The Hunger Games: A Blazing Sun Exclusive!

Delve into the world of Panem in our in-depth exposé

They want to get your blood! But

that is a good thing!

A younger take on

journalism!

FFA and FCCLA convetions had huge success!

volume 017issue 014

mondayapril 16, 2012

Mark M. Sports Editor

“I will miss my Hubba Bubba,” junior teammate Blake W. said about the Gatorade Player of the Year, Jason M. This is the 27th year that the Gatorade Company (Coca-Cola) has given out this honor, and the award for Wyoming Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year Torrington’s own, Jason M. “Not only am I happy for Jason, but I am happy for the school in gen-eral,” Jason’s 2011-12 head coach A.J. Gross said. “It doesn’t happen very often that the best athlete of a sport goes to your school.” “On the court, my favorite memory of him was at Buffalo. He had a tremendous individual effort, scoring 33 points,” Gross continued. “He was the reason we got out of there with a win.” “On our way to a basketball camp, the team was playing a game and he kept talking about stifling defense,” Gross went on. “He learned a new vocab. word and he couldn’t stop using it.” Jason has started for the varsity since midway through his freshman season, leading the Blazers in scoring every season. Gross noted this when talking about Jason leaving THS. “I will miss his experience in a basketball sense. He brought so much experience to our team this year. He has started as many games as anyone has in this school.” Nick B, who has been playing beside him on the varsity court for three years, commented, “This award is well-deserved. It couldn’t have gone to any-one else but him.” “My favorite memory is win-ning two state championships,” Brower went on to say. “I will never forget his ‘unstoppable’ glasses he wore before games and seeing his highlight dunks.” Since Jason won the award for Wyoming, he is now nominated for the Gatorade National Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year and will find out if he won that honor later this month. “He is a well-deserving candi-date,” teammate Frank S. said. “ M y

favorite memory of Jason is when he ‘ooped’ me for a 360 behind-the-back-windmill dunk,” Frank said jokingly. On a more serious note, Frank added, “Winning the State Championship is something I will

never forget.” Off the court, his favorite mem-ory with Jason was going to Water-world. “We were rollin’ in the babes with a little shakin’ and bakin’. He’s a swell guy. We need more people like him in this school.” As a three-time All-State player and four-time All-Conference player, Jason led the Torrington Trailblazers to a 23-5 record, winning his second state title in three years. Jason averaged 19.1 points per game, with 9.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. He also signed a letter of in-tent to play basketball at the University of Wyoming, where he will pursue a degree in sports medicine. “He totally deserves this award,” junior teammate Blake W. said about Jason. “He’s a great basketball player and teammate. He is always giv-ing his full effort. Even though he’s the best player in the state he always puts the team first.” “My favorite memory was throwing him an oop in Douglas, even though I was more excited than he was,” Blake said. “I will never forget preparing with him before state basketball.” “I also liked going up to Lara-mie fishing with Jason,” Blake added. “I wish him the best of luck. I will never forget all the memories. I’ll be his #1 fan when he goes to UW,” Blake said. Jason is the first Gatorade Player of the Year from THS since Kelly Lively, who won the award in its second year (1987).

2 Avery M. Columnist

As if being Blazer of the Month and a three time Academic All-State re-cipient weren’t enough, we can now add “Naval Academy Appointee” to senior Ryan L.’s list of accomplishments. One week ago, Ryan accepted his appointment to the United States Naval Academy. This ap-pointment pro-vides a free educa-tion and guaran-tees him a job (Naval officer) for five years following college. “I applied for the Naval Acad-emy because it’s one of the best public schools in the nation,” Lewandowski said. “It offers a full-ride scholarship, and once I graduate, it will qualify me for a job for five years with really good pay.” This elite institution isn’t just for anybody, though. According to the Academy website, basic requirements for eligibility include possessing United States’ citizenship, having good moral character, being at least seventeen years old (but not older than twenty-three) on the first of July of the year a student would enter the academy, being unmar-ried, not pregnant, and having no chil-dren. Ryan also added, “Applicants have to have a high GPA, high ACT or SAT scores. They have to pass a physical fitness test. They have to be interviewed by a military officer as well as by a member of Congress.” Ryan will be moving far from home, “The military academy—a four-

year school—is in Annapolis, Mary-land.” “It’s a lot like a normal college, except students also have to go through with military training as well as athlet-ics while they’re there. It just like a really, really hard college.” Though he may be excited, there is still some intimidation that goes

along with this pres-tigious college. “When students go there, they have to take a large load of classes as well as having a lot of military training, so plebes [freshmen] have seniors always yelling at them and telling them to do all of the seniors’ stuff. Those challenges aren’t the most daunt-ing changes Ryan will face. “Probably the hardest thing for me will be adjusting to the military lifestyle

and becoming somebody who’s a mili-tary officer,” he said.

With this opportunity, Ryan has a lot to look forward to.

“I look forward to growing as a person and just becoming better in gen-eral, and getting the experience that hardly anybody gets to have.

“There have been many people who have helped me along the way. My family has pushed me a lot to do this, and several teachers, and school and then myself. I’ve kind of pushed myself to want to do something harder than the typical college experience.”

Aye aye, captain! Ryan L. sails to-

wards the US Naval Academy

McManamen adds

WY Gatorade Player

of the Year to stellar

athletic career

3

Getting to know

The Freshman...

What do you like about high school?

Lorenzo D.

Everything.

Saint D.

Mrs. Hamer-Smith’s

class.

Breanna S.

My friends and

classes.

Daniel S. The P.E. class

Kendra T.

All the great peo-

ple.

We The People: Drama Club‟s newest patriotic production Allison M.

Columnist

“It‟s interesting and not what

you‟d expect,” said Madi B. about the

spring high school musical. Rehears-

als started in February, and the

hard, working cast is ready to show

off their talent.

“Rehearsals are tough,” said

Eron L., “The directors sometimes

get frustrated by the way we act, but

it‟s worth it.”

Many challenges face the

cast, as they hope to perform well.

The play is full of songs,

many of them solos, which a majority

of the cast thinks will be the biggest

challenge in this year‟s production.

“I like my solo, but if I could

change something I may change the

arrangement of some scenes,” Madi

said.

“My character, Sam, is kind

of a downer and sort of lazy. He

makes people see what they need to

do and he wants it that way,” said

McKennan L.

“She‟s not a ditz but she kind

of comes off that way. She‟s quiet,

but she knows things, so when she

tells people she has to make a scene,”

said Eron about her character, Mar-

tha.

“Betsy, the role I play, is al-

ways in charge and always has a

plan,” said Madi. “No one listens to

her and she always butts heads with

George [Brian J.].”

“George is more of a leader

compared to the other characters,

and he‟s kind of like everyone‟s big

brother,” said Brian J.. “When things

get out of control, he pulls them back

in.” Johnson also added that his and

Madi‟s character don‟t get along very

well. “There‟s a lot of hitting scenes

between me and her.”

“I‟m excited for the last

show,” said Brian, “just because we‟ll

be less nervous.”

Madi agreed, but for a different rea-

son. “After the last show we have a

lock-in, which is the most fun part.

We usually have a show at about

3:00 a.m. and we slowly lose cast

members as they fall asleep back

stage. It‟s awesome!”

We the People will be playing

in the high school auditorium April

27 and 28 at 7:00 p.m. Madi B. en-

couraged as many people to come as

possible, “High schoolers get in for

free, so come see!”

SHOWTIMES:

April 27 & 28

at 7:00 p.m.

Dessert Social at 6:00

Free admission to all

GCSD students

Ryan L. Reporter

Voices filled the THS Audito-

rium on March 22 as THS choirs had

their “Going Places” concert.

Women‟s Choir opened the

concert with “Irish Ballad” by Joyce

Eilers, followed up by “All Aboard”

by Jay Althouse. Junior Lisa H. said,

“My favorite song was „Irish Ballad‟.

I liked how we sounded on it.

It had a good sounding mel-

ody.”

The next song, “Cross the

Wide Missouri” by Don Besig and

Nancy Price, featured a descant by

juniors Brookee M., and Glenda L.,

and freshman Haley B.. The

Women‟s Choir finished their section

with “Don‟t Sit Under the Apple

Tree” arranged by Alan Billingsley.

Untraditionally, Show Choir

was second in the lineup of the night

with a selection of

four a cappella

pieces. The theme

of the section was

descr ibed by

sophomore Eon

M. as a “Vocal

Jazz concert.”

Senior Haylee H.

had a solo in the

choir‟s first song,

“Nice Work If You

Can Get It” by

Jay Althouse. Fol-

lowing up with

another song by Jay Althouse, junior

Josi J. had a solo in “Someone To

Watch Over Me.”

“‟Someone To Watch Over

Me‟ was my favorite. I feel it was

what we did the best on,” Myers

said.

The next song, “Bumble

Bee” by Anders Endenroth, consisted

of a host of solos from seniors

Aleighica K., Grace F., Ross B.,

Kayla B., Ryan L., and Caitlyn C.,

junior Taylor F., sophomores Eon M.

and Kyle V. N.

The Show Choir finished

with the popular theme to “Titanic,”

“My Heart Will Go On” by Kirby

Shaw. Senior Reagan R. said, “‟My

Heart Will Go On‟ was my favorite

song of the concert. I felt like we had

really good blending!”

The concert ended with Con-

cert Choir‟s section of the show. The

Concert Choir started with a solo by

Jordan G. in Scottish Tribute by

Linda Spevacek followed by “Old

Time Rock and Roll” arranged by

Teena Chinn, and “In Flanders

Fields” arranged by Roger Emerson.

The concert closed with a

featured trio of Emily C., Lisa H.,

and Marissa S. on “Walkin‟ On That

Heavenly Road” by Greg Gilpin.

“I feel like we could have

done better in Concert Choir. If peo-

ple would work harder in class and

pay more attention, we would sound

much better.” Lisa said.

THS Choirs present impressive “Going Places” concert

THS to receive new façade for 2012-13

4

Staff Report

“We may be a mighty small chapter, but we are mighty fine” said senior Hayley A. She was boasting about THS’s FCCLA group. Family Career Community Leaders of America members Hayley Allen, Korinne J., Virginia Anderson, Jaime Henry ,and Allison Emery at-tended state March 28, 29, and 30, in Cheyenne Wyoming. The theme for the conference was “Electrify.” Senior Korinne J. placed second in Cake Decorating. She created a cake depicting Einstein, the man who electri-fied the world. Freshman Virginia A. placed first in fundamentals of baking she baked fudge drop cookies. Alina Surber said, “Hayley and Korinne John presented a project in the category ‘Illustrated Talk.’ Their project covered preparing for college. “Mackenzy P.competed in the same category with a project over teen pregnancy.” “I am very proud of the FCCLA members that attended state. They rep-resented THS very well. Korinne and Virginia did a wonderful job of prepar-ing for state! I am very proud of their efforts.” Hayley A. said her favorite part

about the FCCLA gathering was “trying to take a bath while being interrupted by Korinne’s American Idol perform-ance.” She also felt that the competi-tions went “badly. I didn’t place, but on a good note, my cake was awesome.” Mackenzy P. commented, “I did terribly! In ‘Illustrated Talk’ there are a lot of people who compete, so there was a lot of tough competition”. She said her favorite memories of the event were “hanging out with Hayley and Korinne and being fat and Korinne’s amazing Miley Cyrus performance.” Freshman Virginia A. said, “I got a gold medal for ‘Fundamentals of Baking,’ and I liked meeting new peo-ple.” Korinne said, “I loved hanging out in the hotel room. Although it is a nail-biting competition when compet-ing, it was fun and always brings new experiences. I will be sad that I will not be in high school next year to go to FCCLA state conference, we always have a blast especially with our awesome adviser Surb. Surber is there through the ups and downs. She knows exactly how to help

us whether its for our FCCLA state pro-ject or just in our daily lives. She has awesome advice and knows how to have fun. Without Surber as our adviser I don’t think I would have enjoyed FCCLA as much as I did throughout high school. I will never forget our crazy trips and the things we do. Thank you, Mrs. Surber, for an awesome high school FCCLA experience. Love you tons!” “In our book, Surber deserves adviser of the year: she is awesome,” Torrington High School FCCLA mem-bers agreed. Hayley said, “Through all the crazy meetings and members who don’t stick with it, Surb is ALWAYS there. I have had a great FCCLA experience and and anyone who isn’t sure about needs to GET INVOLVED. Surb isn’t just an awesome adviser; she’s the one that hits the curb in the ‘burb!” “FCCLA may have a small num-ber of people involved in it, but they always have fun and get to do crazy ac-tivities. Any student who needs some-thing to do should join FCCLA— you will always have a blast,” Korinne said.

THS FCCLA looking „mighty fine‟ at

State Convention in Cheyenne

Thirty-three units

donated become

highest record

MacKenzy P. Columnist

“What can get much better than saving four people in one day?” junior Taylor F. asked. Students of Torrington High School were able to donate blood on April 4 on the second complete blood drive of the year. They combined to do-nate 33 units, the highest total for the year. We also had eleven first-time do-nors. Both junior R.J. L. and senior Zach L. participated in the 2-RBC dona-tion, where they were able to double their impact. The reason for doing “double dipping”, students and teachers are able to donate two units of red cells, to help two patients. The donation “makes me find the hero inside me!” senior Zach. To qualify for the 2-RBC pro-gram males have to be at least 5’1”, 130 pounds, and the iron level of 40%. Fe-males have to be at least 5’5” and 150 pounds, with the iron level of 40%. Iron levels are also important for normal donations; senior Caitlyn C. was unable to be a hero because her iron levels were too low, way too low. Others were much luckier. “I have a rare blood type, so they are tak-ing my plasma to save babies!” sopho-more Josi J. boasted. First time donor sophomore Benjamin L. said, “I feel super powered! I wanted to donate so I would be able to see what it was like.” Three blood drives are is planned for the 2012-2013 school year, so donors should plan to perform heroic deeds again.

Don‟t faint! Sophomore Chris W. becomes a superhero (without powers) by saving three lives. Staff Photo

Gabe T. Reporter

Has THS been denied its beauty? Recently, Torrington High School has been identified as the next school building in line for renovation. The school’s renovation will begin dur-ing the summer. “THS is trying to make a safer and better environment for students, ” Principal Troy Lurz said. The school has been toured by district officials and new ideas have been sketched out. “ We plan to have a glass wall coming from the middle of the school doors,” Assistant Principal Jim English explained. “We’ll also install a new trophy case for the front.” Staff members have contrib-

uted doz-ens of ideas about the new im-provement. The office is going to be set up with a c o u n t e r , for open space, and less clutter, both Eng-lish and Lurz noted. They anticipate that there will be access straight to the office. This arrangement will be similar to the front door plan instituted at Torrington Middle School. This change will make the

building a safer environment for stu-dents and staff. The doors will be locked at all times and all patrons will enter the office before entering the school.

Page edited by Dimitri N.

THS‟s Blake O. wins State Star Placement, most prestigious FFA award

Nick V. Reporter

“We are about to adjourn this meeting of the Wyoming FFA Associa-tion. As we mingle with others, let us be diligent in labor, just in our dealings, courteous to everyone, and, above all, honest and fair in the game of life.” When the 85th Annual State FFA Convention closed for business, the Torrington/Lingle FFA came back with several awards. During the week of April 2—5 Torrington/Lingle FFA com-peted in Cheyenne in several Career Development Events, and they also re-ceived several state degrees and profi-ciency awards. The most prestigious award earned by any Wyoming FFA member, State Star Placement, went to THS sen-ior Blake O. said, “FFA has been a really good learning experience that prepares me in my future endeavors on the ranch,” Blake said about his award. At the top of the group was the Agronomy team of Blake, Nick V., P.D. M., and Barry G. They placed first and qualified to go to the national competi-tion. They were also the winners in the Soil Judging area. There are four areas of the soil judging contest: the written test, forage, weed and seed identification, soil and fertilizer problems, and entomology and grain grading. Blake was the high indi-vidual in the Agronomy contest. Vetter was sixth overall and P.D. was seventh

overall. Blake said, “Out of all the con-tests that I have been in FFA, Agronomy was the hardest and most intricate. Not only are there nine different practicums in the contest, but there are a massive number of things that need to be memo-rized to be successful.” P.D. placed third overall as a creed s p e a k e r ; creed speak-ing is only available to freshmen. T h e chapter had three teams that were fourth over-all. The Live-stock Evalua-tion team with P.D., Mikayla M., Vetter, and Tyler P. were high in fe-male selection; they were third high team in Swine, and third high team in Reasons. P.D. was the high individual overall, high individual in Beef, and high individual in Reasons. He thought that the livestock team could have had a bet-ter day as a team, but “we have next year to improve and create the day we

need.” The Farm Business Manage-ment team were the third high in the team activity. Tray F., Jorden S., Blake, and Barry participated in it with Tray placing fifth high overall. “I thought that we did well and I improved on the con-test,” he said. For the second straight year in

a row, the Par-l i a m e n t a r y P r o c e d u r e made up of Blake, Nick, Glenda L., Mark M., Taylor W., Clara S.qualified for the final round. Glenda was nervous, but she said it turned out “okay. Most of the pressure was on me

since I was the new member on the team. We performed well, but we made two mistakes that cost us the win.” The Horse Evaluation team in-cluded Kaylie H., Kylah M., Tyler P., and Michaella L.. They place sixth overall with Meyer placing tenth. “The horse contest was harder then I expected, but I did well. Our team did well also, but we were hoping for

better.” The Ag Sales and Service team got seventh; the Meats Evaluation and Technology team was eight;, and Poul-try Evaluation and Market Plan placed tenth overall. Blake and Taylor W. were both Regional Stars. In the Proficiency Award areas, there were two members. Blake won the Beef Production Placement and Nick V. was the winner in Grain Production Placement and Diversified Crop Produc-tion Placement proficiencies. Four sen-iors received their State FFA Degrees at the convention: Blake , Michaella, Tay-lor , and Hayley A. Out of fifty-two chapters, Tor-rington/Lingle FFA was a silver emblem chapter and they were Third High Chap-ter Overall in the Sweepstakes competi-tion. Torrington/Lingle FFA Advisor Jason Groene said, “It was a solid week for our chapter, and our results make me very happy.”

5

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Torrington/Lingle Future Farmers of America receives

Silver Emblem Chapter at state conference

MacKenzy P. Columnist

The band performed most recently on March 20, 2012, in Torrington High School auditorium. The jazz band and the

concert band each played three numbers, and the percussion ensemble had one performance. All of these will also be played at the district festival in Casper on April 12 and 13. There are also a few individual acts that will be performing at

the district festival. Band director Richard Zigwied believes that the bands are young , but they have made huge progress this year. “They have come a long way, since there are many just freshman and sophomores. They are able to produce a good sound and deal with same chal-lenging,” said Zigwied. Sophomore band mem-ber Elias C. said, “Everything we have done has sounded good. There are just a few things we need to clean up.” Freshman member Hunter O. agreed. “During the last couple of weeks we have sounded really good with our songs. All we have to do is really fine tune everything to make it perfect.” Junior Eddie S. thinks that the band has played “beautifully, and that they sound amazing!”

Torrington Band “sounded

amazing”, pieces to be played

at district festival in Casper

6

Nick V. Columnist

Many people have felt the warm breathing down their back, the steady watching, the constant yelling, and the parent always be-ing there: the classic helicopter parent. Most parents think that this is doing their child so much good, but many people have seen many cons. The constant watching and decision-making by parents for their child is not good. Yes, it makes the kids’ lives easier: the parent can decide what they should and shouldn’t be doing. They go to every sporting event, and they can make sure it’s never their kids fault. I don’t see any of these things as being something good. While the child’s life is easier in school and they never get hurt by anyone, this does not get the kid

ready for the life ahead. In the world after high school—yes, there is a life after high school—there is no one who is going to feed a college student by hand; there will be no one to hold his/her hand, and no one to walk the kid to class. Do parents seriously think that doing everything through their whole kid’s life is good for them? Hovering parents, simply put, take away a child’s independence. Kids also lose responsibility, dis-cipline, self-respect, and confidence. The child’s re-sponsibilities often get di-minished. Because of this, children don’t learn how to handle responsibilities later

in life. This causes problems that are not foreseen until it might be too late to help. If my parents always watched over me, I would be lazy and I wouldn’t care about any-thing. Kids don’t know how to handle the real world after they leave their parents. This is a true injustice to all children. The real world turns out to be too much for children when they have to take responsibility for themselves. Discipline, which is so important in school and in life, is lost. Without discipline, it is hard to do or finish anything that they start. Parents diminish the self-respect of the child because the kids never really did anything themselves. Helicopter parents have not helped society in any way I’ve seen so far. Many things have been

degraded by this exces-sive hover-ing, but one item that has been notice-able is in the sports arena. As I have been a loyal spectator of many sport-ing events, and the more I attend, the more I see “gods” being made. Par-ents continu-ally make their kids into sports stars and making this the most i m p o r t a n t thing in their kids’ lives.

W e all know and

have seen kids who were “the big dogs” of high school sports, yet they turn out to do nothing in college and waste away their potential. It is really sad to see this happen. My solution: Parents, don’t make your kids out to be something greater then they are. They are still in high school; they have a lot to learn, and sports are not the most im-portant. All parents try to keep their kids “safe.” When I was watching the national news the other night I heard the anchor say “safe” several times. Not a single time was it mentioned that someone should take re-sponsibility for their own safety. Instead, it was that other peo-ple, businesses, organizations, or the school are supposed to keep kids safe. The parents don’t give the kids the responsibility to take care of their own safety. As the generations change, parents try to blame others for their kids mistakes. Parents think that this is keeping them safe while I think it is wrecking what they should take as their re-sponsibility. I often see kids who don’t take responsibility for what they do; they make bad decisions later in their life thinking that their parents will be able to save them. Blaming someone else so your kids are “safe” is not helping them or anyone affected by this. My last point involves school involvement. Parents are constantly at school functions trying to run things. During prom, home-coming, and graduation, parents are spoiling the event for the student. If parents were never at events, students would have ten times more fun. I also think that many of the parents are trying to re-live high school through their teenagers. Parents are often worse behaving at sporting events and after-prom parties then the ac-tual students, yet the kids are the ones who get all the pres-sure to be good and behave. I realize that parents are just trying to do the right things for their kids and help them to have better lives. The problem with all of these things are the loss of im-portant character traits that children lose because the par-ents did everything for them. Parents need to just back off and let their kids take responsibility for what they do.

Quick Feet Wendy Lewandowski Nurse

50 meter cartwheel

Mario R. Freshman

Who can stand in the cold the longest Kevin A. Freshman

Javelin

Jose M. Junior

10 meter dash Calli S. Sophomore

Kick the ball the farthest

Michael G. Senior

Ping Pong

Seren U. Sophomore

If you could create your own track

event, what would it be?

Hovering parents:

a smothering

problem?

Does mother really know best? New research may show that parents constantly monitoring their children can result in decreased social responsibilities. Clipart Photo

Nick P. Opinions editor

I had a feeling this was going to happen; the signs all pointed to it since LSU vs. Alabama II in the National Championship Game: the BCS appears to be over and a playoff in Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) is heading our way. The little guys have been biting at the ankles of the top programs and the NCAA for a long time, and after the 2012-13 season, reports say that a play-off is “likely” to occur. At first, my heart sank to the bottom of my stomach at the thought of no more major bowl games, a watered-down regular season, and all the other things lost, but I’ve grown into the thought of a playoff more. Despite the continuous thoughts of the positives associated with a different system, there still are two concerns that I have with this: ex-pansion and length of the season. March Madness has recently ended, and we all may have enjoyed the upsets and lower seeds, but here’s a quick question: How many teams origi-nally qualified for the NCAA Tourna-ment at its inception? No, the answers are not sixty-eight, sixty-four, thirty-two, or even sixteen. The original number of teams that qualified for the national tourna-ment was eight! Sixty teams have been added over the years, and the largest factor in the expansion was complain-ing. Everyone thinks they deserve to go into the tournament, and teams get left out of the postseason in every event: have we forgotten the bubble teams every year before the tourna-ment? That’s the problem with the football fan bases and basketball fan bases, football fans whine too much! I

am guilty of whining in the past, but now I’ve realized what I did was wrong. The thought that they were the 2003 Auburn’s of that year (Auburn, Okla-homa, and USC in 2003 all finished their regular seasons undefeated; Oklahoma and USC were selected to play in that year’s BCS Championship Game) some-times is logical. With an eight team play-off, we can count on one team to go un-defeated in the regular season, and about nine other teams to only go through one loss through the entire year. Two teams are going to be left out in that scenario. What’s going to hap-pen? They’re going to complain their way into expansion to a larger playoff, most likely sixteen teams. Here’s where it starts to get repetitive. Now we get to factor in the teams that lost only two games in the regular season. Though this isn’t the case all the time, there are usually around another ten teams or so that finish with two losses. Then the teams out of that field will whine their way into more expansion into the most logi-cal choice after sixteen, thirty-two teams. Factor in the teams that are in lesser conferences, and the significance of two losses or maybe three losses is different. Pretty soon, what do we have? We have a one hundred and twenty-eight team field with teams that some-times didn’t even win a game. Don’t think that will happen? That’s exactly what the people thought back in the early 1930’s about the NCAA Tourna-ment. People are going to be left out of the big event in every sport some fan bases just seem to get over it more. We could end up with a na-tional champion that has an average regular season and ends up with four losses, but gets it together in the final weeks to win. The national champion-ship needs to be awarded to the top team, not the flavor-of-the-month or the

hottest team at the time of the final event. I really don’t want to see a team like Au-burn this year, who barely salvaged an even record in the season, hoisting the crystal football at the conclusion of the final game of the year. Reward the teams that have gone through the season unde-feated with the chance to play right away instead of them risking it all playing a team that really doesn’t deserve to be there. Look at North Carolina from this year. They were one of my picks to make the Final Four, and rightfully so, they eas-ily could have made it if star point guard Kendall Marshall didn’t get injured. They could have saved Marshall from getting hurt playing Ohio, a twelve seed. I feel the NCAA Tournament is too big; I like the upsets but so many flukes end seasons so suddenly. Those who have played football and basketball know that football trips are significantly longer than basketball trips, sometimes by multiple days in rare occasions. Especially with the proposed merger with the C-USA and Mountain West, we may have Hawaii going over three thousand miles to Carolina to com-pete. I know basketball players miss a lot of time with games during the week, and missing for football is significantly tougher and harder to catch up. College is more vital than high school in my mind. We can’t have these athletes missing even more class time, even though they would miss less class compared to high school. I’m hoping col-lege football doesn’t turn into the next sixty-plus playoff system, that would be the death of it.

7

Estefany T. “I tried sniffing Coke

once, but the ice cubes

got stuck in my nose.

Gabriel Teniente

“Expect the

unexpected.”

Edison S.

“Always trust the

steel.”

Getting to know the Juniors... What is your favorite quote?

Sydney Harms

“You only live once,

but if you do it right,

once is enough.”

Nick Vetter “You can’t soar with the

eagles if you are walking

with the turkeys.”

NCAA finally goes to

playoff system

Editor-in-Chief Dimitri N.

Online Editor Dylan S.

Sports Editor Mark M.

Seniors Editor Jason M.

Layout Editor Korinne J.

Opinions Editor Nick P.

Columnists

Sydney H.

Blake W.

Kolter E.

Avery M.

Kylie K.

Allison M.

Mackenzy P.

Reporters

Frank S.

Ryan L.

Zach L.

Nick V.

Nicki M.

Gabe T.

Adviser

Katherine Patrick

Printed by the

Torrington Telegram

STAFF

PANEM-DEMONIUM The Hunger Games is an

entirely new work of its own. But what exactly is the meaning of the blockbuster movie and book series?

Interpretations of the film’s themes and messages have been widely discussed among critics and other com-mentators. In his review for The Washington Times, Peter Suder-man expressed that “Maybe it’s a liberal story about inequal-ity and the class divide. Maybe it ’s a l ibertari- an epic about the evils of authoritarian government. May-be it’s a feminist revision on the sci-fi action block-

b u s t e r. M a y b e i t ’ s a

bloody satire of reality televi-sion”, but concludes the film only proposes these theories and brings none of them to a reason-able conclusion.

For one, the story has a strong sense of feminism. Ob-servers have made arguments in favor of, and against the film’s representation of feminist ideol-ogy. The fact that The Hunger Games emerged as a box-office hit with a female lead represents a dramatic shift for the action film genre. Historically, among

the top 200 worldwide box-office hits ever, not

one has been built around

a f e -

male action star. “Katniss is a fantasy fig-

ure, but partly what makes her powerful — and, I suspect, what makes her so important to a lot of girls and women — is that she’s one of the truest feeling, most complex female charac-ters to hit American movies in a while. She isn’t passive, she isn’t weak, and she isn’t some random girl. She’s active, she’s strong and she’s the girl who motivates the story.” said Collins’ in an inter-view with The New York Times.

Secondly, the story has drawn varying explanations for its political tones, including arguments in favor of left-wing, right-wing, and libertarian view-points. Even other celebrities are weighing in on the issue. The Huffington Post reported that Penn Badgley, a supporter of

Occupy Wall Street and co-star of Easy A, saw the film as a

social interpretation on the movement. Bob Burnett,

of the Post, stated that “Collins doesn’t use the terms 1 percent and 99 percent, but it’s

clear that

those in the Capitol are members of the 1 percent and ev-

eryone in the Panem d i s t r i c t s is part of the 99 percent.”

Lastly, the story is h i gh ly re l i - gious. While Jeffrey Weiss of the Star Tribune has re- marked on what he saw as the absence of religion in The Hunger Games uni- verse, Donald Brake from The Washing-t o n T i m e s wrote that the f i l m h a s Christian theme of self-sac- rifice, which is found in Katniss’ substi-tution for her younger sister, is analo- gous to the sacrifice of Jesus as a substitute for t h e eradication of sins.

The Hunger Games was expected to break records.

But nobody thought that it would be the biggest

movie of 2012. Suzanne Collins’ wildly

popular The Hunger Games broke an impressive record on its opening weekend. As the third-highest grossing weekend in his-tory—only after Harry Potter and

the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and The Dark Night—The Hunger Games be-came the biggest non-sequel ever.

Opening night was impres-sive, with sales clocking in at one

hundred fifty billion in just one showing. That’s approximately,

one billion dollars per minute of the movie. It broke pre-ticket sales also, with a whopping fifteen million. The pre-miere topped any Twi-light saga production and absolutely obliter-ated the competition at the box office for the fourth straight week.

Just in the North American continent, Hunger has devoured an amazing $315, 569, 539 as of April 12. Oth-er countries add ap-proximately $157 bil-

lion for a grand total of just under five hundred billion. By comparison, The Hunger Games is well on it’s way of be-coming a mini-Avatar. The James Cameron super-blockbuster, Ava-tar peaked its sales at well over one trillion dollars.

This week, Hun-ger’s fourth week, the film is tied for first with another Cameron film, Titanic, which is back in theatres for a special commemorative show-

ing in remembrance of the sinking of the real Titanic, one hundred years ago.

N e v e r t h e l e s s , people are clamoring for the second install-ment of Collins’ series, Catching Fire, well in advance. The sequel to the Hunger Games will be released by Lions-gate Entertainment in November of 2013.

For now, it seems audiences all over the world are still hungry, for more Hunger.

With the coasts of the United States engulfed in water, here is an idea of what Panem would look like. Looks like our Coloradoan neighbors are involved in mining stone quaries over in District 2.

Like The Hunger Games?

Try Matched!

Suzanne Collins wrote the entire script for the movie!

All three main characters will return thoughout the trilogy!

It took Josh Hutcherson (Peeta) five days to read all 3 books!

A majority of the movie was shot in Asheville and Charlotte Noth Carolina

The fire suits worn by Peeta and Katniss were so tight that they were

made in two pieces so they could get in and out of them.

8exclusive

9exclusive

10

Who is your role model, and why?

Will A,—

“Chris Walsh, Alan

Phillips, and McKen-

nan Lurz because

they’re bosses.”

Brittany H, “Marilyn Monroe be-

cause she inspires

me.”

Cole B, “Blake Ochsner be-

cause he’s the

whole package—

one in a million.”

Kim G. “Ty Lawson because

he is quick and

good.”

Joseph C, “The military because it teaches me

to never give up which includes my

parents and also H.P. Lovecraft be-

cause I want to be a horror/science

fiction writer.”

Getting to know

The Sophomores...

Dear Bones Jones, My boyfriend just doesn’t seem to have time for me anymore. All he seems to care about these days is sports, fishing, golfing, and hanging out with his “bros.” WHERE IS OUR TIME?! I’m feel-ing neglected. What do I tell him? And what if we hardly talk so I can’t even tell him?! What’s going on? What if he does-n’t like me anymore? Please help my relationship out! I don’t want to break up. Sincerely, Distressed Girlfriend Distressed Girlfriend, First, take a deep breath! You WILL be all right! In our society, there are tons of fun things for boys to do. It sounds as though your boyfriend is try-

ing to do as many of those as he can while he is still in school. There is noth-ing wrong with him having fun.

What I recommend is that you do is set up a time where both of you can talk, and ask him the exact same questions that you are asking me. Say that you care about him and you want to spend more time with him. Ask him if there is something wrong! Many times a guy won’t even realize that he is doing something wrong until you tell him.

You have to realize that guys and girls don’t have the same thought process, and often males can be more independent, even when they’re in a relationship. Remember to be civil and do not attack your boyfriend when you have this conversation, or this could turn into a real problem.

Relationships are built upon trust and communication, and some-times people just need time with other people. Just because he is hanging out with his “bros” doesn’t mean that he likes you any less. Next, try and plan some dates that are fun and engaging. There is noth-ing wrong with the girl planning a date sometimes. Do something that you have never done before instead of the same “hanging out and watching a movie rou-tine.” It can be tons of fun and will help give him a reason to want to be around you. While this could be something ex-pensive, it doesn’t have to be. Ask him to go on a road trip and explore another town. Go on a bike ride around Torring-ton. Go to the park and play volleyball or Frisbee together. There are thousands

of ideas that you could explore. All that matters is that you are having fun and spending time together! If you have tried, tried, tried, and tried again with no success, then you need to make the tough decision of whether it is worth it to go on with this relationship or not. It’s always an ex-tremely tough decision, no matter how obvious the answer is. Whatever you choose, make sure that you make the best out of the situation. You are young, and it is okay to be single. The most im-portant thing is that you are happy, and if you are in a relationship that won’t allow you to be happy you MUST get out of it. Best of luck, Bones Jones

Bones Jones: giving advice to distressed girlfriends

Blake W. Columnist

We all know that Easter is a religious holiday celebrating the resur-rection of Christ, but. . . .Why is one of the Easter symbols recognized by eve-ryone a bunny?

According to the History chan-nel, the Easter bunny we know today was influenced by German traditions dating back to the 1500s. As it turns out, the Easter bunny has a long history as a pagan symbol that predates the Christian holiday.

It's the time of year when plants return to life after being resting all win-ter and when animals mate and procreate. These fes-tivities celebrate the re-newal of life and promote the richness of crops, ani-mals, and even people, which was important in the

agrarian communities. Over time, Eastre (a maiden

goddess) became Easter, and the sym-bolism changed as well. Instead of the Easter rabbit symbolizing richness, the rabbit may symbolize an innocent, vulnerable crea-ture that can be sacrificed, similar to the lamb. German children believed that the Oschter Haws (a magical rabbit) would leave them a nest of colored eggs at Easter time if they were good. In the

600’s, Pope Gregory the Great forbade the eating of eggs dur-ing Lent (the 40 days preced-ing Easter), and this helped make eggs a special treat at Easter. The Easter bunny is a creature that brings straw baskets full of colored eggs, candy and sometimes toys. This holiday is very similar to Santa, as they both bring gifts to children on the night before their holiday.

The true meaning of the Easter bunny In a holiday flooded with distractions from the true meaning of Easter, where did that bunny come from?

Hoppy Easter! A 1907 postcard (above) was one of the first to feature the Easter Bunny as a symbol of the Christian holiday in America. Photo from Wikipedia Commons

11

With Mitt Romney the unofficial nominee of the Republi-can Party for President, several analysts are claiming that the Latino vote could be the influencer in this upcoming election. Currently, critics say Romney has gone on an anti-Latino offensive with critical remarks about the Dream Act, his calls for self-deportation, and remarks about Hispanic Justice Sonya So-tomayor. Analysts also speculate that if Romney does not attempt to reach out to the Latino community, he could lose he election. John McCain only won with 37% of the Latino vote. Romney cur-rently has only 17%. By contrast, President Obama has a whop-ping 72% of the Latino vote in his favor.

A baby in Argentine was found alive in a morgue. While previously considered a stillborn by a nurse, the baby was taken to the morgue immediately. When her parents decided they wanted to see the baby, they discovered that their girl was still breathing and moving in the morgue. Her only defect? She was a little cold. The baby girl, now appropriately named Luz Milagros (Spanish for Miracle Light) was discovered alive only twelve hours after her pronounced dead. Her mother, Anallia Boutet, said she heard a cry and thought it was a small vision of her imagination, but when she saw Luz moving, she said “it was a miracle from God.” An investigation is underway as to how a baby could have survive in a refrigerated room for twelve hours.

For the first time ever, an athlete for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London will participate...while pregnant. Nur Suryani Mohamed Taibi will be shooting for two at the London Olympics. Eight months pregnant for the Olympiads, the Malaysian shooter will be participating in the 10m air rifle event this summer. The approval from the doctors, from her husband, and from the Olympic officials has brought on a lot of criticism from the public. A petition which died down almost instantly called for the boycott of the air rifle event. Nonetheless, Taibi says that she could still back out in perhaps June. “if I have a some problem that could jeopardize the baby, I will reconsider whether I am going or not.” The Summer Olympics will be broadcast by all NBC Uni-versal networks.

Researchers in Sweden think that children can be raised in a gender-neutral society. As one researcher put it, “imagine a society where a boy can be part of an all-girls cheerleading squad and it can go unnoticed.” Sweden believes this is possible. Recently, the country added a new gender-neutral pronoun, “hen”, to their dictionary. Elementary school teachers now are addressing their students as “hen”, instead of the classic “boys and girls.” Schools have also eliminated recess because “it is a seed to bullying,” says Stuart Lustig, of UC San Francisco. “stereotypical patterns are created and cemented there.” Lustig is confident the plan could work. Other Nordic countries, such as Denmark, are also poised to adopt similar poli-cies instituted by Sweden.

Staff Report

School organizations

have come and gone. Family

Career and Community

Leaders of America was once

Future Homemakers of

America. Future Teachers of

America disappeared. Future

Nurses of America vanished.

But in 1962, Torrington High

School broke new ground by

hosting a new organization,

Future Business Leaders of

America.

Yearbook records

show that the first Torring-

ton FBLA chapter was for-

mer in the fall of the 1961-62

school year. This means that

the club has reached a new

milestone: it was here fifty

years ago.

The 1962 FBLA

chapter was made up of only

nine members, but was con-

sidered to be “one of the

school‟s most active groups.”

according to the 1962 Blazer.

Several changes have

happened from a half-

century ago. The Blazer

quotes that “highlighting the

year was FBLA Day in Feb-

ruary,” a tradition that has

now grown to seven days,

contemporarily known as

FBLA Week, remaining in

February.

The first THS FBLA

was created in a time where

the school newspaper was

The Chinook and yearbooks

were still referred to as

“annuals.” Nonetheless, the

tradition of excellence FBLA

provided—and still does—

remained a building block of

the school as it joined the

ranks of the other “‟Future”

clubs.

Fast forward to the

1966 school year and FBLA

grew to an impressive eight-

een members under the advi-

sory of James Cook, the for-

mer head of the business de-

partment.

In 1971, however, a

new threat loomed over the

chapter. FBLA was split in

two with the addition of a

new career and technical

organization, DECA. As an

unofficial “knockoff” of

FBLA, DECA flourished with

twenty-two members, com-

pared to FBLA‟s five.

But then ten years

after the first FBLA chapter,

in 1972, it vanished. In its

place was only DECA. Nev-

ertheless, DECA continued

the mainstream elements of

FBLA. The 1974 Blazer said

that DECA was “a relatively

new club at THS for those

students who want to further

their education in market-

ing, management and the

distribution of goods.”

The yearbooks show

the Torrington

Future Busi-

ness Leaders of

America chap-

ter being reac-

tivated ten

years ago, in

2002. Then, the

chapter grew

again, with a

massive influx of members

and strong motivation to be

immortalized in the school.

“The THS FBLA

Chapter that was reactivated

ten years ago was actually

influenced by another

Goshen County FBLA chap-

ter.” says chapter president

Dimitri N., “Lingle. Back

then, our own Mrs. McGuire

was the person who pres-

sured THS to finally gather-

ing enough resources for a

renewal of FBLA. It‟s weird

to think that now, she‟s the

adviser of this chapter that

she helped build.”

“As one of our signa-

ture projects,” explained vice

president Caitlyn C., “the

current FBLA chapter is tak-

ing on the challenge of find-

ing all other members from

previous years and inviting

them to a gathering of sorts.

We all want to celebrate that

FBLA was here fifty years

ago, and that it‟s here to-

day.”

Years of excellence: THS FBLA reaches milestone The chartering of the first THS FBLA, fifty years ago

In addition to the historic

milestone of THS FBLA, the national

Future Business Leaders of America

Inc. association goes platinum this

year.

Founded in 1940, the organi-

zation itself is seventy-two years old,

but the national conferences were not

officially integrated into the program

until 1942, exactly seventy years ago.

Globally, FBLA Inc. is the

largest student-run business organiza-

tion with over a staggering two hun-

dred fifty thousand members in mid-

dle schools, high schools, colleges,

and other professional business levels.

Sydney H. Columnist

After a rough start to the soccer season, the Lady Blazers bounced back with a huge win over the Lady Outlaws from Rawlins followed by another big one over the Douglas Lady Bearcats.

In the first game of the season, the girls played the Scottsbluff Lady Bearcats. This contest wasn’t exactly what the Blaz-ers were looking for as they fell 5-0. In this contest, Southeast senior Brittney S. had 10 shots on goal, but just couldn’t find the net. Southeast sophomore Taylor B. added 4 shots on goal while junior Sydney H. had 3

and senior Caitlyn C. had 2. Senior Mikayla B. added 11 saves on the night. The following day, the ladies traveled to Lander. Lander, who played in the state championship last year came out hot, was just a little too much to handle for the Lady Blazers.

Caitlyn found the goal with nearly two minutes left of play, shortly before the girls fell 3-1 to the Lander Tigers. Mikayla had 15 saves, while Sydney notched 1 as-sist.

“Lander is a team with great touch and a strong attack,” Coach Mary Perkins said. “Our defense stepped it up in the sec-ond half, along with some great saves by Mikayla, and played them even. Caitlyn was able to put one in goal. We currently have young players in unfamiliar territory, but I saw a lot of improvement in the last two games as they gain confidence in their positions.”

The following week brought on the first conference game for the girls who traveled to Newcastle and lost in a heart-breaker, 3-4.

Caitlyn recorded 6 shots with 2 goals. One of her goals was on a penalty kick, while Brittney had 10 shots and 1 goal. Sydney added 3 shots and 1 assist, while Taylor added 1 shot. Brower had 13 saves on the night.

“This was a tough loss for us,” one player said. “I thought we fought hard and played the best game thus far. We will get them next time!”

On March 29 the Lady Blazers took on the Gering Bulldogs. Losing 8-2, didn’t cause the Blazers to hang their heads low. Caitlyn had 4 shots with 1 goal as well as Brittney. Caitlyn and Harms both had assists in this contest. Brower notched 36 saves.

After three tough losses, the ladies were hungry for a win, and that is just what they got!

With a big first half, they finally got the win they were looking for, beating the Rawlins Lady Outlaws, 5-0. Mikayla, who didn’t have much action all game, recorded 3 saves.

Caitlyn had 6 shots on goal with 3 goals. Taylor had 2 shots on goal, both goals for her. Schaffer had 1 assist.

“This was our fifth game in nine days and it took a toll on the girls. The win was well- earned,” Perkins commented. “We are still trying to find the ideal attack-ing combination with the talent we have. Injuries and other school events have pre-cluded us from having all our starters on any given night.

“Taylor had her first varsity goal off an assist by Brittney and found the goal again just before the half. Caitlyn scored 2 goals in the first half, one of those was a penalty kick, and nailed an amazing shot from about 25 yards out!”

Just before the break, the girls hosted the Douglas Lady Bearcats, earning another easy win, 5-0.

Caitlyn had 3 goals on 8 shots, while Brittney had 2 goals on 11 shots. Mikayla added 11 saves.

Sophomore Crystal M. thinks that the season is “going well” and that the team is improving every day.

12

Torrington Lander

0 5 Torrington Scottsbluff

Torrington

Torrington

1 3

3 4

Newcastle

2 8

Gering

5 0

Torrington Rawlins

5 0

Torrington Douglas

What are you most looking forward to in high school?

Looking forward to playing basketball

Katelynn W.

5th Grade

I'm looking forward to the library.

Emi G.

5th Grade

To get better at math then any other

subject.

Robert C. 5th Grade

To do well and have fun doing PE.

David H.

5th Grade

Picking my own classes

Brielle B. 5th Grade

Working towards winning the state championship in

basketball.

Jordan M. 5th Grade

Trying to pick good classes

Augustine O.

5th Grade

Picking my own classes.

Caleigh E. 5th Grade

Lady Blazer Soccer

tallies “big wins” over

Rawlins and Douglas

Zach L. & Allison M. Columnists

The Torrington track team has

been hard at work for the last two months at four different track meets, proving that they are some of the best athletes in the state. On the girls’ side ,Allison Marsh has been perform-ing very well in all her events and has contributed heavily to the girls 4x1 and 4x4 relays. She is the leading point scorer for the girls so far this season, closely followed by sophomore Avery M., junior Mikayla M., and senior Tarah W.

Avery has placed high in the long jump and helped both the 4x1 and 4x4 relay teams in their success. “Long jump didn’t go as well as I hoped, but the 4x4 went awesome! I’m excited to see how we end up at the end of the year.”

“I cleared every height on my first jump which helped me achieve first place [at the Newcastle Invite],” said Mikayla who jumped a height of 4’8” in high jump. “I’m really excited for the 4x4 because I think we will get bet-ter and we can all run faster!”

The team members of the 4x400 meter relay are all looking for-ward to the upcoming meets and hop-ing to improve. Their eventual goal is to break the school record and win state.

Discus and shot put throwers are also helping out in the Lady Blazers success so far this season. Matty J. placed first in the shot put and third in discuss at the first meet. Unfortunately, due to a shoulder injury, she is out for the rest of the season.

F r e s h m a n Alex L. has earned fifth place in discus every meet so far. “My goal is to try to make it to state this year, but if I don’t I won’t be too worried as long as I improve.”

The Lady Blazers have im-proved as a team each week; placing 6th at the Glen Legler Invite in Casper with a total of 41 points, 5th in Wheatland with 76 points, and 2nd with 91 points in Newcastle. As many athletes were not able to participate in the Viking Invite at Guernsey, due to Easter break, they tied with Guernsey for 7th place with 25 points.

The Blazer Boys have placed first as a team in two out of the last four meets; claiming the gold in both Guern-

sey and Wheatland. They also placed third in Newcastle only being edged out by Custer, SD and Douglas.

The leading point scorer is Blake W. who has strong showings in the 300 hurdles, 110 hurdles, and con-tributes heavily to the 4x1 team. In a close second is Isaac B. whose best events are the 100 and the 200 meter dashes, but he is also on the 4x1 relay team with Blake.

Sophomore Brock Y. has shown competitive hurdling ability in every meet so far, placing in every meet ex-cept for the Glen Legler. Senior Ryan L. has been running well in the 800 and also starts the 4x8 team giving them the strong start that they need. Junior Isidro C. has ran terrifically in the 2 mile, placing at every meet he has com-peted in, plus he runs a notable 800 in the 4x8 relay team.

Sophomore Caden C. has been a force in the jumping pits having won gold in both the triple and long jumps. He also has run a great 300 hurdles time, losing only to his team-mate, Blake.

On the throwing side, Zach L. has been tossing the shot and disc the best for the boys, but with junior Evan P. recovering from a collar bone injury, these two hope to show strongly at the regional and state track meets. Sopho-

more William A. is follow-ing closely behind these two and could squeeze his way onto the state roster in both discus and shot. Junior Nick P. has been dropping bombs and whale calls in the shot put, placing high in the last two meets. Freshman Bailey L. has shown promise in the disc so far this year cracking 100 feet in the last meet. “I thought I did okay. I didn’t throw that well in shot but I

threw better in disc. I want to improve on my shot put technique.” Bailey be-lieves that the team did pretty well as a whole and everyone did their best. “My favorite part of track meets is throwing discus… Oh, and catching the occasional lady’s eye.”

The Blazer track team travels to Glenrock on Friday, April 13.

13 Sydney H.

Columnist The Blazer boys’ soccer team

has started the season off well as their record to date is 4-3. Throughout the past seven games (not including the second New-castle game), the boys had 101 shots on goal with 16 goals. “We have been doing a lot of new drills this year,” senior Dan A. said. “We are passing and playing a lot better as a team!” Senior Carlos A. agreed. “We are talking and have a lot better control this year. We are also working as team more than we have in the past.” Carlos has recorded 41 shots with 6 goals. Sophomore Manuel M. has had 35 shots with 7 goals. Southeast sophomore Travis M. has notched 10 shots with 1 goal. Southeast senior, Scott M. has had 2 shots on goal with 1 goal, while junior Josh R. has had 1 shot on goal and 1 goal. Ring has also added 42 saves to the Blazer stats. “I’m seeing a lot of good ball control and passing that we haven’t had in the previous years,” Josh said. “If we continue to improve, we could knock somebody out of state as an upset.” Although the boys seem to be doing well, injuries and ineligibility are hurting the boys. “We need to get some of our key players back on the field,” Dan said. In the most recent game against Newcastle, the Blazers won in overtime by a score of 3-2. In this match, Martinez had two goals, while Carlos had one.

Torrington Lander

1 2 Torrington Scottsbluff

Torrington

Torrington

1 5

6 0

Newcastle

1 3

Gering

3 1

Torrington Rawlins

4 1

Torrington Douglas

3 2

Torrington Newcastle

Blazer boys begins

three-game

winning streak

Track proves that

they “are some of

the best athletes

in the state

17 Kolter E. Columnist

It is always a time for celebra-

tion when achievements are made and goals are reached That was the point of the “Celebrate Success” assembly held on Wednesday at THS. Students were recognized individually for tasked ac-complished during the school year. Students like Jason M. (Wyoming’s Gatorade Student Athlete of the Year), Blake O. (who was awarded $14,000 in scholarship money during a single week), Dimitri N. (four

top-five placings at state FBLA) were honored, along with many other awards earned this semester. Student Council adviser Lindy Ellis was the mastermind behind the event. She said it was not staged as a pep rally in the gym because this event was not just focused on sports. “This was an assembly focused on student achievement,” Ellis said. Freshman Mario R. said, “I liked the assembly because I got to dance to some good music.” Senior Blake O. said, “It was a great way to show the

accomplishments of those who were involved. We kept it formal and stayed focused on congratulating the individ-ual achievements.” Many students who attended the assembly received the perfect atten-dance gifts (candy and Gatorade) for their flawless records. “I thought it was good. I felt like it encouraged kids to go out for activi-ties. I liked the way it was set up be-cause the kids got to go on stage when receiving their awards,” said junior Kay-lie H.

Celebrate Success Assembly: a success of its own Athletic awards joined by academic and extracurricular honors in one giant celebration

Eleven THS FFA teams finish in top ten

Blazers, winning! From perfect attendance, to Lady Blazer Bas-ketball, to FCCLA, the Celebrate Success Assembly did some-thing never before seen at THS: it brought all students together to congratulate everyone‟s accomplishments. Staff Photos

In compliance

with Goshen

County School

District Board

policy, all last

names of

students have

been

censored by

The Blazing

Sun.

EDITOR‟S NOTE Working for our future: Part 2 will be contin-ued in the April 23 issue of The Blazing Sun.

Nick P. Opinions Editor

By comparing our generations to the ones from the past, I’ve noticed and concluded something that I wish were not true: the work ethic and atti-tudes of our generation are dwarfed by the ones of the past. The worst part about this is that we are still in high school. I sometimes worry about what it will be like when we are all adults and older citizens running the show. Many students in today’s world just can’t fathom the fact that applying themselves in education is a must. Due to the increased competition, people can’t just waltz into an interview and expect the employer to give them jobs; we have to work at improvement! I hear complaints that some of the not-so-accomplished students that “I’m not smart enough,” or “You’re smart, so this is all easy for you unlike me.” Guess what? We all don’t automati-cally understand something right when we are taught it. Even the top students at first don’t know what Heron’s Formula is or the difference between independ-ent and dependent clauses or whether sodium and chlorine are an ionic, cova-lent, or polar covalent bond. The one thing that separates the students with a higher G.P.A and a lower one, is that the higher-ranked students don’t give up when they don’t under-stand something; rather than sitting back in their chair, pouting like babies, and saying that they’re dumb and they don’t need to know what the concept is. If we all just magically knew everything right off the bat, first-graders would be asking me questions about the quadratic formula on their homework. It takes practice, persistence, and contin-ued effort to master something, and schoolwork is no different. I also almost puke up my lunch at another common excuse: “I just don’t have the time to do my work.” What this should really say is, “I’m either too lazy to do anything, or I don’t know how to manage my time.” Participating in athletics is not an excuse either. Practices are done by 6:00 in the evening, and by the time we eat dinner, shower up, and clean up at home, I’ll give an hour to do that all. Most homework can be com-pleted within an hour, plus we even get two days to do it all! When people think that they don’t have time, they’re usually wasting their life on Facebook, video games, Twitter, chasing members of the opposite sex, or whatever somebody’s special distraction may be. Which is more important: completing an assign-ment or commenting on twenty pictures on Tumblr? If you answered the second option, you really need to re-think your priorities. Having a job does not get a per-son out of the woods either. That’s the same thing as doing athletics, but it

takes a larger portion of time in a day. Normally, people have every other day off if they are in school also. If a people have a job and they’re doing athletics, they need to manage their time better, I’ve never seen anybody be able to successfully do both completely; they need to make a choice between the two. The “I’m tired and I don’t want to work” excuse is entirely the fault of the student. Nobody should expect to fall asleep at midnight and get up at six in the morning and perform completely well throughout the day. We like to say that we forget things, but at some point the “I forgot” excuse has to be thrown into the trash can and burned. If you can’t remember, write it down; everyone has to take re-sponsibility sometime in our lives. School is important. I can’t stress that enough. Sure, we like to have fun every now and then, but having a party every hour of the day is bound to get us all F’s on our report cards. Wait a minute, go ahead and do whatever you want. In fact, be a clown in high school, and fail every single class and watch what happens by the time you turn twenty five. Sure, you’ve had some very grand times in high school, but this is the real world now. Enjoy the dirty, run-down shack, the rat-infested food, the unemployment and having little to no money to your name, and everything else that we all have nightmares about. So how do people survive under these conditions? Some people apply for welfare. To those who don’t know what welfare is, it is a program that steals the money from the hard-working people who honestly earned every penny of it, and gives the money to the people who will most likely blow it all on liquor to get a buzz. While some may think that wel-fare is the easy way out to do nothing and live poorly, it isn’t. The checks aren’t written for fortunes. They’re written for the bare necessities of bottled water and a very cheap source of food, while still paying for all utility bills. The maximum amount of money allowed to be received in a month is $600: that’s not buying anybody a new Lamborghini. Welfare won’t make anybody rich, and person-ally, if I were in charge, wouldn’t even exist. For people griping that some other kids are better off than others or live in better environments, those argu-ments are invalid. Why do we see many people saying that they are the first in their families to go to college or tell their stories of how they grew up in poor ar-eas but lived through it to rise to the top? There is one thing that can be con-trolled by each and every person indi-vidually: their work ethic.

Working for our future: Part 1 Why students need to rethink priorities and put school first

*Blazing Sun

It‟s not perfect,

but it‟s finished.