rium,” said Pilgrim. Jane Gouker, the conductor of the or-chestra, is incredibly excited for her stu-dents. “We’re thrilled to have a chance to play at such a renowned venue.” Gouker referred to Carnegie Hall as the “ultimate” goal for any musician. Coming upon such an opportunity

was not easy for the orchestra. Gouker ex-plained that there were several applications to be filled out, among other things. “We had to have professional references, and an audition,” said Gouker. Along with being accepted for the event, several preparations are being made for the concert. The orchestra students have been

“It is an hon-or to play at such a great place; the environment is so lively there.”

- Sam Pilgrim, junior

The OptimistBloomington High School South

What ’s Inside:Pg. 2 Ice SkatingPg. 4 DITL: Ben KuglerPg. 6 Marwan Al-KarawiPg. 7 Opinion: Breast Cancer Awareness

http://www.bloomingtonsouth.org

fundraising diligently, and the practice has been incessant. The HYP’s concert repertoire includes the pieces “West Side Story,” “Shell Ada-gio,” “Slava!,” “Iditarod,” and “Frolicsome Finale.” “We’ve been working hard with more discipline and concentration, and not nec-essarily on only these five pieces; every-thing we practiced and performed this year is going to lead to the end product,” said Gouker.

Alek KnapowskiStaff Writer

Every spring, the Hoosier Youth Philhar-monic, the combined orchestra of Bloom-ington North and Bloomington South, takes a trip to play a concert in a “big city.” Last year, they traveled to Chicago, and the year before it was Atlanta. This year, the orches-tra has been given an opportunity that any professional musician would dream of; a concert in Carnegie Hall, located in New York City, one of the most prestigious concert venues in the world. This coming spring break, the HYP will play five selec-tions in Carnegie Hall. All 115 string musicians will be in at-tendance, many of whom are South stu-dents. Along with the orchestra, several adults will be chaperoning. Sam Pilgrim, junior and violist, is abso-lutely ecstatic about the upcoming trip. “It is an honor to play at such a great place; the environment is so lively there.” Pilgrim believes that the concert will provide an attraction that most other con-certs at Carnegie Hall do not have: “The tickets will be cheaper, and people will be eager to reach the inside of the audito-

Issue 5 March 2, 2012

HYP orchestra to play at world-renowned concert hall

The attendance of the concert is expect-ed to be relatively high. Several parents will be in attendance to see the orchestra play, not including chaperones. Also, the people of New York who want to attend the show will have their chance to view at a modest price. The HYP has worked hard for an oppor-tunity to perform at such a revered concert hall. “New York City is such a great place to visit,” said Pilgrim “and playing is going to be a fantastic musical experience.”

Young Jun Woo (left) practices violin with the rest of South’s orchestra in class.

MADI TAYLOR

MADI TAYLOR

2THE OPTIMIST March 2, 2012Sports

Allison WilsonSports Editor

Frank Southern rink is the ice availability. Unlike most competitive teams, the rink is not open year round which really puts a crunch on the season. Freshman skater Carli Maddock explained her frustrations with limited ice time, “Driving the hour and a half to Indy or Columbus isn’t really worth all the money. The rink just doesn’t get enough funds from the skating and hockey alone to stay open year round. It’s really a shame.” Many of the South skaters practice anywhere from three to five days a week at $18 per hour lesson, with the option of training with IU instructors at a cheaper rate. Maddock, who prefers skating with the professional coaches, says the price of lessons “depend on the segment of time,” and “which coach you choose.”

Another one of South’s figure skaters, Wendy Vencel recently competed in her first competition this season at the Miami University of Ohio. Vencel came away with a first place in the pairs routine and second in both the character and freestyle. With figure skating becoming more and more popular, there have been updates and additions to the different divisions and levels. Each event has its own look, expectations, music, and rhythm. “It’s similar to track in the way that there are different events.” said Brewer. “Our club loves the character and light entertainment because the music and style is so different.” Vencel also explained the events by adding that “freestyle is the sort of rou-tines you see in the Olympics,” meaning

hair slicked back, tights over your skates, full effect costumes, strict requirements and orchestra music. Maddock said her favorite event is the rhythmic skate which is similar to rhyth-mic gymnastics, skating with a prop such as a ball or a ribbon. “It’s harder because it’s not just about controlling your body but there’s another element involved,” said Maddock. “That’s why I like it so much.” These three skaters and the rest of the Frank Southern team are just like any other athletes, putting in the time, money, and physical demands to reach a common goal: to be the best. “We are physical, you have to have

A typical Sunday afternoon for South ice skaters: lacing up the white elegant shoes, snapping the skin tone tights on to hide all the bumps and bruises, pulling the hair back, and wobbling out onto the icy surface. The pure sheet of ice shows no mercy to those who collide with it. When it’s their time to perform, the South ice skaters are striving for perfection.

There is no denying these girls’ athleticism and poise. Junior, Addie Brewer explained her experiences at the rink, which she has been skating at since fourth grade. She started skating around four-years-old and has since been taking lessons and competing with the Frank Southern team. Brewer gets on the ice about four or five times a week and takes a lesson with one of the four coaches on Sundays. “The lessons can be very pricey so we usually settle for one on Sundays,” said Brewer. “Even our coaches say we don’t have time to practice the basics as much as we should.” One of the main disadvantages with the

Sophomore Wendy Vencel practices her routine on a Sunday at the Frank Southern Ice arena.

MADI TAYLOR

“We are physical, you have to have enough endurance for the whole routine”

enough endurance for the whole routine,” said Brewer. “It’s all about finishing that last spin or that last jump.” Vencel agreed the ice skaters exem-plify athleticism. “We’re obviously not hockey or football but we put in the time and effort and get hurt and bruised, we have to be in good shape. And if you’re not, you won’t keep up,” said Vencel.

-junior Addie Brewer

THE OPTIMIST3March 2, 2012 sports

Success stories from StateOptimist: How many times have you been to State?Ethan Farmer: “Twice; sophomore and senior year.”

O: Did you have to make any changes to your diet?EF: “No, my diet was the same one I used throughout the normal season. Less salty foods, no fatty foods, and I cut down on water mid-week before state.”

O: How did being a senior change your outlook?EF: “I was a little more nervous, because when you’re a senior it’s your last shot. But I tried not to think about it much and treat it like any other tournament.”

O: What was your State experience like?EF: “It was intense. It was really cool though because it’s in (Conseco) and there are so many people. It can be overwhelm-ing, but being there before helped, it made it a little less nerve-wracking.”

O: Do you only compete against 4A schools?EF: “There caren’t any classes besides weight classes. It’s the littlest schools up against the biggest schools.”

At 152 pounds, senior Ethan Farmer placed fifth at state. Following his lead,

junior Clayton Fiddler placed sixth at 170 pounds, and sophomore Devin Broukal

placed seventh at 126 pounds.

Optimist: What preperations did you make before State? Was there anything unique?BK: “I had a mock meet with my coach and Dathan [Schmidt] a couple nights before we left for Indy, which definitely made me relax a lot more.”

O: Last year you placed eighth, this year you placed seventh.What do you think was the difference between this year and last?BK: “Last year I really had no idea where I stood, ranking wise, so I wasn’t

Optimist: How did school state differ from other club states you’ve been to?Ian Finnerty: “Club state is a lot more individually based and not as stressful. With high school you feel like you need to preform not only for yourself but also your teammates.”

O: How did being a freshman impact your experience?IF: “Seeing that I’m a freshman, I didn’t have as much experience as the other guys. I didn’t know what to expect which made me a little more nervous than them.”

O: What’s your pre-race ritual?IF: “Usually I just jump around and swing my arms to get loose.”

Finnerty placed ninth in the 500 free and 17th in the 200 free. South placed second

in state, falling short to Carmel by 1.5 points.

confident at all. This year I knew that I was capable of getting top eight again, so I was much more confident.”

O: Did you have an pre-dive rituals?BK: “Dathan and I always invite the other divers to pray with us right before the competition starts.”

O: What was the atmosphere like, how was it different from other meets?BK: “The atmosphere was really great. I was really surprised at how many people were cheering for me, especially for finals.”

O: How did being an underclassmen change your outlook?BK: “I have a lot of people telling me ‘you have so much potential’ and ‘you’ll be so much better junior and senior year,’ which puts a lot of pressure on me, but makes me strive to be that much better and to prove them right.”

Kress scored 457.70 points, earning him seventh place, while senior Dathan Schmidt took fourth with a

score of 485.65.

Kress dives at State February 25 at the IUPUI Natatorium in Indianapolis.

ABBY TOWELL

Danielle RobertsonStaff WriterKara CieplyNews Editor

For more info on how South’s teams did in State competi-tions, check out our website.www.bloomingtonsouth.org

Brian Kress:

Ethan Farmer:

Ian Finnerty:

We sat down with three South athletes who recently competed in State for various sports. Featured: sophomore Brian Kress-diving, senior Ethan Farmer-wrestling, and freshman Ian Finnerty-swimming.

March 2, 2012 FEATURE THE OPTIMIST4

KEVIN COCHRAN

Kugler (on right) fences with his instructor at the Bloomington Fencing Club. His passion for fencing began six years ago and he currently instructs mem-bers of the Boys and Girls Club on Fridays.

Kugler demonstates his dexterity while juggling. Juggling is one of Kugler’s many eclectic hobbies.

ABBY TOWELL

ABBY TOWELL

Emily FathFeature Editor They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but senior Ben Kugler would rather skip the pictures and stick to writing. He has made it his goal to write at least 1,000 words every day. Kugler has the schedule of a typi-cal high school senior – Economics, AP English, orchestra, a TA period, and We The People. During the week he wakes up at about 6:30 a.m. and often walks to and from school. While most students would dread the thought of writing a 1,000-word paper, Kugler writes for fun and often exceeds his writing goals, averaging about 1,500 words per day. His passion for writ-ing developed in seventh grade, when searching for a coping mechanism to pull him through a rough patch. Kugler first participated in collaborative storytell-ing in online forums and then branched out to writing on his own. Since then, he has written so many short stories that he cannot remember exactly how many there are. “I lost track a long time ago,” he said. Kugler has written a little bit from

every genre but primarily sticks to fantasy. He draws his inspiration from J.R.R. Tolkien, Brandon Sanderson, and count-less other authors. It almost goes without saying that Kugler loves to read as well. “My room is filled with books.” Along with short stories, he also spends time planning out full-length novels. Up until recently, publishing was not even on Kugler’s mind, but he now sees it as a possibility for the future. His best friend since kindergarten, senior Mitch Pittman, describes Kugler’s writing as “a new, in-novative twist on the fantasy genre.” As a person, Pittman would describe Kugler as “strong-willed.” “He doesn’t care what anybody else thinks, and he’s not afraid to express his opinions.” Pitt-man also added that he purposely uses improper grammar around Kugler in an attempt to get on his nerves. Kugler also devotes much of his time to the sport of fencing. As of this summer, he will have been fencing for six years. Kugler described his first experience fenc-ing as “a bunch of awkward 12-year-olds standing in a square, going back and forth and trying not to fall over.” He saw an advertisement for a fencing program at the Sportsplex and thought, “sure, why not?” Since then, his love for and knowl-edge of fencing has grown immensely. He continues to fence at the Bloomington Fencing Club and helps instruct members of the Boys and Girls Club on fencing on Fridays. His instructor and owner of the Bloom-ington Fencing Club, Jason Dazey, says

that Kugler puts a lot of extra time into fencing, despite the fact that he is under no obligation to; he also gets along well with the kids that he instructs. “I think the kids sort of look up to him and are able to relate more easily, since he is older than them but not quite an adult.” Dazey also added that Kugler “has a really good manner with everyone.” Kugler enjoys working with the kids, despite an instance in which a kid’s weapon had to be taken away. “They normally get very tired and very angry,” he said. Kugler introduced another friend of his, senior Alex Knox, to fencing. It grew on Knox immediately. Since then, they have fenced together multiple times, but have not been able to recently due to Knox’s busy schedule. Knox says that Ku-

gler is “a very good writer,” and they get along well. “I like that he always strives to manipulate the rules, and has interesting insights.” Kugler’s other unique hobbies include collecting time pieces and learning foreign languages, including bits of Swahili, French, Russian, Turkish, Japanese, Chi-nese, and Mongolian. He hopes to attend Hanover College and become an English teacher.

Day in the life: Ben Kugler

MADI TAYLOR

MARK CHANDLER

CORRECTION: In the January 27 is-sue of the Optimist, the story “South stu-dents obsessed with celebrities” said that the song Glory was written by Beyonce, however the song was written by Jay-Z. Also, Beyonce’s song “Crazy in Love” was released in 2003.

THE OPTIMIST5March 2, 2012 FEATURE

Hannah AlaniFeature Editor

Citizens of Bloomington are picnincing at Dunn Meadow, hiking at Lake Griffy, and cleaning out their closets. The swift approach of warm spring weather can only mean one thing: Indiana University’s fa-vorite weekend is well on its way. Bloomington will be welcoming reg-gae/rock bands Sublime with Rome and The Dirty Heads to Assembly Hall on Fri-day, April 20, the night before the annual Little 500 bike race. The Indiana Univer-sity Union Board has a history of bringing big names to town for the event. Bloomington South junior Nick Ehman landed eighth row seats during the Ticket-master pre-sale, and is looking forward to the concert. “Sublime has arguably the most fun up-beat music around,” said Ehman. “I can’t think of a more fun experience than seeing Sublime during Little 5 on April 20. I’m glad the student board finally got a major non-rap act to come to Little 5.” Bloomington South junior Maggie Ho-lahan is also planning on attending the con-cert. “I’m really excited because I’ve never

been to a concert before,” said Holahan. “They [the Union Board] did a good job because we have a lot of big names coming to Bloomington.” The Indiana University Union Board cer-tainly did land some major names. Sublime formed in 1988 as a ska-punk band in Long Beach, California. Although their first two albums 40 oz to Freedom and Robbin’ the Hood were popular in the United States, they first achieved commercial success in 1996 with their third and self-titled album which fans and critics came to consider a product of ska/punk/root reggae with hip-hop influences, appealing to a larger audi-ence. The track “What I Got” even landed a spot on the Billboard Top 100. The band decided to take a brief hiatus after the death of lead singer and guitarist Bradley Nowell and would not appear on stage again un-til 2009, upon reuniting with artist Rome Ramirez. The band now goes under the name “Sublime with Rome,” and is hav-ing success touring the country with fellow reggae/rock group, The Dirty Heads. Also hailing from Southern California and relatively new to industry success, The Dirty Heads are set to open for Sublime with Rome during Little 500. Formed in 1996, the band spent eight years playing together before releasing their debut album in 2008, titled Any Port in a Storm. MTV

Sublime with Rome members featured left to right: singer/guitarist Rome Ramirez, drummer Bud Gaugh, and bassist Eric Wilson.

A pretty penny :Concert pricing map of IU Assembly Hall

$91.00

$76.00

$103.00

$111.00

Sublime with Rome to play Little 500featured The Dirty Heads’ “Lay Me Down” on Rob Dyredeck’s Fantasy Factory. Their appearance on national television fash-ioned much of the band’s acclaim; “Lay Me Down” is played frequently on radios across America. The IU Union Board has a history of bringing big names to campus, such as R.E.M. in 1985 and Ben Folds in 2009. However, there has been some criticism on the genre of music IU has been presenting in recent years. Last year’s Little 500 show featured rap artists Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj; Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa the year before that. IU sophomore and South alumnus Kelsey Pruett works as a secretary in the IU Union Board office and reflected upon her experience watching the popular-ity of rap and hip-hop take over the music scene during Little 500. “When I was a freshman [at South], I went to a Yellowcard concert on campus for Little 5,” said Pruett. “That’s when they shifted into hip hop artists, bringing in Souja Boy and Wiz Khalifa, that type of music.” Pruett sees this shift reflected on the IU campus. “Alternative bands are not as in as they used to be. Hip hop is the biggest music genre at IU,” said Pruett. “There is a little

bit of crossover between the fans of the art-ists, but they are two totally different fan bases. I don’t expect this concert to be that successful.” Bloomington South senior Lilly Judge agreed that hip hop is big at IU, but sees much more potential for the upcoming concert. “The segment of people at IU that listen to this [reggae] kind of music is a lot bigger than people think,” said Judge, arguing that rap music is popular predominately within the Greek life at IU. “Students in frater-nities and sororities make up less than 25 percent of IU.” Contrary to Pruett, Judge is confident that the concert will have great success. “IU is huge,” said Judge. “They won’t need to worry about getting people to come to their concert.” Judge took part in the IU Union Board ticket presale event, and ended up getting second row seats. She believes that the board’s decision to stray from rap music this year will be rewarding to the Little 500 experience. “It was a good change because it’s al-ways the same [music],” said Judge. “I had no problem with Lil Wayne last year. IU is taking a different tack, and drawing a dif-ferent segment of the IU population as well as the community. There’s going to be a ton of people.”

COURTESY PHOTO

6THE OPTIMIST March 2, 2012feature

Miranda SchumesStaff Writer

Walking towards his house, he noticed shattered glass on the ground. As he looked up, he realized that the glass had come from the windows of his home. Examining the house more closely, he noticed small holes from the outside of the house, leading to the inside. Those holes were bullet holes and the house where they were found be-longed to sophomore, Marwan Al-Karawi. This was how Al-Karawi found his home in Baghdad, Iraq as a result of bombings and shootings. Born and raised in Iraq, Al-Karawi start-ed seeing the effects of the war in the sixth grade. As soon as Saddam Hussein was executed in late 2006, Al-Karawi was told that the leaders of surrounding countries such as Iran, Libya, and Syria had taken over Iraq. “These countries don’t care about the people,” said Al-Karawi, “It’s obvious that they only want the oil.” This resulted in an economic downfall as well as a lack of government and rules. “The war affected my life so much,” said Al-Karawi, “It be-came so dangerous that people were kill-ing and robbing people in the middle of the streets.” Not only have murder and theft become common occurrences in the streets of Bagh-dad, but bombings have as well. Accord-ing to Al-Karawi, the Iraqi citizens are not entirely sure who is in charge of the bomb-ings. “Nobody knows who does this kind

of stuff,” said Al-Karawi. Some bombings are done by suicide bombers. “They kill innocent people because they think that [the citizens] will die and go to heaven and then their souls will be set free,” said Al-Karawi. Prior to the war, Al-Karawi’s father was a mechanic. When the war began, Al-Karawi’s father switched professions and became a translator for the U.S. military. “My dad was threatened a few times and people tried to kill him,” said Al-Karawi, “People shot at his car three different times.” In 2008, after learning that Al-Karawi’s school would be closed for a year, he and his family moved to Kurdistan which is a territory in Northern Iraq. Northern Iraq has a different government than Southern

Iraq. The government in Kurdistan has maintained control throughout the war. “Before we moved, we applied with the U.S. military for a refugee grant,” said Al-Karawi. After two years, the family’s re-quest was filled. The Al-Karawi family then moved to

Indianapolis in order to be close to a family mem-ber who moved to the United States to live with his wife. The refugee program provided the family with a house for six months in order to allow Al-Karawi’s parents time to find a job. After

speaking Kurdish and Arabic his whole life, Al-Karawi had the challenge of learn-ing English once arriving in America. “I learned English from TV shows and car-toons,” said Al-Karawi, “I used the Arabic subtitles in order to learn what they were saying.” After living in Indianapolis for a year, the Al-Karawi family relocated to Bloom-ington. “We moved [to Bloomington] for a better education and to go to a better school,” said Al-Karawi. Now his father makes the commute to Indianapolis in or-der to work for a mailing company while his mother works at a day care in Bloom-ington. For Al-Karawi, attending South is ex-tremely different than attending school in Iraq. In Iraq he went to school from 8 am to 1:30 pm. Despite attending school longer, Al-Karawi enjoys his education

Sophomore Marwan Al-Karawi moved to Bloomington from Baghdad, Iraq when his family felt that the country had become too dangerous.

KEVIN COCHRAN

at South. “The school is bigger [than the school in Iraq] and the teachers are nicer,” said Al-Karawi. Al-Karawi currently at-tends classes such as ceramics and print-making which were not available in Iraq. For now, Al-Karawi does not see him-self returning to Iraq until the environment becomes safer and the government regains order. “Two weeks ago my uncle was in-jured in a bombing in Baghdad,” said Al-Karawi. Despite the chaos and danger in Baghdad, other parts of Iraq remain safe. “The news only shows crazy places and not the good places,” said Al-Karawi. Al-Karawi has noticed that the media has a large influence on how American’s view the war in Iraq. “Most of what is on the news is true” said Al-Karawi, “but the news also has to make up some stuff that isn’t true.”

South student leaves behind war-torn home

“It became so danger-ous that people were killing and robbing people in the middle of the streets.”- Marwan Al-Karawi

7THE OPTIMIST March 2, 2012Opinion

“Going to Aspen, Colorado with my fam-ily to snowboard.”

-Morgan Gillard, junior

“I’m going to Gulf Shores, Alabama with my dad for a football combine I’m partici-

pating in.”-Tabin Breedlove, freshman

“I’m going to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida with my friends Lindsay and Katie.”

-Amanda Shapiro, senior

A recent documentary, “Pink Ribbon, Inc.,” takes a closer look at major breast cancer foundations’ fundraising. It raises the question that may make some of these foundations-turned-corporations blush pinker than their trademark-protected rib-bon. Every October, shelves of stores ev-erywhere are not only stocked with or-ange and black jack-o-lanterns; they are also crammed with a multitude of pink themed products for National Breast Can-cer Awareness Month. From hair dryers to hand guns, this merchandise warms some hearts and breaks others: “It’s like they [the foundations] are using our disease to profit and that’s not okay,” a woman with stage four breast cancer says in the film. These pink-plastered products are la-beled as for the purpose of awareness, also known as “public health education,” when it comes to the distribution of funding for prominent breast cancer foundation Susan G. Komen for the Cure. When I examined

their annual audited financial statements, this shocking discovery was made: over half of the foundation’s reported expenses in the 2011 year went to ‘public health education’ while less than a fourth went towards scientific research (see chart for more details.) The name “For the Cure” implies a common goal of curing breast cancer. One would think that the name also signifies that a greater portion of money would go towards the stopping of this dis-ease. The foundation is named Susan G. Komen for the Cure, not Susan G. Komen for Awareness. As if this discovery was not alarming enough, Hala Moddelmog, former Chief Executive Officer of Susan G. Komen, had a salary of $531,924 in 2008 with an addi-tional compensation of $26,683. This adds up to a whopping $558,607 for a year’s income. To put this into perspective, Presi-dent Barack Obama makes a $400,000 an-nual salary. It is acknowledged that awareness is an important step on the way to finding a cure. But there is such thing as over-awareness.

“People forget what it means when they see it everywhere,” said Bloomington South English teacher and breast cancer survivor Mary Beth Hannah-Hansen. The National Breast Cancer Coalition put it frankly, “Overthe past 18 years, despite all of the funding and all of the walks and runs and gala dinners, annual breast cancer deaths in the U.S. have barely budged. They were close to 40,000 then, and they’re close to 40,000 now. If this is our definition of success, we need a new one.” The millions of pink items “for the cure” may have improved awareness, but have done virtually nothing to eradicate the cancer. A greater portion of money should be going toward the research for the cure to breast cancer and less to awareness. Hannah-Hansen sums it up with this: “Awareness of your body is more important than awareness through advertising.”

Susan G. Komen: For the cure?

We asked students about their spring break plans, here’s what they said:

“I’m going to California to visit my sister.”

-Harry Connor, freshman

Kara CieplyNews Editor

March 2, 2012

The

O

Little 500 approaching

One week until Spring Break

Snowless winter

or Fact FictionThrowback Story

Griffin Walter-BaileyStaff Writer

In a recent survey of South students, the question of whether or not secondary schools will be switching starting times with elementary schools was raised. Right now elementary schools are starting at 8:35 a.m. on a regular basis, and the change would move their school starting time an hour earlier. “There’s a loud section of the community pushing for the switch,” said Assistant Principal Jay True. With the noise these parents are making it seems that the swap could be a potential fix. True disagreed, and thinks it would create problems involving extracurricular activities. “I don’t think it will happen but that’s all anyone knows,” said True.

Back8 The Optimist

This is the Optimist Newspaper’s 100th year in print! To celebrate, we will be providing “throwback” stories. This story ran Nov. 11, 1994 after the congres-sional midterm elections.

The OptimistThe Optimist is a student publication of Bloomington

High School South, 1965 S. Walnut St. Bloomington, IN 47401 (812) 330-7714, ext. 2130. It is printed at The Herald-Times in Bloomington. All letters or other submissions should be signed and brought to A125.Editors in Chief: Ian Hicks, Casey Breen, andQuinn SternbergWriting Coach: Stewart RickertNews Editor: Kara Cieply and Emma SullivanFeature Editor: Hannah Alani and Emily FathSports Editor: Allison WilsonOpinion Editor: Sarah SpencerStaff Writers: Kirby Anstead, Chris Campbell, Caitlin Couch, Madi Taylor, Max Zaret, Danielle Robertson, Alek Knapowski, Emma Kuh, Griffin Walter-BaileyPhoto Editor: Madi TaylorPhotographers: Mark Chandler, Kevin Cochran, Abby Towell, Casey PappAdvisor: Kathleen Mills

Kevin CochranMark ChandlerBracketologists

Things You Need to Know Before Filling Out Your Bracket!

Always choose one 12 seed over a five seed upset. Out of the past 26 years only 3 them did not include a 12th seed upset.

Never have a 16th seed upset over a one seed, it has never happened in NCAA basketball histo-ry. Same goes for second seeds, who haven’t lost against a 15 in the past nine years.

Never have all number one seeds in your Final Four; it’s only happened once.

When in doubt, go with the team with tourna-ment history.

Throw a double digit seed into the Sweet Six-teen. At least one of the double digit seeds has made it through 24 out of the last 26 years.

Don’t bother with the ACC. Unless its North Carolina or Duke chances are they won’t get past the round of 32.