Brad Ridings, 12, and Matt Hahn, 12, both signed ath-letic scholarships with Min-eral Area College for base-ball. Brock Montgomery, 12, signed an athletic scholarship with Lindenwood University for football. Joshua Gross, 12, signed an athletic scholarship with St. Louis Community College for soccer.

Girls’ swim team wins Conference title pg.6

Pirate Press Cookie Contest

Compiled by Jessica Brunts

PattonvilleBriefs

!e Varsity Drill Team placed 6th at the National Dance Team Competition Feb. 5-6 in Orlando, Fla.

Nate Bassman, 11, was se-lected for the Opera !eatre of St. Louis’ Young Artist in Training program. Bassman will get the opportunity to work with professionals who will help him develop his tal-ent. He will also be eligible for scholarships through the program.

Pattonville’s two robotics teams competed in the Cape Girardeau Regional Robotics Tournament and earned spots in the state championship competition. !e competition will take place on Feb. 26 at Missouri Univer-sity of Science and Technology.

Lora Hakanson, 12, and Megan Jones, 12, were both awarded the Presidential Scholarship to Missouri State University. !ey were two of only 30 Presidential Scholarship recipients.

Erica Ream, 12, and Khalil Gri"n, 12, have been named National Merit Finalists.

Pattonville students competed in the 2011 Special Olympics Bowling Tournament Feb. 10. Nancy Villinger, 12, and Carli White, 10, won bronze med-als. Nick Burse, 12, and Hosea Kent, 11, won silver medals. Donna Buus, 11, Chris Con-cialdi, 11, Justin Emch, 11, Jacob Lewis, 9, and Nick Mell-ring, 12, won gold medals.

In recent months, snow and ice has battered the Pattonville School District area. !is in-

clement weather has already a#ected Pattonville’s schedule with the usage of multiple snow days.

“In recent memory, we’ve never had more than four snow days,” Pat-tonville School District Superinten-dent Mike Fulton said.

As of Feb. 15, the district has called o# for inclement weather seven times.

However, the district has just six snow days built into the yearly schedule.

Because of this, students, faculty and sta# members are now required to attend school on April 22

!e district must make up excess snow days because the state man-dates that students attend school at least 174 days of the year and the district itself requires students to at-

tend at least 177 days.With approximately 40 more

days left of winter, the threat of bad weather still looms on the horizon.

“We are only half-way through win-ter. It’s reasonable to anticipate that we’ll get more snow,” Kent Ehrhardt, KMOV weather forecaster and Pat-tonville alum, said. Ehrhardt works closely with school districts around the area during the snow season.

“We try to stay days ahead of [the inclement weather]. We kind of anticipate it and put sta"ng in place so that we have a team, not just one person,” Ehrhardt said. Ehrhardt also commented that he will often book a hotel near the broadcasting center to insure that he will make it to work on time during inclement weather.

At Pattonville, Fulton makes the call as to whether or not the district will have a snow day. However, he works closely with associates both in

Current position: Principal-Rolla High School (2008-present)Notable professional experience: High school assistant principal, Patton-ville School District (July 2003-June 2008); Mathematics teacher, Patton-ville School District (August 1999-June 2003)

Rolla, Mo.Current position: Principal-Hazelwood West High School (2008-present)Notable professional experience: Associate high school principal, Hazel-wood West High School (2004-2008); Middle school assistant principal, Hazelwood East Middle School (1999-2004)

St. Charles, Mo.

Current position: Assistant principal-Kirkwood High School (2008-present)Notable professional experience: Assistant high school principal, Pat-tonville High School (1997-2008); Assistant principal, Parkway North High School (1995-1997); Mathematics teacher, Warrensburg Middle School (1989-1994)

Ballwin, Mo.

Glen Carbon, Ill.Current position: Assistant prin-cipal-McCluer North High School (2006-present)Notable professional experience: Educational consultant, Kaplan K-12 Learning Service (2006); Program Supervisor-Leadership Pact and Com-munity Outreach Programs-Pathways in Education (2003-2006)

Four candidates were inter-viewed on Tuesday, Feb. 15, for the head principal posi-

tion of Pattonville High School after Sara Keene announced her resigna-tion in January.

Nathan Hoven, Joseph Dobrinic, Cathy McGrath and Gary Spiller pre-sented to panels of department lead-ers, sta# and parents, students and administrators, and were given a tour of the building on Tuesday evening.

“We had over 50 candidates apply for this position and that was narrowed down to 10 that we

interviewed,” Barry Nelson told the group of about 35 sta# and parents gathered in Room B104 evaluating each interview. “Ultimately there are four candidates here today that we feel would make the best principal at Pattonville High School.”

Nathan Hoven, a former Patton-ville assistant principal, addressed those in attendance and said, “I think my experience has improved over the past three years and has put me in a position to o#er a lot back to Pat-tonville and to give back to a school district that gave me so much to begin with.”

Joseph Dobrinic graduated from Pattonville in 1988 and attended Bridgeway Elementary and Patton-ville Heights Middle School.

“My family is involved in the com-munity and there is a certain high level of pride that transfers from the community to the school and that’s something that I want to be a part of.”

Cathy McGrath was also a former assistant principal at Pattonville and was in that position for 11 years.

“When I heard there was an opening at Pattonville, I wasn’t even looking to leave [Kirkwood] but I was extremely excited about the challenge

of coming back and making Patton-ville better and more successful.”

Gary Spiller, the only candidate without prior experience at Patton-ville said, “!is is a place that I can provide expertise to make Pattonville a top school in North County and to further the mission of the school district ‘!at All Will Learn.’”

If everything goes as planned, a recommendation will go to the school board as early as March 1 and an announcement would be made on March 2 as to who is the new principal at the high school. However, the four hopefuls presented at the

interviews may not even be selected.“!e next principal could be any

of the four candidates here tonight or it could be none of them,” Nelson said. “It all depends on the feedback and data that we collect from your evaluations.”

Nelson has said that Pattonville School District has what is considered the most rigorous hiring process in St. Louis county.

“We want to make sure that we choose the right person for the job.”

By Jacob Sharp

By Geri Farrell

See SNOW, page 3

Principal search coverage continued on Page 2

‘Bye Bye Birdie’ showing this weekend

Preview on pg. 4Beginner’s Guide to Yoga

pg. 5

After Principal Sara Keene announced she would be resigning from her posi-

tion at the end of the year and mov-ing to Texas, the search for a new principal began. Pattonville has an elaborate hiring system that allows the district to choose the candidate that is the best $t for the Pattonville community.

!e hiring process at Pattonville is designed to involve teachers, students, parents and commu-nity members as well as the school board. !e process of $nding the right person for the job involves many steps.

!e $rst step in the search is advertising the position. According to Barry Nelson, assistant superin-tendent for human resources, Pat-tonville advertised online using the Missouri Regional Educational Ap-plication Program (MOREAP). !is is an online application program throughout the state of Missouri for educational positions. Applications were due by Jan. 27. As of Jan. 26, over 40 candidates had submitted applications.

Applicants were required to have secondary administration experi-ence at the middle school or high school level, a letter of interest, three letters of recommendation, a resume, all college transcripts and completion of a performance event. A performance event is like an essay. !e prompt given to the applicants was “Discuss a time you played a key role implementing a signi$cant change that impacted student achievement. Discuss how you determined why the change was necessary, the key action steps taken, communication strategies, how you addressed challenges associ-ated with the change, etc.”

After the applications were sub-mitted, they were reviewed. After reviewing the applications, a small number of candidates are sent on to the building level interviews. !e candidates are sent to be interviewed by interview teams made up of parents, teachers, students, admin-istrators and department leaders. Letters are sent out to teachers, select students and involved parents asking if they want to be a member of the interview team. However, anyone that wants to be a part of the interview process can be. If a person is not selected for the interview team, they can observe the interviews and still give feedback on the candidates, according to Nelson.

At the building level interviews, candidates typically face several interview teams. !e order is not set in stone but it could fall in a pattern such as interview with the department leaders, interview with students and administrators and then

interview with parents and teachers. Interview team members, as well as observers, $ll out feedback forms which are then sent to Superinten-dent Mike Fulton. !e building level interviews were originally set for Feb. 10, but they were moved back to Feb. 15 because of the snow days.

“We take the most quali$ed can-didates to Pattonville for feedback,” Nelson said. He says that there is no set number of candidates that are taken to the building level interviews. “It depends on the pool of candi-dates.”

Isaac Caverly, 10, has been a member of the Pattonville interview team in previous years and plans to do it again this year. He believes that being a part of the interview team is a great way to be involved with school. He said that involving students in the interview process is a great way to see how the candidates interact with students.

After the building level interviews, Fulton reviews all of the feedback on the candidates. He then makes a recommendation to the Board of Edu-cation (BOE). !e BOE is in charge of all hiring. At press time, the goal was

to have a candidate recommendation to the BOE by March 1. If everything went as planned, the new principal would be named on March 2.

“!e way we’ve structured the process, we’re able to get di#erent perspectives on who will be the best candidate,” Nelson said. “It’s very im-portant and it’s the way we’ve always done it at Pattonville.”

Keene believes that the Pattonville hiring process is “extremely e#ective and intense.” She went through the process only three years ago and she felt that other schools did not have nearly as in-depth interviews.

“It’s a great process. Anyone that is not interested in the position ei-ther won’t give it the time and energy or will be weeded out. You’re going to

get the best candidate out of it.”She believes that the process is

very in-depth. !e superintendent visits the building where the candi-date currently works, and the board even met her family on the day of approval.

“!is process is not leaving any stone unturned,” she said.

l l

By Jessica Brunts

Next year, students at Pat-tonville will be able to take a

new social studies class. American Ethnic Studies will be a new class o#ered starting in the 2011-2012 school year, and will be taught by Ms. Vialettice Cobb.

“We will be looking at their experi-ences and cover the issues that face them in depth,” Cobb said. “Among the groups covered will be the Na-tive Americans, African Americans, Spanish Americans, Asian Americans, Spanish Americans, and even Ameri-can Jews.”

!is semester-long class will be about the various ethnic groups that live in our country and their history, beliefs, and values. Also included in the curriculum is how and why the various groups came to the United States in the $rst place. Some of them came to make a pro$t, others came to escape persecution, and oth-ers came by force.

“We will also focus on the Holo-caust during the Jewish American unit,” Cobb said.

So far, the actual lesson plans are still to be determined. However, it

will include discussions, guest speak-ers, lectures, and $lms.

“Of course, we will also have a textbook,” Cobb said.

It is a class for those who are curious about people of other ethnic groups and wish to learn more about them.

It will also require an open mind to deal with views that students may not agree with.

By Andrew Tyahla

Students will notice an absence in the 2010-2011 school year as Special Olym-

pics, an annual tradition for Pat-tonville, will not be hosted. Another staple of the school year missing is a Winter Dance, which Student Council usually manages.

“!e dance was more of an admin-istrative decision, while Special Olym-pics has to do with [Pete Barrett] leaving STUCO and [Jessica Mucker-man-Presson] taking charge,” Heather Sprengel, STUCO president, said.

Along with the change in command of STUCO, the manager of Special Olympics also changed, complicating things further.

“I’m disappointed, yeah,” Madison Emerick, 12, said. “It got the students and the school together. And I know some [National Honor Society] kids depended on Special Olympics too. It was good community service, it’s sad to see it go.”

STUCO still plans to support Spe-cial Olympics however, through dona-tions and participation in the Polar Plunge, an event hosted by STUCO.

In regard to the absent Winter Dance, STUCO is in the planning

stages for a new event called “Flick on the Field,” a sort of drive-in experi-ence at the high school.

“We’re trying to start some new traditions here at Pattonville,” Spren-gel said. Flick on the Field would probably involve a family-friendly movie such as “Toy Story 3” or an-other animated $lm.

“We want people to be able to bring their family and maybe younger siblings,” Emerick said.

Apart from the setbacks this year, STUCO is still pressing on and enjoy-ing success with the Pirate Crew, a student section at sporting events that brings school spirit to the game.

On April 26, STUCO is invit-ing guest speaker John O’Leary, a survivor of a $re and an inspirational speaker, to present to the high school.

“We kind of see it as STUCO’s gift to the student body,” Sprengel said.

O’Leary was burned on 100 percent of his body when he was 9 years old, and was given less than a 1 percent chance to live. After enduring years of surgery and intense therapy, he has gone on to lead a successful life and encourage others to rise above challenges.

Pattonville is an award-winning district serving students preschool through 12th grade in northwest St. Louis County. !e district has one high school, two middle schools, a PreK-8 school of choice, six elementary schools, and an early childhood education program. Pattonville is one of only 24 school districts out of nearly 450 K-12 districts in the state to earn Missouri’s “Distinction in Performance Award” every year it has been given. Pattonville is the most diverse school district in Missouri to achieve this honor for the 10 consecutive years it has been bestowed. Pattonville’s schools have also earned places on Missouri’s Top 10 lists of highest performing schools in the state. !e annual report card by the St. Louis Black Leadership Roundtable consistently places Pattonville in the Top 5 in the St. Louis area for African American achievement.

Pattonville High School is an exemplary school serving a diverse student population of more than 1,750 students. !e school’s foremost priority is student achievement. !is mission is directly supported by a wide array of extracur-ricular activities (the arts, music, debate, robotics, sports, etc.) that support student achievement and involvement. ACT scores are consistently above state and national averages, and scores on state high school end-of-course exams place Pattonville among the top 10 in St. Louis County. !e school was named a National School of Service Learning and was recognized as a national School of Character by the Character Education Partnership and by “Business Week” magazine. Pattonville High School is a modern facility that is scheduled to receive an additional $20 million in facility upgrades over the next few years.

Education: Ph.D./Ed.D. or MA/MS in administrationSecondary administrative experience

Up to $142,500 plus bene$ts annually

Interested candidates should complete the administrative application and apply at MOREAP(to be considered a completed MOREAP application include: a letter of interest, resume, 3 letters of recommendation, and transcripts). You must also complete the performance event located on page two of this posting.

Name: Phone:

Discuss a time you played a key role implementing a signi$cant change that impacted student achievement. Discuss how you determined why the change was necessary, the key action steps taken, communication strategies, how you addressed challenges associated with the change, etc.

By Jacob Sharp

Accessed on Pattonville School District’s Employment Web site

News

and out of the school district in order to make his $nal decision. One of Fulton ’s most in%uential advisers is Steve Gerke, Pattonville’s director of transportation.

“We want to make sure students can be safe and we can pick people up in a timely manner,” Gerke said. “So the superintendent and I will talk and he will make the ultimate decision as to whether or not we will have school.”

Together, Fulton and Gerke evalu-ate the inclement weather “the night before and that morning. And while I am talking to the superintendents from other districts, [Gerke] is talking to the other transportation directors. So, we are getting a good feel for the transportation around the county,” Fulton said.

Fulton communicates to area superintendents through a confer-ence call either the night before the potential snow day or the morning of.

In addition to this, Fulton and Gerke often drive the district’s roads either the night before or the morn-ing of the storm.

“!at night, he’ll usually be out

driving around and if he’s not doing that, he’ll go to bed early so that he can get up in the morning to drive,” Melissa Fulton, 12, Mike Fulton’s daughter, said.

Often, the superintendent will be out on the roads by 4:30 a.m. to insure that they are safe for travel. However, Gerke tests the roads as early as 2 or 3 a.m.

“I go out and drive early in the day. !en I contact the superintendent around 4 a.m.,” Gerke said.

!e amount of snowfall so far this year has been par-ticularly heavy.

“We’ve had a pretty snowy winter so far. We’ve had enough to average for the entire season and we still have some ways to go,” Ehrhardt said.

However, snow is not the only factor that the administra-tion looks for when canceling school.

“Ice is most dangerous, then comes freezing rain, then sleet and snow. It depends on how much snow and

what’s the temperature,” Gerke said.In addition to the administra-

tive action, the district also has the grounds crew salt the school area the night before to help make the cam-puses themselves less hazardous.

“!ere is a concern that kids could slip. !e school could perhaps be li-

able,” Ehrhardt said. In addition, the school’s buses

must be taken care of in the event of extreme weather.

In the severe cold, the transporta-tion department wants to make sure that the bus heaters can turn on.

“We want to make sure the [park-ing] lots are clear and make sure the buses are warmed up and ready to go,” Gerke said.

Mike Fulton claims that he makes

safety his $rst priority when he is deciding whether or not to cancel school.

“Is it safe enough to pick up all the

kids and can students drive safely to school? !at really weighs heavily on my decision,” Mike Fulton said.

Mike Fulton must evaluate this throughout the entire district and even in other areas as well. Because of this, some areas can be entirely safe to drive on, while others are simply too hazardous.

“!e municipalities do a really good job of clearing roads, but if you live in county areas, they have a lot of areas to plow, so it takes them a little longer,” Fulton said.

!is fact weighs heavily on his decision as he wants to insure that the morning commute is safe for all students attending the school.

In addition, whether or not vol-unteer transfer students or Special School District students can get to school impacts whether or not the district has a snow day.

“[!e Volunteer Transfer Progam] is part of the conference call and we are listening if they can get the kids from their homes in the city out to the county. Also, the Special School District program can’t always get the kids to school,” Mike Fulton said.

However, safety is not the district’s only concern when canceling school.

“It also has a huge budget impact because [the districts] lose money when they lose a day of school,” Eh-rhardt said.

l l

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is a Web site that educates students

and families on the process of obtain-ing $nancial aid for college.

!is Web site is better known as FAFSA. According to www.pin.ed.gov, it “processes millions of student $nancial aid applications each year.”

It also “disburses billions of dollars in aid funds to students through the school, enforces $nancial aid rules and regulations, serves millions of student loan accounts and securing repayment from borrowers who have defaulted on their loans; and also has

an operation information technology system and tool that manage billions in student aid dollars.”

“Basically every person in America who needs $nancial help for college needs to $ll the FAFSA form out every year in January and then the government has a formula to see if the people actually need $nancial help,” Julie Kampschroeder, college counselor, said.

“!ere is a grant called the Pell Grant. !e Pell Grant is the free fed-eral money.”

!ere is also Missouri state grant money and campus grants. All of

these grants are determined by the results the student gets by $lling out the FAFSA form and sending it to their respective colleges.

Kampschroeder encourages every student and parent to visit the FAFSA Web site and to study the information it makes available.

Kampshroeder said this Web site will help a student with all of their $nancial needs for college.

“By April, $nancial aid packages are sent to the students by e-mail and then the student can make a $nancial decision,” Kampschroeder said.

She added, “!e FAFSA Web site

tells a student how much the family is expected to come up with in cash to attend that college.”

!e services on this Web site are free, but the student needs to make sure that they go to the proper Web site.

!e o"cial government Web site address is www.pin.ed.gov.

Kampschroeder recommends to never search FAFSA using Google or another search engine. !e results will send the student to a Web site where they will have to pay for $nan-cial aid.

Kampschroeder also encourages

students not to wait too long to go online to FAFSA. “If students wait too long, then the state funds would be gone.”

!ere are four $nancial aid meet-ings every year at Pattonville.

Meetings are held in October, November, January and April.

Kampschroeder encourages stu-dents and parents to attend and said they must pay attention.

“If students don’t come or pay at-tention, come senior year they will be far behind and lost.”

By Lexi Kendall

l l

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UMSL DayInformation SessionMarch 5

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The Pattonville High School theatre department and cast of “Bye Bye Birdie” has been

working diligently to $nish preparing for the spring musical. !e musical’s opening night is Feb. 17 and runs through Feb. 20. !e musical starts at 7 p.m. on Feb. 17-19 and at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

“Bye Bye Birdie” is a comedy where a famous singer travels to Ohio to make a $nal performance before he is drafted into the war.

!is year, the musical’s cast has many $rst-time leads. One of those is junior David Robinson who plays Albert Peterson.

“During rehearsals we try to get as much done as we can,” Robinson said.

Freshman Anna Pirrie, is in a lead role this year playing Rosie Alvarez. She also had a role in the fall play, “!e Diary of Anne Frank.” Pirrie said being a member of the theatre program has been a lot of fun.

“I get the chance to meet so many new people. In the musical, there are a lot more people than there would be in a play.”

Junior Sam Decker plays Conrad Birdie, the title character. Decker’s character is a parody of Elvis Presley.

“!is musical is set in a di#erent time [than last year’s show “Once Upon a Mattress”]. !is musical is more modern and can relate to more teenage situations,” Decker stated.

In order to make up for lost time due to snow days, the cast, crew, and

pit have been having longer rehears-als.

“We have all gotten more serious at rehearsals and make the most of rehearsal times,” Decker stated.

Lara Covera, the director said, “!e rehearsals are going fantastic so far but due to the snow days, the cast was set back four extra days of rehearsals.”

By having so many people at a rehearsal, the stage can get crowded. !ere is an orchestra, costume crew and a stage crew.

!e pit orchestra plays a major role in this musical. !e pit orchestra plays all the music that is performed.

Melynda Lamb, vocal director, stated, “Rehearsals are going well so far. All of our lead roles have their lines memorized and our chorus is blending well with one another.”

Junior Meagan Galluzzo is a part of the chorus for this musical. !is is her $rst musical at Pattonville.

“Learning and singing the songs are my favorite part of the musical.”

Junior Carley McClain plays Kim MacAfee. !is is her $rst lead role in high school after being casted in many other musicals.

“I have more lines to memorize with this role and I have to actually act. I take on a new role and am some-body di#erent.”

“Bye Bye Birdie” is known to be a fun, upbeat show and Robinson said, “!e audience should expect surprises throughout the musical.”

Firemen who start $res. !is may sound ironic and nothing more than far-

fetched science $ction right? On the contrary, this image of $ction is not too far from present day non$ction. In Ray Bradbury’s novel, “Fahrenheit 451,” the message is just that. “We shouldn’t start $res, but put them out.” And these $res are metaphori-cally a symbol of what the govern-ment can do to the gullible and simple-minded society in a futuristic time. “Fahrenheit 451” is a depressing and melancholy tale surrounding the main character Guy Montag.

Montag’s occu-pation is a future $reman, whose main goal is to destroy and erase the existence of all books and publica-tions from society by way of torching them with $re. However, how does this tie in with our present day world of publications and books teenagers read in high school? A better question would be, what compels us to read a novel or a book?

Books of all kind have a stronger e#ect on us than we may know. Even when people turn to the Internet for answers or information, this informa-tion comes from a book or reference somewhere. If books were censored or banned from school libraries what would the outcome be?

Decades of information would be lost and our now high-tech and fast paced society would be downgraded to a primitive and a comparable stone age. Nevertheless, this is happen-ing in our world today. Many books are being censored and banned from schools worldwide.

!ere is one outlining cause of the banning. It’s because of content

within some of these famous novels. Some of the censored and banned novels in the United States include, “Huckle-berry Finn,” “I Know Why !e Caged Bird Sings,” “How To Kill A Mockingbird,” and “Fahrenheit 451.” All classic novels many schools have incorporated in their curriculum.

!e government has dobbed some of the books content as

sketchy and inappropriate. In the case of “Huckleberry Finn,” it’s said that some of the phrases used are gram-matically incorrect, and usage of the “N-word” was labeled profane and is being edited out of most school copies in English literature today.

In fact, most of what we read in schools today is censored to $t our “high school appropriate” eyes.

Simply put, high schoolers would rather read publications that tell the truth and nothing less instead of being stripped of all the detail and information.

By Jeremiah Williams

By Kristen Dehner

Feature

l l

Yoga is an ancient practice that predates even the writ-ten word. Yoga is practiced

around the world, but in the United States it focuses mainly on breathing, poses and meditation.

!e earliest written accounts of yoga are credited to a scholar named Patanjali. He wrote about the eight limbs of yoga, also called “ashtanga yoga.” !is is considered classical yoga, but most practicing yogis do not practice all eight steps as a part of their yoga practice.

!e third limb is what most people associate with yoga. Asanas, or body postures, are the poses practiced in a yoga class. !e poses help a yogi

become more centered in their body and mind as well as relax and prepare for the next limbs.

Pranayama, or breath control, is the fourth limb of yoga. Most yoga classes discuss breathing exercises and practice controlling the breath. It is a crucial part of yoga, as breath control helps a yogi complete the other steps.

!e $fth step is pratyahara, or control of the senses. In a tradi-tional yoga class, this step is reached through meditation. Most yoga classes end in savasana, or corpse pose. To get into corpse pose, yogis lie on their backs and close their eyes. Savasana is a time for relaxation

and meditation. Some teachers may lead their students through a guided meditation.

!e bene$ts of yoga are endless. Yoga helps to strengthen the muscles and the mind. Practicing yoga poses can help an in%exible person become more %exible.

It is a myth that only %exible peo-ple can practice yoga. Yoga teachers are prepared with modi$ed versions of most poses. When doing poses, it is important to pace yourself. Yoga classes are encouraging environments with all levels of students.

For teens, yoga can provide an out-let for stress and emotions. Attending a weekly yoga class can help tremen-

dously reduce stress in teenagers. In addition, yoga produces con$dence. Perfecting a pose or allowing yourself to make mistakes can boost self-es-teem and help in other areas of life.

Yoga can be bene$cial to athletic people as well. Yoga poses can help nurse an injury in the same way physical therapy can help injured athletes. Taking the time to stretch can also help prevent an injury. Some yoga poses, such as strength poses, are easy for athletes, while other poses, such as balancing poses, are more di"cult for athletes. By practic-ing yoga, athletes can $nd themselves improving their game.

Bikram Yoga: Bikram Yoga was developed by Bikram Choudhury and became popular in the 1970s. In order to be called a “Bikram” class, teach-ers must be specially certi$ed. In a Bikram class, the rooms are heated to 100 degrees Fahrenheit and each class is exactly the same, with a series of 26 poses repeated twice.

Ashtanga Yoga: Also known as pow-er yoga, ashtanga yoga is a more ad-vanced style of yoga. Students move quickly from pose to pose and much emphasis is placed on the breath. Ashtanga yoga requires strength and %exibility, so it is usually practiced by more experienced yogis.

Iyengar Yoga: B.K.S. Iyengar devel-oped a style of yoga focused on the detail and alignment of poses. He also includes the use of props such as blocks and belts. In order to qualify as a teacher of his style, teachers must complete a two to $ve year training program.

Kripalu Yoga: !is style of yoga allows the students to work at their own pace, using modi$ed poses and props according to students’ %ex-ibility and strength. !ere are three stages in Kripalu yoga, and students move from stage to stage as they improve in their practice.

Interested in taking a yoga class? Many a#ordable classes are o#ered locally.

!e Bridgeton Community Center o#ers yoga classes for ages 16+. !e next session begins on March 23. Classes are o#ered on Mondays, Wednesdays, or !ursdays from 7-8:15 p.m. You can sign up for more than one night per week.

!e Maryland Heights Community Center o#ers teen yoga classes on Tuesday nights from 6:30-7:30 p.m. !e next session begins in March.

YMCA members can take advantage of free yoga on Wednesdays from 5-6:15 p.m., and on Saturdays from 8-9:15 a.m. Also free yoga basics is o#ered on Mon-days from 6:30-7:45 p.m. and Yoga I and II are o#ered on !ursdays from 7-8:15 p.m.

Jane’s House of Well-Being in St. Charles o#ers yoga classes at almost any time of any day. You can sign up for a certain number of classes and redeem them at your leisure. Free yoga is o#ered on Sunday from 9-10:30 a.m.

Start by standing up straight, with your feet about hip-width apart.

Inhale as you raise your hands over your head.

Exhale as you bring your hands apart and bend over in a swan dive.

Lift your back up a little so that it is parallel to the %oor on an inhale. Exhale and bend all the way down again.

Resting your palms on the %oor, kick the right leg behind you.

Repeat with the left so that you are in a pushup position. Inhale here, engaging your core to keep your back %at.

Exhale as you slowly lower your-self toward the ground. Just be-fore reaching the ground, inhale and push your torso up, but leave your hips and legs hovering over the ground. !is pose is called upward facing dog.

Pick up your right leg on an inhale and swing it forward right between your hands. Repeat with the left foot.

Inhale as you reverse the swan dive.

!en $nish by exhaling while you bring your hands down with palms pressed to-gether. Repeat the entire routine leading with the left instead of the right.

Now, lift your hips into the air and turn your body into a triangle. !is pose is called downward facing dog. Try to make your spine as straight as you can, all the way through your neck. Ideally, your legs would also be straight, but most people have a little bend at the knee.

is the best known yoga series. People who practice yoga all around the

world learn sun salutations as a part of their practice. When trying sun salutations, remember that someone, somewhere in the world is also doing a sun salutation.

!e Yoga Deck by Olivia H Miller

!is is a series of cards with one pose on each. You can choose one at a time or choose a sequence of poses.

!e Athlete’s Guide to Yoga by Sage Rountree

!is book explains how yoga can be used to the bene$t of athletes. It in-cludes comprehen-sive descriptions of each pose and rou-tines that target problem areas.

Bikram’s Beginning Yoga Class by Bikram Choudhury

!ere are pictures of the ideal version of each pose contrasted with reality. !is book serves as an introduction to this unique style of yoga.

Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar

!is classic yoga reference is any-thing but light. It highlights complex and advanced poses as well as yoga phi-losophy.

By Hannah Johnson and Elise Moser

Aaron Rodgers completed his transition into Green Bay quarterback legacy,

leaving Packers fans asking the ques-tion, “Who is Brett Favre?” Rodgers was the star of last Sunday’s contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers, pass-ing for 304 yards and three touch-downs in his MVP performance.

Rodgers and his Packers de$nitely played a great football game, but the performances of the people surround-ing the Super Bowl lacked the “super” quality that is expected.

!e National Anthem is usually not a huge part of sporting events. !e only people that really pay attention to our nation’s song are at the event. In fact, most of the time it isn’t even aired. So when the National Anthem is televised, it is a big deal.

One would think the person responsible for singing it would make sure it is %awless. Christina Aguilera obviously did not agree with that common thought. In the middle of the song, Aguilera left out an entire line. When she was supposed to sing, “O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming,” she belted, “What so proudly we watched at the twilight’s last gleaming.” !at was a line she previously recited in the song, minus the word “watch.” To give Aguilera some credit, she kept singing. She didn’t just abruptly stop and ask for a re-do. !at doesn’t excuse the fact she screwed up, but at least this blunder wasn’t a complete disaster.

Fans were left hoping for a %awless

Super Bowl Halftime Show, but again were let down.

!e Black Eyed Peas are a very distinguished group of artists. !ey have had much success in their long singing careers. !ey have released many hit songs. But one thing that is sort of weird about !e Black Eyed Peas is that they don’t perform live too often.

America found out why during the Super Bowl Halftime Show. !e show part was amazing. All of the di#er-ent stage pieces and changing colors really brought some pizzazz into the performance that really hasn’t been seen before in a halftime show.

Even though all of that was great, !e Black Eyed Peas were terrible. !ey butchered almost all of their songs. !e electronical enhancement used in the recording studio wasn’t there to help them. Will.i.am’s auto-tuned microphone might have actu-ally made him sound worse instead of what was the intended purpose.

On top of all of that, Usher came onto stage and didn’t even sing. He danced a little, struck a pose, and then disappeared under the stage. He might have said “Oh my gosh” a couple times, but more was expected from such a legendary performer. !en there is Slash. A little ray of hope appeared once he popped up on stage. But as soon as Fergie seductive-ly approached him, America’s hopes were crushed.

She started singing a Guns N’ Roses classic, “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” Her long and over-exaggerated “mine” at the end of all of the verses that

required the word pushed the perfor-mance over the edge. With two super blunders already under Super Bowl XLV’s belt, a third was not far o# in the realm of possibilities.

It may have taken some people until the end of the game to realize it, but one thing was missing from the water cooler conversations the next day. !at void was due to the com-mercial that would go down in Super Bowl history. It just wasn’t there. Sure, there were a couple of commer-cials that were a little memorable, but none really stuck in anybody’s mind. Doritos and Bud Light probably had the best commercials, but overall, a lot of people had their expectations cut short.

!ose of us that watch for the game weren’t too disappointed but for a lot of people who go to Super Bowl parties just to socialize and watch the musical performances and commercials were left upset. For those of you that were not too happy with the music and commercials, just be thankful you only had to see Justin Bieber once.

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The girls’ swimming and div-ing team won the Suburban North Conference title for

the third consecutive year on !urs-day, Feb. 10. !e team was led by Elise Amo, 10, who $nished $rst in both of her individual events, the 200-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle.

Amo, who was also a member of the winning 200-free and 400-free relay teams, was named swimmer of the meet.

Pattonville divers also did well placing $rst, fourth and $fth overall. !e dive team was lead by freshman Laura Fulton, who placed $rst out of

all competing divers. Sarah Langston, 11, placed fourth, and Ashley Stough, 9, placed $fth.

Fulton was not the only freshman to help the team to victory. Jennifer Baker, 9, placed second in the 50-yard freestyle race and second in the 100-yard backstroke. Rachel Murphy, 9, also had a good outing $nishing third in the 500-freestyle and placing $fth in the 200-individual medley.

Veterans Melissa Fulton and Gina Prosperi both scored points for the team in their individual events. Prosperi placed $rst in the 100-yard breaststroke and Melissa placed sec-

ond in the 100-yard freestyle race.!e team placed $rst in the 200-

yard freestyle relay and in the 400-yard relay as well. Fulton, Jennifer Baker, 9, Amo, and Ellaina Adams, 10, were the participants in the 200-yard relay. Fulton, Amo, and Adams were also in the 400-yard relay with the addition of Kacie Hulse, 11.

!e Pirates’ 200-medley relay $nished in 3rd place at the champion-ship meet.

!e Pattonville swimming and diving team ended the season with a record of 11-2.

By Gabby Pirrie and Elise Moser

By Brendan Everson Pattonville’s wrestling team was hit hard with multiple complications this season,

but they still maintained an outstand-ing record of 7-2. Jesse Farmer, 12, Wes Raiche, 10, and Matt Murphy, 11, also quali$ed for the State cham-pionship meet this year.

Many of the top varsity wrestlers such as Raiche, Dylan Hogan, 11, and Eric !omas, 10, were out for much of the season due to injuries and other factors.

Bryan Lopez said, “!is gave the chance for many of the freshmen to step up.”

Robert Zimmerman, who often $lled in on varsity as a freshman, said the team has leaders in Nick Fiquette, 12, and Farmer who have really en-couraged him throughout the season.

“Nick helps me a lot with moves and Jesse gives me a lot of encourage-ment,” Zimmerman said.

Full of advice, Fiquette and Farmer have proven to be great leaders on the team this year. Both being State tournament returnees, they aimed all season to qualify for it again, bringing many new improvements with them.

“I have more endurance and am in better shape than I was last year,” Fiquette said. During the o#season, wrestlers, like Fiquette, do a lot less running but focus more on lifting and wrestling while participating on Team Missouri Select-Club which helps him during the regular season.

Also focusing a little less on the running, Farmer conditions during the o#season as well.

“I’ve improved most on my basic wrestling techniques such as take downs and speed,” he said.

!ey have both had a great season full of lasting memories.

“My favorite part is the competi-tion against the other wrestlers this year,” Farmer said.

!e St. Louis area has many wres-tling teams that excel. “!e McCluer match was my favorite because we still did really well without four of our starting wrestlers,” Fiquette said.

But in order to achieve such a great season, these wrestlers have had to endure many hardships, one being their practices.

Starting with the fatigue technique of heavy lifting, they then do basic drills of one-on-one wrestling, and following this they do timed laps, or sprints, for the last 20 minutes of practice. “I don’t like the extra running we have to do for getting pinned,” Farmer said.

Coach Mike Moeller said, “!e kids are a lot more dedicated and hard working this year than they were in the past.” He believes that even against their main competitor, Mc-Cluer North, they were still funda-mentally better wrestlers.

“It might be a little more chal-lenging in Districts this year because more St. Charles county schools are being added and they are known to be great wrestlers,” Moeller said. He has high hopes for some individuals on the team this year and believes they have a good chance at going to State

again.

By Gabby Pirrie

Sports

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!e Pirate Press is the open forum news-paper of the Pattonville High School. !e opinions published are of the

publication and are open to criticism. As the members of the 2010-2011 sta#, we

dedicate ourselves to the accurate and objective dissemination of informa-

tion to all readers. We will protect and exercise our First Amendment rights. !e viewpoints of all sta# members are to be regarded as being seperate from those of our administration, faculty,

peers and adviser.

A new semester has started and “Walk and Talk” and “Stay to the Right” are still

being hammered into the inhabit-ants of Pattonville High School, and most students get it now. So why are the administrators still pushing these “codes” when there is a bigger, more distracting problem? Every-where you look in the halls, barely-covered behinds stare back.

While the Behavior Guide says nothing about walking and talking and staying on the right, it does state on page 13 that students could be sent home for wearing “pants which are sagging worn below the waist level.”

Why aren’t administrators dealing with these distractions? It is actually against school rules to have sagging pants, yet school o"cials hardly do anything to enforce this code. I don’t know about the rest of the school, but I would much rather get some exercise doing the human obstacle course through the hallway than have the guy in front of me show all of SpongeBob SquarePants’ face on his underwear. !ere’s really nothing attractive about a high school stu-dent looking like he still wears dia-

pers. I’m sorry, it’s not.And males aren’t the only ones

having pants problems. Leggings are not pants. Not to be misunderstood, I’m not against leggings. I like leg-gings. But only under a skirt, long shirt or sweater dress.

However, when said leggings are worn with short shirts, it’s distract-ing. I have heard the guy’s perspec-tive on it and it’s de$nitely distract-ing to them. To be fair to the male population, there are other reasons leggings can be distracting. For me, and probably a lot of other girls, it’s gross when you’re walking up the stairs only to look up and see the outline of a girl’s underwear. It’s not sexy. It’s trashy.

Maybe adding “wearing leggings as pants” to the handbook as a dress code violation would make the halls a bit classier. !is is obviously distracting, so instead of enforcing “walk and talk,” maybe administra-tors should focus on more pressing hallway etiquettes.

By Courtney McNeeseDuring the 2008 Presi-dential Election, Barack Obama defeated John Mc-

Cain to bring the White House under Democratic control. After this vic-tory, the voters’ expectations were running high for the new president to restore the nation to prosperity.

However, some of these expecta-tions seem to have been too high, for many expected Obama to reduce the national de$cit, pull U.S. troops out of the Middle East, and elimi-nate unemployment; all in the span of two years. At the same time, Republicans branded his actions socialist, and accused him of being a Muslim (he is actually a Protestant Christian).

At the same time, nothing is get-ting done in Washington with nei-ther side being able to compromise. All of these tensions have come to a head with the recent tragedy in Tucson, Ariz., and still politicians argue whether it was sparked by the patrician antagonism or if the man responsible was mentally unstable.

In any case, our elected o"cials must compromise if Obama is to be able to ful$ll his campaign promises. !is country was founded on com-promises; without which, the Consti-tution would never have stuck, and the U.S. would have failed.

If George Washington or any of the framers were to come forward in time to the present, I think they would be horri$ed as to how Congress has devolved. Instead of a coherent governing body capable of debating bills to something all sides can stomach, they would $nd a bunch of whiny babies in fancy suits.

Strictly speaking, students like us make compromises every day, while a lot of politicians adopt an “It’s my way or the highway” attitude similar to small children.

As a result, there is a massive political gridlock while our economy continues to plummet and the death toll in the Middle East rises.

Meanwhile, the Health Care Re-form Bill is the top issue in Congress. !e Republicans and the Tea Partiers considerer it to be the bane of capi-talism and have openly declared a universal e#ort to repeal it.

Considering the fact that they control the House of Representa-tives, the repeal will probably pass there as well as the Senate. How-ever, Obama has the power of a veto and will likely use it. As a result, the bill will be tossed around Washing-ton while the unemployment, de$cit, and Middle East issues will continue to fester.

If things don’t change, this grid-

lock will spill over to other bills and actions. In fact, our nation is facing the ceiling on its national debt. At this point, we will either have to raise the ceiling, or dramati-cally cut spending. Chances are that the Republicans will go with one side and the Democrats will push for the other. While Congress debates this issue, our businesses will grind to a halt from a lack of funds. But this time, there will be no government bailouts as there will be no money to pull from.

Unless compromises are made, the U.S. will go into an accelerated decline while politicians argue. We’ve seen it in other countries like Iran and Haiti, where even presiden-tial elections are contested months after they have concluded. In the mean time, all other aspects of their citizens’ lives slide into anarchy, leaving them open to fascist dicta-tors to command them.

In short, the government needs to learn how to compromise all over again, before it lets America hit rock bottom on their watch.

By Andrew Tyahla

Opinion

It is the opinion of the Pirate Press sta! that Dr. Sara Keene has made a very positive impact on Pattonville High School in her three years as principal.

For three years, Sara Keene has been principal of Pattonville High School. She has announced her resig-nation at the end of this school year and the school district has already begun to search for a new principal.

But as Pattonville High School looks toward hiring a replacement, it is important to consider the impact Keene has made in just three years.

Keene supports all students in their endeavors, both extracurricu-lar and academic. She has made it a point to attend events for every sport and activity.

She can been seen on a Friday night cheering at a football game and then supporting the cross country team at a meet the next morning.

Having a principal that is con-cerned with all students’ activities makes Keene unique. She has a genuine interest in students outside of the classroom as well as within it.

Her invested interest in the stu-dent body creates a critical rapport between students and sta#.

!is rapport has opened up the lines of communication between Keene and the students, allowing for student input on issues a#ecting the school.

Keene has done an excellent job of listening to what the students think and giving them feedback on their ideas. At the Board Student Admin-istration Action Committee meet-ings, she is attentive to students’ concerns about the school, ranging from the use of contact time to bet-ter hallway behavior.

When BSAAC members suggested the implementation of clocks in the

hallways, Keene responded to the students’ proposals by making the suggestion a reality.

In fact, Keene, a big advocate for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS), has worked hard to improve tra"c %ow for students during passing time. !rough posi-tive incentives, she has worked to create a school environment where school policies are followed not

because of the threat of punishment, but of the possibility of a reward.

Keene is also a big proponent of health, and when students came to her wanting healthier food in the cafeteria, she listened. Hummus wraps and smoothies were added to the menu this year, starting a trend toward a healthy cafeteria that would be great to continue after Keene leaves.

Keene came to the high school with fresh ideas and a positive at-titude and her new policies often deviated from the norm. However Keene will be leaving behind a better Pattonville High School, one that of-fers a positive learning environment for students.

As a new principal comes to Pat-tonville High School, he or she will have some big shoes to $ll.

Sta! Editorial

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By the grace of Odin’s beard, we comic book fans have found strength in numbers

with 2011’s “Ultimate Alliance” of super hero proportions. With so many comic book movie adaptation releases, one might be asking them-selves which are worth experiencing in theatres, and which are barely worth the drive to Blockbuster.

Don’t fear, 2011’s top four comic movies are here accompanied by its trusty sidekick of a comic bu# ’s predictions.

In brightest day… In blackest night… No movie shall escape my sight. Especially when it comes to DC’s Green Lantern. Now, some may $nd themselves doubting the perfor-mance of Hal Jordan as portrayed by Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds may be one of the biggest hunks in Hollywood, but I $nd myself skeptical of the “Lantern” role.

!e trailer doesn’t give Reynolds the justice deserved though. !e comic arc that the movie is birthed from, Green Lantern: Rebirth, depicts Jordan as a duplicate of Reynolds that eventually becomes a noble man.

With stunning CG and a cast composed of class A thespians, I say that this movie is de$nitely worth the June 17 theatre release experience and possibly worth a few re-watches.

I often $nd myself wondering what happens when you give Michael Bay $200 million, lots of explosives, more CG than ever required for any movie, and a beloved children’s toy to loosely base a movie o# of. Well, my question was answered with the upcoming release of Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

Try not to get it mixed up with the greatness of Pink Floyd’s album, but more with the excitement of watch-ing paint dry. !e July 1 release date

ensures your 4th of July weekend to be packed with explosions, $re, and more explosions. Although, I must admit it has great potential to be a pretty solid action movie.

Dark of the Moon’s predeces-sor, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, is actually the worst reviewed movie of 2009, and the holder of the title “Worst Picture” from the 2009 Razzies alongside “Worst Director” and “Worst Screenplay.” Now with that being said, I can almost automat-ically assure I will never let my loved ones even think of seeing this movie for fear of the monster they will make of me afterward.

Despite the seemingly entertaining Super Bowl ad, the loss of Megan Fox and the eternal hatred of the movie by the lead Shia LaBeouf stamps this movie as an utter failure from the get go. Autobots, roll out and never show your face in a theatre again.

Whoever watches this movie, if thee be worthy shall witness the power of !or. Now, from what I’ve seen of the trailers, this movie has got more potential than you can shake a stick at with a May 6 release date.

Insiders that have read the script say never before has there been a superhero movie so grandiose in scale. Some would argue, the script is sturdier than Mjolnir itself. Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman star in this high quality action hit. Clark Gregg also makes a reprise of his role from the Iron Man $lms.

Now, what really makes this movie worth seeing to even the most out of touch movie goer is the continuity of the Marvel Universe.

!or is actually played out at the same time as Iron Man 2, which is revealed at the end of the movie when Agent Coulson reveals Mjolnir and Edward Norton’s Incredible Hulk.

In fact, all of this leads up to the eventual release of the Avengers (2012). With nothing but good, great, and epic coming from the $rst peeks of !or, I say you’ll be spending your entire paycheck to experience this IMAX 3-D adventure over and over and over again.

Now, !or may be a mighty Avenger, but what is any team with-out a leader? !e July 22 release of Captain America: !e First Avenger gives you a diverse look at the world’s $rst superhero.

!ink Saving Private Ryan meets Indiana Jones, but make sure to add in the spice of Chris Evans already seasoned superhero performance in Fantastic Four, and you’ve got yourself another home-brewed suc-cess brought to you by the fantastic Marvel Studios.

Captain America is set entirely in World War II, where Steve Rogers is juiced up by the Super Soldier Serum, which plays into the Marvel Universe through the creation of Abomination from the Incredible Hulk. Captain America will no doubt be the surprise hit to round o# the summer, and truly an epic of our times.

!e million dollar question, though, is what direction will these movies unfold. Will they be literal translations that try to be the glory of the original comics, or will they be adaptations with small or large di#er-ences? Will these movies be praised for years and beyond, or will comic fans shed tears at the mutilation of childhood favorites?

Until then, little !or’s, captains, and lanterns will dance through my head as I use my trusty %ashlight to break bed time and reread these great comics in anticipation of what will come.

The radio has been around in Missouri since 1893 and has been growing and

expanding ever since. Radio allows the general public to enjoy di#erent types of music, listen to political arguments, $nd out what is new with their sports team and $nd out what is new from their favorite artist on a daily basis.

When it comes to popular radio stations, St. Louis has many choices ranging from Z107.7’s pop songs to 93.7 !e Bull’s country music.

Radio allows the general public to enjoy di#erent types of music and $nd out what is new from their favorite artist on a never-ending media feed.

“To me, Z107.7, is a great radio station, but they play the same thing over and over again, especially when it’s a new pop song or something like that,” Aaron Landgraf, 10, said.

!at does not mean that it is not still one of the best radio stations in our city. !e station is fast-paced, appeals to a younger audience, plays up-to-date music, and has a variety of fun radio personalities.

!e MJ Morning Show is syndi-cated to St. Louis from its studio in Tampa Bay, Fla. Besides its constant updates on musicians and news, MJ also has interviews with celebrities and talks about politicial issues when it is necessary.

“I listen to MJ in the Morning almost everyday just to get an update on what is going on,” !omas Graven, 12, said. “Plus the guy is hilarious. Him and Froggy and everyone else are just a great match when they’re all together and it makes for a great show.”

Listeners of Z107.7 can also $ne-tune their visual senses and watch full music videos from several di#er-ent artists and view celebrity pictures on its Web site.

100.3 !e Sound is considered the Gen-X radio station for its variety of new music that is not exactly alterna-tive but more categorized as the new sounds of music.

!e radio station plays recorded concerts and has conversations with some new artists but 100.3 !e Sound is more real and stays on topic.

!e Web site of the station, which modernizes traditional radio, is full of updates about classic rock stars and the new artists. Also, the site has the recent playlist of songs from the radio and it also has the faces and names of all the radio DJs through-out the day. Also, the songs played on the radio are available to be down-loaded on iTunes.

But, if rock does not suit you, and you want a taste of rap music to listen to, then Hot 104.1 is for you.

“I’m all about rap and they always play di#erent things that I either haven’t heard or enjoy hearing,” Brian Gibson, 12, said. “Besides that, the side conversations and talks they have can be hilarious.”

Hot 104.1 to some, can be considered a replacement for 100.3 !e Beat, the old hip hop and R&B station. It has several comedians who have been on television like Ricky Smiley, Steve Harvey, and Wendy Williams. Between Ricky Smiley and Steve Harvey, the mornings are al-ways enjoyable, and easy to listen to.

So if the iPod is dying and you feel lost, always know that the radio usually will have something worth listening to. In addition to the radio stations listed, there are several other great stations to listen to and if you have XM Radio, then the choices are spread out even further.

!e radio has been with us for a very long time and will continue to improve and stay with us for even longer.

By Armand HayesBy Chris Babb

Every year music fans are eager to $nd out what is next in the music industry.

Artists release singles and albums as they strive to the top of the empire and many faces of pop and hip-hop culture are returning to recording studios in 2011.

Toronto-based rapper Drake is expected to release his sophomore album, Take Care, in April. He will be featured with his producer Noah ‘40’ Shebib and underground hip-hop producer 9th Wonder. !is album is going to have a diverse range of featured artists including Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine, Justin Timberlake, !e Neptunes, and many others.

Returning to reality from behind bars, Lil’ Wayne will also be releas-ing an album in 2011. He has been keeping quiet about this project but recently he dropped his single ‘6 foot 7 foot’ which was the 10th most downloaded song on iTunes in its debut week. !is album will be another installment of ‘!e Carter’ series. Music analysts are saying C4 will be the most anticipated hip-hop album of 2011, which includes hip-hop royalties such as Kanye West and Jay-Z.

On Jan. 5, Kanye West tweeted, “MY NEW ALBUM COMING THIS

SUMMER.” West released his ma-niacal album, “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” on Nov. 22, 2010, and is determined to take over hip-hop. With lyrics in Monster like, “If you wanna make it No. 1, you’re No. 2 now.” !is year he is teaming up with Jay-Z who has more No. 1 selling albums than any other artist in music excluding only the Beatles. Jay-Z and West are o"cially debuting their collaboration album “Watch the !rone” in March. !e two have recently released a single o# of the 5-track album, H.A.M. !e dooms-day single is currently No. 91 on the Billboard Top 100 List. By the end of the year, West will possibly have the most musical output over any other artist over the span of 2 years.

Material released from Young Money Entertainment artists Drake and Lil’ Wayne, and Roc Nation art-ists Jay-Z and Kanye West, are some of the most anticipated albums of mainstream music this year. Other hip-hop artists to look out for are Lupe Fiasco, Dr. Dre, Rick Ross, and breakthrough artists Tinie Tempah, Jay Electronica, Diggy Simmons, and Wiz Khalifa.

Fashionista Lady Gaga has an-nounced her next project, Born !is Way. Born !is Way is to be released on May 23. Lady Gaga has been

nominated for over 200 awards and has won 92 times. She will begin her year with 3 Grammy awards. Lady Gaga has taken up the challenge of

releasing three full albums in four years. Not much has been said about her new album but she will have col-laborations with Akon, Beyonce, and

Elton John. On Feb. 11, Lady Gaga released the single Born !is Way. !e song has a materialistic attitude insisting its listeners to get up and

dance.In 2010, former Mouseketeer

Britney Spears, $nished recording her album, Femme Fatale. A single

from the album has been “Hold It Against Me.” !e music video for the single was premiered on MTV at 8:56 p.m. right before the new episode of Jersey Shore on Feb. 17. Spears’ last album, Blackout, is said to be one of the most in%uential pop albums of the past 5 years. Spears has recreated the sound of pop by evolving it into an electro-pop club sound. !e ag-gressive sound of the beats and ongo-ing trance makes it easy to dance to. !is $ve-album chart-topping artist will release her sixth album on March 26.

Interscope Records has been discussing with Blink-182 a new album release set for either June or July. !e band has not been in the studio since 2003 when they released their self-titled album. Band member Mark Hoppus recently blogged, “We’ve been busy with new songs and ideas. Some tracks are nearly complete.” Critics suspect the album will be released this spring. !e band spent 11 years making music. Due to arguments between the three band members, they split in 2006 and Hoppus and Blink-182 drum-mer, Travis Barker, formed a new band, Plus 44. Blink-182 has recently resolved their problems.

Other artists set to release an al-bum this year include Willow Smith, Lykke Li, Avril Lavigne, Paramore, and Pitbull.

By Jacqueline Neil

Entertainment