The
Tiger HI-LINE
Friday, May 22, 2015
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Volume 55 Edition 28
Junior captures first place in Congressional Art Contest Junior Ellie Burken’s talents have reached a new level — all of the way to the U.S. capital. One of her art pieces had the honor to win first place at the Congressional Art Competition. The painting, titled “Innocence,” depicts a small child in a tree house wearing a super-hero costume, with the background, made out of newspaper clippings reporting horrible things such as car accidents, house fires, Ebola and shootings. To create it, Burken used a combination of acrylic paint, popsicle sticks, newspaper articles, spray paint and glue to create the background. The painting only took a couple of weeks to complete, but the most difficult part for Burken was not painting, but completely devel-
oping the idea behind it. “My inspiration probably came from all the superhero movies I had been watching lately,” Burken said. “I really love the idea of superpowers, and using old comic strips to make a project just seemed like a good idea.” In addition to winning, the painting will be displayed in the halls of Congress along with paintings from every district in the United States. “It feels amazing,” Burken said. “I love the fact that my painting will be seen by hundreds of people every day.” Art teacher Emily Luesnsmann showed enthusiasm over Burken winning. “She had a really nice piece,” Luesnmann said. “I had a feeling that it was
going to win something when she first made it last semester, so I held onto it until I could actually put it in for the contest.” This is the second year in a row that CFHS artists have placed in the annual contest following CF alumni Alyx Brimacomb’s first runner-up placing at the contest last year. Not only does she have the honor of recognition, but Burken also had the opportunity to meet Congressman Rod Blum and won two plane tickets to Washington, D.C. She will travel alongside her dad, and they plan to visit many of Washington’s national museums during their trip. By Staff Writer Sarah
STORTZ
Grace Kivett Photo
Junior Elie Burken’s award-winning painting.
Our Cheating Hearts Staff, students wrestle with changes in, movtivations for school cheating
Family Fight
Madison Wright Photo
When 2016 Republican presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum arrived at Cedar Falls High School on Monday to speak in the school auditorium on behalf of The Family Leader and Cedar Valley Patriots for Christ groups, about 100 protesters, including dozens of CFHS students, were there to express their disagreement with the host groups’ and candidates’ views on the definition of family. The event was billed as The Family Leadership Summit, and Santorum said, “We are on the cusp of eradicating the long-held understanding that religious liberty is the foundation of all our liberties.” At one point in his speech, Huckabee noted that the protesters did not upset him, but rather made him proud to see citizens expressing their First Amendment rights.
Cheating has always had a very negative stigma around it. Whether somebody cheated in a game, cheated on their significant other or cheated in school, the first thing to come to most people’s minds is “bad.” But today, cheating has become so common in school, sports and relationships that if somebody who had no idea how cheating was viewed, they may have a tough time deciphering whether it is good or bad. And the motives are many: “Pressure from parents to get good grades, trying to be as smart as other classmates and being too lazy to do the work,” senior Tyler Schmidt said. Schmidt said he does an average of two and a half hours of homework every night. On top of that he is an athlete who is playing football at Minnesota State, Mankato next year to add on to his large work load. Senior Madeline Rohlf said she thinks the grueling task of nightly homework is overwhelming. Although she doesn’t participate in sports, she believes a social life is very important. “I try to make a balance, but it’s simply not possible to get it all done,” she said. “Rome wasn’t built in a day, and homework can not be done in one
night.” Some students feel their only resort in order to get everything done is to cheat. “I cheat because I want to get into college,” Rohlf said. “That sounds extreme, but there’s so much pressure to get adequate grades and get into the colleges you want, it starts to not even be about learning. At the end of the day, it’s all about those little numbers that the teachers put into Infinite Campus, and how I arrived at those little numbers doesn’t matter as long as I’m not failing. Getting a good grade is the main goal, and the chance that you might learn something on the way is sadly just a bonus.” Schmidt retains an impressive GPA and is often the one people look to in order to get answers. “It depends on the situation, but I like to try to help classmates understand material if there’s time to do it,” he said. “Otherwise, I let them copy, and that’s when I feel like I’m doing something wrong.” Rohlf said there are some boundaries to her cheating. She feels it is important to do assignments in order to learn for the tests but she isn’t going to stop the help from her classmates anytime OUR CHEATING HEARTS Continued on Page 4