Hi Times Issue 4 Vol. 104January 20136

Return of the Flu: Winter-time sickness strikes backBy Taylor SimonStaff Writer

Around winter time, a common virus known as influenza makes its way back into immune sys-tems everywhere. Most people experience symp-toms such as headaches, vomit-ing, coughing, runny nose and sore throat. Usually, over-the-counter cough syrup is issued, as well as: Tylenol or Ibuprofen, nasal spray and medicated throat spray. If the symptoms become worse unexpectedly, a visit to the doc-tor is recommended. A verified medical prescription is written to better treat the virus. These medicines include: Ondansetron and Promethazine (suppository) for vomiting, Tylenol 3 with Co-dine for headaches and multiple other narcotics. “I usually do catch the flu around winter time,” said fresh-man Ashley Bryan. “I don’t nor-mally miss a lot of school, but if I do, it’s because of the bad head-aches and vomiting.”

This flu season, the CDC (Cen-ters for Disease Control and Prevention) have said it is as unpredictable as always. Their website says to receive a new flu vaccine every six months each year just to be safe. For the 2012-2013 season, man-ufacturers have said they will produce between 146 million and 149 million doses of flu vac-cine. It is a measurable distance from the 2011-2012 season, which reached 132.8 million doses. “Sometimes I get sick,” said sophomore Matt Buckman. “I feel terrible for a couple days. I just don’t want to get out of bed.” Over the years, many people have died from the flu. Doctors have said it is a “gateway” to more serious diseases or illness-es, such as Pneumonia. “This time of year is always busy in my office,” said school nurse Rachel Cooper. “I see quite a few truly sick students. I send home about an average of five a day, but I see over 40 sick kids a day.”

The years have progressed and more knowledge has been ac-quired. Doctors and scientists have been discovering or creat-ing new medicines that attack the sickness and force it out. Still, some are concerned about whether or not Influenza will be better or worse this time around. “I do not think each year gets worse with the flu,” said Cooper. “I think it depends on how well people take care of themselves. Usually by keeping your hands washed, not eating or drink-ing after people, covering your mouth etc., are all important fac-tors in being flu free.” Assuming students, teachers and parents alike keep them-selves healthy, maybe this year’s flu season will be the best yet. Who knows where things will lead? Just remember to stay as sani-tary as ever and be extra cau-tious to germs. After all, it is not worth missing school…right? That’s less work to make up upon return.

Beware the dangers of the World Wide Web

By Carly KwiecienStaff Writer

Technology these days has become such a significant part of every-day life for many people. The constant buzzes and rings fill the air, for people are messaging and calling each other all the time. Walking down a street and not seeing anyone on their phones or iPads is very unusual and rare this day and age. Some are on the internet more than others, and may get so accus-tomed to being on it, that they forget what they post. There is a say-ing that states that once someone puts something on the internet, it is there forever. Even if it is deleted, there’s always a chance someone has already seen it, and they have the ability to keep that information to themselves or share it with others. “Social networking sites have been beneficial to me because it keeps you up to date in the news and styles,” junior Briana Moffitt. “I don’t post much about myself, just mostly basic likes and dislikes.” The internet is a hot spot for several teenagers who use it to keep in touch with friends or use it to keep track of current events happen-ing within their community. Facebook is a website well-known by people of all ages. It benefits many people by giving them the ability to connect with friends all over the world. It is very simple to enter an e-mail and password, create a profile, add a picture, fill out information about yourself and start making virtual friends. Even though it doesn’t seem dangerous at all, many don’t realize that the information people add might not always be true. Becoming “friends” with someone online will most likely not be the best decision. “I make my accounts directly about me and private because I only want to socialize with people I know, unless the account is under a fake name,” sophomore Hans Tuznik said. Posting things that might be embarrassing later in the future might also be regretful in the end. “I regret some embarrassing pictures I posted because it can change peoples’ opinions about you in a greater way than you may think,” said Tuznik. January is marked as the tenth annual observance of National Stalking Awareness Month. January is a month dedicated to educat-ing the public about the serious effects of stalking. Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus are very famous which means many people have access to other people’s accounts crammed with personal information. Stalking has affected about 6.6 million Americans every year. Only add people familiar and only posts things that wouldn’t get in the way of careers or opportunities that may be available in the fu-ture. Next time, be careful to read over the post before it is out there for the whole world to see.

In touch with the worldBy Cassandra NickersonStaff Writer

“So many students have no idea what is happening in our world today, especially with politics and society in general,” said US history teacher, Mrs. Wireman. Because many students are unaware of current events, Mrs. Wireman has been thinking about starting a current events class for the past couple of years at LaPorte High School. “I think it would be an interesting class to take. Most people would be aware of what’s going on in the news,” said junior Brent Banic. Starting in the 2013-2014 school year, Mrs. Wireman will be teaching a class about Current problems, issues and events. It will most likely be available to juniors and seniors, for one trimester. The class will be worth one credit. “Most students do not understand financing and government, things that will affect students when they graduate and automatically think they can buy a house,” said Mrs. Wireman. Real-life situations will be a big topic in this class. Although it may not seem important now, high school is only a short four years and once one graduates, knowing what is happening in the world will be of importance. The government especially, has a huge impact on one when they hit the “real world.” Therefore it is only fair if one understands how life alone works before the experience hits them. “I think a current events class would be very important and interesting to teenagers. I took a current events class in high school and I learned how to be informed and evaluate the verisimilitude of multiple news sources,” said history teacher Mrs. McDonald. By taking this course students will study all different aspects of society: history, business, math, eng-lish and science. Students will also learn to identify characteristics of the media and how some sources tend to be more biased toward a political party. The news will also be read daily. “It is valuable to observe the wide perspective, and evaluate events under the lens of history and draw a plausible conclusion,” said Mrs. McDonald. Wireman’s hopes are that the students will learn how the world and society work and to become bet-ter prepared for a great future.

Long and Shortt: pet peevesBy Storm Shortt and Josh LongStaff Writers

This is a new section in the pa-per where my partner Josh Long and I, Storm Shortt, write about our pet peeves or things that just flat out annoy us! We feel these things are annoying to everyone and need to be spread to the public to bring awareness about them. We hope you enjoy! Shortt-I am a pretty chill guy at school and I go with the flow, but I can not stand when all the students at school decide to abruptly stop in the middle of the hallway and try to push their way to the side where their lock-ers are to talk with their friends. I understand that it is probably something really important like some guy/girl said “Hi” to you, but it can wait 30 seconds. If we were all just a little bit more patient and say “Excuse me,” no-body would be troubled by this anymore. Enough of school pet peeves, time for a store pet peeve. I am extremely tired of Wal-Mart only having three check-out lanes open when I shop there. Generally there are about 30 peo-ple waiting in line while there’s at least 20 check-out lanes that are closed. Wal-Mart manag-ers think they fix the problem by opening one more register. I hate to break it to them, but it really does not solve anything. I think the simplest fix is to just open more lanes and have more

employees manning the regis-ters. This could save us all from a massive amount of stress and save me from the torture of read-ing the National Inquirer, learn-ing about how the president is an alien or some other ridiculous nonsense. Josh-I would like to talk about people who do not use turn sig-nals when turning. I understand being safe is not cool anymore so people don’t like using them, but they are a form of common courtesy that makes driving easier and safer for everyone. With just a flick of the wrist and a look over the shoulder, driving can be much safer. We would not have to worry about the sur-prise attack lane changes any-more and people like me would

not have to be annoyed by petty incompetence. It’s a win-win for everyone. Something else that drives me bonkers is when people that work for the public act like a customer is agitating them. The employee may be having a bad day, but he/she should at least smile and act like they are happy to help the patron. When they are getting their groceries, the last thing they want to hear about is how much the worker hates their job. Clientele want to get in and out of the store, and when they are subject to a negative worker it brings their day down. When working in the public, it is the employee’s job to leave their personal problems at home where they belong.

Photo by Katie Gurnicz

Sophomores Storm Shortt (left) and Josh Long (right) are teaming up for a special feature column of the Hi Times.

NHS service hoursBy Addie BoardmanStaff Writer

At LPHS, many clubs and ac-tivities such as GR, National Honor Society and Work Ethic require its members to rack up a certain amount of volunteer ser-vice hours. There are multiple ways to ac-quire these hours. Here are a few suggestions. Handley Elementary School offers an after school program called Handley Helping Hands, or HHH. High school students are in-vited to come and volunteer by helping the young students with homework or projects, playing games and reading their favorite stories with them. Handley Helping Hands goes from around 3:15 to 5 p.m. and is a rewarding and easy way to earn some service hours. Another place which offers an opportunity for students to receive service hours is the hos-pital. Students are open to a range of different activities they can par-ticipate in while they volunteer. Students can deliver gifts to patients’ rooms, help transport patients around the hospital and spend quality time entertaining children who are patients in the hospital. This is also a very re-warding and valuable way to

earn service hours. “Volunteering at the hospital makes me feel good about my-self. I feel like I am really help-ing the community,” said senior volunteer Si Si Chen. Students at LPHS are often asked to become tutors for younger students. LPHS students can tutor in any subject and sometimes can even earn money for the tutoring that they do. Students can talk to Mrs. Owens or Mr. Alber to become involved with the tutoring pro-grams here at LPHS. Brentwood, The Ruth Sabin Home and all other nursing home facilities gladly welcome young student volunteers. At the nursing homes, the staff and residents are open to any type of activities that the volun-teer would like to do. These activities include reading, playing cards, painting the resi-dents’ nails, playing an instru-ment for their entertainment or just sitting and spending quality time talking with them. “Ever since I’ve been involved with volunteering, it has made me have a greater appreciation for our community,” said LPHS volunteer Courtney Caum. These terrific volunteer oppor-tunities will brighten your year and spread some winter cheer to all the world.

Photo by J.T. Klingenmeier

Junior Andrew Weber uses his iPhone to check Facebook during downtime in class.