december 9
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CorrespondentTRANSCRIPT
J o h n H e r s e y H i g h S c h o o l
orrespondentD e c e m b e r 9 , 2 0 1 1
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Michelle ChesterAshley Hawkins
English teacher Kathy Christenson was a fiery spirit; compassionate, loving, and in-spiring to many. Last May, she was diagnosed with lung cancer, and lost her battle on Nov. 10.
This has been hard for both students and faculty alike. Christenson’s bright personal-ity really captured her students, which made them more willing to learn.
“She really focused on the love and gain of knowledge rather than getting the grade. She really connected with each student and wanted them to succeed,” senior Brad Grochon-chinski said.
The English department is in the process of creating a me-morial in Christenson’s honor. A fund received donations from students, teachers, and friends. Last week, the department de-cided on creating a reading gar-den. The request to place the garden on Hersey property has been put through to the district administration.
“The reading garden would consist of a stone bench or a picnic table. It’d be an area where kids could read, talk, take outside classes, and enjoy na-ture,” English division head Dr. Charles Venegoni said. “We’re looking for something that stu-dents and faculty could use for years to come.”
To Christenson, learning and nature went hand in hand. She enjoyed reading, and would occasionally take her classes outside to change the learning environment. As a sponsor of the ski and snowboard club and an avid boater, her love of na-ture is apparent.
“[The reading garden] is probably the best idea to me-morialize because she hated to be indoors. She thought the best way we could learn was being outside,” senior Samantha Pres-to said.
“She was so much the whole thing, the complete pic-ture,” Venegoni said. “That’s a rare, rare person that combines those qualities. We want to keep those alive.”
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English department hopes for Christenson garden
TO: The Needy
FROM: Hersey Family
What groups have you donated to?
A. Invisible Children 16%B. Toy Drive 25%C. Food Drive 45%
D. None 14%
Dan Mika
The Student Assistance Program puts on a pre-sentation on teenage mental health annually. However, this year’s presentation had the cloud of three Hersey students’ deaths hanging over it. Titled “Teen Depres-sion: Prevention and Intervention,” the presentation was given on Nov. 30 with a goal to educate parents and ultimately reduce the amount of untreated cases of poor mental health in the community.
Although this year’s presentation was supposed to have more teenage involvement, students were dif-ficult to come by. Many students were unaware of the presentation entirely.
“I didn’t hear about it,” sophomore Tyndale Dhan-weih said.
However, many students displayed interest in at-tending. “If I knew about it, yeah, I would’ve gone” sopho-more Daniel Niersbach said.
“I think I would go just to learn something new,” Dhan-weih said.
During the presentation, the Alexian Brothers Teen Advisory Board, comprised of four students that suffered through or are suffering from mental illness, described their experiences and of-fered advice to the parents and students in attendance. Due to their minor status, everyone on the board’s last names were withheld.
They discussed pressure from their community, family and themselves. “A lot of it came from me try-ing to find my identity,” board member Dan said. “I was trying to figure out where I fit in.”
They gave advice to both parents and students on how to cope with their feelings. “Talking to someone you trust, anyone in your life helps a lot,” board mem-ber Cassie said.
“If one of your friends tells you what they’re feel-
ing, tell someone else about it,” board member Kath-leen said. “A mad friend is better than a dead friend.”
The board members also spoke about what irri-tated them during their times of need.
“Definitely ‘why’ questions. It makes me feel like I’m at fault,” board member Rachel said.
“Please don’t say ‘I know how you feel’ if you truly have not experienced this, because it’s totally different for everyone,” Cassie said.
After the panel finished stating their points of view, the floor opened up to the audience for ques-tions. The dominant question of the night was on the issue of student confidentiality: should counselors re-port their meetings with students to their parents even if the student asks them not to?
Many of those present sided with the parent’s right to know. “The parent should go as far as neces-
sary to protect the child,” Lynn, a concerned parent, said. “I think there’s parents out there who put too much responsibility on the school. Parents need to step up to the plate and make sure they [their children] know that we’re there.”
“My daughter is suffering from depression. I was upset with the counselor’s decisions
here. They weren’t trying to contact us about the meet-ings. They didn’t want to break confidentiality,” Daniel, another concerned parent, said.
However, a case was also made for confidentiality. “The parents shouldn’t know about the meetings
unless they’re about to commit suicide or hurt some-one else,” junior Zach Sarbekian said.
“If my parents were pushy, it made me put up a bigger brick wall against them,” Dan said
“Unless they’re being harmed, the counselors should keep it to themselves,” junior Megan Fish said. “Most parents don’t know what it feels like. Sometimes we can’t describe it ourselves.”
• Continued on page 2
Page
3
Abel receives Milken award
Mental health panels offer advice
Please don’t say ‘I know how you feel’ if you truly have not
experienced this, because it’s totally
different for everyone, -board member
Cassie said.
“ “
Student attendance low, interest high
TOY DRIVE
FOOD DRIVE
BOOK DRIVE
40,000 45,0002010
38,000$2,500+
2009
$5,600+
20112009
GIFT GIVING
2,590BOOKS
ANDCOUNTING
DONATE TO INVISIBLE CHILDREN
for stories andpictures go to CORRESPONDENTLIVEunder quicklinks
•CARLOS ANDINA
News December 9, 2011The Correspondent2nas part of an effective
strategy for keeping the invasive fish at bay while
long-term biological con-trols are developed. de
News You
Need To
Evanston’s city council voted to decriminalize mari-juana last Monday, a move that will replace jail time with fines for the possession of ten grams of pot or less. Recently dis-cussed in school, the news has stirred mixed feelings among the student body.
“Other than for medical uses, I really see no reason for legalizing it,” senior Ang Char-czuk said.
While full legalization may not be on the list of priori-ties for students, decriminal-ization has its supporters as a logical step.
“[Decriminalization] is more rational than six months jail time, and they will most likely make a lot of money busting people for it,” senior Eric Lebolt said.
Decriminalization of the drug has become a growing trend, with Skokie recently de-criminalizing small amounts of pot and similar policies being discussed in Chicago.
•Carlos Andina
Kevin HydeBecky Pauwels
After assistant principal for student services Rich Golminas abruptly resigned on Nov. 23, the administration has been struggling to find a suitable replacement.
Though Golminas resigned for personal reasons, members of the administration and staff wish him well. “We respect him and we’re sorry his situation caused him to resign,” principal Dr. Tina Cantrell said.
“Whatever happened, I wish him the best,” special education teacher Margaret Tobias said.
Despite the resignation, the school is in need of a new assis-tant principal for student services (APSS) immediately. For the time being, a temporary replacement will be offered a position at the beginning of January. The replace-ment will stay in the position for the rest of the school year.
“We are most likely going to get a retired administrator to fill the position. That way he or she will be able to transition out, and we will be able to have our permanent re-placement for next year,” Cantrell said.
As mentioned, a temporary re-placement, different from the per-manent replacement, will be given the position so that he or she will be here for the rest of the school year.
“For next year, starting July 1, we will be hiring a full-time re-placement,” Cantrell said. “The re-placement will need to be special-ed certified, as well as someone
whose philosophies are consistent with ours.”
Although both faculty and stu-dents are confident that the new sit-uation will go over well, one hard-ship of Golminas’ departure is the responsibilities left in the adminis-trations’ hands.
“Mr. Golminas was in charge of organizing graduation this year, the eighth grade orientation, and su-pervising certain events,” Cantrell said. “We won’t let that get in the way of anything, though. Mr. Kiol-bassa and I will be able to supervise events, and the permanent replace-ment will most likely be able to take over the other responsibilities.”
Whoever the replacement may be, he will be in charge of various duties throughout the building. As part of the APSS position, the re-
placement will be expected to lead the efforts of the special educa-tion departments, special services, school psychologists, and nurses.
These divisions have ex-pectations of the replacement as well.“We need someone creative and who has ideas to meet the in-dividual needs of kids,” Tobias said. “It should be about what the kids need, not about money.”
Another potential duty of the replacement will be to do teacher evaluations. “Finding someone who is qualified in all these areas might be difficult,” Cantrell said.
Faculty and the administra-tion are not the only people that have opinions on the departure of Golminas. Some students feel con-fused and uninformed on the cur-rent situation.
“I didn’t find out about Gol-minas leaving until really recently. I mean, I guess it’s not really any of our business, but it seems real-ly sudden and I just want to make sure that everything is under con-trol, which I’m sure it is,” junior Jenna Callahan said.
As for the issue regarding re-placement of the APSS, students agree that the replacement should serve the students.
“As long as he or she works well with students and the certain sections of the school that he or she needs to, I’m fine with it. I guess the assistant principal isn’t the person that kids always see the most, so as long as they do their job right, things should be good,” junior Car-ly Bell said.
New staff position opens after assistant principal’s resignation
• Continued from page 1
The presentation also featured keynote speaker Dr. Jo Wolthu-sen, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist practicing in Arlington Heights. Wolthusen’s speech focused pri-marily on what depression is and how to spot it.
She discussed what separates depression from the everyday mood swings of an adolescent. Ac-cording to Wolthusen, some ma-jor warning signs are sensitivity to criticism along with sleep and ap-petite disturbance.
Wolthusen then gave way to resident social worker Jeff Bondora and school psychologist Meghan Muldoon. They spoke about the school’s system to serve those in need, whether it be academically, socially, or emotionally.
Hersey’s crisis response system works by assigning a POD team to a struggling student. A social worker, dean, and sometimes even a nurse will team up and develop a plan for the student.
If the POD system isn’t effec-tive, the group then becomes an In-
tervention Assistance Team, which brings an administrator and the Head for Special Education into the mix.
“It’s like if your ankle is sprained. The doctor ices it, and if it still hurts after a while, he sends you to Physical Therapy. He doesn’t directly send you to a more intense program if you don’t need it,” Bon-dora said.
After Bondora and Muldoon’s presentation, the stage was given to counselor Allie Evans and so-cial work intern Parisaw Fayezi. Evans came from Alexian Brothers Health System to discuss the hos-pital’s role in District 214’s mental health program.
The hospital was recently given a grant allowing them to give stu-dents and their families to a wide array of programs such as individu-al and group therapy to specialized programs for self injury and school phobia at free or reduced cost.
Evans also encouraged parents to look at their private insurance policies in case they had some men-tal treatments covered. “It doesn’t hurt to give a call,” Evans said.
The students who were in at-tendance did have some feedback for the presenters. “It was more of an informational thing; an insider’s look in,” senior Roberto Serna said.
“I’ve been through depression and have been hospitalized before, so I knew all of this already. Most of this was for the parents,” Fish said. “I wished they focused more on how it feels to be depressed.”
Students also had ideas on how the presentation should have been advertised. “HTV should’ve shown something about it,” junior Tess Campbell said. “Everyone would’ve gone then.”
After the presentation was over, the student board was asked what they would say if they could speak to the entire student body.
“Just talk to someone. Don’t be afraid to open up,” Cassie said.
“Be nice to everyone, you don’t know what they’re [other people] are going through,” Kathleen said.
“Make sure you guys don’t change who you are and can be honest with yourself,” Dan said.
“It gets better,” Rachel said.
Students miss out on information delivered by speakers
Assistant principal for student services Rich Golminas resigned
on Nov. 23 for personal reasons. The school is now in need of a replace-ment.
Decriminalization consumes local towns
State requests encore for ‘Little Women’
“Little Women” will be performing at the Illinois High School Theater Festival (IH-STF) on Jan. 5 through 7. An encore performance will be held on Jan. 4 in the theater at 7 p.m.
“This cast has dedicated a Herculean amount of time and energy to this production,” se-nior Grace Petit said.
The IHSTF sends review-ers to each performance who meet Nov. 25 to choose which production will perform at the festival.
“For them to have the op-portunity to perform for a state-wide audience is an experience they will never forget,” director Kyle Marquette said.
“This production was the perfect selection for Theater Fes-tival because the theme at this year’s Fest is ‘The Art of Con-nection.’ Our show is all about connections - whether between family members or friends; it depicts the importance of con-necting with people,” Petit said.
•Jessica Lynk
•COURTESY OF THE CAST OF LITTLE WOMEN
•COURTESY OF THE ENdEAvOR
Saint Augustine’s thanks food drive“Endlessly generous, sacrificing, hard-working, delightful, exuberant: you are the epitome of human beings consumed by love for others.” - Father Peter J. Powell of Saint Augustine’s Center for American Indians Inc.
Food drive story, photos, and the rest of this thank you letter at correspondentlive.org
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NewsDecember 9, 2011 The Correspondent 3
est. 1977
Scott BakalGarret Matchen
Despite disappointment of not receiving iPads, students were pleased to hear the news that social science teacher Bradley Abel had won the Milken Award.
The Milken Award recognizes outstanding teachers in the nation and awards them $25,000 for personal use. Abel was surprised when he was announced the winner of the award at an all-school assembly.
“Mr. Abel is definitely deserving of the award. He goes over homework when we need it and explains things in detail in a way freshman can understand,” freshman Jenifer Cheu said.
A human geography teacher, Abel is also the girls varsity soccer coach and has won awards in that too.
After the big announcement, Abel was
speechless. Lost for words, the surprised Abel thanked his colleagues and his hundreds of stu-dents.
“The award for me means more to the school as a whole, rather than an individual honor. It wasn’t an individual award, but rather a “school” award. There are so many mentors and colleagues that I have had throughout the years that have helped me to where I am today in my teaching career, “ Abel said.
With the prize on the mind of students, many wondered what he would use the money for. Although he has not yet received the mon-ey, Abel has began brainstorming ideas for the money.
“I plan on spending some of the money on myself, possibly to take a vacation to the Eu-ropean Soccer Championships in Poland and Ukraine next June and July. I’ll probably think more about what to do with money when it ar-
rives,” Abel said.Since the award, Abel has received count-
less congratulations.
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Mystery of the missing cleavage; pictures alter body imageCarlos Andina
When students received their school pic-tures this year, some were surprised to see they were missing something: their cleavage. Even in cases where visible cleavage would have been very little, alterations are still visible.
“They blurred out my top area to make me look flat like a man. It’s really irritating because I’m not,” sophomore Jiana Maestro said.
The alterations have surprised both stu-dents and faculty, and the reason for the air-brushing seems to be a mystery. Even the year-book staff was unaware of the changes.
“I was completely surprised that they did that,” yearbook adviser Panagiota Merris said.
The feelings of surprise were common among faculty, but student emotions have been
more unyielding.“That is not right for them to do that be-
cause that means they would have had to look through the pictures, look at girls’ cleavage, and then blur it out. That’s a violation of a girl’s pri-vacy of their body,” senior Kelsey Martin said.
“It’s kind of degrading that they would think to do that,” Maestro said.
Whether surprised or affronted, the feeling that this practice is out of the ordinary is defi-nitely mutual, especially since few people are aware of any policy that would authorize the practice.
“I’m surprised that they would do this with-out notifying anyone. That seems odd,” choir di-rector Sara Michael said.
Root Photography stated that they did not have a policy against cleavage showing and that
the school sets the dress code for the pictures.
Nobody at school seems to know who is re-sponsible for the alterations.
Social science teacher Bradley Abel stands with Michael Milken as he holds his $25,000 check.
Abel was presented the Milken Award on Nov. 9.
Abel congratulated for national award
Cleavage has been disappear-
ing from yearbook pictures. However, no one knows who is behind it.
•dAN MIKA
•CORRESPONdENT FILE PHOTO
Opinions
Editors-in-ChiefShea AnderluhAshley Hawkins
Kevin HydeBecky Pauwels
Editorial BoardAbby Fesl
Connor HargettJessica Lynk
Garret MatchenEmily Swanson
Managing EditorsClaudia CaplanLauren Kelley
News EditorsMelanie Cohodes
Erika MurilloMatt Stadnicki
In-Depth EditorsMegan Boyle
Nick DiazJulia Kedzior
Entertainment Editors
Michelle ChesterNatalie CzarnotaSusannah Sinard
Graphics EditorsCarlos Andina
Zack Killam
Sports EditorsBrian Loomis
Michael MillerDavid Milligan
Opinion EditorsAnthony Bellafiore
Dan MikaLuis Rueda
Feature EditorsMax Bestvina
Mackenzie Francis
Headline EditorScott Bakal
PhotographerMadeline Weber
AdviserJanet Levin
December 9, 2011The Correspondent4
is published 11 times a year by the journalism students of John Hersey High School, 1900 East Thomas Street, Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004. Subscription rate is $15 a year. Call for advertising rates. Phone (847) 718-4945. The Correspondent welcomes a free exchange of ideas. Letters
to the editor may be sent to [email protected]. Because school officials do not engage in prior review, and the content of The Correspondent is determined by, and reflects only the views of the student staff and not school officials or the school itself, its student editorial board and responsible student staff members as-sume complete legal and financial liability for the content of the publication. The Correspondent will not publish any material determined
by student editors or the student editorial board to be unprotected, that is, material that is libelous, obscene, materially disruptive to the educational process, an unwarranted invasion of privacy, a vio-lation of copyright or a promotion of products or services unlawful (illegal) as to minors as defined by state or federal law. All unsigned editorial area the opinion of The Correspondent
staff. Materials in this newspaper are the property of The Corre-spondent 2011-2012. The Correspondent is a member of numerous press associations. Some material courtesy of American Society of Newspaper Editors/KRT Campus High School Newspaper Service.Two thousand copies are made each issue to be distributed to stu-
dents during their second hour classes. Two hundred are printed and given to subscribing parents.
The Correspondent
Abby Fesl
Thanksgiving, Hanuk-kah, Christmas, and Kwanza are all holidays that take place in a short period of time. Al-though it would be rare to find one person celebrating all four of them, a certain spirit takes
over everyone during this time of year. After all, it is said to be the greatest time of the year.
Personally, I celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas. I absolutely love the holiday season. It’s not because of the presents or the time off of school, although I do love both. It’s simply be-cause of the genuine care that surrounds people.
Around Christmas, it is more likely for people to ask for donations, and give in return. Just last week, I was going to Mariano’s when I heard a man from the Salvation Army ringing a bell in the cold weather, asking for donations. Going with the Christmas spirit, I gave a couple dollars and wished him a merry Christmas. Any
other time of the year, I would’ve walked by and given a dollar or a simple smile.
Even churches are more willing to work for other people around the holiday season. The projects that are run during the holiday season are increased. Presents for the less fortunate are bought, collected, checked, and delivered.
Last year, I was lucky enough to be able to deliver the Christmas presents to children at a grade school in Chicago. The drive down made me a little nervous as I knew it was likely that the presents would be all the kids received this season. But let’s just say there was no disappoint-ment about that day. The kid’s faces lit up with astonishment when they saw a bunch of high school kids carrying big boxes down the hall.
I had never been so instantly loved. The kids ripped open their presents and for the next few hours wouldn’t set anything down except when they found another kid sharing his toy. I was given hugs of gratitude.
That day stuck with me for a long time. I think it’s because these kids were so excited to
have just one simple toy truck or coloring book that it made wanting anything more seem so greedy. I’m sure it must be hard for a ten year- old to not to see any presents under the tree when he’s hoping for that perfect toy gun.
But in actuality, this holiday season is about so much more than making a list of all the things that would be fun to open on Christmas Day or during Hanukkah. No, this holiday season is about giving and caring. It doesn’t just have to be this holiday season. Why don’t we make it next season and the season after?
Every week, the S.O.S. program has a new charity they’re helping. The Invisible Children foundation was collecting books in the hallways and t-shirts to benefit numerous causes are con-stantly being sold.
It’s almost as if when the lights go up, the spirit turns on. And when the lights come down, the genuine spirit, dissolves into thin air. But this year, I am making a challenge, to myself and to everyone: don’t let the “Christmas spirit” end when the lights come down.
Give the gift of kindness for 12 months, not 12 days
Rooney’s words resonate after his death
Dr. Tina Cantrell will be re-tiring at the end of the 2011-12 school year, and a new princi-pal is needed. The new principal needs to live up to certain quali-ties.
Wanted: someone approach-able who makes an effort to know students. The principal should be able to talk to students about how they’re doing and know what’s going on.
Wanted: someone strict, but not too strict. While a principal should be involved, she shouldn’t be best friends with the students. Principals are the ones who need to draw the lines, and we need a principal who knows where to draw them.
Wanted: someone fair and diplomatic. A principal has to be able to settle disputes between
students or teachers. Wanted: someone who won’t
shake things up too much. The school runs smoothly as is.
Wanted: someone who keeps emphasis on academics. The point of school is the learning
and while sports or extracurric-ulars are fun, they’re called ex-tra for a reason. This school has great standardized test scores, and there’s no reason to change that.
Wanted: someone who sup-ports journalism and fine arts. While academics should take first priority, there is more than just test scores. The band, choir, and newspaper are award-win-ning, and we have an amazing theater program that should be supported
Wanted: someone who de-fends freedom of speech. Dr. Cantrell does not engage in prior review of the school paper and lets it go to print without influ-encing what is published.
This is what the school wants- and the reward? An even more excellent high school.
Emily Swanson
Good old Andy Rooney passed away on Oct. 5. He left this world leaving Americans educated and uplifted.
Rooney delivered over one thousand documenta-ries while employed on “60 Minutes,” and was known for
closing the show by saying whatever was on his mind that week.
He covered topics from the War in Iraq, to dogs being nicer than humans. Rooney will be remembered for his character and knowledge that inspired Americans.
In my household for as long as I can re-member, my family has gathered around the television every Sunday night to watch “60 Min-utes.” I’ve always enjoyed the show, however, I would tune in just for Rooney.
I’ve always been interested in what Rooney had to say. To me, he was like a grandpa. Like grandpas do, he talked about what he liked, what bothered him, and was always convinced that everyone he was speaking to was listening attentively.
Rooney had the ideal journalist’s job: he got to say whatever he wanted to say without any consequences.
He could cleverly say, “an average dog is nicer than the average person,” and “I don’t like food that’s too carefully arranged; it makes me think that the chef is spending too much time arranging and not enough time cooking. If I wanted a picture I’d by a painting.” He was a down to earth great that I loved and cherished my entire childhood.
Billy Joel once wrote that “only the good die young.” Joel is mistaken. Many of the “good” die 92 years-old after a lifelong career of happiness shared with fellow Americans.
He lived his life and that was that, following one of his sayings: “death is a distant rumor.” I hope he inspired students at this school to put pride in their work because that’s what Rooney lived for. This school was named after an incred-ible author and journalist, so it’s fitting that we strive for greatness such as theirs.
No, Rooney was not a family friend, but once alerted with the news of his death, I couldn’t help but feel blue about it. Rooney im-pacted America from the beginning of his ca-reer. His words of wisdom are left gleaming and inspiring to all.
Wanted: ‘a new sheriff in town’OpinionIn Our
WANTED: A New Sheriff
SOMEONE WHO IS...-Approachable
-Fair-Academic
-ExperiencedReward: A better Hersey High School
Somethin’ toabouttalk
OpinionsJ U S T S AY I N ’
After almost eight years of American forces occu-pying Iraq, every single member of the U.S. military is supposed to come back home by New Year’s Eve this year. While this fiasco of a war is finally over, we cannot forget all the sacrifices the troops made for us in the name of security.
Soldiers are promised a better life after a stint in the military, but their situation often becomes dire when they discharge. The unemployment rate is three times higher for veterans than for civilians, partly be-cause their line of work doesn’t carry into the job mar-ket.
A study from 2010 revealed that over 75,000 vet-erans are living in shelters and countless others are in the streets.
The housing market also hurts the troops as lend-ing companies and bank can foreclose their homes and evict their families thanks to a loophole in the Service member’s Civil Relief Act.
It’s hard to even make payments as the average sal-ary of a soldier will drop up to $1,000 a month once off active duty. The most recent count of soldiers wound-ed in action is placed just above 32,000 with about 20 percent being brain or spinal injuries. But that figure doesn’t include the psychological trauma of war.
Men and women in uniform are living in a hot, hopeless and hostile environment; fighting what is no longer a war against terror but a rebuilding effort for the nation that we so utterly destroyed. It’s unfathom-able how soldiers in Afghanistan feels when they real-ize that the U.S. isn’t scheduled to pull out from that country until 2014.
It’s baffling when I hear elected politicians in the federal government state that pulling out of Iraq wouldn’t be supporting our troops while they come home disillusioned with the world around them. We like to think that our men and women in uniform are perfectly-oiled gears running in the unstoppable war machine that is America’s military, but they’re human like the civilians they are entrusted to protect.
We must make it a priority to give these soldiers a proper chance returning to life without roadside bombs, and the best way to do that is to try and prevent war in the first place.
As I was driving to work one day, John Lennon’s Christmas standard “Happy Xmas” started playing. The song’s lyrics beg for an end to war for everyone. It’s a shame that the human race still puts weapons in the hands of young men and women to fight wars that cause pain for everyone.
So let’s stop all the fights and try to have a merry holiday season together. War is over... but only if we want it to be.
• Dan Mika
Troops return looking for where the heart is
It’s practically a tradition by now in the sophomore class- when a student leaves his backpack unattended, one of his classmates proceeds to remove the con-tents and flip it inside out. “Nuggetting” is annoying and a rude thing to do. It wastes class time when the ‘nuggetee’ is fixing his backpack instead of taking notes, or if other students are watching instead of paying attention.
It’s also rude to the nuggetee because the contents of the backpack -some of which may be personal- are strewn over the floor for everyone to see. This could result in homework being lost, textbooks ripped, and messing up of that student’s organization system.
Nuggeting may be amusing for the nuggeters, but the recipients don’t find it as funny. Just sayin’
• Melanie Cohodes
When junk cluttered my room over the summer, I decided it was time to get rid of some of my items. I was originally thinking to just throw them in the gar-bage and move on with my life. However, I came up with a better idea that could help the community too. I gave all my old toys, clothes, and electronics to the Goodwill store.
I put all my junk in a bag and trudged over to the Goodwill store with the bag over my shoulder like Santa. I was very happy to get rid of everything, but I was even more excited to help the community. With my donation, people are given jobs, and others were given products at a low cost. Goodwill will accept anything, so next time anyone cleans his room, think of donating to the Goodwill store. Just sayin’
• Garett Matchen
“I don’t want to grow up...”College can’t make me
Becky Pauwels
At every family function, I’m asked the same questions:
“Where are you go-ing to college?” “What are you majoring in?” “What career do you
want to have?”It seems as if I’m supposed to have
the rest of my life planned out by age 17. What I don’t think my family realizes is that senior year isn’t just the year before college. It’s an awkward transitional year full of conflicting feelings. I’m stuck be-tween wanting to grow up and wanting to cling to what remains of my childhood.
All of the decisions I’ll be making re-garding college seem so final. By choos-ing a college, I’m subsequently choosing my future. In order to “make it,” I have to choose the perfect college and the perfect major.
What’s worse is the pressure that the economy has put on me. These days, few majors are considered practical enough to take seriously. It seems that unless I want to spend my post-collegiate days in a box (or worse, my parents’ house) I
should probably just major in business or accounting and find a safe job.
News flash: I’m 17. While the deci-sions I make now will affect my future, they won’t unalterably change it. My life is not set in stone the minute I enroll at college. Throughout my life, I’ll have many opportunities to change my major and my career. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average number of jobs a person holds is 10 to 15. Nothing is final.
As much as I hate it, I’m constantly thinking about my future. This holiday season, I’ve been getting sentimental. The other day, I had a scary thought: This is the last Christmas that I’ll truly be a part of my family. Starting next year, I’ll just be a visitor. But then I realized how absurd that was. Leaving my house doesn’t mean that I’m leaving my family. I don’t need to become an adult the moment I step foot in my dorm.
I’ll change and grow up during my college years, but that doesn’t mean I have to grow up now. I’m not going to spend my senior year trying to become the adult version of myself. Instead, I’ll focus on what a 17 year-old should be focusing on and leave the adult decisions for later.
December 9, 2011 The Correspondent 5
Sass
“Someone who will work hard to make the school
better.”
Sophomore
Tyler Carlson
“They have to be a good leader.”
Junior
Dorulc Aktas“Young and relatable
to kids.”
Senior
Stefanie Kintzle“Someone who can take the
school to new heights by mak-ing it fun.”
Freshman
Megan Patton
Student
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING
FOR IN THE NEW
PRINCIPAL?
New prank aggravates sophomore
Donations feed positive mood
6 Indepth December 9, 2011The Correspondent
My life as a highschoolerDear Diary,
From Anime club to Yearbook, at least 53 clubs and activities call Hersey home. Students dedicate their time every day, week, or month to these clubs. As students dedicate their time, they find many benefits from each club and they may find themselves realizing how much these clubs help them.“I put in usually any-where from three to six hours a day into my ex-tracurricular activities; such as variety show, one acts, and theatre,” senior Tyler Zanona said.Each student finds different reasons to be in clubs. Some find it as an opportunity to make friends, whereas others find it a
place to discover new interests.“The best thing about being in clubs, is meeting new people and hang-ing out with your friends,” sophomore Natasha Cook said.Dedication to each club can give students something to look forward to for the end of the day. As students be-gan to dread school, joining activities can bring a fresh outlook on school for some.“I dedicate my time because I like to keep myself busy and I don’t like
being bored. There’s [now] something I look forward to each day ‘cause school drags,” ju-nior Irvin Velazquez said.Boredom plagues many students af-ter school and throughout weekends. Join-ing clubs can give students something to do with their time, whether it be with their new friends or for the club.“You make lots of new friends and it gives me something to do if I ever have spare time,” freshman Annie Korff said.Many students can find multiple ben-efits from joining these activities.“I think it’s beneficial because the most important things you learn about yourself you learn through experience, and through
working with other people; I feel like any extracurricular activity provides this opportu-nity,” Zanona said.Not only can clubs help out students by giving them opportunity, but they also help them feel more connected to the school. This altogether can help improve the student as a whole and our school as a whole.“There are a number of studies that have shown that students who become involved in after school activities per-form better academically be-cause they feel a connection to the school and learn the skills,” assistant principal of student activities John Novak said.
According to a study, conducted by scholars Dur-lak and Weissman, school clubs and after school programs contributed to “positive social behaviors, school grades and achievement test scores.”“It teaches students they have a respon-sibility to to an organization that is bigger than themselves, and a student cannot just think in terms of himself or herself,” Novak said.
Students often fall into a daily routine and forget about their interests, but clubs can help students realize that there is more to life than high school.
-Jessica Lynk
Clubs conquer boredom plague
Grades can make or break a student and are vital for college. So, it is no surprise that grades can certainly take up a large portion of the day. Grades are expressed with a sim-ple letter with maybe a plus or minus at the end, but then again, so are chemicals.However, the work that goes into mak-ing those letters appear on a report card is a lot of work. The district may see it that the school day ends at 2:50 p.m., but students know academic work can drag in an extra three to four hours of homework each day.“I usually spend five hours on my home-work each night, my R.O.T.C. class usually takes me the longest,” senior Leticia Vasquez said.
The homework assigned to each student can vary by class as well as whatever day it is. Some courses, such as AP, can be major impacts on the amount of time it takes for a
student to finally end their academic day.“My AP homework can take up to two hours on some nights, but it isn’t usually that long,” sophomore Maddie O’Mara said.Although the work is time consuming, students find that the college credit is ben-eficial.
“I still take AP classes because it will make my life easier when I get to college,” O’Mara said.
College credits are given to students who score a three, four, or five on the AP tests that are given in May. The college determines whether or not the credits are accepted be-cause all schools are different. Most students pass the test which can allow students to go into college as a second semester freshman.Homelogic is another way that students are able to monitor their academics.“I like to check Homelogic frequently
because it allows me to know what assign-ments I need to turn in as well as retake,” sophomore Kelsey Panfil said.By having each grade individually post-ed, students can single out the problematic assignments lowering their grades. They can then talk to their teacher to find out how they deal with these assignments.It isn’t a surprise that academics can dominate a majority of a student’s day, af-terall they are students. It is the student’s re-sponsibility to stay on top of her grades and to make sure that they are where they need to be. However, if students are capable of man-aging this, they are certainly setting them-selves up for the future.
-Brian Loomis
Class credits clash with time
Whether it’s basketball, volleyball, bowling, or gymnastics, this school offers a wide variety of sports to any-one who’s interested. Some play sports to try something new while some are training to become champions. Ei-ther way, sports take up a significant amount of a high school student’s life.One of the major ways sports in-fluence the student athlete’s life is by limiting the time students have to complete their daily homework. When a student athlete comes home from practice or competition, he often has no time for procrastination and some-times struggle to complete the home-work on time.“My homework time is limited, and it’s harder to organize my time,” sophomore Maggie Mueller said.After a long day, solving quadratic equations or learning about binary ion-ic compounds might be the last thing a student athlete wants to do, but he still has the same responsibilities as a regu-lar student. Students who are involved in other activities outside of sports have even less time to complete their school work. As a result, many athletes are doing their homework much later than someone who’s not in a sport.“When I get home tired, I still have to find time to do my homework. Sometimes, I don’t finish until 11 p.m.,” sophomore Joy Kannookaden said.Even though this may seem like a burden, some students appreciate the extra motivation and view it as a way to be more time efficient.“Sports help because as soon as you get home, you have to do your homework. You can’t mess around,” sophomore Andy Philipose said.Students participate in sports out-side of school, too. This proves to be challenging because the courts, pools, rinks, and other places where these
• Megan BoyleJuniors Danielle Rivard and Erin Jonhson take part in various clubs such as Or-
chesis. “Getting involved is really important and I love Orchesis,” Johnson said.
7The CorrespondentIndepthDecember 9, 2011
My life as a highschooler
Zac Lingen“My whole football season.”
Freshman
“Dancing in the
honors assembly.”Nathan Lee
Sophomore
“Seeing Nick Heeron ask Elizabeth
Corning to Homecoming during a
football game.”
Zach Schulze
Junior
working with other people; I feel like any extracurricular activity provides this opportu-nity,” Zanona said.Not only can clubs help out students by giving them opportunity, but they also help them feel more connected to the school. This altogether can help improve the student as a whole and our school as a whole.“There are a number of studies that have shown that students who become involved in after school activities per-form better academically be-cause they feel a connection to the school and learn the skills,” assistant principal of student activities John Novak said.
According to a study, conducted by scholars Dur-lak and Weissman, school clubs and after school programs contributed to “positive social behaviors, school grades and achievement test scores.”“It teaches students they have a respon-sibility to to an organization that is bigger than themselves, and a student cannot just think in terms of himself or herself,” Novak said.
Students often fall into a daily routine and forget about their interests, but clubs can help students realize that there is more to life than high school.
-Jessica Lynk
Clubs conquer boredom plague
Senior
Mariel Fechik“Playing at Carnegie Hall with the band.”
Athletics enable time management skillsWhether it’s basketball, volleyball, bowling, or gymnastics, this school offers a wide variety of sports to any-one who’s interested. Some play sports to try something new while some are training to become champions. Ei-ther way, sports take up a significant amount of a high school student’s life.One of the major ways sports in-fluence the student athlete’s life is by limiting the time students have to complete their daily homework. When a student athlete comes home from practice or competition, he often has no time for procrastination and some-times struggle to complete the home-work on time.
“My homework time is limited, and it’s harder to organize my time,” sophomore Maggie Mueller said.After a long day, solving quadratic equations or learning about binary ion-ic compounds might be the last thing a student athlete wants to do, but he still has the same responsibilities as a regu-lar student. Students who are involved in other activities outside of sports have even less time to complete their school work. As a result, many athletes are doing their homework much later than someone who’s not in a sport.“When I get home tired, I still have to find time to do my homework. Sometimes, I don’t finish until 11 p.m.,” sophomore Joy Kannookaden said.Even though this may seem like a burden, some students appreciate the extra motivation and view it as a way to be more time efficient.“Sports help because as soon as you get home, you have to do your homework. You can’t mess around,” sophomore Andy Philipose said.Students participate in sports out-side of school, too. This proves to be challenging because the courts, pools, rinks, and other places where these
athletes practice aren’t provided at the school. Traveling time must be added to the equation now.Another difficult aspect is coaches may not always consider all the respon-sibilities that come with high school. Conflictions of important practice times or competitions might interfere with the athletes’ academic success.“It’s hard to get all my home-work done on time and still have some time for myself b e -cause sometimes I get home pretty late,” sophomore figure skater Briana Lear said. “I sometimes miss school be-cause of competitions.”
Students that sacrifice hours of time have to work extra hard, but definitely appre-ciate the benefits of participating in a sport.
There is much to be gained from athletics, and taking advantage of that can influence an athlete’s life in a positive way. For some, it improves their self-esteem, teach-es valuable lessons about time management, and helps make new friends.“I gained confidence from swimming,” sopho-more Iris Wenceslao said.Athletics have always been one of the major parts of a high school stu-dent’s life, and it doesn’t look like that will be changing any time soon.
-Julia Kedzior
What is your most memorable high school experience thus far?
Senior Nathan Gramer glances at the activities board to see what athleteics he may be interested in. Athletics is just one aspect that shape many stu-dents daily routines.
OR
Gotta
Notta
with Ashley Hawkins
December 9, 2011The Correspondent8 Reviews
Rihanna trades originality for ratings
Breaking Dawn disappoints audience
Magnetic nail polish attracts positive reaction
Bad acting was obvi-ously the key ingredient directors were looking for when trying to decide who was playing the roles in
the Twilight Sagas. In the newest movie of the series, that pattern seems to shine through. In “Breaking Dawn” part 1, we see bad acting, poor dialogue, and weak story plots.
In a series that does not seem to be able to get any worse, the actors give the unexpect-ed- a worse production.
To spoil the movie would be saving those who haven’t seen this tragedy in action, but not giving viewers the chance to have a good laugh at this drama would also be an equal tragedy.
In so many words, viewers can expect young married couples, angry wolves, sad vampires, and unprotected sex.
Anyone that enjoys sitting in a theater wishing for a large bowl of popcorn to dis-tract from the horrid film should see “Break-ing Dawn: Part 1.”
•Claudia Caplan
Movies not to watch
In preparation of Black Friday, many stores in Woodfield updated their
collections of merchandise, and one of those stores was Sephora.
Sephora now stocks two colors of the lat-est make-up innovation- magnetic nail pol-ish.
The colors available are gray and purple; other brands have different colors but aren’t held at local stores.
The way the polish works is quite simple; the bottle comes with a cap that is magnet embedded in the top of it. To use it, custom-ers apply a coat of the polish and hold
the nail above the magnet, which dries the polish. The magnetic parts of the polish are attracted to the magnet, and a unique pattern is formed.
Multiple brands have released the pol-ish, but other than ordering them online, the fastest way to get them would be a trip to the mall.
While the polish itself isn’t magnetic, the look is still cool. This new product is a must-have.
•Melanie Cohodes
CheCk out more stories at Correspondentlive.org
Horrid connection made in human centipede
Melanie Cohodes
While Rihanna’s style has changed, the standard of her songs has not. From a sunny, smooth pop to a darker R&B and a dance influ-enced quality, she still sticks to the same pattern.
There are a few dance tracks, some that shouldn’t be played at loud vol-ume around parents, and the inevitable collaboration with Jay-Z.
Out of the collection, Ri-hanna’s standard upbeat vibe is still there, but more muted than before. This album isn’t as dark as “Rated R,” or as out there as “Loud,” but manages to toe the line in-between.
The single “We Found Love” was pre-released and ex-tremely popular. It’s a standard energetic party track, but the synthesizer driven beat is a nice touch.
“Talk That Talk,” her usual collaboration with Jay-Z, fol-lows their usual patterns; it’s good for a few listens, but isn’t revolutionary.
Some of her more explicit songs (“Birthday Cake” and “Cockiness (Love It,” to name a few) are definitely not ‘fam-ily fun’ songs, but Rihanna has never really been a kid-appro-priate artist.
“Where Have You Been” is her version of the generic ‘new love’ song, with a trance influ-ence and a strong back beat.
“Drunk on Love” is a slower song, but still with the electronic vibe that resonates through the album. It has a sadder mood than the others,
but is still decently upbeat.This album is worth a listen, but not as
original as previous releases. Her dance songs have been the most popular in the past, so Ri-hanna seems to be sticking to that type of music in hope of a top 100 hit (and found it in “We Found Love”).
Of her top songs, eight of the 10 (“Umbrella,” “Disturbia,” “Only Girl (In The World),” “S.O.S.,” “Don’t Stop The Music,” “What’s My Name,” “Rude Boy,” “Pon De Replay”) were dance tracks, according to Top40.About.com. The other two, “Russian Roulette” and “Take A Bow,” were slower, but more original and still good songs.
It seems in her new releases, she’s traded uniqueness for bill-board ratings, and while it might pay off in the short run, it won’t be worth it for Rihanna to keep churning out mindless beats like these.
For a die-hard Rihanna fan, the album might be worth buy-ing, but not for the casual lis-tener. It is nothing original or ground breaking.
One of Rihanna’s strengths is collaborating with other art-ists to release dynamite tracks, but there was a lack of that on this release.
Shelling out $1.29 for one of the better singles is reasonable, but not $9.99 on iTunes for a bland collection of variations on the same beat with different lyrics.
Previous albums have been amazing, but this one is a bit of a let down.
Rihanna’s new album “Talk that Talk” was
released on November 21. Al-though it lacks her previous originality, “Talk That Talk” is expected to rank high on billboard ratings.
•NC WEB LN NO MAGAZINE sales
The thought of joining one person to
another in order to create a human centi-pede makes me sick. The thought that this crossed someone’s mind and he decided to make it into a movie makes me even sicker.
“Human Centipede” and “Human Centipede 2,” written and directed by Tom Six, are two of the most grotesque movies to be released.
“Human Centipede: First Sequence” stars a psychotic German doctor, Dr. Heit-er, and two ditzy American girls. The duo is traveling through Europe when their car breaks down in the woods.
The crazy girls end up outside Heit-er’s door and hope he will let them call for help, but instead he drugs them and holds them captive. The horror has just begun.
They later awake in his basement, strapped to makeshift medical beds. A third stranger is lying next to them.
The doctor informs the trio of his plan to create a creature sharing a single diges-tive system, AKA the human centipede.
He wants them to be a part of his twisted experiment, and there is nothing they can do to escape.
“Human Centipede: Full Sequence” features a creepy loner named Martin who is strangely obsessed with the first film.
Despite it being a film, he was so in-spired by Dr. Heiter that he decides to make his own human centipede, only this time with 12 people.
He brutally assaults strangers to par-ticipate in his sick experiment, and is ulti-mately successful in creating his “pet.”
These films feature something I’ve never seen before. But originality won’t give Six 10 out of 10 stars.
Packing unnecessary blood, guts, and gore, ranging from a grimy surgery by a sleazy doctor to the gruesome death of a baby, into a film isn’t entertaining. It’s dis-turbing beyond belief.
I’m not one to get queasy when it comes to gory movies, but for majority of these two films, I cowered behind a pillow, not able to withstand the atrocity taking place on screen.
I “thank” Daniel Tosh for bringing my attention to the spectacle that is “Human Centipede.”
After viewing the “Spoiler Alert” on his show, I thought it would be a good idea to check out the movie. It wasn’t.
Despite the sickening plot of the first film, I felt it was necessary to see the se-quel. Another bad idea.
Daniel Tosh is hilarious, but there is nothing funny about these movies.
I would’ve been better off sticking to his witty, non-graphic 20-minute sum-mary.
With the third and final sequence of this horrid trilogy set for release in 2013, I’m disturbed by the thought of sitting through another 90 minutes of nauseating nonsense.
Don’t make the mistakes I made.
9The CorrespondentEntertainmentDecember 9, 2011
Megan Boyle
It’s that time of year again. Starbucks has its holiday specials brewing, houses are lit up with decorations, and Christmas tunes are beginning to ring.
For many students, December is the most wonderful time of the year, and starting Dec. 1, holiday excitement can finally begin.
Also starting Dec. 1 is ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas. This count-down shows classic Christmas movies along with some ABC Family originals.
Many of these movies bring back childhood memo-ries and are enjoyable for stu-dents at any age.
“I watch the Christmas movies every year, it’s sort of a tradition. Plus, I love the holi-days, so it gets me super ex-cited,” senior Hannah Morley said.
While many of the holiday movies are targeted at little kids, students still experience plenty of the magic.
“When I was little, I used to pretend I was the kid from ‘Home Alone’ and try to pull pranks like he did, so it’s fun to watch those movies again every year,” senior Leya Allind said.
“I remember watching holiday movies with my family when I was little and I would dance to all of the songs,” sophomore Michaela Slosar said.
No matter how old, some holiday movies never lose their fire. Even without modern spe-cial effects or technology, these movies still cap-ture the true spirit of the holidays.
“I look forward to watching the classics like ‘The Year Without a Santa Clause’ and ‘Santa Clause is Coming to Town’ every year because they really get you in the spirit,” Slosar said.
The classic movies won’t be forgotten, but new holiday movies come out each year that try
to make their own mark on history. Some become instant classics, while others
fall short. “I think old and new holiday movies are
equally good, but the older movies are probably my favorite because I’ve been watching them my whole life,” Morley said, “I love watching any Christmas movie though, from ‘Elf ’ to ‘Miracle on 34th Street’.”
Some students don’t think so highly of new holiday hits.
“The classic holiday movies are way better. They are in a league of their own,” senior Drew Curtis said.
Mixed in with the classic movies are ABC Family original movies that some consider a bit over the top.
“S om e t i m e s they can be good, but other times, they can be re-ally weird.
You have to be in a really Christmas-y mood to watch them,” senior Cas-sidy Muir said.
Old or new, classic or original, 25 Days of Christmas is a sure hit to get into the holiday spirit.
Even as high school students, many stu-d e n t s feel that the holi-days are still filled with magic.
“Holiday movies make me feel joyful and excited like a little kid,” senior Olivia Stasiuk said.
Morley agrees. “Every time I watch holiday movies, I feel like a kid again.”
• GRAPHIC BY ZACk kILLAM
“When I was little, I used to pretend I was
the kid from ‘Home Alone’ and try to pull
pranks like he did, so it’s fun to watch those movies again every year,” senior Leya Allind said.
25 Days of Christmas Ho-Ho-Home Alone rings in holiday memories
Features December 9, 2011The Correspondent10
Blustery weather brings seasonal activities
Many students are unsure of what they want to study in college. Actually, that’s normal. Some of the most commonly asked questions are “Is it normal not to know what I want to study in college?” or “Will I be able to change if I don’t like what I’m do-ing?” The counselors and college and career center wanted to help students decide before they went to
college. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors from multiple
schools attended a ‘field trip’ on Nov. 30, to the the-ater, Titre room, and black box theater to hear pro-fessionals in the medical field talk about what they do.
The speakers ranged from nurses, physical therapists and occupational therapists to psycho-logical therapists and orthopedic surgeons. The field trip allowed students to listen to successful profes-sionals in a certain field and ask insightful questions.
“Since I am unsure what exactly I want to do, this fieldtrip really gave me more ideas of the posi-tive and negative experiences I would have with cer-tain jobs,” junior Anna Freitag said.
Each student attended two sessions with either one, two, or three speakers. After the two sessions students were allowed to talk to a few college repre-sentatives from Kansas, Loyola, Harper, Butler, and other schools.
The school representatives were in the hallway for the lunch periods for not only the students on the field trip but also any student in the building to ask questions to the representatives.
“I really liked having a chance to talk to profes-sionals because they cleared up a lot of questions I had about schooling,” Freitag said.
• Nicole Cecala
• Nick Runge
Backyard football earns following Career day clears up questions
Children’s Theater brings joy to audience; actors
• Abby Fesl
Children’s Theater put on a perfor-mance of Raggedy Ann on Nov. 15, 17, and 19. After two long months of practicing to perfection they were able to put on a great show that the little kids had a wonderful time seeing.
“The little kids talked back to the actors a lot, that was funny, they really enjoyed it,” freshman Marisa Pierre, who played Bruin Bear, said.
Children’s Theater consists of fresh-man and sophomores who get to act, while
bringing back the child within them with Raggedy Ann and Andy.
“It was great and a lot of fun, the per-formances were really awesome,” Pierre said.
Although Children’s Theater has come to a close, the kids and students won’t for-get the fun time they had watching and per-forming Raggedy Ann.
Recently a group of District 214 students from Hersey, Pros-pect, and Wheeling formed the HPWFL backyard football league. The league consists of six teams with six players on each team.
“The league is well put togeth-er and managed by Jason Brown, it is tons of fun. I’m surprised that other people haven’t tried some-thing similar,” senior Danny Bojc-zuk, captain of No Punt Intended, said.
All parts of the game have been accounted for. There are off-
side penalties, player sta-tistics, and even power rankings.
The league has a Facebook page that says when and where the games are.
“The league is great. Once the snow starts falling it’ll only get better,” senior Jason Brown, captain of Fancy Men and commissioner, said.
Julia KedziorGarret Matchen
Bring out the boots and jack-ets because here comes the chilly weather. Shoveling driveways, wearing mittens, and spending more time with people are only a few things that are very common during the winter.
Being in the Chicago area, heavy snowfalls are nothing new, although they’re not always liked.
For some, winter is enjoyable because of the weather. “My favor-ite part of winter is the cold because it makes the warm feel amazing af-terwards,” sophomore Joey Nem-mer said.
Others love winter because of the outdoor sports.
These sports include sledding, snowboarding, skiing, ice fishing, ice skating, and pond hockey. “I like the snow because it’s fun to go sledding with friends,” sophomore Chris Yendrzejowsky said.
Several hills have entertained eager sledders over the years, in-cluding the well-known hills on Wolf Road at the Woodland Trails Sled Hill and Belmont Ave., next to Thomas Middle School.
Ski and snowboard enthusiasts are encouraged to join the ski and snowboard club, where they can socialize with others that share the interest.
Students travel to various mountain ranges during the winter including Cascade, Chestnut, Dev-il’s Head, and Granite Peak moun-tain rages.
“It’s great to have a day of boarding with friends. It’s relax-ing and you always have a great time riding the slopes,” junior Mike Boivin said.
Ice fishing in the area is hard to come about, but certain lakes al-low it. As for pond hockey, rinks are everywhere. Pioneer Park, River Trails Park District, MacAr-thur Middle School, and other local
parks all have rinks for anyone to go shoot a puck at.
Besides winter activities and the weather, some enjoy the weath-er because it brings back memo-
ries. “I like winter because I’m from Canada and it reminds me of home,” junior Kyle Cooke said.
Carlos Andina
Last year, garbage cans were removed from classrooms all over the school and replaced with a lone recycling bin.
This move was made as an attempt to reduce waste as well as keep food waste out of the class-rooms. While done with good in-tention, the change has left stu-dents without a place to put their garbage.
“Sometimes I just throw my trash into the recycling bin,” senior Joe Farrell said.
Taking a look into recycling bins in different classrooms, actual recyclables seem to be freely mixed in with regular garbage.
Assistant principle Joseph Krajacic points out that much of the garbage in classroom trash bins consists of food items. “Are we sup-posed to have food in the class-rooms? No, we aren’t,” Krajacic said.
The elimination of the class-room garbage bin also has its roots in the need to make classrooms more sanitary. Food items can spoil and harvest insects or attract mice.
According to Krajacic, food items should be thrown away in the trash bins located throughout the hallways.
But with tissue use in full swing during the winter season, students rarely take the time to save their tissues for the garbage cans in the hallways. Krajacic points out that having used tissues in the classroom can also be unsanitary.
“It can be inconvenient if you pay attention to the rules of recy-cling,” senior Tom Cotey said.
Still, the lack of garbage cans has more students frustrated than
changing their ways.“It’s pointless because all the
kids are throwing their garbage in the recycling bins anyway,” senior Kelsey Martin said.
With all the garbage going into recycling bins, there has been concern that the contents of the recycling bins has to be thrown away. However, custodians say they haven’t had problems.
“As long as it’s only up to 5 per-cent garbage it can still be recycled,” custodian Steve Newman said.
No garbage bins in classrooms, students still have garbage
ACTIVITIES
ICE FISHING
HOCKEYSLEDDING
SKIINGSNOWBOARDING
or
POND
4% 38%36%
22%{
}
{}
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FAVORITEWinter
•carlos andina
SportsDecember 9, 2011 The Correspondent11
SP R SS R S
Gymnastics seeks sweet victoryWith the first few meets of the season
concluded, more intense, excitable meets and exhausting practices are to come. The girls gymnastics season has started. They have withstood some savage competition, yet have held their own.
Today, the girls are hosting the an-ticipated Candy Cane invite at
home for JV participants, and Saturday for varsity competitors.
In the most recent meet, their first home
meet this past Tuesday against Rolling Meadows
they lost a tight competition, falling 119.3-118.8.
The bright spot of the evening was sophomore Annie Johnson with an all-around score of 34.35.
In their first meet, a nerve racking and highly anticipated one at Barrington on Nov. 29, Hersey remained strong against a very strong team.
The outcome was not in our favor, with a final score of 120.45 to Barrington’s 136. The girls had a strong individual per-formances, including Johnson’s first place title with 35.45 points in the all around cat-egory.
But even a victor gets anxious before a big meet, “I was a little nervous but I knew we’d do well, so I tried my best,” Johnson said, “I was confident because I’ve been do-ing gymnastics since I was little.”
With more competition coming this weekend, confidence is what a team needs. The team is determined to succeed.
•Isabella Murray
David Milligan
It’s always tough losing graduates, but this year’s wrestling team lost a three-time state qualifier and their team captain, Jeff Koepke. This year, the three team captains are doing their best to keep a positive leadership for the team.
“We can never replace Jeff, but [fellow cap-tains] Steph’fon Scales, Conrad Bugay, and I are trying our best to install the leadership Jeff gave,” junior captain Hunter Rollins said.
One way this year’s team can improve is by beating the co-champions of the MSL East, Roll-ing Meadows, today at home. The team tied the Mustangs with 6-1 records in the MSL confer-ence last year, but the outlook looks good for the guys.
“We’re looking for some payback. I think we have a really good chance of winning this Friday,” Rollins said.
Senior Steph’fon Scales added, “I’m going to have to go with us on the victory side. I think this match will be a good one.”
However, Coach Jim Wormsley still thinks this will be a quality match. “This Friday’s match against Rolling Meadows should be an exciting dual to watch. I feel that we always have a great chance of being successful if we compete to the upper level of our ability.”
New coaches have fostered an intense envi-ronment for the team.
“[The coaches] push me and everyone else to achieve our true best,” Rollins said, “They won’t let us quit... until we hit our limit.”
“We all push each other... and leave nothing on the mat,” Scales said.
“Everyone’s going hard,” Bugay added. The team is always practicing hard.
Last Saturday, the team traveled to Glen-bard West to play a three way meet between Glenbard West and Woodstock. The Huskies defeated Woodstock with ease, but fell to Glen-bard West in a close match.
Over winter break, the Palatine Invite will be one of the wrestlers’ first big tournaments of the year, and the guys have high expectations.
“We definitely want to have a lot of guys place,” Bugay said, “and I especially want to get in the top 10 for my weight class.”
For Rollins, he thinks this is his year to prove himself. After a third place finish last year, he has high expectations for himself, saying, “Individually, I won’t accept anything but first.”
“I expect my fellow captains to be on top of the podium with me,” Scales added.
While the guys have their work cut out for them this year, Wormsley is still pleased by what he’s seen so far.
“I am very proud of the guys who have stuck it out and are there every day. They are re-ally working hard to improve and get ready for the end of the year.”
Wrestling hurts from loss of graduatesAthletes improve with new leaders
Girls hope to strike in StreamwoodAbby Fesl
Ashley Hawkins
As the winter months roll around and out-door sports have already come to a close, the girls bowling team has started gathering to prepare for their upcoming season. They participate in 21 meets from November to January.
Even though the team may not practice year round, many of the players stay ready for the season by getting togeth-er in a non-competitive atmosphere.
“I have been pre-paring for the season by going bowling for fun with friends and fam-ily,” senior Brittany Tina-glia said, “Even if it’s not competitive bowling, it doesn’t matter.”
Now that the season has begun, the girls are preparing for their meets during practice with oth-ers players and coaches on a regular basis.
“We have lots of practice,” sophomore Marie Spychala said, “Getting tips from coach-es helps us improve.”
With all this prac-tice, the team has been improving from last year. During their most recent tournament, the Fremd Invite, the girls finished 12 out of 20.
“At the Fremd invite, we got our team’s highest score yet, [3,806.5] which is very good,” Tinaglia said.
The girls continue to look ahead, ready to
face any competition that comes their way.“Our toughest competitor this year will be
Prospect because they are extremely good and have made it to state many times,” Tinaglia said.
By setting both individual and team goals, the girls hope to improve their achievements from last year.
“My goals for the season is to bowl a 200 or more at a meet,” Tinaglia said.
“[My goal is to] get more spares,” Spychala said.
The team is close because of the amount of time they spend together. While most teams only travel together to go to games, the bowling team trav-els together to go to practices as well.
“During prac-tices we talk and joke as a team,” Spychala said, “we ride on the bus to-gether to meets and practices which helps a lot with team bonding,”
“Our season this year has been a lot of fun,” Tinaglia
said.At the bowling match on Monday against
Elk Grove, the girls suffered a loss of 2549 to 2220, but they put their skills into play.
The girls will compete in the Streamwood Invite tomorrow.
•Abby Fesl
Freshman Delaney Steinweg hopes to wipe out the remaining pins at the Fremd Invite. The
girls finished 12 out of 20 with a score of 3,806.5.
The girls basketball team is coming off of a 23-8 season the previous year. Unfortunately for the team, its going to be hard to live up to the success they had last year. They will be without All-State player Megan Rogowski.
Senior Corinne Busby tends to think otherwise, “I know it’s going to be hard to replace a player like Megan, but I think were going to be okay. We play a lot more as a team now and everyone brings a dif-ferent aspect to the game,” Busby said.
Currently, the team is 4-4 coming off a fourth quarter win versus Wheeling on Tuesday. The team knows that there is a lot of room for improvement.
“We need to be more con-sistent, and limit our turnovers. We’re also not putting enough points on the board, so we need to score me,” Busby said about what her team needs to do to become more suc-cessful.
The team intends to start taking shots that are in their range, and to look for the open player when there is a double team. If the team is to follow up on this plan, it will make this year’s goals a lot more reachable.
“Winning conference is always our main objective, but making a playoff run would always be ideal,” Busby said.
The girls next game is against a versa-tile Rolling Meadows team tonight.
•Kevin Kozil
Girls rebound from rough start
Sports December 9, 2011The Correspondent12
TIMEOUT! with Cori
nne B
usby
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Off-season lifting bulks up athletesStudents ‘weight’ for pay-off
Scott Bakal
No matter what sport a student plays, get-ting stronger can improve his performance. With sports that require good weather, such as baseball, football, and soccer, living in Illinois makes it tough to practice in the harsh winter months.
Even though rosters are not set and prac-tices aren’t being scheduled, most sports have the opportunity to lift in the winter.
“The goal is for them to improve strength and conditioning in ways that will help them for baseball,” varsity baseball coach Bob Huber said.
Lifting is not required, but it is a good way to improve strength, meet coaches, and stay close with teammates.
“It keeps me in shape specifically to get me ready for the next season,” senior soccer player Matt Brant said.
The opportunity to lift as a team in the off-season is one that should be taken advantage of. Rather than working out at home or away from school, students get the opportunity to let coaches see them make improvement and show the individual effort.
“It gives the coaches a good chance to take a look at you and see your work ethic. It is to get a good idea of what kind of player you are,” sophomore baseball player Danny Burke said.
Showing off to coaches is not the only pos-itive to winter lifting. The effect that lifting has on an individual’s performance can be drastic. If an athlete needs to get in shape or just wants to get stronger, winter lifting gives that oppor-tunity.
“Winter lifting helps me get in shape for the season because you are working out all of the muscles needed in order to perform well on the field,” sophomore baseball player Eric La-bahn said.
Being together as a team year round can help a team bond and work better together.
“One of the goals is to become more of a team and do more things as a team,” Huber said.
Winter lifting can be enjoyable for many reasons. Some students enjoy working out and others like the payoff of all the hard work.
“The best part about winter lifting for baseball is in the spring when we get to see the progress we made as a player,” sophomore baseball player Joe Silva said.
Other students appreciate the rare oppor-tunity to work on strength and conditioning for there specific sport.
“Winter lifting helps me get stronger spe-cifically in areas that help me be a better base-ball player” sophomore baseball player Quinn Jedd said.
What are your individual goals for this season?
My main goal is to be a distributor and play a more defensive role.
What are your expectations for the team?
The start of the season was a little rough, but we have a lot of potential to get better.
How is the team making up for lost seniors?
Megan Rogowski was a big part of the team, but now we have to be more fast-paced. We have got new good players and everyone has stepped up as a whole.
Senior Justin Jobski drives for the hoop as the Wildcats close in on him. The Huskies defeated Wheeling with a 65-32 score last Friday. Senior Vuk Vukovic scored 14 points, however offense was not what won them the game. The Huskies are in action next
Friday against Prospect at home.
•MADELINE WEBER
Boys Wrestling vs. Rolling Meadows “It’s a conference, so it is impor-
tant for conference seeding.”-sophomore Tom Somenek
Cheerleading at Rolling Meadows “This year we have more poten-
tial than we have had in any prior years in JHHS cheer history.”
-senior McCall Reed
Girls Gymnastics JHHS Invite “Since it is our invite, we need
to represent ourselves well.” -sophomore Annie Johnson
Boys Basketball vs. Prospect “We need to play as a team
and communicate on defense.”-senior Trevor Haas