Internet may still see sanitization

• February 11- Choir Booster’s February Shake-up February 13 - Haslett Board of Education Meeting7 p.m• February 16 - Ralya Art Night6 p.m-7p.m• February 18 - Jazz Night at HHS•February 22 - District Choir Festival (Holt High School)• February 23 -Murphy Science Night 6 p.m • March 6-8 - ACT/PLAN/WorkKeys Testing

What’s On Deck?

Longer school dayAfter second semester, the

school underwent a schedule change. The day now starts at 7:49 a.m. and ends at 2:24 p.m.

An extra minute has been added to first hour, as well as one minute to the end of sixth hour.

Four total minutes have been added each day in or-der for the school to reach the 1,098 hour requirement. The last day of school will be a half day on Friday, June 8.

Chemistry grantThe chemistry program

received a financial grant for new laptops. The physics and chemistry rooms will receive $5,000 to purchase the com-puters.

The grant awards seven new laptops. These laptops will be available for use by Dan Kohler’s chemistry class-es for various experiments and other in-class activities.

“This will be a lot better for my classes,” Kohler said.

viking LONGBOATLB 2.10.2012 haslett high school 5450 marsh road haslett mi 48840 volume 17 issue 5

PORT

SID

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BEN

EATH DBDECK

Pages 5-7High school relationship issues

Page 12Murphy mentoringconnections

Teachers have been pressured to continue working hard to in-crease performance and exhibit success in student achievement, but now there is an even greater motivational force: a new teacher evaluation process. Originally, teachers just had to survive past tenure for almost guaranteed job security. With the new system, performance and capability is critiqued rather than simply the amount of time one has been teaching.

New education standards

RAISING STANDARDS on page 4

photo by sierra DOVE

Teachers see strict requirements for student performance

by nick LEMMER

“Imagine a world without free knowledge.” That was the headline Jan. 18 on the major encyclopedia website Wikipe-dia in protest to SOPA (Stop Internet Privacy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act).

These two bills are cur-rently resting in the legislative system. SOPA was introduced by Rep. Lamar S. Smith, from Texas’ 21st District as a means to stop internet piracy.

The bills gained much criticism, due to their nature. Many critics have claimed that any censorship of the in-ternet is a violation of the First Amendment.

by reid FOWLER

IDAT NGStudents in Craig Kueffner’s British Literature class complete a pre-assessment.

SOPA/PIPA on Page 4

O2 pinions

The Viking Longboat is a monthly publication of Haslett High School, 5450 Marsh Road, Haslett, MI 48840. It is published by the fifth hour Newspaper Production class and Journalism class. The Longboat has been established as a student run public forum circulated within the school and to subscribers in the community and outside the school district. The Longboat is a member of the National Scholastic Press Association, Journalism Education Association, Columbia Scholastic Press As-sociation and Michigan Interscholastic Press Association. The publication is an eight-time Spartan award winner and CSPA gold medalist. Letters to the editor are accepted at the discretion of the editorial board. Forms of speech not protected by the First Amendment will not be published. Letters must be signed by the author and may be edited for grammar, spelling and style. Direct all questions to the Publications Room, Room 411.

editor-in-chiefsTravis Stirewalt & Lauren Hooperphotography editorSierra Doveopinions editor Maggie Turneysports editorShane Heston sports writer Adam Forenfeatures editorJill Detwilercopy editorPhil Prescher

graphics editorErik Frobomphotographers Nick Gregory &Eddie Whaleystaff writerZach Hebelweb manager Austin Rosenbaumad managersKristen Everhardt &Logan Milliman adviser Julie Price

STAFFLaine AlexanderQuinn AlexanderNick AndresonAmy BaumgartnerJeremy BurtonCaitlin EddyReid FowlerPatrick GiffordNick LemmerGriffin Marinez

Alex MurshakJosh SawyerJordan ScottKurstian ShooltzMelody StokosaAsha SultaniMorgan UnderwoodRory Youngs

LETT

ERS ELTO

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Viking Longboat staffThe CREW

Have something to say?

Angry, frustrated or downright upset about what we’ve written?

Want to build a stronger student voice?

Want to tell us how well we’re doing?

Write a letter to us!

Drop the finished product off in the Publications Room, room 411, for con-sideration to run the in next issue of the newspaper. Thank you!

Let your voice be heard!

Letters to the Editor are here to help! We know that you all have issues with differ-ent things around the school and in our community. Trust us, we want to hear what YOU have to say.

We do NOT accept annonymous letters. If you have an issue with something, you should be able to admit who you are. Letters to the Editor are NOT here for you to simply rip on people, take on the issuses, tell the truth.

February 10, 2012

Pre-tests are pointless. Clearly if a teacher gives a stu-dent a pre-test over material that has not yet been covered and then give a post test over the same material, there will be improvement on the post test. That was obvious before teachers had to pre-test.

Even if someone has the worst teacher, there will be at least a tiny bit of improvement by the end of that chapter or unit. So this proves what?

A lot of teachers don’t like the idea of pre-testing. Many just made a quick one page test and handed it out to stu-dents with no intentions of having their students do well because they know the post tests scores will be fine.

Students don’t care either. It doesn’t affect grades so it’s literally not important to any-one. Maybe some people like the rush of joy when they get an average grade on a test on material they haven’t learned yet.

Maybe it makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside or it brings a temporary “I’m smarter than you” buff. For most though, it doesn’t bring us anything but agony and boredom.

Everyone had the joy of tak-ing a pre-test last week at the start of the new semester. A new law has taken effect on

schools, teachers and students. While the law’s intentions are good, it isn’t really that helpful or effective.

Why does the state think these pre-tests will help crack down on teachers? The most it will show them is that the teachers spent 15 minutes of their time handing out a piece of paper. Most students didn’t even try on their pre-tests.

Most people just bubbled every answer in as “C” and were done in about three min-utes.

If you think about, this might make our teachers look really smart in the eyes of the state. Having 20 students get

an E on the pre-test and then a B on the post test looks pretty impressive.

New criteria for tenures are another way the state is crack-ing down on teachers and are trying to improve the educa-tion system.

Tenure refers to life tenure in a job and specifically has to do with a senior academic’s contract that says he or she can’t be fired without prob-able cause.

This protects some teachers who have been teaching for a long time.

A lot of the teachers who have been teaching in schools the longest have

built up a legacy that every-one likes and no one wants them to retire.

In cases like this, students and staff are usually glad that tenures are in place. On the other hand, a teacher who isn’t performing well can’t be fired, letting them continue teaching longer.

Basically, if a teacher is well liked the tenure is a good thing, but if a teacher is not well liked the tenure is bad.

It’s all about the specific in-dividual. Unfortunately, the government cannot have little footnotes or clauses in their laws protecting some teachers and getting rid of others.

STAFF EDITORIAL: More assesments? Don’t test me

Be one of the cool kids, visit us online! www.vikinglongboat.org Bill and Fran Turney

Susan Turney

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O 3pinions February 10, 2012

in the Average Joes versus Purple Cobras championship game. And thanks to fear, hype and the fact that anyone can create a Tumblr, people are be-ing caught up in ridiculous rub-bish. If they just really took a look at the facts and the sources of these predictions they would realize that there’s no real rea-son to believe anyone.

I will admit, amongst all this foolishness, the idea of a doomsday is interesting. I’ve always been a fan of zombie games such as Dead Island and post apocalypsic games like Fall Out: New Vegas and RAGE. I repeat, it is ineresting but that doesn’t mean I think it will actually happen.

I am confident the world will not end on Dec. 21, 2012 nor any date soon.

Well, when you think about it, it’s always better to say the world is not going to end. That way if it doesn’t end, you can laugh at all the idiots who quit their jobs and ran for the for-ests because they thought it was going to end. However, if the world does end, we’ll all be dead and so no one can make fun of you for being wrong. It’s the most logical approach to the situation.

It’s not the start of the end of the world

The Mayans had two main types of calendars; Round and Long Count. The Round cal-endar is approximately about 52 years or one lifespan. Obvi-ously times have changed and we live about double those years, but this was their average lifespan back in the 2000 B.C. to 250 A.D.. But what if they wanted a calendar that lasted more than 52 years? That’s when the Long Count calendar comes into play.

I will warn you right now, this part gets confusing.

According to multiple col-lege lectures and encyclope-dias, the Mayans have five units of time measurement. The first three are about the same as our three most common units. The first are Kins. Kins are our equivalent to days and winals are our equivalent to months. However, in their system there are 20 kins (days) in one winal (month). The next unit of time

are tuns which equal 365 kins (days) or 18 winals (months).

The next two units are dif-ferent than what we have now. Ka’tuns are equal to 20 tuns (years). Then Bak’tuns are equal to 20 Ka’tuns. Even those these seem random, notice the repetitiveness of the number 20. It’s important, don’t forget about it.

Like the Round calander, the Long Count has a cycle. One cycle of the Long Count calendar is 13 bak’tuns. These cycles are basically eras and ac-cording to the Mayans, we are currently in the fourth cycle of the Long Count calendar ac-cording to their date of when the world was created. This fourth cycle will end on De-cember 21, 2012.

One thing I need to clarify is that the Mayans never, I repeat never, predicted the date the world would end. They simply predicted the date of the fourth cycle. The only reason people assumed they knew the end date is because Monument 6, the Long Count calendar found at the Mayan site Tortuguero, ends on this date. However, it doesn’t necessarily end there, it’s broken. A calendar carved into a huge piece of stone dur-ing 200-900 B.C. broke after all of these years. Wow, shocking

right? Who knew rock could break.

Apart from the whole Ma-yan calendar theory, there are numerous theories of dates the world will end. For example, in 2003 the world was supposed to have ended thanks to the Nibiru collision. Basically, in 1995 Nancy Lieder, ZetaTalk website founder, proposed that the world would end in 2003 when Planet X (also known as Nibiru) would collide into earth leading to a doomsday event. Wait, why did people listen to and believe a website founder? Well, it’s because she claimed that she was chosen to warn mankind that a plant

would collide into earth in 2003. She said she could re-ceive messages from extra-ter-restrials from the Zeta Reticuli star system through an implant in her brain. Yeah, about that... People believed this wacked out lady...why?

Another example was Har-old Egbert Camping, also known as that really old guy who was completely wrong and hid in a motel because he was wrong and people were angry. Camping was born in 1921 and had been a radio broadcaster since 1958 accord-ing to his radio stations biog-raphy of him. Apparently, this 90-year-old decided to apply

by maggie TURNEY

numerology to some Bible pas-sages. His goal was to predict the date the world would end. His final prediction was that on May 21, 2011 Jesus Christ would return to earth and the “righteous” would ascend up to heaven. Then the following five months would be filled with fire, brimstone, and plagues with millions of people dying each day. Then on Oct. 21, 2011 the world would officially end. Well, guess what? He was wrong.

After everyone discovered he was in fact wrong and after he came out of hiding from a motel, he admitted in a private interview that he didn’t think that anyone could know about the time of the Rapture or the end of the world. This is funny because he had previously pre-dicted judgement days in 1988 and 1994. Apparently, this last failure of an endeavour was the end of his predictions.

During all of this, many peo-ple got caught up in this theory. A college student even quit med school and headed for the woods because she wanted to spend her last moments in nature. Well, the world didn’t end and now she’s out of luck... awkward.

Basically, theories are being thrown around like dodgeballs

Mayan units of time measurement

Kin

Winal

Tun

Ka’tuns

Bak’tun

Mayan units Modern day units

One day

About one month

One year

20 years

400 years

It seems as though Haslett High School is being obses-sively bombarded with one progressive movement after another.

With the start of the 2011-2012 school year was intro-duced the “academic integrity” push, which resulted in a vari-ety of responses.

Most responses were that of students venting their frustra-tion and annoyance of being

incessantly reminded to be “re-spectful, responsible, and suc-cessful” by every one of their teachers every day of the first week of school.

This isn’t the first mass movement school leaders have imposed upon the student body.

With the 2008-2009 school year, only a few years back, began the “green school” ini-tiative undertaking. As an 8th

What does green really mean?

grader that year, I wasn’t able to catch the buzz about how high school students felt about the school’s endeavor. Nev-ertheless, it was just another cliche idea the school felt it needed to ingrain in our heads.

It’s no wonder that by the time this year’s academic integ-rity jazz was forced upon us, little tolerance was given.

This isn’t to say that the green school movement is nec-essarily bad. I don’t think any-one can disagree that recycling and conserving energy in class-rooms and whatnot is coun-terintuitive in any way, just as it’s naturally expected that stu-dents refrain from cheating and

by reid FOWLER

do their own work. However, when a large

body attempts to tatoo policies and ideals onto the impetuous, free-thinking and often not-completely-developed brains of high schoolers, all madness breaks loose.

We as young people in a world that always seems to be telling us what to do, rebellion instantaneously develops if the school tries to impose rules based on beliefs and theories.

Either that, or we’ll forget about it altogether. I often have to be reminded that we are a “green school.” Yet, it means nothing to me. Just as “respect-ful, responsible, blah blah

blah” means nothing to me. The teachers ranted for

days about how we should act and live, but none of it did any-thing to change my perspec-tive. I had no sudden alteration of heart. I’m still responsible and studious.

I also know most of the hardcore cheaters in the build-ing stared blankly at the teach-ers preaching academic inter-grity, then turned away and went right back to their cheat-ing ways.

You can’t expect us crazy teenagers, as a whole, at least, to turn into little angels the mo-ment the administration begs for us to be better students.

Sometimes I wish it could happen, but it is just not the way humanity functions.

Back to being green, though. Haslett becoming a green school will not change the world. I know that those

who are convinced the world is ending at this very second and are frantically planting trees so our oxygen supply doesn’t run out would like to have you think so.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for helping the environment. But I believe we as individuals can all play our part in decid-ing what’s best for the planet.

We don’t need govern-ments and administrations tell-ing us to turn off lights when you’re not in the room or to recycle. We don’t need staff begging us not to cheat. The cheaters will learn for them-selves that their method is high-ly unreliable, especially in the real world.

We can figure these things out for ourselves. We’re young, innovative thinkers. We need some breathing space, and we need to be able to learn some lessons independently.

photo by lauren HOOPER

“Haslett becoming a green school will not change the world. “

N4 ewsFebruary 10, 2012

New senior examsby tirzah HARTER

photo by nick ANGEL

2012 Starting 2012 seniors must take second

semester final exams

6 Number of pre-assesments each student

must take

Web cleansingfrom page 1

It was Friday afternoon, late in January. Students had just endured three full days of testing, having to remember everything they had learned since September.

Majority of students will have to take many more fi-nals. But for the senior class, these were the last finals of their high school careers. Or at least it used to be like that.

Starting last year, new leg-islation requires that all stu-dents have to take second semester finals in classes re-quired under the Michigan Merit Curriculum. These fi-nals have to include all that was taught in that semester. For most students, this will only be in their English and math classes. But some will have them in social studies and science classes as well.

Principal Bart Wegenke be-lieves that final exams are best practice. Teacher and princi-pal evaluations are now based on student growth throughout the semester.

“Final exams are needed to see student growth,” Wegenke said. “A high percentage of students go to college. This is the next step to prepare them for it.”

Teacher reaction to this new policy has been varied.

Math teacher Roger Lawrence said it is no big deal

“We test all throughout sec-ond semester,” Lawrence said. “It’s not a big impact.”

He does not expect to see any change in the student be-cause of this.

“It is a nice way to have closure for second semester,” English teacher Susan Done-son said. “I don’t want the kids to be uneasy.”

She said her students know what their final exam will be like in advance. When she was in high school in New York, she had to take state mandated finals, although she wouldn’t be in favor of it.

Many teachers feel this is just the next step to more reg-ulations.

“I think eventually we will be given the test,” Lawrence

said.Student reaction has been

just as varied. Senior Katie Hughes thinks the policy is fine, but there are problems with it.

“Teachers don’t take it seri-ously,” she said. “Many times it’s just small projects and not actual tests.”

Senior Carolyn Faulkner said that the policy is some-what unfair.

“They can bring your grade down if you don’t do well,” she said.

On the other hand, she does see the benefits of such a policy.

“It makes you finish what you started,” Faulkner said.

Change is hard for some, admits Wegenke. But he has some advice: “Sit back, relax and do your best.”

Teacher processfrom page 1

Principal Bart Wegenke talks to members of the freshman class about their high school futures.

INTERNET

S O P A

graphic by erik FROBOM

“Prior to this point, evalua-tions were often just a formal-ity, something administrators had to do and teachers had to survive,” English teacher Ar-thur Chiaravalli said.

Now, instead of simply checking that teachers are do-ing well and moving on, ad-ministrators are getting per-sonal with the teachers. The attitude is more along the lines of adminstration supporting the teachers and discussing instruction with them, rather than making evaluations a quick checklist.

“So far, I can say that it feels very collegial,” Chiaravalli said. “I’ve had the chance to sit down with assistant princi-pal Andrea Rumsey and dis-cuss some areas in which I’d like to improve. The attitude from her was one of support, of being in my corner, of want-ing me to be the best I can be.”

The changes are clearly more personable for the ad-ministrators and teachers

alike. Accountability is the key

factor in the new evaluation system, according to principal Bart Wegenke.

“The new government and state lawmakers felt the im-portance of accountability,” Wegenke said. “It’s what ev-erybody wants to see.”

The majority of people on both sides felt that a new eval-uation process needed to take the place of the one before it, which was not ideal. “We want to ensure that all students will learn and achieve,” Wegenke said.

The hope is that there will be a positive result in both teacher and student perfor-mance. In this new system, there is more opportunity for teachers to talk with admin-istrators about instruction. Overall, it aims to be more effective for admininstrators, teachers and students alike. “We are all working together for the same common good,” Wegenke good.

The new system also comes

with more flexibility.“I think you’ll see more new

things from year to year,” Chi-aravalli said. “In the previous system, you might not try any-thing new for fear of messing up in front of your adminis-trator. In this system, there’s an attitude that if it’s research based, give it a shot.’”

The process is currently in full swing. It came in effect at the start of the 2011-2012 school year.

In addition, a new system of pre-assesments has been embraced as an indicator of student growth. The asses-ments test students over mate-rial they have not yet covered in their classes. Then after ac-tually learning the material, students are tested again for signs of improvement.

Administrators and teach-ers are optimistic about the progress the new system is en-visioned to bring.

“We don’t need to be per-fect,” Chiaravalli said. “We just need to keep looking at ways to improve.”

On Jan. 18, many popular websites shut off and went dark in protest of the bills. This included Wikipedia, Reddit and even the popular search engine Google placed a black bar over it’s logo in protest.

These websites claim that SOPA would force websites to unnecessarily police their members from uploading copyrighted material to their sites, for fear of having their sites shut down, until the con-tent is removed.

To put it bluntly, if an indi-vidual were to upload a video on Youtube or Facebook, and in the background a song is playing, these bills theoreti-cally say that the owner of the music could have Youtube shut down until that video is removed from the network. Or worse, if a musician performs a cover of a song and posts it, that video would be in direct violation SOPA and PIPA.

A site like Wikipedia could be shut down if any informa-tion on the site came from an uncredited source.

But on Jan. 20, two days after the protests, Congress (both the House and Senate) backed away from the bill.

The reversal sent the bill into a virtual limbo, and eff-fectively killed any hopes it had of getting passed for now.

The House released an offi-cial statement saying they will “postpone consideration of the legislation until there is wider agreement on a solution”

Even some of the most ada-mant congressmen like Repre-sentative Lamar Smith backed away after seeing the immense reaction from protesters.

While the internet may cel-ebrate it’s victory over censor-

ship for now, the war may be far from over.

Already there is talk of a new international law entitled the Anti-Counterfiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA. This bill has already sparked pro-tests in places like Poland, and Ireland.

This bill has not yet become widely known in the United States.

I want to marry you!I’m

hungry...

Dating?Moving too quickly or nonexsistent?

6February 10, 2012 7BlueC ompass

Needed balance

by morgan UNDERWOOD

IDAT NGLong-distance survival by jill DETWILER

The disappearance of a tradition?55 students were polled to get the down-low on how relationships in high school are changing.

Guide to closing the gap between couples

It's been a notion that high school relationships are a complete joke, which for the most part is true. However, some relationships carry on past the teenage years into col-lege.

But college is a larger hurdle than one would think. Some couples decide to attend the same university, while others have different future plans. But whether you're one hour away from one another or 12, the distance can be threatening to a relationship. That's why I've compiled a list of tips that has helped in my own relationship, to make the dis-tance suck a little less:

have been in a long distance relationship (more than an hour apart)

25%

87%have been in a relationship

35%have been in a relationship with someone from a different school

of girls have never been asked out on an actual date*

of guys have never asked somebody out on an actual date*

22%

9%* date [n]: the man in the relationship picks the woman up, pays for the date and plans it way in advance. AKA: not just hanging out at each other’s houses

Everyone knows the couples to avoid feeling utterly disgust-ed in the hallways. Everyone has at some point witnessed a couple eating each other’s faces in the school hallways. And ev-eryone has been ditched once or twice by that friend who would rather spend all his or her time with their significant other.

High school relationships – either love them or despise them.

No one ever wants to be com-pared to that obsessive couple, but once people get wrapped up in the feeling of "love" there are truly no limits. In a high school relationship, it sud-denly becomes OK to ignore

your friends or anyone who talks to you because,let's face it, your significant other is just more important. The best part, all privacy is gone. It becomes "normal" to stalk your boy-friend/girlfriend's Facebook or Twitter. You can look through their cell phone and invade all their privacy because you need to know where they are at all times.

I beg to differ. It is your own fault if you choose to date some-one untrustworthy. Therefore, it is your own problem that you worry about their every move. No one forced you to be with that person and nothing they do can make it OK to go through their personal property. But at

some point everyone’s curiosity gets the best of them and they forget boundaries.

The biggest problem with high school relationships is that no one can keep track of whether a couple is "together" that day or not. The words "I'm breaking up with you" could mean it's over. However, most of the time it means a day or two without talking to each oth-er, a few hurtful statuses direct-ed towards each other on Face-book, and then the couple is back together. This unhealthy pattern continues with the same people over and over again.

However, these nightmar-ish qualities can be avoided. There is a way to have good

balance between all previous priorities and your significant other. There are still couples who make others want to be in a relationship. But they are rare. Having a significant oth-er can teach loyalty, maturity, time-management and many other beneficial qualities.

Relationships will always be a large part of the high school experience. Whether they are good or bad, healthy or un-healthy, you cannot escape them once you are sucked in. So, the next time you think it is a good idea to slip your tongue down your boyfriend or girl-friend's throat at lunch or in the hallways, no one wants to see that.

1Video chat Whether it's Skype, FaceTime, or Facebook video chat, seeing each other face to face makes it feel like you're almost together.

2 Send a care-package There's nothing a homesick college student wants more than a gift from a loved one. Whether it's goodies, clothes, a photo of you two or any-thing else that is comforting, it's a great way to satisfy your significant other and remind them how much you care.

3Switch blankets Whether you've had a long, stressful day or you just miss the company of your partner, having something that you can cuddle with that smells like them can be really comforting.

4 Take up a hobby College classes occupy a lot of time, and it makes it hard to maintain con-tact. So instead of waiting for your boyfriend/girlfriend to get out of class or finish homework, find something that you enjoy to do to take your mind off of them. Whether it be sports, extra-curriculars or any random thing that you enjoy doing, hobbies are a great way to stay independent.

5 Don't be clingy This is probably the most underrated statement known to mankind. Col-lege is supposed to be the best time in a person's life – where they can explore themselves and have fun. Don't be the boyfriend or girlfriend who gets angry at your partner for going out with new friends or wants time to be independent. Clinginess can ruin relationships – distance or no distance.

graphic by erik FROBOMphoto illustrations by sierra DOVE

High school relationships with no middle ground

F8 eaturesFebruary 10, 2012

After winter break, everyone is in it for the long haul. The three months before April seem to drag on forever But it all becomes worthwhile when spring break rolls around.

High school seniors from all over the country look forward to their final high school spring break. It’s a time when they will hope-fully experience some much-needed independence. Most seniors can’t wait to hop on a plane with their closest friends and head to some tropical, teen-friendly location. Teenagers from across the United States flock to these crowded, chaotic beaches in order to soak up the sun.

However, spring break isn’t entirely about relaxation for every senior.

Seniors Brad Pichsea, Ted Wilson and Andrew Martin are choosing to deviate from the traditional spring break approach. Instead of hitting the beach, they will brave the wilderness and rocky terrain on a three-day hiking trip through the Appalachian Mountains in Tennessee.

“We wanted to do something fun and unique, and it’s a lot cheaper too,” Pischea said.

Senior Nick Angel chose to tailor his trip to his personal inter-ests.

“I chose to go to New York City because I’ve never been and want to make a career there,” Angel said. “It’s definitely going to be a different experience with just me and my mom. But I think it’ll be pretty cool.”

Angel’s parents are giving him the same budget they allowed his sister to go to Mexico last year. With that money, he has enough to see five Broadway shows and stay in Manhattan.

“We are renting out an apartment because it ended up being a lot cheaper than a hotel,” Angel said.

Angel has a friend who goes to Montclair State University, a liberal arts college 20 minutes outside of the city.

“I’m really excited to spend a night there because it will incor-porate some of the fun I’m missing out on by not going to Florida with my friends,” he said.

Although Angel won’t be experiencing the typical spring break, he expects this trip will be life changing.

“I’m really looking forward to exploring the city.”

“I’ve never shared that with anyone before.”

It is responses like these that peak ju-nior Dustin Rice’s interested in veterans – not just the wars they fought, but the lives they led and the times they lived through. He collects World War II memorabilia and learns from speaking with servicemen from yesteryear.

Dustin has stayed in touch with the veterans he has encountered through let-ters, visits and outings. He participated in Honor Flight Michigan, a program that flies veterans of World War II to Washing-ton, D.C. to witness a special memorial to their service. Last November, he curated a

presentation at the local American Legion to honor veteran’s day.

“They’ve become family, very close to me. It means a lot to them to have some-one from my generation’s interest,” Rice said.

“I find it fascinating how open they are with me. They don’t hold back”, Rice said about how he often strikes a personal chord in his conversations with veterans. “After telling me a story they will say, ‘I’ve never told it to anyone else’, or ‘I haven’t thought about that since the war’, or ‘I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone else’. I don’t understand it myself.”

Meeting with veterans of past wars has

aided Rice in understanding the history of his country and gives him an elevated view of the world around him.

“A Vietnam War veteran put things in perspective for me,” Rice said. “In his time, World War I was 50 years ago. In my generation, in the 2000s, Vietnam was 50 years ago.”

Rice would like others to experience what he has had the privilege to experi-ence.

“I encourage people to have the op-portunity to talk to our veterans, to docu-ment and learn who they were and what they did,” he said. “It is something that should not be forgotten.”

Student stays in touch with war vetsby erik FROBOM

Not-so-cliché spring break plansby laine ALEXANDER

Preview: who’s got talent?

by emmy VIRKUS

The time for the 2012 Haslett Talent Show has come- the one night of the year where any student at Haslett High can get the recognition they deserve. Those who don’t participate in extracurriculars now have the chance to have their talents noticed.

Returning from last year’s show as The Zoo Keepers, ju-nior Jonah Brown is thrilled for his second year with senior Lo-gan Milliman. “Last year was a warm-up for what this year will be,” Brown said. The boys’ previous performance was an interpretive dance in leotards. “We have put hours upon hours of blood, sweat and tears

into our practices,” Brown said. Another performer is sopho-

more Katie Lyon who is sing-ing her version of A Thousand Years by Christina Perry. “I’m excited to show the student body a side of me that they may not have seen before,” Lyon said. “Singing lets me express my heart and show my feelings through something I love.”

The talent show will begin in the auditorium right after the girls and boys varsity bas-ketball games against Ionia. So come out and support your fellow classmates as they show eachother up on stage.

photo by nick GREGORY

Junior Dustin Rice studies World War II literature in the school’s media center.

Tonight’s show will reveal who stands out from the crowd and who falls behind

F 9eatures February 10, 2012

It’s almost surprising junior Michael Garnett wasn’t always interested in music, considering what he has accomplished in only the first 16 years of his life.

In just the eighth grade, Michael composed an orchestra that performed behind one of Haslett’s Youth Arts finalists. The year after, he created another piece that played at a Haslett concert.

But what’s more impressive is his incredible gift that aided him excel early in life.

“I found out I had perfect pitch in about seventh grade,” Garnett said. This discovery was almost a fluke, he describes. “I had a piece of music at home and I couldn’t remember the exact key,” he said, “so I just guessed. I turned out to be right.”

This wasn’t just a coincidence. Michael’s ear for music is almost always completely accurate. “Mr. (Erich) Wangeman looks to me to find the right pitch for the choir,” he said. This has made Michael, Wangeman’s right-hand man.

However, Michael’s emergence into music wasn’t as sud-den as one would think. In fact, in the beginning he resisted his father’s attempts to send Michael to piano lessons. He finally gave into the opportunity.

“(My father) said ‘I regretted not taking piano lessons, I don’t want you to regret not taking lessons,’ so I did it,” Mi-chael said. In just fifth grade, he began to write his own music on the piano.

Michaels’s compositions consisted mostly of classical mu-sic. “And pop,” he said jokingly. “That didn’t turn out very well.”

Michael’s inspiration to write and perform music are deeply rooted into three figures that he’s idled for a long time. “There’s this dead guy - Leonard Bernstein, Georgia Frag-ale who is the piano player for the (Haslett) choirs, and Mr. Wangeman,” Michael said.

In the future, Michael plans on studying orchestral con-ducting at a university. “I’d like to go to Michigan State or University of Michigan,” he said, rolling his eyes at the thought of attending the latter.

Although Michael is one out of 10,000 Americans who have perfect pitch, his contributions to Haslett choirs and bands have helped spread his wisdom to many aspiring musicians.

by jill DETWILER

Student posesses incredible music talent

“The Honor Society of Leap Year Babies” was created in 1997

photo by nick GREGORY

graphic by erik FROBOM

by melody STOKOSALeap year has been the subject of several

traditions and folklore. Many people are already aware of the tradition of girlfriends proposing to their boyfriends on leap day. What is less well known is what happened in Sweden in 1712. Starting that year, Sweden returned to the Julian calendar from the standard Gregorian. The next 40 years included not only a 29th of

February, but also a 30th. And, if you’re looking to commit a crime, head to England for leap day where the day is not officially recognized, and therefore crimes aren’t considered crimes.

Freshman finally celebrates rare birthday

Freshman Tara Gardulski considers herself an ordinary stu-dent at Haslett High School. She is softspoken, has brown hair, and takes the expected freshman class schedule. However, what many people don’t know is that she is turning four this year.

Not technically, though. Gardulski was born on Feb. 29, and is one of about 187,000 “leaplings” born in the U.S.

“I feel special and cool,” she said. “It’s unique to have a birth-day on leap day because not very many other people do.”

The question most people ask about leap day birthdays is when and how you celebrate when it’s an off year? Different peo-ple celebrate it different ways. “I normally celebrate it on Feb. 28,” Gardulski said. “I celebrate with my cousin, but she moved away.”

Gardulski is lucky to celebrate her actual birthday this year. How she will celebrate this occasion? “I’ll probably have some friends over,” she said. “Nothing too big.”

S10February 10, 2012 ports

SPO

RTS

LOG SL

Wrestling: 7-23

Hockey: 14-6-2

Swimming: 4-6

BasketballBoys: 7-5Girls: 9-5

AOT M

ATH

LETE

OF

THE

MO

NTH

Joe VarlesiBasketball

Position: Point Guard

What are your thoughts on the team: Compete for league title

Favorite pre-game meal: Yum Japan

Favorite team to play against: DeWitt

Favorite pre game song: Chain Hang Low

Billy HastingsSport: FootballSchool attending next year: Siena HeightsWhy: Brand new facilities, and they’re offering me almost a full ride.

Ryan BeyeaSport:Track/Cross CountrySchool attending next year: Michigan StateWhy: Cool coach, and always wanted to run at MSU.

The Grand Finale

Senior athletes choose the right fit

Where to next?

photo by austin ROSENBAUM photo by eddie WHALEY

On Feb. 5, at 8 p.m. the 46th Super Bowl took place between the New England Patriots and the New York Gi-ants. Over 116 million people watched the 21-17 Giants vic-tory over New England. And here in Haslett, Michigan, it was a bittersweet Super Bowl for me, as it was the last time my family had our annual Su-per Bowl party.

It may not be a surprise that we hold a party on Super Bowl Sunday, as most Ameri-cans do. It is the number one at-home party day of the year. But for my family, it has been about more than eating avoca-do or chowing down on home-made lasagna.

As I have grown older, the Super Bowl party that we held grew more and more impor-tant to me, for completely dif-ferent reasons as when I was a kid.The first time we decided to hold a Super Bowl party

was in 2000, when I was 5 years old. This was a dream come true for me, at the time a chubby kindergartener who was obsessed with football. I figured it to be the perfect day, having my friends come over to watch the two best teams in the NFL play while getting to eat junk food and even stay up past my bedtime.

Now its important for differ-ent reasons.

For one, I have done some growing since those days. And I used to be glued to the ac-tion, annoyed when I would even miss a snap of the game, even with teams I didn’t par-ticularly care for.

This year, I found myself vaguely watching the action, more focused on joking and talking with my friends. I think we all realized that this was one the last times most of the people in my basement were going to be in the same

by griffin MARINEZ

by adam FOREN

Riding in the car for two hours with snow blowing ev-erywhere and a below zero wind chill, all senior Cody Chasse can do is think about shredding every one of Crys-tal Mountain’s slopes.

On most weekends and even some school days you can find Chasse out at the lo-cal Ski areas.

“Every chance I get to go snowboarding, I take full ad-vantage of it,” he said.

“Nothing beats being at the top of the mountain with no worries in the world but which run I want to go down next,” Chasse said.

Besides going down many of the runs, he also enjoys the terrain park as much and even a little bit more. With all the good terrian parks in michigan, Chasse prefers Cannonsburg’s the most.

“Its crazy how nice their terrian park is. I could shred it all day long,” he said.

As soon as it got closer to winter’s arrival, all Chasse could hear at school was

graphic by erik FROBOM

by shane HESTON

about snowboarding. All the talk prompted him to get his first snowboard when he was 14.

When he got his first board he didnt get too serious about it. The sport was just some-thing fun for him to go do some weekends. It wasnt un-till his sophomore year that he really got into it, going a lot more often.

“When that winter hit, I started to go as much as I pos-sible could,” he said.

At first he had to ease into it like most begginers do. After just a few times he knew it was his passion.

“Being a wake boarder my whole life it kind of came nat-urally to me,” Chasse said.

“The skills I developed ev-ery summer being on the wa-ter definitely came in handy when I was on the slopes out there,”

With the winter coming to a close soon, Chasse will be out there trying to get in the last possible snowboarding trips he can for the year.

Senior finds his passion

room together, before going off to college and moving on with our lives.

When the final gun sound-ed and the New York Giants came sprinting on the field to celebrate winning a second Super Bowl in four years, all of the 55 people who came to our Super Bowl party slowly started migrating toward the doors. Some had been regular guests at our party from the very beginning in 2000,. Oth-ers had come for the first time this year.

But it didn’t make a dif-ference to me. Watching all my friends and their families walking out the door on Super Bowl Sunday for the last time was a sad moment, and one I will never forget.

“This year, I found myself vaguely watching the action, more focused on joking and talking with my friends.”

S 11ports February 10, 2012

Students at HHS have turned to the internet to voice their distaste for each other’s team

It’s 15 minutes after Dray-mond Green’s last second jumper rimmed out and Mich-igan defeated MSU in their first of two match ups on the hardwood this season. Junior Dylan Rom, still stung with the taste of defeat, trudges over to the computer to take in the internet’s reaction to the outcome of the game.

“I got on the computer and was pretty angry about what all the Michigan fans were saying on Facebook and stuff,” Rom said. “So I reacted.”

Rom went on to engage in a number of discussions about the game with other students over the internet, including ju-nior Mike Booth.

“I usually don’t take part in sports arguments on the internet, but when someone is wrong I like to step in and try to correct them,” Booth said.

The storied rivalry between Michigan State and Michi-gan is one that dates all the way back to 1953 when the first Paul Bunyan trophy was awarded. These 59 scintillat-ing years of competition have brought joys and sorrows alike to students all around the high school.

This past year, however, has brought a new aspect to the nationally recognized enmity between Michigan State and Michigan fans. Students are now beginning to take to so-cial media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, to voice their tri-umphs and frustrations, and even talk a little trash.

“I love to take part in trash talking over social media,” se-nior Zach Bepler said. Bepler, a MSU fan, took to Twitter af-ter the MSU-Michigan game to voice his frustrations. “LOL

at Michigan fans who think their team is sweet now (after beating MSU),” he tweeted just minutes after the game ended.

Bepler enjoys the added el-ement that social media has brought to the rivalry. “It re-ally just furthers the hate,” he said. “You can talk smack to people and it just stays (on-line) for everyone to see.”

Junior Rachel Huff, on the other hand, doesn’t like the new found online haven for the rivalry. “I’m a full blown Michigan fan, but I don’t care for this MSU-Michigan on-line hatred,” Huff said. Huff doesn’t believe the online dis-taste and arguments has any potential positive outcome. “I think it’s very ignorant, there’s no point to it,” she said.

There’s no disagreeing on whether or not social media

now plays a huge role be-tween MSU and Michigan fans. Many students relish the opportunity to hop on their re-spective Facebook and Twitter accounts to preach their ex-citements to their friends and followers.

Social media has undoubt-edly added a new addicting flavor to the rivalry, that few can resist. With that, howev-er, comes the increased harsh-ness and hatred that this as-pect has added between MSU and Michigan fans.

Having the ability to trash your rival always at your fin-gertips, is a new and danger-ous power for students. With these evolving technological times, it’s hard to imagine what the future will add to this historic, 59 year rivalry.

MICHIGAN MICHIGAN STATE

photos by sierra DOVE

by patrick GIFFORD

All time football record against MSU: 67-35-5

All time basketball record against MSU: 95-75

Won 3 out of the last 4 basketball games

Won last four years in football Have won 2 national Championships in basketball

Every player under Izzo who has stayed all four years has been in a final four

graphic by erik FROBOM

Rivalry turns to media

P12 hotoStoryFebruary 10, 2012

Juniors Dylan Flewelling and Sierra Bain mentor Mrs.Hamilton’s second grade class on tuesdays and thursdaysStudents: Daniel Asch, Cole Backus, Rachael Barry, Baleigh Costello, Adelaide Fackler, D.J. Fowlks, Cayden Haid, Makay,la Hayes, Robert Hintz, Olivia Huynh, Sean Kavanagh, Alexander Kolar,Allyson Maloney, Jillian Moreno, Travis Ngo, Joshua Nye, Fady Omar, Andrew Pugmire, Jacob Rhodes, Leora Romero, Trajen Schanski, Jaelin Sigismond, Abigail Soper, Tyler Thompson, Kelly Zhu

Dylan Flewelling hangs out with second grader Cole Backus

Second grader Andrew uses the cup phones to talk to classmates across the hallway at Murphy Elementary. Second graders DJ and Kelly enjoy their project while classmate Cole waits his turn.

Youth Connections making a difference as Murphy Mentors

photos by: sierra DOVE

graphic by: erik FROBOM

Sierra Bain and Dylan Flewelling help the kids with their cup phones Sierra Bain and second grader Sophie test out their creation