Volume 18, Issue 2October, 2013

1102 Wildcat Ave.Fruita, CO 81521

Fruita Monument High SchoolThe Catalyst

Don’t kill my

vibe

A&E Pg. #9

Never stop dreamingA review on Fruita’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Simply the bestThe top 10 timeless movies that everyone should see.

Managing Editors: Alyssa Urban. News Editor: Noah Turner. Busi-ness Mannager: Keaton Brown. Commentary Editor: Lyric Fortson. Features Editor: MadiWittman. Sports Editor: Keaton Brown. Arts & Entertainment Editor: Alyssa Urban. Reporters: Jessica Bennett, Mackennea Broyles, Jake Gulden, Megan Hunter, Ian Sage, Fiona Tanner, Bram Heberle, Christian Lobato, Jessica Loveland, Chris Martin, Sabrina Mayer, Brandon Ruffner, Elisia Koury. Staff Adviser: Trent Wuster Trent.Wuster@d51schools.org (970) 254-7280

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-sponsored 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.

The Catalyst Staff:

Pg. # 7

Hair you doin’?The coolest hairstyles in the school.

Students on a missionFMHS students reflect on their mission trip to Nicaragua.

Features

News Pg. #3Circle to square parkThe well-known circle park is about to undergo some changes.

West Maryland SecessionWill the United States soon have 51 states?

U.S. seeks diplomacy in SyriaThe U.S. continues to look for a solution with the Syrian violence.

CommentaryWhat they say and what they really meanDecoding the talk of guys and girls.

A word from the not so wisePlease do not follow this advice.

Dancing Dilemmas at FMHSHow can our dances improve?

Sports Pg. #15

Volleyball team strives for stateThe volleyball team is working hard and getting wins.

Fruita soccer team undefeatedHow are the players keeping up with their undefeated record?

Don’t kill my vibeFind out how listening and playing music affects your brain along with a featured student artist and your favorite songs!

Pg. # 10

Cover by Alyssa UrbanAllie Hatch pictured as silhouette

Photo courtesy of Antonio Archuleta

Pg. #17

Photo by Madi Wittman

(cover)

The Broncos set up for an attempt at the extra point in Denver.

The FMHS streaker makes an appearance during halftime at the Fruita vs. Junction football game.

I’m sure many of you have heard the rumors of Circle Park being transformed to a square. Quite a scare, but not to worry, after mul-tiple meetings, Circle Park will in fact stay a circle.

Earlier in the year, the city coun-cil had been contemplating how to improve downtown Fruita. They began with discussing the remodel-ing of the Civic Center Memorial Park, but then led to the possibility of changing the shape and design of Circle Park.

At the city council meeting on August 20th, 2013, the City Man-ager Clint Kinney said that funda-mentally, the issue for the Council is to try and create that downtown feel around the circle. Taking into consideration how many people will have an opinion on the square/circle issue Kinney also said if no one likes the square, it should be taken off the sheet for now and other discussions about the plan could continue.

Mayor Lori Buck said that the circle being turned into a square

was a serious concern for many and that they didn’t want to be forc-ing people to have something they didn’t want. She said if the goals could be achieved in different ways, then those should be explored.

The reason for the circle to square idea in the first place was to slow down traffic. Councilman Kin-caid stated that what he heard at the last meeting was that most parents are concerned about the speed of traffic on the Circle. He also added that it didn’t matter whether or not the circle was that or a square; it was about the speed of traffic on the Circle.

If you have ever driven through Fruita and near the roundabout you know it can be any easy thing to get confused by. During the meeting, it was pointed out that there are two lanes going around the circle and it’s easy to get confused and a lot of people who enter the Circle don’t know which lane to go in.

Buck said that the other piece of it was how to slow down the traffic without diverting it. She said that

if she were a business owner on Aspen she would be very leery of any type of design that would make people not go around the Circle or not drive down Aspen because it’s too cumbersome.

Stephanie Heifner, a teller at Alpine Bank said, “With the first layout of the Circle being made into a square, people wouldn’t have been able to get through our drive through so there was a big prob-lem with that.” Because of their concerns and many others, the city

redesigned the old layout. “I know they just want people to go slower, so I wonder if just putting speed bumps in instead would solve that problem,” Heifner added.

The design of the new layout is directed to be more “pedestrian-friendly.” They will be adding colored bricks in front of the town shops. Also, trees and benches will be added to help with the wanted feel of more “downtown like” in the area.

Going around and asking down-

town merchants what they thought of the plan and how it would be affecting them led to the discussion over the Fruita Health Club. Brooke Ray of Fruita Health Club asked that the west facing entrance of her parking lot would be blocked off. She says she wants it to be cornered off to eliminate drivers using her parking lot for a drive through.

Councilor Mascarenas said the previous Chamber of Commerce meeting specifically talked about the plans and unanimously, they did not want to change the Circle to a square. The Chamber is concerned about losing vendors who would see decreases in available square foot-ages for booth spaces at festivals.

After these meetings and many discussions, the City has come up with a new plan for redesigning downtown. They will be changing the overall layout around the park into a square instead of the Circle becoming an actual square. Laying down red brick and adding trees and seating areas, it will now not only slow down traffic but will also be user friendly and helpful to down-town merchants.

Could have been square

Photos Courtesy of Fruita.org

By Jessica Loveland, Reporter

On September 16, 2013, 34 year old, Aaron Alexis, entered the N.A.V.Y Installations Com-mand. Surveillance footage shows that Alexis entered the building at exactly 8:08a.m, carrying a large duffel bag. When Alexis got inside, he went into a bathroom on the fourth floor with his duffel bag, but came out with something entirely different.

Aaron came out holding a fully-loaded 12 gauge Remington Shotgun.

“He killed 12 workers, civilians, employees, and contractors ranging in age from 46 to 73, before being killed by a U.S. Park Police officer during a rampage and shootout that lasted more than an hour,” said Valerie Parlave, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office.

Surveillance video released on Wednesday, September 18, shows Alexis pulling his rental car into a garage, entering the building

Navy yard shootingBy Brandon Ruffner, Reporter

with his bag, ducking and crouch-ing around a corner and walking briskly down a flight of stairs. The video does not show the shots he fired.

Many people are wondering,

how did Alexis enter a building with such high operatingsecurity with a fully-loaded shotgun? Well, Alexis was a former Navy reserv-ist and computer technician for a government contractor. He used his

Photos Courtesy of MCT Campus

3The Catalyst October 2013

News

valid badge to get into the Navy Yard.

There are indicators that Alexis was prepared to die during the at-tack and that he accepted death as the inevitable consequence of his actions. The final months of his life, Aaron Alexis complained of hear-ing voices talking to him through a wall and of microwave vibrations that he said entered his body and prevented him from sleeping. His delusional belief that he was being bombarded by extremely low-frequency radio waves escalated to the point that, before embarking on a murderous rampage that killed 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard, he left behind this note:

“Ultra-low frequency attack is what I’ve been subject to for the last 3 months, and to be perfectly honest that is what has driven me to this,” read an electronic docu-ment FBI agents recovered after the shooting.

The attack, which ended with

Alexis shot dead by a police officer, came one month after he com-plained to police in Rhode Island that people were talking to him through the walls and ceilings of his hotel room and sending microwave vibrations into his body to deprive him of sleep.

His shotgun, which he purchased two days before the shooting from a gun shop in Virginia, was etched with messages including “My ELF Weapon!” an apparent reference to extremely low-frequency waves - and “End to The Torment!” The ELF frequency range has histori-cally been used for submarine com-munications, but some conspiracy theorists believe it allows for gov-ernment monitoring and mind con-trol of citizens, said Valerie Parlave. At this time, family members of the victims say, “We just want privacy. It’s a tragedy that this happened, and we just need time to recover from this horrendous incident.”

The Catalyst4News

October 2013

West Maryland may become America’s 51st state. Western Mary-land is the portion of the U.S. state of Maryland that consists of Wash-ington, Carroll, Frederick, Allegany and Garrett counties. The unofficial West Maryland has a population of 472,039, which is only 8.4% of Maryland’s total population. Its land area is 2,194.39 square miles which is 22.45% percent of the state’s total land area. Only 21.7% of Western Maryland’s residents live in Alle-gany and Garrett counties while the other 78.3% live in Frederick and Washington counties.

West Maryland wants to secede from Maryland because of the state’s government. The west side of Maryland is generally conservative while the rest of the state is liberal. “The entire state is controlled basically by three jurisdictions. That’s not representa-tive government. ... We don’t think this government can be fixed,” Scott Strzelczyk leader of West Maryland Initiative said. “I think we, the taxpayers of Baltimore and all other Maryland jurisdictions, should do all we can to keep the western coun-ties. It would be a shame to lose

them; they are such nice places to visit and they complete Maryland’s claim to be “America in Miniature.” If Republicans and conservatives feel underrepresented in state government, they should push voter registration and persuade more independents to join the GOP,”said Dan Rodricks ,reporter of The Balti-more Sun.

Central and eastern Maryland coun-ties don’t want to lose the western counties be-cause original Maryland will receive budget cuts and no longer receive income from any of the current western attrac-tions. Almost all of the state’s attractions are lo-cated in Garrett County which will secede to West Maryland. Garrett County is well known for its numerous state parks and outdoor activities, and Maryland’s only ski resort. The state has recently spent over 70 mil-lion dollars on small and large scale projects on the west side of Mary-land in the past few years and see it

as unfair for all the money to go to a State they will no longer receive income from. Taxpayers around the state want the state parks to remain Maryland’s because they will be continuing to pay taxes on those projects for years to come. “The five counties have a lot of state assets — that is, stuff the rest of us paid for. They can’t just have it”,

said Herbert Smith, veteran politi-cal science professor.

And if West Maryland becomes a state it will be home to a several Colleges and Universities.

West Maryland secedes: the 51st state?

Photos Courtesy of Ian Sage

By Elisia Koury, Reporter

Home to Colleges and universities that no longer offer instate tuition to residents of Maryland. “If your children or grandchildren from Maryland want to attend, say, Col-lege Park or some other Maryland university, they’d have to pay out-of-state tuition. They’d pay more than undocumented immigrants pay under the Maryland Dream Act”,

said Dan Rodricks.But politics and

money aren’t the only reason why separa-tion is wanted in the west. Only one of the states three Amish settlements is located within the five coun-ties but is growing in size with Amish fami-lies who can’t afford land elsewhere in the state. The two Amish communities that live

outside of Garrett County have land and population pressures because they are threat-ening the cities abilities to expand .Even though the Baltimore-DC corridor and Lancaster County were original Amish communities,

Massive floods hit Colorado Throughout the month of

September, thousands of people in Colorado have been struck by devastating floods. The floods have caused millions of dollars-worth of damage and has affected many people’s lives. Power lines, utility poles, homes or apartments, vehicles and sewer lines have been destroyed by the flood in Boulder, the town of Lyons, and many other places in Colo-rado. The of-ficial death toll stands at seven and there are still six people unaccounted for.

Many evacuees had only two hours to check their homes and leave. Helicop-ters came in and out of the towns trying to rescue not only people, but pets as well. Some helicopters car-ried more dogs, cats and fish than people. So far, more than 800 pets have been rescued by helicopters and have now been returned to their previous owners. Hundreds of more animals have been saved by ground crews, but horses and cattle had to be left behind.

The flood has caused dam-age across 17 counties in Colorado and almost 2,000 square miles says Doyle Rice from USA Today.

About 22,000 or more gallons of oil were spilled in northern Colorado oilfields which is just making this cleaning process that much more difficult. An estimated 1, 300 oil and gas wells have been shut down in precaution of the spillage. The Colorado Oil and Gas Conserva-

tion Commission said that they are tracking 8 notable leaks, about 10 other locations have shown evidence of leaks, and around 33 places where oilfield equipment was held appears to have been damaged but no signs of spills.

Officials from the town of Lyons said that so much damage was caused that their town could be uninhabitable for up to six months. Many homes and roads were dam-aged throughout the town and even worse, the drinking water system

Photos Courtesy of MCT Campus

By Chritian Lobato, Reporter

they are currently trying to prevent any further Amish settlement. They are slowly pushing the Amish out by making land prices unrealisti-cally high. If West Maryland is to become a state they promise good land prices for the Amish.

But even outside of Maryland adding a 51st is a heated topic. “I think West Maryland should be able to come its own state, because everyone deserves to have fair rep-resentation, no matter their political views or lifestyle.” said Senior, Toni Gonzalez.

“Think about all the money that would be wasted having to redo the American flag and adding another state to the budget just because peo-ple let politics run their lives.”said Junior April Fitzgerald.

Becoming an independent state will come with a hefty price tag and a lot of fighting, but citizens of West Maryland are willing to fight for a state where they feel more comfort-able and represented. It may take several attempts before West Mary-land is accepted as a state by the U.S. Government so don’t expect a fifty first star to be on the flag any time soon.

can no longer be used. The bacteria E. coli contaminated the drink-ing water and officials say this is one of biggest cleaning problems. Lyon’s town administrator, Victoria Simonsen told a crowd of people that Lyon’s water system suffered an estimated $1 million in damage.

Ac-cording to the Colorado Office of Emergency Management website, Colo-rado will start off spending around $135 million to begin repairs on roads and bridges. Over 200 commercial properties were also damaged.

At the University of Colorado, about 40 buildings sustained water damage. Ryan Huff, CU’s com-

munications director said “Every asset of the Department of Public Safety has been deployed.”

Staff and students of FMHS are thinking of ideas of how to help those affected by the flood. A student here at FMHS, is trying to get a coat or blanket and stuffed animal drive for the flood victims. Many places have been affected by the flood and officials say they are doing everything they can to try and get back to the how things were before.

In Kansas City a woman ac-cidently dropped her wedding ring into the cup of a homeless man. Sarah Darling took her ring off for work and still had it in her hand when she went to drop spare change into Billy Ray Harris’s do-nation cup. Harris didn’t notice the ring until the end of the day when he went to count his money. He wasn’t sure who had put the ring in the cup, but knew that it was prob-ably an accident. Harris decided to keep the ring safe until the owner returned to ask him for it.

Three days after losing her ring Darling decided to ask Harris if he had the ring. Harris pulled the ring out of his coat pocket and put it onto Darling’s finger. She was surprised that he still had her ring. “It makes you realize there are still good people out there,” Darling said.

Darling explained that she thought she had put her ring back on by the time she dropped change into Harris’s cup, and wanted him to know that she wasn’t having any marriage problems.

When asked why he didn’t just sell the ring Harris said, “My grandfather was a reverend, he raised me from the time I was six months old, thank the good Lord that’s a blessing, I still do have some character.”

Sarah Darling and her husband were so moved by Harris’ debonair act, they decided to start an online fundraising page to show Harris their appreciation. The campaign ran for 90 days. With 8,351 donors the site raised Harris $191,745.

“Good things happen to good people,” said Amy Espinoza.

The Darlings were shocked at how many donations the site had received. “We set a goal for a thousand dollars,” said Darling, “My ring is only worth $4,000, but his honor earned him every dollar that was donated.”

So far Harris has purchased a black and white Volkswagen Buggy and launched a painting business .With the help of a law-yer Harris put money into a trust. He also put a first down payment on a house that he’s fixing up himself. “You just cannot believe how good it feels to me right now to be able to stick my own key in the door, open the door, and lock it when I leave, “said Harris.

Harris has located his business in a different part of town but said, “I’ll probly be walking past here one day and someone will walk out and give me a dollar or something because they are so used to seeing me around here.”

After appearing on USA Today, Harris was able to reunite with family he hadn’t seen in sixteen years. It was a rumor in his family that he was deceased since no one had heard from him in so long. With a phone in his new house Harris is able to keep in touch with his old relatives and his nieces and nephews he just met while reuniting with his family. “When I think of the past, I think-Thank God it’s over. Because I feel human now,” said Harris.

Honesty paysBy Elisia Koury, Reporter

In November 2013, Colorado res-idents passed Amendment 64 which allows Colorado residents over the age of 21 to use and possess small amounts of marijuana. Adult residents can each legally grow up to six marijuana plants. Since the amendment was passed, there had to be voting on if retail stores would be allowed in Grand Junction. Grand Junction’s City Council re-cently voted to ban the retail sale of recreational marijuana. An anony-mous resident in Grand Junction, urged city council members to al-low recreational marijuana because some people were not comfortable signing up for Colorado’s medical marijuana registry. For patients that do need medical marijuana, they must travel outside of town to get the product. He strongly considered the impacts of people having to travel outside of Grand Junction to buy marijuana. He also suggested that driving to go buy the drug, in a way, encourages driving under the influence.

Grand Junction Police Chief John Camper from The Daily Sen-tinel website provided statements about how having marijuana retail

stores may contradict the message towards kids that drugs are bad. He said telling students not to do drugs would be more difficult because there would be visible sales of mari-juana through storefronts.

Many other places in Colorado may open, or already have, retail

stores to sell the drug. According to the Grand Junction’s Daily Sentinel website, there is an estimated 2,000 medical marijuana patients in Grand Junction. An argument emerged that city officials would not be able to

control caregivers, or other people growing and administering the drug to patients.

An anonymous Fruita Monu-ment High School student said, “I think it would have been benefi-cial to make dispensaries legal be-cause it will create jobs and take money away from people selling it illegally. Also, it will encourage tourists to come to Grand Junc-tion, and if it’s in a store, then it will be harder for kids to get marijuana.”

Another anonymous FMHS student said,” It’s a good thing that there won’t be medical marijuana dispensaries. If any-thing, it will make it easier for people including teenagers to get marijuana. You just can’t trust people obeying the law truthfully anymore.”

Medical marijuana dispensa-ries are banned for now in Grand Junction but later on there be a change of mind set. Many opin-ions are stated over Amendment 64 but some people are happy with the decision made by the city council to ban medical marijuana dispensaries.

Marijuana retail banned

Photos Courtesy of MCT Campus

By Christian Lobato, Reporter

Over the course of September the Syrian government has put forth an effort to push towards a political compromise about the elimination of chemical weapons. Recently the Syrian govern-ment has been meeting with a U.N. assembly to discuss the use of chemical weapons in the country’s civil war. The tensions increased when the United States was considering an attack on the Syrian government because of the possible conflicts that would arise between the U.S. and Russia. The Russian government stepped in while the U.S. was debating its decision to attack. They proposed a compromise that would avert the U.S. military action in return for the destruction of the Syrian chemical weapons cache. The United States in collaboration with the U.N. accepted the deal, but the Syrian disarmament of chemical weapons has taken a slow turn.

The push towards the disarmament has required U.N. inspectors to enter Syria and con-duct searches for any last known traces of chemical weapons. Syria has, in fact, sent a list of where

the weapons stockpiles are and how many stockpiles the country owns. The process hasn’t begun yet, and currently the U.N. and Syrian gov-ernment are negotiating about how the search will be conducted.

As for the violence, it hasn’t stopped. Hundreds of people are still being killed weekly on the ground in Syria. The U.S.–Russian plan has had troubles because of this. There is a civil war going

Bashar Al-AssadDictator of SyriaPhotos Courtesy of MCT Campus

on, and protecting U.N. inspec-tors while they extract and destroy chemical weapons has been a fre-quently discussed problem amongst the developers of the plan.

The details are still in prog-ress, and not only are Americans awaiting the news but also people across the world. “I think that if we do go through with this plan that we do need to let the U.N. handle the operations rather than the U.S. solely leading it,” said junior Sam Cyphers. Cyphers is an AP Govern-ment student and even though the class is covering early governmental aspects, he still pays close attention to current events and worldly news. “I think isolationism was pretty successful, if you look back to early American governments,” said Cyphers.

“I think that it is good idea to get involved, maybe not an attack but a political solution that benefits both sides,” said senior Devin Bird, an-other AP Government student. The involvement of U.S diplomacy is probable, according to recent affili-ations with the U.N. and Russia. “I hope we do something, but I really don’t think it will be easy taking action, especially military action,” said Bird.

The situation is fragile, and it will take weeks, or even months to come up with a peaceful solution. The world is still awaiting on the solutions that will be decided during the various meetings between gov-ernmental officials. While this is a large step towards stopping violent action, the civil war will most likely continue in Syria even if the resolve on chemical weapons is peaceful.

Syrian crisis continuesBy Jake Gulden, Reporter

5The Catalyst October 2013

News

The Catalyst 6News

October 2013

Tom Houska

By MacKennea Broyles, Reporter“It’s going to be a good year,” Terri Bowen, National Honor Society

sponsor, addressed the NHS officers, a small group of seniors gathered around a table in what is usually her chemistry classroom on Thursday September 19th.

Behind the scenes of the Fruita Monument High School Branch of one of the most established high school clubs lies a group of officers pre-pared to not only plan, produce and perform the NHS service activities, but change the school, the community and maybe even the world in the process.

Voted on by the 120 Junior and Senior NHS members at the most recent meeting, the current officers are NHS President Tom Houska, Vice President Maximillian McLean, Secretary Julie Sullivan, Treasurer Carter Hough and Historian Shannon Hautzinger.

Each NHS position has its own accountabilities that come with the job, but much of what the position entails is up to the person in the position.

“We don’t want NHS to be about giving money, we want it to be more about giving time” said Bowen. However, time is a rarity for this group of busy students. All, minus Hough -who works 30 hours a week-play at least one sport and are involved in at least one other extracurricular.

New NHS leaders

Q1: Nothing really.Q2: Being president means that

I can help get rid of activities that members did not enjoy last year.

Q3: I am hoping to learn more about being a leader

Q4: Time is definitely an issue for members because of sports

Q5: “A day without laughter is a day wasted” -Charlie Chaplin

Q3: What are your hopes?Q4: Is time ever an issue?Q5: What words do you live by?

Q1: I can hyperextend my elbow.Q2: Being the secretary, I’m in

charge of organizing the second service project we do, and we’ve picked some good options. I’m excited.

Q3:I want to be more involved and get everyone else more in-volved

Q4: There’s a lot of juggling involved; you learn to multitask and not sleep. Pretty much, no sleep is how you get everything done.

Q1: I play guitar.Q2: I’m vice president so I get to

play a bigger role in helping other members of NHS and it feels good to know that you’re helping those around you.

Q3: I hope to get other people involved in the community around us so that they can become better people and volunteer

Q5: Be the best you can be.

Q2: I’m treasurer. That means I handle people’s mone, but I also have a bigger position. I get to see what goes into helping and forming events

Q3:I want to be more involved and get everyone else more in-volved

Q4: I work 30 hours a week, and I have AP classes so it is really dif-ficult. I don’t really have much time for friends.

Q1: I run cross country and play tennis.

Q2: I’m the historian so it’s my job to take pictures and form the PowerPoint at the end. It’s impor-tant to reflect on the year and show that what you did was worthwhile.

Q3: What I’m hoping to get out of this year is that we can all help and aid the community in different ways

Q5: The wisest man has some-thing yet to learn.

Q1: One unique thing about you?Q2: What’s your position mean to you?

Julie Sullivan

Max McLean

Carter Hough

Shannon Hautzinger

The Glacier Ice Arena closed down in the summer of 2010 but Grand Junction’s City Council has received many requests to look into opening it back up.

The ice arena was a very popu-lar place for teenagers and other people to go and learn how to ice skate. The Glacier Ice Arena had many instructors on the teaching of ice skating and a schedule was set in place to where the ice arena had hockey practices, teachings and public skating.

Many hockey teams

throughout the Grand Valley were affected by the closing of the Gla-cier Ice Arena. Dedicated hockey players tried sticking with the sport by traveling to Glenwood Springs to play or other places in Colorado.

An announcement was made by one of the owners that said the Glacier Ice Arena will open back up sometime in November. Cassidy Koos, senior at Fruita Monument High School and daugh-ter of the owner of Glacier Ice Arena says, “I think a lot of people are going to be looking forward

to the reopening of the Glacier Ice Arena and I know it will be busy during the first few weeks of the reopening!”

Hockey players will enjoy that now they no longer have to travel to practice and play games. The Glacier Ice Arena has been closed for more than three and a half years but the money has been put together so it can open back up for the public. Koos says, “The of-ficial date of the reopening has not been set, but the ice rink should be open by the end of November.”

Glacier ice arena to reopen

Shannon Hautzinger practices ice skating.

By Christian Loboto, Reporter

By Madi Wittman, Features Editor

“It really opened both of our eyes to what’s important”

May 2013, seniors McKenna Griffiths and Makenzy Swim took flight for Nicaragua. They knew their goal was to help the native people in need, but what they didn’t know was how the Nicaraguan community would help them in return.

It had all started months before.

“Our parent’s Bible study was wanting to go on a mission trip. The more they researched, the more they found out about Amigos for Christ, which is the organization we ended up going through,” said Grif-fiths.

Amigos for Christ, a nonprofit organization founded in 1999, serves to develop rural areas of Nicaragua and help bring water sanitation, health care and education to those in need.

They packed their bags for eight days in the heat and humidity of Central America. They’d been preparing: getting a series of hepa-titis B shots and mentally readying themselves for the journey ahead. They were given a list of “what to pack” and even threw in some extra clothes and shoes that they could donate at the end of their trip.

Upon their arrival, the two and their families got to work. They dug ditches for water sanitation hoping to help eliminate one of the biggest problems the community was facing: unsnaitary water that had the potential to cause disease.

That was the most reward-ing part to Griffiths. “Knowing that you helped bring them clean water and prevent illnesses was so gratify-ing.”

“All of the other workers and the families were so grateful for our help. Everyone there was so kind hearted and helpful to, they didn’t want any handouts from us,”

said Swim. “That was the most re-warding part of the trip for me; just seeing how gracious they all were.”

Throughout their eight day mission, they formed special bonds with these grateful Nicaraguans. Even with such a large language barrier, Swim was moved by the relationship she built with one of the native children and found that the new bond made it even harder to leave when it came time.

“It really opened both of our eyes to what’s important,” said Griffiths. “They are so happy with

nothing com-pared to what we in the U.S. have.”

One of the days of their trip, they had the opportunity to volunteer at an

orphanage for handicapped chil-dren.

“That was the hardest part,” said Swim. “Looking into the kids eyes and seeing how happy they were, even with everything they had going against them.”

Griffiths found the experi-ence they had at the orphanage the most touching. Although it was hard to see, playing with the children and making them laugh was her favorite part of the entire journey.

While mission trips may not be for everyone, “we should all try to serve,” Griffiths said. “Some-times you just need to see things from a different perspective to real-ize how good you really do have it.”

“I say if your heart is leading you to go, follow it,” added Swim.

Thankful for the oppor-tunity they were given to help, Griffiths and Swim came back with a new sense of what really is important and are eager to continue serving.

“We’re excited to go back this March for spring break,” said Griffiths. And they both left with a smile.

Students on a mission

Swim and Griffiths bond with the Nicaraguan kids.

One of the water sani-tation lines Swim and Griffiths worked on.

Determination and hard work have paid off. The school FFA Vet science team is going to nation-als in Lexington, Kentucky. With only one year of practice, the team has made it. On the team is Katie Vidmar (senior), Lucy Colson (ju-nior), Brody Klinglesmith (gradu-ate), Melissa Murphy (senior) and Ashtyn Hammer (graduate), as an alternate.

“I really believed in the team. We were totally devoted to this and we were really strong in the aspects that we were competing in. But I was hoping for the best and expect-ing the worse,” said Klinglesmith.

Vet science is a program de-signed for anyone who wants to kick start their education towards working in the veterinary field. Vet science consists of breed identifi-cation, equipment identification, parasite identification, scenarios, practicums and team skits. In breed ID individuals identify cat, dog, horse, pig, cow, goat, bird and reptile breeds. In Equipment ID, commonly used tools and items are determined. In the next part Scenar-ios are given then questions are an-swered based on the scenario. Then individuals are given practicums to complete which are situations that

would come up on the job. At the end teams can finally work together to complete a team skit.

At the FFA state competition this year, Fruita’s Vet Science team placed first in the gold category. And all team members placed top four individually overall with Mur-phy in 4th, Colson in 3rd, Vidmar in 2nd and Klinglesmith in 1st.

During the school year, the team usually met two times a week after school to practice and study.

With Jennie Hudson, the team’s advisor, working at the animal emergency center on North Avenue, the team has been able to look at

blood samples, learn how to do a gram test and learn how to use the microscope.

“What takes years to learn in clinics, these girls learned in one year,” said Hudson.

Along with the vet science team competing, two of last year’s grad-uating seniors Kayla Calvin and Acer Rodgers are receiving their American degrees. The American degree is the highest honor you can receive in FFA .Only 3,500 FFA members receive the American de-gree every year, which is less than one half a percent of all members.

In order to receive the Ameri-can degree you must have received a Greenhand Degree, Chapter De-gree and State Degree, completed at least three years of high school agriculture classes, or 2 years of high school classes and one year

of college Ag classes, have main-tained detailed SAE records, which demonstrate important planning and financial skills, have earned and invested at least $7,500, or have earned at least $1,500 and worked 2,250 hours beyond scheduled school hours through their SAEs; Have participated in community service activities, and have main-tained a “C” grade average or better.

Altogether, thirteen FFA mem-bers are going on the trip to Nation-als. The competition is October 26th through November 2nd. On the days that the Vet Science team isn’t competing, everyone is going sight-seeing. This year they are going to see the new swine barns at Fair Oaks Dairy. They will also be visit-ing the Waverly Hills Sanatorium, the Keeneland racetrack and enjoy a dinner and dance on a boat.

Fruita FFA to nationals

By Elisia Koury, Reporter

The vet science team sets off to Kentucky

7The Catalyst October 2013

Features

The Catalyst8Features

October 2013

By Ian Sage, Reporter

It’s here, the second issue. By now the majority of you have read the last issue and possibly several before that. You have seen what we do and how it turns out, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. There are several adventures and tasks that we must overcome and complete in the process of bringing you your favor-ite school newspaper, and it’s time for you to see how we operate.

Every good organization has a good leader. Every country, city, even club has someone to keep the club running. The Catalyst is no exception to this rule, thus we in-troduce our man behind the curtain: Trent Wuster.

Wuster has been teaching Lan-guage Arts for a while, but has been interested in journalism since col-lege. When James VanPelt resigned as adviser of The Catalyst, Wuster decided that it would be fun to take over. He has been the teacher of newspaper for seven years now, and he says that not much has changed since he first started running it, and that it is still very student run. This means that the students make the majority of the decisions, the stu-dents choose how to do the assign-ment, and the students have a part in their grading.

“My favorite part about newspaper is getting to know the students. In a regular class you see them for nine weeks, eighteen at the most; here I’ve had some students for all three years,” said Wuster. He loves teaching this class, which is probably why has been doing so for

years. It would be hard for one

man to not only teach classes and run The Catalyst. That’s why we have our editors.

The Catalyst editors are always the last stop for the stories. The reporters finish a draft, then the editors read it over and add their thoughts. They communicate with the reporters on a day- byday basis in order to insure that the stories are of good quality and are in on time. They get the final drafts and care-fully plug them into the newspaper format, creating the professional pages that you are reading this on right now. Not only that, but they also have to assign stories, come up with themes and write stories of their own to put in the paper.

“The hardest part about being an editor for me is that there is always something I need to be doing. How-ever, this is also satisfying because I know that I am making a differ-ence in the newspaper,” said Noah Turner, news editor.

Editors still can’t go out and write every story that goes into the paper, so that’s where the reporters come in. The reporters are impor-tant because without them, there would be no stories in the paper. They do extensive research on the topics that they are assigned, and put it all into a story. They have to check all their facts to make sure they are correct, interview several people both on and off campus and revise their stories to fix any possible problems that the editors

point out to them. The stories that they write can range from some-thing about a new video game to something about a sea monster, and with every different type of story, different people have different ways of writing them.

Any reporter can pick up a story and write it, but that would lack interest and flare. Reporters are gen-erally given stories along the lines of what interests them, and this helps them really get into the topic that they are writing about. Every reporter covers stories differently, and sometimes we want that special angle that they can provide.

Between our teacher, editors, and reporters, The Catalyst has a lot to do, but we have hard working people to do it. Everyone has a job, everyone does their job and every-one has fun. In newspaper class we get to meet new people and have new experiences with every story, and learn something new as well. When asked if the hard work put into The Catalyst pays off and was worth it, several staff members said “Yeah” or “Absolutely.”

The Catalyst is a pretty well run little society. We are like you, rush-ing through our day, taking home homework, and dealing with high school life. The only difference is we write about it. If you haven’t been in newspaper, I suggest jump-ing on the train while you have a chance, because high school doesn’t last forever, and this is definitely a class you’re going to want to take.

The CatalystA behind the scenes look

Since most tends to define themselves by how they wear their hair, or lack thereof, we, the Catalyst, have decided to highlight some of the particularly epic hair styles in our school.

Hair you doin’?By Jessica Bennett, Reporter

Keaton Brown, business editor, takes his press pass to some conduct in-terviews around the school.

THE MINI ‘FROHunter Gross, sophomore, came

to school one day wearing an im-promptu mini afro. Gross explained that he usually combs his hair flat in the mornings after showering, but not today.

“I ate breakfast then came back and my comb was just gone,” said Gross.

He forsook the combing in favor of coming to school on time. The result is as shown. Fluffy and fabulous? Regardless, it was popu-lar among his friends who were enthused about his mini ‘fro for several minutes before moving on.

CRAZY COLORATIONMisa Emmons, sophomore, says

that she died her hair blue because she likes blue.

“It’s pretty easy to change the color if I don’t like it anymore,” said Emmons.

The colorful tresses have not only been popular with Emmons, but also with the general populace. Hair, once of very natural earthy colors, can now be found in any-thing from blonde to blue whether the person was born with this color or not. Nowadays, walking down the street or through a school hall-way can provide a full spectrum of colors all within our hair.

LENGTHY LOCKSTahirih Bochmann, senior, and Maddie Bush, junior, both sport hair

that falls well farther down their backs than the average person. When interviewed, Bochmann stated that she simply has never cut her hair since she was a baby. Bochmann is Polynesian and explained that many Polyne-sian women let their hair grow extremely long. Bochmann expressed that

“I never regret my long hair, but sometimes I wonder what short hair is like,” said Bochmann.

Bush, similarly, has only cut her hair a couple times in her life and says it simply ended up long. She also feels no qualms about her long hair.

Unlike most women, these two have gone above and beyond by reach-ing for the ground instead of the sky.

Tahirih Bochmann and Maddie Bush show off their hair.

ARIES (March 21-April 20)Well Aries, here comes another month, but this one is going to be busy. The signs in the heavens tell me you are going to be flooded with opportunities and attention. Everyone is going to need you for some great and glorious task that could range from sorting pa-

pers to beginning a quest for dragons. Opportuni-ties for greatness will be thrust upon you at every turn, and it looks like the planet Venus (symbolic of the Roman Goddess of Love) will be within Libra, which shows that a great love between you two could arise. Send me a postcard from Holly-wood if that’s where opportunity leads you!!!

TAURUS (April 21-May 21)Good news for this month Taurus. That outgoing per-sonality that everyone wrote off as ADD is actually going to be useful, not annoying. Just like the fall wind blowing colorful leaves around you, you will soon be caught in a whirlwind of happy events and occasions. Your friendly attitude and endless sense of joy will almost be contagious. So whether this means you’re go-ing to have and endless supply of ice cream, or you simply receive sudden hormonal balance, you are going to be very happy this month.GEMINI (May 22-June 21)Turn your eye to your home sector in the sky Gemini, because several positive and supportive planets have taken residence there. This month the celestial beings tell me there are going to be some good changes in your home. Perhaps some renovations, new paint, luscious carpet, grand furniture? If that seems out of the question for you, let me assure you, you will be just fine. Jupiter, the giver of gifts and luck will reach out to the new moon soon. This leads

us to believe that your finances will not be under stress by all the new changes. So good luck with the renovations, and if you’re not going to need that refrigerator anymore, remember who told you about all this fortune. Wink, wink.

CANCER (June 22-July 22)Pack your bags Cancer, there’s places to go and souvenirs to buy. That’s right, everything appears perfect for travel. Just think, it’s getting cold, take some time off to go hit the beaches. Or maybe even see if you can find some ski slopes if that’s your thing. Jeez, I wish I could travel, I don’t think I’ve left the horoscopes department office in almost ten years. Back on track, Jupiter, giver of gifts and luck, will be in a perfect angle with the sun to give you good luck on all your trips. So get your flip flops, surf board, arm floaties and zinc oxide. Send me a

postcard or something, my secretary informs me I haven’t left the office in eighteen years, seven months, thir-teen days, twenty one hours, and fifty seven minutes. Wow, that’s precise; either she is really obsessed with me, or she needs a raise.

LEO (July 23-August 21)Get your rear in gear Leo, because Mars (the conqueror) is moving through your section of the sky. This month the heavens suggest that you will find yourself in the midst of great success. Get your list of goals together and dust off your brain melon because you are going to have the perfect opportunities for achieve-ment this month. Maybe for an A+, or and A++!!! Maybe run for club president, or you could try for world dictator! Well…maybe not world dictator, just know that this month

you are going to be very successful. If you need any help with campaign slogans, let me know, I need new job.

VIRGO (August 22-September 23)Stay away from Monster drinks and Five Hour Energy Virgo, because caffeine is the last thing you need when the stars tell me you will have a lot of energy. So do a dance, bounce around, and find a posi-tive way to focus your energy. Maybe take up a new hobby, try out for sports, or twiddle your thumbs for twelve hours straight. Of course, watch yourself when you are near friends, because I guarantee at least one of them has heard the phrase “silence is golden, duct tape is silver.”

LIBRA (September 24-Octo-ber 23)Happy Birthday Libra!!! Get the party horns, break out the punch, and enjoy the party…while you can that is. Unfortunately, there is an air of foreboding headed

your way. Pluto (symbolic of the god of the un-derworld) is coming

into the perfect alignment with you to cause some bad vibes. I wish you a happy birthday, but I also suggest you stay from black cats, salt shakers and lad-ders. Best of luck to you, let me know how your birthday goes…if you can.

SCORPIO (October 24-No-vember 22)Well Scorpio, I suggest you dou-ble check with your lawyers and life insurance, because you may need it soon. The majority of your month will be accompanied by a wax-ing moon, meaning the moon will be slowly disappearing. This is a sure fire sign of loss and bad luck. Hold on, my secre-tary is handing me a memo. Oh, this doesn’t look good for you either, it appears that a celestial body associated with Nemesis, the Greek goddess of revenge, is aligning with the constellation of Orion. As I’m sure you know, Orion was the Greek hero you, the giant scorpion, killed in cold blood. Watch your back Scorpio, Orion the Hunter is after you. It also appears that hunting season starts soon. Good luck, and I suggest you wear orange for a while.

SAGITTARIUS (November 23-December 22)It’s Karma time Sagittarius; the new moon will be within your time zone this month, and new moons are like balance scales. In other words, the harder you’ve worked in the past, the more rewards you will be gather-ing this month. So for all of you straight A go getters, I suggest you go get a lottery ticket. On the other hand, for those of you who ditch class and slack off, this month will be very rough for you as all your previous misdeeds will soon be catching up to you. Get out there and receive your destiny Sagittarius, and make sure you take note of who suggested you go get lottery ticket if things go well.

By Noah Turner, News Editor

HOROSCOPES9

The Catalyst October 2013

A&E

CAPRICORN (December 23-January 20)If you are college bound Capricorn, good luck is on your horizon,

the Jupiter is aligning with the sun to bring you good luck in business and achievement. So start sending off you college applications or look for that job you always wanted because your luck will be aiding you in your business endeavors. Also, I can foresee some resolu-tions in disputes between you and those closest to you. This I have determined from the fact Pluto has now come out of its retrograde mo-

tion in your constellation, and is now moving forward again. Its progress time Capricorn, so don’t mess it up. P.S.- If your resolu-tions to disputes don’t go so well, I suggest you learn how to doge objects being thrown at you.

AQUARIUS (January 21-February 19)The stars are leaning heavily toward a message of materialism for you this month Aquarius, which seems a little out of character seeing as how you are commonly accepted as the humanitarian symbol. Perhaps you will come to great wealth this month, of course being the highly charitable character you are, you will most likely donate a good amount to various charities. Perhaps a little bonus for your favorite horoscopes writer. This lean toward materialism could also be that you are saving for something, or are in desperate need of money. If that is your case, have no fear, because the stars show that this month could be very fruitful for you. Best of luck to you in your journeys this month, and remember that an astrologer’s pay wage is very low, especially for school newspapers where we just don’t get paid at all.

PICES (February 20-March 20)It looks like quite a bit of suc-cess and happiness will be in your sector for relationship and partnership. So if you are looking to do well in a project, or perhaps strengthen a current relationship you have, go for it, because the stars are back-ing you up. Maybe approach that one person you have been stalking for the last few weeks, and yes, it is stalking until you ask them out. Or perhaps if you have business plans you will have great success in your business practices. Either way, teamwork will be your strongest asset his month Pisces, now go out there get something done!!!

By Noah Turner, Fiona Tanner and Ian Sage

This instru-ment is a Didgeridoo that orginated in Australia.

Turn the music up!

Sarah Baker

What’s that sound?

Featured artist:

By Madi Wittman and Jessica Bennett Photo courtesy of MCT Campus

When we listen to music we aren’t just processing sound;there is specific brain ac-tivity that occurs in every person. When scientists look at fMRI’s (functional magnetic resonance imaging) they see cer-tain patterns in the brain of different people. This is because people process sound the same way but release varying amounts of dopamine which explains why people like different genres. The dopamine is released from a part of the brain that forms expecta-tions called the nucleus accumbens. As a person listens to similar music over time the superior temporal gyrus functions which causes favoritism of certain genres. When we listen to specific genres, it is related to our emotions. When we are happy we may listen to upbeat music, when we are sad it’s slower moving songs, and when we are angry it’s darker music. “Before I race I listen to different music depending on how difficult the race will be,” said senior Lyndsey Johnson. “If it’s a race that I’m not too worried about, I’ll listen to Jesus music to relax myself.” There have been cases that show that your personality does not necessarily reflect you’re music preference. Music can be a coping method in some situations. Whether you listen to heavy metal or clas-sical jazz, people turn to music not only to express themselves but to maintain a healthy level of happiness.

From banging on pots in the kitchen to playing concertos on the piano to singing in the shower, almost everyone has played mu-sic sometime in their life. Playing music can be a way to relax and enjoy life for many students at FMHS. Brian Stone, choir director at FMHS, said music is “…everything in my life –how I in-teract with everyday life, how I lead life, it’s everything I do! It’s hard to find an aspect it doesn’t affect. It’s what I’m good at, it’s what I love.” Both Stone and his choir students enjoy singing together as a way to share their love for music. “I love playing music because of the way it all comes together at the end. Just hear-ing the final product is always so amazing. It makes all the work worth it,” said Susan Forester, junior, who is involved in both band and choir. Not only is music just generally fun for many people to play, but it also may help increase cognitive skills. According to a new study, regularly playing an instrument may actually change the overall shape and power of the brain. Lutz Jancke, a psychologist at the Univer-sity of Zurich, found that playing music can even increase an individual’s IQ score by as much as 7 points! Playing music is, and probably always will be, a treasured activity for many stu-dents here at FMHS.

By Keaton Brown, Mackennea Broyles and Brandon Ruffner

By Megan Hunter and Alyssa Urban

Q: What instruments do you play?A: I’ve played the piano for eight years, the mandolin for two and been singing for about four years

Q: What is your favorite genre?A: I’m a big bluegrass fan. I think it started when I lived in Ouray and my family and I would go to the Telluride Jazz Festival every year.

Q: Who are your favorite artists?A: I’m into Naked and Famous, Sam Bush, John Mayer, Jack Johnson and, of course, Justin Timberlake.

Q: What inspires you to sing and play?A: I decided to play the mandolin because I liked bluegrass music and found it intrigu-ing, but I was kind of forced to take piano lessons. I never wanted to when I was little, but over the years it has become a sort of stress reliever. And I really just started sing-ing at the piano when I’d play.

Q: Where do you get your talent?A: Probably my family. My dad has always been into stringed instruments like the man-dolin and guitar, so I guess that’s where I got that. And both of my sisters play the piano too.

Q: What did it mean to you to win the tal-ent show?A: It was reassuring to a certain extent because I’ve never really showcased myself singing, but I never really saw it as a compe-tition; we just wanted to go play.

Q: Where do you see music taking you?A: I’ve always dreamed of being in a blue-grass band in college, but I’m not sure if those are even real.

Sarah Baker and Kyle Breeden won the FMHS 2013 talent show.

What song or artist has been most influential in your life?Tupac - Walter SeldvigeBob Marley - Shania SchortzmannKeith Urban - Jaelyn BensleyBig Sean - Andy SpataforaMos Def or The Rza - Alex Navarro

What is your favorite song?Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus - Walter SeldvigeSail by Awolnation - Shania SchortzmannGoes Like This by Keith Rhett - Jaelyn BensleyBeware by Big Sean - Andy SpataforaGet Money by Biggie Smalls - Alex Navarro

What is your favorite pump-up song?Dead Presidents 3 by Logic - Walter SeldvigeCall Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen- Shania SchortzmannI Can’t Stop by Flux Pavilion - Jaelyn BensleyB****** Love Sosa Remix by Big Sean - Andy SpataforaThrow It Up by Lil Jon - Alex Navarro

What is your break-up song?Almost Lover by A Fine Frenzy - Walter Seldvige I Won’t Give up by Jason Mraz - Shania SchortzmannFor You by Keith Urban - Jaelyn BensleySomebody That I Used to Know by Gotye - Andy SpataforaTwenty Eight by The Weeknd - Alex Navarro

There are many musically talented people in the school. There are Orchestra kids, band kids, marching band kids and choir kids. However, not all of the musical talent is located within those few genres. There are many students in the school who are talented with instruments you wouldn’t expect to see around the school. One of these students is Andrew Bryce-land. In accordance to his family heritage, Bryceland plays the bagpipes. “It makes me proud of my Scottish heritage and proud of myself when I play the bagpipes because I know I’m carrying on the tradition,” said Bryceland. At the wish of his grandfather, Bryceland began learning the bagpipes about a year ago, and hopes that he will soon be able to play in weddings and other ceremo-nial events. “The only problem is that some-times people make fun of my kilt,” Bryce-land noted. Another uniquely talented person in the school is one of two oboe players in the band. Emie DeWeber is a sophomore and has been playing since she was in 6th grade. “Oboe is unique because it is the only dou-ble reed instrument in the band and not a lot of people know how to play it.” DeWeber is proud to be the only oboe player in sym-phonic band, and she is highly influenced by the music she plays. “Almost everyone in my family plays music, and it’s just been a big part of my life,” DeWeber said. “I’ll probably just play the oboe in high school.” Few people have heard of the didgeri-doo, an Australian wind instrument. The didgeridoo is made by taking a piece of

wood carved out by termites, then finish-ing the job. Not only is it hard to find a

didgeridoo, it is hard to find someone who plays it. Melissa Murphy is the

lucky find on this one. She plays the didgeridoo, and enjoys it a lot.

“It is a really cool instrument, and it is actually helps improve

your lung capacity,” she said. She explained that it is re-

ally fun to play, and that she will indeed keep go-

ing with the didgeridoo after high school.

Unique instruments

(Story contin-ued on next page)

Quotes complied by Lyric Fortson and Jake Gulden

The Catalyst12A&E

October 2013

The FMHS drama club produc-tion of a “Midsummer Night’s Dream” written by William Shake-speare ran on October 3rd, 4th and 5th. The production featured 27 actors and 48 set builders and crew, all of whom are students, and was produced and directed by Erin Horst.

When asked why this was the play she chose, Horst explained, “I knew I wanted to do a Shake-spearean drama and I’d never done “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” even though I had always wanted to be involved with a production of it. I saw a great production of it in college and was in stitches the whole time. I figured it would be great for highschoolers to make their own.”

This production featured Shakespeare’s original words but is moved from Athens and a for-est to New York City and Central Park placed in a steampunk era. For those unfamiliar with what precisely steampunk is, Horst defined it as an alternate path for technology’s development. Essentially, steampunk literature and themes address the “what-if technology had developed a faster” or based on different en-ergy sources question. On stage this translated to gears and bolts protruding from costuming and a couple pieces of the set.

“I’ve been meaning to take the theme [steampunk] into a play for a while now and “Mid-summer Night’s Dream” just seemed perfect since it really fits with the whole idea of ‘When are we sleeping and when are we awake?’” said Horst. It’s simultaneously the one thing she would change about the play, along with several of the actors. Even the actors expressed a wish for the ‘infinite budget’ that could provide them with professional costumes and floating buildings and such that are very prevalent in steampunk lit-erature. The new setting still added some of the new age ideas that help make it relatable to our modern audience without marring Shake-speare’s original work.

This was Horst’s first drama production with Fruita, though, she also did drama when she lived in Kansas City. “I’m passionate about it [drama]. I, myself, did it as a kid and pursued it as a professional ca-reer for a while. I’ve seen the good it can do too. It provides kids with a different outlet than most anything else during their school day. They get to use their creativity and criti-cal thinking skills. Beyond that, it’s gratifying to see the final product

and watch it grow and develop,” said Horst.

When interviewed about the production, actress Kaitlyn Jackson, sophomore & Flute, explained that participating made her for all practi-cal purposes “euphoric.”

Natalie Weber, sophomore & fairy, recommends that anyone who wants to join future drama produc-tions should “have fun with it,” though she says that sometimes “it can be hard keeping up with my homework.”

In the FMHS production the story begins in New York in the 1800s. The scene opens with the mayor (Noah Fields) and his fiancé Hippolyta (Chase Ekrem) giddy over their upcoming wedding. After a few moments Egeus (Wade Toothaker) the father of Hermia (Rachel Norris) comes to the mayor complaining of Lysander’s (Zach Zappe) courtship of his daughter Hermia while she is engaged to Demetrius (Michael Robinson). Once a quarrel has passed the majority of the party leaves with only Hermia and Lysander remain-ing. Lysander develops a plot to run away with Hermia to Central Park and marry her, to which she agrees.

Moments later Helena (Ta-hirih Bochmann) arrives on stage bemoaning her love of Demetrius and asking Hermia for advice. In the end Hermia tries to lend comfort to her friend by explaining her and

Lysander’s plot. The couple merrily hurries away, but Helena, still upset, decides to go tell Demetrius of their flight.

Meanwhile, a group of Mechani-cals has been hired to perform at the Mayor’s wedding. Consisting of six outrageous persons the comical group decides they shall practice their play in Central Park so as to not be disturbed by the masses.

In the park, a scene is shown of the fairies King Oberon (Fields) and Queen Titania (Ekrem) argu-

ing back and forth about Titania’s disloyalty to her husband. Titania and her attendants leave in an angry fuss. Oberon decides he will enchant the queen to fall in love with the first thing she sees as a lesson to her. Puck is sent to fetch some magic flowers so that he may do so. While Puck is away Oberon watches as Demetrius and Helena traipse along the stage bickering. He decides he will intervene on Helena’s behalf and when Puck returns directs her to enchant the man, Demetrius, who she will know because he is from New York, with the blooms so that he will fall in love with Helena. Oberon and his fairies hide in wait for Titania to fall asleep. Once she has Oberon enchants her before leaving. Puck alone will enchant the man.

Into the park walk Hermia and Lysander who are terribly lost. They decide to sleep for the night and

Puck enchants Lysander with the magic blossoms mistaking him for Oberon’s man. Lysander awakes to Helena who had been shaking him to see if he was dead or asleep. He immediately falls in love with Hel-ena who is offended at his ‘teasing’ her. The pair hurries away arguing. Hermia, who has slept through all of this, awakes alone. She wanders about worried and confused before leaving as well in search of her love.

Now the mechanicals appear in

the park to practice their play. Bot-tom (Sarah Baker) has been given the lead roll while Flute (Kaitlyn Jackson) will play Bottom’s lover. They begin to practice and Puck appears. She notices Titania nearby and giggles as she sets about fulfill-ing a mischievous idea. As they practice, Bottom must go off set so that he may enter when Flute calls him. When he reenters he has donkey ears provided by Puck. The mechanicals begin screaming as they run away. Bottom is of course upset and decides he shall sing to comfort himself. As he wanders about singing, the Fairy Queen wakes up and sees him immediately falling in love with a donkey. She manages to convince Bottom to stay and the pair leaves stage with a fairy entourage in tow.

Oberon returns and asks Puck how things have been while he was elsewhere. Puck is delighted and

explains she has enchanted the New Yorker and the Queen has fallen in love with Bottom the donkey. Oberon is pleased then hides quick-ly as a pair of New Yorkers appears on stage. It is Demetrius following Hermia who is still searching for Lysander. The duo quarrel until Hermia runs away upset. Demetrius decides to rest a while and falls asleep at the site. Oberon, now angry, scolds Puck for her confusion and enchants Demetrius with the flowers.

Demetrius wakes to Helena and immediately falls madly in love with her however Lysander is still in love too. They fight, each calling the other unfaith-ful and stupid. Helena is aggrieved thinking they are both poking awful fun at her. Then Hermia walks onto the stage. She runs to Lysander glad to have found him, only to be coldly rejected by her love. Lysander explains that he is now in love with Helena. Hermia grows angry and blames Helena. Helena blames Hermia for planning such a cruel prank. The girls work each other into a frenzy and eventually Hermia tries to attack Helena but is dragged back by Demetrius and Lysander. They argue some more then all exit stage in their various parties.

Oberon decides they must fix things and orders Puck to gather the four lovers. Puck does so and sends them all to sleep. Titania arrives with Bottom and they to fall asleep. Oberon then sets

about disenchanting his wife and Lysander. He also commands that Puck remove Bottom’s ears. Once everything is fixed Titania awakes. She is thoroughly appalled to learn she was in love with a donkey and apologizes to her husband. They leave knowing things will be okay again. Soon, the mayor comes with his fiancé and see what has hap-pened, as if by magic, and order the couples to come and marry along-side them.

Finally all are married and come back to the park. The mechanicals prove themselves truly bad actors. Repeated tries to ‘kill’ themselves, comments to the audiences, and in-animate objects moving and speak-ing all produce a hilarious failure. The play ends with questioning where reality begins and ends.

As Demetrius said, “Are you sure that we are awake? It seems to me that yet we sleep, we dream.”

Never stop dreaming: A Midsummer Nights’ DreamStory and photos by Jessica Bennet, Reporter

There is one instrument in par-ticular that is always underestimat-ed: the voice. It is hard enough to sing anyway, but can you imagine opera? The strain on your voice, the pain in your chest, and then having to increase the volume? Not just everyone can do that, but Isabella Harris is one who can. “There’s been times when I

have hurt my voice to where I can’t talk for a couple days afterwards because you can push yourself too far,” Harris said. She also said that the skill of it is so different. “Having to get down the vibrato, the pitch, and everything else that it includes is just so much more dif-ferent than regular singing,” Harris said. Singing opera affects her in a

positive way, and it gives her some-thing to say she can do. “You can never be good enough,” Harris said. “There is always something else to challenge you.” Jarred Ross plays two different types of drums. “The jembe is an African hand drum. Its pretty much just like a conga, but it has a deeper sound. It’s the same build as a nor-

mal conga drum, but bigger,” Ross explains. “The cajon is a lot different. It literally translates to box in Span-ish. It is in the shape of a box, with a hole in the side, and there are snares inside, so when you hit them, its like a deep snare drums sound. You sit on top of it, and you use your feet and hands at the same

time,” Ross describes. He intends to continue to play the jembe and cajon even after high school, and greatly enjoys the experience he has received. “It makes me think of the people I learned to play them from, and the opportunity that I had to work with those people. And that gave me the opportunity to open up and play these instruments,” Ross said.

What’s that sound (continued from previous page)

Buzz off

Comics by Chris Martin, Reporter

Ahhhhh!

Bee cool!Shhh, beehive.

Calm down, honey.

What’s with all the bee puns? Are you guys pollen my leg?

(Swats bee) Back to work.

Oh, that stings.

...some people take Halloween way too seriously.

Trick-or-treatOn Friday September 20, 2013

Apple released two new versions of the iPhone. The iPhone 5s boasts a few new features, including the new fingerprint identification sys-tem and the new iOS 7. The finger-print identification can now replace having to type in a password every time you want to get into your phone. Supposedly this is will keep your IPhone secure and also get rid of the nuisance of passwords. Some are worried that the fingerprint scanner will not be as secure as a password, but Apple reassures that the fingerprint scanner is actually more secure and will only unlock for your fingerprint.

“The fingerprint scanner sounds like a cool up-grade and great feature for the new iPhone,” junior Lindsay Ortiz said.

The iPhone 5s is the same exact size and shape as the iPhone 5, but it does have a faster camera and new camera fea-tures that allows the camera to capture pictures with more pixels. The iPhone 5s also comes in a new color, gold. The available colors now include black, white, gray and gold. The last thing that the iPhone 5s has that the iPhone 5 doesn’t is a faster processor that al-lows for faster internet. It boasts an A7 chip which allows for the faster processor and better phone speed overall.

The second iPhone that Apple released is the iPhone 5c. The iPhone 5c has the same size screen as the other iPhones, but the shape has drastically changed. The iPhone 5c is shaped with a rounded back like the earlier iPhones and iPods. The biggest change is the fact that the iPhone 5c comes in four new colors: pink, blue, yellow, and

green. Another change is that the iPhone 5c is made completely out of plastic instead of metal. A lot of critics are saying that this is going to make the iPhone 5c more vulner-able to breaking; while this may be true, the iPhone 5c is made to be a cheaper version of the iPhone, and Apple promises that the hard plastic will hold up against any daily abuse the phone may take.

“The iPhone 5c sounds like a great way to obtain an iPhone without breaking the bank” senior Trevor Knapp said.

When creating the iPhone 5c, Apple also created a case that would complement it perfectly. The cases

come in contrast-ing colors from the phone and have holes in the back to allow the color of the phone to show through. As well as complementing the phone visually, the cases hard plastic is designed to protect the phone as well.

“The cases sound like they will go with the new phone perfectly. I think it’s cool that they show the color of the phone as well”, junior Rhyan Mont-

gomery said.The iPhone 5c also comes

equipped with the newly released iOS 7. The iOS 7 is said to be better matched for the iPhone 5c than the 5s, because of the color schemes. When you turn on your brand new iPhone 5c, the color scheme of the iOS 7 will match the color of your phone.

The new iPhones seem like they will improve Apple’s smartphone market. With faster processors and even more new features and apps, users will never get bored with their new iPhone 5s. The iPhone 5c is a great way to enjoy Apple’s great product without having to spend a fortune on it.

iWant an iPhone 5sBy Sabrina Mayer, Reporter

13The Catalyst October 2013

A&E

The Catalyst14A&E

October 2013

The movie that everyone, espe-cially Directioner’s, were waiting for is finally here. The British boy band One Direction came out with their first movie. In the film, One Direction shows their crazy wild selves and what it is like for them to be on tour. FYI: this may spoil the movie for people that want to see it and have not yet seen it.

The movie starts out with band members Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles and Liam Payne remembering what their childhood life was like. Each boy had their own unique person-ality at school. Niall was always singing Irish songs in the back of the classroom. Louis was the funny kid that could always make people laugh. Harry was a big show off. Liam was singing where ever he went. Zayn was the shy kid that drew all over his notebooks.

The first song the boys sing in the movie is “Up All Night” which is off their album of the same name. The concert takes place in the O2 arena in London, England. The arena is packed with screaming fans. There were also a few boys at the show as well (and no, they weren’t just dads).

The movie then takes you to the band in rehearsals for their show. This is where the audience learns that the boys cannot dance and hate to do so. Their choreographer Paul Roberts has a lot to do to get the boys ready for their Take Me Home tour. The boys don’t take rehearsals very seriously because they don’t want to become that type of boy band that has dance numbers for every one of their songs.

The boys, at first, didn’t want to be a boy band; they wanted to be solo artists. All five of the boys auditioned for the X-Factor as solo artists. For Liam this was his second time on the X-Factor. The first time Liam was on the show he didn’t make it past the judge’s house and this time he was determined to. All five boys made it past the first auditions and into boot camp but then none of them made it past boot camp. But Simon Cowell did something no one saw coming. He brought the boys back and put them together as a band. The boys made it to the finals. Everyone thought they were going to win it for sure, but they ended up getting third.

After the London show, the boys go to New York City to perform in the Madison Square Garden Arena. They fly in their parents and other family members to watch. Niall’s mom and Harry’s mom took a car-riage ride around New York City’s Central Park. The movie really captures the emotion the family has about their sons leaving them at such a young age. Niall’s mom couldn’t believe her son is where he is today. It’s still a shock to her that he has made it this far. Harry’s mom says she is prepared to be there for him when things go south and the band stops, but for right now, she is happy for him. Louis’s mom hasn’t

seen him for close to five months before the show. Liam’s mom broke down when she saw the cardboard-cut out of her son. A lot of the boys left to do the X-Factor at age 16. Louis’s mom and Liam’s mom bought cardboard cut outs of their boys so they can see them every day even when they aren’t with them.

After the show in New York the boys quickly hop on a plane and fly to Japan for the first time. Harry finds it weird the photographers are allowed in the airport because in London they aren’t. Liam then comes up with an idea that they have to try a delicacy in every country they perform in. Zayn isn’t really interested in this idea. Liam suggested they try snails in France as a delicacy.

The boys then fly to Denmark to play at the Rod Lover Stadium. When they arrive in Denmark they start tweeting, calling radio stations and calling everyone they know to tell them they want people to wear orange to their concert. When they show the concert you can see the real commitment the fans have to them. The stadium was completely orange. Not only was the audience wearing orange the boys performed in orange suits and shoes. Their band as well was dressed in orange.

Sweden was the next stop on the tour. In Sweden it gave Liam and Harry time to reflect on the crazy year they have had while taking a fishing trip. One story they reflect on is when they were just starting out as a band and they went to a coffee restaurant and Zayn came late. The boys talked about kicking Zayn out of the band but of course they didn’t.

After a couple more stadium shows the boys head home to un-

wind. You get a scene of what it is like for the boys going back home. Niall heads back to Mullingar, Ireland for a soccer game with his family. His brother also got mar-ried while he was home. Zayn goes back to Bradford, England where he shows off his graffiti room. Zayn is the artistic one of the group, and it is expressed in his room and the tat-toos he has on his arms. Liam goes back to Wolverhampton, England to find a surprising visitor in his room. His mom put the card board cut out of him in his room. Harry goes back to Cheshire, England and visits his old bakery he use to work in. Louis goes back to Doncaster, England and visits the Toys ‘R’ Us he used to work in.

The boys also have a charity called Red Nose. It’s a British char-ity that helps children in Africa get the medicine, clothes and education that they need. The boys went to Africa and saw first had what it was like for these kids. While on tour, they then made a music video for a cover of ‘One Way or Another.’ They made the music video them-selves and whatever money they didn’t use on the music video went to the charity.

One Emotional scene that hap-pens in the movie is when Zayn buys a house for his mother and two younger sisters. Growing up, Zayn didn’t have the nicest house and his mom did so much for him. He always told his mom ‘I’ll buy you a house someday.’ That day finally came while Zayn was on tour he surprised his mom and bought her a nice house. His mom calls him and thanks him. Zayn starts to tear up a bit but stays strong and doesn’t show that he is getting emotional about it.

One Direction: This Is Us!Movie review and photo by Megan Hunter, reporter

Movie reviewSimply the best

One Direction played at the Pepsi Center this summer.

Several movies will go down in history as timeless classics, and this list consists of such movies. Some of the films are directorial debuts, but they all have huge followers and fan bases. Most have seen at least one of these movies and fallen in love with it.

1: Forrest Gump- The best movie of all time is Robert Zeme-kis’s timeless classic about the simple man from Greensbough Alabama. Starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, it tells the story of a mentally challenged man who can run fast and do anything if he tries. The movie can evoke emotions in any part be it uncontrollably laughing out loud too crying for far too long.

2: Pulp Fiction- Quentin Tarantino’s classic, bloody, profane, and amazing movie is number two on the list of top ten because anyone who watches it is intrigued in the first seconds with the “Honey Bunny and Pumpkin” scenes, then Dick Dales opening riff of Misrilou. If they can continue watching after John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson kill a room of people, they will watch the most well written movie ever made. Pulp Fiction put Tarantino on the map, and he’s basically created a genre of movie all of his own.

3. The Godfather- Directed by Francis Ford Coppola this saga opens with number three. Marlon Brando and Al Pacino will always be remembered by this movie. This movie is one of Hollywood’s biggest suc-cesses both commercially and critically. Set in New York, the story of the Corleone family will always be remembered as a cornerstone of American cinema.

4. Shawshank Redemption- The novel adapted movie by Stephen King and Frank Darabount is one of the biggest cult classics in American cinema history. Everyone who has ever seen the Shawshank redemption more than once and is a true fan simply calls it “The Shank.” The movie about a wrongly convicted banker’s hope and survival is one of the most emotionally gripping movies ever made. It is also the first movie that Morgan Freeman narrated which is a work of art in of itself.

5. Titanic- James Cameron’s masterpiece about one of the worst di-sasters in human history, this film made Leonardo DiCaprio the success he is today. It is widely regarded as one of the world’s best dramatic pictures ever created.

6. Schindler’s List- This movie about Oskar Schindler a factory owner who saved the lives of thousands of Jews during The Holocaust. Liam Neeson plays Schindler who was nominated for best actor and Ralph Fiennes plays the sadistic Nazi commander who occasionally shoots the Jewish prisoners. The film won best screenplay, picture, director and score.

7. Casablanca- The drama about the Second World War starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman is a classic with acting at its high-est level. The movie has been quoted many times in the past century. The ending lines of the film are arguably the most famous in cinematic history. “Here’s to looking at you kid.” If you say that line chances are someone will immediately say: Casablanca!

8. Saving Private Ryan- Steven Spielberg’s second time on this list, the film is centered on a group of American soldiers in World War II who come from different backgrounds. The movies idea of finding one man amidst the worst war ever fought brings humanity into the lives of the soldiers. This is one of the best biggest successes commercially and criti-cally ever filmed.

9. Inception- Christopher Nolan’s visually striking yet highly intel-

ligent movie that many need to watch multiple times to even comprehend. The films idea itself is bizarre with people going into others dreams to change their thoughts therefore their actions once awake is a completely new idea. The filming itself is one of the most striking and unique in cin-ematic history. The musical score is also almost revolutionary. The score is always the same, either slowed down or sped up. It’s filming style and terrific cast makes it one of the best films of all time.

10. Trainspotting- Danny Boyle’s film about Scottish drug ad-dicts has some of the best dialogue of ever put on the big screen. The film made Ewan McGregor the film star he is today. The opening scene of stealing DVDs and getting hit by a car will intrigue anyone. However, it’s the dialogue and the extreme hilarity and horrifying sadness in the film that earn the tenth spot on this list.

By Bram Heberle, reporter

Volleyball team strives for state

The Denver Nuggets star point guard Ty Lawson was arrested August 20th for investigation of domestic violence, related harass-ment charges, criminal mischief and property damage. All misde-meanor charges.

Not only was Lawson arrested, but his girlfriend Ashley Pettiford was arrested for similar charges. She was also taken into custody for investigation of domestic violence and related property damage.

According to the police report, Lawson and Pettiford got into a heated argument.

Lawson started yelling at Pet-tiford and she started yelling back at him. They then started smashing each other’s phones against the

walls. They ended up making so much noise that someone called the police.

“He’s a great basketball player that just made a stupid mistake,” Junior Taylor Eatwell stated

Both had to stay in jail until they could have a hearing before a judge that Monday. The judge issued a mandatory protection order against Lawson. He is prohibited from contacting Pettiford until the judge dismisses the protection order. Along with making no contact with Pettiford, Lawson is not allowed to drink, do drugs or any illegal activity.

Even though Lawson has been prohibited to contact Pettiford, she was issued a “mandatory injunc-

At the end of last year’s NFL season, the Denver Broncos finished with a defeat from the Baltimore Ravens in the playoffs and a record of 13-3. Peyton Man-ning is said to have helped turn the team around as the Bronco nation believes their team will go even further this year.

The varsity volleyball team at Fruita has had a similar history to the Denver Broncos. Last year they finished with a league tie with Du-rango and ended their season with one win and one loss in regionals. The all-senior varsity team hopes to make it past regionals this year.

“Our goal is to make it to state,” said senior captain Joelle Lefevre. “We have never made it before.”

Coach Bob Richardson sees the drive these seniors have and believes that if they work hard enough they have a good chance of winning SWL and advancing beyond regionals.

The team has already come out strong as they beat Legend High School 3-2 who was one of the Top 10 teams in the state last season. Fruita also put up a close battle with Regis Jesuit High School, who was ranked third in the state in 2011, even though they lost 3-1. Fruita has kept a winning streak so far this season as they are unde-feated in league and have been continuously ranked in the top 15 for the past few weeks.

Aside from the school’s team, most of the players are a part of a club team.

The two club teams in the Grand Valley are Mesa Juniors and West-ern Colorado.

Some of the players on the team such as Lefevre, Eatwell and Loryn Chiapuzio have been playing vol-leyball for at least six years.

Within these six years, these girls have become a team of

strength. Between the school team, club team, team dinners and secret sisters, the players have developed a web of relationships with each other.

“This year is different because we have all been playing together for a while,” said senior Chiapuzio.

Richardson started coaching the year these seniors were freshmen and has been able to watch them grow.

“It takes a while to build a team,” said Richardson. “It’s a process that we have been working on for the last three years.”

In order to complete the team’s goal of making it to state and pos-sibly even hosting regionals, the players have been taking practice to the next level.

The amount of focus during practice is crucial and the team is

doing their best to take practice more seriously than last year.

“Last year we wouldn’t come to practice early, but this year we are getting there a while before it starts just so we can be ready for a good practice,” said senior captain Jordan Eatwell.

The amount of focus is impor-tant because the team wants to always have a solid practice before a big game. They have also been developing a faster offense for this year.

The fact that this year’s varsity team consists of all seniors is a rare, but exciting, coincidence. Richardson believes that his players know how to play the game and how to work with each other on the court.

“I have to allow them to play and make sure not to over-coach them,” said Richardson. “They just need to be reminded of a few things.”

Because the girls have been playing together for so long, they are aware of each other’s strengths.

Every player knows how to play every position which helps the trust between the players.

“Communication during volley-ball is key,” said Eatwell. “Being encouraging helps us be a strong team.”

Eatwell and Lefevre are all about keeping the team together as they are the two varsity captains this year and have clearly demon-strated a leadership role.

According to Eatwell, the most

im-portant aspect of being a leader is being responsible and simply being there for the team.

“We have to keep the energy up,” said Eatwell. “As a captain, we have to support others and make sure everyone is okay.”

When the team feels confident with each other, they play harder. They become better players by not only working towards the ultimate goal of making state, but also making personal goals. Depending on their position, some girls have decided to set an individual goal.

Chiapuzio is a left outside hit-ter. This season she hopes to have 300 kills, also known as hits or spikes, by the end of the season which would beat the current record number of kills made my Camille Kovach, a former FMHS student.

Lefevre’s goal is similar except she wants to get the most amount of digs in the region. Lefevre is a specific passer called the “libero” who specializes in passing the ball when it is received from the oppos-ing side.

Especially this year, the fans supporting this team have grown, as well. The student sections are louder than they ever have been for volleyball games.

“We had our biggest student section ever at our first home game against Junction,” said Chiapuzio.

As the Broncos continue the season with the strong start that they have had, they are showing to have good odds when it comes time for playoffs.

Similarly, the Fruita volleyball team will be carrying on their suc-cess as they strive for state. With the support from the fans, the inspira-tion from the coach, the leadership from the captains and the teamwork from the players, a chance at state is in the near future for this volleyball team.

The Fruita Monument volleyball team lines up for a game.Photo by Alyssa Urban

By Alyssa Urban, Managing Editor

tion.” A mandatory injunction is similar to a restraining order but different. A mandatory injunction orders a person or requires them to do an affirmative act or mandates a specified course of conduct. Pet-tiford is also not allowed to drink, do drugs, or make contact with Lawson. The next day both were released on a $1,000 bond.

This isn’t the first altercation Lawson has had with the police.

In January Lawson was arrested with a warrant he did not show up to court for a traffic violation back in July.

Those charges were flight to avoid prosecution stemming from a traffic case in Arapahoe County.

“His mistakes are going to re-

flect on when he plays this year and it seems like he doesn’t care about what happens,” Junior MiKealy Thomas said.

Back in July Ty was pulled over and sited for careless driving, driv-ing with a license under restraint, and permitting an unauthorized person to drive. There were other charges involved in this case but they were dismissed in court.

Driving under restraint in Colo-rado means that your license has been suspended because you have too many D.U.I’s or traffic viola-tions.

In Lawson’s case he had too many traffic violations. He also allowed an unexperienced driver or

a person who got their license taken away drive his vehicle.

The NBA has not committed on the issues with Ty.

They are aware of the situation with him but there has been no sus-pension of games nor has there been a fine issued.

Normally professional sport commissioners are very effective and act quickly when something like this happens but in this case no action has been taken by the NBA or the Denver Nuggets.

“It’s shocking that the NBA hasn’t stepped in and suspended Ty for his actions; it’s very unusual for them not to do that,” Junior Karli Myers commented.

Ty Lawson arrested: NBA hasn’t taken action

By Megan Hunter, Reporter

15The Catalyst October 2013

Sports

The Catalyst 16Sports

October 2013

By Jake Gulden, Reporter

Fruita soccer team undefeated

Every fall, new seasons of sports start up including some of the most popular here in America: football, basketball and hockey. While it may seem like American football is by far the most important and popular sport amongst many people around the United States, the most popular sport in the world is actually soccer. Before any of the football seasons, basketball seasons, or hockey seasons start, soccer leagues begin playing in late July.

Leagues like the Union of European Football Association or the English Barclays Premiere League begin the soccer season early, and end even later than most sport’s seasons. Players usually play year round though, for their home countries in hopes to reach the more desired titles like the World Cup or the Olympic gold medal.

Taking part in leagues and national titles are all reachable dreams for the youth soccer play-ers amongst the student body here at Fruita. The players and teams around the world that are the best of the best, are all hero-like figures to school and club soccer players like those here in Fruita.

It’s easy to follow the football or basketball teams in school because they are the popular ones to watch and play. The sports like soccer are often neglected and almost forgot-ten about, especially because the season starts around the same time as the bigger sports.

This season at Fruita the soc-cer team is undefeated so far and is playing with high hopes for the remainder of the season.

Noah Nelson, the senior team captain for the soccer team, always has a motivational sense towards the team. This is Nelson’s second year as team captain and he has been playing soccer all of his life. “I look up to all the professionals and live my soccer life in comparison

to theirs,” said Nelson. This year he is hoping to lead his team to a state championship or regional cham-pionship. “The team couldn’t get too much better. Everyone is out there playing in hopes to win,” said Nelson.

Andrew Bryceland is a senior soccer player for varsity. He is currently injured but still practices and goes to games with the team. His injury on his knee isn’t a major one, he suffered it a couple weeks ago during a game. “Right now I’m just letting it rest for a week or two but it should heal fast enough for me to play before any big matches come up,” says Bryceland.

The team is still playing through matches even without game chang-ing players like Bryceland. For the future of the team, the experience will benefit the younger roster on the team.

Cory Odom, another key player for the Fruita Soccer team, is proud to be a part of the team. “I’m glad that all I practiced for as a kid has paid off now during my older years where it really matters,” Odom says. His perseverance plays a major part in his passion towards the game and how he progressed to become an adept player. “I just happy that I’m with a well-coordi-nated team and it’s just makes me, personally, to do better,” Odom said.

Some people never really take part in soccer or even notice how the players are so passionate about it. The sport is a huge part of some people’s lives and is what they strive for when they’re chance comes to be a part of something bigger like a professional club. This passionate attitude is what fuels the local high school Fruita team to reach such a good record and maybe one day fulfill their dreams to become professionals like the stars in the World Cup.

What really is marching band? Is it just a big group of people who walk in a specific way to specific points? Or is it a diverse group of talented students who march together and play together and have too much fun?

Fruita’s marching band finished 13th in state last year, and the or-ganization continues to excel. The band director is Ryan Crabtree and the drum major for the year of 2013 is Brandon Corsi. There are 104 students in the band, ranging from freshmen to seniors.

“It’s a lot of fun to be the drum major, I have a blast up there leading the band and conducting and that kind of stuff. It’s really cool being in that leadership position, but it’s also a lot of pressure, if you know what I mean,” said Brandon Corsi. “The first couple times that we performed in front of peo-ple, I was pretty nervous, but now that I’m getting used to how things go the nerves are going away, and I’m getting better.”

“Marching Band is a lot of fun; you get to be with a lot of your friends and cool people, and it’s cool to make music come to life with your show,” said senior Shania Schortzmann. She marches with the clarinet. Many members of the band feel as though they are apart of each other. There are several bonding opportunities, whether it’s just over dinner, or everyone goes to the Fruita Rec Center to swim.

“Marching Band is my second family, therefore I love it,” Rachel DeWeber, junior said. She is one of fifteen clarinet players in the band.

The instruments in the marching band include the sousaphone, bari-tone, mellophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet, and trumpet. There are five sousaphone players, eleven baritones, six mel-lophones, ten alto saxophones, six tenor saxophones, and ten trumpetists. Marching Band has practiced an average of 200 hours and counting. A little more than a week of practicing non-stop, all of it pays off.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun. It’s always worth it in the end,” said senior Lindsey Cookson. She also plays the clarinet.

The color guard is a group of 14 girls who march with flags to accent the show. Also, without the percussion, the whole marching band would not be complete. There are nine drummers, who keep the band in time correctly as well as march with 15, 20, and 50 pound drums.

“You put all this energy, like some 300 hours, and then we go to state and it’s so awesome,” Kelsie Kracht, a senior said. She marches with the flute, along with nine oth-ers.

Many students debate whether

marching band is classified as a sport or as a military organiza-tion. There is plenty of exercising, and the band is considered a team, although there are a lot of military characteristics involved.

“Oh yes it is a sport! The defini-tion of a sport is anything when you’re in a team, and you’re being physically active, and you’re com-peting, and there are set rules and guidelines of how marching band works. It has all those things,” Corsi

said.“I would so consider

it a sport. It’s mental and physical. Not only do you have to remember where you’re going, but then also you have to remember to breathe while you’re walk-ing. And then you have to play at the same time,” Cookson said.

“I did gymnastics for 13 years, and this is a whole lot harder than that,

so yes, it most definitely is a sport,” Kracht said.

“I was never in the military, so I couldn’t compare marching band to the military. I would say it is an athletic competition, I would not consider it a sport because there are not two teams competing on the same field at the same time, but it is athletic and it is a competition,” Ira Creasman said. He marched when he was in high school.

Marching band season will end after state, which is October 26th. They have performed in four of the football games total this season, and marched at the Fruita Fall Festival. They will continue to leave their audience shocked and awed at the show.

Marching for the win

By Fiona Turner, Reporter

“Marching Band is a lot of fun; you get to be with a lot of your friends and cool people, and it’s cool to make music come to life with your show.”

By Fiona Tanner, Reporter

The true meaning of

I would like to take a moment to be a hypocrite. Just a short moment though, and I promise not to use all caps, excessive exclamation points, or demeaning emojis.

Social media was originally created as a place to share life as it happened. Current events, from what someone ate for breakfast, to the earthquake in Thailand, could be shared with chosen network of people instantly. Granted, all of these sites share their downfalls, like privacy issues, but the most irksome downfall of them all ap-pears in the passive -aggressive, newsfeed-clogging novella rants.

Social media ranting is detri-mental, not only to the inadver-tently addressed group or persons receiving the wrath, but for the fuming typist as well. By declin-ing to address the problem directly

to one person, or not having one person specifically to address, social media rants deface the tyrant.

According to The Guide to Psychology, “When anything or anyone threatens us with the truth of our essential fragmentation, the quickest, easiest, and most common defense available—to hide the truth of our weakness and to give the illusion that we possess some sort of power—is aggression.” Social media has provided a new outlet for this aggression—ranting.

But it doesn’t have to be used this way. Twitter has the potential to remain a site flooded by song lyrics and mysterious hashtags. And whatever happened to the good old fashioned argument?

Really, ranting is a good way to at least get ideas out there, but usually without factual support and

with heavy emotional interlay;, the only people that side with the argument given were on that side to begin with. Ranting may be a way we as humans vent and ex-press emotions, but without a call

to action or a way to change the problem, what is the post or tweet but a public cry of outrage and a plea for attention?

In a ranter’s de-fense, social media may be the only public outlet to send their issues to, espe-cially as a teenager.

Twitter limits each user’s tweet to 140 characters, but this has not seemed to hinder the ranting capability of the site. In fact, it seems a way to condense the aggression, or pose as an enticing lead to a screenshot of a note or tweet that exceeded the 140 character limit.

So what gives me the right to drag you through my 500-word, 2081 character rant? Sure, I threw some facts in there and cautioned

all users of social media to watch their typed tirades carefully. But what makes me think that my rant about ranting is any more justified than a screenshotted post on twit-ter? I don’t, and it’s not.

Skip the social seething and leave room on newsfeeds every-where for inspirational song lyrics, incredible pictures of earth, and the occasional, moral-free anecdote. However, if you have a problem or

disagreement with anything in this article, feel free to tweet your mes-sage at me (@KenneaBroyles) in all caps with all the exclamation points and emojis you feel necessary to get your point across. Or, you could

write a well-constructed argumenta-tive letter to the editor (that would be published in the next edition of the public forum, otherwise known as our school newspaper). Those are always nice too.

Rant it right!By McKenna Broyles, Reporter

full potential, not to just say, ‘Hey by the way you only live once.’ Also, its nice to have a simple four letter word to sum it all up.

“I personally don’t enjoy it very much. YOLO is very overrated and cliché. It has absolutely no deep meaning. It’s a trend of 2012-2013, and it’s going to fade away by the end of the year. It’s used sarcasti-cally, as a mockery of the term and not an actual representation of the term. I don’t think people use it se-riously anymore; I think that people use it to make fun of the term, to make their friends laugh,” Dylan Wood, junior said. But if you think about it, there is a deep meaning to everything- even YOLO.

“Even though Drake invented it, we always use artists to express ourselves, and YOLO is just a perfect term that is just short and to the point. You only have one life to live, and if you feel like doing something then do it-not necessar-ily something bad, but just have fun while you can,” Lylah Purpose,

have 6 weeks to live. The point of YOLO is to recognize this without being told that you only have a limited time to live.

“There isn’t a specific way to define YOLO. You make your own meaning of YOLO,” Nakai Osborn, senior said. “It’s what you do and how you do it that creates the true meaning of YOLO.” It is difficult to explain the true meaning to the world because Drake already put it out there, and he uses YOLO in a way that may be correct to him, but we as teens automatically thinks he means in the way that is socially unacceptable.

“I feel like even before the word YOLO came out, everyone was trying to live up to it all that they could. But now everyone says it and its really kind of stupid because, duh, it’s obvious that we only live once,” said Mariah Brisko, senior. We have to read between the letters of YOLO, and understand it. The reason we have YOLO is to recog-nize that we need to live up to our

junior said. “It’s a nice term because its

true, you do only live once. YOLO means that I’m going to live my life right, in the way that makes me happy, you know. I’m obviously not going to live wild. I want to live a happy life,” said Kento Talbot, senior.

The word YOLO is overused enough to make a lot of people hate it. Many of people think its like just living in the moment- grabbing all that you can now. It’s living today the way you want to live tomorrow, remembering that there are always consequences to every action. If you don’t do homework, day after day, the consequences suck and classes may have to be retaken. If you drink then drive, you could hurt yourself or others. We don’t want to die; we want to live as much as we can. So YOLO as if you will enjoy your tomorrow as well as today! This isn’t an easy task, but will result in truer living your own life well the one chance you get.

You only live once… What does it really mean? Does it mean to go out and party and drink and do stuff you’ll regret later? Or does it mean to have the best time of your life now because there might not be a later? The world has many different interpretations and definitions of YOLO, so it’s hard to know exactly what it means.

Several students have one opinion: “YOLO is stupid,” Kelsey Norton, junior said. But YOLO is not stupid. YOLO is highly abused and misunderstood. People assume that it means to go out and get drunk at a party to have fun. But the true meaning is deeper and more meaningful.

“If I wanted to YOLO, I would do something crazy that I’ve never done before. Like skydiving. Or something like that,” Brooke Munch, junior said. “I would use it in the definition of this: it means to go and live your life without any regrets and have a fun time while you can.” This is one of the correct

ways to even attempt to define the beautiful YOLO.

“When I’m 18, I’m going to get a tattoo of YOLO because… YOLO,” Shania Schortzmann, senior said. This is the definition most people use for YOLO. It is agreeable that if YOLO was used in this way, it should be dead. Many people assume that everyone thinks this is the correct way to YOLO. It is not; when you YOLO, you do something that only leaves fun memories, not something you’ll regret when you’re old and happy. You will want to remember your high school as some of the most enjoyable times of your lives.

“I feel like the good, deepest example of YOLO is when someone with cancer is told that they have only 6 weeks or something to live, and they go out and do what they want to do in their lives.” Taryn T. said.

Some see this as a given. It’s obvious that you’d want to live up to your full potential, not just if you

Photo by Lyric Fortson

17The Catalyst October 2013

Commentary

Facts about men:- “Men who have pierced ears are better prepared for marriage. They’ve experienced pain and bought jewelry.”

-A man speaks about 2,000 words a day

- 80% of high school drop outs are male

- In online dating, men are most afraid of meeting someone “fat.”

- The brains of adult men are about 10% larger in total size than the brains of women.

The Catalyst18Commentary

October 2013

What they say and what they really mean

Photos by Lyric Fortson

What they say:

-

- Hey, you’re pretty.

- Hey, let’s hang out.

- Hey, you’re not like all the others.

- Hey, I love you.

- Hey.

What theymean:

Hey, let’s make out.

- Hey, let’s make out.

- Hey, let’s make out like I do with all the others.

- Hey, I love making out with you.

- Let’s make out.

What they say:

- It’s okay.

- You can go out with your friends

- I trust you

- Nothing’s wrong

- He’s just a friend

What they mean:

- I’m going to kill you slowly

- I’m going to kill your friends slowly

- I’ve read all your texts, DM’s, emails, etc.

- I hate your existence

- I told you I’d kill you slowly

By Lyric Fortson , Commentary Editor

Facts about

women:

- A woman speaks about 7,000 words a

day

- 20% of high school drop outs are female

- In online dating, women are most afraid of meeting a serial killer.

- An average woman eats about 2-3 kilos of lipstick in her lifetime

- A Duke University study says that women wake up far more grumpier than men

Sources- http://www.interestingfacts.net

-http://www.bestfunfacts.com- http://stangebuttru.blogspot.com

- http://www.cs.virginia.edu- http://www.buzzle.com

For those of you searching for help, advice, and answers to your life problems, you are sure not to find anything here.

Dear Catalyst,

I am being overwhelmed with homework this year. I signed up for hard classes to look good on college applications, but the workload is stressing me out way too much. How do I manage to keep up?

Sincerely,

Overwhelmed

Dear Overwhelmed,You won’t keep up with the workload. What were you think-

ing? Who in their right mind signs up for hard classes their senior year? Unless you actu-ally plan on studying and devoting time for homework

(but I mean, who does that anymore?), you really only have one option – drop out of high school. It’s really not as bad as everyone makes it out to

be; sure, you probably won’t make any money in your

life and might even end up living under a bridge in Rhode Island, but hey, at

least you gave high school a shot. Let me know how things work out for you.

Dear Catalyst,

I really have a hard time get-ting up in the morning. I try

to

get to bed at a decent time, but I always wake up late and it’s starting to affect my grades. Any advice?

Sincerely,

Tired

Dear Tired,Back in the thirteenth century,

they discovered this great thing called coffee. You should try it.

P.S. If that doesn’t work out for you, there’s

always Red Bull.

Dear Catalyst, I’ve had a really big

crush on this guy for a re-ally long time, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t like me back. What should I do?

Sincerely,

Confused

Dear Confused, You really only have one op-

tion here: find out if he likes you. Don’t just ask him because, frankly, that’s just a

stupid idea. I would suggest

hypnotiz-ing your

crush and

tricking him into liking you. Also, if you trick him into liking you, you’ll probably have to con-tinually hypnotize him everyday for the rest of your life into liking you, but it’ll be just like a match made in heaven.

Dear Catalyst,My friends are starting to

change. We used to hang out all the time and have slumber parties and play Monopoly, but now we rarely hang out and when we do it’s only when I offer to buy them Taco Bell. What should I do?

Sincerely,

Worried and Lonely

Dear Worried and Lonely,

If you’re still hav-ing “slumber parties” I’m

surprised anyone even talks to you. Also, if you had a shred of intelligence, you would know that they’re using you for your money. If you want any “friends” in your life, however, you’ll probably still have to buy them something, so keep up with the Taco Bell gen-erosity. Grow up, Worried and Lonely, it’s time to move on from Monopoly.

Disclaimer: Fruita Monument High School does not intend for any detrimental advice to be taken seri-ously into consideration.

Have a safe day and you stay classy, Fruita Monument!

A word from the not-so-wise Photos by Lyric FortsonCompiled by Keaton Brown, Business Manager

Dancing Dilemmas at FMHSBy Sabrina Mayer, Reporter

as long as it is a clean song or ver-sion of a song.

Another thing that could be improved is the amount of activi-ties you can participate in during the dances. Games, photo booths and contests are some activities that could be added to dances to make them a lot more fun.

Angela Lind said “karaoke seems like it would be fun for all students.”

Some of these activi-ties could be a little expensive, but would likely make the dances more enjoyable. If the dance has a fun theme like “a night on the red carpet” awards should be given to the person that gave the most effort to dress up, and the prizes need to attract people and make them want to dress up, awards could include, maverick bucks, gift cards, or R&R tickets.

Even if only a few of these ideas were taken into consideration dances at FMHS could greatly improve. I am one student here at FMHS that would love to see the dances improve and attendance sky rocket.

a lot of teenagers complain about is the set of strict rules that teachers set. The rules about how we dance are acceptable to a point, grinding is probably not such an acceptable form of dance for school. But the rules of how we can dress (school dress code) and what music can be played, seem to go too far. After all we are young adults, we should not be limited to one type of music, and school appropriate dress.

Not all high school students listen to the same music, and it seems that only two types of music are played there, pop and country.

“All genres of music should be played at the dances, even if some of the songs must be edited versions,” Said Herrington.

Pop music is a popular genre of music, but not all songs that we like are allowed to be played. Dance officials should work on finding music that we all like and is appro-priate. Appropriate music that we all like includes bands like Maroon 5, Imagine dragons, and for some, Katy Perry. Now there are those students that believe that rap should be played to, which would be fine,

decorations to these new themes we could make the FMHS dances amazing.

One of the major aspects that either make or break dances is the decorations. Lights and a few accent pieces just aren’t enough to satisfy the high demands of today’s teenagers, not to say that the theme needs to be overdone. For example, if we went with a night on the red carpet as a theme, things like old movie posters, cool old style lights and flashing lights that imitate the paparazzi, would make a drab school dance fab.

Another thing that could improve FMHS dances is eliminate the rule that you must have 90% attendance or higher to attend. For some students this is just not possible, and so it is not right that just because they do not have 90% attendance they cannot go to the dances. Not all the dances follow this rule, but the winter formal does. I understand that attendance is important here at FMHS, but if we want higher attendance at dances, this is one way to get it.

One other major thing that

Students that have gone to any of the dances here at FMHS know all the rules and regulations, and some are just fine with how the dances are. On the other hand though, many want to know if any changes can be made that will improve the school dances.

Improvements could include better theme ideas, and of course better decorations. To me decora-tions and themes are what make or break school dances. It seems that the themes here are not making the cut anymore

“The themes of FMHS dances are lacking creativity and sophistication,” said junior Billy Herrington

After a while, the generic themes of high school dances get boring. Four Hawaiian dances and even more retro dances cause less and less students to attend. If we as a school come up with more interest-ing themes, maybe more students will be interested in attending the dances. New themes could include mid-summer’s night dreams, or even something as simple as a night on the red carpet. If we added better

19The Catalyst October 2013

Commentary

What are you going to be for Halloween?