The Lone Star Dispatch 2014_15 issue #5

James Bowie High School

the

Lone Star Dispatch Vol. 27

Issue 5

4103 W. Slaughter Lane Austin TX 78749

Monday, April 13, 2015

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New Bowie Idol ready to take on a theatrical career in the future Maryam Hussain Editor-In-Chief

Rainbow confetti rained onto the stage as senior Curtis Faulkner was announced this year’s Bowie Idol winner. His friends proceeded to lift him up and carry him around on stage to celebrate the achievement.

“I was surprised and happy, and just thankful.

I held flowers and got a crown but I didn’t feel any superior, I was just kind of like thanks guys,” Faulkner said. “It was a voting thing so I was like, wow enough people believed in me and I just really wanted to thank people.”

That night the fine arts theatre echoed with melodious songs and enticing performances from numerous students aspiring to be crowned the next Bowie Idol. Students, audience members, and organizers deemed the event a success.

“I think the event was fabulous, this years Bowie Idol was great,” Choir teacher Ben May said. “We had a very high level of talent in the audition process and the show was really full of the

Sing me a river: Senior Curtis Faulkner performs the old jazz version of “Cry me a river” on stage at Bowie Idol on Saturday, March 28. He went on to be crowned this year’s Bowie Idol and is now preparing to head out to college as a theatre major and pursue a career full of performances. Photo by Jasmine Correa

best talent that we have at Bowie.”

Though Faulkner’s musical inspiration comes from Michael Buble, Faulkner

earned his win by singing the old jazz version of “Cry me a river” which was originally recorded by Ella Fitzgerald in the 1950’s.

“There’s always the stereotypical high school musical type songs or like the ones that you hear all the time and I just wanted

to do something different and go out with a bang and leave it all out on the stage,” Faulkner said.

May helped organize au-

ditions, facilitate the sound check before the show, and coordinate the judges for the show itself all in order to make the event move along smoothly but even that doesn’t seem like much work in his eyes.

“For me, not a huge amount of time and effort goes into preparing for Bowie idol, but the students prepare a lot for the auditions and some of them work very hard,” May said.

Students typically begin preparing weeks in advance.

“I had been singing my song while mowing lawns for about a month,” Faulkner said.

Regardless of how much hard work each individual put into Bowie Idol, there was one constant theme amongst the answers of all those who took part in the event when they spoke of their experience: unity.

“I think the fact that it is open to all students on the campus and brings together a wide audience for a really special night is what makes Bowie idol so important,” May said.

Read more: “Faulkner crowned” pg. 4

Color Guard earns highest WGI ranking in Bowie history

Scholastic Open Guard currently ranked third in the nation with a score of 85.250 Catlin Devlin Sports Editor

The audience falls to complete silence as the first chord from ‘Adagio for Strings’ starts to play and figures cloaked in black take the stage, showing off the focus of their show, a giant disco ball.

They gracefully dance, paying homage to the era of disco and sending chills down the crowd’s spines. In a strikingly different show, an entourage of furry forest critters peacefully rest while a solo skunk awakens them, thus opening a charming, fairy tale-like show.

The Bowie Scholastic Open and A guard have competed and excelled in Winter Guard International (WGI) contests since December across the state, winning first in every competition they’ve attended.

The Scholastic Open Guard is currently ranked third in the nation in their class, with a seeding score of 85.250. This is the highest a Bowie guard has been in a WGI ranking.

“The kids are awesome.

They work a lot of hours,” color guard coach Joey Powell said. “Since I’ve got here they’ve just been building, and building, and building, so eventuall y

we built a small dynasty so that the freshmen then come in even better than the sophomores because you have that recurring level of excellence. The rate of how you progress gets better, faster, throughout the years,” For winter guard season, the color guard is split into two class, Open Class and A Class. Each class has a different show, with A Class taking their theme from this year’s past marching show and Open Class developing an entirely new show and theme.

“Not only do we have to have a basis of music and movement technique, but then you also have to have the equipment technique on top of it, and then you have to get 30 people to be able

Wave your flags: Senior Andrea Miller performs during halftime at a football game in the fall. The color guards are now set to compete at the international level. Photo by Fuaad Ajaz

Athletics

thinking about your ‘turn-around’ toss at the end. You have to think about what’s happening now, so it requires a lot more mental focus and mental stamina,

and more physical stamina,” Bowie hosted their own WGI competition, the Bowie Indoor Festival, on March 7th. The event was organized by marching band and color guard parents, and attended by other color guards from all over the state.

“I believe the Indoor Festival was a success. It was one of our best shows yet and we can only improve from here,” sophomore Jessica Stachew said.

Both Scholastic Guard and A Guard ended the Festival with first place wins in their classes, contributing to their undefeated season.

“It was fun to perform in front of friends and family,” freshman Lillie Carter said.

Open guard is planning to go to Dayton, Ohio on April 16-18 for the WGI World Championships, an international contest that is attended by Color Guards units all over the world. They will be competing at the highest level of excellence.

“Honestly, I have no idea what World Championships are going to be like. I don’t know what to expect other than that it’s going to be amazing and extremely difficult to compete at,” Stachew said.

In order to pay for all of the expenses that go towards travelling and hotels to go to World Championships, a guard parent has set up a fund raiser via gofundme.com. The guard hopes to raise $5,000.

“It requires a lot of work obviously, but it’s something that no one else in this school gets to do. It’s a once in a lifetime thing,” Edelmon said, Guard works hard to develop talents that are unique to their sport and their current scores show that they excel at it, which has led them to competing at the highest level possible at World Championships.

“They’ve become one of the best in the nation because they continuously grow and kind of keep running that ‘marathon’ over and over again,” Powell said.

Student Life

Bleached blonde boys 40 days of sacrifice beat down competition Whether it be chocolate, video games, or something more personal like selfAfter competing at the district and region UIL competitions, wrestlers return home with three state medals.

See page 7 for more details

INSIDE

to do it together,” Powell said.

Each team practices together every week for at least eight hours. They have a competition almost every weekend against high schools in venues throughout Texas.

“The first year in A Class is a little bit more about technique and not necessarily about the tricks and what they’re doing, and now that they’re moving on into Open class, that becomes a little bit more about tricks, and the depth, range and the vocabulary of what they are given,” Powell said.

Guard members must not only be good dancers, but they also need technical skills in their flag and rifle work, as well as coordination and a good understanding of their choreography.

“I don’t know if I can pinpoint a certain part of the show, but in general the show is much more difficult than our show last year because it requires you to be focused for a full five minutes,” sophomore Meredith Edelmon said. “You can’t scatter yourself, you have to focus on the thing happening now. You can’t be in the middle of the ‘Gloria’ section and start

doubt, students gave up something close to them for 40 days in honor of Lent.

See page 3 for more details

Commentary

How great is standardized testing really?

After hours and hours of testing in a quiet room, are students really able to prove their full potentia? Questions rise about the effectiveness of STAAR. See page 10 for more details

Student life 2-3 News 4 In-Depth 5 Athletics 6-7 Entertainment 8-9 Commentary 10-11 Photo Essay 12

Student Life

The Lone Star Dispatch Monday, April 13, 2015

Page 2

A delicious win for culinary

Senior Katelyn Ruel wins cake show contest with her Bulldog cake creation

Sophie Mora Student Life Editor

Culinary student senior Katelyn Ruel whips up a win as well as a mouth watering, bulldog themed masterpiece.

Competing in this year’s “That Takes the Cake” cake decorating competition, Ruel won the overall School Spirit award.

“I could not stop shaking. It was really exciting for me because I found out that I got first place in sculpted, so that was the first thing, and they don’t do the special award until the very end,” Ruel said. “So I had to wait throughout the entire ceremony just to find out that I got the School Spirit award, so that was very exciting.”

Ruel’s favorite part about the competition was getting to see all of the cakes made by different people and their creative ideas.

“I was hoping that I would win and I kind of expected it, but as soon as I got to the place, I had no idea if I was going win,” Ruel said. “The school spirit award is supposed to be first, second, third, but they ended up just giving one award which is the first place award and I got that one. So that means no one else was even close to mine which made me feel really good.”

She put a lot of time and work into decorating her cake, she once stayed so late that the custodians came in and had to kick her out.

“I ordered eight layers of cake and stacked them up and the cake ended up being about seventeen and a half inches tall, so just frosting that took forever, then I had to add all the little details into it,” Ruel said.

The cake took Ruel over forty hours to decorate.

“I saw her cake ahead of time and the process, so I knew what she already had planned was going to be awesome,” senior Alex Koke said. “I didn’t know what she

Take the cake: Senior Katelyn Ruel creates a Bulldog themed cake for this year’s “That Takes the Cake” cake decorating competition. The contest took place at the Round Rock Sports Complex. Photo by Jasmine Correa

was up against when it came to the competition, but I’d be shocked if she didn’t win because she put a lot of work into it.”

Other students felt she deserved the award because of her dedication and hard work.

“She’s really passionate and doesn’t take no for an answer. She’ll get stressed out, but she keeps going,” senior Colin Zibelin said.

“She pushes herself a lot harder than some of the individuals in culinary.”

had is what we went with.”

There is only one tech rehearsal before the real performance, which means not a lot Lights, camera, abs; the junior and senior of practice on the stage.

“It was really nerve wracking because boys have the opportunity to compete in an a they didn’t have any practice for the many all male beauty pageant known as Mr. Bullpossible things that could’ve gone wrong,” dog.

Foster said.

“My tux walk video didn’t work Braxton Manley was the 2014 Mr. Bullfor the first two or three times. Bowie’s techdog, a former theatre student, and comedy nical theatre group is very good at what they club president. Jonah Foster now holds the do so I felt pretty comfortable but it was still title of 2015 Mr. Bulldog, as well as being a nerve wracking.” theatre student, and comedy club president.

For the tux walks, a female usually es“I did it because last year I saw Braxton corts the contestants, but Jonah decided to Manley do it and it looked really fun,” Foster give his tux walk a twist by showing a video. said. “Especially because he basically won “For his tux walk we thought it would off of being funny.” be really funny if we made him look like a The students competing have to come up heart throb,” senior Lily Howard said. “We with ideas for each portion of the competiinterviewed a bunch of girls to talk about Jotion. nah to kind of look like ‘John Tucker Must “My friends Catie Tijerina, Halen WilDie’, or ‘Means Girls. Finally it ended with a son, and Lily Howard, and I just sat down picture of Leonardo DiCaprio which was the one day and brainstormed ideas,” Foster running joke throughout the show.” said. “The best idea for each event that we Although Fosters tux walk video didn’t work at first, he was able to cover it and pull it off.

“I was really nervous for him especially at the beginning when the video didn’t work,” senior Catie Tijerina said. “But he covered it really well and it made it funnier CO U T U Rlaughed E because the audience at him and it showed his personality as a jokester.”

Foster was one of the few theatre kids to run for Mr. Bulldog.

“I feel more comfortable on stage because I’m on there a lot and I just have a more confident stage presence because I do theatre,” Foster said.

Besides his theatre experience giving him confidence, it also gave him more options.

“Being in theatre, he wasn’t embarrassed to do anything crazy,” Howard said. “We were able to come up with a bunch of really Don’t cry for me: Senior Jonah Foster is funny ideas that other boys might have shied lip syncing “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” from.” from the musical Evita for the talent por-Suite away 3 After all of the events are completed, tion. It showed off his jokester personality. the judges choose the top five contestants to Photo by Jamie Dorsey

move on.

“I felt relieved and really nervous when I made top-five,” Foster said. “I went in wanting to do well, so making top five was a big accomplishment alone.

The contestants are given a random question, to answer as best they can.

“Since Jonah is in Comedy Club, he practices improve a lot so we knew he’d be able to pull something together,” Tijerina said.

Answering the question can make or break their chances of winning.

“I was so nervous for the question because that is always the one that is the most difficult,” Howard said. “Backstage right before the finals were announces we told him, ‘if you’re a finalized, just bring any question back to world peace’, and that’s what he did.”

With a reference to obnoxious pageant girls and world peace, Jonah was able to win the title of Mr. Bulldog.

“I had never done any kind of competition in high school or necessarily been popular,” Foster said. “So to do that one competition and win it and to have my name up in the hallways, it’s really cool.”

Friends of Foster were very proud of his accomplishment.

“I wanted to cry I was so excited, if he didn’t win we would’ve been a little confused,” Tijerina said.

Foster had a lot of support from his friends in the audience.

“There were a bunch of friends in the crowd and we could see them all jumping up, it was awesome,” Howard said.

Foster was the second theatre kid in a row to win Mr. Bulldog.

“Mr. Bulldog used to be about an actual beauty contest for who is the most muscular and things like that,” Foster said. “I certainly don’t have a striking physique, so I think it helped the contest shift into a more comedic thing. If you’re doing Mr. Bulldog, don’t be nervous to do anything weird. If you’re not necessarily the most in shape person,

Ruel’s theme for her cake was representing what the school is all about.

“I absolutely think that she deserved to win because she worked incredibly hard.

She had a very creative, unique, and original idea,” culinary instructor Richard Winemiller said. “She did a great job of capturing what Bowie is all about visually with some of her ideas and I think she did a really good job of putting those ideas together into a project that really makes sense.”

Ruel is dedicated with her work and that’s what makes her stand out in the culinary program.

“Her cake project was just one example, I see her dedication everyday when we work in the kitchen, I see it when she works with her groups for their prep-week, I see it in her written work, I see it in all of her projects,” Winemiller said. “Everything that I see Katelyn do, I see her determination and dedication. She just has a really strong work ethic.”

Ruel’s life long dream is to open up her own bakery. She’s been baking since she was younger and has been finding every opportunity to bake for someone.

“I love it so much. Everything I do is about baking, it just keeps me calm, and one thing that my parents always told me is that if I were to work in a bakery, I’d have to work really late hours and get up super early and start working, and that doesn’t bother me because I like it so much,” Ruel said.

Because Ruel is a senior and graduating soon, she has a goal set for herself with owning her own bakery..

“My goal is to get my own clients. One of the people I baby sit for is asking me to their daughter’s four year old’s birthday cake, so I’m excited about that,” Ruel said. “Just exploring the culinary field and setting goals as far just getting more customers and trying to get out there.”

Mr. Funny becomes Mr. Bulldog in one night Shelby Becker Student Life Editor

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Best Bulldog: Jonah Foster wins Mr. Bulldog after answering the question portion by mocking pageant girls. His theatre background helped in the talent portion.

Photo by Jamie Dorsey

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Student Life

The Lone Star Dispatch Monday April 13, 2015 Page 3

Uruguayan teacher flies to A few nonteach American schools seniors Fuaad Ajaz Staff Writer

Osmidia Pereyra an English teacher in Montevideo, Uruguay traveled over 5,250 miles to Austin to learn about American schools and to share with Bowie students about Uruguayan schools.

Pereyra had never been anywhere in the United States before and she was excited to learn about a whole new country.

“I have never been to North America so it was weird at first being in a new country but it was fun because I got to learn about the American culture and also got to learn about the schools in America, which are much different from the schools we have in Uruguay,” Pereyra said.

Spanish teachers Irene Hidalgo and Felipe Mendoza helped Pereyra in Austin with things from getting groceries and clothes to even letting her stay at their homes.

“Since Osmidia had a scholarship to come on this trip she was not responsible to pay for anything so Mr. Mendoza and I were in charge of any expenses she had and anything she needed,” Hidalgo said. “It was really funny taking her to the store because they have grocery stores in Uruguay but they don’t have a variety of things like we do here so taking her to HEB and seeing her reaction to everything was priceless.”

Pereyra was shocked to see all the stuff Bowie had to offer the students because in Uruguay students are not offered many of the

things Bowie has.

“Many of the classes the school has like newspaper, we don’t have classes like that in Uruguay. Students don’t even walk the halls to go from class to class they sit in a big plain room ad the teachers just have to go from class to class teaching the students,” Pereyra said.

life in Uruguay and also shared some similarities they have.

“I loved every day Osmidia was in class. She made the class fun and crazy and it was just great to learn about the Uruguayan culture,” Elliot said. “ I also enjoyed talking to Osmidia about soccer and I found

sons attention.

“All the pictures Senora Pereyra showed us about Uruguay just made me want to go to Uruguay more,” Johnson said. “I’m a really outdoors type of person and Uruguay has really nice beaches. Learning about the culture they have over there and all the different tradi-

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Travel Facts

Distance Traveled: 5,250 miles Time Traveled: 10 hours 50 minutes

Montevideo, Uruguay

“The students here don’t understand how many things the school has to offer, they may think the school has nothing but to the students in Uruguay, this would be amazing.”

Junior Maddy Elliot got to talk to Pereyra about her

out that her son is about to be on Uruguay’s soccer team.”

Traveling is freshman Kendall Johnsons favorite thing.

Then Pereyra started talking about Uruguay’s natural beauties it got John-

tions is something that I want to try and be apart of,” Pereyra was at Bowie for two weeks and then went to UT to learn about how to use electronics in classrooms.

“My time at the high school was great because

I learned different ways to teach in my classes and teach my students English in a fun way, at UT I also learned how to incorporate electronics like laptops, iPads, Kindles, and other electronics in the classes I teach so the students enjoy the class,” Pereyra said.

While in the U.S. there was one place Peryra wanted to visit and one thing she wanted to try.

“I really wanted to go to Wal-Mart, I wanted to see all the stuff that was in the store because I had read an article about the store online. I also wanted to try BBQ because it sounded like that was the only thing people in Texas ate,” Peryra said.

Hidalgo enjoyed the time she spent with Peryra and wants to try out the foreign exchange teacher program one day.

“My time with Osmidia was really nice we made many memories to share from taking her to Wal-Mart to eating dinner at the Salt Lick we made many great memories,” Hidalgo said.

“I want to do the exchange program one day and see how they teach in Uruguay and learn some more about the culture there.”

Peryra enjoyed her time in the U.S. and learning about the culture in America.

“My time in the Us is a time in my life I will never forget I not only got to teach and inform students about my home country but go to learn about their country. Everyone I met treated me like their friend and I felt like I never left home,” Peryra said.

Chocolate trades for self-doubt this Lent Kamryn Bryce Editor-in-Chief

Jesus walked the desert for 40 days without food or water, the modern day teenager gives up something almost as serious, social media.

Lent is here and all over campus students are showing their dedication by sacrificing anything from chocolate and swearing to less material things like self doubt.

“I gave up not believing in myself and not giving myself enough courage. I sing in my church worship band and I dropped out for a little while because I thought I wasn’t good enough,” junior Olivia Lombardo said. “I rejoined the band and have made an effort to put myself out there, so every time I feel like I am self doubting I give myself pep talks or reevaluate things. I try to put myself into conversations more if I feel myself pulling back,” Lombardo said.

Lombardo is tackling one of the hardest challenges of being a teenager and she’s doing it to better herself in the long run, which is what she feels is the purpose of Lent.

“It’s giving up something you are tempted with every day of your life to hopefully some day get over it,” Lombardo said. “When people do things like give up saying a bad word for 40 days and then after its up they go back to saying it they aren’t looking into it deeper.”

Unlike most high school students she gives herself a real challenge for Lent. Last year she gave up thinking bad thoughts about others, however as humans judgmental thoughts can

come to mind almost naturally.

“When I did I would confess it to my church leader. Like, today I saw this girl and I thought about how bad her outfit was and I didn’t even know her at all,” Lombardo said.

Another student on campus took an uncommon approach to the 40 day sacrifice. Giving

“

then I think I can give up something as simple as Twitter,” Bradbury said.

Lent begins the day of Ash Wednesday and ends on ‘Holy Saturday’ or Easter eve. Sophomore JD Briggs celebrates the period of time in a rather unconventional way. On top of giving up something for 40 days, he also adds something beneficial to his life, like running daily.

“While I did give up sweets, every year I give up one thing and then I add one thing good to my life. My dad started doing that a few years ago and so our whole family does it now,” Briggs said.

Spanish teacher Ignacio Ruiz participated in Lent by adding a healthier lifestyle to his daily routine. Ruiz has been celebrating the catholic tradition for his entire life.

“You become more aware of the spiritual side of things; it makes you focus on something beyond what we are doing here,” Ruiz said. “It makes you better because all of a sudden you’re not focused on the every day things.”

Whether used to impact the future or as a time to appreciate the life that you’ve been given, Lent around campus is initiating change in student and teacher’s lives alike and hopefully for the better.

“Lent is about understanding the sacrifices made for us,” Briggs said. “It’s an easy way for us to make a small sacrifice and realize we’ve got it pretty good.”

It’s giving up something you are tempted with every day of your life.

- Olivia Lombardo

“

up something almost as prevalent in a teenagers life as self doubt, social media.

“I gave up social media just because it can be so time consuming and it starts to invade life.

It actually hasn’t been as hard as I thought it was going to be,” junior Paige Bradbury said. “I thought it was going to be really hard staying off Twitter but I’ve actually realized that it doesn’t matter that much and I haven’t felt the need to be on it. I feel more present when I’m with people, I was never really one of those people to be on my phone the whole time anyway but for me it distracted me from homework and I procrastinated a lot.”

Bradbury reveals that she left the social media apps on her phone to make it more tempting and more of a challenge for her.

“I did turn off the notifications cause that can be pretty distracting, but if Jesus died for us

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Hazel Rodriguez Staff Writer Graduating early has its advantages and disadvantages, but some students put in the time and hard work it takes to finish early. For some, finishing early opens up other opportunities, but few actually complete the task.

“Next years juniors and sophomores might be the last class that can graduate early if they have all their requirements for the recommended plan which is the four by four but they have to go to summer school and go to Austin Community College and they can not take any off periods,” counselor Nona May said.“We do not yet know for the current and incoming freshmen that are under house bill five, in their graduation plan if they can graduate early, there is lots of questions out there still.”

There is no such thing of testing out of high school because of all the requirements that have to be met.

“There is not a test you can take to graduate early, you have to hit all the requirements of the state of Texas ad those are the STARR exams “ May said.

Planning to graduate early has to be thought out and planned in the beginning years of a student’s high school experience.

“I advise them on what classes to take but its hard if they don’t come to me by the end of their freshman year.” counselor Kristen Williamson said.

Only so many students can actually follow through with graduating early because they meet the requirements that are required to finish early.

“About five students per year come to me but only one or two can actually do it,” Williamson said.

Three students that managed to graduate early this year are also starting college early.

“We had three students that managed to graduate in December. The students that did decide to graduate early are using it as an opportunity to start college early,” May said.

Former students Braxten McGinn and Jayme Dewlen found another way to graduate early and decided to start a home schooling program instead of finishing and graduating in a public school.

Looking ahead and planning better things for the future, Dewlen found an opportunity to graduate early from a home schooling program. “ I saw graduating early and going to the Masters leaning institute as an opportunity to start my life early an conquer things I want to get done in life,” Dewlen said.

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The Lone Star Dispatch Monday, April 13, 2015 Page 4

Faulkner crowned Bowie Idol of 2015

(continued from page 1): Faulkner decided to participate in Bowie Idol with hopes to gain what he likes to call “high school points”.

“Let me translate to human,” Faulkner said. “It was one of those things where I wanted to connect with the community of bowie because I’ve been so attached to just one extra curricular for such a long time that I just wanted to go out there and though its not really too much of a different thing, I wanted to try something new and meet new people at bowie.”

Faulkner considers Bowie Idol a great learning experience for himself considering that he is aiming to pursue a theatrical career in the future.

“I’m actually going to college for theatre so I’m going to be performing for the rest of my life hopefully.”

Faulkner said. “Unless I like get hit by a car, I can’t see myself not performing. I started singing before I could talk probably and I sang in front of people for the first time in fifth grade at the fifth grade talent show.”

At the end of the night, all the goals Faulkner had set for himself concerning Bowie Idol were reached and the event left an impact on him.

“Bowie idol is an important event to me because it’s a way that I can see people that I only see in some classes or see people that I haven’t seen at all before,” Faulkner said. “Some people I didn’t even know existed and now I see them and I’m like hey your cool. It was a good networking experience.”

The crowd was definitely pleased by Faulkner’s performance.

“I though his performance was outstanding and definitely a crowd pleaser,” senior Mariel Arnold said. “He appealed to the audience and was able to hit notes that I never even knew was possible. There were so many incredible singers but the crowd’s applause after Curtis’s performance was a dead give away that he would win.”

May encourages all students, especially those who are too timid to, to give Bowie Idol a shot.

“I wish they’d come and audition if they’ve got great voices or other great talents,” May said. “I wish we could encourage a broader array of instrumentalists and poets and dancers to come in and audition for Bowie Idol

Runner up: Freshman Avery Goodwin sings her original song at Bowie Idol.

Despite this being her first time competing, Goodwin won second place in the competition. Photo by Jasmine Correa

because it’s not just about singing.”

As a choir teacher himself, Bowie Idol has a special meaning to May. “I always find it fascinating to hear the students that I teach in a choral setting sing popular songs and in dif-

ferent vocal styles,” May said. “I just hope students can take away with them the thrill of performing for an audience along with all the hard work and dedication that it takes to polish a song and make Bowie idol.”

Oral Interpretation history made

by David Garza at state competition

Stepping into the shoes of a mentally challenged man in search of a better life is no simple part for a high school actor, just 15 years old, to embody and convince to a panel judges.

But David Garza, a sophomore, made history on campus by becoming the first student to every final at the state level in oral interpretation, or competitive acting, receiving second out of more than a hundred competitors.

“It’s surprising because it’s me,” Garza said. “Going into the tournament my expectations were not that high, I mean it’s state with a hundred something kids in dramatic interpretation and then there’s me.”

The entire oral interpretation team, or interp, received seventh sweepstakes out of 250 schools.

“I think overall the team was very excited because once your team is on that map it becomes doable. I mean there may be hard feelings from those who have worked four years for it or think they worked twice as hard, but really it comes down to the luck of the draw,” theatre and interp director Marco Bazan said Garza has been an active member in the interp program for just over a year and a half, starting halfway through his freshman year.

“My piece was Jason, I played a mentally challenged man who gets raped essentially and is trying to find a better future, getting away from a dark past where he relies on other people,” Garza said.

As hard hitting and serious as Garza’s piece is, it is no surprise that some judges did not take to the performance.

“

winning at state, it all comes down to who judges you for that particular round.”

Returning home from a nine-hour bus ride, Garza got a reaction a bit different than expected.

“I remember getting home that day, putting my shoes in the kitchen, and the first thing I hear is ‘okay mi hijito I don’t care who you are or what you won you

voices I told him he would be perfect for oral interpretation.”

Many interp and debate students have been involved with the program all four years of high school. Senior and STC (Starlight Theatre Company) Vice President, Brooklyn Boering reflects on her time spent on the interp team.

“Oral Interpretation has

I’ve also created beautiful memories, increased my confidence, and have been able to create long lasting friendships -Brooklyn Boering

“Judges would ask me why I was making fun of mentally challenged people and they didn’t understand what I was trying to do,” Garza said. “I was trying to explore and share the story of this man who has a rough life and he how he is trying to get past that. They just looked at the small picture and couldn’t see outside of the box.”

One judge reviewed Garza’s piece told him that when he was just five seconds into his piece she was already annoyed with his voice.

“I just thought wow, that’s harsh. But other judges would say things like, ‘oh my god you’re playing this part perfectly.’ So people either hated it or loved it,” Garza said. “It was pure luck

do not put your shoes in the kitchen, but congratulations,’” Garza said.

Garza credits his win to one person, Bazan.

“Bazan, he skyrocketed me. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t try as hard, he cleaned me up and got my act together, I mean it’s him who got me there,” Garza said.

Garza started his interp and theatre career without really even meaning to, he took theatre one for the credit alone.

“As someone who just kind of fell into our lap last year he was just taking a theatre class then Gomez roped him into a fall show and he just fell in love with it,” Bazan said. “They way that he acted with all of his different

“

Kamryn Bryce Editor-in-chief

absolutely changed my life.

I have gained things like better social, leadership, and public speaking skills. I’ve also created beautiful memories, increased my confidence, and have been able to create long lasting friendships that I have no doubt will continue in the future,” Boering said.

After five days, the team left El Paso, where the competition was held, with a bus full of awards.

The semi-finalists, top 15 in the state, include: Jamie Godwin and Tanner Berg, Brooklyn Boering and Katy Jacobs in duet acting, Grace Widner and Jake Anderson, Katy Jacobs and Summer Hawkins in duo interpretation, and Eli Schoolar in humorous interpretation.

News Briefs

JD Hartman speaking again after accident

Since a tragic accident in which he almost drowned in his family pool in October of 2008, junior John Douglass (JD) Hartman has been making progress every day in various areas.

JD’s biggest progression has been made recently, when he began talking again.

His mother, Beth Hartman, explained that he began speaking again in complete sentences, which is why she had a heart dropping experience when hearing her son speak for the first time.

“My jaw fell open and I said thank you God. I could not believe my ears.

It wasn’t just a word either it was a full sentence. ‘I need someone to help me up’ wow,” Beth said.

Experiencing the excitement upon hearing her brother speak for the first time in six years, his sister, sophomore Macy Hartman, was very overwhelmed.

“It was so amazing, it was such a miracle because he hadn’t spoken in six years, so out of the blue, it was just a miracle,” Macy said.

Beth had a heart dropping experience when hearing her son speak for the first time.

Hartman is currently in the life skills class, taught

by Alyssa Werley. Since his accident Hartman has been working hard in school, while acting as an inspiration for people like Werley.

“He’s retained a lot since his accident, he’s still able to do basic math facts and spell like a mad man,” Werley said, “its been really inspiring because it gives a lot of people hope to see that even though something like this could happen you can still be in there.”

Werley works to challenge Hartman by asking a lot of him and giving him work made specifically to challenge him and make him think deeply and critically.

“I try to see if I can access his higher level thinking. He asks really high

level questions that you wouldn’t imagine a life skills student would ask,” Werley said.

Werley takes note of what interests Hartman and comes up with activities to do that will keep him engaged.

“He shows his interest and I try to access that interest and motivate him and it might not be on a standard education,” Werley said.

His educators work hard to personalize his education and find what interests JD. “But its what he enjoys and what motivates him so that’s what I do, find out what he likes because he’s still a person with a personality.”

Taking it day by day JD and his family experience new moments and memories through his recovery.

“We take it one day at a time and really take time to take in the miracle unfolding before us. Each day is like another layer of an onion being peeled away,” his mother Beth Hartman said. “Revealing more knowledge or memories stored inside.

Some days we laugh most of the day. JD has a quick wit and beautiful sense of humor, he is so expressive when he talks.”

Filled with emotions Macy Hartman explains how her brother inspires and motivates her family to keep the hope of him recovering completely one day.

Macy explains that the whole family is inspired

by JD because of the way he has continued on an upward trend since his accident. Because of his steady recovering, Macy holds out hope that he will continue to recover “He’s just really inspiring, his whole story overall the fact that he had gone from little hope that he would get better but he just continued to get better and that’s just so motivating to us because he started with so little and now he’s slowly getting better,” Macy said. Hazel

Rodriguez

Art event held at San Marcos High School

The Visual Arts Scholastic Event (VASE) took place at San Marcos High school on February 14, 2015.

The competition is between high school art students and competitors are judged on a piece of their art, along with an interview they give with a judge. The VASE competition was a regional qualifier before the state competition.

Students competing in San Marcos were part of region 13.

“The competition was held in San Marcos at San Marcos high school,” art teacher Mindy LeJeune said. “Students compete on the technique of their work as well as an interview process.”

VASE is the regional competition, and artists receiving a Superior Rating, a four, are eligible to move on to the state competition.

The state competition will be held at the Dallas Convention Center on Friday April, 24 and Saturday April, 25.

“Most of my students received 3’s and 4’s,” LeJuene said.

Before the event art teachers are responsible for entering up to two pieces of art per student, and judges review and can reject and disqualify art before the event if it doesn’t meet the qualification standards set by the administration.

According to students who competed, they must wait outside before a relatively short interview with a judge about their submission.

“You spend about five minutes talking to the judge about your pieces,” junior Lili Benitez said.

“The judge asks you questions about the piece, based on the meaning behind it and about the piece in general.”

Following the interview, they step out of the room, leaving the judge alone to evaluate the artwork.

“After you are finished talking and the judge is finished asking questions, you leave the piece in the room and you leave the room and let them judge your work by looking at Anit,” Benitez said.

nika Holm

I n-Depth The Lone Star Dispatch

Monday, April 13, 2015

Page 5

Celebrate the uniqueness in all Ashlee Thomason Managing Editor

This is national Autism awareness month which promotes Autism awareness and inclusion for all.

The mission statement of the Autism Society during the month of April for National Autism awareness month is to go forward in creating a society in which those with ASD are valued for their unique talents and gifts (autism-society.org).

Promoting Autism awareness is highly valued and close to home for senior Atlee Goodwin who has an older brother, Mac, diagnosed with ASD. Growing up, Goodwin faced different challenges and obstacles than the average brother -sister relationship.

“My brother is 23 and he didn’t say his first words until he was five years old,” Goodwin said. “He was physically fine it was just the words and interaction with others that was troubling. I obviously don’t remember it that much but it was really really hard on my parents to accept it. Once they did, they figured out how to work with him and get him to learn normal tasks that we do everyday. He has now graduated from high school. The challenges we face now are a little different. He is very organized and orderly and if things change or don’t work how he wants it to he will throw a tantrum so we have to follow the same routine everyday to avoid those.”

On campus, Bowie buddies work with kids diagnosed with ASD. Senior Bowie Buddy Rylee

Asbergers Syndrome

No delay in language and cognitive development.

Difficulties in social interaction.

Development of restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interest, and activity.

Barrios discusses her emotional connection with her ‘buddy’ along with her moving experiences throughout being a Bowie Buddy.

“I wish that people would understand that autism is a neurological disorder that can make communicating with others difficult and not something they have control over,” Barrios said.

“They just want to be accepted and treated as everyone else and with a little patience and inclusion they can become an amazing friend. I have had so many touching experiences by being on Bowie buddies.”

People tend to overlook those diagnosed with Autism but Goodwin shares what she has learned from living with her brother.

“It has been a great experience,” Goodwin said. “Mac has taught me a lot of things that he will never get to realize he taught me. Mac taught me a lot of patience because there’s times where I have to sit and wait through things with him.

This is a weird description but it’s kind of like having a six year old brother cause you always have to keep a watchful eye on him. Growing up with him has definitely been very different, I don’t get the regular brother and sister bond. And that’s okay with me cause we have a different bond. He’s such a loving and sweet boy. Growing up with him has opened my eyes to see the world as a better place because he appreciates every little thing.

When you see someone with so much positive energy everyday, it really changes how you look at things and how we should appreciate all that we have.”

Autistic Disorder

Significant language delays. Impairment in social interaction and communication.

Restricted repetitive and stereotyped pattern of behavior, interest, and activity.

Senior Sarah Penney talks about the privilege of working with those diagnosed with Autism while being a Bowie Buddy.

“Through being on Bowie buddies I have learned that Autism is not a bad thing or a disability and that it is just a different way of thinking,” Penney said. “Being involved in an organization that works with those diagnosed with Autism has shown me that Autism doesn’t take away from being human it just makes someone special and unique in their own individual way. The Bowie buddies Christmas party made my heart smile because of how happy they were throughout the party and while singing Christmas carols.”

Goodwin touches on what it means to have a brother diagnosed with Autism and how some do not understand the complexity of Autism.

“I wish people would understand that people with autism have more to them than someone with a mental disability,” Goodwin said. “People who suffer with autism see things differently than normal people do and that’s very important. We need different minds and ideas to all work together and improve in the world. People with autism see things in a more visual way so it’s very frustrating when people say that they’re stupid or when something is messed up they’ll describe it and use the word autistic. Autism is no where near messed up, it can be a very beautiful thing but people just choose to focus on the negatives of it. Just because someone sees things differently than you and thinks a different way, doesn’t mean they’re messed up.”

Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD- NOS)

Symptoms are similar to autistic disorder.

However, all criteria for autistic disorders are not met due to late age onset.

Source: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

DSM-5

Autism now affects

Boys are

1

nearly

68

times more likely than girls to have Autism

in every children https://www.autismspeaks.org/ what-autism/facts-about-autism

5

A thletics

The Lone Star Dispatch Monday, April 13, 2015 Page 6

Lady ‘Dawgs take on 88th annual Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays Three outstanding athletes strive for the stars in hopes to further their athletic careers in track and field.

Isabel Rosales Athletics Editor

Winter comes to an end, the spring begins and so does track season.

Setting, striving, and achieving goals is what this track season has been about for three young women who have big hopes and dreams.

“My ultimate goal is to go to college and run,” junior Marissa Flournoy said.

The start of the season and the shot put record has been broken twice already by senior Kennedy Godsey and junior Avery Ellis-Byerly.

“I love having a challenge and we are getting farther and farther from the record. This is really exciting because I still have one whole year left and I plan to break my own record,” Ellis-Byerly said.

Godsey’s goal was to reach 4 her senior year, achieving that goal at the south Austin relays Godsey now holds the current Bowie record.

“Having broken the re-

cord last year and then Avery breaking it this year gave me motivation to give it my all since I am a senior and it is my last year,” Godsey said.

Going into the season strong, Godsey and EllisByerly have had the opportunity to compete at the Texas Relays throwing shot put.

“This is honestly a once in a life time opportunity to throw at the Texas Relays, its going to be great to see professionals and college athletes throw as well,” Ellis-Byerly said.

Running at the Texas Relays, Flournoy, competed in the Steeple Chase placing first in her division.

Steeple chase is a very unique event in track. For high school athletes it is five laps around the track with four hurdles. Going around the second curve on each lap the runners jump the hurdle and land into a big puddle of water.

“It was a rush. It was probably one of my favorite track meets ever because of the environment and the competition,” Flournoy said.

Coming in with a time of 7:26 in the 2000 meter steeple chase Flournoy really put her name on the map.

“Not having run the steeple chase since the summer and beating my PR by around 20 seconds makes all the hard work out worth it,” Flournoy said.

Placing fourth at Junior Olympics Nationals in the summer of 2014 running a time of 7:42 Flournoy hopes to go back and fight for the first place title.

“The fact that I’ve dropped so much time and right now with this time I’m in a good position I’m super excited to see how the rest of this school season goes” Flournoy said.

Much like Flournoy, Ellis–Byerly has made it to the Junior Olympics multiple times.

“Going to nationals is always really nice you get to meet people from all different states,” Ellis-Byerly said.

Still deciding whether they want to run in college and thinking about future

Area bound: Running the 300 meter hurdles for the first time ever at district junior Avery Ellis Byerly leads the pack. Ellis-Byerly ended up getting second in her heat with a time of 47 seconds. Photo by Granger Coats

goals these two ladies are being looked at my many, universities.

“UT is my dream school I would love to run there,” Flournoy said.

Godsey has committed to SMU and will sign soon, for track and field and will continue to throw shot put there and hopes to set many more personal records.

“I’m so blessed an thankful to have this opportunity.

I thank everyone for all the prayers and support during the process,” Godsey said.

Michelle McDonagh Staff writer

son.

“This will be a season none of us will ever forget,” Ralph said.

For Ralph basketball is more than just any ordinary sport, in her eyes it is her escape.

“I play basketball because it’s my escape, I get to control everything I do out there,” Ralph said.

Ending the season knowing that the team played their hardest, the team begins offseason in preparation for next year, with high hopes of returning to the playoffs.

“Overall, it was a great season. We did everything possible to get where we did and I’m proud of how we ended” Ralph said.

Tennis swings into district Game against Skyline High ends basketball season for Lady ‘Dawgs The varsity tennis team went to districts on April 8 and 9. The junior varsity (JV) team will compete on April 15. The districts will be held at the UT Intramural Fields.

The team will face hard schools but are determined to go far in the tournament.

“Anderson will be the team to beat because we have such a heated rivalry with them,” coach James Dammann said.

Players prepare for the event by practicing whenever possible.

“I plan on working on all of my skills to become a tough competitor during the weekends and my free time,” sophomore Marco Moreno said.

The seniors have helped out Dammann and got the word out about the team.

“I will definitely miss the seniors this year,” Dammann said. “They have been with me my first years of coaching and have really expanded the team.”

Districts is the time for teammates to support one another during intense matches.

“I’m looking forward to having a great time with my teammates, and competing against other schools,” Moreno said. “Also, cheer-

art by Fuaad Ajaz

Lauren Blevins Entertainment Editor

ing on the team during a tough match.”

For seniors on the team, this will be their last tournament together.

“I’m looking forward to supporting the entire team at one site for the last time,” senior Shahriyar Huq said.

Tournaments have been times to connect and as the season comes to an end, senior players will be missed.

“It’s been a really competitive season, but with everyone bonding on the team, it’s been really fun and relaxed,” sophomore Madison Winn said. “It will be really sad when all of out seniors players leave next year because of the great relationships we’ve made.”

The seniors will also miss their coach’s support and the team’s respectability.

“I’ll definitely miss our

coach, who’s helped me develop as a player and a person alongside the team,” Huq said. “I’ll miss our reputation and the fact that we were the best team in our district and others envied us.”

Throughout the year, the players put a lot of time, and dedication into the game.

“My favorite part this year was having the opportunity to play a lot of tennis and playing hard on the court,” Moreno said.

Coach Dammann gives players guidance to get them through a fierce match.

“I also really enjoy the advice Coach Dammann gives us during matches because it keeps me focused and ready to play hard,” Moreno said.

If they qualify, varsity players will advance to regionals located in Waco.

Dribbling up and down the court, the crowd cheering, and the final buzzer putting intense pressure on the players.

The rush the girls felt on the court finally came to an end when they played against sky high ending their perfect streak season.

“When we made playoffs, it was really exciting.

But once you make play offs, when you lose you’re done,” junior Amber Lotz said.

Making it to playoff was a huge deal for the whole school.

“This season went well,” Lotz said. “This is the farthest Bowie has gone since the school opened.”

With countless hours of hard work in the gym and the weight room led these girls far into the playoffs.

“It felt good to make it to playoffs,” sophomore Savannah Ralph said. “We worked so hard to get as far as we did.”

The connection the team had out on the court helped make it an unbelievable sea-

On the road to playoffs: Senior Desiree Lampkin tries to find an open spot while being blocked by two Akins players Lampkin recently signed to college to play basketball.

Photo by Isabel Rosales

S ports The Lone Star Dispatch Monday, April 13, 2015 Page 7

Baseball team off to a perfect start Alyssa Martinez Staff Writer

Batter at bat: Senior Mario Rivera makes a reaching attempt at the plate in the Bowie v. Austin game. Rivera has been playing for Bowie baseball since freshman year. Photo

by Alyssa Martinez

The smell of pickles and hot dogs fills up the stadium, the fans are patiently waiting, coaches are ready and the players are preparing to take it out of the park this year. The varsity baseball team is 6-0 in district and is ready to have a killer season with the help of the coaching staff by their sides.

“There is a lot of responsibility that comes with being head coach; there is transportation, parent meetings, scheduling and much more than that. Last year was my first year as head coach and it was much more stressful then but it is getting better this year,” head coach Sam Degelia said.

While it is his second year as head coach, Degelia is there to point the guys in the right direction and is going to give his all to help the boys succeed this season.

“Helping these kids out and watching these kids grow is the most important thing out there to me. I just want to keep the Bowie baseball tradition alive,” Degelia said.

Players believe the team as a whole will make it far this year and the main goal is to make it to the playoffs.

“This year we have a really good team with a lot of talent and we’re trying to get as far as possible during playoffs but we have to make it to that point first, that’s the most important thing,” Ramirez said.

Every athlete has goals they set for themselves; the boys

are going to do whatever they can to reach their full potential, according to Ramirez.

“My goal for this season is to get better and improve as much as possible for next year, which will be my senior year and my last year playing baseball,” Ramirez said.

While the underclassmen are preparing themselves for the upcoming seasons, the senior players are giving it their all and want to end their high school baseball career with a bang.

“I will miss all of the friends I have made these past four years and the amazing chemistry with the team but I want the underclassmen to continue our legacy and keep Bowie baseball highly respected,” varsity Andrew Buitron said.

Out of the many sports at Bowie, baseball is one of the most aggressive ones and the coaches are very helpful and train the guys to do their best out on the field, according to Buitron.

“I love how the coaches expect the greatest from us every single day and push us until they get it out of us. Baseball at Bowie is very competitive and I think that is what separates us from other teams,” Buitron said.

In the next few weeks, the team will be playing Lake Travis, Del Valle and Lehman. They are also looking forward to playoffs.

“Bowie baseball is not just a team but a family. We’ve grown up playing baseball together and we’ve built a great brotherhood,” Ramirez said.

Freshman standout Moreno third in state

Kilah Foster Staff Writer

On the weekend of Feb. 21, four wresting qualifiers competed in the UIL 6A State Wrestling Tournament in Garand Texas, walking away with three of the four medals.

Out of the hundreds of competitors from each weight class, only sixteen qualified to win a state title.

“I was not nervous, just ready,” freshman Christian Moreno said.

Moreno finished his freshman year with a 42-1 record, just one win away from making it to the state title match at 106 points. He finished the day 4-1 overall.

“I was tired and worn out in the

match I lost,” Moreno said.

Moreno won the third place match at 3:31 by fall, but the win still left him wanting more.

“I got third, but I would rather have gotten first,” Moreno said.

Moreno started at a young age, seeing his brothers wrestling, and wanting to sign up himself.

“Once I started, I really liked it” Moreno said.

Junior girls captain Riley Gatley has come a long way as a wrestler.

Gatley finished this season with a 32-12 record while wrestling through a torn labrum in her shoulder all year.

“During a match, everything else around goes into one big blur.

You pay attention to nothing except what your opponent is doing, and at that point you’re not even thinking,” Gatley said.

Gatley has never placed at regionals before this year, and finished 6th in the state at 128 pounds.

“It felt amazing placing like I did at regionals and at state. At the beginning of this season I never thought id be regional champ, and if you would have told me I would’ve placed at state, I would have told you were crazy,” Gatley said.

Placing 5th at 126 pounds was senior boys captain Stephan Moreno with a 36-7 record.

Stephan battled back in the con-

art by Caitlin Devlin

solation bracket with three straight wins to grab 5th after losing to the eventual state champion in the main bracket.

These students have had some tough love behind them from the head wrestling coach Glen Lewis.

“The hard work they put in and how much they want to go out and be the best is great and shows a lot of accomplishment on their part,” Lewis said.

“I go up to them before their match and joke with them” Lewis said. “I talk to them about something that has nothing to do with wrestling,” These student athletes work hard to do what they do, according to Lewis. Their hard work has caused them to excel at their sport and become one of the best wrestling programs in Central Texas.

“They work harder than any other sport,” Lewis said.

Top Dawgs

Standout athletic performances

Johan Vasquez photo by Isabel Rosales

Making it to playoffs and with hopes of making it to state, the soccer team was beat out in the first round of playoffs.

“I’m really proud of how we players, they beat us in the very end of the game and I think we help up our own,” junior Johan Vasquez said.

Making it to playoffs and with hopes of making it to state, the soccer team was beat out in the first round of playoffs.

“I’m really proud of how we played, they beat us in the very end of the game and I think we help up our own,” junior Johan Vasquez said.

Being a second year varsity player Johan hopes his get better.

“We have allot of juniors on varsity right now and I know if we all get better we will get far,” Vasquez said.

Placing first at the Texas Relays running the steeple and first in District running the two mile now moving on the area, junior Marissa Flournoy has high hopes about making it the regionals.

“I went to regionals my sophomore year and hope to make it again this year in both my events,’ Flournoy said.

Marissa runs both the mile and two mile but in summer track she picks up another race the 2000 meter steeple chase.

“Steeple is probably my favorite event because it is unique and not many people do it,” Flournoy said.

Placing fourth at last year’s nationals, Flournoy hopes to get a better place this year due to her time decreasing so much.

“With the time in running right now I hope to be first or second,” Flournoy said.

Marissa Flournoy photo by Isabel Rosales

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E ntertainment The Lone Star Dispatch Monday, April 13, 2015

Starlight Theatre brings campus, one act plays and heartbreak Alyssa Martinez Staff Writer After a year full of excitement and awards that came with the production of Evita, the Starlight Theatre Company is excited and preparing for their spring shows which are going to be April 9 through 11. All four blocks of shows are going to be performed on the final day.

“I’ve been a theatre teacher here for about four years now and getting to use creativity and getting to make something that’s your own is awesome. It’s especially cool because it’s a cool thing to do as a job,” theatre teacher Kalyn Holloway said.

The production of Evita was a huge success and was something to definitely be proud of, it was a crowd favorite and it is hard to move on from so much success after a great production, Holloway said.

“My favorite thing about Evita was getting to do the Choreography. We had a really fun time; choreographing all the numbers, the kids really enjoyed it. It’s also really cool to see the finished production, working so hard for many months and it’s awesome to see it all on stage,” Holloway said.

Each person apart of the theatre program are assigned to certain jobs and when every person does their job on a daily basis the theatre program runs as schedule and goes very smoothly.

“I am an officer, one of the historians, who are in charge of taking pictures and documenting things. I am also a senior director, and I direct one of the the-

atre 2 classes and put on two shows throughout the year,” senior Kristel Martinez said.

Preparation of a show takes weeks, sometimes months, and the feeling of knowing the theatre kids did their job and it paid off is great, according to Martinez.

“It is cool to work our butts off in the beginning and see it all come together in the end,’ Martinez said.

Many of the theatre kids have been apart of the theatre program for a long time, even in middle school they were singing and dancing up on stage together, according to senior Jonah Foster.

“Since the eighth grade I have done every show block since I’ve been in high school,” Foster said.

Just like many sports at Bowie, there are many things to do to warm-up and prepare for game time, and in this case, show time.

“We do group warm-ups in the choir room, and usually we all get in a circle and do diction warm ups. But also, I’m not really sure why it was a thing but in middle school we would all sit in a circle and we would sing the ‘Oscar Meyer wiener’ song to warm ourselves up and ever since then it has been a tradition for us Bailey kids,” senior Jonah Foster said.

Going on stage and performing is something that gives the theatre kids a way to bond and it will be something to remember even after high school, according to Foster.

“When you’re in theatre you automatically have a bunch of friends and we are a family working for the same thing, I will definitely miss the people the most,” Foster said.

Do I get a kiss now?: Juniors and 2014 One-Act Play UIL members, Tanner Berg and Katy Jacobs, perfom their scene during their second to last performance of Becoming Memories. The team made it passed the UIL Zone competition but went home with out an advance after the District level competition. Photo by Fuaad Ajaz

Expires: 5/31/15

Page 8

Bound for Broadway

All together now: Dance department diretor and choreographer for the Silver Star Spring Show, Jennifer Dawson and Jennifer Bennett work side by side to construct over dozen dances for the show. The whole team and directors alike have been preparing for the show for several months. Photo by Fuaad Ajaz

Dance team prepares for an exposé on Broadway

Fuaad Ajaz Staff Writer

With six dances to perfect, the shine of hired professional lighting beaming down, and the excitement settling into the stomachs of around 70 dancers, the Silver Star’s Spring Show looms right around the corner.

“Bound for Broadway”, the showcase will be held in the theatre from April 23April 25. The show will be made up of different types of dance forms ranging from a fast hip-hop dance to a flowing contemporary.

The Silver Star directors Jennifer Bennett and Jennifer Dawson plan this show months in advance, they draw out what they want, and then parents and students from around campus help them make everything.

“Our theme is all about New York City, the sights sounds and all about the Broadway stage,” Dawson said. “We chose the theme from something that inspires us and also from something that is different from the year before, and then our booster club parents and students from art club come and help us with set design and making props.”

Not only do the Silver Stars perform in the shows but Dance Company, predrill classes, students from middle schools around the area perform as well.

“The show’s main focus is about the Silver Stars but they are not the only ones in the show, it consist of students from pre-drill classes and also students from local middle schools like Bailey, Clint Small, and Gorzycki,” Bennett said.

For senior Abby Black this will be her last performance with the Silver Stars before she heads to college.

“This last performance will be bitter-sweet for me, I am

really excited for this show because the spring shows are my favorite because they are fun and less stressful but I’m going to miss the dancing because I won’t be doing pre-drill in college,” Black said.

Not only do the directors have to choose the songs themselves, set the overall design and dances but have to choose for the shows costume selection.

“We have a large costume closet that we pull from on campus and that’s where we get most of our costumes,” Dawson said.

For freshman pre-drill dancer Ashley Ramirez this will be her first time to be involved and performing in the spring shows.

“The genre of dance I will be a part of is lyrical dance and it’s really fun because it songs people know but they’re just slowed down to where the lyrics slow down and just flow through the stage.” Ramirez said.

Preparing for the shows takes many hours of practice each day before school and after School and even some Saturdays.

“We spend usually over a month preparing for the show and we come every day in the morning around seven o’clock in the morning and then near the time of the show we basically live at Bowie we have before school practices, after school practices, and even some practices of Saturday to help us prepare for the shows.”

Black said.

For under classmen this will be their last show with their senior teammates and for Allison Ambler performing with the seniors for the last time creates more memories for her.

“I really like performing with the seniors in this show because we all just have a lot of fun and spend more time

together because most of us won’t get to see each other again,” Ambler said. “The other good thing about this show is that we are not competing for anything or anywhere so we all just get to bond and have a great time.”

Every year the Silver Stars have a senior slideshow to show the Silver Stars who will be graduating and leaving from the team.

“We have a whole senior goodbye and slideshow every year where the seniors say their last goodbyes to the team, friends, and teachers,” Dawson said. “We have a past Silver Star mom who helps us make the slideshow and help the seniors say their last goodbyes.”

For her finale show Black

wants to put all of her effort into the shows and make sure it will be a show she or the audience will never forget.

“I want to put all of my energy and effort into this show because I will not get to do this again since I won’t be continuing on my dancing career in college,” Black said. “I want to make sure my last performance is one I’m going to really give it all I have got so I can remember this performance years later after I am not a silver star anymore.”

With many hours of practicing, day and night, the Silver Stars hope that they can make their last performance of the year a success.

Flower Power: Dance Company member and junior Megan Hauck practices alongside fellow Silver Star members in preparation of their annual Silver Star Spring Show.

Hauck has been dancing all her life, she was even apart of the dance program in middle school, Gorzycki. Photo by Fuaad Ajaz

E ntertainment Lombardo lends a hand

The Lone Star Dispatch Monday, April 13, 2015

Helpers spend their time directing people, making calls, and listening to local bands at the festival

Shelby Becker Student Life Editor South by Southwest (SXSW) is one of the biggest festivals in Texas and is spread out all around Austin.

There are over 3,500 volunteers that devote their time each year to help out and enjoy listening to local music.

Junior Olivia Lombardo is experiencing the festival in a unique way by volunteering.

“I do it with my best friend; we do it every year together,” Lombardo said.

“That experience of getting to be out downtown, I meet so many weird people, the atmosphere is the best part.”

All of the volunteers are given different jobs to do throughout the event.

“I work at the shuttles, I sit at a bus stop all day and I direct tourists downtown, and I tell them where to go,” Lombardo said. “I also have an app on my phone that lets me know where all of the city buses are so I can tell them when it will be there.”

The convention center

SXSW Music Film Interactive art by Lauren Blevins

Page 9

Evita nominated for best scenic design and more

Jasmine Correa Photo Essay Editor

Hit the streets: Local bands play along Trinity Street to keep the volunteers and badge holders excited to hear more music. According to sxsw.com, over 28,000 bands and musicians performed this year. Photo by Alyssa Martinez

is a building for events that takes up four blocks downtown.

“I also work in the convention center and I go upstairs when they have panels and I sit by the doors and I do line control,” Lombardo said.

Volunteers get many benefits that the public doesn’t get.

“I look forward to the shows and meeting people,” Lombardo said. “Working in the convention center that’s

where the artists come to have their panels.”

There is a huge time commitment being a volunteer.

“I don’t know if I would be able to do it,” senior Kristel Martinez said. “I think it’s awesome that they’re able to do that, it’s really cool.”

Volunteering over time can help you earn rewards.

“Badges are given out by hours and you can’t get a platinum badge until you’re a second year volunteer,” Lombardo said. “I have my

The Greater Austin High School Musical Theatre Awards (GAHSMTA) invited the cast of the musical production Evita to represent their school at the nominations prep meeting March 2. The cast, crew, and orchestra of Evita got 11 out of 15 nominations.

Junior Eryn Northcutt was at the meeting and heard the list of nominations go on and on.

“There were so many; I remember we were nominated for the best ensemble, best set design, best leading actor and actress, best supporting actor, best orchestra, best technical execution, and many more,” Northcutt said.

Cast members loved the detail of the set and were certain it would be nominated.

“The set was so elaborate, it seemed like one piece but it wasn’t,” junior Mary Geisigner said. “There was a lot of work put into it.”

Junior Olivia Lombardo has lots of hope that her cast and crew will be doing well this year.

“Last year we won three awards out of 13 that we were nominated for,” Lombardo said. “I definitely feel like we will get best set design and ensemble this year.”

Theater director Marco Bazan says he doesn’t know what the outcome will be, but he still has confidence in the cast.

“You never know what the judges will like, so there’s no way to gauge how we will do,” Bazan said.

And the nominees are...

platinum badge, which allows me to get into everything.”

If volunteers continue to participate each year, they can be promoted.

“I’m going to try and do it as much as I can,” Lombardo said. “If you keep volunteering and they see that, they’ll make you a crew leader so you actually get to be in charge of crews and it looks really good if you’re applying to certain jobs in managements.”

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Senior Lily Howard Best Actor in a Leading Role: Junior Austin Hyde Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Junior Miguel Lazano Best Orchestra Best Ensemble

Best Production Best Scenic Design Best Musical Direction Best Technical Execution Best Direction Best Choreography

art by Lauren Blevins

In Review: Insurgent Michelle McDonagh Staff Writer “Insurgent,” the second book in the divergent series, is filled with drama, action, and a little bit of romance that any teen would love.

Published on May 1 2012, this book is filled with everything young adults and teenagers enjoy to read; a love story filled with suspense, a lot of fight scenes, and plenty of drama that allows the reader to laugh, cry, and pound their head against a wall in agony of whatever Tris, the main

character in the series, did.

The main character is a very dynamic, Katnisslike character. She has wit, charm, and a lot of sass, as well as a heart filled with good intentions that are sometimes not executed correctly. Her love interest is strong willed, but also has that bad-boy type appeal that most girl dreams of having one day.

Overall, the book is a good continuation of the series. It picks up exactly where the first book left off, and overall it carries the plot line well, with few

gaps or problems. The book introduces a number of new characters that don’t take away the spotlight from any of the characters the book has already developed.

The only problem would be that there are quite a few things that are suddenly introduced into the book that takes away from the rest of the plot. And, if you skim through this book, you will get confused, so you have to read and understand what is going on before continuing through the book.

The problem overall is the family drama that takes

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a little bit of the plot away.

Tris’s parents are both dead before the start of the book, both from saving her life.

And her brother, Caleb, is not on good terms with her at the start of the book. The story of their relationship developing and being fixed takes away from the story line of Tris trying to identify herself within this new dynamic, constantly changing society that you want to understand, but never truly can.

Insurgent is a great book that continues the trilogy well. With few and minimal

problems, the book is good for anyone who likes a teen, action, romance-filled

Insurgent: Author: Veronica Roth Published: May 1, 2012 Staff Rating:

/5

book with the extra side of learning a new society inside and out.

Genre(s): Science fiction, dystopia, romance Movie release date: March 20, 2015 Series: Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant

art by Lauren Blevins

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C ommentary The Lone Star Dispatch Monday, April 13 , 2015 Page 10

Palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, it’s time for standardized testing already, how regretful.

Song references aside, standardized tests are infamous for being one of the worst things about the public school system. These tests are frankly, ridiculous. There are countless reasons that one could bash the standardized testing system, so why after so much opposition, do they still exist?

In Texas alone, Pearson, a company that prints these tests signed a $500 million dollar contract for a five-year deal. Pearson brought in more than $7 billion in total sales in 2014 according to their website.

Lobbyists for standardized testing from Pearson spent over $600,000 in 2011 trying to make sure they keep mandating them in schools in Texas alone.

Pearson has been investigated for improperly lobbying, and is infamous for bringing state education officials to conferences in places like Rio De Janeiro, London, Singapore, and other cities, according to Forbes and The NY Times.

Standardized testing costs states an average around $1.7 billion a year total, according to edweek.org. What can you say, money talks.

Teachers also end up having to diverge from their planned curriculum to help students study for these tests. Starting next week we’re having FIT two weeks straight to prepare for a week of testing. Ask any teacher what they think about standardized testing

and it’s highly likely they won’t be a fan.

These tests also create a social divide; those who fail are ridiculed, even if you don’t see it in the halls.

Many people consider the tests obscenely easy, but people still don’t pass, and boasting about how easy it was for you isn’t going to make it any better for the person who struggled through.

About 90 percent of the current senior class in Texas passed the STAAR exams, according to tassp.org, which would sound fair if it was a grade in a class. But one out of 10 people will have to retake the STAAR. Here at Bowie 92 percent of the 2013 class passed, according to the district’s site, meaning about one out of every 13 students won’t pass one or more of their tests here.

So much for No Child Left Behind.

The state needs to stop endorsing and administering these tests. It a waste of time and money to keep on administering these tests.

Students, you can create petitions against these tests, WhiteHouse.gov actually has a petition page that requires 100,000 signatures to reach President Obama’s desk. There are 85,000 students in the AISD, many of whom likely loathe these tests.

Opting out of these tests is an option too, but don’t expect to get away scot-free. In Texas it is not legal for students to opt out, but there are loopholes.

The AISD website includes a few pages on opting out, and paraphrased it says; a parent can withdraw a child from enrollment

Students

Teachers

wit the intent of reenrolling after testing is over, and the district will have no grounds to refuse withdrawal.

Whichever comes first, for better or

art by Elyas Levens

Testing needs to be re-thought

worse, these tests need to be slowly cut out or severed from the education system completely. Don’t be afraid to take a stand, these tests are doing more harm than good.

Hundreds of years later, racism is still an issue Michelle McDonagh Staff Writer

Sometimes, the things that people do in this country, like hating on people who don’t deserve hate, or not helping others in their times of crisis, or even discriminating against certain people because of certain factors, outrages and disgusts me.

The ΣAE (Sigma-Alpha-Epsilon) chant that was videotaped from a member of the fraternity on March 9 is only one example of a problem that faces our current society; racial inequality.

I believe that this type of language and use of derogatory words is uncalled for in our nation of freedom for all people of all types, and that the punishment that the students received was justified.

Back in 1865, our country was divided over the issue of slavery.

We fought a war on the issue of African American rights. In 1968, congress passed the Civil Rights Act that prevented discrimination based on color.

Why is our country still discriminating and using derogatory terms against one another if we agreed a back in the 60’s not to do so? I thought this answer was clear, but obviously we have a long way to go before we consider all feelings and situations before talking to each other.

In 2011, there were 99,947 people charged with discrimination related charges, Texas being the top offender at over 30,000 charges of discrimination against others, according to www.peoplefluent.com.

Cases like Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and others cases like them are popping up too often, and people protesting the discrimination across the nation is completely justified. It’s not necessary, because some of the cases could have easily been prevented if it weren’t for people judging one another based on factors of other’s lives.

But in all reality, this issue

has to do with more than just the ΣAE fraternity at the University of Oklahoma, where their chant on a bus in March caused the fraternity to withdraw their house from the campus, and people across the nation holding grudges over things that happened over 50 years ago.

This type of situation starts with how we here on campus are talking and treating each other. I hear the N word and such language thrown left and right in the hallways like “hi” is used as a common greeting in america. It’s absurd and ridiculous that we are ok with people talking like this.

Some people may argue that it’s an invasion of the first amendment, of which includes the freedom of speech. Others may argue that overusing a word takes away the power of that word.

Yes, you have the right to say what you want, but why abuse that freedom on degrading others and using such language? Some may see this as some ridiculous rant on not swearing, but trust me; I don’t care if you swear with your friends because that’s your business. I’m

DISPATCH STAFF Editor-in-Chiefs | Kamryn Bryce/ Maryam Hussain

Student Life Editors | Shelby Becker/ Sophia Mora

Managing/In-Depth Editor | Ashlee Thomason

Photo Editors | Granger Coats/ Jasmine Correa

News Editor | Annika Holm

Entertainment Editors | Paige Rife/ Lauren Blevins

Commentary Editor | Elyas Levens Online Editor | Justice Capello

Athletics Editor | Isabel Rosales/ Caitlin Devlin

Advisor | Michael Reeves Staff Writers Fuaad Ajaz | Gabby Bourgeacq | Jamie Dorsey | Alyssa Martinez | Michelle McDonagh | Samantha Perry | Hazel Rodriguez |

EDITORIAL POLICY The Lone Star Dispatch is the official student newspaper of James Bowie High School. It is published six times a year, generally once per six weeks for the school’s students, staff and community.

The Lone Star Dispatch is an open forum for student expression. The Lone Star Dispatch is not reviewed by school administration prior to distribution, and the advisor will not act as a censor. Content represents the views of the student staff and not school officials.

The Lone Star Dispatch will work to avoid bias and/or favoritism. We will strive to make our coverage and content meaningful, timely and interesting to our readers. Our articles will reflect our genuine objective of reporting news and will be held to a high standard of quality.

We will make every effort to avoid printing libel, obscenities, innuendo and material that threatens to disrupt the learning process or is an invasion of privacy. We will avoid electronic manipulation that alters the truth of a photograph without indicating that the photographer is an illustrator.

Staff editorials represent the opinion of the editorial board arrived at by discussion and will not be bylined.

Bylined articles are the opinion of the individual writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Lone Star Dispatch staff or administration as a whole.

The Lone Star Dispatch welcomes reader input. Please send any letters, articles, comments or corrections to bowie.journalism@gmail.com or mail them to 4103 W. Slaughter Lane, Austin, TX 78749 or drop them off in room F-203 with advisor Michael Reeves or an editor. Letters must be signed, and emailed letters will require verification before publication. We will not necessarily publish all letters received and reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.

The Lone Star Dispatch does not necessarily endorse the products or services of advertising.

Since ΣAE was terminated OU is proud to announce inductions to the new frat Kappa Kappa Kappa

art by Maryam Hussain

just sick and tired of people using the N word and such derogatory words in normal conversations like it means nothing. To a lot of people, it means something.

This kind of thing is already embedded into our generation, and clearly it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. There is only one solution to this problem, and that’s teaching the younger generations why those words that they say are powerful and meaningful, but not

always in the right ways.

We also need to teach them as well as ourselves to appreciate each other for who we are, treat everyone fairly, and although it sounds cheesy, take each other’s opinions into account while we are talking to each other. Using language like that is like cheating on a test openly and expecting to not get caught by the teacher; it’s inevitable, and whenever you get punished, it will be harsh and awful.

Social Media not “Media” Maryam Hussain Editor-in-Chief It seems as though every time today’s youth post about an issue or event online, they are convinced that they’re the only ones in the world who know about it, and that the “mainstream media” as they love to call it, is deliberately trying to hide the facts.

“You don’t see the media covering this story now do you?”

How many times have you been asked that or read a rant similar to it on social media?

I find it all pretty ridiculous. Here we have major news channels covering key stories about missing airplanes, the fight against

ISIS, and the upcoming presidential elections, while on the other hand we have a bunch of teens sharing blog posts which they mistaken for credible news articles demanding that CNN and BBC cover stories with headlines that read, “What are your chicken McNuggets really made of?”

But what’s even more humorous than that is when these passionate youngsters post about any current event, usually something slightly controversial, and attach a link to an actual article, but their status still reads something along the lines of, “When will the media open their eyes and cover this!?”

Well honey, that article you shared with your post is the media covering the story.

They’re the reason you even know about it.

During the time of the Ferguson protests several active social media users began questioning why social

I saw it on Facebook so it’s gotta be true!

art by Maryam Hussain

media is not considered a reliable resource for information, particularly when it contains “live footage.”

Well of course social media is not credible, I don’t see why that would even be the question. Literally anyone in the entire world can post anything they’d like on social media. Just because there’s a video attached doesn’t make it credible. With todays technology even videos can be edited to seem like real life events.

Even Wikipedia is more credible than social media posts. Sure anyone can write for Wikipedia, but everything that gets published on that site is fact checked, and there’s a list of sources on the bottom. With social media, it is important that you fact check articles and posts that may seem a bit outlandish on your own using websites like factcheck.com and snopes.com. You’d be surprised how many of the “news articles” you read via social media are pure fiction.

So please, before going off on rants about how the media never reports on stories you read through Twitter, just take a moment to see just how true they even are.

And don’t forget to read all the important and credible stories on legitimate news sources before complaining about how they’re not talked about enough.

C ommentary

The Lone Star Dispatch Monday, April 13, 2015 Page 11

Who’s who needs changes

This generation prides itself on a more tolerant and open acceptance of their peers. We celebrate each other’s differences from hair styles, and clothing to how we spend our time contributing to our community.

“Who’s Who?” a tradition that dates back since nearly the opening of Bowie High School, honors 24 students that have somehow separated themselves from the Bowie masses to be considered “representatives” of the best Bowie has to offer.

This process is outdated and needs reform. There has been no discussion of this process because, as the saying goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

The truth is, Who’s Who is a process that holds great potential, but in today’s world, needs some changes.

To begin, this entire process is handled by the teachers. No students are involved in the decision making process.

Although our teachers are wonderful human beings, this process where we are deciding who is the “Best of Bowie,” the “Who’s Who” of our campus, would a teacher who may only see the student in a classroom setting be the best person to choose? Or would the student’s peers see things that the student does in and outside of school, be better?

As students we study the American Revolution, and

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opinions. That’s what makes you or breaks you in “Who’s who?” and that’s it.

Is the nomination of students for a recognition in which there is no concrete criteria really a fair thing to do in today’s progressive society? There needs to be concrete rubrics designed to accommodate students who might be very important to Bowie, but may not be involved in on-campus clubs and organizations, may not have the highest GPA, or were in AP or Pre-AP classes all through high school.

If we were to give students a voice in this decision, allowing them to choose whom the nominees are for “Who’s Who?” and from this step allowing our teachers to narrow down the candidates and choose the finalist(s), we might see others nominated who are equally deserving with their actions but may not have the academic resume.This would result in a more empowered student-body, as

“I don’t like STAAR because one test shouldn’t determine who you are and what you’re going to be when you grow up. You can do good on other tests and do bad on one, and that one will look bad for you instead of the others looking good,” freshman Amanda Urrutia

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are taught that representation is a fair form of government that must exist for a fair society to thrive. If this same idea is applied here on campus, isn’t the student body the suppressed voice that has no say in “Who’s Who?” The other fundamental change that I believe needs reform is that there are no published criteria for selecting the winner.

When seeing this process, the first thing I asked myself was how does one even become eligible for nomination? What criteria do the teachers who nominate these pupils use when making their decisions? All of these are questions in which I have one answer to. There are no real criteria.

All of these nominations are based off of assumed “measurable,” standards that already separate students from each other: grades, extra-curricular activities, level of involvement at school and finally, teachers

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art by Elyas Levens

Justice Capello Online Editor

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they would actually be a decisive factor in picking the candidates. The issue of no criteria could also be easily repaired by establishing a concrete, posted criteria for both the students who nominate, as well as the teachers who decide.

This criteria should be based off of students actual contributions as a whole because who is to say that a student who doesn’t necessarily have the best grades but is the best pastry chef on campus and uses those skills to help feed the homeless on the weekends more influential than a student council member who continually contributes to just the beautification of the campus?

As time progresses, it is a nature of acceptance and tolerance that will survive, and a democratic vote through the voice of the students will allow for this new way of thinking to flourish throughout this wonderful campus.

“I do not believe in STAAR because some kids do not do well under pressure. I don’t think a test should determine your pass or fail because of test anxiety and test pressure. I don’t like how it’s timed because kids can feel rushed,” sophomore Cole Howard

Seniors getting the munchies Gabby Bourgeacq Staff Writer Most seniors are notorious for going off campus during lunch for many reasons. One reason may be because they want to eat somewhere nicer and less crowded than the cafeteria, and another reason may be because there are too many underclassmen around.

As a senior, I love the fact that we can go off campus;

we stayed on campus for lunch for three years so we deserve to go off our senior year.

The only thing I dislike about staying on campus during lunch is that there are too many people and its crowded wherever you go.

In order to get more seniors to stay on campus, there should be an area just for seniors to hangout and eat. That way, the seniors have their own place to hangout and not worry about all the other students in other grades.

But sometimes, I enjoy staying at school and eating as well.

I think building a lunch

area on campus just for seniors would be a great idea.

It would be less crowded and more enjoyable. And that way, the administration won’t have to worry about seniors sneaking underclassman off campus during lunch.

The only negative part of having an area for seniors is that it could also get too crowded considering how many seniors there are, but it would probably keep some of them on campus.

During lunch, the wait to get off campus is too long because of all the people trying to get off and dealing with their school ID’s, so I really recommend a seclud-

ed area for seniors.

Also with the new area should come our better food. The area could have its own vending machines and tables, basically just a smaller cafeteria.

I don’t think any other grades but seniors should be allowed. It could also be a good opportunity to meet more seniors and get to know them.

I enjoy going off for lunch just because its more secluded and you can eat at a variety of places, but if there were a place at school for just seniors to eat at and hangout, you would definitely see me there.

other men in the past year are deferred as blood donors.”

This is due to the fact that men who have sex with other men are at an increased risk for HIV or Hepatitis B. Aragon High School in San Mateo, California canceled a blood drive because they saw the policy of the FDA to be “discriminatory and possibly hurtful to gay students,” according to the Aragon Outlook, the school newspaper.

Some people see ending the blood drive to be a wrong decision because by not allowing anybody to donate blood, nobody in need of the blood benefits.

According to the Aragon Outlook some students say “That the potential good from having a blood drive outweighs the potential harm the discrimination would cause”.

The problem is not that the school canceled the blood drive. The problem is the policy that men who

have sex with other men can’t give blood to begin with. If the FDA policy was changed a greater amount of blood would be donated and nobody would feel discriminated against and problems like the Aragon High School blood drive wouldn’t happen.

Not only is this a discriminatory policy but it also limits the amount of blood given to people in need.

According to nexcare.com every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood, and one pint of blood can save up to three lives.

Another reason that the policy is flawed is that blood is already tested, so who cares who donates it? According to The American Red Cross all donors must have several tests before giving blood including an HIV test and Hepatitis B. The policy is simply not fair and practical. A heterosexual man who knowingly has sex with an HIV positive woman has to only wait

one year to donate blood according to the American Red Cross and U.S. donation policies.

We can do more extensive tests making sure all blood is safe and limiting the amount of blood wasted. According to the New York Times about one million pints of blood is wasted each year. We can limit this amount by testing more thoroughly and effectively.

By allowing sexually active gay men to donate blood we increase the amount of blood donated helping those in need.

This rule is simply outdated and needs to be changed. According to The FDA the policy that no gay men can donate blood was put place in 1977, the height of the AIDS epidemic in America.

We have come along way since then and test all donors for infections like HIV or Hepatitis B we no longer need to exclude gay men.

Gay blood ‘not good enough’ Granger Coats Photo Editor

Laying on a hospital bed, your hand clenched tightly as you nervously watch your blood leave your body and fill up the bag beside you.

Blood drives, they give to those in need, helping the sick and unhealthy, and bring people together.

But what if I were to tell you that the same thing that is supposed to bring people together for a greater good is excluding a certain group of people based on their sexual orientation.

Well they do just that.

It is offensive and wrong to not allow sexually active gay men to give blood. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or FDA “Men who have had sex with

“I feel like most standardized testing is pointless because the entire year we prepare for a test rather than to learn so I don’t really like STAAR,” junior Brooke Davenport

“It’s pointless because it only shows what kids know on a test, and it makes teachers have to teach that and only that, and it makes it hard for kids that want to learn other things. I have a brother that is mentally disabled and they want him to study for the test instead of learning stuff he needs to know for life,” senior Lucille Benschoter

“I have mixed feelings because I understand that it’s good to make sure that the whole state or the whole nation is on the same page and teaching what they should be teaching. But it’s kind of an excessive use of testing, and with some tests it diffucult because there’s too many standards that go with that subject to make a fair test. I kind of think if it’s gonna be the STAAR or the EOC, isn’t that what a final exam is. I understand the reasoning but I think it’s just an extra test,” history teacher Carrie Hoffman-Howell Photos & Interviews by Fuaad Ajaz

The Lone Star Dispatch

P hoto Essay

Monday April 13, 2015

Page 12

A quick taste and look at Austin

Take a quick journey around the local restaurants, landmarks, and events

Beautiful day at Zilker Park: Zilker Park is a cornerstone in the Austin community. Not only do many Austin residents frequent it regularly but it also is the home to Austin City Limits music festival bringing musical guests such as Eminem, Pearl Jam, Lana Del Rey, and Skrillex last year.

Photo by Granger Coats

Have you been here before?: If you haven’t been here before have you really been on South Congress? The “I love you so much” wall is one of the most popular walls on South Congress to take photos at. Even if it’s just with friends or family. Located on South Congress at Jo’s Coffee.

Photo by Jasmine Correa

Jamming at the Sahara: Laura Scarborough of The Golden Dawn Arkestra plays to the beat while Zumbi plays the trombone. Golden Dawn Arkestra is a local band whose sounds incorporate Austin’s diverse and unique sound.

Photo by Granger Coats

Town Lake at night: With over one million people visiting the trail each year, Town Lake is an important part of Austinites’ lives. During the day many people like to go canoeing, paddle boarding, swimming, and many other activities.

Photo by Granger Coats

Dancing country at the honky-tonk: The Broken Spoke is an Austin original. Opened in 1964 by James and Annetta White its reputation for country music and a definitive dance hall has spread world wide and hosted the likes of country music legends like George Strait, Bob Willis, and Willie Nelson. Photo by Granger Coats

Diverse events drive local scene, while food and music are unique

Granger Coats Photo Editor

The sun sets behind the Austin skyline, brightly glimmering colors of red and golden descend on Town Lake before it disappears into the night. The city lights brighten bringing with them crowds of people from all walks of life hoarding the streets of East Austin and Sixth Street. Bars and venues like The Mean Eyed Cat and The Continental Club comes alive, pouring music of all genres in the air. This is the Austin experience.

From mouth watering barbecue to musicians and filmmakers, Austin represents an eclectic group of

creative people intertwined in an understanding and warm environment.

“I love the freedom to express yourself however you like and not be judged,” Austin musician Topaz McGarrigle said.

McGarrigle’s new band, The Golden Dawn Arkestra, couldn’t represent the creativity and sounds of Austin better through its diverse musicians and psychedelic stage performances.

“Austin is so unique because of all the creativity,” Junior Karla Boone said. “I love exploring Austin; there is always so much to do.”

Austin is special due to its people and the constant activities to do around town.

“When I was in fourth grade my mom used to take me down to Sixth Street to hear music,” said McGarrigle. “Once I started playing myself I would play there on Sixth Street for change.”

McGarrigle explains how Austin has influenced him and his music.

“With its young spirit, Austin fosters creativity.

The population of Austin has more people with college degrees than any other city in America,” said Dennis Fagan a working assignment photographer who also has worked in film and video production since his 20s.

“Austin is one of many ‘college towns’ in America that promote creativity and

open mindedness,” Fagan said. “We have many artists, musicians, and creative careers but we also have many high tech companies which keep Austin fresh and innovative.”

Austin is special due to its creativity and acceptance while also being innovative and home to many intelligent people.

As the Austin sun comes up casting an orange blanket onto the city, businessmen commute to work, and students head to campus.

Austin is home to different people from all different backgrounds, creating an accepting and peaceful place which many are proud to call home.

A way to help the community: One of the Austin pets alive stands is set up on South Congress. Karen Arana works alone during the day at this location. “I believe in the mission of saving lives,” Arana said. Photo by Jasmine Correa

Psychedelic sounds: Topaz McGarrigle sings into the microphone at rehearsal with his band The Golden Dawn Arkestra at The Sahara Lounge. The Golden Dawn Arkestra is an Austin band with many members as well as go-go dancers for their entertaining and otherworldly stage performances. Photo by Granger Coats Southern hospitality: The Driskill hotel is located on Brazos Street in downtown Austin. The historic hotel was built in 1886, near Lady Bird Lake, The Austin Convention Center, Texas Capital, The Long Center, and other entertaining places that are recommended to be checked out at some point. Photo by Granger Coats

Page created by Granger Coats and Jasmine Correa