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VOLUME 51 ISSUE 14 1015 Division St. Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613
Harmony group, CFHS supports fight against muscular distrophy Maya Amjadi Staff Writer
Colorful flocks of people of all ages with team t-shirts and walking attire gathered at Crossroads in Waterloo on Saturday, Jan. 29, to walk for and support those they know in the community who are struggling with muscular dystrophy. Organizing the event was the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), which provides services for victims and their families with muscular dystrophy and helps raise awareness and raise money for the disorder. Tammy Frahm, a resource teacher at Cedar Falls High School, attended the event. Her daughter Halie has muscular dystrophy and led the walk around the mall. Halie started the event by giving a statement and cutting the red ribbon. Halie and her supporters’ team name was Halie’s Comets. “It is really cool,” Halie said. “There are all these different team names, and I am one of them.” Halie is a third grader attending Cedar Heights Elementary this year. The hardest thing about having muscular dystrophy, according to Halie, is not being able to do everyday things the same way other people can. For example, in school she has to sit “totally straight up” in the chair to be able to write while everyone around her lounges back. People also treat her differently sometimes. “I’ve noticed people being nice to me just cause I’m ‘special,’ but it makes me kind of sad because I am still a normal person.” Halie said she just wants to be treated the same as everyone else. Halie was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy, specifically congenital myopathy, when she was three. The symptoms of this type mostly affect her balance and endurance. She visits physicians in Iowa City two times a year and is evaluated by a physical therapist every three months. Halie said her main supporter is her mother. But a lot more people showed up to walk, displaying her name on
Tracy Lukasiewicz Photo
Backed by her CFHS and community supporters (also known as Halie’s Comets), Halie Frahm opened the public awareness event at Crossroads Mall on Saturday, Jan. 29. Halie is the daughter of CFHS resource teacher Tammy Frahm. their t-shirts. The team consisted of friends, family, neighbors and students and staff from the high school. Several CFHS students know Halie from the Harmony club where she has come to talk about muscular dystrophy and were invited to join her team. “She is really fun,” senior Alex Huffman said. “She needs as much support as she can get.” And that is exactly what made Huffman and senior Kelsey Morris walk in the fundraiser. They walked for the entire hour with the other team members from Halie’s Comets who talked and held signs showing their support while music played and different booths handed out water and balloons. Junior Kelsey McCrea is Halie’s cousin and had a table set up for face painting. Junior Hannah Dailey, another Harmony member, found out about the walk through her Facebook page. She commented that she has been trying to do more Harmony activities and thought this would be a really cool event to attend. “I think its important that they’re trying to find out ways to alleviate the problem [of muscular dystrophy], so the more people helping out and show-
ing support is important,” Dailey said. Frahm said that her main reason for advocating for the Muscular Dystrophy Association is her daughter, Halie. “We look at advocating as educating. The more we educate others, maybe the more understanding there will be towards any person that has a disorder or illness,” Frahm said. “Our perspective towards life is the same. We have always felt that each day is a gift. You can rejoice about what you have been given each day, or you can be saddened by what you don’t have. We have been given a great deal, and we choose to rejoice.” Halie has done multiple interviews and given talks to KWWL, KGAN, the Waterloo Courier and the Waterloo Bucks. In February she will talk to the Black Hawk County Firefighters and Fareway managers from across the state. She hopes that by sharing her experiences and knowledge she can educate others and raise awareness. With the pledges and donations collected from this walk, advances could be made in the search for a cure. The walk is an annual event; the hope of all those walking is that next year they won’t have to walk because a cure will have been found.
20 students graduate early Jessica Dally Staff Writer
Graduating early may not be for everyone, but this year 20 CFHS seniors decided to jump start the the next phase of their life by graduating early. Seniors Jarek Bakken, Aubrey Caruso and Cadi Trask were three of the early grads, and they shared about their next steps. Bakken is currently enrolled in classes at Hawkeye, which started the week after Jan. 7. “I feel ready and prepared to move on from high school and get a head start on college”. Bakken did not have to take any extra classes or take any special routes to graduate early. In his spare time, he is going to work on his main love and passion, music. Senior Aubrey Caruso decided to head out to the West Coast and attend the Art Institute of San Diego. Caruso plans to pursue a career in baking with hopes of becoming a pastry chef. “In order for me to graduate early, I always took a full schedule and took Hawkeye classes when I had the opportunity.” Caruso feels ready to move on from Cedar Falls and go start her life. Senior Cadi Trask decided to veer away from the norm and not embark on the college road immediately. Trask stated, “I’m going to a discipleship training school in New Zealand. It’s school for three months, and then for the last two and a half months we will be spreading God’s love.” Trask is unsure of her college aspirations, but she feels this journey will point her in the right direction. This years’ early graduating class had lower numbers than usual. The guidance office said that if graduating early is something students are interested in, they have to start thinking about it sophomore or junior year. Students also have to inform their guidance counselor and parents. All the high school credits must be met on time, and sometimes the student must double up on courses to meet the requirements.The counselors also say that everyone who signs up isn’t going to graduate early; it’s a long process that needs to be considered with care.
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2 opinion our view MTV’s newest shows too much ‘Skin’ for viewers Teenagers having wild parties, liquids in red plastic cups and half naked boys running down hallways. Put all these together and you receive MTV’s newest show, Skins. This latest abomination brought on by MTV is a racier spin off of a British program, also called Skins. Skins is about nine high school teens that face the problems that many of us face everyday like sex, drugs, relationships and parents. But what the show fails to do is accurately portray the reality of teenage lives. Actors in Skins freely show more than the appropriate amount of skin on their show, which has sent the media into a frenzy and has led MTV to receive a large lawsuit about child pornography. The show seems to particularly focus on the issues of drugs and sex between the actors, rather than the true issues of relationships, which has also stirred up viewers. This leads some to ask, “where are the morals?” Talk show hosts as well as anchor men and women ask, “Is this what our teenagers really do?” We believe that MTV has just exaggerated the truth about teenage lives just for good ratings and the big bucks. This is yet another MTV show that is purposely altering reality to portray teenage life as a crazy, carefree party. In other words, they’re saying that it’s okay for teens to go out and have sex with every person that comes along and take as many drugs as they can without consequences. However, we need to remember that MTV is fake. The actors are not real and nor are their actions. MTV just makes “reality TV” shows for money. Since the premiering of the show, Skins has lost over half of their viewers, as well as their top advertisers, like Subway, Yum! Brand food (Taco Bell), General Motors and Foot Locker which has been a big blow to MTV’s network. We at the Hi-Line believe that Skins is not only racy and inappropriate but also a show that has truly shown just how far networks are willing to go just to create a new hit TV show.
Contact the Tiger Hi-Line
The Tiger Hi-Line is a weekly publication of the journalism classes of Cedar Falls High School, 1015 Division St., Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613. Our website is www.hiline.co.nr. The Hi-Line is distributed to CFHS students on Tuesdays to read in their DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) classes. Columns and letters do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Hi-Line or Cedar Falls Schools. The Hi-Line editorial staff view is presented weekly in the editorial labeled as Our View. Reader opinions on any topic are welcome and should be sent to the Tiger Hi-Line staff or delivered to room 208. All letters must be signed. Letters must be submitted by 3 p.m. on Thursday for publication the following Tuesday. Letters may not exceed 300 words and may be edited to meet space limitations. Include address and phone number for verification.
Editorial Staff
Editors-in-Chief: Sara Gabriele and Ellen Gustavson News Editor: Ben Olson and Sara Gabriele Opinion Editor: Meg Lane and Kaylee Micu Sports Editor: Ben Olson and Allyson Vuong Feature Editors: Ellen Gustavson Entertainment Editors: Meg Lane and Kaylee Micu Photo Editor: Tracy Lukasiewicz
Feb. 1, 2011
New P.E. requirement does more harm than good Ellen Gustavson Editor-In-Chief
America’s health has been going downhill, that’s nothing new. What is new, however, is the physical education policy coming to the high school next year. The administration should allow an exemption for students who have full schedules or who participate in a sport from taking P.E. While heart rate monitors may seem like an innovative new way of grading students, they are also a huge injustice to students who are already very active because it requires more work for them to get their heart rate up to the “target zone.” P.E teachers try to account for this by dropping the target zone for such students, yet there’s still room for partiality: by how many BPM should the target zone be dropped? As a result of this, students maybe having to take P.E. all year, which means they will lose an entire period where they could be taking an elective. This will hit incoming sophomores especially hard, since they are required to take core classes and now P.E. This leaves only one free period and for band, orchestra or choir students, this means either a full schedule or foregoing music education. With limited options for fitting in electives, students will lose the opportunity to actually choose more classes. Part of high school is supposed to be about discovering your interests and learning to make decisions, not playing games like pickle ball to see how long you can keep your heart rate above 125 BPM. We are no longer junior high kids who need to be told what to do every second of the day. As for students with full schedules, it should be noted that they are, for the most part, overachievers who must
Imonee Qualls Photo
Junior Andrew Lehman works hard during his P.E. cllass on one of the new elliptical machines provided by the PEP Grant. then take early bird P.E. In addition to their full class schedules, these students might either have jobs or go to sports, music, drama practice or any other such extracurricular activities. Then factor in seven classes’ worth of homework, this creates at least a 12 hour day, 50 percent longer than the average adult job. In addition, this leaves students with very little time to sleep. Obviously, not every student has a schedule such as this, but for those who do, it is simply not a healthy lifestyle. Therein lies the paradox of early bird P.E.: while the administration may think they are doing students a favor by making this so-called “class” to promote physical wellbeing, they undo its benefits by robbing students of sleep. Teenagers need more sleep than any other age group. Why must we sacrifice our already limited amount of sleep for P.E.?
Some may argue that it is the student’s choice to take so many classes or participate in so many activities. However, do students really take so many classes because they want to? The main motivation for overachieving comes from college applications and resumes. Why should our generation take on the irresponsibility of society and add more to their already overloaded plate? Ever since the district received the Pep Grant, they have been shoving physical education down the throats of students, whether it be with surveys or increasing P.E. credit requirements. While this new P.E. policy may not create an issue for every student at the high school, the administration should at least provide an exemption for the students to whom it does more harm than good. All in all, the biggest benefit I get out of early bird P.E. is a better parking spot.
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Feb.. 1, 2011
Athlete Week of the
Emily Weno Bowling Junior
Allyson Vuong Photos
At left, Senior Bobby Brummel and Sophomore Kalnd Brown guard East players before attempting to make a shot. Above, Junior James Harrington and Senior Matt Klinehart block two Trojans to make the shot.
Men’s basketball trounces Trojans Jared Hyton Staff Writer
Sophomore Isaac Boettger carried the CFHS men’s basketball team miles past the East High Trojans in a classic battle of conference foes. The Tigers left in their wake an impressive 70-44 final score, improving to a season record of 10 wins and two losses. Junior center Tony Johnson missed the game due
to a bout with strep throat, which forced other players to create a larger impact on the game. One of those players was Boettger, who alongside junior James Harrington led the Tigers in scoring with 16 points-a-piece. “We had to have guys step up, especially like [Boettger] did,” sophomore Kalund Brown said. The Tigers found themselves in control early, hold-
ing a 24-13 lead after just the first quarter. “[East] was real worried about James [Harrington] and [junior] Caleb [Konieczny] which opened up a lot of shots for some other guys,” Boettger said. Senior Bobby Brummel fit into that category, adding nine more points to the Tiger cause. The Tigers knew going into the match-up against East that they would be put to the test in front of a tough East
crowd. “We always want to have high energy and intensity, and we knew it was going to be a hostile environment,” Brown said. “We needed to get rebounds and stop their penetration, and that’s what we did.” The Tigers’ next game is tonight at Cedar Rapids Jefferson at 7:30. They will also be in action this Friday at home as they take on Dubuque Wahlert.
Warrior hockey contends
for division c ham pi onshi p Olivia Borsay Staff Writer
Although the season started out rough, the Waterloo Warriors hockey team has regained its stride with a successive eight-game winning streak. More recently, on Jan. 22 and 23, the Warriors completed a sweep of Omaha, with final tallies of 2-1 and 7-2. Last Wednesday, Jan. 26, the Warriors continued their domination by demolishing Dubuque 4-0. Overall, the Warriors are ranked third in the West Divi-
sion behind the top-ranked Quad Cities and Des Moines Oak Leafs with a two-win difference from the Quad Cities team and a one-win gap behind Des Moines. As of now, the Warriors have posted a season record of 19 wins, three losses and two ties, losing only one game at home. The Warriors hockey team is governed under the Midwest High School Hockey League and is comprised of high school players from all over Black Hawk County, including one player from Linn-Mar and one from
Cedar Rapids Jefferson. Hockey is traditionally not a school-sponsored sport, so the Warriors team attracts many players who otherwise cannot participate at their respective schools. Representing Cedar Falls High School on the Warrior lineup is sophomore Jon Skarlis, senior Jordan Burtch, senior Marshall Cook and sophomore Wyatt Kroemer. Cook is currently ranked 8th in the West Divison for scoring with a tally of 36 points, and Skarlis is ranked 12th with 32 points. The Warriors play a total
of 18 teams in the Midwest from the East and West divisions. This season, the most competitive teams are the Kansas City Stars, Omaha Junior Lancers, Sioux City Metros and the Ames Little Cyclones. With their current record, the Warriors are strong contenders at the state tournament and are well on their way to a division championship. “We’re working hard every day in practice, and we’re staying focused and just playing our game,” Skarlis said, “although [hockey] is an extremely demanding game.”
1. Who/what is your biggest motivation? “My teammates are all very supportive of each other even if someone has a bad game and when you have a really good game everyone is very excited.” 2. What goals have you set for yourself? “The goals I have set for myself are to do my best. At the beginning of the season, it was very frustrating because my averages were so low but I just kept trying my best at practice and now my scores have risen by about 20. 3. What has bowling done for you? “Overall bowling has been an awesome experience. There really aren’t any geeky weirdos that fit the bowling stereotypes on the team (well not that many). We all have a good time together bowling but we also know how to work hard at practice and try our best at meets. “
Tigers in Action
Women’s Basketball 2/4, @ Dubuque Wahlert, 7:30 p.m. 2/5, @ Mason City, 4 p.m. Men’s Swimming 2/5, District Meet @ home, 12:30 p.m. Men’s Basketball 2/1, @ Thomas Jefferson, 7:30 p.m. 2/4, vs. Dubuque Wahlert @ home, 7:30 p.m. 2/5, @ Mason City, 5:30 p.m. Bowling 2/4, vs. Dubuque Senior, @ Maple Lanes, 3:45 p.m.
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Feb. 1, 2011
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[Air Time] Student starts balloon business Jessica Dally Staff Writer
When sophomore Anna Love first taught herself how to make balloon animals in the sixth grade, her parents weren’t very excited. As with many children, Love had the tendency to start a project and leave it unfinished. However, she got really into it, and now her dad even helps as her assistant as he helps spread the word about her job and books shows for her. Since, then she’s made an income for herself through her own business. She started out volunteering at the Orchard Hill Church’s fun fairs. To get her business more open into the public, she puts business cards up at Four Queens, and she works at My Waterloo Days, Make a Wish Foundation, UNI Homecoming and Artapalooza. These events
don’t keep her away from her social events either. “Something that is great about my job is that if I have a camp or something planned that I don’t want to miss, I can just not take that job. Most of the events are almost always in the middle of the weekend day, leaving my nights free,” Love said. So events never get in the way of her school work and her free time to have a social life. This job has also shaped her into a new person. “I am much more patient with little kids than I would be, and I’ve learned to be professional when needed as well.” Love said people are sometimes surprised to see such a young teenage girl come into the event ready to make balloon animals; however, she commands an adult price for her skills. Love charges $25 an hour plus customer tips. A
trip charge is always included if she has to venture out of the Cedar Valley area that is more than 30 minutes away. But when college hits, Love has other things on her mind. “I plan on leaving all this behind in Cedar Falls as soon as I go to college. It is a great high school job, given that it gets me out in the community and gives me volunteering opportunities to put on my college resume, but I could never do this for the rest of my life.” But for now, she is still going to make balloon animals while she’s young. This summer she is going on a mission trip with Heartland Vineyard Church so she can make balloon animals for the kids in the city they will be going to. “It’s going to be a blast,” Love said.
Using skills she taught herself in 6th grade, sophomore Anna Love has turned her balloon tricks into a money maker. Alex Clark Photos
Science teacher debuts new band Lucas Hamilton Staff Writer
Tracy Lukasiewicz Photo
With guitar and harmonica at the ready, science teacher Jeff Hartman raised the roof on Saturday, Jan. 29 at Mr. G’s with his band 5 Dollar Milkshake.
Seeing a teacher outside of school can be an awkward experience, but what about seeing a teacher on stage, rocking the harmonica and a guitar? Last Saturday, Jan. 29, science teacher Jeff Hartman and his band, 5 Dollar Milkshake, did just this. The band performed at Mr. G’s bar, starting at 9 p.m. and playing well into the night. Around 50 spectators watched as the quintet exhibited its musical skills up on stage. People were enjoying themselves at the bar, despite how crowded it was. “I never knew Mr. Hartman could play the harmonica so well,” senior Tracy Lukasiewicz said. “They played really well.” The band members also said they were really pleased with how everything played out and nothing that catastrophic happened on stage.
Forming the band was a matter of searching for the right members. “The first time the five of us played together, it just clicked. We tried out a bunch of songs and had a lot of fun,” Hartman said. The band name they crafted is incredibly unique, but Hartman said that the band had a hard time coming up with a name that everyone liked. “Eventually, Chris [the vocalist] came up with the name ‘5 Dollar Milkshake’ which is a reference to the movie, Pulp Fiction,” Hartman said. After being named and coming up with a set list, the newly formed group sought out a location at which to perform. As things began to fall into place, it turned out that the band already had a show lined up before they had even practiced for a second time, so with one practice down and an upcoming gig to prepare for, the band was off. As with any band, the
music is inspired by artists they’ve listened to and enjoyed. Seeing as the band is a cover band, they need to know their roots. “The music we play revolves around mostly 60s tunes. Things like the Beatles, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Eric Clapton and Stax soul music,” Hartman said. Some of their influences include blues and classic rock bands such as Van Halen, The Grateful Dead, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Aerosmith. As for what is to come in the future, Hartman said, “We plan to keep playing and hope to play shows every four to six weeks. We don’t have any more shows lined up at this time.” So be on the look out for 5 Dollar Milkshake as they continue to work the Cedar Valley circuit; there is no telling what will come from this new band.