The Emery Issue 6

Walkout sparks proand anti-gun debate

News | Page 3

2727 Fuller Road Ann Arbor, MI 48105

Dear Snapchat: bring back Why is #SynchroSkating the old layout! not an Olympic sport?

Seniors celebrate a bass-boosted prom

The Emery Entertainment | Page 6

Entertainment | Page 7

Feature | Page 9

Volume 3 Issue 5 March 2018

The Student Publication of Huron High School

Students and teachers react to first year of IB Julie Heng | Staff Editor

This year, on the 50th anniversary of the International Baccalauréat (IB), Huron joined 3,320 schools worldwide in implementing the Diploma Programme (DP) educational system.

Huron, which now hosts the most DP course offerings in the state of Michigan, seeks to “[prepare] students for success in higher education and to be active participants in a global society.”

As all first years do, the transition yielded mixed reviews.

DP coordinator Eric Wynn says the “plethora of [unique students] at Huron” enrolled in the Diploma Program have definitely been excelling.

“Students have been anxious about engaging with independent thinking but have grown individually as a result,” he says. “As part of the coursework in the Diploma Program, CAS, and Theory of Knowledge, students have taken on a lot of responsibilities and have become internationally minded.”

Wynn, who worked as a classroom teacher in 2004, helped to found the fully-IB Washtenaw International High School in 2011. He then began building Huron’s IB programme in 2015. As the 11th and 12th grade DP coordinator, Wynn sits down with sophomore students and their counselors to go over the options and requirements for their “best fit” graduation track, whether that be pursuing full DP, CP, or a select few DP classes.

While in his opinion all students would benefit from IB, Wynn says students must willingly embrace the learning track.

“It’s all about whatever is the best fit for you,” he says.

There are no prerequisites to the DP. According to Wynn, GPA is not the best predictor of success. Because the learning structure of DP is so different from the “traditional” rote education system, any student who wants to take on the “responsibility of critical thinking, an interdisciplinary learning style, and an internationally focused curriculum” is welcome.

“We are looking for students willing to stretch and take risks,” he says.

Sienna Blazevski, junior, was looking for that risk when she signed up for the DP.

“I was motivated to take part in the full DP because I felt the teaching style fit my personal learning style better than the traditional method,” Blazevski said. While “IB is definitely harder than I expected...I really think IB has positively impacted my overall involvement in my local community through pushing me to achieve successful CAS outcomes,” she said.

Huron English teacher Michelle Ratering used to teach at an IB Programme in Jakarta, Indonesia. She says the difference between Huron and the two other IB schools she worked with is the attitude students bring into the classroom.

“Students at my school in Jakarta were like any See more | Page 2

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All Aboard?

Plans for new train station at Fuller Park cause controversy

Ritvik Jillala | Staff Writer

“Train 135, leaving for Jackson, is coming in at 8:15 a.m. Train 135 is coming.”

The Ann Arbor train station is the busiest station in Michigan. Recently, plans have been made to expand the existing station, or to build an entirely new one. However, some historical knowledge is necessary to fully understand the controversy.

Years ago, Ann Arbor was divided by the Huron River into two regions: lower Ann Arbor and upper Ann Arbor. There was always a rivalry present; each region sought to develop first and succeed.

When the original station was built at the Gandy Dancer, it seemed as if upper Ann Arbor had won. Lower Ann Arbor, however, never stopped growing.

The city has now decided to make a new train station at Fuller Park, in front of the University of Michigan hospital.

The organization All Aboard on Depot Street, an organization that is deep into the current station issue, is against that decision. They believe

that the current station on Depot Street should be expanded instead.

One of their reasons for going against the city’s decision is that the City Council does not have the authority to build on Fuller Park, which is public property.

“The public owns this [land],” George Gaston, a member of All Aboard

on Depot Street, said. He believes that the park will lose its natural beauty and its potential to become more popular.

“If it’s a park, then it should stay a park,” Rita Mitchell, another member of All Aboard on Depot Street, said.

However, it is not the train station but the structures and changes that

are coming because of it that may cause the real problems.

A new 1200 space parking structure is also being built next to the new train station.

“This parking structure would have a huge effect on the area,” Mitchell said.

Besides making it much more difficult for ambulances to access the hospital right behind the proposed station, the new parking structure could interfere with patients’ recovery.

“I had a [hospitalized] friend who said that looking out at the park and the river had a profound effect on his recovery,” Gaston said.

A new roundabout is also proposed. However, this will only slow down traffic due to the large amount of pedestrian traffic in the area.

All Aboard believes that there are more reasons to expand the Depot station. First off, the old station was designed to be expanded, and there is room to add on to the building and create a new rail.

The city, however, disagrees.

The Ann Arbor City See more | Page 2

Getting down to business Turning a hobby into a Huron junior Nathan Lee named state BPA business: CS Buttons President out of 24 candidates Sami Ruud | Staff Editor

Nathan Lee (center) joined by Drew Rosales (left), Huron BPA president, and Shreya Banda (right), who ran Nathan’s campaign for the state presidency. Photo courtesy of Huron BPA.

Upon entering high school, Nathan Lee knew he had an interest in business. In fact, he even considered attending Skyline because of the magnet programs there specific to fields such as business. Shortly into his freshman year, he joined the Business Professionals of America (BPA) chapter at Huron, and now, in his junior year, he is the vice president of the club. But something else also happened for Lee this year— something more selective and important. Lee became the president of the Michigan BPA Association of Michigan at their recent annual state conference this spring.

Lee mentioned that when people think about business, they often associate it with just accounting and finance. That being said, he explained that BPA exposes students to skills they would not learn in the classroom. “BPA is a platform that students can use to learn about the world of business,” Lee added.

The primary purpose every year is for students to participate in an event and make it through regionals to states and hopefully to nationals. Aside from this, Lee explained that he and the club have to work hard every year to fundraise. This year, the board worked hard to make the club interactive through bonding events. He explained that he wanted to be vice president because he is genuinely passionate about Jack Harrison | Staff Editor

the club and wanted to get more involved. But did he think he would ever become the student president of the state?

Every year, the state conference begins with an opening ceremony led by the current year’s state board.

And this year, Lee decided to at least run for a position because he wanted to be one of them. But he had a more important realization when looking around at the 2,000 students. “I was shocked that there was such opportunity for high schoolers to exercise their leadership at such a large scale,” Lee said.

The process of running for president was quite strenuous and much like a presidential campaign. Lee said that at the start of this year’s conference, he had to give a speech at the opening ceremony and interview with the current board. Secondly, there was a meet the candidates session and on top of that, a campaign rally. In the end, delegates already decided confer and vote.

When it was announced he won the presidency, Lee explained that it went by so fast he did not have time to think about the moment. He added that he actually focused on his walk to the podium.

For next year, Lee’s main job is to preside over the conference in Grand Rapids and attend monthly board meetings. There is also a possibility that he may visit with high school chapters.

While looking for a hobby, juniors Celia Kent and Sonali Narayan stumbled upon a way to make things for their friends, make money, and advocate for issues that are important to them. In their art class, their teacher had a button maker, and the two became obsessed with using it.

“We thought it would be really cool to get our own and sell them to raise money for depression awareness,” Kent said.

Most of the people who have bought from the two are their close friends, but their business has started to branch out. They have gotten orders from teachers, and they also made buttons for the recent school walkout for gun control. Also, since they are trying to raise money for depression, they made buttons for Project Semicolon, which helps reduce suicide rates around the world.

“Every month, we donate to an organization that supports mental health advocates,” Narayan said. “So far we have donated to Project Semicolon, but each month we also want to donate to a cause for that month. For example, April was Earth Day, so we might donate to a cause supporting the Earth.”

Although the business is relatively small so far, they were able to donate a large amount of money to Project Semicolon, at about $84.

Another aspect of the business is that Kent and Narayan are able to make their own designs to put on the buttons.

“I like the political buttons the most. The design we did for the walkout and for Project Semicolon were some of my favorites. We made a design that has a semicolon and says ‘Your story is not over’,” Kent said.

Although Kent and Narayan can create the designs for the buttons, people can also get their own pictures put on the buttons.

The process to make the buttons seems like it would be complicated, but in only a few simple steps, they can make a professional looking button.

CS Buttons can customize the buttons with any pictures, as shown here. Many people customize their buttons with photos of themselves and their friends. Photo credit: Sonali Narayan.

Once they have a design or photo, they can just print it out from a software, do a few things with the button maker, and the button is done!

“It’s super easy. We can make one button in about 20 seconds,” Kent said.

Along with customizing the design on the button, buyers can customize other aspects of the buttons as well.

“We have two different sizes right now,” Narayan said, “so we have two different machines. We sell the small ones for a dollar and the large ones for two dollars.”

It is also easy to contact the two for a custom button, and soon anyone anywhere can purchase the buttons when their Etsy account is set up.

“We have an instagram account, so a lot of people DM us, or they contact one of us directly. We are also setting up an Etsy account, but it’s not up yet, so people will be able to purchase from there in the future,” Kent said.

They are also trying to expand their business to other products than just buttons.

“We have plans to start selling patches, stickers, and other things like that,” Narayan said. “For now, though, we’re just working on paying off our debts from the machines.”

Reactions to Huron’s first IB year with DP CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

by Julie Heng | Staff Editor “Students at my school in Jakarta were like every teen--they didn’t love going to school, and doing difficult assignments was still a challenge-but they knew that they were receiving a top-notch education,” she said.

Ratering remarks that some Huron students take the incredible opportunity of a top-notch IB education for granted.

“Instead, [Huron students] are stuck in what, in my mind, is a very American mindset-- that learning is only worth the points you get for it in PowerSchool, and that doing difficult assignments or challenging yourself academically doesn’t have any intrinsic value,” she said. “This, ultimately, holds students back from embracing all that IB has to offer. They allow their passion and curiosity to be replaced with an attitude of, “How many points is this worth?” and long walks to the bathroom trying to avoid class.”

The undisclosed number of juniors (figure could not be obtained by the Emery) who have chosen to take the full DP do mostly credit their decisions to college admissions and preparation.

Although the DP is more difficult than he was initially told, Junior Colin Pufahl said he feels he will be better prepared for college and the workforce than many of his non-DP peers.

“It’s been quite stressful, but I believe that it will have positive consequences in my future,” Pufahl said. “I am also really looking forward to my freshman year of college being really easy, as it has been rumored to be after taking the DP.”

Huron English teacher Terry Anderson, who trained for and developed Huron’s DP Language and Composition course since 2015, said the IB system complemented her seminar- and inquiry-based teaching approach well.

“I don’t think IB has really changed my teaching style, but it has validated and confirmed my teaching style,” she said.

She noticed similarities to English Language and Composition AP, a course she had previously taught.

News What is the goal of the MYP?

What is YOUR DP EXPERIENCE LIKE SO FAR?

The MYP: addresses holistically students’ intellectual, social, emotional and physical well-being, provides students opportunities to develop

the knowledge, attitudes and skills they need in order to manage complexity, and take responsible action for the future, ensures breadth and depth of understanding through study in eight subject groups, requires the study of at least two languages to support students in understanding their own cultures and those of others, empowers students to participate in service with the community, and helps to prepare students for further education, the workplace and a lifetime of learning. In summary the MYP focuses on the whole student as a learner and provides opportunities for growth in all aspects of learning.

How do you ensure Huron students transition smoothly into the MYP if students did not go to Mitchell or Scarlett?

All of our teachers meet during their collaboration period to discuss issues like this one. In the 9th grade we are assuming no prior knowledge of MYP, so time is taken to explain rubrics and MYP criteria as if all of that information is new. As we move forward I will continue to work with the 9th grade teachers to help make the transition more robust.

All students attending Huron in the 9th and 10th grade have the opportunity to engage in the MYP. Since the MYP is a framework for teaching and learning, rather than a defined curriculum, it applies to all students. about how scores translate onto a traditional grading scale, and the transition into an IB curriculum what with its internal assessments and extended essay.

A common theme from students is not understanding what the DP would entail. As Pufahl summarized, “I would give the students more information on the program before starting.”

Next year, the major change to Huron’s IB agenda is the introduction of a Career Programme (CP).

CP coordinator Carrie James is excited to kickstart this expansion with a cohort of 35 students enrolled in CP Business and CP Engineering.

Sophomore Siena Smith is enrolled in the first-ever Huron CP Engineering program. Smith, who hopes to go into biomedical engineering, said she hopes to learn “how to succeed in the real world, what I need to do to ready myself as an engineering student and employee, as well as tools to help me in college and life.”

CP Business enrollee sophomore Anay Laddha agrees. He said he’s motivated to pursue a “curriculum that differs from the normal brute force

by Ritvik Jillala | Staff Writer The Ann Arbor City Council has established the Parks Advisory Commission (PAC), a twelve-member citizen board.

Its purpose is to provide a consistent and formal opportunity for public involvement and perspective regarding community park and recreation services and to provide advisory recommendations to the Parks and Recreation Manager, Community Services Area Administrator, the City Administrator and the Council, according to Parks & Recreation Services Manager Colin Smith.

The council believes that there are multiple reasons to relocate. According to Eli Cooper, Transportation Program Manager for the City of Ann Arbor, and the Ann Arbor Intermodal Station Environmental Assessment,

there is “insufficient quantity, quality, and comfort for passengers; insufficient space, which is not satisfying passenger demands; and limited integration of the existing station within Ann Arbor.”

The proposed station will have solutions to all of these issues — it will have improved accessibility and accommodations, and it may be a catalyst for local growth. The new station will cost approximately $91 million dollars. 80 percent of the project funds are covered by a federal rail grant, while 20 percent are from city funds.

This proposed station has been a critical issue in Ann Arbor for the past few years, and it continues to be an issue that is becoming more relevant by the day. The amount of support for each side continues to grow as well, with new members continuing to join various organizations.

From student to teacher: meet Veronica Choe

amber Clark| Staff Writer

Veronica Choe is a new chemistry teacher here at Huron High School. She was born in Grand Blanc, Michigan and graduated from Grand Blanc High School. After high school, she went to the University Of Michigan twice. The first time she went was for her Bachelor of Science in chemistry, but she decided it was too boring to be a chemist, so she went back and got her master’s of education.

In 2017, Ms. Choe student-taught at Huron. She became a full time chemistry teacher in 2018. She loves working with teenagers because she is able to build a relationship with her students. Ms. Choe was always interested in helping kids who need help.

“It is not a boring job; every day is different, and I think that is awesome,” she said.

According to Choe, the best part of her job is getting to know her students. When a student doesn’t un-

derstand something but learns it later, she feels like her job is worth it.

Ms. Choe also coaches volleyball at Huron, which she thinks is very fun. A few of her favorite things are a restaurant called Pho House and House music. In her free time, she likes to go to events and concerts.

What are positives, negatives, differences from what you had expected and what you are experiencing in your classes?

Positives- I actually enjoy the content of my classes like TOK and Lang&Lit. They teach some lessons that are very interesting. I also love taking a 2-year long art class (Visual Arts) that helps with relieving stress.

Negatives- Since all of my classes are IB, I barely get any breaks. Project after tests after exams after IA’s and on and on and on. It’s hard to keep up and I spend most of my time studying and doing homework. I won’t get any free hours to do electives in senior year either due to all of my classes being 2 years long.

WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO TAKE THE FULL DP?

Is there anything you would like to change? Have you considered dropping the DP or certain classes?

Yes, I’ve considered dropping DP because it’s very hard. I also never get to see my close friends anymore and I can’t take other classes I wanted to like Psychology, Yoga, Ceramics, Cooking, Graphic Design, and Calculus. mix of APs and DP classes, something that is more of an in depth program rather than a comprehensive set of courses.”

In the future, James hopes to expand the CP to journalism, TV broadcasting, health services, and police and fire services, as well as to the existing homebuilding and cosmetology courses.

While DP and CP tracks are not mandatory, all Huron students must go through the Middle Years Programme (MYP), which technically begins in the sixth grade.

Todd Newell, the MYP coordinator, works with students at Scarlett and Huron. He takes care to ensure students who do not have prior IB experience transition smoothly into the MYP.

“All of our teachers meet during their collaboration period to discuss issues like this one. In the 9th grade we are assuming no prior knowledge of MYP, so time is taken to explain rubrics and MYP criteria as if all of that information is new,” Newell said.

“As we move forward I will continue to work with the 9th grade teachers to

help make the transition more robust.”

At Huron, the MYP also includes the controversial Personal Project for tenth graders.

“Overall I think the Personal Project has gotten a favorable reaction,” Newell said. “Several students and parents approached me during the evening exhibition in January expressing how valuable the experience was or how the class gave them the opportunity to explore a passion that traditional classes do not offer.”

Students, who have been interviewed by The Emery in issues past, hold a variety of opinions on the Personal Project, which serves as a MYP precursor to the DP Extended Essay.

“While I do feel that participating in the MYP helps students that move on to the DP or CP, it is not a goal of the programme to direct students into either of those paths,” Newell said. “The hope is that the MYP provides students with strategies they can use to determine if DP or CP is the correct path for them to take.”

WHAT IS THE CAREER PROGRAMME?

Three SL and three HL classes The “IB core”: • Two semesters of interdisciplinary “Theory of Knowledge” courses, which are meant to develop one’s own way of thinking by pulling from various sources that view and understand the world differently • “Creativity, activity, service” or “CAS” which requires certain extracurricular and service projects • 4000-word extended essay based on personal interest

Ann Arbor train station proves controversial

So far, taking the DP program is very challenging. The classes itself require much more work and studying while doing CAS, the EE, and IA’s on top of it just takes all of my time. Although, it’s manageable through good time management and hard work. I feel like I’m in a private school inside a public school, as if my friends go a different school than I do.

I was motivated because my dream college, UCLA, accepts 48% of DP graduates when it accepts 18% of regular students.

Are there any accommodations for students who do not wish to enroll in the MYP?

WHAT IS THE DIPLOMA PROGRAMME?

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

A Q&A W/ DP ENROLLEE LUCY BATSAIKHAN

A Q&A W/ MYP COORDINATOR TODD NEWELL

“I have been pretty vocal about liking the DP Language and Literature assessments much better than those of the AP course in that they give a more holistic view of the student, and by extension, they provide a more accurate reflection of students’ knowledge and skills,” Anderson noted. “I particularly like the strong oral commentary component of the assessments--and I love that there are none of the terrible multiple choice questions.

Anderson is also one of the DP Theory of Knowledge (TOK) teachers.

This course “is the glue that holds the DP curriculum together,” where students learn how all their DP courses are connected. As Anderson puts it, they deepen their learning by challenging their own assumptions and considering other perspectives, questioning how one knows what one claims to knows.

Anderson does believe the TOK course should be spread out over two years, and that concern has been addressed; DP Psychology teacher Nadine Ghawi says a block schedule would better suit new full diploma students.

So far, students seem worried

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4 semesters in their field (Business, Engineering, etc.)

At least two DP classes The “CP core”, where “most of the connections are made; fields, job sites, and experience are brought in” according to Ms. James • Technical • Academic • Employability

The race to Lansing: local democrats face off in primary

George White | Staff Writer

The 2016 presidential election brought new vigor into politics even down to the local level. It inspired people of all backgrounds to take up the pen and paper to do their part in trying to improve their country, state, or city. Ann Arbor’s state senator Rebekah Warren has been restricted by term limits and is unable to run again, as a result, four democrats have taken the torch in order to fill the progressive seat with a strong progressive.

Matthew Miller, a 22 year old student at Washtenaw Community College, is running a campaign focused on improving the possibilities and support given to foster-children like himself. Growing up in the foster system and moving around different parts of Michigan, he found himself essentially abandoned by the state of Michigan once he turned 17. Many foster students discover that once they are out of the system, they receive almost no assistance in receiving a post-secondary education. His campaign is being run free of corporate donations, and, even if he doesn’t win, he plans to hold whoever gains control of the seat accountable for their actions within the state senate.

“We need to start implementing a rehabilitative process here,” Miller said. “If we treat [criminals] like animals what is what they are going to become.”

Local business owner of Bollyfit, a fitness and wellness company, Anuja Rajendra is focusing her campaign on the issues of making Michigan more attractive for families by expanding education, healthcare, and economic opportunities for everyone. She is the only person of color running for this seat and would be the only woman of color within the senate if elected. Due to Rajendra running in Ann Arbor, a heavily democratic seat, she has pledged to not take Political Action Committee money in her campaign to prevent

Clockwise from left: Anuja Rajendra, Matthew Miller, Michelle Deatrick, Deatrick at an event, Jeff Irwin, and Anuja Rajendra, all candidates for the 18th district state senate seat, are focused on making things better for local residents. “[When Deatrick ran for county commissioner in 2016] we knocked on almost 20,000 doors and talked to lots of people and were able to connect people over issues of the environment and infrastructure. So roads, I have yet to meet anyone of any party who thinks that Michigan’s roads were great.” All photos courtesy of respective campaigns.

potential corruption. Having long been an activist seeking expansion of representation, in addition to fighting for common sense gun legislation and criminal justice reform, Rajendra hopes to bring minority voices to the table and to remove discriminatory laws that affect people in the LGBT community as well as laws that affect minority groups.

“I was astounded to learn of the lack of representation in our Michigan State senate. With that gap, there is a huge opportunity for improvement,” Rajendra said.

County Commissioner Michelle Deatrick has long been an activist and advocate for the environment, better economic policy, and the expansion of educational opportunities, and she is campaigning on these issues. As someone who has already been elected into office and being in a district with many local leaders being republican, she knows how to reach across the aisle and craft policies everyone can be happy with. Through her seat as county commissioner she has discovered that many Republicans hold similar values of protecting the environment and that everyone can agree that our roads need to be fixed. Deatrick doesn’t take P.A.C.

money and has stated that, no matter the outcome of the election, she will continue her work on activism and advocacy for programs that expand opportunity and equity for the people of Michigan.

Jeff Irwin, the only candidate who has previously been elected into Lansing, is running primarily on tax reform, education, criminal justice reform, and equality for women and members of the LGBT. Having been an elected politician before and potentially having more donors, Irwin stated that he does not know the percentages of where his donations come from, stating that they are from people of all backgrounds and amounts in donations. Irwin, being the only one that has been elected to a state seat, is the only candidate that can provide a voting record on the issues he is campaigning on.

He is an advocate for better education, expansion of rights within Lansing, in addition to tax reform in order to have the wealthy pay their fair share.

“The issues I care most about are issues that are decided in Lansing, where I for the last 20 years have been focused on,” Irwin concluded.

The winner of the primary will appear on the ballot in November.

News

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Another protest, but a bit different this time

On April 20, 19 years after the Columbine shooting, Huron students joined hundreds of thousands of students marching nationwide for gun safety reform. This was the third major school walkout after the Parkland shooting in February.

This walkout, however, featured a group of twenty-or-so progun student protestors at the edge of the football field looking to open a discussion about gun control.

What began separately and peacefully did escalate after the demonstration ended, when most students began returning to class.

“After the walkout, I saw some kids with signs that had pro gun statements,” said senior Sara Soroka, who participated in the walkout. “This was confusing to me because, although the walkout was for gun reform in general, it focused a lot on school shootings, so I didn’t understand why students weren’t scared, especially with so many shootings recently.

“I went up to talk to them because I genuinely wanted to know their opinion. I am a strong believer in understanding both sides of an argument when taking such a strong stance on one of them,” Soroka said.

They were able to debate traditions and reasons for owning guns and fear (or lack thereof) of school shootings.

Sophomore NathanPenoyar, member of Huron’s Young Conservatives, says that kind of discussion is exactly what he was looking for.

“It wasn’t a counterprotest. It was a dialogue to say what we think will stop the epidemic of mass shootings,” Penoyar said.

Julie Heng | Staff Editor

Not everyone was willing to actively converse, however.

“After talking to one of the kids for a while, people started to gather around and listen to the conversation we were having,” Soroka said. “People started yelling at him, which made talking to him pretty difficult.”

“The Young Dems came up, and their leaders were very confrontational… swearing a lot,” sophomore Bill Beaune said. “I felt like they weren’t trying to listen to us. One person passing by issued a verbal insult.”

“[Someone yelled] ‘watch you all die next,’” sophomore Jakob Kreamelmeyer remembered. “[Another person yelled] ‘F--- this s--- I’m out of here.’”

“Of course, we had a lot of people who were very respectful,” Penoyar added. “We can have a rational discussion. People who were willing to come down and acknowledge our side of the story weren’t interrupting.”

“The thing is, there are a lot of civilized people. Of course there are a few bumps in the road, but they are willing to talk,” Beaune said.

“We’re not trying to insult the Young Dems, we just have differing opinions,” Beaune concluded.

“Personally, I think [the walkout] went extremely well. We opened up dialogue, which hopefully changed some minds. It was a peaceful learning experience that got rid of all the butterflies.”

Ultimately, Soroka said she learned that it can be very difficult to change someone’s opinion. On the bright side, “I also learned that having a civilized conversation with someone is way more effective than yelling at them,” she said. “Backing up your opinions with facts, knowing the counterclaims, and remaining calm is the best way to speak your mind on issues like this one.”

Left: The demonstrators protest also took place at Riverbank Stadium, but in a corner away from the main protest. Photo by Julie Heng.

Above: A group of twenty-orso pro-gun students, including Nathan Penoyar, Bill Beaune, Jakob Kreamelmeyer, and Seth Richter, look to bring their perspective to the April 20 walkout. Penoyar said the demonstration was successful. “We were able to get our view across, and they were able to as well.” Photo by Jack Harrison.

Visit their video at: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Dqo9bXgwzbM

Suicide rates on the rise among teens and college students caitlinkaleta | Staff Writer

Over the last five decades, high school and college suicide rates have increased dramatically. As this issue escalates, colleges have not kept track and made changes to prevent future suicides.

Less than 50 percent of large public colleges in the U.S. do not keep records of annual suicide statistics. Suicide is

now the second leading cause of death among college students. Without the data about the suicides, schools have no way of measuring their success in making changes to help save lives.

One of the main reasons why many schools don’t track suicides is that determining the cause of death is often difficult to determine. Schools

often face troubles on whether or not to count suicides that occur on break or off campus. Legally, the schools can face problems if a family chooses to keep a suicide private. Also, the increasing number of suicides could damage the reputation of many schools.

Like colleges, high schools do not track their annual suicide count.

However, the main stressors a person can face during high school are similar to ones they face in college. High school and college students face similar obstacles in their lives such as athletics, academics, family, etc. Many high school and college student are busy balancing academics with athletics.

Their main social life comes from

other students and family rather than a work environment. High schoolers and college students are often put under the same bracket in terms of age when nationwide statistics are recorded.

The University of Michigan provides many counseling programs so students can reach out for help.

The race to save the polar bears TaKayla Pugh-Henderson | Staff Writer

There are approximately 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears left in the wild. They live in 19 subpopulations in the Arctic including Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Russia, and Norway. Climate change is causing a drastic decrease in the polar bear population. In 2008, polar bears were listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.

Rising temperatures, which cause sea ice to melt and water levels to rise, force polar bears to lose their habitat and food sources. Polar bears are losing their homes due to problems caused by greenhouse gases (partially caused by people and pollution). In a few years’ time, if nothing is done to reduce pollution and rising sea levels, all polar bears will be extinct, along with other marine animals.

“This year’s area of missing ice was more than 1.5 times larger than the state of Texas,” according to polarbearsinternational.org.

Without sea ice, polar bears will not be able to catch seals or walruses, their main sources of food.

They will potentially lose mass and eventually die. They are great swimmers but there is increased risk in swimming great lengths to find food sources

for their cubs and themselves. Since temperatures are rising, polar bears’ survival rate has declined in the last five years: 43 percent fewer polar bear cubs have survived than in previous years.

Polar bears are also getting smaller and don’t hold as much muscle mass. They are more vulnerable than polar bears in previous years. Polar bears were once dominant, now they are being dominated by rising temperatures. Time is ticking to save polar bears in the wild.

“ By 2050, polar bear numbers may decline by 30 percent due to rapid loss of sea ice,” according to https://support.wwf.org.uk.

There are organizations to save polar bears from extinction. People can adopt a polar bear to control the decreasing population of polar bears. In both human and animal society there needs to be a common ground to know when enough is enough and to stop the killing.

By adopting a polar bear people can reduce threats such as human conflict, pollution,and climate change. People can help save polar bears from extinction and regrow their population, so that they can have a longer life expectancy from birth to adulthood.https://support.wwf.org.uk.

Join Huron Men’s Golf Contact coach Patrick Kelly at patrick.kelly.t@gmail.com

Opinion

Editor-in-Chief Kara Kozma

Staff Editors Jack Harrison Julie Heng Ritvik Jillala Samantha Ruud

Staff Writers Adela Buranova Amber Clark Sydney Crispin-Pischea Anna Domagala Micah Etchison Aaron Garrett Destiny Gibson Sylvia Giger Yennifer Guerra-Pantaleon Katherine Gurgenian Gena Harris Alexander Hassan Parker Hermanson Wei-Chi Hsiu Michael Huang Caitlin Kaleta Niyati KellenbergCallewaert Daniel Middaugh De’Andrew Powell Takayla Pugh-Henderson Jorge Rodriguez Mercy Rubio-Sanchez Alyssa Salamin Eilyn Sanabria Austin Shepherd Cierra Slater Shannon Stocking Marshelle Walker Patrick Wang Anna Weigel George White Ian Wilson

The Emery Staff Policy The Emery is a newspaper produced by and for the students of Huron High School. The Emery exists to inform and entertain the student body by producing quality content on a variety of school, community, national, and international issues. We at The Emery aim to improve ourselves as writers, thinkers, and communicators serving communities to which we belong, and we strive to maintain the highest degree of journalistic integrity.

All opinions pieces published by The Emery reflect only the views of their authors, not those of the adviser, editor-in-chief, editorial board, or other staff members.

The Emery achieved a Gold Ranking in the Spartan Critique for the 2016-2017 academic year.

The Emery is a member of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association, the National Scholastic Press Association, and the Journalism Education Association.

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to testify in public, implying they have something to hide. Given this information, it certainly lends itself for concerns and suspicions.

Issues with U.S. agencies and Trump-Russia Collusion

Deleted text messages by FBI workers Peter Strzok and Lisa Page point to possible communication and collusion among workers in the government during the Obama Administration. Specifically, the text indicate that Strzok, Page and other FBI and DOJ officials had sharp biases against Trump. Some of these people include Obama’s Chief of Staff, Denis McDonough, former CIA Director John Brennan and former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

Think about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team. It is filled with democratic lawyers and former Clinton confidants. Before the 2016 Presidential Election, President Obama was briefed on attempts of Russian interference.

But why did he not take more action?

Perhaps he thought Clinton was going to win the election.

Russia Policies: Obama and Trump

President Obama did nothing when Russia annexed Crimea. He allowed Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene and take power in Syria. Obama was too concerned about his Iran policy, (that practically gave weapons to the regime) and did not want to upset Putin, who could intervene in the deal. Remember when then-presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Russia “was our number one geopolitical foe?”

Well, Obama mocked him! The Trump Administration has placed dozens of bans on Russian ambassadors, enacted tougher sanctions and increased oil and gas production. But according to the mainstream media, the Trump staffers are the colluders!

The Clintons, like many other politicians, attempt to influence anything they can. But the bottom line is that the House Intelligence Committee concluded that there was no evidence of Trump-Russia collusion. This Russia investigation should be winding down, but will it ever? The issues with the Clinton campaign deserve attention, and it is disappointing and dangerous that the mainstream media has dismissed it all.

The key to success for high school students

Ritvik Jillala | Staff Editor

Money. Power. Resources. Connections. Different people believe different things lead to success. However, people also define success differently. Some people want to get a promotion in their company. Some people want to end world hunger.

Some people want to ensure that their family is economically stable. For us students, most of us strive for one thing: getting into college.

The current high school environment is dominated by students racing to get ahead of each other. From joining a laboratory to becoming an officer in an organization to taking harder classes, students perform outrageous actions to make their college applications pristine. It has become quite the cut-throat environment at Huron High School. If this competitive nature was healthy, people would be thriving and doing things they believed in and enjoyed. Unfortunately, it is not.

From sabotaging others’ opportunities to withholding crucial information, students at Huron and other schools go to incredible extents to ensure that they end up with the best qualifications. This nature was pounded into their brains ever since they were children, resulting in a non-beneficial, ruthless mindset. This is the mindset that leads students astray. It blinds students from finding the thing that really matters, the thing that is the key to success: finding your passion.

If you do not enjoy what you are doing, then there is no point in doing

it. After all, isn’t happiness the ultimate goal of humanity? And if you aren’t doing something to work towards that goal, then what is the point of doing it? Nothing. Making the varsity team, becoming the school champion at chess, starting a table-tennis club; in the long run, none of these matter if you do not enjoy doing them, if they are not your true passion. Would you really like to spend your life doing something that doesn’t interest you?

The secret to success is finding your passion and making it yours. Own it. Find something that keeps you up at night. Find something that drives you to learn more. Find something that drives you to do more. Find something that you dream about. After making this discovery, nothing can get in your way. This discovery is what makes or breaks a college application and paves the way for success. It can be the difference that allows you go to your dream school. Above all, it ensures that you stay happy. Be passionate.

By being passionate, by being driven by forces within you rather than the competitive environment present at Huron, you can do so much more. While the influence from outside forces will keep you ahead of the game, this internal drive will ensure that you enjoy true happiness. This drive will blow away the competition and involuntarily make your college application the best there is. It will result in success.

As a result, many media consumers retreat to their own preferred comfort zones, cherry-picking stories and ratioExample Name | Staff Writer nales they can readily accept. For them,

We are living in an informathe news becomes a cyclical, passionate tion era—an information explosion era, echo chamber. experts say.

This is a very dangerous social

There are so many sources, so problem, however. Staying entrenched many ideas, so many in one or two outlets assertions readily can cause us to be available. We are overcome by bias. allowed access to the Media consumers retreat Every news outlet is widest spectrum of inherently biased, to facts and figures ever to their own preferred feed upon faithful, amassed in human comfort zones, chersensationalist loyalhistory. ties. All journalists ry-picking stories and

And yet, at claim to be unbiased, rationales they can readily and many do stand times, this spectrum of information accept. by these efforts, but becomes confusing, one voice can never even misleading. be omnisciently ac It’s uncurate. Additionally, derstandable that journalists and news we as news consumers cannot hanoutlets who do push agendas exist. dle such overwhelming information.

They capitalize on polarized beliefs and News spreads so quickly that it can be spin narratives in flawed directions, difficult to evaluate the accuracy and they defend and attack high-profile implications of new headlines. It can figures even if that means resorting be easy to feel as if news is just white to baseless ad hominem fallacies. This noise, sound waves constantly clashing. inclusion or omission of specific topics

hold devastating political implications paper to arrive. The key is to consult and social consequences. many sources—many reliable sources,

This further polarizes comto be clear—to find accurate facts. It peting sources and audiences, making is only through analyzing facts from the common search for truth more multiple feeds, and then evaluating the difficult. This is why it is crucial for us reliability of those sources, that we can as consumers of media to obtain news ascertain what is closest to the truth. from multiple feeds, especially from

It is also important to rememcompeting ideologies, in order to gain ber that we are no longer simply cona comprehensive view sumers of media. On of each situation. By social media, we have searching for unbibecome its distribuased truth, we will tors and amplifiers The key is to consult ultimately find reliwell. According to many sources—many reli- as able facts ensured by studies by the Pew solid logic. The sound able sources, to be clear— Research Center, waves will collide, 93% of Americans get to find accurate facts. and through destructheir news online, tive interference, the and over two-thirds truth will win out. are getting some

In essence, from social media. we media consumers have to become Each time you post or retweet, another scientists, combing through many sets news seedling is sown, and it may be of hypotheses to find a theory that accurate, or it may be very far from respects the facts and not the other the truth. In this way, consumers have way around. It’s not enough to sit in become gatekeepers, just like journalfront of the TV and watch cable news, ists. We have an even greater responit’s not enough to catch up solely sibility to be well-read and truthfully through Twitter moments, and it’s not informed. enough to wait for a single Sunday

Surviving the Information Explosion without going extinct: why news consumers cannot be fully informed by one source Staff Editorial

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Sara-Beth Badalamente

Douglas Campbell, an FBI informant the 2016 Clinton Campaign, said that with ties to the controversy, informed there was no evidence to support the Jack Harrison | Staff Editor several congressional committees that theory that Clinton supported the in Benghazi. 30,000 emails from Moscow gave millions to the Clinton terests of Clinton Foundation donors. a private server. Four mysterious DemFoundation with “the expectation that ocratic National Committee (DNC) it would be used to benefit Bill ClinFusion GPS and its ties to Russia deaths. Rigged primaries against Bernie ton’s charitable efforts while Secretary Sanders. These are just some of the of State Hillary Clinton quarterbacked Christopher Steele, scandals that surround Hillary Rodham a ‘reset’ in U.S.-Russian relations.” In a former British intelligence worker Clinton. However, the media only his testimony, Campbell explained who had connections to the FBI, was wants to focus on the Trump campaign that Russian nuclear officials expected directed by Fusion GPS, an intelligence and its communication with Russia.

“APCO, an amerifirm contracted by What the mainstream media does can lobbying firm, Perkins Coie Law not want to discuss is the Democrat’s to apply a portion Firm to find dirt involvement with Russia, since this is of the $3 million Your real Russia story is on Trump. Fusion where the real story lies. annual lobbying fee GPS worked for the it was receiving” in uranium.

Clinton Campaign The deal: exchange for helping and the DNC. But the Clinton Global President Donald Trump here is the possible

In 2010, Rosatom, a Russian Initiative. In other issue: while the firm uranium mining company acquired words, his claim was conducting Uranium One, a Canadian uranium is that Russia gave anti-Trump research, mining company with uranium-mining millions to a lobbying firm that would it was working for a Russian oligarch. stakes across the country. Now, Rosabenefit Hillary Clinton. Therefore, This oligarch with ties to the Kremlin tom is a leader in uranium production Russia would gain influence over her in was working against U.S. sanctions and possesses an immense amount of some way. placed on Russia. So there is a possicontrol over the uranium market.

Another report by The Hill is bility the Clintons were working with Uranium One: Why has the media not even more concerning. It asserts that Russian officials while undermining discussed this? the Obama Administration signed off the U.S.

The Clinton Foundation on the deal, despite FBI evidence since has a track record of not disclosing 2009 that Russia used bribery and exSome concerning facts: donations and transactions, and this tortion to expand Moscow’s influence is a prime example. The chairman of in the United States. And why did the

Fusion GPS refused to Uranium One, Ian Telfer, donated to mainstream media not focus on this cooperate with congressional committhe Clinton Foundation from 2009 to after the deal in 2010? tees this past year and has a history of 2012 through his family foundation. The This is collusion. But more controversy. According to Fox News, donations were not disclosed properimportantly, this could threaten the human rights activist Thor Halvorssen ly by the Clintons, even though then United States. testified to Congress Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was

The Clinthat Fusion GPS had under a White House agreement to tons approved this “smear experts” and publicize all donors. And recall, this deal so they could “scorched-earth Make sure you can lawful- used was during the time when Rosatom get more cash. In methods” to discredit bought Uranium One. According to exchange, Putin and ly protect what you sign. his work out of the Scopes, “the multimillion sums [totalthe Russians obtained Just thinking about Con- blue. There is also ing to $2.35 million] were exchanged power from the deal. speculation that gress, FOIA, etc. through a subsidiary of the Clinton Specifically, they Fusion GPS had inFoundation, CGSCI, which did not gained influence in fluence in arranging reveal its individual donors.” On top the uranium market Page texted by Peter Strzok on Aug. 2, 2016 a meeting at Trump of this, Jo Becker and Mike McIntire and in American Tower between the of the New York Times revealed that politics. The bottom Trump campaign people high up in the Canadian mining line is that Hillary and Russian lawyer industry who helped facilitate the sale Clinton and Barack Obama should Natalia Vishnevskaya, according to of Uranium One to Russia were donors not have approved this deal. Some may NBC News. On top of this, Justice to the Clinton Foundation. Additionargue that Clinton and Obama did not Department official at the time, Bruce ally, in 2010, Bill Clinton was paid have a role in the deal, but it was in Ohr did not disclose his meetings with $500,000 to give a speech in Moscow, fact approved by the State Department, Fusion GPS. In fact, he is married to a Russia during the Rosatom deal. And led by Hillary Clinton. former employee at the law firm. where did the money come from? A

It is important to remember

Lastly, Fusion GPS co-foundRussian bank with ties to the Kremlin. that these are only allegations about ers Glenn Simpson and Peter Fritsch APCO put out there by Campbell. compared Representative Devin Nunes What do the Clintons have to gain?

APCO also denied these allegations, and colleagues to those who defended

calling them “false and unfounded.”

Nixon during Watergate. Here’s the

According to The Hill, Brian Fallon, a former spokesperson for irony: Simpson and Fritsch chose not

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Adviser

Conservative Corner

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The Student Publication of Huron High School

The democrats’ Russia collusion

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The Emery

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Opinion

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My thoughts on IB: a student’s perspective Jack Harrison | Staff Editor

Coming into this year, several other juniors and I took a risk enrolling in the IB Diploma Programme (DP).

I have many positive takeaways, but as always, I think there are areas that could be improved. Hopefully, by sharing the aspects of IB that I enjoyed and the areas that I think need improvements, upcoming juniors can make a better decision about whether DP is for them. In addition, my feedback can offer insight to administrators, facilitators, and teachers in the coming years.

THE POSITIVES: #1 - Mandated classes for music (Music Theory) and Theory of Knowledge for everyone

If I was not enrolled in the IB program, I probably would not have signed up for either Music Theory or Theory of Knowledge (TOK). After taking Music Theory, I view music differently and analyze the structure and elements to an extent I never imagined.

In TOK, I enjoy exploring difficult and broad questions with my classmates.

For instance, we recently explored the merit of art and what society defines as art. #2 - Teachers I have found that DP teachers are very passionate and like teaching courses. For many, it was their choice to teach these new courses. For some, they said they were tired of teaching the same courses every year and wanted something new. Secondly, when signing up, you know which teachers will be teaching specific courses. This is helpful

because students have favorite teachers and ones they learn well with. #3 - Small Class Sizes Because classes consist only of a portion of the junior class, IB class sizes are smaller. This has allowed me to learn better with fewer distractions. I feel more comfortable and less nervous sharing within the more community-like environment. Furthermore, I have found that I can ask more questions and get more personal help from teachers. #4 - CAS (Creativity, Activity and Service) Volunteering in the community is something that I struggle with. I always enjoy helping others, but I have problems motivating myself to do the activities. CAS has propelled me to do various types of community service. It also has encouraged me to do creative activities like making crafts for others and taking part in physical activities, such as The Ann Arbor Turkey Trot. #5 - 2 Year Courses Many IB courses are two years, unlike AP courses. After taking both course lengths, I think that two year courses have many benefits to students. Two year courses allow classes to be slower paced (leading to less stress) and allow teachers to dive into more content. Also, with two year courses in IB, it would not be possible to take Biology, Physics and Chemistry.

I liked this because I didn’t have to take a course I was not interested in just to get AP credit.

#8 - Internal Assessments

Every IB course has an Internal Assessment (IA), a paper worth 20 percent of the IB grade. In my history class, I explored how Romanian Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu held power for so long despite passing policies that worsened Romania. By conducting the investigation, I learned how to create and execute a plan on an in-depth topic I would never be exposed to in a non-DP curriculum. In music theory, I learned how different cultures of music (Trinidad Calypso and Japanese Gagaku) have connections and utilize similar elements. I do feel some of the IAs could have been better explained in certain classes. #7 - Textbooks

The IB textbooks include many colors and graphics to help readers understand. More importantly for me personally, there is not too much text on a page (unlike in AP) which is more manageable when reading. The textbooks also do a great job of providing practice for IB papers. However, the math SL textbooks could explain certain concepts better and provide more worked-out solutions. #4 - Exams Between the curriculums and the textbooks, teachers do a great job of preparing students for exams. Unit tests and mid-terms are modeled off of the IB exams and are not centered on regurgitating data, while preparing students for exams. For me, this is quite different from AP, which consisted of cramming before exams and tests that did not prepare me well for APs.

THE NEGATIVES: #1 - Limited Flexibility in Schedule With my schedule (2 year history course class and a music requirement), I will only have the opportunity to take an elective class the second semester of my senior year. I thought having a seven hour day would provide schedule flexibility, but it was only to accommodate additional requirements like TOK, Personal Project or Musi- c Theory. Thus, I cannot take newspaper class or other electives. I could take one elective for a semester, but there is a class to help students study for IB exams which may be of value. #2 - Class registration

When signing up for classes, it was not exactly clear to me what classes students were required to take.

For IB, to make music performance an art credit (choir, band or orchestra), students were told they had to take Music Theory. However, there are some students who made music performance their art credit but did not take Music Theory. Secondly, some students were told they could handle the DP curriculum when their grades from previous years indicated they would struggle. I feel that these students were exploited just to get high DP enrollment numbers. #3 - Number of Exams

Depending on the class and unit, there are very few tests per quarter, which means that tests cover lots of content creating stressful situations.

I prefer more assessments like in AP,

Prison nation: our country’s incarceration problem Austin Shepherd | Staff Writer

When most people picture the incarcerated, they typically picture hardened, frighteningly-looking criminals who don’t seem to have any trouble inflicting pain or suffering on other human beings. However, one would be surprised at the number of everyday Americans serving time in state and federal prisons.

Consider this: 2.2 million Americans are are serving time at any given time, more than any other country in the developed world, and according to Prison Policy Initiative, 1,330,000 are incarcerated at state prisons, or roughly two-thirds of the incarcerated population. Of those, less than 53% are incarcerated for violent offenses, leaving roughly 46% of prisoners who in most cases, ought to either be serving shorter jail sentences or better yet, getting help for the underlying issues that contribute to their criminal behavior. Consider these negative effects that greatly affect both individual prisoners and the state of the system as a whole.

Overcrowding: Overcrowding occurs when the number of inmates at a particular facility exceeds the listed capacity of the facility. Severity of overcrowding varies widely from state to state and even from facility to facility, with some states experiencing high levels of overcrowding in their facilities, while others experience low or nonexistent rates of overcrowding. Illinois and North Dakota lead the way in their prison population percentage. Each state houses 150% of capacity overall. Other states with above-capacity populations include Hawaii, Delaware, Ohio, Nebraska, Iowa, and Colorado.

Too Many Nonviolent Prisoners: As stated above, only around 52% of state prisoners are actually in prison for crimes considered to be of the violent category. However, our legal system is designed to criminalize a considerably wide variety of offenses. In fact, the crime rate in the United States has actually decreased in the last twenty years, but this decreasing crime rate hasn’t done much to also decrease prison population. The Disaster Center, which has compiled crime rate data since 1960, reported that 14,250,400 crimes were committed in 1989.

Compare that with just 9,202,023 crimes in 2016, a decrease of roughly five million.

Yet in that same 17-year period, the Sentencing Project reported that the incarceration rate jumped from around 1,300,000 to around 1,450,000, In other words, it

appears that we’ve missed the mark as a society in properly addressing the issues that many Americans face that lead them down the path of crime. Fortunately, there are many feasible alternatives to incarceration for many non-violent offenses.

Drug offenses: Rather Than imprisoning nonviolent drug offenders without offering rehabilitation services, state and federal corrections agencies should invest in providing offenders with safe, effective, and clinically-based drug rehabilitation services where the focus in on helping offenders find better alternatives to drug use. Such a program should be designed to focus on treatment rather than punishment.

Immigration: An efficient and speedy path to citizenship should be priority number one when working with immg ants with no prior violent criminal history. It is important to remember that nonviolent immigrants come to our country with the intent of finding a better life for themselves and their families, and though there are some migrants who do engage in violent criminal activity and thus should not be allowed to remain in our country, there is no hard evidence that might suggest a positive correlation between immigration and crime.

Money Crimes: An alternative punitive measure that the government can choose to take is simply imposing heavy fines. For instance, a person who counterfeits $500 worth may face 50 times the amount they counterfeited in fines.

In this case, $25000. The same principle can be used for other related offenses. If for instance, a person commits insurance fraud, the penalty should depend on the exact magnitude of the fraudulent transaction.

Our country’s obsession with its corrections system is not doing a sufficient job of ensuring our safety and well-being of its citizens. Instead, our correctional system focuses on trying to criminalize as many acts as possible. Ultimately, we must make this simple but important distinction between the people we are truly afraid of and those who we are simply frustrated and angry with. If we make this important distinction, we can scale back our corrections system so no citizen who commits a nonviolent act fears going to prison.

What is means to be a senior: a personal narrative

Jennifer Pantaleon | Staff Writer

Being a senior can mean a lot to most of us, yet it means so little. I think being a senior sometimes makes me stop and wonder about everything that I’ve accomplished. With the help from the others that have supported me the most, and others that helped me up when I almost gave up with no hope left made me realize that I could accomplish anything I wanted to without anyone stopping me from doing it.

All my life I have had no motivation or hope. I remember always fighting with my mom screaming to her face“. I’m not going to school today; there’s no point for me to go to school.

I won’t be able to accomplish anything inside life.” Simply because I didn’t have legal documents.

I’ve always told myself that I won’t be able to travel anywhere outside the United States or able to get

into a good school of my choice if one day I decided to go to college or even try to apply for a job.

Everyday that went by, attending school was a complete waste of my time. I always asked myself, Why am I here?” Everyday I’d get bored at school doing the same thing, listening to teachers that didn’t care. They would threaten me with detention or having a meeting with the principle. I was annoyed with teachers and all the homework assignments they would assign every night, tired of seeing people I didn’t like or want to be surrounded by.

One night I remember my mom knocking on my room door after school asking how I was doing? And how school was going? I was honest with her: school was boring because I didn’t want to do any of my homework, I didn’t listen to my teachers and I didn’t show up to school. Sometimes

I would leave with friends and go hang out, and I got suspended a few times without her knowing about it.

That was one of the longest nights for. She was very upset with me.

In my mind I’m laughing and telling myself this lady is crazy and annoying, trying to tell me otherwise about all the mistakes I’ve made, but yet she didn’t finish school or support me. She only did it when it was convenient for her.

Two years later I moved out of her house and moved in with my aunt and ended up at Huron. At first I didn’t like anyone. I was mean to everybody for no reason and after the first month my aunt asked “how’s Huron?”

I responded “Huron is alright.” I still didn’t know anybody. I didn’t care to talk to anyone including my teachers and I fighting for no good reason.

Once again I got yelled at she put me in my place and said “Either

get your situation together or go back to your mom’s , because I’m not going to allow any disrespect from you or anyone else in this house. If you wont change for your own good then theres no reason for you to be here, because you moved into my house where you can have a clear and fresh mind to think and take care of your business and be out of all the negative energy”.

I’ll admit the first few months were rough for me but luckily I got through my junior year. Now my senior year is half way done. I am quickly recovering again because I always remind myself that there are only two months left and June 6 is just around the corner. And to show my mom one day and to prove to her that I did make it after her telling me I couldn’t make anything out of myself will make me feel good and proud. To finally be able to leave the house and go out will be exciting.

where there is typically a quiz and test for every unit to eliminate pressure and time spent studying. #4 - No MYP for this year’s students

The Middle Years Programme (MYP) teaches students valuable skills in preparation for the DP track.

However, this year’s and next year’s DP students are put at a disadvantage because they missed out on exposure to the MYP. Also, before MYP was implemented, teachers thought they were emulating MYP teachings by giving many projects, which did not accomplish this. #5 - The downside of 2 Year Courses

IB exams come after the completion of two-year courses. That means more content has to be learned and studied for those exams. Good note-taking and planning must be taken seriously. Also, for students that take AP exams their junior year’s, they will know their scores before applying to college, whereas IB exam scores will not be returned until after the student is accepted into a college. So, IB students will not know which college classes they can get credit for when applying.

Although I think the school promotes IB too much over AP, I believe they can easily coexist while providing students a sufficient education. Finally, some students mock IB students who did not take DP. These students have no right to judge until they enroll in the program.

Game design club Alex Hassan | Staff Writer

Video games have a large presence in our society because they are one of the biggest pastimes in modern society. They take people into a world of wonder and creation. Video games are so amazing because they bring people together, with online multiplayer and co-op games Huron should have a game design club because game design helps students get involved with video games. It also can help students find interesting things to think about because they will be able to make their own video game. They will work in a group’s and cooperate with one another to make a unique game. The club would teach students how to program a video game. It would let them find out ways to make art and create a characters. The first game made won’t be the best game ever, in fact it’ll probably look like the original tetris with simple blocks and colors. It’s hard to make a video game, and most people give up before they even finish because it’s not what they imagined it would be, but anything worth doing will never be easy because it takes strong will and a hunger to get what needs to be done done.

If Huron had a video game club, it could get students interested in game design. At the same time this could help them get a good sense of how to make and style games. It might even help some students find a job in the future. I would join if Huron had a video game club. “Sounds like it could be fun, “ said Senior Michael Teklemariam. Studies have shown that most jobs in the future will require much knowledge of computers, and game design is an important computer skill. Video games influence the world with the amazing and fantastic worlds filled with imagination. Everyone should be able to create the things they want whether that be games or in life. Everyone has something they want to leave behind.

Entertainment 6 Heavy metal: an introduction for new listeners Daniel Middaugh | Staff Writer

My first not video game related piece is about my personal FAVORITE music genre! I might not seem like a metal fan, but I am just not one in appearance. On to the general facts!

General Facts:

Most metal songs are angry, fast, and sometimes talk about Satan.

The topics are generally dark, and don’t listen to metal with high volumes because it could hurt your ears. The only band I can think of that actually talks about Satan regularly is Ghost. Most of their songs talk about Belial. So, they must worship Lucifer, right? Well, that is false. All of the band members are either Agnostic or Atheist. It’s just an act that they pay worship to Behemoth.

The first song I ever heard by Ghost is “Year Zero.” That song not only talks about Asmodeus’ coming in the Bible but also list off other names of Beelzebub. In order and how it is done in Year Zero, they are: Belial, Behemoth, Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Satanas, Lucifer. They’re all other names used by Satan. Just like some of the members of Ghost, I am an Atheist. I’m sure that most of Ghost’s songs talk about Satan, even if it’s not obvious. An example is “Cirice.” It’s about Satan talking to some girl, even though it just seems like a love song. “Cirice” is really good. It’s easily one of my favorite Ghost songs.

Before I go any farther, if you’re uncomfortable about all this Satan talk, there are Christian rock bands. An example for this one is Sabaton, as all of their songs never seem to talk about Satan. There are more Christian rock bands, but I don’t listen to them. Being an Atheist means I don’t care about people talking about Satan. I also think that Black Dahlia Murder and Ghost are more Satanic than Slayer. (I think Slayer is an okay

band. I just think that other bands beat it when it comes to the songs talking about the antichrist). Speaking of the Black Dahlia Murder, I’m never going to be able to say that I’m a true fan BDM fan. That reason is that some of their songs, namely “Hell is Where She Waits for Me” and “Threat Level No. 3” are about the thing I hate the most: rape. I know it’s just a song, but the thought still makes me angry. I would now like to talk about my personal tastes when it comes to Heavy Metal.

My Preferences:

My favorite two bands are Ghost and Five Finger Death Punch.

The reason I talked about Ghost is because it was at the front of my mind; I’ve been listening to a lot of their music recently. The reason Five Finger Death Punch is my other favorite band is because most of their older songs have a message, and are really angry. The one I remember the most is a line from “Meet The Monster.”

It is, “It’s hard not to be a menace to society when half the population is happy on their knees.” I’d also like to note that “Meet The Monster” was on their album Way of the Fist, which came out in 2007. Yeah, I feel like they were ahead of their time. They have seven albums with, their most recent one being Decade of Destruction. I exclude Decade of Destruction because it’s just a compilation album with no new songs. Those albums in order are “Way of the Fist,” “War is the Answer,” “American Capitalist,” “Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell” vol. one and two, and “Got Your Six.” I don’t have much of preference when it come to which era of music I listen to.

I guess because my favorite bands are from the ‘OTS,’ (2000-Present) I’d have to say that I listen to modern metal.

Considering I just talked about myself and what bands I listen to, let’s go over

some of them.

Five Finger Death Punch:

I’m going to say it right now: FFDP is a VERY angry band and may not be for everyone. The anger makes this band very loud and the vocalist, Ivan Moody, is very good at annunciation; it’s very easy to hear what he’s saying and to understand him. They have also made covers of some songs like, “Bad Company” and “Mama Said Knock You Out.” The “Mama Said Knock You Out” cover is better to me because it’s so angry, which reflects the lyrics. More of their older songs have more messages behind them, not that the loss of messages made them worse. I also noticed that there are more mellow songs, like “Cold.” It’s not really sad, but it is less angry. I don’t think that an entire album of mellow songs would do well, but I’m sure fans would like it anyway. I talked about Ghost a bit earlier, but let me tell you why I like them.

Ghost:

Much like how FFDP is very angry, Ghost is very Satan focused. I think most of their songs talk about Satan in some fashion. In a few examples, in “Ritual” one of the sections of a song starts with “Our Father who art in hell.” In “Majesty” the singer, Tobias Forge, says something about a dark prince in exile. I don’t remember the exact line because I haven’t listened to that song as much. Also, Tobias Forge is dressed as the bands vocalist and the mascot, Papa Emeritus. Papa Emeritus looks like a ‘Demonic Anti-Pope’ and it is a very well done costume especially with the skull face paint. Honestly, I don’t mind all of the satanic messages from every song, and I don’t think many people do either, as “Cirice” actually won the 2016 Grammy Award

for Best Metal Performance. That is one hell of an accomplishment. It’s also well deserved because “Cirice” is really well made. I also really like “Con Clavi Con Dio” because there is some Italian in that song and I have an Italian background. It’s a strange bias, but I have it nonetheless. If I have managed to get you interested in Ghost, I recommend you don’t listen to “Cirice” right away, I feel like it is so good it could skew your perception of the other songs. For starting place to get into Ghost, Infestissumam is probably the best place to start. For all three albums Infestissumam is considered to be not as good as Opus Eponymous and Meliora. All of their albums are good, but Meliora is debatably the best, as it has “Absolution,” “Cirice,” and “Square Hammer.”

Those songs are really good. Do you get the feeling that I like Ghost? Those are both of the bands that I really like, but I listen to more songs than those made

by Ghost and FFDP, so let me talk about them.

Other Songs:

Recently, the songs I’ve been listening to are “Only For The Weak”

by In Flames, “Symphony of Destruction” and “Sweating Bullets,” by Megadeth, and “Ka$cade” by ANIMALS AS LEADERS. Another band is Beast in Black, who also made songs based on Griffith and Zodd from the anime Berserk. The Griffith based song is “The Fifth Angel” and the song about Zodd is called “Zodd the Immortal.” “The Fifth Angel” outlines what Griffith did.

Any Berserk fan knows that Griffith is a huge tool due to his actions.Anyway, I guess now is a good time to talk about songs that I don’t like, as there are some I don’t like.

Songs I Dislike:

because the act sickens me and it makes me really angry. As any Berserk fan knows, or anyone who watched the Guts vs. Nightmare Death Battle knows, Griffith forces himself on Guts’ girlfriend and that is mentioned in “The Fifth Angel.” This might seem like a contradiction to my dislike of rape, but I only dislike the foul act when it is the main theme and that’s not the case in “The Fifth Angel”. Alongside that, I already knew that Berserk is fiction. The mention of rape in “The Fifth Angel” is why I’m okay with it in that song, but not songs like “Hell is Where She Waits for Me” and “Threat Level No. 3.” I also dislike “Angel of Death” by Slayer because it talks about the Holocaust. I know that “Angel of Death” talks about the Holocaust because the first word is Auschwitz.

Those are the only songs I dislike that I have heard, but there are some bands that I have no interest in. One of them is the band Dark Funeral, and that’s because someone in the band or possibly all members are Satanists. There are at least nine others, as I found out on a list by the YouTube channel Loudwire, but I don’t remember the names of the other bands. That’s really all I have to say about the “relationship” between metal and myself. I guess now I should get into the overview.

Overview:

It should be all but obvious to see that despite looking like a geeky-nerd, I really enjoy heavy metal.

It should also be very easy to see that I really like Ghost as well. My stance on metal is you may like it, you may dislike it. Metal being the devil’s music isn’t true in most cases, but to metal is all about the listener’s opinions. Besides, it’s just music. Feel how you want about it.

I don’t like songs about rape just

Snapchat’s new design has been bothering many of its users Vicky Hisu | Staff Writer

Snapchat has released its new design, including the new look of the “send” list, the removal of the individual “story” page, and the snapping with unchronological order. While Snapchat’s CEO, Evan Spiegel, claimed that it’s a significant progress in Snapchat history, many users have been complaining about how inconvenient the new design is.

The biggest change was that the individual “story” page got removed and was combined with the “send” page. The “story” function, which allows users to post fun things and life updates, is one of the most important and popular functions of Snapchat. The removal of the platform has actually made many old Snapchat users turn to other social media, such as Instagram and Facebook. Because of the change, most Snapchat users find it troublesome to rewatch their friends’ stories. If they want to do so, they have to spend more time finding the stories since they are not in chronological order.

“I hate it that it keeps losing my streaks,” sophomore Selina Liu said.

“It’s also weird that some of the streaks came so confusing in the new version. I “story” page actually meant so much to I lost came back after several days. I really hope it could be changed back to their old fans. just don’t like it overall.” how it used to be.”

Another thing that annoys the

Snapchat users now talk

The reason why Snapchat old users a lot is that the “send” list is about the negative effects of the decided to change its design was that not in chronological order anymore. If changes on other social media. Based they wanted their new users to find the you send a person a snap, what happens on the data supplied to TechCrunch, 83 app easy to use. However, they never next is that the person will just jump percent of App Store reviews (1,941) for realized that removing the individual into somewhere else instead of the very the new update are negative top. The thing mentioned with one or two stars. On above means that the users twitter, there are multiple have to spend more time tweets complaining about looking for people in their the new design. There’s even contacts because they won’t a tweet that spreads the fake know where exactly their news that Snapchat is going friends are in the list. to change back to the previous Nevertheless, there are still look. According to the official some people who support statement, however, Snapchat and love the new design. They is not planning to do so. claim that it helps them more Data shows how many people by clearly showing what funcurgently want Snapchat to tions to use. They also state make some positive changes. that it’s a significant step of Nearly 600,000 people have Snapchat’s history. signed a petition asking par “I think it’s fine,” sophomore ent company Snap to revert to Phoebe Yi said. “I don’t really the old version. care about it because I don’t

“I wonder why they use Snapchat that often, but updated things that we don’t Many users think Snapchat’s new design is overcomplicated and some people just keep comlike,” Liu said. “This app be- confusing. plaining about it.”

Regarding comments Patrick Wang | Staff Writer

A lot of video games are being judged upon. Popular video game franchises include Pokemon, Mario Kart, and New Super Mario Brothers. There are many fans of these games, but there are also lots of critics. Critics often post their comments on websites just like fans. In most cases, though, critics’ comments are usually denounced more than fans’ comments. For example, a person who reads a derogatory comment against a game will feel disbelief.

It is possible that critics can be banned from using websites, including social media for some time. This is because their negative comments can easily influence others and also covertly offend people, like the game creators.

If fans post comments on websites, their comments are more likely to be acknowledged. In most cases, these comments aren’t offensive towards any aspects of the game.

Comments like “I like Mario” and “Luigi jumps amazingly high” boost the reputation of games. This is the main purpose of social media sites: to foster positive ratings on posted photos and videos. The majority of people would rather like positive comments.

An example of a popular website is YouTube. For most gaming videos, there are a bunch of comments

below the video. A lot of negative comments are frowned upon; a hostile discussion usually starts off of the original comment. Positive comments are treated the opposite way. YouTube could use a security check to make sure comments posted are socially acceptable. This method filters out unwanted comments from the Internet. Other social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Skype can implement this method or think of a completely different one to use. Different social media sites have different ways of dealing with comments.

What people could do on social media with comments is rate them, from a scale of one to 10. This way, comments could be measured on their relevance to the video. Also, people could lightly critique comments that seem overly rude. The like, dislike. and neutral buttons on each video can be kept (thumbs up, down, sideways). For each video, there can also be a limit to the total number of comments that can be posted. These are good methods for improving social media.

Sites will be better off with meaningful, positive strings of comments. If negative comments could be limited and made more mild, and positive comments can still be recognized, then the Internet would be a safer and more friendly place for users to navigate.

Additionally, Snapchat updated the new design without users’ permission. When people heard that the change was mostly disliked, most of them decided not to update the new version. However, when they opened the app again, what they saw was that Snapchat was automatically updated without any action taken by the users.

Usually, an app’s update is supposed to be permitted by its users. Because of the privacy issues, most people thought that Snapchat was being disrespectful to its users by making changes without their consent.

Overall, I think that Snapchat still needs to work on considering the old users’ thoughts and experiences as well as respecting the users. Although Snapchat is still one of the most popular apps among teenagers, its decision to disregard its users’ voices is considered to be an disrespectful action. It would be beneficial to both the company and the users if Snapchat could take further care of its customers.

Entertainment

7

Why not synchronized skating 2020 of skating. Even this year, synchronized skating has added an element representative of ice dance to the list of elements. Like in ice dance, now synchronized skaters have to execute a twizzle series separate from other footwork.

The special thing about synchronized skating is the choreography.

Choreographing a program for a team is much different than choreographing for a duet or solo. The choreography has to have many layers so each skater can hit every nuance in the music, and that is something that is very difficult to do when you only have one or two skaters. When skaters are precisely executing their choreography and shapes, the whole stadium can feel every emotion of the programs.

The chair of the ISU (International Skating Union) council has confirmed a new application has been submitted for the Olympic games in Beijing 2022. Synchronized skating has been proposed as a new “event”.

Synchronized skaters all over the world have been following the news through synchronized skating’s most popular news blog, Jura Synchro. Jura Synchro’s co-director Amélie Rossé, informs synchronized skater all over the world of the challenges of getting synchronized skating into the Olympic games.

“I fell in love with this sport when I attended my first synchro competition,” Rossé said. “There is something special about mixture of athleticism and artistry in complete unison that gives me goosebumps.”

“The fact that the teams are numerous (often 20 skaters + the staff) is difficult for the IOC to have room for so many people,” Rossé said. “The IOC would like to reduce the number of skaters on a team to possibly 16.”

Another challenge the sport faces is getting Asia in on the action.

The involvement of China and Korea in synchronized skating is a huge step

forward for this sport.

“Especially because the 2022 Olympic games are held in Beijing, the inclusion of China and Korea in the sport is a critical factor in getting the sport to the Olympics,” Rossé said.

Synchronized skating is not a mainstream TV sport, but it needs to gain popularity and reach a broader audience.

“The sport should be more popular,” Rossé said. “There is still work to make the sport known, and that’s what we’re doing with Jura Synchro.”

The ISU council did send an application for the 2014 Olympics but was then rejected. The sport needed to undergo many changes and grow as a discipline.

“The athletes and the teams are more numerous, and the difficulty of the sport has increased drastically,” Rossé said. “This young discipline has also found its audience and is now ready for the big jump!”

Although the sport is heavily influenced by other disciplines such as ice dance, the evolution of the sport has allowed synchronized skating to create its’ own elements and rules.

“The sport is often seen as a fusion of many of the disciplines of figure skating,” Rossé said. “Now it has evolved to become something different from the other disciplines with their own elements and rules.”

For Rossé, there is no doubt that synchronized skating should be included in the 2022 Olympic games.

“Synchronized skating must have its place at the Olympic Games,” Rossé said. “The sport as well as the teams and athletes have grown so much in recent years. These athletes deserve recognition.”

The IOC will make the decision in June whether or not synchronized skating will be included in the 2022 Olympic games in Beijing.

familiar with the genre, think a person standing out in the rain and the rain is deadly. That’s what bullet hell games are like.

The difficulty options are easy, which is already hard enough, and normal which is really hard. Hard is pulling your hair out. Lunatic is...quite fitting, actually. Lunatic is Touhou’s equivalent other games’ very hard.

Speaking of the General Facts: Yes, the entire cast is Lunatic difficulty, I mostly female.....which is highly recommend

The most looking up people notable fact I can say very cool and pro femiplaying the game on about Touhou Project nism.

Lunatic-it’s amazing. is that in the entire Another point is that 25 games, there are there are an ACTUonly three named AL METRIC TON males. Yes, the entire of fan works, some cast is mostly female. of which are games.

Considering that spaceships typically Other things are fan art or music redo what these girls do, it is very cool mixes. For fan games, we have fan made and pro feminism. danmaku games, RPGs, dating sims,

Anyway, you are surely curiand rhythm games. Odds are you can ous as to what I mean when I mention find a Touhou based parody of nearly spaceships, well, the Touhou series is any game. Other fan projects include mostly a very difficult danmaku (or the many music remixes, sh*t posts bullet hell) game series. For those not (which are hilarious, and they are called

sh*t posts), and much more that I cannot list because I do not know about them or because they are inappropriate.

Caitlin Kaleta | Staff Writer

Synchronized skating was founded by Dr. Richard Porter, the “father of synchronized skating” in 1956.

Since then, countless synchronized skating teams have formed all over the world. Synchronized skating deserves a spot in the Olympics.

Synchronized skating started out as entertainment at hockey games and has evolved to include aspects from all the other components of figure skating. The general public does not always understand the athleticism of 16 skaters that make shapes while executing elements, which have different aspects from traditional skating.

Synchronized skaters are required to execute pairs elements which include death spirals, pair spins, and pair lifts.

For the pairs elements in particular, all eight pair spins, death spirals, or pair lifts are synchronized. Teams also highlight aspects of single skating with difficult spins and jumps. This showcases that synchronized skaters have the strength, flexibility, and precision to nail the same concepts and skills of figure skating as other types of skates.

It is not by any means easier or harder than traditional skating, but it is just as competitive.

Throughout the years, over a thousand teams debuted worldwide during hockey game half-times, annual ice shows, and international competitions. I have performed with my team at two Red Wings hockey games, I have competed internationally in Sweden, Switzerland, and Scotland, and countless ice shows. They however have not been able to perform on the world stage at the Olympics.

Four years ago, synchronized skating was denied for the 2018 Olympic games. Since then, the sport has made the elements increasingly more difficult as well as tried to incorporate more moves from the other disciplines

Hockettes Junior, a Michigan based synchronized skating team, skates various pieces of music including Tiësto’s Footprints and the soundtracks of Wonder Woman and Pan. Synchronized skating is a team sport that combines difficult elements from singles skating, pairs skating, and ice dancing with precise teamwork. The International Olympic Committee is considering adding synchronized skating to the winter Olympic roster. Photos courtesy of Caitlin Kaleta.

The Tohou Project: a video game introduction

Let us get some facts about this writing out of the way. One, this is NOT a review. I’ve never beaten or even played a Touhou game, so I have no room to talk about that. Two, this is going to be a relatively brief intro because Touhou is VERY large. With all those two points out of the way, let us get in to the main facts of the series.

“

Background:

The first game most people played and was widespread in the west was Touhou Koumakyou, or Touhou The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil. The English name is commonly shortened to EoSD because the full name is a mouthful. However, Koumakyou translates to Eastern Lands of the Scarlet Devil. It was released on Aug. 11, 2002

by ZUN for Microsoft Windows. So, EoSD is the first game, right? That is not actually true. EoSD is the sixth game; the first game is Highly Responsive to Prayers. Let me tell you about the first five games.

PC-9800 Era Games:

“Highly Responsive to Prayers” was released on the PC-9800 (PC-98) in Nov. 1996. Instead of being a bullet hell game, it was more like Breakout or Arkanoid. The second game is Story of Eastern Wonderland,

which came out on Aug. 15, 1997.

My personal favorites are “Witching The third game is Phantasmagoria of Dream,” “Complete Darkness,” “Fantasy Dimensional Dream, which came out Express,” “Strawberry Crisis,” “Reincarin December of 1997. The fourth game nation,” “Eternal Shrine Maiden,” and is Lotus Land Story, which came out the list goes on. After the four years, in August of 1998. Something to note ZUN left the group he was working is that Lotus Land Story is where the with, Amusement Makers, to go work song “Bad Apple” came from. The fifth under his own group, Team Shanghai and final PC-98 game Alice. Also, Amuseis Mystic Square, ment Makers is only which came out in a student group, not December of 1998. an actual company, Touhou’s music is fanBeing the final game so I can only assume in the PC-98 era, it is tastic. The FM Synthesis that ZUN still owns kind of special in the used in the PC-98 games the rights to all PCsense of the playable 98 characters. It is characters. So, what was very chiptune and also kind of ironic does this have to do nostalgic sounding. that Team Shanghai with anything? Well, Alice only consists of after Mystic Square, one member, despite Touhou Project the word team in the became inactive for title. I will now go four years while the creator of Touhou, over the games from the Windows era, ZUN, made some music for the Seihou since that is the platform the Touhou games. series moved on to.

Speaking of music, Touhou’s To read the full article, visit thehuronemusic is fantastic. The FM Synthesis mery.com. used in the PC-98 games was very chiptune and nostalgic sounding. If you are a fan of NES music, this is like that.

“ “

Daniel Middaugh | Staff Writer

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-Gandhi

Feature

SPRING’S Alyssa salamin and Ian wilson | Staff Designers

9

HERE Prom preparation!

Alyssa Salamin | Staff Writer

As Spring approaches, the seniors here at Huron are preparing for one of the biggest events of the school year, senior prom. Senior prom this year will be held on Saturday May 12, at the Chrysler Center on the University of Michigan Campus. Prom is always something spectacular; it’s an experi-

Gigi Hadid arriving in NYC

Prada spring 2018 fashion show

Jeremy Scott spring 2018 fashion show Senior Gena Harris from Huron High school. Harris has been looking forward to prom for a long time and has been planning it since December.

Spring fashion Ian Wilson | Staff Writer

This year in spring fashion, we are seeing very bold and colorful statements coming off the runways. Designers like Tom Ford and Marc Jacobs are starting to veer away from the monotones from last year and start to go in a more saturated and bright route.

Going along with this, mixed prints ,soft florals, and plaid are starting to make their way into the mainstream fashion industry. Also more designers are starting to play with pastel colors in their fashion pieces. For example: designer and rapper Kanye West is planning on releasing shoes with his adidas “yeezy” line that play with colors like lavender, dusty rose, and seafoam green.

90’s wear is also a big statement in both luxury fashion as well as casual street wear. This includes bright windbreakers, col-

orful striped tees, and much more that gives off that authentic 90’s vibe. Retro sneakers from brands like Reebok, Adidas, and Fila (just to name a few) are being worn a lot by fashion icons like Kanye West and A$AP Rocky.

Another big trend going into spring 2018 is athleisure wear. This is the combination of athletic wear and regular “street” clothing in one outfit. Celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Rihanna are using “snap pants” (another big trend going into spring 2018) to create this look. Another way people are creating this look is by wearing a more casual shirt, like a collared shirt, as a top while wearing track or sweat pants. Celebrities like Jared Leto and Gigi Hadid have been seen in the public eye rocking this look.

Senior Gillian Tibbetts from Huron High school.

Tibbetts has also been planning her prom for seven months now, and looks forward to the memories that will be made.

ence to remember. All of the girls in beautiful dresses, hair pinned to perfection, posing with their suitable dates on their arm, slay at prom.

But to make Prom a night as spectacular as it should be, there’s some planning that goes into it.

Q: How long have you been preparing for prom?

A: Since December [of 2017] Q: What are a few of the things you have to plan in advance for prom?

A: Finding a dress and planning a car rental Q: What’s your favorite thing to plan for prom?

A: My favorite thing to plan[for prom] is the prom send off Q: What makes prom so exciting?

A: Looking good and feeling good. Basically showing out.

Q: How long have you been planning for prom?

A: seven months.

Q: Are you looking forward to prom and why?

A: Yes, the terrace should be really nice and the music will be good.

Q: Why is it important to prepare/plan for prom?

A: It’s our senior prom, so we should have a hand in making it the best for ourselves.

Q: What makes prom so exciting and something to look forward too?

A: It’s one of our last high school experiences so it’s exciting to go all out for it and make it memorable.

Prom: making senior memories

Tibi ready to wear collection.

Where am I going to college?

Niyati Kellenberg Callewaert | Staff Writer

May is right around the corner, which means college acceptance deadlines are too. Seniors are now making the choice of where they want to go to school for the next four years of their life, where they will grow and evolve as people and students. There are so many different colleges and programs that people are getting involved in, such as Michigan, Michigan State, MIT and many more. Some students have also been accepted to some of the most prestigious schools in the country.

“I am planning to attend Michigan State University and plan to play intramural sports when I am there.

I’m rooming with Clayton Skinner and we’re planning to play falg football, basketball, and beach volleyball. I’ve wanted to go [to MSU] since I was five,” senior Nathan Runstadler said.

“I am planning on going to U of M to study either mechanical or biomedical engineering. One of the main reasons I decided to commit there is because they have amazing programs for the majors that I am deciding on.

I plan to join the National Society of Black Engineering and even try to start a club basketball team because they don’t provide one there,” senior Michaela Glenn said.

“I am planning on attending Washtenaw Community College and studying welding. Something that really drew my to WCC was the welcoming environment and also how close to home it is. I hope to spend my next four years there and grow even more as a person,” senior Doltan Glover said.

“ I am planning on going to Chicago State University to study political science and also marketing. The big thing that made me want to go there is basketball. I plan to join the women’s basketball team there,” senior Liana Dunietz said.

“I am planning on spending my next four years at Massachusetts Institute of Technology studying either engineering, physics, or economics. The thing that really drew me to MIT was that it was in Boston and that MIT offered me the ability to study at one of the top schools while still being able to row division 1,” senior Orrie Page said.

“ I am planning on going to Chicago State University to study political science and also marketing. The big thing that made me want to go there is basketball. I plan to join the women’s basketball team there,” senior Shamim Wambere said.

Aaron Garrett | Staff Writer

I have asked ten people from each Ann Arbor high school (collectively) what makes senior year of high school great. They all replied with things like the thrill of graduating, sports, offers and acceptance letters into colleges, and most of all prom. Prom was an answer that all the seniors gave. I then asked what makes prom great (in their opinions) and that’s when the talk grew and became more “alive”. Various answers of things like looking your absolute best, getting the best haircuts, impressing your date, showing up in the coolest car, and just looking great in general.

When asking these senior high school students about prom they wasted no time giving an answer. It was almost like every one of them practiced what they were going to say to me because they knew what I was going to ask. They even showed me pictures of there suits and dresses. But it doesn’t stop there. The holy grail, the icing on the cake to peanut butter to jelly, the promiest you can get. Prom Proposals.

Seniors had big talk of there prom proposals. The seniors I was told all the sweetest and craziest proposals for a prom proposals. There were cute ones like “Elephant a lot if you went to prom with me” to “My whole life I’ve been a nine, and your the only one I need to be complete”. There was also one with a giraffe. The poster read “It would Giraffe me crazy if you said yes to go to prom with me”.

I even went a little deeper with my curiosity. I asked my parents what were some

of there best memories in high school and they too said prom. My dad told me that in high school prom is one of the few times you could prove yourself. He said you can go from a normal everyday student to a highly popular kid all on prom night. He told me that when he went to prom he went in a mustang with his girlfriend wearing all white. Past seniors have told me the same thing. They tell me that you can wear the finest suits and dresses and come in limos and different types of cars and have a blast.

The toper is the pictures. I was told that high school can be one of the best memories of your life, but what good is a memory if there is nothing to remind you of it, nothing for you to remember. A friend told me that high school had a lot of memories but none of them can compare to the feeling you have when you know that its the last time that you will ever be with all of your friends together. It made me think about football.

For seniors theres something about that last football game. The adrenaline you feel when its that last minute of the game and you know that this is the last time you will ever see everybody in front of you together at the same time. The last time you will play football with all of your brothers. So for all of you prom people out there have fun, live your life and most of all make a memory. A memory is not a memory until you make it one and that memory you make is one that can either make you or break you. So make it a good one.

Prom it up!

Spring is starting to heat up...

Alyssa Salamin | Staff Writer

With the start of the new spring season, the expectations of warm weather came up short, starting off spring with 30 degree weather. Though we have been experiencing some cold weather, it’s been heating up in other ways, with the release of this years new music. April started off with the release of R&B pop artist The Weekend’s album My Dear Melancholy, then with Hip Hop artist Cardi B’s album Invasion of Privacy.

The Weekend’s album, released on March 29 was unexpected, but has been very popular ever since. True to its title: Melancholy, the album has an emotional presence in each song. While listening to the tracks it’s perceived that the artist is singing from real emotion and sets a certain vibe that directly connects to the album’s name, My Dear Melancholy. The Weekend’s new album isn’t as upbeat as most pop songs and really shows the R&B aspect of his music. This album includes six songs ranging from three to four

minutes long. I would recommend this album to any person that typically likes slow beat R&B music and isn’t afraid to get in their feelings.

Cardi B’s new album was released on April 6, 2018. This album has been awaited ever since the release of her hit song, “Bodak Yellow,” back in June of 2017. The album consists of 13 songs that include her previously released singles “Bodak Yellow” and “Bartier Cardi.” Out of the 13 songs some of Cardi’s tracks feature many popular artists including Migos, Chance the Rapper, Kehlani, 21 Savage, and SZA. Some of the most popular songs on Cardi’s album include, “Drip” featuring Migos, “Ring” featuring Kehlani, and “Get Up 10”. In Cardi’s tracks, each beat is executed with precision and is complemented by her rapping skills. Cardi B is known for her confidence and “boss bitch” attitude in her music, which is what gives her songs such a hype vibe. I would recommend this album to anyone who typically enjoys this type of music.

Coffee

Feature

Bold

10

Disclaimer: These reviews are based off of European coffees, not American.

Katherine gurgenian | Staff Writer

Espresso Pure, plain espresso is as bold as coffee gets. It’s a concentrated form of coffee that is served as a “shot”. If made correctly, it’s quite rich and smooth, not bitter like many believe it to be,

Caffe Americano This drink is basically an espresso watered down for those that desire the punch of espresso but dislike its bold taste - perfect for the sleep deprived. In fact, this drink gets its name from Europeans who believe Americans aren’t tough enough to handle the espresso’s striking taste.

Macchiato This devil provides the same kick as an espresso, but the foam lightens the drink’s intensity. Bonus points for the exquisite moustache it leaves.

Flat White This drink is a good alternative for those that dislike the watered -down taste of the caffe americano but still need something to wake themselves up. It feels like drinking an espresso but lighter.

Cappuccino This drink is very similar to a latte, but it has a different foam Latte For those that want the lightness of a flat white, art of a cappuc-

to milk to espresso ratio, with each consisting of 1/3 of the drink.

The cappuccino is a classic. It’s very popular amongst coffee lovers because of its smooth and creamy texture along with the foam’s elaborate art.

cino, and moustache of a macchiato, this drink is the way to go.

Mocha This bad boy is a chocolate lover’s delight. The chocolate and coffee enhance each other’s flavor so well to create the drink’s richness and sweetness.

Breve This drink is an American variation of the latte without the foam.

It’s very fluffy and somewhat sweet. Thus, it’s typically served as a dessert drink, Watch out, it has high amounts of fat.

Light