the Renaissance

the student newsmagazine of dutch fork high school 1400 old tamah road/ irmo, s.c.

volume 21. issue 1/ fall 2012

Editor ’s Letter

First off, as it is with every other year, I would like to welcome back all of the returning students to Dutch Fork and welcome in the new students just

starting with the school this year. This year The Renaissance plans to be better than the last in giving you, the stu-dents, the best news we can. This year, there has been a new feel to this school year: a new year, a new princi-pal, new students, a new dress code, and a new football field. In this issue, The Renaissance focuses on the new things going on this year. We as a staff have articles about the nominee for Spanish teacher of the year, Erin Gilreath, and the new students at Dutch Fork from overseas. We also have editorials concerning year-round schooling and the newly appointed dress code. Sports, too, offers new articles this issue. Senior girls’ basketball player Alaina Coates (who took the team to new heights winning its first state title) is profiled. Also, the foot-ball team, whose field is newly renovated, is talked to about new goals this season. See, new is in the air at Dutch Fork this year. With all of the new things this year, the staff of The Renaissance has new goals to achieve, too. As a newsmagazine, we hope to reach new heights as well. We hope to win numerous awards at state and regional conferences and we hope to bring new and innovative ways to bring news to the student body this year. The Renaissance hopes to win back-to-back Palmetto Awards and win an All-Southern rating at our regional conference. Our goals, however, should not shadow the need to give the students our best. Once again, welcome back and good luck reaching new limits this year as well.

collyn taylor, editor-in-chief

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Foreign exchange students come to Dutch ForkGilreath nominated for Spanish teacher of yearNews briefsAds

Staff EditorialKids in the Hall/ Dress CodePoint-Counterpoint

Back to school for all studentsMall shopping spikes in August

Senior Alaina Coates heavily recruited Football team constantly strives for success

MultimediaTrending Now/Now PlayingReviewsWho we are

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story by mckenzie mack, dalya beckett and eddie batesphotos by eddie bates and tapanga brigman

Students from Valdapno, Italy and Frankfurt, Ger-many say Ciao and Hallo

to new friends, new experi-ences and a new way of living. Some parents are willing to send their eager children across the world to experience American culture by enrolling as foreign exchange students. “[I came to America] to grow, to have fun and to have the best experience of my life,” junior Italian foreign exchange student Paolo Capellette said. Not only do biological par-ents have high hopes for the exchange students but their host parents, who are experi-encing the new change with the students, do as well. “[We participated in the

exchange program because I wanted] to do something dif-ferent, to give someone the op-portunity to come to the States. I wanted to give my children a

good experience [by hosting junior German Exchange stu-dent Rahel Kauskopr],” host family member Lisa Davis said. As Rahel and Paolo settle into their new homes, they must attend their first few days of American public schooling. “The school is very

different,”Paolo said. “Here it’s more interesting, at the school in Italy we come back at 1 p.m. and in the afternoon, we have to study a lot.”

As the school year begins, various clubs and activities offer the students opportuni-ties to interact with students and teachers not only at Dutch Fork but also in the commu-nity. “I told [Rahel] to join Pep Club and just to get involved in school sports and have school

spirit,” senior Brenton Davis said. Although certain organi-zations and clubs have been recommended to the new students, others have sparked their interest. “[I want to join] Pep Club, spring soccer and either cross-country or volleyball,” Rahel said, “maybe even Beta club if it’s possible.” Paolo has said he is inter-ested in joining either track or cross-country because he enjoys watching the sport and participating in it as well. Those also affected by hav-ing a foreign exchange student are the teachers. Social studies teacher Kathi Wagner has had the oppor-

news

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Foreign exchange students diversify student body

[I came to America] to grow, to have fun and have the best experience of my life.” junior Paolo Capellette said.

Junior Paolo Capellette sits in English teacher James Gilliam’s class, focusing in on the lesson.

tunity to teach an exchange student before. She said this experience has benefited her greatly and made her more aware of their needs as new students. “If I know anything about their culture, I try to be sensi-tive to their beliefs,” Wagner said. “I [know] I can’t always use American examples.” Preparations for exchange students aren’t only made by schools and teachers: families in the community willingly of-fer up their time and homes to these new students. “There were lots of meet-ings with the organization that does the foreign exchange [program] and they gave ad-vice [about] their culture and

with the information you receive you learn a lot about that person”, Lisa Davis said. Alrhough they’ve only been here a short period of time, the students have quick-ly been able to form an opin-ion about American culture. “I think it’s more fun than back in Germany and more individual,” Rahel said. She is not the only foreign exchange student who feels that way: Palo said he has mutual feelings about life in America but still has much to learn. “I think it’s too early to say [that I’ve adjusted to living in America],” Rahel said. “be-cause I’ve only been here for two weeks.”

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Junior Rahel Kauskopr pays attention to history teacher Kathryn Padgett’s lesson during her thrid block class.

*statistics from the Princeton Review

treme elation and excitement about even being nominated.

In addition, fellow Spanish teachers are equally proud of Gilreath’s accomplishments.

“She is an excellent teacher,” Spanish teach William English said. “She puts in a lot of time to make [Spanish] lessons that help students do well on their exams.”

Her colleagues say Gilreath’s unique ability to understand students and their needs has made her an exceptional finalist for this award.

“She takes the time to break [ideas] down, so that each and every one of [the students] comprehends them,” junior CJ Odom said.

Former students couldn’t agree more that Gilreath de-serves the award and each has his own idea why she was se-

lected to be a finalist.“She was nominated because

of her work ethic and teaching style,” sophomore Adam Miller said. “She’s very hands-on and doesn’t play, yet really cares about her students.”

Although her main objec-tive is to educate her students, Gilreath’s students say she still manages to have entertaining moments that make her relat-able. Those moments prove to be effective teaching techniques, differentiating hers from ordi-nary, mundane classes.

“After one of our journals she started playing ‘Me Voy’ and sang really loud” CJ said. “There were certain words that we didn’t know and then conju-gated. It was fun.”

Moreover, Gilreath’s stu-dents say she truly motivates

Erin Gilreath walks across the room and watches her pu-

pils, who are extremely concen-trated on finishing their first in-class Spanish essay of the year.

Gilreath has been selected as one of three finalists for the South Carolina Spanish teacher of the year.

The process for selection was fairly simple and required the nominator to submit an online application for the can-didate of his/her choice.

“[Sigma Delta Pi South Car-olina Branch leader] Dr. Dele-nostro sent an email to all the schools. [Former Dutch Fork Spanish teacher Chad] Allan emailed me and said that he thought I would be perfect for this,” Gilreath said. “Then, [As-sistant Principal Sarah] Long-shore referenced me to the

NCHHS about me being a well-known teacher in the school and community.”

The Sigma Delta Pi National Collegiate Hispanic Honors Society (NCHHS) looked for numerous qualities that served as major factors in determining the winner.

“The kind of person that they were looking for included someone who is innovative in teaching,” Gilreath said, and “someone who also works in the school [and outside of school] to promote the Spanish language.”

Allan nominated Gilreath and told her she was the ideal candidate.

“It was a huge honor, when I found out. I was very surprised and very excited,” Gilreath said.

Gilreath expressed her ex-

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news

Spanish teacher becomes state finaliststory by mckenzie mack, dalya beckett and eddie bates

photos by eddie bates and tapanga brigman

Spanish teacher Erin Gilreath teaches her class from the Smartboard about conjugating verbs.

her students to continue ex-panding their knowledge about the Spanish language.

“I hope Ms. Gilreath be-comes the South Carolina Span-ish Teacher of the Year because she teaches in a way that im-pacts her students,” Adam said. “I remember when I couldn’t [understand] irregulars and she made sure to offer extra work-sheets to assist me.” Gilreath’s mixture of both inno-vative and traditional styles leaves a lasting impression on students.

“She’s very technical and likes [the students] to do [the work] the right way. But, she also has activities that allow for some downtime,” Adam said. “For example she uses puzzles to connect conjugations.”

Other students agree with Adam because they say Gil-

reath’s teaching caters to their needs and assists them in im-proving their Spanish (both oral and written) capabilities.

“Ms. Gilreath is very thor-ough and all the lessons build off one another,” CJ said. “Even if you don’t get something, she will-ingly helps you however she can.”

The NCHHS will announce the winner of the Spanish Teacher of the Year Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. at The Citadel.

Until then, Gilreath is in the classroom teaching new, interesting concepts to her Spanish students.

“She’s great and inspiration-al. I was in Spanish last year and I learned so many [concepts] that higher levels learned,” Adam said. “She inspired me to go further than the classroom and take the initiative to learn outside of [the classroom].”

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Gilreath lectures her students on the lesson of the day in class.

South Carolina Spanish Teacher of the Year Eligibility Requirements:

* At least four consecutive years of teaching Spanish grades K-12.

* Nominees may be self-nominated.

* Applicant must have two letters of nomination when applying.

Source: scspanishteacheroftheyear.org

inbrief news

Dutch Fork, along with Chapin and Irmo, recently put down astro-turf on the football, soccer and lacrosse field. The project was started before students re-

turned in August and continued until the week of the sec-ond home game against Goose Creek. The project forced the first home game of the season against Fort Mill to be held at Chapin High School. The turf was first used during the second home game: a 28-17 loss against Goose Creek Sept. 21.

New turf laid down on field Student selected as keynote

Senior Alex Brunson was selected to give a keynote address at the

House of Representatives Chamber in the State House on Sept. 17 as a part of the Constitution Day Lecture Series. The Constitution Day Lecture Series, which is funded by the American Board of Trial Advocates, focused the writing prompt this year on “The First

Amendment in Modern Times.” “It was surreal like the people, the atmosphere, the ex-perience,” Alex said, talking about speaking at the event, “probably the highlight of my senior year.”

This year, to try to curb childhood and teenage obesity and to comply

with state law, all of the food options in the snack ma-chines have been replaced with healthier options for students. This change comes two years after the installa-tion of the Snack Naturally machine in the Commons. Along with replacing the snacks in the machine, school lunches now require

the purchase of an entree along with a vegetable. School rules also forbid the sale of unhealthy food items as fund-raisers for this school year.

New choices in snack machines

Elections held Nov. 6

Positions for Lexington Richland School District 5 as well as local and national seats were chosen on Nov. 6. The race for District 5 School Board was between Rob-

ert Gantt and Melissa Cole. In the election, Gantt was vic-torious over Cole, winning 7,362 votes to Cole’s 4,853 votes. Also, United States House of Representatives seats were voted upon with Republicans Mick Mulvaney, Jeff Duncan, Tim Scott, Joe Wilson, Trey Gowdy and Tim Rice filling seats along with Democrat Jim Clyburn. South Carolina’s nine electoral votes went to Republican candidate Mitt Romney in his loss to incumbent President Barack Obama. Source: thestate.com

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The new healthy snack maching in the commons

736 Saturn Pkwy Columbia, SC

loveauto.comThe trusted love

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the Renaissance

editor-in-chief: collyn taylor

staff:kirsten arnoulteddie batesrobin hendricks mckenzie mack alexis steelerachel urconis

fusion staff: michaela bakerdalya becketttapanga brigmanalex conekristen mcgiltonlaken radvanskybrandy williams

adviser: amy medlock-greeneprincipal: dr. greg owings

The Renaissance is an open forum for student expression at Dutch Fork High School.

The purpose of The Renaissance is to inform the student body about events affecting them, to influence its readers through responsible editorials, to enter-tain through feature content, to reflect the overall personality of the school and to bring buyer and seller together. These goals will be achieved through fair, accurate and responsible reporting.

Unbylined editorials reflect the views of the majority of The Renaissance staff, but not necessarily the view of the school board, the administrators, the faculty, the adviser, the entire staff, or

student body. All bylined editorials and cartoons reflect the opinion of the writer or artist. Advertisements do not reflect the opinion of The Renaissance or its adviser.

The Renaissance encourages let-ters to the editors as they constitute a constructive avenue for opinion. All let-ters must be signed by the writer to be considered for publication. The staff re-serves the right to edit letters for poor taste, libel, grammar and space.

The Renaissance is published four times a year by students in the journalism classes. The online edi-tion, updated regularly, is available at www.foxfusion.org.

opinion

StaffEditorialWorld wide education; exchange students to DF

Staff Vote:

Agree: 15

Disagree: 0

The hallways are filled with unfamiliar English. Stu-dent desks are surround-

ed by new faces. The cafete-ria overflows with a crowd of strangers and there are only 25 minutes to eat. These are just some of the experiences of foreign exchange students from around the world who have gathered at Dutch Fork High School to learn the English language and about American culture. The goal of the foreign ex-change program is to provide a chance for students of various countries to live temporarily in America and experience op-portunities outside their home-countries. In turn, foreign exchange programs also allow American students to travel aboard and learn about new cultures. The foreign exchange pro-gram provides good experienc-

es for these students, as they at-tend American school. They get to meet people outside of their country and are introduced to a new realm of society. It is true that exchange stu-dents have to adjust to their new surroundings when they arrive in America; however, the education taught within par-ticipant schools is not only in academics, but in things such as American culture. When students arrive in America from other countries around the world to enroll in the foreign exchange program, it is not only for their personal benefit but for other students around them as well. They eat American food, they watch American televi-sion, they see American sports and they interact with Ameri-cans. American students also ben-efit from the program in that

they learn about other cultures from the points of view of the exchange students. One sponsor of the exchange program is CSIET (the Council on Standards for International Education Travel), a non-profit organization providing lead-ership and support for all ex-change students. According to the Council’s most recent study, in 2010 the total number of international students who came to the Unit-ed States was 28,142 (most of whom went to Minnesota and Michigan). The survey says one major benefit for the students involved in the exchange program was the increase in maturity, self-responsibility and the ability to solve problems. By having the opportunity to learn in another country, students are able to develop a better understanding of other

cultures and a different lan-guage, whereas had they stayed in their native land they would have had a more provincial view of the world. Students are able to learn new customs that may be dif-ferent from those in their home country. By coming to a new country students are also able to make global relationships that can benefit them later in life. The foreign exchange pro-gram may seem risky, since it requires one to go to a com-pletely new location and place their life and security in the hands of a temporary caregiver. These experiences and the relationships that one makes while in a new country, how-ever, can come in handy, es-pecially when students finally graduates from school and ac-tually have to pursue the world before them.

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“We should be able to wear tank tops because a lot of people wear them and they’re cute.”

“Girls should be able to wear Nike shorts because they’re com-fortable and not revealing.”

“I think we should wear whatever we want because this is America and we should be able to wear what we want.”

“I’d like to be able to wear [tank tops] after weighlifting so I can cool down.”

JB Dawkinssenior

Carson Marklandfreshman

Kayla Braunsophomore

Bailey Paynejunior

Kids in the HallWhat would you change about the dress code?

Dress code alters students’ fashion column by alexandria cone

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As the new school year rolls in, students are granted new privileges.

Yoga pants are no longer pro-hibited and jeans with holes are not discouraged; however pants still must be no higher than three inches above one’s knee. In years past, jeans with holes and yoga pants were seen as a distraction in the school, taking students’ attention away from what they needed to focus on in class. The location of a hole in someone’s jeans determines the level of attention to be drawn towards them, just as form fit-ting yoga pants can. Such atten-

tion could trigger unnecessary events to occur within the class-room where the only purpose is to receive an education. The new dress code has af-fected the student body greatly before. In 2011 cheerleaders were told that they were no longer allowed to wear their uniforms to school on Fridays, since their skirts failed to abide by the school rule of being three inch-es above the knee. Tradition broken, cheerlead-ers began to wear jeans and jer-seys instead. Yoga pants are a comfortable option for students, however the fact that yoga pants cling to one’s form resulted in the out-law of the garmet for years. Should a student wear some-thing that goes against dress code, they are allowed to call

their parent or guardian in or-der to get a change of clothing, however if they are not be able to acquire a change of clothes they must wear scrubs issued through the adminstration. As usual, males are not al-lowed to wear shirts without sleeves, or have their pants or shorts low enough to reveal their undergarments. A new school year means a fresh start to most students. Being able to dress more comfortably is a great way to help students focus in class; it might even enhance the way some students receive informa-tion. Students will just dress the way they please and nothing in the classroom will be affected. Whatever happens this year foreshadows rules which may be brought to the table next

year. By keeping the admin-istration happy and following the new dress code, who knows what good can come to the 2013 school year? The only way to find out is to do just that: keep the adminis-tration happy, and don’t flaunt new ripped jeans in front of them. Remember: wearing what you want to wear to school is a privilege, not a right. The altered dress code is a nice addition to the rules. Hopefully its boundaries won’t be tested, considering that stu-dents do not have to wear uni-forms and are given a chance to dress as they please. The new dress code should be respected. The privelege of being able to dress in less strictly abided clothing is one that not many other schools have therefore it’ll definitely be interesting to see if this new code gets worn or not.

Traditionally for most schools, there is a summer break, holiday breaks and

spring break to give students and teachers a chance to take a breather and spend time with family and friends. Having these designat-ed breaks gives an adequate amount of time for students to relieve themselves from study-ing and stress but also have a steady 180 days of school a year. If the school decided to have

year-long schooling it would throw everyone out of whack and cause more stress as stu-dents go for longer periods of time dealing with balancing their studies. Also, having in-service days gives teachers and staff a chance to grade paperwork and tests, make lesson plans, and meet with fellow teachers of the same subjects. Some students use their summer breaks to go on va-cation, acquire a summer job and prepare for the upcoming school year. For year-long schooling, students don’t have a chance to mature and get ready for their next grade. During the summer break if a student did poorly

in a class they can do summer school and catch up but still give them enough time to relax and get their minds right. Even though people believe during the summer break stu-dents lose a lot of the knowledge they’d acquired over the year, it actually gives students a chance to get into other hobbies and relax their brains giving a fresh, new start to a new school year. Summer vacation also gives students the perfect chance to prepare for college by studying for the SAT and or ACT. Students are also given a lot of time to pursue trips to visit universities and explore the path they want to take in their major. If students did year-round schooling, it would strain their

brains and cause them to lose interest or increase stress. Having school for a whole year makes it so students are always busy and constantly fac-ing collateral from the work ex-pected of them. Some may say year-round schooling is beneficial to stu-dents because it allows them to have 45 days in school and 15 days out of school, basically making the argument that just about two weeks out of school is more than enough time for stu-dents to catch up and relax after being in school for nine weeks. However, students in tra-ditional schools already have breaks set into their schedule that give students more than enough time to recover.

column by kristen mcgilton

Summer breaks give students much needed relaxation

Frequent breaks relieve stress for students, staffcolumn by rachel urconis

With the advantage of a one-month summer rather than two, stu-

dents of year-round schools are sitting inside the classroom, not only being taught the basic foundations of education, but also discipline and maturity. The policy of year-round schooling provides 10 consecu-tive months of learning within schools and two administered months off for breaks to relieve long-held stress of the students and staff on a general schedule of 45-15: 45 days in, 15 days out. The arrangement of year-round schooling is a good idea

the year as well. “One major new study shows that 54 of 64 school variables--attendance, grades, discipline, test scores and so on--are bet-ter with a year-round calendar than with traditional calen-dars,” executive director of the National Association for Year-Round Education in San Diego, California Charles Ballinger said. Within year-round schools, while not only being taught discipline, students also exhibit greater intelligence levels than those of their traditional school counterparts, increasing a sense of maturity within the students as well. They are taught the value of perfect attendance and are shown the achievement granted when they put forth an honest effort of everything in which they participate. Year-round calendars are a good idea because the breaks

provide the students time away from school but are short enough that education is re-membered and retained from before the break. Students become accustom ed to a schedule of 45 days in, 15 days out so that they have something to look forward to during their year to keep a sense of optimism inside each and every student, while being supplied the same education of traditional schooling and the sensation of discipline because of the time allotted during a single school day. Finally, year-round schools teach confidence and maturity so students are prepared to take on any and all challenges and obstacles in their futures. Students can expect the un-expected and are taught how properly to handle situations when the time comes so they will cherish a wealthy career and ultimate life.

because the frequent, yet brief breaks provide free time for students, yet students could still retain the education from the previous school year. That way, they may return once again ready to learn new material rather than reviewing old. It is true that traditional schools have longer summers than year-round schools with traditional summer break last-ing more than two months. However, during the stu-dents’ two month summer va-cation, the students are losing their previous education and have a tendency to forget what they were taught before. Meanwhile, students of year-round schooling can en-joy their summer break (de-spite the fact that it may be a little shorter than the tradition-al break) while also retaining their education from before. They know they will be pro-vided more breaks throughout

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opinion

#Trending now

Google continues to stay on top as a billion dollar industry with its trans-

formation into an app market and cloud document storage. South Carolina students are required to have one computer credit to graduate high school. One computer class that is offered at Dutch Fork High School is Google Apps. “Google Apps is a web-based software that allows you to create documents, spread-sheets, etcetera and that allows you to communicate and collab-orate with others,” Career and Technology Education [CATE] teacher Bill Robinson said.

Google Apps has unique cus-tomization tools as well that al-low you to change your online and desktop settings. “Google Apps can be cus-tomized; apps will be different for different businesses,” CATE teacher Amanda Bonavilla said.. “The list is long: you can create blogs, group chats, pre-sentations [and] websites.” The use of GoogleDrive can impact productivity for users, privately and commercially. “Google Drive is beneficial because you can work on a document at home and access it at school, everyone can work on the same assignment at once

but be in different locations, and everything automatically saves,” Bonavilla said. Google Drive has now up-dated to be a five gigabyte stor-age space. “It’s plenty of space for stor-age,” Bonvilla said. “You never have to worry about it disap-pearing like a flash drive.” In its transition, Google has also made communication be-tween others easier with their new chat feature. “You don’t have to send out multiple emails to share your work with others, communica-tion is easier and everything is just in a central place and over-all this is a positive change for Google,” Bonavilla said. While there are plenty of benefits, there are some draw-backs as well. There is limited file format (only 15 formats are

supported) and privacy isn’t al-ways guaranteed, even if docu-ments are set to private. Also, multiple folders can’t be synced, and media cannot be streamed to users’ smartphones. “There aren’t many fonts offered in the documents and presentations,” Robinson said. “Also with the presentations there aren’t many designs for the slides to pick from. The spreadsheet could use some improving, especially when it comes to the graphs and charts. While I like being able to com-municate with others easier, I still prefer Microsoft Word, Ex-cel, and Powerpoint.” Two professional view-points. One says Google Drive and another says stay with Mi-crosoft. If the benefits outweigh the drawbacks for one’s com-pany, go for it.

GoogleDrivestory by brandy williams and michaela baker

junior Kirsten Arnoult

“Forever and Always”by Parachute

junior Alexis Steele

“Put it on me” by Brandy ft. Chris Brown

junior Kristen McGilton

“The Match” by Asking Alexandria

sophomore Eddie Bates sophomore Michaela Baker

“Even If It Breaks Your Heart”by Eli Young Band

Now Playing

“As She’s Walking Away”by Zac Brown Band

sophomore Robin Hendricks

“Rise From The Dead” by Danishay

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Flow tops App Market review by michalea baker

A new app has recently hit the surface in the Apple App Store. Flow Free is

described as a “simple yet ad-dictive puzzle game” released by Big Duck Games LLC into the Game Center.

Flow Free is a puzzle game where players have to con-nect the matching color dots by drawing out a “pipe” from each dot. Also, there are many other colors players have to connect so they have to choose the right path to complete each path correctly and cover the entire board with the pipes.

The game has six hundred free levels available in the free play mode, 10 different board sizes and 30 levels of each board size.

Flow Free has many different levels that range from multiple dots to larger boards. Players also can test their skills by play-ing on a time trial to see how many boards they can complete in a limited amount of time.

The design is sleek with sim-ple directions and its clean font and bright pipes allows players to concentrate on the game. The app does not have many options to play but the ones it does fea-ture are more than effective to keep the player busy.

The cost of Flow is free. The App Store even has other apps for “Flow cheats” just in case a player gets stuck on a puzzle.

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The complexity of each level increases as a player pass each puzzle. Players can skip lev-els and come back or just keep playing until it is solved. In the time trials, players test their speed as they try to complete a number of puzzles in a set amount of time.

Players can complete a level in many different ways. One way is to complete it in the level in the set number of “flows” earning a star.

Another way is to complete the level in any number of flows resulting in a check mark. There’s a counter that shows how much “pipe” a player has used because he/she has to use 100% of the pipe each board re-sulting in a board fully covered.

Flow includes four differ-ent packs. A Regular Pack with

a hundred and fifty boards, a newly released Bonus Pack with a hundred and fifty boards, an 8x8 Mania Pack which in-cludes all 8x8 boards also with a hundred and fifty boards, and a Jumbo Pack made for iPads which includes 10x10 and 14x14 boards which also has a hundred and fifty boards.

The time trial section in-cludes four times, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, and 4 min-utes. Each time trial is played on a 5x5 board.

At number 16 for Top 25 Free Apps and with more than thirty two hundred reviews, Flow Free is climbing the app market ladder quickly.

The app is free and worth a shot to anyone looking for a puzzle that is simple yet addic-tive.

New Spiderman amazes audiencesreview by tapanga brigman

Spider bites, web slinging and red suit wearing ac-tion pack adventure called

Spiderman has been remade from its original production in 2002.

In the original movie To-bey Maguire plays Peter Parker, an overachieving senior being raised by his Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson) and Aunt May (Rosemary Harris) after his par-ents die in a horrible accident.

After a radioactive bites Parker, he then immediately gains powers. Then he is forced to battle the Green Goblin (Willem DeFoe) in order to maintain peace within the New York area, while also trying to

protect the love of his life Mary Jane (Kristen Dunst).

Peter Parker gets into an ar-gument with his Uncle Ben one night after being dropped off at the library, they argue about how much Peter has changed. In a furious rage, Peter leaves the house unknowing his Uncle Ben following after, to whom which is later shot in the street within moments.

Unlike the first movie, The Amazing Spiderman is based on the comic book series called The Amazing Spiderman. In the new movie Andrew Gar-field plays Peter Parker, a high school outcast who is trying to find his way through life with his love of journalism.

Peter Parker is being raised by his Aunt May (Sally Field) and his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) after his parents mys-

teriously disappear. He falls in love with Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) while trying to protect New York from The Lizard. The Lizard was a mutation of a sci-ence experiment gone wrong preformed by Dr. Conners.

During his fight, Peter Park-er runs into Oscorp, where his father once worked. He tries to finish an equation for an ex-periment that had been previ-ously worked on before his fa-ther died with a scientist at the laboratory.

Dr. Conners tries to find a way to recreate limbs that have been lost, while in the process the experiment went wrong and mutated his body into a half man half lizard creature. The effects cause Dr. Conners to be-come unstable, angry and pow-erful. He decides to “share” his creation with all of New York. Peter Parker in his alter ego

(Spiderman) must save the city from danger.

Both movies satisfy the original comic book readers and the new school Spider-man fans. Animation was use quite frequently to make the fighting scenes in The Amzing Spider-man. The 3D animation was used in order to to make the movie seem more entertain-ing for the audience. The first movie focuses on more com-puter generated images for the impossible stunts, like Spider-man swinging from building to building more than the remake.

With the web slinging action there are major differences, in the first movie his web comes from the mutation from the spider bite.

In The Amazing Spiderman he invents a device that shoots out a web like string that is vir-tually indestructible.

opinion

Editor-in-Chiefsenior Collyn TaylorFuture plans: Become sports writer for ESPN

senior Laken RadvanskyFuture plans: Attend USC to study broadcast journalism

senior Tapanga BrigmanFuture plans: High Point University and majoring in photography

senior Brandy WilliamsFuture plans: Going to a four -year college to study psychol-ogy

senior Bailey PhillipsFuture plans: Attend Florida State University and study journalism

Senior Alex ConeFuture plans: Going to a good journalism school and making a new news station

senior McKenzie MackFuture Plans: Continue dance career and attend UGA.

The Renaissance:Who we are (2012-13)

The underclassmen from left to right: Michaela Baker, Kirsten Arnoult, Rachel Urconis, Dalya Beckett, Alexis Steele, Eddie Bates, Robin Hendricks, Kristen McGilton

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Students walk from the student parking lot into the school as the school day begins.

story by kirsten arnoult and robin hendricksphotos by kirsten arnoult

Ready or not;it’s time for school

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life

Walking into a big, new school with more ma-

ture students can create butterflies in someone’s stomach: excitement or nervousness, they are there. The term “ready for school” means differ-ent things to different people. From kinder-garten to Crossroads,

to becoming a freshman, the viewpoint changes with age. “I wasn’t really excited to start [school],” freshman Austin Cathcart said. “[But] I wasn’t really dreading to start school.” The older someone gets, the more they dread the first day of school--especially a new school. “I was excited and nervous at the same time because I didn’t really know where to go,” sixth grader Patsy Hall said. Going to elementary school is a transition between pre-school or little-to-no school at all, making it an exciting new experience for almost every student. “[I was excited] because it’s kindergarten,” kindergar-tener Jonah Hawkinson said, “I couldn’t wait until I went.” Middle schoolers have the chance to go out on their own and gain freedom. “It is a little different be-cause of the fact that we change classes and we get lockers,” Patsy said. The point of view of how the schools are different isn’t that different after all: from

high school to middle school, students get more responsibili-ties. “There’s a lot more people here,” Austin said. “The teach-ers seem like they treat you different here, but they expect a lot more out of you.” During the transition to elementary, middle and high school, teachers start to give more responsibilities to the students, with everyone con-stantly changing classes it makes it seem like there are more people in the hallways. “I like school sometimes but only when we don’t have too many tests,” Patsy said. Although the difference be-tween high school and elemen-tary school might be large, the biggest difference is how big the campus is. “So far [there] haven’t been many low points. [I] have a lot of friends in my classes,“ Austin said. “It lived up to what I heard about it: it’s a lot bigger.” The age difference can also determine what a student dis-likes about school, whether it’s naps, a subject, or just going to school in general. Students usually change their mind about school or school activi-ties as they grow and become mature. “One part [of school] is boring, you have to rest, that is really boring, oh my gosh,” Jonah said. “My teacher cop-ies people whenever someone does something, she copies them, it’s annoying. [It’s] fun [but] sometimes on the play-ground it gets kinda boring and I get sweaty.”

Freshman Rembert White gets out of his car in the parking lot to go into school.

Middle schoolers Conner Sally and Austin McDaniel eat lunch together as the new school year begins.

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story by robin hendricks and kirsten arnoult >>> photos by robin hendricks

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By the numbers Back-to-school shopping

$258.91

$36.48

$30.3B

$688.62

55%

>Average spending on clothing and accesso-ries>Average spending on pens, paper and lunch-boxes>Spending nationwide for grades K-12>Average spending on children grades K-12>Percentage of clothes for back-to-school shopping*statistics from suntimes.com

Back to school shopping escalates at mall life

Swamped stores and lines curved around corners in the mall serve as a re-

minder that school is around the corner. Mall workers become busy with customers right before the new school year begins. Back-to-school shopping is not only hectic for students and their families, but also for busi-nesses in the mall that become stressed as they try to keep up with an abundance of shoppers. “[Business] was really slow-ing back, [but] still steady,” De-lia’s cashier Elizabeth Graham said. “[We were] hit hard the week before school started.” Delia’s was not the only store to be hit by the sudden busi-ness; other workers from differ-

ent stores agreed with Graham regarding the increase in busi-ness before school started up again after the summer. “It is always slow during summer vacation,” Belk sales associate Marilyn Smith said. “[Belk tries to sell to] everyone and people who want to be hip and trendy.” The havoc that back-to-school shopping brought to Columbiana Centre was not limited to one type of store, but rather affected a variety with different products and targeted customers. This trend was because not only one kind of person shops for back-to-school, and shop-pers can buy multiple types of items such as clothes, shoes and

accessories when preparing for school to begin. “[Delia’s tries to sell to] mid-dle school girls and just getting into high school girls pretty much,” Graham said. With an increase in the number of shoppers, there was more work that had to be done in order to maintain a neat store and work environment to attract more customers and re-main organized. “[It was] very, very busy,” Smith said. “[There were] lots of merchandize in the fitting rooms to put away and clean up.” The increase in the number of shoppers not only affected stores, but other businesses in the mall as well, such as restau-rants, because people would eat

while taking a break from get-ting new clothes and supplies for school at kiosks. Jennifer Miller, a server at Subway located in the food court, said they were busy during the back-to-school shopping, too. Store workers in the mall agreed that when it was nearing the end of summer vacation, the mall became crazy with all of the shoppers coming in and out of the stores to get various items for the upcoming school year. “[Working during back-to-school shopping was] really stressful because everyone was here and [the workers] were throwing stuff around trying to keep it organized,” Graham said. “Keeping customers hap-py, it was stressful.”

Delia’s sales associate Noemi Pacheco folds t-shirts while handling the back-to-school rush.

Slam dunkstory by collyn taylor

After adding a state title to her reputation, seniorAlaina Coates turns to the next chapter: college

photos by tracy glantz, the state

Senior forward Alaina Coates shoots a jumpshot in the Lady Foxes 61-29 victory over Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School.

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sports

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A 6’4” frame with a smile a mile wide and a state title are only a few characteris-

tics that apply to senior Alaina Coates. Alaina, a forward for the girls’ basketball team, averaged 18.3 points per game (PPG) and 10.4 rebounds per game (RPG) as a junior. She helped lead the Foxes to a 27-3-0 record, culmi-nating in the winning of a state title, the first girls’ basketball title in Dutch Fork history. “For one, we got to win [the state championship] again, [but] we have a big target on our backs. It was an honor win-ning last year because we were the first group in Dutch Fork history to win state,” Alaina said. “We are just trying to do the school proud and get an-other ring. Go out with a bang.” Alaina was a key factor in the winning of the title, being a dominant player in the post and leading her team on and off the court. “Alaina is what you call an impact player. With her size, she’s just blessed with all of the skills. Some people have size but no skills; but she’s got speed, she’s got agility, she’s naturally strong,” girls’ head basketball coach Marilyn Norris said. “With all of that, plus she has learned to be a leader off the floor; doing the right things not only in front of me but when I’m not around. I think we got some young girls that play post that she took under her wings this summer.” Alaina’s impact is not only seen by her coach, but to Alaina as well. She says her team looks to her to be a leader and that she has “good communication with the girls and they know that my best interest at the end of the day is to get the win, which we all want.” According to ESPN.com, Alaina is ranked 28 on the high school basketball’s recruiting board, with an overall rating of 95 and four stars. Because of this, she is being recruited heavily by a number of schools.

“It’s been crazy. It happened really early, since I was in the eighth grade. I’m glad it’s hap-pening to me, I’ve just been blessed to have coaches actually want to come see me play,” Alai-na said. “Not to downplay any-body else’s talent, but I didn’t have to worry about making sure certain people were at a game. I didn’t have to stress hard during a game.” Alaina has narrowed her choices to the University of Tennessee, the University of Georgia and the University of South Carolina. As of right now, she said, she would com-mit to the University of South Carolina because there she “can

accomplish a lot on the court and in life.” While the recruiting process can be challenging for any high school senior, the relationship between the players’ parents and the coach can have a calm-ing effect. “We have had a great rela-tionship, almost like a mother-daughter relationship. I think [the recruiting process] can get very overwhelming,” Norris said. “I think Alaina’s parents have done a good job keeping things under perspective. I would say that they had their guidelines and stuck to their guns. They took pressure off Alaina, [they] took pressure off

me.” Many opportunities are now opening up for female basket-ball players such as playing in college, playing professionally in the United States and even playing in the Olympics. For Alaina, reaching her goals is not out of reach and to her coach, college is the place where she will improve to reach them. “Going into her freshman year, you are going to see a lot of improvement out of her. I think that is going to bring it all out,” Norris said. “She’s got a lot of stuff in there that hasn’t come out yet but the more she ma-tures, the more it comes out.”

Senior Alaina Coates celebrates after the Lady Foxes’ State Championship win.

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Alaina Coates’ statistics 2011-2012

18.3 Points per Game 513 total points

10.4 Rebounds per Game 1.9 Steals per Game

3.5 Blocks per Game 1.4 Assists per Game

*all statisctics from maxpreps.com

Senior Alaina Coates is introduced at the championship game, greeting teammate Shelby Curtis on the court.

With the smell of sweat lingering in the air and cleats clanking across

the concrete to the field, the football team prepares itself for the tenacious practice to come. With long practices and great work ethic comes a con-fidence that overwhelms the players. Junior quarterback Derek Olenchuk said he is very en-thusiastic about the upcoming games. “I think we’ll do good; we’ve prepared for this year ever since [Coach] Knotts has been here. This is the year to do it. This is our year to shine and that’s what

we are trying to do,” Derek said. Though he is enthusiastic about the games to come, a lot

of hard work and intense effort has been poured onto the field throughout the summer. Without this hard work, the team’s goals for the sea-son might not be met. It takes much more than just work on

the field: players also watch the films from previous games and stay fit by lifting weights in the

weight room. “We had a hard summer, we [lifted weights] every day of the summer,” Derek said. “We’ve been out on the fields for three hours every day of the summer. We’ve put in lots of film work

and we’ve been going at it.” Because football practice is so time consuming, it leaves the players little time for themselves. This dedication is all a part of the hard work incorporated into practice each and every day in order to get winning results during the season: if the players expect to win they must put in the strenuous hours to ensure their success. “We’ve practiced all summer, non stop, long hours, just hard work,” senior defensive end Ja-mar Winston said. “We wake up, eat, go to football practice 8 till 12, go home, sleep again and do it again the next morning,” Jamar said.

sports

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Football players strive for success

story by laken radvansky and bailey phillips photos by tapanga brigman

“I think we’ll do good; we’ve prepared for this year every since [Coach] Knotts has been here. This is the year to do it. This is our year to shine. and that’s what we are trying to do,” quarterback Derek Olenchuck said.

Running back Richardson rushes the ball for a first down against Fort Mill

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Even after off-season and summer work outs, the football team works toward achieving its goal: a state title

Junior running back Walter Roberson rushes the ball past Fort Mill defenders for a first down.