ECHOESthe Scottsbluff High School | Nov. 17, 2011 | Volume 95| Issue 4

What are you driving?students and their

cars | pgs. 9-12Inside[this edition

[

HIGHHEELFASHION CL

ASSIC

Stylish

They come in all sizes, shapes & colors & they look great. The question is, what effect is all this glam having on your body? pg. 8

SASSY

TRENDY

What a headache!Concussions in

sports | pg: 17

2 | NEWS

OWS movement targets corporate greed; bailoutsby Ben Wiebe

News Editor

by Aaron Martin

News Writer

Students at SHS have been ‘around the block’ a time or two. Block scheduling entails having four classes a day but lengthening the class

periods to ninety minutes instead of a traditional forty-five minute class period.The classes alternate depending on the day. This gives students four electives

rather than two or three.This is meant to allow for more teaching time because there is less time spent

transitioning between classes.It also allows the student more time on homework as it is not due every day.

Switching could result in students more often forgetting homework.Conversion to block scheduling became prominent in the 1990’s in American

high schools and middle schools.Schools generally scheduled so that every student would see each of their

teachers every day. We have traded in this idea for the block.There is also criticism that block does not work for the attention span of some

students. Opponenets argue classes are too long and students lose focus.There is also less repetition of material because students do not see teachers

every day. Which according to study shows that students may not retain informa-tion as well.

The block is still fairly new to our school. Recently there have been rumors about the block coming to an end.

The reason for the spread of the rumors is the idea is that our school is becom-ing a low achieving school because of block scheduling. There are claims that our students cannot retain what they learn in class.

These rumors are being fueled by many sources but at the present time they can be put to rest.

Superintendent Rick Myles has some prior experience with this matter. He has taught and managed schools with both a traditional schedule and a block sched-ule.

Myles says he has no preference for either type of scheduling.“In making a decision like this, the people in charge must look at the school

first,” Myles said, “then build a sup-porting schedule. Make a schedule to fit the school, not the school to fit the schedule.”

According to Myles the decision to change would be based off of teacher outcry and complaint. There have been few complaints from teachers

since the block was issued.Since there have not been many complaints, the issue hasn’t been brought up

with staff. No change is under discussion.If the school moved away from block it would have to look into other options.

This could mean eight classes a day with homework every night or a hybrid of block and traditional.

There are claims that block allows students to miss class multiple times because of sports. According to Myles it would be the same in a traditional schedule.

The students would actually miss more class periods, but as a whole this hasn’t been a voiced concern.

Many students prefer block scheduling, mostly because there is less homework and less school supplies to carry every day.

For the present time, it appears block scheduling is here to stay.

On Sept. 17, in New York City’s Zuccotti Park, nearly 2,000 protesters marched through the nation’s financial district under the namesake ‘Occupy Wall Street’ (OWS), aiming to do just as their title implies.

The occupation continues; now with a basement in lower Manhattan brim-ming with supplies and over $500,000 in donations that says they are there to stay.

Renamed, ‘Liberty Square’, by the movement, the privately owned Zuc-cotti Park location creates a base free of legal hassle.

No signs of a seasonal slowdown appear, as the Park’s inhabitants bat-ten down the hatches and enter their winter occupation. Many stay warm powering the park’s media and publi-cations center with donated stationary bicycle generators.

Identifying

with the theme ‘We are the 99%’, tens of thousands of sympathizers have organized demonstrations the country across and the world around.

America’s debt ceiling standoffs and budgeting battles have people wonder-ing if their system works.

Are our congressmen making informed decisions to best benefit the nation?

Could the seats of the House and Senate be filled with overpaid puppets strung only to party affiliation and re-election motivation?

Contributing to OWS’ momentum is the international angst of fresh starts. The ‘Arab Spring’ of African nations in revolution has asked the question, ‘What if?’

The leaderless group protests what they see as rash actions made by the ‘1%’ and their impact on the majority.

The big three of the movement’s grievances are stated on their website as, ‘Bank bailouts, corporate greed, and the unchecked power of Wall Street in Washington.’

Sound like a union of bums com-plaining in the city?

Listen closer. October 15, their chants could be heard as close to home as Cheyenne, Wyoming. On that day, 1,500 demonstrations were held in 82 countries.

Wait, occupations outside the U.S.? The world is feeling it; class gap

between the wealthy and the not-so is growing larger and larger everywhere.

Could this be more than a month-long roast of the rich?

An increasingly unsure nation watched OWS’ trademark peaceful protests grow sour on their televisions as the events of Occupy Oakland un-folded. Protesters shut down the Port of Oakland on November 3, marching through the city’s downtown, damag-ing businesses, facing riot police and tear gas.

A march from New York City to Washington D.C. is slated for Novem-ber 23, voicing the movements’ opposi-tion to extensions of Bush-era tax cuts benefitting the wealthy.

No return to traditional schedule planned at this time

Whether good, dangerous, or some-where in between, only time will tell as to what will come of all the fuss.

Is BLOCK on the chopping block?

5th Block

2nd Block

1st Block

Home-room

3rd Block

4thBlock

6th Block

7th Block

8th Block

NEWS | 3

by Ben Wiebe

NewsEditor

by Ben Wiebe

NewsEditor

TEAMS Mentoring program making a difference

Scottsbluff placed on Persistently Low-Achieving Schools list

Mentor Daniel Schaub 9 (left) and his mentee Ben Rodriguez 7 (right), at their first mentoring session on October 11. Photo by Ben Wiebe

TEAMing up

Between the ages of fourteen to eigh-teen, most given American teenagers will work full time: as a students.

Like it or not, that’s what high school is; a full time position.

How can a student best take advan-tage of four whole years?

What classes should they take with which teacher?

What activities could they be in-volved with?

What looks good on a college ap-plication?

Where to start? Where better than with someone

who has answers: another student.The TEAMS mentoring program,

now in its second year, is answering questions.

Sixteen seniors and their ninth-grade mentees, eleven juniors and their eighth-grade mentees and twelve sophomores and their seventh grade mentees are working together for an improved path through high school.

The program’s regional coordinator, Pat Randolph, a retired SHS teacher, with the help of now Senior Counselor Rick Cantril, brought TEAMS to the Scottsbluff Public Schools in the fall of 2010.

TEAMS is volunteer-based and completely free to mentees and their mentors.

Developed through a grant to the University of Nebraska Lincoln Exten-sion, SPS’ program is one of two in the state, the other in Beatrice.

Mentors undergo training in how to work with younger students and recog-nizing problems they might encounter.

Mentors are also trained through a system known as Colors. Colors trains mentors in understanding their own personalities, enabling them to apply that knowledge to understand the per-sonalities of others.

Trained in 40 developmental assets, mentors undergo training to help build positive behaviors in their mentees.

Randolph and a committee ultimate-ly review mentors-to-be before they are admitted to the program.

Mentees are paired with mentors with similar interests.

Feedback from all parties involved, middle school, high school and adult, has been positive.

“I really enjoy it”, Terohn Quijas, now a freshman, said. Quijas entered the program as an eighth grader.

Quijas joined TEAMS after learning about the program through her middle school counselor, seeing it as a way to prepare herself for high school.

Richard Klemm, also a ninth grade product of the mentoring program,

was planning even further ahead in his joining of TEAMS saying,”I joined when I heard the program looked good to colleges.”

Both plan on continuing the pro-gram by serving as mentors next year as sophomores.

Klemm and Quijas’ only complaint about the program is that they are not able to spend more time in it.

Mentoring sessions take place monthly during Homeroom and are filled with group activities and team building exercises.

At the first meeting of this year’s junior class and their eighth grade mentees at Bluff’s Middle School, one could already see a positive difference in the works.

Mentees earnestly want to be in the program, always looking forward to the genuine time a high school student puts in for them.

In high demand, TEAMS was initially intended for sets of ten pairs per grade, the program is now filled to

capacity and then some. TEAMS provides constructive diver-

sity through advice from those who’ve been there. As freshman being brought up in the program, mentees get a jump on the gun of high school.

The program is producing students more likely to avoid negative teenage tendencies and more able and ready to face their futures.

Seniors passing on lessons learned over their last four years of primary schooling can graduate assured they’ve accomplished the most they could have.

Mentors make the final step in tak-ing the most they can away from high school by giving back.

On Tuesday Nov. 8, the Nebraska Department of Education released its list of Persistently Lowest Achieving Schools (PLAS). Among those on the list was Scottsbluff High School.

PLAS schools are given Tier I, II or III classification. Scottsbluff has been classified as a Tier II school.

Essentially this means the school needs to improve its Nebraska State Assessment (NESA) scores.

“These tests are important,” Scotts-bluff Public Schools Curriculum Direc-tor Mike Mason said.

Some of the more alarming test scores came in math, where only thirty-

seven percent of those tested were proficient compared to a state average of fifty-five percent

The school’s reading scores were just as alarming. Only sixty-one percent of the students tested were proficient, compared to the state average of sixty-eight percent.

Mason said despite the test scores, he knows many good things are going on at SHS.

“We do have a lot of great students, teachers, and things going on at the high school, we just need to make sure we show that to the rest of Nebraska and to our community,” Mason said.

SPS produces National Merit Schol-ars, state champion athletes, renowned musicians and countless other accom-

plished individuals. Mason also said one of the problems

may have been students not taking the NeSA tests seriously.

“I’ve talked to quite a few students who may not have put their best effort into it, and I think they look back on that and regret it now that we are a PLAS school,” Mason said.

Many students agree with Mason’s assessment.

“It looked pretty hard, so I just guessed,” Senior Rachel Cemens said.

“I didn’t think it was very impor-tant because it didn’t affect any of my grades,” Junior Andrew Holloway said.

The district continues to tweak the curriculum in hopes of improving scores.

Three content area specialists were hired this year to ensure the curricu-lum lines up horizontally while stack-ing vertically.

The school also has developed Target Implementation Plans (TIPs) in recent months. These TIPs reinforce attempts by the district to strengthen relations, safety, efficiency and cur-riculum.

One thing the district is doing this year is having all juniors take the ACT, free of charge.

The results from this test may pro-vide a more valid view of the school’s academic situation.

NeSA repurcussions

Cat CalendarNovember Events 17th- All State Band/Choir @ Lincoln 18th- All State Band/Choir @ Lincoln 23rd- K-12 Early Release 11:30am 24th- No School K-12 Thanksgiving Day 25th- No School K-12 Black Friday 28th- One Acts Festival SHS Aud. 5-10pm

SCOTTSBLUFF BOOSTER CLUB

All School Year LongEvery 10th

student gets a free lunch

Student Specials Available

2201 Broadway Scotsbluff

632-3644

Bored...Tired of StudyingCOME BOWLING WITH US

BOWL ARENA3605N. 10th St

Acrss from Taco Johns$2.00 per game

FREE Shoe Rental with Student ID308-632-2626

December Events 1st- G/B BB West Conference @ Chadron 5:30 pm 2nd- G/B BB West Conference @ TBA 3rd- Wrestling @ Torrington DNV 8am Swim/Diving @ Hastings Invite 9am Acapella Hastings Symphony G/B BB West Conference @ TBA 4th- Acapella Hastings Symphony 5th- Education Quest- Finacial Aid Meeting @ 6:30pm SHS Aud. G/B 10th BB @ Torrington 5/6:30 pm 6th- Band Christmas Concert SHS Aud. 7pm Wrestling -vs- Gering JV/V 6/7pm 10-12 G BB @ BMS 5:45pm Saint Nicholas Day 7th- District FFA Leadership Contest @ Chadron 10-12 G BB @ SHS 5:45pm

The CAT CALENDAR is brought to you by the

FEATURE | 5

SolidGOLD

Photos by Gordon Rock

performances

Old West Choirfest(top left) The girls in the 27th Street Singers perform Dynamite at the Old West Choir-fest. The group earned a gold medal for the first time in three years. (above) Choralaires members, juniors Zoey Rada and Christine Scanlan, sing How Do You Know from the movie Enchanted. (immediate right) Senior Karenna Booth and junior Logan Woodward partner up for How Do You Know. “Old West is one of the most exhausting, but fun days of the year,” Booth said. (far right) Junior Derek Goss dances to the Choralaires’ closing number Make It Last for Ever.

Both the 27th Street Singers and Choralaires received gold

medals at the Old West Choir Fest on Saturday, Nov. 6.

by TrinitiCounter

FeatureWriter

Preparing for BLACK

Get ready shoppers for the best day of the year

FEATURE | 7

FRIDAY

What’s hot on Santa’s list this Christmas?

It’s dark, it’s cold, it’s 2 o’clock in the morning and the sudden sound of the digital clock goes off. Sarah Hall quickly reaches over to her clock and springs from her bed with the anticipation of …BLACK FRIDAY!

She arrives at the first store and makes her way to the middle of the pack.When the door opens, cheers break out from the most avid shoppers around

her.Her plan is simple: stay calm, let the crazy people pass by, and she’ll always

get to what she wants.Every year, the Friday after Thanksgiving, the people of America participate

in this day of massive sales and specials signifying the beginning of the Christ-mas shopping season.

Junior Sarah Hall is one of those million Americans who participate in this festive day. Hall and her family make a schedule, mapping out each store they plan on hitting and what times they will do so.

“My family and I have woken up to freezing weather and have gone to the earliest store that opens for the past three years,” Hall said.

The first store on their agenda is Herberger’s, which is headed by a line of eager customers awaiting the 70, 60 and 50 percent off sales.

“Quote from Mrs.Megngini” Second on Hall’s shopping list is Target. Target opened last year at 4 a.m.;

this year it will open at midnight.“We are expecting a whole new crowd this year with our different time

opening. The biggest challenge I think will be to keep up with so many new people,” Meagan Young Target employee, said.

Sales and people have been showing an increase in the past 3 years. In 2010, 465.6 billion people shopped on Black Friday, 59% of shoppers shopped online, 52% spent over $500 with cash, and the average money spent on a credit or debit card was $145.61.

More and more people take part in Black Friday each year. In 2009 96.5 mil-lion people shopped on Black Friday, and the year after in 2010, 106.9 people shopped on Black Friday.

Sophomore Elisha Hedman also takes part in Black Friday. Hedman and her family look up the sales in Cheyenne, Wyoming a week in advance. Not only do they drive two hours to reach their destination, they also go a full night without sleeping.

Their agenda is simple: Leave at 12:00p.m., take two cars and arrive at their

first store at approximately 2:00 a.m...

“The best part about Black Friday is all the excitement and energy taking place. It’s really interesting to see how some people handle Black Friday.”Hedman said.

With all this shopping and spending we, some-times wonder how this affects the economy.

There are many concerns as to what this holiday season may bring. With the news media telling consumers to hold their wallets for a moment, retailers and business own-ers on the other hand are inviting consumers in.

In truth the apparel and accessories market has never been better! Now more than ever is the perfect time to buy that adorable cable knit sweater

you’ve been eye candying for weeks or the new Nike zoom hydrodunk basket-ball shoes for the upcoming season.

Speaking of buying, the malls are a perfect location to save big time during Black Friday. Research shows that 33% of Americans do their Black Friday shop-ping at Malls.

“This year we are expecting a really good turnout. There will probably be a smaller crowd during the football game but after that the sales should group again!” Kara Willman Monument Mall Manager said.

The other 73% of Americans that shop on Black Friday shop at big depart-ment chains such as Best Buy, Koals, Sears, Target and Wal-Mart. Statistics show that Target is the leading Department store in America when it comes to Black Friday.

“Every year the best way Target prepares its self for Black Friday is by in-creasing staff members and having lots of employees that have dealt with Black Friday before.” Young said.

Thirdly on Halls list is a peaceful breakfast at Sherry’s. After she is done eat-ing and has had her cup of Joe, she paces to her car and goes convently across the street to Target. There she finds her main electronic and art materials. With these purchases she gets a free $25 gift card to Target, one of the many perks Black Friday offers. Hall Then leaves the crowded premises.

Four hours later Hall and her family drive home with their many purchases and twirling around the many things they have seen and heard. Hall sits comfortably in the back seat going through her bags from Target, Menard’s and Hergergers . As she goes through her items she thinks satisfactory…. I LOVE BLACK FRIDAY!

Shopping essentials

Multiple credit cards

Pull over sweater - easy for trying on new clothes

Comfortablewalking shoes

Full shopping bags - a sign of a serious

shopper

Jeggings - offers extreme

comfort on long shopp-ping days

Super shopper senior Triniti Counter

iPhone 4SCost: approx. $200-$400

Dr. Drue HeadphonesCost: apsrox. $150=-$299

Gift cards

Toms ShoesCost: approx. $45-$80

Modern Warfare IICost: approx.$60

8 | FEATURE

They’re sassy, trendy, stylish & classic ;

“I feel like it takes a lot of initiative to wear heels.

It’s also really impressive to see other girls wearing heels to school as well.”

-Ali Chain, 12

by TrinitiCounter

FeatureWriter

Take precautionary measures girls, some shoes may be lethal.

They may look cute and have all the right perks, but what if the very shoes in your closet are destroying your health now and in the future…

With today’s out of this world fashion, women are starting to develop a different way of styling themselves in more extravagant ways.

Each day women imitate fashion icons like Lady Gaga and Blake Lively; and we all have seen the crazy ten inch Alexander Mc Queen “Alien” pumps that Lady Gaga wears in her music videos.

That leads us to the ques-tion; what health problems do women face now and in the future?

Recent research shows that a third of women suffer permanent problems from wearing heels, such as hammer toes. Hammer toes are when feet are squeezed to fit into a tight high heel that causes the toes to curl up to fit the shoe.

Other problems heels cause are callus and corns, which is a thick outer skin that builds up to protect the outer skin.

The long term use of heels also causes knee, calf, Achilles tendon, bumps,and ankle injuries and ball foot pain.

One of the most common problems women face from wearing heels is with their knees.

The heel of the shoe throws the body forward and puts pressure on the inside of the knee, causing joint disease in the knee.

Heels throw one’s center of gravity off by pushing a person forward. This leads to posture and pressure discom-forts. The heel affects the posture by throwing one’s shoulders, hips, back and spine in an “s” shape.

Pressure from the heel forms on the front of one’s foot will at some point cause bruising and metatarsalgia.

So maybe heels aren’t the best thing

to wear on a day to day basis, but women most certainly do look glamor-ous in them.

If you are one of those girls like seniors Ali Chain, Casey Sigrist and Briana Vallejo ,who choose style over comfort then pumps and booties are your ticket for confidence.

“I feel like it takes a lot of initiative to wear heels. It’s also really impres-sive to see other girls wearing heels to school as well”, Chain said.

When one sees women strutting in high heels with their heads held high and their shoulders thrust back, there is a certain stature they keep composed.

“I just feel much better when I am all dolled up and wearing my favorite heel. It’s a huge confidence booster,” Vallejo said.

As it turns out, heels aren’t the only thing

harmful for one’s health. Dr. Ion Drysdale, head of British

College of Osteopathic Medicine has proven the trendy, furry boot called “Uggs” is destroying a whole genera-tion of young women’s feet.

While wearing these comfortable shoes, the feet slide around inside the shoe. With every step, the force of one’s weight falls toward the inside of the feet which leads to the pain in the inside and outside of the foot.

Wearing Uggs for a long period of time causes foot fatigue. Foot fatigue is where the outside of the ankle and the arches feel a sharp pain.

“I wear a different pair of shoes ev-ery day, whether it be my flats strappy stilettoes or wedge fo-fur boots,” Sigrist said.

The stylish and affordable knock off boots and moccasins that over populate the school are also very similar to the Uggs. These are among the many fo-fur creations that attach to our feet.

A helpful tool to secure one’s foot comforts is to insert orthotics. These hold the feet in a corrective position as one stands or walks.

Each shoe in one’s closet has a certain flaw or perk but no matter what side effects they may have women will most likely continue to choose style over comfort.

but how good are they for you?

Flat-soled shoesvs.

High-heelsHigh heels push the

center of the mass in

the body forward,

taking the hips and

spine out of alignment.

“I don’t like high heels because I can’t walk and my steps are really short. Plus, they really hurt my feet and I just don’t feel comfortable wearing them.”

-Paige Keller, 11

“I love wearing high-heeled shoes, epecially when I want to impress someone. I would have to say my favorite thing about high heels is how tall they make me.”

-Sarah Mercer-Smith, 10

“I love wearing high heels because thye make we taller and they look classy. There honestly is nothing I don’t like about heels

-Winter Keller, 10

“I strongly dislike high heels because they are very uncom-fortable. It is likie walking on your toes for a whole day. I wouldn’t be caught dead in them. My heels were made to stay on the ground.

-Lexi Webber, 11

“I personally love heels. They make me feel really girly and pretty. When you wear really pretty things it makes you feel pretty.”

-Sadie Fuentes-Blanco, 10

High heels may

make legs look longer,

but as the heel height

goes up, so does the

pressure on the

forefoot.Correct posture in

flat-soled shoesIncorrect, altered posture

in high heels

Center Section | 9

Kids & their

We name them, we coddle them, we

clean them, and, we give them more respect

than we do our parents.

What object could possibly merit this kind

of devotion and passion? For the American

teenager it’s simple: their car.

Teens are, however, as divided on the issue

of cars as they are the music that blares from

the sound system while cruising Broadway and

27th Street on a Friday night.

Those who bought their own vehicle resent

those who had theirs given to them. Those who

pay for their own gas and insurance resent

those whose parents provide it.

In the end, it doesn’t matter if it’s junior Ra-

chel Carlin’s 1993 gold Oldsmobile heap in the

east parking lot, or sophomore Colton Adam’s

2003 four-wheel drive green GMC Sierra crew

cab pickup parked behind the Splash Arena,

teenagers love their cars

10 | CENTER SECTION CENTER SECTION | 11

by JonWiebe

Center SectionEditor

by Sarah Hall

Center SectionWriter by RachelCarlin

Center SectionWriter

Working Hard or Hardly WorkingAutomobiles play a large role in high school life, from transportaion to leisure. The question remains, can a car have a soul?Students that work for their automobile compared

to those that dont

“Thank you for choosing Dairy Queen and Orange Julius. How may I help you?”

Can you say that ten times fast? Cause I can.And I do.For not only me but for several teenagers,

having a tireless minimum wage job represents one very common goal.

Owning a car, or maintaining a car.From the moment I turned 16 I was told I

needed a job, for one reason. I had a car. This car wasn’t going to fill itself up with

gas, and my parents were certainly not the type of parents to just hand my money as I walked out of the hous

So I took the initiative and 4 days after my 16th birthday I started work.

It wasn’t until school started when I real-ized the shockingly large ratio of nice cars to, well not so nice cars in our parking lot. I thought to myself,

“I mean I’m sure these kids have jobs to pay for their gas money… yeah, right.”

And don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to bad mouth anyone with nice cars or their parents, but it seems like our generation has things handed to them.

In the 1950’s through the 1990’s between 45% and 60% of teenagers had jobs, this may seem like a small number but in comparison to today it’s actually quite large.

According to slate.com every one in four teenagers has a job. That’s only 25% of us.

As one of the 25% that has a job I find this information completely ridiculous. Until I re-ally think about it.

How many people do I know from school have jobs? When I really began to think about it, that statistic is seemingly more accurate than I thought.

“I’m envious of those kids who drive nice cars and don’t work,” Junior Victoria Holub said.

Envious. That’s the word I guess all of this really comes down to.

We working teenagers who spend our entire day in school then spend the rest of our night at work can only feel envious of the individu-als that don’t have that extra stress.

It’s not that we’re bitter or anything it’s that we have more pride in the things we own because we’ve spent our own hard earned money on it

I’ll be the first to admit my ’96 Chevy Blazer is not the most lavish vehicle you’ve ever seen parked in the lot, but I’m proud to say that I am 100% responsible for that car.

“I find it ironic in my situation that my dad is a co-owner of a car dealership and I’m still working at the library trying to buy my own car,” Holub said.

What I want to know is, is it us or our parents who are responsible for the lack of work ethic.

My parents more than appreciate it know-ing that I’m responsible for every ounce of gas that goes into my car.

In fact they even try to buy me gas now that school started, but I refuse the offer, I don’t feel right taking their money and using for reasons that are strictly for me.

I realize that not every parent is the same.Some parents value their child’s education

over them having a job; this is a very relevant argument.

It takes balance to be able to go to school, do homework, do school activities, and go to work all in the same day.

Why do we put ourselves through that amount of stress over something as tangible as a car?

Does it have to do with fitting in or simply preparation for the years to come?

I’m sure it’s a combination of the two. In our future we will all have jobs, we will

all have a home, and we will all have bills.But, instead of the bills and the home, we

teenagers have our car. We are so proud to call our car, our car, just

as our parents are glad to call their house, their home.

Perhaps the one thing that makes teenagers proud of their car is that it’s theirs. We have complete ownership of the vehicle that we bought.

With ownership comes respect.Not only respect for our vehicle but respect

for ourselves.The individuals that own their own car

clearly honor the ownership more than some-one who didn’t work for their car.

So as I hand out every ice-cream cone, and as Victo-ria Holub shelves every book, we both understand one thing.

We are proud to be working for a goal.

Owning our own automobile.

your window?What’s in

-Parking Passes - Marti Gras Beads-Fuzzy Dice -Disco ball-Necklaces -Hawaiian Leis-Metals -Dreamcatchers

I’ll never forget when I got my first car on my 16th birthday…

Oh wait, I forgot, I didn’t get one.Instead, a year later after my sister moved

away for college, I was given the car she drove. Before that it was called the family car.

I was given a hand-me-down car which I am currently driving today.

It’s a 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera that is missing a rear-view-mirror, windows that don’t work, locks that are broken and door handles that don’t seem to want to stay at-tached to the car.

Oh, and I almost forgot, the AC doesn’t work.

But the important thing to understand is that it was handed to me, I didn’t really earn it by getting a job, or by doing chores around the house.

So even though it’s not necessarily the best car, do I deserve anything better?

In the past, teenagers didn’t expect to get a brand new car on their 16th birthday. Maybe it was because there wasn’t a lot of pressure in getting one, or the fact that parents had back bones.

Today, with all of the activities and jobs students are involved in, having access to a car is almost a necessity.

But don’t get ‘needs’ confused with ‘wantes’.

“I have a 1991 model A, a ’97 Jeep Wrangler, Chevy Avalanche, Smart Car, the Chevy S10 and SSR, the Mini (Cooper), the Denali, and the ’67 Mustang,” junior Derrick Goss said.

Don’t worry; Goss doesn’t really own all of these cars. Actually, he doesn’t necessarily own any of them.

“My parents just like having a lot of dif-ferent cars. We have a different car for every-thing,” Goss said.

Out of the nine cars Goss’s parents own, he only drives three: the Mini, the Jeep, and the SSR pick-up.

Out of those three, he only considers one to have any sentimental value to him.

“The Mini is the only sentimentally-attached car that I have. The Mini’s like my baby,” Goss said.

Many students are unaware of the responsi-bilities that come with owning a car.

One of those huge responsibilities is being able to afford what one owns, which means having a job.

As I look at the east parking lot, I see so many nice, expensive cars that shouldn’t be

there.Why? Because some of those students that

own those cars aren’t earning any kind of income.

If a kid’s parent is going to hand them a car, it is only fair for the kid to pay for gas... right?

“I work at Masek Golf Cart Company with my parents. It just gives me money to do stuff, so I pay for my own gas,” Goss said.

As Goss rightfully should (along with every other teenager currently driving a vehicle), because according to AAA (American Automo-bile Association) the average American spends a total of $1,333 on gasoline each year.

That’s a lot of money for a parent ot fork out

on their kid.I know getting a job is easier said than done,

but we all have to take responsibility for our-selves sooner or later.

Don’t you want to be able to say,’ I may not deserve it, but I earned it?’

Jugging both a job and school is rewarding in itself, but becoming more mature with the decisions you make with your money is even more gratifying.

I’m not just blaming the students here, because parents have just as much to do with their kids owning unnecessary cars, because they’re the ones giving it to them.

If your parent gave you a classy car that was outrageously expensive, would you take it?

I’ll take that as a yes.When did discipline and denial go out the

window and lenience become the new trend in households?

Most kids today are being brought up that you’ll get what you want in life.

The harsh truth that everyone finds out sometime in his/her lifetime is that life doesn’t give hand-outs; you actually have to work for what you want.

As the famous band, the Rolling Stones once said: “you can’t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.

“Wrm-sputter-wrm-wrm.”It’s happened to everyone.“Wrm-sputter-wrm-wrm-sputter-wrm.”Next comes the silent prayer, “come on…start!”“Sputter-wrm-sputter, vroom-VROOM,” after much coaxing, the

engine fires to life.This scenario is frequently presented to high school students, particu-

larly ones who have no means of indoor storage for the automobiles in the dead of winter.

That silent prayer was a desperate cry for help, but who was the mes-sage directed at?

The answer lies in the machine.No one can deny the importance of the modern day car in today’s

society, but for many the combination of gears, cylinders, and sparkplugs are much more than petty parts.

After long periods of time, people tend to become increasingly comfortable with what they surround themselves with. One of the most common things to become cozy with is an automobile, given its daily use and frequent abuse.

For many the attachment to a car is a personal matter, unique to every individual. Anyone can drive a car, but it takes a special ingredient be-tween flesh and steel to be considered a relationship.

Soul. Some have it, some don’t.One car that most definitely has soul is Kerena Booth’s hearty Volvo

station wagon.“My car definitely has more personality than most cars, it’s definitely

a hippie wagon. The car might have personality, but it’s the people riding

inside that gives it soul,” Booth states.Attachments can be to anything from a phone to a chair, but in-

stances one comes in contact with the object on a regular basis the bond forms quite quickly.

Not all automobile owners need that extensive period of time to experience a special connection to their certain automobile.

“I’ve owned the car for 2 years but I was attached to it within 2-3 months, that’s when it became mine,” says Booth.

The ownership of a car comes with regularity, people are crea-tures of habit and we surround ourselves with that which we are comfortable with.

When you see something on a daily basis it becomes on of two things, a friend or a foe.

“My car is like a sibling, we have fights and it’s a daily struggle to manage it,” Booth says.

In other words, owning a car is like being in a long-term dating rela-tionship. If you never argue or fight it will never be healthy.

Owning a car is exactly that, a long-term relationship. Nobody (with the exception of the ludicrously affluent) buys a car with the intent to sell it the next month.

Without the existence of serious mechanical problems, there should be no reason to trade in a vehicle, especially if it runs, which is more that many people are blessed with.

Although its disadvantages can be a hassle, having a car that is not always reliable is not always a bad thing. A daily problem keeps a person on their toes, which involves some amount of critical thing and problem solving, something lacked by many in today’s day and age.

The car will eventually get fixed or get replaced, the owner of the car being the ultimate lose in the daily struggle.

For the time being, we won’t be going anywhere without our cars, they are pieces of high school life that are very necessary, which is why maintaining a healthy relationship with your own car is important.

If you have the option, pick a car that you like and will respect.“The problem lies with fact that I didn’t have a say in what car I was

going to drive, and I wouldn’t have chosen the one I’m driving now if I would have been able to,” Booth summarizes.

Making sure you have something you like about the car is essential in keeping a relationship.

Junior Jon Maag knows that cars are meant for getting from point A to point B, but also enjoys the other side of driving, for pleasure.

“It’s a vehicle to have fun with, transportation too, but mostly fun,” Maag says of his 1980’s BMW 528e.

Even though the car has been in the family for over a year and a half (of which Maag has been driving regularly), he has not developed a strong connection with the handsome bimmer.

“I really appreciate the car, I just don’t have a strong connection with it,” Maag says.

Maag represents a large portion of the high school population, those that value their four-wheel companions, but don’t have the extra enthu-siasm to love and cherish them at the same time.

Owning a car isn’t just about driving the thing, it’s about caring for it as well.

A car can be compared to a basketball player; he/she might have all the talent in the world but the only way they can get to show it is if they play.

Unlocking a car’s potential is about appreciating everything that it is, not just a transporter but a friend and companion.

Quit thinking about how many times a car will turn over before fir-ing to life in five degree weather. Start appreciating every time it sput-ters to life instead, for a car only has as much soul as you put into it.

Love at first drive

Personal Comen-taries by;

The important thing to under-stand is that it was handed to me, I didn’t really earn it by getting a job, or by doing chores around the house. Rachel Carlin, Junior

said.Students that live in close vicinity of

the school often walk instead of wast-ing gas driving to school.

“I don’t mind walking because I live so close,” Meister said.

Even the students that do live near the school find themselves wishing that they were driv-ing themselves to and from school.

“In the winter it’s really cold so I would rather drive to school because it’s so much faster and warmer,” Meis-ter said.

Walking to school not only reduces our carbon footprint to benefit mother earth. It also provides daily exercise.

Even though walking to school isn’t exactly the ‘cool’ thing to do, the benefits might possibly outweigh the ‘uncool-ness’.

Carpool

90% of all bicycle accidents are due to a collision.

“If there weren’t cars, I would always ride my bike.” Vogt said.

Although the bicycle has had the potential to become a major staple in environmentally friendly travel in the U.S, it’s never happened.

“Without cars around riding a bike is one of the most uplifting feel-

ings in the world.” Vogt saidMany people ride bikes from lack

of other transportation, which is the case with Vogt.

“I got tired of walking, so now I ride.”

About .2% of passenger travel is by bicycle. W more people becom-ing concerned about the state of our environment, the use of bicycles might become a rather popular mode of transportation.

“The main reason I walk is

because my car broke down.” Ryan Meister,12

If there weren’t cars I

would always ride my bike. Johnny Vogt,

Senior

Lost in transportationWalk

MotorcycleCycleThe bicycle has never been a major

mode of transportation in the U.S. al-though nearly half (46%) of driving age adults have access to a bicycle. But how many actually use it?

Johnny Vogt, 12, has started depend-ing on his bicycle for transportation this summer and has continued into the school year.

“During the summer I would ride to go running.” Vogt said.

About 13% of people that regularly ride their bikes of transporta-tion have at least once felt

threatened for their personal safety.

“I take the backstreets to avoid

cars.” Vogt said.

Nearly

A student’s pedal power approach to transportation.

Junior Matt Klein is known for many things, one of them his motorcycle.

Klein is one of the 6.2 million Americans that rides motorcycles regularly.

One of the advantages is better gas mileage. Motorcycles use 191 million gallons of gas a year compared to cars which use 74,590 gallons annually.

Traveling by motorcycle reduces the journey by up to two thirds.

“It gets better gas mileage and it gets me there a lot faster,” Klein said.

Although weather is not a factor in 98% of motorcycle accidents most bikers prefer to take the winter off.

“I would say it has to be decent out to ride. At least 60 degrees,” Klein said.

Riding can be nice when one has a quick erran but there are some setbacks.

“You can’t carry a lot of stuff and there’s more to it than

just driving a regular car, there’s more controls.” Klein said

Klein said that he’s been riding for about a year.

“Its been about a year and a half since I got my first motorcycle and I’ve been riding since,” he said

Klein isn’t the only member of his family that rides, “My mom had a bike before me and ever since I’ve always wanted one because I thought it was cool so I ended up getting her old one and she got a new one so that’s how I started,” Klein said.

Klein enjoys riding to school; he gets better gas mileage; he gets to his destination faster, and he feels original.

“I feel more free when riding instead of being in

a car like everyone else.” Klein said.

“Hey guys! Guys!” junior Justin Pritchard yelled at his teammates as they piled into his car after school on their way to practice.

Pritchard, along with most of the cross country boys’ team, are some of the few students that carpool as one of their main modes of trans-portation.

Seventy tons of carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere every day. Carbon dioxide is the leading cause of global warming.

“We carpool mainly because we have a lot of young guys and not everyone can drive so the guys that do have licenses drive us to our locations when we run,” Pritchard said

If more people were to carpool there would be fewer cars on the roads meaning there would be less pollution and fewer accidents.

“We carpool almost every day

unless we’re going to the track or run-ning from the school,” Pritchard said.

Carpooling with the same group ev-ery day allows you to growing closer to the people and get to know them better.

“The team grows closer because we’re with each other more,” Pritchard said.

Although there can be disadvan-tages that come with having that many people in one car Pritchard claims that they have never experienced any.

“It’s usually pretty straightforward and simple; there are not really any problems with it,” Pritchard said

Carpooling is such an efficient way of travelling that if you carpooled every day you would be able to save up to $3,000 or more a year.

Only 8.6% of Nebraskans carpool each year, but with the economy re-maining in a slump and gas prices on the rise the number of carpoolers may soon see a spike but for

Pritchard and his teammates carpooling has been a daily activity throughout the season and a positive alternative against pollution.

Walking is something we all do every day. It’s the most common form of transportation yet hardly anyone actually walks as their main mode of transporta-tion.

Walking has numerous health and environmental benefits.

So, why is it that hardly anyone ever walks to get around?

Is it because we feel like a loser when seen walking around instead of driving?

Whatever the reason, walking is obsolete.

However, there are the few kids that still walk home, like senior Ryan Meister.

“The main reason I walk is be-cause my car broke down,” Meister

12 | Center Section

stories by Kaela Heinz Center Section

Writer

Opinion | 13

The views expressed in this editorial were supported 17-3 by

The Echoes staff

editor-in-chief |Maddie Holscher

the

ECHOES

news editor | Ben Wiebe

news writer | Aaron Martin

feature editor | Ashleigh Smith

feature writer | Courtney Imel

feature writer | Triniti Counter

sports editor | Matthew T. Klein

sports writer | Zach Clemens

sports writer | Michael Miller

adviser | Terry Pitkin

The Echoes is a monthly publication printed by the Business Farmer. The Echoes is a member of the Nebraska High School Press Association and the International Order of the Quill and Scroll.

The Echoes encourages readers to write letters to the editor in response to a story, but does reserve the right to publish said letter.

The Echoes also encour-ages all readers to submit their ideas for story cover-age, feedback on stories, and any other input.

The EchoesScottsbluff High School313 East 27th St.Scottsbluff, NE 69361Letters with obscene,

slanderous, libelous, or false information will not be fun. The letter must also be signed to be run. Content may be edited due to gram-matical or content needs. A signed copy must be presented to the Scottsbluff High School journalism department, room 130.

center section editor | Jon Wiebe

center section writer |Rachel Carlin

center section writer |Sarah Hall

entertainment editor |Michael Wright

entertainment writer |Ryan Meister

entertainment writer |Kaela Heinz

entertainment writer |Pace Michele

entertainment writer |Warren Eubanks

artist | Spencer Lake

staff

There’s no ap(PLAS) for SHS test scoresJust when life appears to be shuffling

along at a manageable pace in the hall-ways of Scottsbluff High School…fate, karma, destiny, providence, or in our case, the Nebraska State Department of Education (NSDE), slaps us with a wake up call.

The announcement last week by the NSDE that Scottsbluff High School is now member of the Persistently Low Achieving Schools (PLAS) club in Nebraska is not the type of news any school district wants to receive.

One has to wonder how this institu-tion could be labeled a Persistently Low Achieving School when over the past two years it has produced the fol-lowing: four National Merit Semifinal-ists, three state athletic championships, two state drill team championships, an award-winning yearbook and newspa-per, a top-flight FFA program, a top-five state speech program and a DECA pro-gram that has won awards on the state and national levels.

According to the NSDE, the answer can be found in our NeSA test scores. We may do a lot of things well around here, but we do not measure up when it comes to these tests.

In fact, SHS tested below the profi-ciency level in both math and reading.

Our test scores, combined with a low graduation rate, put us in the lowest five percent of schools in the state and earned us a spot on the PLAS list.

Immediately the question is raised, ‘who is to blame for all of this?’

The answer isn’t easy, nor is the solution simple. This is a complex issue that involves a community to solve.

And this fix doesn’t deal solely with the high school. This is a K-12 and a

community problem.Hillary Clinton wrote a book called,

It Takes a Village to Raise a Child. In it, she focuses on the impact society has on a child’s life and how individuals and groups outside the family influence a child’s development.

Our school could take some lessons from the book…that is, if we read it.

Students can’t point fingers at teachers; teachers can’t point fingers at parents; and parents can’t point fingers at the administration.

We are all a part of this problem and we need to partner together to fix it.

We can start with ourselves.As a student body, we have to decide

for ourselves that we want to make this better. We have the power to fix it.

Students need to be educated on the

importance of these tests and how they can impact the rest of the school and even the community.

It can’t be stressed enough how im-perative it is that we give our best effort on these tests.

We are a better school than our membership on the PLAS list suggests.

As a student body, we should be angry. This doesn’t represent who we are, yet the rest of the state sees us as a school who can’t read or do a math problem.

Why is it that we don’t compete on these tests like we do in our other activities?

When will we take our education seriously?

Our future is in our own hands and if we want to get the jobs we want and the lives we desire, we have only our-selves to count on.

Parents, teachers and administra-tors can only do so much to solve this problem.

Until the student body decides for itself to stop making Christmas tree designs on Scantron answer sheets and start taking responsibility, we will continue to maintain our membership on the PLAS team.

With the shock and disappointment of being named to the PLAS list wear-ing off, it’s time to get to work.

Get out that No. 2 pencil second semester and let’s earn some ap(PLAS).

14 | ENTERTAINMENT Art credits Sacha Machado

Art, it’s a beautiful form of self-expression that can be appreciated for stimulating intellect and emotions, or its ability to open up windows to a whole universe of creative possi-bilities you could have only thought possible in dreams, and of course the pretty colors.

But the artist that craft these master works can sometimes be a dirty collection of pretentious hipster scoundrels or worse crazy people.

I’m thinking along the lines of those people who will cut their own ear off in a fit of excessive tension or guys who will make amazing art work and then not actually make any money off of it until their dead.

Luckily this school is littered with less crazy yet equally gifted artistic minds.

It may be difficult at times to spot them however seeing as how un-like your traditional artist they don’t always look like a model out Urban Outfitters.

But they are among us, quietly and humbly being much better with a pencil and paper than I could ever hope to be.

They may not share the same inspi-rations, artistic styling, or preferred medium but they all share a gift for being able to express themselves through their artistic works.

“Whenever I have anger or if I ever have problems you know I just draw what’s ever on my mind… just kind

of let my emotions out,” said junior Rojelio Gurrola describing how his art helps to express himself.

Whether they rock a pencil and pa-per or kick out the jams with clay they all have their own artistic niche.

by Warren Eubanks

EntertainmentWriter

An artistic eye for expression that goes unnoticed

Like every good artist they have an inspiration or muse if you will like what Rose was to Jack in Titanic or what tomato soup was to Andy Warhol.

“A lot of times just looking at people and like their heads and see-ing how I can draw that,” said junior Lane Laucomer when describing what helps to inspire him to draw.

And for some their inspiration can come from their cultural heritage or other very talented people in their family.

“My dad, grandfather, both of my

uncles. Everybody, some people can dance, sing, draw, and sculpt,” said Michael Larriuex talking about the creative culture and heritage that he shares with the rest of his family.

As effortless as they can make it seem however most of the time it has taken them years of practice to master their artistic medium.

Often making their art during their down time (like in the middle of a boring class) they can turn wasted time into a practicing ground to hone their skills.

“Just depends on what goes on in the day like if were not busy in that class I’ll draw,” said junior Sacha Machado

Or if the middle of a math class isn’t convenient they can always flash their skills for a full hour in a half in the studio of Ms. Wallace who offers her own artistic expertise and supples during one of her art classes.

“Obviously she’s just the best teacher ever,” raves senior Sebastian Lovato when describing Ms. Wallace as his artistic mentor.

And as if the talent here in Scotts-bluff wasn’t good enough the school manages to import some premium artistic talent in the form of foreign exchange students.

Like Tomasso Torri, a budding Da Vinci and junior from Italy who told of his ambitions in the world of art when he gets back to his native Italy.

“I will attend a university in Italy about art.”

Aside from showing off their beautiful works whenever they get

Art credits Spencer Lake

Art credits Tomasso Torri

the chance to belittle the less creative people of this school (such as my-self) some of these young talents are actually looking forward to making a career out art.

And sure maybe artist are never regarded as wealthy people but for some it sure does beat doing math as an accountant or using or using sci-ence in the world of medicine.

“I’m thinking about graphic designer… it’s kind of like design webpages and advertisements,” said Laucomer giving serious consider-ation to one day applying his talents to the field of graphic design.

And even if they’re not feeling the art scene or they somehow get bored of it they still have plenty of other things that they excel at like sports and playing musical instruments like guitar.

In the world of art there are never any true ways of figuring out what is right and what is wrong, what is beautiful and what is ugly, or what has value and what doesn’t.

The only person who can truly judge an artwork is the artist who created it because only they what it is they are trying to express and what their true inspirations are.

It is in this creative passion that people have found shelter and discov-ered a way to express themselves in different ways.

And even though only a slight handful of people where mentioned in this article the artistic well in this school is never dry and every day more students are finding more cre-ative ways to express themselves.

by Pace Michele

EntertainmentWriter

Top 10 Blu-ray movies in 2011

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

2. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides3. Captin America: The First Avenger4. Scream 45. Transformers: Dark of the Moon6. Green Lantern7. True Grit8. The Blind Side9. Final Fantasy VII - Advent Children10. Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith

How old is your TV? Not so old? Really old? Fairly old?Older TV’s are typically less quality,

but even in modern times new TV’s can look old. Without the newest storage mediums, televisions can never be used to their extent.

In 1997 the era of video tapes was revolutionized with the invention of the DVD (digital video disk). Sight and sound became a digital bath to the senses of the viewer.

Instead of having to rewind and fast forward old tapes, the DVD, in essence (took all that tape and made into digital information.) This gives the viewer’s full control of when to pause the movie, resume at any point in the movie, and go to a selected scene of his/her choice all with care free, no hassle, easy to do movements of the thumb.

DVD’s are not only easier to navi-gate but are much higher quality.

Yet as the technological race contin-ues, is there something better?

Yes.In October 2000 the first prototype

of a better DVD was introduced to the world. Six years later in June of 2006 the official birth of Blu-ray was intro-duced by Sony.

To the naked eye Blu-ray discs and DVD’s looked virtually the same, with the exception of a bluish glow on the back side of the Blu-ray discs. In the world of technology, however, the dif-ferences are monumental.

DVD’s were only allowed to hold so much information on the disc whereas Blu-ray discs significantly increased this storage capacity for information. Many DVD’s are only able to hold 4.7 GB (gigabytes) of information, whereas Blu-ray discs can hold an astonishing 27 GB of information in a single layer.

What’s this mean in layman’s terms?Basically this means Blu-ray discs

can perform to a much higher defini-tion and quality both visually and auditorily. The differences are subtle and debate continues whether there actually is a visible difference between the two.

Aside from picture and sound DVD’s are only allowed two to three hours of playability due to minimal memory storage. Blu-ray, on the ot hand, allows around 13 hours of play-ability per disc.

Entertainment | 15

This difference in how much time is allowed on DVD’s vs. the Blu-ray disc vouches for why many Blu-ray discs also come with extended version and directors cuts. In many cases, when a consumer buys a Blu-ray movie, they get more than just a movie. It’s like the difference between buying a house and buying a house that comes with free furniture, appliances, new paint, new carpet, remolded bathrooms, and $100,000.00 lying on the table for you.

So why are so many movies switch-ing to the Blu-side?

Blu-ray is another way of getting all of those old classics like Lion King, Star Wars, and Jurassic Park back out on the market for more money. But how much more does Blu-ray cost than DVD?

The major setback to the superiority of Blu-ray is the difference of cost for a single disc.

On average DVD’s retail prices cost about $6 or more. In contrast consumer pays an average of $20 to $28 for one Blu-ray disc.

As a buyer this is quite a differ-ence which in turn may leave shopper wondering. Is the excellence of Blu-ray worth the exemplary fee over tradi-tional DVD’s?

Ushering in the Blu-ray revolution

How ToPlank:1. Lie face down.2. Keep your feet together, with your toes pointed.3. Put your arms to your side, with your fingers pointed. 4. Plank at your own risk, never plank where you risk injury.

To the untrained eye, the newest teenage fads look like nothing more than contests to see who can lie down in the most creative places.

Planking, which gained popular-ity on the internet in mid-2011, is exactly that: lying down in various places in attempt to show off to other people on the internet.

The rules are simple; find some-where that will get other people’s attention, lie down on your belly, and have someone take a picture.

It is deceptively simple yet, like other fads such as owling, batman-ning, and tebowing; it has taken the internet by storm.

Planking has its roots in what was called the ‘lying down game,’ which was popular in the U.K. through the early to mid-2000’s. The term ‘planking’ was first used by New Zealander Paul Carran after he

noticed how the body looks like a plank while playing the lying down game.

The game gained immense populari-ty on March 27, 2011, after rugby player David Williams planked on the field during a game between the Manly-War-ringah Sea Eagles and the Newcastle Knights. A picture of Williams planking was posted on the internet and, within a few months, planking was every-where.

Following the popularity of plank-ing, owling was introduced into the world when a picture of a woman perched on a stair railing was posted on the the file-sharing website Reddit.com with the caption “OWLING: Because planking is so two months ago.”

The owling fad took off in less time than planking, yet it was able to get just as big. That is, until batmanning came along.

Batmanning, which got its name from the infamous comic book charac-ter, is the act of hanging upside down from one’s feet, just like the caped crusader.

Similar fads include teapot-ting, horsemanning, coneing, and Tebowing; which is the act of getting on one knee and putting your head on your fist, in similar fashion to Den-ver Broncos Quarterback Tim Tebow.

However, as fun and entertaining these fads are, they can also be quite dangerous. This was best illustrated on May 15, 2011, when Australian man Acton Beale fell to his death while attempting to plank on his 7th story balcony.

Batmanning also puts patrons at increased risk, since they have an

increased risk of falling on their head, although no fatal accidents have been reported.

Aside from the risks, activities simi-lar to planking have become one of a growing list of activities young people love.

There is no explanation why kids like to lay down in the middle of the park, but whatever the reason; it has become an art that modern generations will never forget.

by MichaelWright

EntertainmentEditor

Teenager see, Teenager doAs new fads take over the internet, the rest of the world catches on

Perch like the windSenior Warren Eubanks goes owl-ing during a break after school. “It is good to think from the perspec-tive of our featherd friends some-times” Eubanks said.

16| Entertainment

From the beginning of time human-ity has been enthralled with the idea of music.

From tribal African music to sonnets of the greatest composers ever known music has influenced people in the best way possible.

This is why Mr. Ronne’s music tech classes have decided to make a Lipdub video.

“I came up with this idea after seeing a lipdub video from another Nebraska high school,” Ronne said.

“The best way to describe a lipdub is a group of people who are lip sync-ing to a famous song,” Maggie Van Amburg said.

Each class had its own assignment, one was in charge of the technical aspects, one was in charge of direct-ing and planning, and the other was in charge of getting all the activities involved.

Van Amburg is one of the many students in charge of the lipdub video. Each student in the class has a set job that helps the project run smoothly.

“The class involved of the techni-cal aspect built a

camera stabilizer so the camera would be stable, they also did several filming run throughs. The class in charge of planning made the route to go in time with the music and once they were done with that they worked on light-ing. While the class in charge of getting all the activities involve held lip syncing auditions and decided where the activities would be placed.” Ronne said.

“We were all very excited for the project,” Ronne said.

The students wanted to appeal to both generations in the high school.

“For our song choices we decided to pull from both generations in the school. So we picked “Party Rock An-them” by LMFAO, and “JUMP” by Van Halen.” Van Amburg said.

With this idea set in motion kids started to flock to join in and help.

Not only are the volunteers a big part in the production but they are also

trying to showcase how many clubs, sports and activities are offered in the high school.

Many students had main parts of “singing” including Michael Wright, Derrick Goss, Maggie Van Amburg,

and Ashley Hall amoung others.

While these students were in the foreground many others were involved in the background showing their various activities.

However, as with every major project problems arose.

“One of the main problems we faced was

information. Getting information out and around proved to be a challenge,” Ronne said. “Another big problem was getting the whole student body on board with it.”

Some good things did come out of it.“The administration worked bril-

liantly with every turn, they were fully supportive. I’m not sure all the teachers

were on board with it, but I feel that might be a problem with communica-tion.” Ronne said.

This was a rather large learning ex-perience for Mr. Ronne and his classes.

“We learned something new at every turn. We faced a lot of problems but we all learned from it, and if we do some-thing like this again we’ll have more experience,” Ronne said.

The possibility of doing a lipdub is a large possibility in the upcoming years.

The current lipdub already has over 4,000 hits on YouTube as of Tuesday morning.

“I am surprised how well our lipdub has done,” Pace Michele said. “I never would have imagined our lipdub would have ever been seen by more than the number of students who attend the high school.”

With the production of the lipdub many students learned about all the activities our school offers, as well as a unified effort to show positive support about Scottsbluff High School.

by Ryan Meister

EntertainmentWriter FilmingSenior Pace Michele was in charge of the ac-tual filming of the lip dub which began at the softball fields north of the high school and ended in the auditorium. Photo by Aubri Ne-della

Lipdub projectnow onYouTube

“I never would have imagined our lipdub

would have ever been seen by more than the number of students who attend

the high school,”Pace Michele, 12

Megan

Pilk

ington

, 11, first stu

den

t SH

S lip

du

b

SPORTS | 17

by Zach Clemens

SportsWriter

An injury not to be pushed to the limit

Sidney CrosbyProfessional hockey player

Pittsburgh PenguinsOne of the NHL’s brightest stars suffered a severe concussion on Jan. 5, 2011 and has

been out since

Jared CrickCollege football playerNebraska Cornhuskers

A force on the Huskers defensive line, Crick suffered a concussion that sidelined him for

the Wyoming game in Laramie

Famous athletes with concussions

Brett FavreProfessional football player

Green Bay PackersThe NFL’s all-time career passing touchdowns

record holder suffered multiple severe concussions during his career

C ON CUS SIO NSIn the third quarter of the football

game against Hastings earlier this fall, senior Trent Land was in the front line of the kick return team. When the ball was kicked off he swung around to the right side of the field to block a Hast-ings’ lineman.

“I hit him as hard as I could...but neither of us fell down. As soon as I hit him I felt pain in my head, neck, and all the way down to my ribs,” Land said.

Even if he didn’t know it at first, Land suffered a concussion from the

force of the hit.“I didn’t think anything of it at first,

but as I walked to the sideline I got really dizzy. I got even dizzier on the sideline and started to fall backward, but one of my teammates caught me. I stumbled over to the trainer and he took me through a series of tests and told me I had a minor concussion and took my helmet and I had to sit out the following week,” Land said.

Land and 47% of other high school football players suffered a concussion this season. Land also is a part of the 35% that suffered two in one season.

He suffered a second concussion in the last regular season game against Al-liance with three minutes before the half with the score 7-6.

“I hadn’t gotten to play much in the game so I was eager to make a hit. The Alliance player was running down the field and I had the angle on him. Their field was pretty wet and as I went to hit him he stopped short and when I planted my foot it slid. Our helmets met at full speed, facemask to facemask. I don’t remember hitting the ground, all I remember is getting up and slowly walking towards the sideline,” Land said.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are between 1.6 to 3.8 million sports related concus-sions every year.

Activities that concussions are most reported in are football, basketball, soccer, and bicycling -football being the most.

A concussion can be caused by a bump, blow or jolt to the head, and they affect the way someone’s brain works and how they feel.

The common symptoms of a concus-sion could include: headache, nausea, balance problems or dizziness, blurry vision, sensitivity to light and sound, feeling sluggish or hazy, memory prob-lems, and confusion.

Some of these are symptoms Land experienced after suffering his second concussion.

“I ran over to the sideline but the closer I got the worse my balance was. The trainer met me on the sideline and immediately pulled me aside and performed tests on me. I answered all of his questions correctly. My daze slowly went away and I started to get

a headache. Then nausea set in and it took everything to keep myself from throwing up. During the walk to the locker room at halftime, I just stopped and threw up,” Land said

In the past decade, reported sports-related concussions have increased by 60%. It is estimated that 85% of concus-sions typically go undiagnosed, and that is the problem.

Concussions are classified as an “invisible” injury. One cannot see a concussion on any type of MRI or CAT scan like a torn ligament or tendon.

Not diagnosing a concussion can lead to an athlete playing while con-cussed, which is very dangerous.

Playing a sport after a concussion, especially a contact sport like football, can lead to Second-impact syndrome.

It is an often fatal condition suffered after a second blow to the head after a concussion that leads to death or seri-ous disability.

Concussions are also very dangerous in the long-run, and have been linked to certain brain diseases.

A recent study by the University of North Carolina found a strong correla-tion between concussions and the onset of dementia and depression which both affect the brain in an adverse way.

Measures against concussions are increasing, however.

Football helmet companies like Riddell and Schutt are coming out with new technology in their helmets to re-duce the risk of suffering a concussion.

Riddell’s Revolution Speed hel-met claims to reduce concussions by increasing side and facial protection, increased shell offset, which is the distance from the shell to the wearer’s head, and tru-curve shell shape which is designed around the heads center of gravity to move more naturally when hit.

The ION 4D, which is worn by the Bearcat football team, also states its helmet reduces the chances for concus-sions.

It uses Schutt’s TPU padding system that in testing, absorbed 42% more im-pact than other helmets they tested.

While many athletes step onto the court or the field and worry about tear-ing an ACL or spraining an ankle, the reality of the situation is they are more likely to suffer a concussion.

The Ion 4D by Schutt

Price:$260

Technology: TPU Cushioning that absorbs more impact and stays cooler and cleaner

Awards:Best in Show at 2008 NATA, Best New Sports Equipment of 2011

Helmets used by the 2011 Scottsbluff football team

by Matt T.Klein

SportsWriter

With so many high schoolers drinking alcohol, including athletes, performances on the field & court are suffering

Two-A-DaysAs the winter seasons

get rolling the athletes work themselves morning and night during their gru-eling two-a-day practices that consist of conditioning and training. Swimming, wrestling and basketball are the sports starting up this winter season. The hardest part is doing back to back drills without rest,” Junior basketball player Michael Hadden said.

MustSeeSeasonsBearcat Wrestling The wrestlers return two defend-ing state champions in Tyler Nation and Colton Adams along with a team champion-ship at districts last year. Coach James Miller also starts a new chapter in Scottsbluff wrestling.

Moment(s)ToRememberThe Bearcats cross coun-try team repeated as state champs.

As well as the football team repeated as district champs. The softball team also won districts and made their first trip to state in school history.

Zone

*Names changed to protect identity“Come on, push it…five more, five

more!”“Let’s go, don’t quit, finish, finish!” “Nice! Rack it. Good set man; good

work today.” A dedicated athlete in the weight

room and on the practice field goes through that type of thought process of every week of preparation.

They know how much they have left until they can be satisfied with what they have done during their workout.

They go through all the hard work of waking up early in the morning to go lift every day.

They stay after practice to put the finishing touches on all of the skills in their arsenal for one thing: to get the W’s.

Then out on the field, court or mat they put it all to work as it pays off to have done that extra rep or sprint dur-ing their strenuous workouts.

Then there are those who do all the training and muscle building work that breaks down every last part of your body that makes it next to impossible to stand up. And then they waste it all as they go out on Friday and Saturday nights and drink it all away.

“I do it to socialize and have a fun, safe night in a harmless environment,” Bob* said.

The negative effects of alcohol on student athletes especially are impos-sible to overcome from a competitive-edge stand point.

Each time a student athlete goes out and drinks to the point of intoxication, it takes fourteen days of training away that they worked so hard for during the offseason. It takes away the entire offseason and throws it away.

Not only does it take away all the work that was done previously it also takes away the possibility of future training as it diminishes training hor-mones for up to four days after alcohol consumption.

The effects of alcohol consumption, however, don’t stop there.

The ability to recover after a work-out becomes even more difficult than it was before and takes away all the benefits an athlete gains from training.

In addition, the negative effects of drinking, such as a hangover, also de-creases athletic performance by 11.4%

“I feel it has minimal effects on my performance but I make up for it by training hard. Worth it,” Bob said.

All these effects will negatively im-pact performance during competition dramatically.

Now getting through the holes an offensive line creates, going for a take-down, jumping up for a ball, or reacting to a ball that takes an unusual hop, becomes a lot harder.

“I don’t worry about the risks, we are smart about it and have had experi-ence,” Bob said

Games often comes down to a mat-ter of inches. Every inch can be won and lost from the things athletes do off the field, as well as on the field.

No matter what sport an athlete participates in there is always that possibility of becoming injured during their sport.

However, those who consume alco-hol are twice as likely to become injured during a season than those who don’t.

The greatest advantage of any ath-lete is being bigger, faster, and stron-ger than the competition. That takes dedication.

However, dedication isn’t just going to the weight room and running the extra sprints and miles.

It’s being able to maintain and build upon those training methods and habits by staying away from substances such as alcohol that takes the advantage away.

party hard(er)PLAY HARD -Boys Basketball

Coming off an 18-8 record and a district championship last season and a state appearance the boys look to improve and make a run. The boys return four starters from last year.

SPORTS The

18 | SPORTS

SPORTS | 19

by MichaelMiller

SportsWriter

The Dirty Work Senior Megan Gealy passes the ball during the Twin Cities Invite against Ogallala. The Bearcats won the game in a 2-0 sweep. Photo by Gordan Rock

In the world of sports, much fame is to be had and distributed, although not always evenly.

Everyone knows about the quarter-backs, the running backs, the hitters in volleyball, and, of course, the star point guard on the basketball team.

But what about the players that make it possible for these stars to shine?

Who are the offensive linemen, sixth men on the basketball team, and, of course, the liberos and defensive spe-cialists in volleyball?

These are the people behind the headlines.

Without them, there are no yards gained, no points scored, and not much fun to be had.

Imagine sitting down to watch a football game on Sunday and the offen-sive linemen were absent, leaving the skill players at the defense’s mercy.

Surely they would have a newfound appreciation for their absent offensive line as they were getting repeatedly beaten in to the ground.

Or how about watching a volleyball game without those defensive special-ists and liberos going down for those digs to help put their team in position to score?

What about basketball without a sixth man?

Then there’s nobody to supply the relief that some players will inevitably need, leaving a very tired team out on the court or on the field, which would lead to very sloppy finishes.

“Without them (offensive lineman), those quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers wouldn’t be getting their names in the paper,” line coach

Mike Fisher, said. “Without us, there are no touch-

downs,” senior Justin Becerra said. Though it may appear the average

fan does not appreciate these players, teammates are grateful to have them on their side.

“The running backs should appreci-ate us, considering we open the holes they run through. Luke Worden even had a meal at his house one time for the lineman,” senior Trent Land, said.

Though their team is more grateful than the fans, the media recognizes only those that rack up the yards, leav-ing the lineman ‘out to dry’.

“I feel like they (skill players) take the glory and we have to sit back and congratulate them for running through the holes we made,” junior Jon Maag said.

Coach Fisher, however, says the lack of publicity is good for the position.

“It keeps them pretty humble. There isn’t an offensive or defensive lineman (on our team) that toots his own horn all the time. The guys accept their roles and they know when they make a great play. The coaches are the first to notice that,” Fisher said.

Despite the lack of recognition, all three lineman interviewed agreed play-ing football was still worth it.

“It’s worth it because if you’re run-ning the ball you just get hit. If you’re on the line, you get to hit back,” Maag said.

Volleyball is no different than foot-ball in that some players simply don’t get the recognition they deserve.

Senior Megan Gealy, the volleyball team’s libero, is one of those people.

“I don’t think people really know how hard it is until you actually play it.

It’s a lot harder than most people think it is,” Gealy said.

One of the volleyball team’s defen-sive specialist, junior Lauren Miller, is stuck in a similar position.

Still, as with the football players, both agree playing volleyball is still worth it, despite the lack of recognition.

“It’s my favorite sport and I love it,” Miller said.

Another position often underappe-ciated is the sixth man/woman in basketball.

The sixth man’s job is to come off the bench and try to provide some relief and a spark for the team. Since they are not an official starter, they don’t receive as much recognition.

“I don’t think (the sixth man gets enough recognition). People just rec-ognize those scoring and the starters,” junior Eric Moreno said.

Softball/Baseball - Pitcher- 40%

Football - Quarterback-69%

Basketball - Point Guard-82%

Soccer - Goalie-93%

Volleyball - Hitter-25%

Moreno often played the sixth-man role on last year’s state-qualifying bas-ketball team.

“The sixth man has a big impact in basketball because if they can come in off of the bench and score, that can re-ally give a spark to the team,” Moreno said.

However, as with the other sports, his teammates are very complimentary of his efforts.

In sports there are many stars. These stars, however, are quick to point out they would be nothing if it weren’t for the many supporting players around them.

All the guts...none of the glory

Under-appreciated positions help the stars shine brightly

Who do you see?Most recognized athletes on the field & on the court

*Statistics taken from 5 homerooms

• Earn college credits while you’re still in high school.• Choose between a certificate program, working toward an associate

degree, or gaining transferable credits for any four-year university.• Save money! All CollegeNOW! courses are half the cost of WNCC’s

already low tuition and fees.• Demonstrate your academic initiative to four-year colleges and universities.• Have flexibility with your college schedule by completing general

education courses before you graduate high school.• Gain access to free tutoring and WNCC’s math & writing centers.

HIGH SCHOOL JUNIORS AND SENIORS:Take Advantage of CollegeNOW!

You must apply to WNCC before enrolling in a course.Go to wncc.edu and click on “Apply”

For more information, call 308.635.6542.