Titan Scroll March 4, 2011

Titan Scrollwww.lswestonline.com Friday, Mar. 4, 2011

Volume VII, Edition 7

Lee’s Summit West High School 2600 SW Ward Road

Lee’s Summit, MO 64082

Spring Sports Preview

Meet Dr. Sharp

What to do on Spring Break

2 •News•Opinion • Feature • Arts & Entertainment • Sports • Titan Scroll

Page Designers Merrilee BoughanEric DedoveshJesse EiskinaJoey Franke Gabby HaydenNate Mitchell Rachel PaddockBen Poeschl Brooks Rast

WritersNikki AndrianoLindsey BinghamMeg Britton-MehlisehAndy EvansAnnie Greenwell Claudia GuthrieTiffany JenkinsTaylor JensenTristan OwenDerec OwensRiley ManningCarlie NashMeg PetersonAnna PoudelHaley Roach Katey StoetzelAnna Schafer

Editor in ChiefJenna Keeble

Copy Editor Sydnee Owens

AdvertisingManager Brooke Admire

Graphics Design Manager Hayley Brower

The Titan Scroll is a student publication of Lee’s Summit West High School. It welcomes all letters to the editor, but re-serves the right to edit for libel and for space. No unsigned let-ters will be printed. Letters may be dropped off in Room 2048 or mailed to 2600 SW Ward Road, Lee’s Summit, MO 64082.

Volume 7 of the Scroll is published 10 times during the 2010-2011 school year. The opinions contained do not in any way represent the Lee’s Summit West faculty, administration

or the R-7 school district administration or school board.

Adviser Carol UlleryBusiness Adviser

Karrie Smythia

Photography Editor Martin Steele

Photographers Maddy ArsenaultAaron BrowerNicole ConniffSam ConradKailee EmmaNathan FosterKathryn HilgerJustin HunleyMorgan JohnsonJudd KirnKylie LanningJean MadisonKatie MaloneyRyan MillerAlex PalmerSteve RhodesBailey RomiMeagan ShanahanConnor StaponskiMichelle StoutAriel Thompson

Distribution ManagerJed Manaco

Web ManagerAnna Hunter

A&E EditorKatey Stoetzel

Staff ArtistAlex Katzfey

News

Arts&Entertainment

Feature

Sports

On the Cover

Titan Scroll Staff 2010-2011

Opinion

Meet. Dr Sharp pg. 3Budget Cuts pg. 7

Staff Editorial pg. 8Health Freak pg. 9

Two Job Teachers pg. 10Spring Break: What to do pg. 12

Concert Match-Up pg. 18“Never Say Never” pg. 19

The Benefactor pg. 28Spring Sports Preview pg. 30-31

Titan Scroll Friday, Mar. 4, 2011

Volume VII, Issue 7

SSS

Lee’s Summit West Titans anticipate Spring Break. Illistration by Alex Katzfey.

Mar. 4, 2011 •News•Opinion • Feature • Arts&Entertainment • Sports • 3

The current director of Sum-mit Technology Academy, Dr. Da-vid Sharp, is the new principal on the horizon for West. Sharp worked as the assistant principal at West in 2006 and 2007, and following his four year tenure at STA he will return as the man in charge next year. “I’m very excited for him to come back to the West family, I think he’ll do a good job, and maybe bring us closer together as a staff,” said Science teacher Mark Lutman. Before West, Sharp was an as-sistant principal at Fort Osage for four years, as well as William Chrisman for three years. Then he became principal at Summit Tech, and has been for the past four years. Prior to becoming a principal, he spent time in the U.S. Army as a combat solider/M1A1 Tank Gunner. Sharp, who was born and raised in Chicago, has three children as well; twin 15-year olds, a boy and a girl, and a seven year old daughter. Sharp played various sports throughout high school and col-lege including football and track. He also played semi-pro football for two seasons after college. He still participates in sports and plays for the Kansas City Amateur Baseball Association. Sharp said he is excited to come back to West, “I’m

looking forward to working with the students and staff. I’ve never heard any negatives about West,” he said.

“Dr. Sharp will be good for West, he is all about kids, he knows the schools’ culture, and he knows we hold high expecta-tions, both in the classrooms and in the extracurriculars,” said Bateman. “I believe that I’ll have a pro-

found impact on the social, emo-tional, intellectual, well-being of each student at West. My goal is to become a nationally rec-ognized and celebrated profes-sional learning community,” said

Sharp. New leadership means

changes, but Bateman said she believes

that West will be in good

h a n d s , a n d

that

Sharp will take West to the next level. “If Dr. Sharp is in charge, change will be in a positive direc-tion,” Bateman said, “I think there will be changes but not in ef-fect from Dr. Sharp, teachers and the tax levy will inspire most changes.” “Once I take over, I want people to view Lee’s Summit West as a great environ-ment to learn with comprehensive and challenging academ-ic, athletic, and co-curricular programs

that appeal to all of our students. I want each student to feel safe, loved, celebrated and we

will work hard to design our edu-cational program to develop each student to develop his or her maximum learning potential,” said Sharp. When it comes to the budget cuts, Sharp said he believes that he has things covered, “We are going to be a fiscal steward of the people’s money and we will evaluate every program to en-sure minimal negative student impact,” he said. Upon taking his new position, Sharp said that he wants to “make Lee’s Summit West a nationally recognized blue ribbon school. When the school of choice comes about, I want Lee’s Summit West to be that school.” “I plan to continue the out-standing success of West, and get to know the students and staff as well,” said Sharp. “It will be difficult to hand West over, but less difficult to hand it over to Dr. Sharp,” said.

Tiffany Jenkins

Dr. Sharp to take the reins

Dr. David Sharp will be principal at West next year following the retirment of Dr. Cindy Bateman in June. new principal. Photos by Steve Rhodes.


Meg Peterson Members of the choir, band, and orchestra plan to show off what they have been working so hard on this year in Los Angeles, California this Spring Break. Members from Concert Choral, Women’s Choir, Symphonic Band and Full Symphonic and Concert Orchestra are able to attend, although not every student is obligated to participate. Juniors Whitney Harper, Zach Carter, Alison Nill and Jacky Muller are a few of the students planning to attend. In order to help pay for the $1,200 cost of the trip, the music department held many different fundraisers including: selling Christmas wreaths, cookie dough, candy bars, coffee, Taste of Lee’s Summit Auction, and working certain events . “We have been fundraising for over a year and a half,” said Orchestra Director Kirt Mosier. While in L.A. the group will perform at several places including: Pepperdine Stadium, Disneyland, Disney’s Concert Hall, and Universal Studios. The orchestra will work with the Disney recording studio. “The students [that are] a part of choir and orchestra will play at Bardum Hall. We will also play at Disneyland and record a soundtrack to a movie and then the kids will get a DVD copy of them playing music as the movie goes on,” said Mosier. Not only is the trip focused on improving musical talent, but they will also be having a lot of fun. Shopping, going to the beach, Disneyland, and going out to eat are also included on the agenda. “I am really looking forward to performing at Disneyland and Pepperdine Stadium, it will be a great experience and I am hoping to learn a lot,”

said Muller. “Going to L.A will give me the opportunity to see a new part of the United States and while doing so I’ll get to spend time with all of my friends,” said Muller. Muller is a foreign exchange student and part of Women’s Choir. Nill said, “The thing that I am looking forward to the most is performing at Pepperdine Stadium; getting to see the campus will be really cool and a great experience.” These four students think very highly of their teachers, as they are the main reason for all of their success. “Mr. Mosier has really pushed me because there have been times where if it wasn’t for him I would of quit. He makes music enjoyable and has helped me realize it was something that I could do just for myself,” said Harper. Harper is involved in Concert Choir, Una Voce, and Symphonic Orchestra. “Mrs. Krinke has helped me grow as a Choral Musician and has allowed for me to have a lot of experience with different types of music,” said Harper. Nill said, “Mr. Thurmond is always there so you can always ask him questions. He is very good at making sure everyone is succeeding.” Nill is involved in Symphonic Band. “Mr. Thurmond is a very good motivator and makes sure we all stay on top of our practicing,” said Carter. Carter is involved in Symphonic Band, and Symphonic Orchestra. Each said that they are expecting huge success from the trip.

“After going on trips like these, the kids come together as a more Titan family and the tighter the students are the better they play and the bet-ter music they make,” said Mosier. “Going on trips like these really helps our music department out as a whole. We all become much closer and our music always sounds 100 times bet-ter,” said Harper.

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West students have been working hard to do well at the LA performance. Photos by Katie Maloney


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Nine FCCLA members have quali-fied to attend the State Star Events, on Mar. 27-29 in Columbia, MO. “There are 40 events that they can choose from,” said FCCLA advisor Brenda Dumler, “They do a project, they write it up and then share the results with the judges.” Qualifying students won first place in their events at the region-al level, which qualified them for State. These students are Senior Nikki Justice for Fashion Design; Senior Katy Ehrhard in Fashion Construc-

tion; Seniors Allison Behm and Eliz-abeth Spurny for Chapter Showcase; Senior Kelsey Connelly and Juniors Caitlin Lovelace and Kaitlyn Geiger on the Culinary Team; Sophomore Sara Mather for Career Investiga-tion; and Freshman Bianca David-son for her Nutrition and Wellness Project. FCCLA stands for Family, Career and Community Leaders of America. The members compete in events ranging from Interior Design to Budget Planning. “In Focus on Children, they went to an elementary school and taught a lesson. Then they made a poster and did a 15-minute presentation on it,” said Dumler. Behm and Spurny entered a scrapbook of everything FC-CLA has done in the 2010-2011 school year and gave a 10-min-ute speech on it. Ehrhard won second place at Nationals last year for the dress

she created. This year, her project centers around a trench coat, which she has been working on since Sep-tember. Geiger competes on the Culinary Team, which is new to West this year. Geiger said, “We’re all pretty confident,” about going to State. Freshman Courtney Rosencrants agreed with Geiger; she said, “We’re

pretty confident some will go on to Nationals.” FCCLA has been to Nationals only once before. “Last year Katy Ehrhard went to Nationals and she was the first one ever to make it,” said Dumler. Nationals are scheduled for July 10-14 in Anaheim, California.

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FACS teacher Ellen Plemons, Kaitlyn Geiger, Kelsey Connelly, Caitlin Lovelace and Brenda Dumler prepare for State Star Events after winning Regionals. Photo courtesy of Brenda Dumler.

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Thirty DECA students qualified at the District Competition on Feb. 10 to go on to the State Competition on Mar. 13-15. Seniors Brett Burns, Paul Walk-up, Ben Poeschl, Tim Nathan, Gar-ret Winchel, Alec Jackson, Katie Douglas, Shelby Summerville, Em-ily Sharp, Hai Kim, Akunna Ofodu, Elizabeth Spurney, Elise Brummet, Payton Chamberlain, Josh Ploegger, Kendall Kapperman, Alex Johnson, Josh Jackman, Meg Sieber, Brittany Shouse, Natasha Shore, and Jes-sica McLoed; Juniors Kylie Lanning, Dalton Cornell, Stephanie Krogh, Brooks Brewer, Mason Fuller, Trent Miller, and Sophomores Bailey Sharp

and Zach Swinford each qualified. DECA is West’s business and mar-keting club. West has 110 student members. They participate in any of 44 different events. What they do at competitions depends on their events. “I have some students who do a presentation, some take tests or do series events where they take a test and then do two role-plays. Some compete in team decision-making, where they take a test and then do one bigger role-play,” said DECA ad-visor Terri Keith. Role-plays are when students are given a scenario pertaining to their event and they have to play the part of a customer or entrepreneur or em-ployee, etc. Examples of scenarios could be car-buying or selling or de-

ciding what to stock in a store. Kim researched Worlds of Fun with Brewer for their event of Sports and Entertainment Research. “We wanted to create a Facebook and Twitter,” said Kim. Their project cen-tered around what Worlds of Fun could do with a Facebook and Twitter account. “My event was Apparel and Acces-sories Mar-keting,” said Sharp. “I took a test and a store was having a problem so I

tried to solve it.” Following State, Nationals will take place Apr. 29-May 4 in Orlan-do, Florida. Due to Prom scheduled for Apr. 30, some of the students in DECA will not take their place at Na-tionals, should they qualify.


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A team prepares themselves by studying a situation to get ready for competition. Photo by Megan Shanahan

Thirty DECA students qualify for State

The infamous budget cuts due to the levy failure are becoming reality as the first cuts were announced at the Lee’s Summit School District Board Meeting last week. The cuts include the elimination of two health clerk positions, abolishing the elementary summer library program and reducing the Parents as Teachers Program. However, what caused an uproar from parents and students is what is to come. Starting next school year, there will be a $50 per student ($200 per family annual maximum) fee for athletics and music activities. “I feel the very worst for the student who because of family finances or financial pressure at home might look at it as not getting to participate, that’s bothersome to me,” said Principal Dr. Cindy Bateman. “I know we’re one of the last school districts to go to that,” said Activities Director Debbie Katzfey. Most of them already have activity fees.” Some students said the pay to play installment would not affect their decision to play sports next year. “It’s stupid, but I’ll probably still play next year because I like playing for the school,” said Freshman Megan Bowman. “It’s not really that much of a fee,” said Junior Myles Cheadle. “We end up paying that anyway for spirit wear

and sweat suits for track.” “Some people might get mad and not want to pay it,” said Freshman Turner Henderson. “If there’s someone really good that either can’t pay for it or doesn’t want to pay for it, then yeah it will effect the success of the team.” The elimination of some coaching positions will also take place, those were decided this week. “No one likes what’s happening, but the less the kids feel it the better,” said Boys and Girls Head Swim Coach Colleen Gibler. Gibler said she decided to resign from one of the swim teams next year. “For me, working head coach of two seasons all year while teaching IB, I’ve found I’m stretching myself too thin,” said Gibler. Gibler’s resignation may avoid elimination of assistant swim coaches’ positions. “Even if they did decide to cut staff, my resignation would take care of that. They wouldn’t have to cut anyone else,” said Gibler. It hasn’t been decided whether Gibler will leave girls swimming or boys swimming, she said she does not want to have to pick. But as of now it appears she will probably give up girls. “Right now I have more assistants for girls than I do for boys so it would make sense that I would give up girls rather than boys,” said Gibler.

According to Gibler, the only effect for swimmers with less coaches next year is the size of the roster. “A couple years ago we had 90 girls come out for the swim team, we’ll never be able to do that again. We’ll never be able to hire enough staff to take care of that so there will be cuts,” said Gibler. “I would say we probably couldn’t go more than 30-35 on a team next year.” Sports are not the only ones taking a hit. There may be some tension in the classroom too as teachers await the announcement of the elimination of some positions. “Nobody wants to lose a friend or lose a teacher in their department,” said Katzfey. “Everybody’s nervous, the unknown is always scary.” Teachers and staff are also frustrated about the changes that will take place in the classroom next year. “Will they see less resource base? The answer is probably. Will class sizes go up? Yes,” said Bateman. But Bateman is confident that the faculty will do what they do best, despite the circumstances. “Educators are here to work with kids. They’re passionate about teaching kids. I think that will happen with exceptional results,” said Bateman. The question some asked following the levy vote was why? Why did the community vote no? “I would have thought that the

community would have passed the levy, and they didn’t,” said Bateman. “But I believe the community supports Lee’s Summit West and I believe they will continue to hold high standards.” “This is not a vote against the school district,” said Bateman. “It’s a request that we look at how we spend money. However, at the level of current levy and current state funding and the programs we have in the school district, we have a gap. And that gap was to be filled by an 89 cent levy, and it wasn’t,” she said. Despite the changes that are currently taking place and the changes that are to come within the next few months, Bateman and Katzfey keep a positive outlook. “I don’t think we will falter in having our students be successful. Whether that’s academically, athletically, or in extra curricular activities,” said Bateman. “Things are going to get tough before they get better, but I think we’ll rise to the occasion, I know we’re going to be okay and we’ll make it through,” said Katzfey. According to Gibler, it is extremely important to make sure the kids are not affected too much. “For those of us who are old and have been doing this [teaching/coaching] for years and years, a couple of rough years is nothing, but for you guys, these are your only years in high school,” she said.

The after effects of the levy: what happens now Sydnee Owens


8 • News • Opinion • Feature • Arts&Entertainment • Sports • Titan Scroll

Well if you ask me:

Justin Bieber was recently in-terviewed for a Rolling Stone article and he was asked about difficult topics people have to

deal with today. Justin gave his honest opinion on abstinence, abortion, rape and politics and it started a storm that swept across the nation because people didn’t think a 17-year-old should be asked those questions. In reality I think he should have, he is 17, but he still has to deal with all of these issues. Being a teenager doesn’t shield you from the real world and if opinions aren’t formed now what you stand for later can become cloudy. I think that Justin has an extra responsibility to be in-formed because he is a role-mod-el, but we should all have opinions and know what is going on in the world. Drugs, abortion, absti-

nence and many other issues are all part of our lives right now and we have to make decisions about them so we should have stances on them. We are in high school so we might not know how we feel about every topic, but that is why it is a great time to start think-ing about them. We are in a shel-tered environment where we can find out more information about things from people who care about us, so when the time comes to make a tough decision about something, you already have an opinion and the choice will be a lot less confusing to make. I have a feeling that the only people who didn’t like Justin Bie-

ber being asked tough questions either didn’t like him or the opin-ions he gave. There is always going to be someone who doesn’t agree with the opinions you have, but that does not mean you shouldn’t have them at all. Think how bor-ing your conversations would be if everyone only saw one view! Even though other people may challenge you, find out how you feel about issues and form opin-ions now. Don’t wait until you leave high school to decide how you view important subjects. And even though some of you may not agree with the opinion that I’m about to share, here it comes! I still think Justin Bieber is ador-able even with his new haircut!

Guest Commentary by Freshman Mason Fender

Bieber SHOULD speak of politics

As springtime finally draws near, the first things that come to mind are stepping outside and taking that first big breath of clean, crisp air, the pleasure and warmth of the sunshine and the beauty and vivid col-oring of budding flowers. Most don’t take the time to realize however, that each one of these luxuries is a natural gift from Mother Nature, and a very fragile gift at that. With each passing year, human civi-lization damages a small frac-tion of the Earth’s natural re-sources, and over time, these small amounts begin to add up. Too many people take advantage of the world around them and most-ly without even realizing how much damage their actions cause. Today, the most common way

Americans dispose of trash is by placing it at the end of their drive-way for the trashman to pick up and be hauled off to a landfill. Most don’t ever think twice about this typical, weekly ritual. However, what many don’t realize is that near-ly 70 percent of all garbage is put into

landfills and of this amount, nearly 80 percent of the waste could have been re-cycled! Along with this pollution, air pollu-tion becomes more of an issue with each passing day. With the constant raise in gas prices, hybrid cars seem to be a cheaper and more beneficial option. Every year, thou-

sands of animals are illegally killed mainly for purposes of pleasure, or to sell pieces of the carcass on the high demand black market. This has caused thousands of animals to be placed on lists of endangered or ex-tinct species.

The Earth has tried to warn her inhabitants that we cannot continue to abuse and take advantage of our home with an increased rate of natu-ral disasters. Many help organiza-tions have since been created, yet too many continue to harm the world around them. It is commonly thought that it is unnecessary to worry about go-ing green because the long term ef-fects of pollution won’t be faced for hundreds of years. This however, is a myth. The Earth is degraded on a daily basis. After enjoying the first few days of Spring, appreciate it’s beauty and get involved in the green movement. Buy a recycling bin, join a conserva-tion group, or help in another way so that every generation of the world can enjoy this beautiful Earth the same way.

Staff Editorial: Go green or go home! Jenna Keeble

Mar. 4, 2011 • News •Opinion• Feature • Arts&Entertainment • Sports • 9

Health Freak:

Alex Katzfey

Spring Dieting As spring approaches the eagerness to sport shorts and skirts is obviously overwhelming here at West. In addition to beautiful weather looming in the near future comes the thought of summer. And personally, the first thought that comes to my mind when I think of summer is swimsuit season. Not only is spring a fun time to get out and enjoy the sunshine, but it is also a crucial time to prepare for those months when girls and boys are mostly, well, under-dressed. And usually the question I have to ask myself is how should I prepare? I am a high school student who loves to eat whatever and whenever I want and I have no time to keep up with a strenuous dieting plan. This is where fad diets come in. Recently some popular fad diets in the news have been the Acai Berry diet, the Grapefruit diet, and the Cookie diet. But do they work? Here are the basics.

Acai Berry Diet: The acai berry is a reddish, purple fruit that is native to South America and can be put into the same category as other berries such as blueberries, raspberries, and cranberries because it is rich in antioxidants. This so-called “superfood” that has been claimed to help with weight loss, cancer, cholesterol, and arthritis even though research on this berry is limited and the health claims have not been proven yet. Forms of this berry include juice, pills, and powder. This weight-loss stimulator is still continuously advertised as completely effective without the verification. Mayo Clinic: Katherine Zeratsky R.D., L.D.

Grapefruit Diet: This diet has been around awhile and is based on the ingredient in grapefruit that supposedly trigger fat burning, which then leads to weight loss. A person on this diet would have to eat about ½ of a grapefruit with every meal or drink unsweetened grapefruit juice for a total of about 800-1,000 calories a day. The grapefruit is a healthy food due to its low-calorie nature loaded with fiber and vitamin C, but so are others. Even more importantly is that there is no evidence this fruit contains fat-burning enzymes. Web MD Expert Review: Kathleen M. Zelman, MPH, RD, LD

The Cookie Diet: This special amino acid enhanced cookie developed by Dr. Siegal in 1975 is formulated to suppress hunger and force a person to consume less. A person on this diet is supposed to eat a cookie whenever hungry, which adds up to about 4-6 a day. Then for dinner one is urged to eat a regular meal for a daily calorie intake of less than a 1,000. If you need a diet where very little decisions are made or if you are always on the go then this could be right for you!Mayo Clinic: Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.

My thoughts? JUST EAT SMART AND EXERCISE! Fad diets are not effective. Sure you may lose 15 pounds by actively participating in the Grapefruit or Cookie Diet, but could you eat 4-6 cookies a day for the rest of your life? Or could you only eat 800-1,000 calories a day? I sure couldn’t. That is why these diets are not helpful, after you stop one of these diets you will only gain back the weight you lost. Just check nutrition labels, eat your daily vegetables and fruits, get your heart pumping hard everyday, and don’t follow fad diets!

10 •News • Opinion • Feature • Arts&Entertainment • Sports • Titan Scroll

Teens aren’t the only ones with part time jobsMeg Britton-Mehlisch

Teachers like English teacher, Jennifer Bailey, Guidance Counselor, Joni O’Neil, and Special Ed-ucation teacher, Heather Guental, show students that while balancing two jobs can be stressful at times, it can also be manageable and fun. Today, with the economy in sham-bles, many Americans are looking for a second job for some much needed financial support. But both Bailey and O’Neil said that they were not dependent on the second income. “It’s helped me from taking out loans and I don’t have a credit card balance, so it’s kept me away from charging and having loans and mov-ing toward being debt free. I’m not debt free yet, but it’s helped me to stay as debt free as I can possibly be,” said O’Neil. Guental said for her, a second job gives her financial support and se-curity. Aside from her teaching job, Guental also works as a sales per-son at White House | Black Market. Guental looked for a second job “be-cause I’m a single teacher, I bought a house, I needed the money, and I wanted the discount.” Both Bailey and O’Neil said that they very much enjoy working outside of West. Bailey just got her real estate license for her part time real-tor job and O’Neil has been working as a swim teacher for over 25 years. Bailey said that she is excited for the opportu-nity to experience a new job . “I think it’ll be really fun, I like to talk with people and I’m learning a lot about housing and how to build houses and sell houses which I think is a good life skill any-way,” she said. Bailey’s new realtor position offers many perks to her life. “My husband is a real estate agent and he works for a builder of a new housing develop-ment and is also in the military so he’s also going to be in military training over the summer. So I thought I would kind of help out in the family business and get my [real estate] license so that I could work with him and this builder over the summer and kind of keep things rolling while he was in training,“ she said. O’Neil had a similar start to her second job. She

started out helping someone she knew who was a swim teacher for some extra cash, but then grew to love the job. “When I was young I worked as an assistant to someone who did [teach swim les-sons], so that gave me the idea, and then I found that I loved swimming and I really love watching people learn to swim and helping people over-

come fears.” O’Neil said that she has grown to really love teaching swim, partially because it’s so different from her job as a guidance counselor at West. But she said that she never expected to be doing it for as long as she has. O’Neil has found that teaching swim has brought many small joys into her life, such as watching her swimmers grow up. “I also have some students here at Lee’s Summit West, I have like 4 or 5 that I taught when they were little. So it’s really fun to see that one of them is even on the swim team now and it’s fun to see them grow and continue their swimming,” she said. Similarly, Bailey said she never expected to one day have a real estate license. “I never thought I would be in a sales position,” she said. Baliey and O’Neil repeatedly said how they en-joy their second job, but Guental gave a slightly different side to the story. “I am a little tired of it after three years; tired of working two jobs. But I mean it’s fun, it’s something different from what I normally do.”

Like Bailey and O’Neil, Guental got help from a friend to get her position at White House|Black Market. “Laura Theodorrow who used to be an English teacher here worked at Ann Taylor and so she got me a job, I think about three years ago, at Ann Taylor. And then my manager moved to White House| Black Market so I moved there,”

said Guental. While Guental’s position at White House |Black Market is different from her job here at West, she finds herself using some of the same skills at both jobs. “ In my job here I deal with a lot of different types of people and I think that helps. I mean my [sales] numbers are usu-ally pretty good, and I think that’s because I’ve learned to relate to a lot of different kinds of people.” Guental comes into contact with a lot of people, balancing her teaching job, her position as a cheer coach, and her job at White House |Black Market, year round while Bailey and O’Neil work their part time jobs during the summer. Though O’Neil, Bailey, and Guen-tal have all found themselves in second jobs they enjoy, they both

echoed the concerns of many Americans that there might not be an opportunity for two jobs or even one job for all of the current generation because people already in the workforce are tak-ing part time jobs on the side to deal with the eco-nomic situation. Guental said she feels there has been a rise in people working two jobs through her job here at West.”I’ve noticed a lot here at school with par-ents, with kids too. Kids are having to go home and having to let themselves in because their par-ents have taken on second jobs and aren’t there.” O’Neil called upon her observations as a guid-ance counselor to backup her feelings on the rise of second job workers as well. “One way I know that is some of our students who are looking to work, there aren’t as many jobs out there because there are people who are working through the day and then taking on a part time job on the side. And I think the economy has required that.”

Teachers such as Jennifer Bailey, Joni O’Neil and Heather Guental work additional jobs outside of West. Photo courtesy of Jennifer Bailey

Mar. 4, 2011 • News • Opinion •Feature• Arts&Entertainment • Sports • 11

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spring break.” -Senior Allison Gochenour

“I’m looking forward to Spring Break so I can hang out with my friends and do hood rat things. Plus, less school is less

worries. And I can sleep in more and not have to worry about school.”

-Senior Drew Conkling


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Titan Scroll wants to know...

what’s your most embarrassing moment?

Brandon Rice“My backpack spilled

down the stairs.”

Andrew Argotsinger “Broke my toe playing dodgeball.”

Sydney Hollowell“Someone threw up in the lunch room and

I slipped in it.”

Brian Hamm“I was sitting by my girlfriend at the time and I got up from the couch. I told her not to take my seat, but when she did I proceeded to sit on her. She gave me a bear hug

and I flagellated.”

Mohammed Abuoun“I was in the wrong class

for three days.”Blake Eagleburger “They happen daily.”

Patrick Hoard“About a month ago, I was talking to this girl in a car and I was about to give her a hug, so I was having to bend over and It was icy so I slipped and hit my head in the bottom of the car door.”

Brianne Orr“At Una Voce camp this year me and two other girls were skipping and singing and all of a sudden I just went rolling down a hill and landed at the bottom

flat on my back.”

Mar. 4, 2011 •News • Opinion • Feature • Arts&Entertainment •Sports •17 16•News • Opinion •Feature• Arts&Entertainment •Sports • Titan Scroll

Taylor Jensen

Heavy smoke rolls, a mother yells for help and the neighbors come to the rescue. For the Pearce family, Dec. 2 had been an ordinary day until their neighbor’s home at 445 SW Rivulet Drive began to blaze. Titan father Tim Pearce said, “I was just sitting in my living room watching Thursday night football. My daughter Danielle and my wife Christy heard somebody screaming outside.” “All of the sudden we heard someone screaming so we went outside,” said Junior Danielle Pearce. They were saying ‘get a ladder, get a ladder!’ Whenever we walked down to the neighbor’s house all we saw was black smoke coming out of the house.” Tim said, “I didn’t know why I was grabbing a ladder; I didn’t know what was going on. I just took off out the front door and ran down the street with it.” Seeing smoke billowing out of the house, Tim’s natural instincts kicked in and he knew what he had to do when he saw the mother and her children inside the burning house. “She was in the second floor hanging out the window and had the kids in each arm. By the time I got down there, a police officer had shown up and the two of us proceeded to pull the two kids out first and hand them off. The little girls had just gotten baths and my wife wrapped them up in blankets and took them to the ambulances,” he said. Danielle said, “It was really scary; I didn’t know what to expect. It was overwhelming.” Tim said he believed the only injuries suffered in the fire was the mother’s

smoke inhalation. “The little girls were crying. One of the little girls said ‘this can’t be happening, it’s Christmas, this can’t be happening,’” said Danielle. Lee’s Summit Master Police Officer Michael Isberg was the first officer to arrive at the scene and was able to help Pearce and the others with what he said to be extraordinary courage and action. “Tim’s prompt and fast response was absolutely needed to save those

people,” said Isberg. That is why Pearce was chosen to be recognized during a ceremony this week. For the past 17 years, the Lee’s Summit Police Department has

recognized officers and citizens who have played a special role in assisting others in the community. Several citizens and groups received certificates and medals for their outstanding actions as uniformed officers, relatives and appreciative citizens looked on. Pearce and two of his neighbors were among those receiving a letter of appreciation. Receiving word about the ceremony, Tim wasn’t sure what to think. “When I found out, I didn’t want to go, I just didn’t want to do the TV interview,” said Tim. “It was a group effort. I don’t consider myself a hero; it was just a natural reaction. If someone needed your help, you would hope others would do the same,” he said. “KCTV5 News came and he didn’t really want to do the interview. He’s really modest about it. He didn’t want anyone to know it was him. He’s just one of those people who didn’t want the publicity,” said Danielle. Regardless, Danielle said she thinks highly of her father’s deed. “I see him as a hero and I look up to him even more than I did before. I now know that in any situation he could do anything,” she said. “It was really brave.” “It was great. I appreciate my family supporting me,” said Tim, modestly adding, “It was good to be recognized for doing nothing.” Isberg, who was recognized for his life-saving efforts said, “Sure, I have this big, fancy award but the fact is, the awards they got were just as

important.” “What I think is great,” Iseberg said, “is that community is all about taking care of each other. Tim’s actions helped save three lives by him being there. He showed magnificent character.” Tim said, “It is a big deal in some people’s eyes. Although I don’t consider myself a hero, you just do what you have to do. I just hope that other people would react the same way for me.” The family is okay, but as for the house itself, it will be awhile before it’s back to a safe condition.

“The entire inside was ruined. All the windows were busted out. The door was busted down so they could get in,” said Danielle. “The whole lower level was engulfed in flames and the rest of the house had extensive heat and smoke damage. The house is completely boarded up right now,” said Tim. The house hasn’t been worked on since the fire, nearly two months ago, and the family has since relocated.

Modest hero receives recognition

Titan dad Tim Pearce helped pull two children out of a burning house in his neighborhood last December. Junior Danielle Pearce shared a moment with her father after her received a letter of appreciation from the Lee’s Summit Police Department. Photo by Ariel Thompson.


Concert Match-UpUsher Date: November 27th, 2010

“I left half way through Usher because I didn’t think it was that good, but his opening act Trey Songz was amazing.”-- Sophomore Rachel Hilton

Songs:

Photo courtesy www.ushernow.com

“OMG”“DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love”

“There Goes My Baby”

Linkin Park Date: January 29th, 2011

Photo courtesy www.linkinpark.com

“The concert was awesome, everyone was just going crazy and it was even better than I thought it would be.”-- Sophomore Elias Duckworth

Songs:

“Waiting for the End”

“What I’ve Done”

“New Divide”

Ke$ha Date: February 20th, 2011

Photo courtesy www.keshasparty.com

“It was really cool, she was so much fun on stage. She had really cool outfits, and she just looked like she had a lot of fun up there. She looked like a complete natural which made the concert so much fun.”-- Senior Alexis Perkins

Songs:

“Tik Tok”

“We R Who We R”

“Your Love Is My Drug”

Innerpartysystem Date:February 15th, 2011

“A current Indy rock band, they are pretty sweet. The show was amazing. I can’t even explain it. Along with their music they have a big light show to go with it. So they were just up there jamin for like two hours. They went pretty hard.”-- Junior Spencer Chaney

Photo courtesy www.innerpartysystem.com

Songs:

“Don’t Stop”

“Obsession”

“Die Tonight Live Forever”

Mar. 4 , 2011 • News • Opinion • Feature•Arts&Entertainment• Sports • 19

For the past few years, Justin Bieber has been a teen heart throb around the world. To share his journey with fans leading up to his performance at

M a d i s o n S q u a r e G a r d e n , B i e b e r m a d e “Never Say Never 3D” f o l l o w e d by “Never Say Never 2.0” which hits the-aters to-day. In addi-

tion to the original version of “Never Say Never” the Directors Cut, also in 3D, was released last weekend. It is mostly the same as the original give or take a few scenes. In the Direc-tors Cut, more footage of Bieber’s friends and home life are included. Viewers get to see how important family really is to Bieber. “Never Say Never” is about Bie-ber’s life on and off stage. Viewers get a peek of Bieber’s hometown of Stratford, Ontario. It was there that Bieber began showing signs of be-coming a star at an early age. I think that this movie gave ev-eryone who saw it an insight on the boy behind the luscious locks. “Never Say Never” included every-thing from home videos to concert footage. Personally, I thought the concert

footage was incredibly entertaining. It included all of Justin’s hit songs like “Baby,” “One Time” and “Never Say Never,” along with his impres-sive dance skills. The music that was featured in the movie was great and kept the au-dience involved. The movie included new songs by Bieber including “Born to be Somebody” and “Overboard featuring Miley Cyrus.” Both songs can be heard on Bieber’s new album “Never Say Never- The Remixes” which debuted number one on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. Bieber’s story to fame is very in-teresting to watch. The movie put his life into a different perspective and showed that he really never said never. Along with showing the start of Bieber’s career, “Never Say Never”

opens the doors of a behind the scenes look into Bieber’s life to his fans. Although his lifestyle is far from normal, the movie shows that he is still a normal kid who likes to have fun, play pranks on his team, and hang out with friends. The movie introduces viewers to Bieber’s friends, who fully support his career and attend many of Bie-ber’s shows. In the movie, one of Bieber’s best friends, Chaz Somers, said “we cherish the time that we have together because it’s not a lot.” For me, this movie made me love Justin Bieber even more although it did not have the same effect on oth-ers. Some people think that Bieber is just going to be around for a couple years and then fall silent. But after seeing the movie, I think he’s going to be around for a very long time.

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Mar. 4 , 2011 • News • Opinion • Feature•Arts&Entertainment• Sports • 19

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Spring Fever

DOWN 1. Competition to get on a team 2. Sport played with a racket on a court 3. Multiple colored plants that smell good 6. A common place to ski 8. The season that starts March 21st 11. A popular spot to go on vacation (near an ocean)

ACROSS 1. Sport that involves run-ning, relays, and passing a baton 4. Missouri is in ____ alley 5. The holiday that com-bines a rabbit and eggs 7. The newest sport at West 8. A week long vacation high school students crave 9. A piece of clothing ev-eryone diets to fit into 10. Sport that uses a bat, makes home-runs, and has nine innings 12. Falls from the sky, helps plants grow


Grammy Award

Oscars VS. GrammysResults of Grammys

Album of the Year: “The Sub-urbs,” Arcade Fire

Best New Artist: Esparan-za Spalding

Best Pop Vocal Album: “The Fame Monster,” Lady Gaga

Best Rock Album: “The Resistance,” Muse

Best Alternative Music Album: “Brothers,” The Black Keys

Best Contemporary R&B Album: “Raymond V Ray-mond,” Usher

Junior Emily Marriott: “Memorable moment was when Arcade Fire winning album of the year.”

Freshman, Kiersten West: “Most interesting moment was Lady Gaga in an egg on the Red Carpet.”

Freshman Gretta Roettgen: “Most comical moment was Christina Aguilera falling and best dressed was Rihan-na.”

Results of Oscars:

Best Rap Album: “Recovery,” Eminem

Best Latin Pop Album: “Paraiso Express,” Ale-jandro San

Best Country Album: “Need you now,” Lady Antebel-lum

Best Picture: "The King's Speech"

Best Actor: Colin Firth-"The King's Speech"

Best Actress: Natalie Portman-"Black Swan"

Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale-""The Fighter"

Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo-"The Fighter"

Best Animated Film: "Toy Story 3"

Best Director: Tom Hooper-"The King's Speech"

Best Visual Effects: "Inception"

Best Film Editing: "The Social Network"

Freshman Kiersten West: "Most memorable moment was Anne Hatheway singing."

Freshman Gretta Roettgen: "Best dressed was Natalie Portman."

Freshman Kennadee Williams: "Most comical moment was James Franco in a dress."

Oscar

Mar. 4, 2011 • News • Opinion • Feature•Arts&Entertainment• Sports • 23

Stieg Larsson’s literature carries onKatey Stoetzel

Back in the summer of 2010, one of the biggest celebrities began to make an impression in the United States. Often she was, and still is, referred to as The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. But her real name is Lisbeth Salander, the fictional computer hacker out of Stieg Larsson’s books by the same titles, which first originated in Sweden. In their June 25th issue featuring the first book on the cover, Entertainment Weekly pretty much summed up all three books in two sentences: “At the center of all three novels are two un-usually compelling figures: the anti-social, emotionally damaged computer hacker Lisbeth Salander and the cru-sading investigative journal-ist Mikael Blomkvist. Together, they battle bad guys, solve mysteries, and uncover deep-rooted institu-tional corruption.” Or more to the point, they are mur-der mysteries, but you won’t find any Nancy Drew plots in these. They are also filled with a ton of back stories, mostly revolving around Lis-beth’s mysterious life. Senior and Sweden foreign exchange student Katarina Rylander is just one of many who enjoy these books. “They are very well written and quite easy to read. They are very exciting so you don’t want to put the book down, just keep reading,” she said. “They are not really like any other books. Many people write about adventure, but these books are very deep and go right down to the depth of soci-ety and all the secrets within our community and stuff like that.” Rylander is from Stockholm, the exact same place all three books are set. Tacking onto the popularity of the books are the three Swedish films, which according to Ry-lander, are just as good as the books because they stick to the story line pretty well. “They follow the books and even a guy, who is

a Swedish boxer and has a part in the books plays himself in the movie which I think is pretty cool. But yeah, they stick to the storyline.” Even the movies, which require, of course, English-speakers to read the subtitles, are a big hit in the United States. But even more exciting than that is director David Fincher (“The Social Network”) is taking on the books. Yes, that’s right folks. Hollywood has stepped in once again. The American version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” is set for release on Dec. 21 of this year

and stars Rooney Mara as Lisbeth and Daniel Craig as Blomkvist. “It’s going be fun to see how they film it and because the Swedish ones became such a huge hit. If they’re going to try to make it better, it’s going be pretty hard. Plus, it’s set in Sweden too, so it’s going to be interesting seeing that as well,” said Rylander. But no matter how interesting the books and movies are, there’s more to the story, so to speak, than meets than the eye. For one of the most intriguing aspects of the books, flip to the front cover and look at the bottom at the name of the author: Steig Larsson. In late 2004, months before the publication of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” the first in the trilogy, Larsson died of a heart attack after climb-

ing seven flights of stairs to his office. Fortunately for the literary world, he had already written the transcripts for all three of the books and made a three book contract with the publishers. Instead of leaving a will behind, Larsson left a huge mess to clean up between his girlfriend and his family. His girlfriend of more than 30 years, never marrying because of Larsson’s work as an editor of an antifascist magazine called “Expo,” to keep her safe from any attacks, Eva Gabriels-son was left nothing. Everything of Larsson’s, the

rights to make decisions about the books, his estate and even the apart-ment went to his father and brother, Erland and Joakim, according to En-tertainment Weekly. Eventually, Ga-brielsson was given the apartment. However, no final settlement has been reached. Also according to Entertainment Weekly, Gabrielsson found the be-ginnings of a fourth book on a lap-top in her apartment. She did men-tion that it could be publishable, but nothing will happen until she and the Larssons can come to an agree-ment. Also, as a disclaimer, the books do contain a lot of rated R material, but that shouldn’t stop teens from

reading them. The sexuality parts of the books only bring about the entire meaning of the novels, but that’s for the readers to figure out on their own.

Two of the books in Stieg Larsson’s last trilogy before he passed away. Photo by Kalie Emma

Book Review

24• News • Opinion • Feature • Arts&Entertainment • Sports • Titan Scroll

After winning Conference and Districts, the Lady Titans wrapped up their season Wednesday night in the first game of sec-tionals against Blue Springs High School. The girls put up a hard fight against the Wildcats, keeping the score close in the first half. But Blue Springs had a challenging de-fense and West accumulated quite a few fouls, with a final score of 60-41. Last week, the Titan girls basketball team won the district tournament against cross town rival Lee’s Summit High School. The Titans were seeded number one in the district tournament at a seeding meet-ing held by the coaches a few weeks ago. After Districts, the team advanced to Sectionals, where the state assigned the teams’ schedules. After learning that the team would face the Blue Springs Wildcats in Sectionals, Head Coach Darin Hall said, “We were beat by them earlier in the season and we are hoping to avenge that loss. They get up and play and are aggressive, but if we take care of our defense, it should be a close game. These last few weeks we’ve played our best, and this is the time we want to be playing our best,” said Hall. Senior Katie Douglas added, “It’s been a really good season. It started out rocky, but we’ve stepped up and started to play well.” Douglas also said that winning Confer-ence this year for the fist time in Titan his-tory, was one of her favorite memories of the season. Junior Erin Dohnalek said, “The season has gone really well. Our team works good together and when we play there’s a good turnout.”

Senior Emma Bellman reaches out to recover the loose ball. (photo above)JacQue’ Timberlake, left, looks for her teammate to pass the ball.Photos by Judd Kirn.

Lady Titans fall short at Sectionals

Mar. 4, 2011 • News • Opinion • Feature • Arts&Entertainment•Sports• 25

Lindsey Bingham The Boys Varsity Basketball team rounded off the year with a season of 12-14. The team lost to cross town rival Lee’s Summit High School on

Feb. 22 in Districts play. The final game of the season turned out to be a loss by only three points with a final 55-52, Lee’s Sum-mit.

“At times we did re-ally well but at times we struggled. We had all the pieces, but we just couldn’t put the puzzle together,” said Head Coach Michael Schieber. Although the Ti-tans had their ups and downs, according to Schieber the high-light of the season was winning the Wil-liam Jewell Tourna-ment in December. The team started off the season with a defeat of Raytown 71-54 and another

win with a score of 66-

30. Schieber said much time and effort put into the season this year. Players would spend between two to two and a half hours practicing on week-nights and extra time was put in on game nights. Also, tourna-ments would take place during week-ends and more prac-tices were held on the weekends. The team gradu-ates five players this year; Darnay Session, Armand Stricklin, Lawrence Anderson, Roderick Clark and Garrett Sandbothe. Schieber said, “It’s always hard to lose seniors, but it’s just the reality of what we do.”

“Some kids will be ready to step up and lead the team next year,” he said.

Boys basketball wraps up the season

Junior Shaquille Harrison played a hard game, although losing in the end. Photo by Aaron Brower

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Senior Roderick Clark showed some intensity, but the Titans weren’t able to hold off Lee’s Summit in the season-ending game. Photo by Aaron Brower


Nikki Andriano Five swimmers, one diver and two alternates provided a strong showing for West at their State competition in mid-February. “I take swimmers to state every year. Usually I would say my average is eight to ten athletes a year,” said Head Coach Colleen Gibler. “Diving is more of a smaller group of girls, because it is one event out of twelve.” Sophomore diver Nina Privitera said, “It felt really good because I was the only diver to go and it was my first year I dove. It was really exciting.” Privitera made it in eight out of twelve dives, making it into semi-finals. She placed 18th. “My favorite part of diving is probably the fact that not a lot of people know about diving as a sport,” she said, “It’s unique.”

Senior Jean Madison, Juniors Lyndsey Sherrow, Alyson Raymond, Katey Stoetzel, and Sophomore Joslyn Fergerson also made it to State, with two alternates, Junior Whitney Harper and Freshman Riley Manning. “It was a lot of fun. It was kind of like a normal meet but just so much faster” said Fergerson. “I like how swimming is both an individual and team sport. There are always relays where you rely on your team to do well, then

in individual events you rely on nothing but yourself to do good,” said Sherrow who has made it to State all three years she has swam. S h e r r o w swam in the 200 medley along with M a d i s o n , Raymond, and Fergerson. The girls placed 14th in it, which qualified them as an All-State H o n o r a b l e Mention. Sherrow, Madison, and Raymond also swam in the

400 free relay

with Stoetzel. They got 32nd. Madison also swam in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke placing eighth and fifth place, which qualified as All-State in both events. “My favorite part about swimming is being with all the girls and representing West. That is one thing I will miss is representing West for swimming and it’s hard to let that go,” said Madison. Raymond swam in two individual events, the 200 free and the 100 fly, placing 40th and 26th. Sherrow swam in the 100 back placing 32nd. “Gibler is an excellent coach,” said Sherrow, “she knows exactly what to do to make you a better swimmer. She always motivates us to do better and always wants us to do the best we can.” The team as a whole placed 23rd out of 48 schools, with 31 points. “I think the girls are passionate, hard workers about their swimming and they understand the relationship between the work and the goals they are going to get and pay off for that,” said Gibler. “I always did enjoy Gibler as my coach,” Madison said, “she

is like a mother to me and always will be, I could never ask for more from her. She has dedicated her life to swimming just like me and I am happy to say that I got to swim for her my senior year. I love her and always will.”

Girl State swimmers finish out the season

200 medley relay: four member swim (backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle)400 free relay: four members swim, each swim 100 yards (freestyle)200 IM: individual medley (butterfly, backstroke, breast-stroke, freestyle)100 breaststroke: individual 100 yards (breaststroke)200 free: individual 200 yards (freestyle)100 fly: individual 100 yards (butterfly)100 back: individual 100 yards (backstroke)

Sophomore Nina Privitera went to State this year for div-ing. Photo by Riley Manning

Swimming Events

Senior Jean Madison took fifth at State in the 100 breaststroke as well as 8th in the 200 IM in what was her last high school swim compeition. Photo by Riley Manning


Anna Schafer The wrestling team recently turned heads at State in Columbia at the Mizzou Arena. Junior Evan Boehm placed first and wrestled at 285, Senior Ben Poeschl placed second and wrestled at 215. Poeschl lost by one point to a returning undefeated wrestler from Columbia Hickman. Junior Matt Lemanowicz finished third and he wrestled at 140. Also, Senior Andrew Niehaus finished in the top eight at 135, and Junior Andrew Bestgen earned a State trip, wrestling at 160. “For wrestling, it’s a 16 man bracket, there’s a double elimination tournament which means you have

to keep wrestling until you lose twice. Boehm went 4 and 0. Poeschl went 3 and 1, Lemanowicz 4 and 1. Then Niehaus took 2 and 2. Bestgen didn’t place at the State qualifier,” Hauck said. “I’m very much satisfied with the results, not very often do we get to a State tournament; not many kids wrestle up to their potential,” he added. The satisfaction of the results were also shared by the team. Niehaus said, “We got fifth as a team and that’s the best finish we’ve ever had for the school,” “We took five people down to State which is great. At the end of the day we got sixth place, but then thought ‘why not go for fifth place?’ So we all

wrestled our hardest, and that’s what we ended up getting,” said Boehm. “ G o i n g to State is a blast. So many w r e s t l e r s you’ve never seen are there. You just meet so many new people, and you also get to see all the d i f f e r e n t w r e s t l i n g styles of each wrestler,” said Boehm. “Seeing my friends all there to come and support me was one of my favorite parts,” said Poeschl.

Hauck said

he sees a great future for two of his senior wrestlers. “Ben Poeschl was offered a scholarship for football but he could pick up a different scholarship in wrestling as well. Andrew [Niehaus] certainly has ability to wrestle at a college level as well,” said Hauck. Currently Poeschl is at a crossroads determining which path to take for college. “There’s a distinct possibility I might wrestle in college. I don’t know though. Colleges have been talking to me about it but I don’t know which road I’ll take yet,” said Poeschl. Boehm plans to wrestle again next year and possibly at the college level. “Oh yeah I’m going to wrestle next year. It’s going to be hard to get down to weight. But I intend to. In college, football would be my top priority. But to go down to the wrestling room if the coach would let me would be great,” said Boehm. Poeschl said there was a lot of mental preparation it took to get ready for State. “I told myself it was my senior year, and that it was now or never. It was my last tournament I need to put in my best effort. It’s also just having the right attitude and good confidence,” said Poeschl. Poeschl also got to participate in the Parade for the Champions.

“The Parade for the Champions was crazy, there was 2,000 people in the arena just watching you. It was just overwhelming how many people were there. You get a lot of adrenaline going, it felt great,” said Poeschl. Hauck said he is glad knowing wrestling is a part of his life. “One of the things about it is you teach a technique or a move and you see your wrestler perform that at a competition and that’s very satisfying,” said Hauck. “He’s a really good technician; he knows pretty much everything about the sport. He has a way to get everyone working hard and preparing for matches. He’s more than just a coach. He cares more than just a coach would. You can tell he wants you to do good,” said Niehaus. Poeschl also had positive things to say towards Hauck. “He’s the greatest coach I’ve ever had in my life. He taught me so much about myself,” said Poeschl. Underclassmen are also thought highly of by the team. “The underclassmen are doing a great job. If they keep on working hard they have great things to come,” said Niehaus. Overall, Hauck said that he is proud of his wrestlers and the way they performed throughout the

Titan Wrestling brings home a State title

Junior Evan Boehm took first in the 285 division beating hisopponent 1 to 0. Photo courtesy of Gigi Lemanowicz.

West took 5 wrestlers to Columbia to compete. Photo courtesy of Gigi Lemanowicz.


Sitting in my room last night in my bed I began to think about fu-ture jobs. It came to me that one of the best ways to make money is to become a professional athlete. My train of thought brought me to the question that needs to be answered: are professional athletes overpaid? According to CNNMoney.com, the average salary in the NFL is

$770,000 a year. This amount of money would support seven fami-lies easily. Not only do the players get this high salary, but NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is proposing to make negotiations that would make bil-lions to pay for benefits for current players, and improved benefits for retired players. The average salary of an NBA player is five million dollars and MLB players make just over three million a year on average. The biggest complaint that most people have about professional ath-letes is that they do not match what they contribute to society. If this is true it is unfair. Some athletes give back to society but what about the bunch that don’t? The highest paid professional ath-lete is Tiger Woods. Woods makes

an astonishing $110 million per year. In my opinion, this amount is ridiculous to be paid to a profes-sional golfer. Does Tiger really de-serve this salary? It is a hard ques-tion to answer. Some would say yes they deserve the money because of their talent, or they would say they are the best at what they do. Some might even say that they deserve what they earn because of the sacrifice they make on their bodies. What I would say to them is if they are the best at what they do then they should love the sport, and if they loved the sport, money would not be an issue and there wouldn’t have to be these crazy ne-gotiations between commissioners and agents. If someone were to say that they deserve it because of the “sacrifice” they make on their bod-

ies, let’s remember the thousands of athletes that have chosen to use some form of steroid or perfor-mance enhancing drug. Do not get me wrong I love watch-ing professional sports just as much as anyone, but the debate over sala-ries of professional athletes should be more well known. What bugs me is that teachers, police officers, firefighters, and military personnel could only dream of the money that these athletes are making each year and possibly deserve it more than anyone. The answer is yes, athletes are being paid an excessive amount to entertain us. The problem is that we can’t take these athletes’ money and the argument to take away their money can barely be justified.

Commentary by Benjamin Poeschl

The Benefactor: The Million Dollar Question

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Claudia Guthrie Westside Girls earned another State Championship, the second year in a row and for the third time in West’s history. Competition in St. Louis last weekend was between 46 teams, with 16 teams in the Westside Girls’ category of 5A. The Westside Girls took State with first place in jazz, and third in hip-hop. The team technically tied for first along with Francis Howell. However, since both schools received the ex-act same scores, they both received individual State titles. With unusual circumstances such as tying for first, the team agreed that competition this year was even more difficult than normal overall. “It was a lot more difficult than last year. St. Louis came out of no-where with hip-hop, said Sopho-more Raegan Wagner. “I think the competition was real-ly hard, probably the hardest we’ve had. We went up a class, so it was harder,” said Head Coach Veronica Scott. Winning State came as a surprise to some of the girls. “We were good in jazz, but our hip-hop was on the rocks. Knowing our competition, we hadn’t expected to win. No one knew what the outcome was going to be,” said Wagner. “It was definitely our toughest year. In the past we had a good feel-ing, but this year it could have gone

either way,” said Senior Lauren Bra-dy, who has danced for the Westside Girls since her freshman year. In the days leading up to State, the Westside Girls worked hard to prepare. “We practiced everyday, getting out those last few kinks,” said Wagner. “They’re all just really good danc-

ers,” said Scott. “We don’t have to stop and teach techniques all the time.” Earlier this year, the team took first out of fourteen teams at the Lee’s Summit North competition. “We did really well at the Lee’s Summit North competition,” said Brady.

The Westside Girls look back on this year as one of their best. “It was a really good year, we all got re-ally close,” said Wagner. “It was a fun year because we’re all friends.” “I love competitions because it’s when all our hard work pays off,” said Brady.

Westside Girls win State for the third time

The Westside Girls took first in jazz and third in hip-hop out of 46 teams at State, giving them an overall First place State Cham-pionship. Photo courtesy of Nina Noe.


Spr

ing

Spo

rts

Boys TennisHead Coach: Paul Klene

Seniors: Nick Baker, Ryan Gleue,

First Match: March 22nd at Lee’s Summit North

“I think that we will be a strong team because we have a lot of ex-perience. I hope to be able to win

Conference and move on to the State Championship.”

-KleneTrenton Piepergerdes, Thomas Gardner

Girls Soccer

Baseball

Head Coach: Todd Krey

Head Coach: Jay Meyer

Jake Admire, Alex Routh, Cam JohnsonSeniors: Eric Dedovesh, Jerico Burasco,

First Game: Metro Leadoff Tournament March 22-26 at Legacy Park

Seniors: Kayla Kemp, Allison Gochenour, Melissa Laurk, Rachel Johnson,

First Game:

“Because of our over-all skills as a team, we don’t need one person

to carry the team. We will be a tough team to beat.”

-Meyer

“The team itself has very high expecta-

tions to win our Conference and win Districts. It’s going to be hard but we have every bit as

much of a chance as everyone else in our

District.” -KreyLSR7 Tournament: March 21st at West

Katie Huff, Katie Davis, Lexi Mok


pRevIew

Boys TrackHead Coach: Bob Klausing

Seniors: Adam Klausing, Konner Cordes, Drew Padget,

First Meet: March 28th at Lee’s Summit High School

“My expectation for the season is to trophy in

Conference.” - Coach Shortino

Head Coach: Richard MyersSeniors: Jake Kouba, Connor Allwood

First Tournament:

“We’ve got a pretty good group of experienced players. I have very high expectations

for the season.” -Myers

Head Coach: Derek HowardSeniors:

First Meet: March 28th at Lee’s Summit High School“Our expectations never change, we always want to win a Conference title. We have never lost one, and then the

other titles just follow.” -Howard

BOYS GOLF

Girls Track

Drum Farm Tournament: March 21st at Truman

Lauren Cheadle, Chelsea Pheobus, Hannah Reasbeck

Blake Bodenhammer, Brent Lapietra, Keith Marks


Good Luck

Nominated for best cinematography, best directing, best screen play, and best picture for his short film is Sophomore Estevan Mota. Mota’s work will be in national competition next week at the Independent Studio Media sponsored convention in Orlando. Several members of Titan Broadcasting are traveling to Orlando for the Student Television Network Convention. The nominated film can be seen at lswestonline. Click on multi-media.photo by Martin Steele

Estevan Mota!

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