west  winddecember 21, 2011

bellevue west high schoolbw.newspaper@gmail.com www.thethunderbeat.org1501 thurston ave, bellevue, ne 68123

the

Meet  the  starters  for  the  2011-­2012  Girl  Varsity  Basketball  season  Page  4

Rolhfs  forms  leadership  committee  to  improve  school  Page  3

indexnews...............................2features..........................3sports.............................4commentary..................5entertainment...............6

News:Junior  research  paper  reaches  beyond  the  research.

Sports:Swim  meet  against  East  brings  a  huge  victory  and  a  close  defeat.

Entertainment:Justin  Bieber’s  “Under  The  Mistletoe”  review

Features:New  debate  coach  shows  promising  results.    

Commentary:Pro/Con  2012  predictions:  Fact  or  Myth?

402-293-4068 volume 35 issue 3

After last year’s upset against East at the State basketball tour-nament, the West girls basketball team hopes to win the East/West game. This year though the games date date is earlier in the season. Coincidentally, the change of date for the East/West game isn’t the only change this semester.

Initially the East/West varsity basketball game was supposed to be scheduled in January. The increase in the number of games added to the season, however, had to be adjusted to avoid extending the season’s length.

This year the basketball teams will be playing 31 games. In addition they will have two more tournaments then they had in previous years.

Now the game is placed in December.“I don’t really like it. By second semester the jitters are out and

we’ve had more games and we are more focused,” senior captain Chelsea Mason.

the Winter break. As a tradition the Chieftain dual for wrestling has always been the second or third match of the year. The date of the East/West swim meet has also been moved from further into the season to the third meet.

According to Activities Director Kevin Broderick if the game was kept in January the team would have three games in one week. Instead East is the basketball team’s only game that week but has changed from it’s usual Friday date to a Tuesday.

“It was all done by the Metro conference, no one really likes the date, I don’t like it, but it’s the lesser of two evils,” Broderick said.

Despite the change in date Broderick thinks there will be no dif-

Senior Samone Hinsley was in the middle of class when someone told her she was in the paper.

“It was just a surprise when that happened,” Hinsley said. “People were like ‘Oh look Samone, you’re in the paper’ and I was just confused.”

Hinsley, along with 38 other Bellevue West stu-dents, earned the designation of AP Scholar by the College Board for the 2010-2011 school year.

The AP Scholar award recognizes students who perform at a high level on their AP exams. There are three categories: AP Scholar, AP Scholar with Honor, and AP Scholar with Distinction.

AP Scholar is awarded to the students who completed three or more AP exams with grades of 3 or higher. AP Scholar with Honor is earned with an average grade of at least 3.25 on all exams taken and grades of 3 or higher on four or more AP exams.

AP Scholar with Distinction, the highest level, is given to the students who earn an average of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken and grades of 3 or higher

Hinsley was recognized as an AP Scholar with Honor. She took the AP exam in World History her sophomore year and the following year she took the AP exams in Calculus, Psychology, and English Language and Composition.

Hinsley said trying to balance the workload and demands of being an AP student turned out to be the hardest part, especially since she’s a member of the Drill Team and has to get up at 4:30 in the morn-ing and sometimes has three hour practices at night.

“That was really hard. I’m a procrastinator so when I do try to balance my workload I go by the hardest classes and I spend the most time on those classes,” Hinsley said.

She believes her teachers were helpful in prepar-ing for the AP exams, especially near the end of the year when the hardest material comes out.

“I think that’s excellent [that Samone became an AP Scholar],” math teacher Angie Daughtrey said. “She’s a very driven young lady and she has goals that she wants to accomplish, and being in AP classes are part of those goals and she does very well.”

Daughtrey was Hinsley’s Calculus AP teacher in her junior year.

In Daughtrey’s opinion the hardest part about taking AP classes is balancing the workload of an advanced class with extracurricular activities.

“Kids are involved in so many other things and they have to share their time, where as in college you might be able to go to calculus two days a week and then have another three days where you work on stuff,” Daughtrey said. “Having it every day for

The final countdown on and off the court

3+3=AP Scholar

Seniors  Samone  Hinsley  and  Taylor  Scott  are  both  new  AP  Scholars.  Hinsley  has  taken  the  Calculus  exam,  and  both    

have  taken  the  World  History,  Psychology,  and  English  Language  and  Composition  AP  exams.  They  received  the  AP  

Scholar  award  by  scoring  a  3  or  higher  on  at  least  three  of  these  AP  exams.  Currently  they  are  taking  Statistics,  American  

Government,  English  Literature,  and  Physics  AP  classes.

JASON WISENBAKER

REPORTER

CANDI BOLDEN

NEWS EDITOR

ference in the crowd coming to the game. He also thinks games on the weekdays might encourage more students who are busy on weekends to see the sports teams. Despite the increase in games there might be a decrease in late night games for basketball and other sports.

“We might have more Tuesdays and Thursdays games every once in awhile,” Broderick said.

-

Mason said.Along with Mason, teachers have also been concerned about the

physics teacher Jan Elliot’s focus is the spirit and excitement in the school surrounding the game.

“I have been concerned that it might be [a distraction] ,” Elliott said.

the students will go to their 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th hour class and on Tuesday, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th.

“It’s a good review for the students to kind of go back over and

Bellevue West has decided to use the testing to prepare students who are wanting to pursue post-secondary education. Some students believe it

“I heard a lot of people came back from college and said they were not prepared,” junior Jorden Charley-Whately said.

To make the semester test load easier for students there will be a 13 minute passing period and two guided personal study [GPS] a day.

“Students get a chance just to take a breath and get their thoughts

PHOTO BY BRI THOMAS

a lot of kids.”Senior Taylor Scott said he studied for the AP

exams by going to out of school study groups that teachers held at places such as Panera, and by reading through his AP books.

Scott became an AP Scholar after taking the AP exams in World History, Psychology, and English Language and Composition.

-lion high school students worldwide who took AP exams during the 2010-2011 school year performed

of AP Scholar.

passed with a 3 or higher. That marks a 71% passing rate for Bellevue West. Between Bellevue West and

for the AP Scholar award.“Their [the students] success tells us that we’re

on the right track with what we’re teaching, how we’re teaching, and the preparation we give to the kids. Basically it just reinforces that our programs are

The students who qualify for the AP Scholar award are posted on a plaque out in the hallway and

having a high number of kids qualify for the award.“It’s as fair and balanced as a test that you could

-cally the same test, and our kids are being compared to kids in New York, Florida, and in other countries,”

The cost for an AP test is $87, but if students are on free and reduced lunch then they automatically receive a waiver if they chose to take an AP exam.

“Also, if someone not on free and reduced lunch has some other hardships and they come and talk to us [the counselors], then we can try to work with them on giving them a reduced rate, if needed,” counselor Molly Moore said.

Part of taking the AP exam is receiving college credit for getting a good score, but some colleges may deny incoming students freshman scholarships if they already have a lot of credits.

“We have ran into that once in the last couple

college at the sophomore level and some colleges will look at that and say that they can’t apply for the grants that are for freshman, because they’re already a sophomore.”

the college you plan on attending and know their policies so that there are no surprises.

The schedule for semester testing was chosen by the staff. According

semester testing schedules. The pep rally and the game will take place

PHOTO BY CANDI BOLDENFreshmen  Nina  Fisher,  Andrea  Labenz,  and  Kat  Langley.    Butlers  class  writing  their  

newsdecember 21, 2011

2

“We are the 99%, they are the 1%!”Occupy Omaha’s slogan can be

seen and heard in protests and on their website. Occupy Omaha is a group with the primary goal of combating economic injustice in Nebraska.

According to the Occupy Omaha website, the group prides themselves on inclusion, collaboration and consensus. They invite all who are interested to join them at one of their two major weekly gatherings on Wednesday evenings or Saturdays.

Like many other “Occupy” groups around the country, Occupy Omaha has faced obstacles. Previously, Occupy Omaha had set up an encampment near 24th and Farnam streets, but were re-moved by police due to lack of a permit.

place to meet and protest for months, and have begun working with the Mayor - who stated he is open to speak with protesters at any time.

On Nov. 18, three protesters were arrested after being asked to leave from two locations - the downtown Gene Leahy Mall and a vacant city owned lot. According to members of Occupy Omaha, these arrests were illegal, and the

BRI THOMAS

REPORTER

Paper focuses on solutions

Occupy omaha members strive for improvement

city and state made rules that are unconsti-tutional and violate the Occupiers’ rights to free speech and assembly.

The group had planned to sue the city of Omaha for these arrests, however, the protesters’ charges were dropped and on Dec. 1 the lawsuit was as well.

At the time being, Occupy Omaha is spending more of their time attempt-ing to get law enforcement on their side.

“enforcing new rules and existing rules that are clearly unconstitutional.”

Meanwhile, on Nov. 29 Douglas County board members voted and al-located more than $200,000 to increase the pay for about 300 workers. This is a 1% salary increase for employees such as managers, sheriff ’s captains, district court bailiffs and health center psychiatrists.

According to board member Mike Boyle in an interview with the Omaha World Herald, some of the proposed raises were misleading and higher than suggested in the proposal.

unemployment, corruption, and corporate greed to the best of their ability. They encourage anyone who shares the same passion to attend weekly meetings on Wednesday evenings and Saturday morn-ings. Locations vary, and can be found on the Occupy Omaha website.

Juniors work on real world issuesof this year the Junior Paper expanded beyond a traditional research paper. In addition to the usual checklist to complete a paper, the rush to complete a video presentation was added.

The project is a form of challenged based learning. Students are asked to pick a real-world problem as the big idea of their project, usually tying it back to the commu-

“First of all, we feel its important for students to be involved with the community, particularly since colleges are often looking for community service. Secondly, this project would be more relevant and meaningful,” junior English teacher Sheri Schuttler said.

This year, the approach for the Junior Project was to have students be more engaged and interested than in the past, while working with a partner of their choice.

Schuttler said. Students Nathan Costello and Andrew Kolesik decided to do their project on

pollution. They felt that it was simple, but by doing a community clean-up they would make an impact.

“The adults are the ones who really get active with this stuff,” Kolesik said.

Other students chose to research how modern day electronics affect students.“I chose to research how technology impacts the usage of our brains. I wanted to

technology in the school curriculum,” junior Linzy Heim said. Other juniors shared pros of the new project (less work, sharing of ideas, and

organization) and cons (coordination and accuracy).

Deon Pettigrew said he likes the new approach because of its depth and prepara-tion for college.

“It will help them research better in the future,” Pettigrew said.

annotated bibliographies, and so on, but the new project style has not been introduced to seniors this year. While past juniors were required to write the conventional research paper with a minimum of four pages, seniors must have a seven page essay in order to get a passing grade.

“I love the idea, but we’re not going to duplicate what the juniors are doing. We’re still gearing them [seniors] for college and a traditional research paper is what’s going to come in the future,” senior English teacher Amy Smith said.

The juniors displayed their projects at The Inaugural Research Fair on Dec. 1st. Each group was seated at a table with the overview of their challenge and their video playing, while administrators, parents, and other students were able to visit each table at their leisure.

junior Victoria Woitaszewski. Junior Chante’ Lugo agreed that some minor things could have played a part in

improving the fair.“They should’ve counted how many kids there were total. That way we all had

enough resources to play our videos at once instead of taking turns” Lugo said.

Principal  Kevin  Rolhfs  watches  junior  Catie  

Cassell  video  for  her  junior  project.  Rolhfs  

along  with  superintendent    Frank  J.  Harwood  

came  to  see  students’  presentations.

Juniors  Chris  Beeman  and  Brie  Fripp  show  their  videos  to    counselor  Molly  Moore.  Beeman’s  project  

focused  on  sexual  education  in  schools  while  Fripp’s  was  about  the  use  of  technology  in  education.

PHOTO BY BRI THOMAS

PHOTO BY DREW SHIFTER

PHOTO BY DREW SHIFTER

Bellevue West has been providing additional improvement with math by offering the Math Learning Center.

“West has been offering the Math Learning Center to students for about 8-10 years,” math teacher Karie Lauter-bach said.

The Math Learning Center is an orga-nization that offers extra help for students who need the improvement in his or her math skills.

“It provides help to those students who seek on improving their grades or improving on work,” Lauterbach said.

Bellevue West offered up the pro-gram when the staff acknowledged a

gradual decrease in the state math scores.“We needed to help them boost their

learning capabilities,” Lauterbach said.Students who need the extra help

meet before or after school to review cer-tain areas where they seek improvement.

In another case, West especially rec-ommends tutors for freshmen who seek help with math or occasionally science.

The tutor program that West offers is run by mathematics teachers Sheryl Homan and Angie Daughtrey. Those freshmen who insist on getting tutored should meet with his or her designated math teacher in GPS.

“Students are more likely to get one-on-one help, but seem to be more in-timidated or afraid to ask a math teacher,”

By law, district lines have to be redrawn after every census in order for all students to have equal learning op-portunities. Because the 2010 census recently returned, Learning Community representatives were forced to decided on new district lines.

According to school board member

District  director  of  technology  Greg    Boettger  watches  junior  research  presentations  during  4th  hour.  English  teacher  Sheri  Schuttler’s  students  gave  

presentations  to  community  members  and  fellow  Bellevue  West  students  during  that  class  period.

Math tutoring zeroes in on freshmen

PHOTO BY RICHIE FEIERMAN

2010 Census results in new district linesSTEPHANIE HENRY

REPORTER

Freshmen  take  a  test  in  Math  teacher  Dave  Butler’s  Algebra  1  class.  Tutoring  is  offered  by  students  in  Pre  Calculus  and  Calculus  to  freshmen  during  GPS.  

SYDNEY ZUELKE

ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

AMANDA NELSON

SPORTS EDITOR

Homan said. Offering tutors has also become

beneficial to a students education. “Receiving outside help, getting help and receiving a better understand-ing in a subject definitely benefits a students education,” Lauterbach said. West has been providing tutors to students for about 20 years, but getting the program started hasn’t always been successful. “Tutors have been around for as I long as I’ve been here, but actually get-ting the tutor program started has been on and off for years,” Homan said. Most students are usually busy to receive before or after school help, but for an alternative, GPS tutoring is always available for freshmen.

and Learning Community representative Nina Wolford, the Learning Community was set up by the state government to ensure that all students had equal learning opportunities.

The new district lines, which will go into affect after the 2012 election, are very similar to the current district lines. The changes fall mainly in Millard and North Omaha. Elkhorn schools are

leaving Millard district and joining with Douglas County West Community, Papil-lion-LaVista, Gretna, and South Sarpy as one district. Bennington schools will be joining North Omaha as one district. “For Bellevue students, there won’t be much of a difference at all,” Wolford said. New lines will not be in affect for the 2012-2013 school year.

featuresdecember 21, 2011

3

Bellevue West’s Debate team has had a change in their performances ever since De-bate coach Grant Campbell was hired last year and started coaching the Debate team.

“Coaching Debate is excit-ing to me because I really enjoy seeing my students succeeding and representing our school well,” Campbell said. “I think my students are in Debate for many reasons, such as learning how to research, competing and public speaking.”

Compared to last year, Campbell has added more practice requirements to travel and compete against other schools, placed an emphasis on researching topics and fun-draised so they can go to more tournaments.

He believes that these im-provements will help the team become more successful than his previous year of teaching.

“I am very proud of our improvements so far this year. We have started off strong

Campbell said.For junior Jessica King,

these improvements have helped her.

“A lot of time and dedica-tion does into Debate. I come in at least two to three times a week after school to practice and work on Debate. When I am at home, I am usually researching topics, so I can be more informed about things,” King said. “I think it all de-pends on how well you want

to do in a tournament; that is why I put so much time into Debate.”

This is King’s first year in Debate and she placed fourth in

Nov. 11, 2011 at Millard West. She enjoys Debate because she constantly discovers new things about the topics she researches.

Senior Austin Berryhill has

this year at a tournament on Nov. 10, 2011 in Norfolk.

“I think my best tournament was in Norfolk. The only down-side to that tournament was that our bus broke down, but other than that it went well,” Berryhill said. “I think Debate is helping me for the future because I am now equipped for public speaking, which is a very important skill to have.”

This is Berryhill’s third year -

ticipating at West. He transferred

to West from Bellevue East his junior year. Prior to his junior year, he took Debate I and II at East, and is now taking Debate III his senior year.

“I think the Debate team is doing well because we have put in a lot of hard work and dedica-tion for the season and for all the tournaments,” Berryhill said.

According to Campbell, De-

of his time.

PHOTO BY CAMERON WALTHER

“It’s a ton of time that goes into being the Debate teacher and

arrangements, then do some ad-ministrative work. I basically give up every Saturday from November to March, and we have practices for about two hours everyday after school,” Campbell said. “But all that time is paid off when I see my students succeed. In all of our tournaments so far, we’ve had at least one person place as a

champion or runner up in each event.”

Campbell also stated that he has been using different strategies to improve his Debate team.

Though he assists students who are just taking Debate for fun, a majority of his focus is given to the more serious students.

Campbell has been doing more outside reading on stu-dents’ topics in order to be more prepared in the classroom and during competitions.

His daily class consists of researching current topics and then having the students debate against each other for practice. For the E.O.’s in Debate class, each student is required to travel and attend one tournament per semester.

“I actually like debating in tournaments. All the endless ar-guing is awesome and I person-ally think [Debate] applies to real life situations, unlike science and math do,” Berryhill said.

King agreed that she enjoys Debate because of the arguing and that it is preparing her for future skills in life.

“I love the feeling of being right when I am arguing. It’s an amazing feeling when you win against them as well,” King said. “Debate isn’t just a class for arguing, it actually helps you in many other skills. I have learned how to be comfortable with public speaking, how to prepare a paper and how to argue, but still be intelligent and persuasive about it. I really enjoy being a part of such a successful Debate team.”

Debate Team Continues to Grow CHRISTINE HEGARTY FEATURES EDITOR

About three years ago Principal Kevin Rohlfs felt that there was a lack of student leadership for the entire student body. To have more student leadership in the building, he decided to put together the Leadership Summit.

Hosting a leadership retreat was

student unity. “One of them, the very first

thing he did was he went around and

junior Josh Christie said.Tanner O’Dell, a teenage entre-

preneur, spoke about doing what you want to do.

“[He talked about] not holding back. If you have an idea go for it,

Christie said.They split into groups and brain-

stormed ideas on issues in the school. These issues were narrowed down to about eight topics, reduced to six main goals.

“The goal I [give] them when we start that day is as a group you can go back to the building and make a differ-ence,” Rohlfs said.

This is the second year for both the program and the retreat.

“The thing with last year’s [is] we came back from the leadership retreat and we didn’t get as much done as I had hoped based on the goals we set there and this year we did it again with my goal being to make sure that we work on the goals we set,” Rohlfs said.

Main goals include school unity week, a Bellevue West Big Brothers Big Sisters program, custodian ap-preciation, middle school bullying, redesigning the respect pledge and video announcements. Each student participating signed up for one or two of the committees for the goal that they would like to work on.

“I’m very happy with the goals they choose, these are things I would hope that we would want to work on,” Rohlfs said.

The school unity week will work on unifying the school as a whole. The plan is to have this the week of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.

The Big Brothers Big Sisters program would consist of a freshman pairing with a junior for two years, so that that underclassmen would have an “older sibling” until they were an upperclassmen themselves. This goal is roughly scheduled for next fall.

The custodian appreciation is one

of the smallest committees and Rohlfs believes that it will end up becoming a part of the school unity week committee.

Another committee is de-s i gned to educa t e m idd l e school students on bullying. “Especially cyber bullying, since once you put something on the In-ternet it stays there forever, even if you think it’s gone,” Christie said.

This group is planning on working with theatre teacher Mary Lucca-Thyberg and the bullying play. Rohlfs said they would like to do a combination, where the stu-

Students Leading the School in New WaysALLISON DUNCAN PHOTOGRAPHER

dents would act out the play and the com-mittee would lead a discussion after with the middle school students. They hope to

to meet with the middle school counsel-

they have. In the future they plan to only present it to one grade so students don’t have to hear the same message twice. They

in the spring.The goal for the respect pledge is to

recite it once a week and to share inspira-tional messages the other four days. The pledge may also be altered to be more understandable to students. A forensics

group has already made a draft for the new respect pledge. Rohlfs hopes this change will go into effect in the next few weeks.

The video announcements will be the hardest goal to achieve. This group

around some problems. “We realize the problems are there,

we’re hoping to get around them,” Chris-tie said.

Some problems include getting the video announcements to everyone in the school, students and teachers not wanting to watch it, not being able to play them in some rooms and students not paying at-tention to them in the Commons. Rohlfs

hopes to start this some time next semester and thinks it will have to start out slow.

“We’ll start small, probably one day a week and then as we get better, we’ll start increasing the days,” Rohlfs said.

Every Friday during SSR these students meet to discuss the com-mittees. They discuss the problems they have and what they can do

-dress some things outside of SSR. Some people going to the IMC during GPS.

PHOTOS BY ALLISON DUNCAN

On Dec. 6th, the Thunder-birds competed in the swim meet hosted by Bellevue East High School.

The echoing yells and cheers from fellow teammates led the West boys to beat East 128-50.

“Ever yone had a good swim. We performed extremely well and we stacked our relays strategically,” junior Zach Ogurek said.

The girls were not so fortu-nate with a close loss of 90-86.

“We have a new team. Next year, with more experience they will definitely be a challenge,” senior Savannah Green said.

Peg Speer, Bellevue West’s varsity swim team coach, is in her 19th year of coaching. Over the years, she has learned the ins and outs to creating a strong team.

Being a starter can add pres-sure during the game. Between making sure the players are pre-pared and facing the challenge of beating your opponent, things can get pretty hectic.

“It’s getting the pace going and trusting the other players to keep the ball moving,” Mason said.

The girls varsity basketball team is ready for this season. The starters include senior Chelsea Ma-son, juniors Elisha Cobbs, Emilie Pechacek and Annie Szczepaniak, and sophomore Madison Braun.

According to Szcepaniak, you have to put a lot of effort in order to become a starter.

“[To be a starter] I worked hard,” Szcepaniak said.

Girls varsity basketball prepares for new season

Some players were more than enthusiastic about their new posi-tion.

“I felt accomplished because last year I wasn’t playing any min-utes, and when Coach asked me, I felt overwhelmed,” Braun said.

For some players being a start-er is very different from their last position on the team. Going from a completely different position to becoming a starter is a big leap.

“I was a [position] 3, but then I got promoted to a [position] 4 and it’s super different,” Pechenek said.

Throughout the games, a va-riety of strategies are used.

“Get shots available for peo-ple and create movement on the court,” Cobbs said.

ASHLEY QUINTELA

REPORTER

West swim team keeps their focus on state

“This year we have a really strong team, lots of strong swim-mers. I’m looking forward to tak-ing a majority of the team to state. These invitational meets are vital for qualifying,” Speer said.

This swim season, Speer ex-pects great results from Chris Beeman, Zach Ogurek, Mark Hubner and Robbie Bethel in the 200-meter IM, 50-meter Freestyle and the 400-meter Freestyle relay, respectively.

At this meet alone, West quali-

for state. Robbie Bethel quali-

Chris Beeman in the 200-meter IM, Cassie Treu in the 100-meter Backstroke, and Kory Swarbrick in the 1-meter Dive. Each placed

“[We] practice, practice, prac-tice. That’s our strategy. I think we have a good chance of placing at state in the individual events,”

junior Chris Beeman said.In order to prepare for meets,

the team practices three mornings a week and everyday after school.

These practices are crucial to improving techniques and strategies, but they focus on other aspects such as the start. A great start can be the difference between

“It’s literally one of those cliche moments where everything stands still, focusing on when that buzzer is going to go off to get

Larson said.Though they feel practicing is

important to their success, they go above and beyond by also focusing on team bonding.

“We have pasta feeds [group dinners], sleepovers [and] other bonding events to get to know each other,” Rachel Larson said. West will host Grand Is-l and on Tue sday, Jan . 3 .

TREVOR KRULCIK

REPORTER

sportsdecember 21, 2011

4

Junior  Mark  Huebner  competes  in  the  swim  meet  hosted  by  Bellevue  East.  This  is  Huebner’s  third  year  on  the  swim  team.

PHOTOGRAPHER MARISSA JUSTICE

PHOTO BY TREVOR KRULCIKPHOTOGRAPHER MARISSA JUSTICE

The  Bellevue  West  boys  swim  team  was  successful  during  the  meet  at  Bellevue  East.  Bellevue  West’s  swim  coach,  Peg  Speer,  

predicts  the  swim  team  is  strong  enough  to  qualify  for  state.

PHOTOGRAPHER LINZY HEIM

PHOTOGRAPHER LINZY HEIM

PHOTOGRAPHER LINZY HEIMSenior  Chelsea  Mason  attempts  to  block  a  shot  by  an  opponent  from  Lincoln  Northeast.  

This  is  Mason’s  second  year  playing  on  varsity  and  second  year  attending  Bellevue  

West.

Sophomore  Madison  Braun  makes  a  layup  during  the  game  against  opponent  Lincoln  

Northeast.  West  lost  to  the  Rockets  63-­60.

Junior  Sarah  Bethel  backstrokes  during  the  swim  meet  at  Bellevue  East  High  School.  Bethel  has  been  involved  with  the  swim  team  

since  her  freshman  year.  

Junior  Annie  Szcepaniak  passes  the  ball  to  Junior  Emilie  Pechacek.  This  is  Szcepaniak  

and    Pechenek’s  second  year  on  varsity.  

Starter: Chelsea MasonClass: Senior

Varsity: 4 yearsQ: What have you learned by starting as an athlete?

A: “Teamwork; learning to play as a team during every game.”

Starter: Emilie PechacekClass: Junior

Varsity: 2 yearsQ: How does your last position compare to the one now?

A: “I’m one of the shortest posts, so it’s really hard.”

Starter: Anne Szcepaniak Class: Junior

Varsity: 3 years Q: What have you learned or gained by starting?

A: “[This position] takes leadership and commitment.”

commentarydecember 21, 2011

5

NICK WIKINSON

REPORTER

Pro/Con: apocalyptic predictions

With 2012 being right around the corner it is appropriate to ad-dress the end of the world rumor. Every ten years there is always a new belief on when the world is going to end. For example, 2000, also known as Y2K, was seen as the soon-to-be biggest crisis of America. People thought that in the year 2000, computers would shut down and that would be the end. According to Chris Phillips from The Spotlight newspaper, a local paper in Washington D.C., there were supposed to be black-outs, rationing, food shortages, and bank closings.

Nothing happened.December 21, 2012 is not

going to be the end of the world.The Bible says we don’t know

the day nor the hour the world will end, yet people around the world continue to believe that the apocalypse is going to happen this upcoming year.

Although some people believe that Nostradamus, the Mayan calendar and the Planet X predic-tions are all major facts showing that ‘doomsday’ will occur in this upcoming year, it’s all a big hoax. Around the world people to choose to believe what they want, is ‘doomsday’ wanted? If not, it doesn’t make sense why so many people who think that the end of the world is close. Nostradamus is

is falsely made up.Nostradamus, who was born

in 1503 and later died in 1566, was a well known astrologer famous for his 9/11 prophecy, he suppos-edly saw that the end of the world is going to happen in 2012. This information is false. Nostradamus predictions go all the way up to year 3972, so there is no way that he could have predicted the end of the world in 2012. Nostradamus never said anything about the year 2012, and even if he did his prophecies aren’t even clear. “A

the earth (no date attached) will cause trembling around the new city. Two great rocks will make war for a long time. The Arethusa will redden a new river.” This was Nostradamus’ prophecy toward 9/11. Although it does sound like the tragedy that took place, it could represent anything.

Planet X also known as Ni-biru, is said to destroy the earth by

CHRISTIE MCCLURE

REPORTER

I am one first hour tardy

Dining. Speeding to school is the solution and has worked for the past month. Fortunately, within this month, increased speed sug-gestions on Kennedy Freeway

have made mornings easier. Now, instead of driving 65, pushing 70 where there are no cops, I am able to drive steadily at 70 with some leeway to 75.

Sure, this is great, but it’s puz-zling. Nothing was done to the road. To my knowledge, residents’ driving styles have not altered dras-tically, if at all. That leaves only one explanation: arbitrariness.

Even before I started driving three years ago, I questioned the reasoning behind “speed limits.” They serve an important purpose, yes. A driver obviously shouldn’t accelerate to 60 mph on Capehart, but staying 35 or under seems excessively slow on a two-lane road, especially when Fort Crook’s (another two-lane road) speed sug-

gestion is 45. Worse than similarly struc-

tured roads with different speed guidelines, roads that shift pace restrictions as they go are doubly annoying. The signs are like kids who initiate a new game and alter the rules when convenient. It was immature back then; it’s arbitrary now.

Such unsociable streets in-clude 84th, which changes its mind more than I care to count, 36th, which switches from 35 to 45 three times just in Bellevue, 25th, which makes a dramatic transition from 35 to 45 just on the other side of Highway 370, and countless other indecisive roads in Sarpy and Douglas Counties alone.

These illogical, unreasoned

mandates of vehicular speed are responsible for drivers’ disobedi-ence. I opted not to play by the dictatorial kindergartner’s “rules,” and I refuse to drive according to random “speed limits.”

It is out of desperate opti-mism that I call “speed limits” pace proposals, or any other syn-onymous phrase. These labels sug-gest “speed limits” are cautionary rather than arbitrary. As a realist, however, that description seems inaccurate.

With law enforcement crack-ing down on drivers rebelliously travelling at 42 mph in a 35 mph zone, it’s impossible to view “speed limits” as anything more important than impulsive new rules for tag.

COLE SEEFUS

WEB CO-EDITOR

Speed suggestions do not slow logical drivers

Most people are aware that on Nov. 8, 2011, Modern Warfare III came out. The result of this

missing at school. They apparently were too interested in playing their new game to care if they missed a day in school. On the day Break-ing Dawn premiered, on Nov. 18, 2011, many Twilight fanatics came to school late. Catching up on their sleep after a late night was more important to them than writing a

While some students may -

ethical for students to skip class for an event unrelated to school. I don’t understand what makes them believe that whatever that they want to attend is more important than learning.

Although some may argue that missing one day can’t possibly hurt them too badly, I see the chain reaction that can result. Missing “just one day” can lead to another “one day”, which leads to another “one day”, and so on. Eventually, it piles up.

students to wait eight hours to play their new game or see the new

Twilight movie. When someone’s want for video gaming and watch-ing a movie is so dire that they have to drop whatever they were doing to go and do that instead, there’s a problem. However, because of the way our generation was raised, whenever we want something, we want it instantly. We’ve never been taught patience.

I have heard students com-plaining that their parents make them attend school while several other parents allowed their chil-dren to stay home. They have disrupted class to whine about learning. It may seem like a hor-rible punishment now, but in the future when they’re fully educated with a well-paying job, they’ll be glad that their mothers forced them into school all those times they were feeling lazy or wanted to play video games.

It’s fair to say that teenagers not caring about school is expected by most of society, but when our generation is expected to adapt to adult life, for example paying for the electronics that we’ve been using our entire lives, maybe we’ll realize that the skills needed to accomplish such things are lacking because of our distractions.

It may not affect our genera-tion enough to make much of a difference, but generations follow-ing may become worse. Over time, youth will be too distracted with the advances in technology to care about what’s going on in school. This may not concern some at the moment, but when they have the responsibility of continuing and

grab their attention.

HAILEY STOLZE

REPORTER

Thousands of people, thou-sands of miles away, thousands of years apart, have all predicted a cataclysmic event taking place on Earth. In the exact same year. Can that really be a coincidence? Since the dawn of time people around the world no matter what they believe in or what language they speak, have won-dered about the beginning of time and feared the end of days. Everyone has their own beliefs, but why is it that in ancient times, with no long distance com-munication, cultures have pre-dicted the end of the world in the same year? What are the odds of that?

Mayan people were the smartest civilization in the West-ern Hemisphere during their time. They discovered astronomy and built one of the most elaborate road systems of their era. It is completely possible that one of

the most influential groups of people predicted the true end of the world.

The Maya civilization is the number one example of 2012 when people talk about the end of the world. They have foretold that the people of our world will be taken away by extraterrestrial beings. After that, they wandered off into space leaving the earth a barren wasteland.

The world could end any day but I don’t believe the world is going to end in 2012.

However, these are some theories that have made it clear in peoples minds that in 2012 the end will occur.

Scientists cannot prove weather or not religious prophe-cies of the end of the world, or “Judgement Day” are true but it is told that the book of Revelation in the Bible explains that natural disasters, world wars, crime and famine will increase.

Tsunamis, hurricanes, and earthquakes have been happening in the strangest areas lately where they have rarely been seen. Could it be the start?

The Sun goes through an 11-year cycle where sunspots come and go; during this cycle, Sun

the storms could reach the outer-most layer of Earth.

Underneath Yellowstone Na-tional Park lies the biggest “super

volcano” in the world, If this vol-cano were to blow, toxic ash would spread across North America from San Diego to Baton Rouge and harmful air would make most of the U.S. and parts of Canada uninhabitable.

Nibiru is a mysterious planet said to pass by Earth every 2,148 years; the next time according to calculations is in 2012. The last big Nibiru encounter was around the extinction of the dinosaur.

All the creatures on Earth now could be the “next dino-saurs”.

Nostradamus predicted the future. He spent his days writing quatrains: groups of words in four lines. He had written 942 telling poetic tales of what he believed

the world. One prediction occurred mul-

tiple times in his quatrains about

rain down from the sky causing the end of the world.

This is the newest and most likely of all the theories due to the fact that many countries have access to weapons of mass de-struction.

Every person is born with the right to have their judgement about the past and the future; maybe these theories can help you decide.

crashing into its solar system, caus-ing the earth to be off balance and to collide into other planets. Many people don’t realize that Neptune and Pluto used to be called Planet X during the 70’s and the 80’s as well. According to Ian O’Neil, who researched Planet X for many years, any planet that hasn’t been 100 percent discovered is consid-ered a planet X. And where the year 2012 came up in the Planet X predictions, nobody knows.

The Mayan calendar ‘dooms-day’ is also alleged to occur in 2012, but when a calendar is made in a circular shape it’s bound to end somewhere. Some people are completely unaware that we are approaching the end of the fourth cycle of the Mayan calendar. That means if the Mayan calendar’s end is correct, then it would’ve hap-pen a long time ago. Instead of making the world go ballistic, by saying inaccurate accusations and causing chaos around the world, people should grow up and worry about other things then the end of the world. Nobody will ever know when the end is near.

As of now, there is nothing that proves that 2012 will occur. Many people claim to posses the ability to predict the future, but it is simply not realistic. Nobody knows the future and it’s pretty ironic that people are preparing for the end of their lives when they haven’t even lived it to the fullest.

Techie distractions endanger academics

Adviser:Julie Rowse

Print Co Editors-in-Chief:

Olivia CunninghamTiana Harrison

2011-2012 West Wind StaffWeb Co Editors-in-

Chief:Chris NelsonCole Seefus

News Editor:Candi Bolden

Features Editor:Christine Hegarty

Entertainment Edi-tor:

Sydney Zuelke

Sports Editor:Amanda Nelson

Photography Editor:Allison Duncan

Photographer:Marissa Justice

Sports Reporters:Keegan Strawmier

James Teutschmann

Reporters:Richie FeiermanStephanie HenryTrevor KrulcikSidney Marks

Christie McClureAshley Quintela

Hailey StolzeKennedy Sharp

Bri ThomasNick Wilkinson

Jason Wisenbaker

Business  ManagerNolan Bald

entertainmentdecember 21, 2011

6

Scorcese gives audience a film history lesson with Hugo'

CHRIS NELSON

WEB CO-EDITOR

Martin Scorcese, one of the most acclaimed directors working in movies today, is known more for insane taxi drivers, prestigious mob men, and corrupt men of the law than his whimsical fare, and while the former are all excellent

director go outside of his comfort zone.

With “Hugo,” not only do

brought to light through the eyes of a young street urchin, we see it lovingly spring to life with an authentic, but also unique visual style setting more akin to Terry Gilliam or Tim Burton. “Hugo” is

substance here to really hit its mes-sage home.

Hugo is an orphan, living in a post-WWl French train station,

clocks and hiding from the law, re-pairs an old, broken automaton. In

his dead father. Often he steals

owner. After a relatively slow-

-sage was a recreation of the iconic shot from the 1902 short “A Trip to the Moon,” by Georges Méliès, who also just happens to be afore-mentioned station toy shop owner.

and turns into almost a seminar on

-backs of their involvement in the

-thenticity. Those with even a pass-

to old cinema, and reminds the rest of the audience just how and why

is one of the pinnacles of story-telling, and why the preservation

KENNEDY SHARP

REPORTER

Christmas albums are some-thing musicians commonly make, but a Christmas album I never

“Under The Mistletoe.” When

on account of not being a Justin Bieber fan.

“Mistletoe,” the second and most popular track on the album, is up-beat and decked out with Bieber. Justin takes a spin off a typical Christmas song, singing “With you, shawty with you, with you under the mistletoe.” I wish Bieber would have stepped away from his typical singing and word choice of “aye and shawty” and made an exception for his Christ-mas album, but I suppose this is why Justin Bieber fans love him and his music.

The third track on “Under The Mistletoe” is “The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire),” featuring Usher. This song is more traditional, but still includes the similar beat used throughout the entire album. Usher adds a very nice touch to the track and provides a little break

NICK WILKINSON

REPORTER

The holiday season is celebrated in different ways around the world. America allows people to celebrate freely. Millions of people have travelled to the United States to seek these opportunities and express their own religion any way they want.

Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are the three most popular winter holidays celebrated. Here at Bel-levue West the majority of students celebrate Christmas.

also celebrated religiously and culturally by billions of people all around the world on other dates in January. Christianity is the base of all Christmas celebration throughout the world. Santa Claus, or St. Nick, has also become apart of the Christmas celebration as the deliverer of presents.

Hanukkah, or “to dedicate,” is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the establishment the Holy Temple of Jerusalem. For every day of the eight-day celebration one candle is lit on the Menorah, an eight-branched candleholder.

give African-Americans the chance to celebrate a different holiday relating more to their cultural background. Kwanzaa celebrates what its founder called the seven principles of life, or Nguzo Saba, in seven days. The principles are Umoja “Unity,” Kujichagulia “Self-Determination,” Ujima “Collective Work and Responsibil-ity,” Ujamaa “family,” Nia “Purpose,” Kuumba “Creativity,” and Imani “Faith.”

Under The Mistletoe' fails to woo listeners

' '

Diversity at Bellevue West during the holiday season

unique visual style that brings a cold, yet still whimsical look to 1920s Paris. Blue and gold are the top colors here, complimenting the snowy patches in and around an old, rustic Paris. Costumes and sets feel alive as well, with CGI used sparingly, but when needed, appropriately.

percent of the time. Asa But-

the most part. Ben Kingsley as Georges Méliès is also a standout and Sacha Baron Cohen as the sta-tion guard rounds out an already strong supporting cast.

“Hugo” is an entertaining

great enthusiasm and appreciation,

very rare you get a combination of

from a guy who made his name mostly on boxers and wiseguys.

wonderful in the song and the track is overall unique and more heart-warming.

“Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” begins with Bieber saying,

cheesy. The song is very lively and contains a group of back-up sing-

-duced voice. He sounds incredibly nasal throughout the whole song and like he is trying too hard. As a whole, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” was not enjoyable to listen to and was immensely dorky.

“All I Want For Christmas Is You (Super Festive!),” a duet with Mariah Carey, is a pleasant blend of both Carey and Bieber. The track has soul and large amounts of energy from both Carey and Bieber, making it one of the better songs on the album.

The seventh song, “Drummer Boy” featuring Busta Rhymes, did not sound like a Christmas song in the slightest bit. The song was comical and way too strung out. Busta Rhymes sings, “Sipping eggnog, with a little sprinkle of

“Home This Christmas,” featuring The Band Perry follows

typical style. Instead of the hip-hop sound in almost all the other songs on the album, “Home This Christmas,” has a country sound, including a pleasant harmony from The Band Perry and Bieber.

The eleventh song, “Silent Night” stays true to the tradi-tional Christmas song and is an

can be beautiful without singing a hip-hop style. The song is the most enjoyable song on “Under The Mistletoe.”

Songs on the album includ-ing, “Only Thing I Ever Get For Christmas,” “Christmas Eve, “All I Want Is You, ”Christmas Love,” and “ Pray” all sound very similar and are nothing special enough to review.

After listening to the album, I was desperate to listen to some-thing else, anything else, to escape the “Bieber fever.” “Under The Mistletoe” was not in the slight-est enjoyable to listen to and was over all a poor Christmas album. Bieber should have stepped away from his singing style and made a more traditional Christmas album. His die-hard fans might be pleased with the album, but I was not.

GRAPHIC BY NICK WILKINSON