Volume 54 September 2015 Issue 2

The Spartan Banner

Page 1 Spartan Banner — September 2015

On September 10, in a historic vote, the United States sen-ate voted to pass a deal plac-ing sanctions on Iranian ura-nium reserves. However, just a day after, on September 11, the House of Representatives, in an equally historic vote, rejected the bill. Still, even after the two votes, the fate and even contents of this deal still remains a mystery to the casual observer. How could a deal such as this become such a partisan issue that it divided the Congress? And how could such a landmark deal on nu-clear armaments, weapons that could quite possibly end all of humanity, be disputed, even opposed? What’s even in the arrangement? Below are the must-have facts key to un-derstanding the deal.

The deal doesn’t actually pre-vent Iranian researchers from making nuclear bombs. What must first be understood is that the United states cannot simply force an-other nation to do anything, even to end a harmful pro-gram, short of declaring all-out war. This deal is no differ-ent; the United States cannot force Iran to abandon their nuclear program. Instead, this deal seeks to curb the amount of time that Iran would need in order to make a fully func-tional nuclear bomb. Under the current term of the deal, Iran would surrender most of its weapons grade uranium, a key ingredi-ent in the making of a nuclear bomb. This special isotope of highly enriched uranium is ex-

tremely rare in nature, mak-ing up a scant 0.72% of

a l l n a t u r a l ura-

ni-

um. Therefore, most nuclear capable nations make the isotope synthetically in a lab. That along with its stores of uranium, Iran is also giving up almost 75 percent of their cen-trifuges, essential to enrich-ing weapons-grade uranium. Iran would also agree to curb their production of plutonium, another ingredient that could be used to make a weapon of mass destruction. The deal would stipulate a fifteen year period where Iran would agree to only enrich uranium to lev-els unsuitable for weapons making and to ban plutonium reactors, which means closing Iran’s current one. If accepted and passed, the deal would be shockingly effective. Research-ers concluded that if Iran were to follow these conditions for ten years, then it might take Iran up to a year to successful-ly build a nuclear bomb. Con-versely, at Iran’s current rate, it would only take two to three

months. O p p o s i t i o n

to the deal comes not from in-t e r n a l frivolity but for fear of ins ta -b i l -ity in t h e

Middle East.An additional facet of this deal to be remembered is that nego-tiations are not occurring sole-ly between the United States and Iran. Instead, a number of countries have placed eco-nomic sanctions on Iranian exports, making the deal ne-gotiations an international af-fair. Should the deal be passed and agreed upon, the current economic sanctions on Iran would be lessened on “Imple-mentation Day” in 2016, lead-ing to an increased income of billions of American dollars to the Iranian government. This would in turn cause the Irani-an economy to flourish, giving the country increased regional influence. Saudi Arabia, in par-ticular, opposes the deal since they fear another conflict like the one that existed prior to the 2011 Arab uprisings, in which the Saudis and Irani-ans were pitted against each other for control of the re-gion. The Saudis also fear that should this battle occur, then the country would have to in-crease its own military capa-bilities (i.e. their own nuclear program) in order to have a chance of defense. Therefore, the Saudis, in the wake of de-creased American influence in the Middle East, would be-come the first line of defence if Iran goals turn hostile: an event that the Saudi govern-

Sommers says that it was es-pecially great this year, as sev-eral students brought along their families. Furthermore, according to Sommers, after the trip, “A whopping 40 % of students stayed on in Eu-rope, mostly in Germany, but also in Austria and England.” What’s really special about the program, however, is that it’s part of an ongoing exchange program between our school and the city of Seligenstadt. The vast majority of German host families came to Brook-field last year, and this was our chance to return the fa-vor. “It is special to observe the bonds between American and German kids,” says Som-mers. “Very special.” Hope-

fully these special memories, and the ones that came before it, are merely the first of many to come out of this program.

Iranian Nuclear Crisis in LimboBy Sarah Kalupa, Staff Writer

ment is reluctant to pursue.Whatever the outcome of the deal, the results would have a great effect on the United States’ foreign policy. Whatever the out-come of the deal, in the word of Winston Churchill, “the eyes of the world are upon us”. Continuing with the fact that the United States is not the sole diplomat in this ne-gotiation, many other na-tions are taking great interest in America’s position on the topic. Russia and China, for example, have already made it known to the international community that they would lessen sanctions on Iran even if the United States were to reject the deal. Additionally, the two superpowers have an-nounced that they would only accept UN sanctions on Iran, not ones placed on Iran from the United States. The rest, including France, Germany, and Great Britain, would also likely ease their sanctions, no matter which way America votes. It is with this mental-ity that the continued debate on America’s position on the deal comes into question. Should America just accept the deal and manage an un-stable Middle East? Or should we reject the deal all together until a better alternative can be found? Only time will tell.

Left: German students visiting Seligenstad. Far Left: A small German church outside of Berlin Below: Students gather for a photog-raoh on the front steps of a German Building.

This past summer, Brookfield East German teacher Frau Sommers took a group of German students to the German city of Seligen-stadt from July 8th to July 22nd . This city is known as Brookfield’s “sister city,” and has been a summer destina-tion for our school district’s German program since 2007. This being her fifth trip to Seligenstadt, Frau Sommers took the German students to a variety of locations, includ-ing the infamous capital, Ber-lin. They also went to events such as “Geleitsfest,” which is a musical festival based on Middle Age traditions. “Seli-genstadt is like a home away from home,” says Sommers.

Brookfield East takes students to GermanyBy Mark Maier, Editorial Editor

Student take on Iranian Nuclear CrisisCatoon Credit: Simran Khunger

SPORTS

Page 2

Spartan Tennis Teams Expected to Succeed

Spartan Banner — September 2015

By Ava Barker, Staff Writer

Pulisifer undergoes basic trainingBy Andy Lucas, Staff Writer

In the past few de-cades, coaches around the country have begun to realize that cutting players from their teams has had many nega-tive effects, and has started to discourage players from trying out again, not allowing them to improve. Thankfully, in Wisconsin, tennis is a no-cut sport, and everyone gets a spot on the team. But why is having less experienced play-ers on the team considered to be an advantage? Because every athlete should have the opportunity to engage in this healthy, lifelong activity in a supportive environment with peers who can help them grow as people and athletes. Besides, you can’t tell who a person will become in four years of high school by judging their performance on one day of tryouts. Due to this major breakthrough in tennis, over sixty girls make up the four teams we have here at Brook-field East. Varsity, Varsity Re-serves, JV Red, and JV Blue all contribute to our successes and influence each other posi-tively.

Annette Malloy, a very experienced tennis player and coach of the JV Blue team, thinks that making tennis a no-cut sport was a step in the right direction for Wiscon-

With the football sea-son in full swing, the Brook-field East Spartans take their 4-1 record into the heart of the conference schedule. Playing Tosa East, Falls, Marquette and Sussex in the upcoming week, the Spartans have a tough road ahead. Quarter-back TC Swittel and running backs, Mitch Mikulsky and Sam Santiago-Lloyd, lead the offensive attack, while Collin Rhoten and Jake Roy lead defense. Recently, they were joined by Oliver Pulisi-fer. Over the summer, Oliver chose to enlist in the Army and receive basic combat train-ing at Fort Benning, Georgia. In his time in Georgia, Oliver had to change his lifestyle.His daily schedule included: waking up at 4 in the morn-ing, having first formation at 5 am, and physical training un-til 6 am, which included push ups, running, pullups and sit-ups. Next, from 6 am to 7 am, he had time to eat breakfast, change clothes and get his full kit ready for the day. This kit included a M4 rifle, a bullet proof vest, a helmet and a flick, a vest that holds magazines. During training, he said the hardest tasks were endurance runs, which required running in formation for two miles(or 15 minutes), and then turning around to get back to the start-ing line in a full sprint. A lot of the training required mental strength, along with knowl-

edge of the basic ways of firing a rifle and combat techniques. After training for 5 hours, he had a thirty minute break for lunch and then trained again from 12:30 to 5. After that, he had a final formation, when everyone stands in formation and listens to what the next day holds. At the end of the day, Oliver had about an hour to shower, get a quick workout in, and then hit the hay. Each day consisted of this sched-ule.Throughout his time at Fort Benning, he lost roughly forty pounds due to consistent training and workouts.During his time away, Oliver said the hardest things to over-come were be-ing away from family and friends and making sure all 200 warrior tasks and drills were perfect and proficient ,so he could graduate basic combat train-ing. Next year, Oliver plans on attending Ste-vens Point and studying Pre-Law, and is looking to be-come an FBI Agent. For the given time, Oliver is focusing

sin. In a phone interview, she noted that “it’s interesting to see what all of the girls on my team have to offer. With many of them coming with little to no tennis background, it can be hard to utilize full poten-tial against our opponents.” Later, she said that building a team from the ground up, starting with the fundamen-tals of how to hold a racquet can be frustrating work, but it has all paid off when she sees them putting her coaching to work and knows they are hav-ing fun with their teammates. Freshman Olivia MacGilis commented that “I love Coach Malloy! Over the season I’ve gotten a lot better and she’s a great coach.” The JV Blue team thinks that so far, the season has been productive and fun due to Coach Malloy’s and the team’s co-captains Ava Barker and Megan Hitze-mann. The captains are in charge of pumping the girls up before matches, leading warm ups, making locker signs, and hosting carbo crams. Co-cap-tain Megan Hitzemann said, “my leadership skills have re-ally improved with the help of Coach Malloy!” So far, they have done a great job of wel-coming the new players and making the hard days fun! Also, the girls have an upcom-ing JV no cut conference and

on football and what the sea-son holds. Starting practice 2 weeks into the season, he hasn’t missed a beat. He al-ready started one game and played in 3. During this time, the Spartans have gone 2-1 with two conference wins over West Allis Hale and West Allis Central. Going into the sum-mer, he was known as Oliver, nowadays he goes by Private Pulsifer.

are expected to do well against several teams that have similar skill levels.

As far as the Varsity team goes, it was off to a bit of a rough start when five seniors graduated this past June. Luckily, the new school year brought some fantas-tic new players! Coach Linda Lied noted that a great of example of their improvements so far this year was their match against Central on August 28 with a score of 4-3, and on September 18 they im-proved that score to 7-0, with no losses. She expects all of the sin-gles players to do very well during the rest of the sea-son. In order, they are ranked #1 Emma Corwin, #2 Carly Wolff, #3 Emily Horneffer, and #4 Allison Brankle. Emma Corwin is a player to watch, as she is expected to receive a top eight seed at the Individual State Tournament with her current record of fifteen wins and four losses! The number one doubles team of Hannah Lein and Bella Auger is also very strong, and their record is 12-9. So far, the team is un-

defeated in conference play. Their main rivals are DSHA and Brookfield Central. If the team wins against DSHA on September 28, they will be number one in their confer-ence for the second year in a row. Finally, the team’s cap-tains are Emma Corwin, Han-nah Lein, and Bella Auger. As said by Coach Lied, “they are great leaders because of their work ethic during practices and their positive attitudes

during matches. They have also done a fantastic job wel-coming the new girls to the squad and showing them the Spartan winning ways!” Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming tennis news and continue to support the BEHS girls tennis teams!

The Brookfield East Girls’ swim team has a fan-tastic start to their season. They’ve been undefeated at dual meets. At the Spartan In-vite, which hosted teams from all across Wisconsin, the team placed fifth. A highlight of the meet was beating Central. The team is led by Captains Abby Guenther, Meredeith Gus-tafson, and Elise Kreger, and have some rising stars in Leah Westcott and Zoe W o o d s . The Spar-tan Ban-ner sat down with C o a c h Rose to see what he thinks of this season.

Q: What is your background in swimming and coaching swimming?

A: I swam as a kid with Wauke-sha Swim Club and Elmbrook Swim Club, then at Brookfield Central and UW- Eau Claire. I have been coaching at East since 1983 and with EBSC on an off since 1982.

Q: How does the team look like this year? What has changed and what are your goals for the season?

A talk with Mr. RoseBy Niyaz Nurbhasha, Sports Editor

A: Our team is looking good. We are very young with many club swimmers who are quite good - as always we are very close with Central and have similar teams.

Q: When is the swim season? What does a season look like? What does the off season look like?

A: We are in season now and things look good. We will be at-t e m p t i n g to qualify for at least 2 relays and sev-eral indi-viduals for

state. We will attempt to unseat Central as conference champions.

Q: Q: If you have one, what is your best memory from coaching?

A: Joe McKenna State 1992, 1st individual state cham-pion in the 200 Free on a come from behind win - very exciting. S o far, the girl’s swim team has been extremely succesful. Be sure to come out and support the girl’s in their dual meet against DSHA on October 15, and against Central on Octo-

Oliver Pulisifer at Basic Training Photo Credit: Andy Lucas

The Varsity Girl’s Tennis TeamPhoto Credit: Beth Horneffer

“Our team is looking good. We are very young with many

club swimmers who are quite good.”

ARTS & CULTURE

Page 3 Spartan Banner — september 2015

The first month of the school year is drawing to an end. For some that means it’s time to ask someone to homecoming. For others it’s time to start thinking about the PSAT! Though students at BEHS may not eagerly an-ticipate the PSAT as they do with homecoming, the PSAT is of equal, if not more impor-tance for juniors. But, what is the PSAT? When is the PSAT? Why should students take the PSAT? The PSAT, also known as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT) is designed primar-ily to prepare students for the SAT and provide them with an opportunity to get schol-arships, but it brings other benefits as well. The PSAT will take place Wednesday, October 14, 2015. Students taking it can hope to increase connections with colleges, re-ceive feedback to prepare for future standardized tests, and juniors may enter the compe-tition for scholarships from the National Merit Scholar-ship Corporation. Freshman or sophomores interested in taking the PSAT for practice should contact the office or a guidance counselor. This year, however, the PSAT is changing sig-

nificantly. College Board (the makers of the PSAT) have re-designed the PSAT to reflect changes made to the SAT. Al-though this means that avail-able practice materials for the redesigned test will be hard to come by, understanding the following changes can still help one feel more prepared.

More emphasis on critical thinking. While there are a myr-iad of reasons for the change, the most obvious one is to pro-mote objective analysis and practical thinking and reason-ing with questions “grounded in the real world” as opposed to having no application to col-lege and life. Instead of testing students on obscure words in limited contexts, many ques-tions will now focus on “im-portant, widely used words and phrases”.

Extendedtest-taking time. Students now have to take the PSAT for 2 hours and 45 minutes, an hour short of the actual SAT. However, this time is an increase of 35 min-utes from previous years.

New scoring. The scores now range from 320-1520 with subscores from 160 to 760, whereas

in previous years the scores ranged from 60 to 240 with scores ranging from 20 to 80 for each section. Subscores will give students additional insight in the areas they need to work on. Many components of the PSAT have changed to more closely reflect the SAT scoring system, which will re-vert back to the 400 to 1600 point system (starting in March 2016). As with the SAT, there will also be no penalty for guessing as there was in previous years (-¼ point for each wrong answer).

Condensed format. The new format in-cludes only two components: Evidence-Based Reading and Writing as well as Math; while the old PSAT included com-ponents of Critical Reading , Writing , and Math. Looking at the new test seems grim, but a reduction of the number of an-swer choices from 5 to 4 could potentially make the new for-mat easier.

These reforms mod-ernize the PSAT and should give each student more con-fidence while taking the test. As of now, no more changes will be made to the PSAT. For more details, please visit the College Board website or talk to a guidance counselor.

The Gift definitely takes you on a rollercoaster ride of creepiness that will leave you flinching and shak-ing. There are multiple mo-ments when you may even shriek in the theater. Simon (Jason Bate-man) and Robin (Rebecca Hall), a young married couple, have had their hardships in life. One of the most frustrating hardships is not being able to have a child. However, the sit-uation seems to become more promising as they move into a posh home in California with a high-income job offer. Coinci-dentally, the couple runs into an old classmate of Simon’s, Gordo (Joel Edgerton). What seems like a welcoming ges-ture takes a turn for the worse as Gordo repeatedly visits their house unannounced and brings up unresolved history between Simon and him. Si-mon and Robin’s perfect little life starts to crumble. Is Gordo a creepy stalker or a lonely man who is misunderstood and desperate for acceptance? This question is posed early in the movie but creates anxiety as it is answered far later. As the movie continues, two un-derlying messages are deliv-ered to the audience: the past will inevitably affect the pres-ent and sometimes your clos-est loved ones are the people you don’t actually know. This movie is not just your typical horror movie , but is actually a psychologi-cal thriller. You get the same petrified emotions exploding in your stomach, but not from pointless and fake plot lines.

Shrieks and Scrutiny

The Reformation of the PSATBy Aditya Jhaveri, staff writer

By Namitha Alexander, staff writer

Freshman Respect Retreat

The Freshman Respect Retreat was organized by Youth Frontiers. Freshman participated in a variety of activities to form and strengthen lasting relationshipsPhoto Credit: Ian Kennedy

The Gift addresses a very im-portant social issue that is rel-evant today, especially in high school: bullying. With the fran-tic genre, the movie creates an even stronger impact. So, as you almost faint in fright, you are also critically analyzing the story. The plot-twists are un-predictable, giving disturbing surprises after you make false assumptions. Despite the se-rious storytelling style, there are a few moments worthy of laughs, which gives one a mo-ment to breathe. Each shot of the movie was carefully thought out and executed crisply. It is Joel Edgerton’s debut role as a di-rector but his ability, in writ-ing and directing, to build up precise and real tension keeps the viewers on the edge of their seats. This quality is definitely one that other hor-ror movie makers should learn from. From sound design to photography, all technical aspects of the movie contrib-ute to a common purpose of creating an unsettling mood. Let’s hope that Edgerton gifts us with more tasteful and cre-ative movies in the future! If you just want to get a scare with your friends, this movie can definitely fulfill that. If you want to feel creeped out and not trust anyone for the next few days, this movie will do that job as well. However, if you also want to use your brain and ponder upon the perspec-tive taken on a social issue, this movie is right for you, too. The movie is definitely a “gift” and worth a watch.

The Gift movie poster Photo credit: iTunes

Page 4

Editorial

Spartan Banner — september 2015

Spartan Banner Staff

Mary SlavinskyEditor-in-Chief

Elizabeth GoblirschExecutive Editor

Simran Khunger News Editor

Niyaz Nurbhasha Sports Editor

Michelle LiuArts and Culture Editor

Mark MaierEditorial Editor

Anna SipekPhoto Editor

Mrs. SkatrudStaff Adviser

Namitha AlexanderAva Barker

Aditya JhaveriSara KalupaAndy Lucas

Staff Writers

Ian KennedyStaff Photographer

The Spartan Banner is the offi-cial news publication of Brookfield East High School, 3305 Lilly Road.

The Spartan Banner is distributed during the last week of each month, September through May. The Banner’s average viewing count is 1,400 read-ers, including students, parents, staff members, and community members.

The Spartan Banner accepts “Letters to the Editor” from any party, if received by the 15 of each month. A writer may remain anonymous in print, provided he or she submits his or her name to the Editorial Editor, Editors-in-Chief, and Adviser. Letters may be subject to editing. Submit letters to the news-paper’s adviser via email at skatrudl@elmbrookschools.org.

For more content visit:The Spartan Banner OnlineTheSpartanBanner.com

Are they right, or are they rights?Cartoon Submitted by anonymous artistA teenager was arrested on September 16, 2015 for making clocks

As of this year, the Elmbrook School District is enforcing new regulations re-garding Wi-Fi and internet usage, most notably the wide-spread blocking of websites deemed “in-appropriate” or “too distracting” for the school day. School officials believe this is the most effective way to ensure stu-dents are actively participating in class. Though this blocking spree is seemingly in-nocent, it is causing outrage throughout the student body, and rightfully so. While prohibiting sexually explicit or graphic content is mandated by law according to the Children’s Internet Protection Act, the relent-less censorship of websites proves to hinder the classroom in more ways than one. In a survey conducted by the Spartan Banner, nine out of every ten students have had some issue completing their school work because of restricted websites. A separate survey found 3 of every 4 teachers had difficulty completing their work because of the block-ing of so-called “inappropriate” websites. If the internet wasn’t our main informational resource, per-haps this wouldn’t be so problem-atic, but as the number of teachers favoring a digital centric approach rises, the blocked sites look more and more like redacted books. Chris Thompson, the Elm-brook School District’s head of

Technology, had something to say about this. According to Thomp-son, the school’s goal is not to “be-come the Internet police,” because it takes too much time, effort, and is ultimately a worthless cause. He went on to say that the school has a program that decides which websites to block, then they have officials review them, adding and deleting as need be. The process of adding and blocking websites takes time, effort and is effectively policing the student body; surely you can excuse the difficulty dis-tinguishing between the two. Fur-thermore, Thompson asserts that some websites are not necessary for the school to provide access to. A student who wishes to go on any such website simply has to use their cellular data. The truth is cellular data costs money, money which

time and time again students and their families have put into enrollment fees and taxes to pay for luxu-ries like the Internet and Wi-Fi for their school. What is the point of spending all of this money simply to spend more in the long run? What is the point of school Wi-Fi if a student can’t sim-ply use his/her own device?

The problem, though, is not just the lack of access, but the inherent power (or lack thereof) which comes with censor-ing websites. If the school continues to block these websites students will have

lower self discipline. instead of actively avoiding distractions, stu-dents are forced into a box and told to learn.This will ultimately result in a generation filled with those unable to truly focus on what lies ahead because they will lack the necessary defense mechanisms. A school is supposed to prepare their students; if distractions are not al-lowed they will never be able to sur-vive college, let alone a job.

Obviously this system has flaws, and the technological staff is well aware of it. Chris Thomp-son and Dan Scott are planning to create a website in which students can submit websites for review. They plan to launch this within the next couple of weeks. This will give students a say in what is and isn’t blocked. Hopefully a compromise will be reached.

Let’s talk about the Wi-Fi--because Wi not? By Anna Sipek, Photo Editor