May 2010 Colony High School Volume 8 Issue 7May 2010 Colony High School Volume 8 Issue 7

The Knightly News

What’s Happening? . . . . 2

Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Students of the Month. . . 5

Centerfold . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Entertainment. . . . . . . . . 8

Student Showcase . . . . . 9

What’s Happening? . . . . 2

Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Students of the Month. . . 5

Centerfold . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Entertainment. . . . . . . . . 8

Student Showcase . . . . . 9

INSIDE

From May 3rd to the 9th, eight Colony members of Business Professionals of America traveled to Anaheim, California for the national BPA conference.

Sophomores Kelsey Bardsley, Alexis Bernier, and Larrica Forrester, junior Kevin Wold, and seniors Crystal Wold, Jakob Hanchett, Heather Levinson, and Dani Gifford are all part of the largest group that Mrs. Bulovsky, the BPA advisor, has ever taken to nationals. All of them placed in two events at the state competition and therefore qualifi ed for nationals. Senior Paul Bierman actually placed in the Administrative Support Team, along with Kevin Wold, Dani Gifford, and Heather Levinson, but as he was not able to go, Jakob Hanchett took his place. Mr. Hopkins and Mrs. Gifford will also be going.

“We’re really proud that all of them made it, and we hope that they learn a lot,” says Mrs. Bulovsky of the students and their

national experience. They learned different business skills from numerous seminars and conferences

in Anaheim, as well as competed in their events. Besides all the work and learning that they did,

everyone also got to go to the beach and to Knott’s Berry Farm.

BPA members were not able to attend last year’s nationals due to swine fl u, so this year’s trip was greatly anticipated. Next year Nationals will be in Washington, D.C., but Mrs. Bulovsky will be opting out because Close Up already goes to D.C. The year after, though, nationals will be hosted in Chicago, so Colony’s BPA will most likely attend.

Kelsey Bardsley says, “I love California and I love BPA, so I think that it will be really fun. My events are Advanced Offi ce Systems and Procedures, and Small Business Management Team with Alexis and Larrica.” As to what that actually entails, she says,”Basically, we have to present how we would manage a small business on our own.” There will be about 6,000 other students from all over the country at the competition, so the opposition will be fi erce, but Colony’s team will try their best.

Being in BPA can be hard work, but it is rewarding. Members, besides competing, attend conferences, work Colony’s smoothie stand, and learn business skills that are applicable in the real world. The reward comes in the form of knowledge and work experience, and for this year’s eight qualifi ers, a trip to nationals in Anaheim, California.

BPA NationalsBy: Eva Colberg

Knights Gotta FeelingBy: Kayla Anderson

Just as every year before, the Class of 2012’s seniors have been counting down the days until their graduation. Now the caps have been thrown off and our graduates are gearing up for lives in adulthood. Some are heading off to college, others planning for fun summers full of freedom, some are planning to head out to the lower-48 and others plan to stay close to home. No matter the paths they choose, the Class of 2012 has turned their tassels and left the home of the Knights.

Graduation itself was an enthusiastic event of its own. From goofy speeches to a full class dance, these seniors exited with excitement. After all the work put into the event, the class offi cers and advisors are relieved to know the night was a success. “I had a feeling it would be a good night, a good good night and it all came thru as I had thought,” said senior advisor Susan Brunner.

Throughout the night guests and graduates were treated with the words and wisdom of their teacher, Mrs. Gena Graham, Mr. Chuck Heath, father of former vice-president candidate Sarah Palin, and classmates Elliott Gilbert, Keene Lucas, and Sara Reed. All of which shared their personal words of wisdom and stories from all the years that

had passed. P r o b a b l y the most enjoyable part for all, other than receiving diplomas and being offi cially graduated, was most likely when the entire senior class joined in dance to the song “I Gotta Feeling” by The Black Eyed Peas. However, the song was edited slightly when sung by Brian Tuhey, Logan Elliot, Kyle Johnson, and Chad Speer. “People say my voice is somewhere between Fergie and Jesus,” said Elliot who sang the woman’s part in the song. O v e r a l l

graduation was a complete success thanks to the constant work of the senior class advisors and offi cers, and Colony High School staff. Although, most seniors are simply overjoyed by the mere thought that they are done with school. “I’m excited that the year is fi nally over and I’m starting my life as an adult,” exclaimed Briana Dinger, graduation itself was a good, good night.

Left to right, Jakob Hanchett, Crystal Wold, Alexis Bernier, Heather Levinson, Kelsey Bardsley, Larrica Forrester, Dani Gif-ford, and Kevin Wold in front of the Kodak Theater in California.

As “I gotta Feeling” is being sung, the Class of 2010 watched their class-mate Elliott Gilbert dance solo before they all joined in.

The Class of 2010 danced together for the fi nal performance of their graduation on May 11th at the Curtis Menard Memorial Sports Complex.

3The Knightly News

May 2010

Features

On Saturday April 17th, Colony High School had their “Old Hollywood”

themed prom at the William A. Egan Center in Anchorage. Along with the many exciting elements of the dance, prom goers had the once in a lifetime opportunity of meeting a formerly local rockstar when 36 Crazyfists front man Brock Lindow made an appearance at the event. This visit was due to the dedication of the prom committee and junior class officers. Co-President Eddie Lee presented the idea of having Lindow at their prom. “I brought the idea up and everyone liked it so I just made it happen,” said Lee. Reaching contact with Lindow was not an easy

task for Lee despite his connections through his job at the valley radio

station Q 99.7, this contact required the baking of a cake with a Boston Bruins, a National Hockey League team, logo for Colony Varsity Boys Soccer coach Jeremy Johnson who DJs for KWHL 106.5. Lee then helped broadcast Johnson interviewing Lindow and was able to speak with the vocalist during the breaks, which is when agreed to attend Colony’s prom.

Lindow was a great special guest for the teen dance because not only is he incredibly successful with his band but all of it’s members, current and former, are from Alaska.

The band is also very popular among teens today. 36 Crazyfists made the big time in 1995 in Anchorage when the four original members, including Lindow, released their first recording. After this success the band underwent many changes with the death of their bassist JD Stuart and retirement of guitarists Ryan Brownell. Fifteen years later however, the band has seen four full albums recorded and much of the world from their tours. Although the band’s fan base is global, it is evident their devotion is to the 907 area code through their

many local concerts, Alaskan lyrics, meet and greets, and special events such as Colony’s prom. At the Knight’s prom Lindow announced the dances royalty; king and queen Kyle Kramer and Sable Irwin, as well as talked, signed autographs and took photos with attendees. “Brock was really cool about it, he deserves a medal for coming,” said Lee. Prom is a great experience

for high school students and the surprise visit from this artist was only one addition to the excitement of the evening. Due to

the teen popularity of 36 Crazyfists and their Alaskan hometown, meeting Lindow at Colony’s prom was a moment that many will never forget.

Junior class co-president, Eddie Lee, poses with Brocke Lindow at prom; which he leaded in the organisation of having the artist.

Brocke Lindow, front man for 36 Crazyfists, announces the 2010 prom royalty.

36 Crazyfist Meets Old HollywoodBy: Kayla Anderson

Bye-Bye For NowBy: Ema Reuter

The end of the school year is one of the most celebrated events for all students from any grade. This year it is definitely living up to status. “When the sun is shining, I feel good; and I know school is almost over,” says an extremely happy Bram ten Broeke. When going to school was fun, in elementary, teachers had parties, fifth graders were celebrated and everyone had a blast under the sun. For middle school students the end of the year sends an essence of hope, for growing up. The teachers stopped teaching, the students stopped listening; but everything was good because everyone understood summer was coming soon. Now, in high school students undergo the torture of finals, teachers give homework for the summer; and so with age comes more responsibility. Although high school students don’t stop everything to create a throne for seniors, Colony High principal Cyd Duffin created a

day just for seniors called Senior Fun Day. “Senior fun day is one of the most popular things about the end of the year,” says senior, Kyle Kramer. Mrs. Duffin established this day because of the fact that seniors in

the past have planned unsanctioned senior skip days which were unsupervised and unsafe. Students’ parents did not know where seniors were and sometimes alcohol or other dangerous activities came into play which could have resulted in student injury or death. Duffin originally came from the Anchorage School District where Senior Fun Day has been a long tradition there and felt it would be beneficial for students here as well. Before they started Senior Fun Day in Anchorage, there had been

incidences of car accidents and student deaths which marred the end of the school year and turned celebrations into somber times. She wanted to avoid this here. Now CHS Senior Fun Day is a safe and sanctioned day in which seniors are all transported by bus to a place where they can have a picnic or barbecue or celebrate like the Class of 2010 did at H2OASIS. Seniors are required to have parent permission for the “field trip absence” just like any other school-sanctioned field trip absence. If they attend without a permission slip, it is considered a truancy.

F r e s h m a n preveiw happens every year, at the end of the year. “It was really cool to see Colony, even though I am going to Wasilla,” says eighth grader, Gaven Nelson who came with the rest of Colony Middle School for freshman orientation. It is an event that some staff and the leaders of groups within Colony put together. Most high schools believe such an experience is necessary, so they put it on to show middle school graduates that high school is not as scary as some might make it out to be. Leaders of nearly all the main clubs and classes put together performances to acquire anticipation

Seniors line up to ride the most popular rides at H2OASIS, the Master Blaster.

from eighth graders as regards to the things they will be able to do when they develop into official freshman. Although many eighth graders are not required to attend the freshman orientation, most go to it in order to see the differences within all the high schools. The occasion is a great occurrence for those who are not sure of where they will be going to for their

official high school experience. Every school year has a beginning, and an end. Whether one is starting their high school experience, or ending it to become an official adult; all these events are the ending to yet another activity-filled and cram-packed school year. To make it official, one is moving up, and forward; ending school, starting summer, and starting the rest of their lives.

Spencer shows how he got the freshmans at-tention.

4 FeaturesThe Knightly News

May 2010

The United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, located in Maryland, has an annual summer seminar available for high school students to attend and get a taste of the school. Colony High School’s very own junior Renn Wright will be attending this summer’s 2010 program. The United States Naval Academy Summer Seminar is a quick six day experience that highlights the quality of academics, athletics, and professional training that is necessary when developing the nation’s future leaders. This opportunity is only an option to high school students who have completed their junior year. The seminar is a competitive entry program due to the overflow of applicants to the amount of space available. When applying, the areas of selection would be: unmarried with no child, high school standing rank, extracurricular activities, physically fit in good health, and a positive attitude with good morals. Junior Renn Wright fulfilled all of these criteria, “I made sure to emphasize on all of my leadership

On the Wright PathBy: Casey Branch

roles and qualities,” stated Wright. Being the only student from Colony

going to the session, Wright should get the full effect of being independent and trying out the academy. The Annappolis summer

seminar is divided into three sessions

to accommodate for the many interested applicants across the nation. With each session consisting of 750 students it comes to a total of

2,250 students who participate in the program every year. Compare that to the other thousands of applicants that are not admitted and it truly shows how impressive it is that Renn Wright will be attending, “I plan on going to the Naval Academy after high school, and being able to go to this seminar will only benefit me by showing me firsthand what the school has to offer.” Renn Wright was able to hold his own in the fierce competition between applicants throughout the nation that wish to be a part of the United States Naval Academy Sumer Seminar. He has high aspirations of attending the Annapolis after high school, and will no

doubt do Colony proud when being the only representative from CHS to participate in this extraordinary program.

Renn Wright is excited to get on his way to the academy.

Twice a week Eric Yanusz and Kendall Lacy can be found knocking on classroom doors around Colony High School to collect everything that has accumulated in the recycling bins. While that may be the extent of most students’ knowledge of the recycling program, the program is actually a huge group effort from the Mrs. Welsh and her Peer Tutors class.

“On recycling day, it takes eight people and two carts,” says Mrs. Welsh. That includes sorting through and collecting the recycling, removing bottle caps, and transporting everything to the recycling center. Despite the fact that Mrs. Welsh drives everything to the recycling center, additional transportation is still needed.

The program may require a lot of hard work, but Mrs. Welsh hopes that it will grow even bigger. “Next year what we’re seriously hoping for is to have a dumpster for recycling in the parking lot.” A dumpster would make transportation and storage significantly easier, and would allow greater amounts to be recycled. “We don’t want people to throw things away. If everybody recycled twice a day, we would only need to pay for garbage

RecyclingBy: Eva Colberg

pickup once a month. If everybody did it, we wouldn’t have to have garbage.”

The students are doing everything that they can to make recycling easier. Boxes are situated right next to trash cans, and next year they will have six labeled bins for cans and plastic bottles in the lunchroom, courtesy of the Shield Committee. At the moment, office paper, mixed paper, #1 and #2 plastics, soft plastic, plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and cardboard are all recycled. Basically, as long as it is not contaminated by food, anything can be recycled. A lack of awareness is hindering the student body from doing all that it can, though. Unsure of what is actually recyclable, students will err on the side of cautious and throw away what could potentially be re-purposed.

Everyone involved in the program already works hard to contribute, but as Mrs. Welsh says, “Even so, we’re barely scratching the surface. What we hope is that people will recycle so much that we will need to have daily pickup.” But all good endeavors must start somewhere, and while Mrs. Welsh and her students are doing the best that they can, they are certainly open to any help.