War BoundPage 2

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Volume 65 Issue NINe AprIl 1, 2011 plANo seNIor HIgH scHool 2200 INdepeNdeNce pkwy plANo, Tx 75075

Check us out at Wildcattales.comFor College of the Week, Gleeview,

sports coverage and more

Soccer Goes to PlayoffsPage 3

Clubs to the RescuePage 4

Disaster on Foreign Tides

Page 5

Youtube ReviewPage 7

WAR BOUNDChecking in on family militants overseas

By Anna Vicars

CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO

Wait, before eating those Oreos, check the crème for toothpaste and don’t walk under any conspicuous doorways today either. It’s April Fool’s Day – the one day a year when you can get away with playing pranks on your friends and family. Throughout the years, students, as well as teachers have pulled pranks on others in a variety of ways. “One of our colleagues here kept taking all of our candy off of our desks,” Coach Diane Davey said. “So I went out and bought some candy that was garlic filled in the center. We told her we had some candy she should try from our friends in Jamaica, and she was so excited. Then a knock came

at the door and it was the principal to talk to her about a student, and at this point she is sucking on the candy. In the middle of their conversation, she gets to the garlic filled center. She yells, takes it out of her mouth, and throws it out in the pond. She never stole our candy again.” Davey’s prank was meant to teach a lesson, but many people pull pranks in a lighthearted manner. “I made a fake large pizza order once and sent it to my friend Matt’s house,” senior Ben Smith said. “It had a funny message on it saying ‘happy [male anatomy] day’, and I had the pizza guys put the pepperonis in a shape of it. Matt had paid for the pizza already.”

Some students treat April Fool’s as a tradition. For example, almost every year, the Kersh twins have a fun-filled adventure fooling their teachers by switching places. “It was our freshman year, and my identical twin and I wanted to play a prank on our band director,” senior Chelsey Kersh said. “She played the clarinet and I played the trumpet, and we decided to switch places during practice. We went through the entire warm-up, and almost through the whole first song. We didn’t get all the way through, because in that song I had a solo in it, and my sister had to play it for me, which sounded horrible. Our director got a little mad at us, because our contest was coming up and he

wanted to work on it. When our director came to her, she asked if he wanted us to switch back now and he was just frozen. It was such a great moment.” It is common for a group of friends to prank a single person. Junior Ena Ebadzik, with the help of a group of friends, pulled a prank on junior Sara Kingman a few months ago. “I called her pretending to cry, saying that I had come home from Wal-Mart, and found my house destroyed,” Ebadzik said. “I panicked to her on the phone saying that I needed her help to clean the house and I told her my brother was taken too. So being the great friend she is, she immediately drove

April Fool’s Day PranksBy Haley Bunnell, Diva Gulati, and Claire Minor

CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO

http://www.irememberhome.com/kids/Family.htm

over to my house. But in the meantime my other friends and I threw trash around and knocked the fan down to make it look like my house was gone through. Then she came over and I answered the door in ‘tears’ and showed her around. “What she didn’t know, is that all my guy friends that helped, were hiding in the laundry room ready with a nerf gun. Eventually, I led her to the laundry room, still acting like I was completely freaked out. As I opened the door, all four of them, plus my brother leaped out and shot her with the nerf gun, while screaming at the top of their lungs. She sprinted away and ran to her car, extremely angry. It was

It seems that people around the world are tired of being told what to do and how to do it. The leaders of certain countries have made it obvious that they want nothing to do with the protests as seen in the media spreading like wildfire. Some, like Gadaffi, have ordered their militaries to strike back. However, some of these young men and women going off

to war leave families behind in order to protect America. “My brother, Anthony, works in the engines of the huge fighter ships [in the Navy], and has learned how to work them,” junior Tina Soria said. “Last we heard he is docked in Virginia, but he constantly goes places like Spain, Egypt, and near Libya.” Like Soria’s brother, many young men and women have yet to come

home from these deployments and missions, leaving loved ones to worry. The growing need for troops has affected many families nationwide. Some can’t see their loved one for several months at a time, or even talk to them for weeks. “He has been in service for two and a half years,” Soria said. “He is supposed to get leave for the fourth of July, but we don’t know if he

will actually get it. He can’t get care packages, because he is on the ship most of the time, but we can e-mail him, and every now and then, he gets to call us. Before he goes, he calls to say he won’t be able to talk for a while, but we never know when he will be back. It sounds like he is saying goodbye if he does not come back, but it’s scary when it happens.” Although commun ica t ions

are limited for these families, for Thomas Langford’s brother-in-law, Clinton, it’s a specialty. He is an Army Ranger Communicat ions Specialist, but Thomas’ sister (brother- in- law’s wife), keeps the family updated as much as possible. His job requires him to work with radios and other means of communication between troops. “He is deployed in Afghanistan currently,” junior

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newsWildcat Tales

Staff

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFTaylor Thompson

PRINT EDITORSAleah PushawJulie Boyer

ONLINE EDITORSarah Rosselet

COPY EDITORAnna Vicars

LAYOUT EDITORJamie Denison

BUSINESS MANAGERAbby Rener

CARTOONISTSKelli Manning Ericka Lindsey

STAFF WRITERSMeital BoimHaley BunnellPaul BurnhamWhitney FeinDayna GettelAlex GonzalezLaurel GuildDiva GulatiAJ HillDaniel Hinson Lindsey Kehlmann Madison McDanielClaire Minor Elena Nelson Michael NicholsonMeaghan Pulliam Clarissa ReevesAmber RobinsonMaelyn Schramm Sapna SharmaEilie StreckerSofia TooheyJessica Yee

ADVISERTerry Quinn

MISSION STATEMENTThe Wildcats Tales is a student produced publication that serves to educate, inform and entertain the student body in a professional manner that will provoke thought while upholding the principles of a free press. This publication is a forum for the student of Plano Senior High School. Any opinions expressed in Wildcat Tales is the opinion of the writer and of the writer only.

ONLINE VIEWINGAdditional and daily updates can be found at our website www.wildcattales.com

READER INVOLVEMENTStudents and faculty are encouraged to send in any questions, comments, concerns or criticisms to be published. Letters to the editors can be put in the envelope in room B208.

ADVERTISINGContact at planopub@pisd.edu. We reserve the right to refuse any advertisement deemed to be innapropriate.

WILDCAT TALES IS THE OFFICIAL STUDENT PUBLICATION OFPLANO SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL 2200 INDEPENDENCE PKYPLANO TX, 75075469-752-9300

Checking in on family militants overseasWAR BOUND

By Anna Vicars CONTINUED FROM COVER

April Fool’s Day PranksCONTINUED FROM COVERBy Haley Bunnell, Diva Gulati, and Claire Minor

Thomas Langford said. “The Rangers are the special forces of the Army branch which means, first ones in, and last ones out.” The jobs of these soldiers include both dangerous and potentially un-harmful ones, but in all, it’s to serve one purpose, and to achieve one goal: to protect America against potential threats. “My dad is an officer in the Navy,” junior Justice Connery said. “And is part of a Special Warfare group called EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal). He essentially diffuses bombs or blows up any live ordinance (bombs).” For those children that have been “army brats” all their lives know it’s difficult to stay in touch. Some families have parents who have been dedicated to serving the U.S. for decades. It’s nice to have a way to still stay close to these loved

ones by sending them care packages every now and then. “My Dad has been in the military for nearly 17 years,” Connery said. “Currently he is stationed in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He has served overseas four different times including Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kuwait. He has orders to deploy for the last time to Afghanistan on July 19. We send him various packages with pictures, videos, etc.” With crises in the world erupting constantly, many of these families won’t be able to see their loved ones for a long while. “He’s been in the Army for three years,” Langford said. “And is thinking about re-enlisting when his five years are up. The only time he gets to come home is Christmas when he gets two weeks leave.”

hilarious though.” While most pranks will not upset the victim, there is always the possibility that a prank can spiral out of control. English teacher Donna Brombacher has pranked other faculty members, one of them being English teacher Debbie Lindley. “I wrapped everything in her room in newspaper,” Brombacher said. “Everything. Her desks, her magnets and stuff she had on the wall. Everything on her desk was wrapped in newspaper. Her bookshelf was covered. It was bad.” Unfortunately for Brombacher, Lindley was not happy to find out that she had been pranked. “[Lindley] was not happy,” Brombacher said. “She didn’t speak to me for two weeks after that. They even had administration over there because they thought her room had been vandalized.” Lindley, however, was only upset because there was a major test on the

same day as the prank. “It was going to be bell to bell, busy, busy, busy,” Lindley said. “I had to take everything down and I was afraid they weren’t going to finish their test. Any other day, I would have been fine with it.” Pranks are notorious for their funny reactions from their victims, which is why it is important that pranksters choose their victims cautiously. Senior Tara Golhashem was on the end of a rather complex prank, which involved a friend Golhashem wasn’t familiar with. He called her and demanded $50,000 in exchange for him to keep some embarrassing pictures private. “[The prank] was going on for three days. On April Fool’s, he told me it was a joke,” Golhashem said. “I was so close to crying. I was mad, embarrassed, and I was like ‘That’s a really good joke’ all at the same time. I was like ‘This guy’s a genius. I need to get some notes from him.’”

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On the second week of March, every

student had one thing on their mind: spring break. Now that spring break is over, the number of weeks until the class of 2011 graduation is approaching the single digits, and seniors need to plan important things such as prom and senior photos.

“One night, I had a dream about helping seniors who can’t afford senior photos,” senior Mariam El-Rayes said. “I told Cori Haworth about the dream, and ironically, she said she had a similar one.” Haworth and El-Rayes tossed around ideas during PALS, and discussed them with senior Andrea Bazemore. Bazemore

later posted a proposal on Facebook, inviting photographers and models for this project. “Andrea Bazemore came up with the idea of ‘Picture a World Without Cancer,’ and I thought it was a good idea,” senior Nicole Sutton said. “Some students can’t afford senior photos, and instead of going to some photography company, the

profits will be going towards cancer research.” PALS and Student Congress collaborated on the project. PALS designed several posters and fliers to encourage people to sign up. Bazemore set up a system of photographers and models. The photographers will work with their models and scheduling convenient shooting sessions. “Each photographer has two clients,” Sutton said, “and we usually have photoshoots after school. It’s something every senior needs to have done, and it’s at their convenience.” The photo shoots take place in settings around north Texas and the settings are usually in place with a lot of grass, or a body of water. “My photographer came up with the idea of having my photos taken at Arbor Hills,” senior Monique Scales said. “We did it after school yesterday and I had lots of fun.”

While several people volunteered to be photographers, particular people were approached. “Andrea spoke with kids from yearbook and art,” senior Catlin Steves said. “I like photography, so I also decided to use my skills to help with the project.” With the price of each photo shoot so low, and the profits going to a cancer research foundation, students and parents are thrilled at the idea. “My mom was really happy when she heard about ‘Picture a World Without Cancer,’” Scales said. “We know a lot of people who have had cancer, and $20 an amazing deal. Knowing that the money is going to a good cause is great.” According to the American Cancer Society, over 100,000 people in Texas were diagnosed with cancer last year, including members of several students’ families. “My grandmother had

cancer, so I’m glad that the money is going to benefit people with cancer,” senior Katlin Holley said, “It may not cost a whole lot of money, but every little bit helps.” While the school year only lasts about 10 months, the memories last a lifetime. The photos that are taken will bring back pleasant memories, and kept in places for the student to look back. “My mom has a scrapbook with photos of me throughout the years, and she’s going to put these photos in there,” Holley said. “Of course, I’m also going to post them on Facebook.” With the number of people signing up to be photographed, hundreds of dollars will be donated to the foundation. “Overall, we’ve had about 20 to 30 students sign up, which will bring in about $600.00,” Al-Rayes said. “I think it was a pretty good turnout, and I’m glad we’re a part of this project.”

By Aleah Pushaw When it comes to sports in the school district, a theme has emerged. Summed up in one word: prestigious. The baseball team is ranked first in the district, carries a record of 15-2, and recently became number one in area. With only 10 games left until playoffs, playing on their field of dreams will soon come to an end. “I will definitely miss playing for our school, because of the atmosphere of the games, and the fact of just playing with some of the guys I’ve grown up with,” senior Matt Johnson said. The baseball season started out unpredictable. As the team progressively gets closer to playoffs, the team stays united. Teamwork and perseverance will hopefully lead them to win District. “[The season] is flying by, but it is good to finally get to the part of the season that really matters, which is district,” Johnson said. “We’re trying to just take it one game at a time, and take care of business every game.”

The u n o f f i c i a l m o t t o for baseball

is ‘practice as a team, play as a team, win as a team’. “We do a lot of fundamental reps everyday and hone the basic skills,” junior Connor Peska said. “It teaches us to be disciplined and hard working.” As the season comes to a close, some of the current players are preparing for the next step. “I’m planning on playing in college,” Johnson said. “I currently have some offers and I’m planning on signing to one in the next couple of weeks.” With some of the players graduating in just a couple of months, like Johnson, and heading off to college, next year’s roster gets to practice everything in a different light. “I’m excited about my senior year,” Peska said. “We have a lot of really good players with experience.” All players agree that they’ve gained life lessons along with baseball skills, helping them develop into better men and players. “I’ve learned a lot of things like perfecting my swing or fielding,” Johnson said. “We also learn a lot of things such as dealing with adversity better.” Teammates see eye to eye that they have learned a lot through out this year’s season, including the practice of tradition and pride. “I love playing for Plano because it’s

a school with great tradition and people respect Plano for how great of a program we are,” Peska said. “It comes with a lot of preside to perform every week against the best teams in the state.”

By Julie Boyer

Soccer Team Makes Playoffs

After shutting out the Wolves in last Tuesday’s game, the soccer team became district champions. It was a close win with the team scoring one goal in the second half of the game. “I was nervous until we scored,” junior goalie Zach Bennett said. “After the score I was more comfortable that we would win.” Going to playoffs gives some team members a great sense of achievement. “I’m happy our hard work paid off,” senior captain and midfielder Travis White said. “I’m excited to represent the school with my teammates. I’m looking forward to travelling with the team, seeing how far we can get, and trying to go all the way.” Many of the team’s seniors are happy to have made it past districts. They are prepared to make every game count, as the playoff

games will be significant to the memories they will carry after high school and the legacy they will leave for future teams. “This is our last chance,” senior captain and forward Patrick O’Day said. “Every game could be our last game. If we lose, our high school career is over. Every game is that much more important.” Since 1983, the year that soccer became a UIL sport, the boys have won district ten times, and won state six times. However, the last time the team won district was in 2007, before the current team had entered high school. “When we were freshmen, we talked about going to state,” senior forward Joey Tomeny said. “It feels good now because we will have a chance to do that.” The team has surpassed their original goals for the

season. “This is a good chance to see how good the team is,” O’Day said. “We have a good chance of doing well in playoffs. We played great and exceeded expectations by winning districts. We can’t really ask for much more.” The team is excited to experience the atmosphere of the playoffs. “I’m looking forward to the chance to go out of town with the team and play teams we’ve never played before,” Bennett said. Overall the team plans to continue playing the same as they have been during the regular season. “We’ve played as a family,” Tomeny said. “If we play like that we could win state. We will take playoffs one game at a time, stay focused, and win.”

By Alex Gonzales

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opinionIssue NINe Page seveN aPrIl 1, 2011 PlaNo seNIor HIgH scHool 2200 INdePeNdeNce Pkwy PlaNo, Tx 75075

Rebecca Black’s YouTube hit has made it big on iTunes, but “Friday” has a unique quality about it that makes it unlike any other top 100 song. Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for poor Rebecca, that unique quality is that it is completely horrible. A charming mixture of three notes that the producers had the courtesy to autotune the living daylights out of, astoundingly generic lyrics, and Black’s fascinatingly uncharismatic performance, “Friday” was the perfect target for the millions of bored teenagers out there waiting for the next Double Rainbow or Scarlet Takes a Tumble. Rebecca Black may not be the shining example of this, but YouTube has actually

produced some amazing results in its six short years of existence. The Beibs is the most famous, of course, but regular people like Tay Zonday, who educated the world about chocolate rain, and Charlie, who likes to bite fingers, have found fame and fortune within the worldwide audience that the internet provides. But YouTube has done some pretty remarkable things besides making people famous. It catches criminals like Faisal Shahzad, who unsuccessfully attempted to bomb Times Square, on a regular basis. It brings together amazingly talented people like the YouTube orchestra symphony which assembled 101 members from 30 countries to share in a worldwide artform by

performing at the Sydney Opera House. It encourages volunteer work through VideoVolunteers, which has empowered people like Shawn Ahmed, who raised enough money to buy 10,000 pounds of food with one video, to do good for the world. It has given students across campus a chance to voice their opinions on PressPlayPlano. Of course there are a million dumb videos of people getting smacked in the face (which never gets old) or dancing like an idiot (yes, I am talking about you Numa Numa Guy). YouTube is one of the most simple tools of our generation, but it has changed the face of communication forever.

PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

By Lindsey Kehlmann

By Laurel Guild

This was interest-ing because we know that

almost everyone in the city knows about this drink, but we actually got to

meet the person that witnessed this made for the first time while stopping at sonic the other

day. She said that she was there when her friend invented it and decided to make it a SONIC of-ficial. The purple drink consists of PowerAde, Sprite, and lemon. It is a really unique taste and

definitely has a lot of sugar to get the day started. You would like this if you enjoy

the more intensely sweet and sug-ary drinks.

PURPLE DRINK

This, for sure, was an interesting one. When

we first heard of this combo, we were definitely a little unsure of what

to think of. BIG SURPRISE. This was amazing! It has exactly what is entitled in the name of it and was a huge hit. Even if you’re not a fan of cranberry, it will still satisfy your

taste buds. I recommend it to the people that love coke, and are looking for some-

thing to mix it up a little bit, but still want it to taste like a little drop

of heaven

C

RANBERRY VANILLA COKE

My friend thought of this one. He ordered it

and I thought it sounded disgust-ing…until I had a sip of it and wow.

This is one of my favorites and I have to get it every time I go. I even get cravings for it just by passing my local SONIC. It’s also good because it’s Sprite Zero, so it doesn’t

have the calories that the other combos might have. I recommend this to the sprite lovers and even tangy citrus

lovers because it definitely has that twist to it.

RASPBERRY SPRITE ZERO

This was one that we made up. We figured that

there had to be something on the list that had apple in it, so here you go. I was

a little afraid to taste this because I am not the biggest of the apple fans, but what the heck, I did and it was really good. It had your typical limeade taste but with a hint of cranberry and a smidge

of apple. I was shocked with this one because we made it up ourselves, but it turned out to be a big

success on our part. I recommend this to the limeade people who are looking to experi-

ence a bit of change in their limeade habits.

GR

EE

N A

PPLE CRANBERRY LIM

EADE

Hmmm… This was a weird one. The two things

that most people crave daily (soda and chocolate) mixed together in one cup.

This one is definitely for the more outgoing folks. A teacher actually recommended this one to us and said that this was worthy enough to

make it on to the list. It had the coke taste when you take the first sip of it, but once we mixed it a little with the straw, we figured out that it pretty much tastes like you are eating a Hershey’s bar

and drinking coke but at the same exact moment. If you like chocolate and like

coke, this one is most definitely for you.

CHOCOLATE COKE

As the weather heats up, sonic drinks stay cool

Usually news anchors stay composed during even the most controversial or entertaining stories. Usually models have practiced their runway walks so many times that they don’t have to think twice about going down the catwalk. But we don’t live in a perfect world, which works out hilariously for us in this case. The best part of this video is seeing the news anchors’ reactions.

News Reader Cannot Stop Laughing at Model Falling Over!

Everyone has their phobias- arachnophobia, claustrophobia, hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia- but this baby seems to have found a fear that has no name. When his mother blows her nose, the look of terror on this poor child’s face is impossible not to laugh at.

Baby Scared of Mom Blowing Her Nose

After seeing a rainbow in her sprinklers, apparently for the first time, a woman becomes outraged that the government has the audacity to put ‘metallicized salts’ in our water supply that create rainbows. Who knows if the rainbow water is safe for us to drink? I have to warn you that after watching this you may feel frightened for the state of our nation’s education, but if you’re looking to laugh this is the video for you.

Sprinkler Rainbow Conspiracy

We all know that Asian game shows are ridiculous, but the best demonstration of humor that I have seen from a Japanese show is this clip, in which a large crowd of people takes it upon themselves to terrify and bewilder innocent bystanders. This is evidence that the Japanese don’t only know their technology and science; they know how to pull a good prank.

Crowd Prank

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