Tri-Color Times 2011-05

Granger high school

Tri-Color Times

The reporters get personal on page 8.

An open forum for student opinion and expression.

Granger opens the door for success Our new administration has made a big impact on students succeeding in school

By Brittnee Chacon AT GRANGER High, for the year 2010-2011, there has been a drastic improvement in grades, attendance and the number of fights has gone down. The administration has set new rules and locked them in.

Shelby Garret (10), said, “I think the new fighting fine is a good idea! There hasn’t been much fighting since the fine came in.”

At the beginning of this year, there were fights almost every week. “It’s been incredible,” said Mr. Wessman.

After Principal Haslam made the $50 fine, the number of fights went down quickly.

Haslam came up with the fighting fine this year since there were so many fights at the beginning of

the year.

Wessman thought that since the fine was made up students would not fight, but still have their dignity.

“Kids think that they’re cool because, they fight in front of their friends. If they don’t fight, then they’re chickens to their friends,” said, Mr. Wessman.

The administration thought that students could tell the one they’d be fighting that they didn’t want to fight due to the fine.

The attendance has also improved a lot as well. Since last year, the absences of all grades have gone down 16%. Students are coming more this year, than they were last year.

The GAAP program that was brought to our school this year has helped students a lot!

“I think it’s helped cause a better relationship between teachers and students,” said Wessman.

Grades last year were down terribly. For first term last year, 2,103 F’s were given out to students. For second term, the number of F’s went up with 2,431.

Third terms F’s went down to 2,329, and fourth term stayed just about the same with 2,324 F’s.

Those F’s given out were to all grades. This year, Granger High’s grades went up. This is the reason why schools take the CRT’s to justify grades.

CRT’s are to see how students did at the beginning of the year, and when students take them at the end of the year, it’s to see how much each student has learned and how well the teachers are teaching.

“We want higher scores,” said, Wessman. This year the administration is shooting for the high scores on the CRT’s. They are hoping that students try their hardest to get the best scores.

Principal Haslam said that the school’s rules and all the new things that he brought to Granger are for the students. “We just want what’s best for students attending this school,” said Principal Haslam.

The teachers and administration at Granger are just hoping for the best out of their students. Success has taken a huge part in this school this year. Tons of students are going to class more, grades have gone up, and fights have gone down.

Our administration had a huge part in making a better Granger.

This is one event you don’t want to miss out on!

The yearbook stomp has arrived

By Brittany Edwards MANY SAY the yearbook stomp should be for everyone. Mr. Haslam has a different approach.

“Yearbook stomp should be a reward for all the students who did everything right this year.

This will help the students get all their fines paid,” said Haslam.

Yearbook committee has had a lot of trouble this year in getting everything that they want. “I heard talk of a bonfire, but that is illegal. I also heard that they wanted to get fireworks but the cost was way over budget,” said Haslam with a chuckle.

Due to Granger being under construction, students should plan

to have the Stomp in the felid this year. The construction company is scheduled to own the football stadium by that time, and without their permission we might not have access to the yearbook stomps original place, but plan on the felid for now.

Ashley Chambers (12), the editor of the yearbook, is also in charge of organizing the stomp this year. She had many things in mind towards what she wanted for the stomp so it would make this event worth remembering.

“This year is going to be a lot better than previous years, versus just getting your yearbook signed. We are going to have lots

of games and activities, not to mention food, and hopefully a DJ from a radio station,” said Chambers.

Chambers definitely seems to be doing an amazing job in trying to make this year memorable.

“Hopefully everything goes as planned. If we can’t get a radio station to DJ, we are just going to have music playing and have Mr. Fuller announce when the different games are going to be played,” said Chambers.

“The cheerleaders are going to be in charge of food and concessions this year and we are even going to be having a pie eating contest,” Chambers said.

Many students are very excited for the yearbook stomp. “This is my first year at Granger and the yearbook stomp sounds like a lot of fun. Hopefully everything works out because if it does, this is going to be one of the coolest things the school has put together,” said Jordan Candland (10).

There are going to be many hilarious games, great prizes given out, and someone who didn’t buy a yearbook is going to have the opportunity to win one.

Granger students! Make sure to pay all your fines in order to attend the YEARBOOK STOMP. This is one event you don’t want to miss!

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May 2011

Summer jobs

By Maria Camarillo MANY STUDENTS at Granger High are making plans on leaving for vacation in the summer, but other students are staying here to work.

Students like Antonio Orta (10), are staying to work at a fast food restaurant, Five Guys in Jordan Landing.

“Its chill, it’s fun, and I got no problems with anybody there.” said Orta.

The part he hates about it is that he only gets a little bit of hours to work.

Another student from Granger is also spending his summer time working. Juan Giron (11) sells food and snacks at any stadium when there is an event going on.

Giron said, “The thing I like about my job is that I get to see all the games and events that happen, but the thing I hate about it is that I get paid by commission.”

He works any day there is a game from 5 P.M. until around 10 or 11 P.M. A lot of students right now are looking for a job but cannot find one or get one, and the people who actually have a job don’t really like it.

Javier Lopez (12) hates everything about his job at Kentucky Fried Chicken.

“I don’t like anything about my job, it sucks, and I hate working there,” said Lopez.

Enrique Gutierrez (11) actually likes his job. He works at Five Guys in Jordan Landing.

“I really like to work at Five Guys because I get to work with some of my friends, and not many people get to do that,” said Gutierrez.

He does most everything; he cooks fries, clean the lobby, and take people’s orders. He works weekdays from 5 P.M. until 10 P.M. “The thing I really like about my job is the money; it’s really a hard job. I also like the people I work with,” said Jose Torres (12), who works at McDonalds.

He does everything, drive thru, cashier, and kitchen.

“The other thing I also hate about my job is washing the dishes. I also hate complaints,” added Torres.

Many of these students work at fast food places but Siar Noori (10) likes his job at Little America Hotel in downtown. He has to stock plates, forks, knifes, spoons, and other silverware.

He doesn’t have a specific schedule; he works random days when he is called to work from 3 P.M. to 11 P.M. “I really like it because it is very easy but the thing I hate about it is that it gets hard when it gets busy,” said Noori.

No matter what your plans are for the summer, number one rule is no money, no fun, so get a job.

May 2011, page 2

VOL. LIII Issue 8

Conflict with injuries Granger gets new cheerleaders

Students afraid to play sports due to injuries

By Celeste Anguiano She also said, “Injuries are little ATHELETES all around Granger obstacles you have to go through, you see in the halls, but sometimes and if you really want to make they get hurt and this might affect it big in soccer, you just have to them in their athletic career. pass them. Man up!” BracamonKimberly Tabling (10) said, tes feels like that you can’t let “Injuries can make an athlete or it the fear of injuries rule your life can break them, it just depends on but you have to be strong and try how personal they take it.” She something new. also said that she is not involved Hayley Anderson (10) was a in any kind of sport; she’s too cheerleader for two years, after scared to get involved because a back injury she felt the need she is afraid of getting hurt. to stop her cheerleading career.

Many teens like Tabling are Anderson said, “I think that injuscared to ries are real play a sport. bad, if you They think “Injuries are little obstacles don’t want they’re goto get an ing to get you have to go through, and injury you injured, but if you really want to make it have to be there are paying atmany steps big in soccer, you just have tention all to prevent the time.” to pass them. Man up!” a big injury Anderson like knowwill be trying the rules ing out to of the sport, and using the right be a cheerleader for her senior protective equipment. Tabling year. “I hope this time I won’t get also said, “Preventing injuries is an injury,” she said. not easy at all, even babies get inIf you want to try out for a sport, juries by just walking.” but don’t want to get an injury Not everyone thinks the same you should always practice beas Tabling. Some students in fore, wear appropriate clothing Granger think that sports are the for the sport your trying out and best thing that can happen in their always make sure that your shoes lives like Berenice Bracamontes fit right.

(10).

If you ever get injured playing “Soccer is the best thing that has a sport you can always get profesever happened in my life, I don’t sional help. know what I would do without Tryout for a sport and get init,” Bracamontes said. volved at Granger.

Some students are afraid to play sports because of the phycial contact that might harm them.

By Mario Gomez CONGRATULATIONS to the 2011-2012 cheerleaders, they worked hard to gain a spot on the Granger spirit squad. The new Granger cheerleaders are; Jocelyn Beltran (10), Jordan Lopez (10), Elias Ramirez (10), Valeria Moreno (10), Yaned Rodriguez (10), Genesis Valverde (10), Estefania Vega (10), and Alexis Hughes (10).

Granger is excited to see what this new team can do. They don’t start practice until summer so we won’t get a taste until the first football game.

Cheerleaders have to sell 20 discount cards as a fundraiser so if you’re interested find one of these young ladies, the cards are 25$ and gives you discounts to different places around Granger.

Things are changing with the new cheerleaders. Next year, the chearleader with the lowest GPA will be required to wear Granger’s Lancer suit. Some of the girls think that it’s unfair but Vega doesn’t, “I think it’s a good idea because the other girls know that their GPA must be good in order to even participate on the team.”

The girls must obtain a GPA of

Jordan Lopez (10) smiles at the thought of her new cheer team.

a 3.0 and most of the girls have already met this but for the girl with the lowest better work hard if she doesn’t want to wear the lancer suit.

Moreno joined the team because she said she always wanted to be a cheerleader, and also because her boyfriend is going to play on Granger’s football team, this way she can be there and cheer him on. Moreno thinks that this year’s team will do great if they work together and communicate because that’s how a team works.

The team is mostly sophomores, so by the time they are seniors they will have much more experience and a whole new set of teammates.

Granger needs more people like the cheerleaders to show more spirit, this is a great school and we need to show it and also show how much pride we have in it.

“We can go the distance this year; I know we can do it! Granger doesn’t have to worry,” said Moreno.

Most of the new cheerleaders have a good feeling about them, they all have great attitudes and show much pride and love in their high school. After all, you only get one high school experience, why not show some pride?

Ambiguous slang words

By Karla Herrera MANY TEACHERS hate it when they hear the word gay used to mean stupid or not cool. Students do this all the time without thinking about it. It’s not like these students mean to offend homosexuals, it’s just a habit. A bad one.

Many homosexuals get offended by the misuse of the word gay. “I do believe it’s a bad word because it’s a substitution for something that means stupid. It’s like saying that’s so Mexican,” said Kamekona Fa’amoe (12).

Appropriate ways to use the word gay include references to homosexuality or to an extreme type of happiness seen in 1950s musicals or in Glee.

“Gay” is used as a derogatory word, so people who are homosexual get offended by the use of the word gay when it doesn’t

mean homosexual. When you use it to mean stupid it may offend people who are homosexual,” said Dr. Miller.

Like everything else there is always someone that disagrees with the meaning of how they use the word gay. “Gay is not a bad word

Many homosexuals get offended by the misuse of the word gay. because for me it means dumb,” said Joseline Reyes (12).

“Anything can be a swear word base on the emotion you put on when you say it,” said Mrs. Bird.

Knowing how to use a word in the right way is really helpful.

Even being aware of what you’re

Texting becomes an easy way out

actually saying can also come in handy. Many students at Granger actually don’t think before they open their mouths.

Even the other students that don’t have a fully developed brain get offended by the misuse of the word retard.

“Calling someone a retard is the thing that gets me the most upset because it makes someone question their own intelligence,” said Mrs. Bird.

Several arguments occur by the misuse of words that we use.

Now even fights occur by just someone saying a word to offend other groups.

“To call somebody a mother can be a compliment or an insult,” said Mrs. Bird.

It takes work and knowledge to understand what groups get offended by but it’s good to know.

Students seem to talk the talk through text but cannot seem to walk the walk in reality

By Karen Garcia ALMOST every student in Granger High School owns a cell phone. They may use it for different things but one thing most students use it for is flirting.

This could be good or it can be bad depending on the way you look at it. It can help shy people communicate a little more or it can make you even shyer because you are used to communicating through texts.

Amanda Oakeson (11) said she is the same except that she is flirtier in her text messages than in person.

Oakeson said, “I think people say things over text that they would never say in person.”

She even admitted it is easier to pull off lies through texting.

Sometimes when she is arguing with someone she feels like she has to talk to them in person but she would rather feel more comfortable texting them. Although she actually does text she says she just really hates texting.

“It takes away from real social interaction and distracts from everyday activities,” she said.

Oakeson feels like it would be better if text messaging would have never been invented; she thinks calling is simple enough.

Dr. Miller has taught that when you text you miss 90% of the conversation because only 10% is verbal and you do not see their body language, facial expressions, and tonal voice.

Jaqueline Olmedo (10) said she is a really big flirt through text

messages. She confessed that she acts different in her text messages than she does in person.

She said, “You definitely make more friends through text messages because sometimes some kids will get my number and then start texting me randomly.”

Olmedo said that sometimes she gets annoyed of people texting her so she does not text them back. Text messages have made her take an easy way out because she gets shyer when she is talking to a person face to face.

Olmedo also said that there is also a lot of drama involved through texting because people will talk more because they get less scared with texts.

Dominique Arredondo (11) said, “I am the same person peo-

ple text; I don’t change in text messages.”

Arredondo feels just as comfortable talking to them in person as he does in text messaging. He can make friends through text, but he still makes more friends in person.

Antonio Orta (10) is texting all day from when he wakes up until he goes to sleep. Orta thinks that cell phones are a good because he can flirt more but can also be annoying because some people irritate him with their text messages.

“Technology is great but it can make other people lose their social life,” he said.

Orta thinks he is the same in person as in texting. He talks to them in the same way he texts, but he flirts a lot more. He said he

has made more friends by getting numbers and then texting them, and then talking to them in person.

Aryana Frampton (11) said that she is a two-faced in her text messages occasionally.

Frampton said, “People seem to get mad at me because I am a sarcastic person and they forget that ,and I still act sarcastic through my text messages.”

She also said if she needs to lie she won’t lie but she will just try and make the situation seem alright which something is harder for her to do in person.

She gets the same reaction when someone texts her as she does in person, and she also tries to make herself sound funnier in her texts.

May 2011, page 3

VOL. LIII Issue 8

Speak out above the crowd

By Jonathan Carrasco SPEAK now or forever hold your peace. Michael Curfew (12) was selected as one of two speakers to represent. Granger at The First Semi-Annual Speakers Showcase. This was held at Salt Lake Community College. The finalist of the contest got a chance to perform on April 21. Curfew was one of the eight finalists, a big accomplishment for him, but for his family and Granger High.

Curfew had a lot of time to prepare and work on his speech. He first got his chance to shine when his fellow class members voted him in. His presentation was great and was about what he loved to do. His speech was informative and talked about dramatic theater.

Going up against older more experienced speakers such as returned missionaries, students that majored in public speech, and older folks which made Curfew lose some confidence but knew he could do it.

“As a boy I was really shy and didn’t say much so how I made these transitions was beyond me, I guess,” said Curfew.

The speech had to be at least five minutes long and it had to be either persuasive or informative.

Curfew’s coach, Dr. Miller, helped him better his presentation and rewrite his Power Point. She also worked on tying his beginning with his ending.

“Michael is a very articulate

speaker, I believe that’s what the class and I myself saw and that’s why we chose him to represent our school,” said Dr. Miller.

So if you did not see Michael speech on dramatic theater on April 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the technical building then maybe he will perform his winning speech again, which got him a top spot on the top eight.

After all he loves to act and speak.

Michael Curfew (12) encourages people to speak now and you’ll be heard.

Graduating class of 2011

Lancers tell their goals for their next step in life, college

By Paola Mascorro LANCERS have gone through so much to get this to wonderful experience of graduation! Class of 2011 has worked so hard throughout the year and are set and prepared to what life brings them after graduation.

Our Lancer Vanessa Zamora (12) has a goal to go to Salt Lake City Community College. Zamora said, “I’m going to get a job

because I am planning on moving out, not sure where, but somewhere.”

She also has planned to transfer after she gets her generals done.

Having her eye on the U, she wants to become a pediatrician.

“I also do see myself married when I’m at least 24,” she said.

Carlos Dominguez (12) has planned on going to Salt Lake City Community College to get

Carlos Dominguez (12) and Ruth Perez (12) show us what college they are attending.

his associates and generals.

When that is done he wants to go to the ART Institute to get his bachelor’s in animation.

Dominguez said, “I mainly want to finish up with what I have, save my money, and use it when I need it.”

Also like Zamora, Dominguez wishes to get a place of his own.

Another ready-to-go lancer is Ruth Perez (12). Perez’s first plan is enjoy summer. “I maybe want to get a job. If I do get a job I’ll probably move out,” said Perez.

After the summer she will be attending Salt Lake City Community College to get her associate’s degree in nursing.

Once she receives her associate’s degree, she would like to transfers to Univerisity of Utah and become a registered nurse.

These Lancers are ready for what life brings to them after graduation. Their mind is set to their next BIG thing.

Hopefully it all goes as planned.

Good luck to the rest of the Class of 2011. We hope you will go far and make a difference in the world.

A gift for graduation

Get an idea of what to give or get for graduation

By Heather Larson GRADUATION means a lot to the seniors of Granger High. The ceremony itself is a huge deal, but the seniors have worked extremely hard and made it through all these years, finally they conquered grade school.

So of course they expect something more than a piece of paper to show that they made it through all this hard work.

Are you getting something awesome for graduation? There are some parents who are planning to surprise their kids with their graduation rewards.

A few kids know that they’re getting some pretty expensive re-

wards. But other kids are only getting a pat on the back and maybe a high five from their parents.

Heather Lavender (12) is getting the new MacBook Pro as her graduation present. Her father is buying it for her as a reward for all her hard work and success.

“I couldn’t decide when my dad asked me what I wanted as a graduation present, I chose the MacBook because I know it’d be useful to me in college,” said Lavender.

Sara Fowles (12) gets to relax on a Carribean Cruise during the summer. Her family was already planning it but they just decided to add it as a part of her gradua-

tion present.

“I’m so excited! I can’t wait to lay in the sun and get a nice tan,” said Fowles.

There are many kids that aren’t planning on receiving any kind of reward for graduating.

It’s a common tradition to go out to dinner after graduation.

This year the graduation ceremony doesn’t start until 7 o’clock so people willl most likely go to dinner beforehand.

No matter if you get a new car or just a proud hand shake your parents and teachers are proud of your succesful finish of your grade school experience.

Congratulations class of 2011!

Shop classes disappear CTE classes are being downsized

By Daniel Christensen ARE YOU confused with all the rumors and news surrounding about the new school and shop classes? While it’s true that some of the classes are being cut back but some will still be around. For all you sophomore and juniors out there, there will be fewer chances for you to take a CTE class.

Starting next year, due to low enrollment in students taking woodshop, it is being downsized.

“We don’t have enough enrollments in woodshop,” said Mr. Pettit. For a while Mr. Pettit was in jeopardy of not having a job at Granger High School next year due to an involuntary transfer.

The plan for woodshop next year is one day Pettit will teach here and most likely another day teach at Kearns High. The woodshop classroom can then be dual purpose, and a math or science class could be held there. The administration wants more math and science classes which mean more teachers, which means smaller classes that will help raise test scores.

One problem with CTE classes is many potential drop outs or kids not on track to graduate take these classes. If students aren’t on track to graduate they have been transferred out of Granger and sent to Central. This way if they do drop out it is not on Granger’s

record.

The new school is set up to have a woodshop and several changes are coming. Mr. VanKeuren does not think woodshop will totally be stopped but the classes will be cut back. “We don’t want to lose any programs,” Mr. VanKeuren said.

Other than woodshop and drafting no other CTE classes will be cut back, but many woodshop kids are frustrated with what is happening.

“I hate it, it makes me angry. It’s not fair to us or Mr. Pettit to have woodshop stopped,” said Calvin Rankin (11). Rankin has been working on a bed all year long, and was looking forward to making more furniture next year.

Harpreet Bohpal (11) said, “I think it’s very bad and I’m mad at the same time, it’s one of my favorite classes, and it’s being cut back.”

Drafting is going to be totally canceled but still available at the GTI. Granger will have a new metal shop teacher next year. Mr. VanKeuren has found a new job here at Granger, similar to what Mr. Jenkel is doing. While big changes are coming to the shop classes soon, the new school should attract more students, and when the numbers go up so will the opportunities to take more shop classes.

An empty woodshop is causing worry for the administration on what to do with the class room.

Tri-Color Times Staff Editor Julie Hor Journalists

Journalists

Celeste Anguiano Maria Camarillo Jonathan Carrasco Brittnee Chacon Vanessa Chacon Daniel Christensen Brittany Edwards Yenny Estrada Karen Garcia Paul Garcia Mario Gomez Kenadee Hatch Aubrey Hensley

Karla Herrera Carlos Hurtado Heidi Izarraras Rebecca Jeter Heather Larson Paola Mascorro Jeannette Mikkelson Tule Nau Katelyn Paff Wendy Rojas Brandon Shatzel Ezra Tapusoa Joshua Zitting

The Tri-Color Times serves as a student forum for student opinion and student expression. The views expressed herein reflect neither the opinions of Adviser John Carlisle and Granger High School, nor those of Granite School District. The Tri-Color Times invites and publishes letters to its editorial board; all letters will be edited for taste, length and legality.

Granger High 3690 South 3600 West West Valley, UT 84119 385 646-5320

May 2011, page 4

VOL. LIII Issue 8

No respect, no mirrors West Side Story comes to Granger

By Josh Zitting YOU MAY have noticed the mirrors are gone out of the boys restroom. Why you ask? Well it’s due to kids scratching gang symbols into the mirrors or drawing on them.

The custodians were getting tired of replacing the mirrors so they decided to just take them out and not put another one in.

“About 3 or 4 mirrors had to be replaced this year due to grafitti,” Mr. Murdock said. “It’s just a lack of respect”.

There is a rumor that they might put the mirrors outside of the bathrooms where the camera will catch anyone trying to draw on the mirrors.

The tile they put in to replace the mirrors has a glossy look so you can actually see yourself, if it’s really that important.

Now next year they are trying with mirrors again. If it fails they will take them out for good. They might just start having adults in or near the restrooms to try to stop vandalism.

“We are not replacing them if

people are going to keep vandalizing them,” Officer Randall said, “It costs over $100 each”.

That means this year alone we have spent over $400 on mirrors alone. That money could have been spent to buy new books for our library.

“We know it is probably just 5 or 6 kids doing it, but we are not going to keep replacing the mirrors if they are going to keep getting damaged,” Mr. Haslam said.

Another thing being damaged is the toilet paper holders, which kids have been taking off and breaking them and ripping up the toilet paper.

“We can’t take the toilet paper out of the bathrooms, but if that’s what it takes.” Mr. Haslam said.

“I hope they will put the mirrors back,” Hunter Hendrickson (10) said.

Vandalism has been happening Throughout the year windows that had been broken had to be replaced, the mirrors are being scratched, and now toilet paper holders are being destroyed.

In the boys restroom the mirrors are taken out instead of replaced.

A closing chapter

By Berenice Lopez HAVE YOU ever felt as if time takes forever to go by or a class period feels like an eternity to get over? Well now in our last month of high school we start to say, “Wow! Time flew by, is it really the end?” Graduation seemed so far away and now it’s just a few days away.

Remember sophomore year when you were trying to find your classes, getting lost in the school and being intimidated by being the youngest ones? Thinking back on high school moments and all the wonderful people you’ve met, you really would not trade your high school experience for anything.

Through all the good, bad and ugly moments, you’ll cherish each and every single memory you have of Granger High. The people you have met have shaped a part of you. Now it’s time to move on to another chapter of our lives, and honestly it couldn’t be more exciting and anxious.

“I feel really good about graduation and relived caused at one point I was in danger of not graduating, I also think of how lonely it’s going to be after high school. I’m going to miss all of my friends,” said Fernando Carvajal (12).

Many of us can relate to what

Carvajal said of being in danger of not graduating. It’s very scary and stressful having to make up all of those credits and hours surely does suck. To be honest nobody brought all the extra work upon you but yourself.

A new part of our life will begin, and we will meet new people, reach our goals and set new ones as well but no matter how many years go by we’ll never forget high school.

For some us high school showed us who our true friends were, maybe we met our first love here, had our first heartbreak or simply we had the best times.

“I’m excited to graduate because now I get to go to college and do what I want to do with my life education wise,” said Denis Afatchao (12).

Now college is the next step in our lives and like Afatchao said we finally get to do what we’ve always wanted, a new beginning waits for us.

Now that high school is a few weeks from being over, we must decide what to do with our lives and what we want to become. We all have dreams and goals; the only thing we need is the courage to pursue them.

Farewell Class of 2011! Granger wishes you the best in having success in your lives.

By Kenadee Hatch AT THE close of the 2010-2011 school year, we can look back on several things and feel proud with the way they went. This includes the drama department’s hard work that went into their smash hits including Hairspray and Little Women.

Saying goodbye to this year, we prepare for next year’s activities and future successes. Along with this, the sophomores and juniors have to step forward and attempt to fill the shoes of the leaving seniors. Next year’s future success includes the much anticipated mu-

sical; it will be West Side Story.

West Side Story is in the mold of the classic love tale of Romeo and Juliet, but brings it to life with music and dance that’s out of this world.

Two star-crossed lovers are kept apart by their culture and the gangs they are (or were) a part of. Tony comes from the Jets, made up of Caucasians and Maria comes from the Sharks, composed of Puerto Ricans. When the two meet at a dance, there is no keeping them apart. The secret meetings lead to plans to run away, resulting in the climactic tragedy

West Side Story is guaranteed to be the exciting love story that will keep you on the edge of your seats until the final curtain closes. The GHS drama department will live true to its name and bring nothing but greatness.

that ends the show in heartbreak.

Granger’s production is expected to be nothing short of fantastic. We have our star studded cast who will make this a show to not miss.

Mr. Fuller is the teacher who will be taking charge of this project. When asked about the project he was very excited.

“I think we have an excellent cast,” said Fuller. “This is a very talented group of kids that I will be working with, and I’m very excited to do so. I think we will do a fantastic job.”

When I asked about the process so far Fuller said, “I haven’t really thought about this musical yet.

I’m going to have to start in these next couple of weeks.”

Karey Watts (11), who choreographed the musical Hairspray last year, will be part of the cast this year. Watts will be playing a jets girl, Graziella. West Side Story, being known for its dance will have a lot of built up expectations.

When asked about her thoughts on this year’s musical, Watts said, “I’m excited to be a part of this!

The other members are great and I’m thrilled to work with them in this production. I tried out mainly for the dancing and the story line that I knew and would love to be a part of. Between drill team and the play, I’ll have to juggle my time, but I’m ready to do so.”

As this production gets in motion, one thing’s for sure, there’s a lot of excitement building up.

The momentum going into this will bring into being something worth our time. Granger’s got talent, and we’re not letting it go to waste.

A new committee steps up

By Carlos Hurtado NOBODY really knows what teachers do after the bell rings at 2:10 P.M every day. Do they go home to their loved ones? Does a relative of a teacher has pass away or a baby was born?

Well the fellowship committee here at Granger High School make sure that everybody knows what is going on with the teacher.

“We recognize a teacher for a birthday, funeral, or a birth of a new child, we send them little baskets with candy with sayings on the candy,” said Mr. Johnson chairman of the fellowship Mr. committee.

“We also recognize teachers who are retiring or moving to another school,” Mr. Johnson, who teaches American History He wishes to keep it positive with all the teachers in Granger

when he will try to make new plans for next year when he takes charge of the committee.

teaches Algebra and Pre-Calculus, will be her first year that will be in the committee. “My plans are to not screw it up,” said Ms. Ericson.

“I don’t have any plans to change anything because my first year in the committee will be basics and the second year I will know what to do.”

Ms. Ericson is not scared to be in touch with other teachers, since she only knows people in the Math and English building so she will be in contact with other teachers in the main building.

The committee it consists of Mr. Johnson the chairman, Johnson as the chairman of the Fellowship Ms. Ericson, Ms. Peterson, Committee.

Ms. Green, and Mr. Durfee.

Mr. Johnson just hopes that “My plans are to keep traditional everybody that is on the commitor maybe throw a new twist, some tee will be as stoked as he is to pizzazz,” said Mr. Johnson. help and recognize other teachTeachers like Ms. Ericson, who ers.

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May 2011, page 5

VOL. LIII Issue 8

Introducing Fairbourne Station

By Kenadee Hatch WE’VE ALL seen the city centers of our state. There’s City Creek in Salt Lake City, and Daybreak in South Jordan, but this seems to be the one thing West Valley is missing. With all the development going into our area, we’re seeing an increase in value, but the job isn’t over yet.

This idea has been in development since the year 1980. With over 13 years of developing, planning and designing the concept, on May 19, Mayor Winder revealed “Fairbourne Station” to the city. This was named after Fairbourne Station of the frontier where families would go to market – the focal point of the farming community.

In his own words he said, “This modern town center will be worthy of Utah’s second largest city.”

He had his daughter Grace go to the front of the room to push the button that would reveal the name. Winder said, “This symbolizes the future generations of this city.”

Fairbourne Station is a smart growth community that will hon-

or the legacy of everyday citizens and our city’s goals of unity, pride and progress. It is a so-called “game changer” for our city.

first four star hotel (comprised entirely of suites).

It also includes the five story residential facilities, built in asso-

enade. This includes the new county library and possible future post office.

Nicole Cottle, the city commu-

The plan of what West Valley City will become, the future of our community.

What exactly is Fairbourne station, you may ask?

Fairbourne Station is a 40 acre mixed use project. This July starts the construction of the Hilton Embassy Suites, our city’s very

ciation with Ivory Homes. There will be 200,000 square feet of office space and 200,000 square feet for retail space.

The focal point of this area will be the four acre park with prom-

nity and economic development director said, “West Valley City is undergoing a renaissance. It will become the epicenter of Utah, an icon in all senses of the word.”

Representative Jason Chaffetz

Photos courtesy of Shelia Phouthavong (10)

got up to congratulate the valley.

He said, “This is a change of face for the valley. It’s truly an amazing feat and a sign of good things to come. It’s great stuff.”

Representative Jim Matheson said, “The amount of work this takes is stunning. The vision and hard work has brought us to where we are today.”

Governor Gary Herbert let us know that we should smile for joy. Herbert said, “The vibrancy of our state comes from the vibrancy of our cities. A lot of our progress comes from the so called ‘back yard’ of the state, otherwise known as our cities.”

According to him, there are unlimited possibilities of what we can become. We work together for the good of the whole. Our ancestors would be amazed at what they’d see today.

Following the announcement came the ground breaking. Fairbourne Station is officially underway. We have a lot of good coming to our city.

This will increase the value of the city as a whole. West Valley is moving on up and we are taking a note of our new community.

May 2011, page 6

VOL. LIII Issue 8

May 2011, page 7

VOL. LIII Issue 8

May 2011, page 8

VOL. LIII Issue 8

Ten days without a cell phone

Opinion by Karla Herrera I TEXT and drive, I know it’s bad but texting for me is an addiction. Knowing that I just have the privilege to text all I want makes me want to text. Without texting interfering with the phone bill, it makes it more difficult to stop.

Even when I spend time with the family there is a moment that I just have to check who has text me back. Many of those times I always get yelled at for ignoring my mom.

“Can’t you ever spend time with your family without you being on your phone,” my mom said.

I always reply fine I won’t do it anymore, but yet I still go on with the habit to text everyone back. Yeah, ignoring the family is disrespectful especially when the whole family is united to share the lost moments.

That’s when I decided that it would be a good challenge to try not to text at least in class time.

I know many teachers have given up with telling students to put their phones away but there are also many teachers that take your phone away.

Yet students do not listen, on the other hand, I am really good at not texting when I know that I will get a teacher upset.

Knowing that your phone will end up in the principle desk and having to have your parents to come get it from him is actually a fear for me. Especially because she says I cannot live without my

Even though I know they are not as important.

With that said, I decided to through myself a challenge to not text during class hours. It gets hard when you know you have to let go of something that harms you because you use it too much.

This reason helped me continue the challenge. The challenge was not to text during school time.

At the beginning it was easy. I thought to myself that it was possible, but as hours went by I kept getting texts that really did not mean anything to me.

Later on, I got a text from my boyfriend. Knowing how he gets upset when I do not reply I decided to just text him back. With that action that I did, I just decided to text everyone that I had a text from. Therefore I knew Karla Herrera (12) even texts in bathrooms. by doing that I lost the battle, phone. but I also gain the control to text With all those facts of not tex- less in class. ting when I’m not supposing to, Doing this challenge has actumakes me want to try the chal- ally helped me to text less then lenge even more. The positive I use to. This is something that sides of why I should text, over I will do later on in the future to rules the habit to text all I want. help control my texting.

A break in the relationship

Opinion by Paola Mascorro THROUGHOUT every relationship there have been fights, what people usually call “The Roller Coaster”. The roller coaster appears to happen almost in every relationship.

It just comes to those moments where you come to a point of when you simply cannot take it anymore. It’s either because of drama, rumors, or whatever the cause might be, and trust becomes a big part of it.

My boyfriend, Alex and I have been together for a year. I’m happy to say that I love him a lot, but obviously we have had our problems. In the beginning, like every other relationship it was the best part. First a couple of months were great and awesome. We did have some bad moments, but we learned how to get through as a couple.

As the time went by things were not too good. We even thought that it’s a phase; it’s something everyone has to go through. As time continued things were getting difficult and harder to understand each other. Those problems were really too much to handle for both of us. Sadly, it’s when it came to the pause.

It was very hard on both of us.

Pausing the relationship meant taking a break from each other.

We took that decision because after all we both wanted to know where we both stand as a couple.

We did not decide for how long enough either it was just something that just by giving it time we will know if we were meant to be or not. I can honestly say that it was heart breaking. Being together for a year, going through so much, all those wonderful memories; and out of the nowhere were not speaking or seeing each other.

Alex and I were on pause for two months. It was so hard for me because since he would come see me for lunch, come pick me up after school and we would hang out at my house. I was used to the fact that he was always there.

Not talking to him for those two months was just so awkward.

Throughout each day I’d think about every single memory, missing him everyday made me value what we had and it made me want to get back with him.

I thought it was funny how we would make up little excuses to talk to each other. He was always on my mind so I’d call to “talk to his sister” just to hear the sound of his voice and to at least know he was okay. He would do the same, asking if my brother “needed a haircut”.

Later he gave me a surprised visit on the May 7 at my job. It was so unexpected. As soon as I saw him I got butterflies in my stomach and I knew for sure that I

wanted him back.

I was scared of him not having the same feelings towards me, until the next few days he gave me a call saying that he misses and loves me and wanted us to work out.

I automatically had a huge smile because I never thought he’d call me. I actually thought we weren’t getting back together for being apart for a while and just maybe his feelings were gone. It might have been mostly a stop than a pause.

We continued to talk and that’s when we got back together. Now that we are, our relationship is better than ever. Having our break made us both realized that we couldn’t be away from each other, other than that our little problems are an easy fix.

I suggest to other couples taking a break is hard, but it sure helps because it makes you see what you desire and honestly know where the relationship stands.

“Having our break made us both realize that we couldn’t be away from each other, other than that our little problems are an easy fix.”

Ezra Tapusoa (12) improves his fitness by doing some push-ups.

Taking off the weight

Opinion by Ezra Tapusoa EXERCISE is the most important thing for being healthy in life. In Utah, we have over 1,156,000 Utah adults that are overweight and over 461,000 are obese. Additionally, 21.5% of Utah elementary school students and 20.4% of Utah high school students are at an unhealthy weight.

I am one of those overweight people in Utah, and it is because I never like to exercise. The only time I exercise is at school in P.E., which is every other day. When I am in P.E. class I only walk, but I run once in awhile if I want to.

I am a very lazy person and I sleep right when I get home.

Sometimes I eat and clean too, but that does not really help much with being active. Every New Year’s people ask me what is my new year’s resolution, and I tell them is to lose weight but it never happens.

Now I am going to make a change and exercise every day morning and night. I will try to lose at least 100 pounds by October. Since I started, I am exercising every day and night and I know it is working because when I exercise my muscle starts to burn.

I have a routine I do five pushups and then five sit-ups. Then I run around my block for five minutes and the next day I add five

more to push-ups and sit-ups. And when I started I weighed 270lbs.

I think it is hard for me to lose weight because I started late. I should have started earlier because I am big and it gets hard to lose this weight, but it is better to start then never start at all. I am trying to cut the junk food as well and try to have vegetables with my meals and cut the soda.

I will try to eat healthy and just eat one piece of meat with my meals. I have a habit of eating after seven and I wake up in the middle of the night and going to the kitchen and warming up leftovers.

I need to break that habit and another habit I have is going to the store around midnight and buying junk food for when I am craving something.

In my room on my dresser I have a little corner where I put my junk food and when I am bored I just grab something from the dresser and eat it, but that is all going to change by October. I will be 100 lbs. lighter.

I encourage all of you those people that are overweight to love yourself and make a change not only for yourself but for your family as well we don’t want to die at a young age caused by a heart attack. Make a change, become healthy.

Opinion by Mario Gomez I SET MYSELF a challenge for two weeks, and that challenge was to play video games for 3 hours every day. I know that may not sound very hard but believe me it was.

Playing video games is not really my thing but I like to do it from time to time but not all day like I did these past weeks.

I started off playing Call of Duty: Black ops on Xbox and that’s the only game I played.

I have to say I really enjoyed it but after the first hour it made me tired, but I still kept playing, seeing that there’s many other things to do in that game.

After the first couple days playing just wore me out and made me want to nap and sometimes I did or I just fell asleep. I also noticed that as I played more, I felt as if I was sucked into the game, I was more focused on the screen than on my surroundings.

Anyone will tell you that I’m not the best player to ever pick up an Xbox controller but I’d say I’m about average. Whether anyone is good or not, video games make people more aggressive and

or competitive.

I felt this way every day, because I would have a couple good games and then a completely horrible game. The way the game was going would make me frustrated or I would be satisfied with the outcome. After playing I noticed that I would be a little more irritated and still tired, also my dad was always on my case for being tired all the time.

After my two weeks I was glad to have finished my challenge and I had returned to normal. I never thought that video games could change me but I realized that it could.

Multiple studies have reported that playing video games can significantly increase heart rate, blood pressure, and oxygen consumption. If studies show that heart rate is increased when playing video games, then it seems that the body responds as well.

The studies also show that this can also affect the player’s mood and cause him or her to become more aggressive or emotional.

Playing games is not a bad thing; just keep it to a certain limit a day.

Becoming a gamer

May 2011, page 9

VOL. LIII Issue 8

A penny saved, is a penny earned

Opinion by Carlos Hurtado SAVING money can be hassle when you have so many products to buy and use for your own good.

When I have money, it is like I have to release it to the world and let it be free instead of locking it up in my pockets or wallet.

There are a lot of times I buy things that are not worth it, or I just buy things because I have the money to buy it. Well things were changing when I committed to save up my money and only use it for emergencies or for my needs and not wants.

My paycheck is handed to me on a Friday, as I look upon it I decide to cash it in and put all the money in my debit card for safekeeping.

Then I did what some men claim is a mistake and is the number one rule of all time, I gave my card to my girlfriend for safekeeping.

Having done this, I would not have the tendency to go to the grocery store and start buying only junk food, so this time I would have some control over myself and someone to stop me if I wanted to buy useless junk.

Three days has passed, and it has been horrible to not have any money. When I walk into the mall there are many things I would like to buy. Every time I would reach into my pockets to pull out my card, all that I would grasp in my hand was pure lint from the inside of my pockets.

I did some research on how to save your money and get more money in your pocket and what experts suggest people should do

with their money is manage their accounts properly and invest.

At first I did not know what that meant until I had a talk with one of our own experts, Mr. Bullock.

“You should manage your money and what you’re spending on, also check your credit reports annually because you may never know who might be stealing your identity and using your money or opening unwanted accounts then later in the future you will be broke without you knowing about it,” said Mr. Bullock.

One week in a half has passed and I have been distracting myself from my money. I have been thinking what I would do when I get my card back? What would I spend it on now?

I have a job as a cashier and I get a pretty decent income. I have been saving up money to buy a

car of my own and to get braces, but as I started asking people how they got their car many people answered me that their parents bought their car from them and pays for insurance and the gas!

I thought that was absurd because I have always been taught to work for whatever I wanted in my life. In my family, we do not get things handed down to us that easy.

As the two weeks finished up, I made a promise and a goal to myself to save up money and only spend it for what I really need it on.

My advice to you money spenders is to eat before you go grocery shopping, trust me it really does work when you walk down the junk food aisle at Wal-Mart and you are not craving for that bag of chips.

Carlos Hurtado (11) fights for control of his debit card.

A sweet attempt

It is hard to resist junk food, but in the longer run it will be better for you.

Being healthy

By Celeste Anguiano EVERYDAY for two weeks I tried to make healthy decisions. I wanted to walk at least an hour a day but I also wanted to have time for me.

When I told my mom about it she laughed and said hopefully you do it. The epidemic of support, I know. For two weeks I tried to eat breakfast, and for lunch I did not eat munchies, I ate an apple.

Emotionally, I felt great at first.

When my friends asked why my eating habits changed, I told them about my goal and how determined I was to stick to it. Then, after about a week I really just wanted to eat chips and soda like all the other normal teenagers in a high school.

After seven days of making good healthy decisions I decided I couldn’t resist one more day without chips.

I bolted to the vending machine.

The first chip I ate made me smile.

I thought that bag of munchies was the best thing ever. When the bag of chips was completely empty I felt bad and I thought to myself, you could do this!

When I got home my mom had cooked some really nice good looking enchiladas. When she offered some I told her no thanks, I’m going to eat some salad I bought yesterday.

When the week was over I was so happy that I went to the store and bought a big huge bag of chips. I locked myself in my room, turned on my TV, and finished my well-earned chips.

When you make good healthy decisions you will feel good, not just emotionally, but also physically. I never got a stomach ache or a headache when I actually exercised and ate healthy food.

The hardest thing about my healthy decisions was the diet; the exercising part was easy! I exercised about an hour and half every day. I would take my little niece to the park and we would play soccer or little activities that made us both run.

Now my family is making good healthy decisions. My mom is making more salads and putting more vegetables on our foods.

Everyone goes to the park together now and we soccer together.

Becoming sweet is not as easy as you think Opinion by Berenice Lopez ANYONE and everyone who knows me, know how blunt I am, sometimes I might come off rude but it’s just who I am. I’ve always being an honest person and I hate sugarcoating things but I know that sometimes my honest remarks and opinions might hurt people’s feelings.

I decided to take on a challenge that might probably help me to not come off as such a rude person, I’m going to try to make my honest opinion sound as nice and sweet as possible, and we shall see how this works. I started my challenge on May 9.

I woke up feeling grumpy so I knew it was going to take all of my willpower to try and not be mean, and of course to my super good luck, my brothers woke up in the most annoying, can’t stand you kind of way. I was so ready to yell at them but I contained myself and left to school.

While I was at school everything was going smooth, I started feeling a bit better and I wasn’t feeling as grumpy as I was in the morning, well that was until fourth period.

I was sitting there, minding my own business when this kid sitting right next to me starts chewing his gum like a freaking cow

not to mention that’s my biggest pet peeve of all times.

I was so ready to say something along the lines of this, “Hey dude, chew with your mouth closed,” but decided to put my head down, stay quiet and fall asleep. When I woke up there he was, still chewing his gum with his mouth open.

I was already annoyed, I had a stiff neck and wasn’t feeling good at all, thankfully the bell rang just in time, and I flew out of

Just a reminder to be nicer everyday.

the classroom and headed home.

The afternoon went swell, I think that’s because I was home alone.

The next day wasn’t as bad as the previous one, I only had one class and went home right after that. I was feeling very happy and lucky that day so I knew it wasn’t going to be hard to just be nice, well that was until dinner time.

My brothers came home from school and were being so loud,

my mom was working late so my dad cooked us dinner and let’s just put it this way, cooking isn’t my dad’s best asset.

The food was so salty and tasted horrible but when he asked how the food was, I wasn’t about to tell him how gross it tasted, so I told him it was good and he fixed me another plate. Uh? What was I thinking, ugh. My stomach hurt afterwards.

I went to sleep and the next day was good, I didn’t go to school since I wasn’t feeling good that morning so I stayed home and slept most of the day.

It was the day before my challenge will be finally over, I just want to say this was the day everything went downhill, I pretty much vented how I felt to everyone, and I know it sounded rude and all but some people’s children are too much to deal with.

I think I could’ve tried harder though, I know I can do it and I plan on making this a life goal.

I know everyone loves an honest person since you know you can always trust them but I don’t think many people appreciate the blunt truth because it’s rude.

I will try to be a nicer person and even though “I tell it like it is” I’m going to be sweeter when it comes to my opinion.

Some diet sodas are tasteful, but most of them are an acquired taste.

Nothing but diet soda

Opinion Josh Zitting FOR ONE week I tried to drink diet sodas instead of regular sodas. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Diet Pepsi just tasted awful so after I tried it the first time I did not drink anymore of that. Diet Coke was okay, I guess.

The best diet drink I actually had was Diet Dr. Pepper, it actually tasted good. During the week I drank more water than anything. I have been feeling better and been less tired than usual.

Even though diet drinks are not the best I just kept at it for the whole week. I’m lucky they have the different flavors of Mountain Dew in Diet.

Now that the week is over I went back to drinking regular sodas. It was just in time to try some of the new Mountain Dews that had just come out.

Being at school helped a lot

because most of the vending machines do not have regular soda.

They only have diet, so when I was at school I felt better than I did at home. The hard part was when the day I first started this, my mom bought a 12 pack of Pepsi home and I couldn’t drink any of it.

I usually don’t drink a lot of milk but in this week I did, I was almost going crazy though.

My mom tried to help by not drinking any of the Pepsi she bought. She even drank the diet soda to help support me.

Another drink that wasn’t bad was Diet Sprite. It was actually pretty good when you mix it with orange juice.

Well that pretty much sums up my week. It was pretty hard but I stuck through it. I will not try that again for awhile. I swear when the week ended I got a regular soda and it was the best thing ever.

May 2011, page 10

VOL. LIII Issue 8

Try a little optimism

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong but be open minded Opinion by Kenadee Hatch I WAKE up in the morning to find that I have slept through my alarm. I am now officially late. In the rush to get ready, I’m faced with a bad hair day and just enough time to throw some clothes on and brush my teeth.

The day promises to be nothing less than atrocious.

As I hurried to school, I hit every red light. It’s a cold morning and my heater isn’t working, so I shiver as I wait, time passing too fast for the schedule I have created for myself. What do I have to look forward to as I pull in to school? Yes, the furthest back parking spot and a long walk to my first period.

The truancy ticket that I receive is as much as I suspected, and the awkward looks I receive as I saunter to the back of the classroom fail to surprise me. To my disappointment, I am pushed through the hallways on my way to lunch.

I find that it takes longer than expected to arrive at my destination.

I’m awarded the spot in the back of the line, pushed back even further due to the continual “cutting in line” of a friend of a friend. Finally, I get to the Promised Land, the food. To my chagrin, I have been left with the smallest, burnt piece of pizza and a total of five minutes to eat it.

A broken pencil and a bombed test later, the school day is finally over. My locker is jammed, and surrounded by the couples that line the hallway, I am reminded, yet again, how it feels to be single. I waver as I walk to my car, dropping all my books in the parking lot.

When I finally make my way home, I am faced with another dreary night of chores, cooking dinner and homework. This soon followed by my Facebook being hacked, my Tumblr losing followers and my IPad dying on me.

It truly is days like these when I think to myself that everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. Rather than letting something like this get to me, I could have faced the day with some serious optimism.

What may you ask is optimism?

It’s the tendency to look past the

Stop! Don’t feed into the addiction of Facebook!

Facebook addiction

As things went wrong I found a smile could get me through it in a breeze.

negativity of a situation and find the favorable side of it all. This can be hard when you’ve experienced any of the situations I’ve described above. These are some that I went through in my two weeks (condensed into one day).

I started out my two weeks with trying to smile in light of a bad situation. That seemed to be the most I could do, even though in the back of my head I was furious.

It seems such a simple task, but I challenge you to do so when you’ve just been cut off by somebody in rush hour traffic. Sometimes I just had to clench my jaw and flash a false grin.

In fact, this benefits more than your mood for the day in question.

According to a study conducted by the University of Pittsburg, optimistic people are 14% more likely to live longer than their pessimistic peers (http://www. time.com/time/health/article).

These cheerful people are truly getting the last laugh.

During these two weeks I have tried to increase my optimism in

my life as much as was possible.

It was quite the chore to begin with, especially when I wanted to flash a dirty look to that kid who just yelled in my ear. Instead of swearing, one should make an effort to smile, or even wave. It’s the unexpected approach that usually results in a better day for everyone in contact with this person.

What started as just a smile moved to more positive thoughts.

I tried to find a way to think around the irritation. I began to attribute the negative activity to the person’s possible bad day. Maybe it wasn’t always their fault.

This led to a positive atmosphere that seemed to surround me. For a strong believer of karma, I have reaped the benefits of this positive outlook. “What goes around comes around.” Bring positivity to others, and it will find you.

I haven’t been entirely successful with this, but it’s something I’m going to continue to execute this in my life. I would challenge anyone having a day like the one I described to put a smile on your face and see what comes of it.

Without animal products

Opinion by Vanessa Chacon GOING vegan for one week was more of a challenge then I thought it would be, it was much more difficult than being vegetarian for two months like I did last summer.

Vegans don’t eat any animal products. No butter. No chesses.

No honey. No milk. No eggs. For me, going without butter was the hardest.

Instead vegans eat will drink rice milk or soy milk. They’ll eat Tofurkey and other meat substitutes.

Lots of vegans do it for health or to prevent cruelty to animals. In my case, it is more of a dare. It was a challenge to me to see what it would be like.

On my first day my sister and I went to Applebee’s after shopping at Jordan Landing. I knew it would be pointless for me to go, but they talked me into it anyways.

I tried to find something that I could eat and there was nothing.

It was my first day; I wanted to give in so bad. I had to stick with the plan so I ordered a salad with no chicken, sour cream, or cheese.

Sounds great don’t it?

After I had taken a couple bites, my sister looked over and noticed that there was cheese mixed in it that blended very well with the little strips of tortilla chips.

It only took 3 hours before I accidentally ate cheese. I was very

disappointed, but oh well. I just ate my salad.

The next day I told myself I was going to be a lot more careful and I was. I went grocery shopping with my mom and got food that I can eat.

As the week went on I started getting headaches and I would always be snacking on food which I knew that was going to happen, but I dealt with it because I was determined to last two weeks.

Then came Friday morning and I thought, “I can last two weeks, I just don’t want to.” So I woke up and had a wonderful breakfast!

It was an experience to learn if want to try something I will and if not I won’t stick to it.

Opinion by Janae Longhurst ON MY WAY home from school my first thought is always, “Have a snack and watch Cake Boss, do my homework, do my chores, and then if there is time maybe hang out with my friends.” Little do I realize, at the time that my plans will be completely interfered with.

In my hand lies a death trap… my Ipod, so shinny and welcoming, without my full realization I find myself finding out that Becky Jeter said, “Mmm’ Hot Poly boys!”, and that my sisters friend was going to a Sean Kingston concert that night. None of this information is extremely important or life changing to me, but for some reason this one application on my Ipod took away my snack and Cake Boss time.

Could you imagine if everyone walked around with a summary of them typed out on a page, or if the first thing you say to someone when you meet them for the first time is something along these lines, “Just bought a Slurpee!”, “Anyone wanna do my homework for me??”, or even, “So this is me swallowing up my pride standing in front of you, saying I’m sorry for that night…”

Let’s face it, nobody does or says these things in reality. It’s almost as if we are stroking whatever our Facebook comes from saying, “This is where my friends live”, instead of actually hanging out with our friends and asking them what is going on with their life verses letting Facebook tell us how they are doing.

Have you ever tried going a week without Facebook? Well, I have, and let me tell you it’s not easy saying goodbye to such an internet addiction. Instead of

internet interaction with people I actually had to ask people how their events that day went instead of just having Facebook tell me.

Sometimes I would find my arm slowly moving up into my sight. As I would dramatically look down to see why my arm would be lifting up the first thing that would come into my sight would be a giant F for the Facebook application mocking me as my thumb unsteadily reached towards it as if I had time to even check my Facebook.

It seems almost insane for someone to go a week without Facebook, the reason for me doing this was so that I could have more free time to hang out with me friends, and yes, to watch Cake Boss and enjoy time doing other things I like to do.

However, a week without Facebook was almost starting to become more of a chore. I couldn’t get a hold of anyone, I couldn’t join in on some of the Facebook related conversations, and I couldn’t see any pictures of my family or friends events that have been going on.

I had an epiphany that Facebook is one of the best ideas; however there is a fine line between checking Facebook to keep in touch with people, and going on Facebook out of boredom and addiction.

I love personal relaxation and part of that is Facebook. You don’t need to delete your Facebook account in order to have face to face contact, and you don’t have to go get a Facebook account in order to know what’s going on either. I don’t live inside of my computer with all of my “friends” or anything weird like that, but I will admit that I do love Facebook.

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May 2011, page 11

VOL. LIII Issue 8

Lending a helping hand

A student tells us her experience of helping her 70 year old neighbor Opinion by Aubrie Hensley MANY TEENS don’t bother getting involved in their neighborhood unless they absolutely have to. However, I decided to break that tradition by randomly helping out my neighbors whenever I could. It all started with my neighbor Shirley...

At age seventy-one, she admits it’s getting harder for her to do everyday stuff.

“I’ve lived here for a long time and sure, sometimes my neighbors will do miscellaneous things to help me out, and my grandson comes over for a couple of hours on Sundays, but it still leaves a lot on my shoulders,” said Shirley.

So I decided my contribution this May, would be to dedicate at least an hour a day to help her out.

“For the first couple of days, I tried having her do basic things, like weeding my flower beds or taking out the trash. I didn’t want her to do anything too personal,” said Shirley.

After four days of menial tasks, I finally asked Shirley if I could

do more to help her out. I wanted to do more than just basic, community service-like activities.

She was surprised at first.

“I wasn’t expecting commitment in her project, I thought she would just do minimal work and be done with it. But she started asking if she could do more. So I started having her do things that I actually wanted done, but just didn’t have enough time in the day for it,” said Shirley.

The first thing Shirley had me do, was start organizing her bills.

Nothing too complex, but for me, it showed that she saw I was taking an actual interest in this.

I organized her bills into either utilities or medical/insurance categories. Then I sorted them by due date, overdue in front, and later dates behind them.

After I finished doing that, Shirley gradually started giving me more and more complex tasks. By the end of this two week period, I was helping with laundry and cleaning as well as mailing letters to her relatives, and showing her how to work an email account.

The results of my two week trial?

I learned a lot about Shirley, through doing her everyday tasks, to things with much more meaning. Not only did I feel a sense of pride in knowing that I spent my time helping her have an easier time, but I started becoming friends with her, she was no longer just “the old woman up the street”, she was someone I could talk to and actually have a conversation without being bored to death.

Probably the biggest impact it had though, was convincing me that this help shouldn’t just end because my assignment is over. I liked helping and spending time with Shirley, she was a very cool woman. You should have seen the smile on her face when I walked up her drive the day after my two weeks were up.

My message for this article would be, get involved, help someone just because you can, not because you have to. You may not see immediate results, or results at all, but you really are making a difference with what you do, no matter how small or how simple the task is.

The anti-sugar coat

A personal look at the whole truth, and nothing but the truth Opinion by Jeannette Mikkelson EVERYONE tells little white lies every day. Some people do it to get out of class, some people want to spare a friend’s feelings, and others do it to avoid owning up to their decisions but regardless of why people do it, everyone lies.

Being a habitual liar myself, I decided to see what it would be like to try something new.

I was going to tell the whole truth every day for two weeks, and as long as I’m being honest, I was a lot nicer when I lied about everything.

Sure, I thought I was decently honest before, but unless you actively think about your every day deceptions, you often times miss the things that slip by.

“She said things that I didn’t expect her to say,” chuckled Misty Green (12), a good friend of mine who saw my new task as less of a pain in the butt and more of a funny story.

“She was more blatant about cheating off my papers for

awhile. She also expressed things that didn’t need to be expressed.

Oh! And she always pokes my nose and says, “that’s for you” after she says something rude or weird.”

Luckily, my friends never got mad at me for being brutally honest because they never asked me stupid questions.

For instance, when people ask you if they look fat, I’m under oath

by John Carlisle’s 2B journalism class to tell them, “Heck yeah, I’m surprised you got through the door!” Does that make me a jerk? Yes, I’d say it does, but for two weeks my friends and family asked questions that they were sure they wanted the answer to.

“Sometimes it can be kind of rude but you can always trust her because you know she’s being totally honest,” said Berenice Bracamontes (10), another friend subjected to my sick experiment.

“It’s really nice to have a friend like her because everything she says is random, but true. I especially love her honest opinions.”

Even my teachers noticed my omittance of a filter. Mr. Johansson, my creative writing teacher was the first to see the change.

“It probably effected the class discussions the most. If no one else is saying anything, we kind of have to go with what’s happening. We ended up talking about things I didn’t think we were going to, but that’s how it goes. In some situations it put people at ease and in other situations it put people who aren’t as open about things more on guard.”

Overall, I had a lot of fun doing this. I was lucky enough to not have to sound like the most inconsiderate person in the world but people felt more comfortable with asking me things because they knew they were getting a straight answer.

I also enjoyed getting things off my chest. I went on fewer crappy dates, only ate food I liked, and created quite a few funny stories with my friends.

I found that it was better for everyone to just be honest.

Being straight forward makes it easier on everyone since they know you are being honest.

Taking the time to eat breakfast improves how well you focus in school

Breakfast everyday

By Daniel Christensen BREAKFAST is the most important meal of the day. It is important to eat in the morning to get your body ready for the day. For six years I have not eaten breakfast in the morning, but I challenged myself to eat it every day for two weeks. It changed the way I got ready in the morning, and how my school days went.

Before when I did not eat breakfast, it was hard to stay awake throughout the day, and I fell asleep in school for a little bit almost every day. I didn’t have a lot of energy, and my stomach always growled.

Most days I’d go to the vending machine and get myself some pop tarts, but it gets old having the same thing for breakfast all the time. After a while you get thirsty and then you have to buy a drink. It is just how it works.

At first it was hard to find the time to eat, but once I got in the habit it became easy. Since I have been eating breakfast I feel more focused and ready for school.

I have been in a better mood, and I do not go to the vending machine as often, which is easier on my wallet. I also feel healthier

because I am not putting all of those pop tarts in me. I am actually eating good food, and I just feel better about everything.

I want to challenge everyone who does not eat breakfast in the morning to try it; it will make you feel better.

Eat breakfast in the morning and you will feel better throughout the school day. There will be less stomach gurgles at Granger High, and everyone will be in a better mood, most of the time.

It is definitely hard to focus on school when all you can think about is food, especially in boring classes.

Eating breakfast will not make your least favorite class any less boring, but you will feel better.

I know when I am in math class and I am hungry, I cannot pay attention in class at all because I am distracted.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it gets you ready to take on the school days, which as we get closer to summer; the days seem to drag on longer and longer. Eating breakfast can put you in a better mood, who does not want to be happy? So everyone should try to eat before school, you will feel great. I know I do.

May 2011, page 12

VOL. LIII Issue 8

Extreme attempt for Dance Company

Opinion by Brittany Edwards VERSUS running around a hot sweaty gym for an hour and a half, attempting at sports (which I have never been particularly good at) I joined Ms. Lago’s 4B dance class to receive a PE credit, thinking it would be easy and fun.

I was shortly mistaken.

The abs work-out, the arm work-outs, the leaps and jumps, always pointing your toes, and high shanay low shanay, I soon discovered that embarrassing myself playing basketball might have been better than this.

When I found out that we were performing a concert for the school and our families, I began to wish I would have taken Petterson’s Fitness for Life Class again.

But after performing in the concert, and seeing the Dance Company members and how amazing they looked, I wanted to try out for Granger Highs 2012 Dance Company.

And thus my extreme attempt for Dance Company.

Day 1- Food for Thought I began this diary to show one students point of view for trying out for a school club. This particular club requires me to stay fit, remember dances, be extremely flexible, and did I mention extremely fit.

I would have to say dancing is the hardest thing you can put your body through, next to football (people running full force into you for a ball is intense). Dance looks beautiful when everything is put together, but all the bruises and sore muscles sprains and

dislocations (Johns in particular) puts a dancer right up there.

So I want to begin my extreme attempt by eating right. I’m going to eat lots of vegetables and protein, and bananas for the Charlie Horses! Trying to cut junk food out of my diet will be the ultimate sacrifice. Fast food is my weakness. YUM.

Day 4- Potato or Potato My most productive choice as far as eating goes today was picking a baked potato over French fries at Wendy’s. This in the long run, with all the butter and sour cream I put on that thing, French Fries would have been a better option.

Practice makes perfect, right?

Day 3- My buns are killing me Yesterday I worked out like crazy! I ran around the school building, track, field and snaked the bleachers twice. Not to mention keeping my balance while running up and down the stairs didn’t work out so well, and I fell on the butt. 4 whole cement stairs made contact with my behind. OUCH.

Day 7- Do the Jane Fonda Over the weekend I performed in my living room, to exercise videos. I stretched and jogged in place and even did some yoga.

Eating healthy is going pretty well. As far as is goes for my nerves for Dance Company tryouts, I wish it was over with already. Hopefully all my effort

got everyone laughing.

Laughter: every “walking meatball’s” target. We take aim, pull our bow of limits, decide how far we need want go, and liberate.

We hope that our arrow hits our target of being socially accepted.

To make someone laugh means to perform in a manner which they find comical.

For me, making someone laugh means to tear my self-imperfec-

is a strong, z-formation personality. A personality so great, to miss it would be like going through life without tasting the saccharine splendor of chocolate, at least once.

I have found that unexpected humor, to say things that most people would not say about themselves in a comedic style are my only way to take a step up from everyone.

That is the only way society is willing to accept fat kids, is if they are what the society wants them to be, which is humorous.

We all know it’s true.

How many fat kids do you know that everyone seems to get along with, that is not funny?

I cannot think of any.

Any fat kid who sits and cries, or even expresses how they really feel about things are pushed aside, and no one seems to even take notice of them. If I want to be noticed I have to be funny, even if I don’t feel like laughing.

Stereotypical I know, “The fat girl trying to reach out to society, wanting them to open their eyes, and to be more understanding.”

I am not trying to pull a Tracy Turnblad, I’m just pointing out the obvious, and hoping people will do something.

Is that a fat joke?

By Becky Jeter “Is this a fat joke?” I reply sarcastically to the girl across the table at Fro-gurt, who just offered me a bite of her frozen yogurt. My peers around me sit in a deep awkward giggle, as they try to figure out whether it is okay to laugh or not.

Some kids break the foundation of the socially gauche wall that I have created throughout the table, with comments like, “Oh, don’t say that about yourself!” and the others who cannot help but laugh. The girl before me cannot even redeem herself, I find myself saying to her, “Sure, offer it to the fat kid, I see how it is. Just because I didn’t buy myself any, you assume that, as a fat kid, I might just have a seizer from depriving myself of what you think I would consider being sweet ecstasy. Well keep your charity to yourself!”

I end my mocking rant with a successful smirk smeared all over my face. She sits there, stupefied, as everyone surrounds themselves with mirth as they laugh, while I sit, knowing that I have almost completed my goal. “Oh I’m just kidding, I am lactose in tolerant.”

The girl joins in the hilarity of the moment, and I am satisfied. Feeling accomplished, because I’ve

goes well. Tryouts are tomorrow (May 17th -18th) and I have to be up at 5am to be at the school at 6 to dance for one hour before school starts! HELP! Day 8- Dance to save your self What can I say about the dance for tryouts? Hmmm…OMG! It is extremely fast and complicated and half the jumps make me feels

A sense of humor looks good on anyone.

tions before someone else can hit the punch line, behind my back.

If you have not already guessed, I am a short, stumpy, white girl.

Since I am bigger, I must be better. I must be mentally quicker, I must have a “great personality”, and I must be first at everything, even the first to criticize myself.

I have to prove to people that I am some sort of worthy. That behind my disgusting obesity, there

as if I will break something in the process! But against all my fears of the not so soft ground, I learned the dance.

Now all I have to do is perform it in front of a panel of judges, and then be saved or voted off as if I was on ‘So You Think You Can Dance’. Funny enough I feel like that’s what half the people in the

gym are thinking about me. “This girl thinks she can dance?”

Day 9- AGAIN PLEASE I danced, and danced, and danced, and danced some more today. You would think after practicing the dance 50 times that a person would have it down…

WRONG! Well at least for me.

I forgot a section of the dance, every time I performed it! I honestly don’t blame a single person if they don’t put me on the team. I probably looked as if I had a seizure in the middle of my dance.

Day 10- Please someone kill me I’m sure that walking up the stairs shouldn’t hurt this bad. I know I worked hard yesterday because my quads and thighs are killing me.

As I made my painful walk-ofshame to the dance hall to see the list posted for Dance Company Member’s I kept telling myself you did your best and whatever happens, happens.

When I didn’t see my name posted on the list, I wasn’t upset, or mad, I was happy for everybody else who made it.

I knew that, it wasn’t me who wasn’t good enough to make the team; it was that other people were just better than me. They were the better option.

Congratulations to everyone that made Dance Company 20112012! It wasn’t easy for some and others mastered it flawlessly! And to everyone who is too scared to join a team, don’t be! It is better to say you tried your very best than to give up!

Time for a makeover

By Katelyn Paff SOME GIRLS take a few hours to get ready for school in the morning. They put on their makeup and do their hair. I am one of those girls.

I wake up every morning at 5:00 a.m. on the weekdays. I wake up, brush my teeth, and start on doing my makeup (using liquid base, eye liner pencil, liquid eye liner, two different mascaras, two different shades of eye shadow, and two different kinds of lip gloss.)

I have the ‘emo girl’ style so I wear a lot of makeup and it has to be pretty much perfect or it drives me insane.

After over an hour of that, I move on to my hair. I brush it, straighten it, put de-frizz in it, poof it (rat it), and hairspray it. I then fix my hair until I like it, then re-straighten it and then hair spray the top again so it stays in place.

I was challenged by some of my friends to go a week with doing my makeup and to leave my hair the way it is without me doing anything to it. Pretty much, it was just going all natural and being me, I accepted that challenge.

The week after spring break was over, the challenge was on.

I woke up a few minutes late but that wasn’t a problem. Leaving my hair natural and just brushing through only took one minute.

My makeup only took five min-

utes. The only makeup I had on my face was very little eye liner, mascara, and my base.

I had over an hour and a half to spare before leaving at 7:00.

Knowing that, I got to sleep in for an extra hour in the morning throughout the week.

When I went to school, everyone kept telling me how much prettier I look with less make-up on and just having my natural hair. I loved all the compliments, but I hated their reasoning for them.

Most of my friends hated how I always wore the thick makeup and did so much damage on my hair. In fact, one of my friends compared my face to a Picasso painting, where they have to look really close to see the big picture.

In my opinion, real friends will love you for you, and not what you look like.

But I also hated how I felt about myself like this personally. I felt insecure, ugly, I had no self confidence, and I felt like everyone I did not really know was disgusted by how I looked.

The reason for that was because I wasn’t me. People asked me to change who I was for their personal feelings about the way I looked.

I guess the lesson behind this challenge is to be yourself and never let anyone try to change you.