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VOLUME 51 ISSUE 13 1015 Division St. Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613

Speech team speaks out knowing that these students have the opportunity to improve their comStaff Writer munication and social skills through A packed school bus held cheering speech, and coaching allows me to Cedar Falls High School Speech Team watch the process,” Chizek said. members Saturday night after the Franke echoed Chizek and said she majority of their performances earned feels the speech team has many practiDivision I ratings at the district level cal benefits. “Speaking in front of a competition, granting them access to group and working as a team member the state competition. Eight of the 10 are challenging tasks but essential groups that competed will compete skills for many jobs in our society. again in Speech is a wonderDecoful venue for sturah on dents to practice this Feb. 5. objective,” Franke These said. “The creative groups process engages include students in critical readers’ thinktheater, ing and one act, commuradio nication news skills broadwhile — ­ Karen Franke casting, Speech Coach strengthtwo ening acting group ensembles and three improvisation participation and self-religroups. ance. It is an honor to be a The seasonal process for the speech part of that.” 2. team is to first audition, then rehearse The team this year and finally compete at Districts, State is much different from and even the All-State level. There is last year’s team due to the one judge at Districts, and after seeing graduation of several strong members. the act, he or she assigns either a I, “For me, this year’s team is a younger II, III, or IV divisional rating. Groups team than last year’s team. However, receiving a Division I rating move on the enthusiasm for the events has to State while a Division IV rating is tripled. I have a great mix of new stua disqualification for rule violation. dents who see things with fresh eyes Any rating in between is subject to the and talented, experienced juniors and judge’s responses. seniors. It has been a great season so The coaches for the CFHS speech far,” Franke said. team are Rebecca Kauten, Karen Junior Austyn Claire has been Franke and Nicholas Chizek. involved in speech team for the past “The purpose of large group and three years. She was very excited to individual speech is to encourage perform in the one act production, students’ abilities and comfort levels Odds Are, this year. “I think everyone with public speaking and communicagets a little nervous before performing, tion skills. As students graduate, it is and sometimes that’s a good thing, but important they have adequate commuother than that, having been on speech nication skills for any job type. Speech team for a few years, I’ve gotten pretty is an outlet to practice in a creative comfortable getting up in front of an atmosphere,” Chizek said. audience,” Claire said. He enjoys coaching, he explained, Another returning speech team because he thrives on the “ah ha member, senior Samantha Heinen, said moment” where kids step out of the she felt very confident that the one act unknown into a state of good comwould receive a top rating. “We could munication and understanding. “I like

Maya Amjadi

“For me, this year’s

team is a younger team than last year’s team. However, the enthusiasm for the events has tripled.

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”

All Photo by Darby Sheehan

1) Senior Samantha Heinen prepares for her role in the choral reading of Euridice. 2) Freshman Noah Miller fixes his hair in preparation for the one-act play. 3) Freshman Carrson Morrissey gets into character as an fanatic magician in the one-act. still use bits of improvement, but over all, it is a very funny show, and the majority of the acting is phenomenal,” Heinen said. Regarding whether performing takes her out of her comfort zone, Heinen said, “Performing is my comfort zone.” Sophomore Evan Fairbanks competed in improvisation and received a Division I rating. For the improv category, contestants draw situations typed on pieces of paper. They have a small amount of time to assess the situation and determine various aspects such as characters, setting, beginning, middle and end. The contestant also have to perform within a time frame of five minutes. “The most difficult thing about improv is following all the rules and ending [the performance] on time. It’s like inertia — when you’re on a

roll, it’s hard to stop,” Fairbanks said. Along with the performances at the different levels, there will be a recital in the auditorium at Cedar Falls High School to showcase all the students’ work. This will be held Thursday, Feb. 3. “I would definitely encourage people to check out our shows. We work hard and have fun doing it, and I think people would enjoy watching any speech event performance. I’d also encourage students to try out. It’s really fun,” Claire said. Individual speech team tryouts will be held Jan. 24 and 25. Anyone is encouraged to show up. Individual categories up for auditioning include: acting, mime, interpretive reading — prose and poetry, musical theater, spontaneous speaking, storytelling, original oratory, after dinner speaking and literary program.

e n i l i h r tige THE

2 opinion our view Sophmores’ fight for fall release is unwarranted The word “finals” always marks an ominous point in history for many high school students. It brings forth memories of stress and panic of the twice annual semester tests, and for sophomores at Cedar Falls High School, their first experience with these fateful tests is a particularly painful one. The negative aspect of the situation is that during first semester finals, sophomores are required to stay in the building during their lunch break which lasts just a little over an hour while eligible juniors and seniors are granted their full release privilege to leave. The main rationale behind the first semester release policy is weather and the maturity of sophomores. Many sophomores still have their school permits which restrict such driving privileges as going out to lunch, and with the potential serious winter weather during the semester test times, it could be potentially risky for the students to venture out. Overall, these risks all create a liability issue for the school. Moreover, sophomores don’t have the luxury of release during the regular school year, so allowing the release over a period of merely two days creates an additional hassle for the school to defend their release policy and creates more controversy. We at the Hi-Line believe that sophomores, who are ineligible for a semester-long release, should not be allowed a release during the fall finals. The Cedar Falls High School is correct in keeping the fall policy for the protection of all its students. Juniors and seniors who have those lunch releases during finals have earned that privilege and endured a waiting period their sophomore year, and current sophomores should also earn this right. During the spring, many sophomores have turned 16 and have received their drivers’ liscence, and in addition the spring weather makes for better driving conditions. This takes a load off for school officials and parents, and for sophomores, it makes finals a little more endurable.

Jan. 25, 2011

Changes to Twain’s books miss author’s message Meg Lane Opinion Editor

We all have heard or read a classic novel with the theme of racism. From Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird to Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, these novels have engraved themselves into our curriculum. Now those novels don’t embrace racism, and neither do those who wrote them, but many literature critics are now censoring those types of novels. One book that has been recently under fire is Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Alan Gribben, an English professor from Auburn University, replaced the “N” word, which appears 200 times in the novel. His efforts to clean up Twain’s novel are so that more readers will embrace the work rather than be offended by it. I believe this editing ruins the novels originality and the historical aspect of it. They were written during times where such language was popular, but they were not morally sound word choices. If a reader cannot understand this, then I believe they should try talking

to an English teacher to better understand the language and meaning of these novels. He isn’t the only one trying to make changes; a Seattle English teacher named John Foley wrote a guest column right before President Barack Obama inauguration in which he proclaimed that novels such as To Kill A Mockingbird, Of Mice And Men and Huckleberry Finn were culturally insensitive and outdated, and that they need to be removed, especially after electing the nation’s first black president. I believe Foley’s opinion is unjust and the true meaning of these novels has

’90s cartoons bring back precious memories Sandra Omari-Boateng Staff Writer

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

evaded him. In To Kill A Mockingbird, for example, a white lawyer defends a black man, while everyone in the town is against his actions. Also in Huck Finn, Huck befriends a black man even though it was unheard of during the 19th century. So to say that these authors and their works are racist is slander. They tell of the harsh realities better than any history book could. To censor them is censor history. And Huckleberry Finn isn’t the only one being bleeped; Twain’s other novel, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer also is being censored. All of this censoring, however, has left many in a uproar. For many, these iconic novels being censored is a step in the wrong direction. “To censor or redact books on school reading lists is a form of denial: shutting the door on the harsh historical realities — whitewashing them or pretending they do not exist,” columnist Michiko Kakutani said. So to those literary critics, think before you censor.

Lately, after the whole make your profile picture an old cartoon phenomenon on Facebook, it got me thinking about all the old cartoons that I used to watch when I was younger. I remember shows like Cat Dog, Rocket Power, As Told By Ginger, Hey Arnold, Kipper, The PowerPuff Girls, Doug, Rocko’s Modern Life, Rugrats, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Madeline, Johnny Brovo, The Jetsons, The Flintstones, Angry Beavers and other memorable shows from the ’90s. The shows that I watched

www.creativmarket.info

Some old time cartoons are still airing today like Courage the Cowardly Dog and Tom and Jerry.

while growing up were entertaining and very memorable to me even more than five years later. The shows these days to me seem really pathetic com-

pared to the ones in the ’90s. It seems that nowadays most of that the T.V. shows are about fighting, finding romance and kids doing things that are above their age. Back in the day, it was just about being silly, and being a kid meant we could do anything that we wanted to, within reason of course. I don’t know if I’m the only one that was impacted by seeing all of these cartoons every time I looked on my news feed, but it seems that it kind of hit me hard. Maybe it’s because they were such a big part of my childhood that it’s hard to know that they’re gone.

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Jan.. 25, 2011

Couch for the Cure: Sandra OmariBoateng Staff Writer

This basketball season, Student Senate is sponsoring a community service couch raffle during several men’s and women’s basketball games. At each game, spectators will have an opportunity to attempt to win a chance to enjoy the game on a plush court-side couch and relax with free drinks and snacks. “We came up with this idea because it’s different and fun,” Student Senate President Austin Javellana said. Participants can purchase a single raffle ticket for $1 or six tickets for $5 at the admissions desk at the start of every

home game. The winner will be announced at half-time, and at the following game, the winner and their chosen guests will redeem their prize. The money raised from the raffle sales will be used for a winter clothing drive in order to provide warm hats, socks and other types of clothing for people in our area who need them. “This is a great way for students to contribute to others in the community while also having a good time,” guidance counselor Erin Gardner said. This whole charity event was made possible by Student Senate who wanted to explore more service project opportunities. The Mother Moon scholarship also contributed

Basketball raffle benefits community

to the plan. To receive the scholarship, which is awarded to juniors, applicants must perform 100 hours of community service and write an essay. Each year, one junior is awarded $500 to help generate more community service projects like the couch raffle. More than a scholarship, Mother Moon also performs service projects, and the profits from the raffle at Cedar Falls go to the Mother Moon winter clothing and blanket drive. Winners from previous games have already enjoyed their court-side accommodations, but there are not many more opportunities left to win. Raffle tickets will be on sale every week before the last home basketball game on

Feb. 17. As of now, this raffle has raised $100 for the winter clothing drive. “This raffle might not be so popular now because it’s new, but if we keep doing it in future years, it will become more popular and successful,” Student Senate Secretary Alex Stewart said. “This is the first year that Student Senate has used this type of fundraiser. We got this idea when we met with students from other schools who have done this,” Javellana said. The next opportunities to try to win this prize at the home games will be Jan. 21, 25 and 28; the last games for the couch raffle will be on Feb. 15, and the last game is on Feb. 17.

Female freshman breaks barriers Olivia Borsay Staff Writer

Looking out during a wrestling meet, one might be surprised to see a female pacing the mat amongst a group of male wrestlers. However, Cedar Falls freshman Cassy Herkelman has proven that gender does not have to be the sole determinant of success or a dividing factor on a traditionally male-dominated team. Wrestling at the 105 weight class, Herkelman has paved her way in women’s wrestling and now wants to make her mark in men’s wrestling. Having already had much success — she has won three state titles and four national championships in her weight division — Herkelman is already a leader on the Cedar Falls team this season. Initially, Herkelman’s love for wrestling was passed on through her family as her grandfather, father and uncles were all successful wrestlers.

Kim Pfalzgraf photo

Freshman Cassy Herkelman focuses on the takedown before the start of the match vs. CR Washington. So, it is no surprise that Herkelman began wrestling young - in second grade to be exact. Right off the bat, Herkelman endured a yearly schedule of wrestling 30 to 40 matches against other girls. However, once she arrived at Peet Junior High School and joined their wrestling team, she began wrestling against other boys in meets. Being a minority in the

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sport of wrestling has had its advantages, though. Herkelman said her favorite element of wrestling is “the guys seeing they have to wrestle against me and seeing their reaction.” Moreover, Herkelman has learned many lessons from her male teammates. “They help me because they are more technical and aggressive,” Herkelman said.

This season, Herkelman has already tasted success, and she hopes to take her success to the top level in the state. Overall, Herkelman is one of only four girls wrestling this season in the state of Iowa, and individually, she has been 8-3 against other male wrestlers in her same weight class this season. Herkelman’s main goal is to make it to the state championships, and if she achieves this feat, she will be the first girl to ever qualify for the tournament in Iowa history.”I’m excited that there’s a chance I could possibly qualify for State this year,” Herkelman said. Needless to say, Herkelman is breaking barriers in the sport of wrestling. More important to her success has been the unrelenting support of her family throughout the years. “I love watching her, and I’m proud to call her my sister,” said Herkelman’s sister Carissa.

Athlete Week of the

Bobby Brummel Men’s Basketball Senior

1. Who/what is your biggest motivation? “My biggest motivation is making it to State this year.” 2. What goals have you set for yourself? “My goals are just to try my hardest and make it to the state tournament.” 3. Is there anybody you are looking forward to playing this season? Why? “Im looking forward to playing Cedar Rapids Jefferson because they’re a good team, and we will most likely play them again in Substate.” 4. Are you planning to play basketball in college? “No, I don’t plan on playing college basketball.”

Tigers in Action Women’s Basketball 1/25, vs. Iowa City West @ home, 6 p.m. 1/28, @ Waterloo East, 6 p.m. 1/29, vs. Charles City @ home, 5 p.m. Men’s Swimming 1/29, MVC Soph Super Meet @ Cedar Rapids Washington, 12:30 p.m. Men’s Basketball 1/28 @Waterloo East, 7:30 p.m. Bowling 1/28, vs. Linn Mar @ Cedar Rapids Bowling Center, 3:45 p.m. Wrestling 1/27, @ Dubuque Walhert, 6 p.m. 1/29, MVC Super Meet @ Linn Mar, 10 a.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.