e g h iin l Ti er THE
Feb. 2, 2010
Volume 50 Issue 15
1015 Division St. Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613
CFHS mobilizes for Haiti relief effort Sara Gabriele Staff Writer
Students and staff at Cedar Falls High School are taking on various projects to raise relief funds for the Haiti earthquake victims. Student Senate is selling T-shirts for $10 each that say “Haiti” and have a South African symbol that means “support and cooperation.” The shirts are for sale in the main office and will also be sold at the upcoming winter dance on Saturday, Feb. 13. The dance will be a semi-formal called the “February Fling” and will be held at Nazareth Lutheran Church with a $5 admission fee. Student Senate plans to donate all proceeds from the dance to the relief efforts, and a student DJ, senior Nate Buck, will be hired to maximize the funds raised. “Student Senate always takes an active role in addressing world-wide problems,” student body president Allison
Duchman said. “It’s important because they’ve gone through so much, and there’s no such thing as too much help.” Senior Leadership will add to the efforts by selling wristbands within the next two weeks for $2 a piece during lunch and in the activity office. “We wanted something different that won’t die out in the first few weeks,” adviser Diane Flaherty. “Generally people stop losing interesting in the third week of any crisis and start moving on. It’s important to remember this is an ongoing problem. Hopefully they [the wristbands] can provide a constant reminder.” Senior Leadership also plans to conduct a penny war during 3rd hour classes through the week of Feb. 1. Other individuals around the school have also been taking the initiative to raise funds for Haiti relief. Psychology teacher Charles Blair-Broeker and his psychology students contributed to
the national relief efforts the Friday after the earthquake. “When things like this happen I’m always frustrated I can’t do more, but the one thing I can do is send money,” Blair-Broeker said. An envelope was passed around in his classes and a total of $375 was donated to the Red Cross. Sophomore Karl Sadkowski has also been soliciting spare change for Haiti during 4th period lunch blocks and at school events. He set up a booth at the last men’s sophomore and varsity basketball game and raised over $100. “Anything helps. Obviously it won’t make a massive impact for the issues going on over there, but hopefully it can help,” Sadkowski said. He will be collecting money at the basketball home games until Feb. 5 and will donate all money raised to the Red Cross. “What I like is that it’s just a good spirit of giving,”
Honor Heindl Photo
Senior Nate Buck will be DJing at the winter dance on Feb. 13, with the proceeds going toward Haiti relief. said government teacher Bob Schmidt, who will be giving faculty support to Sadkowski’s fund raising efforts. “The im-
ages and stories coming out of Haiti are heartbreaking, and any type of humanitarian effort is a good thing.”
theater and choral reading. It’s really added to the depth of the team, and we’re really producing a diverse body of work,” Kauten said. The team has also grown too, and this also helped it get better. Students from Holmes, Peet and Cedar Falls High School have all come together. “For the past several years the speech team has seen a high level of participation. This year we have more 9th graders than we have had in the past few years,” Kauten said. With State approaching around the corner, the team would like to give public a taste of what they will be doing. “Thursday, Feb. 4, we are
hosting an evening recital of our large group speech performances. It’s a chance for friends and family to see the work that the speech team has put forth and also see the variety of performances we prepare for contest. Our recitals are also our main fund raising events for the year. The recital for individual events will be Monday, March 7, also at the high school,” Kauten said. The large group recital, which begins at 7 p.m. in the high school auditorium, will cost $3 for adults and $2 for students. Everyone is welcome to come and enjoy. “Hopefully folks can attend the recital and see all that we do – it’s really more than just speech,” Kauten said.
Speech team prepares for state large group contest Meg Lane Staff Writer
The Cedar Falls speech team is back in action. This year they are aiming to have even more Division I’s, the highest rating that groups can receive at State. “Groups that receive three Division I ratings and are nominated by one or more judges are then eligible to perform at the Large Group All-State Festival, which is Saturday, Feb. 20 at Iowa State University. The top 300 performances from across Iowa are selected by the IHSSA All-State Committee and recognized with a ceremony at the Iowa State Center,” coach Rebecca Kauten said.
The ratings are not necessarily groups against each other. “State Large Group Speech Contest will be Saturday, Feb. 6 at Decorah High School. All teams from the northeast section of Iowa will compete at the contest. However, the teams don’t compete against each other per-se. The groups perform before three certified judges affiliated with the Iowa High School Speech Association (IHSSA) and receive written comments. Performances receive Division I, II, III or IV ratings, with a Division I rating being the highest possible rating and a Division IV being a disqualification due to a rule violation,” Kauten said. Last year’s team had large
group performers selected to perform at All State Festival, and two were nominated for individual events. Kauten said she hopes that the teams can do just as well this year. “CF speech team has had All-State performers for both group and individual speech events consistently since 2003,” Kauten said. With expectations higher than ever before, the team this year is working more to improve its skills. “We have two assistant coaches helping with the team this year. Karen Franke and Nick Chizek have been very busy working with ensembles on events like our one act play, group improvisational acting, ensemble acting, musical