The Student Newspaper of Mars High School

PLANET PRESS TH

E

Fall/Holiday 2016 Volume 89 Issue 1 Send us your suggestions

and questions to planet.press@yahoo.com

Inside this Issue

Page 2 Homecoming Recap Page 3 New Technology Reactions Page 4 Holiday Happenings

Fall play

Mars high school play not ’just another school play’ By Corrina Yobp

Students performed Just Another High School Play on Nov. 18-19 at the Mars High School auditorium. The play was a sat-ire on traditional plays that a high school would typically produce, including works like Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The former was made into a puppet show while the latter was made into a rap. The audience was encouraged to partici-pate throughout the play. The audience seemed to enjoy their part in the play as they answered ques-tions presented to them by the cast, among other various forms of partici-pation. “The performance very fun, espe-cially in the way it made fun of plays that we, as high schoolers, all know,”

said senior student Erin Greer. The show’s lead characters were

a stage manager, played by senior Cecelia Smelko, and an assistant director, played by senior Noah Lockette, who show up on opening night only to realize that no one ac-tually thought to prepare a play.

Smelko and Lockette start the show by attempting to stall the audience to buy the cast time to prepare, and

the cast’s seem-ingly half-heart-ed at-tempts to put on a last minute play were full of come-dy. “They were their own char-acters

which made it pretty easy,” said co-director Mrs. Hoffmann about the cast, “very rarely do students get to play themselves in a high school play,” she said. High School English teachers

‘The best way to spread Christmas cheer is

to sing it loud for all to hear…’ By Geena Provenzano

Mrs. Hoffmann and Mrs. Vozza were first-time co-directors of the school play. Both directors also played brief roles in the play. Mrs. Hoffman and Mrs. Vozza succeeded long-time di-rector Mrs. Fassinger. “It was definitely a change [new di-rectors] and a different side of thea-ter, but I’m always open to new pos-sibilities,” said senior Samantha Bart-ley who has been in several Mars play productions. Many other students played the roles of several different characters throughout the play. The plays reen-acted within the play required this flexibility of the cast. With the large amount of practice dedicated to put-ting this performance together on time, students were able to fulfill their purpose and make the audience laugh. “Definitely everyone there was very dedicated and seemed to have a re-ally good time,” said Mrs. Hoffmann. The performance, which included some improvisation, was also marked by several references to ac-tual Mars High School teachers in-cluding Spanish teacher Señor McCarthy and English teacher Mrs. Silbaugh. The inclusion of these lo-cal elements led to thorough enjoy-ment especially by the high school student audience members as they appreciated the jokes that they have been a part of in school. Mrs. Fassinger, Mrs. Kennedy, and Mrs. Kaminski will be involved in the spring musical, The Addams Family.

Seniors Noah Lockette and Cecelia Smelko played lead roles in Mars’ production of “Just Another School Play” performed at Mars High school on Nov. 18-19. Photo courtesy of Josh Schwoebel

“It’s Hanukah season!!”

~Abby Savitz, Senior

“I love signing these vacation forms that nobody even looks at.” Mr. Gross, teacher

“I just like the joyful mood and how everyone stops their busy schedules to come together and

celebrate.” Jen Kaplan, Senior

“I love seeing my kids come down the stairs on Christmas morning, eager to open their gifts from Santa.”

Mrs. Silbaugh, teacher

“I love Christmas morning how our whole family comes over and we have a bomb breakfast.” Olivia Ranalli, Senior

“I love driving and seeing all of the different Christmas lights.” Meghan Pisarcik,

Planet Press Volume 89 Issue 1 Features 3

THE PLANET PRESS 2016-17

An election for the ages By Joe Horvat

Reporters: Jack Butler , Mellissa Heintzinger, Ian Holcomb, Joe

Horvat, Geena Provenzano, Corrina Yobp

Advisor: Mrs. Hock

The Planet Press is a student-to-student newspaper published on a

monthly basis. All editorials are strictly the opinions of their authors and in no way reflect

the position of this newspaper.

Nov. 8’s election was a victory for the republicans as Donald J. Trump was elected as the 45th president. On Jan. 20,

he will be officially sworn in and take the Oath of Office. According to CBS News, Trump won the election with 289 electoral votes while Hillary Clinton received 228. Trump was also the favorite in the Mars High School, where he won the mock election by a vast majority. “His political views were music to my ears and I knew I had to vote for Donald,” said senior Joey Crognale. Not every Mars High student was thrilled about Trump becoming our president. Senior Madison Caruso was not afraid to share her thoughts about Clinton. “I think Hillary would have made a great first female president. Regardless of some trust issues, she would have got-ten the job done,” said Caruso This year’s election also allowed the opportunity for many Mars High seniors to cast their vote for the first time. “It was definitely a nerve-wracking experience. I was afraid I was going to press the wrong button and vote for the wrong candidate,” said senior voter Gabrielle Natale. The 2016 election will go down as one of the most unforgettable ever and was considered by many to be a thrilling one.

“I’m definitely optimistic to have Trump as our presi-dent. I’m excited to see what he can do for our country.”

– Senior Kara Travanti

“People in this country want-ed a change, they want to drain the swamp, and make America Great Again. They want to take our country back.”

-Seniors Hunter Leslie and Paul King

Black Friday Largest

shopping

day of the

year By Jack Butler

This year’s the largest shopping event of the year, Black Friday took off on Nov. 25. According to money.cnn.com the 2016 statistics said that there was an increase of 3 million shoppers this Black Friday from last year, however, money spent per shopper dropped by approximately $10. Despite an increase in shoppers, the money was not where it normally was, the truth be told, shoppers are turning online, where the deals are becoming increasingly better and the variety is endless. However, retailers are still providing irresistible deals that keep the customers coming back. This year, the deals included the new PS4 Slim with 500 GB of stor-age and Uncharted 4 for $250, that’s a $50 discount. Also, shoppers could have grabbed a colossal 60-inch TV for a meager $499 from Target if they could beat the crowd. In preparation for Black Friday, consumers saw a massive spike in advertising from major retailers and websites. On Facebook alone, ad-vertising spending from Nov. 20-29 increased by an average of 450 per-cent fold. Also, the amount of adver-tising revenue between November 20-29 spiked to a whopping 850 per-cent increase on Black Friday and the days following. With all of this increase in Face-book Advertising, retailers profited nicely as the amount of clicks on ads increased by 250 percent also. Over-all, this year’s Black Friday was a success.

Student spends junior year in France By Geena Provenzano

While most of her peers spent their junior year fretting over Phys-ics and SAT scores, Nicole Blyth was studying abroad in France. Blyth resided in the town of Bagnoles de l’Orne, Normandy, with her host parents and five-year-old host brother. “I thought the town was small but very pretty,” said Blyth, “there were only two main streets that looped around the center lake leading to a residential area full of shopping,” she added. Although Blyth had taken French in school, the transition from her native Eng-lish to fluent French was difficult. “It was easier to understand than it was to speak, but I finally felt comfortable with the language by Christmas,” said Blyth. Despite being away in a foreign country, Blyth’s daily routine was fairly similar to how it was at home. “I went to school at 8 am with my host mom, and after I went home to spend time with my friends or fami-ly,” said Blyth. The biggest difference between the school systems was the sched-ule. Blyth explained that she got out of class at different times through-out the week. She also had more breaks throughout the year, allow-ing plenty of time to travel. “I visited London and went skiing in the Alps for a week and a half,”

said Blyth. Aside from the lack of highways and cars, Blyth explained that Nor-mandy really wasn’t that different from Pennsylvania. Many of her peers wore similar styles of cloth-ing, and contrary to most European cities, travelers even drove on the

same side of the road. Yet the greatest contrast Blyth found be-tween Normandy and Pennsylvania was the food. Rather than make a stop at the Chick fil a drive through, Nicole’s family and friends feasted upon meals during dinner parties. “Most bought food fresh every day,” explained Blyth, “and jumped at the chance to have dinner par-ties, which lasted four hours, if not longer.” Many would assume that the

most challenging part of studying abroad would be coping with home-sickness. However, Blyth spent so little time by herself that she rarely had time to think about what she had left behind. Instead, she thought integrating herself into the lives of her new peers was her

toughest obstacle. “In the beginning, people didn’t include me in conversations be-cause they assumed I couldn’t understand,” explained Blyth, “I really had to assert myself.” In time however, Blyth made plenty of friends. In fact, she still keeps in touch with many of them. “It’s definitely tough because most of them are in college now,” ex-plained Blyth, “but we make it work.” Blyth describes her entire experience in France as “eye open-ing,” and believes eve-ryone should spend time abroad. “It was an incredible experience that opened my eyes and taught me so many lessons,” said

Blyth.

Nicole touring Buckingham palace with her host family in London. Photo courtesy of Nicole Blyth

“I think Hillary would have made a great first female president. Regardless of some trust issues, she would have gotten the job done.”

-Senior Madison Caruso

PS4 Slim console bundle was part of Black Friday sales. Photo courtesy Google.com

Planet Press Volume 89 Issue 1 News 2

the same opinions about the Surface 3s. “I prefer the laptops. The battery lasted longer, they were less break-able, and they didn’t cost nearly as much,” claimed junior Austin Spaun. For instance, the Surfaces are glitching way more frequently than the Lenovo Thinkpads did. According to Kevin Essary from the tech desk, a common glitch that some students are experiencing is an issue with the audio driver. To fix it, it needs to be uninstalled and re-installed. So, what machine do you prefer—the ex-Lenovo Thinkpads, or the Surface 3s? Read below to see what students, faculty and admin-istration had to say about the new technology.

Clubs collaborate for Student Council’s annual Trick or Treat Night By Geena Provenzano

On Oct. 24, families flocked upon the high school to attend Stu-dent Council’s annual trick or treat night. Over 400 children lined up outside dressed as their favorite princesses and superheroes. “It was a constant stream of peo-ple from a quarter to 5 to 6 o’clock,” said NHS Sponsor Mrs. Fassinger. This year, student council decided to change things up a bit. Rather than dec-orate entire rooms, club members stood in the hall-ways to hand out candy. The new format hoped to bring efficiency for both the stu-dents and trick or treat-ers. “I liked the lay-out much better this year,” said art club member Emily Roush, “it was easier for the kids to move around and they didn’t risk getting separat-

ed from their parents.” The new layout did not hinder the students from going all out with dec-orations. Art club opted for a mysti-cal wooded theme. Senior class council members dressed as super-heroes, and 80’s and holiday themes also lined the hallways. “Even as a student, I love going around and seeing what the different groups put together,” said Roush.

Although Trick or Treat night is best known for providing fun enter-tainment for the kids, it is also a great op-portunity to provide to those in need. Par-ents were urged to bring canned goods as a donation, and hun-dreds of cans were collected over the course of an hour.

“It’s extremely rewarding to give back to our community in more ways than one,” said Roush.

The effort and hard work put in by Student Council made for a suc-cessful homecoming. The Centennial School’s gym un-derwent a serious makeover to en-sure that the at-tendees of this year’s homecom-ing had an unforgetta-ble night. “It took us two to three hours to set it all up, but it was defi-nitely worth it,” said sophomore Student Council member Emily Rog-ers. “Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun,” she added. The Art Club dedicated decorative flowers and displays as well as cen-terpieces and streamers that made the theme come to life. There was a photo booth where students could pose with silly props, and a DJ who played tunes that students could get down to. Homecoming court consisted of 19 students. Candidates for homecom-ing queen were Lindsey Brand, Brit-

tany Dean, Sydney Edwards, Amber Lisman, Claire Staresinic, Cecelia Smelko, Isabel Wroblewski, Kara Travanti, and foreign exchange stu-dent Alessia Moretti. Candidates for

homecoming king were Ty-ler Brown, Hunter Cooper, Isaiah Johnson, Na-than Kaleida, Paul King, Benjamin Lewis, Mat-thew Seipp, Noah Wright, and foreign exchange stu-

dents Emin Diren and Dominik Rupp. Kara Travanti and Matthew Seipp became Mars High School royalty as they were crowned homecoming king and queen. “I was sur-

Goodbye, laptops hello, Surface 3s! Mars Area High School has fi-nally abandoned the outdated Lenovo Thinkpads and has ad-vanced to more modernized tech-nology. Students were using the Lenovos for three years. The new school year also brought with it the Surface 3. Surfaces are said to have an amazing touch-screen feature, along with the ability to transform from a laptop to a tab-let in less than a second. Also, the stylus allows easy note-taking and doodling. Many students believe that the Surfaces are a great addi-tion. “The Surfaces are much more modernized and I love the touch-screen and the efficient way to take notes!” said sophomore Sam Jocuns. However, not all students share

Mars students react to new

technology By Melissa Heintzinger

“I like the laptops better because they were seemingly indestructi-ble. I’ve had so many more issues with the Surface than I did with the laptops.” -Alexa Grau

“I think the surfaces are definitely a better device. They will be beneficial as we learn to use them more, be-cause there are a lot of capabilities that we are still discovering that a normal laptop does not necessarily have.” –Mrs. Rosswog

“I can only speak for what my students are saying, but when they had the old laptops, they wanted to get rid of them. Now they have the surfaces, and they want to get rid of them too!” -Mr. Wesley

Art members Meghan Pisarcik, Natalie Petrini, Annabelle Hnath, Emily Roush, Sydney Edwards, and Richie Kaminski dressed as forest animals

Photo Courtesy of Geena Provenzano

Mars students experience ‘an enchanted evening’ at annual homecoming dance By Melissa Heintzinger

Senior Tori Reginellii accompanied by her date, Ben King. Photo Courtesy of Tori Reginelli

prised that I got picked for homecoming king. There were so many great people who could have been chosen too,” said senior Matthew Seipp. Several students had the time of their lives, all thanks to Student Coun-cil, the Art Club, and fac-ulty. “I think this year’s homecoming was my favorite in terms of décor and music for sure. Be-ing on court was such an honor and I really en-joyed the experience,” said senior Claire Staresinic. Seniors Abby Savitz (left) and

Graycen Vitale (right)

Photo Courtesy of Abby Savitz

From the Planet Press !

4 Sports Planet Press Volume 89 Issue 1

A look bAck At fAll sports… By Joe Horvat

Mars athletics wrapped up a suc-cessful fall and proved to be a domi-nant powerhouse in the WPIAL in every sport. Boys’ and girls’ soccer, girls’ volleyball, and football all made the playoffs and had seasons to re-member. The football team finished off the year with an 8-3 record, while domi-nating con-ference play with a 7-1 record. They recorded key wins against rivals Hamp-ton and Knoch, and took down WPIAL pow-erhouse Montour. Mars foot-ball entered the playoff as the three seed, and took on Ringgold at home in the first round. In a back and forth battle, the Planets were defeated by a score of 42-31. The senior’s season may have been cut short, but they will keep their memories on the field for a lifetime. “It has been an unbelievable four years playing with my teammates. I’m definitely going to miss Friday night lights, but will never forget my time on the field,” said senior Paul King. Girls’ volleyball also had an im-pressive season with an 8-8 record and a trip to the WPIAL semifinals. Their season came to an end on Nov. 1 when they were defeated by a talented Seneca Valley squad.

They had yet another successful Project Pink Planet Charity Fund-raiser on Oct. 12 when they took on New Castle. This annual event ben-efits The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and had a great show-ing from many Mars students and families. The volleyball team also

hosted a spaghetti dinner on Oct. 5 to raise additional funds. “It’s a really amazing event that I always looked forward to every year. The spaghetti dinner was a huge hit and all the support we got this year was awesome,” said senior Mikayla Tiller. The boys’ soccer team had a magnificent season, capturing a 17-

5-1 record and a trip to Highmark Stadium where they fell just short of a WPIAL title. They fell to Chartiers Valley in the championship in a hard fought battle, 1-0. The season was not over after the loss. The team looked to capture a state title. They took on Hol-lidaysburg in the first round and de-feated the Golden Tigers by a score of 2-1. In the second round, the Planets took on the Falcons of Low-er Dauphin, the topped ranked team in the state and nationally ranked 15 via Maxpreps. The Planets were defeated 4-0, and their unforgetta-ble season came to an end. “The team was very welcoming this year and I had a very memora-ble season with them,” said Emin Diren, an exchange student at Mars this year. The girls’ soccer team finished the year with a record of 12-3-2 and made it to the WPIAL Class AAA

Quarterfi-nals. They dominated in confer-ence play, going 10-1-1 and cap-turing their eighth con-secutive section champion-ship. The team rec-orded pow-erful wins’ over North Allegheny, Hampton, and Knoch, throughout

the year. “We worked so hard together and the bond we created this year was one of the most special I have ever been a part of,” said senior Kaitlyn McKenzie. The Mars Area fall teams proved successful this year and all winter sports teams are looking to pick up where they left off.

Max Chizmar leads Fightin’ Planets onto the field under Friday night lights (above). Zane Mundy defends Char Valley attacker in WPIAL championship at Highmark Stadium (right). Photos courtesy of Joe Horvat.

Mars hockey starts season below expectations By Owen Hixon

Mars hockey has uncharacteristical-ly started off the season with a 5-2 record. The two wins came against West Allegheny, 9-2, and North Hills, 5-3. As of now, they sit at number six in the PIHL AA West Division. “I think the start of our season was not too good,” said freshman Sean Newman, “we were getting unlucky bounces and bad penalties,” New-man added. Although with senior leadership and experienced players the team proves to continue to be a top con-tender. Senior Keaton Hanna has lead the way in all scor-ing categories, with six goals and six assists, adding up to 12 points during the first seven games. He also has 40 penalty minutes, two power play goals and a short-handed goal.

Senior Noah Raymundo is not too far behind him with six goals and four assists, adding up to 10 points through seven games.

The goaltender, Senior Tyler Spreng, has two wins in seven games this season, with 26 goals against and a 3.74 goals against average. He has been the only

goalie to see ice time this season. Mars has also been getting help from freshmen Sean Newman and Hudson Finn. They have been

playing both JV and Varsity this season. “It feels awe-some to play with kids that are much older than I am. It has helped me to become a better player and a bet-ter leader watch-ing what the up-perclassmen have done,” said Hudson. Despite the toughest part of the Planets schedule is ahead of them with big teams including North Hills, Hampton,

and Quaker Valley yet to faceoff, Mars still has a chance of making the playoffs.

Meet the Staff

Planet Press staff

members share their

Christmas wishes…

Planets faced off against North Hills at Robert Morris University for a 5-3 victory over the Indians. Photo courtesy of Noah Raymundo

“I wish for my 14-year-old dog Shadow to stay healthy over the next year and for a long time after. “ Corrina Yobp –Senior

“My Christmas wish is to get in to my top choice of college..” Geena Provenzano –Senior

“My Christmas wish is to get a dog.” Owen Hixon, Freshman

“I would love for more kids to join the Newspaper club.” Joe Horvat, senior

“My Christmas wish is to be sur-rounded by family and loved ones, as well as to be at peace with my-self and the world around me.” Melissa Heintzinger, sophomore

“To get into college.” Jack Butler, Senior