ECHOESthe Scottsbluff High School | November 2010 | Volume 94 | Issue 3

With only one senior runner, the boys’

cross country team nabbed a

surprise state victory | pg. 20 Girls’ golf team wins another state title, ex-tends winning streak to three years | pg. 19

With two team state championships and two individual titles,this sports season has certainly been an

UN-forgettable[ ]

Senior Aubree Worden wins third consecutive all-class

individual state title | pg. 20FALL

2 | NEWS

The date was Sunday, Sept. 5. The time: 5 A.M.

Assistant Principal Matt Huck sat staring at his computer, navigating through a sea of blocked Internet sites. Finally, he reached his destina-tion: his blog.

It was the first contact he had with the Western world since arriving in communist China.

Huck is participating in an ex-change program in China for the first semester of this school year.

“We’ve made it and are doing well we have all had a hard time with the grueling 14 hour time change, although our the children seem to be doing much better at adjusting,” Matt Huck wrote.

On top of the time change, Huck has had to deal with a serious lan-guage barrier.

“We are surrounded by Chinese, of course, but also Zambians, Indi-ans, Pakistanis, and Nepalese, just to name a few. It is so good to see the world from the many different cultural perspectives, but it can be overwhelming at times. Our English-Chinese Picture Dictionary has become ‘sacred’,” Huck said.

Even with the English-Chinese Picture Dictionary, miscommunica-tions do occur.

“China celebrates their Autumn Moon Festival, which is the 15 day/night of the 8 Lunar Moon. This lands on Sept. 23 and 24. However, because it lands in the middle of the week, all businesses and schools go to work/school on the prior Sunday to make up lost time. We had already sched-

uled an out-of-town tour this past week-

end, and then, we find out we are required to attend school on Sunday the 19. Yes, your “Attendance Ad-ministrator” had to find a translator to excuse himself and his kids from school on Sunday,” Huck wrote.

Huck’s family (wife Heidi, sons Jacob and Kade, and daughter Nyah), with their Western features, tend to stand apart from the rest of the crowd, which results in some special atten-tion given to Huck and his family.

“The boys are constantly petted and touched, and Nyah, is quite often picked up and even kissed. Also, we are often viewed as a photo oppor-tunity. At the Wild Goose Pagoda, it took five minutes to take a picture because people kept cutting Heidi off to take a picture of our family,” Huck wrote.

During his second week in China, both he and his children started school Working at Xi’an Jiaotong University’s (XJTU) Affiliated Middle School, which is equivalent to an American high school, which has a 2,000 student enrollment.

I teach conversational English to the Level 3 students (advanced) and an American Culture class,” Huck wrote.

Huck happened upon more than a language barrier while teaching his classes.

“My biggest challenge, besides the mere language barrier, is the fact that their English text books are written by some Texas company who wants to pose ‘American Southern Slang’ as an official dialect,” Huck said.

There are conversational pieces that use things like ‘y’all,’ ‘Big Billy Bob,’ ‘shoulda,’ and even ‘nuff.’ I tried to explain that this is a varia-tion likened to ‘How are you?’ to ‘What’s up?’ and to ‘Sup.’ I also tried

to explain that this is not ‘Standard American English,’ but because the text book values it, so do the Chinese.

Huck’s children’s school is ex-tremely different compared to the America’s educational system.

“Schools in China are set up a bit differently than ours. Kindergarten is a school with a completely separate facility because it is the foundation of their entire educational process--it is a very competitive environment for parents. Also, there are no janitors in the Kindergarten through Middle Schools because, as Jake and Kade are learning, the students must take turns cleaning their facilities,” Huck wrote.

The curriculum is much more dif-ficult than in the states. A level 3 stu-dent is already expected to do square roots and 2-3 digit multiplication and division (mentally).

However, the overall subjects are similar to the ones in America. Chi-nese, math, computer, essay writing, moral ed/health ed, P.E., art, music, and english.

The school hours, on the other hand, couldn’t be more different. Huck’s kid’s attend school from 7:50

to 11:30 A.M. then 2:30 to 4:20 P.M.“Heidi and Nyah spend almost

two hours of their day walking the boys to and from school. Also, like many Latin American countries, they tend to eat lunch and then then take naps and relax, even the adults,” Huck said.

Huck has been able to escape the city at times and become a tourist for a day or two.

“We were able to get away from the smog of the city to the Qinling Mountains and a nature reserve. We also were able to eat a traditional Chinese meal that comes from the Sichuan Province called ‘Hot Pot.’ We liken it to Fondue, but much healthier in that a broth of various spices cooks the vegetables, legumes and meat,” Huck wrote.

Huck is pleased with his decision to go to China with the program.

“This will open doors for some great opportunities for SHS students as it is promoting future exchanges for Nebraska students and teachers here in Xi’an, China. I have worked for this program to develop since the fall of 2008,” Huck wrote.

story byRYAN MEISTER | news writer

•Population: 14 million

•Xi’an is one of the old-est provinces in China•Xi’an, along with Ath-ens, Cairo, and Rome, was a super power in

ancient times•Xi’an was the starting point to the Silk Road

Half a world away, Vice Principal Huckgives new meaning to being ‘absent’

The city of Xi’An (shee-ahn), China

”“

NEWS | 3

Imagine a world where a person paralyzed from the waist down could stand, could leave the wheelchair behind and re-learn how to walk. Imagine a world where someone suf-fering from cancer or another terminal illness can leave his/her hospital bed and live a normal life.

Now stop imagining, because that

world could soon become a reality.After years of studying stem cells

- cells taken from human embryos that have the potential to turn into any type of cell - on animals, the Geron Corporation, a biopharmaceu-tical company based in Menlo Park, California, and Hans S. Keirstead, a University of California at Irvine re-searcher have done the first injection of stem cells into a human.

According to Gabriel I. Nistor, a postdoctoral researcher who worked with Keirstead, trials on rats and mice have already been successful. Rats and mice with spinal cord injuries were injected with human oligoden-

drocytes, and many regained the abil-ity to support their own weight, hold up their tails, and urinate.

Geron then had to go to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to get approval for a human trial. Ap-proval came in January 2009 but was halted when injected rats developed small cysts. The final approval was in July 2010, which allowed Geron to start searching for patients.

To qualify for this study, patients had to have suffered a ‘complete thoracic spinal cord injury,’ which results in all areas from the chest down being paralyzed, within seven to fourteen days of receiving the injury.

A total of ten eligible patients will eventually be studied. The first, an anonymous person at the Shepherd Center, a spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, was injected with Geron’s and Keirstead’s newly-developed cells, called GRNOPC1. These were left over embryonic cells donated from in-vitro fertilization clinics, and they were turned into oligodendro-cytes (cells that make myelin, a pro-tective sheath around the spinal cord).

The hope is that the injected cells will help repair the myelin, which will help the injured spinal cord nerves live.

surrounding stem cell researchstory bySCOUT WILSON | news editor

If we get to the point where we can fix anything, I think people won’t care for their bodies as much and take more risks.

-Science teacher Jim Bogus

This is Phase 1 of the trial, the purpose of which is to determine the safety of the stem cell therapy. The next phase will be to determine whether the stem cells do what they are designed to do and if they are efficient.

The success of the trial would be a step forward in science and medicine, allowing the further exploration of stem cell therapies.

Science teacher Jim Bogus is excited about the trial but surprised to see how far the research has come, since human testing is usually the last step in scientific studies

“This is a very big step forward for science and therapies,” Bogus said.

However, Bogus also sees potential negatives if the stem cells are able to repair injury and cure disease.

“If we get to the point where we can fix anything, I think people won’t care for their bodies as much and take more risks. Also, because of how ex-pensive technology can be, only those who could afford it would receive it, limiting the people the new technol-ogy could help,” Mr. Bogus said.

Like other new technologies, this is a slow process. It will be a while before the results of these studies become available to the public, so, for now, all that we can do is be patient and hope that one day in the future the worries of disease and aliments will bother us no longer.

Researchers must extract the stem cells from the fertilized embryos in order to be able to use them for futher development of stem cell thearpies.

The SCIENCE of stem cell research at work

CONTROVERSIES& POSSIBILITIES

Photo from thinkprogress.org

What is a stem cell?

A stem cell is a cell in the body whose job is not yet determined. Stem cells receive a signal that makes them start to differentiate, or gradu-ally change into the cell they’re destined to be.

Early Embryonic Stem Cells

A newly fertilized egg, or a zygote, divides, pro-ducing a group of stem cells called an embryo. These early stem cells are called totipotent, mean-ing they can become ANY kind of cell.

Blastocyst Embryonic Stem Cells

Seven days after fertil-ization, the embryo forms a hollow ball-like struc-ture called a blastocyst. Embryonic stem cells in the blastocyst are pluri-potent, meaning that they have the ability to become ALMOST any kind of cell in the body.

Adult Stem Cells“Adult” stem cells have

a misleading name, be-cause infants and children also have them. These stem cells reside in al-ready-developed tissues, directing their growth and maintenance. These stem cells are multipotent, meaning they can differ-entiate into only a limited range of cell types.

Adult stem cells in-clude: blood cells, nerve cells, muscle cells, skin cells, bone cells, as well as umbilical cord stem cells.

November 25th: Thanksgiving Break

December 2nd: BBB/GBB- Western Conference

BBB/GBB 9th @ Douglas

4th: WR JV & VAR @ Torrington Inv.- 8:30am

BBB/GBB 9th @ Douglas

Speech- WNCC Inv.- TBA

District One Act Plays- TBA

6th: BBB/GBB 10th @ Torrington- 5/6:30pm

7th: BBB/GBB JV @ Alliance- 5/6:30pm

WR JV & VAR @ Gering - 6/7pm

SHS Band Holiday Concert @ Auditorium- 7:30

Pearl Harbor Remeberence Day

9th: BBB/GBB vs. Alliance- Home- 5:30/ 7pm

WR JV & VAR @ Alliance- 6/7pm

BBB JV & VAR @ Gillette- TBA

State One Act Plays

10th: GSW/BSW @ McCook-3pm

GBB JV & VAR A Wheatland- 5:30/ 7pm

BBB JB & VAR @ Gillette- TBA

Cat Calendar

The CAT CALENDAR is brought to you by the

SCOTTSBLUFF BOOSTER CLUB

11th: WR JV & VAR @ Cheyenne East Inv 9:30

BBB 9th vs. Sterling- 10/11:30

GBB 9th JV & VAR @ Gillette- TBA

BBB JV & VAR @ Gillette- TBA

Speech Meet Morrill Inv.- TBA

13th- GSW vs. Sterling- 5pm

14th- WR JV @ Lingle Ft. Laramie- 6pm

16th- GBB/BB 9th vs. Mitchell- 6/7:30pm

SHS Vocal Concert- Auditorium-7pm

17th- GSW/BSW @ North Platte- 4pm

BBB 10th JV & VAR vs. Sterling- 4-7pm

Senior DayWednesday, December 1

10 a.m. to 2 p.m.Get a snapshot of WNCC by visiting our main campus in

Scottsbluff on Wednesday, December 1 during “Senior Day.”

Visit wncc.edu and register by Monday, November 29.

wncc.edu800.348.4435

Picture Yourself at WNCC

NEWS | 5

While riding back in a silver Mercedes Benz with her friends after a day of shopping for homecoming dresses in Colorado, senior Maragret Baker felt the buzz of her cell phone. She pulled it out of her pocket and pressed open.

“Platte Valley Alert: Your CARD starting with 4794* has been DEACTI-VATED. Please contact us at 877-342-7856”

Baker carefully dialed the number in order to reactivate her card.

Seconds later, one of Bakers friends in the car received an identical message.

“After I saw Gabrielle’s message, I hung up as fast as I could, but I did give them the 16 digit pin and my expiration date.” Baker said.

Baker is not alone. Many other students and adults all over the nation received the same message and have suffered from this incident.

After receiving this text, people are encouraged not to respond, then de-lete and report it as soon as possible.

“After I called the number I felt like a complete idiot, I tried to call the bank and report it but it wouldn’t go through,” Baker said.

Baker had luck on her side that day, as she did not give out as much information as she could have if she hadn’t been around her friends. She could have given her social security number and more bank information,

which could have led to more serious consequences: such as identity theft, unknown money withdrawals from bank accounts, and the possibility of being open to lose other personal information.

Phishing scams like this one can be easily identified. First, the vast ma-jority of businesses, especially banks, will not contact their clients by e-mail or text mes-sage. Next scams will always request personal informa-tion in urgent tones in order to secure quick responses. Lastly, phishing scams that men-tion websites will often have fake links and/or gram-matical errors in the URL.

To prevent being scammed do not give out personal information, even a phone number, unless you know where it will end up and what it will

story byRYAN MEISTER | news writer

TEXTING SCAM BRIEFLYs pe akingNational FFA

•Five people placed at the national FFA competi-tion this year: Sara Aschen-brenner, Brayden Auer, Keelyn Hubbard, Isabel Wolf and Jessica Wolf. With Hub-bard placing three times in the sheep and goat event.

Papa John’s in the cafeteria

•Papa John’s Pizza is now being sold in the cafeteria on Monday and Thursday every week. The cost is $1.50 per slice with a choice of cheese, sausage, and pep-peroni.

Homecoming Royalty

•This year’s homecom-ing royalty included Nick Roussel and Maria Torres as king and queen; Russell Morgan and Marcie Sindt, first attendants; Kirby Thorn-ton and Carli Rose, second attendants.

Speech & Debate Recognition

•The speech and debate program has earned mem-bership into the National Forensic League (NFL) pres-tigious 100 Club. They have achieved 100 degrees or more last year and placed in the top 10% of NFL chapters nationwide.

Cornhusker Award•The 2009-2010 editions

of the school yearbook and newspaper won the pres-tigious Cornhusker Award for Class 2A at the Nebraska High School Press Associa-tion’s Fall Convention.

Scottsbluff was the only Class A2 school to win a Cornhusker for both its year-book and newspaper .

A massive texting scam hits the Panhandlebe used for. Read the information completely and understand what could possibly happen before taking action.

The DO’s and DON’Ts of SHSstory bySCOuT WILSON | news editor

Entering high school is tough for any freshmen, especially trying to get into the swing of things that make high school such a big step from middle school.

Wouldn’t it have been nice to have some sort of guide for conducting yourself in high school, something to look at and model your behavior after?

This is the plan Principal Rick Porter is challenging Student Senate to come up with.

“I would like Student Senate to make a video that demonstrates and shows what students should expect in respect to their behavior at school and in the classroom,” Porter said.

Porter said the reason behind mak-ing the video is to give the freshmen transitioning from middle school to high school a visual reference they can look at to see examples of how seniors conduct themselves and provide role models for freshmen.

Senior class officer, Avery Mon-

tanez, says the video will include all senior officers and some underclass-men officers as well.

“One clip will be about safe driv-ing in the parking lot, how to be a courteous driver and waiting your turn while letting others go ahead,” Montanez said.

Other subjects in the video include: raising your hand in class instead of blurting out an answer, proper apparel for the dress code, public displays of affection and appropriate cheering at school activities.

Porter believes it is a perfect op-portunity for the senior officers to demonstrate that they are good stu-dents and to show their school pride by making the school a better func-tioning facility when they are gone.

“We are setting a bar at a level we expect the students to perform at be-cause we want them to be successful in school,” Porter said.

What Porter is hoping comes from the video is some solutions to prob-lems that arise each school year.

An example is the alleviation of hallway congestion.

“We want to teach students to step

aside in the hallways and be courte-ous to others by creating pathways for people to move through and not have the hall backed up so nobody can get through,” Porter said.

Montanez also said Mr. Porter wants to send the video to other schools to encourage them to do the same thing for their freshmen.

One of the goals Porter has set is for the Senate to get the video done before first semester is over.

This would allow him to show the video during one of the recognition assemblies and get student reaction.

This feedback would be important in giving the Senate an opportunity for improving the video and putting in student ideas on what they would like to see additionally.

GIVE US UR MONEY

From: unknown

”

She cruised through the out-skirts oftown, enjoying the summer evening sky and street lights passing by her. A dirt road stretched infinitely out before her and her right foot stretched for the gas pedal, craving more speed.

The world was passing by as Menghini kept pushing forward – un-til the Maxima headlights unveiled an

unexpected sharp curve in the rocky dirt road.

Menghi-ni was left with two options, and zero

time to think either of them over: either haul on forward and dive bum-per first into the ditch bank, or strike the brakes, yank the steering wheel left and hope for the best.

She chose her second option, and immediately realized as her car was sliding sideways off of the road, that her speed, angle of the turn, and fine grains of dirt layering the road didn’t exactly mesh well together.

The car’s wheels were on the ground for about five seconds before cycling into the ditch bank, sending Menghini into a merry-go-round of automobile terror.

The sunroof shattered against the earth, which was now above her head. Solid ground was pounding against every side of her car as it turned, and turned, booming with each spin.

The car came to a stop, wedged upside-down into the ditch. Menghini hov-ered in the air, her seatbelt holding her against car seat and her hair swaying straight out below her. Her back ached and her head was spinning, unable to make sense of her thoughts.

She knew one thing for sure- her car was done for,

story byASHLEIGH SMITH | feature writer

Caution:

It’s sunny with a high of 75°.A crisp breeze flows through the

cracked window into junior Tom Law’s 2000 red Dodge Durango as he cruises down 5th Avenue.

He is lost in the moment as the wind rustles his shaggy blonde hair and Carrie Underwood’s “Jesus Take the Wheel” resonates through his car speakers and pounds his eardrums.

On his right, there is Scottsbluff High School, slowly leaving his rear-view mirror with accelerating speed. Law has almost reached his destina-tion – until a bee the size of New Jer-sey rushes through the window and attacks Law’s face, kamikaze-style.

He loses sight of the silver mini-van in front of him as his right foot searches for the brake, but it’s too late. Silver and red paint fuse before him as he crushes the minivan like a pop can.

Law’s skull head butts the explod-ed airbags before him with the force of an asteroid hammering the earth.

Nestled face down in the pillows of safety, Tom thought to himself, “Not again.”

Like many other students at

SHS, this was not Law’s first car acci-dent. He has been in two car-totaling accidents before, both within his first couple years of driving, leaving him with no means of transportation.

Law claims his parents weren’t overly upset about the accidents – he wasn’t grounded from driving, just left without a car. He says the time for him to get a car and be back on the road is coming soon, though.

“They weren’t very mad since it obviously wasn’t my fault,” Law explained. “I’m glad I get to start driving again, though. It’s been hard these past couple months to get around without a car.”

For other students, the privilege of driving was granted much later after demolishing their spankin’ new vehicles.

Junior Kelcie Menghini’s parents wished her a happy birthday with a shiny Nissan Maxima, exactly the car she had wanted for her sweet 16, and she couldn’t wait to get behind the wheel.

A week later, Menghini hopped into her drivers’ seat after meeting with friends on Applebees’ wing

night and went for a drive before returning home.

and her father was going to kill her.“My parents were very, very angry

after total shock wore off and after they realized I was okay,” she said.

Menghini was grounded for more than seven months, lost all trust she had with her parents, and even devel-oped a fear of driving.

“I had to get rides from my friends or my parents anywhere I went, if I was even allowed to go anywhere.” Menghini said. “The funny thing is, I didn’t mind that very much because I was really nervous, and sort of scared, to drive again.”

Almost a year later, after work-ing hard for both trust and money, Menghini earned a new car along with her driving privileges.

“It took a while to earn their trust back, almost seven months,” Menghini said. “I also had to work at the flower shop on Broadway to pay insurance for my wrecked car and earn money towards a new one.”

Now that she has the car, the trust, and the courage to drive, Menghini is back on the road safely – so far.

Both Law’s and Menghini’s auto-mobile mishaps reduced their vehicles to rubble; they were devastating, and left both individuals with nothing. However, sometimes you have to focus on quantity, not quality.

While Junior Colby Aulick has only totaled one vehicle, his number of fender-benders and traffic warn-ings tally much higher, totaling to six .

“The first time I was going around a corner and rolled my Four Runner into a corn field, second I was drifting around the corner and ran into the fence at the Splash by the school, and the third was just a little bumper to bumper accident,” Aulick explained.

Aulick admits that he has been pulled over often, but he has never received an actual ticket – just warn-ings.

“I’ve been pulled over a lot for speeding, going past a stop sign, will-ful reckless driving, things like that,” Aulick said.

So whether you’re totaling a week-old car or going through your seventh one, you’re still a part of the stereo-type: teenage drivers are dangerous.

‘‘

Teenage drivers are moredangerousthan they appear

I’ve been pulled over a lot for speeding, going past a stop sign,

willful, reckless driving, things like that.

-Kolby Aulick, 11

8 | FEATURE

Many young drivers have multiple accidents on their records

with utilities and gas which adds up to a total of about $500 a month.

Phelps has had to sacrifice a lot since she started living on her own.

“I haven’t been able to buy or do anything for just me because I have to take care of getting groceries and make sure everything gets done. It has put a lot of stress on me,” she said.

That is a huge change from when you are living with someone who takes care of you and everything else.

“I had to sacrifice a lot of going out with friends. I can’t afford to go see a movie or go out to dinner with them. I don’t have any extra spending money,” Phelps said.

It can be really hard for Phelps to focus on school when she has so much on her mind. Sometimes she zones out in class thinking about what she will have to eat for dinner that night, which a lot of the time ends up being ramen noodles.

Someday Phelps would like to go to college, but she doesn’t know how she would pay for it.

She would love to become fi-nancially stable in the future and eventually get a job in social services. Because of everything she has been through, she knows she would be good at it.

“It is better to talk to someone who actually knows what you are going through and can relate to your situa-tion,” Phelps said.

And Phelps’ situation is com-pletely independent from her parents – no communication, no financial assistance.

“If your parent’s are there sup-porting you, don’t take it for granted. You might not realize it, but your parents pay for so much. When you have to start paying for that stuff, you have to be aware of what you spend your money on,” Phelps said.

Although Phelps doesn’t regret moving out, she is appreciative of the new perspective on life this situation has given her.

“I realize now that material things don’t matter, and I have to live to make myself happy because if you are living to make other people happy, you will never be happy,” Phelps said.

FEATURE | 7

story byRACHEL CLEMENS | feature writer

We’ve all seen them. Sitting on the side of the road,

holding a sign or a tin can. “Will work for food.”“Anything helps.” Homelessness affects over 643,000

people in America today. Senior Alyssa Phelps knows what

it is like to be a part of that number. She was hopping houses every two to three days for about a month and a half starting October of 2009. Some days she didn’t know if she would have somewhere to stay at night.

Phelps’ journey toward being homeless began in her childhood.

Her mother died in a car accident when she was five years old, and her abusive father had a harrowing drug problem.

Phelps’ grandparents gained custody of she and her sister when Phelps was seven years old.

“When I was little, I got along with my grandparents really well. I call them mom and dad,” Phelps said.

Her life took a turn for the worse in October of 2009.

“My grandma decided that I was crazy and called the cops and told them to put me on the fifth floor of the hospital. The cops told my grandma that I wasn’t crazy, I just needed out of the situation,” Phelps said.

The policeman took her to the youth shelter where she lived for a month. She was then placed with the pastor of the Methodist church in Mitchell where she lived for six months.

In April 2010, the pastor was trans-ferred to a church in a different town, so Phelps went back to her grandpar-ents. The stay only lasted five days before another fight broke out.

“My grandma didn’t like the fact that I had gotten a cell phone that I had been using and she wanted to take it from me. I told her that I had been paying for it with my own money and she couldn’t have it,” Phelps said.

This fight ended with her grand-mother throwing a vase at her and telling her to get out.

Phelps walked out the door and hasn’t been back. The next day her

grandparents decided they didn’t really want to throw her out so they called the police and reported her as a runaway, which didn’t change until her eighteenth birthday.

“When I turned eighteen, my grandparents said they didn’t want me and I didn’t want to be there, so they decided to drop the runaway charges,” Phelps said.

Phelps and her grandmother’s relationship has always been rocky. When she was living with her pastor, they would have regular meetings with her grandparents.

Sitting around the table at one meeting was the pastor and her husband, Phelps’ sister, her grandpar-ents, case worker, counselor, and her sister’s counselor.

“Okay, everyone has to go around the table and say one good thing about Alyssa,” said the case worker.

It came time for Phelps’ grand-mothers turn. Everyone had their eyes on her. No sound came out of her mouth.

“It’s your turn,” said the case worker.

Her grandmother stood up. “No,” she said.

She walked out of the room. This meeting is an example of the

kind of relationship Phelps’ had with her grandmother.

The night Phelps left her house for good; she had to jump from house to house and stay with people she knew.

“I was in some pretty bad situa-tions; some of the places I stayed the people were really into drugs. So if I did have somewhere to stay, I didn’t stay for more than two or three days,” Phelps said.

This went on for a month and a half.

“My friends would introduce me to people and tell them I needed a place to stay. Then they would ask them if I could stay with them for a little bit, and then I would find an-other place a few days later,” she said.

All she had was the clothes she was wearing when she left her grand-parent’s house in October.

Her friends would give her clothes, but all she had for a while was one pair of jeans, sweatpants, pajama pants, a few shirts, and a sweater.

She lived with just those items for

the two months she was homeless. She finally found a place to call

home when she moved in with her boyfriend and his parents. Then she and her boyfriend moved into an apartment together.

It is a small apartment with a bedroom, kitchen, living room, and bathroom.

It became difficult for Phelps to find a job because her license expired when she turned eighteen. In order to get a license, a person must prove his/her address in two ways.

But for at least two months, she didn’t even have an address.

She had a case worker for a while, but eventually stopped going because Health and Human Services’ main goal is to reunite families, which was not going to happen in Phelps’ situa-tion.

Out of all the people in Phelps’ life, her boyfriend helped her the most.

If it weren’t for him she said she wouldn’t have had a place to live.

“A couple of my close friends helped me, but I kind of stayed dis-tant from them. The whole thing was really hard to deal with, and I didn’t want to put them in a situation that they didn’t know how to handle,” she said.

Phelps missed the last three weeks of school at Mitchell and didn’t have enough credits to finish school there, so she transferred to Scottsbluff to get her credits to graduate.

Right now, Phelps receives social security checks which means she can focus on school more without having to balance a part-time job and school-work.

Also, her boyfriend has a job on the farm that earns enough for them to survive on their own.

But, Phelps is quick to point out that living on one’s own isn’t all it is cracked up to be.

“I spent more than $200 on grocer-ies. I never realized how expensive food is. When you always have some-one buying it for you, you don’t really have to think about it,” Phelps said.

She and her boyfriend just applied for food stamps which will help them with all the other expenses they have to pay for.

Phelps and her boyfriend have to pay $320 per month for rent, along

HoMEno w

ay

The story of one senior’s life without a place to call home

6| FEATURE

How to become

story byMEGHAN PRITCHARD | feature editor

Self-sufficient: adj. needing no outside help in satisfying one’s basic needs.

Imagine getting up every morning before school to milk the cow, gather the chicken eggs, pick vegetables from the garden, and wash your clothes by hand.

For Laura Ingalls on Little House on the Prairie this may have worked, but in today’s culture is it really pos-sible to grow all one’s own foods, get off the grid on power, and just live a simpler life?

For Senior Scout Wilson, this is definitely a goal.

Wilson’s family once planned on installing wind generators and solar power to be able to run their whole house on those energy sources.

“We want to become more self-sufficient so that we can eventually almost completely get off the grid,” Wilson said. “My dad has many cre-ative ideas for future energy.”

But this lifestyle is more than just being green – it also means having a healthy diet that they can provide for themselves.

Senior Sheila Cloud takes this to the extreme.

Cloud is a vegetarian. That’s right.She doesn’t eat red meat.In fact, she never has.“I’ve always just grown up with

that mentality,” Cloud said.The entire family participates in

the strict diet.But if avoiding cow meat in Ne-

braska seems weird, try avoiding all animal products whatsoever - Cloud’s younger sister, Sarah, is completely

vegan.One part of Cloud’s diet, however,

is non-negotiable: eating organically. In fact, Cloud’s family grows much of their own food.

“We have a garden with vegetables that we can eat when they’re ready,” Cloud said. “We also have chickens, but just for their eggs because we rarely ever butcher them.”

Wilson has also invested a lot into the food area.

“I have my own greenhouse where I grow a lot of peppers and tomatoes,” Wilson said.

Wilson’s brother and dad help with the greenhouse and also sell them when he has time.

But Cloud and Wilson don’t just grow their food for sport; it’s for health.

“I stay away from GMO’s (ge-netically modified organisms) in food because I don’t know what affect it’ll have on my body,” Cloud said.

Today’s technology is convenient and much easier than the prairie days, but some things don’t progress with industrialization.

The United States currently allows dairy cows to be injected with recom-binant bovine somatotropin (rBGS). Somatotropin is a naturally-occurring protein hormone produced in the pituitary gland of animals. Bovine somatotropin triggers nutrients to increase growth in young cattle and lactation in dairy cows.

When injected into cows, rBGS increases milk production 10-15%. Approximately 17% of all cows in the U.S. are given the artificial growth hormone.

In 1991 reports of serious health problems occurred with rBGS-injected cows. These problems were an alarm-ing rise in the number of deformed

calves and dramatic increases in mastitis, a painful bacterial infection of the udder which causes inflam-mation, swelling, and pus and blood secretions into milk.

Milk from rBGS-treated cows con-tains higher levels of IGF-1 (Insulin Growth Factor-1). Humans natu-rally have IGF-1, and rBGS-treated cows raise that level in humans. The increased levels in IGF-1 have been linked to colon and breast cancer, which have risen in the past couple decades.

These growth hormones also af-fect the beef in cows that we eat. The growth enhanced animals can disrupt human hormone balance causing de-velopment problems interfering with the reproductive system, and also leading to the development of breast, prostate or colon cancer.

The most susceptible to these negative health effects are children, pregnant women, and the unborn. Hormone residues in beef have been connected to the early onset of pu-berty in girls, which is also a greater risk of developing breast and other forms of cancer.

“I want to get away from industri-alized culture and society that finds their way into the food chain system,” Wilson said. “I want to cut that out so that I can eat all natural.”

Wilson doesn’t buy meat from Wal-Mart, but receives a whole free-range cow for food.

“We allow our neighbor to use land for grazing and in return he gives us free organic meat,” Wilson said. “We try to stay away from com-mercial meat.”

As spoiled Americans this may seem crazy to some, but to Cloud and Wilson, it’s just the lifestyle they’ve always known.

self-sufficient1. Plant your own garden

( )This will require work, time, and a space for your fruits and veg-etables to grow, but

now you don’t have to take the dreaded trip

to Wal-Mart

2. Use an organic energy source

( )This will cost less money than paying a power company and will be quite “environmentally

friendly”

3. Get cows, chickens, & other

delicious animals to butcher

( )Yes, more work, space, and time, but think how fun it’ll be

to clean it up

4. Avoid purchasing food products containg rBGS

( )If you MUST go to Wal-Mart, check the food labels for rBGS

contaminated products

Naturallivingdevoted to self-sufficiency

two students grow up in a lifestyle

editor-in-chief | KARIN SHEDD

theECHOES

news editor | SCOUT WILSON

news writer | RYAN MEISTER

feature editor | MEGHAN PRITCHARD

feature writer | RACHEL CLEMENS

feature writer | ASHLEIGH SMITH

center section editor | GABRIELLE CARLIN

center section writer | ETHAN HUGHES

entertainment editor | RUSSELL MORGAN

entertainment writer | VICTORIA BRAVO

sports editor | KELSEY EMPFIELD

sports writer | MADDIE HOLSCHER

sports writer | MICHAEL MILLER

adviser | TERRY PITKIN

The Echoes is a monthly pub-lication printed by the Business Farmer. The Echoes is a member of the Nebraska High School Press Association and the International Order of the Quill and Scroll.

The Echoes encourages readers to write letters to the editor in re-sponse to a story, but does reserve the right to publish said letter.

The Echoes also encourages all readers to submit their ideas for story coverage, feedback on stories, and any other input.

The EchoesScottsbluff High School313 East 27th St.Scottsbluff, NE 69361Letters with obscene, slander-

ous, libelous, or false information will not be fun. The letter must also be signed to be run. Content may be edited due to grammatical or content needs. A signed copy must be presented to the Scottsbluff High School journalism depart-ment, room 130. Also, please check out Echoes Facebook.com group and MySpace page online!

staffIt’s

the

end of the

WORLD!...or is it?

Don’t start buying 2012 party-poppers just yet, new research says

In just a little over two years, millions - if not billions - of people around the world will party like it’s...well...2012.

Why? Because Dec. 21, 2012, has long been the rumored date of the apocalypse, the catastrophic destruc-tion of all life forms on planet Earth, if not the entire universe - in short, the end of the world.

It all started several thousand years ago in the ancient Mayan civilizations of Central America. The Mayans had an excellent grasp on mathematics and astronomy, concep-tualizing the number zero and creat-ing remarkably accurate charts of the movements of the moon and planets, and they used these skills to establish two separate ways of keeping time: Short Count and Long Count.

The Long Count method is the source of the end of the world predic-tion. Put simply, this system is based on nested cycles of days multiplied by the key Mayan number: 20. The larg-est of these levels is the bak’tun, equal to 144,000 days.

Mayan tradition states that the gods made a total of four worlds and that man was placed on the fourth. According to Long Count, the third world lasted 13 bak’tuns, or ap-proximately 5,125.36 years. The “zero date,” or starting point, for the fourth world was set at a time right after the end of the third, said to be about Au-gust 11, 3114 B.C. when translated to the modern-day Gregorian calendar.

The doomsday theory springs from the modern idea that, since the third world lasted 13 bak’tuns, so will the fourth. And the end of the fourth world’s thirteenth bak’tun is just around the corner - Dec. 21, 2012.

Incidentally (or perhaps not), the Mayans’ prediction coincides with a significant astronomical event: Dec. 21 is the date of the 2012 winter solstice, and also when the sun will appear to rise in the exact center of the Milky Way galaxy and touch a part of the galaxy’s equator known as the ‘Dark Rift.’

All this intricate scientific inter-twining was of great importance for the Mayans and their mythology of spiritual re-birth. What it means for modern-day humans, however, is still being debated.

The most zealous of 12/21/2012 doomsday-enthusiasts theorize that typical, armageddon-style catastro-phes like massive tsunamis, cataclys-mic earthquakes, and the eruption of the Yellow Stone National Park super volcano will beat planet Earth into desolation at the end of the fourth world’s 13th bak’tun. Most scholars, however, disagree.

““For the ancient Maya, it was a huge celebration to make it to the end of a whole cycle,” Sandra Noble, executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoameri-can Studies in Crystal River, FL, said in an interview with the USA Today website. To proffer Dec. 21, 2012 as a doomsday is, according to Noble, a “complete fabrication.”

All the discourse surrounding this oh-so-special day, however, may very well have been for nothing. Recent

research by Gerardo Aldana, a profes-sor at the University of California in Santa Barbara, casts doubt on the math behind the conversions from the Mayans’ calendar to the modern Gregorian calendar. In fact, the as-sumed date of the end of this world’s 13th bak’tun is most likely off by 50 to 100 years.

Now that the apocalypse is once again cast into the realm of the un-

known, we here at The Echoes would like to of-fer the following advice to 2012 doomsday-aficio-nados and skeptics alike: don’t worry about it.

Whatever happens (or doesn’t happen) to bring about the end of

the world, there’s no point in fretting about something over which we have no control.

Don’t let concerns about the future distract from living in today, because as we all (don’t) know, the world could end tomorrow.

All information for this editorial was taken from the following sources:

1. Major, Jenkins. “The How and Why of the Mayan End Date in 2012 A.D.” Mountain Astrologer. Dec-Jan. 1995: Print.

2. MacDonald, G. Jeffrey. “Does Maya calendar predict 2012 apocalypse?” USA Today 27 Mar. 2007: n. pag. Web. 24 Oct 2010. <http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm>

3. Khilawala, Rashida. “2012 End of the World: Is the World Going to End in 2012?” Buzzle.com - Intelligent Life on the Web. 24 Oct 2012 <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/2012-end-of-the-world-is-the-world-going-to-end-in-2012.html>

The views expressed in this editorial were supported 13-2 by

The Echoes staff

OPINION | 9

ad manager | CHANDLER BRILL

ad manager | CASEY SIGRIST

Stereotype [ster•e•o•type] – to reduce somebody to an oversimplified category: to categorize individuals or groups according to an oversimplified standardized image or idea.

From celebrities to hobos and all walks of life in-between, people stereotype other people. It’s an almost-instant judgment, a snap thought based on one’s image.

It’s clearly a part of life, but the question is…why?

Some psychologists say that stereotyping stems from a person’s childhood. At a young age humans are exposed to a lot of informa-tion about people and the world, and stereo-typing is used as a generalization technique to simplify and store all of it. These stereotypes can be good, bad, hurtful, misconstrued…blah, blah, blah.

Personally, I think people stereotype and judge others because humans fear what they don’t understand.

Just think about it: we see someone who looks or dresses differently than we do, and we automatically start judging them. We dis-sect everything about them, from their hair to their shoes.

And, really, it doesn’t make sense.I’m not saying I don’t ever judge people,

I’m not Mother Teresa or anything, but I defi-nitely try to control the urge to assume I know everything about a person based on outside appearances, because I know what it feels like to be misunderstood and wrongly labeled.

Also, stereotypes are usually way off the mark, and discovering this when it happens is… well, a straight up bummer.

Take this for example: one of my very best friends I used to not like. She moved to Scotts-bluff when I was in 4th grade and went to my elementary school. I basically judged her

right away, because I thought it was strange that all she wanted to do when we hung out was drink hot tea, eat Wheat Thins and play Parcheesi.

So, I avoided her like the plague until we went to middle school and I started hanging out with her and we just clicked. She is one of the funniest people I know and I love her.

Now I look back and think I was such an idiot for jumping to the conclusion that I didn’t like her before I got to know her.

I find it completely shallow that we let things like a person’s appearance or funny quirks determine what kind of a person we think they are.

I’ve always heard it takes a person any-where from a minute to three minutes to form an opinion of someone based strictly on ap-pearance, so I looked it up.

It actually takes a person one tenth of a second to form an impression of a stranger.

That blows my mind! That is insanely fast, and we do it all the time without even think-ing about it.

While some people argue that stereotyping and judging is a part of human nature, I’d like to think most people are sensible enough to get to know a person before they permanently judge someone else.

I mean hearing that tenth of a second non-sense makes me super insecure. It’s like every time we go out in public, people are judging us, and it feels like everything is magnified in high school. Ugh, it’s exhausting.

So here it goes, it’s time to get a little cheesy…

Whether you’re a cheerleader, band geek, cowgirl or ridiculously shy, don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and get to know the people around you. It may be the best thing you ever do.

10 | CENTER SECTION

do you really know them?same kidsEvery day, the walk down the halls, BUTIf you

REALLYknew me...

“What was your impression of the book?” Common words heard in a common

classroom, and answered in a common way: twenty plus hands from students shoot up eagerly, ready to share their input.

“Julian, what did you think?” The teacher asks, this time trying to get an answer from someone who hasn’t shared yet. “Any thoughts?”

“Not really…” Julian says.

This seems like a com-mon occurrence in any given classroom here at the school. There always seems to be that student who doesn’t say much in class.

Maybe it’s the situation, maybe it’s the teacher. But for whatever reason, some people just don’t feel like talking. But, maybe it’s us. Oftentimes the ‘shy’ kids are the most talk-ative in different circumstances.

“I don’t think I fit the stereotype of a shy kid. If I don’t really know anyone in a class

tant thing in the world, it may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

“I feel like people judge me too quickly. I’ve been told by people that are now my good friends that before they knew me they thought I was stuck up because I’m quiet

around people I don’t know. Sometimes I think people misinterpret my shyness as being snotty,” Trumbull said.

Overall, Trumbull said she feels like she

has a pretty good relationship with her class-mates.

“I’m not sure how my peers feel about me, but I haven’t had any major conflicts with anyone. I get along with everyone for the most part, and I would never be rude or ignore someone because they aren’t in my group of friends,” Trumbull said.

Popularity is a strange concept. What makes a person popular? Is it money, nice clothes or good looks?

“People might say I’m ‘popular,’ but it all depends on someone’s definition of the word. I don’t see myself as having enemies and I get along with most people. It’s not a goal of mine to be considered popular. I don’t care that much about what people think of me,” Trumbull said.

When someone says the word clique, what comes to mind?

It’s not the nerds, skaters or drama kids.Here’s a hint: they have perfect hair, smell

like goddesses, and look like they just stepped out of a Hollister advertisement.

The correct answer is ‘The Popular

Crew.’“I don’t as-

sociate my-self with a ‘clique’. I have a group of friends that I normally hang out with but we don’t exclude people. If

people don’t know me well they most likely associate me with the

groups or activities they see me in,” senior Aimee Trumbull said.

Most people would look at Trum-bull and say she’s the queen bee of

the popular group, but there is more to Trumbull than meets the eye.

“I don’t want people to judge me without getting to know me first. I feel

like when some people hear the word popular they think snotty or stuck up,

which isn’t me at all,” Trumbull said.While many movies and magazines

portray popularity as being the most impor-

Favorite Movie: A Walk to RememberFavorite Musician: I like all musicFavorite Food: Kit-KatsRole Model: My sister

The

Chee

rlead

er

You would know that I’m a really closed in person and would rather listen to people than be the one getting the attention.

Walking down the hall with their Wran-glers, cowboy boots and plaid shirts…give it up for the hicks.

“I hate being called a hick! If you look up hick in the dictionary it says an uneducated

country person, which I clearly am not,” junior Hayley Clark said.

Alright, so scratch the “hick” part.Clark is just an ordinary teenage

girl. She enjoys spending time with her friends, watching movies, reading, and being around animals, so why the cowgirl stereo-type?

“I know why people think of me as being a cowgirl. It’s because I dress the way I do; all of my best friends are cowgirls, and I’m in FFA,” Clark said.

Clark doesn’t mind being considered a cowgirl. In fact, she somewhat embraces the stereotype that goes along with it.

“I’ve never thought of myself as any-thing but a cowgirl. It’s how my family and I have been raised. I love agriculture and anything to do with it. I’m not sure what else I’d want to be,” Clark said.

While Clark openly accepts her cowgirl image, it never feels good to be stereotyped,

especially when that stereotype has the nega-tive connotations that the word hick brings along with it.

When someone says ‘hick’, words like un-educated, hillbilly, ignorant or redneck might come to mind. Who would ever want to be associated with those words?

“Getting called a hick hasn’t extremely hurt my feelings, it just really annoys me. I guess I don’t like when people look at me and

just assume that I chew and talk weird. People can say some really mean things. Just because one per-son that looks like me may act badly, doesn’t

mean I act the same way,” Clark said. Clark really doesn’t live a strange life

when compared to others, and when it comes down to it, she has the same fears as every other high school student.

“One of my worst fears is not doing well in school or not getting into college. I’m also not too sure how my peers feel about me. I try to hang out with different kinds of people, and I really hope people like me,” Clark said.

Just take away the cowgirl apparel and ex-treme fondness for all things agriculture and Hayley Clark really isn’t that different from everyone else.

Favorite Movie: Either 8 Seconds or 3:10 to YumaFavorite Musician: Shania TwainFavorite Food: Mexican foodRole Model: My mom

The Cowgirl

You would know I’m just as normal as anyone else. No, I don’t chew and I don’t spend my Friday nights going cow tipping!

Favorite Movie: Star Wars Favorite Musician: AC/DCFavorite Food: SushiWorst Fear: Falling off a really high cliff.

The

Band

Gee

k Proudly strutting through the halls with an SHS band shirt on, carrying a tuba, and prob-ably winking at a couple females along the way is sophomore Chad Nagasawa.

Seeing Chad, it’s easy to associate him with the band. Which is fine with him-it’s where he feels most comfortable and most like himself.

“I associate myself with the band enthusi-asts, and I feel others do as well,” Nagasawa said.

Chad has had a passion for band since elementary school and doesn’t see his passion for it fizzling anytime in the near future.

“I fit the stereotype of a ‘band geek’ be-cause I love band. And it’s not ‘band geek,’ it’s ‘band enthusiast.’ I don’t want to break away from that stereotype,” Nagasawa said.

Besides band, Chad is on the football team and enjoys playing video games, sleeping, making

model airplanes and, of course, practicing his tuba. He feels that his peers view him in a positive light.

“I think my friends think I’m a great per-son and I’m one of the friends that you must have. Everyone also associates me with the football guys, so no one messes with me,” Nagasawa said.

Although your first thought may be “Yep, he’s in the band,” you’d be right,

but that’s not all.“If people really

knew me, they would know that I’m usu-ally never mean unless people provoke me. I play football and I play

the tuba,” Nagasawa said.Also beneath the band enthusiast is a side

of Chad maybe not as apparent to the com-mon viewer as the band enthusiast.

“I’m a ‘playa’. I know almost every girl in the school. I hang out with girls a lot... a lot,” Nagasawa said.

You would know I’m a nice guy. I can be the one friend that everyone has.

Favorite Movie: Once Upon a Time in MexicoFavorite Musician: Lil WayneFavorite Food: TamalesWorst Fear: Heights

I won’t say much, but when I’m with my friends or in other classes, I’m pretty talk-ative,” junior Julian Salazar said.

Salazar actually identifies with a different group.

“I mostly associate myself with the Mexicans. I think people see me

hanging out with all my friends and put me in that group as well,” Salazar said.

Salazar has a lot of friends, and they see him differently than a classmate might.

“Like I said, sometimes if I don’t know anyone is a certain class, I won’t say much, but if you ask any of my friends, they’ll tell you I talk a lot,” Salazar said.

So maybe the kids labeled as ‘shy’ aren’t quite what they seem.

“I’m a cool person. I’m easy to get along with and I’m a good friend,” Salazar said.

The Shy Kid

You would know that I’m a cool person. I’m a good friend and I’m easy to get along with.

DON’T JUDGE ME

story byEThAN hUGhEs | center section writer

story byEThAN hUGhEs | center section writer

story byGAbRiELLE CARLiN | center section editor

story byGAbRiELLE CARLiN |center section editor

personal commentary by GAbRiELLE CARLiN

CENTER SECTION | 11

Stereotyping oversimplifies, divides people

All School Year LongEvery 10th

student gets a free lunch

Student Specials Available

2201 Broadway Scottsbluff

632-3644

MulligansAt the Monument Shadows Golf Course

Great food & atmosphereOpen to the public all year round

2550 Club House Drive Gering, NE 69341

308-635-6868

Clockwise from the top left:

Sam Harvey, Aron Valdez, Maria Torres

&Victoria Bravo

“Photos as unique as the people in them.”

OPINION | 13

Ten years of confusion is what it took for me to fully understand one of the most important adults in my life

MISUNDERSTANDING

When I was a little kid, I was infat-uated with two things: The Lion King and ponies. I had Lion King shoes, pillows, and toys, and my favorite TV show was My Little Ponies.

So when I turned four, my birthday was a fairytale.

Horse driven hay rack rides were given to every guest at the party, and my mom made an indestructible uni-corn pinata. I was surrounded by my family and friends, and I was ecstatic - especially about my magnificent Lion King cake.

It was vanilla and had green frosting that resembled grass, and a river of blue ran through the middle. Simba, Nala, and Rafiki figurines were scattered atop the cake.

It was a four year old’s dream, but what happened next is my most bril-liantly vivid memory of the party.

My Grandpa Orvin marched up beside me and told me, “Kelsey, this is your cake. You can do whatever you want with it.”

Then, he grabbed my tiny finger and ran it down the side of my cake

personal commentary by KELSEY EMPFIELD

so that the sugary frosting piled onto it. I stared up at my grandpa in shock.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Eat it!” he said.

I looked down at my frosting covered finger, astonished. My mom had always told me not to touch my cake or disfigure the frosting, so I was confused, but I did what he told me

and happily licked the white frosting off my finger.

Two years later, my Grammy Vera passed away.

So at six years old, my heart was broken. I loved my grandma so much. I was her only grandchild so she spoiled me rotten, lavishing all her grandmother-ly love onto me in the form of presents, candy, and toys.

At her funeral, I sat in the front pew of the Methodist church between my mom and dad. I looked to my left and saw my grandpa through my tear filled hazel eyes.

He wasn’t crying like I was.He wasn’t crying at all. When I saw this, I was infuriated. How can he not be sad? Didn’t he love

her like I did?I was puzzled. Was this the same

man who, merely two years ago, laughed and told me to mutilate my birthday cake?

But seasons come and seasons go, and before long my grandpa had

remarried and I was 14 years old.That summer, I went to Oshkosh

for a week to help my grandpa on his farm. We worked all day in the July heat. At night, he would take me out to eat or to my uncle’s place to talk with the rest of the townspeople.

I learned so much about my grandpa in that week. I realized that

this person I called ‘grandpa’ was a stranger to me. I didn’t know him or understand him for the first fourteen years of my life.

But that summer I learned that he is a fun person like I saw at my fourth birthday party. But he also keeps to himself like what I saw at my grandma’s funeral.

At the funeral he was sad although he didn’t cry. He didn’t grieve the way I did. He had to be strong for the rest of my family.

He loved my grandma with all of his heart. After she was gone he was lonely and lost.

Ever since my fourth birthday the relationship between my grandpa and me has been a roller coaster.

Now that I’m seventeen I fully understand my grandpa. I know how he expresses himself.

He comes to my softball games and supports me. When we part, I hug him and say ‘I love you’ because now I know who my grandpa is.

Was this the same man who, merely two years ago, laughed and told me to

mutilate my birthday cake?

HEARD in the hall...A collection of quotes from the students of Scottsbluff High

“ Let’s face it: I’m cuter than your mother.”

- junior boy“ Her party is in Beard.”

- two senior girls

“...do you mean Bayard?”

“Oh, yeah...HA HA HA! I spelled it like a hairy chin!”

“ That would be like being forty and standing up on a couch and having your legs break.”

- sophomore boy

“Beard? Where is that?”

“It’s that town that’s, like, 15 miles past Morrill!”

14 | ENTERTAINMENT

The Followers

Sophomore Katy Myers remembers her first grade year not because she had an influential teach-er, made her first macaroni necklace, or because she took her first field trip.

It was when she read her first Harry Potter novel.

She remembers turning the pages eagerly, antici-pating what lay in each wall of words, tuning out her surroundings and losing herself entirely in the story.

Since that day, she’s been hooked. “I couldn’t stop reading them. I love the way she

(J. K. Rowling) writes, it makes so much sense, and how I can get so into it,” Myers said.

Sophomore Michael Wright had a similar ‘love-at-first-read’ experience with the magical series in 6th grade.

“It’s a really great series of books, extremely well written and it’s just really easy to like,” Wright said.

For many students, Harry Potter has proved to be more than just an ordinary teen series.

“They’re so exciting and interesting. They keep you on the edge of your seat,” junior Maggie Hopp said.

However, there are some Harry Potter fans that prefer the movies over the books. Junior Cierra Her-rmann hasn’t read any of the books, but is a Potter movie fanatic.

“I’ve seen all of them at least four or five times, but the 3rd one, the Prisoner of Azkaban, I’ve watched probably seven or eight times,” Herrmann said.

Herrmann also has the memorabilia to match the obsession.

“I have all the movies, three t-shirts, silly bands, a Harry Potter button, a bag, a wand, a poster and calendar,” Herrmann said.

When it comes to picking between the movies and the books, there is no doubt that the books come out on top in most fans’ views.

“I definitely like the books better. The movies leave so much out and a book you can put down and walk away and it’ll still be there so you can go right back into it,” Myers said.

Some fans can enjoy both the movies and the books the same.

“It just depends what kind of mood I’m in. If I want the story in its entirety and really get deep into it, then I will read the books, but if I want a vi-sual I can turn to the movies for that,” Wright said.

Harry Potter has a way of mystifying readers, pulling them at the first paragraph, not letting go.

“It’s really magical, completely different than the real world. The magic just brings you in and you can’t get out,” Myers said.

Myers considers herself a hardcore Harry Potter fan, one who knows the books cover to cover.

“I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read them a long time ago. I just keep reading them; if I start one, I’ll finish it in a couple hours and move on

to the next one,” Myers said. These fanatics take their passion to the next level.

They don’t settle for simply ‘liking’ Harry Potter - they make it into an almost-religious lifestyle.

“Lately because of the new movie, I spend a lot of my time talking, thinking, or reading about Harry Potter,” Myers said.

Harry Potter has become as an addiction for some.

“I think and talk about Harry Potter probably more than an average person. Maybe 60% of my time is dedicated to it,” Herrmann said.

Wright’s Harry Potter life is less extreme, but ad-mits connecting the stories to real life - often times, its one of the first thing to pop into his head.

“If I am in a situation that I can relate to Harry Potter I will but it’s not always on my mind. My surroundings play a lot into it,” Wright said.

As if the movies and the books aren’t enough to fuel these followers, Myers and a fellow Potter fan have Harry Potter quizzes.

The two create questions that will stump the other to find who the real ‘wiz’-kid is.

“It’s fun to do trivia and re-live parts of the books without reading it again,” Myers said.

The two dedicated opponents don’t let each other get by with easy questions. They ask each other about certain spells and what seem like in-significant facts only known to the most passionate Harry Potter fans.

The Movie

Myers, Wright, Hopp, and Her-rmann all plan on seeing the upcom-ing installment in the movies series, which has been split into two parts.

“My favorite film is the 6th, The Half-Blood Prince, but I’m thinking the 7th one, The Deathly Hallows, is going to beat it,” Myers said.

The idea to split the final movie into two parts came about in the making of the 4th movie, The Goblet of Fire, in 2004. The request was turned down.

In order to end the series in the most successful manner, they have changed their ways.

The movie script writer, Steve Kloves explains the decision in an interview for The Baltimore Sun.

‘It should allow us to stretch a bit with the characters and give them the proper send-off. I feel we owe it to Rowling – in order to preserve the integrity of the work – and the fans – for their loyalty all these years – to give them the best and most com-plete experience possible,” Kloves said.

Part one of the Deathly Hallows will be released in 2D and IMAX formats Nov. 19. The second part will

appear in 2D, 3D, and IMAX on July 15, 2011.

The Future

Though this is the last chapter of the Harry Pot-ter movies, world renowned author J. K. Rowling had the strength to move on without Harry Potter.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Rowl-ing talks about the emotions in writing the series.

“I was very lonely with it. It’s not like being in a pop group, where at least there are four other people who know what it’s like to be on the inside. Only I knew what it was like to be generating this world as it became bigger and bigger and more people were invested in it,” Rowling said.

Rowling also opens up about how she felt finish-ing the series.

“The first two days in particular, it was the bereavement, even though I was pleased with the book. Finishing is emotional because the books have been so wrapped up in my life, and it’s almost impossible to finish and not look back to where I started,” Rowling said.

Rowling plans to continue writing, adding some adult fiction to her collection, but she knows that she will never top Harry Potter.

“Lightening doesn’t strike in the same place twice. I just really want to fall in love with an idea again and go with that,” Rowling said.

THE END...maybe With the release of Deathly Hallows, Part I on Nov. 19,

Harry Potter fans are pondering if this is the final chapterstory by

VICTORIA BRAVO | entertainment writer

LiteratureJoyceSteinbeck

TolstoyDickens

ENTERTAINMENT | 15

The knowledge we can’t afford to loseC.S. Lewis once said that “literature not only

describes reality, it adds to it.”A myriad of beliefs, ideals, attitudes, thinking

patterns, and social issues are covered in the many styles and genres of literature, as authors have always used stories to express themselves and their beliefs about different aspects of society.

Some of these stories have gained the status “the essentials” for both understanding and finding an identity in society- a necessity that is critical for stu-dents who will soon enter the workforce and voice their opinion in society.

These “essentials” pertain to all time periods and statuses of life, which can give students the founda-tion to branch off, stimulate their individual think-ing, and establish their own beliefs and identities.

English teacher Todd Menghini, as well as others from the school’s English department, stresses that being well rounded in the world of literature is one of the most important aspects in today’s society.

“Kids can learn everything from literature,”Menghini said. “Authors love writing about the world. Every issue, belief, and pattern of thinking is covered. There is a part of literature that promotes thinking, not reaction, and this is the part that students need to be familiar with.”

Literature is everywhere; therefore, one student’s setting, whether it be in a town of 20 or a city of 2 million, does not limit the power that reading gives them.

“It gives them a chance to go do different places and times,” English teacher Peter Johnson said. “It lets them get involved in things they might not otherwise ever do. There is such a broad amount of

information contained in the written record. It’s the best untapped resource students have.”

This resource is one that seems to stay untapped and neglected as time and technology progress. The introduction of television and the internet into mainstream culture marks the point where read-ing began to take a back seat in the lives of mod-ern society. Those industries have flourished and, unfortunately, brought a change in literature. Today, books are centered on a “Hollywood” atti-tude and are primar-ily for entertainment rather than introspec-tive teaching. Which makes books of the past all the more rel-evant and applicable today.

“Any book that discussed human nature is something all people can learn from and carry with them throughout their life,” English teacher Katie Malm said.

Books reach across borders in the sense that not all the “clas-sics” are written by American authors, so they discuss concepts found in different cultures. This benefits readers by giving them an understand-

ing of different parts of the world.“Students can learn about life outside of their

own worlds,” English teacher Kiley Kreutzer said. “By learning about other cultures, religions, values, and beliefs they will learn to have tolerance about others and become more rounded themselves.”

As the world faces some of the same problems, and many new ones in the 21st century, the question arises: why is there no vital literature written today?

There are authors that cover the issues society is facing today, but there is one factor that all books must attain to deserve literary respect: time.

“The book must endure the test of time,” Menghini said. “It must have a purpose and a redeeming value that lasts.”

The books that last a lifetime are the ones with a message. They have a lesson to teach and they use entertaining stories to get the message across.

Today’s literature is so closely paralleled with movies that the stories are written to entertain, to become literary box-office hits. Does one learn more from a simple happy ending? Or from a book that leaves them thinking? Books that stimulate the thought process are in dire need, but are gathering dust in the library.

The goal of reading should be to learn from ev-erything we read. Whether it’s the “Great American Novel”, an essay, a poem, or even this article- it’s what the reader takes from the reading that is its purpose.

There is a cornucopia of information out in the world. Fortunately, it’s pretty black and white be-tween useful and useless information. It is a simple thought to desire to better one’s understanding of the world around, that is the goal.

It is essential to delve into the useful informa-tion, and take all you can from it. The world is full of questions, and it is full of answers. It’s time to open the cover, and start finding those answers.

Teachers’ Top 5Mr. Menghini:

1. Huck Finn by Mark Twain2.Walden by Henry David Thoreau

3. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee4. 1984 by George Orwell

5. I am Third by Gale Sayers

Ms. Kreutzer:1. Desert Blood by Alicia Gaspe de Alba

2. The Middle of Everywhere by Mary Pipher3. Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult

4. Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult5. Bastard out of Carolina by Dorthy Allison

Mr. Johnson:1. Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury2. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

3. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card4. Neuromancer by William Gibson5. Do Androids Dream of Electric

Sleep? by Phillip K. Dick

Ms. Malm:1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

2. Wicked by Gregory Maguire3. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

4. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling5. When You are Engulfed in Flames/Me Talk

Pretty One Day (Tie) both by David Sedaris

story byRussell Morgan | entertainment editor

ShakespeareTwain

Edgar Allen Poe

Henry David Thoreau

Vonnegut

Stephen King

DOSTOEVSKYTO

LK

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ENTERTAINMENT | 17

Imagine a place to call home, an easy getaway - taken away in the blink of an eye.

That’s exactly what happened early August of this year when managers of the Underground, Matt Lawton and Dusty Jones announced that it was closing.

“After seven years, the Underground will be closing its doors, but not without one last show,” Lawton said describing the final event.

Lawton first announced the closing of the Un-derground on Facebook when he started an event called “The Final Chapter Show”.

The Underground, located at 1507 Broadway, was a youth meeting place that opened in February of 2003 and has been a popular space for teens to gather together to play music and listen to others’ work.

“I always maintained the thought that the Un-derground was never really ‘mine’, it has always been the teens’,” Lawton said.

The Underground’s mission statement is “to provide a place of safety and acceptance for youth who are struggling with the complexities of adoles-cence,” and its closing is affecting everyone associ-ated with the venue.

“I will definitely have more time on my hands, but the most negative thing about the Underground closing is that I won’t get to hang out with the youth, get to meet bands, have shows, and I’m not providing anything for the community anymore,” Lawton said.

The Underground was a project that Lawton had been trying to construct for several years now.

“I’ve been organizing and planning for this for fifteen years, and now that it’s gone I feel like there is a big hole in my heart where it used to be,” Lawton said.

The Underground is a community organiza-tion, not a building, and it is still going to be doing things around town. The Underground ‘building’ is closing, not the organization.

No plans for a different building or reopening are currently in place.

“I really hope they just move to a building they can afford because that is the place me and my sis-ter went to get away from the drama in life,” junior Jade Ourada said.

Lawton believes that it is time for up and com-ing managers to start running something like the Underground.

“I think if the youth still want it around and think it’s a positive place, it’s time for them to step up and start something just like I did,” Lawton said.

The Final Chapter Show consisted of several of the popular performers that have played in previ-ous years.

The roster was no let down. On it were perform-ers such as: Logan Vath, Delusions of Pluto, GNTE (Get Nothing Take Everything), Cipher, Taylor Gul-ley and Joe Salazar.

For the performers, the closing of the Under-ground is difficult.

“It’s actually extremely devastating to be hon-est, because there are no other places around here where we can perform and get our music out,” local

rap performer Conrad Bravo A.K.A. Cipher said.Bravo won’t let this obstacle keep him from pur-

suing his love for hip-hop.“I guess our last resort is to try to get spots at dif-

ferent places and just get our music heard,” Bravo said.

Bravo said it would not only affect the perform-ers but the regular attendees as well. Ourada, who attended the Final Chapter Show with her sister, had the same sentiments.

“It’s really sad because that was the one place where we could go to just chill and listen to live music,” Ourada said.

The Underground has been a positive influence on Ourada as well as a lot of other teens in the area.

“We no longer have a place to go on the week-end where we won’t be negatively influenced,” Ourada said.

The Underground almost closed its doors three years prior but ended up staying open.

“Two or three years ago they didn’t have enough funds to continue running, but I don’t know if that’s what happened again,” Bravo said.

The show had a $5 admission fee, and sold items from the Underground so regulars could take a piece of the Underground home with them.

The Final Chapter Show may have been their last show, but their final event was the haunted house held on Halloween and the surrounding nights.

Even though the closing has put so many people in a drastic predicament, their music will live on in the walls of the Underground.

“I’ll never forget opening for that final time. I left it all on the stage,” Bravo said.

Popular youth recreation center shuts its doorsstory byVictoria Bravo | entertainment writer

Senior Mickey Marez exhales and steps onto Scottsbluff High School’s stage along with the rest of the Choralaires show choir. The lights are blind-ing him-he can’t make out a face in the crowd, but maintains his ear-to-ear smile in order to earn gold

for his first and last time as a Choralaire. As he prepares to belt out the first line of “Life

is a Highway”, he takes one last deep breath before completely indulging himself in song and dance.

“Honestly, on stage, I was going through the steps in my mind over and over. I knew we prac-ticed really hard and they we could pull together to

win it,” Marez said. After they, and 20 other schools, performed

their sets the Choralaires were informed that they received a gold rating, and won Best in The Fest… again.

Despite winning 27 out of 28 Best in the West competitions, by no means did they think they had it in the bag.

“I was really proud of the whole group,” senior Jessica Schluter said. “Especially after our per-formance at the choir concert, which we weren’t exactly thrilled with.”

Their win was well deserved after long hours of practicing that led to achieving their goal.

“Some people don’t realize that the group has been rehearsing since July and dancing for seven weeks. It’s a lot of out of school time that these kids put in,” choir director Brad Ronne said.

Ronne believes the entire group should be proud of this accomplishment and give themselves more credit.

“One real key that the students had is that they were driven to fine-tuning details. If they would’ve let their guard down, someone else could’ve come in a won it,” Ronne said.

The win was notably special for this year’s seniors.

“Right before we went on, we talked about giving it our all, 110 percent, because it’s the last

time for some of us. That’s exactly what we did too, we worked to the best of our abilities and had an incredible time while we did it,” Schluter said.

They will be missed, but there is no doubt this was a great way to remember their time in Choir-laires.

“I’m really going to miss the seniors, especially Sammy Harvey. We’re dancing buddies,” junior Chris Brenning said.

Choralaires also won an individual award for “Best Choreography Overall”, which was given to Tiffany Tabor-Mackrill- the choreographer for the Choralaires.

We are the champions... Againstory byVictoria Bravo | entertainment writer

Get your dance on!

The men of the Choralaires(right) along with the ladies(left) sing across the stage to eachother at this years annual Old West Choir Fest. The Choralaires have dominated the Fest: they have been crowned champs 27 of the past 28 years. Photo by Terrence Lake

18 | SPORTS

story byMICHAEL MILLER | sports writer

The roar of the engines deafened those standing on the sidelines, watching the row of helmet-clad racers rev their bikes. Senior Taylor Miller sat on her 2009 KX2PM motor bike, poised in the starting position, waiting.

The timer hit zero, and she was off to the races. Dirt flew from the back tires of Miller’s bike as she sped through the pack of motorbikes, all jostling to take the lead.

The race had begun.Since she started racing motocross

in the 5th grade, Miller knows what it takes to finish on top in these situa-tions.

“My favorite moment was in Alli-ance a couple years ago, when I raced against both boys and girls and was the overall winner,” Miller said.

This is just an example of one of her many successes in her motocross career – Miller placed 5th overall in her first ever race.

However, if it weren’t for a history of racing in the family, she may have never discovered her skill in the sport. Watching her cousins race from an early age convinced her to “hop on” the bandwagon and join in the fun.

Reaching success hasn’t always been an easy road – Miller has suf-fered several injuries during her motocross years.

“I’ve had a lot of injuries. I’ve had quite a few concussions, fractured my

femur and ribs, bruised my kidney, spleen, and liver, and broken two fin-gers,” Miller said of the most severe injuries she has sustained.

Though she has been abused by the sport, she is inspired to keep racing by her favorite female athlete: Jessica Patterson. Miller tries to ride at least twice a week during the summer.

Like her sister Taylor, Sophomore Lauren Miller also finds herself engulfed in the fast-paced world of motocross. Both Miller girls ride with the tri-state dirt-rider circuit, which includes tracks in Sidney, Alliance, Mitchell, and Cheyenne.

However, unlike her sister, Lauren does not have a colossal injury list to show off, suffering only minor injuries since getting involved in racing.

Miller started racing in 6th grade, with her most significant moment be-ing when she won the most improved rider award at the annual banquet.

Another significant award she has received was when she was the only girl to win a trophy in a race with both sexes involved.

Lauren also doesn’t think moto-cross, specifically female participants, gets enough national publicity.

“Females don’t get enough atten-tion. They have guys race on ESPN and have a separate channel for girls when the races are at the same time,” Lauren said of female publicity in sports.

“Motocross doesn’t get enough at-tention. I think it’s a really cool sport and it’s really hard, but a lot of people

don’t understand that,” Miller said on the subject of motocross versus other sports.

On the same, but slightly differ-ent, lines of motocross is Alexa Fulk, who races quads, not bikes. Quads are four-wheelers built for speed, as opposed to motorbikes.

Unlike the Miller sisters, she has only been racing two years, but has seen a good amount of success during that short time period.

She got started along the same lines; however, having watched her brother race his dirt bike and by her friend Chrissy’s mom, who is the Tri-State Dirt Riders (TSDRs) secretary.

One of Fulk’s most intense memo-

ries is the time she crashed in the middle of a race.

“I was going over a jump before the tabletop, and I cased it (landed on all four wheels) and my helmet came up and over my eyes. I was in 2nd place and really wanted to get my points for that race so I kept going and I was trying to pull my helmet down but I couldn’t see so I went over the side of a jump and hit a kid head-on, and that’s when I wrecked,” Fulk said.

Luckily for her, all she suffered from the event was whiplash.

Though the road can sometimes be rough, the Miller sisters and Fulk are in it to win it.

Girls that ride expose the obstacles and triumph found in the world of motocross

1924- Started in Britain (known as the scrambles)

Evolved over the years. European riders shortened the tracks and added obstacles/

laps

1930- team competitions became

more prominent

1950 - Swinging arm suspension was invented

to compensate for the advancement in tracks

1980 - Mono-shock

suspension and water-cooled

bikes invented

Present - Different types of motocross racing created: freestyle,

arenacross, and supercross

Motocross

Start Finish

RIGHT ON

TRACK

Junior Alexa Fulk launches over a jump at the Mitchell track during a quad race. Alexa has seen a good amount of success in her two year tenure as a racer. Courtesy photo

The history of

SPORTS | 19

story byMADDIE HOLSCHER | sports writer

Putt

Putt

Senior Kaylee Koeppen lines up to putt during the Class B State Championship as teammate, senior Sabrina King watches. The two battled through a one-hole playoff to decide the individual state title. Courtesy Photo

We tied. I know we had to have tied. Senior Kaylee Koeppen thinks to her-self as she sees her teammate, senior Sabrina King, turn in her score card.

There’s going to be a playoff. One hole. One chance. One champion.One of us will get first. The other will

be second. Focus.There are so many people watching. My last time golfing for high school. Here it goes.The championship-determining,

one-hole playoff ended with Koeppen having to chip her ball out of a foot-print in the sand bunker and seeing her teammate, King, take home the individual state championship.

“It’s really exciting to win it two years in a row,” King said. “I’ve worked really hard to get where I am and having this outcome is very rewarding.”

“I caught some bad breaks here and there and I didn’t play as well as I would’ve liked, but overall I was pleased with how it turned out,” Koeppen said.

This was not the first time these two met in a playoff. Last year they competed against each other once, and this year they faced off twice to determine first and second.

“It’s hard playing against my teammate because I want to win, but it is comforting knowing that our team gets first and second,” Koeppen said.

“It’s hard seeing two teammates going against each other like that. I hated it,” head coach Mike Klein said. “They both played great though and I’m so happy for both of them.”

This team state title was Klein’s fifth in the past seven years and the third in a row.

“To win three state championships in a row is something that’s very special to me. Not many people can say that. It’s a huge accomplishment,” Koeppen said.

Not only have the Cats had an impressive showing at the state meet, they’ve also gone undefeated for the third straight year with a school record of 32 consecutive wins.

“This is by far the best team I’ve ever coached,” Klein said. “It’s been a great season and their hard work has definitely paid off.”

It’s been a year of breaking records for this Lady Bearcat team. Only one team has come within 20 strokes of the bearcats at any tournament this season. They shot a school record of 304 at the GNAC tournament, ex-tended their winning streak to 32, and sophomore Kaitlyn Krzyzanowski shot a record low of 67 earlier in the season.

“It’s been a good year,” Krzyz-anowski said. “I’ve had some ups and downs this season but to end it the way we did was exciting.”

Krzyzanowski capped off the sweep at the state tournament with a third place finish. With both Koeppen and King being seniors, Krzyzanows-ki will have some big shoes to fill, but

* indicates new school record

she is hopeful for the future.“This was my last year of being

an underclassman so I’ll probably put more pressure on myself but I plan on working hard throughout the off season. My goal for my next two years are to win the individual title at state,” Krzyzanowski said.

The futures for the two seniors are very different.

“I don’t plan on golfing in college,” King said. “I just want to do it for fun

from now on.”“I plan on signing with either Bay-

lor or Hawaii and I’ll probably sign at the late signing,” Koeppen said.

After a memorable year with the top 3 places at state, capping off 3 undefeated seasons, winning 32 tournaments in a row, and 3 team state championships, it seems that for the lady Bearcat golf team, 3 is a lucky number.

2+0+1+0=

Par-

fect

sea

son

Scottsbluff InviteSidney Invite*Western ConferenceLaramie Invite*Gothenburg InviteOgallala InviteAlliance Invite*GNACDistrictsState

Meet Margin of Victory84 strokes39 strokes74 strokes31 strokes33 strokes28 strokes32 strokes39 strokes19 strokes30 strokes

333

undefeatedseasons

team statechampionships

top individualfinishers

3Girls golf team caps off season with third consecutive state win