The Tiger Cub Online Edition

volume 102 issue 2October 31, 2011

www.myhighschooljournalism.org

hastings senior high school1100 W 14th streethastings, nebraska 68901 tigerth

e cubWhat’s Happening?

Drama Club Meeting

November 10thNo School

November 3rdVarsity VB Districts @ Kearney

November 17thNMEA Band/Choir/Orchestra All-State Ensemble

November 18thNMEA Band/Choir/Orchestra All-State

Ensemble

November 23rdNo School



November 16th

November 12thBand @ Veterans Day Parade

NMEA Band/Choir/Orchestra All-State

Ensemble

Books give a valuable lesson, relate to life, or just don’t make sense at

all. These are some of the descriptions from the students who complete assigned reading in English. For every English class, students are required to read a book that they would not normally pick up and read. These books are assigned to students to make real world connec-tions. Unfortunately, students are not always too excited about the books. Students sometimes find the books boring and hard to understand. Sophomore Lacey Lurz does not enjoy reading all the books required in her English classes. While she liked The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, she did not enjoy The Unvanquished by William Faulkner. “They are not interesting and they are not books I would read,” Lurz said. Students relate to Lurz on the whole “not interesting” part. The books are usually set in the past, which also makes them harder to comprehend. But not all students dislike what is offered. “My favorite book that we have read is 1984 by George Orwell, because I like how it talks about dystopias,” sopho-more Austin Kopisch said. Kopisch stops just short of saying all the books are all right, because he finds some of the books to be boring. His least favorite was Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Both sophomores have different kinds of books that they would rather have. Lurz would like the books be set during the present time and more on the lines of mystery books. As for

Kopisch it would be books that are more interesting and the genre of fantasy. English teachers opinions differ from what the students think. The teachers usually enjoy and understand the books they have assigned. They see the purpose of the books and how it should connect to the students. “My favorite book for freshman year is The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, sophomore year would be To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, junior year is Hamlet by William Shakespeare,” said English teacher Greg Mays. However, Mays would like to replace some of the books with others if he could. His book choices would not necessarily connect with the students and Mays thinks they should some-how make a connection towards the students. “If I could add a book to the curriculum it would be, Slaugh-terhouse-Five, not The Children’s Crusade- A Duty-Dance with Death by Kurt Vonnegut, because it’s a great book about World War Two and the book is funny too,” said Mays. Last year, a new book, The Hunger Games was added to the freshman reading list and most of the students enjoyed the book and got interested in reading the full series. Currently, the English teachers are reviewing titles for the sophomore cur-riculum. They hope to add a new book to the curriculum there as well. The advice for students that struggle with the books is to not close their minds. At this time students are not at the level to understand all the books, but they will later on. “School’s hard, it’s not supposed to be easy,” said Mays.

Coughing in your hand; wiping your nose on your sleeve; chewing on fingernails, pencils, and ID tags: GROSS! Most people are not aware of all the germs that surround them. But this information will help readers to prepare for cold a flu season. First things first: wash your hands. Washing your hands is very important because your hands are constantly touching unsanitary things and they are always by your face. “I can’t stand when people go to the bathroom and then I watch them touch all of the doors. I refuse to touch the door handles so I wash my hands and then use the paper towel to open the door and then I throw it away,” senior Shalene Gerritsen said. Washing your hands before you eat is probably the most important rule of cleanliness. When you don’t wash your hands before you eat the germs from your hands are touch-ing the food that is going in to your mouth. Another time where it is very important to wash your hands is after you go to the bathroom. Now I know you are saying “of course,” but did you know that washing your hands is not just rinsing your hands with a dribble of water and wiping them on your pants? In order to remove most germs you will need to submerge your hands in warm water and scrub them in anti-bacterial soap. Then dip your hands into warm water again. Dry them, not on your shirt, but on a towel or a paper towel. “I used to brush my teeth like seven times a day because germs are entering your mouth all the time,” Gerritsen said

Other things besides food are constantly entering our mouth. Most students would deny putting pencils, erasers, fingers, and yes-even ID tags in their mouth. If you don’t believe me just look around during class and in the hallways: it’s quite disturbing. Now just think about if someone needs to borrow a pencil from you and the pencil touches the ground and the desk. The next day you use that pencil but instead of holding it with your hands, you stick it in your mouth while you day-dream. That’s how germs spread. How many people have you seen chewing on their ID tag? Now just think about how many people say “ohh let me see your picture” and their hands go all over the thing that’s going in to that mouth with there hand germs all over it. Blow your nose. The school provides tissues. Take advantage of them instead of wiping your nose on your sleeve or sneezing all over the desk, or all over the homework that your teachers will have to grade that night, use the handy tissues. Another easy way to stay healthy is as simple as getting a flu shot. There are a few other tips as well. “Eating breakfast, eating healthy, getting the right amount of sleep and drinking lots of water are all ways to keep yourself healthy,” school nurse Jenny Bauer said Now that you have been reminded of the millions of germs surrounding you go out and do you best to avoid them and keeping yourself healthy.

Really rockin’ reading

Bye, bye, germs jennakulwickireporter

jorgeaguirrereporter

Outside the Trails & Ralis Museum in Kearney, the Shelton train depot is the first building seen on the haunted grounds. The Depot is the 3rd most haunted build-ing on the grounds at Trails and Rails. The depot is thought to be haunted by “B” or Jim who used to be one of the caretakers of the depot when it was operat-ing. When in the basement sometimes footsteps of a person can be heard up-stairs. The depot is also home to the Buffalo County archives. To read about the ghostly encounters of reporters Shane Samuelson and Jordan Allen see page 8.

shanesamuelsononline editor

State VB Tournament

What’sInside:

page 2- Staff Halloween story

page 3- Basketball team returns

page 5- Steve Jobs dies

page 7- staffer reviews twitter trend

October 31, 2011spot light

The scariest day of the year brings terror and cavities to many kids. It also brings opportunities for pranks for others. That’s right! Halloween, the holiday, includes activities such as trick-or-treating, attending costume parties, carving jack-o’-lanterns, bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, playing pranks, telling scary stories, and watching horror films. “I go around to haunted houses,” junior Tori Krueger said. Everyone goes around to trick-or-treat for the joy of the numerous bags of candy he/she will receive, while others enjoy going around scaring the candy corn out of people. Krueger, who will be a cowgirl, likes to go and see haunted places for Halloween. Sophomore Stacy Aguilar, who will not dress up on Halloween, also likes to find haunted attractions for a good scare. A couple of haunted attractions are worth the road trip. The haunted Sokol in Crete features two terrifying haunted houses. Ranch of Terror in Papillion brings all new heart-pounding, spine tingling attractions that are sure to leave people beg-ging for mercy. It offers two horrific attractions; The Trail of Terror takes visitors through a haunted house, corn maze and spooky caves. Others just like to take a walk around for Halloween. People sometimes think they are to old to dress up, so they just find their own way to entertain themselves. “I like to go with my friends and just walk around,” Aguilar said. As much fun as overloading on candy, going around spooking people, or just taking a stroll is, some people would like to have a good time at home with company of good friends and have their own little party right at home. “I hang out with friends and we watch scary movies,” sophomore Kaitlyn Pawloski said. It seems mostly everyone has similar Halloweens as Krueger, Aguilar, and Pawloski, whether it’s retrieving candy, visiting haunted attractions, or just staying at home. Aguilar says that she hopes this coming Halloween is scarier than previous Halloweens.


2

Leaving Toronto had been a hard decision. Going to a new country for a whole year wasn’t the easiest thing to do but Ryan was getting used to how things were at HHS. Sure, it wasn’t Canada, but he liked it here in Nebraska. His host brother Kevin was great and he was having a lot of fun. Hastings had a peace-ful atmosphere. Except for that one little thing. During his childhood, *Ryan had always wanted to be a jour-nalist, so being a part of The Tiger Cub staff seemed like the per-fect opportunity. He had already gone to Mrs. Davis and gotten her permission to join the staff. He went to a couple of classes, and really liked the other newspaper kids. During his fourth day in class, however, he found out about the initiation. People don’t do initiations in Canada, he thought. This sounds suspicious. Still, he really wanted to be on the staff so he decided to tough it out. Besides, initiation couldn’t be that bad. He met with the co-editors and listened while they argued over his initiation. After what seemed like an eternity, they made their decision. Ryan would have to remove another reporter to earn his spot on staff. Not just get them off the staff and out of class, but really take them out. Not only that, the person he was supposed to take down had to be someone he liked. Well, Ryan loved Valerie. Her smile, her sense of style, and her obsession with The Sixth Sense just drew him right to her. What was he to do? Let her live and give up his boyhood dream? Or remove her to pursue his greatest passion? After haggling with himself for hours, he chose to do the dirty. After all, he was going back to Canada at the end of the year. Feeling horrible, Ryan put his thinking cap on. He would have to come up with a plan to lure Valerie into the trap. Ryan knew the school had an unused pool in the basement. Kevin had told him about it. It was the perfect setup; straight from a horror movie. With this information, Ryan would just have to convince Valerie to meet him down there after school hours. Since Valerie was as enamored with him as he was with her, it should be simple. The next day, when Ryan saw Valerie in class, he asked her if she would be interested in watching a “special” screening of The Sixth Sense with him on Friday. She immediately accepted. Step one was accomplished. Friday night, showtime! Ryan arrived at the school half an hour early and let himself in the front doors. (Kevin had stolen Mrs. Davis’ keys after school that day and given them to Ryan.) After getting in, Ryan headed down to the girls’ locker room. He opened the door that led to the pool and set up a blanket with a plate of cookies next to it. Valerie had to at least believe they would actually be watching a movie before he made his move. Ryan rolled in a TV from Coach Nicolarsen’s room and plugged it in. Then he went back upstairs to greet his unlucky date. Five minutes later, Valerie arrived, looking beautiful as ever. She was even wearing her lucky orange scarf. Little did she know... Ryan met her in the circle drive with a big smile on his face. Valerie returned the smile, feeling like a million bucks. Ryan led her into the pool area. Valerie had never actually been in the pool room, although she had heard about it plenty. She was a little creeped out by this choice for a makeshift movie theater, but Ryan was Canadian. Maybe all Canadians had TVs in their pool rooms. She decided to take the chance. Ryan told Valerie to sit on the blanket while he got everything ready. Valerie, however, wanted to poke around a little bit.

Curiosity has always been the demise of the cat. While Valerie was leaning over the deep end, Ryan turned around. Is she really making this easier on me? Ryan asked himself. Alright, here goes nothing. FOR JOURNALISM! Ryan ran up behind Valerie and with his eyes closed, pushed. Screaming and flailing, Valerie fell into the pool. Ryan waited for the thud before he opened his eyes. It wasn’t a thud that reso-nated through the pool, though. It was a splash. That’s not right, thought Ryan. It sounds like water. But Kevin said the pool was empty. Did he lie? Ryan cautiously walked to the edge of the pool, afraid of what he might see. His stomach turned. The pool was slowly filling with blood. A figure sitting on a raft in the middle of the pool peered eerily at Ryan. It was a girl whom he did not know. Her name was Hailey, and she was holding a lantern. Completely silent, she simply stared at Ryan while he stood in anguish on the edge of the pool. “Who are you?” Ryan called out to the girl. She didn’t reply. “Please answer me!” Still nothing. The girl stuck her left hand in the blood-red water and began to push herself to the side where Ryan stood. He began to panic. I need to get out of here, Ryan thought. Now. He fled the pool room and dashed out of the girls’ locker room. He went into the first open door he saw, room 20. Mr. Fielder’s room. Winded, Ryan bent over and gasped for air. When he had caught his breath, Ryan stood back up and glanced around. The sight that met his eyes made him cringe. Kevin, his trustworthy, happy-go-lucky host-brother, was tied up on the floor in the doorway of Mr. Fielder’s office. “KEVIN!” screamed Ryan, “What happened to you?!” Kevin made a few muffled noises through the rag tied around his mouth. Ryan rushed forward and untied the rag. “I...came to the...school...to stop....you...from hurting...Valerie,” Kevin said breathlessly, “Someone...pulled...me into...this room...and tied me up.” “Who could have done this you?” Ryan cried hopelessly. “I did!” Ryan spun around. There stood Mr. Fielder, draped in black robes. Behind him, to Ryan’s horror, sat the silent girl from the pool. Her lantern still flickered. “But why, Mr. Fielder, why?” Ryan asked. “Why Kevin?” “Because,” Mr. Fielder responded monotonously. “I’m not who I appear to be.” Mr. Fielder reached to the back of his head and began to slowly peel his scalp off. Curly red hair appeared. Ryan gasped in horror. “The redhead!” He yelled. “Yes, it is I, The Ginger.” Her flaming hair streaming around her, Jordan cackled at the look of misery on Ryan’s face. Jordan had disliked Ryan since his first day. She was best friends with Valerie and envious of the time Valerie had been spent with Ryan recently. This was her chance for revenge. She had tipped Kevin off, alerting him to what Ryan was up to. Kevin, good soul that he was, couldn’t bear the thought of Valerie perishing for Ryan’s ambitions to be on newspaper. Kevin had rushed to the school when he found out where Ryan was. As he headed down the main stairs, Jordan had ambushed him and dragged him into Mr. Fielder’s room.

Jordan laughed in Ryan’s face. She was finally going to get back at Ryan for all the loneliness he had made her endure. She pushed Ryan away from Kevin and handed her Mr. Fielder mask to Hailey. Jordan pulled Kevin toward the back of the room. “Where are you taking him?” Ryan asked her. “Be quiet, Canadian,” Jordan snapped. “You just sit there and cry for your loss of a good friend.” Jordan and Hailey pulled Kevin through the door to the under-ground cave behind Mr. Fielder’s room. “Save yourself, Ryan,” Kevin gasped. “Go save Valerie.” “Too late,” muttered Ryan, “You’re my priority now.” Right before Hailey could close the door, Ryan yanked it open and crossed the threshold. It was a creepy place. Lanterns like the one in Hailey’s hand hung everywhere. “You want to watch?” Jordan sneered. “Go ahead!” Before Ryan could make a move, Hailey pushed Kevin into a cage filled poisonous spiders. Kevin started to scream as the little black bodies began to crawl over his arms and legs. Ryan turned away, tears in his eyes, unable to believe what he had done to his best friend. It took the poison 15 minutes to finish its circulation through Kevin’s bloodstream. When Jordan checked his pulse and could find nothing, it was time. She hummed the secret code: the first bars of “The Twilight Zone” theme song. Almost immediately, Mrs. Davis entered the room. “Let’s take him up to the dark room,” she said. “We’re going to run out of room in there if you guys keep this initiation thing up.” “Oh, this wasn’t the intended initiation, this is payback,” Jordan responded nastily. “Regardless, it’s getting cramped up there,” Mrs. Davis rolled her eyes. “Hailey, light the way.” Hailey stood up and opened a side door in the cave. Panting, Mrs. Davis and Jordan picked up Kevin and carried him into the stairwell leading up to the journalism room. Hailey led the procession up the dimly lit staircase, silent as a ghost. When they reached the top, Hailey threw open the door. Jordan and Mrs. Davis roughly threw down Kevin’s still, cold body. “Good enough,” Mrs. Davis said. “A sad loss; he wasn’t a bad writer.” “Take that Ryan,” Jordan thought cynically. “See how you like America now.” Hailey blew out the candle in her lantern. Down below, still weeping over what he had done, Ryan rocked back and forth on the ground. Valerie’s face flashed before his eyes. Ryan let out a cry of despair.... ....Kevin sat bolt upright. Someone had yelled. He had been sleeping on the J room couch, but was startled out of his slumber. Good thing too, he had been having the most awful dream. “What’s going on?” Kevin asked, looking around. Everyone was crowded around something on the floor in the corner by the dark room. “It’s Valerie,” Jordan responded, turning to look at him. “She just dropped dead.” Kevin jumped up from the couch. “WHAT?” He cried. “That...that can’t be right. You’re wrong.” “Just accept it,” said a voice from the corner. Kevin spun on his heel. Hailey sat cross-legged on the floor, leaning against the wall. She held a lantern in her lap.

Fright

Nightmare on 14th Street thetigercubstaffstory telling

night!

Use this QR code to take you to the Twitter page for Tiger Cub News. Here you will find story updates, extra photos, and upcoming school events. Jump on the band wagon and follow us today!

KIM’S NAIL & SPA

HOURSMon-Sat: 10 am-8 walk-ins welcome

STUDENT SPECIAL 20 % off 303 N. Burlington, Ste B

(402)-462-0646Hastings, NE 68901

acrylic nailsgel nails

spa manicure/pedicurecolored tips

*The names and events in this story are meant for fictional purposes and Halloween enjoyment. They in no way reflect any factual events.

October 31, 20113 sports

Standing with rapt attention, focused on the sky before you, you wait for the signal, finger on the trigger. “Pull!” The target flies in front of you and you pull back on the trigger. “Bang!” The target falls. This is what a trap shoot competitor might feel at competition. In trap Shooting the competitor shoots clay targets flying through the air with a shotgun. Started in 1750 in England, it is now a sport that is widely played across the U.S. by all ages and is the third fastest growing sport in the world according to National Sporting Goods Association. There are three events in trap: singles, doubles, and handicap. Singles is considered the easiest event. The shooter stands 16 yards away from the center of the trap house (enclosed area where the competitor stands when he is ready to shoot) and shoots at random targets that fly at various angles. Junior Cody Newlun is a top contender statewide. Several HHS students have excelled at this sport. “I won the state trap shoot last year, won numerous other times, in my conference shoot. I shot the Wyoming State Shoot and got High juniors 16’s one day and high junior handicap one day and again high junior 16’s,” Newlun said. Other competitors, freshman Adam Florian, have a true love for the sport. “I like being able to shoot all day and being able to talk with people,” Florian said. Trap shooting provides not only a social aspect, but also the chance to travel. Newlun has even gone out of Nebraska for trap with places like Laramie, Wyoming; Cheyenne, Wyoming; Teton, Wyoming; and Kensington, Kansas. Weather is a huge part in trap just like in a lot of other sports. “Wind is the primary problem. The direction of the wind can really affect where the target ends up.” Florian said. Trap started at a young age for Newlun making him a very good trap competitor today. “I started shooting, BB guns and rifles and the 4-H organization got me into trap, my sister started doing trap so I did too,” Newlun said Trap is not just a hobby; it is a sport that is in colleges across the world. “I might go to college to shoot trap.” Florian said. Trap is a different kind of sport; most sports take physical ability to perform well, but in trap it takes lot of mental con-centration and focus to succeed. Trap is becoming a popular sport and Cody, Adam, and other students at our school are competing in this new sensation.

Back to Back District champions. Returning Boys and Girls State champs. The Hastings High bowling teams don’t just look to compete this season, they look to win. “I think we will make it to state. We have a very solid team of guys that are competitive and want to go out and win as a team,” senior Zane Bald-win said. The boys varsity team lost three seniors to graduation, but looks to be a top contender in the state again this year, because of returning talent. “I am most looking forward to watching the young men and women of the HHS bowling teams amaze everyone with their talent and good sportsmanship. The same thing I am excited about every year,” Coach Chris Christen said. Returning to bowl this season are 2011 state championship team members seniors Baldwin, Charlie Christenson and Dalton Monnier, and sophomore Wyatt Davis. at least ten bowlers will compete for seven varsity spots. Adding new varsity team members will change the dynamic. However, confidence is running high as the bowlers continue to build positive team unity. “I think our biggest advantage is just becoming a team and working as a team through all the differences and just bowling the best to our abilities and getting every point, including all the players points,” Baldwin said. On the girls’ side, the returning state champions are also looking forward to competition. “Well I’m really excited just to be bowling in general. But I’m excited to see how well we do cause I think our girls are going to be pretty good this year,” sophomore Cheyenne Fielder said. Fielder is one of three varsity girls’ bowlers returning for another year. The girls varsity lost three senior leaders to graduation this year. “Since our seniors are gone the other girls who bowled last year will just have to step up and take their place, I think we will do just as well as we did last year,” Fielder said. Tryouts for the bowling team are November 7, and the first tournament is scheduled for November 26.

It was 2007. Students attending HHS today weren’t here when the softball team last competed at the state tournament.But the 2011 squad was not to be denied.Coach Pete Theoharis wanted to return, as he was formerly part of the team. How did he view the path to State? “We saw [the other teams] as good competition and a chance to rise to a higher level.” Theoharis said it was a combination of physical and mental preparedness that got them to their goal. “Intense practices, game-type situations, …making them believe they can beat anyone.” The team began their climb after a difficult last season. But districts would change that. After beating Aurora and St. Paul in districts, the team lost to Grand Island Northwest- that meant they would have to win the rest of their games to go to state. And win they did. After wins over Aurora and GINW twice in the same day, the Tigers secured their spot in the State bracket. On October 12, the two teams met for a showdown here in Hastings. Unfortunately, the team was unable to hang on against top-rated Bennington, as the game turned out 12-0. However, even in their loss, the Tigers were full of pride. Theoharis believes team unity helped the team persevere. Team members agree that “#tigahswag” is definitely prominent, as is the feeling of togetherness and reliance that each member exudes. “They’re motivated easily,” Theoharis said. As for the players’ thoughts, “We didn’t lose because we made errors,” Senior Seana Lewis said. “We had a goal to make districts.” And they made it farther than that; they went to state. In the eyes of the team, they won. As the team’s motto goes, “Spirit wins a game.”

Cookies aren’t the only thing difficult to start from scratch. Getting in all the ingredients and steps to rival grand-ma’s delicious chocolate chips can be a daunting task indeed. In sports, it also takes lots of hard work to make a team who can work together and have success on the court. Getting everyone on the same page and collaborating can be a real challenge, with new players coming in and seasoned veterans graduating every year. This year, the basketball team has the upper hand in the recipe book. With the entire 2010-2011 team made up of juniors and sophomores, Tiger basketball has a full roster of juniors and seniors for the upcoming season. The previous team, in spite of a 5-17 record, kept games close and gained experience needed for building success. “It shouldn’t be too much different from last year- we should have a little more experience and confidence. As long as we still work hard, we shouldn’t have a problem to just keep on moving forward,” said senior player, Brady Menke. Player and coach seemed to be in sync about their predictions for this year’s team, as head coach Scott Rosno explains. “In some sense we will be very much the same as there were no players lost to graduation from last season. However, as the seasons of the earth change due to the 23.5’ tilt, so does a group of young men change due to their relentless effort to improve everything around them,” Rosno said. Will having a tried and true recipe make for a better season on and off the court? “We have already shown a sign of success with a stronger commitment during the off-season. We hope to see a level of competition create depth, which we look for that to make us more competitive in games. Our increase in both commitment and competitiveness will be the true measure of our success, “ anticipates Rosno. The team is all geared up to start their season, which will again compete in the strong GNAC league to pre-pare them for a solid class B district come February. The players are psyched to get this season underway. “The most exciting times of a season are the first three weeks and the last three weeks. It will be the duration through the middle that we must maintain that excitement,” Coach Rosno says. With what sounds like a recipe for success, the Tigers are ready to get cooking.

nathanaelsassreporter

gracekellyreporter

wyattdavisreporter

kevinchristensenreporter

S.W.A.G

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Senior Kayd Welke pushes past two Crete Cardinals during a game last basketball season. Welke, who re-turns on varsity for the Tigers, is among several play-ers returning for the 2012 season who saw varsity playing time last year. “I am very excited to see what this coming season is going to bring,” Welke said. “Since practically the entire team is coming back, it will be exciting to see what we can do this year. We have a lot of potential.”

tigeryearbookfilephoto

October 31, 20114 feature

For students nearing the end of their high school career it can be very stressful. ACT scores, scholarships, and college planning are just some of the stresses that students endure before graduation. School guidance counselors make the transition between high school and college simpler. “The best advice that I can give to students who are in the process of college planning is get on campus, test the school, take a tour, and talk to professors,” school counselor Jan Carper said. Among the students who toured a desired college is senior Jon Rodriguez. With the help of Carper, Rodriguez toured the UNO campus. “Once I got on campus I knew right away that’s where I wanted to go. I learned things about UNO that I wouldn’t of known if I didn’t tour the college. I got scholarship info and learned exactly what the requirements are and class sizes,” Rodriguez said. Senior Levi Stanger also utilized local sources first. “Mrs. Carper helped me get to the website, Education Quest and helped a lot,” Stanger said. For seniors planning for college but not quite sure where to start, here are a few things to do throughout the year: Retake the ACT and/or SAT in the fall. Continue applying for scholarships in the winter. In the spring, select a college after considering all options. In the summer apply for student and parent loans if needed. For a full list and timeline of what to do when planning for college go to educationquest.org. “Money should never be a reason to not go to college. Apply for as many scholarships as you can. Where there’s a will you will always find a way,” Carper said. College planning has been proven effective and students who have not started still have time to start now.

Getting put on the spot is tough, but getting put on the spot in front of an audience while trying to keep a story going? Now that is improv. “Improv acting at its core is acting without a script, but participants can add some structure to it by play-ing an improv game and following the rules,” drama teacher Katie Schultz said Though actors do not have a script there still are rules, the main rule is referred to as “yes and”. “The rule, yes and, says always agree with circumstances and then build on it, it makes sure that everyone will contribute to the story,” said Schultz. Some think because there is not as much structure in improv as there is in acting with a script, there is not a point to improv. In fact there is very good point to it. “The point of improv is to have an awesome time,” Schultz said. The improv team consists of one freshman, three sophomores, one junior, and two seniors; only one member of the team, president Luke Fanning, was on the state team last year. “Though we lost most of our members, I don’t think we will suffer,” said Schultz. Schultz thinks that the “rookie” team could be good. “I believe it is an opportunity for underclassmen to step up, I really enjoy the diversity of the ages in the

group,” said Schultz. State team members think improv is a lot of fun. “Improv is really entertaining, it keeps you thinking and on your toes,” Fanning said. Because improv is so entertaining, Fanning has stuck with it. “I have done improv since junior year so this is my second year,” Fanning said. Improv games can be very difficult. Some can have more than one story going at once, and move to different stories randomly throughout the game. One of these difficult games is “four square”. Four square involves four actors in a square. Each one is an actor they have a separate story with. That means four stories in one game; as one can guess this can get very confusing, “Four square is a difficult yet very fun, it has so many things going on at once that it can get confus-ing but it is still entertaining!” Fanning said. Schultz also wants this to be known. “As a team, we are looking for a name. We need something fun and exciting,” Schultz said. Those with suggestions for a name, can submit it to Schultz in room 88. They can also bring it up to any improv actor, or e-mail it to [email protected] “Any suggestions will be taken into consideration, but please keep them school appropriate!” Schultz said.

There are 52 cards in a full deck. The odds of someone guessing the card one picks are one to 52, a .019 percent chance that they could choose the right one. Freshman Kyle Bishop can do that any time he is asked. In fact it is rather simple to him. Bishop aspires to be a magician and mentalist. “Well since I have been doing magic for around three years now, card tricks are pretty easy. I tend to try to learn more mentalism now than card tricks,” Bishop said. Bishop says mentalism is the new direction of magic. “Mentalism is more of a modern day approach to magic. The stuff you see David Blaine and Criss Angel doing on TV? That’s mentalism,” Bishop said. Mentalism is a venue of magic that involves mind reading and hypnosis. Blaine and Angel are two of the most famous mentalists, and inspired Bishop to do magic. “One day I was bored and I started watching a David Blaine special. It really intrigued me. I went on to the Internet and started researching magic, I learned my first trick within two hours. My mom told me that it was really cool. That is what mainly got me into magic,” Bishop said. Bishop has taken his hobby of magic to a whole new level, performing in front of audiences. “I have performed for audiences on six occasions, and have more on the way. I get paid $100 a show,” Bishop said. Bishop says there are a few rules to being a good magician: never tell the secrets, and always be prepared to perform. Bishop follows both of these rules. “I have never taught anyone a trick, or given any secrets, and I usually have one or two decks of cards with me.” Bishop said. Bishop hopes to become a high caliber magician. “In my future I might become a professional magician, but if that doesn’t work I could always go to college.” Bishop said. Bishop can see himself being among the best like David Blaine. Blaine was born on April 4, 1973, and was introduced to magic when he was four years old while seeing a magician preform on a New York subway. Blaine’s story is similar to Bishop’s, both were introduced to magic and felt a spark of interest, and started performing young. If Bishop follows in his idol’s footsteps, perhaps he could change a high school freshman into a talented performer.

College is one opportunity that isn’t offered to everyone. Especially for those students who may be not be legal citizens, college opportunities can be limited. “If you’re an illegal student you can’t get federal funding (to attend college),” E.L.L teacher Denise Teetor said. The Dream Act was created to allow undocumented students to receive public financial aid for college. This is so students who are not legal in the country can still be eligible for scholarships and be able to go into the army. “The Dream Act would not only be great for kids, it would also be great for the economy,” Teetor said. The Dream Act can put billions of dollars back into the economy, because they would be getting better jobs, paying more taxes, and starting businesses that would create more jobs for people. This would be a much-needed economical boost America needs to help lower the national debt. Most U.S. citizens though are worried about their own jobs. “Americans do not want a jobs bill for illegal immigrants, they want an opportunity to go back to work,” Congressman Adrian Smith said on his website. Teetor notes this bill will help only those without the opportunity to help themselves. “The Dream Act was made for kids who were brought here when they were young and didn’t really have a say in anything,” Teetor said. The Dream Act goes into effect January 1, 2013 in the state of California. It still has to pass the Senate before it becomes a national law. This could give top students of all nationalities a chance to improve their lives. “The Dream Act benefits us all by giving top students a chance to improve their lives and the lives if all of us,” Teetor said. While the Dream Act does not make the students citizens, it will provide opportunity for educa-tion and military service to those who wish to participate.

Bippity

Not Start your engines

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Freshman Emily Blunck acts out a scene with senior Brady Trambly at improv practice on Wednedsay October 19. “I like improv because it lets everyone display their creativity withought being judged,” Trambly said.

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October 31, 20115 feature

To oil or not to oil? That was the question at the Trans Canada Pipeline hearing at Lincoln on September 27. Laying the pipeline across Nebraska and other states is the first step to installing the $13

billion Keystone Pipeline, which will link the growing supply of oil, in Canada, with the largest refining markets in the United States. The hearing was held at the Pershing Center and had everyone from senators to 12 year olds speaking their opinion on the underground oil pipeline planned to go right over the Ogallala Aquifer, below the Sand Hills, and other aquifers throughout the Midwest. The Hastings High Debate Team was given the opportunity to sit in on the hearing. “It was a completely new experience for me,” debate coach Delta Fajardo said. “There was a huge difference between what I saw and what I heard. I heard a lot of passion from those against the aquifer yet I saw a lot of people in orange shirts in favor of the pipeline.” Many of the students, who went along with Fajardo, that went were very surprised more people were in favor of the pipeline than against it. However, that was not the only surprise for sophomore Nick Howard.

“What surprised me the most was the fact that the amount of people who showed up was way lower than I expected,” said Howard. “I expected hundreds of people to be there but there were only about 100 people there in all.” While sitting in on the discussion after the trip, some debate team members were appalled at the way many listeners acted towards the debaters that were in favor of the pipeline. It was said that one man stood up to give his speech but was interrupted by booing after his first few sen-

tences. “No one on the non-favorable side listened, and constantly repeated the same things that had already been said, even after the points being brought up had been disproved by the favorable side,” Fajardo said. She and her students also mentioned the favorable side was more organized and had many reasons with evidence as to why the pipeline is safe which was no match to the non-favorable side’s passion and concern for their water and homes with very little evidence.

“The hearing was a great experience to get kind of hands on in democracy and a more ad-vanced type of debate,” Howard said. It showed them new ways to make their debate skills in their own competition. They also learned a few other things to not do, like booing a person in the middle of their speech, for instance.

Debate team observes history

Unfortunately the world has lost an iconic visionary this month. On Wednesday, October 5th co-founder and former Chief Operating Officer of Apple, Steve Jobs, passed away at the age of 56. Jobs was the incredible and brilliant mind behind Apple’s incredible success in the technological world. Some people may ask, “who is Steve Jobs and why was he such a big deal”? Well, he is the reason anyone has a computer in his or her home. He revolutionized desktop computing with the popularization of the mouse we take for granted every day. The very computers we use every day in our school or even in our daily lives are all thanks to Steven P. Jobs. He is the reason we listen to music on tiny three-inch devices that can hold up to 1,000 songs or more. Something I think we can all agree that we use almost on a daily basis is iTunes. iTunes was a dream and even a reality for Mr. Jobs. The movie we all loved growing up as children, Toy Story, was made possible with the help of Jobs. Jobs became a part of Pixar, the company that animated Toy Story, when he left the very company he co-founded in 1985, Apple. Eventually in 1996 he became the C.E.O. once again of Apple. As you can probably tell now, I hope, he was exactly a BIG deal! When I wrote this column I was using a creation by Steve Jobs. Everyday when I go to work I use a device created by, you guessed it, Steve Jobs. Without Steve Jobs we would not be where we are today in the technology world. We would not have the great devices we all know and use everyday. He was an incredible stubborn man. He would not say “good enough” to a new product. He would work everyday, night in and night out thinking of new ways to improve an existing or new product. As soon as a new product would be launched, Jobs would go to work the very next day and start creating a newer and better product that would change the world. In 2007 he changed the way we all communicate by launching the iPhone. Is there only one iPhone? No, there are five models of the iPhone on the market. Jobs was committed to bringing new innovations of technology and brighter ideas to the table. In 2010 Apple launched FaceTime, an application that would allow its users to video call another person that owned an iPhone, iPad, or Mac computer. Jobs said during a demo of FaceTime, “I grew up here in the U.S. with The Jensen’s and with Star Trek and The Communicators, just dreaming of this, you know, dreaming about video calling and it’s real now.” One thing I am afraid to see is how well Apple does without the current presence of Mr. Jobs. Truly, without a doubt Steve Jobs was an incredible genius of a man who will be missed.

Nation loses great creative mind

On a summer night last July senior Lauren Bliss was driving down the gravel part of Marian Road, a road she had driven on multiple times, when two deer ran out in front of her. “I swerved to try to avoid hitting the deer, now I know to just hit them instead, and went up an embankment, over a fence and a small tree, and rolled my car about five times,” Bliss said. Luckily, Bliss was not hurt badly, partly thanks to her seat belt that she had been wearing. “If I wouldn’t have been wearing my seatbelt I would be dead right now,” Bliss said. “I would have been ejected from my car and it would have most likely landed on me.” Bliss said. Bliss walked away with a seatbelt burn, some other minor injures and a valuable experience. “I learned to wear my seatbelt no matter what. It takes a second to put on and it saved my life. I’d rather have a seatbelt burn than be dead,” Bliss said. “Always be cautious of your surroundings because you never know what could happen,” she said. Officer Steven Murphy, a local police officer for 39 years, agrees with Bliss’s stress on wearing a seat belt. “There are a lot of things that seatbelts prevent,” Murphy said. “They protect you from getting ejected from the car or restrain you so you do not hit the steering wheel or sides of the car. It also lessens the chance of life threatening injuries.” Officer Murphy knows of many accidents where the seatbelt saved the driver’s life, including those of his fellow officers. “I know three of my co-workers were wearing seatbelts and that’s what saved them; two of them had totaled cars at the end of their accidents and all of them walked away from the ac-

cident,” Murphy said. Murphy also wants drivers and passengers to trust in wearing seatbelts. “I personally don’t believe that there is any situation where a seatbelt could harm you more,” Murphy said. “It doesn’t make sense for something to be made that could cause death, and noth-ing out weighs the fact that seatbelts save lives, not harms them.” While wearing seatbelts does prevent harmful injuries, there are many distractions drivers can avoid to keep from crashing in the first place. “Any distraction can cause you to crash really, there are a lot of them and sometimes we don’t even think about some of them as being one,” Murphy said. Distractions can include; scenic views, people in other cars, billboards, texting or talk-ing on the phone, eating, radio knob turning, and many more. Murphy believes safety while driving is a simple concept. “My message I would like to give to drivers is, devote your full attention to driving, get rid of distractions, and buckle up!” “As monotonous as it may seem,” Murphy said, “it has been proven that wearing a seatbelt can save a life.”

Click it or Ticket:

Fantestica. One word. But it has many students confused. There are multiple huge posters in the social studies wing on first floor with this mind baffling word on it. Many students want to know the meaning behind the word. “The posters are kind of a way to inspire students to do a good job in school,” special education teacher Tim Johnsen said. It appears to some teachers that many students are not caring about their grades; it is becoming uncool to do well in school. Johnsen brought up this idea. It is his way of rewarding students for doing well on tests and homework. The posters are used to push students to do better on tests and quizzes. “I have seen a difference in my students. I think they are working harder to get their name on the board,” Johnsen said. Many students are proud to have their name on the board. “I wanted my name on the poster so I studied harder for my test and I got 100% so now my name is on the board,” freshman Jesus Deas said. Other students have also been taking advantage of test retake opportuni-ties. “I have seen a lot more of my students retaking a test. Before, not very many students took advantage of that but now most students will take retakes,” social studies teacher Ann Mays said. Teachers that have used the posters have seen not only a difference on tests, but also in class. “It’s a fun atmosphere in class. My students have sort of made it a competi-tion to get their name on the poster,” Mays said. These posters have made a difference on how some students view school in general.

FanTestic!

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Students, teachers proud of success in classrooms

TransCanada Pipleline offers team chance to witness statewide debate

Tigers reminded of safe driving practices as winter approaches

September 29, 20116 entertainment

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SENIORS!!!!

Don’t forget your senior yearbook photos are dueDecember 23!!!!

You need a photo release

EVEN IF A FAMILY

MEMBER TOOK YOUR PICTURES!!

Turn them in to Mrs. Davis room 224 or Jordan

Allen!Thanks!

Bacon....Bacon....Kevin Bacon, where are you? October 14 marked the day of release for the remake of Footloose. The original Footloose came out in 1984. The original, for those of you who have not seen it, was one of the classic movies given to us during the 80’s. Others include Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. If you have not seen any of those, please go rent one im-mediately after reading this article. All the previously listed movies have made an impact on plots, characters, etc. in movies of our generation. Not until recently has one ever been remade. This was for good reason. The new Footloose has prac-tically the same plot line, char-acters, and twists. A big-city rebel moves into a small town and has a hard time adjusting to the ways of small town life. He meets the girl of his dreams but unfortunately she has a boyfriend. To make matters worse, he comes to find that dancing is against the town’s

2011 remake of 80’s classic misses mark

law. Through some ups and downs, the protagonist makes it possible for the senior class to have their dance and gets the girl. The ending scene is the senior dance, where, conve-niently, everyone is an amaz-ing dancer and it is almost like it is a choreographed event. While you are watching the dance scenes, pay special at-tention to the moves of Ren. This main character is played by Kenny Wormald. This is where the biggest difference be-tween the two movies comes from: Ren’s big dance scene. I am talking about where our lead guy is so frustrated with how everything is going in his life that he dances in an aban-doned warehouse to blow off some steam. The ideas behind both danc-es are very similar. Lead guy hits his steering wheel, does some kicks and dances, gets some nice gymnastic moves in, and of course swings from a chain. With so much in common, what could be the big differ-ence? Two words. Kevin Bacon. I have to give Wormald props

for trying; however, he did not pull off the scene as well as Kevin Bacon did. The newer dance was anticlamatic. After swinging his iPod cord around for awhile, he eventually does some dancing and falls for a little comic relief. Throughout the entire movie, Wormald’s dancing seemed forced or like he should be on a broadway stage. He is a very talented dancer, not to be dis-missed, but he did not capture the spirit of Kevin Bacon in his performance. My favorite character of the movie was Willard, played by Miles Teller. Teller, being the dorky friend, attempts to learn how to dance. He is your clas-sic “I don’t dance” kind of guy. However, with the help of Wormald and a few of their other friends, he learns to how to move and not look like such a clown. One might say he danced better than his best friend. He really stole the dance performances with his quirky-uncoordinated start to his outrageously talented moves at the end. My least favorite part was the “twanginess” of the en-

tire movie. Country music in a small southern town is to be expected, but it is a whole different ball game when the song “Footloose” is made into a country song. It was as if they took the story of Footloose, mixed it with the dance moves from the Step Up movies, and sprinkled in some Garth Brooks to make this cre-ation. But my biggest beef with this movie is that it was set in modern times. It just did not work. The thing that made the original so great was that it fit perfectly with its time period. Attitudes, styles, overall ideas on life- it made sense. Remakes are very rarely as good as originals. The newer version may be good, but when compared to what was done first, it tends to never reach the quality or expecta-tions of the first. It seems to me that a remake comes out whenever there is a lack of creativity in Hollywood. Keep your fingers crossed they will spare the other classic 80’s movies and learn that remakes will never be as good as the originals.

No Spark with release of new novel

“He still loved her, she was certain of that now, and the realization was intoxicating. She knew it was

wrong, and she tried to force the feeling away, but Dawson and their past had taken root once more, and she could no longer deny the simple truth that for the first time in years, she’d felt like she’d finally come home.” Nicholas Sparks has done it once again, in his newest novel, The Best of Me. The book follows the story of Amanda Collier and Dawson Cole, and the love they once shared, and presents a moment of second chances. Dawson Cole was the kid from the wrong side of the tracks, the outcast, the one with the wrong family name. Amanda, however, was Orien-tal, North Carolina royalty. Her family was the biggest name in town. The two met as teenagers and eventually fell in love. Amanda’s parents didn’t approve of her being around a Cole because they were bad news, so Amanda and Dawson took refuge in Tuck Hostetler’s garage. They spent a year together until the subject of college came into the picture. Amanda’s parents saw great things in her future and wanted her as far away from Dawson as possible because they thought he would bring her down, and Dawson agreed so he broke their relationship off because he thought it would be the best thing for her. Flash forward about five or so years and you meet Dawson as a grown up man fighting for his life, when the oilrig he works on explodes. While wading in the water he thinks about Amanda the only love he ever knew. The two are brought back together by the death of Tuck and what he has requested they do for him. As they reunite, their love rekindles just as Tuck had wanted it to. The truth is, this book followed the same story line every Nicho-las Sparks book does. Boy and girl fall in love, and something comes between them but love ends up conquering all. Although that is all dandy and good, it gets boring after awhile. The book was fairly decent and it did have its sad moments, but unless you are completely in love with the same story line over and over again I would not recommend you read this. I got bored fairly quickly and almost did not finish it.

“Hi, my name is the internet, and here’s what I think of Ap-ple’s latest showing: BLAAAR-RARARGHGHGHAHGH!” If you haven’t heard, at Ap-ple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event on October 4, the newest ren-ditions of all of Apple’s main devices were revealed, priced, and dated. First off, the iPod Nano. The new model isn’t a huge rede-sign by any means, in fact it looks almost identical to the current version. Actually, it’s just the insides that are being upgraded- the screen looks better, new op-tions to use when you’re ex-ercising, and- hold on to your

The truth is, this book followed the same story

line every Nicholas Sparks book does... it

gets boring after a while.

lilwayne-online.com

/media

4S fails to impress followers; new features few, far between

seats, kiddos- new clocks. Yup. Have fun with that. Next up, the iPod Touch. The Touch is the most popular mu-sic player in the world, not to mention Apple’s most popular iPod. The update for the newest model is the shiny new operat-ing system iOS 5. That means it’ll run smoother with better graphics, less crashes, and


more awesome. Also new is iMessage, which is pretty self-explanato-ry- you can communicate with other iOS devices, like iPhones, iPads and your Mac. It’s texting without charges. Finally, the big hitter: the iPhone 5! Wait, what was that? It’s not the iPhone 5? Yes, just when everyone was expecting

innovation, we got an “S”. An iPhone 4S, to be precise. From looking at it, though, you’d never guess it’s anything new. Which honestly, it isn’t. Sure, it’s powered by a new A5 chip, and yeah, it’s got a new camera, but it’s under-whelming overall. However, it does come with one surpris-

ingly cool feature: Siri. Siri is a voice-activated “helper” that can tell you weather, stock lev-els, appointments, and much more, just by asking it a ques-tion. It works so much better than I can describe it, so check out the videos at apple.com. It’d be impossible to write this article without mentioning the recent death of Apple founder Steve Jobs. This conference was the first ever not hosted or at-tended by Jobs. Sadly, he also died the day after it. If you want to read more about Jobs’s legacy, check out Shane’s article.

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Tha Carter 4 fan favorite

Lil Wayne. An artist like no other. Born on September 27, 1982 in the harsh Hollygrove neigh-borhood (where gangs and drugs were a major problem and this area has played an im-portant role in his music) in New Orleans, Louisiana, Lil Wayne has pretty much changed the world with his music. His influ-ence on our culture today is amazing. Lil Wayne’s real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. At age 11, Cash Money re-cord label hired him to do the odd jobs around the office. He started rapping in 1993 has not stopped rapping since. When Lil Wayne started be-coming famous people around him told him he does not have to make so many songs and it’s going to back fire on him. He proved the critics wrong and his popularity with his first al-bum began to grow. After hundreds of songs, in-cluding the albums, Tha Carter, Tha Carter 2, and Tha Carter 3, Lil Wayne has created an album that will be forever re-membered. Tha Carter 4, already a clas-sic, was released August 29, 2011 right after the Video Mu-sic Awards on MTV. In just the first week 964, 000 albums were sold. On iTunes, there were 300,000 downloads in the first four days of the release. These are some of the songs in this album: Intro; MegaMan;


Nightmares of the Bottom; She Will featuring Drake; and How to Hate featuring T-Pain. My favorite song on this al-bum is B***t Blowin and my least favorite song is “How to Hate” ft. T-Pain. I also like in this album how Lil Wayne made an Intro, Interlude, and Outro, which all have the same back-ground music. Lil Wayne is my favorite artist. I give this album a 4.5 out of 5 stars because I really like all the songs except How to Hate. Songs like John, So Special, and President Carter make Tha Carter 4 a great album, but songs like How to Love and MegaMan are favorites for a lot of people. Rolling Stones gave Tha Cart-er 4 a rating of 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. Overall this is a must-listen to album that I would recommend to people who like rap/hip hop, but also people who like songs that inspire them like the song, “Mirror” which is a smooth sounding song about how get through all the ups and downs in life that the “mirror” or your-self has always stood by your side. Tha’ Carter 4, Lil’ Wayne’s newest and greatest album.

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October 31, 20117 opinion

Goodbye Facebook, hello Twitter. As some of the students and staff at HHS may already know, a new online craze is sweeping the school. In the past, there have been many new fads to come and go: email, instant messaging, and Facebook. The latest hit? Twitter. Twitter has been around already for a few years but this year it has started to gain more attention. Since I knew next to nothing about Twitter, I decided to check it out. Previously, I viewed the website as a waste of time. An entire page solely dedicated to updating your status? Unnecessary. However, I felt it was time to get over my trepidation and take the plunge. I went to twitter.com and began to set up my account. Without a doubt, the most difficult part of this process was choosing my username. After throwing some choices around, I finally chose one and moved on. The next step on the list Twitter so nicely laid out for me was to pick other tweeters to follow. This was fun. I could choose any celebrity or organization I wanted. My first choice was obviously National Geographic because I love reading the mag-azine and watching the TV channel. Next pick was People magazine because reading all the celeb gossip is how I spend my time at work. Next I chose Adele because, come on, who doesn’t love her voice? Final selection: John Green, a hilarious author. If you haven’t read his books, I highly encourage you do to so. So, I had my name and the users I wanted to follow. Now what? I messed around with the color scheme of my profile for a while but quickly became bored. I tweeted my first status and signed off. After only having Twitter for one day, I was surprised and happy to find that I had three people following me already! Even though I didn’t know who any of those people were, I was pumped because they wanted to follow me! Twitter was looking pretty good to me. In the following days, I started following my fellow Tigers’ tweets. Students here at HHS lead fairly interesting lives. Twitter has taught me things that I never would have learned otherwise. After my first tweet week, I was disappointed to see that my first three “followers” had stopped following me. Perhaps it was due to my lack of tweets. To date, I only had two. I don’t know if other people find it challenging to think of things to tweet about, but I do. My life isn’t stressful or comical enough to have something to say every two hours. Maybe I will start tripping down stairs or cracking jokes more to get some good material to use. Joining Twitter was an eye-opening experience. I plan on continuing to use Twitter in the future for both recreational and educational purposes. I’ve enjoyed my Twitter experience thus far and I hope this fad will stick around for awhile. #tweeter-4lyfe P.S. Follow me on Twitter, @tiswhatzyss

New bird in own

To your readers

Fact or myth: high school students are too old to trick or treat. If you answered myth, you are correct! Contrary to popular belief, trick-or-treating knows no age. If done properly, it can be enjoyed forever. First things first, you have to have a costume. This is extremely important. If you do not have a costume, you might as well just give up. It shouldn’t be a lame costume either. No one is going to give “a high school student” or “an average person” any candy. And without candy, you are just a sad soul wandering on Halloween night. This brings up my second point, a candy bucket. A common mistake... for amateurs! Answer me this: how exactly is one able to maximize the amount of candy attained without a candy bucket? That’s right, it is impossible. Candy buckets come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and materials. If all else fails, you can use a grocery bag, though I recom-mend something more festive such as a pumpkin or cauldron. Regardless, your total candy count will not be affected by the appearance of your bucket, just be sure you have one. Third, it is always beneficial to have a plan of attack. Map out the town; make sure that you hit up teachers (the nice ones), friends with nice parents, pastors, and those houses that have the reputation for having the best candy. Make sure you invite some friends to come along with you; trick-or-treating by yourself is boring! Next, go trick-or-treating! The tradition is to go on Halloween, October 31. If you try it on another night, chances are your results will be disappointing. So on the night of Halloween, get yourself all dolled up and head out! Don’t forget your map or your candy bucket! While you’re out, there are some very important rules to keep in mind. 1. Do not accept the following items while trick-or-treating: apples, cookies, pencils, popcorn balls, and treats that are not pre-wrapped by the company they came from. 2. Be sure to say thank you to the person giv-ing you candy; use your manners! 3. Be courteous to small children. They have their right to trick-or-treat as well. After you’ve been out for as long as you can handle, keeping in mind that Halloween is on a school night this year, it’s time to head home and get to the important stuff... sorting candy! Besides not wanting to look dumb, this is the other reason to bring friends along. Trading and sorting candy is the most worthwhile part of the Halloween tradition. It begins with the dumping of the candy on the floor, keeping piles separate of course. Following that, you must scope out the candy in the other piles that you want and then figure out what you could trade for it. Next, get rid of all those gross Jujubes! It amazes me that people still hand those out; they are disgusting. Then, let the trading begin! Be fair though, if you’re going to take candy then make sure that you give something in return. Lastly, enjoy the candy! Halloween is a joyous time for all people to be celebrated with chocolate and candy corn!

Freshman Mentoring Program, better known as FMP. Goals for FMP are as follows: increase school spirit, develop camaraderie with fellow students, better the involvement of underclassmen in activities, and encourage freshman to reach their potential by teaching them habits to better themselves as a person. It has come to the attention of the Tiger Cub staff that FMP has become much more than that. First off, we would just like to say that FMP is an excellent program. We believe that FMP has really evolved into a respectable program that carries out all of the goals it is intended to do. Our only issue with the program is some of the things that go along with having an FMP cup competition. It has come to our attention that in the past, mentors and teachers alike have strayed from some of the initial goals of FMP. It is the job of mentors and teachers to help freshman reach their potential and it is their job to lead by example, not just by words. We find this has become an issue when it comes cheating to win FMP cup points. This is not a current problem, we have not witnessed any signs of cheating this year. But we do know that this competition can bring out some hard feel-ings when it comes down to it. This is why we want to send a clear message out to stay clear of the drama that goes along with competitions. The cup is a representation of the hard work an FMP has put in throughout the year and we just want to make sure that this tradition of hard work and fair play stay alive. The competition for the FMP cup has become a motivational tool for the freshman to get involved. We love that! The more students involved and excited about HHS activities the better! Our concern is that FMP may be centered too much on the competition rather than the values it was meant to have. This article is in no way saying that bad things are happening in the current FMP program. As a staff, we just want to remind students, mentors, and teachers involved in FMP to keep their eyes on the true goals FMP is set out to do and not get so wrapped up in the competition for the cup.

The Tiger Cub Editorial

Welcome back everybody! We’re glad to see you’ve returned to the coolest place to speak and write correctly. This can be a magical experience. Once you’ve learned the secrets to successful grammar, you can officially call yourself a grammar wizard. You can even carry a wand around if you would like! This issue we are bringing to your attention our biggest pet peeves in the grammar world. The difference between the types of certain words. A prime example? “Your” and “you’re.” “Your” is used when describing something that belongs to you. You watch your dog; you eat your food; you obey your mom. (At least we hope you do!) “You’re” is, funnily enough, the con-traction for “you are” and is used when describing yourself. You’re a superstar; you’re a model student; you’re pretty. Why is this so important? Well guys, when you’re writing a love note to that cute girl in your English class, you don’t want to look foolish by writing YOUR CUTE instead of YOU’RE CUTE. And ladies, when your prospective colleges are checking out your Facebook page, you don’t want them thinking, “Wow, she doesn’t know the difference between ‘your’ and ‘you’re.’”

For this crucial tidbit of information, you’re welcome. There are several other things we have to share! Up next? Look over there! What is it? The difference between there and their and they’re. There’s a difference? There sure is! Their differences are that THERE refers to a place or thing. THEIR shows possession of something. THEY’RE is actually the phrase “they are” in shortened form. So now that you know their differences, there are multiple ways they’re used. Finally, the difference between two, to, and too is up! Two is, in fact, a number. The Count from Sesame Street can help us here, “One, two, three...” You get the idea. Next is TO. This little two-lettered word is a common preposition used in every day life. You go to class; you need to turn in your homework; this is the right thing to do. Last but not least, too. Misspelling too is one of the most common grammatical errors. TOO is a synonym for also. When you are trying to compare things in your essay, insert “also” or “as well” to see if your “too” needs that extra “o.” That sums it up for this issue’s lesson! Keep your grammar book handy until next month when we return with even more grammatical wisdom!

It is lunchtime and you are wondering what sandwich sounds good today. Maybe a club sandwich or chicken salad sandwich to munch on. With quite a few sandwich shops to choose from you may be wondering, what’s the best one for me? Sub shops in Hastings include Quizno’s, Big Dally’s Deli, Jimmy John’s and Subway. Some HHS students already have preferences “Quizno’s is my favorite shop because it has my favorite sandwich, Baja chicken.” Sophomore Kyler Meredith. Sophomore Kiara Carson has Jimmy Johns reserved on her favorites list. “I like Jimmy Johns because it’s freaky fast and they have fair prices,” Carson said. If price happens to play a role in your decision, Subway would be a good choice. They have the well-known great deal: the five- dollar footlong. Most of Subway’s sandwiches have fair prices. Atmospheres can also be very influencing while making a choice. If you want somewhere louder and energetic, Jimmy John’s is the place to go. “Jimmy John’s has cool people and really cool music,” Carson said. The most relaxed atmosphere would be found at Quizno’s. “I like Quizno’s atmosphere because it has great music and it’s clean.” If you tend to gravitate toward places that are speedy Big Dally’s Deli and Jimmy John’s would be best. These shops are several places around town that you can find great food and have an equally great time. So get out there and experiment with your hometown sandwich shops.

lexyvanboeningreporter

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w-to

Substantial evidence

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ayco-editor

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October 31, 20118 photo essay

Tiger Cub Policy and Staff The Tiger Cub is the only official stu-dent newspaper of Hastings Senior High School. The Tiger Cub publishes a eight page paper monthly printed at the Hast-ings Tribune. Subscriptions cost $15 an-nually. The Tiger Cub is advised by Cathy Davis. If you would like to order a subscrip-tion to The Tiger Cub, please call 402-461-7568, or e-mail us at [email protected]. Letters to the editor are welcome. They may be e-mailed in, mailed to Hast-ings Senior High School, or dropped off at room 224. The Tiger Cub- 1100 W. 14th St. Hastings, NE 68901


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Who you gonna call? Midwest Paranormal Inves-tigators? Yes folks, believe it or not, Central Ne-braska has its very own ghost hunting team, and seeing as it is the “haunting season,” we decided to sign ourselves up for a little ghost adventure. Skepticism ran heavy within our minds, but we were both determined to change that, as were the investigators. It started off with about an hour class where we learned about the other 18 members who would be investigating with us, along with Bill Sinnard, Jacob Sikes, and Scotty O’Rourke from Y102, who were the lead investigators and found-ers of MPI. Bill and Jacob were originally filmmakers, and got into the documentary business when they got the crazy notion to make a film about Haunted Nebraska. That is what eventually led them to the investigation of the Paranormal about five years ago. We learned about different types of haunt-ings, along with what to expect during the eve-ning. Goosebumps ran up and down our spines as each member of the class told us their stories and why they wanted to participate in the inves-tigation. Before we knew it, it was time to begin; we split up into groups and went our separate ways. Our group went to the church, the second most “haunt-ed” place on the grounds. Before we started we got the full ghostly experience of whom we might expect to meet on our journey. We also listened to EVPs (electronic voice phenomenon’s) from previ-ous experiences in the church. We stood in the entryway to the church, freezing, and unsuspecting. The church was dark with only flashlights lighting our way. Our group was instructed to sit down on the front of the small stage. Bill placed three flashlights at various locations within the room, along with a K2 me-ter (an electromagnet field indicator), which was our prime source of communication with the spirit world. We were instructed to ask the spirits ques-tions. If the meter lit up they were present. For a short while we did have a conversation with one of the ghosts inhabiting the grounds, we asked him questions about his wife, and if he liked where he was, we even got him to turn one of our flashlights off and then back on. Then Bill asked if the “dark shadow/priest” would let us know that he was also with us. He didn’t seem to like our group because

he never did show up, so we moved on with our night. Back out into the cold we went, to-wards the hotel, which is the most haunted, and the creepiest of the buildings on the grounds. Scotty was our leader for the sec-ond part our journey. There we learned about the murder that took place (Rupert they think), and about a woman named Bea and her chil-dren. By that point things hit ten on the weird scale, when almost everyone started feeling cobwebs in their hair, along with tingling sen-sations on arms and legs as if someone, or in this case, something was touching them. We began touring the main level, which included the parlor, where the family hung out, along with the sinister stairs to the second floor. Up stairs we all felt a sudden chill run past us. Then we entered a bedroom where a fellow investigator in our group snapped a chilling photo of what seems to be an older woman’s reflection in a mirror. In that very room Shane agreed to sit by himself in the freakiest closet any of us have ever seen. While in the clos-et the rest of the group went to the hallway where we started our first EVP session of the night. Scotty led the session by introducing ev-eryone in the group. Scotty then asked for the spirit to touch Shane, who then felt a pat on the shoulder along with a cold rush. The next command the spirit was asked to do was to knock three times which he or she did willingly. With Shane rejoining the group we ventured back downstairs to the dining room where we spoke to the spirit via an AM radio, or a “spirit box”. The rest of the night consisted of tour-ing the train depot, school and Boyd house. Although they were still quite scary they were nothing compared to the church and hotel. We ended our night back at the church with the entire group of 20, where everyone shared their experiences from the night, each person experiencing something dif-ferent from the rest. It was a night that we will not soon forget, and ghost hunting is something that cannot be taken lightly. If so your mind will get the best of you, and so will the ghosts.

Ghost hunting new weekend sportTiger Cub reporters Allen and Samuelson join Mid-West Paranormal Investigators on a trip to the other side.



Find more photos of the Ghost hunt-ing experience online!! Use your smart phone and this QR code to go to our flickr page!

Giving an eerie first im-pression, the sun peeks through a bare tree at the Trails and Rails Museum. The gazebo located behind the tree was where all the investigators met after the hunting class for a run-down of the night.

Scotty O’ Rourke, from Y 102 and Bill Sinnard get ready for a night of haunt-ing as they help ghost hunting first-timers with their first ghostly encoun-ters. They stand posing in front of their Midwest Paranormal Investigators logo.

A group of investigators sit in the hallway of the haunted hotel, while Scot-ty O takes a photo of the most active spot in the building, the stairs. Experi-ences on the stairs range from cold spots to feeling sick. A myth is told that a man was murdered in the building.

The Train Depot at Trails and Rails used to be a working train depot for the Union Pacific Railroad. The depot is said to have “residual haunt-ings” which means that strong energy from emo-tions has overcome an area and constantly repeats in time.A fellow ghost en-

thusiast, Megan Bydalek, snapped this photo of what looks to be a lady in the mirror in the upstairs bedroom at the Freighters Hotel in Kearney.





meganbydalekcourtesyphoto

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