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March, 2013
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We were Dale-lighted to What have you at TJHS does fighting in school solve? By Allie Townsend Reporter
By Tristan Eggett Reporter “Everyone longs to be a tough guy that can crack skulls and take names, but that doesn't always work in reality. No one wins when you and your enemy end up looking like punks,”Dave Crosby. Fighting is one of the biggest money makers in the world today, but unless you do it professionally, what do you get out of it? A couple bruises, cuts and maybe some street cred? School fights, for example, do not last as long as other fights and they come with many more consequences. Suspension, expulsion, and being put into certain classes to maintain your behavior are just a few. Nearly everyone has witnessed a school fight and some have even been involved in the altercation with another student during school. Have you ever wondered why students get in fights? It could be many reasons, but the most common reasons seem to be: reputation, girls, race, lack of respect and different beliefs. “When I fight in school, I just forget everything,” said sophomore Gage Fisher. “I don't think because if I'm fighting in school I have to be extremely mad.” Fighting in school solves nothing. A couple bumps and bruises is not handling any situation under any circumstances. Other than being suspended for a couple days or expelled from school, fighting in school can lead to even bigger consequences. Forming bad habits in conflict resolution and the chance of being ticketed for fighting in school could really affect you further in life after high school or college. See “Fights” page 2.
Principal Mrs. Lisa Dale made an announcement at the staff meeting on February 25, 2013, that she would be retiring from Council Bluffs Community School District at the end of the school year. “I’ve really spent a lot of time thinking about it; the pros and cons,” Dale said. “It was, it was very difficult because I really like doing this.” She has been working in the schooling system for 36 years. She taught English for 13 years, “At Risk” for four years, assistant principal for eight years, “a principal across the river” for eight years, and principal at Thomas Jefferson High School for three years. Dale retired early from being the principal at Omaha Benson High School without having any complete intention of stopping her career. “I still wanted to work,” said Dale. After her retirement is official, Dale explained how she wants to start traveling more.
Photo of Thomas Jefferson High School Principal, Mrs. Lisa Dale.
She and her husband already have plans to go to Mexico for a little while and there is a possibility of them staying at a cabin in the northwest coast. “Now that I’ve done this for three years, I want to retire. My husband has been retired for six years, so I kind of want to spend more time with him,” Dale stated. In about ten years Dale
sees herself involved in a lot of volunteer work, still traveling, and relaxing. As it is sad to see Mrs. Dale leave us, Dr. Martha Bruckner was anxious to get the news out, and was happy to see her continue on with her life. Congratulations Mrs. Lisa Dale on all of the great things you have brought to the schooling system, and have a wonderful retirement.
Volume 88, Issue 7
Snapchat makes communication easier By Dana Mefferd Reporter There is a new trend around Thomas Jefferson. It is the app called, Snapchat. Snapchat is an app that makes chatting with your friends and family e a s y. Yo u c a n u s e p i c tures, videos, drawings, and captions. Once you take a picture you decide how long you want the other person to view it, you can choose between one and ten seconds. After your friend or family member has opened and seen the picture they can no longer view it. “I like it because its fun and a easy way to see and talk to friends,” said s o p h o m o r e Ta y l o r S t i l l . See “Snapchat” page 3.
How do videos become viral? By Dana Mefferd Reporter With the Gangnam Style now retired and the Harlem Shake becoming viral, it’s time for the Signal to make our own viral video. Videos don’t become viral overnight. According to Kevin Allocca, the trends manager of YouTube, in order for a video to be considered viral it has to have over 1,000,000 views. There is a process that also takes place. First, the video gets posted on a website like YouTube. People might stumble upon the video while watching other videos. If they liked it, or even hated it, they would tell their friends and their friends would see it for themselves. More and more people will hear about it and check the video out. Pretty soon the video reaches that million views and becomes viral. There are two different ways that help the video turn viral. The first way is by people called “tastemakers”, as they are referred to by Allocca. These “tastemakers” are well-known people that introduce new and interesting things, bringing it to a larger audience faster. For example, the video Double Rainbow didn’t become viral until Jimmy Kimmel posted a tweet about it. Similar to the Double
Rainbow video Rebecca Black’s video Friday didn’t become viral until Michael J. Nelson posted a joke about it on twitter, Tosh.O picked up on it, and people started blogging about the video. The second way is by the audience becoming involved and participating in the trend that the video creates. As people create remixes and parodies, the original video starts to become more popular. For example there are many remixes of the Harlem Shake. As more remixes keep showing up, the video gains
popularity and becomes a trend. “Only that, that is truly unique and unexpected can stand out the way that these things have,” said Allocca in a video talking about why a video goes viral. “By hearing people talk about it and watching videos,” said sophomore Gabrelle Hawkins about how she heard of the Gangnam Style music video. “Well, Gangnam Style, my brother kept dancing like a horse,” junior Madison Ruby. said. “And, honestly, I didn’t know until two days ago what
Photo of Gangnam Style from the official video on YouTube.com.
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it was because Selena Morales and Sarah Allen showed me videos of it.” Social networking plays a big role in a video becoming viral. The video could be shared on Facebook or Twitter and via text message. This benefits the video because it is widespread and can be shared among people all over the world. Thomas Jefferson’s broadcasting class and show choir made their own harlem shake video. You can find them on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Student Life
Caution: Contents effect student health By Brooklyn Holder and Kelsi Thurman Reporters
From soda and coffee to energy drinks, it seems that Thomas Jefferson is buzzing on caffeine. What many of these teens do not realize is the dangers can lurk in the liquid when it is overused. Many ingredients are put together, making carbonated drinks that many of us find delicious. But, too many of those drinks could cost us our ability to function properly. “Caffeine is a stimulant that affects the central nervous system,” Supervisor of Nutrition Services, Virginia Photo of the energy drink, Monster, by Shelbie Granger. Bechtold said. “Caffeine can give people a temporary ligrams of caffeine. Even the (80 to 100 cups of coffee) energy boost and elevates popular 5 Hour Energy drink it can cause restlessness, headaches, dizziness, rapid mood. It takes as little as has about 208 MG. This stimulant is the most breathing, and tremors. 100 MG a day for caffeine dependence to affect an in- widely used drug amongst “Consumers need to be all people. Some people can aware of how much caffeine dividual.” Many teens go over that even be pronounced as ad- they are consuming because limit with just one can; the dicted and have withdrawal amounts are not listed on Monster and Rockstar Ener- symptoms. Though very the nutritional facts label,” gy Drink contains 160 mil- hard to absorb a lethal dose Bechtold stated.
Fights: Continued from page 1.
Problems they cause in the future
Being ticketed could lead to you and the other person who was involved in the incident into a court date and/or a bad mark on your permanent record. Once you are a legal adult, tickets for fighting will change from a disorderly conduct misdemeanor to an assault felony charge. Along with becoming a registered felon, you run the risk of seriously injuring some-
one else, which can lead to expensive lawsuits or even worse charges. Other than being ticketed and having problems finding jobs in the future, it could lead you to a bad reputation. People may think you are someone who gets angry easily, can’t joke around with, or is just a rude person. “Fighting in school is not like fighting on the streets or messing around with your friends,” Fisher said. “I feel like I have no control over what
happens when I’m fighting in school, and that could lead to me getting hurt or seriously hurting someone.” Now that you have realized some of the consequences that can come from fighting in school, think before you take action in an argument. Walk away, tell a teacher, be the bigger person and know your boundaries. You do not want anything to happen to you or the other person because it will just lead to even more trouble.
The ideal spring break The Signal Staff Editorial The Signal plans to give deep insight on the implications of spring break. Not really, but we are going to describe what the ideal spring break is for highschool students obviously because we're not old enough to...travel alone. In a very informal survey, Thomas Jefferson High School students were given an imaginary $1000 to spend on their 2013 spring break vacation. They explained what activities and trips they would take to make the break worthwhile. These are the top five answers for the most awesome spring break adventure: 1. Visiting places outside the United States. (I’m not really sure if you can do that with $1000, but we will let people dream.)
Photo of Malibu, Florida from water.epa.org
2. Going to Florida and staying up all night. 3. Sit at home and save the thousand dollars every spring break so they could be rich. 4. Take a road trip with some friends. 5. Other unmentionables. Come on people, we’re in
high school. Some people also said spring cleaning, but come on, we all know that is definitely not what this break is for. We hope that you all have a safe and happy spring break from your newspaper, The Signal.
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Senior Pranks: The best and the worst By Kelsi Thurman Reporter Warning: Any ideas used from this story will have consequences. Pranks including vandalism or destruction of property could lead to not being able to graduate and/or walking with your class at the ceremony. Seniors at Thomas Jefferson are probably under a lot of stress right now, most likely thinking about graduation and college. Though sometimes you want to pull your hair out because of all the weight, there are always those moments that you will never forget. And no, I’m not talking about prom. Teachers despise these things. They cringe at the thought of being targeted by seniors all over the school. The upperclassmen plan for days, maybe even weeks to think of the perfect prank. There are a lot of different types of gags: Deconstruction, Technological, Graduation, Mascot, and Animal are the most common. The deconstruction prank requires a lot of help. It involves taking apart a big object, like a car or a bus, and reassembling it in a small or almost impossible space to remove it from. Technological pranks are becoming more and more popular as schools start to offer more tech classes. This usually involves changing the announcements, bell schedules, and video broadcasts. There is usually no long term damage to any equipment of the schools.
Graduation pranks are elusive, unless you are the official shaking graduates hands. Handing small items to the principle like pennies or jelly beans can be very overwhelming, especially when you have 300 people in the class. Mascot and Animal pranks can be one in the same. If your rival schools mascot is an animal that you are able to get a hold of, dressing it up in your school colors and bringing it to a sporting event can be very humorous as long as the animal remains unharmed. Animals can also be let into the school, though not recommended. Animals like pigs, cows, and chickens are very popular. There have been many pranks previously at Thomas Jefferson High School. It’s likely that the most epic had big repercussions, but I’m here to tell you the best and the worst. There have been a lot of little pranks, like balloons in Mr. Lindquist’s media room and in Mrs. Dale’s office, but it seems as though there has only been one truly memorable prank in the last 6 years; The Chicken Fiasco. “They looked like they had diseases,” Jesse Tvrdy explained. “Chickens were let in the school by a guy on a bike through one of the C wing doors. Students got chased and I, along with other teachers had to chase them down into a corner until animal control picked them up.” No one ever confessed to the prank, but quite a few carpets got ruined. … and now we wait.
TJHS student of the month? By Isabella Moore Reporter
Every week Runza picks a student from the Council Bluffs metro. This student gets the privilege of being on their own segment of KETV talking about what it took to make it there. The week of February 10th, Thomas Jefferson’s very own Katie Silik was chosen from Runza. It takes hard work and dedication to to earn something like this. Wouldn’t it be cool if TJ had a student of the month? “We should have people being rewarded, but it wouldn’t be okay to the other students in the school,” said junior Traci Witkowski. “Other people should get rewarded, too.” There are many ways to reward a student. Back in my middle school, every good deed we did, we were given these “Fire” tickets. We had this sort of “store” for the tickets where we could go and “buy” stuff. The bigger and better the prize, the more tickets it cost. There are a lot of good students in this school that have been noticed, but others not so much. Some students support the idea of trying to get stu-
dents noticed. “I think it would be a good idea because some kids need more reinforcement,” said sophomore Jelsey Bryant. In a pole, the majority of students asked agree that having a student of the month at TJ would be a good idea, but there is always that one person that has to disagree... “I don’t think it would be that good of an idea,” said junior Erich Hilske. “It’s just giving a student a title to brag about. A lot of students should earn things, but they don’t.” So many opinions from so many different students. What is it about having a title that’s so important to us? “It would be a great opportunity for students to actually try to reach for something and set their minds to,” said junior Kayla LeDoux. There you have it, straight from the students themselves. Most would like the idea of TJ student of the month as a title to strive for. Getting recognized is a reward, not a privilege. Trying harder and harder will earn you wonders. Now it is up to you, what do you think about TJ trying this whole “Student of the Month” thing?
Student Life
Applying for unique
scholarships By Dylan Montgomery Reporter Unique scholarships are all around and you don’t have to look very hard for them. Groups like Tall Clubs International provide scholarships for people who are over six feet two inches tall. You can apply for many unique scholarships like being left handed, eye color, being a twin, and being tall or short. Mrs. Carla Hartenhoff, a counselor at Thomas Jefferson, mentioned millions of people are applying for the nationwide scholarships and it is likely you will not get a lot from it. If you apply at a local college, just scoring high on your ACT is more likely to get you more scholarships than applying for a nationwide scholarship. You can get discounts from the college from scoring good on your test and they can give you money off of things like a dorm or food. “It’s important to take advantage of local and regional scholarships,” said Hartenhoff, “those are going to be easier to attain than those national scholarships that odd.” Most unique scholarships are not college based but are more foundation based. “College [scholarships] are geared more towards merit based or financial need based scholarships,” said Hartenhoff, “not those weird odd ones.”
Spend your 2014 summer in Costa Rica The By Brooklyn Holder Reporter
In late July of 2014, an Education First Tour will take students on a trip to Costa Rica for 9 days. Group leaders consist of Mrs. Mary McGlade, Ms. Carmen Kinsley, and Ms. Lori Williams. “The cost is currently $2,285.00,” said McGlade. “This includes airfare, hotel, food, and admittance into all parks and activities.” The only additional costs will be for any snacks and souvenirs purchased. For $50 each, you can sign up for horseback riding and a folklore evening. “All money will be due 60 days before the trip,”
said McGlade. If you are interested on joining the tour but are not sure about money, do not fret. “Fundraising will be available for those who are interested,” said McGlade. If there are any fundraising ideas floating around, please share them with the group leaders. There are several reasons why students should venture outside the United States. “It is important to see other parts of the world,” Williams said. “A chance to see a Rain Forest up close and personal.” Not only do you get to see the tropics, but you get to learn about their culture. You can learn and eat what
they eat, how they live, and different aspects of their native home. The leaders want you to know that this trip will be safe, non-stressful, and a relatively cheap way to make lifelong memories. “To walk among the varieties of life will be educational, but also amazing and humbling,” said Williams. For more information or additional questions please contact Mrs. McGlade, mmcglade@cbcsd.org, Ms. Kinsley, ckinsley@cbcsd.org, or Ms. Williams, lwilliams@ cbcsd.org. Also visit www.eftours.com/1302671 to enroll in the tour, select payment type, and to understand the activities available to you.
Photo of Costa Rica from lonelyplanet.com
Snapchat: The good and the bad Continued from page 1.
A c c o r d i n g t o w w w. kidsandmedia.co.uk more than 50 million Snapchat messages have already been exchanged between people worldwide. The same source also says that this app is highly popular among young
people ages 13-24. “ I t ’s f u n a n d i t ’s a way to talk to friends,” says sophomore Courteney Mulvania. There are also dangers that come when using Snapchat. Kids use it for sexting, thinking that it is not a big deal if they take inappropriate pictures or videos because they will disappear and cannot be viewed for very long. What they do not know is that there is an easy way to save Snapchat photos. All someone has to do is take a screenshot. L e g a l l y, s e x t i n g c a n be considered sexual harassment and even worse, distributing porn o g r a p h y. According to mobile-
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mediaguard.com, under I o w a l a w, i n d i v i d u a l s (regardless of their age), who are caught with with a sexually explicit image of a minor on their phone could be charged under t h e s t a t e ’s c h i l d p o r n o g raphy statutes. “If the individual is tried as an adult, and convicted, [they] could be imprisoned and be required to register as a s e x o f f e n d e r, ” m o b i l e mediaguard.com stated. This is a fun a very popular app among teenagers and young adults. There is a dark side to this app though. So the next time you get ready to send a picture on Snapchat make sure it is appropriate. Nothing is t r u l y g o n e f o r e v e r.
lucky culture By Brooklyn Holder and Kelsi Thurman Reporters The day of luck is approaching. March 17, better known as St. Patricks Day, is a celebration focused on Irish culture. The beloved shamrock, or four leaf clover, is known as the national flower of Ireland. Ireland is known as “The Emerald Isle” because of the green Irish flag and the four leaf clover. Saint Patrick was held captive in Ireland where he began to teach the people about Christianity. He used the shamrock to express Holy Trinity among the Irish people. When Saint Patrick died on March 17, 461, the day was set to remember his life and teachings. It is a religious holiday in Ireland, but is celebrated in the United States, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and Britain. Though in Ireland this is a religious holiday, different places hold many festival activities to honor the Irish cultures around the world. Many traditions in the United States are obvious. “I dress up and wear a lot of green and hang out with friends and family,” said freshman teacher, Mrs. Stephanie Ryan. The activities celebrated range from parades, dancing, games, and family gatherings. “I usually eat corn beef and cabbage and go to my hometown of Imogene, Iowa to have a parade,” said counselor, Mrs. Karla Hughes. There are more traditional things involved as well. “I always eat a Traditional Irish Breakfast with my family,” Ryan said. There are religious parts to the celebration as well. “My family always says the Irish prayer and listen to Irish music,” said Hughes. The Traditional Irish Breakfast includes eggs, blood sausage, canadian bacon, pastries, fruit, and potatoes. An interesting fact about this holiday is that St. Patrick’s Day is a bigger celebration in the U.S. than it is in Ireland. For every ten thousand 3 leaf clovers there is a 4 leaf clover which is considered a flower, not a weed.
entertainment
The Oscars: Best picture nominees By Brooklyn Holder Reporter Every year the Oscars are held to award movies, actors, actresses, and movie crews for their productions. The top 9 nominees for best picture are: Amour, Argo, Beasts of Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, and Zero Dark Thirty. Amour is about is about a couple, Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) Laurent, who are in their eighties. Anne suffers a stroke which paralyzes one side of her body. Georges does everything he can to care for Anne despite the struggles and stress. He promises that he will not put her in a nursing home and he intends to keep that promise. Argo is about the “Canadian Caper”. In 1979, Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) was a CIA operative who led to the rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran, Iran. Mendez pretended to be a canadian filmmaker with fake identities and canadian passports. With the undercover tools, he enters Iran seeking 6 of the known escaped hostages. He leads the group through a terrifying and stressful process of trying to escape to the U.S. They run into many troubles throughout the film. Beasts of the Southern Wild is about the life of a five year old, Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis), and her hot-tempered father, Wink (Dwight Henry). When a storm hits a Louisiana Bayou called The Bathtub, the residents start boarding up. During the storm, Hushpuppy realizes her father is sick and sets out to find
Photo of ‘Argo’producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov and actor-producer-director Ben Affleck with Oscar presenter Jack Nicholson. Photo courtesy of: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/iran-scoffs-oscar-success-argo-article-1.1272646#ixzz2MIomeA2C
her mother. Django Unchained is about a slave who is given his freedom. Django (Jamie Foxx) travels with a white bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), and sets out on a search to find his beloved wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). Throughout his travels, Django runs into many problems with his freedom. An example would be when Dr. King and Django travel to a town to finish a bounty hunt, the white men nearly refuse to accept his freedom. They show no respect towards his new identity. Les Miserables is about broken dreams, unrequited love, passion, sacrifice and redemption. In 1815, convict Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) is released on parole by prison guard Javert (Russell Crowe) after serving a nineteen-year sentence. Eight years later, Valjean has become a factory owner. Fantine (Anne Hathaway), one of his workers, is discovered to be
sending money to her illegitimate daughter, Cosette (Isabelle Allen), who lives in a bad situation. Many obstacles get in the way of the mother and daughter. These obstacles nearly tear their worlds apart. Life of Pi is about a young Indian boy and his survival through a tragic, life-changing event. Born under the name Piscine Molitor Patel, he later changes his name to Pi (Suraj Sharma and Irrfan Khan). His father owns a zoo in Pondicherry in which they decide to sell and set out to Canada. Pi's family embarks on a Japanese freighter to Canada carrying some of the animals from their zoo, but a few days out of port, the ship meets a storm and sinks, resulting in his family's death. During the storm, Pi escapes death in a small lifeboat with a spotted hyena, an injured Grant's zebra, an orangutan and a bengal tiger. Lincoln is about President Abraham Lincoln's (Daniel-Day
How many sequels does it take to get to the end of the story?
By Dylan Montgomery Reporter These days I think some producers/directors go too far out of their way to make more movies or make money whatever they are trying to accomplish with all these series of movies. Like the Saw movies. Okay, we get it, the people who made it like to come up with 16 trillion ways for people to die and need six movies to do it. I honestly think it’s a little much. I don’t think they need to release seven movies to let the public know that the puppet guy likes to kill people in a weird ways that no one would ever think of. Also another series that was overdone was The Fast and The Furious. They already had five and if you count the one from 1955, six. The newest one is coming out soon. I am just sick of it because it is not even for cars anymore really, I mean yeah they have pretty nice cars in it but it is all action. The Fast Five proves that statement. Watch the first Fast and the Furious through to the Tokyo Drift and then watch the other ones and you will agree with that. Seriously, make a new
Photo of Jigsaw in the movie “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” from / pusatbluray.com.
movie. Move on, we don’t need anymore. They aren’t even following the regular storyline and they totally took it off track when they went to Tokyo. I am not saying these movies are bad but seriously they are overdoing them horribly. Also, from the research I have done, there are twelve Friday the 13th movies out there. Yes, I am going to say it again just like I did with Saw. We don’t need to watch this guy go on a
rampage and kill tons of people; we understand it the first three times. Seriously twelve movies? Maybe they will stop at the 13th movie. Who lets a movie series drag on that long? If you ask me it is all very unnecessary. Saw just wants to show you how many ways you can kill someone. The Fast and The Furious want to show you “some” cool cars and mostly the cool effects they have. I think Friday the 13th milked it for all it’s worth.
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Lewis) efforts during January 1865 to obtain passage for the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in the United States House of Representatives. This would formally abolish slavery in the country. Expecting the Civil War to end within a month, Lincoln feels it is imperative to pass the amendment by the end of January, thus removing any possibility that slaves who have already been freed may be re-enslaved. Silver Linings Playbook is about Patrizio Solitano Jr. (Bradley Cooper), who has bipolar disorder, is released from a mental health facility into the care of his parents after eight months of treatment. Throughout his stay, he learns of personal life changes on the outside world. After catching up with an old friend named Ronnie, he meets his sister-inlaw, Tiffany Maxwell (Jennifer Lawrence) who is a recent widow. The two form a bond and it slowly leads to a relationship.
Zero Dark Thirty is about Maya (Jessica Chastain), a young CIA officer, that has spent her entire brief career focusing solely on intelligence related to Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda, such as following the terrorist organization's September 11 attacks in the United States. The CIA puts the compound under heavy surveillance for several months using a variety of methods but cannot prove bin Laden is there. Meanwhile, the President's National Security Advisor tasks the CIA with producing a plan to capture or kill bin Laden if it can be confirmed that he is in the compound. On February 24, 2013, Argo was announced best picture of 2012. Each movie was recognized for the hard work, time, and effort of each cast and crew member. If you haven’t yet seen any of the above nominees, it is highly recommended. They each have a distinct story in which can be portrayed in many ways.