MUSTANG EXPRESS11.09.11 THEThe student publication of Sunrise Mountain High School Volume 16 Issue 2 http://mustangexpress.org www.facebook.com/SMHSnewspaper

Upcoming events at SunriSe and in Peoria

Picture drawn by Katelyn Rey

Compiled by Ryan SampeyStaff Reporter

The blood drive plays a big part in the fall events for Sunrise. HOSA teams up with the United Blood Services to get students to donate blood.

The requirements to donate blood are really simple. The student must be 16 and needs to be a certain weight for a specific height. It is dif-ferent for boys and girls.

For example, “Male students 16 years old that are at least 5’ tall and 110 pounds can donate,” according to an email interview with Medical Science teacher Mr. John Williams.

As for females who are 16 to 22 years of age, there is a specific chart that states girls need to be a specific weight that matches with their height. If a girl is 5’3” than her weight must be at least 124 pounds.

“The main purpose of the blood drive is to help the United Blood services supply those who are in need of the blood transfusion with blood…,” said HOSA President and senior Erik Kausin.

The small amount of blood that one donates can save up to three lives.

“ … Seeing as our school is heav-ily populated with those who can do-nate we provide an outlet for those

Emily BridgewaterSection Editor

students who want to donate so they can help out those who are in need of blood,” Kausin said.

HOSA treasurer Brooke Alden said, “There’s always going to be a need for blood. What’s more re-warding than being able to fill that need? At the end of the day you can say you helped someone. To me it’s incredibly rewarding.” HOSA took several careful steps to prepare for the blood drive. It takes time and en-ergy from the members of HOSA.

“For the blood drive [we did things] such as marketing, recruit-ing to get people signed up to do-nate. We do a lot of collaboration with the United Blood Services in terms of promotion and schedul-ing,” Kausin said.

HOSA hosts a blood drive at least twice a year.

“What’s really important to us as a club, though, is reaching our goal,” said Alden. “SMHS is usu-ally one of the best Peoria schools about donating, so we’re excited to see the turn out.”

The idea of donating blood can be scary because the whole needle situation freaks people out it is good to get involved in donating because one can overcome that fear of blood and needles.

“You can still get involved in the

Students donate blood to save lives

STUCK WITH A NEEDLE: Junior Cheyenne Adamonis waits as the nurse fills out her discharge forms. Sunrise Mountain saw 170 students donate blood for the United Blood Services. Photo by Alex Adams

Nature isn’t this colorful any other time of the year. Go for a walk or a bike ride. The time of the swimming pool has passed, so grab your sneakers and go outside.Who doesn’t love Adam Sandler? It’s even better when he dresses up like a woman. Jack and Jill is coming to theaters on Nov. 11.On Nov. 22, Sting is coming to Arizona. He goes on stage at 8 p.m. at the Comerica Theatre in Phoenix.It’s football season, so go out and support your Arizona Cardinals.The wait is over; one of the biggest video game franchises ever has returned with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3. The game is currently available for multiple platforms. For more info go to any game website and look up MW3.

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blood drive by getting other people to donate even though you may not be of age or weight requirements, you can always still promote the acts of donating blood, you save three lives and that’s really impor-tant for those in need of those blood transfusions,” Kausin said.

This won’t be the last blood drive

for the 2011-2012 school year. “There will most likely be anoth-

er blood drive in the spring for those who are missing out on this one,” Alden said.

For more information on the weight and height requirements and donating blood visit www.united-bloodservices.org.

Both the soccer and basketball seasons are getting ready to start. Come out and support the Mustangs. Soccer and basketball started October 31.On Nov. 11, school is out in honor of our heroes. It’s Veteran’s Day. If you know any veterans make sure they feel appreciated on this very special day.Is everyone doing well in school? What? You don’t know! Well you’re in luck. Sunrise Mountain Progress Reports are being sent out on Nov. 18. Remember the nights when your parents would read you a story before you went to bed? Well, on Nov. 18 the Theater classes are going to be per-forming fairy tales for the COOP kids here at Sunrise Mountain.We’re all thankful for things. One more thing to be thankful for is that on Nov. 24 and 25 there’s no school in celebration of Thanksgiving.Dec. 1 is My Life CTE day. Future Mustangs will be coming to Sunrise to prepare for the transition from elementary school to high school.

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The Dispatch 11.09.1102

Drugs destroy dreams. Crack is whack. Hugs not drugs. Drug free is the way to be.

Ever since the sixth grade or before, students have heard about the dangers of using drugs. Guest speakers and in-formational presentations are used to scare kids away from a potentially life-threatening situation. Yet, there are many teens who still take illegal drugs, even at Sunrise.

Why are drugs so bad anyway? The question feels idiotic, as if everyone should know the reasoning behind all the finger-shaking against drugs, but there are less considered reasons.

To cover all those reasons, the Mus-tang Express has compiled a list of the top five reasons why students should “just say no.”

This may seem basic, but it needs to be mentioned. Nurse Sharon Gillam of-fers some insight into the drug use that goes on, in high schools across America.

“There have been students under the influence of various substances [in the nurses office],” Nurse Gillam said.

She believes that a large drug prob-lem with kids today is with prescription drugs. According to the National Insti-tute of Drug Abuse, an estimated 20 per-cent of people aged 12 and over in the United States have used a prescription drug for a non-medical reason.

“If [medication is] not used for the person or purpose that they’re intended, they can be harmful,” Nurse Gillam said. “Even though it can be a prescription, it could be a prescription for somebody else [or] it could be your own prescrip-tion that you take too much of…”

A famous example of prescription drug abuse would be actor Heath Led-ger, who died in 2008.

“Every substance has the potential for harm as well as good,” Nurse Gillam said.

Drugs, from prescription to illegal, influence almost every aspect of a per-son, from appearance to behavior.

“Your balance [and] your ability to es-timate a passage of time [can be altered if you use drugs,]” Nurse Gillam said. “Sometimes just your alertness is greatly impacted, which is a lot of times the way that students that are having a problem are brought to our attention, because their behavior is inappropriate.”

Drugs do not only endanger yourself,

DRUG FREE: An anti-drug poster from the Arizona Meth Project poster hangs in English teacher Eric Berge’s classroom window. Photo by Kellie Reynolds

but also others. “You could drive under the influence

and kill yourself or someone else,” Nurse Gillam said.

Officer Steve Ortiz is often seen around the school. One of his jobs at the school is to present the dangers of drugs to classes. He has a great deal of infor-mation regarding the legal repercussion of drugs and has experience dealing with the legal aspect of drugs.

“There can be jail time, prison time or probation [if you are caught using drugs,]” Officer Ortiz said in an e-mail interview. “Most students don’t realize the trouble from school and the law.”

According to Officer Ortiz, possession of an illegal drug is a felony. Illegal drugs are considered anything from marijuana and heroin to prescription drugs that were not prescribed to you. If you get caught with drugs, your life can change very quickly.

“I see how drugs can change some-one’s life for the worst, and I try to ed-ucate students by giving drug classes throughout the year,” Officer Ortiz said.

Students have been caught with drugs on campus before.

“I [have] had students be in posses-sion of pipes, needles and drugs,” Officer Ortiz said. “The student will be arrested and charged in the city of Peoria.”

For a first offense, students will be suspended nine days on top of their criminal charges. The next offense will be much more severe.

“You will eventually get caught or get hooked on drugs,” Officer Ortiz said. “My door is always open, and I am [a] police officer, but I am also a person who wants to help the problem before it gets out of control.”

Students must think twice about using drugs for many reasonsKellie ReynoldsOnline Editor ing out with friends and buying gas,

where can you find the cash to purchase drugs?

A simple web search will claim that marijuana purchased in Arizona can cost anywhere from $80 to $400 or more per ounce, though the prices vary greatly. Other drugs may cost even more.

Students should not waste their mon-ey on a high that will only last so long.

“Some think [a drug] relaxes them or take[s] them away from their problems,” Officer Ortiz said. “It’s a dumb concept because once that high is over, their problems are still there.”

For $80 dollars, you could buy six CDs, 80 songs on iTunes or even 22 gal-lons of gas.

The drug war in Mexico seems a far way off. Certainly, Sunrise is not directly involved in these atrocities. However, drug users in Arizona may be indirectly supporting the drug lords in Mexico.

“[Drugs come from] bordering coun-tries like Canada or Mexico,” Officer Or-tiz said. “We do have people who grow the drugs at their home or garages.”

If the drugs someone buys come from Mexico, there is a good chance the drugs may have come as a result of smuggling or other foul play, even murder.

“There is no loyalty in the drug busi-ness,” Officer Ortiz said. “Many people don’t understand that when you deal with the cartel if you don’t do what they say, then people will pay with their lives.”

Students at Sunrise are probably not dealing with the cartel. However, the drugs that are used here could be traced back to them.

“The drug business is a risky busi-ness,” Officer Ortiz said.

There are ways to get help if you or a friend is addicted or abusing drugs in any way. Act now: it could be the differ-ence of life and death.

“Tell a teacher, principal or myself,” Ortiz said. “I think the staff here in SMHS are easy going and can be ap-proached.”

The most important thing is that you share this information with a trusted adult of some kind.

“But most importantly, share it,” Gil-lam said. “You could save someone’s life.”

For help, go to a trusted adult.

The Man Who Came To Dinner leaves audience laughing, smilingBraden TaylorPage Designer

This year’s fall play, The Man Who Came to Dinner, left the audience laughing in their seats. The comedy had many dif-ferent roles that contrib-uted to the plays success. Junior Sean Kocmoud played the role of the self-centered yet entertaining Mr. Whiteside extremely well and had the audience enjoying every minute he was on stage with his con-stant attempts to manage the lives of others. Along with Mr. Whiteside, the two love birds Bert Jef-ferson and Maggie Cutler

1. Senior Gabriela Barge greets junior Sean Kocmoud

2. RING RING: Senior Bella Vanek talks into a telephone as part of her role in the play.

3. Senior Gabriela Barge flirts with junior Robert Geiger. The play opened Nov. 3. Photos by Braden Taylor

#1 MEDICALN N #2 LEGAL

#3 ADDICTIONSN

N #4 ECONOMIC

#5 POLITICALNThose considering quitting drugs

may have a harder time than originally planned. Stopping drugs cold turkey is dangerous and harmful, just as staying on drugs is.

“Because of the addictive nature of a lot of these [drugs], you try it a couple of times, [and] then your body or your mind develops a tendency or desire to try it again [and] to want more,” Nurse Gillam said.

Marijuana is the most used drug (be-hind alcohol and tobacco) in the world according to the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime. Both Nurse Gillam and Officer Ortiz agree that marijuana is one of the top used drugs for Sunrise students.

“Once the marijuana is in their sys-tem, the body gets used to the marijuana and wants a greater high,” Officer Ortiz said. “That’s when heroin and the stron-ger drugs come into play.”

Addiction does more than cause the user to crave the drug. The effects of drugs go deeper than that.

“When you actually get into addic-tion, if you don’t get the drug, you have physical symptoms that are uncomfort-able so you look for more,” Nurse Gillam said.

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, a long-term drug abuser might experience “irritability, sleepless-ness, decreased appetite, anxiety and drug craving” after quitting marijuana. This will begin after a mere day of ab-staining, and 9 percent of users become addicted to marijuana.

Teenagers never have enough money, it seems. Between school events, go-

GETTING HELP+

(Played by junior Robert Geiger and senior Bella Vanek) caught the atten-tion of those watching while Ms. Cutler tried to save their relationship from the mischievous

Lorraine Sheldon (Se-nior Gabriela Barge) who does everything to get her hands on a play Jeffer-son had written. The play came together very well. The play’s set brought

the feeling of a real liv-ing room, the costumes brought the sense of the setting of the play and each role was filled with the person who brought the right characteristics that the play needed.

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The Scene11.09.11 03The Three Musketeers comes to theatres in 3DSierra PritchardStaff Reporter

Lulu lives up to expectations

In their latest album, Lulu, Metal-lica and Lou Reed have succeeded. Ac-cording to guardian.co.uk, the five men have performed together before. In 2009, they performed together at Madi-son Square Garden. They decided that they liked working with each other and Lulu was born. This is some of the best metal/rock music available. The music sounds like pure Metallica. The drums are powerful and the guitar is just plain awesome. Lou Reed handles the lyrics very well. With some songs it feels less like he is singing and more like he is tell-ing a story. Some listeners may not like this, but it really sets the dark tone for the music.

The songs have a unique feeling to them. James Hetfield and Lou Reed share the vocal responsibilities and it creates a nice contrast with Hetfield’s deep, heavy voice and Lou’s gaunt, dry voice. The guitar finds the perfect sound. It’s not a slow little melody but it also isn’t a furious mind blowing speed. The drums also are heavily used and they possess the strength to punctuate the songs but don’t overpower the vocals and guitars.

However, one con to the album is the length. One of the songs titled “Junior Dad” is almost 20 minutes long. Many people will lose interest before the song is half over. The songs need to be edited to a shorter length to keep them inter-esting instead of repetitive and dragged on. The rest of the tracks are much more reasonable; however some still pass that ten-minute mark. Songs such as “The View” are at the perfect length at around five minutes. The song doesn’t overstay its welcome.

It also doesn’t help if some of the songs are boring. “Cheat on Me” starts out with four minutes of a slow melody and repetitive lyrics. The songs would benefit from exciting music throughout.

Fans should know that the song “Dragon” is labeled Explicit and that the majority of the tracks feature some mild language and mature themes.

Fans of Lou Reed, Metallica, or both should enjoy this album.

Ryan SampeyStaff Reporter

Airships sailing in the sky, fights at every turn, and true heart shown in ro-mance, and friendship. This is what you will find in the new Three Musketeers movie in theatres now. The Three Mus-keteers is a very energetic, adventurous film, with a little extra imagination add-ed into it.

Young, and rambunctious D’Artagnan, played by Logan Lerman from Percy Jackson and the Olympi-ans, travels to Paris to join the Three Musketeers, not realizing that a foiled plan earlier has put them on their sepa-rate ways. On his first day D’Artagnan already makes enemies with the King’s right hand soldiers, and earns his first journey to prove himself with the Three Musketeers to help the Queen.

Throughout the movie, viewers were blown back by the action, and hanging on to the thought of a sequel at the end of the movie. This film is very well done, with a fantastic plot and visuals. It creat-ed a little fantasy to open up your mind

to history, and the future in technology. The acting was decent in a few parts, but when the action and important scenes came the actors and actresses were phe-nomenal. If you like action, adventure, laughs, all tied together with a little ro-mance, then this is the movie for you.

The Three Musketeers is originally based upon a book written by Alexandre Dumas Pere in 1844. It has been made into many films all over the world, be-ginning in the early 1900’s. One of the

most well-known Three Musketeer films, besides the most recent one in theatres, is the film created in 1993. This film starred Charlie Sheen, and basically had the same concept, as all of the Three Musketeer remakes do. Each film has a different twist though, that provokes the viewers, and creates new ideas. For ex-ample, this new film has airships, while the other films may not have them, but they have something unique to each one.

NewAwakening release does not disappoint Alex CurtisPage Designer

Arizona-based metal core band, Blessthefall released their new album entitled “Awakening” on Oct. 4, 2011.

Prior to Blessthefall’s newest release, they released their third studio album titled Witness. That album was rated at four and a half stars on iTunes by over 800 people. This album really pushed them to the top of the popularity charts with their most pop-ular song, “Hey Baby Here’s That Song You Wanted.”

Prior to listening to the new Awaken-ing album, I had hopes of hearing a similar sound as their previous album. However, I, followed by many other iTunes users, were blown away with the sound of the new album, being rated at four and a half stars by over 500 people in just three weeks.

Blessthefall’s style has definitely ma-tured since their previous release. With the new album, they still have the thrill-ing metal core style and techniques that please all metal fans but there is a fine line between the two albums. They have crossed the line from being a bunch of

teenagers banging their heads to putting real emotion into the music and lyrics.

The first track off the album, “Awak-ening”, unfolds with pounding drums, open ringing guitars and a powerful full band chant that gets the listener pumped up. Following the opening track is the song titled, “Promised Ones.” The lyrics of this song including, “Don’t you know we are the promised ones and nothing’s in our way”, go on to explain how the

band has matured and how they are not going to give up the fight of mak-ing it to the top in the mu-sic industry.

All twelve of the tracks on the album have that part that every-one remembers or can sing along to. there is not a moment that bores the lis-tener. From start to finish it is in your face. Whether it’s heavy guitars and screams or catchy choruses, past fans will be pleased with it.

Blessthefall’s new album can be pur-chased for around $7.99 at Best Buy, Hot Topic, Wal-Mart, and iTunes. Per-sonally, I give Awakening five out of five stars.

MEET THE GUYS (Picture left to right): Jared Warth, Matt Traynor, Beau Bokan, Elliot Gruenberg, Eric Lambert

Guetta wows listenersBraden TaylorPage Designer

David Guetta has got me living on nothing but the beat. After I get in my car, putting in Guetta’s new album Nothing But The Beat is the very first thing I do.

The French DJ has done wonders with this new album. One song is completely different from the next, which is not sur-prising with the different artists he features in his album. To name a few: Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Usher, Taio Cruz, Lud-acris, and female artists Nicki Minaj and Jennifer Hudson.

The song “I Can Only

Imagine” flows so well that it will have anyone rocking out when this great song comes on.

While the music on the CD is fantastic, the lyrics speak to the listeners as well. For those who are far apart from a person that means everything to them, the song, “With-out You” touches on that heavy subject with an ex-hilarating beat that could lift the heaviest of hearts.

Guetta lived up to his expectations as one of the hottest DJs in the busi-ness with his new album that has many people lis-tening.

“Personally, I gIve awakenIng fIve out of fIve stars.”

Down load these songs ; t ake our word fo r i t

1) “Hello”- Martin Solveig and dragonette

2) “tHe trouble witH girlS”- Scotty Mccreery

3) “you alwayS Make Me SMile”- kyle andrewS

4) “day tHat never coMeS”- Metallica

5) “waSte”- FoSter tHe PeoPle

6) “love you Madly”- cake

7) “Hold on”- good cHar-lotte 8) “droPS oF JuPiter”- train

9) “unbroken”- deMi lovato

10) “SMall Face”- tHe Plot in you

11) “druMMing Song”- Flor-ence and tHe MacHine

The Spotlight 11.09.1104

Lorenz plans to graduate early, get head start on college

Junior Jared Lorenz is doing something only a few students take advan-tage of: he is graduating early. Ever since his sev-enth grade year he has been ahead of his class, taking on higher level

pated senior year of high school, he has found good reason to not dwell on it.

“The fact that I’m sav-ing myself $40,000 dol-lars makes it worth it for me to graduate a year ear-ly,” Lorenz said.

Walking on gradua-tion day with their class should be the big finale of most students’ high school experience, but Jared isn’t so sure, as he won’t be walking with his 2013 class.

“My mom wants me to walk with the graduating class this year, but I’m not excited because I don’t re-ally know them,” Lorenz said.

After Lorenz graduates from Sunrise he will pur-sue a college education to become a doctor.

“I’m probably going to ASU then after that go to U of A for medical school,” Lorenz said.

classes at a younger age. “I took Beginning Al-

gebra in sixth grade, In-termediate Algebra in seventh grade, and math my eighth grade year,” Lorenz said.

To stay ahead of the game, he took English III online during this sum-mer. This enabled him

to have enough credits to graduate by the end of this year.

Lorenz has his eye set on the AIMS scholarship that is provided by the Ar-izona Department of Edu-cation. The scholarship is accepted at the three state universities. According to Arizona State University’s State Press website, the AIMS scholarship last year was cut. Regularly the scholarship would cover the full cost of tuition, but starting in the fall it will only cover 25 percent of tuition. This was the key in Lorenz’s decision to graduate a year early.

“There’s only 25 per-cent [covered tuition] my year and the year of 2012 is 100%. So I figured if I could graduate early then it would be beneficial to me,” Lorenz said.

Even though Lorenz will be missing his antici-

Arianna Saenz-OchoaPage Designer

Preparing for the future is essential, and soon the future will take us by storm, and lead us into the world. Some stu-dents wish to go to college once they graduate high school, but college is very expensive. That is where scholarships come in, like the AIMS scholarship.

“The AIMS scholarship only applies to the Uni-versity of Arizona, Arizo-na State University, and Northern Arizona Univer-sity. You apply for the col-lege first, and then before you pay, you find out if you earned the scholarship. This scholarship is based on GPA, and grades, and it only pays for 25% of the tuition after 2012,” Career center specialist Cindy Fair said.

The scholarship will enable the students with free tuition for the seniors of 2012, but as the years go on, the scholarship will change, and it will be less of the tuition paid.

“It will cover 100% of the tuition at U of A, ASU, or NAU for the next four years (based on what the tuition is their freshmen year of college),” Sunrise Mountain counselor Jill Birt emailed. “The expec-tation for next year’s se-niors is different and the reward is not nearly as awesome, unfortunately.”

To earn the scholarship, students must complete a few essential grades, and GPA’s.

“Students must com-plete all 16 Core Compe-tency Courses by gradu-ation with a B or better in each unit of credit

awarded or receive an ac-ceptable score on the Ad-vance Placement (AP) test or a 4 on the International Baccalaureate (IB) test for that subject area,” accord-ing to the AZ department of education website.

For this year’s seniors, there are many advantag-es compared to next year’s seniors.

“The AIMS high hon-ors tuition scholarship is awesome for this year’s senior because there is no limit on how many se-nior students can receive it. It is not a competition but rather if you meet the expectation, you qualify,” Mrs. Birt said.

This scholarship can help out a student with the cost of college, and help them lead a good fu-ture.

“It could help a student’s future by mak-ing their education more affordable. In the past we have had as many as 50 students qualify for the scholarship,” Assistant principal, Donna Short said.

Fair gave students some tips to help them prepare for the scholar-ship and the future.

“Make sure every pa-per is turned in on time, and do everything even if you think it is ridiculous. Make every grade and paper count. Work really hard in classes, and apply for the harder classes in the subjects that you are strong in. Study, and be involved in school,” Fair said.

So if you are look-ing for a scholarship, then consider the Aims scholarship for your fu-ture.

Sierra Pritchard Staff Reporter

AIMS scholarship provides opportunity for studentsin Iowa,” Joice said. “I

also plan on substituting, probably just [at SMHS]. I am going to teach private swim lessons in the sum-mer at Lake Okoboji.”

Junior Alex Terhune felt as though Joice really cared for her students. Terhune had Joice for World History.

“She strived for us to do better,” Terhune said. “[We took] notes every day. I really liked her; she was a good teacher with a good personality.”

Junior Greg Hedges also liked Joice because she didn’t always stand at the front of the room and teach-like a typical teacher.

“She actually interact-ed with the class instead of just talking at the front of the class,” Hedges said.

Joice said. “My first love is history; I love literature [too].”

Once Joice is retired, she plans on doing many different things in her spare time.

“I plan on spending my time at Lake Okoboji

taught English for many years, her favorite subject to teach is World History. She has wanted to teach history since she was in college.

“When I was in col-lege, I always wanted to be a history teacher,” Mrs.

Mrs. Joice has worked 30 years as a teacher. Twelve of those years have been spent here at Sunrise Mountain High School. Joice has decided to retire for financial reasons.

“I went downtown to a state retirement conference.”Joice said. “[Since] our salary is go-ing down every year so if I don’t [retire], I will make less in retirement. To put it easy, it’s a financial situ-ation.”

After teaching all these years, there is one thing that Joice is going to miss the most.

“[I will miss] the stu-dents because I love teach-ing, I do,” Joice said.

Although Mrs. Joice

Mrs. Joice plans on retirement at end of school year

Art IV students are doing something unique that no other art class gets to do. Rather than getting assigned projects they’re assigning their own.

“My theme is six pic-tures, depicting a boy meets girl type love story,” Art IV student Rebecca Wood said. “It’s the theme that everyone’s looking for that one person.”

Students are able to pick their medium, decide on their due dates and are even able to choose how many projects they do –as long as it’s over six.

“[The course for Art IV is] made off of the AP

model,” Katie Haas, the Sunrise Mountain Art teacher, said. “I don’t do the AP with students un-less I’ve had them through Art II and III.”

Art students who take Art III with Mrs. Haas get to experience something similar to the AP credit course. They do very simi-lar, intense works that would be asked of an AP student. Art III student are not allowed to pick their medium, though.

“I like graphite [pen-cil],” Wood said. “It’s crisp, clean and the black and white doesn’t detract from the image.”

So far Wood has only completed two of her works but she is working

on a third. And out of all her works

there’s one she is especial-ly proud of this year.

“My favorite work so far is the portrait I drew of a boy,” Wood said. “I liked the contrasting val-ues with his face compet-ing with the background.”

Wood is very much enjoying being able to pick her own theme and works. So, she would like to recommend anyone to take art and strive to meet Art IV.

“[Students should con-sider art] Even if they’re not good at it,” Wood said. “Art is objective - it’s all in the eye of the beholder- and it’s just fun and relax-ing.”`

Art IV students assign own projects

Natalie KurtzStaff Reporter

Katelyn ReyStaff Reporter

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The Spotlight11.09.11 05

Staffer jumps on chance to visit nation’s capitalChristian ParravanoAdvertisement Manager

Washington D.C., Our nation’s capital and home to some of the most powerful Americans in the world and to some of the most historic pieces and buildings in our nation. Washington D.C. is also the location of the National Youth Leadership Form of National Security (NYLF:NS).

Last year, I received an email from this organi-zation. In said email, there was tons of informa-tion regarding this crazy trip to Washington D.C. to learn about national security and leadership. Obviously, curiosity and interest overwhelmed me and I dove head first into the idea of this trip.

Now, under no circumstances should one as-sume it was cheap. Travel fees, cost of the neces-sary fancy clothes and general spending money, as well as the cost of the actual seminar, really adds up. However, it truly is the trip of a lifetime.

The NYLF gets a hold of an impressive num-ber of important speakers and permission to go to awesome places. Diplomats, spies, senators, governors, you name it. There were amazing guest speakers on a daily basis, free meals at a fancy ho-tel and tons of new people to meet. You get to go to some amazing places such as Quantico (the mili-tary base), the National Spy Museum, the Penta-gon, various foreign embassies, the Newseum, The Smithsonian, FBI headquarters and more.

On the day we arrived we listened to a long speech by the head coordinator of the forum. He told us that we were future leaders, the best and brightest of our nation, and that this seminar was going to open up doors with the greatest opportu-nities behind them.

The next day was when the real trip started. We took a bus up to Capitol Hill (where the nation’s capital building is held and other places such as senator offices, the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress). We were given a couple of hours to go off on our own at our pace.

I went around with the two guys that I was put in a dorm with, Seth Smith from Virginia and Robert Miller from Montana. We went to the Library of Congress to read and photograph all the historical documents, we sat in the Supreme Court and got a presentation (although pictures weren’t allowed in the actual court room), and ate a really overpriced

Slezak’s passion for acting pays off Fink manages to balance busy plateBrooke MeyersStaff Reporter

Most juniors in high school have not won mul-tiple awards in recogni-tion of their passion nor do they have knowledge of what they are going to do with their life. This is what sets Michaela Slezak apart from most high school students. Slezak has a passion for acting.

“I love acting because you get to create a differ-ent character than your-self,” Slezak said. “You learn a lot about different literature and cultures; it makes you a well-rounded person.”

Slezak has had im-mense success acting in high school.

“I have been nominated three times by the Arizo-na Theater of Excellence Awards and have won two National Youth Arts Awards, “Said Slezak.

Slezak has been in over 20 shows at the commu-

nity theater and has plans for her future.

“I want to major in dra-ma and make a career out of it’” Slezak said.

With all this success it is hard not to be noticed.

“Michaela is responsi-ble, committed, wonder-fully talented, and doesn’t wait until the last minute to get things done,” Tanya Boehme, Director of vocal music and Theater said.

Mrs. Boehme has had Slezak as her student for two years and is hopeful for her future.

“Michaela can do any-thing she puts her mind to. She’ll be anything she wants to be,” Mrs. Boehme said. “She’s so talented, I’d love to see her continue in theater in some aspects. However, I just want her to live a happy and suc-cessful life.”

Brooke MeyersStaff Reporter

Sophomore Rachel Fink is one to watch at Sunrise Mountain.

Rachel has a lot on her plate. She is captain of the junior varsity volleyball team, plays in matches for the varsity volleyball team and tries to keeps up with school work. All this can be hard for a teenager, but Fink stays optimistic.

“It has been really hard and stressful, but I try to make the best of it and just have fun,” Fink said.

Fink also has a lot to live up to. Both of her brothers (Nathan and Josh) have been star ath-letes at Sunrise.

“Nathan and Josh both played football, basketball and volleyball,” said Fink. “Josh’s main sport was basketball and Nathan was one of the top receiv-ers in the state.”

Although Fink is ex-traordinary in school she

is also just a normal teen-age girl.

“I really like to just hang out with friends and listen to music,” Fink said.

Fink’s family is very supportive of everything she does.

“My parents have nev-er missed a game,” Fink said. “They spent their en-tire anniversary watching

me play volleyball.”Fink has been playing

since she was nine years old and all the experience is paying off.

“I played in a tourna-ment recently with the varsity team,” Fink said. Although Fink loves vol-lyball, she has a diffrent plan for her future. “I want to be a nurse. Fink said.

Photo by Robert Miller

Photo by Brooke Meyers

Photo by Arianna Saenz-Ochoa

lunch at the cafeteria in the Supreme Court.Throughout the week we boarded busses

and went to various places in our nation’s capital. We also took a trip to the Smithson-ian Museums. We were given free range to explore the Museum of Natural History, The Air Space Museum and the butterfly garden. We went to Arlington cemetery and saw the changing of the guard, a ceremony that takes place at the “Tomb of the Unknown” (a tomb for an unidentified WWII soldier). We also saw the Eternal Flame, the torch that burns indefinitely, day and night, at the gravesite of John F. Kennedy.

However, the whole trip wasn’t just sight-seeing. For the better part of the experience, it was lots of learning, work, important guest speakers, and group discussions. Every stu-dent there was put into a “National Security Action Meeting” group (NSAM) that had something of an advisor to guide the discus-sions between the students. Lots of the time during the trip was spent with these groups (about 25 kids to a group) reading, discuss-ing and creating posters and presentations and such. We learned about the six branches of government, M.I.D.D.L.E., and the roles of each. The branches are: Media, Intelli-gence, Defense, Diplomacy, Legislative, and Executive.

While reading and learning about gov-ernment relations (primarily East Asia) we were given roles to fill in each branch of the government. At the end of the entire trip ev-eryone took part in a realistic simulation of a nuclear crisis with North Korea. Everyone acted according to the role they were given in the government, as information was given, traded and withheld resulting in an ultimate decision decided solely by the students.

In a sense, it isn’t really like I missed a week of school because this trip was just as much work. However, I could never think of a better way to spend a week of my time other than learning about amazing things such as national security in the capital of the United States of America. With that, if the opportu-nity presents itself I would suggest to jump on a chance to go on a trip like this.

06 11.09.11

The best thing about the future is that i t comes only one day at a t ime.” -Abraham Lincoln

Wha

t do

you

see

in y

our

futu

re?

L o o k i n g F o r w a r d t o Yo u r F u t u r eStudents start their future nowAlex AdamsStaff Reporter

Sunrise Mountain High School has several stu-dents on its campus that are taking advantage of the CTE (Career and Technical Education) classes and opportuni-ties the school provides. SMHS offers CTE class-es such as fire science, auto, marketing, engi-neering, fashion design, sports medicine, COOP; the list goes on and on. One student, senior

Ashley Warda, who is in fashion design, has high aspirations for her future.“After high school, I

want to go to college and then become a buy-er,” Warda said. “This [means] I would work for a certain store and I decide what they sell and what would inter-est the customers.”Warda says that she re-

cently found out about the occupation of a buyer in her Fashion Design class. “My junior year is

when I first heard about becoming a buyer,” Warda said. “Then I decided that is what I want to be.” Warda says that she

is not only interested in fashion, but also the marketing side. Fashion Design not only teaches students about fashion, but the business per-spective of fashion as well. In addition, there is a Fashion Club that students can join if they are interested in fash-ion design or fashion marketing. Another student, se-

nior Brandon Lawhorn, who is in the Criminal Justice class and is in the Professional Intern-ship class, also has high aspirations for his fu-ture. “I have always wanted

to be in law enforce-ment, but lately I have been interested about joining the military,” Lawhorn says. Lawhorn is following a

childhood dream to be-come a law enforcer or potentially a part of the military. “I have wanted to do

this [law enforcement] since I was seven,” Lawhorn said. “Movies made me interested as a child and I stayed in-terested.”Lawhorn also says that

if students are interest-ed in law enforcement,

he suggests taking the Law Enforcement class, and when they become seniors, take the Profes-sional Internship class. Senior Katie Lageson

is working towards becoming a pediatric nurse. “Right now we are

learning how to take care of patients,” Lag-eson said. Lageson knew going

into Sunrise Mountain what she wanted to be. Currently Lageson is in the COOP program and she hopes to com-bine her love of work-ing with children and her passion for nursing to become a pediatric nurse. “I really want to help

people,” Lageson said. “I love being around kids, but being a teacher is something that does not interest me. Nurs-ing is definitely the way I want to go.”Sunrise Mountain

teachers, counselors, and administration all hope that every student will graduate career and college ready, as well as life prepared. These three students are well on their way to achiev-ing this goal.

“

“I hope to go to medical school and start a family and get married and become an ER nurse or one of those people who ride in the ambulances to go to accidents.” Lauren Ney, 10

“In my future, I don’t know what I see. I can’t predict the future. But hopefully if I do good in school may-be I could do something great.” Jimmy Benteu, 9

Medical/Health careers including doctors, nurses, dentists, therapists, etc.

Military careers including the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, etc.

27%

5%10%

2%56%

Education careers including teachers, professors, etc.

What area of interest does your career choice

fall under?

Vocational careers including carpenters, personal appearance workers, mechanics, etc.

Other including musicians, athletes, writers, entrepreneurs, those of you still undecided, etc.

100 students surveyed

of students know exactly what they are doing in their future.

51%

11%of students have

no idea what they’re doing in

their future.

38%of students are

keeping their options open in

their future.

100 students surveyed

The Horseshoe 07

The best thing about the future is that i t comes only one day at a t ime.” -Abraham Lincoln

L o o k i n g F o r w a r d t o Yo u r F u t u r eDangerous jobs

1. Fishermen 2. Loggers3. Aircraft Pilots4. Farmers/Ranchers5. Roofers6. Structural Iron/Steel Workers7. Garbagemen8. Industrial Machinery/ Maintenance Workers9. Truck Drivers10. Construction WorkersAccording to jobs.aol.com

The Top

“Probably living in a 9-by-9 foot apartment with a refrigerator and a couch trying to make ends meet. You know like selling coke bottles for money for food.” Taylor Shelton, 11

“I see myself being in the fashion industry...taking pictures of the new fashion that is coming out. I just want to become successful in [fashion].” Kellie Miner-Durkit, 12

Want to learn m

ore about SMHS

students and their futures?Read m

ore at :m

ustangexpress.org

10 MOST:Satisfying jobs

High Paying jobs1. Surgeons2. Anesthesiologists3. Oral/Maxillofacial Surgeons4. Orthodontists5. Obstetricians/Gynecologists6. Internists-General7. Physicians8. Family/General Practitioners9. Chief Executives10. PsychiatristsAccording to myplan.com/careers

1. Clergy2. Firefighters3. Physical Therapists4. Authors5. Special Education Teachers6. Teachers7. Education Administrators8. Painters/Sculptors9. Psychologists10. Security/Financial ServicesAccording to livescience.com

My future: What can I do now?Freshmen: Take advantage of the CTE classes offered to you. In addition, challenge yourself academically and aim for high grades. The future may seem very far away, but it’s never too early to start preparing now.

Sophomores: You’re still an underclassmen but not for long! Visit the My Life website found on the PUSD homepage to explore your options in the future. Schedule CTE classes for your junior and senior year.

Juniors: Put in an extra ef-fort toward your academic success.Prepare for the ACT and/or SAT. Take these tests early so that you can take it more than once to achieve the highest score you can.

Seniors: Three words: plan, prepare, and act! Are you going to a university, com-munity college or trading school? Be sure to consider all your options and choose what is best for you. Most importantly, act upon it.

To all grades: VISIT THE CAREER CENTER! Located in the library.

Playing Field 11.09.1108Decker has high hopes for wrestling season

With the opponent pinned to the mat, the wrestler returns to his Sunrise Mountain teammates with victory writ-ten on his face.

Coming off of a season of 21 wins and 4 losses, the wrestling team wants to have an equally competitive or better season this year.

“I think we will be really good this year,” Senior wrestling captain Kevin Hunt said.

Wrestling Coach Steven Decker ex-pects the wrestling team members to perform at their best.

“We have almost our entire team back from last year,” Decker said. “Hard work and dedication from the team [is how we hope to improve]. Hopefully we will be the best in state.”

Decker hopes for a high state ranking and for the team captains, to embrace their important roles.

“[Our hopes for the team this year are] to be top three in the state and to have great leadership from the senior captains- Brennan Smith, Cord Corona do, and Kevin Hunt,” Decker said.

Laura Johnson Staff Reporter

HIT THE MAT: The wrestling team prac-tices for upcoming season. Practice ran long and hard. Photo by Haylie Konakis

TAKE HIM DOWN: Sunrise wrestlers go at it, practicing against each other. The team hoped to be prepared for the season. Photo by Haylie Konakis

Jumping forward to basketball season

Basketball season is

soon approaching and varsity coaches Jennifer Kubo and Jason Pasinski are ready to take on the 2011-2012 season.

Kubo, the varsity girls basketball coach, expects the girls on the team to join as one.

“I just hope that every one [on the team] under stands their goal in order for us to be successful,” Kubo said. “It’s about uni-ty and not playing time.”

Pasinski, varsity boys basketball coach, expects his team to be competi-

tive and steady with their playing.

“I’m hoping this group will be more consistent in games and also practice by working hard every day and pushing each other,” Pasinski said. “[I want the team to] learn to play hard, play smart, play as a team and get better each game and peak toward the end of the season.”

Basketball is not about individual players, but how they come together as a team. Varsity basket ball player and junior El-roy Masters has faith his team can do just that.

“We have a lot of pieces and I hope we can mesh

together because I think this could be a special year if we work together,” Masters said.

Idara Ekpoh, senior girls varsity basketball player, anticipates that the seniors on the team will finish the season on a good note.

“I hope for a great re cord and for us seniors to leave a good name for girls basketball next year,” Ekpoh said.

The first game for the varsity boys team will be on Nov. 22 at Copper Canyon. The first game/tournament for the varsity girls team will be on Nov. 21 at Barry Goldwater.

Arianna Saenz-OchoaStaff Reporter

Girls soccer team emphasizes skill of players

Coming off a highly successful season with a record of 14 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie, the Sunrise Mountain girls soccer team is getting ready to start fresh in the upcoming season.

“[I think the team will be] really solid, really good this year,” senior and captain Amber Hamad said.

The team has certain areas of focus to make the team better from last year; im-proving ball skills is one of them.

“Every year our goal is to improve our individual and team play,” Soccer Coach Shauna Johnson said. “We always try to improve our ball skills and speed of play.”

Hamad has a personal issue to work on throughout the season. She was in-jured during the Homecoming Powder Puff game and recently had surgery.

“Hopefully my knee gets better so I can play,” Hamad said.

Working together is the main goal for the soccer players.

Laura Johnson Staff Reporter

Support the Mustangs!BasketBall soccer Wrestling Boys11-16 Home vs. WilloW Canyon 11-22 aWay vs. Copper Canyon 11-29 Home vs. peoria 12-2 Home vs. Kellis 12-9 aWay vs. liberty

Girls11-29 aWay vs. peoria 11-30 Home vs. Copper Canyon 12-2 aWay vs. Kellis 12-6 aWay

vs. agua Fria 12-7 Home vs. youngKer

Boys11-29 aWay vs. sHadoW mountain 12-1 aWay vs. greenWay

12-6 aWay vs. liberty

12-13 aWay vs. goldWater

12-15 Home vs. verrado

11-30 at bropHy vs. CHaparrall, Centennial, FairFaz

12-1 Home

vs. CaCtus, iron-Wood, liberty

12-7 at Horizon vs. peoria, CaCtus sHadoWs, sHadoW mountain

12-8 at deer bal-ley vs. boulder CreeK, presCott

12-9/10 aWay CaCtus tounrament 12-14 Home vs. liberty

12-16/17 aWay moon velly toun-rament 1-11 Home vs. tHunderbird

Girls11-28 Home vs. deer valley 11-29 Home vs. sHadoW moun-tain 12-1 Home vs. greenWay 12-5 Home vs. liberty

TAKE THE SHOT! Sunrise basketball players scrimmage to prepare for the upcoming season. The team practiced vigorously to up their skills. Photo by Brooke Meyers

“[Our main strength] is our continued support for one another and our ability to play as one cohesive team,” Johnson said.

Hamad agrees that teamwork is a top priority.

“[The best part about being on the team is that] all the teammates are re ally close,” Hamad said.

Hamad has certain things they do to prepare before a game.

“[The way I prepare is to turn] music on, focus, and get into the zone,” Hamad said.

Johnson’s main expectation for the upcoming season is for the players to perform at their best in every game.

“My hopes for the season include to play well in every game and to continue to build on what we have accomplished in past years,” Johnson said.

The girls soccer team’s first game of the season is against Deer Valley on Monday, Nov 28, at 6 p.m. here at Sun-rise Mountain.

KICK IT: Sophomore Brianna Cozza smashes the ball at soccer try outs. The girls trying out gave it their all. Photo by Alex Curtis

“Lots of kids have improved their times throughout the year,” Swim and Dive Coach Chris Moore said. The boys team, in particular, has had success in dual meets, with a record of 6-1 for the season.

“We are going to have a lot of boys ... and a handful of girls who are qualify-ing for state so that’s going to be fun,” Moore said.

Playing Field11.09.11 09Wrap it up with Mustang fall sports

Freshman football fin-ished their season off undefeated, with one tie against Liberty. “The boys

have had a good season; they played hard,” coach Brian Greene said. JV football finished their season with five wins and three losses. As of Nov. 4, varsity football was on their way to playoffs with a record of seven wins and three losses.

Volleyball According to varsity volley-ball Coach Tony Gale, the team has been “rebuilding this year.” The girls finished their season with a record of 11 wins and 26 losses, including tournaments. “JV and Freshmen [teams] have had really good seasons, in fact, they’ve done a really nice job,” Gale said. The freshman finished their season with eight wins and nine losses.

Swim and diVe

CroSS Country

Golf Girls golf “fell pretty far short,” according to Coach Ja-son Stutenroth. “Unfortunately we didn’t have anyone qualify [for state]. We did however place third overall in the district and had two girls in the top ten.”

Boys golf lost in a close match for the whole team to join in on this year’s state competition. “We’ve missed it by either one or two strokes,” Boys Coach Nick Rizer said. Senior Tommy Marino went to state solo. “I’ve been to state since my freshmen year,” Marino said. “I obviously want to win -- that’s been my goal for a while now -- but I’m just going to play my best both days.”

football

The boys cross country team took the top spot in the region for the fourth year in a row.

“I have three [runners] who have been working hard all year and that are going to finish well at sec-tionals and state,” Boys Coach Torin Lattie said.

The girls cross country team also did well, finishing 3rd at district finals and 4th at the state qualifying meet.

1. CHARGE: Freshman football plays Cactus. The team finished the season off undefeated. Photo by Summer Tiano

2. BUMP THE BALL: Varsity volleyball participates in Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The volleyball team finished their season well. Photo by Sierra Pritchard

3. DEEP BREATH: Freshman Brendan Rodgers competes in a swim meet. The swim team finished their season with a record of 6-1. Photo by Andy Guerrero

4. REACH FOR THE SKY: The Varsity dive team competes hard in a meet. They accomplished many goals over the season. Photo by Katelyn Rey

5.HANG IN THERE: Seniors Tyler Ryan and Bradley Rodgers and junior Jake Ho-gan participate in cross country sectionals. The cross country team competed in the state finals. Photo by Amanda Briggs

6.FOCUS: Senior Tommy Marino scouts out his next move. Marino has been on the boys golf team all four years. Photo by Natasha Hossain

All stories credited to Haylie Konakis.

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2 Cents 11.09.1110

Justice needs to be served despite old age

It is never too late to be punished for actions made in the past, especially when these actions in-

volve murder. This is all too true for a handful of surviving Nazi death camp guards who are facing prosecution for their involvement in witnessing and/or committing brutal crimes against innocent victims during World War

II. German prosecutors are determined to bring as many guilty men to justice as possible.

Hundreds of these dormant investi-gations are being reopened in Germany and prosecutors are not being merciful. Some say it is too harsh to prosecute an 81 year-old man, but I believe justice needs to be served regardless of the age of the suspect. Old age is not an excuse to be exempt from punishment. In ad-dition, disregarding these cases is ini-tially conveying that any cold case over

70 years-old is not worth the time solv-ing, even if one has the means to do so. Reopening these cases is a controversial but brave move.

The most famous case involves a sus-pected Nazi death camp guard, John Demjanjuk. His trials have been taking place for years and he continues to ap-peal. Now 91, Demjanjuk claims his in-nocence from the 28,060 counts of ac-cessory to murder for serving as a guard at the Sobibor death camp in Nazi-oc-cupied Poland. Significantly, this is the first case that prosecutors have been able to convict someone in the Nazi-era, without direct evidence of the suspect taking place in a specific killing.

People wonder if it is right to accuse a 91 year-old man in a wheelchair of ac-cessory to murder. Consider this: was it right for him to watch men, women and children get murdered in front of his eyes and not do something about it? Is it okay for any of these guilty men to get away with the horrible, disgusting things they saw and/or did? These men were strong and able young men when these crimes were committed. Their age now should not be an issue. There is no doubt in my mind that these men need to face justice.

Justice is fair, reasonable and mor-

ally right. It is completely fair to punish someone for multiple acts of harsh treat-ment. It is completely reasonable to con-vict people found guilty of crimes. It is also morally right to place punishment upon those who have performed awful acts. These conclusions leave little room to doubt the importance of reopening these Nazi cases.

As the controversy stirs nations and puzzles society, the issue remains: how far is too far when it comes to justice? Let’s be honest. Age should never be a determining factor. If guilty, these men committed awful, inhumane crimes. Should they not be punished just be-cause these crimes took place a little over 70 years ago? Time may resolve some issues, but this is definitely not one of them. Justice needs to be served for the victims and their families who suf-fered an indefinite amount of pain and, for many, lost their lives because of the ruthless actions of others. These cases need to be reopened. We cannot leave them on the back shelf to gather dust. I support prosecutors who are dedicat-ing their time to bring as many people to justice as possible. They are not wasting their time. And for those families seeking justice, whether these men are convicted now or not it will surely be served.

Anissa Saenz-OchoaPage Designer

History classes should cover Arizona pastEmily BridgewaterPage Designer

When I walked into AP AZ/US history as a junior, I was really ex-cited to learn about Ar-izona history, almost

more than American history. As the class progressed, however, I learned we weren’t going to talk about Arizona history. I was confused because the class is called AZ/US history.

I love history and enjoy learning about any era of history. And although Arizona history is a short time span, I think it is rich and filled with intrigu-ing stories.

I believe that the state’s history needs to be emphasized just as much as the country’s history, for a number of reasons. First, the Native Ameri-cans have a big impact on Arizona and Native Americans are not emphasized in other history classes. Second, it is

the state we live in; therefore, we should know some knowledge of Arizona histo-ry. How many people know when Arizo-na became a state or who Arizona’s first female governor was?

Some argue that Arizona’s history is short and boring, but if you go back to when the Spanish came over and Arizo-na was a Spanish territory, it is interest-ing. If it were up to me, I would teach Arizona history from the very beginning to the colonization of Arizona as just a territory. Early Native American tribes that are a big part of the country such as the Navajos, Hohokam, Apaches, and famous Arizona Native Americans like Geronimo. Learning about AZ history would be like watching an old western. I would go over Arizona’s part in the Civ-il War and World Wars to the modern times. Arizona government would also be helpful because as Arizonans it is our civil duty to participate in voting for not only President-elects, but also our gov-

ernors and senators. Students would probably be more in-

terested in Arizona history because they live here. They can say, “Oh yeah, I have been downtown to the Herberger The-atre and it was built in 1989.”

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my so-cial studies classes in high school, I just believe that Arizona history needs to be accentuated. World history should be taught freshman year. Arizona history should be taught sophomore year. Unit-ed States history should be taught junior year. Finally, Economy and Government should be taught senior year.

Let’s learn about Barry Goldwater, about western expansion, what purchase contained Arizona, and copper mining. It is important to know why Arizona was made a state and what brought people to Arizona: mining.

I am sixth generation Arizonan, so hearing stories about Arizona is one of my favorites. I think it is because I can

relate to it. I live in Arizona and I can say “Oh yeah, the first Oldsmobile deal-ership was owned by my family and my great great-grandfather supplied the cars for the opening of Roosevelt Lake to escort Teddy Roosevelt. Bam.”

Community service for holidaysNatasha HossainEditor In Chief

The feeling of warmth and joy you feel after helping someone in need is pretty much beyond

what words can describe. Volunteer-ing is a win-win situation. You can brighten someone’s day, maybe even make a difference in their life through your one act of kindness. But the ben-efits don’t stop there. It leaves you feeling great and in the end makes you a better person.

The holiday season is one of the best times to give back to your community. There are plenty of people out there who can’t afford a feast on Thanks-giving and plenty more children who won’t have presents to open on Christ-mas. There’s an abundance of oppor-tunities to change someone’s holiday and make it better and it doesn’t have

to require too much time or money.The world could always use some new

volunteers. These days, people become too busy with their lives whether it be with their work, school, kids or friends. Sometimes we get caught up with our-selves so much and we forget to take a moment and look around. There is al-ways someone worse off than you no matter what and people need to take the time to realize that.

Volunteering works wonders in many ways. It’s a good stress reliever, a good way to put value into the things you have, it makes you appreciate your life and it just makes you feel good inside and out.

If you’re interested in making a dif-ference in someone’s life this holiday season here’s some suggestions: help with Christmas angels through FCCLA, donate canned foods with Student Coun-cil or just go do something yourself like volunteer at a soup kitchen.

Gum thrown on ground ridiculousNatalie KurtzStaff Reporter

It seems as though everywhere you go on our campus, there is gum in places that it shouldn’t be.

Fresh wads of gum appear almost ev-ery day. This sticky substance that covers the ground is just waiting for the bottom of a clean shoe to attach to. And at some point or another, the gum on the ground will be stepped in by your shoe.

It doesn’t take too much effort to keep gum inside of your mouth, but if it does fall out of your mouth, it is not too hard to pick it up with a piece of paper or tissue; stop be-ing lazy and clean up after your mess. If it is too hard to pick your gum off the ground, you should keep it in your mouth until you find a nearby trash can to throw it away. But if you are walking and don’t think that you can step out of

your way to throw your gum away, then swallow it; it is better than gum covering our school grounds.

Gum covering our school grounds just makes us look like we are sloppy and don’t care about how we present our-selves. So the next time students think about spitting their gum on the ground, think about how it makes us look as a school. And if the gum does somehow fall out of your mouth while chewing it, simply pick it up.

Picture drawn by Katelyn Rey

Photo illustration by Natalie Kurtz

2 Cents11.09.11 11

Please take off hatsOPPOSING VIEWS

Hats cause no harmIt is not hard to find

reasons to wear hats around the Sunrise Mountain campus. May-be you want to show off

your favorite sports team, block the sun from your eyes or maybe hide that really bad haircut your mom just gave you. But I have one good reason why you should take off that hat when you walk into a classroom. It is a district and school policy.

The school district could have this policy for many possible reasons. It could be for the fear of gang ties, the distraction that it could bring in class, or maybe the fear students might shield their eyes and take a nap during a math lesson. Maybe it is the fact that there is no need to wear a hat in school, as there is no sun to shield your eyes from, no one really cares about what team Bobby roots for or how bad Bill’s haircut is. But taking hats off in school buildings should all come down to the reason of showing respect.

It has been a sign of respect for centu-ries to take off one’s hat indoors. Knights would remove their helmets when they entered indoors or were in the presence of a woman. Americans remove their hats at the sight of the American flag along with the playing of the national anthem. The school district is asking that students remove their hats out of

respect for teachers and the students themselves.

Hats in the Sunrise classrooms may not be a huge issue, but it needs to stay that way and not start to become a prob-lem. Don’t start to abuse this privilege and there will be no complications in the future. But if students start to mis-use their hats it could get to the point where wearing hats outdoors on campus is banned. Show some respect, show re-sponsibility and take off that hat.

Braden TaylorPage Designer

Since the beginning of time, it’s been in a teacher’s nature to call out a student on wearing a hat in class. It’s been a constant struggle for

students and their fashion senses, a war of an eternity. Is it a war with reason? Is there really something that the teach-ers are trying to keep us from? I think not. The teachers are just jealous of all the swag teens these days are carrying around in their hats, thus their only op-tion was to put us down.

But in all honesty, is there really a reason that we cannot wear hats in the classroom? I heard people say it is dis-ruptive, but it seems absurd to me that someone would not be able to pay atten-

tion in class because someone across the room has a cap on. I understand that if a whole classroom had hats on that shield-ed their faces from the teacher; it could pose as a problem. The sleepers could sleep easier; students might be able to cheat on tests, etcetera, etcetera. How-ever, if the teacher is providing a proper supervised environment; they generally would be walking around and checking all the students. Not to mention that if a student were to fall asleep in class, not having a hat would be no deterrent. I also heard that the rule of allowing hats in class would be abused.

Enforcers of this rule may think that if they allowed hats in class students would bring big sombreros that shielded vision or clown hats with bells that made a sound every time they moved. This hy-pothetical problem is easily solved. For starters, if hats were allowed in class from the beginning, it would not seem like such a privilege and students would just wear their normal hats like usual. Even if someone did find such a loophole in the system, the problem is as simple as, “You there! The kid wearing the hat with bells on it! Take that off, that thing is straight up silly and annoying.” Prob-lem solved.

The word “tradition” has been thrown at me when raising these questions as well. Back in the 1800s, it was customary for men to take off their hats when going indoors. It was considered respectful. The fact that it was so back in the 1800s could be a valid argument – could. However, these are modern times. The style of dress has changed drastically for everyone. Women weren’t able to wear pants in the 1800s, but they can now. The actual use of a hat has almost changed entirely in itself. In any case, I digress.

In the end, the “pros” to wearing hats in classrooms are too weak to enforce.

Christian ParravanoStaff Reporter

Reporters Braden Taylor and Christian Parravano disagree on the district policy against hats in class. Photo by Kellie Reynolds

“Hats, visors, sunglasses and hoods may not be worn in school buildings.”

“The administration and staff will enforce this dress code consistently and fairly....Students may receive consequences for violation of any part of the dress code.”

-- Student Handbook

The Mustang Express Newspaper Staff

Advertising ManagerChristian Parravano

ReportersAlex CurtisAlex Adams

Ryan SampeyNatalie Kurtz

Brooke MeyersSierra Pritchard

Katelyn Rey

Page DesignersBraden TaylorLaura JohnsonEmma Miller

Haylie KonakisArianna Saenz-Ochoa

Editor-In-ChiefNatasha Hossain

Online EditorKellie Reynolds

Section EditorsAnissa Saenz-OchoaEmily Bridgewater

The Sunrise Mountain High School Mustang Express is a student newspaper whose purpose is to inform the community of events that are rel-evant to SMHS and its surroundings, to interpret and analyze current events and to provide enter-tainment. The staff aims to be fair and impar-tial, accurate and responsible, and to adhere to the SPJ Code of Ethics. Letters to the Editor are printed at the discretion of the editorial staff and SMHS administrators. Opinions voiced in the letters do not necessarily represent those held by the staff or Sunrise Mountain High School. The staff reserves the right to edit all letters for gram-mar and content. Anonymous letters will not be published.

Editorial Policy

http://mustangexpress.orgFacebook: SMHS Newspaper

Readers belong in libraries, chatterboxes must leaveYou missed a chance

to study last night and now you’re desperately rushing to the library

during lunch to study up on a test tak-ing place next hour. You get in, sit down, break out all your study materials com-pletely ready to go. But what’s this? Some kids you don’t even know come in and start talking their heads off right in front of you. How obnoxious.

Most everyone has been in this kind of situation before and this reporter is getting seriously tired of this occurring.

Sunrise doesn’t have a study hall or any other type of class that offers just study time. The only place to go really is the library.

A person can talk to their friends just as easily standing outside. There really is no reason for a student to interrupt another’s studies.

Some people use the excuse that dur-ing the extreme weather, they go in to escape the heat or cold. In my opinion

though, if you chose to sit outside dur-ing lunch, that’s your own fault. Bring a jacket or just sit in the shade.

The librarians at Sunrise try their best to minimize the noise but talkative kids still slip in. The librarians want this place to be a comfortable spot that stu-dents feel like they can go to when they need some quiet time but studiers leave when it gets too loud.

It’s plenty hard enough just to get yourself to study, let alone be surround-ed by twenty or more conversations as your trying to do so.

I used to be a teacher’s assistant in the library during third hour and, frankly, I hated the lunch rush. That’s, literally, what we called it too. It was a rush.

People were obnoxious. Kids would stand in front of the doorway talking, preventing others from coming in.

Once, I saw a student leaning against the drop box and another who came in had to hand me their book to return it. It was ridiculous.

If you want to talk just go hang out in the halls or something. No one wants a chatter box in a place meant for quiet.

Katelyn ReyStaff Reporter

The Round Up 11.09.1112warm up with the latest

Bella Vanek, 12

Mason Wandersee, 9

Brady edWards, 11

karlie ZieMer, 10

How do you change your style up for the winter?I basically wear the same clothes but I just add some layers to them. Like I will wear a sweater with an outfit or tights or leggings. Defi-nitely wear closed toes shoes, a lot of flats. I’m a flats girl for sure!

What’s your favorite winter outfit?I have these grey skinny jeans that I wear with this yellow shirt. Then I wear this really long, cute black trench coat over it all. And it includes a watch, I always wear watches and bangles!

What are the don’ts of winter fashion?If you’re going to wear shorts, don’t wear short shorts. They are not okay. Also if you’re going to wear shorts, do not wear a long jacket cause it looks like you’re not wearing any pants girls!

winter fashion

How do you change your style up for the winter?I cut shorts out and wear jeans or sweats. No flip flops, boots- I love boots. And then jackets or long sleeves.

What’s your favorite winter outfit?Dark designer jeans with maroon long sleeved shirt. Topped off with tan boots and a big flower ring.

What are the don’ts of winter fashion?Shorts with boots are not good. And long sleeves with shorts that confuses me- like why are you wearing both?

How do you change your style up for the winter?I wear warmer and more comfortable clothes.

What’s your favorite winter outfit?A pair of jeans and a heavy jacket.

What are the don’ts of winter fashion?Just don’t wear shorts, I guess, and tank tops, don’t wear tank tops.

Compiled by Natasha HossainEditor-In-Chief

How do you change your style up for the winter?I like to wear two shirts; a shirt and an undershirt. I also start to wear jackets.

What’s your favorite winter outfit?Dark jeans with a Quicksilver shirt and some plaid Vans.

What are the don’ts of winter fashion?Don’t wear any shorts, definately no short shorts (athletic shorts) and wear Vans, no flip flops.