16 PAGESTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009 VOLUME 38, NUMBER 2

Dana Hills High School

THE PAPERDHHSPAPER.COM

Vandals Break Into School, Steal Money By Gillian SleeNews Editor

INSIDE TODAY

Children’s Book Hits the

Hollywood Big Screen:

Read the latest scoop,5

See the review,13

ENTERTAINMENT

Drawing large crowds at the midnight release, the highly anticipated fantasy film “Where the Wild Things Are” lives up to expectations.

NEWS

photos by Emily Roulund and Kevin Fuhrmann

While the culprits in-volved remain unknown, it is clear that the Dana Hills grounds were violated at 5:05 a.m. early Fri. Oct. 16.

School custodian Juan Carrillo arrived at 5:45 a.m. and noticed the desecration of the school with spray paint on the walkway into school and on the stairs.

However, inside the school, it was receptionist J.R. Longdon who pointed to the area below the Activities win-dow, wondering what was on the floor.

Longdon and Carrillo identified it as the shattered glass from the Activities win-dow and realized that the school had been broken into and most likely robbed.

The cash box inside the Activities office from the girl’s volleyball game on Thurs., Oct. 15 had been stolen. It contained

approximately $1,000. Activities Clerk Yolanda

Villarreal said, “They had op-portunities…they didn’t ran-sack.”

Villarreal went on to add that what likely restrained their destruction was the sound of the room alarm triggered by their movement.

The main building was not the only area to suffer dam-age. Science teacher Randy Hudson’s room, Portable 812, was also a target of the van-dals.

Delinquents entered room 812 two years ago and stole money from the sale of Dolphin Cards. It is suspected that the current criminals had the same motive as the previ-ous offenders.

The window of room 812 was broken and a crowbar used on the door. Blood was found on the floor on the classroom.

Hudson had been depos-iting money from Dolphin Card sales daily, leaving no money in his classroom overnight; therefore no money is thought

to have been taken from the room.

On the exterior of the high school the vandals tagged walls and grounds with phrases and symbols such as, the ab-breviation “SJC.” The cans of spray paint used in the break-in were found behind room 812.

A forensics team came to the scene and have collected evidence that they are currently analyzing.

No arrests have been made and the deputies are still investigating.

HOMECOMING REACHES DESIRED DESTINATION

Read Homecoming Makes Safe Landing. News w Page 2Browse Pictures from the Homecoming Dance. Centerspread w Pages 8-9

Football Overturns

Losing Record Against Rivals San Clemente:

Catch up on this season,

16

SPORTS

After 17 years of losing to San Clemente, the football team displayed a strong performance at the Homecoming game as they won 38-14.

Red Cross Tops 100 Pints at

Their Annual Blood Drive:

The blood drive raised almost double the amount of donations in comparison to last year, however, there were a few students who ex-perienced serious side effects.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009PAGE 2 THE PAPER

NEWSDANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

By Marilyn La JeunesseFeature Editor

BUY ONE, GET ONEFREE

For Dana Hills High School students only…If you buy one 8 oz. sized yogurt, we’ll

Treat you to one 8 oz. sized yogurt absolutelyFREE!

LOCATED IN OCEAN RANCH VILLAGE IIPresent coupon when ordering. One coupon per person. Not good

with any other offer.

Toppings not included. Expires 11/2/09

Educational Success Endures Despite District Wide IssuesAmidst a budget crisis, there is positive news concerning our district’s current affairs.

Homecoming Makes Safe Landing

By Salil DudaniEntertainment Editor

National Merit Finalists (from top left) Nikil Grama, Brian Tolles (from bottom left) Elizabeth Chaddock, and Lauren Shapiro qualified for this prestigious pro-gram by excelling on the PSAT in their junior year.

Homecoming is con-sidered by some to be the first major event of the school year. Homecoming includes Spirit Week, Top 15 and Top 6 dancers, pep rally, the football game, half-time show, and last but not least, the dance. ASU students are the masterminds behind planning and creating Homecoming.

The Homecoming foot-ball game was held on Fri. Oct. 23. The Dolphins faced their ri-vals, the San Clemente Tritons. The bleachers were packed.

Dana won 38-14, our first win against San Clemente since 1991.

Coach Brent Melbon stated, “[It was] a really great win. We wanted it for the school and for the community.”

During half-time, the students performed their dance routines in front of their well-decorated sets. ASU began the show by continuing their jour-ney in search of the Homecom-ing Queen. The skit progressed throughout the show.

The freshmen were the first to perform. Following the Destination Homecoming theme, they represented the first mode of transportation– boats. When their ship had sailed, the sophomores blasted off with their rocket ship set. Soon af-ter, the juniors soared with the theme of airplanes.

Finishing the show, the seniors, dressed as hard-core bikers, unleashed smoke and used creative props to illustrate their motorcycle theme. Their set was disrupted half way through due to major technical difficulties.

Following the comple-tion of the senior dance, the Homecoming Court was intro-duced to the crowd by former teacher Merritt Grimm.

The princes were Anton Arce, Ryan Lubock, Dylan Mc-Daniel, Matthew Myers, Kyle Norman, and Jesse Sharps.

The princesses were Ni-cole Bush, Kimberly Conner, Shea Gomez, Jennifer Kupfer-man, Delaney Lee, and Aly Trachtman.

Matt Myers was de-clared Homecoming King. Shea Gomez was then crowned Homecoming Queen. When asked how she felt about being

Homecoming Queen, Gomez exclaimed that she “still can’t believe it!”

The Homecoming dance was held on Sat. Oct. 24 in the gym. The DJs from N-Ef-fects blasted fast-paced music mixes from atop a platform in the middle of the gym floor. Students surrounded the stage and danced nonstop throughout the night.

Principal Dr. Rob Nye said, “Homecoming went great. The kids were really well behaved.”

Senior Michael Brock-ington described Homecom-ing as super. He then went on to quote Jay-Z, saying, “The champagne’s always cold, the music’s always good and all the pretty girls stop up in the hood.”

Senior David Gonzalez thought that Homecoming went well, except for the DJ play-ing the Hokey Pokey mid-way through the dance. He believed that it was a bit childish.

The day before the Homecoming dance, ASU held the annual pep rally during tu-torial. Senior Seena Foroutan and junior Christine Ferry be-gan the pep rally with corny jokes and the traditional “how

do you feel” battle between the classes.

The pep rally included performances by the marching band, color guard, pep squad, SOCSA dance, and the regular dance team. The Top 6 boys and the Top 6 girls battled it out in a head-to-head game involving football and piggy-back rides.

The pep rally addition-ally had the customary soccer game between a few select stu-dents and teachers. The over-sized soccer ball used this year was considerably smaller than one used in previous years. The students dominated the teach-ers.

The pep rally concluded with a skit from ASU, in which ASU was trying to save the Homecoming Queen from the evil travel agents.

ASU also held Spirit Week to promote school in-volvement by hosting a variety of dress up days and lunchtime activities. Sensations including tye-dye day, color day, whiteout Wed., and tanktop Thurs.

The Top 15 and Top 6 dancers helped students get into the mood in the weeks pre-ceding Homecoming.

Overall, Destination Homecoming was a success.

The Tues. Oct. 15 regu-lar meeting of the Board of Trustees included a flurry of impressive statistics about Capistrano Unified School Dis-trict’s schools.

A summary of the 2009 Annual Progress Report on the STAR (Standardized Testing and Reporting) tests taken this spring was presented, reveal-ing improved results across the board.

The achievement tar-get—a minimum Academic Performance Index (API) score of 800—was met by 32 of the 37 elementary schools, 11 of

the 12 middle schools, and all six of the regular high schools.

Dana Hills achieved a score of 839, a 14-point im-provement from last year. Plac-ing Dana in third place among the six high schools, the highest being Tesoro’s 855.

In addition, the achieve-ment gap between white and Hispanic students has shortened as the overall scores increase.

But the feat that evoked the most enthusiastic reaction was that, for the first time, CUSD’s scores surpassed those of Saddleback Valley Unified School District.

Success was partly at-tributed to the instatement of a weekly late start, which pro-vides teachers time for collabo-ration.

At the Oct. 15 meeting,

ASU President Jeremy Lin re-ported on the state of Dana Hills to the Board and Interim Super-intendent Roberta Mahler.

He earned “ooh!”s and “aah!”s from the audience while enumerating our school’s recent achievements—placing in the top five percent of US News’ national rankings for the third year in a row, receiv-ing the only grade of A in the OC Register’s evaluations of high schools in the county, and above all being honored as the ninth best school for athletics in the nation by ESPN.

“I am proud to say that the goals [made by ASU at the beginning of the year] are being met at the very core of our school. The motivation and drive our students display toward perfection is phenom-

enal,” Lin said.More grim on the meet-

ing’s agenda were the financial cutback proposals for the 2010-2011 school year, aiming to save $25.1 million.

Superintendent Mahler prefaced the discussion by stat-ing, “Nothing has changed fi-nancially since...last June. [At that time] I was instructed to try and find some extra money, and I couldn’t find any extra money…there have been no positive changes.”

Budget reduction op-tions whose potential savings have been calculated include eliminating first grade class size reduction and allowing the average class size to rise to 30.5 ($1,200,000), cutting the IB programs at San Clemente and Capistrano Valley High Schools

($140,000), cutting Block Music at elementary schools ($1,000,000), eliminating resi-dent substitutes at high schools ($103,000), cutting regular education summer school for grades K-8 ($250,000), consid-ering closing two elementary schools ($700,000), delaying the adoption of new textbooks ($500,000), cutting all athlet-ics programs ($1,302,000), and eliminating the equivalent of 6.5 full-time counselors ($1,664,000).

Some of the other ideas under consideration are creat-ing summer school “enrich-ment programs” that would coin a profit and offering more experienced teachers a “golden handshake” bonus as an incen-tive to retire.

The consensus was that

many of the suggested areas are too essential for the chop-ping block. Trustee Larry Christensen flatly stated that he would not vote for a single one of the aforementioned items at this point.

Nonetheless, dissatisfac-tion with the Board continues among the parents, whose new-est complaint is that the Trust-ees are wasting money on their legal counsel.

On Sat. Oct. 24, the Trustees announced that they will retain an attorney in light of the County Committee’s ap-proval of the special June bal-lot that will cost the district ap-porximately $500,000.

It is still unclear whether the Board will actually move to take legal action.

photo by Emily Roulund

By Stephanie ChengNews Editor

Run for Megan Repeats Success

SOCSA Rocks Its Way to $2,000By Sara GoldCopy Editor

SOCSA presented a guest concert on Sat. Oct. 10 to benefit the construction of the Dana Hills Performing Arts Center. The concert featured alumni band thatwasthen and student band Ugly Paint; ap-proximately $2,000 was raised to support the theater.

Ugly Paint opened the performance with a 20-minute set consisting of eight songs. The band, which has been to-gether for five years, consists of six members: lead singer Adam Cease, guitarists Jacob Sloan and Hayden Kalinov, drummer Matt Swedo, bassist Jake Ber-nstein, and keyboardist Jaekun Chung.

Ugly Paint’s set included both popular songs and original compositions.

“When we make our own songs, we all write a part, and then we put it all together,” explained Bernstein, a Dana Hills freshman.

Sloan, also a freshman at Dana, said, “It was an honor to play with SOCSA alumni. Whenever we’re on stage, we’re doing what we love to do, and we want to be there longer.”

After Ugly Paint’s set, the audience was entertained by thatwasthen, a rock band consisting of five members: lead singer Brent Sinay, gui-tarist Nick Papageorge, drum-mer Chris Bridge, bassist Ben Dacks, and guitarist/pianist Na-than Longdon.

The current band has been together for about a year and a half and consists solely

of Dana Hills alumni. Thatw-asthen composes its original songs through group collabo-ration, and the band members thoroughly enjoy working to-gether.

Thatwasthen played a total of 16 songs; the final three pieces showcased guest musi-cians.

SOCSA Artistic Director Ray Woods was invited to play a piano solo during “57 Miles”; “The Long Count” featured vi-olinist Katie Perkins and cellist Meagan Vigus, both seniors; and thatwasthen’s concluding song “Happiness is a Warm Gun” included background vo-cals by senior Jane Papageorge, SOCSA dance teacher Brittany Longdon, and alumna Kacey Wilson.

“Singing with the alum-ni band was mostly fun because I got to perform with my older brother, Nick [Papageorge], who I miss,” reflected J. Papa-

george.“It means a lot to me to

be able to celebrate live music, and I encourage others to do the same,” she stated.

Said Longdon, “At the concert, we were able to find ourselves when we were in high school on that stage. The comfort level was unparalleled by anything else.”

From lighting the stage to monitoring the sound, the performance was carried out entirely by alumni.

“It was great bringing everybody back here because we all grew up learning these places,” Longdon commented.

“When we got out on stage, it felt right because here was where we learned how to perform. It was very empower-ing being in a place where we could straight-up be ourselves and know that, no matter what, we had our high and low times on this stage,” he reflected.

On Oct. 11, the third an-nual Run 4 Megan was held at Dana Hills. The 5k run/walk commemorated the life of Megan Myers, a former cross country runner and student at Dana.

The event was hosted by the Megan Myers Fund, an organization dedicated to rais-ing awareness about sudden cardiac arrest, donating AEDs (automatic external defibrilla-tors), and granting scholarships to cross country runners.

Over $12,000 were raised, all of which will benefit this organization.

Four hundred fifty people participated in the run, many of whom are members of Dana’s cross-country teams.

Most of them were on the girls’ team of which Megan had been a member.

Megan’s mother Gail Myers commented, “It was not only a great way to get some exercise, but it was like a social event too!”

Junior Ellen Lomonico of the girls’ cross-country team, noted, “There were more peo-ple than we expected.”

Sophomore Luke Wal-lace, a member of the boy’s cross country team, added, “It was really nice to see people who aren’t on cross country and people who didn’t person-ally know Megan show up to participate in the event and give their support.”

The run had been slated to take place at the Laguna Niguel Regional Park, where Megan’s Grove is located. However, due to construction in the park, the run was held at

Dana Hills instead and looped through a “scenic” route of the high school.

At the beginning of the race, the Myers family spoke to the participants.

Junior cross country run-ner Kristen Shutt said, “They definitely made everyone feel happy about the event.” Lo-monico added, “It really was a very loving atmosphere.”

Shutt described, “When I woke up that morning, I was really excited to run. I went two years ago, and coming back again, it was great to see how many people showed up and how everything was continu-ing on.”

Junior cross country ath-lete Annie Li commented, “It was nice knowing that Megan’s spirit is still with us to help us do our best,” a sentiment felt by all at the race and all those who knew Megan.

Crooning for a cause, Hayden Kalinov, Adam Cease, and Jacob Sloan serenade the crowd at the SOCSA Benefit Con-cert.

photo by Emily Roulund

NEWSTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009THE PAPER

DANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOLPAGE 3

photo by Micaela Campagna

Bursting through the banner, the participants of the third annual 5k Run 4 Megan to cel-ebrate the life of the late Megan Myers and raise awareness of sudden cardiac arrest.

NEWSTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009PAGE 4

DANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOLTHE PAPER

New Staff Greeted with Open ArmsBy Tyler HartungNews Editor

This year, twelve new teachers were added to the staff. All bring some fresh talent and skills to an already fantastic faculty.

Danielle McLennan is in her third teaching year, and is a Biology and Coordinated Science II teacher.

This science enthusiast was previously a third grade teacher in Ladera Ranch.

When asked what she enjoys the most about teaching, McLennan said, “Students make everything fun and exciting.”

Another new addition, Jennifer Wood, is a Dana Hills alumna. Joining the English department, she teaches two periods of the Read 180 class.

Wood is an avid exerciser who also enjoys snowboarding.

“I really enjoy reading and writing in class, especially with my students,” Wood explained.

Also in the English department is Theresa Moos, teaching English III.

Moos, who has been teaching since 1994, previously taught at San Clemente High School and Tesoro High School, joined our staff because Dana Hills needed to fill a part-time position. Moos said, “There are a lot of good kids here. I’m enjoying it.”

Danielle Wallace, a Government and World History teacher, is entering her first year of teaching.

She was previously a

teacher at Rancho Buena Vista and San Marcos High Schools.

“I’m really excited to be here!” Wallace said. “I love interacting with my students.”

Another new history teacher is Michael Brooks, who teaches World History as well as United States History.

Brooks says that he “loves the energy that kids bring to the classroom.”

Michael Hatcher is a new addition to the science department, teaching chemistry.

Hatcher applied for the job after being impressed with the city and the school.

“You never know what’s going to happen. Teenagers are funny. They keep me going,” Hatcher commented with a laugh.

Jennifer Ralph already has eight years of teaching under her belt. Ralph, another former Dana Hills student, teaches Spanish I and II.

“I wasn’t a very good student in high school, so I try to help all of the students who are like I was,” Ralph said with a smile.

Nilsa Waterbury has been teaching Special Education since 2000 and is bringing her skills to Dana.

“I really enjoy seeing the progress in students and making a difference in their lives,” Waterbury said about her passion for teaching.

Joining the math department, teaching Algebra IA and IB, is Michael Rigby.

Rigby commented, “It’s a great school with great staff.”

This is Rigby’s

ninth year teaching, and he commented that he “enjoys instilling confidence in struggling students.”

Patricia Leavitt has the most experience out of all the new teachers.

Leavitt is Dana Point resident who teaches Special Education, specifically English. She has previously taught at

San Clemente High School asnd Vista del Mar Middle School.

Leavitt added, “This is a great school to be at. I’m proud to be a Dolphin!”

Joining the staff as the resident-sub is Dana Hills alumni Mick Vollmer. Vollmer was a fourth-grade teacher in Ladera Ranch who received

a Reduction in Force (RIF) notice.

As a resident-sub, Vollmer is at school everyday and is placed where needed when a teacher is absent.

“I enjoy the interaction with the kids,” Vollmer added. “It makes it fun.”

Vollmer is a self-proclaimed surfer and Dodgers

fan who hopes to become a baseball coach here in the near future.

Carmen Escribo-Newlove, the new bilingual who also received a RIF notice, is excited at the prospect of being at Dana Hills.

“My daughter graduated from here in 2005, so it’s good to be back here,” she said.

photo by Emily Roulund

Excited at the prospect of a new year, teachers Michael Rigby, Danielle McLennan, Carmen Escribo-Newlove, Jennifer Ralph, Michael Brooks, Danielle Wallace, Theresa Moos, Nilsa Waterbury, and Mick Vollmer pose together. (Not pictured: Jennifer Wood, Patricia Leavitt, and Mike Hatcher.)

NEWSTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009THE PAPER PAGE 5

DANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

Blood Drive Saves Lives By Devin ValencianoSports Editor

The Red Cross hosted a blood drive in the gym on Tues., Oct 6. The event proved immensely fruitful, yielding over 108 pints of blood donated by altruistic Dolphins.

Red Cross co-president senior Lani Vaill commented, “We only got 57 pints for our drive last year, so we were really satisfied with topping 100.”

Second co-president senior Carla Reyes added, “By donating 108 pints of blood, Dana students may have potentially saved the lives of over 300 people. I would call that a success.”

Although the blood drive was successful, it was not without incident.

Eight students fainted due to loss of blood, but

nobody had as detrimental a response to the procedure as senior Stephanie Wright.

Wright recalled, “About 30 minutes after donating blood, the entire right side of my body started to twitch. I felt fine otherwise, so I attempted to ignore it. People were calling me ‘twitchy.’”

Much to her surprise, the uncontrollable twitching did not subside with time. At the urging of her fellow students, she saw the school nurse and was promptly sent to the hospital.

Wright continued, “They scanned my brain, thinking I had some sort of seizure, but there was nothing there. They simply called it an ‘adverse reaction’ to donating blood, and it lasted about four hours.”

However, most donors were not so dramatically affected by the loss of blood.

Some of the larger boys at the school were even given

One of the many students to give blood, junior Jana Dawson smiles for the camera at the Red Cross Blood Drive.

photo by Emily Roulund

By Jake RosenEntertainment Editor

Sierra Nevadas: Backdrop for Science Research Study

A group of 36 students, three teachers, and five parent chaperones from Dana Hills went on an expedition to the eastern Sierra Nevada Moun-tains for an academic field study.

The group left after school on Wed. Oct. 14 and returned the evening of Mon. Oct. 19.

The field study, led by science teachers Mike Sullivan, Dolores Dang, and Kristine Clarke, served as a learning ex-perience for students enrolled in Science Research. The team went to the Owens Valley, Ala-bama Hills, and White Moun-tains.

“Students learned about geology, natural history, plants and animals, and meteorology,” commented Sullivan.

In order to effectively learn about this variety of subjects, the group went on a seven-mile hike through the snow to the Hilton Lakes and explored the Bristlecone Pine Forest, home to some of the world’s oldest trees.

The group visited a lo-cal hot springs. “Because it is under so much pressure, the hot springs can reach tempera-tures of up to 451 degress Fahr-enheit,” stated junior Austin DeVone. “Twenty-six people have died there in the past.”

Sophomore Taylor

McMillen stated, “We hiked through the four foot deep snow on the way to the Hilton Lakes, but we had to turn back because it got too dark.”

On an average day, some students woke up at sunrise and ate a hearty meal of “Sierra sammies,” an English muffin with eggs, cheese, and ham, or even French toast. Many decided to bear the frigid water and take a swim in the nearby creek.

“That creek cleansed me of my sins,” remarked junior David Alonso.

The rest of the day was spent researching the surround-ing environment.

“[The local area] was neat because everything was changing color constantly while we were there. It was fantastic,” noted Sullivan.

At the end of the day,

each person gathered around the campfire and rested in his or her own sleeping bag.

DeVone commented, “Sully didn’t want us to have tents, so we just laid in our sleeping bags under the stars.” Some were even lucky enough to witness a meteor shower one night.

“My favorite part of the trip besides going on adven-tures and exploring was watch-ing Mr. Gary [Dang’s husband] and Sully bust out their acous-tic guitars and rock out,” said Alonso.

Sullivan added, “Al-though the trip was created for academic purposes and kids learn a year’s worth of material in five days, kids learn most about themselves. They gain confidence in themselves, and make lifelong friends in the process.”

photo courtesy of Austin DeVone

Trekking through the snow, the group nears Hilton Lakes.

the opportunity to donate extra.

Vaill said, “We call them ‘Superdonors.’ These guys are big enough to donate two pints at once, and their generosity really helped that pint count reach 108.”

“About 30 minutes after donating blood, the entire right side of my body started to twitch. I felt fine otherwise, so I attempted to ignore it. People were calling me ‘twitchy.’” -Stephanie Wright

Red Cross hasn’t reached the end of its yearly itinerary. Because of the success of the drive, Vaill and Reyes are considering a second endeavor, although it may not take place at Dana.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009PAGE 6 THE PAPER

FEATUREDANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

“Old guys with beards that aren’t Santa. ”

- Anais Ziae-Mohseni, 12

“Old people/parents on Facebook... self explanatory.”- Dilan Shah, 11

Survey: What gives you the creeps? Why?

“Male belly danc-ers. They should not be able to move that way.” - Daniela Gonzalez, 10

“When people know more about you than

you know about your-self.”

- Cole Tompson, 12

photos by Emily Roulund and Emily Cullen

“People with disgust-ingly log fingernails.”- Krista Lorsheider, 9

“People who stare directly into your eyes when they talk, because it feels like they’re trying to steal your soul.”- Zach Perea, 11

J unior Alexander Gagnet, otherwise known as Xan-der, has traveled halfway

around the world this summer from Sydney, Australia in hopes to take advantage of America’s valuable education system. In the future, he plans on attending an American college, preferably in California. Gag-net now resides with his dad and half brother and sister.

Q:How is life different in Australia?

A:We spend a lot of time outside. Especially at

the beach; I practically lived at the beach. I would always bring sand into my house. I obviously miss that. The qual-ity of the beaches in Australia is a lot better than here. The sand is beautiful in Australia. The beach is really clean and clear there and there’s always a swell. In Australia I lived in a city a lot like here. It was a suburban area. But there’s no In-N-Out in Australia, so it’s great having one here. Oh, and the toilets actually flush the other way.

Q:In what ways is Dana different from your past

schools?

A:Kids here, especially at this school, really want

to do well and succeed. More than in Australia. It’s defi-nately a good thing though, it’s motivated me to really try and do well. People are also really friendly here, which I love.

Q:So have you been raided by girls because of your

accent?

A:[Laughing] Well people definitely listen to me

more. Sometimes girls give me more attention because of it. To me it’s like all of you have accents. The “r”s are especial-

brother in Sydney. I’m really close to my younger brother. He’s three and super intelli-gent for his age and we both miss eachother a lot. Both my grandma and uncle live nearby, which is good because I’m close to them. I plan to visit back to Sydney this Christma and at least twice a year

Q: Tell me about your Cross Country experience here

at Dana.

A:Well I joined during the summer training and all

of the people were really nice to me, all the coaches as well. I trained alone in Australia, so I enjoy running with a team here. My school was small, so we didn’t have a team, but I rep-resented my school in county races.

Posing with his new found friends on the Cross Country team, Xander (center) enjoys life in America. He especially enjoys In-N-Out and the friendliness of the students here at Dana.

By Annie BubinskiSports Editor

Xander Gagnet, Cross Country Runner, Moves from Australia

ly different. Everything is just said completely differently.

Q:Why else did you decide to move here?

A:Education was the main reason I moved, but

there were many reasons. I’ve never really lived with my dad before and I had really missed him. I also really like America too. I’ve visited here almost twenty times. I’m an American citizen that was raised in Aus-tralia. Both of my parents are American citizens too.

Q:Have you moved before and what was it like

leaving all of your friends?

A:This is the first time I’ve moved. I still contact

my friends through internet connections and stuff. People in Australia use Facebook too.

It was definitely hard, but that’s how it is.

Q:How was your first day of school?

A:It was pretty scary. It was all so foreign to me.

All of the people- there were so many people. In Australia I was used to the type of people there, but here everybody’s so different. But it’s interesting.The school system is complete-ly different from Australia. Classes are taken in a whole other way. It was like being in another world, I was just lost.

Q:What is it like being away from your family

in Australia?

A:Most of my family lives in America, so I’m actu-

ally closer to them here other than my mom and younger

By Aralyn BeaumontSports Editor

Recommendation Letters Swamp Faculty

photo by Emily Cullen

Fall is that time of year when crisp weather and back to school shopping

sprees are abundant. Most seniors, however,

skip right over those luxuries and head straight for their col-lege applications.

While those two words sound terrifying to many stu-dents, teachers are feeling the pain too.

Letters of recommen-dation are an enormous part of a student’s application, and teachers are expected to write them.

This writing process is not short and simple. Teachers understand that letters of rec-ommendation give admission officers a personal yet profes-sional perspective on students. This personal feel cannot be found in the common applica-tions that each student mechni-cally fills out.

Yet, AP Government and Politics teacher Martha McIn-

tosh believes that the letters of recommendation are actually created by the students them-selves. “They have their own qualities in them already, you [the teacher] sell them,” McIn-tosh stated.

Therefore, teachers must recall memories and impres-sions of the student they are writing about. This process takes hours per student, and teachers are not given any kind of overtime pay or bonus. Teahcers also have to keep up with teaching and grading work, which is also time con-suming.

“A lot of people assume it’s a part of teaching,” math teacher Marc Degen said.

Yet, teachers embrace the task and put their all into the writing. English teacher Connie Pettijohn regards it as a teacher’s most valuable work, and Pettijohn’s students hold her letters of recommendation in high value.

Academic superstar Lauren Shapiro went to Pet-tijohn for her letters of recom-mendation.

“I knew she would write

me a really good letter and she likes me,” Shapiro stated. “It’s really important that they [teachers] like you.”

When Pettijohn sits down to write her students’ let-ters, including Shapiro’s, she is going to ask herself, “How can I humanize this student? What truth can I bring out to make the student more than just a number?”

For other teachers, like those who have had their stu-dents for multiple years, may not even need to ask them-selves any questions at all. For this reason, Editor in Chief of The Mast, Anais Ziae-Mohse-ni, went to Mast advisor Tim Sampson for her letters of rec-ommendation.

“We’ve become ‘BFFs’ from all the time we’ve spend in [room] 708 together,” Ziae-Mohseni stated, “so he’ll easily write me a fantastic letter.”

AP American History teacher Mike Hulse agrees with the fact that the students who stand out make the letters eas-ier to write.

“If the student did not stand out in my class then the

letter tends to be very formu-laic,” Hulse said.

Hulse also brought up a disillusioning aspect of letters of recommendation-honesty.

Teachers make it clear to students that they write the truth, especially when asked about the student’s integrity and behavior.

“Some students don’t come back for letters when you tell them that,” Degen said.

Other times when ideal-ism prevails, teachers have to turn the students away them-selves.

“You have to give a student a reality check when they got a C in Calculus and they’re applying to Ivy League schools,” Degen stated.

It is important for stu-dents to be honest with them-selves when applying to col-leges.

Seniors, ask yourself: are you asking the right teachers for letters of recommendation? Are you giving them enough time to write? Are you even ap-plying to the right schools?

And juniors, I hope you’re taking notes.

FEATURETHURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009THE PAPER PAGE 7

DANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

Freshman Taylor Carol was a featured perform-er in the Make-A-Wish

Foundation’s “Broadway Wishes” event on Sat. Oct. 24.

He had the opportunity to sing at the Orange County Performing Arts Center with some famous Broadway per-formers, including Eden Espi-nosa (“Wicked”), Laura Bell Bundy (“Legally Blonde: The Musical”), and Laura Osnes (“Grease”).

All proceeds from the performance were raised to help children with life-threat-ening diseases.

Random Kid Spotlight: Taylor CarolRaised $4.5 Million for Charities that Benefit Pediatric Cancer

donor were first united at the Beckstrand Cancer Founda-tion’s Diamond and Pearl Ball in 2008, and the donor recently traveled to America with his family to visit the Carols for two weeks.

Since the bone marrow transplant, Carol has made a full recovery. In addition to his doctor’s skill and donor’s gen-erosity, he attributes this mir-acle to “the love and prayers from my community.”

Consequently, Carol is fervently dedicated to giving back to the community. He

has become the spokesperson for 12 different charities; over-all he has raised $4.5 million to benefit pediatric cancer.

With the help of com-poser Mateo Messina, most known for working on the soundtrack for the film “Juno,” Carol wrote an original song, titled “True Courage.”

Carol commented, “I think ‘True Courage’ for me is just continuing to fight on and never giving up despite insur-mountable odds. I also really wanted to thank all the amaz-ing doctors, nurses, friends,

A one in ten million chance of a successful bone marrow match, Taylor Carol (second from left) meets his German donor.

photo courtesy of Taylor Carol

family, and even strangers that just showed me so much love. It was amazing how strong a community can become.”

Carol performed “True Courage” for an audience of 3,000 at the Seattle Benaroya Symphony Hall in November, 2007.

Last summer, he sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Sea Hawk Stadium in front of over 30,000 spectators.

“I love that feeling when I’m on stage,” he exclaimed. “Part of you wants to throw up; part of you never wants

Carol was diagnosed with terminal lymphoblastic leukemia at the age of 11.

Since this specific can-cer cannot be cured with che-motherapy, Carol underwent a bone marrow transplant at the Seattle Children’s Hospital ap-proximately two years ago.

An anonymous donor from Germany donated the bone marrow necessary for Carol’s infusion.

Carol and the German

to leave. It’s the best feeling in the world.”

Carol was first intro-duced to performing arts when he participated in an elementa-ry school play, and he has loved singing ever since. He began studying music around age 11; Carol currently takes vocal lessons from Seth Riggs, who has also taught David Archu-leta, Barbra Streisand, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson, among others.

Carol is excited to par-ticipate in both the SOCSA and HMO academies. He is espe-

Lighting up the stage at the Orance County Performing Arts Center, Taylor Carol (right) impresses the crowd with his singing voice.

cially fascinated by the scien-tific field of oncology, the study of cancer.

Despite having to over-come tremendous obstacles, Carol has kept a cheerful at-titude and positive outlook on life.

“Sometimes in life, we stray away from what we need to be thankful for,” said Carol.

“Every challenge that we face, every mountain that we have to climb, happens for a purpose for our own personal growth. Every time you get knocked down, stand back up and know that you’re going to make it through it. Life’s an amazing journey.”

As the title of his song

suggests, Carol undoubtedly exemplifies “true courage.”

- Sara Gold

photo courtesy of Taylor Carol

“Every time you get knocked down, stand back up and know that you’re going to make it through it. Life’s an amazing jour-ney.”

- Taylor Carol

“Sometimes in life, we stray away from what we need to be thankful for.”

- Taylor Carol

CENTERSPREADTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009THE PAPER PAGE 8-9

DESTINATION HOMECOMINGDANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

CENTERSPREADTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009THE PAPER PAGE 8-9

DESTINATION HOMECOMINGDANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009PAGE 10 THE PAPER

OPINIONDANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

THE PAPER33333 Golden Lantern, Dana Point CA 92629

Rm. 708 (949) 240-9497 E-mail: dhhspaper@gmail.comWebsite: www.dhhspaper.com

Editor-in-Chief Pia BhathalNews Editors Gillian Slee

Stephanie ChengEmily Cullen

Tyler HartungFeature Editors Marilyn La Jeunesse

Lexi CotcampOpinion Editors Matt McCreadie

Stephanie WrightCenterspread Editor Andrew EnglishEntertainment Editors Salil Dudani

Jake RosenSports Editors Annie Bubinski Aralyn Beaumont Devin ValencianoCopy Editor Sara GoldPhoto Editors Emily Roulund

Emily CullenAdvertising Sales Lexi Cotcamp Subscriptions Jake Rosen Tyler HartungComputer Technician Ben LimWebsite Manager Ben LimAdviser Paige Gilbert

Writers: Aralyn Beaumont, Pia Bhathal, Annie Bubinski, Elizabeth Chaddock, Stephanie Cheng, Lexi Cotcamp, Emily Cullen, Salil Dudani, Andrew English, Sara Gold, Tyler Hartung, Marilyn La Jeunesse, Ben Lim, Matt Mc-Creadie, Jake Rosen, Gina Scott, Gillian Slee, Devin Va-lenciano, Aly Vander Hayden, Claudia Varney, Stephanie WrightPhotographers: Emily Roulund, Emily CullenCartoonist: Alex HuntingtonDistribution: Mrs. Prescott-Gilbert’s 4th PeriodLifesavers: Kevin Furhmann, Konnie Krislock The Paper is published monthly throughout the year by Dana Hills High School newspaper students. Com-ments and editorial opinions expressed in The Paper are those of the staff and do not represent the position of Dana Hills High School, its administration, student gov-ernment, or that of the Capistrano Unified School District. Advertisements are not endorsed by The Paper.

It is the opinion of The Paper that...Football Shines

By Aly Vander HaydenStaff Writer

Athletic Director Mark Reid commented be-fore the homecoming kick-off, “It should be an exciting game. We haven’t beaten San Clemente in 17 years and we’re hoping to change that to-night.”

And we did. For the first time since 1991, our football

team triumphed over league rival San Clemente in an electrifying, yet startlingly straightforward, vic-tory. The game, played under the lights of Spencer Stadium on the eve of the traditional Homecoming match-up, excited spectators, players, and coaches alike.

What makes the victory such an impressive feat is not only the time passed since we last beat San Clemente, but also how we won. The Dolphins played with a strength and heart we’ve never seen represented on the football field before.

The success of the season thus far is evidence of the changes made to coaching staff and strategy as well. Since Brent Melbon took over the title of head coach, he has fully accepted all responsibil-ity and brought the team farther than anyone had expected in only two years.

The heightened tempo players are experienc-ing has had a resounding effect on the rest of the student body.

Everyone from the most dedicated AP and Honor students, who usually spend Friday nights studying, to talented SOCSA performers, who are always busy rehearsing, and everyone in between have been taking time out to support the team. The stands on Homecoming night were filled with enthusiastic spectators who actually involved themselves in each play and participated in every cheer.

So keep it up Football, and we’ll keep show-ing spirit.

Federal Grant Sparks Skepticism

Reading for Fun: A Novel ConceptBy Gina ScottStaff Writer

With clubs, schoolwork, sports, instrument playing, and a plethora of

other activities, high school students are constantly busy with something. Continually working toward that (insert the college of your choice here) acceptance letter, there’s limited time for much else.

I know that whenever I have some of that elusive free time I crave so frequently, I opt for hanging out with friends, attending Friday night football games, or watching “House.” It doesn’t sound all that bad, does it? No, I guess not, but I see one major thing missing from the foregoing list: reading.

I love reading. Reading is fun, most of the time at least. I mean, it’s not like I don’t read at all. I do read. I read my Biology textbook and all about United States History, and I read incessantly for English class. But reading for fun-that’s something I haven’t done in the longest time. When is the last time you read for pure enjoyment?

Okay, maybe you read the Twilight series or you stayed up all night in order to devour the final install-ment of the Harry Potter phenomenon, but that doesn’t really count. I don’t mean to offend anyone, having read and enjoyed these books myself, but they are junk reading. They don’t make you think.

A good book should make you think- it should challenge you. When you are done reading, you should be a better person for it. But in your free time, you usually don’t want to be forced to think; you want to sit there mindlessly in front of the television and just

chill, or at least that’s how I feel after a grueling week of school.

There are so many challenging, interesting books that I have never read and desperately desire to, but there just aren’t enough hours in the day.

Junior Stephanie Sponagle shares my sentiment, “I’m so much busier now than I ever used to be. I re-ally like to read, but it just isn’t a priority.”

Others, like sophomore Glenna McIntosh, have been turned off to reading altogether. “I hate reading with a passion. The only books I get to read are for school, and I don’t enjoy those,” she stated.

It is true that required reading for school is far from enjoyable, often due to the fact that it is assigned to us with the intention of being analyzed and thor-oughly dissected.

Some of the books we read in school might have even been, dare I say, fun if not for the constant worry over whether this particular passage will be referenced on the test or over why this particular author chose to say “vomit” as opposed to “upchuck” or “barf.”

Personally I would select “blow chunks,” be-cause this diction gives a much more disgusting, vivid image. But that’s not the point. The point is that read-ing is a great thing. It not only serves to enlarge your vocabulary, but it transports you to another place. It’s like having a dream when you’re awake.

It’s not fair that we should have to miss out on the marvelous literature that’s out there because we are too busy to slow down and curl up with a book.

I know you want to- you really do; you just can’t. You’ve got the SATs coming up, and your AP Biology class is incredibly time consuming. That’s fine. You don’t have to, but I plan to. And I know it will be worth every second.

Should California apply for a $4.25 billion grant under President Obama’s

“Race to the Top” program for schools that could po-tentially effect the jobs of teachers and principals if they do not make growth in student achievement?

As a state we are consumed by an outrageous deficit that a grant would significantly alleviate, yet we must be cautious not to accept this money under any false pretences.

There are many guidelines that a state is required to follow in order to qualify for this grant. Some of these regulations require states to enforce laws that would give permission to release teachers and princi-pals from their positions if students do not make ad-equate growth in learning based on test scores. The problem is that in California, we do not have a testing system that is designed after a growth model.

California determines student proficiency based on scaled scores converted into aptitude and then to levels of learning. The testing scale goes from far be-low basic, below basic, basic, proficient, and advanced. These scales are used on the California Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program.

These tests measure proficiency based on grade level standards and do not represent an accurate growth model. Currently, California has not implemated norm-referenced tests to measure student growth and learn-ing. Therefore California does not correctly report a student’s growth over time or allow for comparative testing results.

California will be able to apply for this grant eas-ily, but if this happens, we will soon be required to implement guidelines that could have dire repercus-sions.

“Are teachers to be held responsible for students whose attendance is poor or refuse to do the work as-signed?” questioned Latin and English teacher Linda Yeargin.

Yeargin’s inquiry brings up another dilemma of the grant’s guidelines. As a student, I know that many

of my fellow pupils do not try to complete the STAR test at their full potential. A student’s sheer laziness should not be a reflection of a teacher’s work ethic.

If California receives this “Race to the Top” grant, we will be forced to revamp our entire test-ing system if California wants to allow teachers and principals to be evaluated by fair student reports. The California Department of Education, however, wants to continue the use of STAR testing results.

“I think to hold teachers accountable at this point in time would not be appropriate,” said Principal Dr. Robert Nye. “There are a lot of issues to be worked out before we tie anything to the value of STAR scores.”

If we do not change our testing system after re-cieving this grant, teachers and principals will be let go. California will not make the required amount of growth in a performance-based salary structure as out-lined in this grant. We should either switch to a new testing program or not apply for the grant. We do not want to unduly fire teachers and principals by holding them accountable for inaccurate tesing scores because of a flawed assesment.

“I like the idea of rewards based on [a teacher’s] worth,” stated senior Lauren Shapiro, “but I think [the California Department of Education] will have diffi-culty accurately evaluating merit.”

Nye believes that teachers should hold meetings to set standards for their own department in which they can assess what concepts are or are not working. Nye also thinks that the arrangement of administrators going into classrooms and observing teachers in their environment is a more appropriate way of evaluating them on their performance over the year.

“It is a better method of evaluation, rather than a snapshot in time,” stated Nye.

Yes, in this economy, $4.25 billion sounds great for education, but we must look closely at what these prerequisites for the grant entail as well as what the California Department of Education plans to do if we win this grant.

Teachers and principals need to be held to a com-mon and comparative testing program in order to ac-curately judge their students’ growth.

What California needs is a reform in the testing system; then we can readily accept this grant.

OPINIONTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009THE PAPER PAGE 11

DANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

LETTERS POLICYPlease submit legibly written, signed letters to room 708 during second, fourth, and fifth period to Mrs. Gilbert’s mailbox in the of-fice, or to dhhspaper@gmail.com. The staff reserves the right to delete or condense letters to meet space requirements or content restric-tions. Unsigned letters will not be accepted.

Letters to the Editor

By Pia BhathalEditor-in-Chief

RE: Academic Ninja Seeks Deeper Answers

ASU Informs with Weekly Facebook Updates

Thank God It’s “The Friday Song”

n RE: Home-coming Theme Disap-points

Before one was to insult ASU with a letter, he or she should probably have done his or her research. The claims against ASU’s homecoming theme were neither factual nor well re-searched.

Specifically, the claim that Mariah Steven-son, our extremely hard-working Activities Director, chose the theme without the consent of ASU was ex-tremely false. Do not think that by simply insulting one person on ASU that you can pardon the rest of ASU.

The fact that a fin-ger was pointed at one per-son not only enrages all of ASU, but also shows per-sonal bias against Mariah.

Aside from the non-factual claims made by said letter, ASU attempted to subdue complaints by holding an open meeting. A Facebook message was sent out the night before and announcements were made, but only one person showed up at our lunchtime meeting.

The students who reprimand ASU were ex-pected to attend, but no one came to represent the portion of the student body that found the homecoming theme “disappointing” and “tasteless.”

The “disappointing” turnout at the open meet-ing only proves that when it comes down to it, no one is brave enough to voice his or her opinion.

The purpose of ASU is to represent the student

Imagine trying to please all 2,800 students at the school, in addition to

stressed staff and nervous parents. Imagine you had to do everything from creating countless informational banners to organizing every last detail of Homecom-ing, Winter Formal and Prom.

Now, say hello to ASU. In light of recent events, it seems that ASU has been cast in a negative light for certain controversial decisions.

Although some people, including myself, may have their own personal opinions regarding these is-

sues, the students on ASU rightfully deserve credit for what they have done right.

Take Facebook, for example. Amidst the mas-sive influx of quizzes that predict “how good tomor-row will be,” messages with tidbits of helpful infor-mation about upcoming activities are sent by an ASU member on a weekly basis.

While these updates certainly aren’t worthy of CNN Breaking News, ASU’s attempts to improve communication between students and their elected government representatives are admirable at the very least.

Though events such as the Homecoming dance/game have been the work of the student government for numerous years, the vast amount of time and ef-fort that ASU dedicates is still clearly something to be

thankful for. Not only does ASU organize the decorations, DJ,

and tickets for the dance, but it also has the responsi-bility of coordinating the Homecoming festivities year after year.

Sure; the script this year wasn’t going to win any Tony Awards and the sets weren’t the classic floats that our parents remember, but the impressive fireworks, chuckle-worthy acting, and immense coordination in building and executing the sets ultimately remain a product of ASU’s hard work.

The bottom line: ASU consists of students who, much like yourself, have insanely busy lives. On top of these busy schedules, however, ASU also takes time out of both their school day and free time to make your high school experience just a little bit better.

Late on a Thurs. night, the custo-dian drops by to lock all the classroom

doors in the English hall. All except one. Room 708 remains open until the last story is

corrected, the last photo linked, the last page sent in. And after seemingly endless hours of staring at a com-puter screen, I leave the building only to see nothing but darkness, four cars, and the three people standing next to me in the parking lot. I’m dead last.

Many students at our school often walk outside to the same scene. Why are we dead last? Why have we been spending so much extra time on an event,

publication, performance, or game? Why? It’s a straightforward question with a variety of

answers. For Jim Myers it’s his “love for competition,

need for a challenge, and interest in the world around [him] that drive [his] actions in the classroom and on the tennis court.” For ASU President Jeremy Lin it’s “the thrill of being an integral part of [his] school.” For Yearbook Editor-in-Chief, Anais Ziae-Mohseni, it’s “[her] love of creating a yearbook that people will be able to look back on and remember high school.”

And for me, it’s the simple fact that I love pub-lishing The Paper.

I’ve invested my time and energy working to-wards publishing The Paper for the past three years because I’m passionate about journalism and writing.

After all the long nights, seeing the final copy

of The Paper distributed to the student body instills a sense of pride in not only my own work, but the work of our collective staff.

I look upon holding club positions or participat-ing in a sport or other program as a chore if it is some-thing I’m doing merely to put on my college applica-tion.

There’s nothing worse than losing precious sleep due to the fact that I couldn’t finish my homework in time because I was forced to meet an hour requirement for a club. However, when a program or sport truly interests me, I consider my time well spent.

Therefore, if publishing an informative editon of The Paper requires me to stay longer at school than I stay at home, then so be it.

I’m dead last on campus, but The Paper is more than worth it.

body; therefore, we not only encourage students to voice their opinion but also work to make these suggestions a reality.

-Alex Sloan, 11

n Tutorial Not Intended for Teaching

Last year when man-datory assigned tutorial be-gan, many people were an-gered by the arrangement. This made it difficult to create study groups for the classes, or get help on spe-cific subjects. Not to men-tion how it affects yearbook, no longer having the ability to meet for interviews.

But, we complied with the rules anyway and got used to the idea of going specific places for tutorial.

Today teachers use these tutorial periods to teach new material instead of as instructional catch-up.

What was once a period for clarification and make-ups is now becoming an essential part of class in which students will fall be-hind if they were to miss it.

It is in the rules that teachers may not teach new material during this period. When they do, they load too much on students who rely on this time to get work done and count on individu-al instruction.

-Monica Linzmeier, 12

By Lexi CotcampFeature Editor

By Tyler HartungNews Editor

Along with the beginning of a new school year came a small glimmer of

hope amongst the student body: the return of “The Fri-day Song.”

While this song is brief and simple, it has the ability to instill one resounding thought into our head once a week—today is Friday!

This year, junior Geoff Kaufman was chosen to carry on the legacy that is “The Friday Song,” and it was as if it had never left.

“I love ‘The Friday Song’!” Kaufman ex-claimed.

However, on the first student choice tutorial of the year, ASU sent a group of officers to each class-room to read the announcements and answer questions instead of allowing President Jeremy Lin to read the announcements and Kaufman to sing “The Friday Song.”

Regarding the new announcement system, ASU Commissioner of Health and Education Welfare Molly Churlonis commented, “It makes the announcements more personal. No one listens to the announcements anyway. We’ve gotten good feedback from the teach-ers, so it’s going to stay.”

However, this new system isn’t making students any happier. Most people continue to stare at the ceil-ing during the class-to-class announcements. Regard-less of whether you listen to the announcements or not, the fact remains that the Friday song is no longer played in tutorial.

Activities Director Ken Nedler asserted, “By go-ing to all of the classes it increases the communication of high profile information that was lacking before. And it’s only happening every Student Choice and no zero tutorials, so it’s not very often.”

I understand that ASU is trying to improve com-munication between the student government and the student body, but why should that result in the elimina-tion of the Friday song?

At only 17 seconds, the ASU song takes up a trivial amount of announcement time, especially since it is played only once each week. 17 seconds is the same amount of time needed to tell us about the price of Homecoming Bids, which remains the same every single day.

It’s not as if we don’t appreciate the announce-ments being read to us everyday, but is it really too much to ask that the Friday song be played over the loudspeaker?

In my opinion, the student body would most definitely rather hear a song that celebrates the mag-nificence of Friday than listen to a couple of ASU of-ficers reading the announcements in a lackluster and dull manner.

Ironically, the announcements seem to be even more time consuming in comparison to when the bul-letin is announced over the loudspeaker.

However, if ASU wants to go classroom-to-class-room with the announcements, I have no objections.

Do what you want with the announcements ASU, but please don’t take away our Friday Song. An extra 17 seconds before the ASU Student Choice Tutorial announcements seems like a small price to pay for the sake of the entertainment of our student body.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009PAGE 12 THE PAPER

DANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

By Tyler HartungNews Editor

ENTERTAINMENT“Zombieland” Deliciously Good

photo courtesy of Google Images

“Where the Wild Things Are” Not the Hug We ExpectedBy Matt McCreadieOpinion Editor

Searching for a movie that provides the perfect mix of gruesome violence, slapstick comedy, and horror thrills? Look no further. Just in time for Halloween comes “Zombieland,” a seemingly stupid movie about what the U.S. becomes when a zombie infestation takes place. But since this flick isanything but stupid, it can keep up with any zombie-based com-edyfilm.Andhilarityensues. Jesse Eisenberg stars as Columbus (each character is known as what city he/she is trying to reach), a nerdy gamer

In a fanciful depiction of youthful escapism, director Spike Jonze recreates one of the most beloved children’s books of all time.

Straying from the original work only slightly, Jonze manages to keep the premise of Maurice Sendak’s storyintactwhilefillinginthegaps to make the 9-sentence bookintoafeature-lengthfilm.

The result is a captivating movie suitable for all ages—if

who repels girls like bug spray keeps bugs away. Columbus is one of the last humans left in the U.S. who hasn’t been infected by this zombie virus started by the one and only Mad Cow Disease. Columbus finally meetsanother uninfected human. This character, Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), is the rebellious redneck who loves big cars, big guns, Twinkies, and kicking zombie butt. Sisters Wichita (Emma Stone)andLittleRock(AbigailBreslin) fill out the unlikelyfour-some. The group has a rocky beginning but develops a fam-ily-like bond as while striving toward the common goal of findingarumoredzombie-free

safe haven. Due to his geeky ob-session with video games and less-than-muscular build, Co-lumbus seems like an unlikely candidate for survival. He has lasted this long only because of a set of rules he has devised tokeepfrombecomingaflesh-eating zombie himself. Some of these rules include “Avoid Bathrooms”(zombies tend to find you atyour most vulnerable times), “AlwaysCheck the Backseat”(for zombies, of course), and “Doubletap” (make sure that zombie you just shot in the face is really dead). These rules serve as a source of comic relief as they flash up on the screen everytime one of them is put into play by a zombie-killer. Although some scenesand zombie rules might be-come a bit sappy at some times (ex. “Rule #32: Enjoy the Little Things”), this does not take away from the sheer fun and genius of this movie. I haven’t seen a movie as original as this one in a long while. Director Ruben Fleisch-er is even able to make the usu-ally annoying Abigail BreslinlooklikeanA-listactoraswellas bring in the legendary Bill Murray to make a hilarious cameo appearance. So if you love hilari-ous movies with an abundance of zombie beat-downs, then “Zombieland” is a must-see.

photo courtesy of Google Images

Focusing on a zombie, Tallahassee prepares to swing.

you know what to expect.Max, a reckless little

boy, causes trouble for his mom before he runs away to an imaginary island. There he meets the “Wild Things,” who proclaim him king and take him on awesome, and sometimes dark, adventures.

The “Wild Things,” who want to both eat and play with Max, are tamed under Max’s rule. Despite protest from the “Things,” he eventually heads back home in pursuit of the very thing he had wanted to escape.

Many viewers entered the theater with the idea of this

film being a children’s movieand were shocked at how scary some parts were. Jonze explained in an interview with Newsweek magazine, “I was makingafilmaboutchildhood,notachild’sfilm.”

“Where the Wild Things Are” is a story about howchildren cope with anger and frustration by escaping into their imagination.

Onasuperficiallevel,itis an entertaining story. But for older viewers, the metaphors about childhood will leave you with a better understanding of your irrational temper tantrums as a kid.

Exploring the desert, “Wild Thing” Carol goes in for a hug with rebellious Max.

ENTERTAINMENTTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009THE PAPER PAGE 13

DANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

By Devin ValencianoNews Editor

Wolfmother Exceeds Expectations

By Elizabeth ChaddockStaff Writer

“Backs t r e e t ’ s Back...Alright?”

I am a huge fan of pop music and boys wearing tight pants, but something within me cannot help but dislike the Backstreet Boys.

While I still have classics such as “Tearin’ Up My Heart” and “Larger than Life” on my iPod, senior Jennifer Heinsus summed up what I believe to be the sentiments of most teenagers: “I liked them when I was younger, but I didn’t know that they were back.”

Considering that they have seven albums released, they never really left.

Their recent album, out Oct. 6, is titled “This Is Us.” Although this album should tell “who they are,” after listening to this record I fear that I still do not know who the boys of Backstreet are.

Every song on the record speaks of their love lives and nothing deeper. Apparently who they are is completely dependent on the women in their lives.

This also begs the question: Why are they still singing about love at age 30?

Despite such qualms, I still feel that I have been a bit judgmental. They do, after all, have superb singing voices.

And, as senior Matt Buggert puts it, “Most of their albums have been slow,” but this album is back to their

original, upbeat pop sound, with the added bonus of a Justin Timberlake/R&B inspired sound.

Experimenting with sound is something that mature musicians do, and for that I commend them.

“This Is Us” could very well be their “best album since ‘Millenium,’” - their words, according to BackstreetPress.com. Songs such as “Straight Through My Heart” do have hit potential with their catchy hooks, but I don’t think that this album will propel them to a major comeback any time soon.

Perhaps it is the lack of actual instruments in their songs that turns me off.

However, this sound should appeal to Lady GaGa fans, considering that the producer of this album, RedOne, also produced her album, “The Fame,” penning such hits as “Just Dance” and “Poker Face.”

With male musicians like the Jonas Brothers and Justin Bieber garnering the adulation of girls of all ages, there just is not room for this grown-up boy band.

Although this album goes back to their roots, it fills a niche already filled by their earlier albums, and adding a R&B vibe doesn’t add enough diversity to their music to make it revolutionary.

Anyways, I thought Backstreet was Back in 1997. Do we really need an encore?

photo courtesy of Google Images

Playing a song off “Cosmic Egg,” frontman Andrew Stockdale performs with new Wolfmother lineup at a concert.

I summoned every ounce of pessimism and distaste that I could possibly muster when I took on the review of the new Wolfmother album, “Cosmic Egg.” Every fiber in my being was rooting for a failure, proof that Andrew Stockdale is simply not the music god that he thinks he is. And, with my head hung low and my heart heavy, I must proclaim him to be of a similar strain to those who have defined the music industry. Quite simply, Stockdale is a genius.

And he’s lucky to be,

because this singer-guitarist hybrid is a genuine jerk. Constant bickering caused the band to split in 2008.

Stockdale, wasting no time to lament the loss of two men, Chris Ross and Myles Heskett that helped lift him to fame, refilled the band’s roster and continued recording soon after.

But that’s entirely beside the point. The fact of the matter is that “Cosmic Egg” is a worthy addition to the annals of great rock albums.

Stockdale doesn’t just act his part, parading around with his massive hair and flaunting his best-dressed rock star awards - he’s truly talented. And Wolfmother’s new

members aren’t just playing games either.

The album can essentially be described using just three songs – “Back Round,” “New Moon Rising,” and “California Queen.” In simple terms: the bad, the good, and the flipping fantastic.

“Back Round” was the first single released for the new album, and I thank the stars that the song is not representative of “Cosmic Egg” as a whole. Painfully cheesy guitar riffs, fingernail-scraping distortion, and the shocking lack of anything memorable, except maybe the ringing in your ears from the screeching, characterize this childish musical endeavor.

After such a disappointing first impression, my expectations for the album and Wolfmother’s future fell in the gutter. It was there, swimming in the grimy waste of harmonic failure, that I listened to their next single, “New Moon Rising.” The startlingly sharp contrast poked me back towards optimism.

My ears were graced by the catchy choruses, raucous riffs, and simply superb singing that made Wolfmother’s first album so fantastic.

“Cosmic Egg” is an album complete with excellent song writing and superb musicianship that shows Wolfmother’s new lineup is no disappointment.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009PAGE 14 THE PAPER

SPORTSDANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

By Lexi CotcampFeature Editor

By Claudia VarneyStaff Writer

By Andrew EnglishCenterspread Editor

Cross Country Picks Up the Pace

Surf Team Surprises San Clemente

photo courtesy of Lulu Erkeneff

photo courtesy of Steve Brouwer

Tearing it up at Salt Creek, Lulu Erkeneff refines her skills.

“Has anyone been down south to check if there’s even a school at Dana Hills anymore, or is it just a runner factory?” marveled one reviewer on an online Dyestat forum.

The praise, despite its comical nature, could not be more fitting as the Dolphins, both boys and girls, continue to demonstrate the strength of the school’s cross country pro-gram.

Boys

Following a series of stellar performances at the Dana Hills Invitational (videos avail-able at www.youtube.com), the undaunted boys competed on Oct. 8 in their first South Coast League Cluster Meet, which meant racing against all five other teams in the SCL.

Despite a few struggles earlier in the season, the boys were confident prior to the meet and successfully avoided any unwelcome surprises. As a result of their hard work, the boys proceeded to leave the op-posing teams in the dust and

were declared the winners on the day.

Coach Tim Butler re-marked, “There were no sur-prises. Our times were average, but our league is not as strong this year. Next year, it will be stronger though with all the new schools.”

Butler’s comment refers to the various schools, includ-ing El Toro, Trabuco Hills, Costa Mesa, and San Juan Hills, which are scheduled to join the South Coast League after this year.

Coming off a win at the first SCL Cluster Meet, the boys competed at the Clovis In-vitational in Fresno. According to Butler, the boys “ran solid,” and the Dolphins’ fourth place finish reasonably met expecta-tions.

Following the invitation-al in Fresno, the team prepared for one of the most prestigious meets of the season: Orange County Championships.

On Oct. 17, the boys’ efforts on the Irvine Regional Park course gained them the ti-tle of Orange County Champs; however, the honor did not end with just one successful race.

The glorious win marked the third consecutive victory at OC Champs for the Dolphins,

making them one of only three teams to do so in the county’s history.

On Oct. 24, the select boys competed in the Mt. Sac Invitational, placing second in the sweepstakes race.

“As a whole, we did bet-ter than expected. I think we surprised a lot of people.”

Girls

Plagued with “untimely” injuries and loss of key athletes, the varsity girls struggled to re-peat their successes from prior years but continued to perse-vere in building confidence.

In their first SCL Clus-ter meet on Oct. 8, the Dol-phins flailed in comparison to a strong group of Tritons. In spite of valiant efforts, the girls team lost its first league meet in ten years with a score of 31-25 (Note: the lowest score wins).

“On behalf of the entire cross country team, I apolo-gize for tarnishing the beautiful varsity record,” joked junior Alaina Alvarez of the first SCL cluster meet.

Determined to improve after a less than brilliant show-ing in their first league meet, the team recovered from its early setbacks with a sixth place fin-

ish in the Clovis Invitational. Although the ladies were

unable to defeat a few other at-tending Orange County teams, the Dolphins continued to fo-cus on the positive aspects of the race.

The Clovis course, which is the same site used for State Finals, provided the girls with critical experience for fu-ture races; in addition, the in-vitational as a whole helped to better the team’s overall men-tality.

Coach Rex Hall com-mented, “The best thing that happened [as a result of the Clovis Invitational] is that the girls re-dedicated themselves to the rest of the year, knowing that they are a better team than this and wanting to go out and prove it.”

A chance for the varsity girls to prove their mental and physical strength came in the form of the exalted OC Champs meet.

Prior to the competition, Hall remarked, “We started the season wanting to repeat as champions. After the last couple of weeks and a couple of untimely injuries, we felt like a top five finish would be a successful day.”

With this new work ethic

and confident mindset, the girls earned a respectable second place behind the superb Orange Lutheran team.

Multiple athletes also excelled personally, including Alvarez, who was ranked the fastest junior in the county, and junior Laura Beresford, who was ranked sixth. Sophomores Sheridan Gomez and Kayla White also ranked second and

tenth fastest sophomores in the county, respectively.

Meanwhile, the team’s overall time put the girls in an impressive fifth place for the fastest time in the meet’s his-tory.

The following weekend, on Oct. 24, the girls stayed focused and were awarded a respectable fourth place in the Mt. Sac Invitational.

On Thurs., Oct. 22, the surf team pulled off an amazing win against Laguna Beach.

The women’s longboard-ing and shortboarding teams decimated the competition.

The longboarders won 12-9 with leading surfers Lulu Erkeneff and Tara Franz taking second and third. Girl’s short-boarding won 12-9 as well. The boy’s longboarding and body-boarding teams took away the competition. The longboarding team won with a score of 12-9. Zach Hines took first place.

The boy’s bodyboard-ing team had the most impres-sive win, dominating with a 15-6 victory. Sebastian Perez took first, with Cody Cook and Brian Siwecki making podium finishes as well.

The boy’s shortboarding team suffered a close defeat, with a final score of 40-44. “We just don’t have the depth we need,” explained head coach Marc Degen.

On Tuesday, Oct. 6th, at Salt Creek, the surfers did the unthinkable - they emerged victorious against rival school San Clemente for the first time in years.

The memorable victory was an amazing achievement

and increased confidence for the surfers as well as the coach-es.

“[Winning] feels great because we haven’t beat them in years,” stated junior Sam Orozco as he reflected on the competition.

“It was great, but unex-pected,” commented Degen.The girl’s longboarding team crushed San Clemente with a 14-7 victory. Junior Tara Franz placed first, with freshman Lulu Erkeneff right behind her in second place.

Not only did the long-boarding team win, but the girl’s shortboarding team also defeated San Clemente with a 12-9 final score, with Erkeneff

placing first and Franz in third. These victories stunned

the San Clemente girl’s teams, proving that Dana Hills can compete with the top.

“I feel we have a much stronger women’s team this year,” added Degen, satisfied with the girl’s performance.

Not only did the girl’s team prove outstanding, but the boy’s longboarding and bodyboarding teams were also victorious.

The longboarding team had a commanding victory with a final score of 13-8, push-ing Dana higher in the stand-ings for the competition. Junior Peter Danskin finished in first place and senior Zach Hines in third.

The bodyboarding team dominated as well, with a 14-7 win. Senior bodyboarder Cody Cook took first place and junior Sebastion Perez finished as the runner up.

Unfortunately, the only team that was not triumphant was the boy’s shortboarding team. They had a close com-petition with a final score of 36-48.

The team suffered the loss of three key senior surfers from last year, Andrew Hines, Jessie Johnson, and Parker Wright, which contributed to the boy’s defeat.

Fortunately, the other division’s combined victories kept San Clemente from tak-ing the win. Aside from the un-fortunate losses, the boys feel ready to take on one of their biggest competitors, Newport, in their quest for first place.

“It’s going to be tough, but we’re going to surf our best and hopefully we can take first place,” commented Orozco.

With two early victories, the Dolphins are ready for next competition against Laguna on Nov. 12th, at Salt Creek.

The boys are entering the last stretch of a trying season, and are playing an away game against Aliso today. On Nov. 3 they will finish their season by facing Mission Viejo in their fi-nal League game.

The Speedo-sporting studs of the boys’ water polo team have steadfastedly main-tained their progress despite their often unfortunate circum-stances in a season marked by various injuries and illnesses. Their difficulties have taken numerous players out of criti-cal games, and forced the team to play with fewer subs.

Head coach Matt Rosa summed up the season well by saying, “Its been unfortunate to have so many poor circum-stances.”

On Oct. 27 the dolphins beat Trabuco Hills 16-3 at a home game.

The dolphins earned an 11-10 win on Oct. 22 in a league game against Capo Val-ley. Sophomore Drake Dunn explained, “It was a close game, but I knew were going to win from the beginning.”

The boys boarded buses and left to play Long Beach Poly on Oct. 20, losing 14-13 in double overtime. Larson summed up the game, saying, “We didn’t play that well. We should have won.”

Oct. 15 was a difficult day for the boys as well. They suffered a loss to league rival San Clemente 5-13. Because goalie Kevin Guck was too sick to play, freshman Matt Bridges stepped in to play for him.

Bridges played incred-ibly well for his first varsity

game, considering he usually plays frosh-soph, making 11 saves.

Despite goals made by Lasher, Trevor Scott, and Lar-son Pfiel, the team lost.

“San Clemente has some great players and our anxiety in the first half hurt us badly,” said senior John ‘Biceps’ Car-ney. Dunn agreed, saying, “We didn’t play as good as we want-ed to.”

Northwood brought a challenge to the boys’ team on Oct. 9, and despite their resil-ience throughout the game, the Dolphins lost 3-7.

Senior Stephen Krieger explained their difficulties, saying, “Our team is seriously lacking in chemistry.”

On Oct. 8, the boys dominated Tesoro 15-8, active-ly crushing the competition by far outscoring their opponents.

Seniors David Gonzalez and Jordan Lasher aided the slaughter by scoring four goals each. Guck held up an impene-trable defense with seven saves in the third quarter alone and 19 saves overall.

Lasher explained, “We annilated them. We all played like a team and dominated.”

The team faced Laguna Beach, a formidable com-petitor, on Oct. 6. Despite the team’s endurance and strong defense, including 12 saves b Guck, the Dolphins lost 6-15.

“We’re just playing bad-ly,” said senior Andrew Nessel-road. “We’re not really working together at all.”

They shunned sleep and social activities from Oct. 1 to Oct. 3 in order to participate in the Villa Park Tournament. 32 teams took part, including two-time defending champion El Toro. Dana ranked 22, with two wins and three losses.

Keeping up with his competitors, senior Kyle Norman com-petes in the Mt. Sac Invitational.

Water Polo Stays Consistent

SPORTSTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 29 , 2009THE PAPER PAGE 15

DANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

By Sara GoldCopy Editor

Girls’ Tennis Lights a Flame in South Coast League

Volleyball Levels the Playing Field

By Matthew McCreadieOpinion Editor

By Emily CullenStaff Writer

photo by Emily Roulund

Intensely focused on the home match, senior Victoria Wing holds her own on the court.

photo by Emily Cullen

In the home gym, senior Erin Baxter launches the ball over the net, back to the Mission Viejo team.

Girls’ Golf Demonstrates Integrity Throughout League

photo by Emily Roulund

Teeing off, senior Sam Sullivan contributes to the golf match at the Rancho Niguel Country Club.

The Dolphins will play an away game against Tesoro this afternoon at 3:15 p.m.

On Oct. 27, the team once again defeated Mission Viejo, earning a final score of 13-5. The girls’ match against Sage Hill, scheduled for yes-terday, was cancelled due to excessive illnesses on Sage Hills’s team.

Girls’ varsity tennis has gone undefeated thus far this season.

“Our ultimate goal this season is to win CIF,” stated Coach Jim Wilson. “If we win, it will be the first time in Dana Hills’ s history that tennis has won CIF for three consecutive years.”

From Oct. 20-23, the Dolphins won 11-7 against Capistrano Valley, 10-8 against University, and 13-5 against Aliso Niguel.

“That week, we had a lot of good competition, but we battled through it,” expressed sophomore Adri Zuabi.

Eleven varsity players competed in the Corona Del Mar All American Tournament on Oct. 16 and Oct. 17. With two doubles matches left to go, Dana was tied with Palm Des-ert, 3-3, in the tournament fi-nals. Sisters Joanna and Alyssa Smith won their doubles match, 8-6.

Freshman Jessica Perez and senior Victoria Wing lost to Palm Desert after a 7-7 tie-breaker. With the final tally at 4-4, the winnning team was de-termined by the total number of games each team won.

The Dolphins were de-clared the winners.

“Even though Palm Des-ert had many experienced tour-

nament players, our coaches’ and parents’ encouragement gave us the confidence we needed to focus and win,” said senior Laura Wilke.

The team faced off against Tesoro on Oct. 13 and San Clemente on Oct. 15, win-ning 15-3 and 12-6, respec-tively.

The racquet ladies tri-umphed over Mission Viejo on Oct. 8, 15-3.

Against Mission Viejo, seniors Katina Zampas and Kristen Kehlet competed as a doubles team and won two sets, 6-1 and 6-4.

“It was necessary for us to be aggressive and use angle

shots to get our opponents out of position,” said Kehlet. “We were also able to decide which shots were best to use in differ-ent situations.”

The team won 13-5 against Aliso Niguel on Oct. 6.

Sophomore Kasey Mat-thess, who played singles against Aliso Niguel, comment-ed, “Our opponents had strong forehands and were skilled at hitting short angles.”

“This season, the girls have really been understand-ing what team tennis is about.” stated Wilson. “The kids, espe-cially our newer players, under-stand about playing for a team rather than for themselves.”

When Kristi Nishihira was almost struck by a Mission players’ back swing, both im-mediately took responsibility for the near mishap.

It is obvious that these girls are not playing for any-thing other than their love for the game, giving them no rea-son to jeopardize the purity of the sport. This subtle, dismis-sible moment in the match por-trayed the deep-seeded sense of

integrity that resides within our Dolphin golfers.

“I find it pointless to cheat,” said team capitan Chri-tine Caley. “I don’t want to re-ceive a good score that I didn’t earn. It makes you want to play better.”

And they have. The girls just finished the season with a 6-4 record in league, five of the six players finishing in the second round of finals and one player continuing on to CIF.

With most sports there are loopholes, situations when a player can stretch the truth by hiding it. There are moments

when no one can possibly see whether or not the virtue of the game is being upheld. It is all up to referees to catch athletes out. This, however, is not the case in golf.

There are no course of-ficials to hover over the play-ers enforcing the rules of the game. It is left to the players to be honest. The team has not been found guilty of any infrac-tion this season, not to say there have not been plenty of oppor-tunities.

Between holes, the la-dies chatter amongst each other about the usual girly topics; gossip, clothes, trends, and so on; but never did I witness any subversive mind games being played.

As for the game itself, “There are always those teams that cheat,” says freshman Av-ery French, “You just have to call them on it.”

“In golf, a player is ac-tually required to call a penalty on herself,” said Coach Wilbur-ton. “I tell my players to keep a close watch on their competi-tors and not be beaten by some-one who wins by cheating.”

On the seventh hole while playing Mission, team capitan Christine Caley al-lowed the other team’s player to drop the ball in an ideal posi-tion to chip for the green. And when she made it on the green, she quickly and earnestly ex-claimed “Good shot!” This act of graciousness exemplifies the kind of golf team we have: hon-est, cordial, and competitive.

The girls’ volleyball sea-son will conclude with away games vs. Aliso today, Tesoro on Nov 1, and finally Mis-sion Viejo on Nov 2. Halfway through the season, the girls volleyball team has a decent record of two wins and two losses.

The game that took place on Thurs. Oct. 22 was arguably the most invigorating game so far this season. The girls went up against grueling opponents Mission Viejo. Dana came out with a great deal of fire and de-termination, conquering the Di-ablos in the first game, 25-23.

The girls then went on to play an intense fourth game but were unable to defeat the Dia-blos, losing by just two points, 23-25. A hectic tiebreaker game was issued to determine which team would win the match.

Mission went home with the win, along with a red card for their coach (Glenn “Guss” Culver) for poor sportsmanship towards Dana coach Lael Fre-senius as well as referees and players. On Oct. 13, Dolphins prevailed against Aliso Viejo. The girls stormed through their opponents, winning the match in three short games; 25-15, 25-19, and 25-18.

The third game was also

a victory for the team, with a 25-15 win. The team battled it out in the second game but fell short just five points, losing 25-20. The Dolphins did not let Mission run away with the momentum, however, and won the third game, 25-23.

Capo put up a tough fight during the first and second games but couldn’t keep up with the ladies who won 25-23 in the first and 25-22 in the sec-ond. “The Capo game stood out the most because winning that game was a turning point for our season,” said sophomore defensive specialist Gillian Null. The first league home game was played on Thurs. Oct. 8 against Capo. Though

they won league last year, the Dolphins were able to sweep the champions, winning the match in just three games.

The ladies pushed back in the second game but were once again defeated by the Tritons, 23-25. The third game concluded in a tough loss with a score of 21-25. The girls had their first league match against rival San Clemente on Tues. Oct. 6. San Clemente played up to its strong reputation and beat the Dolphins in the first game, 21-25. “Preseason started off rough but when league sarted, we picked up our game and be-gan to play up to the potential we know we have,” said sopho-more lebero Gillian Null.

By Stephanie WrightOpinion Editor

SPORTSTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2009THE PAPER PAGE 16

DANA HILLS HIGH SCHOOL

Football Ranks Fifth in Orange Countyphoto courtesy of xpsphoto.com

Right: Leaping over a pile of Dolphins and Tritons, senior defensive back Bran-don Howe keeps possession of the ball as he escapes the clutches of a San Clemente defender.

Far Right: Celebrating their impressive victory over long-time South Coast League rival San Clemente on Oct. 23, the boys hold their helmets up under the lights of Spencer Stadium. The well-deserved win was filled with long runs and hard-hitting tackles. Senior quarterback Josh Dean suffered a knee injury when upended by two San Clemente players. Junior quarterback Trent Mason finished out the game.

The football team is charging forward with an over-all winning record of 6-1. Their record in league is now 2-0 af-ter defeating tough competitors Tesoro and San Clemente.

“One play is going to dictate the outcome of this game,” said Athletic Director Tom Ferris in anticipation of the big Homecoming game.

He wasn’t exactly right.The game seemed an

impossibly easy victory for the Dolphins despite the intimidat-ing rivalry and seemingly un-fair calls by the referees.

The boys in blue never went a quarter without scoring at least one touchdown. They were able to maintain the lead they gained in the first two and a half minutes with a 13 yard field goal; shutting out the Tri-tons until less than two minutes remained before halftime.

Senior quaterback Josh Dean put in a stunning perfor-mance, rushing 52 yards and passing 139 yards. In addition Senior Brandon Howe rushed an impressive with 117 rushing yards.

At the end of the third quarter, Dean was hit hard and suffered a sprained MCL in his knee. Crowley also recieved a stage two concussion. Neither will play in this week’s game.

With an astounding win over San Clemente, the boys are on their way to securing the league title.

In the league opener against Tesoro on Oct. 16, Dean’s expectations were spot on. The game was a nail-biter up until the final minutes. Dean saved the game with a 22 yard touchdown pass to senior Tan-ner Crowley that ended the game with a score of 37-34.

The victory against Tesoro now had people talk-ing. After the scores were re-ported, OC Varsity called for the crowning of a new league champion.

Oct. 9 showcased yet another incredible victory at Spencer Stadium, with the Dol-

phins shutting out El Modena 57-0.

“This is the closest group of young men I’ve seen in years,” commented beloved math teacher Jake Schwartz-berg. “That goes a long way sometimes.”

On Oct. 2, the Dolphins faced-off at home against the Sailors of Newport Harbor.

“They’re definitely ready to take care of business tonight,” Assistant Head Varsi-ty Coach John Donnelly stated prior to the kick-off.

By the end of the first half, the Dolphins were already leading the Sailors four touch-downs and one field goal to nothing.

Contributing to the vic-

tory was the 52 yards the Sail-ors cost themselves in penalties. The game ended, as coaches and spectators expected, with a score of 41-07.

“It’s coming together great. Now is really the turn-ing point to creating a great program,” said 2009 alumnus Brian Pauling, admiring the improvements to the team and Melbon’s strategies.

They’re not the only ones taking notice. If you ask the senior cheering section how they feel about their winning team while enjoying a game, they’ll say “We feel good; oh, we feel so good!”

Tomorrow night the boys take on Capistrano Valley (4-3, 1-1) at home.

Scoreboard

14-38San Clemente

00-57El Modena

07-41Newport Harbor

34-17Edison

34-20El Toro

37-34Tesoro

19-34Santa Margarita

The boys in blue defeat South Coast League rival San Clemente for the first time in 17 years.

photo courtesy of xpsphoto.com