LimelightLimestone Community High School Bartonville, Illinois 61607 Volume 52, Issue 5

Visit us on the web* http://limestone.k12.il.us/limelight E-mail us @ limelight@limestone.k12.il.usJanuary 31, 2006Up&

Coming

Inside this Issue

Page 4

Page 8

Page 6-7

Page 5JV scholastic

bowl team winscounty tourney

LCHS studentshave fun on

annual ski trip

February 2006February 3Mid-Nine WeeksFebruary 4Scholastic Bowl Mid-Illini @Canton (8:30 a.m.)February 7Key Club Elections- MeetingRoom 15 (7:15 a.m.)February 9Early Dismissal (1:45 p.m.)Parent/Teacher Conferences(4-8 p.m.)February 10No SchoolParent/Teacher Conferences(10 a.m.-1 p.m.)Wrestling (V) @ SectionalsFebruary 11Wrestling (V) @ SectionalsSpeech @ SectionalsFebruary 13Freshmen Preview Night-Auditorium/Cafe (7 p.m.)February 14Grade School Band ToursKey Club Meeting- Room 15(7:15 a.m.)February 15Mid-Illini Vocal Concert- IVC(7 p.m.)National Honor SocietyMeeting- aud. (10:30 a.m.)February 16Student Council Easter SealsKick-off AssmeblyFebruary 17Wrestling @ StateSpeech @ StateKey Club Kiwanis ChiliSupper (4-6:30 p.m.)Art Club Facepainting @ B-ball gameFashion Merchandising-JobShadowingFebruary 18Wrestling @ StateSpeech @ StateKey Club-Spike for Spastics(9 a.m.-4 p.m.)Snowflake-Cafe & Class-rooms (8 a.m.-5 p.m.)February 20No SchoolFebruary 22Fashion Show- aud. (7 p.m.)February 24Food FairFebruary 25Vice Versa Dance-gym (7p.m.)Musical Set Construction-aud. (9 a.m.-5 p.m.)Dodgeball Tournament-Auxilary gym (9 a.m.)February 28Grade School Band ToursICC Placement Tests8th Grade Registration-Cafeteria (6-8 p.m.)

A Year inReview:2005

LCHS juniorraces go-karts

for sport

LCHS Rhetorical Rockets winthird consecutive Mid-Illini title

The 2005-2006 speech team won their third consecutive Mid-Illini title on January 19, 2006.

The 2005-2006 speech teamwon their third consecutiveMid-Illini conference title onJanuary 19, at Dunlap HighSchool. To win this conference isalways the team’s goal.Coach Jeri Look said, “Wewin because no one elsewants it as much as we do.” The team knew they hadthe ability to win, but theywould still need to remainfocused. Team co-captainShayanna Jacobs, junior,told me, “I think we aredoing really well this year.We are going to have tocontinue working really hardso we can keep winning.” The team agrees but saysno matter how much practicethey have, they are stillnervous before competitions.

One half of the Mid-Illinisecond place HDA team,junior Brittany Christensen,said to do well she needs abalance. “I’m confident andnervous.”

Junior radio speaker SarahHanlon admits that shewonders, “if I’m going to dogood and remembereverything.” Even Mid-IlliniHI champion AllisonSandborg, junior, getsnervous. “I hope no one has

the same piece (script) asme…again.” Sandborg faced,and successfully took first,against an opponent in afinal round earlier in theyear that had the samescript as her. But all nerves go aside,and the team’s sole focus ison the competition once itcomes time to perform. TheDDA team of juniorsBrandon Chandler and KellyKooken told me what theythink about when they aregoing to perform. “If there’sfifteen (competitors), we onlyneed to beat fourteen.” The team certainly has hadone of their best year’s. Sofar they have won all but twoof their competitions, evenbeating their rival Richwoodsat several tournaments.Even adding yet another Mid-

By Ian Henderson

“I think we are doingreally well this year.We are going to haveto continue workingreally hard so we cankeep winning.”-Co-captain ShayannaJacobs

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Illini conference title canonly increase the team’smomentum as they close inon their Regional andSectional competitions inFebruary. Good luck to all theRhetorical Rockets andcongratulations on such anoutstanding season.

Mid-Illini FinalistsFifth place

Theresa Sanders: ProseFourth place

Rachel Lawrence: DecColleen Swanson:

Impromptu SpeakingThird place

Jessica Bamber: VerseHolly Bauer: SOS

Sarah Hanlon: RadioShayanna Jacobs and

Brandon Chandler: HDA

ConferenceRunner-Ups

Shayanna Jacobs: HIAmy Sanders: VerseLacy Gonzalez: DecCaitlyn Moore and

Brittany Christensen: HDAAllison Sandborg and

Spencer Simmons: DDAAndrew Kluesner: OCErin Lawrence: Oratory

Theresa Sanders: DI

ConferenceChampions

Sarah Mason: SOSRachel Lawrence: DIAllison Sandborg: HI

Anne Heien: RadioCrystal Loyd: Oratory

Kelly Kooken: OCKelly Kooken and Brandon

Chandler: DDATom Winchester: Extempand Impromptu Speaking

22 January 31, 2006 Opinion

The Limelight is the student newspaper of Limestone Community High School. It is published monthly by journalism and mediamethods students. The Limelight is a member of the Quill and Scroll, National Scholastic Press Association, and Illinois HighSchool Scholastic Press Association. Students are responsible for the content of the Limelight. Views represented do notnecessarily represent, in part or in whole, those of the Limestone Community High School administration or faculty. Editorialpolicy is determined by the Editorial Board of the Limelight, and views expressed in editorials are those of the majority of theeditorial board. Columns that carry bylines are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily represent that of the Limelight.The paper is distributed free to students and staff. Subscriptions are available by mail anywhere in the US for $5 per school year.Address: Limestone Community High School, S. Airport Rd., Bartonville, IL 61607. Telephone: (309) 697-6271. Reach us on theInternet at: http://limestone. k12.il.us. Email: limelight@limestone.k12.il.us. Printed by P & P Press, Peoria, IL.

Editor-in-Chief: Megan Wendland;Editorial Board: Mallory Fawcett, Ian Henderson, Danielle Richmond, Jake Stewart;Reporters: Elysia Cox, Jessica Demoss, Kyle Hovey, Leah McElhiney, Caroline Miller, Stephanie Motsinger, Tiffany Newtson,Samantha Hubbard, and Zach Towery;Student Business Advisor: Leah McElhineyAdvisor: Roni Oleson

Limelight

What is up with all theoverly sensitive, touchy,prickly, and easily upsetteenagers today? There wasa fight earlier this yearbecause a boy looked atanother boy “the wrong way.”Excuse me for asking, butisn’t that a little immatureand just a wee bit stupid? Yes, I think it is.However, this seems to be aproblem with every teenagerthese days. No, I’m nottalking about fighting. Imean extreme sensitivity. I am getting tired ofconversations that havebeen taken the wrong way,jokes that were made to befunny until ruined bysomeone who took it badly,and people that are yelling atfriends because they havethe exact same outfit asherself. I’m tired of it, andso is the rest of the schoolwho has to listen to it. Let me tell you a story: Iknow someone who

constantly teased his friendsuntil one day the tables wereturned and a friend teasedhim back. Can you guesswhat happened? The personfreaked out and said that allof his friends hated him,etc., etc., etc. Give me abreak. If you can dish it out,shouldn’t you be able to takeit? It seems to me thateveryone is just toodefensive these days. Theyare angry inside, so they feelthe need to lash out at thesoonest possible moment.Frankly, I’m sick of everyonebeing on the lookout forthings to get angry at. If youhave that much pent uprage, go get a punching bag,go running, or if you arereally bad, go join footballand knock some peopledown. I admit that I do this too;however, I try to apologize orjust hold my tongue when Irealize what I’m going to sayis not all that nice. Let me give you another

By Elysia Cox

Say What? Relax and lighten up!situation: A group of friendswere laughing at a joke whenanother friend walked up andasked a question. The friendgot bent out of shapebecause she thought herfriends were laughing at herand her question. Making ascene, she yells at herfriends and accuses them ofhaving “a problem.” Thegroup of friends is stunned;their laughing had nothing todo with their friend. This isjust another example ofsomeone being overlysensitive and defensive. Why must people do this?I think the person with the“problem” is the person withthe over-sensitive mind thatgets into fights or breaks upa friendship. Somethingmust be done. Thisnonsense has to stop. And Ithink the only way we canstop this is to stop thinkingof only ourselves and realizethat everything is not aboutus.

Never forget...Acts of kindness are needed at alltimes, not just during holidays.

By Sami Hubbard On December 26, 2004,220,000 people were killedwhen a tsunami hit thirteencountries in southeast Asia.Out of the 1.8 million peoplewho were left homeless, 36thousand people are still lefthomeless one year later. My point? When news ofthe tsunami first hitAmerican media, we wereshocked. The news touchedour hearts. We are all aparent, a child, a friend. As aresult, we felt the need tohelp. Immediately, peoplebegan donating money todifferent organizations tohelp the families affected.Soon, the news found otherstories to feature, and we allfell back into our dailyroutines, almost seeminglike we lost interest. Thenwhen the winter holidayscame, it seemed to me thateverybody remembered aboutthe tsunami and wanted to

donate and try to dosomething to help thefamilies again. The same thing happenedwhen Hurricane Katrinacaused 1,383 people to dieand 1.5 million to lose theirhomes. Katrina is all weread in the papers andwatched on tv for the longesttime. We all pitched in tohelp, whether we donatedmoney, clothing, personalitems, or other necessarythings. Soon Katrina wasfeatured less and less untilnothing was mentioned. Didwe forget too? Just because somethingdoesn’t affect us directlydoesn’t mean we should onlycare about it when it firsthappens and maybe againaround the holiday seasons.We should be just as helpingand caring all year roundbecause someday it may beus who needs a little extrahelp.

DISCLAIMER: The follow-ing editorial containsmany different examplesfrom many differentteachers and is not in-tended to single out anyone teacher. It is nothingmore than the ramblings ofan opinionated loudmouthwho needed to get it off hischest.

Are teachers underpaid?Yes. Are teachers over-worked? In many cases, yes.Does this mean I should beused as a Scan-Tron or Xeroxmachine in order to savetime and work. I don’t thinkso. I have noticed that moreand more students aregrading papers or mindlesslycopying down notes.Whether it is entire daysdevoted to overhead notes

with little or no explanationfrom the teacher or thesimple task of “trading andgrading,” students are simplynot being taught. Given thatthere is only so much thatyou can cram into a sixteen-year-old’s mind, I still thinkthat class time should beused more effectively. In-stead of making overheads,make handouts. Instead ofhaving students grading inclass, let your teacher helperdo it (they have a reason forbeing there).

Most importantly, get yourstudents involved in theclass. I have a teacher thatawards points based on class

Some of you hate yourclasses more thanyour students hatethem. Why?

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Most importantly, getyour students involvedin the class.

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participation. If a studentaccumulates enough points,he will receive extra credit onhis final grade. Every timethe teacher asks a question,somebody’s hand goes up. Byoffering a little incentive, shegets us paying attention andlearning. Another example is ahistory teacher that would gobeyond the textbook’steachings and lecture aboutthe larger effects of an eventand how it applies to themodern world. He was evenso rash as to have classdiscussions and throw in oddbits of homor that wereunderstood only by thosewho had been paying atten-tion. Both of these classesare challenging, but I havelearned a great deal fromthem. TEACH US. Though we maynot always act like it, we

want to learn. Sure there aresome hopeless cases, but toooften does the curriculumcater to them. It is not fairto the rest of us when we arestuck reading the textbookand memorizing its glossary.

My thoughts exactly...by Kyle Hovey

Some of you hate yourclasses more than yourstudents hate them. Why?You got into teaching for areason. I know it wasn’t themoney, and I doubt it wasthe free summers. Didn’t youwant to enlighten, to edu-cate, to pass on that passionfor knowledge? I can only imagine howtwenty blank faces day afterday would burn you out, but

if you can get through to evenone kid, hasn’t it been worthit? I am not the best example.I do not get along withhomework and seldom takethe time to compliment myteachers on a job well done,but I tend to be more respon-sive and attentive whenpresented with a new idea orperspective in my classes.That has to count for some-thing. Please just do me this onefavor: next time you plan onputting something on theboard and letting the classspend a majority of the hourcopying it down, try insteadpassing out handouts andgoing through the material.Do not just read it aloud;explain and expound on it.The more effort you put intoyour teaching, the more youwill get out of it.

3Opinion January 31, 2006

“I quit making New Year’sresolutions because I couldnot seem to keep them.”- Senior Amanda Damron

By Danielle Richmond If anyone were to ever askme what I felt was the mostimportant part of life, I’mafraid I wouldn’t have tothink very long to give youmy answer: Laughter. To me, laughter is the onetrue joy in the world. Somepeople may disagree, saying,“Oh, no! It’s love or worldpeace or something likethat.” But I still stand firmin my own opinions. Love isnice, sure. It’s like a firethat fuels your life, at times.But still, even fire can burnor be extinguished. And Iknow this much: when loveends, it HURTS LIKE HELL.Laughter never hurts. Infact, laughter is most oftenwhat helps us get over ourpain and disappointments inlife. It’s hard to put yourbest foot forward and moveon until you’ve sat down andhad a good laugh at yourselfand your crazy life. There’sjust something about thatmerry burst of ecstasy thatlights up inside of you whenyou laugh, that heals you, orthat just gives you a littlepiece of hope that says,“Well, maybe life doesn’tsuck quite that bad.” As for world peace, well,um, that idea is kind of funnyas it is. I mean, if you lookat it realistically. First off,there are how many billionsor trillions of people in theworld? And each person hashis or her own way of seeingthings – usually incompletely different ways.

I finally figured this out acouple weeks ago. Let’s justsay my heart was getting areally big dose of drama. Oneday everything was perfect.The next, everything camecrashing down. I took a deepbreath, cried a few tears, andfixed the problem best Icould. Or I thought I had.Just as I had breathed ahuge sigh of relief andstarted to smile again,everything came crashingdown again, only in a worseway. Way worse. This is what happened: Afriend of mine showed mesomething that should havejust made me feel worse onthe worse day of my life.Now I know that you thinkmy world probably justended, right? Well, it didn’t.As I sat there looking at thispiece of drama, somethingfunny happened. It was likesomething just clicked inme. My numbness blockedemotions so well that I wasable to look at the situationwithout the extra trauma inme. I could see things fromall sides, without the pain.And what I saw was sohopelessly crazy, so mixedup and dramatic, I felt thecorners of my mouth twitchas I shook my head. Then it happened. Icouldn’t help it… I bustedout laughing. I laughed andlaughed and laughed at mycrazy life, and boy, did it feelgreat. The rest of the day, Iwalked around with thishuge grin on my face, when,if anything, I should have

Simple InspirationsLaughter: Life’s Best Medicine

Now, let’s add in the guns.And the bombs. Nuclearweapons. Money. Land.Gas. Politics. Drugs.Sexual orientation.Abortion. Religion.And whatever else peoplelike to fight about. Thereyou go. A realistic view oftoday’s world… Do you thinkworld peace is gonnahappen?! Not in thislifetime. I mean, just in aneveryday scenario, I canbarely get through one weekwithout bickering with thisone friend of mine. Andafter we end up getting intoit, I’ll walk around beingmad at the world until Ifinally have the good senseto look back and have a goodlaugh over what a pair ofhigh-minded stubborn idiotswe are. Then, of course,after I have had a good giggleover our immaturity, he’llstill be grumbling over mystupidity, and our twomoods and perspectives willclash, and we’ll end upfighting like a pair of two-year-olds again… Trust me.World peace isn’t gonnahappen. Not that I don’t like theidea. I’m all for improvingthis crazy world. And, like Isaid, I think the only way foreveryone to do that is totake a really big dose ofbubbly, tickley, gigglylaughter. You can think I’mmad if you like, but it’s true.Almost everything is funny ifyou think about it the rightway. But it takes looking atthe problem in the right way.

been crying my heart out.Simply because I had chosento look at the drama from adifferent perspective. Thefunny perspective. And letme tell you… the funnyperspective is much betterthan the woe-is- me,pessimistic perspective.Laughter can work miraclessometimes. It’s all in theway you see things. Considering all this, Isuppose I have a New Year’sresolution for you,Limestone. Enough with thefrowns! People say that theywant the world to be a betterplace or that they want tomake a difference… and yetall we have to do is banishthis pessimism that eats atour hearts and put a smileon our face and a laugh inour souls. So start laughing.Just laugh and laugh andlaugh, and your problemswon’t seem half as bad.Laugh when you’re scared,laugh when you’re sad, laughwhen the world around yougets crazy or confusing ordramatic. Just open youreyes and your heart and findsomething to be happy andlaugh about. Trust me, thereis always something to laughabout. You just have to learnto look the right way so thatyou can find it. So just openyour eyes up and learn tolook at things from allperspectives… then just sitback and laugh, laugh ,laugh. Laughter, after all, is life’sbest medicine.

All too often in our lives,we expect the people aroundus to be there. We expectour parents to take care ofus, to make us feel betterwhen we’re uncomfortable,to take care of our cars whenthey’re broken, to cook usdinner, clean the house, andstill have a job so that theycan buy us new things. We expect our friends tobe there no matter what,even if they have a problemof their own. We expect our teachers tobend over backwards to helpus, but we can’t turn in asimple paper on time. As a society, we have beentaught to becomeinterdependent, but inreality, we are becomingsolely dependent on thosearound us withoutrecognizing everything theyhave done for us.

From the time we wereyoung, we knew that if wecouldn’t reach something,mom would get it, or if ourtoy was broken, grandpawould fix it. We have grownup knowing that we cancount on our families foreverything. We know thatthey will always be there tobail us out of toughsituations, no matter whatwe have gotten ourselvesinto.

The problem with this isthat it should be a two waystreet. Our parents should

be able to count on us asmuch as we can count onthem. They should be ableto come to us with theirproblems and talk to us justas easily as we can talk tothem. It isn’t fair that wecan expect everything out ofthem, but they can’t get acivil conversation out of us. I’m one of those peoplewho put everyone else in mylife ahead of myself becauseit kills me to have the ones Icare about most upset. Theyknow that they can come tome whenever a problemarises, and I will either helpthem work through theissue, or I will tell them thateverything is going to bealright and that they havenothing to worry about. Sometimes I feel like asmuch as I do for them, whenI need them most, no one isthere to pull me off the edge.I think others take for

By Megan Wendland

From the Editor’s Desk...We should give just as much as we take

I am realizing that weall have this problemof needing people tobe there but not look-ing at the fact thatthey need us equallyas much.

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granted what they have untilit’s gone. We often don’t payattention to what is right infront of us until it begins tomatter to us that it is there,until it makes a difference inour life.

It should be a two waystreet. Our parentsshould be able to counton us as much as wecan count on them.

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Although I feel this way, Iknow I’m not completelywithout blame on this issue.I realize that often times Iexpect things out of peopleor my family that I don’tknow if I could do in return.I am realizing that we allhave this problem of needingpeople to be there but notlooking at the fact that theyneed us equally as much.

OpinionPoll

What is your NewYear’s resolution?

“To go out and have fun inlife.”- Senior Chad Hohenbery

“To hang out with my friendsmore.”- Freshman Courtney Braden

“To think of a New Year’sresolution!”- Freshman StormieSchmider

“To help others more.”- Sophomore Mario McCart

24 January 31, 2006 News

News NotesStudents of the

month recognizedAcademic Student

of the Month Senior Colleen Swansonhas been named January’sAcademic Student of theMonth based on heracademic achievements. For her efforts in theclassroom, Swanson will beawarded a savings bond,and her picture will befeatured in the LimestoneIndependent News.

On December 17, thejunior-varsity ScholasticBowl team won first place attheir Peoria Countytournament. The team beatPrinceville, Brimfield, andthen Notre Dame to earntheir spot in the semi-finals. During these first threematches, the team was ledby freshman Shawn Fryerwith 14 toss ups andsophomore Josh Sholty with7 toss ups. In the fourth match, theteam defeated Dunlap,advancing them to the finalmatch against IVC. The final match was closebetween Limestone and IVC.The game was up for grabswhen the final question wasasked, but the Rocketsproved victorious when IVCbuzzed in with the wronganswer. Fryer received a medal forthe most toss ups answeredduring the tournament. According to Fryer, theteam’s victory was

attributed to HawaiianPunch. Fryer said, “TheHawaiian Punch bottle madeus better.” Fryer had boughtthe Hawaiian Punch on hisbirthday, and it is now theteam’s good luck charm. JV coach Kyle Bloyd ishappy for his team. He said,“This is a bright group ofkids. I expect great thingsfrom them as they go up intotheir varsity years.” The JV team’s successcontinued when they wonsecond place [They lost toIVC, the team they beat inthe Peoria Countytournament.] at the PeoriaChristian Invitational onSaturday, January 21. Onceagain, Fryer was recognizedfor being one of the Top 5scorers in the tournament. The junior-varsity team ismade up of freshmen ShawnFryer, Abby Borland, SamiHubbard, Pat Revallo, DaltonVodden, Ruben Rodriguez,Ethan Siebel, andsophomores Chris Corey andJosh Sholty.

At the end of December,Key Club members spentone hundred hoursparticipating in theirannual Christmas projectwith the Salvation Army. The project involvedpicking up donations fromthe Salvation Army, sortingtoys and clothes, anddistributing the gifts and aChristmas dinner to areafamilies. “It was nice to see theparents’ smiling faces asthey came to get the toys tomake sure that theirchildren have a merryChristmas,” said juniorJared Schneider about thedistribution. This year, the Key Clubhelped one hundred twenty-five local families.

By Sami Hubbard

JV scholastic bowlteam wins Peoria

County tournament

LCHS Key Club andSalvation Army pairup for annual project

Attention seniors!!! Applications for localscholarships are currentlyavailable in the Guidanceoffice. All applications must bereturned by Friday, February24 in order to be eligible forthe scholarships.

Applications are nowavailable for Caterpillar’sStudent Trainee Program forthe 2006-2007 school year.Students accepted intoCaterpillar’s Student TraineeProgram will work full timeduring the summer and 20hours per week during theschool year. While the program isdesigned mainly for co-opstudents, there are a verylimited number of summeronly jobs. Jobs are availablein the accounting, clerical,and technical fields. You must have a 2.3 gradepoint average and be a junioror senior next year to apply.See Mrs. Hott in Room 5 foran application packet. Youmust complete theapplication process byFebruary 21 in order to beconsidered. See Mrs. Hott ifyou have any questions.

The first annual “WinterBlues Fest” was held onSaturday, January 28 from 4-11:30 p.m. It was sponsoredby the Limestone YouthFacilities and LimestoneYouth Baseball. The event was held at theBartonville American Legion.The cost of the tickets was$15.00 for adults and $8.00for children 17 and under. Itincluded a spaghetti dinnerand beverages. All proceedswill go towards the construc-tion of a new concessionsstand with restrooms at theLimestone Youth BaseballFacility. At the event, the bandBubble Gum Jack performedfor the patrons to enjoy.

Local Scholarshipapplications availablefrom guidance office

Applications avail-able for CAT Student

Trainee Program Winter Blues Festheld to raise moneyfor Limestone Youth

Baseball Facility

Junior Brandon Chandlerwas awarded the title ofCentral Illinois HometownIdol at 7 p.m. on Friday,January 20. The competitionwas held at the Riverplex indowntown Peoria. The contest cost $15 toenter and was for contes-tants ages 10-19. With his title, Chandlerwon four hours of recordingtime at a music studio inPekin, a guest performanceat a special event, a medal,and a gift bag from the PeoriaPark District. Chandler was also featuredon WMBD This Morning onTuesday, January 24. Hesang “Gone” by N’Sync.

Junior wins title ofCentral IllinoisHometown Idol

Senior Tricia Lofthouse and her fellow Key Club members played anenjoyable game at the annual Key Club game night held on Thursday,January 19, 2006, in the Limestone Snack Bar. For just five dollars, KeyClub members were able to purchase food and to play Scrabble andTrivial Pursuit, among other games.

LCHS Key Club hostsannual game night

Salad bar offersnew option

The salad bar line in theLimestone cafeteria nowoffers the option of a half-sandwich and soup as achoice for a student meal.The students seem happywith the change in menu.

Mr. Bob Privratsky and hisauto shop classes have doneit again. For two weeks inDecember, Privratsky andhis junior/senior auto shopclasses donated money toSt. Jude’s Children’sHospital. For the past sixteen years,Privratsky has organized thisproject. This year fifty-nineof his junior and senior autoshop students were involved,and they raised $1064. Annually four little girlsare chosen, and these girlsreceive a collector’s HolidayBarbie. This year, the girlsranged in ages from four toeight years old. In additionto the dolls, the girls’parents received a $25 giftcertificate to Cracker Barrel. Privratsky began gettingthe Holiday Barbies for thegirls when he startedcollecting them for his owndaughters. He felt he wasblessed to have two veryhealthy daughters of his ownand wanted to put a smile onother little girl’s faces. The rest of the money wasused to purchase items forthe cancer center itself.This year two Play Station 2units, many Play Station 2games, DVD movies, andstuffed animals were bought

Auto shop classesdonate money to St.

Jude’s Hospital

for the children’s activitycenter at the hospital. The donations werepresented to St. Jude thelast week before finals.Privratsky is really proudthat the kids used their ownmoney to help children whoneed it most. “They putsomeone else beforethemselves to help putsmiles on kid’s faces duringthe holiday season, so theyshould be proud of what theyhave done,” commentedPrivratsky.

Also held were silent and liveauctions. For more information onmaking donations to thefund, contact Coach LorenPeacock.

5Feature January 31, 2006

Birth date: 12-1-72College attended: IVCC,ICC, ISUHobbies/pasttimes:Hunting, Fishing, DogTrainingSubjects you arecurrently teaching:Driver’s Ed, World HistoryWhy you want to be ateacher: To train student-athletes to ignoreobstacles, pain, anddiscomfort to accomplishgreat things.Your dream vacation:Goose hunting and Walleyefishing in CanadaYour favorite high schoolmemory: Being a two waystarter on the 1989 Mid-Illini Conference FootballChampionship team atL.C.H.S.The adjective that bestdescribes you:Blue CollarWhat your friends sayabout you:I’m a high school coach; Ihave no friends.Your favorite movie:All the Star Wars moviesYour favorite food: Pizza

Mr. Jeff Schmider Miss Linda Thomas

Birth date: January 16,1971College attended: WesternIllinois University(undergrad); University ofIllinois (graduate school)Hobbies: Scuba divingPosition: SpecialEducation Social Worker.I want to work withstudents to help themdevelop a healthy social andemotional lifestyle.Your dream vacation:Traveling to Australia so Ican dive at the GreatBarrier ReefYour favorite high schoolmemory: When my highschool’s football team wonthe State Championship mysenior year.The adjective that bestdescribes you:IndependentWhat your friends sayabout you: I hope they sayI’m nice, funny, and caring.Your favorite movie:The Breakfast Club – Wemay all be different, but wecan find commonalities ifwe try.Your favorite food:Pizza

Amber Rasbury

Year: SophomoreKey Club Position:Sophomore RepresentativeFavorite Project:Christmas ProjectFavorite non-Key ClubActivity: Tennis

Jenny Osborn

Year: SophomoreKey Club Position:MemberFavorite Project:Homecoming ParadeFavorite non-Key ClubActivity: Swimming

By Kyle Hovey

LCHS students participatein third annual ski trip

only chaperones were Mr.Greg Robinson, Mr. KyleBloyd, Mr. Tim Turner, Ms.Becky Bontz, and herboyfriend, there was notrouble with the students.The only person to sufferreal injury was Bloyd, whosuffered a nasty fall on ablack diamond course knownas the Warpath.

“In retrospect, it wasa really awesomeday, especially forits price.”-Senior Nick Ricca

What did you do duringwinter break? Did you sit athome? Did you hang out atthe mall? Did you go toGalena, Illinois, and hit theslopes? Skiing is whatapproximately fortyLimestone students andteachers did on January 2.The third annual Limestoneski trip rolled out ofBartonville at 5:30 a.m. andarrived at ChestnutMountain at 9:00 a.m.Weather was a mixedblessing. It was a rainy forty-fivedegrees, which made for poorskiing conditions, but it alsodeterred other skienthusiasts. Senior and twoyear ski trip veteran MattBazhenow remembers, “Theday lasted a long timebecause the runs were soshort. It seemed like youskied each one 40 times, andthe weather was so bad thatvery few people were there.We had the mountain almostentirely to ourselves.” Given this, the fact thatthere are twenty-twodifferent runs and fourseparate ski lifts and thatout of the forty people the

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For those of you not intoskiing, there are generallythree types of ski runs:green for easy, blue forintermediate, and blackdiamond for advanced. Blackdiamond courses have tightturns and generally containmoguls (large patternedbumps). Bloyd suffered whatmost likely was a dislocatedshoulder, and after hepopped it back in himself, hespent the rest of the daywatching the students. Bloyd’s fall was the onlymajor mishap of the trip. Asmentioned, the slopes were

not crowded, and there wassomething to enjoy foreveryone, be they novice orexpert. The highlight of the daycame in the many jokesmade at Robinson’s expense.“Many of the students gaveMr. Robinson a hard time onhis juvenile skills and hispink, ladylike coat, which heborrowed from his mother,”said another senior and twoyear trip veteran, Nick Ricca. After a long, fun-filled day,the group got on the bus forthe return trip around 6:30p.m. and arrived back homeat 11:00 p.m. “In retrospect, it was areally awesome day,especially for its price,” saidRicca. “I paid $60, and thatpaid for my bus ticket, skirentals, and lift ticket.” So next year if you don’thave anything to do duringChristmas break and you canscrape up a few dollars,consider the Limestone skitrip. It’s an experience andmemory that will last alifetime.

VolunteerStudents ofthe Month

Have you ever wonderedwhat went on the year youwere born? English teacherJamie Kocher’s fifth andsixth hour freshmanenriched English classesparticipated in a project toexplore the world the yearthey were born. The purpose of the projectwas for the classes to writean autobiography, which they

came to find was a type ofnon-fiction. The project also requiredthe classes to work on theirwriting and independentresearch skills. To find the information, thestudents went to greatlengths. They used varioussources such as interviewingtheir family members,researching from reliable

sources on the internet, orusing microfilm from PeoriaPublic Library. The project consisted ofvarious pieces of informationcentered around their datesof birth. Included in thebinder was a table ofcontents, a two-page typedautobiography, tensummarized news stories,billboard charts for the week

and the year, TV listings forthe day and Neilson top tenfor the year, movies showingand the top ten movies forthe year, toy of the year, alife timeline, and a correctlyformatted bibliography. Each student’s creativityplayed a major role in theoutcome of his or her grade.The entire project came outto be worth 180 points.

English teacher JamieKocher’s fifth hourfreshman enrichedEnglish class, featuredon the left, was re-quired to create portfo-lios centered aroundthe year they wereborn. Each studentwas required to studythe year, reporting ontop movies, newsstories, songs, andtoys. Overall, theclass and Kocher wereproud of the turnout ofthe project.

Enriched freshmen reflect on the past

By Jessica DeMoss

Limestone WelcomesNew Faculty

26 January 31, 2006 Centerspread

January 20

Bush took his 2nd oath ofoffice with the “ultimategoal of ending tyranny in

our world.”

January 30

Iraqis elect a transitionalNational Assembly.

Brain damaged FloridianTerri Schiavo is discon-nected from life supportand dies 2 weeks later.

March 18 April 2

Pope John Paul dies at 84after 26 years as the

leader. He was succeededby Pope Benedict XVI.

May 31

Mark Felt admits to beingthe source of the Washing-ton Post stories that led tothe Watergate Scandal.

...And we say goodbye...

Surrounded by familyand friends, JohnnyCarson, the “King ofLate Night TV,” diedon January 23, 2005,at the age of 79.

January:1- Shirley Chisolm23- Johnny Carson

February:4- Ossie Davis

10- Arthur Miller20- Hunter S. Thompson

March:29- Johnnie Cochran

April:5- Saul Bellow

6- Prince Rainier13- Johnnie Johnson

May:26- Eddie Albert

June:6- Anne Bancroft

July:1- Luther Vandross5- James Stockdale

18- WilliamWestmoreland

20- James Doohan

August:1- King Fahd

7- Peter Jennings8- John H. Johnson

September:2- Bob Denver

20- Simon Wiesenthal

October:2- August Wilson24- Rosa Parks

November:24- Pat Morita

December:10- Eugene McCarthy

11- Richard Pryor

Rocket Re-Cap

-Easter Seals week brings in $41,000.-Senior boys rally together to start adodgeball tournament to raise money forEaster Seals.-The vice versa dance is held on Saturday,February 28. The theme is Una NocheHermosa.-The basketball cheerleaders go to State andbrought home a 4th place trophy.-Mr. Zack Binder and Ms. Briana Nannendirect the spring musical, Little Shop ofHorrors.-Prom 2005 is held at the Gateway buildingdowntown on Saturday, April 23. Josh Haunand Michelle Roberts are named King andQueen. The theme of the prom is AnEvening in Paris.-The Class of 2005 graduates on Saturday,May 14.-Jesse Burns and Brandon Wikoff are namedWHOI’s Athletes of the Week.-The boy’s baseball team competes in theState tournament at Elfstrom Stadium inGeneva, IL, on June 10 & 11.-At the start of football season, several stu-dents begin tailgating in the parking lot toget pumped up before games.-Freshmen take home the crown at the Vari-ety Show, winning the skit competition.Brandon Chandler wins first place in thefiller acts.-Homecoming King and Queen are ChadHohenbery and Michelle Roberts. The danceis held Saturday, October 8, and the theme isViva Las Vegas.-Colleen Swanson student directs the fallplay, Card Play by David Foxton.-TR Pursell and Nicole Benson run in theState cross country meet at Detweiler Park.-Senior Brandon Wikoff signs his letter ofintent to attend and play baseball for theUniversity of Illinois.-Ms. Kris Tinnon and her students organize aVeteran’s Day Assembly to commemoratethose who have served our country.-Senior Tricia Lofthouse and members of KeyClub and Student Council organize a ChiliSupper to raise money for Hurricane Katrinavictims.-At the winter sports assembly, the seniorclass is victorious and walks away with the“spirit stick.”

A Year in Review

#2 Desperate Housewives#3 Without a Trace

#4 CSI: Miami#5 Grey’s Anatomy

#6 Lost#7 Monday Night Football

#8 NCIS#9 Survivor: Guatemala#10 Law & Order: SVU

Most Watched TV Shows of 2005#1: CSI

On the Bestsellers List#1Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince

#31776#2

You: The Owner’s Manual

#6Blink

The World is Flat#5#4Eldest

The Broker#8

Freakonomics#7

4th of July#10

The Honeymoon#9

7Centerspread January 31, 2006

June 13

Michael Jackson is foundnot guilty on all charges in

California.

September 3August 29July 26

Space shuttle Discoverysafely returns to Earth. It is

the first flight since theColumbia disaster in 2003.

Katrina makes landfallwith 140 mph winds. It isthe costliest and deadliest

storm in U.S. history.

Supreme Court JusiticeJohn Renquist dies at 80 of

thyroid cancer. He issucceeded by John Roberts.

October 26

The death toll in Iraqreaches 2,000.

Biggest Broadway Ticket:The Odd Couple- $21.5 million

Top 10Movies of

2005

Star Wars:Episode III-Revenge of

the Sith$380.2 million

War of the Worlds$234.2 million

Wedding Crashers$209 million

Charlie & theChocolate Factory

$206.4 million

Batman Begins$205.3 million

Harry Potter & theGoblet of Fire$201 million

Madagascar$193.1 million

Mr. & Mrs. Smith$186.3 million

Hitch$177.5 million

The Longest Yard$158.1 million

Top Sports Stories of the Year

The Chicago WhiteSox clench their firstWorld Series title sinceWorld War I on Octo-ber 26, winning fourgames to one againstthe Houston Astros.

White Soxwin

World Series

NHLAfter a cancelledseason, the NHL re-turns with a revampedgame in October thatis getting rave re-views.

NBAThe San Antonio Spurswin the NBA Champi-onship against theDetroit Pistons 83-68in the seventh andfinal game in theseries. The MVP ofthe NBA in 2005 isSteve Nash.

NASCARTony Stewart takeshome the title ofNextel Cup championthis year. This isStewart’s secondchampionship in the#20 Home DepotChevrolet.

GolfAt 30, Tiger Woods isresurgent in his ca-reer after marryinghis Swedish fiance,Elin Nordegren.

College BasketballNorth Carolina winsthe Division I champi-onship over the Uni-versity of Illinois.

Star I Do’s& Break-ups

MarriagesBen Affleck

& Jennifer Garner

Luciana Bozan& Matt Damon

Donald Trump& Melina Knauss

Ashton Kutcher& Demi Moore

Sandra Bullock& Jesse James

Seal & Heidi Klum

Trisha Yearwood& Garth Brooks

Christina Aguilera& Jordan Bratman

Tiffany Thiessen& Brady Smith

Break-UpsOrlando Bloom

& Kate Bosworth

Renee Zellweger& Kenny Chesney

Chad Michael Murray& Sophia Bush

Paris Hilton& Paris Latsis

Jessica Simpson& Nick Lachey

CyclingLance Armstrong winshis seventh Tour deFrance in the summerof 2005.

Most Requested Concert Tickets

#1U2

The Dublin, Ireland,band’s Vertigo Tourwas the most re-quested concert of2005.

2. The Rolling Stones3. Paul McCartney

4. Dave Matthews Band

5. Coldplay6. Bon Jovi

7. Kenny Chesney

8. The Eagles9. Elton John

10. Nine Inch Nails

Time Magazine’s Persons of the YearU2 Frontman: Bono

andBill & Melinda Gates

Location: Peoria, ILNational Recognition: Bradley University has beenranked 4th among Midwestern comprehensiveuniversities in the 2005 edition of America’s BestColleges published by U.S. News & World Report. Inaddition, Bradley’s Department of Industrial andManufacturing Engineering and Technology wasranked number 2 in that special discipline.Enrollment: 5,200 Undergraduates, 900 GraduatesPrograms of Study: over 100 programs offeredTuition: $18,700Room & Board: $6,580Average ACT: 23-27Average class size: 23High School Rank: 92% of all freshmen ranked inthe top 50% of their high school classNumber of freshmen enrolled each year: 1136Housing: Apartments & CO-ED Residence HallsVisit Dates: Monday, February 20; Friday, February24; Friday, March 24; Friday, April 7; Saturday, April22; and Friday, April 28—online registration isavailable for all datesFor more information: visit www.bradley.edu

Bradley University

Scholarships Available:

Up Close &Personal With...

Jared Vogel Five days per week,students pack their bags andhead off to school. Somedrive or are dropped off, butmany ride the bus. Fewpeople stop to think abouttheir bus driver. In order to be a bus driver,you must have a good drivingrecord. You must also passa written test and a drivingtest to attain a class Blicense. To get to school on time,bus drivers have to be atwork at 6:30 A.M. or before.They then work for aboutthree hours, depending onhow many students their bustakes to school. Driverswork for another three hoursafter school. Before going on theirroutes, drivers check theirbreaks, lights, heaters,windows, doors, and evenfirst-aid kits. The starting pay for a busdriver in this area is aboutten dollars per hour. Eachyear that a bus driverreturns, he/she receives araise. Though assignments are

based on seniority, driverscan opt to drive students toextra-curricular activities oron fieldtrips. A District 150 driver, whoasked to remain anonymous,says that the mostimportant part of her job ismaking sure that studentsfollow bus rules. She said,“The rules are in place tokeep you kids safe.”Standing or eating on thebus might not seem like amajor offense to you, but thedriver pointed out that suchthings become much worsein case of an accident. The major differencesbetween a car and a bus aremirrors and length. Inbuses, there are five mirrors;two extra mirrors help thedriver see anyone in front ofthe vehicle. Because a busis so long, it takes threetimes longer than a car toslow down and has to beturned differently. This is a decent part-timejob with good pay. It is greatfor those who like children.The only downside is drivingin bad weather.

By Tiffany Newtson

Career Corner:with a bus driver

If you were a crayon,what color would yoube?Burnt Cyan. That justseems right.Future plans:College at Bradley &working at CaterpillarWhat is your favoriteKool-Aid? Stick withoriginal Red. O, yea!If you could be a super-hero, which one wouldyou be?The Human Torchbecause of the fire! Andhe doesn’t wear tights.What would you do for aKlondike Bar?Gather a 40 man raidand take on whatever iskeeping it. If it was alegendary or epic item, alot would be done.What is your favoritehigh school memory?My first day in Mr.Wittmer & Mr.Perschnick’s classes...the best teachers to haveleft.What is your favoriteschool lunch?The wedges, man.Which of Snow White’sseven dwarfs are youmost like?Doc, because it doesn’trhyme, and he wearsglasses.If you could go back intime, what would you dodifferently?I would go back to all thegreat wars and help theunderdogs. Why? Thequestion comes to WhatIf?If your life were amovie, which one wouldit be?Fear and Loathing in LasVegas-Johnny Depp’s firstcrazy movie.What is your mostprized possession?My computer. It owns!And my Dachshund, too.Who is your hero?Dan Rathers of CBSNews! He’s old; he’s cool!What adjective bestdescribes you?Articulate

More information is available on the bulletinboard in the guidance office.

See your guidance counselor with anyquestions or concerns.

1. Excellence in Agriculture ScholarshipDue 4-12-062. AMVETS #64 ScholarshipDue 4-1-06More information available at: www.AMVETS.net3. Beta Sigma Psi ScholarshipDue 2-11-064. College Financial Aid Handbook5. Discover Card Scholarship (for Juniors only)Due today6. Got Milk? ScholarshipDue 3-3-06More information available at: www.whymilk.com7. A Few Good Students ScholarshipDue 3-1-06More information available at: www.MCSF.org8. Illinois AMVETS ScholarshipDue 3-1-069. Lillian E. Glover ScholarshipDue 3-1-0610. National Defense Transportation ScholarshipDue 3-1-0611. Odd Fellows Rebekahs of Illinois ScholarshipDue 3-1-06More information available at: www.ioof-il.org12. James Ursano Fund ScholarshipDue 3-1-06More information available at: www.aerhq.org13. ICC Scholarships

January 1966

Cheaters Fool Only Themselves In the January 14, 1966, issue of the Limelight, cheatingwas described as an art. However, despite all the top of theline technology students were using at the time, teacherswere still catching on. Some of the most popular forms of cheating were: Watchrolls – hiding answers in the band of a watch for easy andquick access. The Crib – a piece of paper tucked in yourhand. Roving eyeball – self-explanatory. The article alsomentioned many more that were pretty clever but extremelyobvious. The point of the article, however, was to prove to studentsthat they weren’t really learning from cheating and to makeit known that teachers were cracking down on thosestudents who did cheat.

Semester Limelight Sale Did you know that at one time LCHS students had to payfor their Limelights? A semester subscription to the Limelight cost $1.25.Subscriptions to the Limelight started over each semesterand could be purchased from any of the student newspaper’srepresentatives.

World’s Foremost Whistler Fred Lowery To Perform In an assembly on January 18, Fred Lowery, the “King ofWhistlers,” showcased his whistling talents for Limestonestudents. Lowery had previously appeared with high rankedperformers of the time, such as Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, EdSullivan, and Vincent Lopez. Lowery’s talents were on commercials, radio, clubs, andeven records. His superior talent to that of other whistlersearned him the “King of Whistlers” reputation.

Debaters Love To Argue, Work, Compete To be a debater on the 1966 debate team, students had tohave a willingness to work and a strong desire to win.Debate coach Mrs. Vonna Lou Larson said that her team hadto love their job as debaters. The argued topic was “Resolved: The federal governmentshould adopt a program of compulsory arbitration in labor-management disputes in the basic industries.”

28 January 31, 2006 Feature

9Entertainment January 31, 2006

Plot Overview Dick Harper (Carrey) worksfor a large company and isthe main source of hisfamily’s income. Suddenly,the company goes bankrupt,and Dick loses his job. Now Dick and his wifeJane (Leoni) find themselvesin debt. Soon, they bothrealize that in order to keepthemselves and their son offthe streets, they have to finda way to earn money fast.They figure the only way todo that is to turn to a life ofcrime, so they organizeheists on their rich friends’bank accounts.

Scene it?Fun with Dick and Jane

Rating: Pg-13; Starring: Jim Carrey, Téa Leoni, and AlecBaldwin; Time: 1 hour and 29 Minutes

Viewer’s CommentaryBy Leah McElhiney I personally did not likethis movie. Yes, it wasfunny at certain times,although it was notsomething I will want to seemore than once. I also thinkthat if Jim Carrey would nothave played Dick, then themovie would not have beenfunny at all. Carrey helpedto make the transition fromhorrible movie to bad movie. Though I did laugh veryhard at certain times, TéaLeoni just wasn’t doinganything for me at all; I didnot think she was veryfunny. I have to say that duringthe entire movie I wassitting there just waiting forthe movie to end. It didseem to drag on forever, butluckily it was only 89minutes long.

By Sami Hubbard Jim Carrey is easily one ofmy favorite actors, but thiswas not his best movie byfar. He really played the partbetter than anyone elsecould have ever done. The problem with themovie, in my opinion,definitely had to be castingTéa Leoni as the part ofJane. Her acting style is notwhat made this movie great.This movie is supposed to befunny, but her acting made itthe opposite. This is the kind of a moviea person would go to see inorder to get a good laugh, notto simply waste time. Mostof the scenes seemed tomake the movie longer. Ihave to admit that the onlyreally funny parts were thewere the scenes featured inthe previews.

From their beginning ofplaying for free drinks at afraternity house to nowplaying in Israel, thetransition of Of a Revolution(O.A.R.) from a college bandto a major headliner hasbeen nothing short ofamazing. O.A.R. came together in1997 when Marc Roberge,lead vocalist, went to OhioState University. There hemet Jerry DePizzo, saxplayer, and Chris Culos,drums, at one of thefraternity parties on campus.They later joined togetherwith Rich On, lead guitar,and Benji Gershman, bass. In the beginning, the bandthought they would be asimple frat band and nothingmore after their graduation.But they gained dedicatedfollowers from OSU, andtheir music was beingdownloaded from Napsterusers all over the country. After O.A.R. had fivealbums under their belt,

they went into the studiowith some money and timeto produce Stories of aStranger, which is a newstyle of their already uniquesound. I think “Heard around theWorld” is a great opening forthis new album. With acombination of Marc’sfantastic voice and Jerry’sawesome sax skills, thesong will fill yourheadphones or your roomwith this infectious sound.This song is the perfectexample of what to expectfrom the rest of the album. “Love and Memories,”another great song, is thefirst and one of few ofO.A.R.’s songs to be madeinto a music video. I thinkthe song is great because Ilove the combination of thetwo guitars playing and thedrums in the backgroundwhen all of a sudden a palmmuted guitar explodes withthe accompaniment of Marcdoing his thing… again. I also love “ProgramDirector,” a song with a ska/reggae feel that is perfect for

By Jake Stewart

warm nights out withfriends, or in our case, coldnights at home. The saxpart in this song, in myopinion, is out of this world. The only other song thatcomes to mind that includesgreat sax playing on thisalbum is the last song onthe album, “52-50.” With abass and palm-muted guitarplaying, listeners can hear asweet melody of grace takingover the song and taking itto new heights. “52-50” hasno distinct chorus; it is moreof an ever flowing verse withdifferent ways of taking youto a distant place. I really loved this album,and I think others will enjoyit also. I especially thinksaxophone aficionados willlove it. O.A.R.’s music isinfectious. With their rootinfluences including BobMarley and the Whailers andother famous reggae bandsfrom the 1970s-1980s, theirmusic makes me think ofsunny California, a pleasureduring our cold, grey winters.

Born on January 23, 1991,Nigel Wheeler is nowcurrently a freshman atLimestone. Actively imaginative, hewrites about “morbid stuff,and the world.” Nigel draws hisinspiration and ideas frommusic, thoughts, andexperiences, and he enjoyswriting as a way to expresshimself. When it comes toinfluential writing, Nigelsays his friends play a largepart in that. “I want themto get a picture in theirhead as they read it, sothey can see the story asI’m telling it.” Being the thoughtfulwriter type, Nigel has a lotto say about what he haslearned from life. “Enjoylife as it is going well, anddon’t give up. And alwaysdo what you believe in,” heexplained. The following poem,Night, is one of Nigel’smany poems he haswritten.

NightAs dark as the world

could be,A lone stranger makes

his way,through the darkness

no good luck,he cannot see for thenight has corrupted.He has made his way

long and bold,he has lost many a

friend,many a soul,

a one and true lovethat he thought he

could behold,but the night has

corrupted.The ones he held

dear,he has hurt and

turned upon,the darkness growing.

Alone once again,the thoughts

haunting,he rids them by dying.The night corrupting.The night dark and

lonely,

I walk as I ever did,alone, cold and

waiting.I wait for what seems

my second life.No one comes,

for I am out of sight.It starts to rain,

alone, cold and wet.Still waiting.

My life has been acircle,

never a broken chain.I am still waiting for

what I hold dear.I can’t seem to get

her out of my mind;now I know what I

fear:I fear of losing her

again,through the night

Still alone, the nightmore corrupting.

I try not to give in butI have failed.

The darkness insideand growing,

for the night hascorrupted.

Music to my earsA review of O.A.R.’s Stories of a Stranger

By Danielle Richmond This book was originallywritten, ironically enough, asa bedtime story for KennethGrahame’s own son. WINDIN THE WILLOWS is a book ofpure imagination. It takesyou back to the days whenyou were a kid, and onceagain it opens the door toyour limitless imagination. Featuring a tale of fourmain characters- Mole,Ratty, Badger, and Toad-Grahame weaves a tale forall ages. The book is filledwith sincerity, simplicity,adventure, instinct, loyalty,dedication, and it gives us adeeper peek at that funny,heart-consuming, tangiblething called friendship. Thumbs up all around!This book has been afavorite of mine since I wasa kid. I remember my dadreading the book to me as abedtime story. I used to

Reading Between the LinesWIND IN THE WILLOWS

By Kenneth Grahameenjoy pretending to be one ofthe main characters, and Iusually chose the role of theadventurous, troublesomeToad. I loved the way my dadimpersonated Toad; healways was a great storyteller - he could even makethe most boring storiessound alive and real, puttingwonderful pictures in mymind’s eye. No matter your age, Iwould definitely recommendreading this old favorite.

Writer’s Block with Nigel Wheeler

Nigel Wheeler

210 January 31, 2006 Entertainment

“10 by 10: Ten scenesloosely based on the TenCommandments.” As I wassitting in the odd layout ofCorn Stock Theatre readingthis title, one thing keptgoing through my mind,“Wes, this had better not bea sermon or I’m going to killyou!” Without making anyreal religious statement, Iwould like to point out thatI like to keep religion andentertainment separatedwith the exception ofCharlton Heston, whoconveniently draws areference in the first scene.This being said, I will notdelve deeply into how eachplay reflects itscorrespondingCommandment. Withoutfurther ado, I now give myhumble review of “10 by 10.” 1. Kelso and Case-Tec byJose Cruz Gonalez (Sixstars) Summary: Two brothers(played by real-life brothersNick and LCHS alum ZackStein) from a broken familytry to pass the time whilewaiting for a call from thehospital to confirm theirmother’s status after adomestic dispute with theirfather. Points of interest: Thestory was realistic and did agood job capturing the hard,yet intimate, relationshipbetween brothers. Therewere some points in theplay where someone musthave forgotten his line orperhaps it was just over-acting. The highlight of theplay was the running jokethat suggests CharltonHeston, in one form oranother, is always on TV. 2. Wonder on Paper byMary Hall Surface (Sevenand a half stars) Summary: A brother andsister are at an artmuseum, and the brother iseager to leave so they willnot be in trouble with theirfather. The sister refuses toleave until she has drawn“beauty.” A philosophicalconversation of aestheticstakes place until they reachthe revelation that “beauty”in itself cannot be drawn.Points of interest: This playwas directed by senior WesMcKinney. The dialogue wassmooth, sarcastic, andthought provoking. Theserious parts of the playwere sub-par, butsophomore Sam Stein morethan made up for this with afinesse for the comedy. 3. Waiting for Bobo bySandra Fenichel Asher(Four stars) Summary: Two teenagegirls wait in a bus stationparking lot to meet a

country music star after oneof his shows. Conflict formsbetween the two when onepoints out to the other allthe reasons this is a badsituation. A ramblingargument occurs and isresolved when the latter ofthe two girls admits theirexploits were a bad idea.Points of interest: To tell thetruth, there are no points ofinterest in this scene. I amnot sure why, but I did notcare for it at all. The storyand acting were not bad,although neither of themwere great. It was just,“schmeh.” 4. Last Minute by BarryKornhauser (Nine stars) Summary: Avante-gardpiece relating the creation ofthe play itself to thecreation of the world. Pointsof interest: WOAH!!! I lovedthis play. Combine effectivescenery, skillful narration,rock instrumentation, and atruly unique style, and youhave one doozy of a play. Ionly had three problemswith this one. The narrator(who spoke for a large partof the play) stumbled overone line, the sound levelswere slightly off, and I wasnot smart enough to digestthe entire performance. 5. Sitting with Bertie byRic Averill (Eight Stars) Summary: A boy isostracized at summer campfor befriending an outcast.Points of interest: This wasthe other play directed byMcKinney. It washeatwarming, realistic, andinsightful. Besides for asmall amount of overacting,it was performed flawlessly. 6. Quick-Draw Grandmaby Elizabeth Wong (Fivestars) Summary: A psychoticgrandma takes sick pleasurein killing flies, and hergrandson points out howsadistic she is. Points ofinterest: I hated this play. Ithad a terrible story, and Ialmost feel stupider forhaving seen it, but... thematriarch of the Stein clan,Lisa Stein, gave such anenergetic and convincingperformance, the play wassaved. No joking here, folks:that woman is the onlyreason I did not boo. 7. Grown Up Tree byCalen Sinnette Jennings(Six stars) Summary: A marriedwoman is caught kissinganother man by her youngdaughter and tries to coverit up. Points of interest: Thefamily in this play isdysfunctional in a totallyweird way. The highlight ofthis one was junior MeganLarke full out slapping her

fellow actor across the face.He was more surprised thanthe audience and I laughedfor at least thiry seconds. 8. Out of Order by CherieBennett (Six and a halfstars) Summary: Eve (as in Adamand Eve) lectures a teenagegirl about the evils of theft.Points of interest: I have afeeling I would have enjoyedthis play much more if it werenot so preachy. It was by nomeans bad, but I felt like Iwas watching a play by anevangelical youth group. Theonly notable attribute of theplay was its acting, which wasgood but by no means great. 9. Fork in the Road by Y.York (Two stars) I’m skipping the summaryfor a very important reason:this play was so rambling,boring, and overall terriblethat I could not follow thestory even though I tried forthe first half of it. The onlyreason I did not give this alower rating was because theactors were doing their bestto pass it off as somethingother than the piece ofgarbage it was. They failed. Iwould prefer a fork in my earrather than watching Fork inthe Road again. 10. Get by James DeVita(Four stars) Summary: A brother andsister are angered and hurt bythe selfishness and coldnessof their older brother whoseeks to rob them of theirinheritance. Points of interest:The acting was bad. The storywas okay. The only thinginteresting was Nick Stein’srapping, which was highlyentertaining but still couldhave been better.

By Kyle Hovey

In the Spotlight...10 by 10: Ten Scenes loosely based on the Ten Commandments

“Look, I’m sorry, but Ineed a break...”

~~“Why don’t you just tell

me?!”~~

“You’re worse than myferret”

~~“Hey, I’ll take my pants

back! Thanks!”~~

“Man, I don’t wanna dothat!”

~~

“Crazy, I was crazyonce.

I was in a small darkroom.

It was crazy!”~~

Reality TwistAn original short story by Danielle Richmond Rain, rain, and more rain…It was like that was all thesky knew how to do. I am atlunch, chin in hands, staringout the window. I was tryingto find just one, single, tinyray of sunshine that all thegloom might somehow havemanaged to miss. I sighed. Nope. Not one,single, blessed speck of -Thunk. A single, yellowfrench fry penetrated myponderings, bouncing off mynose and landing in themiddle of the soup. Idecided to neglect what hadjust happened when adroplet of the stuff hit myforehead and trickled slowlydown my nose. “Earth to Jen,” I heard avoice say. I sighed, wiped my noseon my shirtsleeve, and satup. I ended up lookingstraight into the mass ofblonde hair and laughingbrown eyes that belonged tomy best friend Nicole. Shehad another french fry in herhand, loaded with ketchup,and it was halfway to herlips. “Either the display ofgreasy fingerprints on that

window must be particularlyoutstanding today,” shemumbled as she munched.“Or you’ve got some otherissues that I don’t knowabout.” She then grabbedanother fry and put it intoher mouth. “Nah,” I said. “I’m justbored. Everything justseems so… blah, lately… Iwish something excitingwould happen for once.Nothing exciting everhappens to me. And I’mgetting sick of this rain. It’smaking me restless.” “I can tell,” Nicole saiddryly, leaning back in herchair and watching me.Suddenly, the bell rang andwe both jumped. Picking upour trays and weavingthrough the crowd, Nicolegrinned at me. “Talk about excitement…isn’t Miss Clark supposed toannounce the final decisionfor our class field trip nexthour?” “Oh, yeah…” I picked upmy pace a little, thinking,well, maybe somethinginteresting might justhappen after all.To be continued...

Heard in the Halls“You’re going to die a

miserable painfuldeath! Have a nice

day”~~

“See, this is how it is.”~~

“They call himFlipper, Flipper!”

~~“I have to hang out

with people my groupapproves of...”

~~“No way! I hate that

class!”~~

11Sports January 31, 2006

Limestone’sSuperstar Athletes

Nick Jacobs

Birthdate: December 14,1988Sport: HockeyPosition: CenterPlan to play in college:YesHeight: 5’ 10”Uniform number: 22Grade: 11Nickname: RonnieFavorite color: BlueBiggest role model: Mydad because he gives meeverything.Good luck charm: My2005 Black Hawk wristbandFavorite class: Math andhistory because they’refun.Pre-game rituals: Workout, tape my hockey stickWarm-up routine: StretchOff-season training: Workout and play hockeyMajor fears: Breaking aboneFavorite music:Everything

Does the sound of enginesrevving excite you? ForLimestone junior A.J.Zentko-Hill, that sound hasalmost become a way of life.Hill has been racing go-kartssince he was eight old! “When I was eight, I wentup to my dad’s and askedhim if I could race. Welooked into it, and there waskart racing around, so wedecided to do it,” explainedZentko-Hill. The first in his family torace, Zentko-Hill hascompeted and won in manyraces. He has raced in manybig competitions, like theIKF. During this

competition, Zentko-Hill wasawarded second place out of60 racers. Zentko-Hill also received aninth place award at aMississippi Tournament,which had 80 competitors. Zentko-Hill normally racesjust in the surroundingstates. During the summer,he races almost once ortwice a week, which can bevery exhausting. Racing go-karts requires alot of physical and mentalendurance. Racing can takea lot out of somebody and atthe same time, requires fastreflexes, a sharp eye, and acareful hand. “I prefer racing dirt over

By Zach Towery concrete because dirtchallenges the drivers more,making for a better race,”explained Hill. The cars Hill drives noware modified go-karts, whichcan run on dirt around 45mph. When on concrete, thecars can gain speeds up to80 mph. Anyone interested inlearning more about go-kartracing should check outZentko-Hill’s website. Thereyou can find ways to raceyourself and also see theresults from his 2004 and2005 seasons. His websiteis http://home.earthlink.net/~akartracer/.

“Gentlemen, start your engines!”Junior races go-karts, wins awards

Now give me a beat. Heel,brush, heel. Shuffle ballchange. Riff. Shuffle Jumpback. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8. Thislanguage may seemcompletely foreign to some,but for many of the dancersat Limestone, they are termsused on a regular basis.Welcome to the world ofstretching, leaping, jumping,tapping, and the place wherethe set of numbers onlyreaches eight. From the time many of usgirls were young, we haveparticipated in dance recitalsevery year without thinkingtwice. It has become a partof our routine—we just knowwe have to go to dance,almost like how we have togo to school. For the past thirteenyears, I have spent at leastone day a week sharing inthe joy of clicking my heelsand learning eight counts. Ithas become almost anobsession—it clears themind and allows us to focussolely on the motions of ourbodies. Students at Limestone, aswell as girls from variousschools in the Peoria area,meet each week to pound thelatest steps from their feet

into their brains. Some girlswho participate in danceoutside of school includeseniors Breanna Closen,Mallory Sanders, and SarahMason, junior Caitlyn Moore,sophomores Paige Sandersand Emily Larke, andfreshman Leah McElhiney;however, that is just toname a few. In our lives, we have founddancing an awesome way tomeet new people. Itintroduces everyone to girlsfrom all walks of life thathave one passion incommon. Closen has been takingdance at The DanceConnection in Bartonville,taught by Heidi Turner, sincethe age of 3. Now that sheis older and moreexperienced, she feels thatthe lessons she learned inthat studio could not havebeen taught to her anywhereelse in the world. “It’s not just about goingto dancing anymore. It’sabout the relationships Ihave formed with all of myfriends over the years. It’sabout how at home I feelwhen I’m there. Heidi hasbecome almost like a secondmom. I can show up atdance, cry to her about myproblems, and she always

By Megan Wendlandhas a way to fix them,” saidClosen. Several girls, such asMallory and Paige Sanders,Emily and Megan Larke, andmyself, have been helpingTurner out at the studio fora few years. We each take ashift one day a week, and wego in and help instruct thedances to the children. Itallows us to give a little bitback to a studio that hasdone so much for us.Hopefully, the kids arelooking up to us the way welooked up to our “helpers” somany years ago. “It was an honor whenHeidi asked me to help outat the studio. I got to be arole model the way herhelpers were role models forme growing up,” commentedMallory Sanders. McElhiney has been takingIrish dance lessons for fouryears at Flynn’s School ofIrish Dance in West Peoria.“It gives me a chance toshow that I’m proud of myheritage.” Next time a girl makes thecomment that she is adancer, refrain from takingthe face value. Look a littledeeper at the story thatunfolds behind it.

Birthdate: April 5, 1988Sport: BasketballPosition: GuardPlan to play in college:No – BaseballHeight: 5’ 8”Uniform number: 5Grade: 12Nickname: WizardFavorite color: RedBiggest role model:Michael Jordan – greatestbasketball player to ever playthe gameFavorite class:Computerized Accounting–fun and easyWarm-up routine: Stretchand z-line lay-upsOff-season training:Work out and play othersportsMajor fears:I always think I haveforgotten part of my uniform.Favorite music: Rap andclassic Rock

Brandon Wikoff

Photo courtesy of http://home.earthlink.net/~akartracer/

Junior A.J. Zentko-Hill competes in go-kart races and has won many awards.

Dance: The forgotten sport

Do six internships seem like an unfair advantage?

At St. Ambrose, we encourage students like Aaron

Washington to pursue as many internships as they want. We

can do that because we have great connections with all kinds

of businesses and organizations, both in the Quad Cities and

throughout the region—from schools and clinics to engineer-

ing and marketing firms. Does that give our students an unfair

advantage? Maybe. But they say it feels great.

Join us for a campus visit to find out more about all the

Ambrose advantages. Call 800/383-2627 to schedule

your appointment.

Davenport, Iowa 800/383-2627 www.sau.edu/advantage

Ambrose.Advantage.

12Sports January 31, 2006Sports Shorts

Thanks to the support of a very rambunctious crowd ofpeople, the varsity hockey team came back from a 2-0 deficitto tie the first place team, Morton/Washington 3-3. The Ice Hawks dominated until junior Nick Jacobs got alate goal in the second period, and Drew Parkhurst scored inthe middle of the third period. The North stars start their playoffs on February 12. Gametimes will be on morning announcements.

North Stars rally back

Genovese namedlifter of the month

The Limestone football team would like to congratulatesophomore Mike Genovese for his achievements as “Lifter ofthe Month” for December. Genovese has really pushedhimself in the weight room and is very deserving of thisaward. Genovese, like many other Rockets, know that “Onlythe Strong Survive!” Congratulations, Mike, and keep up thegood effort!

Freshman girls The freshman girl’s team had a shaky start but is makingprogress as the season goes on. The team has gotten muchbetter at their free throws, but they still need a lot of workon boxing out. The team’s next home game is onWednesday, February 1 against Notre Dame at 6:00 p.m.

Sophomore girls The sophomore girl’s team, as of January 20, have a recordof 7-7. The team has worked extremely hard this year and isshowing great progress. They are working on being better atrebounding and passing.

Varsity girls The Varsity girl’s record is 4-15. Their next home game ison Friday, February 3 against Morton High school, so comeout and cheer on your Lady Rockets!

Softball is getting ready to start the season. The first twoopen gyms were on Wednesday, January 18, and onWednesday, January 25; listen to morning announcementsfor upcoming open gym dates and times. Softball tryouts will begin on Monday, February 27 and willlast through Wednesday, March 1. Any student interestedin trying out must have a current physical, an insurancewavier, and an athletic code on file or she will not be allowedto tryout. If you have any questions, contact coaches Leanne Bonifasor Shelly Stoner.

Freshman boys

Sophomore boys The sophomore boy’s team has improved since thebeginning of the season. Their competitiveness has vastlyimproved over the past couple of months.

Varsity boys The varsity boy’s team has had a huge improvement withtheir defense. In their last few games, they have been ableto keep very good teams at less than forty-five points. Theyhave also shown improvements on their scoring.

Softball season alreadyin full swing

Girl’s basketballmakes progress

With six wins and seven losses, the freshman boy’s teamis just one game away from having an even record. The boyshave become much better ball handlers and at blocking out.Their next home game is on February 6 against Canton.

Boy’s Basketball isimproving its season