140127 Volume 101 Edition 16

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Manhattan High School Volume 101 Issue16 Jan. 28, 2014

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Search for missing woman still ongoing Madeline Marshall Staff Writer The search for a missing woman from St. George is still ongoing. On Saturday, volunteers met at Tuttle Cove parking lot by the boat dock at 10:15 a.m. to continue the search for 56-year-old Jane Peterson. Those who were not able to take part in

the search were encouraged to bring water and granola bars for the volunteers.

Saturday’s search included approximately 200 personnel and covered over 500 acres of rough terrain in below-freezing temperatures.

The search was unsuccessful once again.

On Jan. 19, Peterson was reported missing by her fam-

ily. The search began last week. It has now escalated, bringing out more than 60 troops from Fort Riley, at least 12 Humvees, 10-15 firefighters, canine units, and Kansas highway Patrol helicopters, according to Riley County Police Department’s Public Information Officer Matthew Droge. The Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s

Department originated the search for Peterson.

A 1999 Toyota Tacoma believed to be driven by Peterson was found near Tuttle Cove the day after the report was made. In a news conference last Tuesday, the RCPD talked about all the departments who have joined in the hunt for Peterson.

“In the ballpark of ap-

prox. 200 personnel are now involved in this search, to include search dogs & air support from Fort Riley,” the department said in a tweet shortly after the conference.

With greater resources on last Tuesday, the RCPD conducted a more thorough joint search of the area with the assistance of Riley County Emergency Management,

Fort Riley Emergency Management, the 97th MP Battalion of Fort Riley, the 1st ID Combat aviation Brigade from Fort Riley, Riley County Fire, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Kansas Search and Rescue Dog Association, Kansas Highway Patrol, Manhattan Fire DepartSee Missing page 5

MHS hosts Next Generation Elective Career Expo Rhetta Lazaris Staff Writer

Senior Sam Livesly explains the elective of auto tech to fellow students during the second annual Next Generation Elective Career Expo. The event was organized to help students experience electives that could spark interest for future careers.

Retta Lazaris, photographer

The halls at Manhattan High West were packed with students, teachers and presenters last Tuesday. Eighth and ninth graders visited West campus to tour the building and explore booths in the commons area, where presenters and upperclassmen talked with them about college, community service and elective classes.

This was the second year MHS has hosted The Next Generation Elective Career Expo. The event was organized this year by Debra Kidd, CTE Coordinator/business instructor, and journalism instructor Kristy Nyp. “It’s one of our initiatives to help students become college and career ready when they graduate from high school,” Kidd said.

Students were able to speak one-on-one with teachers and student representatives from elective programs.

“We bring them up to give them some exposure to what an elective class is,” Kidd said.

Elective classes are different from core classes, because they are more specific than the general science, English, social sciences and mathematics.

“Career and Technical Education is all elective classes,” Kidd said. “Foreign language is a totally elective class, and art is a totally elective class. The kids have an election to take that or not. We feel that those classes are also sometimes the ones to help students to get prepared for college.”

SkillsUSA co-president Peyton Garrett, junior, helped at an automotive technology booth.

“Hopefully we get some new members, and kind of spread the word about SkillsUSA,” Garrett said.

Freshman would go through beginning classes in Auto Technology, and work their way up to ideally gain certificates and apprenticeships in their junior/senior years.

The Business Department booth drew people with games of business Jeopardy and a raffle for Chipotle.

See Expo page 5

Science Olympiad takes first at Regional competition Tracy Le Graphic Editor Since the establishment of a Science Olympiad team at Manhattan High, the team has never competed as well as they did at this year’s Regional competition.

“It went really well for our whole team,” sophomore Rachel Chang said. “Morgan [Martin, sophomore] and I were sitting next to each other during the awards ceremony and we were just like squealing with each other because we were so excited

about how we were doing.”

The team took first place among 11 other teams and medaled in 21 out of 23 events.

“It’s easy to be sore winners when you do as well as we did, but I thought our students did quite well in how they conducted themselves,” sponsor and coach Dick Nelson said. “They were legitimately excited for doing well but did it in a way that I didn’t think was offensive to the other teams. They were very responsible, they had the things that they needed and

got to their events on time, and they handled themselves very well in all aspects.”

The competition was held in Salina on Wednesday, Jan. 15. ”I felt pretty good [going into the competition] because we’re a pretty close team,” sophomore Rebekah Hennesy said. “I’d talk to the others about it and I was pretty well prepared for what was going to happen.”

Though Hennesy was prepared for her events, she wasn’t prepared for what came up.

”For Rocks and Minerals, my partner had to be at another event so I went with a substitute that I didn’t have until right before the competition,” Hennesy said. “I was a little nervous but we did it. It was hard though because my [original] partner had half the information and I had the other half memorized and so I was going by half of the information. So we were winging it and we still managed to get third and so I feel really, really good about that.”

Senior Ian Miller already has the upcoming state com-

petition in mind. ”I’ve done it [Science Olympiad] officially last year and I was an alternate the previous year and so I was fairly familiar with the [Regional] competition and not overly-concerned about it.

State is a different matter,” Miller said. ”Regionals went really well, but performance at Regionals is not terribly indicative of performance at State. We generally win very strongly at regionals but we have not yet completely won state. Winning State would be great, and I think it’s do-

able, but I don’t think it’s something we can take for granted.”

This being Miller’s last year on the team, he hopes that this will be the year MHS finally takes state. ”It gives you more determination, I suppose,” Miller said. “It’s my last chance.

Winning State has always been, well for the past 15, 16 years since the team has existed, it’s been the goal. It hasn’t ever quite happened, See Science Olympiad page 5

Key club keeps MHS Scholars Bowl faces two tie-breakers, green and gives back takes home first, second through recycling Danielle Cook Copy Editor

Jared Gebhardt Entertainment Editor Key Clubs spends every other week slowly shrinking the school’s carbon footprint.

Two Wednesday’s out of every month, the club makes rounds collecting all the recycled goods from every class with yellow bins.

“We ask teachers to take them to the coffee rooms and then we have yellow bins that we just get a cart for and load them into somebody’s car and take them to Howie’s,” junior Baili Rowe said.

Howie’s is a local trash and recycling business that operates around the Manhattan, Ogden and Keats areas. For

the purpose of recycling, they take in almost any materials, including aluminum cans, plastic bottles with the appropriate label, paper magazines, cardboard and even newspaper.

Drops of over five pounds of non-ferrous materials warrant payment. However the recycling efforts of the club come simply out of a desire to help keep the environment in good shape, as the club gets no profit or other benefits from taking part in the collection.

“It’s just for recycling and helping the environment.

We don’t get anything out of it, we don’t collect any money or anything like that,” Rowe said.

The Manhattan High Scholars Bowl team had multiple competitions this week, but only came out with one first place finish.

That win came on Tuesday, when the Varsity team attended what Varsity head coach Ted Dawdy called a “fairly small meet” in Junction City, where there were only a few other teams participating. At this meet, the team excelled in most of its rounds, which originally put it in a position for a straight shot at first place. However, Manhattan was defeated in pool play by Southeast of Saline. This eventually brought Manhattan High to a tie-breaker with Southeast of Saline, and claiming the victory of the tie-breaker, MHS went on to earn first place overall in the meet.

“There weren’t too many teams to compete with there [at Junction City], so placing well wasn’t too incredibly challenging for us,” Dawdy said.

Similarly, MHS did well during the normal rounds of their Thursday meet at Flint Hills Christian, but once again, came up short in the pool play, made to compete in another tiebreaker for first place. Taking second place in the first-place tie-breaker, Manhattan High earned second place this time.

See Scholars Bowl page 5

Junior Ben Lindsay, sophomore Sterling Edgar, senior Hanna Hayden, junior Kyle Westin, and junior Luke Wuri compete in Scholars Bowl. The team had two meets, placing first at Junction City and second at Flint Hills Christian.

Jennie Jordan, photographer

Student Council busy preparing for upcoming events Sarah Shi Opinions Editor Student Council is busy this semester organizing events from Club Dodgeball to Prom. Currently StuCo is preparing for this week’s Club Dodgeball event, an activity that is a repeat from last semester.

“StuCo saw that Club Dodgeball was a great hit the first semester and decided it would be great for us to try again second semester,” senior Hannah Nelson said.

“We have a bit tighter rules, including each club must submit a roster for their teams.”

Mr. MHS, a continuing Manhattan High tradition,

requires its applications to be turned in to Leslie Campbell Wednesday, Jan. 29.

This year’s theme, “Divas of Pop," will be what the opening numbers, theme song and dance revolve around.

“Mr. MHS is going to be a little different this year, time frame wise but a hit none the less,” Nelson said. Mr. MHS

auditions will be held on Feb. 5 and 6, while the actual performance will be on Feb. 27.

For Prom, the junior class StuCo led the planning as usual. Each junior StuCo member individually had Prom ideas “in our heads and once the time came around we just threw our ideas out,” junior Dheepthi Perumal

said. “Although we were split among the junior class StuCo between Wonderland and Gatsby, we had to have three themes for the juniors to vote on. So one member, Trevor Bashaw, put out the idea of Industrial Revolution and it was a joke in the beginning but soon people started taking it seriously.”

Before the junior class could vote on a theme, StuCo had to pick colors and songs that would go along with the theme. After last week’s vote, the Great Gatsby theme won.

“Now with the votes in, we have to begin the entire process of creating Prom this year,” Perumal said.

Opinions The Mentor www.mhsmentor.com Page 2

Letter from the Editor Free speech in Kansas continues to decline Liz Logback

The editorial is a compilation from a discussion held by the Editorial board.

January seems to be the month in which free speech in Kansas begins its decline.

Besides the Kansas Board of Regents social media policy making headlines, there’s also a case relating to high school students at a Kansas school.

Students in the Maize district will be subjected to a ticket -- issued by commissioned police officers at Maize High -- and a $50 fine for foul language at school.

The profanity tickets are given to students who cause “substantial disruption at school� with their language.

Well, we might as well go

back to elementary school.

Currently, it is unclear whether the tickets are legal citations or a form of school discipline, but the school district defended the practice as a proper application of state law. The violations apparently fall under the violent, obscene language category of the disturbing the peace law -- but that category doesn’t even exist, according to a statement by the Student Press Law Center (SPLC).

SPLC further said that such an ordinance would be unconstitutional. Profanity cannot be criminalized because it’s protected under the free speech clause.

While the Maize district officials and police officers believe that profanity isn’t

acceptable in public, they should face the fact that it’s now heard everywhere. The issue of profanity is a generational one. Just like any new social norm, like the constant use of social media, the use of profanity has become something that has become acceptable. We rarely think much of it when it’s spoken in public.

But above it all, no matter what others think, profanity falls under freedom of speech. However, if this rule should be enforced, it should be used in specific circumstances such as when profanity is used to maliciously attack someone.

Letter from the principal To the Manhattan High Student Body, On Jan. 15, 2014 Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor announced that a 17-year-old high school student in Topeka was arrested on four counts of Murder in the First Degree: Solicitation.

While specific details have not been released, it is alleged that this individual had plans to target two administrators at a Topeka high school, a resource officer, and another law enforcement officer. In his press conference, Taylor stated that this was certainly “a crisis averted.�

Communities such as Littleton, Colo., and Newtown, Conn., know all too well the pain and anguish of

tragedies that have occurred in their schools. No school or community is immune to the potential of horrible acts of violence, as our community and, in particular, our senior class is well aware. Topeka is 50 miles from Manhattan. That’s right in our back yard.

On Jan. 9 and 10, MHS kicked off its initial year of the Olweus Bully Prevention Program. Much of our student body has experience with this program through our elementary and middle schools.

While the intent of the program is to address and reduce the incidents of bullying within our school, in the larger context it is about creating a school culture that is accepting, nurturing, and

that develops a sense of belonging for everyone.

Our guest speaker for the kickoff, Bill Cordes, had many good points for all of us, adults and students alike.

One point of emphasis he made was to define “responsibility� as our “ability to respond.�

Students, it is my hope, desire and dream that each of you can find at least one trusted adult within the hallways of our school with whom you can approach and speak with when you have a concern. We all must be able to respond in a manner that keeps everyone safe.

Mr. Greg Hoyt, Principal

Well, we’re up and at it again!

It’s second semester and you know what that means, yet another reminder from yours truly on looking at the bigger picture. Throwing it out there: there were three shootings this week in our country. Syria is still struggling, but negotiating to allow women and children to leave the besieged city of Homs. There were four explosions in Cairo, Egypt. A roadside bomb killed six in Afghan and more than 20 were killed in blasts in the Congo this past week.

You’ve heard this all before, I know. And writing about how we should all be a little more concerned about what’s going on in the world is getting dry. So try this.

This past week, thanks to my newly found freedom in early release, I went to vacuum out my car. After opening all the doors and pulling the mats out of my car, I struggled with the vacuum machine and lost about $3 in quarters before realizing the out of service light was on. So I reloaded up all the mats, closed all my doors, and climbed back into my car to pull around to the next station. But I paused when I noticed a man about 20 feet in front of me. He was digging through a large dumpster and pulling out items for a collection. I looked around to see if anybody else seemed to notice the man, but they were all absorbed in the vacuuming and scrubbing of their cars. Before pulling around to the next station I sat and watched the man. He continued for another couple of minutes before gathering up a few prized items and then walking off.

Suddenly the crumbs on my car floor didn’t seem so important anymore. In fact, the whole idea of clean-

ing the floor that would be dirty again in a few days and spending time scrubbing and shining the outside of my beloved vehicle seemed rather pretentious. There’s crap going on around the world, and being educated on that is extremely important, but it’s also important to be aware of the community most immediately around us.

There are a lot of needs right here in MHK and, staying true to my character, I am once again encouraging involvement and activity in the bigger picture. There is more to this short life than a high school basketball game, and there are needs far greater than a date to SubDeb or a cute prom dress. I love a Tribe win and sparkly dress as much as the next person, but I am asking that those don’t become the center of our lives. Care for one another, live up this final semester and keep your eyes on the bigger picture.

As always, much love, Liz Logback, Editor-in-Chief

Question of the Week: How did yo u s p en d yo u lon g we eken d?

‘What long weekend?�

- Anas Kamal, junior

“Uh...slept. That’s literally all I did.�

- Arnav Das, sophomore

Next edition’s Question of the Week:

What ’s a p hon e a p p that sho uld b e inven te d?

Submit answers to mhsmentor. com or tweet us at @mhsmentoronline

Girls: classy trumps sexy Madison Newman

Sexy.

Now that’s a vague word.

On one hand it can be a compliment, but on the other it can be a derogatory term that can sometimes make people uncomfortable. But what does it actually mean?

Looking sexy at places like school isn’t really the best place. I have seen a lot of immodest dressing lately -- skirts so short you can practically see a girl’s underwear, and shorts so short they make me feel bad for that poor girl wearing them. Why are we doing this? Attention really is not that hard to get, so why are we making it out to be like it is?

Being called sexy for a woman typically means something like, “Oh I guess

I look good today, but did he really just say that -- do I look slutty?� It’s usually taken as disrespectful, and it makes a girl upset.

When men call you sexy, it can mean one of two things: they honestly think you look good and you’re more than hot, or, more often, you look easy and he would take advantage.

Wanting to know if you truly are attractive is often a hard thing to ponder, but dressing in fishnets with a bustier top and the best pushup bra you can find is not the answer. There is a time and place for outfits like that, and people are slowly beginning to forget that school is not one of those places.

Think of someone you know who is pretty. What makes them pretty? You can have that too, just focus more on you than what you can advertise. Advertising the wrong things -- like how big your chest is, and the amount of stomach skin you’re willing to show off -- can send the wrong mes-

sage. Knowing you look nice is one thing, but striving to be as sexy as you can be and showing as much skin as you can is not a good look for the classroom.

Another thing is knowing how to dress for your body.

What if you’re curvy? Well, that’s easy, you can show off your curves without wearing something skin-tight and still be cute. But why not look beyond your body; look at the color of your eyes and something that would compliment that instead, or how your skin tone reflects well with a certain color.

You don’t have to dress like you’re going out to the club everywhere you go.

Have some modesty.

Loving yourself is a part of embracing your body, but going overboard can depict the wrong image. So, next time you’re thinking about how to get that look to get a doubletake, remember that your class is infinitely better than your body.

Classy women are sexy women.

The Mentor EDITORS:

Liz Logback, Editor-in-Chief/Trending

Maddie Ross, News Editor Sarah Shi, Opinions/Content Editor Jared Gebhardt, Entertainment Editor Greg Woods, Sports Editor Connor Bliss, Features Editor Kennedy Felice; Danielle Cook, Copy Editors Alan Brown, Multimedia Editor Tracy Le, Graphic Designer Allison Olsen, Photo Editor

STAFF WRITERS/PHOTOGRAPHERS: Kristen Batson Gage Benne Chris Klug Retta Lazaris Louis Melgarejo Madeline Marshall Madison Newman John Rockey Joseph Sell

CIRCULATION:

Kristyn Baker David Clinkinbeard Karl Drown Patrick Falcone Vincent Goss Karl Harmon Jordan Hatley Colten Kirk

Josh Kohls Kasey Morris Mallory Morris Megan Ritthisorn Jeremy Romig Zane Smith Austin Tatum

OTHER:

Gage Benne, Business Manager Kristy Nyp, Adviser

The Mentor is published each Tuesday that school is in session at Manhattan High School, 2100 Poyntz Ave. Manhattan, Kan. Telephone (785) 587-2114. More than 1,500 Mentors are printed each week and distributed free of charge to all faculty members and students. MHS journalists are members of the Scholastic Press Association. The Mentor is an open forum that accepts contributions from the public. E-mail us at mhsmentor@gmail.com.

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Entertainment The Mentor

www.mhsmentor.com Page 3

Thespians celebrate 60 years Maddie Ross News Editor With frosting on their fingers and clothed in their pajamas, Manhattan High School’s Thespians celebrated 60 years of being a chapter this week.

T h e y kicked off their celebration by serving cake in the cafeteria during both lunches last Tuesday and ended it with a movie night complete with a showing of “The Incredibles” and pajamas on Friday.

“It seemed like a great way to celebrate being one of the first 1,000 troupes in the world to register with the Educational Theatre Association back on Jan. 21, 1954,” sponsor Linda Uthoff said. “We wanted to thank both campuses and celebrate with all students and faculty.”

Thespian troupe 941 has accomplished a lot as a chapter in its 60 years, including numerous placings in state conventions and countless product i o n s .

Uthoff credits h e r stu-

dents a n d other volunteers all the

f o r group’s successes.

“It all goes back to the students and what they are will-

ing to take leadership for, and good parents who can help with some of the production work,” Uthoff said.

“We have talented, creative and diverse students who know that it takes all types of people to do theatre well and are willing to put in the time it takes to do such a collaborative art form.”

In addition to the countless plays, musicals, miming fundraisers and conferences participated in by the Thespians, they have also stressed the goals of teamwork and giving back to their community.

“I think our biggest accomplishment is bringing a ‘team’ approach to everything we do,” Uthoff said. “We have also participated in Trick-orTreat So Kids Can Eat, food drives for the breadbasket and helping middle school drama students.”

In the end Uthoff looks back at the history fondly and acknowledges the strides they have made to constantly improve themselves.

“We’ve developed throughout the years into problem solving people who can meet the challenges of each new show,” Uthoff said.

‘Broken Age’ not so broken

Connor Bliss Features Editor We live in an age of looking ahead to the future, where not evolving means falling behind. Everything has to be bigger and better to catch your attention. But “Broken Age” shines through with its simplicity.

“Broken Age” is an adventure game in the vein of “The Secret of Monkey Island” and “Day of the Tentacle.”

“Broken Age” still has quirks of clicking around and the repeating phrase, “I can’t use that there.” While still staying true to its origins, it has evolved enough to keep

up with modern times. The menus for past adventure games have been clunky but this time around are super intuitive. The art style has a sort of endearing quality that reminds you of the past but is full of colorful modern charm.

The story of “Broken Age” at first seems to be a very light story of girl and a boy but soon unravels into a sometimes dark coming-ofage story. The game features two independent unrelated stories of Vella (the girl) and Shay (the boy).

Vella’s story is reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” as she fights against the town’s great honor of sacrificing to the beast Mog Chothra. Shay is stuck on a spaceship in the same routine under the care of his A.I. “Mother.”

Shay’s story feels stronger with its elements of mystery as he tries to escape the routine, but both stories are intriguing. The writing in both

are hilarious and the cast delivers it exceptionally. It features some big names like Elijah Wood as Shay, which is unusual for a small adventure game. Jack Black and Will Wheaton also have two very funny cameos.

Gameplay hasn’t changed much since its origins but the inclusion of two unique stories allows for free switching at any time. This simple mechanic gets rid of adventure games’ most annoying trait which is that getting stuck means just wandering around aimlessly clicking on everything. Now getting stuck means taking a break in one and trying in the other.

This speeds up the usuallyslow gameplay of adventure games in order to keep up with my low attention span.

“Broken Age” is an adventure game through and through but remembers to evolve in the most important ways.

Above: Thespian members celebrate six decades of acting by dishing up cake to students during both lunches.

Right: Thespian Trevor Bashaw passes out cake at lunch during the 60-year birthday festivities.

Megan Weathers, photographer

Graphic by Tracy Le

New cafe brings exotic opportunities Allison Olsen Photo Editor Aggieville is filled with bars and restaurants with typical foods like burgers, but Grace’s Asian Fusion Cafe sticks out like a diamond in the rough. Residing right next to Mr. Goodcents, it is fighting to become more known.

The menu is what sepa-

rates Grace’s from most other restaurants. It contains a mix of Asian recipes with a slight American twist. The main dishes are cold sesame noodles with two different types of sauces, tacos and pizza. What makes the food delicious is the fact that all of the meals are freshly made.

The food is delicious and inexpensive. Dishes are also healthy so the food doesn’t weigh you down after you eat it. Most other restaurants that I’ve been to charge too much money for food I can’t even finish. But at Grace’s the food isn't expensive. It also is the perfect portion size, filling you up but not overdoing it.

The environment and atmosphere of the cafe is great, and makes for a great

eating experience. The staff are all great people and are very friendly. The modern interior makes for a great place to sit down and eat a meal with your family or with some friends. I love the fact that they even have a piano where you can play and keep any tips you earn.

The cafe offers all kinds of activities for customers, especially college students, to partake in. They have open mic night, board game night, drag shows and karaoke. These opportunities are a great way to get to know other people or to just spend time with your friends.

Choir workshop brings together rival schools

Members of the Manhattan High choir prepare themselves as Junction City’s choir members arrive at the school. MHS hosted the JC choir for a workshop on Friday, Jan. 17. The groups performed for each other as well as interacting socially.

Retta Lazaris, photographer

High school art recognized locally Choir prepares for serenade Allison Olsen Photo Editor The first time junior Christina Minton ever won an award for her artwork, it came with a cash prize.

Minton won the category of Best in Show at the Early Expressions art competition, a fundraiser conducted by the Manhattan-Ogden Public Schools Foundation to help the USD 383 art programs.

“It felt great. It’s the first time I’d ever won anything in an art show,” Minton said.

“It kind of showed where I am with my art and made a milestone with it.”

Minton was one of many Manhattan High art students who was required to submit at least one piece of their art to the competition. The art-

work was judged by professional artists and teachers, and pieces were chosen to be displayed.

Sonda Copeland, the head of the art department at MHS, was one of the teachers to submit their students’ work in the competition.

“I’m very proud of them,” Copeland said. “All three of the high school winners were my students. It’s very exciting.”

Out of the artwork, three pieces were chosen as winners of the categories Best in Show, the best in elementary level and the best at a high school level. After all of the artwork had been judged, the pieces that didn’t make it into the show were sent back to the schools and returned to their owners.

Senior Zoey Botkin was among the people whose art will be displayed at the Beach museum.

“I was feeling pretty good entering into the art show because I’ve done it before. But there is always a little bit of nervousness that goes with putting your work out there to be judged. Overall, it’s always fun to know someone out there enjoys what you’ve worked hard to make,” Botkin said.

Unlike past years where a silent auction of the students’ work raised the funds, this year the winning artwork will also be returned to the students. Until Feb. 15, all of the winning artwork will be displayed for the public at the Beach Museum on the KState campus.

Madeline Marshall Staff Writer Huddled around a piano, students meld their voices together to create chords. As each unique timbre is added, the group’s sound grows, until its sounds far surpasses the volume expected of such a small group.

As Feb. 6 pushes closer, the heat is on for the many choir groups preparing for their Serenade Concert.

"I'm really excited for this.

I think it'll do very well and it's going to be fun,” junior Levi Jones said.

The concert, a fundraiser for the choir program, is set to take place Feb. 6 and will feature many student-led groups singing a variety of different tunes.

"I think it'll turn out great.

I'm really excited to get to be in groups that are entirely student-led,” junior Charlotte Benjamin said.

The students are doing more than just preparing songs, though; every aspect of this concert is student run.

"My favorite thing about getting to do this is that it's completely student-run, all the way from the groups that will perform to the advertising,” junior Justin Gittle said.

Jones also see great things ahead for the concert.

“This is a student fundraiser, and it's mostly run by the students. Mr. [Chad] Pape has really left the whole fundraiser and publicity and advertising to us," Jones

said. "It makes it interesting that we're the ones raising money for ourselves and doing it ourselves. I think it makes us grow more as a choir program to show that we care about our program so much."

Students expect the show to be a great feature of the talent of the MHS choir program.

"It's good to have the opportunity to show how much talent there is all throughout the choir program," Benjamin said.

Sports The Mentor www.mhsmentor.com Page 4

Swimming takes first at Emporia Madison Newman Staff Writer Last Wednesday the Manhattan High School boys swim team took first at dual against Emporia High School.

"We were done in under an hour and 45 minutes, which is incredibly fast," junior Derrek Williams said.

Williams ranked first in the 100 back, beating junior Tyler Brennan in second by more than three seconds.

"I got second in the 50 free, lost to the guy in first by .05 of a second because I had a bad turn, and beat the guy in third by just over a second," Williams said. A lot of people had back-to-back events because there were so few people that many events only had one heat.

"We weren't getting much of a break and we won by 40 points. We would have won by a lot more,” Williams said.

"I had to go to the 400 free relay but got sick and we were disqualified," Williams said.

Friday afternoon, the boys swam what is, in their opinion, one of the hardest days of the season.

“It’s a really great challenge at the peak of the season for the team,” sophomore Matt Bandy said.

"It's more of a mental thing and it feels good to finish. It's a really big test," senior Cameron Beauregard said. Beauregard finished shortly before Bandy.

Head coach Jerry Carpenter and assistant coach Amanda Scheideman were proud of them.

"I'm impressed. They're cruising right through it," Scheideman said.

"It's quite an accomplishment to swim 1000 yards in just two hours or less," Carpenter said Those who finished first quickly recovered from their swim and dove into the deep end, then ate popsicles when it was over.

Junior Alyssa Frey, the swim team manager, volunteers as a timer when there are not enough people.

"Everyone has been doing a good job. It's nice to see them all working so hard," Frey said.

Swimmers compete for Manhattan High last week against Emporia.

Megan Weathers, photographer

Boys, cheer compete Girls continue streak in Dodge tournament Chris Klug Staff Writer

Greg Woods Sports Editor After a hard-fought three games at the 2014 Tournament of Champions in Dodge City, the Manhattan High School boys basketball team brought home fourth place.

The tournament began on Thursday, when the Indians squared off against Wichita Heights. Manhattan triumphed over the Eagles 55-46, needing overtime to do so. MHS outscored Heights 29-26 in the second half and overtime, as junior Payton Stephens notched a team-high 25 points.

The following day, Manhattan met its semifinal opponent in the Hays Indians, who were coming off a win over Hutchinson. The game proved to be a tight one throughout.

Kristen Batson Staff Writer Saturday, cheerleaders from Manhattan High went to Dodge City to perform with six other squads.

“It was really cool to see how diverse other squads can be,” senior Jamie Steele said.

The teams performed together first, then separately, then together again.

The first quarter resulted in a 12-9 Hays advantage, but MHS had no intentions of waving the white flag. Manhattan battled back and tied the game at halftime, but it was the third quarter that did MHS in. Trailing 21-26 after three, turnovers began to plague the already-stifled offense of Manhattan. MHS dropped the semifinal game 42-36, in large part due to its total of 20 turnovers.

“There are games that we would have liked to win, of course,” junior Payton Stephens said. “We can just move on now. We still have games left in the season.”

Losing the semifinal game meant playing for a chance to take third place, a game in which the Indians played the Maize Eagles, who came off a loss to Wichita East.

MHS started off the game the way they wanted, jumping out to an early 4-0 lead

less than a minute into the game. However, Maize parried the blow by fighting back and finishing the first quarter trailing by just four. Maize led at halftime 22-19.

Foul trouble began to torment Manhattan in the third frame. Junior Garrett Francis picked up his fourth foul, prompting sophomore Gabe Awbrey to take his place. MHS climbed back to within one point late in the fourth quarter, but that was all the Indians could muster.

Manhattan was defeated 51-47 and was awarded fourth place at the 71st annual Tournament of Champions.

“We’ll get back at it,” Stephens said. “We’re looking forward to these next four games.”

Manhattan’s next game is at Emporia Saturday.

They were able to come together in a way they may not have if they were competing against each other for an award.

“It was a good bonding experience and we all helped each other out, even if we didn’t know each other,” Steele said.

After the tournament the student from each squad who had the highest GPA was recognized rather than

who performed the best.

“It was nice to have a competition that focused on us as students and not only athletes because being a successful student is the only way to be successful as an athlete,” senior Kennedy Felice said.

Senior Madison Long received the award for the highest GPA for her squad.

Wrestling fights through injuries John Rockey Staff Writer The past week was all but close for the Manhattan wrestlers. The JV dual against Seaman last Wednesday was decided by a matter of 11 team points and the difference of two injured wrestlers changed the placement of the Varsity at Blue Valley Northwest last Saturday.

JV was at home last Wednesday competing against Topeka Seaman and had some wrestlers competing against more than one wrestler in this particular match. The final result ended up being Seaman winning the dual with 100-89 team points despite an otherwise-tough fight put up by Manhattan.

“I feel we did pretty good.

New moves are being shown and people are getting up off the mat,” freshman Christian Fleury said.

Varsity faced a more difficult challenge this year than last year’s first place finish at BVNW last year. Freshman Mason Wallace (120) sustained an injury before the tournament that left him unable to participate and then during the tournament, Senior Josh Mullin (170) would be injured before placing sixth overall in the tournament.

The team ended up taking second with 232 points and six out of 12 the wrestlers competing placing third or better, coming behind Blue Valley Northwest, who had 255.5 points by the end of the meet.

“Every pin counted, ever win counted; to receive second and be missing two teammates we needed made it tough to get first,” junior Anthony Renteria said.

All that remains this week is the Manhattan Invitational Tournament for the JV team this Friday. The Varsity will be left to prepare this week and next for hosting the Centennial League Tournament on Feb. 8.

“If we keep our intensity up at all times, we can get out with first,” freshman Jacob Ashmore said. “We need to keep competing at the high level that we know and we will come out on top.”

The Manhattan High girls basketball team continued its winning streak this week with wins over Washburn Rural last Tuesday and Emporia on Friday. The Indians improved to 9-1 (6-0 in district play) and have won seven straight.

The Indians topped the Washburn Rural Blues 3326 at home in a low-scoring grudge match. Darby Price led the team with 11 points while Caroline Ballard had eight. Molly Fiser and Par McNair both added threepointers. It was a low scoring

game in which the Indians used a strong 11-2 run in the third quarter to help seal the victory.

Manhattan then traveled to Emporia to take on the Spartans. Although the Indians beat the Spartans handily in Manhattan before winter break 66-40, it took MHS overtime to top the Spartans by nine in Emporia Friday night. The difference in that 26-point victory and Friday night’s overtime win was the not being able to control the tempo of the game.

“We wanted to control how the game went, and we didn’t,” head coach Scott Mall said. “Offensively, they came out and were very pa-

tient. They waited until they were in a good spot and we weren’t and took advantage of it early.”

The game was close all game long until the Indians were able to pull away and top the Spartans 50-41 in overtime. Price and Ballard led the team in scoring with 14 apiece, while Amara Ehie added 11 and Gigi McAtee had six.

Manhattan looks to extend its winning streak this Friday when it travels to McPherson to take on the Bull Pups.

Girl, boy bowlers place third Joseph Sell Staff Writer With a score of 691 over three games, junior Smitt Thirakul earned a personal first place win at the Topeka West tournament this past Thursday. But despite his accomplishment, the boys bowling team took third place overall. The girls team also took third, with junior Danielle Miller placing third individually and junior Krystyn Winiecki taking fifth.

“For me, I took first as an individual. Score shot a 691, which is pretty good I guess,” Thirakul said.

The boys team overall shot a combined 2,492 with

Thirakul’s score, Shon Eakes shooting 599, Tanner Holen shooting 570, Sean DeWitt shooting 561, Alex Huerta shooting 536, and Lukas Hugunin shooting 467.

“For me that is improving from what I have (scored) last year or in the past,” Thirakul said. He is also helping other team members improve.

“I think I did really well and as team we did really well but could have done better,” Miller said.

The girls overall total score was 2,073 with Miller shooting 542, Winiecki shooting a 519, Megan Dooley shooting 487, Andrea Miller shooting 470, Kat Eimer shooting 476, and Harley Roedel shooting

368.

“We need to talk to each other other more and communicate about lane conditions,” Miller said.

She felt that communication would have helped make the tournament results better for the girls side.

“In order to win tournaments we need to consistently convert the routine spares and that didn’t happen enough for both boys and girls,” head coach Chris George said. “We work on it every day, though, and we will get better.”

The team competed yesterday at a home meet held at Little Apple Lanes and will compete again on Thursday in Junction City.

Athlete of the Week Junior Smitt Thirakul

Thirakul earned a personal first place at the Topeka West tournament last Thursday. He shot a 691 at the tournament to help the boys bowling team take third overall.

Q: How long have you been bowling?

Q: What’s the best part about A: I’ve been bowling bowling? since eighth grade.

A: The Q: How much of an competiaccomplishment is tion and it for you to score a the self691? discipline.

A: It’s actually a huge accomplishment.

Features The Mentor www.mhsmentor.com Page 5

Sophomore Sterling Edgar headed for India Alan Brown Multimedia Editor Into the great unknown.

The plane has just landed.

The sun pours through the windows, and it’s almost as though steam is rising from the runway. The heat is nearly unbearable, yet sophomore Sterling Edgar doesn’t even notice. He’s too busy soaking in the sights and sounds of his new home.

It’s a land of over 1.2 billion people from one of the most unique cultures in the world.

It’s India.

For now it’s only a dream, but it is well within reach for Edgar. He’s always been fascinated by history, and is never one to shy away from new experiences. After hearing stories about his cousin, a foreign exchange student in Latvia, he felt intrigued by the idea of living abroad.

It was proof that becoming a foreign exchange was truly possible. Eventually, the chance to reside in one of the most historical countries in the world for an entire year was too much to turn down.

Now, he anxiously awaits the results of his application.

“I really love India. I’m

fascinated by it,” Edgar said.

“I can’t even imagine how incredible it will really be.”

Edgar has applied to two foreign exchange programs, American Field Service and the National Security Language Initiative for Youth program. Both are selective and involve multiple requirements, including writing four essays and being part of a formal interview, to qualify.

Throughout his time at MHS, Edgar has proven himself to be an exceptional student, including having the distinction as being one of the first to take and pass AP European History as a freshman. So when it comes to the idea of living in a foreign land for a year, he doesn’t feel the least bit nervous.

“I’ve done research about India’s culture and the two programs,” Edgar said. “I’ve never spoken to single person who has been a foreign exchange student who didn’t enjoy it or think that it was a wonderful experience.”

Perhaps the most important thing that is preparing Edgar for the India is a Hindi language class that he is taking at Kansas State University during seventh hour. He

is fascinated by the language and is constantly practicing, whether in class or at home with friends.

While learning the language is certainly helpful, Edgar also points out that the class is an excellent way to discover more about the culture as well. His professor, for example, taught him that it is offensive to eat with your left hand in India. It will take time to adjust.

“There won’t be any breaks along the culture shock initially,” Edgar said.

“At a certain point, I don’t think it is so much overcoming something so much as experiencing it. Soon it will become routine and no longer a problem to deal with.”

While the prospect of meeting new people in India is exciting, leaving friends and family behind could be a difficult emotional experience. But Edgar is not nervous. He plans to keep a constant contact with as many people as he can. This, he says, will make the experience bearable. The situation is comparable to third grade, when he lived in The Netherlands with his family for a year.

Sophomore Sterling Edgar eats lunch with his friends at MHS. Edgar will be away from them for a whole year if his application to go to India is accepted. Edgar has applied for two foreign exchange programs hoping to be accepted and leave for India. He has done research about the culture and history and is currently taking Hindi classes at Kansas State University.

Alan Brown, Photographer “I remember the first several months [in The Netherlands] were difficult. I had good experiences there but it

involved an adjustment,” Edgar said. “During the last several months I began to settle down and I wasn’t afraid

anymore. I had some of the best experiences during that time. I hope to repeat that same experience in India.”

IPS continues community outreach through several events Liz Logback Editor-in-Chief From a packed house for the talent show to the ever-popular “Schnee cones,” Manhattan High’s Interpersonal Skills class has kept busy. But that makes it look even more appealing to future applicants.

Nominations have been accepted for the last couple of weeks for next year’s IPS members. More than 130 people were nominated and are now being sorted through. Interviews will be in the coming weeks and class members announced shortly after.

Last Thursday excited those with prospects to be in the class. Rezac Auditorium was the scene of the seventh annual production of “America’s Got Seniors Kennedy Felice, Mallory Morris, Megan Ritthisorn and Pilar Special Talent,” a show that highlights Dritz decorate cupcakes during America’s Got Special Talent. the talents of those with special needs Loretta Lazaris, Photographer

in the Manhattan community. All of the proceeds from the show went to Terry Akin’s adaptive P.E. class to purchase more trikes for the class members to ride. Members from IPS performed in and helped coordinate the show.

“They love performing and this is really the only chance they get to do that,” special education teacher Kim Schnee said.

Acts ranged from cupcake decorating to performing a dance to showing off basketball dunking skills.

“I did the waltz. We practiced three times before,” senior Stephan Shimkus said.

Senior Kasey Morris titled her act “Kasey’s Magic Show.”

“I read minds. My dad came up and I read his mind,” Morris said.

In addition to the show, IPS also began their annual bake sales and contin-

Survey reveals top vending machine choices of MHS Louis Melgarejo Staff Writer You might want to think twice the next time you open a bottle of soda. Manhattan High School has a sweet tooth and according to a recent sampling Dr Pepper ranks as the most popular beverage.

Dr Pepper turned out to be the top choice of all vending machine drinks out of the 75 various MHS students that were surveyed in the cafeteria and commons during lunch last week.

Sophomore Sydney Gold admitted she drank a minimum minimum of three cans of Dr Pepper a day.

Junior David Taylor, on the other hand, doesn’t like any of the drinks the vending machines have to offer.

“I like Root Beer because it’s the beer of roots,” Taylor said.

According to the nutrition facts on the back of the product, each bottle contains 64 grams of sugar. That just sounds like a number at first but when you put it into per-

spective, that a gram of sugar is about as much as each of those packets of sugar you see at restaurants, it suddenly seems like a whole lot more. Now imagine eating 64 packets of sugar in one sitting. Not too appetizing when you take into consideration that the American Heart Association recommendation of added sugars per day is a maximum of 37.5 grams for men and 25 grams for women.

“If I ate 64 packets of sugar that would be gross and I would feel fat and lazy after,” Gold said.

There is a solution to rehydrating at MHS’ vending machines without consuming so much sugar.

“I only drink water because it is pure,” sophomore Toula Sweeney said.

For the survey 75 students were surveyed, Dr Pepper, Gatorade, and Pepsi were voted for the most. Mountain Dew, water, and SoBe Water fell close behind, with 13, nine, and seven percent of the total votes.

Graphic by Tracy Le

Don’t miss out on the 2014 Blue M!

Already ordered your book and wanting personalization? Return your personalization form and $5 for your name or $3 for icons to C107 by Jan. 31 to get your name or icons on your book!

ues to collect money for the Emergency Shelter before each basketball game.

“The hot item at the bake sale used to be the chili, but this year I would say it’s the Schnee Cones,” para-educator Jamie Schnee said. Schnee literally means snow in German. “My mom bought the trailer two years ago and began selling snow cones to raise money for Special Olympics but for the bake sale we are donating it all to Adopt-A-Family.”

The money raised from the bake sales is saved for the following year’s IPS class to spend on Adopt-A-Family at Christmas time. This year the class was able to adopt four families with the money raised at last year’s bake sales.

And the prospects are looking good considering the first sale last Wednesday brought in over $300. The bake sales will continue for the next seven weeks, every Wednesday until Spring Break.

From Expo page 1 “Anything you do in the world is going to involve business, so just taking classes, getting greater knowledge on it won’t hurt,” Wesley Garibay, a senior who has spent all four years in Business Professional of America, said.

“Having this fair is when kids are brought here, and given time to go around and explore. It just gives them a greater opportunity than if they did it on their own free time.”

Local colleges including Kansas State University and Manhattan Christian College also attended the fair. Nick Brown and Julie Robinson represented MCC to talk to students about their future.

“The high school did a good job of getting people, bringing in the middle schoolers,” Brown said. “It’s something they need to start thinking about.”

The focus on local postsecondary opportunities was appreciated by those representatives.

“It’s nice to be at a local event where there’s opportunities and just a few other colleges,” Robinson said.

“I grew up in Nebraska, and we did have something like this and I really appreciated it. It gives you open access to each representative.

It’s better to get opinions from outside of yourself, because you need to do your research.”

From Scholars Bowl page 1

From Missing page 1

“Sometimes you do slip up in instances like that, but it just helps you later when you’re looking for things to improve on, especially when you get that close,” Dawdy said, also explaining that second place is “still a pretty good place to be.”

In addition, on Saturday members of the team recorded their competition at the Quest High School Academic Competition at KTWU television studio on the campus of Washburn University in Topeka. That event will be broadcast later on KTWU so results will not be available until then.

This afternoon, Manhattan High School will host a home Scholars Bowl meet.

Those interested in volunteering can check with Dawdy about whether he still needs workers.

ment, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, and the Riley County CERT. Three teenaged skateboarders were seen skating near Tuttle Cove and could possibly hold more information on Peterson’s disappearance. The PCPD and Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office are hoping that the teens will contact them about her disappearance.

They believe that they could have valuable information about the incident. Peterson is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall and 140 pounds with red hair. She is a Senior Administrative Assistant in the Physics Department of Kansas State University. If anyone has any information they believe could be helpful, please contact the RCPD or Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office.

From Science Olympiad page 1

education, it isn’t so much that Manhattan High takes all the credit for that. That’s the furthest from the truth, the truth is that it’s an accumulation of their education up to this point. Mr. Lamb and I and Mr. Ackerman, we get to reap the benefits of all of that groundwork that everyone else has laid to make these guys such good students.”

we’ve gotten close.”

With their Regional win behind them, the team looks forward to a possible practice competition in Capeman Mount Carmel and ultimately, state. ”We have a great team, great kids,” Nelson said.

“This is kind of a thing that is an accumulation of the kids’

Trending The Mentor www.mhsmentor.com

Page 6

a night at the Grammys Hits

2

of the

Liz Logback Editor-in-Chief The red carpet shone Sunday night with the hottest artists of the year at the 56th annual Grammys. And despite the talent behind their nominations, the talent behind the artists’ attire was questionable. Elle Canada released it’s favorite, and not-so-favorite, dresses hours after the event. Of course deciding what is fab or just a plain disaster is in constant debate. I’ve taken Elle’s reviews into consideration and added my own twist on their critiques.

awards

2 1

Hot or not?

Taylor Swift’s hair flip

3

4

8

6

Pharrell’s Hat

7 5

Ciara

1

Sara Bareilles

Named a favorite by Elle, I must agree. Ciara rocked her baby bump in this sparkling Pucci. It hugs her body beautifully and is tasteful for her age. And of course anything that shimmers has my vote.

Taylor Swift

5

Elle calls this the “Perfect mix of glam and rock,” and I could not agree more. The shimmery Gucci had Swift looking fierce on the red carpet and complimented her shape well.

2

This Blumarine took my breath away. The feathers and high-low cut gave Bareilles just the edge she needed for the red carpet.

Elle trashes her Katniss Everdeen inspired hair and dress ensemble but I think this was a “Brave” move for Bareilles.

Rita Ora

6

This metallic green Lanvin scores high for Elle but landed on my disaster list. Stretched in all the wrong places, Ora’s cute handbag and shoes couldn’t redeem this dress.

Kelly Osbourne The Fashion Police star nailed this one. Elle claims “It’s a bit too heavy and dark,” but I find the studded shoulder pads and elegant black material of this Badgley Mischka absolutely stunning on Osbourne.

Katy Perry

7

A high scorer for Elle but the top of my disaster list. I appreciate the music theme, but the tule makes Perry a little more fairy than glam.

This Valentino buries Perry’s beautiful body.

3

Alicia Keys

4

Elle complements the plunge, but this dress took a nose dive into disaster for me.

The blue Armani Prive looked more trashy than classy on Keys’ gorgeous shape.

8

P!nk

P!nk scores high on the list.

Elle and I both agree that P!nk looks incredible in this redfitted dress by Joanna Johanssen.

Photos courtesy of Elle Canada

the

56th

annual

Grammys:

top winners

34 couples married on air

Record of the year

Beyonce.

"Get Lucky" -- Daft Punk featuring Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers: WINNER

"Radioactive" -- Imagine Dragons "Royals" -- Lorde "Locked out of Heaven" -- Bruno Mars "Blurred Lines" -- Robin Thicke featuring T.I. and Pharrell

Album of the year

“Random Access Memories” -- Daft Punk -- WINNER "The Blessed Unrest" -- Sara Bareilles "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City" -- Kendrick Lamar "The Heist" -- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis "Red" -- Taylor Swift

Song of the year

“Royals” -- Lorde -- WINNER "Just Give Me a Reason" -- P!nk featuring Nate Ruess "Locked Out of Heaven" -- Bruno Mars "Roar" -- Katy Perry "Same Love" -- Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Lorde youngest “song of the year” winner