NS Times 2nd edition 2018

HALLOWEEN IS HERE READ ABOUT GHOSTS, THE HISTOR Y AND MOVIES SEE PAGE 6

Soccer reaches the state semi-finals for the first time ever --See story on page 9

31 oct 17

www.nstimes.org

volume 11 issue 2

WELL SAID “For me, putting dances together is like writing, but it is not as lonely as writng... You are writing on human beings.”

-Dance teacher Dmitri Peskov on choreography

Volleyball takes 2nd at state

UPCOMING EVENTS Tuesday, Oct 31 Costume Contest 1:50-2:30 pm Trunk or Treat Faculty Parking Lot 3:00 pm Friday, Nov 3 Marching Band Red Rock State Competition Nov 6-10 College Application Week photo provided by NS Times

Volleyball celebrates a point during the state championship game against Morgan. The team advanced to the championship game after beating Union in a 5-set thriller. The finish capped off a season that included a fifth-straight region championship and an 18-1 stretch. See the story on page 8.

BY THE NUMBERS

5 Number of years NS volleyball has taken region

3 Place NS girl’s soccer took in region

75 Percent of drama is juniors

Schedule change brings mixed feelings from faculty, students BY

Place junior Linzy Flinders took at state

CONTENTS Features................5 Sports...................8 Arts......................11 Crossword...........12

their schedule on both A and B days to accommodate their college class, but now the schedule corresponds to Snow College’s with Tuesday, Thursday, and Monday, Wednesday classes.

“If [the change] encouraged more people to take college classes then I would like it,” said NS teacher Kolby Henrie.

Although this schedule is helpful for students that are in concurrent enrollment, it is not as beneficial for those in sports. Practices

A new school year brings plenty of changes, and this year is no exception with the new schedule. This year the district changed from alternating A/B days to set A/B days, making Mondays and Wednesdays A days and Tuesdays and Thursdays B days. The changes also eliminated early out Mondays.

The reasoning behind this schedule is to correspond with those students who are in concurrent enrollment. Before students would have to block out See schedule, page 2

Antique heating system to be Counselors to provide College replaced to save energy, money Application Week for seniors

BY

14

E MMALENE PALMER

MOSIAH BUNTING

The onset of fall and winter means a lot of things: snow, falling leaves, snowboarding, and most noticeably cold. The cold generally isn’t an issue because of our heating systems; when an entire school has no functioning heating system there tends to be a good reason for the problem, and replacing heating systems district wide in a multi-million dollar project is a viable reason behind the problem.

“This project has been

looked at and discussed since I got here three years ago,” Superintendent Sam Ray said.

“Only in the past couple years have good intentions been turned into actions.” Ray, as well as other local school district authorities, went to Salt Lake and, while attending a conference, seriously discussed the possibility of replacing the heating systems around the district.

“The high school’s old system is around 30 years old, and it’s just falling apart. The

See heat, page 2

C HRISTIAN

SAN-

regular decision admission rates. This is why NS has ColOne of the things said to lege Application Week, which be most difficult about being is November 6-10. a senior, in addition to a list “I’m really excited about of other things, is applying for college application week, that college. way I can’t procrastinate that NS tries to get kids to ap- much,” senior Aaron Andersen ply for college a little early due said. to the fact that early decision College Application week has been shown to increase is where the counselors at NS one’s chance of admission by See college, page 2 as much as 25 percent over BY

CHEZ

2 news Schedule, continued from page 1 cannot start until 3:30 p.m. for those sports who have teachers as coaches because the teachers’ contract time requires them to work to 3:30 p.m., so now students have to wait an hour after school until practice starts, which can be good and bad. Nobody wants to sit around the school for an hour, but students can take advantage of this time and use it to catch up on school work that they have missed because of games and such.

This brings us to another problem

with the new schedule for sports: the games are typically on the same days of the week every week, so when students leave early for a sport, they miss the same class every time.

“With soccer we always missed B days, and that was when my harder classes were, so it was hard for me to make up,” said senior Sarah Applegarth, who is in both concurrent enrollment and soccer.

In a survey sent out to teachers it was found that most said that they

College, continued from page 1 help seniors apply to at least one college. Counselors Chet Keisel, Ben Cox, and Jon Hafen will be joined this year by Heather Hafen, the GEAR-UP Coordinator for NS. GEAR-UP focuses on helping students prepare for college, and the counselors welcome the extra help.

“GEAR-UP is an amazing program that the seniors and freshmen have accessible to them,” Cox said.

The reason behind the whole week is for them to monitor where they apply, who they apply to, and how the counselors and students are doing

with college. They do this all to help us, never to hurt us.

Along with being accepted comes the cost tuition and housing. The counselors will also be helping out the students with FAFSA applications and what they need to fill them out.

This year the counselors plan on doing a series of events throughout the week to get kids thinking about different types of colleges that are offered here in Utah.

During College Application Week, many colleges plan on waiving or removing the application fee when

Heating, continued from page 1 only way we have been able to keep it running so long is because South Sanpete gave us a bunch of old heating coils a few years back,” Ray said, “but now we’re running out of coils, and we can’t replace them.”

The heating system at NS was old enough that it had been converted from a coal boiler to its current natural gas state.

“The system just isn’t efficient anymore,” Ray said,” the pipes start to corrode, leaks spring up, and it takes more and more power to heat the same amount of space.” The new boilers, all three of them, are a fraction of the size of the old boiler in both power consumption and size.

“The old boiler is about the size of an office,” Ray said.

“The new boilers are about the size a large refrigerator, and each new boiler has the capacity of the old boiler.” The old boiler had to be cut apart by a blowtorch to get it out of the building, whereas the new boilers will never have that problem.

Due to the fact that the old heating system at NS was inefficient, a large portion of

the duct work had to be replaced. This led to many gaps in the ceiling tiles, so there are currently sections of exposed crawl space, primarily in the older section of the school.

There were also smellier problems while dealing with duct work.

“There was stagnant water in the [condensation lines] that had been there since last winter,” Principal Nan Ault said, “so when they replaced the duct work it had to be drained.” This draining led to the school taking on some unpleasant odors a few weeks before. This issue has since been resolved, but other issues still remain.

Many students, and even some of the staff at NS wonder why the system wasn’t replaced during the summer or early in the school year before the colder weather arrived.

“We started with the hope to get the financing done by January, …but it took a lot longer than planned to get the funding in place than we had originally hoped for. As many adults will understand, sometimes it takes longer for the bankers and the attorneys to get started than we may have

liked having the set A/B schedule, only three out of 18 disliked having them set the same every week. When students were surveyed to see what they liked better, most felt neutral, only 16 out of 62 disliked it.

When asked about the alternating Fridays, most teachers were either neutral or disliked having Fridays alternate.

“Sometimes you don’t see your students for five days at a time,” Henry said.

Most students strongly dislike how Fridays alternate, they would rather have Fridays where they went to all their classes, or have early out Fridays. However, not all students dislike having alternating Fridays.

“I like the alternating Fridays, it is better that having to go to all your classes on Friday,” said Applegarth.

Some think that having all your classes on Friday would be a good day to make up what you missed throughout the week, and even a good day for tests.

applying as this is a statewide idea.

“The state introduced this program about five years ago,” counselor Ben Cox said. “This will be our third year doing it.”

Cox plans on having all the seniors apply in the counseling center for easier handling. They will do hour long blocks, where you come and fill out the applications, and they give away candy and prizes. Seniors do need to know that you must have your social security number and a form of payment for the colleges that don’t waive the fee.

Many of the events they have planned are the same or similar to the ones that happened during GEAR-UP week such as college gear day, college hat day and many others to show college spirit.

All in all, this week may seem kind of forced on the seniors, but it is very necessary. Many seniors put off doing things until the last minute, and College Application Week helps them not procrastinate and get things done.

liked,” Ray said. The financing wasn’t finished until early May, and then it took until mid-September for the bigger parts to arrive. Now the heating system is forecasted to be completed by the end of October.

“When we got the forecast about the colder weather… the businesses helping us with our project stepped up,” Ray said. Stalling’s Sheet Metal is one example, and they are willing to work weekends and longer days if it means getting heat to the school faster.

Luckily, the classroom temperatures have not dropped under 60 degrees long enough to compromise NS’s learning environment, the minimum temperature schools can be before having to be canceled, because of janitors coming in early and using space heaters.

Millions of dollars were necessary to replace the heating systems across the entire district. After district leaders were inclined to believe that a tax raise was unavoidable, Siemens offered the suggestion of using government grants or other benefits that may be offered to projects aimed at reducing ecological impact,

Serving Central Utah for over 30 years Whether you need a new road, a water line, or a decorative landscape feature, we have the experience and equipment to complete any sized project.

We also deliver sand, gravel, road base, top soil and landscaping boulders.

photo by Mosiah Bunting

Shot of the ductwork in the boiler room at NS. Crews have been working to replace the antiquated and expensive heating system.

more specifically energy consumption.

Blue Sky, an organization dedicated to promoting eco-friendly companies and projects, allowed the middle school to be refurbished with no out-of-pocket costs, saving the district a little over half a million dollars. Those dollars have been put to other use, but not to worry.

Projections, based on the

current district heating costs of $400,000 annually in utilities, show that after a period of about seventeen years, the money saved by the new system will start to equal the project cost, and after about twenty years the district will be saving money. These estimations are conservative, so it is possible these figures can occur sooner than planned.

3

news

Change in size of freshmen iPads to better assist students A DAM C OX

between the two.

“We really wanted to purchase You may have noticed a change in the mini iPads for the freshmen, but the new freshmen’s iPads this year. when we went to Apple to make the Instead of receiving an iPad mini, purchase, the mini iPads were far more they received regular sized iPads, expensive now,” Principal Nan Ault which was due to the cost difference said. “So, we ended up trying to figure BY

photo by Kaleb Cox

Due to cost change, the freshmen received regular sized iPads.

out another option, and it was that we could go with the larger iPad for less cost. We feel that it’s really high quality, and we got a great case for it.”

With this change, many are asking the question will this be a permanent change?

“It’ll probably be the same in the future,” Ault said, “I don’t think you see us going back.”

When the change first happened, students were unsure as to the reason, but some students had ideas of why this change occurred.

“Maybe it cost less money,” freshman Kyden Johnson said.

Other students thought that it was the exact opposite.

“Maybe because their finances went up,” freshman Kaje Neilsen said.

It seems that not only did the students not know why, but the teachers didn’t either.

“I don’t know why, I don’t know if it was funding, or if that’s just what

Apple was giving us a deal on,” said teacher Jori Turpin.

Not many students understood the sudden change, and while the freshmen seemed to be quite pleased, older students are not quite thrilled with the change.

“I’ve heard quite a few complaints like, why do the freshman get the bigger iPad?” Turpin said.

Although older kids don’t seem to be a big fan of these new iPads, many kids and teachers think that they are an excellent resource and will be a big help.

“It gives us more screen space, more stuff to look at,” Neilsen said.

Many freshmen prefer it over the mini iPads that they used in middle school.

“I like it better because it has the thumbprint unlock, and it’s bigger and better,” Neilsen said.

Phone pouches introduced to better enforce school cell phone policy BY

E MILY BARKER

For many years NS has had a no-cell-phones policy, and this year the school administration provided holders for cell phones for teachers to use in their classrooms as a place where students can keep their phones during class in order to better enforce the policy. “[Phones] have always been a problem in class; the question was do we have policy for phones in the classroom we always have [had], so it’s nothing new,” said Principal Nan Ault.

The importance of creating a balance for cell phone use was brought to Ault’s attention by counselor Ben Cox. He shared an article with Ault from The Atlantic Monthly September 2017 issue “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?”. The article shed light on the influence cell phones have in teens’ lives today.

After looking into this article the decision was made to make phone holders available to every teacher. The purpose

of these phone babysitters is to empower each teacher with an easier way of controlling phone use in classrooms, although only 25 percent of teachers require students to use the babysitter.

“I’ve asked all my students to use the phone babysitters and some classes are respectful and put their phones in and other classes just couldn’t care less,” said FACS teacher Auralee Brooks. “When all the teachers get on board together it will be easier.”

Other teachers have been more strict about the use of phones in class.

“This is a no-phone zone,” said English teacher Kaylene Johnson, and posters on her walls repeatedly reminded her students of this but many times it doesn’t matter. “Once their phone is gone I have their attention. My job is to keep [students] engaged enough where they have no time to use their distractions.”

In class, smartphones are a distraction but the impact of smart phones follow students far outside of the classroom.

According to the article “Have

Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?” there has been a decrease in teens’ social lives since the year 2007, when the first iPhone came out. Teens are less liking to go out with friends, less likely to get their driver’s license before their senior year, and less likely to go out on dates.

What are most teenagers spending their time with?

Their smartphones.

“In awkward situations we just pull out our phones and no one puts their phone down [to care],” said senior Christian Sanchez.

Principal Ault shares many of the same concerns. “[Smartphones] create isolation, even though you’re texting someone you lack the personal connection,” Ault said. “My worry is that you see people so distracted by what their conversing [on their phone] that they don’t have a conversation, they aren’t asking questions, they don’t know how to have a discussion, they don’t know how to even face a controversy.”

Many students have a hard time with the idea of not hav-

ing their phones, even for just the class period. Enforcing the phone policy has become more and more difficult as students become more and more attached to their phones.

“I joke that I’m going to make comfort screens [for students] that need a little rectangle on their desk,” Johnson said, to help students be away from their phones; many students have took an interest in this idea and agree that they need these “comfort screens.”

The reality of this is more serious than we let on.

“People with smartphones exhibit addictive behaviors,” said Cox. Dopamine is released in our mind with social media the same way it is with any other addiction.

Ultimately, enforcing the no-cell-phones policy is not a punishment for students, it is a way to help them through their teenage years.

“Being a teenager is hard enough, and you feel like you’re constantly putting yourself out there anyway, but now there is the eliminate of social media where we see everyone capturing their perfect

lives,” Cox said.

It is unnecessary and unhealthy for students to carry all of this additional stress added by phones with them through every minute of the day. It is the responsibility of NS to help students learn how to eliminate some of this stress. The smartphone babysitters in many ways are a teaching method so students can learn how to cope while separated from their phones.

“In this world we live in right now you cannot ignore the absolute need of electronics, so it is a battle between how much do we empower kids to be involved with the programs and technology that we are offering, so that they are better prepared to leave here and they feel like it’s a natural part of what they do and they know how to manage it,” Ault said.

As a high school that prepares students for life and careers we have to also be a school that teaches kids boundaries and how to manage electronics.

LDS Seminary to keep ping pong tables despite change church policy BY

VANCE STR AIT

For many years, students at NS have enjoyed going to the seminary building to play ping pong with their friends to fill their time. There has been a recent misconception that the building will be getting rid of the ping pong table and supplies in the unused classroom.

The misunderstanding is due to the fact that the seminary staff was informed that it is against policy to have

the ping pong tables in the seminary students will have to bring their own building. paddles and balls.” “[The ping pong tables] are not Many students were upset by this, authorized for seminary use,” Semi- but the positive side is that more caunary teacher Caden Anderson said. tion and care will be taken by those Although the tables are not autho- who use the tables. rized, the seminary has decided to let “Once you tell everyone that they them stay, but only under certain con- are going to be taken away they will ditions; the ping pong tables and pad- take better care of them,” sophomore dles will remain at the seminary build- Devin Palmer said. ing until they are broken or misplaced. More students use the tables on a “We will not buy anymore ping frequent basis than one might assume; pong supplies,” said Anderson. “So the there is an estimated of 20-30 students

that play ping pong everyday.

“Some people just come because of [the ping pong tables],” Palmer said.

“So we will have less people in seminary.”

Whether or not Palmer’s statement is true, many students are relieved that the building is keeping the tables.

“It’s a lot of fun to go in there and hang out with friends,” junior Russell Madsen said.

4 opinion Conflicts between activities and missing class cause stress, concerns for students

BY

A BIGAIL C LAWSON

With the recent end of first quarter, many students panicked as they struggled to fulfill the required Attendance Recovery Class (ARC) hours needed to replace absences or tardies so they don’t lose credit. The lack of credit is a direct result of the student’s decision to sluff or repetitively be late to class, something the NS Attendance Policy clearly defines.

The policy states, “North Sanpete School District believes that school attendance has a direct impact on a student’s level of academic achievement. In order to make the most of one’s educational opportunity, a student must have consistent, punctual,

daily attendance. Regular attendance and participation in class is essential for students to be successful and prepare themselves for the best quality of life.”

That is a strong statement, as it should be, but does it take into consideration school excused absences? If students are missing school, no matter the reason, does it not have the same effect as if they were truant? Could being involved in various school activities that cause students to miss class have the same effect as sluffing? If school activities cause students to miss class on a frequent basis, even more than students are truant, the answer is yes.

From the first day of school this year students have been missing class for schoolrelated activities, and dealing with the stress and worry that comes from missing classes, especially core classes and those whose grade is heavily impacted by participation in class.

The policy goes on to say, “Academic grades may be impacted by excessive absence...

Participation, attendance, and punctuality may together be a factor of up to 25% of the grade given in some classes; especially in activity classes: band, choir, dance, orchestra, physical education, home economics, woods, metals, mechanics, construction, etc.”

Missing these classes at all is difficult, and when the student must for a school activity, it can be a pain to the student and teacher to make up the work missed. While in some cases this is unavoidable, in others the stress can be alleviated and the student not required to miss class.

In the case of sports and clubs leaving during the school day, the students could be excused or leave later instead of having the extra half an hour to an hour when they arrive at the activity. Some activities (sports being an exception), could be scheduled during flex or the hour after

school when teachers are required to stay and are there to assist students, in order to increase the amount of time a student has in class.

For example, during the week prior to and the week of the end of first quarter, there was a plethora of activities including sports: volleyball, girls soccer, football, marching band and cross country; clubs: concert choir, HOPE Squad and FBLA; as well as a leadership conference for those in leadership positions including the Student Body Officers, class officers, and club presidencies. Some of the activities were only part day, while some were full day, and yet others two or three days long.

At a school as small as NS, students are likely to be involved in one or more activities, which lead to students missing several days of school immediately before the end of the quarter. This seems unreasonable, as it puts a large amount of stress on students

and teachers alike.

Some say that perhaps students should simply drop activities if they are facing this problem. While the concern about missing school does lead to some students’ decision not to participate in sports, clubs, and the like, many of these activities improve their abilities and lead to greater opportunities such as scholarships and jobs.

Is it fair to ask students to sacrifice all that these teams, clubs, and other activities can offer so they can stay caught up in school? This is certainly a difficult situation for the school’s most ambitious and involved students, and there is no one size fits all solution; it will require administration, coaches and teachers being more cautious and considerate of involved students, most especially athletes, and students doing their part to fulfill their obligations in both the classroom and other organizations.

Let’s face it. You’re ready for more speed.

Upgrade your Internet today. visit: centracom.com/moreSpeed 427-3331

5

features

New Russian dance teacher inspires students

BY

E MILY K ERKSIEK

NS dance teacher, Dmitri Peskov, left Moscow, Russia, as a child thinking he would be back within the next three months. At this time his father was a physicist. They renewed his father’s contract every six months, so their family was under the impression they would move back to Russia.

“I didn’t realize I was leaving for the rest of my life,” Peskov said. “When I was at that age I didn’t have time to process I would be leaving forever.”

At the time Peskov left Russia in 1987, it was a completely different country; it was part of the the Soviet Union. One of the most memorable things about Russia to Peskov was the community.

“It was a different time.

There were no computers or cell phones. We mostly played outside,” Peskov said. “Apartment buildings were not isolated. The sense of community and belonging to a greater whole was my favorite part.”

Peskov moved to Geneva, Switzerland, at the age of 13.

He lived in Switzerland until he was 18 years old, and then moved to the United States.

Although it was interesting to learn a new culture, Peskov had a hard time adjusting to his new surroundings.

“I felt isolated at the time and lonely,” Peskov said.

Peskov didn’t begin dancing until he was a senior in college. He was studying French literature, but he wasn’t ecstatic about it. Peskov received his first opportunity to give a dance performance when his friend passed away.

Peskov’s friend was a musician, so they held a concert and played his music on his behalf. They asked Peskov to dance because he was a close friend.

“I had no training [in dance], but I knew martial arts,” Peskov said. “My dad made me practice martial arts since I was a child. I told them sure. That was my first dancing performance.”

Peskov also enjoys writing and putting together choreography for dances.

“For me putting dances together is like writing, but it is not as lonely as writing. You’re not just in front of the paper, or computer, you are writing on human beings,” he said.

Peskov’s dancing career took off after his first performance. He has now danced with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Shirley Mordine dance company, and Chicago Ballet. Peskov also owned a dance company for three years.

He currently teaches the

photo by Emily Kersiek

Dmitri Peskov, the new dance teacher at NS, leads the class. Peskov moved to the US from Russia at age 18, and has been dancing since he was a senior in college.

dance classes at NS, which fluctuate between different styles of dance.

“All good teachers have to take a good look at today,” Peskov said. “Are we tired, how are we feeling? Then you have to mold the class during the moment.”

The way he teaches captivates a significant amount of the students he teaches. In trying to connect with the students, Peskov allows them to play their music. He also lets them choreograph a part of the routine and then modifies it. To change up the class, he brings his drum to play with the beat.

“He’s not too serious, but he has a structure in his class.

He is an excellent teacher,” junior Emma Siegenthaler said.

During Peskov’s classes, he switches off counting in different languages. He learned Russian and English when he lived in Russia, and French and a little Italian when he lived in Switzerland.

“He is very inspiring.

Sometimes I don’t want to work hard, but he pushes us," senior Brylee Swapp said. "I like [his drum]. He will hit it to the beat and shout funny stuff at us. I sometimes get confused because he will start counting in all these different

languages."

Besides teaching dance at NS, Peskov is the Assistant Professor of Dance at Snow College, where he teaches a diverse amount of classes. He explains to his students how important it is to dance, even if you aren’t perfect at it.

“We live in a world where we are less and less physical.

We have computers, we use cell phones, and we drive cars.

In some degree we are less connected to each other,” Peskov said. “Dance class is one of the ways to reconnect with each other. It’s a great way to get to know oneself, through the body and into the spirit.”

Broadcast teacher highlights life experiences

photo by Alex Larsen

Broadcasting and video production teacher Barrett Hilton assists junior Jadan Sloan with film equipment.

BY

A LEX L ARSEN

This NS teacher spent countless college nights on top of buildings watching over the city, was embarrassed by being in his underwear at the hospital at the age of three and worked at a film studio right next to the set of the widely renowned “How I Met Your Mother”; this is Barrett Hilton.

Hilton teaches the broadcasting class before school and a video production class first hour every B day of

school, but that’s not all Hilton does for work.

Hilton is also the director for Channel 10 at Centracom.

“I’m in charge of all production that we do, which includes live sports and other events, the filming of commercials and other programming, I also do all of the programming for the station, scheduling, maintenance, and monitoring everything,” Hilton said.

Hilton got his interest in electronics and production when he was young, starting with vid-

eo games that he played as a child. But Hilton’s real interest in creative outlets came about when drawing pictures for his elementary class when he discovered his pictures were superior to everyone else's.

“This light bulb went off and I realized I was really good at this… I was just so happy to realize I was good at something,” Hilton said. “It got me started on this path of creativity.”

Along with Hilton’s sudden realization of his artistic talents, he shared a moment that could describe his ways of thinking as a child.

“I remember one time playing hide and seek at my friend’s house, and he was hiding under some kind of trailer… I rounded the corner and saw his leg pinned under the trailer, and his mom comes running out the front door, and she looks at him and she looks at me, and I just ran all the

way home,” Hilton said.

Along with his fascinating childhood memories, Hilton also had an interesting life throughout his years after high school and into college.

Hilton served an LDS mission in Tennessee and learned a lot from his time over there.

“I mean I’d heard a few racial slurs growing up," Hilton said, "but it’s just sad over there…

I just don’t think we’re capable of understanding out here in Utah how bad the racism has been and still is in some areas."

Hilton believes that there were numerous things he experienced in the east such as their food, attitudes, and ways of life, but the majority of those things cannot be experienced without living in them. Hilton recalled a memory of some of the terrible conditions that people lived in within Tennessee.

“I saw this one

house—more of a boxcar really—you can just hear mice running everywhere and there’s this kid, and he’s just shooting a gun in the house and it’s just sad; it’s every negative stereotype, right?” Hilton said.

Along with his sad stories of the places he saw on his mission, Hilton enjoyed his time spent in Tennessee and hopes to return someday. Once Hilton came home from his mission he went to BYU for film school, got a degree and a wife and moved to California for more schooling and work.

“I loved L.A. it was a great city but it’s very hard to live there, very expensive, very crowded and a lot of traffic, but the drivers are better— they make Utah drivers look like cavemen--but that’s probably being too kind,” Hilton said.

After living in California for some time and experiencing a differ-

ent lifestyle than he had lived before, he made the decision to return to his hometown.

“The decision to come back was very very difficult, but I recognized that I’d have a little more control over my own schedule and projects that I was working on. I felt bad for our loser town with our loser schools, and I say that with affection, you know, I’m one of those losers who went to a loser school. It’s tiny, there’s no money and there’s not a lot we can do,” Hilton said.

But Hilton came back to his loser town with an open heart and a determination to make it less of a loser town.

“It felt really good to come and try to see if I could improve our little T.V. station and maybe help out at the school and make some more opportunities and so far it’s been pretty fun and rewarding,” Hilton said.

6

features

HALLOWEEN Halloween traditions, origins put to light

BY

M AYZIE TALBOT

What we now know as Halloween, a day full of cute little kids in costumes asking for candy, began as something entirely different. It began as an ancient Celtic tradition called Samhain celebrated on Nov. 1. This day marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter.

According to an article from Elite Daily, the Celts believed that on the night before, the worlds of the living and the dead would become blended. It was believed that on that night, demons and spirits would roam the Earth.

To keep themselves safe, people would dress in costumes or disguises so the demons would pass over them.

Samhain was an important day for the Celtic people not just because of the celebrations. They believed that with the presence of otherworldly spirits, their priests would be able to see into the future and predict what the coming winter months would be like.

By the eighth century, Samhain had been adopted by the Christian church and was changed to All Saint’s Day to honor the martyrs and former saints. The night before was called All Hallow’s Eve, which we now know as Halloween.

Carving pumpkins or making Jack O’ Lanterns, a beloved Halloween tradition, was started in Europe as well.

It came from a legend about a man named Stingy Jack. Ac-

cording to the stories, Jack sat down with the devil to have a drink. Being the man that he was, Jack didn’t want to pay for it, so he tricked the devil into turning into a coin he could pay with.

Jack decided to keep the coin, placing a silver cross by it, preventing the devil from changing back. Jack freed the devil, after forcing the devil to agree to leave him alone for a year and not claim his soul if he died.

A year later, Jack tricked the devil again. He convinced him to climb up a tree to get some fruit, then carved an X into the tree, trapping the devil. Jack freed the devil again, but this time the deal was for ten years.

Not long after, Jack died,

but when he got to heaven, God would not let him in, so Jack went to the devil.

Keeping his word, the devil shunned Jack but gave him a burning coal to light his way.

Jack put the coal into a hollowed out turnip, creating the first Jack O’ Lantern. According to the legend, Jack has wandered the world with his lantern ever since. People in Scotland and Ireland began creating their own Lanterns and putting them in their windows to ward of Jack and any other unwanted spirits.

When people began immigrating to America, they quickly found that pumpkins make perfect Jack O’ Lanterns.

One of the biggest things people look forward to on

Halloween is all of the candy that they get from trick-ortreating, a concept also dating back centuries. It began with the Catholic church and All Soul’s day on Nov. 2. The Catholic established it as a day where poor people could go begging for food in exchange for prayers that would help the rich and their loved ones to pass on or die in safety.

Modern day trick-ortreating in America didn’t appear until around the early 20th century. The original idea was that if someone didn’t have a “treat” to offer, the trick-or-treaters could then play a “trick” on them, but this idea has somewhat faded.

School ghost terrorizes library media room BY

A BIGAIL C LAWSON

Halloween is here, with all the spooky feelings, creepy costumes and ghost stories it brings. Some may wonder how NS fits with the Halloween spirit. Some may blow it off, but the truth is there may be a ghost at NS. Principal Nan Ault was the NS librarian for a decade, and it was during that time that she discovered the ghost. It was her job to go in after

school each day to the media room off of the library to put the supplies away and lock up, and this is where things started to get spooky.

“I would lock the library, and I would leave and I would come in the morning and everything would be open,” Ault said. “I’d shut everything up, and curse the ghost who was doing it.”

While some would be concerned, Ault was cool with it.

“I never really said anything; it re-

ally didn’t worry me, didn’t scare me,” Ault said. “In fact, I think it’s kind of fascinating. I hope there’s somebody wandering around—it’s kind of fun.”

After this experience, as principal, Ault would sometimes have to spend the night at the school. While this would terrify some to stay in a building with a ghost at night, it didn’t worry Ault. On the contrary, she found it enthralling.

“I have to stay here at night sometimes, for fire alarms or other things

going on, and it’s an interesting place at night,” Ault said. “There’s some really interesting places in the school, but I hope there’s some friendly person out there who is wandering the library. I think that would be fantastic.”

Whether or not the ghost still haunts the library remains a mystery, but if there is, perhaps some students will be fortunate enough come across it.

Is "The Nightmare Before Christmas" Overrated?

BY

K ALEB C OX

It’s the holiday season, and that’s means it’s the time of year when you can’t go very far without seeing some form of merchandise for “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

This film has become synonymous with the Halloween and Christmas holidays, whilst gaining a cult in the following years after its original release in 1993. Unfortunately, it’s simply a mediocre movie masked by a unique concept.

The most prevalent

flaw this film has is that it’s too ambitious for its own good. Tim Burton had this original idea in his head, but failed to make an equally good and interesting story out of it. All these concepts are being thrown at you, taking the focus away from our main characters.

To briefly recap the story: Jack Skellington, “King” and local celebrity of Halloweentown, becomes bored of his repetitive life. He wanders off and discovers the Land of Christmas, and he wants in. He later schemes with some of the kids in Halloweentown to kidnap Santa so he can take over. Hijinks ensue as Jack tries his hand at doing Christmas, and ultimately fails.

A neat premise, if it’s a half-hour holiday special. Unfortunately, it’s

an hour-and-15-minute feature film. This extra runtime could have been used to add more interesting plot details, but instead we got a lot of filler, trying to add to the film’s creepy aesthetic.

Everyone knows the characters, Jack, Sally, Mr. Oogie Boogie, and so on.

They ’re all well designed characters, but aside

with Jack, with whom she has romantic interest. This love is very one-sided for just about the entire movie.

This is one example of what this film was capable of doing. This scenario with Sally had the potential to be really interesting. But, that’s about as far as they go with it.

There’s never really any payoff or consequences, aside from at

f ro m Jack, they are all extremely onedimensional.

Throughout the movie, Sally is constantly putting nightshade in her father’s soup, so she can go and spend time

t h e end where Jack finally returns the love with no explanation.

This film is not a good looking film.

The stop-motion style, though impressive by design, I always found

to be very revolting and unpleasant to look at.

It tries to be scary, but there have been plenty of other films to pull off the creepy aesthetic while still being visually pleasing and interesting.

Another part of the aesthetic is the music.

Danny Elfman is an incredible composer, and his score for “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is an example of this.

However, his lyricism needs some work. As is with the rest of the dialogue with this movie, the characters’ lyrics are all relatively bland and uninspired.

The opening song “This is Halloween” is a prime example of this.

The whole song, while catchy, just feels like the words came from a Halloween phrase generator.

Yet, this

song and the others have all become holiday favorites, following the same trend as the rest of the movie.

A big reason why this movie became as popular as it is, on top of the unmistakable character designs and style, is because of the lack of family Halloween movies.

With “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” being the only other option, it’s easy to see why “The Nightmare Before Christmas” rose to the top. Hopefully we see other creative movie minds in the future try to put an end to this Halloween monopoly.

features

7

Cache Valley Bank is your local community bank ready to assist with your personal, business, and farm ďŹ nancial needs.

We are proud to support the N.S. Times

Go Hawks !!!

Ice cream

Drinks

Snacks

MAIN STREET, MORONI

8

sports 31 oct 17

Volleyball takes first in region, second in state

photo by Lucy Anderson

Senior Kelsie Nielson spikes the ball during the state championship game Oct. 26. The Hawks lost to Morgan, taking 2nd after defeating Providence Hall, San Juan, and Union.

BY

H ANNAH O STR AFF

Last Thursday the NS volleyball team took second at state. The team tied for first place in region with Richfield and won the coin toss, making the decision for the team to go seeded as second place to the state tournament.

“We felt like the second seed was a better path to the championship. Playing in the championship match is such a unique experience that I wanted the best shot to get there,” said head coach Rickie Stewart. “We did play tougher teams earlier in the bracket, but with Morgan being heavily favored, the decision was made to take the slightly

harder path, but ultimately the championship match was within reach.”

The team was excited and prepared to play in the state tournament.

“The feeling you get when you walk into the building is the most irreplaceable feeling ever,” senior Madisyn Allred said.

The team started off by playing Providence Hall and beating them 3-0. This was a good start to the tournament, and the girls were ready to play against San Juan in the quarterfinals.

“We knew we had to play our best and come out swinging. When we controlled our side of the net they didn’t stand a chance,” senior Allyssa

Ericksen said.

Beating San Juan 3-1 put the team into the semifinals. The team then had to play Union in order to move onto the championship match.

“We had some history with Union and wanted to take care of business there,” assistant coach Jori Turpin said.

The match against Union kept everyone on their toes. NS dropped the first set, but came back to win the second and third. Then, they lost the fourth set, sending the match to a fifth set; only going to fifteen points. The team pulled it off and won the match 3-2, which set them up for the championship

against 3A powerhouse Morgan.

“We’re all a little nervous to play Morgan, but mostly super excited to be playing in the state championship,” Ericksen said.

NS volleyball has won five state championships in the past.

In the championship match, the team didn’t perform the way they had been hoping to and lost in three sets.

“Our nerves got the best of us. The kids resorted back to some bad habits that we had in the first of the season,” said Turpin. “We finally started to play with some confidence again and had a close third set.”

This loss was a disappointment for the team;

not because they lost the match, but because they didn’t play their best.

“We didn’t pass well which put a lot of pressure on our hitters. We were out of system more than we were in system, again that’s too much pressure to put on our hitters. The disappointment lies with some of our efforts in the final,” Stewart said. “I think we are better than we played and the moment was almost too big for us to manage. We certainly go in with nothing to lose, a great opportunity to play our best volleyball at the end, and it was very clear that wasn’t our best volleyball.”

NS might have not played up to their expectations, but Morgan

played well and didn’t give up any points that weren’t earned.

“To Morgan’s credit they started well and kept the pressure on us. They are a very good team, I think we made them look better than they were, but take nothing away from them,” Stewart said.

Even though they lost to Morgan, the team still had a great season.

“I was disappointed when we lost to Morgan, but I am not disappointed in how far we have come as a team this year.

We have made some big strides forward,” Allred said.

They had their fifthstraight region win, even after a rough start, losing two games in the beginning of the season.

“We focused more on the little things we could control and we moved a few people to different positions. We started to trust each other more, and remembered it’s not where you start but where you finish,” Ericksen said.

The team was able to work through their struggles and start competing as a team, and it showed in the way the players interact with each other.

“I wouldn’t have wanted to experience playing in a state championship with any other group of girls or coaches.

It was a once in a lifetime experience,” senior Shelby Ison said.

sports

9

Soccer reaches state semis, makes school history BY

M AK ADE TALBOT

The Lady Hawks soccer team landed a spot in NS history this season as they competed in the state semi-finals against Judge Memorial.

No NS soccer team, girls or boys, has ever made it past the second round of state until this year.

Five wins and four region losses led the girls into their state competition. In the first round, they defeated Maeser Prep 1-0, followed by a 2-0 win against Carbon in the quarter-finals at home.

“I’m really proud of us.” said Sophie Duijn, center defender for the Hawks. “It’s pretty awesome we made it so far, and even more awesome that we made school history.”

Duijn is a foreign exchange student visiting from the Netherlands, so this was her first and last year playing for NS. According to Duijn, America takes sports much more seriously than where she’s from, but she enjoyed the competition.

The team was on a winning streak, so they entered their semi-final match in good spirits.

Unfortunately they were defeated 6-1; a reasonable outcome since Judge Memorial is a private school and is at the

top of the 3A class.

Though the girls set a new record at NS, most didn’t see this coming when they started the year.

“At the beginning of the season if you would have asked me if we were going to make it to the semi-finals, I probably would have laughed in your face,” said senior captain Sarah Applegarth.

The first four season games resulted in defeat, and Applegarth blames the losses on the lack of bonding and the players moving around so the coaches could find the right setup. The moment the team came together, the season did too.

“I think when we started winning, we realized we won because we had fun,” said Applegarth. “We worked hard at practice, but we had fun and we started bonding really well--practice was never really intense; We had fun and that seemed to be what worked for us.”

The fun wasn’t confined to just the players; Head Coach Mickel Holder knows how to have a good time.

“Bus trips were always eventful,” said Holder. “We would tell ghost stories and do cheers, and play that one karaoke game where you put your headphones in

photo by Hannah Ostraff

Junior Carlee Nuttall passes the ball during the state quarterfinal game against Carbon.

The Lady Hawks won2-0, with both goals scored by junior forward Emmalene Palmer.

and you turn your volume all the way up and you have to sing a song at the top of your lungs.”

Listening to the coach scream Adele lyrics on the bus is a luxury not every team has, and NS gets to enjoy Holder’s inner spunk after only knowing her for a short time, as this is her first year with with the Lady Hawks.

For Applegarth and the few other seniors on the team, the change isn’t alarming. They’ve been handed a brand new coach all four seasons of their their high school career.

“Every year a new coach comes in, so it

means that we have a different way to set up, a different position they want me to play, and different people they wanted me to bond with,” said Applegarth. “So every year I learned how to play differently, and I got better in lots of different ways instead of just one.”

Fortunately for the rest of the team, this year’s coach plans on sticking around for a while. Holder says that different types of players respond differently to different types of coaches, so having multiple coaches before her potentially could’ve been good for the girls.

“You just have to

kind of look and see what the coaches want out of you,” said junior Emi Palmer. “They each run their practices differently, and I ended up liking some coaches’ practices better than others, and some coaching styles better than others.”

Palmer, like Applegarth, has played varsity soccer since she was a freshman, and was this year’s top goal scorer for the team, ending the season with 10 goals.

Palmer liked the way that Holder coached this year, especially during games because she would inspire the team and push them to

do better. Holder has coached girl’s basketball in the past, but this year marked the start of her soccer coaching days, making the team’s success all that more impressive.

“Coaching is something I’ve always wanted to do in the past; graduating high school and playing soccer in college made me want to coach soccer, but it kind of just went off my radar for a few years,” said Holder. “Then Kathryn Applegarth approached me about coaching, so I ended up applying, and now here I am, coaching.”

minutes 58 seconds, Peel with 17 minutes and 35 seconds, and Flinders with 20 minutes, each over a 3-mile course.

For Flinders this is her first year on the cross

country team, and has had to find a way to do two sports at the same time, as she is a starting varsity player on the volleyball team. Despite the fact that she doesn’t attend many cross-country practices, she still performs well.

“Flinders has only been to a few practices and still beats most people in our region,” Coach Scott Butler said.

For Peel this is his second year in cross country, and that experience has already helped him.

“Peel has improved a ton since last year,” Butler said.

Although most of the cross country team is satisfied with their

performance, some of the members have other opinions and think there is more room for improvement.

“I think our team has done pretty well and has improved, but there are always more improvements to be made,” Flinders said.

Butler, along with coach Bill Bedford, is very proud of the three that qualified for state and hopes to have more qualify next year.

“I love coaching cross country mainly because it is amazing to see the athletes accomplish their goals,” said Butler.

With these goals, each runner has different, but similar, motivators to do well this sea-

son.

For Hindes, it is the desire to be the top runner, after being second to alumni Carl Peel last year.

“I was always number two last year with Carl Peel in front of me, and I don’t want to be number two anymore; that is my biggest motivator,” Hindes said.

Flinders’ motivation is similar, simply wanting to beat the competition and prove her skill.

“My biggest motivator was probably just proving that I could do as good as others,” Flinders said.

Three NS runners qualify for state cross country

BY

M EGAN BOOHER

The NS cross country team had three students qualify for state: junior Linzy Flinders and sophomores Or-

ange Peel and Matthew Hindes. In order to qualify, runners must place in the top ten for their region.

Hindes qualified with a top time of 17

photo provided by cross country

Cross country took 3 runners to state despite placing 5th in region. Junior Linzy Flinders placed 14th overall in the girls’ run.

Cafe

Das

33 N Main Street Spring City, UT (435) 462-7484

Fast Track Support Local Buy Local Fast track Supports NS

OLSON FAMILY DENTISTRY 462-2070 Glen S. Olson DDS.

Go Hawks!

sports

10

Marching band continues to see improvement

BY

THOMAS DE GROFF

The NS marching band has had a challenging but productive season so far. At their most recent competition at Brigham Young University, they placed sixth out of the six 2A bands there.

This may come as a disappointment, but there are many factors at play. One such factor could be the size of the NS marching band.

“We are the smallest you can be and still be 2A,” said marching band director Timothy Kidder. “That puts us in competition with lots of big schools.”

If a marching band has 45 or fewer members, they are considered part of the 1A division.

Any band with more than 45 members is part of the 2A division. The NS marching band has 46.

The judges’ verdict of last place came as a shock to some in the

band who have put in a lot of work to get as good as they are. Rather than let this dissuade them, both participants and leaders alike have been pushing themselves harder than ever.

“I was a little surprised, but there were some things we did that we shouldn’t have done, and some things we didn’t do that we should have done,” drum major Trevor Olson said.

The marching band spends long hours practicing and preparing for competitions. They focus their efforts on the six areas that judges grade them on: music general effect, music performance ensemble, visual performance, visual general effect, percussion, and color guard.

After their defeat at BYU, these practices have grown even harder.

“We’ve kind of upped our intensity in practices because the kids are really pushing themselves to get better.

photo provided by Tasmin Valko

Members of the marching band perform at a recent competition. The band has steadily improved their scores at every competition in just their third year.

I don’t feel like I need to drag them—they’re kind of pushing me,” Kidder said.

This style of practice schedules and competing across the state is relatively new for the marching band. This year is only their second year competing and their fourth as an estab-

lished organization.

“The first year I did marching band, when I was a little freshman boy, we only practiced once a week for a month, and we performed a little two-minute piece. Now we’re performing eight, nine minute shows— which is great to see,” Olson said.

photo by Lucy Anderson

Last Thursday, two NS volleyball seniors took Academic All-State. Shelby Ison and Allyssa Ericksen were two of the ten girls picked to represent the state. Both girls earned a 4.0 cumulative GPA for all four years of highschool so far.

The laborious rehearsals that Kidder and Olson put the band members through are paying off, and hopefully this will show in competitions to come.

“It’s more work than I thought it was going to be, but I think it’s worth it,” freshman Abbi Mikkelsen said.

Olson has a contemplated response for those who tell him that marching band is easy, or argue that it shouldn’t qualify as a sport.

“A long time ago, I played football, and I put in a lot of hard work. I’ve noticed that the hard work I do in marching band is a lot harder than what I did in football,” Olson said.

This may be relative, but a lot of the challenge has to do with the personal effort and integrity required of each marching band member.

With everyone out on the field, a wrong note or misstep from anyone is heard or seen by the judges—and counts against the entire band.

Kidder recognizes

Shepp’s Grill Fountain Green (435) 445-8267

this, and tries to keep the bar high while also maintaining a fun environment.

“He is both sarcastic and he makes you work hard,” Mikkelsen said.

Kidder is impressed by the band members’ positive attitude toward their challenging performance.

“We’re marching a hard show. There’s a lot of difficult stuff in it, and no one’s complaining about that,” Kidder said.

Even after their recent competitive shortcomings, Kidder remains optimistic.

“The thing that’s going to get us to the next level is consistency,” Kidder said.

The marching band has worked hard and seen excellent improvement in practices. Now, striving for consistent perfection in their performances, they hope to succeed on the competitive level.

“We’re going to get there,” Kidder said.

11

arts 31 oct 17

Annual musical date changed to eliminate conflict BY

LUCY A NDERSON

Many students at NS have memories of making their way to the high school on a brisk November night to have the privilege of watching the musical that the school’s drama department puts together.

This year, however, those memories will take place in the middle of January.

Drama Teacher Alex Barlow made the executive decision to move the musical this year to January to make things easier for the drama department as a whole.

“Last year we tried to work on the show and do [the Shakespeare Festival], and it was really stressful,” Barlow said.

“When we finished Shakespeare we were really behind on the musical, and it caused a lot of stress for everybody.”

Another reason Barlow changed the musical performance date was to help more students have the opportunity to be a part of the production.

“It’s really hard for kids to split commitments, and so I think the biggest thing is we have a lot of kids who also do band

and also do sports at that time, and so it eventually became like you know, it’s going to be really hard to work around all of this stuff,” Barlow said. “What if we tried moving it to January when there’s less competition of activities going on in order to hopefully free up more students?”

The musical this year will be “Little Shop of Horrors.” Barlow feels that this musical will be one of the school’s best yet. “‘Little Shop of Horrors’ is one of my favorite musicals,” Barlow said. “I have quite a few students who also absolutely love it.”

Not only is it a show that is loved by many, but Barlow also thinks that the show

fits with the students well.

“It’s a very character building show. It has a lot of very strong, quirky characters,” Barlow said, “I think that’s one of our strengths as a department because we have a lot of kids that are really good at playing strong, quirky characters.”

Although the department lost a lot of their seniors last year, Barlow still thinks that the play will go well.

“It’s always hard to lose great seniors,” Barlow said, “however, we also have a really strong junior class. About 75 percent of our department is juniors.”

Junior Brynne Lamb is excited to play one of the lead roles as Audrey in the musical.

“[Audrey] is one of my dream roles to play; so it’s nice being able to play her,” Lamb said.

Both Lamb and sophomore Spencer Brown had seen the movie before they tried out for the play.

Brown is playing Seymour, the main character. Brown prepared by watching the movie and also watching clips on youtube.

The play in the Spring will not be affected by the musical being in January or region and state drama.

“After the musical, we’ll go right into preparing for region and state and the play,” Barlow said, “So it’s just going to be a busy second half of the year, but it’s always busy.”

Although the year may sound stressful, Barlow is still very excited for the things that the drama students will be able to do.

“I am very excited. I feel like our department’s really grown, and right now I feel like it’s at a really good place,” Barlow said, “I’m really excited for the things we’re going to be doing this year.”

Season 2 of “Stranger Things” lives up to expectations

BY

SALEM K IMBALL

On the 15th of July in 2016, Netflix released a new original show titled “Stranger Things”.

The 80’s based show deserves its cult following for numerous reasons, but we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to talk about even stranger things….

Which means we will be discuss-

ing “Stranger Things 2”.

I will be assuming that those of you reading this story are already familiar with season one of the series, meaning I will not be recapping any previous parts of the show. If this review doesn’t make sense because of this, I encourage you to go watch “Stranger Things” season one and then return.

ones who freshen up the story, and sometimes even hinder it in places. While we are on the topic of characters I would like to address the biggest complaint that I had with one of them, arguable the number one main character in fact.

The psychic girl known as Eleven, who was the McGuffin of season one, ends up having the most uninteresting and uninvolved story of the entire crew.

Once again I am not going to dive too deep into the story for spoiler reasons, but what happens is Eleven goes on her own “Stranger Things 2” is, as separate journey with unfamiliar you have probably guessed, the characters who have no developsequel to “Stranger Things” and ment and exist only for the purtherefore takes place after all the pose of leading up to one mildly main characters’ antics in the first important scene at the end of the season. But, to avoid spoilers, I season.

Other than the pointless will not dive into any plot details story of Eleven, I have very few here.

The show focuses upon the gripes with the rest of the show, 10 main characters from season other than some nit picking. For one, along with a handful of new example, the special effects on

most of the monsters is sub-par, but this is made up for in the acting and storytelling (excluding Eleven’s story).

The overall story (that is a continuation of the first season) is well written and well executed.

The acting is also on point with spectacular performances from Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin, Finn Wolfhard as Mike, Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, and Sean Astin as Bob who film enthusiasts will recognize as Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings.

Overall “Stranger Things” is a fantastic show that I would strongly recommend to anyone who is a fan of sci-fi or horror. Although it may be cheesy at parts what it lacks in visuals is made up for twelve fold in personality, and charm. So this Halloween grab your candy corn, grab the skeletons in your closet, sit your butt down in front of your TV and enjoy “Stranger Things” this season.

Super Mario Odyssey captivates with old, new features BY

TR AYSON THOMPSON

Super Mario Odyssey is Nintendo’s latest first party game for the Nintendo Switch, and also Mario’s latest main series outing, returning to the 3D format used in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine.

The game begins with Mario trying to save Peach from Bowser’s clutches, a pretty familiar way to start off the adventure. After fighting for a bit, Bowser knocks Mario off of the airship and down to the earth below, earning his escape with Peach. Mario then awakes from unconsciousness to find a living hat named “Cappy”, a very creative name as you can see.

Cappy tells Mario that not only did Bowser steal Peach, he stole Cappy’s sister, and so Cappy wants to help Mario defeat Bowser to get her back. Cappy replaces Mario’s hat, allowing Mario to use Cappy’s abilities; one of these abilities being able to capture enemies and control them, gaining that enemy’s abilities for a short time. With Cappy by his side (or at least on his head), Mario sets out to rescue Peach and defeat Bowser for the zillionth time.

The game plays almost exactly like Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine, having huge, open levels with a ton of things to collect. The objective of each level is to collect Power Moons in order to power your ship so that you can get to the next world and collect more Power Moons. To get Power Moons, you’ll usually have to complete a short task or overcome some kind of obstacle.

These tasks can range from getting on top of a building to hitting a bird with your hat; you can tell that they put in a lot of time coming up with fun and interesting things to do.

The graphics of the game are fantastic; it’s by far the best looking Nintendo game I’ve ever seen; every level (that I’ve played) is very distinct, each world has it’s own special style. In the Sand Kingdom, the inhabitants are cute little Sugar Skull guys inspired by the day of the dead, the Metro Kingdom has these strangely realistic humans, and the Luncheon Kingdom has living forks that are chefs.

It’s really cool, and it sets the game apart from almost any other game I’ve ever played.

The music was mostly composed by series Nintendo

veteran Koji Kondo, and it sounds better than ever. Every track is atmospheric, yet catchy at the same time, and they convey the mood really well. While I don’t think that it’s the best Mario music, but it comes pretty close.

Overall, I can tell you that Super Mario Odyssey is going to become one of my all-time favorite games, and I haven’t even finished it yet! If you have a Nintendo Switch, this game is a must have title that you can’t pass up, or else you’ll make me kind of sad.

arts

12

Halloween!

B Y LUCY A NDERSON

Heard in the

Halls “You’re going to have a six pack of math knowledge.”

“Your thigh doesn’t write.””

“Who wouldn’t want that? It’s a bunch of muscley men all over your calves.”

“You know you want to eat one, it’s like me covered in you. ” “Swearing is subjective. like art. Swearing is an art form.”

“Oh crap, I just remembered I forgot my spectacles.“ “It is like a toilet bowl, we get stuck in here.”

“I look like a chicken pox panda.”

“I love when I get a violin hickey.”

“Don’t leak all over the secret place.”

Across 3. This country celebrates the Day of the Dead at midnight on Halloween 5. Gallybagger is also known as this fall figure 6. This mythical monster is pictured on the flag of Sicily 8. Sabrina’s sarcastic cat’s name in “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” 11. In this country on November 11, kids sing to their neighbors in order to get candy 13. The villain in the movie “Halloween” 14. You might ‘bob’ for this fruit on Halloween 17. According to legend, a unibrow, tattoos and a long middle finger are all signs of this Halloween creature 18. The author of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” 19. Halloween is the day before this holiday 21. The director of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” 24. If you want to protect your home from spirits, sprikle this substance around all openings 26. Winifred, Sarah and Mary are witches in this popular Halloween movie 29. The first individually wrapped penny candy in America 30. The amount of people hanged for the Salem Witch Trials 31. Steven King’s debut novel 32. There are this many different colors of M&Ms in a normal bag

Down

1. Charlie Brown only got this in his bag after trick or treating 2. This “ailment” was believed to be cured by pumpkins 3. She wrote the novel “Frankenstein” 4. This supernatural creature in Latin American folklore is said to drink the blood of chickens and goats 7. British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, reportedly saw the ghost of this president in the White House 9. This popular Halloween treat was originally called “Chicken Feed” 10. Charlie Brown waits with his friend Linus for this character every Halloween 12. In Ewe folklore, vampires can take the form of this insect 15. Dr. Frankenstein’s first name 16. The villain in “The Nightmare on Elm Street” 20. In Hollywood on Halloween, a $1,000 fine is the punishment for carrying this sticky substance 22. The name of Gomez and Morticia’s daughter on “The Addams Family” 23. The first Jack-O-Lanterns were made of this vegetable 25. Halloween originated in this European country 26. This famous magician died on Halloween night 27. E.T. dresses up in this costume in order to leave the house 28. Transylvania is a region in this country

Corner Station Deli & Co-op (435) 427-5500 Every Day 11-7