December Prospective 2015

pp 8-9 S Y A D I L O H E H T HEALTH IN

[PROSPECTIVE[ Bryant HigH ScHool • 801 n. reynoldS rd. • Bryant, ark. 72022 • Vol. 24, iSSue 3 • dec. 11, 2015

02 [ NEWS ] PROSPECTIVE

6-7 Adopt-a-Child Mi Ranchito A.L.I.C.E.

what’s

[ INSIDE

4-5 Break the Pattern Under Construction Behind Doors

8-9 Health Through the Holidays

10-11 Horsing Around Silent Night Identity

12-13 Basketball Season Cross Country

[

14-15 “Fallout 4” “Star Wars” Reason for Season

What’s the Buzz?

@ us next time

Jadyn Lewis / 11 @jadynlew

Dahlia Bray / 10 @dahlia_bray

“When you catch a cramp you think back to all the neglected stretching and all the bad things in life you’ve done to ask God why you deserve so much pain.”

“Just a short, pale, stressed teen with a strong desire to eat Korean food and go makeup shopping.”

Maddie Dunn / 12 @madd__d “This is the best play the seniors have seen since we’ve been at BHS.”

Lauren Burnett / 9 @laurenolivia44 “Thanksgiving Break: a week to give thanks and catch up on sleep.”

Ryan Lynch / 11 @ryanlynch2017 “Shoutout to whoever broke Adele’s heart for bringing us the best artist of our lifetime.”

Cole Campbell / 10 @colecamp77 “Leslie Knope my hero.”

WANT TO BE FEATURED? Tag @ProspectiveAR in your top tweets for a chance to end up in the next issue.

12.11.15 [ HYPE ] 03

All in the Family

Students share holiday traditions ALYSSA JONES [STAFF WRITER] The time for holidays and no school is approaching. Many students will be on their way to family gatherings. Some will muddle through the countless questions and comments from distant relatives, answering with forced smiles and checking the time to see when it is appropriate to make their escape. Some may count down the days until each family event, enjoying every moment with their kin. Traditions tend to play a major role during the holiday season and differ for everyone.

Senior Haley Hood has her own twist on holidays.

“During Thanksgiving, we go to [the] deer camp, or [on] Christmas, we’ll have all the family come to our house,” Hood said. “But, we always make sure we’re all in the same place. If we go to deer camp, everybody comes there [and] we eat food. It’s all about the food, all kinds of food.

All my grandparents love to cook and stuff, so there’s always lots of it.”

Hood’s focal point for the holidays has always been family.

“For Christmas, when we were [younger, me and my sisters] would make a skit,” Hood said.

“On Christmas Eve, everybody would come over for Christmas Eve dinner, and we would [perform] the skit for them.”

The Hood family also has a variety of trees during Christmas.

“We have like ten trees that we put up at our house,” Hood said. “We decorate them all different. We each have one in our rooms, and we have an upside down tree in our entry. We have a deer-hunting tree that’s got like antlers and stuff on. Then we have color-coordinated trees for each room. We do one tree, and it has all of our decorations that we made from kindergarten and first grade.”

While Hood has her own unique set of traditions, there are other holidays around the world that the average student might not take into consideration.

Junior Jahnavi Kodali grew up hearing countless Christmas jingles and children singing along to “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” yet Kodali has a different way of embracing the holiday season.

“My favorite holiday would be Diwali. It’s like the festival of lights in India,” Kodali said.

Diwali is a holiday that is celebrated on a different day each year. This year it was on Nov. 11. Families gather together and set up lights, whether it is in the streets or at their own houses.

“My parents always light up little lights around the house, and it looks pretty,” Kodali said. “We get to eat special food, and usually [we] have a big party with all our Indian buddies. It’s kind of like our Indian Christmas.”

One thing most holiday traditions seem to have in common is family. Whether the family is big or small, they still gather for the holidays. Junior Alex Ibarra’s family gets together for two days in order to celebrate the holidays.

“It’s pretty much a big family reunion,” Ibarra said. “When it comes to Christmas, I think that’s the biggest holiday of them all [in the Hispanic heritage]; that’s when everyone gets together.”

Similar to other family traditions, Ibarra’s Christmas includes plenty of food.

“We usually kill [an animal],” Ibarra said. “The most common thing is a pig, and we eat it. It’s two days, so it’s the 24 and the 25. All of the males are outside cooking the animal that they killed. On the inside [of the house] the females are making the vegetables, cooking the onions, the tomatoes, the lime [and] the hot sauce.”

Holidays are a time when the worries of school are left behind and families have annual traditions. Traditions differ for everyone. “[New Year’s is] usually the same thing as Christmas,” Ibarra said. “[It’s a] big get together.

[On] New Year’s we invite friends instead of just family, but when it comes to Christmas, its just family.”

Even though traditions typically happen for several generations, some families create new traditions. Senior Brittany McCombs and her family have started a Christmas bucket list for this year.

“For Christmas, we are doing a lot of family traditions,” McCombs said. “We are going caroling, we are going to bake, and we are going to watch movies as a family, just stuff like that. We have never gone Christmas caroling before, so we will see how that goes.”

Black Friday Through the eyes of working students ABBIE HALL [AD MANAGER] “It was organized chaos. At first it was overwhelming, but the crowd was well-controlled.

People were only buying a few items with each transaction, so there were times I did not even have people in my line.”

Jessica Miller, 11

Target

“It was a lot more hectic just because of the amount of people coming in and out of the store. Most of my work was done before we even opened up for Black Friday. Our night at Best Buy went a lot smoother compared to places like Wal-Mart. Another big change was the amount of pressure that was on everyone, because the amount of revenue we had to make was about triple what it usually is.” , 12

Kaleb Keen

Best Buy “It was hectic. The whole store was on sale, so there were a ton of people there with not much organization.”

James Johnson, 11

Rue 21

“It was just like a busy day. It did not feel like Black Friday. I worked 8 a.m. -5 p.m. It seemed like this year’s Black Friday was slower. I work in the Outlets, which is outdoors, so I’m sure the rain had something to do with it. “

Maddie Belew, 12 Beef Jerky Outlet

4 [ EDITORIAL ] PROSPECTIVE

PROSPECTIVE

Break the Pattern It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Family visits, friends return, there’s plenty of food to eat. It’s about constant merriment.

Then, the days get darker.

Schoolwork seems to pile on as we try to make it from Thanksgiving to Christmas break, an awkward education limbo. The charms of high school, notably football games, have worn off, and we must resign ourselves to essays, packets and the everpresent shadow of semester exams.

Then, it gets colder.

The sweaters we were so excited about wearing in September aren’t as comfortable as we remembered, the lattes are starting to get old and we’re sick of constantly having some sort of cold. Winter is a lot less romantic than Twitter made it seem a month and a half ago with all the tweets about how ready for cold weather and ABC marathons everybody is.

Then the mid-year rut starts to set in.

We fall into the routine. It becomes easier to zone out in class and harder to turn in assignments on time. Motivation slips away, and that sort of despondence drips into our home lives. The exhaustion follows us back from school and weighs down on our shoulders.

For some, that weight is especially heavy.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that cycles with the time of year. It is most common in the winter, though there are some cases in summer months.

Psychology Today estimates that 10 million Americans suffer from SAD, and six percent of those ten million have reported needing hospitalization.

Then, there’s the food.

from

YOUR

PROSPECTIVE

What is your favorite part of the holidays?

The holiday season is always accompanied by it, and salad is not usually the big feature of everybody’s table for Christmas dinner. The New England Journal of Medicine estimated that most Americans gain only one pound during the winter season, but despite our few attempts to lose the weight at the gym after New Years, most people never lose that pound.

It begins to build up, and we can tell.

Clothes start to fit tighter, and that oversized sweater isn’t quite as oversized as it was earlier.

But despite popular belief, the problem is not necessarily the noticeable weight gain. It is our reaction to it. For both men and women, there is a rise in body image issues. We start turning to unhealthy diets and treatments that are not proven to be effective, like pills or the “diet wrap” trend.

In an attempt to feel healthy, we leave

nutrients and exercise behind, beginning unhealthy habits. According to a journal published by the National Institutes of Health, the severity of bulimia peaks in the winter and fall.

We can’t layer more clothing in hopes of pretending to feel comfortable in our own skin. Bigger sweaters, another pair of joggers and “metabolism-boosting” supplements won’t patch our insecurities.

Exhaustion is not going to be solved by binge-watching another Netflix series, and the sadness you may feel now is not going to be permanent.

Yes, it is winter. It is cold and it is dark, and sometimes it seems like it is never going to get better. But we are stronger than weather cycles. We can make better choices than destroying our mental and emotional health. These few months won’t define the year.

Bryant High School 801 N. Reynolds Rd Bryant, AR 72022

866.707.5600 toll free 501.653.5328 journalism room 501.847.5605 office 501.653.5550 fax prospective.bryantschools.org Adviser Lisa Stine

Print Editors

Julia Nall, Jazzmyn Peterson, Spencer Shreeve

Online Editors

Emma Goad, Araya Pomplun

Photo Editor Madeline Colclasure

News Editor Julia Nall

Feature Editor Spencer Shreeve

A&E Editor Araya Pomplun

Hype Editor Emma Goad

Sports Editor Jazzmyn Peterson

Opinion Editor Natalie Burgess

Fun Editors

Emma Goad, Julia Nall

Artist

Sidney Shipe

Ad Manager Abigail Hall

Circulation Manager Araya Pomplun

Columnists Natalie Burgess, Alyssa Jones, Jazzmyn Peterson

Photographers Sarah Bullington, Natalie Burgess, Madeline Colclasure, Amalia Eddings, Julia Nall, Autumn Pruett

Page Designers For more information on how to protect your health through the winter season, see pages 8-9.| Julia Nall photo

Madi Draper / 09

Mitchell Wollard / 10

“My favorite part about the holidays is probably just being able to hang out with my family and have some time away from school.”

“The lack of judgment I get if I express my want to go Christmas caroling.”

Avery Lorio / 11

Seddric Sullivan /12

“I like spending time with my family and getting a break from school.”

“Probably being with my family and friends, and cheesy Christmas music.”

Madeline Colclasure, Emma Goad, Abbie Hall, Julia Nall, Jazzmyn Peterson, Araya Pomplun, Spencer Shreeve

Staff Writers Brad Brewer, Natalie Burgess, Alexis Burch, Edith Garcia, Emma Goad, Sarah Graham, Abigail Hagner, Abigail Hall, Alyssa Jones, Amber McFadden, Julia Nall, Jazzmyn Peterson, Araya Pomplun, Blair Rolston, Spencer Shreeve, Lauren Wilson

The Prospective is a monthly publication produced, edited and maintained by Newspaper Journalism ii, iii, and iv students at Bryant High School. The Prospective is a member of the Arkansas Scholastic Press Association, Quill and Scroll, Columbia Scholastic Press Association and National Scholastic Press Association.

Ad space may be purchased for $3 a column inch. The Prospective does not accept advertising that is illegal for minors. The editorial board accepts letters; however, letters must be addressed to student interests and may not violate the student publication policy.

Letters can be submitted by delivery to Room 319, Building 10.

12.11.15 [ OPINION ] 5

under construction ALYSSA JONES [STAFF WRITER]

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America…

One of the most powerful actions has always been a revolution. A Rebellion. A need for change. A call for action. It is powerful when people put their differences aside for one common goal.

We are a nation built upon revolution. Early colonists felt the urge for independence, and inexperienced farmers traded their plows for guns and walked to the battlefield with heads held high. These men strived to gain freedom: one of the main values that set us apart from other countries.

To this day, soldiers trade time with their families for time at military bases. These men and women fight to keep the values we have come to know as part of everyday life.

When I stand for the pledge, I feel an influx of pride.

When I sing the “Star-Spangled Banner,” I can envision the sounds of cannons and fireworks off in the distance, or the cry of a soldier as he loses his partner, or the cheering for each battle won. Saying the Pledge of

Allegiance is not only pledging allegiance to our country, but also pledging our gratitude to each soldier who has fought or died for America.

Saying the pledge should not be a forced action nor a daily routine, but rather a privilege that we have.

America is not a perfect country, but it is one that allows freedoms. Many third-world countries have regulations and people there may look at our way of life with bewilderment. Yes, we have a history, and some of it is hard to look back on. America is a democracy where the majority rules over the minority. There are still people who will feel inferior and discriminated against, but there is not a country out there that is perfect. Every country has voices that overrule others. Every country has a past full of mistakes. Every country has restrictions. Every country cannot always please everyone, but America tries.

Some people may say that America does not ensure their natural rights, but every day, soldiers are on the battlefield still fighting for these rights. The government attempts to secure the citizens of America, not wanting them to be in danger of any attacks. These natural rights,

to this day, are expanding to every person in America rather than solely white, rich men. The government often considers new laws that could equal the playing field for citizens. America has to have boundaries and a system to try and grant equality to everyone.

In the last century, America has gone from a country that forbade African Americans from walking on the same streets as white people to a country that has interracial marriage. We have gone from a country that prevented any relationship between people of the same gender to giving these same people the right to marry on June 26, 2015. America strives to allow everyone to have equal freedoms. Soldiers still risk their lives on the battlefield to ensure these rights never get stripped away, so they can continue to thrive and grow along with our country.

America, the land of the free, is a nation that is still under construction. A nation that acknowledges when there are needs for improvements. A nation with people who are willing to fight to protect our rights. ... with liberty and justice for all.

behind locked doors NATALIE BURGESS [STAFF WRITER]

When I was in third grade, an olive-green Jeep pulled up next to me as I was walking home from Collegeville Elementary School, and the man inside told me to get in.

Just because this happened does not mean we should ban olive-green Jeeps.

This year, a 21-year-old white male opened fire in a church, a sacred place. This does not mean we should not allow young white men to enter churches.

A few months ago, a terrorist organization out of the Middle Eastern states of Syria and Iraq struck in Paris.

This does not mean Syrians should not be able to leave the Middle East.

During World War II, Japanese-Americans were forced into internment camps and were isolated from the singular thing they traveled here for, the American Dream, merely because of their appearance. Middle Eastern people are now being treated the same way, despite the fact that their families have been here longer than some white families.

Since this country became a country, we have prided ourselves on accepting any group being persecuted (even

though we persecute them ourselves).

History tends to repeat itself.

In the shadow of what is being called the “start of the next World War,” this land of the free becomes a paradox when our country shuts our doors to the very people striving to be free.

Caught between a civil war and a hard place, Syrian refugees frantically search for a safe haven, a sanctuary to breathe. Our “melting pot of culture” still has not learned tolerance, still has not learned how to not generalize based on skin color, and still has not learned that the secret to peace is acceptance.

The U.S. has admitted more than 1,800 Syrian refugees in the past two years; now, in light of the Civil War, President Obama wants to allow 10,000 more. According to NPR, half of those who have been admitted are children and about a quarter of them are adults over 60, but only two percent are single males of combat age.

Since our nation’s biggest terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001, only three of the 784,000 refugees admitted to U.S.

have been arrested for terroristic activity.

Islam is a peaceful religion that calls on its followers to choose peace over conflict. “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise [each other]).” (Qur’an 49:13) The terrible acts done by Daesh (ISIS) on Nov. 13, 2015 and before that go directly against their religion, similar to how dropping bombs which kill civilians goes against the teachings of Jesus.

The men and women traveling to the U.S. aren’t people searching for revenge and violence; they are trying to escape it. By refusing refugees, the country is scared and inhumane, which is exactly what terrorists look for. By accepting these people, we become stronger, kinder and more accepting of all races.

Times like these are exactly why this nation was created.

One action of one person who practices a religion does not define the religion as a whole, but one action of politicians does define the country as a whole.

Find more content at prospective.bryantschools.org “Sports Buzz” Sports coverage from Nov. 27 - Dec. 4 by Brad Brewer

“Humans of BHS” Feature on Seth Shepard and Ben Bell by Edith Garcia

“Craving Christmas” Students express love for the holiday by Blair Rolston

“Behind the Labels” The problem with pronouns by Jazzmyn Peterson

06 [ NEWS ] PROSPECTIVE

CLUBS JOIN IN ADOPT-A-CHILD Students, teachers find joy in giving ABIGAIL HAGNER [STAFF WRITER]

As she opens the Barbie enclosed in wrapping paper, a smile lights up her face. She is one of many children to benefit from the Adopt-a-Child program, which the Bryant School District participates in every year to help fifty kids by supplying gifts to make their Christmas special.

“Adopt-A-Child is for [the] Salvation Army,” Student Senate sponsor Amber Leaton said. “You might see it at Wal-Mart.

The Christmas trees with angels [have] the names of kids [you can adopt for Christmas]. Student Senate adopts two kids every year. We help Salvation Army with the gifts and organize all the presents when clubs turn them in.”

Senior Katie Dandurand is happy to engage in Adopt-aChild.

“For my school, I hope it brings awareness to the fact that there are a lot of kids that don’t have a family to be around, and I hope our students will be more willing to participate in helping others,” she said.

Some clubs look forward to the shopping aspect of

the project.

“We love helping students, and we shop together [to] pick out cute stuff for the children,” Teachers of Tomorrow sponsor Dena Furton said. “I think reaching out to other people is a wonderful lesson for us all to learn.”

American Sign Language (ASL) sponsors Deana Emerson and Mertie Belin look forward to helping students give back to children who are less fortunate.

“Students get the satisfaction of helping someone who is in need,” Emerson said. “Participating also brings joy to the lives of other people. Some kids just like to shop, so the shopping is fun. Christmas is one time of year that people think to give to others, so that influences some to participate.”

Children who are part of the program send a wish list, which includes items that they want, such as a bike or a toy, and information about items that they need, such as their shoe sizes and their sizes in clothes.

“Students started giving me money as soon as I got the

information on our child and read their wish list,” Mu Alpha Theta sponsor Kristianna Leonard said. “Some people ended up giving me all of the one dollar bills they received as tips from taking groceries to cars at their job.”

Adopt-a-Child doesn’t just benefit students; it also benefits the school.

“When we do this, it makes us feel better as people,” Furton said. “[Teachers Of Tomorrow] try to help students with other programs as well, like buying caps and gowns for students who can’t afford them. We want to help our school and community.”

Adopt-a-Child also allows students to contribute to the holiday spirit and helps people come together to help people in need.

“My students from last year loved participating in Adopta-Child,” Leaton said. “When I first told them I was thinking about signing up for it, they all wanted me to so that they could participate.”

MI RANCHITO II REOPENS Rumors dispelled, students rejoice BLAIR ROLSTON [STAFF WRITER]

The very grill that made Mi Ranchito II so popular started a fire that forced the restaurant to close on Dec. 15, 2014. After eleven months, the doors reopened to the public Nov. 18, 2015.

Once Mi Ranchito II suddenly closed, people were at a loss as to what had happened. Rumors ranging from bankruptcy to the restaurant permanently closing began to circulate.

“I heard that there was a fire, and that they weren’t reopening,” sophomore Michael Durgach said. “I even heard that they were reopening by Benton’s high school instead of back in Bryant.”

When the news came that the local Mexican restaurant would be reopening, the information began to spread without any publicity other than social media.

“I found out about Mi Ranchito reopening, considering everyone was tweeting about it as soon as they found out,” junior Bethany Hutchison said.

People who had come to love the old “Mi Ranch” and those who had never been were curious about the changes. Mi Ranchito II was getting a fresh start, and improvements were to be made.

“I was super excited [when I heard it was re-opening], because it was one of my favorite Mexican restaurants in town, and the staff is a lot nicer and the service is better,” Durgach said. “It’s been so busy lately too.”

The kitchen accident may not have been so bad for the restaurant. Once the reopening was announced, the small eatery got more hype than they had ever experienced.

“I had never been, but had plans to go, but then a day later it burned down and closed,” Hutchison said. “The fire allowed for Mi Ranch to have more popularity, considering so many people were talking about how good it was and how much they missed it, convincing others it was a must to try.”

Now that Mi Ranchito II has reopened, old and new customers

are going to test out the new restaurant. People were wondering what would stay the same and what things were left behind when the kitchen burned.

“I love the cheese dip, and the staff is so welcoming and [it] makes going there 50 times better,” said Hutchison.

Though the restaurant was closed for months and had to make some changes, customers claim that it has kept its same likeable features.

“It’s pretty much the same as my favorite, old Mi Ranch,” said Durgach.

Arroz Mi Pueblito, one of Mi Ranchito’s most popular dishes.

12.11.15 [ NEWS ] 07

A.L.I.C.E. TRAINING BEGINS

District changes active shooter protocol JAZZMYN PETERSON [EDITOR]

On April 20, 1999, a school shooting occurred at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., killing 13 students and injuring 20. Since then, there have been various school shootings that have caught the attention of the nation. The Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 left 32 dead and 17 others injured. The 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting left 28 people dead, 20 of whom were elementary school children. In the wake of the Umpqua College school shooting in Roseburg, Ore. which left 10 dead, the question of what schools should do to keep students and teachers safe has risen again.

Senior Resource Officer Paul Tarvin is currently working with the school board on a plan of action in the event of an active shooter entering campus.

“We are currently doing the A.L.I.C.E [Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, and Evacuate] training district wide,” Tarvin said. “We are working with EAST to make an instructional video like Auburn University’s.

Auburn did a step-bystep training video that follows the A.L.I.C.E model. We are trying to do one that is specific for the Bryant school campus. We are hoping to have it done

by Christmas.”

The A.L.I.C.E training program deals with different responses in an active shooter situation. The program initiates the idea that if an active shooter is on campus, then people should alert one another about the danger, barricade the room they are in, and try to keep others informed about the shooters’ location. If the shooter enters a room of people, then they are to do whatever they can to distract the shooter and reduce the shooter’s ability to shoot accurately. When there is a safe opportunity to evacuate the area, then people should leave the danger zone as quickly as possible. The steps do not have to be followed in chronological order, but instead serve to give people a definite plan of action. This newer program contradicts what students and teachers were previously taught, which was that if they could not avoid confrontation with the shooter then they should remain uncombative if approached.

“In the past, we have done simple lock

“

down drills, and we are trying to get away from those,” Tarvin said. “We are no longer telling people to just turn the lights off and lock the door in a lockdown. We want to give people an opportunity to be creative in the way they protect themselves during a lockdown drill. Simply locking the door and going to hide in a corner has proven to not be effective.”

Senior Claire Gilbow feels that she has been well prepared by the school to deal with an active shooter scenario. “[My teachers] have thoroughly discussed what we are supposed to do in an active shooter situation,” Gilbow said. “I feel like what we have learned is helpful and the best response.”

While tweaking the program, resource officers and the school board also take lessons from past active shooter cases.

“I got to hear from a girl who was injured in the Virginia Tech shooting,” Tarvin said.

“She was telling us that when the [shooter] came in the room that she was in, she was doing what she was taught to do, which is to stay under the desk and stay quiet.

[The shooter] ended up shooting her in the back. She did not move, she did not try to dodge or throw anything at him. She just sat there waiting to get shot, because that was what she was taught to do.”

Resource officers, teachers and the school board have also taken the size of the campus into consideration.

“Our campus is big and spread out. More like a college campus,” Tarvin said. “If something is happening in Building 10 and students are in Building 2, then why would we tell them to not just leave the campus?”

Some argue that randomized security searches on students may increase the level of safety on campus.

“I hope we never have to move to the point where we have to randomly search students or increase the security presence on campus, but anything can happen,” Tarvin said. “Our main focus is keeping the employees and students around campus safe.”

Sophomore Geena Burgess feels that the school has effectively done what they can to make students feel safe.

Our main focus is keeping the employees and students around campus safe.

“I feel safe [at school] because people don’t do terrible things to each other here,” Burgess said.

All resource officers are licensed to carry weapons and are armed during the school day. Their job on campus is to keep students and faculty members safe.

“Whenever there is an opening for a new resource officer, [applicants] have to fill out an application and explain why they want to work at the school,” Tarvin said. “They are interviewed with the superintendent in the room, so the school of course has a say on who we hire.”

Some have argued that teachers should be allowed to have a weapon in the classroom in order to contribute to safety measures.

Physics teacher Jill Settle disagrees.

“I have classes of 30 students, and it would not take much for them to possibly subdue me and take my weapon,” Settle said. “Arming teachers is a bad idea. Some people say teachers should just keep their gun locked in one place and bullets locked in another place, but if a shooter came into the classroom, then I would have to go to two places to retrieve my weapon from locked boxes. It’s just not a good idea.”

Tarvin has analyzed this idea of arming teachers and feels that it would be too much of a safety risk.

“The big concern with teachers being armed is that if we ever did have an active shooter on campus, then things could get out of control,” Tarvin said. “We would have the Resource Officers around, but when the call that an active shooter is on campus goes out, then the patrol guys will come, the state police show up and the sheriff department shows up, and they do not know the teachers or students here. If they show up and they see someone with a gun, and they do not know that the person is a teacher here, then they will believe they have their bad guy and will treat them like the bad guy.”

The new A.L.I.C.E program may face backlash, but Tarvin believes this is the best response to a possible active shooter.

“Recently Ben Carson had been asked about the Oregon shooting and what he would have done and he said that ‘I would have fought back, I would not have just stood there,’ and he got slammed for that, but fighting back is exactly what we are teaching here,” Tarvin said. “What we are telling people to do is to not just stand there and be a victim. We are telling them to do whatever they need to do to protect themselves and the students.”

BY THE

NUMBERS

161

school shootings since 2013 as of Oct. 3, 2015

3,056

children and teens (0-17) killed/injured by guns in 2015

307

mass shootings reported in 2015

INTERVIEWS FROM PAUL TARVIN CLAIRE GILBOW GEENA BURGESS JILL SETTLE

Sources: Everytown, gunviolencearchive.org Information compiled Dec. 2, 2015

“

Mental

HealthyEating Removing whipped cream and substituting nonfat milk for the usual 2 percent milk lowers the calories by 15 percent and lowers the fat by 64 percent.

15% 64%

Replacing chocolate with cacao nibs when baking reduces additives and unnecessary sugar. Cacao nibs are chocolate in a purer form than typical baking chocolate.

Make your own eggnog with skim milk rather than whole milk to cut some fat from the otherwise less-healthy holiday favorite.

Make boxed dressing without butter or margarinethere’s hardly any difference and it removes additives, fat, and sodium.

In the midst of the holiday season, many people are consumed with thoughts of buying presents, making plans and feeling joy. As winter approaches, thoughts of maintaining one’s mental health during the onslaught of holiday dinners might seem trivial, but statistics argue otherwise.

In the autumn and winter months, the amount of daily sunlight decreases. This decrease in sunlight reduces the ability of the hypothalamus, the region of the brain that controls body temperature, release of hormones from the pituitary gland, hunger, thirst and emotional responses.

The hypothalamus is also key in the production of melatonin and serotonin. Melatonin is a hormone that at proper levels senses the oncoming of night and makes people tired. Some people’s brains produce too much melatonin, leading to an ongoing feeling of tiredness.

8 time

Women are likely to develop SAD than men The first diagnosis of SAD was in

1980

All information is advice and is not written by certified medical professionals.

Please consult a doctor before changing your diet and/or exercise routine.

12.11.15 [ CENTERSPREAD ] 09

lHealth

PhysicalHealth

Serotonin is similar to melatonin in that it helps regulate sleep, but it plays a larger role in regulating emotions. The lowered production of melatonin and serotonin is a symptom of seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Symptoms of SAD, sometimes called seasonal depression, are similar to symptoms of depression.

Loss in interest in usually engaging or fun activities is the most prominent symptom. Others include loss in appetite, weight gain and excessive or insufficient amounts of sleep.

Seasonal depression is different from general depression in that seasonal depression worsens in the winter months and decreases during spring and summer when the days are longer. If symptoms of seasonal depression arise, consult a general practitioner who can give a referral to a psychologist. Services, such as counseling, are available at the school as well.

s e h lot

C Biking

Biking

1 in 20 people suffer from SAD

20

50

SAD mainly affects people aged

20 to 50

National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-TALK

“

My favorite winter outdoors activity is biking. There’s a lot of pretty trails around Little Rock and Northwest Arkansas especially. To be safe, I don’t go bike by myself and even when I’m with other people, I text my mom or step dad where I am going before I start riding just in case something happens.

- junior Ashlie Sparks

“

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Stretch muscles before working out in colder weather. If muscles are not stretched, the risk of straining or pulling muscles will rise. If home remedies such as PRICE (protection, rest, ice compression) and others do not bring relief within 24 hours, or if there is significant swelling or fever, you should call a doctor immediately.

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thermia. Symptoms are intense Keep in mind the side effects of hypo dination and fatigue. If you coor of shivering, slurred speech, loss seek immediate emergency help. experience any of these side effects,

10 [ FEATURE ] PROSPECTIVE

HORSING AROUND Hobby sparks nationwide following EDITH GARCIA [STAFF WRITER] “I’ve got a big following fanbase and I’m not just being a humble jerk,” junior Jill Treece said.

Formerly known as @JillandBeau, Treece is constantly at one of two places: the barn with her horse or on her new Instagram, @JetEventing.

While many high school students

connect with the person right next to them through Instagram, Treece uses Instagram to connect with people all over the country.

“My followers range from 10-25 [years old],” Treece said. “I mean, it’s a bunch of younger kids, but all the friends I’ve made are anywhere from 14-20 [years

After a ride, Jill Treece and her horse Beau take a selfie. Treece rides both Beau and a horse named Zoe in competitions.| Julia Nall photo

old]. I actually met my best friend, who lives in North Carolina, through Instagram.”

Currently with 42.6k followers, Treece has found a way to not only connect with fellow horse lovers, but also expand her horse-eventing career.

“My eventing career is something I have been building for a long time,” Treece said. “You have to build your credibility. I’ve been working on it for almost 10 years now. The way eventing works is, it’s basically a rich-people sport, and if you can buy the best horse and stay on it, you can win. I have never had the right horse, but we keep working towards it. The highest I’ve ever placed is probably third, which is pretty decent compared to horses that have gone and done way higher levels and been trained by way better people. I’ve been obsessed with horses ever since I can remember.”

Because of her well-known and followed account, Treece is no stranger to sponsorships and free endorsements from people and companies. All Treece has to do is post about the products on Instagram.

“I have several sponsorships that come and go,” Treece said. “People just have products that they try to sell, and if I just advertise them, they send me stuff. They DM me, email me or I ask them if they need a sponsor or a brand ambassador, and all I have to do is just fill some stuff out and give them my address and then I get free stuff. It’s pretty awesome.”

Besides connecting and helping out her fellow horse-eventers, Treece also feels like it is her responsibility to spread the word about the illegal mistreatment of horses that happens across the nation.

“There’s a lot of issues with abuse and things that people do to make the horses look pretty,” Treece said.

“One of the big things is [people] nail weights to the bottom of the horse’s feet and then they pour chemicals on their ankles so they’ll pick their feet up higher. It’s horrible for the horses and I posted a lot about that. I feel almost like it’s my responsibility to bring light to those issues. It’s just nice to feel like you’ve done something.”

SILENT NIGHT

Choir members reflect on past caroling trips SARAH GRAHAM [STAFF WRITER]

Every eye in the audience closes as harmonic voices fill the mezzanine. For the last several years, the choir has spread joyful melodies to local venues around Christmas time, sending happiness through song.

But now that classes are 53 minutes rather than 90, the plans to carol this year are undetermined, for choir students no longer have enough time to travel to their destinations or prepare their voices for the show.

In the past, the choir has journeyed to the State Capitol, Old Washington State Park and several flea markets, but caroling at the Baptist Hospital brought far more memories to choir director Julie White.

“People would look up, and there would just be this choir overlooking the mezzanine singing,” White said. “The

songs could be heard throughout the hospital, so even those that couldn’t see were hearing the Christmas songs.”

Singing both religious and pop songs, the choir wanted to use words to help those in need, but also serenade the crowd with feel-good songs.

“I like to do a variety,” White said.

“You’re going to appeal to everybody.

You’re going to sing something that somebody loves. But it does seem to be those religious songs that people really grasp onto, especially in that setting, people are a little more in tune with their emotions around Christmas time.”

No matter their state of well-being, White remembers the gleam in the eyes of the workers, visitors and patients as they hummed in harmony with the choir.

“We’ve had lots of strangers come up

to us after it’s over and say ‘You’ve really blessed me, thank you for singing,’ and that makes it really worth it,” White said.

“You don’t know what’s going on in the lives of the people at the hospital. They just look for something to cheer them up, and that’s where the choir came in.”

Knowing it was a voice that brightened someone’s day is what senior Hannah Blacklaw misses most about caroling.

“There were people waiting on loved ones to come out of surgery, and people [who came] out of their offices and would gather around,” Blacklaw said. “It kind of made me feel like I have a lot of hope, especially in the world we live in today.”

Blacklaw uses her voice as a gift, striving to bring happiness to everyone who can hear.

“What’s going through my mind is ‘Just

make those people happy,’” Blacklaw said. “It’s nothing about me. I feel like giving, especially during Christmas time, and this is something that I can give to them.”

Junior Evan Atkinson cherishes the memories and friendships he has made while singing melodies for people at Christmas time, and wishes he could relive those moments.

“We bond more when we go places together,” Atkinson said. “We just go around and sing our little hearts out, trying to sound pretty. They clapped, they cheered, and I think an old lady cried during ‘Oh Holy Night.’ We did it together.”

12.11.15 [ FEATURE ] 11

Art department promotes self-expression Memories cannot always

be put into words. They are relived through movie-like visions; drawing people back to the moments in which their lives were defined. Reminiscing on these emotions and experiences has become the foundation for the art department’s new show, “Identity.” Art teacher Amber Cardinale hopes the show helps students embrace past trials and tribulations and come to terms with the people they have become.

“People don’t want to say these things out loud,” Cardinale said. “They want to be expressive without actually telling their story because it can be emotional. [The assignment] is a way to tell your story, but you represent it how you think it should be visually and symbolically. The viewers [of the work] will have their own experiences with it. Maybe they are close or maybe they are totally off, but it doesn’t matter, because the artist gets the therapeutic experience and the viewer is allowed to have their emotional experience.”

To many artists, rendering something with their hands is easier than verbalizing how they feel. For senior Anna Turpin, art is not only her creative outlet, but also her personal way of emotional expression.

“I’m a very visual learner, and I am not good with words,” Turpin said. “I feel like other people can see how I am thinking through the art that I draw. My perspective of the world is kind of weird, so I can take a picture and show what everybody else may see, but then I can draw into it to show what I see.”

Cardinale’s AP Studio Art students have been assigned photo-transfer projects, requiring students to manipulate pictures of symbolic moments in their lives by drawing in sensations they felt. Turpin’s life-long passion for dance became an easy muse for her project. Utilizing black and white photos, Turpin drew in a pink ribbon to tie each of the pictures together.

“The ribbon shows how dance is kind of intertwined in my life and how it is a foundation for things that I do,” Turpin said. “Dance and art go well together, so it is easy for me to draw about dance.”

With an open-ended art assignment, students are allowed to merge different aspects of their lives to create a cohesive piece of their choice. For Turpin, her passion for dance and art went hand-in-hand, but for junior Demetrius Watts, the opportunity to incorporate his love of theater has been rare.

“Doing [the assignment] has taught me that I can do my two favorite things at once,” Watts said. “Not many projects let me do theater as a subject. It’s a skeleton to draw, or something like that. But in this case, I feel like I can be myself with no restrictions.”

Through theater, Watts discovered how to speak up and stand out. With his “identity” assignment, he hopes to pay tribute to all who have helped him along the way.

“I don’t know how to explain it, but I have met a lot of great people through theater,” Watts said. “Doing the artwork reminds me of them and keeps me going. I know I don’t have anybody to keep me down because I have them with me.”

Though some have used the assignment to appreciate those around them, others draw to relieve tensions against those in their pasts. “[My identity] would have had a lot to do with my parents’

SPENCER SHREEVE [EDITOR]

Melissa Salas with the second photo in her three-part AP Studio project. She chose to draw her “identity” on the relationship with her father. | Sarah Bullington photo

getting a divorce,” Cardinale said. “Losing my dad in that way was a big, impactful thing that happened to me. Having a family that was ‘normal’ and a house that was a home, and experiencing the turmoil that went on at such a young age was just traumatic for me.”

Cardinale has described her father as a ‘loose cannon’ personality who instilled fear in her and her siblings. In order to represent that, Cardinale produced paintings of her hometown fair in Louisiana.

“The fair was really great subject for these paintings since fair culture is a sort of contradiction,” Cardinale said. “The fair is great fun and most people look forward to it and have fond memories of it, but at the same time, it is pretty shady. The rides themselves are taken apart and put back together over and over again, which is sort of terrifying when you think about it.”

The focal point of Cardinale’s piece was a merry-go-round with a large horse surrounded by constant motion. The design of the ride was almost confrontational in order to give the viewer a choice: to ride or not.

“There was a very blurry, dizzying look to them,” Cardinale said. “I chose color schemes with over-the-top intense colors like fluorescent yellows and pinks, combined with more grotesque colors. The desired effect was for the viewer to have mixed emotions about the paintings, so that their experience while viewing my work was a confusion of their positive emotions toward their own childhood experiences, conflicting with my disgusting spin on the experience of a fair.”

For junior Melissa Salas, her identity also sparked from her relationship with her father.

“In the first picture, it is my family when I was little, with my dad in it,” Salas said. “The middle picture is my brother, my mom and I. I drew in my father to represent that in that time period, he wasn’t there for us and we needed him. The third picture is a picture that I took, and I drew in a cross.

It shows when my father got closer to us, and he got closer to God. It made us a complete family again.”

Through reliving her past heartache, Salas addressed her true feelings and found closure. “[My father being gone] affected me deeply. I am very closed and I don’t trust people very much,” Salas said. “[The project] helped me to get over all the pain my father has caused not only to me but my mom. It helped me to let go and express how I feel, but I didn’t have to say it in words.”

Working with visual images gives artists the opportunity to explore. Cardinale believes that though people watch events unfold, they are not always thinking deeply about it.

Cardinale hopes the assignment will resonate with students, pushing them to dig deeper into themselves and their passions.

“The big idea I want them to learn is the importance of telling a story with their artwork and be honest with it,” Cardinale said. “It’s not enough to be technically talented.

It’s not good to be really good at drawing or painting.

That’s not moving to people. Something can look amazing, but not evoke any sort of emotion or thought. I hope that by learning more about themselves and their identity, that they can be confident in who they are as artists and as individuals.”

12 [ SPORTS ] PROSPECTIVE

ON THE OFFENSIVE

Basketball team plans to dominate this season

season numbers

BRAD BREWER [STAFF WRITER] AMBER MCFADDEN [STAFF WRITER]

The future looks bright for the boys basketball team. After a surprising turnaround last season to secure a playoff spot, hopes are high that the team will make a larger dent in the playoffs this year as this team is coming in with experience on their backs and hunger in their hearts.

Last season was a roller coaster. After a disappointing 0-3 start to the season, hope was dwindling. However, the team was able to turn it around and finished the season 14-13.

According to head coach Michael Abrahamson, there was one factor that caused last season to turn out the way it did.

“Youth. It was a lot of youth,” Abrahamson said. “During those first three games, we missed an incredible amount of shots. We couldn’t score, [but] the kids were playing hard. It was just inexperience. But they worked hard, they kept getting better and they never got discouraged.”

Certain stars are expected to shine for the team this season, as all but one player from last year is returning to the court.

“Kevin Hunt is our most decorated player,” Abrahamson said. “He made All-State, and this will be his third year.

He averaged 15 points a game last season.

Calvin Allen, who is just coming off a meniscus surgery, just got cleared. He’s the only player that we had last year that started every game.”

Senior Kevin Hunt’s individual goal this season is to improve as an individual player.

“[I need to] be the same player every day,” Hunt said. “If I am having a bad day or a bad game, I need to change my mindset to be effective.”

Mistakes were the fatal flaw for the team last season, and this year, the team is doing their best to cut them down.

“Offensively, we want to limit our turnovers,” Abrahamson said. “We had a lot of turnovers last year and a lot of that was youth. Defensively, the main area we are emphasizing on is fouling less. We need to keep the best players out there as much as we can. The way we want to play this year is more up-tempo, and if we foul, we lose that pace.”

Junior Calvin Allen echoed Abrahamson on last year’s fouling issues. “[Fouling] was a big trouble, because we were undisciplined last year,” Allen said.

“We had a lot of sophomores, so we were immature. We have more discipline this year, and we know what and what not to do.”

With improvements in mind and experienced players back on the court, Abrahamson expects a lot this season.

“I have high expectations for this team,” he said. “I always do. We want to look back on the year and say that we maxed out our potential. We just want to take it day by day, opponent by opponent, and do our best every day.”

With their basketball season underway as well, the Lady Hornets are planning to dominate.

SPORTS UPDATES JAZZMYN PETERSON [EDITOR]

1.

After coaching for 23 years and leading the Hornets with a personal record of 103-41-4, which includes 69-22 in conference games and five conference championships, football coach Paul Calley turned in his resignation on Dec. 4 to Superintendent Dr. Tom Kimbrell and Athletic Director Mike Lee.

2.

Defeating six teams at Bishop Park on Dec. 3, the Lady Hornets Swimmers won the meet. The Hornet Swimmers finished second in a 9 team meet, 50.5 points behind Catholic High.

3.

With a 72-44 win over the Central Arkansas Christian Mustangs, the varsity boys basketball team won the OrthoArkansas/CAC tournament on Dec. 5. The team is currently undefeated with a 5-0 record.

boys

One way this season will differ from last year is the strengthened focus on teamwork.

Last year had star players who took the focus, but this year, the team has shifted the focus to working together and including all players.

Last season held 16 wins and 13 losses.

Senior Annie Patton believes that this season can be even better.

“This season we work together as a team, so I think we will do about the same if not better this season,” Patton said.

“It’s looking really good for us right now.”

Sophomore Raija Todd was a starter as a freshman and feels that this year’s team will do really well if they keep up their path of teamwork.

“Last year we had two seniors that were really good, but this year it is more about teamwork,” Todd said. “We are going to be really good this season if we keep playing together.”

This season’s team has a majority of sophomores and juniors as opposed to last season’s senior majority. There are only two starting seniors.

Senior Anna Turpin does not think this will be an issue.

“We have a couple of underclassmen that are doing really well,” Turpin said.

“They aren’t super good ball-handlers, but they hustle really hard and they give good effort.”

Patton feels that a younger team puts pressure on the seniors to set an example. “[Having a young team] makes pressure towards the seniors, especially me, to help step up,” Patton said.

The underclassmen are passing the ball more and working to have more people open. This effort could make up for having

girls

record 3-2 5-0 coached 6 years 5 years players 19 23 points 243 317 fewer seniors who have more experience in Varsity. Junior Varsity lost their first game, but according to Patton, the Blue and White game went very well.

“It looked better than practice,” Patton said. “We attributed that to being in front of people and having the adrenaline. “We’re running things right.”

Coach Brad Matthews has been having practices daily for this season. He does not think last season has an impact on this team’s potential.

“We have been practicing daily since the second day of school,” Matthews said.

“Each player has certain strengths and we try to make sure that our players have every opportunity to have success that we can give them.”

Patton mentioned Raija Todd, Emily Ridgell and Rachel Miller as players to look for. Todd was a starter as a freshman, and Ridgell and Miller have been working hard over the summer to improve.

“Rachel Miller is looking great; she is the tallest player on our team,” Patton said.

“Emily Ridgell is starting this year and she will be a vital key for us.”

TO RUN WITH ADVERSITY Cross-Country team overcomes season’s obstacles LAUREN WILSON [STAFF WRITER] In past years, the cross-country teams have always placed well into the top ten at state meets. This year, the boys and girls teams placed 8th and 9th respectively at state. The cause for the drop boils down to problems that no team could hope to prevent.

“We had a lot of adversity this year,” boys cross-country coach Steve Oury said. “We had

“

“

I think as a team, we do really well working together.

some injuries and illnesses that really affected some of our best athletes. Sometimes when that happens, you just have to do the best you can given the circumstances.”

To reach state is each runner’s ultimate goal.

However, only nine from each team are chosen to compete. Each team’s coach picks their best nine runners and sends them to the state meet.

“I looked at how they performed throughout the season,” Oury said. “Our conference meet was the most recent meet we ran. How they did at conference was a big factor, but also the consistency they showed throughout the season.”

There are 16 other schools in the 7A classification. Bryant’s biggest competition in cross-country has traditionally come from northwest Arkansas.

“Schools like Bentonville and Rogers have been powerhouses,” Oury said. “This year, Fayetteville won the state championship. It’s a really big sport up there; it’s really popular. All those schools have large student populations, and they have really big cross-country programs.”

With so many schools along with such high stakes, nerves are high among runners. This factor proved especially true for freshman Chris Barrientos, who moved up to run with the senior high this year. Barrientos finished with a time

of 17:52.7 at state.

“It was intimidating, because there’s a lot of fast people,” Barrientos said. “I’m only a freshman, and it’s my first year [at state].”

Because of the collective high concentration of award-winning runners, there is an acute sense of tension at state meets.

“State is a lot more competitive than normal meets,” senior Hannah Shelby said.

“Normal meets, you don’t necessarily run with people that are not in your division. We can run with teams from 2A or 4A, not just 7A. It’s a lot less intense at normal meets.”

Shelby led the Lady Hornets and placed 10th, with a time of 19:35. Her time and placement qualified her for Arkansas’ All-Star meet along with junior John Carder. Carder led the Hornets and placed 23rd overall with a time of 17:10.

“I think as a team, we do really well working together,” Shelby said. “Last year, we had a much stronger team competitively, because we all were closer when it came to times. I think this year we had a lot of new people on the team and they all did really well. We were really proud of how they did.”

The cross-country season is over, and both teams are focused on transitioning into track season, which begins in the spring. “[Track is] more speed-oriented and more individual [based],” Carder said. There’s less people in the race. It’s 10 to 15 people [racing] instead of 200.”

After his 36th year of teaching, girls cross-country coach Danny Westbrook has announced his retirement after this year.

He plans to finish out this school year while coaching during track season.

“That was my last state meet in crosscountry. I’m retiring. I’ve still got track season. [I’ve worked here for] 36 years, it’s about time,” Westbrook said.

Come see us at Hornet Corner!

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Seniors Hannah Shelby and Sarah Cowell help teammate senior Haley Hood off the field after competing in the Bryant Invitationals on Oct. 10. | Jake Deen photo

12.11.15 [ SPORTS ] 13

14 [ ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT ] PROSPECTIVE

WORTH THE WAIT Newest installment of “Fallout” series impresses BRAD BREWER [STAFF WRITER]

Hypothetical scenarios are enticing to think about. The “Fallout” series thrives on this formula and ensnares its players in environments that are hauntingly fascinating.

The franchise ties this atmosphere to unique game-play by allowing players to explore the remains of America’s most notable landmarks while shooting bandits and looting everything in sight. It has been eight years since the release of “Fallout 3” and gamers were starving for the next installment of the series. Did Bethesda Games Studios do the franchise and fans justice with “Fallout 4”?

History is doomed to repeat itself. Even in the wake of nuclear devastation, the same battles, the same characters and the same places replicate the past. Over half a century before your character steps into the remains of Massachusetts, American rebels defended Boston, Mass. against the British in the Battle of Bunker Hill. Fastforward to 2277, and all factions of the Commonwealth in “Fallout 4” are fighting in the new Battle of Bunker Hill to determine the fate of a rebellious group of androids called synths. The developers cleverly used these factions and locations to replicate some of the monumental events in American history and include their own apocalyptic twists.

In a world as expansive as “Fallout 4’s” Commonwealth, a large-scale immersive story almost seems required. On the surface, however, the story seems quite simple.

Your character is a father or a mother searching the nuclear wasteland for your kidnapped son. If this were the only part of the narrative you cared about, you would want the storywriters to quit their professions and never come back. Never once did I actually care about my son, because the game never gave me a chance to truly connect. It takes the game fifteen minutes to effectively rip your family away from you, leaving you a lone wanderer. The story’s brilliance is not the simple tale of a parent trying to find a child; it is all of the little stories wrapped inside that successfully connect you to other characters in the Commonwealth.

Most of these major characters you meet on your journey will not only assign you quests, they will offer their services to accompany you in the Commonwealth. As you travel with these characters, you will discover their likes and dislikes. For example, my favorite companion, Piper, loves it when you pick locks and help innocent people in need, but despises unneeded violence and lying. It is crucial to find a companion who fits your personality, as your relationship with your companion will only grow if you complete deeds that are to your companion’s liking. As your relationship grows, the companions will open up their thoughts to you, requesting advice on struggles going on in their lives. These spur-of-the-moment conversations further immerse you in the world by making you actually care about your partner.

Although the environment and the story of “Fallout 4” are amazing, the game-play does just as well, if not better. Combat in the previous “Fallout” games was sluggish, as there was a large separation between players and their weapons. A new graphics engine was introduced largely in part to fix this problem. Shooting the wide variety of guns the game offers finally feels satisfying, and the gunplay feels just as smooth as games such as “Call of Duty.” The looting system received an overhaul as well. Instead of opening up an entirely new screen to pick and choose equipment, a pop-up screen appears that lets you pick the items you want and then allows you to continue moving instantly. Many of “Fallout’s” classic mechanics, such as lock-picking and hacking, were untouched in the transition between generations, never leaving me with the impression that I was not playing a Fallout game.

Eight years of waiting might have felt like two hundred, but the wait was well-worth it. “Fallout 4” refuses to leave the series’ tried-and-true formula, but improves every aspect of the previous games into the best volume of the franchise.

RETURN OF THE EMPIRE

“Star Wars” franchise makes a comeback AMBER MCFADDEN [STAFF WRITER]

“Star Wars- Episode 7: The Force Awakens” will premiere in theaters Dec. 17. The film is set 30 years after “Star WarsEpisode 6: Return of the Jedi.” At the end of that film, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo defeat the Empire, successfully restoring the Jedi Order and peace across the galaxy. With the amount of hype for the new film, the decision was made to start selling tickets on Oct. 15, 59 days before the movie’s release. Movie ticket sales websites Fandango, AMC, and Regal reportedly crashed after sales began.

Long-time fans worry about the quality and originality of this film now that the original production company, Lucasfilm, has passed the project on to Walt Disney Pictures. However, it has been reported by the BBC that production used real locations and miniature models, so that the film is aesthetically similar to the original “Star Wars” “grubbiness” as opposed to the prequels’ CGI cleanliness.

Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Kenny Baker (R2-D2), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), and Tim Rose (Ackbar), actors from the

previous films, are reprising their roles in the upcoming film.

MakingStarWars.net reported that they believe Luke Skywalker disappeared a decade after the death of Darth Vader after the lasta film, and he has not been seen for 20 years. He fears following the path of the Dark Side like his father before him, and chooses to isolate himself from society.

According to Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, when Harrison Ford and Peter Mayhew first stepped on the Millennium Falcon set, all 200 crew members were completely silent because of the “iconic presence” of the two actors being back on Han Solo’s ship.

This is the second Star Wars film to be released in IMAX, and the first to be released in IMAX 3D. The film had a budget of 200 million dollars, the highest budget of a Star Wars film so far. Episode 7 will be released 38 years after the very first movie “Star Wars: Episode 4- A New Hope” was first released. This film will begin the next trilogy, episodes seven, eight, and nine.

Carrie Fisher also stars in

“It’s Christmas, Carol” (2012) “White Lightnin’” (2009) “This Is My Life” (1992)

Harrison Ford also stars in

“Ender’s Game” (2013) “Six Days Seven Nights” (1998) “Clear and Present Danger” (1994)

Mark Hamill also stars in “Minkow” (2015) “Reeseville” (2003) “Time Runner” (1993)

12.11.15 [ ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT ] 15

REASON FOR THE SEASON Students refflect on non-Christmas holiday traditions ALEXIS BURCH [STAFF WRITER] Presents under a tree, the eight candles of a menorah or sweets fit for a god represent a range of holidays celebrated near the end of the year. Each family celebrates for unique reasons, with generations of history behind each story.

Hanukkah is a special holiday for senior Em Williams.

“I celebrate Hanukkah because my mother and her family are Jewish,” Williams said. “My father is not, and neither is his family, but that’s a very big tradition towards my mom’s side, so we celebrate it every year.”

Hanukkah is a celebration of the Jewish people who escaped persecution.

“The Jews hid out for eight days before they were able to come out of hiding,” Williams said. “We light each candle to celebrate the light that is in our lives, due to the fact that the Jews were able to continue to live, despite all of the persecution that they were possibly about to face.”

Williams wants people to embrace holidays from different cultures and religions.

“If you just focus on Christian Christmas when there are 30 other holidays that are celebrated in December, then you’re really cutting out thousands and millions of people and lifetimes of history,” Williams said.

Williams witnessed her boyfriend, 2015 graduate Cody Blamberg, open up to the idea of different cultures during a combined Hanukkah and Thanksgiving meal last year.

“We took a moment of silence and I peeped over and I saw that [Blamberg] had joined it,” Williams said. “When people are just willing to accept that, it’s so awesome. It means a lot to me to show somebody that in such a small community, there are different people, and you’ll just never notice that.”

A couple thousand miles to the east, Diwali is a huge celebration in India, which hits home for sophomore Dhyan Thacker.

“

“I moved to America from Gujarat, India,” Thacker said.

“Everybody in India celebrates Diwali. It is a weeklong celebration where we bring gifts and sweets to each other.

It’s a tradition, so we continue to celebrate it in America.”

Thacker looks forward to the celebration every year.

“Diwali is the new year for Gujaratis,” Thacker said. “That is when the god Rama came back from a 14-year journey in search of his wife. He had victoriously killed her kidnapper.

It has to do with religion, so to me, it’s important.”

In 1966, Dr. Maulana Karenga, a professor of black studies at California State University, created a holiday in celebration of the ancient African culture. It was named Kwanzaa. It is a celebration of culture that focuses on seven different principles. Freshman Tyler Dwinell has a unique tie to the holiday.

“Half of our family is AfricanAmerican,” Dwinell said. “It goes back to before the Civil War. This woman was a slave with her tribe, and sold to a man. He married her, and that part of the family kept growing.”

Dwinell was young when he learned more about his family’s past.

“I found out about that side of my family at a reunion,” Dwinell said. “I was about seven when I met my African-American cousin there.”

The Dwinell family did not always celebrate Kwanzaa.

However, as time passed, they decided to embrace it.

“We started to celebrate Kwanzaa last year, when my mom really got into it,” Dwinell said. “She started discovering herself more, as she likes to say.”

To the family, it is important to keep the story alive.

“We don’t talk about it all the time, but we do make sure to talk about it,” Dwinell said. “It’s really important to us, because it shows we are proud of our heritage.”

It means a lot to me to show somebody that in such a small community, there are different people.

Top Five This Holiday Season PLACES TO GO

NATALIE BURGESS [STAFF WRITER]

Sherwood’s Festival of Lights WHEN: Through Dec. 30 from 6-9:30 p.m.

WHERE: 1111 W Maryland Ave., Sherwood, AR 72120 PRICE: Free

Ballet Arkansas’ “The Nutcracker” WHEN: Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 12 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Dec. 13 at 2 p.m.

WHERE: Maumelle Performing Arts Center 100 Victory Lane, Maumelle, AR 72113 PRICE: $20-$52

Science with Santa WHEN: Dec. 12 Pictures: 9:30-11 a.m. and 12:30-2 p.m.

Science Show: 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

WHERE: 500 President Clinton Ave. #150, Little Rock, AR 72201 PRICE: Free with admission

Holiday Concert at the Arsenal WHEN: Dec. 20 at 2 p.m.

WHERE: MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History 323 Center St. #13, Little Rock, AR 72201 PRICE: Free

Arkansas Symphony Orchestra presents “Holiday Pops” WHEN: Dec. 18-19 at 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: Connor Performing Arts Center 12701 Hinson Road, Little Rock, AR 72212 PRICE: $19-$58

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16 [ PHOTO ] PROSPECTIVE

Organized Chaos Students break out of classroom setting

Outside of building 3, junior Hannah Sullivan prepares the torque lab Nov. 9 in Allen Scott’s Physics class. | Kara Maurer photo

On all fours, junior Aaron Eley performs in the Nov. 22 showing of “Noises Off.” The fall play also had showings during school hours Nov. 19 and 20.| Jonathan Gatlin photo

Junior Hannah Harris and senior Allie Mack Atkinson dance along during the Student Senate trip to Collegeville Elementary School. | Kara Maurer photo Trombone resting on her head, junior Abbie Hall marches in the Bryant Christmas Parade Dec. 3 to the cadence “Furious.” The Legacy also played the holiday classic “Jingle Bells.” | Kara Maurer photo