theSceneOctOber 1, 2009

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JUST KEEP SWIMMING: Freshman Silvana Montesinos swims the breast-stroke during swim and dive meet on September 17. Mon-tesinos has been swimming for 5 years now. “I’ve always enjoyed the competition,” Montesinos said. “I like that I can see myself improve.”

Photo by: Taylor Morris

Junior Tyler Knight dresses up as a hippie for Monday’s Costume Party theme.

Senior Kayla Haley shows off her tribal attire for Tuesday’s Jungle theme.

Senior Jenny McFarlane throws up the peace sign as she is transported back in time for Wednesday’s Disco Day.

Dressed up in bright colors, senior John Sawyer gets ready to shine on Thursday’s Neon Day.

Senior Dayna Tierney shows off her school spirit for Friday’s Spirit Day at the end of Spirit Week.

To see how students dress during spirit week, visit us online at:

1. Monday:

2. Tuesday:

3. Wednesday:

5. Friday:

4. Thursday:

www.tinyurl.com/mustangexpress

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Volume 14 Issue 1 - October 1, 2009

The Student Publication for Sunrise Mountain High SchoolMEXPRESS

USTANG

Featured in this issue:

INDEX:Dispatch..............1-2

Spotlight..............3-4

Playing Field......5, 8

Horseshoe...........6-7

2 Cents...................9

Scene...............10-12

Fall musical in the works, to release in October

Brianna CamachoStaff Reporter

School, district budgets affecting students, faculty

After the September 14 lockdown, which resulted in an actual lockdown and not a drill as most reason-ably assumed it was, students now have the realization that events like the hostage situa-tion at Glo Tanning can occur anywhere.

“I don’t feel safe,” senior Mari Hernandez said. “I’ve gone to that tanning salon.”

Others are not affected as much.

“I still feel safe,” senior Kay-la Linn said. “I think it was a senseless act. He didn’t think about what he was doing.”

Students can count on one hand the number of times real lockdowns have taken place here at Sunrise Mountain. Feel-ing secure has never been much of an issue, considering the lack of exciting events.

“Honestly, I didn’t think it was real,” senior Samantha Van Roekel said, “Harli Klien texted me and said ‘this is real.’”

In the absence of e-mails or notification from the office con-cerning what was happening, rumors flew throughout the school during the lockdown.

“I first heard it was at Panda Express, and a girl got raped,” Van Roekel said.

Other students heard much different stories.

“I heard a guy was running with a gun through neighbor-hoods,” said Linn. “My teacher called a student’s dad who is a cop and was updated on the real situation.”

Even though this was the first lockdown of the year and it was during lunch, a chaotic time, administration felt it all

went smoothly.“I think for the first one

without any practice it went real well,” administrator Clay Carpenter said.

But of course, there is room for improvement.

“(Next time) we’re going to meet with security, e-mail stuff to teachers, and give heads up of different things to do,” Carpenter said.

The experience was a re-minder to teachers and stu-dents that all drills should be taken seriously.

“Anytime we have a lock-down, (teachers) need to take it as if it is real,” Carpenter said.

With participation in per-forming arts decreasing, SMHS has decided to try something new by having their spring musical in the fall in the hopes of sparking some interest with new peo-

With national unemploy-ment at 9.4 percent, consumer spending down drastically and foreclosure rates at enormous peaks, the economic recession and its trickle-down effects can be seen on a state, district and even school level.

In Arizona, Governor Jan

Brewer and the state legisla-ture have failed to produce a budget that appeases both the governor and Congress. The disagreement arises over a 1 percent sales tax increase that the Governor demands to see on the budget before agreeing to sign it into law. The increase is one Arizona’s primarily Re-publican Congress refuses to add. Conflict over the sales tax

increase has led to a chokehold between the governor and leg-islature, leaving Arizona with-out a budget.

“We’ve never made it this far into the year (without a bud-get),” John Jones, Director of Finance for the Peoria Unified School District, said.

For the district, the tough economic situation and uncer-tainty about funding has led to

difficulty. According to Jones, Arizona schools are funded largely through sales tax mon-ey, meaning as the economy declines and sales decline, rev-enue for schools also declines.

“The district is projecting a 23 million dollar loss,” said Jones.

Dispatch

Spotlight

2 Cents

Playing Field

Horseshoe

Scene

ple.Theatre teacher

and drama club sponsor, Michael Billar, has taken notice of the “dwin-dling” numbers of students taking part in performing arts and hopes that by having their big musical The Mu-sic Man in the fall, newcomers will de-cide join.

“We are working on recruiting more freshmen this year and by having the musical, our bigger play, first, we hope it will help our num-bers to increase,” Billar said.

On one hand, the new changes seem to be working out for them. Auditions were plentiful and

new faces were spotted.“We’ve had a higher turn-

out than last year,” Billar said.Senior Abby Poston has

tried out for school plays in the past and was excited to try out for The Music Man this year.

“I love being on stage and performing,” Poston said. “I love pretending to be different

characters.” Poston believes that hav-

ing the musical first this year works to her advantage.

“This time of year is better for me,” Poston said. “Also, it’s fun to off start the school year with a new play.”

On the other hand, these changes could be holding back

CHOO CHOO: Students cast as traveling salesmen rehearse the train scene from “The Music Man.” This year’s fall musical opens in late October and stars Jack Forsey as Harold and Liz Wetzel as Marian.

Pep assemblies reimagined to pump up spirit at SMHS.

Teachers teach extra classes to keep up pay

Reporter weighs in on ignorance of today’s youth.

Unique students showcased for unique hobbies and talents

SMHS baseball players play for out of state in tournament

Interview with Fame’s Asher Book about the film

Photo by Julie Matsen

Nearby assault, shooting causes school lockdown

Natasha HossainStaff Reporter

Sarah BurnsStaff Reporter

This story is a follow-up to a story that is on the Mus-tang Express Online. Read the original article at www.tinyurl.com/mustangexpress

a few students. Senior Kaitlin Vortherms has tried out for plays and musicals in the past but did not get the chance to this year.

“My schedule was too full this semester,” Vortherms said. “I didn’t have the time to commit to it but I would have loved to.”

If the new changes do not work according-ly, changes will be made again next year.

“We will try it out and see how it goes,” Bil-lar said, “If it’s a complete failure, we’ll change it back to the way we had it be-fore.”

The cast and crew of The Mu-sic Man will have about the same time to prepare for the musical as last year. They will be ready to put all their hard efforts onto the stage October 23, 24, 29 and 30.

See Budget cuts on page 2

WORDOF

MOUTH

OctOber 1, 2009theDispatch02

Teachers teach classes beyond speciality

Students were in for quite a surprise when they glanced at their schedules on the first day of school and saw that some of their core classes were taught by elective teachers.

The reason elective teachers are now teaching core classes is due to the number of sections a teacher has.

For example, if an elective teacher has two classes per day, he or she may take on an extra class to avoid being paid part time instead of full time since educators need three classes per day to get full time pay.

“There were only five full drama classes throughout the year,” theatre and English

teacher Michael Billar said. “So I would be teaching to about 15 or 20 kids a period as opposed to the 30 students other teach-ers had in class. That’s not very fair to the other teachers.”

Because of the obvious change in scheduling, the elec-tive teachers must be ready to take on a new mind set when they begin teaching the re-quired courses.

“There is a definite change in my frame of mind,” Billar said. “I know English is required. It is more academically routed and the students did not sign up for it.”

There is a noticeable change in students’ behavior when the teachers compare their elec-tive courses and their required classes.

“(Theatre students) are ob-viously outgoing,” Billar said. “But since I teach a first hour English class, the students are more apprehensive.

Brian Greene, Psychology/Sociology and World History teacher, teaches his elective class first hour and his core class second hour and after lunch.

“There is less stress in (Psy-chology/Sociology),” Greene said. “There is more diversity in my day instead of teaching the same thing hour after hour.”

Most students are more re-laxed and comfortable in their elective courses instead of their core classes because the en-vironment is more stress-free and students enjoy classes that they have chosen.

Administration makes up for lack of substitutes

This benefits the students because administrators are al-ready certified teachers. Car-penter and Nunez have both been certified teachers for over 20 years. Since many school administrators are accredited teachers, it is not too much of a stretch for them to cover for other faculty members.

Administrators will substi-tute for a teacher for periods at a time and teachers will rotate through classes to substitute. Each teacher can choose if they would rather substitute for a 45-minute period or a 90-min-ute class periods.

Most certified substitutes are still on the sub-line, but are not called as frequently.

“We have some great substi-tutes so it depends on who they are,” Principal Jerry Nunez said. “Most are ex-teachers.”

A lack of funding for sub-stitute teachers has prompted teachers and administrators to fill in for other teachers on their days off.

“The district changed the procedure that we use for subs this year,” Assistant Principal Clay Carpenter said. “They al-low each high school a certain amount of money based on the student population.”

Administration hopes this will go smoothly.

“Once money runs out, the teachers will have to cover (for other teachers),” Nunez said. “We are trying to cut down on the number of subs we use each semester so we have some cushion (during) second se-mester.”

“For the most part, the be-havior is the same on our cam-pus,” Weight Training, World History and Economics teacher Michael Welch said. “But you find in a core class they tend to be more interested in what they need to know to pass the class.”

Teachers may feel uncom-fortable when teaching mate-rial that is unfamiliar to them.

“I feel more comfortable teaching World History,” Greene said. “Just because I am more familiar with the con-tent.”

Some teachers, however, feel the same way about teach-ing both classes.

“I approach them both the same way,” Welch said. “I en-joy teaching either.”

New bar denied permit

A bar that was slated to open in the Deer Valley Mar-ketplace was denied a permit after a nearby neighborhood protested the establishment of a tavern.

Damian Hartze, owner of the establishment Cabo Joe’s Sports Grill, wanted to open his bar in the shopping center on the northeast corner of 83rd Avenue and Deer Valley.

“This was a case where an ap-plicant was seeking to operate a bar/tavern use in an existing suite at the Deer Valley Market-place,” City of Peoria Planning Manager Chris Jacques said in an email interview.

A Series 12 license, which would require 40 percent of sales to be from food, was rec-ommended. Hartze wanted a Series 6 liquor license, which does not require the sale of food.

“Although the center is al-ready zoned Commercial (C-2, Intermediate Commercial), bar/tavern uses require a Con-ditional Use Permit,” Jacques said. “The purpose of the CUP is to evaluate any physical or operational characteristics of the use; determine any mitiga-tion for the impacts and maxi-mize neighborhood compat-ibility.”

According to city records, the committee was willing to approve the Series 6 permit if Hartze would agree to 12 stipulations. Hartze disagreed with several, including limited hours of operation and the re-quirement that a minimum of 40 percent of gross sales would be from food.

The committee also stipulat-ed that Proposition 207 rights, which would require the city “to compensate property own-ers for actions which have the effect of diminishing the value of property,” were to be waived in this instance.

The reasoning for the Series 6 license is so that Hartze can add pool tables and dart boards to his floor plan. A Series 12 restaurant license can be de-nied “based on things like TV’s or pool tables,” Hartze told the commission.

According to city re-cords, staff had received letters or emails from 49 households opposing the bar, and one neutral letter. “As you probably read, the ap-plicant encountered significant neighborhood opposition and the CUP was ultimately denied by the Planning & Zoning Com-mission,” Jacques said. “Mr. Hartze did initially appeal the case to the City Council but withdrew it before it was con-sidered.”

Julie MatsenCopy Editor

Kelley MarlarLayout Editor

Madison WeissingerPhoto Editor

DO YOUR WORK: Teacher Michael Billar instructs his first-hour English III class about a class project. Billar’s English class is in addition to his theatre classes. Billar is one of many elective course teachers augmenting their schedules with general education classes in order to receive full-time pay and benefits.

Photo by Julie Matsen

district, Sunrise Mountain lost two teaching positions, leading to an increased average class size- a shift from around 32 students in an average class to 34, 35, or 36.

Former Sunrise Moun-tain and current Liberty High School teacher David Pischke is disappointed about the selec-tion of classes chosen to be cut.

“I think we’re playing to mediocrity,” Pischke said. “It’s unfortunate that we’re let-ting down the actual leaders of America.”

According to Nunez, classes were cut based on student en-rollment.

“Twenty in a class doesn’t make it,” Nunez said.

As to which teachers were cut, the district implemented a policy notifying all teachers with fewer than two years ex-perience at the end of last year that they may not be able to re-turn for the 2009-2010 school year.

“Teachers didn’t have classes to teach,” Nunez said, address-ing the teachers who were not brought back.

This 23 million dollar re-duction has forced the district to lose upwards of 200 em-ployees, ending last year with nearly 4,200 employed per-sonnel and beginning this one with just over 4,000. The loss comes after an 11 percent cut to the district’s budget the year before.

Tough economic times have not left Sunrise Mountain un-scathed.

“The biggest thing students will see (is) a reduction of class-es offered (and) services ren-dered,” Principal Jerry Nunez said as to budget cuts’ effect on the school.

The cut classes Nunez men-tioned include Creative Writ-ing, Exploring Communica-tions, Multicultural Literature and Composition and Health. By services rendered, Nunez meant the loss of an AV clerk, a “Sweep” monitor and a grounds and maintenance employee.

“Things don’t get cleaned like they used to- we’re under-staffed,” Nunez said.

Like other schools in the

Budget cuts continueContinued from Page 1

theSpotlightOctober 1, 2009

03

As irritating as parents may be, students often fail to reflect as often as they should on the amount of appreciation they deserve for molding them into the person they are today, and for supporting them through-out their lives.

“They are my foundation for my morals,” senior Toriy Cos-tin said.

Junior Janelle Bencic is grateful for the protection and guidance she has been given.

“I’m grateful to them for al-ways keeping an eye on me,” Bencic said.

With high school coming to an end for seniors, the future can look both stressful and ex-citing. The worries of the ‘real world’ will soon be here, but seniors do have something to look forward to: becoming re-spected young adults whom are capable of having a stron-ger relationship with their par-ents than in years prior.

“We’re closer now,” Cos-tin said. “They used to control anything and everything in my life.”

Remember those days, when in would stomp the father fig-ure, furious that you were still awake texting, and snatch up the phone for the night?

“I was kind of always mad at them,” Bencic said. “I didn’t have a reason. I was a pain in the butt.”

Students owe parents an in-credible amount. But maybe all parents want is a simple “thank you.” Some wish, however, that it was in their power to give them a whole lot more.

“If the possibilities were end-less, I’d buy them a house and a few cars and pay them off,” se-nior Spencer Parrack said.

Some would prefer to give a gift far more valuable than any-thing that is tangible.

“I’d let my mom see colors,” Costin said. “She’s color blind. And my dad immortality, since he’s a cop.”

Parents are undoubtedly ad-

Parents thanked, acknowledged for support, loveBrianna CamachoStaff Reporter

Have you ever wondered how your school looks through the eyes of another? How about your country, or your entire way of life? Although these may not be questions that cross our minds often, it seems that we can’t help but wonder them after speaking to a foreign ex-change student.

Exchange students offer a fresh perspective on everything from our electives to the way we spend our time outside of school while simultaneously teaching us about their indi-vidual cultures.

Take Sun-rise ex-change student, junior Yuya Ito, for exam-ple.

“In my school, there is much more homework,” Ito said. “(We) are awake (until) 11 p.m. in Ja-pan.”

Even though Ito comes from an area near Tokyo- a city with a population of 12.79 million- he says that most secondary schools in his area are substan-tially smaller than Sunrise.

Sunrise exchange student Ingvild Martinussen echoed Ito’s statement.

“This school is huge com-

pared to my school in Norway,” she said.

According to Sunrise guid-ance counselor Jennifer Dyer, who is in charge of handling all of the exchange students’ cred-its and class schedules, they are usually pleasantly surprised by the staggering amount of elec-tives Sunrise offers. Dyer plac-es each exchange student in certain required classes, such as English and American his-tory. Our guests are also placed in Student Government to wit-ness the driving force behind many of our school functions.

“I want to give them an American experience,” Dyer

said. “You have

Student Coun-cil, and in Nor-way (student council) only meets once a month,” Mar-tinussen said. “Here you have more influ-ence.”

Transition-ing from liv-ing with one’s family to living

thousands of miles away with a host family and enrolling in a new school can be daunting. While Martinussen and Ito are still forming opinions, there are some things about Sunrise that are hard to ignore.

“I like the students - they’re friendly,” Martinussen said.

Different points stick out to different people.

“I don’t know,” Ito said. “It’s very hot here.”

Shelbie StaleyStaff Reporter

“I want to give them an Ameri-

can experience.”

mirable people. They have ac-quired knowledge that we are years from attaining. They have already begun to teach us valu-able lessons.

“Blood doesn’t make you family,” Costin said of her step-dad. “The time spent with them does.”

Bencic’s father has numer-ous jobs, which she acknowl-edges and appreciates.

“I admire my mom for tak-ing all the crap I gave her, and I admire my dad for all he does,” Bencic said. “He’s a swim coach, dive coach, teaches auto and drafting, then some nights

teaches at GCC.”The examples and instruc-

tion given to students now will be much more appreciated af-ter graduation. Whether it is admitted or not we will most likely have grown to accumu-late some of the qualities of the people who raised us.

Every October when Sunrise Mountain’s annual Homecom-ing dance rolls around, there are some students who are not interested enough to attend.

Students from all grades have the opportunity to attend the dance and take part in cel-ebrating school spirit after the football game the day before.

“It’s a good high school expe-rience,” junior Claire Yost said. “You can meet new friends.”

This high school tradition is an opportunity that many

students take advantage of to spend time with friends and meet people.

“It’s more time to spend with friends,” junior Brittany Frank-son said.

All students are encouraged to go to Homecoming to show pride in their school and take part in a fun event planned by student council.

“After the dance you’re re-ally tired and your feet really hurt,” Yost said. “But it’s defi-nitely worth it.”

During Homecoming, only the most popular songs of the

moment are played. There-fore the students who dislike this music could be influenced against attending.

“If they played a variety of music, I think more people would go,” Frankson said.

Along with the music, danc-ing in public can be awkward for some people. With all the students dancing on the audi-torium floor, students may feel uncomfortable.

“I just didn’t want to go (last year),” sophomore De-siree Spencer said. “And I don’t know how to dance.”

Homecoming not for everyoneNatasha HossainStaff Reporter

Exchange students experience Arizona

SPELUNKING: Junior Janelle Bencic and family hike along mountains and through caves during a family vacation.Photo courtesy of Janelle Bencic

OctOber 1, 2009theSpOtlight04

• Reserve tables at web-sites like www.opentable.com to save time. Type in your spec-ifications (how many people, type of food, etc.) and the web-site will provide you with tables that are available for which you can make reservations. Your re-sults may be limited if the res-ervation is very short notice.

• If you or one of your friends works at a nice restau-rant, and they get an employee discount for a certain amount of people in their group, take advantage of this for two rea-sons. One, it’s less money. Two, your friend already knows the quality of the food and can ad-vise you on what to order.

• The nearby Arrow-head Mall usually has sales on formalwear when Homecom-ing approaches. Dillard’s and Penney’s usually have some pretty good deals on semi-for-mal dresses.

• If you’re really in a pinch, don’t be afraid to go to Goodwill, Savers or other thrift stores for Spirit Week costumes. It’s easy to find really cool stuff there if you know what you’re looking for.

• If you can’t get to a conventional flower shop, gro-cery stores like Safeway, Alb-ertson’s and Fry’s (all of which are near the school) have areas where they sell flowers.

• If you don’t have a hair or nail appointment, don’t sweat it. Get a bunch of friends together and do each other’s hair and nails. It may not look professional, but at least you’ll have fun with your friends be-fore the dance.

• Finding a ride to the dance can be tricky. If you have a friend who drives and plans to go to the dance anyway, try to bum a ride off them. If you and this friend plan to go as part of a group, then it should be pret-ty easy. If all else fails, ask one of your parents for a ride to the dance. Limousines are more of a prom thing, anyway.

• Tickets cost more at the door, but they are sold at both lunches during Spirit Week. Try to get your tickets before the day of the dance, but if you can’t, it doesn’t cost an arm or leg more to get in.

Julie MatsenCopy Editor

Procrastinator’s guide to Homecoming

Students can earn up to two credits in their four years of high school by doing com-munity service and can have great experiences doing it just by volunteering at any accepted place.

Most students do communi-ty service for school in order to get credits and focus solely on that, and then they sometimes grow to enjoy it and no longer are focused on the credits.

“I went in for credits and now it doesn’t even matter to

Homecoming is quickly approaching, and a lot of us don’t have anything planned yet. Since we’re also “poor high school students,” a lot of us don’t have a ton of money to drop on Home-coming at the last minute. So, here are some last-minute tips to making Homecoming special:

Pep assemblies pump up Sunrise Mtn. spirit

For every home football game, beginning of a new ath-letic season and any other special event, a pep assembly is scheduled in hope to keep school spirit alive at SMHS.

These spirit assemblies play a vital role in keeping Sun-rise Mountain an “excelling” school.

“They are good because schools like Sunrise Mountain are committed to excellence and need to continue their march to maintain spirit and pride,” Athletic Director Nick Battaglia said.

These assemblies are aimed to get students pepped up for the big game that night and it appears to be working to our advantage.

“It gets a lot more people ex-cited about upcoming games,” senior Morgan Inman said.

When the entire student body and staff is all together in the auditorium, Sunrise Moun-tain is able to bond as a school and get excited about school pride.

“Our school needs to be more spirited and the (assem-blies) help” Inman said.

To make the assemblies more interesting Battaglia had something in mind.

“(The) students and staff (should) learn the fight song and boom it out in a competi-tion,” Battaglia said.

Sophomore Rachel Passer also some ideas of her own.

“I’d like to see a short tal-ent show or stand up comedi-an,” Passer said. “Also, if they played music from the 60’s, 70’s or 80’s.”

Sophomore Toni Miller had a suggestion for what she would like to see happen at the assemblies as well.

SHOUT: Seniors try to yell and cheer the loudest at a pep rally to beat out all other grades in a shout off. The seniors and the juniors ened up in the shout off at the end but the seniors pulled out the victory for the day.

Photo by Carli Krueger

Natasha HossainStaff Reporter

“Include more clubs because they only focus on sports,” Miller said.

Since students and staff are clapping their hands and

screaming to show school spir-it, the assemblies get very loud.

“I’d say everyone cheering is my favorite parts,” Inman said.

Not everyone is a fan of the

cheering and screaming“I hate when they make all

the different grades shout for a competition,” Passer said. “It’s too loud.”

me,” junior Nicole Hale said.Colleges enjoy seeing volun-

teer work on applications and it looks good on resumes.

“(Community service) helps build their resumes and it’s good for colleges to see and for scholarships,” Guidance Coun-selor Genna Laird said.

Students can find more in-formation about community service by asking their counsel-or, joining clubs, and looking around campus at the flyers.

“If they want to do it they find it themselves,” senior Ni-cole Hoover said.

Community service gets

students credits but also gives back to society. Hale started doing community service to get credits and so she could add it to her college applications, but now she enjoys helping other teens by answering phones for teenhelp.com.

“(The most rewarding part) is the people I meet because it taught me a lot about volun-teering and different things in life,” Hale said.

Some students have done community service continue to do it throughout their high school career even though they are only able to get two credits.

Community service creates happiness

“The parade and see-ing all the creative

floats.”-Phillip Nikola, 11

What do you look foward to for homecoming?

“Getting dressed up.” -MacKenzie Zurn, 11

“Getting spirited for the game is pretty exciting.People actu-

ally show school spirit for that week. It’s weird, I know.”

-Alex Johnson, 12

“The parade and see-ing all the hard work and dedication that the students give to

create an amazing and memorable event.”

-Sean Kocmoud, 9

Compiled by: Julie Matsen

Kayla RyanStaff Reporter

Check out more stories online at www.tinyurl.com/mustangexpress

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october 1, 200907

october 1, 200906 thehorseshoe

showcase theSenior Aaron Luebke folded

four intricate pieces in prepara-tion for a photo shoot an hour later.

This origami genius, one of the overachievers on campus, has numerous hobbies includ-ing paper-folding.

“[I usually just do it] when-ever I’m bored.” Luebke said. “It helps when you have to sit still and occupies your mind.”

After reading Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes in the third grade, Luebke began paper-folding in earnest.

“It started when I was really little,” Luebke said of his origa-mi. “I had a few Japanese kids teach me.”

In addition, Luebke is very involved in other fine arts.

“When I was a little kid, I drew a lot,” Luebke said. “I went to as many art classes as I could.”

Luebke works with many types of art including painting, drawing, origami, and writing.

“I draw, I write,” Luebke said. “One of my friend’s par-

ents wanted me to paint his wall [and] I did a mural.”

Teacher’s aide Judianne Leggin knows that Aaron is a very talented artist.

“[Aaron is] really good at it,” Leggin said.

Luebke has been in some of the SMHS fine-arts classes as well.

“I’ve helped others with their art too,” Luebke said.

“I’ve helped others with their art, too.”

Brandon Kocmoud is called BK for short.

He’s not though: at 6’4, Koc-moud is a daunting figure on the basketball court and track, and one of the “top runners in the state”, as his cross country coach, Torin Lattie, puts it.

“Brandon has a lot of drive,” Lattie said. “He always wants to win, and is willing to do battle against anyone to the end. He is the kind of runner that you hate to compete against because he just won’t give up until he has

nothing left.”Kocmoud credits Lattie as

the coach who has made the greatest impact on him.

“He has kept me going through cross country and track,” Kocmoud said.

Lattie believes that with his stellar work ethic and natural physical ability, Kocmoud is one of the toughest runners he has seen.

“In the end, he [also] has the

ability to understand that he may have to change his way of thinking about certain things in order to get better,” Lattie said.

As a sophomore, Kocmoud placed ninth in the 1600- and 3200- meter races at the 5A Division II State Track Meet. He also ran in the Boys’ 4x800 relay. The relay team was state runner-up, coming in at eight minutes and 14 seconds. He is also the number one runner on Boys’ Cross Country.

Despite his successes with running, Kocmoud is happier wearing court

shoes instead of spikes. “[My greatest passion] is to play basketball,” Kocmoud said. “It’s fun [and] I am good at it. I started a long time ago and I just loved it.”

Kocmoud prepares for the high school varsity season by running between 40 and 45 miles a week in cross country.

When asked about his dedi-cation, Kocmoud replied, “It is what it is.”

“Brandon has a lot of drive.”

Get to know your school by checking out the four following committed athletes and artists at Sunrise Mountain. These over-achievers have pursued their passions with dedication and zeal, and have the results to prove it. Visit www.tinyurl.com/mustang-express to see profiles on photographer Elise Payne, basketball player Jade Lowery and Eagle Scout Ethan Berkson.

Mika ArmentaOnline Editor

Mika ArmentaOnline Editor

Photo by Elise Payne

Photo by Elise Payne

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october 1, 200907

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showcase the[ ]G R E AT N E S STalk about a renaissance

woman: senior Katie Coleman draws, paints, crafts jewelry, plays the violin and electric gui-tar... and has designed a pair of shoes.

“Well, I do a little too much,” Coleman said.

Of her numerous interests, jewelry-making and glass and

silver work are her focuses.“Metal Heads, Feat of Clay:

that’s our PMC guild,” Coleman said. PMC stands for Precious Metal Clay. “Me and my mom do a lot of jewelry-making our-selves.”

Coleman has appeared in school art shows and taken as many art classes as she can.

In addition to her involve-

ment in Sunrise art, Coleman competes in PMC contests.

“My proudest moment was when I actually tied with my aunt and mom in the silver di-vision,” Coleman said. “It was like a breath of fresh air.”

Coleman won her first silver metal competition in March.

“It was awesome,” she said. “I was like, ‘first time ever en-tered, I tied my mom!’”

“She is a very gifted artist and craftsperson,” said teach-er’s aide Judianne Leggin. “She makes some wonderful things.”

It would certainly make sense that her desired career would involve art.

“I want to become an anima-tor and possibly work as a pi-rate artist.”

There is a new music man at Sunrise Mountain.

Junior Jack Forsey, star-ring in the musical and by the same name, is a transfer stu-dent from North Dakota, and a piano, singing, and acting ex-traordinaire.

Forsey plays the lead in The

Music Man: Professor Harold Hill.

“He’s a traveling salesman who cons people into buying instruments,” Forsey said.

We don’t know if he’s pulled any shady moves like his char-acter, but Forsey seems as mu-sically gifted as they come.

“Singing and music are [my greatest passions],” Forsey said. “All of [my family] have to take piano lessons…It’s like required,”

Forsey’s director, drama teacher Michael Billar, has only known him three weeks, but feels that some real talent has

enrolled at SMHS.“He has a beautiful voice

and a great deal of presence on stage,” Billar said.

At West Fargo High School, Forsey was involved in a couple of school productions, boys’ choir for West Fargo, the school newspaper, and improv.

“It’s sort of like Who’s Line,” he said about improv. “I was in it for two years.”

There was no question that Jack would be a performer.

“My family is really musi-cal,” Forsey said. “My brother started in Drama [and] I used to listen to [musicals] with my dad. Acting is really fun and it’s a challenge to portray a charac-ter.”

As for the future, Forsey is looking into architecture and continuing to explore music.

“Jack should go far as long as he works hard,” Billar said. “[He has] a charming personal-ity [and] always a smile on his face. He’s breaking the hearts of young girls everywhere.”

“He has a beautiful voice.”

“She is a very gifted artist.”

Mika ArmentaOnline Editor

Mika ArmentaOnline Editor

Photo by Elise Payne

Photo by Elise Payne

PlayingFieldOctOber 1, 2009

08

Signs that senior Alex Mc-Clellan had a knack for golf came early. At only age six, while playing in a youth league,

Carli KruegerEditor-In-Chief

MacDougall shoots for success on volleyball court

Taylor MorrisAd manager

With a much smaller amount of students, SMHS has dropped a division and is now a 4A1 school. This means the Mus-tangs will be facing new oppo-nents in all athletics.

Rather than playing previ-ous rivals such as Centennial, SMHS will be playing Liberty, Auga Fria, Bradshaw Moun-tain, Copper Canyon, Dysart, Peoria and Raymond S. Kel-lis High School amongst other high schools.

“Our region has a very good mix,” SMHS Athletic Direc-tor Nick Battaglia said. “It has three Peoria Unified School District schools within it, which will provide us opportunities to play (some of our other) sister schools.”

According to the Arizona In-terscholastic Association (AIA), the association which creates these divisions, SMHS is the second largest school in its di-vision, second only to Copper Canyon High School.

Battaglia, football coach Matt Mickelson, girls’ volley-ball coach Tony Gale, girls’ soc-cer coach Shauna Johnson and softball coach Nick Rizer agree that the change is positive and will allow SMHS to be more competitive due to compara-tive enrollment sizes between the schools.

“I think it’s going to change SMHS for the better,” Battaglia said. “Going into 4A1 gives us a

“Making it to regions is our goal, and we have the athletic ability to get there,” Gale said. “Making state is another goal -- we just need to learn how to handle the pressure.”

The captains share their coaches vision for the season.

On Saturday Sep. 19 at North Canyon High School a tourna-ment was held against many different teams.

“We beat everyone we thought we would beat except for Prescott,” Gale said.

The team made it to the fi-nals and lost against Prescott. They received a trophy for plac-ing as runner- ups.

Katie Rutherford was cho-sen to be all tournaments and she received a medal for her achievement.

Madison WeissingerPhoto Editor

she managed to hit a hole-in-one.

“(I’ve been playing) since I was six,” McClellan said. “It’s a family tradition. People have football families or baseball families; mine’s a golf family.”

McClellan is currently the number one seed for the girls’ golf team.

“I feel honored,” McClellan said about being number one. “I’m excited to broaden my ho-rizons.”

Freshman and fellow team-mate Cheyenne Adamonis said McClellan is deserving of the spot.

“She’s been doing this for a long time,” Adamonis said. “I’m glad she’s number one.”

McClellan has high hopes for the season.

“This season, I think I’ll improve,” McClellan said. “I always get most improved. Overall, I think our team will get better as the season pro-gresses.”

Adamonis spoke highly of her teammate, noting that she is very dedicated.

“[Alex] definitely brings spirit,” Adamonis said. “She’s always loosening us up and we can always count on her for a good score. She’s very consis-tent and accurate.”

Last year, McClellan did not go to the Regional or State tour-nament last year due to school.

“School always comes first so last year I stayed at school instead of going to Region-als and State,” McClellan said. “This year, I made sure my last hour was choir so I can enjoy golf and high school and not worry about putting my (aca-demic) career at risk.”

Bump! Set! Spike! Almost everyone knows

that is how a typical volleyball game goes, and a student here on campus knows it a little bit more than all of us. Meet junior Jessica MacDougall.

MacDougall, who has been playing volleyball now for over five years is currently experi-encing her first year on the girls varsity volleyball team.

MacDougall’s position on court is currently middle-hit-ter.

“She’s very coachable,” girls varsity coach Tony Gale said. “As well as extremely positive with the other young ladies on the team and very versatile also.”

When MacDougall started playing in elementary school, she ‘fell in love’ with the sport.

“I wanted something pro-ductive to do, to keep me busy, and I’m not a quitter, so I stayed with it (volleyball),” MacDou-gall said.

MacDougall’s goal is to even-tually play for UCSD (Universi-ty of California, San Diego).

“She meshes really well with the entire team, and is so much fun to be around,” junior Madi-son Durham said.

Durham, who is also on the varsity team, plays outside hit-ter, and has been playing vol-leyball for 8 years.

“I would tell her just to keep up what she’s doing,” Durham said. “She’s done a really good job on the team so far this year.”

When it comes to playing outside of school, MacDougall has played for a number of dif-ferent club teams including, Arizona Desert Sky, Arizona Grand Canyon Juniors and ZIA.

Whether or not after high school she will be playing for a certain school or get a scholar-ship somewhere, is still up in the air.

“I’m considering playing for UCSD when I graduate,” Mac-Dougall said. “They’ve sent me several recruitment letters and have called me a few times, so I’m really excited about that possibility.”

To find out more in-formation on all Sunrise Mountain sports, go to the Mustang Express website at:

www.tinyurl/mustang-expess

ATHLETE OF THE

MONTH:

Alex McClellan

Photo by: Kelsey LuftJUMP ON IT: Girls Volleyball finishes as runners-up in the Prescott tourna-ment at North Canyon High School

Girls volleyball aims high

The season began strong for girls’ volleyball after the team placed in the first tournament of the year with the help of the three new senior captains, Ni-cole Battle, Madison Fennell and Katie Rutherford.

Battle and Rutherford were both chosen by Coach Tony Gale to be captains, while Fen-nell was voted team captain by her team.

“We work together well and we all have a lot of talent that could take us to state,” Ruther-ford said. “We all get along re-ally well.”

Gale agrees that for the most part the girls work together well and that the unity will help the team reach their goals.

chance to compete with schools our same size.”

Mickelson says that the var-sity football team is one of the teams to beat within the re-gion.

“I think we’ll do really well as far as football,” Mickelson said. “We’re not intimidated by anyone in our region and (we) feel confident going in.”

Johnson says it will be ben-eficial to SMHS soccer, as well as SMHS athletics as a whole.

There is one thing Gale says that will not change.

“I think overall our tradi-tion as being good at sports will continue,” Gale said.

There are, however, mixed feelings about the fact that SMHS will no longer be com-peting with Centenntial and Ironwood, who are also sister schools to SMHS.

“It takes us away from our rivals and it takes away that competition,” Johnson said.

Rizer says it will be nice to get an opportunity to play other teams.

“It’ll be unique for the girls to get to see new teams,” Rizer said.

Encouragement is one thing Battaglia would like to see con-tinued this year.

“Going into this new ad-venture, this new region, the athletic department, teams and athletes are looking forward to the continued support of all support of all students, staff and community,” Battaglia said.

SMHS moves down to 4A1 divisionCarli KruegerEditor-In-Cheif

2centsOctOber 1, 2009

09Student speaks opinion on theft issues

With the cornucopia of com-municatory avenues our age is graced with, our generation is bombarded with more in-formation than our parents’ generation, or their parents’, or any civilization in history. The Internet is an information superpower. Facebook notifi-cations assail our cell phones, Twitter keeps us up-to-date on friends, and Skype eliminates the impossibility of long-dis-tance face-to-face. And yet, in spite of the plenty with which we are provided, high school students here at SMHS are starved for awareness about much of anything beyond their front doors.

Shocking as it may be, this crazy world of ours extends far beyond the purple gates of SMHS. Believe it or not, Scott-sdale is not the farthest point East and the sunny beaches of California are pretty far from the end of the world. In fact, it all keeps going -on and on- for two-hundred million miles, just as full of life as our own small square of existence. It’s easy to forget.

We are in the midst of war - why? What do bailouts do, real-ly? Why are there budget cuts? A year ago, Russia invaded Georgia - surely not in Ameri-ca? Who is the Vice President?

These aren’t in-depth ques-tions. They’re questions we should all know. Most of us probably don’t.

These world issues and pub-lic figures so many of us are clueless about are also those that shape our worlds. Honest or otherwise, politicians decide how to spend the tax money we earn, choose who we should wage war with and determine what it is we legally can and cannot do. Assuming these out-side forces have no effect on our lives is naive.

Our society rightly prides it-self on being a shining beacon of democracy. Yet, if our citi-zens are uninformed about the electors they choose to run this country, any claims of ‘power to the people’ are absurd. An uninformed democracy is a po-litical popularity contest - not a country exercising its revolu-tionary right.

Cliché or not, as teenagers, the burden of making the big decisions will soon fall upon our shoulders. Fulfilling that responsibility starts with figur-ing out what they are and be-coming informed about what goes on in the world.

teacher Kristy Roschke’s only confirm this to me. Her cell phone along with 20 dollars was stolen from her bag a few years ago, directly out of the classroom.

“I felt violated,” Roschke said, “I was so angry, I yelled at my class. I felt like that was my thanks.”

To have someone actually have the audacity to search through someone else’s bag and steal takes an incredible amount of insensitivity and lack of compassion. It’s sad that anyone would even con-sider stealing from a teacher, when the focus of their life is to

give us better opportunities in the future.

The scariest thought is that this student who stole from Roschke was only in high school. Imagine the regres-sion the student could make throughout his or her entire life span. What will be the next step? Stealing a television from a house? The answers to those questions will give in time, un-less a change of heart occurs.

Senior Christina Pap had dance shoes stolen from her freshman year. They were ex-pensive and were not paid for with her money. She felt hor-rible because her mother ended

up having to buy her another pair.

Stealing is a thoughtless act. People fail to take into consid-eration the effects it will have on the one they steal from; how it will make them feel, the inconveniences created, the stress, the panic. Those factors are all ignored, or sadly maybe even laughed at.

Why would anyone have the desire to steal in the first place? When I asked Roschke what her thoughts were as to why people steal she said, “If I knew the answer to that question the world would be free of all the hooligans.”

Brianna CamachoStaff Reporter

The Mustang Express Staff

Sarah BurnsStaff Reporter

If you like sports, you may like...the sports you do, it gives you many possibilities.

Oulton competes in the sports in school to get scholar-ships, but also competes out-side of school because he has a love for the sports.

Junior Janelle Bencic com-petes in soccer and swims at SMHS and will be joining track in the spring.

Bencic jogs, goes to a gym and occasionally swims outside of school to stay in shape for the sports she doe does.

Bencic tells students that all sports take some time and ef-fort, especially because you are a part of a team and they de-pend on all members.

Kayla RyanStaff Reporter

WORDOF

MOUTH

Mustang mascot misunderstood over time

In a pivotal moment in pub-lic sporting history there existed an innovator who, in what must have been impeccable wisdom, caught the notion that sports teams everywhere ought have a token representation, prefer-ably one of the animal variety. And so the mascot was born. According to Merriam Web-ster Dictionary, a mascot is “an animal or object adopted by a group as a symbolic figure.”

Sadly, what was once wor-shipped as a god in the age of cavemen is now taken for grant-ed, forgotten, or worse yet, mis-understood by Sunrise Moun-tain High School inhabitants everywhere. In a school realm where mustangs should gal-lantly gallop through the hearts of teenagers, the heroic horse is instead met with unawareness. The mustang is an animal rich in symbolism, much more than merely an icon for “cars that always break down,” according to Language Arts teacher Scott Hollabaugh.

Mustangs originated as de-scendents of the horses brought

to America during Spanish colonization in the sixteenth century. The mighty stallions were those that escaped the harnesses and menial life of brute colonial work in favor of a free-range existence, mostly in the west. It is this chosen inde-pendence that has wrought the majority of traditional mustang symbolism.

“I think our mascot symbol-izes strength,” varsity football player and junior Tony Troft-gruben said. “It represents freedom, individuality (and) spirit.”

These characteristics are some Sunrise Mountain stu-

dents could be proud to own as the mustan. Sadly, the signifi-cance of this very vibrant sym-bolism is often misunderstood in Mustang Country culture, resulting in the loss of a pos-sible rallying point for sports and spirit.

Why is it we ignore our sym-bolically powerful past? Why allow our free-range stallion be converted into a tamed, horse-shoe-exhibiting equine?

Hollabaugh blames the lack of icons that can be attributed to mustangs.

“It’s hard to [gallop] with those shoes,” said Molly the Mustang mascot.

Sarah BurnsStaff Reporter

Students compete in many school sports, whether it be multiple sports one. Some of the students who participate in only one sport don’t know if they would like to compete in other sports or not because they are not sure if there are similarities that would attract their interest.

Some students, like senior Jordan Michael, do activities outside of school that keep them in shape for their sport, but it isn’t as intense.

“Football is more intense than running outside of school, more physical,” Michael said.

Students who jog or work out outside of school and don’t compete in a SMHS sport would still be able to compete because they are keeping themselves in shape in similar ways players do off the field or court.

Senior Grady Oulton plays baseball and basketball for SMHS and has played football outside of school. He stated that there are some similarities between the sports he plays at school and has played outside of school.

“(Sports in school and ac-tivities outside of school) all in-

volve a ball. They keep me busy and keep me out of trouble,” Oulton said.

If you aren’t already in-volved in a sport at SMHS but have been interested in joining one, there are several different reasons you should join.

I encourage students to par-ticipate in as many sports as they can because it allows them to meet people and opens up many scholarship possibilities.

“You meet so many new people, I don’t know it’s just fun. It’s scary at first but fun,” Michael said.

If you have your eye on a specific college you can apply for sport scholarships in all of

Editor-in-ChiefCarli Krueger@Carlikrueger

Online EditorMika Armenta

Copy EditorJulie Matsen

@JulietAlphaMike

Staff Reporters

Layout EditorKelley Marlar@KelleyMarlar

Media EditorMorgan Brewster

Photo EditorMadison Weissinger

@madisonweissin

Advertising ManagerTaylor Morris@Missteemorris

AdviserKristy Roschke

Brianna CamachoSarah Burns

Natasha Hossain Kelsey Luft

Kayla Ryan

The Sunrise Mountain High School Mustang Express is a student newspaper whose purpose is to inform the community of events that are relevant to SMHS and its surroundings, to interpret and analyze cur-rent events and to provide entertainment. The staff aims to be fair and impartial, ac-curate and responsible, and to adhere to the SPJ Code of Ethics.Letters to the Editor are printed at the discretion of the editorial staff and SMHS administrators. Opinions voiced in the letters do not necessarily represent those held by the staff or Sunrise Mountain High School. The staff reserves the right to edit all letters for grammar and content. Anonymous letters will not be published.

Editorial Policy

Whenever I hear someone say that we youths are the fu-ture, I think “well then we are headed for disaster.” Don’t get me wrong, there are great people hre at the school; bright people who will undoubtedly make a difference in the world for the better. At the same time, however, there will be people who make a difference for the worse.

Experiences like English

Ignorance in youth has report-er interested

theSceneOctOber 1, 2009

10Twitter gains popularity among student population

With social networking web sites like MySpace and Face-book growing, it is only natural for others to expand as well.

“(Twitter) is kind of addict-ing,” senior John Sawyer said. “I didn’t think I’d like it at first, b u t now I’m addicted

to it.”

Twitter is a web site that al-lows its users to receive mobile updates via text messages from their friends, family and even celebrities.

“It’s just the fact that you know what your friends are do-ing,” senior Jordynn Jimenez

said. “You don’t have to log onto any-

thing and check statuses.”

J i m e n e z signed up for Twit-ter when

a friend told her

about it.

“ E v e r since then I

just began tweet-ing,” Jimenez said. “Then

I talked to a bunch of peo-ple and they decided to get one and follow me.”

When a user decides to “fol-low” another user, the updates that the followed person creates will be sent to the follower.

Junior Lexi Collins chose to follow celebrities Ashton Kutcher, John Mayer and 104.7 radio DJ’s John Jay and Rich.

“[Some celebrities] tweet so much it’s annoying,” Col-lins said. “But John Jay and Rich are funny. I like following them.”

Junior Stephen Pagan chooses to follow bands he likes to listen to.

“I follow Last Step Down, Underoath and Devil Wears Prada,” Pagan said.

Jimenez follows celebrities such as comedians Daniel Tosh, Chelsea Handler and Sarah Sil-verman.

“I follow most of the celeb-rities,” Jimenez said. “Because whenever I get an update from Sarah Silverman, it’s really fun-ny.”

Kelley MarlarLayout Editor

Some Twitter users choose not to follow celebrities and bands.

“I don’t follow anyone but my friends,” Sawyer said.

Some feel that there are drawback to creating and hav-ing a Twitter.

“It’s extremely annoying,” Jimenez said. “I had to stop fol-lowing a lot of people because their tweets would fill my inbox up.”

Optional mobile updates are sent directly to a cell phone, which means that an inbox could be quickly filled depend-ing on how many users one fol-lows.

Users can also view Twitter on the internet, if they choose not to have mobile updates.

“My battery dies quickly be-cause of Twitter,” Collins said. “I get so many tweets that it doesn’t stay charged.”

Also, Twitter is accessible to anyone who has signed up

for the service and can even be viewed by people who do not have a Twitter.

“Some stuff everyone can read,” Sawyer said. “Some tweets you don’t want certain people to read.”

Businesses follow users ac-cording to what their interests are.

“I don’t like when busi-nesses follow you,” Pagan said. “Or people that randomly add you.”Follow these students and more on Twitter:

Jordynn Jimenez:@JordynnJimenez

Lexi Collins:@lexibrynn

Stephen Pagan:@DirgeLSD

John Sawyer:@j0hnnyb0yw0nder

Walking onto the SMHS campus as an incoming fresh-man can be daunting. For many, they would rather have their tonsils removed while awake. Four years later, seniors are walking on top of the world, and many paused a moment to share their words of wisdom.

Everyone has been involved with drama at least once in their school years. According to senior Chelsea Stacey, it is very

important to surround yourself with people who you can count on through thick and thin.

“People are cruel and life can suck… but it always ends up okay,” Stacey said. “Your best friends are the most important people through high school.”

If you think you have changed a lot since the first day of eighth grade, you would not believe how different you are next year, even more so in four years. Hairstyles, clothing styles, and your favorite musi-

cian will change. “You won’t be the same

person when you leave high school,” senior Makaila Tru-lock said.

A common theme among se-niors to a successful high school career is to become involved. No matter what you pick, it will help you be connected, make new friends and make your own contribution to campus life.

“Get involved early and don’t be scared to go all out on spirit days,” senior Kayla Haley said.

People nowadays are living in a technology dominated gen-eration where one cannot leave the house without a cell phone, iPod and any other piece of technology that helps make life easier.

Every day people are using their high-tech cell phones that include internet access along with other handy applications that cell phones come with, including English teacher and student council adviser Scott Hollabaugh.

“I have a Blackberry now,” Hollabaugh said. “I can receive emails instantly instead of be-ing restricted by a computer.”

Even though technology has made things easier for most people, Hollabaugh said that this generation should have more responsibility.

“I think it’s great that your generation has access to all the technology,” Hollabaugh said. “But it also means you have to be more responsible with the internet and email and text

release of the iPod Nano that can record up to 16 hours of video, has an FM radio and can organize playlists like iTunes does. (For more information about the iPod Nano, visit the Mustang Express online at www.tinyurl.com/bdyp99.)

“I don’t like those, it’s con-venient but too convenient,” Stefanko said. “It’s just another way to spoil people.”

However, most people do not think it is a bad thing to have an all in one device.

“I think it’s cool,” Holla-

messages. As soon as it’s sent, it’s sent.”

Junior Kathryn Stefanko has expressed that many peo-ple, teenagers specifically, are too reliant on technology and that she has tried to break the habit.

“They rely on it [technol-ogy] too much for things they can wait for,” Stefanko said. “I rely on technology less than the average teenager, but probably still too much.”

Junior Conor May said that he relies on technology “like a lost dog.” May added that it’s hard for lots of people to go without technology.

“Without technology people are like a fish out of water,” May said.

When Stefanko has some-thing else to draw her atten-tion, she does not acknowledge the technology around her.

“Right now I actually haven’t used the TV or computer re-cently because I got a new book to read,” Stefanko said.

Over the years there have been more releases of all-in-one devices like the upcoming

Society’s reliance on modern technology increasesKelsey LuftStaff Reporter

“Because it is so much more fun.”

Many seniors took the aca-demic route for their advice. It will soon become obvious to all freshman that it is hard to bring a GPA back up after a year of screwing around. Completing all homework assignments and making an effort in your classes will have a great influence on your grades.

“It’s not that the classes are hard or anything, but there’s so much more homework than

elementary school,” senior Mo-nique Lewis said. “You can’t just ignore it anymore, so get to work! Just doing your home-work helps your grades so much.”

All seniors will agree that looking back, they cannot be-lieve how fast high school went.

“Make the best out of these four years and have the most fun you possibly can,” senior Tyler Brown said. “Because it goes by in the blink of an eye.”

Kaitlyn MurpheyContributing Reporter

Seniors offer words of wisdom directed at high school freshmen

baugh said. “I don’t think there is any point to having a bad at-titude towards technology. It makes things easier.”

Junior Brandi Porter agrees with Hollabaugh about how an all-in-one device can make life easier.

“I think it’s better than hav-ing separate devices for every little thing,” Porter said.

After hearing about the new release of the iPod Nano, May was very excited.

“There is a God,” May said.Many people believe that

the inventors of all-in-one de-vices will at sometime invent a device that would make every-thing else seem pointless.

“It seems like they’re replac-ing computers,” Hollabaugh said. “We’re moving to this one thing that does everything for you.”

Even though some people would rush out to get the brand new toy, Porter said that it is not worth spending your money.

“There is no point in going to buy something you already have,” Porter said.

Photo by Briana OteroTEXTING AWAY: Junior Morgan DeLorenzzo speaks with senior Joice Willis while texting during thier lunch break. Many students take the oppurtunity to text at lunch rather than text during class and risk getting caught.

PlayingFieldOctOber 1, 2009

05

This season on the swim team, junior Thomas Wahlers will be swimming through an injury that happened at the be-ginning of last summer.

Wahlers’ right knee was dislocated due to putting too much weight on it.

“I

didn’t know what to do at first,” Wahlers said. “I ended up going to physical therapy.”

Even with the in-jury, his coach, Dr. Jim Kenyon, ex-pects the best out of Wahlers.

“Wahlers should be region champ in all his

events,” Ken-yon said. “He

should place in the top three in regions as well, which is much harder to do. We have four swimmers that have the potential to place at state and he’s the fastest of the four.”

Junior Shannan Hodo, who has known Wahlers since freshman year, thinks his in-jury will not affect him in the slightest.

“I don’t think his knee will affect his times,” Hodo said. “He’s tough enough to swim through the pain. He’ll do just as well as he’s done every year,

if not better.”This year, Wahlers will be participating in the

100 freestyle, 200 freestyle, 500 free-

style, medley relay, 4x50 freestyle and the 4x100 freestyle. Because of his in-jury, Wahlers had to switch events so he will not be swim-ming the breast stroke.

ATHLETE OF THE

MONTH:Thomas Wahlers

Photo by: Kelsey Luft

“I couldn’t do breaststroke for a while,” Wahlers said. “But I pretty much do whatever the team needs me to do.”

Wahlers started swimming at a young age.

“I was five or six years old when I first started swimming,” Wahlers said. “My doctor sug-gested I should start swimming because I had signs of asthma. Swim helps prevent asthma be-cause it helps your lungs build up.”

Since then, Wahlers has de-veloped long-term goals.

“Hopefully I can get a schol-arship for college,” Wahlers said. “Maybe even get to the Olympic trials.”

Even with his goals, his fo-cus is on the school swim team right now.

“What it comes down to is that I want to help my team out so we can become better,” Wahlers said. “I hope we do pretty well this year. The swim team is a good environment.”

Kelsey LuftStaff Reporter

Four baseball players play in national tournament

After years of training, weeks of tryout games and hours spent in the batting cag-es, four baseball players from Sunrise Mountain will have the chance to compete against some of the best high school players from across the country for the chance to be part of the national baseball team.

Juniors Aaron Bummer, Ty-ler Crawford, Steven Kane and freshman Seth Martinez have all qualified to compete in the Mountain West tournament, which will take place in North Carolina, Sept. 18-20.

Bummer has been preparing for this tournament since he was young. He is confident that the tournament will give him enough exposure to continue his baseball career after high school.

“I started playing t-ball when I was four years old,” said Bummer. “My strength in base-ball is pitching, and my goal for

North Carolina is to get seen (by scouts).”

Head varsity baseball coach Eric Gardner knows how im-portant this tournament will be to their future careers in base-ball.

“In high school baseball, this means tons of exposure,” said Gardner. “Multiple col-lege and pro coaches will be watching. Now they’ll have the chance to be seen around the nation. The final North Caro-lina tournament they will play in a four game tourney against 12 teams. If they make the na-tional team they will be able to travel around the world to play against other national teams.”

Crawford has also realized how crucial this tournament will be to his future career in baseball.

“Over the summer I worked out every day,” said Crawford. “Coach Raymond helped me practice pitching and I did a lot of running. My goal for North Carolina is to do the best that I can against great players.”

Martinez is the youngest

player from Sunrise going to the September tournament in North Carolina.

“There was a point in the tournament where there was a guy on second and third and, neither of them made it home,” said Martinez. “I have been preparing all summer for this season, I have been running, throwing, and been working on my abs.”

Morgan BrewsterMulti-media Editor

Originally Kane did not make the team in Arizona, which is why he traveled to California where he did make the team. He will be traveling to North Carolina as well.

Athletic director Nick Batta-glia was very proud of the four boys that made it this far in the tournament.

“I think that this is one of the biggest honors that these stu-

dent athletes can have; playing a game that they love and repre-senting their school and state,” Battaglia said. “These young players not only are great ath-letes, but students who carry excellent G.P.A’s.”

After the tournament in North Carolina, this story will be updated at the Mustang Ex-press online at www.tinyurl.com/mustangexpress

Photo courtesy of Kelly BummerHITTING ALL THE BASES: (left to right) Freshman Seth Martinez, and juniors Tyler Crawford, Aaron Bummer, and Steven Kane participated in a baseball tournament in North Carolina for USA Baseball.

1.) GO! FIGHT!WIN! Freshman football players John Drego (7) and Josh Toennis (74) run for a touchdown.The team played against Verrado High School and won 14-0.2.)HIKE: Freshman Keelan Navaro scored a running touch-down.3.) GOING DOWN: Freshman David Erickson (87) tackles an-other Verrado player. The team’s season has been

For more photos log onto the Mustang Express online at: www.tinyurl.com/mustangex-press

Photos courtesy of: Duane Matsen

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Billy SquierWednesday, September 30 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $45 - $70Celebrity Theatre

Jamie FoxxThursday, October 1 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $56 - 90Dodge Theatre

Sonic YouthThursday, October 1 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $25 - $27Marquee Theatre

AC/DCThursday, October 1 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $97US Airways

Brad Paisley and Dirks BentlyThursday, October 1 at 7:30 p.m.Cricket Wireless Pavilion

PitbullFriday, October 2 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $53 - 270Dodge Theatre

Brooks and DunnSunday, October 4 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $52 – 324Anselmo Valencia Amphitheater

ShinedownMonday, October 5 at 6:30 p.m.Tickets: $64 - 71Marquee Theatre

Compiled by: Kelsey Luft

Upcoming entertainment ranges from Black Eyed Peas to Kelly Clarkson

Starring as one of the main character in an updated version of the 1980 film, Fame, is ac-tor, singer and guitarist Asher Book.

“Our film is kind of a re-make,” Book said. “We tell people it’s more of a re-invention.”

The new Fame is not an exact re-make of the 1980 film but it is based on it.

“Basically we take the concept of kids going to a performing arts school and use that,” Book said. “There are aspects of the origi-nal that we still kept. But for the most part, it’s a whole new movie.”

The movie has new charac-ters, a new storyline, new songs and new dance. Two songs from the original will be fea-tured and actress Debbie Allen, who played Lydia in the origi-nal Fame will be returning with

a new role.Book plays the role of Mar-

co, a singer and actor at New York City High School for the performing arts.

“I’m a lot like my character

Marco,” Book said. “We both grew up singing, we both went to the same school, our humor is very much alike and the way we act with people.”

Book described the filming schedule as “crazy”, since the cast shot for four months in Los Angeles and two weeks in New York.

“I’d be in the studio or on

Asher Book stars in remake of 1980 film FameCarli KruegerEditor-In-Chief

SING YOUR HEART OUT: Book as Marco performs with his co-star Anna Maria Perez De Tagle, who plays Joy. Fame began playing in theatres on September 25. All photos courtesy of: www.generationfame.com

Bob SagetFriday, October 9 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $35 – 45Celebrity Theatre

Stephen LynchFriday, October 9 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $102 – 369Orpheum Theatre

Shawn ColvinSaturday, October 10 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $38 – 40El Pedregal at the Boulders

Frank CaliendoSaturday, October 10 at 8:30 p.m.Tickets: $23 – 52Dodge Theatre

Little FeatSaturday, October 10 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $39 – 42Martini Ranch

Children of Bodom with Austra-lian Death Machine and Skeleton-witchMonday, October 12 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $25 - 30Marquee Theatre

Chris DaughtryTuesday, October 13 at 6:30 p.m.Tickets: $20Marquee Theatre

Rodney CarringtonFriday, October 16 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $29 – 47Dodge Theatre

Bob Dylan*Saturday, October 17 at 7 p.m.Tickets $5 – 20Arizona State Fairgrounds

Beauty of a Bonzer with Kool and the Gang and the CommodoresSaturday, October 17 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $30 – 60US Airways Center

Stone Temple Pilots* Sunday, October 18 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $5 – 20Arizona State Fairgrounds

U2 with Black Eyed PeasTuesday, October 20 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $30 – 250 University of Phoenix Stadium

Grease Tuesday- Sunday, October 20 – 25 at various timesTickets: $41 – 76Dodge Theatre

Jimmy ThackeryWednesday, October 21 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $45Rhythm Room

Lady Antebellum*Wednesday, October 21 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $5 – 15Arizona State Fairgrounds

David CookTuesday, November 3 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $5 – 20

Monsters of FolkWednesday, October 21 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $85 – 330Orpheum Theatre

Black Crowes*Thursday, October 22 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $5 – 15Arizona State Fairgrounds

SkilletThursday, October 22 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $85 – 388Celebrity Theatre

ABBA: The Music*Friday, October 23 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $5 – 15Arizona State Fairgrounds

John Michael Montgomery and the Honky Tonk Tailgate Party*Saturday, October 24 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $5 – 15Arizona State Fairgrounds

Gordon LightfootSunday, October 25 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $40 – 55Orpheum Theatre

Steely Dan Tuesday, October 27 at 7:30 p.m.Tickets: $141- 510Dodge Theatre

Tower of PowerWednesday, October 28 at 8 p.m.Tickets: $91 – 388Celebrity Theatre

Raven Symone*Wednesday, October 28 @ 7 p.m.Tickets: $5 – 15Arizona State Fairgrounds

Rodney Atkis and Julianne Hough*Sunday, November 1 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $5 – 15Arizona State Fairgrounds

Little Big Town and Billy Cur-rington*Friday, November 6 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $5 - 15Arizona State Fairgrounds

Kelly Clarkson*Saturday, November 7 at 7 p.m.Tickets: $5 - 20Arizona State Fairgrounds

*Note— for all Arizona State Fair concerts you must have fair admis-sion to get in along with the ticket costs.

set all day, every day,” Book said. “We might have one day off during the week, but for the most part it was pretty much working the whole time.”

Book said that the cafete-ria scene is one of his favorites, along with a spe-cial scene where Book gets to sing.

“My scene that I really am proud of is the scene (when I sing ‘Try’),” Book said. “I serenade my girlfriend in the movie. It’s a piano piece that I play and it’s a great scene.”

Book said he is hoping to get a great reaction from audiences.

“I’m really proud of this movie,” Book said. “Not only of the fact that I was in it but I just feel like it has such a great message and it’s

really good for our generation right now.”

Although Book’s most recent work is done on the big screen, his other interest is his band, V Factory.

“I’m able to commit 100 per-cent to both of them,” Book said. “They (V Factory) work around a lot of my acting schedule, so I’m really able to do both.”

TRIPLE THREAT: Asher Book poses for a headshot. Not only does Book sing and act, he also acts and plays guitar. Book also sings in a band.

Kelley MarlarLayout Editor

GET UP AND DANCE: Asher Book and Anna Maria Perez De Tagle sing and dance for their high school peers in the lunch room. “For like, four days, we got to just dance on tables and play loud music and just have fun,” Book said about this scene.