wingspan 8
How to make the most of your prom experience
WEST HENDERSON HIGH SCHOOL
Visit us at wingspanonline.net
3600 Haywood Road, Hendersonville, N.C. 28791 • Volume XXIX, Issue 4 • April 8, 2011
history making in the
Junior Megan Pope prepares to donate blood at a blood drive sponsored by Pride/Jr. Civitan.
•Pride/Jr. Civitan, Red Cross sponsors blood drive The American Red Cross sponsored the second blood drive of the year on March 9 along with the Pride/Jr. Civitan organization. The goal set for the drive was 65 pints; 77 pints were collected. A total of 81 students and staff members volunteered to donate. Each pint of blood collected can help save up to three lives, according to Donor Recruitment Representative Bill Roseborough. “It was painful, but I wanted to help save someone’s life,” junior Megan Pope said. “This was my first time, and it was a positive experience. I recommend it to other people because it’s just a good feeling knowing that you did something that you couldn’t do every day.”
Former student reflects on turmoil in Middle East Katie King
T
Peregrine Poll Do you prefer Rainbows or Chacos for summer footwear?
Rainbows
How do you feel about the revolts in the Middle East?
71%
Chacos 29% (based on a survey of 231 students)
Heard Hall in the
“How do you know eight is less than nine?” Samantha Younger, freshman (on triangle inequalities in geometry) “Prom is coming up, and everybody is going to be turning green.” Audrey Huff, senior (meaning to say “orange” referring to tanning) “You can’t suck if your mouth is closed.” Rebekah Farmer, Spanish teacher (in response to a student saying he “sucked” at whispering)
“Everybody deserves freedom, and I don’t think it’s right for the government to limit people’s freedoms. In Egypt, I’m glad that there are mostly peaceful protests because violence usually isn’t the right answer, and in Egypt they were largely successful as well. In Libya it’s starting to get out of hand with the no-fly zone and everything, so I don’t think it’s right to use violence, especially if Jonathan Perron you’re talking about freedom because that freshman should be a peaceful protest.” “If you don’t like the way the situation is, then you have every right to fight for your freedom. If the U.S. wasn’t the way it is, people would be standing up and fighting for their freedom because you cannot force people to live a certain way. People should have their choice, and if they fight for freedom, then they have every right to do it. But if you really feel like you need to be free, I Savannah Smith don’t like violent protests. There’s no need. sophomore Peaceful protests are good.” “I completely agree with fighting for your freedom. It’s what our country is based on. The protests in Egypt I thought were a good thing. It was in a peaceful manner and for a good cause. I completely agree with what they did in Egypt, until it got violent in the end, then not so much. The protests in Libya are really violent. It’s a huge mess of violence with Ghadafi. It’s one huge, violent Megan Phillips situation with the U.S. being involved and junior Britain being involved. It’s a lot of turmoil.”
2
U.S. history course to be expanded to two semesters
wingspan Become a fan on Facebook
Editor-in-Chief
housands of shoes filled the air in Tahrir Square as Egyptian civilians jeered. The initial jubilation that had greeted rumors that President Hosni Mubarak was stepping down quickly evaporated as protesters realized he would not be relinquishing his title or his power. Mubarak’s address to his people on Feb. 10 was designed to alleviate the tension that had led to the massive protests, but it only fueled the Egyptians’ anger. The shoes, grasped tightly in the hands of the Egyptian people, symbolized the hatred they felt for Egypt’s dictator of almost 30 years. “In Arab culture showing the bottom of your shoe is very insulting. If I put my foot on the table and show someone the sole of my shoe, it basically says that I think they’re beneath me. I think they’re less than dirt. Their holding up their shoes and cheering, it’s actually a pretty big insult to Mubarak,” former West student Jimmy Layman said. “Even the word for shoe in Arabic, if you call someone that, there’s going to be a reaction, and there could be a fight breaking out. It’s a very serious insult.” When Layman returned from his five-week study abroad trip to Egypt last summer, he had no idea that the country would soon become a hotbed of political unrest. He and a group of about 40 students from N.C. State University and neighboring schools stayed in Cairo, where much of the protest was centered. Layman, a member of the Class of 2008, is currently studying Arabic languages at N.C. State. “I read the whole thing about how people were protesting, telling them they wanted President Mubarak to leave. I wasn’t really surprised; I was kind of expecting that to happen,” Layman said. “I was a little shocked that there were so many people in Tahrir Squre protesting. I’m kind of siding with them just because I’ve seen firsthand the poverty level in Egypt and the conditions that a lot of people have to live in.” Motivated by a failing economy, lack of jobs and police brutality, tens of thousands of Egyptians swarmed the streets of several major Egyptian cities in protest in late January. Their call for democracy forced the government to send police officers and military personnel to disperse the crowd. The protests turned deadly despite the military’s refusal to fire on its fellow citizens. The death toll is estimated to be about 365. Layman said this has made him apprehensive about the people he made contact with in Egypt. Although he didn’t stay in touch with many of them, his concern remains the same. “I didn’t stay in close contact with them, but every now and then I would send them something on Facebook saying ‘Hey, what’s going on at the hotel? How are you guys doing?’ And they would usually get back to me pretty quick,” Layman said. “But I kind of knew once the Internet was down it was going to be almost impossible for them to get a hold of me. I am a little worried. I would like to know that they are OK. The hotel that we stayed at was pretty close to Tahrir Square,; it’s about five minutes away, so I am a little worried if they are OK or not. I’m hopeful.” Following 18 days of protests in Egypt’s major cities, Mubarak finally stepped down on Feb. 11. After more than two weeks of protests, a panel of jurists has been assembled to revise Egypt’s Constitution and organize elections in the fall to replace the ousted president. The country plans to hold a referendum this month to determine certain constitutional amendments, including the length of time a leader can hold office. “As oppressed as some other Arab nations are, I definitely feel like they (the Egyptians) have a lot more freedoms than other people,” Layman said. “But they can be censored; they can be arrested for speaking out against the government. I think the biggest freedom they want is freedom of speech, which President Mubarak has already proved he can stop because he shut down the Internet. Facebook, Twitter, text messaging on Blackberries, all of that went away. It’s almost impossible to organize anything. I think they want a democracy, I think they want a government that is ruled by the people and not by a military leader.” Layman said the friction has been growing in Egypt for some time. Mubarak’s threedecade rule was accompanied by extreme poverty, oppression and corruption. After witnessing the revolt that began four weeks earlier in Tunisia, Layman feels the Egyptians gained confidence and momentum to carry out the protests. “He (Mubarak) is a very corrupt president. Back in 1967 he enacted an emergency law, which gave him a lot of power to detain people without question. That didn’t upset people enough that they were going to protest, but it did upset them,” Layman said. “Then after what happened in Tunisia, the Egyptian people realized, ‘Hey if they can do this, we can do this, too.’ And that’s when they started protesting.” The protests in Tunisia and Egypt resulted in a domino effect of other revolts throughout the Middle East. Libya, Yemen and Bahrain have also experienced protests against their governments within the recent weeks. Layman said there were signs that the younger generation would protest even while he was in Egypt, and in fact many of the protests were organized by young Egyptians. “The group that I was hanging out with, they were all in college at the time, and they were really worried about what they were going to do when they graduated. They were trying to make plans, but with the job market they didn’t really know what was going on. I got the feeling that they were really unhappy with the president’s rule. With social networking and blogging, it sort of got the news out more. I definitely saw within the young crowd there was discontent there,” Layman said.
• See “Egypt,” Page 2
4-5
Preparing futureready students in the 21st Century