Issue 7 (March 2016)

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March 24, 2016

Student-made electric vehicle pgs. 3 & 4 Adult coloring books pg. 7 Humor pgs. 10-14 Track and Field pg. 16 Morbid curiosity pg. 21

Volume 97

Issue 7 3400 Lambkin Way

Fort Collins, CO 80525

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2 March 24, 2016

Harper Lee’s will ruled by judge to remain private

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EXPANDING VIEW

Shepherd dogs employed to protect livestock from cheetahs

Kidnapped son of an assassinated governor found after five years

Concern that San Gennaro jewels will be passed to the Church sparks protests

Former Brazilian president questioned for three hours at an airport

Deal to lease Melbourne’s port finalized Information gathered by Maya Bode Source: BBC, CNN

Inside the Ink Danger of social media pg.4

Preparing for Prom pg. 8

Profile on Avery Troop pg. 11

PSD girls lacrosse team pg.15

Morbid curiosity pg. 21

News pg. 2-5

A&E pg. 6-9

In-Depth pg. 10-14

Sports pg. 15-18

Perspectives pg. 19-23

Corrections We incorrectly spelled Torri Luttrull’s name.

We incorrectly spelled Cory Lange’s name.

Spilled Ink regrets these errors.

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March 24, 2016

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FCHS Electric Vehicle Handbrakes similar to the brakes on a bicycle have been installed, as well as an emergency brake

Website now features ‘report a bully’ link Nick Hawley

The system is connected to the pedal to allow the speed to be controlled.

The converter box converts electricity from the batteries into energy that is suitable for the motor.

The batteries are hooked up to a converter box, which is connected to the motor.

Staff Writer The school now has a link to report a bully on the main page, under the quick links tab.

“I think it will make the link more accessible for students so they know where to find it,” Technology Manager Brenda Isherwood Said. “They use quick links for a lot of other things already, like Blackboard and email.”

In the past, the report a bully link could be found only under the “students” tab of the school website. The link under that tab still works, and takes the student to the same website as the new link.

Either link allows students to report a bullying incident they either experienced or witnessed.

Both require the reporter to log in to access a page through which basic details about the event can be provided anonymously or by name.

National Honor Society to host Easter Carnival

The car is powered by two twenty-four volt batteries.

Read more about the vehicle on

Pg. 4 PHOTO BY ALEX MCWILLIAMS Information gathered by Maya Bode

Keyboard shortcuts increase efficiency

Adelaide Tomsic Staff Writer National Honor Society will host an Easter carnival on Saturday from 9-12 a.m. at FCHS for elementary school students in PSD. “We have a cake walk competition and then we have them make Easter bunny ears, pin the tail on the bunny, and a lot of other neat Easter themed activities,” senior Abi Nay said.

The Easter Carnival is a fundraiser and students must pay two cans or two dollars to participate.

The food and money raised during the event will be donated to the Larimer County Food Bank.

Older lambkins are welcome to join their elementary-aged siblings for the event.

Math Dash to raise money for college scholarships Parker Andrist

Head Graphic Artist

Participants will run the PSD Math Dash at FRHS on Saturday, April 9, starting at 9 a.m.

Registration for the event costs $15 for PSD students and $20 for adults who register ahead at www.raceit.com/search3/event.aspx?id=36233, or $25 for everyone on the day of the race.

“All of the money that is raised goes towards the Wayne Bromley memorial scholarship. He used to be a pretty big figure in PSD math,” Mathematics Honor Society Sponsor Sara Slagle said. “That scholarship is awarded to a senior specifically in the Poudre School District. All of the money goes back to someone graduating this upcoming May.” In addition to prizes awarded for finishing the race first, a competition will be held to see how many students come to represent each school, and a raffle will be held for further prizes.

Andrew Jessen-Tyler Columnist

Shortcut

What it Does

CTRL+Z

Undoes your previous action. This works in most cases and is great for accidentally deleting a paragraph or bringing a file moved to the recycle bin back in a flash.

CTRL+Y; Sometimes CTRL+ALT+Z

Redoes what you just undid. It is the reverse of CTRL+Z.

CTRL+X

Cuts, or moves, what has been selected. This applies to words, files, and even photos and art in some programs.

CTRL+C or CTRL+Insert

Copies what has been selected. Same as Cut, but the original is left in the same location

CTRL+V or Shift+Insert Pastes, or places the copied or cut selection in the new position.

WIN+L

Locks the computer and requires the user to sign back in.

All programs are left up and the power remains on. This does not work on student accounts at school.

WIN+D

Minimizes all windows and shows the desktop.

ALT+Tab Switches between current windows. Great for moving between multiple programs quickly.

ALT+F4 or CTRL+W Closes the current window. Same as hitting the X in the

upper right corner. CTRL+W will close one tab at a time until a single tab remains.

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Social media pose considerable danger to students Haley Ridgeway Staff Writer Unaware of the dangers posed by social media, music teacher David Miles was hired for his first job as the Director of Bands at a high school in a Colorado mountain town. His colleague posted a picture of the band on Facebook, including the names of the students pictured. Overnight, one student’s family had to pack up and leave. The teachers learned that a member of the family was safeguarded by the Witness Protection Program.

Social media present many dangers that older generations never had to face: online bullying and one-sided interviews by employers or admission agents.

Simply being engaged on social media poses inherent dangers.

“It’s just anonymous people posting and saying anonymous things to or about people. And that, that is dangerous on a personal level for people mostly. Young people give their information out, like where they live, who they are, and that type of stuff,” Peer Counselor Cooper Allenbrand said.

The school offers resources to students who feel bullied or harassed online. Allenbrand advises everyone to visit the peer office if they feel endangered. The Peer Counselors aim

to ensure every event on to something of bullying than one.” is addressed If no action is a n d taken, online prevented bullying can in the lead to graver future. “ I ’ l l ask them what they h a v e done to prevent it, and ask them how it makes t h e m GRAPHICS BY PARKER ANDRIST consequences. f e e l , After meeting and then determine whether a young man on social media, I need to go to someone with 13 year old Nicole Lovelle was this or not,” Allenbrand said. murdered by him and another Allenbrand encourages those college student in North Carolina. in uncomfortable situations to Another risk of posting to social understand what is going on before media is the potential for colleges any actions are taken. Writing, and universities to reject applicants praying, and talking with peers or based on the information they share. adults are examples of ways to handle For the Kaplan Test Prep Survey, tough decision making. Sharing around 400 post-secondary school struggles with close peers can admissions officers were surveyed in simplify the decision making process. January 2016. Of those interviewed, “You just have to pass it on to 40 percent stated they have visited someone else a little bit because applicants’ social media pages bearing that weight on your own during the admission process. Out of is difficult,” Allenbrand said. “It’s the original 40, 11 percent do so often. much easier for two people to hold Admissions officers will

investigate to cross check the information students provide on their applications. According to Kaplan, they check “interest in talents,” “verification of awards,” “criminal records or disciplinary action,” “scholarships,” and “admissions sabotage,” typically anonymous statements about the student.

Many business owners will also investigate applicants’ online personalities before completing the hiring process. A survey conducted

by CareerBuilder in 2014 found 53 percent of employers use social media to research job candidates.

Of the 53 percent, 51 percent say they have found content convincing them to not hire the candidate.

According to CareerBuilder’s survey conductor Jennifer Grasz a few reasons for eliminating candidates are posting provocative or inappropriate photographs or information, posting about drinking or drug use, bad-mouthing their previous company or fellow employees, or showing poor communication skills.

Social media poses potential consequences and a variety of dangers. As posts and comments add up, dangers build and become more dangerous.

“That can lead to bad things down the road,” Allenbrand said. “So it’s just kind of that compound thing.”

Student team builds electric vehicle for competition Maya Bode Managing Editor Racing over pavement, freshman Lincoln Brandt feels like he is flying when he’s in the driver’s seat of the electric vehicle he helped design.

“You feel like you’re going really fast because you’re so low to the ground, and it’s not like biking because you’re under the machine’s power,” Brandt said. “It’s cool because you’re riding something that you built.”

This vehicle is being designed and constructed by the electric vehicle team, which was awarded a PSD Innovation Grant on April 30 of last year and meets every Tuesday after school. On Saturday April 2 at 11 a.m., the team will race their creation at Action Karting in Morrison and their results will be entered into a competition for the most efficient car.

“The object is to conserve energy,” Engineering teacher Catherine Sondgerath said. “We’re trying to get as far as we can within a one hour time period, so we want our car to be aerodynamic and lightweight.”

Sondgerath initiated the project and helps the students by ordering parts and supervising the use of tools and machines when the club meets after school.

“It’s an extracurricular activity that teaches you more than just what the regular class would,” junior Dong He said. “It allows you to kind of build on creativity and problem solving and cooperation with the group.”

Because building an electric car is a real world experience, these students often address problems they might not encounter in a classroom.

“The wiring was off by just a little bit and we had to get some electrical engineering guy to come over and

Learn how the vehicle works on

Pg. 3

Members of the electric vehicle team make adjustments to their project at an after school meeting on March 1 in preparation for their upcoming competition. PHOTOS BY ALEX MCWILLIAMS see what was up with that,” He said.

“Then our chain wouldn’t stay on so we had to weld braces on the side.”

Since it is difficult to predict how long these tasks will take, the team decides on specific weekly objectives rather than setting a

time limit for every meeting.

“Last week our goal was to get the pedal fixed onto the car,” Brandt said. “The first goal was just to get the frame built.”

Through the experience of building a vehicle, many of the

team members feel they have gained valuable knowledge.

“It’s getting the skills to be able to work with people in a group,” sophomore Ben Cochran said.

“Especially in an engineering setting, because that’s what I want to go into.”

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Los programas del distrito escolar poudre ayudan a los hispanohablantes a adaptarse a la cultura

Translated by Spanish Students in Jim Ogan’s Classes El número de hablantes de español ha aumentado 233 por ciento desde 1980, según Pew Research Center.

En el Distrito Escolar Poudre, el número de estudiantes con fluidez en el idioma también ha crecido.

Con el crecimiento viene una necesidad de una mejor acomodación para estudiantes, y los administradores a nivel de distrito han estado trabajando hacia ese objetivo con las escuelas, según lo que dice la especialista del programa Participación de la Familia, Clare Barquero.

“A medida que la escuela tiene más estudiantes de habla española o de otros idiomas los encargados de los programas escolares empiezan a darse cuenta de lo que tienen que hacer. Por ejemplo, los administradores necesitan apoyar y respaldar nuestros servicios de interpretación y traducción. Hemos visto un aumento en las solicitudes de ayuda linguistica por todo el distrito, y para algunas escuelas es una necesidad con cual en realidad nunca se han experimentado en el pasado “, dijo Barquero. “También es importante que proporcionemos información escolar traducida a los hogares de habla español; por ejemplo: folletos cartas y formularios, en español y en Inglés”.

Aún así, los hispanohablantes se enfrentan a una miríada de obstáculos lingüisticos en un nivel general, según las experiencias y observaciones de Barquero.

“Creo que el obstáculo más obvio para aceder a los sistemas del gobierno, de la salud y de la educación, es la falta de un nivel de comprensión del inglés. Ademas, la navegación por una cultura diferente es intimidatorio”, dijo.

Con el fin de cambiar esta situación, el personal del distrito escolar desarrolla relaciones con los estudiantes de habla española y sus familias.

“Tienes la oportunidad de conocer a alguien quien recientemente ha llegado a este país. Aprendes un poco de su cultura. Empiezas a desarrollar una relación de confianza con ellos. Entonces

10 Million

1980s

usted tiene una mejor comprensión de lo que se enfrentan y cuáles son sus retos”, explicó Barquero. “Sé que si tuviéramos que viajar a otro país donde no pudiéramos hablar el idioma ni supiéramos de la cultura, bueno, ya sabes; es difícil ponerse en los zapatos de otra persona a menos que tenga una experiencia de la vida real. El desarrollo de una relación con alguien es una de las mejores maneras de saber cómo ayudar “.

Las relaciones exitosas involucran no sólo a los estudiantes de habla español, sino también a sus padres. Los programas del distrito a menudo se dirigen hacia la integración de los padres de los estudiantes de habla español en la comunidad. Tales esfuerzos se centran en hacer la transición a la comunidad nueva más fácil.

Según Barquero, las familias que vienen aquí reciben apoyo en el idioma y son llevados a lugares dentro y alrededor de Fort Collins y Denver, incluyendo museos, bibliotecas y rutas de senderismo, para que puedan tener una idea de la cultura y de las oportunidades disponibles.

“Tenemos una clase de ESL para adultos. Son para los padres que están aprendiendo inglés. Parte de ese programa es hacer escursiones por la comunidad “, dijo. “Es una cosa decir, ‘Oh, existe este lugar y Ud. puede ir allí’, pero cuando alguien acompaña a la familia y le muestra cómo navegar, es mucho más probable que la gente va a usarlo y acceder a su información. Ya hemos hecho un recorrido por el hospital con las familias y hay comentarios como: ‘Ahora sabemos que si mi hijo estuviera enfermo Yo sabría qué hacer, dónde ir, a quién pedir ayuda e información, me siento cómodo ahora si yo tuviera que hacerlo’ “.

Por lo tanto, como el número de hablantes de español crece, la inmersión de los hispanohablantes en Fort Collins también se nota.

“Creo que los padres a través de nuestro programa son cada vez más informados”, dijo Barquero. “Son más conectados e involucrados con la escuela y con su comunidad.”

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March 24, 2016

Poudre School District programs help Spanish speakers adjust to culture Molly Lubbers Staff Writer The number of Spanish speakers has increased 233 percent since 1980, according to Pew Research Center. In Poudre School District, the number of students fluent in the language has also grown.

With the growth comes a need for better accommodation for students, and those at the district level have been working toward that goal with the schools, according to Family Engagement Specialist Clare Barquero.

“As the school has more Spanish speaking or other language speaking needs, they start to realize what they need to do. For example, our interpretation and translation services. We’ve seen an increase in requests for that across the district, and for some schools that never really needed that in the past,” Barquero said. “Also just bringing that awareness— so providing things that go home, flyers and information, in Spanish and English.”

Still, Spanish speakers are faced with a myriad of obstacles on a general level, according to Barquero.

“I think the obvious one is the language barrier, so not having access because they don’t speak English and navigating a culture that’s different,” she said.

In order to change this, district and school personnel build relationships with Spanish speaking students and their families.

“You get to know someone who has just arrived—finding out about their life and their culture and building that relationship with them—then you have a better

29 Million

36 Million

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2010s

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understanding of what they are facing and what their challenges are,” Barquero explained. “I know if we were to travel to another country where we didn’t speak the language or know the culture, well, you know, it’s hard to put yourself in the shoes unless you have a real life experience. Building a relationship with someone is one of the best ways to know how to help.”

Successful relationships involve not only Spanish speaking students, but also their parents.

District programs are often directed toward integrating parents of Spanish speaking students into the community. Such efforts center on making the transition easier.

According to Barquero, families just moving here are given language support and taken to spots in and around Fort Collins and Denver, including museums, libraries, and hiking trails, so they can get a feel for the culture.

“We have an adult ESL class for parents who are learning English.

Part of that program is that we do field trips,” she said. “It’s one thing to say, ‘Oh, there’s this place you can go to,’ but when someone takes you and kind of shows you how to navigate it, you’re much more likely to use and access it.

We did a tour of the hospital with families and they say, ‘Now I know if my child is sick I know what to do, where to go, who to ask for, I feel comfortable accessing that.’”

So, as the number of Spanish speakers grows, the immersion of Spanish speakers in Fort Collins is too.

“I think parents through our program are becoming more informed,” Barquero said. “They are more involved and engaged with school and with their community.”

Spanish Speakers in the USA

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by Alex McWilliams Source: Quartz

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Painting experience proves worthwhile apt artists seemed anxious not to get left behind.

“It was interesting at the beginning, but then when Graphic Artist you can’t catch up with the rest of the class it starts Painting on a canvas is an art a number of people being stressful,” Staff Writer Hanna Khmelovska said.

As the afternoon continued, our makeshift paperhardly get the chance to attempt. Pinot’s Palette, plate palettes became a combination of runny and on the corner of Mountain Ave. and Mason St., crusty, while the water cups that held our brushes specializes in teaching any artist how to paint a picture grew dirty, and to avoid unpleasant with a creative twist, capitalizing on the practice paint colors, we had to squeeze the of painting with friends over a glass of wine, or fogged water out of our brushes with simply over a palette of acrylic paint. paper towels, or ask for new glasses.

Before venturing The lowering sun gave our to Pinot’s Palette, I, products a warm glow as we and the majority of the worked, and when the instructor Spilled Ink staff had taught us to paint the violet never painted a picture, petals of our poppies, Staff and felt it would be a bout Writer Spencer Thompson took of much needed creativity. artistic liberty and chose a bold, Though only six members bright maroon. At first, I was could attend due to the shocked, and thought surely somewhat steep price of $35 this would be discouraged by per person, I felt cheerful the teacher. However, after about my painting’s potential, glancing around at the studio and it boosted my courage enough of canvases, I was in awe to not tuck my tail and return at the array of unique home, where Netflix and aspects boasted by nearly hot chocolate awaited me. Paying attention to the instructor and copying every painting.

One I walked through the his technique, Graphic Artist Alexia Clark paints of the more audacious doorway of the quaint shop, “Poppies en Vogue” during the staff review at painters had filled his and was greeted by a brightly- Pinot’s Palette. PHOTO BY MAYA BODE background with a lit room with the scent of paint vivid pink as opposed to the recommended gray. lingering in the air and lively artwork on practically Once photos were taken, a few of us had fun every surface. The room’s hardwood floors bounced signing the corner of our masterpieces. Looking light around, emitting a warm and calming feeling. back on the experience, we agreed that though Rows of people sitting in front of empty canvases the process was often stressful and intimidating, chattered amongst themselves, though seemingly the finished paintings were worth the nerves. waiting for me to sit down so the class could begin.

“I really enjoyed going to Pinot’s Palette,” The instructor walked briskly to center stage with Staff Writer Eleanor Glenn said. “It had a really the painting “Poppies en Vogue” and showed us pleasant atmosphere, with the music playing how to begin. As the six of us painted our canvases and the talking with friends all struggling on the gray, all seemed well. We were able to talk and same painting.

Before the experience, I thought laugh together while constructing our background.

I was really bad at painting, but with an outline After our canvases dried, though, so did the to copy and a large canvas, I found painting very humor. The teacher instructed us on steps quickly and without much explanation, and those who weren’t easy and fun and I truly liked my final product.”

Alexia Clark

In Brief Sign-ups for graduation auditions begin April 11 Kevin Sullivan

Photographer

Seniors interested in giving a musical performance at graduation will be able to sign up on an audition sheet by the music office starting on April 11. The actual auditions will take place after 3 p.m. on April 21 in the music wing.

“Auditions are open to all seniors at FCHS and we would love to see some non-music students audition this year,” Choir Director Kaitlin Miles said.

Students are expected to have their musical pieces at performance level, including necessary instrumental accompaniments, prior to auditions. According to Miles, the music department has been involved with graduation for over 70 years, and individual musical performances associated with it generally speak to the emotions, tradition, and dignity of graduation.

AP Art students to display work in show Spencer Thompson Staff Writer On Wednesday, March 30, the AP Art Class is holding the annual AP Art Show in McNeal Auditorium. AP students and AP Art teacher Tara Lanterman will be displaying student work all day.

“All the kids will be able to participate, and see the art,” Lanterman said. “It will give the other kids an idea of what the program is about.”

At the show, visitors will get an inside look at what the AP Art class has to offer.

The art students will have their portfolios on display, exhibiting work that varies in subject matter, style, and materials.

Tower Dance to host upcoming Spring Showcase Andrew Jessen-Tyler

Columnist

Tower Dance will host their Spring Showcase this Monday in McNeal Auditorium at 5 p.m.

“It really gives them a chance to showcase their talents and the work they’ve done,” Tower Dance sponsor Kim Schutt said. “Our spring showcase, for seniors, it’s their last hurrah.”

The performance is expected to last an hour and a half, during which many different genres of dance will be demonstrated, including jazz, contemporary, and lyrical.

Admission is free and open to the public.

“They’re an awesome team,” Schutt said, “and I’m excited to see the showcase.”

Dystopian novels reflect reality of testing

Samantha Ye

In-Depth Editor When Divergent started getting popular, I read a review of it which spent more time ranting about the state of YA dystopian fiction than actually reviewing the book. Although it focused on many tropes, one complaint stuck with me: how unrealistic it was to have teenagers’ lives dictated by the outcome of one test.

And now, as I review the district testing schedule after having done my daily SAT and ACT prep, it’s all I can do not to hunt through years of old book blogs and write a viciously-worded response.

YA dystopia has a way of tapping into almost every American teenager’s struggle—social classes, constant surveillance, and almost an entire subcategory dedicated to standardized testing.

Unsurprisingly, Joelle Charbonneau’s “The Testing” falls into the last category.

For novels such as hers, entire civilizations depend on one test or multiple tests, typically based

on either personality or skill.

Advancing in society depends on taking the test, and characters usually suffer trying to get through those tests. Tests, tests, tests.

I can’t imagine how teenagers trained and mandated to take the MAP, CSAP/TCAP/CMAS, ACT, PSAT, and SAT for half their lives to prepare for college could possibly relate to such a story.

In fact, Charbonneau’s protagonist, Cia, must actually pass “The Testing” to get into “The University.”

Her evaluation eventually devolves into a killing spree, but it’s a minor detail.

Emotionally, Cia struggles with surprisingly similar feelings towards her testing as I have felt towards mine.

It doesn’t matter, but it does, because if I want to move past this test, I have to pass this test; if I want to prove myself out there, I have to prove myself in here, slumped in a desk for hours on end, writing until my wrist aches, my head hurts, and my back is too stiff to feel, and I will. And I have.

While testing seems absurd,

the emphasis put on it makes me put more stress and effort into the test than it maybe deserves.

“Are we smart enough?” Cia asks. “Can we outthink a system that has been in place for decades?

That has controlled the lives of hundreds of the brightest minds since the world began to rebuild?”

If everyone tells me to study hard and score high—not only to make myself look good but the school and my teachers as well—what does it say about the importance of these tests?

“Giving up would be like admitting none of it mattered,” Cia says. “And it needs to matter. It needs to be remembered.”

I don’t care if these tests mean nothing to me in a couple of decades. They mean something now: namely, an insane annoyance and pressure to do well or risk colleges forgetting my existence.

So, if I could find that reviewer today, I would let him know one thing: maybe it’s not realistic a couple of tests decide everything in a fictional world, but in my and other teens’ realities, it certainly feels like they determine our futures.

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Color Clyde!

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Post a picture of your finished artwork using

#ColorClyde to be featured on Spilled Ink’s social media!

GRAPHIC BY DALENA GROEN

Adult coloring books provide relaxation, stress relief Walker Discoe Cartoonist Many might remember coloring books as something their parents gave to them on road trips to keep them preoccupied as children. Now, coloring books have been reimagined as a way for adults to release stress.

With names like “The Mindfulness Coloring Book” by Emma Farrarons and “Color Me Calm”

by Angela Porters, these volumes are aimed at a stressed-out, adult generation looking for some reprieve from fast-paced work environments.

It’s common for titles to use adjectives such as “Calm,” “Stress Reliving,” and “Creative,” suggesting that these books are marketed as a way to break free of everyday restraints and embrace a more creative, happy side.

The only difference between those meant for children and those meant for adults is the

difficulty of the designs. Adult coloring books incorporate complex, vaguely psychedelic themes, meant to include complexity without being overly difficult and frustrating.

“At first, I was skeptical about them, but I think the draw of adult coloring books is that anyone can use them,” Art teacher Allison Alter said. “You don’t have to be intimidated by your lack of skill to us them.”

These coloring books have been recognized

by The American Art Therapy Association as a beneficial way to “explore feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behavior and addictions, develop social skills, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety and increase self-esteem.” But these coloring books take the benefits of art therapy and put them in a more controlled environment, one where the guidelines are clearly visible and the objective is clear.

Senior Taylor Ortivez has been

using adult coloring books for several months, and is aware of the benefits.

“I got my first coloring book as a Christmas gift from my sister,” Ortivez said. “I like them, because my senior year has been kind of rough, and they help me relax.”

Stress relieving activities could be beneficial to all high school students as well. In 2015, 1,108 teens were interviewed by the American Psychological Association, and they found that during the school year, 55 percent of students felt a considerable amount of stress, and 27 percent felt extreme levels of stress, directly influenced by their academic performance. Coloring pages may be viewed as immature, but they might help lessen the burden of school for some students.

“I would recommend them to anyone looking for a relaxing pastime,” Alter said. “Adult coloring books fall under the same realm as yoga, or meditation.”

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Smart preparation enhances prom “It depends on your friends, and common interests and things. Like this year, we all have Staff Writer boyfriends, so therefore it will be a group of After seeing movies such as “High School couples and in relationships,” Suppes said.

Since many dance attendees are couples, Musical” and countless other fantastical depictions senior Spencer Blanchard offers advice of what high school is really like, some students to those planning to ask a peer to prom. are disappointed at the actual lack of Zach “Do something that hasn’t Efrons and cafeteria dance mobs. Yet, for many, done before,” he said. prom night expectations remain relatively intact. been Regardless of who someone is going with, The stress of preparation, chaos of group planning, and risk of unfortunate disasters even the process of choosing a dress seems to all place the night in jeopardy. However, be a daunting task. The prom dress, soon to with knowledge of how to avoid unfortunate be forever held in memory, is expected to be prom-ruining circumstances, the dance a dress worthy of remembering, and because may just live up to childhood expectations. of this, the process can turn into a long search.

“Last year, I got my dress up in Grand Junction, “It’s so common for people to think that it has to be perfect, and it’s not going to be perfect,” where my sister lives. I like getting them in places senior Cassie Suppes said. “You have to just that aren’t around here just because I feel like let it happen and it’ll be fun and enjoyable.” you can get a more unique dress,” Suppes said.

Others have avoided the lengthy process Picking a group of friends to get ready, worked out an efficient system. take pictures, and eat dinner with, is a vital and “I order my dress online at Promgirl, they ingredient in any movie-worthy prom night.

“I went with about twenty people and I always deliver really quickly and they’re went with the same boyfriend. We all went really cheap. I always pick the color I want to Olive Garden and carpooled to the dance,” that year, and I then I just pick a dress that senior Lizzie Morrissette said. “My immediate color,” Morrissette said. “I know I want friends and then our dates were in the group, to have a red dress [this year], so having a and we mushed friend groups together – dress that I’ve been wanting forever is going usually we’re all really close anyways.” to make me feel glamorous for that night.”

Despite the fact that prom may never For some students, large groups work well.

They allow many different people to get to be the same as the movies, it can still be an know each other better throughout the night. unforgettable and valuable experience for many.

“My favorite part is probably just dancing However, according to Morrissette, a large group can also add more stress to the planning. at the dance with my friends,” Morrissette Making smaller groups relieves this extra said. “Being complete goofballs to the stress, and with fewer people, it may be easier to music, standing out and not being shy, and create a group that meshes for a common reason. just making a big scene and having fun.”

Eleanor Glenn

Prom is considered the second most significant event in a teen’s life, after getting a driver’s license.

62%

of prom attendees will keep memorabilia from their night.

GRAPHICS BY ALEXIA CLARK

Maddie McCambridge Junior

Who plans prom?

The juniors of StuCo. Why is prom worth attending?

Good high school memories and it’s a good time.

What is the most exciting part of planning prom?

Getting to visit the Lincoln Center and picking out all the decorations.

$1he,0av7era8ge

Parents average Boys spend upwards of

400

$80 to $180

miles while completing prom related errands

on a tuxedo

On average, a girl will try on

10

dresses

is t of amount pent on money s prom.

The average prom dress costs

$213

before she finds the right one.

The average prom ticket, plus a meal, is

$60-80 Information gathered by Dalena Groen Sources: Faviana.com, Beinggirl.com, Startribune.com

Bio Box

Fast Facts: PROM

Proms w eren’t populariz ed until the

‘30s.

Q&A with a Prom Planner

s rican e m A d spen

$6.6

n

billio

rom on p year. every

A&E

Spilled Ink Upcoming Shows at the Lincoln Center

March 24, 2016

Local theaters offer memorable experiences for audiences, performers Hanna Khmelovska Staff Writer

Pin Exp k Floy d e Ma rienc e rch 24

ve of For the Lo Dance 26 March 25,

ns , 16, a ph , 15 30 r O 8, 9 29, 2, 24, l i r , Ap , 23 22

Performance art spellbinds many of us.

Walking into a theater, we expect to see magic.

Local theaters offer students opportunities to experience magic in the audience or on stage. New shows are coming up in OpenStage, Bas Bleu and Midtown Arts Center.

OpenStage Theatre’s next play “Orphans,”

by Lyle Kessler starts on April 2. On the Thursday before opening night of each show, they offer a free night on which teachers and students can attend the performance. The free night for “Orphans” is on March 31 at 7:30 p.m.

“We really think that it’s so important for students to have access to theater and to be able to grow and explore through this performance art,” OpenStage marketing director Summer Alameel said.

OpenStage will hold auditions this April and they encourage everybody to come and audition.

“We are definitely open to young people from the community coming to audition for us and there are no age restrictions,” Alameel said. “We currently have one high school student this season, but we are always looking for students to get involved and come check out what we are doing, learn more and get involved.”

At nearby Bas Bleu Theatre, they are opening “Love Loss and What I Wore” by Delia and Nora Ephron.

“That play sort of examines women’s life through the prism of their closets,” Bas Bleu founder and Artistic Director Wendy Ishii s a i d . “It is a very

funny play but it also has moments of great poignancy and all sorts of human emotions and experiences. It is a very lovely piece and I think it will appeal to men as well as women.”

Bas Bleu will have their auditions for next season on April 23 and 24. They ask for a short prepared monologue but they can also provide cold reading material.

“I love to have somebody every year who has no experience to come, and we have a lot of students coming and a lot of them intern with us,” Ishii said. “It is really neat that we can take kids from high schools and give them an opportunity to work with us – sometimes back stage, or in the booth, or designing, or helping with marketing.”

Midtown Arts Center will be running two shows this April: “Lost in Yonkers” by Neil Simon which will be hosted in the dinner theater and “The Fantasticks” which will be hosted in Studio 2.

“We chose these plays because Lost in Yonkers is an American jam and Neil Simon is a great American playwright,” Midtown Arts Theatre director and choreographer Michael Lasris said.

“And we always do one classical play and ‘The Fantasticks’ is classical musical from the 60s.”

This summer Midtown Arts Center is offers a three-week camp and they play will be “Mary Poppins.” Information for sign-ups will be available on midtownartscenter.com.

Midtown Arts Center Kids Academy is currently rehearsing a musical called “School of Rock,” an Andrew Lloyd Webber show, also running on Broadway. The premiere is on May 7.

“Typically, they don’t allow other companies to do their shows unless it is closed on Broadway but Andrew Lloyd Webber wanted this to be a national revolution for musicals and really wanted to get everyone involved in it,” Lasris said. “So he released the rights to certain companies across the nation and we got the rights to it.”

Peter Pa n April 16 ,17

Graphic by Kaitlyn Schmidt

What is your favorite play or musical?

Quentin Kurtz Freshman

“Into the Woods, because it had great people.”

9

Ben Cochran

Sophomore “The Lion King, because they did a really good job with all the costumes and also the choreography was very good.”

Mona Dai

Rebecca Hamner

“Les Miserables, because I like the number before the intermission called ‘One day more.’”

“Chicago because of all that jazz.”

Junior

Senior

10

March 24, 2016

In-Depth

Spilled Ink

Satire ineffectively conveys meaningless, forgettable ideas Kevin Sullivan Photographer The modern and widely disliked type of humor known as satire is used to criticize and make fun of negative aspects associated with a person, group, or idea.

Because of the small audience, examples of successful satire in media are incredibly few.

According to TV by The Numbers, “The Colbert Report,” a satirical television show, ranked only fourth among top 100 cable shows aired on Football Thursdays in 2014, clearly representing a strong lack of interest in this television program.

Satire on the Internet sees an audience similarly limited to those seen on television shows.

“The Onion now enjoys a daily readership of 4.3 trillion and has grown into the single most powerful and influential organization in human history,” states the popular satire news website The Onion, exemplifying the small readership seen on satirist websites.

Another side effect of the niche audiences interested in satire is authors who write satire finding little merit among the academic community. The author George Orwell satirized communism, Stalin, and the events leading up to the Russian Revolution in his book Animal Farm. This book has virtually no literary merit as a critique of the internationally loved and flawless communist system was not well received.

Mark Twain further exemplifies the pointlessness of satire in the academic community as his commentaries often involved racism or feminism, problems not even remotely present in a society where a presidential candidate receives an endorsement from a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard.

As well as being a niche form of humor, satire is a modern development with almost no place in history. According to a study.com article, satire has only existed since the 7th century B.C.E., showing just how modern the invention is. While

Editor’s Note Samantha Ye

Little-known satirical news sources such as The Onion fail to please large audiences, provide relevant social commentary, or contribute anything worth reading, really. PHOTO BY DALENA GROEN satire is inarguably a recent creation, some in the past such as Plato, the famous Greek philosopher, or Cervantes, who wrote the classic Don Quixote, have attempted things similar to it without considerable historical significance.

The finite audience r e a c h e d by satire is represented by the equally small number of issues covered by satirists.

Wisegeek.com lists common topics for satire as including politics, current events, perceived social problems, and the normal pitfalls of everyday life. This shows an incredibly limited spread of topics as sports

and Viagra aren’t even included.

With such a small audience the use of satire to communicate ideas ends up being inefficient in society.

“I would argue that in a postmodern society irony is one of the primary modes of discourse people use.

Most popular art is in some way metaanalytic or ironic in the contemporary U n i t e d S t a t e s , ” language arts teacher Jason Clarke said.

As a result of satire’s inefficiency, it has proven unpopular among the general population and as a result likely will turn out to be little more than a fad.

With such a small audience the use of satire to communicate ideas ends up being inefficient in society.

Humorous Headlines

In-Depth Editor

What’s black, white, and red all over?

The school newspaper!

H a - h a … h a … h a …

Please don’t stop reading.

As hilarious as some jokes are not, all jokes—even those which create more groans than laughs—have a place in this month’s In-Depth where, in preparation for April Fool’s Day, all the content focuses on humor and its distinct role in our lives.

With science, the centerfold answers some of humor’s most pressing questions such as “Why is someone getting kicked in the groin hilarious?” and “Why do we laugh at terrible puns when all we really want to do is strangle the punster?”

On the same page, skeletons present several types of verbal and physical humor, including the kind found on the Internet, where everyone can display their inner wittiness.

Some choose other ways to spread their clever comments, like the student comedian featured on page 11, who won Lambkins Got Talent with his hilarious stand-up routine.

Yet, just as humor can brighten a life, it may also darken the mood. Teasing which goes too far harms everyone involved. Finding the balance between laughing with people and laughing at them is a struggle for both students and teachers, as covered on page 14.

Page 10 confirms the failure of satire as a form of critique or even as humor by tracing its many disappointments throughout history.

Although we have no funny pages, think of this month’s In-Depth as a superior funny guide, outlining what is humorous, what is not, and why.

from The Onion

• “Study Reveals: Babies Are Stupid” • ”World Death Rate Holding Steady at 100 Percent” • ”Perky ‘Canada’ has own government, laws”

by Evan Bode • ”Winner Didn’t Even Know It Was Pie-Eating Contest” Information gathered Source: The Onion • ”Kitten Thinks of Nothing But Murder All Day” • ”Dolphin Spends Amazing Vacation Swimming With Stockbroker” • ”Exercise Ball All the Way Over There” • ”Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be” • ”CIA Realizes It’s Been Using Black Highlighters All These Years”

In-Depth

Spilled Ink

March 24, 2016

11

Student enriches life with original comedy Haley Ridgeway Staff Writer In front of the camera on KLYD TV, junior Avery Troop has made his name as FCHS’s go-to comedy man. We all know him from his charismatic and interesting appearances as a sock puppet in a rap battle, or playing the ‘60s sleuth trying to find the secret to registering for AP exams.

Not only is he seasoned in incorporating humor into his KLYD performances, but he took home the gold at the 2016 Talent Show with an original stand-up comedy routine, his first encounter in a formal event.

Troop became interested in comedy through his time and success in speech and debate.

He knows speech isn’t always the place to be funny, but he wields comedy to ensure people listen to what he has to say.

“It doesn’t sound like a funny thing, and it’s not. But when I give speeches, a lot of people laugh and I use humor as a persuasive advantage,” Troop said.

Troop’s comedy is largely based on fictional experiences, but he aims to present them in a way that is realistic and believable.

Since all of his content is fictionalized, he has a variety of inspirations and influences when putting together routines.

He writes about things based on his life, or things that are likely to happen to make his content more relatable.

Troop described his process for building routines as pulling

from a collection of content he’s heard that makes him laugh. He has a running list of jokes he finds funny, so to create a routine, he will use things from his larger inventory to create a cohesive story.

KLYD director Jason Tyler

The

describes Troop’s style of humor as odd, unexpected, and carefree. He explained Troop lives his life without worrying about what other people think of him.

“He genuinely doesn’t care what other people think, so he just does what he does without any internal criticism, which I think is awesome,” Tyler said.

Working in groups for KLYD, Troop acts as the team leader. He has the ability to engineer genuinely unique and clever ideas, be incomparably excited about them, and draw people in to help with his project. If no one initially wants to contribute, he will create the project on his own until he is pleased.

Tyler’s favorite piece of Troop’s humor is his short film: “Wiener Pants,” which describes t h e saga of a man finding an endless supply of hot dogs in his pockets, who then makes friends with a man who has the same problem, except with hot dog buns.

“To him, that makes total sense and he doesn’t see anything odd or strange about it, and that makes it funny,” Tyler explained.

S t e m m i n g from a personal place, Troop’s humor seems to flow effortlessly.

“I think I’m just naturally funny,” Troop said.

“I’m somewhat awkward and my voice sounds kinda funny, and people just like that.”

Funny Man

“I’m somewhat

awkward

and my voice sounds

kinda funny,

and people just like that.”

—Avery Troop

Troop in Action KLYD 2-15-16 and 2-16-16

Speech and Debate

Although the episodes have aired, Troop’s talking socks which announce and sing the news continue to entertain.

Troop recently qualified for the state debate tournament after placing second at regionals in the Original Oratory category.

The Sock Puppet Editions

Humor as persuasion

(KLYD can be found on the FCHS website under Students.)

GRAPHICS BY PARKER ANDRIST; Information gathered by Samantha Ye; Source: FCHS website, SpeechWire.com

12 March 24, 2016

In-Depth

Dying

Theories behind humor reveal its unique elements Adelaide Tomsic Staff Writer Psychologist Richard Wiseman found smiles caused by genuine stimuli and pretend smiles register differently on our faces. Real smiles are created by talking about a light-hearted, humorous topic with a good friend cause more facial muscles to contract, creating crow’s feet and smile lines. Humor is unique and we can’t fake our reactions to it.

Philosophers and researchers have devised their own theories as to why we laugh and find certain situations funny, and what happens in our brains when we hear a joke or see memes comparing Donald Trump’s Hair to corn fibers.

Behavioral scientist Peter McGraw and his team at the Humor Research Lab (HuRL) at the University of Colorado in Boulder have worked to create the Benign Violation theory. McGraw’s theory suggests we find situations humorous when they go against or violate our beliefs but in a joking, benign manner.

“That is, things that are wrong yet OK, things that are threatening yet safe, things that don’t make sense yet make sense,” McGraw said.

A cartoon character slipping on a banana peel can be an example of this.

The violation, what we find wrong, would be the pain someone may feel when falling, but the situation becomes benign when we know the slip is fake, and the character, being imaginary, unharmed.

According to McGraw, humor can be related to a more complex version of play fighting. When children or animals play fight, they are entertained by the activity and learn to defend themselves.

Similarly, humor is entertaining and teaches us to navigate social situations.

This is likely due to the role of the frontal lobe in understanding humor. According to Assistant Radiology Professor Dr. Dean K. Shibata, the frontal lobe is active in the brain when we laugh. He explained in an interview with Med Scape, the frontal lobe is used to understand social cues and is crucial in creating our personalities.

Beyond being just a neurological response, laughter has become a way to express our understanding of social cues.

In accordance with the Benign Violation theory, wrong or confusing situations create negative emotions, or a violation.

“When you can simultaneously see them as things that are OK or are safe, that negativity becomes positivity and you laugh to indicate to others that that violation is benign,” McGraw said.

Another theory as to why we laugh is the superiority theory. Simply put, this theory says we laugh at the inferiority or mistakes of someone else or past versions of ourselves.

The attempt to understand humor is a centuries-old struggle inspiring writing from researchers and philosophers. One such Passage from Plato’s “Philebus” encompasses both the Benign Violation theory and the Superiority theory.

In the passage Socrates says, “When we laugh at the ridiculous aspects of our friends, the admixture of pleasure in our malice produces a mixture of pleasure and distress. For we agreed long ago that malice was a form of distress; but, laughter is enjoyable, and on these occasions both occur simultaneously.”

Spilled Ink

“Smart” Jokes

Slapstick H

These reference-based jokes require some background knowledge.

Comedy based entirely getting hurt, and hitting ot the comedy of five-year

Psychology:

Who is this Rorschach guy, and why does he paint so many pictures of my parents fighting?

Deadp

involve

deliver

Statistics:

Your momma is so mean she has no standard deviation.

“I’d kill for – St

Minecraft:

A creeper walks into a bar. Everyone dies.

N

“I

NobE

Music:

Want to hear the joke about a fermata?

Never mind, it’s too long.

– Man A

Black Humor

Just like the funny bone is more painful than comical, this humor is more morbid than amusing.

“Saying, ‘I’m sorry’ is the same as saying, ‘I apologize.’

Except at a funeral.”

– Demetri Martin

What do you think makes something funny?

Garrett Eldridge Freshman

“The delivery, because the tone of voice changes how the joke comes out.”

Rachel Robertson Sophomore

“If a joke is funny and has a good punch line, that’s creative. If you have a joke that everyone has heard, it’s not interesting.”

Gerardo Juarez Senior

“Sarcasm and the tone of the person telling the joke. Some things are just plain funny for some people.”

Nick Hawley Staff Writer

Types of humor as presented by skeletons

Humor

Deadpan:

r a Nobel Peace Prize.”

Stephen Wright

Not deadpan:

“I’d KILL for a

El PeAce PRizE!!!”

About to Go to Prison

e

s or

PUNNY stuff You may not find these plays on words humerus, but it’s no reason to skull over it. Just be glad it’s not a vampire on this infographic; otherwise these would really suck.

A blizzard of memes and viral videos bombards visitors of iFunny every time they open the app. Users can find anything, from Pepe the Frog being dissatisfied with his circumstances to a chorus of “Damn Daniel” vines.

Memes and viral videos are rampant across the Internet, and entire websites are dedicated to these and other forms of humor.

Due to the free and open nature of the web, humor varies as much as the users’ personalities and interests. The typical meme combines an image with a funny caption related to that picture, but the content in memes ranges from family-friendly jokes, to the darker and adult forms of humor.

Some people, such as sophomore Bradley Wieland, like dark humor.

“On the internet, you can share a lot of messed up stuff, and say whatever you want,” Wieland said.

Though online presence has turned memes into a viral phenomenon, the word meme isn’t new. The term actually developed prior to the comedy that we know today.

Memes have been around since the stone ages. According to Smithsonian Magazine, a meme is an idea that spreads quickly. Early memes have taken the form of the knowledge of

Viral

CPR, or even just the phrase “look before you leap.”

“Ideas cause ideas and help evolve new ideas. They interact with each other and with other mental forces in the same brain, in neighboring brains, and thanks to global communication, in far, distant, foreign brains,” Neurophysiologist Roger Sperry said in an interview with Smithsonian Magazine.

The original concept of a meme is like the viral video phenomenon. The phenomenon allows viral videos to take fails and funny cats across the world in seconds. According to a study done by Facegroup.com, a typical viral video will receive about 1,000 shares per hour, spreading it across the World Wide Web. According to Adweek, a video now needs about 5 million views within three to seven days of its being posted, compared to the former requirement of 1 million, to achieve viral status.

Reaching such a broad audience in such a short time often means that the life of a viral video is short, and new humor is posted every day.

“It evolves faster,” sophomore Haley Hartmann said. “And it’s transferable back and forth.”

The internet is always changing, and the memes and videos of today will suffer the same fate as their ancestors.

They will continue to bounce around from person to person, from website to website, until the next series of hidden camera pranks comes along.

. . . s o Vide

aded to ere uplo w s o e id ned ny cat v nd spaw n a u f l, a n t o o t li s 2 mil n view : Nearly 26 millio d e r e ove cats n Cat. L r

nd Nyan , have ga a 4 t 1 a 0 2 C y in p ted at YouTube es such as Grum sal Rejec o p o r m e P e m lion iconic “Marriag ars Kid” (31 mil m o r F : t W en arrassm ) to “Star e It Off” on njoy emb .5 million views E h S ak

e” (6 inging “ s eos m t a h G g u ll a a c iews), vid op v c e n o Basketb h t li o il t on to (38 m views) us a reas re win. e iv g h duty whic e a su others ar t a h g u la spite ness: De i h t r o w ringe n Exploit c t dislike ratios o s ” and he highe r’s “Baby ired e having t b ie B in insp , Just YouTube ’s “Friday” have ich only k Blac dies wh Rebecca ble paro a r o m e ls. fm dozens o talize the origina r o m helped im R E

pan Comedy:

es dry, expressionless ry and matter-of-fact statements.

13

Extensive funny web content spreads rapidly

of Laughter

y on falling down, thers. In other words, r-olds. But funnier.

March 24, 2016

C

g

In-Depth

Spilled Ink

PHOTOS

BY DALENA GROEN; GRAPHIC BY PARKER ANDRIST Infographic information gathered by Samantha Ye; Sources: musicnotes. com, viralnova.com, ranker.com, livescience.com, YouTube, nydailynews.com

14

March 24, 2016

In-Depth

Spilled Ink

when humor

HURTS GRAPHICS BY ALEXIA CLARK

When does humor cross the line?

Brandon Hall Senior

“Never. I don’t really have a boundary.”

Tori Whitcomb

Sophomore

“When you get to the point where you’re making fun of someone’s race or sex or something personal.”

Maurizio Campana Freshman

“When someone’s feelings get hurt or it gets too personal.”

Careless jokes by students, teachers prove hurtful to subjects of teasing Maya Bode Managing Editor Humor can be an effective way to build relationships, relieve stress, and keep people interested and engaged in conversations or classroom settings, according to Psychology Today. However, misinterpreted or harsh teasing, especially in a school community, can lead to lowered self-esteem, interpersonal difficulties, anxiety, and depression.

“Even if you think one student is completely fine with it, if they’re having a bad day or something bad is going on at home and you make fun of them and it just tips them over the edge, that can be very offensive and harmful,” freshman Gillian Lasher said.

PREVNet, a bullying p r e v e n t i o n organization, found that jokes turn negative when the content becomes hostile, a power imbalance exists, the teasing occurs repeatedly, or the victim is upset or hurt by the interaction.

“Not all humor can be good,” freshman Abigael Hyberger said. “It comes to a certain point where it’s too much.”

Teenagers tease each other regularly as a means of social control and to offer criticism without provoking defensiveness, according to Psychology Today. It becomes unhealthy

only if the teasing is harsh or the person is offended due to reasons they can’t or shouldn’t be compelled to change.

“For example, I know some teachers think it’s funny to use swear words, and that’s something that I don’t find funny,” Lasher said. “I think it kind of makes the atmosphere a little uncomfortable for some students.

But I do think it just builds a better connection with teachers and students to use humor.”

“Not all humor can be good. It comes to a certain point where it’s too much.”

—Freshman Abigael Hyberger According to changingminds. org, teasing can be used to show or test the level of trust in a relationship. Since teasing is common between close friends, groups or couples may tease one another to assess whether all parties feel comfortable enough to know the exchanges are not meant to be offensive.

“There’s definitely a big

difference from your friends just messing around, and then just like a stranger,” junior Clarence Porter said.

Although most cases of teasing occur between friends or peers, some high schoolers have also witnessed teachers making fun of students.

“Some teachers [tease or joke] a lot more than others,” Hyberger said. “A lot of times they think they’re being funny but they can be really offensive, especially if it’s students who don’t realize that they’re doing something, or if it’s teachers who don’t know when to stop.”

In order to avoid offending students, some teachers make jokes about the class subject matter rather than directing them at people.

“Humor is a great way to lighten a mood or bring students into the subject or even make things interesting, but the humor should never be about a specific person,” math teacher Katherine Cruse said. “It should be more about the topic that you’re talking about.”

In addition to making sure one’s jokes are harmless and not directed at any person or group, increased levels of empathy and mindfulness might help with this issue.

“I think people just need to be more aware of how much their words can impact other people,” Lasher said. “People should just be more aware of who they’re teasing or making fun of and how that affects them.”

Sports

Spilled Ink

PSD initiates female lacrosse team Alex McWilliams News Editor Athletes sprint across a field to score a point, gently cradling a ball in the net of their lacrosse stick.

Both males and females have their own versions of the classic game; however, until recently PSD did not have a team for female athletes. “ F o r t Collins girls that wanted to play lacrosse had to go through Thompson Valley’s lacrosse team in Loveland,” senior Zoey Cochran, t e a m captain, said. “It was difficult to drive 30 minutes every day just to go to practice.”

In response to the Title Nine Federal Law which states, “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance,” PSD was required to create a team for female lacrosse players.

The team will be hosted at RMHS, and girls from both PSD and other districts are welcome to join. To create the new team, girls who attend school in PSD as

well as girls from other districts without lacrosse teams will be drafted together.

This draft forces a split of the Thompson Valley team, which can be a difficult task for officials to execute equally.

“I am worried that after the Fort Collins girls leave, Thompson Valley won’t have enough people on a team,” Cochran s a i d .

T h e number of players per team will not be revealed until next y e a r . “ T h e girl’s team will not be active until next spring, so until then the girls will continue playing for Thompson Valley,” Athletic Director Skip Caddoo said. “I know the split will have an effect on the teams, I’m just not sure what it will look like yet.”

Having a local team could create a sense of community among the teammates and allow more support for Fort Collins’ female athletes as friends and families won’t have to drive far as to support their athletes.

“I hope to see all Lambkins at lacrosse games supporting both male and female teams,” Caddoo said.

“They both have such a great amount of finesse.”

Title IX

Play

like a

Girl

Upcoming Events Girls Soccer

Baseball

•Today - @ Rocky Mountain 6:30 p.m.

•Tuesday, April 5 - Fossil Ridge - 6:30 p.m.

•Thursday, April 7 - Greeley West - 6:30 p.m.

•Tuesday, April 12 - Fairview 6:30 p.m.

•Saturday, April 16 - Legacy 12 p.m.

•Today - Adams City - 4 p.m.

•Friday, April 1 - @ Grand Junction - 4 p.m.

•Saturday, April 2 - @ Grand Junction Central - 10 a.m.

•Saturday, April 16 - @ Monarch - 11 a.m.

•Thursday, April 21 - Loveland - 4 p.m.

Lacrosse

•Tomorrow - @ Denver East - 6 p.m.

•Monday, April 4 - Fairview 7:30 p.m.

•Wednesday, April 6 Columbine - 6 p.m.

•Monday, April 11 - Wheat Ridge - 7:30 p.m.

•Wednesday, April 20 Boulder - 7:30 p.m.

Track & Field •March 26 - Runners Roost - @ French Field - 8:30 a.m.

•Saturday, April 2 - Altitude Running - @ French Field - 8:30 a.m.

GRAPHICS BY PARKER ANDRIST

March 24, 2016

15

Mindless

Sports

Minutiae

Retiree’s resume proves misleading

Joseph Mason Sports Editor

Here I am standing in my summoning pit, slicing open the neck of an ox, the black blood spurting over my naked torso. This can only mean one thing—I am preparing to write about Peyton Manning. After 18 years of bloated statistics and disappointing postseasons, the NFL’s greatest choke artist has decided to call it quits.

Manning just had the worst statistical season of his career and, on multiple occasions, almost cost the Denver Broncos their chance of becoming Super Bowl champions. Of course, he went out as a champion, but let’s get one thing straight: Peyton Manning is a loser.

His two championships came in two of the most forgettable Super Bowls in recent memory. First, he defeated the 2006 Chicago Bears, who were led by something called Rex Grossman. Then, this past year, he was carried by the league’s best defense to a championship against a team most famous for their dancing.

And his two Super Bowl losses are almost equally as disappointing. Two years ago, the Broncos lost by 35 points in a game that was decided in the first few seconds. Then in 2010, he lost to the bountygate New Orleans Saints, a contest in which the most memorable moment was Drew Brees holding his baby after the game, while Manning looked on with his forehead pulsing the red blood of a loser.

Everyone knows the face. It’s the face of someone who has just confronted a sobering fact.

It says, I am in complete control of this offense.

I prepare for games like no other quarterback in the league. I am in the best shape of my life. I have done everything I can to succeed—and I’m losing.

It’s the story of Manning’s life. Up until February his little brother, Eli, had won more championships than he. And no matter how hard he tries, he can never win the head-to-head battle against his rival Tom Brady. Manning finished his career with a 6-11 record against Brady, also known as the greatest quarterback in NFL history.

Now that he’s retired the discussion has reemerged of where Manning stands among the all-time greats. His five MVP awards are a compelling argument until you realize his two most recent MVPs aren’t valid. The 2009 award rightfully belonged to Brett Favre, who had a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 33:7—better than Manning’s 33:16—at the age of 40. And Manning’s 2013 MVP should have been awarded to Brady, who led an injury-riddled Patriots team, void of any weapons, to a 12-4 record.

Manning’s five MVPs are his crown jewels, and with good reason. His Super Bowl wins weren’t impressive and he lost the Heisman race to Charles Woodson 19 years ago. So he needs to say he won something. But he retires as a failure. You can see it on his forehead.

16

March 24, 2016

Sports

Spilled Ink

TRACK & FIELD: Which event is right for you?

Story by Spencer Thompson

Pole Vault & High Jump If you aspire to fly but don’t possess superpowers —pole vault in track and field.

Pole vaulting is the act of skyrocketing over a bar using a 5.3m pole.

Of course a soft cushiony pad waits for your landing.

Another form of leaping fun under the sun comes with the title high jump. Like pole vault, you soar over bars onto a foam pad, but with no pole.

Shot Put & Discus Discus and shot put events are well suited if you consider yourself strong, but not a strong runner.

Commonly, throwers heave heavy objects across a flat surface. Discus is like a heavy Frisbee, and shotput is like a large fishing weight.

Long Jump

Created for you lovers of the sand, long and triple jump offer a beachy, bouncy atmosphere. Long jump is like taking a dead sprint toward a sand pit and trying to jump as far as you can. On the other hand, triple jump incorporates a hop and a skip sequence after a short sprint. Both events finish in the large pit of sand at the end of the runway.

Running Perhaps the most noticeable events of track and field include running. If you prefer more endurance running, the Men’s and Women’s 3200-meter and 1600-meter runs offer longer distance runs. If you fancy yourself a Jamaican, it would be wise to choose the shorter distances, like the 100, 200, 400, or 800-meter sprints.

PHOTOS BY KEVIN SULLIVAN

Spilled Ink

Sports

FCHS graduate finds broadcasting success

March 24, 2016

17

Joseph Mason

Sports Editor Wherever Mark Haas goes, winning follows. After being named the valedictorian of his 2002 FCHS graduating class, he studied at USC for four years, an era in which the Trojans football team won two National Championships (and had three Heisman winners). And the Broncos are champions too, now that Haas covers them for CBS. In high school, another period when the Broncos were champions, he played on the basketball, soccer, and track teams which led to his interest sports broadcasting.

“I played sports growing up and into high school but I was never very good—a lot of JV teams and the bench for a couple varsity teams,” Haas Broadcasting History -2000-2002 KLYD TV said. “And at some point in -2002-2006 - University of Southern California - BA in Broadcast Journalism high school, I -2006-2007 - KCSG Weekend Sports Anchor (St. George, UT) started filming -2007-2010 - USCTrojans.com video content reporter/producer the games and -2010-2014 - Sports Anchor KGET NBC 17 (Bakersfield, CA) I made the -2014-Present - Sports Anchor/Reporter CBS4 (Denver, CO) highlight reels for the basketball team.

So I realized I liked video production and I liked sports, so I decided I wanted to make a career out of it.”

Recognizing this interest, Haas joined KLYD TV in 2000.

“It was a good experience,” he said. “I got to shoot sports, edit sports, be in front of the camera, and be behind the camera.”

A f t e r graduating with

NBC’s local sports anchor. As an anchor, Haas had to expand his presence.

“In real life, I didn’t grow up to be a confident public speaker,” he explained. “So people would describe my personality as being a bit shy. But for television I am able to ignore that, because when I am doing it, it is in front of a small group. And that has allowed me to come out of my shell from high school.”

Haas spent four years with NBC before he returned home, and was hired by CBS Denver, where he would reach the pinnacle of his career.

“There’s been a lot TOP: Haas reports at a Broncos of highlights, but Super game in Oakland.

Bowl 50 would have to ABOVE: Haas reports from top the list,” he said.

Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, “The game was on CBS CA, after the Broncos so it was on our network.

Super Bowl 50 victory.

We got to go out there LEFT: Outside of Levi’s for ten days and I was Stadium, Haas reports for able to go on the field.

CBS during Super Bowl 50 I grew up in Colorado pre-game coverage. and I grew up a Broncos PHOTOS COURTESY fan, watching games OF MARK HAAS with my dad. So to be on the field doing a postgame show with the Broncos, Peyton Manning’s final game, winning Super Bowl 50, being on a Denver station that carried the Super Bowl— that would have to be at the top of the list.”

Haas says he would have never been able to reach this point without having gone through his earlier experiences.

“The way sports media is going these days you have to do it all,” he said. “You have to have passion. Like, if you want to be an anchor you can’t just be an anchor. You have to start out being a reporter who shoots video, who writes, who edits stuff for the website, who tweets, who Facebooks, and who blogs. Your first job you’re going to be asked to do everything.

“And the more you can do the more valuable you are going to be to the bigger stations,” Haas added. “As the media world changes, they’re going to need more of an online presence. And it’s not just the one newscast a day. It’s the 24 hour cycle of needing to put stuff out there.

So you need to make yourself as well-rounded and valuable as possible.”

Mark on the

M

c

sterling g r a d e s , deserving of his class’s valedictorian, Haas j o i n e d the USC broadcasting team, and from there he started applying for jobs which landed him a short tenure as the KCSG weekend sports anchor in St. George, UT. In 2007, after his stint in Utah, he returned to USC to become the video content reporter and producer for USCTrojans.com.

Through this job, Haas reunited with the element of broadcasting he became enamored with 17 years earlier.

“My original passion was for the theatrical production side of it,” he said. “I liked editing video; I liked shooting video; I liked going to the sporting events, and so it seemed like a fun way to join them together.”

Haas left USC for a job in Bakersfield, CA, where he would become

18

Sports

March 24, 2016

Lane Brlecic Junior

When did you start playing baseball?

PHOTO COURTESY OF LANE BRLECIC

Interview by Joseph Mason

Spilled Ink

This is my 13th year. I just tried it out and I really liked it.

What is the most challenging aspect of baseball?

Baseball

Failure, which you have to overcome by practicing hard.

What are your goals, looking forward?

To win a state championship.

What has been your greatest accomplishment?

Making every team I’ve tried out for.

Who has influenced you the most?

My grandpa. He was on the first Fort Collins High School baseball team. And I wear his number when I play.

What has been your greatest memory?

Probably winning the city championship three years in a row, when I was nine, ten, and eleven years old.

Last year, Brlecic led his team with a batting average (.435) and triples (4). He hopes to continue his outstanding play this year.

OF

ATHLETE

MONTH

THE Nemechek was a member of the varsity squad, last year, and received a scholarship to Kansas State. She looks to continue to impress throughout her high school years.

When did you start soccer?

When I was five, my dad got me into it and I just love the game because of all the friends, and I get to travel to a bunch of different places.

Who has influenced you the most as a soccer player?

Definitely my dad because he helps me out a lot.

Have you ever wanted to give up?

Yeah, but no. I had a back injury and then it set me back a bit. But I’m still here today, playing.

What has been your greatest accomplishment?

I got a scholarship from K-State (Kansas State University) and I’m going to play there in college.

What has been your favorite memory?

Probably going to Hawaii to play soccer with my team.

Interview by Joseph Mason

Soccer

Bailey Nemechek Sophomore

PHOTO COURTESY OF BAILEY NEMECHEK

Spilled Ink

Perspectives

March 24, 2016

19

Staff Ed Friday stair sing deserves respect from students From Pops in the Park to Math Awareness Week, our school celebrates many traditions.

However, one tradition is being neglected: A Cappella’s weekly Stair Sing during 7th hour on Fridays. A way of welcoming the weekend and honoring our school, this tradition has been upheld since the 1950s.

Despite this, many students who come to watch show a lack of respect to the singers.

Students have been seen mocking the director and chatting with their friends in the hall. Such behavior is disrespectful and distracting to the singers. It has to stop immediately and students should remind their peers to behave.

While it is easy to blame the students for these distractions, they aren’t the only ones at fault. Many teachers will not attend with their class leaving a large number of students unsupervised and free to goofoff during the performance. Teachers need to attend with their classes in order to help keep the mayhem to a minimum so everyone can respect the choir and enjoy A Capella’s effort to perform weekly.

If time cannot be found to attend weekly or even monthly, then we, as a school, might consider adding an extra five minutes to seventh period, just as third hour has an extra five minutes for KLYD TV. This extra time would allow our school to honor the songs and their history as they deserve.

Students need to stay respectful during this tradition and teachers need to monitor the students they bring down. Harassing and distracting peers is not what we as Lambkins are taught and it can’t be what we are known for.

The students of the A Cappella choir work hard to bring us the gift of music and school pride every Friday through the Stair Sing. We should honor this gift rather than treating it as an opportunity to get out of class early and talk to friends.

More than that, we shouldn’t ridicule and bully these students for their hard work.

GRAPHIC BY KAITLYN SCHMIDT

Students face obstacles before summer

Alexia Clark

Graphic Artist Almost everyone can attest to two ideas: life is never a cakewalk, and something better than what we are working with at the present moment is always around the corner.

For many students, summer and a life beyond the halls seems just out of reach, and some struggle to continue caring about school. Though the idea of turning on an academic autopilot sounds appealing, a number of high schoolers are not able to afford the lack of focus due to grades, looming assessments, graduation, and scholarships.

For students taking the CMAS and ACT exams in March and April, fourth quarter can be one of the most stressful times of the year.

Among rigorous testing schedules, pressure to succeed, and lack of drive, those who are not prepared may find this quite overwhelming.

It is important for students to not give up on studying and maintaining their academic record for these tests, as they impact students’ futures.

Past all of the federal exams and high school mentalities, the last hurdle to jump before the freedom of summer is finals. A number of students rely on the final exams to pass their respective classes each year, or worry their grade will drop below passing because of lack of

preparation. The few who practice this find the allure of summer to be the reason for being so unprepared. The students that rely on these tests for academic survival must stay focused until summer to avoid repeating classes next fall.

Though the tests are over for seniors, many find themselves suffering from a case of senioritis, a dangerous virus that strikes and depletes a student’s incentive until the only way to regain motivation is through hope for the future.

“You want to get good grades, but you don’t because you’re done, and you lose motivation,” senior Kimjohn Alud-ud said. “But you gain motivation because graduation is right there.”

Senioritis is a problem because of students’ struggle to keep grades up, which can reduce their chance of graduation and college acceptance. After some students have been accepted into their college of choice and have started the enrollment process, they often anticipate college rather than caring about their current schooling.

“I was worried about my GPA and about getting into college, but now that I got in I’m like ‘I don’t care anymore,’” senior Ethan Berndt said. “Though creative writing class, genetics, and cell biology are my biggest hurdles, because right now they are Fs.” Second semester holds many challenges, and though many students do not find themselves on autopilot, those who do must not give up on finding a cure, because though it is fourth quarter, present conditions demand focus.

“Think of it as like a race,” sophomore Isabel Abbajay said. “This is the home stretch and you need to push yourself just a little bit harder and then once you finish, you get to relax and be free.”

Amateur Hour

COMIC BY WALKER DISCOE

What the Experts Say...

20

March 24, 2016

Rolling Stones critic Peter Travers called Zoolander 2 “a movie that quickly loses its charm and becomes no longer funny.”

The Guardian’s critic Peter Bradshaw stated that ”21 Jump Street is not so much a stoner movie, perhaps more the result of film producers stoned.”

New York Times’ critic Stephen Holden reviewed Bruce Almighty saying the movie was smart and believable which made it funny.

Perspectives

Spilled Ink

Unintelligent comedy movies harm society

Hanna Khmelovska Staff Writer

In 2015 comedy movies brought in $251,307,779 and 29,811,206 more tickets were sold for comedies than for drama movies, according to the-numbers.com This evidence shows that comedy movies are a big part of mass culture. The fact that they reach so many means that the tendency for comedy movies to get more violent and stupid is perpetuating problems in society.

Comedies play a huge role in developing stereotypes. Movies like “Zoolander 2,” “21 Jump Street,” and “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan” are sexist with almost no exceptions. Juvenile jokes about boobs and vaginas hurt society by validating sexism.

“I think that comedy movies that have that type of humor can have a negative impact on our society for people whose senses of ethics have not matured yet,” social studies teacher Kelly Keough said.

Watching “Zoolander” and “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan,” I was constantly asking myself why was I still in the theater, because when Derek Zoolander almost refuses to be a father when he sees his kid is not as beautiful as he is, it is not funny. The other main character has a big tragedy – he made

the whole village pregnant, including the sheep, and he is not ready to be a father yet.

Both characters are incredibly irresponsible and immoral people and this movie is a perfect example of scatological humor that encourages the lack of morals in society.

“21 Jump Street” starts with the idea that two cops should prevent using drugs in high school, though it has an opposite impact. By throwing parties, taking drugs and getting drunk, police officers Morton Schmidt and Greg Jenko create an assumption that it is fun, while movies like “Requiem for a dream” and “The Basketball Diaries” show the real side of narcotics instead of idealizing them.

Comedy can be smart and it can be funny without being as simple as possible. “Night In The Museum” and “Bruce Almighty” are among the top ten comedy movies of all time because they have good jokes and audiences do not feel disgust while watching them. Intelligent comedy is what we need to see in theaters because it doesn’t compound societal problems, and many such as junior Olivia Goodwin prefer it as entertainment.

According to Goodwin, “intelligent comedy is way better than slapstick.”

Mass media brings ideas to people, and if we see characters making jokes and talking about women as though they are just sexual objects and that “cool” stories involve being stoned or drunk, then we don’t have to ask why there is so much sexual harassment going on and why so many kids believe that alcohol and drugs are fun. The purpose of comedy movies is not just to provide “Bread and circuses.” Comedy should be a way to comment on social problems, not create more.

GRAPHIC BY PARKER ANDRIST

Cure to senioritis found through behavioral science

Evan Bode

Editor-in-Chief Every spring, a strange sickness spreads through the seniors of our school, draining motivation and stifling productivity. Career analyst Dan Pink’s 2009 TED Talk, “The Puzzle of Motivation,” presents fascinating insight into behavioral science that can help explain this mysterious disease, why it exists, and what may be the cure.

In order to understand senioritis, it is first necessary to examine a revolutionary yet underappreciated finding in the field of psychology.

“I spent the last couple of years looking at the science of human motivation, particularly the dynamics of extrinsic motivators and intrinsic motivators,” Pink said. “And I’m telling you, it’s not even close.”

Pink researched numerous studies, from institutions such as MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Chicago, that illuminate the lackluster effect of extrinsic motivators compared to the powerful impact of intrinsic ones. In one study, a group who was offered monetary rewards took an average of three and a half minutes longer to solve a problem.

Similar results have been replicated successfully for over 40 years.

This surprising phenomenon, in which higher incentives led to worse performance, starkly contradicts popular assumptions about human behavior.

“This is one of the most robust findings in social science, and also one of the most ignored,” Pink said. ¬Though his work is primarily based around revolutionizing the way businesses are run, it can offer clues into the spread of senioritis as well.

Pink argues we must fundamentally re-assess traditional business models to accommodate this information, citing a disparity between what science knows and what business does. Whereas traditional incentives may be effective for structured, rulesbased work, which is increasingly automated, they hinder the type of creativity most needed in the upcoming generation of innovators.

“If we really want high performance on those definitional tasks of the 21st century, the solution is not to do more of the wrong things, to entice people with a sweeter carrot, or threaten them with a sharper stick,” Pink said.

“We need a whole new approach.”

The new approach is built on three principles: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Pink defines these respectively as the urge to direct our own lives, the desire to get better at something that matters, and the yearning to do what we do in the service

TALKS FOR

TEENS

of something larger than ourselves.

Such an approach may sound unrealistically utopian, or in Pink’s words, like a “touchy-feely socialist conspiracy,” but countless businesses, including Google, have already implemented such strategies with unprecedented levels of success in increasing employee productivity.

“The secret to high performance isn’t rewards and punishments, but that unseen intrinsic drive, the drive to do things for their own sake,” Pink said. “The drive to do things because they matter.”

Here’s how this relates to senioritis.

When our academic efforts are driven solely by the reward of grades, our level of motivation has far less sustaining power, especially when we reach the end of the college admission process and grades suddenly seem to lose their importance, at which point we are left with no form of extrinsic motivation to compel us forward.

Although we can’t do much to alter an education system that emphasizes grades as a measure of our success, we can redefine our own attitudes

Name of Talk: “The Puzzle of Motivation”

Presenter: Dan Pink to shift toward intrinsic motivation and escape from a condition of carelessness. The cure for senioritis is autonomy, mastery, and purpose.

By becoming more self-directed as students, investing ourselves in our work, and concentrating efforts toward understanding why what we’re learning matters, seniors can continue building momentum as we finish off these last few months of high school, concluding this four-year journey with strength, passion, and renewed motivation as opposed to fizzling out in a state of apathetic detachment.

Perspectives

Spilled Ink

March 24, 2016

21

Morbid curiosity functions as healthy outlet for fears

Adelaide Tomsic Staff Writer

Thick white liquid flows with little resistance from a swollen cyst on the freckled back of one of dermatologist Sandra Lee’s patients. The video is posted on Lee’s Instagram account; @drpimplepopper has over a million views despite the unhygienic nature of the strawberry sized lump.

Human nature causes us to be captivated by gory situations. We don’t resist watching a large pimple burst on Instagram or a woman in a shower getting stabbed by a psychotic man, because of the natural pull of morbid curiosity.

Although shunned by many as disgusting and something to be ashamed of, morbid curiosity can be beneficial in helping us cope with fears and it may teach us to empathize, making our fascination with the macabre beautiful, so we should embrace our love of the dark.

Glenn Sparks, a researcher at Purdue University who studies people’s reactions to horror films, found they were proud after watching a scary movie for not chickening out. A film or other forms or morbidity act like a test run for experiencing real fears in a safe environment, similar to G r a d u a l E x p o s u r e T h e r a p y .

Such therapy helps patients overcome phobias by bringing the feared thing progressively closer. For example, in a situation in which a patient is afraid of moths, she would first be presented with a film of a moth and then eventually asked to hold one. A horror film is much like the moth video in the way we can see our fears without being touched by them.

According to Eric Wilson, author of “Everyone Loves a Good Train Wreck,” in addition to helping us face our fears, our intrigue with morbidity can make us more empathetic and inspire an appreciation for our own more fortunate circumstances.

While sharing his experience of watching 9/11 on the news, Wilson explains he was mesmerized by the footage and watched the towers collapse many times, as he experienced morbid curiosity for the event. But he gained a thankfulness for his situation, writing, “Here is one of those rare ruptures from which history will not recover, and I am alive at its occurrence.”

Even though morbid curiosity can make us more understanding, in some instances, the interest can grow to be an obsession.

“If you’re looking for novel stimuli, you can learn a new sport, but morbid curiosity—the danger there is you get off on the thrill of the thought,” Psychologist John Nicoletti said. “Every time you look at these gross things it excites you and you like it and you become addicted to it, and that’s when it becomes problematic.”

Nicoletti argues some people are inclined to become addicted to their morbid fascinations and sity o i may try r u

Horror novels and movies create a safe outlet for people to experience fear.

can . dom

be

c rbid t bore o m a our comb g fyin ay to s i t Sa aw

experiencing these dark things for themselves.

However, most aren’t prone to become addicted to morbid curiosity and in most instances, it is a unique and interesting way humans combat phobias. After all, many of us are excited by scary movies, slow down at the scene of a car crash, or read about the tragic death of historical characters. We should encourage our strange, yet natural fascination for all the benefits morbid curiosity provides.

When going through haunted houses, adrenaline is released, causing us to feel more alive.

Information gathered by Amanda Evans Source: CNN, Psychologytoday.com, and John Nicoletti

d i b r o m y t i s o i r u c d i b r o riosity M GRAPHICS BY ALEXIA CLARK

Why do you think we are attracted to morbid news?

Michael Hovey Freshman

“It’s just a change in their daily lives. It’s something to gawk at; it’s different.”

Katie Carlson Sophomore

“It’s attention getting. When you see something happy, it doesn’t hold your attention.”

John Anderson Junior

“It’s instantaneous and is big in the moment but no one cares about it after the next.”

Rachel Roberts Senior

“It’s shocking and life can be boring.

People want to know the ending of the story.“

22

March 24, 2016

Perspectives

Spilled Ink

g n i t But

Head

s

High school offers last chance to enjoy childhood

Teens should use high school to prepare for life

Spencer Thompson

Eleanor Glenn Staff Writer

Staff Writer When you jump into the world of adults you start taking all sorts of medication for your back, hips, and knees. No one wants the stress of sorting pills, and god, the arthritis! Adulthood comes at a price.

Becoming distant from what really matters, like fun, creativity, and worry-free times is the worst one could do to damage wellbeing.

“You have to stay young, right,” junior Jayden Martinez said. “As an adult you have to pay things like taxes. No one wants to do that.”

Adulthood comes up fast by the time we are in high school. It’s a four-year countdown to a time of increased independence and responsibility.

Growing up isn’t something to look forward to.

There’s always time to live as an adult, but once responsibility is taken on its hard to be youthful again. Bills, debt, and stress swarm around us as we lose grip of the shortlived childish times we once had.

“Party young,” freshman Jack Sheesley said.

“You only have one childhood. You might as well live it to the fullest.”

It’s not that an immature and irresponsible existence is the way to live, but adulthood is nothing to rush.

In today’s society teens are pressured to become the leaders of tomorrow, but it’s not like this is all going down tomorrow. Teens should stay as young as possible for as long as possible. A fun, carefree young life is something to take advantage of. One chance exists … seize it.

Not all teens get the opportunity to live out their childhoods to the fullest.

In the cases of split families and those in poverty, kids often fill the gap by getting a job, or Stay a kid in high school taking on more responsibilities.

According to www.vision.org kids in split family situations •Getting older comes lose sight of childhood, and with joint pain. are rushed into the life of an adult. The added stress and responsibility pushes the process •Adulthood comes of growing up, and is unfair. with stress kids don’t No one wants to “grow up.”

While we’re young we need have to go through. to adventure and be worryfree about needing to get back to, or having a plan for every • Staying youthful little thing. Being young is a chance to live life without allows more time for the hassle of being an adult self exploration. and find ourselves before we jump into a life that was never chosen, but rather forced.

Talking Points:

As soon as graduation caps are thrown into the air, teenagers are shoved straight into the world of adults, and they need to be ready.

Skills such as time management, responsibility, and social maturity should be practiced by all high school students for when they join the workforce. Those that take high school seriously will have the upper hand after graduation.

To make the transition into adulthood during high school “is important,” freshman Isabel Layne said. “Because I know I’ve changed a lot since last year and I was kind of more immature and I think that even just this first year of high school has helped me to grow up a little bit.”

Over the course of these four high school years, many students become more socially mature and learn different skills necessary for college and professions.

Since entering high school, Layne has learned how to manage her time more efficiently by balancing sports and school.

“Last year I didn’t have to do that as much, and this year it’s been a lot harder,” Layne said. “I’ve had to get used to that and I guess I’ll have to do a lot of that when I’m older, just like balancing different things.”

These increasing responsibilities taken on during high school allow teenagers to gain independence until the day they graduate –out of school, out of the house, and into the real world. Even for those who are relatively prepared, nothing can completely mute the shock of having one’s lifelong support Transition in high school system taken out from under them.

To use your high school years • Skills useful in for the transition to the life and responsibilities of adult life adulthood should makes it easier, “because really be practiced in high you learn it from other adults and your parents,” sophomore school.

Andrew Ashlock said.

• Taking on more Though not everyone will choose to move out of the house responsibility while in for a few more years or continue high school creates an their education after high school, those who leave their advantage. childish years behind earlier can •Transitioning to become successful adults sooner.

Whereas, the students who wish adulthood early makes to act like children for as long the future easier. as they can will be unprepared for the world of adulthood.

Talking Points:

Spilled Ink

Perspectives

March 24 ,2016

23

Civility with enemies in public protects friendships

Amanda Evans

Perspectives Editor I was once given an ultimatum by a friend that made me realize how much my pride and anger can be a deciding factor in ending a friendship. I received this threat after going through a messy break-up and, having red still in my eyes, I neglected to see how my bickering with my ex would affect our mutual friends. Once my reality check came, it was clear that I had lost a great friend because I was too consumed in anger and pride.

I will never forget the feeling after, knowing it was all my fault.

We need to respect our enemies while in public, whether it be in class or on a team or just passing by each other.

Though respecting someone we don’t like is hard, forcing our emotions onto those around us is not fair to everyone else. Pride and anger have to be pushed aside in order to remain civil.

It’s important to maintain civility in the presence of others. No one wants to be put

in an awkward situation, and I don’t know of anyone, besides politicians and judges, who likes picking a side in someone else’s argument. You may have differences with someone, but settle the feud in private, not in front of an unwilling audience.

This isn’t Broadway and you aren’t in the leading role.

Even after realizing you aren’t the headlining act, you may still have the hidden motives inside of pride and anger. Either alone can take the stage and be the perfect villain, but both together without any self-control is a deadly duo.

Pride fuels anger and anger inspires pride.

Fighting doesn’t end the problem; the only thing fighting will do is create more anger and chaos.

Aside from the chaotic environment fighting brings, it’s also very rude to argue in public.

I put my ex in an awkward situation when I brought up a fight in public. I didn’t see the negative effects that my friend was enduring while he was the unwilling spectator to my argument with my ex. It

wasn’t fair to him because he couldn’t just leave the stage.

I know I’ve struggled with this. My anger remains long after curtain call and it becomes the ghost light, always burning somewhere in the background.

I complain about having to put up with people I don’t like when they share my spotlight. And even though I try to stay civil, it’s hard to contain what I want to say, and I’m not always successful.

But just trying to stay civil is not enough. We should stand up against ourselves, hold ourselves accountable and restrain our tempers.

A time and a place exist for everything and when bickering, a public setting is not the right time nor the place. We should inspect our surroundings before jumping into an argument.

If you feel like the fight has to be immediate, try to find a place to have it that will not put anyone else in the position I put my friend in.

No one wants to be the victim of someone else’s disagreement.

Unless you can put your differences aside, you might end up like me, losing people you care about. We shouldn’t let pride and anger control us. It’s a harsh lesson, but that’s the way it goes.

Amanda’s Tips Try taking a deep breath when confronted by an enemy. It will help you keep a level head.

Don’t hold anger inside for a prolonged period of time. If you can’t address your enemy with your problem, find another outlet, like writing or going on a walk, to release an anger.

Backing away from an argument does not mean you are weak; it’s considerate if the time isn’t right.

Don’t isolate yourself when you are consumed in anger. You might not be thinking clearly and might need additional assistance.

If you find that you can’t maintain your anger when around an enemy, try to settle on terms when in public.

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2015-2016 3400 Lambkin Way, Ft. Collins, CO 80525

Editors Evan Bode...Editor-in-Chief Maya Bode...Managing Editor Alex McWilliams...News Editor Dalena Groen...A&E Editor Samantha Ye...In-Depth Editor Joseph Mason...Sports Editor Amanda Evans...Perspectives Editor

1. Realize that you have an opinion about something and want to address it in Spilled Ink. 2. Write about your topic in 300 words or fewer.

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Staff Writers Thany Dykson Eleanor Glenn Nick Hawley Matthew Keaten Hanna Khmelovska Molly Lubbers Haley Ridgeway Kaitlyn Schmidt Spencer Thompson Adelaide Tomsic

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Editorial Policy

Spilled Ink is published nine times yearly by the newspaper staff of Fort Collins High School, 3400 Lambkin Way, Fort Collins, Colo. 80525, (970) 488-8199. Member of the Colorado High School Press Association, American Scholastic Press Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. Recipient of the Quill and Scroll, George H. Gallup Award in 1996 and 1997, and awarded First Place with Special Merit in 2001 by the National Scholastic Press Association. Columns are the opinions of writers only. Unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Spilled Ink staff. Nothing in Spilled Ink should be considered the opinion of Fort Collins High School or Poudre School District (PSD). School-sponsored publications written by students are encouraged to freely and creatively express their views subject to the limitations of PSD Board Policies and state law (PR--la0431, Colorado Revised Statutes 22-1-120) Spilled Ink reserves the right to edit letters to the editor and to deny publication to any letter. Letters may be published on Spilled Ink’s website. Letters must be signed, and are limited to 300 words.

24 March 24, 2016 The Backside

Spilled Ink

What’s one of your favorite jokes?

Scott Iyer

Autumn Horne

Zoe Steble

Sophomore

Senior

Freshman

“Why did the fish have bad grades?

Because he was below C level!”

“What do you call a cow lying on the ground?

Ground beef!”

“What do you call a bear with no teeth?

A gummy bear!”

William Brown

Jessica Romero

Freshman

Sophomore

“A Mexican magician tells the audience he’ll disappear on the count of three. Uno, dos, and he’s gone without a tres.”

“What happens when you drop a piano? It will B flat!”

Ethan Berndt

Olivia Goodwin

Thomas Holmes

Senior

Junior

“If I ever have a kid, I’ll name him Exit, so if he becomes an actor, his name would be in theaters across the country.”

Junior

“My life is a joke.”

GRAPHIC BY PARKER ANDRIST

“Two pretzels walked across the street and one was ‘assalted.’”

Spilled Ink is a four year All-Colorado Newspaper

2010-2011

2011-2012

2012-2013

2014-2015