Most high school students live a hectic life. They go from learning academic materials during the day to prac-ticing sports in the afternoon to working on homework as-signments at night. Because of numerous commitments on teenagers’ plates, the pressure to find time to study for unit tests can become stressful. In order to help stu-dents get the extra help they might need, Oregon High School created a student tu-toring program to assist in the learning and comprehension of academic materials. And by shining light on the areas a student is struggling with, doing well on those unit tests should be a breeze. The OHS tutoring program, currently directed by math teacher Kerry Steinagel, not only offers student tutors to other OHS students, but it also sends student tu-tors out to other district elementary schools. Currently the program consists of, on average, 30 tutors per se-mester. Half of these student tutors pair up with other students within the high school who are look-ing for academic help. The other half of the tutors leave campus during the school day in order to go to another school to help younger students in their classroom. Senior Mariah Martin spends her second hour every day at Prairie View Elementary helping 23 kindergarten stu-dents understand what’s going on in their classroom activi-

April 2014

What’s Inside:• Get width the band: the stresses of Wi-Fi (page 2)

• Dangers of driving under the influence (page 4)

Tutoring helps students achieve goalsSometimes a little push is all you needBy: Ally Kriefski

• A youth with a mission: Ruby Carpenter (page 5)

• Absolute BullTM

(page 10) • Correct Opinion with Wesley Korpela (page 11)

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During the first semester of the 2013-2014 school year, tutors supplied more than 600 hours of tutoring.

Pictured: Steinagel. Photo by Ally Kriefski.

ties. “I love tutoring because the kids love it when I come in,” said Martin. “The kids are able to put a smile on my face

– and I’ve loved watching each one of them grow throughout this whole year – whether it was with reading, writing, or behavior.” Because students are able to leave campus and assist in the elementary schools, a wide vari-ety of kids are receiving help. “I think the program does a great job reaching out to as many people as possible,” said math teacher Laura Hawley. “The more volunteers we get, the more we can help others in need.” This program has not only been beneficial to students who are receiving the tutoring, but also to the tutors themselves. One

of the reasons tutors benefit from this program is because they are given an opportunity to teach and help others. “If you want to be a tutor and want to be a teacher

later on, this a great way to see if you want to be-come a teacher,” said Steinagel. Steinagel keeps record of the amount of tutoring given each semester. During the first se-mester of the 2013-2014 school year, OHS tutors supplied more than 600 hours of tutoring. About 150 of those hours were performed in the high

school and the other 500 hours were dispersed among the other schools within the district.

For information on the tutoring pro-

gram, go to student services or visit Mr. Steinagel’s

website.

News page 2

Get width the band: the stresses of Wi-Fi

Photo by Mack Tubridy.

By: TJ Grady and Mariah Vike If you are a student with a smartphone, chances are you have connected to OHS’s public wireless network. Connecting to the school’s Wi-Fi uses bandwidth, which is defined as how much data can be sent over a spe-cific connection in a given amount of time. When a large amount of students connect to the school’s Wi-Fi for personal use, it slows down the band-width for the entire network. This can cause the Internet to slow down and even crash. “Internet usage in the dis-trict has doubled every year since 2004, and we don’t see that chang-ing,” said Technology Director Jon Tanner. Currently, the school district is applying for grants that would help pay for the cost of increasing the bandwidth for the district. “Staff have told me that too many students are streaming things and that it’s slowing everything down,” said Associate Principal Ja-son Wilhelm. Watching videos uses more bandwidth than just surfing the web or playing audio. When the Internet takes longer to load, online classroom as-signments take longer and teachers cannot move on until the previous work is finished. Though many students are using the bandwidth for personal reasons, devices such as smart phones and iPads can be used for educational purposes in a learning environ-ment. “Having Wi-Fi available is helpful because then we

can look things up on the internet, access Google Drive, and check our grades without a computer,” said junior Andrea Jacobson. Even though it can be a distraction, having digital technology in the classroom allows for access to a wide va-riety of resources normally only found in the computer labs or library. “But the Internet isn’t inherently beneficial to education either... Technology is just a tool,” said Tanner.

“Teachers can design learning ac-tivities that utilize technology and Internet access effectively. Students can choose to access the Internet to learn, or for recreational purposes.” While increasing the band-width is one option, some students at OHS have a different opinion. “I think that OHS should put a lock on the Wi-Fi so the band-width can support the computers faster than people’s personal de-vices,” said sophomore Cole Nevel. Putting a password on the system

could keep students off of the Wi-Fi if the slow connection becomes a large enough issue. Many students would not be happy with the loss of access to public Wi-Fi while at school, but until another solution is found, this may be the only viable option. “Asking if Wi-Fi usage is beneficial to educational purposes is kind of like asking if paper usage is beneficial to educational purposes,” said Tanner. “It all depends on what you use it for.”

#SATChangesStarting in 2016, college-bound teenagers spending their Satur-day mornings taking the SAT exam will “encounter [a test] that is more focused and useful than ever before,” according to the Col-lege Board website. Changes include reverting back to the original 1600 point scale, making the written essay optional and removing the point penalty for wrong answers.

#Malaysia370On March 8, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in the In-dian Ocean after last making contact somewhere over the Gulf of Thailand. A desperate search ensued. The story attracted world-wide attention and caused many news networks to produce non-stop coverage. At the time of publication, no precise location of the missing aircraft had been located.

#DwarfPlanetWelcome the newest member of our solar system, 2012 VP113. First discovered by Scott Sheppard and Chad Trujillo, it is af-fectionately called VP for short, or just “Biden” after the current vice president. Biden is an icy body with an orbit so large it never gets closer than 7.4 billion miles from the sun. Its surface is tinged pink, a result of chemical changes produced by the effects of radia-tion on frozen water, methane and carbon dioxide.

#JerseyForPrezBack in 2013, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie faced criticism for the George Washington Bridge scandal. “Bridgegate” resulted in massive media coverage and the firing of Christie’s top aides. Yet Christie isn’t letting this bump in the road hold him back as he continues to look forward to 2016 and a possible presidential run.

#TrendingNews By: Maddy Morgan

From Germany to America, and backBy: Jessica Kutz

News page 3

A new semester comes with a new foreign exchange student. This semester we welcome Victor. Victor Assolini Senior Brazil

With whom are you staying?The Carpenters

What made you want to come here?I always had the USA as the first country I would visit when I had the chance to travel abroad. The English language was the first reason. I dreamed of knowing how to speak it. The second reason, not any less important, was that watching TV shows and movies, I began to love American culture.

Every other year, Oregon High School German students participate in an exchange with their sister school Dreieichschule in Langen, Germany. OHS German students get the chance to go to Germany and live with a host family for three and a half weeks, experience a new culture, and see what life is like in Langen, Germany. This exchange will take place the summer of 2014. OHS German students will depart for their trip on June 15, and return home on July 10. The German students from Dreieichschule will also be coming to stay in America with German students from OHS who are involved in the ex-change. The German students will be arriving here on April 9, and will return back to Langen on May 2. This program is beneficial for multiple reasons. Fluency will increase greatly by being immersed in the lan-guage, and students will expand their horizons by seeing a culture different than theirs firsthand. It is also a great ex-perience for students at OHS who are not in the exchange themselves but get to have a relationship with someone from across the globe. “I feel like it is well worth the money to go and you

get to go to and see so many amazing things. And throughout the exchange you get to meet some amazing new friends,” said 2013 OHS graduate Kelsey Beyler. The program often leads to changes in perspectives and attitudes. Students in-volved in the exchange have a unique opportunity to learn and grow. Lifelong bonds will also be made over the duration of the exchange. “The most rewarding experience was embracing a different culture and making lifelong friendships with my host family who I still keep in touch with,” said senior Amanda Douglass, who participated in the exchange two years ago. Having this opportunity available to students here at Oregon High School is a chance to meet new people and make lasting cultural exchanges. “I still talk to my German exchange student to this day. I am most definitely thankful for the opportunity to go!” Beyler said. If you see an exchange student in the halls of OHS during his or her stay here, be sure you greet them with a “Halo!”

OHS welcomes a foreign friendBy: Tori Swenson

How do you like the food here?I do like the food, but most of the time it is unhealthy. I miss Brazilian food, but I’m enjoying all of the carbohydrates.

What is your favorite class?My favorite class currently is Pre-Calculus, because I have been good at it since the beginning. I think it is great, the way you can solve real problems with what you learn, and I’m so proud when I get it right.

Are you joining any sports teams here at OHS?Currently I am attending the tennis team practices. Since I’ve never played before, I thought it would be fun to learn how to play it.

How is school different in your country? In Brazil, our public schools are really bad, so those who want to have a good education pay more for a good private school. In Brazil, the subjects are mandatory, you cannot choose what classes you are in. School is only in the morn-ing from 7-12:30, and the schedule is weekly, not daily as it is here. Sports are not a big deal in Brazilian schools, besides soccer.

By: Maddy Morgan

• In 2009 a woman died at age 99 who had 1400 direct descendants. Her children had an average of 13 and 14 children each, and her grandchildren had 6-7 each.

• Traditional cheese makers were so threatened by artificial cheese production that they tried to name it “Embalmed Cheese” to decrease sales. The US government had to step in, and the name was formally made “Processed Cheese” which we still use today.

• In 2007, a Bosnian couple found out that they had been cheating on one another in online chatrooms… with each other. • There is an island near Italy that was the site of wars, a dumping ground for plague victims and an insane asy-lum. It’s considered so dangerously haunted that the Italian government does not allow public access.

• When a sample of radiologists were asked to examine a stack of CT scans for nodules indicative of cancer, 83% of them failed to notice a gorilla pho-toshopped into some of the images • A software company buried a $1,000 prize deep in its Terms of Service to see if anyone actually read them. After 5 months and over 3,000 sales, someone finally asked about the prize. • All blue eyed people can be traced back to one person who lived near the Black Sea 10,000 years ago.

Facts courtesy of weirdfacts.com.

The SkinnyBy: Miranda Mellen

Speakers hit home: dangers of driving under the influence

News page 4

By: Kristin Marshall and Hailie Schnabel Alcohol-related crashes killed 238 people in Wisconsin and injured nearly 4,000 in 2009, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transporta-tion. According to Oregon Fire De-partment Captain Thomas Eithun, most of the car wrecks he responds to are due to driving under the influence or to dis-tracted driving. With this in mind, OHS, the fire department, and police department all team up every other year to show stu-dents a memorable mock car crash and allow them to hear from people whose lives were affected by drunk driving. The presentations take place ev-ery other year before prom and this year the presentation will be on May 9, how-ever, no mock crash will occur. Based on feedback from previous years, students felt the presentation portion was more impactful than the actual mock crash. The speakers were all impact-ed by drunk driving differently, yet it changed their lives immensely. Previous speakers have included a mother who lost her child to drunk driving and a per-son convicted of drunk driving who is currently still in jail. This is where the

presentation really hits home for people. “It’s just a normal everyday per-son and then the next minute they are convicted of drunk driving and in jail for the rest of their life,” said Eithun. “Their life changes in an instant.” 2012 graduate and participant of the mock car crash the same year, Em-ily Sessler, hoped that the presentation would be impactful to her peers. “I hope that the whole scenario was able to make my peers stop and think about the risk they put themselves and others at just by drinking and getting behind the wheel,” she said. Associate Principal Jason Wil-helm helps to coordinate the presenta-tions every other year hoping that stu-dents take something away from it that stays with them forever. “My hope is that students under-stand the seriousness of their choices,” said Wilhelm. Captain Eithun agrees and hopes it leaves a lasting impression with all who see it. “We want it to really be emo-tional so before someone puts their keys in the ignition they think in the back of their heads, you know, I shouldn’t be do-ing this,” said Eithun.

Sign the Prom Promise!By adhering to the Prom Promise, you pledge not to arrive at prom intoxicated.

The sky was a deep shade of gray and the strong wind tore at the trees above the lonely farm house. The icy wind stung, making the house even more inviting in the ear-ly spring weather. The door opened quickly with the gush of cold wind. She did not hesitate her welcome, her arms stretched out wide for a warm embrace. The contrast from the bit-ter cold was inviting. With no makeup on and hair loosely pulled back, she seemed comfortable in her appearance but not overconfident. She sat back in the wooden chair. OHS senior Ruby Car-penter has been accepted into the Youth With A Mission Pro-gram (YWAM) that will be-gin September of this year and continue through February of next year. She will be living in Ireland for 2.5 months, training for her humanitarian, Christian-based outreach program before traveling to Lebanon for the remainder of the 5 month pro-gram. “When I was younger, I was like no way no how am I ever going to be going to other countries, probably because I didn’t know what missions work was,” said Ruby. “But the last year and a half, I’ve been thinking that missions work sounds really awesome. My heart is ready and accepting to feel whatever God has for me.” With many YWAM facilities stationed around the world, Ruby had an abundance of choices for her future, yet her eyes were already set on Ireland. “I’ve always been in love with Ireland. I love the celtic and folklore side of it” she stated. The second section of Ruby’s trip will lead her to Lebanon. “My mom knows I’ll pick the more dangerous op-tion. I’ve always been a daredevil I guess,” Ruby said. “I want to live as much adventure as I can.” Visiting Haiti the year before with the Mission Of Hope (MOH) fueled Ruby’s fire to travel, helping her to de-cided on contributing to YWAM in her future. “We spent a lot of time with people in the village and letting kids hang all over us- it was so great. But we also raised money for programs we were doing. We planted 60 trees! There, we packed around 20,000 meals that Mission of Hope sent to people in need.” As well as going to Haiti, taking the Diversity Stud-ies class at the high school guided her to make the exciting choice to join Youth With A Mission.

A youth with a mission: Ruby CarpenterBy: Dani Ironmonger and AJ Quamme

News page 5

[Diversity Studies] peaked my interest in traveling because I was like, these are really cool places. I’ve been in Wisconsin all my life. I just want to take all the travel op-portunities I can.” Helping others is a major role Ruby would like to take, and making the decision to do so has put her in tough situations, just showing how unselfish her character truly is. “This is something I have enough money in my bank account for… I was like hey, I can buy a car, I can go to Haiti…. let’s try Haiti. So I went to Haiti with a group of

high schoolers, plus people I had staffed with (at UPBC) over the summer.” UPBC, Upper Peninsula Bible Camp, was where Ruby met some of the staff members who were associated with Youth With A Mission. But this oppor-tunity was not just handed to her. She had the drive and the want to help others. “I wasn’t introduced to it; I kind of had to find it myself.”

With her new experience only half a year away, Ruby still thinks her long-term future. “I don’t really know what I want to do and I applied to colleges but I don’t know which one I want to go to,” Ruby said. “And I’ve heard that it’s a better decision to wait a year if you’re not sure [of which college to go to] anyway, because then you can save money.” Financial aid for YWAM isn’t offered, so you send out support letters so people can support you in increments, much like fundraising. After her experiences at Lebanon, Ruby will return to the United States to work. Eventually, she may major in Global Studies with a minor in Spanish. “I definitely want to go to college. It’s just not really the right time for me to go right now because I’m not sure exactly what I want to do. But I want to do something with traveling. In five years, I see myself in another country; I want to study abroad.” Her cheeks lightened up, glowing with a color of deep rose; her excitement was obvious. Straightening up quickly in her seat, Ruby added that this could be for any-one’s future. “Anyone can do this and it doesn’t matter your eco-nomic situation. It doesn’t matter what you want to do in the future,” Ruby said. “If you want to travel, there’s always a way to make it possible.”

Photos by Ashley Quamme.

What really goes on in a funeral home?By: Larissa Root

Feature page 6

Stomping out the stigma According to Funeral Director Dave Gove, we live in a “death denying society.” This is why Gunderson Funeral and Cremation Care in Oregon seeks to promote a celebra-tion of life during these trying times. Gunderson Funeral Home is a family-owned busi-ness with over 90 years of experience. According to its Web site, Gunderson Funeral Home is devoted to “providing qual-ity, full-service funeral planning with dignity and respect.” However, none of this eases my mind at 7:30 a.m. as my alarm rings on the morning of my visit to the funeral home. It’s a feature story no reporter wanted to cover. I am nervous. Thoughts of bodies coming to life after being proclaimed dead and of men sitting in dark rooms with bodies all day consume me as my car pulls up to Gunderson Funeral Home in Oregon, Wis. I take a deep breath as I creak open my car door. A tall man approaches, smiling warmly. I had spoken to Pete Gunderson only over the phone. He shook my hand firmly as he introduced himself. As we entered the entryway of the funeral home, I looked around: no dead bodies in sight. I felt surprisingly calm as I saw a large room in which they held the memori-als. The inside looked more like a calm and quiet place to work than a funeral home. Pete went to his morning cup of coffee as I sat at a sturdy wood table. I was on high alert as I gathered my papers and waited. My journey started at this wood table and I will for-ever be changed from the moment he opened his mouth to answer the first question. “Running into families I've served some weeks be-fore and getting a big hug is the best part of the job” said Pete. “I think the person who is cut out for this [business] needs to be someone who is ready and willing to jump in at a time of family crisis and help the whole family come together and share their own feelings” said Gunderson. It was evident that Pete wanted to help people who

are struggling. After the initial interview was underway, Pete an-nounced we would be going to the Monona location which is the main headquarters for the company. We got in a white utility van, and he told me stories about his college profes-sors and then asked me how old I am. “I am a sophomore,” I told him with a smile. “Many people are not able to comprehend death at such a young age; we often think we are invincible,” Pete said. I pondered that statement as we got out of the ve-hicle and entered the large, tan building. I entered the build-ing and Pete had some business to attend to. He sat me down with two of the secretaries at the front office. They smiled warmly and said I could ask them any-thing. I then began what felt like an everyday conversation with these new women who bounced ideas off of each oth-er. They seemed to be like two peas in a pod, although one woman had only worked there for a few months. “It’s just a sense of family here that I have never felt anywhere else I’ve worked,” said Administrative Assistant Lisa Pierce. This seems to be the mission statement of the busi-ness, and the mantra of everyone who works here. In fact, for one employee, Debbie, this is more than a job. She volunteers at Hospice Care Center sitting with families in need (a center that works with patients and loved ones who are terminally ill). “I volunteer when they are still alive and then I’m here for the families when they pass. Its a neat connection,” said Administrative Assistant Debbie Studt. “We feel it’s a calling. We didn't know we were going to choose this but we feel like we were called here.” It was then that Lisa Pierce chimed in again. “Obviously we don't go searching through the want ads. We are called to be here and it just sort of works out that

Feature page 7

we are,” she said. “Of course it gets hard and it’s sad but it’s part of life, and if you can’t avoid it, you might as well try to help as much as possible.” It was at that moment that I [literally] bumped into Pete. He was eagerly standing with his hands at his side. “Next we will be going to a Catholic Mass,” he said, my very first. We pulled into the driveway as far away from the church as possible. I stumbled up to the front door in my black high heels. At that moment, I wondered why we parked so far away. I was later told this is because we want to be as courteous to families as possible. We would rather that we walk than they do. This statement stuck with me as I pondered the little things. Something that seemed so insig-nificant to me was a sign of complete respect to them. As I entered the church, I heard joyful singing. This did not seem like any funeral I had ever been to. It was not dark and sad but happy and although people were in mourn-ing, it honestly felt like a celebration of the man’s life. I was introduced to Luke McCoy, who firmly shook my hand. Luke was the second funeral director I met. I had a chance to briefly sit down with him as the funeral service was being lead by a priest. Luke shook my hand and seemed confident as I took out my notebook and pen. “People see things on TV and think it’s the way things happen, when in reality we are caring people who just want to help as much as possible,” Luke said. “This job can be kind of a juggling act as far as working a lot of hours and going out into the night, but we enjoy the helping aspect.” After meeting with Luke, I felt as though I had a stronger sense of who these people are: kind, loving

people that want to help. “We deal more with the living than with the dead,” said Funeral Director Emma Chaplek. As the Catholic funeral came to a close the funeral directors’ job was far from done. Emma, Pete and Luke all spent time comforting and consoling fam-ilies as well as helping to make sure that the transition to the gravesite was smooth.

Back to headquarters (Monona) I left the funeral with director Emma Chap-lek. She drove me back to the main branch of Gunder-son and took me on a tour of the basement. I found I knew so little about all the ways in which one can be remembered and honored. Chaplek told me about “green” options which tend to be popular in the Madison community. These biodegradable op-

tions allow people to return to earth with little to no lasting environmental impacts (see biodegradable urn, left).

The crematorium After my time in the basement I was rushed to Stoughton. This was the place I feared the most: the crema-torium. As we pulled up to the Stoughton branch, my hands shook. As I entered, I was greeted warmly by a smiling face. I followed Funeral Director Dave Gove into the room. I saw a clean, well-lit room. I heard the loud rumbling of a machine. Someone was being cremated.

The death of stereotypes As we pulled back into the Monona location I glanced down at the clock. It was 3:14 p.m.Soon I would leave this funeral home returning to the ordinary life of a OHS student. I slowly walked into Gunderson’s Monona location where I was ushered upstairs and told Funeral Director Lind-sey Smith would be taking me back to the Oregon location. I smiled politely as she ushered me to her white, four door car. We talked and as I begin to reflect on my experiences, the car quieted. “What did you think of your experience here at Gunderson?” Lindsey asked. All I could get out was that this experience changed me. At Gunderson, I learned the secret about the funeral directors: they are not scary people, but rather people who want to help to preserve the good memories of people and support those who are going through the grieving process.

Photos by Larissa Root.

Bar set high for track and field teamBy: Brad Rehrauer

Sports page 8

Seniors stride for successBy: Brad Rehrauer

Williams and Boehnen are excited for the season. Photo by Brad Rehrauer.

As the snow melts, temperatures rise and flowers start to blossom, the 2014 Track and Field season is under-way. With the girls finishing 3rd overall and the boys fin-ishing 5th overall last year in the Badger South Conference, the bar has been set high. “It doesn’t matter who the athlete is, my expecta-tions are the same for each athlete: work hard and improve,” said Doug Debroux, the long distance coach for the Oregon High School Track and Field team. Even though both of these placings are something to be very proud of, there is always room for improvement. With the small amount of returning seniors this year, juniors and even underclassmen will have to step up to the challenge and perform for the team, which seems very possible accord-ing to Coach Ned Lease. “I have high expectations for the returning sopho-more class especially,” said Lease. “I’d like both the girls and boys to continue their success of last year.” When speaking about success, Debroux made a

point that preparation is inevitably the most important part and will eventually lead to success. “I believe that the regular season meets are great preparation for the Conference, Regionals, Sectionals and the State meet,” said Debroux. “We want the kids to experi-ence success and learn how to handle the failures as well.” Last year, both the girls and boys finished 2nd at the Oregon Relays and at the Stoughton Invite the boys snatched a 1st place finish while the girls finished 4th. Both of these meets proved to be huge successes for the team. But above all things, the state meet is what everyone strives for. “My favorite meet by far is the state meet because that’s where the state’s best are,” said Lease. “There is great competition.” Every athlete is looking to work hard and get re-wards for their efforts. Improvement, as explained by De-broux, is the reward. “It is exciting to watch kids work hard and improve throughout the season,” said Debroux.

For Track and Field athletes, numerous goals have been set, the time and effort has been sacrificed and overall preparation has lead to the start of the 2014 season. Senior Track and Field athletes Katie Boehnen and Ian Williams are ex-cited for the season to begin and have “set goals to strive for,” said Boehnen. Both Williams and Boehnen have been running Track and Field since middle school which equates to about 12 years of experience combined between the two athletes. “I have done Track and Field since 7th grade along with Cross Coun-try,” Williams said. “I like the team, the coaches and the environment at practic-es.” Both returning seniors have prepared for the season and appear ready for the building competition. “I’ve put in a lot of work… I drink water, eat healthy and exercise to be able to perform well,” said Williams. “I would like to get below 12 seconds in the 100m dash and below 24 seconds in the 200m dash as well,” explained Wil-liams. Both goals are attainable as Williams went 13.1 sec-

onds in the 100m dash as well as 26.4 seconds in the 200m dash during last year’s season.

While Williams has been prepar-ing and working towards his goals, Boehnen has set aside a few of her own. “I mainly participate in Shot Put and Discus and this year I want to break the Discus record of 120’ 4”,” said Boehnen. “It will be challenge but I am excited for what’s to come this year.” Boehnen’s current personal record in Discus is 110’, setting her only 10’ 4” away from the school record. Despite the unruly winter, all ath-letes are working hard and preparing for their upcoming meet which will be on Tuesday, April 22 at Oregon High School. This meet is the Varsity Trian-

gular between Monroe, Stoughton and OHS. “Please check the schedules to come support our team, said Williams. “Especially the Panther Relays and The Oregon Invitational.” Both meets will be held here in Oregon. The Pan-ther Relays will be on Friday, May 2 and The Oregon Invita-tional will be on Friday, May 16.

Editorial page 9

OSD family schedules unbalanced by Netherwood’s balanced calendarBy: Sean Bull and Wesley Korpela Summer is received with open arms by teachers, students, and administra-tors who feel the need for a long break from it all. Yet, there are a growing number of teachers and parents who recognize that the three month vacation may do more educa-tional harm than good. It’s the summer ab-sence of guided learning that Netherwood Knoll Elementary is trying to combat with a new look at year round school, known as the “balanced calendar.” The theory is that students would get more regular practice with their es-sential math and reading skills, aspects of education that the nation is generally strug-gling with. The plan would chop up the tra-ditional three month summer break, leaving about a month and distributing the rest of the days to create longer vacations during other times of the year. This would mean that school would always be present in stu-dent’s minds, and hopefully teachers won’t have to review nearly as much when the school year starts. The balanced calendar has proven in some districts to be highly beneficial, which is why so many teachers with young children were enthusiastic about it when we discussed the subject. OHS art teacher Mi-chael Derrick was particularly supportive. “I think [the balanced calendar] is a great idea,” he said. “It really seems to help combat that summer slump.” Indeed, test grades improve when students are not given long periods of time to forget everything. Balanced calendar supporters say the traditional model should be considered irrelevant because it was es-tablished during a period in history when a vast majority of Americans were from farms and needed to help in the fields during the summer season. Those days have long since passed. As good as this plan might sound for the learning process, only Netherwood Knoll is considering the change to a bal-

anced schedule in the Oregon School Dis-trict. If it were to adopt a balanced calen-dar without the other schools, all sorts of logistical problems would arise. Bus routes would change on a daily basis, as the bus-es would be constantly adjusting to which schools are in session and which ones are on break. Similarly, parents with children in multiple schools would have to keep track of the multiple schedules, said science teacher Peter Kritsch. “It’s not just about the kids’ sched-ules... my schedule would also be differ-ent. That’s one of the reasons we moved to Oregon, so our kids would be on the same schedule as us.” In addition, some teachers work at more than one school. If one school has off, but they still have to teach at anoth-er, it becomes much harder for these teach-ers to take actual vacations. Yet, at the same time, if all schools were to take the plunge into a balanced cal-endar year, scheduling becomes a big issue for those at OHS. Not only would sports and clubs need to start revolving around more frequent breaks, but also, studying for Advanced Placement tests and college preparation for seniors would become more staggered. So while we would not have a prob-lem with Oregon School District trying a balanced calendar, we do have a problem with only one school testing the new sched-ule. There are too many issues with letting solely one school try it first. However, we should not jump into the new calendar as a district without more careful preparation. The district must take into consideration the opinions and schedules of teachers, stu-dents, parents, and other OSD staff from all other schools if we’re going to balance the calendar without issues aplenty. “In the end it’s about the kids,” said business education teacher Sara Kissling. “If it helps improve their education then that’s what we should do.”

Balanced calendar facts:

-A balanced calendar does not increase the number of school days students attend in a given school year.

-The most common version of a balanced calendar begins in mid-July and consists of four 45 day sessions broken-up by 15 day breaks. The final 45 days is followed by a summer break from early June to mid-July.

-According to the NKE Task Force Web site, parents were surveyed on different calendar options in late March. In all three options there are many break overlaps with other OSD schools but there are many days where NKE is the only school out of session for days on end.

-Two studies published by Texas A&M University and University of Missouri–Columbia on balanced calendars showed a small improve-ment in academics compared to standard calendars.

-Both studies also showed good attitudes towards the balanced calendar amongst staff and parents in participating schools.

-The NKE Task Force will make a recommendation to the Board of Education on May 12.

-The Balanced Calendar Task Force is made up of proposal founders, administrators, one school board member, parents, staff, two community members, and two childcare providers.

More information can be found at http://balancedcalendar.blogspot.com/

Opinion page 10

Absolute Bull: Your Monthly Update on the Things That Really Matter TM

By: Sean BullPaw Print Staff

456 N. Perry ParkwayOregon, WI 53575

Phone: 608-835-4418 OHSPawPrint@gmail.com

Editorial Board:Sean Bull

Kayla CatlinBridget CorcoranCarissa GoodwickWesley KorpelaMiranda MellenMaddie MorganAshley Quamme

Larissa RootIan Schultz

Loran SchultzTori SwensonMack Tubridy

Kyra Wooldridge

Photography:Ally Kriefski

Ashley QuammeBrad RehrauerLarissa RootTori Swenson

Advisor: Ms. Abby Riese

Paw Print is a public forum for student ex-pression -- the editorial board makes con-tent decisions. Views or opinions printed in Paw Print do not represent the views of OHS administration, staff, or the student body as a whole.

I don’t know if any of you are also experiencing this, but recently my parents have been pressuring me to think more about the future. Unfortunately, they’re not talking about the daydreaming I already do, with the hoverbikes and lightsabers. The future they’re talking about is more grounded in re-ality, involving things like college, and sup-porting myself with a sustainable income, and eventually moving out. In fact, it really seems like they don’t want me living in my current 2nd floor bedroom when I’m 34. (I don’t know what they’d do with the space if I moved out. Maybe they’d turn it into a meat locker, since it’s actually colder in my bedroom than it is outside, even in the win-ter.) So I’m working on planning ahead, but thinking ten years in advance is a bit of a stretch right now. In order to baby step my way into this, I thought I’d set a one-year goal, one that all you eager readers could help me with. While I’m at it, I might as well tie it in with Earth Day, which is coming up soon, and do the planet a favor as well. With that in mind, I would like to complete-ly eradicate rainforests from the face of the planet by April of next year. Contrary to what you’ve been told since third grade, rainforests are not magical places filled with butterflies and “Dora the Explorer” episodes. They are unbearably hot and humid, like Florida, but with no air con-ditioned “indoors” and Disney World to re-treat to on the other side of the jungle. Rain-forests contain over 700 known carcinogens, as well as GIANT SPIDERS THAT EAT BIRDS! (Think of all the canaries we could save by getting rid of the spiders’ habitat. Remember the canaries?) Every year 3,000 people die because the rainforest exists, through heat, animal attacks, and diseases. By this time next year, we could have that number down to zero. It would be an easy goal to reach. If we weren’t concerned about using the land later, the United States military alone could get the job done. We could just nuke the whole Amazon, and have plenty of missiles left to threateningly point at all those fright-ening communists. (Or whatever it is we use our nukes for now.) Obviously, we can’t

do that, as the resulting nuclear wasteland would be almost as deadly as the rainfor-est that preceded it, but we already do have safer technology. An encouraging 80,000 acres of rainforest are cut down every day by logging and farming companies around the world, and that’s with environmental-ists trying to stop their heroic effort. If we can raise awareness of the burden rainforests truly are on humanity, then we can make a united movement to destroy them as a world community. To be realistic, we still have a long way to go. According to nature.org, there are about 75 million acres of rainforest left on earth. If we continue to eradicate them at our current pace, we would be done around the year 2952. It’s not an encouraging number, to be sure, but with increased awareness this project can be completed much faster. I re-alize that you readers can’t comply with all my requests. If you have, you should have quite a few rescued dogs and canaries roam-ing your houses. Before you toss this paper down and go back to watching Judge Judy yell at some burned out college kid for not making his car payments, take a minute to think about the power of people. If every-one on earth went outside and cut down one tree in a rainforest, that would be over 7 bil-lion dead trees right now. Amazing, isn’t it? Now just imagine everyone doing this once a week: That would be 364 BILLION dead trees per year! We could have the rainforest gone in no time! Then again, maybe we should stay out of the jungle. Time and again movies have shown us that it’s a bad idea to go anywhere near it. “Tarzan,” “Predator” and “Swiss Family Robinson” are proof that every time civilized people try to get into the rainforest, they make it out bruised and bloodied, if at all. Even Indiana Jones himself couldn’t just go traipsing around unscathed forever. He followed the Soviets into the Guatemalan lowlands just one too many times, and he destroyed his entire movie franchise. So on second thought, let’s not let “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” happen to us. Treat this Earth Day like any other minor holiday: Stay inside and eat things that cause heart disease.

Opinion page 11

The Correct Opinion with Wesley KorpelaBy: Wesley Korpela“These are the best days of our lives.”

If I ever come across someone who tries to tell me that my time in high school is the best time life has to of-fer, I’m probably going to assume the individual is either lying to me, really bad at analyzing his or her life or the person committed some reprehensible crime after high school (like continu-

ing to use Facebook which is so lame). I just find it hard to believe that these are the days that I’m supposed to cherish for the rest of my life. The first reason I don’t believe this common state-ment is because of what I see people do with phones. It was a few weeks ago when I actually saw someone fighting with someone else over the app Snapchat. In 40 years, when I presumably have the 19 children I’ve always dreamed of having and I’m telling them stories of my favorite moments, am I really supposed to mention Snapchat fights? I admit, I have had a lot of great experiences in high school. I’ve starred in plays and musicals, helped create an improv group and wrote this article, but I have also wit-nessed a fight happen over Snapchat. I can’t honestly believe that I will joyfully tell my 19 children, “I have never experienced as much fun, suc-cess, and close friendships since I witnessed two teenag-ers fight through a phototaking app for the first time.” Why didn’t these two people fight in person? Beats me, but I do know that we have now reached a point in our society where some of us can portray our full fury in a photo lasting 10 seconds. Also, this is a generally really gross period in our lives. We can’t seemingly take care of high school bath-rooms. There was a while where I refused to use school restrooms, boycotting the vileness that all OHS bathrooms seem to possess. I can’t list all the times I have seen a stu-dent leave without washing his hands or without flushing the toilet behind him. I have encountered bathroom stalls

without doors attached, bathroom stalls without locks at-tached, and bathroom stalls smeared with cigarette ash. Why do so many boys have to completely clog toi-lets with wads of paper? What purpose does this serve?! Call me an optimist, but I feel like the best days of my life will not include me refusing the use of public bathrooms or hav-ing me feel the need to pose these questions. There are so many other aspects of life in this world that are apparently part of my best days. One argument peo-ple make is that everyone gets to turn 18 years old and that means I’m an adult. Yet, what does that really mean in the near future? Besides finally being able to vote, there isn’t much I can do that marks the climax of my life as an 18 year old. I can call myself out of school if I do the necessary paperwork which has a very low chance of happening. I can buy lottery tickets or disgusting cigarettes if I wanted. Es-sentially, turning 18 years old means I can now fully utilize a gas station. I mean, 18 years of age is still an important milestone. I am now considered an adult in the eyes of the law, which means I can be in a jury or on the defense, being tried in a higher stakes setting, but just becoming an adult is just the first step. I hope no one interprets this as me disliking high school or my youth. I do enjoy it immensely, but someone has to set everyone straight that the best is still yet to come. I don’t know what stories I’ll tell my 19 children in 40 years. Maybe I’ll tell them about how I became a million-aire and then threw it all away on an investment scheme or how I ran the iditarod with an untrained pack of wolves per-ilously guiding my sled. The options are endless, but all I know is that the few times I’ll bring up Snapchat in conversation is when I’m ranting about it at high school reunions or when my iditarod wolves have turned on me and I’m trying to get a signal for my rescue video.

By: Miranda Mellen

April Horoscopes page 12

Visit us online! www.issuu.com/ohspawprint

Horoscopes courtesy of cafeastrology.com.

Aries- April is a personally powerful but also a hectic and potentially stressful month for you. While the focus is very much on personal goals and development, you're pulled in so many directions that it can be hard to keep your center. As well, anger issues can surface in disruptive ways. The demands of partnership and family can be especially strong as well.

Taurus- April is a powerful month that tends to bring bur-ied frustration and resentment. Tempers can flare at work or school and schedules are interrupted. As well, there is a lot of stress and strain happening behind the scenes. Be more cautious and attentive. Your saving grace this month involves friends, teams, and groups.

Gemini- April is a complicated month, and for you, the dif-ficulties tend to center around money, friends, and creative projects. Ironing out problems, particularly when it involves others' issues, can be challenging this month. Your relation-ships are likely to be stormy this month, and quite confusing at times. Jealousy and possessiveness issues can surface.

Cancer- There can be a lot of attention to professional and public matters this month. Your drive for authority over your own life is strong now, and you want to follow your own rhythm. However, you are in high demand, and your respon-sibilities to others can complicate the freedom and mobility you crave.

Leo- You have your eye on the biggest prize, and are not content with mere routine this month. However, there can be a lot of restlessness in April. An overloaded, demanding schedule is possible, but even if you're not in big demand, there is a tendency to resent being tied down so that it can be difficult to stay on top of daily work and responsibilities.

Virgo- The month can have a way of bringing all sorts of buried frustrations up to the surface, but it also has its very bright spots. Try to settle as many debts as you can and avoid taking on more. This is not the best time to take risks with your heart, either, as there can be some problems with in-timate partners who can come and go and leave your head spinning.

Libra- Built-up anger and frustration tend to come to a head. Most importantly, this is a time to be especially careful and vigilant when it comes to health and general safety. There may be some resistance from a boss, co-worker, partner, or family member. Be willing to implement needed changes in your life, both on the inside and out.

Scorpio- This month, any tension you've been feeling with hectic schedules and demanding daily life can come to a head. You become bored with daily routines, but a new task or an increased work load keeps you especially busy. From the 17-20, opportunities are abound.

Sagittarius- This month, there are some complicated config-urations to deal with as you pursue your desires. Impulsive-ness and arrogance can be things to watch out for, especially when dealing with money and friends. Watch for hasty ac-tions, as they have a way of turning around on you.

Capricorn- Your private life takes priority this month. You tend to be nostalgic. If things are out of whack on the home front, you will do whatever you can to create a peaceful and stable atmosphere, although this may not be easy. April is better for setting goals instead of taking aggressive action.

Aquarius- April promises to be an especially busy month. You'll have plenty on your "to do" list, but you may need to cut down that list in order to gain some peace of mind. As long as you don’t succumb to tension, it can be a pleasant month in which you make new contacts and learn a great deal about the people in your life.

Pisces- Financial security and enjoyment of the good things in life are more important to you than usual this month. Fac-ing up to recent excesses may be an issue. Avoid unneces-sary displays of rebellion in your relationships. Some of you will be seeing some real conflict between your own values and the values of friends or groups.

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