Central Focus February 2012

focus central { } francis francis howell howell central central high high school school| |volume volume fifteen fifteen| |issue issue one six | | 8.8.2011 2.3.2012

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delve 3-8 | sweat 9-13 | in focus 14-19 | the scene 21-26 | be heard 27-30 | interact 31 | aperture 32

EIGHT {found funds} The school district received an additional $4 million dollars from the state this year, which has led to increased staffing and given some additional funds to individual schools.

TEN {stay chilled} The boys hockey team competed at Shaw Park's outdoor ice rink, facing down the 30-degree weather and Fort Zumwalt West Jaguars.

TWENTY-THREE {so fine}

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draven bryant

The inaugural Fine Arts Festival was hosted by the National Art Honors Society. Attendees were able to view the work of students and buy pieces in the silent auction.

TWENTY-FOUR {tick tock} Local band Clockwork is exploding onto the music scene as sophomores Logan Slone and Logan Mohler, along with alumnus Jordan Slone, release new songs.

TWENTY-NINE {new you} blake sneed

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opening shots | february 3, 2012

mr. myers

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With the arrival of 2012, many student's took vows to live the new year differently than they lived 2011, but does setting resolutions actually make a difference?

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Longtime teacher recognized for hard work Mr. Myers’ wins 2011-2012 Teacher of the Year award

By Maddie Newton staff reporter

Distraction and boredom are often associated with school; however, Mr. Bill Myers puts these common school stereotypes to rest. His energetic and boisterous approach keeps the students awake and actively learning.

Teacher of the year is known as one of the most prestigious awards given out annually in the school. This award was granted to Mr. Myers this year.

Approaching retirement, Mr. Myers has used his 22 years of teaching experience and his 15 years at FHC to help him achieve this award.

Mr. Myers teaches an array of classes including Accounting, Advanced Accounting, Law, Computer Programming 1 and 2 and Personal Finance that add to

his experience.

“I’m pretty close to retirement, so I look at it as my last major achievement before moving to the next stage of my life,” Mr. Myers said. “Honestly, I think receiving this award has to do with longevity; therefore, I have developed good relationships with teachers and students and obviously I think my experience played a part.”

According to Mr. Myers, receiving an award like this is encouraging because it allows a person to have fuel to keep doing what they are doing.

“The recognition a person receives from this type of award helps recharge them and pushes them to do an even better job,” Mr. Myers said.

Although this is an important accomplishment for Mr. Myers, he believes that he, along with all other teachers, has

room for improvements.

“I think that all teachers need to keep an open mind about new technologies and instructional strategies in order to improve,” Myers said.

Several students including senior Ben Kingen, have had Mr. Myers for more than one class which allows Mr. Myers a chance to show the influence he makes on the school.

“I think Mr. Myers has had a chance to increase productivity in business classes throughout the school,” Kingen said.

Even though Mr. Myers has received such an award, he doesn’t want his students to view him differently than before the award.

“Honestly, I hope it doesn’t. I’m the same person I was before receiving this nice honor,” Mr. Myers said.

Kingen’s overall experience with Mr. Myers has led him to believe that he achieved this award through specific teaching strategies.

“He’s thorough in his teaching techniques. He teaches things multiple ways and if you don’t understand one way he will teach it another way,” Kingen said.

An award this significant gives Mr. Myers an opportunity to share some advice to younger, less experienced teachers.

He also feels that this has made a positive impact on his confidence levels and allows him to keep improving as he approaches retirement.

“I would tell other teacher to continue to push yourself and continue to grow,” Mr. Myers said. “This has already affected the way I teach. The day I received the award, I sensed that I was more in the zone.”

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photo by jerianne harrison

The student parking lot is very busy throughout the morning. On the first day of second semester, students had to wait in a long line to get a daily pass.

Students struggle with school parking lot

By Lizzi Holland and Alli Keisker the scene editor and print executive editor

The second a teenager notices their sixteenth birthday is inching closer; they cannot help but anticipate the long awaited freedom of driving. The anxiety which accompanies getting the highly prized drivers license is mere child’s play in comparison to the independence of being able to get from point ‘A’ to point ‘B,’ all without the supervision of an adult.

The first destination after pulling away from the Department of Motor Vehicles is school; the excitement, from no longer needing the bus, evident.

This excitement may come down a few notches, however, once the money drains from the students’ pockets as they purchase parking passes. This was the case for senior Alex Recker, who was dismayed at the price of parking.

“I had to pay for my yearly parking pass because [my dad] said that he wouldn’t,” said Recker. “It was really hard to fork over $50 just to be able to put my car in a parking spot. And I don’t even have a clue where

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the money is going. It clearly isn’t going into others, like senior Kyle Chumbley, are for the parking lot itself because I’ve seen more the idea. than a few holes out there.”

“I think we need to pay for parking or To some, this may seem everything would be like the ranting of the crazy and chaotic. average teenager, moody We need some sort of “We have the ability to and unsatisfied with any order, and if that means use [the budget] with and all rules. Recker, paying some money, so discretion. I mean, there be it,” said Chumbley. however, is not alone in the belief that the school Others do not have are certian restrictions should not force students we have to abide by, but just strong views about to pay for parking. Social we can pick and choose the parking office and studies teacher Mr. its policies. what kinds of things we Thomas Whelan is also “I’ve just accepted want to fund.” against parking fees. [the parking office] as a “This is a completely part of life,” said senior { Mr. Dave Stofer } assistant principal new phenomenon; I don’t Michael Barbara. remember ever having “I think the thing that Mr. Stofer and Mrs. Dot Pinkham are in charge of the office. They choose the price of parking passto pay for parking,” said esparking bothers people is that and what the money is used for. Examples of things funded by the parking office are the trophy cases in Whelan. “I think it’s just [students] have no idea the art hallway and the iPads in history classes. a way for the school to what they’re funding generate extra money. with the money they’re Charging kids to park is giving away.” like charging kids to ride the bus or walk to It has been made clear by the student school. It’s practically an entrance fee.” body, through the means of various surveys While some are against paying for parking, and interviews, that the average student

does not know where the money from their parking pass goes. Perhaps, this is one of the causes of frustration against the fees.

When asked, Assistant Principal Mr. Dave Stofer matter-of-factly stated a few places the parking office’s budget made an impact.

“We have the ability to use [the budget] with discretion. I mean, there are certain restrictions we have to abide by, but we can pick and choose what kinds of things we want to fund.” said Stofer. “For example, we helped purchase the trophy cases in the art hallway and the marquee and the iPads used in Social Studies classes. We also just recently purchased new software for the music program to help them with new teaching methods. The money all goes towards academically and aesthetically improving our school.”

So whether students are for or against paying for parking, they cannot deny the benefits the money provides.

“All of the money students pay for parking comes back to benefit them here,” said Stofer.

No assigned parking spaces Along with the parking issues listed above, students such as Recker, feel that there should be assigned parking spaces.

Despite the feelings of students, Mr. Stofer feels that, by getting rid of assigned parking spaces, it allows more time to be put into other things around school.

“Getting rid of assigned parking spaces is the biggest change that I’ve made,” said Mr. Stofer “Most of the issues we were having were about where individual students’ cars were assigned to be. I feel like, by getting rid of the assigned

spots, we have opened up more time for more serious matters.”

By not having assigned parking, students are able to park on a first come, first served basis, according to Mr. Stofer.

“Now students who get here early can get any space they want; it is a reward of sorts for students who get here early,” said Mr. Stofer.

“My next goal now, is to get rid of the teacher’s assigned parking spots because they tend to have the same problems as the students did in previous years.”

The student parking lot is very busy in both the mornings and afternoons. On the first day back from winter break, students could not purchase parking passes until after first hour.

One of the most common complaints about the parking office is the policy that prohibits students from purchasing season and semester parking passes until after first hour.

According to Mr. Stofer, this policy was not made just for fun, but to hopefully decrease the amount of students lined up at the parking office each morning.

“Well, if you come here early in the morning there are typically 30 or so students in line for a daily parking pass,” said Mr. Stofer. “Because of this, we decided that Mrs. Dott Pinkham and I just wouldn’t be able to handle anything else during that time frame.”

Though students are not allowed to purchase season and semester passes until later in the day, according to Mr. Stofer, they have two weeks before each previous pass expires to purchase a new one.

photo by jerianne harrison

photo by jerianne harrison

Students wait in line for their daily and semester passes.

Assistant Principal Dave Stofer said the policy for purchasing semester passes later in the day was made in order to shorten the line in the morning.

photo by jerianne harrison

Season, semester passes are not available for purchase until after first hour to limit long lines “We do give students two weeks before each season or semester to purchase their pass. You can do it at pretty much any time but before school.”

But not everyone gets their parking passes on time, so there are many students who receive parking fines for things such as, but not limited to, parking in a teacher’s parking spot or parking without a daily, semester or seasonal parking pass.

“If parking fines start to become obsessive, such as five or more for an individual student, we can and will have his/her car towed.” said Mr. Stofer.

Though the school can have a student’s car towed, it does not happen very often.

“Luckily, we have only towed two cars in the nine years that I have been here, so it isn’t exactly a common occurrence,” said Mr. Stofer.

Student parking is first come, first served here. “I feel like, by getting rid of the assigned spots, we have opened up more time for more serious matter,” said Mr. Stofer.

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By Alli Keisker and Amber Roth Print Executive Editors

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A young boy with down syndrome claps his hands as he sits on his mother’s lap.

Santorum’s daughter has Trisomy 18 which is similar to Down’s syndrome, and this child was one of many children at the address with Down’s.

photo by amber roth

On Monday, about 300 people gathered in a small auditorium at St. Charles Community College (SCC).

Looking around, there were people holding cameras, raising posters and clapping in support, all for former Senator Rick Santorum, from Pennsylvania. Senator Santorum is currently running for the Republican nomination for president.

Between discussing his views on manufacturing and immigrants, Senator Santorum covered nearly every topic out there, but his primary focus was on the education system.

Senator Santorum came to SCC because it is a solid school that offers courses for any type of student.

“Every program here is customized for children at the community college,” Senator Santorum said. “It provides services to meet the needs of each child to make them want to come here.”

With 47 different education programs, students attending SCC are there for a reason, because they want to succeed.

Sen. Santorum says the three ways to reach success are to work, graduate high school and to get married before having children. But, without one or more of the three ways of success, a person will lower their success rate.

“If you do the three things to be successful, then your chance of living in poverty is only two percent,” Sen. Santorum said. “Along with this, your chance of being in the top half of Americans is 77 percent.”

One out of three children in America will not graduate high school, according to Senator Santorum.

“America is a land of opportunity. If you do the basics, then you are almost guaranteed to succeed in life,” Senator Santorum said.

Despite of this, Sen. Santorum feels that our education system is failing from the top down, meaning the government is failing the future generations.

“Our country does nothing to fix the problems in the public schools. The primary and secondary schools leave parents out, but parents choose not to care anyway,” Sen. Santorum said. “We need to break the mold and talk about things from the bottom up. The government won’t fix things for us, we need to start in the public schools. Our public schools should teach children what it means to be an American.”

Though Sen. Santorum feels it is important for people to get a good education in order to succeed in life, he feels the main responsibility lies on the parents.

“Parents are responsible for educating their children,” Sen. Santorum said. “Schools are to help create the best possible environment to educate children.”

Nekcoe Yungling, a supporter of Sen. Santorum and mother of three, understands the importance of educating her children. She and her children made signs in support of the senator and his beliefs. Yungling home-schools her children and brought them to his policy address at SCC as a learning experience.

“I home-school my children,” Yungling said. “This is an election year and kids need to learn about government and how it’s ran, so that’s why we’re here. I want my children to be critical thinkers and that’s what [Sen. Santorum] believes too.”

Stay at home mother, Nekcoe Yungling holds up signs with her children whom she homeschools.

Yungling had brought her children to teach them about government.

photo by amber roth

GOP candidate speaks about importance of education

photo by amber roth

Santorum stops at SCC

Geometry Foods & Nutrition English II

New scheduling English II brings mixed Printmaking emotions

U.S. History

By Karley Canova staff reporter

Ceramics

World History

Choir

Choir

Biology

Geometry

World History

Biology

60 percent of students received all classes they wanted with old system

80 percent of students received all classes they wanted with new system

Sophomore Jimmy Smother was one of the many students who had their schedule greatly changed. On the left is his schedule from first

Due to the changes in the student information system, many students have schedules that change at semester, which allows for much more flexibility in the choices of the student.

The school leadership wanted schedules to be more flexible so that students were more likely to get what they want.

“That will get you guys a little bit more of what you want,” said counselor Kris Miller, referring to the student body.

Previously, about 60 percent of kids received all the classes they wanted. With the changes to the system, approximately 80 percent of students were able to get into the classes they wanted.

Because students can move classes around at semester, they do not have to worry about one class blocking out another class.

Sophomore Jimmy Smotherman has first-hand experience on the possible effects of the new program.

“Other than choir, which has to be fifth hour, no classes are in the same spots that they were,” said Smotherman.

The new schedule change, according to Mr. Miller, has roused many different opinions.

“I think some people are uncomfortable with it. Some people say it doesn’t matter,” said Mr. Miller. “I’ve heard all

across the spectrum.”

Smotherman seems to be in favor of them.

“I think the new system of schedule changes can be fun.

There is a wider range of meeting people, an option of a new environment, and we learn about how everything is not going to be the same at all times,” said Smotherman.

However, not everyone is in favor of the new system.

“It’s confusing. Everything is just so different,” said junior Charlyn Bigler. “I liked some of the classes I was in.”

Bigler had five of her seven classes changed.

Counselors normally stop making individual changes to students’ schedules after ten days of the new semester, based upon how reasonable the need to change is.

“Sometimes they don’t spend enough time thinking about it,” said Mr. Miller.

According to Mr. Miller, sometimes a student will take a class simply because their friend is. If they end up not taking the class with their friend, the reason they wanted to take the class is no longer there.

“Half the people that want to make a schedule change can’t,” said Mr. Miller, who will not make changes to a schedule based on the dislike of a teacher or the want to be with friends.

semester, and the right shows his schedule for second semester. fhctoday.com | delve

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District finds $4 million surplus

By Ben Morrison

“Since the funds are non-recurring, we were careful to allocate the funds in such a manner as to not commit to long-term expenditures.

The positions added were positions that could be reduced, if financial necessity dictated.” { Mr. Kevin Supple } chief financial officer Mr. Supple is the Chief Financial Officer of the Francis Howell School District. He and Superintendent Pam Sloan were in charge of deciding the budget. Currently there is $4 million that was not predicted when the district planned its budget for the 2011-2012 school year.

staff reporter

The Francis Howell School District has acquired an extra $4 million for the district budget from the state. The surplus was received from the state, and the district is allocating the money to additional staffing and general operating funds.

The way that the district accumulated the surplus funds is that the district predicts it’s budget before the state allocates money for each individual district. If the state budget is less than the district’s budget, the school district will suffer cuts. If the state budget is more than the district’s budget, the district will gain a surplus of money.

In this case, the school district predicted expenses $4 million less than those which the state allocated to the district.

“The district realized a surplus of revenue over expense for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, totaling $4 million,” said Chief Financial Officer Kevin

Supple. “This came about as a result of revenue (from a variety of sources) coming in higher than budget.”

Following the addition of the $4 million to the district budget, Superintendent Pam Sloan gave individual schools the opportunity to ask for the surplus to be put into their expenses.

“Superintendent Sloan gave the principals an opportunity to request additional support for their instructional programs,” said Mr. Supple.

After the schools identified their needs, the individual school’s requests still had a fair amount of administration to go through until the final destination of the money could be decided.

“Superintendent Sloan reviewed this information with the executive cabinet,” said Supple. “This was presented to the board for approval.”

Once the information was presented, the school board decided where the bulk of the money would go.

“Additional staffing was approved by the board at the Nov. 3, 2011 meeting,” said Supple.

Increasing staffing, however, is not an optimal choice for funds of the single use kind, according to Mr. Supple.

“Non-recurring funds are always better used to support non-recurring expenses,” Supple said.

In this case, however, Mr. Supple and the board were careful to add only transient staff positions with the surplus funds.

“Since the funds are non-recurring, we were careful to allocate the funds in such a manner as to not commit to long-term expenditures,” said Mr. Supple. “The positions added were positions that could be reduced, if financial necessity dictated.”

As for the money not yet used, it remains in the district’s general funds.

“The funds are general operating funds,” said Supple, “and [the money] can be used to support any of the general operating of the district.”

“After graduating high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. SCC gave me the time to figure it out before transferring to a four-year university.” ~ DJ Shocklee SCC alum Francis Howell Central alum

Find SCC on : Ask your counselor how to get started at St. Charles Community College. Call 636-922-8000 or visit stchas.edu.

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By Jessica Mugler copy manager

Since he was three years old, senior Blake Sneed has been honing and practicing his hockey skills. Now, after playing on Central’s hockey team since seventh grade, Blake is the team captain.

“Being team captain is a huge accomplishment,” Blake said.

According to Blake, he got started playing hockey after watching his brother, alumnus and former Central hockey player, Chad Sneed, play. At age three, he participated in roller hockey, until he switched to ice hockey in sixth grade. Then by seventh grade he was playing for Central’s C team, which is made up of middle-schoolers and freshmen, while his brother played for Central’s hockey team.

“Hockey keeps me active and in shape,” Blake said. “You’ve got to have a lot of dedication to play because it’s not just a oneman sport; you have to get to know your teammates to have good chemistry on the ice.”

According to Blake, it is not difficult being team captain this year because the team gets along well, making them easy to manage.

“I make sure the team is doing the right thing but still have fun,” Blake said.

Being team captain comes with a lot of responsibility, but also a lot of respect.

“I have more responsibility to look out for my teammates and lead them in the right direction,” Sneed said. “Being team captain means making [hockey] my first priority.”

All team captains have different qualities, but all must possess a quality of leadership and be willing to accept the responsibility that falls on them.

“I think I’m a strong capitan because I’m understanding with

Captain carries team Senior Blake Sneed shares his experience as the captain of the hockey team

please read more: Sneed PAGE 10

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Shaw Rink

redemption

Spartan hockey team plays its version of Winter Classic, earning victory in unique atmosphere

By Matt Lundberg

Senior Louis Braun gets ready for a faceoff. The rink didn't have all the markings of a regulation rink so the players had to rely on officials and small markings on the ice to find faceoff areas.

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Senior Louis Braun talkas a shot on goal. The Spartans scored four goals in the 4-1 win over Zumwalt West.

my teammates and not too harsh,” Blake said.

Aside from being team captain, Blake also had the experience of winning state last year with his team. According to Blake, this is his favorite moment of his hockey career so far.

“We played in a huge arena with lots of fans, while it was played on TV. This is a huge accomplishment for anyone in high school,” Blake said. “I’ll never forget it.”

During last year’s state playoffs, Blake was unable to play for one week due to a concussion. This was his second concussion, as

photos by kelci davis

ice,” Sneed said.

While the sun was an issue at the beginning, The Spartan hockey team was given an there weren’t as many issues towards the end opportunity to play outside at Shaw Park on Jan. according to senior Drew Oliver.

21 against Fort Zumwalt West. The Spartans took “The sun was an issue at the beginning of the the ice with a three-game winning game, but we had our eye black streak and took another win on!” Oliver said. “Towards the against the Jaguars. According end of the game, though, the sun to senior captain Blake Sneed, went behind the clouds.”

“Everyone had a playing outside presents a different Despite the different conditions, blast, we had a full atmosphere than playing on an preparation for this game was no bench, which means inside rink. different than any other, according we filled our roster so to Oliver.

“The ice was so hard at the rink even some younger because it was so cold,” Sneed “No extra preparation was used said. “If you got bumped or tried [for the outdoor game,]” Oliver kids came out to to cut you would fall because the said. “We just used our normal play.” skates couldn’t dig into the ice.” practice routine throughout the { Drew Oliver } These conditions were the same week.”

Drew Oliver is a senior on the hockey team. for both teams so there was no The Spartans also took this He has been playing with the club since clear advantage for either team game as an opportunity to fill middle school and was a member of last years state championship team. according to Sneed. their roster and have a full bench.

“Guys from both teams were Even though sports are often falling and each team had to take competitive, according to Oliver, their period on the side with the this game gave the players a sun in their eyes,” Sneed said. chance to have fun.

Playing outdoors can present challenges like sun “Everyone had a blast, we had a full bench, which and wind, but according to Sneed these conditions means we filled our roster so even some younger did not drastically affect seeing the puck. kids came out to play,” Oliver said.

“Looking down at the ice to see the puck wasn’t The Spartans emerged from this game victorious a problem because there wasn’t much glare, but with a 4-1 victory and continued their winning the puck was sliding faster than usual on the hard streak. sweat editor

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he also had one the year before where he was out for a week as well. Aside from this complication, hockey has not affected his schedule too extremely.

“We practice two nights a week, so I still have time to do homework,” Blake said.

“Weekend games keep me from making plans, though.”

According to Blake, although last year’s team won state, this year’s hockey team gets along better with their teammates.

“There was tension last year between the players on the team, although it seemed not to make a difference,” Blake said. “The team just didn’t get along.”

This year, the players have become more as a team, according to Blake.

“The beginning [of the season] was a little slow, but we began to pick it up and began to play as a team,” Blake said.

Next year, Blake plans to go to college at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and possibly play hockey at Rockhurst University, which is nearby. After two years there, he will go to Kansas State University and plans to be a part of their hockey team.

“

[W]e know that we are a good team and we know how hard we work and that’s all that really matters in the end.”

Alison Strickler { junior

Swimming for

respect

Junior Brittany Thomsen swims the backstroke in a meet.

The girls team has a record of 7-1 this year.

Girls swim team overcomes lack of support, dominates in the pool

By Blake Beck delve editor

Freshman Paige Keane swims the fly. The Spartans went on to beat Zumwalt North 106-79.

“Alison [Strickler], our state qualifier, is instrumental in the year’s success,” Coach Thurston said. “She holds three school records, qualified for state in three events and demonstrates graceful winning.”

Currently, Strickler is in the top tier in five categories in the Gateway Athletic Conference.

Strickler has competed exceptionally well in the 50-meter freestyle, where she owns the top spot with a time of 25.10 seconds, and the 100-meter backstroke, in which Strickler currently ranks second with a time of one minute and three seconds.

photo by katie crank

As basketball and wrestling dominate the spotlight during the winter season, the girls swimming team has quietly put together a successful season. The team’s performance can be attributed to the influx of talented freshman swimmers, which include Paige Keane, Serena Jimenez, Danielle Cox and Sheridan Aleksick.

“The team is very young this year,” Coach Erin Thurston said. “Because of that, there is excitement in the air as we prepare for meets and when we win each time.”

The upperclassmen have also have also taken notice of the talent these freshman possess.

“There are so many of them and they are all really good,” junior Alison Strickler said. “Just having them on the team this year has made a huge difference.”

In addition, veteran leadership from some of the team’s upperclassmen have contributed to the team’s success. Senior Sarah Eastman, a dedicated, hard working team captain, according to Coach Thurston, as well as Strickler have played a measurable role this season.

Of the skilled freshman, perhaps the most notable performances belong to Cox, who, like Strickler, is in the top echelon in the 100-meter freestyle. Her time of 58.71 seconds is just two seconds more than Strickler’s.

As a whole, the group has performed greatly in the three team relay categories: 200-meter freestyle, 200-meter medley and 400-meter freestyle. The Spartans are currently fifth or better in all three relays. The team also placed third in the Fort Zumwalt North invitational earlier in the season.

Despite the amount of success achieved

by the team, however, girls swimming has taken a back seat to other winter sports such as basketball and wrestling. Coach Thurston still feels the activities department, specifically activities director Mr. Scott Harris, has treated the team well. It is the lack of attendance that may pose a problem. “[Mr. Harris] has given the swim team everything we’ve asked for this season,” Coach Thurston said. “As far as fan turn out at our meets, it is a combination of not having our meets at the school and them being so late.”

Swimmers seem to feel the same as far attendance is concerned.

“We don’t ever get students from our school to watch our meets, although it doesn’t help that they are at nine at night,” Strickler said.

“I’ve gotten used to it though; we know that we are a good team and we know how hard we work and that’s all that really matters in the end.”

Coach Thurston also assured that there is no doubt in her mind that the swimming team plays a large role in the athletics department.

“I believe the swim team is as important to the school and activities as any other sport,” Coach Thurston said.

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an

ARROW

knee

to the

Cody Jones staff reporter

Student athletes put ACLs, seasons at risk 12}

sweat | february 3, 2012

At one point, they are playing at a high level, scoring 3’s, goals and touchdowns. They go into the next sequence of events, lacking all knowledge of what is about to occur. All of a sudden, something pops in the knee. The plant foot got caught up on the court and another player made contact toward the knee area. Their faces are painted with anguish and their soul is stained with the realization that, indeed, their season is over.

They are athletes, and the injury they just suffered from is an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tear. The ACL tear is caused when the knee joint is twisted, bent backward, or bent to the either side. The chance of

receiving a torn ACL is increased when a player’s foot is planted on the ground and contact is made to the corresponding knee. There are, however, circumstances in which an ACL is torn with no direct contact to the knee involved. Junior Kristen Warncke is very familiar with this situation.

Warncke, a varsity girls basketball player, was playing in her first fall league game when she suffered her injury.

“I was going up for a layup and when I came down, I landed wrong and tore it.” Warncke said.

What followed was an intense pain in the knee area.

“The moment I tore it, my knee hurt so bad,” Warncke said. The pain was so excruciating, it brought her to tears.

According to Warncke, that sort of moment can put an athlete in insurmountable stress. The toll an injury of this significance takes is more than just the physical agony.

The pain, the swirling emotions, the embarrassment; it all adds up. For Warncke, it was the realization of a lost season that pushed her to the edge.

“I was furious and devastated at first,” Warncke said. “I was really looking forward to the season.”

Warncke took some time to let it all sink in. The season was over for her. Rather than let it get her down, she made a resolution to overcome her condition and get healthy.

“I just got determined and motivated to get better,” said Warncke.

To get healthy, she would have to go on a journey typical for people with ACL tears. Senior football player and wrestler Justin Adams would also be embarking on a similar journey.

Like Warncke, Adams suffered a torn ACL which, in turn, cut his season short. The focus was no longer about football, but about preserving the future health of his knee. Warncke and Adams began their conquest, knowing fully of the work ahead.

The healing process consists of surgery, a long rehab process and an eventual return to action.

The first step for a serious ACL tear is usually surgery, but in some instances, minor preparation is required beforehand. Adams had to attend a pre-surgery therapy session before he went under the knife. After about a month of pre-

rehabilitation, Adams was ready for surgery.

According to WebWD, most ACL surgery involves replacing the ACL with a tissue referred to as a graft or donor ACL. However, this is not the only form of surgery possible.

Another possibility is simply reattaching the bone fragment on the ACL to the bone itself.

WebMD also stated that most people who have ACL surgery have favorable results. Warncke’s was no different. The doctor told her everything went well, and her ACL would make a totally recovery.

Adams, however, had a rougher road in the surgery stage.

“During my surgery, my new donor ACL tore, so the doctors had to put a back up donor ACL in,” Adams said.

The scare was short lived though, as the back up graft was sufficient enough to work full time. This meant that it was now, after a week long rest period, time for the recovery stage.

With the new commitment of rehab forced into their schedule, Adams and Warncke’s lives became as hectic as ever. Warncke was on crutches for approximately three weeks in an effort to decrease the knee’s activity level. She also has had to attend physical therapy for three to four months. Adams is currently in his second month of physical therapy. The rehab process is a long one, but necessary to the recovery of the ACL. According to Johnathan Cluett, M.D., a doctor in the practice of orthopaedic surgery, the purpose of physical rehabilitation is simple.

“Physical therapists are knowledgeable about your body’s limitations after surgery and can help ensure a successful outcome,” Cluett said.

A successful outcome is what all athletes hope for after a gruesome injury like the one Warncke and Adams suffered. Therapists have tailor made exercises to insure the desired outcome, and Warncke is progressing through them swiftly.

“The first couple months I had to just sit on a table and do so many stretches, but now I’m doing much more active things like running, biking and a lot of strength building for the muscles in my legs.”

Warncke said.

These types of activities are what Cluett suggests for patients recently coming off of surgery.

me getting hurt, ruining not only my football career but also my wrestling career. I love football and wrestling, and in an instant, both were gone. I love the teams. It’s hard to deal with sometimes, feeling like all the hard work I put in was wasted. It’s just hard.” Adams said.

ACL tears always make a special place for themselves in the lives of athletes. The anguish and devastation that comes along with the injury seems to be the toughest part, yet the injury causes so such more then that. Warncke and Adams had to remain positive throughout the entire healing stage, and just like athletes before them, they are heading towards the light at the end of the dark tunnel.

There are meomorible moments in every sport. It’s what keeps fans coming back for more. Touchdowns, homeruns, goals and dunks make the highlights, and for a reason; they are the high points in the game. Players strive for these moments, but between the tip off and the buzzer beater, some meet the twisted fate. The fate that the moment they’ve dreamed about is suddenly their worst nightmare.

For Adams and Warncke, life came at them quicker then they could have imagined, but with the unflappable determination of an athlete, they were able to overcome the demon that is a torn ACL.

photo by elise thomas

“Stretching is vital in maintaining good range of motion with joints and the flexibility of muscles. If you have stiff joints or tight muscles, normal activities, such as climbing stairs or reaching overhead, can be severely affected,” Dr. Cluett said. “With proper stretching, these functions can be preserved.”

Dr. Cluett also gives insight into why strengthening the muscles is vital to recovery.

“Strengthening exercises are performed to help you improve the function of your muscles. The goal is to improve strength, increase endurance and maintain or improve range of motion,” Dr. Cluett said.

Warncke is in her last stage of rehab, and eventually she will begin to work her way back into basketball. According to her, now, it’s all about finishing the task at hand: healing. Though the process has made her stronger in will and drive, it was something that she never would have asked for if she had the choice.

As for Adams injury, he is a bit more bittersweet. Once he recovers, he has nothing to head back to. Being a senior, competeing is not an option for next year like basketball is for Warncke, and his therapy will prevent him from wrestling this season.

“It sucks, the last play I will ever have is

Freshman Joe Eads is prepares for athletic activity by taking extra steps to prevent possible injuries. In 2011, many students had leg related injuries.

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Millfelt feel that the government should leave those who are not breaking copyright alone and only punish those who do.

“I’m not really sure what action [the government] could take [when it comes to online piracy] without interfering with those who are innocent of piracy,” Millfelt said. “Besides, the issue is so huge that I feel it would be hard to catch someone every time.”

Along with Millfelt, senior Paige Rosenmiller feels the government should not take action to those pirating, but leave it to the websites discretion.

“If websites have a problem with copyright, they should make their rules stand out more to us, or contact specific people, rather than everyone as a whole,” Rosenmiller said.

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According to www.ustr.gov/acta, ACTA is to help provide legal framework for preventing piracy and counterfeiting.

It will also help strengthen the IP rights for websites.

Together, SOPA, PIPA and ACTA could do as little as just removing the content off of the Internet that infringes copyright laws and as much as just taking down whole websites.

On Jan. 18, Americans were surprised by the actions of Wikipedia, Google and other websites who participated in a “black out” to protest SOPA and PIPA. Other websites that participated in the black out were St. Louis Craigslist and Reddit.

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Imagine logging online to look for a new Jenna Marble’s video everyone has been talking about, only to find out it has been deleted. This is how it would be if the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) had been passed in Congress on Tuesday, Jan. 24.

Along with discussing SOPA, Congress was also in the process of discussing the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). If SOPA had been passed, it would authorize the Attorney General to seek a court order against any Internet site committing or facilitating intellectual property (IP) offenses, including copyright infringement; trafficking of sound recordings and videos; exhibited motion pictures and counterfeiting labels, goods

or services, according to The Library of Congress.

The Library of Congress also states that SOPA would require online service providers and Internet search engines to carry out certain preventative measures including removing services from websites featuring copyright infringement or preventing users located in the United States from accessing the infringing site.

PIPA would be to prevent online threats such as the theft of intellectual property, but SOPA would take down the websites who violate copyright, according to The Library of Congress.

In addition to both SOPA and PIPA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is also being discussed. ACTA is an international trade agreement that is being debated by the United States,

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By Maddie Wilson sc ne” SSL, which stands for Secure Socket look at the laws that require such software to c h s ” f= ” e design editor >< /<thae”h/trhserec= Layer, is a technology designed to protect even exist. The Children’s Internet Protection i m g; elfe=ft”scene rancis Howell Central, like every other the privacy of certain transactions over the Act, or CIPA, was enacted in early 2001; the ” px ><i school, is a school made of walls.

Internet, such as banking activity or access law requires that any school supported by 2 m” a mg ges : 4 x; Everywhere we look, white cinder to password-protected sites. The nature the federal government must follow Internet t h /ta ig 2p bs/ blocks define the edges of our space. A of SSL, however, allows the system to be usage rules. the ; he t: 4 single wall divides a science room from used for other websites, and SSL activity “Since the district is a recipient of federal stche gh i n a Spanish room; only a wall lies between is often able to slip through the cracks of funding sources [E-Rate funds], we are o hes e cen : b ; h -1.pn students in the nurse’s office and janitors in Internet filtering software. By setting up an required to use a filtering product on our h e”>ear g” l <imbot a supply closet. Walls tell students where to SSL address for popular sites like Facebook, network,” said Eernisse.

0 c ’ : /g cla g x go, where not to go and where the miniature Twitter or YouTube, students can potentially r The legal criteria for blocked sites includes = p a s ” yle hrcelef= ><im s=”t:1a5b world that is high school ends. maneuver around the school filter by sources that are determined to be obscene, t s a’ g e” There is one wall, however, that goes essentially tricking the computer into thinking pornographic, or harmful to minors. Although intab” ” iv/a><le= n ” d g < m = <i y cenee”> sd =”/th Netsweeper features an intelligent filtering st es esc clapsa : 42px; largely unnoticed throughout the course of they are accessing a secure, private site. v g xe; ight the school day. This wall is invisible, indefinite; This is a problem for FHSD administrators, system that filters through roughly 200 i h m i t d / < h; ph it spans the chasm that lies somewhere because SSL traffic methods allow students million domains per day, district IT specialists =ae”r”:>bot 42 n f e l e c : =e’shre between Wikipedia and Facebook. It is only to violate the rules of the Internet filter. The face additional decisions every day. t g im gehscene”>< a i really visible after one bumps into it, and by recent switch to Netsweeper is part of an “We allow our filter’s categorization to h t / e href=”; h then, it is too late to turn around. effort to curb SSL activity and keep students handle [blocking websites] for the most h This is the district Internet filter. on the straight and narrow. part,” said Eernisse. The district analyzes ot escene”><img b h =r:”/t escene”><img “There’s more protection [with Netsweeper] filtering reports on a weekly basis to monitor f=”/th

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In December of 2011, the Francis Howell school board approved the purchase of new Internet content filtering software from University of Missouri-based company MoreNet. The annual cost to the district? $16,125, a sum that will be paid from an existing maintenance fund. The amount covers Internet-filtering software installation on up to 7,500 computers throughout the district, which went into effect on Friday, Jan. 27. “[The district] found it more financially feasible to go with a new filter,” said Mr. Michael Fingers, building IT specialist.

Although reducing costs was a primary concern, Mr. Fingers said the switch was not entirely made for financial reasons.

According to a district report on Dec. 8, MoreNet’s Netsweeper filter will allow “proper filtering of SSL traffic” and “prevent students from bypassing [the Internet filter] using this method.”

against students getting around blockers,” said Mr. Fingers. “A lot of those loopholes should be covered now.”

The law requires that school filters utilize every precaution to prevent students from accessing obscene or harmful websites.

In addition to this, however, the district filter blocks bandwidth-intensive web applications, like videos, sound files and graphics-heavy programs.

“The law does not require the district to block [audio and video streaming],” said Mr. Ray Eernisse, Director of Technology. “[Streaming], while not harmful to students, does require a lot of bandwidth... blocking it is a means to ensure [that] bandwidth is available for instruction uses as much as possible.”

which sites students are trying to access.

District administrators “look at the top blocked sites and [determine] if they have any educational value,” said Eernisse.

They also handle individual requests from students and teachers for access to specific sites, which Eernisse said are submitted “very often.” Occasionally, filter overrides are granted to staff members for training or safety purposes.

Requests to unblock a site can be sent to filter.requests@fhsdschools.org.

While there is specific, if somewhat complex, protocol for unblocking websites, Eernisse said that it does happen frequently.

Perhaps the invisible Internet wall is less a cinder block obstacle than a safety fence, with gates that open when students and teachers need them to.

The district is constantly receiving feedback on the operation of the filter. If students request to access sites, and administrators find their requests to be reasonable, “we unblock them,” Eernisse said.

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There was already much discussion when the idea of SOPA was first brought into question.”

KORTNEY SHEAHAN: sophomore “They are terrible laws. I love Twitter and Facebook, of course, so if there were no more social networks, I’d probably cry just because I’m so accustomed to using them all the time. The only good thing that I think SOPA would do, if passed, would be less drama and relationship problems along with less cyber-bullying.” fhctoday.com | in focus

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be heard editor I started to realize how much less dramatic my life was Hi, my name is Margaret Borgmeyer and I’m a without Twitter. Sure, I was out of the loop a little, but it recovering Twitter addict. As anyone who follows me was almost like a burden had been lifted. We all know knows, I’m a frequent tweeter g” and experienced hash those people, whether they be on Twitter or Facebook, n tagger, but from Tuesday, Jan. 17 to Tuesday, Jan. 24, I who post way too much, way too often. One second their .p 1 gave up tweeting, cold turkey. is awesome, the next second the world is ending. e-addicted to Twitter, until I was told lifeI had g I never felt like I was always hated reading those people’s updates, but a I could not use tit.p For one week, I was to stay off Twitter didn’t realize how much they actually affected me until I n >no longer see them. I was a more agitated person completely;frIocouldn’t tweet, retweet, check my news could e;’ I read those posts. I found myself throughout the / v s i feed, check my direct messages or check my mentions. when b lat When/taI agreed to not using my account for an entirere week becoming more and more … happy. : week, It’s crazy how much a social networking site can actually es I didn’t realize how much I actually used it. ition g s a The first day without Twitter was the worst of them affect your personality, without you knowing it. This past o ; p on my week I was able to set my phone down for hours at a i/ mall. I was told to not only sign out of my 0Twitter ” 0 to delete the time without feeling naked, I was able to actually enjoy 0had c= phone, computer and iPad, but also r x p attempting to open things I went to because I wasn’t so concerned with Twitter app. I found myself all day ”s :15 home screen, when tweeting about where I was. b g up the Twitter app from my phone’s a din I found myself thinking of <div ”t the icon was no longerad there.

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Buy now!

May 1 will be your final day to purchase your copy of the 2011-12 yearbook, Centralized. Stop by room 139 to purchase your copy of the book today.

ARE YOU YET?

Reserve your copy of the 2011-12 yearbook at registration. Cost of the book is now $65.

Name: _________________________________________ Grade: ____

Date:________

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All checks must be made payable to FHC Publications

Staff signature: ____________________

20}

advertisements | februrary 3, 2012

{the scene}

Playing with fire Junior Draven Bryant conquers the heat with his unique passion

want to see more?

scan the code above and see more photos of Draven Bryant

By Jessica Mugler

A

staff reporter

s fire flies past, making it impossible to hear anything, junior Draven Bryant puts his fear aside and is able to clear his mind completely. This is where Draven expresses himself. This is what thrills and excites him the most.

“It’s unlike anything else, it’s exciting and it’s where I can really express myself,” said Draven.

While average students are engaging in hobbies such as sports, theatre or video games, Draven stands out in the crowd.

He participates in a more unknown hobby known as fire spinning. This involves spinning two chains or stick while fire burns on the ends of them.

Draven’s family participates in the Renaissance Faire in Wentzville every year for four weekends in May. This is what first

motivated Draven to learn how to spin fire and where he performs.

“Performing at the Renaissance Faire is a lot of fun even on the rainy days. We get to meet so many wonderful people,” said mother Mrs. Kina Bryant. “It feels great when people let us know how much they appreciate the effort we put into our shows and that they really enjoyed watching us.”

About five years ago, Draven and his sister taught themselves to spin fire. According to Draven, it only takes lots and lots of practice.

“It’s not really that hard. All it is, is learning how to move and then getting over the fear of burning yourself,” said Draven.

According to his sister, alumnus Ariel Bryant, spinning fire is something they can do together as siblings.

“I'm there when he needs me. We discuss different fire props and what he could do with them or how cool they would be in his act,” said Ariel.

Mrs. Bryant was more hesitant to Draven learning to spin fire. According to her, it took

Draven a while to talk her into letting him try the actual fire spinning.

“He practiced a long time before lighting the prop on fire. I was very uneasy and afraid he would burn himself, which he did several times in the beginning, but nothing too badly,” said Mrs. Bryant.

A complication of spinning fire, or fire poi, is burning your arms. These leave scars on Draven’s forearms. According to Draven, these burns were more common when he was learning to spin fire; however, he still burns himself whenever he makes a mistake.

“Even when I burn myself it motivates me to do better and get the trick right the next time,” said Draven.

A more serious effect of fire spinning is that it is possible to catch oneself on fire. If the fire poi props catch on the fire spinner’s clothes, the clothes can be caught on fire.

“I’ve set myself on fire a couple of times; it’s not too bad,” said Draven.

Mrs. Bryant takes this all into consideration and works to keep Draven as safe as

possible.

“We take our time to be as safe as possible.

We go through a routine of setting up a safe environment before each spinning session,” said Mrs. Bryant. “We never forget that fire can be somewhat unpredictable.”

Ariel insists that after learning and practicing fire poi, there is nothing to fear.

“The worry kind of fades after the first couple times you light your pants on fire or burn some hair off your head. Draven doesn’t fear it. Worry goes out the window once you’ve done it for so long,” said Ariel.

According to Draven, his friends and family support him doing what he loves. His mother buys him a lot of fuel to fire his performance and stands by him through it all.

“I stand outside in the cold, rain or extreme heat with a fire extinguisher in hand, while he shows me the newest trick he’s conquered,” said Mrs. Bryant.

Inside the burning, heating flames stands Draven, who plans to brave the fire for as long as he can.

fhctoday.com | the scene

}21

playlist

“beyond basics” Music fans usually attach to music through the words and message.

What’s lost to many fans is the talent & skill required to create melodies that compliment lyrics. If lyrics are removed, there’s still plenty of depth. Here are a few sweet songs.

by cody jones

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

“An Interlude” by Atreyu

This song is characterized by it’s snazzy bass, simplistic beats, and guitar created ambiance. It creates a fantastic sleepy landscape, and is perfect to calm down with.

“Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites” by Skrillex The way the song transitions from the dirty sections back into the main melody piques my interest like no other dubstep song can.

“Hiatus” by Asking Alexandria

Hiatus holds a special place in my music library as a sexy techno trance song that puts me in the mood for something heavier.

“In A House, In a Heartbeat” by John Murphy Zombies! This song does a great job providing a creepy, suspenseful backdrop that no other song can replicate. The use of several acoustic guitars to build suspense makes this my creepy song of choice.

“We Were All Scared” by Cloudkicker This song is inspiring, bottom line. If you need a calm before the storm type song; enjoy. It does a great job of adding small elements to create a much larger picture.

“Epic Fail” by Bulb

Misha Mansoor, poster boy of the djent genre, flat out shreds. But instead of djent, he chose to use ambient chords and chaos ridden drums, and they go together more perfectly then one might imagine.

“Kansas” by The Devil Wears Prada Haunting, eerie, and epic come to mind when talking about Kansas. Placed amongst the matured stylings of Dead Throne, this song will lure you to sleep before it kicks it into high gear with dark chugging.

“Waves of Babies” by Animals as Leaders Progressive at some times and Math at others, Waves captures the beauty in chaos that Tobin creates seemingly effortlessly. The downright mind-blowing riffing and soloing is to be marveled at.

“Access Denied” by Algorithm

With its absurd mix of metal, dub-step, and even jazz for an extended duration, Access Denied puts me in musical flux. Help.

“Interlude” by Attack Attack!

The beats are infectious, the synth gets stuck in your head, and the groove in your heart. It’s what party music is supposed to sound like. Crazy. Sexy. Awesome.

22}

the scene | february 3, 2012

Connecting through tech

By Sean Gundersen communications editor

As of late, the technological age has sufficed most every need of the average web surfer.

It is no longer a question of “can this website fulfill my wants and needs?” but rather, “which website is most applicable and useful to me?”

From an educational perspective, networked word processors are some of the most integrated services in the school day. The top two providers are Google Docs, and Microsoft’s Skydrive. The luxury of having documents available on any given computer, and the ability to share them with anyone at the click of a button, allows the online word processor to improve the ease of work drastically.

“They each allow sharing, which is nice for students working

in groups, or the students share with the teacher so the teacher can access the documents for review, or to show to the class.

With flash drives or district drives, there are limits,” said science teacher Jessica Rowe.

When it comes to individual perks, each system is unique in its own realm. Skydrive offers the ability to create and edit documents on the go while also updating them on your original Microsoft Word document. However, Google Docs is compatible with any file type and has more memory space available, where as people are limited to using 25 GB on the Skydrive.

“I couldn’t have thought of a better site than Skydrive to do my Genetics project over diabetes.

It was incredibly easy to set up and maneuver, plus I never had to worry about transferring my

project, or information I had gathered, anywhere,” said junior Katy Gerler.

On a school-wide note, Central was introduced to the long rumored student email accounts on Jan. 24. Administrators are wanting students to connect their new emails to a Skydrive account as well. Assistant Principal Dave Stofer hopes to see a seamless connection between the teachers and students from school, and home, by the end of third quarter.

“It’s such a new and scary thing. On one hand, all of your information is now available at all times anywhere on the cloud, but there are some drawbacks because the technology is so unknown and different. It’s really neat to see a glimpse of where we are eventually headed in a few years,” said Stofer.

photo by amber roth

photo by alli keisker

Sophomore Logan Slone and alumnus Jordan Slone participate in the open mic booth.

Both of the Slone brothers, along with sophomore Logan Mohler are also in the band Clockwork.

Senior Samantha Kennedy helps a little girl as she makes a screen print of a handprint with ink.

Kennedy's booth was one of three art booth's that night.

Festival focuses on fine arts Singers, artists, actors showcase talents

By Caitlan Good staff reporter

Art, theatre, choir and band. The crowd was in awe of the talent at the Fine Arts Festival on Fri. Jan. 13. Art work was sold to the highest bidders, the theatre department had the whole crowd laughing with their random acts, choir had the audience stunned at their voices, and the band had a huge crowd while they played classic songs.

The Fine Arts Department hosted the festival, in order to bring our school and community together through admiration of the arts. The night was dedicated to raising money for the Bill Hearst Memorial Fund, named in honor of the previous department head who recently passed away, in order to give one lucky student a scholarship. Instead of charging an entrance fee, donations were accepted throughout the night. Various performances encouraged people to donate, including a wide variety of studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s artwork, an auction, some live improvisational theatre, band performances and talented singers, all showcasing their true passions.

The Fine Arts Festival is a way to promote art classes and try to get people involved in the school. According to art teacher Michelle McCune, it is highly suggested by any, and

every, art student to take art classes, according to The more students that join the art programs, just means more talented individuals to make art to sell, and that more money can be donated to the Bill Hearst Memorial Fund. This year $550 was raised in the auction, with an additional $300 in donations, making it a total of $850 raised for the Bill Hearst Memorial Fund.

The idea for the event came from art teacher Judy Switzer. She came up with the idea to set up the scholarship in Bill Hearstâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name, so he would live on in our school. The entire night was planned and completely set up by Switzer. The whole idea was to showcase the arts, and add in all of the other aspects that people tend to forget about, like choir, band, and theatre, in order to make a difference in the community.

Switzer and McCune were in charge of showing the talents of any student in their classes, as well as showing off some of the fun things our school has to offer, by having booths for anyone to try it out. please read more: FESTIVAL, PAGE 26

fhctoday.com | the scene

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Mid-October 2010

Jordan and Logan Slone create “According to You” which was an acoustic duet that started us in the path of what would eventually become Clockwork.

START

February 2011

Alumnus Jordan Slone is the lead guitarist and singer of Clockwork. He and his brother started Clockwork in 2010.

Sophomore Logan Mohler has been playing drums since the age of three and is the drummer in Clockwork.

He joined the band in Dec. 2010.

Sophomore Logan Slone is the bass guitarist and singer for Clockwork. He and his brother started the band in the fall of 2010.

24}

March 2011

They hit the road to Nashville to do their first full band recording at Red Alert Studios in Nashville, TN. At the end of the night, they had to decide what the band name would officially be. It was that night that Clockwork had officially been formed.

They began looking into other band names and logos because they wanted to define themselves.

“We needed something that people would remember when they heard it, something easily recognized,” Jordan said.

the scene | february 3, 2012

photo by lauren kastner

photo by savannah mceachern

Jordan and Logan Slone meet up with a man named Jim Manno who became their agent. Later that month, they cut their first demo CD that was an acoustic demo.

photo by savannah mceachern

Logan Mohler joins the duet to make it a trio and they start a full band. Slowly they started working on other songs and deciding what direction they wanted to go with their music.

. . . . ... . . . .. . . ... . ... .... ..............

November 2010

photo by savannah mceachern

December 15, 2010

Sophomore Logan Slone plays along side his brother, alumnus Jordan Slone and friend, sopohmore Logan Mohler. The band recorded a demo CD in Nashville, TN in spring 2011.

May 2011

“We had the incredible opportunity to play for Francis Howell Central at the pep assembly,” Jordan said.

Februrary 2012

On Saturday, Feb. 11, they will be playing at Off Broadway.

The following day, Feb. 12, they will be at Brewskeez off Highway K in O’Fallon. On Feb. 19, they will play at Cicero’s down in University City. They plan to release their newest single, “Tell me something” this month.

........ . . . .. . ... .. ............... . . . . . .. . . . ..

October 2011

Clockwork hosted a Halloween show that included free merchandise for fans that dressed up for the show; the band also dressed up.

Summer 2011

They held a release party for the Clockwork EP at Dale’s Music. Clockwork played various venues all over St. Louis for different festivals and events. The band continued to have their own Clockwork shows held at venues such as Cicero’s and Picasso’s too.

December 2011

The band hosted a Christmas show at Brewskeez. On Christmas Eve, they released their newest single “Hold On.” Now fans can find that song, as well as the rest of their EP, on iTunes, Amazon.com and CDbaby.

November 2011

They tried out for America’s Got Talent and are anxiously awaiting a response in hopes that they can be a part of the show.

January 2012

Clockwork just had its first ever live music video shoot which should release within the next month or so. The trio shot three videos total. Clockwork had its first show held out of state in Chicago, IL at The Elbo Room on Jan. 24. It streamed live on the Internet at clockworkstl.com.

Clockwork puts in hardwork Local band works to make its own success

By Alli Keisker

print executive editor

Someone walks into Cicero’s and suddenly hears a music they have never heard before, but love. They look to find where it is coming from and see three familiar faces; these are the faces of alumnus Jordan Slone and sophomores Logan Mohler and Logan Slone. This is Clockwork.

The three of them have been together since late 2010. With Jordan as both vocals and lead guitar, his brother, Logan Slone, joins him at the mic to sing, along with playing bass guitar. In addition to the Slone brothers, Mohler keeps the beat going at the drums.

“Clockwork was started by the three of us deciding that we wanting to go a different direction with our music,” Logan Slone said.

“It has always been a three piece band. It works really well for us that way because we know how each other plays and what we can expect from each other. We know how far we can push each other for new things.”

As the band continues to push themselves, it is still working on finding its style. Clockwork is experimenting with indie music, according to the boys. Because of the boys’ own personal music influences, the band feels its style is not like anything they have ever heard before.

“Our style is a soft, Indie rock that has experimental qualities as well. I think we

have grown into our style over the past nine months that we have been together.

It’s really neat to create a style and I feel like that’s something we are trying to do,” Jordan said. “Our music is such a cross from so many different sounds that it has just been really hard for us to define.”

From the very beginning, the band has had a producer, Jim Manno, from Peerless Entertainment Group. Clockwork is very thankful for its producer.

“Clockwork has had a producer since before we were officially Clockwork; since we have been working with our agents, things have only gotten better and better,” Logan Slone said. “Without them I don’t think we would be as successful as we are today.”

Since the boys got together, the band’s been more serious about music than ever before. From traveling all the way to in Nashville, to record “Clockwork EP” to releasing its first single to bringing in about 200 fans per show, its success has only began to rise.

“Jim books us shows with big companies,” Mohler said. “At first he was hesitant because he didn’t want to work with a band of kids. He is also in a band, but he mostly works with just us though.”

With his focus primarily on the band, Manno is able to advise them on how to act professionally in order to continue its success. Clockwork’s agent suggests the

boys should dress nice to their shows, “We get money from the shows. along with advising them to try to refrain Sometimes the venues will pay us more if from being in relationships in order to we bring in a large crowd and give them a avoid complications in the band; all of his lot of up-sales,” Mohler said. suggestions are respected and usually Though Clockwork has agents, the boys followed according to Clockwork. do not considered discovered just yet, but “One of the best things that we have Clockwork is continuing to work hard. experienced while working with our “We honestly haven’t truly been producers is that they don’t really ‘make’ discovered yet, but we aim to pick up even us do anything,” Jordan said. “They have more speed than we already have in the suggestions and we next six months to a year,” can choose to take Jordan said. “We have a “Our music is such a lot of goals we hope to their suggestions into consideration or not, but accomplish with this year.” cross from so many we have found that just Clockwork has come very different sounds that about everything they far since when the band it has just been really have suggested has been first got together, but that hard for us to define.” did not happen by chance; a beautiful idea and it has turned out better than we along with the help of { Jordan Slone } alumnus could have hoped for!”

Clockwork’s producers, the Jordan is the main singer and lead guitarist for With the addition of a boys’ dedication and drive Clockwork. His brother, sophomore Logan manager, Clockwork feels led the band to where it is Slone, and their friend, sophomore Logan Mohler, make up their band, Clockwork. the band is able to do today. bigger and better things.

“We absolutely want “Now that we have an agent, we have a to be successful with the band. We put bigger fan base and bigger venues,” Mohler hours and hours into our music every said. “We’re going to be playing in Chicago day, week, month and so on. Anyone soon. We’re really excited because it’s our who attends one of our shows will not first time playing outside of the state.” be disappointed,” Logan Slone said.

Bigger and better venues has led “Our goals [for the future] are simply to Clockwork into earning bigger bucks. Not get better as musicians and to make a only do the boys just get paid for playing, statement in today’s music. We want to but sometimes Clockwork gets extra cash if do this for the rest of our lives and we the boys can bring in more customers. hope to make it into our careers.”

fhctoday.com | the scene

}25

They had a pottery stand, water colors and even print making. They also had junior Brittany Meyer drawing characters, for only one dollar. There was a station for guests to bid on any of the student’s creations, to raise money for the memorial scholarship.

There was a station where anyone could purchase art work, which included these really cool bottles, that look like they were melted and crushed at the same time.

Director Michelle Moll, along with thespian troupe 5743, put on a small performance, titled “Snapshots.” Actors, including seniors Kayla Kammermeyer, Bailee Moore and Nicholas Deckard, and juniors Andrew Henke and Sean Gundersen, would pose, while one person described what was happening in that ‘picture.’

“We did really well, considering the fact that we never practiced, but I guess that’s why it’s called improv,” said Kammermeyer.

The department had a few people, like junior Christopher Franklin, dressed

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26}

the scene | februrary 3, 2012

photo by alyssa beckering

jump from page 23: FESTIVAL

up as characters from their more popular shows, The Crucible and Seussical the Musical. Senior Sara Orlet, who is well know for being the make-up guru in the department, wowed attendees with make-up tutorials, on how to do the ‘bird girl’ make-up from Seussical.

Director Elisabeth Baird showcased her best singers, including seniors Kyle Chumbley and Margaret Borgmeyer, and sophomore Ashley Meyers. They put on an “open mic night,” with a coffee house type setting. The crowd was moved by all of the raw performances.

“Margaret was my favorite tonight,” said sophomore Abigail Rigdon Featherston. “She is so talented, she sang beautifully.”

Choir showcased how much fun it must be, to be involved in the program.

“We’re hoping that this will inspire people to join next year,” said Baird, “all of our singers worked very hard tonight, and they all did great.”

Lastly, Director Nathan Griffin, and the members the various bands the school has, drew a huge crowd during every performance. When you entered the building you were greeted by the soulful music of the Jazz Band, with members such as seniors Michael Barbara, Drew Anderson and Tyler Jones. As an added bonus, throughout the night, the bands were playing a wide variety of songs.

Junior Andrew Henke points a giant hand towards the theatre booth. Henke was one of the five people performing an improv skit in front of the audience.

1015 St. Peters Howell Rd., St. Peters, Mo. 63376 636.397.0501

{be heard}

In pursuit of pirates Disasterous effects predicted from SOPA; what is it really solving? photo by elise thomas

A ten-year-old girl happily sets up a camera in her bedroom. She is dressed in her favorite outfit, with a large fake microphone in her hand.

She turns on her camera and starts belting out Katy Perry’s “Firework.” As she

By Ben Morrison turns off her camera, staff reporter she runs downstairs, plugs her camera into her computer and downloads the video to her desktop. With the joy of someone who KNOWS they are about to be discovered, she uploads the video to YouTube.

Yet, according to future legislation, she could face up to five years in prison.

With SOPA, also known as the Stop Online Piracy Act, and the Protect IP Act, posting a simple pop song on YouTube could subject anyone to a sentence of up to five years in prison unless they pay as much as $2,500

for a license to the copyrighted material.

And it’s not just pirated songs the government is trying to censor; any copyrighted material posted to the Internet would violate SOPA. Movie trailers, sound clips, portions of books, etc., would subject their poster to punishment.

But it doesn’t end there. Any website that has linked to the copyrighted material, or an IP which has visited it, would be the victim of this legislation.

These bills put the integrity of the Internet at risk. While they are intended to stop pirates, they would have a much more disastrous effect. Large, significant websites such as Wikipedia, YouTube and WikiLeaks would likely be investigated and blocked because of this bill.

As such, large corporations such as Mozilla and Brookings Institution, and significant websites like Tumblr, Facebook and Google oppose the bill, just to name a few. Mozilla Corp., Tumblr, Techdirt and the Center for

Democracy and Technology have also been actively campaigning against the bill.

The bill’s supporters include the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America.

Both rely heavily upon copyright and lose thousands of dollars each year because of Internet pirates.

What this bill comes down to is a battle between greedy corporations concerned with their copyright and Internet companies concerned with their survival.

The corporations are just feeding the old cliche, that they are only concerned about making money. And, at least in this case, it is true.

The corporations are tired of piracy. Fine, it makes sense to not want your creative works stolen. But piracy has actually benefited corporations in the past, and they are overlooking this.

Internet companies like Mojang and Team Meat have reported benefiting from piracy,

because it exposes people to their product, and will cause some people to buy the full product to get a safer, more reliable version than the pirated ones.

Sometimes there are moral obligations as well. A tweet to Mojang’s Twitter earlier this year said “I originally pirated [your product], but after reading about how you do not oppose piracy, and out of guilt, I decided to buy it.”

Some would argue that their products are different, because they are Internet companies and they are part of the gaming industry. But the principle remains the same: while piracy can hinder sales, in the end, it can actually be beneficial.

The main problem with this bill is that it is not just websites guilty of piracy that effectively get taken off of the Internet, but any site suspected of infringing any copyright laws at all. please read more: SOPA, PAGE 28

fhctoday.com | be heard

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Resolving for change Will resolutions truely make a difference?

It’s a month into the New Year. Everyone is beginning their year by making a list. A list of things that they want to do for the New Year.

ByCaitlan Good Their Resolutions. staff reporter I do not make resolutions, I mean seriously, who follows them for more than a month? I prefer to just do what I want to do, if I want to work out, I’m not going to wait until Jan. 1 to start it. I’ll do it whenever I want to. Everyone knows the common “lose weight” goal, but what are the most popular resolutions? What is the point of having them?

Spend more time with family and friends. This is a good goal, pay more attention to your loved ones. Why should this be a resolution for the new year?

Shouldn’t you be spending time with your loved ones on a daily basis? I feel like if this is your resolution you need to do some serious time management. If you don’t have enough time to see your friends, siblings, parents, etc. you should really consider where your life is going.

Everyday should be spent with friends, we’re in high school. You’re going to be

going to college sooner than you think, so spend some time with your family. I realize this is more directed at adults, but even they should already be spending a lot of time with family.

Getting in shape. I think this is definitely a common goal. ‘For the new year I’m going to lose so much weight and be healthy! No more fast food for me.’ What a joke. Gyms are always crowded, and everyone is trying to work off all those calories from the holiday meals, no more fattening foods. For about a month. Once they see that one treat that they can’t resist, the diet is over. It’s just a break. I only want a tiny snack, I’ll go to the gym later. Never mind, I’m too tired. Excuse after excuse, you’re not going to do it. Why take the point to make the resolution? Tell everyone you’re going to do it, just to give up and, most likely, gain more weight this year than you lose.

Live a happier life. This is an amazing goal, I support it. I could use a goal like this, but I do think it’s not going to last for the people who chose to set it as their New Years resolution. If you want to be happy, try. It doesn’t have to be a New Year to make that goal, if you’re really that unhappy, try whether its July, January, or April. You deserve to be happy! Don’t be at the Thanksgiving table and think, I want

jump from page 27: SOPA

YouTube, as previously mentioned, would be under heavy fire from this bill, as would websites such as Google and Yahoo!, whom provide free search to anyone on the Internet, including people from other countries.

Because of how many different countries use these sites, the United States Government has no right whatsoever to limit the world’s access to these sites. While it has a large

28}

the scene | february 3, 2012

to be happy in 2012. I’ll just be unhappy until then. Live your life to the fullest, don’t waste your time on pointless resolutions, such as this. Just make it a point to make things positive everyday, not just at the beginning of the year.

Get organized. This is my biggest pet peeve. If you’re not organized on Dec. 31, 2011, you’re not going to magically be able to do it on Jan. 1, 2012. You’re not going to change, just because the date is. If you want to be organized, just do it. Don’t throw your stuff into random folders, or into all your books. Keep everything where it belongs. Most high school students are not organized, except for the first month of school, so why would you set that as a goal? It’s only going to last a week and you know it. Stop kidding yourself, just try harder, don’t expect everything to suddenly change because its a new year.

Get better grades. ‘I’m going to try harder this semester! No more C’s for me. All A’s this year.’ Yes, that is going to happen. You’re going to apply your self so much more now that it’s a new semester. News flash: you only have a couple months left until summer. You’ve got senoritous if you’re a senior, if you’re a junior you’re just ready to be a senior, and everyone else is just done with school.

influence on the Internet, the Internet is meant to be something free and uncensored. By blocking it, the United States government is attempting to bring down the very nature of the Internet.

The most confusing part about this whole ordeal is that the United States Chamber of Commerce supports this bill, along with the Motion Picture Association of America and company. The Chamber has not publicly stated why it supports SOPA and the corporations, but there are two reasons that seem to be plausible.

First off, the Motion Picture Association and supporters of SOPA have, in the past, donated great amounts of money to the Chamber. This is not surprising, because in this day and age, most decisions come down

The lack of enthusiasm for being here is definitely not going to help you get good grades. Actually, the third quarter is usually the hardest for most students. If you really want good grades, you would’ve been getting them the entire school year, no just now that it’s 2012. Apply your self ALL year, not just half of it.

It’s a new year, but you’re the same person. You will not magically change, as much as you wish you did. You have to work on your self everyday, not just at the new year. Try to be healthy all of the time, focus on the positive, apply yourself in classes, spend time with people you love.

You never know when it’s going to be the last chance you have to do something.

Live your life! Don’t just decide that since the year has changed, that you suddenly have the strength to completely change over night. Try everyday, every year, better yourself for you. Not for the sake of having a New Years Resolution like everyone else. You can do what ever you set your mind to, whenever you want to. Don’t let the date determine when you’re going to be who you want to be.

Here’s your new “resolution,” be better for you, not just because you feel like you should, because it’s a new year. Stick to your goal, not just around this time of year.

You can do it. I believe in you.

to one simple question: Who is going to give me the most money?

And this is not the least bit surprising. Whom dreams of being poor? It is human nature to provide for oneself, but doing so regardless of whether something is ethical or not is something that Americans have somehow become accustomed to, and as such, they normally turn a blind eye.

The second reason is a bit more personal: A majority of the employees of the Chamber formally worked for corporations which relied heavily upon copyright.

Knowing the effect of piracy, but never learning the benefit, the Chamber would undoubtedly be more prone to support their former employers.

However, the Chamber boasts how it

encourages “free enterprise” and “individual freedom” and Representative Steve Tepp said “[The Chamber of Commerce] will always stand on the side of American business.”

Yet, this does not make much sense, because as many as 2,200 Internet companies exist within the Chamber of Commerce alone, and Internet companies have pulled in more economic growth and free enterprise then the Motion Picture Association of America.

Yahoo!, because of this obvious bias toward the large copyright corporations, has actually pulled out of the Chamber, and Google, along with the 2,200 other Internet companies, have also considered backing out.

But what it all comes down to, if either bill is passed, the Internet will never be the same.

Are you willing to risk YOUR Internet?

LiarLiarLiar I can feel your skin touching mine; or at least, I know it is trying to. I am not bare, for my skin is fake — rather hidden beneath a layer or two, depending on who you are.

You should know I am a liar.

You should know I do not try

By Karley Canova to be. staff reporter I can barely feel the embrace you’re giving me — but tell me, why are you so far away? Why am I so far away? I might as well be going off the deep end, trying to show you what is underneath these layers. I am sprinting to jump off the cliffs. But I don’t hear you saying goodbye. I suppose you said you never wanted to say goodbye, so at the end, you never did.

I speak to sense. I speak to the most common of senses. I speak to that which should be widely known to all. I speak to common ground, that which every bare foot has hit, whether they were running or walking through it’s vast mounds of land.

It seems that no matter how many times we walk the same path, nor the amount of times we fall down the same side of the mountain, we get right back up and try it all over again. And I’m not talking about persistence - I’m talking about lack of common sense. Repeating the same thing over and over again, all while expecting a different

result each time, is considered to be what’s called insanity.

The problem with this is we are constantly trying so hard to get somewhere; we are constantly seeking out advice and trying to make ourselves and others happy. However, we lie to ourselves in a sense that we try to compromise two different ends of the spectrum that “make us happy.”

These two things repel one another and cause us to be even more unhappy. It seems to me that it would be common sense that we would realize we can either have one or the other, most of the time - not both.

If we choose to seek out advice - good advice - we should take it. Not ignore it and do whatever we want because at the moment, everything tells us that it’s good. In the morning, that smile that seemed so solid becomes a lie. Why give so much effort to find an answer, just to spit in its face when we find it?

What seems to happen is that we have some sort of inability to accept advice or any kind of changes in our personal lives because we are insecure with ourselves. Being that we are insecure, unsure, and therefore indecisive, we decide halfway through that we don’t want to take the extra step and get to where we think we’d be happier.

We aren’t comfortable with the new territory. We are afraid of losing everything we’re used to - but honestly, losing it will help you win in the end. So

when you get to the point where you think all of the change and disciplining yourself isn’t worth it, don’t second guess yourself.

Don’t give into the moment because you want to give up and give in to what’s easy. You’ll have to get where you want to be. If you don’t, then you might as well get used to what you have, work with it, and stop complaining about it.

Maybe this is just me. Maybe I’m the only person who sees my life as a circle; maybe I’m the only one who ends up back at square one with empty hands so often. But from what I’ve seen, this is not the case.

True, I am a victim but also a criminal facing the exact charges I have been talking about. I’ve walked myself in circles so big, I could have gone around the earth seven and a half times, seeing the same sights and wondering why I was never getting anywhere different.

It seems that no matter how many times we hear any “motivational speech” or warning signs of a bad idea, it seems like we completely ignore the possible consequences and walk right on without caring until tomorrow.

Where common sense goes during these times, I don’t know. I wish it would show it’s face at the entrances to the paths we’ve already gone down too many times. Or, suppose it is there, and we just don’t see it. Maybe one day we will, and maybe then, we’d have enough sense to take a different turn.

the box

{

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Comment. Repin, etc. The choice is yours.

sleepyti.me

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Can’t decide when to go to bed? Have no fear, sleepyti.me is here! This online bedtime calculator tells you when to go to bed and why.

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What once sounded like best thing since sliced bread quickly deteriorated into a frenzy of confused students — once masters of the interwebs, left to fend for themselves in a labrynth of courses.

LOVE LIKE LEAVE

school messenger

The automated phone calls, texts, emails, (and pager beeps) to alert the FHSD community of the first snow day went off without a hitch. Here’s to a couple more of those alerts throughout the upcoming months.

super hubbub

A rematch of one of the most thrilling Super Bowls in recent history was just what the doctor ordered for this year’s big game. Be on the lookout for another great game.

2nd to last

Frankly, the St. Louis Rams had a disappointing season. But with their pitiful 2-14 record this season, they still failed to secure the first overall draft pick in 2012. Contrary to popular belief the saying goes, “If you’re not last, you’re second to last.”

fhctoday.com | be heard

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staffeditorial Write a new policy!

A

school is meant to be a place should be working throughout their time, for work to be done and not browsing about how their friend’s lessons to be learned. This cousin’s dog “got peanut butter on his is the key argument in the nose and won’t stop licking it! LOL!” district’s decision to keep students off of Students, on the other hand, have sites like Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. assignments to do, and once they are However, it seems finished, the time a bit backwards is theirs to use. If to think those that a student finishes have free time are their Personal Either both students banned from these Finance project and teachers have sites while those three days ahead of access to social media who are getting schedule, there is and games sites, or paid for their time no reason he or she neither of them get here can access shouldn’t be able the privilege. them freely. to kick back and Teachers are here browse the sites for their job: to they love (assuming instruct students, they don’t feature grade papers, deal with incessant provocative models, of course). questions about whether or not their This imbalance is perplexing: those students will pass their class. They get who are working through the day should paid for the hours they spend here, and have to work, while those who merely

“

have assignments that can be completed ahead of schedule should get the chance for a break when they over-achieve. If a school is truly a working environment, no one should be allowed online to browse social media sites or to try destroy green pigs with flight-challenged birds.

Naturally, no student should be using these sites when their work is incomplete, and those that do should be punished for their disrespect. When students are able to sleep through the majority of classes because they have so much free time, it shouldn’t matter what they choose to use their time for: sleep, Facebook, homework from other classes.

So, the solution is simple: either both students and teachers have access to social media and games sites, or neither of them get the privilege. The backwards hypocrisy of this rule should be eliminated by evening out the playing field: for all or for none.

Useful websites students can’t access, but teachers can YouTube While there’s a lot of material here that’s non-educational, there’s an awful lot that is. Even YouTube for Schools is inaccessible.

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be heard | february 3, 2012

Twitter This is a social media site, but if you follow the right people here, there is a wealth of information and it’s a great way to connect with students around the world.

Khan Academy While the site itself isn’t blocked, students are unable to watch videos on the site, which is all that is on this purely educational website.

go to fhctoday.com go to fhctoday.com participate in our online poll by logging onto fhctoday.com go to fhctoday.com T H I S W E E K â&#x20AC;&#x2122; S Q U E S T I O N : go to fhctoday.com to fhctoday.com Do you think the school's go go to fhctoday.com filter is effective? go to fhctoday.com go to fhctoday.com > Yes, it keeps students from getting on bad sites > Yes, but it blocks sites it should not go to fhctoday.com > Yes, but it was not worth the 16 thousand dollars go to fhctoday.com > Kind of, some sites that should be blocked arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t > No, students can still get online on their phones go to fhctoday.com

Let us know what you think!

> No, students can still find sites to mess around on > No, students know how to get around the filter

to read more about issues pertaining to internet filtering and censorship, check out pages 14-19 to see student opinions, information about SOPA and more

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to see our editorial or letters policy, please visit fhctoday.com/policies

Francis Howell Central High School 5199 Highway N St. Charles, Mo., 63304 Phone: 636.851.5636 Fax: 636.851.41

Alli Keisker - Print Executive Editor Kelci Davis - Visuals Executive Editor Ellen Hinze - Multimedia Executive Editor Blake Beck - Delve Editor Matt Lundberg - Sweat Editor Lizzi Holland - The Scene Editor Margaret Borgmeyer - Be Heard Editor Maddie Wilson - Design Editor Sean Gundersen - Communications Editor Sean Carroll - iFocus Editor Karley Canova - Reporter Allison Comfort - Reporter Caitlan Good - Reporter

Cody Jones - Reporter Ben Morrison - Reporter Jessica Mugler - Reporter Maddie Newton - Reporter Mary Niebur - Reporter Ben Sandfort - Reporter Drew Anderson - Photographer Alyssa Beckering - Photographer Matt Cochran - Photographer Jerianne Harrison - Photographer Elise Thomas - Photographer Savannah McEachern - Photographer Matthew Schott - Adviser

why do we do what we do?

the central focus, along with fhctoday.com, are student run publications which look to serve the francis howell central community through relevent, realiable journalism. the newsmagazine is meant to be have analytical outlook on topics and stories which matter to our readers. we are always looking to improve, and feedback is always appreciated. fhctoday.com | interact

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holding out to the final bell The varsity hockey team does not let a lead in the game keep them from holding their focus. Their determination led to their win at Shaw Park on Jan. 21 when they faced Fort Zumwalt West. The playerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s faces held their intense gaze until the final horn, declaring the score to be 4-1. photos by kelci davis

Despite his comical mustache, senior Drew Oliver holds a serious gaze as he watches his team skate down the rink. While the Spartans had already scored in the first five minutes, the players kept a composed demeanor.

Chad Edgecomb, senior, anticipates as senior Drew Oliver holds his form moments before hitting the puck down the rink. With the puck downrink, the Spartans were able to beat their opponents and score another goal.

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aperture | february 3, 2012

Following through on a slap shot, sophomore Tyler Liefer tries to beat the Zumwalt West keeper.

Many shots were made by the Spartan players, allowing them to control the pace of the game.

Junior Brennan Anderson sighs as Fort Zumwalt West scores their first goal, bringing the score to 3-1. While the team had a lighthearted mood going into the match, their competitive natures shown through the game.

As the game goes into the final minutes, senior Brendan Martak laughs along with his teammates.

With the score at 4-1 in their favor, the team started to relax a bit with victory so close.

With the game over and a victory behind them, junior Chris Sesti jokes around with teammate Andrew Oliver, a senior. The Spartans took a moment to cherish the win before thinking ahead to their next opponent, Duschene.