FeaturesFa-la-la-la-la Family TraditionsBy: Abby Nicholas

Snow blankets the roads, white Christmas lights twinkle on the trees outside, and the

glow around the room. Christmas itself is a tra-dition; since the birth of our Savior thousands of years ago, people all over the world have celebrated Christmas. Once holiday

and signs for “evergreens for sale” start lining the streets, many start think-ing of what they’ll do this Christmas season.Many use the holidays an opportunity to get all the

The Becoming of an

By: Katie Schmitz

The sweet natural scent of a freshly cut evergreen and the soft twinkling of lights delicately wrapped around its soft branches is one of

to mind when I reminisce about Christmas time. The whole experience of picking out the perfect tree, uneas-ily steadying it on top of the minivan, and hauling it back to the house, all in sub-degree temperatures has always been a venture I

to when December rolls around. Although, to my dis-may, real Christmas trees have become the minority in

stealing the popularity. The classic Christmas tradition of decorating your home with an evergreen tree has been a long-standing tradi-tion, but rapidly started to change around the years of 2001 and 2007. During this

A Steaming Cup of Holiday CheerBy: Susie BacaSnuggling up next to the

what? Holiday drinks are synonymous with the holi-day season itself.We all have certain drinks during the holiday season that we favor over all the rest. “For me the drink itself brings back memories of sledding with my dad when I was younger,” said junior Megan Miller. Fresh-man Bridget Leutzinger’s favorite holiday drink is also hot chocolate. “I just feel like hot chocolate is a traditional drink of Christ-mas. I always see people drinking it in the movies by

Bridget said.Many people relate the holiday season to their favorite holiday drinks.Fresman Sarah Sloboth loves Starbucks’s pepper-mint mocha. “Peppermint

spirit and feeling,” she said. Junior Holly Schumacher also has a favorite drink to sip on during the holidays. “Chai tea is my favorite holiday drink. I only drink it during the holidays, so it always reminds me of Christ-mas,” she said. Whatever your drink may be,

and embrace the holiday spirit!

Most of our family lives 1.200 miles apart, so we do some-thing different every year,” says freshman Angela Hutch-ing. Whether you’re spend-ing Christmas in a foreign

surround yourself with great company and spread the holi-day cheer!

family together for some merry festivities, such as sophomore Sara Zaleski. “Every Christmas Eve, my sisters and I all sleep in the same room; the

wake up in the morning gets to wake everyone else in the house up to open presents,” says Zaleski.Sophomore Alexa Narke shared her favorite family tradition: putting up the Christmas tree. “The day after Thanksgiving, we all help decorate the tree, listen to Christmas music, and drink hot chocolate. It gets me so excited for the holidays!”says Narke.Sophomore Juliana Lins

Maués is returning home, (Brazil), for Christmas and will be seeing her

time in months. “It is very important for us to be as close to our family as possible,” she says. Ju-liana explains that they have the same Christmas traditions as most people in America. While many use the holidays as an op-portunity to get all the family together for some holiday activities, not everyone has that luxury. “It’s almost our family tradition to break Christ-mas traditions.

cial trees gained popular-ity. The top reasons for

include safety, one-time purchasing, and no messy cleanup. A compelling argu-ment, but the materialistic message it conveys I feel

-cial trees. Our materialistic mindsets push us away from the natural evergreen, with its imperfect gaps and falling pine needles. Why put up such an “eye-sore” when there’s a perfectly symmetrical synthetic tree at your local Wal-Mart? All talk of materialism aside, trying to perfect a holiday just leads to un-necessary stress. Going back to simpler times when the “perfect Christmas” was something as simple as family enjoying each other’s company we would

ourselves dealing with dur-ing the Christmas season.

Page 7 December 13, 2013

The Narke dogs “help” decorate for Christmas.Photo courtesy of Alexa Narke

Page 11Entertainment

February 7th, 2014

by Abby Nicholasbratty just for laughs and then they repeat it later because they look up to people on the show,” Quinn adds. Her friend, Sopho-more Calli Wiseman, agrees saying, ”My younger sisters will try to imitate people on Disney shows and they don’t real-ize that the things they’re saying are sarcastic and rude.” Some of the com-ments in the shows nega-

-geted audience and many

-less. “A lot of the acting is terrible and the issues confronted on the show are unrealistic. The channel talks too much about dra-ma now,” says sophomore Julianne Faulconer. Although highschool students now say that the channel lacks substance like it used to, could it be that it is just a matter of nostalgia for the “old Dis-ney”? The truth is, there truly is a problem with the “new Disney” shows; they have even taken to making fun of eating disorders. Demi Lovato, former Dis-

It’s 2003; you and a friend are waiting for your favorite show to come on. A “Disney channel star” announces themselves and waves the coveted wand as your eyes light up with anticipation. Eights years later, two different young children sit in front of the television, but something has changed- that excite-ment that you had does not exist in the eyes of these two. Evidently, Dis-ney has changed a lot over the years, (as most things do), but were these chang-es positive or negative? Whenever Disney is brought up in the conver-sation, it is always fol-lowed by talk of nostalgia for shows like “That’s So Raven” and “Lizzie Mc-Guire.” “Those shows were so much more interesting than what is on today. I found all those shows very relatable and not as cheesy,” says Junior Kae-lie Lenz. Even children born in the 2000’s notice the dif-ference between “old Dis-ney” and “new Disney.” After watching an

episode of “The Suite Life of Zach and Cody” and then watching a current show (“Shake It Up”), 8-year-old Ava Nicholas comments, ”Zach and Cody are silly; “Shake It Up” is

dumb and they think they’re funny.” From the obser-vations of people from our generation, Disney channel has changed for the worst. “When I was little, the shows on Dis-ney always seemed to convey a positive mes-sage, but I’ve seen bits from the show while my little sisters were watch-ing TV and this doesn’t seem to be the case any-more,” says sophomore Morgan Quinn. “They’ll hear “popular” kids on the show say something

ney star, tweeted later

funny how a company can lose one of their actress’ from the pressures of an eating disorder and yet still make jokes about that very disease.” When questioned by the media, Disney responded by say-ing they were “only trying to make light of eating disorders.” Not only is it not politically correct to joke about, but there are young kids watching these shows that can be very easily persuaded. It is clear that Dis-ney channel needs to get their act to together.

-enced very much by what they hear. Therefore, it is their job, as a company that markets to youth, to set good examples and teach valuable lessons that will help prepare kids for real life situa-tions. Walt Disney once said, “our greatest natu-ral resource is the minds of our children.” Hope-fully in the future, the company will bring Walt’s philosophy back to life with improvements.

An Ode To Old-School Disney: What Went Wrong?

Gift GuidePage 3

Study Tips Page 5

Rivard RantsPage 3

By: Gabby Giesler

For the second consecutive year, Skutt Catholic’s student council presents a winter formal. This year, the theme is a masquerade. “I think it is a cute idea, as long as everyone participates. Maybe it will be mysterious like the mov-ie, A Cinderella Story,” said freshman Hannah Anson. Sophomore Macy Damewood adds, “A Mas-querade will be cool to see everyone’s different masks.” The dance will take place in the commons of Skutt Catho-lic. “The proceeds go to our sister school in Gua-temala – Sr. Diana Ortiz

grade school. Last year, the dance made enough money to keep the school open. Without our winter formal, the school would have closed. This is a big deal for them,” said student council spon-sor Mrs. Salerno.By popular request, a photo booth will be present again this year. There

will be two tables with props to use in order to customize each picture. Each ticket doubles as a photo pass. Song requests are also open all night!

A twist from our home-coming tra-dition, this time the girls ask the boys. Fresh-man Ryan Moritz says, “I’m re-ally glad the girls have to do the work this time, I don’t have

to pay for any-thing. It is really

interesting to see the girls braving up to ask guys.” The girls have been very creative so far with asking their dates to the dance; plates of cook-ies and brownies, colorful poster boards with candy, and various other meth-ods have been presented. “I brought my date snow-

out ‘Winter Formal?’ and surprised him after the football game. He said yes.” Said sophomore Alyssa Johnson. The dance is De-cember 14th, 8pm-11pm. With all the twinkling lights, glimmering masks, and celebratory spirits, winter formal is sure to be a ball.

Winter Formal 2013: Masks, Music, and More

Photo courtesy: Spencer Rohlfs

Sophomore Emily Baratta asked sophomore Spencer

Rohlfs, who is an employee at Target, to the dance.

On the “Eledge” of Our SeatsBy:Rachel Podraza

Everyone was upset when they found out that beloved teacher, Mr. Eledge, was leaving. There were many rumors going around regard-ing what he was doing. Where was he going? Why was he going? What was he doing? When would he be back? Would he ever come back? The truth is that Mr. Eledge didn’t entirely

know why he was he going. He said, “ I guess there was just something inside of me that said I needed a new environ-ment, a new perspective, a new lifestyle.” continued on page 4

Black Friday Midnight Madness

Pepper-sprayed in line, trampled by bargain-shopping moms, pushed by a herd of 7th-graders who are scrambling for the last sale Aeropostale t-shirts: these are just a couple examples of exciting recounts that seem to be told after every Black Friday. Only in America do we have a day devoted to being thankful with

our family, just to stay up that night to get the best discounts for things we think we need. Many people disgrace this “hunt” for sales, while many seek

perfect presents for their loved ones at the risk of being fought by other shoppers. Freshman Hannah Anson is one of those who look forward to Black Friday. continued on page 4

By: Abby Nicholas

Photo courtesy: Mr. Matt Eledge

Abby Nicholas - Omaha Skutt Catholic