Four stories of Hope

TribalTribune

the

WANDO HIGH SCHOOL

Volume 37, Issue 3 MT PLEASANT, SC

11.16.11

student spending / 04 vegetarian columns / 12 zombies / 19 tennis / 24

Four stories of hope special section from page 15 to 18

Tribal People 11.16.1102

what’s inside >>

08 Making a differenceESOL teacher Susan Kern uses a variety techniques to help her students learn the complexities of the English language. Read about her class’s journey on page 05.

12 A new lifestyleSince fifth grade, junior Dale Ryan has been living a life without meat. Now she’s taken the plunge and become a vegan. See her story on page 12.

22 BF3 vs. MW3Associate editor Keanau Ormson reviews Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3. See how they stack up against each other.

by the numbers: Thanksgiving that’s what you said...

1863 year President Lincoln declared the last Thursday of November as a national holiday

22

12 08 25

32

The Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock in 1623, and with that Thanksgiving was born. Have you ever wondered how this iconic holiday affects us as a nation?

32 Lending a handSociology classes -- led by teacher Christopher Poston -- buddied up with the students from St. James-Santee Elementary after helping gather gently used books to share with the students.

18 Conquering cancerGet an inside look at how cancer has affected students, teachers and their families in this issue’s special section.

25 Overcoming the oddsJunior quarterback Christian Hart has overcome obstacles -- including learning to play with only 10 percent vision in his right eye.

242 million estimated number of turkeys raised in the United States in 2010

13.8 pounds quantity of turkey consumed by the average American in 2007

3 places in the United States named after the tradi-tional Thanksgiving main course, turkey

-- All statistics courtesy of census.gov

Do you celebrate Thanksgiving?

Yes97% No3%

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving food?

Turkey31%

Green Bean Casserole7%Dressing15%Rolls13% Cranberry Sauce8%

Potatoes26%

- 212 polled

18

White73% Dark27%

What type of turkey meat do you prefer eating?

What’s your favorite pie to eat at Thanksgiving?Sweet Potato12%Pumpkin43%Apple32% Pecan13%

Tribal People11.16.11 03

link to whstribe.com to view additional pic-tures of sports events, performances and school activites. Also see additional stories, sports and reviews. A database of the year’s TribeTalks and Tribal Tribunes are on the whstribe.com as well.PHONE

SCANwith your

Getting to knowsenior How to...

change a tireby devon barkley

Have you ever been stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire, clueless about what to do next? Tribal Tribune staffer Devon Barkley is here to help.

Tribal Tribune: If you were going to go to a foreign country, where would you go and why?Huger: Probably Español, any part of Mexico, just to see how it is. To have fun, and see the waters.TT: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?JH: Probably living here in the Low-country with a good family and mak-ing a large amount of money.TT: If you could bring three things to a desert island, what would you bring?JH: My cell phone, my laptop and my computer.TT: How would you describe your style?JH: I would say my style is probably a white boy/black boy swag.TT: What advice would you give to someone who is younger than you?JH: Go hard. Do everything full steam ahead and don’t slack off because if you don’t, it will just have a bad impact.TT: What qualities do you think make a good friend?JH: Honest, nice, responsible, funny.TT: If you had three wishes what would they be?JH: First, it’d be unlimited wishes. Second would be for kids not to go hungry, and third to have a better economy.

2. Position the jack and raise the vehicle so that the tire is en-tirely off the ground

with an inch or so separating it from the

pavement.

3. Loosen the lugs the rest of the way and remove them

completely.

4. Remove the old wheel, then place the

new wheel on the vehicle.

1. Remove any hub cap or wheel cover.

Then loosen the wheel lugs with the lug wrench to hand

tighten while the vehicle is still on the

ground.

6. Insert the rest of the lugs and tighten them enough to hold the wheel on the ve-hicle.

7. Lower the vehicle to the ground, making sure the tire holds air. If it looks low on air, be sure to fill it up as soon as possible.

5. Insert and hand tighten two or three of the lugs to hold the wheel in place.

8. Tighten the lugs with the lug wrench as much as possible.

Jason Huger

Tribal News 11.16.1104

Full time job (35+ hours)

Part time job ( <35 hours)

Parents

Babysitting

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24%

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21%

4%

have a job outside of school

have no job outside of shool

48%

Are you putting away your personal money for college?

What is the source of most of your money?

53%

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Tribal News11.16.11 05

After months of continued appeals, the controversy surrounding Brett Lott’s novel The Hunt Club is over, with a unanimous decision to have the novel remain on the recommended summer reading list for juniors.

The hearing, which took place Oct. 25 at the Charles-ton County School Board headquarters located on 75 Cal-houn Street, was first surrounded by some confusion as to why the hearing was even taking place. The original com-plaint made against The Hunt Club criticized the novel for its use of perverse language and violence as well as other material that was deemed inappropriate.

Five members of the board sat with the understand-ing that the novel was under deliberation to be taken off of the reading list, something the parents filing the com-plaint later denied.

Stephanie Ganaway-Pasley, who first protested the book, said her main purpose was to get parental disclaim-ers placed on reading books to guide book choices. Pasley, who reads all of the books assigned to her child, said she believed violent situations and graphic language were of-fensive.

Pasley said she was not aware of the original decision to add disclaimers to the 2011-2012 summer reading lists, and that the whole cycle of the appeal did not fairly in-clude her into the decision.

“There was not due process, we tried to resolve this issue on the local level of school, but we were not given the opportunity to do that,” Pasley said. “A meeting was

called, a committee was gathered, and we were left out of it completely. We were simply sent an email about the out-come, and we felt that that was not fair.”

After the statements of both Pasley and media special-ist Emilie Woody were made, the board debated the issue. Unanimously, the board agreed the novel should remain on reading lists, but agreed with the parents by saying there should be a more explicit disclaimer on all lists telling par-ents about the contents of each book.

Pasley said she is pleased with the outcome of the hearing, but believes the matter could have been settled earlier had there been more communication.

“I feel that the outcome is positive because from the very beginning that is what we wanted,” Pasley said, “a disclaimer on the reading material that is assigned to the students.”

Woody, who has been apart of the controversy from the very beginning is satisfied by the Board’s decision, but is confused as to how the School Board is going to place the disclaimers on reading lists.

“I’m not sure how that disclaimer thing is going to work out. They are going to have to decide what they feel like that means, and who decides what’s said about what book,” Woody said.

“I think that is going to be a bigger process than they imagined. I’m pleased that we get to keep it.”

Lott, the author who also teaches at the College of Charleston, is relieved as well by the outcome, and glad that the controversy surrounding his novel is over.

“I think it’s good, I think it’s a good solution. I think it’s getting hard to figure out who it is that gets to decide what the disclaimer says,” Lott said. “It’s an ever-expanding circle of who gets to make the choice for that, but I think it’s appropriate. Every book better be read thoroughly.”

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Resolving the issueemilee kutyla

Parent advisory note resolves Hunt Club controversy

writing editor After a month-long controversy over giving final architectural approval to Wando’s Middle College, the Charleston County School Board voted 6-2 in favor of continuing with the architectural design contract Nov. 14.

The meeting, held at the CCSD School Board meet-ing room, was attended by a large enough crowd in sup-port of the Middle College that 30 people had to watch from the lobby. Many held signs urging the board to pass the vote.

This was the second vote the school board held for the continuation of the Middle College contract. The previous Oct. 10 vote was tied 4-4, holding up the proj-ect. Though school board member Ann Oplinger did not attend the Oct. 10 meeting, she was present at the Nov. 14 meeting and voted in favor of the college. Board member Mary Ann Taylor resigned her seat earlier in the day and did not attend the meeting.

Board members Elizabeth Moffly and Elizabeth Kandrac both voted against the contract, as they had at the previous meeting. Moffly said she is opposed to en-larging the already overcrowded Wando.

Principal Lucy Beckham, though, said she is pleased with the vote.

“It’s a great victory for Mount Pleasant,” she said. “So many parents and representatives of the town were there. I could not have been prouder of all of them.”

The Middle College is planned to be completed in 2014.

Board approvesMiddle Collegeelizabeth levi

co-writing editor

Tribal News 11.16.1106Colorguard junior Caro-line Thomas and drumline members junior Everett Engstrom, sophomore Andrew Kilby and junior Rudy Box in the marching show at State on Nov. 5.

Notable achievements

Senior David Leggett is the Wando nominee for the Morehead-Cain scholarship. “It’s a big deal to get nominated for the Morehead, and so I was really excited that I would get the chance to apply,” he said.

Senior Bogdan Bor-dieanu, as part of the Columbia Math Circle, finished 11th out of 62 teams at the Duke Math Meet Nov. 12. “It was very entertaining; it was a great experi-ence. The school was beautiful,” Bordieanu said.

Senior Fletcher Wil-liams is the Wando nominee for the Jeffer-son Scholarship for the University of Virginia. “It’s an exciting oppor-tunity and it’s definitely a big plus for a chance to get into an out-of-state college,” Williams said.

Senior Diego Farias competed with the Columbia Math Circle, made up of members of the S.C. State Math Team. As part of the B team, Farias came in 11th place out of 62 teams from across the East Coast at the Duke Math Meet Nov. 12. “Math is my favorite. It is like a sport,” he said.

Senior Madeline Chitty received the October Jefferson Award for Commu-nity Service for her work with veterans. “I was really sur-prised. To me it’s not just volunteer work, it’s something I want to do,” she said.

Junior Jack Meagher competed in the Duke Math Meet Nov. 12, finishing 11th as part of the Columbia Math Cir-cle B team. “It’s a really prestigious competition. With the A team coming in first and the B team finishing 11th, it was a serious victory for S.C.,” Meagher said.

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Exceptional education teacher Mark Abrams realized about four years ago that there was nothing Wando was doing for the needy during the holidays. So he decided to contact ECCO, East Cooper Community Outreach, and started “Tons of Hope” at Wando. In conjunction with the Key Club this fall, Abrams is working to help ECCO, an emergency food bank that helps the needy in East of the Cooper.

ECCO provides clothing, food, education and bud-geting courses that lead to a GED, job skill classes, pro bono legal services, furniture and dental as well as medi-cal clinics.

Students may donate non-perishable food items out-side rooms B-111, C-207 or in the media center between 7:40 a.m. and 3 p.m. until Nov. 21.

“Help us help our own!” Abrams said.

‘Tons of hope’The varsity cheer team placed third in the Lower-

state qualifier Nov. 8, scoring a 254 out of 300 and beating Stratford for the first time all season. The top four cheer squads in the competition move on to the state champi-onship, which will be held Nov. 19 at the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville.

Varsity cheer heads to state

With six straight state championships, a lot of pressure was riding on the Wando marching band when it arrived in Orangeburg Nov. 5 for the South Carolina Band Direc-tors Association Competition. But for the seventh straight year, the band took home the first place trophy. Boiling Springs was second, and Lexington was third.

Band director Scott Rush said he felt the same sense of pride, especially after the band’s appearance at the state competition.

“I was very proud of our students on Saturday night. They had two wonderful performances. When you per-form, what you hope is that you speak to the audience, and I think that happened this weekend,” he said.

The band’s final performance of the year came in the Bands of America Grand National Championship, held in Indianapolis Nov. 11-12. The band finished 12th in the prestigious tournament.

“There were 93 bands from around the country, with bands from Texas to Oklahoma, and we made it into the top 12,” percussion teacher Jeff Handle said. “I’m very

Band finishes strongproud of them, both because of the leadership of the up-perclassmen as well as the growth and improvement of all the underclassmen who came in not knowing anything about marching band, and just seeing how much they’ve grown and have become very valued members of the en-semble.”

Senior drum major Korey Whitmore agreed. “It felt really good knowing we were 12th in the nation, because not too many can say that,” he said. “It was a lot of work to get there and I’m really proud of the band.”

Expectations going into the competition were set high, since the band had just received their seventh con-secutive state championship. “The week of rehearsals go-ing into state were grueling and really tough, so we expect-ed to do well based on the rehearsals that we had,” senior Colin Morris said. “It was relieving because four years of hard work finally paid off. I was happy, of course, but I was also kind of sad because I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to experience it again. It was bittersweet.”

-- haley brimmer

The Drama Honors Ensemble placed second Nov. 13 in the South Carolina Theatre Association’s competition for high school one-act plays. This year’s play, Radium Girls, was a true story of young girls who fought for their justice after being instructed by their employer to put ra-dioactive paint on their lips. The play earned Wando not only second place for the second year in a row, but a spot in the regional competition in March in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Drama takes second in state

Tribal News11.16.11 07

Twice a year, freshmen and sopho-mores find themselves in front of a com-puter, answering roughly 50 questions per section and spending what may seem like valuable time away from instruction.

But Measurement of Academic Prog-ress testing, better known as MAP test-ing, is a computerized adaptive test which helps students, teachers and administra-tors by showing students’ progress, ac-cording to Assistant Principal Brenda Corley.

“Teachers use data gathered from MAP testing as a diagnostic tool, which points to instructional assistance,” she said. “It helps teachers focus on what each individual student needs and gives teach-ers information on how to better guide instruction for students.”

The tests are not timed, but they take an average of one hour to complete each section.

“It is for both teachers and students to see how they progress, not just from year to year, but from semester to semester,” Eng-lish teacher Angele Robertson said. “It’s to e s t a b l i s h that they are in fact prog ress-ing and [it’s to show] where they may be struggling specifically, because it breaks down for us vocabulary, grammar, organization, reading comprehension… it’s not just an overall progression.”

MAP scores are also helpful when placing students in specific classes, accord-ing to AP Geography teacher Jason Brisini.

“In my AP Human Geography class, we take the English MAP scores from [stu-dents’] eighth grade year, and they have to set a certain point value or else they don’t qualify for the class,” he said.

Math teacher Larry Crosswell also found MAP test scores valuable when re-cruiting Quiz Bowl Team members, “giving me an idea of who the brightest freshmen are, which is useful since I usually do not teach freshmen,” he said.

Though the MAP test is a valuable im-plement, there are drawbacks to the program.

“I think that they are not the best way to mea-sure a student’s

performance, because they just have differ-ent variables that aren’t the same as class-room settings,” sophomore Grace Glenn said. “You’re in different circumstances. You might be having an off day. It’s not as reflective of your performance as it could be.”

Some believe that the content does not correspond to the students’ level of knowl-edge.

“What if you have math first semester so you do really well in the fall, but you

don’t have it second semester and then your grade drops in the spring, when it’s supposed to be going up?” sophomore Kristen Stottler said.

Corley said students should beware of taking the test too lightly.

“Take the test seriously and give it your best,” she said. “MAP won’t help your teacher help you if the data you give it is not valid.”

Brisini and Robertson both have ideas for improvements on the MAP test.

“By the time the kids get to [Ques-tion] 40, they’re kind of trailing off and staring at the ceiling… so I think maybe 30 questions would be better,” Brisini said. “It would take away less class time too.”

Moving the date for testing is another solution for the loss of class time.

“I think MAP testing should be done before school starts, when the kids come to register and pick up their textbooks. So we still get the benefit, we still get the tool, they get to see where they are – but we don’t lose class instruction time,” Rob-ertson said.

sarah russell

Computer testing geared to help teachers help students

staff writer

MAPping out the class

It helps teachers focus on what each individual needs.

Assistant Principal Brenda Corely

Tribal Features 11.16.1108

There is a care-free and spirited nature about Susan Kern, the English for Speak-ers of Other Languages teacher at Wando. She has the air of a renegade, the patience of a mother and the passion of a fighter.

Kern’s route into ESOL teaching was an unconventional one. After 22 years of teaching English in Charleston County, she ran away to Shanghai. In 2005, she found herself unhappy with policies en-acted by the school system.

“The pressure to teach to the test was getting worse and worse and worse, in my opinion, and I finally got off my high horse, and I’d been saying, ‘I’m gonna do this, and I’m gonna do that.’ Well I finally did it, and I went overseas, and I taught [English] at an international school,” Kern said of her move.

At the international school, Kern in-stantly noticed that the students -- many of them having made multiple moves throughout their lives -- truly enjoyed school because it was one constant in their lives.

“It’s a totally different experience for me, coming from public school teaching where only your top five percent of the kids are like that. All of the kids are like that there,” Kern said. “They love, love, love school, so it was great. And so that just lit me on fire again for t e a c h -

style as she teaches groups of five to 10 stu-dents, fitting in cultural aspects from time to time. Explaining Halloween to her stu-dents, she said, “It’s just a day of silliness for us.” She stops herself. “Silly. Do you know the word ‘silly?’ Silly. Let me show you silly.”

She then contorts her arms and face to demonstrate silly to her group of students who chuckle at their teacher’s behavior. Still not sure that her Asian students un-derstand the word, she prompts them to pull out an iPhone to plug the word “silly” into a translator app.

For Kern, the challenge is not only teaching English but creating an environ-ment where students can make friends across language barriers.

“The beginning of the day, every day, we start out together in a circle, so nobody has their back to each other, and we call each other by name. It’s not about being Japanese or Spanish-speaking. It’s about being a student here,” she said.

And these students need support from each other to learn in a different language. “The hardest thing about ESOL, I think es-pecially for the teachers, is to understand that their cognitive ability is…everything between average and gifted and talented, just like our kids, but their language is so limited. I don’t even say ‘poor’ because

it’s not poor. It’s just limited. And because the language is so lim-

ited, it’s hard for students to demonstrate and ar-ticulate critical thinking skills.”

E d u c a t i o n laws require ac-commodations

caitie armstrong

Teacher reaches out to English as Second Language students

staff writer

ing.” Kern returned to the U.S. with uncon-

ventional plans. “I was going to massage horses because I’m also a horse person, and I got trained to be a massage thera-pist for horses…And I was just going be a gypsy,” she said.

But a phone call changed her plans. “My former principal…called me

and said, ‘I really want you to be a teacher coach,’ and so over a three-hour lunch she talked me into being a teacher coach,” she said.

But hroughout her career, she had shied away from formulaic teaching meth-ods and focused on the individual student, she said.

“I didn’t want to have to drive teach-ers and tell teachers that they had to collect all this data and pay attention to the MAP scores and keep shoving that stuff down their throats when that was the very reason I left,” she said.

So Kern became a different kind of teacher coach. “I became this advocate for teachers, and I went to try to go into their classrooms as much as I could to help them teach classes, and I looked at it like, you know what, if I can teach your class, and it gives you a break to go grade papers, fine. I don’t care if you model what I’m do-ing…Let me help if I can.”

During this time at West Ashley Mid-dle School, Kern slowly became involved with the ESOL program to provide some relief for the ESOL teacher stretched be-tween students and schools, and when the ESOL teacher left her position, Kern ap-plied.

Now, four years into her ESOL teaching, Kern has found a perfect fit. Her free spirit creeps into her teaching

be made for ESOL students, and no stu-dent may fail a course if language is the cause. After 22 years of teaching, Kern sympathizes with the regular subject teachers of ESOL students.

“I know from my own experience, I’ve got 30 kids in front of me…I don’t know how to deal with this kid that doesn’t speak English,” she said. “And that’s a pretty normal reaction from teachers, and they don’t have time.”

In short, Kern once again finds her-self an advocate. She must help the stu-dents who can’t learn, the teachers who can’t teach and the students who are here illegally. “One of the challenges for un-documented students is that they have nowhere to go when they graduate,” Kern said. Illegal immigrants cannot join the military, go to college or gain employ-ment, meaning that the career options for most students are closed off.

“We can all argue the political end of it. Yes, of course our border needs to be more secure, but we’ve got these people here,” she said. “It wasn’t their choice, and the stuff they’ve been through — none of us can understand some of the situa-tions they’ve been through…Instead of doing fire drills and things like that, they do these drills where…everybody’s got to hit the floor and put their hands over their head…because of the drug…cartels and gangs coming in and just, you know, shooting out classrooms of kids. That’s what they’re used to.”

“That’s the kind of stuff I get really passionate about…These kids deserve a chance because of what they’ve been through and what their parents have gone through to get them here,” she added. “I

just try to get people to understand that the political is-

sue is one thing, and this is not re-

lated to that.”

‘It’s about being a student here’

ESOL teacher Susan Kern (center) works with studen-tsin her English as Second Language classroom. Kern has her stu-dents sit in a circle so they can work together.

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KRISTEN POPOVICH / staff

Tribal Features11.16.11 09

Junior Tommi Nagumo blends in effortlessly among the students at Wando. With her hands tucked inside the pockets of her hoodie, she walks down the hallway with a fact that is concealed by her perfectly spoken English. Five years ago, she moved from her birthplace of Tokyo, Japan to Charleston.

Nagumo has come a long way from her first year in America when she knew very little English. Five years of intensive study later and she has a 4.9 GPA is ranked number eight in her class. She is a member of National Honors Society, the girls’ basketball team and the girls’ tennis team.

Within the span of five years, Nagumo learned to speak English with the same casu-alness as any native born teenager.

She didn’t start some scratch with the language, however, since Nagumo did have a bi-cultural advantage; she is the daughter of a Japanese father and an American mother.

“Because this is where my mom grew up, I actu-ally have a large family in Charleston,” she said. “Since I was a baby, I visited every summer with my mom.”

Yet the permanent move to Charleston proved to be radically different from occasional visits. “The problem was that I’ve only experienced the ‘fun-ness’ of America during the summer breaks. I didn’t know anything outside of that,” Nagumo said. “From my mom, and coming to America every summer. I had the very, very, very, basic English down.” For all of sixth grade Nagumo felt depressed and homesick. “The first year was miserable. I didn’t think I could make it through every single day. I came home every-day begging to go back to Japan,” she said.

But teachers-- especially her seventh grade Eng-lish teacher, Kathy Beyers-Rogers-- helped in her adjustment. “She lived in Japan for four years before [moving to America that year], and she understood my problems more than anyone” Nagumo said. “She would always give me encouraging words and I had the best time having her as a teacher. After maybe two years, I think I caught up to a normal level of under-standing.”

By the time she left middle school she was fluent in English. At her eighth grade graduation she was se-lected out of the entire graduating class for the presti-gous Moultrie Patriot Award.

From there, she entered the halls of Wando, where she continued to achieve acedemic success. “I am always in awe of the wonderful achievements Tommi has made and continues to make,” Nagumo’s mother Lori said. “Five years ago, she had never read, written, nor studied in English, and to be an all-A stu-dent- that says it all!”

Yafan and Yazhou Dong are the closest of brothers. Twins, born and raised in Fouzhou, China, the two look nearly identical, but there are small differences between the two. Yafan’s bangs grow long into his face, and he is more outspoken than his brother. They speak with heavy accents and limited vocabulary but can converse surpris-ingly well for two native Mandarin speakers.

Their immersion has been slow. In 2007, they moved to Pennsylvania to join their father who had been living and working in the U.S. since 2000. After a year in Penn-sylvania, they moved to New York. There they found a cul-ture similar to home, living in China Town and attending a bilingual school. But being able to use their native tongue as a fallback they say hurt them in the long run. Being able to speak Mandarin at home and at school meant they hardly used English.

But before their freshman year of high school, they moved down to Charleston to be with their uncle who owns Flaming Wok, a Chinese restaurant on Coleman Boulevard. The twins are budding salesmen, always carry-ing a take-out menu for the restaurant.

They live apart from their parents, but talk to them frequently.

“They will call and use the telephone to ask us are we eating every day,” Yafan said.

They both also say that the hardest part of the move is not separation from their parents but the language barrier.

If they were being educated in their native language, “Learning would be easier,” Yafan said.

Teachers make accommodations to help them work. In English class, “the teacher tells me get the book to

do go to the line to translation the word,” Yafan said. Their English for speakers of other languages teacher places spe-cial emphasis on literary terms and English literary devices.

But by helping each other, the burden is lessened. “We [are] just brothers. [We] talk to each other,” Ya-

fan said. Both brothers say that classwork is easier with the other’s help.

The twins have no idea what the future may hold for them and whether that involves a return to China. “Fifteen is too young,” Yazhou said.

They insisted for the next couple of years they will focus on their high school studies and consult their par-ents on a further course of work or study. But for now, the twins are adapting to American culture, taking up a love for American inventions like toaster waffles and Sponge-bob Squarepants.

caitie armstrong

Twins travel overseas and start to overcome language barrier

staff writer

20 different countries are represented in Susan Kern’s ESOL classes.

8 Chile9 Argentina

4 Panama

2 Mexico1 Dominican

5 Colombia

7 Equador

3 Honduras

6 Venezeuela

10 Uraguay

14 Bulgaria

16 Japan17 China

11 Italy

15 Russia

13 Uzbekistan

12 France

18 Vietnam

20 Congo

19 S. Korea

12

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1314

15

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FreshmenYanfan and Yazou Dong study together during the English as a Second Language class.

Coming

georgia barfield

Student moves to America and within five years, she is at the top of the intellectual ladder

staff writer

to America

KRISTEN

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No place like home

Evacuation - leaving a place in an or-derly fashion, especially for protection. It was the last thing junior Taylor Foxworth expected to have to do. The thought that mold was in her house, that she would have to leave her home, was foreign.

“My mom texted me while I was at school and told me I had to pack up within the first 20 minutes of getting home,” said Foxworth about the Oct. 11 text. “She said she would be there to pick me up and that we had to leave.”

Emotions bombarded Foxworth’s mind -- fear, uncertainty, confusion.

“I never thought I would have to leave my house,” Foxworth said.

At first, she thought the strange news was a joke. She laughed. Foxworth even asked her mother why she would make a joke about such a thing. But it was the truth -- this was her reality.

“We were getting our air conditioning fixed and under our house was being in-spected. That’s where they found the mold,” said Foxworth, whose family lives on Tails-man Road. “They told us we had to evacu-ate that day because it was harmful to our health.”

Taylor’s mother, Elizabeth Foxworth, was the first to suffer from the mold in their house.

“She got sick from the mold and she was out for about three months. We didn’t know what it was; the doctors couldn’t fig-ure out why she was sick,” Foxworth said. “She had a rash, was breaking out, and got really nauseous.”

She was -- in a lamentable coinci-dence -- cut from her job at a home health center for missing too many days of work.

Fortunately, the Foxworth family owned a camper. For the next month or so, a 31-foot KeyStone Premier Bullet trailer is where they call home. They’ve been liv-ing at the KOA Campground while their house is being fumigated.

William Foxworth, Foxworth’s 8-year-old brother, was initially excited about the situation.

“He thought it was an adventure. But he’s ready to go home now,” Foxworth said. “He’s a kid. He doesn’t have a neighbor-hood; he doesn’t have his friends. He can’t go outside and play in our backyard. It’s a big difference on the community aspect.”

Because of space constraints, only a few possessions were able to come along.

“We’re living with the minimum in our camper,” Foxworth said. “It’s pretty tight for a family of four. I share a room with my brother, and we sleep about a foot away from each other.”

Daily struggles arise; petty fights start. Stress from school mixes easily with fam-ily tension, especially in such a small area.

“The fight just to take a shower and get ready in a three-foot-wide bathroom is a lot for stress in the morning. And it’s every morning,” Foxworth said. “It’s just such a bad routine -- it makes you want to pull your hair out.”

Their temporary home, though not perfectly ideal, is appreciated.

“We would probably be living in a hotel if we didn’t have a camper. Finances would be stretched a lot farther than they are now because of my mom’s job situa-tion,” Foxworth said.

Despite these hardships, the Fox-worth family chooses to stay positive. Looking at what they’ve gained rather

than what they’ve lost is what aids them to get through long days, Mrs. Foxworth said.

“Even though we’ve all been affected differently by the move and have had our own personal struggles, it has been a posi-tive [experience] for our family,” she said. “We’ve learned to come together when things get really hard.”

*****A week after vacating their contami-

nated home, Taylor and her family re-turned. But not for good -- merely a fleet-ing excursion to collect more clothing.

When she turned the door knob to her childhood home, something wasn’t the same.

A smell similar to spoiled milk pollut-ed the air. Foxworth felt sick; she couldn’t be in the vicinity of whatever was causing the smell. She waited in the car while the rest of her family gathered their things.

Foxworth thinks back to the day she was told to evacuate. Thoughts swirl; memories are reflected. She remembers thinking this would be a week-long situ-ation. It’s been nearly a month since she’s been able to open the door to familiar sur-roundings, to sleep in her bed -- things people often take for granted.

“I’m missing all of the small things. My room, my space and being away from people. You don’t realize how much you rely on just being alone,” she said. “And once you’re surrounded by people con-stantly, because you have nowhere to go, it gets really difficult.”

She’s counting down the days. Three weeks... 13... a week and a half left.

Foxworth habitually thinks of the day she can go back to her home.

“I’m going to be so happy,” she said. “I’ll appreciate having a house to live in so much more than I did before.”

megan parks

Junior discovers meaning of home after displacement

staff writer

After discov-ering that their home was infested by mold, junior Taylor Foxworth and her family have been living in this RV in the KOA campground for the past month.

Know your moldMold found in homes There are more than

100,000 types of mold. Mold spores enter build-

ings through the air or on people, animals and objects that are brought into the building. The key to controlling mold

in interior spaces is moisture control and air filtration.

If mold is discovered If the mold is on furnish-

ings or boxes discard the materials. If the mold occupies less

than 10 square feet, wash the area with soapy water, rinse and allow the area to dry before repainting. Larger areas should be

cleaned by someone with experience in doing this type of work.

Health risks The biggest health prob-

lems due to exposure to mold are allergies and asth-ma in susceptible people. Some molds produce

powerful chemicals called “mycotoxins” that can pro-duce illness in animals and people. Scientific knowledge about

the health effects of these toxins on humans is quite limited.

-- compiled by megan parks

EMILY LO

R/staff


“Project Goal: To honor those who have served in our nation’s military and to recognize family members’ sup-port of their military family members.”

This Veteran’s Day, employment preparation teach-er Carrie Balser and her students put together a special project to honor the nation’s veterans -- more specifically, to honor Wando High School’s teachers or their fam-ily members who are actively serving our nation or are retired duty veterans.A grand total of 225 teachers and family members who served the nation for a total of 1,688

Celebrating our servicemenyears. To pay tribute to these brave veterans, Balser and her students printed and laminated logos of each branch of the service for all 225 honored people. The Army, Coast Guard, Marine, Air Force and Navy veterans were repre-sented by the corresponding logo on the teachers’ doors for each family member who served.

Teachers who are veterans themselves received a larg-er, ornate logo decorated with patriotic colors in the shape of a ribbon to give them special, honorary recognition. One of these teachers, softball coach Steven Legette and veteran of the S.C. Army National Guard, said, “She put this together to honor veterans, and it was awesome. She and her students make you feel appreciated.”

As for teachers who are veterans, teachers whose spouses are veterans or in active duty and teachers whose children are in active duty, special treats were awarded to them along with a larger logo for their doors. Marshmal-

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low pops, patriotic pins and red, white and blue parfaits were given to the teachers near Veterans Day, followed by a Veterans Day lunch in their honor prepared by Balser’s students and served at 12:11 on Nov. 11. Balser and her students came up with this idea for a class project about a month before it was started, wanting to “think of a project that would impact everybody in the school.”

Balser said the teachers’ quick responses to her sur-veys were “amazing and unexpected. I had no idea that [this project] would touch such a nerve,” she said.

“My class is off the beaten path, but teachers would walk their survey responses down to me and tell me their stories about their family members who were veterans or their active duty children,” she added. “It was heartwarm-ing to see that they were so excited that somebody was recognizing their family members that served, and some of them had served as long as 30 years ago.”

leah elkins

Veterans and family of active miliary are appreciated for their sacrifice

staff writer

Engineering teacher and veteran Da-vid Roemer (left) stands in front of his door. Social studies teacher Bev-erly Salvo’s (right) father was in the army, her father-in-law got two Purple Hearts while stationed in Korea, her uncles were the navy and her aunt is in the navy.


georgia barfield

Influences bring about a drastic change in diet

staff writer

of aThe lifevegetarian

Thanksgiving. A time to celebrate family, friends and eat a weeks worth of calories in one sitting. Turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes and pie are a few of the fixtures at the traditional Thanks-giving table. But this Thanksgiving, ju-nior Dale Ryan won’t eat any of these things. As a vegan, she won’t be eating any animal products.

In January of her freshman year, Ryan decided to become a vegan. Since then not a single cheese cube or chicken strip has passed through her lips.

This diet change was not completely radical for Dale because she had elimi-nated red meat from her diet in the fifth grade, after her teacher read excerpts from Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.

“[The Jungle] talks about the meat in-dustry a hundred years ago and how peo-ple would get rats in the meat that they ordered,” Ryan said. “It really grossed me out.”

Soon after her teacher read The Jun-gle, Ryan was at a birthday party for her Grandpa. Her dad cooked hamburgers. As soon as she bit into one, she realized the burger was undercooked.

“[The hamburger] was raw and bloody on the inside,” Ryan said. “I want-

ed to vomit.” It was the last time she consumed

red meat.During the winter of ninth grade,

after a few years without consuming red meat, Ryan took further action in elimi-nating animal products from her diet. During this time her way of thinking to-wards animals changed.

“I thought about how eating a chick-en is like eating a domestic animal, like a dog,” Ryan said. “We all have a heart and veins.”

This prompted to make the final step away from consuming animal products. She decided to become a vegan.

But Ryan’s choice to become a vegan was not a quick one. She took the time to research the subject.

“I became a vegan after research-ing the factory farming and dairy farm-ing industry,” she said. “I learned many things like [how] animal products and by-products contribute to cancer.”

Since becoming a vegan, Ryan has discovered many of its health benefits.

“I believe being a vegan is a healthy lifestyle because you digest virtually no ‘bad’ fats,” she said. “Eating plant based food gives you a lot of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that fight off sickness and prevent cancer.”

Ryan’s daily diet, despite including no animal products, manages to include the nutrients necessary to the human body.

“On a daily basis I eat mainly fruits, vegetables and grains,” she

Vegetarians do not eat meat, fish or poultry. Veg-ans, in addition to being vegetarian, do not use other animal products and by-products such as eggs, dairy product, honey, leather, fur, silk, wool, cosmetics and soaps derived from animal products.

Would you consider yourself a vegan?

yes - 0% no - 100%

Nutrients such as iron, calcium, protein, vitamin D and zinc may be lacking in a vegetarian or vegan diet. If you said yes to either of the below questions, what do you do to get your daily essential nutrients?

Take vitamins and min-eral supplement - 12%

increase consumption of leafy greens, whole grain products, nuts, seeds and legumes -

44%

both - 44%

said. “For protein I eat nuts like almonds and I eat beans, tofu, mock meats and veggie burgers.”

She lists her favorite foods as chi-potle black bean burgers and asparagus, roasted in the oven with sesame seeds.

Even though there have been many benefits to being a vegan, Ryan has dis-covered a few setbacks to her lifestyle choice. Her parents’ reaction to her diet change has not been ideal.

“At first my parents just thought it was a ‘strange phase’ I was going through,” she said. “My mom sometimes calls me crazy, but to me, being a vegan is com-pletely normal.”

Overall her parents, she said, have been respectful of Ryan’s dietary choice.

“I am absolutely fine with Dale being vegan,” her mother, Linda Ryan, said. “She did a lot of r e s e a r c h b e f o r e she be-c a m e f u l l y vegan. I am v e r y s u p -port-

Showing her distaste of a hamburger, junior Dale Ryan avoids all animal derived foods in order to follow her strictly vegan diet.

128 people polled

yes - 6% no - 94%Would you consider yourself a vegetarian?

NATH

AN

GLYD

ER /staff

ive of her decision.”Eating out has proven to be another

setback since Ryan has become a vegan. “When I am going out to dinner I

always have to research the restaurant’s menu and make sure that I tell [the res-taurant employees] that I can’t eat any-thing from an animal,” Ryan said. “[The restaurant employees] don’t care. Unless you’re allergic to something they won’t listen.”

Ryan has discovered many struggles since becoming a vegan, but for her,

the pros outweigh the cons. “People can reverse dia-

betes and heart conditions with the help of a vegan diet,”

Ryan said, “All these ben-efits sounded convincing

enough for me that I plan on never changing.”


The c

The rules were simple: 13 days, no meat.

Simple enough, and yet terrifying in itself. And as I stared at the giant crock-pot of steaming lamb stew, the rules were far from simple. In fact, it seemed like it would be so much easier taking a spoon-full. No one would know -- except me, of course. Ignore the creamy potatoes float-ing on top; ignore the delicious chunks of lamb covered in various different season-ings. That’s what I told myself, at least.

And, somehow, it must have worked, because 12 days later I was still meat free.

At first I had to fight tooth and nail just to get my parents to consider it. I was told how unhealthy and unnatural it was and they refused to cater to this phase of mine with vegetarian recipes. Soon enough, though, we agreed that as long as it was only for 13 days and no more, I had their permission, if not their blessing.

On the first day, I came home to the entire kitchen stocked full of vegetarian soups, pizzas and pastas, not counting the

nuts and extra dairy products I was told I would use as my protein supplement. I was rather taken aback, considering the day before, part of the rant had been that I would have to survive off of salads for the next two weeks while my parents had their meat. Someone must have changed their mind, though, because my very first meal as a vegetarian was three-cheese ravioli smothered in rich white sauce.

The next day, the only difficulty I encountered was a run-in with the insides of my lunch box -- cheese, an apple and a handful of nuts in a sandwich bag.

My third day wasn't much better, with coffee for breakfast and a few stolen fries for lunch. It wasn't until dinner, when my mom surprised me with a Mellow Mushroom Hawaiian pizza, that I started feeling confident about the deci-sion.

Though the first few days were dif-ficult, the weekend was easily the hardest. I was continually bombarded with stuff like, "Goodness Sarah, if only you could try this lamb. It's delicious!" or, "Look at this fried chicken; it's a shame you can't eat meat."

I was proud of myself, though, espe-cially after turning down Chick-Fil-A, an offer that appears once in a blue moon at our household.

By Monday, my fifth day as a vegetar-

ian, I knew I was dedicated to the experi-ment and was already getting used to hav-ing to explain to my friends why I didn't want any of their chicken fingers. That didn't mean I wasn't tempted, though. During a conversation with a friend, I explained my occasional weakness. Grabbing my notebook, she jotted down a Youtube link and told me that it should help me last for the next eight days.

When I arrived home, I looked up the video “Meet your Meat.” It was ter-rible. Imagine the movie Saw, but replace the humans with animals. It talked about pigs and cows that were fattened so quickly their legs would break beneath them, and others that were put in a cage where they would spend their whole lives in one position, never allowed even to turn around. It also showed chicken fac-tories with chickens on top of each other, many of their fragile bones broken due to the cramped space, but still kept alive to be used for meat later.

The video hit me hard. That night my mom offered me a simple hamburger, and I felt sick to my stomach. I just didn’t see any reason we should be supporting factories that do those things to animals.

After the Youtube video, along with a couple others equally as disturbing, I had no problems being a vegetarian. I contin-ued to avoid meat like it was the plague

and soon enough, the lack of fats and excess proteins I usually received from the meats made me feel healthier. To add to it all, I had lost weight.

When the last day finally rolled around, I wasn't ready to go back to my old ways. I had learned so much, made so much progress. I wasn't sure if I wanted to eat meat again. But I had made a promise to my parents and dinner ended up being a big, fat pork steak. I ate it. At first I felt sick. But I ate every bite and enjoyed it. That's right, I enjoyed it. And honestly, my mom was thrilled as I brought an empty dish to the sink.

I wasn't proud, but I wasn't disgusted either. My mother is an excellent cook -- deserve-her-own-cooking-show kind of good. There was no way I could be a vegetarian in her house, at least not in the way I had been over the past 13 days. So when the 13 days were up, I continued to eat meat around my mom. When I wasn't at home, though, I kept away -- no chicken sandwiches at school, no giant hot dog at the fair and pineapple rather than pepperoni on my pizzas.

My mom noticed the changes and protested, but we came to an agreement. I ate the food she prepared, and she cut down on the amount of meat she got from the store. It was beyond fair, and when it all comes down to it, I still see myself as a vegetarian. Also, I have the plans of never touching a steak again once I move out.

A short-lived vegetarian

COLUMN BYsarah yergin, staff writer

Day-to-day vegetarian worldinterests student

Five years. Five years of only being able to eat coleslaw at

barbecues. Five years of making an extra dinner for myself

while watching my family eat steak. Five years of being worn out and never knowing

why. Five long years of being a vegetarian. I have always been a passionate person. I cry dur-

ing children's movies; I spend more time petting my friends’ dogs then with them. To put it simply, I care -- about the big and the little things.

It’s been a struggle learning to pick my battles, and this was one of them. I’m so passionate about animals

and the environment -- I even remember in elementary school pretending I was assigned research papers on different animals and looking up information on them from my children’s encyclopedia. So I decided to become a vegetarian in seventh grade and continued through senior year.

But this was a battle I had to give in to. It happened slowly, and I didn’t notice it at first.

I had been falling asleep in class -- and missing the notes -- or while doing my homework at night -- and not finishing it. My grades went down, I was constantly exhausted, and I was no longer happy.

I remember going to the doctor or talking to neigh-bors who were nutritionists. When they heard I was a vegetarian, they always warned me, "Make sure you get your protein!"

I didn't give this much thought. I just brushed it aside like everyone does when your mom says things like, "Eat your vegetables!"

About a year ago is when I realized my protein sup-ply was depleting because of my diet. At first I thought

there was some easy fix; I didn’t entertain the thought of stopping.

But there was no quick fix. Keeping track of your protein gram intake takes a lot of self discipline. Always reading labels and doing math to calculate how much protein you still need for the day was wearing me out, and instead of getting my energy, everything was just getting worse. I would have to stop sometime, and if not then -- eventually.

“Eventually” came this September. This was a battle I had to let go, and letting go is not easy for me. I’m a fighter and a doer, but this time I just had to lose.

Being a vegetarian can be so rewarding to your emotions and your health if you do it the right way, but it’s not for everyone and it's not easy. If you are one, make sure you keep track of what you eat and get your protein in.

And if you can't keep up with it, there may have to be a time when you give in as well. Make sure you can throw your pride away and do what's healthiest for you if and when that time comes.

COLUMN BYkristen evans, staff writer

Student has a change of heart, deciding to put an end to vegetarian diet

Atypical diet can be dangerous to health

Tribal Personality 11.16.1114

Lessons learned at college

amanda dowd

Graduate provides insider view of university life

It’s hard to believe that only six short months ago, I was a senior at Wando getting ready to graduate and daydreaming about what life at Boston University would be like.

Now I’m a full-time college freshman, living it up in a completely new city with a completely new group of friends, and I’m loving every minute of it.

I’ve only been here a few months, but it already feels like home. Believe me, it’s not lost on me how lucky I am to feel that way so quickly.

College is a huge learning experience, and most of the learning takes place outside of the classroom -- that’s the point, really, to grow and change as a person and do things you never thought you’d do before.

So what have I learned since I got here? To be honest, I could go on for days and fill several books with everything that’s happened. But for the sake of space, I’ll just

highlight a few main points.I’ve learned that if a cute guy buys

you coffee and opens every door for you, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll treat you with respect.

I’ve learned that you should NEVER judge anyone by what Facebook -- or another person -- tells you about them.

I’ve learned that judgment, in general, needs to be thrown out the window immediately.

I’ve learned that it’s okay to be friends with people who you would never have been friends with in high school because

they smoked/studied too much/were too quiet/liked weird music (take your pick).

I’ve learned that nothing will be handed to you -- you have to get it yourself.

I’ve learned that asking around about frat parties BEFORE you go is a very, very good idea.

I’ve learned there is no such thing as a taboo subject -- think sex, religion and politics all together every single day.

I’ve learned that feelings can develop very, very quickly here -- college life is extremely condensed and fast-paced -- and it’s important to keep that in mind.

I’ve learned that knowing what to do when someone has had way too much to drink is critical.

I’ve learned that my parents really do worry I’ll get run over by the subway/date-raped/mugged/arrested.

But most importantly, I’ve learned that college is entirely what you make of it. I’ve seen so many people having a hard time here because things aren’t 100 percent perfect right away. Granted, I had the benefit of moving in the middle of high school, which prepared me tremendously for culture shock and awkward social situations.

So here’s the trick: don’t expect to hit the ground running. Things will probably be awkward, sad and a little lonely when you first get to college and that’s completely okay. Hopefully, things will be nothing but positive from the outset, but if they’re not, relax.

You have plenty of time for all those amazing experiences you dreamed about in high school, so give yourself a break.

So for everyone getting ready for college, whether it’s next year or in three years, just remember this: get super involved, never turn down an opportunity that comes your way and introduce yourself to a lot of people.

It also wouldn’t hurt to call home once in a while. Everything else will take care of itself.

Oh, and one more thing: make sure you hit the books every now and then.

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Tribal Special Section11.16.11 15

sense of humor.”After months of surgery and chemotherapy, Kutcher

is doing well. “It looks like the tumor is becoming cystic again,

which means it’s kind of encapsulated, and the inside of it looks like it’s dying out, which is exactly what we’re looking for,” Kutcher said.

He has just one more round of chemo and a CT scan in December. If everything goes as planned, then he will be on a monitoring basis.

Throughout his treatment, the procedures which Kutcher received were on the very cutting edge of pancreatic cancer treat-ment, which had received little funding until the past several years.

“At the time I was di-agnosed, there was an in-credible push for funding, for research for it, and ev-erybody that I talked to, everything that I’ve had done seems to be cutting edge,” Kutcher said. “It’s like somebody said, ‘Hey, this works, here’s Kutcher, let’s try it on him.’ I was very, very fortunate to be riding that wave throughout the whole thing.”

Kutcher’s resilience in the face of pancreatic cancer is due, in no small part, to his outlook on the situation.

“The best way to get past it and get through to the end. I think [the best way] is to just have a good attitude and keep on moving positively through everything,” he said. “‘Laughter is the best medicine’ type of thing.”

Kutcher’s family was also a major source of motiva-tion.

“When I have good news, they celebrate with me. When some unfortunate surprises come up every once in a while, they’re sad right along with me,” he said. “But they’ve been supportive the whole way through.”

Kutcher was teaching and working the entire time he

It’s been two years.Two years since math teacher Joe Kutcher was diag-

nosed with pancreatic cancer, the fourth deadliest cancer worldwide, according to the American Cancer Society.

Two years later, Kutcher is finishing what should be his last round of chemotherapy. Throughout those two years, Kutcher has persevered.

“It’s been a long two years of surgeries and radiation and chemotherapy,” Kutcher said.

Finding out that he had cancer in October of 2009 was a challenging time for Kutcher and his family.

“[It was] kind of like I was driving a car into a brick wall. The world stopped; I didn’t know what to do at the time,” Kutcher said. His family was doubly impacted by the news, since his father died of lung cancer. “It was dif-ficult telling them, that, ‘Hey, we have to gear up and go through it one more time.’”

Fortunately for Kutcher, his wife Rebecca -- a teacher at Cario Middle School -- was especially supportive going into the treatment.

“She is the one that immediately got on the computer and started doing a bunch of research and found out a lot of the facts,” Kutcher said. “To this day, she is still like that and she has allowed me to focus on me and keep my head straight.”

Her research has helped Kutcher stay optimistic. “I looked up every survivor story I could find on the

internet,” Mrs. Kutcher said. “Every time I would read the horrifying statistics, I would go back to one of the survivor stories and focus on survival.”

“We are in this together and I will do whatever I can to support him throughout this journey,” she continued. “He is so strong and has such a wonderful attitude and

Medicating with laughterwas going through radiation and chemotherapy to help keep everything as normal as possible.

“I had to take a couple of days off, but besides that, I’ve been running a full schedule, I’ve been running the clock for football, I’ve been announcing for basketball,” Kutcher said. “Lately I’ve been announcing for volleyball, and I’ve been participating in school activities as much as possible.”

Going in to work and seeing his students has been another factor that has kept Kutcher going.

“There’s some mornings where I wake up and the treatments have me kind of beat down and I don’t feel like getting out of bed, but I get out of bed and I crawl my way to work,” Kutcher said. “When I get to interact-ing with students, that really fires me up and keeps me on a real posi-tive track.”

Facing pancre-atic cancer has helped Kutcher focus on mak-

ing the most of life.“I feel that I did appreciate a lot of little things, but it’s

incredible how much more you can appreciate it,” Kutcher said. “It makes me look forward a little bit more and plan for the future a little bit more.”

Throughout everything that he has gone through, Kutcher doesn’t feel that cancer has been able to get him down, and hopes that others with cancer could feel the same.

“I’m kind of representative of the ‘new pancreatic cancer patient,’ where I don’t think I have to celebrate lasting six months or a year. I’m going to be able to look foreword to another ten, 20 years on this earth, with a lot of luck,” Kutcher said. “I think what I want to do is tell people that with any kind of cancer, they don’t have to let it defeat you.”

Kutcher went through chemotherapy from

December of 2009 to February of 2011.

After chemo, he went through a month of

radiation and chemo-therapy to shrink the tumor so that it could

be operated on.

Summer of 2010, he had a Whipple

surgery, which removed the tumor.

After surgery, Kutcher had follow-

up chemo and the doctors were confident that the

treatment was successful.

Months later, a CT scan revealed a

cancerous area on the other end of the

pancreas. Because the area was inaccessible,

it had to be treated with massive doses of radiation directed at

the tumor.

matt orvin

When ‘the world stopped,’ math teacher keeps moving forward with hope

columns editor

When I get to interacting with students, that really fires me up and keeps me on a real positive track. Teacher Joe Kutcher

Centerspread 1711.16.11 16

lauren fraser

Sophomore won’t let her life be defined by fourth cancer diagnosis

staff writer

Her heart was pounding inside of her chest. She sat in the cold seat twisting her shirt in knots. She shouldn’t be here.

“Why don’t you step into my office?” the doctor asked. She was confused. She had only come in for a basic

check-up on her knee. It was hurting, but that’s not un-usual for a gymnast. She stood up from the waiting area and nervously followed.

Her father accompanied her and they sat down in chairs opposite of her doctor.

The doctor sighed.Sophomore Rachel Edwards had cancer. “It was gut-wrenching. Basically, it was like, what do

we do next?” her mother, Debbie Edwards said.

Edwards was 10 at the time and diagnosed with Os-teosarcoma – bone cancer. It started in her knee and tibia, and then went towards her lungs.

“You’re really kind of in a state of ‘I’m not sure we’re supposed to be here. These are things that happen to other people,’” her father, Gary Edwards said. “It became very apparent to us that those emotions that came rushing at you we had to set aside and put on a shelf. Our task at hand was to open our minds and gain as much knowledge as possible because there were many decisions to be made.”

It took another stream of tests and a trip to Charlotte before Edwards began chemotherapy and, two months later, she had her first surgery.

“I did hydrochemotherapy. I lost my hair. I was really sick – like nauseous and I felt icky all the time. I stayed out of school, I was on homebound. Now this time I’m doing immunotherapy, which hardly has any side effects,” Ed-wards said. “The job of chemotherapy is to kill cells, but it doesn’t discriminate between the good and bad cells. The idea is that it will kill the bad cells and the good cells will regenerate.”

After losing her hair through chemotherapy and un-dergoing surgery, Edwards and her family were told the cancer was gone.

But that wasn’t the end.Several months later, Edwards began feeling the same

pain in her leg as before. Another trip to the doctor: the

cancer had returned. Same process, same results: cured. At least temporarily. But it came back. Edwards has been through three different rounds of cancer in the last four years and is on her fourth.

“The second time I wasn’t expecting it, but the third time I wasn’t as shocked and I didn’t take it as hard,” she said.

After a while, though, the chemotherapy began to wear her down.

“When it came back the third time, in a big way, che-motherapy options became limited,” Mr. Edwards said.

When Edwards was diagnosed with cancer the third time, her family decided to take a leap of faith and give immunotherapy a try. The idea behind immunotherapy is that it will boost the immune system and make it strong enough to reject and destroy the cancer cells.

“[Chemotherapy] really is a brutal way to fight dis-ease. Immunotherapy is different, which we’re trying now and it’s still on trial. It’s not FDA approved. It energizes the white cells to fight harder against the bad cells,” Mr. Ed-wards said. “Hopefully that’s the way cancer will be dealt with in the future because the idea of cut and poison is very draconian.”

Now, as Edwards is dealing with her fourth diagnosis of osteo-sarcoma, her family is looking for even more ways to make her healthy again. Not only do they want to get rid of the cancer, they want to make sure it doesn’t come back.

Her family has recently sent 100mL of Edwards’ blood to Baylor University. Blood is the carrier of metastasis; it carries disease to dif-ferent parts of the body. Since Ed-ward’s blood type is HER2+, as op-posed to HER2-, she is three to four times more likely to get cancer.

“They are going to take it into the laboratory and genetically alter her blood,” Mr. Edwards said. “This is going to happen over a period of time and be reintroduced to Rachel when they genetically modify her blood.”

Because of her reoccurring cancer and the numerous treatments she has been through, Edwards has spent a lot of time at the Medical University of South Carolina getting to know the staff. Within her first year of cancer, she spent over 100 days and nights in the hospital.

“The Medical University of South Carolina is an in-stitution we have great respect for and that’s where she needed to be. She needed to be near her support group of family and friends,” said Mr. Edwards, whose daughter initially was treated in Charlotte. “They’re absolutely un-believable.”

Going through cancer as many times as she has be-came very difficult.

“One of the big [struggles] the first two times was that I had to lose my hair and being in middle school was kind of hard because if people don’t know what you’re going through they will pick on you,” she said.

Edwards has struggled with missing school as well. In the past, she has been placed on intermittent homebound and was often times too sick to come to school.

“It’s been hard missing all of that school. School is like a social time and I’ve missed out on a lot of really cool stuff,” she said.

According to Edwards, one of the hardest aspects of having cancer was giving up some of the things she loved. She went through several surgeries that would limit her physical activity.

“I had to get a few surgeries. I had to get a knee and bone replacement in my tibia. I had to quit gymnastics and cheerleading. I’ve had a couple lung surgeries and so that took a bit of physical therapy too,” she said.

Quitting gymnastics was the most difficult part.“I was pretty mad. I was upset. I didn’t think that I

could find anything to replace [gymnastics],” Edwards said. “It took me a few months post surgery to realize I couldn’t be a gymnast anymore.”

While it was difficult for Edwards to let gymnastics go, she never lost hope.

“[Months after the surgery] I figured out, I think, that I could do much more than just that,” she said. “When I came back to school I started taking an interest in theatre so I started doing a little more with drama and I took chorus and I started violin up.”

Months after her first surgery, Edwards’ mother approached her with the idea of starting music.

“My mom told me that, because I couldn’t do gymnastics anymore, I could play an instrument and I thought what better instrument than the violin,” Edwards said. “So, I started that and I started taking les-sons with one of my best friends for almost three years now.”

Now Edwards has thrown her-self into her new activities. She is in the school musical and plays the violin with her church orchestra.

“It’s so much fun. It’s like a fam-ily – our orchestra. We play together on Wednesday night, we practice,” she said. “On Sunday, for two services we come together in fellowship and play together and we have a lot of fun.”

Through this, Edwards has discovered her newest passion – music. And it has made her family stronger.

“It’s a big part of my life. I am so happy I had music to fall back on. I couldn’t imagine my life without violin or ever being in choir,” she said. “We’ve always been a family oriented around music. My parents say they are not mu-sically inclined but they can sing a little. It’s a big part of holidays. We always sing, goof off and play instruments. Me and my brother always play some duets. It’s just a big part of our family tradition, I guess.”

Edwards has since learned how to take a bad situation and make something positive out of it.

“I do a lot of public speaking to raise money for the hospital and I’ve met a lot of interesting people through that,” she said.

Edwards has been involved in radio fundraisers and has attended banquets where she speaks of the impact MUSC has had on her.

“The people at MUSC are so sweet and everyone’s so relatable and you can goof off with the doc-tors and nurses,” she said. “That’s how I’m going to work for the rest of my life. I’m going to raise money for MUSC -- help raise money and spread aware-ness of what’s going on.”

Along with the work Edwards does with MUSC, her family also prais-es the work and support of the community.

“We have a huge support system. We’ve got people all over praying for her. We really feel the power of prayer be-cause one of her doctors said she needs a miracle and we’re seeing that miracle now,” said Mrs. Edwards.

According to Edwards, even though the road through cancer has been difficult, she has learned so much from it.

“If you’re going through anything hard you’ve got to keep a positive attitude. That’s one of the main things that get you through it,” she said. “I’ve had a good outlook on life. I just knew I was going to beat it and was going to be able to go back to school with my friends without having to wear masks.”

Over the past few years, Edwards’ family has been faced with difficulties on so many levels. However, they have never let it lower them.

“Difficulty strains everyone. Difficulty does two things: it accentuates the flaws and weaknesses in our lives but it also accentuates the very positive things in our lives. Although it’s been difficult, I doubt over the four and a half years that we’ve been going through this that we know anyone who has seen more blessings,” Mr. Edwards said. “It’s been a very rewarding experience. It’s not one I would ask for again. It’s not one I had ever wanted to go through,

but none of us were ever promised a trouble-free life. While we’re in those difficult times we can open our eyes to the blessings before us.”

Her family has experienced a range of fear and dev-astation but they have since changed their outlook on life.

“I sit here and think ‘ugh her room’s a mess’ and I’m going ‘oh I love the fact that she’s here to mess up her room!’” Mrs. Edwards said. “I go through that a lot during the day.”

It has taught them a new level of appreciation.“We’ve learned to live like time is precious. It’s really

taught us that time is indeed precious and those people we care about the most are the ones that we should treat with the most kindness. That is something that, when we walk through the end of this process, we can carry with us for

a long time,” Mr. Edwards said. “It’s re-ally been a rich part of the process.”

Edwards has walked out of this sit-uation with a new strength and under-standing.

“Rachel’s dealt with a very difficult cancer. It’s a cancer that has one of the least success rates of all cancers there

are. Though she has it, she doesn’t let it define her life. That is admirable to me,” said Gary Edwards. “She is going to let the spirit of joy that consumes her be her torch and that happiness and the things that are in her life don’t just come from within they come from a faith in a real God, from the encouragement of the people that are walking with us.”

Edwards isn’t the only one who has become a better person, either. Her family has a new appreciation for the small things in life.

“The things we might have had on our very important list of things to be concerned about are much smaller now. That’s moved over to the small stuff list. The big stuff list is more focused on relationships with people that matter to us the most,” said Gary Edwards. “We enjoy one another and the best moments I can recall are when both of her brothers and sister in law are here, just us, at this table.”

With all of Edwards’ new treatment, support from the community and prayers from loved ones, all she can do now is look to the future.

“As long as this has been going on, I think we’re going to wear cancer out,” Mrs. Edwards said. “It’s going to give up on us with all of the stuff we’ve got going on.

Fighting through it

Cancer reality

Leap of faith

Keeping the faith

Staying strong

LAUREN

FRASER/staff w

riter

LAUREN

FRASER/staff w

riter

Tribal Special Section 11.16.1118

A marathon is 26.2 miles of pure dedication, pure ef-fort, and requires the ability to endure pain. Few people have the capabilities necessary to run a marathon, and many of those who do use them for their own fitness and achievements. But for Spanish teacher Caroline Mullinax, a marathon is more than a blend of pavement, pain and endurance. For her, it is an act of true devotion to others. For her, the fight to the finish line is nothing compared to the battles against cancer that she has witnessed through-out her life.

In May of 2010, Mullinax joined the Leukemia Lym-phoma Society and a group of runners called the Team in Training. This assembly of runners raises money through the main organization, which then donates all profits to blood-based cancer research. Among the runners are relatives of cancer victims, ex-victims in remission and

current victims -- some who undergo chemotherapy dur-ing training.

“I decided I wanted to run in honor and memory of friends and family who have fought blood cancer and oth-er diseases,” Mullinax said.

Cancer has had a prevalent role in her life. As a child, Mullinax watched two of her most influential teachers and one of her church mothers battle with breast cancer. She then lost her grand-mother to leukemia. Her best friend’s mother and son were also later diagnosed with leu-kemia, and quite recently, her best friend was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) -- an autoimmune disease that causes the immune system to attack its own body’s nerves. Leuke-mia is diagnosed in over 43,000 people each year -- many of whom are children -- and MS debilitates or kills thousands every year.

“All research overlaps, so you know, the research of just one disease could help all the others,” Mul-linax said.

But even in the name of a good cause, Mullinax admits that training, teaching and finding time to relax is often quite a challenge. In addition to teaching and the extra hours she puts in outside of school, training consumes her free time.

“What keeps me going is my friends and family that

Worth the pain

Junior Carie Lancaster showed her love for her moth-er, who is battling breast cancer, when she participated in the Race for the Cure on Oct. 15 -- despite the fact that she had to be literally carried onto the course.

It was in April of 2006 that Lancaster, then in fifth grade, received the news that her mother, Stacy Lancaster, was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I was shocked,” Lancaster said about her mother’s diagnosis. “I felt depressed and kind of useless because I couldn’t do anything to help my mom get better. It’s hard to see your own mom sick.”

Determined to show her mom how much she cared, Lancaster began running in the annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, the world’s largest breast cancer fund-raiser, every October.

“I hate running but I do [the Race for the Cure] to show my mom that I support her and I love her,” Lancaster said, who has run the race six times.

But Lancaster’s plans to run the 2011 Race for the Cure were changed when she injured her MCL and LCL while working the Wando Color Guard on Sept. 24. Lan-caster had to be on crutches for two weeks.

With the race occurring Oct. 15, a week after she was off crutches, Lancaster’s doctor said she couldn’t run.

But instead of giving up -- “I really could only hobble around,” Lancaster said -- she was determined to com-plete the race. At 9 a.m. Oct. 15, Carie hobbled to the starting line and climbed on the back of her boyfriend, senior Ford Law.

For the entire mile long race, Ford carried her piggy-back style. Their finishing time: 13 minutes and 41 sec-onds.

“Physically, I felt fine [during the race] because my knee didn’t hurt,” Lancaster said. “Emotionally, it was hard, correlating it with how my mom must feel having cancer because others around me couldn’t do anything to help me but support me through cheering.”

“It was tough towards the end of the race, but know-ing I was there to support a great cause made it all worth it,” Law said about having to carry Carie on his back. “The look on Carie and her mother’s face [when we completed the race] was priceless.”

Lancaster said that completing the race this year felt especially good because of her mom’s recently intensified struggle with the disease.

“It’s been a really rough year, cancer-wise. The cancer came back aggressively, spreading to her left lymph node and liver,” she said. “She had to go through more chemo-therapy. After six months of chemo, the cancer finally started to shrink.”

Stacy Lancaster’s reaction to Carie’s dedication in the Race for the Cure has been very positive.

“It’s special to have my children there and know that they are supporting me...especially my daughters, because so many women are affected by breast cancer,” Mrs. Lan-caster said. “It shows how much they really care about me.”

Surviving the race

georgia barfield

Junior completes Race for the Cure to support her mother

staff writer

mike o’brien

Teacher Mullinax runs with Team in Training to support those fighting cancer

staff photographer

had to fight this [cancer],” Mullinax said. “When I’m training and I’m on mile 17 and feel like passing out, I think of my family and other runners in chemo, and I know I can keep going.”

She also mentions that on the routine group runs through Charleston, she runs past the hospitals and often

thinks of the children in them who are fighting for survival.

“Leukemia is one of the more common childhood cancers,” she said. “It’s bad that any-one has to go through that, but for children? I mean, I can’t imagine.”

As she continues to train and raise funds for research, Mullinax has made connections with many people like her. Not only does she constantly interact with people who have suf-fered similar losses of loved ones, but she has connected with the people who are currently suffering and need the results of the research

that the marathon is funding. “When all these people come together for something

like that,” Mullinax said, “it’s comforting to be around people with a similar purpose.”

Mullinax ran the Savannah Marathon on Nov. 5 with the rest of the program. Although her knee gave out on mile seven, she was able to walk the 19 miles to the finish. “It was so painful, but it was so worth it to get to the end.”

Junior Carie Lancaster poses with her mother before the Race for the Cure on Oct. 15.

Caroline Mullinax

Courtsey of C

arie Lancaster

Tribal Entertainment11.16.11 19

Dawn of the dead

Entertainment

Zombies: the walking dead. Once scary and terrifying because of

their slowness and hunger for brains, now zombies have a new coolness -- they’re the awesome monster of the decade.

With humorous books, popular mov-ies, everyday TV and even live-action games, zombies have taken on a life of their own.

Some of the newly revived zombie success is due to Max Brooks’ The Zombie Survival Guide. Released in 2010, the book is a popular take on the zombie resurgence.

Senior James Caraso said he likes Brooks’ book because the author makes it seem like zombies could really happen.

“He’s also written another book called World War Z,” he added. “It really goes hand and hand with the Zombie Survival Guide.”

Books aren’t the only media zombies have taken over. The History Channel has

been running an episode about where the ideas of zombies came from. “Zombies: A Living History” doesn’t try to prove zom-bies are real; instead, it tells exactly what the title says -- their living history. As ironic as it seems, zombies have “lived” throughout time. The show features information about the origination of the concept of zombies and where they have turned up in history, leading up to present day.

Senior Michael Golino points to mov-ies and video games as a source of the pub-lic’s fascination for zombies.

“The popularity of zombies has grown a lot. There’s tons of TV shows coming out, like “The Walking Dead;” there’s movies with zombies in them [and] there’s games coming out with zombies in them,” he said. “Zombies are getting really popular.”

He believes Call of Duty and its Nazi Zombies helped bring about the resurgence of the creatures.

Video games are not the only place games like these have been played. The live game Zombie Apocalypse made a brief ap-pearance in the high school halls.

“I thought it was a very creative game,” Assistant Principal Jeff Blankenship said. “It definitely looked like it could be fun, but

probably wasn’t appropriate for a school setting.”

The game’s creator for Wando High School was senior Will Shanahan. “It was an idea I heard about and I knew it wasn’t going to transfer well to high school, but I thought we could at least try,” he said.

Shanahan said he never expected it to become as popular as it did, but since Wan-do was declared a “safe zone” the game can no longer be played on the school campus.

Zombies are not just appearing in the halls -- they were even at the Bands of America Super Regional Tournament Oct. 29 when a high school band from Geor-gia did an entire competition show called “Contagion” featuring zombies.

Zombie products also are the new rage. Besides the common t-shirt, coffee mug and poster, companies sell crawling zombie doorstoppers, zombie brain gelatin molds, remote control walking and grow-ing zombie toys and zombie head cookie jars. Each one of these are green and creepy -- and thankfully dead.

With all of the media buzz zombies have gotten and are continuing to receive, it’s hard not feel these creatures have got-ten a new life.

Resurgence of zombiesashleigh horowitz

‘Virus’ infects all aspects of pop culture

staff writer

Zombieland was one of a new crop of films and TV shows -- including “The Walking Dead” -- that have helped re-popularize zombies (left). Novel cover Another take on zombies is the parody Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which takes the Jane Austen classic and sets it in a more horrifying Edwardian time.

PROV

IDED

Last year when “The Walking Dead” debuted, I was excited and worried at the same time. That night I rushed home to catch the show after hearing great things about it online, only to be saddened by the fact that I had gotten there halfway through its first run. But even though I missed the first half of the episode, I was hooked.

Eventually I saw the whole episode, but “The Walking Dead” is so good that even just a part of it will suck you in and make you hope that you are prepared for a zombie apocalypse.

The premise of “The Walking Dead” is actually based on a collec-tion of graphic novels of the same name. The story starts when deputy sheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) wakes up to find himself in the ruins of a hospital after zombies have destroyed the world that Rick once knew. He eventually ventures out into the world to find his family and hopefully a place where he is safe from the walkers (the zombies in the show).

One of the things that the show seems to do very well is it presents a great group dynamic and lets one see how people might act during such an event. The show may be about zombies, but its focus is on the relationships and the burden of trying to find a sanctuary and safe place to live.

Of course, the zombies are the big draw. And these zombies are the shambling dead that you would expect. The moans and growls and how gory and gruesome the zombie makeup is will always catch you off guard. I’ve always been impressed by it, and because of how nasty all the zombies appear to be, the hor-ror of the undead seems so real. Basically, all of the effects are good. There is a lot of blood splatter used, which is more of stylish approach to the show, but it adds to the overall theatricality of it.

I haven’t been disappointed yet, and look forward to watching many more episodes of “The Walking Dead.”

-- will shanahan

Tribal Entertainment 11.16.1120

Shufflethe

withgeorgia barfield

So what’s on your playlist? Every issue a Tribal Tribune staffer will share his/her taste in music, selecting the top four songs they think everyone should have on their playlist.

This song follows the style of the band’s early music with the quirky instrument pairings (old school electric guitar and African drumbeats) and the random references to New England prep culture (Ben-neton and Louis Vuitton).

Simon & Garfunkel

The Graduate Sountrack

“April Come She Will”

“Ragged Wood”

Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes

Vampire Weekend

“Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa”

Vampire Weekend

PICK: Processed foods

Picks & Peeveswith catie armstrongstaff writer

“Casimir Pulaski Day”Sufjan Stevens

Illinois

Typically, it’s the 37-piece instrument ensembles in the background that make Sufjan songs so great, but the story-telling lyrics and simple acoustic guitar accompani-ment prove that Stevens can do an incredible job sans orchestra.

The Lowcountry’s best: pizzaBe

st of

Charl

eston

matt orvin

and william shanahanjack meagher

staff writers

In order to judge which of these three pizza joints is the best, we started off with a competition. Calling all three restaurants simultaneously, we ordered pizzas to the same place, judging them based on how fast they got to us with our food. The orders were almost identical, yet the times were enormously variable.

DeRoma’s got here fastest, by about ten minutes, despite being the farthest away. On top of that, their pizza was almost as good as A Dough Re Mi’s, and the price was outstanding. Feeding even more people for about ten dollars less than others, all while delivering comparable quality, DeRoma’s won hands down.

DeRoMa’s

I really hate poetry. But for this song’s short length of one minute and 49 seconds, I actu-ally appreciate the stuff. Paul Simon’s lyrical genius radiates through this song. The verses, paired with the beautiful acoustic guitar melody, make this one of my favorite songs from the 1960’s folk rock duo.

Fleet Foxes sounds like an early 1960’s rock band that hid out in the woodsy moun-tains of Oregon for the last 40 years and recently came out of hiding with a new granola sound. This song perfectly shows this theory.

PEEVE: ID ditchers

PICK: Howie Long

PEEVE: Wearing rosaries

Yes, I know it’s useless. Yes, I know that by the time a teacher makes you put it on in her class, she already knows who you are. No, it doesn’t make our school safer. But it’s also not a great inconvenience. Just put it on, [insert swear word]! It’s a simple matter of someone asking you to do something. You’re not too cool for it. It costs you nothing. It causes you no physical or psychological pain. So just do it.

I get not wanting to take in pesticides. I understand the importance and benefits of a healthy lifestyle, but the only thing I know for sure is that I’m going to die sooner or later. So forget a refined pallet; forget clear arteries. I might as well enjoy my Oreos and Big Mac in the meantime.

This man is by far the best part of my Sundays. He and his entire Fox gang are brilliant, adding a perfect touch of humor to football, but Terry Brad-shaw’s handsome years are fading. A word to the business big-wigs with Fox and the NFL: forget those calendars of topless cheerleaders. I’d pay twice as much for a calendar of Howie clothed.

Rosaries are not necklaces. For me and a billion other Catholics, they are a religious symbol. They are like Bibles. Men, women, people of all ages wear them without a second thought to the great offense it gives to practicing Catholics. Please, out of respect for other religions, don’t deliberately de-grade a religious symbol.

A Dough Re MiAfter a race of pizza delivery boys, A

Dough Re Mi came in second place with a delivery time around 45 to 50 minutes. A Dough Re Mi was not the cheapest pizza on the list, but for around $25, you get two large pizzas that are more about the taste than the grease that seem to accommodate

other pizzas. Delivery wise, they cared to call me multiple times to update me where they were and asked for directions to get there faster.

A Dough Re Mi wants you to eat their pizza and enjoy it. This place does not dis-appoint.

Matt’s Pizza Dept.Matt’s Pizza Dept. arrived last in the

pizza race. I didn’t know when to expect them to arrive because they didn’t call me, unlike the other two restaurants. The cus-tomer service was average, and I was put on hold while ordering.

The pizza itself was greasy and didn’t have as much tomato sauce as the other

pizzas, but it was slightly spicy. And while Matt’s was the most expen-

sive of the three, we got the least amount of food for our money.

Overall, Matt’s was the slowest, had the weakest customer service, and was the worst value for the money.

Tribal Entertainment11.16.11 21

Vocabularyjessica afrin

staff writer

3. Misodoctakleidist Someone who hates practicing the piano. For all of those who have ever taken piano lessons,

did you get stuck with that teacher who gave you the songs you never liked? Or rather, you never wanted to take lessons in the first place, but your parents thought a “creative” extracurricular might be beneficial? Either way, someone forced you to sit down on the piano bench and practice once, thrice, maybe even five times a week. You might like piano, and you might like play-ing, but all of that time wasted inside when perhaps you wanted to run around outside twisted your heart and caused you to regard every piano you come across with a mean glare. I bet you never knew there was a word for you.

FUN

4. Velleity A mild desire; a wish, inclination or urge not

strong enough to lead to action. This is a common phenomenon in day-to-day life. Some examples are a guy’s recurring thoughts about asking a cer-tain girl out and the insistent voice in your head telling you to study.

5. Arachibutyrophobia Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of

the mouth. This is a rather tragic phobia, indeed, for the sufferers could never taste a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or a fluffernutter, or apples and peanut butter or peanut butter and chocolate chips. What kind of a world is it if there is a person too scared to try a Reese’s Cup?

2.Ucalegon A neighbor whose house is on fire. This rare

word could come in handy on that odd day that you happen to look out your window, see flames devouring the house next-door, observe your neighbor running in circles in his front yard and sagely raise your teacup to your lips – with your pinky raised – before calmly saying, “That poor, poor ucalegon.” And then you might find your heart and call 911 for the poor soul.

1. BoskyHaving an abundance of trees, shrubs or

bushes. A quite applicable use of this word is “Wando High School is not a terribly bosky place; however, the land surrounding it is full of tall, green trees.”

Have you ever wanted to confound friends by using obscure words in your conversation? Check out this list of weird, uncommon, wacky words and start preparing your poker face for when your friends utter the inevitable “Huh?”

80 41st Ave. Isle of Palms, SC 29451

MORGAN GRILL

AT ISLE OF PALMS MARINA

Fall / Winter HoursMain Dining Room Open Tuesday - Saturday

Happy Hour 4-7PM Tuesday - FridayLunch 11AM Tuesday-Sunday Dinner 5PM Tuesday - SundaySunday Brunch 10:30-2PM

Phone:(843) 886-8980

Dockside Bar Open Friday,Saturday, & Sunday weather permitting

Upper Deck Bar & Grill closed until March 1st 2012

www.morgancreekgrill.com

CREEK

Tribal Entertainment 11.16.1122

of themonth

Top twosEver wonder what the top songs, movies and TV shows are for the month of November?

Even if you wouldn’t classify your-self as a muscian -- the only use I have for my bass is to put things on top of it -- Ultimate Guitar Tabs might be worth its relatively expensive price. This is an app for the website ultimateguitar.com, the best place to get tabs for learning how to play real songs. The app actually has a better design than the website, and it also has special tools, like a chord finder.

Ultimate Guitar Tabs

the A-List

playlist?What are your fellow students listen-ing too? Check Senior Kaleb Peeble’s picks:

What’syour

app

SELLING SONGS

GROSSING MOVIE

SELLING BOOKS

Reviews First-person shooter deathmatch

-- tanner hoisington

1. H.Y.F.R (feat. Lil Wayne) - Drake2. Sweet Dreams (feat. Beyonce & Nicki Minaj) - Lil Wayne3. Dance - Big Sean 4. Up and Down - Britney Spears5. We Find Love - Rihanna

Two of gamings’ biggest shooters clash against each other in a blockbuster face off. The two were released within days of each other and with the ob-vious parallels of the games, fans are trying to de-cide which one is better.

Call of Duty: MW3 what consumers expect and more

Battlefield 3: the most realistic video game to date

TV RATINGS

“We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris)” - Rihanna“Sexy and I Know It” - LMFAO

- iTunes Top 100 Chart

Zero Day by David Baldacci (Fiction)

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson (Non-Fiction)- New York Times Bestsellers

ImmortalsJack and Jill

- Studio estimates for Boxofficemojo.com

Gorgeous. If there is one word I can use to describe EA’s Battlefield 3, it is gorgeous. I was more than willing to give up the 1.5 gigabytes of space on my hard drive in order to download the High Definition graphics the game has to offer.

In the campaign, you play as Ser-geant Henry Blackburn who has been court-martialed for an unknown reason. Blackburn is being interrogated by two CIA agents who are trying to uncover a terrorist plot that apparently Blackburn is aware of. Most of the game is through Blackburn’s flashbacks, but there are also other side characters that come into play, mainly in the vehicle missions.

All-in-all, it’s a decent campaign.What I couldn’t get past was the ex-

cellent execution of the Frostbite 2.0 en-

gine. The engine, developed by DICE, was introduced in Battlefield 3 and has brought the game’s graphics to the next-generation. The phenomenal lighting effects made me stop and want to just look around in almost every level, and I won’t lie -- it got me killed on several occasions.

But once you move the character for the first time, it’s surreal. There’s no stiff movement of the characters as you run, it actually feels like your character is running for dear life. The gun bobs up and down and you can feel Blackburn move his arms as he runs and as you fire your weapon there is a real-life recoil coming from the weapons.

And all of that is just before I reached the multiplayer.

The multiplayer is a safe return from Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Game modes include Conquest, Rush, Squad Death-match, Squad Rush and the return of Team

Deathmatch. It’s ridiculously hard to go back to the campaign after playing only a few matches of multi-player.

I’ll admit I was worried about the maps being too large for any kind of real action; I was wrong. The inclusion of vehicles, both land and air, makes Battle-field 3 one of the best console multi-player experiences I’ve ever had.

After months of anticipation, it’s finally here. The pinnicle of the Modern Warfare franchise: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

There are a few things that have kept the multiplayer experience from becom-ing dull, but not enough to impress me. The feel of the character is exactly the same as Modern Warfare: 2’s since the Modern Warfare 3 engine is just a small variation of the previous titles. There is a complete change to the killstreak reward system in the sense that now you are awarded “pointstreaks” for completing objectives and other sorts in addition to the kills that you have – that’s right, you can get a Predator missile by planting the bomb in Sabotage or capturing a base in

Headquarters. This iteration’s addition to multiplayer

is Survival mode, which is just Infinity Ward’s response to Gears of War’s Horde Mode. Waves and waves of enemies storm you and your friends as you attempt to get as far as you can without being killed.

But I will have to admit, I bought Modern Warfare 3 for the campaign, not the mul-tiplayer. Modern Warfare 2 left me with one of the greatest war game campaigns I had ever played. Modern Warfare 3 picked up directly from the end of its predecessor and jumps right into the action. It answers

one simple question, “What would happen if World War Three were to break out in our lifetime?” As you play as various spe-cial force officers and the two protagonists from Modern Warfare 3 – Capt. Price and Capt. “Soap” McTavish – you fight to try

and to kill the man who assisted in the cause of World War Three, Makarov.

Modern War-fare 3 is the bow

on top of the Call of Duty franchise. I’m satisfied with what Infinity Ward and Ac-tivision has presented from what they’ve had to work with. I’m certain the COD fanboys will be pleased with the game in its entirety.

“NCIS”“Dancing With the Stars”- TV Ratings Excluding Sports from tvbythenumbers.com

Battlefield 3Released Oct. 31Developed by: Dice Rated: M

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3Released Nov. 8Developed by: Infinity WardRated: M

-- compiled by: tanner hoisington

REVIEWS BYkeanau ormson, associate editor

The biggest games of the year face off in November

vs.

Tribal Sports11.16.11 23

SportsQ &A

with boys varsity basket-ball coach...

David Eaton

QWhat are your expectations for the season?

AWe had a good year last year, and we have a lot of returners. My expectations are really high and I think the players are too. We think that we are one of the best teams in the state, so we think we should go to a state championship game.

QHow will the gaps from the seniors that gradu-ated last year be filled?

AWe have worked on it all offseason. We lost some talent, but we think we have a lot more talent to replace it. John Swinton and Niji Pasha who left were great teammates and had great leadership. We have worked all offseason produc-ing new leaders.

Q What changes have been made since last season?

AWe’ve added a lot of younger guys from the JV team. We feel like we have a lot more energy and a lot more shooting to go along with our great athletes that are seniors.

AQ What are the biggest

games on your schedule?We play in a couple big Christ-mas tournaments—one in West Ashley and one in North Charleston. The region games vs. Goose Creek and West Ashley will be the biggest ones.

Running to victoryFirst place is no stranger for the girls

cross country team, and placing first at the State Cross Country Championship on Nov. 5 in Columbia came as another reason for the team to celebrate.

The championship marked the end of the season for both the girls’ and boys’ teams. The boys ended up placing third in state, placing behind Lexington and Strat-ford.

Girls’ Coach Marie Domin said the state championship was a great ending to the season.

“I hoped we would win because we’ve been ranked one since September, so we were going in with the target on our backs being ranked number one,” she said. “Of course you hope for the win, but my expec-tations for the girls were to give it their all and give it their best and hopefully do the best that we have all year.”

The girls did give it their all. Junior Georgia Compton was the first on the team to cross the finish line and ended up plac-ing sixth overall in the state with a time of 18:58.

“Right when I crossed the finish line, it was kind of like a relief, like ‘I’m exhaust-ed,’” she said, “but it was a good kind of feeling, like ‘I’m on top of the world.’”

elizabeth levi

Girls XC wins first in state, boys win third

writing editor

The team has been training since the summer, attending cross country camp together, training through running miles and learning about the nutri-tion and sleep practices which would help them succeed. All of their prac-tice paid off with the state title, the team’s second in three years.

“[The highlight of the season] was winning State, but I think more than anything, to me, it was them being a team,” Domin said. “They got along, they supported each other, they encouraged each other and I think that you can’t have a true team un-less all those elements are there.”

The boys cross country team’s coach, Ian Banker, is also proud of his team’s col-

laboration. Freshman Andrew Gawry-luk was the first from Wando to cross the finish line. He placed 11th in the state overall with a time of 16:09. But together, they placed third in state.

“Last year we were a very, very good team. We still took third in the state, but I didn’t feel like we were the same close-knit team,” Banker said. “I feel like [this year] we were very, very close-knit, and that’s something you always strive for, especially with a group of guys here. You’ve got to

be able to push each other. So us coming together was very, very

pleasing.”

Freshman AJ Gawryluk was the first-place finisher for Wando dur-ing the cross country state meet Nov. 5. (below)Members of the girls cross country team hoist the State Championship trophy after capturing the title Nov. 5.

COURTESY OF JOE RICE

CO

URTESY O

F MA

RIE DO

MIN

Tribal Sports 11.16.1124

Was named MAX-PREPS volleyball player of the week for South Carolina Oct. 3-9.

Senior AmeliA Stemke

Helped to move the Warriors to the next round of the playoffs with his fumble recovery for a touchdown Nov. 11 vs. Spartanburg.

Senior Dezmon Venning

Was named an All-State Volleyball Player by the S.C. Coaches Associa-tion.

Senior SAVAnnAh miller

Was named an All-State Volley-ball Player by the S.C. Coaches As-sociation.

Senior tinSley hAllmAn

FIELDFACES ON THE

Recorded a game high of 10 tackles in the 22-7 Wando win versus Strat-ford Nov. 4.

Junior AuStin FiSter

4-2, after the Lady Warriors played a close match in junior Catherine Martin’s eyes.

“Competition was tough,” Martin said. “I played a really good player during the championship, so I was really nervous,” she said. “I got on the court and I don’t know, I got really tight, but afterwards, I mean we played a good match. It was really close.”

T h e team has not let the loss di-m i n i s h their spirit, though.

“Once we got second, it was pretty thrilling that we had made it this far,” As-sistant Coach Leigha Jakious said. It is her first year coaching at Wando -- along with head coach Tyler Davis.

The entire team worked hard in the off-season in preparation for their 2011 season to begin. Each one of the players devoted many hours in hopes of having a strong season. Hairfield spent her summer practicing three days a week, six hours a day and Martin, the number one player on the team, works year round to improve her skills.

“I’m playing tennis every day, now even without tennis season. I’m out there three and a half hours a day,” Martin said.

The hard work is not only for winning games; it’s for the love of the game.

“There is nothing better than being on the court,” Martin said.

Spending so much time together has made the team close.

“[The team] has a real big sense of community,” Jakious said. “JV always

goes to the varsity m a t c h e s and some v a r s i t y p l a y e r s go to JV

matches.” “Even before matches the girls help

one another out by trying to calm their nerves,” Martin said.

“We warm up and just joke around a little to get the pressure off,” Martin said.

After winning a title as a freshman and falling to Mauldin two years in a row, Martin has one goal for her senior year— to earn back Wando’s place as state cham-pions.

“I hope we can win state next year,” she said.

In terms of her hopes for the 2012 sea-son, Asst. Coach Jakious said, “I hope we can get as far as we did this year and I hope the girls can have just as much fun.”

Heart pumping, adrenaline flowing and feet flying across a green court: state championships for tennis. The Lady War-riors’ varsity tennis team faced and con-quered the Lowerstate title by beating Lex-ington Nov. 4 and they were ready to take on Upperstate competitor Mauldin, the team Wando has faced five years in a row for the ultimate title.

“After we won [Lowerstate], and we knew we were in [State], we knew we could do anything,” senior Caro-line Hairfield said.

But a return of the state title wasn’t to be, as the girls fell to Mauldin Nov. 6 in Cayce, S.C.

“I was sad, but I know as a team we did our best,” Hairfield said.

The team had acheived an 18-3 regular season record coming into the State cham-pionship.

However, Mauldin won the match

madison ivey, sarah yergin

Tennis team wins Lowerstate title, takes second at state

staff writers

Senior Caroline Hairfield plays in the Nov. 1 tennis match.

Lowerstate champs

IAN

HU

RLOC

K/staff photographer

Once we got second, it was pretty thrilling that we made it this far

Assistant Coach Leigha Jakious

Jakious

Tribal Sports11.16.11 25

Speaking of SportS

“Clemson football and Sammy Watkins.”“College basketball,

especially Clemson.”“College and high school basketball.

Those are the prettiest forms of basketball.”

“I’m not really sure...maybe Overseas

League Basketball.”

“I’ll probably find the Canadian League or

something. I need my basketball.”

FreshmanJhalen Ascue

SophomoreRichard Toliver

School of Corrections Specialist

James Edwards

JuniorHampton Harvin

SeniorRebecca Sisson

What will you watch if the entire NBA season is locked out?

“Stand behind this line and read me line six please.”

“E, D, F, C, Z, P”“Now with only your left eye.”“E, D, F, C, Z, P”“Next, I need you to cover your left

eye with your hand.”“I can’t really tell what it says.” When junior Christian Hart was 12

months old, his parents noticed he wasn’t walking like his older brother did.

“We didn’t think much of it, but we also noticed that we thought one of his eyes was a little lazy,” said Cynthia Hart, Christian’s mother. Doctors in Green-ville told Hart’s parents not to worry, but Dr. Robert Weaver of Mount Pleasant told them to get it checked out.

A visit with an ophthalmologist con-firmed their worst fears: retinoblastoma, a rare form of cancer on the retina mostly diagnosed in children ages one to two. The tumor was visible without magnification, but had not spread up his optic nerve, which leads to the brain.

Twenty-two cycles of external beam radiation were used to eliminate the tu-mor.

“I have a scar on my retina, and have about 10 percent vision right now,” Hart said.

But reduced vision and a tumor

haven’t stopped Hart, who is the passing specialist for the Warriors as well as a member of the track team.

It wasn’t always easy learning to do physical activi-ties – even riding a bike. “He constantly ran into things, like the mailbox or a parked car,” said Mrs. Hart.

As a child, Hart wore gog-gles while playing basketball as well as a visor on his face-mask while playing football. And while his parents still are cautious -- he wears a visor on his facemask when he’s on the field -- football coach Jimmy Noonan called Hart the War-

gives up and is always encouraging us to do better. He is a team player.”

Hart, who has no loss in depth percep-tion after his surgery, said he throws with his right hand so his “good” eye faces the field when he throws. “I’ve gotten used to it,” he said about playing with reduced vision in one eye. “I was lucky it was at a young age and I had time to adjust.”

When the Warriors need to put the ball in the air, Noonan sends Hart out on the field and knows that he is more than capable of completing a pass for a big gain.

“From his sophomore year to junior year, he grew tremendously as a player,” the third-year head coach said. “He is a hard worker, he leads by example and he works hard in the weight room. These will all help him when he is competing for the starting job next year.”

jonathan rice

Junior overcomes impaired vision to play varsity football

sports editor

Hart’s got heart

NATH

AN

GLYED

ER/STAFF PH

OTO

GRA

PHER

For the first time in the school’s his-tory, the Wando varsity football team will host a second-round playoff game, facing the 6-6 Blythewood Bengals Nov. 18.

The Warriors (7-5) are coming off of a 21-7 win against Spartanburg Nov. 11.

Head coach Jimmy Noonan said he believed the Warriors were mentally prepared for the game and were ready to beat the Vikings at Gibbs Stadium.

“I’m very pleased with the way we approached the week and the game,” Noonan said. “Our guys were not intimi-dated going to the upper state and play-ing against an 8-3 team.”

Noonan wants to see the same force the Warriors showed against the Vikings in the game against the Bengals.

“I hope the players will take last week’s approach and apply it to this week’s game,” Noonan said. “Blythewood is very athletic and has a lot of team speed, so we will have our hands full for sure. But I know our guys will adjust accordingly.”

Noonan believes the Warriors need consistency in order to advance to Low-erstate. “As far as the preparation is con-cerned, our approach is pretty consis-tent. It’s routine at this particular point,” Noonan said. “The light switch switches off from one week and cuts on for the next. As the week progresses, it will go from a physical preparation to a mental preparation and they’re both going to need to be at their peek when the whistle blows on Friday.”

-- keanau ormson

Warriors prepare for home playoff game

Junior Christian Hart prepares to throw the ball as he warms his arm up on Nov. 9.

riors’ “best pure passer.” On long yardage, third down situa-

tions, Hart plays quarterback and tries to move the Warriors down the field.

“I run the two minute offense,” Hart said. “The hardest thing about playing sports blind in one eye is trying to see the whole field at once, and knowing where my receivers are at all times. I really have to challenge myself not to stare straight at a receiver because that gives the defender more time to react and make a play.”

While many of his teammates are aware of his impaired vision, junior offen-sive lineman Bryan Patrick said Hart hav-ing to overcome these obstacles keeps him grounded. “Every time I want to complain about practice I realize he has to deal with more so I keep quiet and play,” he said. Hart is “a hard worker who never quits. He never

Tribal Sports 11.16.1126

884-72001441 North Point Lane Mt Pleasant, SC 29464

“Go Wando!”

A disappointing loss to White Knoll in the second round of the playoffs Nov. 3 ended a solid season for the girls volleyball team.

After the 3-1 loss, Wando’s overall record was 33-6 and Coach Alexis Glover reached her 700th win.

“We should have beaten White Knoll to advance to Lowerstate,” Glover said, “but all in all I felt like we improved throughout the year and we played with a lot of intensity and a lot of bravery.”

Those new aspects of the team helped the team beat Ashley Hall for the first time in three years. Although Ashley Hall defeated Wando in their first meeting, the Warriors turned it around and beat Ashley Hall in an away game on the rival’s senior night.

“It was really great to be going to Ashley Hall on their senior night and beating them,” senior Katy Weaver said. “It was a huge accomplishment for our season.”

Honors received during the season included All-Tournament for the Wando Invitational Oct. 14 for Weaver and senior Tinsley Hallman, as well as seniors Amelia

Stemke and Savannah Miller receiving All-Tournament recognition at Dorman High School’s Tournament of Champions Sept. 23.

Known for the team’s strong offense, Wando worked on improving their defensive side, Glover said. “I think our overall team defense was our biggest improvement,” she said.

Glover named Miller, Weaver and several other players, particularly seniors, as important players on defense. Seven of the 16 varsity players are seniors.

Although that is a large portion of the team, Coach Glover is not worried about next year.

“I felt like our seniors gave great representation of our year,” she said. “Nine returners. That’s not bad. We’ll pick

a few kids from junior varsity and we’re ready to go again.” Seniors Hallman and Miller got multiple awards,

including being named to the All-State team and North-South All Stars. Along with Hallman and Miller, Erin Courtenay was chosen for All-Region.

In addition, Courtenay, Miller and Stemke were named MAXPREPS state players of the week throughout the season.

A signing on Nov. 15 honored several seniors, who are continuing their volleyball careers in college. Signees included first year varsity player, Carson Gosnell for the Citadel, Catie Hurt to Charleston Southern, Hallman to Gardner Webb and Stemke, who will be signing with Wofford.

(left) Senior Tinsley Hall-man listens closely to her coach Alexis Glover before a game.(right) Senior Carson Gosnell smiles after remembering a sucessful senior season.

LIZ BENSON/asst. photography editor

Ending too soon

katie kornegay

Girls volleyball team ends sea-son, seniors are awarded for their great play

staff writer

12/12/11

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Tribal Opinions 11.16.1128

My big sister is a drug addict. I don’t understand. We are an upper middle class family. My parents are married. My family is close. She is smart and beautiful. It’s a fact though. She is an addict. I don’t know how to act. I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel. Sometimes I am numb. She cleaned out my wallet. She crashed her car. She stole from our grandparents. She broke her promise. She showed up to work high. Her boyfriend hit her. Her best friend betrayed her. She used. But I’ve heard it all before. I want to feel something every time, but its too exhausting. Sometimes I hate her. I want to shout, “someone look at me!” When she argues with my parents about her lies on my birthday, when she gets kicked out of rehab the week before the biggest test of my life, throwing everyone into confusion. But then I feel a guilty shame for making this about me when everyone’s needs are being neglected, everyone is hurting, again. Sometimes I wish she would grow up. She takes the birthrights of the oldest child but refuses to be mature. She forces me to be the first to do everything even though she’s four years older than me. I have to trudge through the wreckage she’s left in her past in order to move forward. But then I feel sorry for her, knowing how much trouble she had with the things I breeze through. Sometimes I swear I can’t bear it. I want to yell in her face, “How could you do this to us again?” When she leaves with our valuables in her pockets and comes home pale, thin, and covered in track marks. I want to push her and be furious. But when I see her I speak as if everything is normal. We joke about “Scrubs” and

Help Center

For: family and friends

- complied by josie maszk

COLUMN BYjosie maszk, editor in chief

God helps sibling get through troubled time

slushies. I am scared that when I yell, this will be the time she doesn’t come back. This next high will be it. And then she’ll be gone, so I hide my anger. Sometimes I want to weep. She steals from my family. She breaks my parent’s hearts over and over, and I have to sit and watch. I just want them to do it - kick her out of the house, drop her off at the shelter, let her blow her mind if she wants to. But then I am horrified at my own thoughts. She is my sister, and what if something happened to her? My parents would be crushed and broken. I would be crushed and broken.

Sometimes I want to force it. I want my parents to keep her home, make her get a job,

make her follow the rules, make her see a therapist, make her go to meetings, make her get clean. But then I remember that won’t work. She has to want to change. She has to hit a point low enough that she wants out – for real this time. I don’t like to wait. I’m impatient. Sometimes I want more than anything for her to be clean. That will fix everything, right? It will change her. It will last. But then I remember that her addiction isn’t even the whole problem. The problem is

her heart. Until God changes her heart she will still be just as selfish as she is now. She will still be empty and broken inside. She will still shoot up, eventually. Then I wonder if she will ever change, and I become angry and fearful. Sometimes I doubt that God can really save her. My sister grew up in church right next to me and was raised by the same parents, but she doesn’t hear the freedom I do in the words of the Gospel. She is plagued by her broken past. What if she never understands that God makes lives new? I see her resistant, selfish heart, and I am scared out of my mind. But then I remember how my heart was no different from hers, and God changed my life. He took my nasty, filthy, resistant heart, shriveled by insecurity, swollen with jealousy and malice, coated in guilt, bloated with selfish pride, and buried under the weight of high school expectations. He changed it to a heart that is full of confidence, brimming with love for other people, clean before God, longing to serve, and is free from the weight of meaningless expectations. If God can change my screwed up heart, then I know He can change anyone’s.

I don’t know how to act, and I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel right now, but I wait in the comfort that God can change my sister’s life, even if it feels painfully hopeless.

Josie’s sister is currently in a halfway house and has been clean for a few months.

I am scared that when I yell, this will be the time she doesn’t come back. This next high will be it...

Senior Josie Maszk

Senior Josie Maszk(right) and Josie’s older sister(left) smile for the camera as they share a moment together.

CO

URT

ESY

OF

JOSI

E M

ASZ

K

Learning to wait for a change

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For: narcotic users

For: addicts & family

• SeacoastChurch652 Long Point RoadFriday at 6 p.m.(843) 881-2100, ext. 1134• JamesIsland2032 Maybank Highway Sunday at 6 p.m.• RiverbluffChurch 5421 Riverbluff Parkway Friday at 6 p.m.

Narcotics Anonymous meetings

Celebrate Recovery groups

Tribal Opinions11.16.11 29

I remember every single detail from that night. Aug. 8 at 9:24 p.m., I walked into my house from band practice.

I remember the relief I felt that I was home from the long practice.

I remember what I was wearing.

I remember the song that I was humming in my head.

I remember the tears rolling down faces faster than I could understand what was happening.

My sister Lauren was sitting on the steps with her head on her knees. Dad was standing ready to tell us what was happening, his eyes big and red. Mom was sitting in the big chair in her baby blue nightgown clutching a box of tissues.

My first thought was that my grandpa had passed away; he is sick and it would have come as less of a shock. But my dad turned to my sister and me, and in a quiet voice he squeaked out that my Uncle Rick had died.

I fell to the ground crying; I didn’t know what to do. I was in such a shock: the man that was always there for me was now gone?

Dad continued: Uncle Rick was in a motorcycle accident. A woman in the car in front of him looked as though she was continuing to go through a yellow light at a busy intersection but then hit the brakes quickly. My uncle ran into the back of her car, and he went flying off the bike.

He wasn’t wearing a helmet. His new wife had always told him to wear one, but he

never did since it wasn’t a law. He left behind his wife, his two kids plus one on

the way; he left behind his family; he left behind all the people who loved him. We would never get to see that unforgettable witty smile, and we would never get to hear

that chug of a laugh again.I don’t think he realized the impact he has on

everyone. If he knew, do you think he would have worn a helmet? We all had this glimmer of hope that his death wasn’t caused by not wearing a helmet. We didn’t want to believe he could still be alive if he had worn one.

When the autopsy reports came back, we found out it was the head injuries that killed him.

It made us all sick; if we could have gotten wearing a helmet into his head, we would still have him.

I don’t understand; we have seat belt laws, but not helmet laws? With something as dangerous as a motorcycle, it’s not required to wear a safety helmet? There were 4,595 fatal crashes involving motorcycles across the United States in 2010. In those crashes, more than 84,000 were injured.

I find it ridiculous that we don’t have required helmet laws. Helmets are estimated to be 37 percent effective in preventing fatal injuries to motorcycle riders and 41 percent for motorcycle passengers. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that helmets saved the lives of 1,483 motorcyclists in 2010. Still today four states are still 100 percent free of helmet laws. Their argument is they like the wind in their hair and it’s their right. So it’s okay for you to risk death every single time you turn the ignition on?

South Carolina law requires anyone under the age of 21 to wear an approved protective helmet when either operating or riding as a passenger on a motorcycle or two-wheeled motorized vehicle. What about the people that are over 21? Why is it okay for them not to wear a helmet, what makes them better or more likely not to get in an accident?

If so many people’s lives could be saved from wearing helmets, why is it legal not to wear one? If my uncle would have been wearing a helmet, he would still be here today. No one should have to go

through what I’ve been

through.

Brace for impactCOLUMN BY

kristen popovich, staff writer

Poor judgement of family member leaves lasting scars

COLUMN BYamanda sharpley, staff writer

It had been two months since we began living in our new house. We were not even close to finishing unpack-ing everything — and then we were threatened with the possibility that we never would.

Think about it. If a natural disaster were to strike your area, what would you grab? What would you hold close as you fled? Piled up and bulging, suitcases filled with designer clothes; laptops, cameras, stereos and TVs? All those excessive comforts and luxuries modern technology has laid at your feet? But if it all blew away in a matter of seconds -- whirled upwards into oblivion, unkempt by any shroud or your desperate attempts to preserve it all. Once the threat was over, how would you feel? Would any of it matter?

This was the question I asked myself Aug. 26 when Hurricane Irene threatened. My greatest mission, my mom never failed to stress to me, was the packing of all 100 percent absolutely-necessary-only items.

It seemed simple enough. After all, I had not lived here long enough to where I could really call this place home. Nothing extraordinary had happened inside these walls. The house was disposable.

Yet still, as I stood there in the middle of my room, gazing and taking in all of these tokens I had gathered throughout my life, I became flustered.

Peering into my closet at all the patterns of fabric dangling in the shapes of dresses, jackets and blouses, I think of all my fine things. But more importantly, as I take note of each one, I’m taken back to when I last wore them: moments, memories, and new experiences each occurring as the different pieces of cloth had clung to my body.

As my eyes rest on more things with memories at-tached to them, I’m struck with a realization that holds the key to my dilemma -- a key I had carried all this time. The value wasn’t held in the items before me. Material wealth, after all, can be regained. What made me so afraid of losing it all was the protruding fear of simulta-neously losing the parts of my life I had subconsciously linked to all of them.

People’s homes are destroyed. But that does not destroy the images they carry with them of growing up there. As one goes on with their life, new items of value and new memories attached to them will come. Electron-ics, fashion... They’re always changing, always recreating. Letters written by loved ones that irrevocably changed your life, gifts from those deeply cherished, you may never again see. It is those items; the ones that can never be copied, that are utterly unique.

And it was that sentiment that brought me to reach my final decision: a yearbook of old friends -- remnants of my past lives, and their last written words to me as they said farewell -- the last one I’ll ever have from Mariner High -- and a teddy bear gifted to me at birth by an aunt that’s no longer apart of my life. It is these items I will treasure forever in rain, shine and even hurricanes.

According to S.C. motorcycle laws, it is unlawful for a per-son under the age of 21 to operate or ride a motorcycle unless wearing an approved protective helmet.Do you agree that hel-mets should not be required for those of legal age?Yes: 40%No: 60%

If given the choice, would you wear a helmet?Yes: 83%No: 17% - 149 polled

Most valuable possessions not just material goods

Tribal Editorial 11.16.1130

alk of the tribe TThe people who own it [the park] or volunteers. – Sophomore Joseph Landing

The town, because the littering is their problem, because it is their people who are doing it.– Freshman Jeffrey Ibey

Either the town, people who do com-munity service, or they should require people in jail to do service.- Senior Alex Hairfield

A clean-up crew or people that want to do community service.- Junior Gina Romanelli

Who should be responsible for cleaning the marsh areas of public parks?

The Charleston area is often consid-ered one of the most beautiful destina-tions in the country. Whether you have lived here your whole life or you have visited for only a day, the calm harbor waters, a sunset on the Wando River or the luxury of our beaches have surely taken your breath away from time to time.

But there is no question that, when it comes to our distinctive features, our true uniqueness comes from our salt-water marshes. Fisherman, boaters and anyone wishing to observe these wonders have overcome obstacles such as oysters and pluff mud to gain access to this valuable resource. Recently, the Town of Mount Pleasant opened its $2.5 million boardwalk park at Shem Creek to the public Oct. 18.

At first glance, the beautiful array of boardwalks appears to be a marvel of characteristic Lowcountry life. It pro-vides access to the marsh and to fishing docks and it promotes business for local restaurants that line Shem Creek. Even the objections from waterfront home-owners have been minimal.

Yet all one has to do is look down into the pluff mud-tinted waters to find one major problem: littering.

On a single day, just two weeks after the park’s opening, 35 bottles, 10 cans, six Styrofoam cups, two pairs of shoes, five pieces of debris possibly related to construction and 14 miscellaneous plastic objects were sighted from the boardwalk.

And although three seemingly unused trash bins are provided, one of them was being overtaken by the high tide and could have spilled its contents if it had gone unnoticed. These shock-ing numbers and observations put local species at increased risk of entangle-

ment, poisoning or habitat loss due to the destruction of their home environment.

Even if the waters were polluted before construction, the amount of waste has increased significantly since then.

And although the marshes may appear to be tranquil wastelands on the surface, they are the

reproductive environments for more than half of South Carolina’s salt-water species. According to the South Carolina Depart-ment of Natural Resources, about 15 percent of our marshes have been dammed off from the ocean because of the immense amounts of litter and even more have been damaged. The organisms affected include blue crabs, red fish and shrimp, as well as the food supply for countless other spe-cies. Local fishing and docking businesses have lost profits due to increased pollution and decreased crustacean harvests. More pollution is the last thing our environment needs.

Even worse, Shem Creek is located di-rectly across from a natural bird sanctuary where pelicans and oyster-catchers thrive.

Since Charleston County Parks and Recreation backed out of the park's main-tenance and ownership due to expenses, their environmental cleaning resources are not available. The Town of Mount Pleas-ant may not be obligated to clean up the littering, but it has park rules that prohibit certain activities at the entrance (includ-ing “littering”), and has provided multiple trash receptacles throughout the park. According to the Department of Natural Resources, the Town of Mount Pleasant currently has no obligation to clean the marsh. However, the department has taken our observations into consideration and will encourage the town to establish orga-nized maintenance.

The remaining problem is a moral one. It’s up to us to make a difference.

Preserving the beauty

Well I thought this would have been a nice, romantic

walk...

Staff editorial

WILLIAM SHANAHAN/cartoonist

MIC

HA

EL O’BRIEN

/photographer

Tribal Opinions11.16.11 31

THETRIBAL TRIBUNEJosie Maszk Co Editor-in-chiefMichael Spires Co Editor-in-chiefKeanau Ormson Associate EditorEmilee Kutyla Writing EditorElizabeth Levi Writing EditorMatt Orvin Features Editor Rebecca Sydow Opinions EditorSabian Mignone Copy EditorTanner Hoisington PhotographyLiz Benson Asst. PhotographyJordan Tooley Asst. PhotographyMT Borque Design EditorAnna Rogerson PollmasterJames Wood Technology EditorLinda Lin Business ManagerJack Meagher Webmaster

StaffersChaz Schuck Hayley BrimmerLeah Elkins Kelsey VoriesLauren Fraser Collin KerriganBradford Allen Georgia BarfieldDevon Barkley Sean BarnettEmily Cappelmann Hattie FennellNathaniel Glyder Emily HopkinsAshleigh Horowitz Madison IveyKatherine King Caroline KornegayKate Kornegay Michael O’BrienMegan Parks Kristen Popovich Jackson Wood Sarah YerginDevon Bowen Jessica AfrinMadison Bailey Shannon DoyleKristen Evans Virginia GilliamBria Graham Davis HaithcockIan Hurlock Emily Lor Rebekah McKenna Taylor Read Jonathan Rice Sarah RussellAmanda Sharpley Mary WardMitch Winkler Will Shanahan

Tamela Watkins Adviser

Wando High School1000 Warrior Way

Mount Pleasant, SC 29464(843) 849-2830

The Tribal Tribune is published by the newspaper staff at Wando High School, 1000 Warrior Way, Mt. Pleasant, SC 29466.Advertising rates are available upon re-quest by calling 843-849-2830, ext. 23903 or emailing [email protected] Tribal Tribune has been established as an open forum for student expressions as outlined by the Student Press Law Center. The Tribal Tribune accepts only signed letters to the editor. We reserve the right to edit for space and style as well as to se-lect which to run. The Tribal publishes 10 times a year. The Tribal Tribune maintains memberships in South Carolina Scholastic Press Association, Southern Interscholas-tic Press Association, Columbia Scholastic Press Association and National Scholastic Press Association.

Dear editors of the Tribal Tribune:I am writing about the article about

school resource officers. I think the SROs need to stay at Wando.

The article said that all the money should go to the guidance counselors, but SROs are different from guidance counsel-ors. Guidance counselors are not always available because they are either in a meet-ing or with a student and parents to get their classes right. Guidance counselors are more helpful with classes and college. Students don’t always feel comfortable with counselors. Guidance counselors don’t connect with all students.

SROs help prevent problems. If you say you need advice on something, an SRO will keep it that way and give you advice. They really try to get to th-e bottom of things. If they hear something like a stu-dent is going to get ganged after school or somebody’s about to fight, students can let the cops know. They’ll get to the bottom of situations.

If a student is being harassed or bullied by another student, they will take care of it right then and there to make that student stop bothering you. Officer [Angela] Peterson, Officer [Michael] Reidenbach and Officer [Sean] Weber do their very best to stop violence in Wando. They are working hard to stop the violence and drugs.

Re: Pre-gamin’ not fun and games

I have seen SROs sit down with any students that are about to get in trouble; they have one-on-one conversations with the students. An SRO can tell when a student is about to fight and they will grab you in a hot second before you get into a fight.

Another reason why they should stay is that fights happen over the weekend and it’s not over with and they are going to bring it to school. Of course, it’s going to be on Facebook -- a student can say, “Hey a fight hap-pened over the weekend and they say it’s not over and they still beefin.” An SRO can get the issue out of a student. SROs show a lot of positives in students’ behavior by talking to them to tell them what’s wrong from right. I really do give them credit for giving students positive contact, which shows that they really care about students.

SROs are also important when prob-lems are happening. When students are fighting, some adults just stand there and let them fight because they are afraid they can get hit. SROs just come in there and grab them by their waist like the Incredible Hulk with no problem.

If the SROs leave, then who’s going to protect the students? It is going to feel unsafe in school when SROs are gone, but with them around everyone feels really safe. Some students take school as their second home and SROs are like their security during school hours.

If something happened at school, like a fight, and SROs are not there, the school will have to call a police officer to stop it and they might be on another call. There could be a serious situation they are deal-

ing with in the street and by the time they come, the

fighting students and others can get seri-ously hurt.

These are the reasons why I don’t want SROs to be removed from schools. We really do need them, and without them school will get out of hand. In conclusion, teachers and students will be miserable if the SROs leave.

Senior Khadijah Venning

Re: Student Resource Officer

Dear editors of the Tribal Tribune:In the last issue of the Tribal Tribune,

there was one article for which we must object to strongly. The staff editorial, “Pregamin’: Not Just Fun and Games,” promotes, what we consider, an utterly ineffective approach to deterring teenage drinking. It was essentially a 300 word regurgitation of the “Just Say No” mantra we’ve all been spoon-fed since we were little.

We are expected to be adults in the next years- to go to college, to make life changing decisions- and very importantly, to know why underage drinking is bad,. The article glosses over the effects of alco-hol, making only a passing allusion or two

to becoming sick from drinking; the actual dangers of teen drinking- alcohol poison-ing, drunk driving, etc- are not even men-tioned. The importance of emphasis on the reasons why underage drinking is wrong is blatantly over looked. Instead, there is simply a call for policies that curtail one’s right to privacy and turn the teachers who volunteer to work the ticket stand into TSA agents performing airport security screenings. This disregards the true root of the problem.

We once were taught a valuable axiom: no why, no comply. The gist of the principle is that the best way to elicit a desired behavior is to provide a logical reason for compliance. We found this ar-ticle to be void of any compelling reasons to persuade those engaging in underage

alcohol consumption to stop. An article containing logic and reason, culminating in the conclusion that teen drinking is wrong, would appeal to the young adult mind. This article went straight to the conclusion, assuming that the reader is beyond benefitting from basic reminders of the ill effects of alcoholic consumption.

We fully understand the author’s feelings toward this subject, as little can be said in support of underage drinking. But, the way in which this sentiment is ex-pressed to the reader matters a great deal. We, the students of Wando High School, are entitled to appeal to logic when asked to adopt new rules and regulations regard-ing our affairs.

Junior Benjamin J. Rabin Senior Nicholas S. Sottile

I have seen SROs sit down with any students that are about to get in trouble...

Letters to the editors

Corrections from Oct. 20 issue: The head coach of the Wando state championship swim team is Allyson Brown. Nick Reece is the assistant coach. In “Student Resource Officer,” SRO Michael Reidenbach said, “One thing I guess people do not realize is that a majority of incidents,” not incidences.

Tribal Finale 11.16.1132

Students from teacher Christo-pher Poston’s sociology classes visited St. James Santee El-

ementary School Nov. 8 for a “Buddy Day,” equipped with 6,000 books for the students and time to spend with each buddy.

This is the fifth year Wando’s sociol-ogy classes have been involved in the project, but this group’s first at St. James-Santee. The number of donated books was 1,500 more than last year’s total.

St. James-Santee students will be visiting Wando Dec. 9 in a continuation of the “buddy” program. Plans include next year’s group of sociology students meet-ing with St. James-Santee again next fall.

Kidshelping

KidsBuddies hang on to senior Antwon Wright and enjoy the piggyback ride around the playground.

Sitting in the hallway, senior Ronnette Bacote listens to her buddy read his book that they picked out together earlier in the day.

First in line, children smile in anticapation for the full and fun day ahead.

Elementary schoolers get to ride bikes allong the side walk. Senior Tyler Fox helps his buddy out by giving him a push.

High school-ers help the elementary schoolers pick out books. The children got to pick out 26 books each. Senior Haley Brimmer helps her buddy make their choices.

High school students spend time in the classroom with their bud-dies, helping with school work. Fresh-man Meagan Yeager helps out with vo-cabulary and other grammar work for the day.

Senior Marshall Carter spends time with her buddies on the playground enjoying the fun, as one elementary school child pulls off her glasses.

SARA

H RU

SSELLD/staff

MADDIE BAILEY/staff

LIZ BENSON/ast. editor SARAH RUSSELL/staff

Documents

Four stories of Hope