March 19, 2008 131 High School Road Latrobe, PA Volume 85 Issue 10

History students learn about war in IraqWith the war in Iraq

being such a prevalent topic onthe news, it is often on manystudents’ minds. To help clearthe air, Mr. Wetzel and Mr.Snyder brought about 20students from their historyclasses on Thursday, February28 to listen to four colonels fromthe US Army and one lieutenantcolonel from the US MarineCorps, representing theDepartment of Defense. Eachdiscussed their area of expertisewhich included Africon,Guantanamo Bay, and the

energy crisis. The first half ofthe seminar was a lecture, wherethe students learned about Iraqand other national securityissues. Mr. Snyder says, “It wasinformative and insightful. Itinspired the students and facultyin attendance to look at today’sproblems from a differentperspective.” The second halfwas a question and answersession, where the audiencechallenged these top militaryofficials with their inquisitivequestions.

Africon is a system thatputs American military

personnel into Africa to helpkeep the peace between fightinggroups. Colonel Banks said thatAmerica tries to be verydiscreet; she just accomplishesher mission and leaves. Theirony was noticed by manystudents, and Col. Banks seemedto avoid a direct answer whenquestioned.

Located in Cuba,Guantanamo Bay is adetainment camp for suspectedmilitant combatants from theMiddle East. There have beenaccusations of torture andmisconduct, but Colonel Lora

Tucker put these to rest. Sheexplained that they are givenmany of the same rights as UScitizens, like being able topractice their religion freely.Col. Tucker also says that, “theinmates at Guantanamo Bayreceive the same medical carethat an injured U.S. soldierwould receive." Chloe Wertzadds, “I'd heard a lot aboutGuantanamo Bay on the news,but I never listened enough tofully grasp what was going onthere. They definitely answeredall the unanswered questionsthat I had.” This information

from a reliable member of theUS Army helped put the rumorsto rest.

Lieutenant ColonelMike Sweeney spoke about thecurrent energy crisis the world isfacing. He focused especially onall of the oil in Alaska that,under the current policy,America cannot use. This oil inAlaska could meet America’scurrent energy consumption fordecades. Sweeney feels that bydrilling into Alaska, Americawould not have to depend on oilfrom other countries.

After the official

conference was over, studentscould stay and talk with each ofthe officers on a more personallevel. “I think studentsappreciate the opportunity to getfacts from people who live itrather than the media,” said Mr.Wetzel. “Anytime you can havestudents in the presence of thebest and the brightest that theUS military has to offer, andhave open conversation withthem is a positive thing.” Thelecture taught all in attendancewhat is really happening all overthe world.

Emily Anna Intern

GLSHS implements newrecycling program

With a school withover 1,000 students, a lot ofgarbage can build up givingthe students an opportunity tomake a difference that willimpact the community. Theschool already participates inmany activities that benefitthe community such asfood drives and high wayclean ups. In additionGLSH is nowimplementing a recyclingprogram.

The Science Clubalong with students in theCapstone Class taught byMr. Richter has set up arecycling programthroughout the senior andjunior high schools. Thisprogram will give theschools the opportunity tohave an impact on ourenvironment and the waywe will live in the future.“All recycling programsare important because theyconserve natural resourcesand reduce pollution. I feelour program is even moreimportant than mostbecause we have a chanceto make young peoplethink about where theirtrash goes when they throw itaway,” said Mr. Richter.

Science Clubtreasurer Lu Wu felt that,“Since we are a school, wehave a lot of paper beingused. Now we just need torecycle it. It just makessense.”

Junior BridgetO’Boyle agreed that whatthese students were doing wasresponsible. “I think it’s areally good idea consideringhow many water bottles and

iced tea bottles that we justthrow out everyday that couldbe recycled. There are somany of us that we can makethat large difference that thecommunity needs,” saidO’Boyle. Recycling is an easyway for students and faculty

to make a difference. The program

consists of recycling a varietyof items such as flattenedcardboard, all papersproducts, magazines, clipboard, plastics and metals.Students can drop theserecyclable goods off in theblue bins located in everyclassroom, the cafeteria, theCenter for Student Creativity,the auditorium and the office.Also, if there is spareelectronics such as cell

phones, batteries, laptopcomputers, GPS or any typeof circuit board take them tothe student store or in Mr.Richter’s room, S201. EveryMonday and Wednesday afterschool, and Friday during11th period the Westmoreland

Cleanways will collect thegathered material.

Senior Science ClubTreasurer, Jessica Smeltzsaid, “I think this issomething that should betaken very seriously. This isour earth and we need toprotect it.” The students whopresented the idea to thestudents and faculty includedseniors Amber Biddle, EmilyButina, Erica Hixson and RobLewis. These four studentsspent a month gathering andorganizing information to

present the program. Lewis said, “It’s

good that we finally have arecycling program becausethere is so much that we canrecycle. These are all non-renewable resources that weneed to work together to

conserve.” The earthcontains only so manynatural resources thathumans can use soconserving these resourcesis crucial.

However, recyclingat school isn’t enough.“Hopefully this will leadstudents to explore theenvironmental and socialimplications of producing,transporting and disposingof consumer goods. Oncepeople are moreknowledgeable about theseimplications, they areusually willing to do simplethings like recycling andcomposting to reduce theirimpact on theenvironment,” said Mr.Richter. The students needto take what they learnfrom the schools recyclingprogram and apply it to theway they live at home so

that the next time they go tothrow a piece of paper awayyou will remember to put it inthe recycling bin. Doing thisregularly will save trees andenergy. By working together,the students and faculty ofGLSHS are going to make animpact on the way we willlive tomorrow. So rememberLatrobe; Reduce Reuse andRecycle.

Lewis toplay forAll-State

BandKaitlin Zurawsky

Staff Writer

The Pennsylvania MusicTeachers Association All-State bandcompetition held auditions onFebruary 20th. Senior Tim Lewiswas selected to participate in thefestival. Lewis, who auditioned forthe euphonium, has been playing itfor one year. He also participates injazz band, concert band, chamberchoir, and marching band.

In order to be able toaudition for the All-State Bandstudents must meet a series ofcriteria. First students must haveplayed in the district band. To dothis they submit an application tothe PMTA explaining their musicalexperience. Once in district band thestudents qualify for regional band.Regional band members are chosenby an audition. Making it intoregional band qualifies the musicianfor the audition process of the All-State band festival.

The auditions consist ofstudents performing three excerptsof songs for the four judges. Theinstrumentalists are then called withwhether or not they made the band.Auditions for the State Band tookplace at Cumberland Valley HighSchool. Tone quality, rhythmicaccuracy, pitch and intonation,technique, musicianship andpreparation were all part of thejudging process. “I’m lucky that Igot selected,” stated Lewis, “I’mreally happy.”

The festival is broken intofive different parts wind ensemble,concert band, chorus, orchestra, jazzensemble, and vocal jazz. Lewiswas selected for the concert bandportion and will be directed byKeith Richardson of CentralDauphin East High School, and willbe guest conducted by WilliamStowman. “It is an extreme honor to beselected for the competition,” saidMr. Raymond Hamil the bandinstructor here at GLSHS.

The band rehearses atCentral Dauhphin East High School.The concert is Saturday, April 19 atHershey Theatre begins at 4:00pm.Tickets, if still available, may bepurchased at the concert site or willbe available in advance through thePMEA office until Wednesday,April 9.

Being selected for the Statefestivals is a process that takes a lotof practice and work to obtain. Themusicians must possess a largeamount of talents and dedication tothe instrument they play.

Studentsprepare

forPSSAs

Samantha Service and CourtneyBriggs

News Editor, Staff Writer

On February 6, 2008 inthe CSC Dr. Georgia Teppert andfellow GLSHS administratorshosted a luncheon for 50 juniorspreparing to take the PennsylvaniaSystem of School Assessment(PSSA).

During the luncheon, Dr.Teppert explained a new methodof helping students to prepare fortheir PSSA exam. The schooloffered new tutoring sessions onTuesday and Thursday before andafter school. The tutoring timeswill occur during the morningtutorials and after school from2:30 p.m. until 3:20 p.m. Theadministration and faculty feelsthat these PSSA tutoring sessionshave the power to raise a students’grades from C’s to A’s and B’s.The sessions will begin onTuesday, February 12 and will lastuntil Thursday, March 27. Thiswill allow students to participate inalmost 25 sessions before andafterschool. Although 114 juniorswere invited to the luncheon andtutoring session, the sessions areopened to anyone who wishes totake part in them. A pre-test willshow teachers and students thearea in which they need to improveto achieve the ideal PSSA scores.

Junior Ginny Severaattended and enjoyed the luncheonand attended the tutoring sessions.She said, “I am going to attend thesession because the school isgiving me the opportunity toimprove my score by giving meextra help in the areas I need it.”

Junior Angela Cullen waschosen to attend extra helpsessions but cannot make them soshe uses her study halls to attendthe math lab and get teachers toshow her how to completeproblems that she cannot do.Cullen said, “I have PSSA pretestsand complete what I can butwhatever else I need help with I

Lunch withfaculty to helpboost scores

Photo by: Ang Saffer, Intern

Mary MaattaStaff Writer

Two junior highschool GOAL students let theirinspiration flow during theimpromptu segment of acreative writing competitionheld at Greater Latrobe SeniorHigh School. The competitionwas a part of the WestmorelandCounty Gifted Coalition’sOlympics of the Arts. A total of46 participants from 11 schoolscompeted in either poetry orprose. In addition to theimpromptu writing, the 6th, 7thand 8th graders sent in work tobe judged by AP Languagestudents. The AP students satdown with the youngsters toprovide tips and insight.Participants were also treatedto an art tour, and moreenticingly, to free cookies andCapri Sun. -By: Mike DeFabo

Continued on Page 2

Photo by: Shawna Edwards, Intern

Latrobe Rockdownraises $15,0008

get it so that I can knoweverything on the exam.”

Junior Kristy Vinczesaid, “I have packets I getfrom my math teacher that Itry to do in preparation for thePSSA. Whenever I am done Iget them checked and learnhow to do what I could not dopreviously.”

Teachers in the mathand language arts departmentswere also in attendance duringthe administration luncheon.These teachers were asked tocome in order to provideinsight to the students whomthey would be working withduring the tutoring sessions.

Teppert explainedduring the luncheonimportance for students whohave the ability to do well toalso put worth the extra effortand excel on the PSSAs.However, Dr. Teppert feelsthat all the hours spent will bepaid off in the end. She made

these plans concrete becauseshe “always wanted to assiststudents with the PSSAs andwe now can because of thetutor here daily.” Dr. Teppertalso wishes to create anenjoyable and stress-freeatmosphere for the students towork in. This applies not onlyin school, but also in the workplace.

Along withexplaining the new program,Dr. Teppert explained theimportance of the PSSA exam.This exam helps determinenot only a student’s strengthsand weaknesses, but alsothose of the school. In theminds of the juniors, thisexam should be takenseriously since the results ofthe exam will be on theirreports first quarter, senioryear. These exams will evenbe calculated into a student’sGPA; therefore imperativethat students do well as to not

harm their GPA and chancesof getting into a post-secondary school. Studentswho receive an advanced ontheir PSSA exam will receivean A on their report card, andstudents who receive aproficient on the exam willreceive a B on their reportcard. If the student, however,does not perform in theadvanced or proficientcategory, then they will haveto retake the PSSAs duringsenior year.

With the help of theteachers’ dedication, thestudents’ devotion, and theextra help from individualvolunteering their times,students’ scores shouldimprove on the PSSAs whichallow for an overall happierGLSD and community.

NewsNews22 March 19, 2008March 19, 2008

Upcoming E

vents

NewsIn-Brief

Compiled by: Kaitlin Zurawsky, Staff Writer

Compiled by: Brianna Saddler, Staff writer

NAHS takes trip to museumsA group of twenty

students in GLSH’s NationalArt Honor Society attended afield trip to The Andy WarholMuseum and The MattressFactory on Friday, March 7.The museums located inPittsburgh provided the studentsa chance to witness moderninstallation art.

The Andy WarholMuseum featured an exhibit byRon Mueck displaying sevenrealistic human sculptures. Themuseum focuses on

contemporary art thatrepresents, “Art you can getinto in room-sizedenvironments, created by in-residence artists.”

Senior Abby Binkeywas, “Super excited” to beattending. Mrs. Balko, anadvisor of NAHS, was involvedin organizing the field tripsaying, “We pick differentmuseums each year so kids canexperience the different stylesof art.”

After the educational

experience the students werepermitted to explore the SouthSide Works.

The shopping was thebest part according to juniorAnne Penrose. She also enjoyedthe installation art at TheMattress Factory, along withjunior Bridget O’Boyle whothought it was, “wild andeccentric.

Senior Carly Pelchenenjoyed the trip whichhappened to be on her birthdaysaying, “I enjoyed the Andy

Warhol Museum, especially apainting of shoes with diamonddust. It was the best birthdayever.”

Junior MikeKovalick’s favorite part of thetrip was, “The giant statues ofpeople at the Warhol museum,cause they were creepy.”Kovalick says he learned a loton the trip, “It was a uniqueexperience to see art made mylocal successful artists.”

Kristina WigginsStaff Writer

On Tuesday, February26, Lee Crafton parked hishorse and buggy behind TractorSupply Company in Latrobe,Pennsylvania. Lee was aprofessional “horse logger,” orone who hauls trees usinghorses rather than machinery.He left East Glacier, Montanaabout 18 months ago to embarkon a three and a half yearjourney. His path took him tothe East Coast by way of Bostonand California. After doublingback, the Great Circle Routewill eventually land him inAlaska. Crafton relies on thekindness of strangers to providehis two dogs, three horses, andhimself with food. He lives oneday at a time, never knowingwhat he’ll do next. Craftonsaid, “When I reach Alaska, I’lldeal with Alaska.” He eats twomeals a day, showering onlywhen the opportunity arises,which is rare. “I’m simplyvisiting myself across NorthAmerica,” he said. -By Carmella Stanko, StaffWriter

Students prepare forPSSAs

Photo submitted by: Mrs. Houck

Photo by: Courtney Briggs, Intern

WinterguardOn February 23,

2008 the Greater LatrobeWinterguard traveled toNorwin High School andcompeted against DeerLakes High School, PennTrafford High School,Gateway High School andKiski Area High School inRegional A class. Theyreceived a score of 61.1. Thegirls then traveled to EastAllegheny on March 1, 2008and competed against WestAllegheny and received ascore of 68.0.

Rotary Student of the MonthFor the month of

February juniors AndreaSutyak and Peter Semo were

chosen for Rotary Student ofthe month. They wereselected based on theiroutstanding achievement inathletics, academics, andcommunity service. Andreais involved in tennis, andchallenges herself with APEnglish. Peter is involved incross country and track, andtutors at BaggaleyElementary Big BrothersBig Sisters.

For the month ofMarch Juniors Brian Bossartand Maura Bainbridge werechosen for Rotary Student ofthe Month. Brian is involvedin basketball and baseball,and challenges himself withAP chemistry. Mara playssoccer and field hockey, and

is in pre calculus.

Tri-M National MusicHonor Society

During the monthof February, the Tri-MNational Music HonorSociety collected “Penniesfor Patients.” All donationswill go directly to theLeukemia & LymphomaSociety. Every Tuesday amember of the Tri-M societywill bring a bucket to eachhomeroom. Then, everyThursday the buckets will becollected and counted. Thehomeroom with the highestamount at the end of themonth will have a lunchfrom Olive Garden. Mr.Cook’s homeroom raised

$114.83 to win the Olivegarden lunch.

Breakfast of ChampionsFor the Month of

February the followingstudents were selected forBreakfast of Champions:seniors Kelsey Borza wasnominated by Mrs. Houckfrom the language artsdepartment, Emily Butinawas nominated by Miss.McLaughlin from themathematics department,Kevin Croner wasnominated by Mrs. Curcifrom the physical educationdepartment juniors JoshuaClark was nominate by Mr.Schrecengost from themathematics department,

Keira Conley was nominatedby Mr. Hamill from themusic departmentsophomores Cassie Louckswas nominated by Mrs.LeVan from the sciencedepartment, Marie Regulawas nominated by Miss.Harvey from the worldlanguages department,Alicia Nicely was nominatedby Miss. Kauffelt and Mr.Ferraro from the socialstudies department, andJessica Arborne wasnominated by Mr. Krackfrom the language artsdepartment

3/17Boys varsity tennis v. FranklinRegional 3:45pm

3/18 Math league competition inroom S103 at 6:55amBoys varsity hockey at MellonArema

3/19 Boys varsity tennis v. PennTrafford 4:00pm at PennTrafford

3/20Girls varsity softball v.Gateway 4:00pm at homeBoys varsity volleyball v.Bethel Park 4:00pm at homeLatrobe Art Center CeramicsClass 6:00pm-8:00pm in F201

3/21 No School

3/22 Boys varsity volleyballNorwin Tournament 9:00am atNorwin

3/24No SchoolBoys Varsity baseball game v.Yough 12:00om at Yough

Juniors Joe Churbock and Mark DeDiana (above) observe a Duquesne presentation at theNACAC College Fair in Pittsburgh on Thursday February 28 and Friday February 29. Held at theDavid L. Lawrence Convention Center, they planned enough room for high school students to meetface-to-face with representatives from over 350 schools from around the nation. Many students fromGLSHS attended and received information about prospective colleges. The representatives attractedstudents to their schools by handing out information packets and explaining the top features. JuniorRenee Lundquist said, “I attended the career fair to find out what colleges may be options for myfuture and to figure out their requirements and what I should do to make my application stand out.”Not only the booths, but extra helpful stations such as College Board, helped students prepare for theSAT, FAFSA helped students prepare for college tuition, and Counselors Corner, helped studentsfigure out which colleges are best for their major. -By: Courtney Briggs, Staff Writer

Continued from Page 1

SportsSports 33March 19, 2008March 19, 2008

Ryan LaDuke and Tyler BalohColumnists

Face OffWill the Penguins trades guaranteethem a chance at the Stanley Cup

How do you think thePenguins moves at the NHLtrade deadline will affectthem for the future?

LaDuke: Even though the bigname player acquired beforethe NHL trade deadline,Marian Hossa, has not played afull game for the Penguins dueto a knee injury, I still believethat the moves that Penguins’general manager Ray Sheromade before the deadline willbe significant for the Penguinsto make a run for the StanleyCup. This deal basically statedthat the Penguins are playing towin the Stanley Cup this sea-son.

Losing three youngand quality forwards in ColbyArmstrong, Erik Christensen,and Angelo Esposito may hurtthe Penguins in upcomingyears, but the Penguins arelooking to win a Stanley Cupthis year. Acquiring a star for-ward in Marian Hossa will def-initely help the Pens accom-plish this goal. Before gettinginjured in his first game wear-ing the black and gold, Hossahad 56 points (26 goals, 30assists). Armstrong has 17points and Christensen has 20to combine for only 37 points.Adding a pure goal scorer likeHossa to the team will give thePenguins two dominant lines,especially when Sidney Crosbygets back from his high ankleinjury. The trade will also givethem a very powerful powerplay line. Can you imagineHossa, Crosby, and EvgeniMalkin all on the same powerplay unit? The three of themcombine for 207 points.HOLY MOLY PRAY FORTHAT GOALIE!!!

The Penguins alsoobtained defenseman Hal Gilland forward Pascal Dupuisbefore the trade deadline. Bothof these players will haveimportant roles for thePenguins this season, especial-ly on the penalty kill unit. Gillis a giant on defense at 6’7’’250 pounds and will create fearin the other team when they

enter our zone. Dupuis is agood player who will help kill

penalties and score goals as hehas already scored eleven this season.

When the Pittsburghfans didn’t think anythingwould happen before the dead-line, Ray Shero went out andgot us three big players whowill be crucial in the Penguinsdeep run in the playoffs andwin a Stanley Cup.

Baloh: The NHL trading dead-line was coming to an endquickly on Tuesday February26. For the Pens to make theircup run this year, or plan forthe future, Ray Sharrel felt theurge to build for the followingyears. It was quite evident thatthe pens want it all this year asthey acquired five time All starright winger Marion Hossa,and hard nosed defensemanPascal Dupris from Atlanta.But these players didn’t comecheap as Atlanta wantedwingers Colby Armstrong andChristiansen in return. But thatwas not all. The thrashers alsotook our future prospect rightwinger Angelo Espesito whodidn’t dress one game for thePenguins this season and lost afirst round draft pick for nextyears draft. Now the questionis this, was it worth it? Somesay yes and some say no, but ifyou think about it, we didn’tlose much other than twogrinders that worked for icetime and were just getting hotcoming out of the all starbreak. Christiansen’s specialtywas his spot in the shoot outline up which wasn’t a alwaysa guaranteed goal. Plus AngeloEspesito could simply be a bustconsidering the fact we nevereven saw him play. MarionHossa is the real deal, he hasexperience and he knows howto get the job done in theclutch. He has all the abilitiesand the skills to help out thePens for their quest for the cup.Its just as exciting picturingHossa, Crosby, and Malkin onthe same team, it is a scarythought.

Greater Latrobe sent twowrestlers to the Pennsylvania State tour-nament on March 6-8 at Giant Center inHershey. Juniors Nathan Pennesi (119)and Joe Walters (130) both qualified forstates by obtaining third place atW.P.I.A.L. Championships. With a twoweek layoff period between W.P.I.A.L.sand states, the wrestlers had plenty oftime for preparation.

Training for the state tourna-ment is much different than practicingfor other wrestling matches. “I thinktraining for states is more laid backbecause you work more on what youneed to personally and drill for whatyou need to accomplish at states,”Pennesi said. Since only two membersfrom Latrobe qualified for states, theyhad some practices at other locations inthe Westmoreland area schools likePenn-Trafford and Hempfield to drillwith other wrestlers that made it tostates.

Unfortunately, Pennesi andWalters faced tough roads in trying tomedal at states. “I wasn’t as nervous

going in to states this year as I was lastyear, because I’ve been there before andknow what it’s about,” said Pennesi.Pennesi’s first round match-up wasagainst returning 112-pound PIAA statechampion Keegan Handlovic fromEaston. Handlovic went on to defendhis title, but this time he claimed the119 pound state championship. Pennesiwrestled him hard, but ended up gettingdefeated 12-3.

In the next round, he facedDowningtown West’s Pat May, a muchmore evenly matched battle. Pennesiwas able to come away with a 4-0 vic-tory to meet arch-rival Nico Cortesefrom Hempfield. Cortese always seemsto get in Pennesi’s way, whether it besections, WPIALs, etc. Once again itwas a great hard fought match betweenthese two, but Cortese was able to comeaway with the 5-2 win.

Greater Latrobe’s 130-pounderJoey Walters also had uphill battle to getto the top of the states bracket. In hisfirst match, he wrestled Joshua Kindigof Blue Mountain. Kindig defeated

Walters 7-2 and went on to earn a PIAAsecond place medal. “I felt I did rela-tively well in my first match. I got in onhis leg a couple times, but I was unableto finish,” said Walters of his first matchin the PIAA tournament.

In the next round, Walters facedoff against Kyler Killian ofMiddletown. “It was tied 1-1 with 40seconds left in the third period and hegot me in a headlock for four points. Itried a big move to stick him becausethere wasn’t enough time for me tocome back and beat him in points, but itdidn’t work,” Walters said.

Walters and Pennesi left it allon the mat this year at states, but theyboth plan to advance farther in statesnext season. “Almost everyone in mybracket was a senior this year, so I wantto get back there next season and win itall,” said Pennesi. As seniors, they willhave more experience to accomplishtheir goals at the PIAA WrestlingChampionships.

Wrestlers look forward to next yearRyan LaDuke

Staff Writer

The swim team at Greater LatrobeHigh School is stacked with talent. Thegirls relay team consisting of all sopho-mores broke the school record at theWPIAL swim meet, at The University ofPittsburgh. The Division 1 atmospherebrought out the best in the swimmers.Missing two days of school may seem too

many students like fun, for the swim teamit was all business.

Sophomore Anna Gibas was themost successful Latrobe swimmer. Shewon the 100-meter Backstroke event witha record breaking time of 57.15 seconds.Gibas was trailed by Corrine Talhouk ofnorth Allegheny who scored a time of

59.33. She also broke the school record at100-meter Freestyle with a time of 23.90.Gibas will be competing at states in threeevents. Along with Gibas, Alyssa Taylor,Jillian Kniffen, Alex Waller and FreshmanEmily Friedline will all be competing inthe state meet.

Matt Shrum recorded the fastesttimes for the Latrobe boys at WPIALS. Heplaced 17th in the 50-Freestyle event.Shrum was also a part of a two top twentyrelay teams along with Sam Cline, JoshFry, Hunter McGrogan, and CharlieDefrancesco. There will be no boys fromGreater Latrobe competing at PIAA statem e e t .

After a successful season for bothboys and girls, the future looks bright forthe team with all of their underclass talentreturning next year. An individual statechampion will most likely be crownedfrom Greater Latrobe in the near future.

Swim team breaksrecords at WPIALS

Pat LynchStaff Writer

Bower, Hewitt, and Timmons place in statesBen Battaglia

Staff Writer

The indoor track statechampionship took placeSaturday March 1 at Penn State.Three members of GreaterLatrobe’s track team took placein the state finals. Senior pole-vaulter Jason Timmons and jun-ior distance runners NatalieBower and Abby Hewitt gave ittheir best effort at this presti-gious event.

Bower, who holdsschool records in both the 1600meter and the 3200 meter relay,finished 5th in the 1600 meterand 3000 meter races at theindoor states.

Although Bower feltshe could have placed better,she also felt satisfied with heroverall performance.

“I was satisfied withmy times even though I didn’tplace exactly were I wanted,”said Bower.

Timmons, who brokethe Greater Latrobe pole-vault-ing record at 14 feet 3 incheslast year during the regular sea-son, cleared 13 feet but thenfailed in three attempts at 13feet 6 inches. Timmons wasn’t too happywith his performance in theState Championship. “I feel likeI could have done a lot better,13 feet is my opening height,”said Timmons.

The athletes thoughtthat the indoor and outdoor ver-sions of track differ in someways.

“The two biggest differencesfor me is that the indoor barslook so much higher so it feelsmore intimidating and also thewind is not as major of a factorindoors as it is outdoors,” saidTimmons.“Indoor track is different fromoutdoor track in that the track isonly 200 meters and the curvesare banked,” said Bower, “Theonly thing I don’t like aboutindoor is that it feels like I’mrunning twice the distance.”

The athletes have alsotrained for this event all yearleading up to the state champi-onships. Their training not onlyhelped for the indoor statechampionship but will alsoprove valuable come the regu-lar season. Also getting into acompetitive state of mindbefore the season starts shouldhelp out.

“I’ve been doing abs

workouts every Tuesdays andThursdays and inversion drillsin the school pool,” saidTimmons, “I also have beenjumping at West VirginiaUniversity’s indoor pit onWednesdays to get ready forindoor states.”

“I started runningabout 3 days a week during theend of the swim season,” saidBower, “Before States I ran infour other indoor track meets toprepare.”

Overall the StateChampionship was just extraexperience for the GreaterLatrobe Track members. It willsurely help them in the prepara-tion for the upcoming season.

Baseball team getsthe opportunity

of a lifetimeNatalie Schade

Staff Writer

The baseball season is approaching and the players areanticipating a chance of a lifetime. The team is selling tickets toPirate games throughout the season. If they sell 800 they will beable to play on the field at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. “Playing atPNC Park is a chance of a life time and we are all excited to havethis opportunity to play on a major league field,” stated seniorAndrew Oshnock. Not only will they be playing on a top field inthe major leagues, but they will be playing their backyard rivals,Derry Area. Derry must also sell 800 tickets. If the sales soar thebig game will take place at 3:00 on Thursday, April 17, 2008. Thecurrent status is 418 tickets sold as of March 4. Tickets range inprice from $27 to $9 depending on the seats. The buyers can pickwhich ever seat they want to sit in but now that the February 15thdeadline has passed the tickets are sold as vouchers. Since thetickets are open to the general public the buyer might not be guar-anteed the seat they chose but are guaranteed a ticket to the game.If anyone wants to purchase tickets they can see any player orcoach. “This is a great opportunity for our team. This is chance toonly play on a major league field, but also the field that ESPN hascalled “the best field in Major league baseball,” said head baseballcoach Mr. Matt Basciano.

Penn State hosts indoortrack state championship

Pennesi and Walters leave it all on the mat

UPDATESophomore Anna Gibas has won a state

championship in the 100-meter Backstroke

“I’ve been doing absworkouts every Tuesdaysand Thursdays and inver-sion drills in the schoolpool,” said Timmons

Photo by Angela Repko

SportsSports44 March 19, 2008March 19, 2008

Varsity Hockey(18-2) 3/13/08

Wrestling (3-5) 3/13/08

Girls Swimming (3-0) 3/13/08

Boys swimming(1-2) 3/13/08

Boys’ Basketball (16-8) 3/13/08

Girls’ Basketball (12-9) 3/13/08

Justin DownsStaff Writer

Alex StahlSenior•PPG (points per game)- 0.71 •Goals- 7 Assists- 8Penguins game Semi Finals- 2 goals

Jillian KniffenSophomore200 Medley Relay- 7th 1:51.12 (broke schoolrecord)2001M- 16th - 2:18.30100 Breaststroke- 18th - 1:12.12

21/36

22/36

Compiled by Ben Battaglia

Wildcat cardbook

Spring sports are underway as the softball team has indoor tryouts due to inclimate weather.Weather plays a major role in the practice schedule of all the sports teams. The baseball and trackteams also use the gyms and pool to practice when the weather keeps the teams indoors.

Latrobe's victoryMonday night over WestAllegheny in a PIHL PenguinsCup Class AA Semifinals game atthe Mellon Arena truly was a spe-cial win. The 'W' puts the Wildcatsinto the Class AA high schoolhockey finals against FranklinRegional. Since much of the gamewas an offensive stalemate, it wasthe special teams that had Latrobecelebrating a hard-fought triumphover West Allegheny 3-2. Allthree goals were scored with theman advantage. The power playsurge included a game-winninggoal scored by Michael McCurdyin overtime.

The Letterman’s ClubAthlete of the Week is SeniorLindsy Muchnock who helpedlead the Girls Basketball team intothe playoffs as the Section runner-up after winning the Section titlelast year. This season she led theteam in shots with 382, connectingon nearly 40% from the field.From the foul line she was good57% of the time while attemptingthe most free throws for the team(111). Lindsy led the team inrebounds, totaling 254 this seasonand she also blocked 33 shots. Shefinished as the second leadingscorer on the team this year.

The inline hockey teamplayed the first two games of the3-game Championship seriesagainst Pine Richland White thispast weekend. The first game wason Saturday at Harmerville.Latrobe, having only 5 skaters,lost to Pine Richland 5-6 inOvertime. The second game wason Sunday at Neville Island. Thistime, Latrobe had a full bench andthe team mercied Pine Richland 8-0, automatically winning the gameafter only two periods of play.Congratulations to Josh Hoke, whoonce again had an outstandinggame in goal and his first evershut-out. With the series recordtied 1-1, Latrobe will play PineRichland White to determine theLeague Champion.

WildcatSportswire

Justin DownsStaff writer

Icecats play at Mellon Arena in championship games

Ryan LaDukeColumnist

On the ice

Entering the season, the Greater Latrobeinline hockey team wasn’t sure what to expect.This season marks merely the second year for thisteam with the program, with not much expectedin the first year. With a year of experience undertheir belts the ‘Cats ended this season with a mod-est 11-5 record finishing 3rd in the standings.

The ‘Cats received the 4th seed goinginto the playoffs and played the 5th seededSeneca Valley Raiders in a single game elimina-tion. Latrobe won the game convincingly 12-5.

In the second round of the playoffs, theteam was matched up against a tough North Hillsteam that was undefeated in the regular season ina best of three game series. The ‘Cats won thefirst game 9-4 but had to endure their first hard-ship of the playoffs during game two. A differentand better North Hills goaltender was between the

pipes for this game and Latrobe trailed 5-2 in the3rd period. However the ‘Cats tied the game up at6 goals a piece just before the final buzzer. Theteams then played a 15 minute overtime period.Kyle Devault scored late into the period the sendthe ‘Cats into the next round of the playoffs.

In the ‘Cats final round of their playoffrun, the team matched up against the number 1seeded Pine Richland team in a three game series.The ‘Cats lost the first game 6-5 but triumphantlycame back to crush the Rams 8-0 in game two.The ‘Cats season ended in an 8-7 game three lossto the tough top ranked team.

Although the ‘Cats season might haveended prematurely, the experience the youngteam gained throughout the playoffs will helpthem to improve next year.

Inline hockey team finishes inthird place

Ben BattagliaStaff Writer

Playing in an NHLarena is every young hockeyplayer’s dream. The LatrobeIcecats got that opportunity onMarch 10 when we played atMellon Arena against WestAllegheny in the Penguins Cupsemi-finals. Our nerves wererunning high playing on thesame ice as the PittsburghPenguins, but we weren’t goingto let them get in the way of ourgoal. The ice was perfect, theatmosphere was amazing, fanswere screaming, we were sittingon the same bench that thePittsburgh Penguins sit on, wedressed in the locker room ofthe every Penguins’ away oppo-nent, and we had our namesindividually announced beforethe game; it was all a dreamcome true. The best part of thisdream is that it had a fairy taleending.

After three periods ofplay the score was tied 2-2 andfor the third time in a rowagainst West Allegheny, over-time was needed to claim to awinner. Last season, the Indiansended our season by scoring agoal in overtime. The taste stilllingered in our mouths from lastyear and we were not going tolet it happen again. We haveworked way too hard all seasonlong to earn the number oneseed and win the Penguins Cup.The Indians would not get inour way of glory this year. Justlike last season’s playoff gameagainst West Allegheny, a

penalty was called within thefirst couple of minutes in over-time. However, this season thepenalty was called against theIndians and we were the ones togo on the power play.

Our power play unithad been on fire throughout thegame as Alex “Two-Fo” Stahlhad already scored two powerplay goals in the game. We hadconfidence in ourselves that wecould do it again. Junior for-ward JeffJoe Regula flew downthe ice to set up our offense intheir zone. He passed it over tojunior defenseman BrodyAukerman, who had beenexhausted from shutting downPIHL leading scorer RyanKumpfmiller all game long. AWest Allegheny defender wasable to block Aukerman’s shot,but Aukerman was able toregain possession of the puckand this time his blistering shotsailed right on net creating arebound. With the ticket to thechampionship game in hishands, junior forward MikeMcCurdy was right there tobury it five-hole between thegoalie’s legs and send theIcecats back to Mellon Arenafor a chance to win the PenguinsCup.

In that very second, wehad felt like the 1991-1992Pittsburgh Penguins when theywon the Stanley Cup. We scur-ried off the bench to swarmMike with excitement and tocongratulate him for scoring the

goal that put us in the champi-onship game. I’m injured, but Istill jumped off the bench andtried my best to run across theice without falling becausenothing was getting in my wayof joining my teammates in thehuddle of joy. The Latrobe fansrose to their feet screaming withjubilance like a fire had justbeen lit under the butts. In thoseten seconds, I experienced afeeling that will stay with meand all of us for the rest of ourlives. A great sense of accom-plishment had set into each andeveryone of our heart as weknew that we were going to playat Mellon Arena one more timefor the Cup.

For the first time inschool history, the LatrobeIcecats will be playing for thePenguins Cup Championship atMellon Arena on Tuesday,March 18, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.against a very good FranklinRegional hockey team. We beatthe Panthers 3-2 during the reg-ular season, but it was a hardfought battle all game. Shuttingdown their numerous scorerslike Jarod Yesko and EugeneMack, who scored 2 goals andhad 2 assists in their semi-finalgame, will be important for ourteam to have success. Anotherkey to victory for us will be cap-italizing on the power playagain, as we scored three powerplay goals in the semi-finalmatch-up against WestAllegheny.

Photo by Angela Repko

Championship series goes down to a final third game inbest of three series

Opinion Opinion 55March 19, 2008March 19, 2008

Good Guy Bad Guy Political breakdown Brian Noel

Columnist

“It has been said that democ-racy is the worst form of governmentexcept all the others that have beentried.” Winston Churchill famouslycommented. Some Americans see gov-ernments as unable to do any anythingright and agree with Churchill thatdemocracy is a last resort.Unfortunately, the current administra-tion has little to disprove this opinion.But there is still hope to over come themass cronyism and failed policies ofthe Bush administration; the answer isBarack Obama and the DemocraticParty.

With John McCain being thepresumptive nominee on theRepublican ticket. Some members ofthe Conservative Wing of theRepublican Party such as RushLimbaugh are not convinced, and areconcerned that John McCain is a trueConservative. “McCain above any-thing else is not conservative” saidRush Limbaugh. Limbaugh and ultra-

conservatives have a hard time believ-ing that McCain represents conserva-tives in a sufficient way.Unfortunately, Limbaugh and his ultra-conservative “posse” do not even listento their own party! The AmericanConservative Union (ACU) hasassigned John McCain with a lifetimeconservative rating of 82.3, this com-pares to Obama’s 8.0 rating, andClinton’s 9.0. If McCain is not conser-vative, I don’t know what conservativeis.

On the Democratic sideSenator Obama and Senator HilaryClinton are in a virtual deadlock in therace to 2,025 Delegates with Obamaholding a slight 100 Delegate lead.The reason for this is mainly becausetheir plans for change are strikinglysimilar. Both Obama and Clinton’sEconomic and Health Care Plans runsuccinctly with one another. But oneplace where Obama sets himself apartis in Education Reform. Obama is pro-

posing a $4,000 tuition credit to col-lege students, with a determined num-ber of hours of community service.This reform is unprecedented in thehistory of this country, and is longoverdue. This is the kind of leadershipwe need to propel our country prosper-ously into the 21st Century.

The American people abouthad enough of Conservatism. EveryRepublican President since the 1920’shad corruption in his administration.The American people are starting tolook at that historical trend, and actingupon it as evidenced by the 2006midterm elections. Americans are sickof failed policies which only benefitthe wealthiest of Americans, such aswe are seeing in the Bush administra-tion with Oil Subsities and Halliburton“No-Bid” Contracts. All high schoolstudents should be democrats becausethey represent the needs of the studentsfrom the middle class the most suffi-ciently. If you are filthy rich you

should be a republican, other wise ifyou are in the middle class the demo-

cratic ticket is the only logical way togo.

0

5

10

1520

2530

35

40

Soph Jr. Sr. Total

ObamaClintonMcCainHuckabee

Around the world Patrick Lynch

Columnist

Hillary ClintonHillary Clinton is now takingthe approach of if you can notbeat them, join them.Personally I think that her tak-ing part in an SNL skit is hilar-ious. Clinton truly believes thatpeople are laughing with hernow, meanwhile they are stilllaughing at her. Clinton’s rivaland competition for theDemocratic vote is BarackObama who is being backed byGeorge W. Bush. Our presidentmay have made some question-able decisions in his terms but,you can not deny the fact thathe is doing what is best for hiscountry by backing Obama.Bust does no like helpingObama necessarily he is justdoing his part in making suresomeone like Clinton does notgain presidency. I would not beable to sleep at night knowingClinton has her emotional fin-ger anywhere near the infa-mous “nuclear button.” The

ambassador of China will bestaying in the White House, andwill innocently ask Mrs.Clinton where he can get hisshirt ironed and bam, China isgone. I honestly believe some-one like Ralph Nader would doa better job in office thenHilary. Get serious. Just lookwho the lady is married to. Mr.I smoked-it-but-I-did-not-inhale.

Teenage ViolenceA 16-year-old girl’s parent’sopposition to her teenageromance is suspected of leadingto a fiery attack that left thegirl's mother and brothers deadand her father critically wound-ed. Four suspects, CharlieJames Wilkinson, 19; CharlesAllen Wade, 20; and BobbiGale Johnson, 18, including the16-year-old daughter, are eachcharged with capital murder,according to the sheriff'sdepartment of Emory, Texas.

All remained in Rains Countyjail with bonds set at $1.5 mil-lion each. Terry Caffey, whowas shot in the head, was ableto crawl to a neighbor's houseto seek help, while flames con-sumed his home with his wifeand two young sons inside, theRains County Sheriff'sDepartment said. Penny Caffey,37; Tyler Caffey, 8; andMathew Caffey 13, had beenshot and stabbed multipletimes, according to the state-ment. The part that bothers memost about this whole incidentis the fact that three grown menslaughtered two young boysand their mother all becauseone 19-year-old was notallowed to see a 16-year-oldaccording to the police.Hopefully they all get whatthey deserve, the death penalty,including the daughter whotook part in this atrocity.

War against terrorA U.S. military helicopter fireda guided missile to kill a SaudiArabian Al-Qaida leader inIraq. Jar Allah who wasbelieved responsible for thebombing deaths of fiveAmerican soldiers. Allah, alsoknown as Abu Yasir al-Saudi,and another Saudi known onlyas Hamdan, were both killedWednesday in Mosul. Finallywe hear about something goodthat our military is doing. I amsick with the constant negativeconnotations. Al-Saudi was awell know leader of the Al-Qaida. The fact of the matter isthat our forces are makingprogress in the attempt to wipeout terrorism and the Al-Qaidaoff the face of the earth.Anyone who disagrees with themethods must have forgottenabout the terror we experiencedseven years ago in New YorkCity.

VoiceboxWhat do you think of the scheduling process?

Critic’s Corner

Although I thoughtSemi-Pro was a bit too overlyhyped, the movie was actuallyrather amusing. Directed byKent Alterman and written byScot Armstrong, Semi-Pro wasreleased on February 29 acrossAmerica.

The main character,Jackie Moon is played by thehilariously obnoxious WillFerrell. Moon first became richand popular with his hit song“Love Me Sexy.” With the pro-ceeds he earned from his hitsong, Moon bought the Flint,Michigan Tropics franchise ofthe American BasketballAssociation. He is the owner,promoter, coach and “star play-er” of the Tropics, but when he

discovers that the ABA willcollapse and only the top fourteams will merge into the NBA,he must rally his last place teamto fourth place as well as aver-age 2,000 fans in attendanceeach night. Knowing he mustdo something to improve histeam, Moon trades the teamwashing machine for formerNBA player Ed Monix, whorode the bench as his Celticsteam won a championship.Monix plays and coaches andleads the Tropics in their questto become an NBA franchise. Will Ferrell made this moviewhat it was. Similar to his act-ing in one of his more popularmovies Anchorman where heplayed the legendary Ron

Burgundy, he used an arrogantand egotistic attitude to makeMoon a funny and rememberable character. One of the fun-niest parts of the movie Ithought was when Moon ledthe team through a practicewhich included them all wear-ing ridiculous tropical themedcostumes to use for promotingthe franchise. Although themain point of this movie was toprovide comedy, Monix’scourageous and inspiring influ-ence on the team made it alsoinspirational.

This combination ofcomedy and sport, althoughheavily advertised leading upto its release date, was wellworth the hype.

Ben BattagliaColumnist

Movie Review: Semi-Pro

Kane and Lynch: Dead Men

The game Kane andLynch: Dead Men begins in therole of Kane, a death rowinmate on his way to his execu-tion for his part in a notoriousgang called The 7. The gameopens on a prisoner transfer buswith a strange man namedLynch who tells you to coveryour head. After an explosion,you're both busted out and onthe run. The surviving membersof The 7 have busted you out toforce you to recover somethingthey think you stole from them.They consider you a traitor and

will kill Kane's family if hedoesn't comply. Lynch is sentalong for the ride to watch overKane and report in if anythingweird happens.

The core game play inKane & Lynch is the standardthird-person shooter with coverelements and a light dusting ofsquad tactics. Unfortunately,even when you're aiming, hit-ting your targets is more diffi-cult than it should be becausethe automatic gun fire has awide spread on it. There's nohealth meter, but if you godown, you don't die immediate-

ly either. You can be revived byone of your teammates with anadrenaline shot. If you get thatshot too frequently, you'll over-dose and die.

While it might seemlike a basic heist game, Kane &Lynch does a good job of mov-ing the action around, and you'llsee a variety of different envi-ronments and situations, rang-ing from banks, to prisonbreaks, to full-scale conflicts inthe middle of fields.

Photo by Angela Repko Answer: Alaina and Mary Luttner

Guess Who?

“I hope I have a class in upstairs C hallso I can hear Mrs. Bronson flip.”

-Rob Nanovsky, junior

“It feels good for this to be mylast time scheduling. I’m consid-ering taking college courses toenhance my academic skills.”

-Megan Stouffer, junior

“I based my scheduling around what I want tomajor in while in college, scheduled things I’m

interested in such as photography.”- Joe Churbock, junior

“I don’t know what classes I want to takenext year.”

- Meghin Kerila, sophomore

“I’m pretty mad I can’t take the class I want to take.”-Chris Mock, sophomore

“I’m excited to schedule because that meansits close to summer.”

- Ricky DeStepfano, sophomore“I’m pumped for my senior year.”

-Ryan Rullo, junior

“I picked my classes based on what mymajor is going to be in college, business

and management.”-Connor Shields, junior

“My favorite class I scheduled is Latin 3. Loveyou Mrs.B!”

-Heather McMahan, junior

Compiled by Lindsey Yelenic, Staff Writer

Patrick LynchColumnist

“I took an AP class this year, nextyear I’m not taking one.”- Spencer White, junior

A survey was taken by the student body and is representedchart above. The figures represent who the student body wouldvote for, if they were to vote today.

Issue Giveaway:Congratulations to Jeffrey Sisson.

Come to room C109 to claim your prize!

If you could create a class tobe added to the curriculum,what would it be and why?

Submit your response to room C109, or email it to glshpublications@wiu.k12.pa.us

On January 8, 2002President Bush signed the NoChild Left Behind (NCLB) Actwith overwhelming supportfrom senators and congress-men. Vermont governor andDemocratic candidate HowardDean, among others have sincebacked out and admitted regretfor voting for the bill. Otherthan boosting President Bush’sand the Federal Government’sesteem, NCLB only benefits aselect group of teenagers. Asan expensive and restrictivelaw, it disrupts the education ofpublic school students.

Bush’s plan worksagainst itself for reasons likefunding. Because of years ofweak tax revenue for the plan,states are forced to make cut-backs in several areas includ-ing education. The implemen-tation of the law is far tooexpensive and, in someregards, is a complete waste ofmoney. North Dakota, Ohio,and Vermont all launched stud-

ies to see if the plan was worththe money they were beingforced to spend on it. An esti-mated 12 billion dollars wasspent on the NCLB in the firstyear of its adoption. All of thatmoney could be put towardupdated technology, materialsand classes. Rather it isexhausted on a plan that, ideal-istically, will program all stu-dents to be adequate.T he law is unreason-able and in some cases, far toointrusive to work for publicschools. It calls for everyteacher to prove through datathat he is “highly qualified.”Even if every teacher in everyschool building was a perfectten, not every student is goingto meet the standards set.There will simply always bestudents who are incapable ofperforming at the level the lawdictates per grade. That is thereason that the goal of 100%compliance by 2014 is unat-tainable. Schools are con-

structed of hundreds or thou-sands of individual people—not battery powered robots.

The standardized teststhat result from NCLB like thePSSAs dictate much of thematerial teachers are supposedto cover. Because so muchpressure is put on the schoolsto increase scores, the teachersbegin “teaching to the test” orcovering only the material thatwill be seen on the test. As aconsequence, most studentsmiss out on a broadened senseof education. The standardizedtests actually lower the stan-dards of each individual statewhen they are creating theirstate-wide tests.

The NCLB focuses oncore subjects—reading, writ-ing, and arithmetic—at basiclevels. It fails to focus onexcelling students who arealready strong in those areas.In all actuality, focusing on onegroup of students negatesBush’s plan. “If you don’t

test,” the President said, “youhave a system that just shufflesthe kids through.” But theemphasis on the improvementof the scores of struggling stu-dents leaves the hardworkingand gifted students to be shuf-fled through. The other groupof students left out of thisgrand educational plan is theartistic learners. Of course artis not a focus of this programbecause a standard test for itcannot be prearranged for allstudents.One size does not fit all. Thegeneration of young people inschool should be taught asindividuals with individuallearning needs—not clumpedtogether into mass-producedadequacies. This forceful lawhas a narrow design and itdoesn’t push people to theirlimits. In contrast, the NoChild Left Behind Act limitsmany students.

Andy SmithammerStaff Writer

Opinion Opinion 66 March 19 , 2008March 19 , 2008

Chit Chat Theft in school

Carmella Stanko Columnist

As students, we allmake the same mistake. Weassume that our school is filledwith people whose morals arein check. While most of ourclassmates are trustworthy, noclass is complete without afew rotting apples. These“rotten apples” are capable ofstealing.

Although stealing atGreater Latrobe High Schoolis not of epidemic proportions,thefts still occur. One hot spotseems to be the girl’s lockerroom. The girl’s locker room,according to gym teacher Mrs.Curci, “is pretty controlled,but your going to get thingsstolen now and then.”Students often leave theirbelongings unsecured, failingto realize that their friends arenot the only people withaccess to the locker room. Allathletes and junior high stu-dents have access to the lockerroom. Some kids may stayafter school to root around, forthey know it is accessible.Since the locker room doorsare not locked during theschool day, guys could techni-cally have access as well.

About two weeks agomy laptop was stolen from thegirl’s locker room. As usual,only two of the big lockerswere available. My mind wasfocused on the race to get oneof the two working ellipticals.Therefore, I left my posses-sions unlocked on the shelves,as most girls do. When I returned, I found nolaptop in its case. What I hadfailed to realize is that not allpeople can be trusted. The fol-lowing morning I filed a reportwith the office and spoke withthe technology department.Two days after the crime mylaptop was found, broken, butfound nonetheless.

Acco rd ingto school officials, when itemsare stolen the student is usual-ly at fault. They insist that it isthe student’s responsibility tolock things up. But what ifthis is impossible? What if alack of locker space preventskids from fulfilling theirresponsibility? An investiga-tion concluded that large lock-er space in the girl’s lockerroom is indeed limited, if notimpossible to obtain.

Mr. Krehlik, assistantprincipal at GLSHS, offeredthe same advice when speak-ing to me about the missinglaptop. “Lock your locker,” hesaid, “The vast majority of thetime; students didn’t havetheir locker secured.”

Mrs. Curci stressedthis same idea saying, “It is theresponsibility of the girls tolock things up.” She said, “If Iput my book bag out there forthe day, I take the chance onsomebody going through it. Ifthere is 10 bucks in there, is itgoing to be in there at the endof the day? I don’t know.”

Acco rd ingto the vice-principals, thelockers are supposed to be inuse only during the period inwhich one has gym.

Therefore, in between periodsthe large lockers should befree. Right? Wrong!

I think there are acouple still out there. I reallydo,” she said. However, whilewalling with Mrs. Curci inbetween second and third peri-od, we found all of the 64large lockers were still in use.“There were some open ones acouple weeks ago. Now therearen’t,” said Curci.

Many small lockerswere vacant, but are only bigenough to house a pair of gymclothes, not large items such aslaptops and book bags thatgirls working out after schoolhave with them. This lack oflocker space is what forcesgirls to leave belongings unat-tended.

As it turned out, “Biglockers are always given tothose girls who need them forsports,” said Curci. It makesperfect sense that girls on theswim team are issued theselarge lockers. After all, theyneed somewhere to hang theirdripping suits. However, I donot agree that simply anyoneshould be issued a large lockerto call their own.

Four of the 64 largelockers cited during the inves-tigation contained absolutelynothing. No clothes, no shoes,not even a hair tie, but theyremained locked. These lock-ers were not signed out. It isempty lockers like these thatcould be used by students afterschool and so Mrs. Curciwould now like to take aboutfive or six locks off.

The school suggestedstudents keep their belongingslocked in their hallway lockerswhile they work out. Thiswould be an excellent solutionif only the gates didn’t shut at4:30 every night, prohibitingstudents from getting backinto the locker areas. Waitingto shut the gates could be asimple solution.

And while some kidshave the privilege of beingable to lock belongings’ intheir car, others don’t have thisluxury and shouldn’t be pun-ished for this. If the school iswilling to issue thousand dol-lar laptops to every student,they are also responsible forproviding those same studentswith a place in which to securethem. The key is to lockyour things up in a locker orwith a teacher.

The adults I spokewith were right, but the schoolshould also strive to make thistask easier on its students. SeeMrs. Curci for more informa-tion on securing your belong-ings. She is more than willingto help. She said, “Girls arealways welcome to lock thingsup in my office if I am here.”She will even issue you a largelocker for temporary use afterschool, just ask. I wish Iwould have known all thisbefore. It could have prevent-ed me from losing my laptop.

No Child Left Behind actfalls short of expectations

The staff of The High Post is committed to serving the student body of GreaterLatrobe Senior High School. The opinions page contains the ideas and views of individu-als and does not represent the views of the staff, advisor, or administration in its entirety.

The High Post is a public forum for student expression, therefore any student whowishes to create dialogue concerning an issue may do so by submitting articles or Lettersto the Editor in room C-109. In order to uphold the integrity of the publication, The HighPost reserves the right to edit submissions for grammar, style and available space.Submissions should not exceed 300 words.

Advisor: Mrs. Renee Stallings • Administration: Dr. Georgia Teppert, Mr. Steven LoCascio and Mr. Chad Krehlik • Printed by the Latrobe Bulletin • http://grlatrobe.k12.pa.us

Section EditorsNews Editor - Samantha Service

Features Editor - Courtney FurwaSports Editor - Matt Zitt

Opinions Editor - Stephanie SiorPhoto Editor - Angela Repko

Distribution Manager - Ian KishProduction & Advertising Mgr. - Nick Baugh

Business Manager - Chris James

Editorial PolicyThe High Post 2007-2008

Editors-in-ChiefAmber Biddle and Mike DeFabo

StaffTyler Baloh, Ben Battaglia, Courtney

Briggs, Joe Ferlin, Justin Downs, RyanLaDuke, Pat Lynch, Mary Maatta, Brian

Noel, Angela Repko, Brianna Saddler,Natalie Schade, Andy Smithhammer

Carmella Stanko, Anna Sylvester, KristinaWiggins,Lindsey Yelenic, Kailtin Zurawsky

Cartoon by Brianna Saddler, Staff Writer

0 2 4 6 8 10

Mr. Ferraro

Mr. Krack

Mr. Savekis

Mr. Wetzel

Mr. Keyser

Mr. Duda

Series1

Infograph by Andy Smithammer, Staff Writer

The United State’sPresidential Electionis set for November 4of this year. In Issue10 of the High Post,the results from this

survey will be compiled into and

infograph of studentopinion.

If a faculty memberran for president, for

whom would youvote? The top five

faculty members willbe posted in the

infograph.

Feature Feature 77March 19, 2008March 19, 2008

Not So Shady:Josie Wright

Senior Josie Wright is known for many reasons, oneimportant one being her artwork. She has taken many art classes toenhance her skills throughout the years such as Art Exploration, ArtHistory, Printmaking, and Drawing and Painting. She likesDrawing and Painting so much that she actually took it twice.

Josie’s favorite type of art is oil painting. In fact one of hermost prized work was done in oil. It was a painting of MarilynMonroe. Josie also participated in GLSHS’s Art to Wear programwhere students designed a fabric and then create it into a skirt. Herskirt was unlike any other with just two simple colors, pink andblack, which caught the eye of many.

Although she likes to paint the most, simple drawing isalso a favorite. “I pretty much like to draw anything,” said Josie,even though she did say that she likes to draw people because theyare challenging and make her look at things in a new way.

On the other hand, when painting, she likes to do animalsand landscapes because they are easier and tend to be more relax-ing and not stressful. Josie doesn’t know if she wants to pursue artin college, but she did say “I also just don’t want to forget about it.”She may minor in the art field.

As for a major, Josie wants to study to become a nurse.She will be attending West Virginia University to prepare for hercareer. More specifically, Josie would like to become a forensicnurse. “Helping people and getting people healed is interesting tome,” said Josie. One person who inspired her to want to get into thenursing field is her mother. She is someone who has impacted herfuture in big ways. Just in the past two years Josie has realized herlove for helping and decided that this is what she wants to do.“Josie is sweet and helpful and also eager to learn,” said Mrs. Ross.As for where she wants to work, Wright has several places in mind.“I think I want to be ER nurse. You are constantly moving and it’snot boring. You’re always busy,” said Josie. She also mentionedthat a surgical nurse would be something of interest. “Working withkids would be fun too,” said Josie. She has many options to pickfrom but it will all come as the future progresses.

Josie also participates on the high school lacrosse team.She started playing when she was a freshman and has played eversince. She likes being on a team. “The best part about it is going toaway games with all the girls,” commented Josie.

Josie Wright is a girl with a lot of artistic ability that sheexpresses very well. She has a love for painting and drawing whichis shown through her dedication to the art class at Greater Latrobe.She has a bright future ahead of her in the nursing field and knowsthat this is what she wants to do with the rest of her life.

Foreign Film Festival enhances the community’s cultural views of foreign film

Natalie SchadeStaff WriterKristina Wiggins

Staff WriterThe Greater Latrobe World Language Department of

GLSH is continuing their foreign film festival. The Winter/ Springseason of the Foreign Film Festival offered in the CSC is a series ofsix foreign films. The films are shown on February 5 and 12, March5 and 12, and April 3 and 10. All shows start at 7:00 p.m. with noadmission cost.

The Language Department’s goal is to “Reach out to theirstudents and the community that surrounds Latrobe to increase cul-tural and linguistic awareness via the art of cinema.” The specificmovies are chosen by language teachers Ms. Harvey and Mrs.Powell who first screen films to decide what films will be shown.They take into consideration incorporating the languages taught atGLSH, and try to vary the movies from season to season. All filmschosen are in foreign languages with English subtitles.

This season audiences will hear Danish, Swedish, French,German, Spanish, Finnish, Mandarin, and Tibetan languages. Inhopes of creating a richer educational experience each movie view-er is provided with a pamphlet containing information on themovie’s plot, history, directors, cast, and reviews from movie crit-

ics. Provided with admission are complimentary popcorn, coffeeand water.

Spanish teacher Ms. Harvey who currently runs the festi-vals created the first series of films running in January of 2006. Sheherself had seen many foreign films in grad school and while livingin Spain, and noticed the lack of availability of the films locally.Harvey states that the program holds a dual purpose, “It serves ascommunity outreach and exposure for students to learn what for-eign films are like.

Harvey along with Mrs. Zalewski, French teacher offers totheir AP and level VI students bonus if they attend a movie bring-ing along a community member. Zalewski only opens this opportu-nity to those select students who “Have the maturity level, since themovies are not always PG.” Afterwards they discuss the movie inclass.

Zalewski supports the Film Festival saying it is, “A uniqueopportunity for the community and school everyone is welcome,and also for the students who are exposed to the unique style ofEuropean cinema, native languages, culture, behavior, and food.”

Snyder breaks away from traditionalto experience a different type of lifestyle

Anna SylvesterStaff Writer

“It is easy in the midst of a crowdto follow the crowd’s opinion. It is easyalone to follow your own. The great man ishe, who in the midst of the crowd can keepwith perfect sweetness the independence ofsolitude.” This quote by Ralph WaldoEmerson completely personifies Mrs.Rebecca Snyder, a unique and exuberantperson whose personality is conveyedthrough everything she says and does.

Road trips across the country arethe way Snyder likes to spend much of herfree time. Instead of going on a traditionalhoneymoon she and her husband hoppedinto a car and drove from coast to coast andto Montreal, with stops in major places suchas Niagara Falls, Woodstock, and CapeMay. “I like seeing new things, meetingnew people, and it’s a way to be with myfamily and talk about things that we mightnot normally get to talk about in the dailygrind,” said Snyder. Her favorite city tovisit is San Francisco, while Utah and otherparts of the Midwest are also much loved.“We just like to get in the car and see whereit takes us,” said Snyder.

One of Snyder’s favorite memoriescame from her first road trip with her hus-band. Driving home from the trip, theyheard about a huge storm moving throughthe Midwest, so they took a way back homethat was supposed to be unaffected. Insteadof missing the storm, they wound up right inthe middle of it. Snow piled up while windsgushed, and they could see no one else in

any direction. The police came on the radioto say that no one should go out because ifsomething happened, no one would come tothe rescue. Miraculously, Snyder and herhusband found a Best Western, and aftersettling in, turned on the television. A 60car pile up was being shown live from rightwhere they had been driving, and while 4police officers were seen taking notes aboutthe accident, another car crashed into two ofthem and added to the pile up. Luckily,Snyder and her husband had gotten out ofthere in time to not be involved.

Snyder’s 7-year-old son Billy isalso an important person in her life. “He’sgenuinely giving, genuinely funny, andsweet,” said Snyder.“He always seems toknow when I’m hav-ing a bad day, andhe’ll come up andgive me a hug and sayhe just wanted tobrighten my day.”

Other hob-bies Snyder enjoysare cooking and bak-ing, scrap-booking,working in her gar-den, and listening andplaying music. Shestudied as a classicalpianist for 20 years.In school, Snyderteaches English class-

es and film media. She also is the directorand producer of the school musicals. Thiswill be her ninth show at Latrobe. “This isa really nice cast, they are very friendly andwilling to work,” said Snyder. “It’s a funshow and we have a young cast this year.It’s fun to see the guys being singing anddancing gamblers.”

Snyder is an enthusiastic person ineverything she does. She has a love oflearning and giving back to her students andshe is always learning new things withthem. She loves giving back to her studentsand learning new things with them. “”I loveit here,” said Snyder. “I love you guys. It’sgreat to be a wildcat.”

GLSH seniors placethird in the LifeSmart’s

competitionCarmella Stanko

Staff Writer

On February 26 and 27, seniors Ryan Kissell, RichieKucera, Heather Prah, Mike Roach, and Tom Nemunaitis compet-ed in the LifeSmart competition held in Harrisburg. Since thecompetition did not start until 9 pm, students were granted per-mission to stay overnight at a hotel with advisors Mrs. Butler andMrs. Kelp. The LifeSmart competition was a consumer knowl-edge competition in which the team finished third. Questions cov-ered everyday life topics such as applying for credit, shoppingwisely, and the rights of consumers. The goal of the program is tohelp teens learn skills that can be used throughout life, regardlessof their professions. “I’m prepared for life now because I’mLifeSmart,’ said Kucera.

Photo Submitted By: Mrs. Snyder

Photo By: Natalie Schade, Staff Writer

Photo By: Anna Sylvester, Staff Writer

On February 29, GuillermoFrutos, Alfonso Batalla, andIgnacio Chillon spoke withspanish classes at GreaterLatrobe Senior High School.Although enrolled at KiskiPreparatory School, all threeboys live in Spain with theirfamilies during the summer.“We know Miss. Harvey andMrs. Ryder, so we just came tohave fun,” said Guillermo.Students were permitted to askquestions of all kinds andreceived answers in spanishfrom the boys. Classes alsowatched spanish music videosthroughout the day.

Carmella Stanko, Staff WriterPhoto By: Anna Sylvester, Staff Writer

Juniors Tony Lamosek and Rocco Piscione watch assenior Kevin Kepple masters Guitar Hero on Friday, February29 during Winterfest held in the commons area. For the priceof $1.00, Latin Club challenged students to earn a 95% or high-er at the game, receiving a free pepperoni roll upon completionof this goal. Many other clubs were also represented during thefinal day of Winterfest. For example, National Honor Societysold Italian Sodas in a variety of flavors for $1.50. InteractClub charged $2.00 for Iced Lattes and Spanish Club preparedtheir traditional tacos. “Key Club Smoothies” came in Berryflavors and the National Art Honor Society offered a healthyalternative of Fruit Kabobs. Winterfest did not last only oneday; events had been taking place throughout the week. Forexample, clubs hosted tournaments after school. On MondayNational Honor Society sponsored a chess tournament won bysenior Bryan Joseph, a scrabble competition won by juniorAaron Ulish, and a checkers tournament won by senior JakeGibas. National Art Honor Society hosted pictionary onTuesday at which the senior team was victorious. Juniors cap-tured a win at “Fitness Ball” sponsored by Student Council onWednesday. Also on Friday, the facility versus student volley-ball game was held in the gymnasium during eleventh period.The underclassman and senior teams each faced a faculty teamcomprised of all male teachers except Mrs. Houck.

Carmella Stanko, Staff Writer

Feature Feature 88 March 19, 2008March 19, 2008

Senior Spotlight:Jeff Sisson

JCL members assist at the Special Olympics

Kaitlin ZurawskyStaff Writer

The Junior Classical League tookan annual service project ski trip to HiddenValley on January 27-28, 2008. The stu-dents acted as escorts for students partici-pating in the training camp for the SpecialOlympics.

The students who went were sen-iors Melissa Balliet, Katie Barchesky,Courtney Furwa, Dylan Harns, Sam Kerila,Leah Lohr, Nick Price and Autumn Russell;juniors Andy Armor, Emily Braden,Brittany Cavallo, Joe Churbock, AllieDeglau, David Duham, Emily Farah, EmilyFarah, Bobby Price, Connor Shields,Andrew Williams; sophomores T.J. Butala,Sam Denton, Ricky DeStefano, MeghinKerila, Josh Koutsky, Ricky Phillabaum,Alex Pochet, Tyler Somers.

The goal of the program is to bringintellectual disabilities “out of the dark-ness” and have the public acceptance. The

program also wants to give every partici-pant an opportunity to become productivecitizens who are respected in their commu-nities.

Mrs. Bronson has been taking stu-dents to participate in the event for 21 years.She first got involved with the SpecialOlympics when she was a teacher atGreensburg Central Catholic. Her husband,with the Intermediate Unit, was asked toorganize the Special Olympics. “I startedthe tradition at GCC and I brought it withme. It’s good for the students to be involvedwith,” stated Bronson.

The Hidden Valley event is a statelevel competition for athletes who won on alocal level. If they win the athletes can thencontinue on to a national competition. Thepeople participating in the Olympics haddifferent levels of experience from noviceto intermediate to advanced. The partici-

pants are of all different ages ranging fromteens to later 20s and most were able toupstage the GLSHS escorts in their skills.No students from GLSHS competed thisyear, but have in the past.

Junior Emily Farah said, “It was areally fun and exciting and a really goodexperience for everyone to have.”

A banquet was held at the end ofthe competition for the athletes and theirparents. Students and other escorts weregiven a shirt, gloves, headbands, facemasks, or a backpack with the SpecialOlympics logo on it. No one went homeempty handed.

Overall the ski trip was a goodexperience for the GLSHS students and ath-letes alike. Both will come out with agreater respect for each other. Bronson andher support for the Olympics will turn into alegacy at GLSHS.

On Wednesday February 27, 2008 Mr. Ferraro took soph-omores involved in U. S History to a Day of EconomicUnderstanding at St. Vincent College. The students competedagainst other sophomores from Derry Area High School.

The students participated in this all day event with guestspeakers to help them in their ideas to create a theme park ride. Thespeakers were Dr. Thomas Cline, a professor at St. Vincent, Mr. EdSaxton who deals with public relations and marketing at IdlewildPark and Soak Zone, and Donna Edmonds from the St. VincentCollege Admissions Office.

The students were put into 10 groups of 5 and their goalwas to create a ride for Idlewild, Kennywood, or Sandcastle. Theyhad to choose a target market, such as what ages the ride wouldattract. Students also had to develop advertising for the ride andhow to attract people to the ride.

At the end of the day students in all of the groups present-ed their ride idea in the form of a promotional skit along with adrawing of what their ride might look like. They presented theirplans in front of the other groups as well as judges. “They had real-ly creative ideas,” stated Miss. Kauffelt Mr. Ferraro’s studentteacher. Sophomore Laura Faust said, “It was really fun and basi-cally amazing.”

The group that won consisted of sophomores MalloryMulheren, Zach Kenly, Kaley Burkardt, Joan Catinchi, and KatelynMalizia. They designed a ride for Kennywood that was calledRaising the Jolly Roger, a pirate themed roller coaster. This ride thatwent through tunnels and had pirate sayings and attracted riders ofall ages.

Miss. Kauffelt says, “The students definitely had fun.”This field trip helped get the kids more involved with the commu-nity by visiting a local college and having a competitive side, aswell as having fun.

Brianna SaddlerStaff Writer

Photo By: Angela Repko, Photo Editor

Nicknames Pete, Doug, JRock, Ace

Music “Alternative mostly: OAR, Dispatch,Modest Mouse, Weezer”

Greatest Challenge “Waking up every morning andbeing motivated to go to school”

Pet Peeves People chewing too loud with theirmouth open or people walking tooslow in the hallway

Describes self as Lazy, but when I do something I doit well

Dream vacation “2 months in Fiji, with no menjust Deal or No Deal models”

Qualities youadmire in a person/wish you had

I like my qualities, but sometimes Iwish I was a little more motivated todo things

Favorite quote “Jeff, that’s the women’s bath-room” - Russell Crowe

Never go anywherewithout & why

Cell phone; because no one ever texts orcalls me but I wanna pretend they do

Teams of five to seven people worked together to earn pointsthroughout the night in the different events which took place. TeamOwnage worked hard throughout the night to earn the most pointsto come in first place to win the grand prize of V.I.P season passesto the Post Gazette Pavillion.

The pie eating contest was one of the many different competitions going onthroughout the night. Teams competed in these mini competitions to earnextra points for their teams.

The dodgeball tournament took place in the mat room where the athleticteams could show of their skills. Along with dodgeball, other sports includ-ed basketball, soccer, and an obstacle course.

Members of the JCL attended Hidden ValleySki Resort to help special needs children

The Opening Ceremonies started at 9:00pm in the main gym. The cer-emonies included guest speakers which included superintendent Dr.Stavisky, Jennifer Stokes from the Pittsburgh Post Pavillion, membersof the Smetak family, and nurses from the Arnold Palmer CancerPavilion where half of the proceeds went to comfort cancer patients.

Following the opening ceremony, The Clarks took the stage to getthe participants ready and energized for the rest of the night. Manyof the Rockdown participants were anxious to see The Clarks per-form live.

The “Control Room” also known as the local area gaming area (LAN) ofthe Rockdown held several tournaments on various consoles. Some includ-ed Guitar Hero III, Call of Duty 4, and Halo 3.

GLSHS students teach the importance of theeconomy to elementary kids

Compiled by: Kristina Wiggins, Staff Writer

Graphics By: Nick Baugh, Production ManagerPhotos By: Angela Repko, Photo Editor & Mr. Snyder