the pioneer march 2010

the Pioneer

March 2010 • Maine East High School • Park Ridge, IlLINOIS

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• The Pioneer MARCH 2010

Amnesty International creates hand prints in exchange for child soldiers’ freedom

By Abigail Medrano

February 2, 2010 – Amnesty International at Maine East High School in-vited students and teachers after school in Room 240 to participate in the club’s Hand Printing campaign to raise awareness about child soldiers in Darfur. The par-ticipants were asked by the human rights group to cre-ate colorful hand prints on white sheets.

“Each handprint rep-resents support against the use of child soldiers by Joseph Kony,” said Komal Punjabi, senior & vice president of Amnesty In-ternational at Maine East, “We are trying to show that Maine East cares.”

In Africa’s longest running war, Joseph Kony,

leader of Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), has been ac-cused of abducting chil-dren and forcing them to enlist in the LRA. There have been warrants from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Kony and his four top commanders and failed peace talks by the government of Uganda with the LRA to end the violence in Darfur.

The LRA’s attacks have become increasingly violent over the past few years with 160 children be-ing forced into the LRA, hundreds of more people murdered and more than 104,000 Congolese dis-placed. “There is a bill about whether the U.S. government should take action in Darfur going through the United States

Congress right now,” says Amelia Misiak, senior & president of Amnesty In-ternational at Maine East, “This activity was also a citizen’s arrest for Joseph Kony, and we are calling on President Obama to take action.”

What is Amnesty In-ternational at Maine East going to do with the hand printed sheets?

“We have put the sheets in the cafeteria for display in order to raise more awareness in Maine East,” answers Misiak, “Then we are planning to send the sheets to Invis-ible Children.” Amnesty International meetings are held in Room 240 every Tuesday, after school, at 3:30 PM.

The finished hand printed sheet displayed in the cafeteria.

Many positive things can come out of a crisis, specifically good human nature. The earthquakes that occured in Haiti ear-lier this year proved this.

Unicef has started supplying fresh water to people all over Haiti. However, most students don’t have the resources to donate 2.6 million li-ters of water to Haitians.

The students here at Maine East have started to help out. The junior science classes, Earth Systems Science and Geology, have started to raise money. Not only have the classes succeed-

ed in raising over $1000 but the students walking around the halls asking for donations has raised awareness that everyone can help.

Many students have started to get involved in helping. Most of the mon-

By Shaun Kuriakose

The earthquakes in Haiti caused inconceivable damage, but people around the world have been

doing whatever they can to help.

MEHS community helps Haiti earthquake victims

Maine East students wrapping up the Haiti Relief Bake Sale.

ey raised was received from other students who felt the need to give. The money earned will go to the American Red Cross.

The idea was on such short notice. The after-noon after the earthquake students walking into their

geology classes learned about the fundraiser. Some classes earned over $100 by the first week.

Nigel Toye, a junior at Maine East raised over $250 just from students. “I just asked students and

teachers to help out for Haiti, and they did!”

Students may not become famous or well known for their help, but they will be appreciated in the hearts of many vic-tims of this tragedy.

The Pioneer • MARCH 2010

The District’s board of Education approved a $15 million budget cut as part of the administrators cost reduction plan at the monthly public board meeting on February 1st.

The vote was a unan-imous 7-0 vote to imple-ment the administration’s cost reduction plan.

The reductions will take effect in the 2010-2011 school year and will include the release of 75 certified teachers from all three Maine Township High Schools.

The district’s ad-ministration published a recommendation on the Friday prior to the Mon-day meeting to the Maine Teacher’s Association (MTA), a strategy that wasn’t in the MTA’s best interest.

“That strategy left me no time to come up with a response,” said MTA president Emma Vi-see at the board meeting.

The letter asked the MTA to work with the administrators to save the jobs of 40-45 teachers. The letter asked the MTA to open their contract and lower the overall pay in-creases by $2 million a year and by doing so the

district would agree to “tap deeper into its fund balance and commit an additional $2 million in deficit spending”.

The administrators proposed that the MTA to forgo one year of the cost of living increase of 3.2% for the next school year to lower the pay in-creases by $2 million.

“This movement re-flects our Board of Edu-cation and Administra-tion listening to parents, students, teachers, and community members and once again trying to part-ner with the MTA to find solutions that will allow us to save jobs now and then take advantage of natural staff attrition,” Said Dr. Ken Wallace, District 207’s superinten-dent.

“MTA leadership will discuss the board’s proposal,” commented Visee at the board meet-ing.

During the meeting, community members were offered the opportu-nity to speak to the board on their view of what the board should do prior to the voting on the imple-mentation of the admin-istration’s reduction plan. About a dozen people voiced their opinion.

Students, teachers, and community members from the Maine Township area were split on wheth-er or not the MTA should open their contract and listen to the administra-tion recommendation to help save up to 45 jobs.

Dianne Yonkers, a community member and mother of Maine South alumni said that the MTA should trust and negoti-ate with the board.

“The board has made some very significant offers,” said Yonkers. “Plenty of unions have done this to save mem-bership, so it’s not an unheard-of thing. I can-not figure out why they won’t do that.”

Other community member, primarily of the Park Ridge area, agreed with Yonkers opinion.

Patrick Wohl, a sophomore at Maine South asked the board to use the money in the dis-trict’s reserved funds to help save the jobs. Wohl doesn’t believe that the teachers should pay for the mismanagement of the administration and the board of education.

“The integrity of these schools is on a free fall,” said Wohl, “Why should the teachers have

to pay for your mistakes? It’s not their fault. Use the money in the reserves.”

Wohl also mentioned the face that the board hadn’t explored the many other options that the board was presented at the January 20th public forum including the vari-ous types of advertising, then continued on to talk about the importance that the teachers were to the students and the school.

“You know I made $80 last semester as a COACH tutor,” Wohl said as he tore up a pay check, “but you can keep that money, I’d rather have my teachers.”

Maine East English teacher, Cathy Creagh, jot down quick notes after arriving at Maine South and present a speech, the final plea from the staff members to use the $80 million in reserves or to explore other options, saying that the teachers aren’t to blame and that they shouldn’t have to suffer.

“Why ask the teach-ers?” Creagh rhetorically asked the Board, “When did we become the deep pockets of the district? …We are still waiting for the admin cuts.”

Before the board

voted, members made comments to the public about the decision that they were going to make.

“The board is here to serve students and tax payers,” said Board member and Maine West alumnus Eric Leyes bluntly, “We are not here to serve teachers… I hope the teachers are willing to come back to the table.”

Board president Ed. Mueller refuted the pro-posals to use the fund balance. Saying that there is no evidence that the fund balance wouldn’t “go into oblivion” if the board didn’t approve the cost reduction plan.

“Our taxpayers are struggling,” said Muel-ler, “…as board members we take our jobs very se-riously.”

After hearing the public comments and hearing the comments of board members, the board then went on to vote for the cost reduction plan. The vote was unanimous 7-0 for the cost reduction plan.

On March 9th the MTA voted 319 to 250 to not open its contract, which runs through the 2011-2012 school year.

By Yogi Patel

Board votes for drastic cuts; MTA votes to keep contract closed

The Pioneer StaffEditor-in-Chief

Yogi Patel

Reporters/Photographers

Judy BielagaEmily Lapinski

Victoria WalleyLance Lindsay

Shaun KuriakoseJosh Swoboda

Chris LevyNikko Andriotis

Joey BadalKanwal Haque

Abigail Medrano

EditorsJeffrey Gianakopoulos

Omar PalafoxAshly Chacko

Rebecca BordenaroDonald NarssoSamantha LentoErika Opperman

The Pioneer is dedicated to reporting on news, en-tertainment, and sports events for Maine East High School and the surrounding community. The Pioneer is distributed to students, staff, and a limited mailing list. Submit story suggestions, photos, letters to the editor, or comments regarding the content of the newspaper to sponsor Matt Miller via email: [email protected].

FOR ONLINE PDF FILES of THE PIONEER:http://tinyurl.com/Pioneer0910


“Attention all Who’s, oops I mean students”*

As you all know, this year, Maine East High School put on the musical Seussical. The cast, crew, and pit have put in an un-believable amount of work into this performance. They have put in long hours, tons of focus, and became char-acters, once again, making Maine East proud.

The first two perfor-mances two weeks ago were a marvelous success, and the last two exceeded expectations. The bright lights, colorful props, and animated characters caught the attention of students and staff all around the school on the preview day. Those who have had the chance to see the show, have nothing but positive comments to offer.

“People enjoyed Seus-sical because it’s so fun to watch, and it opens up a whole new world of imagi-nation,” said Kirsti Matej, junior cast member.

That is exactly what the audience felt during the two hour comedic perfor-mance.

“I had so much fun working with such a talent-ed cast, which I will miss very much, and couldn’t

think of a better way to end my high school acting ca-reer,” said Ben Schaufele, senior cast member.

Well I don’t know about you but if Mr. Grinch says we got talent then I’d feel inclined to agree!

Those fortunate enough to go through this magical journey enjoyed themselves to the fullest extent and defiantly rec-ommend coming to see the show.

“I really enjoyed the upbeat dance numbers and the fact that you never knew what to expect,” said Ashley Antony, a fresh-man.

I don’t blame her; I mean no one can bust a move like a Maine East student can!

“The acting was so great I didn’t believe it was a high school per-formance,” said Emily Sen, a freshman at Loyola who heard about the show through the vigorous cam-paigning of the cast.

“I found it wonderful, my son loved it, and my husband thought it was one of Maine East’s best,” said music teacher Sarah Djord-jevic.

The general opinion from the music students is that the pit did an extraor-dinary job in the sound department and had exem-plary timing.

Last Friday the 12th and Saturday the 13th were your final days to see Hor-ton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, Mayzie LaBird, The Grinch, and the Cat in the Hat living on stage. All these characters personally invited you to their perfor-mance and, although it may be over, I hope you decided to RSVP yes.

Seussical: a musical that was amusical!By Emily Lapinski

Mr. Z came dressed for the show!


Students from Intro-duction of Engineering, Principles of Engineering and CAD 2/3 classes hosted an Engineering Expo in January. Over 160 students, parents, and incoming 8th graders attended this event which showcased projects from each of the classes built throughout the semester.

Principles of Engi-neering demonstrated au-tomated marble sorters that sensed and sorted batches of marbles based on color. Students used Fischertech-nik components and special software for programming. Introduction to Engineer-ing students showcased roller coasters which were designed using AutoCad Inventor, cars were printed using the 3d printer and the track was built using several different elements. Students from the CAD 2/3 class de-signed chairs using Inven-tor then exported their files to a CNC Router which cut out the pieces of their chairs which could then be as-sembled into working pro-totypes.

Engineers were also present to talk to students about the field of Engi-neering. Guests included Mickey Snider from Wang Engineering, Inc., Stepha-nie Lane from Underwriters Laboratories, Bob Mihl-fried from WGN-TV, Frank Cira from Continental Auto-motive Systems, and Sahar Ashrafi from the Illinois In-stitute of Technology & So-ciety of Women Engineers.

The expo as a whole was a huge success and was a great experience for ev-eryone that attended. Aaron Cristino said, “It was a great night all around, my per-sonal favorite was the intro to engineering projects be-cause of how much they re-minded me of a rollercoast-er. I would not mind going to one of these again!”.

Also a participant of the engineering expo, Joey Badal, said, “Man it was awesome having all those kids and adults coming up and asking about how the marble sorter we made in Principles of Engineering worked, and it was great seeing the marble sorters from the other period work, so overall the expo was just

perfect. What I think tied it all together was how profes-sional everyone from CAD, IED, and POE were dressed up even I had some nice things to wear. I think we all impressed the special guests we had over, and hopefully we encouraged some in-coming freshman to enroll in the Project Lead the Way classes as well as current students”.

By Pioneer Staff

Project Lead The Way leads the way for future students

Two of the the marble sorters made by Project Lead The Way students.

Each project has its own unique style.

Ray Saiki and Zack Wallin work on their marble sorter.

Kevin Medrano and Alex Elizalde work on their marble sorter.


Everyone is familiar with the Maine East Demon Squad. They have won the respect of many students at Maine East as well as numerous amounts of tro-phies and recognition.

But such fame and glory didn’t come over-night and they have had many obstacles to over-come throughout their quest to success.

The main issue that the Demon Squad faces is not being funded by the school. Sports teams are given $2,000 annually to help pay for their gear. Be-cause Poms is not consid-ered as a sport, they have to fund raise themselves.

Although money isn’t always the issue, it’s also the size of the team as well. Since the Demon Squad is not a “large varsity team,” the team must make sure that everyone is synchro-nized, keeping up full stage presence while having great energy and facials at the same time. Because the Demon Squad is so small, the judges can focus more on a single individual which makes it harder to compete/place.

The team also has the challenge receiving new in-experienced freshman each year. This simply means that the team has to start all over again starting from the basics. As stated by one of the team captains Saman-tha Lento, “Dwight came in with no experience and now, because of hard work and 3 hour practices 6 days a week, he is now dominat-ing the dance floor along-side his teammates.”

Although the practices consist of long hours and

hard work, Angela Juister, another one of the team’s captain says, “the best way the team deals with their obstacles is by simply talk-ing about it. We always talk about our problems. We are like one big family.”

Throughout the year they have gone through many struggles, but they didn’t let it hold them back. The Demon Squad has brought another trouphy to Demon Nation. They took 1st palce in the AAA catagory. They scored the highest score out of 18 teams.

Maine East Demon Squad overcomes obstaclesBy Omar Palafox

Since 1929, Maine East students have gath-ered each year for a fun history lesson while en-joying pie and ice cream.

This tradition, origi-nally called the All-Amer-ican Banquet, has come to be known as the Cherry Pie Festival and has al-ways attracted masses of people, and 2010 was no exception, the turnout was phenomenal all three hundred tickets sold out. Cherry Pie Festival truly has become a unique Maine East tradition, and with good reason.

“Cherry Pie Festi-val is a great Maine East tradition because it is im-portant to recognize the contribution of George Washington, and it is nice to do that in a less formal environment than a class-room.” said Mr. Zielinski

Few people enjoy sitting in a classroom lis-tening to a teacher lecture

so what better way then while hanging out with friends and eating.

“Cherry Pie Festival is important because every year it reminds us of our countries history.” said senior Matt Kolenda

Maine Historical Society students have always tried their best kept the tradition run-ning and it is important to understand why.

Not only does it give students a chance to to learn with their friends while enjoy-ing pie and ice cream, but the proceeds go towards many student focused events.

The money raised from Cherry Pie Festi-val goes towards care packages for students taking Social Science AP tests. It also goes to-wards refreshments during the Social Science award ceremony, and prizes for the pumpkin carving contest.

By Jeff Gianakopoulos

Mr. Garvey speaks at C.P. Festival

Students enjoy the 2010 Cherry Pie Festival.

Former Maine East teacher Mr. Garvey was the guest speaker at this year’s festival.

Finally some of the money goes toward the Maine His-torical Society field trip to Holy Family Nursing Cen-

ter, where the students play bingo with the seniors and provide prizes.


M.E. Table Tennis Club hosts ITTI event with Serbian table tennis star Biba Golic


On January 27, 2010, J.D Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye, passed away in his home in Cornish, New Hemisphere. He was ninety-one years old when he died of natural causes.

Salinger was born on January 1, 1919 in New York City. He had only one older sister.

After a year when The Catcher in the Rye came out, Salinger became so over-whelmed with the media that he decided to move into a small town in New Hemi-sphere called Cornish for some privacy. The media had somehow managed to follow him into the quiet town. Two memoirs came out about him by an ex-lover and his own daughter. In their books, they painted him as a controlling man who cared about no one but himself. This helped mo-tivate him to fight for a life of privacy. In the end, he lost.

O f f e r s were made to Salinger to create The Catcher in the Rye into a movie came to him but he declined every one of them. Ana Vazquez, a student from Maine East says, “It’s too bad that we weren’t able to see the greatness that he could have written in the fu-ture.”

The book had become so controversial, that it was banned from a number of schools. Adults thought that it contained materials that weren’t suitable for young adults. Teachers who at-tempted to assign the book for class were fired.

J.D Salinger came out with three more works of writing before he took a permanent hiatus from pub-

lishing his works. Salinger didn’t want any of his works to be published out. From USA Today, Salinger quoted, “I love to write, and I assure you I write regularly. But I write for myself and I want to be left absolutely alone to do it”.

Salinger’s book changed people’s perception on what different types of books that could be out there. He re-vealed the loss of innocence and the motions that young adults goes through.

A Great Loss to American LiteratureBy Kanwal Haque

The Oscars: If I had a vote

“Avatar” is the largest grossing movie of the year beating both the “Dark Knight” and “Titanic” in the mil-lions. “Avatar” the movie that had brought; sci-fi geeks and video gamers all over the world together. Thanks to an action packed and out of this world experience. This new film introduces us to a planet called Pandora, in which humans have found that contains an energy source need to stop the energy crisis happening on Earth. To find this mineral soldiers are picked to discover the planet while controlling an avatar that looks like the natives called the Navi.

By Erika Oppermann

Best Movie: Avatar

Best Actor: Morgan Freeman

Portraying Nelson Mandela, Morgan Freeman brings a feeling of seriousness to help change South Af-rica’s Rugby team and bring them to the world cup; to unite a country by a single sport and the perseverance of a new president.

Best Actress : Meryl Streep“Julie and

Julia” is the movie based on real blog created in 2001 where a woman creates all the recipes in all of Julia Child’s cook-books. Meryl Streep portrays Julia Child perfectly. Meryl Streep shows she can be a woman who was trained in French cooking and an author of several different cook books that had you cook with too much butter.

Principal Steven Isoye was named Illinois High school Principal of the Year by the National Association of Secondary Schools.

He was both honored and surprised when he re-ceived his award for Prin-cipal of the Year. Upon re-ceiving this award, faculty members threw a congratu-lations party.

Entering the main of-fice, the atmosphere was warm, peaceful, and wel-coming. The staff was very excited and happy that Prin-cipal Isoye was recognized

for his hard work. Various staff members from dif-ferent parts of the building came in to congratulate him.

By Kanwal Haque “The key thing to Maine East is that the stu-dents and teachers strive to be the best and continu-ously learning everyday,” said Isoye.

P r i n c i p a l Isoye became Maine East’s prin-cipal in 2007 after Mr. David Barker retired. Since

then, he’s made wonderful progress for the school. The Maine East community con-gratulates Principal Isoye for this great honor!

Mr. Isoye named Illinois High School Principal of the Year


“The new rule should have started earlier, people have always done it anyways.” Ashley Corbin Senior

“OMG! I’m very excited and happy. Now I have a reason to come to school. Alright!” Adam Stawiarz Senior

“People will be quiet while they listen to mu-sic. One less behavior report teachers will have to write.” Lance Lindsey Senior

“It’s good but people might take advantage of it and use their phones as well.” Rushi Shah Junior

“It’s pretty relaxing and soothing.”

Steven Tom Senior

It’s cool, they should have allowed this ear-lier.

Sandi Odicho Senior

Photo Poll - What do you think about the NEW MUSIC POLICY AT MAINE EAST?

Maine East students are now allowed to lis-ten to their iPods, MP3’s and other devices used to listen to music during school, thanks to a recent policy change by the ad-ministration.

Although there are re-strictions to the rule - the devices are only allowed in common areas such as the cafeteria, library, study halls, and computer labs - it already seems like a big step forward.

Up until now, the school administration has defended its prohibition of the iPods explaining that these electronic de-vices have been the most frequently stolen items in school and often the source of tension and dis-ruption.

Administrators need-ed to find the right balance between allowing students to listen to electronic de-vices while not having it disrupt the educational at-mosphere.

“The concept is great, said Dean Jeff Parlette. “No one listens to music more than I do.”

Parlette said it will be important for students to be courteous and re-spect the rules of the new

policy.Even though this rule

is new to Maine East, it’s not the first time that a policy like this has been allowed. In fact, right in our districtMaine West has allowed students to use these devices since the 2007-08 school year.

Hopefully these de-vices can not only be used to listen to music, but can also become a new teach-ing tool for educators.

Mike Elgan of the Computer World Daily Newsletter says, “Ipods should be incorporated in to teachers lesson plans. By banning iPods, we’re preparing our kids for a world without tecknowl-edgey. But is that the world they’re going to live in?

Once teachers learn how to incorporate such technology into their les-son plans, it could make learning easier for the students as well. Such lessons could include podcasts recorded by the teachers themselves or uploading notes right onto the devise.

Overall this is a great step forward for the cre-ativity of all students and a smooth way to enjoy what could potentially be a very tough day.

Music Freedom At LAST!

By Samantha Lento

Change in school policynow permits studentsto use personal music devices in some areas


Castillo takes 2nd in Illinois Poetry Out Loud Competition

Maine East POL Runner Up Paulina Nowak

Senior Dana Castillo won the Chicago Regional and took second place in the Illinois State Compe-tition of the Poetry Out Loud National Contest. She was barely edged out by a student from Orion.

Castillo’s succes-ful run in the competition started with her second straight victory in the Maine East Poetry Out Loud Contest.

After competing in their English classes, thir-ty classroom winners took the mic in February and re-cited their poems in front of over a hundred people.

For the second con-secutive year, Castillo won the votes of all the judges with her performances of the poems “Litany” by Bil-ly Collins and “When I am Asked” by Lisel Mueller.

Castillo made it to the state finals last year too. “I wasn’t disappointed [in my performance] because I was grateful to just make it there,” Castillo said after last year’s run.

Now she can be proud of doing more than just ‘making it there’ since Castillo made it to the final round before barely being edged out.

“The quality of per-formances last night was very impressive,” said English teacher Mr. David Hessert.

Paulina Nowak and Dominika Koziol also performed impressively at the Maine East Poetry Out Loud, earning runner-up and second-runner-up.

The other finalists included Karol Grzebien, Christina Ginnakopoulos, Raja, Amalia Kanelos, and Patrice Carpenter.

By Nikko Andriotisand Josh Swoboda

Maine East POL 2nd Runner Up Dominika Koziol

2010 Chicago Regional Poetry Out Loud Champion Dana Castillo

Maine East POL Finalist Amalia Kanelos

To be or not to be a contest winner

Senior Abigail Medrano won second place last month and a $500 prize in the Chicago Regional Shakespeare Rec-itation Contest at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Medrano memorized and performed a monologue from a Shakespearean play and a sonnet. Sarah Beth Murphy also represented Maine East at the contest. Sarah Beth Murphy (left) and Abigail Medrano pose outside

Roosevelt University, where the contest finals took place.


The Maine East Poet-ry Slam Team took second place at the tenth annual Louder Than a Bomb, a statewide poetry perfor-mance competition.

The poets took first place in the first two rounds at Columbia Col-lege, then advanced to the Semifinals of Louder Than a Bomb at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago, where they placed first place out of the four teams,which included conference rival Niles West.

Louder Than a Bomb is the world’s largest youth poetry slam with over 650 participants rep-resenting 65 teams from the city, suburbs, rural Illinois and Northwest Indiana. The competiti-ion was founded in 2000 by local poets Anna West and Kevin Coval, brother of Maine East Slam Team coach Eric Coval.

In a slam competition, poets recite original piec-es which are scored from one to ten by judges.

In the LTAB Finals at The Vic Theater, the team’s individuals per-formed extremely well with every poet scoring

M.E. Slam Team’s Got that Go-Go-Gadget Flowan 8.9 or better. Jaime Es-pinoza’s piece took us on a run through of his life growing up receiving the first ten for the team.

Dana Castillo’s piece tells us about the struggles and heartache she encoun-ters with her relationship with Calculus and her cur-rent affair with English.

Isabel Kesheshian poured out her heart to us about the pain she feels about her brother being in the Army and why she still stands for The Pledge of Allegiance.

Finally, Cia Matthew took us back to 1st grade when she had to go to speech therapy and how she overcame it.

After winning the semifinals, the team went on to the Finals that took place at The Vic Theater in Chicago. After all four teams that recited their poems were through it was time for results.

Maine East fell short of 1st place by .3. Kumba Linx took the title leav-ing our 4 amazing poets in disbelief. “No matter the outcome we’re happy to have made it this far.” says slam team assistant coach Mr. Hessert.

By Nikko Andriotis


Winter Pep AssemblyStudents showcased their talent at the winter pep assembly. Mr. Fedewa, Mr. Hessert, and Mr. Coval raised the most money in the cancer research fundraiser sponsored by the junior Gifted Lycieum classes. Their reward? Bald heads!


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Blue Demons Go Green!NOW MAINE EAST RECYCLES MORE THAN JUST PAPER


M.E. Art Show 2010

And the Awards go to...2-D DESIGN / DIGITAL

1st Place: Kayla Koch

2nd Place: Natalia Rafalik

3rd Place: Kamil Izak

Honorable Mention:Amalia KanelosSofia Montanile

3-D ART

1st Place: Samantha Lento

2nd Place:Karolina Blaszczuk

3rd Place: Jennie Suarez

Honorable Mention: Sarah Hernandez

MIXED MEDIA / RELIEF

1st Place: Jessica Kaminski

2nd Place: Amalia Kanelos

3rd Place:Karolina Blaszczuk

DRAWING

1st Place: Aaron Cannon

2nd Place: Maggie Wierzchucki

3rd Place: Christy Manaois

Honorable Mention: Raven Basso

PAINTING

1st Place: Joanne Kim

2nd Place: Nic Juister

3rd Place: Jennie Suarez

Honorable Mention:Justin De Los Reyes

PHOTOGRAPHY

1st Place: Felice Chan

2nd Place: Ted Balca

3rd Place: Joy Ocampo

Honorable Mention:Jacquelyn De La Cruz


Many Maine East clubs and teams have been successful throughout his-tory but none as great as Maine East DECA, who swept the state competi-tion last week by qualify-ing 20 students for national competition. Maine East qualified more students for nationals than any other school in the state!

DECA has over 200,000 members world-wide and is designed to help promote leadership, busi-ness, and economics skills. With over 3000 members across Illinois alone, DECA is growing to be one of the most influential academic clubs in schools.

Students can compete at a variety of levels and in a many categories. The events range from writing business plans and then presenting them to profes-sional judges to econ test-ing and short role plays that measure the student’s abil-ity to problem solve and think on their feet.

Maine East students spend the entire year writ-ing papers, which ranged from international business plans to advertising cam-paigns. They also worked hard on perfecting their presentations.

Students finalized their presentations in Decatur, Illinois, where the com-petition took place. Some students stayed up as late as 5 A.M. sharpening their skills, under the watchful eyes of the three DECA advisors, Mr Baysingar, Mr Lasky, and Mr Schwan.

Mr Schwan, the guru of presentations, stayed up till sunrise with all the students, constantly giving

Ain’t no mountain high enough for M.E. DECA

feedback and making sure no one felt unprepared.

All the hard work paid off: our students represent-ed Maine East on the stage over 50 times, appearing more often than any other school and winning over 138 awards.

After the dominating victory last year, when 13 students went on to com-pete in the national com-petition, nobody really thought Maine East could succeed at such a great lev-el once again.

The DECA conference wasn’t just about the com-petition. Last year’s winner of the Educator of the Year Award, Mr Lasky, person-ally announced the finalists for this year’s award which included no other than our very own Mr. Baysingar.

The State Career De-velopment Conference was also a chance to recognize the hardworking students

who show leadership all year long. The Illinois Foundation of Marketing Education (IFME) Honor Award is given to students in recognition of excellence in scholarship, leadership, and involvement in DECA. This year, the prestigious award was given to two Maine East seniors, David Salinas and Josh Swoboda.

Also this year, Maine East has qualified an im-pressive number of first year students and one freshman, Junaid Ahmed went on to winning a $750 scholarship for placing sec-ond in his event.

The DECA experience has been a memorable one. Especially for those who attended it for the first time. Louie Mohammad, who qualified for the national competition with his adver-tising campaign proposal, said “I loved the field trip and meeting new people

from other schools...but especially making new friends from Maine East, people I would’ve never thought were so cool!” Louie, as excited as he was about making it to nation-als, admitted that he was surprised by how differ-ent interacting with teach-ers was outside of school. “They were so relaxed, and seeing our advisors in the middle of the night, with gigantic coffee cups, made them seem like they were really there to help us and not just as our teachers,” says another DECA mem-ber and a competition dom-inator, Alina Anthony.

“We could’ve been just another school with one or two winners…Mr Baysingar, Mr Schwan and Mr Lasky really went out of the ordinary to make sure we were at the very top. Look at our school. We competed against tough

competitors like Deerfield and Naperville and yet we still dominated them. If it weren’t for those guys, we would’ve never made it. They were there to kick our butts to start working , guided us, and were there when we wanted to give up,” says Judy Bielaga, one of the DECA officers.

DECA has helped many students come out of their shells and realize the potential they have. Many learned to work efficiently in teams and approach problems in a mature way. “The group I was working with helped me learn more about building ideas with people using business and the whole experience was well beyond expectations,” says Puneet Soni, who is going to represent Maine East at the national compe-tition in Kentucky.

By Judy Bielaga

See DECA,next page

Some of Maine East’s top ten finalists, from left, Dolly Tailor, Jessenia Solano, Abhay Shah, Amir Laliwala, and David Salinas.


As David Salinas, the Maine East DECA presi-dent, says, “ You can take as many AP classes as you can, do more work than anyone else, and be smarter than most people, but if you can’t use the knowledge that you have now effectively for your career and your fu-ture, then you are wasting your time. Sure, it matters who’s got the biggest brain, but it matters a helluva lot more who’s using it. It doesn’t matter what career you pick or what you plan to do with your life, you need to find the balance be-tween the skills and knowl-edge necessary to compete in the 21st Century. Maine East DECA helps you find that balance.”

“Qualifying twenty students for nationals is indicative of the high qual-ity student body we have at Maine East. When News-week and US News and World Report say Maine East is in the Top 5% of all high schools nationwide, they are right on!” says Mr.

Schwan, who couldn’t hide how proud he was of his students.

The DECA students showed incredible skill when preparing for the state competition. Even though most of the propos-als were just ideas, some projects were actually real life events that the DECA students were engaged in, like fundraising for the School Based Health Center and the SoccerFest project. Overall, DECA has helped raise over $3,000 dollars for our school and the community just this year alone.

The State Conference might have been a chance to show off some serious business skills, but the stu-dents also had some fun down time. “Because of the DECA challenges I was able to network. The challenges helped us meet new people and learn how to work in a mature, and professional manner. The dance was a good way to finally relax and meet some awesome people from other schools,” says Zaklina Theil, a top-10 state finalist.

Teodora Ivanova a Maine East freshman, popularly referred to as Teddy by Mr. Baysingar, said that the entire experi-ence amazed her. “I learned more about teamwork and approaching problems in just the 3 days than I’ve ever learned so far!”

Many students are still not over the excitement of winning but Aaamir La-liwala is already thinking

about how to finance the Nationals trip. He already wrote letters to some large businesses in the Chicago land area, asking for dona-tions, which will help cut down the costs of the trip for many students repre-senting our school.

The excitement of winning stirred some other talents in other students, besides business. One of the national competitors,

Jinal Shah, wrote a poem about the DECA competi-tion, which surely reflects how all the Maine Easters (see below).

This is a time for your history to be written in the way you want it, by fusing your knowledge with the 21st century skills. What are these skills? You’re go-ing to have to join DECA to find out!

National DECA Finalists: from left: Josh Swobo-da and Chris Levy; Bader Bhatti, Annie Lee, and Shivam Patel; Michele Perchess, Judy Bielaga, and Puneet Soni.

DECA, cont. from previous page

DECA state, the best time eva, Maine East killed, in the record books foreva. From the procrastination n stayin up till 4,To the DECA dance,showin off your moves on the dance floor. Fun times, fun times, we made fun of deep and made a lil rhyme. Pizza all day, pop all night, runnin around the hallways like we lost our minds. The time runnin out, oh so soon. 50 times ME represented on stage.The other schools sat in their seats in rage. Twenty people goin nationals, how can I explain this, this is irrational.Bus ride back, the rules said no cheese,Who cares we did what we pleased.Taking pictures all around, click, click, click, lovin that sound.Baysingar with the million dollar tie,Schwan with his slick hair, stayin up till five,Lasky with the food in his room,We thank all the advisors for helping us achieve,Now for nationals, I know we’ll succeed!


Why? Why in the world should you or I buy an iPad? We shouldn’t. But it is really more for older people or those who are interested in a simple device that does most of what they need a comput-er to do: email and browse the Internet. The iPad is smaller, lighter, and easier to use than a computer, so it will have some appeal to this group. But most people cannot replace a laptop with a computer, since the new Apple de-vice lacks the power and many of the abilities of even the weakest laptop computers.

There are a few good things about this new gad-get available for purchase on April 3, but there are also a few downsides. For all those techies out there, this new device has some major problems that add up (enough to make many users wonder why they bought an iPad).

Although the iPad is a great tool for entertain-

ment, one major problem is that there aren’t any USB slots for connect-ing other devices or hard drives. Apple fought for years to make USB a stan-dard connection on desk-tops and laptops, yet now their new “magical” de-vice has no USB ports.

A bigger problem is that the iPad – like the iP-hone and iTouch – cannot multitask. But isn’t this supposed to be the age of multitasking? The iPad can only run one applica-tion at a time. In other words, you cannot read a book while you listen to streaming music from Pandora, or open up email while you’re browsing the web.

Everyone must make his or her own decision before spending $500+ on an entertainment device. Perhaps the best advice is to wait and see how people like the new iPad or, even better, wait for the second or third generation, when all of the kinks have been worked out.

By Lance Lindsay

The iPad will not be as

‘magical’as Apple promises

“Spread the Word to End the Word” is a campaign young people are trying to spread to their communities concerning the elimination of the word “retard” from everyday use. Not only is the word “retard” upsetting and hurtful, but mental retardation is an actual intellec-tual disability many people have. March 3 is already dedicated to “Spread the Word to End the Word” Day in Rhode Island, Califor-nia, Nebraska, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Idaho. This campaign addresses societies’ need for awareness in word choice that impact others dramatically. Today, 92% of teenagers openly use the r-word to degrade someone else, whether or not they have the disability. Using the r- word discriminates against people with intellectual disabilities and sets them apart from society. Families and individuals with these disabilities are hurt whenever the r-word is used and the public needs to take their feelings into account. Stop and think about the effects of one insensitive and inconsiderate word can do when it is directed towards someone with mental retardation. Stop the use of the r- word. “Spread the Word to End the Word.” Please support this “movement of mutual respect and human dig-nity” (From R-Word.org).

Are you looking for Summer Employment? Do you like to Work With Children?

Do you want to have fun whileMaking a Difference?

Apply to be a District 207 Summer Tutor in the elementary and junior highs schools.

Follow this link to the application: http://www.quia.com/sv/380175.html

Applications are due March 28th by midnight.

For more information, contact Summer Tutor Co-ordinator Wendy Reitz at

[email protected]

NEED A JOB? LIKE KIDS?

Try Summer Tutoring!!!


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Across3. Famous author who recently died5. 2010 Best Actor Oscar Winner6. A Spring sport:______9. The first _____ of Spring11. _____ Out Loud14. POL Regional Champ16. He had head shaved at pep assembly: Mr. _____17. Chicago Blackhawk _____ Kane19. He had head shaved at pep assembly: Mr. _____21. All-Conference M.E. basketball player24. Illinois High School Principal of the Year27. He had head shaved at pep assembly: Mr. _____28. 2010 Winter Olympics Gold medal winner in hockey29. ____ ____ Festival30. Easter ______31. A Spring sport:______

Down1. Popular Spring Break destination: _____ Beach2. Springtime Jewish holiday4. NCAA March ______5. Easter _____7. Top grossing movie of all time 8. Acceptable device in café now10. New device from Apple12. Maine East Musical13. Project ____ ____ ____15. 2010 Best Picture Oscar Winner: The Hurt ______17. Maine East Rhythm ______18. All-Conference M.E. basketball player20. Start of Spring: _______ equinox22. Easter _____23. April _____ bring May flowers25. Successful M.E. business group26. Spring ______


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Unscramble each of the clue words.Take the letters that appear in boxes and unscramble them for the final message.

ALL MIXED UP

Answers Next Issue

SPORTS

The boys and girls bas-ketball team showed a lot of passion and heart through-out the 2009-10 season.

The boys varsity team ended with an overall record of 5 wins and 20 losses dur-ing the first season for new head coach Mr. Crawford.

The captains on the team were seniors Nus Khan and Zeeshan Rauf. Even though the Demons were winless in the Central Suburban League Confer-ence, Khan averaged 28.9 points per game, the high-est average in the confer-ence, and was named to the All-Conference team. Rauf earned All-Conference hon-orable mention.

Coach Crawford knew coming into the season that Maine East had a very young, inexperienced team. “There were only 3 players

who played on varsity the year before and they needed a lot of learning,” he said. “My players would either play well or play poorly”.

One of Coach Craw-ford’s favorite moments of the season was the De-mons’ game against Rolling Meadows.

Maine East was down by as many as 24 points, but they fought all the way back to cut the lead to six points. Even though they didn’t win, Crawford still thought that was his players’ best game because of how they played and how much heart they showed, evidence that they can play well together if they just talk to each other on the court.

The girls varsity basket-ball team had an overall re-cord of 6 wins and 23 losses and a conference record of 1-9. Their stand-out play-ers were Kristen Beierwal-

tes, Angela Jones, and Joy O’Campo. O’Campo and Beierwaltes were the team’s captains. Jones injured her knee about halfway through the season, which really af-fected the team.

Beierwaltes was named

Boys and girls basketball teams look forward to next seasonBy Donald Narsso

Athlete on the Spot: Steven Tom

Year In School: Senior

Height: 5'7

Weight: 150 lbs.

Favorite Athlete- Scottie Pippen

Favorite Food- Chinese food

Favorite Subject- Senior Leaders

School Next Year- UIC

Favorite Maine East Lunch- Chicken Wrap

Accomplishments

-All Conference

-Broke 200 Freestyle Relay Record

-Holds Freshman Record: 50 breast stroke

-Holds Sophomore Record: 100 breast stroke

to the All-Conference team and was also named to the All-tournament team during the Christmas tournaments.

“Overall, we felt the season was successful,” said head coach Ms. Carol Hanusiak. “We bettered our

record from last year, and had a conference win.”

Hanusiak said that her favorite hightlight was win-ning against Niles North in a thrilling overtime. “It was a great win for the seniors and the team.”

The boy’s varsity swimming and diving team finished the season with no regrets and high hopes for next season.

With a 9-2 diving re-cord, the the diving team ended with a solid .818 win-ning percentage, one of the most successful sports sea-sons for Demon Nation this year.

Although the swim-ming team didn’t compile as strong a record, the varsity team broke the school record in the 200 freestyle relay by Steven Tom, Kevin Tom, Danny Ward, and Danny Sieghart.

“We did alright,” said senior Steven Tom about the season, “We had higher ex-pectations but we will take what we can get.”

New coach Andrew Kittrell took over after pop-ular long-time coach Mr. Guilfouil retired. “He is an inspirational coach who re-sembles Bob Knight,” Tom

said about Coach Kittrell. The boys swimming

and diving team will lose many senior stars next year, like diver Lance Lindsay and swimmer Steven Tom, but the underclassman, like rising stars Kevin Tom and Danny Sieghart, hope to provide a splash of success next season.

Senior Nus Khan had the highest scoring average in the CSL North.

By Chris Levy

Diving team wins nine meets, swimmers set school records

Steven Tom works toward another school recordin the breast stroke.

the pioneer march 2010

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