GCHS Rampage - Volume 69, Issue 3 - Dec. 10, 2014

RAMPAGE 400 N. LAKE STREET VOLUME 69 ISSUE 3 DECEMBER 10, 2014

GCHS FOOD DRIVEPg. 3

SPARKNOTES: IS IT A TOOL OR CHEATING?

Pg. 7

CABARET NIGHTPg. 22

RAMPAGERAMPAGE 400 N. LAKE STREET VOLUME 69 ISSUE 3 DECEMBER 10, 2014 400 N. LAKE STREET VOLUME 69 ISSUE 3 DECEMBER 10, 2014

GCHS FOOD DRIVE

SPARKNOTES: IS IT A TOOL OR CHEATING?

CABARET NIGHT

December 10, 2014

2 Tabl e o f Cont e n t s Rampage welcomes letters to the editor from students, faculty and staff, administrators, community residents and the general public. Letters should be 300 words or less, contain the author’s name and phone number, and be sent to [email protected]. Rampage will withhold the writer’s name upon request only if circumstances warrant its absence, and only at the discre-tion of the editorial board. The Rampage editorial board reserves the right to with-hold a letter and return it to the author for re-submission if it determines the piece is too long or contains errors in fact, excessive grammatical errors, or items of unprotected speech (see Law of the Student Press for spe-cifi c legal defi nitions for libel, obscenity and invasion of privacy). Facts will be checked for verifi cation, but will not be edited for punctuation, grammar and usage. Opinions expressed in a letter to the editor do not rep-resent the opinions of the Rampage staff, the adviser, other faculty, the administration, the School Board, or advertisers. Deadlines for letters will be no later than two weeks before the next publication date.

Rampage Staff 2014-2015

EDITORIAL BOARDMax GoldbergDaniel Skinner

Opinion Editors

Feature Editor

Antonio Betancourt

Entertainment Editor

Katie Wilkinson

Sports Editor

Staff Reporters

ADVISERCarl Hauck

Web Page EditorsMax Goldberg

Abby Goldberg

Andrew Rosenthal

Max Goldberg

Caroline Newman

Daniel Skinner

Erika Miessner

Diego FernandezKelsey Ford

Abby Goldberg

Danielle Voss

News EditorsTaylor O’Neill

Anna Jensen

Ksenia Gorinshteyn

Kyra Dickerson

Maeve Rubin

Marissa Payne

Nafeseh Riahi

Olivia Miller

Stephany De Avila

Tristan Bergonio

Vanessa Pahlow

Spread EditorDaniel Skinner

Andrew Rosenthal

Check out our website for extended stories, staff bios and other extras: http://rampage.d127.org. Also, follow us on Twitter: @GCHSRampage

Colleen Ketterer

Letters to the Editor

News

Entertainment

Opinion

Sports

Feature

22nd annual Student Council and PSP Food Drive........................................................................................pg. 3Veterans Day Breakfast/FBLA Fall Conference.............................................................................................pg. 4Best Buddies basketball game/Key Club Closet Drive..................................................................................pg. 5

Route 53 expansion effort pursued with CMAP project.................................................................................................................pg. 6

Editorial: Sparknotes ought to only be used as a resource, not a replacement............................pg. 7

English books in curriculum challenge students/student voting..................................................pg. 8Hat policy prevents self-expression.............................................................................................pg. 9Hall passes aren’t enforced/Tips for succeeding with fi nals.........................................................................................................pg. 10

Dealing with holiday and winter eating problems/ACT prep changes.....................................pg. 12Senioritis from a teacher’s perspective/Things to do in the city during break.........................pg. 13

Benefi ts of studying abroad/Empty Bowls event.....................................................................pg. 14

Student fashion.........................................................................................................................pg. 15

Spread: Racial issues at GCHS, student awareness needs to improve............................................... ....................................pg. 16-17

“Black Thursday” and where people go.......................................................................................................................................pg. 18

“The Princess Bride” book review/Pokemon ORAS review......pg. 19

Evolution of boy bands...............................................................pg. 20

“The Miracle Worker” play review...............................................................................................................................................pg. 21

Cabaret Night/Orchesis season begins..........................................................................................................................................pg. 22

Are team tryouts effective?.........................................................................................pg. 25Wrestling brief/Boys bowling brief/girls bowling brief.............................................pg. 26Cross country places sixth in state/Boys basketball brief/Girls basketball brief........pg. 27

Numbers of students in popular sports changing/Upcoming games............................................................................................pg. 28

“Mockingjay - Part 1” movie review............................................................................................................................................pg. 24

Mental health days good for students/Ebola fear cartoon.............................................................................................................pg. 11

Copyeditor

3

December 10, 2014

News

The 22nd annual GCHS Food Drive came in full force on Nov. 15 when PSP and Student Council distributed pick-up bags throughout the community. They picked them back up on Nov. 22, with the fi nal distribution day for care packages set for Dec. 5. “Members of both Student Council and PSP work really hard to rally as much support as possible in support of mem-bers of our community that need us most,” said Student Council sponsor Kevin Far-rell. “The Grayslake Central community is full of giving, compassionate individuals and families who, every year, are willing to give generously to such a great cause.” The Food Drive helps sup-port the Avon Township Food Pantry. Not only is food donat-ed, but money is also collect-ed. For every dollar donated, seven pounds of food can be purchased. “The cash we collect also helps pay for a fresh holiday meal for families in the com-munity including a frozen tur-key, a bag of apples, a bag of potatoes and a gallon of milk,”

said Farrell. The food collected will be distributed throughout the community to homes in need on Dec. 6. “I love being a part of the Food Drive because it’s fun and we help people in our own community,” said sophomore Kerry Obis. The in-school Food Drive will run again to collect food and money from classroom collection boxes. In past years the in-school Food Drive has raised more money than cans of food. This year, a GoFund-Me account was used again to help collect more money to buy perishable food items for families. “The Food Drive is some-thing great our school does,” said sophomore Brooke Zei-gler. “It really shows how a community can come together to do something great.” This year the goal set by Stu-dent Council is 60,000 pounds of food. Last year 62,476.13 pounds of food were collect-ed. According to Benko, this is a goal that seems easy to reach for those working the food drive. “Within the fi rst hour on Nov. 22, bags started to pile

up and by the end of the day, the whole room was packed full of food,” said junior Nico Buccieri. The Food Drive uses a classroom to hold all the food collected until it is distributed throughout the community. “Even though I’m not a part of the Food Drive, it is defi nitely something I think is really important for us to do as a school to give back to the community, ” said sophomore Kiley Dempsey. Some homes were missed on the fi rst pick-up date so Student Council sent members back out into the community on Dec. 1 and 2, according to Obis. “There were defi nitely people in the community that were not too happy we were knocking on their doors at 8:30 in the morning, but we still gathered enough food to fi ll an entire classroom,” said

senior Brandy Heraty. Even those who have never participated in something like the Food Drive at GCHS were able to make a big impact and help out. “I was surprised about how our community came togeth-er so well to donate the huge amount of food we were able to collect,” said junior Jamie Gerber. “It was so rewarding to see what we were able to accomplish in such a short pe-riod of time.” “It was awesome to see Stu-dent Council and PSP work together on a project of this size,” said Buccieri. “I think it’s a perfect example of how well our school is coming to-gether to accomplish a task.” Student Council and PSP collected 20,160 pounds and collected $7,443.86 in do-nations which allowed them to purchase an approximate 72,269 pounds.

CAROLINE NEWMANStaff Reporter

PSP, Student Council Food Drive CAN do it

Senior Morgan Lee sits amongst the food collected at this years’ food drive. Photo by Andrew Rosenthal

Photo by Andrew Rosenthal

Junior Katie Schroeder carries boxed foods at the food drive. Student Council and PSP collected 72,269 pounds through money donations and food collected at homes.

4

December 10, 2014

News

Traveling to Minneapolis to both ex-plore the sights and learn about business leadership, the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) club attended its an-nual Fall Leadership Conference on Nov. 14-15. While at this event, students went to several workshops about different as-pects of entrepreneurship and listened to various speakers about the kinds of steps they can take for to become better leaders in the future. According to FBLA sponsor Diane Keuth, this year’s fall conference had the largest turnout ever, with approximately 2,400 students from all over the country in attendance. “Illinois was the best-represented state at the conference,” said Keuth. “[Grays-

lake alone] had 25 students from Central go and 14 from North.” For students who don’t know what FBLA is, it is a national club centered around giving students tools that they can use to become better leaders in their workplace. Students, while learning how business leadership works, also have the ability to compete in three different categories of events: bubble (multiple choice), individual and team events. While students didn’t have any compet-itive events to attend at this conference, they did learn a lot, said FBLA treasurer and senior Rachel Kocialkowski. During the conference, FBLA mem-bers attended a workshop period that went from 1-3:45 p.m. on Nov. 14 and another that went from 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. on Nov. 15. They also listened to opening and closing speakers at this conference.

“The keynote speakers were hilarious,” said Kocialkowski. The rest of the time, aside from the midnight curfew, was given to students to explore the surrounding area or attend special FBLA meeting sessions tailored to different states. “It was a lot of fun to explore the city,” said Keuth. “The buildings are all con-nected. There was about a mile of sky-walks we walked over.” Overall, Keuth is most excited about FBLA’s future for this upcoming year. Since the annual national competition is being held in Chicago this year, she has high hopes for her students. “It’s going to be in our own backyard,” said Keuth. “This next month we’ll be fi guring out which events students will be taking part in.”

PSP students organized the annual Veterans Breakfast along with Key Club to bring local veterans and students closer together. Like every year, the Veter-ans Breakfast and other Veter-ans Day activities at GCHS are organized to show the students and faculty all the sacrifi ces that other people have made for our country. “We’ve preserved our free-dom because of the sacrifi ces of the men and women who have served our country,” said guidance counselor and vet-eran Glenn Miller. “It’s very important that the students see that with an appreciation.” This nine year tradition makes a huge impact on the lives of people involved at GCHS and the community, and it lets students see what life was like for the veterans during their time of service. “The purpose of Veterans Day is to honor the people who

have made a sacrifi ce to this country,” said PSP sponsor Dustin Chierico. “And so what our goal is, is to give them the opportunity to meet and work fi rsthand with people who are veterans and defended our country, and we want students to be able to meet them and understand from their perspec-tive.” “The students are taking a real active role,” said Miller. “This school shows the most outward appreciation and I’m really proud to be here and be a part of the faculty and I’m proud to be a veteran.” PSP and Key Club students started contacting veterans, making signs and other deco-rations, creating the program and so much more about three weeks in advance. “We work hard to prepare,” said Chierico. “It’s all about planning and deciding what you want to do and then exe-cuting that plan,” said Chieri-co. “We make a lot of lists to make sure we’re getting done

what we need to get done.” While PSP mainly plans the program and decides on the food, they also help Key Club with the set up on the morning of Veterans Day. “Before the breakfast, we would come early and set up decorations like the posters that elementary kids drew,” said sophomore Steven Sohn, member of Key Club. This event not only helps staff and students realize ev-erything the veterans have done for our country, but it also

helps the veterans see the ap-preciation and respect that they have earned. “It’s important for the vet-erans to realize that the things they believed in and fought for are alive and well today, and there are people out there that value what they’ve done and the sacrifi ces they’ve made,” said Chierico. The Veterans Breakfast is a tradition that GCHS plans to continue to help bring the com-munity together.

KSENIA GORINSHTEYNStaff Reporter

Senior PSP student Karleen Gomez serves food to local vet-eran Robert Wegge during the Veterans Day Breakfast.

Photo by Emerald Staff

PSP, Key Club honor local veterans at annual breakfast

FBLA Fall Conference brings adventure DANIEL SKINNEREntertainment/ Spread Editor

5News

December 10, 2014

Key Club will be collecting clothes throughout the year for Veterans Closet, an organization located in North Chicago that provides free clothing and household items to veterans in need. The organization was moved from Wadsworth to the larger North Chicago location this year with the help of Mary Carmody, the aunt of Key Club sponsor Lisa Worklan. This new location will al-low for more space to store donations. “[Veterans Closet] started with a guy who had [the organization] at a farm, and the donations were just overfl owing,” said Worklan. “He had [the clothes] in a trailer. My aunt found the space for it, so they just transported it over. Home Depot donated shelving so it looks like a legiti-mate store.”

For many veterans, the donations they receive from Veteran’s Closet are more than just casual outfi ts. The donated clothing has the potential to help the vet-erans fi nd jobs. “At fi rst, [Veterans Closet was] collect-ing suit jackets, pants and socks, things like that that they could go dress up in and do job interviews with,” said Key Club sponsor Jim Plaza. With the arrival of winter and freez-ing temperatures, local veterans need to be taken care of and given clothes that provide warmth. Items like coats, hats, gloves and thick socks are especially ben-efi cial. “In these winter months, coats are re-ally useful because most of [the veterans] are homeless,” said junior Jaime L’Abbe, the vice president of Key Club. There are things like healthcare and programs that get veterans back into civil-

ian life, but when it comes to their basic needs for survival, Plaza thinks that not enough has been done to help veterans. “These guys come home and we call them heroes and things like that, but then all the sudden, they’re sitting on the side-walk and they don’t have food, they don’t have warm clothes, they don’t have jobs,” said Plaza. “We thought that with the group we have, and with the community we have in Grayslake, we would be able to make a pretty big impact on veterans in this area that needed help.” To help Key Club give back to vet-erans, donations should be dropped off to Plaza in room 2460, or given to a Key Club member. “They served our country and this is the least we can do for them,” said L’Ab-be. “It’s one hardship that they should not have to face, considering all they did.”

MARISSA PAYNECopy Editor

Bleachers fi lled with sup-portive fans, great dance moves showcased in creative victory dances and a chance to own the basketball court -- all of these things and more were seen at the Best Buddies bas-ketball game on Nov. 20. Not only did it raise approximately $1,100 for the program, but it gave the community a chance to get involved with the club. “The [basketball] game is so much fun,” said Lisa Worklan, the Best Buddies sponsor. “It gets the community involved, and the school administration involved, and it’s a huge fund-raiser for us.” The crowd cheered on the smiling athletes with colorful signs, green and white poms and plenty of screaming. “[The basketball game] was amazing and it made me feel awesome,” said senior Tim Luhr.

According to the Best Buddies Illinois website, “the mission of Best Buddies is to establish a global volunteer movement that creates oppor-tunities for one-to-one friend-ships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and de-velopmental disabilities.” With bright smiles and end-less enthusiasm, the Buddies are very happy in the program. “I love [the Buddies] so much,” said senior Elizabeth Phillips, president of the club at GCHS. “They’re just so loving and they accept you for who you are.” The friendships between the Buddies and peers are very strong. “I had a Buddy for three years, and she moved away last year, [but] we still keep in touch and text all the time,” said Phil-lips. “Even with the kids you’re not Buddies with, you get to hang out with them sometimes and see them around school.

They’ll remember you forev-er.” “Best Buddies is great,” said senior Jacob Sarbekian, who is Phillips’ Buddy. “[My favorite part] is hanging out with my Buddy.” Phillips said that while there are not many people involved in the club at GCHS, there is greater student involvement in other schools.

VANESSA PAHLOWStaff Reporter

Key Club closet drive gives back to veterans

Passing the love at Best Buddies annual basketball game

Senior Nadilee Polek shoots a basket during the Best Bud-dies annual basketball game on Nov. 20.

“I would love it if we could expand more,” said senior Eliz-abeth Phillips, president of the club at GCHS. “I would love it if our school had Best Buddies as the major club, with every-body wanting to join in. I want it to be where you have to be interviewed and chosen to get in because so many people are interested in it.”

Photo by Emerald Staff

6

December 10, 2014

News

Almost 50 years ago, the Illinois De-partment of Transportation (IDOT) had an idea to extend Illinois Route 53 North toward Grayslake to create a six-lane highway connecting Lake County and the city of Chicago. Because of its high cost and the great distance of land to construct upon, the only progress the 53 extension made was a simple “idea” that was lightly talked about.

In 2012, a Blue Ribbon Advisory Committee consisting of town leaders decided that this project must be brought forth again and that it would benefi t Lake County if the project were to move for-ward. The committee took a new stance and introduced an additional project, a proposed bypass to Illinois Route 120 that would link the two projects. Since January of 2014, The Chicago-land Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) has been collecting data and is in the process of creating a land-use plan to create environmental protection, eco-nomic development, quality of life, com-munity character and local transportation, according to Principal planner of CMAP, Jason Navota. From CMAP’s studies, Lake County is

heading towards what is called “sprawl” where people continue to add subdivi-sions and more major roads are created to access them. The process repeats at expo-nential rates. In response, CMAP wants to improve the infrastructure in Lake County in addi-tion to the land-use agreement, assuming the road is built, or even if it is not. “Anywhere you want to go, you should be able to get there without getting in a car,” said Navota. “Our goal is to give the citizens more options so they can get places more effi ciently.” An example of this sort of city planning would be a food court within walking dis-tance GCHS and GNHS so students could go out to lunch without needing to drive. Any way that infrastructure can be made that eliminates the need for a car would in turn benefi t Lake County. “While we cannot ensure if the road is going to be built or not, there is more of a demand to live somewhere that is close to work and has options for transportation, simply because there is then not a need for a car,” said project manager Daniel Grove. The infrastructure would reduce emis-sions because of cars and create a more thriving, healthy economy, enhancing the

quality of life. With less emissions from cars, ecosystems like Almond Marsh would further protect species. According to CMAP’s research, damage has already started to occur due to emissions and it is only going to get worse as Lake County’s population increases. “We want to protect the things that people care about,” said Navota. While the project is still in its planning phase and has a long way to go before any action is taken, CMAP has a vision set for the projects completion in 2040, the year that Lake County’s population is expect-ed to surpass on million. “We will not continue unless we are positive that we have planned for the best outcome,” said Grove. According to Navota, it is hard to de-termine the public view on the status of the project as a whole. While some are in favor of certain parts, others disagree. Some simply stated they wanted to get to work faster. According to Grove, CMAP is studying regions in Chicago and is looking to apply concepts to Lake County today, as well as experiment before any-thing is done on a large scale. To become informed about the proj-ect and view many documents relating to CMAP’s investigation, visit www.lake-corridorplan.org.

ANDREW ROSENTHALSports Editor/ Webpage Editor

CMAP brings forward new ideas of metropolitan living

(Left) Residents of Grayslake voice why they care about their community. (Center Top) The corridor mapping meeting took place in the Bryan Colby Barn at Prairie Crossing. (Center Bottom) Residents at the meeting look at the many graphics CMAP prepared based on the data they collected. (Right) A representative from CMAP had community members place two dots on a poster, one where they live, and one where they work. Photo illustration by CMAP. Used with permission.

7Opinion

December 10, 2014

Editorial Board

Max Goldberg Daniel SkinnerAbby Goldberg

Sparknotes suppresses students’ analytical thinkingOver the course of four years

in a high school English class, a student will read many books. Unfortunately, read-ing is challenging or tiring to some students and they turn to websites such as Sparknotes to do the work for them. By using Sparknotes, stu-dents are not applying them-selves or challenging them-selves to understand the text and come up with their own ideas. “[Sparknotes] makes sense of a novel instead of students making sense of it for them-selves,” said English teach-er Victoria Lobb. “It turns something that is supposed to allow students to think criti-cally while working through confusing or contradictory passages, into memorizing someone else’s descriptions of a text.” When a student uses Spark-notes, he or she begins to lose the skills necessary in an En-glish class. “[Students have] gotten so used to reading summa-ries and simplifi ed versions of novels that they lose the ability to fi gure out language on their own,” said English teacher Joan Rush. According to the Spark-notes website, Sparknotes is a resource students can turn to when they are confused. It helps students understand books, write papers and study for tests. Sparknotes provides a plot description and summary for the book of one’s choosing. Along with including the main

points of the story, Sparknotes writers offer their opinions of what specifi c things mean in the story. “Ideas are fed to you on Sparknotes,” said English teacher Jeff Barry. “[There-fore, the student] is not form-ing individual thoughts.” Not only are students not coming up with their own ideas, but by not reading the text, they are suffering on plot quizzes and essays. “I can see through the test if a student is not reading or is using Sparknotes,” said Barry. “I don’t teach just to under-stand the plot.” Students have to think about what they want to gain. If they only want to understand the plot, Sparknotes is useful. To form their own thoughts to use in essays and in discussions, the student should read the text. “If a student were to com-pletely replace reading a nov-el with reading Sparknotes, I think he or she would really be doing him or herself a dis-service,” said Lobb. “The stu-dent would ultimately end up writing or speaking the same old clichéd interpretations of a text instead of saying some-thing truly unique and inter-esting, and to me, that’s what literature is all about.” Although there are ob-vious disadvantages to using Sparknotes, students still fi nd that it can be a helpful tool. “I don’t always use Spar-knotes, but it’s helpful when I’m sick, tired or preparing for a test,” said a student who

wished to remain anonymous. Many English teachers can tell when their students are us-ing a website like Sparknotes in place of reading. “You start to hear clever angles and sophisticat-ed thoughts,” English depart-ment chair Melissa Thurlwell. Although many teachers can tell if a student is using Sparknotes, there is no direct punishment unless a student plagiarizes Sparknotes in an assignment. “We offer a discussion rather than a punishment,” said Barry. Even though the teachers may not directly punish stu-dents for using Sparknotes, the students can punish them-selves by doing this. “I can't always tell when a student is not reading the novel, [and reading a] sum-mary source like Sparknotes instead,” said Lobb. “What I will say is that I feel that stu-dents who do not engage with the actual language of the text have more diffi culty reading overall.” If students are going to use Sparknotes, they should use it along with the text rather than replacing the text completely. “As long as the student goes back and reads the book, reading for more than plot,” said Lobb. “Like all resources on the internet, students can use Sparknotes as a tool to understanding a book, but it ultimately should not replace reading a book entirely.” While Sparknotes can compromise the creative

and literal thinking done by students, there are some pos-itives for a struggling student. The sophomores are cur-rently reading “Macbeth,” a tragedy by William Shake-speare. Sparknotes offers a section cleverly titled “No Fear Shakespeare” that has modern translations of Shake-speare’s diffi cult language right next to the original text, so that students can read the original play and use Spark-notes to gain a clearer under-standing. “In some ways, web-sites like Sparknotes can be very helpful,” said Lobb. “If, for example, a student begins reading ‘The Great Gatsby’ and is really confused, I think that going to a Sparknotes summary to understand plot and a ‘typical’ analysis would be really helpful.” “The benefi ts of us-ing a summary site is that it can be helpful to use after reading a diffi cult section of a novel; the summary can help a student fi gure out what’s going on in the plot,” said Rush. “The disadvantage is that students don't get to come up with their own ideas about what a text is doing; instead, they let someone else tell them what to think.” Overall, Sparknotes can be an effective tool if stu-dents use it the right way. If it is used to supplement the reading, it can offer a greater understanding. However, if students only use it to not have to read, it will be hurtful in the long run.

8 Opinion

December 10, 2014

Young voters not acting on their freedoms ERIKA MIESSNERStaff Reporter

MAEVE RUBINStaff Reporter

Most of the books GCHS students read in English class-es have a pattern: they are upsetting, or discuss bigger, more intense topics that stu-dents are facing in their lives. While some students, like myself, fi nd these books re-latable, others only fi nd them upsetting. English teachers acknowl-edge that the books taught can be sad, but say they are neces-sary to teach. “We want to choose books that deal with real life,” said English teacher Victoria Lobb. “The classroom is often a very safe place to talk about things like that. We are faced with all these morbid, sad, depressing things and at least we can dis-cuss in a safe, mature place, whereas [otherwise] you might be confronted with it online or in fi lms.” Teachers prefer to teach

real-world issues, rather than just stories with happy end-ings. “Though depressing and [sometimes] just frankly up-setting, that is just the reality of the world that we live in and we try to choose books that mirror that in an authen-tic way,” said English teacher Amy Jesionowski. “I think that it is good for students to see their problems in the scope of a really big problem.” These books are easy to relate to because they discuss real topics high school stu-dents may face. Like Lobb and Jesionowski said, these books deal with things that can hap-pen in people’s lives, which makes it easy to make connec-tions with character stories. With that being said, it’s understandable why others struggle to make those con-nections. “I don’t like the books in English because they are up-

setting and have bad endings,” said freshman Olivia Frank. “They are just really frustrat-ing.” English teacher Joan Rush states the claim that all the books read for school are up-setting is a blanket statement. “For some students, there may be ideas or subject mat-ter that may become upsetting to them, but really what the books are dealing with is the human condition,” said Rush. “We are talking about the way we live our lives. When we

get to things that really matter, they are often upsetting and things that make us think.” Teaching students re-al-world issues is benefi cial later in life and having an open environment like a classroom to discuss these things is very helpful. English teachers believe that these books deal with re-al-world problems that some people will face in their lives, which is why the English cur-riculm can be seen as depress-ing.

The United States has a history of prizing the vote. Be-fore 1870 when men of color got suffrage, and 1920 when the same happened for wom-en, millions of Americans were barred from voting. Despite this, voter turnout at these past midterm elec-tions was depressingly low. According to the Washington Post, this was the lowest voter turnout since World War Two when many American citizens were fi ghting overseas. Younger voters are espe-cially unlikely to vote. This is a true shame, as every vote counts when it comes to the smaller elections.

“18 to 24-year-old voter turnout is just over the 20 per-cent range,” said government teacher Glen Roeck. “Overall turnout is 36.4 percent.” This was much lower than the over-all turnout at the presidential elections which, according to Roeck, was about 58 percent. It can be safely assumed that people vote more in the presidential elections because they are given more focus. “Voters pay more attention when they can vote in a presi-dential election,” said Roeck. However, each individu-al vote can make more of a difference in local elections, even though they receive 21.6 percent of voters. “Ultimately, those elector-

al votes decide the president,” said U.S. history teacher Adri-jana Bisevac. “Some local elections are decided by less than a hundred votes.” Even though every vote in these small elections is vi-tal, a very large amount of younger voters do not vote. There are many possible rea-sons for why this could be the case. “To be honest, I think one reason why young people don’t vote is because they don’t think the issues pertain to them,” said Bisevac. This may be why young people who do vote, such as seniors John Stopka and Joe Osterndorf, have trouble en-couraging their friends to vote.

“They’ll acknowledge my efforts, but not take much heed,” said Stopka. There are ways for Grays-lake students to encourage their friends to vote. “I encourage them to bring a friend or two when they regis-ter to vote,” said Roeck. It is especially helpful for fi rst-time voters that Roeck is a deputy voter registrar and can register Lake County res-idents to vote if they meet the requirements. Osterndorf and Stopka reg-istered with Roeck and found that it helped them. “I still would have voted, but it was [really] convenient that we could do it at the school,” said Osterndorf.

English curriculum taught for specifi c reasons

English books like “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Crime and Punishment,” “A Separate Peace” and “The Great Gastby” all have depressing covers, but address real -world themes. Photo by Anna Jensen

9Opinion

December 10, 2014

ly enforce the hat policy the school currently has in order to maintain the safety of the students. “We ask that students take off hats and other headgear upon entering the building so that anyone can be easily identifi ed,” said dean Jen Pi-otrowicz. “Our main goal is the safety of our students and staff members.” While Piotrowicz’s opin-ion is valid, the hat policy ultimately limits the students’ opportunities to express their own individual style, since some students wear hats to ac-cessorize an outfi t.

The inability to wear hats has become a big concern for students who wear them to express their own individual style. According to the student handbook, “no coats, hats, headgear, sweatbands, sun-glasses, hairnets, etc. are to be worn or visible in school.” While the hat policy may have been useful in the past, it hinders students’ right to ex-press themselves freely. Some staff members strict-

“Hats are a student’s way of making a fashion state-ment,” said English teacher Joan Rush. “The danger of them is more of a hood issue rather than hats. To me, when their hats are an element of the outfi t they are wearing, asking them to remove it would be like asking them to take off their belt.” Some students believe hats are not allowed in school be-cause the administration is concerned about students dis-playing gang symbols. “If the school issues a cap for our baseball team and they wear them to school, they are

Hat policy restricts self-expressionANTONIO BETANCOURT

Staff Reporters

obviously not in a gang,” said sophomore Claire Hargrave. Although students enjoy ex-pressing themselves through fashion pieces such as hats, the hat policy does not seem to take this desire into consid-eration. “I wear hats when I need to complete an outfi t,” said Har-grave. “They are very import-ant in fashion because they tie the whole thing together and are also a clever way to cover up my bad hair days.” Hats should be allowed in GCHS because they give stu-dents the chance to express their own personal style.

Editorial cartoon by Erika Meissner

OLIVIA MILLER

10 Opinion

December 10, 2014

Hall passes are not fre-quently enforced by hall mon-itors, and students often ques-tion why they need to have a pass to leave when they are rarely stopped in the hallway by someone checking for it. According to the student handbook, students must have an offi cial pass before being permitted to leave a class and will be required to show their pass to teachers or hall moni-tors if asked in order to prevent any students from roaming the halls without permission. However, if there are no teachers or hall monitors in the halls to ask for passes when students go somewhere, stu-dents should not be required to

have passes. “Hallway monitors make it seem that they will ask for a pass, but they actually do not,” said senior Jasmin Acosta. Hallway monitors appear to only ask students if they have a pass if they are known to get in trouble. The hallway mon-itors’ job is to make sure that students do not leave classes whenever they feel like it and they are in their designated ar-eas. “Hallway monitors only stop kids that get in trouble a lot for passes instead of the school as a whole,” said Acos-ta. Additionally, teachers and hallway monitors don’t en-force passes. When someone asks to go to his or her locker

or use the restroom, teachers let the student go without writ-ing a pass like they are sup-posed to. The only time teach-ers will not allow students to leave their class or when a hall monitor questions them, is when there are a couple min-utes before the bell rings. Many students believe that passes are not useful at all because they are not being enforced by teachers the way they are supposed to. “Throughout all four of my years here, I have never been stopped in the hall by someone checking to see if I had a pass,” said senior Cesia Trujillo. “Having passes is like [having] Rambucks; they are given out to students but are not taken seriously,” said se-

nior Sharon Turcios. On the other hand, the only time passes are strictly enforced is when students are going to the library, because the school librarian usually asks students to show a pass and an ID. “I go to the library almost every day and they almost al-ways check if a student has a pass,” said Acosta. Students do not take pass-es seriously because teachers do not enforce them with the same amount of importance that they claim passes have. Whether students are asked to show passes or not, passes keep a record of where a stu-dent is at a certain time, even though they are rarely used in that way.

Passes pushed aside in school hallsSTEPHANY DE AVILAStaff Reporter

December 10, 2014

11Opinion

When students are too stressed, tired, or simply worn down by their workload and are not mentally prepared for a long day at school, taking a mental health day is important and necessary. High school students have a large amount of work to com-plete throughout the week and the whole school year. “Sometimes students need a day to get the chance to re-lieve themselves of stress from school or other stress,” said senior Aaron Rodriguez. There may be days when jobs and activities outside of school consume too much of students’ time. When students become overwhelmed by other commitments, it benefi ts them to take a mental health day

and get ahead on homework instead of going to school. “I took off a Wednesday to catch up on all my homework, relax, regroup and de-stress,” said Rodriguez. Some may argue that stu-dents have the weekend to do such things, but Rodriguez argues that as teenagers, stu-dents have other obligations such as sports or jobs. “It’s hard to wake up and make yourself look present-able for school when you don’t feel like it,” said sopho-more Emily Blouch. Those on the counseling staff here at GCHS are aware that students have other prob-lems at home, which could keep some students up at night worrying. Blouch believes that students need more time to catch up on sleep.

“It’s also diffi cult for stu-dents to get up in the morn-ing and get ready to spend the whole day at school when there are more things going on at home,” said Blouch. “It’s draining.” Another reason students need mental health days is that sometimes there is too much going on in one’s personal life to balance it properly with school. “Homework is accessible out of school online,” said Blouch. “But when someone has all this stress in their life, they don’t always have the en-ergy to do the homework from that day’s class.” So much can go on at such a young age while students’ brains are still developing, and students do not always have the capacity to take in

and comprehend everything that is going on around them in school or outside of it. “School shouldn’t always have to be [the] fi rst priority,” said Blouch. Although school is easy to get through for some students, it can be unbearable at times for others. “Mental health days are per-fectly acceptable--in modera-tion, of course” said Blouch. “But someone’s well-being is more important than tonight’s geometry homework.” There is a point where a student must realize that hap-piness is not determined by the A he or she got in geom-etry. Needing time to blow off steam and relieve stress is a normal, healthy thing to do, and therefore should be more accepted by the school.

KATIE WILKINSONStaff Reporter

Students need breaks from stress

Editorial cartoon by Colleen Ketterer

Exaggeration of Ebola

12

December 10, 2014

Feature

The ACT testing schedule has changed drastically from previous years due to the implementation of new standardized testing. However, the vast majority of stu-dents do not understand the extent of the issue. “The date that we will be administer-ing the ACT test to all of our juniors has changed,” said Barb Georges, associate principal for curriculum & instruction . The test will be given in school one month earlier than normal, taking place in March instead of April.. “It used to be that every year the ACT was part of the PSAE assessment in April, but because of the new PARCC assess-ment we will no longer be giving that test in April,” said Georges. The Partnership for Assessment of Read-

iness for College and Careers (PARCC) is the new test juniors will be taking instead of the Prairie State Achievement Exam-ination (PSAE). The PARCC assessment will test the students in mathematics, En-glish literacy and language arts. “All the other tests we used to do on the day of the PSAE test we will do as well on March 3,” said Georges. The freshmen will be taking the PLAN test, sophomores will be taking the prac-tice ACT and juniors will be taking the actual ACT. Some juniors feel prepared to take the ACT in March. “I feel prepared because there are teachers who teach what is on the ACT, and also the practice ACT helped me feel more prepared,” said junior Sydney Chamberlain. She does not feel quite as prepared, however, for the PARCC test. “I do not really know what is expected on the PARCC test,” said Chamberlain.

Teachers have expressed similar sen-timents about preparing students for the PARCC test. “I do not feel prepared to help students prepare for the PARCC,” said special ed-ucation teacher Rick Schaller. “The ACT yes, but not the new test. I need to actual-ly see what a PARCC test looks like, but I do not think the state has all of that de-tailed out quite yet.” Some are worried that since the stu-dents are taking a new test this year, their scores could be affected. “The scores always change -- a new test comes out and everybody has to get used to it,” said Schaller. “It’s a new way, so it’s a new number.” The ACT, however, is the more helpful score when getting into college. “I hope we don’t sway away from help-ing students prepare for the ACT, because they need a decent score on that to help get them into college,” said Schaller.

OLIVIA MILLERStaff Reporter

DANIELLE VOSSOpinion Editor

People tend to eat more unhealthy foods over the holidays, like cookies, candy and other foods containing large amounts of sugar. Photo by John L. White/Tribune News Service

People have trouble making healthy choices over holiday breaks because friends and family come over, they stay up later and there is more food accessi-ble to them. Although it is harder to make healthy choices during these times, peo-ple can make less food, use smaller por-tions and put the food away after they are full. One of the reasons that less healthy choices are made over holiday breaks is that overeating becomes easier. “Presented with foods that they do not often get a chance to indulge in, people do not want to miss the opportunity to do so, therefore indulging in excessive eating, which eliminates all forms of physical exercise because they get too tired,” said head athletic trainer Glen Gerdes. Along with an increased access to food, having company over is also a large fac-tor. “I believe that people tend to eat more in social settings because sometimes they feel obligated to try everything that’s

offered in order not to offend those that brought it,” said psychology and sociolo-gy teacher Heather O’Connor. When students eat unhealthily over breaks, it affects their performance when they return to school. “Physical health is interconnected with energy, so it is reasonable to assume that people who are not getting proper nu-trition have lower levels of energy, thus impacting their motivation,” said social worker Karina Arango. “For example, if a student has not been making nutritious decisions over break, they have low energy and may struggle with paying attention in class and man-aging academic responsibilities,” said life fi tness department chair Jason Schaal. Although it can be easy to make un-healthy choices, there are various things that people can do in order to ensure that they are making good decisions regard-less of time, guests and the accessibility of food. “People are more likely to make bet-ter choices if they actually think about the situation,” said nurse Julie Szymczak. “If they think about the amount of food they

Food watch: winter break edition

consume, and what they are consuming, people get better nutrition.” Staying active is also very important over holiday breaks. “Many people watch a lot of television and play a lot of video games when they could be getting exercise,” said foods teacher Melissa Priester. “They need to keep in mind that they should be getting up and moving around. They can go out-side, go exercise or even go hang out with their friends.”

New ACT date causes problems for students, teachers

13

December 10, 2014

Feature

DIEGO FERNANDEZStaff Reporter

COLLEEN KETTERERStaff Reporter

The holidays are creeping closer, and many events are coming up. But what can fam-ilies and students in the Lake County area do for fun? Here are fi ve examples of low-priced holiday events coming up in nearby cities. Breakfast with Santa is taking place at the Universi-ty Center of Lake County in Grayslake. There is a fee of $5 per adult, but it is free of charge for children who bring a new, unwrapped gift with them. This takes place on Saturday, Dec. 13, and at the event, children will be given a coloring book and will be told different holiday stories. “[The breakfast] sounds like a fun event my older chil-dren can bring their little sister

Dealing with senioritis is a relatively tricky thing for teachers to do, especial-ly when seniors start to behave more in-dependently as their high school careers come to a close. According to teachers like Peter Olszewski, seniors begin to lose interest in their classes and get lazy with school work. They feel that they are done with high school and ready for col-lege and the real world. “It naturally makes sense,” said Olsze-wski, a science teacher. “Their brain is moving onto the next level, when they still don’t realize they have to fi nish this level fi rst.” According to Olszewski, it is com-mon for seniors to begin to lose motiva-tion for their classes when they start to realize how soon high school will be over for them. Teachers and students call this behavior senioritis. “[In] second semester, it gets worse,”

to,” said Grayslake resident Roberto Luz. Another event that’s taking place is Caroling at the Cloud Gate (known as the Bean) in Chicago. It will be held every Friday until Dec. 19. Students can go to this event and enjoy the beautiful holiday classics such as “Silent Night,” “O Holy Night” and many more that a lot of families have all learned to know and love. Gurnee Mills is showing its holiday spirit this year with an event called Santa Cares, which provides a subdued and welcoming environment for children to visit Santa. Santa is also visiting the mall so chil-dren can tell him what they want for christmas You can also fi nd Santa in the Gurnee Mills Bass Pro Shop, where kids can take free pictures with Santa and partic-

ipate in other family-friendly activities. One more event that’s hap-pening in Chicago this year that you might want to check out is the Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza. It is a traditional market that traces its history back to Nuremberg, Germa-ny. The events taking place there includes carolers, choirs and many other performances. There will be multiple vendors offering various handmade German artifacts as well as German foods such as sauer-kraut and sausages. This event is open Sun-day through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., as well as Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. The exception is Christmas Eve, when it is from 11a.m. to 4 p.m. Admis-sion is free. “The Christkindlmarket is

a fun activity to do, and you can get merchandise that you normally would not get in a department store,” said gov-ernment teacher Georgette Polychronos.

said Olszewski. “They want to be done and they want to be out. Usually, it’s be-cause a lot of them have already gotten accepted into colleges.” Seniors who are bored and goof around instead of doing work distract other stu-dents who have assignments that need to be completed. This makes it diffi cult for teachers who have to deal with senioritis. “It’s hard because the juniors still have things to do,” said Olszewski. “And then when the seniors get out weeks early, what do you do with the juniors? It’s hard as a teacher to fi gure out how to make that time meaningful for the juniors.” Aside from those consequences, there is also the possibility of senioritis affecting a student’s GPA because of their laziness when completing schoolwork. However, that is not what bothers teachers the most. “It’s not only the lack of effort as far as grades and assignments go,” said Olsze-wski. “The thing that bothers me more is the lack of respect the students have for

teachers. It seems like there’s a lack of re-spect for the school that they belong to.”Olszewski isn’t sure of the exact reason why seniors show this lack of respect towards teachers, but he does feel it is somewhat infl uenced by certain students’ attitudes about school. “I think a lot of it is the mentality that ‘I’m moving on,’ or, ‘I’m done with this place,’” said Olszewski. So far, Olszewski’s manner of com-bating senioritis seems to give meaning to the work seniors put into their assign-ments. “In Environmental Science, we do mean-ingful assignments that [the students] can get something out of,” said Olszewski. “Try to create the most meaning for them, and that way they are more inclined to do the assignment than if it was busy work or something like that.” “You point [senioritis] out to them,” said Olszewski. “You defi nitely have con-versations with them.”

Senioritis affects not just seniors

Grayslake celebrated the lighting of the Christmas tree downtown on Nov. 29.

Photo by Danielle Voss

Events to attend this holiday season

14

December 10, 2014

Feature

TAYLOR O’NEILLNews Editor

Studing abroad: advantages, disadvantages Adventurous types of people like to step out of their comfort zone, whether that be by trying something new or fl ying halfway around the world. At GCHS, there is a class for students who consider themselves adventurous; it is called Exploring World Cultures. The goal of this class is to give students a “once in a lifetime experience,” said En-glish teacher Jeff Barry. Senior Abby Perkowitz is a student of the class and had a lot of positive experi-ences on her trip to Ecuador in 2013. The class went to a daycare in Ecuador that was poverty-stricken, and they played with the children and fed them all slices of watermelons. “We were told that the watermelon was all the food that the children could have because the daycare did not have any more,” said Perkowitz.

The experience taught the class a lot about how fortunate they are. It was the poorest town Perkowitz had ever seen. Right after the group was done help-ing out, the students got on the bus and drove to a nearby town that was familiar because it was similar to suburban Grays-lake. They went to a mall there. “We ordered as much food as we want-ed, and it was eye-opening to see how privileged we were,” said Perkowitz. Aside from learning about the culture, the students also got to experience the ex-otic landscape and animals. “We were snorkeling and a random turtle would swim up next to you,” said Perkowitz. This year, students in Exploring World Cultures are traveling to Australia. It will be the sixth trip the class has gone on. Previous trips have ranged from places such as Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and England, to places like China and

Ecuador. Teachers of the course choose where to go based on whether the trip would challenge students and whether they would typically be able to go to on their own, said Barry. Some of the disadvantages of the course are that it is another course to manage and it only meets once a month. This means that the students have to make sure they are doing the course work along with the rest of their daily homework. The class runs from January to May. There are many positives about the course as well. Exploring World Cultures gives students a global perspective as a direct result of learning. The class teaches students to have appreciation for cultures that are differ-ent from their own. It is designed to give students preparation to get the full experi-ence from their trip. “It is one thing to read, and it is another to experience,” said Barry.

TAYLOR O’NEILLNews Editor As part of the Empty Bowls fund-raiser, the art and ceramics classes, along with the Art Club, did their part to help feed the hungry in America. At the event, people donated $5-10 and in re-turn received a bowl made by students, fi lled with soup. The event was held on Nov. 20. “Everyone is able to be involved with this event,” said art teacher Sue Berns. The art classes provided the bowls, while the foods classes provided the soup. There were also singing perfor-mances, all part of an effort to include many different types of art in the event. This year, 60 bowls were sold, and the event raised over $800. Junior Andy Quandt made a sgraf-fi to (the technique of scraping away the white space and leaving a picture when making ceramics) bowl that Ber-ns particularly appreciated because of the nice design. Quandt made the bowl

because he enjoyed the sgraffi to unit taught in the ce-ramics class, and he thought he would apply the same con-cept to a bowl that someone would buy. “It is interesting how art can help people in need,” said senior Abby Perkowitz, who at-tended the event. Empty Bowls was held at North last year, and the GCHS Art Club par-ticipated by painting bowls that people could buy. The money raised from Empty Bowls is going to the Avon Township Food Pantry, so it is kept in the community. The Avon Township Food

This is a bowl made by junior Andy Quandt that was sold at the Empty Bowls fundraiser to help feed the hungry in the Grayslake community. Photo by Max Goldberg

Pantry is also where PSP and Student Council donate food from the annual Food Drive. “The event was a success,” said Berns.

Art, foods students raise money for hungry

15

December 10, 2014

Feature

TRISTAN BERGONIOStaff Reporter There are many different archetyp-al aesthetics one can pursue in terms of dress. However, the “norm,” as dictated by what is worn and when and by whom, is also the most common here and in any environment inhabited by humans. What’s fashionable at GCHS today is mostly “comfy-core,” which translates to a very comfortable yet good-looking aesthetic. Senior Jack Saul, who consid-ers fashion a hobby of his and has spent over $1000 in the past couple months on clothes, said what’s fashionable now is “joggers with Nike socks pulled over the leg, ‘fl ow’ [a particularly long and loose hairstyle for guys], and Polo shoes with khakis.” But the upward trend of preppy wear,

too, cannot be ignored. “There are defi nitely a lot more guys wearing preppy clothes,” said Saul. He said that people are becoming much more aware of their fashion sense, although mall brands still retain their prevalence. What, then, is considered fashionable in high school? Aesthetic is the certain “look” that one tries to emulate with a certain outfi t. It determines others’ opin-ion of you at fi rst glance. For example, a teacher may dress with a business casual aesthetic in mind, and as a result, may look very professional. The types of aesthetics may vary, but a few in-clude prep, frat, streetwear and techwear/athletic wear. “My style is kind of basic streetwear,” said Saul. That aesthetic comes with a fo-cus on expressing hip-hop, modern Japa-

nese, surf/skate and sneakerhead culture. One specifi c aesthetic that is centered around the premise of the “joys” that sur-round being one of the crowd is normcore fashion. According to Alex Williams, a writer for the New York Times, norm-core is about “dropping the pretense and learning to throw [oneself] into, without detachment, whatever subcultures or ac-tivities [one stumbles] into, even if it were mainstream.” Despite the hype surrounding fashion, it is entirely viable to branch out or sim-ply “not care” about it. “I consider myself a representative of people who do not care about fashion,” said senior Luke Osterdorf, who describes his clothing as being a refl ection of his laid-back personality. “I like pockets.”

GCHS hosts wide range of fashion

In-Depth16

December 10, 2014

This past August, a black teen, Michael Brown, was shot and killed by a white police offi cer, Darren Wil-son. This shooting was thought to be racially-charged and became known nationally as the Ferguson shooting. Just a few weeks ago, the grand jury in charge of determining whether Wilson would be charged decided not to indict him. Ferguson residents pro-tested against this decision, demand-ing justice for the slain teenager. A few days after the grand jury’s ver-dict, Offi cer Wilson resigned. It can defi nitely be said that there is some racial tension in the United States, but there are many differing opinions in the debate over whether racism is or is not an issue in soci-ety. Some people think racism is an inconsequential problem that is ex-aggerated by people who are too sen-sitive. Other people strongly believe that racism has a foothold on our so-ciety and is holding us back. 675 students at GCHS participated in a poll that asked questions about ethnicity and the way ethnicity is viewed at the high school. Out of the 675 students polled, 80.8 percent of students agreed that racial prejudice is an issue in the U.S. This might have to do with what students see when they watch the evening news or

what’s trending on social media. Despite agreeing that prejudice is an issue in the U.S., 65 percent of students said that racial prejudice is not an issue at GCHS. Most of the student body at Grayslake seems to think that an issue that their nation struggles with does not apply to their own community. However, some students that took time outside the poll to share their opinions on this topic have said that their peers can be ignorant when it come to someone’s background. “People don’t understand the cul-ture,” said senior Mireya Martinez. “They judge based off what they heard, not what they know.” According to senior Kevin Song, racism affects GCHS students be-cause when students are making jokes or fooling around to make their peers laugh, they blurt out words or phrases that some might fi nd offensive. But these students who say these things don’t think about their words or how it affects others. “When you make up a joke, you never really intend to hurt someone,” said Song. ”You want them to laugh and you want them to laugh with you.” “I think that’s a big issue, that peo-ple are not aware of people around them,” said Martinez. About 74.5 percent of GCHS stu-

dents said that ethnicity does not affect how they view others. According to these numbers, stu-dents at GCHS are rela-tively free of prejudice, mutually accepting and not-so-judgmental. De-spite this data, 59 percent of students said that most or all of their friends are the same ethnicity as themselves. This shows that more than half of all GCHS students maintain rel-atively homogeneous social circles and don’t reach out to kids belong-ing to a different ethnic background. Out of the students who partook in the poll, while only 17.18 percent of Caucasian students said ethnicity af-fects the way that people treat them, 24 percent of African-American stu-dents, 40.63 percent of Asian stu-dents, 39.21 of Hispanic students and 25.8 percent of students who iden-tifi ed as multi-racial said the same. The numbers may not be majorities, but there is a clear discrepancy be-tween the amount of Caucasian stu-dents who feel their ethnicity affects them in comparison to that of other groups. Students who have been inter-

viewed believe that their class-mates exhibit a habit known as ethnic na-tionalization, or the tenden-cy to assume that if some-one belongs to a specifi c race, they must also belong to the stereotypical

ethnic representation. “People need to understand that not all Asians are Chinese,” said sophomore Steven Hong. Hong, for instance, is Korean. Similarly, Martinez said that one thing people need to learn about Hispanics is that “[they’re] not all just Mexican.” Terms like “Hispanic,” “Asian” and “Caucasian” are used to save time and confusion when categoriz-ing large groups of people for offi cial purposes like fi lling out government documents. People tend to make the mistake of taking those phrases and integrating them into real-life con-versation. For example, while it is true that all Mexicans are Hispanic, not all Hispanics are Mexican. Generally speaking, “Hispanic” is a group of ethnicities that includes, to name only a few, Mexican, Chilean, Colombian, Cuban, Guatemalan, Salvadoran, Venezuelan and Puerto Rican people. The ancestries of all the individuals who belong to these ethnicities can be traced back to a specifi c geograph-ic location, so using these terms es-tablishes geographic ancestry. Despite the poll data that tells us

Ethnic differences at GCHS:Students should seek to be more aware, embrace racial diversityDIEGO FERNANDEZStaff Reporter

Graphics A, B by Ksenia GorinshteynGraphic C by Vanessa Pahlow

A.

B.

In-Depth 17

December 10, 2014

ethnic representation. “People need to understand that not all Asians are Chinese,” said sophomore Steven Hong. Hong, for instance, is Korean. Similarly, Martinez said that one thing people need to learn about Hispanics is that “[they’re] not all just Mexican.” Terms like “Hispanic,” “Asian” and “Caucasian” are used to save time and confusion when categoriz-ing large groups of people for offi cial purposes like fi lling out government documents. People tend to make the mistake of taking those phrases and integrating them into real-life con-versation. For example, while it is true that all Mexicans are Hispanic, not all Hispanics are Mexican. Generally speaking, “Hispanic” is a group of ethnicities that includes, to name only a few, Mexican, Chilean, Colombian, Cuban, Guatemalan, Salvadoran, Venezuelan and Puerto Rican people. The ancestries of all the individuals who belong to these ethnicities can be traced back to a specifi c geograph-ic location, so using these terms es-tablishes geographic ancestry. Despite the poll data that tells us

most GCHS students believe that prejudice is an issue at GCHS, there are still people who feel that racism isn’t an issue at all. An anonymous GCHS student who took the poll wrote, “If we want racism to stop, shut up about it.” In regards to people who do not think racism is an issue in the U.S., Song said, “racism isn’t real-ly a thing that can be abolished in America.” “There will always be prejudice; there will always be stereotypes,” said Song. Overall, it is important that GCHS students acknowledge race and ignorance about racial prej-udice in both the US and in their school environment. Students have the choice to be more aware of what goes on in school and to resolve is-sues that they encounter. “It does matter what we have to say,” said Martinez.

B

C.

18

December 10, 2014

Feature

TAYLOR O’NEILLNews Editor

Instead of having the typical Black Friday, when people wake up at ungod-ly times of the morning to get the best deals on the latest items, people lined up immediately after recovering from their late-afternoon Thanksgiving food comas this year. Wal-Mart was a popular place to go this “Black Thursday” because of its great deals on the newest game systems as well as 50-inch televisions for $200. Target also had some sales that senior Megan Bevan took advantage of. “Blu-Rays were $6 when they are usu-ally $25, so I bought a lot of movies,” said Bevan. Bevan also worked at Party City on the busiest shopping day of the year. They did not have any coupons or sales, so they

were not very busy. “There were about four people in the store [that day],” said Bevan. Ultimately, the stores that had huge dis-counts and sales were the places that were packed with people. Junior Jackie Ham-rick went with her grandmother to buy $7 waffl e makers at Wal-Mart. “There were so many people [there]. It was crazy how long the lines were,” said Hamrick. However, many people are against pushing through the crowd right after Thanksgiving dinner. “You are supposed to be spending time with family on Thanksgiving,” said senior Rachel Kocialkowski. Others say it is not worth going shop-ping in the morning on the actual Black Friday, because the good deals are usually gone before you can get there. “There is nothing left,” said Hamrick. Senior Nicole Nordman went Black

Friday shopping for her fi rst time and the stores that she wanted to go to were packed with people. “American Eagle is stressful enough already, but every time I wanted to look at something, people would be standing in front of me,” said Nordman. There are people who shopped in downtown Chicago to get the full expe-rience of shopping in the city, like senior Priya Patel. “There was a line wrapped around the Hancock Building. Not to see the Han-cock Building but to get into Best Buy,” said Patel. On Black Friday (or Black Thursday), it seems that shoppers will always fl ock to the long lines and crowded aisles, wheth-er they be in the suburbs or in the city, and whether it’s after Thanksgiving dinner or at 4 a.m. the following morning.

Black Thursday: the new Black Friday for shoppers

19Entertainment

December 10, 2014

“The Princess Bride” by William Goldman is a miracu-lous book that is, to put it sim-ply, inconceivable. It is a rich story about con-quests, romance, impossible creatures, miracles, sword-fi ghts, passion, hunting, poi-son, pirates, beauty, giants, torture, geography that is less than sane, princes, princesses, war and so much more. The story follows the main characters Buttercup and Westley, who experience true love in one of its purest forms. However, the novel also fea-tures other breath taking characters that include Inigo Montoya, a swordsman with a life-long vendetta; Fezzik, a giant who has always hated to fi ght; Vizzini, a Sicilian with

wits so far unmatched by all; and Humperdinck, a prince with a taste for murder. Together, all these complex characters in-tertwine in each other's lives to the point of complete yet fantastic chaos. Many peo-ple know of “The Princess Bride” from the 1987 movie by the same name. The story of the book is very close to the movie with some minor dif-ferences. The book still contains many of the audience’s favorite lines including (but not limited to): “My name is Inigo Montoya,

you killed my father, prepare to die,” “inconceivable!,” and

the swoon-wor-thy “as you wish.” There is some-thing that the reader should know so as not to get confused when reading “The Princess Bride.” On the cover, it says that this is “S. Morgenstern’s classic tale of

true love and high adventure.” And in the introduction and author’s note, it is explained that William Goldman is only the person who abridged Mor-genstern’s work, taking out all of the tedious and useless parts that would go on for tens

of pages at a time. This is totally untrue, and is perhaps Goldman’s greatest stroke of genius. Similar to how the mov-ie went, the novel version of “The Princess Bride” tells a story within a story. There never was an S. Morgenstern and he never wrote an origi-nal version of “The Princess Bride” that went on for over a thousand pages and was fi lled with Florinese history. All of Goldman’s abridger’s notes are explaining parts of an un-abridged version that does not exist. It is this strategy, along with every glorious moment of the text, that makes “The Princess Bride” one of the most amaz-ingly unique stories written in the modern day.

ERIKA MIESSNERStaff Reporter

Original “Princess Bride” still brings laugher and strong story

Hoenn region remakes change Pokemon climate Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (ORAS), two new 3DS games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo, were released on Nov. 21, bringing with them a union of previous Pokemon generations and new features. The two games connect the 3DS and its benefi ts with the classic gameplay and style of the older Pokemon games on which they are based, Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. These games defi nitely are not just remakes of the initial versions, howev-er. With brand new storyline pieces and characters involved, Pokemon ORAS stand alone as involving and fun games for gamers of all ages to enjoy. Firstly, the promises made by the game developers for the creation of these games were all upheld. Features such as an updated PokeNav Plus and contest for-mat were successfully made, and both of

these additions help to amplify the overall game experience. For example, the updated PokeNav Plus has a DexNav feature that allows Trainers to fi nd and battle many more rare Pokemon on their normal routes. Instead of spending hours to fi nd a certain species of Pokemon, gamers only have to take a few minutes to collect PokeDex data and catch harder-to-fi nd Pokemon. This was a feature introduced in Pokemon X and Y and refi ned in Pokemon ORAS. Secondly, there are several positive changes to some of the games’ geography and characters that are worth noting. One drastic change was made to Mauville City, one of the towns that Trainers visit often in their journey. In the initial Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, Mauville resembled most other towns and didn’t have much to distinguish it aside from the Bike Shop and the since-removed Game Corner. In ORAS, Mauville now looks like it fi ts the role it holds in the game. Filled

with various centers where Trainers can teach their evolved Starter Pokemon their ultimate moves, change the forms of Legendary Pokemon like Tornadus or Keldeo, and even a TV station to explore, Mauville is now a hotspot for Trainers to visit on their travels. One unique event that happens in game that did not exist before is an ear-lier encounter with the ORAS Legend-ary Pokemon Latias and Latios. Initially, these two Pokemon only appeared after the main story of the games were com-pleted, but now they play an integral part in the new storyline of Mega Evolution. Overall, these two games certainly ful-fi ll all expectations and go above and be-yond with regard to the memories of the older games. The developers succeeded in keeping the feel of the game the same while enhancing the features used, and the changes made to places and characters within the game benefi t gameplay rather than hinder it.

DANIEL SKINNEREntertainment/ Spread Editor

Pokemon ORAS Part 2:

20 Entertainment

December 10, 2014

Boy bands moving in one direction Boy bands are no strangers to the hallways of GCHS. One Direction merchandise can be spotted on a regular basis, and although boy bands are gen-erally known for hav-ing more of an appeal with the tweens, many high school students embrace their love of bands. Junior Sydney Chamberlain is a proud One Direction and 5 Seconds of Sum-mer fan. “They’re good singers and I like their music,” said Chamber-lain. She is not oblivious to the fact that some people are very against these bands. “When I say I like One Direction, all the boys kind of groan and go, ‘Oh I hate them,’” said Chamberlain. Freshman Lizzie Twardock, fellow boy band fan, experi-ences similar reactions, but it does not bother her. “I mean it doesn’t really matter to me that much,” said Twardock. “Everyone has their own tastes in music.” Some students, like sopho-more Haaris Ahmed are more opinionated about their view of boy bands. “The people that are ob-sessed with boy bands seem pretty childish to me because they are just obsessing over a group of cute guys,” said Ahmed. Chamberlain is not afraid to admit that she is not blind to their appearances. “I like them for their music too, but their looks have kind

of an advantage,” said Cham-berlain. Twardock agrees, though, that the attractiveness of the boys is an issue for some fans. “I think there are defi nite-ly some people who like boy

bands to an extreme level,” said Chamberlain. However, both Twardock and Chamberlain are more in-terested in the music than they

are the appearance of boys in the band. Boy bands receive both love and hate, but in the end, their songs are generally quite catchy. “To be honest, and I hate

to admit it, I have caught my-self singing along to One Di-rection, but only in my head,” said Ahmed. “It’s because their music is everywhere and

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KYRA DICKERSONStaff Reporter

“To be honest, and I hate to admit it, I have caught my-self singing along to One Direction, but only in my head.”

Sophomore Haaris Ahmed

it’s hard not to hear one.” Their music can be heard in many places and the bands continue to grow in popularity despite the non-fans. Boy bands have been around for years and still have

a huge fanbase. One Direction alone has 21.3 million follow-ers on Twitter. “I think boy bands are taken for grant-ed sometimes,” said Chamberlain. But no matter what side anyone is on, there are many dif-ferent types of music out there, each with its own fanbase and haters. Boy bands are no different. They are just highly publi-

cized in the media. Overall, whether you fawn over boy bands or hate them, they do not seem to be going bye, bye, bye.

21Entertainment

December 10, 2014

ANNA JENSENOpinion Editor

ENCORE! cast makes miraculous perfomance

The fi rst cast performed “The Miracle Worker” on Nov. 13 and 15. This cast’s main char-acters were freshman Lyndsey Bassett, junior Karyn Vasquez, junior Matt Caputo and senior Lauren Tracy. Bassett fi t the part of Hel-en well; her face never broke character, and her movements were just as powerful as any words spoken by the other cast members. She embodied the character perfectly and the quality of the show mimicked her performance. More serious roles were played by Lauren Tracy and Matt Caputo, who were play-

ing Helen’s parents. Caputo, playing the Captain, delivered humorous lines when interact-ing with Carvajal and every once in a while with Vasquez. Tracy’s embraces with Bassett were sentimental, and her face always held a sorrowful ex-pression. Vasquez also tackled her large role very well; she knew all of her lines and her move-ments all over the stage were seamless. The emotion that her character needed was portrayed well by her facial expressions. Her character, Annie Sullivan, held another large role and had a majority of the play’s lines. Overall, this cast was strong and did an excellent job.

The second cast performed on Nov. 14 and 16. This cast’s main characters were seniors Becky Swan, Emily Rojewski, Matt Schufreider and Cait-lin Wolfe. Swan also did a phenomenal job por-traying Helen. She held the audience’s eyes when she was on the stage and did a great job of using her body to speak instead of her voice. Being on stage for 90 percent of the play and never talking really shows her versatility as an actor. Wolfe and Schufreider worked well together portray-ing Helen’s parents. Wolfe always looked concerned and upset for her daughter, and her soft and sweet voice made her sound especially sympathet-ic throughout the whole play. Schufreider embraced the Captain’s dramatic side, and looked genuinely frustrated in

ENCORE!’s production of “The Mir-acle Worker” had a deep and resonating message, along with sympathetic and meaningful acting by each cast. The play was double casted, meaning the four main characters were played by two different actors each. Helen Keller was 19 months old when she developed an illness, thought to be scarlet fever, that left her deaf and blind. The Kellers decide to fi nd a teacher in

hopes of teaching Helen obedience in-stead of sending her off to an insane asy-lum because of her inability to learn. The young teacher, Annie Sullivan, who was once blind herself, comes to the Kellers’ aid, and thus, the story of “The Miracle Worker” is born. The story begins just after young Hel-en survives her case of scarlet fever. The show focuses solely on the time frame when Annie Sullivan moved into Kate and Captain Keller’s home and tried to break through to Helen. The essence of the play

is Sullivan’s attempt to teach Helen sign language. Helen’s mother questions Sul-livan’s decision to teach Helen sign lan-guage instead of manners and obedience, but throughout the play, Helen learns how to do simple tasks in the midst of Sulli-van’s larger quest towards language. In the second half of the play, Sullivan asks to have complete control over Hel-en, taking her away from her parents so she can learn to depend on Sullivan com-pletely. This is ultimately how the barrier between the two is broken.

Cast 1 Cast 2

his outbreaks and the frequent dinner delays. Rojewski, playing Sullivan, also had a soft voice, which played out extremely well for her. When Rojewski was on stage alone, her soft tone evoked empathy from the au-dience. While interacting with Swan, however, she was able to transform into a forceful and strict teacher. Her fl awless ability to dramatically change her actions depending on what characters she was interacting with exposed the true beauty of her performance.

While the play was acted out phenomenally, the crew and behind-the-scenes coordinators need to be acknowledged as well. The costumes were all impeccable and fi t the time frame of the play. The construction of the set was well done and all the changes of set and costume were quick and organized. Both casts put on an outstanding show of “The Miracle Work-er,” and should be proud of their accomplishments.

Junior Karyn Vasquez, playing Sullivan, gives freshman Lyndsey Basset, playing Helen, her fi rst obedience lesson during breakfast. By the end of the meal, Helen folds her napkin, her fi rst accomplishment in the play.

Seniors Caitlin Wolfe (left) and Em-ily Rojewski (right) converse at the train station. Wolfe played Kate Keller, and Rojewski played Sulli-van. Photo by Total Image

Photo by Total Image

22 Entertainment

December 10, 2014

GCHS is a school with students of multiple skills: athletics, academics, musicali-ty, theater and a host of others. This year’s two night “Cabaret Night,” hosted by the Tri-M Musical Society, highlighted students’ musical, poetic and comedic talents. “Cabaret Night has always been pretty amazing,” said junior Jen Starzec. The usual one-night event was switched to two nights this year to allow for more students to showcase their talents. Acts ranged from students reading poetry, singing both original and cover songs and doing stand-up comedy. Planning for this event started two months ago, which included picking a date, ask-ing for volunteers to help with the event and people audition-ing to be one of the acts.

Although there were vet-eran performers, students who had never performed before in front of a large audience per-formed both nights. “I was really nervous at fi rst,” said junior Noah Jele-niewski, who sang “Let It Be” by the Beatles in a duet with senior Matt Kim. “But after the initial nervousness of sing-ing in front of everyone went away, it was really fun. As for whether or not I did well, that’s for others to decide, I suppose.” One of the veterans was senior Max Loebman, who recently performed with his band at PSP’s Fall Fest. “I thought all of my group performances were rad,” said Loebman, who sang “Riptide” by Vance Joy along with se-niors Hawley Hansen and Jill Gourley, and “Drag” by The Irenes, by himself. “On my solo performance,

Two-night Cabaret brings out students’ musical talentsI prefer having my band with me,” said Loebman. “I really like upbeat songs, and the lack of drums and full-ness takes away from the song.” He is what some may consider semi-pro-fessional, as he has written many songs himself. Although some of the veteran sing-ers and performers will be graduat-ing this year, they have some advice to give perform-ers who are on the fence about audi-tioning. “Have fun!” said senior Anne Eilis Schwab, who was one of fi ve emcees for the event. “It’s okay to make lame jokes!”

MAX GOLDBERGFeature Editor/ Webpage Editor

As a student of GCHS, there are many different clubs and teams in which they can participate. Orchesis is among one of these many clubs. According to president of Orchesis and senior Jenny Barreca, along with second year Orchesis partici-pant junior Meghan Fitzgerald, Orchesis is a dance company that allows students to choreograph their own dances and per-form them at an annual showcase later in the year. Though Orchesis is about dance, it is much different from poms and cheer. “We’re mostly student-led, so that helps us show ourselves as individuals instead of having someone tell us what to do,” said Fitzgerald. While cheer and poms focuses mostly on one routine, Orchesis organizes small groups to perform different pieces.

“[There] is a huge emphasis on chore-ography, more so than technique and an emphasis on performance,” said Barreca. Both Barreca and Fitzgerald said that they were looking forward to their Or-chesis rehearsals this year. Despite Orchesis being mostly stu-dent-led, they still need a teacher to guide them through the production of the show. Life Fitness teacher Amber Jones coached Orchesis from 2004-2010, and starting in 2010, Carolyn Gaffke coached for two years and Emily Winkler coached the club for one year. This will be the second year that English teacher Amy Jesionows-ki will sponsor Orchesis. This year in Orchesis, the students will have the opportunity to choreograph the fi nale of the show. The end of the year performance will take place in April. Or-chesis does their best to incorporate all styles of dance, and this year there might

even be some hip hop. “Now it seems it touches mostly on jazz, contemporary and lyrical,” said Jones. “I wanted to give that experience to students because it was such a big deal for me and it kind of made me who I was, so I wanted to make sure that the students here had their own ability to do that, and what better way of giving it to somebody else then doing it myself?” said Jesionowski. The commitment in Orchesis continues to grow every year. This year, the dancers have 18 weeks to prepare for the end of the year performance. “I just really love spending time with the dancers and getting to know them more,” said Jesionowski. “I know students as stu-dents and see them in my classroom, but I get to know my dancers in a way that I will never know my students in my En-glish class.”

KELSEY FORDStaff Reporter

Seniors Max Loebman (right), Hawley Hansen (middle) and Jill Gourley (left) sing during the second night of Caba-ret Night. There were multiple veteran performers who sang over the two-night event.

Orchesis preparation season begins

“Whether or not you’re com-fortable performing in front of others, it’s a great way to ex-press yourself through music and share with the community at our school,” said Loebman.

Photo by Max Goldberg

23

December 10, 2014

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December 10, 2014

“Mockingjay” soars in theaters24

“Mockingjay” soars in theatersEntertainment

Bringing a beginning to the end of the popular Hunger Games movie saga, “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1” manages to preserve most of the same plot as the novel while keeping the sto-ry cohesive in the fi lm. The fi lm’s use of special effects really helps to enhance the intense, suspenseful events within the story and the actors continue to make the characters come alive on screen. “Mockingjay - Part 1” continues right where “Catching Fire” left off, with pro-tagonist Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Law-rence) being taken to District 13, which was initially thought to have been de-stroyed during the civil war that occurred 74 years prior to the events of the Hunger Games. Once in District 13, Katniss learns that the districts of Panem are rioting be-cause of her actions in the games, one of which was shooting an electric-charged arrow into the enormous force fi eld sur-rounding the game area, therefore turning off the entire security system. Presented to District 13 president Alma Coin (Juli-anne Moore) by ex-gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Katniss is given the choice of becoming the rebellion’s ‘mockingjay’ and acting as a symbol for the districts to rally behind. The movie goes on to detail the various events that come from Katniss’ decision, including but not limited to her best friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth) becoming part of District 13’s military forces, the many failed attempts at having Katniss create inspiring public service announcements, and the heavy politics between Coin and Panem President Snow (Donald Suther-land). The fi lm culminates with a massive mission to rescue Peeta (Josh Hutcher-son) and Johanna Mason (Jena Malone) from the Capitol, inevitably coming to the point when Katniss discovers the extent of the torture used on Peeta during his time there. Emotions of different kinds are con-veyed excellently throughout the fi lm, each given its own detail and time. Law-rence performs well as Katniss for the third Hunger Games movie, showing her

character’s confusion and defi ance in the moments where she deals with the heat of the war. One great example of this is when Katniss makes an angry message to President Snow after witnessing a hos-pital bombing in District 8. Her facial expressions are priceless throughout the fi lm and even her eyes help to portray the complex role. Another prominent moment that Law-rence brought attention to in the movie is in the scene where she and her fi lm crew visit the ruins of District 12, which was bombed due to Katniss’ earlier act of rebellion in the games. One of the crew members, Pollux (Elden Hanson), asks her to sing a song for the mockingjays in the forest, and she sings a song, “The Hanging Tree,” that is eventually record-ed and used by the rebels as a war cry. Lawrence’s voice was well-suited to the nature of the song and her emotion in singing it delivered the scene overall. While Lawrence certainly carries her-self well as the protagonist of the fi lm, she has plenty of help from the many sup-porting characters involved in this movie adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ novel. For example, unlike in the previous fi lms and novels, Gale becomes very prominent in this story because of the lack of Peeta’s involvement. Hemsworth really steps up to take on the much larger role, and with his character being Katniss’ constant companion, his small reactions and inter-

actions to her various outbreaks and dia-logue adds depth to the scenes in the fi lm. Additionally, a character not even mentioned in the “Mockingjay” novel un-til the very end, but still an integral part to the overall storyline, is given a larger role than she would have had if the fi lm had solely stuck to the novelization: Effi e Trinket (Elizabeth Banks). Taking on the role that Katniss’ original fashion team had in the novel, Banks more than covers for the missing characters with her ener-gy on camera. She easily draws attention to herself whenever she is in a scene and brings a whole other level to the fi lm itself with her character’s quirky and encourag-ing personality. She adds a strong founda-tion that other actors like Lawrence and Hoffman are able to build on. Another great feature of the movie is the special effects. With so many futuris-tic elements involved in the story of the Hunger Games saga, different airships, weapons and explosions had to be care-fully designed and placed into appropri-ate places within the plot. Each sound and visual was made intentionally and was made well. Overall, “Mockingjay - Part 1” does an excellent job of keeping the main story of the original novel intact while making it come even more alive through animated actors, effects and an interactive story. It defi nitely is worth seeing in theaters for the full effect of the sound.

DANIEL SKINNEREntertainment/ Spread Editor

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) stands amdist the now-burning wreckage from the bombing of District 8 in “Mockingkay - Part 1.” It was one of the more heartfelt scenes of the fi lm, which was released in theaters on Nov. 21.

Photo by Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar. Used with permission.

25

December 10, 2014

Sports

Clipboards, watchful eyes, sweat, nerves, Gatorade bottles, evaluations and cuts. This embodies the typical high school sports tryout. From a coach’s perspective, tryouts are benefi cial because they show more than just the skill of each player. “One of the most benefi cial things about tryouts is the ability to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each player,” said girls varsity basketball head coach Steve Ikenn. “During tryouts, you are looking for a combination of [talent, atti-tude and coachability].” Usually, the appropriate length for team tryouts is around 3-5 days. This is followed by long deliberations by the coaching staff to determine if anyone needs to be cut, and if so, who. “I have been coaching basketball for 28 years, and the day I hate most is fac-ing the girls after tryouts and telling them where they stand,” said Ikenn. Not all coaches have to cut players, though, and the question surfaces: are try-outs really benefi cial if a sport decides not to cut anyone?

“Cutting [obviously] does depend on the sport,” said athletic director Brian Moe. “It’s not valuable to take on more players than necessary because it would be hard to effectively coach each player and still have a winning team.” “I do believe tryouts are effective and benefi cial despite if cuts are being made or not,” said head girls bowling coach Dianna Soenksen. “Every day is a tryout. You are competing for a varsity position and you are competing against yourself -- the goal is to be better than you were yesterday.” Not all sports at the school have try-outs. The cross country team is a no-try-out and no-cut sport. “Coaching a no-cut sport allows you to work with kids of all ages and abili-ty levels,” said head cross country coach James Centella. “It allows kids to develop at their own rate, and grow into leaders at a variety of levels.” However, he also said that one negative of a no-cut sport is a relative lack of accountability and com-mitment. What it really boils down to is how many kids try out for a sport each year. That’s why some years, programs cut and

other years, they do not. It all depends on the numbers. “You can’t take everyone, because as much as a team wants to win, to coach a winning team the coach must have a num-ber that allows them to produce the best athletes,” said Soenksen. “Obviously, cuts are necessary in many sports that have a limited number of par-ticipants,” said Centella. “Cuts can also be a good thing in order to determine who really wants to be committed to a team in-stead of only partially committed.” Coaches never cut a person in an attempt to be rude or mean, but because it is the only way to keep the numbers under control. “Coaches do everything they can to make tryouts fair,” said Moe. “Usually, players are seen at summer camps, open gyms and/or previous seasons, so tryouts aren’t the only time skills are taken into consideration.” Tryouts are ultimately benefi cial for coaches whether they are cutting players or not. They allow the coach to under-stand his or her prospective players, and decide how many players to take and how many to cut.

‘Cuts’, while not ideal, are necessaryANNA JENSENOpinion Editor

The girls basketball team huddles together during a game against Dundee Crown. Unlike cross country, girls basketball makes cuts to ensure their team per-forms to their full potential. Photo by Emerald Staff

26 Sports

December 10, 2014

With a new head coach, the varsity wrestling team is off to a good start. With previous head coach Dan Catanzaro now coaching at Washington High School in Kansas City, the team is now coached by previous assis-tant coach Mark Stewart. The team started their season with a record of 4-6, defeating both Lakes and Antioch. Their losses were all to strong class 3A teams. At the Ted DeRousse invite in An-tioch, they fi nished 7th out of 16 teams with only an 11-man line up. “This is my fi rst year as a head coach,” said Stewart. “I am excited to run things a new way and have different control.”

The boy’s next meet is at Hampshire on Dec. 11, fol-lowed by Crystal Lake Central on Dec. 12, and a tournament later this month. The varsity team is being assisted by Jim Mazzetta, who was the previous JV coach. Shawn Murphy became the new JV coach, with the fresh-men still coached by Dan Er-lenbaugh. “This year I want to teach the guys the sport and build a foundation,” said Erlenbaugh. This year, the coaches have switched up the schedule from last year and decided to in-corporate split practices at all levels in order to benefi t the wrestlers. “I just hope they come out better men than they [are] to-day,” said Stewart.

The girls bowling team has many experienced bowlers as their season begins. “It’s the fi rst time in a while that we have had a large number of returning bowlers, which gives us a good advan-tage starting out, because we aren’t having to train a whole lot of girls at one time,” said senior Josie Taylor. “I believe it will be a successful season.” According to Taylor, han-dling stress levels has been a struggle for many girls in the past. “[Stress] really affects the way we bowl,” said Taylor. In order to reduce the stress, the team now does yoga the day before every meet or tour-nament.

On Nov. 29, the bowling team had its fi rst tournament. “For varsity we seemed pretty together,” said senior Sarah Polsgrove. “Everyone on varsity has been on the team before, so we kind of knew how everything would go.” According to Polsgrove, the team has improved since last year. “Forms are better and av-erages are higher,” said Pols-grove. Like every team, the bowl-ing team has goals it wants to achieve by the end of the sea-son. “[As with] most sports, everyone wants to go to state, but fi rst we have to make it to sectionals,” said Polsgrove.

Wrestling team transitions with new coaching staffABBY GOLDBERGNews Editor

MAX GOLDBERGFeature Editor/ Webpage Editor

As a new addition to athlet-ics this year, boys bowling has been working hard to become a successful program. “There are many things that go into putting together a varsity team,” said head coach Ted Soenksen. “Being a new program, most of the bowlers have never bowled [competi-tively].” Soenksen chose captains based off the boys’ perfor-mance as well as team spirit. Based on these credentials, se-nior Trent Miller was chosen as one of the varsity captains. “I was nervous to join the team at fi rst,” said Miller. “But I love the team and we have a great time together and al-ready have a special bond. It’s

an honor to have people look up to me and the other three seniors.” According to Soenksen, the boys have shown improve-ment already and are eager to learn how to become even bet-ter each day. While the team only has two tournaments under its belt, everyone seems optimis-tic for the future. “All my teammates are supportive of each other and we strive for excellence,” said Miller. “Hopefully we set a good example and can become a bowling powerhouse.” “I see us improving and I am excited to see what these young men can do in the next couple of months,” said So-enksen. “Every day sets a new record.”

ANNA JENSENOpinion Editor

Girls bowling has a positiveattitude with returning bowlers

Boys bowling makesname for new program

Senior Jonathan Makey wrestles in the Ted DeRousse Invite at Antioch High School. Makey fi nished 2nd in the tourna-ment, losing the championship to Sage Heller from Deer-fi eld High School 3-0.

Photo by Jodie Connelly. Used with permission.

27

December 10, 2014

Sports

The boys cross country team advanced to the state fi nals this year and fi nished their team’s best season yet. Following the team’s successful seasons for the past three years, with an increased work ethic, the team was able to continue the rep-utation of being a sucsessful program. “We had more talent this year, and our work ethic in-creased to help us take it to the next level,” said head coach Jimmy Centella. According to Centella, the runners this year were more consistent and more dedicated by showing up to summer run-ning, and as a result achieved better times and were more able to take care of their bod-ies. Although a young team, many seniors stepped up to

ANDREW ROSENTHALSports Editor/ Webpage Editor

The boys basketball season is underway, and the team is preparing for a tough season ahead. The team is led by a new coach, Kosta Kougias, who used to be the sophomore coach at GCHS. Kougias was given this po-sition of head coach after head varsity coach Brian Moe was promoted to athletic director. Senior Michael Benko is ex-cited for the change the year. “Kougias was with us over the summer and I think he is ad-justing to being our coach, said Benko. “He is doing a great job so far.”

Girls basketball is work-ing hard to overcome having a physically smaller team this year and the girls are pushing each other to improve. They have confi dence that with hard work, they can still have a good season. “The practices have been going extremely well,” said head varsity girls basketball coach Steve Ikenn. “We have talented and determined kids that want to be as successful as they can regardless of any-thing standing in their way.” They have also seen im-provement in their effort and they have noticed that they are working better as a team. “We have defi nitely seen more people step up and

make a contribution to the team, which creates a variety of leaders that will help us throughout the season,” said senior Connor Eschrich. Because they have been working hard and working to-gether, they believe that this season will turn around and that they will see better turn-outs for future games. “Because of the last few games, we realized that we needed to work more on speed and technique, rather than things involving height,” said senior Kayley Larson. “It’s only been a few games in a long series,” said Ikenn. “They have shown us what we do well, and what we need to work on, and although this season started off diffi cult, it has brought us closer together and made us a stronger team.”

though people got sick, we came together to overcome it and it all worked well.” According to Centella, the team is only going to improve. Centella is expecting the team to be a top ten team for years

to come, as long as they con-tinue to effectively execute the system they have. “We will be consistently getting better, and [will] leave a legacy,” said Centella.

The cross country team fi res out of the starting gate as the gunshot goes off at the Kaneland Sectional. The Rams fi nished 6th overall in the state.

Photo by Sen Sridas. Used with permission.

Cross country fi nishes 6th in state

Boys basketball hopes to have sucsessful seasonDANIELLE VOSS

Opinion Editor

CAROLINE NEWMANStaff Reporter

Last season, the team led the Fox Valley Conference with only one conference loss. The team ended their season after advancing to the region-al championship and losing to North Chicago. “Our goal should always be to win a conference champi-onship, and I believe that is an attainable goal,” said Kougias. The team started off 3-1, after playing in the Buffalo Grove Bison Thanksgiving In-vite. They defeated Christian Liberty 71-40, Buffalo Grove 51-46, Marmion Academy 68-64, and fi nally lost to Niles North 70-45.

become successful leaders. “It was the best team I have coached,” said Centella. “We set a goal of placing at state and we used that to help us drive to our success,” said junior John Girmscheid. After winning the regional championship at Antioch, and taking third in the Kaneland sectional, the team advanced to the state championship. Sophomore Jack Aho im-proved his time at sectionals when he fi nished 4th with a time of 15:04. He then placed 11th in state with a time of 14:54. Aho’s time was third fastest in school history. This, along with other strong perfor-mances by other members on the team, led the team to fi nish 6th at state. “We had high hopes; we knew we would do well,” said junior Danny Vincent. “Al-

Girls basketball:Setting goals of reaching new heights

28 Sports

December 10, 2014

Risk of injuries, greater commitments cause a shift in athletes between sports

Across the nation, many high schools and youth pro-grams are seeing a decline in football athletes, but an increase in athletes in other sports such as soccer and cross country. This could be a result of an increase in injuries in football and a new awareness of concussions following the deaths of professional football players Junior Seau and Dave Duerson. But this cannot be the complete explanation. In fact, studies have shown that while

football concussions are the most likely, other athletes are also at risk. Some athletes in football, soccer and hockey are choosing to not play, even if they didn't have a concus-sion in the past. “It is a changing society,” said athletic trainer Glen Gerdes. “Football is a very de-manding sport. It takes a lot of time [and is] a large commit-ment. People are deciding to play other sports partially due to the physicality, but also due to a lightened commitment.” For example, football and soccer run a greater risk of se-

rious injuries compared to a sport like cross country. “Football places athletes in what may be uncomfort-able situations,” said athletic director Brian Moe. “Athletes are constantly told that things are not going to be fun, or are going to hurt.” However, injuries and ded-ication are only a small part of the problem. Year-round sports are also making athletes choose whether they want to specialize in a sport, or contin-ue to be multi-sport athletes. “Baseball is also becoming more of a demanding sport,”

said athletic trainer Nicole Jones. “Some kids that choose to specialize in a sport may take themselves out of another sport.” Baseball players may choose to specialize because of an opportunity to play in a fall league. More of a com-mitment may be expected of them. Hockey and soccer are similar sports in this regard. Regardless, athletes should consult athletic trainers and parents to ensure that they make the best choice for them if they insist to drop or try a new sport.

ANDREW ROSENTHALSports Editor/ Webpage Editor

(Left) With the increased intensity of football, athletes are at a greater risk of a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), also referred to as a concussion. (Right) Football player Junior Seau committed suicide in 2012 after suffering permanent brain damage because of concussions. These injuries are serious and may be the reason that athletes are turning away from football.

(Left) Photo by Musser/Tribune News Service (Right) Photo by Karl Mondon/Tribune News Service