Hirschi Math Science IB Magnet High School ~ Wichita Falls, Texas ~February Issue, 2011

EditorsCatherine Fells, News

Paige Scherer & Lauren Sralla,

Editorial

Amber Manriquez, Sports

Class of 2011

Class of 2011

Class of 2012

CJ Lowder, Entertment

Class of 2011 & Class 0f 2012

Cayley Burleson & Nour Azzouz, Feature

Copy Editor, Shri Ganeshram

Class of 2012

by Catherine Fells Hirschi Theatrical So-ciety presented Moonlight and Magnolias February 6th, 8th, and 10th. “The show was very high energy and a lot of fun.” said senior Anthony Garza Moonlight and Magno-lias is a play about the making of the American classic film, Gone with the Wind. David O’ Selznick, the overly dramatic director, the over zealous pro-ducer Vic Fleming and the not so enthusiastic screenwriter Ben Hecht have to turn the 1,037 page book into a movie. The only problem is that they have only 5 days. With only 5 days to write a script for a 6 hour mov-ie, Selznick thinks that it would be a great idea to lock him and his co workers in his office with nothing but a bathroom, peanuts and bananas. Even the poor secretary Ms. Poppeng-hull has to stick around. Throughout the course of them writing and develop-ing the script, the 3 men are forced to act out every scene of the film, including the birth of Melanie’s baby. As outrageous as this sounds, it is also based on a true story Considering the size of the cast, the out look stayed

HTSPresents:Moonlight and Magnolias

positive. “I was very excited about the size of the cast. Since it is a smaller cast, I feel that we as actors grew closer and-put up the best production we could have.” said Garza Mrs. Stephanie Brown-ie is very excited about the pro-duction “I think it’s the funni-est thing I’ve ever worked on. The cast was amazing, and it’s like we were this extremely close family that was just goof-ing around for a couple of hour at a time.” said Brownie The cast consisted of senior Anthony Garza as David Selznick, senior David Bishop as Vick Flemming, junior Tyler Meldrum as Ben Hecht, and senior Katharine Tate as Miss. Poppenghuall. “At times directing seems more like a job than an art but for this show, it was just fun.” said Brownie Due to mild language and mature content, Hirschi Theatrical Society requested that no one under the age four-teen attend the production. “I have a feeling that this show was the most hilari-ously entertaining show that Hirschi has ever seen.” said Brownie

by Paige Scherer On January 7th, four Hirschi band stu-dents traveled to Argyle, Texas to audition for the ATSSB All-State band. In order to qualify for this band, these stu-dents had to go through many levels of auditions. First they must try out at the Region level. The top three in each sec-tion then go on to try out for Area band in Bridgeport. The top two students in each section at Area get the opportunity to audition for the State band, much like these four students did. Seniors Cameron Parrish and Ryan Jackson both auditioned on Eupho-nium (Baritone), Junior Lauren Sralla on Contra-Bass Clarinet, and Rich-ard Brown on Clarinet. Parrish made 8th chair, with Jackson just above him at 7th. Sralla plaed 5th chair and Brown at 20th. The first two chairs make the State band. Although they

didn’t make the State band, they did make Area, which is an honor. Out of 750 students from all over the state four Hirschi students will be represented at Area. Hirschi Band direc-tor Sheryl Kingcade was very proud of her students. This was the most they’ve taken in a long time to State tryouts. “They did great,” Kingcade said. “They prac-ticed hard, and did their school and region proud.” Senior Ryan Jack-son was very happy to get the opportunity to go, con-sidering that this is his last year in the Hirschi band. “It felt good to try out for the state band, especially since I’m a senior,” Jackson said. These students will get another chance to represent their school and compete at the State level during Solo and Ensemble competition in February. “These students are already practicing hard to get their second shot at a State title,” Kingcade said.

Four band members Area bound

A New Semester of Tennisby Rodelliza Hao It is the first month of 2011 and another semester of tennis is starting up. The team is practicing after school once again to prepare for games and tournaments. In February, a total of seven tennis games are scheduled. The Varsity team will be playing the first game of February on the fourth at Burkburnett. During the eleventh, the team will be playing at old high for WFHS Coyote Classic. An IP Junior Varsity tournament is scheduled on the fourteenth and an over night varsity tournament will be starting on the eighteenth. The last game of the month will be a tournament

for the varsity team on the twenty fifth. Starting off in the month of March is the Team regionals in Hamilton which will be on the fourth. Four more tournaments will be played during this month. One tournament will be out of town, while the oth-ers are going to be at Hirschi Highschool, Vernon and Prosper. The final tournaments will be in April. Varsity and Junior Varsity plan to com-pete in the district tournament at Graham. After this, the tennis season is over. Come support your Huskies as the compeate. The Tennis team would greatly appreaciate your support.

Support the huSky Battalion!Donate to the kell houSe

renevation project.DonationS are accepteD in the front office anD the jrotc room. for more information, talk to Sfc (ret.) WilliamS, cSm (ret.) martin, caDet ltc kolten atnip or call the kell houSe muSeum at (940) 723-2712.

EVERY LITTLE BIT COUNTS!!!!

The Husky Howl Entertainment 2

by Javi Nieves Every one is familiar with the genre horror. Many of those love it and many hate it. Horror is a genre mostly used in movies to give peo-ple a scare, or that adrena-line rush when the protago-nist barely avoids that last swipe of the huge monster. But horror is not just used in movies. It also used on books and video games. And man do the people at Viscreal games know hor-ror. This became appar-ent when they released the first Dead Space in partner-ship with EA back in 2008. Now they are back and upping the scare and ter-ror level with Dead Space 2. This game continues the story of Isaac Clarke, engineer and N e c r o m o r p h killing master. Last game we saw Isaac get the living day-light beat out of him at every turn and just barely make it out of every single encounter with a Necromorph. He had limited ammo and just enough air to make it through the stage that you were

in. Then when you felt that you were ready for what was behind that door and you were armed to the teeth, feeling like the king of the world, you would smacked right back down to the bottom of the food chain. But that’s good right? Keeping the player on the edge of their seat. Almost no HUD to tell them when they are almost out of ammo or if they are go-ing in the right direction. That would really get them scared. That would keep them com-ing back for more every time. Well not this time around. Isaac has gotten a lot more knowledgeable in the ways of killing Necro-morphs and surviving those

e x p e r i e n c e s . There is still limited HUD and limited ammo and all the scares that were in the last game in-cluding all the brand new ones that Dead Space 2 will deliver. However, to counter act the

beastliness that Isaac, and con-sequently the players, are now experiencing they carry over and intensify the mental insta-bility that Isaac has from his

In Space (And Your Living Room), No One Can Hear You Screamencounter with the Red Marker. Randomly in the game he will have these flashes where there are Necromorphs every where and you waste ammo and time and what ever else. It just jumps out of no where and attacks you head on and the only way to beat it is to attack it right back. Visceral has also add-ed several kinds of new Nec-r o m o r p h s to the Dead Space lineup: The Stalker, The Puker, and The Child Necro-morphs (a.k.a The Pack). T h e Elite Slash-ers are one of the worst, being extremely dark and hide any-where that there is a shadow and bust out of nowhere are start hacking and slashing at your face. Remember a time when an elevator was a safe place? Well no longer as the Necromorphs can and will now jump right in there with you. But fear not young Necromorph slayer, as you will not be sent in poorly armed. Visceral has also giving Issac new weapons such as the Jav-elin gun. It does exactly what

it sounds like. It shoots out a Javelin and spears the nas-ty crawly scary thing running at you to the near-est pillar, wall or ceiling or what ever is closest to you. Dead Space 2 also has a really cool online multyplayer, that is kind of like a combination of Left 4 Dead and the Resistance series. One could play either

as a human engineer or as a mutat-ed Necro-morph. And it’s not like a zombie mode that got added at the last minute due

to popular demand. No, this took quite a lot of time to fig-ure out and perfect. The on-line has all the scares of the single player campaign while still being playable and fun. The humans have to avoid and escape the Nec-romorphs that spawn oh so close to where ever a human adversary may be. The Hu-mans get all the things that are accessible in the game, and the players can also play as the fear inspiring demon Necromorph Baby.

by CJ Lowder As we go through the new year of 2011, we don’t only reflect on what we’ve accom-plished. Rather, we also look at the mistakes we’ve made so we can learn from them. The mistake that is shadowing a large portion of the entertainment industry, however, has been before us for almost four years now. And it all started with one book. “Twilight”, written by Stephanie Meyer, was pub-lished in 2007 and for some odd reason was an instant hit. Even though it was a teenage based book, it could have eas-ily been read by a fifth grader. There was an ex-tremely basic and almost cli-che plot of a vampire (who SPARKLES, drinks animal blood, and doesn’t even burn in sunlight like a vampire should) falls in love with an extremely plain, boring girl. The book was a major hit and the series sold over 100 million copies overall. Com-pletely baffled as a freshman,

this editor read the series with an open mind. The process was painful to say the least and mind numbing at most. Meyer used the SAME descriptive im-agery to repetitively describe the SAME situations/people. Repetitive could be named the theme of the over-all series. Two subjects always dominated the overall plot of the book, whether it was the feud between Edward and Ja-cob, the shape-shifting friend of Bella, or the “sexual t e n s i o n ” b e t w e e n Bella and Edward (if you could even call it that when it just seems like a regular attraction that two people usually feel that Meyer personifies, but whatever floats your boat). In the end, however, Meyer had made the first wave in a fiery hurricane. Soon

many other series like “The Vampire Diaries” followed. Soon enough, a movie was released for “Twilight” and almost the rest of the series. It was until a certain point that the only criticism had come from everyday people that were either annoyed of the high pitched buzz of the die-hard fans or had read the books and actually evaluated them on a mature, hopefully scholarly scale and seen that the books

were not very worth-while and could be called medi-ocre at best. O n e day, how-ever, a very brave author

stepped up to the plate to attack the issue at hand. Stephen King, the widely respected author of such literary masterpieces as “The Shining”, “It”, and “The Green Mile” said in an inter-view that Meyer “Could not

write worth a darn” when com-paring her to J.K. Rowling, au-thor of the “Harry Potter” series. T h e c o m m e n t sparked a lot of controversy , mainly from the estrogen filled rebuttals of the pre-teen to teen-age fans who were completely dedicated to the rather dull series. Add in the As we progress into the new year, the first part of “Breaking Dawn”, the last book in the series, will be released. As a concerned in-dividual who has an I.Q. higher than that of a garden hose, this deeply worries me. Also, as a concerned fan of both quality books and movies, this editor strongly ad-vises both fans of this growing genre that is based on a foun-dation of blinded fans, built up with cliche plots and mediocre

writing levels, and covered with a roof made of the millions

of dollars that so many people have wasted on the house that should be known as “vampire fic-tion”, to really try and look past all of the hype and ask yourself this question, “Is it really worth it?”. Because when

it comes down to it, many of these books are ONLY put out to make money off of the same die-hard fans of the films and books similar to “Twilight”. When push comes to shove, even though it has been popular for quite some time now it can only be consid-ered a fad. A fad that so many people have enveloped them-selves in that the genre has se-curity for at least another year. So enter this year with a new mind set if you are considering trading quality for popularity.

Each of the nasty crawlies have their own types of strengths and weak-nesses and their own suites of gruesome kill cam cut scenes, just to make it fun. People were skepti-cal if Dead Space 2 would deliver the same scares that the original did while still keeping players’ interest. Its safe to say that this game is exactly what was promised to fans every where and this is one experience that will haunt players both on and offline for a while. Shooting the limbs off babies is something that will not be forgotten. With great controls and a knack for freaking the san-ity out of people, Dead Space 2 is a must buy for any semi- regular gamer. When asked about the game, an extremely picky entertainment editor had this to say about the . “Most horror games are a hit or miss. They either fo-cus to hard on the scares or they get it spot on. Dead Space 2 has definitely hit a home run. No other game keeps me on edge like the Dead Space series and Dead Space 2 did not fail to exceed my expectations this time.”

Vampires Are Definitely Sucking A Lot More Than Usual

3Editorials by Tiffani Sixtos “I like this, this and this! Oh! Look at her pictures!” We all know what Facebook is. How many of us don’t have one? Only a few of us don’t. Facebook is the idea of staying in contact with friends, like Myspace used to. What’s the differ-ence? Facebook allows us to like “groups” and has a calen-dar for us to update and share events with our friends, some-thing Myspace did not have. Why has Facebook become so popular and impor-tant to us? Teachers are mak-ing Facebook groups for their students to join, students are creating “events” on the Face-book calendar for their friends, and both teachers and students post positive words of encour-agment on each others wall. It seems as if our world is starting to revolve around Facebook! We have it on our phones, on our iP-ods, and on our computers. How many of us up-date our status every three hours or so? A lot of us do. Facebook games and apps are widely used by teenagers, especially if we have noth-ing to do in our spare time. Some teachers use Facebook as a way of get-ting to know their students

by Jessica Lunte Watching the news can be a disheartening and highly irritating thing. The constant exposure to bias and nega-tive stories is non-stop, but it is another aspect of news-media that shows the true nature of America’s society. We really need to question the state of our culture when “Lindsay Lo-han’s probation violation” is the top headline story on two major news websites. Glancing on the front page of CNN shows a tiny article named “Child Scav-enges Trash to Stay Warm,”, located beneath bolded stories about the iPhone and “ New Gadgets to Watch in 2011.” Is there really noth-ing else more important in the world happening? The state of American Idol or Angelina Jo-lie’s dress is not worthy of be-ing called “Breaking News.” It is no wonder oth-er countries look down on America. There is no way we can take ourselves seri-ously. You do not see BBC or Der Spiegel stooping to report on celebrity B-listers. There are special, separate websites for celebrity news. Can we isolate these “stories” to their respective channels? Not to say that the life of Lindsay Lohan is not in-teresting. In fact, it is kind of hilarious. But when you are in-terested in real events happen-ing in the world, you get a little

disheartened when the Kar-dashian’s latest appearance at a party is thrust into your face non-stop. It is vulgar and nasty. We high school stu-dent’s are not the only ones who need to get our priorities straight. Major broadcast com-panies, such as CNN, FOX, and MSNBC, should focus on stories pertaining to political, economic, or real social issues. What is the next step in celebrity newscasting? The Weather Channel’s new segment, “Weather With the Stars?” Food network updating the world on Snookie’s expert hamburger ordering skills? Perhaps I am overexaggerat-ing, but these examples are re-ally not that radical and (sadly) welcome to many people. Think of the example we are setting for younger gen-erations when we place scant-ily clothed druggies before people who are actually accom-plishing things in the world. The lives of the rich and famous are not really a super example of your aver-age American. As much as I wish it was true, Ashton Kutcher and Ryan Gosselin do not live down the street. Until they do, priori-ties need to be re-examined! As long as shows like Jersey Shore are taking up air time on seri-ous news channels, we cannot wonder why drugs, sex, alco-hol, and stupidity are a readily accepted thing in our country. by Anonymous

It has come to my atten-tion that my last artical about the military age of enlistment may have offended some members of our school. With that being said, I feel the need to clarify my intentions and set the record straight about a few things. 1. My story was mis-represented. The original headline of my story was “18 Is Too Young... The Military Should Consider New Age Limit”. I never once glorified or based the draft. As a mat-ter of fact, my story had noth-ing to do with the draft. What happened was through the course of the editing process, my head line was changed. 2. My story was about the age of enlistment. Nothing more, Nothing less. I honestly don’t know why people are taking my words and twisting them to an anti military rant. I specifically state that I love my country. With the country come the military that defends it. I have an enormous respect for our armed forces. My grand-

father was in the Air Force. Why would I be anti- military? Instead of making judgements before reading or making the words say what you want, sit down and actually read what I wrote. I even gave you my intentions in the origi-nal article. I shouldn’t have to clarify, but apparently it wasn’t understood the first time. 3. It was just an opin-ion! Get over it! Holy cow! I thought adults were more mature than this but I guess I was wrong. Who knew that the opinion of a teenager would affect the life of every teacher who has any military connec-tion? It’s interesting that there is a war going on and our econ-omy is down the drain, but the fact that one single teenager’s opinion turns the whole school upsidedown? Fascinating. 4. Last but not least, GET OFF MRS. BORG-MAN’S BACK. Newspaper is like art class. The teacher pro-vides inspiration, but doesn’t specifically tell the student

what to paint. He might give his input but is pretty hands- off until it’s done. Then he checks to see if it’s school ap-propriate. The same is for the newspaper. The student comes up with the subject and the content of the story. The edi-tor makes sure the article is grammatically correct and de-cides that the story is important enough to go in their section. The writers and editors already get enough flack from people who have no clue to how much work goes into the paper (and therefore have no right to make a proper judgement, but that’s a different editorial). I’m sorry if anyone took my words as an insult to ALL military personnel that was not my intention; however I firmly stand by my words and opinion. All my sources were factual, and ended in either .edu, .gov, or .mil. And finally, if there is ever another issue with any article, just write a letter to the editor. Trust me, they listen.

Jersey Shore No MoreNews stations lack priorities

outside of school life. Teach-ers then see how students are in and out of school, along with what home problems are being brought into school, that may be needed to be taken care of or approached. Many students don’t see anything wrong with add-ing teachers. So is there really a problem for students and teach-ers to be friends on Facebook? The answer is simple, no. Teachers and students both have personal lives that should not be brought onto school grounds, which should be used for learning and learning only. As, some teachers see it a problem with add-ing their students, and look down on the other teachers who chose to add students. Facebook can be a way to attack people or to make people feel better. Whichever way you use it, you shouldn’t use to it your advantange to tor-rment other students or adults. When we were young-er, people often told us to tell an adult we trust if any situation is going on. If something is going on at home and we post about it on Facebook, and then a teacher sees it, more than likely your teacher would approach you and ask if everything is okay. Whether you chose to

Student to Teacher Facebook Interaction talk about it or not is up to you. This is where Face-book friending a teacher be-comes a problem. Teachers will tend to butt-in and try to take action, even if it is not appropriate or needed. Some teachers then try to get students in trouble for their language, or other issues, especially is they par-take in school events such as cheerleading, sports, or a club at school. If action is taken students will then get d-hall, ISS, or suspended from school because it reflects off of their Hirschi Pride. Facebook is a social networking site. It is quite popular at the moment and many people use it. Teachers create groups for students so they do not forget what is due next class. Students use it to in-teract with each other and start drama every second of the day. Facebook can be good and it can be bad, it also can get you into a lot of trouble. School wise though, if you’re in school activites, be careful what you put on Facebook. After all, it would be pretty lame to be suspend-ed from school just because your teacher saw something “inappropriate” on your per-sonal Facebook page, right?

“Allow me to explain myself...”Writer returns with opinion on military

Happy Valentine’s

Day!

Editorials 4by Paige Scherer First of all, I would like to welcome all of my read-ers to high school. It is a won-derful place full of hundreds of teenagers trying to prepare themselves for adulthood. Wait just one minute, I did say teenagers, right? Exactly. We are all young, in-experienced students simply learning skills for our future. So, if the school is full of this certain demographic of people, what does that say about the school’s newspaper staff? They too, are young, inexperienced, and sim-ply learning the skills it takes to run a newspaper. They are not professionals. Allow me to clarify. The students enrolled in a newspa-per class are responsible for all the stories, the layoutting, and even the payment of the news-paper through selling ads to vendors around Wichita Falls. Mrs. Borgman, the newspaper and yearbook advi-sor, is just what her title says. An advisor. She talks with the big dogs downtown and at the printing companies, but the students and staff of the year-book and newspaper are who create everything you see. Students write and

edit the articles. Students take the photos and decide exactly how that time honored tradition of “The Husky” yearbook is going to look from year to year. So before you bash on the newspaper, think about what the staff must deal with. It is always said to know your facts before you judge something, and consider this a little bit of truth from your friendly neigh-borhood newspaper editor. Students are not per-fect. Students are still learn-ing. Therefore, the students who create the newspaper and the yearbook cannot make it perfect. They make spelling errors, and grammar errors.They have opinions, displayed in this very section, that are just that: one person’s opinion. They do not write in order to be judged, chastised, and gos-siped about. They write to get their story and their opinion out there for your enjoyment. So being presented with this, decide for yourself what your opinion is. Before you say one bad word about what these students work hard for, and are passionate about in some cas-es, what are you doing to help them, other than fueling one editor’s fire? Food for thought.

“Who made you the judge?”Editor strikes back

by Tiffani Sixtos “All WFISD schools are cancelled today, due to weather conditions.” It all started with big news and rumors about the winter storrm we were suppose to be having. Students were praying for no school, teach-ers were wishing for a day off, and parents were hoping for no snow so their children would go to school. Well, who won out of the wishing and hoping? The students did, with four days out of school plus a weekend. How lucky could they get? Not very lucky. Many students were happy that school was out the first day. They got to sleep in and stay inside. No school? No homework? Of course students would love those ideas. With the second day, students still loved the idea of sleeping in, but many could not go anywhere and were starting to get bored with the idea of staying home. By day three, three-fourths of the student body were wishing to be back at school while the other fourth of the students were wishing

for another day out. Friday was the fourth day out of school and most stu-dents were out and around the roads of Wichita Falls hanging out with friends. Electricity in homes was being cut off and on so many people did not want to be stuck at home with no electricity. The weekend came and people enjoyed what they could do before school started again. Monday approached fast with school starting at regular time. Students whined about waking up early and go-ing to school. Many students and teachers were trying to ad-just with a schedule again. By Tuesday morning this week, students again are praying for snow with another few days out of school. With a 70% chance, many people were preparing for the snow. Well guess what. Wednesday, February 9th, we got our fifth snow day of the year and reached a record low of 3 degrees. Let’s all hope that with the coming weeks, comes warmer weather, before we lose our spring break.

Winter Storm Boredom

by Lauren Sralla TAKS Tests. Those two words that mean everything when it comes to continuing onto the next grade. They can either drive fear into a student, or they can make that student sigh from boredom. This year the Texas Legislature made the decision to trash the TAKS Tests and go with somthing new. The End of Course Exams. Now, for those of you thinking yay, hold up! These exams will begin in 2011 so, for all those in high school now, have fun with those TAKS Exams. These EOC exams have their good points and bad points, but at some point the bad points may just out weight the good. The good part about these tests is that they will only be over the objective you, as the student, chooses to take. This meaning that if you take Algebra then that is the only objective you will test on. This is a major good point for a lot of students be-

cause it means they will not have to remember things they had learned back in eigth grade. The TAKS Test on the other hand covers many objec-tives. For some this makes it harder to pass, and for others easier. The fact of the matter is though, on the TAKS Test you have certain objectives that you may be really good at, and other you may not, but it will even out. With the EOC exams you better hope you are good at the objective because their is no other objective to even it out. Another bad part about this new law is that if you transfer from another state or country, you have to take all the EOC exams you missed. Now, while many may think this is not a big deal, it can’t be that hard, think again. This means if that student comes in senior year they will have to take 16 exams in one year over material they have not covered in years.

This does not mean the legislature cannot change their mind and tweak the law a bit, because they can do that, and maybe they will. Another major bad point is that if you fail this test it makes it virtually impossible for you to pass the class, mean-ing you will have to retake it the next year. The EOC exam will also be worth 15% of the sec-ond semester grades and it will be and on top of that will be part of your six week grades. Then to top it off it is also in-cluded in the final exam! This means that those sitting at a low A, B, or C will be bumped down if they do not do as well on the test. Trashing the TAKS Test is not a bad idea over all, but this new law needs to real-ly be thought over again. The bad far out weights the good at this point. For more clarification, and just for your enjoyment, here is the layout of how it will effect the student.

AdvisorLana Borgman

PrincipalWanda Jackson

The Husky Howl is published by the newspaper staff at Hirschi Math-Science Mag-net IB High School in Wichita Falls, Texas. Advertising rates are $5 per column inch. For more information, call the journalism department at (940) 235-1070 ext. 30027. Any student wishing to respond to a story published in The Husky Howl, please keep the response brief and free of abusive language or personal attacks. Please leave all letters to the editor in Mrs. Borgman’s box in the Hirschi

High School office. Anonymous letters will not be printed.

The Husky HowlHirschi Math-Science IB High School

EditorsNour Azzouz, Cayley Burleson, Catherine Fells,

Shri Ganeshram, CJ Lowder, Amber Manriquez, Paige Scherer, and Lauren Sralla

Staff MembersHerbert Bennett, Jessica Lunte, Nicole McPeters,

Javi Nieves, and Tiffani Sixtos

Sports 6 Sports

Theyhavealwayswonintheirimaginations.Theyhavealwayshitthegame-winningshot,ortheyhavehitthefreethroworeveniftheymissed...therewasalaneviolation,andtheyweregivenanotherone. Thesespecialplayershaveseenitanddoneitall.Wetherplayingallfouryearsoronlyoneithasbeenawonder-fulpleasurebeingaHuskyandbeinginthisprogram.SeniorBasketballplayersreflecthowbeingapartoftheHuskytra-ditionhaschangedandmoldedthemasapersonandanathlete.

Senior

Markell Wilkerson

has played basket-

ball at Hirschi all

four years and it

has taught him alot.

“It helped

my work ethic,

I’ve became a lot

better on and off

the court. It proves

that not everything

in life is fair and

you have to work

for the things you

want,” Wilkerson

said.

Senior Keon Duren has played

all four years here at Hirschi and he abso-

lutely loves it. “Playing here at Hirschi has made me a stronger person mentally and physi-

cally. It has made my game better in many

ways; it has made me a harder work-

ing person and made me appreciate what I have while I have it. Most importantly playing at Hirschi

has taught me to be a competiter and to the be the best I can be,”

Duren said

Senior Jamal Taylor has

gained so much ex-perience since being

at Hirschi and puts it to great use.

“Playing at

Hirschi has taught me to be tough, not to be down when things go wrong,

and that my team will have my back. I’ve gotten a lot

better skill wise, I’m smarter in cer-tain situations and

I also learned to be a leader,” Taylor

said. “This program taught me to never settle for the stan-

dard, always acheive higher goals”.

Senior Steven

Euwins has only been here for one

year but is enjoying his time on the team. “Basketball has taught me to be a team player and

except responsibil-ity for my mistakes. It has also taught me to be more confident in my ability to play.

Playing with this team has taught me that you don’t have to be the best player

on the court, you just have to have the most hustle and heart

on the court,” Eu-wins said.

Senior Kyra

Casey explains how being a part of the

basketball team has changed her as not

only an athlete but as a person as well.

“Being on the team has taught me how to be a leader, be responsible for

my actions and to be the best that I can be. Above all playing on this team has taught me never to give up

on myself.”

Senior Nicole Mc-Peters has been apart of the Hirschi basket-

ball team since she was a freshman, and wouldnt trade it for

anything in the world. “Basketball has improved me as a person by discipline,

I’ve learned to control what I say and not talk back or smack my lips at my coach. My game has developed into a focused and passion-ate one; I play hard

and to the best of my ability,” McPeters said.

“I have learned what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and your

team will carry you along way by working

together.”

Senior Trey Thomas hasnt

been at Hirschi all four years but has

learned a lot. “Basketball has helped me im-prove my ball-han-dling skills, tough-ness, and has taught me to fight through the pain, because at the end it is all worth it,” Thomas

said.

Senior Cecil Rhodes loves play-ing for the Hirschi

Huskies. “I love the

game of basket-ball so I make sure all aspects of my

game are good, but this program re-ally helped me to succeed,” Rhodes

said.

Senior Kehvin Luckey

loves playing for the Husky basket-

ball team. “I’ve im-

proved in many different areas,

my awareness has increased and I have become a smarter player,”

Luckey said

5

One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a

team.-- Kareem Abdul-Jabba

My responsibility is getting all my players

playing for the name on the front of the jersey, not the one on the back.

-- Source UnknownGood, bett

er, best

. Never

let it r

est.

Until your g

ood is bett

er and your

better

is best

.

-- Tim

Duncan

by Paige Scherer The winter weather has passed, and the bats and balls are waking up from a long hi-bernation in Huskyland. The 2011 Soft-ball season has begun! Tryouts were on January 24th after school, with many returning, as well as several newcoming players, the Lady Huskies are more than prepared for the season to come. Senior captain Kristen Esquibel has been the pitcher for the Lady Huskies for the past four years, and she is very excited for her last year on the team. “We have a group of hard work-ers this year,” Esquibel said, “with more practice we’ll get even better.” The Lady Hus-kies softball team under-went a change in manage-

ment this season. Head Coach Bryan Ballard is replacing Coach Arm-strong, and his outlook on the season is very bright. “We had 30 girls come out for the first day of practice, and they were working hard,” Ballard said. “I am re-

Softball Bats Off Girls look forward to upcoming season

ally looking forward to coaching this year.” As well as reciev-ing new players the team will also have an addi-tion to the coaching staff.Coach Byerly will be the new assistant coach for the softball team this year. With the season

barely underway, the in-coming freshman are al-ready looking forward to playing as a Lady Husky. Freshman Ki-era Simmons is new to the Lady Huskies, and she is pumped for the season to begin. “I haven’t played in a long time, and softball is my fa-vorite sport, so I am excited to play this year,” Simmons said. The softball team participates in three non-district tour-naments before district play starts, their first is in Mineral Wells on February 17th. Ballard has high hopes for the Lady Huskies this season. “If these girls keep working hard all through the season, good things will hap-pen,” Ballard said.

Hirschi Husky Sports

by Nicole Mcpeters The 2011 track season is slowly creeping back around, everyone is getting prepared for it. Track is the sport most people don’t prefer to do, but those people who do are con-stantly on their feet. This year the Lady Huskies have a fresh team com-ing out ready to run and show their talent,many of the runners are new comers who are anx-ious to be apart of a successful team this year. Practices are being ran differently than previous. The ladies will do different condi-tioning to strengthen their abs and build their leg strength, therefore the ladies will be pre-pared for district. The season begins on January 18, and ends towards the end of May, depending on how far you get. If you have great heart and potential to beat your opponent, even your own teammates, you have an oppor-tunity go to state which is held in Austin, Texas. If the girls work hard and win an event in district they will be headed to region-al, and then if they place first through third they proceed to Austin which is one of the big-

Ready, Set, Run!Track practices begin

gest meets of all time, you have the ability to be ranked in the state. The fastest schools attend and you have to be on your A game and ready to work. During practices you work very hard, but it all pays off when you go to state in Austin, Texas. Track is not only about running their is also field events which are different activities you can do in order to help your team win the track meet, if you win then you your-self may win the first place medal. The field events con-sist of javelin, high jump, triple jump, long jump, and shot put. The javelin is a long pole that you have to throw a specific way, the high jump is a pole and a mat you have to jump over the pole just the right way in order to win. Track is competitive, people who love the sport dream of winning their event and going to the biggest place, where everyone can see their talent. Everyone is ready to dominate the track and bring in old and new runners who are ready to win and show them who will be going to state.

Shout Outs to the Hirschi Swim Team

They Just Keep Swimming

Febuary 9th Meet

Ilaria Tozzi placed 12th in the 100

yard breast stroke and also placed

16th in the 50 yard free-style.

CJ Sison placed 12th in the 100

yard breast stroke.

The boys relay placed 9th in the 400 free-style and 12th in the 200 free-style

relay!Swimmers were Joshua Thompson, Javi-er Nieves, Isaiah Edwards and CJ Sison

Isaiah Edwards set a new school re-cord as he placed

4th in the 100 yard breast stroke, he

also placed 12th in the 50 yard free-

style.

Hirschi seniors reflect on their time and dedi-cation spent to being a Hirs-chi basketball

player and how the sport molded them on and off

of the court.

Feature7 Feature 8by Jessica Lunte Singing. Just the word itself instills fear into some people. Most humans are pet-rified and ashamed of their ability to (not) carry a tune. At some point in their lives, somebody, or more likely sev-eral people, insulted their Do Re Mi-ing skills. People often blame their lack of singing ability on tone-deafness, even though it probably little or nothing to do with it. A study by Harvard University has shown that amusics, the technical term for people with tone deafness, are a much smaller portion of the population than we previously believed. Researchers have dis-covered that 1 in 20 people have actual tone deafness, meaning they cannot tell differences in pitch or follow rythyms. In amusics, a part of the brain, the arcuate fascicu-lus, was smaller and had a lower fiber count than in nor-mal individuals. Even more dramatic, the major branch of the arcuate fasciculus in the right hemisphere could not be detected in the tone-deaf indi-viduals. The researchers theo-rized that this part of the brain is deformed or missing in amu-sics, causing them to be unable to actively hear themselves singing. Nevertheless, most

people can actually carry a tune, but simply have not prac-ticed or do not care enough. According to the Uni-versity of Amsterdam, simply exposing oneself to enough di-verse music causes people to perform similarily to experts who have had professional musical training. So, all those hours lis-terning to Mariah Carey or Seal may actually pay off. The more time spent listening to music, the more enjoyment one gets out of music. An online study given by the Harvard Medical society in cooperation with BBC tests musicality in people around the world. Several students at Hirschi took the test to see how in-tune to music they re-ally are. Sophomore Dylan Wiley plays the guitar and en-joys several kinds of music. He took the test and scored high in the emotional, social, and tech-nical aspects of music. Wiley smiles, “I’ve been playing the piano since I was six, so I think I am pretty musical.” He thought that the test was a pretty accurate rep-resentation of his ability to perceive music. “Some songs just make you feel really emo-tional,” Wiley said. Kastyn Johnson, also a sophomore, did not think that the test was a very accurate representation of his musical abilities. Contrary to Wiley,

Johnson has had no musical training and does not play an instrument. He scored high in his rythym and tone percep-tion, but low in his social and emotional connection to mu-sic. “When I go home, I just listen to music,” Johnson confessed. “I just don’t ever hear a song that makes me re-ally emotional.” Madame Faust took the test as well. Though she plays no instrument, she still scored high in all sections ex-cept for social interaction with music. “I thought the test was totally accurate,” she said. “It absolutely shows that you can be musical wi-hout having formal training.” “The exposure you get when you are little to music makes the biggest impact on how musical you will be when you are older,” she hypoth-esized. “When I was growing up I listened to Mozart and Beethoven, all kinds of music. It’s definitely made me a part of who I am.” The simple combina-tion of notes and silence cre-ates a universal language that speaks of our most basic and powerful feelings, like pas-sion, tragedy, and hate. As the famous children’s author Hans Christian Anderson once said, “Where words fail, music speaks.”

Fastest Way to Spread Cheer?Singing Loud for All to Hear

by Nour Azzouz Mrs. Floyd was the ad-ministrative secretary at Hirs-chi High School who worked for Wichita Falls ISD for thir-ty-six years. Mrs. Sandra K. Floyd passed away in her sleep during the holiday break on Thursday, December 22, 2010, and her funeral was held De-cember 27, 2010. Mrs. Floyd was a great asset to Hirschi High School. “She knew how to take care of any issue, how to keep every-thing organized,” said Coach Offield, a close personal friend. “The moment when it dawned on us that she was no longer there,” explained Of-field, “was when during one of the first days back when a check had to be written for the school. She was the only one who possessed that skill.” Of-field along with many of Hirs-chi staff members are grieving the loss but also taking the time to remember her many positive attributes to the school and the students she served and also to their own personal lives. “She had a very hard

exterior, but beyond it was a gentle, kind, spiritual and lov-ing woman,” said Mrs. Borg-man. Mrs. Cook worked in the office alongside Mrs. Floyd for nearly twelve years. “She was very sincere, a hard worker, a precious friend and a great mama,” said Cook. Her love for her family, especially her grandchildren was special. She explained, “Her life literally revolved around them.” “Any-thing that had to do with band, cheerleading or recitals, she was always there to support them,” added Offield. The ladies in the of-fice will always remember their companionship with Mrs. Floyd. Mrs. Clines was a col-league of Floyd for almost ten years. “She was always ener-getic and always on the go,” said Clines. Both Cook and Clines agree that Mrs. Floyd was among their most trusted friends. The ladies will miss their friendship with Floyd; “whenever we’d go out to eat, her driving always scared us,” remembered Clines with a

Secretary, Friend, and Motherly FigureMrs. Floyd Touched Everyone’s Heart

smile. Coach Offield also had a very long relationship with Mrs. Floyd; “I’ve known her since my sophomore year in high school” he said. When he began working at Hirschi as an athletic trainer, he’d come by Mrs. Floyd’s office daily for morning chitchat. “She would always confide in me for any of her medical questions about herself or her grandchildren,” he explained. “I’ll miss her confiding in me and I’ll miss her friendship greatly.” Offield mentioned that he is fortunate to have maintained a relation-ship with her family. “She had a stress-ful job that overwhelmed her sometimes,” said Offield, “but she took it with a grain of salt.” Mrs. Floyd loved her job, she loved the students that she served, she loved her family and she loved her friends. She will be greatly missed by all those who had the pleasure of knowing her. Her heart, spirit and contributions to the school will always be remembered.

by Cayley Burleson The theme for this prom season focuses on rein-carnated styles with a bold, striking, and daring edge. Stun-ning gowns and dapper tuxes will be rocking this year’s dances as designers attempt to bring back the flare from previ-ous decades. Fashion trends from the 2010 spring season have made their way back into de-signers’ sketch books in order for teens to take on the needed edge for this year’s prom. Runways have turned into retro catwalks for the pre-view of this year’s dresses as puffy styles from the eighties and vibrant colors from the ninties rise from the dead. As the mermaids begin to migrate and the jungle prints get inked, retro styles from the club backwoods have stumbled into the spotlight and become one of the main must-haves of this season’s line up. The con-tinuation of the hiked hemline and the vibrant vivacity from last spring’s neon color palette combine with varying amounts of beading, feathers, and folds to add the extra nerve into the usually unedgy short styles. Sequins and feathers are dancing into the spotlight

and onto entire dresses, long and short, which are becom-ing elegant conglomerations of shine and plumes. Intricate beading is now found on al-most every dress, and elabo-rate masterpieces are becom-ing more common among slit gowns. Even cute cocktail

dresses have been shimmered with sparkly shine, but they have also been forced to meta-morphisize into bird suits. The peacock trend is tak-ing over the color palette of darker dresses while feathers and avion-inspired beading have spread throughout the formerly “plain” prom bombs.

place tail down the back in or-der to lengthen legs and catch eyes. Plunging necklines are grabbing even more atten-tion as sweetheart necklines, halter tops, and open backs strip dresses of coverage and swap fabric with cleavage. These necklines, or lack there of, have made their way onto elegant formals, Cinderella gowns, short dresses, and even fan dresses, transforming pre-viously common designs into the daring, stylized looks seen in the prom previews. A new inspiration from tableware has arisen to form a new dress that is growing in popularity; the ruffle, napkin, and giant bow designs are now draping models as doilies and hand towels seem to make up the entirety of these gift-like dresses. Most of these designs lack fitting and simply wrap the wearer in extra fabric. Al-though the atrocity of these gowns should kill the dyna-mism behind their developing designs, girls’ drive to be dif-ferent rescues the dresses from the dumpster. Girls, plan now as the mad dash to have the season’s bold new looks will quickly land this year’s head-turning designs in the back of closets.

This bird trend is one of the main bold standards set by this year’s fashion almanac. Designers’ new twist on gown hemlines has left them with a treacherous train that turned ball styles into the tapered high-low dresses. Even short cocktail dresses have been tagged with an out-of-

Slits, Shine, and Chic: 2011 Forecasts a New Line of Bold this Season

by Nour Azzouz A warning to all dance floors, prepare to be stomped; a newfangled genre is on its way to consume the nation. Dub-step is an innovative type of electronic dance music that originated in the UK not too long ago. This largely instru-mental genre draws inspira-tion from all corners of the globe with the defining fea-ture of overwhelming base-lines. Other sounds it tends to incorporate include clang-ing percussions, microphone taps, screeching sirens, jungle rhythms and even a few classical melodies. This basement trash bash that’s been pummeled into new school candy is beyond gar-bage—it’s pure filth. It is different, but not at all undesirable as many would expect it to be. Although this genre began underground, leaders like Datsik, Zomby, AC Slater and the illusive Rusko, currently considered the head hooey of the dub-nation, arose and cre-ated a following of devoted dubsteppers. Ironically the cli-max of Rusko’s career was also

Trash Can Bash: Dubstep, the New Mainstream Smashthe ground-breaking moment which dubstep officially in-troduced to America. Rusko’s collaboration with the toxic pop princess Britney Spears

ultimately resulted in his pro-duction of her upcoming album of 2011. Spears’s new single “Hold it Against Me”, current-ly trashing up the charts, repre-sents the first pop-dub marriage ever to hit mainstream music in

the US. Dubstep is an audible oxymoron. Master Dub DJs have a gifted ability for mash-

ing angelic knee weakening voices, like that of Amber Coffman, with grimy robotic garbage, in Rusko’s “Hold On”, to produce sounds that make the heads of all who lis-ten snap off like Barbie dolls. Dubstep doesn’t arouse feel-

ings, it transports the soul. The music combines sounds bear-ing no natural resemblance and takes its listeners on a journey

through a haunted bounce house, a laser luminary, an alien abduction, a jungle junkyard— yes, a filthy epidemic is well on the way. For those convinced that dubstep is not their cup of tea, consider the many other artists like Lil Jon, Ke$ha and Gu-cci Mane looking into this genre to liven up their sound. Perhaps the most attractive feature of dub-step is its versatility; vir-tually any type of music can be remixed into dub-step by simply warping the baselines and adding a few helicopter hums, electrified beats and dirty statics. Dubstep is fresh

and satisfying to listeners with its sharp edge, eerie haze and sensual implications. Cave into curiosity, give dubstep a listen and if you feel the sudden urge to dress up in street fighter garb and kick out a few car windows after, well that’s expected.

by Nour Azzouz It all begins at the starting line. Elated emotions,accompanied by the sound of his heart beat resonate through the mind of Hirschi se-nior Kyle Anderson at the be-ginning of each race. He runs through the plan in his mind over and over, strategizing, “how can I keep in the front?” As the time ticks by for the race to begin, his thoughts fade into focus as adrenaline builds. He sets his goal then channels his mind to attack it. Legs braced, feet positioned, eyes zoned in on the track; there’s no sight of failure from the starting line. The gun is shot in an instance, leaving behind a deadly ring that temporarily stuns the less experienced rac-ers Anderson easily passes. He jostles his legs and feet against the pedals, vying for position. Then sometime after the start-

Small Town Cycling Championing line is no longer visible and the top racers have indefinitely defined their ranking range, his mind drifts into a temporary state of repose and he is final-ly able to enjoy the feeling of freedom; “the sun in your face and the wind in your hair on a hot summers day”, no other feeling compares, he explains. He paces himself, left, right, left right, left while maintaining the even rhythm of his breath. He recalls the mem-ory of his first bike ride when he was only twelve years old, “it was something I enjoyed from the very beginning, speed was the best part.” Anderson joined a local junior league biking team earlier in his life, which helped him progress in the sport. He smiles when he remembers “winning all of the races” as a child and paces on. He pumps his legs

harder and harder creating an even bigger gap between him-self and the other racers while reminding himself how impor-tant all of his training is now that it’s paying off. Anderson averages approximately “250 miles every week,” in training on his bike “cardio and endur-ance are the essentials. I sprint, build my leg muscles, and work on my upper body in order to improve my steering abili-ties.” He also emphasizes the importance of eating healthy and taking multivitamins to his racing; “It’s so important for me to stay in top shape so that I will be able to do well in all of my races.” “Anderson, let’s keep moving! Keep the pace up!” Yells his coach from the side lines as Kyle nears the end of the race. He propels himself forward, finally deciding to put

all of the energy that he’s been saving to use. While doing so he remembers all of the people in his life who have supported and motivated him to reach the point he is has achieved in his career today all those who have been so understanding of his aspirations. “My coach has been the biggest guide with training and helping me to become a better cyclist. My parents have always been there to motivate me and remind me that I will one day become the best, and my friends and girl-friend have always been sup-portive and understanding of how important cycling is to me.” He explains further that he would not have been able to achieve all that he has without the people in his life. At last the finish line is visible. Anderson finally be-gins to break a sweat; his legs

burn and his arms are growing weaker but he charges forward even faster; his life flash ten years into the future. He imag-ines himself still racing, pro by this point and a part of several continental cyclist teams—a future Lance Armstrong “but without the pending investiga-tion,” he laughs. He slices the finish line setting a new personal record, beating racers that he believed are “twice as good as I [am].” His coach, family and friends are all there to congratulate him. Anderson basks in the glory for only a moment and then his thoughts immediately flips to reflections of “how how can I do even better in the next race?” The mindset along with passion he believes, is the key—the key that will lead to the success of a champion in the making.