TH
ig r iLi e
On Target for Tigers After parents, teachers and other school supporters used their Target Visa Credit Cards for their shopping, Target rep and former CFHS student Jessica Siemans was able to present Principal Dr. Rich Powers with $813.39 to assist the Tiger Hi-Line in order to help meet the new printing expenses.
Oct. 15, 2008
Volume 49 Issue 6
With economic difficulties, saving important for teens Ben Olson Staff Writer
Monica Reida Photo
Readying the band for their performance, Drum Majors Karen Davison, Mark Lukasiewicz and Elise Berry helped the Tiger band earn a Division I.
Super Stars CFHS takes home Division I win for state marching band contest Linden Terpstra Staff Writer
The marching band captured a Division I title at the State Marching Band Festival in Waterloo on Saturday, Oct. 11. The crowd response was immense after their performance titled “Best of Broadway,” which includes portions of Miss Saigon, Jekyll and Hyde and Jesus Christ Superstar. “It totally topped our homecoming performance. The crowd was amazing and was even cheering before the star was formed,” said drum major Mark Lukasiewicz, speaking of the star formed on the last move of Jesus Christ Superstar. According to Lukasiewicz, everyone helped to serve as good role models, but the seniors stood above all. “I was really impressed with the seniors’ dedication this year,” he said. During the practices, the marching band memorizes music, drill charts and other moves. They combine them all, form their performance and repeat many times to perfect it. “I think that the band put 110
percent effort into preparing for the show. We deserved the really great performance that we put on,” sophomore Sarah Postel said. Though the band practices about six hours a week, an extra amount of work came from band director Kyle Engelhardt. “It took me about 110 hours to write the drill, but I was really happy with the show from start to finish,” Engelhardt said. “I thought it was the best we had played all year.” According to percussion director Barry Dvorak, the drum line also had a great performance after a plentiful amount of practice. “They went way beyond what they were asked to do. They had done an awesome job and had an remarkable performance,” he said. Overall, band members were also happy with the show. “Every person brought it to the performance,” drum major Elise Berry said. “We never performed better than we did today — not this morning in rehearsal, not Friday night. This was the best.”
1015 Division St. Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613
Even with the $700 billion bailout plan, the Dow Jones Average plunged just shy of 2,400 points in eight days of consecutive losses last week. In the confusion of these steep declines, one thing for certain is that this downturn will affect tomorrow’s generation. Young people today, not just their parents, are beginning to worry about the lasting effects of the money crisis. “It sucks. As I get closer to college it will become more of a worry,” sophomore Jordan Carias said. This is how many young people are feeling. Presently, the answers to providing for future home, car and college loans are murky at best. This downturn is negatively affecting all of these areas of the economy and people’s attitudes as well. Many people are losing enthusiasm for saving. “The tough times that we are going through right now are one of the best reasons for saving. If you are in between jobs or money is tight because the gas for your car is so expensive, having a savings account can be life saving,” Marketing Director for UNI Credit Union Jolene Downs said. “No matter where you are in your life, you should always pay yourself first to your savings account. Choose a percentage of all the money you bring in from work, allowance, holidays, and put this into savings before you spend anything. Adding three, five, or even 10 percent to your savings every time you get paid for something will always be in your best interest,” Still, many teens want more answers as to why they should consider saving when the economy seems to be going nowhere. Justin Dams, Vice President and Financial Advisor at Veridian Credit Union, believes saving is still the way to go. “The economy fluctuates, but with a proper plan in place, savings decisions fall into place. Define your goals and create a plan to reach those goals, implement the plan, protect the plan
and monitor the plan. Time horizon is an important factor in savings plans, so for long-term savings such as retirement, young folks often have time on their side, which is a huge advantage,” Dams said. “The longer you have until retirement, the longer the money can grow.” As the economic troubles keep unfolding, many experts compare this crisis with the likes of the Great Depression and other hard times. “It’s an election year. We have troops overseas. The price of food and gas has increased significantly. Residential real estate is falling in parts of the country. I can’t say that these things have ever all happened at the same time before, but clearly this country and our economy have seen adversity throughout our history. The market has been incredibly resilient even through those tough times, and many of the market’s increases have come in the face of disaster,” Dams said. “The reality is that the stock market fluctuates up and down.” Historically, the stock market is very tricky to predict, even for investment pros. Many people today want sources they can turn to as they consider saving their hard-earned money. “The NEFE Student Guide, the National Endowment for Financial Education, is an organization created here in Iowa with goals to assist schools with the financial education of their students by offering free materials for the classroom,” Downs said. Students can log on to http:// hsfpp.nefe.org/students/index2. cfm?deptid=15 to find out more info about that program. “The University of California Cooperative Extension puts out a great site for teens about all kinds of money, credit and investment issues,” Downs said. He points students to this site at http://www.moneytalks.ucr.edu/
Katie Dexter Cartoon
english/links/links_home.html. The financial problems have triggered many people to worry about their future and how their finances will be affected. Also, people are starting to point fingers at who is to blame for this mess. “I am not sure I believe the problem of today is the entire fault of Wall Street. Our country as a whole is having a serious issue with financial literacy. The majority of the consumers in this country believe if you want something, you should have it right now regardless if you have the money. Unfortunately, big businesses have made it easy for this to happen,” Downs said. “Teens throughout their lives are going to have to approach finances with a different mindset than that of previous generations and be more educated.” Dams stressed that if there is one key thing to learn about our economy, it is to know that nondeposit investment and insurance products are not federally insured, involve investment risk, may lose value, and are not guaranteed by the financial institutions. Overall, Dams said problems today can be looked at as learning experiences for today’s teens. “Obviously, each generation ends up inheriting whatever their parents’ generation left them. Lessons can always be learned from any mistakes made,” Dams said.