Issue 1 September, 2011Hemet High School, Hemet, CA 92544 (951) 765-5150

Yearbooks are still on sale.by Staff

Journalism could use you!!!by Staff

Journalism students are students like you who want to know

what is going on in school and re-search, photograph, interview, and write about it to share with every-one. Journalism is currently still open to students who want to contribute by writing stories, articles, poems, etc. If you have an interest in writing and would like to see your work published, please see Mr. Hill in room 163.

First day of Schoolby Mackenzie Hawkins

Your yearbook is still on sale in the ASB

office for those who did not purchase them at registra-tion and don’t want to pay more at the end of the year.

The yearbook is THE ONE thing that will be

with you that you can look back on in 5, 10, 20, or more years from now and pull you right back to the time that was 2012.

This year’s yearbook will feature an amazing stu-

dent life section with photo’s and stories of all the major events of the year. The senior section will also have a class photograph. Sport covers all teams and every organization and club on campus will be represented. Yearbook tries to get as many photographs and stores to mark this year, but if you do not participate, it makes it difficult for us to get you in

the yearbook. “We would like to have as many students in the yearbook, multiple times if possible!”, said Mr. Hill, Yearbook Advisor. Last year we had over 7,700 pictures in 344 pages. It is the biggest yearbook in the district and the valley, and the least expensive.

Senior dedication pages are also still available

on a first come first serve ba-sis, but they are starting to go fast. If you are interested, see Mr. Hill or go to hemethigh.com, under the department link on the right, click yearbook and find out all the information.

We have already pre-sold about 850 year-

books. This number deter-mines how many we will order for the end of the year, so don’t be left out, save yourself some money and buy yours now.

Warm sand between your toes. A cool

breeze striking your face. The roar of the waves in front of you. And the sound of you alarm clock? Yes, this is just a dream. A dream of the summer you’ve grown to love. And now it is time to come back to the real-ity. School. The warm beach is going to have to wait for ten long, tedious months. And how do we prepare? Well, we all do it the same way. We beg our par-ents to spend a ridiculous amount of mon-ey on new clothing that we already have, shoes we don’t need, and haircuts we just got at the be-ginning of summer. We all get up at absurd hours in the morn-ing to make our hair, makeup, and outfit perfect. Our phones are blowing up with texts from friends asking when we’re go-ing to be at school and ask-ing what we are wearing. We all do this. Freshmen, sopho-mores, juniors, seniors, boys, girls and teachers. Everyone.

The first day was a little different this year. All

the students were asked to meet in the stadium at 7:45 for a small speech and the distribu-tion of class schedules. At first, this sounded impossible. 2700 kids all in the same place trying to get their schedules was going

to be very chaotic. The stadium bleachers filled quickly and by 8:00, the sun was already beaming down on us. Kids

were nervous and some ir-ritated by the heat but the

tensions quickly dissi-pated when our wacky

principal, Dr. Shaw, appeared wear-ing a Wonder Woman costume. After she gave a short speech and Mr. Smith, our vice principal, went over school rules, kids were dismissed by grade level to get their schedules. Students were quickly compar-ing classes and teachers and soon

headed off to their first period. It went quickly because the schedule distribution was very or-

ganized. The commons were packed with confused freshmen that had no clue where to go. Link Crew mem-bers were busy showing them where their classes were. The halls were packed. Students that were going inside collided with the students going out-side. It looked like a big pack-age of sardines! When lunch came around, another wave of confusion hit. This time with all grades. Kids didn’t know whether they had first or sec-ond lunch. Some kids just took both! But, at the end of the day, I think that most students had a pretty great first day of school.

Goodbye Summer, Hello Homeworkby Christina Petersen

Summer, it is what we look forward to all year long; spend-ing time at the beach, hanging out with family and friends,

vacations, relaxation, and not worrying about when the next test is and if you studied long enough. (Sleeping in is just an added bonus, and it needs to be taken for granted because once school starts again, that bonus is blown right out the window.) There is one thing in summer that no one wishes ever to happen and that’s summer ending. All the fun you had is just memories of the past. Yes, school has to start once again, unfortunately. That means waking up early, (which is never easy the first week), homework, classes, (ones you like and don’t like), stress, and worst of all, the crowds. Though the first week for you may have not been what you wanted it to be, don’t worry; you are not the only person. Everyone feels that way on the first day. You just have to get back in the game, keep working at it, and trust me, you will have a lot of time for practice, and you will become the great student you worked so hard to become in the previous year. Hopefully this year brings you new friends, new experi-ences and a new look on life. Freshman, enjoy your first year, get comfortable, you’re going to be here for a while. But for all the returning veterans, just enjoy the time you have left in high school. Make this year fun, and just relax, you’ll do fine.

Hemet High School 41701 E. Stetson Ave.

Hemet, CA 92544 951-765-5150

www.hemethigh.com

Spencer Lewis

Christina Petersen

Mackenzie Hawkins

Journalism Staff2011 - 2012

In your classroom, on the web, reporting on our school!

Views expressed in this issue are those of the students writ-ers and are not the expressed or implied views of Hemet High School, it’s Staff, Ad-ministration or the District.

Natalie SandenEditor-in-Chief

The New Class on the Blockby Christina Petersen

Sleeping in is a thing of the pastby Christina Petersen

Late starts, if you don’t know of them or you just don’t remember it, were days in which the school day started

at 8:40 instead of 7:45 in past years. This only happened twice a month and only on Wednesdays. It gave the teachers one more hour without teaching and gave the students one more hour of sleep, (you know, to catch up on some z’s that were lost the night before). If you haven’t already heard, late start days are a thing of the past. The reason for this is because the district has the authority to take them away and that is exactly what they did. Late starts are actually in place so that teachers can have what they call “collaboration meetings”, in the mornings when students don’t come to school until 8:40. The district wanted to add to the number of meetings. If you didn’t know, teach-ers work under a contract, which is negotiated between the district and the Hemet Teachers Association (HTA), the union. The number of meetings per year came in question. As much as all the teachers, and students loved the late starts, continu-ing them would have added to the teachers workday. Though some may think that they can’t survive waking up at 7:45 am everday, but the district thinks we can, so lets prove them right!

Road Tripby Mackenzie Hawkins

Teenagers have a lot to look forward to. There is senior year, new responsibilities, and the newfound freedom of driving.

Many teenagers don’t start driving until junior and senior year. But many sophomores are starting to get their permits. Driving is a big responsibility. You have to spend about every cent earned on gas. You have to pay insurance and register every year. And some teenag-ers have brand new cars, which come with a car payment. But above all the responsibilities, driving is fun and a great new experience.

Here at Hemet High, we have a very diverse parking lot. It goes from brand new Chevy Camaro’s, to trucks that

are uniquely old. From a classic mustang, to topless jeeps. No matter what the car, students drive them proudly through the parking lot with their windows down and favorite song vibrat-ing the doors. The students here don’t care if their car is a to-tal beater; they just know that they CAN drive. They have that privilege that other students don’t. It’s power over another stu-dent. And us teenagers thrive on that feeling of being superior.

My mom always used to tell me “With freedom comes more responsibility”. I used to tell her she was crazy. But then

I started driving. She was right. We always see students with all their friends in their car and think, I can’t wait for that. But, lit-tle do we know, it’s illegal. For six months from the day you pass your license test, you can only drive by yourself or with family in the car. Friends are not allowed. If you get pulled over and you have your call full of teenagers, you will get a ticket and a heavy fine. So we all have to learn to say no to our friends when they ask for a ride home. Also, gas is expensive. Right now, it is almost at four dollars a gallon! Being students, we never make much money, so every penny we do make goes into our gas tank. Every year, we have to pay hundreds of dollars to get those little colored tags so that our car is registered. And being a teen driver, insurance is sky rocketed. So having a car is fun, but it is also very expensive.

Overall, the one big thing that us as teenagers is looking for-ward to is driving. Beach trips during summer, not hav-

ing to wait for your ride to pick you up from school, and all in all, that look the other students give you when your driving through the parking lot with your window down and favorite song blasting.

As kids, we were always being told to look both

ways before you cross the street. And when we were that small, we completely listened. But as we got older, the rule became to fade into the back of our minds.

Yesterday was a very hectic day for me. I

woke up late and I could not find my shoes for the life of me. As a result of the missing shoes, I was late leaving the house. Walking to school, I wasn’t really paying attention to the things around me. And not paying attention, I didn’t see the giant crack in the side-walk that my foot hit causing me to fall hard on the ground. I lay there for a minute pray-ing that no one was around to see. I got up slowly and looked around. No one. Pheww. So I started back on my journey to school. But, right when I was about to cross the street, my phone rang. It was a text from my mom. So I bent my head to look at it and it read; Have a good day! I remember think-ing that my mom treats me like I’m in kindergarten. Then

Look Both Waysby Mackenzie Hawkins

all of a sudden I look up and a black mustang zoomed right in front of me, not even hesi-tating to stop. I stepped back a bit and yelled towards the car. The driver just smiled and kept going. While the passen-ger yelled out the window“I’m sorry!” When I got back on the sidewalk, I was a little shook up. I almost got hit by a car. Because I wasn’t looking both ways. But then again, the driv-er didn’t seem to care if he hit me or not. He just smiled and kept on driving like nothing happened. So when you are about to cross a street, and your phone rings, ignore it. Look both ways before you cross the street. A text will be there when you get to the other side of the street plus, you don’t want to be one step farther than I was.

Keri Pflieger

On campus we have a wide variety of classes

that we as students are allowed to take. For e x a m p l e , our elec-tives, our math cours-es and the classes that only cer-tain grade levels are allowed to take. Now, for all freshmen there is a new class on that list. High school 101 is the class that has it all. It teaches the students vital in-formation regarding how to sur-vive the next four years of high

school. Mrs. Arnold, one of the teachers, educates the students on life skills that can and should

be used in the present and the future. Health issues that are common in high school, AVID, note taking, read-ing and writing strategies, and c o m m u n i t y service, are

also taught throughout the year. With these skills at their dis-posal, no freshman should have any problems in high school. This class really does have it all.

The Devastation That Shocked the Nationby Christina Petersen

September 11, 2001 is date that our country will

never forget. It doesn’t matter if you don’t remember it, or you didn’t watch it, you know what happened on that day. What happened on that day is that al-Qaeda hijacked four airlin-ers. The Airlines Boeing 767, loaded with 20,000 gallons of fuel was crashed into the north side of the World trade center. A second Boeing-United Airline flight 175- hit the south tower of the World trade center, which created a giant explosion that showered the streets and build-ings with debris. As everything was happening in New York, another plane hit the west side of the Pentagon military head-quarters, creating a fire, which led to the collapse of the giant building. Both of the twin tow-ers collapsed because they could not withstand the blow they had taken earlier. About 3,000 people died, and in that number of peo-ple who died, there were 343 firefighters and pa ramed ic s , 23 New York City police of-ficers, and 37 Port authority officers. There were only six people, their identities are unknown, who had survived the crash of the world trade centers, and almost 10,000 others were treated for injuries, many were severe.

There was some hope that day though. A fourth

plane, united flight 93- was de-layed in taking off, and in that time, the passengers on board learned of what happened in New York. A group of pas-sengers and flight attendants planned an insurrection. Most of this group called home to their loved ones, telling them that they loved them, and told them that they are not going to survive. Thomas Burnett, called his wife and told her, “I know we are going to die. There’s three of us who are go-ing to do something about it. I love you, honey.” The group fought the hijackers, and were suspected to have attacked the cockpit with a fire extinguish-er. They sacrificed their own lives to save many more. The plane had crashed into a rural field in western Pennsylvania. Everybody who was on board the plane had died in the crash. There were theories that the plane was supposed to hit the White House, the US capitol,

Camp David, or one of the several nuclear plants located along the eastern seaboard.

On September 11th, 2011, the 10th anniversary of

9-11, there is a 10th anniversa-ry Observance at the Ramona bowl. You go there to pay our honor and respect for the ones who were lost on that day, and also give gratitude to the ones who sacrificed their lives to help save others. The featured speaker for this observance, U.S. Navy Chaplain Mark G. Steiner, who now serving as the Spiritual Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon. Chaplain Steiner was stationed in Wash-ington on 9/11/01 and was a member of the Recovery Team at the Pentagon. Not only will he be there, but the California State Assembly man Bill Em-erson, US Congresswoman

Mary Bono Mack, and C a l i f o r -nia State senator Bill E m e r s o n , will also attend this o c c a s i o n .

I h a d the lib-

erty of ask-ing some of our teachers where they were on that day, and this is what they said. Mrs. Van Ryn said, “ 2001 would have been my sophomore year of high school, and I remember getting ready for school when it hap-pened.” Mrs. Brown said, “ I was watching the news on CNN and I watched the newscaster go silent because she didn’t know what to say.” Mr. Bradshaw said, “I was traveling on the bridge on the 5, and heading to the 60.” Mrs. Marcus told me, “I was waking up my son to take him to school. I saw it on the news, and after I dropped him off at Ramo-na elementary, I went to church to pray for the people.” Lastly, I went to ask Mrs. Sunshine in the guidance office, and she told me, “I was getting out of the shower when I heard about it on the news.” Our teachers, no mat-ter how they heard it, where they heard it or what they were do-ing when they heard the news, they all had one thing in com-mon, they all were shocked by the event, and so was the rest of the nation. This devastation will forever be in our hearts and will forever be remem-bered by everyone in the nation.

Styles of Changeby Keri Pflieger

Over the summer, we seemed to have dropped the flashy, neon colored ways derived from the late eighties, and

ventured forwards in time, clothing wise. Towards the end of last school year, we took up the natural seventies style, from the side braids to the blouses, and seemed to have reached a resting point. As of our current position, we have stopped advancing, and are surprisingly content in the slowing of progression. Perhaps this is because of our hesitance towards a new trend, or perhaps this is because we haven’t been able to think of anything origi-nal, especially after our grasp of styles from previous generations.

Simplistic is the new ideal look, but not extremely so, as was seen last year with the minimalist trends. We see a

yearning for the casually elegant look, with a back to basics ba-sis, instead of the overdue, obnoxious, over the top way of styl-ing. Classically curled, sleekly straightened, and casually braided hair flounce the school hallways, and are hitting it off greatly. Make-up has strayed away from bright hues, and has tumbled to-wards natural earth tones and soft shades of pink. We don’t see as many grungy looks with a sense of perfected laziness as last year, but instead see a sense of refined outfits, ones that actually pro-nounce that they have a greater purpose than rolling out of bed, and ones that actually take time in the morning when getting ready.

Tops are pleasantly effortless with the laced patterns and sol-id colors, presenting themselves with a worthy companion,

the oxford sweater, something that we may see for years to come, seeing as it is a must have for the approaching fall. Shoes pace themselves around Toms, Vans, Converse, and flats. Toms have a more apparent role, as they are the footwear of choice, and were also present during last year’s school collections. Although Toms have surfaced greatly, Vans and Converse are raking in votes, for a basic commodity, as are flats, of all kinds, for women who are tak-ing the more feminine floral approach. I have seen a need for col-lective designs and refined structure. Bottoms tend to focus them-selves around skinny jeans and shorts this year, as the summer sun is still making an impression, but also because of the approaching fall and gentle breeze, that is about to make a dent in the weather.

We are straying away from minimalist grunge towards clas-sically simplistic with the favored muted tones and basic

arrays of choice, as we try to forget our past’s mishaps in trends and fads. As of recently, military chic has been down played in a minor role, and won’t be as big of a trend as before, although we will see many essences of it here and there. We are finally edging away from bright, neon ridiculousness, and are able to drastically undertake a sense of opposite action as we take full usage of natural beauty and classy apparel. Bits and pieces of older trends will still be recogniz-able within other assembles, but hopefully our new fads won’t be as completely ridiculous as our robotic venture or eighties tribute.

Old Traditions, New Beginningsby Natalie Sanden

The Hemet High School athletic program is

full of traditions, fun and hard work. After talking with a coach that has been apart of this program for many years, and a coach that is just joining us, it was made obvious since that with old traditions, knowl-edge, and new views, a great athletic season is ahead of us.

When asked what are some traditions that

have been created over the years, Coach Kelley (who has been coaching cross-country for 27 years) responded by say-ing “the colors red and gold are truly a HHS tradition, so many teams despite their school colors have black uniforms or clothing. We stay true to our school col-ors.” Coach Reitz, HHS football coach was asked what new tradi-

tions he wants to create. He said, “I want to involve people in the community. For example, Ardin Mcrae was the head coach in the 70’s and I want to involve him in practices as much as possible.”

I asked coach Kelley what she has learned from her

years as a coach at HHS. She said, “I’ve learned a lot. One thing is that even though I have high standards for my athletes, I try to keep a balance between other school activities and sports for the kids because their whole school career is a delicate bal-ance.” Coach Reitz was asked what he is learning as he begins his coaching tenure at HHS. He said he has learned that “this is the pillar school of the district, we have the most traditions and I want to keep and uphold them.”

Something About Band by Spencer Lewis

Band is a chance for kids to be a part of a group of

musicians all working together to better understand and learn to play music. Most kids join band to learn to play music and the instrument of their choice, but some join to better under-stand orchestra mu-sic. Band is a good environment to be a part of and is a way to express yourself through music. Ev-eryone can relate themselves to mu-sic so it’s easy to make friends and have something in com-mon. For the first half of the year, it is marching band and the second half is concert band.

Marching band is the combination of march-

ing in formations and moving while playing an instrument. Many would say that marching band is not hard but the truth is, playing an instrument while

moving is not easy. Trying to get the right notes or rhythms, while focusing on moving to a new formation is quite dif-ficult. Marching practice on a week before a show is usually

about 5 hours, not in-cluding extra time for sectional practices. On the day of a show the band will have up to 2 hours of practice and then the actual show, along with cheering on the football team while in the stands. The purpose of march-ing band is to be part

of the schools tradition and to be a part of major events such as the football games and the Christmas parade. Mr. Boulton has been the band director at Hemet high for 4 years but has been teaching band for about 13. He wants the kids in band to have a good time and have fun, but when needed, be serious and sound good while playing.

What’s New? by Natalie Sanden

As we begin he 2011-2012 school year, you may have

noticed some changes around our school. First, we would like to wel-come the new teachers on campus. In the Science department we officially welcome Mrs. VanRyn and Mrs. Baker. To the English de-partment we welcome Mrs. Gray and Mrs. Husby. To the Fine Arts department we welcome Mr. Picchiottino, Mrs. Cawthon, and Mrs. Risling and to the athletic department we welcome coach Reitz. We also welcome Mrs. Arnold and Mrs. Pham to teach the new High School 101 classes. In addition, we welcome Mr. Hunt to teach the new alternative energy class as well as Mr. Williams in special education.

In addition to the new teach-ers on campus you have

most likely noticed all of the new construction. The new theater is taking shape in front as well as the new classroom buildings. Seven portables were also re-moved over the summer. Other remodelled areas on campus in-clude: a computer lab in room 161 with all new computers, paint and furniture, the gym, which has a refinished floor and no more ceiling tiles, the cafeteria, and the student store. The school re-model as a whole is scheduled to be completed by May 2012.

We also are offering a few new classes here at Hemet High School this year. History of Rock, High School 101 and Alternate

Energy Through CTE are among these new classes on our campus.

Last, this year a new program called Aeries is being used in-stead of Edline. The school district has decided that Edline

was too expansive so the Aeries gradebook system was put into place. Teachers are saying that “Aeries is a step down from Edline.” They say “that with out formal training on the program, it is taking a lot longer to put their grades in the grade book.” Thus, for these first few weeks knowing your grade in a class my be complicated.

All of these changes for this school year will hope-fully take our school to a whole new level.

Fall Sportsby Natalie Sanden

With the b e g i n -

ning of the school year comes the beginning of the fall sports season. Many of these sports have been working very hard all summer to be in shape and ready to do their very best this season. The boys and girls cross-country teams are looking strong this year. Seven varsity girls and seven varsity boys have major goals this season, including taking the teams to the top of the league and doing well at the CIF level. The girl’s golf team has five varsity returners out of sixteen varsity members. The team

captain said the team is “so much bigger” they hope to “beat their rivals West Valley, Tahquitz, and San Jacinto.” The girl’s volleyball teams are also looking strong this year. With only four varsity returners out of fourteen varsity play-ers, the defending CIF champions “hope to do well in CIF again.” As we all know the football teams have hope this season as Coach Reitz joins HHS athletics. He says that their goals are

“to be fun for kids and parents, to be highly competitive and build a foundation for the program.” On Friday, September 2nd, the team took on Temecula valley and lost 38-17. Although they did not win, this gave the team and fans hope for the future. In addition, the girl’s tennis team is looking bigger this year with “around fifty people at practice.” They want to “continue with their league championships and get a better place in CIF than last year.” Last but not least, the boy’s water polo team is ready for another great season. Their goals include “beating Beaumont in league and going deep into CIF.”

Each fall sports team is giving their fans hope as they look strong head-ing into the sea-son. Most teams will start regular-ly competing on

Thursdays so make sure to come out and sup-port all the fall sports.

GO Bulldogs!