The Rampage2270 Highway 133 Carbondale, CO 81623 November 2012 Volume 6 Issue 2

-Karla Reyes

Fifty-one is the surviving number. 51 out of the 103 freshman that enrolled in September of 2009 have made it through these past four year at Roaring Fork High School. Although the senior class is at 67 students, only 51 of those seniors have stayed at RF all four continuous years. In the 2009- 2010 yearbook, there is a significant change in faces that no longer roam the halls. How could it be that 36 of those students no longer remain in the senior class? After surveying several students and teachers, some answers were discovered. Thirteen of the lost classmates attend an alternative school such as Bridges or Yampah. Eight students have left Carbondale and attend public schools around the state, and four have left the state to attend schools in another part of the country. Sadly, there are four remaining students that no one happens to remember. If you do the math, that adds up to 30 students. How about the other six? They are girls that have be-come mothers these past four years. Two are full time moms and the rest are attending Yampah High School in Glenwood. Some of the remaining seniors were surprised to see where their classmates had gone. Senior, Jocelyn Cortez said, “It’s sad to see that we don’t even fill up one side of the auditeria any more. I guess I just hadn’t really thought about it.” The senior class, who used to dominate in class competitions, now fights to compete with much larger classes. Zach Hunt, another senior, stated, “It doesn’t really surprise me that it’s gotten that small, but its surprising that six of them have babies already.” Michael Skinner responds, “Well, I just think that most of them wanted to move on and become adults before even graduating.” Many of the missing students chose to attend alternative high schools or obtain their GEDs instead of finishing out traditional school. Esveidy Campos says, “I think it happens to every class, but it’s sad to see that they’re not going to graduate with our class.” Laura Larios states, “Its hard to think that so many of the friends that we had in middle school aren’t with us any more.” Although almost half of the original freshmen class won’t graduate from Roaring Fork this year, come May, graduation will honor all the seniors that have made it through four tough years at Roaring Fork.

Down to 67: Where are they now?Over the course of four years, more than 30 students have vanished from the 2013 senior class. Why?

Photo by Larry Williams The senior class, who began freshman year at 103 students, is now down to 67. The numbers have dwindled even more since the senior class gathered for this photo on the first week of school.

-Victoria Schlueter “It takes 10,000 hours to become a master at something, but in the right environment, you can speed things up.” RFHS Soccer Head Coach Aaron Anderson is experimenting with some new, unconventional techniques. The team has had an amazing season this year, with their re-cord at eleven wins, four losses and one tie. He hopes this new approach could, in time, improve the team’s success even more. His new method focuses on myelin, the insulation that wraps around the nerve fibers in the brain and increases signal strength, speed and accuracy. Myelin is produced by analyzing situations, “It takes a spark to begin myelin pro-duction,” explained Anderson. The best way to spark this production is to create the right environment and maximize social aspects of the team. “It’s very psychological, the social aspect is very important. You have to

have class.” An example he gave of a good environment for starting up the process was to play indoor soccer. “With indoor soccer, you get ten times more touches on the ball, you can’t just kick the ball hard, you have to figure out how to move it.” Anderson learned about myelin development from Daniel Coyle’s book “Talent Code.” The book explains that “training on the edge of your capabilities” improves the outcome of players’ performances. Training in harder situations lead to mistakes being made, which speeds up mastering that certain skill. It is said that this method produces re-sults ten times faster than regular practice. An example of “training on the edge of your capabilities” is the Brazilian soccer players. In his book, Coyle explains, “Most Brazilian players learn their skills through futsal, the SSG equivalent of soccer. Futsal uses a ball that is half the size and

continued on page 3

RFHS soccer coach experiments with brain science

A Passion for Powderby Tanner Spencepg 3

An Annoying Detour by Roy Bengepg 5

Grinding: An Epic Controversyby Madison Bailey & the Editorspgs. 2 & 7

The Rampage Gold Sponsors: M3 Marketing and Dru Handy Custom Painting

-Madison Bailey

On the night of October 6th, many students dressed up in reveal-ing gowns and clean slacks only to find no students dancing. The fall homecoming dance was a huge change to what students have seen in past years. This year, the school district is trying to shut down a newer popular dance style called “grinding.” Grinding, to many, looks like a vulgar way of rubbing up against another person. At the dance, two stu-dents were caught grinding and they were nicely asked to leave. To the students, this was not taken lightly. After a few students were asked to leave, more students began to follow suit. Ultimately, the dance was shut down around 10:00 P.M. due to no students being at the dance. Students and teachers were very disappointed in the turnout of the dance. Roaring Fork Sophomore Tanner Spence had some words about what happened, “It left a lot of people angry, and ruined many seniors’ last homecoming experience. A lot of students paid money only to leave shortly after.” Other students had different opinions about how things went. Senior Juliana Ulrych articulated with an altered answer, “I thought students made too big of a deal about the whole situation. It’s really not hard for students to change to another type of dance that teachers can agree with. I don’t think it’s necessary for students to have to leave just because their friends don’t agree with the rules.” Since the dance, sparks have cooled on the debate about the new policy. Faculty and students are working to agree on an alternative solu-tion that kids and chaperones can agree on for the next dance. Only time will tell the outcome of dances for the rest of the year.

NEWS

No grinding equals no students

-Trae Moxley

“It is going to happen, I’m very hopeful that it will be done by basketball, but thats even a long shot.” said Barbara Mason, Assistant Principal of Roaring Fork High School, regarding the Ram mural that is going to be painted in the gym. A design still has not been chosen by the student or faculty. RFHS art teacher Cathleen McCourt is currently working to think up a clev- er design for the school that will in- c o r p o r a t e b o t h sports and o t h e r school func-tions and events. “We’re thinking of the Basalt art teacher, she does amazing work!” McCourt stated. Earlier in the year, four designs went around the school that students were able to vote on. The teachers then gave their input on which design they liked best. Unfortunately, all the proto-types ended up being vetoed. McCourt has resolved to design her own. . Drew Adams, Principal of RFHS had other plans in mind on the creation of the mural; he thought about a company in Glenwood making the design, “Ann Gianinetti was helping us to try and find a place that would help us with the design of the mural,” he explained. Adams also considered another person who could create the mural: “Erica Eperson would just paint it.” Adams suggested. He was very firm in saying that Eperson would have no part in the designing of the mural. “She is just getting the design and she will create what we show her,” said Adams.

RFHS students hap-pily “grinding” at

prom last year. This is the type of danc-

ing that got students kicked out of this

year’s fall homecom-ing.

Photo provided by Madison Bailey.

Mural dilemma continues

For the Rampage Editor’s opinion on the grinding issue, see page 7.

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November 2012

RFHS is planning on enlisting a local artist to paint a spirited mural on the wall of the Rams gym.

After a failed voting for mural de-signs, art teacher Cathleen McCourt has resolved to design one on her

Upcoming Events & Notices:All School Potluck: Friday, November 16th @ lunch

Thanksgiving Break: November 19-23rd.

Grapes of Wrath Book Clubs: November 27th, 28th & 30th.

No late start Mondays in December.

-Laura Needham

Finishing the season with six losses, and two victories, the Rams football team is ready to end their outstretched season. “We’re all excited for senior night, our last game,” said senior Trae Moxley. Throughout the season, the team and coaches made decisions to the best of their abilities. “We are all super bummed, we didn’t do what we wanted. We were missing a lot of folks who could have helped us,” explained 2012 football coach Tori Jensen. Although there were off field distractions, the team was able to maintain a great core of seniors that did all they could with a great group of younger guys. Fans look at Moxley as the team’s star player, but sometimes it isn’t about who is visibly good on the field. Sometimes it’s about players like Keegan Fawley and Michael Wampler. “I have the utmost respect for these boys. They show up everyday ready to learn and are willing to do whatever it takes, they will go out and do whatever is asked of them, regardless of skill level,” said Jensen.“This group had some guys who created distractions for the team but we controlled our own destiny. All of our issues were internal.” The team is on their 5th different quarterback, and their 15th defensive line up. Although commitment wasn’t the only issue this season, Jensen feels that commitment is a very hard thing for a teenager. It is difficult to come out on game day ready to go, it takes a team with players who are committed throughout the entire season, game day or not. “The future is coming, but before a change occurs, we need to cross that bridge to commitment.”

Rams got rocked during 2012 football season

Soccer from page one SportsTalented students hit the slopes to pursue their dreams

-Tanner Spence The 2012 ski season is quickly approaching, and a certain bunch of students at RFHS are beginning to prepare for their individual winter sports. Hailey Swirbul, Madison Bailey, Tyler Spence, Kristen Joiner, Joey Lang, Will Masters, Walker Soucie, Finn Featherstone, and Cam-eron Doherty are all involved in competitive winter sports. They have arranged to leave school early for their activities. These students are all extremely skilled and have been competing in winter events since they were in grade school. Within this group of students, there are freestyle snowboarders, freestyle skiers, and nordic skiers. All the students every year have to rearrange their original schedule to fit the needs of their busy winter sports schedule. Andrea Caruso, the Guidance Counselor, helps these students create the most academically productive schedule possible, while leaving classes open for them to train. “Individual sports are fantastic, and it is great to see students working at something they love while managing their grades.” Caruso stated, also adding, “Although this is such a great op-portunity for these skilled students, there are some down sides to leaving school early to train.” Senior Madison Bailey agrees, “Grades are always hard to keep up with while leaving early,” he said. “In order to keep up I am always doing work on the way up when my buddies drive me, or when I ride the bus.” While mostly admired, some students don’t understand why their peers get to leave school to ski. Last year at the 2012 Talent Show, Walker Soucie, Will Masters, Madison Bailey, and Cameron Doherty put together a well developed movie about what they do on the slopes, to show other students that they are leaving school for a reason. Masters stated, “We wanted to educate the school why we were leaving, so we created the film just for that reason.” It’s not all fun, though. The training is intense and can be dangerous. Last year, Finn Featherstone paid the price, and hit a jump wrong which resulted in a broken back. Yet despite the danger, some of them have become successful enough to compete in the U.S. nationals at Copper Mountain Resort. As the 2012 ski season progresses, be sure to keep an eye out for these accomplished students’ names.

Photo by Brian BaileyMadison Bailey grinds a shipping container at the Xgames rail jam. Madison is one of many students who

leaves school early to train for his passion of snowboarding.

Rams football team holding their heads high after their last game and a disappointing season. Photo by Sue Rollyson

that is much heavier so that it doesn’t bounce; that promotes touch, technical and skill devel-opment. Sharp passing is paramount to have success. Futsal compresses essential skills into a small box, puts players into the ‘deep practice zone,’ making and correcting errors, constantly generating solutions to vivid problems. Players touching the ball 600% more often learn far faster, without realizing it, than they would in the vast expanse of the outdoor game.” Even though most people see the Roaring Fork soccer boys as having an incredibly successful season, Anderson doesn’t quite view it that way. With the potential he believes they have, he sees them being able to do a lot better in time. “Personally, I don’t really see us being success-ful yet, but we’re going in the right direction. On my team, we strive for excellence. I’m still experimenting with different ways to help kids get better faster.”

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November 2012

The RFHS Volleyball Team is going to State!They will be playing Friday in the afternoon at the Denver Coliseum. Catch the Spirit Bus to Denver to watch the team play!

FeaturesRFHS student spends time abroad in Brazil-Kayla Derby

Many people have noticed that there is no one skipping around the classrooms of Roaring Fork in circles this year. This is because Alice Furlong, junior, is spending the year as a foreign exchange student. Her temporary home is in Nova Friburgo, Brazil, which is a two hour car ride from Rio. “I love it here, especially at night.” said Furlong when asked about her current city of residence. “The nightlife is amazing. Everyone is always happier when the sun goes down.”

According to Furlong, the differences between Brazil and Car-bondale are extensive. Nova Friburgo is a large city with a population of more than 150,000 resi-dents. This is huge com-pared to our little town. “I love the big city feel. It’s so different from anything I have ever experienced. Plus the people watching is great!” said Furlong.In Nova Friburgo, the kids go to school from 7:20 am to 12:40pm. in the same classroom all day with the same people. This has

made it easier for Alice to make close friends. She has two new Brazilian friends. They love to hear about life in America and

how it is different from Brazil. Besides her Brazilian friends, Alice has also made aquantinces with other exchange students living in her town. She likes to hang out with them because they know English very well, so it’s easier for her to have steady conversations. “The people that I have met are awesome, I will miss them all so much when I come back to the United States.” Although she loves being an exchange student, Furlong oftentimes finds herself missing home. “It’s been so hard being away from my fam-ily. I try to take my mind off of it by keeping busy.” Another thing that has helped with her homesickness is how welcoming her host family has been. Furlong loves her whole host family, but she especially likes her host sister. “I’ve never had a sister. It’s much different than a little brother.” She says her host family is kind of strict, but it is great to have people that will look after her in an unfamiliar place.

Many people consider being an exchange student, but they don’t know whether or not they could handle being thrown into a new coun-try. “It’s a program for anyone who wants a change and is willing to get outside their comfort zone.” Furlong took a leap of faith, and now she is enjoying a year surrounded by new people and new things. “I am grow-ing as a person from this experience, and that is the best thing I could ever ask for.”

Exposing Juniors to future possibilities-Kimberly Vega

The ideal concept of going to High School is to prepare for col-lege and succeed in life. The Junior class of Roaring Fork High School had a valuable opportunity to visit Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colorado. This opportunity was very beneficial to them, and opened up a thought to the present Juniors of RFHS to furthering their education. All sorts of ideas and opportunities were exposed to the Junior class, for them to benefit from, and for them to plan out or continue with their college plans. Andrea Caruso, the Counselor of RFHS stated, “When students visit a college, it helps them picture themselves going. It creates a positive impact because they get excited about it. I think every student should have the opportunity to go and visit a college campus.” Although many believe they could not attend college because of their legal status or financial aid, visiting Mesa University exposed stu-dents to all sorts of opportunities and programs that would allow them to attend college and pursue their future. With the help of programs of-fered, this experience helped many more students feel optimistic about attending some kind of college after high school. Fernando Pacheco, a Junior at Roaring Fork, comments “I think this feild trip has influenced mostly all of us who have had a thought about college.” By introducing these students to a college at a residen-tial campus, they get a feeling of studying away from home. “It introduces them to a new social life away from the town you grew up in, giving us a chance to pursue our career.” Pacheco mentioned. Many students have a fear of go-ing to college because they are not aware of how the system works. Having the op-portunity to experience the feel of college by visiting one for a day has had a notice-able impact on the Juniors of RFHS. The trip has convinced them about making their planning process real and leading them on with their education. The Junior class field trip has exposed the Juniors to many possibilities. Sue Rollyson, a teacher aid at RFHS explained, “It en-tices the students when possibilities like these are exposed to them”

Photo by Kimberly Vega. Above is a brochure from

Colorado Mesa University. This is one thing the Junior class

recieved when they visted the college campus.

Photo by Alice FurlongAlice Furlong takes a picture with some of her new friends in Brazil. They are also foriegn exchange students.

A fitting farewell for Phil Longtime Roaring Fork custodian, Phil Samora, left the school to take a job at Glenwood Springs Elementary School. RFHS thanks Phil for everything he’s done.

Photo by Patrick Ratterty On Thursday, Roaring Fork gave him their traditional farewell, a tunnel of love where Phil drove his beloved floor zamoni down a channel of students.

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November 2012

5Rampage

November 2012Features-Roy Benge

The Roaring Fork football bus lights illuminate the empty parking lot. Groggy players file out of the bus, their breath showing in the cold night air. It’s 2 a.m. This is not an unusual time for players to arrive from places as close as Hotchkiss or Paonia. The RE-1 school district has a policy that forbids buses to travel over McClure Pass on Highway 133 for school related events, like sports or speech meets.RE-1 head of Transportation Department Larry Estrada is in charge of this decision, and he he thinks it is a very unsafe pass, “Especially for rockfall, deer and elk running out,” he says. Due to the various close calls his bus drivers have had on the steep mountain pass, Estrada prefers to not risk lives and err on the side of safety, primarily because this drive would have to be done at night. On September 13th, an article in the Post Independent confirms his doubts about the pass. The article reports that while CDOT is currently investing in a project to reduce rockfall, rockfall specialist Ty Ortiz claims there is significantly more rockfall on McClure Pass than most other mountainous roads in Colorado. “McClure Pass is ranked at the top of our rockfall hazard system,” he commented.

Many students, coaches and teachers all find this rule a dilemma. Juniors Tanner Nieslanik and Toni Gross are both three sport athletes and very diligent students attending Roaring Fork High School. Both

students feel that the extra time is takes to drive all the way around affects their academics. They have to leave up to two class periods early for the long drive to sporting events, and they agree that the missed class time gets them behind. When asked if he thinks the buses should be able to drive the pass, Nieslanik, who plays football, basketball and baseball, replied, “Absolutely, it would make school life easier.” While he says he is pretty good about catching up, other students struggle to maintain their grades because of the extra time lost from school. “I’m constantly having to catch up,” comments

Gross, a volleyball, basketball, and soccer player. She also states that arriving home that extra hour late makes it hard to do homework, especially during basketball, in which she participates in multiple games per week. Science teacher Hadley Hentschel also thinks the buses should be permitted to go over the pass. He thinks students are missing valuable content and education, and it is easy to fall behind when they are missing not only 4th, but 3rd hour multiple times per week. Speech team leader and math teacher Ralph Young is strongly opinionated about the issue. Young states, “If it is sunny and nice, we might as well save time and money.” The extra hour it takes to drive around the pass can mean he or his students have to miss a class, and he may be forced to hire a substitute teacher. He says, “It makes more work for everyone.” Various other school districts allow buses to go over the pass for school related activities. Melanie McMichael, the Director of Transportation for Eagle, considers the pass not so severe because of how short it is. She does not encourage it if the weather is bad, but otherwise thinks it saves time and money, for bus drivers are paid by the mile. Estrada has been with RE-1 for 31 years, has held his current position for over 20 years, and he thinks the extra money is worth it, and does not plan to reconsider. If the pass becomes safer, RE-1 may someday use it to transport to towns such as Paonia, but for now the alternate route will be required.

RE-1 Buses Take Long Way Home

Photo By: Sally Pearce, provided by CDOT The steep nature of McClure pass makes it a hazard for buses. Disregarding its dangers, it is a very useful shortcut.

-Jackson Hardin

Olivia Savard, a Sophomore at Roaring Fork High School, celebrated her 16th birthday by organizing a ÒPasta for ParkinsonÕsÓ fundraiser at the Carbondale and Rural Fire District station on October 23. Savard has spent her last several birthdays holding fundraisers, with ÒPancakes for ParkinsonÕsÓ events for her 14th and 15th birthdays as well as benefit concerts featuring her uncle, John Ohnmacht of the Johnny O. Band. These events support Team Fox and the Michael J. Fox Foundation, created to support research for a cure for Parkinson’s disease. This year her event featured a spaghetti dinner complete with salad and garlic bread for making a donation. The event drew upwards of 50 people, and made around $1,425 in donations. Savard told the Rampage that every little bit helps: Òeven a few more people helping out and spreading awareness make this worthwhile.Ó When Savard was 13, she was looking for a way to volunteer her time. Many organizations told her that she was too young to help out. Despite this, she kept searching. Savard’s Step-grandfather, Bob Olander suffered from Parkinson’s, and the Michael J. Fox Foundation had no age limit, so she began volunteering. In the last two years, Savard has raised over $13,000 for Team Fox, with the help of friends and family. Last April, Savard was invited to an awards dinner in New York City, for people who had raised substantial amounts of Money for Team Fox. Savard met with other people who fundraised for the foundation, many of whom had Parkinson’s themselves. Savard even briefly met Michael J, Fox himself. “It was very emotional” said Savard. “not just because of my admiration for him as an actor, but his foundation is able to give me an opportunity to help people.Ó Parkinson’s Disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. This results in the death of dopamine producing cells in the brain, which leads to shaking, rigidity and slowness. This can lead to behavioral problems and dementia. In the future, Savard plans to continue organizing fundraisers for Team Fox. The next event in the works is a benefit concert on Dec. 1. The concert will feature pianist Greg Chandler, who is a Parkinson’s patient. It’s an extraordinary thing for someone to do such a great thing to help people.

Student hosts “Pasta for Parkinson’s” Fundraiser

Photo provided by Olivia Savard.Olivia and other volunteers stand behind the benifit

dinner on October 23rd.

Dear teachers and students,

When you are asked a question, and you may have not heard it correctly, what do you say? Are you the person who rudely asks, “what?” or are you the person who politely asks, “excuse me?” If you are the person who answers, “what?” do not feel bad--this is something we all have to work on. But I find it incredibly disrespectful when I ask a question and the response I get is “What?” Or, if I say a teacher’s name and they say “what?” This response really discourages me from asking the question I had or just simply having a conversation. Some teachers are really bad about this, the word “what” makes them seem annoyed that a student needs help. There are more polite responses. If a student needs help and says the teacher’s name, the teacher can respond by saying, “Yes?” or the student’s name. If you don’t hear what someone says, say, “pardon me,” or, “excuse me.” The word in Spanish is “mande.” Mande is a very polite way to respond. If you said, “Que?” (What?) it would be considered rude. However, there are times when what is acceptable for example if your friend tells you that Ms. Handy’s outfit does not match, or ____________ , you can say, “what!” with a surprised expression on your face-- as if to say, “no way, that’s unbelievable!” This is a small courtesy we can improve on, but I find it to be a huge problem because respect is everything me.

Sincerely, Natalie Olivas

-Daniela Santana

Large amounts of Roaring Fork High School students are becoming more successful at school as years go by. The students from Roaring Fork High School are more becoming more successful by setting goals. Students set long-term goals and short-term goals that they believe are achievable. Statistics show that eighty percent of students that set goals are more likely to be successful in the end. With this information, Roaring Fork students know what to do to be a success-ful student in college. Statistics all show that not everyone sets goals. A Harvard study shows that eighty four percent of their students have no specific goals; hence, some of them may struggle to finish college. Many students from Harvard say that they set goals but were not committed to paper; therefore, they did not carry on with them. Karla Reyes, a senior at Roaring Fork High School has set a couple goals, “Since I am a senior this year I would like to start off on the right foot, so, I want to get straight A’s both semesters. My long-term goal is to graduate from nurs-ing school and to move out of the valley for new experiences.” Another student has also set some goals. Junior Natalie Olivas elaborated, “My goal for this year as junior president is to get as many students of my grade to be involved and get to know each other.” While Natalie’s goal is not set on paper, she is doing it for the best to try to help everyone. Kimberly Vega, a junior, is already setting goals for her future;l she is working on getting good grades in order to reach it. “I plan to go to Colorado University and study Law and/or Criminal Justice.” All the goal setting is preparing our Roaring Fork High School students for the future, which is why it is tremendously important to think ahead.

OpinionLetters to the Editor:

If you are interested in being a sponsor for the Roaring Fork Rampage, please contact:

Kayla Henleykhenley723@gmail.com

There are two sponsorship options to choose from. The blue sponsorship consists of a donation anywhere from $25-$49 and the gold sponsorship consists of a donation of at least $50 or higher. All sponsors get recognized monthly, gold on the front page and blue on the back. Donations help keep our paper going, so don’t hestitate to con-tact us!

Our Staff

Editors:Madison Handy, Kayla Henley, Tanya Murillo, Cameron Doherty, Kyle

Bruna, Will Masters, Alex Fisher, Alec Larson,

Shaeley Lough, Rosa Maun, Patrick Rafferty

Staff Policy

The Roaring Fork Rampage is a monthly student publication for the students of Roaring Fork High School. The Rampage is a public fo-rum funded by sponsor-ships, advertising, and

fundraising.

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As an open forum for students, letters to the editor are welcomed

and encouraged by the staff. Letters should

be 100-300 words and must be signed to be

considered for publica-tion. Letters may be sent to 2270 Highway 133 c/o Journalism Department or emailed to maddie-

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All editorials without a byline reflect a majority opinion of the Rampage staff. These opinions are not necessarily those of the advisor, administra-tion, or the Sopris Sun.

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Striving For Success? Set Goals

6Rampage

November 2012

Opinion Staff Editorial

Homecoming was a smash. . . If by smash you mean a complete and total disaster. Roaring Fork administrators gave students a no-tolerance for grinding policy at the pep as-sembly the day before the homecoming dance. The ultimatum did not go over well with stu-dents and resulted in a what most would call a failed attempt at a homecoming dance. The reasoning behind the sudden change? Cathleen McCourt, an art teacher at Roaring Fork, commented that she’s “very lib-eral and [the grinding is] bad.” McCourt admit-ted that she presented the grinding issue to the administration and wanted the raunchy grind-ing at school dances to stop. Grinding was definitely put to an end on the night of October 6th. Students were im-mediately kicked out of the dance for various forms of grinding or other inappropriate touch-ing. Other students boycotted the remainder of the dance by walking out. Eventually, the dance was cut short and underclassmen who remained were asked to call their parents. “As Head Girl, I felt like I was backed up against the wall,” stated Sarah Wisnoski. She explained her frustration in not being involved in the decision to enforce the no-grinding pol-icy at the dance, even though it was a Student Council sponsored event, and suggested the Student Council be more involved with a future policy. “There [is] a large group of kids who aren’t comfortable with a couple next to them doing what they’re doing,” explained McCourt. On the contrary, Principal Drew Adams, stated that his reasoning for stopping grinding was that the teachers didn’t want to see it, and it made them uncomfortable. Some confusion has

spurred about what types of dancing are accept-able and why grinding at school dances is an is-sue worth so much controversy. Despite confusion, in some instances, grinding has gone too far and a line should be drawn between raunchy grinding and accept-able dancing. After an intense Student Coun-cil meeting with administrators and, as other forms of rebellious backlash presented them-selves, students and teachers are looking to pre-vent similar disasters in the future and create a policy that will allow every student to attend school dances as they please. There seems to be an obvious consen-sus that a clearly stated policy for future dances is needed and that there must be specific do’s and don’ts outlined to students before another dance can take place. However, there hasn’t been a direct move to create such a policy or begin a conversation about future dances. Wis-noski stated that she and the Student Council are “totally open to compromise.” Results of the comment section provided on a survey of 161 RFHS students also show that most students have suggestions for improving dances as well as making everyone feel more comfortable. It now comes time for the administrators of the school to make some decisions. The back and forth banter about grinding has gone on too long and a policy needs to be made before se-rious damage is done to the future success of dances. As long as the administration is seri-ous about also being open to compromise, and takes the students into account rather than the teachers, a policy between Student Council and the school should be easily made. After all, the dances are one event not about learning, grades, or tests; dances are just about the students.

Grinding stirs up controversy

-Finn Featherstone

Freshman Seminar is not a class many freshmen are fond of, they tend to think that it is not helping them and they think it is tak-ing away the time they use to succeed: Reach (Equivalent of study hall). Roaring Fork High School de-cided that freshmen need to learn about high school and how to get into college. While some ninth graders may need the extra boost, other students who already know about the material being taught are growing frustrated with the semi-nar meetings. Freshmen agree that Freshman Seminar should be a class that they can test out of like math or any other class, or, only to have the seminar last for the duration of SSR (SSR is a time to read during Reach). When a Freshman Seminar teacher was asked if these changes could be possibly made, the teacher re-sponded that “Reach is for more than homework. It is used as a time to

do other important things like when seniors meet with college reps.” An-other problem tied to Freshman Seminar is that it hurts other classmen too. For example, when a sophomore was asked if it affected his learn-ing, he reasoned by saying, “Yes, in fact I could not receive help from

a teacher because she was teaching Freshman Seminar.” As a result, he had to turn in a proj-ect late. But, the big question is, does Freshman Seminar actually help freshman? Now it may be a little early to look at the effects of Fresh-man Seminar, but when freshman were asked what they have learned in Freshman Semi-nar, they often respond with answers like this one, “Well, I feel like I haven't really learned anything worth remembering yet.” Although, there still might be hope for Freshman Semi-nar, as one freshman thought that he could benefit from the class if the lessons were more to the point and taught freshmen what they thought they should learn to succeed in high school and college. The outcome of Freshman Seminar will be due to whether the teachers and students can come to an understanding of

how it should be conducted.

Freshmen seminar: adjustments needed now

Suggestions for a New grinding Policy: Some students and teachers offered sug-gestion for future dances:

DJs play a more variety of music so stu-dents are encouraged to dance differently.

Wristbands given to students who do not wish to partake in grinding.

Widen the dancefloor and provide other activities for students at the dance.

If teachers refuse to chaperone school dances, then parents could be asked to volunteer.

In a survey done of 161 students, 14% admitted to being uncomfortable with grinding. Only 26% of these students who reported to being uncomfortable actually attended the homecoming dance.

7Rampage

November 2012

Photo by Maadison HandyFreshmen enjoy many elements of highschool such as the Potato Days parade. However, they are frustrted with freshmen seminar.

-Jessica Hardin

1. Gangnam Style has over 531 million views.

2. Foodborne E.coli illness has people dropping dai-ly.

3. Red rain drenched India on October 2nd.

4. Complaining has overtaken Baseball as the Na-tional Pastime.

5. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are headlining at Red Rocks.

6. Sharks are falling out of the sky.

7. Hurricane Sandy

-Ember Bell

The Rampage asked sixteen-year-old sophomore Brody Erickson some random questions. The way Brody was selected was also random. After getting a number from Random.org, a list of all of the students were numbered and he happened to be the lucky number. Here’s what he had to say:

What do you want everyone to know about you? “I love film”

On a scale of one to ten what are you? “A seven”

If you had to be a Disney princess who would you be? “Belle from Beauty and the Beast”

What would your tombstone say? “Rest In Peace... love Mom.”

8Rampage

November 2012

Sophomore Brody Erickson flashes a smile for the Rampage.

Getting to know the kids at RFHS How to Annoy people at school according to Bored.com:

Orangize a group of people to fall off their chairs at the same time.

Superglue quarters to the floor and count how many people try to pick them up.

Write fake love letters and slip them into random lockers.

Leave a Snickers bar in the toilet.

Carve your paper on the bath-room wall.

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