Volume 16, Issue 1September, 2011

1102 Wildcat Ave.Fruita, CO 81521

Fruita Monument High School

Growing Up in the 90’sTake a trip through an epic decade to get N Sync with your earliest memories

The Catalyst

Turn to page 7 to remember the craziest trends of the last decade

And

Turn to page 11 for a closer look into the FMHS soccer team

Editor in Chief and Business: Matt Scofield. Features: Hannah So-derburg. Commentary: Kaitlin Lewis. Sports: Laren Cyphers. News: Tucker Blake. A&E: Jennifer Robinson. Photo: Cicely Kohler. Reporters: Spencer Fair, Rachel Bigum, Chuck Bisbee, Erika Gardner, Courtney Kreidler, Ryan Laase, Amy Lindbo, Brianna Pollock, Alyssa Urban, and Madi Wittman Staff Adviser: Trent Wuster Trent.Wuster@d51schools.org

News Pg. #3

U.S. Debt Ever GrowingObama raises the debt ceiling along with Americans’ eyebrows

NASA Discovery Brings Better Understanding of SunYes, the sun is hot

The Catalyst is a publication of Fruita Monument High School, 1102 Wildcat Avenue, Fruita, Colorado. The Catalyst is published twice per quarter and is distributed free to Fruita Monument High School students and staff. Advertising rates and deadlines are available via e-mail at fruitacatalyst@gmail.com. Content of the student newspaper is an expression of 1st amendment freedom of speech and press rights and do not represent the position or policies of Mesa County School District #51 or of Fruita Monument High School’s adminis-tration or staff. As stated in School Board policy, school-spon-sored publications are a public forum for students as well as

an educational activity through which students can gain experience in reporting, writing, editing and more in the effort to promote responsible journalism. Content of school publications may reflect all areas of student interest, which may include topics about which there may be dissent or controversy. Comments, questions, suggestions, or letters to the editor are welcome. Unsigned editorials will not be printed. Letters may be edited for length and grammar. Some material courtesy of American Society of Newspaper Editors/MCT Campus High School Newspaper Service.

A&E Pg. #4

Top 10 Dance SongsWhat you like do get down to

The Return of Mr. PalmerThe fine arts never looked so good

Ke$ha or BustTik Tok up close and personal

Features Pg. #6Sophmore TakeoverThe reason for the hallway traffic jam

Montrose Man Sacrifices Toes127 Hours....round two

Commentary Pg. #14

Is Pale the New Tan?Do something pasty

Senior Sibling SyndromHigh school with your worst enemy

Celebrity SpendingThe real reason for the economic crisis

Staff:The

One Goal at a TimeFMHS soccer seeks more success

Sports Pg. #11

Photo by Cicely Kohler

Photo by Cicely Kohler

News 3

New Stands At StokerBy Jennifer Robinson, A&E Editor

Stocker Stadium and Supl-izio Field are home to many Grand Valley events. They host Colorado Mesa University and local high school sports, JUCO, various ath-letic competitions, graduations and a 4th of July celebration. The fields have been a family gathering spot and community icon for 62 years. “The events I go to most are just school games and JUCO,” says Shanalyn Hibberd, junior at Fruita. To start off the entire project, a 7.3 million dollar bond was issued by the city. According to the CMU Criterion, the school newspaper, Jamie Hamilton, presi-dent of the Grand Junction Base-ball Committee approached the city council in the spring of 2010. At first, a few council members needed persuading, but when they heard that no tax dollars were be-ing used, the project was approved. On June 5th 2011, the day after JUCO ended, construction started on Stocker Stadium and Su-plizio field. This project required the Junior College Athletic Asso-ciation to sign a contract to keep JUCO in Grand Junction for an-

other 25 years. JUCO agreed to pay $300,000 per year during their con-tract, for bond repayment to the city. The new stocker stadium will include much more than be-fore. The stands and seating for baseball along the first base line will be replaced, and the entire east side of the football stadium will have new seating. Hibberd says, “I’m most excited about the new seating arrangements.”The restrooms and concession stands will now be located beneath the new football and baseball stands. The stands will include handicapped seating for both sides, located above and between the football and baseball seating areas. Elevators will lead up to the handi-capped seats. There will also be el-evated enclosed hospitality suites. The construction hasn’t been a problem for students yet, but “it’ll be difficult when Fruita and Junc-tion play each other,” says Hibberd. The project is expect-ed to be finished in early 2012.

NASA Discovery Brings Better Understanding of SunBy Danielle Riggs, Reporter

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NASA’s Hubble Space tele-scope has been taking still pictures of a new mysterious occurrence in stars very close to our gal-axy from 1994 to 2008. Recently these still pictures have been put to-gether to create a time-lapse movie, which is basically a stop-motion movie. These interesting phenomenas are called supersonic jets or Herbig-Haro objects (HH).Supersonic jets are caused by gas being ejected from young stars in opposite directions through-out space. The jets can shoot off at speeds over 100 miles per second. Scientists believe that these jets interact with their surround-

ings through the new born star.A team of scientists at Rice Univer-sity in Houston, Texas have studied

these jets through the pic-tures Hubble took. Team leader and astronomer Patrick Hartigan says, “Those interactions tell us how young stars influence the environment out of which they form” (Young Star Makes Waves). Hartigan hopes that the time-lapse will help

NASA and other astronomers create diagrams and simulations of the HH objects and will help them gain a bet-ter understanding of their exact use.Mark Garske, the Fruita Monu-ment High School astronomy

teacher, recently viewed the video and noted that it was “very cool.” He says that things in space are usually too far away and moving too fast to view from the Hubble Telescope. Garske also believes that these supersonic jets will help sci-entists understand the birth of star systems and better understand how our own planetary system was cre-ated. When asked if he thought this was a step towards understand-ing our whole universe, he replied that it was not that big of a step. He also stated that this is a very, very small step to-wards understand our universe. These HH objects are mov-ing so quickly and are so close to

“These interesting phenomenas are called supersonic jets.”

our system; some believe that they could potentially be dangerous. Garske disagrees with this accusation replying that the ener-gy is “spread out” and that it’s not even heading towards us. He says that “even if we were directly in its way, it still wouldn’t be dangerous.” When asked if he would want to go and study these objects with other NASA scientists, Garske said, “Heck yeah! Even being in the same room with those guys, you’d learn a lot.”Hartigan and his team will continue to view these jets and learn more about them from Hubble pictures and Gar-ske will continue to teach and FMHS, while keeping an eye on the night sky.

4 Arts and Entertainment

The weekend of Septem-ber 3rd was to be an epic one. A group of friends needing to break free from their small town for a few days would experience some exciting events together, including a terrible parallel parking incident and of course, the Ke$ha concert. The road trip to Denver was filled with delicious Qdoba food, nas-ty rap music and eye-gouging sights. In route to our destination, a car full of unknown males found amusement in flashing us for about two hours. At the concert itself, we would witness some disgustingly intimate audience members, and feast our eyes upon one bearing nothing but a loincloth. Spoonful’s, cups, buckets and liters would not do. Gallons of glitter, however, would suffice for the preparation of the Ke$ha concert. The group went through

approximately three sticks of eye-liner and four cans of hairspray. The ozone layer was most likely depleted about 30% after the many douses of Aussie and Gar-nier. Two and a half hours later, everyone appeared to be a human sequin. Pictures were snapped, and the anticipation of an amazing night hung in the glitter infested air. It was decided that one car would be taken to the concert, so two poor individuals were stowed away in the back of the Subaru. This roughly translates into extreme neck cramping and mild whiplash. Epic-ness commenced upon entering the concert arena. The moment that the mood really set in was when a group of people dressed

as unicorns took their seats next to us. The music played during inter-mission was more enjoyable than the garbage with a melody blared

at school dances. Speak-ing of rubbish, Spank Rock graced the stage first. Their performance was…bearable. Their music is a combination of electro-rock and rap, as well as unintelligible streams of word vomit and random vulgarity. Raucous applause ensued

when Spank Rock took their exit. LMFAO brought an infec-tious energy to the crowd. Their performance was interactive and sounded incredible. Favorites like “Shots” and “Party Rock Anthem” were played, while LMFAO singers Stefan and Skyler Gordy performed

partially in the nude. The two donned spedo-esque attire for part of the per-formance. The audience was asked to sing Happy Birthday to Stefan, whilst they proceeded to drink adult bever-ages onstage. It was a giant party, and Ke$ha hadn’t even come on yet. The stage was dark and swarmed with smoke, when two beams of light broke out. A robotic voice sliced through our building anticipation. We were in the same vicinity as Ke$ha, breathing the same air as the famed party prin-cess. She opened with “Get Sleazy,” the tour‘s namesake, and continued with hits like “Cannibal” and “Grow a Pear.” A random audience member was taken onstage for some physi-cal abuse delivered by Ke$ha her-self. Although he was duct taped to a chair, our jealousy ascended. Ke$ha’s voice did tend to

get somewhat like a chipmunk’s at times, but when she belted out slower tracks like “Harold’s Song” and “Animal,” the execution was flawless. We were thoroughly im-pressed with her singing, but this was not the only peak of the per-formance. The pop star conveyed empowering words to the crowd, encouraging everyone to “be your-self, unapologetically.” It was a mix of rated R material that probably shouldn’t be shown to age groups under fourteen, and inspiration. It will be difficult to for-get that weekend and all of its cra-ziness and excitement. It was even more incredible to be able to ex-perience it among great friends. Memories of it are certain to last as long as the glitter we keep finding stuck in various places.

Ke$ha or BustPhoto and story by Cicely Kohler, Kaitlin Lewis and Hannah Soderborg

Story and Photo by Madison Whittman, Reporter

Brian Palmer is no stranger to the world of drama, and maybe that is why he found his way back once again. Palmer was the Fruita Monument drama director for nine years before he took a three year break to focus on oth-er hobbies such as writing and running. This languag-es arts teacher is perus-ing his passion for direct-ing for a second time and couldn’t be more pleased. Drama and di-recting have always been part of Palmers life. Ever since high school he has been involved in plays and screen writing of all types. Palmer appeared in a few productions throughout his school-ing but found that directing was more his specialty. “I was in a cou-ple of plays, but only because my friends were. It wasn’t my thing.”

is great for different reasons, but a few of my favorites were ‘Little

Shop of Horrors’ done in 2006 and ‘The Cripple Inishmaan’. Both of

During college he took a va-riety of screen writing and directing classes that only added to his knowledge and love of drama. Just recently the club

has begun work on their first play of the year; “The Miracle Worker” debuting October 6th, 7th and 8th. Drama club has three productions this year being held in October, De-

cember and March. The future plays are still undecided as to what they will be, but Palmer “likes to keep an even mix.” Classics are Palm-er’s genre of choice, but he makes sure to throw in a few comedies too; there is some-thing for everyone. “Every play

which had incredibly strong casts.” “Anyone who wants to be

in a play but is too scared of the audition process should definitely give it a shot; put yourself at risk! Not get-ting the lead role in a high school play wouldn’t be the end of the world,” said Palmer. He also said that people of-ten times don’t know what they can bring

to the table. Not only is the audition pro-

cess grueling for the future cast, but for Palmer as well. “It’s stiff compe-tition and extremely hard to choose.” Palmer looks for actors that “have a lot of energy and are free to act. They need to be able to loose them-selves in the character and let go.” It may not come easy, but that is what practice is for. Drama club rehearses about four days a week and even some Saturdays in an ef-fort to perfect their productions.“Mr. Palmer gives great directions and is super understanding which is really good!” Tery Harper, a sopho-more and new drama club mem-ber, said. She has immersed herself into the drama program and regrets nothing about it. Both Harper and Palmer are looking forward to a great upcoming play and an incred-ible year in the FMHS drama club.

The Return of Mr. Palmer

“Drama Director for nine years.”

“The pop star conveyed

empowering words to the

crowd.” ”

Hot Tunes at Hot TomatoBy Alyssa Urban, Reporter One of the hottest lunch places for Fruita High School stu-dents to eat at this year is Hot To-mato on North Mulberry Street. During the day, it is a busy lunch stop filled with hungry teens, but when evening comes the pizza place turns into a crowd of lo-cal families, students, and out of town individuals making a pit-stop waiting to hear live entertainment. Hot Tomato has been open since 2005, owned and ran by Jen Zeuner and Anne Keller. James Williams is the restaurant’s music director and is in charge of putting together the performance schedules. He plans the bands’ calendar one

month at a time, but currently the dates are booked up through Octo-ber which is where the shows will come to an end until next spring. When Hot Tomato first opened, the entertainment occurred only once a month, but just last year they started putting on shows every Wednesday and Saturday. Each of those nights, one or two bands may play from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. “Lately the crowds have been growing and growing,” Zeuner stated, “We are getting around 50 to 100 people watching the shows.” Not limiting the music genre being played, the Hot Tomato team mainly looks for bands and individu-

als who write and perform their own original music. The show times for the bands are promoted by the res-taurant in newspapers, fliers around Fruita and Grand Junction, and post-ings on Hot Tomato’s Facebook page, which has become very popular. On numerous Wednes-day nights, Shelly Jameson, FMHS sophomore, has entertained the crowds by singing and playing her guitar. Jameson has been playing the guitar since seventh grade and started to publically perform in ninth grade. Slowly striving to become more known, she started playing at Hot Tomato over the summer. “My cousin, James, is

the one in charge of the live music, so that’s how I ended up performing there,” Jameson explains. The sophomore also performs at the Rock-slide restaurant in down-town Grand Junction, and plays at “creative chaos parties” which are shows put on once a month that give local bands and mu-sicians the chance to show off their talents. Depending on who she is opening for, Jameson adjusts the songs and type of music she de-

cides to play for that show at Hot Tomato which can be anything from acoustic blues to country rock. Playing both original songs and some covers for around half an hour, Jameson’s friends usually try to at-tend her shows to show their support for her. Landon McIntyre, a junior at Fruita, is the vocalist and rhythm gui-tar in his band “Almost Heroes.” He, too, began to play at Hot Tomato during the summer. Singing and playing the guitar for four years, McIntyre began to per-

form locally about three years ago. McIntyre describes his band’s music as the “alternative-acoustic-rock-on” type. Almost Heroes has played at the Rockslide restaurant multiple times, and has also performed at the Mesa Theatre. “We will play pretty much anywhere that needs music entertainment,” said McIntyre. Almost Heroes next plays at Hot Tomato on October 26. Next year, Hot Toma-to is hoping to attract bands that are on tour since the restaurant is conveniently close to the I-70 highway, bringing them more customers and a larger crowd.

Top 10 Songs at Dances

Have you ever been to a school dance and the songs they played just weren’t what you wanted to hear? I went around the school and asked students what their favorite songs were that they wanted to hear being played at dances. Tyler Church, a senior here at Fruita, said “I like songs that are upbeat, have a lot of bass, and that I can get down to.”Students like to hear songs that are fast pace, popular, and “a dub step beat that is easy to move to,” according to FMHS sophomore, Trent Kortz.Sarah Horne, a senior at Fruita exclaims, “No slow songs!”Clearly students like get out on the dance floor and have a good time. Well here are some of Fruita’s top 10 songs they want to hear being played at dances.

By Brianna Pollock, Reporter

#1 - Superbass by Nicki Minaj

#2 - 6 Foot 7 by Lil Wayne

#3 - Caribou Lou by Tech N9ne

#4 - Backseat by New Boyz

#5 - Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO

#6 - Yeah 3x by Chris Brown

#7 - S & M by Rihanna

#8 - Knockout by Lil Wayne

#9 - E.T. by Katy Perry

#10 - Tik Tock by Ke$ha

Arts and Entertainment 5

Photo Courtesy of MCT Campus

Photos by James Williams

6 Features

On August 19, John Hutt of Montrose, Colorado had his own Aaron Ralston incident. Many know Ralston from his movie “127 Hours” as the man who cut off his own arm after being pinned down by a giant boulder. Hutt en-dured a similar fate-ful experience that Friday morning in San Miguel County. As a retired logger, Hutt drove to a U.S. Forest Service road off the Colorado Highway 45 to gather firewood with his truck and six-ton detachable trailer. As he was trying to lower the trailer, a regular part of the procedure, the trailer slipped trapping his foot against the axle. Hutt originally thought that he could simply pull his foot out, but soon realized the severity of the situation. After recognizing that people would not come look-ing for him for another couple of hours, Hutt decided that cutting himself free was his only choice. “I don’t know what I would have done without that knife,” Hutt stated, “I would have had to stand there with my foot pinned down for ten to twelve more hours before someone ac-

tually came looking for me.”With the decision made, the 61 year old man used a decade old, three inch pocket knife to cut away the boot of his right foot first, then moving on to cut his

toes off from right to left. Hutt de-scribed that he would cut for sev-eral seconds and then take a few breaths before starting to cut again. A Fruita Monument student shares his thoughts on what he would do in the situation Hutt is faced with. “I feel like the best idea would be to cut off my toes, too,” Riley Tucker, a junior, stated, “There’s no one close to me, I have no cell phone service, it would really be my only option.” After ten excruciating minutes of cutting through bones, nerves, and tendons, Hutt tied his shirt around his foot, threw the boot with the detached toes into the back of the trailer, and drove towards Ridgeway, finally receiv-ing cell phone service. Hutt drove

past the clinic in Ridgeway, but soon pulled over when he neared the Ridgeway Dam seeing that he did not properly attach the trailer to the back of his truck in the midst of leaving the scene of the accident. At the Montrose hospital, it was concluded that the toes could not be reattached, but Hutt says this loss will not limit or change his everyday lifestyle. He even

Montrose Man Sacrifices Toes

said he drove for the first time 3 weeks after the incident, and start-ed walking a few days before that. Immediately after the ac-cident, Hutt was flooded with re-porters from all areas trying to get the story straight. He stated he felt overwhelmed with all the report-ers coming to him. Hutt says it was hard to believe he was receiv-ing this much publicity so fast.

NBC’s Today show even invited Hutt to be a guest, which was nice traveling there with his wife, being able to visit some family. “I had fun messing with Matt Lauer a bit,” Hutt adds. Lately the calling reporters have died down quite a bit. There are still a few reporters that call every now and again, but Hutt states, “The story faded just as fast as it came.”

Photo and Story By Alyssa Urban, Reporter

As “froshmores” the 2014 class al-ready has a bad reputation among most of the upperclassmen. No one likes the youngest grade, especially when they dominate in size as one of the biggest classes in Fruita Monu-ment history. The 462 sophomores make the junior class of 419 students and the senior class of 417 students just faces in a crowd of tenth graders. “It doesn’t feel like our class is big, but I’m sure that’s because we’ve grown up to-gether; we are used to it,” Said Dylan Daggers, sophomore.

Many upperclassmen disagree. “It’s definitely noticeable. There are a lot more sophomores then other years,” said Haley Assenmacher, senior. “I’m sure the seniors and juniors didn’t like us as sophomores either,” junior Hannah Davis added.Upperclassmen and teachers alike all see the same thing; the sopho-more class is unusually large. Math teacher Jeremy Felt stated, “I can tell there are more students than usual because my class sizes are a lot bigger than past years.” With larger amounts of peo-

ple and a high number of teachers cut last year, bigger class sizes are in-evitable. Some may say that bigger classes are an advantage in that it is easy to vanish into the crowd, but it’s much less personal too. “I like my class, but I think I would do better if it was small-er. I’d get a lot more at-tention,” Daggers said. It appears as though Fruita’s population is only going to increase with the 448 freshmen joining the

high school for the 2012-2013 school year. Two years of extreme

student numbers could be reason for concern. Assenmacher thinks oth-erwise, “We shouldn’t be worried about the school being overpopulated be-cause there were more students around when Fruita High School had all four grades here. I think

that’s what the 8/9 was made for.” The current eighth grade class of Fruita Middle School has only

305 students but with the added 200 students at Redlands Middle School the total numbers could add up near a whopping 500 students! Of course some may attend other schools in the valley but the question remains: will the numbers keep growing? In 2014 when today’s soph-omores are in their senior year, may-be they will understand what the up-perclassmen meant by a “sophomore takeover.” Only time will tell what is in Fruita’s future, but one thing is for certain, the sophomore class is only the beginning of growing numbers.

“I don’t know what I would have done

without that knife.”

Sophomore

Takeover

By Madison Whittman,Reporter

Brock Johnson, Sophmore, and Zach Bota, Senior, go head to head in class rivalry

“The seniors and juniors dont like us

either.”

Photo by Cicely Kohler

Growing Up in the 90’s 7

Media of the ‘90s

mostly crowned by the new pop acts of the day rather than the rock artists of the ‘90s. Artists like Tracy Chapman and Céline Dion ruled over bands like Blind Melon and the Offspring. Later ‘90s saw an invasion of pop music. Through the decade of the 90’s there are many famous movies that are still popular today. One of the most famous movies is the Titanic. This movie was made in 1997 and directed by James Cam-eron. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate

Winslet had starring roles, portray-ing the tragic, real life incident of the sinking ship on the big screen. Many people are familiar with the movie Forrest Gump. This movie was made famous in 1994 and writ-ten by Robert Zemmeckis. Most can recall the renowned line in the movie, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you ever know what you’re gonna get.” One of the most powerful movies of the 90’s was Schindler's List, made in 1993 and produced by Steven Spielberg. This movie is

about a man by the name of Oskar Schindler, who saved thousands of Polish and Jewish refugees’ lives during the Holocaust by let-ting them work in his factories. Culturally, these movies were all based on true stories. The 90’s were a great time to produce movies on real events because of all the global change occurring. Tom Hanks was one of the most popular movie stars of the 90’s, leading roles in movies such as For-rest Gump, Saving Private Ryan and

directing the movie That Thing you Do. Julia Roberts became famous with her first big film: Pretty Woman. Media of the 90’s was marked by sitcoms, boy bands and those classic cartoons we’ll never forget. Teen-age Muntant Ninja Turtles, Rugrats, Full House and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air are shows we grew up with and always remember. Who could forget the Tanner household from Full House, and the mischie-vous ways of Tommy on Rugrats? Some of the more popu-lar shows like SpongeBob, Al-vin and the Chipmunks and South Park are still were originated in the ‘90s and are still around today. “Fresh Prince of Bel Air was my favor-ite then, and still is to this day!” Devin Winstanley, FMHS sophomore, said. Other favorites among the Fruita student body include Full House, which aired from 1987- 1996. Another favorite is the 1991- 2004 series, Rugrats. “I loved Full House! It was the best!” Sam Parks, junior, said. Some would argue that the television shows of the 90’s are better than today’s series, but it all depends. Are you one for the classic animated cartoons and family com-edies, or the new world of 3D TVs and endless reality series? What-ever your answer, it’s undeniable that the ‘90s shows are legendary.

By Kaitlin Lewis, Ryan Laase, Amy Lindbo and Madison Whitman

Remember Rugrats? Per-haps your memory jogs back to the worldwide sensation, Titanic, or you have fond memories of rock-ing out to Backstreet Boys or Y2K. Whatever it is you recall about your childhood, chances are it came out of the ‘90s. The ‘90s ushered in a new era of cartoons, sit-coms, mov-ies and music. Shows like Friends, Rugrats, Doug and Seinfeld filled 36 x 40 inch TV screens. CDs from the likes of artists like N’SYNC, Brit-ney Spears and Oasis occupied the Walkmans of many teens. It was a time that makes us look back and think, “I actually liked that show?”

The music of the ‘90s changed drastically from that of the ‘80s. Instead of hair metal we saw grunge and alternative rock come to the forefront. New wave was re-placed by boy bands and country, genres that were major chart toppers. Bands and artists such as Mariah Carey, Oasis, Bush, The Backstreet Boys and Garth Brooks dominated the charts in the mid and late 90s. Whether you listened to the popular music of N’SYNC, Coolio and Britney Spears or pre-ferred the alternative options like Radiohead, Collective Soul or The Goo Goo Dolls, the ‘90s were the heyday of many of these bands.From 1995 – 1999, the charts were

The Miracle WorkerBy William Gibson

October 6, 7, and 8th in the FMHS auditorium

-AN FMHS DRAMA PRODUCTION-

8 Growing Up in the 90’s

Bop-It Parents have always had trouble getting kids to listen to them, but the Bop-It, a simple electronic toy with three possible di-rections, had kids intently tuned in. Created in 1996, the Bop-It from Hasbro toys was generated to test a person’s mental skills by giving commands at a gradually increasing pace. Bop-it, twist-it, and pull-it were the three possible directions that were given by the electronic game. There were also three different game play versions: Solo Bop, Vox Bop, and Beat Bop. Since the Bop-it was first sold in 1996, various versions have been made that include Bop-It Bounce,

Bop-It Extreme, and Bop-It Blast.

PokémonCreated in 1996 by Satoshi Tajiri, what once began as a Game Boy video game coined Pokémon (short for the Japanese brand “Pocket Monsters”) has transformed into TV shows, cards, an-ime books, toys, and other media. In the year 2000, the Poké-mon trading card game was released. As of today, there are approximately 646 Pokémon ranging from popular characters like Squirtle, Charmander, and Pikachu, to others like Bulba-saur, Jigglypuff, and Exeggcute. When a trainer first begins collecting, his or her “starter” Pokémon they are generally separated into 3 groups: grass-type, fire-type, and water-type, so as to have advantages over opponents when dueling. As the Pokémon collected develop, they morph into much stronger and powerful versions of themselves. For example, Caterpie grows into Metapod and finally Butterfree. By the time we were all in third to fourth grade, the coolest of us were dueling and dealing our own blue Poké cards on the playground. And let us not forget the TV show that stole our little 8 year old hearts. The hero, Ash Ketchum (“Gotta catch ‘em all!”), and his trusty friends Misty and Brock, took us on a Poke train-ing journey that has gone on for seasons, and still plays every

Saturday morning at 9 am on Cartoon Network.

Beanie BabiesPlush and pocket-size, Beanie Babies were the perfect addi-tion to play time. The first original 9 Beanie Babies, including Legs the Frog, Spot the Dog, and Splash the Whale, were re-leased in 1993, but the collectibles did not gain fame until late 1995. In 1999 Ty Inc. decided to end production of Beanie Babies with a bear named “The End.” However, this did not last long due to consumer demand, and in 2000, Beanie Ba-bies were back on the production line with a new bear dubbed “The Beginning.” Not only are the animals cute, but so are their personalized name tags, complete with a name and short poem relating to the Beanie. Growing up, we placed them on dressers and shelves in our childhood rooms, and took them along with us to imaginary worlds where our Beanie’s lived and played. As of today, Ty Inc. has created more than a $7 billion empire with over 2000 of these snuggly stuffed ani-mals. Beanie Babies have grown to become a collector’s item because of how they are marketed. Even now, an authentic 1st edition Beanie Baby can go for upwards of $1,500 in good

condition, tags and all.

Tip: find that box hidden in your closet stuffed with those loveable Ty toys and see if your childhood collecting will pay

off.

Power RangersThe Power Rangers a most-seen TV series for children debuted in 1993 and sold action figures till 1996. After years of having them around they were called the Mighty Morphin, Alien Rangers, and Power Rangers: Zeo. Originally there were five of them coming in the colors; red, blue, pink, black and yellow, with the addition later on of green that was recently changed to white. How these characters are remembered and shared with the new generation

of children.

FurbiesFurby a “must-have” toy was produced in 1998. Selling over 27 million in a year, their main attraction was their Furby talk, or “furbish.” After more than 5 years they made a comeback with a newer version and sold for two more years to consumers. Now these belovedly creepy toys cannot be found in the stores. R.I.P furry owl-

hamsters.

Easy Bake Oven Even though the Easy Bake Oven was intro-duced to us in 1963 by designers at Kenner Products, this first working toy oven had one of its most popular times in the 90s. In 1997, more than 16 million of these ovens were sold to lucky kids across America. The oven allowed kids to cook on their own and feel “grown up” like their parents. Throughout the years, the design color has changed from tur-quoise and yellow, to green, to pink and pur-ple. Little girls across the country still eagerly wait next to the tiny plastic oven, excited to eat the various food dishes being cooked by

a light bulb.

Totally Tubular Toys of the...

90’sWhether we bashed their heads in, or played with them nicely, we all remember our favorite childhood toys. So many great memories ac-company the various puzzles and dolls. Our generation, the best of course, grew up in the 90’s and had pretty much the coolest toys ever. There were Furbies, which are possibly the creepiest things anyone could think of, and a whole slew of toys that make you look back and wonder, “How could anyone be entertained by that?” Regardless, it’s

lovely to conjure up your childhood.

By Erika Gardner, Lauren Dawson, and Alyssa UrbanPhotos courtesy of MCT Campus

Growing Up in the 90’s 9

Fruita Football Flashback: The 90s

1

1. Matt Story - Started playing ‘10

- Position: Center

- “We are ten times the team we were last year.”

- Record: 1-3

- Coach: Mulvey

“The team is . . . better”

Mulvey Monologue

“I think we worked out harder in the weight room this year”

“Good group last year, but better

group in terms of leadership”

“This team has bonded and gelled together”

“I believe they can compete with anybody”

State Champions:

1978 1999 20011982 1992 2000 2002 2003

2

3

2. Cameron Ross - Played from ‘95 to ‘98

- Position: Center and Nose Guard

- “I liked playing with kids I grew up with.”

- Record: “Really up and down”

-Coach: Moore

More Moore

Photo courtesy of yearbook

Photo courtesy of yearbook

Photo courtesy of yearbook

Photo by Chuck Bisbee

Photo by Spencer Fair

Photo by Spencer Fair

By Laren Cyphers, Chuck Bisbee, and Courtney Kreidler

“Schools go through cycles.”

“Fruita is going to cycle back to where they will be playing those big games again.”

“Football hasn’t changed a lot.”

“ ‘98 we were eight and three and made it to the quarter finals at state playoffs.”

“ ‘97 we were five and four.”

10 Growing Up in the 90’s

Living Fast In The 90’s

For some, hair styles in the 90s can be a touchy subject. Facial hair was a must for guys, thanks to the much-loved Jhonny Depp, or even Brad Pitt. The “Goa-tees” swept the 90’s like a bad disease. “The goatee was hitting the scene back then, my husband even got one.” Said Dr. Sherri Arosteguy, a business teacher at FMHS. Girls had their influential hair style as well. The “Rachel” was a huge-ly popular hair style in the 90’s. It was shoulder-length, brown, with blonde highlights mainly framing the face, made famous by Jennifer Aniston. Short and black was also widely popular in this decade. Demi Moore styled her jet-black hair right above her ears. Picture it as a femi-nine bowl cut, if there even is such a thing. Meg Ryan’s hair was also in-fluential. It was short, choppy, and blonde, as seen in “Sleepless in Seattle.” Clothing in the 90s is also something worth remembering. Birken-stocks, fanny packs, jean cutoffs, overalls, and bare midriff tops were an essen-tial buy for the women. “Birkenstocks with wool socks were all over the place, the same goes for ripped jeans and dark colors.” Says Caleb Hicks, a teach-er at FMHS. As for the boys; super baggy pants, heavy chains, and big hats. Boys from the 90s probably remember the belly-button piercings and bare midriff tops that most of the teenage girl population wore. For some reason, girls of all shapes and sizes loved to expose their bellies and belly rings to all who glanced their way. Cars were a huge part of the 90’s. This article is going to intro-duce a few cars of the 90’s that really made the decade. When you walk around school you might see some cars from the 90’s being driven around. The first car is the Mazda Miata. This car is a little roadster that is a two door affordable sports car. The Miata has a 1.6 Liter straight-4 en-gine. The Miata brings a British sports car look to an affordable price. Another car that swept the 90’s was the Chevrolet Impala. The Impala was known for its kick-butt engine and muscle car shaped body! The engine on this bad boy was an 8.2-liter 510-cubic-inch (8.4 L) V8. Defiantly a car for the ages! This next car is defiantly one of the biggest cars of the 90’s and prob-ably one of the best cars on production the Ford Mustang. But there is some-thing very special about the 90’s in the mustang models. In the 90’s for re-leased the 35 anniversary edition Ford Mustang. What made this mustang so special was that this mustang possessed at least one part of every mus-tang mad from every year past. The mustang was made with a V8 or a V6. Last but not least my favorite: the Toyota Supra. This car is a 2 door fast little car! 3.0 liter inline 6 cylinder engine made this car a very good racing car! Slang was also something that affected the 90’s as we know them today. It was an era where the slang changed the way we talked to each other. The cool thing to say to your friends when you saw them was “dude,” said Jesse Ho-insington, a Fruita Monument teacher who was in high school during the 90’s. The terminology in the 90’s varied from different areas. Linda Gallet, a math teacher at Fruita Monument grew up in Michigan and she said that used the term “Right on” when she was with her friends and something was done right. One of the most memorable phrases that Hoisington used when he was hanging out with his friends was “What’s up dude?” We all know it’s important to say the right things when you’re hanging out with friends so that you fit in. Saying things like “sweet” and “radical” were cool to say when any-

By reporters Spencer Fair, Brianna Pollock, and Rachel Bigum

The Goatee swept the 90’s like a bad disease....a really bad disease

90’s lifestyle is definitely similar to the lifestyles we’re experiencing now, but there are many differences too. Most remember the crazy hair, and the funny slang. With some research and interviews from some fellow residents of the 90s, we dug a little deeper into this very…original era.

Sports 11

One Goal at a Time

When one thinks of Fruita Monu-ment High School; farming, cow-boys, trucks and tractors may come to mind. Underneath this stereotype is a team that has nothing to lose and everything to gain: the Fruita Boys Varsity and Junior Varsity Soccer Team. These boys have been sweat-ing their butts off since before school even started to hopefully reach cham-pion-status. These Wild-cats are going to score their way to victory. C.J Gonzales, Fruita Senior and team man-ager stated that, “Al-though I can’t play this year, I’m hoping that the team makes it to league play-offs and then State again this year.” Even though the team has only had a few league games, they are doing quite well this season. The team has gone into double over time twice already; one of these ended with a win

Photos and Story Cicely Kohler, Photo Editor

Dancing Towards SuccessBy Chuck Bisbee, Reporter

New coaching seems to be the trend this year in Fruita Monu-ment athletics, and one team that is following that movement is the Poms. After a one year stint as the head coach of Fruita Monument Poms, Lara Ross stepped down due to the fact that she would be moving to Utah before the school year started. Now the responsibility of leading a 17 girl team, that in-cludes just two seniors, is placed on the shoulders of Coach Sarah King. In the words of one of the team captains, Senior Nic-hole Thatcher, the team is “still adjusting” to the new coach. “She’s different from our other coach,” dancer Makenzy Swim says. “She grew up a cheerleader so she’s still getting used to dance.” However, that’s not going to

stop the team from perform-ing well this season and pick-ing up from where they left off last year according to Thatcher. “We’re trying to stay the same [as last year] and keep the tradition,” Thatcher said. That tradi-tion has grown strong recently as the Poms have experienced a ris-ing amount of success each year. Perhaps the strongest of those was last year. The squad was not only a showstopper at half time of the home games at Fruita, but also took first place at their re-gional competition. That perfor-mance also qualified them for the state competition where what some team members called a sub-par performance kept them from placing well. This year however, they plan on doing even better.

“We want to win region-als and place higher at state,” said Thatcher. The team is even consid-ering traveling to Florida this up-coming February to compete at a three day competition that would include teams from across the Unit-ed States. However, it’s not certain the team will be able to attend. As always, the first priority for the team is show-ing spirit for Fruita Monument. “We want to be crowd pleasers,” Thatcher said.If you can’t make the trip to the regional or state competitions to see this talented group of dancers, make sure you stick around for the halftime show at any Fruita Monu-ment home game this year to see for yourself what makes this Poms team one of the finest in the region.

against Grand Junction High School. The team has suffered some blows to their high hopes with an increasing amount of injuries; this has led the rest of the boys to work extra hard and become a closer family when it comes to having each other’s backs. “I love playing soccer, just for the love of the sport and scoring, Scoring is awesome. I do hope that the injured

boys make a quick and healthy re-covery because the field just isn’t the same without the whole team,” Said Wesley Padgett, a Fruita Sophomore, who swings between Varsity and J.V. When asked what their favor-ite thing about soccer is and who they are looking forward to play-ing the most, the majority said their love of the sport motivates them

and that they’re deter-mined to pummel Junc-tion (which they did). The team, Coached by Dan McKee, Rob Breeden and Gary Stubler, is a close knit family. Many have played together for years. They have a close friendship that is not only is apparent on the field, but extends to the hallways as well. “I’m proud of the boys this year.” Stated Dan McKee, “I’m very confident in them and I know we will go far.” Strengthening, eat-

Photo by Laren Cyphers

ing healthy and working together is really a must when it comes to being part of this team. Sean Kohler, Fruita Sophomore and Varsity player said, “It’s really important to pre-pare yourself both physi-cally and mentally be-fore a game and practice. We don’t want any more injuries on the team.” The team would also like to say, “Thank You,” to their fellow classmates who attend and support their games. “It is nice to have the stands full for the games, but we under-

“The boys need to trust each other and be patient. They really do control their own destiny.”

stand that’s not always possible. Also, I would like to thank the school for tak-ing care of the practice field; it’s looking very nice this year,” Gary Stubler commented. The boys are ea-gerly working their way towards doing well at the State-Play offs and will hopefully make a solid win in the end. “The boys need to

trust each other and be patient,” Said Dan McKee, “They really do control their own destiny.”

Fruita Monu-ment Senior, Peter Martinez, fights for the ball against a Grand Juntion opponent.

Cory Odom takes aim during a Fruita soccer game.

12 Sports

Look Good, Feel Good, Play GoodBy Courtney Kreidler, Reporter

With the new school year underway, Fruita’s football team is starting fresh with a new coach, new captains, new goals and new uniforms. “Our motto is look good, feel good, play good,” said sen io r-cap ta in Cody Daniels. “It was our time for new uniforms so Coach Mulvey and Mr. Squibb asked Jes-se [Petek], Trey [ T h y g e r s o n ] , Zach [Thorpe], Buttercup [Cameron Brown] and my-self to help design them,” said Dan-iels. The new uniforms might have made the boys “look good” but no one said anything about practicing good. During the first week of football camp in early August, Fruita prac-

ticed one day with their helmets. According to Colorado High School Athletic Association (CHSAA), var-

sity football teams can-not use equipment until August 15, 2011. “It was an honest mistake. Coach Mulvey and the rest of us were unaware of the rule,” said Fruita senior, Zach Thorpe. But that didn’t stop CHSAA from putting Fruita’s foot-ball team on restriction. “The restriction only means that if we mess up again then we can’t go to playoffs. If we keep fol-lowing the rules everything will be fine,” said Thorpe.

Just to be on the safe side, Head Coach Sean Mulvey sent CHASSA an apol-ogy letter. Fruita still hasn’t heard if the restriction has been lifted or not. According to maxpreps.com Fruita ended their 2010 football sea-

son with a record of 4-5 coached by Sean Marsh. For the 2011 season the new head coach is Sean Mulvey and as of September 26, 2011, their record is 1-3. Coach Marsh isn’t the only one who is no longer with the wildcats.“We lost Matt Merola, Marshal

Westcott and John Marsh from the line; and Tyler Daniels and Martin Zupan from offense,” said senior-captain, Cameron Brown. That may sound like a lot of key players, but Mulvey still doesn’t doubt his team.“I think we’re looking better this

year. We had a good group of kids last year, but I think this is a better group in terms of leader-ship. This team believes they can compete with anybody so I think we’re doing better,” said Mulvey.

Area Mountain Bikers Form TeamBy Laren Cyphers, Sports Editor

“Fruita is really known for moun-tain biking,” said Fruita Monu-ment senior, Milena Johnson, “It is a sport that some kids do, but never had an outlet for.” With the newly established mountain bik-ing team, that vent is now available. Referred to as a Grand Valley composite team, this group of dedi-cated bikers is comprised of students from all four high schools along with homeschooled students. Being just a yearling, the team has few members and attends even fewer competitions. The team competes in just four races a season with only the top bikers participating. “We practice at the lunch loop in the Redlands and do various trails around there,” said Meer. The ac-tual competitions take place near the Denver region excluding the recent one hardly outside of Salida. After the recent race near Salida on September 18th, the team fin-ished with two freshmen and one sophomore at the top of their brack-

ets. “They’re really good and they like go off cliffs,” said Holly Meer, GJHS goer and new member of the squad. “I’m not even close to as ex-perienced as they are,” Meer added. Johnson, nowadays an old hand at mountain biking, says she be-gan the sport because she loved “ca-sually riding around” with her family. “It is an individualized sport so you are your own coach and you can push yourself as far as you want to go,” said Johnson. Instead of family, Meer was acquainted with the sport through her friends and now teammates. “My friends decided they were going to drag me out there one day, and now I just love it,” said Meer. Expanding on the rea-son for said love, Meer said, “I

Courtesy Photo

hope to expand my trail knowl-edge and someday do Powderhorn, but I would probably cry because I don’t like going fast downhill.” Fruita is renowned for its legendary biking trails explained Johnson, “It’s sad that we haven’t had a team before this.” This legend

is illustrated by The Fruita Fat Tire Festival which launches the biking season marked by the last Friday in April of every year. It encompasses a bike expo and 18 hours of continuous bicycling around the town. People trek immense dis-tances to the town of Mike the headless chicken in or-der to partake in this festi-val and show their true pas-sions of mountain biking. “When you don’t think you

can do a certain obstacle and when you do it, it is really satisfying. That is the greatest reward,” said Meer.

Photo by Laren Cyphers

Photo by Laren Cyphers

“According to Colorado High

School Ath-letic Association

(CHSAA), varsity football teams can-not use equipment

until August 15, 2011.”

“It is an indi-vidualized sport so you are your own coach and

you can push yourself as far as you want to

go.”

Sports 13

No One Can See You Sweat After DarkBy Jennifer Robinson, A&E Editor

Hiding just outside of the pavement and stucco of our great town is a different place -- a place where people don’t turn their heads the other way, building walls are can-yon walls, and the hovering aircraft are birds, not airplanes. On the hik-ing trails just outside of Grand Junc-tion, Colorado, wildlife is surround-ing you whether it’s day or night. Whatever your reason may be for enjoying the outdoors, the thought of hiking on a hot Colorado day is not always a pleasant one. However, when the sun goes down, so do the tempera-tures. Night hiking gives everyone a break from the sun and the heat it brings with it. W h i l e night hiking is a normal activity for some Fruita stu-dents, it’s still a fresh idea to oth-ers. The popularity of night hikes is expanding for many reasons.People are discovering it can often be more exciting to explore the out-doors with only light from the moon. “There’s always a new adventure,” said Junior, Christa Campbell. “We always like to go on the nights of full moons because you don’t have to use flashlights.” Maybe you have a favorite trail, but you can never seem to find

a time of day when it’s not crowded. When the time of your hike is knocked into hours of the night, the chances of you running into anyone, is lessened. While we may live in a small town, we’re surrounded by diverse landscapes; forest area, desert, small hills, plateaus, and large mountains. Many of us who have been hiking for a long time often go to the same place several times and eventu-ally the landscape becomes familiar.

Night hikes cause the scen-ery to change in many ways, depending on your location. The trail is light by moon, the crickets are chirping and the bats are soaring rather than the birds. Streams, rivers, and lakes are now shadowed and reflect the clouds and stars. “Night hikes are a nice way to change things up. It always looks and feels so much different than during the day,” Campbell says.Night hikers tend to be in-

terested in two things. The first thing they are interested in are the trails that climb in altitude, closer to the city and reveal an exquisite light show. And the second thing would then be the trails that lead away from city and its pollution to expose a glimmering night sky. “Star gazing and look-ing at city lights is always the best part, especially from the Monu-ment because that’s where you get the best view,” said Campbell.

Where: Riggs Hill, Mica Mines, Devil’s Kitchen, Devil’s Canyon, Mt. Garfield, Echo Canyon, Hanging Lake, Taba-watch Trail, Independence Rock and Rough Canyon

When: Most will suggest spring, summer and fall seasons

What to Bring: Flashlight, water, and clothing for weather

Need to Know Basis:

Photo by Jennifer Robinson

Cross country. We all know it’s running, but do you know what’s actually put into the extremely tal-ented Cross C o u n t r y team here at Fruita Monument? Our very own team c a p t a i n , Alex Rico, “senior” ex-pressed his opinion on this year’s s e a s o n . When asked about his u p c o m i n g plans for the season, Rico said this; “We’ve gotten faster and faster every year. In fact, we are the second fastest team in 10 years at Fruita Monument.”According to this very devoted team captain, their team’s goal is to “Place top 3 at regionals, and top 10 at state.” If this is accomplished

it could be a great thing for Fruita’s reputation as a cross country team. But how the team accom-

plish this difficult goal? The answer is practice, sweat, and determination. Rico says; “We’ve been intensely train-ing this year. The work outs have been insane, and we’re just all

Running as a Team and a Familyaround working harder on every-thing.” They’ve even been working on fundraising for their most impor-

tant competitions. Their biggest fundraiser has been going around asking businesses for money, so they can sponsor them, and put them on the back of their shirts.

It is very apparent how devoted this team is to running, but why cross country? “The people are

just so awesome. We practice as a family, and even fight like brothers.”

This is one family that can strive farther than any other in the valley.This family has had their fair share of obstacles to o v e r c o m e . Rico shared that “We didn’t make it to state last year, and that’s been hard, but hope-fully that will change this year. We’re work-ing hard as hell.”

There is one thing our cross country has, that others don’t the players. Rico put two in the spot-light. “We like to always have Kyler Brown “junior” leading. Then there’s

Chuck Bisbee “sophomore” who’s like a child prodigy, He pushes us all. I’m not even saying that to make him feel good, he actually does push us.” But it’s not just the captains that are proud of this family; the coaches can’t stop boasting about these athletes accomplishments. “Coach Bowen and I are

proud of these ath-letes and all they have accomplished so far. As Coaches we are amazed at the level of work they are per-forming at this year. We are seeing some amazing times and are eager to see them race in front of the home crowd next week.” –Coach Bear Huskey Well there you have it kids, our cross coun-try team kicks butt! We just might become the number one fastest

team in 10 years, you never know. Be sure to come and cheer on our speedy family at this year’s Anna Banana Race, hosted by Fruita Monument, at Connected Lakes state Park at 10:00 am on Saturday, October 1st.

By Rachel Bigum, Reporter

“On the hiking trails just out-side of Grand Junction, Colo-rado, wildlife is surrounding you whether it’s day or night.”

“We didn’t make it to state last year, and that’s been hard, but hopefully that will change this year. We’re working hard as hell.”

Courtesy Photo

Commentary 14

Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems We all have the occasional urge to We all have the occasional urge to splurge. Some FMHS students admit-ted to dropping $2,300 on a clunker car, $1,700 for a bike, $450 on a prom dress, $300 on some car speak-ers, or even $180 for a pair of jeans.So, what’s your guilty pleasure? But more importantly, what does it cost?Daniel Radcliffe owns a $17,000 mattress. Beyoncé has a thing for $45,000 Louis Vuitton bags. Owen Wilson tans for $1,200 a session. Britney Spears likes to buy puppies for $3,000 a pooch.And you thought you had it bad.Of course, the outrageous shopping habits of our lime-lighted celebri-ties never fail to draw both good and bad attention. Reactions are usually composed of a series of steps, begin-ning with interest and awe, and then confusion as we struggle to com-prehend that much available mon-ey. This inevitably transforms into slight jealousy, and eventually even hatred as it dawns on us that Miley Cyrus has just bought her 4th home at the age of 18, not mention the fact that it rang up to $3.9 million.But then again, $3.9 million seems like small change when you work up to the more high-status ‘A-Listers’. For example, after the Beckhams

moved into their new $23 million mansion next door to Tom and Katie Cruise, the Cruises sent over a love-ly house warming gift: a $250,000 Bentley with Victoria’s initials, ‘VB’ monogrammed on the rims. That sure beats a nice plate of cookies.The honest truth is that even Grandma’s secret chocolate chip cookie recipe wouldn’t have a prayer against that car. At this point, not even the thought counts. The line between wealthy and aver-age is definitive and intimidating. “America idolizes materialistic peo-ple, therefore we become material-istic,” says Hannah Wood, a Junior.American citizens are constantly entertained and swept up in shallow and materialistic concerns, point-lessly fighting to “keep up with the Kardashians.” Finding time in our busy high school schedules to watch the show is hard enough. Now imagine trying to replicate their every red carpet appearance, every vacation, or every purchase.However, it’s not like it would be hard to receive the fame once it’s offered to you. “I feel like if I had the income of a celeb, I would be a lot more popular, and also have some real nice gear.” Says Michael Sentino, a Senior.

The website, “The Movie Star Sala-ry Calculator,” shows how much or-dinary purchases affect the bank ac-count of a popular celeb, compared to the average middle class consum-er. Take Jim Carrey for instance, who makes approximately $25 million a film. If you wanted to buy a good sized house for $275,000, it would be the same as Jim putting down a whopping $330.00 to own the place and probably only a penny more to snatch up the whole street. You want to book a prestigious hotel for $200 a night? That would be the equiva-lent of Jim digging 50 dollars out of his back pocket and being able to stay in the same hotel for two nights.Has there ever been a point in life when you’ve felt cheated or out done, simply because it appeared as if your bank account wasn’t big enough to prove yourself?“I just feel cheated not only because they earn more than regular people, but because they earn tons of money for doing stupid or pointless ‘sim-ply for entertainment’ things. For example, the Kardashians don’t do anything and they’re millionaires. Pro athletes just play their sport and roll around in their wealth. It’s so dumb.” Says Morgan Kahle, a Senior.One Hollywood financial advisor,

Scott Feinstein, told the New York Times about a call he received from a client in his mid-twenties who wanted to buy a $35,000 watch. “I said ‘What time does it say?’ and he said, ‘Ten minutes after 3.’” Fein-stein recalled in the interview. “I told him, ‘Mine says 10 after 3 too, and it cost me 60 bucks. Put the watch d o w n . ’ ” If only c e l e b r i -ties knew that what you spend f i l l i n g your time is much m o r e i m p o r -tant than what you spent to tell time.

By Erika Gardner, Reporter

You push open the door to the sophomore hall-way, and are instantly flushed with the smell of body odor. Every day I enter the sophomore hallway hoping for a new experi-ence. My hopes are usually fol-lowed by crushing disappointment. Not only is this hallway notorious for traffic jams, but it smells as though someone poured a bottle of teen sweat all over the place. “It smells like sweat, cologne and per-fume,” said Taz Henning, sophomore. “It kind of smells like eraser,” agreed Faith Grattan a fellow sophomore. Though this is a tragic tale of woe and pain, I am happy to report that I’m not alone in my opinion. Students from varying locker numbers share my struggle. Kelsey Adsitt, junior, says, “It’s really crowded.” Many are in agreement that it’s actually the students who make the sophomore hall unbearable. “People need to learn how to walk,” said David Applegate, a sophomore. The flow of student-body traffic congests the hall

and makes it a maddening area. “Kids just stand in groups all the time in the hall, it’s annoying,” said Mackenzie Logan sophomore.

This is just the beginning. I can’t help but think how my suffer-ing will increase once the biology classrooms start dissecting. So on

top of all these very pungent smells (port-a-potty, BO, etc.) we will add dead cat and cow eye ball to the list.Just a fair warning, Mr. Fox’s room

is one you’ll want to avoid because of these horrid dissections. Plus, rumor has it that the smell of dis-sected cat lingers the halls for more than a week. So prepare yourselves my fellow students, your days of nose plugging have just begun.So sophomores, and those who dare to step foot in the sophomore hall, avoid making human-clusters in the hallway and try to adjust to the lingering smell of dead cat. As much as I’d like to grant you your wish of a moving walkway, it’s probably not in the school budget. “It’s ghetto,” said sopho-more Brandon Kubic.So keep it moving! It may be a good idea to take less time at your lockers. I like chatting it up with my friends too, but others are trying to get into their lockers. So either walk and talk, or catch up with them on your own time. With these tips, a little com-mon sense and a steady flow of traf-fic, we can turn sophomore hall into a wonderful place filled with stu-dents that are anxious to get to class (okay, maybe it won’t get that far).

Sophomore hall…Common walkway or deathtrap? Photo and Story by Rachel Bigum, Reporter

Photo courtesy of MCT Campus

15 Commentary

Whether we like it or not, social net-working is, and will continue to be, a big part of our lives all throughout high school. Most of us are aware of both the advantages and downfalls of social networking, but rarely do we stop to think about how ridiculous some of the things we see on these sites are. There are the crazy pictures and bizarre status updates of course, but perhaps the most ridiculous of all are little things called chain posts. They come in many shapes and forms and not only are a waste of time but can be very annoying. A chain post can come in the form of a status update, wall post or instant message and are sent out in bulk to as many people as a sender can pawn them off on. They often make bold claims about the fate of the reader if they don’t re-send or re-post the message within a certain time period. For example, a chain post may reward a reader with “true love” if they re-post or could punish them with “seven days of bad luck” if they don’t. More times than not they are the result of someone’s boredom or maybe some sort of advertisement for a low-key company. But either way they

cause frustration for those of us just trying to connect with friends. Something about chain posts that can’t be ignored, howev-er, is how frequently they show up on social networking sites. How can something so time consuming and pointless keep showing up again and again on these sites? Is there a possi-bility that there could be some truth in these posts and we so often roll our eyes at? These were the ques-tions that prompted me to go out and investigate this topic myself and try to find the truth about chain posts. Investigating this would be easy: find the most ridiculous chain post I could and repost it as my Facebook status. The particu-lar post I chose promised me a tiny fairy that would grant me three wishes at 6:33 that night once I made it my status. A simple copy and paste later and all that was left was to wait and see if this unlikely prophecy would come true for me. While I waited for the clock to strike 6:33 I decided to ask some social network users what their opin-ions on the topic were. The respons-es I received were nearly identical. One quote from a part-time social

networker did the best job of sum-ming up what most people had to say. According to Senior Alex Rico chain posts are, “annoying, I feel like it’s a way to draw atten-tion to yourself or try to get peo-ple to talk to you.” After hearing what my peers had to say about the matter, I didn’t feel too confident about actually finding a wish-granting fairy in my room. Once I entered

my room, I found just what I had expected: nothing. I searched my closet, my drawers and even under my bed for a little winged creature, but it was nowhere to be found. A part of me was sad the post didn’t send me a magical fairy, but then again, who was I kidding? No post on a website can grant you true love, a magical fairy or even a good grade on your next math quiz. As much as some of us may wish

chain posts had some sort of truth to them, realistically we have to ac-cept the fact that they’re just a way to occupy time, draw attention to yourself or just something to have fun with. I personally know that be-tween school and all the extra-cur-ricular activities that go along with it, there’s barely time for sleep much less chain posts. But if you have the time try one out, you never know when you might find that little fairy.

Where are my three wishes?Story and Photo by Chuck Bisbee, Reporter

Story and Photo by Brianna Pollock, Reporter

Younglife opens young minds

Young Life is a club full of energy where teens can go to worship God. At Fruita Monument, kids enjoy the relaxed and fun environment that Young Life (YL) has to offer. “It’s a great way to start off the week,” said Katie Ben-ton a senior here at Fruita. The leaders of Young Life are committed to the kids; by making them feel like part of their lives and lend-ing them support. This leadership is there to help guide the kids in their fu-ture and help be there as a friend. The counselors

are always energetic and ready to listen to anything you have to say. Benton attends YL almost every Wednesday she states, “I really like how ener-gized and how welcom-ing the counselors are.” Not only is YL full young teens and excit-ing counselors, but it’s a place where you can go to bond with new peo-ple and where the truth of God’s love is shared. Through song and ser-mons, Gods love is shared from the counselors to the teens. A typical Monday night at YL looks like a “party with a pur-

pose.” Meetings start out with a few bonding games, then you sing fun, easy songs that everyone knows.

This is followed by another game, “raffle time,” and ends with a religious message. The meetings are typi-cally held at a member’s house and starts every Monday at 7:37 pm.Benton’s favorite part about YL is “raffle time.” Raffle time is when the kids receive candy for the winning

ticket, which is given to them at the beginning of the night. This game keeps the party going and makes

kids excited. At Fruita’s YL, one of the counselors plays the guitar while the teens join in and sing songs. YL is in 10 high schools, middle schools and other outreach programs. Kids can go and be comfortable with whom they are and everyone bonds. It helps teens meet new people and have a fun Monday night.Kids find out about YL through friends and through posters put up around the school. This com-forting environment welcomes all teens, and if you’re looking for a way to spend your Mon-day nights, this is the place to be.

“Kids can go and be comfortable with who they are and everyone bonds.”

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18 Commentary

Is pale the new tan?Story and Photo by Amy Lindbo, Reporter

Just as summer is ending, everyone rushes to get their tan be-fore showing up to school, blind-ing their classmates with their pale white legs. This of course means hitting the tanning beds, or plas-tering on the tanning oil in hopes they will become bronzed as fast as the summer had come and gone. Many people think as long as you aren’t tanning in tanning beds you are safe; but the true fact is whether you are tanning indoors or outdoors, you are still at the risk of different types of cancers.

According to the ar-ticle “Cancer and Teen Tanning: Where's the Regulation? “By Adi Narayan in the Time Magazine on the internet, the risk of getting skin cancer rises to 75% if using tanning beds before the age of 30. There is a theory that tanning beds emit 40% more UVB rays than natural sunlight, but it is that Mela-noma (skin cancer) has a direct link to indoor tanning beds (which was said by Elizabeth Carruth in the article “Do Tanning Beds Cause Skin Cancer and Other Harmful

Effects?” on vanderbilt.edu). So whether you’re sunbathing indoors or outdoors, it’s at best to stay away from both of them. “I think people need to go out in the sun during the summer and just let it fade during winter. Tanning is almost too high of a risk,” Cassie Grotts (sophomore) said while do-ing a survey among the students of the halls. I also found that most people like natural looking skin rather than tan. In this survey, 65% of people said natural looking skin looks better, with the ex-ception of being pasty white. Not all people will get skin cancer, but people who have fair skin, blonde hair, red hair, light brown hair, blue eyes, green eyes, or grey eyes burn more easily while tan-ning. These are the people who have a higher risk of getting skin cancer. But keep in mind that just because you may not fall in one category here, doesn’t mean you aren’t at the risk of cancer. ABC News’ internet article

“UK Tanning Bed Ban: Coming to America?” written by Michael Murray, Whales and England have

recently put a ban on teenagers tanning under the age of 18, and if not fallowed get a massive fine of up to $32,000. For places that can’t put an age limit on tanning, they are trying to require parental consent which could help the rais-ing rate of skin cancer dramatically. Not just is there a risk

of getting melanoma but also skin burns, premature skin ag-ing, and short term or long term

eye damage, which fda.gov ap-proved of in the article “Tanning.”Instead of listening to your ev-eryday radio advertisement, There’s a new motto to go by: “If you’re as white as mayonnaise, go ahead and show your face, don’t get tan don’t get tan don’t get tan!”

Seniors: they’re every-where: in the paper, the yearbook and the newspaper. They are occupied with letter jackets, senior pictures and where to go to college. They are at the top of high school social ladder and get all of the attention. However, many students go unno-ticed even if they’re popular, athlet-ic and funny. These individuals are usually referred to as sophomores. These students are relegated to sophomore hall, school lunches and exclusion from the upperclassmen. This kind of polarized treatment can be especially hard for a sophomore like me who has a senior sibling.A year ago, before I was in the same school as my brother (Matt Scofield), I was a content individ-ual. My nickname was “T-Sco” and most people didn’t even know I had a brother. However, I have recently experienced the oppres-sive life of being a senior’s sibling. Now, most people around the school

refer to me as “Mini Matt” or “Baby Sco” and I am continu-ally stuck in the rut my broth-er has paved. I’m sure this problem is shared by many other students my age and I understand how they feel. It doesn’t help that I am involved in many of the same sports and activities as my brother; it isn’t hard for other students to com-pare us. At tennis, baseball and yoga club my brother is there. He is a senior and I am just a lowly froshmore. There are a couple of advan-tages to having an upperclass-man sibling. I’ve never had to ride the bus to school, and I know many more upperclass-men than my brother and I know what to expect in high school; I’m grateful for that. It has helped me to transition into high school easier than most students.

Even though it’s hard right now, I can deal with it for one year. Maybe my brother deserves this “special

senior treatment” because he has “earned his stripes” at this school. Because maybe, when he was a

Senior Sibling SyndromeStory and Photo by Taylor Scofield, Reporter

sophomore, he was just like me.