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SUPERINTENDENT ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT By Erienne Terpak
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Inside:
aving achieved a legacy of 40 years as a public school educator and administrator, Superintendent of Schools Richard Matkin has announced to the PISD Board of Trustees that he will retire effective Jan. 30, 2015. The superintendent and his many talents will be greatly missed, according to Nancy Humphrey, President of the Board of Trustees. “I will miss him because he’s a man of integrity,” Humphrey said. “He’s an amazing leader, communicator and listener. He respects everyone’s opinion and listens to everyone on both sides of any issue. When someone like that leaves, you’re always sorry to see them go.” Chief Financial Officer Steve Fortenberry finds it difficult to find just one thing he admires most about Matkin. “I would list four or five things,” Fortenberry said. “His sense of humor, the priority he has on his family. If you go into his office, look at the pictures of his granddaughters. He’s always about his grandkids and family. I admire his honesty, his common sense, and his ability to get along with pretty much anybody.” The announcement of Matkin’s retirement received a tremendous reaction, according to Humphrey. “The boardroom was full,” Humphrey said. “There were no spare seats. When I read the announcement, said his name, and said, ‘I’d like to make a motion and get it board-approved,’ everyone in the room jumped up and began cheering, congratulating him for the long time he’s spent in this career.” A graduate from Austin College with both a bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees, Matkin is certified to teach history, math, health and physical education. He was a classroom teacher for a few years before pursuing his career as an administrator and understands all realms of the education department. “I was a teacher-coach for seven years and then went back to school and became a Certified Public Accountant,” Matkin said. “I drove a bus for three years. So when we have a transportation
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Online Read about the various problems faced in the parking lot www.wildcattales.com
POOL CLOSING DELAYS SWIM TEAM PRACTICE By MaryClare Colombo
Photo submitted by Mary Gordon
Richard Matkin, former Chief Financial Officer and current superintendent of Plano ISD smiles for his profile photo. “Richard is a person who is the most down to earth superintendent that I’ve ever worked for,” current CFO Steve Fortenberry said. “He’s been a friend long before I worked for him.”
issue, I get it. That was part of my message this year with teachers, I wanted them to know that I get it.” Having been a teacher himself, Matkin understands what teachers’ jobs are like. “I get how hard their job is,” Matkin said. “That was taught to me by my dad. After he taught me something, he would always say, ‘Have you got it?’ and I would say, ‘I’ve got it, Dad.’” Matkin has been a PISD employee since 2001 and initially joined as the associate superintendent for business services. Under his management, PISD was awarded the distinguished Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting and has also been placed as the highest rank of Superior Achievement in Texas’ Schools FIRST program. “The superintendent wears several different hats,” Fortenberry said. “He’s
Read about different clubs’ efforts to clean up the pond
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Students eat the cookies every Thursday - but what exactly is DECA?
dealing with personnel, curriculum and instruction a lot. School finance is such a big part of any school district’s day to day operations that the superintendent has to be knowledgeable about it and be involved with it.” Matkin was selected as the superintendent in 2012 by the PISD Board of Trustees. After having been named the interim superintendent by the board in January 2012 and running the administration for just shy of a year, they asked him if he would consider becoming superintendent full-time. “It worked out well, I hope, for all,” Matkin said. “We’ve had a good three year run. We’ve opened the three academies and passed the tax ratification election, which raised the funds necessary to keep systems in place and keep us going.”
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Take a look into the Dallas Arboretum
Stroll into the lobby, admire the trophies, saunter past the reception desk and glance out the windows. Pass through the doors and you will see the pool. Near the starting blocks, the grate is broken. There are cracks near the kid pool. Most swimming pools have a grate, which helps water drain. In August, a man fell through one of these grates near the starting section of the pool. As a result, the pool now has to be redone. According to swim coach Philip Wiggins, the city is installing a new gutter system. “We stopped practicing two weeks ago,” Wiggins said. “The city told us to and they run the facility.” Although the athletes were allowed to have one meet at the Plano Aquatic Center, the pool is now closed for an estimated four to six weeks during which the team will practice at Oak Point pools. Senior Kaitlin Dlott is a captain for the girls varsity team. “It’s inconvenient to move to someone else’s pool,” Dlott said. “Our practice hours are cut short at Oak Point and it’s unfortunate that we only get an hour.”
Photo by MaryClare Colombo
The Plano Aquatic Center, where the Swimming and Diving teams practice, is closed due to broken grates. “Coach Wiggins was told it woi;d take four to six weeks,” Dlott said. “We just want to get back to our pool.”
At the PAC, swimmers could practice for an hour and 45 minutes. When the team was in the transition between practicing at PAC and Oak Point, they were not able to swim for a week. Practice at PAC started at 7:15 a.m., and at Oak Point the team has to be in the pool ready to swim at 6 a.m. “The getting up early part is not bad,” Dlott said. “The interesting thing about swimming is, if you take a break longer than a week or week and a half, you’re already way behind. You just can’t perform good times.” Senior Ian Kennedy said that he dislikes the transition to Oak Point because of the earlier starting time. Kennedy finds it difficult to be able to get homework done and get enough sleep.
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Feature
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Being deaf in a hearing school By Stephanee Smith As people linger around whispering and laughing hysterically at a friend’s idiotic behavior, the sweet serenity of silence falls over the room. For the few people who have never communicated using their hearing, they use vision to communicate. These people are a part of deaf culture which consists predominantly of people who share similar social beliefs and the same language – American Sign Language. ASL teacher Jason Curry was born deaf and has been teaching sign language for over 10 years. Growing up, Curry noticed some communication barriers with hearing neighbors and wanted to teach ASL to create a ripple effect of dropping barriers between the cultures. “When hearing people meet someone who’s deaf, they freeze and they don’t know what to do,” Curry said. “I want my students to learn sign language and deaf culture so that they can also educate their friends. I want to continue the education, not just with my kids.” A difficulty of being deaf and teaching several hearing students is that sometimes it may be difficult to understand students who may miscommunicate through sign. Although there may be some
difficulties teaching, it is more beneficial in helping students learn sign language. “By only using vision, it can force our brain to understand the language,” Curry said. “Like you may use your hearing to learn, seeing also forces your brain to learn the different language.” As a result of Curry growing up in deaf culture and traveling across the country, students are able to get a clearer concept of the heritage, as well as the language. This experience gives students the ability to learn sign language in a way that will allow them to appropriately communicate to other people in the deaf community. “I have nothing against hearing teachers who teach ASL, I think they are great,” Curry said. “But it’s different learning from someone who’s involved in deaf culture and learning from someone who has heard about it and teaches it from a book.” Instead of joining Spanish or French class as many students do to complete their two necessary years of foreign language, junior Aaliyah Roberson is currently participating in her third year of sign language. This is the first year Roberson has had Curry as a teacher. “I was excited to be in Mr. Curry’s class, but also nervous because I had never interacted
with someone who was deaf,” Roberson said. “I like the way he teaches because it’s not only speaking or only sign. You get a variety of learning.” In her previous years, when Roberson had attended Clark High School, she experienced a different type of teaching. According to Roberson, there was a significant difference in the two ASL teachers. “It’s a lot different considering she was hearing and he’s deaf, but the teaching was different because she was able to hear and talk to us,” Roberson said. “Mr. Curry can to an extent, so it does strain the relationship between teacher and student, but you find ways around it.” As a result of Curry working at Vines High School the past two years and working full time at Plano this year, many students who attended ASL at Vines had the opportunity to have Curry for the full three years. Senior Kassidy Dickey is among these students. “Well he’s a really good teacher because I passed all three years, and I actually know ASL,” Dickey said. “I wouldn’t say I’m fluent, but I can talk and sign to deaf people. Before being in Mr. Curry’s class I never got that one on one with a deaf person until I met Mr. Curry.” According to Dickey, she had the idea of joining ASL as
THE WILDCAT TALES
an eighth grader participating in a class called HOPE at Wilson Middle School. HOPE offers students the opportunity to reach out and to help mentally disabled students in their classes. “My HOPE student was partially deaf, so I had to teach him some things because nobody really had time to teach him stuff,” Dickey said. “I started reading Photo by Stephanee Smith an ASL book and Curry signs to his class. “I love sharing deaf culture with all students,” Curry said. started teaching him things I language, it just comes to me.” knew. The first thing I taught him After learning about the was how to sign dinosaur and he language as well as the heritage, would always walk around doing Dickey said she had wished there that all day.” would have been another sign ASL with Curry offered several language class for her to take -insights on sign language as well as considering that there are only the culture. According to Dickey, three available. while the class offered many “I would have taken a fourth interesting facts, the class was not year if it was available because always easy. I learned a lot about the deaf “You have to memorize every culture, but not enough,” Dickey sign because you can’t really take said. “I’m still afraid to talk to notes,” Dickey said. “You have deaf people. But I would have to to use muscle memory. After say I would say I have respect for taking the class, I don’t really have deaf people because they have to think about a word in sign their own culture.”
More than just a few melty cookies By Jameriya Owens
Multiple batches of chocolate chip cookies cool on desks while they wait to be packaged. “We end up making about 1600 cookies every week,” coordinator William Mao said.
On an early Thursday morning, there’s a smell in the air everyone knows -- DECA cookies for sale. Young entrepreneurs in the school gather to get a taste of actual financial and business management. Even though the acronym no longer stands for anything, the club’s notoriety remains. Along with selling cookies on Thursdays, the club travels and competes on District, State and International levels. First year DECA member and senior Sloan Estes describes the clubs purpose. “DECA is a great way for anyone who’s interested in owning a business, or maybe marketing,” Estes said. “It’s basically people working together to achieve their business goals.” According to Estes, she has
learned a lot in only a short amount of time in regards to how the club competes. “Basically you go and take a test, and then you do a sort of skit with a judge,” Estes said. “I’d also say Plano is at a disadvantage because most teams have four years of experience to get better, so for how competitive it is we do really well.” All of this is made possible by major sponsors like cookie company, Otis Sputnik. Although unlike last year, cookies are sold on Thursdays. President Garret Michelsen explains the change from last year. “It used to be on Wednesdays because we got our shipment on Tuesdays,” Michelsen said. “Now they deliver our cookies on Wednesdays, so we just bake them
NOVEMBER 6, 2014
Photo by Jameriya Owens
the next day.” After DECA receives the shipments, they get to work baking about 1,600 cookies every week. Senior William Mao is the Director of Fundraising and is in charge of organizing the process. “It’s pretty cool because even if it is just cookies, not many clubs get to run a virtual business,” Mao said. The club continues to allow youth to work together as a team and to inspire some to pursue careers in fields of management. “The biggest lesson for me is leadership and entrepreneurship experience because you really can’t get that anywhere else,” Michelsen said. “And I have learned how to use everyone’s skills to their best advantage and what different tasks they’re best at.”
News
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NOVEMBER 6, 2014
Superintendent announces retirement Continued from p.1
According to Matkin, Plano is the product of administrators, principals, teachers and board members who take their jobs seriously and enjoy what they do. “The board got recognized as the State Honor Board due to the accomplishments we’ve had over the past two years,” Matkin said. “I can truly feel like I’m going out on top, and I’m proud of that. I’m proud of everyone, they’ve done a good job.” When Matkin was named superintendent, he experienced something he feels happens to most former teachers. “One of the biggest thrills is that Plano is such a high profile job, so when I got named, I couldn’t believe I got emails from students I had in the 70s,” Matkin said. “I mean, they’re grown up now. Some of the stories were I drove their bus, one of them took my algebra class, and one of them said, ‘Were you Coach Matkin in the 70s in DeSoto?’” This, however, is not something that is a one-time occurrence. Matkin says it can
Staying Informed By Ariana Leyva
By Erienne Terpak happen to anyone in the teaching profession. “Sometimes my wife and I will go out to eat and someone will come up and ask her if she’s Mrs. Matkin the 1st grade teacher,” Matkin said. “So you understand that you left an impression that was positive. It’s an opportunity to impact lives.” As to the reason for why he is retiring, the answer is simple - family. Photo submitted by Mary Gordon “My wife retired three years ago, and I’d always Called the Team of Eight, the Board of Trustees and Superintendent targeted somewhere Richard Matkin share a smile in a group photo. “He’s great at what he does,” Humphrey said. “We’ll be sorry to see him go.” around 40 years in the business,” Matkin said. activities. My mom is 91 and she’s looking “In my free time, we do just forward to me retiring and being able to about everything as a family. visit her more now. I think the district is We follow the grandkids and go to their in a great position to transition, so it just
seemed like the time to walk away.” According to Fortenberry, Matkin’s retirement will be different than that of past superintendents he has worked for. “Over the years, Richard has accumulated a lot of leave days that he could take off,” Fortenberry said. “I’ve seen past superintendents that were retiring that took a lot of days off, and you didn’t hardly see them again. Richard is a former athlete who believes in finishing the game, and this describes his work ethic.” Having been a basketball player, Matkin used the analogy of a game to describe the final months of his career. “Just because I’ve announced my retirement doesn’t mean I’m not going to do anything,” Matkin said. “I’ll still be a very active member of administration, and I still have a lot to get done. Being in athletics, you play until the last whistle blows, and I’ll work until then before I move on to that next chapter in my life.”
Learn more about this serious disease from staff writer Abigail Werner on wildcattales.com
News
4 THE WILDCAT TALES
NOVEMBER 6, 2014
Injury at pool complicates swim practice
Continued from p. 1 By MaryClare Colombo
“It’s kind of disappointing that even more is being asked of us to get there earlier,” Kennedy said. “We’re already practicing earlier than most sports do. It went from us waking up at 6:15 a.m. to waking up at 5 a.m. and we have to go to bed earlier.” The athletes also have to get their own transportation to Oak Point, which is located in east Plano. The team has the option to be bused back to school or to drive themselves. According Graphic by Ariana Leyva
to Kennedy, practicing at Oak Point complicates transportation for some students. “I drive so it doesn’t affect me,” Kennedy said. “But it’s inconvenient for the Clark kids because they’re bused from Oak Point to Plano, even though Oak Point is right down the road from Clark. They go past their school to get to Plano, then all the way back to their school.” Although the team has to share Oak Point with other people who come to swim in the mornings, Dlott said that the team is keeping up with the change. “We get four lanes and we usually get six,” Dlott said. “It’s really packed in, but our workouts are fine and our timing is fine. We
can’t control that, but we’re making do with what we have. These girls are still working hard despite where they are. As captain, I try to push them every day, whether they like it or not.” According to Wiggins, having to share the pool with the public affects more than the number of lanes, but the team is still practicing hard to do well in this year’s season. “Some of our practices are earlier and shorter due to lane space availability,” Wiggins said. “But these couple of months are very vital to our success in January and February. The team is responding well.” Despite the complications that PAC’s closing introduces and injuries that
swimming often causes, Dlott appreciates the team experience and the sense of community. “You don’t meet people that go through the intense training that swimming is,” Dlott said. “To have that group of people that understands how tired you are and how much you’re putting in really helps.” Kennedy, as the captain of the boy’s varsity team, is also confident about his teams’ success and flexibility this year. “We’re hard workers and we’re determined to represent our school well,” Kennedy said. “We’ll get through it and it’s not going to slow us down. We’re still going to have a great season.”
A school that cleans together, stays together Clubs unite to clean campus landmark By Lizzy Ritchie
Graphic by Ariana Leyva
different club will After lunch, it be working after becomes apparent lunches to pick up that the campus pond trash in an effort has been littered with to clean up the trash. Ducks are getting campus. Student injured and the trash congress is first to around the pond has clean. caused a concern to "Plano has a Senior Class President reputation for a Samer Amous. Amous beautiful campus," and club members from Davis said. "I feel around campus have Photo submitted by Ting-Wei Hsu like the students come together to create a plan to clean the pond Junior member Annie Xu holds on to a fellow should take pride member’s hand while pulling a plastic bag out in our campus. The up each week. conditions of the "Looking at the of the pond. state of our campus, it's not a good school can reflect on the student body." environment," Amous said. "A lot of the Student Congress and its president clubs shot up their hands to volunteer and Aaisha Dossal sold buttons on Stay Day help out." called 'Water for Elephants' to try to raise Amous has worked with Assistant as much money as they could to donate to Principal of Activities Glenn Davis to the pond. create a new project to try to clean up the "The pond is such an icon, I want to see pond. Each week starting in November, a our pond and our campus clean," Dossal
said. "It makes me proud to be part of something like this because I am able to make a difference in my school." Jessica Hong, co-president of National Honor Society, is also helping out with this project with other members. After school on Oct. 17, NHS worked around the campus to make the campus cleaner by picking up trash. "We are working to get more students involved," Hong said. "We want to make NHS more social and make events like this more well-known around campus. I think by having the clubs come together, we can make a difference." This program was not only created to keep the campus looking clean, but to inform the student body. "The pond is a real privilege not many schools have," Davis said. "We have a beautiful campus. Most schools don't have the opportunity to eat outside on a beautiful day. Make an effort to show school pride, and pick up your trash."
Photo submitted by Ting-Wei Hsu
Olivia Beitelspacher, Nichole Cava and Shraddha Maddhan from NHS work together to pick up around the campus.
A push for new class curriculum By Maggie Cross
AP U.S. History, most commonly known as APUSH, has recently experienced unprecedented changes in curriculum. According to U.S. history teacher Jason Barton, these changes have been mostly directed towards the final exam and the course’s content goals. “College Board has done a good job at laying out the foundation,” Barton said. “We feel pretty comfortable about what’s going to be on the exam in terms of what it’s going to ask.” The new curriculum is based on the idea that shifting to AP U.S. History from AP World History or AP European History should be a smooth transition. Barton said the changes are meant to reduce the ‘unlearning’ that students had to do in order to present what the AP U.S. History teacher is looking for in the students’ work. Eventually, the AP World History essay will come to have the same rubric as its U.S. history counterpart. According to Barton, the curriculum won’t be completely changed for six to ten years. “The change didn’t make the course any
harder in terms of content,” Barton said. read chapters, take notes, and do a project “The biggest challenge is less to the students for homework.” To Stevens, AP World History essays than it is to the teacher. The students were mostly don’t know any about knowing different.” the basics of Junior Stacy the events. Stevens has been “In AP a part of the World History, AP curriculum when writing since freshman the data based year, having question taken AP Human essays, you Geography, AP didn’t need World History much outside and now AP U.S. infor mation History. Stevens at all because was surprised to find that APUSH all the was not similar infor mation Photo by Maggie Cross to her previous was in the “APUSH requires a lot of time and effort,” Stevens said. courses. d o c u m e n t s ,” “It’s a ‘teach yourself’ kind of class.” “It’s harder Stevens said. “In time-management wise,” Stevens said. “In the APUSH data based question essays, you AP World History, you would show up need to bring a lot of historical knowledge to class, listen to the lecture, and do the and be able to relate it back to other chapter notes at home. In APUSH, you historical events. It’s a lot more analyzing.”
According to Barton, the course has shifted to become more concept based withless emphasis on specific content. Former Humanities and APUSH student senior Emily Conard claimed that her experience with the course was much different. “You were not supposed to use colorful vocab,” Conard said. “It was very content oriented -- you had to know a lot of facts.” After being informed of the basis of the new curriculum, Conard said the course will be more beneficial to the students now that the curriculum has been altered and individualized. “It will be easier to apply what they learn to America today, unlike the specific facts and events that happened years ago,” Conard said. “The lectures gave classes practice for good note taking and prepared us for college level courses. However, the new individual in-class packets sound like they will give students more control over their grades and individual study habits. I think the change to the APUSH curriculum is a good one.”
Arts & Entertainment
It’s a crapshoot
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THE WILDCAT TALES
How to navigate the school restrooms
Public restrooms are not Our first stop on the tour around known for their cleanness. This campus is D building, home is the main reason why so many to the extremes. The cleanest of my peers avoid the restrooms restroom in the school lies just at this school as if they would behind the stage. However, the nastiest experience contract multiple I have had at a contagious public restroom diseases. While was also in D that fact remains building. It was one to be seen, most dateless weekend students claim in October when they avoid the I walked in, saw restrooms. puddles of raw Sometimes sewage, and walked the price of your out. The poo water morals is too in that restroom high, however, and the zoo-like and you need to smell it let off still go. It has become haunts me to this a skill to know which bathrooms Toilet paper Photo by Ashley Stuber day. Next stop is are safe and clean floats in water beneath a sign the gym, where and which ones that reads, “please flush toilet times.” This toilet is located the restrooms are Chernobyl-like three in B2 building and is therefore are somewhat toxic wastelands. one of the newest on campus.
acceptable. If you really are in a rush, however, it would not be wise to try and cross campus for mediocre restrooms. If you plan ahead that much to make it to a clean restroom, head to D building. Most restrooms are in B building, though, and because so many kids use them, they become danger zones by the end of the day. The restrooms next to the lecture hall are some of the worst I’ve ever seen. It is crowded full of people and mysterious liquids and odors. Paper towels are scattered about every which way. Soap and restroom readers are scarce. There is a constant struggle for artists to keep their graffiti alive on the stalls. Every week, the janitors have to clean up the students sometimes vulgar graffiti. Contrasting this awful and depressing restroom lies an
Tasting diversity By Ella Hunt
a huge, wide selection of groceries on one side and H-Mart a food With court that serves unique and delicious food on the other,
it’s no wonder H-Mart is the most popular Asian market in town. H-Mart lies just along K Avenue and is so huge no one could possibly miss it. Along with a grocery section, it also includes a bakery, clothes store, cell phone shop and many more great parts. It’s a friendly, clean and spacious environment with helpful and kind staff in every section. They have a home goods store on the right side of the store where there are some nifty Korean goods that may not be available elsewhere. There are also two Korean cosmetic stores, a French bakery and several diverse restaurants in the food court with food choices ranging from Korean to Japanese to Vietnamese cuisine. Their food is inexpensive, even with large portions and a welcoming sitting area. It is brought out on several dishes that usually take up the entire table. My One section Photo by Ella Hunt particular favorite was the Shrimp Tempura Udon. It of the H-Mart was delicious and I could definitely tell they took their buffet offers different versions of the same food for time to prepare it. customers to choose from. The only complaint I have is that they have an extremely strange ordering system in the food court. You look at the foods being offered at each stand and then order at one single place and pay for your food. Then, just wait for your number to be called at the food stall that your food is being made from. Basically, you can order from several food stalls and pay at one single place. A bit confusing, but the food is definitely worth it. Inexpensive prices, amazing products and a great location makes H-Mart a tough competitor for other Asian stores. It’s an amazing experience.
acceptable restroom at the threshold of B2 building. This restroom seems to be the largest in the school and while it is used frequently, it retains its respectability as far as public restrooms go. With the exception to the mysterious teachers’ restrooms, there are no laboratories in the downstairs B building. This is a significant problem unless you plan ahead of time to speed run up the stairs. Being the newest building in the school, B2 holds some of the most honorable restrooms. These restrooms are out of the way but if you are looking for a quick fix in B2, they’re okay. There is a wide plethora of choices in A building but most of the options are not appealing. It seems these unworthy collections of toilets are always occupied with
NOVEMBER 6, 2014 By Gabe LaBounty
students avoiding their class. Downstairs in C building across from Cat’s Corner lies a door that leads into a mini hallway, then to another door and finally a restroom. This experience gives Photo by Ashley Stuber you the feeling Paper towels you are walking are scattered through a bomb haphazardously shelter just to around a B building trash use the toilets. can. Students These restrooms leave messes are hidden so like this for the the most used janitors daily. restroom in C building is in the library. No matter how spotless a public restroom may be, if you can hold it, hold it.
one of Indopak Now the largest
Halal supermarkets, Indopak is a small store just off Custer. Indopak has only been open for about three years but it has gone a long way towards becoming The sign outside Indopak advertises what they Photo by Ella Hunt a great spot for eating and sell inside. In addition to being a grocery store, it has a place there where its customers can enjoy their food. shopping. In the cafe, they have a full Halal menu, which I haven’t found anywhere else, and their items are inexpensive and delicious. The staff wasn’t rude, but not very enthusiastic either. The seating area is nice and homey and especially kid friendly. When I went, I ordered Chicken samosas, which were about $1.25, chicken Biryani, Haleem and two naans. The naans were so hot, steamy and delicious -- crispy on the bottom and soft in the middle. The portions were big and the food is yummy and different. In the market section, a lot of fresh produce and, more impressively, a wide range of meats that includes recently imported inexpensive seafood are on display. The area is a tad bit clustered but has a clean and a warm environment. Definitely the only Indian store I’ve been to that has crisp ingredients, a pleasant environment and low-priced goods.
Euro Deli
Although Euro Deli occupies a small space, it packs into it a lot of unique Russian and European products. If you’re American like me and always on the prowl for ethnic foods, this is not a place to miss. Included is a huge selection of deli meats and sausages, produce, frozen items and any other Russian food you may want to try. The owner is very nice and will both answer all your questions and offer suggestions. There is a great selection of typical Russian foods from cheeses to fishes -- fresh smoked and pickled -- to a full selection of Baltika Beers and “Po-Salatka,” or semi-sweet, sparkling wines. Not very much English is spoken here and the labels are mostly in Russian, but the staff is friendly and will definitely help. It’s nice, clean and definitely worth a second visit.
Not-so-secret garden Dallas Arboretum opens fall exhibit
By Torie Brannen crying babies. While there were some incredible gourds Upon arriving I was equipment. immediately greeted by a I counted six elaborate dress-wearing and impressive houses constructed out of pumpkins, the line to get into the crowded Quinceanera celebrators, 18 couples “garden” felt more like an obstacle course. I was constantly swerving around small children crawling arboretum – but my excitement posing on benches and about 30 parents across the wood-chip coated was too present to be bothered setting their children on top ground and trying to avoid by the sun-baked wait. If of pumpkins. being in the backgrounds of the numerous gardens and However, once I looked strangers’ pictures. My goal infamous Pumpkin Village past the swarms of photo upon entering quickly changed were as great as I had heard, takers, I began to thoroughly from trying to enjoy the fall I could understand why there enjoy the arboretum. Each decorations to snapping a were so many people eager to garden was unique and each few pictures and escaping the flower bloomed differently, get in. mayhem as fast as I could. so every second was filled The moment I finally In saying that, I think entered, I understood the Photo by Torie Brannen with something new. From Throughout the arboretum, the Dallas Arboretum is an hype. First, my eyes fell on a the traditional flower beds were decorated with the Woman’s Garden laced opportunity that shouldn’t be grand, colonial-style home with pumpkins in various positions to add fall flavor. with elegant sculptures missed. With the conclusion a fantastic pond and garden to the quiet and secluded of the State Fair, it becomes standing at the entrance. Next, I saw people. People were garden built to memorialize two young girls, a great way to spend the everywhere, but they weren’t looking at the brilliant flowers there was beauty all around. The Pumpkin Village, however, was weekend. However, I would and greenery surrounding them. Instead, they were looking an entirely different experience from the highly suggest going when it’s at cameras. less busy, like during the week, I began to notice that most people weren’t actually calm and peaceful demeanor of the other so you can enjoy all the there to enjoy the scenery and abundance of nature, but exhibits. The small entryway into the Pumpkin People of all ages entered Photo by Torie Brannen flowers, fresh air and fun to take advantage of the photo op. Everywhere I looked, without the craziness of the people were taking pictures of themselves in front of Village was packed with children trying the fall exhibit for the chance to view the crowds. various backdrops, some with their cellphones and some to smuggle the smaller pumpkins under elaborately built pumpkin houses and the accompanied by a professional photographer lugging shiny their shirts and parents trying to console opportunity to take colorful photos of themselves.
Sports
6 THE WILDCAT TALES
Paddling to success
NOVEMBER 6, 2014
Ping pong players compete locally, nationally By Corey Picklesimer Depending on where you see her, senior Safina Hsu can either look like an average girl or a ping pong expert. Since she started playing ping pong in fourth grade, Hsu has won four gold medals in the Junior Olympics and has competed in the Winter Games. Although she has had to sacrifice some practice time for other things, Safina still practices for 30 minutes every day to keep in the right mindset. "I have to practice or else I lose my feeling," Hsu said. "My higher level friend has to practice at least an hour every day or she'll lose her skills. When I was training for the Junior Olympics, I had to practice a lot." Ping pong is a sport that calls for heavy competition. Players who want to get ranked may compete in ladder matches to increase their ratings. Professional level players have ratings at around 2000 and above. Hsu says her ranking is about 1800. Though Hsu loves ping pong, sometimes the heavy competition can be too cut-throat to have fun. "My least favorite part of ping pong is the parents that yell at their kids," Hsu
said. "It gets really competitive because of the parents. It's scary. My parents tell me to practice, but they don't yell at me." To go along with difficult trick shots, ping pong also can cause injuries. Hsu says she cannot play as hard due to a
wrist injury she sustained when she was in the junior olympics. "I hurt my wrist so now the tendons are loose," Hsu said. "It hurts my wrist when I try to lift up my backpack. I should have done my stretches." Although Hsu deviates from the norm because she is a power player, the accepted norm is for women to work on their speed and for men to work on their power. "Our camp has girls work on speed and reflexes, and guys work on how hard they hit," Hsu said. "For guys, whoever is stronger wins. For girls, whoever is Photo submitted by Hsu faster wins. Hsu stares down her opponent at the winter G e n e r a l l y, games in Austin. “During when I’m actually men have an playing I don’t think much,” Hsu said. “I just hit advantage over the ball when its coming.” women in ping
pong because they're stronger." Ping pong player senior Jeffrey Liu has been playing Ping Pong since he was a kid. "Like every other individual sport, you depend on yourself and losing is your fault and no one else's," Liu said. "It is the sport that requires the most attention and speed coordination. Other individual sports seem more focused on strength or physical speed, but not reaction time." Liu said that even casual players can have fun while playing ping pong. "Ping pong is a fun sport and overall is taught me competition and how to have fun," Liu said. "You don't have to have to be perfectly toned like I am in order to play competitively." Hsu recommends that anyone wanting to start playing ping pong should play with friends. She
Kicking and praying
Club celebrates religion, plays hackey sack By Kelsey Campbell
American football originated in 1869. Basketball was invented in 1891. Soccer traces back to 2500 BC. But just 23 years ago, the new American pastime Hackey Sack was created. A recent addition to the club scene is the Christian Hackey Sack Club. This club is filled with a group of junior boys, who identify themselves as Christians. President of the club junior Vinny Wright has been playing Hackey Sack since fifth grade. "I was tired of getting yelled at for playing in the hallways by teachers," Wright said. "So I thought I should make a safe place to play." There are two types of Hackey
Sack – slaps and hax. In slaps, a certain amount of players have to get a touch on the footbag before one player can slap it at another player to get them out. Hax is a more relaxed version where all the players work together to try to keep the sack from touching the ground. "Hackey Sack has always been an interest of mine," Wright said. "I love the game." The core members of the club have been playing Hackey Sack together since freshman year. Long time player junior Jared Bordeaux is one of the members. "We've been dreaming about making it a club for years,"
Bordeaux said. "But this year we finally made it a reality." Club tradition is that the newest member gets to say the opening prayer, but the club is not limited to Christians. There is an open arm policy – anyone can join. "We pray before each club meeting," Bordeaux said. "It really helps us to leave it all on the playing field." The Hackey Sack Club meets every Thursday after school in the cafeteria. The members often take breathers to watch the dance club that practices horizontal from them. "It feels like when we're all sacking nothing else matters," said Bordeaux. "We have really good chemistry."
Photo by Kelsey Campbell
Club members stand in a circle for their weekly pre-practice prayer. “I really enjoy spending my free time with my friends hacking the sack,” junior Kian Newland said. “It really builds character.”
explains that you really don't need to be perfectly fit to have fun. "You don't have to be sporty," Hsu said. "If you're gonna play table tennis you have to practice and have friends that play with you. Find some friends because that's the fun part about it. I've made lifelong friends all over the country and in different countries in general. It's the whole connecting factor." Even though ping pong is recognized as an Olympic sport, Hsu said that some people still fail to realize how challenging it can be. "I get annoyed when people say ping pong isn't a sport," Hsu said. "It's not easy. There is a lot of strategy to the game. There are lots of different spins and rubber pips to go on paddles. You try hitting a ball that's going a hundred miles per hour."
Opinion
Internet Fame 101
By Haley Samsel In case you dropped off the face of the earth for a few days last week, #AlexFromTarget has since taken over the world. Although Alex is admittedly less of a threat to mankind than ISIS, the DFW-area teenager inspired a Twitter frenzy after a photo of him bagging groceries in his Target uniform went viral. The hashtag #AlexFromTarget took less than a day to trend worldwide, attracting the attention of celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres as the real life Alex attracted over 500,000 followers on Twitter. Alex isn’t the first teen to gain fame for doing virtually nothing -- remember Nash Grier? -- and he surely won’t be the last. Here’s our handbook to achieving world domination, otherwise known as Internet fame.
Step One: Get ‘the Bieber’
Take one look at the most popular male Vine stars. Notice anything besides their crude sense of humor and notorious love of sponsored videos? Ah, yes -- their haircuts. While there have been some variations on the Justin Bieber ‘do over the years, the classic cross-forehead bangs and constant hair flips have remained a staple of insecure teens everywhere. Vouch for this look and your follower count will grow with each calculated hair
Step Two: Incorporate ‘Bae’ Into Vocabulary
What’s an Internet star without a complete disregard for the workings of the English language? Leave the grammar Nazi tendencies behind in favor of words that look like typos -- “bae” instead of “babe,” “v” instead of “very,” “bc” instead of “because.” Forget grades and a realistic future -- the slim possibility of living a life of selfies and soundbites awaits you.
Step Three: Forget Definition of Modesty
Self-promotion is the bread and butter of social media stars. Not a minute can go by without a tweet or a snap reminding your followers of your existence and, most importantly, validating your ability to take an attractive photo of yourself in the bathroom mirror. If Bieber’s popularity is any indication, one can never take too many shirtless pictures next to a smiling baby or a strategically placed kitten.
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Filling the hourglass By Lydia Sebany On Oct. 16, I began what is my last year of childhood. When I realized this at the end of my birthday, it felt like a five pound red brick had just smacked me in the face. All of the older, ancient people in my life warned me to enjoy every last bit of my childhood, because of how short lived it would be, but I didn’t listen. When I would hear that, all I could think about was how many years left until I could drive, go to the mall by myself, and even get a job. Looking back I wish I had been able to have a talk with my younger self. I would have told her that it’s okay to hold our dad’s hand, because now it just feels weird. Or that no one is going to think any less of me if I wear pink every single day. I would tell myself to enjoy holding my little brothers and sisters when they were as light as feathers and the only thing they wanted was to feel my warm arms. I would tell her all of the things I regret not doing when I had the chance. When I was about 8-years-old and heard the word "college", I instantly associated it with something that was far away, distant enough that I didn't know how to picture it in my mind. Even my
freshman year, I never expected for college to be such a pressing subject. I would soon learn that college applications and the SAT were right around
Graphic by Ariana Leyva
the corner, waiting for me. Knowing that I can only take material things to college, I am scared to be separated from what has to stay home. My ambition, clothes, and pictures of the good ol' days will accompany me to some degree and serve as the glue that will keep the old me together. But I know it will be different once I won't see the smiles on my siblings' faces, or look forward to seeing my mother after a long, hard week. Whenever the interaction between my dad and I seems minimal, I can't help but hang on to the short "how was your day's", because I know that one day they will be gone forever. I don’t want to embark
on an extreme journey this last year to find the fountain of youth or feel like every day that passes will have been taken away from me. I want to carry on with a backpack full of all the wisdom that has been collecting for all of these seventeen years. It won’t be the end of something great because I will still have my wonderful friends and family when the timer goes off. This alarm will not discontinue the life I have shaped for myself – it will tell me that it's time to change my mindset. I am glad to say that my childhood was a pretty good one. There were some ups and downs, but when you look at the big picture, it has been painted beautifully. If anything, I want to make this year as memorable as when I got my first phone at age 12, or the first time I went camping and realized how nature could be graceful in all of its forms with its companions in the trees and the ground. I look forward to creating more experiences with the power to change how I feel the world around me. I don't know what is going to come in the future and how busy I will end up being. But I know one thing – that the sand is almost done filling up its end of the hourglass.
Step Four: Endanger it for the Vine” has Step Five: Complete Transformation Into Cyborg lost popularity in the Life ‘For the Vine’ past year, the mystical You’ve now lost the ability to speak coherently, hold a phone without snapping While the phrase “do
philosophy remains a potent formula for Internet fame. Friends want to climb out of the sun roof on an empty road? Done. Thinking about spooking random Walmart customers? Get on it. Morals are irrelevant in the game of Internet fame -- whoever you offend can be “apologized” to later.
a photo of yourself, or sit still without touching your head. Congratulations! Your transformation is almost complete. All that’s left is to surround yourself with a crew of similar looking people. Pull a “Mean Girls” and inform your posse of the dress code -- identical snapbacks and basketball shorts or hipster hats and maxi dresses. The moment you can’t distinguish yourself from the person next to you is the day you know you’ve reached the pinnacle of Internet success, even if your follower count is in the single digits. Ignore the emptiness you feel -- it’s time for the next unnecessary selfie.
Looking beyond the basics
By Maggie Cross I am the epitome of the ‘common white girl’. I work at Starbucks, for goodness sake. I’m a sucker for James Avery, Michael Kors, and anything that’s measured in carats. I own a pair of well-worn riding boots as well as the controversial Chacos. I dream of traveling the world, therefore I have an extraordinarily large portrait of Paris hanging on my Tiffany Blue wall. I’ve been to a One Direction concert. Spoiler alert -- I cried. But I have never, nor will I ever call someone ‘bae’. I am different in the sense that I don’t listen to Kiss FM. I think Chuck Bass is ugly, “Pretty Little Liars” is annoying, and “Friends” is the worst show I have ever seen. I’m more into Cage the Elephant than Ariana Grande. I prefer reading words to watching people act them out. I’m okay with not going out every weekend. And I look horrid in ‘nerd-glasses’. My aspirations are farfetched, like most girls I know. I dyed and cut my hair to look more like
Kylie Jenner. I don’t consider myself ‘mainstream’ and love to refer to myself as hipster. I cry, often, whether it’s for for a legitimate reason or not. When I bleed, I assume I am close to death. I know for a fact that that I would prefer death over a confrontation with a spider. I complain about shaving my legs, and the dreadful two-minutes that it takes to do so. When I don’t wear makeup, I feel and look like a vampire-zombie offspring. I talk about hating when girls gossip, while telling the name of the girl who does and why I hate her. My vocabulary is shallow and consists of abundant amounts of ‘like’ and ‘um’s’ between each phrase. Christmas is my favorite holiday. Anxiety rules my life. I talk about never getting sleep, despite the fact that I’ve never pulled an all-nighter. And I love Dirk Nowitzki -- obviously the safety for the Dallas Cowboys. I mold into any other girl you see in the hallways. There’s not much of me that attracts
attention, other than my loud mouth. To you, I’m the one with the brown hair, wearing a frocket. You’ve probably seen me before -- me or the other 1,000 girls I described at Plano. Yet each of us has something to say that’s different or interesting -- something story worthy. I’m a girl from Massachusetts. My cousin went to Iraq and is going to Afghanistan this year. I won third at club volleyball nationals when I was fourteen. I take three AP classes. My best friend that I’ve known for ten years moved to New York last summer. But I hide behind my comfort-color t-shirt and Nike shorts, just like everyone else. Most people would never know that I and all of the other ‘basic’ girls actually have something to say. The blank faces in the hallway aren’t just humans in your way -- we’re real people that have a motivation to get somewhere, too.
November 6th, 2014 Volume 69 Issue 3
Torie Brannen
Print Editor-in-Chief
Haley Samsel
Online Editor-in-Chief
Sonam Benakatti Managing Editor
Ashley Stuber
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Taylor Norris Photo Editor
Anna Villano
Assistant Graphic Editor
Terry Quinn Adviser
Staffers Nathan Allen Mohona Aziz Mari Brown Kelsey Campbell Suhina Chopra MaryClare Colombo Maggie Cross Nina Dillon Cameron Drummond Ella Hunt Tashy Hunter Min Ji Kim Gabe LaBounty Bethany LaMastus Gabrielle Lammons Arim Lee Piper Nowlin Jameriya Owens Emily Perez Corey Picklesimer Rose Rana Lizzy Ritchie Lydia Sebany Stephanee Smith Vincent Tellez Erienne Terpak Falyn Traina Zane Vakser Abigail Werner
Mission Statement:
Wildcat Tales is a student produced publication that serves to educate, inform and entertain the student body in a professional manner which will provoke thought while upholding the principles of a free press. The publication is a forum for the students of Plano Senior High School. Any opinions expressed in Wildcat Tales are the opinion of the writer and of the writer only.
Policy:
Students and faculty are encouraged to send in any questions, comments, concerns or criticisms to be published. Letters to the editors can be put in the envelope in room B208 or emailed to The Wildcat Tales at pshs.pub@pisd.edu. The staff reserves the right to edit a letter for grammatical errors and space issues. Any errors found in the publication will be rescinded in the following issue. Additional and daily updates can be found at our website www.wildcattales. com. Past issues can be viewed at www.issuu.com/wildcattales. Businesses wishing to advertise in Wildcat Tales can email us at pshs. pub@pisd.edu. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisements deemed to be inappropriate.
Wildcat Tales is the official student publication of Plano Senior High School 2200 Independence Pkwy Plano, TX 75075 469.752.9336
Student Life
All that s Fall
8
By Taylor Norris and Ashley Stuber
Photo by Kelly Jones
Senior Geneva Werner and junior Megan McDowell, members of Student Congress, hold decals that were sold at Stay Day.
Photo by Marilyn Trexler
Trainers Garrett Michelsen, Brady Darby and Alex Mickinney watch the Senior Night video from the sidelines of a football game.
Photo by Ngoc-my Phung
Bryanna Batchelor, a member of color guard, holds her flag upright as she performs with the band during a pep rally.
Submitted by Terry Quinn
Members of the Education in Training class take pre-school students through the hallways to trick-or-treat at classrooms. Participating teachers handed out candy on Oct. 30 because the class only runs Monday through Thursday.
Photo by Taylor Norris
NHS members Michael Zetune and Jeffery Kim run the festival’s cornhole game. Photo by Marilyn Trexler
Yell leaders Dante Stillo and Robert Montoux lock pinkies at Clark Stadium for the last time.
Photo by Kelly Jones
Isabel Chang and Samer Amous spin cotton candy to be sold at Stay Day. Multiple booths were run by students in order to raise money for their individual organizations.
Photo by Terry Quinn
Senior band president Jacob Hillman plays the saxophone during Stay Day.
Photo by Taylor Norris
Photo by Marilyn Trexler
Varsity quarterback senior Brooks Panhans is tackled by an opposing player during the game against Marcus.
Sophie Park and Christine Kim, members of NHS, stand next to the booth they operated for the fall festival. Participators attempted to catch ‘fish’ from behind the decorative sign.
Mad for maroon
Dance club encourages collaboration, prepares for upcoming performances By Suhina Chopra What originally began as an not too late for them to keep English project has turned dancing,” Hodges said. into Maroon Madness, a Since there are no club that encourages and officers, members allows members to continue collectively make decisions. their passion: dance. The Although the founders club meets every week on come up with choreography, Wednesday and Thursday in this collaboration allows room B124. members to give their input One of the club’s on music, style of dance and members, moves. s e n i o r “It’s E b o n y bringing Hodges, said people her friends, together seniors that may Christna not know Willis, Shalyn each other Burgamy very well,” and Gabby Davis said. Anderson, “But they decided to all share a begin this common club in order interest, to create a which I place where think will students make some who aren’t p r e t t y Photo by Suhina Chopra necessarily a creative part of other Harvey Lou demonstrates ideas.” organizations, possible choreography to the Davis such as club. “Everyone is putting their has been a P l a n o e t t e s, own ideas into the routine,” dancer her Hodges said. “It’s not just one can dance. whole life. person’s dance routine, it’s “We wanted everyone’s dance routine. And She has people to no one should be shy, because also taught know that it’s we are all like a family.” dance and
is currently the assistant director for the drill team. For this club, Davis said her main jobs are arranging performances and giving the students a place to meet and dance. “With a lot of other organizations, there’s always a adult in charge of everything,” Davis said. “I think it’s neat that this is totally done by them.” Currently, the members dance to hip hop and jazz music, but Davis said they hope to incorporate a variety of styles into their dance routines in the future. repetitive “I like how it’s open, how everyone can give their own opinions,” Willis said. “Nothing is set in stone.” The club is scheduled to perform at a basketball game in February and at the first annual dance class concert in March. As they go through they year, they might add on last minute performances as well. “This club is definitely going to surprise some people,” Willis said. “But not in a bad way.”