May 2012

Kicking senior year

Vol. 91, No. 7 . May/June. 2012 • Lakewood High School • 14100 Franklin Blvd. • Lakewood, OH 44107 lakewoodtimes.net

Ohio Department of Education proposes major overhaul

to the curb

Is junior year the new senior year? p.4

Retirement class of 2012 p.10

Boys Rugby heads to States p. 31

2 The Lakewood Times

Lakewood Times senior staff

Next year Jon Cropper will be at-tending the University of Toledo. He plans on majoring in nursing in the Army ROTC program. In the future he hopes to be in the Army National Guard Reserves and have a job in a hospital. He also wants to one day become a high school hockey coach. “ [I’ll miss] seeing my friends and teachers everyday and all the fun, goofy times I had,” Cropper said.

Brandy Davis Maddy Kane

Jon Cropper

Next year Brandy Davis will be attending Cleveland State University. She plans to ma-jor in journalism. Her future goals are to write books and have her own magazine. “I will miss all of my friends and our memories. I will also just miss high school in general,” Davis said. Next year Maddy Kane will be attending Bowling Green State University. As of now she will be majoring in journalism. In the future she would like to work for a magazine. She also wants to see the world and have life-changing experiences. “I just moved here, but I will miss the friendliness and diversity of this school,” Kane said.

Becca Houp

Next year Becca Houp will be attend-ing the Regency Beauty school. She plans on majoring in cosmetology and eventually becoming a makeup artist for runway shows. “ [I’ll miss] the friends I made and playing for the Lakewood Girls Rugby team.” Houp said.

Julia Houska

Next year Julia Houska will be attending the Franciscan University of Steubenville. She will be majoring in psychology. She one day hopes to become a WWE referee, but realistically wants to use psychology to help whoever is in need. “ I will miss being a naive teenager. I will also miss all the people who have prepared me for what’s still to come.” Houska said.

Tori ChesmarJuan Amador

Next year Tori Chesmar will be at-tending Cleveland State University. She plans on majoring in journal-ism or graphic design/advertising. She wants to travel around the world and go back to Europe and have a successful career. “I’ll prob-ably miss goofing off in class with my friends. I was never the student that did my work in class, I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten yelled at in class, especially in writ-ing for college,” Chesmar said Next year Juan Amador will be at-tending Cleveland State University. He will be majoring in Mathemat-ics. He plans on becoming a math teacher, preferably at Lakewood. “[I’ll miss] my friends because I know nothing will ever be the same.” Amador said.

Next year Gwen Stephen will be at-tending Ohio University. She will be majoring in visual communications. Her goals are to one day work in graphic design or advertising. “I will miss all the people I’ve met,” Ste-phen said.

Gwen Stephen

Photos taken by Julia Houska and Juan Amador.

Jon CropperCover by Gwen Stephen

3May/June 2012

Lakewood Times senior staff

88

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Times Editorial Policy

Sports

Focus

Opinion

News

Lakewood Life

Vol. 91 Issue 7May/June 2012

Times staff 2011/2012

Staff WritersMaddy KaneBrandy DavisKhalil CormierBrandon ReidDylan DombroskiBecca Houp

Copy EditorBushra Harba

Managing Editors Julia HouskaGwen StephenLily PollackVictoria ChesmarJuan Amador

Sports EditorsJon CropperSabrina Suleiman

contents

IllustratorsCasey Miller Brett BrownAlan Mika

BusinessSabrina Suleiman

Adviser Karen Ballash

Bronze

Grant & Annette Graber

The Times thanks our Patrons:

Kefah Suleiman

Silver30. Injured athletes/New conference31. Rugby goes to States

4. Seniors extinct6. Senior projects7. What if?8. Stressing out

9.Puppy pride10. Goodtimes III

18. Letter to the Editor19.Steps to the future

20. Tanning addiction/Dating game21. Prom proposals22. A night to remember24.How to survive high school25.Moore’s maing music26. Only time will tell28. Spring fashion

Check out all the prom fun on page 22. Photo by Julia Houska

4 The Lakewood Timesfocus

Overhauling

Senioritis, be gone. Senior year could potentially be over-hauled, meaning that juniors are going to have to step it up a notch. The Ohio Department of Education is seriously considering trashing senior year, but this idea isn’t exactly new. It was first suggested in 2001, and the issue seems to be resurfacing again. It’s been proposed that by taking out senior year, juniors will have a chance to decide what they would like to see done with their edu-cation. This means that the Ohio Depart-ment of Education would only fund school through 11th grade. It’s been argued that the last half of senior year is a “joke,” as senioritis is at its peak. Most students have exceeded credit requirements to graduate from high school, and according to the WCPN radio broadcast show, “The Sound of Ideas,” seniors “cruise” through their school year. One speaker on this program was Jim Petro, Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents. He believes that there are many budget issues, and by overhauling senior year, this would allow kids to take control, and pursue college credit. They could graduate from college with an associates degree in two years. “Time is of the es-sence,” as Petro says, and by giving kids a head start in the game, they will reap many more benefits. It raises an important question: is high school designed properly? Most students obtain more than enough credits, and this period of “coasting” during senior year has been argued to actually set most stu-

dents back, es-pecially in terms of getting back into the swing of things when college actually be-gins. It’s hard to say where the line should be drawn between ambitious kids, and those who aren’t college bound. This is where an-other option could help. A high school stu-dent might have the option to pursue their college education early, or they could stick out their senior year in high school. It would depend on the student. A high achieving student might already be taking AP classes where college credit is not guaranteed, but that’s still only 4% of the high school popu-lation. “The level of work needs to be consistent with the ability of the student,” said Petro. By allowing students to pursue a post-sec-ondary education earlier on, they’ll be more ahead in the game. “We need to do more to assess the di-rection that young people want to pursue,” said Petro. It’s been argued that it would actually cost less overall, once the stu-dent is actually in college. This is due to the theory that by preparing students ear-lier and helping them decide what direction they’d like to go, they won’t feel the need to

switch majors, allowing a degree to be obtained in

a timelier manner. By eradicating senior year,

more money would be avail-able to fund education, whether

it is higher education or early child-hood education, which is also being

considered. This money could poten-tially go to pre-school, to ensure children are ready for school to begin with, leading to later success. By collecting enough credits and passing the Ohio Graduation Tests, a student can theoretically prove themselves worthy of entering college. However, many would argue that high school students lack critical thinking skills, and are deficient in certain areas. This could be resolved by packing senior year with courses that prepare students for col-lege. “If senior year is gone, then junior year will just be senior year. It’s illogical. The Ameri-can education systems are already behind European and Asian countries…. I don’t like it. By doing this, they’ll water down the system even more,” said French teacher, Katie Braquet. A junior might not be ready to take on the heat though. A year filled to the brim with a demanding academic schedule, extra-cur-ricular activities and college testing could get even crazier with college applications and admissions on top of it. Most officials think students can handle it though. Stan Heffner, superintendent of the Ohio Depart-ment of Education claims that students are more mature today, and that they are ready

senioryear

By Lily Pollack

5May/June 2012 focus

for the challenge. “I think there’s a large difference in matu-rity from junior to senior year,” said sopho-more, John Liber. There would also be a need for high schools and colleges to collaborate more effectively by informing students more of admissions and requirements, altering academic content and raising the awareness level of student expectations. “If they expect us to jump from sophomore to junior year, and then straight to college right away, where’s the planning time?” said junior Vincent Lud-wig. “We need senior year to reel in and to focus for college.” Utah was on the same track as the Ohio Department of Education’s proposal, but the bill fell through. It gained a lot of at-tention in the media, but nothing has been heard of it since. Ohio would be the first state to take this on.

What would ju

nior

year look lik

e?College tests (such as the ACT and SAT) would have to be taken earlier

OGTs might have to be taken earlier

College applications would have to be filled out earlier

Things would have to be wrapped up in music departments and sports by junior year

All credit requirements would have to be fulfilled by junior year

Art by Brett Brown


students choose internshipsSenior projects: The general format of senior year is relax-ing to incoming 12th graders, and daunting to school and state education officials. Se-nior year is on the cusp of change. One answer might be the option to work towards a senior project. This project would be out of school in the community where students are able to intern at local businesses of their choice, possibly expe-riencing what they would like to study after high school. Rocky River High School (RRHS) has al-ready started using this technique for fur-

ther education. According to the

senior project handbook,

“selected s t u -

dents

m e e t -ing pre-

s c r i b e d project guide-

lines will spend the final three weeks of

their senior year working in the areas of community service, career explo-ration or independent research.” There are specific community sponsors that volunteer to help. “I’m interning at Woodard Photographic,” said Rocky River and West Shore senior Ni-cole Matthews. “I decided to do a senior project, so I could get more experience in the photogra-phy world and so I could see the business aspect of it all,” she said.

Students selected partake in a 75-hour study with special scheduling for AP test-takers, music rehearsals and ath-letes. “I [report to Wood-ard] from 5 p.m to 9 p.m, Monday through Thursday,” Matthews said. With this new proj-ect, senior year acts as a game-changer. Prerequisites are es-tablished and strictly en-forced, just as well, student responsibilities and require-ments are to be met during the internship. RRHS counselor and senior project coordinator Candace Hecker, has been involved in the project for many years. “Senior project began eight years ago and participation has increased dramatically since then. This year, there are 59 partici-pants out of the 228 member class. During our first year, we had five participants,” she said. Rocky River isn’t the only school using this technique--other schools across Ohio, such as Fairview and Brush High School have made strides towards this new use of senior year. Meagan Roberto, a student at Brush high school is interning at Brookshaven where she rides horses. Her senior project also takes place during the last three weeks of May. “I chose this because I have been riding since seventh grade. It is amazing,” she said. “[The] horses are wonderful animals to work with, but still very challenging. I hope to own horses and offer therapeutic rid-ing,” said Roberto. “So far [senior project] has been a lot of fun,” said Matthews of her experience at Woodard. Students are held to high standards as

By Gwen Stephen

2012 Rocky River sponsorsAmongst over 70 businesses that volun-

teered, the list includes Cleveland Clinic, The Plain Dealer, Rocky River Stables, Westlake

Police Department, fashion design with Brittany Rucella, Gemini Video Productions, Rocky River schools, LaCentre, Renaissance Hotel, NASA, Wyse Advertising, American Red Cross, Ani-mal Protective League, Habitat for Humanity, Hand-in-Glove Construction Company, Re-

nay Flower Fashions, even Original Pan-cake House and much more.

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Meagan Roberto’s horse, Katy, catches some rays at Brookshaven.

Photo courtesy of Meagan Roberto.

far as com- pleting the project. “We’ve never had an approved candidate fail,” Hecker said. Schools that give seniors this opportu-nity have found that students readily adapt to the idea of the project. “Participation in the senior project has become part of our culture at RRHS, so some students start talking about it when they are freshmen,” Hecker said. Students start preparing for and planning their project at the end of ju-nior year.

7May/June 2012 focus

Senior projects:

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untington Beach

What would LHS sports look like with the proposed overhaul of 12th grade? Football Coach Ron Lewis completely dis-agrees with the whole idea. “It couldn’t be worse. You rely on senior leadership. You build from freshman year to senior year. It’s what helps the team develop. They all ma-ture together.” There could be many ways it affects sports. Students would need to change routines and begin training at a younger age. It would even impact middle school sports. Athletic director, Bob Thayer has a com-pletely different theory. He believes that somewhere in the future, it could be benefi-cial, why not support, “Sports are second-ary, so we have to follow what the district says to do.” There is one question that lingers here, Is this proposal about financial problems or what’s best for students? Thayer said, it would force scholastic athletics to revamp

and train differently. “But if it’s proven to be good, then I’m all for it,” he said. Credits would be counted different and school grades will be another thing. “Kids will be worried more about their grades and class work, rather than keeping their minds open to new ideas,” Thayer said. The simple fact that juniors could pos-sibly be the new “seniors” has caused many to wonder what’s behind this idea. “We can not afford to lose the funds to the colleges,” said Thayer, questioning the role

money plays. “I would side with anything that keeps the dollar in public schools.” For Baseball Coach Mike Ribar, it de-pends. “If the change is a national or state level change, then we would adapt. If this was a local school district change, it would hinder our opportunities to compete at the varsity level.” He says it could also elimi-nate the freshman program completely, due to the need of players on the JV and Varsity levels. The change would probably affect middle school sports programs as well. Ribar also said that would mean be having sopho-mores and juniors playing Varsity sports a year ahead of time. “While some individu-als can handle this, the majority can not, whether it be physically or mentally,” said Ribar.

Sports: what ifs?

Another opportunity is becoming avail-able to high school students in the local districts of Westlake, Avon Lake, Rocky River and Berea. This opportunity is the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program, which is offered to students aged 16-19. Through this program, students can earn credit to gain acceptance into any interna-tional college. Any university in the world recognizes it. The typical baccalaureate student completes three core require-ments and different assessments in differ-ent subject groups. This is only possible due to the band-ing together of these local school districts, seeing that they’re all splitting the funds. Westlake is the main force in this due to the coming of their newly designed high school, which is where students would come to take part in this program. It was estimated by the International Baccalaure-ate officials that in Westlake’s high school, 30-100 students would qualify for the pro-

gram out of their 1,400 students. Spread across the four districts that would be tak-ing part, about 500 students could qualify. This program basically eradicates Ad-vanced Placement classes in high school, seeing that the International Baccalaureate Program ensures college credit worldwide. The program currently serves more than 750,00 students at 2,479 schools in 138 different countries throughout the world. The ultimate goal of the program is to pro-vide a very rigorous educational program, and to have a diploma from the program shows the highest degree of academic ex-cellence. The academic program is a combination of the best of the best from every country. It is known for its challenging curriculum and course content, and high standard of learn-ing. Teachers are frequently trained, and the committee located in Geneva, Switzer-land keeps a close watch on everything. The IB believes that a student must first develop a good understanding of his or her

own nation’s cultural identity. All students in the program learn a second language, which they believe to be essential to living in the world today. They’re also firm be-lievers in students maintaining a positive attitude about learning, and they strongly advocate community service, believing there is more to learning that just academic studies. Is there a chance that this program could be brought to Lakewood? According to superintendent Jeff Patterson, it won’t be coming for soon at least. “The advantage our district has is the number of Advanced Placement courses offered to our students compared to the schools [that were mentioned],” said Pat-terson. “Our district is better off at the pres-ent time with maintaining and strengthen-ing our current program.”

Schools look at AP alternativvesBy Lily Pollack

By Sabrina Suleiman


When kids are in elementary school, they always dream big. A girl wants to become a princess and the boy wants to become an NFL football player. The majority of those dreams are not likely n to happen. One of the biggest issues that teenagers face when they get older is what they want to do with their lives. According to psu.edu (Penn State University), over 50 percent of students change their major several times before graduation. Another issue that worries students is the economy. For the past few years the economy has changed dramatically caus-ing tons of Americans to lose their jobs. According to USA Today, 7 in 10 students say that the struggling economy has af-fected where they applied to college. This year, 68% of students said their stress levels were high or very high. Also, 67% of students and 63% of parents said the economic collapse had influenced their decisions. Of those, 38% of students said economic concerns had caused them to change the types of colleges to which they applied. High school and college students usually pull an all-nighter if they have an important project or paper that’s due the next morn-ing. Students who pull all-nighters have lower GPA’s, according to foxnews.com. The amount of sleep a person gets affects his or her physical health, emotional well-being, mental abilities, productivity and performance. Recent studies associate lack of sleep with serious health problems

such as an increased risk of depression, obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabe-tes. Are seniors ready to go? Would juniors be ready to start the college admisssion process? Not every high school senior is ready to go to college, in fact the up to 80 per-cent of students entering college in the fall admit that they aren’t ready, according to psu.edu. “I think we would have to back every-thing up a year. We would need to be fo-cused among 10th graders. I think you’re just changing the stress to 10th grade and a 10th grader is developed mentally a year younger,” said Guidance Coun-selor Jeanne Hoopes. If senior year were to be cut, sophomores would be taking their PSAT and juniors would be taking their SAT’s and ACT’s while taking college classes. Another issue is what would hap-pen to the Ohio Graduation Tests? If a student over loads their schedule with advanced classes, their social life may not be healthy. Everyone needs a social life be-cause it makes people human. If a junior is taking advanced classes, college classes, applying for college, and doing homework they may not have room to hang with their friends, play a sport or enjoy a hobby. Stu-dents need a break every once in a while, so their stress or anxi-ety levels aren’t too high. But what about the student that juggles work, school and a

social life? Some students in high school need to work to support their family or to save money for college. Not all parents can help pay for their child’s college tuition. Millions of teenagers work part time and attend school across America. Some teen-agers can manage their grades while work-ing, but other teenagers have a struggle to work part time and do their homework. “I’ve worked part time since last year and it’s a struggle sometimes. I switched jobs in the beginning of this year, and yeah, it’s difficult on certain days when I have a ton of homework, but somehow I get through it. I can’t imagine how teenagers can work late hours and still can pass their classes,” said senior Faydra Drennan. “I barely have money to spend for my-self but when I do, I spend it quickly. Also, I don’t have a lot of time to work because of AYF, Lakewood Project, tutoring, and homework,” said senior Zach Prebel who takes 6 AP classes. Cutting senior year may be a good idea to help the budgets of schools in Ohio, but it may not be a good idea for students. It could possibly increase their stress levels and anxiety. “I don’t think they need to get rid of senior

year. I think we need to look at the issues of senior year and fix them. We might need to change

or do a better job helping them. I don’t think [senior year] should be

thrown away,” said Hoopes.

Art by Casey Miller

By Victoria Chesmar

Too much for teenagers?

9May/June 2012 news

Victor LaCourse treats Madison at his desk.

By Victoria Chesmar

Well those cute puppy eyes really do make a change for the good? LHS English teacher, Julie Konopinski has brought her therapeutic dog into school to help stu-dents. A therapeutic dog helps people feel comforted and makes people feel better when they are having a bad day. Recent studies show that a therapeutic dog in a classroom increases reading scores. Madison is Konopinski’s therapeutic dog, and she’s been here since the first week of April. Madison was named after the street Madison because that’s where Konopinski rescued her. In the winter time, a few years ago Konopinski saw a stray puppy that was around 8 months old. When she went across the street to go rescue the dog and Madison ran out to her and was hit by a car. Luckily she was okay. Madison is a 3 ½ year old boxer that loves to be around people. Konopinski was introduced to therapeu-tic dogs by a trainer from the Cleveland City Kennel who was offering the classes at the center called Elite K911. They hosted the classes, but the Therapy Dog International (TDI) did the assessment, the actual test. In order for Madison to “join” the LHS staff member, Konopinski had to provide information to Lakewood City School’s Superintendent, Jeff Patterson and Princi-pal Bill Wagner. Also, Madison had to go through 6 weeks of training to be able to attend LHS. Even though puppies can be adorable, they can destroy everything in sight when they’re young. “She didn’t live in a house before, I don’t think. But she jumped into

Madison is happy from a long day of playing.

“Dog days” are just beginningeverything, went to the bathroom wherever she went, and she destroyed everything. So, we went to a trainer first just to get her to become a better dog and then we realized how train-able she is,” said Konopinski. In December, she had to take a TDI test. During the test Madison had to be calm during certain tasks. These tasks included children running around with toys, walkers, being groomed by a stranger, approach another stranger with a dog, sitting without a reaction, being separated from Konopinski for 3 minutes, and being able to sit by a bowl of food without eating it. When Madison passed her test and received an approval from Patterson, Konopin-ski mailed home parent letters ex-plaining Madison’s purpose and ask-ing if there were any allergies or phobias the students had. Konopinski’s goals were to increase her student’s reading, and teach her stu-dents companionship when a dog is part of family. She has been very successful with Madison and it took a lot of work for her to come to LHS, but she’s very happy that Madison is here. Konopinski’s students say that Madison has a big heart. “She does things that she never learned in training. Like knowing when someone is upset and coming to sit by them,” said Konopinski. Konopinski wished she could bring her other dog to LHS, too, but she’s part pit bull. In the state of Ohio, pitbulls are no lon-ger considered vicious. Unfortunately, the law is still in effect in Lakewood. “It’s about prejudice and it’s almost like discrimination

against dogs b e c a u s e of the way they look,” Konopinski said. One of Konopinski’s s t u d e n t s ,

Shawn Edge sees Madison at least three periods everyday during the school week. “Madison is lovable, and peaceful to be around. She makes people’s day a little better and helps everyone. She helps me focus in school,” said Edge. Many students have peeped through Ko-nopinski’s door window to see Madison, or during a class change students come and visit her. “There was a kid that was deathly afraid of dogs and his friend convinced him to pet her. Now he comes in at least twice a day to see her,” said Konopinski. Madison is considered a working dog to Konopinski, when she puts on Madison’s heart collar and her Therapeutic Dog Inter-national bandana, Madison knows she has to go to work. “It’s kind of funny, when I’m getting ready to go out, Madison will look at me and know that I’m leaving somewhere. So she’ll look at me and be like, where are we going?” said Konopinski. School will be over eventually, but for Madison she will still be working this summer. Therapy dogs can go to nursing homes and hospitals for summer work, too. Konopinski received a letter in the mail for Madison to work at a nursing home in Lakewood.

With help from Mariah Louden

10 The Lakewood Timesnews

After her 29 years of teaching at Lake-wood High, Jane Blackie will be saying farewell to both the school and student-body she has enjoyed so much. Getting a late start to teaching, Black-ie aimed to improve society once on the Lakewood teaching staff. She did this one student at a time and by steering the Eng-lish Department for many years as facili-tator. She progressively became higher in rank in the LHS English Department. “Teaching has changed very much in Lakewood, some good and some bad,” Blackie said. But she still likes the day-to-day challenges of teaching. Teaching at Lakewood is a privilege for Blackie. “I feel like I learn something new everyday,” she says.

Kathy Baylog has always enjoyed school, so she never stopped going. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York and then went on to get a job in Lakewood. She felt that Lakewood was a lot like where she grew up and found herself at home here. She started as a middle school teacher at Harding and Emerson and then came to LHS. Now after 20 years here, she is retir-ing. Going to, and working at school has never been a chore for Baylog. “I have al-ways loved going to school. It never felt like work to me, just school. I would say that I couldn’t stay out late because it was a school night,” she says. Baylog has helped many students as the

Retiring teachers sayBy Sam Baker

By Maggy Horn

Blackie has had many great experiences with the students. She loves teaching A.P. English classes, as well as her 9th grade classes in past years. “I will miss the ener-gy and stimulation that students give you,” Blackie said. Through the years, Blackie has been an active and involved individual at Lakewood High. She’s been club advisor for National Honor Society, Ski Club, and Poetry Slam. Of course, engaged English teachers are bound to have their own treasured pieces of literature. Some of Blackie’s favorites are Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, and Emily Dickinson’s classic poem, Hope is the Thing with Feathers. Mrs. Blackie has “absolutely enjoyed” her time teaching at Lakewood High. In regards to her plans for retirement, Blackie looks forward to taking trips, read-ing, cooking, and riding her bike.

National Honor Society advisor, Advanced Placement Coordinator, and the Gifted Co-ordinator. “I think we have a good principal. He has faith in his staff and trusts them to do their job,” Baylog said about her time at LHS. “LHS has always been good to me.” But she knows that it is time to retire and her seven-year-old grandchild helped con-vince her. Baylog traveled out of state to attend her grandchild’s first communion. However, she could not stay long because it was in the middle of AP test cycle. So her grandchild asked her, “What’s so im-portant?” Baylog found herself wondering the same thing. “I feel ambivalent about retiring,” Baylog says. “Its bitter-sweet.”

Jane Blackie

Kathy Baylog

11May/June 2012 news

Retiring teachers say Linda Salipante has been teaching for 30 years and loves every minute about it. Well, except for having to go shopping for groceries. She says that she calculated and estimates buying 1,200 bags of gro-ceries over the year. Salipante teaches a number of family consumer classes includ-ing living well, sports nutrition, gourmet foods, creative cooking, fast foods, and career connections. She teaches three to four classes a semester. Salipante decided to go into teaching because she “likes sharing things with stu-dents. I like showing them how to do skills

After twenty total years of teaching, five at LHS, English teacher and Journalism guru Karen Ballash is putting down her pen. Be-fore teaching, Ballash tried her hand, and succeeded, at many things. She owned her own quilt finishing business, started a quilt guild, is a self-taught perennial gardener, was a stay at home mom and PTA mem-ber, and was an advertising copywriter for five years. All these different experiences shaped the teacher that she is today. “The interaction with kids. They crack me up sometimes,” is her favorite part of teaching. She teaches Advanced English 10 and journalism 1-4. She has been ad-viser to the Lakewood Times all five years. Before teaching at LHS, she taught at Fairview and was adviser to the yearbook and newspaper. “Since I’m in the Times room so much, they know me better than some of the staff,” Ballash said.

By Regina Satayathum

By Julia Houska

that they can put into real life. Also, watch-ing them become aware of their diets and nutrition.” Salipante will miss the diversity of the stu-dents and seeing all of the students come together and have a common goal as they work together. “ My favorite memory of teaching classes was going to a restaurant and seeing my students progress and succeed. Seeing the “ahh-ha” moments when the students accomplish something.” Salipante plans to take a trip to Spain. Also, she plans to spend time with her fam-ily, catch up on her hobbies and crafts, and grocery shop a whole lot less.

As adviser, Ballash has spent countless nights editing, proofing, and working with the students on the Times. Her favorite part of the Times is, “the pressure, fun, and craziness of press night.” She still keeps in touch with most of her former editors. As for LHS, she will miss, “the fun of be-ing spontaneous and creative with the kids in the Times and the classroom.” After this year, Ballash plans on garden-ing, traveling and cooking. “I won’t know I’m retired until September when I’ll be on a beach, if a hurricane doesn’t get in my way,” Ballash said. She also is passionate about volunteering and wants to rock the babies at Providence House on the near Westside. Even though she is retiring, this doesn’t necessarily mean the end. “If the right job comes along I may even go back to work.” Ballash said.

their final goodbyesLinda Salipante

Kathy Baylog Karen Ballash


“No one is as wild as a woman as I am.” LHS teacher Liz Weinmann said. Weinmann is not most people. Thirty-one years of doing the same thing might overwhelm most people. After teaching World History, this will be her last year in Mod 12. Many might know her as the “grandma of the school,” she said, which is not a surprise with her teaching for at least three decades. “Growing up I always knew I would teach here,” Weinmann said. Although she teaches here, she never actually at-tended as a student. She went to Mag-nificat. Her line of family all grew up going to LHS, including her children. “As I was walking down the hallway, I hear a ‘Liz’ and my youngest daughter ap-proached me saying she has been calling me the entire time,” Weinmann said as she remembers a fun memory she has had.

By Hneen Khdour

About 25 years ago Pat Hunter made her decision. From wanting a helping and caring career path, nursing and teaching were her two big choices. Hunter decided to go with teaching. She tutored at St. Au-gustins and St. Eds. She was a junior high math teacher at St. Raphaels. She worked part time at LCC and one year at Harding in math. Finally in 1993, she came to Lake-wood. Hunter has been a family and consumer science teacher since she started here. She taught cooking classes, Early Child-hood, Career Connections, etc. Since 1997 she’s been spending half her days at Lake-wood Hospital doing job training with High School students. Hunter always loved hands on activities. “I never have my students do anything that I haven’t done.” The reason why she chose family and consumer science classes was

because it was mainly hands on. Being a teacher has its ups and downs. Grading papers happens to be a down for Hunter. That’s one thing she won’t miss. “I take a bag of papers everywhere I go. When I go on a plane, when I visit someone in the hospital, everywhere!” Some ups for being a teacher for Hunter are those “Ah-Ha” mo-ment’s students get when they finally get something, when the light bulb clicks. In August every teacher gets prepared going back to school, getting organized and situated, those first few weeks back at school, getting to meet their new students. That’s one thing Hunter will miss. “It hasn’t hit me yet but in August I’m sure it will” Once Hunter is retired, she hopes to be able to sew and travel more. With her full time teaching job, sewing and traveling, haven’t been able to fit into her schedule. She hopes to teach an Adult-Ed sewing class and/or tutoring kids in math.

By Allisa Taylor

With every happy memory there are always difficult ones as well. “It was al-ways sad when I went to a former student of mine’s funeral or even their parents.” When asked if Weinmann was person-ally ready to retire she said, “No! I’m not burned out yet. It wasn’t a high prior-ity, but I knew what I had to do.” In or-der to give other social studies teach-ers the opportunity to continue teaching, Weinmann knew she needed to resign. “I love the kids. I love the environment. I love it here,” Weinmann said when she was asked what she will miss most of all. “I want to come back and substitute.” Adjusting to the new element will take some time for her, especially with her spending most of her life as a teach-er. “I’m taking it step by step.” Weinmann says. She “wants to travel and spend more time with [her] grandchildren.”

Liz Weinmann

Pat Hunter


Having worked at Lakewood high School for 26 years, Mrs. Jean Lane decides its time to retire. One can see the excitement on her face when the word “retire” came up, “18 days left but who is counting”, she says with a chuckle. Lane plans to stay where she lives cur-rently with her already retired husband. She is excited most about the fact that she can go to Chicago to see her grandchildren more frequently. Lane will miss the current job she has in the bookroom. She will miss the kids that she enjoys. “There are lots of good parts to this job”, she states. Although she is most know for being in the bookroom, Lane had many other jobs before this in LHS. She started out in the Bio Lab then moved to being a study hall teacher. After that she moved to ISS, then landed a job in the bookroom, which she likes the best. Lane also had a job at the Board of Education for 5 years for Payroll Department. Having worked alone in the bookroom

By Elvis Sako

for two years now, Lane says she missed the times when she worked with Mrs. Dawn Wingler. Lane really likes the new movement of the bookroom. “I wish they would have moved me last summer,” she jokes. She like how much bigger it is and the open space that comes from looking out of the window. She also likes that she can talk to more people than she could at the old place. One of the funniest moments Lane re-members was when she was working in the Biology lab and they were dissecting live frogs. They came in a box and they had to put them in a fridge to slow down the frogs so they wouldn’t move around too much. One time Lane had gone to a box, which apparently wasn’t put in the fridge, and opened it. Frogs jumped out of the box and started hopping around like crazy. They had a fun time trying to catch all of the frogs. It’s a memory that still makes her laugh today.

Being the mom of the L-Room, or even the L-Room baby-sitter as some might say, might be one of the best jobs in this whole facility according to Carol Snyder. Snyder has worked at Lakewood High School for about 23-years and believes that it is time to retire. She is ready to make a change in her life and wants to take a new direction. Snyder is a firm believer about when it is time to depart and let the young-er generation take over. Snyder is excited about retirement she will miss the students that she will leave behind. She’ll miss the friendly relation-ships she had created with each of them. In fact, the students were the favorite part of her job. She likes when she has a rocky start with a student, then treats them with nothing but kindness and respect throughout the

By Elvis Sako

year. Eventually they end up friends. She likes the feeling that she has turned that student around. Snyder first started her job as a security guard but lost her job when the board de-cided to go in a new direction. After that she applied to become a study hall monitor and got the job. Her final stop was when she became the L-Room monitor. Snyder was full of funny stories and memories that had been accumulating throughout the years. Her favorite was dur-ing Christmas time when all the students dressed up as elves for Toys for Tots. Sny-der also dressed up one of the years and sang Jingle Bell Rock with the kids. She will always remember the fun times she’s had with the students and would be like to be remembered as the nice lady in the L-Room.

Liz Weinmann Jean Lane

Carol Snyder


“ I love teaching, and I love this age group. I use the word love because I really do. I can’t go to any retire-ment banquets be-cause I’ll cry, “ Lynn Eckert said as she let a few tears escape. “ I love this place, my mom went here. I’ve been here since I was 21 years old, it’s just a great place to be,” said Eckert. Eckert began her career as a teacher through Ohio Univer-sity and finished with a Masters degree in Administration and Organizational Lead-ership from Cleveland State University. “I never was a traditional teacher. I liked science a lot and liked to do unusual and different things,” Eckert said. “ I love my subject so much that I think my enthusiasm and excitement for the subject goes into the students,” said Eckert, regarding her days of teaching science classes. Eckert

has taught Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Earth Science and general Science. A long with in-teresting projects such as rockets and catapults, Eckert and others started the Boat Regatta, which students and teachers have grown to love. “I think we are so lucky to have a community that cares about educa-tion. That wants the best for their kids,” said Eckert. “We are so diverse, we

accept everybody. And its fabulous to be in a school where there is 17 different languages spoken. You see all colors, all races all nationalities all religions. And for the most part everyone gets along. I think that’s amazing.” Having been at Lakewood for 37 years, Eckert has built unfathomable relationships

By Maddy Kane

with students. “My oldest class, the kids are in there 50’s. I see them and I see their children, and I keep in touch with kids,” Eckert said. I’ve been to the baptisms of a ton of kids. I’ve been to weddings of a bunch of kid’s. I can’t tell you how many graduation parties I’ve been too,” Eckert said. “ I think I form a bond that is life long.” “There are some kids here that have my greatest respect. Their lives are so hard. They are just amazing. “ Eckert said. She went from a teacher to a House Principal in 2010. As she talks and reminisces on her expe-rience at Lakewood High, it is clear that it’s a struggle for her to leave “ I loved being here, I think I would work for free I like it so much,” Eckert said. “This school is really a microcosm of the world,” Eckert said. “I think diversity is one of our strongest suites, a long with our phe-nomenal teachers.” “I just think, I as a person, if I am bet-ter tomorrow than I was today, then I think I’ve done something good. I think I’ve got that from being here. I love it here, “ said Eckert. As far as her future plans, “I hope to work as a principal in another district.”

After her 15 years of teaching at Lake-wood High School, it’s sad to say that Dr. Lisa Hanson is retiring. “Doc” has spent most of her life doing what she loves. In fact, she has been teaching for 35 years. Dr. Hanson graduated her college as a member of the DMA Choral Conduction program. She got her Master’s Degree, Bachelors Degree, and her Doctorate De-gree after she graduated. Dr. Hanson, who attended the Univer-sity of Cincinnati, College- Conservatory of Music, has done many great things musi-cally for Lakewood High. On top of teaching five daily classes, she also teaches AP Music Theory, Cham-ber Choir, and Vive L’Four. Just last month, Dr. Hanson took all of her advanced choirs to Williamsburg, Virginia, instead of States.

They performed at Bruton Parish Church where they got a standing ovation. “This was the highlight of my career,” Hanson said. She has enjoyed her many years here at Lakewood High School. She loves all of her students and their families, and is like a musical mother to all of her kids. “I feel so lucky to do what I always dreamed of, it’s just sad to leave.” says Doc, as she and her choirs prepare for their last concert. Saying farewell is always hard, but no one will ever forget the music Dr. Hanson has brought us over the years.

By Jenna Daurelio Lisa Hanson

Lynn Eckert


On a normal day in the mods of Lake-wood High School, one will almost always hear the sounds reverberating from room M18. A powerful, yet friendly voice edu-cates students on life lessons of the world, that of History Teacher Norm Murphey. Murphey, who said “I loved being here,” has been teaching in Lakewood City Schools since 1974. Currently, he teacher sociology, and government and politics. In the past though, Murphey has taaught Physical Education and numerous other Social Studies classes across the District. Murphey’s past was filled with hard work and perseverance. Born in Richmond, Vir-ginia, he moved to Altoona, Pennsylvania, and eventually to Cleveland, Ohio, where he graduated from high school. Murphey is known around the school for being an encouraging teacher, and that started in his own high school days, where he says that he was influenced to achieve his goals by his teachers and coaches. He was also encouraged by such figures as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela. Early on, Murphey aspired to be an architect, but after going to college, he decided he wanted to become a teacher,

because one of his professors had told him he’d be good at it. He gradu-ated from the Uni-versity of Mount Union in 1973, the first in his family to graduate from col-lege. Murphey and his wife have raised three chil-dren together, whom he believes are a lot like him. He is very proud of his kids, and he believes that his proudest achievement is that of “being a good father,” but also to his students. Murphey stated “I think I’m a good teacher, and I stay true to myself with integ-rity and perseverance [in my teaching].” Outside of M18, Mr. Murphey leads a very active lifestyle, which he wants

to continue after leav-ing LHS. He enjoys snowboarding, soft-ball, and biking. Mur-phey also volunteers to walk dogs at the Cleveland Animal Pro-tective League. Students of-ten tell Murphey how much they enjoyed a class that he taught, and he feels that he made a positive im-pact on them, making his hard work worth it. “One final piece of advice for stu-dents,” Murphey said, “is to enjoy your time [here]; get the most you can from high school.”

Retirement for Murphey means nothing more than opening his life to a new chapter. He has no intention of slow-ing down, and plans to stay active and sees himself working again in the future.

By Adam Mitchell and Aziza Musleh Norm Murphey

After twenty-eight years of teaching and twenty-three years at Lakewood High School, Cindy Karger says farewell to cher-ished memories she’ll never forget. Karger has accomplished many great things within her life besides teaching. For seven years before she taught, she owned her own business called the Culinary Cup-board which was located in Parma Town Mall. After leaving her business, Karger served as a senior merchandise manager at JCPenny. After leaving JCPenny, she was a graduate teacher at Polaris. Karger has obtained two degrees and had been working on her PhD. She has re-cieved a Bachelors Degree from Ashland and a Masters Degree from Kent, where she had also been working on her PhD. “I did not have any idea why I wanted to be a teacher. All I know is when I was six years old, I grabbed the kids in the neigh-

borhood, sat them down, and handed them pens and paper,” said Karger. When Karger reminisced about her previ-ous years at Lakewood she recalled a fa-miliar occurrence that happened on a daily basis in the Mods before the new building had been constructed. “I remember having trouble with the technology, setting up the computer, because it was different in every room. It was a riot!” she said. Karger has big plans after she retires. She plans to babysit her grandchildren, Abby and Evie, volunteer at Holy Family one day a week, volunteer at Lakewood High School when she’s needed, write grants, but most importantly she plans to open and start a pottery business. As her final days are slowly winding to an end, she said, “The best memory I’ll have is watching my students mature, gradu-ate and know they’ll move on to do great things with their life.”

Cindy KargerBy Juan Amador

16 The Lakewood Timeslkwd life

17May/June 2012 lkwd life

“You can’t do this for 34 years and not love kids,” said the retiring Physical Educa-tion teacher, David Borish. Borish has a BS in Education from Cleve-land State University and an ME from Cleveland State University. He joined LHS in 1978 as a Physical Education teacher, and has stuck with Lakewood High School ever since. “ I knew I wanted to teach, and I was very interested in coaching,” Borish said. His active life style and participation in high school and college sports lead him to his career in athletics. “ I knew whatever I would do with involve an activity of some kind.” “I am a believer in exercise,” Borish said. He has run many marathons and partici-pated in the Boston Marathon eight times. “ I want kids to learn that you can make ex-ercise enjoyable. That’s what I tried to get across in my classes.”

Regarding the difference between aca-demic teaching and a gym teacher, Borish said, “ It’s a much more social atmosphere. You can have a wide variety of conversa-tion beyond the material being learned.” As he reminisces briefly through his 34 years of teaching, he remembers a funny moment when the “ Olympics” almost came to LHS. “ One of my classes was high in Middle Eastern population, and we were in the soccer unit. The Middle Eastern kids wanted to play the U.S.,” Borish said laughing. Teachers become close with the faculty they surround themselves with. Borish is no exception. One thing he will miss about LHS,” Definitely the people I work with, “ Borish said. After retirement Borish plans on continu-ing his coaching career, along with travel-ing and keeping up with his grandchild who is due in August.

By Maddy Kane David Borish

“ I will miss the people I work with more so than anything else, “ said retiring technol-ogy teacher, Peter Mayeux. Mayeux worked in industry for 22 years before starting the technology program at LHS in 1989. He has served in the Air Force, worked for machine and tool manufactures, along with other construc-tion equipment companies. “ I was an entrepreneur. Wherever I saw I could make money, legally, I would do it,” Mayeux said. After the company he was working for shut down, he decided to go to school for education and share his knowledge with

Julie Miller really gets around. For 36 years, Miller has been work-ing as a special education teacher. She’s worked at LHS for five years and another 25 years between Grant, Hayes, Emerson and Garfield. Miller earned her undergraduate degree in elementary education from the University of Toledo, and her masters degree is in special education from Ohio State Univer-sity. Miller’s plans include enrolling her unruly Labrador Retriever in an obedience train-ing classes. “We just adopted her and she needs to learn some manners,” Miller said. She also plans to help with her son’s wed-ding and help her daughter through her se-nior year. “I love Lakewood,” Miller said. “It’s a neat place and its very diverse.”

the youth. “ One thing I like about working with students, is that they come back and tell me that they are doing well. That is very rewarding,” Said Mayeux. As he looked over to his electronic count down of the days left until school is over, Mayeux said,“ Fishing, fishing, and more fishing. Those are my retirement plans. “ Mayeux’s passion is clearly on the water.

Peter Mayeux

Julie Miller

By Maddy Kane

By Dylan Dombroski

“ I use to race sail boats for 8 years, I love Lake Erie.” He also plans on trav-eling, “Wherever the wind blows me.” He also has intentions of visiting his siblings who are scattered across the United States. After teaching here for 23 years, Mayeux seemingly, and right-fully, has been awarded the worst case of senioritis.

David Borish

By Elvis Sako

Jessica Harrison practices jumping over hudles before her 100 meter hurdles race.

Laurna Barimi succesfully jumps over a 5 foot 6 high length during pole-vault.

John Vincent jumps a height of 6”3 to win him second place in high jump.

It’s been a long and successful track season for the boys and girls team. The athletes celebrate a reward-ing season as more members move on to Regionals. The girls finished 5-0, while the boys had a 3-2 ratio.

The coaches were happy with the district results, but are even more impressed with the athletes who made it to regionals. The season isn’t over yet for the top two in each race. If this happens, LHS athletes will go to Colum-bus to run with “the big dogs.”

Track & Fieldtriumphs

All photos by Elvis Sako

Good times

Kathy Baylog by Alain Mika

Jane Blackie by Ian Kane

Salipante by Audrey Bates

Julie Miller by Regina Satayathum

Jean Lane by Audrey Bates

Pat Hunter Audrey BatesCarol Snyder by Ian Kane

Cindy Karger by Jacob Coorder

await Retirement Class of

Liz Weinmann by Mitch Hamdan

2012

Lynn Eckert by Jacob Corder

Lisa Hansen by Brett Brown

Karen Ballash by Ian Kane

Borish by Jacob Corder

Norm Murphey by Brett Brown

Pete Meyuex by Brett Brown

Good Time III by Brett Brown

Jean Lane by Audrey Bates

Cindy Karger by Jacob Coorder

22 The Lakewood Timesopinion

Dear Editors, I’m writing this letter today to allow you to see the less idi-otic side to your argument for the legalization of marijuana. I’d like to address your first argument and point out its flaws. “Smoking hookah is worse than smoking a cigarette or smoking marijuana and it’s legal.” The legalization of one harmful substance does not justify the legalization of another. Numerous studies have shown that marijuana smoke to contain carcinogens and to be an irritant to the lungs. In fact marijuana smoke contains 50-70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than tobacco smoke. I have reason to believe you didn’t do research prior to the writ-ing of your article, as you argued that tobacco is worse to smoke than marijuana. This just isn’t even true. In this same government sponsored article, I found that “studies have shown an association between chronic marijuana use and increased rates of anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia.” Mental disorders, schizophrenia in particular, are some of the most destructive diseases. These people are a danger to themselves and the people around them. While I’m certainly not implying that it’s common for mental dis-orders to sprout out of marijuana use, I am arguing that there is a direct correlation between the two, while there is no correlation between the use of tobacco and these disorders. In addition to mental disorders correlated to marijuana use, it can cause many lung and heart diseases. “Numerous studies have shown mari-juana smoke to contains carcinogens and to be an irritant to the lungs. In fact, marijuana smoke contains 50-70 percent more car-cinogenic hydrocarbons than tobacco smoke… A study of 450 individuals found that people who smoke marijuana frequently but do not smoke tobacco have more health problems and miss more days of work than nonsmokers… Marijuana increases heart rate by 20-100 percent shortly after smoking; this effect can last up to 3 hours. In one study, it was estimated that marijuana users have a 4.8-fold increase in the risk of heart attack in the first hour after smoking the drug.” In addi-tions to the increased heart rate founds in this study, there is an increase in irregular heartbeats, palpitations, and arrhythmias. You say there would be a decrease in crime in the United States if marijuana were legalized. I don’t believe this to be true. There would be a decrease in crime punishable by jail time. Drug deal-ers would still exist, as it’s cheaper to buy things without the cost of tax, shipping, and store markups. Marijuana would, of course,

Letter to the editor

remain a controlled substance. The age requirement for purchase would be 21 years. IF you look at current statistics for the con-sumption of alcohol and relate them to the use of marijuana, it would be estimated that nearly 10.8 million people would use mar-ijuana under the age of 21. This is an absurd amount of “crime” that goes on and would go on were marijuana legalized. I’d like to start this paragraph by stating that we have a re-publican form of government in the United States, and laws are not created with a majority vote, they’re created within a congress of elected officials. If for some reason, the citizens of the United States were given the opportunity to hold a majority vote for the legalization of marijuana, the law would not pass. The majority of people in the United States don’t support its legalization, the ma-jority of young liberal people do. Also, you stated that “the drug makes you feel good.” The isn’t the case with all people. There are a significant number of people that become anxious, violent, and dangerous to themselves and others after the consumption of marijuana. While marijuana does have a few medicinal uses, there is an abundance of other drugs that have the same medici-nal qualities of marijuana. “Imagine people being happy. Imagine people smoking mari-juana because it’s their part of their culture, or just to chill out.” I find this statement to just be plain ignorant. I could come up with an array of other silly “imagine” statements to point out exactly why you lack intelligence for using these. I’ll provide one and leave it be: Imagine if anarchists were given free rein to destroy as the please because it’s their system of beliefs. I’d like to close this by encouraging you to revise your poorly written article and sending it back to me. I’m always open to see other people’s point of views. I appreciate the entertainment you gave me with your series of grammatical and logical flaws.

Thanks… Best regards,Anthony Gilbert.

[1] http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana

[2] http://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/advisories/0806250013.aspx

23May/June 2012 opinion

High school for most students is four long and confusing years. “Senioritis” is appear-ing in students at a younger age each year. There comes a point when a student finally splits ties with high school and is thrown into the circus that is college. Where is the transition? Students who graduate from high school, generally, having an easier senior year. But is that a smart idea when a year later they’ll be calling their professors “merciless,” writing paper after paper, and studying like there’s no tomorrow. A transition period is needed. Lakewood High school offers a Post Secondary Enrollment Option Program (PSEOP), where a student can take classes at LHS but also Tri-C, Case, LCCC, BW or Cleveland State. Tuition is paid for through government funding. This program gives students the opportunity to finish high school while also seeing what it’s like to be in college. I currently am in the PSEOP program and admit that it is not easy. College, if you are not properly prepared, is very dif-

ficult. No more extra credit, not too much homework, all reading, writing, and test-taking. One failed test and you can potentially fail a class. There are also disadvantages at the high school end. I miss a lot of an-nouncements and sometimes don’t qualify for things because of the light class load I have at LHS. Being in PSEOP, I have learned more about what college is. Stu-dents in this program have a leg up on their classmates because they have less of a chance to make freshman mistakes. I have quickly figured out what I can get away with and what I can’t. It is absolutely impossible to really understand and get a high grade if you don’t do the class read-ings. The professors don’t check to make sure you read the book. They don’t remind you that you should be studying. Instead, they throw a test at you that will be full of

questions from the reading. College is where you have to be inde-pendent and look after yourself. It’s a time where you truly get the chance to discover what you’re made of.. As cliché as that sounds, it’s true. PSEOP gives students the transition needed to prepare themselves for the future while getting credit for high school and college at the same time.

Don’t pass on PSEOPBy Julia Houska

AP classes lead to apt learning experienceBy Derek Dashiell

Look, I’m just going to say it: High school is what it is. It’s a group of no one knowing how to act, and trying everything until something sticks. It’s a four-year, pressure cooker peer-pressure trap. And we need it. Post-Secondary (PSEOP) is great for the right people. It can give kids a practical head start and it can lead to jobs more di-rectly. In many ways, it’s stable and just makes sense to do. If a kid knows what they’re getting into, they should go PSEOP, for sure. The problem is, that doesn’t describe most of us. We don’t know what we want to do, we don’t know if we’re sure. And that’s the strength of high

school. The varied things you learn in AP classes will give you more openness than PSEOP. As we figure out more what we want to do, we aren’t tied down to a path we decided as a junior. For many, that’s too soon to be-gin down a path. Many people don’t declare a major until their freshman or sophomore year of college, but PSEOP is es-sentially asking them to pursue something as a junior. It’s great if you know, but teenagers are fickle. They change their minds. AP certainly has its charms, if not straight up advantages. It eases students into college-level curriculums without a sharp jump. This is not only an easier transition, but it also

has educational benefits. The relaxed high-school relation-ships, knowledge of teachers, overall less-collegiate nature of the class allows students to learn how to participate and get involved on a collegiate level, with teachers who really have time and focus for them. And then, there’s the matter of escapism. I know the feel-ing of not really fitting in, of being done with a school and its population. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge anyone’s choice to get out of a toxic environment. But some-times someone hasn’t really tried to make new friends. Not that they’re lazy. They were just never forced to, never shown how to have the courage.

This seems like a weird argu-ment for AP classes, I’m sure. But I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I had done PSEOP. And through all the ups and downs, I’m glad I stuck out my senior year the “typical” way. It’s not for everyone, and in fact, it can be far better to take PSEOP. But I wouldn’t change a thing, if I’d known how I’d have turned out. It’s an extremely personal question. But here’s the thing: if you can choose PSEOP for the right reason, you’ve learned your lessons from high school. If you’re too scared to abandon everything you know for PSE-OP, you still have some things to find out about yourself. Like how strong you’ll be.


Tanning: fact or fictionBy Becca Houp

Ebner’s prom hook-upsBy Becca Houp

Every year when prom begins to creep around the corner, seniors become fran-tic with the stress of trying to find a prom date. But one teacher has made it his duty to keep track of who is going to prom with who, and trying to fix up seniors who don’t have a date. Mr. Dennis Ebner has became well known for his infamous “prom date” bulletin in his classroom. Ebner doesn’t recall exactly when the board started, but he does recall that it all started with a blackboard. Mr. Stupianski and Mrs. Schafer were the first ones to help Mr. Ebner start listing names of students that didn’t have a date to the prom. The three teachers started with a list of names, and cinema students introduced the idea of bringing pictures to the board. The list of names slowly transformed into pictures that got tacked to a bulletin. And so, the prom-asking process in Ebner’s room be-gan. The bulletin usually goes up around the

end of March, or whenever the cinema staff is done with the yearbook. “Contrary to popular belief, I don’t maintain the board. The cinema kids keep track and update it, it just happens in my room. It’s entertain-ing,” Ebner commented. “Other teachers even come in to check things out with the board and see what’s going on.” Ebner claims no one has to be on the board. If they ask for their picture to be taken down, it is removed without conflict, but he says there aren’t usually complaints from students. Ebner believes that it is important to go to prom because, “it’s a great high school memory that everyone should have.” Ebner is no stranger to prom himself. When Ebner went to school, they had a junior-senior prom. He attended not only his junior and senior year, but also his sophomore year, and his freshmen year in college.

When someone thinks of tanning, the first things that come to mind are skin cancer, orange skin, fake baking and superficial people. People hear about, and see, peo-ple that over-tan and look ridiculous, which creates a misconception of the hobby as a whole. There is a large misconception in today’s society surrounding tanning. People think indoor tanning puts one at a greater risk for skin cancer, which is false. According to tanningtruth.com and the FDA’s web-site, indoor tanning creates no greater risk for your skin than natural tanning. Dr. Brooke Hahn (physician), believes it is healthier to pre-tan your skin indoors before going on vacation or before long periods of time in the sun because it prevents your skin

from burning and freckling quickly. Although it is easy and convenient, there is no doubt that tanning has it’s risks. Whether you choose to tan indoors or outdoors, you are putting your skin at risk for skin cancer. Melanoma is the worst and most severe form of skin can-cer, and you put yourself at risk for this when you expose your skin to such rays. But are there any benefits to tanning indoors? According to tanningtruth.com and fabutan.com, there is. Vitamin D is

known as the “sunshine vitamin”, and is produced when your body has been ex-posed to UV rays. It is vital for good health and helps promote stronger, healthier bones and teeth. According to fabutan.com, Dr. Michael Holick of Boston Univer-sity was able to show that radiation from a tanning bed can produce longer last-ing and more consistent levels of Vitamin D. (Compared to taking supplements.) Local dermatologist Kathleen Mulligan disagrees. She thinks that indoor tanning is “unregulated and the dosage (of light) is unclear.” She believes that tanning indoors is a much greater risk than tanning out-doors. But she also says that both are un-desirable in the long run for your skin. She feels that, “normal exposure to the sun, (not tanning) is all Vitamin D your body needs. According to skincancer.org, almost 30 million people tan indoors everyday, and 2.3 million of them are teens. The website also claimed that between 1971 and 2001, the melanoma diagnosis rate for people under the age of 20 rose 2.9%. It was also reported that 90% of pediatric cases of melanoma occurred in girls aged 10-19. Before society was as educated as they are now about skin cancer, women would lather themselves in baby oil, and tanning oil and lay in the sun for hours. Most people

that have obtained the deadly cancer got it from outdoor tanning for long periods of time. Summer jobs like life guarding can come back to haunt one in the long run, put-ting one at much greater risk for skin cancer. The daughter of former salon owner Nicolina Ciresi, has been in the tanning business for 10 years. The current Max Tan employee claims that she personally believes, “indoor tanning in moderation is more controlled and safe than outdoor tanning.” She believes that it is safer to tan indoors because the tanning equip-ment it more “controlled and regulated.” The damage begins to occur when you do not cater to your skin type. If you have sen-sitive skin that burns and/or freckles eas-ily, it is not wise to lay outdoors for hours on end trying to reach a desirable tan. Tanning beds have certain settings to accommodate different skin types so you can achieve a tan without as much dam-age from the one-size-fits-all outdoor rays. “Tanning lotion helps keep your skin moisturized during the tanning pro-cess. I always recommend sunscreen when tanning outdoors,” Ciresi said. It is important to keep your skin safe, so it vital that one wears sun-screen when tanning outdoors.


P pping the ‘question’By Juan Amador

Ryan Sarkis, senior, asked his girlfriend, sophomore, Kyla Rable, to prom during half time at a Ranger’s basketball game. Sarkis worked with Rable’s friends who were also on the cheer leading team to help him pull it off. “It was very nerve wrecking. I didn’t know how she would react and she could have denied me in front of everyone at the game,” he said. To watch how he asked her, scan the QR code with your smart phone.

For senior Jordan Kornfeld, it was different. It was implied he was taking his girlfriend, Amber Rush-Jones, to prom but he decided to wait last minute. “I had it planned for a while but never got around to doing it,” he said. The night before, Kornfeld gathered his left over cardboard from the Boat Regatta to form the word ‘Prom?’. He bordered it with Christmas lights, and in-vited her over that night. Rush-Jones said, “It was one of the nicest things a guy has ever done for me.” Rush-Jones stands in awe in front of her prom proposal.

Sarkis(left) and Rable(right) pose for a pre-prom picture. Photo taken by Juan Amador.

Photo courtesy of Amber Rush Jones

Class couple take pictures at Lakewood Park before prom.

Art by Casey Miller

Not knowing how to ask his girlfriend, Madeline O’Donnell, senior Alex Carr sought help from a friend. Carr took her to Menchies even though she was hesitant to go. Before picking up O’Donnell, “I went to Menchies and told the worker at the counter that I was going to write ‘Prom?’ in the bottom of the cup,” said Carr. The worker was glad to help. Once they arrived the worker behind the counter gave O’Donnel the cup. “I was very surprised and excited and a little confused all at the same time. It was the perfect way to end my night,” said O’Donnell.

How others were asked:

• Senior Adam Morris asked his girlfriend, Danille Burton, through a fortune cookie.

• Senior Jay Andreani asked Hannah Piter with a homemade beaded brace-let that spelled out ‘Prom’.

A neighborhood shop....full of world treasures!

15106 Detroit AvenueLakewood,OH

Stock up on summer clothing!


For teenagers everywhere Prom is a right of passage. Students work hard for four years studying their brains out, and at the end of the high school road is that coveted night. 1. Prom 2012 was held at the Science Cen-ter where students could “play” with differ-ent scientific activities. 2. Students could make long lasting shadows in the shadow wall. 3. Senior Dan Morris and junior Kaitlin Verhun posed for a picture with the lake in full view on the Science Centers balcony.

A night to remember

1 2

3 4

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4. Students danced the night away, as seen here doing the “stanky leg.” 5. Stu-dents gathered at Lakewood Park for a photo-op before Prom. 6. The “Rangers of the Caribbean” sign hung outside of LHS guiding students to the after-prom voyage ahead. 7. Senior Diana Hanson and fresh-man Devin Chodzin play Just Dance out-side of the game truck. 8. Students raced through the blowup obstacle course and ended with a rug-burned winner. 9. As well

as the obstacle course and slide, students also got to play in a bouncy house, show-ing that you are never to old to have fun. 10. In lines lasting all night students after student received an air brushed tattoo. 11. If students weren’t in the bouncy house or getting a tattoo they were most likely hang-ing out in the game truck playing some of the most popular video games with their friend cheering them on.

All photos taken by Julia Houska

By Julia Houska


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A word from the wise graduates advice to the underclassman

“ Never look back, always look fore-word, you can’t change the past, but you have control of today and the fu-ture by what you do today. Always use all of the resources that are available to you. Do your best and stay focused. “ Carol Snyder, Mom of the L-Room

“ Don’t wait until last minute to apply to col-leges and send tran-scripts because you will regret it.” – Ryan Jones

“Don’t try to be cool, just be yourself.” Ursula McVey

“ Take care of your grades.” Sie Doe (Junior)

“Don’t be afraid of being yourself and always take every oppor-tunity you get.” Nora Cromer

“Don’t judge anyone, and don’t let anyone judge you. Be your own person, and try not to care what people think of you. Don’t stress out about the little things, it’s just high school. Everything with exception of your grades won’t matter in 10 years. “ Maddy Kane

“ It doesn’t matter what you actually learn, as long as you get good grades.” Matt Dineen

“Grades don’t matter as much as heart does. Put your heart into everything you do, you’ll never go wrong.” Karen Ballash, Teacher

“ Make every day count, have fun, and don’t take everything quite so seriously.” Cindy Karger, Teacher

“ Leave school every chance you get, just don’t get caught.” Sarah Beurmann

“ Make sure you get involved in any sort of club or activity.” Ryanne Meng“ Don’t miss the incredible opportunities at Lakewood High School; in the classroom and outside the classroom.” Jane Blackie, Teach-er

“ Show up everyday on time. Be prepared, have your writing uten-sils, paper, texts books. Pay attention to your teachers. Do your homework, and from then on you can get through high school. Go to college, get a career, and make lots of money.” Peter Mayeux , Teacher

“ Don’t Procrasti-

nate.” Odell Brown

“ Don’t underestimate college because it’s actually a lot more seri-ous then you think it is.” Matt Gibson

“ When you get to high school it seems like fun and games, and then you get to your senior year and you can’t get into the college you wanted too. Do your work before you have fun.” Mandisa Miles


Technology is reaching new limits, with laptops decreasing in size and increasing in power it’s become easier to run large pro-grams, more specifically music programs and a new lakewood electronic musician Rob Moore has taken the opportunity. Rob Moore is a junior at Lakewood, and can be referred to by is stage name “Robem”. He has released two albums, “Graphing the Universe” which can be found on bandcamp.com and more recent-ly his mix tape “Deep Sea Chillin’”. Starting at the beginning of the school year, Moore, has been experimenting on a program called Ableton Live, working with a technique called sampling. Sampling is exactly what it sounds like, taking sounds from various things such as a movie or a song and chopping them up and/or effect-ing them to create a new sound. Examples of this can be found in various artists such as Gold Panda, Flying Lotus, or Pogo, each of which make a heavy influence on Moore. Moore also takes a lot of influence from his fellow peers, creating music on a lap-top isn’t as new as it sounds since other students have been using the similar pro-grams to create their own music. Bram Myers (Senior), Kevin Mcntee(senior), and Andrew Trnkus (Senior) for example are all very close friends to Robem. They all have their own personal style but their influences are all very similar.

RobemDeep Sea Chillin’

Debuts

By Khalil Cormier

A word from the wise


Many bands come and go when people are in high school. Some try to start, but end up quitting before they get anywhere. Others become a band, but have a fruitless argument about a minor thing and break-up. Few write a couple songs, and don’t become popular or not as popular as they should be. But Lakewood has a band that can tran-scend different levels of genre and can change how people listen to music. This band is called Only Time Will Tell. Only Time Will Tell started in 2009.They are a progressive metal band. The mem-bers of Only Time Will Tell are Harley Bish-op on drums, Jordan Hricko is the lead singer, Shawn Elkins on guitar, Joel Sedlak on keys, sampling and synthesizer, and AJ Dudley on bass. It might be strange for a keyboard to be in a metal band, but Only Time Will Tell isn’t a metal band. “North American metal bands don’t use keyboards, we wanted to branch out and be a little more progressive and a little more me-lodic. But also to have a little more brutal, darker sound as well.” Bishop said, “We enjoy

the samplings and put them together and make a beautiful story that’s gets you ex-cited.” “Having six different members of the band, you get different tastes of music, that’s why we have such a different sound. With the synthesizer, we just wanted to sound like there is an orchestra behind us when we play.” They don’t consider themselves a metal band, even though they do play a lot of metal. Playing heavy metal music is only a crowd pleaser, just one part of their music. Bishop gets bored with this kind of music, but, Shawn and Jordan love it. “It’s not his band and it’s not their band, it’s our band. We play some of their songs, and they play some of ours. It’s kind of like a democracy.”

By Dylan Dombroski

OnlyTimeWillTELL

But according to Bishop, with a laugh, it’s more like a “dictatorship and Communism, but that’s the way I like to live.” According to Bishop, their audience gets really crazy when they play. Their first show as a band was the Cleveland Music Fes-tival on December 10th last year. “There were stage dives and giant circle pits and 9 people jumped off the stage.” Bishop said. A gig they played in the Bella Duby Cof-fee Shop, which is the size of a small attic, inspired one song, “Circle Pit in a Coffee Shop”. It was described as over seventy people standing in a small coffee shop and they were moshing in a small circle that crowded the entire place. All of Only Time Will Tell’s songs came from different mem-ories the band has had.

The reason for the name Only Time Will Tell came from different band names. “We thought of different band names throughout the months and thought ‘This is the best name ever, we love it, and this is great!’ and then we’re like ‘This is stupid, we hate it, and we are go-ing to look like a bunch of pansies and not the flow-ers but actual pansies. But one day, we looked at each other and said we have been saying our band names for months and haven’t realized it.” Bishop said. “Only Time Will Tell is ba-sically our mantra: Will we get famous, will we figure

Photo courtesy of Only time will tell.


out a band name? At first, I didn’t like the name. It made us sound like a pop punk band. We checked Google, MySpace, and Facebook to check if the name had been taken yet. But on MySpace, a band in Nor-way was already using the name. We then got the name trademarked so that they wouldn’t sue us. But now, I love the name. It’s like the perfect name for us. It goes to every aspect of our lives. Will I still be living in a one-room apartment and staring at the walls all day? Only time will tell.” Bishop has been playing drums for 10 years, but he has been playing seriously for the last 2 years. The bands that inspired him to play were August Burn Red and Pro-test The Hero. “I started playing drums when I was 8 years old after I moved to Ohio from Rhode Island. My stepfather gave me a Beatles-looking drum set and I beat that thing down. I played it all the time and I thought I was the dopiest kid alive. I played it until I got my first amateur drum set. I first loved it for a long time. I wish I had gotten more serious earlier. I taught myself to play the drums.” Bishop then said, “ I then realized that I got better at the drums and bought my first professional set. They are my baby and I have been playing them ever since.” Shawn Elkins has been playing guitar since the fifth grade. He got his lessons from the Paul Green School of Rock, a place where you can learn how to play any rock instrument and be amazingly talented at it. The rule is: “If you write it, you play it.” Elkins has been in Only Time Will Tell for 8 months. Elkins was the one that wrote “Circle Pit in a Coffee Shop” originally as a joke. Jordan Hricko didn’t start out as a singer. He first was the drum technician and the guitar technician. He helped tune guitars and set up the drums. He also helped Bishop with making drum beats for different songs. At his first practice, after firing their first lead singer, Hricko wrote on of their most popular songs that they play “King’s Grave” he finished it in a day. “Hricko pro-gressed fast, he has a lot of lyrics to write for our future songs.” Said Elkins. AJ Dudley has been playing bass for at least 6 years. “At first he wasn’t alright at playing, but he has learned a lot ever since he joined our band.” Said Bishop. Joe Sedlak has been playing keyboards for twelve-thirteen years, and he has the most experience musically out of the entire band. Over the course of Only Time Will Tell’s existence, they have a gathered a follow-

ing of fans. The reason behind this is not only because of their music, but the busi-ness aspect of the music. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, there’s more to music than just playing it. “If you break it down, a band is like a busi-ness. How is the band getting to each gig? Where is the money coming from? How are they marketing their band? It’s not a hobby; it’s actually a bunch of dudes making a little money doing what they love to get to the next venue. Until you get big and then you start making more money.” Bishop said. The most surprising thing about the band’s fans is they really want t-shirts. “That’s how the bands starts making mon-ey.” Elkins said. Fortunately, he said that t-shirts would be out soon. Only Time Will Tell has became very pop-ular since they first started. “ Random peo-ple in Guitar Center come up to me and ask if I’m in Only Time Will Tell and I say yes and they say that they saw me in concert and say that we are really good” Bishop said.

Junior Dan Treichel is also part of the band as a kind of promoter of the band. He takes pictures and videos of the shows and promotes the band on Facebook. “I also answer a lot of questions on Face-book because these guys are busy,” he said, “Working with OTWT is nice because they are cool but it’s a drawn out process to make videos. I probably spent 5 hours to make the videos to look professional.” Since there aren’t any roadies or enough people helping out with the equipment, dedicated fans would help out. “Only Time Will Tell isn’t just metal,”

Treichel said, “they are a combination of genres like progressive, post-hard core,

metal hardcore, rock, and pop punk. It’s pretty much a bit of everything.” “At concerts, people always assume that they will be bad because they are a bunch of high schoolers. But then after the show, people say we should be the ones headlin-ing this show.” Said Tricheal. Only Time Will Tell’s demo is already out and it is 3 dollars per copy. The songs on the demo are “Realize” and “King’s Grave”. The EP will be out by the end of this year or sooner. OTWT has a Facebook page that you can like to receive information about upcoming shows, news on the EP, and vid-eos. “I think people should listen to us is that we are one of the best local bands within the Lakewood/Cleveland area and we have the possibility of going big.” Elkins said, “There are masters in this band and we have been playing our instruments for more than half a decade each. We spend hours and hours on songs. “King’s Grave” took us 3 years to master because we weren’t satisfied with the sound. “ Bishop said, “The only advice I can give to people is to never give up. There are a lot of people who want to be famous and make a band, and then a month later the band breaks up. Like I said, just never give up.”

Photo courtesy of Dylan Dombroski


People express themselves through clothes and it gives them a sense of free-dom. There are a variety of ways people dress themselves ranging from a soft flowing dress to an edgy leather jacket. Depending on the person, they might ex-press themselves through a certain fash-ion viewpoint consistently, or they may decide to sporadically choose different styles. Once everyone determines their own personal style, it makes the world of fashion exhilarating.Channeling your style can be a difficult journey, but once you find it, it helps define yourself as an individual. There are several different viewpoints of fashion that almost every girl encounters. You can be girly, edgy, bohemian, preppy, or indie. Or, you can branch out and add your own person-al twist and combinations. It all depends on how you view fashion and what suits your personality.

By Emma Brady

Girly

Boho

for every fashionspassion

Arbela Capas

Chania Cole

Photos taken by Emma Brady

To look bohemian, you need to look ef-fortless. The boho girl is a free spirit and looks carefree. You need to have an earthy feel for fashion and play with soft patterns. This style is all about soft flo-ral, fringe, flowing silhouettes, soft knits, beads, and earthy colors. Your goal is to look soft, pretty and playful while still looking fashionable. Finding floral dress-es from thrift stores and other key pieces always add to unique looks. You need to be creative and embrace nature. A style icon is Vanessa Hudgens, according to Seventeen Magazine she says, “I’m so into the hippie bohemian thing. I love long flowy skirts. I love tousled hair. I love earth tones”. Bohemian styles can be found at Pacsun, Hollister, Roxy, Lucky Brand, Anthropologie, Free People, and Lion and Blue. Key pieces to add to your wardrobe are a free-floating dress, flow-ing top, messenger bag, military jacket, destroyed denim, gladiator sandals, maxi dresses and skirts, moccasin flats, fringe, and beaded jewelry.

Girly style is the perfect blend of sweet and sophisticated. Your goal is to look pretty without looking perfect. Girly style is all about playing with soft patterns, ruffles, cute silhouettes and lace. A trick to looking girly is to never look too put together, so al-ways mix in vintage finds and pops of color. Betsey Johnson is the ultimate girly design-er. She mixes sequins, bright colors, crazy patterns and over the top ideas into her designs. According to an interview with Ny-lon Magazine, Betsey Johnson explained, “I have taken the American girl from bat mitzvah to prom to being a bridesmaid. I definitely dress the American girl when it comes to a special occasion…. It’s more the girl who wants something that’s going to get her attention or make her feel good”. Aside from Betsey Johnson, other stores a typical girly girl would shop are Lulu’s, Nor-dstrom, Express, Forever 21, Delia’s and Victoria’s Secret Pink. Some essential key pieces you may need to look for are ballet flats, a floral dress, a ruffled top, boot cut jeans, cropped cardigans, an A-line skirt, layered necklaces, peep toe heels, and pops of color.


Hipster fashion isn’t about embracing trends, but starting your own. They take inspiration from all the previous de-cades to create one crazy fashionable decade today. To achieve this look, take crazy risks and keep people guessing. Shop at stores like etsy.com, Modcloth, Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, and thrift stores. While shopping, add pieces like high-waisted jeans, oxford shoes, shorts, crewnecks, long car-digans, plaid shirt, retro dress, pixie boots, and any interesting thrift store finds. Hipster’s wardrobes varies, but incorporate your fashion finds and wear things you would want to wear without caring what others may think.

Edgy Hipster

Preppy

Nina Pizzo

Patrick McNeely

Joy Herzberger

Check out Emma’s fashion blog for more!

An edgy girl rocks toughness with a feminine flair. Edgy style is all about finding your inner rock star. Your goal is to look edgy, but add feminine touches to still maintain beauty. Edgy style con-sist of ripped jeans, old-school T-shirts, roughed up boots, leather jackets, crazy patterns, and dark colors. It’s all about adding life to your clothing and turning up the volume. You can’t be afraid to try new looks and go a little crazy. Stores you may need to shop at are Topshop, Dr. Martens, H+M, Diesel, Hot Topic and alloy.com. Essential key pieces to look for are destroyed skinny jeans, tu-nic tops, leather bomber jacket, vintage band t-shirts, black mini skirt, denim cutoffs and combat or motorcycle boots. Intensify your style and incorporate loud prints, metallic colors and studs into ev-ery look.

For a more classic look, you may want to lean more towards a preppy style. It’s more of a look of crisp and clean taste. While still adding a fashionable flair, clas-sic girls stick to simple silhouettes and playful elements. It’s a look that never goes out of style. A look back in time, during the 1950’s, girls dressed in clean cut shapes. Classic-girls wore structured sweaters and pleated or flouncy skirts. An inspiration would be a school girl, plaid skirts, knee highs and all. Your goal is to look simple and polished, while still incor-porating exciting pieces into your look. Stores you may think to look are Ameri-can Eagle Outfitters, Bass, Rugby Ralph Lauren, Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, Levi’s and Target. Essential items to look for are a collared button down, riding boots, striped blazer, that little black dress, boot cut jeans, an A-line skirt, quilted purse, boat shoes, oxfords, and plaid!

34 The Lakewood Timessports

By Brandon Reid

Lakewood sports are having a big change this 2012-2013 year. All sports teams are leaving the NOC conference to join the new West Shore conference. The West Shore conference is b e -lieved to be an easier conference, compared to the NOC greats like Solon, Strongsville, Mentor and Hudson. The new West Shore consists of a total of seven teams. Lake-wood, Bay Village, Rocky River and Avon are some of the notable teams in the conference. For the 2012-13 year Vermillion

Injuries are a part of every sport. Hav-ing an injury and not being able to play for majority or even the rest of the season. Is it worth it? “I tore my ACL during a rugby tourna-ment called the Turkey Bowl. It was during a second game, but it was my official first game because the first game, I was a sub-stitute,” junior Nicolina Thompson said. “It was the end of the first half and I was running and going for a tri. I juked around one girl, and then juked around another and one of the girls caught up to me and tackled me really hard, I felt my knee pop out of place in the back.” “At that point, I couldn’t get up, so I had to do the worm off of the field. I couldn’t move my knee at all. When I went to see the trainers, they didn’t know what was wrong. My teammates said they saw my kneecap move.” Thompson’s leg went sideways and it wasn’t suppose to. A few minutes later, she tried to walk, but couldn’t. “My mom said she thought I tore my ACL because she did the same thing. We ended up going to the doctor and he did an MRI and a few weeks later, we got the results back that I did tear my ACL.”

The doctor told Thompson the earliest she can recover is in six months. “I can’t wear tight pants. I just wear shorts and sweats so that there is no pressure on my knee.” “At first, I couldn’t walk and I had to walk with crutches, especially in school. Currently I am not fully recovered.” Thomp-son said. For senior Chris Kerney the injury wasn’t worth it. “When I played fresh-man football I broke my col-lar bone in the last minute of the last game. It wasn’t worth it. When I went to the trainer in Elyria, they told me that it actually wasn’t bro-ken, so I didn’t go to the hospital. I enjoyed everything up until my injury. It was a great experience.” Kerney said.

Senior wrestler, Matthew Dineen has also experienced sports injuries. “I got my neck rolled in wrestling and I couldn’t move my back for one week. Then, in a tourna-ment, I threw out my back because I tried to lift a heavy kid and I couldn’t walk. I felt really bad after I got my injuries.” Dineen said. Track has it’s share of injuries too,“I pulled my hamstring on April 7th and again

on may 4th, 2012, running in the 100 meter dash. I finished running, but then I grabbed my leg, looked at my coach and began crying because I knew my season was over. I didn’t re-gret running that race; it’s my best one. I’m not sure why I pulled my

hamstring, but I wish I didn’t. I felt angry, hurt. Basically any negative emotion.” se-nior Kyra Nall said.

will be leaving the West Shore Conference for Lakewood to come in. There are

also a lot of changes b e i n g

made to the NOC, such as Nordonia leaving to

join the Suburban league and Shaker Heights joining the new NOC. Lakewood has been in the NOC since

New beginning for sports

When passion is painBrandy Davis

its creation in 2008, with the Pioneer and Western Reserve conferences join-ing together, along with Garfield

Heights and Lakewood joining from the Lake Erie league. Ath-

letic director Bob Thayer said “Lakewood is going to do well this

year in the new conference with the improvement of our football team year after year”. The new conference is going to con-sist of teams from division 1 and 2.

Seniors Chris Kerney and Matt Dineen

35May/June 2012 sports

Boys rugby goes to States States. Yes, you did read that right. For the first time in school history the boy’s rugby team has qualified for the Ohio Rugby state tournament. They will be entering the division 2 state tournament as the #3 seed after finishing the regular season 4-2-1. There are over 100 teams in the state of Ohio. Leading the way for the rug-gers is none other than senior captain and scum-half Steven-Foster with over 10 tries this seasons. Seniors Adam Feck-ley and William Abdelsalem are at the top of the stats with the most tackles on the team. The other captains are senior Jacob Mobley and junior John Kilbane. The Rangers are guaranteed 2 games at states. They start off playing #6 seeded Midpark in the first round. If they lose their first two games, they will be au-tomatically eliminated. “You can’t take anyone lightly, but we can definitely place in the top 3, maybe even a chance to win it all.” Foster said when asked about his thoughts on the tournament. “We will prob-ably see undefeated Avon in the finals.” The new coach Matt Nusbuam (LHS alum) has the boys prac-ticing 3 days a week for 2 hours as they prepare for states. “The

By Jonathan CropperPhotos by Jonathan Cropper

Above Adam Feckley

Above Tony Goddard and Steven Foster argue a call

Sophomore Jesse Williams kicks after a try

The boys in a scrum

Players huddle up after the referee makes a call

more you sweat in prac-tice, the less you bleed on the field.” Foster said. Also, defense has be-come a staple for winning for the boys. Especially after a poor showing last season losing over half of their games. The de-fense has helped to earn their status as the second ranked defense in their di-vision according to Rugby Ohio.

New beginning for sports

36 The Lakewood Times

Final Word As this year’s final Times issue I think, kicking senior year to the curb, is a good focus. As everything starts winding down and students are preparing for summer the senior class is preparing to enter a new world. They have spent the past four years preparing for the day that they enter the adult world and become independent. But what if after only three years you are entering that world? Is that last year really important? In this issue the staff tried to gain a deep-er understanding of how the world would work without a senior year. What would happen to sports? Prom? Westshore? Being a senior myself, I experience first hand how important senior year is. Senior year is a rite of passage in our culture. When I was a freshman I dreamed of the day I could call myself a senior. This is the year where we begin to find ourselves but

still don’t have all the pressures of the adult world. Without senior year, we will practi-cally be pushed into college. As it is, high school doesn’t fully prepare us for college, so with only three years under our belt we have a greater chance of sinking. At the same time, senior year also has down sides. Many students maneuver through the year with a light schedule and can potentially do little or nothing for a year. Many students don’t realize that college is not as easy and friendly as high school. A lot of times, there isn’t extra credit, and if you don’t study you will struggle. Senioritis came to me at an early age. By sophomore year I was absolutely done with high school. I hated everything about it, and the thought of having to wake up and go to school sickened me. Bad combina-tions of stress, exhaustion, and homework made high school unbearable.

By Julia Houska

In my junior year I decided to take the post secondary option. Being in college classes, I was able to see just how easy I had it sophomore and junior year. In my mind those two years were pure hell. But when I started class at Cleveland State I learned that those two years were really a piece of cake in some ways. Life is different when you don’t have a teacher babying you and making sure you do your work. In college they let you fall to the ground. Pretty early on in your college career you will decide if you are cut out for what you plan. Senior year is absolutely necessary. It’s the stop at the top of the Ferris wheel where you take a breath before the rest of the ride. Without a solid grounding senior year, things can spiral quickly out of con-trol.

Photo from www.michelle-huxtable.com

May 2012

Documents

ill miss

year julia houska

year juan amador

year brandy davis

year jon cropper

new senior year

year becca houp

year tori chesmar