like a big sister to me,” Johnson said. “We traveled together in the AAU, and she’s made it so much easier for me FRESHMAN Taylon Johnson drives past freshman Emmy Hartman during a recent practice to come into a new playing experience that helped her become a pick for college situation [on the team].”

Head coach Rick Rhoades says that there hasn’t been any recruiting sessions on the Dream Team. In December, she received a letter from a recruiting organization called USA resentment towards Johnson because of her age.

“While she isn’t scoring much, she has earned the respect Hoop Dreams. The letter made her eligible to go to an NCAAof her teammates. She has really proved herself,” Rhoades sanctioned recruiting exhibition, where college scouts from all over the country watch prospective players who will said.

Johnson has scored 24 points so far this season, with 12 graduate in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

While Rhoades has not yet been sent any letters about assists and 28 quarters played. For the past three games, she Johnson, he said that scouts have approached him, saying has played the entire game without ever being substituted.

Rhoades first heard of Johnson while she was playing for she was a “hard-working player.”

The real reward the AAU. The game is over, and the crowd files out, the fight song “I first heard about [Johnson] during her seventh grade playing in the background. Another win for East. The team year,” Rhoades remembered. “I knew about her through her packs up their bags and heads out. coach, who is a friend of mine. Since I had seen her play, “Playing with these girls has just really been a privilege,” she was asked to go through a different tryout from most Johnson said. “I’ve learned a lot about teamwork and how to freshmen.”

Besides meeting Rhoades, Johnson received some of the come together to form a group. Our chemistry is great.” photo by Celene Reynolds

Laura Nelson

Freshman point guard Taylon Johnson makes a big impact

SPORTS PANEL Our Experts Steer You Straight

Boys Bball @ Rock Girls Bball Boys Swimming Wrestling

Big XII Basketball NCAA Champions Super Bowl

Courtney Condron Peter Goehausen Curtis Shank Ben Whitsitt SM East SMNW

SM East Olathe East

Rockhurst SMNW

SM East SM East

SM East

SM East

SM East

Free State

Olathe East

Olathe East

SM East

SM West

Oklahoma St.

Kansas

UNC New England

Kansas New England Jan. 24, 2005

Oklahoma St.

Kansas

Wake Forest Philadelphia

UNC Pittsburgh

Senior’s time to SHINE The sixth man has stepped up his game

issue 9

19

sports

It was December 3, the day of the first Lancer boys basketball game. Senior Jeff Winters was asked by a fan if he was excited for the big game. “ Yeah, it will be a great game,” Winters said, “ and I will have a front row seat.”

“Winters! Winters!” the exuberant East crowd shouted, at a game against SM North a month into the season, after senior Jeff Winters swished a three-point field goal increasing the Lancer lead to 12.

Things have begun to change for the bench warmer turned starter. Coming into this season, Winters was expecting to be one of the scrubs who raked in the final minutes of the game.

So far this season, Winters has shot 42 percent from behind the arc while averaging six points per game.

“Coming into this year I just thought the playing time would be tough to come by,” Winters said.

In the opening victory at South, Winters played only when the starters were in foul trouble and tired.

“The week of practice between the South and Olathe East games was huge for Jeff,” Coach Shawn Hair said. “He bought into his role.”

Winters big break came two weeks into the season in the team’s first home game against Olathe East. Coach Hair decided to use Winters as the shutdown defender

against their star player David Birch.

“Jeff is a great defender,” Coach Hair said, “ and we have started to use him to shut down the star player for the opposing team.”

While guarding Birch, Winters showed his touch on the offensive side of the ball and knocked down two three’s.

“After that game,” Winters said, “I finally proved to myself I could play on the varsity level.”

In the following weeks Winters did just that, proving himself a legitimate varsity player. In the two holiday tournaments the team played in, Jeff continued to shown his range on both sides of the ball.

He led the team to an opening round win at the William Jewell tournament with 13 points and four three’s against Maryville. Then in the championship game against Raytown South, Winters was the one player keeping the game from being a complete blowout, with three timely three-pointers and 11 points.

For a team who has made a new goal to not shoot as many three’s as they do, Winters is turning into the lone threat from behind the arc. “ Winters is playing great this year,” Hair said, “ he is turning into our main three-point shooter.”

photo by Emily Rappold

Peter Goehausen

SENIOR Jeff Winters stops for a shot in the game against SM North. Winters has earned a starting position this mid-season.

ports ticker•sports ticker•sports ticker•sports ticker•sports ticker•sports ticker•sports ticker•sports ticker•sports ticke Boy’s Swimming@ East, Thursday, 4:00 p.m.

Player of the Week JD Christie

East will go up against SM Northwest in this meet. They Forward hope to remain flawless on the season with a victory at Varsity Basketball home. The relay team of sophomore Luke Tanner, and juJunior forward JD niors John Cook, Kevin Reene and Brandon Barnds will have Christie has shown time to compete at a championship performance level in order and time again that he to win this meet. has what it takes to win games. Christie posted 31 points in the game against SM West.

He is also averaging Total assists by junior Scott McElvain 20.8 points a game which this season for boys varsity basketis the fourth highest in ball. state. With three years of experience on the varsity The percent that senior Sarah Parker squad, Christie has proven himself a leader on the is shooting at the free throw line. court.

By the Numbers

32 82

Basketball Girl’s Varsity: The two standouts for the team, seniors Jennifer Franklin and Sarah Parker, have helped the team to a 5-3 record. Their three losses have come from three teams all ranked in the top ten of the state.

Junior Varsity: The team is on a two game losing streak, but still has a winning record of 5-2 after losing to SM South and SM West.

Boy’s Varsity: East is at the top of the Sunflower League rankings with a record of 4-1. They are tied for the number one spot along with Lawrence Free State. The next game is this Friday at Rockhurst at 7 p.m.

Other Top Performers

photo by Emily Rappold

Game of the Week

Christie looks for a possible shot during a game against SM North.

Jennifer Franklin Senior, center, varsity girl’s basketball Averaging 20 points a game and leading the city in points per game average.

Michael Horvath Junior, diver, varsity Qualified for state in only his first year of diving in his life.

Injury Report

Andrew Faerber Sophomore, junior-varsity wrestling Groin injury Thomas McManus Sophomore, varsity wrestling Dislocated shoulder

Wrestling

Swimming & Diving

Varsity: Senior Ryan Sonderegger will look to strengthen his record after only having one loss this season at the Bobcat Classic hosted by Basehor-Linwood high school where he placed third. No other Lancer wrestler placed at the tournament resulting in placing 23 out of 27. Also, Sonderegger is going for his second consecutive state championship. The next meet varsity has is the Kewpie Invitational in Columbia, Missouri. The Sunflower league tournament is Feb. 12.

Boy’s Swimming: The boys swim team is undefeated

Junior Varsity: The strong team of 20 boys has a meet Saturday at Gardner.

Junior Varsity: Record is 5-3. Next game is this Friday at Rockhurst, 5:30 p.m..

Jan. 24, 2005

coming off a win at the Raytown South Invitational.

Record breakers this year are sophomore Luke Tanner who broke the 100-yard freestyle record set in 1981, and the other broken record was the 200-yard free relay consisting of Tanner, juniors John Cook, Kevin Reene and Brandon Barnds. Next meet is Thursday at 4 p.m. at East.

League is Feb. 4 at Free State.

Boy’s Diving: Three and possibly four divers have qualified for state. The qualifiers are junior Michael Horvath, sophomore Andrew Block, freshman Chris Haus, and the hopeful candidate for state is senior Scott Borgmier.

Next meet is Thursday, 4 p.m. at East.

20 photo essay

WPA?

the harbinger

Girls get creative as they ask guys to the annual WPA dance

SENIOR Allison Owens delivers three large pizzas to junior J.D. Christie’s U.S. History classroom. Each pizza had a letter made out of pepperonis spelling out WPA. After the surprise, J.D. shared his pizzas with the class.

SOPHOMORE Emily Watkins asked her date to WPA by putting signs in his room.

He later came home to the surprise of bright letters spelling out WPA and another sign asking him to the dance.

FAR RIGHT: Junior Paige Peeke and sophomore Alex Jones hug after she asks him to WPA. After tagging his car and covering it with signs, Paige filled it with balloons that had WPA written all over them.

photos by Linda Howard

Jan. 24, 2005