Issue 5: Foreign Festivities

northwest

VOLUME 45 - ISSUE 5 - DECEMBER 2, 2013

FOREIGN FESTIVITIES .12

Respecting their own cultures and heritage, students celebrate American holidays

Blood drive .6 During the fall blood drive organized

by Student Council, students and teachers donated blood to the Community Blood Center

This Dish Served .19 When choosing Mexican fast food, Chipotle and Freebirds seem to offer similar things, so which one is truly best?

WE SUPPORT SMNW STUDENT ACTIVITIES

The King of Copies Colleen Winter Owner

13222 West 62nd Terrace Shawnee, KS 66216 Phone: (913) 962-0077 Fax: (913) 962-5577 Email: wbushawnee@gmail.com www.shawnee.wbu.com Twitter: @wbushawnee Facebook: Wild Birds Unlimited of Shawnee, KS

913-268-4343

CONTENTS

FOREIGN FESTIVITIES Holiday traditions celebrate joy, love and hope, by spending time with family and those we cherish most

CATCHING FIRE Our opinion of the new movie that is dominating the box office.

PHOTO BY KRISTI SENG

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PHOTO BY ADDISON SHERMAN

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PHOTO BY SAVANNAH KELLY

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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HUNGER GAMES EXPLORER

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY NATE COMPTON

VOLUME 45 - ISSUE 5 - DECEMBER 2, 2013

10 19

FROM THE HEART

BORROWED TIME

During the fall blood drive organized by Student Council, students and teachers donated blood to the Community Blood Center

After being diagnosed with cancer at 18 with only a 50/50 chance for survival, Spanish teacher Evelyn Thompson took a European tour on borrowed time.

THIS DISH SERVED

When choosing Mexican fast food, Chipotle and Freeb!rds seem to offer similar things, so which one is truly best?

EDITOR’S NOTE: Sarah Egger, co editor-in-chief

H

olidays have always been strange in my family. Because my mom got remarried, I’ve always celebrated holidays once, twice, and, sometimes, five times.

Winter break has always been a hectic time because the days are planned out to the minute. We don’t do Christmas any differently; we just celebrate it five times.

On Christmas Eve, my mom would always allow us to open one present. The present would have to be from a family member, because Santa Claus had not yet delivered our presents. We’ve had this tradition ever my mom was little.

Waking up at the crack of dawn the Saturday before Thanksgiving is how I spend my break. Because the cheapest flights to Florida seem to be the earliest, we always find ourselves at the airport groggy-eyed and before the sun even comes up. I can’t remember the last time I was at school the week of Thanksgiving. My dad’s side of the family would always have a family reunion over Thanksgiving break and it always made more sense to take off the entire week instead of just the three days we are given through the school.

We always go down to Tampa to visit my

aunt Ardyce. The week consists of visiting attractions including Busch Gardens, Walt Disney World, and Harry Potter World.

Thanksgiving day is spent cooking all of the food. All eight of us cram into my aunt’s kitchen trying to prepare dinner. Although our Thanksgiving dinner is never eaten at dinner time. We decided that we would eat as soon as the last dish was prepared which always turns out to be around 3 p.m.

Sincerely, Sarah Egger Co-Editor-in-Chief

STAFF

PHOTOGRAPHERS

THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE EDITORS-IN-CHIEF DESIGN EDITOR STAFF DESIGNERS

PHOTO EDITORS COPY EDITOR WEB EDITOR WEB MANAGER GRAPHICS EDITOR STAFF GRAPHICS DESIGNER NEWS EDITOR

Grace Amundson + Sarah Egger Grace Amundson Maddie Grimes Nate Compton Katie Addington Rachel Bateman Paden Chesney Nate Compton + Addison Sherman Lena Dennington Alaura Moore Haena Lee Mitch Feyerherm Calista Bohling Haena Lee

OPINIONS EDITOR FEATURES EDITOR SPORTS EDITOR ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR STAFF WRITERS

GUEST WRITERS ADVERTISMENTS EDITOR ADVISER

Sarah Egger Atalie Black Shelby Smith Kylee Hartl + Luke Megli Atalie Black, Keegan Dolinar, Sarah Egger, Paige Eichkorn, Sophie Flores, Libby Gregor, Kylee Hartl, Haena Lee, Ben Lucier, Luke Megli, Alaura Moore, and Shelby Smith Britta Coleman Sean Collins Daniel Mirocke Susan Massy

Jordan Absher Emilie Amunatigui Shelby Beaumont Nisha Bisht Ginny Bohling Randy Castellon Gabby Chavez Nate Compton Clara Davison Sarah Dean Katherine Dewitt Lauren Edwards Kate Jacobsen Nicholas Kahtava Savannah Kelly

MARKETING Jon Anderson Jordan Berry Abbi Bird Austin Bondurant Evin Copeland James Fisher Christopher Garcia Tristan Gerfen Nic Ghilardi Saliyah Henderson Carlos Hernandez Travis Hickman Mihailo Ilich

Teresa Pedroza Bryce Rex Kristi Seng Addison Sherman Lucas Silva Kristen Smith Taryn Smith Christa Stoll Lea Stuart Alexa Styers Sydney Taylor Nate Thompson Kyle Tong Isabelle Wallis Carleigh Whitman

Maddison Jarman Taylor Kangethe Daniel Kashani Mark Kimotho Evan Miller Tyler Nelson Jane Peterson Quincy Rast Kelci Scott Max Schnittker Elizabeth Stithem Hunter Thompson

The purpose of the Northwest Passage is to relay important and interesting information to the community, administration and students of the Shawnee Mission Northwest High School. As a newsmagazine, the Northwest Passage will cater to the interests and concerns of the student body. Outside concerns and activities will only be covered if they somehow affect the school or students. The Northwest Passage is a 24-page newsmagazine. The paper will be distributed every three weeks during fifth hour. Subscriptions will be available to the community for $25. The Northwest Passage firmly supports the First Amendment and opposes censorship. The content of the newspaper will be determined and created by the entire staff. When questions concerning word choice, legal problems or ethics arise the editorial board and adviser will discuss the problem to find the solution. In these cases, the co-editors-in-chief will have the say in all decisions. Letters to the editor will be accepted and encouraged, but will only be published if signed. The staff reserves the right to edit for grammatical mistakes, length and good taste. Letters may attack policy but not people. In no way will ideas or viewpoints be changed. The co-editors-in-chief reserve the right to refuse any letter.

northwest news a Northwest Hosts Financial Aid Night J

BY ATALIE BLACK

uniors, seniors and their parents attended Financial Aid Night 7 p.m.

Nov. 13 in the auditorium. Jeanne Mott, the senior director of financial aid at Baker University, led the event, and summarized the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), including the do’s and don’ts as well as any changes to the requirements.

“The biggest change is if you have two parents who are separated or divorced but are living together,”

counselor Angelo Giacalone said. “In the past, only one would have to claim their income, now both have to claim their income.”

FAFSA informs students and parents of what kind of financial aid they qualify for and how to obtain it.

The state deadline for FAFSA applications is June 30 and the federal deadline is April 1. College deadlines may vary.

PHOTO BY CARLEIGH WHITMAN

NW Area Choirs PerformED at Festival

BY SOPHIE FLORES

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he Chambers and A Capella Choirs performed with choirs from Trailridge, Benninghoven, Broken Arrow, Marsh, Mill Creek, and Shawanoe Nov. 14 in the auditorium.

The concert brings elementary, middle, and high schools together, allowing younger students to experience a rehearsal and performance with higher-level choirs.

“I love letting [NW choir director Scot] Schwartz work with my kids,” Trailridge choir director Jaime Tanner said. “When he says things that I say in class, they believe that it’s true. Anything that he does reinforces what I do. It helps us.”

The combined sixth-grade choirs began the concert with

PHOTO BY GABI CHAVEZ

“Charlotte Town” by Emily Crocker.

Songs performed by other choirs included “Don’t Worry Be Happy”

by Bobby McFerrin; a traditional Zambian song, “Bonse Aba”; and “Trashin’ the Camp” by Phil Collins, from the movie Tarzan. To end the concert, all choirs sang “God Bless America,” with Tanner directing the sixth-graders on the floor of the auditorium and Schwartz directing the eighth-graders and high school students on stage.

“Honestly, I think it’s one of my favorite choir concerts,” senior Rachael Birt said. “I feel honored just to be able to sing with [the little kids] because I never got the chance to when I was little.”

Orchestra to Perform Winter Concert

BY SOPHIE FLORES

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Adopt-A-Tot ChangeS process

BY ATALIE BLACK

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hour. All items will be placed in a laundry basket, which will then be placed in trash bag labeled with the child’s name and delivered to Head Start. Each fourth hour class has been asked to raise $150 to $200. In the past, classes raised as much as $400 while smaller classes were only able to come up with minimal amounts. The new system will insure that each child’s overall gift is roughly the same.

In addition to the $150 budgeted for generic gifts, classes are also encouraged to spend no more than $50 on a “stocking stuffed with goodies” for the child. The stocking will be presented to the child during class and opened at that time.

he Adopt-A-Tot program will change this year due to budget cuts and a resulting decrease in Head Start staff members who deal with holiday adoptions.

Rather than leaving gift decisions up to each adopting class, Head Start has created generic wish lists which include: preschool age-appropriate toys, early-age education books, building blocks or stacking toys, drawing pad and drawing utensils, winter hat and mitten sets, a mid-sized ball, a multipack of toilet paper, laundry detergent, wrapping paper, scissors, tape and a $25 gift card to a grocery store.

The 32 children will arrive on Dec. 6 and open their presents during fourth

StuCo hostS annual MSFD Dance

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and it was too easy for them. It gave [the freshman] an opportunity to play a harder piece, so it worked out well.”

Freshman and String Ensemble will play “Rock You Merry Gentlemen,” which is composed by Bishop. Camerata will play “Waltz of the Wicked,” and Chambers orchestra will play excerpts of the sound track from the movie Ratatouille. Chambers will also feature an elegy written by Huddleston in memory of his grandfather.

“Bishop knew that I have been composing for a while, and he’s a composer too, so I like to bring all my stuff to him and say, ‘Is this good? What can I do better on this?’” Huddleston said. “I brought him this one. He said we should do this at our concert, and I’m really excited that we’re going to program it.”

The orchestras will perform at 7 p.m. in the Greg Parker Auditorium.

he freshman, String Ensemble, Camerata and Chamber orchestras will perform their annual holiday concert Thursday.

Additionally, the apples and oranges sold in the orchestra’s fundraiser throughout November will be delivered to patrons. The proceeds from the sale help fund equipment purchases and travel fees for the organization.

“It’s the best concert they’ll ever smell,” director Jeffrey Bishop said, “because it smells like a big fruit basket.”

The concert program will feature holiday songs and original compositions

by Bishop and senior Ben Huddleston.

“They are already playing harder literature than they did in their first concert,” Bishop said. “One of the things that the freshmen are doing is something that I had originally planned for Camerata to do on the first concert,

he Mother, Son, Father and Daughter (MSFD) Dance, sponsored by Student Council (StuCo), was held at 8 p.m. Nov. 16 in the cafeteria.

The theme was “Dress for the Decades.” Juniors, seniors and their parents came dressed in apparel from the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s or ‘90s.

BY LIBBY GREGOR

The dance was the beginning of the canned food drive for the Johnson County Christmas Bureau. Parents and students who attended brought canned goods and their $5 entrance fee. The MSFD dance was a competition between the juniors and the seniors.

Overall, the dance raised $685

and collected 132 cans.

“The juniors won for the first time ever,” StuCo sponsor Sarah Dent said. “They had more juniors that attended, not quite as many cans but more people attended from the junior class. So they made more as far as the money and they won. It was amazing.”

NORTHWEST PASSAGE 05 a

NEWS

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From the Heart During the fall blood drive organized by Student Council students and teachers donated blood to the Community Blood Center

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he fall blood drive drew 192 students and teachers to the gym Nov. 5 to donate to the Community Blood Center.

After registering, the donors waited while a Community Blood Center staff member measured their heart rates, temperature and blood iron level.

“It was an OK turnout,” blood drive co-chairman Colton Allen said. “We had 145 units of blood donated, but there were a lot of rejections, and we weren’t expecting all of those. But, fall [donations are not] as high because there are not many 17-year-olds.”

The 145 units fell short of the 170-pint goal the school set for the drive.

Athletes are not allowed to donate on a day of competition or rigorous practice. With 37 deferrals and 20 donors unable to fill a pint, 57 donations were not counted.

“I felt guilty,” senior Hayley Nugent said. “I had this opportunity to really help some people and then wasn’t able to.”

To help meet the collection goal in the spring, Student Council is working with administrators to allow 16-year-old students to donate providing parental consent is given.

BY HEANA LEE

PHOTO BY SAVANNAH KELLY Squeezing a stress ball, senior Jillian Sommerfeld gets her blood taken into vials at the blood drive on Nov. 5. This was Sommerfeld’s first time giving blood. “Since it’s my senior year I want to do the most of what I can,” Sommerfeld said. “It’s the little things in life that can save someone else’s.”

PHOTO BY SAVANNAH KELLY Observing his blood-splattered arm, senior Colton Allen gets his blood drawn at the blood drive on Nov. 5. The blood drive benefits the Community Blood Center. “I feel bad for the people that are sick and need [blood],” Allen said. “I feel that if there is a way to help them I’m going to do it.”

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PHOTO BY KYLE TONG Senior Conan Brennan gives blood in the Main Gym on Nov. 5 during the annual Blood Drive. Giving blood will reduce cancer, heart attacks, and save someone’s life. “I wasn’t looking forward to the whole needle thing. I really don’t like needles, but it’s good to know that it will be put to good use,” Brennan said.

PHOTO BY SAVANNAH KELLY After collecting at least 5 vials of blood, the vials are taken back to the red cross testing center. About a dozen tests are performed on each vial to establish blood type and test for infectious diseases. “[People should donate blood because] it directly benefits our community,” junior Tom Green, blood drive coordinator said. “The blood is shipped to hospitals locally and used in 2-3 days.”

PHOTO BY KYLE TONG Junior Sam Sullivan looks at his arm while blood is being transported to the blood bag in the Main Gym on Nov. 5. When blood is transfused, they are getting red blood cells, platelets, and plasma. “I felt fine but I was scared I was going to feel bad at football practice. I was also relived because walking in I saw people lay down towels on their heads and a girl was throwing up into a bucket,” Sullivan said.

k in

nfo in

BY ATALIE BLACK

The Cougar was chosen as the

SMNW mascot by the student body in the fall of

1969

GRAPHICS BY CALISTA BOHLING + NATE COMPTON

The second movie in the Hunger Games trilogy

Catching Fire

“

premiered Nov. 22

earning

$161.1million

in the box office

Substance abuse can lead to on-thefield injuries, to alienation of the fans, to diminished job performance, and to personal hardship...NFL players should not by their conduct suggest that substance abuse is either acceptable or safe.”

all together northwest students

collected

10,794 cans and raised

$6414.96 for the

FOOD DRIVE

—NFL Policy and Program for Substances of Abuse

12,174

lives were saved in 2012 through the use of seat belts NORTHWEST PASSAGE 07 a

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SLOW DOWN AND SAVE SOME SPACE

BY LENA DENNINGTON

Parking in the high school parking lot is a madhouse

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hen I first got my car, I was so excited to finally drive myself to school. I would never have to wait in the long line, pile out of a minivan, or fight with my sister for shotgun. As soon as I got my parking pass, I would get to school early just to get a close parking spot.

BOOM. It happened. After tennis practice, three days after I got my car, someone took out the taillight of my nearly spotless, white Nissan. The light still works, but there is no longer a reflector covering it. I have no idea who did it, because the perpetrator didn’t leave anything but my broken taillight parts scattered around the car.

This school has some of the worst drivers I have ever encountered. First and foremost is a major lack of respect for the other drivers headed to the parking lot. I mean, if everyone could take a piece of humble pie and wait patiently, maybe there wouldn’t

be a mad rush after school.

Next, when turning into the parking lot, take your turn. Let someone go in front of you, then you go, ad nauseum. If we’re all trying to get into the lot at them same time, and no one lets anyone else go, no one is getting into the lot. Good luck making it to first period.

And what about leaving some space? Apparently, some people cannot see two yellow lines, because a car should only occupy one parking spot. However, some drivers feel the need to park centered over a line, rather than in between two. Is it really that hard to park between two bright yellow lines? Then there is tailgating.

According to seriousaccidents. com, tailgating is the No. 1 cause of motor vehicle accidents.

Finally, there’s, “But officer, I was only going 7 over.” Don’t be caught saying these words. We go to school next to an elementary school that dismisses students

at 3:10 p.m. The school zone light is always on after school and, contrary to what people may think, it’s the law, not a suggestion. That means you need to go 25. It’s a safety issue. I think you can spare a few seconds for a child’s life. So, slow down.

If people would learn to be kind, leave some space, and slow down, the parking lot would cease to be such a dangerous place.

Practice safe driving, but if you do hit someone’s car (and take out her taillight), leave your insurance information.

It’s obvious some of you don’t remember what you learned in drivers’ education class (even though you took it anywhere from three years to one month ago).

Please review the rules, practice patience, park in only one space and slow down.

Oh, by the way, if you are the person who hit my car, I’m still waiting for your insurance information.

CONFESSIONS OF A METALHEAD

BY KYLEE HARTL

Musical genres don’t define us as individuals

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y taste in music has changed a lot throughout the years, and now I’ve pretty much settled into a particular genre. There’s something satisfying about the screaming vocals, angsty lyrics and epic guitar riffs of metal.

But, when people ask what kind of music I listen to and I respond, people stare at me like I’m crazy.

“Oh, you like that emo music?

Do you cut yourself? You don’t look emo.” Comments like that frustrate me. Just because I like a certain type of music doesn’t mean I fit into some stereotype.

When I was in middle school, I listened to Ke$ha, Usher, Britney Spears and many other pop artists. I didn’t really like it, but everyone else listened to it, so I felt I had to. I had always been

a fan of rock, but not the kind of rock that they occasionally play on the radio. I liked heavy metal.

I think the thing that influenced my taste in music was my father. He’d blare some of the heaviest metal I had ever heard in my life: Slayer, Cannibal Corpse, Pantera. Nowadays, most of what I listen to is almost as hardcore.

Just because of my music taste, people think I have emotional issues. Alright, maybe I have my days when I’m depressed and I don’t want to socialize, but I have no more emotional issues than you do. My taste in music does not define my personality.

Just because I listen to a band that screams about death doesn’t mean I’m infatuated with death.

So, what? I’m going to dye my hair black, wear all black, go on

about death, start cutting myself and get 10 piercings on my face just because I listen to the band Bring Me the Horizon. Yeah, that makes sense.

The same thing tends to apply to other music. A person who listen to pop isn’t necessarily the stereotypical preppy girl or someone who parties all the time.

A person who listens to indie rock doesn’t have to be a hipster.

A person’s taste in music shouldn’t determine who she is as a person. One’s taste in music doesn’t have anything to do with how she acts, what she wears or her personality. People should focus more on listening to people instead of the music they’re listening to.

staff editorial

MASCOT MOCKERY

Although meant to represent strength, some spirit symbols are portrayed offensively

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ou probably hadn’t heard of Coachella Valley High School (CVHS), in Thermal, Calif., until their mascot landed them national attention early in November.

Instead of the typical animal, military figure or mythological creature, CVHS students are the “Arabs.”

The mascot’s uniform doesn’t celebrate Arab history or culture, but instead, is a cliché and offensive portrayal with a giant head mask sporting a malicious and even comical look. What’s more, belly dancers perform for the audience during the halftime show at football games. The Arab is at least a step up from their old mascot name, “The Desert Rats.”

The Arab does not represent their school population, as 99 percent of CVHS students are Latino. The Arab does have some historical relevance, however. Coachella, CA was discovered to be one of the best places to grow dates imported from the Middle East. To make dates more popular in America, farmers romanticized the Arabic culture in Coachella Valley. Coachella Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) Superintendent Darryl Adams told NPR that the mascot, the Date Pickers, was introduced in the 1920s and then changed to the Desert Rats and then to the Arabs in 1931 in hopes of connecting Arab culture and the Coachella Valley date farmers.

These farmers brought dates to the California valley from the Middle East. In early November, the AmericanArab Anti-Discrimination Committee contacted the school complaining about the inappropriate depiction of the Arabic mascot.

According to dictionary.com, a mascot is any animal, person, or thing adopted by a group as its representative symbol. So, how does the “Arab” positively represent the school community? How does it relate to Coachella Valley date farmers?

The appropriateness of a mascot is based on the portrayal of the mascot by the school and the perception that other schools have of it. Mascots are usually chosen for their strength, power and/or intimidation factor.

The Arab, as presented by CVHS, does not seem to meet any of these criteria. The massive headgear coupled with somewhat evil and cartoonish facial expressions is anything but intimidating. In our opinion, it seems to be comical in relation to the culture of the Arabs.

In fact, the school even has a mural of an Arab riding on a flying carpet, similar to the scene from Disney’s Aladdin.

A similar situation, although currently with less controversy, exists with Shawnee Mission North’s Indian mascot. Some could say that this is an offensive mascot in relation to the Native Americans. However, no controversy has arisen for SM North because the North Indians are portrayed as proud and powerful. The school even displays a Native American headdress in a shadow box at the entrance of the school. North is less at fault than Coachella because the heritage of the Native Americans is in no way being mocked. This is contrary to the comical representation of the Arab.

The Playwickian, the Neshaminy High School newspaper in Langhorne, Penn., announced the banning of the word “Redskins,” a nickname for the school’s football teams, from the paper in an editorial released Oct. 27. “Redskins” is considered by many to be a derogatory term for Native Americans. Two-thirds of the 21-member staff agreed with the article.

Neshaminy principal Robert McGee disagrees with the newspaper’s stand and wants to protect the Neshaminy mascot. Playwickian editor-in-chief Gillian McGoldrick argued the editors are being forced to say something that they don’t want to and that they find offensive.

According to the editorial, “The offensiveness of a word cannot be judged by its intended meaning, but by how it is received.”

The choice of any mascot isn’t the problem. It’s an issue of respect. If the mascot is portrayed in a way that celebrates the culture, problems rarely arise. But when the presentation is disrespectful or comical, a change of mascot must be encouraged if the portrayal cannot be improved.

Neither Coachella Valley nor Neshaminy see their mascots as inappropriate and certainly don’t mean for the mascot to be derogatory, but they aren’t the ones who stand to be offended.

Both schools should be proud of their mascots, but each needs to be sure that they respectfully portray the cultures involved.

23/01 AGREE

DISAGREE

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After being diagnosed with cancer at 18 with only a 50/50 chance for survival, Spanish teacher Evelyn Thompson took a European tour on

Borrowed Time S

panish teacher Evelyn Thompson went into the hospital when she was 18 for what she thought was appendicitis, or swelling of the appendix. A typical case results in one surgery to remove the unneeded organ, a few days to recuperate, and then life goes on. However, doctors gave Thompson a 50/50 chance for survival after magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed not only the expected inflammation of her appendix, but also signs of a rare form of colon cancer.

“That kind of changed my life plan, I guess you could say,” Thompson said. “I had a little bit more feeling of, ‘If I want to do something I need to do it now. I can’t just put it off until sometime.’”

Because her chance of survival was nearly 1 in 200, she dropped out of Emporia State University (ESU) and traveled to Europe, crossing off an item from her bucket list. She contacted Student Overseas Services (SOS), a company that gives jobs to students overseas and includes food and lodging for students throughout their stay. After requesting a Spanish- or French-speaking country, she was placed in Switzerland, where the national language is German. As a result, she couldn’t work as a waitress because she couldn’t converse with the customers. Instead, she worked in the kitchen for the first few months.

“Nobody else spoke English; that’s why I had to learn German. If I wanted a social life, I had to speak it,” Thompson said.

The staff of the restaurant wanted to prepare an American lunch in her honor. They asked her what supplies they needed to create a hamburger. Once they were prepared, she noticed something was off about the burgers.

“These don’t taste right. What are these made of?” She asked.

“Well, it’s a hamburger. They’re made out of ham,” the chef said.

NW Teacher Evelyn Thompson was diagnosed with a rare cancer. She does not only teach Spanish but coaches cheer also.

BY SARAH EGGER + SHELBY SMITH

PHOTO BY ADDISON SHERMAN

Evelyn

1. Cruise of Panama Canal

Bucket List

3. Travel to Iguazu Falls

Thompson’s

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She laughed and explained that the burger should have been made out of beef, not ham.

“They weren’t quite the same,” Thompson said. “They were looking at me like I was a freak when I was putting all of the stuff on my bun. I was putting on ketchup and mustard.

They don’t do that there. They thought that was a little strange.”

After about nine months, her visa expired.

She returned home, spent time with family, and eventually went back to ESU to finish her education.

“The cancer, it’s kind of an interesting story.

It’s one of those that only 1 percent survive. I was that 1 percent. I was very lucky,” she said.

“I’m living on borrowed time. I’m happy for every year I get.”

Her doctors officially said she was cleared of cancer 10 years after the initial diagnosis.

“I really try to take the time, not just for myself, but for other people to know how I feel,” Thompson said. “I wrote letters to my grandparents telling them what they meant to me because who knows when they could have a heart attack? It was ironic because one of my aunts said that [the letter] was one of my grandparents most treasured things.”

Although Thompson crossed “travel to Europe” off her bucket list, the list has continued to grow throughout the years. As she approaches retirement, she is expecting to cross many more things off her list.

“I’ve had some great years here, but there are so many other things to do in life,” Thompson said. “There are a lot of other things and adventures to take part in, and lots of other things I want to do.”

Thompson’s experience with cancer has taught her not to take life for granted.

“It has changed everything,” Thompson said. “I don’t assume that I’m going to have tomorrow — never have.”

2. Travel to Alaska

4. Go to Equador and visit the volcanoes 5. Visit every central and South American country 6. Go to Mexico and teach English

Staying off the Officer David Reindl fills out paperwork on Nov. 19 in the SM Northwest SRO office. Reindl has been an officer for 19 years. “Working at a school is kind of a little different mix of things, but I like it,” Reindl said.

PHOTO BY LUCAS SILVA

After being a street officer, then working for other schools, Student Resource Officer David Reindl began his career at NW

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itting in the dark black wheeled chair, Student Resource Officer (SRO) David Reindl watched as students did their hair, checked themselves out and made funny faces in what they thought was a typical mirror. Reindl laughed as they passed by.

Reindl, a former police officer, remembers the moment when he knew he had to return to work in an academic setting.

“I didn’t want to go back to a police department and have to work the streets,” Reindl said. “I’ve done enough of that.”

Reindl began working for Northwest Nov. 11. Before that, Reindl was a SRO at a middle school, then a financial advisor for Edward Jones. However, Reindl left the financial industry last year to return to schools. “[I wanted to] try a different career path, but that didn’t work,” Reindl said. “I wanted to come back to what I know, so I came here. I have a lot of friends here that work in the district; it all worked out.”

Before working as a financial advisor, Reindl worked as a SRO at a middle school for five years.

“The kids are different in middle school. [They’re] more mature in high school,” Reindl said. “They have different issues; we see more battery and assault at the middle school level.”

Reindl believes he will not have an issue fitting in at the school or with his new coworker, SRO Mark Coenen.

“It seems like the school officers are good, have

different personalities and work well together,” Reindl said. “I knew Coenen from years ago.”

Although Reindl sees high school students with similar issues, he believes that his office is more of a resource and less of a place for punishment. He also wants to get to know the students.

“I want to be a resource for everybody,” Reindl said. “It’s going to take a while to get to know everybody, because it’s the size of a little city here with 2,000 kids.”

Reindl stated that outside the little city of our high school, parents are the best resource to go to.

“This morning I had a parent come up and ask me for help with her child. Kids need to listen to [their] parents.

That’s the biggest advice I can give,” Reindl said. “They know what’s best for you.”

Other than listening to their parents, Reindl has another piece of advice for students.

“Think about it before you act, because a lot of kids act impulsively and don’t make the right decision and that gets them in trouble,” Reindl said. “If they thought for a split second before they acted, they would probably do the right thing.”

Overall, Reindl is looking forward to working for Northwest and hopes to make an impact.

“I want to be here as a resource and help in any way I can,” Reindl said. “I’ve got 19 years of experience being an officer. I think I can bring a lot to the new job.”

BY Lena Dennington + Sarah Egger

PHOTO BY LUCAS SILVA Officer David Reindl drives through the SM Northwest student parking lot while scanning for missing parking permits on Nov. 19 Reindl started his job at NW on the previous week due to the retirement of Hank Goodman.

“I like the students and staff at the school. They’re all nice and make it a fun job,” Reindl said.

PHOTO BY NATE COMPTON Officer David Reindl works on the computer in the SRO office on Nov. 13. Reindl was a police officer of Overland Park for 12 years and previously worked in the blue valley districts before coming to Northwest this year. “I’ve worked in the schools for 8 years. It’s a fun atmosphere, you guys probably don’t think that being in school all the time,” Reindl said.

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FESTI VITIES Regardless of cultural background, the holidays are a time for friends and family to be together.

They are a time to be thankful and to celebrate family heritage.

Traditions are handed down from generation to generation and give the holidays meaning.

Every Christmas in Estonia, foreign exchange student Mirell Molder’s aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins gather for a Christmas Eve dinner. The meal includes meat, potatoes, sauerkraut, black pudding and blood sausage.

Afterward, the family goes for a walk in the graveyard, putting candies on graves, and then returning home to open presents. When she was younger, Molder remembers an actor dressed as Santa Claus coming to her house and giving her presents. This year, her parents will hire an actor to carry on the tradition for her 8-year-old brother.

Now that Molder is older, she has to work for her presents by performing some type of entertainment for her family.

“We have to perform somehow to get a present, so we sing or dance or read a poem,” Molder said.

“It takes a long time like at least an hour. I’m not a good singer, so I usually read poems.”

After performing for and receiving her presents, Molder remembers watching Christmas movies and concerts broadcast on TV. “I love all the Home Alone movies; they’re so funny,” Molder said “Sometimes they get annoying, but it’s Christmas, and you have to watch them.”

Now a foreign exchange student, Molder will spend time with her host family. She is scheduled to switch to her second semester host family during the holidays.

“It’s sad [being away for the holidays], but I want to see what you do here, so I’m not thinking

about it,” Molder said. “I know that they miss me, but my family is not alone. They have uncles and aunts, so they will be fine.”

Similar to Molder, foreign exchange student Adam Hofmeister is oceans away from his home in the Czech Republic this Christmas.

During the holidays in the Czech Republic, Hofmeister’s family has a tradition of going skiing. The day after Christmas, his extended family meets at a relative’s house for lunch.

Traditionally, his family eats carp; however, Hofmeister’s favorite holiday dish is schnitzel, a tenderized meat coated with breadcrumbs and fried.

Hofmeister is looking forward to learning about American traditions and will go with his host family to visit relatives in Colorado.

“I’ve been with [my family] for 18 years so I’m not going to miss them after a few months,” Hofmeister said. “I really don’t [miss them now].

Is that weird? I mean, I’m having fun here.”

While Hofmeister embraces American traditions, sophomore Israel Soto and his family work to combine American traditions with Mexican ones.

In Mexico, Soto’s family and friends celebrate Christmas with a big dinner on Christmas Eve. Although Soto is originally from Massachusetts, he moved to Mexico when he was four years old and has adopted Mexican traditions since then.

Currently, Soto is enrolled in English Language Learners (ELL).

For the dinner, Soto’s family incorporates aspects of both American and Mexican culture in their food. Along with traditional American foods like ham, they eat burritos, tacos, tamales and frijoles. In Mexico, tamales are made on only very special occasions because they take more than

Students celebrate American holidays while still respecting their own cultures and heritage

two hours to make. Soto’s family makes these along with the many other dishes for Christmas.

“We have dinner [and] exchange presents,” Soto said. “Then we pray for God and his works.”

Soto and his family plan to travel to Texas to celebrate Christmas with family members who reside there as well as Mexican relatives who will join them.

Lina Donath, a German foreign exchange student, will teach her American family about her culture while learning about theirs.

Donath’s family and friends come together for a Christmas Eve party. Since Donath and her sister are vegetarian, they prepare salads, pasta and desserts. Family and friends bring other dishes.

Everyone exchanges presents that night. They do not celebrate on Christmas day, although they have the day off school and work.

In German markets, actors dressed as Santa Claus can be seen walking around the markets. Children talk to him and receive small presents and candy. The markets, called Christkindlesmarkts, also showcase food, music and dramatic performances.

This year, Donath will be celebrating with her host family. They plan to have relatives come over for a big family dinner and gift exchange.

She looks forward to spending time with her host family.

“A lot of people say exchange students will be homesick or miss their family [around Christmas],” Donath said. “I don’t know. I think I have more moments during the year where I miss them, more personal moments. Christmas isn’t such a huge thing for me.”

BY PAIGE EICHKORN + LIBBY GREGOR

e

�

Although there are many holiday traditions and practices in other cultures the, holiday survey results reflect the general traditions of the winter holidays amongst NW students.

46%

o o l

s d I s t

of people go shopping on Black Friday shopping

islam

religion

judaism hinduism buddhism

s e e d c

r e . t

33% christianity

e r

r r d . o y

45

of people eat Turkey as their main dish for Thanksgiving, while ham is eaten by

other / no religion

65

of people have aN ARTIFICIAL TREE

29

of people have A REAL TREE

101 195

people celebrate Christmas, while

3

195 celebrate Hannukkah

* statistics taken from a total of 195 surveys of students

26 OF PEOPLE CELEBRATE THEIR HOLIDAy before the actual date 64 of people celebrate their holiday on the actual date 6 of people celebrate their holiday after the actual date

55 of people celebrate the holidays with both friends and family

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PHOTO BY CLARA DAVISON

Lisa Gruman, Principal After working as an administrator for 10 years, Lisa Gruman assumes the role of interim principal

BY SARAH EGGER + ATALIE BLACK

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ven when I was younger, I would play school and do spelling lists with my friends or work with a math workbook,” principal Lisa Gruman said.

“I’ve always liked school.”

In her new role as interim principal, Gruman has moved from playing school to running one. Gruman began her career at SM North, working as a math teacher for four and a half years before transferring to Northwest.

“I enjoyed my time at North, but there was an opportunity to teach some different classes here, to teach some honors and advanced,” Gruman said.

“I made the switch and [have] enjoyed it here ever since.” This is her fifteenth year at Northwest.

In 2011, Gruman received the Milken Educator Award during a school-wide assembly. The Milken Family Foundation has recognized more than 2,500 educators for forging new pathways in the realms of education. Each educator receives $25,000 from the foundation.

According to the Milken Family Foundation website, Gruman was honored because she “was always visible in the building and is often described as an administrator who works with students on an individual level.” Gruman also worked closely with the students to help improve reading and math achievement.

“It was so overwhelming for me because people were happy that I was receiving that award,” Gruman said. “The support was tremendous, and I think that when you have your school recognizing your efforts — I think that’s so rewarding.”

In her past 10 years as an administrator, Gruman worked closely with former principal Dr. Bill Harrington, learning the responsibilities of being a principal. In mid-October, Harrington’s retirement was announced and Gruman was named the interim principal.

“It’s a different perspective, [being interim principal]. I felt like I worked very closely in some regards with our school improvement process and with the curriculum,” Gruman said. “There are a lot of things that are still different, like responsibilities.

I need to make sure everything is working as efficiently as it should.”

Above all, Gruman is proud of the students and staff and wants them to know that she is approachable.

“If you have a concern, come see me — staff, students, anybody. If you have a celebration come see me.” Gruman said “I really want to know what’s going on in the school. I want to be a part of that. I want to know what’s working well, what to celebrate, and what things we can improve upon.”

PHOTO BY NISHA BISHT

Chaussee Wendling, Assoc. Principal Former Trailridge social studies teacher becomes an associate principal after Harrington’s retirement BY HAENA LEE

A

10

ssociate principal Chaussee Wendling sat with a students during lunch Nov. 18.

After speaking with them she was stopped by a basketball jersey hanging over her face. She turned around to face former student Josh Karlin, junior, standing behind her.

“How were basketball tryouts yesterday?”

Wendling asked.

“It was good,” Karlin said.

“Are you sore?”

“A little, I had to do push-ups for tryouts.”

“Well, good luck,” Wendling said. “Keep me updated on how it goes.”

Wendling is a 1997 South graduate who worked for the Frito Lays plant in Topeka after graduating from University of Kansas in 2011 with a bachelor degree in Liberal Arts and Science. After working there for a year, she transferred to Denver as a warehouse manager.

“I did a lot of the mentoring program, and things like that, and I was able to teach,” Wendling said. “It was wonderful because I got to apply some of my leadership skills...I loved the teaching aspect of the job, so that was what made me get my degree.”

After receiving her teaching certificate she began teaching at Trailridge Middle School in

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2007 as an eighth grade social studies teacher.

“Teaching is the best,” Wendling said.

“Every day is different. That’s why I loved teaching. Every time you teach, you see those light bulbs go off. It really is fun, those “a-ha” moments when you’re talking and a student understands and they get it.”

After being notified that there was a position at Northwest she immediately filled in as an associate principal.

“I get out in the classrooms, and the job is like any other administrator’s,” Wendling said.

“There are in-services I go to sometimes. Not only do I get to help with the staff development here and I get to help with students, I do get to go to professional development trainings to learn myself.”

Working as an associate principal, her goal is to help every student to succeed.

“If you put your mind to it, you can get through anything,” Wendling said. “Pretty much I have an open door. Hopefully, I’m not in the office too much and more in the hallways and in the classrooms. I want to be a positive influence, and I want them to know that I am here for them...You will learn so much in high school in the classroom, and you will learn so much outside of the classroom.”

Senior Connor Johnson and Alex Springer drops off can in the back of the woods room from the canned food drive on Oct. 11. Stuco members were going to classes during lunch, collecting cans and monkey. “My experience with the can food drive was very filling. It felt so good collecting all the cans and money knowing they are going to a good cause,” Springer said.

PHOTO BY NISHA BISHT

CANsas Cares Students exceed expectations during the fall canned food drive

T

PHOTO BY NISHA BISHT Senior Carolina Mach adds her cans to the accumulated pile in the Northwest basement Nov. 15. The student body collected over ten thousand cans and six thousand dollars, beating its goal. “The canned food drive was so successful this year. We raked in so many more cans than we had anticipated, so many that we had to order more boxes to transport them. It was a little chaotic, but it was chaotic in the best way” Mach said.

PHOTO BY NISHA BISHT Senior Brady Skeens counts the pennies from the Canned Food Drive on Oct. 12 in room 132. During lunch, STUCO members counted money and cans as they were being collected to keep track of the rapidly growing proceeds.

TOTALS

$6414.96 10,794 cans

he first time math teacher Randi Platko told her precalculus class about the canned food drive was fifth hour on Oct. 11, the kickoff day of the annual charity.

“Here’s the deal,” she told her class.

“We can go for the win, or we could just be good Samaritans and members of the community and donate. If we’re going for the win, we’re doing it right.”

We’re going for the win, the class responded. Juniors Emma Rutherford, Jana Kotzman and Molly Sasenick volunteered to become team captains as soon as Platko asked.

“We made a group text,” Sasenick said.

“Everyone would text the number of cans they had every night. We won because the whole class really just came together.”

The captains called Aldi, Hen House, Hy-Vee and Price Chopper to ask for donations. Sasenick and Platko’s fifth hour lab assistant Zachary Ziegenhorn went trick-or-treating for cans, similar to what StuCo does, and received 86 cans.

“Everybody just kind of worked together,” Platko said. “It kind of became the thing to do. It was popular.”

The three captains and Ziegenhorn

Large class results (points) (honorable mentions) 1. Platko - 7072.6 4. Wolfe - 4214.6 2. Jatnsch - 5703.6 5. Boren - 3499.97 3. Deines - 4649.2

went to Aldi to buy cans for the last day of the drive and received a generous donation from a stranger.

“We collected money from the class, then Zach Ziegenhorn, Emma, Jana and I went to Aldi and filled up a whole cart,” Sasenick said. “[A man] asked what we were collecting for and he said that he wanted to donate and just handed us a $100 bill. In the end, we filled up two carts.”

At the end of the day on Friday, students had donated more than the 10,000 cans and $6,000 goal. StuCo president Sam Gross and canned food drive chairman Ben Johnson announced the class results over the intercom just before 2:40 p.m. “...Now, for large classes, honorable mentions to Todd Boren, and Mr. Wolfe,” Gross said. “In third place, we have Deines.

In second place, we have Jantsch and, in first place, with 776,072 points, we have Platko.”

“And now for the total review of cans and money collected in the drive,” Johnson said as a drum roll sounded. “For money, we have 6,414 dollars and 96 cents: we broke our record ... And 10,794 cans, which also broke our record. Thank you, Northwest, for participating.”

Medium class results (points) 1. King 6614.0 (honorable mentions) 2. Pabst - 4868.9 4. Cooper - 2459 3. Van Rose - 3065 5. Clow 2800

Scattered across the school in their seventh hours, Platko’s fifth hour celebrated.

“I ran down the hallways hooting and hollering,” Platko said.

Several of Platko’s fifth hour students came into her classroom Friday after school to talk about their excitement for the pizza party.

“I tried to put it in perspective for them,” Platko said. “Just think about how much we really have, and if you’re in the place in life where you realize that you have enough to give, then maybe it’s time to consider giving a little bit.”

The cans and money were sent to the Johnson County Christmas Bureau (JCCB) for their annual Holiday Shop, which serves over 36,000 families in need. In the past few years, the JCCB has experienced greater need for their services and, as a result, have been forced to deny a lot of people the services they need.

This year’s food drive reversed the trend of donating less while the need increased this year.

“It was just a good year somehow,” Johnson said. “It all fit together.”

BY SOPHIE FLORES

Small class results (POints) 1. Winston - 10226 (honorable mention) 2. Morrison - 6435.7 4. Willis - 9626 3. Green 2272

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PHOTO COURTESY OF BBC AMERICA

DOCTOR

WHO

50th anniversary

release date: Nov 23

BY Luke Megli

D

octor Who has been around a long time. It has survived 50 years, 33 seasons, 799 episodes,11 different doctors and millions of fans (Whovians) in 206 countries across the globe. To celebrate, the BBC (the British Broadcasting Corporation) held a week-long celebration starting on Nov. 18. This celebration highlighted the 50 years of Doctor Who history with “The Doctors Revisited” specials, reminded fans of the show’s humble beginnings with the made-for-TV movie “An Adventure in Space and Time” and finally proved again why the show has lasted this long with a week-long marathon of classic episodes ending with the long-awaited 50th anniversary episode: The Day of the Doctor.

The Doctor is an eccentric, two-hearted, timetraveling alien with the ability to regenerate. It’s a self preservation process he undergoes after his physical body has died, which in turn transforms him into a completely different person (making it possible to have an almost immortal man

Everybody’s Out to Get Me

played by several different actors). The Day of the Doctor tells the story of the Forbidden Doctor, played by John Hurt, who has been torn between two choices: destroy his war-torn planet or let the rest of universe be sucked into this centurylong battle. In the end he ultimately decides to end the war and destroy his planet ... or does he?

Eventually Matt Smith (the current doctor), David Tennant (the tenth Doctor), and the Forbidden Doctor are all tied together for one timeless event.

The three face off against a classic Who alien, fight against time and rescue an entire race.

As a Whovian, watching The Day Of the Doctor was like being a kid in a candy store. The best part was watching Tennant and Smith on screen together. It was like watching two long-time friends. Personally I loved it; this was truly a celebration of all 50 years of Doctor Who. It had all the classic Who elements: amazing stories, the great characters and the Doctor, or Doctors in this case.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BBC AMERICA PHOTO COURTESY OF MEDIA IMDB

THOR

Get Scared

DARK WORLD

BY Brandon Smith

Rating: PG-13

BY KYLEE HARTL

M

y favorite genre of music tends to be death metal, specifically bands that scream, or post-hardcore, so it’s always exciting when I discover something new. Get Scared definitely fit that expectation. Their fourth album, Everyone’s Out to Get Me, wasn’t exactly what I expected, however it isn’t unique from every other death metal band.

The album is dark and brooding with slightly disturbing and angsty lyrics that touch on death, heartbreak and insanity. It also boasts heavy guitar, drums and screaming every once in awhile.

The lead singer’s voice when he isn’t screaming is not nearly as high pitched as the lead singer of Sleeping With Sirens, but Get Scared reminds me of them. In fact, much like Sleeping With Sirens, there is mostly singing and screaming only every once in awhile.

I expected a lot of consistent screaming, along the lines of The Devil Wears Prada or August Burns Red. However, despite not being exactly the type of death metal I listen to, I came to like their style.

The guitar is heavy enough for my taste, and

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there’s a balance between singing and screaming – pretty appealing if you ask me, considering it’s hard to find a post-hardcore band that doesn’t sing about death and heartbreak.

Previous albums like Built For Blame, Laced With Shame hardly had any screaming at all, so it was interesting comparing the newest album with previous ones. The older albums weren’t nearly as heavy; the lead singer’s voice was a lot higher pitched.

However, I was disappointed in the lyrics. The lyrics are relatable, but they’re rather cliché and overused, like the song “My Nightmare”: “Every time I close my eyes/ I dream that you’re still here/ Every time I go to sleep/ I scream cause you’re not there/This is my nightmare.” They’re also a lot angstier than most of the bands I like and tend to focus on heartbreak more than anything.

Overall, the album was decent and better than I thought it would be, albeit fairly similar to every other death metal band. It’s always interesting to listen to different bands, and I found myself pleased with Everybody’s Out to Get Me despite fitting the role of a stereotypical “screamo” band.

I

n ancient times the Greeks had heroes and gods like Odysseus, Zeus, and Heracles. They told stories of fantastical proportions that help us differentiate what is good and what is evil. Now, these powerful entities are called superheroes. With the success of The Avengers, Marvel Studios decided to start their next line of movies with Iron Man 3. With dry humor, bad dialogue and plot holes that you could fly planes through, Marvel missed the mark. Could Thor: The Dark World be the pivotal movie that Marvel needs be a champion of the box office once again?

After The Avengers, Thor returns to Asgard and tries to bring peace and prosperity to the Nine Realms, but an evil ancient power threatens to take over the universe and plunge it into darkness. The responsibility of saving the Nine Realms rests on Thor’s shoulders.

This movie gets an A+ for humor. The banter between Thor and Loki is very amusing and a great way to establish the relationship between the two characters who used to be enemies, but are forced to work together for the greater good. Natalie Portman reprises her role as Jane Foster, but her character is inconsequential and not memorable.

The biggest letdown is the villain. He is generic and bland, with no clear motivation for why he wants to destroy the Nine Realms. This is one of the few disappointing parts of the movie, a missed opportunity because to make a threatening villain who impacts the audience.

Thor: The Dark World is why audiences flock to the big screen.

Though the villain is generic, the movie has an excellent plot and a strong sense of humor, which is the reason why Marvel movies are some of my favorites.

THE HUNGER GAMES

CATCHING

FIRE

BY KEEGAN DOLINAR

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE HUNGER GAMES EXPLORER

EndERS

GAME

BY Lyndon Rabe

Rating: PG-13

PHOTO COURTESY OF FABIUS MAXIMUS

T

here are so many ways The Hunger Games: Catching Fire could have failed. It’s a sequel to the wildly popular first movie. It’s based on the second novel of an equally beloved book trilogy. It has a different director (Francis Lawrence) than its previous installment. The film is 146 minutes and none of them are wasted. It is obvious from the beginning that this movie has more money than the first one, with more experienced actors.

It opens with the nation of Panem (the country in which the movie takes place) on the verge of war. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is hunting in the woods, haunted by nightmares and hallucinations of the past year’s “games.” This is understandable seeing as how she had to kill teenagers to survive. This year is the quarter quell where president Snow adds a spin on things, the tributes will be chosen from the existing pool of victors for a throwback games event.

I understand why some changes were made

E

nder’s Game originally started as a book by Orson Scott Card. Published in 1985, the science fiction novel won the 1985 Nebula Award and the 1986 Hugo Award both for best novel. The book tells a fantastic story with its share of combat, tactics, and ideology. The premise is that humanity has well expanded into space, mastering space travel but subsequently encountering the Formics, leading to two prolonged wars. The book begins in the process of Earth’s preparations against the so-called “third invasion.”

The movie stays true to the book, beginning with Ender’s fights on Earth. The first few minutes of the movie are comprised of Ender at school, defeating another student within a video game. After nearly being killed by his own brother and inadvertently murdering his bully at the Earth school, Ender is sent to Battle School

because there can’t be a movie exactly like the book, but I missed the little things like Plutarch’s (Philip Seymour Hoffman) mockingjay watch that he was supposed to show Katniss secretly at the victor’s party to warn her about the arena.

Bigger inconsistencies are more obvious, like missing entire characters such as Madge or how Katniss initially finds out about the uprisings.

The movie stayed intact to its roots for the most part, including the elevator scene with Johanna (Jena Malone) and Effie’s (Elizabeth Banks) strange outfits. The special effects also had a major upgrade with the new budget, ranging from deranged monkeys to tidal waves.

This installment felt deeper than the first one, with better acting, more realistic scenarios and better effects. Most of the effects took place in the arena, however the majority of the movie took place before the games started. Catching Fire was a leap ahead of the first one. I am looking forward to the next two movies.

off-planet by Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford). The movie would remain true to the book to the end, except it skimps on the many zero-g battles of Ender in the Battle Dome, shoving all of them into a montage which lasts but a few seconds at best, in the form of a pan shot looking into the entire Dome from outside the ship.

The main fault of the movie is that it is rushed.

Transitions are next to nonexistent and many lesser events are removed likely due to time restraints, as the movie remains approximately two hours long. However, those lesser events are required to maintain story flow. I praise director Gavin Hood for staying very close to the book and keeping it enjoyable for those who had not read the book. However, in my opinion he did not do the book justice in his film rendition and thus was disappointing in the end.

R.A. Knapp Construction

6501 Miami Avenue, Kansas City, KS 66111 (913) 287-8700

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DO YOU WANT TO SUBMIT A COMIC? Send an email of your comic to our graphics editor at mitchfeyerherm@gmail.com and you could be featured in an upcoming issue of The Northwest Passage.

Words and Ink

by Mitch Feyerherm

Words and Ink

by Mitch Feyerherm

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thisDISH

When choosing Mexican fast food, Chipotle and Freebirds seem to offer similar things, so...

SERVED

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY NATE COMPTON

How to

bu� ritos

roll

a burrito

1 Lay out the tortilla

2 Fill the tortilla

3 Fold the sides

4 Roll the opposite side over

Choose Chipotle W

henever I can’t decide what to eat, I always find myself at Chipotle.

It’s closer. Chipotle is closer to SM Northwest than Freebirds. So, with the price of the two of them being almost the same (Freebirds is slightly more expensive), it saves gas money to go to Chipotle if nothing else.

It’s fresher. Chipotle uses only freshly grilled meat and all of the places the meat comes from naturally raised animals. Although Freebirds seems to offer a more variety of food, Chipotle is fresher. I once watched as they grilled my meat in front of me, then served it. Chipotle also launched their Food with Integrity campaign, which promises only organic and attempts to help fund local farms.

It’s cleaner. While it is certainly interesting that you may make a craft out of your burrito foil, it is rather gross. It leaves the place with a potent smell and it is rather repulsive to me. Chipotle is always clean and there is constantly someone working to make sure that the restaurant stays that way.

It’s tastier. The meat is always fresh. It is also perfectly seasoned and never cold. Whereas, at Freebirds, I had cold meat. Chipotle also has the option of barbacoa, which Freebirds doesn’t have, and it gives Chipotle an edge for their meat. The salsa Chipotle provides it much better. The hottest salsa at Chipotle is way more spicy than Freebirds, making it superior for those of us with a spicy mouth. But, if you aren’t one for spicy foods, the mild salsa at Chipotle has freshly cut vegetables that will leave you with satisfaction.

Freebirds does give you more options, but Chipotle is the winner in my book. Also, according to dallasobserver. com, who did a test to see which place gave you the most ingredients for your money, Chipotle was the winner. If you are looking for a quick, fresh, clean, and tasty dinner— Chipotle is the choice you should make. Their freshly cut meat and organic vegetables will let you leave wanting to come back. BY LENA DENNINGTON

For Freeb!rds

T

here are some days when I crave nothing but a fast, cheap burrito and, like everyone else, my first thought is to run to Chipotle. It’s close, It’s convenient, It’s...Chipotle. So I get there and start eating, then I find myself reminiscing over the last time I had a fast, cheap burrito with more freedom— the last time I was at Freebirds.

Chipotle is good, in fact it’s down right delicious. I have never had a negative experience there. However it is something we have all had. The atmosphere is business casual with little room for fun in their industrial -themed restaurants with tin paneling, exposed pipes, and a deep red accent color. The mood of Freebirds is a polar opposite. Step inside and there is a motorcycle ridden by the Statue of Liberty smashing through the ceiling, and that pretty much sums up what to expect; loud music, sociable workers who give a vibe that seems to say “lets chill sometime,” creative tinfoil art scattered about, a dessert called ‘The Pot Brownie’ (sorry stoners, it is a normal brownie served in a black pot), and this sense of freedom that is absent in Chipotle.

I tirelessly hear of the product quality at Freebirds being subpar to Chipotle, this is all hype. Freebirds uses fresh vegetables, grass-fed, hormone-free beef and free-range chicken. The meats are cooked in-house after marinating and the salsa, guacamole and queso are all homemade. Can someone please point me in the direction to the queso at Chipotle because it truly makes a burrito. Even if the meat was subpar, I would sacrifice a bit of quality for the additional choices and flavors that they provide.

Freebirds offers four size options for a burrito ranging from the Hybrid to the Super Monster, a size I would like to see KUGR take on in a food challenge.

No settling on generic here, change it up and get a spinach or cayenne tortilla.

But don’t fret if you are more mainstream, they still offer flour and wheat.

Freebirds will also add on anything from fresh jalapenos to tortilla strips, poblano salsa to habanero sauce, and roasted garlic to a freshly squeezed lime. And don’t forget that queso, which they always give me for free when I say “no beans.” I have never had that done for me at Chipotle with any of the few extras that they do offer.

For all the broke high school students worried about that extra gas money it takes to get out there, you will save it in the price of the burrito (assuming you get the Hybrid which is the size of a burrito any normal human would eat). Even if you don’t, the quality, service and atmosphere will make up for it.

BY NATE COMPTON

5 Enjoy the burrito PHOTO BY KRISTI SENG

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PHOTO BY JORDAN ABSHER

PHOTO BY JORDAN ABSHER

PHOTO BY

BY KRISTI KRISTI SENG SENG PHOTO

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Driver Education at Johnson County Community College

Drive Safe, Drive Smart • Kansas Board of Education certified instructors providing comprehensive training • 6 hours of driving • 6 hours of observation • 30 hours of classroom instruction • Optional at-home pick-up/drop-off service for driving portion of training • Automobile fleet includes a Toyota Prius hybrid car, which lessens the program's carbon footprint while promoting sustainability Course fee: $349. Register today for classes that begin in January and March!

For class dates and times visit www.jccc.edu/driver-training or call 913-469-4446 Johnson County Community College 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park, KS 66210

Dos Reales Mexican Cuisine

6453 Quivira Rd Shawnee, Ks 66216

Receive a FREE cheese dip with the purchase of any entree. *Must have student ID, one coupon per table, not valid with any other offer or discount.

Wanna Play LACROSSE? ANYONE CAN PLAY - BIG OR SMALL - NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY Lacrosse is the FASTEST GROWING SPORT in the US. Informational meeting December 11, 7:00 PM at Shawnee Mission South Choir Room.

RAIDER LACROSSE has players from SM South, North, Northwest, West, Mill Valley, Bishop Miege (and more) We are a member of LAKC and play all the area high schools.

QUESTIONS? Contact Pat McGee at: pmcgee@sbhassoc.com 913-486-4522

BASIC

Precision

BY Paige Eichkorn + Libby Gregor

Not all cheerleaders have pompons, and pony tails; yell leaders are quite the opposite.

chair:

girl sits on yell leader’s hand in the air

“O

PHOTO BY GINNY BOHLING Junior Daniel Messick and Ashley Whitesell cheer in the SM Northwest gymnasium on Oct.4 during the homecoming assembly. Varsity yell leaders perform their routine they have practiced everyday after school in front of their peers and parents.

ne-two, three-four,” junior Derek Smith counted with his stunting partners for a 360 stunt prep, but they stopped mid-way as senior Juliana Cook was propped up by other cheerleaders. Two back spotters (cheerleaders guarding the flyer from the back) made sure they were ready for a possible fall.

Cheerleaders on the side helped lift her into the stunt. Again they tried.

“One-two, three-four,” the stunt partners caught Cook in the air, this time making sure the back spotters were ready to transition to the 360. The group switched hands together, spinning Cook completely around.

As they brought her down, she fell slightly out of their grasp, but was able to regain her balance. A successful execution of the 360.

While there may be a controversy as to whether or not cheer is a competitive sport, yell leaders know it is.

According to the website of the Texas A&M University yell leaders, yell leading began at an A&M football game. At the time, the school was an all-male military school. Female students from Texas Women’s University were invited to football games, but at this particular game they were bored and threatened to leave.

Some freshmen changed into white janitors’ overalls and led the crowd in cheers. The freshmen had so much attention from the ladies that it was decided that only A&M upperclassmen would be able to participate in the future. To this day, yell leaders at A&M still wear white, stand on the field and yell to the crowd. “[Yell leaders] certainly bring something different to the table,” Thompson said. “They obviously bring a lot more strength and power.”

According to The New York Times, cheerleading has grown by 18 percent since 1990.

“I had [cheer coach Evelyn] Thompson for Spanish class, and she’d always show us videos of her son doing stunts,” junior Daniel Messick said. “I was like, ‘I wanna do that.’ So, I joined.”

The yell leaders practice with their partners every day after school and work on routines with different partners.

“My favorite [partner stunt] would be a toss where you grab the girl by her waist and toss her up in the air,” junior Derek Smith said.

Yell leaders also practice outside of school at other gyms.

Junior John Styers goes to KC Cheer every Friday; sophomore Ethan Nelson practices at least two hours on the weekends; and junior Derek Smith works in the stage gym after practice.

“I just gotta get better and improve everyday,” Nelson said.

“I just joined, and last year I played football. I honestly like this better than football.”

Yell leading requires a mix of physical strength and coordination.

“Stunting and the tumbling, that’s definitely athletic,” Messick said. “Once you get to a competitive cheer [group] or once you get to college, the amount of work you have to put into it — it’s rigorous.”

According to KSHSAA, cheering is not considered a sport, like football or basketball. But, the yell leaders would say otherwise.

“I don’t need anybody to tell me it’s a sport to validate it,” Thompson said. “That doesn’t really do much for me.”

Most yell leaders plan to pursue tumbling and yell leading in college, and are even hoping for scholarships.

“I can’t cheer in college if I don’t cheer now,” junior Daniel Messick said. “I know that I have to stay in shape for college. The routines [are difficult] because you have to get it perfect, and you have to do the same thing over and over again. It gets repetitive, but it’s a necessary evil.”

hands:

yell leader holds girl’s feet in their hands

extension:

starting in “hands” position, the yell leader extends his hands upwards

toss hands:

yell leader throws girl into the air and catches the girl’s feet NORTHWEST PASSAGE

SPORTS

21

PHOTO BY NATE COMPTON

PHOTO BY LUCAS SilVA

PHOTO BY SARAH DEAN

PHOTO BY SARAH DEAN

A

fter a strong season last year, the Cougar bowling team has a lot of revamping to do. With many seniors graduating last year, and a crucial junior not returning, the team is looking to rebuild.

“I think the team will be strong this year,” senior Phil Shamet said. “I think I have a strong chance of making varsity and I’m excited.”

In addition to a rookie-based varsity team, the bowling team also has two new coaches: Debra Brewer and Marcus Fryatt.

“I’m thrilled about being the coach of the team this year,” Fryatt said. “The students are great to work with, and they all seem really excited about bowling.”

The NW bowling team will start tryouts today.

BY LENA DENNINGTON

A

fter a full week of tryouts, 60 boys have been selected for the swim team.

“Stepping into tryouts on the first day, I was a little nervous, but I just relaxed,” freshman Will Hauser said. “I knew I had a chance to make varsity, so I just gave it everything [I had].”

The week long tryout began with a 25-meter freestyle on the first day. After that, boys were put into lanes based on their speed.

The fastest swimmers were put in lane one and the slowest in lane five. Throughout the week, boys were moved to different lanes based on their skill level.

“It was a tiring first week,” Hauser said.

As tryouts ended, 20 swimmers were placed on C-team, 25 on junior varsity and 15 on varsity.

“I think this is going to be a great season,” Hauser said. “We have some work to do, but we are getting faster every day.”

BY BRITTA COLEMAN

T

ryouts ended Friday, Nov. 22 after a week of cuts. The varsity team consists of nine seniors which is more than last year. Three underclassmen consistently in the starting lineup.

“With the amount of seniors and our chemistry, we have high expectations,” senior Max Schnittker said.

The cougars look to have a competitive season and improve on last year’s record.

According to Schnittker, the Sunflower league is a competitive league.

“Shawnee Mission South and Olathe East [will be tough],” Schnittker said.

The cougars begin their season tonight against the SM West Vikings in the main gym.

BY SEAN COLLINS

TAKE DOWN

STRONG SENIORITY

Bowling Begins

STRENGTH IN STRIDES

Winter Sports Preview

T

his year’s wrestlers were weighed and placed in their corresponding weight class Nov. 11. Practices began Nov. 17.

The wrestlers were put on different teams by competing in the challenge tournament Nov. 26.

“This is the first time we’ve ever tried to have our challenge matches in front of a crowd,” wrestling coach Howard Newcomb said. “We’ve always handled it down in the practice room, but now we have enough kids that we were actually able to put them in brackets.”

Excluding 106, 113 and 195, the wrestlers were evenly placed into weight classes with four wrestlers per weight class. The boys weigh in once a week in early December, but later in the season they weigh in every day.

At the first tournament Dec. 7, varsity will compete at Pleasant Hill and freshmen will compete at St. Thomas Aquinas. The eleventh annual SM Northwest wrestling tournament will be held the following weekend.

BY ATALIE BLACK

22

DEC. 2, 2013

SPORTS

BY THE NUMBERS Slipping through the Cracks After Chiefs wide-receiver Dwayne Bowe was caught speeding and arrested for substance possession, he should not have been allowed to start in the game against the Broncos just a week after his arrest.

A

fter the Chiefs first loss of the season to the Denver Broncos, many fingers were pointed as to what caused the break in their winning streak. Some say Denver was just a better team, despite the winning record of the Chiefs, but the majority of people are pointing fingers at the possible distraction caused by the arrest of starting wide-receiver Dwayne Bowe just a week before the big game.

Bowe was headed home from the Kansas City International (KCI) airport when he was pulled over for doing 48 in a 35 mph zone and was arrested for having approximately 16.4 g of a controlled substance (marijuana) in his possession.

According to espn.com, Bowe signed a $56 million contract during offseason landing him among the highest paid receivers in the National Football League (NFL), symbolizing a trust that he would act like a leader and adult throughout the season. He is also second on the team with 33 receptions and third with 369 receiving yards.

Although the loss wasn’t blamed entirely on Bowe, the question is whether or not he should have been allowed to play at all in the game against Denver. The chance to play football is a privilege, not a right. Even at the professional level; not everyone can even make it there. Therefore, if outside expectations are not maintained, privileges should be revoked. Bowe should not have been allowed to play.

With the participation of high school sports comes the maintenance of attendance and good grades. Moreover, if you get into trouble with the law or are caught with illegal or underaged substances, school sports privileges get revoked.

Even though Bowe’s court case is not scheduled until Dec 18, maintaining the same amount of play up until that date should not be allowed; even if he is their best wide-receiver.

Blame could be placed on possible causes to the break of the Chief’s 9-0 winning streak. But a major factor is the possible distraction Bowe brought to the team. The result of not punishing Bowe makes the NFL seem as if any of their players can take part in the possession and consumption of illegal drugs; they have let multiple instances slip through the cracks. According to cnn.com, some of the terrible acts of NFL players in the last few years include: Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher committed suicide while drunk in front of his coaches. Former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez allegedly murdered a possible drug dealer and is also being investigated for possible other crimes.

Raiders linebacker Rolando McClain fired a gun next to a man’s head and played days later, and Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent killed a teammate while driving under the influence.

The NFL has let too many infractions slide in order to maintain their teams.

No matter how good the team, a player that is in trouble with the law should not have the privilege of playing in games. Suspensions or expulsions should be set in place for these instances to be sure that the acts aren’t recurring.

17 upcoming matches for varsity wrestling

6’5’’

is the height of senior Brady Skeens, the tallest basketball player

5000

is the average number of yards that boys’ swim in practice

35

girls are trying out for basketball this year

BY SHELBY SMITH

NORTHWEST PASSAGE

SPORTS

23

‘‘

Volleyball has always been a really fun sport to watch, but it was interesting to finally be on the court… and everyone in the gym was so intense.

It was crazy.”

PHOTO BY NICK KAHTAVA

— Junior Sam Sullivan