Issue6 volue 51

Spokesman Volume 51 Issue 6

Wheeling High School

900 S. Elmhurst Road

Wheeling, Ill. 60090

March 6, 2015

Nanotechnology class conducts original research Kelly McKewin Co-Editor-in-Chief Students in the Introduction to Nanotechnology classes have been working on original research projects that they will be presenting tomorrow, March 7 in the IJAS Regional science fair. The students will be competing in the project session of the fair.

Students in the Intro to Nanotech class spend their third term conducting research projects with the help of mentors from various universities, graduate programs and local industries.

“We try to tie all the projects into research that they can do with the equipment in the lab. It’s a science fair project, but with the cool equipment we have in here. They’re trying to go beyond what some students can do in other places,” Carol Bouvier, nanotechnology teacher, said.

Zoe Maglaris, senior, has been working on a project to develop an antibacterial material with her partner, Simi Kang, senior.

“Both of us are looking into the medical field so both of us decided that we wanted to do something with making an antibacterial material, which could be beneficial to the medical field,” Maglaris said.

Maglaris and Kang will present a poster and 38 page research paper at the science fair.

Kyle Levy and Vincent Parra, seniors, have been using the equipment in the nanotechnology lab to look at nanoparticles that could have the potential to attack cancer cells.

“It’s something that peaks my interest definitely. Who wouldn’t want to be doing cancer research in high school? It’s something I find really cool,” Levy said.

Jean Pabon

Courtesy of District 214

Top: Eric Rivas, senior, analyzes samples for his project in the lab during his third period Intro to Nanotechnology class. Bottom: Isabel Chan, senior, presents her research at the University of Illinois as part of the Wild Things Conference, a Chicago Wilderness conference.

Isabel Chan and Hiba Fakhoury, seniors, have been researching seeds coat morphology and working with Dr. Louise Egerton, a mentor from Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Gardens, to complete their research.

“I chose to do a comparative study on seed coat morphology because I’ve always been interested in anthropology and history, and I thought that project would best suit my interest since it related to genetics and the history of seeds,” Chan said.

Chan and Fakhoury both presented at a wildlife conference at the University of Illinois on Saturday, Jan. 31. Forest preserve managers at the conference were able to ask the students questions and use their findings to support research relating to prairie conservation.

A lot of the Chicago Botanic Garden’s (CBG) research is related to is prairie restoration and working with plants in the area.

(CBG’s) research was looking at the effects of heat and fire and smoke and how it relates to prairie burnings to see how regular prairie seeds would behave. We don’t have a lot of prairie in Illinois, but they’ve done a lot of work to maintain what we do have. Forest preserves are interested in this,” Ms. Bouvier said.

Students in both Ms. Bouvier’s and Lisa Del Muro’s nanotechnology classes will be presenting tomorrow. If their work is selected for the state science fair, they will continue to work on and revise their research. Students will also be submitting their work to the Positive Impact competition that will be held at WHS in April.

According to Levy, the projects were more challenging than he expected them to be, but he is excited to present his work at the science fair.

“It’s all been a lot more work than I expected. It’s definitely a lot of hard work and it takes a lot of patience,” Levy said.

Battlebots bridges engineering and entertainment

Left: Ferdinando Defrenza and Jonathan Blackwell, sophomores, tighten the screws on their robot after it competed. Middle: Multiple robots compete in the “Robot Rumble.” “We’ve been working all year to design these battlebots and we finally get to put them to the test,” Theodore Fousekis, sophomore, said. Right: Brian Dardon, junior, and Sean Dulkoski, sophomore, make repairs to their robot.

Students have been working on designing and building their robots since August.

“From the design phase, students grouped into four different teams and from those teams Students participating in battlebots they took the designs and they manufactured competed in the annual district competition last everything in our lab. From design it went to week on Friday, Feb. 27 and Saturday, Feb. 28. manufacturing and the past few months we’ve One of the WHS’s four robots placed second in been assembling everything together,” Thomas the district.

Steinbach, battlebots sponsor, said.

“We went to the competition knowing we Marcin Sobas, junior, was one of the team were going to try our best, but we knew that leaders as well this year, and believes his team’s competition was going to be very difficult. robot performed well in the competition thanks The accomplishment was truly amazing and it to the design and manufacturing process took a lot of teamwork to make it happen. It is running smoothly. definitely something we are all very proud of “(The year) went well with the exception of and could not be happier with the outcome,” some hiccups along the way,” Sobas said. “(Our Theodore Fousekis, sophomore, said. robot) ended up doing pretty well and mostly Fousekis was the leader of the team that built received cosmetic damage.” the second place robot.

Michael Geist, battlebots sponsor, claims The battlebots competition is held each year that one of the major changes between this at one of the district schools. There are roughly year and previous years has been the improved 30 to 35 robots competing each year, and teams organization of the teams and process of are placed randomly into a bracket to determine creating the robots, which made the transition individual matches. WHS had four robots from design to manufacturing to assembly much compete this year. easier.

Kelly McKewin Co-Editor-in-Chief

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Artist of the Month: Paige McCoy shines in Orchesis show Kelly McKewin

“The flow from design to finished project has been much more organized. We’ve found better ways to utilize our time. As far the designing process and the manufacturing process, it’s been a lot more organized this year,” Mr. Geist said.

As a team leader, Fousekis saw that organization and teamwork were two of the most important aspects of building a successful robot this year.

“It was definitely difficult. One of the most important things we learned this year was that without teamwork you don’t get very far.

When there were disagreements, or people didn’t like what was going on, it made it very difficult to work. I definitely think that when we were able to work and come together as a team successfully, everything went the way we wanted it to and we were able to accomplish the goals we had set at the beginning of the year,” Fousekis said.

According to Sean Dulkoski, sophomore, one of the most rewarding aspects of battlebots is seeing the team’s creations come to life during the competition.

“Battlebots is like being a parent in some

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Students debate importance of standing during the Pledge of Allegiance Jean Pabon

ways. You start off small, and slowly but surely you add on pieces that you deem necessary for the child to succeed. And then, when your children is grown and shines, you throw that child into life. Some fail and are torn limb from limb and top plate from top plate, others are defeated but grow stronger from it and win battles to come, and some rise to the occasion and succeed with flying colors and weapon blades,” Dulkoski said.

According to Mr. Steinbach, while having a robot win second place in the competition was nice, the ultimate goal of battlebots is to gain experience and make manufacturing and engineering fun.

“The cool thing is it’s not just the manufacturing and the metal working, but the kids actually wired up the bots so they learned a little bit about the basics on electrical engineering and troubleshooting wiring problems. At the end of the day, yeah we want to win, but just going out and destroying another robot and building something that moves and you can drive with a remote control is what’s fun,” Mr. Steinbach said.

Previews of upcoming baseball and softball seasons Courtesy Of Lair

Read More Online wheelingspokesman.com

Photos: Slideshow of last weekend’s Orchesis show Photos: Battlebot’s competition photo slideshow

2

News

March 6, 2015

Freshmen attend post-testing presentation N E F W L A S S H On Tuesday, March 3, after taking the PLAN test, all freshmen students attended a presentation in the theater relating to their end-of-the-year charitable aid project.

Due to changes in testing dates this year, freshmen, sophomores and juniors all tested on the same day; however, the PLAN test ended about an hour earlier than the ACT and IACT, leaving the freshmen with time to attend the presentation.

The presentation consisted of a film, “Tony,” created by the Invisible Children foundation. The film was intended to inspire students to begin thinking about the charitable aid projects they will complete at the end of the year.

“I had heard about it before, but seeing the actual film and seeing how they actually live was kind of hard, but it was also an eye-opener to see that people have to go through so much,” Leslie Diaz, freshman, said.

Serena Schnekenburger, freshman,

thought the film was engaging and found that it kept her interest, despite watching it after spending over three hours testing. “(The presentation) was alright.

Like everyone else, I just wanted to go home because we had testing, but it was something I would have probably watched sooner or later,” Schnekenburger said. “It was interesting. It was really cool to find out about a different country than here.”

Fiorella Ghiorsi, freshman, said the presentation inspired her to want to make a difference in the world.

“The presentation was very inspiring. It made me want to make a change in the world,” Ghiorsi said.

Diaz also found the presentation motivating.

“Seeing (it) made me want to do something or to just be a better person overall,” Diaz said.

All freshmen will complete a research project in May in which they research the positive changes that a particular charitable organization makes on the world and later present their information. Tuesday’s presentation was designed to give all of the freshmen a common background with work that charitable aid organizations do as they begin to think about their projects.

exam is graded on a five point scale with five being the equivalent to getting an A. Most schools require that students get a three in order to receive credit.

The AP Microeconomics exam is separated into a 70 minute multiple choice portion and a 60 minute free response portion.

In order to receive a perfect score on the exam a student would have to answer each question on the multiple choice portion correctly as well as get full credit on the free response portion.

Earning a perfect score on any AP exam is considered a rare feat. In 2014, only 285 students received a perfect score on any AP test. 57,607

students across the world took the AP Microeconomics exam in 2014, but only 15 people in the world received a perfect score, including Kulczak. He is also the only student in the state of Illinois to have received a perfect score on the exam.

Ms. Chico explained that about 90 percent of her students score somewhere between a three, four, five on the AP test, with about 50 percent of her students receiving a five.

According to Ms. Chico, Kulczak prepared for the AP exam by attending Ms. Chico’s review sessions, purchasing several review books and studying.

Kulczak is currently attending the University of Iowa.

Kelly McKewin Co-Editor-in-Chief Jean Pabon Photo Editor

Turnabout tickets will be on sale during all lunch periods next week from Monday to Friday.

Winter sports awards night will take place on Monday, March 9 at 7 p.m.

Spring Break will begin at the dismissal of classes on Friday, March 20. There will be a 1:50 p.m. dismissal.

Finals will take place on Wednesday, April 1, and Thursday, April 2.

There will be no school on Friday, April 3, in observance of Good Friday and Monday, April 6 due to an Institute day.

AVID and Omni Youth Services will be cosponsoring WHS’s first ever 5k run on Saturday, April 18.

Registration is $30. All proceeds will go towards AVID scholarships and Omni Youth Services.

Graphic by Kelly McKewin

John Uhrik

Freshman students watch the film “Tony” in the theater on Tuesday, March 3 after taking the PLAN test. ““The presentation was very inspiring. It made me want to make a change in the world,” Fiorella Ghiorsi, freshman, said.

Kulczak receives perfect AP Economics score but not just well. He wanted to make sure he excelled,” Ms. Chico said.

Ms. Chico does not believe she had the biggest influence on Kulczak’s Matthew Kulczak, WHS ‘14 achievement. graduate, received a perfect score “I think that Matthew (Kulczak) on the Advanced Placement (AP) just comes from a terrific family and Microeconomics exam that took place he’s just one of these individuals that is last spring. a person of integrity and honesty and Sandra Chico, social sciences has a good work ethic. He came to me teacher, was Kulczak’s AP Economics that way; all I did was teach him some teacher last year. She exclaimed that economics,” Ms. Chico said. she is extremely proud of Kulczak, AP classes are college level courses although she is not completely that students can take as part of their surprised by his achievement. curriculum in high school. Near the “(Kulczak) was a very committed, end of the school year students can very serious student. He took his work take an AP exam that can make them seriously and wanted to always do well, eligible to receive college credit. The

Max Piasecki Staff Reporter

Scholastic bowl, math team compete, succeed Iridiana OseguraQuintanilla Staff Reporter The varsity scholastic bowl team and the math team have succeeded recently. The scholastic bowl team recently won the Mid-Suburban League (MSL) East Division and placed second overall in the MSL conference. The math team tied with Buffalo Grove High School for first place in the district meet, bringing them to their fourth consecutive year of winning the district meet and is also sending students to state in two different events. The junior and senior eight person team qualified for state, as well as the two person junior and senior team, consisting of Carl Delos Santos, senior, and Tyler Neuman, senior.

As far as the scholastic bowl team goes, this is one of the first years in which the varsity team has made the MSL championship. The team also had a successful regular season, losing only one match to Rolling Meadows High School.

“I as disappointed with our final Rolling Meadows game, but otherwise I think we did quite well. It was a good season,” Wade Degraff, senior, said. “In every other one of my three years, we’ve done decent, but not great.

This year we only lost one match in the regular season.”

According to Delos Santos, participating in the

championship scholastic bowl match was a nerve-wracking experience.

“I was very anxious while we were up there,” Delos Santos said.

Degraff was proud of the team’s season, but was disappointed with the final loss to Barrington High School in the MSL championship.

“I was a little disappointed that we got slaughtered so badly,” Degraff said. “It was nerve-wracking while we were up there.”

Delos Santos was happy with the way the season went, as he didn’t expect for the scholastic bowl team to become East Division champions.

“I was very surprised we got that far,” Delos Santos said.

The team will compete in regionals on Monday, March 9.

The math team also had a successful end to its season.

The junior and senior two and eight person teams qualified for state at the regional meet held at Stevenson High School on Saturday, Feb. 28.

At the district meet on Wednesday, Feb. 4, the team tied with BGHS for first place. Both teams had 196 points, beating out John Hersey High School by 13 points.

Though the team tied for first place, this is the fourth year in a row that the WHS math team has won the district meet.

3

Arts

March 6, 2015

Orchesis hits the stage in main show

Courtesy of WHS Orchesis Dept.

Left: Paige McCoy, junior and Artist of the Month this issue,, jumping in perfect form at an Orchesis performence.

Middle: Bruno Salgado and Diana Wronka, freshmen, perform together in the dance “Scorned Flame.”

Right: Members of Orchesis perform the salsa dance that they also performed at the Winter Addembly. Orchesis recruited other students to perform this dance with them.

Kelly McKewin

Kelly McKewin

Cool and competitive: Speech team finds success at regionals

Chris Alvarado

Members of Speech Team practice their speeches by speaking to walls. Matt Kelly, junior, can be seen here practicing speeches by performing to a wall here.

Dare to dream: McCoy’s passion drives her success “My dance teachers inspire me. They teach me things like technique, but they also teach me things like perseverance, which I can apply to all parts of my life. Their successes in the Since her freshman year, Paige McCoy, dance industry show me that I can do that, too,” junior, has worked and thrived in Orchesis. She McCoy said. works hard to accomplish her goals and perfect McCoy’s skill as a dancer was not achieved her skill. McCoy’s motivation as a dancer easily. During one dance season, McCoy inspired Diane Rawlinson, Orchesis director, practices for fourteen hours a week. McCoy to nominate her as this issue’s says she works hard to be able Artist of the Month. to share dances with others McCoy’s skill has been and show that everyone can evident to her peers and take something out of her mentors throughout her performance. time at WHS. She remains “I love that dancing is determined to perfect every something you have to work No matter who routine and humbly accepts for. A lot of people say things critique better herself. like ‘you’re lucky you can dance’ you are, you “Paige picks up movement and it’s like no, it’s not luck. can watch a quickly, maintains the I worked hard for that. I also integrity of the movement like that dance can be shared dance and get and always dances ‘full out’. with a lot of people. No matter something out of who you are, you can watch a She accepts corrections and feedback then applies dance and get something out it.” them immediately,” said Ms. of it,” said McCoy. Paige McCoy Rawlinson.

McCoy’s dedication and Junior skill has received recognition McCoy not only accepts constructive criticism, but beyond the halls of WHS. also helps other dancers As a sophomore, McCoy was achieve success as well. selected to perform two dances She helps lead her peers at the National High School through advising them and helping them gain Dance Festival in Miami, Fla. and performed in confidence in their own dancing. front of an audience of 1,800. She also received “Paige has helped me gain more confidence a full scholarship to attend at a summer in me. In her winter piece for Orchesis, she was intensive produced by Inaside Dance Chicago. challenging and pushing me every day. She has Her work at these programs and her pushed me to be better and I am grateful for recognition as an artist prepares her for her that,” said Jasmeen Bahena, junior. future at WHS and beyond. McCoy says she McCoy receives her own inspiration from plans on majoring in dance in college and her dance instructors. Her instructors not only eventually join a dance company and perform teach her methods of dance, but also show her around the world. ways to apply the art outside of the classroom.

Abi Cozariuc Staff Reporter

“

for people to meet one on one with coaches and more experienced members,” Kelly said.

The assistance given to the speech members brought up an incentive to improve on the particular flaws that negatively impacted the team.

On Feb. 14, 2015, the WHS Speech Henceforth, the Speech Team was able to Team pierced its way into regionals. Speakers improve efficiency, and compete more vigorously Matthew Kelly, Abbey Mae Egger, Aidra with the other schools.

Crawley and Anna Nars were the four members “I was so proud that their hard work paid of the speech team that progressed to finals in off ! We are a mostly new team, so it took the regionals tournament. us awhile to find our stride. Once they did, “We made it to the finals in regionals which however, they earned it!” Jessica Maciejewski, is pretty impressive, because the teams are Speech Team coach, said. limited on who they can send for each event, so Indeed, the Wheeling Speech Team made a most teams only send the best. So it makes me stride of accomplishment. Kelly, Egger, Crawley, happy,” Kelly, junior. and Nars represented the potentials that WHS Although the Wheeling Speech team did had to manifest in the regional competition. not manage to go to state, the team took many “I recommend to anyone, that wants to by surprise, and made a stark improvement get over their fear of public speaking, to join compared to the prior years. the speech team,” Kelly said. “And to anyone “The Wheeling Speech Team is a bit smaller that wants get into the performing arts, this than a lot of the other schools. But I view that is a good place to start...I can honestly say as good thing, because it allows us to focus on from experience that, it only gets funnier and individual people, and there is a lot more time stranger.”

Sulayman Quzi Staff Reporter

4

Feature

March 6, 2015

Behind the scenes: classes don’t begin and end with bells changing what I do. I have so many files of old activities of things I tried once and were terrible and things I use every year because it works, because there’s no such thing as perfect,” Ms. Many students don’t see the hardships of Lennon said. being a teacher. Some teachers teach a few Doing all of this planning takes a lot of time. classes a day, and have the rest of the periods Teachers aren’t handed a lesson plan by the free. Don’t forget, they also get the whole school. Two teachers that teach the same course summer off ! Awesome, right? Well, that’s not can teach the same information in completely quite how being a teacher is actually like. In fact, different ways. it’s very inaccurate from what the reality of what “The thought process is tradition: I know being a teacher includes. Teachers must plan and based on the curriculum what needs to be replan lessons constantly and grade 60 to 100 covered and how long it takes to cover each students’ tests, essays, and labs. section. For example, I like to spend 3 days on Teachers that don’t have a class Block C the 1920s, and I like to think what cool stories don’t necessarily have 90 minutes to eat. Some or activities we can do in class and how long teachers scarf their food down during a passing that would take. Generally, planning out a whole period before going to their next class. unit and homework and what to do on a day “I rarely eat without grading. I try not to by day basis takes a couple of hours, and that’s get splatters of food on papers but it happens,” not including creating the assignments,” Ms. Elizabeth Lennon, AP U.S. History teacher, Lennon said. said.

Karen Linzmeier, chemistry teacher, also Also, no teacher has a nine hour work day. has to prepare labs for both her regular and her Teachers have a contract with a 7:15 a.m. to AP chemistry classes and grade labs outside of 3:15 p.m. schedule, but that’s never how long school. teachers actually work. Every teacher walks out “The biggest difference as a science teacher is with assignments to grade and things to plan the lab set up and takedown as well as keeping for the future. Ms. Lennon has about 75 AP track of chemicals. We are given a budget every U.S. History students and grading essays can year to buy chemicals for next year and we aren’t take from about seven to eight hours. Other really given much time to do that; it’s kind of on assignments take about one to two hours a your own time,” Ms. Linzmeier said. night.

This past week, Ms. Linzmeier had four labs Teachers are constantly planning and trying in her regular and AP classes. to add new things to their plans to engage the “I set up last Friday, I set up on Monday, students. Ms. Lennon is great at basing her and I had to make more chemicals for today… plans off of her class. She acknowledges how so that could take anywhere from two to three sometimes she will have more movement based hours and that’s not including taking it all activities for students that learn better with down.” games for her class, or more document based Teachers also do not have summers off. That activities for a class that likes to read. is one of the biggest myths to being a teacher.

“It’s a sign of a good teacher when they Most teachers are revising their lesson plans reflect on how they teach and no teacher can and assignments for the following year. ever say that everything they do everyday Teachers have workshops to reflect on is great. I always ask myself what went well students test scores and mastery skills in order and what didn’t, make notes… I’m constantly to make changes to the curriculum or how it’s

Erika Pogorzelska Feature Editor

taught. Workshops are hard to coordinate with a group of teachers with very different schedules teachers have,. These workshops typically run for four to six hours during the week. Some teachers run summer camps or summer school classes, so their school year is extended past the last day of school.

Snow days, in the moment, seem like an amazing idea, but they are more detramental to the students than the teachers.

“It throws things off a lot because this is an AP class we can’t push everything back due to the AP exam in May. It cuts back on the engaging activities we can do in class but it’s not much more work for me. This year, we had to get rid of a day to go over a test in class.

Other times we have to sacrifice fun games or activities,” Ms. Lennon said.

Remember the two cold days following winter break last school year? Well it was right before finals, and it really freaked out some of the teachers.

“I remember being panicked and rushed for a good 10 days trying to get through all the material leading up to the final,” Ms. Lennon said.

Another untrue aspect of teaching is that fine arts teachers ‘don’t have much to do’ or ‘aren’t actually teachers’. Fine arts classes and activities such as band, orchestra, choir, drama, and dance are in and out of school.

Brian Logan, band director, says that 80 to 90 percent of his job is administrating and preparing for the 10% of teaching students he gets to do. For a single event such as jazz band doing very well at Jazz In The Meadows this past weekend, Mr. Logan sends out emails to parents and administrators and writes letters to the school board to get a breakfast and recognition together for the jazz band. He wants the paper to do something on Jazz In The Meadows so he sent in a video along with an article explaining how the bands did… and that’s just one event out of the many competitions WHS’ jazz, marching, and concert

bands attend.

“An eight hour day is very rare for me. I do have a few hours of work I do at home but I spend so much time at school. My typical day is about 12 hours, and it goes up from that,” Mr. Logan said.

When there’s not something happening in the moment, there is always something to plan for in the future, so Mr. Logan is always thinking ahead and planning for next year’s programs when there isn’t something coming up.

“Just the other day I was listening to songs that I think next year’s jazz band could play, or deciding on a show for next years marching band. There is always something to do,” Mr. Logan said.

There is a huge misconception of a teacher’s job being easy. They’ve shown how they don’t get summers off, weekends off, nights off, or even free periods off. A teacher’s job is 24/7. So when you get to sleep in before you wake up at 9 a.m. for summer practice, know that some teacher is already up teaching a class or preparing for next year.

Jean Pabon

Charlotte McDaniel, sophomore, goes in for help with Julie Levene, chemistry teacher, after class.

Remixing it up: a look back on student DJs progress Erika Pogorzelska Feature Editor Last school year, Spokesman covered two high school DJs getting a head start on their future career. Alex Barcenas, junior, and Marvin Bautista, senior, have both began to experimenting with disc jockeying during high school.

Barcenas gained interest in becoming a DJ when he was eight years old and began to learn the ropes of becoming a DJ from his uncle. By

2013, Barcenas already had his own equiptment setup in his house. Since then, Barcenas has bought new production and is working part time at Eggsperience, a resteraunt at Randhurst, to pay it off.

“A new stage setting to put on my show is what’s going to be new,” Barcenas said.

Barcenas has had a few gigs, his first one being in 2012. In 2014, however, he took a break from gigging but has a gig coming up this month, “Spring Tha Bass” in Cherry Valley, Illinois.

Though Barcenas hasn’t had as many performances, he never stopped producing music.

“I’ve been producing music for hours and hours in my studio. I’ve made 3 good tracks and some remixes, but nothing has been released yet,” Barcenas said.

A little over a year ago, Bautista was new to the game. Bautista was invited to B96’s Boom Entertainment DJ Academy where he learned some new techniques, and six months following landed his first gig at a friend’s birthday.

Though Bautista has kep a spot in his heart for electronic music, he didn’t began DJing until he was 16. Over the past year, Bautista also took it easy with DJing to focus on school.

“Now that it’s senior year and it’s not too hard so far, I recently released a new mix on Soundcloud this past weekend. I’m going to really focus on DJing and I’m buying music production software in the near future to produce my own original tracks,” Bautista said.

Bautista is looking into more gigs at venues since he is now 18 and no longer a minor.

Life of a high school vegan Part time student/employee Karina Piña Staff Reporter With meat being such a big part of our lives, many of us omnivores don’t consider the lifestyle of vegetarian or vegans in our daily high school lunch routine. We have the liberty to pick something out from the assembly line in the cafe, a liberty that not all others have.

“I eat a lot of fresh veggies and fruits and it’s much more convenient and affordable to just buy things from the store and pack it in my lunch,” Michaela Wittman, senior, said.

Starting the vegan/vegetarian lifestyle at a young age has shown to provide many benefits, such as a prolonged life and a reduced risk of heart disease, specifically in women.

“I became a vegetarian because I am a huge animal lover! Also, it’s an overall better lifestyle.

Well, I bring my lunch everyday because I know that the food I’m eating is 100% meat-product free. I don’t know if the vegetarian food comes

in contact with meat,” Arlene Carlos, senior, said.

Even though being vegan and vegetarian are in the same realm, they’re different in multiple ways. Vegetarians will not consume meat but will eat other animal byproducts, such as milk or eggs. Where vegans will not consume meat or any animal byproducts.

“The only thing I eat at the whs cafeteria is fruit. Even if a salad claims to be vegan, I won’t trust it. I guarantee that 75% people don’t actually know what vegan means. So pretty much the only thing I trust is fruit,” Rhea Joslin, senior said. Joslin packs a lunch on a daily basis, something vegans and vegetarians have seemingly in common.

“Since I am a vegetarian I pack my lunch on a regular basis. If I ever don’t have time to make lunch then I’ll buy a lunch from school. I have had the veggie paninis and mozzarella I never have to go out of my way to find an option for me which is nice. Since I am a vegetarian I buy the potato bowl,” Wittman said.

with her friends whenever she is not working.

Pei Wei Asian Diner happens to be her first job which provides her money and lessons. She claims that she has learned a lot from working Balancing school with work may seem at the restaurant, stating it as life changing. impossible, but Sabrina Lapalombella, senior, “I’ve learned a lot of people skills, which and Abby Greenspan, junior, have proved that it I needed because I used to be very shy, and a can be fulfilled. sense of responsibility, and how to think quick After applying at different places, Pei Wei on my feet,” Lapalombella said.

Asian Diner hired Sabrina on the spot which is Greenspan also works as a waitress at the in her favor because working at a restaurant is Continental Restaurant. Unlike Lapalombella, something she’s wanted to do. She works there she only works on Saturday nights, but will take from Thursday to Monday. Since she does work extra shifts if extra help is needed when she is on school days, instead of driving herself crazy available. Since she only work Saturday nights, by worrying about homework that needs to be she doesn’t have as much trouble on balancing done, she puts herself ahead in her academics. school and her job. Like Lapalombella, she has “My homework would sometimes be done a also learned a lot of lessons that is beneficial to couple days in advance,” Lapalombella said. her in the future.

However, Lapalombella has worked on “I’ve learned that having people skills and weekdays before. Sometimes she covers being able to handle people is very important,” someones afternoon shift during the week.

Greenspan said.

Though her workload is a lot, she still has Though school is the basis of learning, time for a social life- she tries to make plans working can teach people handy life skills.

Shailah Magallon Staff Reporter

Safety in the locker room: irresponsible locker behaviors locker combination is not around.

“Sharing is the big problem, one will lose their Staff Reporter lock, so their friend says I will share, but when their friend is absent, there’s not much they can Locker safety here at WHS has become an do. The bottom line is to not share lockers with issue, especially where gym lockers are concerned. anyone,” Ms. Runyard said.

While many students don’t use their regular Some students around the school feel it’s lockers, some students have not been responsible important to lock up their stuff and encourage with their gym lockers, leaving stuff out and locker safety among their peers. sharing lockers.

“As long as you lock your lockers, (your stuff ) “Generally speaking, the majority of the can be secure,” Sandra Marban, freshman, said. students use their PE Locker properly. However, Students encourage being safe with lockers so students leave stuff out and wonder why it’s gone. they can help each other keep their stuff safe.

We have given numerous replacement locks out,” “I would encourage (locker safety) because Rita Runyard, PE teacher, said. While some people have stuff that they want to keep safe and students are carelessly leaving their valuables out, I want to help them.” Michael Skorob, freshman, another big problem with locker safety occurs said. when students share lockers. Sharing lockers can Students are mostly safe with their lockers, but land students into trouble if their friend with the those who aren’t practicing safe locker methods

Miranda Raimondi

are setting themselves up for having their things stolen or raising other issues.

Teachers insist that their students are safe with their lockers to protect their valuables, especially since so many students now have iPads and bring their cell phones and other electronic items to school.

“The students have expensive clothes, phones and boots. Plus, now most students have iPads.

If you do not lock them up it is a temptation for a few who can not resist. If you want your nice stuff then keep it safe and lock it up,” Runyard said.

Many students can say they have had stuff stolen with the misuse of lockers. For the sake of protecting your possessions, you should be safe with your lockers and don’t share them with other students, as many of your teachers and peers would advise.

Erika Pogorzelska

The lockeroom is filled with signs warning students about keeping items unlocked, sharing lockers and the concequences that come with.

March 6, 2015

5

Feature

Controversy on standing for the Pledge of Alligance Erika Pogorzelska Feature Editor Since October of 1892, schools have had the Pledge of Allegiance in their daily routine.

I remember having to memorize the pledge for homework in kindergarten; my parents would give me a piece of candy for every line I memorized.

Now high school students have stood for the pledge thousands of times through grade school and standing for the pledge with our right hand over our hearts has become a motor skill... To most.

In middle and high schools across the country, questions are being raised about the controversy of the Pledge of Allegience. Some students don’t find it necessary to stand for religious reasons or for moral reasons.

“I take my seat early before the pledge ends everyday because I don’t agree with some parts.

Liberty and justice are in no means guaranteed for all. Instead, they are personally fought for.

Those who don’t stand up for their freedoms will slowly find them taken away by the same society ‘guaranteeing’ them,” Lazar Kuzmanov, senior, said.

Some students simply stand because it’s just a part of the daily routine for them and it

doesn’t really mean much.

“I stand because everyone else does and that’s what you’re supposed to do,” Ashley Pawelski said.

Despite students views on the matter, adults see this in a very different light. To many, rising for the pledge is in honor for the soldiers that fought and continue to fight for this country.

“My father was in the draft and he fought in the war. My mother worried my father would never come back,” Tina Mavraganes, cafeteria worker, said. “I know people are entitled to their rights but I find it disrespectful.”

There is a wide range of grey in the black and white matter of standing for the pledge. Its hard to say if there’s even a right or wrong here.

Jean Pabon

Freshmen students unconsiously stand for the Pledge of Allegience during third period everyday.

Hot Cheetos sales burst through the roof Twitter chaos moderate consumption.”

In other words, hot cheetos can increase dopamine levels in your brain, making you want more and more of the tasty snack. So the snack It is not surprising that Flamin’ Hot Cheetos may not be addictive to everyone, but like many are one of the most popular snacks here at other snacks or foods, you can enjoy them so WHS. You see them everywhere. Empty bags much that some can begin to eat 7-8 bags a day crumpled in the corner. Red dust and crumbs and eventually become addicted. on the hallway carpets. Single cheetos on the “We kept track of a young lady in health, she stairs. Bags in the hands of countless students. claimed was addicted to hot cheetos. We kept WHS loves Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. a tally of how many days she could go in a row “I like the crunchy and spicy taste to them. without Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. She made it to I grew up on them so I just can’t live without 20 something days,” said Coach Kopkowski. them,” said Damara Delgado, junior.

Cutting back on Flamin’ Hot Cheetos could There are now even two whole rows in the help you balance your daily intake of various vending machines dedicated to this popular nutrients. One bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos commodity. It is one of the vending machines contains 10% of your daily sodium intake. most popular snacks.

Which means if you eat, say, four bags a day “Hot Cheetos come in a box of 3o per 40% of your daily sodium intake will come from container and I have heard that we go through Flamin’ Hot Cheetos alone.

10 of those containers per week. We sell about The snacks high amount of sodium is not 300 bags of hot cheetos in one week,” said uncommon in snack foods. Neither is the fact Coach Jason Kopkowski, health teacher. that Flamin’ Hot Cheetos doesn’t offer good If the school is going through about threenutrients in healthy doses. One serving contains hundred bags of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, where is no calcium, vitamin A, or vitamin C. The snack it all going? Are our students addicted? Are hot contains mostly empty calories. cheetos themselves addictive?

Despite its lack of nutrients, the snack To some students, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos continues to remain popular. Whether or not might be addictive. According to the Chicago you eat the snack ten times a day, or you have Tribune, “the perceived importance of the never eaten them in your life, Flamin’ Hot reward (food or drugs) becomes exaggerated at Cheetos have become a school norm. It is one the expense of other rewards, triggering ‘abrupt of the most popular and highest grossing snacks dopamine increases’ that ‘can override the brain’s in our school. As such, WHS will not be seeing … control mechanisms’ that would normally any less of this spicy snack.

with snow days

Abi Cozariuc Staff Reporter

Erika Pogorzelska Feature Editor

Erika Pogorzelska

Though the vending machine is filled with a variety of different candy and snacks that many students enjoy, almost the entire top row of the vending machine in the hallway is filled with hot cheetos. There is also many hot cheetos in the vending machine in the cafeteria, as well as hot cheetos served in the catty shack in the cafeteria and in the school store.

District 214 Twitter has been the hub of students anger when it comes to possible days off being discussed. Twitter blew up with popular memes, angry replies and inappropriate tweets when it was announced that classes would resume the Thursday following a day off even though the weather on Thursday was more adverse.

“On January 6, we started seeing a lot of tweets from students, asking if we had school the following day. Many were asking in clever, sassy ways, such as quoting “Mean Girls” or promising to study if school was called off. We responded with some sassy responses, and soon, started to see more positive interaction from the students. The next day, January 7, students began asking again if school would be called off for January 8. When we posted that school would reopen, many of the student tweets became negative and inappropriate,” Jennifer Delgado, district media manager, said.

Now, when District 214’s Twitter is updated with tweets that may anger students, there will be a follow up tweet asking them to make appropriate comments.

“We want to hear from students, and respond when we can, but we can’t do that when the line is crossed,” Ms. Delgado said.

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6

Focus

Top 12 most popular electives of the 2014-2015 school year

1. Foods 1

2. Sociology 1 & 2

3. Spanish 2

4. Practicing Early Childhood 1

5. Graphic design

6. Human Growth and Development

7. Art 1

8. Foods 2

Megan Provost Co-Editor-in-Chief After the long, grueling, demanding nine months that are junior year, one wouldn’t blame a kid for treating him or herself to a few study halls and a lunch here or there in their senior schedule. The student earned it, right? Wrong. Or at least according to some students. The debate over whether or not senior year is a critical year in a student’s success lives on as more opportunities are offered to students to make their senior year productive and worthwhile.

According to Dr. Rick Watson, counselor, the rigor of one’s senior year is primarily dependent on one’s post-high school plans. While a less demanding schedule may be sufficient for one student, a student looking to get into highly selective and competitive colleges and universities may opt for more of a challenge.

“Colleges may not look at your grades, so that can also be a benefit, because maybe your grades won’t be as high, but you already got accepted, but they see your course rigor, and if they see that you just slacked off they’re not going to want you,” Meghan Aguayo, junior, said.

Aguayo’s junior year reflects her challenge-oriented attitude, as do her plans for next year. Currently a three-AP student, Aguayo plans to take AP literature, AP government, AP studio art and a replacement for what was initially AP European history, which was cut due to low enrollment (see below). Aguayo develops her schedule keeping in mind her interests, abilities, and potential college majors.

“I feel like you do what you want to do, but for me I’m trying to take into account how the colleges are going to view it,” Aguayo said.

Many other students, such as Katherine Kowalski, junior, main-

10. Law and the Individual

tain a similar mindset to Aguayo, senior, was planning her senior year, designing their schedules to appeal she made sure to take into account and apply to interests and colleges. her experience with her class load Kowalski, who is currently taking junior year in addition to her activithree AP classes and one college ties and time management skills. class, developed her junior and A four-AP student junior year, senior schedules to focus on STEM Figueroa started out senior year classes in order to work towards her with four APs as well, but has since potential career in engineering. dropped to only three due to the “They’re like the basic core class- overwhelming workload. es. The internships obviously help, “My time management has been and the engineering courses are so much better because junior year, really good at this school because I knew how hard it was to manage no one else really all this stress and all has that leg-up these activities and like we do. And all these AP classes, nanotech, obviso now that I have ously, because senior year, and I it’s an experience still have about the no other high same coursework schoolers really and activity level, get, so it differSomething people I feel like I have a entiates you,” need to realize is that better grip on my Kowalski said. management just because a col- time Next year, to the point where lege says yes to you I even have a job Kowalski plans because of your first now,” Figueroa said. on taking five AP classes in Figueroa has 3 years of high school addition to POE, doesn’t mean that reaped the benefits nanotechnology, of a rigorous class two internships, a they can’t take it back load by gaining and that your last admittance into job, and track in year doesn’t count.” the University of the spring.

“High Illinois Chamschool’s a tiny Carolina Figueroa paign-Urbana on a portion of your scholarship senior full-ride life. If you don’t and the University get into the colof Illinois Chicago leges you want with some scholarand get the scholarships you want, it ships. kind of impacts your entire future,” “It’s paid off that I’ve been so Kowalski said. involved with AP and extracurKowalski, once a three-sport riculars and managed to keep sane,” athlete, had to quit volleyball and Figueroa said. gymnastics this year in order to Still, some students simply accommodate a rigorous schedule. endure the heavy class load out of However, Kowalski is not alone: necessity. Irene Cruz, senior, moved many students have to factor in to Oregon at the beginning of her extracurriculars when choosing their junior year. Upon moving back, classes, whether it be fitting the she found that many of her credits classes to the activities or dropping didn’t transfer, which led to her havactivities to better manage a heavier ing to repeat the classes her senior class load. year.

When Carolina Figueroa, “I just had to think about what

“

I needed and what I wanted, but I didn’t have enough time or space in my schedule to get what I wanted, so now it’s all things I have to take and no electives,” Cruz said.

This year, Cruz juggles four AP classes and her English credit in addition to the physics and drivers education credits she had to retake.

Her advice to juniors: “Don’t take it too easy but don’t take it too hard, because if you take it too hard and you’re loading yourself with so many AP classes and then you don’t have enough time to just relax and enjoy your last year, but if you take it too easy, you’re not going to be prepared for college.”

Elizabeth Delgado, social sciences teacher, shares Cruz’s sentiment of balance: “Yes, I think seniors should take AP classes so that they’re better prepared for college, but at the same time I don’t think they should overwork themselves so that they could enjoy that final year right before they go off and start to take things a little bit more seriously.”

process of writing out a proposal.

The proposal includes information such as what would be the course of study and expectations that need to be approved before it can be introduced to students. If a class is approved then it needs to have students enrolled, which for an elective would mean having to recruit enough students until the class isn’t in danger of being cut.

Various classes exist that have been approved by the school, but they aren’t necessarily offered to students every year. Some classes rotate and are offered every other year, while other classes are cut from the curriculum that year simply due to low enrolment.

“Mr. Hammond was a great help, especially when I needed classes to fill credits,” Sunem Arreola, junior.

“There were some medical ones, I had to do some requirements, and I picked some of my own,” Anthony Delgado, freshman.

“I’m going to pick my required classes. Also, classes that go towards my career,” Lupe Chihuahua, sophomore.

“I will probably be taking my general eds, and I’m not sure which specific ones for political science,” Jameson Kring, senior.

“Students should think of what will benefit them, not only education-wise but their future endeavours,” Bruce Males, Help Desk Asst.

Jean Pabon

prior to graduating high school,” certain score on the AP test in order Dan Weidner, director of career and to get the credit offered by colleges technical education at Forest View, for that course. said. Currently, D214 students have “Research shows that if a student three main ways enters college with This school year, District 214 to obtain college 15 or more credits, juniors were exposed to the innova- credit: AP exams, they are twice as tive new educational program that dual credit courses likely to complete is the Power of 15, six dual-credit with Harper, and a four-year colcourses offered at D214 high schools passing a Harper lege program as a through Harper in which students exam after a D214 student who does are able to receive up to three hours class. The Power not,” Weidner said.

Anytime you’re lookof transcripted Harper credit per of 15 initiative Another difclass. These credits can then be offers six new dual ing at a college, you ference lies in the transferred directly to Harper or to credit classes that, should call and say, recognition of many in and out-of-state universitogether, add up to programs. AP ‘I’m thinking about both ties. With the end of the school 15 hours of tranclasses are run by taking these classes; the College Board year nearing and schedules being set scripted Harper would this be accept- and, therefore, in stone for the 2015-2016 school college credit. ed? Would this credit are recognized year, many current juniors have Both Power of found themselves caught between 15 and AP classes be accepted?” both nationally whether to get ahead in their college offer students and internationexperience through the traditional opportunities to ally. Power of 15 Angela Sisi advanced placement (AP) route or obtain college classes, however, Principal because they are the Power of 15: how does one class credit hours while differ from the other? What’s one still in high school. run through class offering that the other doesn’t The primary differHarper College, have? ence, it seems, is are widely recogApparently, not much. how that credit nized throughout “The Power of 15 is an initiative is obtained. In the Power of 15 Illinois, but not necessarily across between Harper College and High classes, a student must get a C or the country.

School District 214 to help increase above in order to get three hours of The new courses, selected due to the number of students who obtain transcripted Harper credit. In AP their transferability and compliance 15 hours of early college credit classes, however, one must achieve a with general education requirements

Megan Provost Co-Editor-in-Chief

personal choice or electives 14%

graduation requirements 61%

free 3% career focus or pathway 22%

“ You need to find that space between the hard and the difficult where you can handle it, but you’re still pushing yourself, and that way you have enough time to do what you want, but colleges still see that you’re trying hard in high school, and that’ll give you more experience,” Irene Cruz, ‘15.

Brian Hauck, social science teacher, was supposed to teach AP Euro until the class was cut from the curriculum. The class was cut recently, We often think of high school about 2 to 3 weeks ago. Mr. Hauck as a time where we can expand our was given the enrollment for the skills, knowledge and character. class which at the time happened to Various clubs, activities, and elecbe 10. This number was too low for tives exist to help with the process, a class to be offered and Mr. Hauck but sometimes it’s just not possible asked APUSH classes if anyone was to have everything available to us. interested. 10 other students signed Not everything can be supported at up, but it didn’t necessarily end well. once and certain classes have to get “When students went through cut from the curriculum. their schedules to finalize them as WHS has seen various classes far as what their electives were it come and go. So far the classes that wasn’t enough.” Mr. Hauck said. have been cut this year include AP In order for there to be a new Environmental Science, AP Euroclass offered in the curriculum pean History, and Creative Writing. teachers have to go through a

How did you choose/ are you choosing your classes for the upcoming school year?

Power of 15 vs. AP: which credit goes where?

Quote That

Lack of resources, enrollment leads to cuts in elective classes

7

Focus

March 6, 2015

Senior year: taking it easy or finishing strong?

Max Piasecki Staff Reporter

9. Photography

March 6, 2015

Nelson Hernandez

Percent of students who say these types of classes make up the majority of their schedule this year.

While Mr. Hauck is disappointed that he couldn’t teach AP Euro, he understands the reasoning behind it.

“There’s only so many resources a school has and if you don’t have enough students it’s very expensive to run a class of ten kids or five students, so the school has to choose how to use its staff, its teachers, and resources” Mr. Hauck said. He looks forward for next year so that he can offer the class for the following year.

Mr. Hauck plans on finding a way to recruit enough students throughout the process so that the class can be offered to all students.

Power of 15

“

Both

at many universities, are currently being offered to juniors for their 2015-2016 senior schedule.

The difficulty of the classes, according to Ms. Sisi, “lies within the content.” For example, AP English literature requires a heavy amount of reading in addition to some writing, whereas the Power of 15 English course is more writing-based and still requires reading, just not with the intensity of the AP class.

“You need to go into the level that’s going to challenge you, because when you go into college, you’re going to be challenged,” Angela Sisi, WHS principal, said.

“To me, there’s no short-term benefit to AP classes because even if you don’t get the credit, you’re challenged in the curriculum. If you’re successful in the class, even if you don’t get the score on the AP test, you still took a college-level class in high school in order to prepare for college, so there’s no downfall there.”

The same mentality applies to the Power of 15.

“Even if you’re taking the class and it’s hard and you’re struggling and you only get that C, you just took a college-level class in high school,” Sisi said.

AP

Recognized primarily in Illinois

College-level classes

Nationally/internationally recognized

Credit awarded by passing class

Offer college credit in high school

Credit awarded by passing test

Regulated by Harper College

Accepted by most colleges and universities

Regulated by College Board

Preferble to students new to or struggling with AP

Preferable to students already on the AP track

11. AP Psychology

12. Computer Programing Info provided by Tom Scotese

Katie Chong

8

La Voz

marzo 6, 2015

Nueva generación se hace presente en la pantalla grande Aidé Hernandez La Voz Editor

esperanza de recibir una educación y ser más grande que los estereotipos que Desde que éramos niños chicos existen sobre los latinos. acostumbramos ver a el actor

Demuestra la experiencia George Lopez como un personaje de de cuatro niños que asisten a la comedia. Nos hacia reir en formas que preparatoria y deciden formar un grupo simplemente, solo aquellos quienes de ingeniería robótica. El grupo tiene somos Latinos comprenden. Aunque su meta de ultimadamente concursar en este año logró tocar los corazones de los una competencia de ingenieria aquatica. latinos en una forma muy prevalente el Aunque no tienen la facilidad ni los dia de hoy, un sistema de apoyo para los recursos para competir en el mismo estudiantes inmigrantes. nivel que otras escuelas.

En la película, Spare Parts

Se destaca el tema de la Lopez toma el papel de un maestro valentía y la necesidad del esfuerzo en sustituto en una escuela mayormente equipo para brindar un cambio en la latina. Se demuestra como un mentor comunidad hispana. para un grupo de cuatro estudiantes Muchas similaridades entre Spare indocumentados quienes tienen la Parts y Stand and deliver se han hecho

a través del tiempo que ha estado fuera la película. Las dos peliculas demuestran la determinación de las nuevas generaciones latinas dentro de los Estados Unidos. Aunque también se puede ver como la opinión de la sociedad latina a cambiado en los estados unido como han también cambiado las políticas de inmigración.

Todo en todo la película es una gran inspiración, no solamente para aquellos que son indocumentados, pero también para los que vienen de familias de inmigrantes. Demuestra que en verdad la comunidad latina a reconfigurado la estructura social dentro de los estados unidos.dollignia vendant.

Clases de AP Español Lenguaje y Literatura comienzan preparaciones temas que determine la Junta AP Colegio Las habilidades incluyen:. Escrito ensayo persuasivo, respuesta de correo electrónico, la La Voz Editor lectura, escuchar, leer y escuchar combinado, habla de presentación, y una conversación Karina Piña interpersonal," dijo Castro.

Las clases han comenzado a tomar Staff Reporter pruebas en cual cada aspecto del examen serán estudiados.

Con el principio de la primavera en En comparación con las clases de lenguaje, la vuelta de la esquina las clases de AP la clase de literatura, solo enseñado por la alrededor de la escuela WHS comienzan sus señora Castro, no sólo prueba las habilidades preparaciones para los exámenes de AP cuales básicas si no también es una clase basado de tomarán lugar la primera y segunda semana del contexto de literatura también. mes de Mayo.

"Hay mucho contenido que cubrir, así que Mientras que el tiempo corre, los tenemos menos tiempo para centrarse en el estudiantes de AP literatura española y AP conjunto de habilidades " dijo la señora Castro. español lenguaje no se quedan por detrás.

Mientras que la carga de trabajo puede ser También han comenzado un programa de un poco abrumador, a causa que se tiene que preparación para los dos exámenes AP. analizar lo que se le, los estudiantes no están Como han de saber, las pruebas de AP solos. son muy diferentes a aquellas de cada dia. La "Vamos a tener varias sesiones de estudio prueba de AP ofrece créditos universitarios. después de la escuela y los sábados como día de Esto es, asumiendo que el estudiante reciba enfoque para la prueba," dijo Castro. una puntuación aceptada por su escuela de El éxito en las clases ayudan a los preferencia. estudiantes junto a sus familias a ahorrar Las dos clases se Españo fueron diseñadas dinero en las clases de la universidad en el para seguir la educación de los estudiantes futuro. hispanohablantes que han logrado un nivel Aunque la mayoría de los estudiantes están de español más avanzado que el de Español tomando la ruta tradicional de aprendizaje a una a cuatro. Aunque ambas clases se centran través del día a día dentro de la clase, varios de alrededor de la fluidez y conocimiento de la los estudiantes han tomado un ruta más difícil lengua de español, AP español literatura y AP para tratar de recibir el crédito. Esto es el caso español lenguaje, tienen varias características de Abraham Barrantes, senior. Barrantes no diferentes. esta en la clase durante el año, pero planea La clase de Español lenguaje, es enseñado tomar la prueba con el resto de los estudiantes. por la Señora Maria Rivas y la Señora Rebecca "La razón por la que no tomé la clase fue Castro. "Estamos haciendo preparación para porque no se ajustaba a mi horario, pero sigo el examen de AP durante todo el año” dijo la teniendo la prueba porque soy muy fluido Señora Castro. en español, estoy trabajando con la señora Adicionalmente, la prueba no es un examen Castro para practicar la lectura y la escritura, estrictamente basado en escritura y lectura. " dijo Barrantes. Varios estudiantes también También prueba las habilidades de escuchar y han decidido tomar las dos clases y los dos hablar” exámenes en un solo año.

“Esta prueba es principalmente una prueba basada en competencias, aunque practicamos las habilidades a través de los seis

Aidé Hernandez

foto cortesía de Rebecca Castro

Mientras que muchas clases se dedican a estudiar todo sobre los libros, las clases de Español incluyen educacion sobre la culutra latina. La foto incluida arriba, demuestra una ofrenda que cnstruyeron los estudiantes de Español en memoria y conocimiento de los 43 estudiantes desaparecidos en Iguala.

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9

Entertainment

March 6, 2015

Sweats v. Suits: Does it matter how you dress for school?

Left: Dena Farag, junior, says she feels there is no need to dress up for school. “Leggings make me comfortable so I’m going to come to school in what makes me comfortable. I really like the way I dress because it makes me feel good.” Right: Carolina Figueroa, senior, Brittany Racky and Rossy Peralta, WHS ‘14 graduates. Figueroa combines styles of girly and hipster in her outfits. She represents herself with each outfit.

and uncomfortable.

On the other hand, Carolina Figueroa is Shailah Magallon the complete opposite. She considers her style Staff Reporter as being feminine and somewhat “hipster”.

Like Giyo, her style represents her as well, There’s no doubt that WHS might which is girly and laid back. She dresses to fit possibly be the most diverse school in the her moods- she has days where she decides to district. With that being said, it’s no surprise take a few more hours of sleep and just wear that WHS students have all different style sweatpants, but most of the time she puts for different reasons. For school, Bella in effort to dress nicely to school. With her Giyo, junior, wears casual clothing to feel style, she enjoys playing with the elements of comfortable whereas Carolina Figueroa, formalwear with loungewear. senior, puts in a bit more effort to showcase “I make this board on pinterest where like her style and who she is.

I put all my ideas. So, I really do combine Almost everyday, Giyo comes to school it because I am a very girly yet lazy person.” wearing sweatpants or any type of loungewear Figueroa said. to be more comfortable, which make sense As for feedback, she gets a lot of since one can get uncomfortable sitting down compliments for her style, usually on days in a desk for eight hours. Though she likes where she dresses up. Like many girls, how she dresses, Bella claims that people Figueroa has a hard time picking out her complain about it, but is quick to brush it off. outfit for school. To make things easier and “Every once in a while I am in the mood save time, she plans out her outfit the night where I wanna dress up, but most of the time, before.

I’m just never in the mood and I don’t want to She believes that people have their own do anything.” Giyo said. personal style that no one else can really pull Despite what other people think, sweats of. Although she doesn’t have a problem with and hoodies are a clear representation of her the way other people dress, the only time she personality, which is laid back and easygoing. feels opinionated is when people dress up, but Even though she dresses down, she encourages complain about the fact that they had to dress people who do have the will to dress up to do up. just that.

“It comes to this point in my life where I’m “Go for it, I mean it’s pretty cool because just like, you know, I am a feminine person, I they actually have the motivation to do it. I dress feminine because I want to, not because always give them a lot of props.” Giyo said.

I wanna impress anyone, so it’s more like an But she does think that there is a fine line independent attitude.” Figueroa said. between dressing up and dressing way too Sweats or skirts, it doesn’t matter as long much. She feels as though dressing too nicely as you’re being true to who you are and isn’t necessary for school since students come comfortable with what you wear. Both girls for eight hours a day to study and then going have proven that your style does shows a part back home, resulting in them being exhausted of you, but that it is not all you.

Big Sean drops new album, “Dark Sky Paradise”

Chris Alvarado A&E Editor

Big Sean released his third studio album, “Dark Sky Paradise,” on Feb. 24 under the famed record label GOOD Music, founded by Kanye West. The album features big artists like Drake, Lil Wayne and Kanye West himself. Big Sean has gained popularity over the past few years with hit songs like “Mercy,” “Clique,” and “Don’t Like,” all from the GOOD Music compilation album, “Cruel Summer.” “Dark Sky Paradise’s” songs are raw, powerful and show a stronger side of Big Sean. He raps about his roots, emotions and manages to add songs that are just purely fun.

The album opens with the song “Dark Sky (Skyscrapers).” It is similar to Jay-Z’s song “Holy Grail” because of the emotion and powerful lyrics poured into his first track on an even more powerful album. “Blessings featuring Drake,” the second track,

literally speaks about Big Sean’s blessings and his rising from rags to riches. Kanye and Big Sean go back and forth in “All Your Fault” with lyrics like “My life is a little luck, a lot of grind” that speak directly to their struggle to achieve fame in the music industry.

“Dark Sky Paradise’s” first single and most popular song, “IDFWU,” is certified platinum. “IDFWU” is entertaining, enjoyable and a definitely the most memorable song. Featuring California rapper E-40, the song samples DJ Rogers’ “Say You Love Me One More Time.” The star studded list of producers included MikeWillMadeIt, DJ Mustard and Kanye West.

Big Sean carries songs on his own without featuring major artists and some are the best on the album. Songs like “Paradise (Extended),” “Win Some, Lose Some” and “Stay Down” feature only Big Sean.

These songs, while underrated and not the most known, are the most powerful and best on the album.

Big Sean manages to carry them on his own which only shows his skill at rapping and in the music industry.

“One Man Can Change the World,” the second to last song, is an emotional ballad that shows Big Sean’s emotion and he sings candidly about his roots. He raps “My grandma told me if you write your name in stone you’ll never get the white out” and it ends with the voice of his grandmother on the phone saying “Thank you for calling me, been thinking about me” and him responding “It’s all good, I love you grandma.” He references her frequently to emphasize the maternal role she took while he was growing up in Detroit. “One Man Can Change the World” is sensitive, passionate and shows a different side of him.

“Dark Sky Paradise” is Big Sean’s best albums.

The raw talent, emotion and passion he clearly shows in each track is impressive. Big Sean is definitely an artist who will go far in the music industry; he is an “Dark Sky Paradise” was released on Feb. 24 by GOOD Music and Def Jam records. Critics have given it positive reviews since and it’s first single, “IDFWU” has already gone platinum. artist to watch and remember for years to come.

Picks of the month: March

Information collected by Chris Alvarado

Empire

TV Show

“Empire” premiered earlier this year on Fox and has gained great reviews from fans and critics alike. The show follows the life of hip hop mogul, Lucious Lyon, and his family, as he picks between his three sons to take over his record label after he dies. The show features dynamic characters, surprise twist endings and excellent writing.

Focus

Movie

If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late

Album

Drake released his fourth mixtape on Feb. 13 which contains 16 songs plus one bonus track. “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” hit number one on the US Billboard 200 Chart and has received acclaim from critics. The nearly 70 minute mixtape features songs with Lil Wayne, Travi$ Scott and PartyNextDoor.

“Focus” is a dark romantic comedy starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie who also starred in “The Wolf Of Wall Street.” Smith plays a con artist who, in the middle of a scam, is reunited with a woman from his past (Robbie) who is now an accomplished con artist herself.

Crossy Road “Crossy Road” is described as an “endless arcade hopper game” in which you control a chicken hopping across roads and dodging obstacles in it’s way.

“Crossy Road” is free on iPads, iPhones and Android devices.

App

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Forum

Editorial

March 6, 2015

Lights out: Lack of participation in conservation efforts On March 28, 2015, from 8:30 P.M. to 9:30 P.M., people and businesses world-wide are encouraged to turn off their lights in support of a global movement to conserve energy.

This hour, called Earth Hour, incorporates over 162 countries. A nice sentiment towards conservation? Yes, but what is this one hour of darkness really doing for Mother Earth?

According to Spokesman, not much. While the idea of coming together for one hour or one day (April 22) as a people living on this planet and working to save our home is a beautiful sentiment, that beauty only lasts so long. Come sunrise the next morning, people will rev up their cars and take their sweet time in their showers and forget every “go

green” promise they had made the day before Honestly...no.

Efforts towards conservation are a great We’re not asking everyone to sit in a way of developing a sense of global comcircle and sing Kumbaya, just think about the munity, but overall make little progress in planet more than 25 hours a year. their true cause: lessening pollutants. Is it too much to ask of people to practice this hour of 7 out of 8 members of environmental and energy conscienceness not the editorial board agree once a year but once a day?

School rules are there for a reason: to be followed ditch day, are all there in print. The students at WHS should all follow these rules, and be more aware of what they are.

With the amount of rules that are stated in the notebook, it would be inferred that all the rules are followed by students, but lately that Kamila Kawa hasn’t been the case. Many students don’t even use their assignment notebooks, they lose them, Forum Editor leave them at home, or have never received one.

At the beginning of every school year, “I don’t use the assignment notebook that the students of WHS are given a schedule, a the school provides because I’m in AVID, and school ID, their P.E. shirt and the assignment for AVID we have another way of writing down notebook. The assignment notebook serves our homework and assignments. If I didn’t do many purposes with each schedule on the back it the way we do it in AVID, I wouldn’t be as page, room to write assignments and most organized,” Jasmine Hernandez, sophomore importantly all the school rules. The notebook, said. aside from the day-to day calendar, starts If everyone is given an assignment with sixteen pages of all the school rules that notebook, then every single student should be students have to follow. Rules, ranging from aware these rules and follow them because then the dress code to the cell phone policy to senior there wouldn’t be a point to these rules. Rules

are given for a reason, and although students shouldn’t have every single rule memorized, they should be aware of what is expected of them and all the rules we have to follow.

“I don’t know many rules in the assignment notebook but I do know there is a rule for the dress code,” Zach Boesen, senior said. The dress code rule is a typical rule for most schools, and many schools also have a cell phone policy rule.

“I know all about the cell phone policy rule. I remember that rule since freshman year.

Mrs. Silverman is great at enforcing the ‘no cell phone’ rule. If you have your phone out in her class, she’ll take it away from you and take it right to the dean. Although you get your phone taken away, Mrs. Silverman is following the rules of the assignment notebook,” Zoe Maglaris, senior said.

The rules, that are clearly written in the assignment notebook in fine print, are followed

in Mrs. Silverman’s classroom. While in other classrooms, phones are out, sitting on each desk. In some classrooms, students are allowed to listen to music, use their phone as a calculator and use them for other purposes, if the teacher allows. If not, then the only time to use a cell-phone would be in the commons area or the lunchroom. In some study halls cell phone use is allowed, while in other study halls, it is not.

Rules are given for a reason. To keep students and staff safe, and keep the environment of the school organized without any problems. If there were seminars freshman year dedicated just to going over some or the majority of the school rules, maybe there wouldn’t be as much confusion of rules, less detentions and a safer school environment.

Students need to give their effort and follow these rules, they are meant to protect us.

Splurging on going out drives students to bankruptcy Karina Piña

Staff Reporter Working while still in high school is a balance many of us have to find,

myself included. The stress can be a bit overwhelming at times but the reason we all continue is obvious: the money. Getting a bit of that independence and liberty to spend your money on what you want is an experience we should all have.

Not to be stereotypical, but a huge responsibility comes with that liberty. With a job, money is more readily available. That little desire to go out and buy all those concert tickets or waste all your money on name brand clothes is a reality, and you have an

option to do that.

With available, money useless spending is bound to happen, like getting chips from the vending machine every couple periods or leaving school daily to have your lunch somewhere else. We all know someone who goes out to eat constantly during school, spending money on gas and blowing through checks on different restaurants every day.

“I work 3 times a week after school at Panda Express, and I probably go out to eat almost everyday during school because

I’m tired of the cafeteria food and pizza,” Michelle Puma, senior, said.

Not to say that spending your money on what you want is wrong; money that pertains to you is your business on how you wish to spend it. But as someone who used to leave school daily to go out to lunch, I can personally vouch for how expensive it can be.

It doesn’t seem like much when you’re going about your daily routine but at the end of the month, the total could be surprising; I know it was for me.

Cartoon by Katie Chong

Spokesman Staff 2014-2015 Editors-in-Chief Kelly McKewin* Megan Provost*

Focus Editor Megan Provost

News Editor Kelly McKewin

La Voz Editor Aide Hernandez*

Web Editor Kelly McKewin

Forum Editor Kamila Kawa*

A&E Editor Chris Alvarado*

Sports Editor Patrick Ryan*

Feature Editor Photo Editor Erika Pogorzelska* Jean Pabon*

Staff Reporters Abi Cozariuc Jacob Sweetow Josie Levin Karina Piña Marco Mateos Sulayman Qazi Max Piasecki Miranda Raimondi Shailah Magallon Zalman Faltushanskiy Graphics Nelson Hernandez

*Staff members with asteriks are members of the Editorial Board

Adviser John Uhrik Cartoonist Katie Chong Josie Levin Photographer Anna Markiewicz

This is the official student newspaper of Wheeling High School, 900 S. Elmhurst Road, Wheeling, Ill. 60090. Written, edited and distributed 8 times a year by advanced journalism classes, independent studies and other interested and qualified students. Produced by using desktop publishing and is printed by Son’s Enterprises, Inc., Skokie Ill. Mailed subscription $15 per year.

are encouraged to contribute letters to the staff in room 137 or mail them in care of WHS. All letters must be signed. Letters may be edited for length, style, possible libel, clarity, and adherence to our publication policies.

Spokesman’s mission is to report the news objectively and truthfully. We will print any known errors here in the issue following our gaining knowledge of the error.

Letters- Spokesman is a Advertising- For information, limited public forum and call (847) 718-7114 Mondaywelcomes a free exchange of Friday 7:25 a.m. to 2:50 p.m. ideas from all readers. Readers

CorrectionsNone

Sports

March 6, 2015

Baseball works, competes who will be a Utility Starter for us in the infield and outfield,” Jason Wieder, head coach, said.

Staff Reporter Coach Wieder’s goals for the team are to improve fundamentally from last season, compete everyday in practice and in The 2014 Wildcat Baseball games, come together as a team team put up more wins than that cares about each other and any Wheeling team since t996. the product we are putting on This year, the team will look to the field each day, and to be build on that success. over .500 and secure the first The team is returning winning season since the late more than half of its start1980’s. ers from last year. Christian Some big games will be “My goal for our Hubbard, junior, (catcher), against conference rivals Buffalo team is to come to Martin Falkiner, senior, (third Grove and Hersey. Last year, baseman), and Matt Vollmer, the team swept BG and split every game and senior, (second baseman) with Hersey. Another important practice ready to will be back on the diamond matchup will be against Prosalongside the three returning compete as hard as pect who is coming off a third All-Conference players: Jake place finish in state summer. we can,” Jordan, senior, (outfielder and “My goal for this team is to pitcher), Brenden Spillane, secompete every day in practice. nior, (outfielder), and Nathan If we learn to compete hard Alex Khatcherian, Cooney, senior, (shortstop and against one another in practice

junior pitcher). and truly have the desire to “New impact players will win, that will then translate be outfielder Alex Khatcherian into the field into games,” Alex who saw some varsity time as a Khatcherian, junior said.

Sophomore last year, FreshWith a plethora of returning man Drew Roberts who led our team in hitting talent and some key additions to the team, WHS this Fall, Brian Lorey and Ryan Caulfield who baseball has all of the pieces in place to make a will join our starting rotation and Max Chung historic run this year.

11

Jacob Sweetow

“

Teresa Correa

2014 Season Stats Record: 14-21 Team Batting Average: .269 Team On Base Percentage: .358 Earned Run Average: 3.09

Batting Average Leaders: Brenden Spillane: .389 Nathan Cooney: .381 Earned Run Average Leaders: Nathan Cooney: 1.58 Brian Lorey: 2.95 Teresa Correa

Top: Jake Jordan, senior, moments away from catching a ball at first base during practice in the field house. Bottom: Anthony Carrillo, junior, runs at top speed during an outfield drill to catch the ball.

Girls track kickoff in the fifty five meter hurdles, and Talken in the pole vault.

Staff Reporter Individuals in third place in their events included Aurora Mala, senior, in the eight At the Wildcat Relays track meet held hundred meter run and Leon in the two February 28 at WHS, the girls track team came hundred meter dash. in third overall. The Wildcats scored 88 points, In 4th place was Mala in the sixteen which is very much improved from previous hundred meter run event, and Terrell in the years, according to Tim Nowicki, head coach. long jump. Bedoya, Figueroa, and Dammeier all Several individuals also competed very well. came in the four by four hundred relay. Bedoya In first place in their events were Alanah also came in sixth in the 400 meter dash.

Greenburg, senior, for shot put, and Timber “We had we had a lot of top veterans Terrell, sophomore for triple jump. In the unavailable for the meet and a lot of younger fifteen hundred meter relay, Yailene Leon, athletes really stepped up, filled holes left by freshman, Ana Figueroa, Hailey Dammeier, veterans.” Nowicki said. and Ashley Talken, seniors, came in first as According to one of those younger athletes, well.

Karolina Barcarcel, freshman, “It was cool Several girls from the track team also came watching the meet cool hosting it seeing how in second place in their events. This would be good everyone was.”

Dammeier in the high jump, Figueroa in the The girls next compete March 5 vs. hundred meter run, Diana Montesinos, junior, Mundelien.

Josie Levin

Hailey Dammeier, Maria Bedoya and Aurora Mala, seniors, warm up during practice. “We had we had a lot of top veterans unavailable for the meet and a lot of younger athletes really stepped up, filled holes left by veterans.” Tim Nowicki, head coach, said.

Sports Volume 51 Issue 6

March 6, 2015

Upcoming Events

Girls Track and Field: Tuesday, March 10 at Glenbrook South.

Girls Water Polo: Tuesday, March 10 at Deerfield Boys Water Polo: Tuesday, March 10 at Maine East

Wildcat athletes take their talents to state Wrestling

Boys Swimming

Courtesy of Daily Herald

Courtesy of Daily Herald

Jake Noel, junior, checks the scoreboard for his time after finishing the 100 yard back at the IHSA state tournament. “I’ve been to meets as big, but not with necessarily as much pressure put on me,” Noel said.

Tulga Zuunbayan, junior, locks up his opponent at the IHSA state wrestling tournament. “It felt good actually wrestling my own weight instead of having to cut weight,” Zuunbayan said.

less about making the cut and making it to state.

There was still pressure, but state is about just performing as best you can.”

Staff Reporter For J. Noel and Loquercio, this marked While temperatures outside continued to their second state meet in a row, and the third drop lower and lower this past weekend, the pool for K. Noel. This year, according to J. Noel, at New Trier was only heating up with all-star Coach Schwager changed his practice styles and action. provided extra training for the swimmers’ legs.

Four Wildcats competed at the IHSA state “We did a lot more kicking than we did boys swimming meet at New Trier High School previous years, so our legs were a lot more on February 27-28. Jake Noel, Kyle Noel, and used in our races,” J. Noel said. “It helped a lot Justin Loquercio, juniors, along with Landon considering that swimming is more than 50% Lockwood, senior, finished 32nd in the 200kick; the best you’re going to be going is if you yard medley relay and 29th in the 400-yard work your legs more.” freestyle relay. J. Noel finished 27th in the state For Coach Schwager, looking at long-term in the 100-yard backstroke. Nate Reiff, junior, goals proved more important than short-term also qualified but was not able to attend. goals this season, which was reflected in the “Overall I thought we swam well at the Wildcats’ dual meet record of 3-5. meet,” Tod Schwager, head coach, said. “Justin “Our new practices hindered performance [Loquercio] got his best time in the butterfly at dual meets, but as it came to conference and part of the 200 medley, and Jake [Noel] got his sectionals, they started to feel legs more,” Coach best time in the state meet in the 100 back. The Schwager said. “That helped them cut times and relays we knew we weren’t going to do as well, get the state cut.” but Landon [Lockwood] got his best times ever.

Looking to next year, Coach Schwager hopes When that happens, that’s all you can ask for.” to make at least 12th in the state as a team, an After an intense sectional meet, the state admittedly lofty, yet attainable, goal. meet provided a pressure relief.

“The good thing is that the majority of our “I felt at ease at the meet,” Loquercio said. swimmers are juniors, and they should be back “There was pressure to get an improved time, in the state meet next year. It’s the loftiest goal but there wasn’t as much pressure as there was I’ve set for any team, but as long as they stay out, at sectionals because, at sectionals, it’s more or they can make it,” Coach Schwager said.

“I knew I had a tough draw at state but that didn’t come in my mind at all, I was just trying Sports Editor to wrestle my matches as they were.”

Skloot, with a personal record of 31-17 Since the beginning of the season, WHS going into the tournament and wrestling in the wrestling has consistently built their success 106 weight class, faced difficulty as a freshman on a talented varsity team that boasts a variety wrestling mostly older kids, according to of successful athletes, including 3 returning Weiner.

MSL qualifiers and 1 returning state qualifier.

“Mason could have placed, but he wrestled The individual success of two varsity wrestlers, some difficult opponents, including the Tulga Zuunbayan, junior, and Mason Skloot, eventual state champion in his weight class,” freshman, was brought to light when both Weiner said. “His success was a pleasant qualified for and competed in the IHSA state surprise for me as a coach.” wrestling tournament, held Feb. 19-21 at the Skloot, despite losing two matches, is still University of Illinois. proud of his performance.

Zuunbayan, with a personal season record “The tournament was filled with energy,” of 38-1 going into the tournament and Skloot said. “I think that I could have done wrestling in the 152 weight class, faced a better my second match, but what happened difficult draw of opponent in the tournament, happened. All you can do now is learn from it.” according to Neal Weiner, wrestling coach.

According to Weiner, the fact that “Tulga was the third seed in a really tough Skloot qualified as a freshman is a major bracket, and had to wrestle a lot of talented accomplishment in itself. opponents in his matches,” Weiner said. “With “Mason has 3 more shots at the state the way things ended up, it was a perfect storm championship,” Weiner said. “His experience of for a difficult draw.” competing against the eventual state champion While Zuunbayan did not advance out of was great for a freshman.” his bracket, he still wrestled well despite the Both Zuunbayan and Skloot have circumstances, according to Weiner. promising seasons ahead of them, according to “I had to bump up a weight class and it felt Weiner. good actually wrestling my own weight instead “Both of these guys have great potentital to of having to cut weight,” Zuunbayan said. succeed in the future,” Weiner said.

Zalman Faltushanskiy

Patrick Ryan

The cost of winning: how much will athletes pay?

Patrick Ryan Sports Editor

Josie Levin, Patrck Ryan and Jean Pabon

From Little League to the professionals, the pressure is everywhere.

Winning in sports is everything. If you’re not first in the race, you might as well be last.

It doesn’t matter how you get into the winner’s spotlight, just so long as you get there.

These misguided ideas concerning sports in general are actually not too difficult to fathom when looking at prominent sports events from recent weeks.

Take the 2015 AFC Championship game Jan. 18 between the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots. Following the game, the Patriots’ win was clouded by allegations that quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick had cheated by deflating their footballs under the prescribed amount of air pressure, which can let the quarterback can grip the ball easier.

Whether or not the Patriots intended to sabotage the game in their favor remains a mystery. However, this incident, now referred to as the Deflategate scandal, brought light to the fact that even professional athletes and coaches at the highest level of competition can succumb to a human instinct that goes deeper than wins and losses in scorebooks: the natural thirst for competition and the will to win at any cost.

This will is best evidenced by the Biogenesis performance-enhancing drug scandal. Following a DEA investigation that ultimately found

Alex Rodriguez guilty of using HGH, Major League Baseball suspended Rodriguez for the entire 2014 season. On Feb. 18 of this year, Rodriguez apologized to his teammates, coaches, and fans for his actions. While his apology seemed heartfelt, his use of steroids ultimately lost him the respect of many fans who idolized him as a baseball player.

Like the Patriots’ Deflategate scandal, the Alex Rodriguez incident is evidence that even professional athletes are not above bending the rules in an effort to win. These attempts at easy ways out of hard work are sadly becoming more and more prevalent in the sports world today.

The most recent example of “cheating the system” is the Jackie Robinson West Little League team being stripped of its national title after representing the United States in the Little League World Championship in August.

After an investigation by Little League, the team had to vacate all wins because it violated a rule prohibiting the use of players who live outside the geographic area that the team represents. Despite their efforts on the diamond, the Jackie Robinson players were unfairly subjected to the ambitions of adults who bent the rules in an effort to succeed at all costs.

As an athlete myself, sports have always been an outlet for hard work, teamwork and dedication to achieving a goal. When the dedication to achieving a goal is disgraced by the temptations of bending the rules to achieve success, it is the responsibility of those in positions of authority to ensure punishment for those cheating the system.

In light of recent events, it is difficult not to think that idea of competitive sports has lost its integrity, and that winning at any cost has become the new norm. That, however, is not the case. Individuals who attempt to cheat the system over honest, humble, hard work will get caught and receive the punishment they deserve, even if they are a high profile athlete.

Our system still works: there is still honesty and integrity in the world of sports.