Gabby news final

Newspaper final By: Gabby Mannuzza

Campus deflated by the loss of a chance at playoffs By: Gabby Mannuzza

On Nov. 5, it was brought to the attention of the administration and student body that University’s own football team, would not in fact, make it to playoffs this season. A student was deemed ineligible for participation on Nov. 3. During a staff review of the player roster, it was reported to the principal, Dr. Julian Jones. They were preparing for playing in the Florida 8-A football playoffs for the first time in the school’s history.

The student’s ineligibility to play was due to semester attendance information that the school self- reported to the FHSAA. Unfortunately, that caused the team to have to forfeit all of their wins that season. They also received a fine of $1,000 ($100 per game). Neither the coaches nor any of the staff at University knew of this violation.

A group of parents have already hired an attorney from Tampa, Peter Hobson. According to the Orlando Sentinel, Hobson has already pointed out that the FHSAA bylaws state they may not limit the competition of student athletes for rule violations of their school or its coaches or their adult representatives. They also cannot unfairly punish student athletes for eligibility or recruiting violations perpetrated by a teammate, coach or administrator. Contests may not be forfeited for inadvertent eligibility violations unless the coach or a school administrator should have known of the violation.

Parents are hoping that Hobson is successful in getting their kids to play in the playoffs this year. Otherwise, the team has to start fresh next season. One thing that has come out of this, however, is that the school will be more vigilant when it comes to keeping track of its players.

Reflection I feel like this article was some of my best work, because I portrayed a subjective tone and made it sound as professional as possible. I also managed to do it in the timespan of two days. With this article, it was like walking on eggshells, there was no room for jokes or mistakes, as it was a very touchy subject. I feel as though I displayed a professional tone. While articles should have certain elements of creative writing, there come times when they are strictly business. This was one of those times, in my opinion. Many people had varying opinions when this news was brought to light, but I managed to state just the facts and make sure nobody was thrown under the bus. This article show I am capable of writing more mature, subjective pieces.

Halloween Costumes 2k15 By: Gabby Mannuzza

2015 is the year of odd costumes. Party stores and crafters are getting creative with their Halloween costumes this year.

While many prefer store-bought “mainstream” costumes, a lot of people have chosen the DIY route.

Party stores and costume stores are flooded as people look for the best or most popular costume this year. Some even getting costumes that push the boundaries of “appropriate.” Every year, Halloween fanatics get creative and come up with original costumes, usually hand made. The planning for these can take anywhere from a month to a year to plan in advance.

Even well known costumes are being redone with DIY. It has always been a topic of Popular vs. Creative DIY Halloween costumes. Assembling your own costume with various pieces from stores of even making it by hand is usually cheaper than buying a $50 costume from a party store. People put a lot of thought into one night that’s meant to be spent partying and gathering up all the candy you can. So why the hype?

“My favorite part about Halloween is shopping for a costume, because you can go to the store and pick out your favorites one and feel so fancy,” said sophomore Karley Umstead. “It’s fun.”

While many high schoolers don’t feel the ambition to go out begging for candy all night, many still love to dress up and have fun as a different person. Halloween is the one day a year they can go all out, no matter what their costume is.

“I like DIY costumes better because I feel more of an attachment to it plus it’s a lot cheaper,” said Jeannie Tilley when she was asked which type of costume she prefers.

Last year in 2014, the popular costumes seemed to be Frozen characters Elsa and Anna, along with the Tangled heroine Rapunzel. This year seems to be all about minions. Many parents are attempting to construct DIY costumes, based off of the popular movie Despicable Me, for their minion-loving children.

A lot of teenagers are getting creative in their costume, also. Adults are getting corny couples costumes like bacon and eggs, thunder and lighting or superhero duos. Teenagers are taking a more pun-filled, cheap and creative route. Some came up with the idea of gluing cotton pom poms to their shirts and being a gumball machine. Many have chosen to stick paint card samples to their shirts and go as “Fifty Shades of Grey.” And a select few have left us all groaning with a “Ceiling Fan” costume- a t-shirt reading “Go Ceiling!” with the clever person wearing face paint and waving pom poms.

This year seems to be all about getting creative and funny with costumes. As we grow up, we realize the frilly princess costumes that WalMart supplied us with are outdated, and expensive. Making a costume with the help of Google and Pinterest is time consuming, but cheaper and leaves a sense of accomplishment. Everyone appreciates them.

Reflection I feel like I played this article fairly well. It was more of a light, fluffy piece that didn’t have too much depth.

I portrayed the ability to keep it airy and fun while getting the point across. While this article does not look too complex or anything, I did work hard to make it sound decent. It took some research and creativity to come up with some of the things I said. I feel like this is one of better articles because it is good in length and content. I tried to keep it interesting, while keeping paragraphs short and sweet. I feel like this is a strong piece that shows my capability of writing fun pieces.

So long and goodbye By: Gabby Mannuzza

The school year is coming to an end soon and it seems seniors have come down with that dreaded senioritis. Seniors are getting antsy to graduate after four long years of standardized testing, early alarms, and frozen school lunches. But on the other hand they don’t want to leave, because they have so many memories here. It’s a constant battle between senioritis and nostalgia, so which will win?

Senioritis seems to be winning. Nostalgia is good to think about and look back on, but nobody wants to live in it. Sure you had some great times and some awesome teachers, but you also had mental breakdowns and sleepless nights. It is time to move on to college, where classes are far and few between.

However, students are going to miss these brick walls they have called home for the past few years—the friendships they made, the relationships they formed, the mischief they got into. It can be a wonderful thing, getting to know students and teachers on a personal level and talking to them every day. There are so many memories that seniors will have to leave behind from so many classes.

“The thing I’m going to miss most about high school is the great teachers like McMann and Roman,” said senior Ryan Whitman.

There is one aspect, though, that no senior will miss. The freshmen.

A lot of seniors are glad to be rid of freshmen forever once they graduate. Not that every freshman is a terrible human being, it is just a general rule of thumb in high school for everyone to dislike freshmen. Even freshmen hate freshmen.

“I’m glad to be leaving,” said Whitman. “No freshmen.”

Seriously, though, that final day in May is where all the seniors say “Goodbye.” They have their New Years style countdown that they look forward to all year and then they all leave forever. It isn’t sad at first, because they are all out partying and celebrating that they survived school all these years. But when that realization hits that they probably will not see half the people they saw every day for four years (or more), it can be kind of sad.

So enjoy your last weeks here seniors. Once you graduate, there is no going back, only forward. You have a whole world out there just waiting for you, waiting to welcome you when you graduate. There is so much out there: college, work, so many more people, and other countries entirely. The day that countdown ends is the day the rest of your lives begin. Hope you are ready.

This article was a demonstration of lightheartedness and being serious at the same time. It was just a quick little piece about the seniors leaving and how it affects everyone. This article showcased my flexibility as a writer and the thought that I out into my writing. The article was like a farewell and I feel my journalistic skill helped me to write that farewell and I corporate humor as well. I especially like the part I snuck in about freshmen. All in all I feel like I did a pretty good job with this one, it’s a funny thought provoking article. It also focuses around seniors, and everyone loves the seniors.

Personal Essay: Lessons exist to teach us about life and what’s right and wrong. Lessons can be as easy as learning 2+2=4. Or they can be as hard as learning not to stick your hand in the lion’s cage at the zoo. Sometimes we learn lessons by watching someone do something and failing. Like watching someone twirl a knife then accidently stab himself. You just learned not to twirl a knife unless you have stab proof equipment on. Learning things like this are crucial to our development and survival. Sometimes learning lessons requires learning them the hard way.

I learned a lot of lessons as a kid, but very few were learned the hard way. (i.e. do not cook a remote control in the microwave.) One of the most important lessons I have ever learned though, was learned the hardest way possible. It was that families are not in any way perfect, and they can be the worst thing you have ever had.

I grew up with a big family and I loved them with all my heart, and it excited me when we would do activities pertaining to families in school. It was always the best, I loved hanging out with my family. I thought they were the greatest thing in the world. My family was perfect, they were the best I could ever have. Everything my family told me was right and everything they did was right. But of course I was so naive at such a young age.

Later in life I saw that family fall apart, the happy smiling family i always drew seemed like a dream now. I had countless sleepless night listening to my parents fight or my grandma talking to police officers about something that happened. Something always happened. I started to realize that the perfect family I had was not real, just a made up thing in my childhood imagination.

Watching my parents split up and my aunt spiral downward into drugs and stealing, I stopped caring about most of my family. My mom was really all I had left because she never lied to me and she kept me safe. I hated everyone for just being related to me.

It was a gradual movement towards apathy, though. One by one I watched my love turn to contempt with each family member. I was a child sized ball of disgust. I grew up hearing people talk about their wonderful families and how great family was. I would think “they won’t be saying that in a couple years when their families end up like mine.” I stopped caring about being a family, because mine was so broken.

Things were like a seesaw for five or so years with the ups and downs because someone always left or got arrested. Sometimes things would be looking up, but not for long. The police were at our house almost every week too, and it was humiliating.

I questioned why this had happened to me and why I was forced to put up with this. Why was I given the worst family possible?

We were the most dysfunctional family in all of history, nothing ever went right for more than a few hours. Sometimes only a few minutes. I was afraid to trust anyone but my mother for so long because I was always lied to by a family member. It killed me inside when people commented on what a great family we were, because it was all a lie. I had to slowly and painfully figure out that perfect families didn’t exist.

It is incredibly hard to start as a child thinking everyone is phenomenal and can do no wrong. Then it’s like a slap to the face when everything starts to fall apart before your eyes. I felt so stupid when I started seeing through the lies and the masks.

It was like I was suddenly living with complete strangers. Psychopaths and liars. Thieves and druggies. Fights always broke out, secrets were always held. I was lied to about so much. And I learned that the hard way.

Family is never what you think it will be. No family is perfect. Some families are better, they have their lives together and they aren’t so dysfunctional. But unfortunately, most families are not perfect and a lot are a broken mess. And it’s the saddest thing in the world watching little kids grow up and realize this. It’s horrifying to witness the change in people as you grow up. The worst part is that it isn’t even really a change, they’re the same people. They didn’t change or get worse, you just opened your eyes wider.

My life was the perfect example of this horrible lesson learned the hard way. There are others with it worse of course, but that does not make my story invalid in any way shape or form. Family is not always the trustworthy thing you think it to be.

Sometimes your friends are a better family or your spouse’s family feels more like your family. Sometimes your family isn’t your family. They are just your bloodline, and that does not mean anything unless you want it to.

It was in no way easy, but I learned how to get through it. I am sure that there are more lessons I will have to learn the hard way, but this takes the cake so far. It was like riding a rollercoaster, enjoying the ups and trying to make it through the downs. I never would have thought that lessons could be so hard or have such a negative impact on you.It always seemed like the worst lessons were learning not to play with knives or or jump off of high places. I didn’t think coming into this world I was going to learn such a horrible lesson in such a difficult way. My mom would always ask “Did you learn your lesson?” when I did something and messed up. Well I learned my lesson here. Class dismissed.