2270 Highway 133
Carbondale , Co 81623
March, 2014
Volume 7 Issue 6
The Rampage
Share Your Story makes impact -Jonny Aranda and Tavia Teitler
It’s hard to hate someone when you don’t know them, and in the past weeks students and teachers have been working to erase hate by sharing the stories of their lives in their English classes. The idea of Share Your Story sparked from a group of Rams Unidos members who felt that a lot of the miscommunication at their school resulted from not knowing enough about their fellow classmates. Some members recalled a similar event that had taken place two years ago in the middle school with very powerful results and believed that a similar concept would be beneficial at RFHS. Share Your Story fit very well with the purpose of Rams Unidos. Denise Wright,English teacher at RFHS, said that the Rams Unidos group wants to unite the school and thinks these are fundamental activities to understand their peers. Many Rams Unidos members are pleased with the way this event turned out and are looking for ways to improve it in the future. English teachers agreed to have “I feel more connected to my classShare Your Story mates in a way because they know take place in their some things that have happened to me classrooms over and could possibly support me in hard- the course of a couple weeks ships” Selected stu-Areli Tapia dents kickstarted the event by standing up in front of their English classes and sharing their story. The rest of the students then received a worksheet with guidelines to help write down their own story. The sheet included questions and prompts about their values, experiences, and hopes for the future. Some examples of the prompts were, “What motivates me to achieve my hopes and dreams is:_____” and “My greatest fear in life is:_____.” These type of questions were ones that really made the students think about themselves more deeply. The reaction in the student body was mostly positive. During this same time, poet and singer Myrlin Hepworth, toured around the school and conducted poetry workshops in many English classes. Hepworth encouraged students to write their own poems and express themselves in front of the class. Hepworth’s presence offered students a chance to get to know each other even if it was just by reading a poem together. The combination of poetry and share your story was powerful for many, and the two events complimented each other perfectly. English Teacher Adam Carballeira was one the coordinators of the event and lead share you story in many of the classrooms. Carb believes that students sharing their stories improved the culture of his classroom and gave his students courage to share their their ideas and “I think every single kid has a writing in front of the class. Carb claimed fascinating life, and they are the that while a student was ones that should give voice to it.” sharing their story his -Adam Carballeira room was dead silent, and described the audience was “captivated”. Success of the event varied between classrooms. Whether or not a student felt comfortable depended on the atmosphere of the classrooms. Some stories went deeper than others, but most students seemed to have gained something from the experience. “Now I know what they are going through and why they act that way,” commented freshmen Moises Camacho. Many students and staff said they would like to see the event take place again and there seems to be possibility of it occurring in some form in the future. Sharing their stories was terrifying for some students but those who had the courage to push through learned about their classmates and helped in uniting RFHS.
Photo by Grace Brown In the past month, RFHS students and teachers have been working to create understanding and unity in the school by sharing their life stories with one another. Slam poet Myrlin Hepworth, pictured above, visited RFHS throughout the month of February to help students create poetry that further expressed themselves.
Share your secret...anonymously -Jacky Jacquez “I want to be an artist...” The PostSecret project is a way to share your secrets, but anonymously. Posting your secrets may help other people with their problems. The project is decorating a postcard and anonymously portraying a secret. Frank Warren, who founded PostSecret in 2008, has received hundreds of thousands of secrets. He gets different kinds of cards with people explaining their embarrassing habits, criminal activity, confessions, hopes and dreams. Warren claims that the postcards are inspirational to those who read them and has healing powers for those who write them. The postcards can offer people hope. At RFHS, English teacher Krystal Wu decided to introduce her students to Warren’s PostSecret project which became an art project in her classes as part of Share Your Story. As students shared their stories with the class, they were listening to each other’s words for “secrets” or quotes that stood out to them. They turned their fellow students’ words into postcard-sized pieces of art. These postcard secrets helped students succeed mentally and emotionally during Share Your Story weeks, which could have been boring or unpopular. Kimberly Guzman, a sophomore at RFHS, added that she was able to share something that she has “never shared before.” She liked the format of the PostSecret project because it was completely anonymous: “Your secret is kind of hidden in a way, so it doesn’t have to be so clear to others. In some way, it still remains a secret.” The postcards help students have a good understanding of what others have been through. Some examples that are displayed in Wu’s classroom are: “I felt so strong when my stomach was empty”; “I like proving everyone wrong who doubted me”; “My greatest fear in my life is dying alone.” Guzman explained the purpose of the PostSecret project: “To illustrate someones secret beyond it being just words.” See more postcards at postsecret.com.
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Features
Marijuana misconceptions reach new heights -Kayla Derby
Since the day that recreational weed was legalized in Colorado, rumors have been flying around. These misconceptions range from anyone being able to buy marijuana to recreational shops on every corner. Myth: “Anyone can go into a shop and buy marijuana.” Fact: A person has to be 21 or older to legally buy marijuana. It’s the same as alcohol in this way. Retail marijuana shops are required to check photo IDs to make sure that their customer is of legal age. The penalties for underage possession of marijuana are the same as the penalties for underage possession of alcohol, according to governing. com. Having either substance will score you a date at the courthouse. Myth: “You can light up in public.” Fact: Even though you can now smoke marijuana, you still cannot smoke it in public. The main reason for this is the Clean Air Act which went into effect in 2006. This act made it illegal to smoke in public places such as stores, parks, and restaurants. Smoking in a prohibited area carries a fine of “$200 for the first violation, $300 for the second, and $500 for the third,” according to tobaccofree.org. These fines can put a big dent in your monthly weed budget. Myth: “There are a ton of recreational marijuana shops.” Fact: Recreational marijuana shops are less common than many people would think The Gazette reported that “On Monday, December 23, Colorado issued 136 licenses to
stores hoping to sell recreational marijuana starting January 1, 2014.” The Roaring Fork Valley has three recreational shops. Aspen opened it’s first two last week and Carbondale has had one since mid-January. Even though marijuana was made legal for recreational use in November 2012, it took a little over a year to pass regulatory laws, which made it so that recreational shops could not open for business until January 1, 2014 at the earliest. Some towns in the Roaring Fork Valley still do not have licensing regulations in place. Town clerk, Cathy Derby, attributes the fact that Carbondale is the only town with a retail marijuana shop to the towns “proactive rather than reactive” approach to licensing. “The Carbondale electors voted 70% - 30% in favor of Amendment 64 - so obviously the Board knew the electors approved of legalized marijuana,” she said. Who would have thought that Carbondale, home of Mountain Fair, would be the first to have a retail marijuana shop in the valley? Everyone. One common phrase that no one is sure about yet is, “Now that marijuana is legal for adults to buy, kids will be able to get it much more easily.” This could be the case, but many people feel that students who want to smoke weed will get it one way or another. Emily Fuller, RFHS junior, thinks that it may make kids who smoke safer. “Kids are going to smoke no matter what, but retail shops have safe, pure weed that’s not laced with other drugs,” she said. There are still many questions surrounding this area of retail marijuana because it is too new of a concept for anyone to know how it will affect students.
Admissions hurdles challenge undocumented students -Fiona Laird As March approaches, most seniors are finalizing what they’ll do after high school - where they’ll go to college, or what job they’ll have after graduating. Seniors who are undocumented immigrants have a lot of added stress around this time. According to Andrea Caruso, the RFHS counselor, the main obstacle for undocumented students who want to go to college is not applying for college, but paying for it. Another obstacle until recently was that undocumented immigrants didn’t qualify for in-state tuition. Out-of-state tuition is double the price of in-state tuition, which makes it almost impossible to pay the tens of thousands of dollars for college when one can’t get scholarships. The website for Colorado State University lists in-state tuition at CSU as being about $22,000, and out-of-state tuition as about $39,000. Anali Garcia, a RFHS junior, said, “[Some people I know haven’t] been able to go to college because college was double the cost. Some scholarships [they] weren’t able to get because they ask for citizenship”. Brenda Rodriguez, a sophomore at RFHS added, “They [undocumented immigrants] want to have a better future, but they can’t because it’s so expensive to go to college.” Now, as explained on the CMC website, a new law called the ASSET law “allows… students without lawful immigration status to qualify for in-state tuition rates if they meet certain conditions.” These conditions include attending a Colorado high school for at least three years before graduation, applying for ASSET within 12 months of high school graduation (or, if not, providing proof of continuous physical presence in Colorado for at least 18 months), and submitting a statement that says one has applied for legal presence in the US or will do so as soon as eligible. If someone meets these requirements, they can get in-state tuition. Although that doesn’t eliminate the issue of having to pay for college, it makes it a more reachable for undocumented students. Some undocumented students may wonder why it’s worth graduating high school or going to college if they’ll still be in the country without papers and they won’t be able to use their degrees. Garcia said that undocumented students should still graduate high school and attend college “because... there’s a work permit, and [now] they can...work.” Caruso added that undocumented students should go to college “for the same reasons as anyone,” for better prospects in the future. She said that the more education a person gets, the more skills and possibilities they have, which is important for undocumented and documented students alike. Even though it’s an expensive investment, “it all pays off,” she said. Although things have been changed that make it easier for undocumented students to attend college, there’s still more to be done. Rodriguez remarked, “Lots of people can apply for certain programs, but not everyone gets accepted.” AJUA, the Asociación de Jóvenes Unidos en Acción, is a coalition of students and community members who advocate on behalf of immigrant rights. Right now, “[we’re] working on...a campaign [because] we’re wondering why some scholarships require documentation,” Garcia continued. There are still many obstacles for undocumented students going to college, but progress has been made.
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Features Transitioning from Carbondale to college -Grace Brown
Bruna received a full-ride, the progression of his college application process was “very long and stressful.” Bruna went On top of maintaining a high GPA, logging hours of community service, to multiple meetings, waited patiently to participating in extracurricular activi- become a finalist for the scholarship, and ties, finding out what interests them completed an interview in front of 140 people. most to study, and keeping up with their For most students, the FAFSA, or social lives, seniors are often worried Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and nervous around this time of year. Nothing about the college application which includes the Pell Grant, federal student loans and Federal Work-Study, is process is easy, but why is it so dauntone of the most helpful applications for ing? Applying to college is a long process reliable financial aid. FAFSA differs from most scholarship opportunities because that requires patience, dedication, and in it does not ask most cases, some questions about help. Andrea the students Caruso, RFHS race/ethnicity, Counselor, helps gender, family, inform students disabilities, or about upcoming religion. Howclasses, scholarever, it does ask ship applications, about the coland community leges the student service opportuPhoto by Cameron Doherty nities. There are The U.S. map outside the front office shows where is applying to. Many students hundreds of un- most RFHS seniors have applied to and been acrely on federal known scholar- cepted to college. loans, includships that students ing RF’s Cindy miss every year, Pena. She only applied to one school, and for some, good grades and high test Metro State in Denver, and as of now, is scores aren’t a factor. Over the past denot receiving any financial aid. “I’m apcades, colleges have started looking less at the numbers and more at things like plying for the FAFSA and I’ll be workcommunity involvement, extracurricu- ing soon, but [my family] never thought lar activities, and the diversity and diffi- to save up,” Pena said. The most tedious culty of the courses a student chooses to part of the application process seems to be take. “Grades and test scores aren’t all the applications themselves. “You need to that matters when applying to college,” make sure you have all your information in one place at one time,” said Pena. “But Caruso said. Kyle Bruna, senior, applied to CU RFHS prepared me for that; they told us it Boulder and MSU and was accepted wasn’t easy!” Pena added. “I couldn’t preto both. “I was fortunate enough to re- pare more, now I just need to get ready.” Taking that big leap from the small ceive the Evans scholarship, which is a full ride to CU,” Bruna explained. “I’m town of Carbondale to another school can grateful my scholarship process wasn’t be intimidating, but most times, you just have to jump. as stressful as other students.” Though
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The demise of Flappy Bird -Anakaren Jurado
The popular iPhone game “Flappy Bird” is played constantly by students at Roaring Fork High School. Roaming down the halls, students can hear the sound of the bird going through the tube. So what is it about this game that makes it so popular? The whole point of the game is to keep tapping the bird and make it go through the tubes and avoid getting hit by them. The game was up on the Apple store, and all of the sudden it became popular making it the number one game. The game became a distraction; throughout Facebook students were updating their statuses to show off their new high score while other students would add negative comments because they couldn’t get their own high score. The creator of Flappy Bird, Dong Nguyen, wrote on Twitter on February 8: “I’m sorry ‘Flappy Bird’ users, 22 hours from now, I will take ‘Flappy Bird’ down. I cannot take it anymore.” He couldn’t keep the game running. Rumors began around school when students noticed that their beloved game no longer appeared in the Apple store. Students said that the creator of the popular
Photo by Cameron Doherty The online game flappy bird ofter distracts students in class. Students try to earn a high score to show off to their friends by getting the birds through the tube.
game commited suicide and that policemen found him dead. There are more questions than rumors by the students. Suleima Ledezma, RFHS freshman, explained what she thought about the rumors surrounding Nguyen. “I feel like the creator got into some legal issues with the people from Nintendo because the bird goes through the same tubes as Mario does and the background is the same.” She explained that when you reach the score of 999, Mario comes from the tube and starts throwing firebombs to attack the bird. This explains how the creator may have gotten into trouble by using Nintendo graphics. Other rumors explain that it was all about the money. “[Nguyen] prob-
ably got the money that he wanted, so when he was satisfied, he took the game down,” Javin Crish, sophomore, explained. Students played the game in their classes when they got bored, and some try to show their friends the game or their high score. Some teachers don’t like the game being played in their classrooms. Matt Wells, social studies teacher, declared. “I think it’s very rude in general if you’re doing something that is an expectation and you start playing the game. It’s taking you away from the stuff you are supposed to be doing.” He said it takes students “away from reality.”Apps and online games like Flappy Bird provide students with both entertainment and distraction.
Down the rabbit hole with Chloe Brand -Caitlin O’Gorman
People think that sails are only made for one purpose. Not student Chloe Brand, who uses sails to make unique clothes. Growing up, Brand would always go to local fashion shows and watch Project Runway. “It’s kind of been an ongoing dream of mine to be a designer for the Green is the New Black fashion show,” Brand said. Brand is one of the only high school students to be featured in the fashion show this year. The theme of the show is “Down the Rabbit Hole,” but Brand’s theme seems to be sails. The fashion show happens every year around March to showcase the talents of local designers and raise money for CCAH. Most of the featured designers are older than Brand, who is a sophomore in high school. Brand has been involved in the fashion show for four years and has shown her clothes in six different shows.
Photo by Sue Rollyson Chloe Brand previews her sail inspired line at the community meeting.The line is going to be showcased in the local Green Is The New Fashion Show.
She started taking fashion classes after school in sixth grade. “The class was showcasing a few things in the kids fashion show,” Brand said. She explained that last
year, her teacher encouraged her to try the adult show. This year, Brand’s clothing has already been shown in the CCAH youth fashion show. In the upcoming adult show, Brand will be participating both as model and designer. As a designer, Brand finds her inspiration from what’s inside her. “I find things around me that trigger certain thoughts or feelings that help me create ideas,” Brand said. She explained that the great thing about creating clothes is the freedom to change a sketch or an idea. As she shared, it’s fun to play with the fabric’s “strengths.” Brand knows that she wants to continue being a part of the local fashion show every year. “I think it would be fun to make a career out of it, but there are so many other cool things to do too!” Brand said. “It would be cool to become a big designer and be able to walk down the street and see people wearing my clothes, but I’m not sure if that’s the kind of experience that I want.”
Opinion Student Parking Only. Parents Will Be Shunned -Roy Benge & Will Masters A student is rushing to make their first period class. As he or she nears the fire station stop light, they glance at the dash; the time is 7:56, enough to squeeze by. After battling through the cop-patrolled middle school zone, they encounter yet another parent-caused traffic jam to turn left down the street leading to the student parking lot. A host of parents make it through, but the student is forced to wait another cycle. After finally making it through the stoplight, he or she is yet again slowed down by parents as they inch up the school driveway. It’s 7:58 now, and time is of the essence. The student dodges a few parents trying to make their way out of the crowded parking lot, but a stopped parent dropping off their student is the last straw. When he or she finally gets parked and gets out of their car, the late bell sounds. This doesn’t happen if parents drop their kids off where they are supposed to, at the designated student drop-off in the teacher parking lot. Not only is it a slower route for drop-off, but parents using the student parking lot annoys the student drivers to no end. Are parents really that interested in nosing around areas holding students, or are they simply that unaware of their inconsiderate choices? Either way, this has been a growing epidemic since the start of the year, a time when parents maintained at
Rosa Maun
Managing Editor William Masters least some integrity. Your high school days are over, parents: time to stop living them.Another issue at both pick-up and drop-off is when parents stop in designated spots that students rented. All of these occurrences are issues during lunch, as well. These problems could be avoided if parents just bit the bullet, stepped up, and dropped students off where they are supposed to, like the compliant parents. Seriously, it’s faster and smoother for everyone!
Rams participate in real government
The eleventh and twelfth graders enrolled in Matt Wells’ FAD (Fundamentals of American Democracy) classes are currently partaking in Project Citizen, an assignment designed to teach participation in local and state government. Students work together in groups of four or five members to identify a public policy problem in their community. They evaluate possible solutions and develop an action plan for local government leaders to use in addressing the problem. RFHS, along with Basalt and Glenwood, are some of many schools participating in Project Citizen. Project Citizen will last for approximately one month, during which students will need to conquer some possibly intimidating tasks such as speaking with the mayor, town planners, or companies like RFTA. Students must document everything they do and create a solution presentable to the community stakeholders they
originally addressed. Wells believes the project gets students involved in actual government. He thinks it is a very creative and realistic way to have students participate and learn about the government, even on the small, Carbondale scale. Students Brody Erickson, Laura Needham, Emily Fuller, Emily Fisher and Maite Nieblas make up one group who are looking at the possible dangerous snow piles on medians, particularly on Highway 133 in front of CMS. They say these snow piles can often get in the way and obstruct viewing on the road. They have spoken with police officers and middle school students, distributed school surveys and are hoping to talk with CDOT. Some of their solutions include removing the snow, adding a roundabout or stoplight, or having a more effective crossing guard on duty. Another group including students Yunira Gomez, Abril Mendoza,
Rampage Staff Editor in Chief
News -James Long
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Kendra Quezada and Anika Klemmer are looking at the school’s drop-out rates. They want ultimately obtain a 100% graduation rate. They have spoken with Youth Zone, the Family Resource Center and RFHS principal, Drew Adams. Their plan is to have these organizations and people encourage students to help them continue in school. Students Misael Ramos, Arnold Garcia, Eduardo Meraz and Abraham Hernandez are one more group looking at an issue concerning RFTA’s lack of service in Carbondale. “Too many people need to walk a long way in cold weather, and it’s not fair for a lot of people,” explained Misael Ramos. His group argues that RFTA should have more frequent and varied routes and more busses to solve the problem. For Roaring fork hish school students, Project Citizen is not only a fun assignment, but also a great way to learn and participate in real life and local government.
Photographer Cameron Doherty
Editorial Staff Roy Benge Kristen Joiner Finn Featherstone Lesley Platero
Journalists Grace Brown Daisy Contreras Anakaren Hernandez Jacqueline Jacquez Jake Kelley James Long Caitlin O’Gorman Jake Rusby Lucy Stevens Tavia Teitler Jonny Aranda