Tiger Hi-Line The
Volume 48 Edition 15
http://hi-lineonline.shorturl.com 1015 Division Street, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613
Speaking of Success
AP Exam Reminder
All Advanced Placement (AP) students at Cedar Falls High School will have the opportunity to register for AP exams to be given in May. Registration for the exams runs from Monday, Feb. 4 through Friday, March 7, with Teresa Martin in the English Department. The fee is $84 for each exam. All checks must be written to CFHS AP Exam. While taking an AP exam is optional, Cedar Falls High School encourages its Advanced Placement students to take AP exams. Students who get college credit through the AP program clearly have a head start on their college course work as well as reducing their college tuition costs. It is encouraged that parents register their sons or daughters for the AP exam.
Speech team earns seven Division I ratings at Large Group District Contest, prepares for upcoming State competition Maggie Devine and Nadia Honary Staff Writers
A two-hour delay couldn’t stop success. Cedar Falls High School took eight events to the Large Group Speech District Contest held at Union High School in Laporte City on Jan. 19, and they came home with seven Division I ratings. “Seven of our eight events are going on to state contest,” speech team coach Deb Eschweiler said. The speech team participated in events throughout the entire day. The earliest performance was musical theatre’s “Anatomy of a Musical” at 10:30, and the final Cedar Falls performance was ensemble acting’s “Vanities” at 4:30. The eight events also included choral reading’s “Beat,” another ensemble acting performing “Mornings at Seven,” reader’s theatre’s “Just a High School Play,” another musical theatre with “Little Shop of Horrors” and two group improv events as well. “Little Shop of Horrors” was the only CF event to not go on to the state contest, receiving a Division II rating. “I was especially pleased to see the choral reading succeed. We’ve tried for years to develop a choral reading performance to suit the judges, and this one finally made it,” Eschweiler said. The speech team involves freshman as well as sophomores and upper classmen. “Two of the ninth grade performers are included in the events going on to State also, so that is very nice. They’ll get firsthand experience at honing their skills at the different levels,” Eschweiler said. “Little Shop of Horrors” director Katie Houts is still happy about her group’s performance at Districts.
“Seeing the students’ excitement after their performance, I could tell they were pleased, too. ‘Little Shop’ is not the typical song-and-dance musical that you might usually see at speech contest, and the students worked hard and used creativity to tell this particlar story,” Houts said. The reasoning she has for the Division II rating is simple. “For half the cast, this was their first experience in theater/speech. The cast of “Little Shop” is young, and they all have many more opportunities ahead of them in the next few years and I’m looking forward to seeing them on stage,” Houts said. Everything considered, the coaches are ecstatic about their performance at district contest. “It was awesome to have all eight of our events do so well,” Eschweiler said. The team is currently working on giving a stellar presentation at State. “This will be even stiffer competition, so we’ll have to practice and refine our performances,” Eschweiler said. The state contest is in Decorah on Feb. 2. Senior Megan Creasey, who participates in two of the groups performing at State, is excited to perform again on Feb. 2. “I am in one of the improvisation groups and ensemble acting. I don’t see us getting into All State, but I am hoping we’ll do well. Still hoping for some Division I’s,” Creasey said. The stakes are higher at state speech, and the judging is much less forgiving. Judges at State are more particular. “I’m not really expecting any miracle trips to All State, but I am expecting us to do well, and we will have fun,” Creasey said. Creasey is in an improvisation group with junior Rhys Talbot and se-
nior Lizzie Lockard, so she is not quite sure how well they will do as a group. “When it comes to improv., it’s very iffy. We’re not sure what we’ll have to act out until we get there, or whether the group will click, but we’ll see,” Creasey said. Creasey is also in ensemble acting with sophomore Brian Harris and senior Alice Peck. They are performing from the script “Mornings at Seven.” “I think our group is doing pretty good. We need to revamp some blocking, but we do well considering the script,” Creasey said. Junior Arlene Freudenberg, who is performing “Beat” in the choral reading group, is feeling very excited. “We weren’t sure if we were going to make it or not because our group was a little out there. It has a more laid back, beatnik feel to it, and our judge did not have much expression,” Freudenberg said. Relief, anxiety and excitement sums up the general feeling amongst all speech team students heading to State. “We’re preparing ourselves as much as possible with 7 a.m. practices and 6 p.m. practices, but it’s all up to the judge. All we can hope for is that we can go in, perform out best and not screw up,” Freudenberg said. The musical theatre group, “The Anatomy of a Musical,” is a favorite of Freudenberg’s. “I haven’t seen all our speech team groups perform, but of the ones I have seen, I think ‘The Anatomy of a Musical,’ one of our musical theatre groups, will do the best at State because they are really energetic, and they have fun with it, and it’s just really fun to watch them perform,” Freudenberg said. This musical theatre group has six members: freshman Sammy Takes, sophomores Carter Allen, Gage Stoneman, Katelin DeSerano, Riley Martin and junior Sam Lilja.
Magic Moment
Rachel Connelly Photo
At the auction on Jan. 25 for the Magical Mix Kids, an organization that raises money to send local families with sick children to Disney World, juniors Melanie Adrian and Mark Lukasiewicz joined other SSR members and community groups in raising over $60,000.
Jazz groups take top honors at festival, prepare for upcoming contests, shows Ashley Ehrig Staff Writer
At the Iowa High School Music Association Jazz Festival (IHSMA), Jazz I and Jazz too! both earned Division I ratings on Saturday, Jan. 26. Jazz too! under the direction of Gerald Ramsey played its three pieces at 2:40 .The pieces included “All of Me” arranged by Clarke, “Prayer Meetin’” by Matt Harris and “Using the Force” by Skeffington. Jazz I, directed by Kyle Engelhart, played at 4:05, performing “Blue Miles” by Bob Washnut, “Oblivion” by Piazzolla and “Take the A Train” arranged by Bill Hollman. After performing selected music bands must then sight read a piece. “We have five minutes to look over a piece without playing then take it in front of a judge. It’s really cool because its like what happens in the real world, you don’t get to practice the music you’re required to play if you’re a professional,” said Engelhart.
All band performances in Hudson are ratings based, meaning the bands play for test standard, and do not compete against each other. The ratings range from one to five, one being the best. “This was the first contest for the jazz bands this year, and their first opportunity to play in front of judges and get really great feed back,” said Engelhart. Other jazz performances coming up include, the CF Jazz show Feb. 2 at 7:30 pm in the high school auditorium. Performers include Jazz I, Jazz II and the Jazz singers under Kendra Wohlert. “We’d love to have a full house and it’s on a Saturday night which is a wonderful time to hear jazz,” said Engelhart. Both jazz bands perform for the junior high schools to recruit and at UNI for the Tallcorn Jazz Festival on Friday, Feb. 15. Finally on Feb. 23 Jazz I will participate in a Jazz show in Kirksville Missouri.
Tiger Hi-Line The
OPIn n IO OPI IOnn
our view our view Leave grading scale up to individual teachers Last week, during homeroom, many CFHS students watched a video of Senior Leadership addressing student concerns to several high school administrators. Many important issues were addressed during the 17-minute video; The Tiger Hi-Line staff thanks both the administration and Senior Leadership students for facilitating discussion about school spirit, final exams and uniform grading scales. We believe that open discussion, such as what was held last Wednesday, fosters an environment that allows CFHS staff to better address the needs and concerns of their students. The Tiger Hi-Line staff would like to take this opportunity to express our opinion about one issue that was addressed in the video, implementing a uniform grading scale for all classes in the building. We do not support a standardized grading scale because we believe it would do very little to establish grading equality. Even if everyone uses the same grading scale, each teacher will still grade students’ works with varying levels of scrutiny. Even classes within the Advanced Placement, Dual Credit and Honors classifications have varying levels of difficulty. Though all Advanced Placement classes, for example, have a similar amount of impact on a student’s transcript, some of these classes are simply more difficult than others. Implementing such a grading standard, while it would look fair, would not increase the fairness of class grading because none of these variables would be taken into account. Implementing a universal grading scale is part of a greater issue: teacher control. While we believe that certain standards and criteria must regulate classroom curriculum and student performance, we also feel teachers are the most qualified to develop a system for evaluating their students’ academic efforts. We believe that if we trust teachers with the important job of providing students with the information necessary for success after high school, we should certainly trust them to evaluate their students’ progress. Cedar Falls High School is certainly fortunate to have many excellent and inspiring teachers, and we believe the way that they deem appropriate to evaluate their students is likely superior to a generic scale that does not take individual class curriculum into account. What is ultimately important is providing teachers with the freedom that they need to use their unique talents and passions to educate their students.
Write 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. Each edition is published on Wenesdays during the school year in The Insider and Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier, 501 Commercial St., Waterloo, Iowa 50701. 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 Wednesday. Letters may not exceed 300 words and may be edited to meet space limitations. Include address and phone number for verification.
Editorial Staff
Editor-in-Chief: Briana McGeough News Editors: Olivia Schares and Kellie Petersen Opinion Editor: Torie Jochims Sports Editor: Jacqueline Jordan Feature Editors: Honor Heindl and Briana McGeough On-Line Editors: Ellen Wrede Entertainment Editor: Kristen Hammer
Universal healthcare would provide necessary relief for U. S. citizens As the caucuses rolled through Iowa and as states across the country are deciding on whom they are supporting, health care has been pushed into the limelight as one of the most important issues in deciding the next president. There are different approaches to addressing the problem, and, frankly, different views Vincent Stigliani Staff Writer on what the problem is. The Democrats are pushing for universal healthcare, while the Republicans are demanding a free market solution. In the debate of how to solve this problem the rebuttal to the idea of
universal health care is always as follows. “Look at Europe and Canada, see socialized medicine at work and what a disaster it is.” So I did just that. I researched these said countries and compared them to the United States, but failed to see the fore mentioned disaster. First, we are not the healthiest country in the world. A recent United Nations statistic showed that we are 38th in the world in life expectancy, behind nations such as Iceland, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Canada, Austria, Netherlands. Although life expectancy is not completely indicative of the health of a nation, to brand Europe’s and Canada’s health systems as disasters is a terrible misconception. A sick diabetes patient visits his doctor’s office. He is prescribed medicine, but he does not have health care and can not afford it. Instead, he is forced to continue with
his life, without his prescribed medication, as his situation gets progressively worse. My mother, a nurse, sees situations like this on a regular basis, stories of people falling through the cracks because they don’t have healthcare, don’t qualify for Medicaid, can’t afford medications and sometimes can’t even afford the visit to the office. In fact, a recent census bureau statistic indicated that there were around 47 million uninsured Americans, or about 15.8 percent of the population. Even the other 84.2 percent of the population have troubles covering expensive operations, with health care providers constantly looking for pre-existing conditions or other ways around covering clients. How can we be the country our forefathers envisioned, offering life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness when the health of our citizens is not even a guaranteed right?
Think back to all the books you have ever had the pleasure of indulging in. Throughout the list, are there not some characters who simply stick out above the rest? Ones that you will never forget? I have read several of these unforgettable characters over the years and I believe it’s time some of them are paid proper homage. 1. Ginny We a s l e y. Yes, the Torie Jochims red headed Opinion Editor younger sister of Ronald Weasley in the Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling. She caught my attention from the very beginning, with her fiery passion and never-failing loyalty later in the series. Ginny was simply unpredictable in the very best of ways, and she would never back down from a situation. There is plenty to be taken from Ginny, but her character truly belongs in Gryffindor, as she could undoubtedly be the definition of courage. 2. Owen Armstrong from Just Lis-
ten by Sarah Dessen. In this tale of music, friendship, romance, and selfdiscovery, Owen is the leading man. Yet, he is far from your typical leading man. Rather, he is surly, has a tendency for violence, and follows the beat of his own drum. The way Owen feels toward music is perhaps what sparked my interest the most. He feels that music, when fully embraced, can enlighten a person. You want read Owen’s actions and words because you wish you could have that sort of unabashed honesty. Above all that, Owen is the first to admit his flaws as well as the first to tell you not to worry about being perfect. Owen’s character is one that is easily, if oddly, adored, and his honesty is endearing. 3. Cammie Morgan from I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You. The greatest thing about Cammie, is her strong-mindedness. She knows what she wants, and most of the time she goes for it. She even finds a way to have a relationship with a boy outside of school. The main reason Cammie truly sticks with me is the way she transforms, becomes more than the expectation her mother, the dean of the school and a legendary spy, has set for her. She breaks out of the mold and does what she has to do for HER,
and no one else. That is something I, and many readers, could really learn to admire. 4. Edward Cullen from the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. This is a very recent one, but in the first 30 pages, I could already tell that Edward would be a character who stayed in my mind forever. He is mysterious, yet not. A vampire, perhaps, but he defies all expected behaviors. And above that, he is unconditionally romantic and caring, without even realizing as much. He captivates readers just as he captivates Bella, the leading lady. There aren’t as many concrete ways to describe it, but his character is undeniably irresistible. Perhaps it is something in the way his character carries himself, or the way he comes to care so deeply for someone he should, by legend, hunt. Someone so honest yet deceitful, reckless yet extremely cautious, demanding yet giving. This is one you have to read to fully understand, so I highly recommend you read. There are four characters who will always stick with me. The next time you pick up a book, I challenge you to pay attention to the characters and all they have to offer. You might just relate to them in a way you didn’t expect.
Book characters can linger with readers
Tiger Hi-Line The
SPORTS SPORTS
After making waves with coaching, swimming honors,
Swim team takes second at MVC Super Meet Jakob Zierer Staff Writer
After three months of hard work, the CFHS swim team can be proud of the results: undefeated in dual meets, first place in the Mississippi Division, two Academic All-Conference Swimmers, one Athlete of the Mississippi Conference Varsity Meet and Coaching Staff of the Year. On Jan. 19, the Tigers were invited to the Mississippi Valley Conference Varsity Super Meet. After six hours of high-quality swimming, the Tigers (2nd place) could finally defeat Iowa City High (3rd place) and were only beaten by Valley Division winner Cedar Rapids Washington (1st place). “We swam a little tired but performed well. We came in first in our division,” coach Dick Marcussen said after the meet. “Most of us swam well considering we have not tapered, but we wish we could’ve beat Washington,” Brian Verink, one of the key Tiger swimmers
and one of the best 500 free“I thought it (was) really special style swimmers that coach Marcussen was voted (personal record 4:51:19) in the Coach of the Year ... It’s awesome nation, agreed. to be able to swim for him.” Besides winning the Missis—Andy Peck sippi division, senior swimmer seniors Jack Kosmicki and key swimmer Andy Peck were named Aca- is Districts on Feb. 2, and Coach Marcussen is preparing his swimmers as demic All-Conference swimmers. Peck was also selected Athlete of the well as possible. “We are beginning our taper – more Meet, and the Tiger coaching staff was rest (no morning workouts), work on selected MVC Coaches of the Year. “It is a real honor to be voted the starts, turns, technique and the mental swimmer of the year. I’m good friends part of the game. We will shorten yardwith a lot of guys on the other teams age, more quality swimming,” he said. The team recognizes the change. from club swimming. For them to elect “The workouts always are a little me really means a lot,” Peck said. “I thought it (was) really special that different before Districts. We shift our coach Marcussen was voted Coach of training from conditioning to sprint,” the Year, too. He’s one of the greatest Peck said. “We usually do 6,000 and more high school coaches in the nation. It’s yards in the normal mid-season. Now awesome to be able to swim for him.” The next and last meet before State with the season winding down, we are
doing fewer yards,” Verink said. Marcussen has his personal and team goals for Districts. “My personal goal is to correct all weaknesses as a team and individual,” he said. And he is expecting to “win our District as a team.” Verink has the right attitude for Districts. “I would like to go under 4:50 in the 500 free, then go best time in the 200 IM (Individual Medley) and then see all three relays make it to State,” he said. After Districts, State, on Feb. 9, is the big event and the end of the swimming season. The team is very excited, but the big question is now: Who will make it to State? “If the taper works perfectly, others besides Andy Peck, Brian Verink, Nick Challgren, Josh Bower, Austin Abbas and Garrett Moses could make the cut to State,” Marcussen said. The top 24 times out of six districts will make it to State. “I think our team will have a good number of guys qualifying for State,” Verink said.
Pehl said. The team also has something else that many basketball teams can only dream of—a strong sense of commitment and belonging. “We get along well on and off the court,” Pehl said. Though Iowa City High has all of the tools for a run at a State title, Slykhuis believes his team has the tools in place to act as a spoiler. “Obviously we’re not going to win the conference … but we want to be playing in Des Moines (at the state tournament) in the first week of March,” Slykhuis said. Pehl agreed. “If we can limit our turnovers, we should make State.” The Tigers’ attention now turns to the game at Waterloo East on Friday at 6. The team will also faced Dubuque Wahlert at home at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, but the details of the game were unavailable at The HiLine’s deadline. “We have a never die attitude,” Slykhuis said.
the swing of things, winning the past 11 games consecutively. This could be due to their emphasis on teamwork. “The chemistry of this team is excellent. They are a great group of kids. I can not think of a group that I have coached that is more competitive than this group. They play with a lot heart,” List said. The Tigers have three more games until they start the road to the state tournament. “We have a tough road to haul because Ankeny has been put in our regional, and before them we have to get by two big rivals in West and East, but, yes, if we play like we are capable, we certainly have a good chance to go,” List said. “We have three more games before we play the winner of East versus West. Then we will probably have to play Ankeny to go to State. It will be tough because they are ranked in the top five, but I really think that we can beat them,” varsity player Laura Johnson said.
Slykhuis focuses team Women hope win streak on reducing turnovers continues through State Alex Entz Staff Writer
The Tigers are off to a 7-6 start. The team limited it’s turnovers and played good defense in its 65-54 win over Dubuque Hempstead last Friday. Unfortunately, the team skidded the next night, losing to Cedar Rapids Jefferson 73-60. “We’ve hit a rough patch, but each game we improve on something different,” senior standout Austin Pehl said. “Based on the quality of teams we play, we’d like to win more, but we’re progressing and getting better with every practice,” Slykhuis said. The team focuses mostly on fundamentals in practice, but Slykhuis has added extra incentives this year in order to make the team more competitive. Practice activities are now tied in with consequences, like push-ups or running, which Slykhuis hopes will help the team improve. “We need to learn to take care of the ball better and limit our turnovers,”
Sara Strever Staff Writer
Last Friday night the Tigers traveled to Dubuque Hempstead and dominated. With an overall score of 58 to 39, it is easy to say the Tigers are having a great season. Their current record is 14 wins and 4 losses. Earlier this week, the Tigers had a nail-biting name versus Iowa City, when they had to go into overtime. The Tigers managed to wrap up the game by three points. The Tigers also had a rough start to the season when volleyball, weather and other obstacles came in their way. “We have had a lot of tough games against some top rated schools, but probably our first game (was the hardest game) against Ballard and also against Cedar Rapids Washington because we had so few practices before then with everyone there, and they were both on the road and rated number 1 in 3A and 4A,” head coach Dan List said. The Tigers have definitely gotten in
Athlete Week of the
Aiden Brock Wrestling 1.) What kind of ritual do you have individually? Prepare mentally, warm up and say a little prayer. 2.) What have you learned from wrestling? No one is going to give you anything; you have to take it. 3.) What motivates you? Looking at all the sacrifices my team, coaches and family have made for me. 4.)Is there anything that you can tell others about wrestling that you think others wouldn’t know? It’s harder than it looks. 5.)How many pins have you had all through high school so far? As a freshman and sophomomre, I didn’t pin many opponents. But, this year I have eight out of 20 matches. 6.) Do you have a role model? Who is it and why? Yes, my brother because he always gave his all no matter how small the task.
Tigers in Action
Men’s Basketball 1/26 lost to C.R. Jefferson 60-73 Next up: 2/1 W. East (Away 6 p.m.) Women’s Basketball
1/25 beat D. Hempstead, 58-39 Next Up: 2/1 W. East (Home 6 p.m.) Wrestling 1/26 4th at MVC Super Meet Next Up: 1/31 IC West (Home 6:15 p.m.) Men’s Bowling 1/25 lost against D. Hempstead Next Up: 2/1 Jefferson (Home 3:45 p.m.) Women’s Bowling 1/25 won aginst D. Hempstead Next Up: 2/1 Jefferson (Home 3:45 p.m.) Men’s Swimming 1/26 2nd at MVC Super Meet Next Up: 2/2 Districts- TBA
Tiger Hi-Line
FEATURE FEATURE
The
In our own backyard...
Custodian’s provide much-needed support for appreciative CFHS students, faculty Laura Henny Staff Writer
From 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day, the custodians keep the halls clean and gears running at Cedar Falls High School. They enable students and staff to work in a clean, comfortable environment. Cleaning up after more than 1,200 staff and students are nine custodians: Mark Wray, David Murray, Jerome Bronner, Scott Coverdale, Duane Dean, Debra McCombs, Robert Mobley, Josh Schrum and Scott Wessels. Head custodian David Murray, was a former student of Cedar Falls High
School and graduated in 1971. He en- abilities to help out when no one else joys his work because it keeps him busy can. “helping At a other recent Once my feet came off the v o l p e o ple,” ladder and hit the floor, ev- leyball Murray game, said. erybody started clapping.” t h e I n bleachaddition ers were —David Murray packed to making this and Head Custodian full school an air look its d u c t best, the custodicame loose and al staff are heroes in many situations. was hanging by a safety wire. Murray They often use their resources and climbed up a tall ladder to fix the air
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duct, and when he finished, everybody in the bleachers cheered. “Once my feet came off the ladder and hit the floor, everybody started clapping,” Murray said. The staff appreciates the diligence of the custodial staff. “Roadies behind our rock concert, people don’t realize what they do,” English teacher Michelle Rathe said. Associate principle Dana Deines notes that work, without custodians, would be nearly impossible. “They are always willing to help and they make my job easier,” principal Deines said. And even though the work can be
strenuous, many note the positive attitude of CFHS custodians. “One of the guys calls me ‘cool lady.’ I love ‘em,” senior Candace Ferguson said. Students also appreciate the efforts of the custodians. “They do a nice job,” sophomore Conner Fairman said. Junior Joe Youngblood notes that custodians help to keep him safe. “They clean the sidewalks so you do not slip and fall,” Youngblood said. Custodians also can help with unfortunate firstday-of-school mishaps. “They are very helpful and knowledgeable when it comes to locker-opening,” Youngblood said.
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forth said. They would hunt large, 18-inchlong rodents called genrats, as well as birds, with spears and slingshots. Danforth’s assimilation back into American culture was somewhat difficult. She said she was culture-shocked by the fast pace at which Americans live. Danforth’s time in Africa gives her a unique cultural perspective that she uses to enrich her classes. Recently, Danforth brought a few new hand games to her class to show her students. “These games were extremely fun and interesting, because she learned them in Africa. It was very neat to learn something from a different country.” sophomore Jane Thode said. Danforth tells her French classes a lot about what she had done in Africa. “It is neat to here about how different it is in Africa than in America because they do things so differently.”
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At the beginning of the year, the CFHS world language department welcomed aboard Anna Danforth, a French teacher with a diverse array of world experience. Danforth lived as a part of a village named Lassin in the country of Cameroon from the ages of seven to 12. Her parents worked for the American government and moved to Africa to help develop languages. In Africa, the Danforths resided in a temperate climate. The average temperature is about 75 degrees. However, the area has only two seasons: rainy and dry. So, it is alternately monsoon-style and desert-style weather with little to no happy medium in terms of precipitation. Though she has not lived in Africa for years, Danforth still keeps in touch with her friends there.
They communicate through letters because her friends in Cameroon do not have access to computers. Recently, Danforth led fundraising efforts in Cedar Falls to help pay for health insurance for her friend Biba’s son. By selling Christmas tree ornaments, CFHS French students raised about $800. Danforth learned how to speak a language called Nooni while living in Africa. She also learned to appreciate the simple life. Her village hunts for their food and lives without electricity. “Living there taught me how to appreciate life more,” Danforth said. When living in Africa, she would rely on her friends for fun. They had no electricity, no television and no computers. Instead, the emphasis was on relationships and enjoyment of nature. “We would go hunting a lot,” Dan-
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