Issue 9

harbinger SHAWNEE MISSION EAST

“

ISSUE 9, JAN. 26, 2004

What’s Inside

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East alum works on Mars rovers “Big Fish” review Teens and the law

I really just wanted to die. I was in the bush, I couldn’t find home. But something in my brain said ‘keep going.’

So I kept going.

”

Hawa’s

journey From Sierra Leone to SM East, freshman overcomes hardship and handicap

D

story by Ross Boomer

ipping her hands into the water, Hawa Whalen could hear gunshots roar

across

the

Sierra

Leone

landscape.

The rebels had entered her village of Mamoa, quickly approaching the pond where she was fishing with some friends of her mother.

She tried to run, but to no avail. Hawa was captured, alone, without her family, at the age of twelve.

The rebels took her and ten other people to another village to spend the night. All she could think of was her fate.

But she didn’t cry.

Those who cried would be killed.

After a sleepless night in a crowded hut, the captured were lined up outside. The rebels gathered long sticks and machetes. One by one the prisoners placed their wrists beneath a wooden rod, conveniently allowing the blade’s swift motion to sever their hands.

Hawa could only watch the line get shorter and shorter; her fate, closer and closer.

“I was thinking [about running away,]” Hawa said, “They are going to take my hands off. How am I supposed to do my hair or dress myself? But you can’t run away.”

Finally, the moment came when only a girl was between Hawa and the blade. She had a weakness for blood and died on the spot. It was Hawa’s turn to step up.

Hawa felt nothing after the blood-splattered knife had done its job. It wasn’t until she saw the remains of her hands in a pool of red that she felt any pain. All she could do was cry. And walk.

Hawa was left in the African bush for nine days, alone, wandering to find her village and family. Miraculously she survived. Placing chewed cocoa leaves on the stubs of her hand, a remedy her mother had taught her, she stopped the bleeding and roamed the foreboding landscape.

Hawa also managed to find food. Using the

•

photos by Jessie Fetterling

stubs of her arms as well as her jaw she was able to eat wild bananas and drink pond water.

“I was scared but not that much,” Hawa said. “There were snakes and animals. But they couldn’t do anything [compared to the rebels].

I really just wanted to die. I was in the bush…I couldn’t find home. But something in my brain said ‘keep going.’ So I kept going.”

On the ninth day Hawa’s uncle found her asleep near the village. Her family had gone into hiding, their hope for finding Hawa having faded, while the uncle had stayed looking for food. Of Hawa’s entire family, including her mother and father and five siblings as well as aunts and uncles and cousins, she was the only one caught by the rebels.

Following her discovery, Hawa was taken to UN soldiers stationed in nearby Masiaka who sent her to a hospital in Freetown. There she had her first surgery, a stitching up of what was left of her hands: a left stump and right thumb with a pointer finger stub.

Four months passed in the small, crowded hospital before Hawa was reunited with her family.

“I was dead to them.” Hawa said, “And here I am.”

continued on page 12

news 2

THE HARBINGER

Weights class lifts whiffleball from schedule Andy Logan As students walked downstairs towards the weight room it was obvious that they might never play whiffleball again during weight training. The administration forced the change because it was evident whiffleball didn’t fit within the class curriculum.

Students were angry, apprehensive and confused, but to them, these changes are beginning to feel like the right thing.

Coach John Reed has been teaching weight training in the Shawnee Mission School District for twenty-three years. For twenty he had been teaching the same curriculum. He is also the linebackers’ coach for the football team. He feels that much of what is done in the weight room doesn’t just benefit football players, but that it can help anyone.

Reed has created a new plan that should be more strenuous and beneficial for students concerned with their strength. It consists of four days of lifting, rather than three. Mondays and Thursdays are lower body workout days, Tuesday and Friday are upper body days, and Wednesday is for agility work.

“The only difference between the two semesters is that there is no more whiffleball. While that may not be as fun, the new workouts will make many students much stronger,” Reed said.

While losing whiffleball did not seem like such a bad thing to Reed, to the students it was something to look forward to every week. “Tuesdays and Thursdays (whiffleball days) were days everyone would get excited for. That was when everyone could just relax and have fun,” sophomore Don Atkinson said.

Many students have become upset over losing whiffleball and are wondering why it had to be eliminated.

“Whiffleball was what drew most students to the class and I don’t understand why the administration would want to take it away,” Atkinson said.

The changes were not brought about solely because of the administration. Most

of the complaints about the class came from parents of students, many of whom felt that a weight training class should incorporate more physical training, not a game like whiffleball. These complaints were numerous, and this spurred the first investigations that the administration were forced to make as to whether it was necessary to play or not.

“Many parents came to us with complaints about the class because they felt that whiffleball was not a proper use of time in a weights class,” assistant principal Mike Wolgast said. “Once we had received enough complaints, we then had to look at the specifications for the class that were made by the district board of directors.”

The High School Program Guide for the SMSD stated the following as the curriculum for Weight Training: “The course is to further the individual development in weight training and conditioning. Techniques of weight lifting and increasing strength and endurance will be covered.”

“Whiffleball doesn’t fit into the curriculum. It would be as if a physics class had to sing every day,” Wolgast said.

For the first time in his teaching career Reed has been forced to change his teaching style. He already feels that he is becoming accustomed to the changes and that it will be a good thing in the end.

Although the change has only been in place for a short amount of time, students are getting used to the new lesson plan.

“I don’t mind the changes anymore. I’ll miss whiffleball, but I know that what we have started to do in class is not too bad,” junior Kelly McKee said.

The differences between the two classes are evident. The new course is designed to challenge the students more and it abides by the guidelines set by the district. Reed’s students have realized that the class is not as much of a playtime, like in past years, as it is a time for work.

On Monday and Thursday the classes concentrate on lower body work, this

news Results: Varsity: 5th Place-Ben Driks and Susan Ryan 1st Place Best Speaker Award-Brian Rubaie Novice: 5th Place-Matt Summers and Michael Owens 5th Place Best Speaker Award-(tie) Matt Summers and Michael Owens (out of 42 speakers)

Tuesday: Military press, bench press, inclined bench press Wednesday: Plyometrics including vertical jump, long jump, dot jumping, and bar jumping.

Thursday: Squat, powerclean, pushjerk Friday: Military press, bench press, inclined bench press Students also do pull-ups, situps, and lap poles when they have completed the first three lifts.

RAISING THE BAR: Senior Drew Severns does squats in the weight room photo by Patrick Menihan consists of three lifts, the squat, powerclean, and pushjerk. On Tuesdays and Fridays the classes work on their upper body strength.

The three main lifts they do these days are the military press, bench press and inclined bench press, which is just an improvised bench press where the lifter is forced to sit at an angle rather than flat on the bench.

Wednesday is the most foreign day of all to the students, and Reed. Plyometrics are simply exercises that stretch and contract the muscles in order to make them stronger.

The main exercises will involve jumping and foot speed. While the other two days are very similar to the things done in the past, a workout that involves plyometrics has never been done in Reed’s weight room.

“I know that every day I walk down to the weights room on Tuesday or Thursday

The boys’ and girls’ basketball teams will look to sweep the Cougars as both Varsity and JV teams take them on at SM Northwest on Friday, Feb. 6. Girls’ Varsity will play at 5:30 p.m. and the boys’ Varsity will play afterward. The girls are looking to defeat the Cougars after losing to them the first game of the season. The boys will look to improve their Sunflower League record to 2-3.

photo by Tierney Weed

Debate Results

Monday: Squat, powerclean, pushjerk

Double Header

BRIEFS

What: Tournament of Champions Bid When: Jan. 16-18, 2004 Where: Westside High School in Omaha, Nebraska

Weights Schedule

Before the game:

Get psyched for the games at the pep assembly at 2:15 p.m.

There will also be a tailgate at SM East prior to the game.

Additional double headers:

TAKE IT TO THE RACK: Senior Jack Keller dribbles down the court in the game against Olathe South.

Feb. 10 @ Leavenworth Feb. 17 @ Olathe North Feb. 20 vs. Lawrence

that I could be playing whiffleball, but instead we have to lift. It’s not going to change, so we should just get used to it,” McKee said.

Not only is Reed beginning to understand the changes, many of his students also are.

“I really think that it’s not so bad that we’ve lost whiffleball,” McKee said, “We now have to work a little more in the class, but I was horrible at whiffleball anyway. Instead I can just work on getting better.”

Reed has tried not to be very vocal about the changes. He hopes that many of his students will feel the same way about it in the end.

“Change, and adapting to it, is what education, both learning and teaching is all about. This is just one thing we’ll have to learn from and adapt to,” Reed said.

Upcoming Sweetheart Events Jan. 29 - Sweetheart Nominations will take place in the front hall. All seniors are encouraged to vote.

Jan. 28-30 - The Love Fund will be selling carnations for students to give to their friends or teachers. They cost one dollar and the money will support SHARE. Students will be able to pick up the carnations on Feb. 13.

Feb. 13 - Voting for the Sweetheart king and queen will take place on the north ramp.

The queen will be crowned at the basketball game at 7 p.m. against Olathe Northwest.

Feb. 14 - Valentine’s Day! The Sweetheart dance begins at 8:30 p.m. and the king will be crowned at the dance around 9 p.m. The theme for this year’s dance is Amore Mio.

3 news

THE HARBINGER

Far-out fairy tale

This year’s musical adds a sense of humor to the traditional fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea”

Pat Ryan

photo by Nicole Oswald HARD WORKIN’ MAN: Senior Ben Bliss prepares in costume for his part in Once Upon A Mattress. The show begins Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. in the auditorium.

A loud voice, a pair of tights and a seemingly endless reserve of energy.

Senior Ben Bliss puts each of these to good use as the lead, Prince Dauntless, in this year’s musical, Once upon a Mattress.

The musical is the re-invented version of the traditional fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea.” Bliss is the main character and the son of an evil queen, played by senior Ellen Kirk and her husband, a mute King, played by senior Chris Lynch. Kirk has forbidden anyone in the kingdom to get married until Dauntless finds a bride. The catch is that she must be a princess and must be able to pass a “sensitivity test” by being able to feel a pea at the bottom of a stack of mattresses.

Unlike the original story however, the play attempts to take a more satirical look at what might happen under these circumstances.

For instance, when Dauntless finally chooses a bride, Princess Winnifred, played by senior Katie Vaughters, is so anxious to meet him that she hastily swims across the castle’s moat instead of waiting for the drawbridge to finish lowering. The queen then starts to rant about how she will “not let her son marry any moat swimmer like this-- not while there’s still a breath left in her

body!”

The story is also ripe with sexual innuendos. For instance, King Sextimus has a musical number where he discusses sex with Dauntless, which is odd because the King is unable to speak and must resort to body language. Even the king’s name (Sextimus) is a sexual reference.

Most of the leads, including Bliss, have had small roles in SM East musicals and plays before this and are members of the Chamber and Choralier choirs.

“I feel like I have a lot to offer for this production because I have been building up my [acting and singing] skills for four years,” Bliss said.

Although Bliss considers it an honor to be a lead, he knows what kind of a commitment a theatrical production can be. He has had to put aside his hobby of creating home movies to spend his afternoons at school working on his lines.

“I have to coordinate all of my actions with an entire orchestra, which requires incredible concentration,” Bliss said.

Other cast members feel that Bliss fits the part and will do a great job with it.

“Ben’s character is like a cartoon, and his natural goofy expressions fit the role perfectly,” said senior Emily Plotkin, whose character, Lady Larken, is

Who’s Who in “Once Upon a Mattress” Ben Bliss - Prince Dauntless Katie Vaughters - Princess Winnifred Chris Lynch - King Sextimus Ellen Kirk - Queen Aggravain Kyle Kleibocker - Sir Harry Emily Plotkin - Lady Larken Charlie Thurston - Jester Reed Fagan - Minstrel Marcus Austenfeld - Wizard When: Feb. 5, 6, 7 at 7 p.m.

Where: Auditorium What: Based on “The Princess and the Pea” pregnant and unable to marry her love, Sir Harry (junior Kyle Kleibocker) until Dauntless gets married.

According to Bliss, the most frightening part of being a lead is having to perform the play cuts in front of the entire school.

“One time at play cuts, I had to wearing pink tights and a pink shirt while I played a guitar,” Bliss said. “After that, nothing seems quite as bad.”

The play will run on February 5th, 6th, and 7th at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium.

Have A Nice Day

news 4

Education on Wheels

THE HARBINGER

New portables help overcrowding problem, provide new environments Lindsey Melvin

They smell of new carpet and dry-erase board markers. They are complete with their own thermostats--even their own coat hooks. Call them trailers, call them modulars, call them portable classrooms, but no matter what they’re called, they are an answer to the classroom space problem at Shawnee Mission East.

As the population has increased, the staff has had to modify areas to create classrooms. Before the portables, classes were being held in the back of the library, a converted conference room and the Pride Room, located between the locker rooms and the pool. “[The Pride Room] was such a small classroom space, used for World Geography and Health—not optimal. It did not hold the typical 28 student size,” Associate Principal Susie Ostmeyer said. “Our goal was to recapture the modified spaces in order to put together a good learning environment.”

The Board of Education and the City of Prairie Village approved the portables this past July. The administration worked with the city, the mayor, professionals, Office of Maintenance personnel and contractors to determine where the portables would fit. They chose the current location because it made sense visually, with the drainage, and they are easily accessible.

In the fall, the portables began being put in. The anticipated move-in time was some time during first or second semester. They were finished right before Winter Break. It was a clean transition moving in for the start of second semester.

“It’s gone really smoothly. We’ve had a great start. From what I’ve heard from the students and staff, they love the

classrooms. They are a good classroom size,” Ostmeyer said.

Math teacher Michael Layman used to not only share a OUTSIDE EDUCATION: Students take classes such as English and US classroom, but also move to History in this trailer, located in the courtyard near the senior lot. three different classrooms out here,” Layman said. throughout the day. Now, he teaches all five of his classes in Sam Slosburg, an 8th grader who is in Layman’s Honors the portable. He likes it because it’s his own.

Geometry class, wasn’t too thrilled when he heard his class “It’s quiet and cozy. I can turn the radio on and relax,” was moving to a portable. He was mostly worried about Layman said. walking in the cold weather. But now, his opinion has He made the classroom switch one day during Winter changed.

Break. It only took about three hours to move all his stuff.

“There’s a lot of room in there. And a lot of heat. The He feels a little bit isolated, and sometimes if the doors are walls are kind of bland and it smells like a new house, but locked to the inside of the school he might have to go all the it’s not bad at all. I don’t even notice the smell anymore,” way around just to make copies or get his mail. But that’s Slosburg said. just before or after school.

Hodgson has her 7th hour in a portable with English Ostmeyer said that during class there should always be teacher Kristin Anderson. access to the inside and the restrooms via the south ramp “At first I thought it was kind of weird that at SME people or the back of the auditorium. However, the third floor would be in trailers. We’re the richest school, and we get entrance is always locked. Since there is no plumbing in the trailers,” Hodgson said. portables, some students feel it’s a pain to go inside for the But now she doesn’t mind it at all. In fact, she thinks restroom. it’s really nice for her to be the first to her car after school.

“I have to regulate my water. Nobody even has really It’s not that different from her last classroom, except that gone to the bathroom yet,” senior Lauren Hodgson said. she can hear the next-door classroom pretty easily, and of Despite the locked doors and the frequent mud tracks course, the smell. on the carpet, Layman thinks his new classroom is pretty She thinks the best part about them is the jokes made nice. about them. And the administration doesn’t take those to “I can control the temperature, and it’s good for kids heart. to get out before they come in. They’ll be happy when the “Peoples’ intent is to have fun. We’re all grateful to have weather’s nice. Everyone thinks it will be bad, but when them. We enjoy being part of a community that can play,” they come in and see that it’s great, everyone will want to be Ostmeyer said.

5 news

THE HARBINGER

22 years after graduating from East, Nagin Cox is sending rovers on a

Mission to Mars

Libby Nelson

It’s night in California, and East alumnus Nagin Cox is looking at the stars. Although she can’t see it, she knows her spacecraft are up there somewhere, traveling to Mars on a mission.

Thinking about it, she smiles.

The trip to Mars for rovers Spirit and Opportunity has taken about six months. The trip for Cox, who controls them in flight, has taken far longer, bringing her from SM East to Cornell and eventually to NASA. Cox’s introduction to the space program came through the science fiction books she read with her friends when she was 14. It was the 1970s, when the space shuttle was a dream and the space program was just being developed, and Cox was fascinated. Her friends quickly moved on to Nancy Drew mysteries. She kept devouring Star Trek and Isaac Asimov.

“Then I realized there was no reason to read fiction,” Cox said. “There was a very real space program going on that our country had… I said to myself, ‘Why read about it when you can do the real thing?’”

Her goal never changed. She researched the space program and what education she’d need. She also took as many honors classes as she could, including Ray Runyan’s calculus and computer science classes.

“She was a very serious student,” Runyan said. “She was tenacious… she wouldn’t quit until she had something. She was quiet, but she knew what she wanted and went after it.

And at that time, she knew she wanted to go into the space program.”

Cox had learned from her research that many NASA employees had been in the military. So when she saw an Air Force recruiting trailer behind East, she stopped in to ask for information.

The recruiter asked her if she wanted to go to college.

She did, very much, she explained, but she didn’t have the money – especially not to attend MIT or Harvard, then her top choices. “Have a seat,” he said, and began telling her about scholarships that could enable her to go to college.

But her parents didn’t want her to pursue that course.

She didn’t always get her mail and messages.

So the counselors let her use the school office as her mailing address.

W h e n the Air Force

The Mars Rovers

. . .

Quick Facts

The rovers are meant to look for evidence that life could have existed on Mars.

The Rovers were launched in the summer of 2003. The first one, Spirit, landed on Jan. 3.

The rovers are five feet long, weight 400 pounds, and cost $800 million.

finally called, they called the school. Cox was pulled out of class to take the call. She’d earned a full-ride scholarship as an officer.

“It was the dime my life turned on,” Cox said. “Everything depended on that scholarship.”

She became one of the first East students to attend Cornell, graduating in 1986.

Cox had known from the start that she wanted to work with robots, not astronauts. When she became interested in the 1970s, astronauts weren’t leaving Earth’s orbit; when she graduated, no one had traveled beyond the moon.

“If you really wanted to go out and explore,” Cox said, “the first way to do it [was] through the eyes of a robotic probe.”

She became interested in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which sends probes into, and out of, the solar system. When she graduated, she was determined to get there.

After six years in the Air Force, two more than her scholarship had required, she left to join the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1993. Her first project was the Galileo mission, a probe to Jupiter that found an ocean on one of its moons.

She finished the Galileo mission as the deputy team chief, leading a group of people who flew the probe. In 2000, she was asked to do the same job on a mission to Mars.

Mars, Cox said, is “unforgiving.” Two-thirds of the missions sent there fail, including two in 1999 and a British failure in December 2003. Sending one probe carries an enormous risk of failure. JPL planned to send two.

The goal of the two rovers, called Spirit and Opportunity, was to move around and analyze Martian soil to see whether it could have ever supported life. They also send back pictures of Mars for study. Cox controlled the rovers in flight; once they landed on Mars, she controlled their ground movements. “[The rover’s job] is something everyone can relate to,” Cox said. “I did outreach on the Galileo project and I always had to explain how it orbited the planet and what it meant to be in orbit. But the rover is basically a car. Everybody gets what it means for a car to take a road trip.”

Cox’s schedule for the mission is grueling. The rovers in flight use Earth time, while those on the planet use the Martian day – about 40 minutes longer than Earth’s. To keep up, she wears five watches: one on her home time in Pasadena; one on Greenwich Mean Time; one on the time at Spirit’s landing site, Gusev Crater; and one on the time at Opportunity’s landing site. The fifth watch is from a lab studying people trying to “stretch” their day. On busy days, Cox sleeps about two hours a night.

And she works strange hours. The first pictures from the rover came in at 4 a.m., but Cox was in the mission control room.

“Everyone was jumping and screaming and crying,” she said. “The most memorable was the first image showing Mars, because the first two had just been of Spirit and the platform, but then there was this picture actually showing Mars, the surface of Mars. I was screaming ‘Mars, Mars, Mars!’ because there it was. After three and a half years of work, there it was.”

The rovers are supposed to last up to three months once they’ve reached Mars; engineers now say they could last up to six. After that, Cox doesn’t know where she and her probes will go.

“With President Bush’s ‘new directions’ for the space program, it’s a whole new ball game,” she said. “They’re talking about a number of lunar robotic missions and that’s what JPL does. We could go to Mars, the moon, Jupiter… there are lots of places [we] want to go.”

She knows, though, that she’ll stay at JPL. She’s still in shock that she made it there. “As corny as it sounds, I still walk around every day smiling,” she said. “Even the vocabulary is amazing. I came home once and said ‘I used the word “Saturn” in my work today.’ It’s amazing that it’s real, it’s actually here, that you use words like that to describe it.”

Please Recycle Your Harbinger

opinion

6

THE HARBINGER

tQ

o N

e t ui

Home for the holidays

Without family, Christmas lacks warmth

Christmas Day I finished my laundry. Light load, dark load. Washing, drying, folding.

Christmas Night I started packing. Three days of clothes, three nights of pajamas and a nice outfit just in case. I wanted to sit in front of the TV and relax but I had to spend the day getting ready for our car trip instead. It was all my grandma’s fault. She wasn’t there.

The next day my family would drive to Illinois to see my grandmother. I was looking forward to seeing her even though the smell of the soybean processing plant in her town always gave me a headache.

But Christmas had already happened and Granny was not there.

That morning started out like normal, like every Christmas morning for as long as I can remember. We gathered in the living room once everyone was awake and my dad turned on the video camera. My youngest brother Dale sat on the floor and we opened presents by taking turns in order of age, like we always do.

Dale opened one first. He got a box of Legos that I was sure he would spend the entire day putting together.

I went second, my 21-year-old brother went third and my oldest brother Neil opened one of his presents

In my own words

Dianne Smith

you glad ed... ask

uh

next. Then my parents each opened a gift.

We were doing what we always did on Christmas morning, but something was missing. My granny was missing. And the tree was missing those $20 Borders gift certificates that she usually sticks between the branches for each of my brothers and me.

Without her, the day didn’t feel quite as special as it should have been.

My grandmother was at home in Illinois, not where she was supposed to be. She was supposed to be at our house, sharing Christmas with her family.

She was supposed to be sleeping in the spare bed the office at my house so that we can never use the computer, and sharing my bathroom with me so that I can never blow-dry my hair.

But my granny has breast cancer. She already had surgery to remove the lump in her breast and now she gets radiation treatments every morning at 11 am. She can’t miss her treatments so coming to visit her grandkids would be impossible. Plus, she doesn’t have the energy to drive from Decatur, Illinois to Kansas City.

I normally hate going to my grandmother’s house.

There is nothing to do in her small town and a house full of antiques doesn’t work well with my three rowdy brothers. We got the nickname “destruct-o-family” after we broke an antique chandelier trying to move a mattress. And we are constantly getting up from the

dinner table and walking to the kitchen because she won’t let us have jugs of milk on the table. But then it makes her mad that we won’t stay seated. Sometimes visiting my grandma can be painful, but this time I was excited to see her.

Without my grandma, my Christmas lacked that warmth. The meal my mom cooked was delicious, but she was alone in the kitchen, cooking the entire Christmas dinner by herself. She made the roast and the potatoes, the green beans and the rolls. I helped with the pies, but being sick, food made me feel worse. Normally my granny would help by rolling the dough for the rolls into little round balls so that they pulled apart perfectly. She would make sure my mom and I were chopping the mushrooms and celery just the right size for the stuffing.

My Christmas Day without my grandma’s perfect rolls had taught me that family is indispensable. Your family is what makes holidays special; relatives give that feeling of warmth to the day.

I know I’ve complained about visiting her in Illinois and her being so picky about how I chop vegetables but I missed her this Christmas. My granny was lucky, the doctors found the lump in her breast early. She doesn’t have to go through chemotherapy or lose her hair. If all goes well, she will still be around next year to share my bathroom and warm up my holiday.

I guess I’d say..

um

Now that second semester is here, what do you do to help with stress-management?

Kids in the Hall: A random sampling of shout outs from students at SM East

Freshman Aubrey Wilson

SPECIAL GIRLS EDITION

“When I’m really stressed, I sit down with a good book.”

Sophomore

Megan Sayler “I usually talk to friends to let out stress.”

Junior

Paige Sutherland “When I feel really stressed, I work out and make all those pressures go away.”

Senior Tina Harris “When I am really stressed, I watch mindless television.

See The Bachelor as an example.”

7 opinion

THE HARBINGER

Letters to the editor

Responses to the story “Put Wrestling to Rest” by writer Paul Thompson in our Dec. 15 issue

Opinions from a Head Coach A letter to the Harbinger Editorial Staff: “Wrestling is the Ultimate Sport.”

As a magazine publisher and head coach of the Shawnee Mission East Wrestling Team, I’d like to address the recent article “Put Wrestling to Rest,” published by the Harbinger.

From a publisher’s perspective, the commentary would not have made it to printing presses of my magazine or that of any reputable newspaper. Not because the opinion expressed was contrary to the way many people think, but because the writer ignored his responsibility to provide the audience with a fair and balanced report.

Without leaving the comfy confines of his computer screen to conduct interviews or attend events or view a practice, this Harbinger writer called for an end to our thirty two year old wrestling program.

All prejudice is based on ignorance and unfamiliarity and the writer obviously suffered from both. “Put wrestling to rest” was not responsible reporting. It was either a prejudice from an uninformed mind or a self indulgent and malicious act of creative writing. Either way, we want to invite the Harbinger staff and its readers to become better informed about our great sport and

the SME team.

The Harbinger panned Cael Sanderson, 4-time NCAA champ and undefeated in college. Just a little nosing around and the Harbinger might have learned that Sanderson won the ESPY award for best male college athlete in 2002 and was one of five nominees for best male athlete of the year. He lost out to Tiger Woods.

Not bad company.

Since then, Sanderson has signed numerous endorsements, including a shoe deal with ASICS, he finished second in the world games in NYC and is currently training for the 2004 Olympics. You’ll be hearing a lot more of his name during the summer Olympics.

Far from obscurity, the Kansas high school wrestling scene is thriving.

According to the Kansas High School Activities Association, 198 Kansas high schools offer wrestling. Wrestling is the 7th most popular sport as measured by participants in high schools across the

nation. On the collegiate level, Kansas City hosted the NCAA tournament in March 2003, sold out Kemper Arena for three consecutive days and brought an estimated $20 million in revenues to Kansas City’s economy.

In the USA, amateur wrestling is uniquely not about the money. There are no professional leagues in which to compete.

People do it for the love of the game and in very few cases a college scholarship.

For that reason, wrestlers never forget they are students first and athletes second.

It’s purely an amateur sport and exactly what America’s high schools should be embracing.

Wrestling tests the body, mind and character like no other sport. The courage that Jeremy Glick, a passenger on United Flight 93 summoned to take on terrorists at 30,000 feet was probably honed in a high school wrestling room.Author John Irving said his wrestling career was the only thing

Wrestling tests the body, mind and character like no other sport.

Mother defends son’s pastime To the Shawnee Mission East Harbinger Staff: their entire four years of high school. We The following are my comments regarding had approximately 32 senior and junior football the article Paul Thompson wrote in December 15, players by the time the season had commenced 2003, Harbinger entitled “Put Wrestling To Rest.” this year. Those numbers surely don’t reflect an First of all, it is obvious that Paul has never enrollment of 2200 students. Do we get rid of been a wrestler or part of a wrestling team. He football? What about gymnastics and swimming? knows nothing about the sport and therefore These sports are surely under appreciated should not be able to make comments about and declining in participation, too. a sport he has never participated in. I found his What you learn about yourself As a mother who comments demeaning, when you wrestle is nothing that has watched a husband, unfounded and just brother and several sons can be put into words. participate in wrestling; I plain “ignorant”. While he may not know who Cael Sanderson is, the would hate to see this sport come to an end. It is a majority of the nation does. What he did by going tough sport, mentally and physically. Most boys undefeated was something only a “wrestler” or don’t want to work that hard. What you learn about yourself when you wrestle is nothing that “a true wrestling fan” could appreciate.

He states that the sport of wrestling is can be put into words. It builds self-confidence, declining. There are many sports in high school mental toughness and the desire to compete and on the decline. Two years ago, SM Northwest did win. not even have enough football players to field a Sincerely, sophomore team. Shawnee Mission East is the Diana Robinson largest high school in the state of Kansas and had only 14 senior boys who participated in football

harder than writing a novel. Secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld was captain of the Princeton University wrestling team.

The late Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone often talked about what wrestling taught him about sacrifice and commitment during his high school and University of North Carolina career. Movie stars Tom Cruise and the Baldwin brothers wrestled in high school. Closer to home, teacher Paul Debarthe was a high school wrestler and could lecture the Harbinger staff on the merits and intricate stratigies of the sport.

The Lancer wrestling season is beginning its second month and a Harbinger reporter has yet to stop by to report on the team. I’m certain that if the Harbinger took its job seriously It would let SME students and staff know that two of their wrestlers are ranked in the top six in Kansas 6A and have a chancer to win state titles this year.

The wrestling team challenges the Harbinger to be less glib, more real, and wrestle more with its editorial.

Sincerely, John Sonderegger, Head Coach, and Team

Agree?

Disagree?

The Harbinger welcomes reader letters Send them to Alex Abnos, Editor-in-Chief, in Room 521 or e-mail them to us at smeharbie@hotmail.com Letters must be signed and may be edited for length and clarity.

Please provide any contact information with your letter.

Publishing of letters is up for the editor’s discretion.

editorial 8

THE HARBINGER

Editorial cartoon

���������

Cynthia Goldman Oh my gosh! You think I look like Britney Spears!

I love you! Let’s run off to Las Vegas and get married!

Alex Abnos Dianne Smith Libby Nelson Annie Harrigan Lindsey Melvin

Editor-in-Chief Assistant Editors Art and Design Editor Head Copy Editor

Stephen McKim Copy Editors Corban Goble Carson Black Tierney Weed Stephen McKim Holly Garringer Courtney Condron Annie Fuhrman Barrett Emke Gordon Culver Amanda Allison

Photo Editor Editorial Section Editor Opinion Section Editor News Section Editor Features Section Editor A&E Section Editor Sports Section Editor Special Section Editor

Joanna Cross Ads/Business Manager Bryan Dykman Asst. Ads/Business Manager Pat Menihan Subscription Manager Stacey Golub Peter Goehausen Curtis Shank Evan Favreau Ian McFarland Cynthia Goldman Mallory Toombs Tierney Weed Ellie Weed

Staff

A more serious editorial survey for students

E

very year for the past 10 years, sophomores and seniors have taken the Kansas Communities That Care Survey. And each year the survey meets the same reaction: is this really serious?

Sent out to all the schools of the Shawnee Mission District, the survey provides a variety of statistical information to help district and school administrators know if drug use has risen or fallen.

But most importantly, the survey provides the means for which the district receives grant money.

Despite this powerful incentive, the survey does not portray an accurate depiction of drug and alcohol use at East.

The ordering of the survey questions is awkward, and sometimes even laughable. Almost word for word on five separate occasions, the survey has a string of four or more questions that ask takers if they’ve done drugs, carried a handgun to school, or been in possession of illegal substances. These questions are immediately followed by one that asks if the taker participates in school activities, does community service or extra schoolwork. Instead of taking the survey seriously, students laugh at the ridiculous ordering of the

Editorial Board Vote Votes For:

6

Votes Against:

2

are eleven members on • There the Editorial Board. For this issue, two members abstained and one member was not present. questions.

Questions about school activities and amount of volunteer work are positive things. Juxtaposing these in the middle of questions seen as wrong and harmful makes the survey inherently hard to take seriously.

These sort of positive questions should be put in a separate category.

The questions are unrealistic. The survey focuses on what’s considered “cool” by teens and their peers, but never asks whether their parents take a strong stance against their actions.

The survey’s hypothetical situations do not question higher level morals.

Instead they describe instances of petty crimes, such as shoplifting, and instances involving minor arguments

regarding evening plans with parents.

The survey should instead provide situations in which teens are confronted with circumstances that bring into question greater moral values. These could include situations involving drinking and driving and letting friends drive drunk. The survey did not have one question out of over 170 that asked a teen what they would do if they had the choice to drink and drive or let a friend drive while drunk.

The survey also fails to provide clear and concrete responses. The survey provides responses such as “NO!,” “no,” “yes,” “YES!,” very, quite, slight and fairly-all of which are ambiguous and vague.

Trying to distinguish the difference between “NO!” and “no” works against the goal of the survey. The survey should remove vague responses and use clearer descriptions for participants to choose from.

Because of the grant money this survey could bring, it is critical that it portrays the student body accurately.

If school and district administrators want to obtain data that accomplishes their goal, they should supply a survey that is serious. By considering these areas, students will respect the survey, helping the district gain the grants it needs.

News Page Editor Sports Page Editors A&E Page Editors Features Page Editors Photo Essay Editor Op/Ed Page Editor

Sara McElhaney Staff Artists Cynthia Goldman Jessie Fetterling Staff Photographers Nicole Oswald Joanna Cross Kevin Grunwald Pat Menihan Jessie Fetterling Staff Writers Ross Boomer Andy Logan Pat Ryan Patrick Haverty Michael Woodsmall Dow Tate Adviser

The Editorial Board Stephen McKim Annie Harrigan Amanda Allison Dianne Smith Libby Nelson Alex Abnos Cay Fogel Ian McFarland Holly Garringer Gordon Culver Lindsey Melvin

THE HARBINGER

Cut Carbs, Not Lunch Diets are stressfu: working Stacey Golub out all the time, and always having a constant stomach rumble.

The sitting around, the exhaustion, and thinking about the hunger. Diets are hard, but not to Dr. Robert Atkins. His theory to fat loss was to discipline the body into eating fewer carbohydrates.

“If you’re disciplined it helps all aspects of your life. It takes self-discipline to finish your homework; you need discipline to have hobbies. You need discipline to live,” freshman Garrett DeGregory said.

DeGregory is an Atkins Diet user. In order to follow the diet, DeGregory eats fewer carbs. The loss of carbs makes the body burn stored fat for energy instead of carbohydrates.This process is called Ketosis.

“It sounds kinda unhealthy to starve yourself, but you never ever feel hungry on the diet,” DeGregory said.

The body runs out of its constant supply of glucose.

This forces the body to burn fat for energy.

“I actually feel like I have more energy than before,” DeGregory said.

The diet also doesn’t prevent participants from eating their favorite foods.

“It’s no huge change-I always ate a lot of meat. But now I’m just a little more conscious of what I eat,” DeGregory said. “I do miss donut holes though.”

Most restaurants are now offering Atkins Diet-friendly meals. Ruby Tuesday’s and TGI Friday’s have jumped on the Atkins bandwagon and are supplying items like low

9 features

Atkins diet becomes popular with students looking to lose weight

carb wraps.

Russell Stover’s candy is producing ‘Low-Carb Chocolates’ ever since Founder Russel Stover lost 25 pounds while on the diet.

“Man, I can’t wait to try [the chocolates]! I’d go on the diet just for special chocolate,” DeGregory said.

Health food stores and grocery stores have started carrying Atkins products and other low-carb foods, including shakes, low carb bread, baking mixes, and protein bars.

The diet doesn’t have the same effects on everyone. Results range from person to person, most lose weight during induction, the most restrictive first two weeks of the diet.

“The turning point wasn’t very definite for me,...but almost a week after starting it, I jogged one mile in P.E four minutes faster than I usually do,” DeGregoFOOD FOR THOUGHT: This picture demonstrates ry said. “It’s just the confidence in general.” the dietary restrictions of the Atkins Diet.

Degregory started the diet afer he heard of of its success and ease.

“I was kinda skeptical at first when I heard about the “I started it because I hear about it everywhere,” Dedoctor’s warning,” Degregory said.

Gregoru said. “It’s a diet that you don’t have to starve yourAfter being on the diet for quite sometime, DeGregory self to lose that beer belly.” has a few suggestions.

Despite the diet’s popularity, doctors think it may cause “I don’t recommend this to vegetarians,” DeGregory heart problems. Many doctors are telling their patients that said. “Before you go and bite off more than you can chew, the diet is un-safe, and that all the fatty meat clogs arteries.

I’ll leave you with this last word from Dr. Atkins: “Nothing But recent studies by Harvard and others have showd that the Atkins diet keeps blood sugar stable and adds more tastes better, than the way thin feels.” muscle. photo illustration by Raegan Brown and Mallory Toombs

From Whistlers to whiteboards

Chaffee finds home at East after years at his own bookstore After the Professional Curling League went bust in the early ‘70s, I was forced to seek gainful (sort of) employment.

I went to work for B. Dalton Bookseller, where I encountered my two future bookselling partners, Joann Barsotti and Mark Wootton. Having semiintellectual pretensions (Joann read good fiction: Mark was well-versed in literature, poetry, and the arts; I had read most of the Albert Payson Terhune dog books) the three of us soon tired of the mass market material being presented by B. Dalton. We somewhat arrogantly decided we could do a better job in our own bookstore.

Mark figured we would need $60,000 to open a store with a good stock of books. How would we get the money?

Amazingly, friends and relatives invested $15,000 with no prospect of seeing a penny of return. With this seed money, and the use of Joann’s house as collateral, we were able to convince a friendly banker, SM East graduate Paul Clendening, to extend us a Small Business Administration loan for the remaining $45,000.

Next we played the game of all expectant parents: what are we going to call the thing? Something classy, something inviting. We toyed with combinations of the three partners

photo by Jessie Fetterling

T. Michael Chaffee as told to Carson Black

T. Michael Chaffee

names, i.e., Woobarfee or Barwoofee, but quickly and wisely discarded them. We picked Whistlers Books, both for its redolence of James A. McNeill Whistler, the artist, and for its happy connotations with the penny whistle.

Mark designed bookshelves and gondolas, and the three of us built them ourselves of three fourths inch plywood with three fourths inch pine shelves. Mark also went to the

Olde Architectural Salvage Company and cobbled together and elegant counter made of an old bar top combined with handsome paneling from a stock brokerage. In addition, in a pre-computer age, we purchased a library card file and hand wrote a card for each book we carried.

Whistlers Books opened July 5, 1978, in Meadowbrook Village at 95th and Nall.

Through the early years we struggled and weren’t able to pay ourselves much. Joann was forced to sell her beloved piano and I my baseball card collection. Joann and I decided to combine our struggles and were married in 1980.

Eventually we moved the bookstore to Westport, occupying a space with beautiful hard wood floors and red brick walls reminiscent of an earlier time. Westport’s denizens were a diverse group, and our clientele was literate and very supportive. We had some years in which we flourished, even adding a coffee shop, Whistlers Mother, in the early 90s.

But the coming of the mega stores, Borders and Barnes & Noble, in combination with mule headed management decisions on my part led to the demise of Whistlers Books in 1996.

After that, both Joann and I toiled for a while at Rainy Day Books, but eventually she got a job retouching beards and mustaches in the Flemish collection at the Nelson Atkins Museum, and I found gainful employment terrorizing Johnson County youth.

focus

10

The Pullover

Teens and C

The relationship between p teenagers can be good, bad,

Breaking the Barrier: SRO O

Scenario: You’re driving in a car with alcohol present and a police officer pulls you over.

What police can do: •Give field sobriety tests which include the followinga) Having you recite the alphabet from various starting points b) Having you stand on one leg for 30 secondsto test for balance c) Finger to nose test to test for coordination d) Walking a straight line to test for balance e) Eye test Consequences: • Everyone in the car can be charged with possession • 30 days of a suspended license or a restricted license for the rest of the year

Source: SRO Officer Taylor and SRO Officer Pacheco

Michael Woodsmall

For an East alumnus, drinking had become a problem in his life.

Jordan Martin

“How can you as a teen improve the relationship between the police and teenagers?”

Bingeing, along with smoking and drinking, were weekend activities he participated in along with friends. Nights left at home without parental supervision were what he dreamed of. For SRO Officer Steven Taylor, it was the ideal situation to save the life of a teenager he saw headed down the wrong path.

With approximately 100 students crammed into his Shawnee Mission home, the noise level of the party reached unlawful heights. Following up on a neighbor’s complaint, Taylor arrived at the house to see minors drinking and smoking. Breaking up the party before significant damage could be done, Taylor arrested the student who lived there along with several others for numerous alcohol charges. The arrest would mark the beginning of Taylor’s work.

“I don’t arrest teenagers and let them hang out to dry, “ he said. His goal was to tranform a teenager’s life.

The House Party

“(Teens) should not break any laws. Try and follow the rules.”

Abram Clay, 12

“It’s important for cops and teenagers to be more friendly. The cops shouldn’t automatically assume that teenagers are up to no good.”

Amelia Mallet, 9

“Police need to get a life. They shouldn’t assume that we’re doing something wrong.”

Morgan Lafferty, 12

“There’s so much hatred against teens. If cops got more involved with teenagers and tried to help them, that could help make a difference.”

Tori Olson, 10

“Don’t get into trouble in the first place. Try talking to police and be friendly. If you’re caught, don’t run away; it only makes it worse. You know, police officers are pretty cool!”

Ross Spacil, 9

photos by Nicole Oswald

art by Sara McLenhaney

Tayl meeting built up experien “He After came w ing for often. Ta encoura He expl fighting the bette and cha “Tha

C

The School Dance

11 focus

ps

police officers and , and just plain ugly.

Officer Steven Taylor

lor began to build a relationship with the student. The first gs were difficult for Taylor to reach the student, for he had p a wall of fear and anger. Taylor began sharing personal nces in order to help the teen relate. had to understand the I cared,” said Taylor. r they were both past the police badge and the power that with it, the student was a regular in Taylor’s room. Searchanswers about his future and the arrest, the two talked aylor recommened a variety of counselors for the teen and aged him to cooperate with police officers in the future. lained that in the long run this would help him more than g back. The student too the advice and made a change for er. The satisfaction Taylor felt after the student rebounded anged his life was immeasurable.

SRO at’s why I do what I do,” said Taylor.

Officer Steve Taylor

The scenario: You’re at a school dance and alcohol and illegal substances are present.

What police can do: • Pull you aside if they have reason to suspect that you might be intoxicated • Search you for illegal substances if you are showing the following symptoms: a) Slurred speech b) Eratic behavior c) Scent of illegal substance on you Consequences: • If you refuse a breathalyzer, you will be forced to leave • If you are found to be intoxiacted before entering, you will not be permitted inside.

• The regular charges and possible jail time that comes with being intoxicated or having possession of an illegal substance will follow as well.

Source: SRO Officer Taylor and SRO Officer Pacheco

“How can you as a cop improve the relationship between the police and teenagers?”

The Scenario: You’re at a party and minors are drinking alcohol. The ages of people present range from 14-19.

What Police can do: •Police can arrest you for having possession of an illegal substance if you are in reach of it.

•If a cop comes to your house, they can enter without permission if they see illegal substances or a neighbor complains.

Consequences: • If someone has not been drinking and is not in possession of any illegal substances, he or she can leave.

•The person having the party will be charged with furnishing alcohol to minors . For that, you can get up to a year in prison.

•The size of the party doesn’t make a difference; it can be 2 people or 100. Either way, there will be arrests.

• In general, the cooperation of the group determines the outcome.

Source: SRO Officer Taylor and SRO Officer Pacheco

“Part of it is a perception issue. As soon as teens get a driving ticket, they think police officers are out to get them.”

Det. Sgt. Craig Caster, PV Police Department

“Be honest. When I stop kids, they lie. That won’t work. We deal better with kids who are straightforward and honest.”

Officer Steve Steck, PV Police Department

“The biggest thing is to inform and teach- hope that you guys know the laws. Once you do know what we are inforcing, you might understand.”

Det. Luke Roth, PV Police Department

“Try to get rid of the “us against them” mentality. The biggest thing is just to see things from their point of view. We were teenagers once too. We, as police officers, just have to know that they don’t set out to do things illegally. We have a job to do, like it or not.”

Cpl. Kyle Shipps, PV Police Department “We don’t go around saying, “Look how many teenagers I got today!” It’s just that teenagers are more prone to say, driving too fast. The relationship is better than when we were growing up. When you grow up, you’ll be more thankful for what we are doing.”

Lt. West Jordan, Patrol Captain PV Police Department

features 12

THE HARBINGER

continued from page 1

A brand new beginning

Hawa’s journey continues as she starts her new life in the United States The ceramics room is alive with activity as students pound and sculpt and smooth their various clay creations. Freshman Hawa Whalen pries the lid off a yellow plastic clay container with both hands and reaches in to grab a piece of hard, gray clay.

She then proceeds to a nearby table where she pushes and pulls the sticky substance with her right thumb and finger until it softens enough to go to the press.

Already on her workbench lays a clay etching of a leaf and flower, her project from the past week.

When it’s finally her turn, Hawa quickly places the piece of clay beneath the press and places her hands on the large crank, her right hand grasping the wheel, the left pushing it for support. The press flattens the clay.

“I don’t know what I’m making yet,” Hawa says. “I think a bowl.”

The challenge of something like ceramics is nothing new for Hawa. After four years and seven surgeries, Hawa has transformed herself from a helpless African girl robbed of her hands to an active American high school student overcoming her handicap.

Whether she’s seen training for the track season, studying hard at home, or simply eating her lunch in the cafeteria, Hawa strives to appear as normal as everyone else.

After spending several months in the Freetown hospital, Hawa moved with her mother Isatu into an amputee camp across town. Hawa taught herself how to be selfsufficient, needing her mother only to do her hair and tie her dresses.

Besides her everyday hope for food in the famished area, Hawa desired for further treatment of her wrists. Her hope became a reality in March 2001.

That month Raymore resident Lonny

Houk met Hawa. Houk was leading a medical team from the Christian-based aide organization Feed the Lambs, and was planning to take a few children back to the United States for better treatment.

Hawa was the only child chosen from the camp of 125,000. Her mother said she was picked because of her bright smile.

On March 14, 2001, Hawa left the amputee camp, on her way to board a plane for America, leaving her family and country. Two other boys from another town accompanied her. One of them had burnt limbs, after having been held down in a vat of boiling water. The other had only skin tissue protecting part of his brain. A rebel’s machete had sliced his skull.

As Hawa was leaving the camp, a parade of other people followed her, chanting “Hawa! Hawa! Go to school! Don’t come back!”

Refugees swarmed around the car she entered, pounding on the windows and continuing their chants. As the car started to roll off, Hawa’s mother came running towards it, wanting to see her daughter one last time. The window opened and the two stared, tears in their eyes.

“She said for me to come back…but [she said] ‘you have to get a hand…it’s going to help you,’” The car drove off.

Hawa would never see her mother again.

Six months later she died of a snakebite.

On March 15, 2001 Hawa arrived in Kansas City. March 15 is now her birthday.

There were no birth certificates in Sierra Leone.

Taken to Olathe Medical Center, Hawa received her second and third surgeries, stump revisions, where excess scar tissue was removed from her wrists.

Beth Whalen was working in media relations at the hospital when she first noticed Hawa.

So you know...

Fast facts about Sierra Leone

Who are the Rebels?

Population: 4,971,000 Capital: Freetown Life Expectancy: Male: 40.3 Female: 45.5

The rebels, also known as the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), entered Sierra Leone in 1992 for control of its rich Diamond industry.

UN troops have restored the peace since 2000, however the RUF is still present in Sierra Leone.

Hawa and her mother: Hawa and her mother in Sierra Leone before Hawa’s departure for theUnited States. photo courtesy of Hawa Whalen “She was so quiet and she was so sweet.”

Mrs. Whalen said. “While the [other two boys] were having surgery I took her back to my office. She was so tired from her journey, and she just curled up on my floor and slept.”

Later that month Hawa came to live with the Whalen family in their Leawood home with a little brother, a dog and a cat.

In March 2003 her adoption was finalized.

Four years earlier she lived in a hut made out of clay, straw, and a tin roof with her African family. There was no running water.

No electricity. No plumbing.

Hawa was immediately thrust into a new culture and society completely different to those of Sierra Leone. Simple everyday things like the telephone and American food were foreign to her.

“You put waffles in front of her and she’s got to be going ‘what’s this?’” Mrs. Whalen said. “To think that she searched for water everyday and now goes up to drive through McDonalds and say ‘hey give me a coke’… it’s two different worlds.”

And in these worlds are two different languages. When Hawa entered Mission Valley as a seventh grader the following August, she knew only her native language, Krio.

She needed tutoring for only a year.

Despite her initial lack of English, by eighth grade she could read, write and speak the language.

“I read magazines [to learn English],” Hawa said. She had a particular fancy for Cosmo Girl. She also watched The Three Stooges and I Love Lucy. Now she spends her free time reading the stacks of novels piling up in the corners of her room. Her current favorite is The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Writing, though, was a more difficult task to learn.

“When you don’t know the language and don’t have hands it’s doubly hard,” Mrs. Whalen said.

When Hawa started the seventh grade, her hands were weakened from her fourth surgery. Web spacing that was supposed to give her a stronger grip between her right thumb and pointer finger stub had adverse effects and her grasp was actually weakened. She still managed to hold a pencil for writing.

Hawa also started using a myolectric left hand to aide her weakened right hand.

With a simple flick of the wrist this robotic

hand opens and shuts, giving her a forceful grip.

It’s not practical with food, though.

Crumbs of peanut butter cookie flew to all corners of the room as she demonstrated its strength.

Her fifth surgery in December 2002 added a vice-exterior fixator to her right pointer finger stub. After cranking a lever five times a day for a year and a half, Hawa’s finger was longer, thus helping her grip.

In September Hawa had two surgeries: the first removing the fixator, the second opening web spacing. Now her right hand is strong enough that the myolectric hand is no longer needed.

Whether she is playing basketball, driving with her dad, or simply carrying her tray to lunch, Hawa doesn’t let her handicap get in her way.

“There is little that she can’t do.” Mrs. Whalen said, “She [just] can’t braid her hair or tie her shoes.”

In the fall Hawa joined the crosscountry team and completed a whole season, something many students initially interested in the sport fail in doing. Running is one way Hawa has learned to cope with the emotions that come with being in a new country with a new handicap.

“Sometimes I just think of not having my hands and what things I could do with them…I get mad. I get sad.” Hawa said. ‘[In] cross-country you don’t have to worry about your hands…running gets the angry out.”

The only practices Hawa missed were surgery related. She made those up with her own 5:30 am runs.

Hawa continues to improve her English skills and do well in school.

“If you don’t work hard in school how are you to get a job?” Hawa said. “I want to go to college. I want to be a nurse…to help others…to go back to Sierra Leone.”

In October Hawa went to Homecoming with some friends. After a meal at IHOP, it was off to the dance. She was dressed in a traditional West African dress, one of two that were her only original possessions brought from Sierra Leone.

Shaking her hips, moving her legs, and swaying her arms, Hawa danced up until the last song. But she didn’t go home afterwards.

She bowled.

13 features

THE HARBINGER

The Best Classes (that you’ve never heard of) Studio Art/ Art Seminar

photo by Kevin Grumwald

Cynthia Goldman

Georgia O’Keefe once loathed art classes because of the strict guidelines she had to follow for every project. Now future O’Keefe’s, Renoir’s and Picasso’s can indulge in artistic freedom without a pesky teacher demanding certain medias Drawings on display in the library to use in two art classes. from Mrs. Oliver’s drawing classes.

Art Seminar is a semester-long Studio Art and Art Seminar teacher Shellie class with two goals: to put together an art portfolio and to learn more about Trewalla said.

Although Trewalla’s “college-level art careers with occasional visits from art schools. Even with certain requirements, classes” are more demanding than regular art classes, they still offer lots of “latitude the class still feels free-flowing.

“It’s an amalgamation of all art classes. of creative personal interpretation”.

Take whatever skills you know and do Student masterpieces range from paper whatever you want,” junior Simon Kass dresses to abstract self-portraits to largerthan-life toothbrushes. said, “It’s a loose construction.”

The only prerequisites for these classes Studio Art AP is a year-long honors course that prepares students with art are one semester of Art Foundations and an artistic drive towards individual portfolios to send to colleges.

“Kids think art classes are easy but expression. Something O’Keefe would this one is very different. You must put truly be proud of. in 100% of your time into [these classes],”

also consider...

Dramatic Literature

Simply walking through the little theatre doors, a certain serenity is felt amidst the rows of empty chairs. Not all of these seats are empty, however. A small group of pleasant students sit before Brian Cappello, the Drama and Dramatic Literature H teacher.

But the completely stress-free environment is only the beginning. Only in this class will students discover the emphasis on opinionated discussion instead of objective tests or any tests at all. The only homework assignments during the semester are two reviews of any East dramatic production.

The average class period consists of reading classic plays. “It’s fun! We read things I’d normally never pick out,” junior Emily Gairns said, “I learn a lot.”

Others rave about the brilliant discussion of the class. “Discussion is a lot of times really boring in normal English classes. Here you get to discuss a point with a teacher and it’s never boring,” said senior Sarah Tucker.

Whether you think Medea was a victim of fate or a merciless villain, everything is welcome here. Except for stress.

Junior Susan Ryan and sophomore Brian Rubaie study in Mock Trial.

MOCK TRIAL

Teacher: Paulette Manville

“I want to be a lawyer so here I actually get to be one and compete!” --junior Kelsey Sewell

SOCIOLOGY

Teacher: Vicki Arndt-Helgesen

“Yoda (Arndt-Helgesen) doesn’t discourage any comment because everything pertains to the subject - people.” --junior Austin Meagher-Manson

ANTHROPOLOGY

Teacher: Paul DeBarthe

“You can learn from each other rather than a teacher that acts like he knows everything.”

-- senior Bridey Maidhof

Robert L. Smart Jr. ABR Senior Sales Executive Chairman’s Circle Office: 913-451-6660 Fax: 913-381-5029

7200 College Blvd.

Overland Park, KS 66210

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Keep your school clean!

a&e 14

THE HARBINGER

This ‘Fish’ is a great catch Tim Burton’s tall tale film ‘Big Fish’ enchants and entertains audiences Ian McFarland

Courtesy Columbia Pictures

Big Fish spins a yarn covering so many subplots that no ordinary movie could accomplish it all. But with the great Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, Mars Attacks!) pioneering this collection of modern-day fairy tales, the film is able to wrap perfectly around Burton’s anything but typical style and embody a world of whimsical cinematography and wholesome stories that embody the modern American epic.

The story is about Edward Bloom, a father who has told obviously fictional stories about his past as long as his son Will can remember. Will hates this side of his father; he just wants Edward to tell him the truth about himself. After the two become estranged for three years Will gets a call from his mother telling him Edward is about to die. Will is forced to reconcile with his father and hopes to figure him out at last. During the middle of the movie, the story concentrates on three of the tall tales Edward has told, ranging from taming a misunderstood giant to rescuing conjoined twins from Vietnam to robbing a bank with no advance notice.

These flashbacks, where Edward is portrayed by Ewen McGregor, are what make this movie. They’re splashed with color and put a smile on your face. Such outlandish tales would seem

childish, but they’re never taken seriously and are amusing in their absurdity.

Everyone in this movie does an above standard job of acting, especially Albert Finney, who plays the modern day Edward. Sometimes his deep Alabama accent is difficult to understand, but nevertheless it conveys the message and feels like the worn dying man’s voice that Edward should have.

The movie isn’t flawless though. The transitions to the flashbacks don’t feel very natural.

Though I appreciate that Burton lets you decide for yourself whether or not Edward’s stories are real, a more concrete conclusion would have clearly defined this movie as fantasy or realistic fiction. Right now it’s an odd blend of both. And after this long movie (it’s over two hours), the ending feels kind of thrown in at the last second.

But the negatives are minor and don’t distract from the fact that this film is a joy to watch. If you don’t like the way the plot sounds, it’s worth seeing it for the cinematography alone. It may not be Tim Burton’s best but any movie of his is worth seeing purely for his sheer originality, and Big Fish carries on the tradition.

Courtesy Universal

A DESTINED COUPLE: Allison Lohman and Ewan McGregor fall in love.

NEW ODD COUPLE: Ben Stiller and Jennifer Aniston star in ‘Along Came Polly’

GENTLE GIANT: Karl the Giant is convinced to change his destructive ways

THE ONE-EYED WITCH: The transformed Helena Bonham Carter in ‘Big Fish’

There went ‘Polly’ Stiller’s latest won’t be remembered Evan Favreau Along Came Polly is, in the end, forgettable. It has enough giggles and laughs to keep your interest, but it gives no reason to be remembered after you leave the theater.

Ben Stiller portrays Reuben Feffer, an insurance company employee who assesses how risky potential clients are. This profession causes him to know odd facts, like the chance of falling through a subway grate.

Despite this, he seems to be living a happy life. But on his honeymoon he finds his wife Lisa (Debra Messing) cheating on him with a scuba instructor. He returns home without her where his best friend and has-

been actor Sandy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) tries to cheer him up.

It’s only a couple weeks later that he meets junior high classmate Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston). Everything else you’ve seen in the trailer and countless commercials. They are exact opposites, but Reuben ends up following Polly’s lead, all of which end up in embarrassing situations.

This movie has some laughs, most of them coming from Reuben’s discomfort. After all, that’s what made Meet the Parents so funny. But it doesn’t work as well in this film.

Maybe it’s because nice-girl Jennifer Aniston doesn’t match up with Stiller as well as Robert De Niro did in Parents. Or maybe it’s because the script has too much gross-out humor

and not enough smart dialogue. But whatever it is, it limits the film from becoming what it could have been.

The thing preventing this film from being a complete washout is Philip Seymour Hoffman. Thanks to Hoffman, the character of Sandy is so fleshed out and funny that he towers over anything Stiller does in their scenes. One particular basketball scene made me laugh harder than any comedy I saw last year.

In the end, however, your best bet is to wait for Polly to show up on video or TV because it’s probably not worth your cash or effort. It provides laughs, but it won’t remain in your mind very long. And practically no one will remember it this time next year.

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THE HARBINGER

Restaurant Review

Feasts from the east

With all of the choices available to Lancers, the Harbinger reviews some of the best local Asian restaurants Holly Garringer

Bangkok Pavillion 7249 W. 97th Street Overland Park, KS Annie Fuhrman When you walk into Max’s Noodles and More, you know right away that this is not you normal Chinese restaurant. Soft jazz music plays in the background, while modern lighting and art adorn the walls and ceiling.

While a trip downtown may seem out of the way, it is well worth it to try out this amazing restaurant.

The food stands out as much as the atmosphere with a light, refreshing approach. This was the goal when Max left his original restaurant “New Peking.” They focus on fresh

If you like Chinese but wish it were a little bit creamier and spicier, then Thai food is for you. Although we are over 10,000 miles away from Thailand, you can find a taste of it in Kansas City at the Bangkok Pavilion. The menu here features over 50 items- something for everyone. For appetizers, nothing beats the crispy crab rangoon. With a Thai twist on the traditional Chinese delectable, the crab is wrapped in a wonton and deep-fried. If you’re counting calories, the same item can be ordered without the fried effect. It’s

ingredients, including a great selection of seafood and vegetables. The dishes are prepared with a lighter touch than the typical heavily battered Chinese food. Every dish I tried was perfectly seasoned, light and full of flavor. It was fantastic.

I started off with spring rolls, and potstickers. These are appeizers with vegetables and meat wrapped in a dumpling sheet. Both were exceptional. Next I tried the Hunan chicken, crispy whole shrimp, and Chow Fun soft noodles with chicken beef and shrimp. The Hunan chicken was especially good. It was lightly breaded and cooked until lightly crispy. The sauce was spicy and tangy.

just as good, without all the remorse of fatty food.

For dinner, you can enjoy fried rice dishes or cold salads. If these dishes aren’t your forte, you can also try soup or noodle concoctions. You can choose the spiciness of all the food you eat.

The menu explains that a one star dish means no spice, while a five star dish means spice galore!

If you’ve never tried it before, you have to spring for the bubble tea. This is a drink that features a thick tapiocalike base, mixed with little dots of Jello.

I know this is an interesting combo, but trust me, when you drink it, it’s a party in your mouth, and everyone’s

I was told that the shrimp and Chow Fun were some of the most popular dishes on the menu, and I could tell why. The shrimp was fried in a light batter and covered in a sweet, sticky and spicy sauce. I loved it and I don’t normally like shrimp. The noodles were fabulous, full of tender meat, and crispy vegetables, living up to the restaurant name.

Even the fortune cookies were good. My fortune said “You will be showered with good luck.” I know that it will come true because another trip to Max’s Noodles and More is in my near future.

invited.

As far as desserts go, they don’t offer much, but there is a honey and wafer dish that is out of this world!

The service at the Pavilion is efficient and the waitresses are knowledgeable and patient. Be prepared to have your water filled up every time you put the glass back down on the table. The meals range from $6.95 for a fried rice meal to $24.95 for the specialty duck.

During the day and on the weekends the restaurant offers a $6 all you can eat buffet.

So if you love Thai, or even if you are just experimenting with your taste buds, check out the Bangkok Pavilion.

Max’s Noodles

1728 Main Street Kansas City, MO

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THE HARBINGER

Food for thought

When trying to decide on a book to read, an unlimited number of choices present themselves as possibilites. So to make your life easier, here are recommended novels to read for your English class or when you are inside from the cold.

Book Review

The Secret Life of Bees Mallory Toombs Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees is the story of 14 yearold Lily Owen who decides to escape her home when her father’s abuse becomes too much. She leaves hoping to find out who her mother was. All that she has left of her mother are a few momentos, one of which is a picture of an AfricanAmerican Madonna with the words “Tiburon, South Carolina” written on the back. After breaking her African-American

by Sue Monk Kidd

nanny out of prison, she heads to Tiburon without any other plans. There she

meets the three women who housed her mother and herself when she was young. Although she does not find out about her dead mother through them, she learns the importance of a mother figure. The three characters have simple names: May, June and August, but they are exactly the opposite of their personalities. These quirky women each in their own way exude beauty, intelligence, passion and love. This is a story of racial prejudices that is consistent yet unpredictable.

Oracle Night Tierney Weed After a nearly fatal illness, author Sidney Orr steps inside a quaint stationary shop in Brooklyn and purchases a blue notebook. Mesmerized by this notebook, Orr begins writing his first piece of fiction since his illness earlier that year.

For the next week or so he lives trapped within the blank pages writing a story of a man who walks away from his comfortable and ideal

by Paul Auster lifestyle after an encounter with death.

Not only is Orr fixated on finishing the story, but he also begins to expose himself, his wife and their close friend through the writings.

He will remain writing and creating events that could foreshadow the destruction of his marriage and question his trust in what is real.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

by Mitch Albom

Mallory Toombs In Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet In Heaven, Eddie is, as of today, 83 years old. He has worked as a mechanic on the rides at Ruby Pier so long that he knows the hum of the machine and can tell by the sound when something is wrong. On this day, Eddie dies in an accident trying to save a little girl. Eddie awakens in heaven to meet the first of five people whose lives were involved with his. They help him to see his positive influence on others and they each teach him a lesson. The way Alborn has intertwined the lives of Eddie and the five people keeps the reader interested and guessing. However, in some ways there are small things said in the book that might be found thought-provoking or unsettling. At times the descriptions of the heavens seem overdone and almost confusing. Although the story jumps around a lot, it comes together in the end.

The Da Vinci Code

by Dan Brown

Tierney Weed While in Paris for business, Robert Langdon, a Harvard Symbologist, receives an urgent late-night phone call. The curator of the famous Louvre has been murdered within the museum, and an intricate message was left near his body. Langdon realizes that the message is linked to numerous clues all hidden within the works of Da Vinci.

Langdon teams up with Sophie Neveu, the granddaughter

of the curator, and together they learn of the curator’s involvement in the Priory of Sion, an actual secret society. The Louvre curator has spent his life protecting the Priory’s sacred truth: the location of a prominent religious artifact that historian’s have been trying to uncover for centuries. Unless the two can solve the puzzle in time, the Priory’s secret will be lost forever.

THE HARBINGER

Clash of the Titans

17 sports

A preview of the 248th border war between Kansas and Missouri

Curtis Shank

In my own words

Since I was young, I have bled crimson and blue and one of the best rewards of being a KU fan is watching Missouri athletics fail. So these last couple years have been great for me watching MU get up to as high as number two in the polls on numerous occasions and two weeks later falling completely out of the polls. This year of course is no different; MU got up to as high as number two then went on a streak of losing five of the last six games to teams such as Belmont and Iowa State. Missouri has gotten to the lowly point this year where they deserve in the Big XII to be replaced by Wichita State or UMKC. The entire athletic department is up in shambles. So people’s predictions that MU will beat KU in Lawrence and sweep the season series, dream again.

Missouri came into the season deservingly ranked fourth in the polls. Why not, the team returned four out of five starters and has the most athletic team in the conference if not the country. The Tigers were destined to be great this year. After seeing archrival KU go to the national championship game last year, MU set a realistic goal to win the championship next April. MU also recruited four amazing basketball players, two blue chip high schooler’s and two top ranked Junior College. Mizzou had all the tools in the world and a “great coach.”

Missouri started the season off with an unconvincing five point win over Oakland, Michigan. Yeah, I didn’t know they existed either. They told themselves not to worry about it, they would be alright, it is just one game. Then they won four of their next five and were sitting well. With a top twenty ranking they thought they had an easy four game stretch before reaching conference play.

And then it happened, the streak began. No, not the four game winning streak to gain momentum into the Big XII season, the streak to lose three out of the four games before conference play to become one of the most disappointing teams in the early season. First the Tigers lost to a superior Illinois team, and then lost to Memphis who has been under the radar since superstar Dujuan Wagner left. Those losses weren’t bad compared to…. BELMONT, formerly an all-girls school that became a DI school less then a decade ago. MU’s one win in the streak came against NC Greensboro. Snyder’s bunch then lost to Iowa State and then they lost two games later to a decent Syracuse team. Why you ask are the Tigers such a pathetic failure? Look no further then the coach who gels his hair more then Full House’s Uncle Jessie. Snyder’s “throw it up from anywhere inside the half court line” hasn’t been working well of late or for the last five years.

MU star Rickey Paulding let his teams recent failures get to when he best said, “We only compete when we need to compete.” Quinn is not a coach, he’s the team advisor, the players coach themselves and do whatever they want. The only way the Tigers will rise above one of the bottom feeding teams in the conference is to fire the man.

Missouri and fans, you will get used to the three letters NIT this March.

The difference between MU’s awful compared to other MU teams is they had to make conference look like cheaters and be put under “Official NCAA Investigation.”

Missouri faces potential sanctions surrounding the recruitment and handling of former player Rickey Clemmons. It appears the only way the spokesman for Moose hair gel can get good recruits is to bribe them with MU rich-boy Josh Kroenke’s money. (What else did you think they kept him there for?) Now that football season is over and Gary Pinkel and Brad Smith can’t save you, I advise for you MU fans to hide.

Kansas fans are in heaven.

The season has started almost perfectly for them. The Jayhawks have lost only two games to start the season and a top15 national ranking, but best of all, the hated Missouri Tigers are the laughing stock of the Big XII. Not on have the Tigers lost more games than the miserable K-State Wildcats, they also lost to a team called Belmont. But I have news for you Jayhawk fans. Kansas isn’t a Final Four team. Or a Sweet 16 team for that matter. Kansas has several exploitable weaknesses. They have no outside shooters, with the exception of the streaky Michael Lee. The team relies on Wayne Simien as its only legitimate inside weapon.

This forces them to depend solely on the play of Simien and the slashing ability of Keith Langford to win. When either of these two is ineffective, Kansas loses. Just take a look at the Jayhawks’ cushy early schedule.

They lost their lone tough game—at Stanford—and also got crushed by Nevada, a team that has lost to such powerhouses as UTEP and the University of the Pacific. In these games Simien and Langford combined for 20 and 21 points respectively, well below their season averages. While this two-player “team” can get by early on by feasting on such cupcakes as Fort Hays State and Richmond, their schedule gets tougher starting in Feb. In fact, their schedule is so easy that these overrated pretenders don’t play anyone remotely associated with the word ‘good’ until they host Missouri on Feb. 2.

Most people expect Kansas to blow out the beleaguered Tigers, but that happens less often than a snowfall in Los Angeles. Missouri always beats Kansas at least once a year. The mighty Jayhawks have lost to an unranked Missouri team several times in the past few years. The Tigers perennially seem to gel as much as coach Quin Snyder’s hair around this time of the season and play their best ball. If the Tigers play anything near what they’re capable of, they could run almost anybody out of the gym, including the mighty Nevada Wolfpack. Missouri has shown signs of life lately. An overtime win at No. 11 Oklahoma showed the Tigers could win even without playing their best ball. They had 11 turnovers in the first half and still only found themselves down by two at the break.

Missouri matches up well with Kansas. Missouri has four players—seniors Arthur Johnson and Travon Bryant, sophomore Kevin Young, and phenom freshman Linas Kleiza—to combat and foul Simien at will inside. With no outside threat to be concerned with, Missouri defenders can play more loosely and bring help to slow own the driving ability of Langford. Kleiza and the Missouri frontcourt will make the inexperienced David Padgett and Jeff Graves look like third grade girls in bunny suits on the court by playing the physical style basketball game those two can’t handle. Miles and Langford will be left open to fire up all the three-point bricks they want to. The key to this game however is the discipline or lack thereof, of the Missouri shooters. Each time Missouri has taken 25 or more three-pointers, they have lost. When Missouri feeds the ball inside to their talented big men, they almost cannot be stopped on offense. Fortunately, Missouri has started to wake up and get the majority of their points in the paint.

If this happens on the second in Allen Fieldhouse, look for Kansas’ third loss of the season.

In my own words

Peter Goehausen

Leaders Kansas

Missouri

Keith Langford

Scoring

Wayne Simien

Rebounding

Aaron Miles

Assists

12-2

Record

Bill Self

Coach

Rickey Paulding Linas Kleiza

Jimmy McKinney 7-7 Quin Snyder

All Time Series

156 Paul Pierce

91

Best NBA player Anthony Peeler

Last Five Meetings March 15,2003 Big XII Tournament- MU 68-63 March 4,2003 At Missouri- KU 79-74 February 2, 2003 At Kansas- KU 76-70 March 3,2002 At Missouri- KU 95-92 January 28. 2002 At Kansas- KU- 105-73

sports 18

THE HARBINGER

Stepping Out of the

SHADOWS

Senior breaks out of anonymity in his final season for the Lancers The Lancer basketball team is led by a 6’5” sophomore who seems to be the biggest thing to step out of the woods since Paul Bunyan. They are also loaded with talented seniors who have multiple years of playing time on the varsity team.

The entire Lancer following could name those players: seniors Jack Keller, BJ Adams and Michael Duvall and sophomores Scott MacElvaine and JD Christie, but most would forget one, the tallest one. Lost somewhere between JD Mania and the more heralded seniors, senior center Ryan Hintz is making one of the biggest impacts on the team. His statistics have increased, and he has taken on more of a leadership role.

“Ryan is probably the most improved player on the team. Two years ago he was on sophomore, last year he was playing JV and sitting on the Varsity bench, now he is starting Varsity,” Christie said.

Last year Hintz was a much softer player. He was liable to be pushed around in the post. He also had poor hands and had trouble catching the entry passes that came from the wings and putting the ball into the basket from short range, which was a problem because he spends most of his time near the basket.

“He has really provided us with an inside presence that

Gordon Culver

The

Sports Ticker

is important to our success. He makes it so that JD can roam instead of having to focus inside. With JD roaming, we are at our best,” Head Coach Shawn Hair said.

This year all of Hintz’s numbers are up. Last year Hintz was averaging fewer that two points per game and a little over one rebound per game. This year he is averaging about ten points and close to six rebounds. He is now an offensive and defensive presence, not just a body to fill minutes. Hintz has shown improvement in other areas that to some are even more important than his play on the court.

“He really sets high goals for himself. He expects a lot from himself, that is why he has shown so much improvement in every area of his game. He sometimes feels that he is letting the team down, but without him, we would be in a much worse place,” Christie said.

Even with Hintz’s increased numbers and increased leadership with the team, no one knows who he is. He is the player who every time you go to a game you have to look down at the roster and see who he is, even though you have seen him play every game this season. He quietly continues on with his season, getting done what he needs to get done, without letting his lack of publicity effect him.

“Sometimes it bothers me when I don’t get any credit. I understand though that JD is a great player and deserves all

Boys Basketball

of the credit he is getting,” Hintz said.

Everyone, including Hintz had really high expectations for him coming into the season. The coaches feel that he has not exceeded expectations, but they do feel that he has come a long way from last year.

“I really expect a lot from Ryan. I think that he has a chance to play college basketball. He has the size, and is improving, he just needs to improve more,” Hair said.

Hintz has been looked at by Mid-American Nazarine University and William Jewel College as a possible player on their basketball team. This is a big step from last year, and the coaches and players alike feel that Hintz has a big opportunity.

Christie, Keller, MacElvaine, Adams, and Duvall, all Lancer basketball players, all well known. Hintz, also a Lancer basketball player, not well known. Hintz has done everything in his power this year to make himself a wellknown player, and though people who follow the team closely know who he is, those who see it as a passing interest have never heard of him.

This season is their chance to get to know Ryan Hintz, Lancer basketball player, second leading scorer, second leading rebounder, most unknown starter.

Girls Basketball

Points J.D. Christie 23.5 points per game Rebounds J.D. Christie 7 rebounds per game Assists BJ Adams 3 assists per game Steals Jack Keller 2 steals per game

Points Jen Franklin 10.7 points per game Rebounds Jen Franklin 7.1 rebounds per game Assists Sarah Parker 3 assists per game Steals Brooke Jandl 2.1 steals per game

Schedule vs. Rockhurst 1-30 (7:00 pm) vs. SM West 2-3 (7:00 pm) @ SM Northwest 2-6 (7:00 pm) @ Leavenworth 2-10 (7:00 pm) vs. Olathe Northwest 2-13 (7:00 pm)

Schedule @ Glacier’s Edge Tournament 1/29-31 Game 1 - TBA @ Leavenworth 2-10 (5:30 pm) vs Olathe Northwest 2-12 (7:00 pm) @ Olathe North 2-17 (5:30)

photos by Tierney Weed

Boys Swimming

State Qualifiers Bryan Sayler- 50, 100 freestyle Brandon Barnds- 50, 100, 200, 500 freestyle Michael Stalzer- 200 IM, 100 backstroke, 500 freestyle Kevin Reene- 50 freestyle John Cook- 100, 200 freestyle Josh Bayless- 100 breaststroke Luke Tanner- 50, 100, 200 freestyle Ian Hutchinson- diving * all measurements in yards

THE HARBINGER

Brand new baller

19 sports

Sophomore Scott McElvain transfers from Blue Valley Northwest and makes an immediate impact with his new team

Patrick Haverty style,” said McElvain.

Scott remembers it being very difficult offensively in the first couple weeks of practice. He says he would often get the plays mixed up and run the wrong one.

After two weeks of practice, the night before the first game Scott was told he would be starting his first game ever in an SM East uniform.

When game night rolled around, Scott realized that playing at SM East was not that different then playing at Blue Valley Northwest.

“The atmospheres are very similar, but I think we have the better fans. I think that both schools care a lot about their basketball teams,” McElvain said.

Scott says that the best part about the transition has been playing with such a great group of friends.

After a few tough weeks of being not knowing what the heck he was doing Scotts finally got it down, and has been a key contributor in many of the Lancer victories this year, and figures to be one of the biggest stars in Lancer basketball’s shining future.

photo by Nicole Oswald

The first game of the season I felt like I had let him down,” against Shawnee Mission South, McElvain said. a 6’5” mop- head stood in the Scott’s mom then took starting lineup, and would go on him to meet with Head Coach to score 10 points in the Lancers’ Shawn Hair in August, and they thrilling victory that day. That’s talked. Coach Hair asked him about the only thing most Lancer if he would like to play with the fans knew about him.

Lancers in the summer at the If you don’t know by now, his Rockhurst University League. name is Scott McElvain. Scott’s That was the first time Hair saw dad is a pastor at Heartland the 6’5” McElvain play.

Community Church on 83rd “After seeing him play at the and Lamar. The drive became Rockhurst University League, too long, so he decided to move I thought he had very good the family into East district to be potential and could play on our closer to his work. team,” said Hair.

Scott was already friends with In November, Scott tried out, some people at SM East because and made the Varsity team. He he knew h a d t h e m j u s t The atmospheres are t w o from his church. very similar, but I think weeks T h a t o f we have the better fans. practice w a s n’t t h e to learn problem. The thing he had aScott McElvain the SM problem about was basketball.

E a s t “Basketball was very much offense before the season opener on my mind when I found out I against South. go to the wrong was going to move. It was one of place, or just downright forget the problems that came up. I felt the plays. bad having to tell the coach about “It was somewhat difficult the move, it was tough because adjusting on the offensive side he had put a lot of time into me. of the ball. It is a totally different

ON THE MOVE: McElvaine calls for the ball at a recent practice.

SPORTS PANEL Our sports panel will predict how East as well as other teams will finish.

Gordon Culver

Curtis Shank

Corban Goble

Peter Goehausen

Super Bowl

New England

Carolina

New England

Carolina

Super Bowl MVP

Tom Brady

Jake Delhomme

Willie McGinest

Stephen Davis

Men’s Basketball

Olathe South

Olathe South

SM East

Olathe South

Ladies’ Basketball SM Northwest

SM Northwest

SM East

Olathe South

MU-KU Game

Kansas

Missouri

Kansas

Kansas

Big XII Champs

Kansas

Texas

Kansas

Kansas

UConn

Kansas

Duke

NCAA Tournament Kansas

photo essay 20

Lending a Hand

THE HARBINGER

East students reach out to the community by participating in SHARE projects.

TUTOR TIME: Junior Micaela Flick helps students study at the YMCA Stars program at Somerset Elementary School. photo by Raegan Brown

PUTTIN’ THE PUZZLE TOGETHER: (below right) Sophomore Erin Fischer volunteers at the Kaleidoscope program, helping children piece together arts and crafts projects. photo by Celene Reynolds

MATCH UP: (Above) Senior Carrie Yeast buddies up with a partner at the Tennis Project. The project meets every Wednesday to play tennis with inner city children. photo by Tierney Weed PENCLING IT IN: (Above right) Senior Whitney Kane volunteers weekly in the Corinth Elementary School art room. She and others participate in the “Art at Corinth” SHARE project. photo by Tierney Weed