Dec 20, 2013

What’s a principal to do when students come to school

pages 10 and 11

The Squall.

December 20, 2013 . VOL. 19. Issue 4.

Photo Credit: Isabelle Sinibaldi

Dexter High School 2200 N. Parker Road Dexter, MI 48130 www.thesquall.com

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall Index 2

4 6 8

10 12

14 19

Staff Head Designer Abby Mesaros Photo Editors Katie Vontom Sam Musgrove (assistant) Isabelle Sinibaldi (assistant) Copy Editor Lauren Kimmel

Web Editor Bryce Pederson Business Managers Lauren Kimmel Casey Hansen Illustrator & Design Brittany Byma Drew Daugherty Design Team Ben Grover

The following photo credits were accidentally omitted. All are used under a Creative Commons license.

4 News The Common App leaves students and teachers struggling.

6 Feature Sleeping disorders cause trouble.

8 Entertainment Eminem takes over again.

10-11 Center Spread Students who abuse alcohol and other drugs have a principal worried.

12-13 News Spread Prom moves to the Big House.

14 Opinion Do you believe in Santa?

15 Editorial Common App needs to fix problems.

19 Infographic Welcome to Dexter: By the numbers.

20 Photostory Madrigal dinner.

Miley Cyrus photos on page 12, from left to right: •photo 1: Fashion Forever, Blogger.com.

•photo 2: Jason Merritt, Getty Images.

•photo 3: Fabio-MBF/ X17online.com.

•photo 4: Nadine DeNinno, ibtimes.com.

John Boehner and Barack Obama photos on page 14: Oliver Douliery.

Social studies teacher Ethan Konett’s name was spelled incorrectly in the Q and A on page 11.

Letters to the Editor Policy:

Staff Editorials:

The Squall encourages letters to the editors. They can be emailed to dextersquall@gmail.com, dropped off in room 407 or given to a staff member of The Squall. Letters may be edited for length and unprotected speech. Requests to withhold a writer’s name will be considered by the editorial board.

Staff Policy:

Contact us at: 2200 N. Parker Road Dexter MI, 48130. (734) 426-4240

Editors-in-Chief Cameron La Fontaine Levi Kipke

Corrections from last issue:

Sydney Swigart Guy Burke Matt Mitchell Kat Kerska Cadey DesRosiers Staff Writers Kait Eekoff Lauren Kimmel Carolin Schade Joe Molloy Derek Seidl Harrison Kane Zac Sharp

ext: 7407. dextersquall@gmail.

Morgan Van Hoof Zeke Breuninger Teddy Walton Jon LeBlanc Scott Rogers Noah Mellifont Alisha Anderson James Fischer Owen Kellenberger Jake Kilian Photographers Casey Hansen Brittany Byma

Chris Ryan Ethan Kremkus Kyle DeVoogd Alisha Anderson Haley Quinn Jake Kilian Darion Mayrand Adviser Rodney Satterthwaite

Editorials represent the majority opinion of the editorial board. Editorials are unsigned.

Columns represented the opinions of the individual staff members who wrote them.

The Squall is a student publication distributed to students, faculty and staff of Dexter High School. The Squall is also distributed by subscription to the Dexter community. The Squall has a press run of 1700 copies and is printed

by The Argus-Press in Owosso, MI. The paper serves as a public forum with student editors making all content decisions. Opinions expressed in the newspaper are not necessarily those of Dexter Community Schools.

Memberships:

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall Ad 3

a t i n n o e F a L

A performance that is truly something to write home about.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ENTIRE SQUALL TEAM. Way to kick journalistic tail. The LaFontaine Automotive Group congratulates the staff of the The Squall, for outstanding performance at the National High School Journalism Convention in Boston!

Design of the Year, 2nd place: Abby Mesaros, Cameron LaFontaine, and alumnus Jordan Romanowski

Best of Show Website News, 10th place: www.thesquall.com, edited by Bryce Pedersen

Best of Show, Newspaper Tabloid category, 4th place: The Squall, Print edition

Review Writing Category: Carolin Schade awarded Superior

News Writing Category: Morgan VanHoof, awarded Excellent

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall

News 4

Common app creates common problems Anxiety

Stress

Tears

Pain

Numbers

Morgan Van Hoof Staff Writer

The fourth version of the Common Application, often referred to as the Common App, was released on Aug. 1, and since then, at least 42 colleges and universities pushed back their early deadlines due to system malfunctions.

Complete application submission became a problem under this year’s version of the Common App, a nonprofit college admission application company that allows students to create one master application that will be submitted to its member colleges for consideration.

Documents wouldn’t load, PDFs wouldn’t attach, students’ entire accounts froze and complete applications wouldn’t submit.

For senior Megan Lynch, many of these issues added extra stress to her application process.

“My University of Michigan application didn’t go through,” Lynch said. “They emailed me saying they couldn’t find my transcripts or my test scores, so I didn’t make early action.”

Senior Sabrina Meo had similar problems in her application process. She wasn’t able to submit her actual application, and sometimes she wasn’t even able to log into the Common App. website.

“I would wake up at 4 a.m. to submit and work on my application,” Meo said. “There were less people on the server, so things didn’t run as slow.”

Since 517 different colleges and universities use the Common App in some form, and 175 of those schools use the Common App exclusively, students around the country, including Meo, were starting to worry.

“The problems I had didn’t affect my deadlines,” Meo said. “Just my stress level.”

According to Scott Anderson, the Senior

Director for Policy at the Common Application, the newest version of the Common App was intended to be a more robust system that would effectively guide applicants and schools through the complex application process. But he recognizes this year’s version of the Common App was far from perfect and said he appreciates the way most people reacted to the problems they encountered.

“Since the Aug. 1 launch of the 2013-14 Common Application, nearly 480,000 applicants have used the system to submit college applications,” Anderson said. “We are grateful for the patience exhibited by these applicants, their parents, counselors and teachers, as we worked to support them through the technical challenges they may have faced in the application process.”

Problems with the Common App were not only encountered by students, but by counselors and teachers too. In fact, for counselor Gerry Holmes, the Common App upgrade felt more like a downgrade.

“None of (the Common App) was working,” Holmes said. “There were plenty of upset people with important deadlines to meet.

Teachers were emailing me left and right about it. It was just chaos.”

Holmes said she dealt with plenty of students as they faced problems loading documents, submitting documents and viewing recommender-submitted documents.

“The college application process is stressful enough as it is,” Holmes said. “Students don’t need anything added to that.”

English teacher and yearbook adviser Barry Mergler was one of the many teachers who had problems submitting a recommendation.

He said a recommendation letter that ap-

peared to be complete and submitted wasn’t received by the University. His problems were eventually solved when he switched browsers.

Mergler, who has used the Common App for years, said he has never had problems before this year.

“Usually things are easy, very straightforward,” Mergler said. “This year, things were rather rocky.”

Former English teacher Jo Muszkiewicz had problems that surpassed submission difficulties, though. After Muszkiewicz set up her account under the new version of the system and submitted recommendations for several students, she said she could not even log into the site.

“At first I thought it was because I was in Europe when I was trying to submit the recommendations,” Muszkiewicz said. “But when I got home, I still had problems. There were times when I was able to access the site and times when I simply could not sign in.”

So Muszkiewicz called the Common App help desk, and they were able to fix the problem quickly. After that, though, she had more trouble getting help.

Finally, the help desk suggested that Muszkiewicz switch browsers, just as Mergler had.

“Rollouts of new systems always seem to have bugs that need to be ironed out,” Muszkiewicz said. “Sometimes the only way to find the problems is to have people use the system.”

That being said, the Common App still feels responsible for the complications users have, and Anderson said they are working to make sure the problems users encountered this year don’t happen again.

“We want to reinforce the message that we are sorry for all of the frustrations experienced during the rollout of the new system,” Anderson said. “We are fully committed to guiding each applicant and recommender to a successful submission.”

Photo Illustration: Kyle DeVoogd

517 colleges

use the Common Application.

127

of those are are “Common App” only schools: you can’t apply any other way.

42 schools

pushed back their early action deadlines because of technical difficulties.

479,268

students have applied to colleges using the Com mon App between

Aug. 1and Dec. 1, 2013.

1,462,938 applications have been submitted as of Dec. 1, 2013.

Facts Common App Media Department

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall News 5

Lockdown procedure gets overhaul Zeke Breuninger and Teddy Walton Staff Writers During the summer of 2013, Principal Kit Moran and School Liaison Deputy Jeremy Hilobuk decided to implement ALICE lockdown training for the Dexter Community School District in an effort to enforce safer procedures if an intruder were to enter the building.

ALICE, an acronym standing for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter and Evacuate is a critical incident-response training company that specializes in active shooter and violent intruder response strategies. It is more of an active-response training as opposed to what Moran described as the passive-response training that was used previously.

With the new procedures, students and teachers will be instructed differently. For example, if an intruder were to enter near the office door, and students were in the art room on the bottom floor of the opposite side of the building, they would exit the building and get to the next-safest destination.

As for teachers, the training is designed to make them more aware of how to handle a life or death situation if it were happening, as quickly as possible. They’re scheduled to have a first meeting about the new training on Jan. 23.

“Teachers will learn defense tactics like

latching the door, blocking the entrance with desks, different kinds of barricades, and essentially anything they can do to slow down the intruder,” Moran said.

“Many of these instances only occur in 5-10 minutes, so finding anything to slow an intruder down will save lives. There is a body count for every minute or two it takes for the police to get here. If you can get out of the building, get out of the building.”

It was a training session in August that made it apparent to Moran and Hilobuk that ALICE would be the new lockdown method for the district.

“They reenacted Columbine (the school shooting incident in Colorado in 1999 where 16 people including the two studentgunmen died), and it was scary to say the least,” Moran said. “It was frustrating to watch because there were so many instances where kids lost their lives because they were following an illogical lockdown method, and we don’t want that to happen here.”

However, training didn’t stop there. Moran underwent multiple training sessions to become more accustomed to the ALICE procedures.

“Training entails raise level of awareness,” Moran said. “Showing what ALICE looks like, going through each letter of ALICE and seeing how we can do that here, with scenarios, and practicing those scenarios in the location where you hide.”

But that’s the milder side of training. It becomes more realistic when the sheriff’s

department gets involved.

“Hilobuk comes in with a cap gun and it gets frightening,” Moran said. “They show us what we used to do, when we hid in a corner and the guy could come in and shoot us. Then we practiced ALICE, finding ways to slow down the intruder and evacuate as many people as we can to safety. It’s all very eye opening.”

Moran said he expects to have the school participate in an ALICE lockdown drill during lunch.

“It’s a very unorthodox procedure because students must act on their own judgement and teachers won’t have as much structure and organization over their students,” Moran said.

A large issue lies in the elementary school and how young children will handle a situation like this. Good judgment and critical thinking skills, attributes that are needed for ALICE to be executed successfully, may not be fully developed yet for these children.

“The main thing we want to do is give people options,” said Hilobuk.

“One advantage when it comes to the elementary schools is since they’re so close together, if one thing happens at one school, they can take them to the other school.”

Not only can ALICE be applied to the classroom, but also in everyday life.

“It teaches good life skills,”

Hilobuk said, “And helps you be aware in other environments, too.”

Moran wants ALICE to be a more effective lockdown method, and while he hopes it’s a procedure the district will never have to use, he wants everyone to be capable of performing it if need be.

He said, “ALICE is us fighting back.”

Illustration Credit: Britanny Byma

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall Feature 6

CAN’T SLEEP

Students struggle with slumber Carolin Schade Staff Writer Junior Austin Travis thought shadows were out to get him. For a week he said he dodged people in the hallways and checked over his shoulder, constantly on the lookout. He was skittish, paranoid and worst of all, sleep deprived.

Travis is diagnosed with insomnia, a sleeping disorder where people go days without adequate sleep. This disorder not only prevents Travis from going to bed before 4 a.m., but has made him go into what he called “a state of psychosis” for four days.

“It made me go kind of crazy,” he said. “I couldn’t focus on anything else, and it was really scary.”

These disturbing four days, in Travis’s opinion, were the only down side to his insomnia. The time Travis usually spent doing homework or other activities was replaced with constant paranoia.

But he never went to the doctor about his psychosis. And he never told his parents. Instead, he took the prescribed amount of Mirtazapine--an anti-depressant that can be used for sleep--and was finally able to get a good night’s rest.

And despite his unpleasant experiences with insomnia, Travis actually says there’s an upside to having a sleeping disorder.

“You get so much done when you’re not sleeping,” he said. “If I have something to do, I’ll do it.”

Like Travis, senior Megan Lynch uses the night time hours to get homework done. Although Lynch hasn’t been diagnosed with a sleeping problem, the amount of work required of her for courses like AP Calculus and AP Literature keep her up most of the night, thus making her sleep-deprived.

“Because of swim and work I don’t usually start my homework until 9 or 10,” Lynch said. “I have lots of homework and college apps to do. I’ll usually be up until 1 or 2 in the morning in order to get it all done.”

And she said not being able to get more than three to

four hours of sleep every night affects her personality and academic performance.

“I’m grumpy a lot,” she said. “And I usually don’t do very well on tests because of not sleeping the night before.”

Although Lynch utilizes her time to get homework done. Dexter district school nurse Julie Liskiewicz said that staying up late to finish work will result in a vicious cycle of lack of sleep.

“With most students getting less sleep through the week than their body needs we see sleep deprived students who can then have symptoms such as depression and difficulty relating to parents and peers” Liskiewicz said. “Add that to the stress from class work and deadlines for projects and it makes it even harder for a high schooler to fall asleep at night.”

Although senior Allison Murphy does not suffer from a sleeping disorder she has traded her recommended nine hours of sleep for Netflix.

“I usually get sucked into an episode or five of ‘The Office,’ so I don’t actually go to sleep until really late,” she said.

Murphy’s night owl tendencies started last school year due to homework she said. This lack of sleep has since become a habit.

“Last year I went to sleep really late because I had a ton of homework, so I don’t think it negatively affected my grade,” she said. “You have to get your homework done to do well. This year I don’t have as much homework, but I’m used to not getting a lot of sleep, so it doesn’t really affect me.”

Although Murphy no longer has as much homework keeping her up at night other factors still blockade her from achieving the ideal amount of sleep as recommended

by Liskiewicz. And Murphy isn’t the only one, whether it be a diagnosed sleeping disorder, homework or Netflix teenagers are not getting enough sleep.

According to Liskiewicz these habits then lead to a generation of “over tired, over stressed teens.”

INSOMNIAC SETBACK

85

sleeping disorders recognized by the American Sleep Disorders Association.

10

Those with insomnia are times as likely to develop depression.

60 ONE HOUR

million

prescriptions filled by Americans in 2011.

of lost sleep is equivalent to working with two years’ less education in that day.

60% of high schoolers report extreme daytime sleepiness.

Illustration Credit: Brittany Byma

High school seniors average slightly more than 6.5 hours of sleep per night.

A

A

A

F

A quarter of those also admit that their grades have suffered because lack of sleep.

Facts by healthsciencedegree.com

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall Feature 7

Janitory stories

collected by Jon LeBlanc & Zac Sharp

Everyone has a story, including the custodians and paraprofessionals

Photo of custodian Maria: Haiey Quinn

“I told the students to stop throwing their food because I didn’t want there to be a food fight.

Maria When the kids continued to throw the food, I asked them to please stop. When I turned around, I was hit in the back with an apple thrown by the kid.

It caused me to have a panic attack because it’s never happened to me before.

I had to be taken to the emergency room because I couldn’t

“I was walking, and I came upon three girls fighting in the hall outside of the library.

They were fighting Connie over some boy issue they had, and there was hair pulling and scratching.

When I went to break it up, I almost got hit a few times myself, but I finally settled them down and took all three of them to the office.”

“I caught some kids unloading Asian Carp up by the front of gym, with a truckload of them. I caught them in there, but they took off and put three or four of them across Larry in the front of the gym, and they were gonna put them all throughout the school.

When they ran off, I thought they were gone, but what they did is they went by the river on Shield Road and unloaded the rest in the pickup truck there. When the old maintenance man, Lamar, came to work early the next morning, he told me to go pick up those fish.

I told him, ‘Let the birds get them.’

He told me, ‘The birds aren’t gonna get these.’

I had to go with security with his pickup truck and put a plastic bag on each hand and pick up the carp and put them in the back of the truck and took them back to the Dumpster.

Then we had to unload all 30 or so of them into the Dumpster.”

“I have been here for three years or so, and a teacher when I first started, called me Lee, who was the custodian before me.

I didn’t want to make him feel bad Neil or embarrass t h e m and be like, ‘My name is Neil,’ so I just went with it, and he just found out about a week ago that my name is actually Neil.

I figured if a teacher didn’t like how I was doing their room or did ASIA something wrong, he N CARP would be like, ‘Lee isn’t doing my room right, or Lee did this,’ and whoever he was telling would be like, ‘Who is Lee?’”

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall Entertainment 8

THE B EST

IN TOTAL NUMBER OF RAP ALBUMS SOLD

1 2 3 4 5

Photo Credit: -EMR-, used under a Creative Common license

EMINEM 53 million JAY-Z 33 million TUPAC 31 million BEASTIE BOYS 25 million OUTKAST 25 million Information from bestteneverything.com

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall Entertainment 9

NOT AFRAID TO SPE AK HIS MIND Despite controversial lyrics, students and teachers feel impact of pop culture icon Eminem

“My favorite Eminem album is probably ‘Relapse’ (2009) because it’s really disgusting, and I love how he just goes crazy on it,” she said. “The Staff Writer sexist or homophobic lyrics never offend me because I feel like it’s sort of an act that he plays along with, and it doesn’t bother me.”

Detroit rapper Eminem has been a cultural symbol of media conFor Lakey, Eminem’s music has much more to offer than just offensive troversy since the release of his raw breakthrough album in 2000, “The remarks.

Marshall Mathers LP.” Despite this controversy, he has 13 Grammys, “I’m drawn to Eminem’s music because I feel a connection to him. I eight #1-ranked studio albums and an Academy Award under his belt. can relate to him and what he’s saying,” she said. “I feel like he’s more He is the best-selling rap artist of all time. genuine than other rappers with his lyrics. There’s a message behind Yet Eminem is constantly in the spotlight as a result of lyrics that every song.” some have said are both sexist and anti-gay. Even his most recent release Senior Evan Burke has a similar opinion about the positive aspects of in November, “The Marshall Mathers LP 2” has many lyrics people have Eminem’s music, regardless of the controversy surrounding his lyrics. called offensive.

“Even though some Eminem songs have offensive lyrics in them, In a changing world where the acceptance of homosexual and femihe also has many songs that help people as well. For example, ‘Lose nine rights is becoming the norm, Eminem’s listeners struggle to decide Yourself’ has helped thousands of sports teams get pumped up over the if his lyrics are too controversial. Containing insults and stereotypes years,” Burke said. from a culture rooted in the past, his raps have an angst and passion that However, Burke also didn’t fully agree with have been present since the beginning of his career. everything that Eminem has to say.

Private vocal teacher and hip-hop enthusiast John Hummel said that “I think that the homophobic controversy is what fans should expect from remarks may be going a little the artist. far.

He could leave those out, “Eminem built his career on making conbecause it could offend some troversy,” Hummel said. “That’s what his people,” Burke said.

Eminem built his career identity is. He has to be inflammatory, because Despite the controversy on making controversy. if he wasn’t, people wouldn’t listen to him.” that Eminem causes, many Many of Eminem’s lyrics target very specan still find positive and cific groups of people, though, criticizing their -John Hummel, voice coach artistic messages in his beliefs and cultures. music.

An example of this is in his 2000 song “He has many insecu“Criminal,” in which he writes, “My words rities about himself that all pertain are like a dagger with a jagged edge / That’ll stab you in the head / to his music,” Hummel said. “His whether you’re a f-- or l-- / Or the homosex, hermaph or a trans-a-vest failed marriage, his children, his / Pants or dress - hate f---? The answer’s ‘yes.’” mother, all of those things kind of Hummel takes the stance that Eminem is simply portraying what he add up.” knows and grew up with in a satirical way.

Hummel also said that Eminem is “While I think that some of his lyrics would offend people, I think a perfect example of what hip-hop can sometimes he’s being a satirist, and I think sometimes he’s being very offer to the musical world. Because of the honest,” Hummel said. value of Eminem’s music, Hummel said But senior Jimmy Messmore, President of the Queer-Straight Allithat people should look past the controance of Dexter High School, said that the homophobic slurs in Eminem’s versy, and view the art with an objective music are not acceptable regardless of whether they’re meant as satire or gaze. not.

For Hummel, Eminem does hip-hop “Inside of his songs he includes homophobic slurs, yet outside of his justice. music he expresses support for the gay community. For that reason, it’s He said, “The thing that I find most hard to have any strong feelings against him, but at the same time, he interesting about hip-hop is that it takes still includes the slurs in his music which is inexcusable,” Messmore said. something from the past, rebuilds, and For Messmore, if Eminem wants to support the gay community, then puts it in a new cultural lense by giving it seems unclear why he would include these slurs in his songs unless he new ownership to the whole idea. At the wishes to cause controversy willingly. end of the day, Eminem is both the hero

But this controversy is what draws senior Sierra Lakey to Emiand the villain in every one of his songs.” nem’s music.

James Fischer

“

“

Photo Credit: thekidentertainment used under a Creative Commons license

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall Spread 11

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall Spread 10

SCHOOL-WIDE

STATISTICS

174 students were asked to fill out a survey regarding their involvement with drugs. The surveying pool included a total of 60 seniors and 114 underclassmen total student body

seniors

underclassmen

Have you ever tried marijuana?

22% of underclassmen said yes

33% of all students said yes

53% of seniors said yes

43% 73% 27% Have consumed alcohol (more than a taste) Have you ever taken prescription drugs for recreational use?

27% said yes

16%

said yes

10% said yes

7% of underclassmen said yes

Have you ever attended school under the influence of drugs and alcohol?

Blah blah blah

ALCOHOL, MARIJUANA

A PRINCIPAL’S PERSPECTIVE: Scott Rogers and Harrison Kane Staff Writers An eerie silence lingers in the main hall of DHS. The students begin to trickle in slowly, and within 15 minutes the school is swarming with teenagers trudging off to their classes with backpacks slung on shoulders.

Books and binders full, they stream into the school.

But with over 1,100 teens milling through the halls, other substances may slip in under the radar.

“At any given moment, with 1,167 kids in the high school, somebody’s probably got something on them they shouldn’t. I think there probably is drug use in the high school,” principal Kit Moran said. “I think there’s probably drug use amongst teenagers. And the reason I say probably is because I don’t have a lot of firsthand evidence, but I’m not thinking that it doesn’t happen.”

While the notion that students do have drugs in the high school worries Moran, he said his primary responsibility is to stop students from trying to sell drugs to others.

“Drug use doesn’t make me angry, it makes me concerned. But if someone makes the decision to come here and sell stuff, I don’t like that one of my students has to turn that away, that kind of thing I don’t have much patience for,” he said.

Even if drug use among students isn’t Moran’s greatest concern, when students bring drugs to school or are under the influence at a school event, the school is obligated to take action and hand out punishment.

However, Moran said there is a way for students to

HOW IT

Decreased attentiveness

YOU

liklihood to develop substance abuse problems

AFFECTS An increased

Suicide or homicide

31% of all students said yes 38% of seniors said yes

blah blah blah

All facts from National Institute on Drug Abuse

lighten their consequence.

“What I like about our student code of conduct is that it is relatively severe, unless the student gets counseling,” he said.

Students are regularly punished with a 10-day outof-school suspension. However, if they participate in drug counseling with their parents, it is lessened to only a three-day suspension.

Moran said he looks at a student being found with an illegal substance as an opportunity to see if he or she needs help.

“We want to find out if they really have a problem,” he said. “I’d rather find out while a student is young and in high school that they have an addiction, alcohol or prescription drug use problem while they’re living with their parents and while we’re willing to provide support than when they go off to college or when they go into the service or when they are living somewhere else.”

He also placed emphasis on being respectful towards students in such situations, and to let them know that he is on their side, even if they don’t necessarily believe him.

“I go out of my way to be even-handed, to be respectful, to know kids are going to do stupid things,” Moran said. “But invariably, when a student violates the code of conduct, we want to make sure that they know that we don’t have anything personal against them. We’re not mad at them. We don’t think they’re a bad kid.”

One of Moran’s concerns about students is the fact

DRUG USE IN TEENAGERS CAN LEAD TO ...

Mask other emotional problems

CONFESSIONS OF A USER:

that some choose to attend class under the influence.

Out of 174 students polled by the Squall, 31 said they have come to school inebriated. Of these, 23 were seniors.

Moran said he is worried that school is so uninteresting or unpleasant for some students that they need to artificially enhance their mood beforehand.

In addition, he said he is concerned about the number of students high or drunk at sporting events and believes it may be due to the social tradition of tailgating and its association with alcohol.

“When students come to school drunk, or come to an athletic event drunk, I’m not sure that I understand why they have to be under the influence at those things,” he said. “Have we taught kids in society that we tailgate before a football game, so that means everybody consumes alcohol so they can watch football while they’re drunk?”

Understanding and helping students has always come first for Moran, punishment second.

“I did not become a principal because I wanted to go out and catch kids doing drugs,” he said.

Moran holds the belief that drug prevention should not be the focal point of the school or his job. The goal should be education.

“I think my reputation is probably not that I’m a law-and-order principal,” he said. “I think in Dexter, the parents want the focus to be academics and an inviting culture at the high school. I think they want you guys to want to come to school.”

Brain damage

An increased liklihood to engage in sexual activity, as well as rape An increased risk of heart attack or stroke

MARIJUANA

RAISES HEART RATE BY

20-100%

SHORTLY AFTER SMOKING THIS EFFECT CAN LAST UP TO

We’re sure you’ve heard this story before. Kids do drugs. Adults are mad about it. It’s almost become a cliche. But we got to thinking, what if we looked at this from a different perspective. What if an adult told us how it affects his job when students bring drugs to school?

What if a drug user told us about his experiences after his parents confronted him about his use? We hope these are new perspectives on an old story, and we hope you can use them to move away from the cliches surrounding teen drug use.

3

HOURS

Bill’s eyes fully dilate as he feels the quarter-inch by quarterinch square of paper begins to dissolve under his tongue.

Euphoria. He smiles. His serotonin receptors flood with synopses, and hallucination begins.

An anonymous DHS senior, whom we will refer to as “Bill,” began experimenting with drugs at age 12 and since then has increased the frequency of his use and number of drugs tried.

Marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, MDMA (Molly), LSD-25, 25(x)N-BOMe, alcohol, Concerta, oxycontin, and nitrous oxide make up the litany of drugs which Bill has used in his lifetime.

During school, he has consumed marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms. He explained that he views school as an opportunity to be inebriated in a safe environment.

“I wouldn’t have to drive if I’m at school for at least seven hours, so that’s plenty of time to get sober,” Bill said. “And with pot, it’s like I’m high during school, but by the time I get home I won’t be high, and I won’t have to deal with my parents like that.

And just the convenience of it, I guess.”

Bill said he isn’t concerned with drug use affecting his grades very much. Not only is he able to handle his classes sufficiently under the influence, but he always places his own happiness before things like grades or money.

“A lot of parents will always say, ‘Money is not what you should be focused on. Your goal in life should be to attain happiness.’

And in a lot of ways, the pressures and stresses of life make that difficult. But something as simple as a gram of marijuana could enable me to attain unlimited happiness without having actually done anything,” he said.

Bill did admit, however, that sometimes the simplicity drug use can impede him from seeking out other means of enjoyment.

“I guess marijuana does serve as a disincentive to actually do things that would lead me to a state of satisfaction with the rest of my life, but in a way, it’s just an easier route,” he said.

His involvement with illegal substances is somewhat representative of seniors. 32 of 60 seniors polled said they had tried marijuana, and 44 said they had consumed “more than just a taste” of alcohol.

That is compared to 25 of 114 underclassmen trying marijuana and 31 trying alcohol. But Bill’s testimony shows that drug use doesn’t necessarily just increase in number of students as they age, but also in frequency of consumption.

Bill said he rarely used drugs his freshman year, and increased in frequency drastically sophomore year with long periods of sobriety intermixed. During junior year and senior year, he began to use harder drugs, like psychedelics and entheogens, and alcohol, which he said he would indulge in sometimes twice a week.

As his drug use increased, Bill’s parents also started to become suspicious. They have never caught Bill under the influence,

but he said he has been high around his mom “plenty of times.”

However, after finding drug marijuana paraphernalia belonging to Bill, they decided to implement frequent drug tests.

Because his parents would know if he had smoked marijuana, Bill turned to more powerful drugs that wouldn’t show up on the drug tests.

“If I had never been drug tested, I never would have done molly (MDMA), I probably wouldn’t have drank as much, and I would have waited to do mushrooms until the end of senior year,” Bill said. “I probably wouldn’t have done acid until mid college.”

The temptation of alcohol and other drugs aside from marijuana only manifested when marijuana was no longer a choice.

“I didn’t really have an interest in drinking because obviously it tasted worse, it was more expensive, and it wasn’t really worth my time,” he said. “I didn’t really have an interest in doing any other drugs because there was only really one drug that I wanted to do.”

Bill was satisfied with the effects of marijuana and didn’t desire to venture into harder drug use.

“I wasn’t chasing a high,” he said. “I had attained the one I liked, and that was what I wanted to do.”

Bill was lead towards many other drugs and has what some may now consider to be a drug problem, a notion he would not agree with.

“I definitely don’t have a drug problem,” he said. “I’ve had no problem stopping on a dime for months on end with complete abstinence from substances, and of course I missed it, but I haven’t had a problem.”

Realizing that his well-being is more important than any one high, Bill is sure to always keep his intake under control.

“I’ve always had my priorities set when it comes to drugs,” he said. “I have a rule that I would never try a drug which the likeliness of overdosing would be large or even small.”

While much of society views drug use as a strictly negative practice, Bill said his personal experience has made it impossible for him to accept that notion. He recalls several times when his psychedelic “trips” have yielded some epiphany or secluded truth applicable to his everyday life, ungraspable through his normal train of thought.

He recounted a period when he had been distancing himself from those around him, and was unsure of where to turn and what to do about his situation.

“I was wondering what I had been missing in my life,” Bill said, “and a lot of that I realized was just general love. Not love in a sexual way, but rather a general warmth and happiness toward my fellow people.”

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall News Spread 12

Photo Credit: Blah Blah

Photo Credit: Adam Glanzman

BIG move to the BIG house 2013

THEME: HOLLYWOOD

After 25 years, prom leaves DHS Lauren Kimmel

is needed, many parents just cannot commit to such an undertaking,” Staebler said. “A committee chair spends at least three months planning and executing their ideas, and the What’s happening? weekend of prom they literally spend the entire weekend at For about 25 years on the Friday before Prom, just under DHS.” 100 prom committee volunteers flooded the halls after school, So, as Staebler put it, the new location will make this year’s glue guns in their hands and determination in their eyes. prom “kinder and gentler for the volunteers.”

They had one mission: transform the whitewashed walls The number of volunteers was shrinking, and, although and tiled floors of Dexter High School into something unthe prom committee was never actually cited by the fire marrecognizable, something fit to host a prom for hundreds of shall, the concern about liability was growing. Sprinkler juniors and seniors. heads, fire alarms and fire extinAnd for almost a quarter guishers at the high school were of a century, they’ve succeedcovered up by decorations and Kelsey Hanson @KelseyC853 ed with the extreme makecreating a fire hazard.

I’m just excited to run around the field in my prom dress over. In just over 24 hours, And just last year there was a #PromAtTheBigHouse they’ve created enchanted slight snafu in the “Nearlyweds” forests, Mardi Gras festivals game room, where one of the powand schools of witchcraft and erstrips became overheated and wizardry. started smoking.

Allie Dirkse @AllieDirkse But this spring, the prom Ahh Prom is going to be amazing this year!­ “That really clued us and the committee won’t need to administration in that we needed wield their staple guns and to look elsewhere because of the liextension cords. Instead, ability issues,” Snider said. breaking with tradition, the And so began the hunt for a junior-senior prom will be new venue. Other locations on the held at University of Michigan’s football stadium a.k.a. “The U of M campus such as the League and the Union, as well as Big House.”

Eastern Michigan and Washtenaw Community College’s new venues were all in the running before the final decision was How did it get this way? made. Staebler said she was brainstorming with her son, juAccording to student council adviser and high school nior Tristin Staebler, and one of her son’s friends, junior Chris teacher Al Snider, there were two major factors that led to the Ryan, when having the prom at Michigan Stadium came up. venue change: liability and a declining number of volunteers.

“I quickly, as we were sitting there talking, emailed the “It became harder and harder for the prom committee contact at the Jack Roth Stadium club,” Staebler said. “And to make it as big as they wanted,” he said. “I know people the idea was born.” are busy, and the committee was having a tough time getting

people to help.”

How is it playing out?

In fact, at one point a few years ago, some students were Despite the drastic change in venue, many of the aspects given the responsibility of a couple halls due to a lack of parthat made up former proms will still be present this spring. ent volunteers.

For example, neither Snider nor Staebler predict that the According to Paula Staebler, chair of the prom commitprice of $35 a ticket will change much. tee, parents are busy and oftentimes over committed, which According to Snider, the price has been the same for about is probably the main reason the numbers of volunteers have 10 years, a factor that will be taken into consideration when dwindled over the years. deciding this year’s ticket cost.

“Because of the extent of time, energy, and creativity that Staff Writer

2012

THEME: ENCHANTED FOREST

2011

THEME: MARDI GRAS

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall News Spread 13

What do you think about prom moving to Michigan Stadium?

“I think it’s cool that they’re changing up the location.

Prom being at the high school, combined with the administration’s strictness about what happens at prom, made it a pretty insignificant event for me as a senior.

Maybe holding it somewhere else will increase student excitment.”

“I’m glad that prom is getting moved to the Big House because I feel like it’s time we did something new. It’s a change that will help prom run more smoothly.”

“It will be interesting and a weird experience. But since it will be my first prom I have nothing to compare it to, to know if it will be good or bad. I just don’t want it to be a tour of the stadium because I just wanna dance.”

--Erick Leon, junior

--Anne Donevan, 12 year volunteer

--Jacob Van Hoof, class of 2012

--Margaret Bussineau, Senior

“If it did increase, it would not increase more than $5 per ticket,” Staebler said. “Prom ticket prices have been the same for a number of years, so an increase would not be unreasonable.” Many of the games and activities that have made an annual appearance at former proms, will also make the trip to The Big House.

“We store the poker tables and the putt-putt in the building at Creekside,” Snider said. “We just have to trek it a little bit farther, as opposed to around the corner.”

Staebler agreed that the prom parent volunteers will try to keep the games consistent, too, in order to maintain the integrity of past proms.

“I’m interested to see how it goes. The venue is very different from the high school. This change doesn’t mean it will never come back to the high school.”

“We are hoping to keep some of the same old favorites available for the students, to keep the same feel as in years past, just in a new format,” she said.

The prom will also still be theme-based. This year’s theme, decided by an upperclassmen vote, is “Under the Stars.” However, decorations will not hang from the walls and ceilings like they have in the past, due to the same liability issues, according to Snider.

As for venues in the years to come, Staebler wants to keep her options open, but she is also considering having prom at The Big House each year.

She said, “I would like to see how it goes and possibly keep it there.”

Are you happy prom will be held at the Big House?

Photo Credit: Michigan Athletic Department

Juniors

Seniors No 16%

No 11% Yes 89%

Yes 84%

What are you most looking forward to?

Storming the field

Dancing...in the end zone of course Checking out the locker rooms Other

169 166

90

51

Coordinating your maize & blue ensemble with your date

48

based on a survey of 400 juniors and seniors

Photo Credit: Mike Staff Productions

The Jack Roth Stadium Club, located inside the Michigan Big House, is pictured in the two photos above. This will be the main area for the 2014 prom.

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall Opinion 14

Is Santa the real spirit of the season?

Noah Mellifont Staff Writer Disclaimer: If you are under the age of 12, please do NOT read this.

Santa Photo Credit: Joe Shlabotnik, Photo Illustration: Ethan Kremkus, Facts found on bluesplato.co.uk and yahoo.com

I ran downstairs on Christmas morning, seeing presents under the tree and filled stockings.

I frantically searched for the magical present that would be all mine, the one that would say those glorious words: “To Noah, From Santa.”

But once I found it and began to open it, I realized what it was. What it had to be. Clothes.

What 12-year-old wants clothes for Christmas? I looked closer at the handwriting on the tag.

Suddenly, it dawned on me.

It was the exact same handwriting as my mother’s. I looked up at her suspiciously, and at that moment, she knew I was getting closer to revealing the secret all parents try to keep from their children as long as possible.

“Noah, we need to talk,” my mom The said. department “No. If this is about the birds and the bees again, I don’t need to know store Santa anymore.” started in 1890 in But then she broke the news to Massachussetts. me, and it all made sense.How can a fat man travel around the entire world in one night?

How could reindeer carry that fat man all night, let alone fly? And how could that fat man, the fat man that so many continue to believe in, fit down a chimney without getting stuck?

Let’s say Santa is 6 feet tall, even though people who live in colder climates are usually a couple inches shorter. There are 6 billion people in the world.

No man on this planet could ever consume that many cookies in a lifetime, no matter how big and tall he is. But somehow Santa does it in one night.

Saint So why do parents continue Nicholas had telling lie after lie to children, making them believe in Santa a reputation for Claus? Shouldn’t we avoid lying secretly giving gifts to kids? to those in need.

If we keep this big of a lie going for so many years, all we’re doing is setting a bad example. We’re saying that lying is OK. I’m not saying that we should end all the usual Christmas activities like getting a tree, making egg nog and trying to lure that one girl, who we all know is way out of my league, under the mistletoe.

But we can get in the holiday spirit without the big man in a red jumpsuit. I’m perplexed about why he’s even relevant to the season.

So when should we stop believing in Santa? The answer to that is that we should never have believed in him in the first Visitors to place.

I’m sorry, faithful parents and the North Pole can children, I just want to stop the visit the “official” Santa heart-breaking moments children Clause House and see have when they find out there is no Santa for photographs Santa Claus.

Running downstairs with the and more. same Christmas spirit is not affected by knowing that the tags on the presents say “From, Mom and Dad.”

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall Editorial 15

Our view:

Common App problems could have been avoided The Common Application seems like the answer to college-bound, high school seniors’ problems. It’s a relatively easy, organized system to apply to colleges. A way to centralize all applications into one form.

But after updating its website and system software this year, the Common Application has been ineffective in accomplishing its goals. The downsides, and more importantly the risks, of trusting the website completely outweigh the benefits.

According to Scott Anderson, Senior Director for Policy at The Common Application, the update on the website was accompanied by difficulties “as with any new technological launch.”

But the executives at Common App should have anticipated these problems.

After watching the www.healthcare.gov rollout fail miserably and get attacked mercilessly by the press and the public, Common App should have realized that they would be facing a similar situation. Rolling out new, largely untested software to a wide audience is risky business.

And it shouldn’t be that difficult to keep a website running, relatively glitch-free.

But somehow, the Common Application couldn’t handle this responsibility to students and universities.

College application season isn’t over yet.

But through Dec. 1, the number of registrants on the Common Application website was already at 1,205,856.

That’s up 16 percent from last year, with nearly 200,000 more applicants impeded by the faulty website than in years past.

We know that students used to have more work on their hands when applying to colleges. They had to fill out an entirely

What do the editors think?

The Common Application has not been effective in accomplishing its goals this year.

Illustration Credit: Drew Daugherty

separate, unique application for each school they applied to. But those extra hours, that extra work, was preferable to risking all the hard work spent on the Common Application, only to have it fail like it did for many people this year.

Teacher recommendations were lost, essays were deleted, teachers and students were locked out of the website, unable to log in. Frustration ran rampant.

That’s not to say that the Common Application does everything wrong. Students

can apply to any of 409 colleges all in one place, including 11 international universities in five countries outside of the U.S. And each of these colleges can personalize their application with essay prompts, allowing them to consider subjective work— the essays—alongside objective work—the students’ transcripts and standardized test scores.

As for the rest of the year, Anderson said Common App is doing everything it can to prevent more problems.

The Common Application has been effective in accomplishing its goals this year.

“We have been vigorously preparing for the expected increase in volume as we approach the end of the year,” he said.

Something they should have been preparing for all along.

Do the problems with the updated Common App outweigh the benefits?

It depends on how many schools you apply to using the Common App, because not all schools use it.

Jenna Marcel

No, I don’t think the problems outweigh the benefits because it’s still really useful to have all of your information in one database.

Ian Cook

I couldn’t submit my Common App. I tried to turn it in and it took two hours to upload.

But even so, I wouldn’t want to have to fill out a private application to every college that I applied to.

Natalie Burdick

I never really had any problems with my application.

I think the system works fine.

William Gaechter

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall Interactive Spread 16

THE FIVE BY FIVE Devyn O’Piela Freshman

Joe Molloy and Derek Seidl Staff Writers

Brenden Ritter Sophomore

John Bilello Junior

Kendall Buzelli Senior

Buddy the Elf

What do you do when you have to get something off the top shelf?

I ask my mom for a chair.

I stand on the counter.

Jump and latch on for dear life.

Go and grab a really tall stool.

I get Papa Elf to help me, but then again I’m taller than he is.

Dopey, Grumpy, no... no, I can’t.

There’s Sleepy, Dumpy or something ... oh, and Sleepy and some others.

Oh, who is that? They sound like fun!

Ouch... but probably about a month ago.

Well, I just make my own clothes with Zooey Deschanel *wink*.

Talking Jerrod Dimaond action figures with various phrases.

Etch-a-Sketches and Jack-in-the-Boxes while calling people cotton headed ninny muggins.

Teddy bears, Jack-in-theBoxes, rocking horses and whatever Santa needs.

Twerkin’ hard or hardly twerkin’.

Wake up, drink hot cocoa, make toys, talk to Santa, check the naughty and nice list, repeat.

2.) Question Can you name the seven dwarves?

There’s like ... no I can’t.

Well, they’re personal friends and want to keep their identities private.

When did you stop shopping in the children’s section?

I still shop in the children’s section.

Well, I still can.

Pretty recently. I still do sometimes.

What toys have you been making for the upcoming holidays?

Step stools to help people like me reach the top shelf.

Do I have to answer that?

What is the average day of an elf like?

The same as anyone else except you have to look up to everyone. I wish I could look down on people.

It’s quite depressing. I get yelled at and punished by Santa for not making toys fast enough.

Candy, chocolate, gingerbread houses, syrup on everything and basically just the best day ever every day.

The true meaning of Christmas: get yours now Opinion by Joe Molloy and Derek Seidl Staff Writers

Some people say the true meaning of Christmas is spreading love and happiness to the people they care about. I say these people are constipated because they’re so full of crap.

Let’s face it, Christmas is all about the things you receive. Stores open as early as 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving—an entire month before Christmas—so people can get their hands on whatever useless gifts they want this year at a great price.

The Black Friday opening date gets earlier each passing year, but no matter how early the stores open, everyone seems to go out of their way to do whatever is necessary to get the supposed “best deals.”

Yes, it’s repulsive to see people getting into fist fights with each other over a good bargain. But as sick as the tradition is, as materialistic as I claim the world has become, there’s one thing I can’t deny: I’m part of it.

I will camp out in front of Target even though I don’t want to buy anything.

I’m just there to watch the action and maybe ruin someone’s day by stealing what they are sprinting to the back of the store to get their hands on.

I never actually have a plan to buy anything. I mean, why in the world would I buy all my Christmas gifts more than a month before the festivities even begin?

In fact, I’m pretty sure that a lot of people change their mind about what they want over that period of time.

But when it comes down to it, the shopping is only the first little piece to the meaning of Christmas. It is simply the necessary step which leads into what really matters: gift receiving.

I love getting random junk for Christmas. As much as I want to ask for straight money every year so I can supply my addictions (chocolate milk, shoes, girls and some other things that shouldn’t be said in this newspaper), I resist because it would take away the mystery regarding the infinite possibilities that could lie inside each box.

So it’s amazing, and a little sad, that—despite the fact that my dreams have been crushed each of the last 17 years—I still manage to convince myself on a yearly basis that I will get all the new and expensive items of the year.

For example, my crazy aunt always gets me soap. She must think I stink, because I have about 30 bars of specially scented soaps.

I don’t know what to do with all of them, so they’re in my bathroom taking up all my space. But in the end I love them. There was love that went into the gift of soap, and

Illustration Credit: Brittany Byma

now I am able to rub it all over my body whenever I need to smell good.

And since it’s all about receiving, whenever you can receive a little love mixed in, you’re doing really well.

It’s because of this I suggest that all you kids be good and grateful this holiday season so that it can truly be the best time of the year.

Scratch that. Get yours and get out.

Q&A

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall Interactive Spread 17

Mr. Oesch

with

Can we call you Jeff?

For the interview, yes. For life, no.

What’s your favorite present to give? Why?

The gift of holiday cheer (he laughs). Obviously, I don’t know. Useful things. I don’t get into this weird, have-thought gifts.

So Jeff, what are your thoughts about Christmas?

Economically or religiously?

So, for your girlfriend ...

Both.

Well, I have a problem with this whole gift-giving thing, I’m not very creative. Everybody expects a creative gift for Christmas, and I can’t deliver, so I always seem to let somebody down on Christmas, and it makes me feel bad. Now, however, as a religious holiday, it’s OK. It would be better if it were actually at the time of Jesus’s birth which is not actually in December. But whatever. I don’t judge.

So by that answer are you saying that you have feelings?

Well, my girlfriend really hates flies, so last year I got her a thing to put over her food at picnics to avoid flies. Like literally every picnic we’ve ever had she’s always swinging at flies constantly.

So yeah, useful things. My brother really likes bullets. I don’t really know why, so I buy him bullets every year. I’m getting him the zombie killers this year. It’s a special round by Hornady.

What’s your favorite Christmas movie?

Yeah, I occasionally have feelings.

What’s your favorite Christmas memory?

Probably third grade. I got my Red Rider BB Gun. That’s my favorite Christmas memory right there, going outside and not shooting my eye out. Amazing.

Do you like drugs?

I’m not really a fan. Pain medicine, I don’t even do that. I go to the dentist to get a cavity filled. They don’t even give me the stuff. Like I don’t want it. I’ll take it straight. I do not react well to any drugs. Fun fact about Mr. Oesch.

Does that mean you have experimented with drugs?

That does not mean I have experimented with drugs. I did have a surgery one time, and they gave me some Oxycontin. I took one thinking it would make me feel better, but it actually made me feel worse. Since then, zero pain meds, zero drugs. Drug free, that’s the way to be.

Boy, that’s a toughie there. I really like “Bad Santa” ‘cause, I mean, realistically if this teaching thing doesn’t work out, that’s probably going to be my life. So “Bad Santa” is definitely up there.

I watch that at least five times a Christmas. Also for some odd reason my mother was a Christmas fanatic so “White Christmas.”

It’s up there. It’s a good one. It’s an oldie but a goldie.

In your opinon, is it OK to call it Xmas?

Absolutely, it’s OK to abbreviate. It was abbreviated way back when with an X so we can bring it into today. X for Xmas.

What’s your favorite kind of cookie? Why?

Yeah, I think I would.

It’s been a long time since I had a cookie. I like a standard Snickerdoodle. I also like peanut butter, and I really like M&M. That’s my problem. I like all cookies, and so I just don’t keep them in my house because of that.

Now Santa’s coming to town, you gotta buy a few cookies, a nice assortment for him and the reindeer.

Why?

Do you ever ride reindeer in your free time?

Say, if you were Santa, would you whip your elves?

Quality work. I’ve watched enough Christmas videos to know that they all dream about things other than elves, like dentists, and you don’t want that. You want to keep them in line. They’re almost like small children. You got to tell them what they need to do. The whip may be a little extreme, but desperate times call for desperate measures. The economy isn’t what it used to be.

What determines a naughty or nice student?

Nope. If I ever saw a reindeer, I’d probably shoot it, make a nice head mount for my family. Have you ever seen a reindeer? Like actually up close seen a reindeer? Because they’re scary. My friend has a reindeer farm. I’m serious.

He sells the velvet from their horns to China. Apparently they use it as like an aphrodisiac. So reindeer are scary looking things.

My blood pressure. Just leave that, trust me.

You love them in ‘A Cup of Joe.’ Now see what they are getting each other this holiday season. Remember kids, it’s all in fun.

What Joe is getting for Derek: Ice, for his wounds from being “whipped” by his girlfriend.

2. Nutrisystem for Men, because he is going to be overweight from all the food he eats.

Photo Credit:Darren Hester

Photo Credit:nutrisystem.com

What Derek is getting for Joe: A pot of gold, because he looks like a Leprechaun.

Photo Credit: Jeremy Schultz and OneSeventeen

Dating for Dummies so maybe he can get a girlfriend.

Photo Credit: www.goodreads.com

Jeans, so he can get out of sweatpants and actually look nice for once.

Photo Credit: Rick Harris

A tutor so he can at least get some reasonable grades.

Photo Credit: leandrosciola

A back massage because he puts the team on his back.

Rick Ross action figure to put some culture in him.

Photo Credit:Olivia Rivers

P90X so he can get some muscle.

Photo Credit: p90x.com

Photo Credit: Chris Ryan

A heart-shaped box of chocolate because deep down he is my main man.

Photo Credit: Heverton Woss

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall Sports Infographic 18

BOWL MANIA

With college football at its craziest, Cam LaFontaine gives you the right picks to make

2 Auburn 41

1 Florida State 48

Bowl logos: Phil Steele. Team logos and SEC Conference logo: sportslogos.net.

BCS Championship Trophy: Harrison Diamond. Roses: Thomas Arad.

BCS National Championship January 6, 2014 This will be an amazing game, I predict a high scoring affair where Heisman winner Jameis Winston and Florida State comes out on top.

Vizio Rose Bowl January 1, 2014 Michigan State 21 vs. Stanford 17

That Spartans defense is one of the best. This will be one of the best games of the bowl season, MSU comes out on top.

Tostitos Fiesta Bowl January 1, 2014 Baylor 45 vs. UCF 20

UCF is about to get drilled by an absolutely dominant Baylor offense.

Allstate Sugar Bowl January 2, 2014 Alabama 38 vs. Oklahoma 21 Alabama is maybe the best team in the nation despite rankings. They win easy.

100

The number of college football bowl games this year. A team must have at least six wins to be considered for a bowl This year marks the 100th game appearance.

Rose Bowl game. It’s the oldest college footbal bowl game and Michigan State’s first appearance in 25 years.

35

Non-BCS Bowl Picks (Winning pick starred)

New Mexico Bowl December 21, 2013 Washington State* vs. Colorado State Las Vegas Bowl December 21, 2013 Fresno State vs. USC* Idaho Potato Bowl December 21, 2013 Buffalo vs. San Diego State* New Orleans Bowl December 21, 2013 Tulane vs. Lousiana Lafayette* St. Petersburg Bowl December 23, 2013 East Carolina* vs. Ohio Hawaii Bowl December 24, 2013 Boise State vs. Oregon State*

Discover Orange Bowl January 3, 2014 Ohio State 31 vs. Clemson 21

I HATE the Buckeyes but they walk away with a win with a dominant offense.

9

The SEC conference has won 9 straight national championships (Auburn’s conference). The ACC conference (Florida State’s) hasn’t won a title since 2001.

Little Caesars Bowl December 26, 2013 Bowling Green* vs. Pittsburgh

Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl December 28, 2013 Michigan* vs. Kansas State

Chick-Fil-A Bowl December 31, 2013 Duke vs. Texas A&M*

Poinsettia Bowl December 26, 2013 Utah State vs. Northern Illinois*

Armed Forces Bowl December 30, 2013 Mid Tennessee vs. Navy*

Gator Bowl January 1, 2014 Nebraska vs. Georgia*

Military Bowl December 27, 2013 Maryland vs. Marshall*

Music City Bowl December 30, 2013 Georgia Tech* vs. Ole Miss

Heart of Dallas Bowl January 1, 2014 North Texas vs. UNLV*

Texas Bowl December 27, 2013 Minnesota* vs. Syracuse

Alamo Bowl December 30, 2013 Oregon* vs. Texas

Capital One Bowl January 1, 2014 South Carolina* vs. Wisconsin

Fight Hunger Bowl December 27, 2013 BYU vs. Washington*

Holiday Bowl December 30, 2013 Arizona State* vs.Texas Tech

Outback Bowl January 1, 2014 LSU* vs. Iowa

Pinstripe Bowl December 28, 2013 Rutgers vs. Notre Dame*

V100 Bowl December 31, 2013 Arizona* vs. Boston College

AT&T Cotton Bowl January 3, 2014 Oklahoma State vs. Missouri*

Belk Bowl December 28, 2013 North Carolina* vs. Cincinnati

Sun Bowl December 31, 2013 UCLA* vs. Virginia Tech

Compass Bowl January 4, 2014 Vanderbilt* vs. Houston

Russel Athletic Bowl December 28, 2013 Louisville* vs. Miami (FL)

Liberty Bowl December 31, 2013 Rice vs. Mississippi State*

Go Daddy Bowl January 5, 2014 Ball State* vs. Arkansas State

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall Infographic 19

WELCOME TO

ESTABLISHED 1824

DEMOGRAPHICS FROM THE VILLAGE

4,067

TOTAL POPULATION

1,916 2,151

MALES FEMALES

32.6

AVERAGE AGE

62,353

AVERAGE INCOME $

DEXTER TOWNSHIP AREA

EDUCATION

SQ MILES

30.8

6

15 50000 OF THE STATE

TOTAL ENROLLMENT

SQ MILES

1.9

DEXTER VILLAGE 1 AREA

95%

2.8% Hispanic

1.1% Black 90.8% White

AVERAGE FAMILY SIZE

PEOPLE PER SQUARE MILE

1,590 HOUSES

PEOPLE

FARMING

SUPPORT ACTIVITIES

CONSTRUCTION

EDUCATION

PRINTING

MOST COMMMON

FOOD

OCCUPATION FIELDS

SCIENTIFIC SERVICES TRANSPORTATION

COMMON ATTRACTIONS...

HEALTH CARE

AS SEEN ON

THE CIDER MILL

BUSINESS

3.2

2,189

Bachelo’rs Degree Graduate or Professional Degree

21% TECHNOLOGY

PREDOMINANT RACES

High school

49.4%

2.8% Asian 2.0% Multi-racial

3,555

Highest Education Received

50000 OF THE STATE

5

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

MEMORIAL PARK

Friday, Dec. 20, 2013 The Squall Photostory 20

Choirs rejoice during the holiday season

Senior Elliott Styles waits for a cue from Mrs. Bassett to play the starting notes of the holiday or Renaissance themed songs performed by the Mill Creek choir, the Concert choir and the Chamber choir at the Madrigal Dinner. Some of the songs that were performed were Welcome One Welcome All, Joy Shall Be Yours, Wassil, Pastime With Good Company, Your Lovely Face, as well as a sing-a-long Christmas carols some of which include Deck The Halls and Oh Hannukah.

dddd The concert choir performs “Your Lovely Face” during the madrigal performace. “My favorite part of madrigal is being close to the audiance. It’s always fun to see everyone’s reactions!,” senior Micaela Hanrath said.

Photo Credit: Katie Vontom

Photo Credit: Isabelle Sinibaldi

dddd Sophomore Sydney Kleinholz decorates the stairs in the commons with

freshman Mariah Colby after school on Friday, Dec. 6. “I just like dressing up in costumes, and I just really love Christmas-y stuff,” Kleinholz said.

Photo Credit: Sam Musgrove

Senior Jack Donevan and junior Chelsea Kearns wait for instruction from dddd

Mrs. Bassett during the rehearsal for the song “Boar’s Head,” where there are multiple lines and solos between the chorus. Students with parts in the play were called for rehearsal at 11a.m. and all other students were called at 1p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7.

Photo Credit: Casey Hansen

Junior Dan Laird acts as a king in the Madrigal Dinner play. “This being my first year in choir, I can honestly say it’s a really cool experience. It’s taught me a ton about singing, and I love hearing a song all come together when we sing it as a collective, “ Laird said.

Photo Credit: Katie Vontom

Jacob Sterlitz makes a royal announcement during the brief play that the students performed at the dinner. “Getting into costumes is my favorite part, and getting to play the queen,” senior Robin Jackson said.

Photo Credit: Isabelle Sinibaldi

The Mill Creek Middle School choir performs “Sing for Joy” and “Lebenslüst.” The middle school choir was first incorporated into Madrigal in 2009 and has participated ever since.

Photo Credit: Isabelle Sinibaldi