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Erin Bolandmanaging editor

Riley Floydproduction editor

Kelsey Ploofcopy editor

Dianne Oslandfeatures editor

Hannah Davisopinion editor

Nathan Brownsports editor

Jack Russellphotography editor

Jayde Klavephotographer

Tommy Groomsartist/cartoonist

Molly CrumpWhitney ElkinKatie ElliottOakley GianakosGabby GuyMatt LoriaStephanie Watsonwriters

Stephanie Simpsonbusiness manager

Whitney Elkincirculation manager

Michael Melfiweb editor

Aaron Voegeleweb master

Kelsey Langweb video editor

Krista Shieldsadviser

Mill Stream is published by Block 5 journalism students and distributed free of charge. The staff will publish 10 issues during the 2008-2009 school year.

Mill Stream is a student newspaper, run for students, by students. We provide a public forum to serve as an outlet for student ideas and opinions; we work as an agent for change and provide cred-ible, objective reporting to inform, entertain, educate the reader and better serve the reader.

We welcome both signed letters to the editor and guest columns, which cannot exceed 350 words in length.

Mill Stream reserves the right to correct grammatical errors and

ask for the authorʼs assistance in editing. Mill Stream will not print letters that attack individuals or that contain obscene language. Let-ters may be submitted to room 137, the Mill Stream mailbox located in the commons or via www.mill-stream.org.

The staff reserves the right to reject advertisements that are political in nature, false, promote illegal substances to minors, mis-leading, harmful, or not in the best interest of its readers.

Mill Stream is a member of the Indiana High School Press Asso-ciation.

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2008-2009Mill Stream Staff

18111 Cumberland Rd. Noblesville IN, 46060

2 opinion Mill Stream03.20.2009

[the way we see it] Mill Stream staff editorial

“Isn’t Tipton, like, the same as Sheridan?” a student asked as she sat in class, wondering about where some acquaintance lived.

“I don’t know,” her friend answered with a snicker, as if it would be out of the ordinary for a student to know where neighboring towns are.

Tipton is, in fact, hardly Sheridan. For starters, Tipton is in Tipton Coun-ty. Sheridan is in Boone County. Although the two are relatively close (compared to, oh, Belfast and Shanghai), they are by no stretch of the imagi-nation the same.

What’s truly perturbing is this: if a student isn’t even aware of his home’s outlying counties, how can he be aware of his surroundings while travel-ing? With spring break hiding just under the flip of a calendar page, stu-dents are more concerned about buying their plane tickets than, well, being students. The excitement of traveling without the stress of nagging parents is understandable. It’s liberating, new, exciting. But traveling amidst an unknown culture is also incredibly dangerous.

Multiple unwary American tourists have been killed in Mexican border cities, where the sound of gunfire now rings through the streets, a sign of the country’s five major warring drug cartels. Naïve girls with virtually unlimited access to alcohol (Natalee Holloway, for example) get carried away and lose their lives in frivolity. If not endangering their lives, un-leashed teenagers lose their grasp on their surroundings. Logic is lost in the novelty of independence. Travelers find themselves being abnormally open with unfamiliar people for fear of seeming too American. The falsely confident abandon their fanny packs and leave their necessities to fall vic-tim to pickpockets.

Despite the undeniable possible dangers, the Mill Stream staff unani-mously agrees on the importance of and even encourages traveling out of the country; it serves as an invaluable way to learn about other cultures and the way our world functions. However, the staff also agrees that the idiosyncrasies of foreign countries demand a full understanding. Failing to be aware of one’s surroundings is crucial to personal safety. Read up on this year’s spring break destination. Learning a few things may mean the difference between life and death.

Of course, it’s unlikely that most students will be spending their break in Tipton or Sheridan. But it wouldn’t hurt to know where they are.

You know, sometimes I feel as if I’m a charac-ter on the computer role-playing game The Sims. Lately, it seems as if everything I do has been preset by someone playing the game. I wake up in the morn-ing. I get ready for school and go. Come home, go to work, do homework, repeat. Honestly, it reminds me of what I used to do with my Sims’ daily routines.

It’s not that daily routines are inherently evil. A little routine can be beneficial. For example, we all benefit from the routine of driving. Everyone’s routine fol-lows the same protocols for turn-ing, intersections, and merging.

Recently my routine doesn’t seem to fall into any categories that help me. Instead, it’s more

like the holding pattern at the Denver airport during a blizzard. My life is on pause. I have to wait to go on spring break. I have to wait for grad-

uation. I have to wait to go to college, to start my career, to do all of the things I want to do.

In short, I’m bored. And this frus-trates me. Everyone talks about how senior year is supposed to be so much fun. Well, I want to know where all of this fun is happening when I feel as if I’m just sitting here waiting. I’m simply not accustomed to coasting.

Maybe this is why students, and se-niors especially, traditionally go crazy during second semester—we’re not evil teenagers, we just aren’t being chal-lenged enough at this point in our lives now that we have mostly decided our college, prom date and spring break

destination. Right. It’s not even that this is my personal case of

senioritis. While I admittedly have been slacking a little, (sorry everybody), my work hasn’t pla-teaued. I’m still doing all of my homework and working at my part-time job, despite this pesky countdown to graduation ticking away in my head. But what is the point of doing all of this when I decided on IU in September? As long as I keep everything up to remain enrolled there, there really is no point anymore. Am I whin-ing? Yes, a little, sure. Unfortunately, there isn’t a great solution to my “waiting problem.” The se-niors don’t really need more major life decisions. Therefore, we get bored.

So I don’t really have any advice, beyond try-ing not to get too bored, students. Let’s hope that the rest of this semester will be enough to tide us over.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Erin Boland

Lather, rinse, repeat

I’ve been a Hoosier all my life – a term I’ve re-sented ever since I was called one; not because the word is a term with no definition, but be-cause of the state it is associated with. I didn’t really hate Indiana until my family scooped me out of Indianapolis and made me move here to Noblesville. I was used to Circle Center mall being just a few minutes away, and hundreds of restaurants to frequent. Noblesville meant a sea of corn and horrify-ingly enough, an Applebee’s. (Un-derstand that at the time, this was a big deal to most of the people living in Noblesville).

Where were all of the big buildings made of shiny glass? Where was the Nordstrom?! I was a city girl living in farmland and I knew right away that I was doomed to never fit in. Even at eight years old I recognized I was, well, different than most of the kids at my elementary school. I wore costume jewelry on every part of

my body, and my favorite shoes were red leather Doc Marten boots. I dreamed of being famous – I felt I was bigger than this town, better than the

people in it.Eventually, I grew out of this

phase and my ego deflated a bit. I grew to accept that I’d never escape this town until I left for college, and that no matter what I wore or how I acted – I could never really fit in. I became known as “the funny girl”, which I eventually accepted and grew to cherish. Being funny was the way I could get people to like me, even if they still thought I was a com-plete weirdo.

And when I reached high school, fitting in didn’t matter. I had a hand-ful of friends that I completely adored, and I didn’t care if people liked me. I began saying what I wanted to say

– I held nothing back. I was funny even when it wasn’t appropriate to be, and sarcastic even when people didn’t understand it. I have no regrets; I

have never been anyone but Caroline. And now, as I’m preparing to leave for Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, I realize there are some things I will miss about the Hoosier state.

I’ll miss Indianapolis and the way the city nev-er really seems to change. I’ll miss my family’s garden filled with hundreds of white daisies that multiply in number every June. I’ll miss my best friend that I’ve known for 12 years, and I’ll miss playing outside with my 8- year- old brother. I’ll miss my Grandma Rose’s house and the way she always greets me with hugs that I wish could last forever. I’ll miss sitting on my front porch on hot summer nights and talking to my dad about nothing, and everything. I’ll miss staying up late with my mother and the sound of her laugh.

I think as seniors, we’re all ready to blaze a path away from home, to start over. As they say, this isn’t the end of everything– it is “the begin-ning of the rest of our lives.”

We’re all scared of the unknown, but we’ll al-ways have home. And though I may hate to admit, Noblesville is my home now. And deep down, I will miss it. Sort of.

Gentlemen in high school. HA! Finding a guy to open your doors and carry your heavy bags is rare. The saying goes that chivalry is dead. But who killed it? I point the finger-not at those clueless fumbling teenage boys, but at us ladies.

Since the very first testosterone-driven man pursued the very first woman, a pattern has been set; the guy does what is necessary to get the girl. Naturally, the men chase what they want and receive only what they are allowed. From day one, the standards have been set and maintained by the women. The women always have and always will have the power to determine the difficulty level of the chase, and lately, the women have let this level drop just a tad too low.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule.

I’m not suggesting that there is a sudden absence of any decent guys. I am suggesting that the ones who are decent are decent strictly by their own

initiative. Gone are the days when boys slave for weeks swooning over their dream girl. It is now the norm to see the typical apathetic “couldn’t-care-less” guy just throw out some invitations to the short-skirted girl to “go out” without a second thought. Not only is the question almost ef-fortless, but it requires no real work, no struggle. Why do girls accept these empty invitations willy-nilly?

I have several theories. Maybe the average young girl is just wait-ing for someone to show an inter-est in her and to think she’s special. Maybe the average girl is afraid that she will never get her Prince Charm-

ing and will have to settle eventually for the first

guy that looks her up and down. So she says yes to the “couldn’t-care-less” guy because he’s there and it’s the expectation for high school girls to be dating. Even if you’re dating some loser who’s more concerned with his group’s approval of how far he gets than forming anything worth having with you, it’s better than being alone, right?

Wrong. Chivalry is dead because girls killed it. Whether because of our own self-esteem is-sues, or not, we have allowed the standards for our guys to hit rock bottom. Our “anything goes” attitude needs to change in order to bring these standards back up, and our demand for ex-cellence needs to rise because we deserve better.

In the meantime, the average guy is going to only do what is expected of him, and if the expec-tations don’t rise, we have no room to complain about what we’re getting. But appreciate that old-fashioned guy who will work for your respect and give him a shot, because his type will bring chivalry back to life.

?saywhatEavesdroppingat its funniest

“Nothing like a man with a highlighter.”-English

“Yes, I just manhandled your pancake.”-Parking lot

“That’s an urn, not to yearn.”-Spanish

“I feel thermally violated.”-Jr/Sr Cafeteria

“Wouldn’t you doubt the chastity of a lady that lives with seven dwarves?”-ACP Chemistry

“We smell like old milk.”-Anatomy

“Most robots are boys.”-Spanish

“Don’t book check yourself. It’s a cry for help.”-ACP Composition

“We’re getting trippy with our Smart Board.”-Journalism room

“We hate politics but we’ll celebrate President’s Day?”-Senior hallway

“I don’t get nervous when someone says fallopian tube.”-Journalism

3opinionMill Stream03.20.2009

There’s no place like home...maybe

Who killed chivalry?

Kelsey Ploof

RALPH AND CHUCK by Tommy Grooms

Caroline George

4 reviews Mill Stream03.20.2009

The new Friday the 13th movie, though it is somewhat entertaining, ultimately does not make for a great horror movie.

The movie opens with the history of the main antagonist, Jason the kill-er, and is a throw back to the original movie; the movie progresses to be-come the cliché basic horror plot.

A group of teenagers goes camp-ing in the woods, with the intentions of finding a lost marijuana farm. And of course, that night around the fire the story is told that there was a camp nearby where they are camping that a mother of one of the children killed all the counselors. Her son saw her fi-nally killed and became a killer him-self. This story happens to be exactly what is seen in the opening scene of the movie. Just as everyone was ex-pecting, all of the campers die that night, except for one.

The main part of the movie con-sists of another group of teenagers who come to the same town to stay at their lake house. When they stop in

town for gas, they run into a young guy who is looking for his missing sister. The audience later finds out that she is the one survivor of the first group of campers. From there the movie moves to the main problem for the protagonists; they’re dropping like flies.

It must be said that the directors/writers of this movie did a very good job with coming up with very inter-esting and very elaborate ways for the characters to die. There is actually a scene where a girl is roasted over a fire in her sleeping bag, but aside from being creative, the directors and writers of Friday the 13th did not do a very good job.

No true terror is really inspired by this movie. Yes, the killings are fairly interesting, but they leave the viewer thinking “Well, that was interesting,” and nothing really more.

The whole story is such a cliché that the audience knows what’s com-ing from the get-go. There is really no surprise aspect, or really even a “make you jump” aspect. The writing is just a little dry. There is not even the psychological appeal that is seen

in modern slasher flicks, like Saw.The acting is not bad, and the ac-

tors most likely just had to do their best with what they were given, but it was just overdone.

Friday the 13th almost brings laugh-ter to the audience. With all the cli-chés and extremes it almost seems like the directors were going for a satire of the modern idea of a hor-ror film, but although the movie may seem ridiculous, it almost seems not blatant enough to be satire; it really did fail that horribly at horror.

And just for the sake of adding in-sult to injury, one of the biggest things that took away from the horror aspect of the movie and added to the humor-ous side was the nudity and sex. The Friday the 13th movies had always had a bit of this aspect, but it was taken to a new, unnecessary level with this movie.

Though Friday the 13th is by no means a good horror film, it is still worth seeing as one of those movies that you can go see, turn your brain off, and have a good laugh.

Friday the 13th brings laughs at the box officeMichael Melfimmelfi@mill-stream.org

An ear tothe round

Tweed blazer, woolen sweater. Black, thick-rimmed glasses, khaki slacks. Leather shoes, matching socks. A college professor? Hardly. He’s an indie rock star.

A self-proclaimed “diva”, John Darnielle, the lead vo-calist, guitarist, and founding member of The Mountain Goats, has influenced faithful followers of low-fi indie music for more than 15 years with little more than his voice, a guitar, and a steady rotation of back-up musi-cians.

His first widely released album, Zopilote Machine, was released in 1994, and his next 10 albums, each progres-sively more high-quality, have earned The Mountain Goats an undoubtedly permanent position in the hearts of snarky, lit-minded fans.

Darnielle’s songs are anti-establishment, anti-society, and essentially anti-life. “I hope I lie and tell everyone you were a good wife, and I hope you die, I hope we both die,” he belts in what is perhaps the band’s best-known song, “No Children.” Despite being painfully morbid, Darnielle has a certain unmistakable ability to capture reality in a few sparse lyrics.

The New Yorker magazine referred to him as “Ameri-ca’s best non-hip-hop lyricist,” and in its June 2006 issue, Paste magazine named Darnielle as one of the “100 Best Living Songwriters”.

The Mountain Goats will be performing in Darnielle’s hometown, Bloomington, at the Buskirk-Chumley The-ater on April 6, conveniently falling on the first Monday of Noblesville’s spring break. Tickets are $16 and can be reserved by visiting the venue’s website at www.buskirk-chumley.org.

Visit www.mill-stream.org to listen to songs from the band’s latest album, Heretic Pride.

John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats.

Photo courtesy of www.mountain-goats.com

Hannah Davishdavis@mill-stream.org

JoBros in 3D fail to meet fan’s high expectationsStephanie Simpsonssimpson@mill-stream.org

I am a Jonas Brothers (JB) fan. And yes, I did go to their “Burnin Up” tour this past summer at Verizon Wireless. So of course when I heard the Jonas Brothers were making a 3D movie of their summer tour, I knew I had to go.

Sure, I’ve already seen them perform, but this movie would take me up close, way closer than my Row R seats all the way in the back (so much for getting “better” tickets for being a Jonas Brothers Fan-club Member!).

With glasses in hand I walked into the movie the-atre, ready for Jonas action. The movie goes back and forth between their concert and behind-the-scenes shots, such as the boys buying their second CD at midnight, run-ning away from fangirls down the streets of New York City, and meeting fans who’ve waited “72 hours in the rain” to see a concert.

While I’m not on the same fan level of the girls in the movie that would cry after seeing a Jonas Brother in the flesh, I am undeniably biased with this review. I can honestly tell you,

though, that this movie is a far cry from perfect.

While there are momentary awe-some 3D shots, including Joe throw-ing his glasses out into the audience and the logo explosion at the end, you can easily watch this movie without your glasses. The movie is definitely lacking in all the tricks that a 3D mov-ie has to offer.

On the other hand, the actual performers themselves were rockin’. Singing songs from both their second and third CDs, the energy was as pal-pable in that theatre as it was when I saw the boys perform live this past summer. There were also some sur-

prises as guest stars Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift joined the boys on stage for a song.

After the success of Hannah Mon-tana’s The Best of Both Worlds tour, which made over $8 million on its first day, there were high hopes for the Jonas Brothers: 3D Concert Experi-ence. After a recent Grammy nod and a world tour, the Jonas Brothers were

expected to be a hit in the box office.

Producers also expect-ed all the fangirls to cash in as well. However, the JB movie only made $12 million its first weekend, coming in second behind Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail.

While it may have been a surprise to producers and the Jonas Brothers themselves, I wasn’t all that surprised. Tickets cost $15 each, which is a little high for an economy in a recession. However,

one must remember that though this movie is overall great, you might want to wait to buy it on DVD. That way you can spend $15 and watch the movie all you want, instead of pay-ing that $15 now for seeing the movie once with its mediocre 3D effects.

The Jonas Brothers performing in Evansville, IN, February 2008 for their “Look Me In The Eyes” tour. This tour preceded the summer tour “Burnin’ Up” which led to the 3D movie.

Photo by: S. Simpson

5featuresMill Stream03.20.2009

Frilled dresses, heat from the stage lights, and adrenaline from the performance. It all escalates to that final moment; before the final pose. That last second before the show ends; it’s magical.

Noblesville High School’s show choirs Singers and New Dimension kicked off their 2009 show choir season Feb. 28 at Edgewood.

Singers, the co-ed show choir, placed seventh of nine and New Dimension placed ninth of ten. Then on March 7 Singers and New Dimension performed at southwestern. Though Singers didn’t place, New Dimension took third and senior Anna Buck won the solo com-petition. The show choirs have two more competitions; March 14 at Homestead and March 28 at Wapekoneta.

According to co-president Buck, Singers’ competition show contains the songs “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”, “Georgia on My Mind”, “Just Got Paid”, “These Boots are Made for Walking”, and “You Can Still Rock in America”. Solos for the show are sung by Buck, seniors Laura Mills and Natalie Troski, juniors Geremiah Gonzalez, Jessica Gardner, and Kimmy Gerhart, sophomore Paul Price, and junior Ashley Gallaway. Juniors Becca Boomhower and Nathan Brown will sing a duet.

According to Sophomore Kelsey Vaught, New Dimension’s show consists of the songs “I’ve Got the Music in Me”, “Boy from New York City”, “Pure Imagination”, On Broadway, and “Can’t Fight the Moonlight”. The soloists are senior Kourtney Harrison, juniors Aman-da Baxter, Taylor Coonce, and Maddi Corry, and sophomore Ty Bailey.

The band, which was formerly led by Mr. David Hartman, is now led by Mr. Jason Jas-per.

“We have a very different band this year. We have an electric cello playing the bass part and Collin Hansen is playing the electric violin. We started practicing two weeks before the first competition. It’s a lot more work and it’s a challenge, but I really like it. I don’t get to spend as much time with the choirs as I have in years past when I was juggling both helping with the choirs and helping with the band, but it’s a more pivotal part of the show,” Jasper said.

Senior Katie Le Sesne is playing the electric cello for the bass parts of the two shows.“The group is a lot of fun. We are all pretty relaxed making everyone gets along better.

There is no tension and honestly we are not that bad,” Le Sesne said.The NHS show choirs perform at Mayfest.

Whitney Elkinwelkin@mill-stream.org

Show choir season heats up

All photos by J. Russell

Left: Junior Aubrey McMahon dances at show choir pracitice. The show choir’s band this year features several new instru-ments including an electric cello.

Above: Senior Max Haddad practices with senior Anna Buck. Haddad and Buck par-ticpate in Singers, the co-ed show choir that placed seventh at their Feb. 28 competition.

Above: Junior Aubrey McMahon, senior Anna Buck and junior Bri Handy practice choreography. Buck, the co-president, won the solo competition.

Junior Geremiah Gonzales strikes a pose. Gonzalez has a solo in Just Got Paid, an N*Sync song.

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features 703.20.2009

Superintendent Dr. Lehman retires

Dr. Lynn Lehman has announced his intention to retire. Lehman has been the Superinten-dent since 2004 and has worked for Noblesville schools for 24 years. Besides serving as super-intendent, he has served as the principal of Noblesville Junior High school, Assistant Superin-tendent for Business, and Deputy Superintendent. Lehman will retire as early as possible but will serve until Dec. 31 if needed. According to School Board President Julia Kozicki, when the superintendent or any teacher notifies the board of his or her intent to retire, the board proceeds by officially acknowledging notice of the intent to retire at the next school board meeting.

A new superintendent will affect the students of Noblesville schools. “With the superinten-dent’s retirement, some of the school’s rules will change. The new superintendent may bring his own agenda,” junior Jenna Prater said.

“Dr. Lehman is an incredible communicator. In public and in private, he speaks thought-fully and articulately on a number of issues. He has great passion for Noblesville Schools and the success of our students, and that is abundantly clear in his speech. He also has great fiscal sensibility; he has been and continues to be a careful steward of the public’s money,” Kozicki said. “He has worked with the board to develop policies which serve the corporation and its students and faculty well.”

In his time as school superintendent, Dr. Lehman has seen many changes and improve-ments in the school system. According to Kozicki, Dr. Lehman’s term as superintendent has seen the opening of the new Noblesville Intermediate School, Noblesville High School Fresh-man Campus and Noble Crossing Elementary School. Almost every school in the district has achieved four star status at some point during his tenure, and all would achieve it, but for the attendance rates.

Noblesville Schools have also received various awards during Lehman’s time as superin-tendent. Hazel Dell Elementary School was honored National Blue Ribbon School this past fall, one of eight in Indiana and around 300 nationally. Noblesville High School has been named a “best buy” annually during his tenure. A Best Buy school is evaluated on the ratio of the quality of education versus the amount of money spent.

According to Sharon Trisler, there is no average on how many years a typical superintendent serves. Nationwide, the average is three to four years. Dr. Lehman has served as superintendent for four years while Noblesville’s previous superintendent served for 12 years.

“Noblesville Schools has been incredibly fortunate to enjoy the time and talents of Dr. Lynn Lehman over the past twenty five years. We deeply appreciate his devotion to the success of our students, faculty and staff and we wish him all the best as he looks ahead to enjoying time with his wife, Pam and daughters and their families,” Kozicki said.

Katie Elliottkelliott@mill-stream.org

Seniors Wesley Fread and Reid Timperman earn money by playing video games as the team Dirty Doubles Gaming.

The American Dream lives on.Fread and Timperman compete online for a higher ranking on Gamebattles.com. According to

its website, Gamebattles is the largest online outlet for competitive gaming and is home to over one million gamers and over 800,000 teams worldwide. It is the world leader in competitive online gaming with over 500,000 gamer profiles.

Gamebattles is sponsored by Major League Gaming (MLG), the largest organized league and international sanctioning body for competitive gaming, spanning 28 countries.

Every year teams compete for placement on the Winner 2009 Ladder. The top 32 teams get invited to compete at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Fread and Timperman are currently ranked 26th for the Xbox 360 game Halo 3. They have to maintain that rank until the end of the season by keeping their win percentage high.

A great deal of work was put into achieving that rank. Fread and Timperman played from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. most nights since the game’s release, although they have taken a break to ensure they maintain their rank.

“We’ve been playing since Halo came out,” Fread said. “We’ve only been committed [to competing] since January.”

Tournaments such as these can be very lucrative. The top doubles team gets $50,000, and every team in the top ten walks away with something. With the potential for sponsorship, one could make up to $100,000 a year by playing Xbox, according to Fread.

“When you win money, it’s like a job. Most high schoolers don’t have a job they enjoy,” Tim-perman said.

Their high rank is representative of their high level of performance. “We’re the best team in Noblesville, the best doubles team, at least,” Fread said. Fread and

Timperman were invited to compete in a tournament in Miami but couldn’t afford the trip. At one point, they played a best out of three match with the number one ranked team and won one of the rounds.

Winning in Halo 3 takes much more than just practice. It consists of a great deal of strategy and planning, such as memorizing where and when weapons or opponents respawn. Fread brushes off any suggestion that these strategies might be considered cheap tactics.

“It’s pro-level stuff,” Fread said.Fread and Timperman don’t usually play side-by-side since competition in Halo 3 takes

place primarily online. Nevertheless, it’s important for them to communicate and keep each other calm during intense matches.

“If you’re angry when you’re playing, you’re probably going to lose,” Fread said. “Angry gamers don’t win; they’re just stupid. I’m usually the one that gets angry. Reid’s the one that’s more even-tempered.”

Fread and Timperman stress that participation in professional gaming does not imply that someone is a nerd, a prevailing stereotype.

“I mean, we have girlfriends,” Timperman said.“Our social lives are more important than Halo,” Fread said. “If there’s something else to do,

we’ll do it. A lot of things come before video games.”

Tommy Groomstgrooms@mill-stream.org

Mill Nation domination:

Photo by: S. Simpson

Gaming for money goes local

Mill Nation swarms the basketball court as they accept the trophy for the spirit award on behalf of Noblesville High School on Thursday March 11. The cer-emnony was open to students from the Main Campus as well as the Freshman Campus.

Photo by: J. Russell

NHS wins the spirit award for second consecutive year

Reid Timberman leads the roller coaster cheer at the basketball game against HSE.

Stephanie Simpsonssimpson@mill-stream.org

Seniors Chris Sexton and Matt Weiper accepted the WTHR Spirit Award from Dave Calabro on Thursday, March 12. Noblesville is the first school to win the award in consecutive years.

Hamilton Southeastern High Schoolcame in second. “The Noblesville cheer block was loud and crazy [at the sectional game on March 6] like it always is,” HSE senior Eric Ogle said. “We knew that if we didn’t win the award they [NHS] prob-

ably would.”According to Sexton, the winner of the Spirit

Award must have tenacity and must have great sup-port for the team, even if they are losing.

Mr. Dwayne Brashers was surprised that we won the award this year, although he admits that HSE’s ‘baby powder incident’ probably hurt their chances of winning. “They want the cheer blocks to win in a positive way,” Brashers said.

Other students among the school felt that the aforementioned incident hurt HSE’s chances of winning. According to Sexton, the infamous ‘baby powder incident’ was an imitation of Lebron James’ commercial which caused a 30 minute delay in the start of the game.

8 features Mill Stream03.20.2009

Spending summer nights in the warm, busy city of Madrid. Going to public school where they speak a lan-guage that isn’t taught at NHS. Moving halfway around the world to a desert cli-mate in the Middle East. These certainly aren’t typical approaches to summer and school, but for a few NHS students these scenarios will soon become realities.

Senior Caitlin Wilkewitz is one such student; she’ll be spending the summer between graduation and her freshman year of college in Madrid, Spain, taking a job as a foreign nanny (also known as an au pair).

Wilkewitz said she will be living with the family she is babysitting for, taking care of their two young girls during the day and getting nights and weekends to herself. Most weekends, she’ll be sight-seeing in and around Madrid, getting to know the city for herself.

“I wanted to go because I love the lan-guage,” Wilkewitz said. “And I’ve never been out of the country. I’m going to try and see as much as possible.”

It may seem out of the ordinary to suddenly become daytime caretaker of two Spanish children you have never met. Wilkewitz can thank her dad for the idea; the father in the family she will be living with is a co-worker of her dad’s at Eli Lilly, and he offered her the au pair position.

Junior Riley Schinderle will be in Noblesville over the summer, but in Au-gust she will depart for a year abroad in the Czech Republic. As a foreign ex-change student, Schniderle said she will live with a Czech family and attend pub-lic school, though she doesn’t speak the

language (which is also called Czech).Schinderle said she doesn’t know

what to expect, because she has not, thus far, been informed of where in the Czech Republic she will live or whom she will be living with. She placed the country on a preferred list when she applied to the foreign exchange program through the Rotary Club.

“It’s a long process,” Schinderle said. “And they picked out the country for me.” Schinderle is both excited and sad about the prospect of living abroad. She will also have to come back to Noblesville during the 2010-2011 school year because foreign credits don’t apply. Whether or not she will have to make up a semester or the entire year is still yet to be decided and will probably depend on what she wants to do after graduation.

While Wilkewitz and Schinderle’s time away is temporary, sophomore Riley O’Farrell is moving away for good—or as long as his stepdad’s new job as a pilot for the United Arab Emirates airline con-tinues.

O’Farrell said he is moving to Dubai, which according to www.cia.gov, is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates. He is moving into the city of-ficially on June 1, but leaves March 21 in order to spend three weeks testing for school. There is no public school system in Dubai, so O’Farrell must apply for pri-vate schools.

To live in the United Arab Emirates, O’Farrell said he has to obtain a resident visa, which means that his stepdad will sponsor him while living there. Because of the visa, O’Farrell is not able to be there by himself, and once his stepdad is no longer working there, he cannot stay. Nevertheless, he is anxious and ready.

“I’ve been waiting a long time to go,” O’Farrell said.

Molly Crumpmcrump@mill-stream.org

Students go far abroad

From April 3 to April 13, students at Noblesville leave for spring break for a week of fun and relaxation. While some may think they are safe as they travel, there are always people back at home, teachers included, who might feel differently.

“I see myself as responsible for students safety when they are here, in a limited sense, and it does concern me when they leave, especially if they are traveling without adults.” English teacher Judi Kellett said.

When students are at school, the teachers are the legal primary guardians, principal An-netta Petty said. And every year before students leave, some teachers may give the annual spring break talk, telling students to be safe and have a good break.

“For spring break, it is the parent’s responsibility to tell the students to be careful, not the school’s problem. But I think that students use their brains and think about what they are doing before they do it on spring break,“ counselor Joel Wittstein said.

According to scaredmonkeys.com, after the disapperance of Natalie Holloway in 2006, more parents have become aware of the risks presented when their children travel. And more students have been scared away from the idea of travelling to exotic locations for spring break.

“I don’t think students are scared away from traveling because of disappearances. Things like that happen all the time. They are more excited to get out of town than they are apprehensive to those stories,” sophomore Megan Jackson said.

“Those horror stories don’t really frighten me, but when you hear about the one that hap-pened, it makes you stop and think,” Kellett said.

With peer pressure becoming more of a factor in the decisions students make on spring break, spring break becomes more of a concern among the teachers at the school.

Wittstein said that when he tells students to make smart decisions on spring break, stu-dents seem to listen, but the inevitable peer pressure students experience pushes them to face situations they would not normally experience. He doesn’t think students are prepared for what they could face on spring break.

“Of course we want the students to have a happy and safe spring break, but sometimes

we hear crazy rumors of some students planning to go down to Florida in a packed car without parents and we get suspicious. Sometimes, we have the guidance counselors call the parents and see if the rumor is true, but we trust the students to make the right deci-sions and come home safely,” Petty said.

Of course, spring break can have its awkward side as well as its scary one “Every once and a while a student comes back with a piercing or tattoo of some kind, and we have to keep them out of the nurse’s office because of the pain they can have from the marking,” Petty said.

Making good judgments is always up to the student and as students count down the days to the weeklong escape from school, teachers can only hope that students will make the right decisions.

Teachers worry about spring fun, caution students to exercise judgmentKelsey Oglekogle@mill-stream.org

“My family and I are going to Florida.”

--Junior Ryan Schuyler

“I’m going to Africa for a wedding.”

--Sophomore Andrea Adolf

“I’m going on a cruise to the Carribean.”

--Sophomore Kathryn Reeves

9sportsMill Stream03.20.2009

Rugby, though still not considered a school-sponsored sport in Indiana under the IHSAA regulations, con-tinues to grow in popularity with each new season. Large club tournaments around the country pop up each year towards the end of the chilling days of win-ter, drawing only the toughest and bravest athletes who withstand the bitter cold and smashing blows to celebrate their passion for the sport they risk their body for every practice and game.

The Noblesville Rampage Men’s and Chaos Wom-en’s Rugby teams traveled to one such tournament last weekend, riding in a caravan of cars driven by the ded-icated parents of the athletes to Nashville, Tennessee for the Nash Bash rugby tournament held March 7-8.

For weeks, both teams have been practicing for countless hours on the fields next to the armory in hopes of starting their season off with a “bash.” Veter-an athletes have been working with their rookie team-mates on basic rugby skills and scrimmaging most practices in hopes of limiting the amount of butterflies in the athletes’ stomachs.

“We’ve been hitting the fundamentals really hard, along with setting up actual game situations that we as a team might face during any game, and this has prepared us for any team we might face,” sophomore Josh Clemence said.

After the athletes left from the Noblesville High School parking lot and made the long trek down to Nashville, they got up bright and early Saturday morning and headed over to the fields for their first game of two for the day. The girls shut out the Lady Brumbies 67-5, but the boys fell in their

first match of the day. But after getting the first game of the season under their belts, both rookies and veterans alike began to lose their nervousness and focus on the last two games ahead.

“We had a lot of rookies going into the tournament, and most of the veterans were afraid that we weren’t ready, but the rookies really surprised us,” junior Kelsey Corbett said.

In between games, both teams enjoyed the down time and hung out in the hotels or around the fields, watching other teams, including their Noblesville comrades.

“This tournament is always the best bonding time for the year,” junior Nick Mitchell said. “I mean, a bunch of dudes packed inside a hotel who walk down the Nash-ville strip ordering pizza together . . .what more could you want?”

The girls also enjoyed hours of bonding that consisted of walking around the several fields in Nashville, evauluat-ing their competition they would face later in the tourna-ment.

As the weekend progressed and finally came to a close, the girls won another game Saturday afternoon in another shutout defeat 27-0 of Whitestation before losing their first game of the weekend Sunday afternoon to Maryville 25-

5. The boys lost another game Saturday afternoon too, but grabbed their only win of the weekend on Sunday morning before they left to head back to Indiana.

“The trip was a great success. We all had a lot of fun, played great rugby together, and now I’m really excited to start the season with confidence,” Corbett said.

Rugby tournament in Nashville allows teams to get rid of rust before start of seasonNathan Brownnbrown@mill-stream.org

Junior Kelsey Corbett breaks away from the defense and runs the ball in to score a tri against the Brentwood Lady Brumbies. Chaos defeated the Brumbies 67-5 in their first game at Nash Bash.

Photo provided by M. Ploof

10 sports Mill Stream03.20.2009

Sleepovers, team dinners, camps, and team-building activities have already formed a close-knit girls’ tennis team as they head into the new season.

A winning record is on everyone’s mind, but Coach Tim Samons, a pro at Indy Racket Club, has the main goal of giving the girls an enjoyable experience with tennis.

“I love tennis!” junior Kyle Quaken-bush, the manager of the girls’ tennis team, said. “[Managing] gave me some-thing to do and an opportunity to play over the winter to keep my skills sharp.” Quakenbush started managing this year and attends the recommended condition-ing practices. He helps set up equipment and practices with the girls as well.

Quakenbush recognizes the impor-

tance of team-building and is in-volved with the many team-bond-ing activities.

“I baked chocolate chip cook-ies for one of the team’s sleepovers. They do a lot of team bonding.” Quakenbush said.

Junior Kathleen Brinegar looks forward to the team functions too as the season is about to kick-off.

“I’m most excited about team bonding because we like to do things outside of tennis,” Brinegar said. “The bus rides are always hi-larious.”

Brinegar’s goal for the team is a conference win. She also has per-sonal goals set for the upcoming season: “I want to personally win conference at doubles.” Although she does not know who her partner

is yet, her expectations for the season

are high.Coach Samons recognizes that tennis is unlike many

other sports such as basketball or football because there are not large groups playing at once, but he encourages cama-raderie in the team, and points out that the sport is “not as individualized as you would think.”

As the girls’ tennis season approaches, the conditioning and the team building are in place to insure a successful upcoming season and a very close team. Tryouts took place March 16. See www.mill-stream.org for the team’s season schedule.

Girls’ tennis kicks off new seasonKelsey Ploofkploof@mill-stream.org

Junior Mandy Learned practices on the first day of tennis tryouts.

Photo by K. Ploof

For over five years dur-ing academic lab the Key Club, run by health and physical edu-cation teacher Brooke Vin-ton, has held a student versus faculty game in which stu-

dents and teachers play a game of basketball against each other to raise money for the Make a Wish Foundation. All the money made from tickets, t-shirts, and sponsors goes to the Make a Wish Foundation for terminally ill children. However this year, Key Club changed the game up to mat-ball.

“We changed the game from basketball to matball be-cause it held everyone’s interest to keep things new and dif-ferent. We thought the students would enjoy mat ball, and it would be a change of pace for the faculty as well,” Mrs. Vin-ton said. “We also were looking for something that would pull more co-ed participation. Although we did have a few

female students participate last year in basketball, we are hoping matball brings out a more diverse crowd. Matball also makes it possible to involve more people.”

“I’m excited the game has changed to matball,” junior Trevor Blossom said. “It’s kind of boring and repetitive to see the same guys and same teachers play basketball every year. Plus, I think matball is more fun to play, anyway.”

Junior Xander Whiteman doesn’t share Blossom’s senti-ments. Instead, he sees the change in a negative light.

“I don’t really like how they changed the game to mat-ball,” Whiteman said. “It’s just tradition that basketball is the game.”

During the Feb. 27 Key Club meeting, every game was out in the open, but the club as a group voted on matball, saying it was “more fun and more entertaining to watch.”

Volleyball was originally chosen as the new game, but after the school board approved matball, it was chosen as the replacement for the traditional basketball game.

“I voted on matball, because I thought if we chose vol-leyball, it would only be girls, and if there were guys, they’d make a complete joke out of it,” sophomore Melissa Latini. “I know if I was playing against the teachers, I’d be messing around, but I’d also want to beat them.”

Vinton sees the change as a way for more participation.“Hopefully we’ll have a more diverse crowd playing and

watching this year,” Vinton said.

Oakley Gianakosogianakos@mill-stream.org

Matball vs. basketball: that is the question

Above: Junior Kathleen Brinegar jumps to hit a ball during tennis tryouts. Brinegar hopes for a conference win for the girls this season, as well as a win for her doubles team.

Sophomore Kasey Hartzell warms up on the first day of girls’ tennis tryouts. As the season approaches, the girls are working hard to condition and bond as a team. While a winning record is always a goal, the team is also concen-trating on building good relationships to insure a close, strong team.

11sportsMill Stream03.20.2009

Instead of succumbing to a case of the Mondays, students took on the rigorous workouts created by coach and teacher Brian Clarke. Every Monday, starting in June, athletes from every sport came together at 6 a.m. in order to improve their skills and abilities as athletes. The early morning training was open to all high school students, even if one didn’t play a sport. The last Championship Monday took place on March 9.

Clarke started this program of workouts, first on Thurs-days, when teaching at Pike High School and later at War-ren Central. It then became a tradition for Clarke and other high schools around the area, he said. Clarke has made many accomplishments and successes at these schools by taking part in 10 state championships. He was a 2007 final-ist for the national high school strength coach of the year in American Football Monthly and was voted number one public high school athletic program in USA-Sports Illustrat-ed in June of 2007.

Clarke has also trained athletes seen roaming the profes-

sional leagues, from Mr. Basketball 2003, Justin Cage, to Mr. Footballs 2006 and 2007, Dexter Taylor and Darren Evans, to NBA first round draft pick 2003, Courtney Lee.

When Clarke began coaching for Noblesville in June of 2008, he created the championship Mondays for the football players as pre-season training during the summer. Then he worked it into the Advanced Physical Conditioning (APC) course, which occurred on Wednesdays. Eventually all high school athletes had the ability to come on Mondays to take part in his workouts.

Between 180 and 200 students attended the practices; even determined eighth grade athletes came in contact with Clarke wanting to participate. Not only were students in-volved, but also over 25 coaches as well, from the football and baseball staff to the girls’ and boys’ track coaches.

“The basic concept: develop speed, power, explosiveness, endurance, discipline, and a champion mentality,” Clarke said. Clarke felt many athletes are very fit and strong but look like hogs on ice. One of his goals is to teach athletes to be more graceful and cut while they move. Stability and mo-bility are very important and the overall mission statement is: we want to be balanced, efficient movers.

According to Clarke, during the workouts there are many components that are broken up into different stations. The training kicks off with a dynamic warm-up of skipping, high knees, and other drills. Then stations are broken up in order to work on the different components of athletic devel-opment such as flexibility, agility, and mobility.

Junior Nathan Wallace felt the workouts made a huge impact on his skills. “I have gotten a lot faster and more flexible,” Wallace said. His 40-meter time dropped. He also commented on the upbeat, fun training with loud music pumping everyone up in the background.

“Even though the practices were hard it made the games so much easier,” Wallace said.

Sophomore Taylor Clauson also got a lot out of the work-outs. The sprint work and focus on technique made her move quicker for soccer.

Though the workouts may sound excruciatingly hard, a treat provided by Chick-Fil-A gave a boost afterward. The Championship Mondays are over for now, but the work-outs will soon be open to all students once again. For more specific information on Clarke’s workouts go to www.mill-stream.org and enjoy the full layout of the training.

Championship Mondays: Hard work that pays off forthe students and their health

Gabriella Guygguy@mill-stream.org

Millers play HSE in last sectional game

All photos by J. Russell

The view fom the Mill Nation of the game. Hamilton Southeastern delayed the game by throwing baby powder on the floor.

Mill Nation awaits the outcome of the game. Mill Nation is this year’s spirit block, a followup to the Dark Side.

The rollercoaster cheer, first brought to Noblesville by the Dark Side, came back for the sectional game. The cheer is traditionally per-formed between the third and fourth quarters.

Cheerleaders kept up the spirit during the game. During regular season, the band and cheerlead-ers share responsibil-ity for entertaining the crowd.

Junior Brandon Mattox scans the floor to find someone to pass to.

cd releasesConseco Field HouseLil’ WayneMarch 21

EaglesMarch 22

Murat TheatreBen FoldsMarch 21

BB KingMarch 25

IU AuditoriumWilcoApril 16

Buskirk-Chumley TheaterMountain GoatsApril 6

In Theatres

The Haunting in ConnecticutMarch 27

12 RoundsMarch 27

Fast and Furious 4April 3

Dragonball EvolutionApril 8

Observe and ReportApril 10

On DVD

Quantum of SolaceMarch 24

Marley and MeMarch 31

Operation Valkyrie April 7

The ReaderApril 14

12 caboose Mill Stream03.20.2009

plan ahead...

by Katie Elliottmovie releases live shows

March 21ISSMA choir finals

April 2Early Release day

April 3-10Spring Break

April 24Prom

April 21School board meeting

May 29Graduation

March 24ShineMartina McBride

Back on my B.S.Busta Rhymes

FreedomMandisa

March 31FreeGavin DeGraw

LOtUSFLOW3R/MPL SOUNDPrince

R.O.O.T.S. (Routes of Overcoming the Struggle)Flo Rida

A Cabinet of CuriositiesJane’s Addiction

April 7UnstoppableRascal Flatts

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