Little Hawk 12/12

TheLittleHawk Iowa City High School - Iowa City, Iowa - Volume 70, Issue 3 - December 19, 2012 - www.thelittlehawk.com

“

IT'S HAVING THE COURAGE TO MAKE SOME OF THOSE DECISIONS KNOWING THAT THEY WON'T BE POPULAR.

“

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-Steve Murley

A2 PREVIEW

DECEMBER 19, 2012

The Little

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The Little Hawk

NEWS

City High senior starts successful science blog

Senior Abram Nothnagle has started “The Science Man Blog,” a website dedicated to all things science, with topics ranging from Biology to Astronomy to Robotics.

By Nat Alder

natalder@thelittlehawk.com

As technology becomes more accessible to the world, more voices are experimenting with online media.

Blogs, one popular way for individuals to gain an audience, are popping up around the internet from diverse places and people. Abram Nothnagle ‘13 has worked strategically to gain readers for his own blog, titled “The Science Man’s Blog”.

“Most of the people that write blogs tend to talk about their personal lives, just about the average, everyday things,” Nothnagle said. “People don’t want to read about that.”

Nothnagle is the administrator and creator of “The Science Man’s Blog”, where he takes common scientific knowledge and explores it in-depth.

His content covers a whole range of topics, from Robotics to Biology to Chemistry to wherever else his interests lie. Nothnagle also adjusts his writing depending on his current areas of study.

“I’ve been putting up a lot of astronomy-related stories because I’ve been in an astronomy class at the University of Iowa,” Nothnagle said. “The pictures of astronomy are really cool looking. I get more traffic if I have a lot of colorful pictures. When people are thinking about science, they want to see the pretty things like stars and galaxies.”

Nothnagle got his inspiration for the blog by listening to some of his favor-

Abram Nothnagle ‘13 works on his popular blog, “The Science Man Blog.” Photo by Ellen Carman

ite podcasts, such as Skeptics Guide to the Universe and Stuff You Should Know. Initially, Nothnagle wanted to start a podcast himself, but he decided against this. Nothnagle was not always planning to write about science, but he believed that that would attract readership.

Nothnagle tries to update his blog at least once a week, sometimes updating more frequently depending on how busy he is. So far, Nothnagle’s blog has accumulated more than 20,000 page

views. Nothnagle first noticed a spike in popularity after he published a story on mold, which reached over 10,000 hits. Nothnagle’s web traffic isn’t restricted to just Iowa.

“Most of my traffic is from English speaking countries,” Nothnagle said.

“But I do actually have a lot of people from Russia, India, Germany that read my site.”

Nothnagle figures that the research he does for his blog will help him in his future studies.

“What I write for this blog helps me learn so much about the world,” Nothnagle said. “I’ll probably start my own robotics company, but then I’d hopefully progress into biomedical engineering. Just knowing the science behind what I’m doing will help me understand what’s going on. I really enjoy teaching people things through my blog.”

Link to blog: http://sciencemanblog.blogspot.com/

ICCSD passes MAG-DoP program The funding mechanism Modified Allowable Growth for Dropout Prevention has been passed again this year with five percent less restrictive funding.

By Oli Peters

olipeters@thelittlehawk.com

Each year members of the school board decide whether they should continue to approve the 5.5 million dollar funding mechanism known as Modified Allowable Growth for Dropout Prevention (MAG-DoP).

The proposal for this year was passed, along with 5% less restrictive funding, allowing more of the money to be used on working with students that might drop out of school.

MAG-DoP assists districts by providing targeted services at a local level, including student programs at City High like the Success Center, the SAC, and Saturday/summer school. It also contributes to the salaries of instructional coaches, guidance counselors, Junior High and Senior High reading teachers, and behavior strategists/interventionists. However, most of the funding goes to programs that help dropouts.

“Iowa as a whole has a very low number of students that drop out,” ICCSD’s Youth and Family Development Coordinator Joan Vanden Berg

said. “But we want to help potential and returning dropouts as much as possible.”

The ABCs is a list of criteria for students that help people identify potential dropouts. This includes behavior problems, failing grades, low school attendance records, and limited or no extracurricular activities.

Returning dropouts are students in grades seven through 12 that withdrew from school for a reason other than a transfer to another school or district and are now enrolled in a public school in the district.

“We were frustrated with what kind of dropout the money was being spent on,” Superintendent Steve Murley said. “We want to be able to reach out to students that have dropped out but haven’t returned to school as well as potential and returning ones. It’s easier to prevent dropouts than work with students that have already left school and aren’t thinking about returning.”

A grant that has provided money for many programs that help at-risk families and students in the ICCSD is dwindling, forcing the Department

of Education to prioritize it’s funding.

“MAG-DoP is definitely important when it comes to choosing what we want funded,” Vanden Berg said.

“5.5 million dollars is a lot of money so we made sure the programs it funds are worthwhile.”

Although MAG-DoP is considered a rewarding investment, Vanden Berg admits there are some things she would like to change.

“These programs only help students in grades seven through 12,” she said. “I think some of the best investments we can make is in the younger kids so they grow up in a healthy environment where they won’t drop out of school.”

Despite some of the restrictions in the MAG-DoP funding, Vanden Berg believes it will help many potential and returning dropouts, as it has in past years.

“It’s very hard for the kids that dropping out of school effects,” she said. “It’s definitely something to be proud of when you’re an at-risk student and you’re able to stay in school.

I’m proud of them.”

MAG-DoP funds 16 different programs MAG-DoP total is 5.5 million dollars 5% less restrictive funding

A3 *CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1:

At the secondary level, the construction of a third high school in North Liberty is a contested proposal.

“To me, there are two fundamental choices. You could build a third high school in North Liberty to deal with our impending capacity problem. Or we can expand City and West. I have advocated for a more thorough discussion – debating the merits both ways, then as a community making a decision about which path is right for us,” Bacon said. “That hasn’t happened to my satisfaction yet.”

At the head of the district’s many initiatives is Superintendent Stephen Murley, who has had to confront his own challenges. His contract was renewed by the board on Dec. 4 after nine months of negotiations and delays. One board member, however, tried to block the contract’s passage.

Board member Patti Fields disputed the number of unused vacation days from the 2011-12 contract year to be reimbursed by the board. Fields had reviewed superintendent reports submitted to the board and felt that they were not consistent with the contract.

“I think there’s a pressure to have this contract complete, because it’s been open for several months,” Fields said last week, “but I did not feel like that was a good steward of resources, to approve a contract with inaccurate information in it.”

Board member Tuyet Dorau was not at the Dec. 4 meeting, but says that she would have sided with Fields in voting against the contract.

“I would rather have erred on the side of being a little bit more conservative,” Dorau said.

Murley explained the process by which he and the board arrived at the number of vacation days.

“I do a lot of prep work on the weekends, just like students do homework on the weekends, but there’s also times when I’m in uniform on the weekend,” Murley said.

“And so we had a lot of discussion, are those work days? We got that ironed out in the new contract.”

The contract, which is available online in the board’s Dec. 4 meeting agenda, extends Murley’s contract through June 2016 and gives him a slight bump in salary.

The contract was seen in a new light when it was announced on Dec. 7 that Murley was one of three finalists for superintendent of Omaha Public Schools, a position he had not informed the board he was seeking.

“I was a little surprised,” Dorau said, “given the contract negotiations and where we are in the district.”

VanDyke speculated that Murley’s potential departure could help him achieve his goals for the district.

“Maybe it takes someone who’s leaving to make the tough decisions that no one else has had the courage to make,” VanDyke said.

At the time of writing, no decision about the Omaha position has been made. Many have expressed their hope that whatever the outcome, Iowa City can move forward.

“It seems as though we’ve been spinning our wheels on that front for a while now,” Philip Lala, City High science teacher, said of the datagathering efforts. “I hope that they’ll be able to take this information and move somewhere with it.”

A4 NEWS

New group Winterguard prepares for debut show

By Daniela Perret

danielaperret@thelittlehawk.com Carrying brightly colored flags in their hands, members of the Winterguard dance across the gym floor in tune to an instrumental number from the Disney movie, Tangled, in preparation for the guard’s upcoming performances.

New to City High, Winterguard has been having one four hourlong practice per week to prepare for their upcoming performance alongside the winter drumline this winter and the Spring Show at Dubuque Senior High School on February 24th.

“So far, I have enjoyed it,” Assistant Coach Mitchell Stolberg said.

“I think the ladies are very talented and I think they have great potential.”

City’s Winterguard was started

by Derek Laughlin, a junior at the University of Iowa, who also coached Colorguard this past fall.

“It’s been good so far, the girls work together really well,” Head coach Derek Laughlin said. “The members have changed a lot in and out but I think we have settled with who we have right now and we’re putting the final version of the show together.”

The guard consists of seven members, Mikayla Heath ‘13, Kesha Hyche ‘13, Hannah Langenfeld ‘14, Molly Shepherd ‘15, Savannah Reese ‘14, Bri Gore ‘14, and Shelby Sheets ‘14, five of which participated in Colorguard this past fall.

“I really like [winter guard],” Langenfeld said. “We’re working well together and before, when we didn’t have it, I felt like once Colorguard stopped after marching band we never practiced so we wouldn’t get better but now I feel like we’re getting better. It’s going to be really great next year and throughout the rest of the year.”

DECEMBER 19, 2012

Literary magazine revived

City High’s reinvented literary magazine is the City High Review. It provides a forum for student artists to publish their work on the CHR website or magazine.

By Ellen Carman

“Some work requires more copy editing then others but that has given our editors a lot of practice.

After a long absence, the school It’s given them a chance to think that leads has a literary magazine about the difference between copy once again. The City High Review is editing and making stylistic decithe new version of The Scribe. It’s a sions.”

The inspiration to revive the new magazine with a new goal. magazine came from Foreman’s “One of the things that was really important to us was to expand our students.

“Students are always showing notion of the kind of genres that me their writing, bringing me their would be represented in the magapoetry collections or short stories zine. In keeping with our expanding definition of what’s literature, we they’ve started. Sometimes novwanted to find what all people are els too, and they are super excited writing,” magazine advisor Daphne about that. Very often kids don’t get to share their Foreman said. stuff with their “We really wanted classmates, very to be all inclusive CHECK OUT THE often their writin that. While we ing is just for the CHR’S WEBSITE AT want the writing audience of one, and art to be tertheir teacher, rific we want to or maybe their shed the elitism of small groups. ” simply poetry.”

Foreman said.

The CHR is “I think that not headed up by its only do kids like executive edishare a lot of tor Jacob Potash. www.cityhighreview.com to what they write Their first print but it improves edition was pubtheir writing to lished on Oct. 26 know there is and Potash was the driving force begoing to be an authentic audience.” hind its success.

Erin Danielson ‘13 is a student “I have put a lot of work into it. who often writes poetry and even When something is yours it’s exciting raps.

She had two poems published to see it succeed,” Potash ‘14 said. “I don’t feel like I’m doing it for anyone in the first edition.

“I was very scared to publish, but else. I’m just trying to make a good you have to put yourself out there magazine and people have liked it.” to learn and it’s really important to Other members of the CHR include Mackenzie Cole who is a copy be able to accept other people’s critieditor and Cora Bern-Klung the cism or compliments of your work,” Danielson said. “By publishing your marketing manager.

Along with the print edition, the work you are putting yourself out CHR has emphasized publishing there but you are also giving yourself work that ranges from poetry and a grand opportunity.”

The CHR is still very new and the essays to original compositions and staff acknowledges that they are still graphic art on the CHR website. New posts are added to the website every learning and have many goals for the future of the magazine.

Thursday and Sunday.

“We’re learning so much about “We can include almost anything. what people want to see and what our We haven’t received much that we haven’t wanted to publish. Certainly limitations are design wise. We want we have had to consider censorship to identify more photographers and issues of language,” Foreman said. graphic artists and we’ve really had ellencarman@thelittlehawk.com

to find painting and drawing artists ourselves. We hope that people begin to offer those.” Foreman said. “On our website we would like to find more composers and filmmakers who would like to offer their short pieces. We are looking to improve the awareness among all students so that kids feel really comfortable and encouraged to share their work with us.”

The CHR is one more way for City High students to share their artistic side and get involved.

“I think there just wasn’t a forum for creative expression, whether that’s visual art or an essay,” Potash

said. “It is a forum for people to share their ideas at its most basic level.”

Danielson thinks that this forum is critical to the City High community.

“When you write things, it’s very personal and a lot of those things have extreme meaning to you, but the thing that you have to realize is that there is lots of other people out there that are going through something similar to you,” Danielson said.

“And by getting those things out there you are helping other people cope with that, or teaching them something, or you’re learning from what you write.”

European and U.S. education compared by exchange students Not only do foreign exchange students have to adjust to a new home they have to adapt to a very different way of learning. Current CHS exchange students share their thoughts about American school.

By Mara Kostner

marakostner@thelittlehawk.com While American high school students enroll in a broad range of courses, many European high school students are required to choose a school with a specific concentration, such as science, languages, technical or social studies.

Sara Abbate, an Italian exchange student at City High, who is from a small town near Milan said, “one thing that I would like to change at my school is to have the possibility to choose some electives, to experiment and find out what I really like.”

With several German and Italian exchange students studying at City High, it has become clear that there are significant differences between the American and the European school systems. Other than the class choice, another difference between American and European high schools is playing sports at school. In American schools, like at City High, every student has the possibility to choose between different sports. In Italy and Germany, according to Abbate and German exchange student, Mareike Stadler, they just have regular PE once or twice a week.

“Sports are not a big deal at our school. We just have physical educa-

tion twice a week and other sports are played in clubs outside of school,” Stadler said.

In Italy and Germany, students have to pass extensive final exams before they can graduate, whereas in America, students just have to earn a certain number of credits to graduate. Abbate explained that in Italy, if you pass your final exams, you get your “maturità” and then you can apply for university.

“We had to write an essay for four hours!” Stadler said. “And the math and physics test is three hours long.”

In the United States, graduation is a formal and important event where students wear a traditional cap and

gown and walk across the stage to receive their diploma. In Germany the ceremony is similar, they just don’t wear the cap and gown. In Italy there is no ceremony, students just go straight to parties.

To the question if they liked their school, Mareike tells us, “I loved my school, it was just a girl’s school, but I enjoyed every single moment. Last year was my best year ever.”

However, Abbate didn’t really like her school.

“I hate my school. The building is almost falling apart and the teachers are very mean compared to City High teachers. We also have school on Saturday,” Abbate said.

Her favorite thing about City High is that sports are a big part of school and it’s a great opportunity to meet new friends. One thing that she doesn’t really like is changing classes every hour.

“You don’t really have time to get to know the people,” Abbate said.

“However, I like the opportunity to choose your classes.”

Abbate is returning to Italy in January while Stadler finishes the school year here.

“I’m really looking forward to Prom and the graduation ceremony!”

Stadler said.

DECEMBER 19, 2012

WHAT IN THE WORLD?

What in theW RLD?!

The Lit one-pag tle Hawk’s going o e guide to wh n acros at’s comp iled b s the glob y Ren ata S tewar e. t & Ja son A r

YOU SHOULD KNOW WHO MOHAMED MORSI IS.....

He is the fifth and current president of Egypt, assuming office on June 30th, 2012.

He succeeded Hosni Mubarak, who left the office after being forced to resign in February of 2011. Morsi was a member of Egypt’s parliament, and is a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a party with political and religious affiliations. In November, Morsie granted himself unlimited powers to “protect” the nation, and asked for the power to legislate without judicial oversight or review of his acts. Hundreds of thousands of protesters

began demonstrating after he claimed these powers.

Morsi is married to his cousin, Nagiaa Ali Mahmoud, who is reported to have stated that she does not want to be referred to as “First Lady” but rather “First Servant of the Egyptian Public.”

nold

Compare & Contrast

BRUCE WILSON VS. THE FISCAL CLIFF THE CATEGORY SCIENCE PRODIGY

*creative commons

NATIONAL TOP 10 PLACES TO GEOGRAPHIC’S VISIT IN 2013...

1. Crimea, “Russia’s paradise” off the coast of the Black Sea 2. Marseille, France’s “new capital of culture” 3. Raja Ampat, an emerging island Eden in Indonesia 4. Ravenna, a vibrant historical mosaic in Italy 5. Great Bear Rainforest, on Canada’s fragile coast 6. Malawi, dubbed “Lake of Stars” by the locals 7. Quito, Ecuador, an old city with a fresh face 8. Bagan in Myanmar, a once isolated nation 9. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia’s treasured island

THE FINANCIAL CRISIS

Boone, IA

Origin

Housing Market

Chalkboard Etiquette

Bragging Rights

End of US Economy

The Laws of Physics Controlled By

Christmas

Chemical X

Dark Secrets

Gold?

Mr. Muilenberg

Enemy

A Surplus

3rd Floor Chem Lab

Current Location

EVERYWHERE.

Hogwarts

Education

Money?

Colin Wilson

Defeater

Captain America

Kevin Koepnick

BFF

Cancer

Safety Goggles

Protector

The Apocalypse

WINNER: Bruce Wilson

A5

A6 NEWS

DECEMBER 19, 2012

CHS newspaper wins national awards Last month, eight representative members of The Little Hawk went to San Antonio, Texas in order to attend the National Journalism Conference. There, they received three national awards.

By Christina Sullivan

christinasullivan@thelittlehawk.com

A group of eight City High students sat sweaty palm in sweaty palm, huddled at the edge of their seats. “Second place goes to Harvard West Lake.” Hands gripped tighter, hearts beat faster, bodies lurched forward. The very air was heavy with anticipation. After a significant pause, the announcer cleared his throat, “First place Best of Show...

Iowa City, City High!”

On November 15-18, staff members of The Little Hawk went to San Antonio, Texas to attend the National Scholastic Press Association Conference. There, they had the opportunity to attend a variety of workshops, meet staff from other outstanding high school newspapers, and be nationally recognized for their great work.

“City High is one of the most highly awarded schools, the Notre Dame of high school journalism,” Newspaper advisor Johnathan Rogers said. “It is nice for others to recognize [our] work is good.”

At the conference, City High won three awards: fifth place for the website, a Pacemaker, and first place Best of Show. The Pacemaker is an award given to the best papers in its division. City High won for the 17+ page division. 22 other schools won pacemakers. Best of Show recognizes the single best paper in another set of divisions, based on school size.

Significantly fewer schools won Best

of Show awards than did Pacemakers. City High competed against approximately 50 other schools for that honor.

Staff members say that their favorite part of the trip was when they found out the awards they had won at the awards ceremony.

“I’m told my face turned purple. I was shocked; I cried when I called my parents. It was a once in a lifetime experience,” Cassie Wassink ‘13, co-executive editor said.

Renata Stewart ‘13, also a coexecutive editor, shared similar sentiments.

“It was surreal. Winning was like achieving a kind of goal that seemed unattainable,” Stewart said.

According to multiple editors of the paper, two major components distinguish The Little Hawk in comparison to other high school papers, number one being design. Jason Arnold ‘13, a member of the design team that won a top ten placement at the Design of the Year contest last year, explained what makes a good design.

“You have to utilize white space. It has to be clean, simple, and describe the stories,” Aronld said.

The other component that makes the Little Hawk stand out is the content.

“We take national issues and localize them, like the Trayvon Martin issue last year,” Rogers said.

Both Rogers and Stewart discussed the importance of tying stories into local issues in order to draw readers in.

“We take issues that may seem

Above: The Little Hawk staff poses for a photo in their newspaper shirts. Below: Some of the Little Hawk staff at the National Scholastic Press Association Conference in San Antonio, Texas. photos courtesy of The Little Hawk

cliche, but we adapt them to highlight individuals to bring it close to City High. We make an effort to represent everyone,” said Stewart.

The Little Hawk wants to represent everyone because it is the com-

munity that makes them so successful.

“I would like to thank Mr. Bacon and the City High community for being so supportive of journalism. Many school environments are

not as friendly towards journalism.

This amount of success wouldn’t have happened without support and I feel lucky to work in such a supportive environment,” Rogers said.

Interact spends holiday Seniors create path to college season volunteering

By Neil Harte

By Cassie Wassink

neilharte@thelittlehawk.com

Students from City High’s Interact club will once again be giving more than just presents during this holiday season. From the Ronald McDonald House to the Legacy Senior Living Community, the school’s Interact members plan to volunteer at various projects around the Iowa City area and give their time to those less fortunate.

“There are lots of holiday activities this year,” club president Liliana Coelho ‘13 said. “They are really fun and we want to get some more kids to help out our community.”

Active members of the club have already participated in a number of projects this month.

“Winter is one of the most popular seasons for volunteering,” Interact vice president Emma Greimann ‘14 said. “There are many fantastic opportunities to help those in need.”

One of the more popular projects this winter was wrapping Christmas presents for shoppers at the Coral Ridge Mall on December 15th.

On Friday, December 22nd, Interact club members plan to cook a hearty dinner for the Ronald Mc-

cassiewassink@thelittlehawk.com

Interact members Talbot Morris-Downing and Emma Greenberg pose for a picture during a volunteering event. photo courtesy of Talbot Morris-Downing

Donald House of Iowa City, a nonprofit organization that provides families a home while their child undergoes long-term medical treatment at local hospitals.

“The dinner is a really good opportunity to help others,” Interact secretary Talbot Morris-Downing said. “I think it’s one of the more helpful projects we’re organizing.”

However, not all projects orga-

nized by the Interact club take place outside of school. Each winter, members set up a donation box in the school library in honor of a little girl named Cassie who died in a carbon monoxide accident. Called Cassies Mittens, the project collects winter gear for distribution to schools and homeless shelters around the Iowa City area.

Aishwarya Parandkar ‘13 has known from a young age that she would go to the University of Iowa.

“I’ve been here and been on the campus for so long and I always knew for a really long time that this is the place I wanted to be,” Parandkar said.

With the winter holidays at hand, college-bound seniors are in the thick of the application process.

Parandkar, dealing with Iowa’s rolling admission, was able to submit her application in August, and has already been accepted. Although she will not be going far from home, Parandkar is excited for “Housing and the dorms, living on my own, just to see what that would be like.

I’ve been living with parents for so long, and I just want to see how I do independently,” she said.

Other students cannot wash their hands of the application process for several more months. Sophia Opitz ‘13 applied early action to Yale University. Opitz described that “Mostly I know that it was the school that I felt would probably fit me the best, and cater to what I wanted in

a college.”

For Opitz, this appeal stems mainly from a focus on undergraduate research, as well as a curriculum split into three sections. Harris Thompson ‘13 is choosing prospective schools with another criterion in mind. As a City High swimmer, beyond a school, Thompson is searching for a team.

“Some people will contact me,” Thompson said, describing his search process. “I’ve gotten mail offers, some schools that I will look at.”

Thompson, who is a USA swimmer and plans to swim for the NCLA, gets five paid 48 hour recruitment trips.

The application processes of these three students varied widely.

For Opitz, the greatest challenge was the essay.

“I was really frustrated at first with the idea of describing myself in 500 words,” Opitz said. “I was like ‘that’s not fair.’”

Looking ahead to college, Opitz is excited for the social and academic opportunities.

“I’m really excited to meet new people and delve into subjects that weren’t available or I didn’t have time to do,” Opitz said. “I’m really excited to take Latin.”

DECEMBER 19, 2012

NEWS

iPads circulate around school

A7

New MECCA counsler is Little Hawks test the opportunities of new technology with a pilot project in the hired to assist ICCSD. Students in physics, journalism, and English classes have utilized iPads as CHS students their teachers implement them into both in-class and out-of-class activities.

ByCassie Wassink

cassiewassink@thelittlehawk.com

A pilot project began this year in the journalism class, but has since spread throughout the school.

Students in sections of journalism, physics and speech classes received iPads starting in November, with the hope that they would augment classroom materials and activities.

First to receive the iPads were Jonathon Rogers’ two newspaper sections, who used them to record interviews, follow journalists on Twitter, and make videos with the iMovie app. Rogers described the importance of accessibility to technology for high school students.

“I think it’s really important

for all students to have access to it [technology], especially in journalism,” Rogers said. “It really allows students to embrace the new digital age.”

While the journalism students used the recording and social media aspects of the iPads, the speech class has found a unique way to implement the iPads through backchanneling. As students present their speeches, the audience tweets feedback, so that the feedback is instantly available following the speech.

“I like that it lets students have instant feedback,” Jennifer Brinkmeyer, speech teacher, said. “You can see on the Twitter feed that they need more eye contact, and that’s really fun.”

In the physics class, iPads have been used to submit homework electronically, take notes, and utilize graphical apps. As well as this, the students did a special project where they filmed a projectile, and then analyzed its motion.

Emily Mitchell ‘13 enjoyed not having to carry papers to and from school.

“I liked it because I didn’t have to take home a folder,” Mitchell said. “I just took home my iPad and got it done quick and then just emailed it to her.”

While all of the classes have found ways to incorporate the iPads, teachers and students agree that there are some issues that still need ironing out. One concern is that they are additions to the exist-

ing computer labs, as well as technology that students already own.

“The iPad is really only beneficial outside of class if you already have wireless internet at home,” Brinkmeyer said. “If you have wireless then you probably already have some device that you’re using. I’m not sure how beneficial it is for those without that access.”

Mitchell agreed, adding that some iPads were unable to perform the necessary functions.

“Some people didn’t have wi-fi at home, so they said they couldn’t send it [assignments] to her,” Mitchell said. “Or some people’s iPads wouldn’t open the google documents in certain apps, so there was just some challenges emailwise, getting set up.”

Rogers feels that these challenges are inevitable when introducing change to the district.

“I think that anything new provides challenges as far as organization and teaching students and teachers how to use it effectively in the classroom,” Rogers said.

Despite the challenges, physics teacher Mary Lestina stresses the importance of continuing to work with the new technology, as it is a critical component of the future.

“I think that using this technology is really important for students after high school.” Lestina said. “It will help teach them things that they will have to know how to use later.”

Andrew Hein gives a speech in Mrs. Brinkmeyer’s english class while students use their iPads to give feedback through Twitter.

Photo by Cassie Wassink

Math club places third at competition

By Daniela Perret

danielaperret@thelittlehawk.com

To start off the year, City High’s math club participated in the City High Math Invitational on Dec. 1 where both the JV and Varsity teams received third place.

“I think we did pretty well,” Boris Perkhounokv ‘13 said. “I mean, there’s always room for improvement but we got a solid third place so there’s not much to complain about.”

This competition was a Great Plains Math League local qualifying math competition for the state competition on Apr. 20. Qualifiers for the state meet included Perkhounokv, Andrew Brown ‘13, Xavier Fields ‘15,

Dustin Gwee ‘14, Gabrielle Bui ‘13, Neve Heimer-Lang ‘15, and Mackenzie Cole ‘13.

“We haven’t been quite as strong lately as we have in the past,” Math club advisor Stephanie McLaughlin said. “But we still have been in the top three to five in the state consistently over the past several years.”

To qualify for the state competition students must answer at least 50% of the questions on any given round correctly. Standouts for City High included Fields who placed first in the Target round and Perkhounokv who placed second in both the Target and Sprint rounds.

“This was probably a slightly tougher competition than usual, so

people did put in just as much effort as usual but got less points. But I think that affected everyone equally so it didn’t put us behind anyone,” Perkhounokv said. “But overall I think we did pretty well.”

The next competition that the math club will be competing in to qualify for state will be on Jan. 12 in

Iowa Falls.

“Overall I feel that our performance has been good,” Gwee said.

“Unlike athletics, where competition between teammates can set back the team, we work very well together and with this I believe we will achieve success.”

COULD YOU SOLVE THIS? How many times does the string “13” appear when the numbers from 1 to 1313 are written in order with no spaces? So that the following is written: 1234567891011121314...1313.

Think you know the answer? Use this QR code to find out!

LEFT TO RIGHT Xavier Fields ‘14, Boris Perkhounokv ‘13, and others work together to complete a practice math problem during a math club meeting on Wed. Dec. 10, 2012. Photo by Daniela Perret

ByWill Lubaroff

willlubaroff@thelittlehawk.com

This year, City High has appointed a new MECCA c o u n s e l o r.

William Batten was hired

by MECCA six years ago while working for the Health Department. Students can go to Batten if they are having problems with substance abuse, and anything that is said between them and a MECCA employee is completely confidential.

“I work for MECCA because I care about our community,” Batten said. “It’s about helping kids find their true potential without the use of drugs or alcohol. To me, it’s amazing what we can be while sober.”

The previous MECCA counselor at City High, Mindy Koon, moved away with her family to Tennessee to take another position. Batten was appointed by MECCA to work with City High students recently, and considers working at City High to be a great opportunity.

“I live here in Iowa City with my son, who is in the third grade,” Batton said. “He’ll go to City High someday. It’s a great group of people that work here, we’ve got a high quality staff.”

To Batten, his work at MECCA is more than just a job.

“I love to work at MECCA because I think everyone deserves a second chance,” Batten said. “The best part is seeing the change in students. Not all students change at the same rate, change can be slow. My students grow and learn to appreciate the beauty of the world while sober, and I feel like I make a difference in their lives. I don’t mean to sound cheesy, but I want to teach kids that being sober is awesome.”

Principal John Bacon is in full support of Batten and the MECCA program.

“I’ve seen a lot of families affected by substance abuse. Even members of my own family have been affected by it, so I’ve seen first hand. It starts as fun and games, but it’s effects are absolutely devastating,” Bacon said. “It’s critical that students get the help they need if they are having issues with substance abuse. The beauty of the MECCA program is that it’s truly confidential. Students need to know that they have a safe place to go when they get into a bad situation, and that they don’t have to worry about being in trouble.”

Mr. Bacon and MECCA will help any student that is having issues with substance abuse. “We are deeply committed to helping these students,” Bacon said. “It’s tremendous to have that kind of support. I’ve never seen City High without the support of MECCA, but I can’t imagine not having that safeguard.”

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DECEMBER 19, 2012

LGS prepares for season The City High Large Group Speech team is starting this year off after a successful previous season under the direction of a new leader, Jennifer Brinkmeyer, with acts ranging from “Shrek” to “Little Women.”

By Will Lubaroff

willlubaroff@thelittlehawk.com

City High Large Group Speech is kicking off this year with 10 separate groups of performers, all practicing to create a memorable act. Jennifer Brinkmeyer took over as the head LGS coach this year, a job she is happy to have.

“I’m excited to be involved with Large Group Speech again,” Brinkmeyer said. “Except for last year, I’ve been involved for the past 14 years, over half my life, starting in High School, judging throughout college, and teaching at Tipton.”

A Choral Reading group of 15 people will perform “The Sneeches.” Two Ensemble acting groups will perform “Offering”

by Richard Keller and “The Nang”

by Bethany Gibson. Three improvisation groups consisting of 11 people total will practice creating scenes on the spot with nothing but a cue card and five minutes of preparation. A One Act Play group of 14 people will perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Three Musical Theater groups will per- LEFT TO RIGHT: Max Friedman ‘13, Lily Howard ‘13, Nat Alder ‘13, and Michael Gloer ‘13 practice their improvisation skit at a rehearsal on Dec. 11, 2012. photo by Will Lubaroff form excerpts from Shrek, Little Women, and The Last Five Years.

Michael Gloer ‘13 is a returning lenge. non-performing honors, the LGS Brinkmeyer is excited for the acts member of group improvisation.

“I love all the guys in my group, team has a lot to live up to. Brinkthis year.

“I think Improv is going to be I would consider us to be a dream meyer believes they are up to the “There is a lot to be excited a challenge this year,” Gloer said. team. I think we’ll do well this sea- challenge. about. I’m excited to be working “We have four people in our group, son,” he said.

“I believe if everybody comes with Improv, and I’m excited for A which can make scenes awkward After the success of LGS last to practice and works hard, we’ll Midsummer Night’s Dream one act,” and harder to plan.” year, with two groups performing have great success,” she said. she said.

Gloer is ready to face this chal- at All-State and one group receiving

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If so, we are right down the street!

Iowa City Dermatology Susan Wall, MD and Erica Colleran, MD Located on First Ave. midway between City High and Regina 269 N1st Ave Ste 100 Call today for an appointment!

319-339-3827

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NEWS

A9

Students walk to cure cancer

By Anes Kapo

aneskapo@thelittlehawk.com

Last year, Marnie Kuenster was diagnosed with breast cancer. She and her children were extremely surprised, but they didn’t give up right away. She and her oldest daughter, Abby, attended the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for breast cancer in Washington D.C. “It was an adventure we will never forget. We want to thank the students and parents for your donations to the walk,” Marnie said in her thank you letter.

The walk requires participants to raise 2,300 dollars, and attendants are required to traverse 20 miles each day, totaling up to 60 miles. Since its creation in 2003, the event has raised nearly 700 million dollars.

“I think that the walk was a great experience for my mom and sister,” Tilly Kuenster ‘13 said. “It was a very long walk and so they had to train very hard to be able to accomplish that.”

The family raised money via donations and the sales of “D.C or Bust” shirts. It was enough to send both of them on their way to Washington D.C for the walk. The family was extremely grateful for all the support and donations that they got from City High.

“I would like to say a big thank you to the City High students, parents, and teachers for the amazing support that they have given to me and my daughter over the last year and a half,” Marnie said.

Marnie, who has been cancer free for a while now, believes that maintaining a positive attitude is one of the best ways to get through hard times.

“I have always found that maintaining a positive attitude and taking a look at new experiences in your life, with a sense of adventure, is the best way forward,” she said.

A12

The Little Hawk

OPINION

Staff Editorial:

iPad Integration

LH

In an effort to bring City High up to technological speed, 40 iPads were purchased and checked out to students. They are currently circulating through eight different classrooms around the school.

Executive Editors

renata stewart, cassie wassink

News Editors

ellen carman, oli peters

Opinion Editors

sonora taffa, kieran green

A&E Editor gabriel basile

Feature Editors

alexandra perez, emma baxter

Sports Editors

ryan young, annika wasson

Design Team

nora holman, jason arnold, emma gier, renata stewart

Photo & Video Editor eli shephard

Copy Editor lily howard

Online Editors

nat alder, max friedman

Ad Managers

mikiel curtis, nora holman

Staff

emmalie bohnsack, michael clougherty, malin craig, juliette enloe, naftalia flatte, olivia hamilton, neil harte, kara hartley, anes kapo, christian kennedy, will lubaroff, alex moen, bradon offerman-mims, daniela perret, jacob potash, lilly reitz, brienna rios, james willging, kierra zapf

Advisor

jonathan rogers

mission statement The Little Hawk, the student newspaper of City High School, aims to inform, educate and entertain readers; to provide an educational opportunity for the students who produce it; and to provide a medium for commercial advertising.

Equity Statements English Version: It is the policy of the Iowa City Community School District not to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability, or socioeconomic status in its educational programs, activities, or employment practices.

If you believe you have (or your child has) been discriminated against or treated unjustly at school, please contact the Equity Director, Ross Wilburn, at 509 S. Dubuque Street, 319-688-1000.

Spanish Version: Declaración de Equidad: Es la política de Iowa City Community School District no descriminar en base a raza, credo, color, género, origen, religión, edad, estado civil, orientación sexual, estado de veterano, incapacidad, =estado socio-económico en sus programas educacionales, actividades, o políticas de empleo.

Si usted piensa que usted o su hijo (a) han sido descriminados o que han sido tratados injustamente en la escuela, por favor comuníquese con el Director de Equidad, Ross Wilburn, 509 S. Dubuque Street, teléfono: 319-688-1000.

Imagine, if you will, a caveman.

This caveman is of average intelligence, but has spent his entire life living in the hinterlands, and because of this, is unfamiliar with the conveniences of modern life. Now, imagine that you gave this caveman a brandnew laptop, and told him to use it.

Needless to say, the laptop would be near-unusable for the caveman, and he would be incapable of using the computer for anything other than kindling. This scenario is silly, of course, but it illustrates a point: much like cavemen, the students and teachers of City High are rather inept at adapting to new technologies. We must be coaxed into using them and taught how to use them correctly.

This has been demonstrated recently with the introduction of iPads into classrooms. Despite the many potential uses for iPads in the classroom, many students have expressed frustration when trying to employ them.

Many students have been reluctant to use the new technology to augment their classroom work. However, The Little Hawk staff believes that, with a few policy changes, iPads can be used to a much fuller extent.

To clarify, the staff of The Little Hawk does not overtly oppose adoption of the iPads. In fact, we welcome the opportunity to utilize the new technology. Rather, we hope to suggest policies that would maximize the iPads’ utility. Up until this point, the biggest issue with the usage of iPads has been that of adaptation. Put simply, students want to use the new

Do you support the adoption of iPads within the classroom?

YES:

8

Yes, if adjustments to policy are made

technology but do not know how to do so. This has been compounded by the fact that the teachers themselves have not been given a “plan” for introducing students to the iPads. Instead, they have been left to design their own “iPad activities.” The trouble is, the teachers themselves are also not overly familiar with the iPads and how to use them. They have not had adequate training in how to use the iPads, and so they do not know how to pass that information along to their students. Up until this point, this has resulted in confusion, with students being unsure about what the purpose of the iPads actually is, or how to use them. If iPads are going to be adopted by the entire student populace, then we need to ensure that there is some sort of uniformity in the way that teachers implement their usage. Instead of just having one or two in-services on iPad usage, teachers should be given in-depth training that will help them to adapt to an increasingly

:

3

NO:

3

integrated and tech-oriented educational environment.

Despite the importance of technological know-how, knowledge is only one part of the puzzle. Expertise is useless if students are unwilling to receive it. In the status quo, many students are unenthused about incorporating iPads into day-to-day class work. They only see the drawbacks of having to go out of their way to learn how to use a new technology, and they fail to see the benefits (e.g., not having to carry forty pounds of books to school every day[a]). There will always be students that readily embrace new technologies, but if we want iPad usage to be ubiquitous and universal, then we’ll have to revamp our approach towards technology, putting more effort into helping out individual students. If we expect to have all of our students using iPads, then we are going to have to go out of our way to ensure that they can all utilize the technology. The adoption

of iPads will be fundamentally different from the usage of other technology because each student will have to be self-sufficient. Unlike Smartboards, which are taken care of by teachers and tech personnel, iPads will have to be maintained and utilized on an individual basis. To give students the skills necessary to adapt, we should invest in “intellectual infrastructure.” The construction of this infrastructure would involve several important programs. For example, we could offer out-of-class seminars that would teach students how to incorporate the iPads into their schoolwork. These seminars could also give tutorials on the usage of functions or apps that could supplement what the students learn in class. That way, we would shift the burden of distributing the iPads away from the teachers and on to a dedicated core of experienced individuals. We could also create a website dedicated to giving students “tech support-” containing video podcasts that would help resolve any tech-related questions and further augmenting the iPad experience.

At the end of the day, we should think of the iPads as being an investment: something that will drastically improve students’ educational experience. However, like all investments, it must be focused and targeted to bring about the desired result. By refining our approach to administering technology, we will make sure that all of our students can reap its full benefit.

DECEMBER 19, 2012

OPINION

A13

A14 OPINION

DECEMBER 19, 2012

Apocalypse Now?

RIGHT TO REMAIN

SILENT

by NEIL HARTE

“

“I’m not Stalin. Wait...is that too soon?” – Mr. Hartwig

“Excluding that time a deer jumped through my window, and that time a student caught on fire, my teaching career have been pretty successful.”

– Mr. Muilenberg

art by Neil Harte

“My high school science teacher brought in a dead possum and dissected it for the class. I can’t imagine Mulinberg doing that... It’s a pity that times have changed.” – Mr. Burkle “If only this were sharper..”

– Mr. Wilson speaking of his lab materials while eyeing a student “I think they’re liars. They’re all prepubescent.” – Sra. Hall speaking about One Direction The answer is no. As predicted by scores of hit movies and TV shows, what will actually happen is a worldwide zombie epidemic.

Don’t believe me? Well, when you start to hear newscasters report on a dramatic increase of crackheads biting people, you’ll be kicking yourself for not buying a surplus of vital supplies. So go buy crates of bottled water, long lasting food, and plenty of guns and ammo while the rest of the population is still in denial.

However, I would like to remind you that this week long period of uncertainty is not the time to go Leeroy Jenkins and run down the street with a shotgun and shoot everything that moves, because 99% of the world does not taste delicious yet. For now, just have a solid plan of attack.

The last place you’ll want to find yourself in is a dark corner somewhere with only a Nickelback CD for entertainment. Therefore, you must take action of some sort. Realistically, you only have two options.

The logical option: First, you’ll want some loyal friends that can be trusted. Find about five or six buddies and try to avoid that dumb panicky guy that will give away your position. After stocking up on weapons and expendable people (A.K.A. freshmen), I suggest your group find a secluded location.

Since this is Iowa, that shouldn’t be too difficult. Now all you have to do is spend the rest of the outbreak huddled together fighting off hoards of zombies because that guy I told you not to bring shot off a flare.

The fun option: If starving in a cold barn in the middle of nowhere does not sound appealing and you just want to take advantage of the whole situation, there are still fun alternatives for you to consider, ones that will leave you looking like a complete badass. Here are a few: -Teach yourself how to fly an Apache helicopter.

-Set up treadmills around your house and laugh at the zombies that try to get in.

-Steal a Hummer and drive over zombies for a couple of minutes until you run out of gas.

-Charge into a zombie infested mall armed to the teeth wearing a Big Bird costume.

-And finally, find Chuck Norris. If he’s alive, pat yourself on the back; you just survived the apocalypse. If he isn’t alive... well that’s impossible, he’s Chuck Norris.

To read the full story, go to www.

TheLittleHawk.com

“

F

or conspiracy theorists and nut jobs, Christmas comes a few days early this year, when the world reaches its socalled “expiration date” on December 21st. By now, we’ve all heard about how the Mayan civilization predicted the world’s magical end on the winter solstice. And although that day is technically the darkest day of the year, all those theories of the world exploding in a fashion that would make Michael Bay proud are horse scat. And to think how all of this commotion and worrying is just the result of a few lazy Mayans who didn’t want to waste their time extending their stone calendar past 2012.

So in other words, the 2012 Mayan doomsday prophecy is just the world’s biggest, and ultimately most successful, prank.

If you believe in it, I’m sorry to say it, but you’re an idiot. Sure, lots of people believe that humanity is going to be wiped out on the winter solstice this year, but there are also some people who believe that we are being controlled by lizard-men. There is no need to be afraid: a solar flare will not wipe out humanity, Yellowstone will not erupt, and the planets will not align causing everything to immediately blow up for some strange reason. Don’t worry guys; you’re safe.

Or are you...

“A She Wolf? Like Shakira?”

- Mr. McKeag doesn’t understand Dante’s Inferno

WHAT DOOMSDAY THEORY DO YOU BELIEVE IN? Mayan Calender Zombie Apocalypse Rapture Nothing Climate Change

24%

16% 17%

22%

21%

DECEMBER 19, 2012

OPINION

THUMBS

A Christmas Indifference

by NAT ALDER

Christmas practicing one.

Yes, there is a minority of the Jewish community that is angry at the public for embracing Christmas, spreading it across pop culture and the public eye, and maybe giving less attention to holidays like Hanukkah. To this I say, in the last 20 years there have been many public campaigns to change the widely accepted “Christmas Season” into a more equal “Winter Holiday”. Whether it be referred to as “holiday” shopping or “holiday” vacation, the public has changed their phrasing and traditions in order to include other American cultures into the festivities. If that’s not enough for the average angry Jewish person, then I give you this reminder. The majority of Americans are Christians, or some variety of it. To angrily trample on Christians for wanting to publicly celebrate their favorite holiday seems arbitrary.

And to the minority group of Christians that are frustrated with the fact that ‘Christmas’ was swapped for ‘holidays’ in the public eye, it’s only fair to broaden the approach of a certain company or

art by oli peters

Just picture it. A chubby little kid, leaps out of his bed at 5:30 in the morning, rolls down the stairs in his lion slippers, dives across the carpet and lands in a sea of festively wrapped gifts, giggling in euphoric joy. He tears one open, his pupils dilating into adorably rabid orbs, as he discovers a Nintendo Playstation. He proceeds to clog his arteries with multitudes of candy canes, butterscotch twirls, gumdrop lollycurls, gingerbread villages, and any other oddly named Christmas food imaginable. It’s a Christmas miracle, as they say!

This is the magical holiday experience I had every year of my childhood. Oh wait, just kidding, I’m Jewish.

A lot of people think that I’m offended when I hear the word Christmas. It’s like they expect me to start coughing and twitching as soon as it hits my eardrum. They also assume I’m offended when the song Jingle Bell Rock pops up on Pandora. Let me tell you from experience; sitting in awkward silence as insanely cheerful Christmas music plays in the background can become highly uncomfortable. Truth is, I am totally fine with the Christmas celebration and season. I think traditions are beautiful, and anything that can unite a family together is a worthwhile example of human compassion in my opinion.

However, I am aware that this is not the opinion of everyone who chooses not to celebrate Christmas.

This is only how I, as a Jewish person who celebrates Hanukkah, perceives the environment that surrounds me, a predominantly Christian, or

Riding the bull Getting out on the 19th Pacemaker winners Big Cat Week on Discovery SNOW Speedball Snapchat maybe a school to include all present cultures. Other religious and cultural groups should be able to feel that they are being recognized also.

American Jews have been exposed to Christmas for the last couple hundred years. It just seems a little ridiculous that Jewish people would now be frustrated with the Christmas hype as opposed to before. Though, to be fair, I think that those feelings lie with just a small group of Jewish people, not those of the entire religion.

I’ve seen, and feel that I understand, both sides of this debate. I can relate to complaints on the validity of publicly celebrating the Christmas season, as well as the natural defense and compassion of those participating in such an occasion.

In the end, I think that as a Jew, the fact that people publicly celebrate Christmas is completely okay.

I don’t really have any strong feelings towards it, but I believe any holiday capable of making people happy, no matter what ideology it represents, is a good thing to have in our day and age. That’s not to say that Hannukah doesn’t elicit the same amount of love or family or gifts. If anything, both celebrations are responsible for copious amounts of sweaters given out by grandmothers this time of year. So, while I may not experience the artery clogging, ‘lollycurling’ acid dream of Christmas which I imagine every year, I’m glad to see other people enjoying that time with their families.

Will Ferrell in Elf Old Capitol Museum The Hobbit 12/12/12 Concert The Lumineers High rises in Iowa City Basketball teams Michael Buble Christmas album

Collaboration, Not Competition

by ELI SHEPHARD

rent building is getting old and the space has been outgrown. New Pi is a huge asset to the community, providing an outlet for local farmers and food suppliers, employing many, and giving back to the community; money-wise in numbers in the tens of thousands. The new space is much needed and that necessity should be held in the highest regard when considering the proposals.

The City should also highly regard LEED certification in the proposals. Given numerous letters to the Iowa City Press-Citizen in recent weeks, it has become quite obvious that Iowa City citizens are well aware of the need to engage in energy efficient practices. In addition, renewable energy outlets, especially solar panel usage, is something that would be new to the downtown area and would draw the public to the building.

Iowa City has a vibrant cycling community and in lieu of an explosion of growth, the Iowa City Bike Library is relocating from its old home on the corner of Gilbert and College to a larger space adjacent to Public Access Television’s headquarters across town. Although it is unlikely that a new development would provide enough space for the full operation of the Bike Library, storefront space for checkout, a ser-

vice that has long lines forming hours before opening, would allow the visibility that has been crucial in the library’s growth to continue.

Community garden space would also prove invaluable to the community if included in future development. The Iowa City Farmer’s Market has grown to gigantic proportions in recent years and has been named the top market in the state the past three consecutive years. The addition of community garden space would effectively draw an even larger turnout on market days, allowing local vendors to experience more business and allowing the Iowa City economy to prosper.

Proponents of individual proposals have been rallying supporters behind their projects, but intense competition is not what the city needs. If we can come up with a proposal that incorporates the best

Tests before Winter Break Pop quizzes NO SNOW Twitter selfies Gang violence Fiscal Cliff art by oli peters

On Tuesday, December 4, the City of Iowa City held a public forum to discuss the five proposed developments for the corner of Gilbert and College streets in downtown Iowa City. While all of the proposals have feasible plans for a successful downtown hub, we should not feel the need to just pick one and live with it. Why not take the best from every plan and build something that everyone can be happy with?

Let me just start by saying I have been a fan of local film non-profit FilmScene’s work in the community for some time now. Several of my friends are in love with their Starlite open air cinema events in City Park and they have also made numerous local screenings possible (I thoroughly enjoyed viewing ‘Shut Up and Play the Hits’ at The Englert this past summer). I believe that downtown Iowa City needs an independent, local film hub. However, the proposal involving FilmScene does not pursue incorporating community garden space, LEED certification, the New Pioneer Food Co-op, nor the Iowa City Bike Library into the development, all things that are and would be invaluable to the downtown Iowa City community.

As an employee of New Pioneer Co-op I know how much New Pi is in need of a new store. The cur-

A15

Windows 8 Fire hazards Being sick

of all the proposals we will find we don’t have to fight over what’s best for our city. If we had no all of the above possibility, I would go with Tim Dwight’s proposed 4 Zero 4 development as it includes much of what this city needs. But we still can work together. We all need to pool our ideas to be sure we do what’s best for the whole of the community.

Collaboration is the key to a vibrant community.

Floor hockey

Gas money Global malnutrition Co-op moving The Dante exam

A16 A&E

SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

DAYLIGHT DONUTS 3560 E. Court ST Iowa City, IA 52245 daylightdonuts@gmail.com

Happy Holidays from your locally owned Daylight Donuts Mon-Sat 5:30-1:00 Sun 6:30-1:00

The Little Hawk

ARTS&ENTERTAINMENT

A17

Band has Combined Efforts winter performs new sci-fi play “Galaxy” concert

By Mara Kostner

marakostner@thelittlehawk.com

ABOVE: Avery Mossman ‘13 inspects the commander and crew of the starship from Tenaj55, in Janet Schlapkohl’s new production “Galaxy”.

By Nat Alder

natalder@thelittlehawk.com

Faux galaxies and colorful sets collided on December 7th and 8th during the City High premiere of “ISO Orbiting from Galaxy, TEJ55” ,the latest show from Combined Efforts Drama.

Combined Efforts is a theater group that uses both City High actors and special needs students in their productions. The new drama’s plot involves an ensemble of intergalactic beings and cyborgs on a trek to find other species. A parallel plot revolves around three children searching for answers about their past and future in a post-apocalyptic earth.

Emily Braverman ‘14, who performed as part of the ensemble, got

inspired to be in the show because of its unusual subject matter.

“It was pretty awesome being in a science fiction production,” Braverman said. “With science fiction, everything from the characters to the dialogue is really fun to work with.”

Elizabeth Smith ‘14 played a hologram in the play. She thoroughly enjoyed her first Combined Efforts production.

“I had a lot of fun at rehearsal,” Smith said, “and I got to know a lot of people I probably wouldn’t have talked to otherwise.”

Sylvia Dean ‘14 participated in the production. At first, she did not know what to expect, but the play’s sci-fi elements grew on her over the rehearsal process.

“A friend told me to come to

combined efforts,” Dean said. “I had no idea what it was about, but when I learned about the sci-fi concept I thought it could be really cool.”

Smith loved the dynamics of the play’s themes.

“It was awesome because there are a lot of different ways to interpret your character,” Smith said. “It was great seeing all the actors experiment with their characters little by little each day.”

Dean believes the play went off without a hitch.

“I think it went really well, and the audiences really liked it,” Dean said.

“It was really interesting and kind of a new idea, and I thought the play was great.”

Max Ibsen ‘13 enjoyed the play because of its originality.

“It was really fun to see all the actors do different, crazy things,” Ibsen said. “It was definitely different, but still entertaining.”

Braverman plans to return to Combined Efforts productions.

“There are many Combined Efforts plays that are coming up,” Braverman said. “This is my third, but I hope to participate in a lot more.”

Overall, Dean considered it a memorable and positive experience.

“A lot of cool people are involved in it,” Dean said, “as well as there being some lovely costumes.”

It was one of her first acting experiences, and she took a lot away from it.

“It was one of the first times I’ve been involved in theater,” Dean said.

“But it was really new and lovely.”

On the evening of Wednesday, December 5th, City High bands performed their winter concert in Opstad Auditorium. According to City High students, the concert was fabulous.

"It was awesome! It was just great!” Josef Aumüller ‘14, who plays French horn, said. “We were super prepared. It was just fun and I enjoyed every moment of it."

Aumüller’s favorite piece was "Miss Trombone." Other favorites included "Tempered Steel" and "Electricity," both of which featured complex lighting effects.

"It was good music,” Carlos Garza '13, an audience member, said. “My favorite piece was the one with the light effects."

The performers felt very good about the concert and their preparation, and enjoyed playing for such a receptive audience. The bands had little time to rehearse for the concert, since marching band had ended just a few weeks before.

"Yes, we were a bit rushed,” Sebastian Surom ‘13 said, “but Dr. Reynolds did a good job and knew which parts to focus on. I think we were prepared enough.”

The audience was amazed to hear how little time the students had to practice.

"I'm very impressed that they were able to be so well-prepared in such a short period of time," said Luke Kottemann ‘13.

The concert boasted a wide variety of music styles, from jazz to modern and percussive. Student performers said they enjoyed every component of the show.

"I really like our French horn section this year,” said Surom.

“I'm just really proud of our section. It's fun."

Artists decorate for Animal Center benefit

By Juwairiah Omar

oliviahamilton@thelittlehawk.com

As students walked into their Art Forms class this trimester, they couldn’t help but notice wooden dog sculptures.

The creations were given to them to decorate by the Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center, and decorating them was the class’s first major assignment.

The completed sculptures, which can hold money, were returned to the Animal Center last week. They will be distributed to local businesses within the next two weeks, and the businesses’ patrons will be able to contribute to the Center by putting money in the dogs’ mouth.

“The Iowa City Adoption Center contacted me about decorating some of these wooden dog sculptures that they will use to collect donations around town,” said Thurmond. “A lot of the stu-

dents had different ideas for decorating the sculptures. Some of them decided to blend their work altogether while others divided it into different parts for each group member to work on.”

Kym Leyden of the Adoption Center Background found one such dog at the Center earlier this year, and her father volunteered to construct more for use as a fundraiser for the organization. Ms. Leyden contacted Thurmond, a personal friend, about collaborating with students in Thurmond’s City High introductory level class “Art Forms.”

Thurmond’s students were asked to work in groups to decorate the sculptures.

“Each dog sculpture is very unique and interesting,” Thurmond explained.

“I really appreciate how much effort the students put into all the work! It’s incredible what people can accomplish if they work together.”

ABOVE: Art Forms students stand behind their completed dog sculptures, to be displayed in local businesses.

A18 A&E

DECEMBER 19, 2012

Old Cap opens new exhibits

FAR LEFT: the Napoleon exhibit at the Old Cap. ABOVE MIDDLE: Pictures in the Napoleon exhibit. BELOW MIDDLE: Casts of Abraham Lincoln’s hands in the Civil War exhibit. ABOVE AND BELOW: photos of the Civil War exhibit. photos by Oli Peters

By Sonora Taffa

sonorataffa@thelittlehawk.com

Students buzz by downtown University buildings without a second glance at the grand, bold designs.

One of those buildings, the Old Capitol, holds a variety of new exhibits depicting the state’s, nation’s, and even the world’s history.

“I would really suggest that City High students go to the exhibits at the Old Capitol, especially the Civil War one. Just walk into it, the building is amazing,” American Studies teacher Nathan Hellwig said. “My grandpa didn’t go in until he was probably in his sixties but he had lived here his whole life. It’s something that you drive by every day.

People don’t realize that’s it’s a working museum, and the court room gives you a good idea of how state government was run right here in Iowa City. It’s a really neat place.”

The museum’s displays rotate every few months, and the current mix includes exhibits on the War of 1812, the Napoleonic era, and the Civil War. “Going to a museum like the Old Capitol is a different approach to learning about history,” Old Capitol Education Coordinator Katherine Moermond said. “We have some great exhibits this year and the building itself is so beautiful. It’s a shame that a lot of people in our community don’t even realize they can enter basically whenever they want during weekdays.”

The Civil War exhibit will stay on display through May 26th and commemorates the 150th anniversary of the war. To enhance the viewers’ experience, five local Iowans’ war stories are told. One of the veterans, Nick Messenger, was a UI student who was injured in the war.

“In the case of the Civil War ex-

www.thelittlehawk.com

hibit, history is told from the bottom up,” Exhibit Designer Bryon Preston said. “We focus on what the people, the men and women of Iowa in that time period, went through. Instead of viewing the big picture as a textbook does, we zoomed in. It’s a small picture, really. We wanted everyone to be able to identify with the exhibits by making them closer to home.”

Hellwig has performed in Civil reenactments since his own freshman year at City High. He has attended many such events over 22 years, some lasting as long as a week. One of his main goals as a teacher is to make history come alive and catch students up in the stories of our past.

“I think that just going over to the Old Capitol and seeing where our state kind of began, and seeing how the history is right here, in our own town, is really valuable,” Hellwig said. “Iowa City is actually a really important part of our state’s history.”

As well as focusing on local and state concerns, the Old Capitol Museum curates exhibits that explore broader areas of history like the Napoleon Bonaparte exhibit.

“For the Napoleon exhibit, we worked with a private collector in France,” Preston said. “The exhibit portrays how people in a great position of power, such as Napoleon, use the art of propaganda to sway the public’s opinion.”

Future plans for the museum include photo stories and an exhibit on African American veterans in February, in honor of Black History Month.

“There’s plenty to do in the Old Capitol, and in McBride Hall as well,” Preston said. “If students are looking for a way to get out in the community over break and see some really interesting things, we offer a great way to learn and enjoy yourself in the process.”

DECEMBER 19, 2012

A&E

4th Ave kicks off season

A19

HOROSCOPES “Your destiny, revealed.”

By Mikiel Curtis & Nat Alder Illustration by Juliette Enloe

ABOVE: 4th Ave show choir performs their closer “You and Me Gonna Cut a Rug.” photo courtesy of Beth Gier

By Lilly Reitz

lillyreitz@thelittlehawk.com

Orange, blue and red lights illuminated Opstad Auditorium on December 15th for 4th Ave Jazz Company’s annual Winter Show. City Lights performed, as did the City High jazz bands, Jazz Lab, and Jazz Ensemble.

“Some of the songs were hard at first,” Amber Pirkl ‘13 said, “but we all worked really hard and pulled it together.”

4th Ave kicked off their show with the energetic medley “Bouncing Off the Walls/Vertigo,” featuring soloist Sam Buatti ‘13, then transitioned into Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold,” with a solo from Michael Gloer ‘13. One highlight of the show was a

full-choir swing dancing rendition of “You and Me Gonna Cut a Rug,” which starred soloist Calvary Tutson ‘13 and closed the show.

Ann Marie Buatti, a self-proclaimed “show choir mom,” has been working with 4th Ave for six years and is excited for the members of 4th Ave to put all their hard work into action.

“I think this group is going to do well,” Buatti said. “The seniors are really good leaders and they’re all very talented. This group has a lot more experience than in past years.”

Seb Surom ‘13 has noticed improvement on all the songs since they began in summer.

“Sometimes we don’t sound so good,”

Surom said, “but we pull it together and always sound great.”

4th Ave is an award winning show choir but also a learning experience for many of the students involved.

“4th Ave has taught me that every single person is so important,” first-year member Elena Foster ‘14 said, “and you can’t afford to lose anyone.”

The Winter Show was the first of many performances that 4th Ave will participate in this school year.

“We take trips all around the midwest for competitions,” crew member Nikki Schmeling ‘13 said. “We did really well last year, and I think we’ll do even better this year.”

LH Online features new podcasts

By Gabriel Basile

gabrielbasile@thelittlehawk.com

THIS CITY LIFE

“This City Life” is a new podcast spotlighting City High students with talents or interests that may not be readily apparent.

Hosted by Will Lubaroff ‘13 and Lilly Reitz ‘14, it goes in depth to find out more about extraordinary students at City High. Past interviewees include science man Abram Nothnagle and singer-songwriter Elena Foster.

HAWK TALKS

This is a weekly Arts and Entertainment podcast hosted by seniors Gabriel Basile, Nat Alder and Max Friedman. They review music, art, and other entertainment-related

events around town. They also take a close look at recent album and movie releases, covering both the mainstream and the lesser-known.

“We decided that a podcast would be a good way to get some of our ideas and opinions out to the student body,” Friedman said. “We really liked podcasting and had a lot of fun with it, so we have continued to do it.”

Other subjects of discussion include video games and theatre performances.

SOUNDS OF A CITY

Also new, “Sounds of a City” has weekly musical guests, hosted (and at times accompanied) by Will Lubaroff. Expect everything from original melodies to covers of classic 80s hits.

“I realized there were a lot of students that had musical talent but no outlet,” Lubaroff said. “And if someone else were running a podcast like this I would be pumped to be on it.”

Elena Foster ‘14 was the first musical guest on the podcast.

THE WEEKLY SPEW

The Weekly Spew: “The Weekly Spew” is a weekly news podcast hosted by seniors Jason Arnold and Lily Howard. They look at the latest City High and local news from a student perspective and report the hard truths of high school life from the field.

“We started the podcast to bring up and discuss local news,” Arnold said. “Some of these topics have several points of view and we try to cover and represent them all.”

Aquarius [Jan 20-Feb 18]

Someone will screenshot your Snapchat and distribute it amongst friends.

Pisces [Feb 19-March 20]

The Frenemies story is probably about you.

Aries [March 21-April 19]

Don’t go camping anytime soon. There are bears. Okay there aren’t any bears, but there are mountain lions.

Taurus [April 20-May 18]

Your twitter has been compromised. Burn the files.

Gemini [May 21-June 20]

Don’t play with fire.

Cancer [June 21-July 22]

The election is over. Go back to your mustard eating contests.

Leo [July 23-Aug 22]

You can’t audition for “Town Lights” or “5th Ave”. They don’t exist.

Virgo [Aug 23-Sept 22]

When the zombie apocalypse hits.... You’ll be ready.

Libra [Sept 23-Oct 22]

New Years resolutions are a good way to convince yourself that you’re gonna try to be a better person.

Scorpio [Oct 23-Nov21]

Against popular belief, spending your open periods looking at pictures of cute animals is not productive.

*Sagittarius* [Nov 22-Dec 21]

One day you’ll actually go to the gym instead of just talking about going to the gym.

Capricorn [Dec 22-Jan 19]

Happy Birthday..... If the world doesn’t end that is!

A20 A&E

DECEMBER 19, 2012

Raygun finds humour in Midwest

Mike Draper, with the staff of his apparel company Raygun, has written an illustrated guide to “the galaxy’s most important region.” The book plays with Midwestern stereotypes and history.

“In the spring of 2004, I graduated with a degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania.” On this improbably dull note begins “The Midwest: God’s Gift To Planet Earth,” the new coffee-table book

by Mike Draper and the staff of Raygun, Draper’s hip clothing store headquartered in Des Moines. But the book is a little like Draper’s stereotypical Midwesterner: it may not come on strong, but if you get past the modest, polite exterior you’ll find there’s a cool and often hilarious and surprisingly knowledgeable person there.

Draper tells us that his time at Penn made him see the Midwest in a new light. No one could remember which state he was from - was it Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, or Kansas?

- but regardless, they knew he was different.

Maybe “coffee-table book” isn’t a fair label. The book comes equipped with terrific illustrations, clever captions, and small tables and charts.

But plain old text – paragraph after paragraph of it! – comprises most of the book. That mass is divided up into around 30 chapters, 6 pages apiece: the perfect length to hold your attention for a few interstitial minutes.

The chapters read like extended Jon Stewart monologues – wideranging, smart, accessible, and pretty dang funny. The book’s biggest surprise has to be how truly informative it is. Don’t read it just for the oneliners: enough of those “interstitial minutes” and you’ll have learned yourself a thing or two about the Midwest. He has a talent for weaving historical anecdotes into his standup routine. The 235 pages travel easily across time and place and subculture. While he is not master of all trades – correction: William Dean

Howells was not a humorist – he is able to say intelligent, funny things about an astonishing array of subjects.

There are a sprinkling of minor grammatical and spelling mistakes - forgivable considering the book’s length and the fact that its author is a t-shirt salesman. It should also be noted that there is some vulgar language. If you’ve watched Jon Stewart, you’re used to it.

For the last few pages, Draper’s busy trying to summarize books about the Midwestern economy. And this book is not meant to be read from cover to cover. It’s meant to be picked up at random and enjoyed for a few minutes. So take a few minutes and pick it up -- at your local bookstore today.

VIEW RAYGUN INTERVIEW HERE

By Jacob Potash

jacobpotash@thelittlehawk.com

A&E BEST OF 2012 > MOVIES > TECH > TV > GAMES THE DARK KNIGHT RISES The last installment of the legendary Batman trilogy.

LINCOLN

A stunning biopic of the 16th president of the United States during the Civil War.

SKYFALL

After an attack on M16, James Bond must question his loyalty to M.

iPAD MINI

Well . . . it’s a mini iPad.

iPHONE 5

The new iPhone packs a 4 inch retina display, ultra fast wireless, and a powerful A6 chip.

WII U

Graphics to rival the Xbox and PS3’s and a revolutionary new interactive touch screen gamepad.

THE WALKING DEAD

The Walking Dead is one of the most popular zombie shows to date.

REVOLUTION

This new hit show tells the story of a family surviving in an apocalyptic world with absolutely no electricity.

MODERN FAMILY

Follow the lives of these 10 eclectic family members in ABC’s hilarious returning comedy.

HALO 4

The first installment in the latest trilogy of Halo games, the Reclaimer Trilogy.

ASSASSIN’S CREED 3

The sensational game that provides a unique point of view during the Revolutionary War.

BLACK OPS 2

Black Ops 2 has several endings, depending on which conditions the player fulfils during the game.

The Little Hawk

SPORTS

B1

BACK IN

ACTION!

*see pages 4-5

B2 SPORTS

DECEMBER 19, 2012

Dance Team earns top honors After a successful season, the City High Dance Team looks back on their accomplishments including a 3rd place finish in Poms, and a 4th place finish in Jazz at the State Competition.

ABOVE: The City High Dance Team celebrates by posing with their trophies at the state competition. photos courtesy of Kellee Darner

By Olivia Hamilton

oliviahamilton@thelittlehawk.com

GAMES

UPCOMING

After a successful start, with multiple first place trophies from various competitions, the City High Dance Team ended their regular season at the state competition placing third overall for Pom and fourth for Jazz.

The team received a Division 1 rating for Pom, Jazz, and Lyrical. At the State Solo competition, three of the team’s dancers placed within the top ten.

“We had a very talented group all around this year and our coach gave us great choreography to put our talents together,” Kellee Darner ‘13 said. “For the most part we all have a similar style of dancing which really helped.”

Their success from their competition at the University of Iowa where they placed first in Pom and second in Jazz gave the dancers the drive they had at state.

“We definitely hit our high point

at the U of I competition,” Darner said. “We were so thrilled that day and it definitely made us work harder and more as a team from that point on.”

Achieving their placements at State was not easy for the team. They had to put lots of hard work into practice three times a week for 2-3 hours a day to overcome their biggest hardship.

“I think we struggled most with having a small team,” Chloe Reagan ‘15 said. “It was hard to get used to.”

Having a team of just eleven, the girls were led by the only senior on the team, Kellee Darner. Darner is a four year member of the City High Dance Team.

“I will miss the girls so much next year,” Darner said. “I’ve become so close with every grade even in years past, it’s always hard to say good-bye.

This year we have never had any major drama and that’s something very rare to find in an all-girls group. I absolutely love this team and am so

Basketball Double Header City vs. West December 21st

proud of each girl!”

The small, all-girl group not only lacked drama, but they also thrived in terms of team unity.

“We all got really close as a team,” Elke Windschitl ‘16 said. “I think that helped us work together as a team.”

Next year the team is looking forward to meeting new dancers to bond with, and learning new dances.

As for Darner, she will be attending

Iowa State University in the fall. She is unsure where dance will fall in her future, but she knows it will.

“I’m not quite sure if I want to try out for the dance team,” Darner said.

“It’s very tempting and they’re really good. If I don’t make the team or if I decide not to try out I will definitely minor in dance to keep dance a big part of my life.”

The dancers noted that from this

season, they will miss Darner the most next year. Darner believes the team will go on to do just as great in their next season and plans to visit to support the team.

“I can’t wait to see what the team has in store for next year,” Darner said. “They have great leadership coming up and I’m super excited to come back and cheer them on!”

ABOVE: The CHS Dance Team competes at the Cedar Rapids Prairie dance compeition. photos courtesy of Kellee Darner

Boys Swimming City vs. CR Jefferson January 3rd

Wrestling City vs. West January 10th

Bowling City vs. CR Prairie January 11th

DECEMBER 19, 2012

SPORTS

B3

Bowling teams work to improve record The boys and girls bowling teams, led by Sam Dennis ‘13 and Natalie Harapat ‘13, are looking to knock down their competition in hopes of making it to this year’s state meet in Des Moines.

By Daniela Perret

danielaperret@thelittlehawk.com

Led by seniors Sam Dennis ‘13 and Eric Kinney ‘13, the boys bowling team hopes to compete in this year’s state meet in Des Moines.

“The season has been going very well,” head coach Jerry Maye said.

“They’re showing a lot of promise.”

The Little Hawks are currently ranked sixth in the Mississippi Valley Conference right behind Dubuque Senior and Dubuque Hempstead.

With a record of 1-2 after the first three meets of the season, the team is beginning to come together and is planning on making it through to the regional meet on February 14, then on to the state meet on February 22.

“We had a little rocky start, but we did well last week and now that we’ve seen who’s the real deal for the first couple weeks, we can start coming together as a team,” Dennis said.

“It should start going uphill from here.”

Standouts for the team have included Kinney, Wes Kirchner ‘14, Christian Lehman ‘13 and Michael Beaumont ‘14. Although not currently ranked in the top three, the team still has high hopes of making it to the state meet.

“For the conditions that we have and the time that we’re allowed on the lanes compared to the other schools that are getting a lot of time on the lanes to practice, these boys are doing terrific,” Maye said. “Even if they don’t win, they’re doing terrific.”

The team shares their practicing

facilities with West High and have a limited practice time. They are allowed two times a week to practice at Colonial Lanes, in which one practice is entirely dedicated to qualifying six members of the team to play varsity for the following meet. During practices the team has mainly been focusing on improving their spare shots and technique.

“They’re doing a good job of focusing and they’ve been working on their spare shots and that’s what wins the game,” Maye said. “All I can say is that they’re a good bunch of boys, they listen to me and they will excel more and more each year.”

The team’s next meet will be a Bakers tournament against all other teams in the conference at Prairie next Saturday.

GIRLS BOWLING With a combination of practice, focus and perseverance, the girls bowling team is planning on improving on their 2-10 record from last year and making it to this year’s regional meet.

“The girls are doing pretty well,” Maye said. “We’ve got a few bowlers from last year that are doing a great deal better.”

The girls team is currently ranked fifth in the Mississippi Valley Conference behind Dubuque Senior and in front of Iowa City West. With a record of 0-3 after the first three games of the season, the Little Hawks are looking to improve throughout the season and make it to the regional meet on Feb. 14.

“I think we’re off to a good start

ABOVE: Sam Dennis ‘13 rolls a ball during a qualifying round in practice last week. Dennis has averaged 170.0 pins per game this season, to help his team to their No. 6 ranking in the Mississippi Valley Conference. photo by Ryan Young.

but we need to learn to pick up our spares and get more strikes and be more of a team,” Emma Greenberg ‘14 said. “But I think we’ve learned to work together no matter whether we’re winning or losing, and even if we do lose we still go on to the next meet and bowl strong.”

Like the boy’s team, the girls are focusing on improving their spare shots during practices.

“We’ve got some new bowlers that have not had very much bowling time in their life but they are listening and delivering the ball better than we expected,” Maye said. “They’re really

learning fast.”

Newcomers and standouts for the team include Bella McBride ‘16, Shyniece Cirillo ‘16, Brie Rios ‘13 and Natalie Harapat ‘13. The girl’s next meet will be on Jan. 4 at the Cadillac Lanes in Waterloo against Waterloo East.

B6 SPORTS

DECEMBER 19, 2012

New coach, new attitude: CHS Wrestling

ABOVE: Bryton Jones ‘13 takes down a wrestler from Waterloo East at the Five Season Dual Tournament hosted by Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Washington. Jones wrestles in the 170 pound weight class.

By Alex Moen

alexmoen@thelittlehawk.com Last year, three wrestlers qualified for the State Wrestling Tournament in Des Moines. However, none of the wrestlers made it to the podium.

Looking ahead at the 2012-2013 season, there are still many struggles for this year’s team and the fight is just beginning.

New head Wrestling Coach, Cory Connell, is looking not only to get the City High Wrestling program back to Des Moines, but also help the entire City High athletic program get back

to winning state championship titles every year in nearly every sport.

“I want to make City High the number one program in every activity in the state,” Connell said. “My junior year here, we won six state champions in six different sports. So my goal is to get ten state champions for ten different sports. But I want City High to be on top in everything that we do and wrestling of course, but as a teacher here I want every program to be successful.”

The two returning state qualifiers, captains, Alex Lemus ‘13 and Ryan Maas ‘14, are looking to return to the

Wells Fargo Arena, where their season ended last year.

“I think that both Lemus and Maas will do very well,” Connell said. “But a lot of it is up to them I think. I can help them, but I think they need to help themselves a lot too. They are both very talented wrestlers and they need to keep continuing to improve every day in practice.”

The work in the wrestling room is paying off. On Saturday, December 1st, Maas competed at the Keith Young Invitational in Cedar Falls and won the title over sixteen other wrestlers at 220 pounds.

“This year I have been really focused on what I need to do,” Maas said.

The other City High wrestler who competed was Matt Lee ‘13. Lee beat the second seeded wrestler to move onto the semi-finals. Lee finished the tournament as a runner up at heavyweight, after losing to Cegan Long of North Scott.

“My goal this year is to place at state. So, to be runner up is a major confidence booster,” Lee said.

Five days later, the Little Hawks competed at Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

It was the team’s second double dual

of the season after two losses to fifth ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie, and Dubuque Wahlert. However, the team was able to rebound to beat both Kennedy and Waterloo East.

“We worked a lot on technique, drills, and live wrestling during practice,” Coach Connell explained.

On December 15 and 16 the team participated at the two day Battle of Waterloo Wrestling Tournament.

Check www.thelittlehawk.com for up to date information and results. Their next home dual is on Thursday, January 31 against Cedar Rapids Jefferson and Waterloo West.

Boys swim team works hard to bring home titles

By Mickey Hansche

mickeyhansche@thelittlehawk.com With the swimming season in full swing, the City High boys’ swim team opened up the 2012-2013 season with a loss against Cedar Rapids Kennedy with the final score of the dual meet being 93-77. Harris Thompson ‘13 won the 100 butterfly and the 500 freestyle for the Little Hawks. Victories also came from Ike Eyman-Casey ‘13 in the 100 freestyle, Jacob Buatti ‘14 in the 200 freestyle and Andrew Parr ‘16 in the 200 individual medley.

“We were very pleased with how our first meet went, we hope to continue to be pleased with our performances,” Danny Burian ‘14.

Last year, The City High boys swim team sent six people to the State swim meet in Marshalltown, Iowa. Of those six people, four return to compete this year - seniors, Harris Thompson and Ike Eyman-

Casey, and juniors, Sam Cavanaugh and Jacob Buatti. This season the team hopes to send more people to the State Swim Meet.

“Our team goals are to be able to compete with other teams, and to do well this season,” Eyman-Casey said. As an individual, Eyman-Casey wants to break the record in the 50 freestyle.

“Workouts have been really hard as compared to the past, we haven’t won a meet yet, but our guys have been dropping time and working hard in practice and that is the important thing,” Eyman-Casey said.

The Little Hawks hope to reach these goals by working hard in practice everyday and to continue to work on all of the things that need to be improved.

“We’ve all been working hard and building up our muscles during the first few weeks of practices,” Burian said.

The Little Hawks spend up to 4 hours in the pool daily, swimming anywhere between 6000-7000 yards.

That is up to 4 miles a day. Amazingly, half of their practice is done before school even begins. The team lifts in the morning on Mondays and Fridays and swims in the morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays in addition to daily swims after school.

The team is also very aware of what they eat during training. While there is no specific diet, a lot of quality calories need to be consumed due to the amount of energy needed to get through practices. The swim team is one of the most dedicated teams at City High.

The Little Hawks have placed second in their first two meets and hope to improve to a first place finish in their next meet.

“Our first couple of meets have been rough. We have a very small team this year, so it is hard for us to

ABOVE: Ike Eyman-Casey ‘13 swims the freestyle. Photo by Annika Wasson make up points during our meets,” Burian said. “But people have been swimming their best and cutting their times, so that has been good.”

“The next step is preparing for the State Swim Meet, we want to qualify in as many events as we can,” Ey-

man-Casey said.

The boys next home meet is Thursday, January 3rd against Cedar Rapids Jefferson at Mercer Aquatic Center. The meet starts at 6:00 PM, and students can attend by showing their student ID.

DECEMBER 19, 2012

SPORTS

Three Little Hawk athletes sign NCAA Letters of Intent to play

OPINION:

THE WORLD of PEDs

By Mickey Hansche mickeyhansche@thelittlehawk.com

Recently, three City High Little Hawks signed NCAA National Letters of Intent to play college athletics.

Abby Saehler ‘13 will attend Wingate University to continue her volleyball career, Josh Crosby ‘13 will attend Minnesota State University to play baseball and Bri Hightshoe ‘13 will play softball at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota.

Saehler, a member of the class 5A volleyball first team all-state, verbally committed to Wingate University last spring. Wingate is a DII powerhouse program with a record of 163 wins and 9 losses over the past five years.

“I chose Wingate because I want to play volleyball at somewhat of a small school and because I really love the campus and the players,” Saehler said about her commitment to become a Wingate Bulldog.

“I am really excited to move and to keep playing competitive volleyball,” Saehler said. In addition to volleyball, Saehler has participated in softball and track at City High.

Crosby committed to continue his baseball career at Minnesota State in the early fall.

“It felt like a really good fit and they have had great success in the past,” Crosby said. Minnesota State Continues to compete at the highest level of DII athletics. This spring the Mavericks made their 31st appearance in the NCAA tournament, finishing third in the DII College World Series.

Crosby has participated in golf, basketball and this year is giving swimming a try to stay in shape for the upcoming baseball season.

B7

By Malin Craig

malincraig@thelittlehawk.com

Josh Crosby, Bri Hightshoe, and Abby Saehler have signed to continue their athletic careers.The Little Hawk file photos

Minnesota State University Bri Hightshoe made her decision to play college softball after visiting St. Cloud State this fall. Hightshoe chose St. Cloud State because of the size and the academic majors that the school offered her. St. Cloud State plays in the competitive Northern Sun Inter-

Wingate University

St. Cloud State University collegiate Conference.

“I’m looking forward to the dorm food, all of the hockey games, and getting to continue to play softball,” Hightshoe said about next year. Bri is also a member of the City High Girls Basketball team.

Year after year City High continues to produce multiple multi-sport athletes, including these three. Saehler, Crosby and Hightshoe will most certainly continue their athletic success at the collegiate level.

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Most people do not believe that Performance Enhancing Drugs (or PEDs) are an issue of concern in high-school athletics. When you hear about steroids or growth hormones, you instantly think of football, baseball, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire. In today’s extremely competitive high school sports world, the pressure for teenage athletes to perform is at an all time high. This leads young athletes into the world of PEDs In the state of Florida, it is estimated that 1.5 to 2 percent of high school athletes use some form of steroids. That may sound like a miniscule amount, but in a state with about 215,000 high school athletes, that is approximately 4,000 teens that are abusing these dangerous, life altering drugs. In a 2002 study

by Texas A&M, it was estimated that 42,000 Texas students were abusing steroids. This included the use of veterinary-grade anabolic steroids, used on cattle, horses, and pigs, from Mexico. The level of stupidity that the children who use horse drugs have is incomprehensible. The idea of putting these in my body just to become “stronger” is revolting.

The problem with PEDs usage is probably lack of education, I know that I have never been properly educated on the horrible side-effects of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. What I have learned was through self-education, in which I learned that steroids can shrink your testicles, lower your sperm count, cause infertility, and start the development of breasts.

Those alone make me never even consider considering taking steroids.

There are very few males that should desire to develop boobs. In addition to these physical effects, it also can cause depression which leads to, in some cases, suicide.

Florida, Texas, New Jersey, and Illinois are currently the only states that do random tests in high school for PEDs. If we want to have fair competition and safer children, then more states must include themselves in random testing in high school.

Having fair sports is obviously a large concern for people, but the life altering and life threatening effects of the drugs are an extremely prevalent issue.

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FOR UPDATED SPORTS COVERAGE GO TO:

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B8 SPORTS

DECEMBER 19, 2012

PLAYMAKER PROFILES Point Guards Lonnie Chester and Kiera Washpun

By DANIELA PERRET and OLIVIA HAMILTON

LONNIE CHESTER Position: Point Guard Grade: 12

KIERA WASHPUN Position: Point Guard Grade: 11

Little Hawk: How many years have

Little Hawk: How many years have you been

you been playing basketball?

Lonnie Chester: #3hunnayears LH: What got you interested in basketball?

LC: Michael Jordan highlights.

LH: Do you plan on playing basketball after high school?

LC: Yes. LH: What are your goals for the season, team and personal?

LC: To get better everyday and win state.

LH: How is the season looking for the team?

LC: Real Gucci.

LH: What is your favorite thing about being on the team?

LC: Hearing Jeff say “We puttin’ in Workkkk.”

LH: What are you looking forward to this season?

LC: Making it to state.

LH: Any pre-game rituals?

LC: Listening to Chief Keef.

LH: Nickname on the team?

LC: LC. LH: Who is your favorite basketball player?

LC: Chris Paul. I love him, that’s my dad.

LH: Favorite accessory?

LC: My Gucci Goggles.

LH: Favorite food?

LC: Anything Tony eats.

LH: Favorite type of dance?

LC: Moe Head Swagg.

LH: Any shout outs?

LC: Shout out to H-Block and whoever wants one.

LH: What is one thing most people don’t know about you?

LC: I really, really, really love to sing in the shower.

LH: Is there anything you’d like us to ask you?

LC: Who is my role model?

LH: And your role model is?

LC: Dr. Phil because he knows how to solve problems.

playing basketball?

Kiera Washpun: Eight years.

LH: What got you interested in basketball?

KW: Watching my brothers play.

LH: Do you plan on playing basketball after high school?

KW: Yes. LH: What are your goals for the season, team and personal?

KW: To get better daily and to win state and have a good record.

LH: How is the season looking for the team?

KW: Better than ever.

LH: What is your favorite thing about being on the team?

KW: The chemistry the team has.

LH: What are you looking forward to this season?

KW: Going to state and winning.

LH: Any pre-game rituals?

KW: Twerking with the team, listening to music and wearing the same socks every game.

LH: Nickname on the team?

KW: Kek/Keke.

LH: Who is your favorite basketball player?

KW: Carmelo Anthony & Rajon Rondo, they the best in the NBA. LH: Favorite accessory?

KW: A basketball.

LH: Favorite food?

KW: Everything!

LH: Favorite type of dance?

KW: The broom dance (made by me).

LH: Any shout outs?

KW: Shout out to the real people that keep it 100 percent and work hard at everything they do.

LH: What is one thing most people don’t know about you?

KW: I can sing.

LH: Is there anything you’d like us to ask you?

KW: Why do you like Rondo and Carmelo so much?

LH: And why do you like them?

KW: Because Rondo is the best point guard out there and nobody can stick with him. Melo can’t be guarded by anybody, he’s better than Lebron.