Des Moines North High School

The

Oracle

north_high_school_501_holcomb_ave._des_moines,_ia_50313

March_2013._issue_5._A_PUBLIC_FORUM_FOR_STUDENT_EXPRESSION

north high’s

f o r m a lpgs. 6-7

w i n t e rnorth high alumni's

pg. 10Where are they now

The oracle’s own

see inside cover

h a r l e mshake

nhs

c l u bupdates

pg. 12

#NhsAwkwardmoments

PG. 8

Movement515pg. 4oracle

spotlights

Griselda Sandoval

mike vukovich

pg 11

Table_of_contents3

4-5

6-7

8-9

10-11

12

Opinions

arts & Ent.

middle spread

feature

feature

Role ModelsThe Oracle’s Thumbs Up & Thumbs Down

Movement 515What’s On Your Music Device?

A look at the NHSWinter Formal

Awkward Moments @NorthHighTriple Threat- A look at three related students here at North High

A look at a few NHS Alumni’sNHS Spotlights: Mike Vukovich / Griselda Sandoval

Academic DecathlonAnime!

club updatesOn The Cover: Tanna Jones(9th Grade) and Isaac Barrera(9th Grade) at the NHS Winter Formal.Photo by: Hannah McNichols

LINKS:https://www.northhsoracle.comfollow us at: @NorthHighOracle

HARLEM SHAKE

Recently we here at The Oracle decided to put our spin on the rising viral sensation known as the “Harlem Shake”.

Check it out on YouTube -> Search -> “DMPS Harlem Shake”

THE

OWhere In the world is the o?

What are your plans for spring

break?going somewhere fancy, fun, ex-

citing? take the oracle with you and take

a picture next to a well known landmark!

you could be in the next edition of the

north high oracle!

Opinions 3

By Hannah McNicholsStaff Reporter

The people teenagers look up to as their role models matter a great deal in determining the shape and substance of the next generation of churchgoers, consumers, and citizens.

There are many reasons for a teen to look up to someone. Many young girls look up to “skinny” celebrities because they want to be thinner or prettier. Either their nose is to big, or they’re not skinny enough. These small imperfec-tions cause teens to look at these people and envy their looks and bodies.

When asked why teens look up to famous people, freshman, Sofia Rossi, said, “To become a better person, have a good mindset of who they want to be, and have the right motives to be who they wanna be.”

Teen Role Modelsteen role modelsWho Do Teens Look Up To?

I think most teens look up to the wrong people. Some “fan girl” over One Direction or Justin Beiber. Why would you look up to a group of boys who sing “Tonight lets get some, and live while were young.” What is some? Skittles?

There’s also Bruno Mars who sings, “Your sex takes me to paradise.” Is that really what you want someone you look up to singing about?

Staff Editorials: Thumbs Up and Thumbs Down

Now don’t get me wrong, most of their songs are catchy, and most of them can sing, but when I look into a lot of their

lyrics, they have a lot to do with sex, drugs, or alcohol. I wouldn’t want my kids look-ing up to someone who sings

about that.A lot of teens have other reasons they

look up to someone. They’re successful, made something

of themselves, or they would like

to be them.Rossi said she looks up to her older brother

Mario Rossi. “He always makes people laugh and brightens my day. He also has a strong faith in God that I look up to.”

Maybe you could look up to Michael Phelps; Phelps worked and trained hard to earn 22 Olympic gold medals which lead to him being the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time.

They could look up to someone be-cause of what they have done. Whether they have done something little in their community, or donated the time or money to a large charity.

For example, Ellen DeGeneres. She works with a lot of charities like The Gentle Barn or Stand Up To Cancer. DeGeneres is a stand up comedian and has her own show.

Whoever you look up to has to have some effect on your life. They have either had an impact on your life or believe in something that you also do.

Pep Assemblies for ExtracurricularWe, The Oracle, feel that we need more spirit/pep

assemblies. There’s so much potential! Robotics has their shuffle bot and their robots. Why not have a demo/performance? Why not have the Gospel Choir sing? Why not have the drama kids act out a scene of a play? North High cherishes their sports (which are not always our strong suit) and sometimes overlooks robotics, drama, choir, and other activities.

Pep Assemblies for boys’ basketball and all sports We, The Oracle, believe we should have had a pep assembly for our last basketball game of the regular season. The team finished with a 13-10 record and we were third in the Metro Conference. We give a thumbs down to the lack of pep rallies. The last one we had was all the way back in football season for the Homecoming game. Maybe if we had them more often, kids would seem more enthusiastic and enjoy the pep rallies more and they would attend more events for all of our teams.

Winter Formal We, The Oracle, would like to give Student Council a thumbs up for having the Winter Formal outside of North High. We think it was a creative idea. Last year we were all crammed in the gym and it wasn’t much fun. So the idea for it to be somewhere away from North was great -- Also, providing bus transportation was a good idea.

Fruit and Vegetables We, The Oracle, give a thumbs down to mandatory fruits and vegetables that comes with every school lunch. It is wasteful because half of us throw them away. And what if someone dislikes the selection of fruits and vegetables? Why should they eat something they personally dislike? This policy is unnecessary.

3pm DismissalWe, The Oracle, give a thumbs down to whomever made

it so we have to be out of the building by 3:00pm. Sometimes it is freezing, raining or snowing and we’re

waiting for our ride to show up when we get kicked out. Not everyone has a cell phone so not everyone has multiple options for a ride home.

Student Success We, The Oracle, want to give a thumbs up to the Rifle Team for finishing second in the nation in their recent competition in Utah. [See page 12] We also want to congratulate these students for competing in the State Individual Speech Contest:* Mikolina Lowe (Junior) in Poetry (Straight “1s”)* Leah Waughtal (Junior) in Poetry (Straight “1s”)* Taylor McDaniel (Junior) in solo musical theater (Straight “1s”)* Bao Luong (Junior) in Solo Improv (Straight “1s”)* Savannah VanDeBoe (Junior) in Storytelling* Michael Colon-Ramos (Junior) in Storytelling * Rebekah Ostermann (Sophomore) in Solo Improv* Esperanza Vargas (Sophomore) in Acting

Kids always look for someone to look up to. Who they see is who they look up to -- it can be a parent, an athlete or someone on TV like Ellen DeGeneres (above).

Graphic by Jerson Valenzuela.

By Jessica JensenCo-Editor-in-Chief

The Drake University Perfor-mance Hall housed Movement 515’s ‘Share the Mic’ event on Friday, Feb-ruary 1st. Having never attended a poetry event, I was a little hesitant as to what to expect. I walked up the steps into the building hearing hip-hop music that initially caught me off guard. This classical hall had been trans-formed into an arena of young, free voices ready to speak. The entire room was packed full of Harding Middle School students, teachers, and other attendees that decided to check out what Movement 515 was all about.

H o w I t S t a r t e d Movement 515 is a poetry group composed of student poets across the city of Des Moines. Emily Lang and Kristo-pher Rollins, leaders of the group, are both teachers at Harding that noticed the potential of many students within their classes. “Movement 515 really started out by being inspired by the Brave New Voices International Team Poetry Slam in San Francisco, CA. On the steps of the Opera House the night of the 2012 finals Ms. Emily Lang and myself began brainstorming ways to truly bring the culture of Brave New Voices to Des Moines, we the best way to be successful was to open up a writing workshop to all DMPS middle and high schools in order to gauge interest”, Rollins said. W h e r e I t ’ s A t “We wanted to facilitate a workshop where students could use spoken word poetry to discuss issues in their life and community”, Lang said. The atmosphere in the per-forming arts hall was pumped up and everyone was ready to hear some amazing poetry. Let me tell you, they were not disappointed. Rollins and fresh-man, Russhaun Johnson MCd the event and introduced the 32 performances. “I started in 7th grade with Movement 515 and this is not the first time I have MCd. It

felt great being up there with Mr. Rollins, because he is the best teacher I’ve ever had.” said Johnson. “Movement 515 gives teens the ability to express. Poetry makes Movement 515 feel free.” The performees were students and teachers from Harding and North. The most memorable speakers were our very own Hatte Kelley, Leah Waughtal and Mikolina Lowe. Their passion visibly poured out through their words and their body language. The flow of words instilled passion, so much so that you just couldn’t help snapping in agreement. The performees were students and teachers from Harding and North. The most memorable speakers were our very own Hatte Kelley, Leah Waughtal and Mikolina Lowe. Their passion visibly poured out through their words and their body language. The flow of words instilled amazement, so much so that you just couldn’t help snapping in agreement.

Student and teachers spoke on relationships, love, attitudes, and issues that sur-round them, issues that have impacted their lives. These students are given a pen and paper and allowed to let their creative juices flow. Most students didn’t even know they had this abil-ity, to put words together in such a way that touches the human heart. They have a voice, a voice that now reaches hundreds of people. Who knew they could affect such change? They did. The teacher’s that

surround them and the stu-dents that support them know their potential. They knew they could effect change, and they did. Rollins and Lang knew Movement 515 would impact our community. “I think we definitely envi-sioned having a significant im-pact with Movement 515 on the community but we didn’t believe it would happen as quickly as it did. Anytime you create or form something new it takes a while to truly catch on but after our second year of attending BNV (Brave New Voices) with six of our strongest poets from workshop we showcased their talents at Hoyt Sher-man and word spread like wild fire so the writing community really expanded and interest grew exponentially,” Rollins said. As the group continues to grow, so do expectations and goals of both the student and leaders. Lang hopes, “A future goal of ours is to add theme-based workshops to our programming, as well as have stu-dents who have been a part of the work-shop facilitate their own. Movement 515 is dependent on the students and their voices, and we would love to pass the responsibility of leading a workshop to our students who have the most invested in the program,” Lang said. The group itself will hopefully expand and encompass more students in other schools. “Our goal with Movement515 is to continue expanding to the point where enough interest exists at each middle and high school that they can create their own writing workshops. Once we build to

that capac-ity the idea then is to have middle and high schools SLAM against each other similar to how schools com-pete against each other in sports,” shares Rollins.

I n T h e F u t u r e Movement

515 is growing at an exponential rate and they have what it takes to take their pro-gram to the next level. These students are so talented and ready to tell the 515 who they are and what they’re all about. The leadership of both Rollins and Lang has guided these students on a path to success and there doesn’t seem to be a stop anytime soon. April 4 marks Movement 515’s first annual Des Moines Teen Poetry Slam. Students between the ages of 13 and 19 in the Des Moines Public School district are allowed to compete against each other for a spot at the next Brave New Voices competition the summer of 2013. The 16th annual Brave New Voices competition is run by the University of Chicago and will take place on campus from August 7-11, 2013. Come out on April 4 at the Hoyt Sher-man Place and support these students! Hoyt Sherman is located at 1501 Woodland Ave (on the corner of 15th and Woodland). The show starts at 6:30pm.

Hatte Kelley, sophomore, shared: “If you were to create the blueprint to a poet, it would be called the red-print

because that’s more original. You can start with any teenager, but the broken ones are best. So any of them really/You start with their

heart, you have options on your course of action here. You can tell them to give it to someone else to break it for you, you can have their family and friends chip away at it until its just below critical mass, or you can pump pain through

their veins until they start interrogating their wrists for answers.”

Mikolina Lowe, a junior, who spoke on power to the people and freedom: “Yet somehow out of years of egotistical turmoil our trunk grew

stronger making us one with the promise of equality photosynthesizing our dreams/The never ending branch of freedom hit with the whispers of the wind

engraving our words in the vains of its leaves/The outward crooked branch of our right to bear arms instantly

gets shorter as an innocent trigger is pulled.”

Emily Lang, a teacher at Harding Middle School, performed a poem of her own at the Feb. 1 event.

news 4

Inspiring poets from Harding and North share up-beat and honest reflections

Russhaun Johnson, North High, and Kristopher Rollins, teacher at Harding Middle School. Both are MC-ing.

Juniors Mikolina Lowe and Leah Waughtal perform about stealing happiness.

music 5

By Javier Solis & Antonio TelloOracle Reporters

What’s on your electronic device?The amount of time spent using Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram

Have you ever wondered why students spend so much time on their electronic devices. Have you ever asked yourself any of the following questions: “What are all these student listening to with their headphones?” “Why are these kids always touching and playing with their device?” or “What is this app everyone is talking about?”. We went around and asked students a couple simple questions regarding what they do when they are using their device. We asked them anything from what their favorite song is to how long they use their device per day.

Pedro Mier (Freshman)1. What song are you addicted to right now? I like a lot of The Weekend songs2. What’s an artist you would never delete? The Weekend3. Other things you use your device for. Facebook4. App you are addicted to/use a lot? Fun run 5. How long do you use your device per day? 3 hours

Eric Rivas (sophomore)1. What song are you addicted to right now? I can’t decide I listen to a lot of songs 2. What’s an Artist you would never delete? Drake3. Other things you use your device for? Fun Run4. App you are addicted to/use a lot? Twitter5. How long do you use your device per day? I use it all day on and off

Bryan Aodrich (Junior)1. What song are you addicted to right now? Shot in the foot again- Skream & Example2. What’s an Artist you would never delete? The Beatles3. Other things you use your device for? Games4. App you are addicted to/use a lot? I don’t think I have one right now5. How long do you use your device per day? All day on and off

Victor Colemon (Interventionist)1. What song are you addicted to right now? I can’t choose, there are to many songs to choose from.2. What’s an Artist you would never delete? R. Kelly3. Other things you use your ipod/device for? I Tweet and I use the internet 4. App you are addicted to/use a lot? I just downloaded Pandora last week, so I would go with that. 5. How long do you use your device per day? 3 hours total

Follow The Oracle on Twitter @northhighoracle

Jackie Navarro (Senior)1. What song are you addicted to right now? Oh dang I’m addicted to a lot of Goodness De La Ghetto songs!2. What’s an Artist you would never delete? Something I’d never delete would be Backstreet Boys! Cause I grew up with them! I’d never let them go! 3. Other things you use your ipod/device for? I only use it for music4. App you are addicted to/use a lot? Since I only use it for music I’m not addicted to anything else besides music!5. How long do you use your device per day? I use it all day! I can’t go a single day without my music. It’s what keeps me going all day!

Top things to have on your device: *Fun Run *4 pics 1 Word *Temple Run 2 *Twitter *Facebook *Ruzzle *Instagram *Tumblr *Pandora *Draw Something *Angry Birds

By: Tyler Lowe and Arin Botkin

You’re standing in a crowd of people, everyone is dancing and smiling. You can feel the energy vibrating in the air as the music plays. You look to the person closest to you, and are amazed by how beautiful they look. You’re standing in the middle of the crowd at a North High School dance. But how did you get there? How did you get that person to go with you?These events cause girls to go out and spend money on a new dress and heels, so they can spend hours getting their make-up and hair to look per-fect. Guys take ten minutes to take a shower, comb their hair, and put some dress clothes on just so they don’t feel left out. Some people just buy a flower and say “Hey will you go out with me?” and others just say “Lets go.” Not very romantic and not very exciting.But then there are people who go that extra step and do something different. They make a plan to be a little more romantic when they ask.Forrest Mathison, a junior, asked Rachael Nash, a sophomore, to this year’s Winter Formal in a new and innovative way. According to Mathison, choco-late milk is one of Nash’s favorite things, and one evening Mathison showed up to a Drama event with a carton of chocolate milk for her. On the the carton were the words, “Will you go to Formal with me?” and he gave it to her as a gift. Another romantic story is between the couple of Corbin Mitchell, a senior, and Sammi Linebach, a sophomore. Linebach had told Mitchell that she would be the one asking him out to the formal since he asked her to homecoming. So she went home one day and drew out 29 letters spelling “Will you go to Winter Formal with me?” She kept Mitchell in suspense for an entire week before finally, one day at his house, Linebach locked Mitchell out of his room. She grabbed the tape and put up every letter on his wall. After 5 minutes, she let him in and hid from him. Mitchell walked and the first thing he said was, “How long did that take you?” he didn’t answer at

first, but in the end he said yes. He has kept the letters on his wall to this day. Haley Haskell, a sophomore, got asked out in a different way and it was to Prom. She and her boyfriend, a senior named Clark Reimers were on a date at a chinese restaurant. At the end of the night, Reimers handed her a fortune cookie. When Haskell opened her fortune the little paper inside read, “Someone would be very happy if you went to Prom with them,” and then Reimers asked. She said yes and now they are scheduled to spend a night at Prom with their other friends. I myself have asked a girl out on a date to winter formal. I asked Candy Granados to be my date. Granados has been my friend since seventh grade at Harding Middle school. I was a nervous wreck the entire day. My hands where shaking and I was sweaty. I was convincing myself she would say “yes.”I didn’t do ask her alone though. I asked her sister Karen Granados and our friend Brandon Moreno for help. They helped me by making sure that Candy did not leave the building for any reason. While they refrained her, I went outside and found her car. I lifted the windshield wiper and put down a small little note card that on the front said “This is serious! -for Candy,” and then I went back inside and acted as normal as I possibly could.I made up an excuse to meet her after school. I told her that I had some-thing I wanted to talk about. This got me the chance to talk to her alone. We talked all the way to her car, I was saying nothing but exaggerated truths, till we got to her car. I looked at her car and said “Hey looks like someone left you some-thing,” she picked it up read aloud the front, flipped it over an read the back it said “Will you Candy, give me the honor of being your date to Winter Formal?” at first she laughed and she turned to me and said “Yes, I’ll be your date!” Later that night I received a text message from Candy saying “that was the nicest thing someone has done for me.”

Every year stuff like this happens.

north high school 2013winter formalA group of friends having fun at the dance.

Natasha Moore (9th) and Tytiaunna Johnson (9th) pose.

Mariama Corneh (Senior) Formal Queen

One student Co-Dj’ing at the dance. Jessica Ebersole (9th) and Devon Facuiri-French (9th)

Aerias Heckman (9th) and Blake Pahl (10th)

Tabitha Hernandez (9th) and Mario Juarez (11).

Miranda Young (9th) and Cris Hidalgo (9th).

NHS WINTER FORMAL RECAPTHEME: Ice Ice Baby LOCATION: Doane’s Park Youth Center

WINNERS: (9th Grade) Tanna Jones & Isaac Barrera (10th Grade) Melissa Sosa & Michael Colon-Ramos (11th Grade) Chanbopha Sam & Calvin Lovan (12th Grade) Mariama Corneh & Logan Neads

Waiting, waiting and more waiting. Checking through your text messages on your phone, and you realized that you never sent the text. Then you quickly begin to tweet to twitter “That #AwkwardMoment when you wait for a text but you realize you’re the one who didn’t reply.” Even if you don’t have a Twitter to share your awk-ward moments, let’s be honest, we’ve all had at least one of them that make us want to crawl into a hole and disappear for years on end. If we are going to be really honest then we’d have to admit that this happens on a daily basis, well at least it does for us.

- That #AwkwardMoment when you’re in class in with your friends & you’re talking. The teachers calls on you & you don’t know the answer.

By Marina Song & Chanbopha Sam

- That #AwkwardMoment when you try to throw something at your friend, but it ends up hitting someone else.

- That #AwkwardMoment when you’re late to class & when you walk in, everybody stares at you like you just killed someone.

- That #AwkwardMoment when you can’t read your own handwriting.

- That #AwkwardMoment when the class is quiet and a thug in your class is listening to some girly love song.

- That #AwkwardMoment when you have a coughing attack in the middle of class.

#AWKWARDMOMENTSAT NORTH HIGH

- That #AwkwardMoment when a teacher bends down to talk to a student and their butt is all up in your face.

CHECK OUT OUR AWKWARD MOMENTS VIDEO ONLINE!

Just go to:https://www.youtube.com/NorthHighOracle

- That #AwkwardMoment when you’re talking to an acquaintance, there’s this short silence, and then you both start talking the same time making it more awkward.

- That #AwkwardMoment when the class is quiet and you blurt out a cuss word.

- That #AwkwardMoment when the class is all silent and your stomach makes noises.

- That #AwkwardMoment when your music is on blast and you’re talking louder than you should. #Awks

- That #AwkwardMoment you make eye contact with some-one you are trying to avoid.

- That #AwkwardMoment in class, when you raise your hand, then get called on, only to forget what you were going to ask/say.

- That #AwkwardMoment when you’re not paying attention and you run into something.

- That #AwkwardMoment when you’re sitting at a table with people, and your foot accidently touches the foot of the per-son across from you.- That #AwkwardMoment when you just meet someone and they can remember your name but you can’t remember theirs.

- That #AwkwardMoment when you’re shaking your leg and the whole row of desks notices.- That #AwkwardMoment when you’re making a weird face across the room and somebody else thinks you’re making it at them.

- That #AwkwardMoment when you’re waiting at a teachers desk and he or she is finishing something. So you just wait there for a lifetime.

- That #AwkwardMoment when your friends are standing in a cirlce and you can’t get in.

Features 8

Features 9

Triple Threat: The Polar Bear Siblings

Some people know what it’s like to have siblings that go to school with you, but could you imagine also playing the same sport as them?

We asked them what it’s like, Sam and Neico are both varsity boy’s basketball players, along with their sister Marlicia who is a varsity girl’s basketball player. They were all pretty close growing up, going to the same school, they all find it comforting, but not such a big deal as many people make it seem

With Sam and Neico playing on the same team, the connection is there, and they seem to find each other open. They get along great which makes playing much easier.

“It’s great, we have great chemistry. It seems like we always find each other open, having him on the court makes it much easier to play,” said Neico

“Having siblings at school feels like their there but they’re not, I don’t talk to them as much. But its nice to know their there if you need them” said Mar.

“It’s crazy, as brothers there is already chemistry, he always seems to be in the right spot at the right time,” said Sam.

We can’t forget about Marlicia or “Mar” as most people know her. She plays varsity basketball and tries to stay pretty close to her brothers. She can’t help but stay close to Sam, they’re twins.

Marlicia doesn’t really think the whole twin thing is such as big a deal as everyone makes it out to be, “We’re fraternal, nothing special, we’re just normal people.”

We asked Neico what he thought about having siblings who are twins. “it’s crazy, you would never think they were twins, they are exact opposites.”

Sam said he finds having a twin to be kind of weird. “Mar is probably the closest person to me, but she gets on my nerves more than anybody.” A twin will know exactly how to push your buttons after spending your whole life together.”

One family, one sport,. They have nothing but love for the game and eachother.

Neico, Marlicia, and Sam in the gym.Photo by: Saleena Lovan

By Derek YoungShantell CortezOracle Reporters

Neico GreeneAge: 16Grade: 10th Current Position: Shooting guardFavorite NBA team? Oklahoma City ThunderFavorite NBA player? Kevin DurantHow long have you played? “I’ve played organized ball since 3rd grade, but ever since I was a little kid I loved to play.”One thing Sam can do on the court that you’re jealous of? His dunking ability.What’s it like to go to school with the twins? “It’s cool, I can see them at school and when we go home. We get to spend a lot of time together and that’s a good thing.”Your future aspirations? “I see myself attending college and playing basketball. I’d like to play in the NBA but if that doesn’t work I want to get my degree in Mathematics.”

Marlicia WilliamsAge: 17Grade: 11th Current Position: Shooting GuardFavorite NBA team? Miami HeatFavorite NBA player? Lebron JamesHow long have you played? “3 years, all at North.”One word to describe your brothers? ANNOYING.What’s it like going to school with both your brothers? “It really feels like they’re not there because we dont get to talk much, but it’s good to know they are if I ever need them.”Your future aspirations? “I want to go to Depaul University and become a Social Worker. I want to get married

but NO KIDS, my little sister bugs the hell out of me”.Sam Williams

Age: 17Grade: 11th Current Position: Small forwardFavorite NBA team? Los Angeles LakersFavorite NBA player? Kobe BryantOne thing Neico can do on the court that your jealous of? “He’s nearly

perfected the crossover, it handles people.”What’s it like to go to school with Mar and Neico? “It’s alright, I don’t find

it to be a big deal. This is really the first year I’ve had class with Mar.”

Your future aspirations? “ I want to be a Motivational Speaker or a Teacher. I want kids who grow up with no dads to know it’s not over. You can always make it in life.”

Coming Out of the

ShadowsBy: Mariah Gibb

26-year-old Paul Maciel was the

ideal student who had a suc-

cessful life ahead of him, if only he was the owner of a social secu-rity number.

Maciel flew to the Unit-ed States from Mexico City as a young boy. His parents overstayed their visas and this decision ended up im-pacting Maciel’s entire life. He attended North High School, which he graduated successfully from in 2004. He was the Homecoming King and a member of many groups: soccer, football and JROTC. He explained that his favorite high school

memories came from North’s JROTC program, “That is the reason I am who I am... It molded my character.” He was the battalion commander at North. After high school, he could have done big things with his life, but came to re-alize how difficult living illegally was. Instead, he couldn’t attend college or become a Marine. “It’s a life long jour-ney...” Maciel said. Although life in the United States has

been tough for him, Maciel still loves his life here. “The United States is very unique...the lifestyle that I live is something to be grateful for.” Maciel has a different outlook on life, he doesn’t believe in having re-grets, or complaining about how life has been. “I don’t like to look to the future, I force myself to live in the present because the present is all we have,” he said. To listen to him speak, is great inspi-ration. When asked about his advice towards teens, he spoke of what his inspiration is: “Watch your thoughts, for they become words. Watch your words, for they become actions. Watch your actions, for they become habits. Watch your habits, for they become character. Watch your char-acter, for it becomes your destiny.” Throughout his journey, Maciel has become a legal resident of the United States, and that is enough to make him proud. “It’s good to come out of the shadows,” he said. He currently works as an interpreter.

Features 10

Ever wonder what it would be like to be at North High School in the 60’s? Back when North and East’s rivalry was at its peak, when synchro-nized swimming was actually popular, or when creepy rumors of the tunnels holding dead bodies crept through the school. Well, Connie Cook has all the answers. Cook spent the average years that any kid would in school. Elemen-tary, to middle school, to high school. But every kid has a history and hers was deep. Oldest of 11 kids she left her siblings and parents to care for her sick and injured grandmother while her uncle was at work. Yet she was okay with this, took it rather well, and still enjoyed life. North in Cook’s eyes was just as diverse and integrated as it is now, kids came from all different back-grounds but in the same way they were all too alike. She grew up with the rumors, like the thought that under the school was a dump site for the dead bodies of murdered people. Yet, she went through life the same as any high school student, making friends, trying to work hard, and surviving the embar-rassing, hard and crazy moments of life.

“The most embarrassing time, I remember, was when I was with my synchronized swimming team that I did with five other girls. The theme was “On the Ocean Front. And, we

were rats. On our break went to go get something to eat, and got pulled over by a police while in the uniforms, wet and tired and hungry. We had to go have someone at school vouch for us,”

C K C A R E S laughed Cook. Yeah, that’s right, she was almost arrested for being a water rat (costume). Even though Cook survived high school and those weird mo-ments, instead of getting out of there as soon as she could she went back to the school to be the Vice Principal. She enjoyed being there but soon she found herself facing a change in her life. In ‘82 Cook won a raffle tickets and got $1000, she decided to spend it on a trip that would alter the way she saw the world. She spent the money on flight tickets to Cali’ and went to a confer-ence called “Beyond War”. With her eyes opened to such new ideas, doors had opened that were full of opportu-nity. Cook took a leave from the school and was elected for city council. But even after going through that, she had to come back to the school. She couldn’t stay away. School

By: Autumn Klootwyk

Paul Michael, a 2004 graduate, faced many hardships due to his citizenship status.

Connie Cook, a 2012 Hall Of Fame inductee, was a principal at many DMPS schools, including Brody, Meredith and Hoover. She recently visited North to reflect on her days as a student here.

North High Alumni reflects on her Polar Bear days

was her life, so she became the as-sociate superintendent and patrolled the schools. She watched out for people and was kind to everyone. She lives up to her own advice of “Being good at communication skills, and to doing all the school-ing first, and having a good sense of humor.”

Features 11Griselda Sandoval: Sights Locked on Higher Education With the 2012-2013 school year coming to a quick end, North High seniors are counting down the days before they are officially graduates. While some are planning out for college, and bringing home first se-mester report cards, senior Griselda Sandoval has some more exciting news to bring home this year. Recently, 18 year old Griselda San-doval received a scholarship from the University of Iowa which will pay for her college tuition. “I could’ve jumped up and down, I was really super, super happy,” she said. Lots of hard work, good grades and a really good transcript helped Sandoval receive this scholarship. Since she was little she really enjoyed school, she always had straight A’s and was a good kid. In high school her grades started to go down a little. She really wasn’t sure if she would have received the scholarship because of her grades in previous years at North. Next year that Sandoval will attend The University of Iowa she plans on studying medicine. She isn’t quite sure what branch but, for sure medicine. At first, she wanted to become a biologist. But after

Vukovich: Memories, Life, and Struggles

By Kelsey Ambrose researching the field she learned that it took the same amount of time to earn a degree in medicine. The Uni-versity of Iowa has a very extensive medical program, which is very costly. Sandoval is also in ROTC, she

started in her fresh-man year when one of her friends brought it to her attention that if she joined ROTC she could get double the credit for gym. “I’ll really miss

ROTC once I graduate because I’m not going to continue it when I go into college.” She describes herself as responsible, loyal, and tactile. Three big important things when you’re a doctor! “I’m really loyal. I take pride in what I care about and what I do,” said Sandoval. Outside of school, everything else for Sandoval revolves around drawing, science and music. A typical night for her is getting out of school and going right to the shooting range to either shoot, or supervise. After that she gets picked up by whoever in

“My freshman year wasn’t good. I didn’t go to class and things were just - not all that good. A few of my teachers helped me a lot, they got me to go to class, get my work done and start doing better.”

A full moon reflects in the water of Lake Raven, in Northern Georgia. A nineteen-year-old college stu-dent is treading water. A boat has just come at him at about 60 miles per hour. He reaches down and feels his leg and his hand immediately gets pricked. He knows that this is the bone sticking out of his leg. When the ambulance arrives, a paramedic tells his friends, “I hope you've said your good byes, because he's not going to make it.” After two hours in ambulances and a lot of blood loss, he arrived at the hospital, where the doctors told him he had about a 1% chance of surviv-ing this accident. Today, that nineteen-year-old college student is our very own vice principal at North High School, Michael Vukovich. At the time, Vukovich was a freshman baseball player for Southern Illinois Univer-sity who was playing summer-ball in Northern Georgia. He had spent the fateful evening tubing with his friends. He fell off of the tube he was on, and a second boat hit him. When Vukovich saw the danger, he tried to swim under-neath the boat, and the blades caught him. This incident caused him to be in the hospital for around two months. He says this experience opened his eyes. “I found out who my real friends and family mem-bers were,” said Vukovich. This accident left him with his leg broken in 75 places. The doctors were forced

to amputate his leg, causing him to never be able to play baseball professionally or even at a college-level again. Being the son of the famous Major League Baseball player George Vukovich, who helped the Phillies win the 1980 World Series, this was tough news to swallow. He recovered from the incident and went on to become a Social Studies teacher

for seven years, and spent two years working with Aca-demic Intervention. He has spent some of that time coaching high school baseball. He has now been the VP at North for three years. In the past three years, North has seen significant improvements in regards to test scores, attendance, and

in various school programs. Vukovich has played a substantial role in making this happen. Although he believes that teachers are the real reason for a lot of improvements, he has helped guide the teachers in the past few years.

He said, “I have just been there to help them when they need me and help our building stay on track.” Vukovich added that, “The teachers have been able to set high standards for students... They give students every opportunity to succeed and will ac-cept nothing short of success.” He said that when he started at North, “A lot of our students didn't believe in themselves. North High has been traditionally bad, and so bad test scores were the norm.” The solution, he believed, was that, “(North) needed higher expectations...If you don't meet them, we'll still love you and care about you, but you'll be held accountable.” This way of thinking has definitely helped our school progress in the past few years. The school has also put itself on the map in regards to our Fine Arts programs, Academic Decathlon, Robotics Team, and our Athletic teams. His hobbies, when he has time outside of school, are watching football and spending time with his wife, Alyson, and his three children- Regan (age 8), Avery (age 6) and Weston (age 2). He said they enjoy playing soccer and softball. In his free time, he likes to takes Regan and Avery to North to work on their softball and soccer skills. And even after the boating accident, he says, “I tube every summer.”

Michael Vukovich, our vice principal, water tubing with his daughter.

Griselda Sandoval, North High senior who recieved a full-ride scholarship.

By Arin Botkin

“(North) needed higher expecta-tions... If you don’t meet them, we’ll

still love you and care about you, but you’ll be held accountable.”

her family comes, goes home and eats, showers, and then finishes up her homework. Sandoval is a great example of how hard work really pays off. If you work hard enough towards getting what you want in life, you will accomplish it.

Academic DecathlonAcademic Decathlon is an academic competition composed of 10 subject areas: Lang Lit, Math, Sci-ence, Super Quiz, Economics, Music, Social Science, Art, Speech, and Interview. Speech and Interviews are given in the evening and the other subjects are tested the next day.

Teams are made up of a total of 9 people, 3 people in each section – Honors, Scholastic, and Varsity, with one or two alternates. Each section is divided based on grade point average. Highest GPAs in Honors and low-est in Varsity.

Scoreboard Silver: 2, 1, 2, 1 Bronze: 1, 1, 1, 1Julius Tembe: Won 6 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronzeCody McKeehan: 3 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronzeMariama Corneh: 2 silverBrian Schulz: 1 gold, 1 bronzeCharles Overton: 1 bronzeJake Sanderman: 1 silverJessica Jensen: 1 gold

Dakota Lupkes

2ndOverall

Courtney Wright

4thOverall

Sara Crampton

7thOverall

• Role: Shooter• Years on Team: 3• Average Score:

542/600• Most Recent Com-

petition: National Championships at Salt Lake City, Utah • Role:Shooter

• YearsonTeam:3• AverageScore:

535/600• MostRecentCom-

petition:NationalChampionshipsatSaltLakeCity,Utah

• Role:Shooter• YearsonTeam:4• AverageScore:

550/600• MostRecentCom-

petition:NationalChampionshipsatSaltLakeCity,Utah

North High School Marine Corps Junior ROTC Rifle team competed in the Marine Corps National Air Rifle Championships in Salt Lake City, Utah from 21st to the 23rd of Febru-ary. Qualifying for the National Championships began in November and December of last year with 307 teams from around the United States competing. The Top 22 Teams advenced to the championship round, which were simultane-ously held in Anniston, Alabama and Salt Lake City, Utah. Over 2 days the 22 teams shot 2 3x20 matches which consists of 20 rounds in the prone, 20 standing and 20 rounds in the kneeling position for a total of 2400 points possible per match. Tuba City, Arizona was the National Champion with a 2 day total of 4255, followed by Des Moines North with 4253. The top 7 schools advanced to the JROTC National Championships which will be held in Anniston, Alabama 21-24 March and will comprise the top 7 teams from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps Champion-ships.

North High ROTC Rifle Team

Other Top GunmanC.O. Graselda Sandoval, 9th overallX.O. Jackie Navarro, 14th overall

Julius Tembe

Cody McKeehan Mariama Corneh

Jake Sanderman Brian Schulz

Charles OvertonJessica Jensen

spotlight 12