TTBthe trojan bluestreak

news: {pg 4-5}Students prepare for upcoming AP tests

feature: {pg 8-9}Students dedicate free time to horses

sports: {pg 21}Baseball pitchers step up to the plate

1744 N. Andover Road. Andover, KS 67002 Volume 26 - Issue 9April 18, 2012 The Test You

Can’t Afford To Fail

District debates drug testing of students {pg.16-17}

April 18, 2012

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Forensics team works toward state

Snip-its

mariaSTANLEY

Teaming with Goodwill sponsor Susie Burton, the National Honor Society created a fundraiser to raise money for the Pucket family, who suffered a near-fatal car accident this past December.

“Andover High School has two pods in the park-ing lot,” NHS leader, Cathryn McGuire said. “Goodwill weighs in the contents and pays per pound.”

Among the donated items are furniture, clothes and toys. Anything that Goodwill normally accepts can be donated. Items were donated from March 30 to April 2. The school donated 6,900 pounds worth of items.

“Hopefully we will get enough money to help the Puckets,” junior Olivia Pierce said. “We don’t have a set amount but anything will do to help the Puckets out.”

NHS fundraiser helps Pucket, Goodwill

In less than a week, Kids 4 Kids managed organize another fundraiser. This event helped young girls in need of a dress for the upcoming prom dance.

On March 24, students held a prom dress drive done for the Youthville Prom Dress Swap.

“We were only given notice of it a week and half before [spring] break,” Kids 4 Kids leader Alex Jones said. “We did not have much time to gather dresses.”

Throughout the week before spring break, Kids 4 Kids advertised for the prom dress drive.

Both Andover and Andover Central ran the collec-tion. In the end, K4K ended up collecting 55 dresses.

“The dresses were delivered to the person in charge at Youthville by Kathy Herzog, one of the par-ent helpers,” Jones said.

Though some of the dresses were new, most of them were donated.

“The drive went very well,” sophomore Morgan Trekell said. “It has kind of hard to pull together, being that it ran through spring break but it was successful all in all.”

Forty to 50 girls from St. Francis and Youthville came to the Prom Dress Giveaway. Every girl left with a dress or a pair of shoes.

“We could have used more dresses in larger siz-es,” Jones said. “It was great to see the girls light up when they found a dress of a pair of shoes.”

K4K organizes prom dress drive

The pods are located in the AHS parking lot. The fundraiser, working along side Goodwill, can accept items such as furniture, clothes and toys. Photo by Katherine Hartley

mariaSTANLEY

Every year, qualifying students come together to compete in State Forensics, a statewide event that also falls on the day of prom. All day, students preform in front of a panel of judges, consisting of parents, former competitors and coaches.

“There are two events that are going on that day,” forensics teacher James Harris said. “State Champs will be held in Topeka, at Seamen High School and State Festivals will be held at East High School.”

Of the two, State Champs holds more difficulty and importance, though both events are only open to students who meet qualifying standards. In order to compete, students must be in the top six people of their team, and they must place first or second in their tournaments through out the year.

“Judges are looking for several things in a stu-dent when they compete,” Harris said. “They are looking for how effective you are as a public speaker, how well you know your speech and how polished your performance is.”

Senior Tony Supancic has been in forensics for two years. This year will also be his first time com-peting in State Forensics. He will be writing his own persuasive speech, lasting 10 minutes and when pre-forming in front of judges, must be entirely memo-rized.

“I had to learn a lot of things in order to prepare for my speech,” Supancic said. “I had to learn how to write a persuasive essay and how to speak to people. Mr. Harris has really helped me a lot. He provides the materials and gives advice. We still have to come up

with our own speeches and materials, but he helps improve it.”

Senior Robyn Herbert has been in forensics for two years, and has never competed in a State Foren-sics tournament.

“We file like crazy,” Herbert said. “We print off major newspapers articles, like the New York Times, every week and we go through every article to keep ourselves updated on things going around the world to talk about at State.”

Students have taken a variety of steps to prepare themselves with the upcoming tournaments.

“We record ourselves on video or audio tape,” Supancic said. “We do not just look at what we are saying but at how we look, how we move our hands, how we stand among other things.”

Though Herbert does not know how well she will do, she feels ready and prepared to take on State Champs.

“I like seeing how far I can get,” Herbert said. “Forensics has made me a more confident person and a better speaker. Mr. Harris has helped me a lot. He does not sugar coat things. If you suck during a performance, he will tell you. It helps you want to do better.”

Like last year, both competitions will be held on May 5, and will run all day.

“It is always difficult for the students because both competitions fall on the day of prom,” Harris said. “Last year, no one went.”

mariaSTANLEY

Senior Tony Supancic files papers during his seventh hour forensics class. Supancic quali-fied for State Forensics in May. Photo by Eden Vierthaler

Dresses are organized for the Youthville Prom Dress Swap. Kids 4 Kids sponsored the event and collected a total of 55 dresses. Photo by Katherine Hartley

Many young women headed off to college in the fall may be interested in exploring Greek life. All senior women and parents are invited to attend a sorority informational event, “It’s Greek to Me” on Friday, April 27 from 4-6 pm.

The Wichita Alumnae Panhellenic is sponsoring

the event held at Hubbard Hall on the W.S.U. cam-pus. The meeting will consist of short presentations about Greek life, benefits, cost and recruitment. All attendees can enter to win a $50 book scholarship. Representatives from KSU, KU, WSU, Washburn, Ft. Hays State, and Pittsburg State will be in attendance.

Meeting for women interested in collegiate greek life

kelseyDICK

For a period of two weeks, the Andover Police Department spent time watching for seatbelt violations in the school zones of both district high schools.

The watch took place from March 5 to March 19. According to Sgt. Ben Graber, the enforcement was part of a program the department was working on, known as SAFE, which stands for Seatbelts Are For Everyone.

“This is a program put on by the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) that is designed to enforce seatbelt laws around schools. Every year, KDOT funds several different en-forcement programs that target seatbelt usage, child restraints and drivers driv-ing under the influence of alcohol. All of these programs are done to promote safety,” Graber said.

According to Graber, KDOT had reason for starting the SAFE program, based on statistics of driving fatalities among teens.

“In 2010 alone, 51 Kansas teens lost their lives due to car crashes, 71 percent of those killed were not wear-ing seatbelts,” Graber said. “This num-ber is way too high, and is a concern for law enforcement and the state of Kan-sas. I personally have worked accidents that if the driver and passengers would have been wearing a seatbelt they would have survived. It is important that people understand that seatbelts do save lives.”

Graber said the cost of a fine for a seatbelt violation is much better than losing one’s life in a car accident be-cause they were not wearing a seatbelt.

“The cost of a seatbelt ticket for someone under the age of 18 is $60,

and the cost for someone over 18 is $10. That is a small amount to pay for saving a life. I usually tell people that it is better to pay that amount and learn from it then not have a seatbelt on dur-ing a crash, possibly losing their life or the life of someone else.”

School Resource Officer Heath Kintzel participated in the watch, and traded off patrols with Andover Central Resource Officer Buck Buchanan.

“Officer Buchanan and I either worked 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. or 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,” Kintzel said. “We traded off who has an early week and who has the late week. For the two weeks of the SAFE campaign, Officer Buchanan and I both worked 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. In addition, we had at least two additional patrol officers assigned to help us with the enforcement effort.”

In total, 74 cars were stopped dur-ing the patrol. Of those, nine minors, aged 14-17, were for seatbelt violations. Fifteen adults, people aged 18 and over, were cited for seatbelt violations as well. A total of 46 tickets were written during the patrol as well.

“The numbers show that adults are not wearing them more than students,” Graber said. “This however does not show exactly how many of the adults were actually students, just over the age of 18.”

According to Kintzel, the number of people violating seatbelt laws de-creased during the patrol.

“Word got out that the ticket cost $65,” Kintzel said. “Particularly in the af-ternoon, I could see students buckle-up after they saw me. I just hope that we helped form some habits.”

According to Graber, just because

the watch at the schools is over, does not mean the police department will stop watching for seatbelt violations when officers are on patrol.

“After looking at the numbers it ap-pears that seatbelt usage has increased slightly since we started watching and enforcing around the schools,” Graber said. “We hope that people will con-tinue to wear their seatbelts every time they get into a vehicle and not just think that since we are not standing in front of the school they can get away with it. We will continue to write tickets to peo-ple anywhere in the city of Andover that are not wearing a seatbelt properly.”

Now the watch is over, Kintzel

thinks the number of seatbelt violations could decimate.

“I hope we made an impact,” Kint-zel said. “The message is that vehicle occupants are safer if they wear their safety belt. This was just another meth-od of presenting the message.”

In addition, Kintzel said just be-cause the watch is over, does not mean officers will stop watching for seatbelt violations when on patrol.

“I think officers will continue to look for seatbelt violations,” Kintzel said. “Officers do not have to be work-ing a specific campaign to enforce the seatbelt law.”

April 18, 2012 3

Police department cracks down on seatbelt enforcement

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Click it or ticket

Officer Buck Buchnan shows a driver the consequences of driving with-out a seatbelt. For two weeks, the Andover Police department watched for seatbelt violations at both high schools. Photo by Henry Hook

April 18, 20124

AP classes ‘a step above high school’To take the test or not take the test; that is the

question. Students across the nation will soon be tak-ing tests for college credit in their Advanced Placement (AP) classes, but first, they had to decided whether to take the test.

AP tests are given during the first weeks of May for all certified AP courses including the seven offered at Andover. Students receive a score ranging from one to five. In some cases, college credit is given to any score above a three.

“It cannot hurt students college-wise,” counselor Sue Coffman said. “Even if you don’t get a three or above, colleges are not going to take away scholarship money.”

Tests are optional and cost $87 a piece.“I believe students should take a chance on the

exam,” AP United States History teacher Joel Schaefer said. “They’ve invested nine months in the course. Why not attempt it?”

Each test is approximately three hours long, and includes a multiple choice portion and a written por-tion.

“I would encourage students to go online and find out how long each section is,” Coffman said. “There are a ton of websites with that kind of infor-mation. Some of these tests have writing portions two hours long. If you’ve never sat and written for a solid two hours, it’s tough.”

The pace and coursework of AP classes has been shown to help students in college. Students who have completed one AP course have a 59 percent chance of completing a four-year degree, according to the Cen-ter of Gifted Studies. Students who have completed two or more have a 76 percent chance.

“AP tests look good on a college application. [Stu-dents] all have the ability to get a passing score if they put some effort into it,” AP government teacher James

Harris said.Teachers and counselors agree that the AP tests

are a way to familiarize oneself with standardized test-ing.

“It is good preparation for tests in college,” Coff-man said. “Student’s will be doing two hour writing tests there.”

Some students, however, are choosing to take the class, but not the test.

“I’m choosing not to take my AP Chemistry test because I’m majoring in chemical engineering,” senior Tony Supancic said. “I think that Mr. Thiel’s course will give me an excellent background, but I want to take KU’s courses because I’m getting a KU chemical engineering degree. I don’t want to skip any courses.”

Because of the cost and the difficulty of the test, many teachers feel it is up to the individual student’s preparation level to decide whether to take the test.

“If I feel that a student has not adequately pre-pared themselves and would most likely only score a one or a two, I might be reluctant to recommend taking the AP test,” AP calculus teacher Mike Sprenkel said. “A majority of my students generally take the AP test.”

Books and other tools are available to help stu-dents prepare themselves in addition to the prepara-tion given in class.

“AP (classes) are a half a step to two steps above Honors or really good high school classes,” AP Chem-istry teacher Russ Thiel said. “They may cover many of the same subjects, but just at an introductory level. The width of concepts and the analytical skills aren’t the same. Even if a student is confident in a course, if they haven’t mastered it, they may have trouble quickly making the connections needed to do well on the AP test.”

Students also can face challenges, as a majority of

AP students are seniors who, according to Harris, be-come busy and distracted towards the end of the year.

“I always say that the biggest challenge the stu-dents will face is themselves. All AP tests are given at the end of the year; everyone is thinking about sum-mer or graduation and not studying. Start studying early to not only get into a routine, but you don’t have as much to go over,” Harris said.

The AP test is not included in final grades, but most AP teachers give a comprehensive final in addi-tion to the test to help students prepare.

“People need to realize that when they sign up for an AP class, they are committing to quite a bit of work, and the instructor has the right to expect that. I would rather have more students that want to work hard than push my students overly hard so they ‘have’ to take the test and have them be unhappy and not wanting to work,” Thiel said.

Schaefer believes that more students are able to take AP classes, but do not for other reasons.

“Too many of our students shy away from AP courses because they fear for their GPA,” Schaefer said. “What students fail to grasp is that colleges prefer to see ‘AP’ on a transcript and students are better pre-paring themselves for the rigors of university life by enrolling in these courses. Students need to feel free to challenge themselves rather than take the easier path. Doing this as young adults will only benefit them in life in order that they may each see that we are all capable of more than we often realize.”

Other teachers believe that there is benefit in tak-ing AP courses, even if a student does not intend to take the test.

“When you look at the people teaching AP,” Thiel said. “You’re looking at the best teachers in the school. These teachers are passionate about their subject and stu-dents are going to get the best educational experience.”

robynHERBERTS p e e d y S t a t sAP English AP History AP Government AP Physics AP Chemistry AP Biology AP Calculus

Class Size# of

Testers% of Test

Takers

14 161026243233

131133213112

81%10%50%12.5%66%94%86%

5April 18, 2012

They make you work harder and teach you

how to think. They better prepare for you classes in the future.

{nikkiKLAASSEN,12}

They give you college level material and

workload. I have tak-en two AP classes.

{alecWILLFORD,11}

They test your knowledge. Its more

work and you have to study a lot.

{pedroTOLEDO,11}

trojanTALK

Why do you think taking AP classes is beneficial? How does it better prepare you for college?

Use smart phones to access The Trojan Bluestreak’s website for current newscoverage.

VISIT AHSBLUESTREAK.COM Photo Illustration by Henry Hook

April 13, 2012

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Athletic director switches to online teachingFor the past 12 years, Gary Merritt has served as

the athletic director and an assistant principal. Begin-ning next year, all of that will change.

On Aoril 9, the board of education officially an-nounced Merritt’s intention to transfer to the Andover eCademy online school, where he will teach history. Before coming to Andover, Merritt taught and was an administrator at North High School.

“I taught history at Wichita North,” Merritt said. “I then was an assistant prinicpal there before coming to Andover.”

In addition to teaching and serving as an assis-tant prinicpal, Merritt also served as a coach for a va-riety of sports.

“I coached football at Bishop Caroll, Wichita North and Heights,” Merritt said. “I also coached bas-ketball for a while, and spent one season as an assis-tant girls softball coach.”

Football coach Mike Lee, who served as a coach for one year before being trasnferred to Central and returning in 2007, said Merritt’s depature will be a major loss for the school.

“You always knew that Merritt supported you,” Lee said. “I think that was his greatest quality. He did a really good job of letting coaches do their job, too. He never really told us how to do our jobs as coaches, and I really appreicated that about him.”

Girls basketball coach Max Hamblin agreed and said Merritt will definitely be missed.

“It’s sad to see him go,” Hamblin said. “He’s got other things going for him. He’s done a wonderful job here with all that he has on his plate.”

Lee, whose father was an athletic director all

through his life, said Merritt’s abscence will leave a large emptiness in the school.

“People automatically associate athletics with him,” Lee said. “It’s not just us, but other league schools who are familiar with our school. People who know our athletic department will automatically as-sociate it with Merritt for some time.”

During his tenure, Merritt has seen numerous changes to the athletic department.

“The biggest thing is upgrading our facilities,” Merritt said. “When I first got here, we played our baseball games in a city park, now we play on a dia-mond that’s phenomenol. We’ve gotten the new bas-ketball gym, new weight room, we play soccer over at the district stadium now. We’ve seen plenty of positive changes.”

According to Principal Bob Baier, the opening for Merritt’s position was posted to the state’s web site on April 10. He has no idea who will fill the vacant spot, but said the position is totally open to anyone interested.

“People who are looking for that kind of job will probably apply by the 20th,” Baier said. “That will give me about a week to prepare for interviews since I an-ticjpate they will happen April 30 or May 1. I expect it to be a very quick turn-around.”

In addition to Merritt’s knowledge of athletics, his dedication to athletics is one of his significant qualities, according to Baier.

“He’s worked so hard over the past 12 years, I don’t know if anyone can truly replace him,” Baier said. “Whoever does will have big shoes to fill.”

Lee agreed and said all of the success of the ath-

letic department is down to someone being behind it all.

“You look at what we’ve done over that last 14 years I’ve been here: We’ve had multiple state champi-onships and changes in facilites,” Lee said. “Someone was behind all that. Somebody also had to be behind the changes. Merritt did a great job with all of that.”

While Merritt is looking forward to again inter-acting with students on a one-on-one basis at the eCademy, he will definitely miss being the athletic director. He thinks he will leave behind a positive im-pression on the athletic department.

“The athletic department did everything it could to better support and help the kids and coaches,” Merritt said. “The kids come first, then the coaches. Everybody worked together to make this program great. We do it the right way. I’m very proud of that.”

arretLASTNAME

Athletic DIrector Gary Merrit works behind his desk. Merrit has been the athletic director at AHS for 12 years. Photo by Jessica Griffin

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Just Horsing AroundStudents share stories about

love for riding horses

9April 18, 2012

stephanieMUNSON

F or several Andover students, the escape that riding gives them helps them forget about the stress that everyday life offers.

“I like how it makes me forget every-thing and I can just do what I want,” sophomore Meghan Regher said.

People ride horses for a variety of reasons, but for sophomore Regan Peare, the love of hors-es ran in the family.

“I started riding when I was five because my grandpa had a horse,” Peare said.

For junior Noah Harkness and sophomore Meghan Regher, their love for horses is what led them to riding.

“I was four when I started riding. I saw my neighbor’s horse and I just fell in love,” Harkness said.

Regher’s dream was to ride horses; one day she just decided to go after that dream.

“I was six when I started riding. It had always been a dream of mine and once I started I fell in love,” Regher said.

In the beginning, riders often have to take lessons. Wichita Riding Academy is a place where students can take lessons.

“I would say the average age of our riders would be in the 8-13 year range,” Wichita Riding Academy riding instructor Sheryll Marks said.

Riding horses came naturally for Marks which ultimately led to him teaching lessons.

“I started riding when I was 13-years-old. I had a strong desire to pass this knowledge onto others, so I chose to teach lessons,” Marks said.

By teaching lessons Marks feeling rewarded everyday by the growth in skill of his riders and relationship between the rider and their horses.

“I enjoy watching students learn to build trust with their mounts and work as a team. The reward for me is watching the students gain con-fidence because of the lessons a horse can teach about respect, hard work, and love,” Marks said.

Owning a horse is more than just riding the horse.

“I have to brush him and maintain him, along with ride him,” Peare said.

Horses are more than just pets to Harkness, and he prefers to treat them that way.

“Most people just have horses for pets and spoil them and make them nuisances. A horse that has a job or has to work for a living is the best. Horses were meant to be used, not to be over-

sized dogs, but to work,” Harkness said.Junior Kate Osterbuhr’s horse is her best

friend.“The thing I love the most about riding is that

my horse, Tanner, is awesome and a best friend,” Osterbuhr said.

Riding everyday can be hard to fit in, but for Harkness it has become part of his daily routine.

“I work at Hanna Cattle. I work with, exercise and train horses there,” Harkness said.

For these riders, the feeling of riding is in-comparable to anything else.

“The best part is being outside in the country and it’s relaxing,” Peare said.

The option of riding in competitions is out there, but it is not for everyone.

“I think competitions are rather pointless un-less you are big time into it,” Harkness said.

Showing Tanner, Osterbuhr’s horse, was a passion of hers for awhile.

I showed Tanner for about three years and finally just moved him to a ranch where I now just ride for fun,” Osterbuhr said.

For sophomore Regan Peare, riding just for fun is the most relaxing yet extremely enjoyable. She tries to ride her horse as often as she pos-sibly can.

“I try to ride at least three times a week or whenever it’s nice out,” Peare said.

Places such as Wichita Riding Academy and Singletree Riding Academy offer private lessons or group lessons.

“Personally I give 31 lessons a week, in ad-dition to managing the barn and training horses. Our barn gives approximately 100 lessons a week, which increases with our additional summer ses-sions,” Marks said.

According to Marks, the key to riding is just being confident.

“A horse will pick up on your attitude, and knows if you’re scared or had a bad day. If you are a calm, confident rider, your horse should always have trust and confidence in you,” Marks said.

The feeling of riding is what ultimately draws people to ride.

“The feeling is what I love,” Harkness said. “When you have a good horse nothing can replace him or her. No car, machine or human.”

Junior Kate Osterbuhr and sophomore Regan Peare pose with their horses; Tanner, a quarter horse horse, and Lonebear, also a quarter horse.Photo by Brooke Hilbert

Junior Kate Osterbuhr demon-strates a lope on her horse Tanner. Osterbuhr has had her horse for six years and can ride all dispositions English, Western and bareback. Photo by Brooke Hilbert

Sophomore Regan Peare lopes her horse Lonebear in a roundpen a horse farm. Peare has had her horse for about a yearPhoto by Brooke Hilbert

Junior Kate Oster-buhr controls her horse, Tanner, after he bucked. Os-terbuhr was able to stay mounted and get her horse under control. Photo by Brooke Hilbert

about the PICTURES FROM LEFT TO RIGHT

For the first time this spring break, history teacher Joel Schaefer and English teacher Jeff Roper took a group of eager students on a adventure of Europe through London and France.

“Starting about 40 to 45 days out we all had a countdown going, we were getting really excited. And the night before I don’t think anyone slept well, we were all just so excited to be out of the country,” junior Jared Germann said.

Excitement mixed with some nerves surrounded the group of junior and senior students as they prepared to leave on the nine-day tour.

“Honestly, I was kind of nervous at first because it was my first trip overseas, but as soon as we got to the airport I was extremely excited,” senior Katie Hobble said.

Along the way, the group visited many historic sites including St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and the Normandy beaches and palace of Versailles in France.

“I had really looked forward to just seeing the sites of London and Paris as far as Westminster Abbey and Notre Dame. I knew the gothic sort of architec-ture in the past time era, and just all the architecture and buildings were awesome just to go see,” senior

Glenn Karnes said. The visits seemed to leave lasting impressions on

the group of students. “I think the kids loved both cities, but they

leaned toward France more because we got to go to Versailles and visit Normandy beaches. Versailles Palace was a lot of fun. It was a beautiful day out and just to see the gardens that stretched for miles was awesome,” history teacher Joel Schaefer said.

These experiences created enduring memories for students as they got to see and be a part of these historical places.

“My favorite memory belongs to either St. Paul’s Cathedral in London or Versailles in France. St. Paul’s had unbelievable architecture and painting all along the inside. We also were about to participate in an authentic Catholic mass which was really something special,” Germann said.

As the students were exploring during their overseas trip they also had to get used to the different cultures.

“Language barrier set aside, Paris was my favorite stop all the way. The food was amazing, we ate like kings. French people were kind of stuck up, but the

environment is way cool,” Germann said. Aside from the language, food was also a new

experience for some of the kids.“London food was awful, it tasted so bad, but the

food in Paris made up for it. We had steak and really good chicken and noodles, and creme brulee, it was awesome,” Hobble said.

Although students had to overcome differences, that didn’t differ from the enjoyment of the trip.

“I think Paris was a bit more exotic, obviously the language barrier, but I think they all embraced it and it made them excited to travel to other places in the world,” Schaefer said.

Although there is not another overseas trip being planned in the near future, if the opportunity were to come up many students would benefit from participating.

“When we got to the top of the Eiffel Tower we made paper airplanes and threw them off the top to see how far they went, it was pretty cool,” Karnes said. “It was a fun trip and I would recommend it to everyone.”

katherineHARTLEY

Students experience foreign adventure

about the PICTURES

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT CLOCKWISE:

Students gather around tour guide Cecile as she tells about famous paint-ings located in The Louvre.

Cecile uses juniors Jared Germann and Chris Ioerger to show how Notre Dame was constructed.

Senior Katie Hobble writes on a wall outside Abbey Re-cording Studios. The wall is repainted after every few weeks.

Senior Alex Wreath peers over the edge of The EIffel Tower. Students could pay extra to visit the very top of the tower.

The group from AHS stands in front the statue of Prince Albert in London. 21 juniors and seniors went on the trip.

Social Studies teacher Joel Schae-fer poses beside a street performer just outside of St. Paul’s Cathedral.Courtesy Photo

April 18, 201210Courtesy PhotoCourtesy PhotoCourtesy PhotoCourtesy PhotoCourtesy Photo

SPRINGbreakers

As friends and families research destinations for spring break excursions, several Andover students chose Playa del Carmen, Mexico as a destination.

“Mexico is paradise,” senior Ryan Hoover said. “The resort was extremely nice and the weather was perfect.”

Seniors Ryan Hoover and Brad Hess traveled to Mexico along with sopho-mores Nick Hess, Nathan Ralston and their families. Playa De Carmen is located right off the Yucatan Peninsula with a population that has doubled over the past five years because it’s great vacation sight.

“We all convinced our parents that it would be the best vacation ever,” Hess said. “We all really wanted to go.”

The guys and their families stayed at Grand Porto Real resort located right on Playa’s beach. Grand Porto Real is an all-inclusive resort located right off Cozumel Island.

“Staying at an all inclusive resort made everything better,” Hess said. “Not having to pay for food or drinks all day was really nice.”

There were many things the guys did in Mexico including beach volleyball, pool basketball, zip-lining, swimming and going out on the town.

“The people in Mexico were all really friendly and just as pumped to meet us as we were,” Brad said. “Everything was perfect.”

The guys and their families stayed in Mexico for five days taking about eight hours to get there. Luckily, the airport in Playa was located right next to their resort.

“The beach made staying in Mexico a lot better than being in Kansas,” Nick said. “I met a ton of new people who were all really chill and the weather was perfect. It was amazing.”

Along with the other families, Lindy LeMaster and her family traveled to Mexico as well.

“I met so many people while I was in Mexico, it was a ton of fun,” LeMaster said. “It was great to get out of Kansas for awhile.”

The students and their families all had a great time in Playa Del Carmen and would recommended taking this vacation to anyone.

“If I had to tell people why they should go I’d say that it was such a fun and relaxing place and the resort is amazing,” Hess said. “They would have the time of their lives especially if they bring friends.”

April 18, 2012 11

Sophomores Nick Hess, Cooper Nichols and Nathan Ralston and seniors WIll Murfin, Brad Hess and Ryan Hoover prepare for a night out in Mexico. Courtesty Photo

Seniors, sophomores journey to Mexico

brookeLEATHERMAN

Visited: Wichita State University, Kansas State University, University of Missouri at Kansas City“These college visits helped me learn a lot about what I need as far what courses I

need to take in college and what high school classes I should be taking now as well as

scholarship opportunities.”

College visits with...

Bill HodgeVisited: University of Kansas

“I’m looking for a place that I’ll feel comfortable living in and a

place where I can study all of the things I want to do.”

Logan Reid

juniors Bill Hodge & Logan Reid

April 18, 201212

Junior uses juggling to overcome disabilityOne students used a program called Bal-A-

Vis-X to juggle his way through a double vision learning disability.

Junior Bill Hodge started juggling in second grade because he suffered from double vision.

“The juggling is called Bal-A-Vis-X which is a set of ball and bag exercises that use body and brain integration to help you learn,” Hodge said.

Hodge’s mother, Jill Hodge, went to a train-ing class to learn about BAVX. This is where she met Bill Hubert, the man who invented BAVX.

“Once I learned the techniques of BAVX and realized its value for tracking, I knew it would help Bill,” Jill Hodge said.

Bill took lessons from Bill Hubert directly. “At first I learned Bal-A-Vis-X to help correct

my vision,” Hodge said. “I continued because it helped me with my tracking and hand-eye coor-dination.”

Bal-A-Vis-X not only consists of juggling, but includes other activities.

“[BAVX] is bag and ball exercises where you toss and bounce racquetballs,” Hodge said.

Bal-A-Vis-X is a progressive activity. As a stu-dent begins to advance in his or her skills it be-comes more challenging.

“BAVX exercises start out with beanbags and then progresses to racquetballs,”Jill Hodge said.

Not only does Hodge enjoy Bal-A-Vis-X, he also enjoys sharing it with others.

“During the past two summers I have given lessons to students in kindergarten through eighth grade,” Hodge said. “I also give lessons to a sixth grader once a week.”

Hodge has been giving lessons for a total of three years.

“I normally give lessons at Cottonwood El-ementary because that is where the equipment is,” Hodge said.

This is also an activity Hodge can share with his mom.

“Bill and I do BAVX exercises together,” Jill Hodge said. “I would go with him to his lessons and learn the exercises right along with him.”

He actually began giving lessons because of his mom.

“Bill started out helping me teach BAVX since he can do the harder ball exercises that I can’t do.” Jill Hodge said. “Once I saw that he could handle teaching lessons on his own, I stopped helping him.”

Jill Hodge believes Bill will continue to give lessons for as long as he can.

“Bill is a very good BAVX teacher,” Jill Hodge said. “He can do all the exercises and he is very patient and he can spot errors quickly.”

Hodge still enjoys doing Bal-A-Vis-X for him-self. He still works on stepping up his game.

“I like to do Bal-A-Vis-X with advanced stu-dents because it gives me an opportunity to im-prove my skills,” Hodge said.

Bal-A-Vis-X served as an educational tool for Hodge but turned into a hobby along the way.

“Initially Bal-A-Vis-X helped me to become a better student, but now I do it for fun,” Hodge said.

Hodge has also shared his hobby and talent with his friends and peers.

“ I have seen Bill juggle and it’s absolutely amazing,” sophomore Maddie Routhier said.

Juggling vs.

Bal-A-Vis-X

“Juggling, to me, is basically just one

motion in itself.”

“Bal-A-Vis-X is a move involving other move-ments to help simulate peoples hand and eye coordination and help

with learning abilities.”

Juggling

Bal-A-Vis-X

haileyPURDY

{editorial}

April 18, 2012 13

Andover High, along with thousands of other high schools all over America, fight the battle to prevent substance and alcohol abuse. Schools have attempted a variety of methods, and Andover is now considering a new method to guide students in the responsible direction.

Parents, at one of the recent Board of Education meetings, suggested drug testing students in activities. Random drug testing of students in an assortment of activities encourages students to remain drug-free to avoid consequences.

Implementing such a method forces students to restrain themselves when surrounded by drugs in fear of hurting their chances of advancing in their activity.

The punishment for testing positive would depend on the coach or the teacher, but most punishments involve sitting out a game or writing an essay. However, none of the punishments threaten to harm the students’ grades in any way.

Thus, the drug testing is imposed as a deterrent rather than a way to pun-ish students. By doing so, students feel more pressured to control themselves

but in the meantime, their education remain unaffected by their decisions. Upon approval of the idea, all students in activities are liable to be selected

for drug-testing. As a result, students in sports, band, debate, theatre and scholars bowl are all eligible, making the testing a fair policy for the students. This policy favors no specific group.

Moreover, this method excludes the engagement of the administrators or the police, which further supports the idea the drug tests are meant to be a deterrent. A private company prosecutes these drug tests and the administra-tors knowledge of the students associated with drugs will be next to none.

Although some students might view this method as a violation of their privacy, the immensity of students influenced by drugs calls for an interven-tion from the district. A study done by Michigan State University suggest 20 percent of high school seniors affiliate with marijuana. This statistic demands intervention.

This procedure can not be said to violate personal privacy as it is con-ducted privately.

The possibility of students choosing to part with their activity might also increase as they are forced to choose between their school activity and drugs. Nonetheless, this decision is critical for students.

Since this procedure is just a gentle push for students in the right direc-tion, this policy should be passed by the Board of Education.

The promoters of this policy are awaiting for the decision of the Board of Education and hoping they will see the merits of the policy. If passed, it will promote students to avoid drugs in order to participate in school activities.

Random drug testing of students in an assortment of activites encourages students to remain drug-free to avoid consequencesVote: 26-1

Staff { EDITORIAL}

BLUESTREAKeditorialpolicyThe Trojan Bluestreak exists to inform, persuade and

entertain its readers concerning topics of importance. The newspaper recognizes all rights and responsibilities under the First Amendment.

The Bluestreak operates as a public forum for student expression and the staff takes full responsibility for newspaper content and its ramifications.

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kristinBAKER{adviser}

April 18, 201214

MLB

Youth, talent lead Dbacks to World Series title

Many questions surround Major League Baseball, from who will win the divisions to the Fall Classic .Last year’s American League East Champions were the New York Yankees who were cut short of their World Series run.

The New York Yankees will clinch the division in the American League East for the second year in a row.

Yankees future Hall of Fames closer, Mariano Ri-vera and team captain Derek Jeter, have shown signs of fatigue late in the 2011 season. Both players have seen their numbers drop over the past years. The Yankees seemingly always put the best team on the field no matter the cost and I see them clinching the division but not by much as the Boston Red sox will give them a run for their money.

The Red Sox have a sub-par bullpen with the addition of Andrew Bailey, but the starting rotation poses some question. The rotation has potential but the inconsistency from its pitchers caused the Red sox to lose the division while up nine games in September.

The Red Sox will have to rely heavily on its veteran lineup that has a lot of power. The first wild card spot will go to the Red sox.

On to the American League Central, where the Detroit Tigers created a lot of buzz when they acquired arguably the best power hitter in the game right now Prince Fielder. The Tigers line-up fielder and Miguel Cabrera is one that all pitchers fear. The Tigers vet-eran right-hander Justin Verlander is an absolute force on the mound and makes the team a clear winner to clinch the Division and possibly make a trip to the World Series. Another team that can make a good run in the World Series is the Texas Rangers from the American League West.

The Rangers are the last year’s World Series win-ners and from that group of players, almost every player that was in the lineup is coming back. Also the Rangers spent big money to acquire Japanese super-star pitcher Yu Darvish that anchors the Rangers Rota-tion. The loss of CJ Wilson hard but the Rangers have a lot of young talent that can fill the bullpen. I see the Rangers clinching their division.

Another team in the AL West that has a playoff contending team is the Los Angeles Angels. The An-gels spent big bucks in the offseason to acquire Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson in free agency. Angels now have a decent bullpen, but the line-up needs a little mop-up work. Although the Angels picked up some more talent, they still do not have the line-up to compete against the Rangers but they with grab the second wild card spot.

In the National League East were all the teams are

pretty much even. The team that I believe will be the one to clinch the division will be the newly changed Miami Marlins. The marlins have the best all around team from the rotation to the line-up. The Marlins have a new mindset and have a new identity. So I be-lieve the Marlins will clinch the division.

The first wild card spot will go to Philadelphia Phillies, who are also in the NL West. The Phillies have a strong rotation but their line-up is not as consistent as the past years. The injuries to Ryan Howard and Chase Utley poses problem for the first half the season.

The teams in the NL Central are evenly matched so it makes it hard to pick a team but at the end of the season I believe that Cincinnati Reds will clinch the division. The Reds have a decent team, but they have young athletic talents with a rotation that has pitchers that can throw deep in the game.

In the NL West the two teams that stick out are the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Gi-ants. The Giants have a great rotation and bullpen es-pecially in the set-up and closer roles. The problem is the line-up it lacks power and it is not consistent. Hopefully now a healthy Buster Posey can spark the line-up again. The lack of productive from the line-up hurts them so they will get the second wild card spot.

The last team left is the young and very talented Arizona Diamondbacks. The D-Backs have a good bullpen and a lineup that has young powerful hitters mixed with veterans that are still in their prime. When the games end the D-Backs will clinch the division and the Fall Baseball Classic.

ALEX{leff}

Yankees

Tigers

Red Sox

Rangers

Yankees

Rangers

Rangers

D-backs

Marlins

D-Backs

Marlins

Reds

Phillies

D-Backs

D-Backs4 games to 3

April 18, 2012 15

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April 18, 201216

BOE considers random drug testing next yearA committee including administrators, teach-

ers, coaches, parents, Board of Education members and other members of the community met to discuss the possibility of performing random drug testing to those in extracurriculars next year.

“The board has received requests from parents and community members to randomly drug test students as a way to reduce substance abuse at our schools,” Associate Superintendent and head of committee Andy Koenigs said.

The committee had around five meetings that met on Wednesday nights.

“I was asked to be a member and representa-tive for AHS by one of the superintendents,” Ath-letic Director Gary Merritt said. “Since the impact would mainly be placed on those students out for extracurricular activities, I was the logical choice.”

According to Merritt, four different possibilities were discussed: random drug tests for sports only, random drug tests for all students in extracurricular activities, more drug awareness and education for parents and students and to simply continue what the school is currently doing.

“Each school can define extracurricular activities,” Koenigs said. “In general, those activities which are considered a privilege like playing a sport, and not a right like getting a free public edu-cation, is considered extracurricular. Some schools have defined this as parking in the parking lot, go-ing to dances, attending school events and clubs.”

To be chosen off the “tested list,” it is impera-tive the testing would be random.

“Usually an outside agency draws the names after receiving the list from the school each week,” Koenigs said.

The recent climate survey provided data into what staff, parents and students would think of the idea of random drug testing throughout the school.

“All three groups were supportive, with students agreeing by a narrow margin of a 60 to 40 split,” Koenigs said.

Merritt saw the results of the climate survey as beneficial.

“It gives us a small glimpse into what kids

might be doing or what they themselves see as a concern,” Merritt said.

After the student has been randomly selected to be drug tested, he or she does not have to deal with law enforcement. The testing is viewed as a “deterrent only,” however the specifics of this can-not be known until the policy is written.

“Most schools use random drug testing not as punishment, but as a way to help students,” Koe-nigs said. “The results of the drug test are a privacy matter; only those people with a need to know are informed.”

The people with a need to know are normally considered parents, the student and a principal or counselor.

“If someone was found to be positive, they would fall under our current discipline for students out for extracurricular activities: one game or event suspension or one week suspension,” Merritt said. “Nothing more would be done. That would make it a deterrent, so as not to let your team down.”

Koenigs is not aware of how long it takes to receive the results of a drug test, but he knows the

kits can test for the 10 most common drugs. It is important to note staff at the school would have no part of the choosing or testing.

“The tests are sent to a medical lab contracted by the school district to do such testing. They handle everything,” Koenigs said.

The cost for potential drug testing is unknown, but committee members made estimates of between $3,500 and $4,000 per year, according to Koenigs.

“If the board would approve such a policy, communication to the parents, students and com-munity would be key,” Koenigs said. “Although there might be some concerns, the climate survey showed overwhelming support from parents and staff.”

Koenigs said more than 40 other schools in Kansas that use some type of random drug testing program including Maize, Derby and El Dorado. The committee reviewed copies of policies from schools in the surrounding area.

“We looked at their policies and research,” Merritt said.

The Andover community will find out if the drug testing will happen or not after the April board meeting. The Board of Education gets to make the final decision.

“Since a majority of the kids available for ran-dom testing would be athletes, it would directly af-fect my job,” Merritt said. “I am about 50/50 [about wanting the policy] for multiple reasons.”

Emphasizing the fact that the policy may not even pass, Koenigs reflects on how tough of a choice it will be for the board.

“During our committee’s research into this issue, we found out that although this seems to be a popular program recently, there is very little research to show that it is effective in reducing sub-stance abuse. Additionally, legal ramifications and costs make random drug testing a difficult decision. Most schools have reduced the number of random tests each week due to cost and several schools said they do not feel like it has been effective.”

Just when you thinkyou have taken enough

TESTS...

edenVIERTHALER

It gives us a small glimpse into

what kids might be doing or what they themselves

see as a concern.andyKOENIGS

After parents proposed student drug testing for the district, the Board of Education is researching the legalities of the idea so as to not interfere with any of the students’ privacy rights.

“There are a lot of issues with random drug test-ing, but it goes back to the Fourth Amendment: the right of the people to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures. So, because everyone has the right to not have an unreasonable search and seizure of their property, it’s a very difficult and touchy line for schools to do random drug testing,” Assistant Superin-tendent Andy Koenigs said.

Koenigs is the chairperson for the district com-mittee looking into drug testing and substance-abuse prevention. He said drug testing was suggested to the Board of Education to look into by community members.

“It was something suggested to the board of education by parents. Random drug testing is new to schools. It started in the business world when it became legal for employers to ask employees to take drug tests as part of their employment,” Koenigs said. “We currently do some drug testing of some employ-ees, so it’s common in the business world; it’s just now become more popular in schools.”

Being a part of the 10th Circuit in the country, Kansas schools have been able to make it legal to drug test students in extracurricular activities.

“The courts have ruled that students have a right to go to school, so they can’t be denied that right, so they are basically protected from unreasonable search-es at school. However, the Supreme Court decided in Board Of Education of Independent School District No. 92 v. Earls, which happened in Oklahoma, in our region, the 10th Circuit, determined that districts can impose random drug tests on students who participate in extracurricular activities,” Koenigs said.

Senior Hunter Weddington participated on this committee as an inside view to the school and give input on his peers’ opinions.

“We were trying to decide whether or not we should implement random drug-testing in our school,” Weddington said. “I do not think our school has a problem with hard drugs, but I think marijuana is a problem, regardless of what people think. I think it’s a gateway drug, even though people make fun of that.”

According to Koenigs, several years ago StuCo suggested to the board they would like to see random drug testing put into practice at the school.

“Student Council really pushed for a drug testing policy when I was a freshman in 2006. The big push stemmed from other schools trying to implement similar programs,” 2010 graduate and former Student Body President Sarah Morris said.

The involvement in the school from students increased the push for drug testing due to the embodi-ment of the school from the students.

“We felt that our student athletes and students in-volved in organizations were the ones that represented our school to the community through their various activities and we wanted our first foot forward in that light,” Morris said.

Regulated by the law, however, the school district is not able to test every single student.

“We’d love to test every student, but that’s when the law steps in saying that we’d have a much harder time testing the entire student body. There’s no law backing that, but there is a law backing up testing people out for extracurricular activities,” Athletic Direc-

tor Gary Merritt said.Though to some extracurricular activities imply

sports, the term includes band, choir, debate, NHS, etc. Depending on the school district and administration, students who park in the school’s parking lot could be included in the list of those who could be randomly selected to be tested as some schools have already implemented. Maize High School includes this policy.

“We don’t classify [parking] as an extracurricular activity; it’s not the same as sports. We also include walking at graduation. The policy doesn’t include park-ing as extracurricular, it’s just included in the list next to extracurriculars,” Maize High School Principal Mike Bonner said.

Granted that even though students who are involved in extracurricular activities are put in the pool for names to be drawn at random for drug tests, the results of the tests will not affect their education.

“Education is a property right guaranteed to all individuals, but participation in outside activities is not. That’s where the big difference is right now, as far as I know, as to who can and cannot be tested,” Principal Bob Baier said.

Whereas education is a right, participation in extracurriculars is not, allowing the administration to be able to take their name and use it in the drawing.

“Being involved in an extracurricular activity is not a right, so you’re not protected by unreasonable searches. It’s a privilege to be on a team, like athletics, or band or choir. So you could be subject to what they consider to be an invasive search. This is a Supreme Court ruling, only five to four, so it was a really slim margin that gave schools the right to randomly drug test students involved in activities,” Koenigs said.

Although privacy rights are an issue for some stu-dents and parents, a majority found favor in the idea of randomly drug testing students.

“Our climate survey showed that a vast majority of parents were in favor of random drug testing. I believe about 79 percent of parents were favorable. We feel a majority of parents would be in favor of this, same with the staff and even the students. It was almost 60 to 40 that students said they would like to see random drug testing, so three groups were in favor of this as a way to curb drug use,” Koenigs said.

Providing information to the committee discussing random drug testing is Attorney with Kansas Associa-tion of School Boards(KASB) Donna Whiteman. The information she provides are negatives and positives of adopting a policy of testing students for drug usage.

“I provide information about what the law allows and what concerns could arise if the district adopted it and research data on districts who have done it,” Whiteman said. “We are always concerned about how effective it is. One of the concerns is that if a student comes up one day negative, it doesn’t mean they’re not using alcohol and drugs the next week.”

Though several districts across the state have implemented this system in their schools, that does not mean drug use has decreased for students who come in each year and test. El Dorado High School has im-planted this system for a rough estimate of eight years.

“I would not say that drug use has gone down because of this test,” El Dorado High School Athletic Director Scott Ennis said.

If the tests return positive for a student, the school’s policy deems the student must face some consequences for their activity.

“We test a minimum of 15 students each month,

and the results come back two days after the test. If they test positive, then their medical officer will contact the parents to think of a reason why it would be posi-tive. If they can’t think of any reason why they would be positive, the parents would come in a speak with me,” Ennis said. “The consequence of it would be that they would have to sit out on their activity for 12 days.”

Some schools extend the length of the conse-quences.

“We’ve had this for a long time now; about in our fifth or sixth year. If a student tests positive, they sit out on their activity for four weeks. During that four weeks, they contact a substance abuse counselor. Once that four weeks is up, they are allowed to return to their activity,” Bonner said.

A negative aspect of drug testing is the cost to the district. The cost could range from $50 to $250 per test, according to Whiteman. The comparison of the cost and the effect may not make the testing worth it.

“At first I thought it wasn’t a bad idea, but after seeing the expense vs. the actual effect it had, then I realized it was a bad idea,” Weddington said.

The option of drug testing would make the administration a bystander as they would bring in a different company who specializes in testing students and employers of drugs. The names sent to the com-pany would appear random, allowing the choosing of students to be more fair.

“The school district would enter into a contract with a different company. In the contract, the board will maintain confidentiality. You have to get a split sample and allow a screen. Students might take a prescription medicine that might show up, depending on what they test for,” Whiteman said.

Highlighting the fact that the idea of random drug testing is simply an idea that the school district is merely considering, a setback may be the amount of time that a substance stays in the person’s body.

“I often advise to school districts that a drug test is just a moment in time. Just because you randomly drug test students doesn’t mean there is not a problem in your building. Just as an example, if I get tested this Friday as a high school teenager, then I’ll think I’m free for the year,” Whiteman said. “It certainly is helpful, in one strategy to attempt to deal with substance abuse, but it’s not the only one and should not be relied upon as the only way to deal with it.”

From a students’ viewpoint, Weddington said there may be a better and less expensive alternative to drug testing.

“I think more students need to say no and get involved in better activities,” Weddington said. “I think it would be helpful for the administration to provide more stories that are more personal, who the students actually know, and can relate to and trust, not just some random Joe-Schmo off the street.”

Though the policy has not been decided on yet and the district is unaware of which side the committee and Board of Education would sway toward, admin-istration would like to see testing of students just as a safety precaution.

“Kids make poor decisions, all kids do. Even some of us adults as kids made poor decisions,” Baier said. “I would like to see testing for everybody because ultimately I want the kids to be safe.”

17April 18, 2012

Drug testing students in activities proved legal

hollyHEIRONIMUS

April 18, 201218

fast facts about Redshirting-Redshirting has tripled since the 1970’s.-Males are twice as likly to be Redshirted.-Caucasians are more likely to be Redshirted.-Wealthy children are more likely to be Redshirted.- One in four students in a kindergarden class are Redshirted.

Source: betterparenting.com

Redshirting

19Apri 18, 2012

In a recent “60 Minutes” episode, the term “redshirting” became known as something other than the college athlete phrase. Redshirting also stands for children whose parents start a child at an early or late age in kindergarten.

“I started kindergarten late when I was six-years-old. I am not 100 percent sure why I did. I was at a private school at the time and I think they [the school] thought it would help with grades and sports,” senior Will Murfin said.

Red-shirting is also a college athletic term that is referred to as athletes who take a season off, so that they can play in the future seasons for various reasons, like injury.

“I do not think they call it red-shirting. I consider red-shirting to be a college athletic term,” Coffman said.

According to the “60 Minutes” show, “red-shirting” is also used in the kindergarten arena and 25 percent of kindergartners now start at age six instead of age five. The reason parents chose to start their children early or late is for various reasons.

“Parents just decide based on birth. Now there are more eighteen year olds at the time of high school graduation and it did not use to be like that,” counselor Sue Coffman said.

Opposite to Will Murfin, freshman Landon Fry started kindergarten early. Fry found that his younger age had no affect on his abilities and how fast he can excel in them.

“It did not make a difference [starting early]. You can still develop the same skills no matter how old you are,” Fry said.

Fry found that there are many benefits to being youn for his grade.

“[Being young for my grade allowed me to] learn sooner and have more opportunities,” Fry said.

Although Fry does not mind being young for his grade, he finds there are some setbacks. He will experience some benefits of being his age later than his peers.

“I cannot drive as early. That is the only negative,” Fry said.

Murfin found being older for his grade can help with academics, athletics and his maturity level. For senior Devin Blose, he experienced another version of redshirting.

“I repeated eighth grade, not because of my grades. I mean I had a 3.6 GPA. I repeated eighth grade because of my size. I was just small,” Blose said.

Repeating eighth grade allowed Blose to have an advantage in his classes.

“If I did bad in a class it was good because I could just retake the class,” Blose said.

However, he found staying in middle school longer meant he did not get to be in high school when his older sister was for as long.

“I do not know if being older helps. Maybe it does unknowingly. If a parent wants to start their child early or

late it is their decision,” Blose said.For some being older for their age means being bigger,

which may help them in athletics. Academics and athletics can be competitive.

“We live in such a competitive world. Maybe holding back gives an advantage,” Coffman said.

When Coffman’s son was in kindergarten she and her husband almost decided to have him repeat kindergarten.

“My son’s teacher said he was not mature enough at the beginning of the school year. He had a hard time paying attention,” Coffman said.

As the school year went on, Coffman’s son began to mature in academics.

“He sort of grew up when they started reading and the teacher’s opinion changed. She said he should not be held back by the end of kindergarten,” Coffman said.

Sometimes maturity can affect children.“Usually around middle school you can tell what

students are have a difficult time maturing,” Coffman said.Murfin has seen the outcomes of being old for his

grade.“I was unsure from the beginning if being old for my

grade was a good thing, but now I think it helped. I feel more mature,” Murfin said.

Being the oldest can also have its disadvantages. Sometimes it may be hard for a student to pay attention.

“Sometimes when a child is older or more mature at a young age they can struggle with getting bored in class and this can lead to the child becoming lazy,” Coffman said.

Some parents might even prefer to enroll their child in morning kindergarten, afternoon or even full-time kindergarten. According to psychologist Angela Bogue Gilmore the developmental age of children usually require necessary nap time until the first grade.

“Full time Kindergarten prohibits napping which prohibits the natural growth process of the brain. I know that a lot of parents prefer or need full time Kindergarten so that they can work full time and not have to pay for child care for the rest of the half day,” Gilmore said.

Most kindergartners do not receive a nap time. “Parents are starting to see the benefits of starting their

children late. They see they can probably achieve more,” Murfin said.

There are many contributing factors to take into consideration when enrolling a child into school, more than just when they will start.

For some it is just a matter of maturity and the extra year may give a child time to develop academically. Often it is based on each individual.

“I really believe it is about the individual student,” Coffman said. “To go on a student has to meet the demands of academics and understands the subjects to go on.”

Students open up on advantages of beginning school early, late

kathrynSILL

fast facts about Redshirting

Redshirting

April 18, 201220

Chlorine-dried skin, pruned fingers and toes, tint-ed green hair, webbed hands and feet, and the echoing splashes of dozens of swimmers: This is what fills the pool at the Wichita Swim Club.

The girls of Andover and Andover Central High School meet there nightly to practice for the swim team; their head coach Jared Gaskill stands on the side of the pool watching the girls perfect their techniques. Off to his side, assistant coach Rachael Neibling is get-ting back into the swing of a swim practice.

Two years ago, Neibling left the girls swim team to focus more on teaching; she is back as a coach for the girls once again.

“After (coach Keldon) Pucket’s accident there was a need for an assistant coach,” Neibling said. “Since I had coached in previous years I decided to do it again.”

Three years ago, freshman girls got to experience Neibling as their head coach, and became accustomed to her coaching styles. As freshmen, getting used to a coach and how they motivate the team to do well is critical.

These freshmen girls are now the seniors on the team, and have stepped up to the leadership roles nec-essary for the team to function.

“It’s really good [that she is back],” senior Audra Hansen said. “We all missed her and are really happy she could come back for our senior year.”

The girls on the team depend on her to be their fe-male role model and help them with some of the more girl problems on a level previously unavailable to them with two male coaches.

“Neibling is really great to have as an assistant coach,” Hansen said. “She is so organized and helps us deal with all the ‘girl stuff.’”

Senior Julia Hilts is also another previous fresh-man on the team that is happy to have Neibling back as a coach.

“Neibling is a very nice coach,” Hilts said. “I love being able to share old memories with her.”

Not only do the seniors appreciate her return, the new swimmers to the team also have something to ap-preciate.

“She’s very good at working with the newer swim-mers,” Hilts said. “She’s very organized and even with her crazy schedule she was able to step up this year and help everyone a lot.”

Being back on the team has given Neibling a chance to see how far the senior swimmers have come along in her absence.

“They have all gotten a lot better,” Neibling said. “I can definitely see them going to state, we already have one of our senior girls going in some independent events.”

According to Neibling, the senior girls do not only have her to help them out on the team.

“They have really grown into their leadership posi-tions as seniors,” Neibling said. “They are very encour-aging and willing to work with the younger girls which is letting them improve greatly.”

The enticements of swimming circle all of the girls, and for different reasons they continue to do what they love. For Neibling, it is the chance to see the girls inter-act outside of the classroom and the joy in seeing them work together and succeed as a team. For Hansen, it is that how well she does is in her hands and that she can see her improvements in her times. For Hilts, it is the fact she hates running and swimming lets her relax and she can actually say she is good at it.

All of them form a team and bringing Neibling back has just strengthened that bond.

“Neibling is just a really good person,” Hansen said. “You just don’t want to disappoint her.”

garrettWOLF

NEIBLING RETURNS

Senior Bea Ferenc swims the breaststroke at the Winfield swim meet on March 27. The giirls took first place. Photo by Abby Bradshaw

Math teacher takes up former position as assistant swimming coach

An Andover swimmer competes during the Winfield swim meet on March 27. The girls team took first place. Photo by Abby Bradshaw

April 18, 2012 21

It is an old baseball adage that great pitching beats great hitting, and that pitching wins games. For this year’s team, this aspect of the game will be a definite strength and hopefully a deciding factor in winning games.

“We definitely have higher expectations for ourselves,” junior Zach Baker said. “If we all con-tribute and live up to our expectations, pitching will be a strength.”

The team’s pitching rotation will consist of Baker, juniors Derek Paris and Treven Kent, senior Jack Miller and sophomores Bryant Kluesner and Miles Starks.

Last season, the teams offensive attack was ex-ceptional, as they batted a combined .360 batting average. Despite the run production, a pitching staff who had a staggering combined earned run average of 11.05 and an opposing batting average of .502 led the team to their disappointing 6-15 record.

This year, the rotation will try to raise the bar and hopefully contribute to winning games.

“This years rotation is more experienced,” Kent said. “We have more depth and more guys who can pitch quality innings.”

For a coach, pitching depth can be the essen-tial key to a successful season.

“Our depth in pitching is definitely a strength,” Head Coach Chris Weidert said. “Pitch-ing is the most important part of this game and in order to be successful, you have to pitch well.”

Although the team has plenty of depth, the team is still searching for an ace; a pitcher to lead the rotation.

“Right now I don’t believe we have an ace,” Weidert said. “Our pitchers have worked hard so far this season and I believe we could have a potential ace.”

Last year, the team’s pitching relied heavily on Baker who led the team in innings pitched with 34, along with 2011 graduate Easton Fry who totaled 22 innings.

It is yet to be determined if the experience from last season will pay dividends for Baker, but he is prepared coming into the season.

“Over the years, Weidert has taught me how to improve my mechanics and arm strength,” Baker said. “In order to be successful this season, I just need to go out, focus, and throw strikes.”

For Weidert, having five guys who could pitch quality innings has changed how he manages dur-ing games.

“I am definitely not as reluctant to make a pitching change,” Weidert said. “I know these guys can pitch.”

While evaluating his rotation, Weidert likes what he sees in each pitcher.

“One word that describes Zach Baker is he is a competitor,” Weidert said. “He never gives up.”

In his last season of high school baseball, Miller will attempt to lead the rotation due to his experience.

“What makes him (Miller) good is that he has command of multiple pitches,” Weidert said. “That can make any pitcher dangerous.”

Kluesner and Starks, the two sophomores in the rotation, will attempt to provide a new spark to the teams pitching game.

“Starks is always under control, and Kluesner has an excellent changeup.” Weidert said. “Hope-fully they can perform this year.”

As individuals, the rotation think they can help the team reach their goals for a successful season.

For Kent, trying to find success can be all in your head.

“How you approach the game can make all the difference,” Kent said. “Confidence is key.”

For Baker, winning can be as easy as doing one simple thing.

“You have to throw strikes,” Baker said. “If you do not throw strikes consistently you won’t win very many games.”

So as the baseball season progresses, the team has bought into the old baseball adage that pitch-ing wins games, and that hopefully will lead the team to success.

“I would always rather have great pitching than great pitching,” Weidert said. “If you have great pitching, you always have a chance to win.”

Depth, talent fill Trojan rotation

chrisJONES

April 18, 201222

Blizzard WarningThe presence of having two siblings on a team is enough to get people to

notice. Having three brothers on the same tennis team, however is uncommon.Senior Ben Blizzard, junior Lincoln Blizzard and freshman Grant Blizzard are

all in their first year on the tennis team. The Blizzards are from Tulsa, Oklahoma where both Ben and Lincoln played tennis at Bixby High School.

“The main difference between tennis in Oklahoma and in Kansas is that in Oklahoma both the boys and girls play in the spring so we practiced and went to tournaments together,” Lincoln said. “In Kansas, the girls are in the fall so it is not quite as much fun.”

The Blizzards have been able to find their niche on the team settling into their places.

“I generally play doubles,” Lincoln said. “I played for two years with my brother Ben, but so far this year I have been playing with [sophomore] Matt Rochat.”

Older brother Ben is also continuing his doubles play this season.“I am playing doubles on varsity with [sophomore] Tristan Jones,” Ben said.Grant will also be playing doubles on the JV team this year. The addition of the

Blizzards adds depth to the roster this year.Ben and Lincoln both make our varsity doubles teams stronger,” head coach

Mark Cross said. “Grant will help make our JV team good as well.”The brothers also recognize the strengths they all bring to the table in each

other.“Ben is a good doubles play that volleys well,” Lincoln said. “Grant works hard

and tries his best every day.”Grant also sees what his older brothers bring to the varsity team.Ben is good at everything and Lincoln is consistent with his strokes,” Grant

said.The Blizzard brothers are quick, however, in pointing out each other’s weak-

nesses.“Lincoln’s weakness is foot faults while Grant’s is how he has low tosses for

serves,” Ben said.The strengths and weaknesses help make the brothers great partners to prac-

tice against.“We are closer together because of tennis,” Grant said. “We can compete to

make ourselves better. The better we get, the closer we are together.”Lincoln agrees with the positive effects but knows that playing together can

cause strain.“I would say that playing on the same team has brought us together since we

have been practicing after school every day together,” Lincoln said. “But in the past when Ben and I played doubles together it definitely put a strain on our relation-ship.”

The split of Ben and Lincoln on two separate doubles teams offers two different quality teams.

“Their presence gives each of our doubles teams a good shot of making it to State,” Cross said.

Ben, Lincoln and Grant however do cause problems for the coach to deal with.“It is confusing,” Cross said. “Because I call them the wrong names every single

day.”

Junior Lincoln Blizzard, senior Ben Blizzard and freshman Grant Blizzard all play on the tennis team. The brothers played at their old school in Oklahoma, and all decided to take up the sport when they moved to Andover. Photos by Henry Hook and Zach Syrios

ryanMINEAR

Brothers bring talent, chemistry to tennis team

April 18, 2012 23

Monday, February 27, was the official kick-off to the 2011-2012 track season. Head Coach Mike Lee looks forward to an eventful season.

“’I’m hoping for lots of people to come out so we will have a full roster and can put as many people as possible in meets to try and get some points.” Lee said

The challenge for the team will be to stay com-petitive in the transition to 5A meets.

“The difference from 4A meets to 5A meets in overall talent and competitors is astonishing,” Couch Mike Lee said.

The team turns to seasoned seniors to take the

lead and hopefully get as many of them and the rest of the team to state.

“Throughout the season of course we want to do well and place at meets, but our main goal is to get state qualifiers and place at state,” Lee said.

The main returners for track spread across all the different events. On the girl’s side, Kimmie Clark is a key returner for triple jump. Also Kathryn Sill is re-turning for the 800 event.

“I did cross country for the first time this year, and I’m excited to do more long distance events like the mile this year,” senior Kathryn Sill said.

In the first couple weeks, the main focus will to get the track students motivated and get them into prime condition for meets.

“It’s hard for me to get motivated to get in shape for meets, but I am looking forward to when I get to race in the meet,” junior Toshi Hayashi said.

Overall the track team looks to have a successful season and is hopeful for their first meet on Tuesday, March 27, called the Early Bird Invitational, located at Central.

Senior Thane Bulmer chucks a 2.6 meter long javalin during practice. As an exercise throwers fling javalins a short distance to work on form.

Senior Kimmie Clark practices high jump on March 27. Clark has been part of varsity track since her freshman year. Photos by Zach Syrios

Track team searches for new State Qualifiers

Junior Chad Phillips chips the ball towards the green. Phillips shot a career low, 76 at the Ter-radyne meet; placing fourth individually. Photo by Zach Syrios

The golf team started off a suc-cessful season: third place out of 15 schools at an Andover Invitational. They pulled off second place out of 12 schools at an Andover Central tournament.

“I think it’s great to start out the season on a strong note like we did because we can carry this con-fidence throughout the rest of the team,” junior Chad Phillips said.

Phillips has gone to every var-sity tournament so far and placed in the Andover Central tournament.

“I shot a 5 over par 76 includ-ing a 1 under 34 on the front nine. I took fourth individually,” Phillips said.

Phillips thinks that confidence in himself and trusting in his shots are the most important things.

“You really just have to trust

yourself with whatever shot you want to hit and be confident with it,“ Phillips said. “It’s important to not let a bad hole get in your head too much.”

Others believe Phillips’ in-dependence and self-motivation could be what gets him through each hole.

“[Golf] is an independent sport, and when I see Chad play he looks like he’s in his own world, he’s focused and self motivated, and he doesn’t show any anger,” sophomore Ben Harmon said.

Phillips agrees with his team-mates, and tries to keep his emo-tions in check.

“The way I see it, you should concentrate and focus rather than getting frustrated,” Phillips said.

Though each stroke, each put,

and each chip is done indepen-dently, it takes a team to win as a team, and the players think they have that.

“There isn’t a best player on Varsity or JV,” Harmon said. “I think we’re all talented and have our good days and our bad days, and we’re all top-notch players if we can make every day a good day.”

Phillips does not believe it is going to take much for the entire team to achieve those “good days” either.

“I think if we all play to our full potential we could be one of the better teams in the state. We don’t really have one stand out player on the team; we seem to all be at about the same level which I think is a good thing,” Phillips said.

Golf team anticipates successful season jordanHERNANDEZ

chaseLEMMONS

April 18, 201224

ATHLETES AND

alcohol

The morning alarm rings and Kate Smith* awakes in a daze. Her head hurts; she feels groggy, and dizzy and she cannot seem to focus on getting ready for morn-

ing practice.She is hungover.She forces herself to practice and just can not

seem to fully participate in the activities. The physi-cal strain of the practice is even more taxing for her depleted body.

“I have participated in the use of alcohol during a sports season,” Kate Smith said. “I have also shown up at practice hungover because of it.”

Society has placed several myths pertaining to high school athletes and the consumption of alcohol. Some assume athletes tend to avoid alcohol and other drugs because they are too involved in athletics and activities to participate in these illegal activities.

The use of alcohol by minors has been a promi-nent issue in recent years, coming with numerous consequences and effects for the average high school student and helping destroy the myth of the common high school athlete.

“During a sports season, I drink about once a week,” Jeremy White* said. “It definitely affects my ath-letic performance; it makes easy things tougher to do.”

According to KidsHealth.org, 80 percent of high school students have experimented with alcohol use, with the effects including distorted vision, hearing and coordination, altered perceptions, impaired judge-ment and hangovers.

Adding a strict sports-related workout regimen to these mentally and physically distorting effects can cause serious problems, if participation in alcohol re-lated activities becomes routine.

“You feel dizzy, nauseous, and shaky,” Smith said. “You can’t focus, you are light-headed and it definitely takes a toll during practices.”

Being under the influence of a hangover, with its dizzying effects, can turn a regular high school athletic practice into a complete nightmare.

“You constantly feel like you are going to throw up,” Smith said. “It is an absolutely horrible feeling to

experience.”Despite the dangers and consequences, the use

of alcohol by minors and high school students has re-mained steady. It has become a social norm for high schoolers to consume alcohol and those who refrain from partaking in these illegal activities have become the vast minority.

“All you can really do is remind them of the con-sequences of their actions,” head football coach Mike Lee said. “A majority of their lives are out of school and athletics; you can’t really monitor their outside lives.”

Despite the problems that it causes for the team, containment of the problem is impossible.

“You can’t really lock them up or constantly keep track of them; that would be impossible,” Lee said.

“You just have to keep telling them the repercussions and hope and trust that they do what is best.”

Lee said it is up to the students to gauge the risks of their actions and to decide what to do

“Every student that participates in those types of activities runs the risk of getting caught,” Lee said. “They have the curiosity to experiment, you just have to believe they will do the right thing.”

With a constant physical strain provided by being a high school athlete, involvement in alcohol related activities can take an increased toll on the student than that of a non-athlete.

“Being an athlete is tough enough already, stuff like that just makes it worse,” Smith said.

According to the American Athletic Institute, for a high school athlete, drinking to intoxication can ne-gate the effect of as much as 14 days of physical train-ing, training hormones are negated for up to 96 hours after intoxication, and reaction time can be slowed up even 12 hours after alcohol consumption.

Constant use of alcohol can weaken an already vulnerable immune system, players who drink are twice as likely to become injured, and the residual ef-fects associated with an alcoholic hangover can reduce the average athletic performance of a high school ath-lete by about 11.4 percent, according to the American Athletic Institute.

Despite the consequences and obvious effects, these illegal activities still occur.

“I don’t really take into the account the potential consequences,” Joe Ross said. “Unless I have practice the next morning I don’t really think about it.”

“I regret it afterwards, but before that I don’t re-ally think about it,” Smith said.

If a student athlete shows up at practice hung over, the signs can be easily seen by coaches.

“The coaches can really tell that something’s wrong,” Smith said. “They notice that you’re not giv-ing it your all.”

For high school athletes, the feeling of being put on a pedestal, or being held on a higher standard can take an affect on their decision.

“Athletes are definitely held at a higher standard

because they represent Andover High School,” Brett West said. “We are expected to act appropriately and we should.”

“You’re always expected to be at your best,” Smith said.

West, going against the trend, stays alcohol free during the sports season.

“Using alcohol makes you lose focus,” West said. “In order to be at your best you have to take care of yourself.”

For West, the consequences vastly outweigh par-ticipating in the illegal activities.

“You can get suspended or even kicked off the team,” West said. “It’s not worth it.”

While with friends, West refrains participating in

alcohol related activities, even though he may be with people and friends who do. For him, his athletics and his team are more important to him than participating in these activities.

Official athletic consequences for being caught participating in these illegal activities include suspen-sion, and even being kicked off the team.

According to the student handbook, punishment for a first offense can result in up to 90 days of sus-pension or expulsion for having alcohol on school grounds or at a school activity. Multiple offenses can result in harsher suspensions or even expulsion.

Aside from being forced off the team for a game, or even an entire season due to being caught using alcohol, public perception is yet another consequence of these actions.

“You are visibly out of competition, and every-body knows why,” Lee said. “Once that happens you put a label on yourself that stays there. It tarnishes your reputation.”

Lee, however, believes today’s culture is to blame for the participation in these activities.

“I don’t believe it is a distinction between athletes and non-athletes,” Lee said. “The culture of today sort of glorifies alcohol use and I believe thats why kids do it.”

Smith does not believe that this problem is a school-wide issue.

“Most people are too focused on athletics to par-ticipate in these activities,” Smith said. “I think it is just a group of people that do it and make other athletes

look bad.”For Lee, it all comes down to the choice of the

student whether they will run the risk and accept the negative effects and consequences of the consumption of alcohol.

“All the athletics and activities abide by the district handbook, and those rules are very strict about alco-hol use,” Lee said. “It all comes down to the choice of the students.”

*Editors Note: Student names have been changed from those interviewed in order for them to remain anonymous and to protect their identity. The Trojan

25April 18, 2012

''you put a label on yourself''

chrisJONES

80%of high school students

nationally have experimented with alcohol use, according

to KidsHealth.org

April 18, 201226

Early in March, Andover held tryouts for the girl’s 2012 soccer team. This would be new head coach Chris Lemons first time to see how the players per-form on the field.

“I look for players who are great soccer players, but even more players who have great character,” Lem-ons said. “If someone doesn’t mesh with that, they wouldn’t be on either team.”

Character is a vital aspect for any player who wants to be on Lemon’s team.

“We desire to have great players on the pitch as well as, and even more importantly, players with great attitudes that carry the school’s name, the coaches, as well their parents in good light,” Lemons said.

For freshman Abby Anderson, this would be her first time to try out for the Lady Trojans Soccer team and her first time to try to impress the coaches. Luck-ily for her she has had years of experience with soccer under her belt.

“I started playing soccer when I was five at the YMCA,” Anderson said. “I also played on a club team called the Texas Futbol Club and I am currently playing with the Cholita Strikers at SCSA.”

Once tryouts began, Anderson did not want to put her hopes up too high. She just wanted to prove herself worthy of being apart of the Lady Trojans.

“I never wanted to assume anything so I worked as hard as I could and proved myself to my team dur-

ing tryouts,” Anderson said. “In the end the result came out to be good.”

After tryouts were over, Anderson was excited to find herself on the varsity team.

“I am honored and I am glad that my coach saw something in me that I didn’t,” Anderson said.

Anderson’s knowledge of the game and physical fitness caught Lemon’s eyes quickly earning her a top spot on his team.

“Her technical and tactical awareness of the game really stood out,” Lemons said. “Not only was she fit and could run with our other varsity girls, but she showed that her strength technically as well. She stood out pretty much immediately to me.”

Not only was Anderson able to impress the coach-es, she managed to catch the eyes of returning upper-classmen.

“I am very impressed with Abby’s work rate on the game field,” senior Laura Sellew said. “She always gives 100 percent into every play. It’s easy to see how much Abby enjoys the game. She has a natural talent and she’s very athletic.”

Now being a freshman player on varsity brings pressure that returners don’t usually have.

“I love having younger players on the varsity team,” Sellew said. “The only disadvantage is the lack of experience and the occasional pregame nerves but Abby doesn’t let either of those things hinder

her performance.”Anderson understands what it is like and knows

how to do with the pressure.“Being the under dog, people look at me as less

so I have to make a point that I deserve to play on varsity,” Anderson said.

Fortunately, Anderson has been able to make her point on the field. Lemons thinks that the Lady Tro-jans have gained quite a bit from her this season.

“She adds a lot of speed and technical abilities on the flanks, but she also adds a deadly cross whether it’s a set piece or in the run of play,” Lemons said. “I can start seeing our combination play with our attacking players as something that will be hard to manage for other teams.”

Not only does Lemons think Anderson is a solid player who has made great contributions to the team, she has earned the respect and admiration of her coaches.

“She also is a great person, which in the end, is the most important thing,” Lemons said. “I desire for her and all my players to be the best they can be on the pitch, but I desire even more for them to grow in character and integrity throughout the season and I see her and so many others really show strong charac-ter on and off the pitch.”

Anderson uses a cross-over move in order to evade a Maize defender.Photo by Heba Madi

caleMINEAR

Freshman PhenomAbby Anderson adds needed spark to soccer team

Freshman Abby Anderson searches for the soccer ball during the first home game vs Hutchinson Salthawks on April 10th. The Trojan won 3-1.Photo by Brooke Hilbert

Anderson dribbles the ball down the field in a game vs. Newton on May 5th. When the game ended the final sorce was 0-0 resulting in a tie.Photo by Brooke Hilbert

April 18, 2012 27

Spring is finally here and the Girls’ Softball teams searches for ways to improve from last seasons down year.

“ Last year was not very good, so this year we had to really go back to work on the basics of fun-damentals,” junior Alexa Oilphant said.

The solution of the coaches to try to give the team a spark was to change up the coaching staff. The head coach Jenny Moore switched to be assistant coach of the varsity team with the junior varsity head coach.

“ I love coach (Alicia) Moss. She has more connection with the team and she worked well with us,” junior Becca Butts said. “ I also loved Amy because she was awesome too,”

Coaching changes are not the only solution the team has come up with.

“We need to work on better communication skills and more trust with each other,” junior Brett Reams said.

According to Oliphant, the team lacked chemistry, which came back to haunt them later in the season.

“You need team chemistry because you need to be able to trust each other which in time will make our team much better,” Oilphant said.

The chemistry throughout the team is stronger than ever due to the returners from the last year’s team.

“ Everyone in every position is back from last and everyone has trust with each other,” Reams said. “ We have a lot of talent and now we have a stronger bond which makes us better as a team.”

Experience fills the roster of

the softball team and has depth that also has varsity experience.

“ We have a lot of people that can come off the bench and play like an everyday starter can,” Reams said.

The majority of the team is stacked with juniors and a couple of seniors and sophomores. But the team also has a couple of fresh-man as well including one, who is the everyday starting shortstop.

“ She is awesome and really good, she still has things learn about playing varsity,” Butts said.

With the returning starters the team has high goals for the season despite having a down season last year.

“We all expect to win more games than last year and have prove to people that we can con-tend with other schools,” Oilphant said.

The Lady Trojans won four out of 20 games last year.

“We too good of a team to lose that many games this year I ex-pect to be above .500 and to make it passed Regionals,” Reams said.

Despite the higher standards and the deeper talent, the Lady Trojans dropped there first two games against the Winfield War-riors.

“We just have take the hard losses and learn from what we did right and wrong,” Oilphant said. “We have to improve on the funda-mentals and techniques,”

The team looks to rebound form both a close loss and a run rule loss.

“If we can just focus on hitting and more of the fundamentals we should be able to win more games,” Reams said.

New Season, New Additude Softball starts year with new goals, higher standards

alexLEFF

April 18, 201228

THE HUNGER GAMES:

On March 23, theatres across America packed in movie patrons for “The Hunger Games” mid-night premiere. This premiere was hyped about for months, and the population of Hunger Games fans grew as more teens felt the need to read the books.

The Hunger Games trilogy was written by Suzanne Collins and quickly trans-formed into a major phenomenon. Collin’s three books that make up this trilogy include “The Hunger Games”, “Catching Fire” and “Mockingjay”.

These books capture intense action along with a romantic plot line with a love triangle between main character Katniss, best friend Gale and fellow tribute Peeta. This powerful combination that Collins created as successful drawn both guys and girls to get addicted to the books.

For those who may not know much about the series, The Hunger Games is about a post-apocalyptic country called Panem which is in today’s North America. The country is ran by a dominant, wealthy Capitol that stands over 13 poverty stricken districts. When the 13th district attempted to rebel against the dictating President Snow, it was immediately shot down and destroyed.

As a regular reminder that the Capitol was in power the remaining twelve dis-tricts were to submit one boy and girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to be trained in the Capitol for a live televised fight to the death.

On reaping day, Katniss Everdeen’s little sister, Prim, is randomly selected to fight in the games. In order to save her sister’s life, Katniss volunteers as tribute only have a one out of 24 shot of survival leading to a very intense story line.

In my opinion, the movie was a success. The movie was able to capture the insane intensity of action and romance the book illustrated but the only down fall was the cut of some special details that were loved by readers.

Although it was inevitable and understandable the producers would make cuts, they left out some scenes important to the book. One story line that was apart of the books was about the Avox Girl who was a slave to the Capitol and how Katniss had seen her before.

The one scene that was cut that left many readers complaining was how Katniss got the mockingjay pin. In the book, her friend Madge gives her it before the games but the producers decided to have Katniss find it in her districts black market, the Hob.

On the bright side, I was impressed with the crazy, unique appearance of the Capitol people and scenery, and I also enjoyed the character building of the Careers and other tributes.

The Career’s are a group of tributes usually from Districts 1, 2 and 4 who ille-gally trained for the games and they are the usual winners. Producers were able to make Careers Marvel, Glimmer, Clove and Cato bigger villains than what the book was able to illustrate that added to the excitement in the arena.

In the arena, the action scenes where definitely enjoyed by everybody and helped make the movie such a hit. Unfortunately though, some of the relation-ships built within the arena were not as strong as the book made them. Especially the relationship between Katniss and the girl from District 11, Rue. Even though Rue did not make as big of a showing on the screen, her part in the story was still very touching.

Overall, I have to praise both the book and the movie. Yes, obviously the book is better than the movie as always but still most readers and non-readers will greatly appreciate how this movie turned out and most will want to go back to the theaters and see it again.

caleMINEAR

Film Adaptation of ‘The Hunger Games’ impresses

Cale’s Movie Grade: aaaa

hollywoodreporter.com

April 18, 2012

After the long wait for the much-anticipated film, crowds rejoiced for the film “The Hunger Games.” After being a long time fan of The “Hunger Games” trilogy, I was excited for my favorite series to finally be turned into a movie. The film was a crowd pleaser, however I felt that it was lacking in a few areas. It was a well-adapted storyline, although the movie was missing too many details. It is necessary for certain details to be left out, although too many were omitted for me to truly appreci-ate the entire film. Peeta Mellark ( Josh Hutcherson) losing his leg, the mayor of District 12’s daughter, Madge Undersee, along with the Avoxes in the capital were all important details in the original story line that un-fortunately did not make it to the big screen. However, the fight scenes, the daring stunts, and the fantasy-like people of the capital kept me in awe at the height of the movie. The ability to create the unreal world of The Capital is amazing, and the recreation of the arena was incredible. The book will always be greater than the movie however the amazing cast and the action made up for the absent details.

29

PRINT VS. SCREEN

The Hunger Games, written by the literary genius Suzanne Collins, has topped the New York Times Bestseller list, the USA Today Bestseller list, the Wall Street Journal Bestseller List and has acquired many awards for its beautifully written and original story line. After wars and world disaster, no one is left but the citizens of Panem, made up of 13 districts and The Capital. To enforce that they maintain all of the power, ever year The Capital holds the Hunger Games, a competition where 12 districts must send two tributes to fight to the death in an epic battle. Collins managed to find the perfect balance of action, adventure, romance and intrigue. This story is a page-turner and many readers will find themselves unable to put it down. With nonstop action, romance, and battle scenes, it impossible for the reader to know or anticipate what will happen next in the story. This is a gripping book, and it is appealing for all ages and genders. I would highly recomend this book to anyone who is looking for an amazing novel to read.

brookeHILBERT brookeHILBERT

‘Hunger Games’ book proves favorable over movie

Brooke’s Movie Grade:aaa

Brooke’s Book Grade:aaaaa

April 18, 201230

Food Fusion Fusa, Chill Gelato relocate to combined building in hopes to attract more costumers

alyssaGOODMAN

316-267-5287 | HallsWater.com

339-CULL-11-Wichita-Sponsor-3.5x2-FA.indd 1 9/2/11 3:37:19 PM

RED VELVET TURTLE CHEESECAKE COFFEE CREME BRULEEWhile red velvet cakes and

cupcakes grow popular among sweets lovers, a new kind a

red velvet erupts into popularity. Red velvet gelato cures a sweet

tooth in an instant. Not being too rich, the red velvet gelato is satisfies tastes buds, and tastes exactly like a red velvet birthday

cake would.

Cookie and cake flavors are well-liked in ice cream stores

but turtle cheesecake is much different with much more flavor.

Turtle cheesecake does not make one sick with sugar and is yet still very rich in flavor. With little chunks of chocolate, this gelato tastes like cold, perfect, liquid cheesecake. The caramel and fudge toppings precisely

fits the gelato and leaves people begging for more.

According to CBS News, half of American adults in U.S are daily coffee drinkers. With this, coffee gelato has consumers

going crazy. For most Starbucks addicts, this is the ultimate

dream gelato. Unlike some cof-fee flavors, coffee gelato does not overwhelm one with sugar.

This is not super strong, and will not make one sick. Instead, the Coffee gelato wakes consumers

up with its unique flavor.

Creme Brulee gelato melts in one’s mouth with a very different

flavor that is unlike what other ice cream shops provide. With

its smooth texture, Creme Brulee gelato is rich and perfect

with the caramel provided by Chill. Creme Brulee gelato has

the perfect topping of a caramel crunch sprinkled on top, and is the perfect gelato to make one

addicted.

The Honey Crispy Walnut Chicken is a unique combination that is extremely satisfying. The crispy chicken works perfectly with the rice provided and is very appetiz-ing. The honey sauce on the top of the chicken, finishes the dish off perfectly with the combination

of sweet and zesty. It is one of the most popular dishes at Fusa and is

loved by many consumers.

The Fusa Chicken salad is not only healthy but satisfies the

tastes buds with flawlessness. Fusa Chicken Salad comes with mushrooms, tomatoes, lettuce, onions and fills an entirely fills an empty stomach. Fusa Chicken Salad is also among the most

popular dishes at Fusa.

HONEY CRISPY WALNUT CHICKEN SALAD

FUSA CHICKEN SALAD

What is Gelato?Gelato is Italy’s version of ice cream. It has less butter fat

than most ice cream yet does not taste any different. With gelato’s benefits, it melts in

one’s mouth faster, revealing the flavor’s richness immediately.

{beTHEREChill Gelato, Fusa, and Red

8 Chinese { 303 S. Greenwich Rd. (316) 618-1818

Photos by Zach Syrios Reviews by Alyssa GoodmanCourtesy Photo Courtesy Photo

April 18, 2012 31Like a Good Neighbor

State Farm is there.

Tony DuranoCLU ChFC

Andover. KS316-733-1000

tony@tonydurano.com

MOLER’S CAMERA Since 1946

“We do more than just sell cameras”

Darkroom Supplies - In Store Repairs - In House Restoration of Old Photos - Digital

Cameras & Accessories - Home Movies to Video - Quality Used Equip. - Passport Photos

Mon-Fri:9-6 & Sat:10-4

316-685-1114 2609 E. Douglas Ave.

1719 S. HillsideWichita, KS 67211

(316)669-3262

You’re invited to a 2011 prom Mori Lee trunk show!

Special pricing avaliable!December 10,11,12th

open daily 10-9noon-6 Sunday

April 18, 201232

Junior Research ProjectStudents display cross-curricular English, history presentations

Bottom left. Junior Thao Nguyen gets graded by history teach-ers Seth Anderson and Andrea Daugherty. Every student was graded on their presentations, which included attending the presentation night. Photo by Heba Madi

Top right. Junior Hannah Ed-wards presents countercultures of the 1960’s. Junior research project presentations were on April 2 at 6:30 p.m. Photo by Heba Madi

Bottom right. Junior Bridget Huelsman presents the Vietnam War Draft. Huelsman included a video of the CBS 1969 draft lottery. Photo by Heba Madi

Foreign exchange student Valen-tina Cordona instructions about the Italian campaign in World War II to a parent. The project was a familiar subject as she is from Italy. Photo by Heba Madi