The Colt SpecialA publication of Campus High School u 2100 W. 55th St. S. Wichita, Kan.

Dyane Smokorowksi, a Kansas language arts teacher at Andover Middle School, won the 2013 Kansas teacher of the year award. In doing so, “Mrs. Smoke” gets $4,000 cash and a technology package for teaching worth around $11,000. Smokorowksi spends her time teaching eighth graders as well as traveling around helping other teachers learn to better use technology in the classroom.

The country still suffers from Hurricane Sandy. The Cross County Shopping Center kicked off the holidays early this year with a free tree-lighting event on Saturday, November 24 for those affected by the hurricane. In addition to free music, face-painting and strolling enter-tainers, the shopping center is teamed up with its landscape contractors to give away free Christmas trees to the first 200 shoppers who show up for the pre-holiday event. Kids will be offered a picture with Santa and a free gift to go with it.

Hostess begins liquidation as they close down their 33 facto-ries and leave 18,000 people jobless. The famous Twinkie is now endangered. Despite their seemingly timeless appeal, appearing in Ghostbusters and Zombieland, the company is falling to its knees and people are willing to pay top dollar for the precious cream filled desserts. On eBay, boxes of Twinkies are being auctioned off for $300 a box.

Gifts for Hurricane Sandy Victims Hostess Closing Down

The most recent production put on by Campus’ Mane Stage was The King and I by Rogers and Hammerstein. The show itself was deemed excellent by many a staff member and stu-dent. Two full houses on open-ing night and the night follow-ing are another indication of the show’s success. Perhaps another thing that drew the eye of view-ers was the 48 elementary to middle school aged children involved in the show.

“It was certainly a feat,” Roxana Stitt, director of the show, said. This recent action taken by the theatre department is an-other one of the many ways that they’re trying to reach out to the community. Community ser-vice projects, like Trick or Treat So Kids Can Eat (which a large number of other organizations participated in), performances by the Mane Stage Maniacs at the Fall Fest, and an effort to involve a younger generation theatre related activities are all ways that the Mane Stage troupe is trying to reach out. “I think that it’s important

to get kids involved [in theatre] early,” senior Shelby Bettles said. “It encourages them to stay involved for longer and to get their friends involved.” The King and I was major in that it’s the first show in a while to have so many children in-volved in its production. There have been younger kids in shows before, but never so many as this. It’s the hope of both stu-dents and teachers involved with the theatre department that by working with children and par-ents in the community to foster an interest in all aspects of the arts.

Imagine trying to get presents for 200 children who might otherwise not get anything for Christmas. That is exactly what Campus’s wood shop class is doing for the Toys for Tots charity. This year they decided to build 200 toy planes to donate. “It’s a fun and challenging process,” junior Mitch Landreth said. Each student in Furniture and Cabi-net II class drew their own design for a plane and then voted on the best. After getting the design approved by Toys for Tots, they broke up into teams and got to work. “It was a bigger project than we thought it was going to be,” junior Katie Simons said. The wood shop students missed this year’s deadline for the toy donation but

now they will have plenty of time for the huge job. Brett Marrs, the wood shop teacher, was inspired to get his students involved with the charity by a project he did in college and decided it would be a good chance for the students. “The [students] are working well together,” Marrs said. Marrs says that his students are using team work and have a good strategy to get all the planes done for next Christ-mas. “It’s awesome to do this for kids who wouldn’t get presents,” junior Kayla Burke said. “Once we get done, it’ll be nice,” junior Zane Vickers said. All the students agree that building the planes has been a good experience for them and are glad to be giving back to the community.

World In BriefsKansas teacher of the year

Parents and students took their voices to 55th street by Campus High School. On Thursday November 29, in response to the bullying incident, several parents and USD 261 students started protesting against bul-lying in the district while several Campus students called back that “Campus is safe.” Recently, a student at Campus threatened to commit suicide after being bullied. She is currently getting professional help and her parents organized protests. “The principal won’t do anything,” Justin Miller, the girl’s father and organizer of the protests, said. “Administration won’t call us back.” In response to the protest, Campus students stood across the street calling back. They were holding signs saying “Honk if you love Campus” and “We love our school.” “We’re here to support our school,” junior Cassandra Nguyen said. All the students at the counter protest be-lieved that bullying at Campus is not really a problem at school and that if the faculty knows of any cases, the issue is handled appropriately. “The protestors came out and attacked our school,” junior Sydney Davis said. Davis believes that the protestors should have come straight to administration and worked with the principals and counselors about the issue instead of coming out front

of the school to protest. Miller and other protestors demanded that the district needs harsher punishments on bullying. “Kids will be kids,” protestor Diane Teneyck said. “But bullying is going too far.” Teneyck’s daughter, Hayley, was also there. Hayley is a student at Haysville Middle School and agrees that there needs to be more done about bullying. “The school should be asking more people if they have been bullied,” Hayley said. Along with Hayley, several children were alongside the road holding up signs and shouting “Save a kid; stop the bullying.” “All the kids here have been bullied,” Amber Englehart said. “[The protestors] are blaming all of the staff when they should be calling out the bully,” junior Dana Smith said. The parents protesting against the school believe that Campus’ faculty does nothing about bullying, but the staff argues that all of USD 261 is involved in its anti-bully efforts. Student clubs and organizations teach how to make high school enjoyable for everyone. “[The staff has] developed the PRIDE curriculum and implemented Social Con-tracts to help make the environment posi-tive and successful,” an anonymous Campus source said. “Students must advocate for their needs just as much as adults must listen and respond to those needs.”

The King and Kids

Abby Agnew Co-editor-in-Chief

Parents; students protest bullying in front of Campus

Kelsey KendallAsst. ed./Ad man Elementary and middle school students played in Mane Stage’s production The King and I as the royal children

and Anna’s son. Photo by Abby Agnew

Kelsey KendallAsst. ed/Ad man

Gibson CombsStaff Reporter

Parents and several USD 261 students demand harsher anti-bullying poclicies. Photo coutresy of Dennis Decker.

Most recent Mane Stage includes many childrenWoodshop makes toys

Kayla Burke works on toy planes for Toys for Tots. Photo by: Kelsey Kendall

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• Like the nation, more females at Campus voted for Obama than Romney. Unlike the nation, however, so did males, although by a much smaller margin.

• As a nation, older voters are more likely to vote for Romney. This did not seem to be the case at Campus, however, as sophomores were the only class that voted for Romney more than Obama. This figure may be thrown by the fact that more sophomores voted than any other class.

• Just as the national popular vote was very close, Campus votes for Obama equaled barely more than half.

• Campus’ electoral votes, or teachers’ votes, were less in favor of Obama than the Electoral Col-lege votes.

• While third party candidates received around just 2% of the popular votenationwide, they re-ceived a whopping 7.4% at Campus.

• Campus’ voter turnout was comparably higher. Approximately two-thirds of students voted at our school election, while barely more than half of citizens turned out to vote nationwide.

Obama 51%

Romney42%

Johnson5%

Baldwin2%

School ElectionResults

Obama 51%

Romney48%

Johnson1% Baldwin

0%

National Election Results

eriCA wArren

opinion editor

JAke bArb

StAff reporter

Photo Courtesy of Discovery News

The people of Wichita have spoken: fluoridating the local water will not hap-pen. While some argue that the additive would benefit people’s bone strength, especially children’s, the voice that won the election believed that the fluoride could cause many health problems. “At first I thought it was a good idea,” senior Sapphire Sorenson said. “But then I did some research.” Sorenson found that for babies and pets, fluoride could do more damage than good. If a baby drinks formula milk, the fluoridated water from the sink could make it really sick. This could possibly lead to more serious problems down the road. The same could be said for pets. Sorenson believes that strong teeth and bones do not justify compro-mising the health of those who have no control over what they are given.

Junior Allison Jerome argues that fluoridation could really help the health of Wichita’s children, even those from low income families. “Instead of paying all that money to the dentist,” Jerome said. “It’s already in the water.” Also, Jerome believes that there will really only be a tiny amount of fluoride in the water. It could not do the harm that so many people are fussing over. According to the US National Library of Medicine, the fluoride would, in fact, help the dental health of many, but a side effect could possibly be dental fluorosis, a change in the enamel that looks like pores and is most likely to occur, during the developmental stage of teeth, if the bone is exposed to too much fluoride. Wichita had planned to keep only a small amount of fluoride in the water, but the fear was still that local children could possibly suffer from this type of tooth decay.

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ABIGAIl AGnEw - Co-EDIToR-In-ChIEFERIn ThoMPSon - Co-EDIToR-In-ChIEF

KElSEy KEnDAll - ASST. ED./AD MAnAGERERICA wARREn - oPInIon EDIToR

JAKE BRAy - PhoTo & DESIGn EDIToRMERRIE ShAvER - FEATURE EDIToR

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MS. ShADlE - ADvISER

Photo Courtesy of Glimpse Dog

Decision over flouride made

The Results are in:

2DECEMBER

Old science bringing new discoveries and helping humanity reach beyond our solar

system

Voyager I was launched in 1977 with its twin craft Voyager II, and has been floating through the vacuum of space for 35 years. It is the furthest man-made object from earth. At this point in time Voyager I is about 122 AU from our sun, which is nearly three times the difference from the sun to Pluto, according to Discover News contributor Ian O’Neill. It takes an astounding 17 hours for signals from the probe to reach us here at earth. For those alien-theorists, the scientists who developed Voyager I included something that may be of interest. It is a gold plated disc that includes pictures of humans, various other earth-residing life forms, music (including Mo-zart), and scientific information. Why is this disk attached to the probe? Well, just in case Voyager I makes contact with intelligent life forms from another solar system! The probe is thought to have recently escaped the sun’s sphere of influence. This is the area of space around the sun, which can be measured through it’s mag-netic field and the amount of high-energy particles from the sun itself. Voyager I is believed to have left the sun’s sphere of influence according to the data that is received on earth. It is

quite possible that the probe has in fact left our solar system. “The number of high-energy particle detections (from interstellar space) have increased, whereas the number of lower-energy par-ticle detections (from the solar wind) have dropped off a cliff” Ian O’Neill said. The edge of our solar system holds many interesting phe-nomenon. Because of the sun’s spinning, it’s magnetic fields become twisted and folded a very large distance away from the sun itself. These are what the probe

has been detecting. These fields have resulted in what could be considered an interstellar froth. Imagine this as the froth in your Starbucks cup. However, instead of coffee, these bubbles are in interstellar space and are at times 100 million miles wide. They are so huge in fact, that it could take the probe multiple weeks to cross a single bubble, according to an article from Discovery news. Humans may have reached out into interstellar space. And all this, with a 35 year old probe.

Photo Courtesy of NASA

The results are in, and President Obama has been reelected by both the nation and our school. Here’s how we compare to the nation based on an exit poll, or a poll taken immediately after voters exited their voting stations:

The majority of Campus students who voted seem to be in line with the rest of the country, but perhaps the results of both elections would have been altered if more had shown up to vote.

Nearly everyone remembers it: the day they found out that Santa Claus isn’t real. As children we were devastated, and our first Christmas after gaining this knowledge was generally ruined. Since then, though, we have come to accept and to realize just why Santa cannot exist. Granted, there really was a man named Saint Nicholas, called so for his generous giving to children, but he was just a man. Maybe his legend has gone a little too far, making parents lie to their children, whose dreams are crushed a few short years later. As a child I loved to get presents from Santa. Now that I’m older, how-ever, I see that my parents have been “Santa” all along. After my sister told me the big secret, I wanted so bad for it to not be true, but I soon began to see that the signs were right there in front of me all along. Most prevalent is the issue of Santa traveling around to every house in the entire world. There simply is not enough time to bring presents to that many chil-dren in one night, and while some argue that magic is involved or a sort of time lapse occurs, I do not believe that such a phenomenon can happen. Also, how does Santa eat that many cookies in one night? We know that he does not have a very fast metabolism, and while his stomach may be large, he cannot fit millions of cookies in there without bursting. Another question is how exactly does he get into houses without chimneys? When I asked this question as a child, my mother would tell me that he came through the front door. Despite my love for Santa, all this lie did was creep me out. I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of a large man with facial hair being able to just walk in our front door anytime he pleased. Somehow this seemed even more invading than sliding down the chimney. Don’t get me wrong; Christmas is my favorite holiday, and there is nothing-wrong with believing in Santa Claus as children. But as much as I want to believe in him, there comes a time when we all must accept the fact that Santa Claus does not exist.

Kids these days just don’t believe. It’s not like I blame them; the idea of a man in a red suit riding around in a magic sleigh giving stuff to good kids does sound a little too good to be true. But let’s think about it in this light. It’s safe to say, that if someone doesn’t believe in Santa, he isn’t going to bring them anything. It’s also prob-ably safe to say that after a person has reached the age of adulthood, Santa stops putting that person’s name on his list, whether they believe or not. It’s also pertinent to consider that not everybody celebrates Christmas. There are other holiday traditions out there that don’t have anything to do with Santa: Hanukah, Kwanza, Solstice Festivals, ect. There’s another chunk of people that Santa doesn’t have to deliver to. That being said, there is still the problem of these kids being scattered around the world. Santa’s only got 24 hours to get these gifts out. He’s gonna need some serious reindeer power. The speed of light is measured at around 2.99 x 10^8 meters/second. The radius of the Earth in meters is 6.4 x 10^8. If all Santa had to do was fly, we could let him get away with traveling just a little bit under the speed of light in order to make it in time. However, this particular train of thought doesn’t account for the actual gift giving, cookie breaks, and reindeer pit stops. Let’s lay a bit of math on this and say that since velocity is equal to distance/time, we can account for any breaks that Santa takes during his flight by adding them to the distance that he’s got to travel. We’ll call these breaks y. Our equations looks like this: VSanta= (2*3.14*6.4x10^8) + y/24 hrs. (or 8.6 x 10^4 seconds). Assuming that Santa is in fact magi-cal, it’s not such a stretch to believe that he could push himself to go this fast. I am, unfortunately, over the age at which I am able to receive gifts from Santa. Some of the people who are read-ing this though, maybe aren’t. There’s still a couple weeks left before Christ-mas. Go ask the math department for some help. Solve the equation. Come to a conclusion. Take another shot at believing in Santa.

Ho ho ho or No no noAuthors disagree about the existence of santa claus

eriCA wArren

opinion editor

Abby Agnew

Co-edt.-in-Chief

Do you love to write? Do you love computer design? Do you love receiving issues of the school newspaper? Then you should consider joining The Colt Special! Being a part of the staff is a very rewarding experience. Since joining at the beginning of last year, I have created many friendships with people who share my interests and who I would otherwise not have met. We’ve become like a small family. Newspaper has also al-lowed me to explore my love of writing even more and has helped me discover what I want to do with the rest of my life. There are some prerequisites, though. Before enrolling in Newspaper Journal-

ism, a B or higher is required in English or Journalism I. It is preferred that you take Journalism I because this class teaches the basics of journalistic writing and prepares you for working in the world of media. Newspaper isn’t all about interview-ing and writing, however. There are other elements involved, including photography and layout design. Perhaps my favorite part about newspaper is the freedom of designing a page however I want. Working with software like InDe-sign and Photoshop is a lot of fun. While our newspaper class has be-come like a small family, we’re almost too small. We would love to welcome new members next semester and in the years to come, so make sure you sign up!

eriCA wArren

opinion editor

You know what really grinds my gears? When people interrupt me in the middle of my sentence; I’m sorry I didn’t know the middle of my sentence interrupted the beginning of yours. I hate when I watch a movie at the theatres and people have their baby in there, come on now a movie theatre is

not the place for a baby. They need to have an age requirement against kids under four. If you still believe in Santa, you’re too young to watch the movie. I dislike it when you’re doing some-thing and one of your parents call your name, you say, “What.” And they don’t answer, so you go see what they want and they say they didn’t call you. Fast food places are another thing that confuses me. The other day I was in line to get food at McDonalds and the

people in front of me waited till it was their turn to order before even looking at the menu. What’s with that? And why can’t people who work at fast food places get the order right? It’s on a screen; you make it, then put in a bag and give it to the person. It’s not that hard at all. Oh? You want a cheese burger? Here let me give you a chicken sandwich because I can’t do my job right.

tAnner hutton

gueSt writer

Video games have become very popular over the last 20 years, more specifically, the violent ones. Halo 4 just came out last month with $220 million made worldwide within 24 hours of its release date. Call of Duty: Black Ops II, another fan favorite, made an even more profitable turnout with $500 million worth of copies sold in the same time frame. These are very gruesome and gory games that reward the player for going on kill streaks, getting headshots and getting knife kills. With content such as this being constantly thrown at us, it begs the question: Are we becom-ing desensitized to the real gory and terrible things happening in the world? It’s not just video games either. It seems that movies are becoming more bloody, along with the TV show favor-ites. The Walking Dead, one of the most popular TV shows out there among teens and adults, is very horrific. If we are used to seeing real-looking animation on the screen, then a person getting shot is

almost normal to us in real life. Imag-ine the difference in reaction between a farm-raised kid and a city kid to the slaughter of a pig. Osama bin Laden was killed on May 2, 2011. The internet flooded with pic-tures of his dead body when they were finally released. Pictures of this mangled corpse were there for us all to see. Many looked to see for themselves the proof that the al-Qaeda leader was truly dead, but most viewed the picture not for reimbursement or for a gain of any kind, but for the simple conversation starter or to be on top of the recent buzz over America. The simple fact is millions of people saw the picture of the bloody and terrible body, and were unaffected by it. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a person views, on aver-age, 200,000 acts of violence through media by the time they turn 18. Whether it is on the TV, on a video game, in a movie, or even in a book or magazine, they can suffer desensitization. It is not limited to children either. No matter what age, a person can still be suscep-tible to the harmful effects of the media.

gibSon CoMbS

StAff reporter

Dear Miss Mare,

I’m not quite sure what happened but my best friend has sud-denly stopped talking to me. She is avoid-ing me and I don’t know what I should do. How should I ap-proach her? -- Confused BFF

Dear Confused BFF, You might want to think about what’s been going on. Is there any possibility that you might have said or done something that might have been offensive? Some people don’t say anything if they are upset, but if you can’t think of anything then maybe the best thing would be to break the ice. Go up and talk to her. Don’t sound rude or pushy, but let her know that you are concerned and you don’t know why she seems to be ignoring you. For all you know it could be just a simple misunderstanding.

The worst thing to do in this sort of situation would be to do nothing. Don’t freak out; there is a good chance there isn’t anything going on.

Dear Miss Mare, So I’ve been trying to think of what gift to get my girlfriend for Christmas. We haven’t really been dating that long so it’s not like I know everything about her, but I want to get her something nice. Any suggestions?-- Clueless Boyfriend

Dear Clueless Boyfriend, Gift giving can be pretty difficult if you don't know the person well. A lot of people tend to go to the more generic card or candy gifts, but those tend to be impersonal. That doesn't mean that those wouldn't work. You can always get a cute card that you put some thought into with a poem or your own message. Also, you can never go wrong with candy if you know what she likes. If you're thinking of some-thing more personal, talk to her friends. Someone

is bound to have an idea that could help.

Dear Miss Mare,

My parents and I are hosting the BIG FAMILY CHRIST-MAS this year. I've been put in charge of entertainment. I want to do something extra fun so that my family isn't just sitting around making small talk. What are some games that are fun for every-one?-- Holiday Fun Lover

Dear Holiday Fun Lover, First of all, you have to un-derstand that there might be someone who might not want to participate in the games, otherwise your family cooperates a lot better than most. You could get some paper, scis-sors, glue etc, and people could make their own tree ornaments. This would get all age groups involved. Little kids get to play with glue and the adults get to pretend they're kids again. Everyone wins. Also, there are board games. A fun game of Monopoly could bring everyone together if no one kills someone over stealing money. All that said, don't count out small talk. Getting together and chatting about what has happened in the past year can be as fun as any craft or game.

Ask Miss Mare

DECEMBER 2012 oPInIon 3

You know what really grinds my gears

Drawn by Alex McLemore

ever thought about joining newspaper?

Media creating monsters

Author questions role of media in desensitization to violence

Author shares why newspaper is awesome

I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of a large man with facial hair being able to just walk in our front door anytime he pleased.

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Santa’s only got 24 hours to get these gifts out. He’s gonna need some serious reindeer power.

When many people think of the holi-days, one of the first things that pop into their minds is the food. Here are some recipes from some Campus students for meals they enjoy eating each year with their families.

1. Ranch Crackers – Junior Seth Her-nandez Although Hernandez doesn’t particu-larly make them for a holiday, they are a seasonal food that he and his family enjoy.Ingredients: 1 bag of oyster crackers ½ cup of olive oil 1 packet dry ranchMix them ingredients in a bowl then put onto a cookie sheet bake in the oven for about fifteen minutes at 350 degrees

2. Gumdrop Cookies – Junior Hunter Emond Emond enjoys this tasty desert with her family around the holidays.Ingredients:3/4 cup shortening1 cup Imperial Sugar® / Dixie Crys-tals® Granulated Sugar1/2 teaspoon almond extract 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour1/2 teaspoon baking soda1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup chopped fruit-flavored or spiced gumdrops 2 egg whitesMix the ingredients together and bake them on a cookie sheet in the oven for about ten minutes at 350 degrees.

3. Pancit – Junior Sam Baylosis Baylosis and her family enjoy taking the time to make this Asian cuisine for the holidays.

Ingredients:Any kind of meatAny kind of vegetableNoodlesWaterFirst cook the meat, then the vegetables. Saute everything, and then add in the noodles and a little water. Cover it with a lid and let it cook for a little while.

4. Strawberry Jello – Freshman Ryan Burke Burke had only one thing to say about this dish: “It’s yummy.”Ingredients:1 box of strawberry jelloWalnuts Maraschino cherriesMake the jello as directed on the box and mix in the cherries. After the jello is completely prepared put it into a bowl and mash it up. Then add the walnuts.

Merrie ShAver

feAture editor

fun holiday recipes

Drawn by Alex McLemore

Photo by Merrie Shaver

Across:2.___are given to others on Christmas day.7. This holiday is on December 25.8. These animals pull Santa’s sleigh.9. Santa’s LITTLE helpers10. A common decoration for the Christmas holidays, its berries are toxic

to humans12. Originally started Thanksgiving with the Indians13. ___ pie is a traditional Thanksgiving dessert14. Singing Christmas songs15. This country ( above the U.S.) also celebrates Thanksgiving

Down:1. This holiday is on November 22 this year.2. ___ was the first president to pro-claim Thanksgiving a national holiday3. Santa’s vehicle of choice4. Saint ___, also known as Santa Claus5. What is the most well known food associated with Thanksgiving6. A Christmas decoration that is usually hung on the door to your home

Celebrate the holidays!

Childhood Christmas wishes

Sophomore Beni KleinMLG Mario Kart

Junior Timmy Marr“A robot body to put my brain in”

Senior Nikki HaysBratz Car

Senior Patric Tom-linsonA Telescope

Senior Brady Byers A Chainsaw

Junior Logan AyerScuba Diving Equipment

Campus students remember what presents they wanted as a child

Photos by Jake Barb

1. Most of Santa’s reindeer have male-sounding names, such as Blitzer, Comet, and Cupid. However, male reindeers shed their antlers around Christmas, so the reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh are likely not male, but female.2. Norwegian scientists have hypothesized that Rudolph’s red nose is probably the result of a parasitic infection of his respira-tory system.3. The Germans made the first artificial Christmas trees out of dyed goose feathers.4. Each year more than 3 billion Christmas cards are sent in the U.S. alone.5. All the gifts in the Twelve Days of Christmas would equal 364 gifts.6. In A.D. 350, Pope Julius I, bish-op of Rome, proclaimed December 25 the official celebration date for the birthday of Christ.7. According to data analyzed from Face-book posts, two weeks before Christmas is one of the two most popular times for couples to break up. However, Christmas Day is the least favorite day for breakups.8. Contrary to popular belief, suicide rates during the Christmas holiday are low. The highest rates are during the spring.9. The world’s largest Christmas stocking measured 106 feet and 9 inches (32.56 m) long and 49 feet and 1 inch (14.97 m) wide. It weighed as much as five reindeer and held almost 1,000 presents. It was made by the Children’s Society in London on December 14, 2007.10. Christmas trees have been sold in the U.S. since 1850.11. Christmas trees usually grow for about 15 years before they are sold.12. Each year there are approximately 20,000 “rent-a-Santas” across the United States. 13. The British wear paper crowns while they eat Christmas dinner. The crowns are stored in a tube called a “Christmas cracker.”14. In Poland, spiders or spider webs are common Christmas trees decorations be-cause according to legend, a spider wove a blanket for Baby Jesus. 15. Alabama was the first state in the

United States to officially recognize Christmas in 1836.16. Oklahoma was the last state the declare Christmas a holiday17. Christmas wasn’t declared an official holiday in the United States until June 26, 1870.18. Oklahoma was the last U.S. state to declare Christmas a legal holiday, in 1907.19. Santa Claus is based on a fourth-centu-ry bishop from modern-day Turkey.20. Puritan Oliver Cromwell outlawed Christmas celebrations and carols in Eng-land from 1649-1660. The only celebra-tions allowed were sermons and prayers.21. President Teddy Roosevelt, an environ-mentalist, banned Christmas trees from the White House in 1912.22. It is estimated that the single “White Christmas” by Irving Berlin is the best selling single of all time, with over 100 million sales worldwide.23. There are approximately 21,000 Christ-mas tree farms in the United States. In 2008, nearly 45 million Christmas trees were planted, adding to the existing 400 million trees.24. The first lighted Christmas tree can be traced to Martin Luther.25. The first printed reference to a Christ-mas tree was in 1531 in Germany.26. Approximately 30-35 million real (liv-ing) Christmas trees are sold each year in the U.S.27. In 1962, the first Christmas postage stamp was issued in the United States.28. In Germany, Christmas Eve, is said to be a magical time when the pure in heart can hear animals talking.29. According to the United Nations Chil-dren’s Fund (UNICEF), there are 2,106 million children under age 18 in the world. If there are on average 2.5 children per household, Santa would have to make 842 million stops on Christmas Eve, traveling 221 million miles. To reach all 842 million stops, Santa would need to travel between houses in 2/10,000 second, which means he would need to accelerate 12.19 million miles per second on each stop. The force of this acceleration would reduce Santa to “chunky salsa.”30. Christmas purchases account for 1/6 of all retail sales in the U.S.

JAke brAy photo editor

30 Christmas facts

DECEMBER EnTERTAInMEnT 4

Merrie ShAver

feAture editor

When most students think of their teachers, they think of the person they know from their classrooms, not someone who has traveled all around the world. However, Richard Butler, Campus’s German teacher, has had more adventures than many students would expect from their high school teacher. Despite being born and raised in eastern Kansas as the youngest of nine children,Butler has seen and done many things. One of his adventures was a 7000 mile trip on a motorcycle across fifteen states in forty-five days, but he found out a trip across the states on a small mo-torcycle is not always the best idea. “The day after I got back I sold the motorcycle and thanked the Lord I was still alive,” Butler said. However, one motorcycle trip in Kansas is a small portion of how much Butler has traveled. He claims to have been in over eighty coun-tries. Of course, being a German teacher, one of these countries is Germany. “For over forty years I’ve gone back to Germany almost every second summer to visit my German family,” Butler said. Other places Butler has been to include the historic city of Machu Picchu in Peru, along with almost all of South and Central America and also many parts of Europe. He has also been to all parts of every state in the United States. Another one of the countries But-ler visited is Colombia. He recalls his time there when it was in the middle of a drug war. “No one dared to be in the streets

or on the highway, but I hired a taxi to take us across the country,” Butler said. “I don’t like to be stuck in one place for too long, even during a drug war.” Some of his other adventures that he is proud of include riding camels around the pyramids in Egypt and climbing to the top of largest pyra-mid. He also hiked down to the bottom of the

Grand Canyon not just once, but twice. Out of all the places he’s been to, Butler’s favorite place to be is the city of Munich in Germany. As much as he loves to travel to other places, he still enjoys teaching at Campus. However, despite having seen nearly the entire world, Butler claims his bucket list is not yet finished.

Teacher Feature: Everyone at Campus is worried about how well he or she will per-form on Semester Finals, the ACTs and the Military Multi-Aptitude Battery. Here are proven tips to help our students prepare and succeed on these tests. • Take these tests frequently • If you do not like your test scores, you need to consult a teacher about the scores • Keep grades up throughout the school year • Improve reading skills by reading anything that can exercise the brain everyday

• Come to school every day unless you must miss

• Do not just study test material but study all material to prepare for college

• Take plenty of practice tests to be familiar with the format of the test

• Get proper rest the night before the test

• Eat a proper breakfast to satisfy hunger before the test

• Pace yourself on the test and do not rush

Alex MclemoreStaff Cartoonist

Study Tips: What to do to perpare for upcoming tests

Photo By Merrie Shaver

Study tips for semester finals, ACTs and the Military Multi-Apptitude Battery. Photo By ALex Mclemore

kelSey kendAll

ASSt. editor/ Ad MAnAger

Foreign exchange holidays: What our foreign exchange students did during the past holiday

The United States is the only country that celebrates Thanksgiving, and Campus High School’s foreign exchange students got the opportunity to experience that day of thanks and, of course, food. “We ate all the time,” junior Martin Honcha, from Germany, said. “Until we couldn’t even move anymore.” Honcha and junior Amalie An-dersen from Denmark live together with their host family. Over Thanks-giving break, not only did they get to experience a foreign holiday, but also got to go to New Mexico to spend the holiday with their host family’s family. There, they got to go hiking in the mountains and visit the White Sands monument. Then Honcha and Andersen, who especially enjoyed the turkey, got to spend quality time with their American family, enjoying the traditional dinner.

Staying closer to home, senior Felix Trumm, also from Germany, spent his host family’s grandparents. He particularly liked the ham. “We had a nice dinner,” Trumm said. Also staying in Kansas, senior Soemi Piccinini, from Italy, spent her first Thanksgiving with her host family and her “parents” grandchil-dren. She got to enjoy the traditions of Thanksgiving, including football in the afternoon. “It felt like home,” Piccinini said. Everyone agreed they had fun with their first true American holiday and look forward to the next big one. Christmas! “I get to see how other countries celebrate [Christmas],” Trumm said. Trumm and Honcha, both from Germany, tell what they would be do-ing if they were in Germany instead of America. Instead of opening presents on Christmas morning, in Germany,

they would open them at night on Christmas Eve then go to church late at night. Families will get together and sing and eat around the tree. “We have real trees, not plastic ones,” Honcha said. For Piccinini, Christmas is also a farewell to the United States. She will being heading back to Italy to finish her last year in high school at the end of December. Instead of being in Italy, where she would get to go to church at midnight on Christmas, Piccinini will enjoy her last holiday in America with her host family. “I’ll be happy to see my family,” Piccinini said. “But if I could stay, I would.” Honcha and Andersen will get the chance to travel the states again to visit St. Louis, Missouri. They look forward to Christmas. It will be an-other fun holiday and new experience just like Thanksgiving.

Custodial Feature: Lunch LadieskelSey kendAll

ASSt. editor/ Ad MAnAger

Sue Cooper (Right) and Caroline Button (left). Photo By Kelsey Kendall

5FEATUREDECEMBER 2012

Enigmatic and slightly sarcastic German teacher Herr Butler

Sue Cooper and Caroline But-ton have worked for fifteen years together, starting their days at six in the morning to fed more than 800 students a day as heads of the school cafeteria staff. They enjoy their work at Campus High School and have made some memories that they both laugh at together. Back when Campus was still under construction, to connect all the buildings, there was an inci-dent in the kitchen with the dish-washer when it burst into flames. Cooper and Button got the other lunch ladies out without anyone getting hurt, while someone else grabbed a water hose. Looking back, both lunch ladies agree that the event was actually kind of funny. “It was embarrassing to go tell someone what happened,” Button said. Besides the flaming dish-washer hoopla, Cooper and Button remember the good times they had back in the kitchen, including an unspeakable popcorn incident that

remains a mystery to many outside the kitchen to this day. “If I had one wish,” Cooper said. “It would be that the kids still joked around like they used to.” Both agree that the students to-day are more serious than previous classes. When the school grounds would flood, students used to bring canoes to school. While some of the teachers and other staff members were not as thrilled by this, Cooper and Button got a kick out of the joke. “How can [the students] be serious with Sailors around?” But-ton said. Outside of the fun of work, Cooper and Button keep the en-tertainment going with their own hobbies. “[Shopping] is a gift,” Cooper said. Copper also enjoys hunting and, of course, baking. Button is a movie fanatic, and since both are cooks, people can easily tell they enjoy food. “Never trust a skinny cook,” both agreed.

Have you ever wondered where Santa gets his gut? My guess is, he gets it from overeating during Thanksgiving. The cookies he eats at everybody’s houses don’t help either. Many Americans have a ten-dency to eat an awful lot more than they would normally allow them-selves to over the holidays. Why do we do this? Why is it a constant calorie battle over the time we have off from school or work? After all, the typical adult gains an average of five to eight pounds from the time between Thanksgiving and New Years. There are many theories as to why people overeat so much in this short period of time. One, humans instinctively eat more when in large groups and typically, Thanksgiving and Christmas are times where we visit our family and friends. The second theory is that obviously the food isn’t as healthy as we are used to eating. One cup of Thanksgiving stuffing can have as many as 660

calories! The third theory as to why people overeat during the holidays is the fact that there is such a wide variety of food choices at the table, and people want to try them all. How is it possible to prevent overeating? “The solution is simple,” sopho-more Jacob Mizer said. “We just save all the extra food for Santa. He will eat all our scraps.” Dr. Joseph Skelton, pediatri-cian and director of Brenner FIT at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center says that one sure fire way to prevent massive weight gain is to wait between helpings. Skelton says it takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to register to your brain that it is full. Waiting the extra 20 minutes to see if you are still hun-gry after your first plate can make a big difference. Skelton also says that if you know you are going to have a big dinner, to make sure to eat less for breakfast and lunch. “People constantly use the holidays as an excuse to overeat,” sophomore Tanya Mendez said. “Food makes people happy.”

Gobble, gobble, gobble:

Everyone has a different idea of how to spend the winter break. For some it means getting into the holiday spirit, and for oth-ers it’s just an extended break from school. Still, many Campus students have their own way of celebrating the holidays. Junior Cera Magaña and her family have a special tradition for Christmas. In recent years her family has held an annual Fondu Night. However, each year they’ve managed to start a fire. “We have baking soda on the table that catches fire,” Magaña said. “We don’t mean for it to

happen, it’s just a tradition that keeps happening.” Freshman Ryan Burke and his family have a tradition where the kids wear reindeer antlers when they pass out Christmas presents. However, Burke isn’t so thrilled about this particular tradition. “I look stupid and my grand-ma takes pictures and gives them to my mom,” Burke said. When it comes to the tra-ditional holiday food, junior Jordynne Pouliot’s family has decided to make their own tradi-tional meal with Mexican food. “We get done eating leftovers from Thanksgiving and we don’t want to eat the same thing,” Pouliot said. Some people may not have a

particular tradition for the holi-days, but instead they are happy enough traveling to visit their relatives. This year, junior Betsy Burke will be taking a trip to Kansas City to be with her fam-ily over the break. “This is the first year we’re going to Kansas City,” Burke said. “Every year my family gets together. It’s nice to celebrate Christmas together.” Most people will say they love the joy that the holidays bring, and the food and gifts aren’t so bad either, but whether someone is traveling or stay-ing home to light fondu fires, the holidays are a special time for families to come together to celebrate in their own way.

Decking the Halls

Merrie ShAver

feAture editor

Gibson CombsStaff Reporter

Campus’ famed Music Department has re-leased the date for the Annual Winter Concert: Dec. 17. The special concert is to take place here at Campus in Gym One at 7 pm. The concert is to showcase the Campus Band, Choir and Orches-tra before winter break. Campus’ own band director Becky Hughes spoke to encourage people to come and watch the performance. “Many people are used to seeing our Band play at sporting events,” said Hughes. “It would be great for those same people to come and hear us in a concert band setting.” The Band performed at all the Campus Var-sity Football homegames throughout the season. “Our students are very talented and versatile,” said Hughes. “And enjoy performing in a setting that is meant to showcase their abilities.” All of these students have worked very hard over the semester for this concert, so come out and show your support!

preview for musical performanceAlex MCleMore

StAff CArtooniSt

FEATUREDECEMBER 2012 6

Photo by Gibson Combs

Music teacher Becky hughes. Photo by Alex McLemore

The Burke Family. Photo curtesy of Betsy Burke

The cause and effect of overeating and indulging on delicious holiday meals

A spotlight on how the Burke family in particular celebrates

at this time of year.

WINTER SPORTS PREVIEWBoys Basketball

Last year the boys basketball team finished the season with a record of 4-17, senior head coach Russell Herman hopes to change things this year.

“One thing we need to do this year is win some more games.” Herman said. “We have some great seniors play-ing together this year; we’ve got Jordan Sparks, Marcus Saucedo, Josh Strot-kamp, Jared

Zerr, Austin Vaden and Colton Flax. They all play pretty well together so hopefully we’ll do pretty well this year.”

“I want these kids to enjoy playing the game and play it well,” Her-man said, “I also want anyone that comes out to the games to enjoy watching them.”

Campus played Andover Central on Nov. 30, they lost with a score of 48-68.

ZACh MAGEESPoRTS EDIToR

Last year the girls basketball team finished the season on the sour side with a record of 3-18.

“We’re coming off a down year, we did have a bunch of underclassmen play in varsity games though,” head coach Josh Curtiss said. “Hopefully they gained the experience they needed for a more successful season this year. We have a few starters returning that we hope will make an impact this year; Brianna Bosley, Tabitha Wheeler and Kyra Ivy are all returning starters.”

There will be quite the change on defense this season for the team according to Curtiss.

“Last year we mostly played half court man or zone, this year we plan to mostly play a full court press,” Curtiss said. “This year we are also pressing team camaraderie—we have been preaching about being a family since the start of practices.”

The Campus wrestling team had pretty good season last year finishing off the season winning 10 of 22 duels.

“This year our biggest focus has to be on breaking the .500 mark in duels.” said head coach Travis Bourn. Last year the team unfortu-nately fell short of this mark missing it by just one win leaving them with a winning percentage of .455.

“We have some great kids this year,” said Bourn, “We have some kids returning that had good seasons last year: Tommy Miller, James McMurphy, Ramiro Palacio, and Joey Thompson.”

Senior wrestlers this year include: Braden Baer, Alexander Brown, Jesse Crawford, Joseph Majano, Nicholas Reif, Joseph Thompson, Allen Tracy, and Felix Trumm.

Wrestling Boys Swimming Last year the boys swimming team took sixth in league. It appears as though there are high hopes for this season.

“Last year I thought we did well. We showed improvement all season long and we took several athletes to State.” head coach Kelly Kennedy said who also mentioned that there is some new talent com-ing in this season and that he cannot wait to see how well they will do. The team also has some great leadership coming into the year as well accord-ing to Kennedy.

We have some outstanding swimmers coming back in Ryan How-erton, Navanté Peacock, Tony Carr, John Paschal, and Skyler Imel. These guys all show great leadership both in and out of the pool.” Kennedy said.

Girls Basketball

Basketballhome /

Postseason Games

Nov. 30 Andover Central

Dec. 11 Hutchinson

Dec. 14 Maize

Jan. 8 Salina South

Jan. 15 Eisenhower (Girls)

Jan. 25 Eisenhower (Boys)

Feb. 1 Derby

Feb. 12 Newton

Feb. 15 Salina Central

Feb. 21 Andover

Feb. 25-2 Sub-State @ (TBA)

Mar. 6-9 State @ (TBA)

wrestling:Dec. 1 Campus Inv.

Dec. 6 Hutchinson

Dec. 13 Salina South

Jan. 24 Newton

Feb. 16 Regionals (TBA)

Feb. 22-23 State (TBA)

Boys Swimming:Dec. 10 Campus Inv.

Jan. 7 Campus

Feb. 9 AVCTL @ Newton

Feb. 4-16 State (TBA)

ALL DATES ON ALL SCHEDULES ARE SUBJECT

TO CHANGE

Wrestling & Boys Swimming Home / Postseason Meets

Bowling Home/Postseason Meets

Jan. 22 Maize & Bishop Carroll

Jan. 24 Southeast & North

Jan. 29 Hutchinson & Heights

Feb. 2 Campus Inv.

Feb. 12 Derby & Mulvane

Feb. 14 JV AVCTL (Campus)

Feb. 15 Varsity AVCTL (Campus)

Feb. 23 Regionals (TBA)

Mar. 1 Boy’s & Girl’s State (TBA)

(All home meets will be played at Seneca Bowl)

ATHLETE PROFILE:GABBY YEAGER

When the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers play football at home to a sellout crowd the stadium becomes the state’s third largest city

Fidel Castro was once a star baseball player for the University of Havana

In 1986 Danny Heep became the first player in a World Series to be a designated hitter (DH) with the

initials D.H.

The offical state sport for Maryland is jousting

The anicent Greeks awarded celery to the winners of sporting events

Random Sports Facts

DECEMBER 2012 SPoRTS 7

Girls Varsity Basketball Guard, Senior, Gabby Yeager - Photo by Abby Agnew

Gabby Yeager is a senior on this year’s girls varsity basketball team. She is excited and confident that the girls will have a good sea-son this year. “I feel like this year, out of all four years that I’ve been on the team, we’re going to have our most cohesive team,” Yeager said. “A lot of the girls have been play-ing together for a while now, and I just feel like we’re going to work really well.” Yeager plays the positions of guard, and despite how much she loves the game, she doesn’t feel like it’s in the cards for her in the future. “I don’t really see myself playing basketball in college; it’s just not really what I want to do,”

Yeager said. Yeager currently plans on at-tending Wichita State University and studying to be a radiologist. Regardless of her after-high school plans, Yeager is committed to the team this season and feels like they’ve got a good shot at winning some games. “I just feel really good about this year,” Yeager said. The girl’s record is as fol-lows; 0-1. Their next game is this Friday in the Campus Main Gym. They will be playing against the Maize Eagles. The Screaming Stampede theme hasn’t been de-cided yet. But whatever. Dress up, get out to the gym, and go support your Colts.

As the year comes to a close, many will look back and smile, or gawk, or even attempt to forget, some of the major pop-culture trends that made their way into 2012. Take a look. Reminisce. Enjoy and be nostalgic as we review the year 2012.

A Year in Review

JAke brAy

photo edt.

Campus Got Talent

It’s impossible to deny that some pretty epic movies came out this year. Pictured here are some of the most notable. Which is your favorite?

While the internet has been around for quite some time, it’s only recently that I’m hearing people shout “ERMERGERHD” in the

hallway, so here’s Scumbag Steve and the Gersbermps girl.

(Left) The presiden-tial election of 2012 is probably going to

go down as one of the dirtiest in the history

of these United States; Just look at all the paint on those two!

(Right) Don’t lie. Don’t feel bad. We all watched this video six

times and then pro-ceeded to spend the

next half hour dancing to the song in the mir-ror. What? It’s catchy.

The CHS Colt Special hopes that you all have a great time ringing in 2013 with friends and family. That is, if we get to 2013..... Well, here’s too hoping the world doesn’t end! Happy Holidays!

Photos courtesy of a1decals.com

Photo courtesy ofdigitaltrends.com

Photos courtesy of The Washington Post onlinePhotos courtey of popdust.com

Photos courtesy of alma.fhsart

Photos courtesy of KnowYourMeme.comPhotos courtesy of stereogum.com

Photos courtesy of KnowYourMeme.com

8DECEMBER 2012 EnTERTAInMEnT

“Cue the lights” a phrase commonly used by senior Matty Cooper, who is known for her position as the head of the Lighting Department for the campus theatre. Cooper started theatre as an extra in a Christmas Carol and originally found her pas-sion as a lighting technician and eventually as head of the lighting department. Cooper and her partner Jessica Ellis, the head of the Sound Depart-ment, are the ones who make

the plays and musical come to life. “I get joy in helping not only the directors but the schools as well,” Cooper said. Cooper has been involved in theatre for three years and counting, but did not start in theatre as part of the light crew. Her love for the theatre did not start out as her own; a friend brought her to theatre as an extra in The Christ-mas Carol. She instantly fell in love with every aspect of theatre and joined theatre for herself. Cooper then became a stage hand and rose through

the ranks to become what she is today. “The only drawbacks are the long hours and keeping equipment safe for the other people and from the other people” Cooper said. Cooper is always behind the scenes, making everything in the house run as smoothly as possible. “Respect your technician, there is a lot more to not only in theatre but in life than what you see, there is always more happening backstage.”

Senior Matty Cooper regularly “lights up the stage”.