10.3.08

(I,ITE . . .

CARMEL HIGH SCHOOL

inside • Additional police officers patrol CHS, Page 2 • Voter registration due soon, Page 3 • Men’s soccer team looks toward Sectional, Page 7 • Interview with varsity player and senior Kaitlin Kirkpatrick, Page 8

Acumen

Pull out the latest supplement on the armed forces. You’ll find articles about all aspects of the military. c section

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520 E. Main Street

Carmel, IN 46032

Volume 54, Issue 3

October 3, 2008

Home, Sweet Home?

While recent studies point to Hamilton County’s quality, some question whether the grass is really greener here

By Shireen Korkzan

S

enior Mary Hon found huge differences between this school and Normal Community West High School when she first moved to Hamilton Country at the beginning of her junior year. For one thing, the environment is totally different.

“As much as I loved my old area, (Hamilton County) seems to be a lot more safe and well-kept,” Hon said. “It’s like communities here are a lot more involved. It’s a huge difference. When people found out I was new here they asked if I needed help or anything.”

And it’s not surprising that someone like Hon, who lived in Bloomington, IL, in McLean County, would speak in high approval of her new place of residence. Recently, Forbes.com rated Hamilton County, IN, as the number-one county in the United States to raise a family, with Noblesville being the best city overall. Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard said he finds this accolade an honor. “(These ratings) are somewhat subjective and you can change criteria and the results will change,” Brainard, who has lived in Hamilton County for 20 years, said. “However, people are very fortunate to live here. Everyone’s looking to raise families in a high quality of life.”

And for students like Hon, much of what Forbes.com claimed about Hamilton County is accurate.

On the other hand, not everyone agrees with the positive assessments of Brainard and Hon. Senior Brogan Eppley, who has lived in Carmel all her life, said she would never raise a family in this area.

“It’s a utopia here, like a giant bubble,” Eppley said. “People

steven chen, Evelyn forbes / graphic

9: number of categories used 8: categories Hamilton County received especially high marks in AIR QUALITY: only category that Hamilton County struggled in

see “ home ” o n page 3

Forbes.com / source

Recently, Forbes.com rated Hamilton County as the number-one county in the United States to raise a family.

Michelle hu / photo

ACADEMICS: Senior Mary Hon picks up papers during AP Biology. She said that the educational system in Hamilton County makes Carmel a good place to raise a family.

The top 10

here are ignorant and closed-minded. They’re bred and accustomed to a system. There’s a pecking order and you will follow it. There’s hardly any economic failure and that’s not how it is anywhere else. I don’t think this is a very cool example of what living really is. I would want my children to see all aspects of the world.”

Eppley said that people here need to learn about crime and theft, which are rare occurrences in Hamilton County. She suggested raising children somewhere else and then moving to an area such as Hamilton County for high school because “if someone grew up in a different place then they would have a more open mindset.”

Brainard said that Eppley makes some valid points, but added that people don’t have to live in a crime and poverty-infested area to know that such a life exists. And with over 100 volunteer and internship opportunities available in Hamilton County, the opportunities to obtain such knowledge are nearly endless, he said. Brainard also suggested that the best ways to not be

1. Hamilton County, IN 2. Ozaukee County, WI 3. Johnson County, KA 4. Geauga County, OH 5. Delaware County, OH 6. Morris County, NJ 7. Hunterdon County, NJ 8. Waukesha County, WI 9. Montgomery, PA 10. Chester County, PA

By the numbers

Sophomores, juniors to take PSAT on Oct. 15

ronda eshleman

On Oct. 15, most sophomores and juniors will report to their assigned testing rooms to take the PSAT exam.

The exam holds importance for all taking it, according to Assistant Principal Ronda Eshleman. For

juniors, it will prepare them for the regular SAT and also determine if they qualify for the National Merit Qualifying Scholarship Test (NMQST) semifinalist position.

Sophomores, who also have the option of taking the exam, will also reap the benefits from taking the PSAT. “(The PSAT) better prepares

Evelyn Forbes / photo

know and tell

STUDY HARD: English teacher Kristi LeVeque teaches a PSAT prep course. This was just one of the programs students could have used to study for the upcoming test.

100

amy flis, Evelyn forbes / graphic The Freeman institute / source

“I didn’t know you were Catholic.”

-Nancy Pelosi to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who reportedly got down on his knees to beg her to speed along the bailout package

the number of people who die from choking on ballpoint pens every year

12

you because it teaches you how to take the test,” sophomore Daniel Goldberg said.

In addition to learning how to take the test, the PSAT prepares students by providing cohesive test results and showing students their strengths and weaknesses in each of the three sections the test covers, Eshleman said.

“Students get access to College Board, which provides them with a study guide and a personalized study plan,” she said. Eshleman also said that College Board enters all qualifying juniors into the NMSC scholarship competition.

Goldberg, who took the PSAT for the first time in his freshman year, said that the exam shared qualities similar to the ISTEP+ exam.

As far as preparation for the PSAT goes, junior Blake Markley, who received a score that would have qualified her for the NMSC in her sophomore year, said that in order to do well on the test, especially within the days before, students should do a little studying every day.

“I know there are SAT questions and words of the day that can be e-mailed to you daily,” Markley

20

percentage of Americans who think that the sun revolves around the Earth

the number of newborns who will be given to the wrong parents daily

1

The main library at Indiana University sinks

inch a year due to the weight of books

said. “I think getting a good night’s rest helps a lot. Just stay calm and, if you don’t know the answer to a question, don’t stress over it. It helps if you skip that question and come back,” she said.

According to Eshleman, students here do very well on the PSAT, and, subsequently, they do just as well on the SAT. Thirty-two students were recently recognized as National Merit Scholars, a title that opens many doors.

Eshleman said that the administration expects excellence in everything and that this elevated level has become the usual. However, Eshleman said she credits students more for the above average trend in scores than the administration.

“More and more students are taking AP and IB courses, courses that are college level and challenging,” Eshleman said.

Not every school has such a br oad academic course selection as Car mel does.

Both Markley and Goldberg agree that if students are used to being challenged in an accelerated course, then the exams won’t seem as daunting.

When many students take the exam on Oct. 15, the administration is working to put together alternative activities for those who are not, like many freshman and seniors.

Eshleman said, “We may have the magazine convocation with the freshman. We are also thinking about holding a fitness day.”

PSAT by the numbers 214 cut-off for Indiana’s National Merit recognition in 2007 37 number of semifinalists at this school in 2007 16,000 number of semifinalists honored in the nation in 2007 Carmel has the highest number of semifinalists in Indiana College board / source

nick johnson / photo

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by beverly jenkins bjenkins@hilite.org

Page 2 • Friday, October 3, 2008 • News

GREYHOUND NEWS BRIEFS SCHOOL BOARD At the school board meeting on Sept. 22, superintendent Barbara Underwood announced statistics from last school year’s AP testing, which revealed that over 250 more students took AP exams in 2008 than in 2007. In fact, the 964 students who took AP exams last spring make up the largest group from this school to ever take them.

Underwood said she sees this as an increase in the academic standards that this school has. “I think the school really encourages students to take the most rigorous courses they can take, and we’re seeing that,” Underwood said.

The AP scores seemed to decrease last year (80.7 percent of tests had a score of 3 out of 5 or higher in 2008 as opposed to 85.7 percent in 2007), but Underwood said that with so many people taking the tests, fluctuations are expected.

School board member Andrew Klein mentioned during the meeting that according to a recent article in The New York Times, many colleges now place more emphasis on curriculum and achievements instead of SAT and ACT scores in admission choices. Klein said he hopes this will encourage more students to take higher level classes, such as AP courses.

“I know that we have a group of students at Carmel High School who are interested in going to top academic universities, and if the admissions process is more geared toward taking high level curriculum in high school, I think that would encourage more people to do that,” Klein said. “I would hope it would.”

By Cathy Chen

Superintendent The central office is examining ways to expand the alternative schooling options available to students in this district according to Superintendent Barbara Underwood.

Cur r ently the Car mel Clay Alternative Education Program is located behind Clay Middle School in a modular classroom, according to the online brochure found on the district Web site. Possible candidates include students with unique personal or educational situations, homebound students, students on waiver status and expelled students.

To enroll, students must see their guidance counselor to determine eligibility and fill out a form. Courses offered include English, math, science, health and social studies options.

Students are permitted to stay in the program for two consecutive semesters with the goal of transitioning back to the high school.

Assistant Principal John Newton has worked with the program for five years. He said over 100 students have been involved over the last few years.

Underwood said right now “we do not have enough staff to grow yet.” To solve this problem she said that the central office will try to find continued funding for the program.

Newton said if more funds are found, there will be a meeting to discuss ideas for allocation including the possibilities of adding a teacher, building a larger facility with more courses or adding vocational components with supervision.

He said, “We want to make everyone successful, even if it means providing an alternative setting on or off campus.” By Brittani Wheeler

CORRECTIONS and clarifications From the 9.11 issue Jennifer Davis’s name was misspelled in the Art Department beat.

Coach Moriarity’s name was misspelled in “Guaranteed win?

Not always.” In the same story, the football team lost to Warren Central in 2001, not 2002.

Angelika Becker was misquoted in “ASL students adjust to new instructor.” It should be “immersing,” not “merging.”

In the LifeLines beat, committee heads are chosen for the various LifeLines activities, not just for Red Ribbon Week.

Mihir Kumar was misquoted in “Men’s tennis looks to win with youth.” The quote should have read, “We’re friends but on the court, we’re just trying to win, but it matters whose day it is.”

School takes additional steps toward safer campus Additon of two Carmel police officers allows for increased security

W

By MICHELLE YUN myun@hilite.org

alking past groups of students in crowded hallways, sophomore Megan Olson said she sometimes gets a nervous feeling and wonders if she is always safe.

So for students like Olson, the school’s decision to hire two new police officers this year is good news.

This raises the current number of police officers in the school to four.

Olson said she believes this is a good step toward a safer school but does not think it is enough. She said that this school is too big for only four officers and needs about 10.

Schools across the country, including Carmel, are taking steps to improve safety. According to Yahoo News!, on Aug. 15 in Harrold, TX, the school district with 110 students allowed teachers to carry guns in school, hoping to prevent the recent school shootings around the nation. While measures as drastic as that haven’t happened here, the new officers are part of this school’s ability to keep kids safe.

The new police officers, Shane VanNatter and Dan Jent, are actually Carmel Police Department officers who work at this school.

They said they think this school is a very safe one considering its size.

“For the size of this school,” VanNatter said, “it’s incredibly safe. Considering there’s 4200 students here and we really don’t have that many problems. We don’t really have any violence.”

However, the officers will arrest students in order to teach a lesson on obeying laws that apply to every citizen of Carmel.

He said, “There are kids who get arrested and that’s because we want them to understand if they break the law, you’re not just going to get suspension for it, get detention or something like that, they’re going to be arrested. So they have to understand that they’re going to pay a criminal price for doing something criminal.”

Last year, additional of ficers worked only sporadically. This school, the four officers here are now going to be at school every day from the beginning to the end.

Jent said, “We picked different days of the year and worked sporadically. And this year, they have added the two positions and did away with that. This is a more permanent position.”

He said that their constant presences will allow for increased protection.

“You’ll have different officers in different ends of the school,” Jent said. “It’s also to cut down on the school shooting and kind of things that’s been going around the country. They want more officers in the school to deter that and be here, in case it did happen, to deal with it.”

VanNatter added that the officers will spread out over all four ends of the campus. “That way, you’ve got officers kind of close to whatever would happen because it’s a long way from one side of the building to another,” he said.

According to Sergeant Phil Hobson, the addition of the new officers was also part of a financial issue.

By hiring police officers who worked for the City of Carmel, the school is saving money now since in the past, the school hired its own officers.

Hobson said, “I think (the school) thought it would be more financially smart for them to allow the city to provide the law enforcement portion so they didn’t have to worry about regulations and evidence processing and evidence collection and equipment that were required.”

In addition, Hobson said, “The city then is responsible for everything. And I think that in the long run, that saves the school money.”

VanNatter also said the biggest part of being safe is just paying attention. “The victims of crime are usually the ones who are oblivious to it,” he said.

“They either think it won’t happen to them or their school is too safe for that.”

Arjuna Capulong / PHOTO

ON THE JOB: Officers Shane VanNatter (right) and Dan Jent patrol the hallway outside of the Freshman Cafeteria after eating lunch. The two officers are new to Carmel High School this year and are an integral part of the school’s attempt to implement increased security measures.

M ore on safe t y

Evacuation drill planned for Oct. 17

By Amy Flis aflis@hilite.org There is an evacuation drill scheduled for SRT on Oct. 17. This marks the third year that the school has conducted the drill as part of the ongoing effort to enhance safety measures at this school.

According to Principal John Williams, the drills have been very successful.

“Last year within about 23 minutes the administrators could account for all of our kids.

Imagine how valuable that would be (in a crisis situation),” Williams said.

According to Williams, the purpose of the drill is to get students and staff in a safe place and be able to account for them if the building was for any reason uninhabitable. “We’d want to know who’s here, who’s not,” Williams said. “Prior to three

SAT, ACT becoming optional at various colleges

By Susie Chen susiechen@hilite.org Senior Yingxue Li spent hours on SAT practice tests to receive a near-perfect score on the test.

However, future efforts such as hers may prove futile because of a trend spreading across colleges.

Some liberal ar ts colleges around the country no longer require prospective students to include SAT scores in applications.

FairTest, the National Center for Fair and Open testing, said on its Web site that it is making the SAT and ACT optional to promote equity and excellence.

Li said the reason she thinks colleges are now taking this route is because the current system might not be a fair judge of the student’s aptitude.

Wake Forest University in Nor th Carolina became the first top-30 nationally ranked university to make the SAT and ACT optional. According to the school’s Web site, the Class of ‘09 is not required to submit their SAT or ACT scores.

“Removing the test requirement will allow us to make the admissions process more individualized,” the university’s admissions Web site said, “demonstrating emphatically that we value individual academic achievement and initiative as

well as talent and character above standardized testing.”

Wake Forest is one of more than 100 schools around the nation that no longer require standardized tests; more schools, including Ivy League universities, may join this trend.

For students applying to in-state universities, however, this policy does not currently apply. Molly Vanderpool, Director of Admissions at Indiana University East, said that all IU admission standards require the submission of SAT or ACT scores for application review and consideration.

According to The New York Times, a commissions report compiled by leading college admissions officials said that colleges should move away from relying on SAT and ACT scores and shift toward admission exams that are more closely tied to the high school curriculum.

The repor t also said family income might affect SAT and ACT scores. This could impair those whose parents do not earn as much This new policy may seem unfair to those who received high scores on the SAT or ACT. However, Li said she does not mind as much.

She said, “I’m sure (the college admissions office) will still factor (the SAT and ACT scores) in if students send it. It will probably still be advantageous to submit a good SAT (or) ACT score.”

SAT v. ACT SAT: 3 hours 45 minutes 10 sections 2400 points total -1/4 point penalty for guessing ACT: 3 hours 25 minutes (including 30minute optional writing section) 5 sections (with writing) 36 points total No penalty for guessing Kaplan Test Prep / Source

years ago, we would have had no idea.”

Senior Jonathan Waldon said that as a student, the drill is not very important to him.

“The administration is just trying to be able to get all of us out if something like Columbine happens here,” Waldon said. However, he also said that such an event is “not at all” likely to occur at this school.

Although the drill is not required by the state, Williams said he expects that the school will continue to run the drill for at least the rest of his time here as administrator and likely many more years. He said that administrators and parents are comforted by this extra preparation.

“If you want people to do something in a crisis, you have to practice it,” Williams said. “Even if you do it only once, the odds of you getting it right in a crisis go way up.”

HOME, from Page 1 ignorant of other styles of living are to travel and for parents to inform their children.

“I think it is important for young people to travel to see how things work and don’t work,” Brainard said. “Families and kids need to realize that not everyone lives like this. Sometimes you don’t even see that here. It’s also the parents’ job to make sure that students understand that there are a variety of places to live in. You can get exposure without living that way.”

But there is always room for improvement. In the Forbes.com article, Hamilton County received first-place ratings in nine out of 10 categories, excluding the category of air quality. Brainard said that the city government is making an effort to alleviate these environmental issues.

Such efforts include the 50 roundabouts that have been built in Carmel. Because of these nonelectric-dependent circles, this city now saves 24,000 gallons of gas per year per roundabout, according to a recent article in Time Magazine; however, the EPA still cites Hamilton County for having such coal and sulfur dependency, causing small particle discharges in the air. Various organizations throughout the county, such as City Centre Project, are trying to reduce this problem as well.

“We need to work with other energy besides coal,” Brainard

said. “Even as a state we need to use electricity in a better way.

That’s why (this city is) working on roundabouts.”

But even Eppley said that she cannot deny that the facilities that determined Hamilton County’s high ranking are deserving of high praise, including the Carmel Clay Public Library and over 800 acres of land for recreational parks. When Brainard first became mayor 13 years ago, there were only 40 acres of park.

Also, “as land has been converted from farming to houses, tree cover has increased over 50 percent since this city was mostly farmland.” More trees have started growing since post-farmland development because of farmers clean-cropping them for land because “where people build houses trees come back,” he said.

Much has changed in such little time, but no one is taking a break yet. It’s the massive amount of parks and the library that Eppley said she is truly grateful for, if nothing else.

“The Carmel Clay Public Library and parks here are really good and I’m grateful for that,” Eppley said.

“They’re key sellers to Carmel and the schools here are amazing.

Because of the education I received I know how to speak well.”

Hon said that she would prefer living in the county when she’s ready to settle with a family but will go wherever her future job takes her.

However, Hamilton County isn’t off of her list of prospective places to raise her family. “It’s not out of the realm,” she said.

News •Friday, October 3, 2008 • Page 3

Voter registration deadline Monday Students actively campaign for this year’s elections in order to persuade eligible voters to meet deadline

Behind the Scenes club to host annual talent show

By Steven Chen stevenchen@hilite.org

Arjuna Capulong / Photo

VOTER UP: Junior Andrew Gordon (left) and his fellow McCain supporters speak to a couple students during Homecoming festivities.

Though the majority of students here cannot vote in this election, the age restriction has not impeded those volunteers who are genuinely passionate about their candidates.

By Sara Rogers srogers@hilite.org

and interest in the upcoming election. He attributed the increase to the current war in Iraq. “Students know family and friends involved in the war, and I think hile other students spent their summer it’s given them a connection to the government that relaxing by a pool, working or going on younger people didn’t have in the past,” Granato said. vacation, junior Vincent Reuter spent Granato said he plans to vote for McCain and get more seven weeks in Cincinnati working for involved with his campaign with some of his friends.

Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Reuter is Although he is not eligible to vote due to his age, one of many students here and around the United States Reuter began working with Obama’s presidential getting involved with the upcoming election. “I had campaign earlier this year by calling prospective voters seen all the coverage of the election and I wanted to get in TX, VA and WI. Before the Indiana primary, he campaigned by knocking on doors, organizing student involved,” Reuter said.

As voter registration comes to an end this Monday, activities and putting up signs.

Last year, a student in Reuter’s art class major news organizations such The New York influenced him to get involved with the Times and Newsweek expect that the turnout election. Reuter said, “That made me want among voters under the age of 21 will be to pay more attention.” greater this election than last time’s.

As to why he decided to support Obama, Government teacher Alicia Smith said she he said, “I don’t think we’ve ever seen a has noticed more student involvement this candidate before that has worked with election. “You see an energy that we haven’t average American’s as much,” Reuter said. seen in years past on both the Democratic and “That’s what’s resonated most with me.”

Republican sides,” Smith said.

Read senior Smith attributed student interest to Joey Baertschi’s While following the election, Reuter said he noticed younger voters getting involved. new methods of appeal by the candidates. guest column “I think (the Iowa caucus) showed the “Candidates aren’t just appealing to voters on Page B5 most student involvement. The percentage through political shows and debates; they’re of students that turned out was more than going on shows like ‘Saturday Night Live’ and the general turnout,” Reuter said. “This showcased the ‘Oprah’,” Smith said.

Candidates also use the Internet to appeal to younger power high school students have.” voters through e-mails, Web sites and other tactics Students also show their support for candidates by such as broadcasting debates on YouTube, according wearing T-shirts and joining clubs or Facebook groups. to Smith. Both Obama and Sen. John McCain added Here, the Students for Barack Obama began last year blogs and videos to their already tech-savvy Web sites, prior to the Indiana primary. Also, another group of students ran a McCain support booth during the reaching out to a whole new variety of voters.

“You’re seeing a lot of publicity by each candidate Homecoming festivities. and their vice president,” Bryan Granato, registered As both presidential campaigns unfold, the influence voter and senior, said. Granato said he started to pay of young voters becomes more and more apparent. more attention to the election this year since he is Reuter said he plans to continue his work for Obama eligible to vote. He said students should get involved and hopes to increase the already escalated enthusiasm with the campaigns because “(students) are the majority towards the election and its student voters. of people voting. They should know who they are voting Reuter said, “I think students are realizing how much they influence the election and how much the for and what that candidate stands for.”

Granato has also noticed a lot of student involvement election influences them.”

W

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The audience applauded after the final act finished in the talent show last year. That performer, sophomore Jingxuan Zhang, won the first prize of $100.

This year Zhang said he plans to participate again in the show, which is scheduled for next Friday. This year’s event begins 7:30 p.m. in the Dale E. Graham Auditorium.

Talent show chairperson Susan Smith has coordinated the show for the past two years. She serves on the board of directors of the Behind the Scenes Club and on the Board of directors of Footlite Musicals Inc. “(The) Behind the Scenes Club sponsors the Talent show as a fund-raiser for our club whose mission is to support the CHS drama, technical theater and film department,” Smith said.

Zhang practices piano up to three hours each weekday and six hours on Saturday and Sunday, and he has played at Carnegie Hall. Zhang started his music career when has was five and half years old. For last year’s competition, Zhang played Etude Op. 10 No. 4 by Chopin only because the piece was under the time limit. “It was fast, difficult and exciting, and I really like fast pieces,” he said. Zhang said he practiced the classical song for three months, but wished he had more time to polish it.

According to Smith, the talent show will be similar to the one last year because of the positive feedback received.

“We are changing the voting and prize structure because we were so overwhelmed with the talent level we witnessed last year.

Many of the performers were ready for prime time TV, Vegas, Broadway and Carnegie Hall,” she said. This year there will be three cash prizes of $100.

When people buy their admission tickets, they will also get a voting slip. During the intermission, people can cast their vote for their favorite act. The act with the most votes wins “The

People’s Choice Award,” according to Smith. “So it is advantageous for the performer to pack the house with their friends and relatives,” she said. There remains the “Judge’s Choice Award” given to the most talented performer and the “Behind the Scenes Choice Award” given to the most entertaining act. Both these awards are arbitrated by a panel of judges.

Sophomore Jessamyn Anderson also participated in the talent show last year. She sang “Everything’s Coming up Roses” from the musical “Gypsy.” Although Anderson did not rank last year, she said she had a great time and accredited her loss to being a freshman.

“It’s all cool being older than someone and a little better this year,” she said. Anderson said she plans to audition again this year and sing “I’m a Star” from a review called “Dreaming Wide Awake,” a song that she won State with.

Auditions for the show will be in Room P123 after school on Tuesday and Wednesday. Information and signup sheets are already posted on the Theater Callboard located in the performing arts hallway.

According to Smith, each act only gets around three minutes to perform, but the acts are all extremely varied.

“Last year we had musicians, singers, dancers, jugglers, magicians and comedians,” Smith said. The acts will be selected and notified on Thursday, and rehearsal will be after school the following day.

Zhang said, “I was the final performer in the show, so it was a pretty new experience watching all the shows backstage. The dancers were beautiful and the singers and bands all practiced really well. It was really a challenge to play after all these well done performances.”

Although Zhang said he is still not sure if he wants to participate again, if he does enter the show, he would prefer to win again this year.

Smith said, “This is an opportunity for CHS students to show us how entertaining they can be in a manner similar to the popular TV show “America’s Got Talent.

We know that CHS students ‘got talent,’ and we want to see it.”

Fill out necessary information Provide copy of driver’s license or last 4 digits of social security number Sign the form Mail to Hamilton County Registration Office co.hamilton.in.us / source

Kate Grumme / PHOTO

SHOW TIME: Juniors Sarah Yarling (left) and Morgan Brown practice during SRT for their song and dance audition. This year’s second annual talent show will give away three $100 prizes.

Acceptance status for Purdue applicants to be released at later date Rolling admission changes to Dec. 5 mailing for Class of ‘09 and subsequent classes

By Afra Hussain ahussain@hilite.org At the beginning of December, students who applied to Purdue will finally know where their admittance status stands. This procedure is

different from previous years where students would find out earlier due to a change in admittance policy.

However, Purdue is not changing much about its application policies.

According to Vicki Nunery, who is a college career resource center

JINNY ZHANG / PHOTO

ACTIVE LISTENING: Junior Amanda Finin (left) attends a campus tour of Purdue University during ISTEP+ week. This year, Finin and other applicants will not be aware of their acceptance statuses until early December.

counselor, this year Purdue will give admittance statuses, accept, reject or waitlisted, after 5 p.m. on Dec. 5.

In the past Purdue used a rolling admittance system where students heard about their status shortly after applying. According to the Purdue University Web site, the new release date will be in December.

Purdue is the only in-state school to change its policy about admittance dates. Schools such as Indiana University-Pur due University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and Indiana University continue to accept students on a rolling basis with acceptance letters coming in soon after applications are submitted.

Senior Andrew Billig said he does not mind the later acceptance date.

“It’s fair,” Billig said. “It judges everyone by their grades rather than how early they signed up.”

While filling out the application, Billig said he noticed that Purdue’s aplication had an essay question and Indiana State University’s and Ball State University’s did not. According to Billig, it was not a big deal.

He said he wished to get into Purdue. “I want to do construction

management and their program is really well known,” Billig said. He said he completed his application and already turned it in.

Many of the college application due dates dif fer, and Purdue’s applications for scholarships, such as the Trustee Scholarship and the Presidential Scholarship, are due Nov. 15. The applications for programs such as health sciences, nursing, pharmacy, professional flight and veterinary technology are also due on Nov. 15.

However, other undergraduate programs do not have deadlines until March 1, 2009 although seniors are urged to apply in the fall, according to the Purdue University Web site. Purdue will use the rolling admissions system to admit applications for programs other than the onese listed above because of their later due date.

For now, students applying to Purdue can expect the new procedure and students applying to other in-state schools can expect normal acceptance procedures. “(Purdue applicants) just won’t know for a while,” Nunery said.

Application Deadlines for In-state colleges Ball State University March 1, 2009: Admission for fall semester Indiana University Feb. 1, 2009: Admission for fall semester IUPUI May 1, 2009: Admission for fall semester Purdue University Nov. 15, 2008: Undergraduate programs in health sciences, nursing, pharmacy, professional flight, vet tech, Trustee Scholarship, Presidential Scholarship March 1, 2009: All other undergraduate programs vicki Nunery / Source

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Beats • Friday, October 3, 2008 • Page 5

Go online to hilite.org and click on ‘BEATS’ in the navigation menu

Ambassadors On Sunday, the Ambassadors will hold their first annual Bowling with the Ambassadors fundraiser.

According to Ambassadors’ director Lamonte Kuskye, this is supposed to replace golfing with the Ambassadors because the traditional golf outing got to be too expensive to participate in.

“This way we felt that more people would participate in bowling. There’s also a silent auction, and it’s just going to be a fun time,” Kuskye said.

John "Kyle" Straub, Ambassadors president and senior said that the event will be from 2 to 5 p.m. This event is open to students as well as the public.

“Each Ambassador will be assigned a lane, and they just get to bowl with the people, talk them about our group, and maybe do a little performance for them as a form of entertainment,” Straub said. “At the end, the Ambassadors are giving a performance just to show people who are there what they exactly are contributing to.”

The money generated from this fundraiser will pay for competition fees, costumes and music for the group. Straub said that these fees tend to cost a lot more then most would imagine. In addition to bowling with the Ambassadors, they will soon be selling jam to raise money as well.

“In mid-October, we get 180 jars of jam that we have to sell. (This fundraiser) has gone on for a long time. It’s kind of a random thing, but people like it and that actually really helps us out,” Straub said.

K u s k y e s a i d l a s t y e a r, t h e Ambassadors raised about $1500 from selling jam alone. By Min Qiao

Charisma On Saturday, members of the Charisma dance team will dance for the men’s varsity soccer game against Zionsville. Another upcoming event for Charisma is on Oct. 6, when the team will dance for the women’s varsity soccer game against Ben Davis. The team is also dancing for two games before tryouts for Coquettes on Oct. 20 and Oct. 21.

The season for Charisma began in August and is soon coming to an end this October. Sarah Wolff, the sponsor and coach for the dance team, said she was happy with the turn out this season.

“We have more new members than seniors,” Wolff said.

There are a few prerequisites to joining the dance teams. Members must know how to do a double turn and calypso leap. They should know some hip-hop and basic jazz techniques as well. Along with these skills, the willingness to commit is

Club and Activity News at a Glance needed. Charisma practices two to three times a week for a total of six hours each week.

Sophomore Katelyn Baron has been on the Charisma dance team for two years. She knew going into her freshman year that she wanted to be part of a club.

With her thir teen years of dancing experience she decided to tryout for Charisma and made the team. Baron said commitment is not a problem for her, although school comes first. She said sometimes she does get behind on her homework. By Nicole Sullivan

color Guard The color guard is preparing for the marching band ISSMA District Championship, which will be held this Saturday.

This will be the school's 24th appearance at the event, which takes place at Lawrence Central.

The Greyhound Marching Band, which includes the color guard and the marching band, will compete against approximately 55 other groups in their class.

According to Associate Director of Bands Michael Pote, the competition at ISSMA is strong.

“There are a lot of really good color guards around Indianapolis. The top two in our class are Avon and Center Grove,” Pote said.

Saturday will be a busy day for the color guard. On competition days, members rehearse at the football field for four to six hours in the morning before going to the performance site. They perform in the afternoon and stay for the entire event, which lasts around four hours.

Madison Foley, color guard member and junior, participated at the ISSMA competition last year.

“I like this year’s routine better than last year’s,” Foley said. “We’re using more technology, like sound boards. It’s very different compared to everyone else’s.”

Foley said she is looking forward to competing at ISSMA. “There’s a ton of people in the crowd and you just get this huge adrenaline rush. It’s so fun.” By Nina Underman

Shirley Chen / photo

Junior Kaleen Pesyna practices for the color guard event on Saturday.

They will perform with the marching band at Lawrence Central.

Debate The first debate meet of the year is just around the corner. The meet is at Brebeuf Jesuit High School and is for novice debaters. It will start around 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 11.

“There are four styles of debate, so there are a variety of topics,” Head Coach Amanda Richmond said. “Each student debates in a classroom with his or her opposition and a judge. There are no spectators.”

Freshman Laura Peng is one new member of the debate team who will be taking part in the Brebeuf meet. “My brother, James, got me into it. He was really enthusiastic and passionate about it, so I decided to do it,” she said. According to Peng, one of the topics that will be debated at the meet is whether or not nuclear energy should be used more often. “[At practices] we will be discussing pros and cons of the topic to be prepared for what the opponent will say and what we will say,” Peng said. According to her, the main goal of discussing both the pros and cons is to be able to refute the opponents argument while strengthening her own.

Richmond said, “I’m still getting kids asking to sign up for the team so things are moving slowly this year. Hopefully we will start with researching and mock debating soon." By Reid Conner

French Club Today during SRT, the French Club will venture to Rene’s Bakery for its first field trip this school year to take part in tasting some delicious French pastries.

The first 30 people to turn in permission slips are those who can attend. The students will ride a bus to Rene’s, which is located in Broad Ripple.

“It was amazing last year. They have croissants, really good muffins, French pastries, cakes and things like that you can get,” said Samantha Parkinson, French Club president a n d s e n i o r, “ T h e y a r e r e a l l y reasonably priced too.”

According to French Club sponsor Andrea Yocum, the head pastry chef Albert Trevino will make a presentation for the French Club.

Last year, Trevino spoke about how he got started in baking and how he makes his pastries. The students could also see the baking in progress while he was speaking because of the small, intimate size of the shop. “(Last year) there were at least 20 or so, maybe more, people who came. We pretty much filled up the place because it’s like a one-room house if you can imagine that,” Parkinson said.

Parkinson said she was excited not only for Rene’s but for the French Club’s other upcoming events as well. The number of people involved in the club has grown since last year, which is the reason for the limit on people able to attend.

“I guess word got out last year about how cool we are and now people want to join,” Parkinson said, “All the French Club is so much fun. You can go socialize with your friends, do cool stuff like Rene’s and just have a good time.”

By Cassie Dugan

Media Center This week the media center sponsors Banned Books Week. It began Sunday and ends tomorrow.

Following this week, on Monday and Tuesday, media center specialist Bonnie Grimble said that English teachers may bring their classes to the media center to discuss “intellectual freedom issues.”

During these sessions, which Grimble said will last about 40 minutes, she will tell classes about a personal experience she had, witnessing a book bur ning in Warsaw, Poland. Classes will discuss and consider various reasons that governments and other authorities limit books, movies and other forms of communication. Then they will examine picture books that authorities have “challenged” over the years.

Grimble said that schools and governments have questioned the ethics of various books through the years, including The Giver, To Kill a Mockingbird and even Where’s Waldo? Junior Jason Wing said that he read To Kill a Mockingbird in his freshman English class and is confused as to why it would be banned in some communities.

“To Kill a Mockingbird shouldn’t be banned,” he said, “because it provides life lessons and it’s a book our parents read. We deser ve to read it, too.”

The theme for this year’s Banned Books Week is “Closing Books Shuts Out Ideas, Limits Understanding, Closes Possibilities.” English teachers may contact Grimble to take part in Monday and Tuesday’s discussions. By Maria LaMagna

This Issue @ HiLite Online Read comments

“

As a former English teacher sharing the same fate as Connie Heermann, I submit three quotes from three brilliant minds that explain our experiences.

“

FOR MORE CLUB AND ACTIVITY INFORMATION

Submitted by Terrance Doran

To find more comments and to continue to read this one, go on to hilite.org. Scroll down to 'Recent Comments.'

Photo of the Day

Jinny Zhang / Photo

Junior Deena Elsahy checks out some banned books. The Media Center has held the banned books presentation for many years to inform students.

Recent updates

F EAT U RED B EAT : a r t d e pa r t m e n t

Weekend Patrol Saturday

10th Annual American Girl Fashion Show at the Renaissance Hotel North 10 a.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m.

Carmel Symphony Orchestra “America’s Greatest Hornist Plays John Williams” at Westfield High School 7:30 p.m.

Indiana Alpaca Show at the Toyota Exposition Hall 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sunday

Lindsey Buckingham at the Verizon Wireless Music Center 7:30 p.m.

Stonycreek Farm Pumpkin Harvest Festival in Noblesville 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Students help with charity event to fight hunger through their art By rosemary Boeglin rboeglin@hilite.org

Ann Nwosu

Empty Bowls, an annual charity event to combat hunger, will take place Oct. 16 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Ben Davis cafeteria and commons.

This event coincides with World Food Day in an effort to spread awareness and make strides to fight against food depravation in America and around the world.

Jennifer Davis, art department chair, said that each year, MIC schools are asked to participate in this event, with proceeds going to a local charity.

“We try to get the kids to do it,” said Davis, “We ask (students) in the spring to make one bowl that they won’t keep, but will instead donate to this cause.”

Art Club, sponsored by Linda L u t e s a n d K a t h a r i n e R i s t o w, has taken much responsibility and participation of the project, according to Davis.

“Art Club has taken this under their wing. They stay after school to finish making the bowls that we

still need and then they also spend a couple nights after school glazing all of the bowls,” Davis said.

Ann Nwosu, art student and junior, said that she plans on attending the event.

“I don’t take ceramics, because I’m more of a drawing person.

But, I do have a lot of friends who take the class and I also know people in art club who are donating their work.”

Nwosu said that she thinks any chance to combine charity with something you enjoy doing it is worthwhile.

“There are not that many opportunities to help other people out while doing something you love.

Even (though) I didn’t make any of the bowls, I still plan to go and buy one of my friend’s bowls,” she said.

Each person picks their own bowl, which they get to take home.

They must pay $6 for the bowl and then they get to enjoy a soup or chili dinner, according to Davis.

Davis said, “The goal is trying to remind people that there is always an empty bowl out there somewhere in the world and we’re doing our best to combat that."

By the numbers Each school must make 200 ceramic bowls.

Schools around America have participated in Empty Bowls since 1990.

World Food Day has been celebrated for 28 years.

Over 15 schools are participating in Empty Bowls.

Students pay $6 per ceramic bowl. emptybowls.net / Source

and much more For daily updates, photos and stories, go online now to hilite.org. You can also subscribe to HiLite Online to receive notifications when new stories are posted.

Page 6 • Friday, October 3, 2008 • Ads

Sports • Friday, October 3, 2008 • Page 7

Men’s soccer team looks to roll into Sectional Hounds face Zionsville tomorrow before heading into tournament play at Fishers

T

By ryan duffy rduffy@hilite.org

he men’s varsity soccer team finishes of f its regular season tomorrow at home against Zionsville

at 3 p.m.

Both the coaches and the players said they are pleased with how the season has been going so far, and saaid that they believe the success will continue against Zionsville.

Head Coach Shane Schmidt said, “We feel that we have had a successful season to this point. We will play Zionsville the exact same way that we would anybody else.

We will have to be aware of people on the field, but we won’t change anything.”

Senior Dean Weaver, who plays outside midfield, said something similar about how Carmel will play Zionsville. “We are just going to play our game. We are starting to get everything together, even though there have been a couple injuries,” Weaver said.

After playing Zionsville tomorrow, the team starts a new season with the playof fs. The Sectional games begin for Carmel at Fishers on Thursday, leaving very little time for practice. However, Schmidt said that he has total confidence in the team.

“We have a very strong Sectional, but I feel that if we play Carmel soccer, we have a very good chance at winning it,” Schmidt said.

The Sectional draw was scheduled to take place this week. Schmidt said

the team knows it will face either Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern or Westfield in its opening game.

Weaver said that he also feels the team can win its Sectional. But after the Sectional, the team heads deeper into the State playof fs. Weaver said that in order to have success throughout the tournament, the team’s success in the Sectional is very important.

“We have to win ever y game when the tournament starts, so we are going to have to be on some kind of ‘roll.’ I just hope we can get our whole team back and we can put a few in the back of the net every game,” Weaver said.

Schmidt said that he also thinks that having momentum is crucial to playoff success. “With the path that we have to go down to get to the State Finals, it is very important that we are peaking at the right time. We will have to be successful in every round of the tournament if we want to be playing on Nov. 1. I have told them from the beginning of the season that I believe, in my heart, that they have ability to win the State Championship.”

Weaver, who has been playing Car mel soccer since he was a sophomore, said it’s just now hitting him that his games are limited with his high school team.

“I am finally realizing that these are going to be the last high school soccer games that I am going to play and I feel like the other seniors realize that also,” he said. “We all know that we need to give 110 percent all the time.”

nick johnson / photo

ROAD WARRIORS: Senior Jared Isenthal fights off an opponent as he chases down the ball in a game against Noblesville. The Hounds’ 1-0 loss to the Millers was their only road loss of the regular season. The Hounds will look to carry their consistency away from home into the state tournament starting Thursday at Fishers.

ME N ’ S CROSS - CO U N TRY

Hounds train for post-season success

BY DAVID ZHENG dzheng@hilite.org

Kate grumme / photo

STILL GOING: Senior and captain Logan Rosenberg jogs a warm-up during practice. Rosenberg has shaken off injuries this season in an attempt to lead the Hounds to a State title.

This school’s men’s cross-country team is inching closer to a State title for Head Coach Chuck Koeppen in his last season, with the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference (MIC) Championships and Sectional meets just around the corner.

“I’d say that things are going well as of now because everybody seems to be in pretty good shape and fairly healthy,” Koeppen said. “(Team captain and senior) Logan Rosenberg has been somewhat injured which doesn’t help us.

I think he’s rounding back into form, hopefully, but everybody else is healthy and ready to go so we should be good.”

The MIC Championships and Sectional meets are on Oct. 8 and Oct. 14, respectively. With the MIC being just six days before the Sectional meet, the team has an opportunity to gauge its current level and perhaps gain some confidence headed into the Sectional. “(The MIC) is important because

it will allow us to see where we are at in our fitness and maybe gain some momentum going into the tournament,” Tom Ohlman, varsity runner and junior, said.

“I think you always would want to be conference champs. We won it last year, and normally we do win the conference, but it will be very competitive,” Koeppen said.

“Terre Haute North is pretty good.

North Central is very good. Warren (Central)’s not bad and Center Grove’s usually pretty good, so it will be a good meet that our kids can’t take lightly.”

However, Koeppen said he does not think that the men’s cross-countr y team has to worry too much about the MIC Championships headed into Sectional. “I always refer to the kids as rubber bands. If they don’t do well one meet, they’re just going to bounce back. But with people like me I might break,” Koeppen said.

“I think these kids can run hard in the conference meet and run hard in the Sectional six days later.”

With such big meets coming up, the men’s cross-country team

Athletics News Updates Women’s cross-country On Oct. 8, the women’s crosscountr y team will compete at the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference (MIC) Championships meet, scheduled theresa for 5:30 p.m. at lipp Ben Davis. This meet features all of the top teams in the MIC. According to Head Coach Chuck Koeppen, the team is fairly healthy headed into the meets. “No disrespect meant to the rest of the teams in the MIC but I think our girls are going to be in pretty good shape,” Koeppen said. “Maybe we won’t need to get so fired up and psyched up for the MIC and still have all that coming into the Sectionals against the defending State champs, Westfield.”

Runner and sophomore Theresa Lipp said she agrees with Koeppen.

“There’s always a few (runners) that have shin splints or stress fractures,

but overall there are no major injuries on the girls’ team,” Lipp said. “So far we have won all meets but there are some really good teams out there so we have to simply try our best.”

“We’ve been resting kids that have been weary and maybe a little beat up, and we haven’t run our best runners every meet,” Koeppen said. “We’ve won every meet even without them though, so when it comes time to put our best runners in, we have a very good team.” By David Zheng

JV Football Every Saturday the junior varsity football team will play the JV team of whatever school the varsity team was up against on the previous Friday night. The JV team takes on Warren Central at home tomorrow at 10 a.m.

The C team, which is comprised of those who did not get to play on either Friday or Saturday, plays ever y other Monday at 6 p.m., according to Coach Toby Steele.

Devin Chappell, defensive lineman and junior, said that the C team

eliminates the possibility of any player not getting the opportunity to play.

“The (JV and C team) games will prepare (the player) for what he might expect if he were put in a varsity game,” Chappell said.

According to Chappell, the JV team will first review film from the that Friday’s game on Saturday morning, then depart to begin their game.

“Winning is important, but at games we concentrate more on getting the play experience rather than winning, although winning is important,” said Assistant Coach Jeremy Stacy, who coaches defense on the JV team. By Faith Mwalwa

kaitlyn lampe / photo

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST: A junior varsity player tackles a teammate during practice. Junior Devin Chappell said JV players have worked hard in order to prepare for the varsity level.

has star ted preparing by doing longer, harder and more up-tempo workouts.

“As your season progresses, your training does change,” Koeppen said. “We’ve upped our intensity, but we haven’t been doing a great deal of speed workouts. As they say, speed kills, and in a race you don’t really use speed a great deal either.”

Ohlman added, “We’ve just been trying to get our endurance up and starting to work on interval type speed workouts to increase our kick and turnover.”

Another main focus for the men’s cross-country team headed into MIC and Sectional is injuries.

“The varsity team is just getting everyone healthy. Rosenberg was out with a hamstring injury, but he is now rounding into shape, and we are all ready for some tough competition come tournament time,” Ohlman said. “We are taking no chances with anyone getting hurt. We want ever yone healthy when State rolls around.”

“I just go by what we have,” Koeppen said. “I just go with our top seven. If Logan’s one of them

that’s great. If he’s not, we just have to move on. That’s all we can do. I hope he’s one of them, but if not we still have a great team and we’re up to the task so we just go with what we’ve got.”

According to Ohlman, the team has great depth and many runners that can step up in case of an injury.

“The injury of one of the varsity r unners would obviously be a blow to the team, but our team is very deep, meaning anyone not in the top seven could step up and perform like just another varsity runner,” Ohlman said. “It would seem we were all healthy, so we would still be able to perform close to our potential.”

Regardless, the team’s per for mance in the MIC and Sectional meets will be a step toward winning the State championship for Koeppen in his last season.

“We might not even have to go completely all out in the Sectional because they take the top five teams to the next round,” Koeppen said.

“We don’t have to win the Sectional, but I’m pretty sure our kids will probably want to.”

JV Sport in the Spotlight: Volleyball

By Mackenzie Madison mmadison@hilite.org After a rocky start, this school’s women’s junior varsity volleyball season is making a comeback. During the first half of the season the Hounds lost three games out of five. But now, in the second half of the season, the girls have won all their games.

“I think we’ve definitely improved as a team. Like before there wasn’t much chemistry, but now we work more as a team. At first, it was a little different for all of us because our coach was new, so no one really knew what she was like, so now we’ve gotten into a comfort zone, so we’re playing better and more unified as a team,” Sophie May, JV volleyball player and sophomore, said.

Head JV Coach Samantha Bird said, “We had a few key injuries and players out at the beginning of the season that we had to work through.”

Despite injury, Bird said that it was nice having 14 girls because of depth and experience. She also said that by playing together, the girls are becoming a more close-knit team.

“As long as we continue to work hard in practice, get better and make the necessary adjustment that is all I can ask. It has been an absolute joy coaching these girls and I look forward to continuing to grow as a team and with that growth I think we will be very successful,” she said. Only five more games are left in the JV season. The next game is on Oct. 7 at Warren Central at 5:30 p.m.

Arjuna capulong / photo

MAKING STRIDES: Sophomore Megan Norcia prepares to return a shot during practice. The junior varsity volleyball team has shown great improvement since the beginning of the season.

Page 8 • Friday, October 3, 2008 • Sports

Faces of Sports: Kaitlin Kirkpatrick by lily zhao lzhao@hilite.org

One Last Chance

Despite injuries, the women’s varsity soccer team’s upperclassmen hope to win a State title

Lily Zhao: What’s your favorite song to workout to?

Kaitlin Kirkpatrick: “Check Yes Juliet” by We The Kings LZ: Favorite pregame snacks?

KK: Banana with peanut butter LZ: Favorite songs/albums on your iPod? KK: (I like the artist) Boys like Girls LZ: Favorite athlete?

KK: Thierry Henry LZ: Are you interested in playing soccer in college? If so, where?

KK: Yes, I’m playing at Colorado College next year.

LZ: How do you feel about the team after injuries to some of the starters?

KK: It’s been difficult for the team to get used to playing without some of our starters but everyone has really stepped up and played well enough to secure us some victories.

LZ: Is there pressure to win a championship?

KK: There’s a lot of pressure on us seniors because the coaches keep reminding us that if we don’t win we’ll be the first class to graduate without a state ring and we don’t want to let everyone down.

LZ: How would it feel to graduate as the only class of upperclassman without a title ring?

KK: If we graduated without a state ring, I’d mostly feel disappointed and embarrassed. For so long I’ve waited to join and contribute to the “Carmel soccer legacy” and to be the only team to graduate without a ring would feel like we didn’t give it our all. We definitely have the potential and talent to win so I don’t want us to let ourselves down.

elizabeth trancik / photo

STRONG KICKER: Varsity player Kaitlin Kirkpatrick kicks the ball during practice.

Kirkpatrick has helped push the team to success this season as a senior leader.

elizabeth trancik / photo

RUNNING TO VICTORY: Running during practice, women’s varsity soccer team players and juniors Shae Desmond and Amanda Babbin train, hoping that their rigorous conditioning and practices will help them win a State title. Senior Alexis Owens said that after last year, the team practiced hard because they wanted the championship ring, in spite of all the injuries. by maggie brandenburg mbrandenburg@hilite.org This year more than others, the pressure is on even higher for the women’s soccer team and its seniors hoping to win a State title. For the seniors, they could be the only group of upperclassmen to graduate without a title, and with only three regular season games left, the team must now look ahead to the State tournament which stands in their way to a championship. But to get there, the team faces very tough Sectional play and injuries which will make it even more difficult for the team to achieve its State title goals.

Alexis Owens, varsity player and senior, has been out with an injury after she got hurt during the first 15 seconds of the first game of the season against Zionsville. According to Owens, she collided with another player, and when she tried to get up and walk it off, she heard a crack.

Her leg was broken and that meant she would be out of play for a large portion of her senior season.

“It’s common. People get injured a lot, but they usually come back (to play),” Owens said.

But according to Head Coach

Frank Dixon, Owens’s injur y is very rare, even in a sport he said he believes is comparable to football for women. ACL injuries and pulled muscles are both very common, he said, along with bumps and bruises from getting knocked down during play, but not broken limbs. “(Owen’s injury) was kind of weird (on) how it happened. She went in for a tackle and tried to stand up and couldn’t walk,” Taylor Cornwell, varsity player and senior, said. Cornwell injured her groin during warm-ups for the North Central game. She was out for two practices, but returned for the Cathedral game.

According to Owens, she has about two or three more weeks until she will be able to get back to playing soccer. For the duration of her injury, Owens said she has been trying to stay in shape for her varsity role by riding an auxiliar y bike, working her abdominal muscles through exercises and lifting weights with her upper body.

“I am a little (worried about coming back to play), but as soon as I can show them I’m back again, it won’t be a problem,” Owens said.

Along with Owens and Cornwell,

several other varsity players became injured during the season. Juniors Paige “Paigey” Covington sprained her ankle, Alexis Ardaiolo hurt her ACL and Katelyn Strout suffered from a bi-muscle tear.

To tr y to stay in top shape, injured players participate in rehab designed to challenge them with whatever they can physically handle by team trainer Dawn Robertson.

According to Dixon, players can lose so much training in a short time from injury, and it takes time for them to get back to their full potential. Players nursing injuries are encouraged to still attend all the practices and to cheer on their teammates during games when they do not have physical therapy. “(For my groin injury), I just went in to the trainer everyday after school and iced it and stretched it.

I still have to ice it after practice,” Cornwell said.

According to Kathleen Hanni, varsity co-captain and senior, it usually takes a couple of practices or even participating in an actual game for returning players to get back into the swing of things.

As the seniors on the women’s team get closer and closer to the

State tournament and their last chance at bringing home the title, Hanni said she believe the injuries will not affect the team’s overall performance. According to Hanni, there are 22 people on the roster for the varsity squad, which provides the team with a wealth of potential replacement players. She said she believes the depth of the team’s back-ups can help to stop any negative effects from losses of teammates to injuries.

Want more?

FOR MORE SPORTS RESULTS AND DANIYAL HABIB’S SPORTS COLUMN, GO TO: WWW.HILITE.ORG/SPORTS

Practice squad ensures long-term success

BY FAITH MWALWA fmwalwa@hilite.org

starting units and their scout teams) play each other so that the two starting teams don’t hurt each other,” Michael Spahn, middle linebacker and senior, said.

Spahn, who was on the scout team for freshman and sophomore year, said that he has played in varsity games since his sophomore year. “The scout team is helping and is being helped.”

On the upper field, the offensive starters, clad in blue and occasionally in white, go drill after drill, striving for perfection. Center and senior Joey Barnes remains a solid human wall as player after player rams into him. The scout team players on the sidelines keep a close eye on the techniques of their teammates and the starters, ready to spring in when called. One of the coaches yells for the start of a new drill; one of the players whoops as they begin. Soon thereafter, the other starting offensive players and scout team defensive players descend from the upper field. On the left side of the field, where the starting defensive players and the scout team offensive players gather,

As if on cue, the men in gold, white and blue dutifully march their way onto the upper field from the stadium area. The heat bears down and gives the air a sticky quality as they all keep their eyes trained on the upper field. They keep straight, compliant faces, some talkative, most silent. The sober atmosphere quickly becomes serious and professional when they reach the field as they toss the football to one another, warm up, and get prepared for practice. Kurt Freytag, running back and senior, wraps athletic tape around his ankle, hops up, and takes his place on the field.

Almost immediately, half the players head down to the field.

“That’s because these are the defensive (starters) and (scout team) offensive players, on the stadium field, and those are the offensive (starters) and (scout team) defensive players, up on that field,” Hope Amos, football manager and senior, said. “If the two (starters) and the two (scout teams) play each other, neither would really get practice.”

The scout team is comprised of lesser-known players, those still making a name for themselves, and still on the rise. The offensive and defensive starting unit consists of well-known, and accomplished players, such as Freytag, quarterback and senior Morgan Newton, and safety and senior Joe Rippe. The two teams, however, must come together in order to form efficient practice sessions and gain perspective. And this, according to Head Coach Mo Moriarity, aids in the success of the entire team.

Moriarity agreed and said, “There Kaitlyn lampe / photo is no way we can get ready for Friday PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: The Hounds practice running the ball before nights without the scout team.” “(The offensive and defensive the Homecoming game against Terre Haute South, which they won 48-0.

the coaches yell nonsensical words and their players repeat, executing the play.

On center stadium field, the defensive starters and the offensive starters smash into each other, time after time. When the coaches see what they want to see, the players are congratulated and told to repeat the drill.

“We usually don’t put the two (starting units) together. Generally, only on Tuesdays,” Assistant Coach Jeremy Stacy said, talking about the portion of the practice where the two starting units practice against each other.

Practice makes perfect. When asked whether they notice the progress in the scout team players, Scott Dehnke, strong safety and senior, said, “This (experience) teaches them how to run hard and play harder against starters. They need that.”

“Every practice we do, we practice as if we are playing. But it’s not just that. We, as a whole team, take pride in believing that we practice harder and longer for every game,” Spahn said. He said that he holds practices in very high regard, because his own participation on the scout team gave him firsthand knowledge of the scout team’s importance, especially for development of skills for both the scout team player and the starter.

Barnes said, “Practices are where we finetune our skills, and sharpen (expertise) in order to get better and better. Yes, we all have intensive practices, but we need this in order to further develop our skills.” Barnes, a brawny and powerfully built senior, has played his position, since his sophomore year, and participated on the scout team briefly that year. He contributes being able to “be the first offensive lineman to make a goal in this school’s football history” to the early years of grueling practice and skills development.

“They get better. They have to (get better),” Moriarity said.

CATCH OF A LIFETIME: Varsity receiver Nick Logan cathes the ball during practice.

Practicing throwing and catching has made the players more in tune with the offense, senior quarterback Morgan Newton said.

kaitlyn lampe, matt kanitra / photo illustration

CARMEL HIGH SCHOOL

3POT,ITE

OUT OF THE LOCKER

inside

Junior Cassandra “Cassie” Wild empties out her locker for Student Section.

• A student overcomes dyslexia, Page B2 • Are you ready for a disaster?

Page B2 • A farmer in Carmel, Page B8

Page B5

www.hilite.org

520 E. Main Street • Carmel,IN 46032 • Volume 54, Issue 3 • October 3, 2008

success story Despite current economic turmoil, Simply Sweet Shoppe and candy stores in general experience ‘recession-proof’ success

By Ellie Seta Michelle Hu / Photo

DESPITE ODDS: The Simply Sweet Shoppe provides a wide array of candy options, such as these jelly beans. Despite the downward economic trend, the shop is experiencing business success so far.

cooping candy into clear plastic boxes, sophomore Lauren Wiegand cheerfully arranges the candy on the shelves of The Simply Sweet Shoppe. As 5-year-olds and adults alike enter the store, their jaws drop and their eyes widen at the sight of this real life candy land.

Although it is a weekday, the shop is busy with kids and their parents scooping candy into brown paper bags.

Michelle Hu / Photo Greyhound Goodies: Owner Jill Zaniker refills the Carmel themed candy jar. The Simply Sweet Shoppe has a wide variety of goodies for customers to choose from.

related story

See Page B4 for a review of The Simply Sweet Shoppe

Lauren and her mother, L ynn Wiegand, could not be more thrilled because despite the sudden increase of businesses closing around the United States and even in downtown Carmel, they have miraculously found a spark of success.

In today’s society more and more people are cutting back on items seen as not a necessity such as eating out, coffee and even gas. But despite the recent economic decline, experts call some products recession-proof, including candy. In fact according to the National Confectioners Association, in 2007 the candy industry experienced over $29 billion in retail sales, a 3 percent increase from 2006.

“The last few weeks have proved how successful we have been,” Lauren said. “We have already achieved so much success and we have only been open for five weeks.”

Analysts at The Nielsen Co., which tracks consumer habits, said that compared with other discretionar y items like carbonated beverages and tobacco, candy sales are likely to still increase despite the declining economy because it is the most affordable vice. Also they say that another factor is the convenience of candy. Candy is located at most major grocery stores and gas stations in mass quantities and since more and more people are cutting back on driving distance, they are spending more at these convenience stores.

Mrs. Wiegand, one of three partners of The Simply Sweet Shoppe, said that despite the store’s success she still worries about the day that the momentum starts to die down. She also worries about the more frequent trend of closed

businesses specifically in downtown Carmel.

“It is scary watching (the others stores) go down one by one,” Mrs. Wiegand said.

Mrs. Wiegand and Lauren both said that their success is largely due to exclusivity of their store.

“We have definitely found our niche,” Lauren said. “There is nothing like this in Carmel, which makes people want to come.”

Although Mrs. Wiegand said that she did not always dream of opening a candy store, she said that she did want to open up a business where parents could bring their kids.

“We all remember that corner candy store that we would go to and get candy for under a dollar,” Mrs. Wiegand said. “We don’t want to be known as the ‘Carmel’ (meaning expensive) candy store; we want to be affordable.”

Other businesses in Carmel, though, haven’t experienced the same success as The Simply Sweet Shoppe. Bub’s Burgers, although popular, has felt the impact of the declining economy.

Junior Audrey Leech has worked at Bub’s since May and said that she has seen firsthand the effect of the declining economy.

“We raised our prices recently because people are beginning to tip less and less and the prices of food have gone up as well,” Leech said.

“I always worry about my job because with the economy the way it is people are always looking to make cuts,” Leech said. “And (going out to eat) is not always seen as necessary.”

Mrs. Wiegand said that she knows that one day business is bound to slow down. But until

then they plan to improve their business even more. No matter what, Mrs. Wiegand said that she is always reminded of the reason she started the business to begin with.

“We wanted to create a destination place unlike anywhere else,” Mrs. Wiegand said. “You can go to a mall and buy candy but we wanted to make it more special then that.”

Lauren said she also has accepted the fact that one day the business will die down. “I have worried about it slowing down,” Lauren said.

“We can do all the advertising we want, but some of it is just out of our hands.”

Recession: ups & downs Most Recession-Proof Items • • • •

Seafood Dry Pasta & Pasta Sauces Candy Beer

Most Recession-Vulnerable Items • • • •

Carbonated Beverages Eggs Cups and Plates Tobacco chow.com / Source

Steven Chen / Graphics

what can pilates do for you?

See how including Pilates may help you up your game Football and rugby: Pilates improves coordination, mobility and flexibility and allows easier recovery from and prevention of injuries.

Golf: Exercise improves a golfer’s stability to hold a position long enough to play through a shot without body buckling or twisting.

Tennis: Pilates helps injury prevention and rectifies muscle imbalance, improves flexibility and builds core and stabilizer muscles.

Running: Runners do Pilates because it builds long, strong muscles, improves flexibility and lessens risk of injury.

Swimming: Pilates exercises are performed at a deliberate pace, employing appropriate breathing patterns and attention to detail. pilatescentral.co.uk / Source

Thinking outside the weight room

Pilates offers indirect benefits to regular exercise regimen by celina wu cwu@hilite.org In the comfort of her home, junior Laura Karn begins her daily Pilates routine. She does various stretches, including ones called the butterfly and the pike sit. More traditional excercises such as sit ups and crunches are also part of the routine. In addition to her Pilates work-out at home, Karn is also enrolled in a private Pilates class that meets once a week for 30 minutes at the Carmel Performing Arts Center.

Besides being good exercise, Karn has another motive for participating in Pilates.

“I have been doing Pilates for a year and a half now. My coach recommended it for me. I do it to help core strengthening, stretching and flexibility for ice skating,” Karn said.

Although Pilates is not usually thought of as a traditional training technique for sports, it can actually be quite beneficial for athletes, according to the website of Pilates Method Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to Pilates. The results of continued and regular Pilates workouts can enhance various athletic performances. However, despite the advantages Pilates can bring for athletes, it cannot totally substitute more common types of training for sports. Instead, athletes like Karn can utilize Pilates as an complement to their customary work out regimen.

Karn, who has been skating for eight years, said that after doing Pilates, she has seen a noticeable difference in her skating. “Pilates has really helped with my flexibility and core strength, which is really important in skating,” she said

Lisa Ruxer, physical education teacher, said she agreed that athletes can make use of Pilates to better their performance by strenthening their core. Specifically in regards to ice skaters like Karn, Ruxer said, “Pilates is good for skaters because they are constantly holding themselves up with their abs and their back, which Pilates helps strengthen.”

Ruxer also said that another advantage Pilates has over highimpact activities is that there is not a constant pounding on the body, flexibility is sustained and the chances of being injured during the work out or the sport is decreased.

She said that by becoming flexible, the chance of injury to multiple areas of the body, such as the legs, back, abdominal region, arms, head, neck and spine is greatly minimized.

Deborah Haire, Pilates instructor

and science teacher, said that Pilates provides another dimension in comparison to high impact exercises or work outs.

Haire said, “Pilates is a form of exercise that focuses on the core, strength and relaxing. It offers less stress on the body, bones and joints and addresses the issues of body strength, endurance and core strength.”

Karn said that because of her work with Pilates, she has become more flexible, which she said helps with her jumps in skating.

“My skating has definitely improved because of Pilates,” Karn said. “I would recommend it to all athletes, not just skaters, because even though it’s not the usual training method, it just offers a lot of results that would be beneficial for any sport.”

Page B2 • Friday, October 3, 2008 • Feature

Hidden Truth Student with dyslexia adjusts to teachers’ different methods Story by Lexi Muir

nick johnson / photo

between the lines: Senior Avery Hollenback finishes her homework in SRT. Hollenback has dyslexia and sometimes has to concentrate harder to finish her work.

A

s senior Aver y Hollenback stares at the questions on her precalculus test, she reads over each question, as well as her answers, four to five times. It’s not because she doesn’t know the answer, or even because she is double-checking to make sure she answered correctly. She is checking to make sure she is reading and understanding the question correctly and seeing the numbers as they really are. Aver y, unlike most of her classmates, is dyslexic and deals with problems like this every day.

“I have mild dyslexia,” she said. “I mix up numbers and have to read over questions over and over again. I have problems with comprehension. Sometimes I even put the wrong answer without ever knowing.”

According to Rosie Hickle, Executive Director of the Dyslexia Institute of Indiana, there are varying degrees of dyslexia from very mild learning differences to very severe differences in how they process information in the areas of their brain dedicated to learning to read.

Hickle said that it is a misconception to think that people with dyslexia just read backwards or just reverse their letters.

“It is much more complex than that,” she said via e-mail. “It can show up in how they process what is being said to them, what they read, how they spell or how the brain works from when information is brought in through their eyes and ears and what comes back out on paper. In other words, it is very complex and is about how a person processes information.”

Avery said that her degree of dyslexia affects her comprehension more than it affects her ability to see letters and numbers correctly. She said that she will mix them up every now and then, but the real problem exists in her comprehension. Sometimes, Avery said that if she doesn’t know the answer to the question or can’t understand the question, she doesn’t know whether it is the dyslexia at fault or her knowledge of the subject.

“During tests, when I can’t comprehend something or I can’t figure out the answer, I don’t know if it is because of the dyslexia or because I just didn’t study hard enough,” she said.

According to Julie Hollenback, Avery’s mother, the first sign that Avery was dyslexic was spelling.

“She just couldn’t spell,” Mrs. Hollenback said. “She was very stubborn about it and just could not spell simple words correctly.”

After being tested and diagnosed with dyslexia, Mrs. Hollenback said that Avery was pretty much on her own.

“She just works harder,” said Mrs. Hollenback. “She continues to go back over stuff and learn it over and over again. In order to deal with it, she has to work harder than the average student, period.”

Recent Southern weather reminds Carmel to take precautions CHS has plan for disaster situations by kelsey binion kbinion@hilite.org For sophomore Elizabeth Russell, being prepared for severe weather is something that isn’t an option for her family. While Russell lives here in Carmel, her relatives have been through two hurricanes and many floods, including Hurricane Katrina that devastated New Orleans three years ago.

“My grandparents, great grandparents and aunts and uncles on both sides lived down in the area where Hurricane Katrina struck,” Russell said. “They lived in Metarie, LA, which is right outside New Orleans.

During Katrina, I had 14 relatives living in my house (in Carmel), because the hurricane was predicted and was a Category 4. They stayed for about three weeks during the school year. It was quite busy.”

But despite the crowding in her house, Russell knew her family would be safe. “My relatives knew what kind of hurricane was coming toward them.

They boarded up their windows, gathered pictures, memorabilia, prize possessions and then left everything else and drove to safety,” Russell said.

But while Russell said she is prepared for severe weather because of her proximity to events like Hurricane Katrina, many others in the Midwest don’t take proper precautions, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Advertising Council. In a recent survey from those groups, while 91 percent of respondents said it is “very” or “somewhat” important for all Americans to be prepared for emergencies, and even though from 2005 to 2006 the percent of Americans who said they have taken any steps to prepare rose from 45 percent to 55 percent, only 54 percent of people put together an emergency kit, 39 percent created a family emergency plan and 40 percent searched for information about preparedness.

For Russell, the fact that people here aren’t prepared is a concern. Russell said, “Everyone up here doesn’t know how bad it can be. They only see pictures and newscasts about the events. People always need to be prepared.”

Some of those low numbers may be attributed to the fact that the Midwest doesn’t experience the full brunt of hurricanes like Katrina and, more recently, Hurricane Ike. However, the area does experience tornadoes, severe thunderstorms and even earthquakes, including a recent one felt by students here on April 18. And, in fact, Hurricane Ike did affect the Midwest, albeit indirectly. The storm’s aftermath caused raised gas prices here along with severe flooding and downed power lines that left more than 100,000 businesses and homes without power.

But unlike personal homeowners, this school is prepared for the worst, according to Assistant Principal Doug Bird. The student body and staff practice severe weather drills every month to make sure everyone is prepared for severe

conditions, he said.

“We have severe weather drills that meet the state requirements. The big thing is to keep staff and students safe. We want to keep them away from the windows. We will go out into the hallways away from any danger. In the Freshmen Center, no one will be allowed on the third floor. The main goal is to put staff and students in the safest area,” Bird said.

For those who have experienced extremely severe weather, like Russell, the experiences stay with them. Russell said that she still remembers all of the details of Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath. “My aunt had six feet of water in her house. Since she had recently gotten married, they decided to start from scratch. A tree split my other aunt and uncle’s house.

Majority of the roofs were damaged by intense winds,” Russell said.

Bird said, “It is important to be prepared because emergency situations are very chaotic. It is easier to handle that chaos if we have practiced out response to those difficult situations.”

ready for a disaster? first aid supplies

equipment and tools

adhesive bandages antiseptic wipes tweezers scissors cold pack antibacterial ointment cotton balls thermometer safety pins CPR face shield roller gauze first aid manual gloves

flashlight extra batteries matches duct tape battery-powered radio all-purpose knife manual can opener needles and thread signal flare manual can opener blanket small cooking stove whistle

fema.gov / source

According to Hickle, dyslexics process information differently and because of that, they need to be taught using a multi-sensory approach.

“Information needs to be given to them through three sensor y channels at the same time. (visual, auditory, tactile/kinesthetic),” she said. “The ultimate goal (for teaching dyslexics) is to have timely and appropriate teaching strategies in the classroom so that students can overcome their challenges of learning to read and to help them accept that they learn differently.”

Aver y and Mrs. Hollenback both said that the hardest challenge for Avery is working with her teachers.

“They don’t give much room for mistakes,” Avery said.

Hickle said that the hardest part for most students is accepting that you are a smart person. It is very easy for them Research suggests that to feel stupid and many times the world about 17 percent of the around them reinforces that. population has dyslexia.

Avery stays away from telling her teachers about her dyslexia because she doesn’t want them to think she is Because the source of just trying to get out of doing work or dyslexia lies in the brain, get off easily. children do not outgrow Mrs. Hollenback said that she thinks dyslexia. that even if the teachers did know, they would not show much concern or give much help anyway.

An equal number of girls “(Teachers) are dealing with and boys are dyslexic. somebody who is socially adept and able to keep up but just isn’t an AP kid Children with dyslexia and isn’t an A plus student,” she said. have strong listening “Teachers at Carmel don’t care about anything but that. Some will work with vocabularies and a student but it’s up to her to challenge understand text when it is the teacher to work with her.” read aloud to them.

As far as feeling disabled goes, Avery said that being dyslexic definitely brings They have difficulty about a challenge for school, but she recognizing common does not consider herself to have a major problem. “sight words,” or frequently “Everyone has their own problems,” occurring words that most she said. “I’m not disadvantaged. I readers recognize instantly. don’t have anything compared to what Examples of sight words some people go through every day. I are “the” and “in.” don’t see dyslexia as a big deal. It’s a big deal for school, but then I look pbs.org / source at everything I have going for me. I consider it pretty low down on my list of problems.”

Mrs. Hollenback said, “She can achieve anything she wants to do. There is patience involved, but she can do it. Not every test defines a child, and that holds true to people like Avery who work hard.”

facts about Dyslexia

Entertainment • Friday, October 3, 2008 • Page B3

Reviews

books. movies. food. music. shopping.

Monical’s Pizza disappoints with ‘Death poor food quality, apathetic service Magnetic’

not flop

Metallica rediscovers roots by renny logan rlogan@hilite.org

bennett fuson / photo

thin and flimsy: Although known for its pizza, Monica’s thin crust pie cannot sustain itself, with few toppings or little taste to make up for it. Slightly better is the pan pizza, which has more foundation and a more genuine taste.

By bennett Fuson bfuson@hilite.org

W

hen I found out that Monical’s Pizza was coming to Carmel, I was immeasurably excited.

I had never graced the presence of this particular establishment (which is weird for me, since my passion for food and sizeable girth often lead me to new eateries), but talking to those that had, Monical’s would “blow my mind.” After dining at Monical’s, I can definitely say my mind is blown, but not quite in the way I would have hoped.

To say I was disappointed by Monical’s is an understatement.

Public opinion of those who had dined at the Fishers location led me to believe that Monical’s was the pinnacle of achievement in pizza creation. This is certainly a hard reputation to live down for any restaurant, but the general consensus didn’t lie: Monical’s was good. This suited me fine, since I won’t eat anything but good food.

My first impression of Monical’s was that it was…bland. There were a lot of TVs (on the wall, in the booth), but not much else. Beige walls and brown floors have the potential to be aesthetically pleasing, but it takes a long shot. The only positive aspect of the décor was the mini-flatscreen TV in each booth, enabling me to finally read the ticker along the bottom edge of ESPN’s SportsCenter. Yet even this was

flawed, since the channels couldn’t be changed, forcing customers to watch and rewatch Terrell Owens over and over and over again.

B u t n o one chooses a restaurant due to its television options, so let’s focus our attention on the food.

Monical’s of fers a standard variety of dining options, from salads to sandwiches and the titular pizza. Monical’s also offers a lunch buffet, allowing diners to experience breadsticks, salad and pizza for $6.50. Since this allowed for the gr eatest variety on a budget, I decided to pursue this option. The only positive aspect was the price; otherwise, I probably would have asked for my money back. The salad was nothing to brag about: a bowl with shreds of iceberg lettuce with some sad-looking vegetables on top doesn’t create, in my mind, an ideal appetizer, especially when the waitress brings out a gross plastic bottle of dressing and essentially says, “Do it yourself.”

The pizza, the rock on which the restaurant is settled, is no great shakes either. The thin crust dough is, for lack of a better word, flimsy. I tried to pick up a piece of pepperoni pizza, and it collapsed under its own weight.

This would be reconcilable if ther e was a fair amount of toppings on the pizza, but a thin layer of sauce and even thinner layer of cheese are not catalysts for the effects of gravity on dough. The taste of the pizza wasn’t of any note either. It honestly seemed like the pizza was purchased in the frozen foods section of the Meijer across the street and reheated. The pan pizza was able to maintain its weight and had a slightly fresher taste, but to call it good would be stretching the truth. There was simply too much dough (which was dense and had a distinct lack of taste) and too few of everything else.

By far the worst menu item is the breadsticks. I’ve had bad breadsticks

Monical’s Pizza

Atmosphere: bFood: c

Service: C-

Price: $8-20 Overall: C

before, but these are a new level of low quality. The dough was spongy and tasted accordingly, which would have been aided if the sticks actually looked like they were cooked. The accompanying marinara dipping sauce was decent, but the breadsticks absorbed way too much of the sauce (probably due to the sponge-like traits), so a bit of tomato-overload ensued. For “flavor,” the breadsticks sported large salt cubes. (To say grains would be an understatement.

I’ve seen deer lick smaller cubes of salt). This was by far one of the worst things I’ve ever had, and I still feel a little bit nauseous thinking about it.

The food was poor, but it would have been easy to forgive and forget if the service had been exceptional.

Alas, it was not. The table I was seated at had a leak in the wall, and when I directed my waitress to the problem, instead of redirecting us to another table, she simply looked at me, shrugged and said, “Sorry.”

My dining mates and I had to switch tables on our own, without the aid or sympathies of the staff. No amount of quality food can resurrect this death knoll, and this alone was probably the most disappointing aspect about the restaurant. Food can be redeemed; poor service cannot.

As excited as I was about Monical’s Pizza, I can honestly say that now, with 20/20 hindsight, I would have never eaten there.

With as much excitement as I had for Monical’s, I can only look back now and sigh. Lesson learned.

‘Lakeview Terrace’ breaks genre limits by sam Watermeier swatermeier@hilite.org Based on the preview, “Lakeview Terrace” looks like a typical, hackneyed, suspense thriller. The trailer shows Samuel L. Jackson as corrupt cop Abel Turner stalking and taunting his next-door neighbors, Chris Mattson (Patrick Wilson) and his African American wife Lisa (Kerry Washington). Turner finds interracial coupling so close to his home unacceptable. With Jackson seeming like a classic movie monster, the preview suggests that the film is dreadfully predictable. Thankfully, this could not be further from the truth.

Directed by Neil LaBute, probably better known as the author of such controversial plays as “Fat Pig” and “The Shape of Things,” “Lakeview Terrace” is a complex and haunting study of prejudice and intolerance.

Although LaBute did not write the film (that credit goes to David Loughery and Howard Korder), his signature touch is evident in the exploration of these themes. The film transcends the genre with a brave, unapologetic structure and three-dimensional characters.

Yes, Jackson sometimes steals the scene from his co-stars.

His supporting actors also have trouble keeping up, but this film is engrossing and entertainming nonetheless.

LaBute defies the thriller genre with his pacing and naturalism. Contrary to what the preview suggests, this film is a slow, creeping thriller and there is nothing wrong with that. The fact that the conflicts take generous time to emerge builds tension and makes the film more effective than recent thrillers like the “Bourne” films. Those films often exhaust their audiences halfway through the action with their hectic, relentless pace. “Lakeview Terrace” is also not as stylized as the “Bourne” films or other films of the thriller

genre. The ending, which one would assume to be a ridiculously elaborate chase or fight scene of some sort is, in fact, short, a bit clumsy and therefore more credible to the film.

Jackson’s portrayal shows realism in its complexity.

Similar characters in this genre usually come off as onedimensional monsters. Although a bit simple-minded and blindly aggressive toward this interracial couple for the sole reason that their marriage is unconventional to him, Turner appears regretful about his behavior during certain moments. In one scene, for example, after a violent situation he has created, he sighs and stands frustrated and panicked. These moments of regret make us suspicious. Is he genuinely regretful or planning for his next diabolical scheme? This ambiguity is the core of Jackson’s excellent performance and Labute’s direction. Both keep the audience guessing. Jackson’s performance is hardly his best. He sometimes goes over the top resulting in unintentional comedy like in a scene where he mocks his daughter by yelling and dancing inappropriately. But his constant judgment of the other characters’ behavior makes for several tense and uncomfortable moments. Labute uses Turner’s awkwardness to comment on intolerance in society.

Wilson and Washington’s characters pale by comparison. They are both satisfactory as foils to Jackson’s compelling, sometimes over-sized Abel Turner. They admirably carry the responsibility of being the audience’s eyes and ears. Through these moments, LaBute foreces the audience to re-examine intolerance in our society.

This film shows that previews and early reviews are not always reliable. With its depth and complexity, “Lakeview Terrace” is one of the biggest surprises of the year. So, don’t be so quick to judge like Turner. This is a film well worth seeing.

‘Lakeview terrace’ Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Wilson Director: Neil Labute Run time: 1 hr. 50 min. rating: Pg-13 overall: B+

Since its first demo “No Life ’Til Leather,” Metallica has etched itself in the stone tablets of heavy metal history. Emerging in 1981, Metallica established its niche as one of the “Big Four” pioneering bands of a metal subgenre known as thrash. With each of their first four albums, the members displayed their skill at instrumental composition, musical aggression and lyrical mastery.

With its self-titled release, the band changed direction. As it was known, the “black album” reached new heights of commercial success, but inadvertently lost a portion of Metallica’s fan base. Many would reject the new sound because of a reluctance to move past the purity of the band’s thrash roots, while others followed the band on its new path.

Fast-forward 20 years to the recent release of the band’s ninth studio album “Death Magnetic,” a so-called “return to the band’s thrash roots.” To followers of old-school Metallica such as myself, this is a risky statement to make. Purists would find it difficult to fathom that after four progressive metal albums Metallica would - or could - return to the glory of an album like “Ride The Lightning,” one of the best metal albums ever released.

D e s p i t e i n c r e d u l i t y, Metallica indeed returns to its thrash roots with “Death Magnetic.” At last, the members discovered a delicate equilibrium between the progressive metal sound of the black album and the epic thrash rif fs of “Lightning” to create “Death Magnetic.”

In this latest ef for t, the band took the musical composition signature of the thrash genre and gave it a fluidity of sound. Of course, certain thrash purists might not appreciate the clean and crisp notes, bereft of distor tion. The band abandoned the unclean, “we-recorded-this-in-thebasement” distortion that gave the name “thrash” an onomatopoetic quality.

T h e g r e a t e s t disappointment, however, resides in the CD’s lyrics.

During the band’s thrash reign, Metallica’s lyrics had pr ofound political statements and religious references. The band set up themes and dreamlike stages in its songs; in the titletrack “Ride the Lightning,” vocalist James Hetfield sings from the perspective of a criminal sentenced to death: “Death in the air/ strapped in the electric chair/ this can’t be happening to me,/ who made you God to say,/‘I’ll take your life from you.’”

In contrast to these mature and poignant lyrics, “Death Magnetic” shows a regression of Hetfield’s lyrical abilities. Replaced by commercial appeal, lyrics of a brazen and rebellious nature have been omitted.

Instead, Hetfield writes lines lacking any real depth; the words sound like a pagan chant of an angstridden teenager. In “Cyanide,” Hetfield sings “Empty they say/ Death won’t you let me stay?/ Empty they say/ Death hear me call your name.”

While Metallica lives up to its reputation in regard to musical and compositional ability, the band lyrically falls short of its former glory. New fans will find the CD to be a huge success and no doubt enjoy every minute of it, however, purists would do better to leave this one on the shelf and spare themselves the agony of disappointment.

‘Death Magnetic’ Tone: b

Rhythm: ALyrics: B+

Best Tracks:

“broken, beat & scarred” & “The day that never comes” Worst Track: “Unforgiven III” release date: sept. 10

Overall: B

Page B4 • Friday, October 3, 2008 • Entertainment

Reviews

books. movies. food. music. shopping.

Sweet and Simple

Newly opened Simply Sweet Shoppe caters to the high school student’s inner child by shireen korkzan skorkzan@hilite.org

else. The delicious candy comes from seven distributors from across the country, making the choices more abundant than your average grocery store. You can’t go wrong with having to choose between flavored powder and Happiness in a Bite Cupcakes, or the frozen and colorful Greyhound and warm European sipping chocolate. Or to be on the simpler side, fresh baked cookies from scratch are always available.

Of the hundreds of edible delights available, the best sold are made right from the little bakery near the back of the store. The homemade peanut butter fudge and chocolate ganache are the best products of all, with their gooey centers sticking to the roof of the mouth and the subtle tastes pleasing anyone’s taste buds. Even the buttery and sticky coconut cookies can’t compare to the fudge and ganache. The peanut butter fudge is softer than regular fudge but is bursting with more flavors. It makes you want to spoon a jarful out and stuff in your mouth for a long period of time. The chocolate ganache on the other hand is fancier with its mini muffin shape and white icing swirls on top. But the moment you get to the fudge-like center you know it’s more than just a “muffin.” And to rinse out your sweet bliss, you don’t have to turn to water just yet. The Greyhound is a signature drink of The Simply Sweet Shoppe. In honor of this school, it consists of a raspberry slushy and Sunny Delight. The blue from the raspberry and the yellow from the Sunny D form our school colors of blue and gold, making this drink spirited as well as refreshing. Or if you still need a chocolate fix, try the rich, smooth European sipping chocolate, which consists of milk chocolate. This warm concoction is perfect to have on a cold or rainy day. If you still need chocolate after drinking a medium portion of this drink, you may need to get checked for “chocoholism.”

There isn’t one bad product sold in The Simply Sweet Shoppe. You would buy out the entire store if you could.

Or if you’re short on cash but have a dime to spare, you can always buy 11 pieces of “retro candy” (old-fashioned candy) for that price. Now you can feel the nostalgia with your parents and grandparents. After school, don’t go home first. Relax to the warmth and comfort of delicious treats while hanging out with your friends. Or if you’re in a hurry, pull out your dime; get 11 pieces of oldfashioned candy and trot home, just like Mother did.

Close your eyes, sit back and reminisce. Feel the nostalgia of being a little kid in a small quiet town of an eastern state in old-fashioned America. Every morning, you do small chores around the house for Mom and Dad to earn a dime and then head out for school. When the final bell rings, you run with a group of friends to the local candy shop, the one place where all your worries temporarily go away and the only thing on your mind is chocolate and lollipops. You could stay in your sweet haven for hours, but you have to leave early to do homework. So you spend your dime on 10 small pieces of candy and then trot home in delight.

Unfortunately, you’re a 21st century kid living in the Midwest. Worse yet, you live in a large, busy suburb outside of Indianapolis, and all you see after school are art galleries and expensive restaurants.

You’re lucky to even get a quarter-pound-sized burger for six bucks once a week.

But now your childhood has been spared, thanks to Bernie Szuhaj, Jill Zaniker and Lynn Wiegand.

Together, this trio transformed an 1872 house into The Simply Sweet Shoppe, a brand-new candy store located at 30 N. Rangeline Road in the Carmel Arts District.

Inspired by their own children, the main purpose of starting this business was to create joyful memories for people of all ages. Memories that today’s little children can tell their future children and grandchildren of for them to imagine a world so sweet. Memories rich and smooth that today’s high school students can talk about at their 20th high school reunion, debating whether eating chocolate truffles or sour candies were the best part of PLC Late Starts. Memories the grown-ups and elderly can reminisce of when they were children visiting their local candy store from long ago the moment they step foot in The Simply Sweet Shoppe. And it has done just that with its cozy, warm and friendly atmosphere and employers as appealing as its delicious treats. The candy-themed music and stuffed animals add a youthful touch to the little store.

Most of the candy offered cannot be sold at regular stores, so it’s worth the extra trip going to The Simply Sweet Shoppe just to get that flavor not found anywhere

Owen williamson / Photos

SWEET TREATS: The Simply Sweet Shoppe caters to every variety of sweet tooth with jelly beans, lollipops, sour candy, gummy bears, gum, chocolates and more. As the first and only exclusive candy retailer in the city, the Simply Sweet Shoppe has recently become a one-stop-shop for any and all sweet-related purchases while remaining actively involved in community affairs.

Simply Sweet Shoppe Atmosphere: A Food: A Service: AOverall: A

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Phone: 317-844-4288 1356 S Range Line Rd Carmel, IN 46032

Student Section • Friday, October 3, 2008 • Page B5

Student warns against following empty rhetoric Throughout this election the American people have been saturated in rhetoric from Both the Obama and McCain campaigns. Whether the buzz words are experience, change, honor or hope, both sides claim they have it and the other doesn’t. There’s good reason for this, it is hard to get people to vote based on the policies they’d like to see enacted because the public opinion is so volatile.

The average American has no desired telos for their ideologies, but rather has a dynamic sense of what they might want to see accomplished sometime in the near future. This is exactly why politicians try to instead appeal to the public’s more reliable sense of ethics and optimism; if they prove to the people that they are truly the “cure

Guest Columnist Joey Baertschi

for what ails ya” comprehensive solution to America’s problems, they’ll win the election.

John and Barack are trying to win votes with rhetoric, not policy, and quite frankly it’s driving me insane. I was relatively apathetic in the past presidential elections that have occurred in my life. 2004, To write your however, was when I first noticed own column and a lack of substance in politicians. have your voice The empty rhetoric started with heard, contact the Republicans’ constant talk of national security, traveled all the the student way through John Kerry’s flip flops section editor at and W’s grades at Yale and ended mqiao@hilite.org somewhere with Bush winning reelection. Whether I supported John Kerry or George Bush is irrelevant. What is relevant is that it doesn’t matter who voters support. Both sides

got voice?

Honk For Trees

amount to nothing more than empty suites.

Obama is a poised, savvy, smooth, intellectual elite who knows how to change America for the better.

McCain is an experienced maverick and a war hero that has done his best to be bipartisan during his six centuries in Senate. Neither, according to the other, has enough experience or is enough of an outsider to deserve the presidency, but come November, America will have to decide who is going to sit in the oval office until January 2012. The fact that election remains in a dead heat indicates that either America really does have a practically perfect cleavage between Democrats and Republicans, or that the average American still isn’t really sure for who they are going to vote, or, most likely, a combination of both.

Since both sides are so convinced the other is bad, I believe we should not vote based on the talking points and the rhetoric of the politicians but instead on the current state of our country.

Out of the Locker

Students protest against construction, make impact on environment

Junior Cassandra “Cassie” Wild tells all through the contents of her locker

min Qiao / Photo Illustration

Compiled by Tracy Sun and Jinny Zhang Submited photo / Devon McVey

SPEAK FOR THE TREES: Freshman Devon McVey holds up signs to protest against the cutting down of trees. McVey and her neighbors tallied up all the honks she received in protest against cutting down trees and they planned to send the tallies to the mayor. by jade schwarting jschwarting@hilite.org

L

ike many others in Carmel, freshman Devon McVey and eight of her neighborhood friends got tired of the closed roads and forested areas being cut down due to construction. Different from most, however, McVey and her friends took action and decided to stand up against the construction and protect the trees just days away from being excavated.

“I like trees because they provide homes for animals and cool our planet. They had been putting up the same-looking buildings all around (Carmel) and I just got tired of it,” McVey said.

Two years ago, the group decided to protest against the building of an office complex on a forested piece According to the HiLite of land along Meridian near their neighborhood. McVey said their main student name list, there were goal was to halt the construction, or 4,199 students registered at least get people to think about at CHS as of the first day the issue. of school. We plan to cover “I got the idea from something some of them randomly. This I saw on TV. I had thought of the week, we feature number idea (of the protest) that weekend, but since there was a garage sale and it was a sunny day, I thought I’d do it then,” McVey said.

In order to attract attention to the issue, McVey and her friends made bright posters that said, ‘Honk to save the trees’ and stretched the attention of the public further by For more having one protestor do tricks on information his bicycle. on our selection Carmel City Engineer, Michael process, visit www.

McBride said that protests are hilite.org listened to by the government and are in no way a waste of time. “Input received (by) the City of Carmel from its citizens is always taken seriously.

When people voice their concerns, it really can make a difference in the decisions that are eventually made.

Even if a project is not stopped or eliminated, the final product or the manner in which it is constructed might be modified in order to address the citizens’ concerns,” McBride said via e-mail.

Although McBride said protests such as these have occurred in the past, he said he could not recall a time where he had seen or heard of one carried out by teenagers.

He said, however, that with all of the construction in the city, construction protests do occur often.

“Protests to construction are most often staged by individuals that are directly impacted by a project,” he said. “These individuals are obviously most concerned because their lives, and many times their properties, are being affected by a proposed project. Therefore, it is understandable that these individuals would be most vocal about a specific project. However, the deciding bodies must also consider that with many projects, thousands of

Everybody has a story

2,435

people stand to benefit by a given improvement. It is the deciding body’s goal to find a way to handle development that minimizes the impact to the few, while still realizing the greater benefits for the many.”

During McVey’s protest, she tallied the number of “honks to save the trees” the group received. She said the number was somewhere over 100 and “we weren’t even out there that long,” She said she planned to send the tallies of honks to the mayor of Carmel, but said she couldn’t figure out how to carry out the process.

McVey said her parents supported her ideas and helped the group by taking them to the store to get posters and supplies for the protest. She said that most people seemed supportive of the cause, mainly due to their good positioning along the road.

“We stood in front of the trees that you could see from the road so that people could see the cause. Most people honked and (kept) driving, but there were a few guys in cherry pickers that drove by and just glared at us.

You could tell they didn’t really care so we just ignored them,” McVey said.

According to McBride, many levels of environmental preservation are considered when construction plans are made. He said that construction, if not carried out in a sensitive manner, can have a terrible effect on the environment.

“I think the time when projects could be carried out with no regard for the environment is long gone,” he said. “Every project must give consideration to its individual environmental constraints and strive to accomplish a completed product that is as sustainable as possible. In the past, new construction too many times was only environmentally sensitive when regulation forced it to be. Now, it is becoming more clear that there are benefits, both economic and social, to building in an environmentally sensitive manner.”

Almost two years after McVey’s protest, the forested land still remains but is for sale. Whether or not the protest group had that large of an impact as to stop the construction or not, no one may never know or admit.

McVey said, “(It’s important to stand up for what you believe in) because if someone says someone else will do it then it will never get done. But if you stand up for the issue, it will get (acknowledged) and the world will be a better place.”

This Issue on Hilite Online We feature your choice from last issue’s poll

Behind the Scenes at CHS Walking through the hallway, senior Elizabeth Mitchell noticed how clean the hallways were even after school had been let out and 4000 students had left the building. She never really understood how much work actually went into keeping the school clean and functional until her boyfriend, former Greyhound Sidney “Sid” Chappell ‘08, stayed after school to help them out…

…continued at www.hilite.org

Disney Princess Notepad: “My friends and I write notes on it. It’s just really cool in general.”

Disney Princess Crayons: “I found those in the clearance aisle of Michael’s. (Junior) Laura (Buehner) is my locker buddy, and we’re really into Disney Princess stuff.”

Wallpaper: “My neighbor is an interior designer, and she gave me some scrapbook paper. It makes my locker more cheery.”

Flavor-blasted Goldfish: “They’re, like, from heaven, my favorite.”

Nutty Bars: “Me and my friend always buy them for each other.”

Kudos: “My friend (junior) Courtney (Goldsbury) bought these, and she brought up the food sharing system we have.”

Blow Pops: “Courtney brought those because they were nasty, and she wanted to get rid of them.”

Business Law Book: “It’s an interesting class. It’s kind of boring, but the people in my class are funny.”

AP Calculus AB: “Yeah, I’m in AP Calc. I bring food to that class because by the end of the day I’m starving.

It’s my fourth period class.”

Digital Camera: “Laura brought that for Homecoming day, so we could take pictures of us decked out in our spirit gear.”

Graphing Calculator: “Half of the time I forget to bring it to class and always get in trouble and then get lost in my notes.”

German IV Textbook: “We have a new teacher this year.

It’s hard because all of my class loved our old teacher.”

Backpack/Bag: “I bring a satchel to school because I can carry a lot of stuff around, and so I don’t have to run back to my locker.”

Cell phone: “I usually have my ringer off. I carry it around with me to check the time because the hallways don’t have a lot of clocks.”

Car Keys: “I usually just throw them on the top shelf of my locker. My car used to be my older sister’s, and so I inherited her keys too. They have the grocery discount cards on them, a discount card to every grocery store imaginable. It’s kinda ridiculous.”

Page B6 • Friday, October 3, 2008 • Perspectives

Love created by more than chemicals life’s too short by lexi muir A recent article from the Utne Reader called “The Future of Love: Kiss Romance Goodbye, It’s Time for the Real Thing” focused on making love “real” and taking the romance out of it. The article took what used to be all about romance and broke it down into science, making it “real” and more fitting for today’s lifestyle and beliefs rather than that of the twentieth century.

There was once a time when the human race believed in concepts like love. Love was happiness.

It was bliss. It was full of smiles and happiness and could last for an eternity. Love was so powerful that William Shakespeare ultimately made an entire career writing about it. No one asked questions. No one tried to make up an equation to explain love. It was just accepted.

But the magic is disappearing. As the article states, marriage used to be designed to fit the social and economic needs of society and had little or nothing to do with love. If this is true, then marriage today must be a waste, right? Since no one can seem to fall and stay in love for more than a few years anyway, that must mean that no one can.

The article then goes on to chemically break down love and call it a “chemical experience.” It says that there are “chemicals of love” which are addictive “amphetetamine-like” elements that are the cause of the feeling that used to be called love.

Science once again explains one of the last aspects of life to remain a mystery and in doing so sucks the romance and bliss out of it.

Apparently, there are even people who are love addicts, falling in love over and over again. This “love disease,” which was described as progressive and fatal, is being compared to alcoholism and drug addiction, two serious health problems in the world.

So my question is this: When did falling in love become a disease? From a broader perspective, why does love, and ever ything else in the world for that matter, need to be scientifically broken down so that we can understand it the same way we understand a chemistr y experiment? Why do we need science to prove everything we believe in?

Not only has science taken the mystery out of love, it has also taken it out of almost every other aspect of life.

Recently, scientists have worked to create a way to “map out” the genes of children. They believe that someday they will be able to inject the fetus with cer tain genes to ensure that the child is born a certain sex and even with certain features. When this becomes real, what happens to those parents who tell their child to be whatever they want to be, to dream big and to fight for what they want? Will human drive and determination someday become a moot point because the successful men and women are decided at childbirth? What will happen to society then, when working hard will no longer get people what they want?

If science has gone this far, I fear for what lies in our future. How far will science go to uncover the mysteries to everything in life? How far are they willing to go and what are we willing to accept? Life used to be beyond science. What we couldn’t explain we accepted. We had magic and mystery in our lives that kept us guessing. Nowadays, however, we know everything. We want answers and we want them now. Why does this happen? How does it happen?

We can’t accept anything for what it is but instead, we pick it apart in order to completely understand it.

We literally break it down to a science. Where’s the magic in that?

And now that we have solved the myster y of love, childbirth and the future with a chemical combination, what’s next? Will commitment be thrown into the trash because love is just science and has nothing to do with feelings for another person?

And when no one believes in the enchantment of love and commitment, where do the people who still believe in the magic go? Where do they run to escape from this faithless society? Science has taken statistics and studies and beaten the magic of life out of the human race. Love has become something factual and predictable rather than magical and unexpected.

Love should not be explained, it should just exist.

It’s the thrill between two people, the hope that we can someday be happy and sometimes, it’s the only thing we can hold onto for sanity in the world.

It’s our breath when we feel that we are drowning in life and can’t reach the surface for air. It’s the mystery that no one can understand or feel until they experience it for themselves.

Love is a scar y thing, but that’s life. Taking chances, falling in love and even dying are parts of life, and there are lessons to be learned through all of them. In a world where everything is so planned out and over-explained, magic can give us hope.

It’s magic that brings us our last chances, our first kisses and our healing hearts. It’s magic that makes us believe in things like love and life after death. It’s magic that keeps us alive. Lexi Muir is a reporter for the HiLite. Contact her at lmuir@hilite.org.

And now that we have solved the mystery of love, childbirth and the future with a chemical combination, what’s next? Will commitment be thrown into the trash because love is just science and has nothing to do with feelings for another person?

s ta f f p e r s p e c t i v e

F

When living in Carmel, pros outweigh cons

rom time to time, the city of Carmel evokes negative feelings from Places to Raise a Family,” also listed that these top communities “have the both its own citizens and those of surrounding towns. People who live resources to promote physical, social and cognitive development.” here complain about roundabouts, property taxes, road closings and After ranking communities based on school systems, Forbes considered the affected feel of the Arts and Design District. One needs look no farther cost of living, graduation rate, standardized test scores, home price, than a CHS sporting event to feel the immense disdain from opponents, commute time, crime rate, air quality, per-capita income and other largely stemming from Carmel’s affluent reputation. The word “Carmel” is measures. After this thorough investigation, Hamilton County proved better taboo in some areas of this state. However, although some may criticize than any other county nationwide in these rankings. this city, solid evidence suggests that it is actually one of the best places Time magazine praised a unique aspect of Carmel culture in its Sept. 4 to live in the nation, and citizens here should be reminded that, despite article “You Want a Revolution.” Time reported that since 2001, the city has concerns, they do enjoy a quality of life that is better than most other constructed 50 roundabouts. These construction projects may have been places in the United States. inconvenient to citizens here, but Time lists several reasons When Carmel citizens say they dislike their city, it may why they should be grateful. In the past seven years, there be a case of not being able to see the forest for the trees. has been a 78 percent reduction in car accidents involving Our stand Viewing the city from a distance yields surprisingly different injuries. Cars also have saved an estimated 24,000 gallons results. Experts from around the nation sing praises of both Living in Carmel of gas per year per roundabout because they cut down on Carmel and Hamilton County, especially recently. car idling. The U.S. Conference of Mayors honored Brainard is worth the few himself with a climate-protection award this year.

Using several different forms of criteria, Carmel and surrounding cities in Hamilton County consistently rank Expert city planners and executives know more about drawbacks. highly in national surveys and studies. In 2004 the American designing a community than the average citizen. In 2003, City Business Journal conducted a study of the best places Brainard shared his hope that constructing the Arts and to live in America. The ranking was determined by statistics such as ease of Design District along with Central Park and other attractions “will only travel, educational opportunities, housing price, housing size and median improve our rankings in databases such as the one in the American City household income. Hamilton County ranked eighth out of the 20 highestBusiness Journal.” History has shown that Brainard was correct. ranked counties in the survey.

While citizens complain about aspects of Carmel, they should actually As far back as 2003, Money Magazine named Carmel one of the best consider themselves lucky to live in such a nationally acclaimed city and places to live in America with a population under 100,000. county. Carmel has proven itself to be a superior community by many In more recent studies, Carmel has attracted prominent national media different standards. Instead of putting their city down, Carmel’s citizens attention. Forbes magazine ranked Hamilton County as the single best should be proud of what their home represents and enjoy the safe place in America to raise a family. The Forbes article, titled “America’s Best environment it provides.

Min Qiao / art

China’s recent progress deserves international credit chai town By tim chai After the International Olympic Committee awarded China with this year’s summer games in 2001, people around the world watched the country with increased attention and baited breath. While Chinese nationals rejoiced with weeks of celebration, the rest of the world eagerly looked to the Olympics as a way to accelerate openness in China and facilitate improvement on its human rights record. As seven years passed, these stares gradually turned into harsh criticism and sometimes outright violence. To be sure, China still has a lot of ground to walk, but its progress (and the out-of-the-world spectacle it hosted weeks earlier) has been unfairly undervalued by the West.

Modern China is like one of Monet’s famous lily pad paintings. If you look closely at a spot on the canvas, you will see things that seem more like random brush strokes than a priceless landscape. Take a few steps back, and the sight in front of you is far more appealing. Since the onset of the Beijing Olympics, outsiders have placed modern China under a microscope, finding much of what they see as ugly. Granted, there are many blemishes to choose from—the government is repressive and undemocratic, and it censors news coverage and maintains a monopoly on political power. While attention to these aspects of modern China is well-warranted and muchdeserved, it is a shame to focus on its sins to the exclusion of everything else. This preoccupation with China’s faults makes it impossible to take in the entire compass of Chinese life and the vast changes it has undergone in just the last few decades.

Westerners can easily forget that this authoritarian country used to be a totalitarian one—a regime that, during the three decades after the communist party took over in 1949, was responsible for more than 70 million deaths; the government deliberately fomented savage social upheavals and devastated China’s cultural heritage. However, even a slight glance at modern China unveils the difference between present and past. Since Deng Xiaoping liberalized the economy in the 1970s, it has expanded beyond belief; no country in history has ever lifted so many people out of poverty so rapidly. The landscape of prison camps has largely eroded, conceding a great deal of personal freedom to ordinary people. They can work and live where they choose, they can travel and study abroad, and they have access to global communication resources like the Internet (note that these rights were nonexistent when my parents were growing up). Perhaps most promising of all is the growing sense among the Chinese that they are entitled to certain basic rights, a giant leap for a country where individual liberties have been an alien concept for thousands of years.

China’s recent progress is not only remarkable in its own history, but also

compared to the rest of the world. A recent BBC article surveyed major countries and their overall international image; China placed toward the top of the list, surpassing the United States by more than 10 points. Even Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has publicly expressed his admiration of certain aspects of China, including its extensive infrastructure network and rapid development. If the last decades have taught us anything, it is to not underestimate China’s ability for positive change. There is good reason to expect that, in the coming years and decades, China will continue to progress socially, politically and economically. Hoover Institution fellow Henry Rowen, an East Asia specialist, notes that economic development and democracy almost universally move in tandem. China currently has more than one trillion dollars in its reserve, and that figure is growing by hundreds of billions of dollars every year. As that figure continues to increase, more democracy will seep into the Chinese system; Rowen predicts, given China’s growth trajectory, that it will be classified as one of the free nations of the earth by 2025.

In light of this, maybe it’s time to evaluate our own country. As evident by the BBC poll, we can point our fingers as much as we want, but there will always be thousands pointing right back. In some regards, perhaps we can learn from the Chinese. When the United States—regarded as the most liberal and diversified country in the world—witnessed the inauguration of our first Muslim congressional representative, China had already elected 12 Muslim congressmen, two Muslim governors (out of a total of 31 provinces) and a Muslim official in the Central Committee. When Hillary Clinton announced her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination earlier this year, and Sarah Palin declared her addition as the vice-presidential candidate to the McCain ticket, a wave of feminism swept the country as, in their own words, the glass ceiling started to crack; in contrast, China’s vice premier Wu Yi received her post more than five years earlier. Most recently, during a time that many financialists characterize as the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, the United States government was forced to bail-out Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, the Lehman Brothers and AIG (all of which China has invested hundreds of billions of dollars into), adding to the more than 9.8 trillion dollar federal debt (of which almost a trillion is owed to China); by comparison, China has enough reserves to create a hedge fund powerful enough to buy the top several companies on the Fortune 500 index.

I leave off by asking you to simply give credit where it’s long overdue.

Continue the constructive criticism of the Chinese communist party and acknowledge that China has further obstacles to overcome, but take a few steps back and admire the rapid progress it has undergone in the last few decades and the beautiful painting it is quickly becoming. In the short run, remember the Beijing Olympics not for the few scars marring certain aspects, but rather by the magnificence of the whole. Its ability to rally and host the best (in this case, I do feel justified in using this superlative) opening and closing ceremonies in the history of the Olympic Games is proof enough of China’s bright future. Tim Chai is front page editor for the HiLite. Contact him at tchai@hilite.org.

Perspectives • Friday, October 3, 2008 • Page B7

Palin politics cause concern There were certainly hopes that John McCain’s “straight talk” could re-align the Republicans on the path to righteousness.

But I honestly believe that Sarah Palin’s nomination was a death knoll for the party.

Oh Yes he did!

I

By bennett fuson

generally try to take everything in stride, but over the last few weeks something has been bothering me that I just can’t shake. This has absolutely nothing to do with me, but almost everything to do with my future. It’s funny how sometimes if you want something really badly, it comes to you in a way that isn’t quite how you pictured it. This is the case for thousands of angry (some could say “bitter”) members of the electorate who were anxious to carry Hillary Clinton to that big house on the Hill but instead received their blessing in the form of one Sarah Palin.

I definitely have my political views set in stone, but seeing as how this is a public forum, I try to stay as bipartisan as possible. However, I must confess that I am legitimately scared of this woman.

What Sarah Palin embodies is certainly not the “strong, powerful woman” image Hillar y Clinton tried so hard to push for the past few months. Tina Fey struck not just comedic gold, but a fairly accurate representation with her impression of Palin juxtaposed to Amy Poehler’s Hillary Clinton in the season premiere of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”

Whereas Hillary took great strides to break the “glass ceiling” of gender discrimination, Palin only seems like she is John McCain’s newest trick pulled out of the metaphoric hat. She certainly boosted McCain’s approval ratings after the Republican National Convention…until she was let loose on the rest of society. I’ve heard some outrageous things, but basing a foreign policy on the fact that one can “see Russia from my house?” That’s not even funny as a joke.

It goes without saying that in the next few weeks, Palin will be tirelessly compared to Clinton in almost every way.

And to be honest, I don’t think that’s fair to Hillary. Palin’s political career is blotted with more stains than her son’s hockey jersey, let alone her personal life. It’s certainly not fair to attack her family, so I’m not going to. It is fair game, though, to attack what she deems as “acceptable” action.

Have you heard of the “Bridge to Nowhere?” If you live in the continental United States, chances are the answer is no. So let me fill you in. Palin ran in 2006 for governor of Alaska on a simple promise: build the Gravina Island and Knik Arm bridges that the former administration had started but not completed. As soon as she was in office, Palin scrapped the Gravina Island bridge project and spent only $25 million of the $442 million dollars given to Alaska for the projects. This money was part of what is commonly known as an “earmark” (money given to states by the federal government for specific purposes); Alaska is currently the leading state in “earmark” requests.

If this case of missing funds doesn’t upset you in a time of recession, then I don’t know what will.

(A humorous side note: McCain criticized Palin for lobbying for earmarks in her second term on three separate occasions before selecting her for his running mate. His next goal is to remember when the election actually takes place.)

Perhaps what Palin is best known for is her unfailing duty to throw people out of office. In her first term as mayor of the bustling metropolis of Wasilla, she fired the local librarian for opposing library censorship and the chief of police for “not feeling like” he supported her.

But her pinnacle of achievement in this issue is one that is currently being fought over. In July, Palin fired her Public Safety Commissioner, Walt Monegan. After the sacking, evidence came to light that Palin had asked Monegan to fire her former brother-in-law. Palin is currently resisting subpoenas by the court to testify on her behalf. And we all thought Nixon could lie.

This was supposed to be a redeeming year for the Republicans, equitable to the USA Olympic Men’s basketball team. The elephant party has been on a losing streak for quite some time now, but there were certainly hopes that John McCain’s “straight talk” could re-align the Republicans on the path to righteousness. But I honestly believe that Sarah Palin’s nomination was a death knoll for the party. Taking her words out of context, it’s almost like putting a pitbull’s paw on the nuclear launch button; now all we have to do is wait for the fallout.

Some hope that Sarah Palin will shatter the “glass ceiling.” If she does, I can only hope I find shelter from the shards. Bennett Fuson is an Entertainment editor for the HiLite. Contact him at bfuson@hilite.org.

Education possible Accuracy, honesty key to success solution to growth of terrorism Just Floating Get happy By meher ahmad In the post-9/11 world we live in, terrorism is forever an imminent threat. Last month, the United States looked back on seven years after the tragedy that was Sept. 11.

Since then, the suicide bombing has continued. Whether in the busy markets of Tel Aviv or in the metros of London, terrorism has grown and spread like unrelenting cancer.

Recently a suicide bomber detonated about 600 kg of explosives in front of the Marriot Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan. It left a 50-foot crater in the parking lot and brought down two stories of burning metal and debris.

My aunt and her family were in the hotel eating dinner. Thankfully, no one was injured since they were in the back and the blast was in the front.

My aunt described to my mother the feeling of an exploding bomb. She was taking her young son, my cousin, to the restroom, and on their way out, the bomb detonated. She fell over from the blast and the room became engulfed in smoke and debris. She immediately began looking for her son who was crying a few feet in front of her. She then ran into the room where her husband and youngest son were standing, frozen in shock. Her shoes had fallen off her feet when she fell, and when she ran out of the building, the broken glass cut deep into her feet. Their car, parked in the back, had a broken windshield. Her husband, still reeling from the blast, kicked it out and they drove home in the shell of the vehicle.

My initial reaction to this news was typical of anyone who knew his or her loved ones were intentionally harmed: anger. How dare some ignorant infidel further tarnish the name of my country and hurt my family? How dare he make a mockery of the Islamic religion and prove the image of the Muslim world the media has painted?

Anger, though, I quickly realized, does not find solutions. Anger results in rash reactions, like invading whole countries on false allegations, or taking certain rights away from innocent civilians. Anger results in more bombings, both suicidal and planned by gover nments.

Anger doesn’t solve the problem, it escalates it.

After thinking thr ough the whole hotel bombing thoroughly, I thought of the man who did it. The

man driving the truck, armed with explosives around his waist.

He was probably illiterate, or at least brainwashed into believing that in detonating this bomb he would be given a free pass to heaven.

It is interesting to see the bomber’s perspectives and what drives men to such inhumane lengths. Critically acclaimed movies such as “Paradise Now” and “Syriana” show the journey of such men, from suppressed voices to pawns in a global battle.

The people who drive men to these acts are the real culprits, not the suicide bomber themselves.

The only way the masterminds reach their ultimate goal is the same way priests did to crusaders: lying. Who is to question the word of an educated literate man when everyone else is illiterate?

Education is the true battlefield against terrorism.

According to the CIA world fact book, the literacy rate in Afghanistan is a dismal 28.1 percent, with a shocking 12.6 percent for women. Pakistan’s overall literacy rate is 49.9 percent, which is still substantially lower than the 99 percent of the United States.

When the young men and sometimes women of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Palestine and other countries know for themselves what the Qu’ran says, they can think for themselves what their God would want. When they can read the effects of suicide bombings on society, they can feel a sense of responsibility and morality. They can make their own decisions, instead of listening only to the misinformed Mullah who feeds them.

Maybe it is idealistic of me to think that words and books and pens can stop this. It seems like a simple solution to a complex problem, as one of my teachers would say. But maybe this a simple solution that ought to have a chance, because after millions of innocent people dead, including civilians and suicide bombers, something has to change.

Meher Ahmad is an Entertainment reporter and part of the ads staff for the HiLite. Contact her at mahmad@hilite.org.

Along

by brittani wheeler This weekend I took a time machine back to freshman year as I jostled through old papers in search of previous school schedules, awards and odds and ends for college applications.

I stumbled upon old notes and began to rifle through them, enjoying looking at the grades I had received and marveling at the random information I had memorized in previous years.

Included in that stack were notes that I had taken during my Newspaper I class over the lecture on libel.

Glancing over the notes, the paper began with the definition of libel as written falsehood and continued to go into depth on specific cases of large-scale offenses such as the one committed by The New Republic’s former reporter, Steven Glass. While Glass didn’t commit libel by definition (as it’s hard to lie if the entire character is fabricated), the well-respected newspaper’s reputation was tarnished when Glass chose to fabricate stories by creating sources, quotes and situations. The fact-checkers on the paper failed to follow up on any information in his stories and left its unsuspecting readership vulnerable to fall for the “true” tall tales.

Once lost, this full credibility never returned. The paper may not have gained back its credibility, but it did get more media as this story made it to the big screen. Although this much recognition may have been a dream come true for Glass, who seemed to like seeing his name attached to a byline, it is not the way that I would prefer to go down in history.

After working as first and foremost a reporter, then a page editor and now a managing editor on the HiLite, I know that we always strive for accuracy on our paper. This goal stated; I learned my lesson on the importance of accuracy early. As a sophomore reporter, I inter viewed a source, celebrity Jacob Lloyd ‘08 (cast in “Star Wars” and “Jingle All the Way”), who decided that it would be amusing to make up a false name, Matt Riley, when being interviewed. A naïve new reporter, I accepted his name was as he said and when his name did not appear on the name list, I assumed that he was a new student not included in the list. Furthermore, no one checked the facts and the staff figured it out after it printed through one of our safety measures of source questionnaires.

The yellow source questionaire we send to all sources came back with no writing besides the fact that there was no person enrolled here with that name. Everyone on staff associated with that page lost points, but the problem started with me. It was an embarrassment to have my byline printed with false information under it. For our readers, we tried to rectify the problem by printing a correction in the next issue. But the damage had been done. The credibility of our publication had already been tarnished because of something I did. That glaring correction box will always remain on the front page to be seen. While I didn’t enjoy the lesson at the time, I learned the hard way that if you take shortcuts as I did, you not only affect yourself, but you alsohurt others around you.

The theme of journalistic credibility falls into a much larger picture of personal integrity. During my sophomore honors English class, my teacher gave the class a research paper forewarning us that if we plagiarized, we would fail.

About a month later, we turned in the lengthy draft for the final time to be graded.

I was relieved to finally be done, as hours of painstaking citation had kept me up on many long nights. Finally she passed back the graded paper and down-cast eyes looked at the sheet with increasingly angry looks. The students proceeded to complain about their dismal grades and wondered why it was so wrong to cite incorrectly.

But the teacher was right; plagarism is a big deal. It is vital for students to understand that the problem starts at a research paper and can progress from sounding innocent to something far more sinister. Glass himself, in an interview for “60 Minutes” said his fabrication started small-a quote here or there-and ended in fullblown “whoppers,” as he said. Not giving credit where credit is due and fabrication of information fall hand in hand. The decisions that students make now, in other words, reflect who we will become in the future.

The decision to be responsible now is the only option. It’s a tough lesson to learn but an important one. I learned mine. I’m not sure if Stephen Glass will ever learn his. Brittani Wheeler is managing editor for the HiLite.

Contact her at bwheeler@hilite.org.

The theme of journalistic credibility falls into a much larger picture of personal integrity.

Contact information Mailing Address: 520 E. Main St., Carmel, IN 46032 Phone: (317) 846-7721, Ext. 7143 Web site: www.hilite.org E-mail: Staff members of the HiLite may be contacted by using their first initial and their last name appending @hilite.org. For example, Amy Flis will receive mail sent to aflis@hilite.org.

Responding to the HiLite

Letters to the editor will be accepted for the Oct. 17 issue no later than Oct. 8. Letters may be submitted in Room C147, placed in the mailbox of Jim Streisel, e-mailed to letters@hilite.org or mailed to school. All letters must be signed.

Names will be published. (Letters sent via e-mail will be taken to a student’s SRT for him to sign.)

Letters must not contain personal attacks against an individual and may be edited.

Purpose The HiLite is a student publication distributed to students, faculty and staff of Carmel High School, with a press run of 4,500. Copies are distributed to every school in the Carmel Clay district as well as the Chamber of Commerce, city hall and the Carmel Clay Public Library.

The paper serves as a public forum and two-way communication for both the school and the community. Opinions expressed in the newspaper are not necessarily those of CHS nor the Carmel Clay system faculty, staff or administration.

Credentials The HiLite belongs to the Indiana High School Press Association, Quill & Scroll and the National Scholastic Press Association.

Advertising Businesses may advertise in the HiLite if their ads adhere to guidelines. The advertising policy is available in Room C147 or at www.hilite.org

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Amy Flis Cathy Chen Brittani Wheeler Charlie Duncan Ariel Aisen Jinny Zhang Stephanie Hodgin Beth Brookie Renny Logan Hera Ashraf Bennett Fuson Jade Luo Rosemary Boeglin Sarah Sheafer Tim Chai Matthew Kanitra Steven Chen Michelle Hu Michael Wang Reid Conner Maria LaMagna Evelyn Forbes Kaitlyn Lampe Andrew Browning Lily Zhao Min Qiao Yon-Sue Choi Shireen Korkzan Renny Logan Jim Streisel John Williams Barbara Underwood

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Page B8 • Friday, October 3, 2008 • 15 Minutes of Fame

Against the Grain

by the numbers Below is the number and types of animals that Kiser’s family owns at home

To for submit ema 15 Min nomin u a i at s l Steph tes of tions hod ani Fam gin@ e Ho e, hilit dgin e.or g

Freshman Levi Kiser falls against the stereotypes of a typical Carmel student by living on a family farm with many types of animals

2

20 maris schiess / photos

by tommy sneider tsneider@hilite.org

4

How did you end up working on the farm?

My grandpa used to run it, and then he died of lung cancer, and so my dad took over.

What kind of farm do you own?

The farm is a corn and soybean farm. We do corn in one year and soybean in the other, but we alternate between the fields, so we have both each year. We have 800 acres.

Carmel isn’t known for being the most agricultural area in the state. What is it like living on a farm?

Our farm is actually in Royal Center, Indiana, about an hour away from here. I go up there. We don’t really have fields here, but we have two cows, some chickens and a garden where we grown some sweet corn and other vegetables like tomatoes and peppers.

How is your lifestyle different from others?

5

Well, I have to do more chores. You have to take care of the animals, and you have to till the fields with the tractor and other equipment.

What types of jobs do you do around the farm?

I mow filter strips, which is grass along the ditches that the government has you plant so that chemicals do not get in the water, with a 15-foot mower. I also disc the fields, which is basically when you get them ready to plant.

What’s the best part of working on a farm?

It’s a lot of fun because you get to ride on ATVs, which are little four-wheel things that you can ride around with.

And the worst?

You have more chores than if you didn’t.

What is the most challenging activity that you need to do on the farm?

The part that is probably most boring is sometimes when you have to disc the fields, you have to go back and forth, and it can get boring.

What challenges do you encounter being in a non-farming area?

Well, when Carmel wanted to annex us, there was an ordinance that said you can’t have pigs. We still have them, since they said that as long as nobody complains about them we can keep them.

How does weather affect you and your ability to farm?

If it’s raining, then you can’t really because the ground is too wet, and it’s too muddy. It has to be the perfect weather, which would be where it hasn’t rained in a few days before, and mostly dry. There has to be some rain when you aren’t harvesting, so the crops actually grow.

Describe your usual daily routine when there is What do you do during the winter? work to be done.

I don’t do a ton of it, but my dad gets up early during planting season to plant the field all day basically.

Then, you have to have someone fill up the planter when you run out of seed. During the harvest season, if it hasn’t rained, you basically water it. And then, when all of that is done, you have to bring it to the grain bins to dump it and have it put in big storage places. Sometimes you have to run the drier which dries the corn so that when you put it in the bins it stays wet and mold.

Where is your farm?

Royal Center, Indiana. My cousins live up there with their dad and my other cousins who live in Noblesville, and their dad helps. My grandma has a house up there too.

During the winter we do not have to do much about it, but in the summer we go up there more than in the spring. Usually, we go every weekend and the summer a few days during the week.

Do you think you will continue to farm as a career in the future?

Possibly when my dad quits, but I don’t know.

How do you think you being a farmer makes you unique?

There’s a lot more experiences that you would not have, more responsibilities sometimes when you drive the big equipment. There’s also a lot of trust involved too.

4-H involvement here not typical for students by cassie dugan cdugan@hilite.org When many Carmelites hear the word Noblesville tossed into conversation, they smile and crack a joke about farming or agriculture. Some use words like “Nobletucky” to describe the community’s resemblance to agricultural Kentucky. However, despite its proximity to Noblesville, ver y few, if any people use the term “Carmeltucky” to describe Carmel. For this reason, sophomore Erin Vollmer sticks out from the crowd because of her long-term involvement in 4-H. Vollmer, who is president of her local 4-H club, said, “(My group) erin vollmer is definitely on the smaller side. We have about 20 people or so.”

Groups are divided based on district. Vollmer’s group meets at Gray Friends Church and includes students from Carmel, Westfield and other neighboring cities. She said she thinks this may account for the small group number.

4-H is a large group of individuals who participate in various agriculturally-based activities. This involves

participating in projects that are shown off at fairs such as the ones for county and state. 4-H also includes community service and leadership outings. The club also helps its members decide what they want to pursue as a career by letting them try and experience all categories of interests.

“It is unique because there is so much opportunity for whatever you want to do,” Vollmer said. “It helped me decide that I want to be a teacher, for example.”

Vollmer said that some projects she has participated in before include photography, food and animal projects.

Another reason Vollmer stands out in Carmel is because of her hobby, showing llamas.

“I have been showing llamas since my first year of being in 4-H (about eight years ago). Then I moved to a bigger group outside of 4-H,” Vollmer said.

At a 4-H llama show there are three different obstacle courses. Public relations include mirrors and “petters,” while field obstacles include jumping and weaving. The third obstacle requires the llama shower to be able to back up their llama and pick up its feet. Showers and their llamas are also judged on showmanship. Winners receive blue, red and white ribbons and are awarded through 10th place.

“Most people in our group are from Westfield and Noblesville where there are more farms,” Vollmer said.

Although Carmel has few farms or farming land today, Fran Rushing, AP Environmental Science teacher who teaches a unit about land use, said that Carmel once was very similar to Noblesville’s landscape.

“Within the past 10 years the population in Hamilton County has literally exploded. Because of that, the farming community is dwindling, especially in Carmel,” Rushing said. “Because Carmel is locked up and has just about filled up all its land, it’s not completely unusual that there are not many farms around anymore.”

According to www.ci.carmel.in.us, Quakers once inhabited this area, and Carmel was once completely agricultural. However, now because of the population boom and rapid growth of Carmel, that landscape has been pushed out of the way by newer, more modern consumer attractions.

“Whenever I’m talking about [4-H], people are like ‘what is that?’ I kind of don’t like saying it because no ones knows what it is, so I have to explain it,” Vollmer said. Having been a part of 4-H for eight years, and a part of mini 4-H, for three years, Vollmer has committed a great deal of time and effort to the group and activities. In her opinion, regardless of what may be the norm at CHS, 4-H has provided some of the best times of her life.

“Everyone is so nice there,” she said. “It teaches respect and responsibility, and that’s good stuff.”

4-H by the numbers Oct. 8

The date of the first annual 4-H National Youth Science Day

3000

Number of counties involved with the 4-H program in association with

106

land grant universities in the United States 4-H.org / source

PATRIOT father

sister fighter Carmel High School’s News Magazine

colonel mother armedsoldierforces veteran

assassin

freedom

Afghanistan

brother isnotfree

vietnam vets

age eighteen draftee volunteer some folks inherit star

invasion

iraq korea

guns bombs men and women serving your country

spangled eyes oh they send

you down to war lord and when you ask them how much should we give they only answer more

Recruiting... Page 2 I Women in Uniform... Page 3 I Family Overseas... Pages 4 & 5 I Teacher, Veteran... Page 6 I War Films... Page 7 I Pro/Con War on Terror... Page 8 Carmel High School . Volume 5 . Issue 1 . October 3, 2008

Page C2 • Friday, October 3, 2008

Purpose Acumen is an occasional publication serving to supplement the HiLite. Acumen is distributed to the students, faculty and staff of Carmel High School. This publication operates as a public forum for the school and community.

Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily representative of those held by CHS, the Carmel Clay system faculty, staff or administration.

Evelyn forbes / photo illustration

Responding to Acumen Letters in response to this issue of Acumen will be considered for publication in the HiLite.

All letters must be submitted to Room C147, placed in the mailbox of Jim Streisel, e-mailed to letters@hilite.org or mailed to the school.

Letters must be signed; names will be published.

(Letters submitted through e-mail will be taken to a student’s SRT for him to sign.) Letters must not include personal attacks against an individual and may be subject to editing.

Staff Editor Associate Editor

Writers / Photographers

Ariel Aisen Jinny Zhang Aili Arnell Maddi Bourgerie Shirley Chen Cassie Dugan Evelyn Forbes Kate Grumme Beverly Jenkins Renny Logan Erin Lowe Lauren Mugavin Jade Schwarting Ellie Seta Tracy Sun Sam Watermeier Rebecca Xu HiLite Editor in chief Amy Flis HiLite Managing editors Cathy Chen Brittani Wheeler Adviser Jim Streisel Principal John Williams Superintendent Barbara Underwood

In This Issue Dear readers, What does it mean to be in the armed forces?

During WWI and WWII, soldiers were working class boys, the heroes of a nation. Those in Vietnam were targets of scrutiny, protest and hate. And today soldiers are volunteers who leave home to fight a war many do not support.

The men and, more recently, women, who have served in the armed forces undertake a burden we civilians cannot really comprehend. Whether they are volunteers or draftees, high school or military academy graduates, wealthy or poor, American soldiers represent hard-earned freedom that is at the center of American existence.

Ariel Aisen Acumen Editor

Cover photo: Staff Sergeant William Genochio, Marine Corps Recruiter, Noblesville photo illustration

by Evelyn Forbes

w it e N cru e R

by tracy sun tsun@hilite.org As Sergeant Leroy Perez stands behind a neatly set-up booth with a wide array of pencils, stickers and pamphlets, a group of students gathers around. Some pick up the free trinkets, while a select few seriously question his partner and him about the Marine Corps.

Although Perez and other military recruiters come here every mid-month, many students are curious about the recruiting process and the men and women behind the uniforms.

Perez is by no means a stranger to this school; he has been coming here for almost two years, trying to inform and enlighten students interested in joining the Marine Corps. While many people may perceive military recruiters as aggressive and forceful, Perez said he takes a different approach and that the students are the ones that speak to him. “(Students) come up to us,” Perez said. “We don’t bother them while they’re eating. Obviously, lunch is so you can eat and relax and take a break from classes.”

Per ez said that once a student expresses interest in joining the Marines and asks for information, he informs him or her of the requirements and processes of preparation.

“First of all, we need to find if you’re mentally and physically qualified to be a Marine,” Perez said. “And if you are and you are interested in the Marines, you join up when you are in high school or after you graduate from high school. Then you’re in the delayed entry program, which is a program we use to get you physically and mentally ready for boot camp. After that you go to boot camp and you do your job.”

Perez talked about advantages to joining the military and believes students can achieve their goals of what they want to become. Perez joined the Marine Corps right out of high school and plans to remain in the military for another 20 years.

“There are many benefits in joining the Marines. They include financial security, travel, medical benefits, dental benefits, a job and something you can do as a career.

Some kids want to be doctors, some want to be lawyers, some want to be mechanics,

ACUMEN

Local Marine Corps recruiters speak to students about joining

some want to be police officers. We describe a way we can help them achieve their goals in life,” Perez said.

Staff Sergeant William Genochio, who is Perez’s recruiting partner here, said he has recruited four or five students here in one year. Genochio also recruits at other schools like Sheridan, Hamilton Heights, Tipton, Noblesville and Westfield High School.

He is a 27-year-old who has been in the Marines for seven years, previously working in the mechanics field. Genochio said the Marines provided him with something he could not obtain at another career path.

“I wanted to be the best of the best.

It’s something I always wanted to do.

It provided opportunities you can’t get elsewhere other than the military. I’ve always been an adventurous kind of guy, I wanted to serve the country patriotically, the whole nine yards,” Genochio said.

Recently, there has been widespread criticism of military recruiting in schools by parents and counter recruiters. Perez and Genochio both said they believe recruiters like themselves are doing nothing wrong.

“Everybody has freedom of speech. If you don’t want us to talk to your individual child, we won’t, but we need to know these things,” Perez said.

Despite the criticism of recruiters, many students continue to approach the Marine Corps booth, ask questions and acquire more information.

Sophomore Daniel Li considers joining the military and has talked to Perez and other recruiters. “Joining the Marines takes a lot of hard work. The guys I talked to gave me a lot of information and a lot to think about,” Li said.

Although Perez said there are many qualified and interested students here, he said recruiting is a difficult task.

“It’s a hard job to sway someone because if they haven’t thought about joining the military, then they’re probably not going to be in the military, but most people who want to join have thought about it for a long time, for more than three or four or five years. That’s the people who join, not the people who randomly join. It doesn’t work like that.”

Evelyn forbes / photo

STEP UP: Sergeant Leroy Perez, Marine Corps recruiter, speaks with interested students during A lunch. Perez began recruiting here almost two years ago.

Did You Know? There are other interesting stories and more online at hilite.org

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Friday, October 3, 2008 • Page C3

Female students set sights on armed forces

by Aili Arnell aarnell@hilite.org

M

ost little girls dream of owning a pony or becoming a princess. It is rare to find a little girl who dreams of entering the U.S. military.

Junior Taylor Robinson said, “When I was 13 and my mom and step dad got married, I first wanted to join the military. My dad is in the Marine Corps, and I’ve had a lot of friends and people that mean the world to me die in Iraq. They died doing something great so I want to do the same thing and fight for my country.”

Although women have made Taylor robinson great strides in gender equality since the 1920s, they still do not hold a significant number of positions in the armed forces. According to the New York Times, today, women make up only about 14 percent of the 1.4 million people on active duty in the military. There are 196,000 women in the military and 1,204,000 men. And of that number, 7,000 of the women are generals and hold leadership positions.

And those numbers bother Robinson. She said, “I don’t think that (women) are treated fairly in the military. They don’t let the women go in combat but they fly them over to Iraq anyway. For what? I don’t know. Just to keep them around?

They don’t let women go on the front lines and fight like a man would and (women) are underestimated because they are female.”

Retired Navy recruiter Sgt. Ken McMichael said that women are

equally trained and provided the same opportunities for career advancement as their male counterparts. “The military prides itself on the strength and contribution of its female soldiers and officers. However, some fields are not currently open to women.”

A c c o r d i n g t o t h e Wo m e n ’ s Research and Education Institute, some positions in the military are restricted to men only while all openings in the Coast Guard and Air Force are open to women, in the Navy, only 59 percent of the positions are open to women, in the Army 52 percent are open to women, and in the Marine Corps only 20 percent are open to women.

Despite those percentages, Robinson said she still wants to be in the Marines. Robinson said, “It’s the toughest branch. They go in first and come out last. I want to really fight and get physical. My mom would rather me join the Air Force just because it is calmer, but my parents would support me in anything.”

Senior Emily Morin has similar dreams of joining the military and said, “I want to be in the Air Force.

I would like to fly and the Air Force is the best.” According to goarmy. com, the Air Force has many benefits including travel, a good income, dental and medical health care, and the honor of serving your country.

Morin said, “I’m currently in the middle of the application process.

I’m meeting with congressmen. I’m working out a lot to prepare myself for the physical test.” When applying at the U.S, Air Force Academy or for any military academy, applicants must meet with a congressman and request a nomination. Applicants must also fill out an application just like any other school. They also have to go through a vigorous physical test.

McMichael said, “When I was serving it was different. During the

ariel Aisen / photo illustration 1960s and 1970s, women were not treated that equally in the military.

Their presence was extremely rare.

But today, when women enlist or go through the application process, we do not discriminate against women.

We look at them as any other person applying. Unfortunately, there still tend to be fewer women applying.”

Robinson said she does not plan on going to a military academy. She said, “I’d rather join after college to go into the marines as an officer to have more benefits and to lead a platoon that’s what I really want to lead younger marines and do drill and be the C. O. for the color guard.”

As for Morin, she still has hesitations. “I am kind of worried about being one of the only girls,” she said. “There are just so many guys. I’m not so much worried about my safety because they train us well, and I won’t even be on the ground that much anyways. I’ll be flying,” Morin said.

Robinson wants to end a common misconception about the militar y.

She said, “There’s a lot more to the military then just fighting a lot of the people that do it, do it to fight for their country not just to get out of bad situations. And just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I won’t fight because I will die fighting for the U.S.A.”

Women facing more dangers in military by ellie seta eseta@hilite.org

In 2003 the Department of Defense (DOD) report found that one-third of women veterans who sought health care benefits from the Veterans Administration (VA) reported that they had experienced rape at some time during their service. Of the onethird who said they were raped, 37 percent of them said that they were raped multiple times and 14 percent claimed they were gang raped. In previous research compiled by the VA and DOD, 60 to 78 percent of active duty women were sexually harassed.

In 2007, 1,344 investigations of sexual assault cases were filed within the military and involved 1,469 subjects. Despite this number, the command only took action on 249 cases and court-martialed 103. The commanders claim that they could not act on nearly half of the cases due to lack of evidence.

Did You Know? According to thelizlibrary.org, Elizabeth C. Newcume fought in the 1847 Mexican War for 10 months until her sex was discovered.

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Page C4 • Friday, October 3, 2008

Military Branches

A Glaring Absence Families with relatives in the armed forces face difficulties in all areas of their lives

M

by Cassie dugan cdugan@hilite.org

any times, the war in Iraq seems so distant from Carmel that it is often written off as just another issue for the media to scrutinize. However, for senior Curtis Pittman, the war is a constant reminder of who he doesn’t have at home, his older brother and his uncle, who are in the armed forces.

Curtis has been a part of a family with military participants most of his life.

“My brother has always been into the military kind of thing, and my uncle started when I was littler,” Curtis said.

Curtis’s uncle, Chad Pittman, is currently serving in his second deployment to Iraq since becoming a member of the Indiana National Guard, while Tyler Pittman, Curtis’s older brother, is serving in his first. This situation has become tough on the Pittman family because Mr. Pittman’s wife, Cristi Pittman, is acting as a single mother to their three children and is currently pregnant with their fourth, expected this fall.

“Chad left the military before we met because he felt like there wasn’t a

Curtis Pittman / Submitted photo

FOREIGN TERRITORY: Chad Pittman (left) and his nephew Tyler Pittman (right) pose in front of a military plane in Baghdad, Iraq. Mr. Pittman’s wife, Cristi Pittman, remained at home with their three children, pregnant with their fourth.

future in it since they were downsizing,” Mrs. Pittman said, “Then 9/11 happened, and he felt like it was his duty to do something.”

After Mr. and Mrs. Pittman had their second child, the couple had trouble getting pregnant again.

“We adopted Jack, our third child, from Russia and actually received him Thanksgiving day. Chad left for training in December,” Mrs. Pittman said, “But then (Chad) got leave - and I got pregnant.”

While ways of communication such as video chat and e-mail are available for the military to keep in touch with their loved ones, access to these luxuries can at most times be restricted.

“Every once in a while (the kids) will be down or something and you’ll ask them why and they’ll say ‘I miss my dad’ and start crying,” Curtis said.

Mrs. Pittman said that there was one point in her husband’s first deployment where they didn’t talk for a full six weeks. She added that he has made a huge effort during the second deployment to stay in contact.

However, she said she finds the fact that the kids are at a younger age to be better in the given situation.

As far as security, it’s safe to say any family would be concerned about a relative overseas, and the Pittman family is no different. Both Curtis and Mrs. Pittman said that they try not to dwell on it too much, even though Mr. Pittman’s position puts him in the field.

“Right now they’re doing convoy security so he’s out in a humvee.

Basically they are searching for snipers and ambushes and that kind of thing so there have been some close calls.”

The two Pittman families are close both emotionally and physically; Mr. and Mrs. Chad Pittman live in Noblesville. However, Curtis said that this has not taken a toll on him academically.

According to Curtis’s counselor Rebecca “Becky” Stuelpe, this seems fairly normal considering he is the speaker of the House. “I think that the fact Curtis is speaker of the House shows that he has confidence and leadership skills. I think those qualities probably help him cope with a more positive outlook.”

But Curtis cited another approach. “I cope by my trust in God and everything is in God’s plan – but I don’t think it has anything to do with my position in school,” he said.

The families use their Christian faith in order to provide comfort about their relatives overseas. “With prayer I think it makes it a lot easier to deal with (Chad’s) deployment,” Mrs. Pittman said. She also added the fact that they are a religious family with a firm faith allows them to cope more easily.

Around Thanksgiving is when both Mr. Pittman and Tyler are expected to arrive back home. Incidentally, Nov. 25 is when Mrs. Pittman is due to give birth. The timing will be very close, and she said she hopes he is home in time for the delivery of their fourth child together.

Looking into the future, Mr. Pittman’s chances of being redeployed are minimal. He may get called back to duty if the situation is dire, but other than that, his family is expecting him home for good.

“I think that he’ll fit in pretty seamlessly when he comes home,” Mrs. Pittman said, “The kids are really excited for him to come home, and I’m assuming they’ll just start up where they left off. But Jack doesn’t really have a relationship with (Chad) because we had him for two weeks and then Chad left. That will be the relationship we have to build up – basically starting from scratch.”

Friday, October 3, 2008 • Page C5

Know the difference between sections in the armed forces Compiled by Renny Logan

Coast Guard

AIR force

The Coast Guard and its Reserve are in charge of protecting the nation’s coasts, maritime safety and resources, etc. The Coast Guard also plays an important role in national defense as well as protecting natural resources.

The Air Force itself is divided into three sections: the Air Force, the Air Force Reserve and the Air National Guard.

According to www.usmilitary. com, the Air Force and the Air Force Reserve serve to “protect the nation’s interest in air, space and cyberspace.” While the Air Force plays a role in technology and electronic warfare, the Air National Guard is responsible for air defense and helps in the case of national disaster.

Marine Corps The Marine Corps is commonly referred to as a “rapid reaction force.” It is both on land and sea and is the first set of troops sent into an area, as well as the first out.

ARMY

Curtis pittman / Submitted photo

ARMY LIFE: Chad Pittman (left) is currently serving his second deployment to Iraq, and his nephew Tyler Pittman (right) is serving his first. Tyler’s brother, Curtis, is a student here.

Like the Air Force, the Army is divided into the Army, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard.

The Army’s role is to secure an area and has 10 different job categories as well as 200 enlisted jobs.

The Army National Guard is the only branch required by the Constitution.

Also, each state is required to have its own Army National Guard.

NAVY

The Navy and Navy Reserve secure peace and stability on the seas. The Navy offers probably the greatest amount of jobs than any of the other branches. With 39 job categories, three major operating groups and 1,000 career specialties, there’s plenty of options for anyone interested in this branch.

ariel aisen and evelyn forbes / photo illustration

Did You Know? According to lawyerment.com, the shortest war, which lasted 38 minutes, was between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar in 1896. Did You Know? According to socyberty.com, 12-year-old Calvin Graham, who fought in World War II, is the youngest U.S. serviceman.

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Page C6 • Friday, October 3, 2008

Troops to teachers

Military veteran teachers incorporate military experiences into teaching methods

D

By Rebecca Xu rxu@hilite.org

ale Yessak. Pete O’Hara. Dawn Laumeyer. Doug Bird.

These four people don’t seem to have much in common besides the fact that they work here. One teaches English, one teaches social studies, one teaches math and one is an assistant principal. Their classrooms and offices are scattered across the school. However, these selected few are related in a way that some say runs deeper than blood – love for one’s country. All of them have served in the U.S. armed forces.

“They’re surprised. Very surprised, since I’m a pretty laid back person,” said Laumeyer, on her students’ reactions when they first find out that their math teacher was in the Marines.

“I’ve mellowed out in old age.”

That’s exactly how many students here feel when they first discover that one of their teachers was a soldier back in the day. The truth is that the numbers of veterans choosing education as a second career are increasing. According to The New York Times, federal education officials estimate that 2.5 percent of the people who have left the military since 1987 are now teaching or soon will be. Upon going into education, the four teachers here often draw inspiration from military experiences and use it in their work.

Dale Yessak has first-hand experience in the Cold War in his 23year military career. Almost 25 years ago, in October 1983, Yessak’s unit of the military, the 82nd Airborne Division, invaded the nation of Grenada to put down a coup of Communist Cubans. He also witnessed the destruction of the Berlin Wall.

After his colorful experiences in the army, Yessak chose to pursue teaching. He said it was a natural outgrowth of what he always did in the military.

“Most of the time I was in the army, I was teaching young people complex tasks. That’s what I’m doing here. I like working with young people, and so this was a way I could continue to work with young people,” he said. “The only thing is I can’t make them do push-ups.”

“Mr. Yessak incorporates his past life experiences into our classroom to make it more lively,” Brittni Novak, a student in Yessak’s International Baccalaureate Language A1 class and junior, said.

Social studies teacher Pete O’Hara, who was also in the army for 23 years and served in the Gulf War, often tells the story about an army tactic that they used in the war. He said that they would choose an enemy target, devastate it with artillery and shoot out little leaflets that explained to the survivors how they could surrender. O’Hara uses this anecdote as an example in his psychology class to demonstrate how the human psyche is affected in such situations.

O’Hara’s army experiences also influence him as the head freshman football coach, and he said that he uses a few methods he learned in the military to motivate and organize the team.

“Especially when a football player needs a little extra encouragement, there’s a set of old army tricks I’ve learned,” he said, laughing. “They’ll know what I’m talking about.”

Unlike Yessak and O’Hara, Doug Bird was in the Marine Corps.

After seven years of service, he decided to go into education for similar reasons as the two army veterans.

“When I got out, I wanted to continue to serve,” Bird said. “I thought about doing a variety of things, but ended up going full circle back to education.” He said that he enjoyed training young Marines and saw a natural connection to teaching high school.

Bird taught mathematics here for four years before becoming an administrator two years ago. He said that he still uses values from the Marines in his work.

“If I have some challenges I need to face, it’s my work ethic

and my commitment that get things done. There’s no doubt that my time in the Marine Corps was really my most formative time.

Definitely, I was an adult, but as I look back in different periods of my life, my Marine Corps experience helped me out quite a bit in just becoming who I am,” he said.

Perhaps the outlier of the four teachers is Dawn Laumeyer, the math teacher. The most obvious reason is that she’s a woman, a challenge in itself during the ‘80s in the Marine Corps.

Laumeyer said, “Well, you’re always treated differently, especially in the military which is a very, ahem, testosterone-driven thing. You had to deal with certain attitudes that men had against women. I had to learn to give as good as I took.”

After retiring from the Marines, Laumeyer graduated from college and became a teacher. Her experiences in the military continue to affect her teaching.

“When I first started, I was very structured. I didn’t allow a whole lot in my classroom, to be honest,” she said. After 13 years, she said she has mellowed a bit, but her “Marine voice” comes out sometimes during discipline.

The one thing Laumeyer said she learned was that anything is possible. “That’s one thing you learn in life. Once you achieve something that’s something nobody can take away from you. I was a Marine, I became a Marine, I’m proud of that. Nobody can ever take that away from me. I graduated college with honors. Nobody can ever take that away from me. That’s the one thing that I learned, that if you set your mind to it, you can do anything you want.”

That includes being a teacher.

Beverly Jenkins / photo

STRATEGY: Pete O’Hara, veteran and social studies teacher, instructs his U.S. History class. He discussed war tactics.

Horrors of war mar nation’s past, not future Love not War “I thought dying for your country was the worst thing that could happen to you. I think killing for your country can be a lot worse. Because that’s the memory that haunts.”

-Bob Kerry (told to the New York Times)

Just recently, one of my friends found out that her boyfriend was leaving for the military and could be sent to Iraq. Even one of my sister’s friends has to say goodbye to her boyfriend who is being sent to Afghanistan.

Before I heard about these situations, the war was just something happening on another continent. It feels more real now that I learned about these situations.

I’m honestly not really sure what to say when someone tells me they have just signed up for the military or something along those lines. I guess I felt detached from the war and the people fighting in it since it did not personally affect anyone I knew. That has changed now. I actually know the people who are leaving. When I heard about people leaving for war-torn areas before this I didn’t know them so it didn’t bother me, but knowing someone can change the situation.

I personally don’t know anyone who is fighting in the war at the moment, but I know so many people who have been affected by it. I can even think of some family stories that include my family members being involved with past wars. My greatgrandfather, who died a couple of years ago, helped work on the atomic bomb during World War II. He never explained what he did to anyone; he was ashamed at what the atomic bomb caused. This could just as well be the case today for someone helping with the war. Do those people feel ashamed when they take part in something like that?

Sometimes we forget that the people fighting are actually people. We forget that they are living, breathing beings until the situation begins to personally affect us. But we shouldn’t forget that. Ever. Erin Lowe is a reporter for the HiLite. Email her at elowe@hilite.org.

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Friday, October 3, 2008 • Page C7

Top Five War Films I

raq war films are failing at the box office. “In the Valley of Elah,” “Redacted” and the underrated “Lions for Lambs” to name a few, drew very small crowds. Could it be that no one wants to see an Iraq war film because the experience is equivalent to pouring salt on open wounds?

Audiences may not be ready to look back and understand the horror because that horror is unfortunately still lingering. Men and women are still fighting and dying for our country. Over time, these films and, more importantly, their subjects may become richer and gain resonance. Here are some examples of war films where time distanced itself from audiences, therefore leaving those audiences more prepared to open their minds. By Sam Watermeier

1.

“Saving Private Ryan”

No other war film, especially World War II-related, comes close to capturing the visceral experience of war like this masterpiece. It has the most jarring and realistic battle scenes in the history of film. The aspect of the movie that is more important to admire, though, is its emotional realism. It stands out from other World War II films (i.e. “The Dirty Dozen,” “The Longest Day”) because it shows the moments of war that those safe, gung-ho films were afraid to show: a leader hiding behind a hill to cry so his men won’t see him, a medic calling out for his mother as he suffers from a bullet wound.

World War II is universally known as “The Good War.” It is often glorified to the extreme in films. In an interview with entertainment reporter Bruce Kirkland, director Steven Spielberg said, “In earlier films, I always felt that World War II was just used as a backdrop for action and glory.” Spielberg’s intentions for depicting the war were completely different. He said, “I wanted to resensitize people to the realities of war.” Spielberg, like the masterful director he is, accomplished exactly that. “Saving Private Ryan,” in its uncompromising depiction of war, breaks conventions and sets the standard for all war films to come. It’s quite an accomplishment to make audiences realize that World War II was not so “good” after all and more importantly, that no war is.

2. “Platoon”

This film is the best depiction of the Vietnam War (“Apocalypse Now” is too quirky to be considered a “realistic” interpretation).

“Platoon’s” authenticity comes from the fact that its writerdirector Oliver Stone actually served in the war. The average soldier’s experience is captured perfectly. One can sense the men’s confusion and frustration in every move they make.

3.

“Letters From Iwo Jima”

With this film, Clint Eastwood accomplishes something unprecedented. He respectfully tells the story of the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima from the enemy’s point of view.

In doing so, he shows that all soldiers, no matter what side they represent, share the same fear and pressure. With his compassionate approach, Eastwood actually makes the Japanese soldiers’ fears our own.

4.

“The Deer Hunter”

This film is unique for its use of the game Russian roulette as a metaphor for the mental brutality of the Vietnam War. The risk of the game mirrors the risk of the war. Like in the game, men were essentially holding guns to their heads with one bullet in the chamber just waiting to explode.

amazon.com / photos

5.

“Jarhead”

This is probably the least action-oriented war film ever made. Then again, according to the film and the book upon which it is based, the Gulf War did not have much action either. This film perfectly captures soldiers’ boredom during the Gulf War. It also attacks the administration behind that war and indirectly, the current one with its sharp, biting wit.

Did You Know? ‘Saving Private Ryan is #59 on imdb.com’s ‘Top 250 Movies;’ ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ is #1

Page C8 • Friday, October 3, 2008

War on Terror A

by Jade Schwarting jschwarting@hilite.org

lthough some disagree with his views supporting the war, senior Joseph “Joey” Baertschi said that public support of the troops is vital to their success, and said he sees the war as a peace effort as opposed to an economic issue. Baertschi said, “The war in Iraq should be considered a humanitarian effort, not an oil policy or anything like that.”

Some of Baertschi’s support comes from his proximity to the war. His neighbor’s dad is deployed in Iraq and he said knowing a soldier gives him someone to look up to and something to consider for the future.

Besides supporting the soldiers fighting in Iraq, Baertschi said he also supports the reason why the troops were sent in and remain in the region today. “(We needed to go) into Iraq in the first place because it was a region that required outside support to be stabilized.

The troops should stay in Iraq until their absence can prove that there wouldn’t be a reoccurrence of genocide,” Baertschi said.

Social studies teacher Jennifer Ott, who said she also supports the troops in combat, said, “Regardless of any person’s perspective on the war, I think it is probably one of the most unpatriotic, un-American things a person could do as to not support the American lives that are being sacrificed.

People in the military entered the military for a reason, most because they felt moved to support their country. People who think that the war is wrong or too long or that we’re there for the wrong reasons can think that all they want, but what they should never question is the desire for an American to support his or her country.”

Ott said that the troops were definitely needed in Iraq during the genocide. She said, “Iraq was a country that was led by a dictatorial leader that harbored terrorist activities. I think it is funny how just a few weeks ago, you could turn on most televisions and see 9/11 footage where citizens were proclaiming, live on TV, that our country shouldn’t stand for this and that we need to send a message that America will fight back.

A lot of people have forgone those past proclamations as seven years (have) passed, and now they have fully changed their view. When you put it in perspective, terrorism still exists.”

Ott said she believes President George W. Bush’s time in office was, in fact, well spent, despite his current low approval ratings. She said, “I think that President Bush has had a series of unfortunate events occur while he has been

in office. And because he is the face of our nation, he then also becomes the scapegoat for the American people. It’s funny how in the days following 9/11 Bush was considered a great President for the manner in which he dealt with that horrific incident.

Unfortunately for him, seven years later, many Americans have lost that perspective of

T

by Lauren mugavin lmugavin@hilite.org

he war in Iraq has continued to rage on for five years now.

It originally began in March of 2003, when British and American forces invaded Iraq. The

Ariel Aisen / photo illustrations

the cause and may not understand the issues with pulling out of a war, thus they have fled from supporting him.”

Baertschi said that he also agrees with Bush’s decisions while in office and said, “Although war has been instrumental in both enforcing and restricting human rights, it’s still very satisfying when I change someone’s view on the war (in Iraq) from being opposed to it, to making them realize that it is a humanitarian effort helping the oppressed people of the world.”

The war in Iraq should be considered a humanitarian effort, not an oil policy.

Joey baertschi

tragic and momentous attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon on September 11, 2001 was not the only thing that started the war. Supporters of the invasion claimed that Iraq likely had weapons of mass destr uction that posed a thr eat to Americans.

Saddam Hussein was accused of violating human rights. Iraq was involved with ter r orist organizations, such as the group that attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon building.

More troops have been sent to Iraq since the war began, and according to MSNBC, there are currently 46,000

ACUMEN

troops stationed in Iraq.

“I think that what we are doing in Iraq is ineffective,” senior Margaret Isham said. Isham has been registered to vote and is channeling her support towards presidential candidate Barack Obama, who she plans to vote for in November. She said she thinks he is the best candidate, partly because he plans to pull the troops out of Iraq. “We ar e in the war wasting lives and billion of dollars a week. We need to pull Kayla Perry out now.”

Social studies teacher Katherine “Katie” Gray understood at first why the government entered the war, but her view has been altered over the years and she no longer holds the same viewpoint.

“The U.S. government had great plans for beginning and conducting the war at first,” she said. “But they were largely unprepared to support the Iraq[i] people at the conclusion of active fighting.”

Isham’s view on the war comes from her knowledge of the political side of the subject. She is cur r ently taking a government class. In her class, she and her peers discuss current events that have to do with politics. She said that they discuss where each candidate stands and issues they plan to deal with. In addition, Isham keeps herself updated by watching the news closely and watching informative episodes of television program “60 Minutes” to maintain her political knowledge.

Sophomore Kayla Perry agrees that the soldiers being pulled out of Iraq is even m o r e i m p o r t a n t n o w.

“I don’t think we had any business there in the first place,” Perr y said.

“I know we had a tiny surge of victor y in the very beginning of the war, but now we need to pull out.”

“Reasons for fighting and conduct of the war have been largely flawed,” Gray said. “At this point the U.S. needs a workable strategy to get out of the war, not at the expense of the lives of American soldiers or Americans at home.”

Reasons for fighting and conduct of the war have been largely flawed.

Katie Gray