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Upcoming events:

Today: Minimum Day-

School Excused @ Noon

Boy’s Basketball @ Carbon

3:30-9:00 p.m.

Thursday: No School-

Christmas Break

Moratorium-No practices or

competitions

Friday: Christmas Eve

No School-Christmas Break

Moratorium-No practices or

competitions

Saturday: Christmas Day

No School-Christmas Break

Moratorium-No practices or

competitions

By the Numbers:

Amount of money raised by NS for the annual Sub For

Santa drive

Number of local children who participated in this year’s Shop With A Cop

program

Percent of NS students who drink at least one energy

drink a week

Milligrams of caffa eine in one ffff8.3 oz. can of Red Bull. In comparison, a 12 oz. can of Pepsi contains only 38mg.

Well Said:

I know that she looks at each individual student to see what she can do to inspire them to become a bet-ttter person through physical activ

--John Ericksen, on why he believes NS P.E. Teacher and Athletic Director Sharon Christensen has a lasting ef-fffect on her students

I kI k

roughroughvity.vity.

Contents

A & E................9

Crossword.........10

Features.............4

News..................1

Sports................5

BY HY UNTER ERICKSON

Along with other winter sports available in Sanpete County, a Nordic ski track is min-utes away for those who love cross-country skiing.

“There really isn’t anything of this sort south of Sundance,” said Bill Bedford, a mem-ber of the Skyline Nordic Club.

Bedford has been setting a ski track around the Skyline golf course with his own equip-ment for a while, but the club was able to get a grant for new equipment two years ago.

State Parks and Recreation issued the grant to the club, which was used to buy a new snowmobile, and drags to pull behind it. Other members of the community who have been interested in the track have also contrib-uted to purchasing this equipment.

Bedford and other members of the club are able to groom the trail by pulling the drags behind the snowmobile, creating two options for skiing.

“Most of the track is wide enough for free-style or skating, and there is also a set-in track for classical skiing,” said Bedford.

Although the track is accessible from mul-tiple areas, skiers are encouraged to get on at

the start of hole one of the golf course. Thetrack is a little over 4 miles long, with over-lapping trails and different areas of diffff fficulty.

BY TYLERTT GR LAD

Many NS teachers have been paying closer attention to their overall health. Theseteachers are participating in a new self-awareness program provided by EMI Health.

EMI Health is the compa-ny that provides health care for all of the district workers in North Sanpete. They have initiated this new program in order to keep the teachers healthy and happy.

The main idea for the pro-gram is to decrease teach-er sick days in order to in-crease the amount that

students learn

and to lower the health-care costs.

“If teachers are healthi-er they need fewer sick days. This helps instruction, which is better for the students,” said Christy Bird, the pro-gram’s district coordinator.

The program also helps the district financially. If teachers aren’t sick, then in-surance premiums could go down or stabilize, which will save the district money.

“[This] benefits us as a district,” said Bird.

The monetary benefitsalso extend to the teachers.

“[EMI Health] gives us a

BY CHRISTIAN CARR

Northwest Testing is a system of adaptive tests taken throughout the school year. The tests are taken three to four times a year and are designed to measure students’ progress during the year.

These adaptive tests allow students to see their grade level and where they are at. They are given a RIT score, which is equivalent to a grade level. Students are then expected to receive higher scores and progress during the year.

“[These tests] help us to place kids, and identify which ones are struggling,”

said Nan Ault, VP at NS. The tests help teachers to focus on areas that students are struggling with.

There is a possibility that the NWEA Testing will replace the CORE test giv-en at the end of the year. An advantage to the NWEA Testing is that it is given throughout the year rather than just at the end.

“[The CORE Test] is an end of the year test and the teachers usually don’t see the students again,” said Ault. “The adaptive testing allows the teacher to see what areas the students are strug-gling in.”

Recently students at NS took the

test for the first time. They will be tak-kking it twice more in the year. According to Kaylene Johnson, an English teacher at NS, the tests show what areas need to be covered more. Johnson believes thatoverall the students were right where they were supposed to be.

“It tells us how the students align with the country, and that we are mea-suring up,” Johnson said.

Ault thinks that the difficulties in the tests lie in their language and wording, and the way they are set up. She thinks that these problems were more in the

BY MY ARIA REYES

Over the years, NS has de-vveloped many clubs and or-

ganizations. Some have beeny a part of the school for a very

long time. Clubs and orga-y nization give students many

opportunities to be involvedwwithout being in any aca-demic sports.

With winter season here,students may fi nd it hard tobbe involved. The Snow Rid-ers Club is a great opportu-

nity for students to enjoy thewwinter.

In the ‘94-’95 school year,P.E. teacher and athletics di-

rector Sharon Christensenr and former drama teacher

Sue Rasmussen started theSnow Riders Club.

“Th ere was a Ski Club, but it wasn’t organized as a club,” said Christensen, “So we got the bylaws and developed

the Snow Riders Club.”Th w e club would go on few

y trips each year and was very active for the following years. However, due to Christensen giving birth to her youngest daughter, Snow Riders was

discontinued in 2001. “Sue didn’t want to do it

bby herself, so we just let it go,” said Christensen.

r It wasn’t until last yearduring a Safety Routine Pre-sentation given by former as-

sistant principal Jason Stratethat the topic came up again.

“Mr. Strate said to fi nd an advisor, and I said I would do it,” said Elizabeth Woodard,

teacher and advisor of the Snow Riders Club at NS.

Continuing this club hasgiven students more oppor-

tunities to do something at NS and be more involved.

BY LEVI STUM

On Saturday, Dec. 11, the FCCLA Masquerade Ball was held. This was the first date dance of the year for NS, and it was girl’s choice.

Leading up to the dance, six seniors were chosen as the ‘preferred men’ candi-dates. They were: Hunter Erickson, Ezra Hainsworth, Parker Christensen, T.C. Ivo-ry, Shane Mickel, and Dallen Bird. These candidates par-ticipated in various activities during the week.

On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the men had dif-ffferent pictures taken of vari-ous parts of their bodies, spe-cifically their eyes, biceps, legs, and mouths.

The pictures were then put out at lunch. Every pic-ture had a jar, and the stu-dents voted for their favor-ites by putting money in the jars. Whoever raised the most money won for that cat-egory.

Also on Monday, all of the preferred men got to-gether and made cupcakes. On Tuesday they sold the

cupcakes for about a dollar apiece, while also wearing their favorite apron. Most of the candidates sold all of their cupcakes.

For Wednesday’s activity, each senior received an elec-tronic baby from Adult Roles teacher Jody Black. They were then tasked with taking care of them over the night and bringing them back safe-

ly the next day. Ivory scored the highest out of all the competitors, earning a per-fect 100 percent.

The preference assembly was held on Friday, during which the guys dressed up as girls and danced to Shania Twain. They also participated in a “minute-to-win-it” com-petition, which was won by Christensen. After that, FC-

CLA members escorted the candidates onto the stage, where they were honored with letters from parents and asked questions.

At the Masquerade Ball on Saturday, Ivory was an-nounced as the most pre-ferred man for the 2010-11 school year, as voted upon by the female population of NS.

Photo by Jy esse Richmond

Testing results show promise

SEE PAGE 2, NORTHWEST TESTINTT G

Six Seniors vie for title of ‘Most Preferred Man’

SEE SNOW RIDERS, PAGE 2

Snow Riders club offo ers new opporffff -tunities to students

Teachers begin new EMIA healthy lifestyle program

students learn SSEE TTEACTT HERHEALTH, PAGE 3

Photo by Hy unter Erickson

New cross-country skiing track installed by NS coach and ski club at Skyline Mountain Resort

SEE SKYLINE RESORT, PAGE 3

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BY HY UNTER ERICKSON

Avid writers can get excited about a new club being formed at NS.

The NS Writing Club had its wheels inmotion last year when students started sign-ing up, but the club didn’t get board approv-al until this past October. Ben Cox, an Eng-lish teacher at NS and the advisor of the club, came up with the idea.

“We want to help students to write more frequently and give them an opportunity to write and share their work,” said Cox.

The first meeting for the Writing Club was held on Dec. 8, and the club will continue to meet once a month.

At these meetings the members of the club will get a chance to talk about types of writ-ing as well as discuss grammar concepts. They will also be able to bring their finished writ-ing products to share, as well as get help with unfinished products.

Along with meetings, the club will be com-municating with its members through Fa-cebook. The participants are encouraged toshare what they are writing weekly through Facebook, and look at the grammar tips that will be posted.

Kimberly Larsen, a senior at NS and the President of the Writing Club, has high hopes.

“We hope to improve the grammar of NS

students, as well as our writing and commu-nication skills,” said Larsen.

Cox also hopes to influence students at NS through the writing club.

“I want them to be more cognizant of their grammar,” said Cox. “I want to create a cul-ture of writing.”

The club has developed a way to recognize and remember good writers in the school. If the members of the Writing Club meet a cer-tain criteria, they will have their name writ-ten on a plaque. Although the criteria is not set in stone, it will probably consist of writ-ing a certain amount and contributing to the grammar board in Cox’s room.

The Writing Club will get involved in dif-ffferent Writing and English competitions throughout the year. One of these is the Po-etry Out Loud competition. Students will re-cite poems in a competition at their school, and then move on to region and state compe-titions.

Although students are able to write in English and other classes, Cox doesn’t be-lieve that most people write enough to begin with.

“Writers write, and they write often,” saidCox.

This new club will give students more chances to write and have their work recog-nized.

“We can help students appreciate writing

and see how fun it really can be,” said Tiffany ffffChristensen, a sophomore at NS and the VicePresident of the club, “We can help them see that they can be good writers.”

If students participate in the Writing Club,they will have the chance to improve their writing. According to Larsen, this is a benefi-cial skill to have.

“In anything you do you’re going to have to write,” said Larsen.

Along with Larsen and Christensen, MattLindow and Rachael Howard are also in the presidency, as secretary and historian/re-porter respectively.

Students who are interested in participat-ing in the Writing Club need to talk to Cox.

“More people should join because it’s a great opportunity to improve your Writing and English skills,” said Larsen.

New Writing Club offers chances for improvementffff

Photo by Jy esse Richmond

Language Arts tests and not the math tests, since they are more direct.

“These tests give us scenar-ios where we need to support students,” said Ault. “I think that what we are finding is that it’s asking questions that our students haven’t seen be-fore.”

Some students prefer the NWEA testing because of its adaptive nature. The CORE only tests on the class they are administered in and the grade of the student taking the test. Adaptive testing goes beyond grade and class

level and challenges the stu-dents on a personal level.

“I liked it because it be-came your own personaltest,” said Brent Watson, a sophomore at NS.

The testing is part of a pi-lot program going on in Utah. It is new to the state but not to the nation. Since it is a pi-lot program, districts will be deciding whether it is a via-ble alternative to the Core, or whether it isn’t right for our schools.

“We’ll have to make chang-es, or decide that it’s just not right for us,” Ault said.

Northwest Testing, continued from page 1

Several students have joined this club because they simply enjoy snowboarding.

“[For] people who don’t do other things and like to snowboard, [the club] gives them the chance to do it,” said Jacelyn Sorensen, senior from Mt. Pleasant.

Besides giving this oppor-tunity to students, the club also a great way to socialize.

“The best thing is hanging out with your friends,” saidDallas Springsteed, sopho-more from Indianola and president of Snow Riders Club.

In the past, the Snow Rid-ers would only go on three trips per year. Now, in the new club’s second year, they plan to go on trips every three weeks from now until the snow lasts.

“We want to go to Brigh-

ton at least twice this year,” said Woodard. ”We do go to Sundance a lot more often just because its closer and cheaper.”

Many students enjoy snowboarding and find it even better going to trips with their group of friends.

“It’s nice to have a group to go up with,” said Woo-dard. “It’s a fun activity and parents don’t have to worry about it.”

With Woodard taking charge of Snow Riders, stu-dents who may not have been involved otherwise now have a chance to join a club.

“It addresses a different ffffgroup of kids who wouldn’t be in a club,” said Christens-en. “[Woodard] has a lot of energy, and I’m glad she’s do-ing it.”

Snow Riders, continued from page 1

Photo provided by Ty ysonTT Stewart

Ah, December. A time of happiness, warmth, and cheer. A time for all to feelthe spirit of Christmas in its entirety.

Well, all except for me, anyway. In recent years, the sheer giddiness I once feltat this time of year has fad-ed (this is compounded by the fact that recent days have felt more like October than December). No longer can I passively enjoy Christmas-time simply because of thedate. The Christmas spirit is still in my reach, however, but I have to work for it.

So, how do I find the spir-it of Christmas? After dis-carding several options that seemed less than ideal (dress-ing up like Santa Claus, chug-ging eggnog and apple cider, spending time with friendsand loved ones), I found a solution almost guaranteed to work. Like so many pro-tagonists of made-for-TV movies before me, I decided that I would try to discover the true meaning of Christ-mas.

Now, I could embark on this quest in a traditional manner, which would send me on a long series of events (usually involving Christmas magic of some sort, along with either some angels or some elves) that would even-tually teach me the true meaning and leave everyone

with warm fuzzy feelings at the end.

However, I don’t have time for this. Instead, I’ll just look at a few classic Christ-mas movies, analyze their themes, and try to find com-mon threads (that’s right: Christmas just met science). This method should be fool-proof.

After all, how can there be more than one meaning to Christmas?

I’ll start with the biggest classic in my family, A Christ-mas Story. Admittedly, I en-joyed this movie a lot more when I wasn’t aware that the characters were cursing like sailors, but the overall mes-sage should point me in the right direction (fun fact: this movie also made me believe that the word fudge, when used a certain way, was actu-ally a curse word).

So, what can we glean from A Christmas Story? Some would argue that the movie’s main message is that you can have a wonderful holiday no matter what you get or what you do.

I, however, choose to see it as a triumph of nag-ging perseverance: plead for something hard enough, and you’ll be sure to get it.

Next up, we’ll look at Dr.Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, in which a grumpy green fellow decides to steal

any Christmas parapherna-lia he can find from the lo-cal village. It’s generally seen as a tale of forgiveness and changes of heart. Upon anal-ysis, though, it’s really just about pure, unabashed ig-norance. You see, the Who’s of Whoville aren’t happy be-cause they don’t need a tree: they’re happy because they still think they have one.

But why then, cry the op-ponents of this theory, did the Grinch return all the presents in the end?

Well, as any good prank-kkster knows, the fun of a prac-tical joke isn’t necessarily in the execution. It’s in the reac-tion from the recipient of the prank.

The Grinch, upon see-ing that the Who’s were too naïve to notice the damage, likely returned the presents in disgust. He even got a freedinner out of it, too, since the townsfolk couldn’t even rec-ognize him as the thief.

The last classic in our study is the timeless A Char-lie Brown Christmas. The film is often lauded for its tradi-tional, anti-commercialistic views. Subliminally, though, it sends its viewers the exact opposite message.

Toward the end of the film, the titular character Charlie Brown buys a thin,frail excuse for a Christmas tree. Now, no offense to Mr. ffff

Brown, but he fits the typi-cal description of a loser to the letter. He wears the same sweater every day, is often so-cially awkward, and frequent-ly hangs out with a kid whostill carries around his blan-ket. The poor guy can’t even kick a football properly.

Because of this, when wesee Charlie Brown buy the tree, we feel repulsed deep down, since only losers buy the small tree.

Additionally, this so-called beacon of non-com-mercialism doesn’t even hold to its standards, as itbecomes quite gaudily dec-orated by the in-crowd. It’s only after the tree is thus im-proved that a happy conclu-sion is reached.

So, what is the true mean-ing of Christmas? Based onmy research, I’ve arrived on the following conclusion:The true meaning, the es-sence of Christmas, is nag-ging your parents incessant-ly, being blissfully unaware of everything around you, andmaking sure that you’re not the guy with the puny tree.

Ah…that’s better. I can feel the Christmas spirit al-ready.

-Jesse Richmond

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Editor-in-ChiefJesse Richmond

Managing EditorsKimberly Larsen

Alyssa Hall

Business ManagerAlyssa Hall

AdvisorBen Cox

NewsChristian Carr, editor

Levi StumTyler Glad

Maria ReyesHunter Erickson

FeaturesHunter Erickson,

editorKim Larsen

Jesse RichmondTaylor PurcellZackery Ence

A&EJenahsea Long, editor

Whitney NafusEllie Nix

Austin Sanders

SportsDustin Allred, editor

Alyssa HallKaytie Nielson

Benjamin Larsen

LayoutJesse Richmond

Kim LarsenAlyssa Hall

Chris Larsen

PhotographyChristian Carr, editor

Hannah Aldridge, helper

NS Times Staff

Editor-in-chief seeks “true meaning” of Christmas

BY ZY ACKERYZZ ENCE

On Dec. fourth, 51 spe-cially chosen children took part in the eleventh year of the Shop With A Cop pro-gram in Sanpete. Every year officers take children to a res-taurant somewhere and give them breakfast after which they give them around $100 to spend at Wal-Mart on Christmas presents.

This year, the children were taken to McDonald’s and Wal-Mart by 42 officers who all volunteered for the activity. Some of them vol-unteered with their wives and were able to take more than one child.

The police officers and their spouses were each as-signed a little boy or girl to get to know and take around. They then drove the children to breakfast in their police cars.

“It give officers a chance to bond with kids,” said Bob Wright, the Snow College

Public Safety Officer. Wright was the officer who brought the program to Sanpete from Sandy City where he previ-ously served.

On the way the officers tried their best to make the children comfortable and make sure they were having a good time. They played games and the officers even let the children play with things in their cars.

“The officers were way nice,” said Tesiann Johnston, a student at NS who partic-ipated in this program when she was 11.

After a meal prepared by Mcdonalds, the children piled into the cars again to go to Wal-Mart. When they arrived, they each went offwith their designated offi-cer to shop. Each child was allowed $110 to spend on whatever they wanted, and the officers made sure to help them spend it wisely.

Some officers remarked about how selflessly most of

the children spent their mon-ey.

“I was really impressed when she picked out pres-ents last for herself,” said of-ffficer John McCaul about the child that he got to know.

After all the children had finally picked out presents,they went over to the Ambu-lance Association who had volunteered to wrap all their presents. After all the pres-ents were wrapped, the chil-dren collected another giftfrom Wal-Mart consisting of soda and chocolates.

This program was insti-tuted to help out some peo-ple who are financially strug-gling. Money is given to their children to spend on Christmas presents so that less money is spent at home.

This program is also run to help with children who have issues with law enforce-ment. Shopping with a kind police officer usually serves to desensitize them towards law enforcement.

To be chosen to take part in this program, a child must be recommended by their el-ementary school teacher or principal. These authority figures recommend children who they believe to be hav-ing trouble at home, wheth-er financial problems or trau-matic experiences.

The children chosen must be in elementary school and are usually 7-11 years old. However there is always an occasional 12 or 13 year old who an authority figure thinks could use the experi-ence.

During this program, someone from every city and division of law-enforce-ment is represented, so a lot of people get to take part in this program.

Policemen say they love and look forward to taking part in this program every year and have fun experienc-es every time.

“This is a good program,” said McCaul, “and it has a lot of community support.”

Everybody hopes that next year this program will show the great success that it has shown all 11 years that it has been in Sanpete.

Photo by Zy ackery Ey nce

Police officers help needy children small cash incentive if we complete the challenges,” said Jeff Ericksen, a teacher ffNS and the program’s high school coordinator. The amount of money is yet to be determined.

The program consists of four challenges. NS start-ed the program later in the year so the teachers are only participating in three of the four.

The first challenge is called Healthy Habits. This consists of five habits that the teachers are to complete dai-ly. They are: sleeping seven hours each night, eating five servings of fruits and vege-tables, engaging in 30 min-utes of physical activity, read-ing the nutrition facts label on one of the foods you eat, and giving one sincere com-pliment each day. The rest of the challenges will be created as the year moves on.

The district has the teach-ers fill out what they have done for each day on a web-site that keeps track of their progress. Each teacher needs to complete at least 85 per-cent of the habits in order to receive the cash incentive.

“I like that the district trusts us to be honestly in-volved to receive our cash in-centive,” said Ericksen.

The program also includes

many small things that teach-ers can do all the time to be-come healthier. One of these is a test that the teachers take online that shows how old they are in health standards. Some teachers came up as ten years younger than they really are. The teachers who got older ages were encour-aged to work on improving their health.

Another of these was a health risk assessment that showed where each individ-ual needed to improve and where they were strong. It helped teachers see what they needed to work on.

The program is very large with many participants throughout Sanpete County.

“[The program] has over 120 participants in the dis-trict,” said Bird. The program also extends out of Sanpete County and into other parts of Utah.

Most of the people in-volved in the program like it and want to do it more. In an e-mail sent to all of the teachers involved in the HMIHealth program, Bird encour-aged teacher participation.

“For me, this program is about self-awareness, and if we can all walk away with a greater to desire to improve our overall health, we will have succeeded,” said Bird.

Teacher Health, continued from page 1

“There are many different possible routes,” ffffsaid Bedford. “Some are flat and easy, suitable for beginners, and some are hilly and techni-cal.”

Nan Ault, vice principle of NS, is also heavily involved in the Skyline Nordic Club and believes that this track is a great option for skiers.

“We’ve upped our game,” said Ault. “It’s as beautiful as anything you’ll ski at Park City or other resorts.”

Those who are looking for another form of outdoor physical activity in the winter have

this option of cross-country skiing.“This sport is a good activity for all around

exercise,” said Bedford.The skiing winter conditions have been

fairly consistent over the last few years, but this year has had ups and downs so far. The club has had to deal with the recent melt-down of snow.

“We got off to a really great start but then ffthings went bad quickly,” said Bedford.

All community members are welcome toski on the track, but are encouraged to pay a season fee of 25 dollars, or 3 dollars per use.

Skyline Resort, continued from page 1

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BY JY ESSE RICHMOND

Sharon Christensen, Athletic Director at NS, has had a profoundimpact on the athletic program at the high school for nearly a quarter of a century.

Christensen has coached or taught at the school for 24 years. For 22 of those years, she coached volleyball, often in conjunction with basketball, which she coached for nine years. Additionally, she coached softball for seven years, and track and field for two.

“She has a passion to see student athletes excel,” said John Ericksen, former principal of NS. Ericksen was athletic director over Chris-tensen until a year and a half before his six years as principal, at which point she received the title. Ericks-en said he was confident that Chris-tensen would be able to fulfill all the duties attached to the position when he left.

“I didn’t have to worry about a lot of things I knew should hap-pen,” said Ericksen. Christensen brought new ideas to the program, as well as a desire to make the pub-lic more aware of the various NS sports teams.

“She just jumped right in and took off from where the programs ffwere at that time and made them better,” said Ericksen.

According to Ericksen, one of Christensen’s main plans as athlet-ic director was to bring more rec-ognition to the student athletes of the school. She initiated and saw through to completion the installa-tion of the trophy case in the senior hall, feeling that something needed to be done for athletes past, pres-ent, and future.

In addition, Christensen was re-sponsible for purchasing the ban-ners in the main gym that show the schools’ accomplishments, as well as organizing separate letterman banquets for the different seasons ffffof sports, all so that the students could be better recognized.

Ericksen says that she was a great

coach, mainly due to the concern she showed for her players.

“She was always thinking about the girls that played under her,” he said. Along with this care, Ericksen said that Christensen tried to teach her players valuable life lessons, a goal that sometimes took the place of winning.

“Some of her most precious seasons, I think, were the ones in which she didn’t win,” said Erick-kksen. He said that Christensen was constantly trying to teach her ath-letes how to deal with unfair situa-tions in life, as well as coping with both the highs and the lows they might encounter.

As volleyball coach, Christens-en led the lady hawks to four state championships, which she de-scribes as the “ultimate goal” of the season. She said that achieving such a feat requires confidence, dedica-tion, and a strong work ethic fromthe athletes. Christensen said thatshe would work hard to instill these traits in the team, and it was a relief when the students began to exhibit them on their own.

This dedication to the sport was also Christensen’s first indicator that a potential championship was in sight.

“That’s when you know you can do it,” said Christensen. “When they discipline themselves, that’s when you know you have a chance.”

Rickie Stewart, NS volleyball coach, admires Christensen not only for her coaching abilities, but also because she sees her as a “good example of a human being.”

“Not only is she a good coach, but she’s a better person,” saidStewart. The traits that Stewart says make up this character are honesty, integrity, trust, and over all, a good work ethic.

As well as working with Chris-tensen as the volleyball coach in recent years, Stewart played under her on the school’s volleyball team. Though Stewart says the experience was enjoyable, she said playing un-der Christensen was also intimidat-

ing.“It was a bit frightening at times,”

said Stewart. Stewart says she felt this way because she saw the work that Christensen put into the team and didn’t want to disappoint her coach.

“You never wanted to let her down,” said Stewart.

Stewart said that she played un-der Christensen during one of the four years that the Ladyhawks won the state tournament, the 1998-99 school year. She said that the team had a lot of talent that year, and be-cause of this, Christensen felt that aloss would have been her responsi-bility.

Stewart said that, since becom-ing the school’s volleyball coach, her respect for Christensen has in-creased. Stewart frequently goes to her for advice, and admires the sup-port that she gives to all sports inthe school.

Christensen said that one of her

favorite things about coaching was the friendships she developed with the athletes she coached. Though many have graduated and moved on with life, they still send her emails, Christmas cards, and wedding in-vitations, all of which make Chris-tensen feel like she made an impres-sion on the student.

The biggest thing that Chris-tensen misses about coaching is the close relationship with the athletes.

“I miss working with the kids at that level,” said Christensen. De-spite this, Christensen said that she enjoys being able to go home to her family after school, something she couldn’t do as a coach. She also finds satisfaction in teaching P.E., and is a strong supporter of the ide-als of the class.

“I believe in what I teach,” said Christensen. Christensen finds that the components of a healthy life-style taught in class are useful be-cause anyone can do them and that

the students can use them for the rest of their lives.

Christensen sees the effects of ffffher work in the lifestyles of stu-dents she has taught or coached. Though she says very few of her athletes went on to play their sport at a college level, most of them still carry out an active lifestyle.

Furthermore, Christensen says that she sees students to whom she only taught P.E. following this ac-tive trend as well. Indeed, she says that many of those who never were actively involved in a high schoolsport end up being the fittest of their peers later in life.

“I know that she looks at each in-dividual student to see what she can do to inspire them to become a bet-ter person through physical activi-ty,” said Ericksen.

“She really, really cares about the students of North Sanpete HighSchool.”

BY KY IMBERLY LALL RSEN

Over the years, energy drinks have become increasingly pop-ular in many places, Sanpete in-cluded. In a recent survey, over half (52%) of the students at NS said that they have had an ener-gy drink and 69% of these stu-dents have at least 1 per week.

Along with the growing pop-ularity of these beverages, theknowledge about their negativeeffects is also increasing. Oneffffof the unhealthiest things about energy drinks is the amount of caffeine that they contain. ffff

In one 8.3 oz can of Red Bull (one of the more popular ener-gy drink brands) there are 80mg of caffeine as opposed to 38 ffffmg in a 12 oz can of Pepsi. The Red Bull has about three times the amount that Pepsi does and this is a similar compari-son with other brands. Because of all this caffeine, you can see ffffwhy energy drinks have theirname.

The energy comes from caf-fffeine, triggering the release of adrenaline and glucose into the body. The adrenaline makes the heart beat faster. Over time this can weaken not only the heart, but the whole circulatory sys-tem as well.

“People who drink lots of en-ergy drinks shorten their lives,” said Ed Staker, a human phys and biology teacher at NS. He explained that along with the effects on the heart and circulaffff -tory system, energy drinks will actually make it harder to con-centrate and sleep in the long run.

“ I guess they have a place if they are wisely used,” said JeffErickson, a health teacher at NS. Erickson explained that, in some sports, energy drinks are allowed during games but with discretion because of the nega-tive effects. ffff

Angela Hatfield, a sopho-more at NS, was one who expe-rienced the negative side of en-

ergy drinks in sports. She said that when she was fourteen she woke up early and had to miss breakfast to make the bus for a basketball game. On the way, the bus stopped at a gas station and she bought and drank an energy drink before the game. While out on the court she started to hyperventilate and fainted. She was hospitalized for about two hours while they monitored her heart.

Shelby Rasmussen, a fresh-man at NS, has seen similar oc-currences during school.

“People in P. E. would drink them because they thought it would give them energy,” said Rasmussen. “They (would) get sick and dizzy and would pass out sometimes.”

With all of the negative ef-fffects, some may wonder why people drink them. Many stu-dents at NS drink energy drinks obviously for the energy but others drink them just for the taste. It’s just a drink to some.

BY TY AYLOTT R PR URCELL

In Aug. of 1997, Reed Hastings and Mare Randolph founded a video rental store called Netflix. Other video rental stores have been battling Netflix for mar-ket supremacy ever since it started.

However, Netflix is more popular mostly because of the way they deliv-er their videos, through instant online streaming, and through the mail.

Online streaming is definitely one of the bigger guns for Netflix in the battle. A subscriber to Netflix can watch a selec-tion of videos instantly online for $7.99 a month.

“Instant streaming is definitely a bo-nus. It’s really cheap and it has South Park,” said Wes Holman, a sophomore from Mount Pleasant.

Not all of the videos that one can have mailed to them are available on in-stant streaming. However, when Hast-ings founded Netflix, his goal was to be able to deliver all of the videos over the internet someday.

Even though instant internet stream-ing is the company’s main focus, their idea of mailing the movies to people has also been very successful.

“Netflix is cheaper, more convenient, and has more movies than other video rental stores. Plus, no due dates or late fees,” said Klynton Frederick, a junior

from Mount Pleasant.Subscribers to Netflix each have their

own “Queue.” They choose what movies go on their queue and which order they go in. When they send a movie back in the mail, Netflix sends them the next movie on their queue.

A Netflix subscriber can have unlim-ited DVDs mailed to them one at a time for two dollars more a month, (on top of the $7.99 for instant streaming). Differffff -ent plans allow a subscriber to have more than one DVD at home at a time.

“I wouldn’t normally get more than one DVD at a time except for the fact that they take about two to three days to come in the mail. Since I have more than one at home, I can still have a movie to watch while the other one is in the mail,” said Frederick.

Netflix isn’t only pulling ahead in vid-eo delivery but also in video quality.

“I’ve never gotten a damaged disk from Netflix,” said Holman, “Neither has anyone else that I’ve talked to.”

Netflix is starting a new generation of video rental trends by breaking the old traditions and becoming something new.

“Netflix is doing something that no other video companies have tried be-fore,” said Holman, “Who knows, in ten years video rental could be totally differffff -ent because of Netflix.”

Photo provided by NS Hy igh

Netfltt ix oflfl ffo ers variety and convenienceffffEnergy boost comes with negative side

NS athletic advisor teaches, inspires

Photo provided by veryeasyenergydrinks.com

BY DY USTIN ALLRED

If the Utah Jazz were a product to be bought and sold, now would be the time to be buying and they would be the top Christmas gift of this holiday season.

Right now the Jazz are red hot and are leading the Northwest division of the Western Conference. They currently have a record of 19-9, and with a little less than three-fourths of a season less to play, they look to be on track to possibly win 60 reg-ular season games.

One of the Jazz’s few losses came Wednesday Dec. 8 night when the Jazz’s took on the Heat at home. Lebron James scored 33 points leading the Heat to a 111-98 win over the Jazz.

The Jazz also had another little hiccup on Dec. 3rd against the Dallas Maver-icks. The Jazz were out scored 93-81, with team leader Deron Williams only scoring 12 points, tying his season low for points scored.

“We’re still one of the best teams,” said Deron Williams in espn.com. “This is one of those nights. Things didn’t go our way. The Mavericks played better than us.”

The Jazz has shown that they are one of the best teams.

Before the Dallas game the Jazz were on a seven game win streak. Also, earlier in the season the Jazz won four in a row as they went on an eastern road trip, which included games at Orlando and Miami.

Last Saturday the Jazz came by another win when they faced Milwaukee at home. The Jazz surged forward in the fourth quar-ter to take a 95-86 win over the Bucks.

C.J. Miles showed up in a big way for the Jazz, coming off the bench and sparking ffthe team when it needed to be sparked.The explosion of energy that the Jazz’s bench can produce is unbelievable and is an aspect of the Jazz that sets them apart from other teams.

The Jazz’s success may be contributed to the team’s new chemistry. The on-court relationship between newly acquired cen-ter Al Jefferson and team leader Deron ffffWilliams is one of the many reasons that the Jazz have excelled this year.

Paul Millsap has been a huge surprise this season, helping the Jazz to excel.He has averaged 17.6 points, 8 rebounds, and leads the team in 3-point shooting percentage (.571).

The Jazz have also gotten noticeably better defensively. They are currently elev-enth in the nation with points allowed per game, only allowing other teams to score an average of 97 points.

This team may have stars, but they are unselfish stars. The Jazz are third in the nation for assists per game with an aver-age of 23.8. Moreover, the team leader and star of the Jazz, Deron Williams leads the team with assists, averaging 9.7 assists per game.

The Jazz played Miami last Mon. Re-sults were available at press time.

Now, the question that faces the Jazz is if they can continue to win and if they can achieve the first Championship in the his-tory of the Jazz.

5

BY AY LYSSA HA ALL

Down by one, the NS boys’ basketball team of ’69 only had one more chance at becoming victors during a game located in the old gymnasium of Mt. Pleasant. As their final attempt, a plan was drawn up, giving for-ward Dave Bailey the opportu-nity to play the role as team hero for the evening. Without disap-pointment, Bailey took a shot at the buzzer, landing the team with a win at the final second of the game.

This however, was not the only time Bailey pulled through for his team. The ‘69 team man-ager, Eddie Cox, recalls Bailey being so reliable he was referred to as ‘Mr. Clutch’.

“Dave Bailey was the star of the team,” said Cox.

His numbers spoke for them-selves. That year Bailey averaged 18 points, 11 rebounds and six assists per game. He was named to the All-State team his junior and senior year. He was also named All-American his senior year, which meant that he was selected as one of the best 100 players in the United States.

“It was quite an honor,” said Bailey.

Not only was he a skilled player in high school, but he also received a full-ride schol-arship to Brigham Young Uni-versity where he played for four years as a roleplayer.

While he was there they won the Western Athletic Confer-ence, and out of the three years he played varsity they went to the NCAA playoffs twice. Alffff -though he was not a starter, he got quite a bit of playing time and enjoyed the experience.

Not only was Bailey an asset as a player, but his leadership on the team also contributed a

great deal.“He was a leader in many cat-

egories,” said Bailey’s coach of ’69 Mack Wilkey.

“He was about the best re-bounder in the state, well re-spected on the team and outside of the team for his hard work, very conditioned, easy to coach, obedient, and he kept himself clean.”

For Wilkey, the morale of each one of his players was the most important criteria for each player to meet in order to be on the team. On more than one oc-casion Wilkey let go of players if they were messing around with things such as drugs, alcohol, or even bullying. This is one of the reasons why Wilkey felt Bai-ley was such a great team lead-er. Bailey seemed to be the im-age of a product of a successful coach.

Wilkey’s rules and standards could be seen as difficult to ac-commodate to many, but ac-cording to Bailey, Wilkey’s play-ers had no desire to rebel against their coach’s rules, for the ma-jority of them agreed with the rules being set.

“I was just looking out for their welfare and it really paid off. I’d do it again,” said Wilkeyffff

According to Wilkey, anoth-er one of the reasons he had so much success with the team in ’69 was because he was for-tunate to have a group of such smart young men. The major-ity of the team held true to be-ing students with an A- average. He only had one student with a C average.

“I had some smart players,” said Wilkey. “When you have a team that can think and has good grades, you can talk to them and they’ll carry out [what you’ve instructed].”

Former NS All-American returns as an assistant to coach girls basketball

Hawks pull out last-second victory

Jazz chemistry leads to improved record

BY DY USTIN ALLRED

Tied at 66 points a piece with 4.9 seconds left on the clock, the ball was inbounded to Kyle Seely on Dec. 10 against North Sum-mit. In a last second shot, Seely hit the buzz-er beater as time ran out.

Colton Dunn made this play possible. With less than ten seconds left on the clock, Dunn disrupted the dribble of North Summit causing them to lose the ball out of bounds with the score tied and 4.9 seconds left.

The game was fought hard on both sides of the basketball. NS only had a 2-point lead going into the half and the game was tied go-ing into the third quarter.

Dunn was a huge factor in this game scor-

ing 24 points and hitting four three pointers. Carl Peckham also had a great game scoring 17 points.

This win snapped a 4-game loosing streak that the Hawks were previously on. The loos-ing streak was caused in part by injuries that the Hawks suffered earlier in the season.ffff

Birdless is the word that comes to mind when trying to describe the status of the NS Hawk basketball team. Brothers Rhett and Dallen Bird were both out with injuries. The two brothers were instructed by their doctor not to play because their ACL’s may become stretched.

“I will be out for the next three weeks,” said Dallen. “I tore my meniscus and strained my ACL.”

“I’ll be out until some time next week” said Rhett. “I just strained my ACL so I am not out as long as Dallen.”

The Bird brothers were the two lead scor-ers from last year and they were coming into this year bringing experience and leadership with them. In the absence of the Bird broth-ers, the Hawks have suffered some tough fffflosses.

The Hawks are 2-5 on the season and were on a 4-game loosing streak until the North Summit game. Their first loss of this streak came when the Hawks took on South Sevier on Dec. 1.

South Sevier was dominant throughout

Photo from 1969 Salt Lake TribuneTT , provided by Dy avid Bailey

BY KY AKK YTIEAA NIELSON

NS varsity wrestlers took a win against Emery High, one of its rivals, with the score of 48 to 39. The dual was the teams firsthome match, which took place Dec. 2nd.

“I thought it was a good way to start theseason,” said Oliver Silva, a sophomore at NS. “But the team knows that we must work to fix our mistakes and work even harder since we have much tougher opponents we must takeon, such as Delta.”

Five of the boys pinned their opponents, including three seniors. Also there were three that won their matches and five that lost theirs.

“I was expecting for the team to work their hardest and kick butt, due that a lot of our wrestlers are great wrestlers,” said Silva.

The team also went to the two day, IronMan tournament Dec. third and fourth.

This tournament placed the team in the way they were compared to some of the top teams in the state.

“I feel like we did alright but we mostly

struggled. We learned a lot and I think that’s the main point of that tournament. It’s one of the hardest in the year,” said Aaron Lee, ju-nior at NS.

Lee did well at the tournament and went 7-3 throughout the two days that they wres-tled.

Michael Brewer, a junior who lives in Spring City, broke his collar bone during his fourth and final match at the tournament. He had won his previous three. The match wasagainst Delta, at weight 145. The Delta wres-tler was disqualified and Brewer won, unfor-tunately he is out for the rest of the season.

“It sucks being out because I was really looking forward to some upcoming match-es,” said Brewer. One of those matches were Manti before they went 2a next year. He also said that he would just miss playing the sport.

The team didn’t do as well as they had hoped but they are still staying positive.

“We have been doing pretty good, espe-cially with being conditioned, but our weak-kknesses are that we have been struggling with

shots and standing up,” said Chad Watts, ju-nior at NS.

The team knew going in that it was go-

ing to be tough since a lot of the best schools around would be there but they still triedtheir hardest.

NS wrestlers improve on season, take recent duel vs. Emery

Photo by Ky aytie Nielson

SEE BAILEY, YY PAPP GE 6

SEE BOYS BASKETBALL, PAPP GE 6

6

BY KY AKK YTIEAA NIELSON

Bradee Sunder-land, a senior at NS is on the wrestling team and the football team. He works hard for the sports he plays and gives it his all.

Sunderland is cur-rently wresting. He has nothing but high hopes for the team, and for himself, this year.

“I expect that we will have a very good team. Our seniors have a lot of experience and if ev-eryone gives it their all I would expect to see some state champions at the end of the year,” said Sunderland.

There are four of his fellow classmates on the team this year in which he’s had years of experience with.

“This year has been all I’ve been looking forward to for a long time, I just try to go as hard as I can everyday,” said Sunderland when asked about this being his senior year.

Sunderland knows that this year in wres-tling it’s been tough, but he knows they have a solid team and that they will do their best.

At state last year

Sunderland took 6th

place. He was one of the few to place.

“I was excited, but all I have ever wanted (was) that number one spot,” said Sunderland, talking about how he felt about his achieve-ment at state.

Many of his team-mates look up to Sun-derland. They say he’s an amazing athlete and a leader to everyone.

“I think he is a freak-kking stud. He is my ex-ample of all the seniors this year in sports,” said Aaron Lee, a junior andone of Sunderland’s teammates in football

and wrestling.Lee went on to say

that Sunderland was also a leader on the football team and al-ways goes hard in wres-tling practice.

He believes that Sunderland should take state this year in wrestling if he keeps working hard.

“Bradee is a gift-ed athlete. He worked harder than anyone and did what he had to do and what he was supposed to do wheth-er it was fair or not,” said Casey Jensen, head football coach.

His dedication was

shown in football by how much time he put into the off- season. He ffffput a lot of time into the weight room, foot-ball camps, and study-ing film.

Sunderland was named defensive player of the year, MVP, and had the most tackles and sacks on the team.

“He’s different from ffffall the other players be-cause of who he is as a person,” said “He’s re-spectful, disciplined, and he cares about his coaches and his team-mates.”

BY BY EN LALL RSEN

When the buzzer sounded at the end of the game on Dec. 9, the score was 35 Hawks, 42 North Sevier Wolves. The Hawks and the Wolves where extremely close the whole game; the Hawks would score the then wolves would make a shot.

In the beginning of the first quarter the Lady Hawks got off to a ffgood start, and were the leaders on the score board for the majority of the first quarter.

The Wolves stayed strong and caught up to the Lady Hawks. Then through the second and the most of the third quarter, both teams wereneck and neck. Later in the thirdquarter the wolves stared to take the lead, but not for long.

Both teams kept playing hard and they were almost dead, even until there was about one minute to go. The Wolves had possession, and made two points.

The Hawks tried to come back and score, but it just wouldn’t come through. They fouled a few times to gain some time, but the Wolves kept making their free throws. The Lady

Hawks did there best and worked hard, but just couldn’t come outwith a win.

Since then, the lady Hawks have

a new coach this year that is trying different things and coaching in a ffffway that most of the girls are not used to, so the team is still trying to

pull it together. Their record for the season, at

this point, is 1 win and 3 losses. They started out the season

playing Union which didn’t make them happy, because at the end of the game the score was, 22 to 42Union.

The girls kept working hard the whole time, and then they took another loss against Carbon. Al-though the score was 59 to 38, the girls didn’t get to down on them-selves and kept working hard with the encouragement and positive at-titude of their new coaching staff. ffff

“He is always telling us that ev-erybody has something special to offer the team,” said Jennifer Nuffff ttal, a senior basketball player at NS.

The coaches encourage them in ways such as telling them to have a good attitude because it effects evffff -eryone one on the team.

Instead of the dwelling on their losses the team tries to have posi-tive attitudes and build on their mistakes. When someone on the team is down, other teammates step in and try to help them.

Even if it might not seem like the team has been doing well this year, most of the team thinks that the season has been going really well, and that they are improving.

Young Ladyhawks improve, but drop game to N. Sevier

Wilkey’s instructing and dedicated players brought forth the most success-ful team NS basketball has ever seen. For the first time in February of 1969 the boy’s basketball team took state.

To begin the tournament, their chances looked grim. Coming into the tournament fourth in their region, NS wasn’t thought of as contenders for the title. In the end however, NS was found in the championship game battling it out with Dixie, whose players on their sec-ond team were bigger than the players on NS’s first team.

Of the whole experience, Bailey most remembers the relationships he made.

“I can tell you experiences, but I don’tremember details, I remember the rela-tionships,” said Bailey.

Bailey remembers the team starting to come together very well at the end of the season. The boys peaked just in time for the tournament, leaving their best game on the court every time. The team unity really came forward at this time.

“The team came first,” said Bailey. “It’s amazing what you can accomplish when it doesn’t matter who gets the credit.”

Many saw Bailey as a player who was extremely valuable, yet humble about his abilities at the same time, which is what made him such an asset.

“He was a team player, but when he needed to take charge, he did,” said Cox. “The good thing about Dave Bailey is it’s not just about basketball. It’s about life skills and being a better person.”

Forty-one years later, Bailey is now assisting head coach Tyler Schlappi on the girl’s basketball team. He plans on implementing some of the coaching techniques that Wilkey showed him as a coach.

“It’s learning from those who are suc-cessful,” said Bailey.

Wilkey expects for Bailey to be a great asset for the girls.

“They are fortunate because of his ex-perience and the kind of man he is. He will be a good example and leader for these young girls,” said Wilkey.

Although Bailey is aware a lot has changed in the game since he last played basketball, he plans on teaching the team the fundamentals he learned in his bas-ketball prime.

His goal is to help influence the lives of the girls in a positive way and teach them the way of winning.

“I would like to help the girls project an expectation of winning and an atti-tude of winning to the point where they demand it of themselves,” said Bailey.

Having a coach like Bailey at NS is an excitement for many, as great things are expected to come forth from having him there.

“I’m sure on and off the court theffgirls will become winners,” said Cox.

the game leading 38-19 at the half. South Sevier when on to win the game, 76-43.

The Hawks then traveled to the Sevier Valley Center on Dec. 3 to take on Cedar. Cedar pulled away early, out-scoring the hawks 29-5 at the end of the first half. Cedar went on to win the game by a convincing margin of 55-37.

The Hawks then took on ranked Hurricane the next day on Dec. 4. Hurricane dominated throughout the game and only allowed the Hawks to score one point during the entire fourth quar-ter. Hurricane won 43-19.

On Wednesday Dec. 8, the Hawks took on the North Sevier. Although the Hawks

had an 18-4 lead at the endof the first quarter, North Sevier battled back through the next three quarters and took the game into overtime. North Sevier won the game in overtime 76-71.

Last week on Dec. 14 the Hawks suffered another loss ffffat the hands of South Sum-mit.

South Summit was im-pressive in their win as they held every single Hawk play-er to under ten points and had three of their own play-ers in double digits.

The loss of the Bird broth-ers has had and obvious af-fffect on the NS basketball team, but head coach Russ Keisel does not think that the loss is completely bad.

“The temporary loss of Dallen and Rhett has had a huge effect on this team,” said ffffcoach Keisel. “But it is mak-kk

ing us better as a team. Kids are stepping up and getting more playing time and ex-perience than they normally would.”

As coach Keisel put it, kids are definitely stepping up. Colton Dunn has be-come the team’s new lead scorer, averaging 12.5 points per game now that the Birds are not playing.

“There is definitely more pressure to step up and per-form now that we cannot rely on the Birds,” said junior Colton Dunn.

Tonight the Hawks will take on the Carbon Dinos at Carbon.

“Our goal is to win games and become better,” said coach Keisel. “Now when our injured player return, we will be better that we ever were.”

Photo By By en Larsen

Photo by Ay lyssa Hall

Bailey, continued from page 5

Photo By Ky aytie Nielson

Senior wrestler expects greatness from team, self

Photo By Dy ustin Allred

Boys Basketball, continued from page 5

7

BY AY LYSSA HA ALL

As the NS Spiriteers exit-ed Davis high school’s gym on Dec. 4, they carried with them five trophies. Having placed second three times, third twice and fourth once at the competition it was ap-parent that there were things to improve upon, however, they felt it was a great start to their competition season.

“I felt that for a first com-petition we did very well, even though things weren’t perfect,” said junior Cali An-derson.

Coach Alisa Cheeney agreed with Anderson, com-menting that the execution of the girls in their routines gave her high hopes for the rest of the season, especial-ly because of some incon-venient circumstances that caused emergency prepara-tion for a few girls the day be-fore.

On Dec 18th the Spiriteers hit the road for their second competition of the season held at Jordan High School. The routines ran pretty smoothly for the most part, with the exception of the

performance of their military routine, in which senior Am-ber Mecham’s opinion seems to be one of the team’s most polished routines.A short period into the rou-tine, the music the girls were performing to skipped and turned off. ffff The team kept on doing their routine, counting out loud for the rest of the dance.“When we finished everyone in the entire gym stood up and clapped and cheered for us as we walked off the ff floor.The other teams even cheered for us as we walked through the hall,” said Mecham. “It was a great feeling be-cause even though we were

disappointed, we were so proud of ourselves for finish-ing the routine.”

Despite the setback, the girls and their coaches feltpretty confident that they would place well during the awards ceremony.

Leaving Jordan high school this last Saturday night was not quite the same for the Spiriteers and their advisors as the competition previous. A different feeling ffffwas brought onto the bus as they made their departureback home. They left with no trophies this time, but with the ranking of seventh place.

Although Cheeney andthe girls were disappointed with the final decision of thejudges and felt their place-ment was unfair, they decid-ed as a team to react in a posi-tive manner.

“We were unhappy with how we placed, but everyone decided that it was okay,” said sophomore Mandy Peck-kkham. “We did our best and feltgood about how we per-formed. We don’t only dance to win, we dance because we love it.”

Spiriteers struggle at state-wide competition

Photo by Ay lyssa Hall

Photo provided by Sy heri Anderseon

The NS cheer squad recently com-peted in the Salt Lake RegionalCheer Competition held in Murray.

The team competed against seven other cheer teams from across the state. All other squads were from the 5A classification.

The Ladyhawks placed 3rd over-all and qualified to attend nationalsin the spring. However, the team will most likely not attend due to finan-cial considerations.

NS cheer places third, qualifii es for nationals

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9

BY WY HITNEY NAFUSNN

The Brothers Grimm fairy tale Rapunzel gets some fun new twists in its Disney form Tangled.

The film started with a bandit named Flynn Ryder. Right from the beginning he’s causing trouble. He in-troduces himself as the most wanted thief in the whole en-tire kingdom. Proud and con-fident of his skills and repu-tation, Flynn continues with the story of Rapunzel.

It all began with a drop of sunshine that fell to the earth. When it landed it transformed into a glowing flower. As expected it was no ordinary flower. The flower had powers beyond reality. A witch named Gothel used the flower’s magic to stay young.

The king’s wife became

sick and was close to losing their unborn child. The mag-ic flower was found and used as medicine. The wife was cured and the child was bornhealthy with hair as gold as the sun. Gothel stole thechild from the kingdom see-ing as how the magic of the flower had been transferred into the infant’s hair.

When Flynn steals a crown from the kingdom, the King’s guard then chases him into the forest. Flynn has the worst luck that only con-tinues to grow. Maximus, a horse that belongs to the cap-tain of the guard, becomes his number one enemy. Flynn is forced into a cave. When he comes to the end he stum-bles upon a tower. He climbs the tower thinking it could be a place of refuge.

What he didn’t know was that eighteen year-old Ra-

punzel lived in that tower. Rapunzel had never been outside her tower due to hermother Gothel not allowing her to. Gothel told Rapun-zel she was keeping her safe from the outside world and the evil that came with it.

Rapunzel isn’t the tradi-tional Disney Princess. You actually get to see more to her than most Disney prin-cesses. She shows the audi-ence that having dreams is important. Rapunzel comes off as a lost teenager trying to fffind herself.

With 70 feet of hair as her weapon and a frying pan, her clueless humor charms theaudience, as well as her se-cret pet Pascal the chame-leon, who sees himself as her protector.

Rapunzel holds Flynn asa hostage by tying him to a chair with, you guessed it, her hair. After hiding the crown and promising he would never find it without her help, the two make a deal. Flynn would act as her guide and take her to see the float-ing lights. Every year, on her birthday Rapunzel sees lights float to the sky. She can’t help but feel that they belong to her.

The ending is typical thetwo fall in love with one an-other and battle their evil.And then they live happily ever after.

Perhaps one of the bestparts of this movie is the ani-mation. It isn’t the traditional2D animation, yet it is still as great. The backgrounds and colors are amazing. The ex-pressions and actions in this movie are spectacular. Max-imus is well represented in this movie, even though he doesn’t speak. Over all it’s a great movie for the family

Looking for some holiday cheer? Try some of these popular Christmas tunes.

“All I Want For Christmas Is You” - Mariah Carey “Christmas Lights” - Coldplay“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus By” - Jackson 5“Trans Siberian Orchestra” - Christmas Eve“The Christmas Song” - Whitney Houston

BY ELLIE NIX

Although many forgetwhat the spirit of Christ-mas is all about, some fromFountain Green have madeit possible for us to go and remember the true meaning of Christmas, and why we really celebrate it. They take around a month to get every-thing ready for it, and they have around 25 people that the public see, and around35 behind the scenes.

This past Friday and Sat-urday nights, some of thecommunity in Ftn. Green put on a live nativity for those who wanted to go. Participants were able to go walk around and watch what it would have been like for Mary and Joseph as they traveled.

Some good things about this are that they always are able to get a live baby to play the part of baby Jesus, and the people are living and walking around. They also have people singing Christ-mas carols off to the side as ffthe spectators walk along.

An attraction that is very inviting to some is that they are taken to the nativity from an LDS church in Ftn. Green on a hay ride. Others are the hot chocolate and variety of cookies that they have for af-ffter the tour is over.

This is something that is a very good thing for this time of year, and it is something that many went to and en-joyed. It is also something that is good for the whole

family. All those that went

seemed to have a good time, and not only that, but they seemed to grasp the feel-ing of what Christmas is all about. The whole reason that they put on the live na-tivity is for people to regain the sense of what Christmas is all about.

The first live nativity was performed in Greccio, It-aly in the year 1223. This practice has been spread throughout the world in pageants, church produc-tions, professionally staged plays, and sometimes in school plays.

It is sometimes said that it was first performed in or-der to place emphasis on Christ, rather than material-istic things and gift giving. It seems as if now days, a lot of people seem to forget what really started Christmas, and what the true meaning of Christmas is.

The scenes are a replica of the original birth site of Jesus, and the nativity sets are an essential part of the Christmas celebration all around the world. The na-tivity sets are used when the productions are put on as a background, and are also used as a decoration.

The nativity pictures are a favorite to use for painters, illustrators, and other art-ists. A lot of American art-ists draw their inspiration from the classic European painting, and the Bible illus-trations.

BY AUSTINAA SANDERS

At 5:30, choir members start to ar-rive for rehearsal. Only 5 show up on time: the others are running late. At 6:00, the choir starts to rehearse and goover songs with accompaniment.

Now it’s about 6:30. The crowd starts to slowly pour in from the back of the auditorium to find a seat.

It’s 7:00, and the moment of truth has arrived for the jazz band. Direct-ed by Timothy Kidder, they perform 3 songs. Stephen Lewis has a sax solo inone of the songs that rocks the audito-rium. In another song, Hunter Ericksonhas a blues-y guitar solo that makes the audience get more into the music.

After the jazz band finishes, the choir is anxiously lining up ready to go and sing while they are making the transi-tion. The elementary choir then takes the stage and sings a couple songs. Then the high school choir comes in on their last song to accompany them, with the song “Jingle Bells”.

Now it is the moment the crowd and the choir have been waiting for. The choir starts out with a soft but good ver-sion of “Still, Still, Still”. At this point the audience realizes the quality of the performance they will be viewing this evening.

As the choir sings it feels as though the whole concert is building as a great big crescendo. Then it gets to Five He-brew Love Songs, which many thought

was the climax. Then Ms. Hilton, the choir director, announces to the audi-ence that the tradition will continue of having Dr. Roy Ellefsen direct the last song. This has been a long-standing tra-dition at NS.

The last song of the night is Carol Of The Bells. Once Ellefsen steps onto the stage the audience and choir can feelthe energy, joy, and love of the music hehas. As he starts directing, he brings the choir up to their full potential, making sure that every accent is hit and not ig-nored.

In the end the audience gives the choir a standing ovation and cheers for many minutes. The audience is happy, the choir is happy, and feeling rewarded for all of their hard work.

Choir sings with jazz band, elementary students

Tangled offers new twist on old taleffff

Photo provided By Sy teve Sanders

NS Times Christmas SongsAs chosen by A&E editor Jenahsea Long

Photo provided by filmofilia.com

Live Nativity held in Ftn. Green

Photo provided by allrecipies.com

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HeardHalls

IN THE

While walking down the halls at the school, you hear some bizarre things that make no sense when taken out of context. Here are a few of the funniest ones we’ve heard.