The Red & Black, October 2011

THE

RED & BLACK

Florida’s first high school newspaper

Hillsborough High School • 5000 N. Central Ave. • Tampa, Fla. 33603 • Volume 112, No. 2 • October 2011

Empowering Effective Teachers, pages 8-9

Visit HHSredblack.com for more pictures from Homecoming 2011 King Kendol Griffin and Queen Tran Viet at the Homecoming dance.

(Photo by Jimmy Herd-Bond)

200 wins for Garcia -page 16

News

2

October 2011

This artist’s rendering depicts one possibility for the new library building. The current library is shown in red brick. (Photo Illustration by Jimmy Herd-Bond)

Seminole Heights Library will be remodeled

By Katie Lutton Sports Editor

The current Seminole Heights Library building will be torn down and replaced with a new, much larger complex, library officials announced at recent meeting. Lack of space to meet demand in the current building motivated architects of the new library to design a large two-story building with more parking spaces than are currently available. Final plans are still being made, and demolition of the current building will probably begin in late spring of 2012. The new structure is expected to be completed about one year later.

Architects from the Fleischman Garcia Firm presented their concept for the new building at the meeting, but the complete design, including plans for structural support, will not be ready for three or four more months, reported Bill Hand,

Project Manager for Hillsborough County. After that, different contractors will competitively bid for the job of building the new library.

Hand stressed that the new library would almost triple in size, from its current 8,000 square feet to 22,000 square feet of floor space.

“The biggest problem, though, is parking,” Hand said. To address this problem, planners have also nearly tripled the number of parking spots, from about 20 to 57.

Plans for the first floor of the new library building include community areas, public meeting rooms, and a small bookstore run

by The Friends of the Library. On the second floor will be a teen room, a children’s space, as well as traditional book and computer areas. The new library will have more computer workstations than the current building, which

is frequently overcrowded. There will also be some covered areas outside the library which Hand said would be ideal for students waiting to be picked up.

According to Seminole Heights Branch Library Head Carrie Hurst, the library has purchased the small strip of land surrounding the current library property for the new construction, but this will not have significant effect on the Junior Parking lot adjacent to the library.

Junior Khadijah McKnight, who attended the library meeting, is excited about the new building, but unhappy at the thought the library being closed for a whole year.

“I’ll have no place to do my homework, read anime, and just hang out,” she said.

For the past few months, McKnight has also volunteered her time at the library to help

library visitors use the computers and to assist with children’s programs. McKnight says she prefers doing homework at the public library to using the Success Center at school, and she worries that students will not have a place to do homework outside of school during the year that the library is closed.

Overall, responses to the new plan have generally been favorable. “The whole neighborhood’s excited because we’ve outgrown this building” said Seminole Heights Branch Head Carrie Hurst.

McKnight, enthusiastically described the proposed interior design of the new building.

“Everyone can get a computer more quickly,” she said. “Teens will have their own little room to hang out. There will be a lot more room for books, and especially more anime books!”

Vending machines closed during lunch periods

By Holly Scroeder Staff Writer

This year students have a lot more to consider while taking their afternoon trips to the vending machines.

According to a mandate given to the district over the summer, schools in Hillsborough County are no longer allowed to have their vending machines on during lunches. The hours the vending machines are now turned off are 11a.m. until 1 p.m., which began at the beginning of the 2011-12 school year.

The reasoning for this new mandate is to prevent competi-

tion between the normal lunch program and vending machine snacks. It also provides healthier alternatives for lunch to the students.

Assistant Prinicpal Bertha Baker shares the concern that students won’t get the nutrients they need from vending machines snacks. Baker has mixed opinions about the vending machines here in school, saying, “While the vending machines do generate money we can use for student incentives, with today’s obesity rates being so high it’s really not healthy for the students.”

However students like seniors Tran Viet and Sara Savitz have a different outlook on the new hours of the vending machines.

“Students who don’t have free lunch depend on the vending machines to have a small snack until they get home. They shouldn’t have to buy a $2.50 lunch they don’t even like,” Savitz said.

Viet said “If the only time the vending machines are on is in passing they are more prone to make students late to class, cause everyone who try to use them at once.”

News

October 2011

3

Vice President visits local elementary school

By Samantha Matras Editor in Chief

Vice President Joe Biden speaks to teachers, students and education officials about the American Jobs Act and how it benefits education.

(Photo by Alexis Spivak)

The Bill

Tax cuts for small businesses: The president is using tax cuts and holidays as immediate incentives for business to hire more employees and expand benefits those who have been out of work for six months or more.

Modernizing and rebuilding while putting workers back on the job: Modernizing the country’s infrastructure by rebuilding and modernizing the nation‘s roads, railways, airports and schools and to put hundreds of thousands of workers back on the job.

Helping the jobless get jobs: There will be an extension of unemployment insurance to prevent 6 million Americans looking for work from losing their benefits. A the same time help support programs will be created to help the long-termed unemployed get jobs.

More Money in the Pockets of Every American Worker and Family: It puts more money in the pockets of working and middle-class Americans by providing tax relief to 160 million workers – extending the payroll tax cut passed last December. Congress approved a cut in the tax for workers last year, from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent. But that measure was due to expire in December.

Vice President Joe Biden said, “This is an emergency.”

Biden spoke to the audience of Oakstead Elementary School in Land O’ Lakes with a tone that revealed the seriousness in the words that he was speaking.

The national unemployment rate is 9.1 percent. The U.S. national population is about 312 million people. This means that there are over 28 million people unemployed in the U.S. right now: 28 million people struggling.

Yet the unemployment rate of Florida is even higher with 10.7 percent of people with no jobs at this moment.

On Sept. 8, President Barack Obama addressed the Congress and presented a plan to put Americans back to work: the American Jobs Act. President Obama said, “The purpose of the American Jobs Act is simple; to put more people back to work and more money in the pockets of those who are working.”

Biden visited Oakstead Elementary School to speak about the Jobs Act, specifically the parts of the bill that concern education and teachers.

Since the recession, jobs have been lost, with some of them being teachers. Schools have had to cut back positions and programs to meet the budget, and this means cutting back educational resources for students.

Part of the American Jobs Act addresses these devastating loses.

Pasco County School Board Member Steve Luikart was invited to hear the Vice President speak at the elementary school. Luikart said, “The job plan that the president put forth deals with education and part of that plan is to try to hire back some teachers that we lost over the past several years so were very interested in learning more about his plan and we are very interested in finding out how it can benefit our teachers here in the county and how it can benefit our students.”

What’s so concerning is the dramatic amount of teachers lost in such a short amount of time. “Just last year is the first year ever had to cut a teacher so when we cut 513 positions because of funding shortfalls. It impact students,” Luikart said.

One way the school system has tried to compensate for the loss of teachers due to budget cuts is splitting a teacher’s lecture time between two different schools.

“Some we haven’t had to let go we just had to split them.

In other words, instead of having one day at one school now they have half a day at two different schools. We lost some folks so they have to cover.”

This not only affects the teachers but the students as well. Although the state has a class size amendment, it has been difficult for many schools to continue to follow those limitations. This means that there are bigger classes

and more students per teacher ratio. The main concern, when the class size amendment was brought into effect, was the lack of one on one teacher-student time. This concern has reborn now that the economy has taken a toll on education, specifically on teachers.

“Any time you effect teachers it slows down educational process too. [The] classroom amendment – that’s pretty much one of those things that we cannot meet anymore because of budget cuts. Now you have more students in classrooms. Teachers don’t have the same kind of time they had with kids that they had two years ago,” Luikart said.

But there is hope for the education system if the American Jobs Acts is followed through. In the bill Pres. Obama sent to Congress, Obama specifically addressed education, making a point to put emphasis on the teachers that have lost jobs concerning those out of work as a whole.

“The American Jobs Act of 2011 puts more people back to work, including teachers laid off by State budget cuts.”

During Biden’s speech at Oakstead Elementary school he said, “Today President Obama and I are issuing a report.

The report contains info about the mass’s job losses we already started to see in education. The report shows that nationally 300,000 teachers have lost their jobs.

That’s bad for the teachers but that is devastating for our children.”

The act includes 35 million dollars to support over 400,000 education jobs. “People ask me if we can afford it my response is can we afford not to do it?,” Biden said.

Teacher shortfalls have been very apparent to school administrators and teacher, but the sudden lack of staff hasn’t gone unnoticed by students.

Eighth grader Amy Deeb and 7th grader Joseph Caba from Rushe Middle School were invited to hear and meet the vice president.

Although only in 8th grade, the NHS president follows politics and even before hand watched president Obama present the Jobs Act to Congress live.

“I watched president Obama’s address to congress posing the new job which is what they are talking about today. I’ve researched I do like how it’s trying to promote jobs by improving our infrastructure like highways and rail system and also the improvement of our education system,” Deeb said.

Both Deeb and Caba agreed that there is a definite difference since some of their very own teachers have been laid off.

“I know a lot of our teachers at our school have been laid off, you know a lot of media staff have been laid off. It really brings it home when it’s actually happening to your school and people you know,” Deeb said.

4 Volume 111 No. 2 Editor in Chief Samantha Matras News Editors Jacob Gagne Chrissy Geshel Elizabeth Gwilt Life Editors Nick Bennett Roksana Borzouei Brittany Valencic Sports Editors Katie Lutton Luke Votzke Kellen Yent Opinion Editor Nico Tavella Photo Editor Jimmy Herd-Bond Staff Writers Nicholas Quinby Fabio DeSousa Alex Rosendo Nadiya Fakhar Holly Schroeder Nikki Ferrera Jenn Travis Amanda Glenz Destiny Wong Adam Godbey Zachary Wright Kristine Lee Kimberly Rampersad Adviser Joe Humphrey, MJE Principal Dr. William T. Orr Jr. The Red & Black belongs to the Florida Scholastic (All-Florida, 2011) and the National Scholastic (All-American, 2011) press associations. The newspaper considers itself an open forum for student expression and decisions about content are made by student editors. However, the paper is subject to prior review by the school’s administrative staff. The staff editorial reflects the view of student editors and columns represent the viewpoints of their authors. The R&B welcomes letters from students, teachers and members of the Hillsborough community. Letters may be edited for brevity and clarity, and should be submitted to Room 506 or to The Red & Black, 5000 N. Central Ave., Tampa FL 33603. Advertising content is subject to approval of the editorial board. The Red & Black is printed in partnership with The Tampa Tribune. This newspaper includes content from the MCT Campus wire service. Phone: (813) 276-5620 • Fax: (813) 276-5629 e-mail: joseph. humphrey@sdhc.k12.fl.us

www.hhsredblack.com

Opinion Our View

October 2011

Technology is glue to the school Like a mythical taboo looming over the educational system, the idea of adopting technology in schools is met with hesitation and reluctance. Perhaps it’s the work that accompanies learning how to use new machinery or perhaps it’s the natural tendency to stick with the status quo. Whatever the cause, this unwillingness of Hillsborough County’s education system to embrace the future is only serving to hinder us as students.

In this 21st Century society, technology has become an integral part of the day-today life of students; it’s a trend nowadays to have some version of smart phone or tablet or eReader, and often a great deal of the owners of these cutting-edge devices use their sophisticated machines to do school-related activities. It would seem unbelievably sensible to take advantage of the popularity of this technology to craft a better learning environment. Yet, the policy of “if we see it, we take it,” referring to any from of personal device, still tramples over educational progress.

Contradicting heavily with the computercentered era we live in, the vast majority of schools discourage any use of the Internet during class. As a result, students are pressured away from the current core of information and are instead urged to rely on only the words of the instructor and the coinciding textbook. This counterproductivity is only further displayed by the hasty retreat back to the digitized world of comfort within seconds of the bell marking the end of the school day; we count down the last few seconds standing between us and our welcoming world of technology.

This resistance to technology plays a role in the reluctance of students to go to school; the feeling of detachment from the world they know has become synonymous with the daily challenges of learning and discovery.

While students sit in their assigned desks in front of a lecturing teacher, their

minds are, more often than not, centered around their digital lives rather than what their teacher is saying. In other words, 19th and 20th century teaching methods are rapidly losing the capability of keeping students occupied in the lesson plans. Though the use of PowerPoints, media projects and Smartboards is a step in the right direction, it simply doesn’t meet the needs of today’s student population.

However, by utilizing the vast resources of such devices as the iPhone, iPad, Kindle or the Nook, the amount of knowledge that can be covered in a single class is given the ability to grow far beyond today’s precedent.

In English classes, using an eReader rather than a book and a dictionary cuts the demand for paper drastically and provides an updated, easy-to-access bundle of stories and definitions in a compact, light-weight, portable machine. The use of technology in history classes can provide accurate, current information on topics that textbooks from even four

years ago do not cover. In addition to the increased amount of available knowledge, students will actually have that ideal interest to learn; using the same technology in school that they use at home creates a bond of familiarity between students and their education.

Also, a criterion of teacher evaluations, which decide the salary and employment of teachers (see pages 8-9), is the incorporation of technology within the classroom setting. So if the educational system overcomes the aversion to using state-ofthe-art technology, both teachers and their students will reap huge benefits.

Technology is becoming a more central figure in human life each and every day, and each incoming generation is, as a whole, more attuned to these machines than the previous. The sooner education adopts a system intertwined in technological advances, the sooner we as students can truly reach our full potential.

Nico Tavella

Opinion

October 2011

Bracelets digitize human interaction

Other 2%

www.runaroundtech.com

ckb err y

Android 26%

4%

the phone will vibrate and the QR information is saved in the phone from then on.

Basically, it turns you into a human hyperlink. That’s just creepy. What happens when you are sitting at a restaurant, all by your lonesome, and the stranger next to you happens to capture a picture of your bracelet with his Smartphone? He now has access to all your information.

Needless to say, that’s terrifying. This bracelet is a superfluous addition to the realm of social and cyber stalking.

Simply a conversationalist’s worst nightmare, the bracelet aids in the elimination of genuinely meeting people. I find nothing inviting or friendly about someone leaning over and whispering ‘scan me,’ and, for the continuation of humanity, I hope I’m not the only one who sees it that way. There are already so many ways to connect with people; we as human beings should at least try to keep physical contact (the only kind still free from the shackles of technology) as real as possible.

Percentage of Smartphone companies that currently scan QR bracelets Bla

The evolutionary tornado of technology, which has brought us the joys of SMS messaging and social networks, shows no mercy.

Even the simple concept of asking someone for their name, number or even leaving the clichéd note in lipstick on a napkin has evolved.

It seems as though the ‘good Nadiya Fakhar old days,’ as I call them, have Commentary become overrated.

Welcome to the QR Code Bracelets. Invented in Japan, they are a simple silicon bracelet with a QR code embedded on it that directs people to your name, your phone number, your email address, even your Facebook page. It is a one-time application that works with iPhones, Androids and Blackberrys. Upon scanning,

5

Apple 68%

Graphic by Zachary Wright

Staff writers debate policies of Obama Staff writers Adam Godbey and Fabio DeSousa face off in a debate concerning the current president of the United States.

Question: To what extent has President Obama been successful?

Adam: Other than the Affordable Health Care Act, commonly known as “ObamaCare,” President Obama has passed little legislation to help create the change he promised. Any regulations that the President passes are immediately defunded, and any additional spending in order to stimulate the economy is immediately rejected by “deficit-hawks” in the Republican Party.

Fabio: Yes, the President can be more of a leader, but at the end of the day it’s Congress which creates and passes the legislation.

Obama has done almost all that is possible given the political climate. “Obamacare” on its own has the potential to create a legacy on the level of Medicare/Medicaid or Social Security. As far as success is concerned, even Bill Clinton only made significant progress just before reelection, and had a much more productive second term.

Adam: Presidents like Clinton were able to take their case to the American people, yet Obama has been ineffective in arguing his message even when a majority of Americans

agree with him. For example, a large majority of Americans believe taxes on the top 1 percent of Americans should be raised, yet President Obama has been unable to push for such legislation to pass Congress.

Fabio: You have to consider that the people also elect their representatives in Congress, which has a much lower approval rating than the president. A disconnect exists between Congress and the majority of American citizens, and the things that Obama strives for are what the seemingly underrepresented majority wants.

Adam: It is the president’s responsibility to fight for legislation; Lyndon B. Johnson had the phone number of every single Congressman on his desk. Through press and speeches, President Obama could argue his message to the American people and clearly explain his logic, just as FDR explained his New Deal in simple terms to the American people through his Fireside Chats. Obama has been unable to convey his message, and is therefore ineffective.

Fabio: The president fights for legislation, but his opposition finds it more politically convenient to halt all progress he tries to make in order to increase their chances reelection. As you’ve said before, the majority of Americans understand what his policies entail and they’re willing to accept them. The vocal minority that

refuses reasonable compromise cannot be swayed by anybody, not even the president.

Adam: It’s illogical to believe that a strong president would have no difference on the process; strong presidents like Clinton, Roosevelt and Reagan were able to mobilize a base to force Congress to action. That a majority of Americans agree with president Obama’s policies demonstrates that he is unable to translate that support into mobilization and results.

Fabio: Congressional Republicans know that there’s support for many of Obama’s proposals. Their political strategy is to obstruct everything and hope that the American public places the blame for their refusal to compromise on the President. You cannot explain something to someone who won’t listen, and it seems President Obama is the only adult in the room.

Adam: To state that President Obama was the only adult in the room is a large generalization of a 535-member Congress. President Obama has tried, but has been unable to effectively pass a compromise. Presidents are defined by the moments when their party is not in full power, yet President Obama has failed to lead.

Fabio: We’re talking about a congress that narrowly passed the Zadroga Bill (which provided medical aid to 9/11 first respond-

ers), and then only with the provision that first-responders pass background checks!

Saying President Obama is the only adult in the room is a generalization, but things such as the Zadroga Bill as well as the pledge to vote against anything that resembles a tax increase prove that a mature discourse is nearly impossible.

Adam: Obama was unable to lead a budget through Congress even when he had a complete majority. The Zadroga Bill fight was a complete, absurd embarrassment, yet it would be difficult to find any speeches from the president in support of it. The fighters for the Zadroga Bill were satirists such as Jon Stewart’ not the president.

Fabio: Yet wen the bill was in danger of faltering he stepped into the ring, supporting the bill. Yes, he has been slow to engage on topics, but ultimately the president has done more than he has been given credit for, considering the uncompromising morass that is Capitol Hill.

Adam: Could we at least agree upon the fact that, although Congressional unwillingness is beyond the powers of the president, President Obama could be more effective in arguing for a clear message and mobilizing a base of support?

Fabio: Yes, Adam. Yes we can.

6

News

October 2011

Google Plus threatens Facebook

Internet titan Google launched its third attempt at social networking, Google +, nicknamed Emerald Sea, to the public after months of invitation only test trials.

Google +’s clean interface, with features such as Hangouts and Spark, have techies and the general public contemplating whether

Google + can potentially compete strongly with social networking giant Facebook.

The two networks have very similar layouts and features, but the question is whether Google +’s shiny new interface is enough to uproot Facebook’s hold on this generations social lifeline.

According to comScore, Google+ attained 20 million users in the first three weeks of going public.

Vic Gundotra, Google’s senior vice president in charge of Google+, said, “Emerald Sea is not a Facebook killer ... instead the transformation will offer people a better Google.”

The company’s attempt to distance itself as Facebook’s direct competitor stems from the American Customer Survey Index report that put Facebook consumer satisfaction remains fifteen points lower than the IRS. -Roksana Borzouei

Google Plus’ privacy policy is central to Google not lending user information to third party marketing site. Junior Rajan Bose said, “A lot of people who use social networking sites already make their info accessible to anyone on the Internet. It’s not that hard for advertisers to look you up. If I’m going to get ads, I might as well get ads for things I like.”

Facebook’s privacy policy has also undergone many permutations. Facebook has published a series of pages on how to utilize their policy. The transformation concerns users’ powers in tagging. The new control feature, “profile review,” is defaulted off.

Also, friendship is not required for tagging, an approval will do.

Circles are Plus’ fusion of Facebook’s lists and groups. Users can organize friends, family and coworkers in personalized circles. Organization uses with a drag-and-drop feature to put friends into circles. Users will not know how they’ve been classified or with whom and can also see “uncircled” users who are following them, with choice to follow. Dropdown menus to arrange friends’ circle placements are available throughout the site

Two features that are comparable to Circles are Lists. These smart lists auto update with shared posts of people in them. New York Times reporter David Progue wrote, “Facebook has something similar, called Lists. But compared with Circles, it’s buried and a lot more effort to use.” Junior Arun Katikala said, “There doesn’t seem to be a need for it because I usually only post stuff on Facebook I want everyone to see it.

Google has made it a point to stress the ease of sharing in Google Plus. Unlike Facebook, entire albums are capable of instant upload from mobile phones. Non-Google Plus users can receive posts, like pictures; via email when Plus users add their email address in a Circle.

Similar to Facebook, Google Plus makes is possible to choose which Circles receive posts.

The “inline audience selector,” similar to Google Plus’ Circle specific posts, lets users choose who can see the post. Sharing settings have also extended to allowing users alter sharing settings after publishing a post. The difference is that to change sharing settings the user alters it from one news feed, while in Plus posts are directly shared to a Circle.

Google Spark offers something Facebook just does not offer. A complete integration of web and people, Spark is a personalized news reader that stream stories from around the web. Users input a topic of interest to receive a separate feed with content only related to that topic from blogs, media outlets, newspapers, and YouTube - part of Google’s conglomerate.

Facebook’s new profile layout is based on a timeline. According to an article by Blitz, on Sept. 21, only 1 in every 5,000 of the existing members of Facebook used the sites. Curbelo said, “The news feed is annoys me because if someone comments on one thing, everyone will see it. The live side bar also annoys me, because I really don’t care about half of the things Facebook wants to tell me other people are doing.”

Hangouts is Google +’s new feature, the main selling point in their competition with Facebook. With hangouts, users are able to video chat with up to nine other people. Creating and editing documents live is available in Hangouts, a feature borrowed from Google Wave, one of Google’s failed attempts at being “people-centric”. Other features include shared screen drawing, running television shows and compatibility on Android smartphones.

One feature that might defer users is that video chat is possible with other users you have circled without having been circled back.

Facebook partnered with Skype in early July 2011 to provide users with video calling.

The feature only supports one-to-one calling. It does not support group chatting, a feature that costs extra in Skype. Senior Cynthia Curbelo said, “I’ve used Facebook for video chat a few times. It’s pretty good quality but I’ve had so many glitches on it. Sometimes my camera won’t show up and sometimes the other person can’t hear me.” The screen is only supported by the browser. Also, users do not need to create a new account for Skype.

October 2011

News

7

High-scoring senior shares story, offers advice

By Nick Bennett Life Editor

Brooke Bonsack attends an informational meeting for Rice University. Researching the colleges you are applying to is a safeguard that you’ll end up at the right place. Photo credit: NIck Bennett

While struggling with a particularly confusing reading passage or trigonometry problem on the SAT, ever wonder who out there thinks such an exam is no big deal?

That person would be senior Brooke Bonsack, who scored a combined 2390 (out of 2400) on the college aptitude test. She first discovered her talent for standardized testing in middle school, when she was honored for her high performance on the PSAT in the Duke TIP program. Having achieved good grades in the challenging IB program and done out of the ordinary things such as studying jaguars in Brazil last summer, Bonsack should be an attractive candidate to her dream schools: Stanford, Cornell and Princeton. Here, she offers some helpful words of advice for those thinking ahead to college. >>When it comes to the SAT, “it’s all in your mindset.” But a lot of it also has to do with how you prepare for the test. For the

Verbal section, “you need to know your vocabulary.” For those who struggle with difficult words, Bonsack recommends getting a book like Toughest Words on the SAT and studying up. On test-day, she advises: “Read the first and last sentences of the passage to get a general idea of the passage.” >>As for the Math section, she says “if you you don’t know immediately, plug in the answer choices when answering the question.” >>When it comes to the Writing section, Bonsack recommends that you “write as much as you can,” and says that “it’s okay to make up stuff.” >>When it comes to what will make you stand out from other applicants, pitching yourself by a single interest or passion is a good idea. “Find out what you’re interested in and take it to the next level,” says Bonsack.

Regarding the crucial campus visit: “If you can, visit colleges over the summer because you’re not going to have time senior year.”

Says Bonsack about her workload as an IB senior: “I don’t have time for senioritis.”

Healthy eating is important for leading a balanced life “What you eat is what you are,” says junior Marilyn Cabrera, who is a big supporter of healthy eating. With twothirds of Americans now reported being either overweight or Giselle Ponce obese, eating healthy Correspondant seems to be a prominent concern of people across the country.

What does healthy eating mean to you?

Since 1980, obesity rates have doubled for adults and tripled for children. According to junior Elisabeth Rivera, “Obesity is a major problem in America, so [eating healthy] is important.” While most people are aware that eating healthy is vital for a life of longevity, they typically don’t implement ways to ensure they consume the right foods to keep a balanced diet. Sophomore Rodney Cordero

supports this statement when he says that eating healthy is “pretty important because if not you’ll have health problems. It’s important to balance your meals.”

If you are lost on how to maintain a healthy diet, here are some helpful tips: •Eat foods filled with nutrients: Try to balance your meal by having a little bit of everything. Think color! Not everything should look the same as it sits on your plate. Try wholegrain products such as multi-grain bread versus white bread. Try to incorporate fruits and vegetables. There has to be at least one fruit or vegetable you like! Instead of munching on cookies or brownies, have a bowl of Trail Mix, a smoothie, or even a yogurt.

•Eat in moderation: There’s nothing wrong with splurging every so often! But it is important to watch the amount of food you consume. For example, rather than having three scoops of ice cream, have two. A key way to eat in smaller portions without even

noticing is serving your food on smaller plates.

That way, you still feel like you’ve filled up your bowl or plate, but you’re really eating less. It’s all mental! Play with your mind.

•Don’t skip meals: A common misconception is that losing weight is done by skipping meals. This actually results in the exact opposite manner. Your body produces more fat to make up for the lack of food in your stomach.

Eat regular meals. It is recommended to have three meals a day, with two snacks in between.

But remember, moderation is key!

On the same token though, eating healthy should never become an obsession. According to Naturalnews.com, choosing to eat healthy can be called a mental disorder. Some people become too focused on eating healthy that they actually indirectly harm themselves.

Eating healthy can be immensely beneficial for those who know how to choose their foods wisely and moderate their portion size without becoming too absorbed in their efforts

to maintain a healthy diet. Eating healthy can often lead to other positive contributions to one’s body.

Healthy eating is a “good start for exercising” says senior Randall Gilbert. Fellow senior Gerard Denis agrees with Gilbert, saying “Healthy eating in some cases can keep the body in shape.”

For many reasons, eating more nutritious foods might be just what you need to make a positive change in your life. If you want to become more active or begin a new exercise program, nutritious food can give you the fuel you need to meet your goals.

Although the results may be slow and gradual, healthy eating can help you lose weight. Making the conscious choice to eat better will give you a sense of satisfaction and greater confidence in yourself.You’ll find that you are more productive, have a better sense of well-being and are on your way to a longer life.

The Red & Black

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9

Teacher change up

40%

By Elizabeth Gwilt • News Editor is bringing radical changes to how teachers are paid and evaluated. The Red & Black sat down With the establishment of the Empowering Effective Teachers initiative, students aren’t the only with Principal Dr. William Orr (WO) and Tracye Brown (TB), a communications representative from ones being graded. The new system, funded with the money won from the Gates Grant in 2009, Empowering Effective Teachers, to learn more about this new system.

Teacher Leader

RB: What is the career ladder?

TB: It’s a new way of rewarding teachers. There are five levels in the career ladder, the first being apprentice teacher, all the way up to master teacher. One of the goals of this project is to give teachers the opportunity to earn more money earlier in their career. What the research has shown us is that really good teachers sometimes leave the profession within the first five years. We figured if you’re performing really well in your third or fourth year, getting really great value added scores, and doing extremely well on the evaluations, then you should have the opportunity to earn more money. It shouldn’t be based just on the number of years you’ve had in service. We are moving away from that, but it won’t occur until 2013. Also, if you’re a veteran teacher, you have the option to opt in or to stay with the current program.

Mentor Peer Evaluator Master Advanced Career Apprentice

RB: How is this new system different from the current one?

TB: What is really different about this new way of evaluation is that we don’t have just the principal going in to observe, we also have people called peer evaluators as well. They are considered expert teachers who have just left the classroom, and as their full time job go in and observe other teachers and rate them based on the rubric.

RB: How are you going to evaluate students in subjects like art or PE? TB: Assessing students in those content areas is nothing new. We are fortunate to be in a district that has assessment in every single subject taught in the county. We will be using pre measures and post measures.

WO: I think it’s important for people unfamiliar with the system to understand that when you measure student growth and hold teachers accountable, you’re comparing their actual growth to their predicted growth based on previous performance.

You look at how each individual student did on previous tests, their attendance record, and their mobility. If a student never comes to class, then the teacher shouldn’t be held responsible. Likewise, if a student changed schools, that gets taken into account too.

RB: Is there a set a formula for predicting student growth?

TB: There is a formula, it’s pretty complex. It is about taking a look at all those pre-measures, which could include post tests from the previous year, pre tests from this current year, in that specific subject or a related subject.

What’s important to note is that we are no longer just looking at student learning

in terms of what they attain, we look at how much they grew.

RB: Who makes the tests that determine student growth?

TB: Some are state assessments, like the end of course exams that everyone takes at the end of school. We have been working on these exams for a number of years; they’ve been refined and tweaked. They’re constantly being reviewed to make sure they’re valid and reliable questions. The tests used for this purpose aren’t teacher-created. That would be very unfair.

RB: Are the evaluations and test data available to the public?

TB: State law prohibits us from sharing teacher evaluation data ata ecord for one full year. Beyond that point, evaluation data is public record.

RB: How are students with special needs evaluated?

TB: We look at certain characteristics and compare those students to like students. Their predicted growth be compared to students just like them. If an ELL student in 10th grade moves to the country this year, then he or she would be compared to other ELL students new to the country in 10th grade.

RB: What are evaluators looking for?

WO: All evaluators have been extensively trained for several months to be able to go into a classroom and use the Charlotte Danielson rubric. As an observer, you need to know the language of the rubric well enough to rate each one of those characteristics.

TB: When you look at that rubric, you can see that what we’re doing now is really unique. In the past when we went in to observe teachers, we went to observe mainly teacher behavior.

There were some areas where we looked at things like student behavior, conduct, classroom management, etc.

But what’s really good about this new system is that when you go in to evaluate, we’re looking at what students are doing. We want to see that students are learning in the classroom, and what the teachers doing to bring about that learning. There’s a shift, and this has been a leap for us.

RB: How can a teacher move up in the career ladder?

TB: With two years of positive data they can move up.

Once they get three years of negative data, meaning they don’t meet predicted growth, they can move down.

It’s really different, never before have we had a system that can make an increase or decrease in teacher pay. In the past you would just move up the longer you’ve been working, and if you were deemed “needs improvement” then you weren’t given that opportunity for an increase.

of a teacher’s rating is relirat ant on student an growth, which is gro g dete determined by test score or value-aqdded data Teacher evaluation evalua

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ea

With the new evaluation system teachers get the choice of adopting the new system or remaining with the old system. with the exception of new teachers.

Survey choices A) I’m opting with the new system B) I’m staying with the old system C) I have no choice D) I don’t know yet

down k

39%

30% determined d

25%

by peerr evaluations

based on evaluations ons by an administrator or

19%

17%

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A

B

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D

Life

10 1)

DIY Halloween Peacock

Grapes

Blow up 20-24 balloons. When tying them shut, tie the balloons with a piece of string. Make sure you use a long piece of string so that you will be able to attach it to other balloons later.

1) 2) Paint the cardboard with various shades of green, purple, and blue. Allow the paint to dry.

3) Crack the glow sticks so they glow. Shape them into teardrop shapes and tape them to the painted cardboard.

4) Measure string or elastic strips to fit around your shoulder

Find a large piece of cardboard. Cut it into a half circle. Then, cut feather shapes out of the half circle.

2)

Take 8 balloons and tie them into a “grape vine.” This will make it easier to attach to your body. Make three grape vines. Tie the first two from the waist to the opposite shoulder.

Tie the third around your waist, like a belt.

3)

Cut a template for a leaf out of green felt or fabric. Then simply cut it out and attach it to your head with bobby pins.

blades (The string should act as backpack straps should.) Make sure the string is durable enough to hold the cardboard.

For an extra touch of creativity paint your face with the colors listed above. e Adding fake peacock feathers to your ensemble can also add a creative touch. You can find them at any craft store.

Richard Cutting and Jade Reppenhagen model The Red & Black’s DIY Halloween costumes.

(Photo by Kevin Stephens)

1.

-Brittany Valencic & Kristine Lee

Five freaky flicks

The Ring

By Zack Wright & Amanda Glenz • Staff Writers

A high school rumor about a video that kills its viewers seven days after they watch it is spread. This sparks the interest of Rachel after her niece is killed by it. As Rachel dives into the mystery of the girl named Samara, her life gets put on the line and her sanity is tested.

2.

The Shining

Locked into the Overlook Hotel for six months, the Torrance family fall victim to a dark presence. Using the father’s vices to control him, the hotel attempts to kill and harvest the psychic p o w ers of his son. The Shining is a classic that can never have competition, and it’s scary enough to make the list. No Halloween film list is complete without The Shining.

October 2011

Silence of the Lambs

An extended, bloodier version of a CSI episode, Silence of the Lambs is more suspense than thrills. Clarice Starling, FBI agent in the making, is assigned to persuade cannibal Dr. Hannibal Lecter into helping the FBI in tracking down the latest serial killer, Buffalo Bill.Clarice gets the information for the price of having Lecter in her head. Silence of the Lambs makes it to the Top 5 because of its realistic nature, fantastic acting, high keyed suspense, and its, of course, gory autopsies.

4.

The Exorcist When little Reagan

starts acting up and can’t control herself, her mother becomes concerned.

The doctors can’t seem to diagnose the illness properly, until they realize that the problem may be more than a sickness.

Two priests try to exorcise Reagan, but the demon inside her grows stronger, and the exorcism may not be enough.

5.

Nightmare on Elm Street

Returning in spirit form, former child murderer Freddy Krueger comes to take vengeance. Praying on the teenage children of the adults who murdered him, Freddy uses dreams to terrify and murder his victims without being caught. For this reason, Nightmare On Elm Street is a must for any Halloween play list.

October 2011

Life

Musicians in the making

By Brittany Valencic & Nick Quinby Life Editor & Staff Writer

For the Tampa community, The James-Lange Theory does not represent the psychological theory of emotions based on physical responses.

Rather, it has come to be known as the “quixotic rock” band consisting of five Tampa bred students, senior William Hsiung said.

The band is composed of senior Fabio DeSousa on rhythm guitar and vocals, senior Matthew Farrell on lead guitar,senior William Hsiung on rhythm guitar, sophomore Mitchell Watson on bass and senior Reid Casey on drums.

The band was created casually and spontaneously. It started with a simple, “Do you want to come over and jam?” between Hsiung and Casey. Soon, DeSousa and Farrell joined the duo and garage music sessions became a norm. “It wasn’t until junior year that we found Mitch,” Hsiung said.

This high-energy five-man ensemble has been together since early 2010, with their self-described unique blend of music styles ranging from British Indie to pop. Their sound is The James-Lange Theory performs live at The Battle of the Bands at The Ritz Ybor. The group distinct and recognizable with catchy earned the title of Ultimate Band in Tampa at the event. (Photos by Jessica Powell) self-composed lyrics, smooth vocals Part of the band’s success relies on their respect of each other’s and driving guitar, base and drums. musicality. “There is real chemistry between the five of us,” Watson “Our music is original, yet influenced by the bands of previous said. More importantly, the band credits their success to their fans. generations,” Farrell said.

“They love us, and we love them just as much,” Farrell said.

The band obtains inspiration from various artists, including John Casey agrees and said, “It was awesome that all our friends Mayer, Arctic Monkeys and Green Day. were there.”

“Our inspirations are incredibly varied, but some contemporary Watson especially appreciates the band’s fan base. “The feeling bands we all admire are Young the Giant and The Kooks, while the you get knowing there are people out there listening to a song you British invasion as a whole influences us a lot as well,” DeSousa made is indescribable,” said Watson. said.

Junior Ivan Rojas attended the Battle of the Bands concert The pure fusion of five passionate and driven musicians is evi- and has been a supporter of The James-Lange Theory since day dent in their shows, whether they are playing a fast paced original one. “I was mesmerized and it was really fun; they did really well,” ballad such as “Another Day,” or a light side of pop with their version Rojas said. of “Naïve” by The Kooks.

Despite their cohesiveness, their favorite part of being in The The James-Lange Theory was awarded the title of the Ultimate James-Lange Theory varies from member to member. Farrell yearns Band in Tampa after winning the Battle of the Bands at The Ritz for “those moments when everything falls into place, and all the Ybor last summer. parts become a whole,” while Watson said that he looks forward Put up against musicians three times their age, the boys still to the live shows. emerged in first place and were awarded $500, 10 hours of studio The James-Lange Theory performs live on Nov. 18 at the Unitime at Atomic Audio, two paid gigs and a spot as an opener for a versity of Central Florida and on Nov. 19 at The Ritz Ybor. national touring band.

11 Movie rental mania

By Jenn Travis Staff Writer

Blockbuster, once an image of dominance over all other movie rentals, had a steady financial plummet over the past few years. With the creations of Netflix and Redbox, the company had struggled to compete with what some consider more customer convenient businesses.

However, some people will forever remain loyal to the once thriving business.

“Netflix is too complicated and you can’t pay with cash at Redbox,” junior Laila Al-Khalaf said.

“You can get a variety of movies [with Blockbuster],” junior Bryauna Wallace said.

Blockbuster was forced to declare bankruptcy in 2010 and had to close thousands of its stores across the nation. Dish Network, which bought the company for $228 million, plans on keeping about 600 Blockbuster stores open.

But Blockbuster isn’t going completely under the radar. Dish network, has created a mail order service similar to Netflix.

Although customers can only have this service by adding the satellite subscription of Dish Network, the company states that they will open it to non-satellite subscribers in the near future.

This reaped great benefits when Netflix had a 60 percent price increase earlier in July.

Customers were so outraged with this new asking price that about half of them dropped their services almost immediately, letting Blockbuster come in and be taken as a fierce competitor for the first time in years.

But, this good news for Blockbuster became short lived as of mid-October when Netflix could not handle the financial stress of losing half their customers and reverted back to their original price.

For now, the future of Blockbuster is unclear, only time will tell whether they can handle such heavy competition.

Graphic by Fabio DeSousa

Life

12

October 2011

Homecoming band show excites all ages

By Samantha Matras Editor in Chief

This is it. The band rises. The spirit of not only the students but the community is almost tangible as they anxiously wait for the band to march their way onto the field in synchronized single-file lines.

When the band plays the fight song, the stands explode into a sea of blurred red and black. The crowd can’t help but get hyped.

Senior drum major Sierra Starkey said, “My favorite part is the fun that we have and how it gets everyone pumped and the crowd has a lot of energy and you can tell that we are pleasing the crowd.”

The theme for the regular season or “field show” is based on the musical West Side Story, while the homecoming incorporates more modern material directed towards the fans.

“For the homecoming show we play modern music to get the crowd going,” Starkey said.

The seniors get priority when picking the songs the band will play for the homecoming show. They all make decisions and decide as a whole on what songs make the cut.

But it takes more than a final unanimous decision to create a half-time show. Starkey and senior drum major Antonio Brooks agree that the most vital factors to make the homecoming show come together are focus and determination. “They [band members] have to practice and be focused. They need to be completely dedicated or the band show wouldn’t happen,” Brooks said.

The homecoming half time show featured popular songs like “Super Bass” by Nikki Minaj, “S & M” by Rihanna and “Party Rock Anthem” by LMAFO. But some of the highlights of the homecoming spectacular come from two songs that were written by Senior Hassan Ashi Jr. Although he’s not in the band, Ashi’s music still circulated throughout school by way of a CD that Ashi made himself. “We had someone in the Band [Ariel Bell] write it [the songs] out. We really liked the beats and we liked the sounds and we needed some dancing songs,” said Brooks.

As for Ashi, the fact that the band would play his songs for the homecoming game was a bit of a surprise. “I found out the week of and it blew my mind. Ariel came up to me

(Above) The drumline busts out the baseline during the halftime show. They incorporated more modern beats into their line, along with songs of old. (Right) Drum major Sierra Starkey leads the band in the characteristic dancing style of her predecessors. (Photos by Rachel Mowat)

and said ‘I heard your mix tape and it’s awesome and I wrote out the songs’ and I was just like whoa. It’s crazy. You weren’t expecting something like that,” Ashi said. “It’s something you always dream of when you pursue music; for someone to actually play your songs and play them because they like them.”

The two songs are called 1-800 Go HAM and HAJR. Ashi said HAJR is “a song that is about me introducing myself from childhood to where I am now.”

While he said “[1-800 Go HAM is] my best song for lyrics because I put my heart into every line of it. I’m just going in spitting out the words.”

Some wondered if the band would live up to the original songs. However, Ashi said, The band only had a limited amount of time to practice for the homecoming game and the rest of the time was devoted to the field show.

Rehearsal for the homecoming show starts about two weeks prior to the final game and

even then only the last hour of band practice is taken up learning material for the show. In those two weeks the band has to learn the songs they chose to play, learn the formations they make during those songs and polish the various visuals they create while in those formations.

“It takes a lot of time because at home I would practice the dances. I also held a mini practice to teach some kids who missed practices some dance moves for the first song,” Bent said.

But in the end, all the hard work and time put into making the band show payed off for Bent.

“My favorite part is the actual show because that’s when I can go all-out with the dance moves and I love the roar of the crowd and their reaction. I also enjoy the energy of Homecoming game night.”

Life

October 2011

13

That’s what’s up [October + November] Compiled by Roksana Borzouei and Alex Rosendo Life Editor & Staff Writer

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday Thursday

Friday 28 Mike Epps @

Straz Center, Josh Groban @ The Forum

31 ABC-O-WEEN @

2Odd Future @

7Hug-A-Bear Day

9Report Card

The Ritz Ybor

The Ritz Ybor 

3Between The  4Melissa Manches-

Buried And Me @ The Ritz Ybor

Distribution, Matt Hires @ The Orpheum 

11 Veterans Day,

12 Taylor Swift @

16 Alesana with A

17 Stand Up feat.

18 Last Damn Show

21 Thanksgiving

22 Mac Miller @

23 Thanksgiving Holi-

24 Thanksgiving

25 Thanksgiving

28 Students Return to

29 The Airborne Toxic

30 Judas Priest, Thin

JUDAS PICTURE

Holiday

School

Jannus Landing, MiMOSA@The Ritz Ybor

Event @ The Ritz Ybor

Skylit Drive @ State Theater

day, Sevendust @Jannus Landing

Lizzy@ 1-800Ask Gary Amphitheatre 

Damian Marley @ Januus Landing

Holiday

5

ter @ Capitol Theatre

Tampa Battle of The Bands @ The Orpheum

13 @ The Forum, Five Finger Death Punch @ Jannus

Sunday

All Hallows Masquerade Ball @ Convention Center

Nappy Roots, Bubba Sparxxx @ Jannus

15 Ghost Tour Of

Tampa @ Indigo Cafe

Saturday 29

The Forum



6Emerson Drive @ Jannus Landing

13 Mayday Parade

@ State Theater

19 Hollywood Undead

WWIII @Green Iguana,Marc Anthonyy @Mahaffey

2277

Holiday

www.judaspriest.com, www.taylorswift.com, www.rostrumrecords.com/home/artists/mac-miller, http://first-avenue.com/performer/matt-hires, www.billboard.com/features/odd-future-the-billboard-cover-story-1005062312.story, www.wikimusicguide.com/Bubba_Sparxxx, http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/exclusive_stream_between_the_buried_and_mes_specular_reflection/

Sports Baseball coach gets feel for coaching golf Clarke goes to regionals 14

October 2011

By Kellen Yent Sports Editor

Coach Bryan Burgess has been coaching golf for five years. Also known for being HHS’ assistant baseball coach, Burgess has to run fall baseball training and coach golf at the same time. He says that he is the baseball coach who took the golf job, which is also the case with the head coach of the baseball team Kenneth White, who is the girl’s golf coach.

Talking about this, he commented that they aren’t the best golfers themselves. “Luckily my guys have personal coaches, I’m definitely more of a baseball guy,” Burgess said.

Burgess said that golf and baseball are not alike at all, so it was different starting to coach such a new sport. To most people, a golf swing and a baseball swing would seem pretty similar, but according to Burgess, they are the exact opposite. “A golf swing will mess up your baseball swing, and a baseball swing will mess up your golf swing.” He attributed this to the fact that you flick your wrist in baseball, but have to keep you swing stream line in golf.

Burgess followed William Clarke to regionals and helped give him support. “He helped me realax, even though he really didn’t give me any words of wisdome.

Hes not really a golf guy,” Clarke said with a laugh.

Burgess said that some of his baseball players were going to come out for golf originally, but since

IB has “legit” golfers, the team didn’t have enough room for everyone. “A lot of the schools who don’t have IB programs have a hard time fielding a team, let alone a competitive one.” This is due to the size of the teams compared to how many actually get to play in a match, which is the best six that qualify for the match.

Burgess said that he likes golf as a sport because it is all mental and more individual than baseball. “It’s you against the course. You are on your own.” He also likes that fact that it is “cut and dry,” meaning that you qualify by rank and not by how well you are liked by the coach or how obedient you are. There is nothing other than the score that tells you how good you are, Burgess explained.

Burgess is also coaching golf for another reason. He said, “I love the relationship I get to build with the kids.” He said that he “hope[s] golf will teach them about life.” Burgess also commented, “Golf is a mature sport. The players aren’t mature. But golf will help them mature, and their game will get better as they do.”

William Clarke is getting ready for his next shot at one of the last matches of the season. (Photo by Sarah Ravitz)

By Kellen Yent Sports Editor

The golf team went to districts on Oct. 17, with a record of 10-3-1, and junior William Clarke made it through to regionals.

He had been ranked No. 1 throughout the season, but for districts he played as No. 2 seed. Clarke says that this was a good thing. “I didn’t have to play with the best group, so it probably helped me move through to regionals.”

Clarke’s average for the season was a 40 or 41. He says, “It’s all right, anything higher is not good enough to move through.” His average at districts was a 77 because of the fact that they play 18 holes there. This is different than normal matches where they only play nine holes.

Clarke competed at Regionals on Oct. 24, and finnished with a score of 79. “It’s not the best. I couldn’t putt all day,” he said, even though he added in that he was consistant.

Swim stays strong through the end of the season

By Jenn Travis Staff Writer

Freshman Kayli Diaz is swimming the backstroke at cities. (Photo by Brianna Althaus)

With the end of the HHS swim season drawing near, captains and coaches alike are still trying to rebuild the team after several state all-stars left for college last year, which also happened to be the year where a men’s relay team took ninth at states.

Because the boys and girls teams are both 4-4, boys coach Tom Paloumpis said that he hopes for the team to do really well.

“We’re emphasizing our team bond, too,” says senior co-captain Danny Arnone, who was on the relay that took ninth in states last year.

He states that it is a little different having completely new relay members, but is going to keep training harder with them.

“We are using three foot alligators on a leash, swimming behind them,” Paloumpis jokes. He seriously adds, “It’s just a matter of getting them into shape.”

Women’s swim coach Nicole Holman who is new to coaching this year states that she uses a more laid back and positive

coaching style. “I try to get the kids to do their personal best, even if we lose a meet. I love my captains, and I love my team.”

Paloumpis is encouraging all of his swimmers to join club swimming, after the season ends, to stay in shape. “We have a large group of sophomores and freshmen who can be really good, and we have spent more time on technique than we ever have in the past.”

Paloumpis also wants to take on more athletes for the upcoming season. “We are going to be recruiting even more, especially for divers,” Paloumpis said. “We actually lost a meet [this year] due to not having a diver.”

At Western Conference, both the girls and boys teams both placed second. “The whole team was fantastic,” says Senior CoCaptain Mallory Wood, “Most of our swimmers swam their best times in their individual events [and] our relays went very well.”

Wood also adds since the season is nearly over, that “We are looking forward to districts with high hopes.”

Districts are Saturday, Oct. 29.

October 2011

Sports

Soccer team kicks off season

By Katie Lutton Sports Editor

The girls soccer team begins its season this fall with hope, excitement and a new coach.

Spanish teacher Maria Gonzalez is starting her first year of coaching the Lady Terriers after assistant principal Stephanie Davis suggested her for the job.

Gonzalez attended Hillsborough herself and played soccer as a student. She went on to study Spanish and education at the University of South Florida, where she worked out with the soccer team.

This soccer experience affects her coaching style. “[Gonzalez] understands where the players are coming from,” said senior attacking center midfielder Nicole Davis.

“She’s really understanding when people have problems or need to talk to her.”

Gonzalez and her players are on the same page in terms of team goals.

The team looks to win and advance in district competition, but also to have fun.

“Obviously we want to win,” Senior Molly Short kicks the ball at a recent practice. Short and the team begin their season under new said senior midfielder Alisha coach Maria Gonzalez. (Photo by Jimmy Herd-Bond) Espinosa. “We also want to come together as a family.”

Sophomore Ashton Davis, Nicole Davis’s she said.

Espinosa’s coach and team mates echoed sister, played an integral role in last year’s Senior Molly Short thinks attitude is also a her views. “I want the girls to have a good defense but is currently sidelined with a torn team asset. “Everyone seems motivated, and time,” said Gonzalez of the teams objectives. ACL. She is not expected to return to the field the new girls are really excited,” said the center However, she also agrees with Davis, who until at least until sometime this winter. midfielder. “Everyone’s coming to practice and said “[We want] to still be comitted to the team The team could certainly be hurt by these wants to win.” and win.” gaps in the roster. “We’ll have playOffensively, members of the team will have The team ers to fill in, but we’ll miss them,” to step up to the plate, or in this case, the goal. may face some said Nicole Davis, referring to her Seniors Davis, Espinosa, Short, Kaylee trouble achievsister and Nelson.

Gilbert, and other experienced players hope ing the latter The team, however, is not to score more goals this year to lead the team goal this seawithout a few key strengths. to victory. son.

First, there’s the cohesion and The team played its first game of the The loss of Meagan Nelson, among other chemistry between the members of the team. season this week in the Academy of the Holy important players, to graduation cost the team “The girls already know each other pretty well,” Names Preseason Classic Tournament, but an All-Star forward who scored 27 goals last said Gonzalez. scores were not available at press time. The season.

Espinosa agrees. “We all like each other,” next game will be Nov. 3 at Alonso.

“I want the girls to have a sense of family.”

-Maria Gonzalez

15 Lacrosse club starts up, hopes for team

By Luke Votzke Sports Editor

Juniors Jimmy Herd-Bond and Alec Clark, who both play lacrosse, have started a lacrosse interest club at Hillsborough, offering students the chance to play and learn lacrosse.

As a growing sport in the state of Florida, lacrosse has gained an unprecedented following, which is becoming evident in high schools. In this region there are multiple lacrosse teams, mostly private clubs, but also school teams.

A few local schools including Jesuit, Tampa Catholic, Wharton and Steinbrenner currently have lacrosse teams.

However, many technicalities are involved in the creation of a lacrosse team.

In Florida, lacrosse is one of the recognized sports in the Florida High School Athletic Association.

According the Wharton Predator, schools who sponsor their lacrosse teams violate FHSAA policy. In order for lacrosse to become a sanctioned sport, all schools from each district with lacrosse teams must stop sponsoring their club.

This is not a problem for Hillsborough though, as it is a student club. Herd-Bond and Clark have secured the Hillsborough football field as their playing field, but where the club will hold practice has yet to be hammered out. With around forty members, the club includes both boys and girls.

Concerning the club sponsor Mr. Pumphrey, Herd-Bond said, “He helps with technical issues and gives us ideas on how to fundraise.”

As a self-supported team, fundraising is vital to the survival of the lacrosse at Hillsborough. The club must find ways to pay for jerseys, equipment, and most importantly a field to practice on. “The most expensive thing is paying for a field to practice on,” said Clark, with high hopes. The club is still in its beginning stages, but hopes to become a team by 2012 so they can compete against other local schools in an effort to bring another title to Hillsborough.

Sports

16

October 2011

Coach Garcia reaches 200 wins

By Jake Gagne News Editor

as head football coach, with 167 of those at Hillsborough.

Chants of “G, G, G, G!” fill the locker The road to this spot was room after the game as one of the linesmen characterized by myriad success writes “200” on the white board in big, green after he took over the program at numbers. There’s not one face that’s not Hillsborough and molded it into what smiling or cheering for their head coach, the would be a team with championship scene full of players banging on lockers and potential. According to the St. Petersburg hollering with pride. The noise within the field Times, more than his 19 seasons coaching at Hillsborough, he has appeared in the postseason 16 times, won 13 postseason games made it to the state title game and has a .775 winning percentage, the highest in the county.

As head coach, he has had immaculate consistency of success at Hillsborough, only missing the playoffs twice and has five unbeaten regular seasons to his name.

Just as amazing as what he did here is what he did with what he was given at the start. It was Garcia’s who raised funds to create the field house, and it was he who realized that to be great, a team needed to train year round; the first coach around this to employ such a system.

“It’s always good to have a major school sport this successful,” said Hillsborough principal Dr. William Orr. “Football goes way back here, and adds another dimension with this sort of success. Garcia has added another level of notoriety to the school.”

Principal William Orr presents a trophy to coach Earl Garcia for reaching 200 wins. Garcia gives a This is made even more special by thumbs-up to his players, who he thanked for helping him reach this milestone. (Photo by Kevin the connection Garcia feels to this school.

Stephens)

house increases exponentially as coach Earl Garcia walks up slowly from the back of the room. With his head down and bloodshot eyes, this seasoned but humbled man accepts the accolades and jubilant words offered to him by his players, fellow coaches and friends. His words indicate subtlety and repose, but within the mind of this football master even he can’t believe that he has earned 200 career wins

200 (Illustration by Zack Wright)

When asked why he’s never taken any offers from other programs, he reminisced about four generations of his family that are Terrier Alumni. “My mother graduated here in ’47,” Garcia said. “I just fell in love with the school; I live right by it now.”

After his players and staff presented him with the game ball signed by a few and a trophy to be marveled at, he remained humbled despite his success, attributing it to help from others and dedication of his players.

More than anything, he was primarily concerned with his players winning the game and feeling like winners, a sign of a true leader. “I’m just really happy for the guys,” Garcia said.

#24 Leroy Harris sets up a block, leaving RB Jalen Hill open for a pass from Jeremy Agrinzonis. This play is from Coach Garcia’s 200th win. (Photos by Claire Kalhoefer)