Tiger Hi-Line The

Super Strides Freshman Kate Bucknam pushes toward the finish at the cross country MVC Supermeet that took place on Oct. 11. The men’s cross country team to second at the meet, while the women placed third.

Volume Volume 48 48 Edition Edition 46 http://hi-lineonline.shorturl.com http://hi-lineonline.shorturl.com 1015 1015 Division Division Street, Street, Cedar Cedar Falls, Falls, Iowa Iowa 50613

Three students achieve Semifinalist status, six Senior wins writing contest ber, and the names are not revealed unApril Newton commended status by National Merit Program til after the best work is selected. Next, Staff Writer

Maggie Devine Staff Writer

Three CFHS seniors recently received National Merit Scholar Semifinalists status by scoring well on the PSAT/National Merit Qualifying Test. The CFHS semifinalists include BriKavin Sundaram Briana McGeough ana McGeough, Kavin Sundaram, and Molly Troendle Molly Troendle. Andrew Boody, Elizabeth Cozart, Jo“It’s a really big honor,” guidance fer full-rides. “Ninety percent of semifinalists beseph Kruempel, Leah Merner, Olivia counselor, Susan Langan said. come finalists,” Langan said. “It’s very Schares, Kristian Sims and Nickpreet The National Merit Scholar prorare if they don’t.” Singh have all attained that honor. gram is sponsored by the College Becoming a semifinalist is a lot of “They will get some recognition for Board to recognize juniors who score hard work, with much preparation and being Commended students,” Langan well on their PSAT’s, or Preliminary said. SAT’s. There is As expected, the semifinalists are no set qualifica“It’s pretty exciting. I should get incredibly happy about their achievetion for Semifiment. some good scholarships.” nalist status, as it “I feel honored to be recognized is an index score —Senior Molly Troendle among such a distinguished group of varies from state National Merit Semifinalist scholars,” McGeough said. to state, but it is a Another Semifinalist, Molly Trovery daunting task endle, is equally ebullient. practice for the test. nonetheless. “It’s pretty exciting. I should get “I do feel I worked hard,” Mc“The Semifinalists must fill out an some good scholarships.” Troendle application and write an essay to be- Geough said. “ I hope that I do attain said. National Merit status.” come finalists, “ Langan said. Juniors can sign up in the guidance The semifinalists will find out if In addition to the application and office to take this year’s test. essay, they must also send in school they have achieved finalist recognition It costs $13 and will be held Oct. 17 recommendations. If semifinalists be- next spring. during periods one through four at the Students who came close to semificome finalists, most colleges offer high school. large scholarships, and some even of- nalist status are Commended students;

Senior Elizabeth Cozart has achieved high honors in this year’s 2007 writing contest, sponsored by the National Counsel of the Teachers of English (NCTE). “There is no money involved. It is a national contest. There are a limited number of winners in each state. NCTE sends Elizabeth Cozart this information out to colleges, identifying them as one for the top high school writers in the country,” English teacher Michelle Rathe said. Cedar Falls High School has a history of success on this prestigious writing contest. “We have had one or two winners for the last eight years. Last year Rhiannon Talbot and Alex Ulfers were two out of the five Iowa winners,” Rathe said. The process for the contest is very simple. Teachers nominate a student or students who are then asked to submit their best work to be judged by a panel of English teachers. The teachers give each paper a num-

the NCTE panel gives the winning students a topic for an essay. The students don’t come in to the competition knowing what the topic will be. They were given roughly an hour and a half to complete the essay. That essay was then turned into the judges at the state levvel, which then judged the entries blindly once again. Finally, the students chosen there are on their way to nationals. “Last year there were about 40 students who submitted work. The English teachers then picked their favorite essays and there were only three selected, including mine. Those were then sent into the NCTE and there were a total of 1,937 essays sent in nationally. They then narrowed it down to 595, and I was one of the 595,” Cozart said. The essay topics tend to be about issues concerning high school students, such as the topic Cozart wrote about. “The topic that we had to write about was the problem of bullying in schools and how to stop it,” Cozart said. The writers were under serious time constraints for this process. “We had about an hour and a half to write the essay. Then we submitted whatever we had written,” Cozart said. Cozart’s lifelong love of writing helped her considerably in the competition.

Food Drive encourages teamwork between schools Arlene Freudenberg Staff Writer

The Northeast Iowa Food Bank has organized its largest food drive ever run by students. Starting on Oct. 2 until Nov. 15, high school students from all over the Cedar Valley area are competing to obtain as much canned food as possible. Several high schools from the Cedar Valley area have been split up into divisions to participate in the food drive competition. Cedar Falls High School has been put into division red along with Waverly-Shell Rock, Waterloo East and Waterloo West. The top three schools in each division will be awarded for their efforts. The prizes will be figured out according to which schools bring in the most pounds of food per number of

students. “There is a competition amongst third hour classes to see who can bring in the most cans per student throughout the entire food drive. Pizza parties will be awarded to the winners on each floor,” Student Senate faculty adviser and guidance counselor Ryan Flaherty said. However, Flaherty said that in order to enter the competition a class must bring in at least one can of food per student. Flaherty expressed enthusiasm for the amount of food that Cedar Falls high school students could collect. “Our first storage area we would like to fill up is the wall in the attendance office. We will be building pyramids of cans in the attendance office until we run out of space, and then we will move to different areas,” Flaherty said.

On Oct. 9, the Northeast Iowa Food Bank hosted a kick-off party where students performed a skit of their choice. Cedar Falls performed “We are Marching,” and left with a third place victory; earning $500 for their school. Unfortunently, Waterloo West’s performance of “Food Train” took the first place win. On Oct. 16, students from Cedar Falls, participating in SSR, Student Forum and Senior Leadership, will discuss what Cedar Falls high school should do for the food drive at 10:30 a.m. The radio stations Q92.3, K98.5 and 97.7 as well as news channel KWWL will be announcing what events Cedar Falls High School students will be participating in, and when they will take place, in hopes of maximizing support.

Submitted Photo

Participating in a foodbank-themed skit are Senior Leadership members. The students took third place for this skit and $500 toward the effort. Waterloo West took first.

Tiger Hi-Line The

OPIn n IO OPI IOnn

our view our view

Radiohead’s newest album marketing has potential to revolutionize industry Last week, only 10 days after announcing the completion of their newest album, Radiohead, a progressive, soul-searching English rock band, released their latest efforts online on a pay-what-you-want basis. Having severed ties with their label, Radiohead will make more money without the middleman, even though consumers can choose to not pay for the album. This is just one example of an increasing trend of artists jumping ship from traditional relationships with record labels to more progressive, direct relationships with distributors. Prince was the first major musician to rid himself of the middle man by giving away 3 million shrink-wrapped copies of his new album last year in the London Sunday newspaper. Other artists like Madonna and The Rolling Stones have left their record labels for Live Nation, a major concert promoter. This has been a major wake-up call for a music industry still apparently struggling to keep up with the shift to digital music. As consumers, we need to support this new music movement because we can now be directly involved with the artists, making an album’s journey from artists to listener a lot simpler, and directly affecting their success. Additionally, the concept that Radiohead has adapted their marketing to include those who are unable to pay for music has shown that Radiohead values the artistic process. They have demonstrated that music is a form of expression intended to share beauty and insight and not simply a source of income. This new approach has the power to revolutionize the music industry into the freely expressive venue that it should be, no longer forcing artists to comply with arbitrary social norms that inhibit freedom of expression to make a profit. Finally, even if musical groups continue to sell their albums at a set rate, the playing field will be more equal for both veteran and new artists, and more of consumers’ dollars will be routed straight to the creative process.

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 HiLine 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 Editors: Andrea Huber and Torie Jochims Sports Editor: Jacqueline Jordan Feature Editors: Honor Heindl and Briana McGeough On-Line Editors: Ellen Wrede Entertainment Editor: Kristen Hammer

Marion Jones admits to steroid usage, deals with consequences accordingly As one of Marion Jones’s supporters, it’s hard for me to acknowledge the fact that steroid use was associated with her winning the title, “fastest woman in the Jacqueline Jordan world.” Sports Editor It is devastating to see so much talent go to waste by making one bad choice. I believe that Jones made a mistake and should have consequences for using steroids like anyone else. But I am also proud of her for admitting her fault and coming clean to the public. It shows that she has integrity and the willingness to make things

right even though she messed up. There are people out in the world who never admit to their mistakes and take them to their graves. Jones can start over and show others that not everybody is perfect and that she’s sorry for receiving gold medals even though she didn’t deserve them. Just step in her shoes for a moment and see how hard it would be to turn back the title of being fastest person in the world. It isn’t very easy, is it? Jones says her coach gave her flax seed oil that had steroids in it. I can relate to how athletes trust their coaches and will try to do what their coach explains as what’s best for them. Jones probably had no clue that steroids were added to her flax seed oil and found out about it before it was too late to not receive her title as, “fastest woman in the world.” That also shows that she didn’t intend to use steroids, and she is

ashamed that she found out that using steroids got her to win gold medals. If you ask me, I think that she probably felt ashamed and angry with herself knowing the fact that she cheated her way to win gold. She wants to do it the right way by letting the world know that she can’t accept the honors illegally after enhancing her ability to win. Jones is being the bigger person for giving up what doesn’t belong to her and belongs to someone who worked hard and deserved gold. Therefore, I give her credit for acknowledging her own mistake and coming forth to testify what is unjustly. In the end, I will always look up to her as a role model, even though she messed up like any other human being makes mistakes. Yes, she made a big mistake, but at least she was the bigger person to face the issue publicly and professionally.

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Halo 3 lives up to hype and then some Halo 3 is one of the most anticipated game titles of all time, but did it live up to the hype? Yes, and then some. Halo 3 starts off where Halo 2 left off with the Master Chief on a ship on his way Zack Graham to Earth. Staff Writer The storyline is great and is no doubt better than both of the previous Halo games combined. Halo 3 has nine missions, all of which are fun and no two of them are the same. Players get to fight through the

jungle, the desert, city, caves, space and the now flood-infected High Charity. The ending leaves something to be wanted until you beat the game on legendary and get to see an extra three-minute ending video that leaves the story open for another game. Halo 3 like Halo 2 has hundreds of secrets in the campaign missions. Halo 3 introduces a new element of game play to the mix with “equipment.” Equipment can be picked up and there are several variations with everything from radar scramblers to shield dissipaters to trip mines. The great thing is that there are several spots in each multiplayer map that the equipments are located at. There are several new weapons in Halo 3, and it also has two new grenade types: the spike grenade that

sticks to any surface and shoots out hundreds of deadly spikes and the incinerary grenade that that lights stuff aflame on impact. Another great feature in Halo 3 is that you can play four-player co-op over Xbox live. One player plays as the Master Chief; the second player plays as the Arbiter and the third and fourth players play as two Elites. Multiplayer has a new ranking system based off of real military rankings that you earn from being on the winning team in online game matches, and this ranking follows you everywhere. Online multiplayer is most likely the best online game of all time. Ten years down the road people will still be playing it. Halo 3 is definitely worth every single cent; fans will be playing this game for a very long time.

Tiger Hi-Line The

SPORTS SPORTS

Swimmers take 2nd at MVC Super Meet By Kristen Counsell and Alex Entz Staff Writers

After taking second at the MVC Super Meet at Dubuque Senior last week, the young Tiger swimming team is ready for Districts. The women’s team has been built on a tradition of excellence by head coach Richard Marcussen. With this team’s improvements, Marcussen is understandably excited. “I’m thrilled with the way the team’s working. Everyone is helping to answer the puzzle,” Marcussen said. Marcussen admits that the team had a major weakness in their lack of experience. Despite returning five letter winners, the team is largely composed of sophomores and untested freshman. “In the beginning, the team was very young,” Marcussen said. He stressed that this year was to be mostly a year of rebuilding where the primary objective was to gain experience and

confidence. Surprisingly, the team is ranked 10th in the state. Sophomore swimmer Karla Bekavac and Marcussen both noted that the team is closer than ever. “We are very motivated, and we have a good team,” Bekavac said. Marcussen concurred. “If you attack one, the rest will come after you. We’ve worked real well at creating bonds not just in the pool, but outside of it, too.” The strides have come with lots of effort. “I think we’ve done really well. Everyone works really hard. Our Saturday meets, which are bigger, we could have done better, but the Tuesday meets, which are between only two teams, have gone really well,” sophomore swimmer Mary Jo Baumgartner said. Sophomore Danielle Robertson has the same thoughts. “Everybody’s working hard, and they are not going to stop, even if they are hurting.”

The girls get to know each other better by team socials. “After every Saturday meets, we have parties that are really fun. We do sleepovers, but sometimes we can only stay till 11, or whenever the parents say we have to go home. Every time a different person hosts it,” Baumgartner said. Yet it is not just the team that has gelled, apparently the team has bonded with coach Marcussen too. “He’s the best coach ever! He’s really funny,” Bekavac said. While the team may not be one of the legendary state-championship teams, there are good feelings surrounding the team, from the high attendance at the swim meets to the seasoned veterans helping the younger, inexperienced swimmers. Marcussen noted that he might have to make a few adjustments down the stretch. After all, the team did lose a meet at Iowa City West in a hotly contested 98-88 match. But the team

bounced back, and the swimmers and divers combined for second at the MVC Super Meet. The divers competed on Thursday, Oct. 11, and the swimmers competed on Saturday, Oct. 13. For the most part Marcussen is extremely confident with this year’s team. Marcussen has implemented things like weightlifting sessions and healthy diets. He noted such players as Liz Fuller, Bethany Olsen and Lauren Halloran as players that could go on to State. Marcussen pulled no punches when outlining the season. “We could make an impact, but we’re not gonna win it, but being one of the top 10 teams has to be a big accomplishment for our program,” Marcussen said. Districts begin with diving on Thursday, Oct. 25 and swimming follows on that Saturday.

Cross country poised for post-season Men rank second at MVC Conference Jakob Zierer Staff Writer

After winning the varsity championship at the MVC Super Meet on Oct. 4, a slightly weakened men’s cross country team finished second at the MVC Conference meet on Oct. 11. Varsity runner Josh Metcalf sustained an injury to his hand during the week and was unable to run. Tim Scholle, JV’s first ranked runner, filled the gap. After a hard week of training, the team finished second (48 points) and surrendered only to Iowa City West (40 points). “I thought we ran really well, and I was pleased to see us improve. Iowa City West has a great team and they just had a better day,” Coach Troy Becker said after the race. Alex Mark, Drew Poland, Michael Streicher and Jordan Valesquez landed in the top 10. Mark came in 5th, with a time of 16 minutes, 14 seconds; Poland (16:18) crossed the line in 7th place, followed by Streicher (16:21). Jordan Velasquez finished 10th (16:27). Brandon Nicholson (18th) was the last

counting scorer for the Tigers. First overall was Calvin Simmons from Iowa City High (15:45). “We had a great team attitude, and I was really proud of how hard this group worked. It was fun to see so many personal records the last meet of the year,” Becker continued. Alex Mark is looking forward to the district meet on Thursday, Oct. 18, at Birdsall Park. “I think we have a good chances to win. We’re fortunate enough to be running on our own course. I think the home crowd can really get us going,” he said. It is the last meet before State, and Becker is confident. “I think we can win the district meet on Thursday. Our main goal is to continue to improve. If we can do that, we should be able to win the meet.” The goals for the state meet, on Saturday, Oct. 27, are already set for the team.. “I’m hoping we can get Alex Mark in the top 10 at State and at least two other guys in the top 20. I’m hoping our 5th guy can be in the top 40,” Becker said.

Women rank third at MVC Conference Vincent Stigliani Staff Writer

After finishing third at the MVC Conference meet on Thursday, Oct. 11, the CFHS women’s cross country team brace for their final meet and the offseason. Thursday, Oct. 18 is the district meet at Birdsall Park in Cedar Falls, which will decide the team’s fate. If they place in the top three here, then they will continue on to the state meet. “We are hopeful that we will finish in the top three,” said Kelsey Davis, a senior and varsity cross country runner. If they can accomplish this goal, then they will compete in the state meet on the last weekend of this month. “We’d like to think we could finish in the top five,” said Bob Schmidt, a CFHS teacher and assistant coach. “I wouldn’t say we’re a favorite. I’d say we are probably second tier.” The practices will begin to be geared around preparing the runners for State. “For practice, we run less so that we have fresh legs,” Davis said. “We also have some team traditions that we do.”

“We try to build momentum and then arrive at the meets at a peak,” Schmidt said. With the end in sight, some of the runners have mixed feelings about it being over. “It’s kind of bittersweet. I will miss the people, but I will be relieved for it to be over,” said Emily Highnam, a CFHS sophomore cross country runner. Highnam has valued the experience. “It has been a really great experience, but it gets very tiring,” Highnam said. For seniors, tomorrow will be their last home meet. “I am both happy and sad about it ending. It will be very weird to not be running anymore. I have been in cross country for four years now,” Davis said. “I might run in college.” The Women’s Cross Country team had a rough going in their most recent meet in Cedar Rapids. They are hoping to come with their best at Districts. Everyone is encouraged to come and cheer on the Tigers tomorrow at 4:30 in Birdsall Park.

Athlete Week of the

Erica Scullin Junior Swimmer The women’s Tiger swim team is off to a good start this year, thanks to the help of junior swimmer Erica Scullin. She has come in either first or second place in the 100m-breast stroke in the past meets. Scullin is a captain and cheers her teammates on. The girls on the team look up to her as a role model. Do you plan to swim in college? Well, I would actually like to, but I have shoulder injuries right now and I’m not really sure if I could handle the workouts, and school is also really important to me. So, we’ll just see what the future brings. What are your pre-game rituals? Umm, as a team we all go in the locker room, and for every home meet we do a cheer where we pound on the lockers saying our cheer. We always stand in a circle, going around saying one motivational thing to each other. I also like to stretch out for about 10-15 minutes before all my races, my own little zone. What is your most memorable swimming moment? I would say when it was during my sophomore year when one of our senior swimmers, Alexa Davidson, dressed up like a fairy. It was the wackiest outfit ever. She had the whole wings and the tutu and the huge glasses, and she came to the Marcussen Invite to cheer us on. It all just brightened our day, and it just made the whole air of the meet goofy.

Tigers in Action

Football (5-0) beat CR Prairie 30-7 Next Up: Against IC High (Away 7:30 p.m.) Men’s Cross Country Finished second at MVC Conference Next Up: Districts at Home Women’s Cross Country

Finished third at MVC Conference Next Up: Districts at Home Women’s Swimming took 2nd at MVC Super Meet Next up: Districts on Oct. 25 and 27 Volleyball lost in first round at MVC conference Next Up: Districts at Home on Wednesday, Oct. 24

Tiger Hi-Line The

FEATURE FEATURE

A World of Opportunities...

Broadcast journalism introduces new technology Rachel Connelly Staff Writer

A new course at Cedar Falls High School brings many new opportunities for involving students in the technological aspects of journalism. The course is called broadcast journalism and is taught by journalism teacher Brian Winkel. The class got brand new equipment for this year, including iMac computers, Edirols voice recorders and Final Cut Pro. “We were able to buy lots of equipment for this course from different funding sources,” Winkel said. These sources included the District Media Center (which provided the computers), BLC (which provided the software and hard drives) and the Christensen Grant, which donated $17,500 for other tools. The goal of the broadcast journalism class is to make both audio and video news stories and post them on the CFHS website. “We’ve put two stories on, and we

hope to maintain a schedule of putting new podcasts on from now until the end of the year,” Winkel said. This seems to be the direction the news world is headed because “it’s more interactive. This could lead to a DVD yearbook,” according to Winkel. “It reaches a whole new level of what people are getting at. The newspaper is not enough. It’s intriguing; that’s why I took it,” senior Peter Marshall said. It’s beneficial to the students in the class too, because they get to learn more technical and communication skills. “People need to voluntarily start building these skills for tomorrow’s careers, or else they’ll be dragged into it,” Winkel said. Technology is a large draw for students taking the class. “I like getting to work with the new technology and learning how things work,” junior Eleanor Poe said. The new technology is very advanced. “The Mac computers, they’re so astounding. They accomplish phenom-

enal things,” Marshall said. Podcasts are a big part of this new class. Students can download them to their computers. “They’ll be able to subscribe to them, and then they’ll download straight to their computers. The podcasts increase interactivity,” Winkel said. Podcasts have played a larger role in the class than many students expected. “When I signed up for this, I didn’t know the magnitude of the podcasts, but I’ve made them before,” Marshall said. The podcasts cover a wide array of topics. “We’ll have stories on a variety of topics, including cooking, student art, sports, comedy, media reviews, traveling and more,” Winkel said. All this technology is new to Winkel too. “My comfort level is absolutely starting from the ground up. The computers showed up literally 20 minutes before class. I’ve had to learn on the fly,” Winkel said.

Learning in Action Using the new GarageBand software, sophomore Carey Hoyer works toward completing his podcast for the broadcast journalism class. Hoyer’s comedic podcast, Very, Very Carey is an offbeat response to popular news.

Studying for an upcoming AP psychology exam, seniors (clockwise from bottom) Matt Moore, Heidi Sartorius and Peter Marshall enjoy the ambiance of the ALPHA room while junior Amanda Wolf completes her math homework.

ALPHA provides unique learning opportunities Jill Dally Staff Writer

"Is there really a stereotype of a 'smart kid'? I am not sure of any kids that walk around with horned-rimmed glasses and pocket-protectors, if that's the model. ALPHA kids come from all backgrounds and are involved in many different activities in school and out," ALPHA teacher Tim Kangas said. People do stereotype the ALPHA students, but according to Kangas, the main goal of ALPHA (The Autonomous Learners Program for the Highly Able) is to challenge kids by empowering students to pursue their interests, create a safe and comfortable atmosphere, and foster new friendships. ALPHA is intended to challenge students on a different level than they would get in a “normal class room” setting, but he wants students to study in an area that they are interested in. He said that when students work on things that they are interested in, they take more initiative to work and get things

done. Kangas feels strongly about students needing that extra push to take their education to the next level. "I think kids should be challenged, and not just in academic settings. Life is full of challenges. How people learn to cope with challenges and work their way through them is a key element to success. ALPHA is one way to provide both a challenge and an opportunity to have success without the pressures that come in some other classes." Kangas said. Kangas said that people do slack off because they feel in a regular classroom they are not being sufficiently challenged in a way they would like. Also, high school students deal with a lot of pressures and ALPHA is a way to work and relax. "I think one of the problems that has occurred with ALPHA in the past is that it is not always well understood what is going on in the program by people outside of the program. I am hoping to be able to do more to show what students

are working on. Sometimes misunderstandings and misperception leads to incorrect assumptions and judgments. I hope to be able to correct some of that," Kangas said. Many people misperceive ALPHA to be a class that does not require work. In actuality, ALPHA does not have a set curriculum, but does involve 25 to 90 hours of study per semester. "I am hoping to expand the program into allowing students more ability to pursue interests, particularly in careers and educational goals for college," Kangas said. The ALPHA atmosphere has endured changes during the last few years with the graduation of many influential students. "This year is a lot calmer than last year, a lot of fun seniors left, but some cool things we have around the room is: question of the day ...which can get interesting and our quote board which is just full of the funny and even stupid stuff people say," senior Tyler Sweet said.

The ALPHA room has less structure than the traditional classroom and allows more open interaction. "The ALPHA room is an open environment. There are rules. Mainly to treat everyone with respect. Even if you disagree with someone, they deserve respect. There are people from all kinds of backgrounds in the room, and you don't have to be in ALPHA to come in to the room," Kangas said. Everyone is allowed in the ALPHA room. They have created a “door's always open” environment where students can relax, meet people, or complete homework for other classes. "I was an ALPHA groupie last year. It was a great place for me to hang out. This year I am part of the program," senior Matt Moore said. "A lot of things happen in the ALPHA room. There are a number of different individuals with different interests, likes, etc. and any number of other timely events going on. Sometimes, you can find a group of students working on a math assignment in part of the

room, a couple others listen to music, others rehearsing lines for the play or discussing a book and still others coloring pictures, telling jokes or just relaxing. It may seem like chaos at a casual glance from the outside," Kangas said. This seemingly chaotic environment has strong educational value for many students. "ALPHA is not a lot of work. If you need help it is a great place to go. There is always someone who can help. It's a good place to hang out. I come in and hang out in the ALPHA room and get all of my homework done easily. There are always a lot of kids in the ALPHA room. There are always people to hang out with. All my friends are here," Moore said. According to Moore, if you put in the work, you will get a lot out of ALPHA. Students who want to be in ALPHA, can nominate themselves by talking to Tim Kangas in the ALPHA room. He will view their backgrounds, and see if they are qualified for the group.