e g h iin Ti er l THE

April 20, 2010

Volume 50 Issue 25

1015 Division St. Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613

Robotics makes mark at national stage Meg Lane Staff Writer

After storming through the qualification rounds at the FIRST World Championship event in the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on April 15-17, the Swartdogs robot ran into a series of glitches that prevented the group from matching their recent first and second place finishes in Kansas City and Minneapolis. After performing well in their qualification matches and landing 17th out of 86 in their division, the team was selected as a partner by the 4th seeded team and went on to reach the quar-

terfinals. This round deemed the most challenging for the team due a few problems with the team’s robot, Kinesias. “Our robot was running very slowly, especially when turning, and our battery voltage was down”, teammate Emily Hurban explained, “We got a new battery, thinking that was possibly the problem, and from there we headed to our second of three quarter final matches.” But after what seemed to be a fixed problem, the robot again showed malfunctions. “During the match, the

same things were happening. We didn’t know exactly why, but then after taking down our robot, we noticed some issues. Two of our motors were warm, and two were cold. Then we noticed that we had some errors with our electronics.” Hurban said. After all repairs were finally done, the team got the robot back on track. The alliance lost by one point. However, the Swartdogs are nothing but proud of what they have accomplished this season. “This season really has been amazing. To be able to go to the last championship that is being held at the

Georgia Dome is amazing. The whole experience is one that will last a lifetime and has truly benefited the entire team. We are proud of where we ended,” Hurban said. “We started out really well,” adviser Kenton Swartley added. “We had a great match against one of the teams that went on to win. We lost but it was real exciting to watch.” The team was able to enjoy a massive party after the competition in Olympic Park to celebrate its victories with students and teachers from around the world. Now with the champion-

ship under its belt, the team is already planning for the future. “Our team is mostly made up of juniors, so it’s nice to know that we still have another year to go. It’s also nice to send the seniors out with a bang. Kinesias is definitely a robot to be proud of, and it showed all the hard work we put into building a high functioning and scoring robot,” Hurban said. Hurban also added that the team will be working together over the summer. The team plans to attend CAD classes to help with designing and to do demonstrations at Sturgis Falls.

CFHS students, staff honored for local work Sara Gabriele Staff Writer

Four CFHS individuals have recently been selected to receive the Endeavor award, a locally based honor that seeks to recognize people who are important contributors to the community but that don’t always receive much attention for their work. Two staff members and two students are chosen each year, and this year the recipients are Ebony Kunkle, Nick Miller, Michelle Rathe and Jackie Underwood. Students and staff are nominated by others and then are selected by a committee consisting of student senate officers and guidance counselors. “It’s nice for the En-

deavor award to recognize people that are behind the scenes people — people that do a great job but maybe don’t shine in the spotlight,” guidance counselor Ryan Flaherty said. Student recipient junior Nick Miller was nominated literally for his “behind the scenes” work. Miller does the lighting and sound not only for all the school plays but also reaches throughout the district by doing tech work for many other events such as elementary music concerts. “Nick is always very thorough in helping in any situation — whether it be in lighting or for counselor advisory committee or just in his school work,” guidance FEATURE, page 4

Vincent Stigliani Photo

Senior Brian Anderson tests out his self-powered catapult last Wednesday in the McLeod Center for the physics olympics. The CFHS team won 3rd in the state, with a 2nd place finish in the human-powered water heater and a 3rd in the mousetrap car.

2 opinion

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tiger hi-line april 20, 2010

our view Give poetry a chance

Big competitions showcase CF talents

Cedar Falls High School has shown comprehensive education again this past week with big showings in two science competitions and a music contest. This past weekend the robotics team traveled to Atlanta for the national FIRST Robotics Competition following two top-placing performances at regional competitions in Kansas City and Minneapolis. In Atlanta they finished 17th out of 86 in their division, a phenomenal showing considering they were pitted against the top teams in the nation. More locally, our physics olympics team spent last Wednesday at the state competition in the McLeod Center. With medal-winners in multiple events, the team finished third in the state (and tied for second in points earned before the tie-breaker). Critics, as well as standardized test scores, hint to declining levels of scientific aptitude among students in the United States, but the recent performance of our very own students suggests that here at Cedar Falls, scientific literacy is not lacking. Last Tuesday the jazz band participated in the Iowa Jazz Competition. In order to qualify they had to win first or second at Regionals. After an impressive performance among the best music programs in the state, Cedar Falls received sixth out of the top 16 4A teams. We at the Hi-Line sincerely applaud these efforts. This achievement in multiple disciplines enhances the educational experience at Cedar Falls High School and provides students with opportunities for success in multiple disciplines.

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: Vincent Stigliani News Editors: Vincent Stigliani and Ben Sadkowski Opinion Editor: Monica Clark Sports Editor: Alex Entz Feature Editor: Aubrey Caruso On-Line Editors: Vincent Stigliani Senior Writer: Alex Entz Photo Editor: Ben Sadkowski

Monica Clark Opinion Editor

If you’ve paid any attention to the walls at school, you may have noticed poems posted in honor of National Poetry Month. While some could care less about poetry, poems really are the life and breadth of many people’s existence and deserve much more gratitude then they do currently. National Poetry Month has been going on for many years now. The Academy of American Poets started it in 1996 to bring more acknowledgement and gratitude to poetry, deceased poets and still living poets that continue to create the art form. National Poetry Month is meant to bring attention to the astounding legacy of American poetry to help bring more Americans to love and enjoy poetry. I personally love poetry. The way it moves and flows is so calming and relaxing after reading taxing books for classes. Although there are different types of poetry such as haiku, villanelle, elegy or ballads that require certain criteria, there are, however, free verse poetry: poems written however the author chooses to. Many people get turned off from writing poetry because of criteria we have to fill for school, but in reality, poetry can be as free as you want it to be. It doesn’t have to rhyme, be grammatically correct, make sense, be spelled correctly, and you don’t even have to stick to the language — make up words of your own (look at the poems of Dr. Seuss). If you want to try out reading poetry, I have a few

suggestions. Good Poems for Hard Times selected and introduced by Garrison Keillor, sounds depressing, but is actually a very good place to start off. It’s a large grouping of poems from Shakespeare and Walt Whitman to new, young and modern writers just beginning to take off their careers. An older poet, Robert Frost, is one of my personal favorites. Probably his most famous poem, “The Road Not Taken,” is one that

poetry. In grade school and early junior high, I didn’t really care for it until I realized that all those childhood books I read as a child were essentially poetry. Poetry started to appear more often in my classes. I distinctly remember one science teacher reading to us “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Robert W. Service. I was mesmerized. Soon after that I started to devour poetry by the hundreds — searching online, checking out books

Top 5 Poems According to famouspoetsandpoems.com

1. “Phenomenal Woman” -Maya Angelou 2. “Where the Sidewalk Ends” -Shel Silverstein 3. “If You Forgot Me” -Pablo Neruda 4. “I carry your heart with me” -E.E. Cummings 5. “The Road Not Taken” -Robert Frost many of us are familiar with, but all of his poems are worthwhile to read. But my absolute favorite poet is Sylvia Plath. Her poems are so real and blindingly visual that you’ll probably never forget them. And if none of these sound remotely appealing, check out some poetry readings off of youtube. If reading poetry isn’t your forte, maybe oral poetry will better suit your taste. I have to admit that I myself have had issues with

from the library and buying poetry anthologies from book stores. Although my regularity of reading poetry has diminished, I haven’t stopped loving the form. I hope that you haven’t given up on poetry completely. If you want to try your hand at writing poetry, it’s as simple as putting pen to paper. Write what you feel however you want. Write just for you, or share it with someone else. It doesn’t really matter as long as you try and experience it.

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tiger hi-line April 20, 2010

SPORTS 3

Harrington breaking records Ali Miller Staff Writer

Sophomore James Harrington has shown talent in each sport he’s played at Cedar Falls this year. Friday night’s Cole Collinge’s meet only made this statement even more of a fact. Harrington first broke the over 20-year-old 100-meter record. Not only that, but it was followed by yet another broken record in the 200 meter. The old 100-meter record was set by Joel Snell of Cedar Falls in 1985 and was a 10.6 second run. Harrington’s new record is 10.43. The 200-meter record was set by Matt Hillard 21 years ago, and was run in 21.96 seconds. Harrington blew CF fans away when breaking this second record after a week of injury and missing

the previous meet, running the 200 in 21.73 seconds. Harrington suffered from a hip flexor injury and missed several practices and one meet. His speed was definitely not expected, he said. Head coach Bob Schmidt seemed to be quite proud of the young athlete, too. “The word I use with him a lot is amazing. Those records have been there for decades. Was I surprised? Not one bit. There’s no limits on what that kid can do.” Harrington was not the only shining star at Friday’s event. The whole team pulled together to steal the meet champion title back from state champs Cedar Rapids Washington. CR Wash was expected to be

very strong in every event run. Schmidt said the first few runs were pretty rough, but the boys pulled through in the 100 and 400. The winning events were the 4x200, the medley and the 4x400 with Jake Jamison being the anchor leg who pulled that relay straight to the finish line with a solid win. Stealing the title back was not the easiest thing these boys have done, though. The final score was CF 117, CR 109. Waterloo West finished third with 81 points. Schmidt said, “We’re real pleased about beating Washington. Those kids did a nice job.” Harrington claimed this is not the fastest speed he’d like to be going. “I just wanna run as fast as possible.”

Softball warms up in Spring League Players show off skills in preparation for upcoming season

Athlete Week of the

Linden Terpstra Women’s Soccer Senior

Despite receiving a red card against CR Washington, Terpstra is a key component of the team’s returning leadership. 1. You received a red card for two fouls against CR Washington. What happened? The red card I received I actually had the ball and she ran into me — making it a foul on her. She was much smaller, so she went down while I stayed standing. Unfortunately, I had to sit out a game ... but I will just have to learn from it and hope it won’t happen again. 2. What are your favorite things to do outside of soccer? Between soccer, school and work, there’s not a lot of time to do other things, but I like to hang out with my friends and take weekend trips across the state.

Tigers in Action

Taylor Miller Photos

The Cedar Falls softball team is getting an early jump-start to the season by playing in this year’s Spring League. Above right, the athletic Tiger outfield moves in to make a sliding catch to rob what would have otherwise been a surefire base hit. At left, senior and ace pitcher Makenze Mobley delivers a rocket from her windup. Above, a player takes a hefty swing but comes up empty.

Women’s Track Away 4/22-4/24 @ Des Moines @ Drake Relays Men’s Track Home 4/22-4/24 @ Des Moines @ Drake Relays Women’s Soccer Home 4/22 vs. CR Prairie, 5 p.m. Men’s Soccer Home 4/24 vs. CR Kennedy, 8 a.m.; vs. CR Jefferson, 12 p.m. Women’s Golf Away 4/21 @ CR Washington Women’s Tennis Away 4/24 @ CR Prairie, 9 a.m.; @ CR Jefferson, 1 p.m. Men’s Tennis Home 4/24 vs. CR Prairie, 8 a.m.; vs. CR Jefferson, 12 p.m. Trapshooting Away 4/24 @ Osage Invite, time TBA

tiger hi-line feature 4 THE

April 20, 2010

Endeavor from page 1

Endeavor winners

to helping train staff with new software. "She is the one who keeps the school running so smoothly and efficiently," secretary Jane Carter said. "Things would take 50 times longer if she wasn't here," added fellow secretary Mary Ann Lee. Underwood said she was surprised and honored with the award. "I was very honored. I didn't expect it at all. I do my job, and it's nice to be recognized for it," Underwood said.

counselor Susan Langan said. “He doesn’t advertise how hard he works, so it's nice to be able to recognize him." Staff recipient Michelle Rathe also plays a very important role behind the scenes of school productions. Rathe has directed the CFHS spring and fall plays in addition to her English and speech teaching roles ever since "So many people, even though you she started know they appreciate what you do, don't teaching always take the time to say thank you. at the high school 12 Hearing that is very powerful because you years ago. know your efforts are paying off" "She just does so —English teacher Michelle Rathe much selfless giving," Student recipient Ebony Kunkle English teacher Diane Flaherty said. was also very surprised to receive "Her job is to direct, but she goes the Endeavor Award. way over and above — and not just "I didn't expect it at all. I was for drama, but for her students and so surprised when I found out I had for the department." received it," Kunkle said. Rathe said receiving the award Kunkle was nominated for her was an emotional moment for her. various contributions to the school "So many people, even though community, most notably for her you know they appreciate what you do, don't always take the time to say singing of the national anthem. "You name it, she sang the thank you," Rathe said. "Hearing national anthem (at it)," athletic that is very powerful because you director Gary Koenen said. "She is know your efforts are paying off." always very willing help out, and The other staff recipiant, Jackie she's very gifted singer. She uses Underwood, is also someone whose those talents for the betterment of work may not always receive thank the school." you's but is very important to the All the recipients of the Endeavhigh school. As the only school or award, including other schools, secretary in the district that works all year round, Underwood's various will be honored with a banquet on Wednesday, April 21 at Allen Colresponsibilities abound; from helplege from 5:30 to 6:30. ing with registration, to budgeting,

Teacher Michelle Rathe

Senior Ebony Kunkle

Secretary Jackie Underwood

Junior Nick Miller

These four will represent Cedar Falls High School at the Endeavor Award ceremony at Allen College on April 21 at 5:30 p.m. Submitted Photos

Support Student Press

The list of businesses and individuals included here are backers of the real world educational opportunities made possible by all the publication and broadcasting programs at Cedar Falls High School. Check out their links at our website: http://www.hiline.co.nr

Gold Star Sponsors ($250) •Cedar Falls Community Credit Union •Element Portraits and Design •National Dance Academy Cedar Falls •Sandee’s •The Shirt Shack •Together for Youth at Allen Women’s Clinic

Silver Star Sponsors ($180) •Gary and Margaret Clark Bronze Star Sponsors ($100) •Raymond and Judith Burfeind •Jiva Salon Spa •Larry and Judy Timmins

To find out how you can be a Journalism Backer, call 553-2590 or email hiline.devine@gmail.com or hiline.stigliani@gmail.com.