Eagle Eye Issue 3, Dec. 2013 by Mark Newton

Eagle Eye December 16, 2013 // Vol. 13 // Issue 3

Discovered Explore the stories of a randomly selected group of Mountain Vista students. pg. 11

Mountain Vista High School // 10585 Mountain Vista Ridge, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126

2 // Eagle Eye // Issue 3

EAGLE EYE

VOLUME 13 // ISSUE 3 // DEC. 16, 2013 BEFORE WE BEGIN

9 // Stuff That Ticks Me Off

Principal Michael Weaver celebrates his 50th birthday and seniors near the end of their high school careers.

SPORTS

4 // Epic Photo

Copy editor Tyler Kraft voices his frustration about the crowding in the hallways.

28 // Feature

NEWS

6 // Teachers

MVHS teachers share their opinions of the pay-byperformance system and district evaluations.

OPINION

8 // Staff Editorial

Why do we stay in similar groups without discovering new peoples’ stories?

Sophomore Talie Stowell sings at the Mountain Vista winter choir concert Dec. 10, 2013. Photograph by AJ Stowell

THEME 12 Jessica Harris

“I just went on with my life and then I got a letter from [Bethany Hamilton].” by Karin Wyks

14 Noah Rawls

“Dirt biking is just a really freeing feeling, especially up [in Thunder Valley].”

After volleyball coach Lindsey Jaffe’s resignation, she and varsity players consider the future of the team.

BEFORE WE END

31 // One Question, Five Answers What’s something that not very many people know about you?

by Taylor Atlas and Whitney Merrill

16 Grant Possehl

“I’m still a human being, and I don’t really need that much help.” by Taylor Blatchford

18 Haley Chambless

“I want to become a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force.” by Peyton Reeves

SOCIAL MEDIA @vista_now /vistanow @vistanow facesofvista ON THE COVER: Photo Illustration by Kaitlin Zenoni and Gabe Rodriguez

20 Anthony Jacobellis

“I pray to her all the time. She is now my guardian angel.” by Anna Theis

22 Josh Romine

VISTANOW.ORG

by Reagan Fitzke

Livestream of the DCSD Board of Education meeting from Dec. 12

“Going out for cross country was one of the major turning points in my life.”

24 Claire Oliver

“It’s a lot different from Valor, but I have finally found that Vista was the best choice.” by Amani Brown

26 Christopher Schwartz

“Just because he died doesn’t mean he would have wanted me to stop what I love.” by Tara O Gorman

WATCH //

READ //

Top five things to do over winter break

Kaitlin Zenoni

EP!C PHOTO LIGHTING THE LAST FLAME Senior Shannen Carroll brings in a cake to celebrate with principal Michael Weaver a day early for their birthdays. “We were both born on November 27 and have been celebrating for the past three years together,” Carroll said. Since Carroll is a senior, it is her last year to celebrate such an occasion at Mountain Vista. “It’s a memory that I will never forget,” Carroll said.

Photograph by Mark Maggs 4 // Eagle Eye // Issue 2

Gabe Rodriguez

Taylor Blatchford

From left to right: Senior Brad Johnson, senior Anna Rodriguez, senior Abby McGuire, senior Kyle Waters, senior Riley Romano, senior Tom Place, senior Kelsey Warden.

EP!C PHOTO SENIORS AND PROUD

The Class of 2014 poses for the class picture for the “Aerie” yearbook. It is one of the final times for members of the Senior Class to celebrate until graduation. As a managing editor in the VISTAj program, senior Kelsey Warden said, “The class photo hasn’t happened in a yearbook and we want to have the perspective of all the classes.”

Photograph by Mark Maggs

VISTAj conducted an anonymous survey of all teachers at Mountain Vista High School. Teachers were given more than two weeks to respond. Participation in the survey was voluntary. Eighty-nine of the 107 teachers at Vista responded. Some of the responses were internally inconsistent. These inconsistencies were ignored, but the rest of the response was included.

Under

DCSD teacher evaluations cause negative reactions

AJ STOWELL // Dylan Ingram t has now been over a month since the Douglas County School District Board of Education election took place on Nov. 5. After the pro-reform slate candidates, Douglas Benevento, James Geddes, Judith Reynolds and Meghann Silverthorn, were elected the district was set to continue its prior policies. One of these policies is that of “pay-for-performance” compensation plan for teachers. The pay-for-performance system is broken into two major components on which a teacher is evaluated, the first of which is the “teacher practice.” In this, a teacher is required to provide evidence of successful teaching during the year and additionally be evaluated by an administrator. The second component consists of student performance and the effectiveness of the teacher. Each component is 50 percent of the evaluation and places teachers into one of four categories: Highly Effective, Effective, Partially Effective or Ineffective. Pay increases typically are tied to the rating the teacher earns and are limited to their individual paygrade. According to the initial results of a recent VISTAj survey, Mountain Vista High School teachers overwhelmingly disapprove of the system and additionally feel the evaluation process is stressful. Ninety percent of teachers in the survey said the system was not an accurate reflection of their work throughout the year, and 66 percent said they view the process as stressful. School psychologist Kim Frederics said she

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believes the discontent originates from the relationship between the teachers and the district. “Teachers have definitely been impacted in that way,” Frederics said. “What I see is an end result of [pay-for-performance] — feeling overworked and feeling underappreciated, or that someone doesn’t actually conceive what you are doing.” Frederics said she believes the problem of stress lies within the fact that evaluations limit the teachers’ personal “control” of their futures and potentially other aspects of their lives. “A lot of studies show that anxiety is due to your perception of control in your environment,” Frederics said. “What I hear from teachers, from my perspective, is because they don’t feel that sense of control in the direction that things are going and also in their own personal lives and their job.” A core subject teacher at MVHS, who asked to remain anonymous because of concerns about employment, said the job performance evaluation has brought an element of stress to members of his/her department. The teacher maintained his/ her job will not be affected by the circumstances presented by the evaluation process. “It is a stress and an annoyance,” the teacher said. “But within our department, I would suggest that we are going to do what we think is best for the students.” Approximately 90 percent of teachers surveyed felt the evaluation system was not an accurate reflection of their work during the year. Assistant principal Alan Long, who evaluates

Yes - 69%

If you are planning to leave the district after this year, are you planning on continuing to teach in another district?

Two respondents answering “No” to the first question did not answer this one.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

No - 21%

Yes - 79%

1 2

Do you feel that teacher evaluations are an accurate reflection of your work over the year?

teachers think?

What do the

Are you planning on working for after the 2013-14 school year?

No - 90%

Yes - 10% teacher performance, said the evaluation system is a “fairly accurate representation” of what teachers are doing in the classroom. “I mean, I am not making the data up,” he said. “I am watching them teach. I am watching interaction with kids. I am watching engagement.” The VISTAj survey, which was distributed over a course of two weeks, received 89 submissions. There are 107 teachers at Mountain Vista, so the survey received a response rate of 83 percent.

Douglas County School District

31% - No

8% - No

If you are leaving the district, is the Board of Education a reason why you are leaving?

Yes - 92%

Two respondents answering “No” to the first question did not answer this one.

If the Board of Education is a reason why you plan to leave, how important were the results of the Board of Education election in this decision? (One is least important, and ten is most important.) One respondent answering “No” to the first question did not answer this one.

Do teacher evaluations stress you out?

34% - No

Yes - 66% Under the current Board of Education, do you feel valued as a teacher?

92% - No

Yes - 8%

According to a VISTAj survey, MVHS teachers

say they

might leave DCSD after this year.

What do the

students think?

Gabe Rodriguez The initial results of this survey are scary, to say the least. More than 25 percent of teachers in our school alone say they might leave the district, which is a significantly larger amount than last year. Obviously, if teachers are not feeling valued for their jobs, the Board of Education should realize that there is much work to be done to accommodate both teachers and students. To me, more teachers leaving means that certain less-popular classes or classes only taught by one teacher may no longer be offered, and the whole curriculum could be changed for the worse. If teachers leave the district, Douglas County students will likely be left with lessexperienced teachers. How is that going to make our school district any better? I have no doubt that all of the teachers have valid reasons for wanting to leave the district because making such a decision should be backed by a strong reason. However, it is still disappointing to see the board’s policies cause so many teachers to want to leave the district.

What do the

administrators think?

michael weaver, mvhs principal “If you took it at the worst-case scenario, and said you are looking for 28 positions to fill, that is a huge impact to a building. You look not only at the faces in the classroom, but at our coaches and sponsors, and at people who have grown to be stable members of the community. Some of those, at face value, are truly irreplaceable. So, you work to try to keep your best people. This year we had 17 new faces, and some of them were from retirements. We had six retirements and six additional positions, so we were really only filling five or more positions. But, having 17 new faces in the building has definitely had a huge impact in trying to understand where we are going and to find good fits for roles within the building. So, if you talk about doubling that, it is a daunting thought. “ elizabeth fagen, dcsd superintendent “The (school) district is prohibited from influencing the outcome of an election, so I have no control over the board or the election. I’m looking forward to working with Mr. Weaver and teachers on the things I have influence on. I have a teacher advisory group, and all teachers are welcome to join that. We want the teacher evaluations to be conversations between the teachers and the evaluators. They can talk about items to be evaluated on and how to observe and provide evidence of these items.”

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VISTAj STAFF

Editors-In-Chief Taylor Blatchford Wes Edwards

Photo by Wes Edwards

Managing Editors of Newsmagazine Taylor Atlas Dylan Ingram

Copy Editors Jason Keller Tyler Kraft AJ Stowell

Photo Editors

? Senior Allie Knudson uses the lessons learned through her religious experiences to define who she is and what direction she wants to take with her life.

The Eagle Eye staff chose to do something out of the ordinary this issue. Here’s why.

n high school, how often do we go beyond our comfort zone to talk to someone we don’t know? We shy away from opportunities to meet people outside our normal social group or talk to those who seem different from us. Our society is controlled by groups, and similar people frequently group together. It’s easy and comfortable, so why wouldn’t we just stay in those groups with certain people? As editors, we realized that the students we cover in your newsmagazine tend to belong to a certain group: students who are involved in school clubs and activities. It’s what comes easily to us. The most visible people generally have the most visible stories. It’s less of a risk to talk to someone when you already know their story and what you’re looking for. This issue, we wanted to change that. We believe that the core of journalism is storytelling and that every student at Mountain Vista has a story. Sure, varsity football players and leads in the musicals have stories, and often intriguing ones. However, so are those of the students who work 30 hours per week to help support their family, spend their free time playing video games or just moved here from another school because of bullying. Those stories are out there, waiting to be discovered, but

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we sometimes don’t even realize they exist. We decided to take a random sample of MVHS students from all grades and then randomly assign each staff member to a student outside his/her own grade. They would write about this person for this issue. We then sent out the staff members to talk to their assigned student and discover what was interesting about them: what their story was. Some people’s unique aspects were easier to zero in on than others, but regardless, every single person we talked to had something unique about them. They all had stories. This is similar to what we aspire to do in our new photojournalism project, Faces of Vista (facesofvista.tumblr.com). Inspired by the popular photography blog Humans of New York (humansofnewyork.com), we seek to find students’ stories and capture them through photography and succinct quotations. What can you take away from our theme in this issue? Every person has a story, and the people you don’t know yet could have the most intriguing ones. We challenge you to talk to people you wouldn’t normally talk to. Step outside of your typical group, just to try it. Discover the lesser-known compelling stories, what you can learn from them and what makes them unique — and maybe they’ll even want to hear part of your story in return.

Mark Maggs Gabe Rodriguez

Social Media Editor Kaitlin Zenoni

Web Editor

Whitney Merrill

Design Editor Erica Tagliarino

Managing Editor of Broadcast Gretchen Cope

Managing Editors of Yearbook Devon Miner Kelsey Warden

Adviser

Mark Newton, MJE

Staff Members

Zoe Blandon Alex Bonner Lauren Borchardt Amani Brown Megan Callister Mallory Christensen Logan Clark Caitlin Cobb Cameron Cox Shelby Crumley Jacob Cushatt Reagan Fitzke Antonia Fornaro Dylan Freeman Joseph Ginn Amy Huang Graham Henderson Ben Holland Kyle Johnson Ana Krasuski Peter Leonard Hayley Mustin Tara O’Gorman Sydney Ostdiek Savannah Raisor Peyton Reeves Tori Soper Anna Theis Olivia Thomas Francesco Viola Kyle Waters Karin Wyks

Policy

Eagle Eye, a legally recognized public forum for student expression, is published six to nine times a year by the Journalism class for students at Mountain Vista High School. Expression made by students in the exercise of freedom of speech or freedom of press is not an expression of Douglas County school board policy. The views expressed in Eagle Eye do not necessarily represent the views of the entire staff, adviser, MVHS administration or the Douglas County School District administration. Board policy regarding student publications ( JICEA and JI/JIA) are available in the journalism/publications room (U328) or in the principal’s office.

Letters to the Editors

Eagle Eye welcomes and encourages letters to the editors. This is a chance to express your viewpoint on important issues. Letters should be limited to 250 words. Letters will be edited for space and legal considerations, but not for inaccuracies, grammar or spelling. Letters must contain information pertinent to the students of MVHS. The staff retains the right to not publish any letter not meeting these requirements. Unsigned letters will not be published. Please submit typed letters in person to Room U328 or via mail or e-mail.

Contact

Eagle Eye, Mountain Vista High School, 10585 Mountain Vista Ridge, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126 Phone: 303-387-1500 Adviser email: mark.newton@dcsdk12.org. Publication email: EagleEyeEditors@dcsdk12.org

Distribution

Single copies are free. Where available, additional copies of this paper are available for purchase for 50 cents each. Contact Eagle Eye for more information. Taking more than one copy of this paper is prohibited (C.R.S. 18-4419). Violators, subject to prosecution and penalty under C.R.S. 13-21-123, will be prosecuted.

Open Forum Content

Some material courtesy of American Society of Newspaper Editors/MCT Campus High School Newspaper Service and Creative Commons licensing. ©2013 Eagle Eye/Mountain Vista High School. All rights reserved.

Stuff That

TICKS Me Off

Our school hallways are more hazardous than a Wal-Mart on Black Friday Tyler Kraft

Photo by Gabe Rodriguez

ast time I wrote about traffic cones and how they do nothing but make our lives miserable. This time, I think I found a place that they could actually be used for their purpose of protecting people. It is a place in which bump-and-runs occur daily. A place where people stall and seem unable to move. The place I am referring to is the upper hallway of Mountain Vista High School. I have found in my three years of commuting from class to class that there are four general groups that roam the Vista halls. There are the Bulldozers, Roadblocks, Speeders and Speedbumps. Being curious about why they walk the way that they do, I proceeded to do the most awkward thing that I have ever done. I went to find a person to represent each group. I first went to find a Bulldozer. I immediately picked out junior Michael Johnson who seemed to think of himself as a tank. Pushing kids out of the way and sometimes walking straight over the top of them, Johnson did not stop for anyone. Johnson seemed intent on paving the carpets with freshmen. “Well, sometimes people just decide to stop in the middle of the halls in a huge group. When I see that, I just think ‘I’m not waiting for them, I’m just going to move straight through these guys.’” I did not see the pros in plowing of stu-

dents so I inquired how he would improve the hallways. “Well first they can move to the side of the hallways, not just stand right in the middle. It would also help if they didn’t stop randomly,” Johnson said. It seemed like a legitimate answer so I thanked him and moved on. Next up were the Roadblocks. I went and found freshman Alex Clouthier who was lucky enough to escape Johnson’s wrath and stand in the hallway unimpeded. When asked why he stands instead of walks, Clouthier said, “It seemed like a good place to stop and talk.” By freshman standards, that was probably a pretty good answer. Clouthier’s idea on hallway improvement was similar to Johnson’s. “We could probably move to the side. That way we wouldn’t get bumped and pushed out of the way.” Moving to the side and out of the way seems like a common theme. I then went to find a Speeder. I had a little bit of trouble catching up with him but eventually senior Chase Geissler slowed down enough for me to talk to him. He explained that sometimes he is running late to class, forcing him to walk faster. His idea for improving the halls was having areas that people could talk off to the sides and then lanes in which everybody was moving one way. The theme of talkers moving to the side was becoming extremely apparent. Finally I found a Speedbump. I saw sopho-

more Chelsea Pearson walking while texting. Wondering what could be so important that she would slow down students trying to get into the 400s, I pulled Pearson out of her math class. She seemed unconcerned about how she walked, as she did not care if people bumped into her. At the same time, Pearson knew that she was slowing others down. “Yeah, I probably could’ve texted my mom back once I got to class,” Pearson said. It was after talking to the four main groups that I saw that they are not trying to act the way they do. They are simply forced to adapt to the circumstances. So I devised a plan that I believe will fix the hallways while also using the traffic cones that have been abandoned on the Highlands Ranch roads. I thought of it while walking past a smoking area at Parker Adventist Hospital. There need to be zones where people can stand and talk or text without being bumped or pushed. Those zones could be put on the sides of the halls, leaving enough space for a two-lane walkway. The walkway would be able to have groups of students walking in different directions, leading from one end of the school to the other. That way, there would be less clogging and less annoyances. The traffic cones could be used to designate the different walkways and zones. I do not understand why civil engineers need to go to school for so long. I thought of how to solve the traffic problem in our hallways in under five minutes. All it took was an ashtray, a nosmoking sign and an almost completed secondary education.

Photo Illustration by Gabe Rodriguez

Issue 3 // Eagle Eye // 9

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10 // Eagle Eye // Issue 3

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Discovered

Walking through the hallways, there are always people who you know, those who you have seen once before, or those who you question altogether whether they actually go to Mountain Vista. For these reasons, we randomly selected people to profile for this issue. By assigning random people, there is hopefully a story or two which allows you to discover something about an unknown classmate; a fact which you would have never figured out on your own. Please select below to discover the unknown stories of Mountain Vista students

Jessica Harris Junior p. 12

Noah Rawls Freshman p. 14

Grant Possehl Sophomore p.16

Anthony Jacobellis Freshman p. 20

Josh Romine Freshman p. 22

Claire Oliver Junior p. 24

Haley Chambless Junior p. 18

Christopher Schwartz Junior p. 26

Issue 3 // Eagle Eye // 11

Finding Faith story by karin wyks photos by mark maggs

The mailbox opens and closes, every day with the same result: still no reply. It wasn’t until junior Jessica Harris finally realized that she couldn’t base her whole life on one letter that the reply came. Right before her freshman year, Harris realized she was in with the wrong group of friends and knew that she needed to get away. “I started having bad thoughts, and people say that the people you hang out with will influence who you become,” Harris said. “I just had this bad gut feeling about it.” After leaving the people leading her in the wrong direction, Harris started to watch the movie Soul Surfer. A true story about competitive surfer Bethany Hamilton”s recovery and return to surfing after losing an arm to a shark attack. Harris said she felt connected to the characters in the movie. Soon after, she decided to write a letter to Hamilton. Every night she would go out to the mailbox and there was never a return letter. “I talked to my dad and he was listening to me and he told me to focus on other things and that I shouldn’t focus my whole life on just getting a letter,” Harris said. “I finally forgot about it. A couple weeks later he told me to write back to [Hamilton] and I wasn’t really expecting an answer back. I just went on with my life and then I got a letter from her.” “The funny thing was that I think this experience helped me grow closer to God because before it was all about what I wanted instead of what He [God] wanted. Every night I remember

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praying about it: ‘Oh, help me to get this letter. I need this letter.’ It never came. “Finally one night I just said a prayer, ‘Heavenly Father, if this isn’t what you want for me, then I will just forget about it.’ “Those words were so hard to say. I can’t really explain it, finally I prayed to just forget about it, so when I finally did get the letter it wasn’t so much about what was said in the letter but it was about me knowing that the Heavenly Father had answered my prayer in a way only I would understand.” When she finally became a freshman at Mountain Vista, Harris said she felt like she was able to make the right friends and build that kind of relationships with the people around her. “I actually met my best friend (Anna Theis) and she was obsessed with Soul Surfer the way I was,” Harris said. “It was like we clicked, in that she came into my life as an answer to my prayer, and I was finally able to bond with the people I felt good around.” “I am not really sure why Soul Surfer was the movie I connected to so much. Before I wasn’t really into surfing or anything, but my grandparents took (me) to that movie and it really stuck with me,” she said. “Maybe that was a way of God helping me understand his plan for me.”

Junior Jessica Harris received a letter back from surfer Bethany Hamilton after a long wait. “When I finally did get the letter, it wasn’t so much about what was said in the letter but it was about me knowing that the Heavenly Father had answered my prayer in a way only I would understand,” Harris said.

y Questions Answered What’s your greatest struggle right now? Probably, being a good sister. I kind of lose my temper with my siblings a lot. And it’s weird because they are the people I love the most, but I lose my temper a lot. It’s who you love the most that you get mad at because you know they will forgive you.

What’s your biggest regret? I don’t think I really have a big regret. I think if you strive to be better than you were yesterday than you are pretty much set.

What’s the most challenging thing you have gone through? My brother ran away a couple years ago. That was tough for my whole family. I was really close to him.

What was something new that you tried and how did it turn out? In freshman year I decided to go out for cross country. I feel like everybody hates running but after I got into shape I started to enjoy it. And I don’t do cross country because of running, which is kind of sad, I do it because of my friends, which is funny because people always ask: ‘Why would you go out for cross country, if you don’t like to run?’ But, it’s more like you develop really good social skills.

What’s something you didn’t understand when you were younger but you understand now? That God answers your prayers.

Issue 3 // Eagle Eye // 13

Riding On

story by taylor atlas // Whitney Merrill PHOTOS BY Wes edwards // Taylor Blatchford

Out on the trails, Noah Rawls feels free. The loud motor rumbles as the smell of exhaust fumes engulf his face. He starts to ride the trail, then suddenly mud splashes all over him, adding to the experience.

over

c is

50 Suzuki and was riding around and he wanted to try, so I tried to teach him,” Rawls said. “I wasn’t very good at teaching so he crashed quite a bit. But I think we all crashed a lot when we were [just learning].” After that, Ruppert began to like dirt biking so much that he became a sponsored racer, who participates in track events. Without Rawls, he would never have been involved in dirt biking. Ruppert said, “I owe him [for introducing me to dirt biking]. Nothing would be enough to show him how thankful I am he got me into motocross.” Rawls has seen their friendship strengthen through their love of dirt biking. “I feel like [our relationship] has definitely gotten stronger from this, because we have a common interest to talk about , and we can go to the track or the mountains together and ride,” Rawls said. Although Rawls currently does not participate in formal competitions, he hopes that someday he will be able to do so. “I really want to try doing competitions,” Rawls said. “I was going to try doing them this year, but it’s a lot of commitment and you have to have a lot of money.” While it would be tough, he knows competing would only make him a better rider in the end. “You have to be a really good rider, and since I will be starting in a higher (motocross) level, it will be harder for me because they will be better riders than I am,” Rawls said, “but, all it would do is make me better.” Rawls hopes to continue riding in the future. “Dirt biking is a huge part of my life,” Rawls said. “I hope to keep riding forever.”

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“Dirt biking is just a really freeing feeling, especially up there [in Thunder Valley],” Rawls, a freshman, said. “If you ever go to the Sand Dunes and you’re in the middle of nowhere, you can do whatever you want, jump as high and as far as you want.” His dad got him started in dirt biking at the age of four. At first he was scared to start riding. “The first time I was kind of scared,” Rawls said. “I remember that I went down to the park and I was driving the dirt bike in the parking lot and I hit a curb and flipped over the handlebars, so I kind of got scared then.” Some practice led to him overcoming his initial fear and gaining a true love for dirt biking. After learning the basics, Rawls began attempting difficult tricks and riding on more dangerous trails, accomplishing things he never could have before. “I went to Thunder Valley [track] and there’s this one double [jump] that is there. I could never hit it and one of the times I hit it and made it all the way over. It was a really cool feeling because it felt like you were flying and weigh nothing,” Rawls said. “My first thought was that I want to do it again. I’m just going to turn around and do it again.” While Rawls does occasionally ride on the track, he prefers the feel of trail dirt biking. “I like trail riding more because you’re more free and you’re not confined to a particular area,” Rawls said. “You can go all the way off to who knows where.” Rawls’ passion for dirt biking has influenced one of his best friends, Max Ruppert, an eighthgrader at Mountain Ridge Middle School. “We would always go camping together and one time I decided to bring my dirt bike just to ride around the camping lot. I brought my little

Raw

Freshman Noah Rawls is an avid dirt biker who rides up on the trails in the mountains every chance he gets. “Dirt biking is just a really freeing feeling, especially up there on the trails,” Rawls said. “If you ever go to the Sand Dunes and you’re in the middle of nowhere, you can do whatever you want, jump as high and as far as you want.”

y Questions Answered What are you looking forward to in the future? I’m looking forward to going to college and becoming a diesel mechanic. I would get to work on cars and stuff like that, and I love cars.

If you were given a million dollars, what would you spend it on? If I was given a million dollars, I would probably spend it on a new dirt bike or new skis, or maybe a new (normal) bike.

What is your favorite book, movie, play, etc.? Why? My favorite book is probably “Lord of the Flies” and my favorite movie is probably “Act of Valor.” I’m reading “Lord of the Flies” right now and I like it because it is more of a guy’s book.

What was a time you tried something new? What was the result? I tried doing wrestling this year and I liked it a lot and have been doing pretty good at it. I like being active in the school and with the team.

What’s something you didn’t understand when you were younger that you understand now? That I can do whatever I want. But, also listen to older adults and stuff like that. I have learned not to let people boss me around.

Issue 3 // Eagle Eye // 15

Learning to Adapt story by taylor Blatchford PHOTOS BY wes edwards

When sophomore Grant Possehl asks friends or teachers to repeat themselves, it’s not because he isn’t paying attention. He genuinely cannot hear all of what they’re saying; in fact, he can only hear about 70 percent of what an average teenager is able to.

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Sophomore Grant Possehl has a hearing disability, but that doesn’t stop him from putting in his best effort in school. “A lot of the times it’s not that bad, but I have to go the extra mile to figure things out sometimes,” Possehl said.

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and be like, ‘I’m hard of hearing so you need to explain everything to me!’” he said. “I try not to be like that. A lot of my friends don’t know, or if they do, I’m friends with them because they just like the way I am and they don’t care if I’m hard of hearing.” Possehl also embraces his condition by attending events for people with hearing disabilities, such as deaf field day every year, and choosing to take American Sign Language (ASL) to fulfill his foreign language requirement. “I go to a lot of hard of hearing and deaf events. It’s a fun experience because you get to be around people that have similar conditions,” Possehl said. “The primary deaf language is ASL, and I think it’s good for me to know that.” However, his hearing disability has not affected his ability to play football for Mountain Vista. He started playing the sport in seventh grade and has enjoyed it for four years now. “If I need to know what play we’re running, I just look over to the sidelines and we have our signs for each play,” Possehl said. “Football has taught me about responsibilities and making a commitment for a team.” Possehl said having a hearing a disability has taught him to appreciate others’ uniqueness and to treat them how he would want to be treated. “I don’t want to be treated like I’m stupid,” Possehl said. “I’m still a human being, and I don’t really need that much help. I’m grateful that I’m not fully deaf and am just partially hard of hearing. It’s not that bad.”

Possehl has a high-pitch hearing loss, meaning he has trouble hearing high pitches in sounds. The hereditary hearing loss, inherited from his mother, was diagnosed when he was three years old. Missing about 30 percent of what teachers and students say causes Possehl to have to put in extra effort at school. “Some students don’t understand what teachers are saying but it’s especially hard for me,” Possehl said. “A lot of times it’s not that bad, but I have to go the extra mile to figure things out sometimes. I love PowerPoint notes, because it makes it easier for me and I don’t have to depend as much on the teacher talking.” After his eighth grade year at Mountain Ridge Middle School, Possehl had a decision to make: go to Highlands Ranch High School, which has a larger deaf and hard of hearing community, or continue to Mountain Vista with his friends, though there are limited opportunities for students with hearing disabilities. “I had an opportunity to go [to HRHS] and I might have been able to do my classes better, but I didn’t want to transfer after going to middle school at Mountain Ridge,” he said. “I didn’t want to transfer because I didn’t want to lose all my friends. I don’t regret not going to Highlands Ranch.” Possehl said his hearing disability doesn’t affect his friendships, because not many people know that he’s hard of hearing. “I don’t want to be like an attention freak

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y Questions Answered What’s your greatest struggle right now? Schoolwork is my greatest struggle right now, just trying to prepare myself to get good grades so I can have a car. I got my car taken away, but if I get good grades then I get my car back.

What’s your favorite movie? Why? “The Blind Side” is my favorite movie. The setting relates to football and I love football, and it also has important lessons. It teaches you to not give up. It’s all about giving and trying to help out people.

What’s the most challenging thing you’ve gone through? The most challenging thing is wanting to have a social life and needing to do well in school. My parents are just strict about that. If you don’t have good grades you can’t go out with friends, and that sucks.

What’s your biggest regret? My biggest regret would be not taking every single opportunity. When you take opportunities, more open up for you, and that can be fun.

What are your hopes for the future? In the future, I hope to be a successful person who has a good career with healthy relationships with friends. I’d like to not be too worried about school and make sure I have a social life.

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Take Flight Story By Peyton Reeves PHOTOS BY Wes edwards

She sits in the cockpit of the plane and realizes what she needs to do. While pulling the plane’s nose up and pushing the control column down fast, junior Haley Chambless experiences a few seconds of zero gravity.

Junior Haley Chambless has been flying planes since the summer of 2013. Her love of flying started as a kid and has been with her ever since. “It is really close to my heart,” Chambless said.

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about her time in the sky, but one stands out amongst the others. “Doing practice turns and maneuvers that fighter pilots do are my favorite,” she said. However, in order to have this once in a lifetime experience, Chambless has to take many precautions. “We spend about an hour before we get in the air to go over our plan for the day,” Chambless said. “We run through our pre-flight checklist to make sure everything is working right.” Not all of her lessons are done in the field however. “I have reading between every lesson and it takes at least a few hours to complete,” Chambless said. “It teaches me how airplanes fly and practical information.” After their flight, Chambless goes over everything that went well and what she needs to improve. “Sometimes I focus too much on the instruments in the plane when I’m completing a maneuver, and I don’t pay as much attention to outside,” Chambless said. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing for Chambless, her instructor advises against it. “I should be able to feel the plane so I don’t need to look at the instruments,” Chambless said. She improves by practicing on flight simulators and reading her books. “Sometimes things are scary when we try them for the first time, like stalls (sudden reduction in lift),” Chambless said. But Chambless couldn’t see herself planted on the ground: “I love the freedom of it.”

Chambless, who started taking flying lessons in July, already has her sights on a career in the field of flight. “I want to become a fighter pilot in the United States Air Force,” Chambless said. In order to accomplish her goal, she is working on getting her private pilots license. For Chambless, her love of flying started at a very young age. “My great granddad, who was an amazing pilot in World War II, used to bring me to the United States Air Force Academy football games,” Chambless said. While at these games, Chambless not only paid attention to the game, but to the jets that fly overhead. “I loved the flyovers, and ever since then, I’ve wanted to fly jets,” she said. Her dream to fly one of these planes in the military stems from her family. She has had multiple people in her family who have joined the military. “It is something that is really close to my heart,” Chambless said. She not only admires her family, but also everyone involved in the military. “I’ve always looked up to the brave men and women that protect our freedom,” Chambless said. Her love of flight and the military has influenced Chambless’ life and she embraces every moment in the sky. “I’ve always felt like it’s something I was supposed to do,” Chambless said. There are many things Chambless enjoys

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y Questions Answered If you were given one million dollars what would you spend it on? I would put the money towards childhood cancer research/awareness. I don’t believe that anyone deserves to have cancer, especially not children. So, I would want to spread awareness and improve research to cure it forever.

What’s your favorite book, movie, play, etc? Why? “Harry Potter.” I love them because somehow you become a part of the story. And they are so well written that it is practically impossible to put them down.

What’s your biggest struggle right now? Learning how to listen and help people get through tough times. Many people have confided things in me and I try my best to give them advice and help them. However, sometimes it is hard to know what I can do or say to help them. I always try though.

What’s your biggest regret? I don’t have any regrets. I believe that everything happens for a reason, so you shouldn’t regret the things in your past.

What are your hopes? What are you looking forward to? I am excited to go to college and I am hoping that I get the chance to travel the world and to try new things.

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Accepting Reality Story by ANNA THEIS PHOTOS BY Wes edwards

“I saw Taybor’s older sister screaming

‘that’s my sister’ with someone holding her back so she couldn’t see [the crash],” freshman Anthony Jacobellis said. “That’s what I remember.”

It was early morning Aug. 15, 2010, when Anthony heard the screams of Taybor Duncan’s sister, Haley, while doing practice laps at Grand Junction Motor Speedway. Jacobellis, along with fellow racers, were going out onto the go-kart track. Anthony was in the second group and when the time came, he stepped up to the track. “My friend Makayla Grote crashed,” he said. She was not seriously injured, but a rescue car was sent with a flatbed trailer to assist her off the track so other drivers wouldn’t hit her. A second later, Jacobellis remembers his friend Taybor crashing into the flatbed behind the rescue car according to what official reports say was about 50 miles per hour. An article in the Denver Post article said Taybor’s kart “flipped several times” and spectators are unsure whether she was ejected from her seat or not. “I didn’t know what was going on,” Anthony said. “I didn’t know who it was or what happened.” The red flag had gone up at the track, signaling everyone off the course. Anthony looked around for the crash but his parents immediately hustled him to the family’s trailer. He remembers sitting there with his brother, in the dark as to what was going on. For Anthony, it was just another red flag, something that doesn’t happen all the time but is generally only the flip of a go-kart. When Anthony’s mom came into their motor car shortly after Taybor was taken to the hospital, she told Anthony that something bad had happened to Taybor. “It hit me then,” Anthony said.

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Everyone had thought she was dead before the initial report came out. Anthony, saying he was so young, still had hope for her survival. But Anthony said deep in his heart he knew that she had died as his parents said. “I was trying to not bring it out because I felt that it would hurt me more,” Anthony said. Seeing it on the news made it official for him. The funeral later, was the worst part, Anthony said, where the parents [of Taybor] asked him to sing at the ceremony. At first he was optimistic when he sang “For Good” from the Broadway show “Wicked.” “The song’s about not knowing if a person’s changed you for the better but knowing they’ve changed you in some way,” Anthony said. He remembers feeling good while singing, but, he said, “It was the weirdest thing.” He said he disregarded the lyrics his mom had laid before him. “I looked up into the distance in front of me, staring out as if she was there, floating above me. I was singing to her,” he said. “I didn’t cry because I knew she was there. I see her, I feel her.” Reality set in when he saw the casket laid out before him later. It was that moment when he realized that she wasn’t coming back. Looking back now, Anthony says that around the time of her death, he could not stop thinking about her. It was spiritually draining for him. He said, it was weird for him to lose the one person who he could count on. It took about six months to a year for his initial grief to disappear and get to the point when he knew she was always with him and did not think of her as often.

“I remember her now as a happy person and all the good things [about her],” he said. Anthony, as he’s grown through the years, knows that death is something impossible for someone so young to comprehend. Understanding as the years go on has given him strength to pursue a life he loves, being involved in theater and choir, knowing Taybor is forever with him. Yet years later, “I pray to her all the time,” he said, “She is now my guardian angel.”

y Questions Answered What’s an event that has been a major turning point in your life? When my friend Taybor died. It really brought me closer to my God, and put life into perspective and how it can be so short.

If you were given a million dollars, what would you spend it on? I’d get a car. But most of it would go to charity — something to do with deaf people or Down syndrome people.

What was a time you tried something new? What was the result? I tried acting. That was a big thing because I was only a singer and I tried acting in second grade. It was really cool.

What are your hopes for the future? What are you looking forward to? I have a big plan. I want to go to the Air Force Academy and become an astronaut. I know NASA is down now but I’m hoping it’ll be back up. Then a pilot and finally an actor or singer. Broadway maybe? My uncle is on Broadway right now.

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Death. Death was [when I was younger] ‘Oh, someone died, I’ll see them in heaven.’ But, heaven’s a really long ways away from one another.

What’s something you didn’t understand when you were younger that you understand now?

Ant

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Life on the Run STORY BY Reagan Fitzke PHOTOS BY WES edwards

Students from around the southwest region lined up to race for victory. Freshman Josh Romine waited for the race of a lifetime to begin with his junior varsity cross country team at Nike Cross Regionals. The sun beats down his face as his feet are pound on the ground. His heart races as he crosses the finish line, and the familiar rush of adrenaline sweeps over him as he finishes another cross country meet. For freshman Josh Romine, being a part of the cross country team at Mountain Vista High School has been impactful toward his life in and outside of school. With the encouragement of his older brother Nicholas, Romine kicked off his cross country career in seventh grade. There, his passion for this sport began, and he’s been running ever since. Running on the team and improving his athletic skill is important to Romine, but being committed to it can take up a lot of time in the life of a student. “I have to try and keep up with my grades, too,” Romine said. On the other hand, he says going out for cross country has assisted his efforts in school as well. The sport helps him focus during the day. “It helps me to not only do better in school, but in other things that I do and as a person in general,” he said. “It’s a great sport to not only make you physically stronger, but mentally stronger. Being a part of the team has taught Romine the significance of performance. It’s safe to say making the JV team isn’t easy as the MVHS boys’ team has held the state title for two consecutive years. He said cross country takes a lot of work and determination, but it eventually pays off. “I used to think that everything just came to you, but now I understand you have to put forth effort in everything you do,” Romine said. Romine has also bonded with the boys on

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cross country throughout this season. “Being a part of the team is important,” he said. “I feel like I belong, and my teammates and I help each other out.” These friendships have continued for him as the season has ended. “The bonds formed in cross country form strong friendships in school and other things I do,” he said. After the boys’ victory at state, the team followed up by racing at Nike Cross Regionals in Arizona. He raced November 23 with a few others from Vista. The top two teams at this event qualified for Nike Cross Nationals. MVHS barely missed the cut, placing third overall. Although the team didn’t qualify, Romine remains optimistic about his and the team’s season. “I had a good year in cross country, and we were pretty close to qualifying for nationals,” he said. Romine has a lot of hopes for the future, regarding both his education and his cross country career. “Next year, I hope to make varsity. Hopefully we can make it to nationals, too,” Romine said. Despite being just a freshman in high school, he has high ambitions regarding his future college and education plans as well. “I want to go Stanford and run there. I’m hoping to get a job in sports journalism.” Romine knows that going out for the team isn’t something he would take back for anything. “Going out for cross country was one of the major turning points in my life,” Romine said. “The sport is probably one of the biggest things in my life.”

Although cross country may require an individual skill in running, freshman Josh Romine considers it a team sport due to the constant support everyone gives to one another. “Being in cross country has helped me build relationships with my teammates,” Romine said. “We work to encourage each other.”

y Questions Answered What’s something that not a lot of people know about you? I like to do magic and card tricks.

If you were given a million dollars, what would you spend it on? I would probably help my family and get some cool stuff for myself.

What is your favorite book, movie, play, etc? Why? My favorites movies are the ones in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and my favorite books are the books in the “Harry Potter” series. I like more fictional and mystical stories.

What’s the most challenging thing you’ve gone through? Having to deal with the difficulties of balancing school and sports. I’ve been trying to keep up with both my grades and cross country.

What’s your biggest regret?

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I think I regret not being more active within different activities and not taking opportunities in sports and other things that are involved with school and various clubs.

Rom

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Branching Out story by amani brown PHOTOS BY WES EDWARDS

Moving schools and making new friends became the norm for junior Claire Oliver. After moving from Mountain Ridge Middle School to St. Thomas More Middle School to Valor Christian High School to Mountain Vista High School, she has finally found her place and no longer has to start over.

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“In middle school it was hard just because I didn’t know anyone and making friends was difficult. I was the new kid and nobody knew me from elementary school,” Oliver said. “You kind of feel distant from everyone since they’ve already made connections. Just kind of like an outsider trying to merge your way in.” When it was time for freshman year, Oliver’s parents thought a private school like Valor would be the right place for her to get her education, and she agreed. “One of my best friends was going there and she really encouraged me to go.” Oliver said “She really got me into the stuff going on over there and I really liked the school.” She made a solid group of friends, built a relationship with her teachers and involved herself in the school choir, feeling like she belonged at the school. Her high school career was going smoothly until her parents told her that her time at Valor was going to be cut short. Towards the middle of the second semester of her freshman year, Oliver’s parents told her that they would no longer be able to afford the tuition at Valor for both Oliver and her younger sister coming to high school right behind her. “They asked ‘Would it be OK if you just transferred over to Mountain Vista?’ and I was like, ‘Well, I guess,’” Oliver said.

She could not argue their decision, but the news was not easy on her. “I was a little upset about it because I had already made a good friend base over at Valor. I had a lot of nice teachers and had made connections over there,” Oliver said. “I was frustrated definitely, but I just accepted it.” On the final day of freshman year, Oliver told her peers she would not be returning to Valor. “Leaving that was really hard,” Oliver said. She came into her time at Vista with a different attitude than she did while moving schools in middle school. Knowing people from Mountain Ridge made it easier, and she was ready to make new friends. “I just branched out. I let myself in and opened up and talked to people. I tried to be as friendly as I possibly could be because I’d been such an unsociable person for a really long time and I decided I couldn’t do that anymore,” Oliver said. Oliver is now involved in theatre and has a new group of close friends at Vista. She takes AP science classes not offered at Valor and finds herself fitting in and liking where she is. She said she has become more sociable and completely fits in here at Vista. “I like this school. It’s a lot different from Valor,” Oliver said, “but I have finally found that Vista was the best choice.”

Junior Claire Oliver has learned how to branch out and involve herself in the Mountain Vista community since her transfer sophomore year. “You have to stand out in a crowd and be open and make a statement,” Oliver said.

y Questions Answered

What’s something that not a lot of people know about you? I used to be a fencer for a while. I had to quit because I got a job in October. I definitely miss it. My coaches were fantastic so I definitely miss them.

If you were given a million dollars, what would you spend it on? I would go to England with my mom. It’s one of her life goals and she’s never been so I’d really like to go with her. I’d donate the rest to charity.

What is your favorite book, movie, play, etc? Why? My favorite book is “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen. My favorite movie is the “Phantom of the Opera.” I’m really into musicals. My favorite musical as of right now is “Sweeney Todd.”

What was a time you tried something new? What was the result? I started driving about a year ago. I was really nervous at first so I’m really glad that I actually got over my fear of that and started doing it. I got my permit two years ago and waited until last year to actually start driving then I got my license this July so I’m kind of late but whatever. I had to prepare myself.

What’s something you didn’t understand when you were younger that you understand now?

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Money. My parents would give me pocket money when I was younger, like 10 or 11, but then when I got my job I started to be more cautious about how I spend my money because I need to save it.

r e O liv

Issue 3 // Eagle Eye // 25

Lasting Influence Story By tara O’Gorman PHOTOS BY Wes Edwards

Building a maple wood boat kit is the last memory junior Christopher Schwartz has of his grandfather. “It symbolizes our bond together and what we could do together,” Schwartz said. Schwartz was asleep when his mother woke him to bad news. “He’s gone,” she said. “I was in the other room,” Schwartz said.”I slept the entire week there when he was in his hospital bed.” As a tall, white-haired man with glasses and big ears, Schwartz’s grandfather, Thomas Schwartz, was “unforgettable”. The esophagus cancer lasted seven years before it took his life on Mar. 2, 2007. “We were like best friends,” Schwartz said. “He was very good at building stuff. He was like, ‘Do you want to build a boat?’ and I was totally down with it. He made planes like every day, the ones you go to the little airport and fly with the remote controls.” Schwartz was probably 6 or 7 years old when his grandfather was helping him build a boat. “Out of nowhere he just died of (esophagus) cancer. Probably two years later, I finished the boat,” Schwartz said. “I feel like my grandmother was waiting for it to be done too, like waiting for me to realize that I need to do it.” Schwartz said. “When I finished it, she cried.” “I think all of this went downhill when my grandfather died,” Schwartz said. As the peer pressure to smoke took its toll, Schwartz went through a phase of drug use and stealing. “I had a marijuana stage,” Schwartz said. “I felt like no one was there to be there with me and support me.” He eventually overcame his addiction with

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the strength of his mother. “I went up to her and said, ‘I need to stop,’ and she said, ‘OK, we will get you to stop,’” he said. Schwartz said he never got to say goodbye to his grandfather. “I had a dream actually where he said ‘Goodbye’ in the dream,” he said. “If he was alive, he would have trusted me knowing that I wouldn’t do that (stealing and drugs) and I would have respected that, but since he is gone I had no one telling me not to do that. I failed him,” Schwartz said. Schwartz said he remembers dreams about drilling holes in the wall. “It brings back memories,” he said. Schwartz said he has seen him, through his dreams, at least twice throughout the years since his grandfather died. “I felt like a piece was completed, like that missing part of his passing was solved,” Schwartz said. “I was the only grandson that connected with him,” Schwartz said, “He had a lot of grandsons and I think I was the only one that did stuff with him, so I feel like I was the favorite one.” As a “favorite” grandson, Schwartz said he shared a bond with his grandfather that no other grandson had. “I want to be just like him. Always when I was a kid I felt that, too,” Schwartz said. “Just because he died doesn’t mean he would have wanted me to stop what I love.”

Junior Christopher Schwartz has overcome his drug and stealing “addiction.” It all started when his grandfather passed away: He lost his best friend. “If he was alive, he would have trusted me knowing that I wouldn’t do that (drugs or stealing) and I would have respected that. Since he is gone I had no one telling me not to do that. I failed him,” Schwartz said.

y Questions Answered What’s an event that has been a major turning point in your life? An event that has been a major turning point in my life was when my parents got a divorce. That really impacted me.

If you were given a million dollars, what would you spend it on? If I was given a million dollars, I would spend it on school so that I could get a better job in the future.

What is your favorite book, movie, play, etc? Why? My favorite class is jewelry because I like using my hands in order to build things.

What was a time you tried something new? What was the result? The time I tried something new by driving in the snow with a boot on my right foot and driving with my left. I almost got into two accidents on the way to school.

What’s something you didn’t understand when you were younger that you understand now?

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I never understood politics when I was younger. I did not understand why my parents cared about it. I guess as a child, you go with what your parents say, but now that I am older I get to agree or disagree because I know more now.

A Whole New Game The Mountain Vista volleyball program looks to the future after head coach Lindsey Jaffe’s resignation to raise her first child. taylor blatchford // tyler kraft

ountain Vista head varsity volleyball coach Lindsey Jaffe cleaned out the athletic equipment cage with her varsity players, knowing that after she broke the news, things would never be the same. She was about to tell the girls that she would not be returning to coach next year. “She told us right then and there, while still inside the cage,” varsity player Megan McGuire, junior, said. “I was absolutely shocked. I thought she would hold on one more year.” Jaffe was on maternity leave earlier this year after having her first child in August and coached the varsity team to a 22-5 record and a fifth-place finish at the 5A state championships. She said the decision evolved over time, and talking to those closest to her. “I talked to my husband and Coach Cary about the decision, and they were very supportive,” Jaffe said. “I just knew that I wanted to be a mom and I wanted to do the things I needed to do. It’s not that we don’t love spending time with our students and our athletes, there is just something different than spending time with your kid. I didn’t want to miss anything.” Sophomore Morgan Knight was not at the meeting in the athletic cage. She heard the news through a team group text message. “I immediately started freaking out and crying,” Knight said. “It was such hard news to hear especially because I didn’t have my team to fall back on.” Jaffe started coaching volleyball while major-

ing in human development at Colorado State University. A four-year high school player sidelined by an injury, she said she missed volleyball so much that she wanted to reconnect with it. This season Jaffe said she thought she would be able to focus more on volleyball while on maternity leave, but she found that the opposite was true. “I wasn’t in the building all day long so I didn’t get that interaction with [the players] all day,” Jaffe said. “Halfway through the season we stopped and had meetings, and I just apologized because I felt like I kind of lost touch with them. We reconnected and it was good.”

“We know that we still have tons of support from Jaffe. She’s like our second mom so we know we will always have her.” // Sophomore Morgan Knight 28 // Eagle Eye // Issue 3

Although this year the varsity team placed fifth in the state (one of the best finishes in school history), Jaffe said she cannot name one single “best” experience of her coaching career. “Every year is different and every year there is a best thing,” Jaffe said. “Even when we had bad records, there were still awesome things that came out of it. I think overall it’s just the relationships: watching them grow, seeing them change over four years and watching them graduate and move on.” The head coach position will be open to anyone who applies, Jaffe said. “If we get the right coach to fill the position I still think we will do great,” McGuire said. “The program is still really young, so the right coach can definitely improve the already incredible program.” Cary will also not be returning as a coach next year, due to his new role as a dean and an active family himself.

Photos by Kaitlin Zenoni “Coaching a sport is like an additional job,” he said. “My career now as an administrator makes me have other activities after school. This year was going to be my last year anyway. My own daughters are super active right now and last year, coaching three seasons here, I missed everything that they did.” Along with traveling, working out after school, relaxing and spending time with her family, Jaffe said she plans to be the “number one fan of the volleyball program,” as she said in an open letter on the MVHS volleyball website. She will continue to teach in the Family and Consumer Sciences department. “Losing Jaffe and Cary is a huge loss, but I know we can get over the loss,” Knight said. “We are all really dedicated and love playing so we will do whatever it takes. We also know that we still have tons of support from Jaffe. She’s like our second mom so we know we will always have her.”

ABOVE: Coach Lindsey Jaffe, middle, talks with the Mountain Vista varsity volleyball team at the 5A state quarterfinals Nov. 9, 2013. The team went on to place fifth at the state championships. LEFT: Jaffe talks to the team during a timeout in the 5A state quarterfinals Nov. 9. Though she will not be returning to coach next year, she said she plans to be the “number one fan of the volleyball program.”

Issue 3 // Eagle Eye // 29

Photo by Amani Brown

The varsity cheer team performs at the 5A state championships Dec. 6. The team placed second in the state in co-ed team category. The poms team placed first in the hip-hop category.

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One Question. Five Answers.

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peter leonard photos by peter leonard

What’s one thing most people don’t know about you?

MICHAEL O’SULLIVAN Sophomore

“When I started cross country I absolutely hated it and I hated the idea of racing. It was the last thing I wanted to do. Once I really started getting into it and started hanging out with the people that were involved, it turned into a much more fun thing and now I love it.”

CELESTE LANDY Junior

Anthony Mijalic Senior

“A lot of people don’t know I have two jobs. I worked the same amount of hours with whether I had one job or two jobs, so I just had more variety and then just because the opportunity came up, I decided to take it. It definitely adds stress because I also have four AP classes. But it’s good practice for me to manage my time.”

“I’m terrified of social interaction. Knowing I have friends to support me [makes it bearable] and doing Speech and Debate helps me. I have a lot of fun in the club and it helps me overcome my fear. It’s a lot better than it was. I lived in my room for half the day and went to school for the other half.”

PETER RUTT Sophomore

ELLEN NALEN Junior

“This is kinda a hard one because a lot of people assume a lot of things about me based off of my looks. Like, one thing a lot of people think about me is that I’m some really depressed kid or I’m really mean or judgemental based off of the way I look. But I’m not, at all.”

“I like to organize stuff. I like to make lists of stuff to do. One of my dreams is to be an event planner and so I like to plan stuff out and organize. You have to be able to organize everything to get ready for the event.”

Issue 3 // Eagle Eye // 31

32 // Eagle Eye // Issue 3