Martin High School4501 W. Pleasant Ridge Dr.

Arlington, TX 76016Volume 32, Issue 4

April 2, 2014

the Warrior Post

She’s so fly

What’s Inside?

Stringed star

Pg. 10

Pg. 10

Pg. 16

State champ

The drumline is a very selective group that only takes 13 members, contain-ing talented individuals whose love

of music brings them together to create the Warrior Drumline that is never a letdown. At any pep rally or during third quarter at a football game you can count on the drum-line to be the hype of the crowd, but a lot of work goes into getting ready to perform for the crowd. “It’s hard work,” junior Joey Nelson said. “The actual performances are fun, but re-hearsing is no walk in the park because we have to really pay attention to detail and push ourselves in order to be good.” The drumline not only gives the students a chance to show off their talents but gives them opportunities to bond with others who have the same interest, and learn im-portant lessons. “It has been a really rewarding experi-ence,” junior Bailey Graham said. “Being in drumline has taught me a lot more than just playing percussion at a high level. It

Bailey Lewis • Reporter

Rolling with the beatDrumline takes the stage to kick off showcase season

Drumline members perform their blacklight show at Mr. MHS Feb.27. Drumline performs cadences written by se-nior Nathan Rearick. Photos by Kaitlyn Whetstine

has taught me how to work hard and to ac-complish goals. It’s also taught me if you do what you’re supposed to do every single day, rewards will come.” This year drumline performed a black-light show in which the members of the drumline performed completely in the dark except for blacklights. This year, senior Nathan Rearick and Nelson completely wrote and designed blacklight for Mr. MHS and Percussion Bash. This year’s show included several new elements, which included starting the show in the crowd and having Rearick play while flipped upside down, to create more hype. “The idea of playing upside down came from a drumline show I saw in 2011,” Rearick said. “It blew my mind. It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen, so we figured out how to do it and it worked out.” The stunt didn’t get perfected easily. “It was by trial and error to do it,” Rearick said. “It caused some pain and was a really weird feeling but was definitely worth it.” Not only did Rearick pull off the stunt but he debuted the show at Mr. MHS Feb.

27. “It usually takes me all of winter break to arrange all of the music,” Rearick said. “I also made sure to put a breakdown in the show so we could really get the crowd going.” “Blacklight was a blast,” Nelson said. “I was in charge of all the movements, lights, and walk-in music. I tried to take it to a whole new level by starting off in the audi-ence and stuff like that. We had a lot of fun with it.” If you missed blacklight at Mr. MHS there’s another opportunity to see it. On April 26 the drumline is hosting an event called Percussion Bash. Not only will you get to see Blacklight but there will be sev-eral other performances that are just as amazing. “The cool thing about events like per-cussion bash is that we get to show off en-sembles that everyday students don’t nor-mally get to see,” Graham said. “Ensembles feature marimba, vibraphone, piano, and glockenspiel, while some like ‘Breakdown’ includes a drumset and a tom tom set.”

2news

#THROWBACKA look back on what you may have missed

at Cravens Field against Lamar. Photo by Lauren Franco/Trinity HS4. Pole vaulter senior Grayson Watson soars through the air as he practices for an upcoming track meet. Photo by Lizzie Kirkham5. Senior Mr. MHS boys congratulate se-nior Julian Basey after being crowned Mr. MHS. Photo by Kaitlyn Whetstine

1. The Varsity soccer boys celebrate by dumping a cooler of water on coach Brady Cagle after their 3-0 win against Bowie. Photo by Cam Skanes2. Senior Baylie Brown Sharpies senior Nathan Rearick in the unofficial Senior Assassin game. Photo by Kaitlyn Whetstine3. Senior Varsity forward Carley Stevens runs after the ball in the Feb. 7 game

AccountingBailey Moore and Makayla Williams tied for third, and Reace Wilkie placed sixth.Group Accounting placed first.

Calculator ApplicationsJack Brown placed third, and Group Cal-culator Applications placed second.

Current Issues and EventsDaniel Ramirez placed first

Computer ScienceJake Leland placed third and Jack Brown placed fourth. Group Computer Science placed second.

JournalismJessie King placed second in News Writ-ing and first in Feature Writing. Marcus Maurer placed second in Headline Writ-ing.Informative WritingZain Butt placed first and Jonathan Wong placed third.

Lincoln Douglas DebatePayton Sanders placed first and Aysha Moneer fourth.

Group Speech team placed first.

UIL academics resultsMathematicsAngela Chen placed second and Osman Moneer fifth. Group Mathematics placed second.

Persuasive WritingKyle Desrosiers placed first and Payton Sanders placed second

Prose InterpretationJessie King placed third and Michael White fourth.

Ready WritingAustin Hughes placed second.

BiologyOsman Moneer placed first.

ChemistryNathan Richbourg placed first.

ScienceOsman Moneer placed second, Shariq Haseen third, Nathan Richbourg fourth, and John Brown fifth. Group Science placed first.

Social StudiesAnh Ngo placed fifth.

Martin places first in District UIL March 18 and 21 with individual wins

1.

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3 features

Junior Brin Youngblood, one of Six Flags’ youngest performers, is getting ready for another dance season in one of the most popular entertainment shows at Six Flags, “Chart Toppers.” Youngblood dances with performers of many different ages. The oldest is 30 years old and last year Youngblood was the youngest at 15 years old. “It is such a great experience working with people so much older than me,” Youngblood said. “I’m like the baby of the group that everyone looks out for.” Youngblood started performing in Chart Toppers last summer. “All performers auditioning must go through a two-day audition process,” Youngblood said. “About 50 people audi-tion and only 10 make it.” The auditions are intense and modeled after Broadway auditions.

“The first day of auditions the danc-ers learn a combination, then the danc-ers have a short amount of time to work on the combination before they have to perform it in front of the judges,” Young-blood said. “Once the dancers go in small groups the judges decided on call-backs. If you are called back you go back the next day for the judges’ final decision. Then fi-nally after a few days one of the judges calls you personally to tell you if you made it or not.” Youngblood’s first season was last sum-mer. Rehearsals are two weeks leading up to opening day, everyday for four hours. The dancers also get paid for practicing. During the summer the dancers dance five days a week, and perform four shows a day. The Six Flags summer season lasts from June to mid-August. The dancers work about eight hours a day and make around 10 dollars an hour.

Dancing to the top

Madeline Rusin• Reporter

Junior Kendall Scout started a band with a friend junior Kaitlynd Satterfield called The Inexperienced. The group has an EP (extended play album) coming out later this year called Say Hello. “Kaitlynd and I have five songs ready for the EP,” Scout said. “We go to meetings for the EP and recording starts in March.” Satterfield is a junior at Grace Prepara-tory. “I’ve been playing music for five years and I’m really excited about being able to have an EP of my own released,” Satterfield said. Scout and Satterfield write their own songs and sing covers by their favorite bands. “Kendall and I co-write all of our songs,” Satterfield said. “We have probably writ-ten more than 40 songs. “We have covered song by Coldplay, Foster the People, Jour-ney and a lot of other artists.” Scout plays gigs and participates in open mic nights at restaurants and other venues. “Right now the band is sort of a side proj-ect,” Scout said. “I’m constantly playing at different gigs and writing my own songs. I go to open mic nights at colleges St. Pub, Potbelly’s, The Boxcar, El Arroyo and plac-es like that. I’ve also played at a couple of benefit concerts as well.”

Scout said she became interested in sing-ing and writing songs at a young age. And her parents have been there to support her along the way. “I saw a band called Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers in concert when I was eight and I knew that was what I wanted to do with my life,” Scout said. “My parents have always been supportive of my music. They’ve put me through guitar lessons since I was nine and have been going to all of my gigs since I was ten or eleven. My parents are also helping me move to Los Angeles after graduation.” Scout said she plans to further her music career after high school. “I’ve been looking at a lot of colleges in and around Los Angeles,” Scout said. “It seems kind of cliche, but I really feel like I can do something big and LA is the place to do it. I’ve been exposed to so many in-credible opportunities through my music. I’m very thankful for my family because with their support they make it possible for me to do what I love every single day.” If you’re interested in hearing Scout’s music, visit her Soundcloud, Twitter and Youtube accounts: soundcloud.com/kendallscout twitter.com/kendallscout youtube.com/theinexperienced

Megan Wilson • Reporter

Right: While singing to “Help” by The Beatles junior Brin Youngblood shows the crowd her many talents while on stage. Above: Youngblood dances with a cast member. She is the youngest cast member in the shows at Six Flags. Photos courtesy of Beth Hawkins

Junior is youngest performer at Six Flags

Junior fullfills her dream by making an EP

“I’m like the baby of the group that every-one looks out for.”

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Martin places first in District UIL March 18 and 21 with individual wins

4features

As we peek around the corner and see a new school year coming, we realize it’s time to plan out our new schedules as well. Counselors call students in one by one expecting them to know each class they need and or want to take for the new school year. Some students, however, reach a road-block during that new scheduling pro-cess where they have to decide if AP or Dual Credit is the better fit for them. “Dual Credit is a regular college course while AP is a high school higher level course,” counselor Connie David said. Before students sign up for either of the classes, David said she is sure to reiterate how it prepares them for college and how there is more rigor in both AP and Dual Credit. “I do about the same work in both classes,” senior Colton Hoisager said. “Dual Credit requires a bit more study-ing, but AP requires more written work which I’m better at.” Hoisager said AP classes are more de-manding outside of the classroom, but he said he enjoys both equally. He said he likes and dislikes different things about the two classes, but knows that both pro-grams are preparing him for college next year. “I would recommend AP and or Dual Credit to the students who are willing to study harder and longer, since there is more rigor to the two of them,” David said. If you take Dual Credit and pass the course, you receive automatic college credit as opposed to the AP course where you must score a three or higher on the test in May. Another thing to keep in mind is that all colleges are different and may or may not take the credit you’ve received by tak-ing these arduous courses. Some out-of-state colleges do not ac-cept dual credit, but they do accept all AP credits. “For the most part, I enjoy my AP classes over my Dual Credit ones,” senior Lauren Knapton said. “Many AP teach-ers want their students to be successful on the AP tests in May so they do their best to teach us all of the material ex-pected to be on the test.”

At first glance, Flappy Bird, your dentist’s website, and a video game on the Xbox may not seem to have much in common. In re-ality though, each is connected by Com-puter Science. “Computer Science has been my favorite class all four years of high school,” senior Jake Leland said. “I think it’s one of the most unique classes. The Comp. Sci. pro-gram is one of the most unique because it’s always changing. When you go to the geometry classroom they’ve been using the same book for years, but Comp. Sci. is al-ways changing with the new technology.” Comp. Sci.’s curriculum is constantly changing with the times. The fourth year class is based on whatever is beneficial and educational at the time. “In the fourth year class we’ve been mak-ing Android apps,” senior Gabriel Kenwor-thy said. “Right now we’re making an app for Little Elementary to help teach them math. We interviewed a bunch of sixth graders to see what kind of math problems they were having the hardest time with. We’ve also been making Ouya games. The Ouya is a video game console based on the Android operating system.” “The benefit to the Ouya is that it’s really easy to develop on,” Leland said. “We can use Java and basic programming languages. It makes it easy for us to develop games.” Martin’s Computer Science program pre-pares students for the future. A new world is opened up with knowledge about tech-nology. After the basics of Computer Sci-ence are set in the first two years, the last two years focus on using this information. “In the earlier years of Comp. Sci., there’s more of a focus on educational tools and learning programming,” Leland said. “When you get into the third and fourth year classes, you start doing the cool stuff.” With so many new technologies being developed, it’s hard to keep up with the newest things. Martin’s Computer Science program has kept up to date with new tab-lets, game systems, and apps. “There’s this new thing that came out called Project Tango and it’s basically a

sensor that can turn your environment into a 3D rendering on your phone,” Kenwor-thy said. “It’s cool to see because [computer sci-ence teacher Aaron] Cadle is always really up to date with new technology,” Leland said. “If there’s something new out, he’ll look into it and see what we would be able to do with it.” To the average person, coding would seem like a foreign language. Strange sym-bols, letters and numbers all arranged into a pattern, and this pattern creates an app or website. If even one thing is out of place, the whole design could be incorrect. “There are several different ways to make an app,” Leland said. “The easiest would be App Inventor because it’s basically just dragging and dropping things into place. Then there’s some software that we found that is real coding but it has a built in phys-ics engine. You don’t have to worry about coding the physics into the app which makes it really easy to make 3D worlds. Then there’s processing which is basically just Java but it has graphics built on top of it so it’s really easy to draw things. Then the last way is just straight Java. It definitely gives you the most power out of the op-tions, but it’s the hardest to learn.” In order to successfully code, a certain mode of thinking is required. This type of thinking is beneficial not only in Comput-er Science but also in the real world. “There are two sides of coding,” Leland said. “There’s the basic conceptual algorith-mic thinking behind things, and then on top of that are the different languages. You need to figure out how to write the code for what you had been envisioning in your head. The basic coding understanding is the algorithmic thinking behind it.”

“I love the fact that people can get in-volved and it can impact so many people,” Kenworthy said. “Anyone could benefit from an app that we make. I made a refer-ence app and it hit over 2,000 downloads in a weekend. People are learning from that app and I think that’s awesome.” Greg Patton, Digital Electronics and Animation teacher, has helped the Comp. Sci. program further its studies of new and upcoming technologies. “Mr. Patton set up a connection with someone high up in a company called the Armed Forces Communications and Elec-tronics Association,” Leland said. “We got to meet with them and they gave us a $500 grant for the Comp. Sci. program. We end-ed up using that money to buy the Ouya.” Computer Science lends itself to the wide variety of opportunities of jobs that programmers have. “I hope to major in Computer Science,” Leland said. “What I’ll end up doing with Computer Science I don’t know exactly be-cause computer science is everywhere. The number of fields that require Computer Science has been growing. I think it would be really cool to work in the tech industry.” “Jobs in IT have been growing,” Kenwor-thy said. “I’m planning on starting a com-pany that makes apps and websites.” You could walk by the Computer Science classroom at any time of the school day and it would be full of students. Even during lunch the class is full of life. “The Comp. Sci. classroom is just a great environment,” Kenworthy said. “There are couches, Mr. Cadle lets you get on the computers and play games, and you can socialize with friends. He lets you eat in there, and people work on homework and labs.”

AP vs. Dual Credit

Natalie Buongiorno • Features Editor

Madeline Maxwell • Sports Editor

Code redComputer Science club branches out with XBox, apps and code challenges

Photo by Brenda Chavez-Mayo

5 features

Lexi Martinasked alumni Chandler Ford

“He’s a secret Star Wars fan so I bought costumes for me, my mom and my stepdad. He came to my house because he thought he was going to pick me up. But to his suprise he walked in to Star Wars theme music and to mom in her Yoda costume. She handed him a note that said, ‘Your mission is...’ “He pulled up to Stovall Park and there was a note hanging that said, ‘Call this number...’ which was my sister’s number. She gave him a clue to go to the place where he asked me out. My stepdad and

under the whale and above it it has these sea clouds. While we were laying down un-der it I said, ‘Whale you go to prom with me?’ and he was like, ‘Sea.’”

• • •Karon Chapa

asked AHS student Jonah Hutchison

“When we went to New York for the choir trip, I went to the M&M store and got personalized M&Ms. One said ‘Prom?’ One had hearts and one said ‘I love you.’ I put the M&Ms in a box and I put that in a box and so on. There were eight boxes. At first he had no idea what was going on and he got frustrated. Then when he got to the last one he started laughing and said, ‘Yes.’”

Ladies’ choiceSenior girls go to creative lengths to ask boys to prom

Jennifer Forsberg • Copy Editor

Asking someone to prom has become a big deal. It’s all about the surprise factor and public displays. Girls go crazy waiting for a boy to ask them, but what happens when the tables are turned?little brother were there. He had to light saber fight my brother before he got the clue.” “Then he came up to Miller Elementary and I was standing on the roof in a Padme costume with a sign that said, ‘To prom you will go with me? Be my Anakin.’”

• • •Jessica Newsom

asked 2012 graduate David Bridger

“We’ve been good friends for a long time and I felt like he would just be a fun prom date. His sister and I blew up 425 balloons and wrote PROM on all of them and put them in his room. I didn’t even get the question out. He opened the door and was like, ‘Of course I’ll go to prom with you.’”

• • •Jennica McGinnis asked junior Cody

Pierce

“We got to go on a trip with some people to China. I waited until we were on the Great Wall and I gave him a bow with a slip of paper that said, ‘Will you got to prom with me?’ in Chinese.”

• • •Adrienne Bayliss

asked sophomore Garrett Shuping

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6features

Business teacher Griffin Goldstein teaches his students during a Money and Me class. After school he goes to his second job as an attorney at Ross and Matthews Law Firm. “It’s so rewarding,” Goldstein said. “I understand people and their problems more.” Photo by Kaitlyn Whetstine

He’s the Business Law teacher, the Money and Me teacher, and he coaches the Mock Trial here at Martin. If that wasn’t enough on his plate, he’s also a law-yer in the evenings. Business teacher Griffin Goldstein grad-uated from TCU then attended the Uni-versity of Houston for law school. He de-cided to become a lawyer because the job market wasn’t looking good at the time, so he thought practicing law would open up more opportunities for him. “I tell people that I just wasn’t ready for a job straight out of college, so I went to law school to stay in school for a few more years,” Goldstein said. “But the real reason was because jobs were limited back then.” Goldstein graduated from law school when he was 25. He and his college room-mate opened an office together dealing with mainly family and personal injury law. He quit after four years and soon after got his job at Martin. Goldstein is on his sixteenth year at Martin, and he’s been at his evening job at Ross and Matthews law firm since July. “I arrive at school at 7 a.m. and stay until the parking lot clears out around 3:30 p.m. Then I drive to Fort Worth and work until about 7 p.m.,” Goldstein said. He works in his office over the phone with cases dealing with education. His cli-ents will call him for information on their case and he helps them understand their legal problems. Though it may seem like it, juggling two jobs isn’t a problem for him at all. “There aren’t any conflicts with my two jobs because I make my own schedule at the law firm,” Goldstein said. “The only problem is that I can get worn out. On the weekends, I just want to hang out with my wife and kids.” Not only is he involved with his eve-ning job as a lawyer, he’s also busy with his job as a teacher. He and criminal justice teacher Stephan Jupinko are the coaches of Martin’s Mock Trial team. They teach the students courtroom procedures and how a courtroom is composed. They participate in the Dallas Mock Tri-al Association. They get a case in October and the actual competition are not until January and March. Nationals are in May. Both jobs come with their own set of

rewards. Goldstein said that he feels it’s his job as a teacher to play an encouraging role in the students’ lives. “I enjoy seeing the students grow up,” he said. “They’ll come back and tell you what they’ve been up to. I had a lot of great teachers growing up. They always encour-aged me to get involved and do extracur-ricular activities.” Senior Meagan McCarty is a student is Goldstein’s Business Law class. “He’s a very experienced teacher and a lawyer,” McCarty said. “He pulls it all to-gether well and he has an interesting class” It all may seem like a lot to take on, but Goldstein said he enjoys doing it all. In his class it is evident that he is truly passion-ate about law. “It’s good to get back into law,” Gold-stein said. “I think I got tired of it at first when I was younger, but now it’s so much more rewarding now that I understand people and their problems better than I used to.”

The Muslim Student Association has been an active organization here on and off for the past few years. Going to a dominant Christian school where everywhere you turn, someone is talking about mission trips or the next event they’re having that you should go to can sometimes lead to frustration of people of other faiths and cultures. This year the club is under the leadership of faculty sponsor history teacher Valory Johnson. “Anyone is welcome to join us, we’ve had some non-Muslims join,” senior Nawal Joulani said. “I feel like it’s a great way to explore different religions and cultures because its important that we’re able to understand and accept each others’ differ-ences as well as similarities.” MSA, a student organization run by Muslim students, gives the members a chance to help families on a global level as well as local level, whether it’s the local community organizations like Mission Ar-lington or local mosques (Muslim houses of worship). This December MSA adopted a Chris-

tian family for Christmas through Mission Arlington which allowed them to ensure that family had gifts for one another dur-ing the holidays. MSA also works with students from local Islamic schools. Re-cently they helped with the school’s science fair and hopes to help with the upcoming spring carnival. “We want MSA to get bigger over the next few years,” freshman Bayan Ham-mand said. “People don’t really know they we’re an organization because no one hears about us, but that’s going to change. The next few years we plan on having more henna tattoo events, posting signs and pos-sibly passing out flyers – anything we can do for the organization to get bigger.” MSA members don’t plan on stopping just at getting the organization larger, but also having Coexist events with any faith groups at school willing to join them. “This year we’re officially a club listed on the club list and everything,” senior Naw-al Joulani said. “We’re working on senior cords. We just want the students here to accept each other’s differences as well as similarities. It’s interesting when you see how Islam, Judaism, and Christianity all share many of the same essential concepts.”

Rayan Toliver • Reporter

Muslim student association members want to support and embrace their faith while supporting other cultures, too

Ariel Hernandez • Opinions Editor

Business teacher juggles teaching high schoool kids and being a lawyerTeacher by day, lawyer by night ing

MSA club members vote on their next service project. The club is trying to get senior cords for its graduating members. Photo by Rayan Toliver

Rayan Toliver • Reporter

“It’s interesting when you see how Islam, Judaism, and Christianity all share many of the same essential concepts.”

7 features

ing

When characterizing a typical high school student, people think about a teenager who goes to school from 7:30 to 2:45, comes home and enjoys the rest of their day until they have to start all over the next day. Junior Justin Reichardt is the exact op-posite from a normal high school student. Reichardt is a high school and college student in one. Like every young kid growing up, Reichardt had a dream, and his dream was to one day become a mechanical engineer. By the tender age of 17, he is on the right track to achieving it. “I want to become a mechanical engi-neer and begin working as an intern after graduating high school to get some hands on experience before I get my Bachelor’s Degree,” Reichardt said. Reichardt is in a unique situation as a high school and college student at the same time. He wakes up at 6 a.m., and gets to school around 6:45. He works through lunch on A days and drives home to eat lunch and works on homework there on B days. After school, he goes home, eats dinner at 6 p.m. and then goes to TCC for classes

until 9. He then drives home, works on some more homework before calling it a night. “I work a little late into the night,” Reichardt said. “I usually go to bed around 10 or 11.” With the dedication and determination to get a quality education that Reichardt possesses, it wasn’t a surprise to his friends and family when he took on the chal-lenge of taking college courses. Another valuable trait that he possess are his time management skills. With going to both high school and college, being able to prioritize time is key to being successful. “High school is the most important, so I work on that first and start early,” Reich-ardt said. “I usually try to get as much as I can done over the weekend, because towards the end of the week it starts to catch back up.” Reichardt’s immediate goals include finishing up CAD (Computer and De-sign) classes and receiving his Associates degree. “I plan on going to UTA to earn my Bachelor’s degree,” Reichardt said. Reichardt said he believes his hard work and determination can carry him to new heights as long as he keeps a positive at-titude and his eyes on the prize.

Do’s•Talk to your kids about cyber dangers.

•Set some sort of boundaries or limits when your child leaves the house.

•Have a general understanding of what you expect in terms of responsibility with your children.

•Give your child some space. They’re more likely to follow rules if they aren’t getting bombarded with them.“Children have to learn to make decisions on their own. I trust that they’ve learned responsibility,” English teacher Wendy Sexton said.

•Help your child understand cyber bullying and dangers of the internet.“We check her Facebook, like what her and her friends are doing and saying,” Sex-ton said. “We don’t block the TV, because we trust that she won’t be watching shows that she knows she shouldn’t. We also check her phone and check her Twitter. When she starts driving, we’ll track her phone to know where she is at.”

•Make rules based on their age and ma-turity, as well as their past actions. (If they don’t break rules often, don’t be as strict.)

•Give examples of people who made bad choices, and how their lives are (to create a better understanding).

Don’ts•Don’t go to drastic measures, such as tracking your child’s phone/car (unless they’ve proved that tracking them is neces-sary). “I think it’s too much to put trackers on your children if your child hasn’t done anything to show that they aren’t trustwor-thy,” chemistry teacher Kathy Meyer said. “I trust Evan. We talk a lot and I leave it up to him. It teaches him responsibility.”

•Don’t pile up on rules. Extensive ruling can sometimes cause kids to rebel. “I don’t censor them much. They haven’t given me a reason to feel like I need to,” Meyer said.

•Don’t treat your children like little kids. (Remember, teenagers are more mature than toddlers.)

•Don’t be too overbearing when it comes to creating rules. “Trust your child, and trust how you’ve raised them,” Sexton said. “At this point, they can censor themselves. You shouldn’t be censoring them a lot at this age.”

•Don’t be too much of a friend. Having friendships with your children is a good thing, but if you’re too friendly, they may not take you or your rules seriously.

This generation is often considered the “problem” generation. Teenagers nowadays are often perceived as irresponsible and

immature. These stereotypes are the root of parents’ censorship obsessions. We talked to two teachers who are also parents for

their advice on where to draw boundaries.

Cameron Skanes • Photographer

Parents knowbest?

Caleb Smith • ReporterPhoto by Kaitlyn Whetstine

Aheadof theclassJunior takes high school and college courses to further his education

Monitoring kids’ technology use can be tough for parents to navigate

For interviews, music and more, follow us on

@warriorpost

8features

What is an endorsement?An endorsement is essentially the same thing as a major in college. Students are expected to graduate with at least one en-dorsement.

What endorsements are there?• STEM (Science, Technology, Engineer-ing, Math)• Business and Industry• Public Services • Arts and Humanities• Multidisciplinary Studies

Why were the graduation require-ments changed?The new requirements allow for more flex-ibility in students’ schedules and prepare students more for life after high school.

What does this mean for classes such as Health and Speech?They will become prerequisites for other classes such as public speaking or forensic science, but they will not be required for every student.

Who is affected by the new gradua-tion requirements? All incoming freshman in the state of Texas will be under the new requirements. Arlington is not the only district to fall un-der these new requirements. Current high school students will not be affected.

Endorsement, endorsewhat ? How will this help students when they graduate?Currently, all students’ diplomas look the same when they graduate. The new re-quirements will allow students to graduate with a seal on their diplomas that signifies which endorsements they have completed.

What does an eighth grader do if they don’t know what they want?The counselors will ask the students to de-clare an endorsement upon entering ninth grade, but the freshman classes offered are the same that they always have been. The freshman and parent or guardian will have to sign for their endorsement by the end of ninth grade.

What does this mean for the 4x4 (four years of the core classes)?Counselors will still push the 4x4, because those are generally the requirements for college admissions.

Can you change your endorsement?Yes, you can always change your endorse-ment. If by senior year you do not have enough credits for a specific endorsement, you will be placed in the Multidisciplinary Studies area.

How does this plan help students to stay well-rounded?Students can essentially take any classes they want freshman year, and it is possible to graduate with more than one endorse-ment.

If someone is in the STEM program, can they also take classes like band or public speaking that are not in their endorsement? Of course, students will have the freedom to choose electives like these, even though they do not fall under their specific en-dorsement. It is possible to try new courses, even with a focused endorsement.

Abby Bishop • Editor-in-chief

evamping your future

‘Very few are capable’Emily Gray, Aysha Moneer

and Tupelo Witte • Reporters

With new graduation plans, incom-ing freshman next year are going to be required to choose an endorse-

ment to follow throughout high school. Some teachers and students

are questioning whether or not eighth graders are capable of choos-

ing a major and staying with it so early, when some juniors and seniors are still unsure of their future college

majors and minors.

“When I was in

eighth grade, I wanted to be a social worker,” chemistry

teacher Kathy Meyer said. “I ma-jored in biology-chemistry research, and from there made the decision to teach.”

Meyer said she does not believe incoming freshmen are able to select a major. “Very few are capable,” Meyer said.

“My son is in eighth grade, and is having to choose his. He is

freaking out.”

“I certainly think

that there are some eighth graders who are capable of deciding

what they want to become when they are older,” senior Will Craig said. “But I

would say the vast majority of eighth graders do not have the maturity to pick out a future.”

Craig said he wanted to be a professional tennis player in eighth grade. “I got burned out

and stopped playing after sophomore year,” he said. “Now I plan to attend college and

study acting at Pepperdine Univer-sity.”

Senior

Patrick Burke said he wanted to be president of the United States in his junior high

years. “I realized it was unrealistic, and focused on basketball,” he said.

“Eighth graders are too young and immature to be deciding

on a major.”

For English

teacher Wendy Sexton, physical therapy was the field she

wanted to pursue. “I wanted to work with a professional sports team,” Sexton said. “In

college I changed my major twice, from occupa-tional therapy and then to teaching.”

Sexton said she believes eighth graders are able to decide a path, but are immature when it comes to knowing what exactly what they

want to be. “It’s good to have an idea, but it’s dangerous to set something in

stone this early.”

“I definitely

had no idea what ca-reer I wanted to follow in

eighth grade,” senior Tyler Overton said. “I didn’t even decide that I wanted to get a music education degree

until this semester.”

Hous

e Bi

ll 5

9 features

Starting next school year, all incoming freshmen will have to decide what career path they want to take in high

school. Counselors will then put them in classes that correspond to their endorse-ment. In addition to this new change, health, speech and technology classes will not be mandatory credits. “So far I like what I see,” counselor Da-vid Pyatt said. “It is going to give the kids a chance to specialize in some things that they want to do for a career or for college.” The new changes were mandated by House Bill Five in the Texas Legislature. It helps kids navigate in what they want to pursue, putting them in classes that will benefit their passion. The plan is for the kids to get an idea of what they can do later in life and help prepare them for their profession. One of the big changes, though, is that the new plan does not require students to take certain classes such as Health, Speech and technology courses.

••• “We teach day-to-day life,” Health teach-er Sabina Harrington said. “The stuff you

learn in Health is the stuff that you are go-ing to use next week, you are going to use it in a year, you are going to use it in 10 years, you are going to use it in 30 years.” In the House Bill Five plan, students are not required to take Health as a class. This means Harrington’s Health class en-rollment will drop dramatically. However, students who want to take advanced classes such as Forensic Science will be required to take Health as one of their prerequisites.

••• “I think Speech is an important skill for people to have and the fact that the state and local district doesn’t consider that im-portant enough to include is disappoint-ing,” Speech teacher Chris Proctor said. “Speech not only teaches students how to write speeches, but it teaches them how to communicate with people in everyday life. If this class is taken away, it could af-fect high school students’ communication skills.” Students who want to be in Public Speak-ing are required to take speech.

••• Technology courses will also not be re-quired. “I appreciate it in the fact that it gives

more flexibility to school districts to decide what is important for their students,” com-puter science teacher Aaron Cadle said. Technology will not be a required credit, but many of the endorsements will require a technology class. These endorsements will filter out the students who do not take technology classes seriously and bring in students who will care and will use their skills later in life.

••• Despite expected declining enrollment in Health, Speech and technology classes, teachers of those courses are expected to keep working here at Martin. “These teach-

ers are not going to be displaced,” Dean of Instruction Zandra Marshall said. “There is still a lot of room for those particular courses. A lot of the different endorse-ments that the ninth graders will have to take will require those courses so, there is still a lot of use and need for the students to fulfill their en-dorsements.”

Jaycee Allen • Reporter • Jake Justice

Health, speech, and technology teachers express concerns about requirementsevamping your future

World Histo-

ry teacher Scott Da-vis said he agrees that eighth

graders are incapable of making such a big decision. “I wanted to be a professional wrestler in eighth grade,”

Davis said. “When I first moved to Texas, I went to a wrestling academy,

but it was too expensive so I had to quit, and decided to

teach.”

For English

teacher Wendy Sexton, physical therapy was the field she

wanted to pursue. “I wanted to work with a professional sports team,” Sexton said. “In

college I changed my major twice, from occupa-tional therapy and then to teaching.”

Sexton said she believes eighth graders are able to decide a path, but are immature when it comes to knowing what exactly what they

want to be. “It’s good to have an idea, but it’s dangerous to set something in

stone this early.”

“I feel like my high

school career would have been changed slightly, but I don’t

think it would have been too signifi-cant of a difference,” senior Osman Moneer said. “I would definitely have started out with STEM endorsement, but because I like history and English,

too, I would have pursued en-dorsements in those subjects

as well.”

“If I were back in

eighth grade I probably would have picked Art and Humanities,” senior

Jessie King said. “I don’t think I would have missed out on anything really because all the classes

I have taken in high school have been centered around an arts major.” For King, it would not have harmed her plans but rather helped them. Having an endorsement

would mean a clear perspective on both high school and college careers. “I think that the endorsements are a great idea because it gets kids ready for college. I know a lot of seniors who still don’t know what they want to do, but

I was lucky for figuring out what I want to do. I think this can help people figure it out sooner. All my

electives for the past couple of years have been major-specific.”

“With the new

endorsement plan, students can concentrate on a specific

area, which would help them be bet-ter prepared for college,” counselor

David Pyatt said. “Students are able to take classes that aren’t required for their endorsement. The practical thing is that even if they don’t know what they want

to do, they are able to change their endorsement throughout their

high school career.”

10features

“Vroom vroom” is the sound that reaches junior Sheri Davis’s ears as she gets in her...no, not car...plane. She has been working on her private pilot’s license for about a year, and she will soon achieve it. “My dad has been pushing me since I was really little,” Davis said. “He would always tell me, ‘One day you’re going to grow up and be a private pilot.’” Davis’s desire to fly was mainly inspired by her father and her grandfather.

“My dad is a pilot and owns a plane, and my grandfather was in the Air Force,” Da-vis said. “I pretty much grew up all around flying, so I was used to it. I never really se-riously pursued my pilot’s license until my dad told me about a year ago that he was going to sell his plane. I told him, ‘No!’ And that’s when I decided I was going to work towards earning it.” Davis’s grandfather became her instruc-tor, and she soon began to put in many

hours of work and dedication. “The main thing is that it takes a lot of hours. A lot. It’s time con-suming,” Davis said. “Think of a driver’s permit. You have to have a certain amount of day and night flying hours.” In order to earn these hours, Davis flies often on the weekends, and even embarks on solo flights from Grand Prairie Municipal Airport, where she keeps her plane. “I fly solo all the time,” Davis said. “I even sometimes do spirals.

Those are the best.” Though Davis has been surrounded by aviation even as a child, working toward her pilot’s license is not easy work. “I wasn’t really nervous the first time I flew, since I had been flying with my family as a child,” Davis said. “The one scary thing is called ‘Under the Hood.’” “Under the Hood” is a way of flight train-ing in which the pilot has to wear a special helmet that only allows them to see the flight controls. During this, the pilot is in the air (although they cannot see the air), and they must rely solely on their under-standing of the controls to guide them as they fly. Though she cannot bring them to fly along with her because she has only her student pilot license, Davis is surrounded by friends who support her as she works toward her goal. “I wish I could be so dedicated to some-thing so amazing,” Davis’s friend, junior Katie Handley said. “I know a pilot’s li-cense is a lot of work and time.” Davis continues to work hard, but also

She’s soJunior Sheri Davis works toward requirements

to earn her private pilot’s licenseSherilyn Morales • Reporter

The three judges and few booster parents applaud as Orchestra Director Michael Stringer steps onto the stage at Mansfield Performing Arts Center. Silence takes hold of the auditorium and the 88 members lean forward, eyes locked on the director’s ba-ton, preparing themselves. Sophomore Kaitlyn Stafki sits near the back with her six foot instrument, all 47 strings at the ready. “The orchestra has always been good enough for a harp,” Stringer said. “Having a harp opens up a whole new side of litera-ture that we wouldn’t be able to do without one.” Stafki is the first harpist in Martin his-tory. She started private lessons in the fifth grade and joined the Symphony orchestra as a freshman, something rarely done. “I think I saw a harpist somewhere and just fell in love with the sound,” Stafki said. “My mom was the one who found the harp

Davis stands by her father’s plane before taking flight. Photo courtesy of Sheri Davis

Davis wears a headset so she can communicate with her instructor while in the air. Photo courtesy of Sheri Davis

Something to harp about

FLY

enjoys her time while doing so. “It feels exhilarating knowing that you’re in charge of a huge plane,” Davis said. “When you think about it, you’re com-pletely in control.” Davis’s pilot’s license will never expire once she achieves it. However, she also has other plans for her future. “I actually want to be a marine biologist when I get older,” Davis said. “But I’ll still be able to fly.”

the highest score available, at the March 5 UIL performance.

Tuning one of her 47 strings, sophomore Caitlyn Stafki prepares to play at the Mansfield Performing arts center March 5. Stafki is the first harpist in Martin’s Orchestra’s history. Photo by Brenda Chavez-Mayo

First harpist helps Symphony to earn sweepstakes at UIL teacher.” As a freshman, Stafki triple-blocked or-chestra for both harp and violin, double-blocking Concert One for violin and sin-gle-blocking Symphony for Harp. In one of her first pieces as a freshman in Sym-phony, Stafki received a cadenza or solo. “It was a real push into the orchestra,” Stafki said. “It was like, ‘Here’s what’s go-ing on. Step up.’” Stafki only has a smaller, lever harp at home and must practice her music at school with the larger pedal harp. She comes in at 6:30 every morning to practice and spends her lunch going over her music. “We borrow the harp from Berkner high school,” Stringer said. “It’s about $35,000. The booster club is raising money for us to get our own harp and with that harps at Young and Boles.” The last chord of Danzas Fantasticas by Turina rings across the nearly empty seats in the arts center. Another great perfor-mance. Symphony received straight ones,

Hannah-Beth Floyd • Designer

Stafki said she plans on persuing harp at Berkely School of Music in Boston.

11 opinions

“Somebody tripped and I

helped him up.” • freshman

Patrick Grady

“When a teacher dropped a bunch of her papers, a student stopped

to pick them up for her.” • sophomore Makenzie Woodruff

Something to harp about

The Warrior Post Martin High School ∙ Arlington, Texas

Abby Bishop Editor-In-Chief

Ashleigh JonesManaging Editor

Jennifer ForsbergCopy Editor

Erin HibbsNews Editor

Natalie Buongiorno & Morgan McKsymickFeatures Editors

Ariel HernandezOpinions Editor

Madeline MaxwellSports Editor

Maddy CopeEntertainment Editor

Brenda Chavez-Mayo & Lizzie KirkhamPhoto Editors

Tucker CobleVideo Editor

Jarred Osterman & Hannah-Beth Floyd Designers

Rachel TylerStaff Artist

Tricia RegaladoAdviser

Marlene RoddyPrincipal

Jaycee Allen, Cailynd Barnes, Monica Boyles, Rosa Castaneda, Jazmyn Davis, Alec Delon, Kyle Desrosiers, Michaelann Durden, Garrett Elliott, Roberta Flores, Tyler Forde, Emily Gray, Lauren House, Jake Justice, Bailey Lewis, Keely May, Estefany Mendoza, Aysha Moneer, Sherilyn Morales, Kaitlyn Rosenbaum, Jenna Rowe, Mad-eline Rusin, Cameron Skanes, Caleb Smith, Desy Thompson, Rayan Toliver, Olivia Viscuso, Kaitlyn Whetstine, Megan Wilson, Tupelo Witte

The Warrior Post is the official monthly publication of Martin High School. Opinion columns don’t rep-resent the opinion of The Warrior Post or of Mar-tin High School. The Warrior Post will not accept advertisements for products or services not legally available to students.

Staffers: Whether we realize it or not, we label and judge people every day of our teenage lives. Today, bullying has become a hot top-ic amongst adults, who try to eradicate the issue by encouraging kids to respect others’ differences. But for many, adults and teens alike, this can be extremely challenging, as we live and attend school in a largely ho-mogenous area. Perhaps people don’t realize as easily when they are religiously prejudiced because rac-ism or sexism tend to be more obvious in a person’s actions. While there may be some tolerance especially within different sects of the Christian religion (e.g. Methodist, Baptist, Catholic), what about all the other

Respect others’ religious beliefs

Olivia Viscuso • Reporter

staffeditorial •These endorsements will cause these teenagers to choose a new career path and the number of high school athletes will de-crease, as well as the number of coaches. There are so many people who have cho-sen athletics as their career. Those people cannot even have an endorsement on their high school diploma. This is almost like they are being punished for loving sports. The fact that these teenagers work so hard, is sad. This makes sports in general seem unappreciated and less important. We need to have a sports-related or kinesiology en-dorsement for the incoming freshmen to choose from as well. - Ashleigh Jones & Morgan McKsymick

•Did you ever think, right as you got to high school, you would want to become a police officer or a veterinarian? Teens should have the ability to state their opinions about the change and suggest other opportunities to advance the learning skills in the fields of study. We feel that the new endorsement is starting too early and it’s a big push to the freshman. High school is supposed to be an enjoy-able experience that should help us know more of what we want to major in col-lege. Each year we have goals we set our minds to, until something new pops up and changes our views on the past goals we had.- Rosa Castaneda & Roberta Flores 

• This will work great for the people who know what they want to be when they grow up, but what about the students who have no clue? When I was in eighth grade, I had ab-solutely no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up. If I had to choose when I was 13 what I wanted to be for the rest of my life, I don’t think it would be a very logical choice. I wouldn’t like to choose what I wanted to do for the rest of my life when I was in the eighth grade. People are so apt to change their mind, that their plan might not work for them anymore.- Kaitlyn Rosenbaum

Beginning next year, the incoming freshman will have a choice of endorsements they must carry out through their high school career that allows them to be more “college ready.” These students will have to

choose their career paths when they make their schedules in the eighth grade. You can change your mind and your endorsement, but we feel that eighth grade is much too early to make such a big decision.

Too young to tell

religions out there? What about the kids who don’t follow a religion? Do these kids deserve to be judged by their peers for this one characteristic of a person who may otherwise be a kind and honorable human being? I have seen this behavior many times throughout my high school career — that one kid who is ostracized perhaps because she doesn’t go to church every Sunday, or that guy who is picked on for wearing a yarmulke, or that girl who is labeled be-cause she simply doesn’t believe in a higher power. And this behavior is not restricted to any one group of people — it cuts across all the lines of teenage hierarchy. I strongly believe that a person’s religious preference should not affect how they are viewed by others. What difference does it make, whether they are Muslim, Christian, Jewish or atheist? We are all people, all here on this earth to survive and strive to suc-ceed, to grow intellectually, and to meet other people who change our lives. If you found out your best friend believed differ-ently from you, would you judge them for that? Religion has always been a source of con-

flict throughout world history, and since the beginning of time, many people have fought and died for their beliefs. And while it is true that America was built on a foundation of Christianity, it is known around the world today for being a place of unparalleled variety, a place where all religions can be practiced freely, a place where that right is protected by our Con-stitution. It’s time that we Americans try a little harder to uphold this value, to preserve this freedom on which our country was created. Kids our age need to make more of an effort of extending a hand to help rather than pointing a finger to judge. Just be-cause people are all different from each other does not make anyone a better or worse person than anyone else. No two people will have the exact same values, the same way as no two people will ever look exactly the same. This is what makes the world an intriguing and diverse place. If everyone believed the exact same things, life would be pretty boring, wouldn’t it? As Nicholas Sparks once wrote, “People should be judged by their actions, since in the end, it is actions that define everyone.”

12opinions

“Talk to me, sweetie. You can tell me anything,” seems to be a common thing parents say to their children. But the prob-lem is that kids later on realize that after the scolding and punishment, their parent doesn’t and most likely will never hold up their side of the deal. How do parents expect for their child to talk to them about how they actually feel, when most parents will end up upset be-cause it’s not what they want to hear? For example, my mother is very opin-ionated, and the apple didn’t fall very far from the tree because I’m the exact same way. My mother will insist that I can talk to her about my “high-school issues,” that she won’t get mad, and that she will just sit there and listen. Three hours later I’ll find myself on punishment with no phone.

Talk to me, I won’t bite!Parents insist you vent to them, but end up giving lectures

Jazmyn Davis • Reporter As unrealistic as this sounds, when I do decide to tell my parents my issues, I’d like for them to just sit there and do what most teenage friends do: agree with everything I’m saying to make me feel better. I’m sure most kids feel that way. That’s the real reason why friends are usually the first pick when it comes to confessing to what-ever bad thing we did. Even though what we did we should and will be punished for, at the moment we need comfort. So when parents say to talk to them, they just need to sit there. Later on they can punish and yell, but during honesty hour they need to just sit there, nod and agree. Some adults might say, “Whether I lis-ten and agree or not they’re going to end up mad because they might still get pun-

ished.” But what they don’t realize is that when their child notices they’re listening, it might actually cause them to obey. So, whether or not they’ve done something bad, the child will still come to them just to talk and be open. It’s not that easy for many adults, which isn’t a surprise. Adults are used to being the dominant ones when it comes to having a conversation with their child, but there are plenty of techniques to help the child feel open and welcome. First, avoid dead-end questions. Ask-ing questions that will extend interaction rather than cut it off makes me feel as if I’m being listened to. Questions that require a yes or no or a right answer lead a conversa-tion to a dead end. Reflecting feelings is another important

technique. Good listening provides the ability to put themselves in the shoes of the child, or to empathize with the child by at-tempting to understand his or her thoughts and feelings. Lastly, the adults can help clarify and relate with their own experiences. As they listen, they should try to make the child’s feelings as clear as possible by stating them in their own words. A wide vocabu-lary can help us as kids express ourselves as accurately as possible and can give us a deeper understanding of words and inner thoughts. I’m not saying these tips will for sure make kids talk and be open with their par-ents. But it will clarify for most children that their parents actually care about what they have to say. That makes a huge differ-ence in communication around the house and in general.

My mother will insist that I can talk to her and that she will just sit there and listen. Three hours later I’ll find

myself on punishment with no phone.

Oh, deer! I haven’t ordered my yearbook!

Never fear! Go to bit.ly/2014mhsyearbook to order your book now

Preorder ended March 1st$75

13 opinions

Currently in 2014 we fight so passion-ately for equality and how everyone should have it. But is there really equality? We have fought wars over it, people have sacrificed their lives because of it, and still there truly isn’t any equality in my perspec-tive. Attempts for women’s rights have been present since the early 20th century. Equal-ity between men and women was supposed to be reached around the late 20th century with the accomplishment of more rights for women. Women have progressed a lot socially and intellectually, but still to this day men are earning more money than women and hold better positions. This is not because men have a higher education. Women still get the same edu-cation or even a better one. Yet they aren’t assigned positions that are made for them. I am not saying that women should be the only leaders in aspects of the govern-ment, but usually households mothers are the ones that solve problems in the most expedient way. They are the ones who can manage a situation that is under complete chaos with complete calmness. In the United States Congress, 99 of the 535 seats are taken by women while the rest are held by men. Men usually are the ones who hold leadership positions. Think to yourself when you see a female standing up on a podium, what is the first thing you look at? We immediately look at her apperance. The way she looks will de-cide if she wins or not. Recently women in government have been making headline news for their ap-pearance. Instead of their works being ac-knowledged for either passing a bill that will create jobs, saving someone’s retire-

ment plan or even saving thousands of lives by not voting for war, they are being criti-cized for what they wore or what they look like without makeup. For example, when 2008 Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin dressed femininely, she was offered money to do vulgar things, and was later called dumb and incapable. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clin-ton recently has taken a turn in fashion to dress more in suits and to keep her hair short. She could be trying to give a message that she is serious and has the capabilities to be a leader. The way media treats women is creating long-term effects. They are giving young girls the message that there is no middle ground. If a women is attractive, then she must be dumb and if she is smart and demanding, then she is probably having mood swings and isn’t fit to be a leader. We also have the inequalities between who has more, whether it be money or popularity. Also recently the famous Canadian singer Justin Bieber made news with his reckless behavior dealing with drugs, racing and putting peoples’ lives in danger and what did he get? Some time in jail and a fine. But if we could strip away the money and the popularity, we would get an average immigrant who probably has a family and works from sun up to sundown to maintain his household, but also maybe a household back in his homeland. He is pulled over for passing a red light, he has no documen-tation, what does the officer do? Makes him get out of the car, handcuffs him and throws him in jail. A few days after the person is deported back to his homeland with no way to re-unite back with his family. Now I ask why wasn’t the punishment the same? Equality is a wonderful thing, but every-one should have it – not just the special. I am not trying to sound like a beauty queen, but equality for all would make this world so much better and so much more peaceful. A solution to these problems could be possibly to speak up for the injustices and to try to avoid them. This isn’t about wom-en being above men. This is about equality. Hopefully there truly is equality for every-one all over the world one day and I hope that is soon.

Estefany Mendoza • Reporter

All created equal?Culture and the justice system proves that racial and gender inequality still exist

Respect from teachers makes a big difference

Alec De Lon • Reporter

Respect is the most ambiguously sought-after trait that people desire. We look to be understood, we long to be heard and we as-pire to be accepted, but at the base of all of these social attitudes is respect. Cultivating respect is an arduous task, but a task that is the quintessence of a community, and Martin is a community. Students, teachers, superiors, subordi-nates and even freshmen need to learn how to guide and shape their experiences and learn from all that this school and those in it have to offer. Teachers have an obligation to teach us, but they sometimes fail to deliver the stan-dard of excellence that is asked of them. Students at Martin are at an impression-able time in the years going from kid to

adult. So when a teacher disrespects us publicly or personally, they have dismissed themselves as a source of knowledge and as a source of trust. One day I was listening to music during a teacher’s lecture. Aftewards the teacher asked me what music I was listening to, but not in a condescending manner like you would expect. I reluctantly replied, The Submarines, expecting him to never have heard of them. But it turns out he was a huge fan. A mentor/protege relationship was established and not only on a personal level, but on a fundamental educational level. My grades went up, my outlook im-proved and I actually started to learn. When teachers show enough respect to put themselves on a students level, even for a minute, that respect is reciprocated ten-fold. When teachers show respect to stu-dents, they become more than figures. They become people with thoughts, ideas, beliefs and even vulnerabilities. They become one of us. Students at Martin may not seem it, but I truly believe that they are all willing to reciprocate the same level of respect that is shown to them. We are young adults, we are impressionable, we are vulnerable, we are underestimated, we are a community, and above all else, we are respectable.

14features

The written wordSenior

Matthew Baker

overlooks his work,

Eyes of Steel, in

the library where

he spent time

writing his novel

avail-able on

Amazon for $3.99. Photo by

Brenda Chavez-

Mayo

I wanted to write a novel and the idea just came to me,” senior Matthew Baker said. “I had trouble writing be-

fore, but it just came to me,” Baker is an aspiring, and now accom-plished novelist. Through the journeys of high school and the teenage years, Baker wracked his brain full of ideas and came up with the perfect one for his novel, Eyes of Steel. “It’s been something I’ve been thinking about,” Baker said. “The theme is integrat-ing technology and the human body, cre-ating prosthetics that will be controlled by the brain and if it is right to completely take away a good arm for a prosthetic.” Millions of thoughts travel at what seems as tremendous speeds, but stress isn’t what’s going through Baker’s mind. Instead, the ideas of science, chemistry and technology are running through his brain. “The whole book is my favorite part be-cause I created it,” Baker said. “The cli-

Senior Matthew Baker writes a novel available for download on Amazonmax is when ... well, I don’t want to ruin it,” Baker said. “I had been wanting to for awhile and went through several ideas be-fore I got this one. There were several times where I said you can’t do it, but I made time to do it about two to three hours a day.” Baker has an unusual writing environ-ment. “I actually write standing up,” Baker said. “I can’t really focus while sitting around, I have to be up and moving.” The normal book prep time as it has been shown in movies is a stressful event of stay-ing up late at night, drinking lots of coffee, ripping out hair and paper that has been crumpled up and inked on many times, thrown to the wall, hitting the backboard but missing the trashcan by just inches. “I edited the whole thing myself and the hardest part was reading it all and mak-ing the edits,” Baker said. “I dedicated it to my family for dealing with me while I was writing.” Eyes of Steel is available on Amazon download for $3.99.

Hollywood nightsPresented by Martin Orchestra

April 12th

6-9 in the MHS Cafeteria

Tickets $30, contact Torie Deremo at torie.deremo@sbcglobal.net

dinner and auction

Lauren House • Reporter

15 sports

It’s 4 o’clock in March and the school day has long been over, but the track and field is swarming with athletes. You have the

sprinters doing their warm up. All the field event participants are practicing their event. The long distance runners are run-ning down to Arkansas Ln. Another group of guys is running up and down the bleach-ers, preparing for their race. But these guys won’t finish their race un-til May. These are the DTT (Developmen-tal Track Team) guys. “It gives those players that have an inter-est in Track and Field that don’t have an event that they’ve yet qualified for an op-portunity to continue training, so that if down the road in Track season there is an injury, we have a pool of guys that are read-ily available to be plugged in,” Head Foot-ball Coach Bob Wager said. “From a con-

ditioning standpoint, it helps keep them in great shape. As a bonus, as they enter into either a track meet or Spring Football, they are in much better shape than if they didn’t have that opportunity to workout.” DTT guys are all the football guys who are not participating in any other sport, whether it is track, baseball or soccer. “A normal day for DTT on Monday, Wednesday and Friday is to go on a dis-tance run with Coach Wager, but on Tues-day and Thursday we do agility drills with Coach Jones,” sophomore Nathan White said. Every year a DTT guy gets his chance to shine in a track meet. Injuries are inevitable in sports, and when a track person goes down, the DTT ath-letes are ready. “It’s just like Track,” Wager said. “We lift after school, then daily we mix it up. It’s

The grind never stopsGarrett Elliott • Reporter basically the

same type of things the track team does.” DTT is not all serious conditioning, though. They get to have fun. “My best e x p e r i e n c e in DTT is when oc-casionally, if the weather is bad, we get to go in the gym and play dodge ball,” White said.

DTT athletes continue to work throughout track season

DTT athelete sophomore Zeke Leshay benches in the weight room for track season. DTT is the Developmental Track Team. Photo by Desy Thompson

16sports

The AISD has proposed and approved a $600 million bond package that will be on the May 10 ballot. Millions of dollars are being earmarked for facilities, fine arts, security and transportation up-grades. If passed, the bond is predicted to cost each family about $14 a month. “Just the 14 dollars a month is worth it because of the new lockers we will be receiving,” tennis Coach Derek Moore said. “That money will save you more than the cost of stolen items from locker rooms.” If the bond passes, AISD will be open-ing an aquatic center for swimming and diving teams in the district. In addition, gymnastic teams are currently practicing at Webb Elementary, and this election will give money to build them a facility which will be shared with wrestling. Improvements to the existing high school athletic facilities are also being made. Indoor facilities are being added to each high school as the existing things are being renovated. On the Martin campus, an indoor facility will be added on the southern practice field. This can be used as a multi-purpose center for all sports, including P.E. Inside will be another gym, turf, bathrooms and more lockers. “We don’t have any bathrooms out-side,” Moore said “Just sending a kid to use the bathroom you can easily lose 15 to 20 minutes working with them.” In cases of bad weather, the district does not let sports practice outside. “Tennis has nowhere to practice dur-ing bad weather,” Moore said. “We have to just come inside and watch a movie.” If passed, the bond will increase prop-erty values of each campus in the district and increase revenue. Construction will create thousands of jobs between all of the projects, and the location of the na-tatorium by the Highlands will increase sales and the cost are expected to even out. Some of the district-wide facilities are going to be sponsored by businesses. “There are so many positives for the community, I see nothing wrong with any of it,” Moore said. The bond will also benefit the junior highs by adding lighting and tracks to all of them.

Pinning his opponent to the ground, heart pounding, everything resting on this moment, sophomore Jose

Taylor clinched first place. Feb. 14-15 was the State Wrestling Tournament and six varsity wrestlers from Martin competed. Sophomore Wyatt Alvis placed sixth in state, senior Bryson Douglas placed third, sophomore Tanner Kuketz came in second, and sophomore Jose Taylor became the youngest Martin wrestler to ever place first in state. Martin got second place as a team overall. State champion Taylor worked for months to prepare, cutting 17 pounds for his weight class, and mentally psyching up for the tournament. “Everything was going through my mind the day of the tournament,” Taylor said. “My dad was on to me, my coaches were on to me, and my friends were trying to make me feel relaxed, but it wasn’t working.” Taylor said he didn’t expect to win the entire tournament, after losing at the state

tournament last year to a wrestler he beat in semifinals. Yet after a whole year of con-ditioning and practice, Taylor improved. His conditioning includes running every-day and wrestling nonstop. Taylor’s performance showed that all of his hard work and preparation paid off. He won all his preliminary matches and the Championship match. “The highest I thought I would place was third,” Taylor said. “But winning it was awesome. Nothing can compare to it.” Taylor won his first match 10-2. He won the second match by pinning his opponent. His third match was won 10-8 and the Championship match 7-3. Taylor’s coaches said his success can be credited to his technical style of wrestling. “Jose knows how to force his opponent into positions that he knows will work for him,” Coach Patrick Dunn said. “He was down four points in a match once with 35 seconds left, and came back and won.” To increase the stakes of winning, the

Jose Taylor becomes youngest MHS wrestler to win first at State,

fifth at Nationals

Bond package promises to improve

athletic facilities

Tyler Forde • Reporter

Grapplingwithsuccess

wrestling team made a bet with Dunn and Coach Matt Spengler, that if they won districts, regionals, and placed in the top two in state, they would get to shave the coaches’ heads. “Coach Dunn is an amazing coach and an awesome guy,” Taylor said. “He’s like a little kid. We got to shave their heads the week after state.” Taylor said he wants to keep working hard in off-season and next fall to get to the State Tournament again and place next year. Taylor also placed fifth National Wrestling Tournament in Virginia Beach, earning him an All-American title. He’ll also compete innational tournaments in Las Vegas and California. In the future, Taylor’s aspiration is to wrestle in college for the University of Oklahoma and become a coach for high school or college. “He has a great skill-set and a great mindset,” Dunn said. “His motivation and hard work will take him far.”

Kyle Desrosiers • Reporter

Sophomore Jose Taylor is named state cham-pion at the Feb. 15 state meet in Austin. “Win-

ning was awesome,” Taylor said. “Nothing can compare to it.”

Right photo by Kaitlyn Whetstine

Coach Matt Spengler shaves his head after his athletes placed at

state. Photo courtesy of Jose Taylor

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“Everything was going through my mind at the tournament. My dad was on to me, my coaches were on to me, and my friends were trying to make me feel relaxed, but it wasn’t working.”