Issue 12

the

Issue 12 3.7.05

harbinger

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

VENDING variety Bill would add healthy choices to school vending machines

J

Village, KS • 66208

Annie Fuhrman

olly Ranchers, Snickers, Hershey Kisses and squares of caramel. The jar on chemistry teacher Cole Ogdon’s desk has many choices, and the student with the highest test score in the class might just get to choose one.

As a reward for doing a good job, Ogdon gives one student a piece of candy with his tradition of dancing around the room with his candy jar until he comes to the highest scoring student, something that, due to a new bill proposed in the Kansas House of Representatives, might soon become illegal.

The bill, concerning giving students a choice of healthy food, would prohibit teachers from using candy as a reward or incentive, a practice that teachers like Ogdon use regularly.

“I would probably still do it, because I don’t think they are trying to discourage using one piece of candy for one student every two weeks,” Ogdon said. “What I think they are trying to discourage is teachers using it as bait. Using is occasionally as a reward is very acceptable.”

continued on page 3

2

news

Lock the

the harbinger

VOTE StuCo exec board elections, speeches canceled because of lack of opponents

Libby Nelson

A

t 11:30 p.m. the night before speeches were due, would-be executive board president Courtney Held had her first line pop into her head.She sat up for hours that night, writing her speech on her bedroom floor.

But she never gave it: Held, as well as the other three members of next year’s Student Council executive board, is running unopposed. The videotaped speeches and elections were cancelled.

Next year’s executive board just had to sign up.

Uncontested positions aren’t new to StuCo. Two of this year’s executive board members, senior treasurer Ross Boomer and secretary Maddie Simpson, ran unopposed last year; vice president and treasurer were uncontested the year before. But those years still held elections; even the unopposed candidates made speeches.

In August, Held and fellow juniors Cate Stark, name and name will take their positions as East’s first “volunteer” Student Council Executive Board.

It’s an anomaly, certainly. But current StuCo president Brady Myers doesn’t see the lack of interest as a problem—or as a surprise.

“If you look at the last few years… there been uncontested offices [every year],” Myers said. “The numbers have just added up.

It depends on random chance: there are varying levels of interest, no way to tell whether the kids are ambitious enough to run. Every four years, there’s an entirely new group on StuCo, so there’s no way to put it in historical context.”

Knowing she’d be unopposed didn’t draw Held to run, though.

She’d been class treasurer twice—freshman year and sophomore, when she also had no opponent—and the co-chair of the social committee this year, as a junior. But she hadn’t been planning on running until American History teacher Vicki Arndt-Helgesen

news BRIEFS

Spring Break Schedule Fri. - Early dismissal 1:10 p.m.

Mar. 14 - Mar. 18 - No school, Spring Break

Mar. 21 - School Improvement - No school

approached her and encouraged her to do so.

“I thought, ‘Sure, I’ll give it a shot,’ ” she said. “And I talked to a lot of other juniors on StuCo and I learned none of them were running for the exec board… It’s been kind of nice [not to campaign], but it’s also fun to have competition.”

The lack of competition runs throughout the junior class and the school: of the juniors running for senior class officers, only one office is contested—Jonathan Lerner and Brian Humphrey are both running for president. Of the three classes (freshmen, sophomores and juniors) who elect class officers this spring, half of the offices have only one person running. The exception is the race for president among next year's juniors, where four students are running.

The junior class is still staying involved, Held said. Most class officers are running for reelection or to be committee chairs. But overall, the turnout for all officers—not just the executive board— has been low. She blames a lack of passion.

“I really want to make people excited about [student council next year],” Held said. “I want people to get involved…A lot of people do the bare minimum, if that. They’re not excited about it. It’s just not fun when you’re unopposed, because there’s not no competition overall. It’s a little disappointing.”

According to Myers, StuCo isn’t considering changing the election procedures in order to prevent this from happening again; he views it as a problem with one year rather than an ongoing issue. But he said the board should stress participation and communication in 2005-2006.

“I think it’s important that everyone in participates in everything,” he said. “This year during the can drive, it was just us four [on the exec board] running it… The execs need to listen to people on StuCo and people on StuCo need to listen to the student body.”

Chamber Auditions When: Tomorrow and Wed. after school at 3:00 p.m.

The Executives ‘05-’06

Junior Courtney Held President

Junior Kate Stark Vice President

Sophomore Tyler Enders Secretary

Sophomore Anna Zeiger Treasurer

DECA State When: Today and tomorrow Where: Marriot of Overland Park

Where: The choir room, 212 What: Students try out for Chamber spots for

next year. You must have a prepared song to try out. Results will be posted before students leave for Spring Break. Students who make Chambers will have an hour of Chambers each day as well as an hour of choir.

Sept. 7, 2004

What: All Marketing 1 and 2 students will be

competing in Marketing competitions today and tomorrow at the state level. Marketing 1 students each compete in a different category related to marketing with a partner or as an individual.

Marketing 2 students will be competing in these categories in addition to presenting their projects that they have been working on for the entire year.

Students who place in the top four will go on to compete at nationals in Anaheim, CA.

issue 12

news

food for

thought

3

the legislation

• healthy food choices could include bottled milk, bottled water, fruit juices, dairy products, fruits or vegetables.

• no teachers will be able to hand out candy as an incentive or as a reward • all parts of the legislation will take place starting in the 20052006 school year.

machine

and a new water machine. These machines would be considered acceptable for the bill.

“The milk machines have been very successful,” Principal Angelo Cocolis said. “I think it is a good move that we give students another option.”

Currently the bill has only passed in the Kansas House, the Senate has yet to have any hearings on the subject “I’m not sure [the bill] will pass because we haven’t had any hearings,” Senator John Vratil (R-Leawood) said.

“Nothing like this has been proposed before.”

Since the bill has not had a hearing in the Senate, the bill has not yet become law. If the bill passes, Vratil suspects the provision concerning teachers and passing out candy will be removed. Vratil also added that the bill mirrors some of the requirements that will be imposed by a federal law that will come into effect in 2005.

“The fact that it will be imposed on the state level as well wouldn’t change much.” Vratil said.

Since the bill concerns vending machines in schools, it threatens to affect the vending machine contracts with companies like Coca-Cola, the company whose contract is currently in place in the Shawnee Mission district.

“The company selects what is put in the machines,” athletic director Lane Green said. “But we can choose if we want another machine or not. That’s why we did the new water machine on the fifth floor.”

The impact of the bill, however, would be greater on the food machines in the cafeteria. These machines

art by Cynthia Go

The bill, proposed by representative Jason Watkins (R-Wichita), would require that 50 percent of all food and drinks in school vending machines be healthy.

Instead of soda, chips and candy, the bill recommends water, milk and nutritious foods • elementary, middle such as fruits. and high school vending In the past machines must provide 100 year SM East has percent healthy choices for installed students. a milk

ldman

continued from page 1

would have to change their contents, which are also chosen by the snack company, simply because of what is offered.

“There would be a greater impact on the snack machines because they seem to have a lot of sweets and candy.” Green said. “What would happen [if healthy food was substituted] is we might just run out [of the popular items] faster, and have to restock more often.”

Because the bill has not yet gone to the Senate, it has still not become law. For now the vending machines will remain stocked with pop-tarts, chips and strawberry Fanta and Ogdon and his dancing candy jar tradition are safe.

“I think the intent of the bill is good, part of what we do is teach students to be responsible adults, and part of that is having good eating habits. If we fail to provide that, we aren’t doing our jobs.”

www.kslegislature.org

KMEA state concert a success Cynthia Goldman

In a crowded orchestra room, students strummed, beat, and bowed their instruments as orchestra teacher Jonathan Lane conducted the class in preparation for the KMEA state competition held the following weekend in Wichita. Despite the mass playing in unison each district-qualified musician has been prepping individually for hours for the competition in hope to play better than their peers.

KMEA stands for Kansas Music Education Association, an annual series of music competitions for high school seniors, juniors and sophomore musicians in choir, orchestra, band and jazz band. All music students, except choir, begin preparing early school year for district auditions in the fall at a high school in Baldwin. Later state auditions are held in January in Salina where the top musicians are selected to continue on to a concert held Saturday, Feb. 26 in Wichita.

Choir students only have one audition, which is at the district level, and then proceed to the auditions in Wichita. “[KMEA] is more laid back for choir kids [than for the instrumentalists],” senior singer Reed Fagan said. “It serves more as a festival for us.”

About 550 East music students traveled on Thursday, Feb. 24 to Wichita, where they work with a conductor for three days. In addition musicians, with the exception of winds and singers, auditioned for the concerts’ seating arrangement.

Seat placement is done according to skill, so a student seated in the front is considered a better musician.

For each audition, students play or sing in a classroom for about two and half minutes. Three judges that are usually teachers or professional musicians listen behind a screen.

There are three categories in each audition: state pieces given

in the fall, scales, sight-reading.

“I was really nervous [when auditioning],” senior trombonist Marianne Melling said. “[Your] heart’s racing, so you have to calm yourself down. I pretend I’m practicing in my own room when I audition, and I focus on everything I’ve been taught on the piece for the last four months.”

Melling still gets jittery despite being part of the district band for the past three years, state orchestra for two and district jazz band for one. Sophomore and bassist Erik Deddens tried out for the first time this year but used a different approach.

“I focused on being relaxed, but I think I relaxed too much,” Deddens said. “I didn’t focus as much on the music as I wanted to.”

State Qualifiers

Orchestra

Choir

Band

Christie Coffman Camryn Reynolds Marianne Melling Susie Specker Melanie Mohn Sarah Nichols Joey Waters Molly Werts Renee Blinn Jenny Stromsted Katharine Forster Reed Fagan Garrett Parker Todd Johnson Jonathan Lerner Melanie Rutherford Liz Johnston Tori Olson Devin Kennedy Pat Montgomery Lauren Jones Reita Drinkwine Heather Ray Ben Thomson Max Clinkingbeard Jonathan Steiner Eric Deddens

March 7, 2004

Deddens, however, did well and scored fourth chair for bass. Another sophomore, Molly Wertz, tried out for the first time this year and scored well for violin as fifth chair.

“It’s nerve-racking but really fun to play good music with other people from all over the state that are interested in music like you are,” Wertz said. “It’s truly a learning experience.”

Thirty East students won best in state. The Choraliers were selected out of other state high schools to perform at the concert.

The most successful of East’s musicians was junior Dan Ketter, who was placed as first chair in cello and played a solo on “The Pines of Rome.”

“I’m considering heavily studying music in college,” Ketter said. “So being first cello confirms the idea that I could do that.”

East seems to do well every year at the auditions.

According to Lane, it could be because of the motivation at East coming from him, private teachers and parents.

“I encourage the kids to do these competitions,” Lane said. “Most schools don’t push kids to do contests like we do.

Also, we have a higher percentage of kids studying privately with excellent teachers.”

Even with all the work put into the competitions, kids still have plenty of fun hanging out with friends in hotel rooms, meeting new people with common interests and playing good music that’s “not mainstream.”

“I talked to a lot of players,” Deddens said. “And they’re all ready for next year because it was so much fun.”

’ n i k Coo Kass h t i w

4

the harbinger

Senior wins meaty culinary arts scholarship Scott Peterson

pho to b yA

ime eS

late r

It was a close call at the annual Johnson and Wales high school cooking contest. Very close.

Every year Johnson and Wales University hosts cooking contests at each of its six campuses for high school seniors. Senior Simon Kass placed first at the Denver location, winning the grand prize: a full tuition to Johnson and Wales University.

“I think the judges said there was a three point difference between first and second place,” Kass said.

The competition, for high school students only, started in December when contestants created and made their own recipe in two different categories: Pastry or Culinary Art. Kass made a poppy seed angel food cake fulfilling the contest’s only requirement: the dish had to be healthy.

In addition to the culinary contest, the Strawberry Growers Organization gave out prizes for contestants who used strawberries in their recipes; Kass took first place in that as well.

Before contestants even arrived at the contest, they sent in a picture and a typed recipe. Later at the contest itself, students were given three hours to make their recipes. The judges, one of which is a chef at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel, made their decisions. “It was a very SIMON Kass stirs batter to make chocolate flourless cookies at his Broadmore culinary class.

grueling day, worrying about how you did. I got so nervous I had to leave the room,” said Kass.

After the contest, a banquet was held where the winners were announced. Kass breathed with relief when he heard his name called.

“The most nerve racking part was waiting for the winners because you keep thinking about everything you think you did wrong, but apparently I didn’t do much wrong.” Kass said.

A lot of time went into this competition, and Kass would work after school at Broadmoor to practice. “I practiced my desert with Chef Bob (Robert Brassard), who was my coach. I made my desert thirty times.”

“You also have to worry about mise-enplace and how sanitized and organized you are. It isn’t just how well the recipe tastes,” said Kass. Mise-en-place is a French cooking term for having all the needed ingredients for a recipe out and ready to combine up to the point of cooking.

Although it takes skill to produce the kinds of culinary masterpieces seen at the competition, Kass thinks there is a little more to it than just combining ingredients. “Much of cooking is mental. You can practice as much as you want, but if you don’t have the right attitude and the right mind set, then you can completely fail,” Kass said.

The tuition pays Kass’ way though the university, and Kass also won several cooking utensils to go along with the prize money.

Braxton’s Formalwear Rent your tuxedo from Braxton’s Formalwear and enter your name in a drawing to win $500 cash and a $250 Jovani prom dress from The Gown Gallery for your prom date. Drawing will be held March 12. Tuxedo must be paid in full before the drawing. Restrictions apply.

Braxton’s Formalwear

March 7, 2005

(913) 829-5710 Inside the Great Mall of Olathe

opinion

issue 12

ShatteredDreams Ian McFarland in my own words I have this knack for remembering dates. I remember that on June 22nd, 2002 my family adopted our cat Alfred, I remember that on July 8th 2000 and June 21st 2003 the last two Harry Potter books came out, I even remember September 15th, 2001 for being the opening day for the of flop movie “Bait” starring Jamie Foxx. And now, I have another date that I will always remember: February 22nd, 2005 – the day that blink-182 went on “Indefinite Hiatus” as their web site put it, but as anyone else would say it, the day that blink-182 broke up.

Never has the breakup of a band affected me so. Sure, I miss Pixies, but they broke up when the only thing that the word “Pixies” brought to mind was Tinkerbelle, I’ve always known there’s only so much of them to listen to. I never even began to think of the possibility of blink breaking up. When I looked into the future, I saw an indefinite number of blink albums that I would swear by.

It all began when, for my twelfth birthday present, my Aunt Julie gave me blink’s first major album, “Enema of the State”. It was the third CD I had ever gotten, and I just may have listened to it more than any other album I’ve received since (although their follow-up album “Takeoff your Pants and Jacket” may hold that title too).

5

The breakup of Blink 182 leaves devastation

They were my first favorite band, and I can’t think of any other that has formed my taste in music more than these guys.

They’re the reason that I would name Pop Punk one of my favorite genres of music.

The dozens if not hundreds of times that I’ve listened to their albums straight through have molded my brain to their style of Punk (in their first three albums “Buddha”, “Dude Ranch” and “Cheshire Cat), Pop Punk (their next two, “Enema of the State” and “Takeoff Your Pants and Jacket”), and Emo (their last self-titled album).

This news is especially saddening because of signs of where the band was going. The last album kept all of the bass riffs that made it a traditional blink album, but they had grown up. They had found a new sound that was as good as the sounds that they occupied before, but this new album had a sound to itself that made it unique among all of rock and roll. Nothing amazing, but they had their own sound that had more potential then anything else in mainstream music.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t classify blink-182 as one of the classics, they was no revolution in their albums like those of the greats in Rock and Roll, but beneath all of the potty humor that their albums were populated by, blink-182 was a band that knew how to make an infectious, poppy single that you didn’t feel bad for getting stuck in your head.

Now I just hope that I can get them out of my head.

With Funding threatening to cause the space telescope to crash, it is vital to begin

Helping

Stephen McKim in my own words

HUBBLE courtesy of stsci.edu

I saw In Hubble’s 15 years of this picture on a Pearl service, the telescope has given Jam album cover once. astronomers the ability to not Standing out from an only learn more about our own almost completely black solar system but also about the background was what looked like a universe as a whole. It was green eye, centered in between two misty red Hubble that showed evidence circles, forming what could have easily been a of planets orbiting stars outside Venn Diagram from an American history class. of our solar system, enabling That image−a part of the Hourglass Nebula and us to come one step closer Picture of the Hourglass Nebula officially known as MyCn18−was snapped in to answering the question of MyCn18 taken by the Hubble Space January 1996 by the Hubble Space Telescope. whether or not humanity is alone Telescope in 1996.

The picture, along with thousands of others in the universe. It was Hubble has given astronomers, scientists, and music-lovers alike that provided key observations to explain how dark matter years of fascination and wonder. plays a role not only in describing how our universe is But not any more. expanding, but how old the universe is, its size, and what Out of NASA’s $16.45 billion budget for the fiscal year might possibly be its fate. of 2006, only $93 million--a measly 0.6 percent--would go It’s discoveries like these that have helped to explain to Hubble. And that’s just enough to create a robot that how Earth fits into a universe that is full, as Carl Sagan will crash it into the ocean. NASA administrators have might say, of “billions and billions” of unknown stars and essentially budgeted out the cost it would take to junk planets. Simply put, Hubble has given earth a definition. By Hubble, sort of like paying the $50 to have your car towed observing Saturn’s auroras, Hubble has allowed astronomers off to the junkyard. Something just doesn’t seem right about to better understand how radio waves disturb not only letting such an elegant and scientifically valuable spacecraft affect Saturn’s atmosphere but also Earth’s atmosphere crash into the ocean. With all of the money NASA is getting, and the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights. Hubble has spending the additional dollars to repair and upgrade allowed astronomers to view supernovae and learn the life Hubble would be a valuable investment to both the scientific and death cycle of stars. From this, astronomers can have community and American taxpayers alike. a better idea about the origin of our own sun, how it was

March 7, 2005

born, and how it will eventually die.

Discoveries like this help humanity to see its place in the universe, and how we fit into the big picture. Creating, maintaining, and inventing tools, like Hubble, has allowed humanity to expand this understanding of our place.

It’s this process of creating that has allowed mankind to make discoveries that ultimately benefit all of us. In the 1960s when President Kennedy committed the nation to putting a man on the Moon, there were critics who thought the billions of dollars to do it wasn’t worth it. But the steps the nation made towards reaching Kennedy’s goal allowed us to gain knowledge and make discoveries that have influenced our lives today. From the Space Race, innovations such as smaller computers, Velcro, and a better understanding of Earth’s weather directly benefit all of us.

Continuing to fund and support Hubble allows humanity to continue to make discoveries, both big and small, which could have a direct and positive effect on us. Hubble satisfies humanity’s need to understand and to expand upon knowledge.

Sacrificing Hubble doesn’t strike me as an action that is indicative of a country that has put a man on the moon, created space probes that have ventured beyond the solar system, and committed itself to the future exploration of the moon and Mars. Taking the risks to save Hubble, both the human and financial ones, are worth it if it means ultimately giving humanity knowledge about who we are, where we’ve been, and where our place is.

6

opinion

the harbinger

agony in

AFRICA What were we doing in 1994?

We were second-graders, first-graders, kindergartners, pre-schoolers. We sang with Barney. We laughed and screamed in the sun during recess. We glowed with pride after we finished our first chapter book. We lived innocent lives, not aware of the darker realities of the world. Our only pain came from a scraped knee or a broken arm; our only sadness, when our pet hamster Myrtle died.

But across the Atlantic in the African country of Rwanda, civil war was breaking out as Hutu nationalists began slaughtering their fellow Tutsis countrymen. As we watched Saturday morning cartoons and ate our bowl of Cheerios, Rwandan children our own age stared in terror as Hutu soldiers crashed into their homes and began murdering their loved ones, feeding them bullets instead of cereal.

The killings in Rwanda eventually ended, but still today history is repeating itself as hundreds of thousands are dying from similar situations in the Darfur region of Sudan, the Congo, and other parts of Africa. Although President Bush has shown concern over the killings and promised to aid the victims, little has actually been done to help.

Whether you have a “W” sticker on the back of your Jeep, peace symbols on your messenger bag, or you are simply a an average student reading this article to avoid your English teacher’s droning about sentence patterns, you cannot ignore the problems the world is facing. But if you need some inspiration to end this ignorance, there is no better time than now. All it involves is $8 and two hours of your time.

It’s the movie: Hotel Rwanda.

I find myself quite knowledgeable of the world around me for the typical high school student. Thus, even before seeing the film I felt I knew the basics of the Rwandan situation and the movie. Based on actual events, Hotel Rwanda follows hotel manager Paul Rusesbagina as he turned his four-star hotel into a refugee camp when civil war broke out in Rwanda. Walking into the theater, I was thinking this was just going to be “another war movie” – a film that would only give me a short-term adrenaline rush and perhaps a different outlook on violence. I left the theater, however, stunned: the Rwandan incident

art by Sara McElhaney

Ross Boomer in my own words

became much more important than a footnote in a history book.

In a three-month period, about one million Rwandans died under the hands of their fellow countrymen. That is more than a tenth of the amount of people who died in the Holocaust occurring in less than 4 percent of the time.

This was a war where whole tribes and communities would be slaughtered without a second thought. This is a war where enemies were artificial: the Hutus were killing the Tutsis, yet both groups were created under Belgian imperialism. This is a war so gruesome that at one point 100 bodies per hour were counted floating down a river south into Burundi.

Despite this extreme violence, however, the United States and much of the Western world ignored the problem.

And because similar situations are happening today, we can no longer close our eyes to the rest of the world. Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle caused enough reaction from the American people with his account of the corrupted meat packing industry that significant laws were passed to change the way our food was processed and medicine controlled.

Likewise, one powerful film – in a medium that can attract an even larger audience than books – should be able to move enough people to bring about significant change.

Even if you don’t understand exactly what happened in Rwanda, the movie is still easy to follow, and the incident is explained numerous times. Furthermore, the film will keep your attention: an exotic African location, fast-paced action scenes with rebel soldiers and UN peacemakers, excellent Academy-nominated acting as a middle-aged man breaks down, about to give up his battle to save his family’s life – all are present in the film and make it worth anyone’s time. But the emotions it stirs in the viewer and the cultural awareness it gives you are what make seeing Hotel Rwanda essential.

I am generally not an emotional person, yet during the film I found my contacts begin to blur as my eyes began to burn with tears. Because Hotel Rwanda is PG-13, it lacks large amounts of blood and gore. In a film like Saving Private Ryan, images of heads blowing off and blood-drenched beaches immediately start off the movie. By the end you become numb to the violence, and the emotional impact loses its edge. Hotel Rwanda, however, only gives small glimpses of civil war’s reality - corpses blocking fogged roads, halfnaked women trapped in cages waiting for drug-induced

soldiers to rape them, a Red Cross nurse describing orphans pleading with their captors to stop slaughtering them. Each downplayed image allows the viewer to further imagine the atrocities occurring. Thus, you become empathetic with the people’s suffering and start to feel their pain.

Hotel Rwanda also opens your eyes to another world: I received more culture shock coming out of a movie theater after two hours than I did spending nearly two months in the Netherlands. As I drove through the Plaza, I was mesmerized by the decadent buildings, amazed by the power of SUVs, disgusted by the pictures of Paris Hilton with thousands of dollars of Guess merchandise. We surround ourselves with material pleasures, but across the world thousands are forced into poverty by violence in their own countries. As I drove home I even became nauseated with myself. Here I was only worrying about having to go to KU when hundreds of millions of people in the world have to deal with some form of poverty or danger every day of their lives.

As cultural barriers begin to crack and society becomes global, we can no longer isolate ourselves from other countries’ affairs. But because close-mindedness has become synonymous with “patriotic,” many American chose to ignore other parts of the world. Michael Jackson’s trial coverage will receive far more attention by the average American than Sudan ever does. I unfortunately can’t send every ignorant American to a Darfur refugee camp, but I can give a desperate plea.

Go see Hotel Rwanda.

What are your plans for Spring Break?

KIDS in the HALL

Freshman Lauren Cody

“I’m going to Florida. Our family is vacationing.”

Sophomore Nathan Yaffe

Junior Katherine Rogers

Senior Ada Johnson

“We’re going motocross biking by Clinton Lake.”

“I’m going to Australia to visit my cousins and see the country.”

“Hawaii. I want to take one last family vacation before college.”

March 7, 2005

2+2 =Great American

editorial

issue 12

the

NOVEL

English teachers everywhere or if it applies to how well the book is flinched when a group of Blue Valley understood. parents tried to ban classic books There is something private from their children’s reading lists. about reading a book, something SME faculty was upset because public that is meant to be different for each education should be about the freedom person. You should feel encouraged of thought and not the restriction of it. to disagree with the people around The only trouble is that they don’t you, and a group of twenty should practice what they preach: it’s not never be limited by any constituency that much different from what English of one. That’s why reading is such teachers do in SM East classrooms a private, intimate activity. Yet most every day.

English teachers W h i l e tend to turn it into in Shawnee something ugly; a Teachers impose too much Mission no dissection of some of their own opinion about one has kind, something the books on their students excluded class participates in any books like opening up from student a frog in biology, a c c e s s , identifying all E n g l i s h it’s secrets and agree disagree absent teachers documenting specialize facts. It ruins an in denying experience that freedom of thought. Books are treated could be enjoyable. Not only does it with a formulaic structure that implies turn reading into a task, but it takes a right answer, and a wrong answer. In away the subtlety of enjoying a book every class there is a stigma that keeps without caring why you enjoy it, and ideas from forming: the fear of being the option of enjoying a book for a wrong. Book discussion should be different reason than your teacher. one of the only places that this stigma The enjoyment is killed when you doesn’t have to exist, but it does, even are told what everything is supposed more so than in other places. to mean. The secret that some teachers Students are expected to be able tend to keep very well is that there is no to point out the irony, identify the right or wrong answer when reading a protagonist, name the form of conflict book. A book in the wrong hands can and find the metaphor without ever become a math equation, and no one pausing to ask if it’s really best for can enjoy that. the student to do any of these things,

7 - 4 -0

harbinger

Shawnee Mission East Editor In Chief Assistant Editors

Art/Design Editors Head Copy Editor Photo Editor News Editor News Page Editors Features Editor Features Page Editors

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

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

Staff Writers

letter to the editor

Intelligent design is a religious belief. It does not compete with actual scientific theory. Any creationist perspective is antiscientific by nature: ideas presented cannot be tested, and therefore cannot be verified (or even supported). Intelligent design is an idea presented from authority—it attempts to force an observed phenomenon (the change in populations over time) into the bounds of a religious text, rather than starting with observation, formulating a hypothesis, and checking the hypothesis with data from a reality. Placing intelligent design and creationism in the same category as Darwinism promotes misconceptions about the interrelation of the three—only one is a scientific theory supported by evidence. The other two are not. The sole reason intelligent design has been entertained as plausible for so long by so many is simple: it is impossible for us to conceptualize the amount of time evolution takes to occur. Rather than try to realize that possibility of a process occurring over this length of time, proponents of intelligent design would have us write away incredibly complex phenomena (like the human eye) to creation by a divine being.

In reason, Brady Myers

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

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

Sara McElhaney

Editorial Cartoon

Two words in defense of the alleged BTK:

7

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

Adviser

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

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

March 7, 2005

8

features

Keepingconnected

the harbinger

High school students defeat long distance in college relationships Mallory Toombs

After her fifth phone call for the day with her boyfriend, former East graduate Brent Maxwell, senior Kristina Held hangs up the phone to go to bed.

“We normally talk four to five times a day,” Held said. “People always think that is ridiculous but really our conversations are just one to two minutes long. Many times he just calls in between classes or on his way to different things.” This level of communication helps relationships like Held’s that exist between a high school and a college student. Held and Maxwell have managed to maintain their relationship for fourteen months now.

Senior Celene Reynolds met her current boyfriend in Vicki Arndt-Helgesen’s sociology class her junior year. Her boyfriend, Eli Paige-Goertz, an East graduate, is a freshmen at Doane University in Crete Nebraska where he plays soccer; he is studying to be a kindergarten teacher. Reynolds has found that the difficulty in dating someone who is not here in town is that compared to many other long distance relationships, they have actually become a lot closer due to their distance.

“Since the time that we are together is so condensed and short it becomes an intense period when we typically hang out just together,” Reynolds said. “However, the downfall is that we have to plan when we will get together and compare our schedules.

Everything now has to be planned and coordinated, and I feel as though the relationship has lost any spontaneity.” Paige-Goertz did, however, surprise Reynolds for Valentines Day by coming into town to see her.

Many parents such as Reynolds were uncomfortable with the situation originally. Her parents were hesitant as to the seriousness of the commitment.

Senior Alex Helmuth felt the same way when her boyfriend, East graduate Adam Masonbrink of two years left for college.

“It is hard not having him live really close after he has spent so much time at my house,” Helmuth said. “He has been through so much with me that I love still being able to talk to him.”

Helmuth and Masonbrink have figured out how to see each other about every other weekend; they have figured out how to compromise between who drives where. Although she tries to make it up to KU to visit him , it is Masonbrink who comes in town more often.

Junior Lanie Mohn met her boyfriend David Skoguenb through debate and mutual friends. He is a freshmen at Creighton University. They have now been dating for 3 months now, and even considering the distance manage to see each other every other weekend. Having a boyfriend that is not close by, Mohn feels that she has developed a deeper bond. Although they are not able to see each other as often, their relationship has gained many other aspects.

“The hardest part for me is that my previous boyfriend was five minutes away and I could call him at any time and ask him to come over and he would quickly be there,” Mohn said. “The hardest thing that I have relating with is that he does not have to deal with parents and so it just shows how different of places we are in.”

Helmuth has also experienced many of the inconveniences associated with dating someone who doesn’t live near by. She has realized how much harder it made her weekends when her friends when make plans with boyfriends and how much stress it can add at times. Although Helmuth has complete trust for Masonbrink, she finds things to be questionable about.

“There are times when I have doubts in the back of my mind since I don’t know what college is like,” Helmuth said. They have compromise on who will drive to see who each time and see each other.

“Adam is a great friend to me and it has been a great experience dating him, but I personally wouldn’t recommend this situation to just anyone,” Helmuth said.

EASTER EGG PAINTING FESTIVAL Saturady March 12th and Sunday March 13th

call now to reserve your eggs (913)383-0222

3830 W. 95th St. Ranchmart

March. 7, 2005

AUTOMANIAC

Senior wants to learn about cars for more than just a job

9

photos by Aimee Slater

features

issue 12

Derek Martin When Senior Josh Balhuizen saw the clear pool of liquid forming on the floor of his aunt’s garage, he knew something was amuck. It doesn’t smell sweet, so it can’t be radiator fluid, Balhuizen thought to himself. He saw some reddish brown tinting and he made his diagnosis. The power steering fluid was leaking.

It’s things like these that keep Balhuizen interested in cars. He’s already taken every auto tech class at East, and this year he’s taking classes at JCCC while he holds a job at the Phillip’s 66 on Mission Road; all to prepare for his future as a general mechanic.

“I do everything from pump gas to fix brakes; it just depends on what my boss tells me to do,” Balhuizen said.

Balhuizen’s introduction to cars came at a young age, when he received a model car from his grandfather.

Balhuizen’s room is littered with car magazines. He has books and scours the internet, finding out anything and everything he can about cars.

“After I got that first model car, I started learning more and more about cars,” Balhuizen said. “Not so much how they work, but brands and models.”

When he was a sophomore, Balhuizen enrolled in his first auto tech class at East.

“I liked the way things worked and I liked fixing things,” Balhuizen said.

In his junior year he took Automotive Service, a two hour block where students do more hands on work like changing oil, or changing batteries. The work isn’t limited to just their own car. During this class Balhuizen worked on the cars of both friends and faculty, anyone who needed something done.

According to auto tech teacher Jim Dinesen, Balhuizen excelled at all things automotive. “His enthusiasm made him a great kid to have in class,” Dinesen said.

In his auto tech classes at East, Balhuizen was mainly dealing with engines and mechanical parts of the car. At JCCC, where he is currently enrolled in the Intro •Check lights and tire pressure to Electronics monthly course, the focus is more on the electric aspect of •Oil & filter change 3,000 miles automotives.

•Chassis lubrication or three “It’s n o t •Under hood belt inspection specifically months for cars,” •Hose inspection B alhuizen said.

“Just •Tire rotation an intro in preparation for •Wheel balancing every 6,000 miles stuff with cars.”

•Brake inspection Working in the garage has given Balhuizen many opportunities to hone his skills under the hood, fixing brakes,

You should:

}

}

March 7, 2005

replacing transmission filters and doing other general tune ups.

In the garage Ballhuizen’s education continues. Each day he learns something new depending on what he’s asked to do.

“If I know how to do it, I will,” said Balhuizen. “Otherwise I’ll get one of the guys to show me how.”

He plans to continue working at the garage after he graduates, while he goes to JCCC to get the two-year general education degree. After that he plans to transfer to Pittsburg State University and get an automotive degree.

“Someday I’d like to own my own gas station and be a general mechanic working in the garage. Rather than just focus on one brand,” Balhuizen said. “I want to work with a lot of different cars. It’s more interesting.”

“I think Josh could definitely have a shot at owning his own garage,” Balhuizen’s boss and owner of the Phillips 66 on Mission John Roney said, “He’s really into what he does and he’s always learning things.”

10 features

the harbinger

A helping hand

photo by Samantha Ludington

SHARE volunteers help run Village Food Pantry

Maggie DiSilvestro

East seniors Sarah Butler and John Webber and junior Matt Schulte show the true meaning of dedication by spending Thursday nights and Saturday mornings unpacking boxes, taking out the trash and helping check in the clients of the Village Food Pantry. In reward for all their hard work, the students get to run the whole place on Tuesdays. They help people shop and make sure they get what they need.

Butler, Webber and Schulte are volunteers at Village Presbyterian Church’s food pantry located at 9900 Mission Road in Leawood. Here lower income residents of Johnson, Jackson and Wyandotte counties come to pick out their own groceries. The people who come must present a proof of income to show that they don’t make enough money to pay for the food and they must have their social security number to prove that they are who they say they are.

This is one of East’s many SHARE projects that were started in October of 2004. The project started out as stocking the shelves on Thursdays and Saturdays. The director was extremely impressed with the volunteer’s hard work and enthusiasm.

“I never have to worry about what they are doing,” director Bob Balla said, “The work always gets done.”

He was so impressed, in fact, that he asked if the students would like to run the pantry themselves once a week. They began running it this year.

The students were really excited because of what the new venue would give the.

“I have wanted to do the Tuesday work to get the handson satisfaction, like running your own business. Like starting as a stocker and becoming the C.E.O.,” Schulte said.

The shoppers are sent around with a volunteer to pick out a certain amount of food from each shelf such as syrup, pasta, spaghetti sauce, canned vegetables and fruit. The meat is already packaged for them and they can take as much bread as they will “reasonably eat”, as the sign above the bread table says.

The time spent at the food pantry is a time when the students can get to know the clients, and get to know themselves.

“It helps me grow as a person and learn as a person which will help me later in life,” Schulte said Sherlyn Porter, a client of the Pantry, agrees. “When you

A FOOD pantry volunteer helps a customer shop for groceries.

give of yourself and don’t expect anything in return is when you get your blessings.”

Another bonus to the hard work and dedication is that the volunteers get to change some of the stereotypes about teenagers.

“They were so surprised because we weren’t doing drugs and we were actually helping the community,” Schulte said.

The students that volunteer have fun and will often bring their friends along.

The East students also have a positive effect on the clients who come to shop.

“Volunteers are special people because I have been a nurse for 32 years and anything you can give of yourself that’s good, makes you a special person and a needed person,” Porter said.

The effects of all the volunteers are being felt by every one, including Balla, who said, “We couldn’t run this place without them.”

FRESHMAN Erin Aitken (left) sorts plastic bags during her time volunteering at the food pantry.

March 7, 2005

A VOLUNTEER helps deliver groceries.

issue 12

Breakdancing

basics

Follow these steps to do one of the simplest moves, called the six step.

Step 1: Start in an upsidedown push-up position and lift your right arm.

features

11

Breaking the barrier Group of seniors forms an original club Sylvia Shank

photo by Kevin Grunwald

Sometimes there’s no music, sometimes there’s Vanilla Ice and M.C.Hammer. Break Dance Club, or the B.D.C., was recognized as a school-sponsored club this year.

Step 2: Place Head to Mr. Fast’s room 515 your left foot immediately after school every where your Tuesday and Thursday and don’t be right arm late. If you aren’t on time, you could used to be. miss the climactic moment when all five members of the B.D.C. randomly burst into 30 seconds of spontaneous Step 3: Bring movement without music. your right leg “Basically, in B.D.C., we do a forward and random little dance, we talk to Mr. under your left Fast for a few minutes, then leave,” knee. senior Doug Brake said. “We call it ‘physical fitness’ and ‘wholesome Step 4: Kick you fun’. It’s an awesome club.” left leg up and B.D.C.’s current members started bring it down attending meetings last year, but it before sliding it was not made into an official club until this fall. under you and “After talking to different sitting on it. administrators and getting a negative Step 5: Swing response, we finally went to Cocolis,” SENIOR Nick Lyles breakdances in the hallway as seniors Doug Brake and Dan Belz look on. Though they often right leg in a senior Evan Jarrold said.

“We dance without music, “we do have a mix tape,” Brake said. circle around left convinced him that the ‘wholesome started dancing because class was so boring.

“We accidentally showed up on the wrong leg. Lift left hand fun’ and ‘physical fitness’ of a potential Break We decided to have random after-school dance day,” Brake said. “We walked in and there’s a and let legs pass Dance Club were great reasons to start it.” parties, then decided we needed to make it a bunch of middle-aged people in suits learning Currently, Dr. Cocolis supports the club. through. full-fledged club. For our sponsor, we sought to waltz. We were standing there in our track “We have clubs that do various things,” said the best of the best—Mr. Fast.” shorts.”

Dr. Cocolis. “If a student wants to have a club “I’m honored to sponsor the Break Dance Since the instructor has gone on national Step 6: Return and it is not disruptive and they meet with a Club,” English teacher Kelly Fast said. “The tour, the B.D.C. has not been able to get lessons. to upsidesponsor, then it’s fine.” members are intelligent, creative, and good- The five members of the club don’t mind the down push-up The beginnings of B.D.C. were about as natured.” fact that they haven’t gotten lessons. random as the spontaneous dancing that position.

The B.D.C has met faithfully twice every “Our own dancing is cool because it’s so breaks out in the weekly meetings. week since starting this school year. At one random,” Brake said. “We don’t need lessons.”

Source: “It all started back in Mr. Fast’s sophomore point, the group attempted to get ‘real’ break So if you’re looking for a ‘break’ at the end www.angelfire.com/bc/kuruptcrew/ English class,” Jarrold said. “Doug and I stood dance lessons. They signed up at Louis in of the day… art by Cynthia Goldman up at 8:53 every Friday during vocab. tests and Company, a dancing studio.

Funky Friday Teen Knitting Night First and Third Friday 7-9 p.m. $10 Snacks Included!

1121 W. 47th Street • 816-531-4466

March 7, 2005

Visit us online: www.thestudiokc.com

LS R I G

R E C SOC

photos by Samantha Ludington

Ellie Weed With dominating seniors and strong returning underclassmen, the girls soccer team expects good things for this season.

Strengths include senior Kelsey Brook’s defensive skills, Kaylin Hertel as a forward, and Libby Dix in the goal. Senior varsity letterwinner Megan McCaddon will not be ready to play until around the first game of the season due to a knee injury.

With hopes to win state, players have been working hard to prepare for a good season.

“We have nothing to lose, we have the potential,” Dix said. “Last year we were making excuses for why we wouldn’t win state, but I mean there’s nothing in our way this year if we work hard enough and want to win it enough.”

Varsity coaches Jim Ricker and Jamie Kelly are watching the younger players in hopes that a few of them will be able to step up to the competition. They also maintain strong relationships with their seniors, as well.

“They’re fun coaches, they work well together. It’s fun to be around them,” Dix said.

Strong Varsity Seniors Varsity Assistant Coach Jamie Kelly

KELSEY BROOKS KAYLIN HERTEL LIBBY DIX Senior: Strong Senior: Leading scorer, Senior: Two year defensive player strong forward varsity goalkeeper

photos by Mallory Toombs

SPR SPO

With a new season of sports at E and many have high expectations. be filled, returning letterwinners wil underclassmen will s

Boys

GIR

Joey Soptic

swimming

Last year’s successes on the golf team, such as Charles German’s tie for 1st place at the SMS invitational, Max Wasserstroms 5th place finish in the SMNW Invitational, and Sam Dodge’s 4th place finish in the Topeka West Invitational will lay a strong foundation for up and coming new talent, and a prospected larger sophomore squad. Returning players Sam Dodge, Will Noyce, Andrew Spitsnogle, and Charlie Green all are gaining more experience to help improve their game. All are working to shave strokes off and improve their short games in hopes to reach the top at league.

Jayne Shelton

photos by Samantha Ludington

“For varisty, we want to win state-you’ve gotta have goals set that high. We have a great freshman classthey’ll help push the upperclassmen.”

Above: RETURNING state swimmer senior Bailey Gage does a warm -up set during a recent practice.

Right: SOPHOMORE Haley Malone perfects her stroke during the first week of girls swimming.

Left: JUNIOR John Debrick swings on the first hole at Kansas City Country Club during tryouts last Wednesday. Above: COACHES direct underclassmen at tryouts last week.

The word for this year’s boys and girls track team is “potential”, and with over 200 students coming out for it, lots of them freshmen, there is plenty of room for it. This is Brie Meschke’s first year as the head track coach after being an assistant for five years. This season, Meschke thinks that there are lots of good teams.

“We try to really compete well against Shawnee Mission schools, and Shawnee Mission Northwest always has a good team,” Meschke said, “but Freestate and Blue Valley North also have very competitive teams.”

This year, the head football coach and head girls basketball coach, coach Stoner and Coach Rhoades, have both taken coaching positions on the team.

BASEBALL Joey Soptic

photo by Ellie Weed

TRACK

RING ORTS

Davin Phillips The softball facility in Indian Hills has new upgrades. With a new official softball backstop, a new fencing system, and two new batting cages the team hopes to have a great season. There are plans for a scoreboard, an outfield fence, a new surface for the field, and an irrigation system.

SOFTBALL

Jayne Shelton

The word for this year’s boys and girls track team is “potential”, and with over 200 students coming out for it, lots of them freshmen, there is plenty of room for it. This is Brie Meschke’s first year as the head track coach after being an assistant for five years. This season, Meschke thinks that there are lots of good teams.

“We try to really compete well against Shawnee Mission schools, and Shawnee Mission Northwest always has a good team,” Meschke said, “but Freestate and Blue Valley North also have very competitive teams.”

This year, the head football coach and head girls basketball

East, each team is setting their goals early, Missing holes from graduated seniors will ll show their talent for another year, and step up to the competition.

RLS

coach, coach Stoner and Coach Rhoades, have both taken coaching positions on the team.

“They will be recruiting, and will be bringing in a lot of new kids,” Meschke said.

One of the weaknesses will be the lack of upperclassmen on the team, since last year they lost Justin Simonich, Jeff Judd and Catherine Lunt.

What they don’t have in upperclassmen, they have in freshmen.

“There are a lot of freshmen this year, but there are a lot of talented freshmen,” Meschke said.

Some of the returning state qualifiers are seniors Evan Jarrold and John Hassler to the 4x400, senior Bri Farnum and junior Caroline Goehausen to the 4x100, senior Jennifer Franklin to the high jump, long jump and 4x100, and sophomore Peter Helmuth to the high jump. They are hopeful for more state qualifiers.

Varsity Senior Bre Farnum

“The relay team will be really good this year. We lost our anchor who graduated last year, but hopefully there will be some good freshman that can help us win.”

g & diving

“They will be recruiting, and will be bringing in a lot of new kids,” Meschke said.

One of the weaknesses will be the lack of upperclassmen on the team, since last year they lost Justin Simonich, Jeff Judd and Catherine Lunt.

What they don’t have in upperclassmen, they have in freshmen.

“There are a lot of freshmen this year, but there are a lot of talented freshmen,” Meschke said.

Some of the returning state qualifiers are seniors Evan Jarrold and John Hassler to the 4x400, senior Bri Farnum and junior Caroline Goehausen to the 4x100, senior Jennifer Franklin to the high jump, long jump and 4x100, and sophomore Peter Helmuth to the high jump. They are hopeful for more state qualifiers.

The SM East baseball is looking at a completely fresh start with completely new staff led by new coach Tim Jarrell. With much of the varsity squad having graduated last year, the baseball program will be starting from the ground up. This could prove to be very beneficial, giving the program a clean slate. Look for returning players Tyler Rzepka and Jeff Winters creating strong foundations on the varsity squad especially with large number of underclassmen trying out. For the first time, the baseball program will have four teams; Freshman, C-Team, JV and Varsity. Hopefully this will provide extra opportunities for the new baseball program to excel.

Joey Soptic

boys TENNIS

After losing 2004 graduates Garret Gates and Nolan Lem, the boy’s tennis team is not planning on letting it hinder them at all. 50 students are signed up to tryout for the team.

“35 is ideal,” Coach Sue Chipman said.

Also returning to the team is talent such as Bryce Warnock, Jay Kombrink, and Corey Waldman along with a player or two who had played elsewhere in previous seasons. “The addition of Tim Akhmedov will bring our program to a higher level,” Sophomore Peyton Warwick said. Tim will be playing his first year for East

this season. This should also help keep SM East towards the top in state with their experienced players.

Varsity Tennis Player Will Gates “I’m personally looking to win state in singles since a lot of the Blue Valley schools went down to the 5A division.

I think we will have a really fun year this year.”

14

features

off the page, on the

STAGE Clare Jordan

As the sophomores of English 10 honors act out what has been interpreted by many on stages all over the world for the past 400 years they begin to take on their own interpretation.

The past two weeks sophomore English teachers Kelly Fast and Michael Pulsinelli’s classes have been reading Shakespeare’s “Othello.” Instead of just taking the traditional approach of purely reading Shakespeare, the teachers decided to take on the method that Shakespeare originally intended for his work, for it to be performed in front of an audience.

In the past the Othello unit has been treated purely as discussions, but this year,the class was given the opportunity to discuss and act out the characters, therefore, giving a chance for students of all learning types to experience Othello.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s Rep on the Road has spent the past week with the English students directing them in a production of “Othello.” Stewart Rider, Alyson Shacherer, Andi Meyer, and Tim Scott are professional actors of the KC Rep, but make a living each week by traveling to different schools in the metro area and teaching the students a piece of literature through putting them on the stage to perform it themselves.

Rep on the Road is an educational outreach aspect of the Repertory Theatre meant to give students greater insight and different viewpoints of texts.

A play goes beyond the words and puts together all the components of a play to make a production that lets y o u see

BOTTOM LEFT: sophomores Andrea Pack and Sam Speer practice lines and blocking. BOTTOM MIDDLE: Rep actress Alyson Shacherer gives her group some direction. BOTTOM RIGHT: Tim Scott demonstrates his works with sophomore Claire Ryan Photos by Megan Koch and Kevin Grunwald

the harbinger

English students perform Othello with help from Missouri Rep actors

into the motives of a character. Seeing Othello performed, or any play, shows you the emotion behind the line the character delivers and not just the words.

“I’ve pretty much given up on my contemporaries for theatre going, so we have to keep the theatre alive through the kids.” Rep on the Road actor Stewart Rider said. The theatre is considered a dying art, but passing on the importance to younger generations is what Rider seeks to do.

The students were given the opportunity to see their classmates absorb themselves in a character that they in actuality cannot relate to. Some typically reserved students who are drawn to theatre were given their time to stand out.

“During class discussions I’m not much for speaking up, but I’ve always loved the theatre since I took acting classes when I was younger, I really found this unit to be the most enjoyable [I] and learned the most.” sophomore Elle How said.

With the help of the four individuals from the acting company, the students begin to understand the many ways Shakespeare’s “Othello” can be performed.

“It was divided up so that there were 28 people to each character so you had the chance to see how 27 other people saw the way your character should act and most of the time each person did it differently,” sophomore Katie Renfro said.

“When it comes to reading plays there is no better education tool than doing it yourself, nothing works better,” Rider said.

March. 7, 2005

SOPHOMORE Corina Schnieders practices her lines

features

Working through it

issue 12

15

Teachers find additional jobs on the side Katie Jones

Sometimes it’s hard for students to realize that there might be more to a teacher than the person who grades their papers. Not only do many teachers have their own home and maybe a family, but also a separate job outside of school.

Some teachers aren’t satisfied when the eagle lands and they receive their paycheck every month. To make up for the lack of money they get from East, they work part-time elsewhere.

When theatre teacher Brian Cappello is done with his teaching and rehearsals for an upcoming play, he doesn’t go straight home to chat with his wife and kids. He drives off towards Kenmark, a theatrical backdrop company where he works four nights a week. There he sews backdrop blanks, made out of raw canvas, prepares them for painting, ships them, folds them, and checks them for ware.

“I’ve had a lot of part time jobs and this one is by far the best one yet. The owners are really flexible and I can choose my own hours. It’s a fun environment to work in,” Cappello said.

Two jobs and the theatre productions put Cappello on a tight schedule. He spends the little time he has left with his wife and kids.

“I don’t get to do those little things like help with homework. I usually do most of the family stuff on the weekends,” Cappello said. “The job is a double edged

sword. It’s great for the money, but I don’t get to spend nearly enough time with my family, especially with rehearsals and the show weeks.”

World History teacher Paul DeBarthe works after school as well. Going home after he finishes up his afterschool discussions, he only stays for a minute to change into his Sears attire and then heads out to sell freezers and refrigerators in the department store on Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday.

DeBarthe wishes he didn’t have to subsidize education with a second job, but it’s necessary thing to support his family and especially his diabetic wife’s health insurance bill.

“I have to pay $969,000 for health insurance a month, and that isn’t even half of it.” DeBarthe said. “Having a second job is what my wife and my children have always known. It’s one of those realities we have to acquiesce to.”

DeBarthe says he enjoys seeing former students who come shopping there. In the summer, work gets even more enjoyable. DeBarthe not only works at Sears, but he also spends a lot of time doing archeology project volunteer work at places like Far West Culture Center, Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation and Mormon History Sites.

Hobby or life support, a teacher’s life and humble salary don’t satisfy some teachers at East. Be conscious of the fact that before your teacher grades a biology lab, they might be SOCIAL studies teacher Paul DeBarthe at his job at Sears where working double shifts at Best Buy. he earns additional income in order to live the life he wants. photo by Kate Larrabee

CAPTURING MEMORIES ONE PHOTO AT A TIME. •SENIORS •FAMILIES •CHILDREN •WEDDINGS •SPECIAL EVENTS •BLACK AND WHITE

20% OFF TOTAL ORDER WITH THIS AD Lisa Welsh Proprietor 3002 W. 71st St Prairie Village, KS 66208 (816) 797-4005

Mar. 7, 2005

a T-Be rs Photo g

By L raphy isa

16

Guru says:

� � � � � mixed 30thoughts second

the harbinger

“

If you want to soar with the eagles in the morning, you can’t hoot with the owls at night.

”

What has been the best album you’ve ever heard?

“One” by the Beatles.

with

Why would a cartoonist make the ideal spouse?

They would always make you feel good by joking around Strawberries or cherries?

Strawberries Spotlights or disco balls?

Spotlights Are you a ‘draw inside the lines’ kind of guy?

No, because I am willing to go out and do anything

topgrade what’s cool

today

yesterday

The door broke along time ago. It is not available for knockage. Sorry. Yeah, that’s right. You read that correctly: you are no longer allowed to say any “Knock-Knock” jokes, um, because I said so. And hello, this is the YESTERDAY section. You may however say as many your momjokes as possible. Knock knock.

Who’s there? YOUR MOM.

what’s hot

“Verdad?” VERMOM! So I think I smell pretty good today, what do you think? I think your MOM SMELLS GOOD! The time has come. They have returned. And it’s amazing. Kinda.Yep. Your-Mom jokes are back and have, in the last weeks gained some serious steam among the immature and relatively intelligent alike. Brought on by the success of the classic Napolean Dynamite line that states that a certain maternal figure attends a collegiate institute, these classic jokes are making a joyous comeback that I am taking advantage of. You should too. Your goal for the next week: meet your quota of at least 10 YOUR MOM jokes per day.

Go out and annoy many! YOUR MOM ANNOYS PEOPLE!

lookout!

Seeing as we are inept little beings, our mind cannot yet comprehend what will be ‘funny’ in the near future. Due to our sociopychologicalfunnee development, our community needs time and proper introduction to a new joke and way of thinking. I expect a report analyzing possible “jokes” and oh yeah, those TPS reports.

“But the beginning of things, of a world especially, is necessarily vague, tangled, chaotic, and exceedingly disturbing. How few of us ever emerge from such a beginning@ How many souls perish in its tumult!” -Kate Chopin, “The Awakening” March 7, 2005

issue 12

ART’sHOUSE in the

a&e

17

“Art house” theatres, which specialize independent films, are all over Kansas City. Here’s a look at the three that are closest to Shawnee Mission East

GLENWOOD THEATRE Tickets- $6 to $8 9575 Metcalf Avenue The Glenwood Arts Theatres is the newest of the Fine Arts group. After the old Dickinson Theatre on Metcalf was torn down, the owners of the Glenwood bought the movie sign used to display the movie times. Nestled into abandoned Metcalf Mall, is an antique-style movie theatre, from a woman working in the ticket bubble to the old fashioned ice cream shop connected to the winding hallways to get to the second and third theatre. The first theatre, is the biggest of the batch, and usually is where the more “commercial” movies are being played. The Glenwood has often had commercial movies such as “Seabiscuit” or “Shall We Dance.” Once you wind down through the hallways it takes you to two, very small theatres. At these theatres, the screen is set higher and there is no incline. You are forced to just look up.

Glenwood

photos by Samantha Ludington

Rio

RIO THEATRE Tickets- $6 to $8 7024 W. 80th Street The Rio Theatre, clad in pink neon fluorescent lights, is one of the older-styled theaters with a less inclined floor that can turn disastrous for the vertically challenged. It has limited restroom facilities to match a limited staff. On a Friday night, the Rio staffs about two or three workers.

But even with these downfalls, the service at the Rio is outstanding. When they say “Service With A Smile,” they really mean it. The prices, though, are outstanding with an adult ticket on a Friday night being $6.

Tivoli

TIVOLI CINEMAS Tickets- $5 to $8 4050 Pennsylvania The Tivoli is a more upscale experience. Wedged in next to the Beaumont Club in Westport, it is one of the best movie theatres in Kansas City. After your ticket has been ripped, you climb up three flights of stairs where there is a nice and clean lobby. Popcorn prices are reasonable compared to the prices at Town Center. The theatres are more up to date here and the seats are quite a bit more comfortable than the old springy ones of the Rio.

Ben Whitsitt For five years and counting, the five minute film festival has brought the opportunity for young filmmakers to showcase their skills to the whole district. On April 7, all the time and effort that goes into making the films has the possibility of winning cash prizes up to $500. New and experienced students to the festival will test their abilities when the time comes in April. A panel of professional judges will have the executive decision in who wins and who leaves with nothing but the pride in their work.

One newcomer to the scene is junior Andrew Lindemann, doing his first film ever on the whiffle ball tournament in the fall of 2004. He follows one team, the Vanilla Chunks, as they battle other teams for the title of champions. Their journey is a short one, but it fits perfectly with the requirements of the festival because films aren’t allowed to be longer than five minutes.

Lindemann is also directing another movie: a comedy about one man’s voyage from Cuba to America. However, he is only able to turn in one film for the festival.

“I had a decision to make because there were two possible films that I was going to turn in, but I decided on the whiffle ball video because that is where a lot of my effort went into,” Lindemann said.

The journey to America film takes a comic approach to an actual real event that is happening in the world today.

Even though competition may be a factor at this year’s festival, Lindemann appears confident.

“This will be the first film festival I’ve gone to. I don’t really know what to expect, but I hope to win,” Lindemann said.

Another sports film comes from a veteran of the film scene, senior Kevin Lander. After doing films since his freshman year, Lander chose to make a comedy about miniature golfing. The story takes shape when two guys, seniors Charles German and Jordan Hacker, have to make up a lot of money and decide to enter a miniature golf tournament.

“I try to keep my five minute films to stuff that people like. I don’t do artsy films because when the film is over, most people don’t get it and it’s a waste of time,” Lander said.

Lander looks forward to the big turn out that usually shows up. He hopes to win after getting third place in the contest his freshman year but wants to maintain the fun that comes with filmmaking.

“I mainly do this just for fun. I try to make entertainment that students can understand,” Lander said.

A film career might be in Lander’s future, but he wants to focus on business and then a possible job in filming. He says that if he were to apply to a performing arts school, he would be able to turn in a couple out of his abundance of films.

Sophomore Weston Anderson decided to make a video outlining the “butterfly effect”. In other words, he displays how one person’s actions can affect the outcome

March 7, 2005

photo by Kate Larrabee

Students prep work for 5 Minute Film Festival

JUNIORS Andrew Lindemann, Bryan Medina and Alex Bergin film a movie for the 5 Minute Film Festival of something totally different. With his movie starting out with a bunch of kids playing marbles, the situation builds into another until finally, a tragedy occurs.

“I am trying to show how you don’t know what will happen after you do something insignificant until something huge happens,” Anderson said.

Seemingly unconnected events intertwine in Anderson’s film which is also co-directed by sophomore Jimmy Allen.

With the deadline for turning in films being March 24, students who haven’t started filming have little time to waste. This year’s festival should have no reason to be just as big as the last, and contestants can only hope that their pieces of art will reach stardom.

18

a&e

the harbinger

Down low

Jennifer Lopez’s latest CD is nothing new

she’s crazy for some guy and how she‘ll do anything for him. I just wonder how that From sexually perverse lyrics to practically the has anything to do with “ryding” or dying. same beat in every song, Jennifer Lopez has recreated However, the songs “He’ll Be Back” and another one of her CD’s, except this one is incorrectly “(Can’t Believe) This Is Me” are surprisingly titled “Rebirth”. It’s just too bad that Lopez decided to original. Even though they both talk about make the same thing all over again. her love life again, they actually have a different The CD starts out with Lopez’s single “Get Right” beat. The music is more appealing because it’s not featuring annoying noise makers like the kind you the same thing you’ve been listening to for the past 45 receive at your best friend’s fifth birthday party. The minutes. Even though the lyrics aren’t great on either music never varied and I had to pop a couple of Advils of these tracks, I give some credit to Lopez for trying after listening to the song. her hardest not to sound the The next four songs deal same and to take us all out with basically the same of our misery. issues: sex and getting Just when you think drunk. Interestingly enough, it’s all over and you’ve there’s more than one way finished listening to to approach these subjects this original piece, and fill up around three we’re back to “Get It’s just too bad that Lopez minutes in four different Right,” except this decided to make the same ways. By the time you’ve time it features the thing all over again. finished listening to track rapper Fabulous. five, appropriately named Lopez probably had “Cherry Pie,” you’ve learned the right idea here all you need to know about the birds and the bees and because if people weren’t annoyed enough by what your older siblings do at college on the weekends. “Get Right” the first time, then they can listen After you listen about the scandalous life of Lopez to the remix and perhaps be more impressed several times over in different ways, you get four more because there’s an actual rapper. Instead of tracks that sound exactly the same. The shimmering just hearing a breathy Lopez talking about background chimes are overused and the bass keeps the getting drunk and going home with yet same beat in each song talking about the romantic side another random guy, you get to hear the of her love life. I did enjoy this section of the CD a little guy’s point of view through Fabulous. better because there are some real meanings behind the After resisting the urge to destroy songs, but once again she seemed to be trying to do the this CD, I decided to take it back and get same thing in too many ways. something out of it. I don’t think Lopez The song “Ryde or Die” is named inaccurately. gave her “rebirth” a very good effort Instead of the funky, I-feel-like-dancing tune I was because this CD sounds like everything preparing myself for, Lopez once again explains how you’ve heard from her before.

Ally Heisdorffer

“Rebirth” Jennifer Lopez

“ ”

photo courtesy Sony Music

Johnson’s new album gets it done

photo courtesy Fresh Clean Media

JACK Johnson strums his accoustic gutair.

Erin Morrissey Well, Jack Johnson has done it again. With his third album, “In Between Dreams,” he has managed to top his near-perfect first two “Brushfire Fairytales” and “On and On”. He has matured both lyrically and instrumentally to create a finished product that is simply extraordinary.

Certain songs on the album seem as though they were crafted for the sheer purpose of relaxing. On the third track, “Banana Pancakes,” he croons about taking it slow and eating breakfast in bed. Such trivial subject matter could easily turn into the basis for a teeny-pop-esque song.

However, with Johnson’s mellow acoustic guitar and husky vocals, even the most happy-go-lucky song holds some

weight.

I really only had two small qualms with this album.The However, not all the songs on the album are about first is that several of the songs on the album sound vaguely such cutesy things as fruity breakfast foods. The truly reminiscent of other tracks. This repetitiveness is a tad impressive thing about Johnson is that his lyrics actually bit disappointing. However, although they’re somewhat have meaning, which is a refreshing deviation from the frequently used, the beats are still terrific. I really don’t norm of today’s pop culture. He has never been one to avoid blame him for this: why fix what isn’t broken? Besides, writing of current world issues, as songs on “On and On” he displays his versatility in other ways. On the shortproved. “In Between Dreams” is no exception, as Johnson but-sweet track, “Belle,” he starts off speaking in French, makes listeners aware of his opinion on the current state of something you rarely hear. the world. The fact that he does not My second issue was that the shy away from such controversial single that has been in rotation on topics but rather handles them the radio is the catchy track “Sitting, with such lyrical grace reveals his Waiting, Wishing.” This is a fairly cosmopolitan maturity both as good song, and perhaps the most a songwriter and a citizen of the radio-ready, but it is nowhere world in general. near the caliber of several other Johnson covers it all - and “Breakdown” shows Johnson’s songs on the disc. Johnson should ability to improve on something have chosen a single that better does a beautiful job. that’s already wonderful. Originally, showcases his extreme talent. he recorded this song with a hipOverall, the album is an hop feel with the Handsome Boy Modeling School for their enjoyable listening experience. Lazy guitar rhythms 2004 album, “White People.” However, he has re-recorded are often juxtaposed with funky backbeats, providing “Breakdown” for his own purposes. He has stripped it down interesting and unique melodies. The lyrics are just heavy to the bare essentials to prove that his raspy voice and enough to be meaningful, with just the right amount whimsical instrumentals are more than enough to make a of cushioning to keep them comfortable. From banana terrific song. The background ukuleles make you almost pancakes to bombs, Johnson covers it all—and does a feel as though you’re on a vacation to the tropics. beautiful job.

“In Between Dreams”

“ ” Jack Johnson

March 7, 2005

19

STOP! JUICE a&e

issue 12

In the name of

Unique smoothie shop provides various nutritious blends in their drinks Sara Steinwart

At Juice Stop, along with other smoothie stores there are mixes called Blends that can be added to the smoothie of your choice. These flavorless add-ins provide essential vitamins and herbs that target a specific purpose. These purposes range from weight loss to increase brain activity.

The Gingko Biloba, Kola Nut, Siberian, Red and Panaz Ginseng, and the Gotu Kola in the energy blend act as natural stimulants. These herbs all blend together to give that extra boost to make it through the day. This blend will add to physical energy along with mental energy. It includes substitutes for caffeine, and makes a great substitute for coffee.

*The Daily Blend The daily blend is the most popular blend. It consists of 51 different vitamins, minerals and amino acids. It is supposed to be equivalent to a multivitamin.

These nutrients can help fight diseases and keep people healthy.

*The Vitality Blend

This metabolism-increasing blend aids in weight management.

It uses chromium Picolinate, LCarmitine, Inulin IQ, Phosphtidvlserined and Citrimax to speed up the metabolism and increase weight loss.

By speeding up the metabolism it can help burn calories faster.

* The Smart Blend This blend is supposed to increase attention and stimulate mental awareness. It is supposed to get the brain working and thinking, thus increasing intelligence. The smart blend consists of Ginkgo Biloba, Korean and Siberian Ginseng and four other stimulants.

After drinking this blend the neurotransmitters will help to restore memory, enhance concentration and cognitive ability. Drinking this blend will increase intelligence in preparation for any task.

photos by Kelsey Stabenow

*The Energy Blend

* The Metabolic Blend

This is a powerful blend filled with antioxidants to purify the body. It consists of selenium and vitamin C to attempt to complete this purification. The Vitality Blend cleanses the system giving off a renewed and refreshed outlook on life.

* The Bran Blend This is a blend of oat and rice bran and Psyllium husks form to make a great source of water-soluble fiber. Fiber counteracts the fat and sugar intake by reducing the cholesterol of those who consume it.

* The Power Blend The power blend combines soy and whey protein along with Lacto Albumin and Inulin IQ to give off protein with essential amino acids for muscle growth.

This helps build muscle mass and increase strength.

*The Wellness Blend The wellness blend uses a mixture of Echinacea, purpurea, Goldenseal root, vitamin C, calcium and citrate zinc to boost the immune system. These herbs go in and fight the immune system to try and break down any infectious conditions by increasing natural killer cell activity.

WORKERS at Juice Stop prepare their made-to-order smoothies.

* The Green Blend JUICE Stop offers 3 different sizes for their drinks: a 32 oz. large for $4.95, a 24 oz. regular for $3.95, and a 16 oz. small for $2.95.

The green blend is a mixture of nutritious “green” foods. “Green” foods are filled with vital nutrients that aren’t found in such a great abundance in any other place. These “greens” are Spirulina, Barley Grass Juice, Alfalfa Grass Juice, Cholrella and Norwegian Dulse.

Bring this coupon and receive 2 Single Topping Queen Pizzas for $13.99 6846 Johnson Drive Mission, KS 66202 913-789-7117

5285 W. 95th Street Overland Park, KS 66207 913-381-3338

Expires June 16, 2005

March 7, 2005

20

sports

the harbinger

More to life than the

Upper Left: GETTING limber, freshman CJ Giles stretches and blows a bubble at a recent practice. Upper Right: LOOSENING up (left to right) sophomore Jereymy Case and freshmen Darnell Jackson and Alex Galindo stretch their legs with elastic bands. Lower Right: LOOKING up, Ellie Weed asks Giles questions at a recent team practice.

GAME

KU basketball players try to make the most of their college experience Ellie Weed

Renting the latest video game, shopping at the mall.

Don’t bother them when they’re trying to sleep- be sure not to bother them when they’re trying to eat. Not many people will see them around the University of Kansas campus, but everyone can always see them on the basketball court.

After a full-time schedule completely occupied with basketball, KU players have a minimal amount of time to relax. During the little time that they do have to themselves, theyexpect to be pestered everywhere they go.

“When we’re trying to eat, people come up and ask questions,” freshman CJ Giles said. “People will bother us everywhere.”

After a loss, it only gets worse.

“People go overboard with it,” sophomore guard JR Giddens said. “They’ll come up and say ‘Why’d he do this?’ or something like that-but it’s just like, just let us play. All we wanna do is play.”

Most players realize that it comes with the game and try to not let it get to them.

“People say slosh stuff about my game, but I try to flip it on you- keep it positive,” senior Keith Langford said.

“People came up us and were like ‘You gunna work on your jump shot?’ or ‘You ready to play better than you did in Philadephia Their quick hands on the basketball court have transferred over to their Playstation system - each player spends the very little off time they have playing video games

Numbers from the court

109

Number of wins for point guard Aaron Miles as a starter. The most wins for any starter in the nation.

19.2 Number of points Wayne Simien scores per

game this year. He is the leading scorer in the Big XII

10.8

Number of rebounders Wayne Simien pulls down per game this year. He is the top rebounder in the league and eighth in the country.

3 Number of games the Jayhawks lost in a row while all-star walk on Christian Moody was on the bench with a staph infection.

and going out as a team.

Nearly everything they do together is competitive.

“We live to compete,” senior Michael Lee said. “We’ll play cards, Playstation, bowling- it’s all competitive.”

On top of the classes, busy basketball schedule, and little bit of fun activities, each player also values his personal time.

“I like to write,” Lee said. “I’m like a rapper slash poet, I

March 7, 2005

guess you could say.”

Some player’s athleticism has been transferred to other sports. Whenever he gets chance, Giles likes to play golf.

But the free time is very limited. They’ve only got 24 hours in their day, and while most college students are busy studying, going to class, partying, and getting involved with fraternities, the basketball players don’t have time for that kind of thing. But they feel that they have their own fraternity, anyways.

“Basketball is a fraternity for us,” Lee said. “These are my best friends. I spend almost all my time with them.”

During practice, after being hassled by the press, players warm up and stretch with their closest teammates.

“We all hang out together, but then there’s like, groups within the team,” sophomore JR Giddens said. “There’s the sophomores, like me and Case and some other guys, and then there’s the seniors- everybody kind of has their group on the team.”

For some, it gets to be a little too much.

“I see these guys more than I like to,” Langford said. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s great, but I try to keep in touch with my friends that aren’t on the team as much as I can.”

But they don’t think they’re missing out on anything.

“I’m really having a good time at school,” Langford said.

“I may not be having as fun as some guys, but you know, I’ve got my playstation and my basketball. What more do you need?”

sports

issue 12

Making a major difference

21

Once thought of as cupcakes, the Mid- Majors have shown people they should be taken seriously in March M i d - majors. It is tough for small schools to really break into the and everyone was enamored with their success because

Gordon Culver o r s in my own words arem a j teams

with smaller budgets from smaller schools in smaller conferences. They are the type of team that when they find success in The Big Dance, people latch onto them because they are that particular year’s Cinderella. They are everyone’s favorite underdog.

The rest of the year however, no one cares about them and no one recognizes their ability.

The way people use the term mid-major today is absurd. Mid-major is supposed to refer to the size of the school or conference a team comes from. Today, more and more, it is used as a way to describe a team’s talent level, or at least the type of mediocre talent a team should have.

Calling a team a mid-major is a way to keep the little kids away from the grown up’s table where the power conferences eat. It is a way for the members of the big six conference teams and their supporters in the media to reserve all the hype, national TV games and spots in national preseason magazines for the big boys.

These schools may be small, but this is basketball. This is a game where there are only five people on the court for each team that play both offense and defense. This is a game where one player can change the entire team. All it takes is one guard who has great court vision or a big man who can get you 15 points and 10 rebounds.

In football, I understand when teams are labeled as mid-

ranks of the power conference. This past year was the first time since the Bowl Championship Series started that a team from outside of a BCS conference, Utah, got into one of the four big games. In football, a coach has to find 11 good to great players to start on each side of the ball, not to mention the rest of the substitutes and special teams players. Even with the freedom of equal number of scholarships and a strong fan base, the allure of playing football in a 70,000person stadium for or against the likes of Texas or USC is to much to overcome. The only thing a mid-major can offer is a small stadium with small crowds and no chance of taking home a national title or any important bowl game.

In basketball, recruiting is not as much of a problem.

Small schools lots of times have gyms with just as good an atmosphere as large schools and even have the opportunity to schedule the Dukes and KUs of the nation on a regular basis. Another advantage for the smaller schools in basketball is the fact that the larger schools, in a given year, only get to fill three or four scholarships. This means there is plenty of talent left after the big boys have had their pickings, talent that is more and more willing to attend a mid-major as opposed to a major conference team that perennially resides in the bottom half of their conference’s standings.

The stereotype for mid-majors is that they aren’t able to make find success in the NCAA tournament. However, with the type of talent lots of mid majors have been able to gather, this is totally false. The best, most recent example of a small school’s rise to greatness has been the Gonzaga Bulldogs. In the late 90s they went to the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight

they thought of it as being so unlikely.

People have the idea that mid-majors will settle with low-level talent whose only advantage is the fact that they try hard. This is not the fact though. Mid-majors, especially Gonzaga, have shown a knack for landing top level talent.

It seems like people would rather equivocate a mid-major with a high school as opposed to the power conference teams. People think that since these schools are small that, like a high school, they would be limited to the talent in their immediate area. This is ,however, far from the truth.

Small schools have just as much access to talent across the nation and the world as large universities. Just this season, one of Gonzaga’s stars is not from around their Spokane, Washington home, but Rony Turiaf came all the way from France to play. Utah’s star player, a legitimate player of the year candidate who is posting 21 points and 11 rebounds per game, comes from Australia. Small schools have shown that they are just as adept at bringing in talent from far away as big schools.

When people talk about Gonzaga anymore they say they aren’t a mid-major. Has something changed about the school size or something? No, people are obviously just using the term mid-major as a qualifier to mean low talent. Tons of small schools have high levels of talent and with the NCAA tournament can have some sort of a chance to compete for a national title.

Give smaller schools the respect they deserve, recognize they have the talent to compete or your bracket will be totally broken by multiple mid-major teams.

Some of the Mid-Majors expected to make an impact

Gonzaga-Led by 6’8” sophomore Adam

Morrison, the ‘Zags are 23-4 and ranked 13 in the AP polls. They will get somewhere around a three or four seed in the tournament.

Pacific- The Tigers are ranked 17 in the AP poll and are 23-2 ( 16-0 in conference). They are led by 6’8” forward Christian Maraker, 14 ppg. They will most likely be seeded fifth or sixth.

Utah- The Utes are 24-4 and ranked 15 in AP poll.

They are led by 7’0” Aussie Andrew Bogut who is averaging a double double (20 ppg, 11 rpg). Expect them to get a 5 or 6 seed in the tournament

Beating the Unbeaten PeterGoehausen in my own words

Undefeated Illinois may have a tougher time in the tournament

So you’re one of those fans who hates to see a team run the table.

This season the only madness you want to see happen is for the Illinois basketball team to lose because they are playing better then the Jayhawks and if anyone’s going to run the table for certain is has to be KU. (Don’t worry I am t h e same way.) Well I’ve got good news and bad news for you. First for the bad news: The Illini are a perfect 28-0, 14-0 in the Big Ten. Their average win margin is nearly eighteen and their closest game was a five point win in overtime against Iowa.

Now for the good news, the Illini are beatable. Yes, if it hasn’t been said before, it has been now. The Illini are one heckuva team, don’t get me wrong. However they do have some major weaknesses. Illinois has not exactly had the hardest run to perfection, with their only legitimate wins coming against Wake Forest, Michigan State, and Gonzaga.

I mean, the Illini aren’t even ranked first in the RPI, ratings that combine a team’s schedule strength with their overall record. Our beloved Jayhawks rank about the Illini in the RPI, because they have played the toughest schedule in the

country.

Now is where I come in, to tell how to beat Illinois and who is going to beat Illinois.

1. Play a 3-2 zone: The Illini have possibly the best three guard combination ever. Senior Luther Head and juniors Derron Williams and Dee Brown are averaging over 56 percent of Illinois points, so to contain them, their must be a team out their good enough to run the zone.

When KU lost to Syracuse in the championship, the 3-2 zone allowed effectively contained them. Though Syracuse lost most of their roster, Jim Boheim runs one of the best 3-2 zones in the game that could contain the trio from behind the arc, 50 percent of the points the guards score are from three point land, and it will deny the quick Dee Brown the opportunity to drive on them. Another likely candidate to stop them with the zone would be UConn, who doesn’t have a starter below 6’3”.

2. Exploit the inside: This is the Illini’s biggest weakness, their inside game. Down low, they have 6’11” James Augustine, who is barely worthy of a D-I scholarship, let alone a starting spot on the number team in the country.

He is averaging seven rebounds per game as the only legitimate rebounder on the team. Also down low is Roger Powell Jr. Powell’s ability to is second to none in the post, but his 6’6” frame takes away from him being a major threat.

March 7, 2005

Illinois’ guards are amazing; however, their post players are lacking and a team with a big, powerful post player should have their way with the Fightin’ Illini.

The team with one of the best chances of exploiting Illinois inside is Connecticut. They have two sophomore monsters in 6’10” Josh Boone and 6’11” Charlie Villanueva, who would have their way against Illinois. One of the main reasons UConn will beat Illinois if they have the chance, is because of their size and dominant post play.

3. Catch Illinois on an off day: Though this one is selfexplanatory, it is probably the most important of them all.

They are human and they do have their off days. Take for example the Iowa game where they shot a whooping 33 percent from the field and 21 percent from behind the arc.

The Illini are a darn good team and if they are hot, it’s going to take a great team to beat them. But when they come out cold, they are just a mediocre team. When a team has to play six games to win the national title, there is a pretty good chance they will come out flat at least once.

Can Illinois become the first team in 31 years to go undefeated through the whole season? Well I am not Miss Cleo but my predictions are that they won’t. They will cruise to the Elite Eight, but lose a tough game to a more physical team.

23

sports

issue 12

Swim team wins 6A state title

Sarah Tisdale

“Jumping into the pool and celebrating with my Brandon Barnds, Kevin Reene and John Cook as well as teammates knowing that we were undefeated and state sophomore Luke Tanner, was champions was a great feeling,” senior Mark Modrcin said.

After all of the celebrating in the pool with their coaches what clinched the state title for the Lancers. The relay team and fellow teammates and after receiving the state title also set a state record with a trophy, the realization that they had actually won state time of 1:27.21 and finished finally started to sink in.

“It wasn’t so much a shock when we won because we over three seconds faster than the team that took second from had been winning all year,” Tanner said. “It was just really weird. It finally started to make sense when we got home.

Olathe South.

“We had only lost our relay We finally understood that we had achieved our goal” After last year’s disappointing third place finish, the once coming into state, and that was to Rockhurst and they swim team found redemption this year, bringing home aren’t in our state,” Barnds said. the school’s seventh state title in swimming and first since “We felt confident that we could 1990. With none of the members of the state champion win. We only really felt pressure relay teams graduating, and almost every member of the state team returning, the expectation of another state title to set state records.”

When the team arrived at is inevitable.

“Next year the future is so bright,” Modrcin said. “If they state they didn’t feel as though COACH Wiley Wright talks to the swim team during practice. The boys won both they needed to take a different (next years team) don’t take first in state, it would be an league and state this year. approach to the meet. They figured that they would prepare extreme disappointment.” to execute the same way that they had all season since that Gordon Culver preparation drove them to an undefeated season.

“Obviously it is the biggest meet, but it wasn’t Minutes after the 100 yard free style race finished, there SME State Competitors that stressful,” Tanner said. “It was just a lot of fun to was doubt in the team’s mind about their chances for a state Josh Bayless100 breastroke title. The swim team-- who came into state as the favorite get to stay overnight there and room with the people Mark Modrcin50 freestyle that I like to spend a lot of time with.” after winning their second straight league championship-Brandon Barnds50, 100 freestyle, 200*, 400* free relay Tanner helped win the 200 yard freestyle relay thought their chances were fading. However, after the 200 John Cook- 50, 100 freestyle, 200*, 400* free relay yard freestyle relay, the team had no more questions about and the 400 yard free relay by almost three seconds.

Jack Chalfant- 200 freestyle, 500 freestyle where they stood. Following the race, the swimmers saw He also won an individual title in the 200 yard coach Wiley Wright walk over and pick up his extra bag of free style and third in the 100 yard freestyle after Mike Chalfant- 100 butterbly clothing. He deposited his wallet, shoes and watch in it, and finishing prelims with the fastest time by almost a Michael Horvath- diving second and a half. the team knew they had won the state title.

Kevin Reene- 100 freestyle, 200*, 400* free relay “The team title was so much more important; it “Wiley knew that we were going to win after the 200 Alex Sitomer- 100 breastroke yard free relay,” senior Mark Modrcin said. “He knew he was great,” Tanner said. “The individual titles were John Stolle- 100 breastroke was going to be thrown into the pool so he went to get his fine, but they would have meant nothing if we didn’t Andrew Block- diving end up winning the team title.” dry clothes.”

Michael Stalzer- 200 IM, 100 backstroke After the team won the state title, the seniors The Lancers beat last year’s state runner up, Blue Valley Luke Tanner- 100, 200* freestyle, 200*, 400* free relay North, who once again finished in second, only 22 points led the team in throwing their coach into the pool Brad Crist- 200 IM, 100 breaststroke out of first place. The third place team was last year’s state to celebrate the victory. Because of the immense champion, Lawrence Free State, who finished 96 points out success the team found, not only at the state meet, Brogan Runion- 100 butterfly, 100 backstroke but also during the rest of the season, the victory of first. *- denotes state title The 200 yard freestyle relay team, comprised of juniors was met with raucous celebration.

SP

SPORTS PANEL Predicting Outcomes Since 2002

Boys Bball State

Baseball Girls Swimming Boys Tennis Big XII Tourney NCAA Champions NCAA Tournament MVP

Gordon Culver Peter Goehausen Curtis Shank Ben Whitsitt Salina SE SMNW

Wichita East Olathe South

BV North SMN

BV North SM West

SM East Olathe East

SM East Olathe East

SM East SM East

SM South SM East

Oklahoma St. Wake Forest

Kansas UNC

C. Paul

R. Felton

Oklahoma St. Arizona S. Stoudemaire

Kansas UNC R. McCants

March 7, 2005

24 photo essay

the harbinger

Survival of SENIOR Stephanie Summers dribbles up the field at tryouts.

the

Fittest Girls battle for spots on the soccer team during tryouts

SOPHMORE Abby Jennings smiles as she joins a group with sophmores Megan Auld (left) and Blair Slapper. The last group to gather has to do a little extra practice.

photos by Kevin Grunwald

HEAD Coach Jim Ricker addresses girls trying out for soccer on Wednesday.

March 7,2005

SENIOR Kelsey Brooks evades Junior Emily Rappold at Wednesday’s tryouts.