InFlight June 2014, issue 7

Auburn Riverside Student VoiceJUNE 10, 2014 • VOLUME 19• ISSUE #7

Seniors Move OnEarn 2.1 million in scholarships.Check out senior pages 7-10.

InFlight is compiled by the student newspaper staff at Auburn Riverside High School, 501 Oravetz Road, Auburn, WA 98092.

The InFlight staff strives to maintain accurate and objective reporting for our stories. However, opinion stories are in-cluded. Any commentary which is signed by the author accounts for his or her opin-ion only, and not necessarily that of any-one else on staff. An unsigned editorial reflects the majority opinion of the InFlight staff.

InFlight accepts student, faculty, and community members’ letters to the editor,

artwork, opinions and comments. How-ever, we will not print any unsigned let-ters or work. Please contact us in room 402, through e-mail at [email protected] or by calling 253-804-5154.

Advertisement is available through InFlight. Advertising gives business the op-portunity to reach more than 1800 faculty and students. Support students going to the state and national journalism conven-tions, help with publication costs, hardware, software, and resource purchases. We en-courage students, faculty and community members to contact us through e-mail at [email protected] or by calling 253-804-5154 for further advertisement infor-mation.

InFlight policies Greetings from NewspaperInFlight

staff reportersClaire Bedsworth Cameron FairchildJude HannoKarlee Johnson Dylan JohnstonSara KoenigMaddie NassirianJessica PerezSasha TerryAlex Vasquez

editor-in-chiefMackenzie Brown

editor-in-chiefDylan Johnston

business managerKarlee Johnson

InFlight June 10, 2014Opinion2

adviserPatrick Swenson

social media editorJude Hannocover photoDylan Johnston

Greetings from our graduating senior reporters, Eric Walker and Jacob Lonergan!

seniorsJacob LonerganEric Walker

You can’t play sports! You’re a girl! From a young age, we are taught to think that only a certain gender can play certain sports.

Boys seem to have the idea that girls are too weak to play “guy sports” and that they are too manly to play “girl sports.” Who said sports have a gender? Both gen-ders should be equally allowed to play any sport they desire.

The thing is, students don’t see it like that, because the schools support this sex separation. If, for example, the schools offer sports like football, some girls will wish they could play, but can’t because the school won’t allow it.

“The school should not be sexist,” freshman Hilary Fernandez said. “Some girls are good at sports that guys play too.”

It is not only this way for girls, but for the boys too, believe it or not. Gymnastics is a sport for both genders, yet at school it is only offered to the females.

“Boys should be able to participate in gymnastics,” freshman Brent Isaac O’Neill said. “I don’t think a boys gymnastics is necessary, but just that gymnastics should be open to everyone.”

By far, the school has kept it so there

is an equal amount of sports for each gender, but some students still say that the division isn’t fair.

“The school offers the same num-ber of sports but not the same level of energy,” O’Neill said. “Guys get foot-ball, and what do girls get? Tennis and gymnastics. More people like football, so I don’t find it very fair.”

The school uses the excuse that it’s not safe for guys and girls to be on a team together. If a girl wants to join a team with mixed genders, she would obviously know the situation she is put-ting herself into. “

If the girl really wants to play, then let her play,” sophomore Francisco Martinez said. “Although she should be aware of the risk and danger she’s put-ting herself in. I mean boys are much bigger and tougher, so in a real game there won’t be any excuse if she gets hurt.”

If the student knows the risk and accepts it, there should be no reason why boys and girls can’t be equal and play on a team together.

Boys and girls may not be equal off the field, but on it they should all be treated as if they are almost the same per-son. If the student of opposite gender puts in as much effort as all the other players,

The feminist movement has been a grand part of American society and it has shaped its outlook on women. The mod-ern feminist movement started with Betty Friedan in 1962 and “The Feminine Mys-tique,” her novel, which inspired women to fight for the same treatment as men. Even in the definition, Feminism is described as “the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.”

Jessica PerezSTAFF REPORTER

Unfortunately, today’s society has al-tered this definition, and more women are supporting their superiority over men, rather than their equality with. I believe in equality, not for one gender to reign over another.

The status of the word “feminism” has become so corrupt that women expect better treatment than men on grounds of incredibly harsh topics. One of them being abuse.

Women have the opportunity to punch guys and treat them like they’re below them, but in other cases, men lay a finger on a girl and it’s an entirely different story. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s even

Gender equality in school sports a must

why discriminate? All that really matters in the end is that the team members have fun. The wins are just a bonus. So it doesn’t matter if you are a girl or a boy, you should

in the slightest bit okay for a man to hit a woman, but on that same ground, I don’t think it’s okay for a woman to hit a man either. In today’s society, why is one con-sidered okay while another is grounds of abuse? They’re both abuse!

One woman who also wouldn’t describe herself as a feminist is the famous Shailene Woodley, who starred in Divergent, Secret Life of an American Teenager, and will star in John Green’s’ book-made-movie, The Fault in Our Stars. According to an article on Time, when asked whether or not she is a feminist, Woodley stated “No, because I love men, and I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out be-

Feminism doesn’t accomplish equalityJude Hanno

STAFF REPORTER cause you need balance.” The balance of actual equality is re-

quired to better today’s society. Not the twisted version of feminism that plagues our nation.

In most cases, men currently reign over women in ways both political and social, and I support all the women who are advo-cating to give more rights to women. Those girls are the ones who will shape our society for the better and give women the rights that they righteously deserve.

No, I am not a feminist. But I am an advocate for equality. Not one gender’s su-periority over another.

Title IX, passed in 1972 as part of the Education Amendments, allowed girls to participate in school sports. Unfortunately, that was the last word on female school sports integration.

be able to play the sport you love and not be limited by the school because of your gender.

PHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, WIKIPEDIA.ORG

3Auburn Riverside High School Opinion

An increasing number of video games are becom-ing more cinematic in their presentation. Games like Un-charted program movie-like action set-pieces to mirror the game’s inspiration (Indi-ana Jones), while games like Heavy Rain reduce control of the action down to a series of quick-time button presses. As this movement continues, vid-eo games are becoming more like interactive movies every day.

So why does Hollywood want to turn so many of these games into actual movies? Currently, movies for Unchart-ed, Bioshock, and even Angry Birds are be-ing pursued by film studios for big-budget adaptations. Video game movies have been around for a while, to be sure, but never in

the quantity of the planned projects today.Video game movies today are unnec-

essary because they are frequently based on games that already stand as their own

School will come to an end soon and summer vacation will begin! Some students don’t like the break because it’s too long from the school year and they would like to continue learning. Other students like the break because they want to have fun in the sun and hang out with friends. I like summer be-cause it gives me a break from tests. But is it too short? I definitely think so.

Summertime is a nec-cesary break from the stress of school and allows students to just be teenag-ers and recuperate from the long, harsh months of the school year.

With only two months to break from school, I think that it’s not enough time to allow students to really just act their age and be irresponsible and relaxed.

I believe that summer gives students a break from school and to have fun in the sun for a couple months. Its also a break from school and homework.

Seniors wait for the vacation to start so they can attend college later this year.

Senior Tristen Tracey thinks summer vacation is important. “I feel like the break is enough time away from school and it’s anticipated on getting out of high school,” he said.

The vacation is supposed to give stu-dents a break from learning and time to relax.

Some students believe the breaks

Sasha TerrySTAFF REPORTER

Cameron FairchildSTAFF REPORTER

PHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, DEVIANTART.COM

Hollywood, in its ruthless quest to make money, has even extended a film deal to the popu-lar app Angry Birds. Yes, that Angry Birds.

Hollywood should leave the video for games

Dark Souls 2 is a very unpolished game, especially in the multiplayer. It is more bro-ken than the last game, and the lag is even worse. ‘From Software’ made some dumb decisions on how to “balance the game.”

In Dark Souls 2, ‘From Software’ intro-duced two new stats for characters to level up with. One of them being adaptability. This is the most broken skill in the entire game. It is both broken in how it works and how very overpowered it is. When this skill is leveled up it improves some defenses and agility.

Agility determines how fast the char-acter does certain actions (i.e rolling, running, and raising/lowering the shield). If you level this skill up enough it will give your rolling i-frames(invincibility frames). At 105 agility you get about 13 i-frames, which makes it so you can roll through attacks, spells, you name it. The most i-frames that can be achieved are 15. Sadly, it does not always work like intended, such as when someone casts “wrath of the gods” ( it is a spell that hits everyone around you) and the character tries to roll through it, they will get hit even though the roll has i-frames.

In Dark Souls 1, the system for player versus player (pvp) was based on your characters soul level. It was a very straight-forward system of 10 levels down, 10 up. This changed drastically with Dark Souls 2. It is now based on soul memory (the amount of souls used overall).

There are certain tiers of sm, 1-41. Tier 41 is where all of the high level and “high skill” pvp takes place. Everyone in this tier uses the most overpowered

items and spells possible. Most of the time everyone is max level with 99 in every stat. This is where pvp stops becoming fun, and it starts becoming more boring. Everyone will be in full havel’s armor( best armor in the game) using fully upgraded daggers and santiers spear. One backstab from a mun-dane dagger can one shot everything unless you wear full havels.

In Dark Souls 1 the game was ridden with hackers. Guess what? They are back, only after a few weeks of the game being out, a mega-mule was released. This gives the player everything in the entire game and a bunch of souls to level up with.

Overall, the state of the game’s multi-player is in shambles right now and ‘From Software’ needs to step in and do some-thing about it.

Dylan JohnstonEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Dark Souls 2 lags Summer break too short

story, told in the best format for that kind of story. Take The Last of Us, a game currently in development for the Hollywood treat-ment. The game takes the trite premise of the zombie apocalypse format and reanimates it simply by making the gameplay difficult and resources scarce. By allowing people to play as the characters and integrate them-selves into the stark difficulty of survival, the game adds dimen-sion to its storytelling through interactivity. With this interactive

component missing, a movie would take away from what is already a beautifully told story.

If history proves anything, barely-plot-ted video games don’t make good movies either. Super Mario Bros, Tomb Raider, and Need For Speed have all spawned terrible films. Grafting a genre onto a video game tie-in—say for instance a war movie based on a Call of Duty plot—just cheapens both products.

Hollywood is searching for new fran-chises so it can market tie-in products and make more money. Video games already have a built-in fan base, just like books and comics, and are therefore sought after as movie properties. Video games, unfortu-nately, are often less open to interpretation than other forms of media because they are a visual medium, unlike books, and have less source material to interpret in an origi-nal way, like comics.

Video game movies are terrible, and diminish the value of their source material. Hollywood may only be looking for money from video games, but they should start looking elsewhere for franchises if they cannot make quality adaptations.

should be longer. “I get to tan all summer and I get to play summer basketball,” soph-omore Adrianna Chavez said. “The break should be a month longer because summer goes by too fast.” Given the brevity of our summer vacation, I wholeheartedly support the extension of the summertime months.

Some students spend their summer va-cation in states outside of Washington. Most of the time the weather during summer is hot, and students spend time in the sun.

“I feel like it’s time to relax,” fresh-man Josh Morisawa said. “It’s not too hot and not too cold.”

Exactly.Relaxing in the summer between each

school year is necessary, and if anything, should be longer.

The summer has long been a favorable tradition among teenag-ers

PHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, COMMONS.WIKIMEDIA.ORG

Dark Souls 2 features excellent design, but the multi-player and gameplay are broken and obnoxious.

PHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, DEVIANTART.COM

InFlight June 10, 2014News4

On April 17, the city of Auburn gave the final okay to purchase the property in front of the Auburn Library, which includes the land that the historic restaurant of Big Daddy’s sits on. The Mayor of Auburn wants to purchase it to create an extension for Les Goves Park.

The next step was to examine the property to see if the city will of-ficially go through with the purchase. The final examina-tion was May 20, but the final deci-sion will not come until later in June.

The property is owned by a man who has a business on the far end. He decided to sell the property because he didn’t want it anymore. Co-owner of Big Daddy’s, Park Kyong, wasn’t even aware that the prop-erty was being sold until one of his custom-ers told him that the Auburn Reporter had

written a story about it. He quickly called the owner to clarify, “Why now? I tried to buy the property from him last year and he said it was 400 thousand dollars. I looked on real estate and it said it was only worth 200 thousand dollars,” Kyong said.

The Big Daddy’s on Auburn Way is said to be the last one in the United States, and has been there since 1997.

“Big Daddy’s shouldn’t be torn down, it has been there for a long time,” junior

Lucy Aguirre said. “It’s really good, and when you need to point out where the library is, you can just say ‘it’s behind Big Daddy’s.’”

Kyong was given the idea of peti-tioning the city so he could buy the property; he said he would soon begin asking his customers to help him. “I’ve had the business for 17 years, just to

lose it all? I was hoping I could pass on the business to one of my sons once I got old,” Kyong said.


Nick Konkler has endured immense struggles over the course of this year. His battle with a type of leukemia, known as AML, has inspired many fellow students, as well as staff.

Most people don’t fully understand the brand of cancer labelled AML or acute my-elogenous leukemia. It is a form of cancer that causes the abnormal production of blood cells, causing them to no longer fight infection.

Konkler’s family, while struggling, is managing well. They, “(what are they strug-gling with? How are they managing?)”

Konkler’s coming out of remission was shocking to most, and his friends felt unpre-pared for his second wave of AML.

When Konkler’s friend, sophomore Stori Freelund found out, she was bawling her eyes out when she told her mom. “We-sat there for two hours just crying before we sent Nick a text saying how sorry we were.”

Junior Jesus Camarillo, a close friend of Nick’s, felt disheartened and very sad. “I couldn’t believe he got it again,” Camarillo said. “The first time he had it, it was a brain tumor when he was just a baby. Then he got AML the second time and it was really sad when he got it a third time. It then leaned towards the positive, he’s gonna make it,

he’ll be back for the second semester of his senior year.”

Konkler is full of life even under the stress of cancer and as his friends would put

ASB wraps up this year and gives the power to the new board of the 2014-2015 school year.

At the final assembly on May 30, the ASB team created a video that described how students need to break out of their comfort zone and rip up their cool cards. It cen-ters around the central villain, Se-nior Shaun Meehan, who has not ripped up his cool card and wants to drag other students down with him. The old spririt squad that was introduced to us in the beginning of the year that included all of the execu-tive board members of this school year has gotten “too old” for the job. Due to this, they were unable to stop Meehan.

Then there was the introduction of the new executive board as the new spirit squad, and senior Cameron Fairchild will be the new leader of this squad. The old mas-cot was too old to defeat Meehan, and then when the old mascot was defeated the new mascot came into play, which was intro-duced to us this new year. Joining forces, they took down Meehan and reinstated the positivity in the school. In the end, even Meehan tore up his cool card.

Maddie NassirianSTAFF REPORTER

This recognition assembly also centered around recognizing the accomplishments of this year and also recognized the staff by compiling a video of students opinions on their favorite teachers and why they were inspirations.

After this final assembly, there will be no end of the year assembly, and the only event organized is the senior walk on Fri-day the 13. Everything has been wrapped up and ASB is now ready to close down and give way for the new board of the 2014-2015 school year.

Sara KoenigSTAFF REPORTER

Konkler inspires friendships

Big Daddy’s land sold ASB wraps up year

The annual 5K Raven Walk will take place on Saturday, June 15, on a course that starts at Riverside, at 9:00 a.m.

In order to participate, students must fill out a registration form that can be filled out online. Another requirement is the payment. Registering before June 7 means the payment is only $30. Regis-tration after June 7 is an extra $5.

The Raven Walk is a fundraiser for the cross country team and helps them participate in invitationals. They require a lot of money in order to participate in these events.

If this run didn’t exist, students would have to pay for sports and, ac-cording to the school’s website, the school believes in “keeping sports cost free for all students.”

The run is a 5K which is equivalent to 3.1 miles.

After starting at the school, partici-pants will proceed onto a flat paved road through Roegner and Game Farm Wilder-ness Park.

Anyone who registers will receive a T-Shirt and be entered into a random drawing for prizes. Food and drink will be provided after the race.

Raven Walk offers fun, T-shirt, prizesit, he’s as lively as ever.

“He’s the nicest person I know,” senior Derek Hart said. “He’s constantly giving back to the people around him. He makes

every environment as positive as it can be, and he helps any-one that needs it.”

Senior Sklyer Erben be-lieves Konkler is one of those friends he’s lucky to have because their backgrounds are so different. “I grew up playing sports,” Erben said, “and he grew up working on cars and being a mechanic, and while those seem like superficial differences, what you grow up doing molds your personality, and those differ-ences make our relationship that much stronger.”

As many new friend-ships have been created and strengthened, so have the old.

“I met him in February so we’ve only been friends a few months,” Hart said. “When we decided that we wanted to make T-shirts and help the family, I would say it’s definitely changed every day. We were acquaintances at first but now we’re becom-ing best-friends.”

Jude HannoSTAFF REPORTER

PHOTO BY DYLAN JOHNSTON

Nick Konkler, pictured here with senior Miki McKinnon, has been battling cancer since he was a baby.

PHOTO COURTESY NICK KONKLER

At an all-school assembly two weeks ago, seniors were en-couraged to write sticky notes and place on this AR sign.

PHOTO BY JESSICA PEREZ

5Auburn Riverside High School Feature

During this time of the year, students of all grade levels struggle to im-prove their grades. The cries on all the social media sites speak of the thirst for the break to start.

Especially with the sun coming up, it’s getting more and more difficult for students to focus on the impor-tant things in life, such as school. All they want is the summer, where they won’t have any responsibilities.

Sophomore Sunny Lee agrees that one of the hardest parts of ending the school year is “probably keeping up or maintaining good grades and definitely all of the tests you have to study for.”

Senior Janita Schuh has an entirely dif-ferent idea about the hardest part of end-ing the school year, and that’s probably due to the fact she is graduating. “As a senior, I think saying goodbye to all my friends will be difficult. Everyone is moving away. It’s gonna be hard to keep in contact,” she said.

Junior Roxana Soltero has a similar view-point. For her, the hardest part of ending

.

Austin Mahone

89%

Some students simply dislike the YouTube star turned singer. Others simply don’t know who he is.

Students share their opinion on current topics and pop culture

71%

Most people aren’t on board with Disney’s reworked fairytale, which recasts Sleeping Beauty villainess Maleficent as the protagonist.

Senioritis

Fall Sports Practice

84%Speaking of sports, the majority of students are in favor of the current practices for next school year’s fall sports.

72%Many seniors (and underclassmen) seem to acknowledge and support the crippling need to not do schoolwork.

69%Sexism in Sports

Gender discrimination is wrong, say most students, especially in school sports.

Ruling

Pot Legalization

50%It seems that students are split exactly 50-50 on pot legalization. The issue is clearly a divisive one, even in Washington, one of the two states that has legalized it.

Maleficentaven

the school year is “knowing all the seniors won’t be joining us next year because they’re pret-ty cool.”

With the summer start-ing, all the se-

niors students have been used to

seeing all year will no longer

be at Riverside, which is certainly a

depressing aspect of leaving the school, but the benefits of

summer are what keeps the stu-dent body happy and excited.

Those things they have to endure during school hours won’t have to be during break.

Schuh believes there’s something to be relieved about once the year ends. Schuh is happy that all the drama that comes with high school will be over. “There are a lot of people I used to call friends that I don’t talk to anymore because of one fight or an-other,” she said.

Soltero is excited that, because of the summer, she won’t have to get up at 6 a.m. every morning.

Riverside is getting ready for summer, now just a week and a half away.

Summer brings reliefJude Hanno

STAFF REPORTER

ASB director Meri Benedict has been awarded the honor of being Auburn School District’s high school teacher of the year.

“I feel like every teacher in the build-ing works their hardest every day,” Benedict said. “I honestly think this staff gives their all for these kids, so I feel uncomfortable receiving an individual award. I feel like it should be a compre-hensive award. But I’m happy to represent Riv-erside collectively.”

Every year, the Auburn School District selects a teacher from each elementary, mid-dle, and high school to receive this award. They then move on to the ESD (Educational Service District) to compete regionally. “I had to submit the regionals portion by May 23rd,” Benedict said. “Although, I don’t think that state and nationals will have any effect on me. I’m doing this for Riverside’s honor.”

Benedict has taught for over 30 years

now, and only at the Auburn School District. “I’ve only been at Riverside for eight years though,” Benedict said.

She teaches health and leadership, and is also the activities director. As activities

director, she works with the ASB to help plan pep assemblies, spirit weeks, and fundraisers. “I think that my job is per-fect, I get to teach half the day and do activities the other half,” Benedict said, “I don’t think I could ever see myself not teaching.”

Benedict tries her hardest to bring everyone together at Riverside. “My goal when I got this job was to create a school where every-one feels like a fam-ily. I want everyone

who walks into the school to know that they are valued.”

She tries to help other students accom-plish this as well. “Raven Crew and ASB aim to this goal,” Benedict said.

Not many teachers are able to say that they have received such an honor. As a school, Riverside is honored to say that one of the teachers here has done so.

Benedict teacher of the yearAlex Vasquez

STAFF REPORTER

PHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, OPENCLIPART.ORG

InFlight June 10, 2014Feature6

Who’s behind locker #...

7252 8106 80067168InFlight: What is

your favorite place in Auburn?

NP: My church.InFlight: Best class

at Auburn Riverside?NP: AP ChemistryInFlight: Favorite

TV show?NP: I don’t really

watch TV.InFlight: Favorite

animal?NP: Puppy or dog.InFlight: Do you plan

on attending college in the future?

NP: Yes.InFlight: What is

your favorite sport?NP: Volleyball and

swimming.InFlight: Your shoe

size?NP: 6 1/2InFlight: Favorite

country?NP: Russia.InFlight: How do

you spend your free time?

NP: I hang out with youth.

InFlight: What do you hope to do as a career?

KP: I want to be an engineer.

InFlight: Who is an inspiration to you?

KP: Steven Hawking.InFlight: Favorite

sport?KP: Tennis.InFlight: Favorite

eye color?KP: BlueInFlight: How tall are

you?KP: 5’10”InFlight: Favorite

time period?KP: The 1970s. InFlight: Have you

always lived in Au-burn?

KP: No, I live in Lake Tapps.

InFlight: Favorite language?

KP: English.InFlight: What is

your number one pet peeve?

KP: Being sick.

InFlight: Favorite decade?

BF: The 1950s.InFlight: What is

your number one pet peeve?

BF: When people take or touch my stuff.

InFlight: Favorite hair color?

BF: Brown.InFlight: Favorite

continent?BF: Australia.InFlight: Favorite

language?BF: English.InFlight: Your shoe

size?BF: 6 1/2InFlight: How do


BF: With my friends, playing sports, and spending time outside on my trampoline.

InFlight: Have you always lived in Au-burn?

BF: Yes.

InFlight: Any summer plans?

AH: Preparing for college and finding a summer job.

InFlight: Who is your favorite teacher?

AH: Mr. Monsen.InFlight: What is

your favorite band?AH: Curren$yInFlight: Favorite

movie?AH: Taken.InFlight: Seventh fa-

vorite color?AH: Red.InFlight: Twitter or

Instagram?AH: Twitter.InFlight: Favorite

decade?AH: The 2000s.InFlight: Favorite

hair color?AH: Copper.InFlight: How do


AH: I cook a lot of food. I also do a lot of work.

Brooklyn ForteFreshmanSenior

Aaron Honeywell Kyle PorterJuniorSophomore

Nelli Panitkova

Senior Brad Filler, al-though not traveling far, will be going to Sedona, Arizona this summer for an exciting opportunity to demonstrate some of his more prominent skills. Filler, a skilled wilderness survivor, is going to Arizona to com-pete in challenges for his favorite YouTube sur-vivor series. He decided

to go down after being invited by someone involved with the series.

Seniors 7Auburn Riverside High School

Ra ens soar the globe

Patty Namsapanna will be on a micro tour of Asia, visiting Seoul, South Korea, and all over Thai-land. Her adventure will take a total of two months and she will be visiting fam-ily along the way in Thailand.

Kevin Burr will be spending a lot of time traveling the world as well as country this summer, with two trips planned; one to New York City and the other all the way down below the equator to Australia. He will be traveling with family, because they wanted to try something new, that was out of their comfort zone.

Senior Yuta Moxley will be going on an adventure to the far east, to Tokyo, Ja-pan. While there he will be visiting the Imperial hotel and exploring the ginzu and roppongi hills area. Also, he is go-ing to make a visit to the world renowned sushi barfeatured in

the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

Taylor Wega will also be making a trip to the far East this summer, only it won’t all be for leisure. She will also be helping out people doing com-munity service with her church (includ-ing junior Natalie Mendez) through an organization

called China Connect. On the trip, she will be visiting Bejing as well as other small towns in Northern China.

Robin Mendoza will be going on an ex-citing adventure this summer in the United States, Car-ribean, and Mexico. This summer, he will fly to Florida where he will go to Univer-sal Studios, then he will go on a couple day cruise through the Carribean and on to Mexico.

Jonathan BaunachSt. Olaf College

Adam DomenowskeGeorge Fox University

Ted May USMC Boot Camp

Brandon KruseBoise State University

Sean Kierce Boise State University

Devin DitschUSMC Boot Camp

Kevin ThomsonUniversity of Nevada LV

Brianna CookeUniversity of Utah

Lexi WhiteMissouri S&T

RAVENS TAKE FLIGHT

Jonathan BaunachSt. Olaf College

Shaun Meehan U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

Lauren CrimiArkansas State University

Rachel CoveyBaylor University

Lexi WhiteMissouri S&T

Brandon StarksElmhurst College

RAVENS TAKE FLIGHT

Nik Skorniakoff

Jonathan Baunach

Miranda Martens

$96,000$168,000

$88,000

Seniors Nik Skorniakoff, Jonathan Baunach and Miranda Martens were some of the top three scholarhsip winners in the class of 2014. Skorniakoff recieved $8,000 from the University of Washington, which is where he will be attend-ing school for the 2014-2015 school year. He also recieved scholarships from Seattle University and the University of Portland. However, he turned both schools down for UW. Baunach is attending St. Olaf College because of its extensive academic programs, and because of its great community. He chose St. Olaf over Whitman College, Whitworth College, and Occidental College. Martens revieved the PLU Presidential scholarship as well as the Soroptimist Violet Richardson Outstanding Young Woman Award. She’ll be attending PLU in the fall for its friendly and welcoming atmosphere.

Class of 2013 raises 2.1 million dollars in scholarship winnings

11Auburn Riverside High School Feature

The topic of marijuana legalization has been a key subject of public, political, medical, and legal discussion in the last few years. The push to legalize it has succeeded in two states already, but both the pros and cons need serious discussion before expand-ing legalization to other states.

The benefits of legalizing pot explain why it has been legalized in Colorado and Washington. Advocates for pot legalization point out the police resources and taxpayer revenues required to arrest pot users; these resources could be put to better use arrest-ing criminals for much more serious offens-es. Additionally, the tax revenues generat-ed from marijuana sold for recreational use save taxpayers millions of dollars. Accord-

Marijuana legalization debate continuesing to Forbes.com, it is projected that rec-reational pot sales in Colorado will generate around $40 million in 2014 alone. Advocates also say that because alcohol and cigarettes are legalized, it is only fair to legalize pot as well.

Another benefit of legalizing pot is that it would hurt the illegal drug trade. The legal sale of pot could potentially lead to the development of a safety control sys-tem, helping to reduce the amount of un-necessary, harmful fillers and chemicals in pot. Advocates also suggest some medical benefits associated with pot use, especially in patients suffering from cancer or AIDS/HIV, but these benefits are highly contro-versial and are denounced by medical or-ganizations such as the American Medical Association. These benefits have definitely been successful in convincing voters and

Claire BedsworthSTAFF REPORTER

When a star is born, it is born with hun-dreds of thousands of other stars along with it, called their “sister-stars” or “brother stars” because they’re all born from the same litter. When they’re born, they all disperse into the galaxy never to be seen again.

Throughout history, a star related to the sun has never been found, until now.

Ivan Ramirez, who is a student at the University of Texas in Austin, believes he has found one approximately 110-light years away from Earth. Leading a group of astronomers, Ramirez called the star HD 162826.

According to a Time article, Ramirez said the discovery was just meant as an experiment to test their search technique. “The fact that we even found it makes this even cooler.”

Although they are sister-suns, they aren’t exactly twins. According to Time, HD 162826 is approximately 15% larger.

Although there has only been one star found related to our sun, astronomers, es-


pecially Ramirez and his team, are incred-ibly optimistic of finding other stars similar to this one. However, they aren’t confident that they will find another star in the same galaxy that they discovered HD 162826.

In the past, there have been many dif-ferent times where scientists have thought they had found a sibling star. An example of one of those previous times was in 2007, where they discovered a near sibling star called HIP 56948.

Why is this information so important? It could potentially aid us into figuring out how exactly the earth came to be, and how exactly we were formed. According to the Huffington Post, Ramirez said, “if we can figure out in what part of the galaxy the sun formed, we can constrain conditions on the early solar system. That could help us understand why we are here.”

Ramirez and his crew discovered this star while working in the McDonald Obser-vatory in Fort Davis, Texas.

If you enjoy star-gazing, the star is lo-cated towards the bottom leg of the con-stellation Hercules. Although it won’t ap-pear to the naked eye, you could always see it with a telescope.

PHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, MCDONALDOBSERVATORY.ORG

Scientists discover sibling star to our sun

politicians to legalize in Washington and Colorado.

While there are several benefits to legalizing pot, the consequences should definitely be taken into consideration. Op-ponents say that marijuana is often a step-ping-stone drug to more dangerous drugs such as heroin, cocaine and meth. Similar to drunk driving, rates of driving while high would increase, potentially leading to more car accidents. Furthermore, if pot is legal-ized for adults it would be much easier for minors to gain access to it. Another less considered con would be the spread of second-hand smoke to innocent bystanders. There is also the fear of eventual legaliza-tion of more harmful drugs. Opposers also warn that pot can be very addictive with long-term use.

Arguably the largest consequence of marijuana legalization is the disastrous health effects associated with long-term

pot use. According to Huffingtonpost.com, continuous usage of pot is directly linked to brain abnormalities such as memory loss and impaired thinking. Marijuana is also a lung irritant, similar to cigarette smoke. The in-creased heart rate while high causes a high-er risk of heart problems. Pot usage also has the possibility of causing birth defects and other hereditary defects. Mental health is also severely affected; the increased risks of psychosis, depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, personality disturbances, and schizophrenia are all associated with mari-juana usage. These drawbacks prove that the consequences of legalization are often severe.

These factors should be heavily consid-ered before blindly supporting either side of the legalization issue. Sufficient knowl-edge should be known about marijuana before an intelligent discussion about the issue can be had.

PHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, WIKIPEDIA.ORG

InFlight June 10, 2014Feature12

“What was your favorite moment of this school year?”

“Doing the Toni Villa Shoutout of the

Day, and being a track team captain.”

“Running in the ASB elections,

and the multicultural fair!’”

“ My grades are great and I’m

just having a good year.”

“The band trip to Carnegie Hall. It

was an enriching experience.”

“Prom, because it was an

unforgetable night.”

“The spirit of this year. I have

never seen so much participation.”

“Football, and winning the league

championship.”

“Graduation, because I get to

leave and move on.”

Senior Toni Villa Junior Kaja Johnson

Senior Samantha ThurstonSophmore Harrison Roy

Freshman Andrew Starkel Junior Madison Lancaster

Senior Alexi Laishley Senior Oscar Ochoa

InFlight June 10, 2014Arts & Entertainment13

Artist of the Issue: The KongosCameron Fairchild

STAFF REPORTER

South African alternative rock group the Kongos is blowing up in the U.S.

The band, composed of four broth-ers—Johnny, Jesse, Dylan, and Daniel—

began making music in 2007 in their native country South Africa, and in 2011 their single “I’m Only Joking” took the country by storm.

While the band takes a largely tra-ditional approach to alt rock—sounding at times like an angrier version of Imagine Dragons—the standard

guitar-bass-drums-vocals arrangement (supplied by Daniel, Dylan, Jesse, and all four brothers, respectively) is sub-verted by the addition of the accordi-on, played by Johnny. The song “Come With Me Now,” which caught fire in the U.S. after the 2013 re-release of the band’s debut album Lunatic, is notable for its accordion solo.

The Kongos have begun a world-wide tour promoting their album and will visit Seattle on June 14th of this year.

5 songs you should know:

1. Come With Me Now2. I’m Only Joking3. As We Are4. I Want to Know5. Hey I Don’t Know

Former YouTuber Austin Mahone has re-cently released his debut EP. Titled The Se-cret, the EP has a mixture of dance music, a few slow songs, and an acoustic version of the song “Shadow,” all of which could be considered pop music.

Mahone started out with making covers of popular pop songs on YouTube in 2011. He covered many songs such as “Beautiful Soul” originally by Jesse McCartney, and “Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber. Mahone quick-ly captured the attention of many teen girls, and grew in popularity in 2012. Short-ly after he released his first single, “11:11” he announced that he had been signed with Chase/Universal Republic Records. Mahone released his second single “Say Somethin’” soon after. Then, later that year, Mahone released his third single, “Say You’re Just A Friend.”

Then in 2013, Mahone was one of the opening acts for Taylor Swift in her world-wide tour. Mahone also worked with Bridgit Mendler on her summer tour. Later that year, Mahone was named one of MTV’s Artist to Watch for, which he later went on tour for.

Leading up to the release of the EP, Mahone released a few singles. The lead-ing single was “Mmm Yeah,” which featured rapper Pitbull. The second single was All I Ever Need,” and shortly after, “Shadow” was released. Along with the digital releas-

es of the singles, the “Mmm Yeah” lyric and later, music videos were also released.

The EP features songs written by Ma-hone, with the help of others as well. The song, “All I Ever Need” is a light, down tem-po song that is very easy to fall in love with. Mahone takes advantage of his voice range in the song as well. The song “Shadow” which is an acoustic song, is a rather slow but has a melody that will get stuck in your head for hours. Not in a bad way, though. Also on the album, “Can’t Fight This Love,” “‘Secret,” and “Next To You” are all very upbeat and percussion heavy songs, making them enjoyable for anyone who likes a good beat to dance to.

Along with the release of the EP, Mahone has released music videos for “Shadow” and “All I Ever Need.” He also announced a tour featuring music groups Fifth Harmony and The Vamps starting later this month.

The Secret EP ReviewAlex Vasquez

STAFF REPORTER

X-Men: Days of Future Past was a great film. The characters were played very well, and the background music added a nice at-mosphere to the movie.

This movie stayed pretty close to the plot of the original comic, except instead of sending Kitty Pryde’s mind back in time, they send back Wolverine instead. The mov-ie industry has done a good job of messing with Wolverine’s power of being able to re-generate quickly from his wounds. In one of the older animated movies he gets his arm cut off, and then in the next split second it comes back, he can’t actually do that. He is only able to heal back his wounds over a short amount time, not instantaniously.

The scenes in the movie with the sen-tinels in it were very violent, but not in a bloody or gruesome way. There was a scene where someone got ripped in half by two sentinels, but there was no blood or gore. Many other scenes like this happened throughout the movie.

My favorite character in this movie would have to be Blink, played by Bingbing Fan. In the comics, Blink has the ability to teleport. However, in the movie, she throws around these portal things, and people/things can go through them. It was like she was trying to be Chel from Portal, except she didn’t have the portal gun.

The villians in the movie were quite

Dylan JohnstonEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

X-Men X-cites audiencebland. Throughout the movie the role of the villian switches between Bolivar Trask and Mystique. Mystique should not have been one of the “villian(s)” in the movie. She played more of an anti-hero role rather than the role of a villain. She is portrayed as this unstoppable badass that no one can stop, which is false because she was one of the first to die.

Overall I would give this movie an 8/10 for sticking to the original plot, and having great background music.

For the past three years, Auburn has been lucky enough to host Warped Tour at its very own White River Amphitheater. Warped Tour is a music festival that tours the U.S. every year featuring over 100 bands ranging anywhere from punk pop to hardcore street punk. It’s a full day event with doors opening at 11 am. Generally, it ends at 9 pm, but bands play for different lengths of time, so it really doesn’t end un-til the last band is done performing.

A bit of mystery is included with the event. Although you know what bands are

Warped Tour warps mindsperforming, you don’t know when and you don’t know where. Upon arrival, you look at a schedule of performances and the whole day is filled with running to different stages at different times to catch the best bands.

Warped Tour is fun for so many other reasons than just the music. You can go and get free stuff (lots of free stuff), look at booths, meet bands, and the best of it all, people watch. It’s a full day of fun, even if you only end up going to see a few bands. Even then, you can always listen to new bands and branch out.

Tickets are $58.50 each, but definitely worth the fun!

PHOTO COURTESY CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, FLICKR.COM

Mackenzie BrownEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Arts & EntertainmentAuburn Riverside High School 14

A Million Ways to Die offers light parody, few laughsCameron Fairchild

STAFF REPORTER

Hey kids! Have you ever wanted to look at copious CGI sheep genitalia? Then saddle up for Seth MacFarlane’s latest comedy smash hit, A Million Ways to Die in the West, a western movie parody that isn’t a parody of western movies where the laughs come about as often as rainfall in the film’s disparate setting.

Like most comedies nowadays, the plot is your standard predictable fare. Seth MacFarlane stars as Albert Stark, a sheep farmer born ahead of his time who looks fearfully on the West as the hellhole that it is. When the single light in his otherwise nightmarish life, Louise (Amanda Seyfried) breaks up with him, he plans to leave town for San Francisco, but before he can pack up and leave, however, a beautiful strang-er, Anna (Charlize Theron), comes into town, teaching him to face his fears and combat Louise’s new beau Foy (a gloriously mustachioed but otherwise underutilized Neil Patrick Harris).

Story over, right? Wrong. The movie’s implicit storytelling flaw is that it introduc-es too many villains (among them a largely absent Liam Neeson) and too many char-acter arcs for its protagonist, who spends the first half of the movie overcoming his fears...and then the next hour overcoming

his fears some more. The lack of narrative heft in the last 45

minutes leaves the film lopsided and des-perate for jokes to pad the same story a second time. Only two scenes in the film sustain an entertaining atmosphere for more than 10 minutes: a deadly fair that accurately offers a few of the eponymous Million Ways to Die in the West and a late scene featuring a refreshingly large cast of Native Americans in a film otherwise thor-oughly coated in white.

A Million Ways only really succeeds

when it directly lampoons Western films and culture, and the fact that it only does so briefly leads to most of its problems. Many duels are promised, but none actually really occur. Lack of payoff runs strongly throughout the film. The two funny scenes I previously mentioned benefit strongly from taking their jokes from the time period.

If there is one way the movie tries (and fails) to consistently address its time period, its to reflect on the setting and acknowl-edge how far America has come. Its pro-

gressive facade, however, is yanked away by its female characters, who fit the same denigrating stereotypes just about every comedy assigns its female characters to: the shallow Sarah Marshall-type, the dumb one, and the one that would be tough and cool and is for the first 20 minutes she’s onscreen before becoming the damsel in distress after falling head-over-heels with the protagonist.

MacFarlane relies instead, too heavily, on undercutting film cliches inherent in a wide variety of genres and gross-out humor, which becomes more and more frequent (and des-perate) as the film progresses, mak-ing the first hour look tight and well-paced in retrospect. Other comedic elements are dime-a-dozen in com-edies today: two drug trips, one gar-rishly designed with disgusting CGI,

sarcasm, and several jabs at race, many of which are too modern to fit the setting and time period of the West. While the movie has a stellar cast, the script wastes the tal-ent of each of its performers.

A Million Ways to Die in the West is funny in fits and starts, but a cliche plot, an underutilization of both setting and cast, and an aimless, contrived plot all help kill A Million Ways to Die in the West.

Maleficent expertly twists old storyClaire Bedsworth

STAFF REPORTER

Maleficent, Disney’s latest film, pro-vides an imaginative twist on the classic tale of Sleeping Beauty and gives insightful background into Maleficent’s past. The film decidedly blurs the lines between good and evil, with the classic villain becoming the hero in the end.

Angelina Jolie puts on a stunning per-formance as the cold, untouchable fairy; her acting left nothing to be desired. She was flawless for the part. Sharlto Copley, however, put on an unfortunately weak performance as the antagonist King Stefan. He was never quite convincing at striking fear into the hearts of his subjects or his nemesis fairy. Elle Fanning gave a solid performance as the beautiful, optimistic Princess Aurora. She was charming enough in her role, though Jolie far outshined her. The fairies were downright irritating to watch as they failed to quit arguing or take care of their adopted daughter; Au-rora was in constant danger of starving to death or nearly wandering off of cliffs.

The visual effects were fantastic and exciting to watch, and succeeded in bring-ing the mystical kingdom of the Moors to life. Maleficent’s costume featured enor-mous feather wings that were based on real bird’s wings, evil-looking horns, sharp cheekbones, extremely pale skin, and iri-descent green eyes. Her costume was re-portedly made partly from bird skulls and various exotic leathers, including stingray skin. She looked formidable, fierce, and

emotionally isolated. Her own daughter had to play the part of toddler Aurora because the other five-year-olds were frightened by her appearance.

While the plot was largely based on Dis-ney’s 1959 Sleeping Beauty, it succeeds in adding inventive new twists that bring the story to life in entirely new ways. One of

the film’s strengths is that it avoids a black-and-white image of the protagonist and antagonist. Maleficent constantly switches between the roles of villain and hero. It is more accurate to the often complex char-acters of troubled individuals that appear in cinema, literature, and real life. The story was surprisingly and pleasantly unpredict-

able, and definitely took some unexpected turns. An especially appreciated twist was the cre-ative backstory of the crow, Maleficent’s loyal servant. An-other change that improved upon the original film was who woke Sleeping Beauty from her deep sleep with true love’s kiss. A disappointing difference from the original film were the three fairies assigned to the task of raising Aurora. In the original film made in 1959, the fairies were pleasant, charming, and likeable, but in the new ver-sion, they are incompetent, immature, and downright stu-pid. Their incompetence has a purpose, however, because it ensures Maleficent must step in to help raise Aurora. The action scenes, concentrated towards the end, were visually stunning and surprisingly intense.

While I had admittedly low expectations going in, Dis-ney was definitely successful in their reworking of the original

story. Given the success of the Broadway musical Wicked it is not surprising that they applied the same idea of the villain back-story to Sleeping Beauty. If you are a Disney fan or are familiar with the original Sleep-ing Beauty, you will likely enjoy the film. It is worth watching for a good time.

InFlight June 10, 2014Sports15

The girls water polo team is looking forward to seeing how they place in State. On May 17, the team found out that they made it to State.

“There is no chance of us coming in first place or anything like that because we lost too many games to qualify,” sopho-more Ciarra Stonerock said. “But, I do believe we can still make a good place in State.”

Team members are excited for the state competition. “I’m not nervous because we went last year, I’m just ready for the com-petition and pumped, and if anything it’s an awesome learning experience,” sophomore Stori Freelund said.

The competion date is stilll undecided, but it will be held very soon.

With their competition coming up short-ly, the girls have a lot to look forward to.


Two track and field stars will be making it to the state competition: junior Brittni Williams and senior Joshua Turner.

They are the West Central Meet runners and jumpers state qualifiers.

Williams made it by qualifying in the long jump and triple jump com-petitions. She placed 2nd in the triple jump at 37.4.

Turner made it to state by quali-ying in both the 110 hurdles and triple jump competitions. He placed 12th in triple jump with a 43.11.

Turner hopes to continue track after high school. “I’m attending a small community college,” Turner said. “I’m going to start running there, and hopefully later transfer to a bigger school.”

Williams has similar plans for the future. “I want to run track when I go to college,” she said.

Williams and Turner were both team captains during the season, and now that the season is over, they rep-resented Riverside at State.


Seahawks draft new playersCameron Fairchild

STAFF REPORTER

Waterpolo swims to state

Track stars stateboundThe NFL draft has come and gone, and

next year’s Seahawks lineup got several new additions to the team.

The Seahawks’ first pick (in round two, after waiving the first round) was Paul Richardson, a wide receiver from Colorado State University. According to Seahawks.com, Richardson’s appeal is his speed on the field.

The second pick (another recruit from round 2 of the draft) was Justin Britt, a Mis-souri State University alum and Montana na-tive. He is slotted to play as a new tackle for the team. According to Seahawks.com, he is an “ornery, nasty blocker.” Both the round 2 picks were described as possessing “unique qualities.”

Pick number three, on day four, was Cassius Marsh, a UCLA attendee selected as a defensive end.

Wide receiver Kevin Norwood was also selected on day four. He graduated from Alabama State.

The third and final round four pick was Kevin Pierre-Louis. The Boston College alum was selected for the outside linebacker po-sition.

Round 5 saw one more addition to the Seahawks family. Jimmy Staten is a Middle Tennessee State player who was selected in the position of defensive tackle.

Round 6 brought two more players in the fold: outside tackle Garrett Scott from Marshall, and Eric Pinkins, a free safety and player on the San Diego State University team.

The final pick came in round 7 with selection Kiero Small, a prospective run-ningback, who hails from the University of Arkansas.

Seattle has a packed roster of new players.

Josh Turner

Brittani Williams

PHOTO BY MACKENZIE BROWN

Junior Charissa Dorn and sophomore Stori Free-lund prepare to swim. They are two of the girls on the statebound girls’ waterpolo team.

PHOTO BY DYLAN JOHNSTON

16Auburn Riverside High School Sports

The varsity boys basketball team has a new head coach, Kevin Olson.

He came from Decatur High School and he led his teams to the SPSL championship three times, and a run to the state semifinals in 2008. He’s been named SPSL coach of the year two times. He had also been the golf coach at Decatur.

The coach will be a really good fit for the boys pro-gram. “I was a basketball coach and used to coach against him, athletic director Dough Aubert said. “I’m excited to have someone with a lot of experience and success.”

As a head coach, Olson plans to put in a lot of hard work and dedication. There’s a lot of potential in his work on and off of the court.

Olson is really looking forward to the new season. “It’s a new opportunity and I’m excited to see what we can do,” he said. “I’m looking for an exciting basketball season and I’m excited to coach rivalry games.

While Olson is coaching here, he will be teaching two math classes, which are Algebra and Advanced Algebra/Trig.

Girls head basketball coach Derek Pegram has known Olson for at least seven years and knows Olson will bring

Sasha TerrySTAFF REPORTER

Ravens hire new boys basketball head coach

PHOTO COURTESY DOUG AUBERT

a winning attitude to the team. Every coach has a completely different teaching style, and it will be difficult for the returning players to shift in the way they are used to learning.

Although that is evident, Pegram still be-lieves the season will be great.

“He’s going to bring a winning culture to the program,” Pegram said, who has full hope that the team will be successful under the di-rection of Olson.

“He will be a good coach for the team and he has a good reputation,” junior Dennis Beard, who runs track, said.

Players have high hopes for the season. “We are going to come together in one unit and we are going to play our game,” sopho-more Quintin Bethea said.

Olson brings a new opportunity to win games and play hard games.

The basketball program has been on the rise, finishing 5th in the SPSL 4A and qualifying for the WCD tournament. While Decatur moves to SPSL 4A next year, the Ravens will compete in the SPSL 3A.

Head boys basketball coach Kevin Olson

Documents

InFlight June 2014, issue 7