Kevin Hyde

Voting for the !rst time is an experience that will likely stay with the voter forever. "e 2012 election marked the !rst election that some students are eligible to vote, and most 18-year-olds in the school exercised this particular right this past Tuesday.

“I’ve waited a while, and now it’s a reality. I remember being younger and wishing I can vote, and now that I have the opportu-nity to make a di#erence with my vote, I couldn’t be happier,” senior Christy Morrow said.

For senior Michelle Bolker, voting was not only on the top of her priority list, but being able to witness history in the making at President Barack Obama’s election night party was an experience she will never forget.

6:54 a.m.Bolker makes her way to her

voting precinct for an early morn-ing vote before school starts. She is expecting long lines, but is pleas-antly surprised when the wait turns out to be only a few minutes.

“I got lucky, I guess. A$er watching the news, I saw that other people weren’t so fortunate,” Bolker said. She walks quietly up to the ballot box.

“With just the touch of a !nger, I am making a di#erence. "at’s so crazy, but in the best way possible,” Bolker said.

A$er spending about 10 min-utes at her ballot, she ejects her vot-ing card from the ballot box. “Now I’ve just got to go to school and wait and see what happens,” Bolker said.

2:36 p.m.Bolker sits in her A.P. Gov-

ernment class, listening to similar topics about elections that will be discussed later tonight. "e seat behind her is empty.

"ough senior Bianca Burns usually sits behind the anxious voter, she is exercising her politi-cal activity in a di#erent way. Since Burns cannot vote in this election due to age, she is signed up to be an election judge in Wheeling.

“It’s going to be a long day, but

worth it. If I can’t vote, I’m going to do something,” Burns said.

3:32 p.m.Once school lets out, Bolker

makes her way to the train station in order to get downtown for the election night party. Bolker boards the Metra train bound for Ogilvie Transportation Center. She fever-ishly checks her phone for CNN updates. At this time, New Hamp-shire is leaning towards Obama, something Bolker had anticipated.

“I think this is going to be one of the !rst real swing states that will help him get into motion. I can see this happening. I don’t want to speak too soon, but I’m feeling pretty good,” Bolker said.

As the train begins to encroach upon the city limits, more and more Obama supporters boarded. Excitement quickly transforms from a dull roar to a giddy clamor of political sentiment.

4:26 p.m.At this point, the train rolls

into the station and Bolker quickly runs down to the main concourse, %ailing her hand around for a cab’s attention.

A cab zooms up and the friendly driver introduces himself, asks where to go, and speeds away

from the station towards McCor-mick Place.

“Obama will be there,” the driver said. Bolker informs him of her admission to the event. "e driver retorts that he hates Obama, since he is from Kenya and Obama is not a good representative of the nation. Bolker considers this opin-ion, and then eventually brings up the subject of the electoral college. "e driver explains he doesn’t un-derstand why a system like this is in e#ect, to which Bolker agrees.

“It’s so amazing seeing people from di#erent aspects of life com-ing together for this election. "e cab driver, who was from Africa, knew more about American poli-tics than some people I know,” Bolker said.

6:03 p.m.As Bolker makes her way up

to McCormick place, she passes through two security checkpoints. Armed guards instruct her to take out everything metal. Bolker walks through one metal detector and makes her way towards the event %oor. "e stage is in plain view, and the podium is set up for Obama’s speech later that night.

“Seeing the podium is giving me chills. I know either way history will be made there tonight,” Bolker said.

All around her, news outlets like CNN, Fox, CBS, and NBC scatter themselves across the %oor, organizing equipment and taking preliminary shots.

Bolker is now constantly checking her phone for election up-dates. A crowd of supporters make their way over to the big screen hanging from the ceiling. One of the !rst set of polls is now closed.

A piercing uproar !lls the crowding convention hall. Initial rendering and projections are be-ginning to come in. CNN is report-ing Obama at three electoral votes, Governor Mitt Romney at 8:00 p.m. CBS con!rms this projection.

By now, Bolker is getting texts from friends like senior Marianna Bonadonna. “I can’t imagine how it is now. Take pictures! Wish I could be there,” Bonadonna said.

V o l u m e 4 5

November 9, 2012

orrespondentThe

I s s u e 4

Online

C 1 9 0 0 E . T h o m a s S t . , A r l i n g t o n H e i g h t s , I L 6 0 0 0 4

J o h n H e r s e y H i g h S c h o o l

Page 8Page 11

MOCK ELECTION

BARACK OBAMA & JOE BIDEN

60.2%MITT ROMNEY &

PAUL RYAN28.5%

JILL STEIN &CHERI HONKALA

5.8%GARY JOHNSON &

JIM GRAY5.5%

RANCESCA HERNANDEZ

First time voter attends obama's Victory rallY

PHOTOS BY KEVIN HYDE

President Barack Obama held his election night rally at McCormick Place on Tuesday in Chicago. Due to its close proximity, students like senior Michelle Bolker were able to attend the historic event.

Bolker was one of approximately 10,000 attendees of Obama’s

election night celebration.

Junior comments on ‘Red’

Swim team heads to sectional

Debate team comes out on top

News2

NEWS  YOU  NEED  TO  

KNOW

8:43 p.m.!e electoral college count

is staying close. 123 votes are for Obama and 152 are for Romney. Neither candidate is at the required 270, -things are getting intense.

“I can feel it in the air. Some-thing is going to happen. I don’t know which way it’s going to go, but someone is going to pull ahead, I can feel it. !e energy in here is so electric, so inspiring,” Bolker said.

!e six screens "anking the stage all "ash a CNN projection: Obama wins Pennsylvania.

!e hall is vibrating with ex-citement. People are high-#ving and hugging, celebrating this im-portant state with each other. !ese 20 electoral votes pull Obama into the lead. Attend-ees scream, “!is is huge!”

S u d d e n l y, the south side of the hall begins chanting some-thing indeter-minable by Bolk-er and the rest of the people by the stage. Soon, the message is clear. !e entire room is chanting, “Four more years! Four more years!” With each word, a #st from each person is thrust in the air. “I am so proud. !is is exhila-rating. I can only imagine what’s going to happen if he wins,” Bolker said.

10:14 p.m.!e crowd is growing more

tense; they know the chance of Obama clinching the 270 mark is within view. CNN is reporting that Obama is at 254, and Romney is at 203. !e six screens interrupt the “Road to the White House” video and switch to CNN on the right three screens, and CBS on the le$ three. !e audio cuts to CBS and the crowd goes silent. Oregon goes to Obama, as does Washington. At this time, CBS "ashes on the screens, “OBAMA RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT”.

American "ags are waving feverishly throughout. “Obama” chants are louder. Bolker has trou-ble hearing people around her. Four minutes later, CNN con#rms the same projection, Obama will be re-elected president. At that mo-ment, Bolker brings her hand to her mouth and tears begin to stream down her face as she embraces oth-ers around her.

“I really can’t believe I am here right now. !is is so historic. I will remember this for the rest of my life. I was here when Obama was re-elected President. Wow,” Bolker said.

Bolker’s phone is now bom-barded with text messages from friends and family, celebrating the victory.

!e chanting and cheering continues for about 10 minutes. Happy, old-time music like “Twist and Shout” starts to play. Attend-ees take a liking to this and begin dancing with each other, as well as strangers. Tears of joy "ood the eyes of voters near the stage. !e crowd is overjoyed and maintains its jubi-lance for the rest of the night.

CNN posts the “Way Obama Won” reporting that the president received 93 per-cent of the Af-rican-American vote, 71 percent of the Hispanic vote, 73 percent of Asians, 55 per-cent of women, and over 60 per-cent of young vot-ers.

Also "ash-ing on the main screen were polls by CBS and CNN asking voters who

they think cares about them more. 85 percent of the vote went to Obama, with students and attend-ees clearly supporting that statistic with Twitter posts and text mes-sages.

11:55 p.m.A$er about an hour and a

half of waiting, the crowd is atwit-ter as to when Romney will make his concession speech. !e main screens near the stage cut to video of Romney in Boston, delivering his concession. !e crowd is hum-ble, but wave their "ags and cheer throughout the speech when Rom-ney makes reference to Obama winning the presidency. When Romney makes a statement saying that Paul Ryan was the best addi-tion to his campaign, the crowd let out a “boo” of disapproval.

“I feel like Romney conceded gracefully,” Bolker said. !e speech ends, and the wait begins for the event of the evening: Obama’s ac-ceptance speech.

1:06 a.m.A$er hours of waiting, the

moment that everyone "ocked to McCormick Place on this cold and rainy night begins. !e red curtain that acts as the backdrop for the stage swi$ly pulls apart, revealing another section of seated

supporters, dancing and wav-ing American "ags.

No media sources are being broadcast, but friends at home pro-vide details that aren’t available to those inside the convention center.

“Obama’s motorcade from the Fairmont Hotel has arrived at Mc-Cormick Place. !ey say that no one on the inside knows yet,” Bo-nadonna said in a text to Bolker.

Now Bolker knows and is re-vealing the information to others around her. !e lights dim. !e uproar is tremendous, and the applause begins. An announcer discloses the president, and out walks Obama, along with his wife Michelle and his two daughters. As Obama and his family wave to the crowd, another round of “four more years” begins.

!e cheering continues for an-other few minutes. Obama’s family leave the stage, and the president takes his position. Instantly, the people in the crowd whip out their cameras, iPhones, iPads, etc.

“I am so proud to be an Amer-ican. I voted for that man on the stage,” Bolker said.

Obama initiates his speech. A$er each main point, the presi-dent is applauded with a booming response. “I feel like the room is shaking,” Bolker said.

!e main focus of the speech has to do with moving forward and coming together. Obama tells the story of a middle class father who has had a tough time paying for his daughter’s Leukemia treatments. Obama tells how the government will help these types of people.

“!at’s who we are. !at’s the country I am so proud to lead as your president. And tonight, de-spite all the hardship we’ve been through, despite all the frustrations of Washington, I’ve never been more hopeful about our future,” Obama said.

“America, I believe we can build on the progress we’ve made and continue to #ght for new jobs, and new opportunities, and new security of the middle class. I be-lieve we can keep the promise of our founders- the idea that if you’re willing to work hard, it doesn’t matter who you are, or where you come from, or what you look like, or who you love. It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white, Hispanic or Asian, or young or old, rich or poor, disabled, gay or straight, you can make it here in America.”

“!at speech was so inspiring and so powerful. I am so grateful that I was able to vote and take part in this. It’s such a privilege. !is was my #rst time voting, and I got to see the president speak on elec-tion night,” Bolker said.

Th e Co r r e s p on d e n t N ov e m b e r 9, 2 012

Hurricane Sandy smashed through the Eastern seaboard early in the week of Oct. 29, leaving behind "ooding, dam-age, and destruction that is all to reminiscent of apocalyptic movie scenes.

!e storm originated in the Caribbean Sea and plowed over the various islands of the region, including Cuba and Hispanola, beginning Oct. 24, causing a death toll of at least 69 people in the region.

“I think its terrible that all those people had to relocate, and the damage from the storm looks horrible,” junior Brentyn Leong said.

As Sandy made its way to-wards the east coast of the U.S., major cities in its path had to take major precautionary ac-tion to deal with the storm. From Washington D.C. to New York City, transportation sys-tems shut down, stores closed, and the New York Stock Ex-change halted trading for Oct. 29 and 30.

Once Sandy passed through, the east coast realized the devastating e%ects of the storm that still haven’t le$ the region. 6 million people were still without power as of Oct. 31 and the death toll for the U.S. surpassed 50 as of Oct. 31 as well.

Social media and news sources played a major role in the coverage and informing of students. Twitter, Facebook, etc. lent a helping hand in cre-ating relief e%orts for the storm damages.

Even still, "ooding and blizzards have complicated res-cue and recovery e%orts.

Senior revels in election history

Hurricane Sandy shreds East Coast

Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast last week. It took

over 100 lives and le! many people without homes and resources.

Senior Michelle Bolker becomes emotional a!er the announce-

ment of the 44th president win.

K H

K H

News Au g u s t 2 2 , 2 012Th e Co r r e s p on d e n t2

Kevin Hyde

A!er a four year long battle with cancer, senior Shea Anderluh died peacefully in her sleep on July 25.

She was a member of the class of 2012, however, vari-ous treatments and proce-dures inhibited her from at-tending classes this past school year.

F r i e n d s and family cel-ebrated Shea’s life at a wake service on July 27 where 900 to 1,000 indi-viduals came to show their condolences and share their stories, fol-lowed by a fu-neral service the next day at St. James.

Friends agree that Shea’s per-sonality deeply impacted their lives.

“I have always felt inferior to Shea. Not because she set out to make people feel that way, she was truly just the best at everything. Her beauty, brains, coolness, talent, humor, and kindness, Shea had it all and more,” friend and graduate Madeline Weber said.

Friends want to remember her for her good traits, not cancer.

“When I think of Shea, I don’t think of cancer. It’s not her sickness or her death that impacted me, it’s her as a person. She impacted me in so many ways from sixth grade up until senior year,” best friend and graduate Lauren Kelley said.

“She taught me to notice the beautiful things in life: how to bring laughter to any situation, never to judge, and most impor-tantly, she taught me what a friend truly is,” Kelley said.

Shea’s neighbors also felt her impact "rsthand.

“Life is built around memo-ries, and my childhood memories revolve around Shea and her fam-ily,” junior Alex Mueller said. “Shea was a uniquely cool girl who would rather read ‘Harry Potter’ in Flori-da than tan or swim like most girls, and play ‘Call of Duty’ or ‘Assas-sins Creed’ instead of gossip with friends. What guy doesn’t want to talk with a girl about the newest video game?”

Two weeks before Shea’s death, the Anderluh’s added a new member to their family. Per Shea’s request, a new golden retriever puppy, Bailey, made her way into the household.

In some ways, the Anderluh’s view Bailey as a constant reminder of Shea.

“I’m sad she didn’t get to fully enjoy the puppy, but she’s de"nitely a reminder of Shea. It’s almost like a newborn in a way. While one loved one has le! us, a new one is coming in,” her mother, Liz Anderluh said.

In Shea’s "nal days, she set her ambitions high and had various activities and interests she wanted to accomplish. From learning Ital-

ian to going to Disney World, she was still making plans to enjoy her last few days.

“Shea had told us that she wanted to write us [in the fam-ily] a letter. She said it would take eight days each. Unfortunately she never got to do that,” Liz Anderluh said.

“I wish she got to use her potential and see where she would be when she got older. I had always thought maybe she wanted to be an animal control worker. She always watched the show ‘Animal Cops’ and she even turned me onto that, Liz Anderluh said.

#e sense of com-munity a!er Shea’s

death proved heartwarming to the Anderluh family.

“It was just so nice seeing ev-eryone bring candles over that night. She was somewhat private about who she was talking with and how many people were follow-ing her, so it was just so nice to see everyone at the wake and the fu-neral,” Liz Anderluh said.

As far as remembrance goes, the Anderluh’s and other loved ones want to stress the good times, and not the times of sickness.

“Shea would rather be remem-bered for the person that she was, not as the poster-child for cancer,” Liz said.

One thing was apparent, Shea was a unique and fun-loving girl who impacted all people she came in contact with.

“She was authentic, never fake. Con"dent without being loud. Super smart but never studious. Nerdy, and yet the coolest person you ever met. Awkward, but appeal-ing. Beautiful but not the slightest bit vain. Musically gi!ed without even trying (or practicing). Ath-letic and brave, willing to try any-thing, from basketball and soccer to skiing and snowboarding; and then, when treatment sapped her lung capacity, she gave badminton a try and wound up third in con-ference freshman year. I treasure those memories,” Liz Anderluh, wrote on her Caring Bridge site.

Shark attack keeps student on alert

North Korean leader gets married

Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, raised questions when he was photographed in public in the company of an un-known woman. It was eventu-ally discovered that the woman was Jong Un’s new wife, Ri Sol Ju.

“I’m not really updated about this, but I don’t think it will bring any change to their current situation,” junior Ra-chel Stenzel said.

She has been described as “pretty and charming” by a Japanese sushi chef who served the Kim family for 13 years, but also raised some criticism when she was seen with a Dior bag that cost more than the annual income of the average North Korean.

“It’s just one of the perks of being wife to the dictator, I guess,” Stenzel said.

#e very public presence of Sol Ju and the state released pictures of the newlyweds have been seen as a step away from the secrecy of the late Kim Jong Il’s regime.

MELANIE COHODES

Despite loss, senior leaves students inspiredNEWS  YOU  NEED  TO  

KNOW

A man was attacked by a shark o$ the coast of one of Cape Cod’s popular beaches, Ballston Beach, on July 31. #ere had been warnings of shark sightings all day, but that didn’t stop Chris Myers and his son from going out to body surf.

On the way back in, My-ers felt something bite his leg, and when looking down, saw there was a Great White shark attached to his le! leg. Luckily, the shark let go and swam away before it could cause too much damage.

“I’m glad that there were no serious injuries,” sopho-more Kevin Messer said, “But this doesn’t change how I view swimming in the ocean. I would miss it too much.”

Once Myers reached the beach, he was immediately helped by a doctor and nurse that were on the shoreline. #e injuries sustained from the at-tack include severed tendons and puncture wounds from the teeth, leaving Myers in a cast on his le! leg and 47 stitches in his right leg.

JACK HARGETT

Senior Shea Anderluh lost her four year battle with cancer.

Shea’s attitude has served as an inspiration for many.

To read more about Shea Anderluh

and other new stories

Go to CorrespondentLive.

Click under quicklinks on the JHHS homepage.