Volume 102 Edition 22

The mentor

See page 3

Vol. 102 Issue 22 | Manhattan High School | April 14, 2015

SADD hosts annual Spring Fling Angie Moss Business Manager

Chili pepper-eating contests, face painting, cake walks and raffles were all events that students could participate in at the Spring Fling last Friday.

Students Against Destructive Decisions hosts the event every year to give Manhattan High students a night to participate in fun activities and relax without having to worry about whether or not drugs and alcohol will be around. “[I think Spring Fling went] pretty good. I don’t think there’s as many people as there were last year because there’s a lot of sports going on,” junior Hannah Craig said. “But I feel like there’s a lot more booths that participated and there’s a lot more adults that were able to come but I feel like it would have been a bigger turnout if there wasn’t as many sports.”

Several other clubs took part in Spring Fling by setting up booths with various activities. The Anime Club had a face painting booth, Spanish Club had a chili pepper-eating contest, Thespians had a photo booth and there were other games that students could play that were run by SADD. “I think my favorite part was being able to be with [Anime] Club and do the painting booth,” sophomore Faithlynn Hoofard said. “I was there for the first half but just hearing all the music and being able to just relax and be with people that I like and being able to just degrade but not have the stress of school at the same time. It was pretty nice to have.”

One of the games that was available to students was laser tag.

“My favorite part honestly would have to be the laser tag,” sophomore Darius Neff said. “It’s just something different that allows people to have fun.”

SADD members had to complete many steps to make Spring Fling run the way they wanted it to.

“We have been preparing for this for a long time,” SADD president Alyssa Frey said. “We had to decide what events we wanted, we had to get other club booths, we had to rent the laser tag on time, we had to figure out how we were going to decorate and we had to get club members to help us all night.”

Top left: Senior Nadal Abudayyeh sports a rocking wig and skirt combo at Spring Fling. Bottom left: Juniors Evan Heger and Olivia Groninger converse in the commons. Right: Rheannan Weixelman explores a booth.

PHOTOS BY ANGIE MOSS

Ultimate Club defeats Flint Hills Christian in friendly game Alan Brown Features Editor Last week, the Manhattan High School Ultimate Club took part in its first official competition of the year. The team competed against a familiar foe, Flint Hills Christian School. The Indians delivered a devastating blow to the Warriors, defeating them in a 15-3 blowout. The team went into the match with high expectations, and it came away satisfied.

“I had high hopes for the Flint Hills Christian game,” club president John Benfer said. “It was a solid performance by us Indians. Really,

we just executed really well.”

For many of the club members, the competition was a chance to shake off any potential rust that they may have accumulated in the offseason.

However, led by a group of veterans, the team appeared welldisciplined and dominant. Despite the windy conditions, the team rarely committed a turnover. The group also developed valuable team chemistry in the process.

“It went great,” junior Sam Nelson said. “The only problem was the wind.”

Juniors Benfer, Colin Beauregard, Greg Woods, Kyle Thompson and Colt Joyce are just a few of the veteran con-

tributors that have already made an impact this season.

However, up and coming freshman also have the attention of the group. Five freshman attended the Flint Hills competition, an impressive showing.

One of the primary reasons for the team’s effectiveness on the field is the practice that goes on throughout the week.

Led by an experienced coach, Shawn Kokegne, practice is used as a valuable opportunity for improvement. Professional drills and activities solidify the team’s commitment to winning.

“We have many drills that help us with throwing and

catching. Four corners, dish drills, and also a special drill to emphasize running through the disc when you catch it,” Benfer said. “You always want to run through the disc so that it doesn’t get batted away by the defender.”

While the team had a nearly spotless performance, it stills sees many possibilities for improvement.

“Some of our timing with our cutters could be improved a little bit,” Benfer said. “We need to make sure our defense stays solid and not to let off, having a good mark on the guy with the disc, aiming low and getting better handle movement.”

Junior Rawson Evans passes the disc upfield to junior Sam Nelson.

COURTESY PHOTO

StuCo runs successful spring Blood Drive Variety Show cancelled

Juniors Maddie Taylor and Robyn Burton and senior Benaiah Gorman talk to junior Jacklyn Dawson while she gets blood drawn.

PHOTO BY BRENT MORRIL

Global News Madeline Marshall News Editor Global news is a vital part of news today and can directly affect MHS students.

In order to inform our readers, The Mentor has compiled small summaries describing some of the largest happenings in the world today. We encourage the reader to read about these topics, and others, in greater depth.

Booker attempts Fort Riley bombing A 20-year-old Topeka man, John T. Booker, was arrested and charged on Friday with plotting to detonate a suicide car bomb on the military base at Fort Riley. Booker had been planning a suicide bomb attack against Fort Riley in an alleged plot to support the Islamic State group. At the time of his arrest, Booker was trying to arm what he thought what a 1,000-pound bomb inside a van near the post. Prosecutors say the arrest came after an FBI

sting investigation. Booker is facing several charges, including attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. Court documents don’t indicate whether he has an attorney.

Clinton announces candidacy Hillary Clinton officially announced her candidacy for the 2016 presidential election this past Sunday. This will be her second attempt at the presidency and Clinton is expected to be the 2016 Democrat nom-

Darian Foga-Frehn Staff Writer

Madeline Marshall News Editor

Many voices filled the chilly South Gym last Wednesday, all speaking about the same thing: blood.

After a successful blood drive last fall, Manhattan High School Student Council opened the doors to the Red Cross once again for their Spring Blood Drive.

Students donate for a plethora of reasons. Some donate because they or someone close to them have had a blood transfusion in the past, some just want to help.

“I’m donating because my Dad donated last year, so I decided to do it this year,” sophomore Zoe Pierson said. “I’m really nervous, I’m shaking.

I’ve never done this before.

Just the thought of having a needle in my skin scares me,

What would have been the 59th annual Variety Show was cancelled this week due to a lack of interest. The show, usually a fundraiser for the band program, received very little interest this year; only three acts signed up to audition.

“I’m disappointed of course,” band director Joel Gittle said. “This was going to be the 59th annual, but we need at least 20 to 25 events scheduled to audition in order to pick 16 -- eight for act one, eight for act two -- for a two-act show, and there were only three. And there were no emcees.”

In the past, the show was used to raise money for auditorium equipment and upkeep.

“It’s the band directors that produce it, but we’ve used that money year after year for the

See Blood page 7 inee.

“Everyday Americans need a champion. And I want to be that champion,” Clinton said.

“So I’m hitting the road to earn your vote — because it’s your time. And I hope you’ll join me on this journey.”

Without an incumbent, this announcement begins what could be one of the least contested races for the Democratic presidential nomination in quite some time. It could also very well be the first time a woman receives a major party’s nomination.

Obama, Castro make history President Barack Obama and President Raúl Castro symbolically ended more than a half-century of official estrangement between the United States and Cuba last Saturday in a historic-face-toface meeting that Obama said put them on “a path toward the future.” Their immediate task is to reopen embassies in Havana and Washington and the meeting moved Cuba and the US closer to restoring diplo-

auditorium,” Gittle said.

The show was typically student run, but without interest Gittle sees little reason to try to and force it to happen.

“We supervise it, but it’s student run. They do all the stage work; they do all the lighting; they do all the sound. We’re just their to say, ‘We don’t want this to be a four-hour show, let’s move things along; emcees that skit was too long; you need to make that shorter or you need to add something here.’ Students have really run this whole thing every year,” Gittle said. “There’s nine nights that we give up and three afternoons for auditions. You look at the amount of money that’s made off of that, over the last couple of years, because of the lack of interest. . . I know things that we can do in an afternoon that would make the same amount of money, and See Variety page 7 matic ties. However, the US economic embargo, which has blocked nearly all trade between the two nations for the last five decades, is still firmly in place. Likewise, Cuba’s human rights record still receives scorn from Washington, as does US foreign policy from Havana.

Nevertheless, Obama stated that the meeting could be a “turning point” for the two former Cold War foes.

Opinions

The Mentor • April 14, 2015

Page 2

New bill would punish America not America for all families recieving welfare Madeline Marshall News Editor

THIS EDITORIAL IS A COMPILATION FROM A DISCUSSION HELD BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD. TO LISTEN TO THE CONVERSATION THAT LED TO THIS PIECE, VISIT WWW.MHSMENTOR.COM

Kansas has proposed a new bill that, if passed, will place new restrictions on the way welfare recipients in the state are able to spend their money and live their lives in general.

The Mentor editorial board had a discussion regarding whether the bill would infringe on the rights of the recipients.

The proposed bill would set new regulations preventing families on welfare from buying steak and seafood,

withdrawing more $25 from an ATM in a day, etc. If this bill is signed not only will our government be crossing a line, they’ll be depriving Americans -- guilty of nothing but needing help -- of basic rights they, as people, are entitled to.

That is what Kansas governor Sam Brownback and any other state legislators should be focusing on -- the fact that whether someone is on welfare, or homeless, or anything else they deem undesirable, they are still human beings and they have to be treated as such. Who are our government leaders to tell a family what food they can eat and whether or not they can take their children to see a movie occasionally?

It seems to us a bit ironic that Republicans -- the same group of people who feel the government should stay out of our lives -- are suddenly all for controlling the choices of a group of people because they’re on welfare.

Quality of life shouldn’t be diminished because some of our population is struggling financially. This bill is intended to make it less desirable -- as if anyone wants to be on welfare -- but it’s really just punishing people who have had enough struggling in their life as it is.

The editorial board came to the consensus that not only is this bill taking away the rights of recipients, it’s unnecessary and just another attack on families in need.

Seventy-nine years ago poet Langston Hughes, an African American poet in Harlem during the pre-Civil Rights era, wrote, “Who said the free?

Not me? / Surely not me? The millions on relief today? / The millions shot down when we strike? / The millions who have nothing for our pay? / For all the dreams we’ve dreamed / And all the songs we’ve sung / And all the hopes we’ve held / And all the flags we’ve hung, / The millions who have nothing for our pay / Except the dream that’s almost dead today.”

Last week, a black, unarmed fifty-year-old Walter Scott was shot in the back eight times by a white police officer during a traffic stop.

Hughes’ words still ring true.

This is far from the first incident of this nature and many are weary of the “talk” it has reignited. But when there are people in the country today who can exclaim, “There’s never been equality for me/ Nor freedom in this ‘homeland of the free,’” as Hughes did nearly 80 years ago, we should not have the luxury of being exhausted by talk.

As a white person in the United States, I was born with the privilege to do just that. That is to say, as white

people, we are privileged. We have been given the freedom to think of names like Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Walter Scott as nothing more than text in a headline. But they are more than that. They were fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters; they had hopes, dreams and aspirations. They were people.

America was meant to be a place where “opportunity is real, and life is free,” and “equality is in the air we breathe.” Instead, we have created a place where many are gasping for a single breath -- a place where people are forced to pay for the pigment of their skin. How can we be the land of the free when minorities are cuffed to oppressing stereotypes wrought by greed? We can’t.

America is a land built upon oppression, hence Hughes’ cry to “let America be America again/ The land that never has been yet.” And while we often try to distance ourselves from the roots of this inequality, we cannot. The Civil Rights movement did not end injustice; it only began to mend inequity’s tear. And at this point in time, much more repair is necessary.

With our daily news seemingly overrun with stories that paint every event in racial tones, it is easy for all of us to ignore the toxicity and think that racial problems really aren’t that bad. However, we can’t let the noise hide the blatant inequality in our society.

Instead, now is the time to re-

member and thoughtfully consider the relationship between race and power that has existed in our country since its founding. And as uncomfortable as it may be to say, only one race has controlled every aspect of power since our country’s inception. Because of this imbalance in power, the responsibility to fix racism doesn’t fall equally on the backs of all Americans. If social injustice and racism are to become at best a scarred memory, then I, and all of my relations, must bare the vast majority of the load in eradicating it.

In harsh, unfiltered terms, racism isn’t a white and black problem; it is a white problem with black consequences. As unsettling as this concept may be to some, until this notion is widely recognized no true strides can be made toward equality.

As a first step, I ask that you help me by doing the following: consider the experiences of those around you; work to comprehend the fact that different people have different experiences and that those experi­ ences can be terrible things based on nothing more than the color of their skin.

Next, make an effort to treat all people with the same level of human dignity.

These two steps, what some may call empathy and “the golden rule,” will go a long way in helping to lift the weight of racism and perhaps, as Hughes hopes, “out of the rack and ruin,” we can “make America again.”

Question of the Week:

What’s the best promposal you’ve seen/heard of?

Cartoon by Halsey Camera

senior Connor Bliss, @connorblissful

Lighten load of janitorial staff Kristen Batson Print Editor-in-Chief

As I was trudging out of C107 after one of the first work nights we had this year I glanced at the clock -- 9 p.m.

-- definitely not our latest night. I rub my eyes that are barely staying open and start my descend down the stairs.

As I look around I see piles of trash, cleaning supplies and janitors looking even wearier than I feel.

Over the course of the year I’ve grown increasingly aware of the tremendous amount of work these people have to do.

They have lives and families and I’m sure things to do that are much more desirable than scouring the huge building

that is Manhattan High School and trying to erase all evidence of the disrespectful teenagers that reside here during the day.

Yet I continue to see people throw paper towels on the ground, two inches from the trashcan, and leave them there.

They walk through the halls and drop trash carelessly as if their actions have no repercussions. What we need to realize is that our actions are directly making other peoples’ lives a little harder, their job a little more tedious. How disrespectful is that? Every single time we’re careless or disrespectful someone else is suffering.

We, as students, need to be responsible and accountable so they aren’t here until all hours of the night cleaning up after our carelessness. Individually it wouldn’t be a hard thing to do. If every person keeps up after themselves we can greatly reduce the amount of time our

janitors have to spend here each night.

Other than making the load of our janitorial staff a little lighter, it’d also be instilling basic self-accountability in students that we’ll need to be functioning adults. We need to understand that when we fail to clean up after ourselves other people are left to do it for us, and we won’t always have people in paid positions to do that.

This doesn’t even apply to just janitors. It’s teachers, parents, anyone who is responsible for them in any way and as students go through high school we need to be prepared to be responsible for doing something so easy as picking up our own trash.

Many of us are, or almost are, adults and we need to start behaving that way. Common sense and courtesy shouldn’t be foreign concepts to us.

“Being dumped by your boyfriend on the same day you buy your dress” senior Sam Osburn.

Angie Moss Business Manager

A cool thing about having doctors everywhere is that they can tell us if something is wrong with us. They get paid to diagnose our sicknesses and injuries. They spend eight or more years in school just so they can identify and treat abnormalities. So why is it that we think we can accurately diagnose ourselves?

Teenagers in particular tend to jump to conclusions when something doesn’t seem right with their bodies. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked down the halls in this school and heard students talking amongst each other

ous topic and it needs to be addressed with a serious attitude.

Another thing that society has gotten good at lately is calling people out on unusual behavior. If someone skips lunch one day or chooses to not eat fattening food, they’re labeled as anorexic right away. Someone having a bad day is automatically depressed. Someone having mood swings is bipolar.

In what world is this okay?

It’s fine if you think there really is something wrong with one of your friends and you’re concerned. If you think it’s serious and it needs to be addressed, either tell an adult that you trust or bring it up in a private setting and be careful about it. Don’t call someone out in front of people because that does no good. It can make things worse and trigger an unhealthy reaction to the confrontation.

“KIRK FREAKING LAMBERT. HE ASKED MADI FIEF WITH ED SHEERAN CONCERT TICKETS.” junior Robyn Burton, @redrobyn_yuum

What’s the worst experience you’ve had in high school thus far? Tweet your answer @mhsmentoronline or answer at our website, mhsmentor. com for a chance to be featured in the next edition.

Visit mhsmentor.com for coverage of events not in the paper and answer our polls!

Take illnesses seriously; stop self-diagnosing about what mental illnesses they “have.”

“I think I have schizophrenia because I’m hearing voices and I’m talking back to them,” I once heard a fellow student say. When I asked if they had gone to a doctor, the response I got was “no, I think it’s funny.”

No. That is NOT okay. Do not tell people that you have a serious mental disease if you are not sure about it. If you think you are not okay, please go to a doctor and get the proper treatment, but DO NOT diagnose yourself and then proceed to make a joke about it to other people.

Millions of people are impacted by mental illnesses every single day and you never know who’s dealing with what.

You don’t know if the person you are making jokes with has a disease or has a family member with a disease. It is a seri-

“Someone got an NBA player to help them ask a girl to prom.” junior Alex Cardenas, @alex_cardenas98

We tend to forget that we’re all human and we all need to treat others the way we need to be treated. We all get hostile with one another and we can come off as rude when we don’t need to be. Sometimes it’s important to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Our comments can cause harm to others and we need to be a little less casual.

This is a tough world to grow up in and we all need a reminder that we’re worth it. We don’t need to diagnose ourselves by saying we have something that we aren’t sure about and we don’t need to call someone out when we think they aren’t okay. Coming together and recognizing that illnesses of all types are a real thing and aren’t meant to be made fun of is the only way this problem can be fixed.

EDITORS: Kristen Batson -- Print Editor-In-Chief/Opinions Joseph Sell -- Online Editor -In-Chief Danielle Cook -- Entertainment/Content Editor Madeline Marshall -- News Editor Alan Brown -- Features Editor Greg Woods -- Sports Editor Tracy Le -- Trending Editor Anna Hupp -- Photo Editor Senior Staff Writers/Photographers -- Madison Newman, John Rockey Staff Writers/Photographers -- Elassia Cunningham, Darian Foga-Frehn, Erick Echegaray, Ale Flores, Brent Morrill OTHER: Angie Moss -- Business Manager Kristy Nyp -- Adviser Circulation -- Kristyn Baker, David Clinkinbeard, Charlie Dickey, Karl Drown, Rachel Efken, Jordan Hatley, Colten Kirk, Joshua Kohls, Kendall Oatney, Megan Ritthisorn, Zane Smith, Darnel Stewart, Austin Tatum 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 1,000 Mentors are printed each week and distributed free of charge to all faculty members and students. MHS journalists are members of the Kansas Scholastic Press Association. The Mentor is an open forum that accepts contributions from the public. E-mail us at mhsmentor@ gmail.com.

Page 3

The Mentor • April 14, 2015

Features

Fine tuned

MHS musicians participate in Regional Solo and Small Ensemble Festival

Junior Kyle Thompson and senior Roxanne Gehring rehearse for their upcoming competition at the annual Kansas State Regional Solo and Small Ensemble Festival. Over 200 students from 16 schools came together to perform in front of judges at the event this Saturday. Many of Manhattan High School’s participants received “I” ratings and will advance to the state competition.

PHOTO BY ELASSIA CUNNINGHAM Elassia Cunningham Staff Writer Student musicians in the northcentral region of Kansas gathered at Manhattan High School for the annual Kansas State Regional Solo and Small Ensemble Festival on Saturday.

String, vocal and band students from 16 schools in the region performed for judges starting around 8 a.m. with seven minute intervals in between each performance. The festival ended around 5 p.m.

Manhattan High school band musicians have spent much of the past month rehearsing for the festival during their daily rehearsals. String students, returning from Chicago had more of a challenge to get rehearsals

together.

“It’s a different kind of pressure because they’re on their own to put it together, that in itself makes it a different experience,” orchestra director Nate McClendon said.

“Instead of me leading them through the music, they have to do that part.”

Sophomore Vanessa Guvele felt the pressure of getting ready for the performance right after the Chicago performance.

“It’s kind of stressful to have everything layered on top of one another,” Guvele said. “But it will be okay, I guess.”

Despite the pressure of the festival, students continued to practice and prepare for the

festival.

Altogether, around 1,600 students participated in the festival; Manhattan had record-breaking numbers of participants this year with around 200 to 250 Manhattan students playing for judges.

According to Joel Gittle, band director, about 65 percent of MHS students received I ratings in the previous school year. This year a large number of students received I ratings and will go on to state.

Senior Justin Gittle received six I ratings in both vocal and brass categories.

“I took six events, I took two choir ensembles, two brass ensembles, a vocal solo and a horn solo, and all six

of those got I’s,” Justin said, “which means all six of those are going to be going onto state, which is busy, but also nice to know that we’re not terrible.”

“We’ve done really well, I can only speak for the orchestra, but our numbers keep going up in terms of how many students participate and how many students go on to state,” McClendon said.

Each performance was judged by local music teachers and professors and was scored off of a rubric with a grading scale from V to I. “This year they’re [judges] coming in from Bethany College, some are coming in from KU [University of Kansas], one is coming in from Kansas

City -- he’s a retired director from Blue Valley -- but they’ve gone through training with the Kansas State High School Activities Association,” Joel Gittle said. “They have been selected to judge, and they follow a rubric that directors from the state of Kansas have put together in the last few years.”

Students who received a rating of I qualify for the state festival held at KU in Lawrence.

“State’s a lot more critical criteria on the same rubric, so their judges are judging tougher,” Joel said. “So, they have two weeks, they’ll take the judges critics, try to improve on what they say they need to improve on, if they’re lucky enough to get a I, and we travel to KU -- Lawrence -- to go to state.”

Chamber Choir performs in Topeka Students place in Kansas Student Elassia Cunningham Staff Writer Chamber Choir hit the road to perform at the state Capitol building on Wednesday. The choir later performed in a joint concert with Washburn Rural High School at Grace Episcopal Cathedral in Topeka.

The choir departed from Manhattan High School during seventh hour. Chamber performed at the Capitol Rotunda around 4:30 p.m., then performed at Grace Episcopal Cathedral at 7 p.m. The choir returned Wednesday evening.

Every spring the choir performs with another high school. Last year, Manhattan’s chamber choir performed with Washburn Rural at MHS; however, this year the choir decided to perform in Topeka.

“Every year, about April, we try to do a shared concert with another school

to get ready for contest and other things that happen this month,” choir director Chad Pape said.

The MHS Chamber Choir and Washburn Rural each performed four songs before performing “O Filii Et Filiae” together. The choirs will sing the song without any prior rehearsals together.

“We’ve been preparing these songs for a while now,” senior Xavier Hayden. “Originally, it was something it was something to prepare us for large competition, but since we are no longer going to large group competition, this is not really in preparation for anything.”

Both performances were open to the public, giving the concert a more relaxed feeling opposed to judged concerts.

“Our audience, when we sang at the Capitol was just tourists and anyone who happened to be walking around and maybe some parents,” senior Marisa Lang said. “We

had about 10 people at a time listening to us. And it was almost just practice before we sang at the church.”

However, the choir still strives to do their personal best when performing in front of or with other choirs.

“It’s a little bit laid back, in the sense there aren’t any judges or anything,” Pape said.

“But, it’s a big deal, in that, obviously if you have another educated audience who wants to listen to you, you want to do well for that. We always want to do as well as we can.”

Lang believed that there was some performance pressure when the choir performed with Washburn Rural.

“There was a little bit of pressure to be good, because Washburn was a very good choir, especially their small group choir was just really great,” Lang said. “There was no clear cut choir, like, who was better. But, of course we want to be the best, but, they were really good.”

MHS Performing Arts Department, Thespians prepare for spring play Alejandra Flores Staff Writer Manhattan High’s spring play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” is a comedy play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the duke of Athens Theseus and Hippolyta and fairies who live in the forest controlling and manipulating four Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors.

The MHS Performing arts department and Thespian Troupe #941 are going to be performing the play at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Rezac Auditorium. Students participating and helping to make this play happen have been strongly preparing for this play and had fun at the same time. Aside from the actors, drama students are contributing by doing back-

stage work, set construction, lighting and sound, in order to make the play a success.

Junior Savannah Smith and senior Charlotte Benjamin have had some difficult, awkward and funny moments in rehearsals.

“The most difficult part is adapting to stage with lighting and sound,” Smith, who will play Puck, said.

They rehearse Monday through Thursday and do set construction on weekends.

Those involved have worked hard to memorize their lines.

“The language is different in this play, as most of Shakespearean plays, but is has been a good ride. The show is going to go beautifully, we have a wonderful producer and cast; everyone should just come and see it,” Smith said.

Senior Charlotte Benjamin, who plays Titania, has been rehearsing and having some challenges and funny experi-

ences with her character.

“My character falls in love with a guy with a donkey head in this one scene. I’m so in love with him and he doesn’t care and it’s hard to be serious, but I’m having a blast,” Benjamin said.

The cast has also had to adjust to the space that they will perform in.

“We have to rehearse in the drama room so adjusting to the space while rehearsing has been a difficulty and also just memorizing Shakespeare,” Benjamin said Everyone involved in the production has been working hard to do their part.

“The time I’ve been here everything has been going along really well,” Sherry Brown, student intern, said. “I’m trying to help in anything the students need, and it’s nice to see students so devoted and helping in everything they can.”

Leaders Technology competition Angie Moss Business Manager

Every year, students from all over the state come to Manhattan to compete in the Kansas Student Technology Leaders contest that is held at the Kansas State University Student Union. This year, seven Manhattan High students competed in three events and all seven placed.

The three events that MHS students competed in were Graphic Design, Public Service Announcement and Web Design.

“For graphic design we designed a poster, banner, raffle ticket and a T-shirt about the MHS orchestra and for the

PSA, the topic was healthy eating so we made a video about healthy eating at our school.,” sophomore Youna Song said.

“It was a good experience and I had a lot of fun.”

Song placed first in Graphic Design along with her sister, sophomore Younjin Song, and freshman Stephanie Fu. Youna also placed first in the Public Service Announcement event alongside sophomore Owen Li and sophomore Tony Liu. Li placed third in Graphic Design with Liu, sophomore Nolan Blankenau and sophomore Eric Higgins and also enjoyed competing in the contest. “[My favorite part was] working with my friends to

come up with the ideas and get them into the computer and stuff like that,” Li said. “We put a lot of time and effort into it and it’s nice to see it pay off.”

Graphic Design was added to the list of events at the competition last year and it sparked an interest in MHS students.

“Graphic Design was a new category last year and I saw how people did it and I thought it would be interesting to try this year and web design is just something I enjoy doing,” Fu said. “I like programming and I wanted to teach people how to program so I decided to make a website.”

MHS students take the gold in engineering at state science fair Tracy Le Trending Editor Four Manhattan High sophomores went from winning The Raspberry Pi Innovation Contest to taking first place in the engineering division and first place overall at the Wamego Regional Science Fair and taking first in high school engineering at the state fair.

“Starting last summer and going into February this year, Nolan [Blankenau], Tony [Liu], Eric [Higgins], Connor [McClain], Andy [Fitch] and I have been working on building a frisbee thrower. It’s computer controlled and programed and all that,” Owen Li said. “Mrs. [Kate] Moore, the gifted facilitator down at East campus, told us about it [The Raspberry Pi Innovation Contest] so we put together a team and wanted to come up with an idea we could build using a Raspberry Pi [single-board computers developed with the intention of promoting the teaching of computer science in schools].

You have tennis ball launchers and football throwers and

ultimate frisbee is growing in popularity, we thought that we wanted to build a frisbee thrower.”

For much of last summer, the students spent their time doing research and coming up with various designs. They drew scale blueprints, created a website (http://tecnoa.ninja/ index.html) and after being funded by Kansas Citizens for Science, obtained the materials they needed to begin construction.

“We started buying materials and cutting and assembling them. Later into the year we started working on the software side...controlling motors and wiring and all that. Later we integrated it into the hardware portion so that everything worked together and just fine tuned it until it worked,” Li said. “It was a big relief [when it worked] because we were a couple days from the deadline for the competition so I was just glad to get it done.”

Last Friday, the team present the project to the Kansas Association of Teachers of Science Conference at Rock Springs. Already, Li has plans

to continue entering engineering competitions.

“The same competition is going on next year so we’re already looking at ideas for that,” Li said.

The students have always enjoyed science and were excited with the results of the past three competitions.

“We meet a lot of challenges but it was pretty fun,” Higgins said. “It feels really good to have a reward for spending a lot of time on that project.”

Li agrees.

“We were extremely happy when we tied for the division award [at the state competition], but we were disappointed that we didn’t get the overall award,” Li said. “We had one judge who had played ultimate frisbee a lot when he was younger and he was very enthusiastic about it and called over his wife and a bunch of other judges to come over and take a look at it. The other two judges were a bit more critical, but we got a lot of good feedback from them on how we can improve and how we can expand this project.”

Prom

The Mentor • April 14, 2015

Page 4

Features The Mentor www.mhsmentor.com The Mentor • April 14, 2015

Page 5

Prom

Manhattan High Prom 2015: Alice in Wonderland Danielle Cook Entertainment Editor Don’t be late, be late, for this very important date -Manhattan High Prom 2015.

This year’s prom theme, “Alice in Wonderland,” is one of whimsy and wonder, and will feature colorful decorations of a dreamlike nature, inspired by the curious characters, such as the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, Alice her-

self, of course, and more, from Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel and various modern movie adaptations based on it.

Chosen by means of popular vote from MHS students of the junior and senior classes, “Alice in Wonderland” prevailed over the other prom theme options for this year, “Oregon Trail” and “Arabian Nights.”

Though the theme was chosen based on the number of

votes it received from students, it has proven not to be everyone’s cup of tea.

“I feel like it’s a tad immature. I might have liked “Arabian Nights” better,” senior Nechelle Williams said of “Alice in Wonderland” as 2015’s prom theme. “If I was a sophomore again, I would vote for it, but I am older now.”

However, other students feel that Prom, no matter the theme, is an occasion to be cel-

Prom How To: Smokey Eye Makeup

ebrated like an unbirthday.

“I think it’ll be cool,” senior Justin Gittle said “I think the juniors have enough creativity to pull it off to the best of their abilities.”

While the idea of “Alice in Wonderland” as a 2015 theme has gotten mixed responses from MHS students planning to attend Prom, the night will be a vibrant one.

1) Start with a clean, moisturized face.

Using either your fingers or a foundation brush, blend a facial primer over your entire face, using up and outward strokes. This helps to ensure that your makeup stays on all night without slipping or melting off of your face.

Manhattan High students “prompose” creatively

2) Blend a bronze colored cream eyeshadow over your eyelid with your fingers or a dense eye shadow brush.

This will act as a base for your eye makeup.

Top: Senior Connor Bliss huffed and puffed, and probably ran out of breath after getting together 1,000 balloons, positioning himself into the mass of balloons spelling out the word “Prom?” written on select few balloons to senior Taylor Schalles.

Courtesy photo

Umi’s impressive, but expensive Erick Echegaray Staff Writer

Bottom: With the help of others, senior Jack Cunningham asked senior Shiana Gallagher discovered a large box containing a chair, “then he just came out with his guitar,” Gallagher said, “but I didn’t know if I was supposed to sit in the box on the chair, or get it out. So I sat on the chair in the box.” Cunningham took the time to write Gallagher a song, to which she could not say no. photo Brent Morrill

Bella's pleasant, authentic Joseph Sell Online Editor-in-Chief

Bella’s is a local Italian restaurant that excels at what they do, Italian.

From linguine and clams to chicken alfredo, everything on the menu had great flavors.

To start the meal they bring

Funding cancels Pride Prom 2015 Madison Newman Senior Photographer For those who dance to the beat of their own drum, Pride Prom was the place to be -- a way for people supporting their own colors to break free of the standard and take part in a memory that all young adults should have.

Pride Prom is a prom based off of welcoming terms and acceptance for LGBT members; it’s sometimes known for being the gay prom.

Beckie Carter, president of the Manhattan High School’s Gay Straight Alliance, shared her dismay about the lack of funding for the Pride Prom of 2015.

“We don’t have the fundings for city-wide programs, because we are only allowed to do Manhattan High School programs,” Carter said. “The people who were planning it this year were more focused on the Pride parade than Pride Prom, so they did not have the funding for it.”

After catching wind of the Pride Prom not happening, GSA had to consider other activities to take part in “We decided ‘well, let’s have a picnic instead’, so we’re trying to arrange a picnic in city park

sometime next month,” Carter said.

When discussing functions like the Pride Prom, Carter stressed the point of what it all stood for in her eyes. “[The issue] is not with people, but I have heard about issues with parents,” Carter said. For example, she said friend’s parents forced her to attend prom with a boy rather than with another girl as she would wish.

“There has been a problem with administration, so it seems like the only issues are with the older generation,” Carter said. “You get strange looks from people, [when attending a function with the same sex] and I know that some people can’t handle that, and they take that very hard, but at Pride Prom last year, I didn’t have to dress all girly and you don’t have to feel awkward or out of place.”

Carter made a point to stress that pride prom was not strictly for GSA members and supporters, stating that anyone could go, young or old, straight or gay.

“I don’t want to replace Pride Prom but it’ll be nice to just do something,” Carter said.

out fresh baked bread and a whipped butter. The bread was a great thing to eat while waiting for your food to arrive.

My father ordered the lobster ravioli, which was the only problem with the entire order.

The meal ended up being a little colder than what one would desire but had a delightful

taste. My sister ordered their linguine clam sauce. She thoroughly enjoyed both the clams and pasta, finishing the whole plate. My mother ordered a shrimp scampi and enjoyed it; the meal was light, but filling.

I kept with the classic Chicken Alfredo. This was a great contrast to common Italian res-

taurants’ chicken alfredo. The sauce was a nice light addition to the pasta and chicken.

Overall the meals were great, the atmosphere was a very nice dim relaxing area and the wait was short for the food.

photo by john rockey

As soon as you step inside Umi’s Japanese Steakhouse you will be awed by everything from the lighting, to the fancy waterfall close to the entrance, and really the overall elegance of the whole place. To someone who has never been there before, the place looks magnificent and does impress.

Just moments after you come in, an employee will make you choose between the dine-in or the Hibachi options. If you are looking for the real deal when it comes to this place then there’s no question, Hibachi is definitely the way to go. You will be seated in a large U-shaped table which has space for several people. This would be really ideal if you’re

going to dine with a group of friends or any large number of people. While the waiting time is a minus (you will be waiting for a while for the cooks to arrive at your table), you will be provided with a surprisingly good mushroom soup and a salad while you wait for the cook.

Another negative for this restaurant is surely the prices of the main dish. Unless you’re going for a vegetarian meal, the main dish will cost you around $20 dollars, if not more. While this is wildly expensive, the food is incredible and the show the cook puts on when cooking right in front of you is not only something to remember, but also very entertaining.

When it’s all said and done, you will be treated nicely and

kindly by everyone there and you will have a plate filled with delicious rice, exquisite veggies and your choice of steak (which is cooked very well and perfect with the Teriyaki sauce provided), fish, chicken or, in my case, calamari (squid) which was nothing like I was expecting it to taste -- and I mean that in a totally positive way.

The presentation alone is worth what you’re paying and the quality of the food is miles above anything else I’ve tasted locally. If you’re looking to save up a little money and impress during this prom season, then Umi’s is definitely the way to go.

Hibachi Hut’s southern charm makes impression Alan Brown Features Editor Immediately upon arrival at Hibachi Hut, I was greeted with a pleasing southern aroma. The timeworn bricked wall, finely polished front counter, low lit lights, fish net decor, and faded photos all contributed to the character.

Even on the doors to the restrooms were a part of the act, displaying large Cajun figurines. It was if I stumbled my way into a festive cafe in New Orleans itself.

Looking around, I found myself in a laid back, clean and casual eating establishment.

The soft padded booths added to the relaxing feel (though I wasn’t a fan of the tacky blue ‘50s style chairs at the regular tables). The waitress was prompt and friendly as she presented me and my guests

with menus. After skimming mine, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed by the prices. At the bare minimum, one would have to spend $10 on a dish there. I eventually settled on the $13 chicken fried chicken (choosing chicken over steak as a healthier alternative to red meat).

The waiting time for the food was reasonable. To pass the time, I entertained myself by watching SportsCenter on the restaurant's flat screen television. Hibachi Hut’s music choices helped add to its nostalgic charm, with songs from The Beatles and The Rolling Stones playing recognizably in the background. The waitress also provided a fresh American salad as we waited.

When the food finally did arrive, I was satisfied with my dish. The plate was wonderfully arranged, with creamy

mashed potatoes, sweet corn bread, oiled green beans (perhaps a bit too much oil!), and the chewy chicken fried chicken. The chicken was quite tasty.The jambalaya, however, was disappointing. It seemed overly homemade and plain.

Overall, the food proved to be more than enough food to ease my hunger.

Hibachi Hut’s casual Louisiana-style environment was energetic and cheerful. While the prices of the meals tended to be overly high, the atmosphere definitely made a difference. If you and your Prom date are interested in dining at a restaurant with uniqueness and character, while avoiding a place that is overly formal or glamorous, Hibachi Hut certainly should be taken into consideration.

8) Curl your eyelashes using an eyelash curler (optional step). photo by alan brown

Coat Shirt Tie Vest Shoes

$ 85 $120

Diamond

$130

Allure

$140

(includes everything but shoes)

9) Coat your lashes with a mascara of your choice.

Use at least two coats.

10) Using up and outward strokes, comb your eyebrows using a spoolie brush.

go to our website to view all the style and color choices Check with your date for color coordination Fill out the selection form below Bring your form in and have measurements taken to place order Of course you can always just come by & see us directly at the store!

Ruby Sapphire

5) Using a liquid eyeliner, line the upper lash line, going from the inner corner of your eye out.

7) Using a smudge brush, smoke the eyeliner around your bottom lashes.

Tux choices? No Problem - We make it easy!

Pant

4) In the outer corner of your lid, blend a matte black shadow, concentrating on the outer edges of your eye.

6) Tight line your waterline with a black kohl eyeliner pencil.

Get YOUR prom tux from Manhattan’s Menswear Experts

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

3) Using a medium sized fluffy shadow brush, buff a dark brown shadow through your crease using small circles.

The more blending you do the smokier it will look. Add more product for a deeper, more dramatic look.

Our most affordable complete black and white package

11) Fill in your eyebrows using short precise strokes with an angled brush and an eyebrow powder that matches your brows.

12) Finish getting ready and have a blast at Prom!

Sports

The Mentor • April 14, 2015

Page 6

Golf takes second place Thursday, Monday

Senior Drew Casper chips on to the green on hole one Monday afternoon at the Manhattan Country Club. Casper opened the round strong, shooting par on hole 18, while the team took second overall.

PHOTO BY JOSEPH SELL Joseph Sell Online Editor-in-Chief With winds gusting and a chill creeping through the air, the Manhattan High golf team took second at the Washburn Rural invitational at Wamego Country club last Thursday.

The team finished behind Washburn Rural, who won the tournament with a team score of 307. Manhattan shot a 330 team score.

“Weather conditions were brutal,” coach Brad Ficke said.

“I mean, the kids, I just give them credit for grinding it out and finishing the tournament because most of them couldn’t feel their hands the last five or six holes probably.”

Senior Cole Dillon lead the team as the only medalist, shooting a 77 to take fourth at the tournament.

“I think the conditions were tougher than usual but it wasn’t too bad,” Dillon said.

“You were able to play and make some good shots so overall it was playable, but it was frustrating at parts.”

The weather ended up playing a large part to how the course played.

“I wasn’t mad with [my score] because the weather wasn’t great,” junior Trever Dillon said. “The wind, on some holes, was really blowing into us, so it made a lot of holes a lot longer than they regularly would be and then a lot of the

times the ball would be pushed right or left off the green or off the fairway.”

Ficke also felt similarly about the weather.

“I think it affected some of them more than others. Especially the wind because you can feel it, hear it and see it,” Ficke said. “It’s hard to not let it dictate everything that you do and think. I felt like some of the guys who have been around golf and have played high school golf, that’s part of high school golf is playing in horrible weather, that it probably didn’t affect them as much.

I saw a lot of kids on the course who were just destroyed by it, who pretty much just gave up from hole one. It’s a difference maker, but the winning score was still even par and at one point that kid from Washburn Rural, Andrew Beckler, was four under and those are terrible conditions, so if you know how to play and you’re hitting the ball well, it doesn’t matter as much as people think.”

This tournament was viewed as a learning experience for the golfers and allowed them to figure out where they need to improve.

“I think I could improve my short because there were some shots that I didn’t play so well and it got in my head and I know I can practice and improve my game more and just go out and try to make more birdies and be more consistent

Tennis sweeps majority of matches at Washburn Tracy Le Trending Editor So far, Manhattan High’s varsity boys tennis team has won all of its tournaments and last Tuesday, the Indians swept 11 of 12 matches at the Washburn Rural Quad.

“It was a pretty good day.

It was windy at the beginning but it calmed down so overall, it was a beautiful day for tennis,” junior Bryan Armbrust said.

“

senior Camden Adams and junior Carter Nelson took on No. 2 doubles.

Adams and Nelson won their first two matches but ended up losing their last one after a tough fight with Washburn.

“I think I played the best I could,” Nelson said. “I think our team is great this year and I think we’re going to have a great team next year.”

Already, the team has high

It was very exciting to beat Washburn Rural; we haven’t beaten them in a long time.

-Joyce Allen

Armbrust played No. 2 singles, winning all three of his matches.

“I think we’ve done really well and I’m really happy,” coach Joyce Allen said. “It was very exciting to beat Washburn Rural; we haven’t beaten them in a long time. We won two singles and a doubles so we took three out of four matches from them so that was pretty exciting. We haven’t done that in forever. I’m hoping that that does us well down the road. So that was pretty fun, I think the boys were excited and I was excited.”

Sophomore Bryce Easton played No. 1 singles, juniors Collin Queal and Kirk Lambert played No. 1 doubles and

hopes for the rest of the season.

“Hopefully we can win Centennial and Regionals and place highly at State. We’re a deep team so I think we can do it,” Armbrust said.

The team’s next meet will take place at 3:15 p.m. at City Park today.

“We’d love people to come and watch and see all the kids playing. Hopefully we’ll have good weather,” Allen said.

Next meet: Today City Park

Senior Tyler Brennan putts Monday afternoon at the Manhattan Country Club. on the course,” Cole said.

It also helped the coaches key in on what players need to improve on.

“Honestly, just the kids’ swing consistency [could use improvement] and being able

to put the same swing on the ball time after time after time instead of having three or four good holes and then some bad holes because of some bad swings,” Ficke said. “I think just consistency is the primary

thing and there’s not a whole lot of conclusions you can draw from yesterday because of the weather but after our first two meets, getting rid of the big hole, you know the triple bogeys, you just can’t have

PHOTO BY JOSEPH SELL them.”

The team also finished in second place yesterday at Manhattan Country Club. For more about that meet, visit mhsmentor.com.

Swimmers improve personal times in Thursday meet at Salina, prepares for State meet Friday at Olathe John Rockey Senior Staff Writer The Manhattan High swimming team’s past week at Salina and Olathe was marked by numerous personal improvements and getting a gauge of their competition at State.

The team started on Thursday in Salina missing a number of swimmers from differ-

ent events, including the 500m freestyle, that kept it from scoring points. The Lady Indians ended up pulling off fifth overall with several swimmers seeing improvement in their own scores.

“I PR’d by half a second, which is really good,” senior Alyssa Frey. “Everyone is getting more toned, faster and better.”

Girls soccer blanked at Washburn Rural Erick Echegaray Staff Writer After 3-0 home win for the Manhattan High girls soccer team against Trinity Academy last Thursday, the Lady Indians traveled to Topeka on Thursday to face off against Washburn Rural in a road matchup. The Lady Indians came into this game 3-1 after defeating everyone in their way except for Blue Valley West High School, who handed them their first loss of the year in overtime.

Manhattan was also looking for retribution after a loss to Washburn Rural at home last year.

The Blues proved to be too much for the Indians as they took the clean sheet and the win, 2-0. The Lady Indians went scoreless throughout the entire 80 minutes of play and were handed their second loss of the season. MHS could not net a goal and fell to 3-2 in

league play. Senior goalkeeper Molly Fiser was denied her third straight clean sheet.

The J.V. team also fell against Washburn by a score of 6-1 earlier that day. The normally-explosive Manhattan offense was shut down and was kept from scoring more than one goal.

“I just think we need to work more on our intensity, and our passes and passing through and stuff like that,” sophomore Keiko Feliciano said.

The Lady Indians will try to put the loss behind them and get back to winning ways when they play Emporia today at Bishop Stadium at 6:45 p.m.

After that, they will travel again to Topeka on Friday for another road matchup against Seaman.

The Olathe meet Friday showcased a number of Kansas City teams that Manhattan will see at the upcoming State meet. MHS’ tie for last place comes with several swimmers getting involved in multiple events. Like the Salina meet, the team faced several swimmers gone for different reasons; requiring the remaining swimmers to step up to face

the KC teams.

“Olathe is a good meet for us to see what will be at state with our competition,” senior Katie Bussmann said. “We had to do a lot of moving around with people in their events to make sure that not only did they have the best opportunity to drop time, but for the team to do the best that they could.”

Follow @MHSMentorOnline on Twitter for continued Manhattan High sports coverage all season long!

Page 7

The Mentor • April 14, 2015

Sports

Softball drops pair of road contests to Thunderbirds, looks ahead to future games John Rockey Senior Staff Writer When the Manhattan High softball team lost its first game to Shawnee Heights 5-1 on Friday, players faced frustration with immediately coming back from errors made in the first game.

“We have to remember to pick each other up because we’re all going to be in that place where we’re going to be

Track boys, girls finish in top two spots Erick Echegaray Staff Writer The Manhattan High track team traveled to Topeka for the third time this season to compete in the Topeka High School Invitational this past Friday. After traveling there for both the Topeka West Invitational and the Washburn Rural Invitational, the Indians came back looking for more success after winning many events during those competitions.

The girls team took first, while the boys took second.

“We’ve been doing really well so far, we won the first meet we went to, and then they didn’t score our second meet but I’m pretty sure we were one of the top teams,” sophomore Varsity runner Cara Melgares said.

She is a distance runner and was looking to achieve a personal record for lowest time, especially in the mile event.

While this was only the third Varsity track meet of the year for the Indians, it was the third time they made their way up to the state capital this season for a competition.

“The scenery gets kind of repetitive [going to Topeka], but it’s a good trip and they have a good facility too,” Melgares said.

They will have new scenery today in the form of the Great Bend Invitational in Great Bend. After that Manhattan will finally get ready to compete at home in the Manhattan Invite at 3 p.m. on April 24 at Bishop Stadium.

Blood from page 1 but I’m going to do it anyway.”

StuCo has been working diligently to prepare for this season’s blood drive, and as a result it went very smoothly. “[The Blood Drive] has gone really smoothly," junior and Blood Drive committee chair Krista Burton said. "Everyone’s working really hard together and the Red Cross has been very active in communicating with us" There weren't many complications throughout the day, and the ones had were minor.

“The hardest part is when someone has a bad reaction, and you want to help them," Burton said. “The best thing is to leave them alone. Ninety percent of the people are perfectly fine and can walk right out the door. It's the 10 percent you have to worry about.”

It is the first time Burton has overseen the blood drive process as chairperson.

"It’s my first time being a head," Burton said. "I’ve been a co-head of the drive for a year so it’s my first run on my own.

[My favorite part is] talking to people; I’m a really big people person."

Variety from page 1 then on top of that having to go recruit -- I just don’t think we need to spend that much time.”

Without interest, the show becomes tedious and time consuming to put together.

“We can’t spend time going to recruit acts,” Gittle said. “Then it becomes apparent that it’s a performing arts thing, and I don’t want it to be a performing arts thing; I want it to be an all-school event. So, it’s kind of disappointing that with all the announcements made that no one signed up.

It’s just become difficult to make. It’s become the not-somuch variety show.”

Gittle plans to put the show back on the calendar next year.

“We’ll put it back in next and see how it sticks and see if anybody says, ‘Oh, it’s too bad we missed it, let’s sign up early this time,’” Gittle said.

down and have messed up,” senior Sydney Bannister said.

“As long as we pick each other and encourage each other, we’ll keep strong and that’s how you play well as a team.”

Difficulties arose for the MHS defense as coach Monty Enright explained he saw the team struggle with SHHS landing key hits with runners on base.

“We had opportunities to get some runs,” Enright said.

“We just had a hard time getting that big hit to keep us in it.

And I think that was the most frustrating thing.”

The second game wasn’t made easier as the Thunderbirds continued getting runs on MHS. By the top of the sixth inning, the score stood at 9-0 and MHS had to overcome two more innings before finishing out.

Being down didn’t stop them.

“There were some things out there where we got a little frustrated,” Enright said. “But I was really pleased we were able to work through it and keep battling. We’re trying to stress to them that we’re all one.”

The game finished after their late rally, 9-2. Despite the two losses, senior Katelin Hoefler remembered how they kept each other going and now looks forward to their next game.

“We’re kind of goofy,” Hoefler said. “We make jokes and we try to make each other smile and forget what happened and move on and see what good can come out of it. We had tough defense, we never gave up and we need to focus on hitting for Rossville.”

Today’s game is at Anneberg Park against Rossville and Friday will be at home again against Washburn Rural.

From last Friday to the rest of

the season, the team now looks to continuing being with each other and finishing out the season.

“I feel like we all tried our best and to the best of our ability,” freshman Kenzie Smith said. “Overall we stayed as a team and worked together and that’s what it’s all about.”

Baseball swept by Shawnee Heights on Friday Greg Woods Sports Editor Three days removed from two road wins over Wichita East on Tuesday to begin its season, the Manhattan High baseball team found itself on the other end of the scoreboard Friday night. The Indians (2-2) dropped both games to Shawnee Heights, 7-3 and 16-8. Head coach Don Hess attributed the losses to his team’s defense and pitching.

“Our defense was horrendous tonight,” Hess said. “We really didn’t even force [Shawnee Heights] to hit the ball at times. Our pitchers didn’t compete very well, and our defense definitely didn’t compete. All in all, it was pretty disappointing because we had an opportunity to win both these games tonight. We just couldn’t score, and then just couldn’t make the simple baseball plays we needed to make.”

Senior Jesse Steinbring started the first game and pitched five innings, striking out seven, walking two and giving up four runs in the process. Junior Grant Munsen got the nod for the finale and went 4.1 innings, fanning three, walking three and giving up three earned runs.

In the first game of the pair, Manhattan tallied three runs in the first frame via RBIs from seniors A.J. Epperson and Luke Stegeman. Neither team scored again until the third inning, when Shawnee Heights found life at the plate.

Trey Brown led off the inning with a single and later scored on a wild pitch. Jesse Perez later drew a walk, advanced to second on a passed ball and scored via cleanup batter Zach Holmes’ RBI single. Holmes also scored when Dawson Pomeroy roped a two-out RBI double into the gap.

With the game back even at three runs apiece, Manhattan batters were then retired 11 times in a row by Thunderbird starter Jesse Kutzke, ranging back to the second inning.

Junior Tanner Holen reached base on an error in the sixth, but the Thunderbirds had claimed the lead by that time. “[Kutzke] was just throwing fastballs; he wasn’t throwing breaking balls,” Hess said.

“We weren’t hitting them early in the count. We just weren’t executing, bottom line.”

In the fifth inning, Perez’s sacrifice fly scored Brown, giving Shawnee Heights a 4-3

Senior Jesse Steinbring delivers a pitch to a Shawnee Heights batter in the first game of Manhattan’s twinbill with the Thunderbirds.

PHOTO BY DANIELLE COOK lead. The Thunderbirds added three more runs in the sixth inning via RBIs from Conner Bond and Brown, with aid from two Manhattan errors in the frame. Shawnee Heights led 7-3 heading into the bottom of the sixth, and the score didn’t change. The Thunderbirds took game one.

The second game began similarly to the first as MHS put a three-spot on the scoreboard in the first inning. Senior Jake Olson led off with a double, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on fellow senior Garrett Francis’ RBI single. Holen then singled, followed by Epperson getting hit by a pitch. With the bases loaded, Steinbring smacked a two-run double, giving Manhattan a 3-0 cushion.

“It’s always good to start out ahead, especially [because] it’s up to the first three or so batters to get hits, get on base, get momentum,” Olson said.

The Indians maintained their three-run lead through four innings, but it wasn’t un-

til the fifth when Shawnee Heights broke through offensively. The Thunderbirds tallied eight runs in the inning and chased Munsen from the game, forcing Hess to use three pitchers in the fifth frame alone. Shawnee Heights led 8-3 after five complete.

“You’ve got to be able to go to your bullpen,” Hess said.

“We’ve got to have more people that can get out on the mound and compete and throw strikes and things like that.”

Stegeman was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the fifth, but Manhattan went quietly in the inning otherwise. The top of the sixth opened up the game on the scoreboard.

Shawnee Heights scored another eight runs in the sixth to go along with six base hits, ballooning its lead to 16-3. Senior Jeremy Broadwater began the inning on the mound, but was relieved by Francis who got the final two outs of the inning and finished the game pitching.

Manhattan avoided being

run-ruled by stringing together two consecutive hits to begin the bottom of the sixth, and plating five runs in the inning. The Indians went down in order in the seventh and final inning, but Hess explained there were a few positive takeaways from the night.

“We did have some guys with some nice at-bats throughout the evening,” Hess said. “Grant Urban had two base hits in the last inning of the second game. We had some guys that competed really well at the plate; we just didn’t do it all the way up and down the order to the point that we were going to be successful.”

Manhattan returns to action Friday at Washburn Rural. Olson explained that much of what the Indians will need to improve upon lies in their heads. “[We’ll need to work on] mostly mental [things],” Olson said. “We need to flush these two games, because [with] baseball, you can’t let anything stick with you; [you’ve] got to

move on. I think we’re better than what we played [today], so [we’ll] get back to practice, keep hitting, fielding.”

“There were some things offensively to grow from, but at the same time, it also left us with a lot of obvious things we need to work on,” Hess said.

HITTING STATS

J. Olson: 3-8, 2 H, 2B, BB, 2 R, 2 SO G. Francis: 2-7, 2 H, RBI, BB, R, SO T. Holen: 2-6, 2 H, BB, 2 R, SO A. Epperson: 1-7, H, 2 RBI, 2B, R, SO J. Steinbring: 3-7, 3 H, 3 RBI, 2 2B, R, SO L. Stegeman: 0-4, RBI, 3 SO E. Scott: 1-7, H, 2 RBI, 5 SO J. Chapman: 1-3, H, RBI, 2 SO B. Woborny: 0-2, BB G. Urban: 2-3, 2 H, R, BB D. Stokes: 1-2, H, SO

APRIL IS Trending

The Mentor • April 14, 2015

Page 8

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH Inaugurated in 1996 by the Academy of American Poets, this celebration of poetry has helped to honor poetry’s place in our culture and society. Below are a few works submitted by students at Manhattan High to commemorate this month.

The Colors of Beating Red -Corrinna L. Bishop

‘Untitled’ -Noah Schnee

My canvas is not a form of paper My ink doesn’t come from a pen Most people write in black or blue Not me I write in red My details are very tiny My lines are extremely thin Only able to be seen By the natural artist living within My sculptures are shaped In the solitary of the dark But my paintings are created With my exclusive shadows All the art I have created Comes From my broken heart I am ashamed of the inscriptions But I want to share the mysterious art The inspiration of my pain Still is yet to be engraved My favorite instrument is a knife But under no circumstance would you understand Because you don’t create your art In the colors of the beating red

call on me dawn, daintily i love yr poor wave i love yr beethoven caves bach, bach my east coast hound goes and it goes and yuppy stuff, we roam broke legs damned if we’re doers the don’t dropped me off a lowered c note for the RESOLVE pitched filth; not i, am i yet? triumph never felt quizzical momentum only no loser-speckled heat keep beat with dumb feet so fondly we do roam

Reflections -Haley Mankan

Miser of deceitful confidence: step back now and become awake.

The foppery of your shadowy reflection simply cannot make escape.

Look upon the waters which naturally engulf you, and date to dive even deeper than all that you can see.

Discover true reward in the act of experiencing; become drunk off of what you could be.

Come closer this time, young miser, but instead let jubilance rule every crevice of your tone.

Deliverance from this potency of addiction is found in the reflections which are best done alone.

STYE POEM -Emma Landsdowne

I have a Stye.

It is in my eye.

Why oh why, Must I have this Stye, That is in my eye.

‘Untitled’ -W

It makes me want to cry, Because I have a Stye, That is in my eye.

I can not eat pie, Because I have a Stye,

‘Untitled’ -Noah Schnee

I don’t know what it is, like what am I doing wrong?

Do I care too much? Love too much? Do I sing the same old song?

Maybe I’m just the weird one, the strange one, the one that no one’s used to Cause with everybody leaving they don’t have someone to go to I’ll tell it to you straight, I’m the one who always cares the most And maybe that’s my fate, to be the one who tries to get too close To the ones I know are hurting, crying, devastated To the sons and daughters waiting to be celebrated They say that time heals all, but sometimes it’s the opposite At times I try to stall cause I’m thinking it’s impossible For anyone to trust me, to know that I’m the one To go to with their problems before they say ‘I’m done’ Cause the relationships I cherish seem like just a fleeting thing Fighting for resilience; to come up short it tends to sting And even though technology will always be in vain It doesn’t help that I don’t know how I can end its reign I pour out all I am to the ones I know are struggling But sometimes they don’t know that I’m the one who’s really suffering But thinking ‘bout it honestly I think we come to find That the one we really need is the One who’s unconfined.

kaylee is the captain she’s been here every year! with breasts as big as women’s she has nothing to fear! and next year ill be like her, with hair golden to my knees so maybe there’ll be someone to go to prom with me!

hi, my name is kaylee my life is pretty rough. the kids at school all hate me and when i try it’s not enough. that girl she took my beauty, she stole it overnight. i never thought i’d be here am i awake? this can’t be right.

PROM! PROM! PROM! someone go to prom with me!

SHE! SHE! SHE! she is so much worse than me!

and with a big red ribbon tied nicely in my hair i’ll be the new cheer captain and all the boys will stare! i’m hoping josh might ask me so then i won’t be alone when i need someone to kiss me on the bus on our way home!

when i do my hair now it doesn’t seem the way i wished it might have looked in my gown on our prom day. nevermind, mom, i’m not going i look so ugly, what a joke. i cry inside my bedroom looking through the mirror that i broke.

JOSH! JOSH! JOSH! i will never let you leave!

Elassia Cunningham, staff writer

BLUE LIGHT JOURNAL Manhattan High School’s literary journal began accepting literary works from students and faculty Tuesday, Apr. 14. The Blue Light Journal will accept electronic submission throughout the month of April (to thebluelightjournal@gmail). The

last day for submissions to be accepted will be May 1.

The Blue Light Journal is expected to be published mid-May and a public launch party will be held at the Beach Art Museum.

All poetry, short works or excerpts from longer works, are welcomed. However, this year no art pieces will be accepted.

Paper submissions will not be accepted.