Viking VoiceTheVolume 51, Issue 5 May 4, 2011Everett High School3900 Stabler Rd.Lansing, MI(517) 755-4472Y o u r S c h o o l . Y o u r V o i c e .m y v i k i n g v o i c e . c o m

what’s inside?

Walking across the stage at graduation is the event that most high school students look forward to. For some, it will be one of

their proudest moments; students work hard to reach that one special moment.

For nearly 20 years “walking across the stage” in the Lansing School District meant a trip up the ramp at the Breslin center in East Lansing. This year, how-ever, the class of 2011 will see a change: the district signed a one-year contract with the Lansing Center to hold graduation in the city of Lansing for the first time in two decades. Everett will be the first school to see graduate in the new building, at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, June 5.

Superintendent Jim Davis said the decision to change the location of gradu-ation was his. Given the tight economic times, the district is reviewing the cost of all activities. Davis saw the Lansing Center change as a way to save money, and also to allow the city of Lansing to host an event for Lansing schools.

Many people have speculations about how the different location will affect the outcome.

“I had some trepidation and concerns about parking and if there would be any inconvenience because graduation is now on a Sunday,” said head secretary Nita Kennedy, who has coordinated Everett’s graduation for nearly 20 years.

Superintendent Davis believes that the Lansing center has plenty of room for students and parents, and is working with the city to work out the parking situ-ation. There is plenty of parking, he said. Whether parking in the downtown ramps is as convenient as parking in the large surface lots at Breslin remains to be seen.

The other two graduations will take place around the same time as a Lugnuts base-ball game, which may result in an increase in traffic. The game should not affect Ev-erett’s ceremony.

Another concern Davis said he is aware of is the fact that students and par-ents will all be on the same level. At Bres-lin, parents were all seated above the floor level. Organizers hope to communicate with parents and make sure they know to leave the aisles open where students are will be entering and exiting.

Many seniors do not understand why the change from Breslin was made, and believe that it is unfair.

“I think the major change is that the Lansing Center is a smaller place and it’s going to be too loud,” said senior Jordan Walker.

As for the space issues, Davis is con-fident that it will not be a problem. As a matter of fact, Davis said he is sure that people will love the look of the Lansing Center, as well.

“The Lansing Center is spectacularly functional and beautiful, I think people will be very happy,” said Davis.

Although the superintendent and oth-er district members are optimistic, some students still do not like the idea.

“Graduation has always been at the Breslin center so it has become a tradi-tion,” said senior Chantel Dedrick. “I think this change is a very bad idea.”

Although the change has been made this year, the district is not in a long-term contract with the Lansing Center. De-pending on the feedback from this year’s program, the venue could be changed again next year.

“We will be asking for parent and stu-dent feedback, we want our students and parents to be happy,” said Davis.

2011 says goodbye to Breslin stage

The social studies department recently took a trip to Wash-ington DC with 40 students. The five-day trip let students visit

numerous museums and attractions. Any current of previous US History

students were allowed to go on the trip. The trip cost the students $375, which covered the cost of their hotel and trans-portation. The other expenses were cov-ered by the social studies department from the money made at the Snowflake Ball.

The social studies department has been taking trips for about 20 years and plans to continue this tradition. They have taken other trip to places such as New York, Atlanta, and Virginia. They put the

trip together themselves so that they can make it cheaper for the students.

“Everything is so expensive, by do-ing the trips ourselves instead of paying a company we can keep the cost down,” said US history teacher Judith Hightower.

Though it is supposed to be a fun trip, it is still an educational experience for the students. Everywhere the students go, they are being taught something new that pertains to history.

“The trips are supposed to make his-tory come alive outside of the classroom,” said history teacher Lothar Konietzko, who has been taking social studies trips for about the last six years.

Specialized Media Tech Mary Bahl chaperoned the trip, and said she is look-ing forward to going on a future one.

“This is a very busy trip, we visit mu-seums, businesses, and monuments,” said Bahl.

With so many things planned, the stu-dents didn’t have much down time.

“I had fun,” said Sophomore Codi Stockenauer. “The thing that was most interesting to me was the holocaust mu-seum.”

Other students enjoyed the trip and had positive things to say, as well.

“I had fun on the trip,” said sopho-more Kristin Nelson. “What I liked most was the natural history museum.”

The social studies department has been talking about new places to take stu-dents in the future; it may be somewhere new, but anywhere they choose will have something to do with US history.

US history students experience history in DC

“LOL-a-Thon 4: Laugh Hard With a Vengeance”The fourth annual LOL-a-Thon was held April 21. The stand-up comedy event raised money for The Viking Voice. Those in attendance said they had a great time, and were looking forward to next year’s event. From left to right, Everett graduates Brandon Briegel and Vincent Mata; senior Mickale Nelson. Also performing were graduate (and Voice editor) Chris Fobbe and staff members Brent Pohlonski and Viking Voice adviser Chad Sanders.

2 Walk Out 4 Day of Silence 6 Harry Potter 7 Chris Brown 8 Girls’ Soccer

WHAT’S NEXT FOR SENIORS

Prom: May 20•Last Day of School: May 27•Presentation of Roses: June 2•Graduation: June 5•

Shaquila DossReporter

Shaquila DossReporter

May 4, 2011 2News

Pahoua ChangReporter

Justin LundyReporter

Students say ELPA test makes them feel inferior

If you fail it the first time, you have to take it again until you pass it. For some students, this year was their second year taking it. Oth-ers have taken it many more times than that. For some, the ELPA test is not as easy as it may seem.

The English Language Profi-ciency Exam is for students who speaks a second lan-guage, and the test helps the school and the state track improvements of students in their comprehension of English. This year, 248 Everett students took the test the district has been giving for the last eight years.

“Were trying to measure their progress,” said teacher Bill Heuer.

Some students walk into the testing room with what seems to be a great knowledge in English. They are still asked to take the ELPA, along with the stu-dents who speak little or no English.

“Sometimes we see students who probably don’t need to take the test because their English is really good, but we are required by law to test the students regardless of their level,” said ESL teacher Robert Dalton.

Some students wonder why they keep on hav-ing to take the test. When they enroll in the Lansing School District, if they or their parents indicate that a second language is spoken at home, then they will most likely have to take the test. The test is given once students enroll, and they have to take the test every year until they pass it at a high level of proficiency.

“They take it in middle school, in grade school,” said Heuer.

The test can be very annoying for most students, but this test is very important to those who don’t un-derstand English and are new to this country.

“[There should be a test], because some people really do have trouble with English,” said junior Cane-

ice Solis, who has taken the test about four times.A problem about testing is that some students

don’t take the test seriously. They don’t want to be there taking a test for second language students. If it was done seriously, some say they could pass it and never have to take it again.

“If a student scores high enough then he or she will no longer have to test,” said Dalton.

ELPA can be hard for the new students who have been learning English for just a few years.

“The first [ELPA testing] was very hard for me, but the second one was very easy,” said junior Stefan Hermiz.

Some students appreciate the ELPA testing and take it seriously.

“Yes, [ELPA helps]. It helps us to see how well we’re doing,” said Hermiz.

The students that know English and have been living in the United States for a long time feel very differently about the ELPA than the students who just came here.

“I was born here, my native language is English,” said Michael Pham.

The listening portion of the test asks students to listen as a voice on CD reads selections. Many stu-dents said they lose track of what the teacher is say-ing, or they just doze off.

“The hardest part is listening,” said Tou Her.Those who speak English well and are in ad-

vanced English classes say the ELPA makes them feel bad. Some even said it felt like discrimination, because they are not American.

“They were stomping on my intelligence. The ELPA test offended me on many levels,” said Pham.

This is a test that can make every one from a dif-ferent background feel different.

“It makes me feel special... in a bad sense,” said Her.

On Friday, March 18, about 400 Lansing students exercised their first amendment right to free speech and peaceful assem-bly to protest the state govern-ment’s recent budget decisions. However, even though the stu-

dents have a legal right to protest, the school district said that they did not have the right to walk out of school and threatened students who participated with suspension.

AP Government teacher Benton Billings ex-plained some of the legal restraints on students.

“Legally, anyone can peacefully assemble, but what the students did was leave during class, which is breaking local and school laws, so they were tru-ant,” said Billings.

In other words, since they were breaking the law, the first amendment wouldn’t be enough to prevent them from being disciplined in some way. Accord-ing to the Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines, students can protest as long as they aren’t disrupting the educational process.

The Everett student handbook also says that “students have the freedom to assemble peacefully. There is an appropriate time and place for the ex-pression of opinions and beliefs. Conducting dem-onstrations that interfere with the operation of the school or classroom is inappropriate and prohib-ited.” By getting up and leaving class during school hours, they were disrupting that process.

“If these rules were enforced, they could face some serious trouble,” Billings added.

Another problem faced by students were accu-sations that they didn’t fully understand all the rea-sons behind the walk-out.

“It was dumb. They didn’t know what they were protesting. They just walked out and stood there,” said senior Tessa Johnson.

Sophomore Tyler Gilson agreed, adding that some used it as an excuse to skip.

“They knew why they were walking out,” said sophomore Tyler Gilson. “They were going home.”

Despite the fact that truancy is illegal and neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives were in session during the protest, students who participated say it was worth it.

“[We walked out] to show solidarity with all pub-lic unions’ collective bargaining rights and to show they can’t cut funding to public education because we’re already running on empty,” said senior Mad-die Heck. “We got disciplined by having an absence, one of ten we can use in a semester. Since Everett doesn’t keep track of what’s excused and what’s not until you’re past the limit, it shouldn’t matter.”

The school district backed down from their de-cision to suspend all the students involved and have said they will seek alternate means of discipline, but as of yet, nothing has been decided.

District backs down on walkout suspensions

On April 26, Japanese students celebrated the traditional custom of cherry blossom viewing, called Hanami.

Top: Seniors Chelsea Nguyen and Mary Nguyen create decorative paper balls, called kusudama.

Inset: Students made California rolls using crab meat, avocado, and cucumber.

Students decorated Hachimaki, traditional headbands worn for special occasions.

May 4, 2011 3

Head secretary Juanita Kennedy has been creating art for quite some time, but this month she got the chance to show off her art by shar-ing it with the public for the first time. Her work was on display as a showcase at Reo Art Alley, an art gallery in Old

Town. Kennedy has been working with Styrofoam

since early 1997. Foam has been very convenient for her to use when making art. She wanted a quicker way to make her art works; Styrofoam was the an-swer.

“I was looking for an art form that would be quick,” said Kennedy.

For the art gallery showcase, she had to have 30 pieces of original art work to participate. She only had two months to accomplish all her art pieces, but she said that since Styrofoam is easy to work with, she was able to finish.

“With Styrofoam I can create art within one day,” said Kennedy.

Having a show meant she spent two months doing the art work that she wanted to do, instead of requested art work. Twenty-nine of her pieces were created with a theme of nature, history and fantasy in mind.

“It was the first time I made artwork I wanted to make,” said Kennedy.

Kennedy has done lots of art work for teachers in the building. You can see them hanging around

Everett’s building. She made signs for teacher’s doors like the one on English teacher Robin Elliott’s door, or English teacher Deborah Babcock, or sci-ence teacher Corrie Thornburgh.

The art work that she has made for Babcock became her favorite piece. It is called “The Dream-ing Tree.” Kennedy made a second version of the dreaming tree, and it was the first item to sell at Art Alley.

“At first it felt very strange because truthfully I hadn’t thought about selling the art,” said Kennedy.

There are also students from Everett that are showcased in the art gallery show. Madeline Heck, Shyla Crump, Jamie Dickerson, Marissa Collins, Ty-ceishu Aikens and Savannah Michelle Duncan all have their work up in the showcase. Kennedy invited art teacher Pam Collins to pick the six students to participate in the Reo art showcase.

Kennedy said she’s just getting started. She plans to participate in gogreengolansing’s art exhibit May 11. In the future, she hopes to sell more art and set up her own website for business. Even as she works to become a successful artist, Kennedy said she still hopes to stay at Everett.

Chances are, more foam artwork will appear throughout the building for years to come.

News

Pahoua ChangReporter

Kennedy’s ‘Foam Friends’ get gallery showing

Everett art students joined head secretary Nita Kennedy at her art Reo Art Alley showcase in April. Kennedy’s foam art was on display, along with works from students. This was her first gallery show, but Kennedy said she plans to continue showing her work in exhibits and online.

May 4, 2011 4Opinion 3900 Stabler RoadLansing, MI 48910

(517)755-4472myvikingvoice.com

myvikingvoice@gmail.com

THE STAFF

EDITORSClarissa Gonzalez (Editor-in-Chief)Irma Valdes (News)Breiah Hoskins (News)Katie Fay (Features)Xia Thao (Features)Lupita Gonzalez (Photo)Amanda Robertson (Entertainment)Jasmine Lopez (Entertainment)Zach Patrick (Sports)Alan Yang (On-Line)Earin Wells (Business)Pahoua Chang (Circulator)

REPORTERSLachonda BeasleyShaquila DossStephanie DunhamKeora Grace Gabrielle HesterDiamond WilliamsCiara CarterKani CaldwellClarissa DeanJustin LundyFrankie PriceAmanda ThomasJoshua DyeTiffany DukesSerena Skief

AdvisorChad Sanders

Mission Statement The Viking Voice is a monthly publication of Everett High School. It is published the second Wednesday of each month by the fourth hour Newspaper class. The Viking Voice is distributed free of charge to every student and staff member at Everett. The current issue is always available on the counter of the main office. Subscriptions are also available for $15/year. The Voice is an award-winning member of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association. Letters to the editor are accepted at the discretion of the editorial board. Forms of speech not protected by the First Amendment will not be published. Letters must be signed by the author, and will be edited for quality. Direct all questions to room 313. We can be contacted via email at myvikingvoice@gmail.com

The Lansing School District is committed to a policy of providing equal opportunities to all qualified people regardless of economic or social status and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethic origin, national origin, creed, religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, age, veteran status, or physical or mental ability.

Viking VoiceTheour voice

Heartbreak. Pain. Hurt. Guilt. Regret. Hopelessness. All of these things can be felt after breaking up with your significant other. However, none of these are cause to want to harm yourself. There are many different ways that people deal with break-ups. Over-dramatizing it and telling peo-ple you want to kill yourself is the worst possible way to handle break-ups.

It will all be okay, it really will. You just have to create your own happiness in-stead of relying on other people to do it for you. There is so much more to get out of life that people either choose not to see or are too blinded by hurt to notice.

After a breakup, no matter who did the breaking up, the most common feeling is loneliness. You feel like nobody cares about you. You are wrong. Open up your eyes and look around. Most have friends to always offer them advice or a shoulder to cry on. Many also have family to help them in their time of emotional distress. For those who feel they have no friends or family they feel they can talk to, there are always counselors and teachers there to help when you need them.

Adults may not seem to understand, but they’ve been there and done that. They understand how painful breaking up with someone is. Use them as a source of knowledge and ask them how they got over it and moved on.

Sayings like, “There’s always more fish in the sea,” “With time it will get easier,” and “They don’t deserve you,” are all meant to make you feel better after a bad breakup, but they rarely have any im-pact on your distress at all. You don’t want

any other fish, you’re thinking in the now, and you don’t care if they deserve you or not. Yet people keep giving you these few corny lines of advice in hopes of making you feel better. It won’t be until much later on that you realize just how true all that advice is.

Life is not a sprint, but a marathon; you don’t just run your hardest then stop after a short while. You keep going. At some point of the race you may have to slow down to a jog or even a walk. When something bad like a breakup happens, you will feel like giving up. It’s likely you will feel like the world has been ripped away from you. You can either choose the path of shame and drop out of the race, or you can embrace change and empower yourself to keep on running.

Everett is just this tiny little world of people that you are forced to be around every day, nine months out of the year, for four years. It is very understandable to get caught up inside this world. Some-times it almost feels as though the gossip, rumors and drama could break you. But it is important to remember that you will not be in high school forever. Whatever you choose to do after high school will be drastically different from the world of Ev-erett High School.

The most important thing for you to do is to stay strong. Embrace the strength you know you have inside you and just keep on going. It is also important to stay true to yourself and who you are. Learn to love yourself because you know that you can always count on you.

Hold on, the darkness will fade

The Day of Silence is a day that people have chosen to protest the wrongful treatment of people who are gay or bisexual. It is a cause that is very worthy of support. How-ever, protesters are going about it the wrong way.

On April 15, students protesting walked around with tape over their mouths and t-shirts on declar-ing their cause. What happened? Other students just talked about how ridiculous they looked. No one even gave a thought to the actual cause, just to the appearance of the protesters.

The biggest problem with Day of Silence is the silence. Students take a day-long vow of silence to symbolically represent the silencing of LGBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) students and their supporters. They want to speak out about the dis-crimination against people who are gay or bisexual, but protesters stay quiet. Isn’t protesting supposed to change something?

According to www.dayofsilence.org the first Day of Silence took place in 1996 at the University of Virginia as a response to a non-violent protest as-

signment. Over 150 students participated. The next year organizers went nationally and about 100 colleges and universities participated. The GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) became the official organi-zational sponsor of the event in 2001.

Day of Silence has the potential to cause issues in the classroom throughout the day. Students do not know that the right to free speech, or lack there of, does not extend to the classroom. If a teacher asks you to answer a ques-tion, you have to or you are subject to disciplinary action, said www.dayofsilence.com. Therefore, they suggest to be silent before school, during lunch, during passing time and after school.

People refuse to talk on the Day of Silence to show how the community of homosexuals and bisexuals need to speak out more about how they’re bullied and harassed. To prove their point better, instead of keeping quiet like usual they should speak out and make themselves heard. Go around for a whole day telling people about the ha-rassment the LGBT community undergoes.

Bullying and harassment is nothing to joke around about. Nobody deserves that kind of treatment just be-cause they are being themselves. So make a change and speak out about it instead of keeping quiet.

Day of Silence doesn’t change anything

Katie FayFeatures Editor

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May 4, 2011 5

As high school students get older, and become upper classmen, the op-tions available to them get broader and broader.

Depending on a high school student’s interests and career goals, there could be a lot of options available to assist them in their career path and, in some cases, even land them college credits.

Students can get involved in programs at locations such as Sparrow, Ingham Re-gional Medical Center, LCC, Hill, Sexton, Eastern, and even right here at Everett.

Programs such as Patient Care Tech-nician, EMT, CRAFT, and Graphic and Print Technology, are available to any high school student in the Lansing School Dis-

trict.The Graphic and Print Technology

program, which can be taken at Everett, teaches students how to create and print designs on items like t-shirts, hoodies, and sweatshirts.

“I like that you can put your creativ-ity into the class and make whatever you want,” said senior Wendy Cha.

Students who take advantage of these opportunities, give up half of their school day, and leave school to go to whatever lo-cation their program is at.

In many cases, these types of pro-grams offer students the school credits that they need to graduate. In special cases, a student could earn not only the high school credits they need, but college credits as well.

For example, all students completing

an Eaton Intermediate School District Career center program at LCC have the opportunity to earn either direct or articu-lated college credit while completing their high school program, if specific criteria are met.

These programs include programs like Fashion Technology, Interior Design, Computer Support, and Zoo and Aquari-um Science, just to name a few.

Other programs such as Cosmetol-ogy, Automotive Technology, Construc-tion Technology, and CAHEP (Capital Area Health care Education Partnership) are offered through Capital Area Career Center.

CAHEP is a program for students in-terested in the medical field, where they’re at school half of the day and at either Sparrow or Ingham the other half of the

day. It allows them to learn about the med-ical field in a hands-on environment, go on job shadows, have mentor visits, and earn both high school and college credits.

Junior AlecXis Glass likes CAHEP because she says “the job shadows and mentor visits are nice, and the hours you spend out on the floor will count in col-lege.”

Although these programs are defi-nitely available to students, they can be very competitive.

Students who apply to these types of programs are competing against not only students in the Lasing School District and Ingham County, but in some cases they are competing against students in Eaton County and Clinton County as well.

Their are also other programs stu-dents can apply for, working with “work

experience,” where they can actually get paid for working in office-like settings.

Junior Yvonne Ford likes work expe-rience because she says “I get paid a pretty good amount of money.”

Although these programs are great opportunities, there are downsides.

“These programs are often offered in three hour increments, so the student would be forced to make decisions, and could have limited choices as to what their school schedule would be,” explained counselor Jennifer West.

But all in all, these programs are ex-citing chances for students to grow and learn.

“I think it’s an outstanding opportuni-ty for students to explore their career and personal interests,” added . West.

Amanda RobertsonEntertainment Editor

Junior and senior programs filled with opportunity

Jun io r s X o c h i l t M o r a l e s and Jas-mine Jones have won

first place in the FCCLA National Competition held in Midland on April 13.

The Family, Career and Community Lead-ers of America Na-tional Competition is separated into different competing divisions. Morales and Jones competed in the Recycle Redesign-ing contest, where they used their fashion designing skills to create clothing with recycled products.

Morales presented a garment made of fashion magazines and newspaper, and Jones showed off a dress made out of hair weave.

“We started with the opening session, then went to the contest, then afterwards we had a banquet and dance, to the Award Ceremony,” said Morales.

They were nominated out of the 22 students at their LCC class to participate in the competition. With the help of their LCC Eaton ISD instructors, Christine Connor and Annie Wojo, the two took their designs into the contest.

“It was awesome and we did very good of representing the Fashion Designing Class,” said Morales.

They said some of the best things about the competition weren’t just the contest itself; there was a dance a banquet, which gave them the chance to meet new people from various contests.

P r e s e n t -ing at the state competition didn’t come naturally to the pair, and Jones said the experience was a good one for her.

“I think the presentation that we had to share was quite challenging for me,” said Jones.

Morales says that she needed to not be nervous and had to be confident during the competition.

After the competition, they said the ex-perience of going through this event taught them a lot of things, like the benefits of preparation.

“Hard work pays off,” said Jones. Morales said that the whole experience

has helped her develop her skills and pre-pare for the fashion industry.

Students win state prize for designs made in LCC class

Alan YangOnline Editor

These two dress-es won first in state of FCCLA National Com-petition, Recycle Redesigning con-test. Top left dress made by Jasmine Jones, right dress made by Xochilt Morales.

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May 4, 2011 6Entertainment

In middle school when social networking wasn’t as big as it is today most students had a myspace page. They could connect with friends, comment on pictures, update their statuses, and customize their

profiles. According to many students at Everett, myspace started to get “lame” and boring... that’s when they switched to Facebook.

Even though Facebook has been around since 2004, most students caught on to it around 2007/2008. And now, more students are catching on to Twitter, which has been around since 2006. The debate among some students now is... which one’s better?

“I prefer Facebook to Twitter because Facebook is more in-depth,” said Junior Jessica Pasche. “Twitter doesn’t have “like” buttons or comment buttons, you can’t view pictures. It’s a lot like talking to yourself.”

But some students like to keep it simple, and that’s when Twitter comes in.

“I prefer Twitter because there’s less drama than on Facebook and you can update your status as much as you want without people telling you that you update your status too much,” said Junior Amara Jackson.

On Twitter, users follow people like friends

and their favorite celebrities, because most every popular celebrities have a Twitter. On Facebook, you can connect a lot more in-depth with friends and family, and the connection with celebrities isn’t there.

“I prefer facebook because at my age the majority of my friends and family are on Facebook but all the game requests can get irritating,” said math teacher David Schmidt.

With Facebook, users can “like” statuses and pictures, comment on statuses, comment on and view pictures. With Twitter to really connect with someone, users “mention” them in their status, just like tagging people in a status on Facebook.

“It’s just a lot more you can do on Facebook, Twitter is pointless,” said senior Rickisha Claybrooks.

The Viking Voice is on Twitter (@vikingvoice) and Facebook (facebook.com/myvikingvoice).

Facebook vs. Twitter

Irma ValdesNews Editor

Keora GraceReporter

As millions of students attend their high school proms next month, many will also be attend-ing the biggest Prom of all: the Disney premiere for the up-

coming movie “PROM.”“Prom” all about trying to find the

perfect date, the perfect outfit and the perfect theme for the high school prom; of course, there will be drama, love in-terests and heartbreaks. “Prom” por-trays the precarious passage from high school to independence. Will “Prom” be just another “High School Musical,” or will the topic be a hit with teens?

Surprisingly, Walt Disney Pictures are going out of their comfort zone by making the teen flick. Even though the movie is rated PG, It seems to be tar-geted toward teens around the ages of 15-18.

Even though the movie comes out soon, many in the target age group are not even aware of the it. Most adver-tisements for the movie run on Disney Channel, and not many 17-year-olds

watch the channel anymore .“Never heard of it,” said

senior Juan Carlos Dome-nech.

Most people that are aware of the movie and are actually interested in watch-ing it are teens in grades 6-10. Seniors are not in-terested, not only because it is a Disney movie, but also because they’re so close to actually attend-ing their own prom, they are not even curi-ous anymore.

On the other hand, some who are not as close to prom are cu-rious for the movie because they want a small glance at what prom all about .

“I’m curious about the movie,” said freshmen Mau-rice Stepp, “to see how it all comes together for that special night.”

Disney’s ‘PROM’ draws attention of students

‘Harry Potter 7 Pt. 2’ marks end of popular movie series

Amanda ThomasReporter

PROM comes to theaters April 29.

In two months, the opening of the final Harry Potter movie will arrive, and it has brought both sadness and excitement to the generation who grew up with the creative imagination both on screen, and in books.

Harry Potter has been a fictional wizard icon for 14 years. The author of the characters seven books, JK Rowling, has become very successful and created die-hard fans for the wizard Harry Potter and his adventures with his two best friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. For each book sold and new edition to the books Rowling made, more and more fans became addicted to Harry Potter and the wizardry of Hogwarts.

With billions of dollars made with book sales, Harry Potter movies have been making double the amount for a decade. The first seven movies have all been successful box office hits and very popular movies sold nationwide.

However, many fans have been building up excitement for the last and final movie to be opened this summer, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Pt. 2. The final ending to the Harry Potter novels and movie will be released July 15 2011.

Everett High School students are very excited for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2.

“I’m so super stoked. I can’t wait to see who Hermione picks,” said senior Danielle Smith. “However, I do think they should’ve ended the series when they still had everyone’s attention.”

Senior, Giana Nieto agreed with Smith in the excitement built up for the finale of the Harry Potter series.

“I’m excited! I’ve always gone to watch the Harry Potter series since it came out when I was in 1st grade. However, I’m also sad that it’s coming to an end. But they’re great novels and movies and will be around for a long time,” said Nieto.

Many people are very sad the series is at its end. Harry Potter was a movie that the generation at Everett High School grew up with.

“In a way it’s a closure to my childhood,” explained Senior Andrea Mata, who said she and her brothers grew up with the movies. “It’s bittersweet, but any more [movies] after this would be too dragged out, and I’m excited to see how it ends.”

Senior Kara Cook felt the same sadness towards Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2.

“I’m both excited and sad that the last Harry Potter movie is finally here. I think it’s sad though because I have spent my whole life reading and watching Harry Potter,” said Cook.

Be a Harry Potter Wiz:

Movies have made •over $3.2 billion.

J . K Rowling, author •of the Harry Potter series, has made over $560 million.

“Harry Potter and the •Half Blood Prince” sold nine million copiesinthefirst24 hours after its release

Harry Potter, JK •Rowling and the actor Daniel Radcliffe all share the same birthday – July 31st

In real life, the •Hogwarts Express is called the “Olton Hall” and runs between Scarborough and York

Daniel Radcliffe’s •(Harry) favorite “Harry Potter” book is “Prisoner of Azkaban.”

May 4, 2011 7

Musicartistsfindanaudience on youtube

EntertainmentChris Brown’s new behavior displeases fans

Chris Brown, once loved by every-one, continues to en-gage in behavior that causes him to lose fans and respect. His image went from the new boy on the block

that everyone loved to a women beater. Recently, his nude picture made its way through the Internet, and his image was threatened even more. Most re-cently, he made headlines when he blew up on the set of Good Morn-ing America.

In the GMA incident, Brown was upset that host Robin Roberts continuously brought up his past experience with Rihanna. He said he felt like the interview should have been about his album and not his past experience. He held his calm while on camera, but when he went to his dressing room it was a different story: he threw things around, ripped his shirt, and broke a window.

Brown was once seen as a role model for kids. His songs were always appropri-ate for little kids to listen to, and now a lot of his words have to be censored.

“Some people are losing respect. A

lot of people looked up to him as a role model,” said junior Calicia Farquhar.

On February 8, 2009 Chris Brown was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend Rihan-na. He turned himself in to the police later that day. The argument may have started over a text the he got saying “hooking up later”. Rihanna told the police that he had threatened to kill her and he choked her. Rihanna’s face was swollen on both sides.

She had a split lip, bloody nose, and some bite marks. Brown said that he was very remorseful after the episode, but some people’s views on him changed.

“He’s a women beater,” said junior Sacresha Bennett.

There are those who think there must be more to the Rihanna story that isn’t be-ing told, and give Brown the benefit of the doubt.

“They [the media] made it seem like it was all his fault. She had to do something

to him,” said junior Diamond Jones.Some say that even though he makes

mistakes, he’s still a good artist and people shouldn’t judge him by his mistakes, but for his music.

“I still respect him as an artist. What he did has nothing to with his music,” said Farquhar.

Chris Brown just released his new album “F.A.M.E.” Browns says that this

album will show his more cre-ative side.

Some critics seem to agree. USA Today said that the album shows “a more mature, confident and adventurous Brown who has emerged in the wake of all the drama, and

he has delivered the strongest album of his career.”

Even though many people like his new CD there are some people that won’t even listen to Brown since his altercation with Rihanna.

“Before everything happened I was a fan of Brown. But now I won’t even listen to him. He lost all of my respect. He had no right to beat Rihanna the way that he did. He will never have my respect again after that,” said freshman Keyona Skief.

With all of the music there is to listen to on iTunes, suggestions from friends, or on the radio, there are thousands of choic-es to pick from. Yet,

there are some choices you may have not thought of, undiscovered talents hidden within the links of YouTube.

There are many talented singers that have videos out and songs of their own that no one gives recognition to. There are in fact some YouTube stars that sing with much more emotion and control than some MTV hit singers. There are also celebrities that make freestyles and remixes that are better than any main-stream albums of theirs.

“Tyga’s Hard In Da Paint freestyle goes hard,” said freshman Dominique Dye. You can find this freestyle on You-Tube.

There are also “covers” which are remakes of other people’s songs. One person in particular is Christina Grim-mie, who makes covers and writes her own music, which has lead her to achieve

being signed and managed by Selena Gomez’s father, all from her career on YouTube.

“She has so much raw talent and control of her voice, [she’s] much better than Taylor] Swift,” said Sophomore Mi-cole Duncan.

Even with all these new found tal-ents being dug up, some cannot ignore what they find to be the best: the classic music.

“I honestly can’t get into the new stuff that’s being released,” says sopho-more Cameron Fair “ I stick to the clas-sics, bro. That stuff was new at some point in time right?”

There is an event happening right now, called the DigiTour, which is a tour of YouTube performers going around the US and singing in concerts. The con-certs are on live stream via YouTube, and tour organizers promise that “the concerts this year have been spectacular, without a doubt the best digitour yet.”

Some artists that are popular on You-Tube include: DeStorm, Zeldaxlove64, Christina Grimmie, Barelypolitical, and Auto Tune The News.

Tremaine Al-don Neverson, bet-ter known as R & B Hip-hop artist “Trey Songz,” is coming to Common Ground July 11.

C o m m o n Ground is a Music Festival, traditionally known for music other than R & B Hip-hop. In other words, music you’ve probably never heard before. The festival happens every summer in downtown Lansing, along the banks of the Grand River in Adado Riverfront Park.

According to its web site, this annual celebration features “a line-up of musical acts, focusing on top-level, national, con-temporary music performers, scores of food vendors, and a dynamic display of outdoor fun.”

Many teens have been to Common Ground, and have seen artists like Snoop Dog, Pretty Ricky and Ludacris, but there are many more acts that perform.

“When I went to Common Ground I only focused on the main performance,” said junior Victoria Smith who went to see

Pretty Ricky.Teens often go to focus on the main

person they heard was coming, and now Trey Songz is coming to town and many are excited and ready to see him.

“Trey Songz is the whole package... he can sing and look good, I’m ready to see my boo,” said junior Courtney Cariano.

Many are as excited as Cariano, which means there will be a big crowd.

“Trey Songz is a famous artist that sings R & B who the ladies love so there most definitely will be a lot of people,” said sophomore Alyssa Miller.

Just to see Trey Songz you can buy a ticket for $30, which gets the holder Gen-erally Admission seating. This means “first come, first shot at a spot for you and your chair.” An upgrade for $15 more gets you better seating. Or, buy a single day “Un-common VIP” ticket for $129.00. VIP holders get a reserved seating sections, as well as access to food and drinks during the show. These prices are for a limited time only. You may buy your tickets online, Star Tickets outlets or also at the Festival Office that is open from 10 a.m to 6 p.m Monday - Friday, and you may call the office number,

800-585-3737.People who have been to Common

Ground before have said it was a lot of people, and that there were people drinking and smoking.

“I think it will be crowded and wild be-cause people don’t know how to act when celebrities come to Lansing,” said senior Mariah Bodiford.

Celebrities normally don’t come to Lansing, and many teens said they are excited about a popular artist coming to town. Although many are happy about Trey Songz making an arrival there are some that don’t care as much about his appearance.

“It’s cool that a celebrity is coming to Lansing but I don’t really listen to Trey Songz and I don’t even know who [other Common Ground performers] Lynyrd Skynyrd is,” said senior Tiana Glasscoe.

Some people are not going because they don’t listen to these specific artists but there are others that are not going because of how crowded it has been said to be.

“I like Trey Songz but I don’t want to be around all the people going crazy over him and the people that will probably drink or smoke,” said junior Dionisia Ruperto.

Serena SkiefReporter

“Some people are losing respect. A lot of people looked

up to him as a role model.” -Calicia Farquhar.

Stephanie DunhamReporter

Josh DyeReporter

Trey Songz coming to Common Ground for summer

May 4, 2011 8Sports

Move over boys, it’s the girls’ time on the field.

Last fall the boys’ soc-cer team had a lot of success, but now it’s spring and it’s the girls time to shine.

“We have improved a lot over the winter and I think we will do better than last year,” said junior center-mid Sierra Shepard.

According to Shepard, the team has worked hard and is ready for spring.

“Losing only two girls [from last year’s team] and having most of the girls practice indoors over the winter we have the talent to have a solid season,” said girls’ varsity coach Juan Dominguez.

The players say they are dedicated and ready to play for success.

“I want to just do my best and play as a team at our best while having fun,” said Shepard.

One challenge the team faces is the mix of rook-ies and veterans.

“The hardest part about being on the team is the difference [in skill level] between all the players,” said senior goalie Sarah Haggart. “It comes natural to some and not so natural to others.”

One thing the players see as a strength is the way

they work together as a team. For example, during the half time of a game, they sit down in a circle and stretch, while going over what they could be doing, what they are doing right and what needs to stop. When they are finished the coach steps in and says what the team needs to hear.

“I like it because were able to talk as a team and help each other out so we can go out there second half and fix what we’re doing wrong or aren’t doing,” said sophomore Raquel Jimenez.

The team wants to do their best and improve whatever they can to make this an even better sea-son.

Last year the team lost more than they won, going 7-13 and this year they want to switch it around.

“Last year was the best we have done in a couple of years at Everett,” said senior Walaa Machi.

Dominguez agrees that this will be a year of im-provement.

“This year we want four more wins or more than last year,” said Dominguez.

Returning players are ready to make this year even better, because they have a good feeling this season.

“I can feel this season [will be our] best because we have a lot of talented players,” said senior Giana Nieto.

Girls’ Soccer team: time to shine

Stephanie DunhamReporter

Short inducted into college Hall of Fame

Serena SkiefReporter

Everett athletic director Cindy Short was inducted into the Alma College Hall of Fame on April 9. Short graduated from Alma college in 1985 and she began her coaching at East Lansing

High School while taking classes at Michigan State. After being a student aide at ELHS, she went back to school at Central Michigan and to get her degree in science education. Short has been working at Everett since 1988. At Everett she coached girls basketball and softball but she also was teaching biology and chemistry until 1999.

“I was a student teacher at Everett and then they hired me as the basketball coach. I liked the kids and

the coaching,” said Short.Short was a two-time All-MIAA during her senior

year of college. She was an MIAA champion in three out of her four years in high school. She was captain of her softball team in 1985 and she was also captain of the basketball team.

“I’m very honored [to be in the Hall of Fame]. Its a pretty cool thing,” said Short.

Today she remains the athletic director at Everett, participates in many MHSAA committees and has hosted a lot of tournaments in boys’ and girls’ basketball, volleyball, wrestling, football, baseball, and softball.

“She really deserves it. She is being recognized for everything that she has done with the sports and its really cool,” said JV baseball coach Benton Billings.

Barry Bonds in court again, facing jail timeMajor League baseball

outfielder Barry Bonds is on trial yet again. Bonds’ trial started March 23 after he was indicted on charges of perju-ry and obstruction of justice for allegedly lying to the grand

jury during the government’s investigation into ste-roid use. Bonds testified that he never knowingly took any illegal steroids. Bonds holds Major League career records in home runs, walks, and intentional walks, as well as leading all active players in RBIs and many more baseball records.

Many fans said that pro athletes who use drugs do not deserve to keep the records they earned while they were using.

“I feel he shouldn’t be able to keep any of his trophies or rewards because he cheated his way into receiving them,” said senior Andy Moore.

Steroids are substances made naturally in the body, affecting many bodily functions. Steroids can now be made artificially and used in cancer treat-ment as tablets or injections. Athletes take steroids because it can increase speed and strength, making more home-runs and faster times. However, experts warn that steroids have extremely dangerous side ef-

fects and cause permanent damage to a person’s body. These drugs can stunt the height of growing adoles-cents, alter sex characteristics of men, and can lead to premature heart attacks, strokes, kidney failure and serious psychiatric problems. Another problem cause by steroid usage, is the risk of contracting or trans-mitting HIV or hepatitis from steroids being often injected.

“They [steroids] are dumb and people that use them don’t have the heart or drive to [play their sport] without cheating,” said senior Devin Richmond. “Barry Bonds should be stripped of his title as home-run leader.”

If Barry Bonds is not convicted, his baseball re-cords will have to stand, at least until someone breaks them. Bonds will have to be allowed to be a part of the major leagues and there will be no grounds to ban him from jobs in baseball. If Bonds is convicted, he could go to prison instead of the Hall of Fame for telling a federal grand jury he did not knowingly use steroids.

“Barry Bonds should be stripped of all trophies and medals,” said JV baseball coach Ben Billings. “He cheated his way into getting these rewards and I feel he shouldn’t be allowed to play baseball.”

Amanda ThomasReporter

Athletic Director Cindy Short works at her desk in the athletic directors office. Short was recently honored by Alma College with induction into their Hall of Fame.

Top: Coach Juan Dominguez talks to his team at halftime in the game against Waverly.

Left: Deanna Martin takes the ball down field for a Viking Score.

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