by Alex Mallinsports editor

In response to current economic trou-bles, the North Kansas City School District recently redesigned its budget designat-ing what it hopes will result in $7 million in cuts for this year. Contrary to the result one might expect from such a substantial cut, Superintendant Dr. Todd White believes its result will actually have a positive impact on student learning.

According to White, the district cut $16 million out of the budget over the past three years as a result of economic conditions caus-ing revenue sources to dwindle. In order to balance the budget, the district chose to ana-lyze each position away from building levels in central office and sort out which positions were essential and which could be cut.

“The main focus of a school district and its budget is to support teaching and learn-ing,” White said. “Anything that is removed from that is in review. Learning occurs in the classroom and building level so we try to cre-ate those cuts as far from the classroom as possible.”

White intends to reorganize central of-fice in a three-phase process, each phase consisting of an elimination of positions on varying levels. Phase one, occurring on Tuesday, Dec. 21, included the restructur-ing of the superintendent’s cabinet. For this, White presented a plan to the school board which resulted in nine positions being low-ered to five on the cabinet.

The second phase of cuts, scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 19, eliminated eight to nine positions on the executive director/director level. The third and final phase, set for Tues-day, Feb. 23, will occur on the coordinator level and will reduce the positions from 16 to four.

While central office positions are being eliminated, White would like to emphasize that he doesn’t intend to eliminate jobs.

“We are cutting positions not necessar-ily people,” White said. “These people will either be teaching or providing a building level of support for instruction.”

The true budget “cut,” according to chief financial officer Paul Harrell, will involve the decrease in the pay of these no-longer cen-tral office employees and thus a savings for the district.

With these designated personnel chang-es, White hopes to save just more than $1 million toward his overall goal of eliminating a current $7 million deficit.

Harrell said the district knew cuts would be imminent after looking at economic trends at local, state and national levels. The problems caused by the economy include low revenues from sales taxes and lowering property values. This inevitable combination of dried up resources and the growing stu-dent population made it obvious that chang-es would need to be made.

“It’s a difficult year,” Harrell said. “What we are striving for is to provide quality edu-cation programs and to maximize student achievement. It’s a balancing act to do that.”

No announcements have been made as to whether Oak Park will be receiv-ing any of the staff members whose positions have been cut. Assistant princi-pal Gary Miller said there are great constraints in any attempt to balance a budget while trying to con-tribute to education-al progress.

“The goal of lowering class sizes is a very legitimate goal,” Miller said. “It has an im-pact on student learning. When you realize that we do have a budget problem and at the same time we are trying to lower class size those goals kind of fight against one another. [White] wants to keep the focus on learning rather than thinking how we can just cut and cut and cut.”

The job of actually making the cuts fell in the hands of White, a job he believes he came prepared for in his first year as super-intendent.

“Part of the transition I was able to go through to the superintendency allowed me to view the district from a variety of angles,” White said. “I just lately sat down and put together the plan based upon the conversa-tions that I have had with people over the last two years. I presented that plan [with the

chang-es in posi-

tions] to the board with a justification and a

rationale for each one.”As for future cuts, in the second

and third week of January, central office be-gan a cutting method called the zero-base budgeting process in which each staff mem-ber was to rebuild their position’s budget at zero dollars and rebuild with a rationale for every individual expenditure. This method, according to White, will help the district to more easily identify each wasteful payment.

In his first year as superintendent, White said he believes part of the job he has been given is a necessary evil to help benefit edu-cation.

“It’s not the way that I would have wanted to start my tenure as the superinten-dent,” White said. “Sometimes we don’t get to choose some of the paths that we have to take. Our mission to this community is still to provide the very best educational system we can. I don’t like telling someone they don’t have the job they currently had and they’re going to have to do something else. But I do know that it is necessary.”

The Northmen’s LogFriday, January 22, 2009 Oak Park High School

Wrestling brings on a new season.

p. 2

Issue 6, Volume 45

by Jessica Nicholsfeature editor

Candy Land first started as a popular children’s board game. Now the Sadie Hawkins dance and Courtwarming as-sembly have combined to take on the challenge and made “Candy Land” their theme.

“It was chosen through a combined StuCo and Cambia vote,” said StuCo sponsor Car-rie Marcantonio.

Cambia and StuCo have joined forces and events this year to bring what could end up being a new tradition. The idea came about as a way to boost Cambia promotions and Sadie ticket sales and dance at-tendance.

“Ticket sales for the Sadie dance are always less than the numbers for Homecoming. Last year was no exception,” Marcantonio said. “Tying the dance to a basketball game, crowning the boys at the dance and the girls at the game will increase attendance at both the game and the dance, hope-fully.”

Together, StuCo and Cam-bia prepare for the Courtwarm-

ing assembly and Sadie, work-ing toward completing tasks before the events.

“We are looking forward to getting help from Cambia staff, though, as we work on the nuts and bolts of putting the dance together. The more hands we having working on the project, the better the dance will turn

out,” Marcantonio said.Some of the changes in-

clude the loss of underclassmen candidates.

Underclassmen boys no longer have an opportunity to become Sadie prince, duke, or jester.

This year, seven senior girls have been nominated to

become Courtwarming queen while seven senior boys have been nominated to become Sa-die king.

“We decided to put the two together to create a great dance, assembly and crowning game that will become a neat memory for the kids involved,” Marcantonio said.

The crowning ceremony for Courtwarming queen will take place between the girls and boys varisty basketball games on Friday, Jan. 29. The king crowning will take place at the dance Saturday, Jan. 30.

by Samantha Colhourcopy editor

Throughout the year, Youth with Vision allows stu-dents throughout Clay, Platte and Ray counties to come to-gether to fight drug and alco-hol abuse in their schools. To-gether, the group came up with the idea of the ‘What’s Your Excuse’ campaign.

“We meet once a month,” said senior David Badami. “The idea for the campaign wasn’t even really from me. I just helped bring it to Oak Park.”

The campaign consisted of a table set up at lunch times Monday to Friday, Dec. 14-18, with a banner available for sign-ing.

A student could come up to the table and sign a slip with their name saying why they chose not to do drugs and drink alcohol. After that, they could choose to sign the ban-ner if they wanted to show the whole school their reasons.

Junior Kaylan Ballard chose to take her reason from the John Mayer song “Your Body is a Wonderland,” stating “because my body is a wonder-land.”

“I chose to write that be-cause it described how I felt the best,” Ballard said. “I thought it was funny and just something

random.”Working with Youth with

Vision provided Badami with free merchandise to give out af-ter the students signed up. The freebies consisted of lanyards, water bottles, pens and shirts all saying ‘What’s your excuse’ on them. Many students stopped just to get such freebies.

“I thought it was a cool idea to get reasons out there. Plus, the pen was useful for the rest of the day,” Ballard said.

Those involved with the campaign aimed to bring awareness of the negative ef-fects of drugs and alcohol to students, an effort Badami felt won over the student body.

“It’s the first time we’ve ever done anything like this at Oak Park. Mostly we were just testing the waters to see how it would work,” Badami said. “I think for this just being the be-ginning, things turned out well, leaving it open for us to hope-fully do more of this kind of stuff later this year.”

Cour

t-Sad

ie st

arts Courtwarming candidates Sadie Hawkins candidates

Campaign opposes DrugUse

Seniors Hona Jones, Laura Hulfeld, Anna Bradley, Lauren Carlson, Tiffanie Mc-Dermott, Brook Worlledge and Melissa Jesse compete for the Courtwarming queen title, sponsored by Cambia yearbook. One of them will be crowned the 11th Courtwarming queen between the varsity girls and boys basketball games next Friday, Jan. 29. photo by Molly Mendenhall, special to the Log

District cuts budget in balancing act

Seniors Danny Phipps, Glen Roe, Nick Tittone, Mark Wopata, Thomas Yoder, Jus-tin McAfee and Arturo PinoQuintana compete for the Sadie Hawkins king title, sponsored by Student Council. One of them will be crowned the king at the Sadie Hawkins dance, in the auxiliary gym on Saturday, Jan. 30. photo by Molly Mendenhall, special to the Log

Thespians sweep stage at contestby Gina Drapela

editor-in-chief

Thespian troupe No. 2758 participated in this years’ Missouri Thespian Conference, held at the University of Missouri-St. Louis from Thursday, Jan. 7, to Saturday, Jan. 9, displaying school spirit and hard work while receiving a number of recognitions, scholarships and achievements.

The troupe advanced their standing at the conference this year by campaigning a nominated troupe officer, junior Schyler Tate, who eventually earned a spot on the upcoming student board for Mis-souri Thespians. In order to run for office, adult state board members must nominate candidates, review-ing different elements such as past performances and involvement.

“It was a real honor because only one student from each school [in Missouri] could be nominated and we have a lot of good people that would do really well at the same job,” Tate said.

Focusing on her speech, Tate managed to win the hearts and minds of students and adults alike to vote her into office.

“She had a prepared speech that was well rounded and appealed to both students and adults so I think with all of that together, she was able to get a spot on the board,” said sponsor Stephanie Siers.

Tate wanted to bring up points that would reveal her vision for upcoming year’s thespian troupes across Missouri, such as acceptance amongst troupes and having a “home away from home,” while pro-viding “excellent entertainment,” also reminding active members that everyone has “something” in the drama department. With nomina-tion onto Missouri Thespian Stu-dent State Board, Tate has a chance to prove she can hold a responsibil-ity spanning across the state.

“It’s amazing, but I knew she had a really good shot of getting it because she’s so personable, and she’s also very passionate about making a change for the better,” Siers said.

Along with winning a place on the state board, the OP Thespian Troupe performed a one-act play, “Roll Over Beethoven,” written by David Ives. The cast consisted of se-nior Nick Tittone as Robin, a geeky 14-year-old wanting to learn the pi-ano, and sophomore Alex Stompo-ly, as the eccentric, overzealous Dr. Felix Goldenbaum, who provides lessons on an imaginary piano.

“I think all the characters I’ve played have been older than me, and this one’s younger than me, so it was a good change up. I changed my body language and my voice a little bit, and had to think like a scared 14 year old,” Tittone said.

Stompoly complemented the performance by balancing the act, providing a large character with bulky, fast-paced monologues. Siers displays pride of her students work in the production.

“My favorite part of working with [Tittone] was before his per-formance, he always wears a cross, and he had taken it off and said, ‘Look Mrs. Siers, it’s not even me anymore,’ and he put it on the desk. That’s really neat when a student can identify and really become the character, and lose themselves in it.”

Senior Taylor Weatherly recieves a $1000 education scholarship for her involvement in theater education at the 2010 Missouri Thespian Conference on Saturday, Jan. 9. courtesy of Schyler Tate, special to the Log

sportspage2

Four sports build during winter seasonby Alex Mallin

sports editor

Abbott starts fresh in first year as head coach

After working with former head coach Todd Marcantonio for two years, physical education teacher Anthony Abbott took the reigns as head coach in the 2009-2010 season for girls basketball. According to Abbott, the greatest difficulty has been getting the girls accustomed to his coaching style.

“It’s been a little different in practice,” Abbott said. “It’s about learning. Early in the season we were learning a new offense and new plays and new defense so we spent at least three quarters of our practices based on fun-damentals.”

From the time of the first practice, the girls had a mere three weeks to prepare for their first opponent. Three weeks that Abbott used primarily to get the girls up to speed.

“Early in the season we have to run a lot because they have to be in shape,” Abbott said. “But once they are in shape, and they are now, it’s basically maintenance.”

According to Abbott, a typical practice with him would consist of one hour spent on fundamentals such as ball handling and shooting drills. The last half would commonly consist of preparation.

“We usually have our opponent scouted,” Abbott said. “If we know that our opponent

plays all zone defense then we are going to work zone offense for that hour. You have to prepare for that opponent.”

Though girls basketball currently holds a 2-8 record as of Tuesday, Jan. 19, Abbott feels the girls continue to build each day.

“Even though we have had losses most have been so close,” Abbott said. “My team works hard. We emphasize in practice that whatever you do in practice, good or bad is going to show up in a game. We have been lucky in having great senior and even junior leaders and their effort sort of trickles down in practice.”

Junior Jamie Stock said her main respon-sibility to her team is to perform her finest in-dividually.

“I try and start by giving my best and encouraging everyone else to do the same,” Stock said. “I try to be positive because I think its important for everyone to get along so we can be a team on and off the court.”

Though some coaches find high discipline and a strict schedule to be the most effective way to run a practice, Abbott uses different methods to lead his team.

“I would say myself and the staff we are tough on the girls but as a coach you have to be in tune with your players,” Abbott said. “You have to read your team and know, as a coach, what you need at the particular mo-ment.”

Boys basketball uses practice to decide lineup

One could consider boys basketball head coach Fred Turner an unfair advantage for the team.

Having 35 years of head coaching expe-rience and the benefit of watching practices of legendary coaches such as Bob Knight and John Wooden may cause any coach to rethink judging the inexperienced North-men team by appearance alone.

“I’ve been lucky as a coach,” Turner said. “I have watched a lot of tremendous prac-tices but whoever you watch they all have the same thread running down the middle of the practice. Everything is very organized and everything has a purpose. Maximum ef-fort is constantly demanded from each indi-vidual. That’s what you try to do.”

Turner’s practices generally consist of 30 minutes of individual skill development, 45 minutes of jump rope and ball handling, 45 minutes of defense production and the last 30 minutes to the end consist of offensive work and free throws.

Turner said each year he knows how his

practices will be just by who he selects for his team.

“Games are just an extension of prac-tice. If your players can’t figure that out then you’ve just got the wrong people,” Turner said.

According to senior Zach Scott, Turner as a coach not only works the team physi-cally but wants to ready their minds through practice.

“One thing Turner does is he tries to make us mentally tough,” Scott said. “This goes hand in hand with making sure we stay focused the entire practice.”

To constantly keep the team encour-aged, Turner uses each practice as a mean for selecting his lineup in the games. This method creates a steady competition among each individual while building as a team.

“Players determine everything,” Turner said.

“In practice, you are trying to show us that you understand what it takes to be suc-cessful and how to play the game properly. In practice you are getting an opportunity to show us if you can play more in the game. If they don’t play well in practice they won’t play in the game.”

Wrestling adjusts to

championship expectations

When asking head wrestling coach Timothy Rupp about the practice habits of his six consecutive time state championship-winning team, one will more than likely obtain the following…

“For some of us, it is al-ways wrestling season.”

In order to build on the legacy of previous teams, Rupp expects champion-ship worthy effort from each individual.

In the winter season the average wrestler’s schedule consists of seven days a week of activity. Monday through Friday, players are to be at the school from 6:15 a.m. for 30 minutes of condition-ing. From 4 until 5:45 p.m. the team runs practice. On

a typical Saturday the wres-tlers are usually at a compe-tition and each Sunday the wrestlers build technique from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m.

At the start of the sea-son, Rupp teaches each wrestler the Oak Park phi-losophy of wrestling and what he expects from each member prior to their meets. Once the meets be-gin the wrestlers follow a more dynamic approach.

“My creed is ‘cham-pions adjust’,” Rupp said. “Our practices are almost completely determined by what weaknesses the event exposed. It’s nothing spe-cial to work on things you’re good at. Anyone can do that. Champions work on weaknesses, the things that take discipline to practice.”

According to Rupp, the coaches commonly run the practices, but the team re-lies heavily upon the team captains. He commonly lets the younger members take charge and deliver input, a

method he feels helps them take practices more seri-ously.

“I think the whole team is constantly working to make it a better practice,” said junior Cody Brewer. “When we see someone who isn’t doing something right you have to get on them and get in them a little bit to make them do some-thing.”

Though through prac-tice Rupp helped build six consecutive state champi-onship teams, following his own motto of “champions adjust,” he changes how the team prepares each year.

“Every year the team is different so why should the practices stay exactly the same,” Rupp said.

“This year’s practices look different than last year’s and next year’s will look different than this year’s. But, hopefully, the results always remain the same.”

Girls swim unites with Falcons in practice

The Staley split made a substantial effect on each sport at Oak Park. The only true exception may be no-ticed when walking in to a girls swim practice, where the Oakies and Falcons share not only the same water, but the same head coach again.

“Basically we are one team as far as practice is concerned,” said assistant coach Marlene Nay. “The only thing that is different between the teams is that we are sorted separately at meets.”

In a typical swim prac-tice the only separations for the teams occurs on a basis of ability level and individual strength. Whether the team

wears green or blue has no effect on the practice.

“It’s really good for our practice because we use each other for a support,” said sophomore Jackie Moore. “Whenever we get into a meet its kind of hard because you are up against people you practice with but in an-other aspect its really like we are one team.”

After school each day the girls drive to Gladstone Community Center where they hold their dual practice at the natatorium. Accord-ing to Nay, a typical practice begins with a warm up and ends with a cool down. In between, the girls separate according to their strengths and there are about three workouts going simultane-ously for the teams.

“The main goal for us is to qualify as many girls for state as possible,” Nay said.

“What motivates the varsity girls in practice is trying to reach that time cut it takes to get to state.”

Nay said as a coach, the most important thing among the staff continues to be re-lating and identifying with the team on a personal level and keeping them motivat-ed. Especially considering that on average day each girl will swim about 6,000 yards in a two-hour period.

“Swimming is very gru-eling. It’s very hard,” Nay said. “With girls it is differ-ent than with boys. Girls re-ally like personalized atten-tion. If you can give them some reinforcement or some encouragement as they are swimming and personalize with them and show them that you are really watching them and you care about them that’s what they feed off of.”

Left: Junior Amber Dreher attempts a free throw on Monday, Jan. 11 against William Chrisman. Her third year as a varsity player, this marks Dreher’s second year as a starter. “[My favorite thing is] being with all the girls and joking around but at the same time improving every day,” Dreher said. photo by Kim Shields, photographer

Top-Center: At the North Kansas City School Dis-trict natatorium on Tuesday, Dec. 9, sophomore Lunden Michel practices her butterfly stroke in the pool. According to coach Marlene Nay, each girl swims an average of 6,000 yards in the two-hour span. photo by Lindsey Colner, special to the Log

Top-Right: Sophomore David Wingerson jumps for a lay up against Lee Summit on Tuesday, Dec. 15. This was his first year as a varsity starter. Last year, he played as a transition player between varsity and JV. “We are doing better than every-one thought we would,” Wingerson said. photo by Kim Shields, photographer

Bottom-Right: At the duel against Kearney on Tuesday, Jan. 12, junior Brian Haynes tries to pin a member of the opposing team. Haynes wres-tled in the 140 to 145 weight class during this duel. “Starting the year we were slow, softer, but we’ve gotten tougher,” Haynes said. photo by Kim Shields, photographer

“It’s nothing special to work on things you’re good at. Anyone can do that. Champions work on weaknesses, the things that take discipline to practice,”

wrestling head coachTimothy Rupp

”

”

opinionpage3

by Gabrielle Young editorial editor

Five, four, three, two, one, welcome to twenty-ten here we have arrived in an-other year. The NYC Times

Square ball has dropped, the streamers have been thrown away, and the celebrations have ended. More than likely resolutions were made and already broken.

Making resolutions has become a habit, for most people as soon as a new year arrives they have their list of resolutions already written.

The problem with reso-lutions tends to be that no-body usually sticks to them after the first two months. When making a list of nearly 10 resolutions, no wonder the ability to complete them all can prove to be a chal-lenge.

Instead of 10 resolu-tions, to have just one can be sufficient enough. One reso-lution can be taken in parts. For example the popular resolution of losing weight and just planning on losing a certain amount in a year can be unrealistic at times.

A more realistic goal would be to start by cutting out fatty foods and exercis-ing daily for at least 30 min-utes. Then, maybe making a plan to lose 10 pounds a month.

When we usually think of resolutions people com-monly think of large life changing ones, for example

quitting smoking. Resolutions do not have

to be large or drastic. They could be as simple as giving other’s compliments, adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet, starting a new hobby, drinking more water or telling others daily how much you love them.

Before trashing all the resolutions you made Janu-ary first, opt for a simpler one that you believe will benefit your year twenty-ten. The old decade of making impossible resolutions has ended and a new one has begun.

New year, same unrealistic goals

by Gabrielle Youngeditorial editor

The journalism indus-try has expressed great con-cern in the development of the Free Flow of Informa-tion Act. Journalism lets the public have a voice, a re-porter has to locate sources for their story they feel the public would take to interest.

The Free Flow of Infor-mation Act bill will provide news reporters with the right to refuse to testify to infor-mation in a way that would reveal their sources.

Sometimes a story can be personal to sources and they refuse to have their identity released to the public, natu-rally the reporters have to oblige to or find an alternate

source. According to the Wash-

ington Post online, this bill has a limited application in cases which involve national security and federal criminal prosecutions. This bill may later become a federal shield law. The law would be of great importance maybe if a reporter writes a story about someone who had been in-volved with a violent orga-nization and later decided to detach themselves from the group. The organiza-tion could get a hold of their name, and later find that person.

Whether this bill applies to students concerns scholas-tic journalists.

Currently, this bill does not protect students but

this could change. This bill should apply to both student amateur journalists as well as professional journalists. When including amateur journalists in that category, it also includes bloggers who usually have no background of journalism training or rules of ethics.

Just the same as profes-sional journalists, students working on a school news-paper should have the same right to not have to reveal their sources, because even one of their sources may want to remain anonymous. Why should the criteria mat-ter whether or not a journal-ist is amateur or profession-al, a journalist is a journalist no matter if they’re getting paid or do the job as an ex-

tracurricular activity?The House bill states,

“to be covered by the shield law, the person must gather or distribute news “for a sub-stantial portion of the per-son’s livelihood or for sub-stantial financial gain.” This statement clearly proves that this bill will not cover an am-ateur journalist.

In the past, this bill was not opposed by President George W. Bush’s admin-istration, we have yet to know the verdict of Presi-dent Obama before this bill becomes an actual law, the shield law.

In the meantime student journalists will closely be on the lookout on whether or not the shield law shall apply to them.

Your Views: What is your excuse for not using drugs and/or alcohol?

“I’d rather go to college than be stuck in jail.”

-freshman Ashley Hodge

“I can have fun without them and remember it later.”

-sophomore Shelbi Arndt

“I would still like to function normally.”

-junior Zach Lancaster

“I possess the mental capabilities of not wanting to destroy myself.”

-senior Trey Hansen

Amateur journalists deserve equal treatment

Couples walk down the hallways, holding hands and parting with a soft kiss. Sometimes these couples consist of a freshmen and a senior, creating not only an age gap, but a maturity gap as well.

The Log believes seniors have a higher maturity level than most of the freshmen class.

When relationships take place be-tween the different age group things can get out of hand. Freshmen girls can feel pressured and some may see senior boys as “predators,” looking for only one thing. Seniors who start rela-tionships with someone more than two years younger may come across as des-

perate. They go out with girls that can be considered as “jailbait.”

However, the situation becomes more common every day. It only seems like a big deal to people now.

To an extent, age is just a number. Some freshmen show maturity beyond their years and some seniors act like they still go to middle school. When the maturity levels equal each other then the relationships seem more balanced.

Once students leave the halls of high school and enter the real world age doesn’t matter. Some people marry someone older than them. Others mar-ry someone younger.

Age may not matter to the people

in the relationship but in the societal view this is a problem.

People look down on these kinds of relationships; older women get named “cougars” while older men receive the title “sugar daddies.”

This will always go on in our world because of how maturity levels con-stantly change.

Younger people are growing up at a faster rate because society moves at a faster pace.

People may not be ready for the change in age difference dating but they may have to come to terms with it in the near future.

Log’s View: Relationships challenge age boundaries

Drivers plow through weather, attitudes

by Courtney Kelleylifestyles editor

Bare legs with fur covered boots and short shorts, in 10-de-gree weather.

This seems to be normal for some female students here. Liv-ing in the Midwest, we do not have the pleasures of just wear-ing anything especially this year with the harsh weather.

You think you would want to

stay warm instead of freezing in class.

With the colder weather, the classrooms seem to be cooler than usual. A few brave souls have been seen walking the halls wearing shorts, short sleeve shirts, flip flops and students not wearing coats.

During the flu season, most people dress accordingly, to cut down on the chances of being under the weather. Getting sick with just not the flu but seeing

Ugg boots worn with shorts. Not only does the style look tacky but could lead to a sickness.

Throughout winter, thermal heat keeps the blood moving. Also makes ladies shave their legs more than needed. The upper body needs to be covered up just as much as the lower. Students should start listening to their mothers and wear that coat and bundle up.

With winter sports in full swing, athletes should dress

warm after sporting events and practices. After sweating and running, stepping outside to the arctic air can be bad for your health and make you sick faster. Making it a must, coaches have their athletes wear sweats and a jacket following practices.

“It really wasn’t cold out,” said junior Allison Cutitta. “I don’t think I would get sick its flu season, of course not.”

“I don’t like the way my friends act. I don’t wanna be like them.”

-junior Lauren Reynolds

“The Northmen’s Log” is published 10 times during the school year. “The Log” is a stu-dent forum for expres-sion; it is produced by students for students.

“The Log” accepts letters to the editor in rooms E133 or E134 or geabhart@nkcsd.k12.mo.us. Letters cannot exceed a length of 350 words. We will not run letters that are libelous, obscene, or that may cause a verifiable disrup-tion of the education pro-cess of Oak Park. Letters must be signed.

Advertisers may con-tact the business manager at 413-5352, or 825 N.E. 79th Terrace, Kansas City, MO, 64118.

Opinions expressed in “The Log” do not re-flect staff endorsements of that product or service.

“The Log” is a mem-ber of NSPA, MIPA and Quill and Scroll Interna-tional Honorary Society for High School Journal-ists. “The Log” is affiliat-ed with JEA and JEMKC.

The Northmen’s Log Staff & Policies

Editor-in-Chief & Photo EditorGina Drapela

Editorial EditorGabrielle Young

Sports EditorAlex Mallin

Entertainment EditorMandy Nichols

Lifestyles EditorCourtney Kelley

Feature EditorJessica Nichols

Copy EditorSamantha Colhour

CartoonistJohnna Hensley

WritersCourtney LightKim ShieldsKayla Smith

PhotographerAlly SansoneKim Shields

AdviserChristina Geabhart

by Mandy Nicholsentertainment editor

Imagine getting up ear-ly expecting to cart around kids of various ages and atti-tude. Now think how doing this every school day despite road conditions might feel. Bus drivers take on weighty responsibilities for the sake of students often without these students realizing or even thinking of them.

A typical snowy day might have a bus screech-ing to an ominous halt on a slope along treacherous back neighborhood roads. The driver might sigh, making

sure the bus isn’t going any-where soon before radioing in some help.

This help could take some time to arrive depend-ing on the road conditions and how other drivers han-dle them.

Elementary school chil-dren panic, crying for their parents. Middle school ado-lescents whine about want-ing to walk home, despite the driver’s insistence that they stay in the bus. The high school crowd doesn’t always act appropriately ei-ther.

Though not an ideal sit-uation, this example remains

one of the more benign. Many bus pilots plow

through these experiences six times a day as waves of the three age groups within the district require trans-portation in the mornings and afternoons. These over-lapping time slots leave no room for breaks or makeup time after weather-related incidents. In troubling weather, drivers have no time to juggle this on top of everything else.

Often the most danger-ous roads to travel during bad weather, as snow plows often hit these spots last, neighborhood roads make

up much of the bus routes. Drivers navigate these

roads making changes to routes at the expense of time in attempts to avoid potentially dangerous areas like winding streets caked in ice. These route changes take place for student safety, yet some students complain about any inconveniences the temporary routes might cause themselves.

Bus drivers have enough problems to sort out espe-cially with cloudy skies, cold winds and icy roads. They don’t need rude teenage at-titudes to think about on top of those other worries.

Students dress inappropriately for winter conditions

We want your opinions!

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lifestylespage4Peer groupsstrive for success

by Courtney Kelley and Ally Sansone

lifestyles editor and photographer

Waking up on a cold morning during the school year can provide a rough experience. Walking outside and finding the car covered in ice or snow just tops off the morning.

“I start my car, get some interior heat and then scrape and brush off my truck,” said hall monitor Joe Nichols, “It’s the law to clean off your license plate so I do that also.”

Cleaning a car off is a

crucial key to driving on the treacherous roads. Not cleaning the car off correctly may get one pulled over and cause them to recieve a tick-et. To avoid accidents and getting pulled over, make sure to clean off the follow-ing before driving: light signals, license plate, wind-shield and back window. If one does not clean their car off correctly, they may put themselves and others in danger as they drive on the winter roads.

“I use an ice scraper to clean off my car and it takes about three to five minutes and I usually just clean off

my windows,” said junior Conner Acri.

Scraping the ice and snow off windshields may provide difficulty if one does not own an ice scraper. Instead of purchasing an ice scraper many students use their I.Ds to scrape the ice of their windshield. Some turn on their cars and wait for the ice to melt.

Also, during freez-ing weather scrapping off a car window with extra force may crack the window. One should use precaution to prevent cracking the wind-shield.

How to slide your way into a ticket

Study groups prove useful

by Mandy Nicholsentertainment editor

Staring at review sheets within the confines of one’s room, or cramming in vo-cabulary words or other cur-riculum might not seem an ideal way to study for some. However, many students have utilized an alternative way to get the grade by get-ting study groups together.

Students utilize study techniques not applicable to self review when in groups.

Senior Brittney Caravel-la meets with a group for her AP Biology class. Members bring snacks to make the two and a half hours of work more fun. They go over re-view sheets and flashcards, making sure everyone in the group understands the topic before moving on.

“I’m more of an audio-learner,” Caravella said. “Talking through things with a group really helps me connect with the class and its material.”

Senior Molly Creagh sees these meetings as ways to share insights on class ma-terial.

“We teach each other lessons we didn’t under-stand in class,” Creagh said, “It helps me because I know there are people in my class that understand the material

more than me and they help me better understand it.”

Science teacher Kim-berly Bennett also thinks students can help each other understand material through these exchanges.

“The student becomes the teacher and the ma-terial is understood at a deeper level,” Bennett said. Caravella sees her group as a source for motivation as well.

“I won’t study by my-self,” Caravella said. “Hav-ing a group to study with makes me more likely to ac-tually do the work.”

Some students see these meetings as ways not only to improve their grades, but to spread their social wings.

“You’re developing re-lationships with people who have the same goals as you,” Caravella said.

Creagh sees improve-ments in classroom relation-ships as well.

“The classroom becomes more of a friendly environ-ment when you are more comfortable with the stu-dents you study with,” Cre-agh said.

Bennett thinks students’ involvement in study groups can help them in the future.

“In college a student can feel like just a number in their large classes, so study groups will help them form friendships with people who have similar interests,” Ben-nett said.

After seeing her car covered in snow on Tuesday Jan. 19, senior Brook Worlledge, uses different methods such as scraping her window and using her windshield wipers to be able to leave the parking lot. photo by Ally Sansone

In today’s economy find-ing jobs has become not only a hardship for many adults, but for students as well.

The unemployment rate has increased accord-ing to a Jan. 15 report by the Missouri Department of Economic Development. Ac-cording to the department’s Web site, as of December an additional 2,600 jobs were lost statewide.

More and more adults are losing jobs because of cut backs or other economical reasons. Because of this, un-employed people with bills still needing to be paid look for jobs in places that can be quick and easy to apply to. These other places can tend to be lesser paying jobs in things like retail and the food industry -- jobs typically filled by teens.

“It’s hard to get hours with so many extra-curric-ular activities,” said senior Taylor Weatherly.

However for junior Ross Wuthnow, age and experi-ence plays a huge part in the job search.

“With the economy the way it is, a lot of people are out of jobs.” Wuthnow said. “If there’s a better qualified person for the job, other than a high school student, then I won’t get the job.”

With open jobs requir-ing less training and expe-rience being taken by the unemployed adults, teenag-ers looking for extra cash or to help parents make ends meet are finding themselves out of luck.

Students struggleto find jobs

by Kayla Smithwriter

by Mandy Nicholsentertainment editor

“Daybreakers” puts cin-ematic vampire lore through a clever, almost satiric mold, with brothers Peter and Mi-chael Spierig (“Undead”) di-recting it. \

Enter 2019. A plague somehow brought on by bats 10 years earlier has turned most of the population into immortal, yellow-eyed vam-pires. Very little of the hu-man population remains, and citizens face a food cri-sis. Instead of death, vamps starved of blood for long go through a backwards sort of butterfly metamorphosis, getting uglier, more violent and bat-like.

Edward Dalton (played by Ethan Hawke), hema-tologist and human sympa-thizer, races to come up with a blood substitute with little success. His brother Frankie (played by Michael Dor-man) falls on the other side of the bloody spectrum as a human harvester, part of Uncle Sam’s new initiative. Eventually Edward runs into a group of runaway humans. One, Audrey (played by Claudia Karvan), thinks he could help the effort to cure vampires of their disease. Eventually Edward joins the group of stake-toting hu-man refugees including one nicknamed Elvis (played by Willem Dafoe) who supplies dialogue and mannerisms straight out of a Foxworthy comedy special delivered in a cringe-worthy, inconsis-tent “hick” accent. The fate of the both the human and the formerly human race de-pends on them as they avoid capture and work toward the cure’s distribution.

Armed with gallons of fake blood and innards, cre-ators seem to have used any excuse they could to show bloodshed. Some effects prove tasteful however, uti-lizing an entire society’s aver-sion to sun to present some serious sun blocking and detecting technology. The more subtle details like fang whitening ads add a touch of humor for the attentive viewer to indulge in. The film admittedly succeeds on a purely visual basis despite the overkill with gore.

The movie fails to im-press with its story and char-acters. Nothing said or done really seems believable even after one has accepted the existence of vampires. The story branches out to focus on specific character rela-

tionships at times, trying to draw out growth and per-sonality from those involved, but either by fault of acting or writing, these parts do lit-tle to develop character even less to move the story along. Moments that should be emotionally charged seem muted and dull, fitting in nicely with the often dim, to dark lighting of the film.

While not a movie for those with weak stomachs, avid thriller fans should en-joy it despite its lack of sub-stance.

A film requiring little thought, “Daybreakers” may impress more in a state of semi-consciousness, where one can marvel at the flashy special effects without ques-tioning their relevance.

Drama falls short of expectations

by Jessica Nicholsfeatures editor

Alice Sebold started the first chapter of her novel “The Lovely Bones” with “My name was Salm-on, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was 14 when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.” Now direc-tor and producer Peter Jackson (“Lord of the Rings” trilogy) has adapted the 2002 best-selling novel for the big screen.

Susie Salmon, played by Sao-irse Ronan (“Atonement,” “City of Ember”), finds herself in between earth and heaven after her mur-der. She watches over her family and friends as they learn to deal with her death and continue on with their lives. She also reflects on the time she spent on earth.

While she watches from above, life continues on earth. Michael Imperioli (“The Five People You Meet in Heaven,” “Life on Mars”) plays detective Len Fennerman

who presides over the case and in-forms Susie’s parents of her death. Jack Salmon, portrayed by Mark Wahlberg (“The Happening,” “Re-naissance Man”), tries to solve his daughter’s murder while keeping the family together. Susie’s mur-derer and a Salmon neighbor, George Harvey, played by Stanley Tucci (“The Devil Wears Prada,” “Julie & Julia”) goes back to his life

before the murder occurred. Though they share a plot line,

the movie adaptation seems to stray away from the novel. Major scenes and characters found their way into the story in a different or-der than what they took place in the book to fit better with the other scenes.

For example, in the book Susie gets her first kiss from fellow fresh-

man Ray Singh, played by Reece Ritchie (“10,000 B.C.”) weeks be-fore her death. In the film, Ray has a few years more than Susie as a senior, and she never gets her first kiss during her life.

The in-between Sebold de-scribes in the novel seems entirely different from the heaven depicted in the film. Susie shares her movie in-between with Holly, played by

Nikki SooHoo (“Stick It,” “Bring it On: Fight to the Finish”). The seasons change and the scenery changes, but other people and ar-chitecture, other than the white gazebo, cannot be found. In the novel, Susie and Holly share the in-between, where they go to school and play on the playground. Their in-between expands as they start to want to experience more of the life they will never live.

Overall, the movie doesn’t rep-resent the book very well.

As a standalone, people who have never read the book may also find it disappointing.

Performers acted over-the-top in some areas and lacked passion in others.

The special effects used for the scenes of Susie’s in-between, though unique, came off as ex-tremely fake.

The plot line remains solid, with the ending long and drawn out.

Unless one really wants to go see “The Lovely Bones” they shouldn’t waste their money.

entertainmentpage5

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Film adaptation fails in comparison to novel

New leadership brings distinction

World of undead lacks bright characters

by Samantha Colhourcopy editor

Students sometimes confuse Col-or Guard and Winter Guard.

With the combined teams the two activities seem interchangeable, while in reality they hold differences.

“In Color Guard, we perform with the band. We get to add to their performance and scores at competi-tions,” said co-captain senior Brittany Wells. “In Winter Guard it’s all us. We pick the music and write the moves. We can also add weapons in Winter Guard if we want.”

Three captains, seniors Anna Bradley, Wells and Moriah Leeds took over the squad this year. Each have been on the squad for four years.

“It’s very helpful having three captains. We are able to split up the work and work with different groups at the same time,” Leeds said.

Bradley agreed with the senti-ment.

“I love having three captains. Having two other people to work with is great, especially since they are such great girls,” Bradley said. “It helps because with three we are able to get things done more quickly.”

In previous years, Winter Guard’s routine had little to do with incorpo-rating dance.

Coming into this year, coach Sta-cey Stowers decided to take a different route, using the song “Have you ever really loved a woman,” by Bryan Ad-ams, allowing a Spanish-themed rou-tine and more dancing.

“The song has flamenco guitar in the background and a particu-lar rhythm that fits with the Span-ish dance Sevillanes,” Stowers said. “I learned the dance in Spain, and I knew I could incorporate it.”

With their new routine, the team hopes their first competition on Sat-urday, Jan. 30, along with their entire season, goes smoothly.

Captain senior Moriah Leeds teaches senior Tomoyo Hasegawa part of the routine during practice Tuesday, Jan. 19 in the small gym. The Winter Guard practices three hours each Tuesday and Thursday. photo by Samantha Colhour, copy editor

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