North Star, March 2010

Students with intellectual

disabilities are preparing for

their future after graduation. The North Star takes a look into some of the planning

activities.

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Yesterday NHS members went to Henderson Elementary and read to students to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ Birthday for Read Across America.

Tonight at 6 p.m. FHN’s faculty basketball team will take on the Howell and Central staff in the third annual “Clash of the Howells.”

The members of Kalamiti! entertain the St. Louis public with their unique sound and plan for their future as well.

Senior Brenton Harms broke the All-Time FHN season pin record, and junior Harold Richie broke the season wins record.

Seniors Cindy and Becky Lackey enter their final season without worries of being recruited for colleges.

This month, senior Julia Gabbert went a week without wasting things. Also, Gabbert had to practice recycling more.

Junior Nicole Renner takes an in depth look at the positive and negative sides of Hollywood movie remakes.

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A new night club has hit the scene. Spy Bar has recently been changed from a martini bar to a teen hangout.

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SPED teachers Linda Hollenberg, Sarah Sponk, and Robin Yuede help students who have disabilities to reach their future goals.

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Bingo night funds scholarships

Guard aims high for competitons

Long hours spent rehearsing and constant improvement in competition scores give winterguard members hope to continue their success throughout the season.

“This year we are on the scholastic open,” senior Deanna Wohldmann said. “It is the highest level that you can get while in high school, when last year we were on the division lower. Just getting to that level is a great achievement.”

Being at a more advanced level then before, there is more expected out of them. During competitions they have to just show the judges what they are capable of.

“It’s hard sometimes to have the show turn out clean,” junior Makenzie O’Laughlin said. “Just practicing the same routine every time, it gets really

competitive.”In the last month, the team at-

tended a Nationals competition that was held Feb. 12-14 in Nashville, Tennessee. According to O’ Laugh-lin, going into the competition the team’s goal was to increase their score by 10 points. Winterguard was able to score in the 70s.

“From what we placed in Ten-nessee Nationals, those scores will contribute to where we will place in our last competition in Ohio,” fresh-man Abby Hoffmann said.

The team hopes their success dur-ing that competition will follow them throughout the rest of the season.

“Winter guard isn’t easy,” junior Ashley Rehm said. “It takes a lot of hard work and this season we are doing a really well but we just have to try to do better than last year.”

chelsey.damalas

On March 4, Mu Alpha Theta will be hosting bingo night at 6:30 in the FHN commons. Mu Alpha Theta has now been sponsoring a bingo night for two consecutive years. Bingo cards only cost $1 each and refreshments are free. All are encouraged to attend and participate in the activities.

“[Bingo night] is the chance to get out and have a lot of fun that is safe,” Vice president Greg Felock said.

To prepare, Mu Alpha Theta mem-bers create the bingo cards and put together the gift baskets that people

nicole.clouse are eligible to win. The baskets are filled with a variety of gifts including food and gift cards for such things as iTunes.

“We started getting ready two weeks ago,” Felock said. “We make all of the baskets ourselves and we also decorate before the night begins.”

Some baskets are even themed. One in particular is the movie basket which is filled with popcorn and candy. Anyone who wins bingo can select from a variety of these baskets that are put together. According to president Danielle Wu, the gift baskets make great prizes.

Students travel, read with kids

On March 2, Read Across America was celebrated throughout the school district. North students in NHS trav-eled to Henderson Elementary in the middle of the day in order to read to the young students.

For volunteer opportunities, vari-ous clubs including Junior and Senior NHS participated in this event.

“I love reading to the little kids,” senior NHS president Rukhaiya Amir said. Because Read Across America originates from Dr. Seuss and his collection of books, students vote with raffle tickets for their favorite teachers to dress up as Cat in the Hat, Thing One, and Thing Two.

“Seeing the teachers dress up was my favorite part,” senior NHS member Alicia Delaney said.

Read Across America was devel-oped to help promote reading and the Francis Howell School District is doing their part.

“[Read Across America] helps them [the young students] build confidence in their reading abilities,” senior NHS member Emily Alderson said. “And it’s just fun.”

rachel.hunt

“It’s really easy to win and really fun,” Wu said. “Everyone who attends can win something.”

Wu hopes for a larger turn out this year than last year which had and in turn, a larger amount of money will be raised for their cause. All of the money raised at bingo night goes towards scholarships for graduating seniors at FHN.

“The kids put all the effort into it and raise all the money,” sponsor Val VanDerBeck said. “The money goes to a good cause and just watching the kids interact with other people is really cool.”

Seniors Greg Felock, Brittany Stanley, Meagan Wilson, and Danielle Wu address the members of Mu Alpha Theta about the up coming events. Mu Alpha Theta’s next big event will be Bingo Night on March 4. Money collected at Bingo Night goes towards senior scholarships at the end of the year. (fareeha amir)

Senior Kaitlyn Schikore practices with the winterguard team. Winterguard practices twice every week to prepare for their competitions. They compete in competitions every weekend. (sam hurrell)

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This year marked the first time in three years FHN drumline has had enough members and staff to put together a team and compete against other schools.

At noon on March 20, drum-line will have a show here at school performing their piece from the opera “The Barber of Seville.”

“Band and the fine arts are here all the time, we never have an off sea-son,” drumline director Jeff Moorman said. “We try to support all the sports and events so we would like to have a little bit come back to us.”

On July 1, Francis Howell Chief Academic Officer Pam Sloan will tak-ing over the position of superintendent of the Francis Howell School District. She will be replacing Renée Schuster, who is retiring after 4 years.

“[I am] pretty excited to be able to have the leadership opportunity,” Sloan said. “I look forward to getting out and being connected with the stu-dents and I look forward to the work of improving the learning of the kids.”

It was announced on Feb. 11 that Sloan would be the next superinten-dent. She is already making plans for the 2010-11 school year, which will be her first as superintendent.

“I think I will focus on the work we have been doing with PLCs [Profes-sional Learning Communities],” Sloan said, “and making sure that teachers have the tools they need in these tough

economic times.” Sloan has worked for Francis

Howell for 17 years. She began as a Francis Howell North communication arts teacher, then moved on to be an assistant principal at Howell High, and later became the principal there.

“Dr. Sloan has an excellent background and excellent experience

Sloan announced as new Superintendent of FHSD

This year they have been perform-ing a compilation which includes songs such as “The National Anthem,” “Munster Mash,” and the theme to Jeopardy for some humor.

“We use Barber because we can ar-range it for free,” Moorman said. “It’s some of the best music so we’ll already have a good product.”

FHN is the only school in Missouri to ever make finals at the Winter Guard International competition. They’ve scored in the top 12 in the country three times. The first time they placed was in 2003, then again in 2005 and 2006. They hope to keep the tradition going with another suc-

cessful season. “[Placing] shows that there’s

students willing to work hard and achieve a singular goal,” freshman John Melone said.

Drumline’s first competition was at a high school in Detroit, Michigan on Feb. 13 where they placed fifth out of 15 teams.

“I just keep in mind that we need to be good for the competition and I feel like I owe it to the team,” sophomore Blake Hamor said.

Drumline returns hoping for success in competitions

paige.yungermann

To read a recap of the March 13 drumline competition, check back on FHNtoday.com March 14.

fhn today com

Senior Justin Beltz and others work on an experiment to create a cloud in a jar. This experiment took many trials before it was successful. (stephanie graflage)

scott.jones

On March 18, the chemistry club and science club will be go-ing to the Saint Louis College of Pharmacy. Students will spend the day touring the school and learning about its programs.

“They’re going to talk about the campus itself, what the GPA and ACT requirements are, when to apply, and financial expectations,” Chemistry teacher Donna Malkmus said.

Students will have the opportu-nity to make Calamine lotion while in the school’s lab.

“Well [the college] focuses on pharmacy and I believe you can directly apply it which is rare for a college,” Chemistry teacher Karen Hill said.

The Chemistry department didn’t come across the trip on their own. They received a call from a former student’s mom who worked at the college and told the Chemistry teachers that they could have a group of students tour the school. The field trip will serve as an opportunity for this college to get publicity while teachers get a field trip at little to no cost to the teach-ers. A long with the the teachers, students are also looking forward to the trip.

“I think it’s going to be a lot of fun i can’t wait,” junior Andrew Brodnik said.

Sophomore Jordan Schupp and senior Kayla femmer practice for their upcoming competition held in O’Fallon on March 13. In their last competition, the Knights received a 74.8, which gave them a fifth-place finish. The competition was held in Michigan at Troy-Athens High School on Feb. 13. (kelsey habighorst)

Chem club experiences college early

to fill this position, “ Board member Stephen Johnson said. “I feel more comfortable with her than bringing in someone from the outside.”

When Schuster decided to retire in November the Missouri School Boards Association reviewed the applica-tions submitted for superintendent. Of the 17 applications submitted, only 10 were reviewed by the Francis Howell Board of Education and only four possible superintendents were interviewed for the job.

“We were looking for someone who had a vested interest in education and kids succeeding,” Johnson said. “That is what we are all about.”

While Schuster’s leave will be an adjustment, it is expected that Sloan will keep the district moving forward.

“Dr. Sloan is going to be great,” Schuster said. “She is wonderful and totally ready to be superintendent.”

Pam Sloan was announced as Renée Schuster’s successor as Schuster decided to retire. Sloan has high hopes for the years to come. (photo submitted)

Sophomore Brandon Burich listens to instruction during practice. In their last competition, they were only 0.6 points away from first place. (kelsey habighorst)

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New policy provides students with more responsibiltyabby.west

Game time is 6:00, be there to defend the crown.”

The FHN faculty basketball team isn’t exactly what one would call a rigorously trained athletic program. With the third annual ‘Clash of the Howells’ or ‘Clash of the Teachers’ taking place tonight at North, the most preparation deemed necessary for the tournament games against the Francis Howell and Howell Central staffs was a one sentence email from Head football coach John Brune.

“There’s so many coaches and parents [on the team],” Brune said. “So it is not a very conve-nient thing for us to practice, we just come out and have fun.”

Practice or not, the team has been successful in the tournament in the past. In the first two years of the tournament, North’s team has gone 4-0, beating both Howell and Central twice. This year’s tournament will be hosted at North for the first time, where the FHN faculty will attempt to

To view photos from Clash of The Howells tomorrow, view the photo link tomorrow at FHNtoday.com on March 4.

fhn today com

This year’s Snowcoming dance signaled a new policy at FHN. Now, before students purchase

a dance ticket, they must complete a form stating they have no unpaid fines. The form must then be approved and signed by both a librarian and a principal.

“It’s helping the school district recover money we lost for books, uni-forms, and other fines students have not paid,” principal Darlene Jones said. “This way we don’t have to spend the money to replace them.”

The district has accumulated thou-sands of dollars due to fines over the years, which they cannot afford to pay off. Students are being asked to step up to the plate to pay off fines.

“It’s making them grow up and become adults,” librarian Angie Gun-nel said. “It makes them take on more adult responsibilities.”

Even though the school sees it as a positive, some students are not fond of the policy.

“I find it a waste of my time,” freshman Tori Alexander said. “I don’t want to worry about all of that just to go to a dance.”

On a more severe note, many feel the new policy had much to do with the fact that the attendance at this year’s Snowcoming dance was much less than last year’s. While last year’s dance had about 800 students, this year’s only had roughly 400.

“I don’t think many people are buying the tickets because they don’t want to do the work,” sophomore Allyson Rebhan.

This newest policy has proven to be a learning process for students and staff alike.

“It’s helping them understand that they are responsible for their fines and that they can have the privilege to buy a ticket if these fines are paid,” Jones said.

defend their crown for the third year running.

“We have the whole package,” Biology teacher Larry Scheller said. “We have shooters on the outside and guards.”

The team’s success has not just been limited to the teacher games. For the past six years that DECA has sponsored their annual jump-off, the faculty team has won every single senior-teacher match. Currently the team is undefeated with a combined

10-0 record.“That

streak’s not going to end anytime soon,” senior Zach Short said. “They’re

really talented. Unless Howell re-cruited and got LeBron there’s no way [North’s] gonna lose.”

According to Brune, one of the keys to the team’s success has been the strong play from Scheller at guard. His play in the faculty and senior-teacher games has earned him the nickname ‘Larry the Legend’.

“Mr. Scheller has been Mr. Consis-tent on the team,” Brune said. “That’s

why they call him ‘the Legend’. He’s deadly from outside the arc.”

Scheller, along with several other teachers from the Howell and Central staffs, are former high school and college athletes, making for highly contested games each time the teams meet on the court.

“You’re talking about a bunch of coaches,” Brune said. “Doesn’t get much more competitive [than that.] It doesn’t matter if I’m playing tiddly-winks, I wanna win.”

This year’s game will be sponsored by the All-Knighter. Tickets will go on sale for $3 before the game, and the money will go towards the class of 2010’s Senior Night. Both the team and the All-Knighter hope to see more support from the student-body, as there has not been hardly any at the past two year’s tournaments according to Scheller.

“The last two times our team has played, they haven’t had the support they should have,” Scheller said. “We definitely need to see more students out there [tonight].”

logan.ponche

Teach in class, dominate on the court

Larry Scheller

height: 6'2

years at fhn: six years

What he teaches: Biology and

Environmental Studies

Previous basketball experience: six years

in at Southwestern Illinois

John Brune

height: 6'2

years at fhn: nine years

What he teaches: Outdoor ED and Personal Lifetime Fitness

Previous basketball experience:

recreational

Faculty on faculty basketball game raises funds for All-Knighter

“ It doesn’t matter if I’m playing tiddlywinks,

I wanna win.”

page design by chelsey.damalas 05

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sam.dulaney

On Feb. 25, FCCLA hosted their annual St. Baldrick’s Day hat day. Students and teachers

were encouraged to wear a hat and donate $1 towards St. Baldrick’s, a foundation devoted to raising money for childhood cancer. All the proceeds from the hat day went to a team called Charlie’s Angels, a team of people both young and old that shave their heads to raise money and awareness of all kinds of childhood cancers.

“Childhood cancer is so devastat-ing,” FCCLA sponsor Rebecca Just said. “It takes away innocence.”

Just first learned of Charlie’s Angels through her sister, Jennifer Bailie. Bailie’s son was friends with Charlie Long, who died at the age of eight of neuroblastoma, a cancer only found in children which grows in their nerve tissue.

“Seeing him through all the phases of cancer... It’s not fair for a child to go through that,” Just said.

And no one knows better how unfair pediatric cancer is. Charlie’s mom, Carrie Long was floored when she found out that her six year-old son

had neuroblastoma.“[There was] shock for one,”

Long said. “He was just six years old. He had a leg pain that kept getting worse. It was devastating. But the kids help. Seeing them with all kinds of medicines running through them, you know you have to be strong for them. And they’re strong for you.”

Every year, Charlie’s Angels has a fundraiser at Helen Fitzgerald’s Irish Grill & Pub in St. Louis. This year, the 61 member team will be there March 6. The team has raised the

This year FHN has adopted a new system for credit recov-ery, called the CAP or Credit

Assistance Program. However, In the years past FHN has worked with ACE, an alternative school for students to remake credit. Now the same help is offered at FHN through CAP. Classes are held every Tuesday and Thursday from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the library computer lab.

“The program allows students to recover credit before graduation outside of their normal classes,” guid-ance department chairperson Tom Daugherty said.

This program is designed for primarily seniors, but in some cases, juniors and sophomores may attend the program also. In the eight-week session, a student can complete one course. The first session started Jan. 12 and ends March 11, the second ses-sion starts March 23 and will end May 20 in time for graduation.

“The class goes fast and it’s very easy to complete the lessons,” senior Brendan Kennedy said. “We all can work at our own pace.”

CAP is a last resort for most of the students in contrast to the alternative school Union. Like Union, CAP uses the exact same computer program for their courses but CAP is done in a stu-dent’s spare time, after school. Each student takes a pretest to begin each lesson and if they get a 80 percent or higher they move on to the next lesson; if they fail the pretest, they have to go through a study session where they take notes and analyze information to prepare them for the pretest that was taken once before.

For the seniors who are lacking credit, this course is the key to walking beside their class at graduation and being able to receive their diploma on time.

“It’s going to be great,” dean of students Thomas Potteiger said. “We had 29 in the first session and 30 for the next so the classes are completely full.”

CAP offers easy credit recoveryzach.meier

To make donations and find out more information on the St. Baldricks program visit www.stbaldricks.org

fhn today com

most money for Cure Search, an organization dedicated to helping St. Baldrick’s.

“We’ve raised $100,000 since 2006,” Bailie said. “We started the team in 2006, which is the year Charlie died.”

Charlie participated in the first event his team attended. He didn’t have any hair to shave, but instead wore a green curly wig. His father, his friends and even friends’ families participated in shaving their heads. Sponsors donate to the team who in return shave their heads, much like breast cancer walks have sponsors who fund the walkers. The money goes toward grants for hospitals do-ing research and the doctors them-selves who work to find cures for cancer or at the very least, lessening the severity of the side effects.

“This year, we have 43 children and 18 adults shaving their heads,” Bailie said. “It really shows support for the children who have lost their hair.”

Charlie’s Angels inspiration sparks fund raiserLittle boy’s battle with cancer encourages others to give to St. Baldrick’s

Charlie Bailie covers up the hair that he lost from treatments with a cap. Even though he was going through a hard time in his young life, people remem-ber his “never ending smile.” (photo sumbitted)

charlie Bailie and his friend Brenden White prepare to get their heads shaved last year the the St. Baldrick’s Day fund raiser at Helen Fitzgerald’s. Bailie has been shaving his head every year in honor of Charlie Long. (photo submitted)

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Steward overcomes obstacles to perform DJ business

Many students know senior Nick Steward. They know he has Cerebral Palsy. They also

know he is hard of hearing. However, what they don’t know is that he owns a Disc Jockey business.

His business is called “Go Hard” and Nick has been DJing at parties for about a year and has a total of five appearances.

“I don’t hear everything, but I hear some words and get by with it,” Nick said.

His first gig was at a hall for his

elizabeth.diggs cousin’s birthday where he made $80. In September, he made $100 as a DJ at a baseball park. As for attire, he wears what he considers his normal clothes but always adds his hat. Nick enjoys playing and listening to hip-hop and rap music.

“I really like Nelly, Michael Jackson and the rapper Murphy Lee,” Nick said.

Along with being hard of hearing, Nick has Cerebral Palsy and a disease called Laryngeal Stenosis, which is defined as a narrowing or obstruction of the airway. All 19 years of his life, Nick has had this disease and also

Nick’s DJ equipment

had a temporary Tracheastomy. A Tracheostomy is a surgically-created opening in the neck that leads directly to the trachea, or the breathing tube. It is kept open with a hollow tube and allows the patient to breathe. It’s clear he’s been through a lot, but it doesn’t much phase him.

“I think [Nick’s DJing] is phenom-enal,” Teacher of the Deaf, Yvonne Kehoe said. “I think you will not be able to find that many DJs who are hard of hearing. You can imagine with all the loudness of parties, he has to fil-ter out all of that background noise.”

According to paraprofessional

Roberta Boschert, these disadvantages have no effect on Nick’s DJ business. Nick became interested in becoming a DJ when he was introduced to the business by his two cousins, DJ Daa-one [day-OWN] and DJ Kayplayer. Coincidentally, Nick gets his equip-ment from one of Boschert’s friends at Guitar Center. For the three years Boschert has known and translated for Nick who wears his bubbly personality wherever he goes.

“He interacts well with his peers and seems to have lots of friends,” Boschert said. “His smile is great. Wherever he goes he’s smiling.”

Steward is hard of hearing and also has a

muscle problem, but he doesn’t let that hinder

his love for being a DJ. Steward became more

interested in be-ing a DJ through

his cousins in California and

Las Vegas. (fareeha amir)

Switches song

Volume

Red knobs control volume of

head phones

Mouse

Stop

Play

Controls how fast the song

goes

Turntables

The name of this equipment is Xponet DJ Mixtures

Steward’s laptop and the program

he uses to DJ. The program he uses

is called Turg.

page design by barbara.jean.palmer 09

life.stlye

“[When I DJ] I feel normal,” said Steward. Steward started his own business as a DJ and has his own business card for it. Being hard of hearing has been his encouragement to his love for DJ instead of his discouragement. (fareeha amir)

Steward has DJed for around five gigs. He practices in his basement with his own equipment. He enjoys listening to Nelly, Michael Jackson and Murphy Lee. They influence what he plays at his gigs. (fareeha amir)

Senior Nick Steward works with his turntables in the basement of his house. Steward has been a DJ since sophomore year and has done five events since. (fareeha amir)

Steward holds up his headphones to his hearing aid. He can usually hear the music fine depending on how loud it is. “I like music and I like to push myself to try to hear something,” Steward said. (fareeha amir)

page design by sidney.shelton & betsy.blanchard10

Jake-Guitar, Vocals

Derick-Guitar, Vocals Danny-Drums

Chris-Keyboards Alec-Guitar

Dylan-Vocals

page design by sidney.shelton & betsy.blanchard 11

life.stlye

Kalamiti! jams to a different style of musicelizabeth.diggs

In the summer of 2007, the band Ka-lamiti! was formed by juniors Dylan Barrow and Derick Humphrey, and

has been on the rise ever since. Both boys share a love of music and wanted to start a band that has a different style from everyone else. And that is exactly what has happened. In the summer of 2007, Barrow and Humphrey discov-ered what they want to do for the rest of their lives.

Kalamiti! consists of six self-taught musicians: Humphrey, lead guitar and vocals; Barrow, vocals; sophomore Danny Rivers, drums; junior Jake Simms, rhythm guitar and vocals; sophomore Chris Hartley, keyboards; junior Alec Broeker, rhythm guitar. The band has been together for around six months and has performed about two shows each month in the St. Louis area. Some of the places Kalamiti! has performed at include Cicero’s, Fubar, Harvester Chris-tian Church and at FHN’s own Frau Fest. The band’s next performance, on March 27, is at the music lounge Firebird. Kalamiti!’s first show was a success at Cicero’s this past January.

“At first we were all nervous.” Rivers said. “We didn’t know how we would handle it. The crowd enjoyed it, which made us feel good, and now that we’ve been through the first show, we do better.”

The nerves are still there as the band continues to perform, but Ka-lamiti! works through it and conquers them together.

“We’re nervous when walking on stage and setting up our instruments, but as soon as you get up there and start playing, all of it goes away and we have fun,” Simms said.

The band practices a couple times a week at Rivers’ house to prepare for shows and to just hang out. The very first song the band learned, and their favorite to cover, is titled “Hey John, What’s Your Name Again?” by the band, The Devil Wears Prada. According to Simms, this song brings the musicians together as a band and is a happy, fun song. Almost 80 percent of the songs that Kalamiti! plays are original songs written by Barrow. The other 20 percent are cover songs. Some of Kalamiti!’s original songs in-clude: “Hellen Keller, Have You Seen My Keys?”, “Cap ‘Em Crunch” and

“Rang Rang”. Kalamiti!’s song lyrics are influenced by band members’ past experiences and the people close to them.

“With the lyrics, I take real experi-ences and make them into a situation,” Barrow explained. “Like ‘Rang Rang’ is about how suicide should not be committed because there is always someone there for you.”

The reason the cover songs are performed is because Kalamiti! doesn’t have their own album out yet. Also, the audience relates well with the band when they are familiar with the songs being played. Being in a band has had both a positive and negative effect on the members of Kalamiti!.

“It’s kind of tough [at our age] because no one takes you seriously, but it’s also awesome because kids our age that go to our school know us and support us,” Humphrey said. “It’s also hard because of school. It takes up a lot of time.”

Performing shows on school nights has been hard on members at times, with school taking up the majority of the band’s time. The band works very well together, both during rehearsals and outside of school they joke around

and have a good time. Broeker, the newest member of Kalamiti!, enjoys hanging out with the band.

“Sometimes we mess around with each other jokingly and it can get negative,” Broeker said. “I joined most recently, and it was hard because I had only played guitar with Derick a couple of times. I didn’t know anyone else, but things got easier as time went on.”

Kalamiti! has decided that being in the band is what they really want to do in the future, and they will continue playing as long as they possibly can. All six members have decided to attend college within Missouri so the possibility of per-forming is higher.

“I wanted to be in a band all my life but I doubted myself,” Hartley said. “I learned ‘Stick Stickly’ by Attack Attack!, and tried out and got in the band. Now my life is wonderful.”

Junior Jake Simms sings as sophomore Danny Rivers drums in the background during Kalamiti!’s performance during Frau Fest. Simms has been singing for six years and playing the guitar since age 14. (kaitlyn williams)

For photos of Kalamiti! and other bands at Fraufest check out FHNtoday.com also check out their MySpace for future events www.myspace.com/kalamiti7

fhn toDAy Com

page design by julia.gabbert12

puts a spin on energyConstruction company

The Alberici headquarters off Page Avenue and Highway 170 can be seen from over a mile away. Alberici, teamed with a green sustainability consultant called Vertegy, have work to make the building as environmen-tally friendly as possible since its completion in December 2004.

Vertegy provides knowledge and expertise for businesses looking to make their company more environ-mentally friendly and sustainable.

In addition to its notable electricity-generating wind turbine outside, Alberici also uses alternative insulation, glass, reduced lighting, and solar energy to heat the water within the building.

Each of the three fiberglass blades of the wind turbine are 24.5 ft long and weigh 875 lbs. The last two feet of the blades can pivot up to 90 degrees for wind resistance, to prevent the turbine from spinning too quickly and doing damage to the entire mechanism.

A motor at the center of the wind turbine generates energy and sends it downward.

Although the building has only been completed for about five years, the wind turbine itself is over 30 years old. Alberici bought it used from California, and it was originally built in Denmark. The turbine receives maintenence annually to check all the bolts to make sure everything continues running smoothly. The gear box and brake pads are checked every six months.

124 ft from base to center of hub, 153 ft to the top

of an unward pointing blade--a

considerable extension from

its original 76 ft.

Common misconception: The mechanism is not called a “windmill”. Windmills are used for things like pumping water. Wind turbines are used to generate energy.

When the wind blows at night,

or after business hours, the energy generated is put

into batteries and saved for Alberici

to use on days when the wind

does not blow as much.

Even if it feels like the wind is not blowing on

the ground, there is about a seven mph difference

in wind speed at the elevation of the wind turbine

blades.

In emergency times in which the wind is blowing over 60 mph, the turbine will automatically stall and eventually stop its blades to prevent from doing damage.

There is a vibration switch near the motor to detect unbalanced blades. If one blade is weighed down with ice, the turbine will shut off.

December is the windiest month •for Alberici, bringing in more than 14,000 kwh (kilowatt-hour), with around 92,000 kwh generated annually.Any excess electricity generated •in a given day goes to Ameren UE, who then pays Alberici for it.When the blades are not in •motion, the turbine is not turned “off”. The blades only turn when the wind is blowing at least seven mph.Increased wind speed does •not affect the rate at which the blades spin. The rotor inside rotates at a constant 46 rpm (revolutions per minute). Wind speed only affects rotational force on the rotor.

get the factsjulia.gabbert

Once underground, the energy is transferred back up into the building. During an average day with winds around 35 mph, the wind turbine can generate enough electricity to power all the lights in the 110,000 sq. ft. building for a full day.

St. Louis makes a difference

information from http://bit.ly/bhqVXO

Recycling CentersSt. Charles County Recycle Works60 Triad South Drive636-949-7415Off Central School Road and Kisker

Earth Circle Recycling1660 S. Kingshighway Blvd.314-664-1450Off Highway 44

Public TransportationMetroLink314-982-1406Starting at the Lambert Airport and going through to Illinois

FoodPi Pizzeria6144 Delmar Blvd.314-727-6633

Forest Releaf of Missouri4207 Lindell314-533-5323

Missouri Coalition for the Environment6267 Delmar Blvd.314-727-0600

The Nature Conservancy2819 Brazeau Ave.314-968-9618

Global Aquaculture Alliance5661 Telegraph Rd.314-293-5500

OrganizationsEarthways Center3617 Grandel Sq314-577-0220www.earthwayscenter.org

Missouri Botanical Garden4344 Shaw Blvd.314-577-9400www.mobot.org

St. Charles County Master Gardeners classesUniversity of Missouri Extension Center260 Brown Roadhttp://bit.ly/d2UKXY636-970-3000

Get Educated

While businesses like Alberici work to reduce their footprint on the environment, other businesses around St. Louis are also working to make the world a better place. Learn how you can help with just the click of a mouse or phone call.

Whole Foods Market1601 S. Brentwood Blvd.314-968-7744

St. Charles Lions Club Farmers’ Market907 Lindenwood636-723-2412Near Main Street, past Frontier Park by the river

Five4317 Manchester Ave.314-535-5553

page design by nicole.clouse 13

life.style

Bessie becomes holiday attraction to community

Every family has a unique way to celebrate the holidays. For Jim and Mary Springer, their unique

traditions involve a cow statue they call Bessie.

“[I got Bessie] a long time ago,” Jim said. “She was a rare bargain.”

Jim has had Bessie for close to 25 years, but her involvement in their holiday traditions didn’t begin until about four years ago when the Spring-ers moved her 75-pound, fiberglass body from the basement, where she was kept most of the time, and placed her out in their backyard on a hillside that overlooks Mid Rivers Mall Drive in St. Peters.

“The first time I saw [the cow] I had to look twice,” junior Zach Johnson said. “I had to make sure I was really seeing what I thought I was seeing.”

Once Bessie was settled there on the side of the hill, Mary became interested in using her sewing hobby to bring life to the new addition to their yard. She began creating holiday decorations for the cow. Bessie soon became a holiday attraction for people driving by.

“It started out [decorating for] just the main holidays,” Jim said, “like Halloween and Christmas, but every year we started doing more and more holidays.”

Jim and Mary now decorate Bessie for just about every holiday from Valentines Day to Thanksgiving and everything in between.

“In a way it’s really unique,” ju-nior Hannah Long said. “It’s definitely not something you see every day.”

The decorations for Bessie include everything from a chili pepper neck-lace for Cinco de Mayo, to a hard hat and construction cones for Labor Day.

Jim has even put himself out on the hill as part of Bessie’s Christmas display one year.

“I was dressed in a Santa Claus suit for a friend,” Jim said, “and traffic on Mid Rivers Mall Drive was all backed up from the Saints Joachim and Ann Christmas giveaway, so I went out on the hillside and started waving.”

Jim received many honks and returning waves from people waiting in traffic that day, but even when Jim himself isn’t outside dressed up next to his cow Bessie, people still find ways to show their appreciation for the Springer family’s efforts to give passersby a consistent, well-loved holiday attraction.

“Once, we got a Christmas card addressed to ‘The Caretakers of the Cow,” Jim said. “It said how much they enjoyed seeing her. [There is] always someone honking and waving; people really do enjoy her.”

kelsey.bell

Jim Springer stands waving at passing cars on Mid Rivers Mall Drive beside his fiberglass cow statue he calls Bessie. Bessie has been overlooking Mid Rivers Mall Drive and entertaining the public for over four years. People regularly inform Jim of their appreciation for the cow, some even stop by for a photo. (photo submitted)

Local couple brings a piece of

Florida home

Coming home to a 600-pound dolphin everyday might sound strange to some, but for Terry and Debbie Klaesner it’s just another part of home. A part of their front lawn, that is. Sitting not more than 30 feet from their front door, their aquatic friend stands guard over the Klaesner household, Boone-hills Drive, and the...mail? That’s right, this particular dolphin is more than just mere decoration, for sticking out from between this enormous fish’s solid concrete body is a postmaster certified mailbox.

“It’s really cool, people stop all the time,” Terry said. “In fact, the first couple of months we had it people would slow way down as they drove past. [So much] that they’d almost get rear-ended.”

The pair had grown accus-tomed to seeing similar mailboxes while vacationing at their summer home in Panama City, Fl., for according to Terry, many of the upscale homes in the area have dolphins of their own. After many requests by his wife Debbie and an opportunity that would allow for transportation of the massive statue back home to St. Peters, the couple decided to make the purchase from a local Panama City nursery.

“I had hauled some furniture down there and I just told her, ‘If you want one now’s your chance,’” Terry said.

lizzie.johnson

From FHN to Bessie and the Dolphin Mailbox

Boone Hills Dr.

Willott Rd.

St. Peters

FHN

Read the rest of this story now online at FHNtoday.com. fhn

today com

Mid

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FHN

HackmannRd.

Jung

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Rd.

Mexico Rd.

Muegge Rd.

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Kruger’s 10,000 mile journeysidney.shelton

I magine moving half a world away from family, friends and the country that was once home. This is exactly

what sophomore Andri Kruger went through.

“Everything is big,” Andri said. “Everything is so much bigger here. It is crazy, everything kind of just re-volves around food. There’s a fast food restaurant around every corner.”

Andri is 15 and, until now, has lived his entire life in Pretoria, South Africa ,except for two years which he lived in France, with his mother, father, and brother: Elmie, Hendrick, and Floris, respectively.

“At first I was really excited because we were on an adventure,” Andri said. “A day later I realized that I had to say goodbye to all my friends. It kind of got odd saying goodbye to all my friends and family.”

Andri and his family began packing for America after his father was offered a job position here in St. Louis with his agricultural company, Monsanto.

“It was a long process for us to decide whether we would come here or not, but eventually I told them that we were thinking about coming here and it would mean changes for them, but also opportunities,” Hendrik said.

The hardest part of the move was telling friends and family that they were moving nearly 10,000 miles away.

“I told my friends the news that we were leaving and they all replied that we need to get Facebook so we could have contact and stuff,” Andri said.

It was a 26 hour flight from South Africa to America and there was a lot of time for the family to think about

their future.“[I thought about] if I was going

to adapt to the school or if I was going to fit in,” Andri said. “You have this image in your head from all the movies and TV programs.”

When they arrived in the U.S. on Dec. 30, 2009 there were some obvi-ous differences.

“It was cold and gray so we missed the sun immediately,” Elmie said. “We were very tired. All the festivities going on in St. Charles we tried to stay awake [for] but we didn’t make it.”

On Jan. 4 Kruger took his first steps into FHN.

“People are much more open, it looks like everyone knows everybody else,” Andri said. “In South Af-rica they have cliques and this clique won’t interact with that clique. Here you don’t see the cliques as much, everyone interacts with another. It’s a huge school there’s lots of people. In South Africa I felt like I had a place where I belong and here I feel like I’m drifting.”

Andri has been going to FHN for almost two months, but doesn’t yet feel like he’s adapted to the life of an average American teenager.

“I think it will take some time for me to get used to the differences,” Andri said.

Even though Andri is not com-pletely accommodated yet, he still tries to combine his old life with his new one through sports and religion.

“He came into an environment where children continue to rotate but he’s a king sportsman. He’s going to do track and field and rugby, and he also goes to the youth group,” Hendrik said.

Sophomore Andri Kruger holds a globe signifying where he has moved from. The family has now moved to the United States this year from South Africa. His parents have given him the option to move back to South Africa after he finishes high school. (sam hurrell)

Fun facts about Africa and South Africa

At the age of 18 citizens are able to get their learner’s permits.

South Africa is twice the size of France.

South Africa has a higher enrollment rate than most other developing countries. Over 90% are in school.

In order to marry, both people must be older than 18.

South Africa is bordered by the Atlantic ocean and the Indian ocean as well.

World Cup is being held in South Africa in 2010.

The coastline of South Africa stretches more than

2,500 km.

South Africa is around 1.2 million sq. km.

The country is mostly made up of the savanna, grasslands,

and Nama Karoo (a unique biome type).

South Africa is eight times smaller than the United

States.information from http://bit.ly/aP4v23

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life.style

Close to six months ago, bar owner Jeff Wilhelm decided it was time for a change. Owner

of Spy Bar, an upscale martini bar, Wilhelm converted his venue into a club in order to venture into the untapped market of the teen night club scene.

“There was a lot of bars out here [in O’Fallon] already,” Wilhelm said, “So we thought [that] there are a lot of teens in the area with no place to go and hang out. We thought we would give them that place to go but give it a real club feel.”

While some teens feel that O’Fallon seems a bit of a far journey just to go dancing, Wilhelm wonders where else 16 to 20-year-olds can go to have good clean fun. The one thing that makes Spy Bar different from the other teen night clubs is the fact that it has a real club feel to it. When Wil-helm made the switch from a martini bar to teen club, he kept it almost ex-actly the same. He simply removed the alcohol and made other small changes such as the music selection.

“We just went main stream,” Wil-helm said. “Top 40 hits, basically we stuck with what [Z 107.7] would play because it’s what most teens listen to.”

In charge of the music on Friday

and Saturday nights is Jacob See, or as most teens that go to the club know him, DJ Excell. When See isn’t there Wilhelm spins for the club playing the same dance music that teens would hear at their school dances.

When considering changing the club, Wilhelm took two things into consideration: cost and age. Deciding upon the age was rather easy consider-ing that 17-year-olds no longer have a set curfew by law. So making the age limit from 17 to 20 made the most sense, but they do allow 16-year-olds in as well. In regards to cost, Wilhelm kept prices the same but charged more for guys.

“Basically with cost we kept the prices around the same price that any other club would charge,” Wilhelm said, “but we took into consideration that guys will go where girls are, so we charge $10 for girls and $15 for guys.”

Other than what is charged at the door, Spy bar offers non-alcoholic drinks ranging from $2 to $4 and is soon hoping to be able to use their

Teen dance club opens in O’Fallon

lauren.skinner kitchen in the back of the club. The food they eventually plan to offer will be the basic finger foods and the prices will range from $1 to $8.

“Spy Bar is a pretty cool place to hang, [we] just need a few more people,” customer Ryan Smith said.

Wilhelm feels that Spy Bar has everything that teens look for in a fun place to be: great atmosphere, great music and an easy location. All he feels

is missing is the at-tendance, but he isn’t losing hope that business will pick up. With the

club only being open for just under two months, he realizes it’s all about getting the word out there about what he considers to be the premiere teen dance club in the Midwest.

“I think this place will be the next sensation in the teen dance club. I hope that eventually everyone and their brother, sisters and cousins are going to want to come here,” doorman Jeff Dominguez said.

photo poll

Spy Bar opened in January for teenagers 17-20 to enjoy dancing and experience a real club feel. Spy Bar had been open for two months when the owner decided to take a new direction from being a bar for adults to a teen dance club because there were not any teen dance clubs in the O’Fallon area. (lydia ness)

Alyssa Bocci, 11“I think as long as people aren’t dancing risky and on top of each other, I think it’s a great idea and safe place for teens.”

Laurel Reese, 11“As a teeneager I know we love to feel older and be accepted, so teen clubs are a great outlet for us. Everyone loves to dance and malls have gotten boring.“

Emma Nicolli, 10“I think teen clubs are a pretty good idea. I have never been to one, but I know a few people that have and they enjoyed them.”

Zack Short, 12“I think they’re rockin’. It’s a cool place for kids to go and have fun, without the pressures of alcohol.”

Students answer the question: “What do you think of teen

dance clubs?”

15

“I love the atmosphere and the music. It’s a wonderful job. It’s like going to a party, but I’m

getting paid for it.”

For more on the teen club Spy Bar go to www.spybarstl.comfhn

today com

From a martini bar to a teen night club, Spy Bar supplies a safe place for teens

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ickin’ into springWith winter winding down and spring being right around the corner, it’s time to retire your winter boots and get a new pair of kicks.

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20 page design by rachel.hunt, danielle.yuede, & elizabeth.diggs

Lookingto

Casey circles different things on a worksheet called News-2-You during her thrid hour Communication Arts class. The theme of the worksheets go along with the olympics. Steward along with fellow classmates have a schedule with 7 classes.

Bri gives her Paraproffesional a high five after finishing her project. The projects were provided by Home Depot. (lydia ness)

21page design by rachel.hunt, danielle.yuede, & elizabeth.diggs

in.dep

th

Futurethe

Jordan is on a work experience trip that the special needs students go on about every month. He is at Henderson Middle School where he and his fellow classmates at doing jobs like recylcing and washing windows.

Jaycie reads the directions while pointing to the step she is currently on in her project. She is working on a project provided by Home Depot to give the students a hands-on experi-ence and activ-ity. (lydia ness)


Each year about ten percent of the 1,978 students at Francis Howell North are admitted

into the school’s special education department. Of these students, only 16 of them are considered intellectu-ally disabled.

At North, these 16 students are helped to make the transition into life after high school with the guidance of teachers working together endlessly everyday to give their students the best opportunity for the hurdles they will have to jump in the real world.

First period. Room 103. Student count: three.

Ring, ring, ring. Ring, ring, ring.School has begins and all the

teachers of room 103 are in meet-ings. The first teacher to leave for a meeting is special education depart-ment chair Linda Hollenberg. She is in a meeting that will last 1 hour, 45 minutes. Hollenberg deals with a student who will be coming to North next year. She must make sure the student will be placed into the right classes so they can be successful.

The next one to leave for her meeting is work experience teacher Robin Yuede. She heads to an IEP or an Individual Education Plan. She deals with a student’s academic plan for the next two years. She works to get students ready for life after graduation.

And finally the last one out of the room is diagnostician Sarah Sponik who is at a different meeting. She tests new students that will eventually have special services and students

who need to be re-evaluated. Even though they’re all at different meet-ings, they’re all dealing with the same issue: the futures of their students.

Second period. Student count: seven.

Kim Gee from the division of vocational rehabilitation joins the trio today. Gee plans to meet with eligible SPED students to help with possible career paths to give the students a head start in helping with their futures.

“I come in and open a case,” Gee says. “I do career counseling and help explore interest and how their disability might affect their ability or the type of job they want to choose for their future. When they have selected vocational goals, I help them to reach that goal. I also help with job placement and training.”

Gee meets with her first student of the day. Their meeting lasts about a half hour. This is only her first stu-dent and she has many more planned to see today. She will not only see students with physical disabilities but also the ones with intellectual disabilities as well.

Third period. Student count: 12.Hollenberg returns from her

meeting just to turn around and leave for another dealing with more of next year’s students. In the room, Sponik deals with a student having friend problems.

“They’re doing it to aggravate you so don’t give into it.”

Sponik and the others aren’t just there to teach their students but to help them through their problems, school related or not.

“We give them the tools to suc-

danielle.yuede

SPED teachers lend guidance for future

ADHD:

SPED:

The SPED Glossary:

Specific Learning Disability:

Physical Disabilities:

Down Syndrome:

(Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder) Any range of behavioral disoders in children characterized be symptoms that include poor concen-tration, an inability to focus on tasks, difficulty in paying attention, and impulsivity. A person can be predominantly inattentive (often reffered to as ADD), predominantly hyperactive-impulsive, or a combonation of these two.

information found at ldonline.org

a disability that affects one’s use of bones, joints, muscles or nerves and effects their ability to access the environment (like using stairs)

a disorder that affects people’s ability to either interpret what they see and hear or to link information from different parts of the brain. It may also be reffered to as a learning disorder or a learning difference.

(Special Education) Services offerend to children who possess one or more of the following disbilities: specific learning disabilities, speech or language impairments, emotional disturbance, hearing impairments, orthopedic impairments, visual impairments, autism, combined deafness and blindness, traumatic brain injury, and other health impairments.

a genetic disorder, associated with the presence of an extra chromosome 21, characterized by mild to severe mental dis-ability, weak muscle tone, a low nasal bridge, and epicanthic folds at the eyelids.

Intellectual Disabilities: a disability characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior, which covers many everyday social and practical skills.

Mike works on building a wooden box that Home Depot had brought in for the students to have a more hands-on activity. The activities ranged from building a wooden ledge to building a wooden firehouse. The Para worked with the students to help guide them in building. (lydia ness)

Bri is finding the answer to her worksheet called News-2-You. News-2-You features pictures that help students recognize different words. (lydia ness)

Andrew and his Parap-froffesional Nancy Haupt work on his communica-tion arts worksheet. (lydia ness)


ceed in post-secondary education,” Sponik says.

Fourth period. Student count: 18.

Yuede heads off to her College 101 class. The class curriculum deals with getting the students ready for next year when they enter into the college world.

“They are finding out what college is like and if it’s for them,” Yuede says. “It’s a taste of what col-lege is really like.”

For her students, they discover if college is the suitable choice for them. This class is a test to find which environment they can succeed best at. Like their peers, the SPED kids are able to choose their careers. One student, for example, has Down Syndrome and wants to work in a hospital. In room 103 they’re just given more to make their dreams, a reality.

Fifth period. Room 103. Student count: 37.

The room is silent. Students have been filing in and out throughout the day but now there is an uncommon silence the trio isn’t used to. The three are quietly at work to get pa-perwork and schedules done for the next year while they have the room at a quiet level. Then just as Sponik is getting into a steady rhythm of filling out next year’s schedules, what seems like a stampede of students stomp in needing help and asking questions about their classes. Yuede is bombarded by a student asking

questions about his math assignment. Hollenberg then helps student who isn’t having a good day. The silence is gone.

Sixth period. Room 27. Student count: seven

Grab new bag and refill. Grab new bag and refill.

As special education teacher Beth Roberts is monitoring her students refilling the trash bags in the com-mons, she has a smile and a look of pride in her face. Her students are considered “low incident” because, as Roberts explains, there is a low occurrence of their disabilities in the school population.

Once Roberts’ kids are done with this task, they move to their next one. As her students divide into their responsibilities like recycling and office work, Roberts giggles at one of her student’s determination.

“Oh Jared and his serious faces,” she says lightheartedly.

Next she moves to the mail room to find Brett busy at work sorting mail.

“This is his favorite job,” Roberts says. “He’s gotten so good with recognizing the names and knowing how to deal with obstacles like big packages.”

Brett is indulged in his work first placing a letter in Kelly, then a catalog in Lutz and last a package in Manfull. Doing this job makes him happy which also makes Roberts happy.

“We try to get our students

involved,” Roberts says, “So that people can see that they can participate in the same activities that their peers do.”

In Roberts’ class, her students learn ‘essential skills’ which, according to Roberts, reinforces the skills your parents teach you. They also learn job skills that will make them more successful in the future. This is Roberts’ main priority: to help her students tran-sition into life after high school.

“We work very hard to get them into jobs outside of school,” Roberts says. “There are not as many opportunities as I would like to be. It’s scary to see our students competing for jobs against people with degrees. That’s our biggest hurdle.”

Seventh period. Room 103. Student count: 54.

The school day is over but not for the residents of 103. They won’t be gone until around 4 p.m. Though they felt it was a crazy day, it’s nothing they haven’t seen before. Tomorrow is expected to be just as hectic, with students coming and going, asking ques-tions and receiving advice. But that’s what they live for. They want to help their students reach new heights. They want to see their students succeed at any path they choose. They want to support their students now and in the future.

SPED teachers Robin Yuede, Linda Hollenberg and Sarah Sponik stand outside their offices as they await for their students. SPED currently has 16 students with intellectual disabilities. (lydia ness)

in.dep

thMike and his Paraproffesional Briana Boyd work on homework together. Students use symbols to relate

to words and create analogies. (lydia ness)

Three students in the SPED program work together with their Paraprofessionals on the project provided

by Home Depot. (lydia ness)

It’s 9:30 a.m. in the FHN main lobby. Every month the special needs students have a

day out of school to experience simple work ethics and everyday normal activities to better prepare for their futures.

Dina Brown, one of the eight Paras/Special need teach-ers has looked forward to this day. One of the students gently reaches for her arm and asks how she is today. Brown warmly replies, “I’m wonder-ful, and how about you?” The student just simply smiles back, not uttering a word, but her expression says it all.

At 9:40 a.m. the students excitedly jump from their seats as the bus arrives. The Paras calmly explain what their task is for the day. The students are divided into three groups. One group will go to a Stumpy Barbecue restaurant to cook, the second group goes to Hen-derson Middle School to assist the head principal with cleaning windows and mopping the floors, and the last of the group splits up between Comfort Suites to clean and Gordman’s


to stock clothes on the racks. Paras stand by to guide and

allow the students to choose their own seats. Brown quickly explains that doing so gives them a sense of freedom.

“We let them choose their own seats, because we think that it lets them have a sense of indepen-dence,” Brown said, “I think little things like that can make a differ-

ence in their attitudes.”

From the outside, the bus looks like any other bus. How-ever, on the

inside there is quite a difference. On the right side of the bus is a place for someone requiring a wheelchair and every seat has seat belts the students are required to wear.

Finally, they reach their first destination: Henderson Elementary School. The thick, dark clouds now bring the rain and the dropped off students scurry into the school for refuge. Everyone from the school welcomes the students with warm greetings and hugs. Some of the teachers greeting the students fondly remember their former students.

One of the teachers asks a stu-dent named Jordan if he remembers her. He replies by simply nodding his head up and down without look-ing directly at her, but clearly shows comprehension of the question asked.

As the students make ready

for their tasks, Jordan, assisted by Brown, acknowledges what he is supposed to do and picks up a Windex glass cleaner in one hand and in the other a white towel to wipe the glass window off. Brown encourages Jordan as he cleans the glass window of the main lobby by reminding him what to do from time to time.

“It’s not that they don’t under-stand what they’re doing, but they need some type of encouragement that they could do it, or by just giving them a simple ‘great job,’” Brown said, “It makes a whole lot of difference.”

At 10:20 a.m. the bus arrives just in time to leave the school premises for lunch. As the bus starts to move, Brown briefly explains that even though it’s just a day out of school, there’s a great deal of benefits that the students get to take with them from this field trip for their forthcoming future.

Helping them to learn simple work ethics and familiarizing them with the real world will facilitate their development in their lives.

“I think that this program will give them a sense of stability in their futures.” Brown said, “Also, it’ll help them get the jobs that they would want to do and look forward to.”

Arriving 30 minutes later in the double restaurant A&W and Long John Silvers, the students quickly pack the empty place. The Paras let the students go first while still assisting them with purchasing their food . The Paras allow them to do as

olivia.ong

Low incident students work to gain experience in different job situations

SPED teacher Dina Brown sits in a classsroom, ready for the day working closely with her students. (olivia ong)

SPED student Jordan works closely Brown. (olivia ong)

Jordan reaches to clean the window of the door at Henderson Elementary. (olivia ong)

Teacher assistant Dina Brown observess and explains directions to Jordan. (olivia ong)

“I think that this program will give them a sense of

stability in their futures.”

in.dep

th


ARoberts works to brighten futures

much as possible themselves. “They can pretty much do

things that normal people do, it just takes them a little longer,” Brown explains while standing in line.

As the students find their way to the tables, Brown explains that Jordan, the student she is assisting, knows everything about the presidents. He knows how many presidents there are, how and when they died, and what year they were elected. Just ask Jordan and he’ll know.

Another student named Kristen says that someday she will be a rock star. “I know it’ll be hard, but I can do it,” she says, smiling, while holding an ice cream in one hand and a napkin in the other.

It is 12:09 p.m. when the

bus nears FHN high school. All the students sit quietly in their chairs gazing out in the rain. Their faces blank, but the look in their eyes is anything but blankness.

With the day almost coming to an end, Brown wholeheart-edly believes that if people are willing to look deeper beneath the surface of these students, they will find someone who is incredibly loving and caring. It might be surprising what they can bring into your life. Though it is unknown what the future holds for these students, it is for certain that having such disabili-ties does not cripple life.

Q What does your job entail exactly?

A I’m a special education teacher, so I write their [the students] IEP’s for them and I communicate with their teachers pretty regularly, and I teach a communication arts ciriculam. They’re work-ing on things that can help them transition after high school.

Q How do you help the students prepare for the future?

A We have community based instruction. We have five different sites and they go out and do on-the-job training. They do that once a week, 22 times a year.

Other than that, we have jobs they do inside school and that works on their independance and when they are freshmen we try to work with them all around and when they get older, we really try to utilize what they seem to take the most interest in and we also try to get out students with [the program] DDR.

as told to lauren.skinner

Q How many students do you work with?

A There’re 16 students in our program.

Q How and why did you get involved with being a SPED teacher?

A Honestly it [SPED] was something I wanted to do. Ever since I was old enough to babysit I knew that I loved kids and I knew that I wanted to help make a difference.

I knew I wanted to be in education and when I enrolled in Fontbonne I had the oppurtunity to work with both elemen-tary and SPED [kids]. When I entered my undergrad I decided that SPED was where I really wanted to work.

Q What is the most influential thing that happens in your day?

A Just seeing the progress that our kids are making. It [the progress] might not be as obvious to other people but it is to us.

Q Who has influenced you the most?

A A student that I had when earning my undergrad. It was a young man that was working on a spelling list the joy and pride that he had on his face even though other people wouldn’t really take such pride in it. But seeing the joy on his face and know-ing that I helped him get to that point. It was just really amazing.

Q&SPED teacher Beth Roberts works closely with each student. (lydia ness).

Q How do you feel that you make a difference in these kids’ lives?

A I think that I do the best I can to get them as ready as I can to transition out. I like to think that I provide them with alot of different opportunities to do what interests them.

Q Describe a typical day for you.

A 1st hour I start off with English and I have four to five students depending on how many stu-dents get in at what time. Then I get notes from studetns. Second hour is my Prep.

Usually I try to get paper work done and answering question. Third hour is Eng-lish and I have five students in that class and we do News to You, which is an icon based paper, so students are working on their reading skills.

Then we get our students ready for lunch. They head ten minutes early so that they can get their lunch fourth hour is social studies.

We do the same thing as third hour. Sixth hour is Work Experience and my students are spread out working throughout the school. We have students in the Commons doing, doing recycling, doing mail, and one doing shredding. Then seventh hour is English and it is the same as thrid and fifth [hour]. Different students have different needs so I rely alot on my Para educators to help me get everything done.

SPED student Jordan wipes off the front of the doors. (olivia ong)

page design by rachel.hunt, danielle.yuede, & elizabeth.diggs26

Sophomore Sara von Harz started her own cheer program with the help of her parents and sponsors. von Harz stands with her JV cheerlead-ing team uniform on. von Harz has been cheering for five years.(nicole thompson).

time teaching skills.” The squad does all the moves

learned so far, set with music includ-ing stunting, tumbling, motions and, of course, dance. Sara hand picked eight other girls from the FHN JV cheerleading team to be “buddies” to those kids in the squad. The “buddies” help each member of the squad individually if needed. Sara has created this organization/squad from the ground up. Sara set up all the meet-ings with gyms to discuss the organization she is running and got corporate sponsors to help the organization run. She also deals with parents and receives quite a lot of donations. The squad Sara has created pays $35 registration fees, and $55 for tuition which covers the time spent in the gym. She gets some help from her parents, but has done most of the manag-ing herself. Sara’s parents answer any questions she has and have been there for her from day one.

“I’m incredibly proud of Sara,” mother Shannon von Harz said. “I think it’s something very much needed, kids with disabilities need some place willing to make [adaptations] and to do something others aren’t willing to do for them.”

It has taken a lot of hard work on Sara’s part, but has been rewarding so far.

“Everyone thinks it’s good,” Sara said.” A lot of people are really proud of what I’m doing and they just want to help too.”

von Harz builds hope through growing cheerleading program bethany.brady

Saturday afternoon. Noon. The gym is quiet for all but one girl, lingering alone, but not for long.

This girl looks around at the usual bars, beam, floor, vault and the entire gym-nasium. The room is quiet with anticipa-tion of what is to come, and this girl feels a sort of accomplishment at coming here this day. To sophomore Sara von Harz, this room is full of equipment that means something more than just supplies for an individual competitive sport. Unlike other kids, who see all this as simply a hobby or sport, Sara sees these four pieces of equip-ment in this room as something more. She sees the future.

The minute hand ticks one past the 12 on the clock. On this Saturday afternoon, just like every weekend, the door opens from the front of North Side Gymnastic Academy and the five girls and boys file in. This gym is different from others in the aspect that they allow Sara to teach kids with disabilities who wish to learn how to cheer. This organization, named Adrenaline Explosion cheerleading squad, is a competitive cheerleading squad for kids who have disabilities. These dis-abilities range from kids in wheelchairs to those with learning disabilities, such as au-tism and Down syndrome. Sara’s goal for the squad is that in a few years the kids will be able to become a typical cheer team.

Starting her own cheerleading career just about five years ago, Sara is now build-ing an opportunity for kids with disabili-ties using her experience as a cheerleader. This idea to teach kids with disabilities came about when Sara was wanting to do something for others who had no way

of grasping it for themselves. Hitting close to home, Sara’s brother Nick has a disability: autism. Sara’s brother has in-spired her to create the organization and help others build strength and cognitive ability. After much thought and decision making, Sara then went through the mo-tions of organizing this cheer program. Now that the squad is created, it benefits the kids on the team whose ages range from 5-18, by preparing them for things in the future, such as socially for high school, and by them progressing well into future squads. The squad members’ parents are said to be amazed to see what the kids have done. Sara is also re-ally impressed that the kids are learning all the moves at such a fast pace and at what they have done so far.

“The parents and myself are just stunned to know that the kids could do so much and so fast,” Sara said.

Sara is hopeful that the squad will grow and move on with the years. She expects that the kids now in her squad will move up and onto greater things, and that she will encounter new kids to teach and help progress like the ones before. When the time comes for Sara to go to college, her plans are very similar seeing as she wishes to major in special needs. As of right now she is undecided in which exact field she will move onto, but the plans are still there. Currently, Sara hopes to keep teaching the kids skills they will need, every Saturday from noon till one, because Sara would like the squad to be ready by August to compete and perform successfully for special needs sports games.

“You have to work a lot more one on one,” Sara said, “And spend more

Go to FHNtoday.com today to see a link to von Harz’s website: www.adrenalineexplosion.weebly.com

fHN toDAY CoM


Boone Center supports, helps with occupational goals, opportunities to students with disabilitiesbetsy.blanchard

What started as a basement candle manufactory has turned into something

much, much more.The Boone Center, residing on

Trade Center drive, has become a non-profit agency that currently employs approximately 250 adults with disabilities.

“It’s like any job,” BCI Founda-tion Director Linda Buschman said. “[And] everyone deserves the opportunity to find productive and fulfilling employment.”

The company’s official social mission is to “enrich the lives of adults with disabilities and their families,” while their business mis-sion is to “provide human resources and manage logistics to deliver superior value added processing.”

To meet these goals, the Boone Center works in two parts: one, they hire adults with disabilities to work in their own factory; two, they assist them in not only finding em-ployment in their own building, but in others around the area as well.

“We are all about providing

careers for [them],” Buschman said. “We effectively combine both [of our missions] to create the best career opportunities for the people we serve. “

Within the Center’s own ware-house, assembling and packaging tasks are completed. Essentially, they are a packaging company. On any given day, the em-ployees will be working with any-thing from nail polish remover pads to Lysol wipes. The company has some major clients like United Pet Group and Vijon Labs, among several others. According to Buschman, the company has a “friendly” working environment - and she is not alone in this deduction.

“I love the people,” employee Leah Lauer said. “I love talking to the staff and [working with] my cowork-ers.”

According to their Web site, to be eligible for employment at the Cen-ter, the individual must be assessed to determine their capability and their ability to work in an integrated environment. Those who are unable to work competitively throughout the

commu-nity will be certified for employ-ment.

To further prepare students for the working life, the school’s

work experience classes provide them with invaluable experience. The students assist in the cafeteria kitchen, file papers in the attendance office and even work in the school store during lunches.

The Francis Howell School District is one of the Center’s many cooperatives. Several students within North’s SPED program participate in the “school to work” programs; these typically involve the students

leaving school over a fixed period of time (sometimes one week, sometimes two) to have their abilities assessed. The reports given often serve methods for im-provement. The assessments give the student’s - and their teachers - an idea of what sort of job they could expect to acquire. And considering the fact that payment at the Center is based on ability, the students given an idea of what their pay would be like as well. If given a less than desirable report, or more information is desired, the students have the opportu-nity to participate in the program multiple times. The last session for this school year began Feb. 22 and runs through March 5.

“[The program] is important for the kids because they need to see what it’s like outside of high school. It’s invaluable the infor-mation they can give us,” Low Incidence teacher Jan Lindmeier said, “so we can remediate the weaknesses [of our students] and play on the strengths.”

“It’s invaluable, the informa-tion they can give us so we can remediate the weak-nesses [of our students] and play on the strengths.”

in.dep

th

Realizing being disabled for some means not being able to drive. The

Boone Center provides transportation to and from work each day for those

who require the extra assistance. (stephanie graflage)

When a person is labeled disabled, they are limited to the type and the amount of work they are able to perform. At the Boone Center, they provide those who are disabled with the ability to work and gain extra income with a series of jobs they are physically and mentally able to perform. (stephanie graflage)

Four workers work at the Boone Center at the assembly line. (stephanie graflage)

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kevin.beerman

Wrestlers come back from slow season to break recordWrestlers Brenton Harms and Harold Ritchie made North history. Ritchie has broken a five-year-old season win

record, Harms, a twenty-year-old pin record, set by a three time state champion.

The referee holds junior Harold Ritchie’s arm up to show the winning of the match. This year is Ritchie’s third year placing at state. (jaqueline sage)

Senior Brenton Harms pins a FHHS westler to the mat. Harms has broken one school record this season. (jaqueline sage)

Reaching his arms around his Howell opponent’s head, senior Brenton Harms tries to pin him to the mat. Harms continued on this season to break the record number of pins earned at North. (jacquelinne sage)

This year was full of successes for the varsity wrestling team. They placed fifth at the GAC tourna-

ment, third at districts, and 12th at state. They accumulated more than 300 individual wins. But the grandeur of the season isn’t in the wins or the finishes at tournaments; It isn’t in the team successes made during the year. The splendor is in the colossal record breaking that has wrestled its way onto the mats this season: two varsity wrestlers, Harold Ritchie and Brenton Harms, broke records this year. They set goals that they went at with gusto, making history in the process.

First there was junior Harold Ritchie. He has wrestled on varsity for the past three years, starting as a 112-pound freshmen, finishing with a 30-13 record and placing fifth at state. Unfortunately, he took a stumble from his prodigious track, going 20-16, and placing a secondary sixth at state during his sophomore year. In 2009, however, he is back, and with a ven-geance. Firstly, he has placed first at districts for the first time in his already stunning career. But, much more significantly, this year Ritchie has a mere three losses and an astonishing 45 wins- giving him the new school record for the most wins in a season.

“I really didn’t think that it was that big of a deal,” Ritchie said. “I thought it was cool.”

As cavalier as Ritchie seemed about his accomplishment, there was definite call for celebration. The record was set in 2006 by John Vanvelkinburgh. That year he went 41-6 and took second at the state tournament.

Ritchie never plotted breaking the record. He simply stumbled upon it in the pursuit of perfecting his game.

“I didn’t even know that I was close until I tied,” Ritchie said.

The record was tied by Ritchie on Jan 30, and crushed by him amid thunderous cheers at 7:57 p.m. on senior night on Feb. 3.

“It’s an accomplishment. The last [record] to be set was four years ago. To do that at this level is remark-able,” varsity Coach Harold Ritchie Sr. said.

Although Coach Ritchie is Wres-tler Harold Ritchie’s father, many would think he is at an advantage.

“I just treat him like any other wrestler,” Coach Ritchie said.

This mirrors his past when it comes to training wrestlers, as more than 30 of North’s varsity wrestlers have placed in the top six at state under Coach Ritchie.

However, the comeback story of the year is Brenton Harms. This senior wrestler, who didn’t place in any major tournament last year, has emerged as a shining star on the varsity team. Besides placing first

at districts, he has also managed to pound out a 39-10 record, and, most historically, made 29 pins in the sea-son, breaking the monumental record that formally was the longest standing wrestling record in the school’s 25-year history.

“I was happy and scared to break the record. I mean, it used to belong to a three time state champ,” Harms said.

The record was set 20 years ago by Jason Sexton, who went 31-0 with 28 pins in 1990.

“It was my senior year, and I was good. At the time I had developed into a dominant wrestler,” Sexton said.

He was previously unaware that his record was still standing. Currently, Sexton lives in Dallas, and is helping to develop wrestling programs for high schools in that area.

Last year, Harms didn’t qualify for state. He had a less than .500 record, and wasn’t anything to be scared of on the mats. He has made a complete 180 for this season, when he is anything but the man you want to wrestle.

“He has really worked hard all year,” Harms’ father Dulaney Harms said. “I could see in the off season how much time and effort that he put into conditioning and improving.”

The record came across Harms’ radar early in the season, after pinning his first few opponents. He found it realistically in his grasp.

“I started pinning people and I

Junior Harold Ritchie wraps his arms around his Holt opponent in attempt to pin him. The meet was held at North on Dec. 2 and Ritchie won his match. (jacquelinne sage)

page design by abbey.grone 31

play.h

ard

Learn the wrestling positions1. Head position- The relation of one opponents head to the other.

2. Sprawl- Dropping hips onto opponent to avoid a take down.

3. Firemans carry- Dragging opponents arm over head and putting one arm between legs to throw opponent over.

4. Double inside- Both hands/thumbs in the opponents elbows.

5. Staggered stance- Standing with one foot further forward then the other.

6. Double leg- Stepping leading leg between opponents legs, grabbing opponents knees and pushing them to the mat.

1. 2.

3. 4.

5. 6.

Name: Harold RitchieGrade: JuniorYears wrestling: 16Biggest accomplishment: placing fourth at state.Place at state: forth

Name: Brenton HarmsGrade: SeniorYears wrestling: 7Biggest accomplishment: going to state and beat-ing pin record.Place at state: Did not place

Wrestlers: Jack Schwartz & Devin Mundy

Jason ShellPlace at state: sixth place

Jeff ShellPlace at state:second place

made it a goal to break it,” Harms said. According to Harms, it was coach

Brown who helped him the most. They worked together after school to condi-tion and sculpt him into the wrestler that he is today. In the weight room, Harms reigns supreme, with the most power clean weight lifted and the third most bench weight.

The season wasn’t over after districts though for these record breakers. Both Harms and Ritchie qualified for state after finishing first at districts. Tragically for Harms, he fell out of competition in a first round loss to Zach Drinkall of Lebanon, even after smashing the 20-year-old record that was an essential part of the for-mula for Sexton’s state championship. Ritchie, on the other hand, would fight his way to place fourth in the 135 weight class.

“It is an accomplishment. These aren’t easy records to overcome, in fact they are extremely hard,” Sexton said. “All records are meant to be

broken. All records are set to be surpassed.”

OTHER STATE PLACERS

Most wins: Merrick Meyer (1997-1998)Most pins: Jason Sexton (1989-1990)

Most team points: Tim Dillion (1998-1999)Most major decisions: Merrick Meyer (2000-2001)

Most tech falls: Sean Fowler, Jason Sexton, & John VanVelkinburgh

Most takedowns: Sean Fowler (1996-1997)Most 2pt NF’s: Jason Sexton (1988-1989)

Most 3pt NF’s: Jason Sexton (1988-1989) & John VanVelkinburgh (2005-2006)

Most reversals: Scott Winkelmann (2002-2003)

RECORD: most wins in seasonHarold Ritchie (45)Merrick Meyer (41)John VanVelkinburgh (41)

RECORD:most pins in seasonBrenton Harms (29)Jason Sexton (26)

page design by logan.ponche32

Final GAC push challenges team

Hockey ends season with no regrets left on icehannah.hamilton

The varsity Knights hockey team played their last playoff game against SLUH at Afton on Monday, Feb. 8, but were defeated with a score of 4-2.

“I tried to keep [the game strategy] within three lines,” Head coach Paul Bruemmer said. “One, keep it even amongst players [playing time]. Two, strategy wise, tried to be good defen-sively, and three, play as a team and play together.”

The Knights were unable to win the playoff championships that were played within the first week and a half of Feb., but came out of the playoffs with a season record of 11-8-4.

“I think overall we played really well. I think we could have shot the puck more, and pressured the defense more [during the playoffs though],” senior Justin Kendall said.

The Knights’ regular season ended on Jan. 29. Their last game was played against Holt with a tie of 3-3.

“Overall the team played decent but we were inconsistent. We took the easy games too lightly and conquered the games we should have lost,” senior Michael Comer said, “ But it was an exciting season because every game was close and came down to the last minute.”

bethany.brady

Senior Stefen Whitehurst dribbles the ball away from Cape Central’s James Lane on Feb. 17 in the FHN gymnasium. Whitehurst and the Knights fought through a tough game, but couldn’t pull through. The Knights lost against Cape Central 58-43. (jessica streiler)

Golfers begin season with competitive tryouts

To see photos from the basketball season, check out the photo galleries at FHNtoday.com.

fhn today com

spring sports:what’s in

your bag?

Baseball- tyler christeson 12- Two gloves, my Nike cleates, a cup, batting gloves, a helment, three bats and a bag of spilled sunflower seeds.

cheer-leading- Kendra Barnard 10- Pom poms, a pair of socks, some old water bottles and I think a couple of quarters.

Soccer- Sarah Peth 11- My uniforms, a water bottle, a flat soccer ball, cleats,

Baseball- Jake tecklenburg 9- A glove, a bat, some balls, bat-ting gloves, an empty gatorade bottle and half of

a practice ball. It was ripped and my

friend hit it and it split in half; so now we each have a half.

track- nick dimarco 12 - Food, track spikes, compression shorts, athletic shorts and a t-shirt.

Before he went to Mid Rivers Golf Links for the first practice on March 1, golf coach Les Hager was already mentally preparing for the season and hoping to build on last year’s accom-plishments.

“We sent two guys to State last year,” senior Tyler Wagner said. “We can definitely get three this year”

According to Hager, he’s looking for around 12 boys with experience.

“We’d love to have people come for tryouts,” Hager said. “It’s a very competitive situation though; players should be reasonably polished.”

Throughout the season, Hager

will work with players to keep those physical skills polished, including everything from their full swing to their putting technique. Hager will work with the boys on their mental approach to the game as well.

“[I want to] do better than last year,” sophomore Jaxon Nagel said. “I want to work on my concentration.”

kelsey.bell

On Feb. 22, the boys varsity bas-ketball team went into districts seeded fifth. They played against Pattonville in the first round of the tournament and despite the fact that the team kept the game close, the boys lost to the Pirates with a final score of 48-56.

“We didn’t set the tone in the begining,” junior Andrew Richart said. “We managed to fight back a couple of times, but we couldn’t hold onto the lead. Offensive rebounds and fouls killed us.”

With that loss, the boys finished their season with an overall record of 10-16, a mark almost identical to last season’s 11-16 record.

“I never like the season to be over with,” Head coach Bill Moyer said. “We would have liked to have gotten some more wins in.”

Even though the boys ended their season with two losses, one to Pat-tonville and another to Howell 46-47, Richart believes the scores of those games were not representative of how the team played.

“I think the Howell loss af-fected our game,” Richart said. “Even though we lost, it picked up our game. We played harder and that helped us in the Pattonville game.”

The team now plans to focus on next year, as their turn in districts is over for the season. According to senior Nick DiMarco, the year was somewhat inconsistent.

“The season went really well for a stretch and down some too,” DiMarco said. “It was just pretty unpredictable.”

Putting the loss at Pattonville be-hind them, the players returning next year are ready to work hard towards the challenge of attaining a winning record.

“I’m kind of disappointed with how the season ended,” junior Jacob Sander said. “We have the talent to be better, but I feel like we need to just keep working so we do better next season.”

Junior clint toedt-mann focuses on the green to decide what his next shot will be. (file photo)

page design by heather.odonnell 33

play.h

ard

mallory.muellerAfter a string of difficult meets, FHN girls swimming has once again ended the season in success. The girls had a record of 5-10, which was very similar to the records of past years.

“Right now our biggest challenge is that we are such a young team we really don’t have the experience,” Assistant coach Beth Phillips said. “I think over the next two years we will be really good.”

The team won many important meets this year, such as the St. Charles meet, where they won by one point, but also endured set backs like the Fort Zumwalt meet where the team did not swim the best they could. Howev-er, that didn’t stop them from working their hardest the entire season.

“[The biggest achievement] I think was just coming together as a team,” sophomore Amanda Cornett said. “I think that is more important than winning.”

Now that many of the girls on the team have a year of experience under their belts, some have even began set-ting new goals for next year.

“I hope to get state times in my events next year,” sophomore Kayln Jones said.

The coaches and athletes alike are also hoping for an even more suc-cessful year next season, even though according to Phillips, success is not always about winning.

“I think they learned that being successful doesn’t always mean winning the meet or competitions,” Phillips said. “Sometimes success comes in other ways such as personal success.”

Team celebratespersonal goalsbarbara.jean.palmer

Sophomore Amanda Cornett freestyles in a swim meet at the rec-plex against St. Dominic.(jacqueline sage)

With last year’s baseball team end-ing their season after the first round of districts, Coach Bobby Dunahue and the boys are all anticipating this season to turn out differently.

“Last year’s season ended in a disappointment,” Dunahue said. “Just because it is disappointing to lose the last game of the season.”

Though the 2009 season ended in an abrupt loss, coach Dunahue and the boys have nothing but a positive outlook going into this season. They are all pushing themselves to work harder and hopefully go far in their season. With tryouts starting this past Monday, the players have prepared themselves more than ever for the upcoming season.

“We workout on Mondays,

Wednesdays, and Fridays, then we hit on Thursdays,” junior Mike Wilson said, “But other than that I am really just working hard to get better.”

One of the many goals that Coach Dunahue has set for this year’s team is having the opportu-nity to compete for state. Dunahue says that although he’s set the bar high, with good luck, no injuries, and proper eligibility, he feels there is a chance to achieve this goal. He also believes that with the athletes in the baseball program at North this year, there is a lot of talent that can help them once again win their con-ference and go further in districts.

“I am really looking forward to seeing all of our talented players put together on one team,” sophomore Braxton Martinez said.

State poses problems, limits success of wrestlers

Determination gives baseball high hopes for state

By the end of the season the team had six wrestlers that qualified for state, three of whom went on to place, and two wrestlers who broke school records. For districts the team did as expected, however, it was state that was a disappointment.

“It [was] about on par for where we’ve been the past few years,” Head coach Harold Ritchie Sr.. said. “Fin-ishing 12th [and] 13th, we work too hard to be 12th or 13th in the state. Our goal this year was to be in the top ten, I think we could’ve done that.”

Of the six wrestlers that qualified for State, three were seniors, two were juniors and one was a freshman. Freshman Tyler Smith, juniors Harold Ritchie Jr. and Jason Shell, and seniors Jeff Shell, Brandon Szuba and Brenton Harms all were qualifiers. According to coach Ritchie, that fact meant some-thing different to each wrestler.

“It depends on their experience level,” coach Ritchie said. “For a guy like Tyler, it’s a huge thing. For guys like Harold, Jeff and Jason, it’s more about what happens when they get to state.”

At State, Jason placed sixth, Har-

old placed fourth, and Jeff placed second each in their respective weight classes. By the end of the season three records were set at North as well. Even with all of the personal achievements, Ritchie be-lieves that the team could have ac-complished more. Next year brings a new season that will require a lot of hard work, and some recruiting.

“Recruit, recruit, recruit,” coach Ritchie said. “That’s the only choice we’ve got. [We have] a few JV guys I hope will be able to step up, bet we definitely have some holes to fill.”

taylor.berra

Zach Kneemiller tries to prevent his opponent from doing a reverse block at their last match on Feb. 3. The Varsity wrestling team went on to compete in State and finished in 13th place, bringing home three state medals. (fareeha amir)

Sophomore Lucas Kemp catches the ball during a Knights baseball game. Their first game is the Troy Classic on March 22. (file photo)

page design by taylor.berra34

allison.sheffler

New coach is nothing new for tennis team

Senior Kyle Harmen returns a ball back to his oppnet at a match. The tennis team has been working out with the volleyball team before tryouts start on March 1. Members of the team have been working out for several weeks to be in shape for the season. (fareeha amir)

Sprinters reach for recordslizzie.johnson

Sophomore Ami Francis gets the pass off and continues to run at the 2009 Friday Night Relays. Hennenfent is hoping that this year they will win both GACs. (file photo)

getting new coaches through the years, it doesn’t seem to effect the athletes’ performance or attitude toward the team.

After just one year of coaching the boys tennis team, Spanish teacher Brain Santos will be

stepping down in order to work on his graduate studies. Health teacher Kellie Voyles will take over the job as head coach this year.

Despite a new coach last year, the team was still able to accomplish a great deal. They placed first in singles at GACs and placed 5th as a team in districts. Because Santos took on the coaching position last year, he understands the stresses Voyles will have from taking on new players, new strategies and a new team. However, coaching tennis won’t be a completely new experience for Voyles because she has been the coach for the girls’ team for the past two years. However, Santos still offers up his advice.

“[I’d tell her to] stay focused, make sure the team has a good and positive attitude,” Santos said. “Don’t let losses discourage the team and be tough. A good coach is tough but encouraging.”

Having a new coach to start the season isn’t anything new for the ten-nis team, as they’ve had three different coaches in the past three years. How-ever, it is possible that after this year the team will have a more permanent coach with Voyles.

“I plan to do it [coaching] as long as I’m able to,” Voyles said. “And as long as they want me to.”

Even though the team has been

After a disappointing conclusion to last year’s track season, with only three athletes qualifying for state, Head coach Greg Hennenfent is hop-ing for a more successful season.

He believes that the sprinting and hurdling teams will be some of the strongest track and field events. For some athletes, this season will be their chance to prove themselves, for others, like varsity sprinter Reed Lunsford and varsity hurdler Fiona Brooks, it’s a chance to try setting new records.

“Definitely, we are the most domi-nate team,” Lunsford said. “Sprinters have won conference for three years.”

Lunsford hopes he will be able to win the boys 200-meter dash at conference, sectionals, and especially at state. He is also hoping he will be able to beat the 100 and 200-meter dash school records this season. On the hurdling team Brooks would like to hold school records such as the 400-meter dash and 100-meter hurdles. Brooks, a senior, already holds the record for the girl’s 300-me-ter hurdles at 44.8 seconds.

“Nothing could compare to that moment,” Brooks said, “that was the best moment in track.”

According to Hennenfent, the sprint team’s strongest races are the boys 100, 200, and 400-meter dash with Lunsford, and the 100 and 300-meter intermediate hurdles with Brooks.

“We have over all good speed on sprinting, but those two stand out the most,” Hennenfent said.

“[Those trying out] will make a strong team,” senior Chris Palmer said. “We practiced over winter break and we have good chemistry.”

get to knowyour athletes

why did you start playing?

how do you warm up?

what is your favorite drill?

who is your favorite superhero?

It’s an individual sport, which was different

for me.

Taylor Bell, 11TENNIS

I run, stretch, then hit a little bit then serve.

Ground strokes

Green Lantern

SOCCERJacy Waldrop, 12

My brother played so my Mom signed

me up.

I dive a few times and then take some shots

from the players.

World Cup

Spiderman

BASKETBALL Deann Krufal, 9

I like the sport and it’s fun to play.

Listen to music and shoot around.

3 V. 2

Spiderman

TRACK Mack Weaver, 10

I’ve always liked run-ning, so I decided to

go competitive.

Run a mile and stretch.

Broken 800s

Superman

page design by emily.forst 35

play.h

ard

Team seeks to replace graduated seniors

Girls stay postive after loss at districts olivia.ong

Having beaten every opposing team in their district during the regu-lar season, the girls basketball team went into districts against Parkway West with hopes of finishing well. Although the Knights kept the game close, West came out on top with a final score of 43-49, knocking North out of the tournament.

“The team was very excited about districts and district championships,” junior Rachel Pauley said. “We were all working hard to reach our goals.”

Many feel that the result of the girls district game was not a descriptor of their season. In the end, the team broke even with a record of 13-13.

“As a whole, our season was fun,” senior Dianna Prost said. “We didn’t end with the record we wanted, but we had a blast playing every game.”

Even though Hahn will not be re-turning next year to coach, she is both proud and impressed with the girls.

“I’m really proud of the girls’ unselfishness play this year, and [their ability to] stay positive in tough games,” Hahn said. “I’m also proud of the role models they’ve become both on the court and in the community.”

The varsity boys volleyball team celebrates a win on their senior night of last year. For this upcoming season they are practicing with the tennis team. (file photo)

Looking for new talent, Head volleyball coach Ryan Von-Feldt, - who is in his fourth

year of coaching , has opened the big gymnasium up during open gym time to anyone interested. With most of varsity’s team last year being seniors, the coaches are looking for replace-ments to fill the gaps. “We hope to get more boys inter-ested in playing every year,” Coach VonVeldt said. “By showing them how fun it could be, and getting them ready for the year by letting them use

the gym to practice and get comfort-able.” Last year, boys volleyball took third at GAC’s behind Central and Howell. Then, after placing there, the team failed to make it out of dis-tricts. This year, the coaches hope to go beyond last year’s shortcom-ings and become the first public school to ever win State. “This year we hope to take GACs again, and continue to districts,” JV Coach Thomas Potteiger said about the varsity team. “With the talent boys have shown this year, this could be our best year yet.”

abbey.grone

Twins start season without college worries

M ost senior athletes are worried about improving themselves for possible recruitment from

colleges, but senior twins Cindy and Becky Lackey have no need of doing so. As of their junior year they were accepted to Central Missouri State University on an almost full ride scholarship. “We were really excited we were accepted,” Cindy said. “We really like this school. We jumped around and danced a little when we found out.”

Not only are the girls playing in college together, but they have been playing together for 12 years. As of now they are playing for the Lou Fusz Strikers and according to Cindy and Becky they both believe they work very well together because of their ‘twin telepathy’.

“We definitely play better when we’re together,” Becky said. “We

know where each other is on the field. She’s more offensive minded and I’m more defensive minded. We just work together that way.”

In addition to the Lackeys work-ing well together this season, all of the team is expected to have great chemistry according to varsity coach Dan Hogan.

“We’re blessed with a lot of tal-ent,” Hogan said. “We have a group of three that started varsity as fresh-men [their freshman year] that have some great characteristics.”

The first game of the year as of now will be against Incarnate Word during the week of March 18. Hogan believes the girls have the potential to have a great season.

“We graduated a handful of key players last year,” Hogan said. “We’re going to have 10 seniors this year. There’s a lot of experience this season and they could all replace the gradu-ated seniors easily.”

justin.jones

Name: Cindy Lackey

Age: 18Position: SweeperYears on

varsity: Four Goals for the

season: “Get past districts and go

far in state”

Name: Becky LackeyAge: 18Position: Left Wing MidfieldYears on varsity: FourGoals for the season: “To win districts, and go far in state”

Coaches prepared the athletes for tryouts by having players workout with the tennis team. Tryouts for volleyball this year began on March 1 and will last until coaches feel neces-sary. Coaches VonFeldt and Potteiger will be choosing what is best for the team and decide what teams to place each player on, if they make the cut at all. As of now, old and new players have high expectations for this year. “This year I expect some real talent and a great team,” said senior Sam Whitaker. “And if you have a coach who is willing to teach and mentor you, there’s no way you can lose.”

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page design by crystal.friedman37

North Street CoffeehouseThe North Street Coffeehouse was held in the FHN library Feb 18- 19. The audience was given drinks and hot chocolate while they watched various musical performances and listened to poetry. They also enjoyed viewing the works of art created by students.

Photos by: Crystal Friedman


Playing a cover of

Blink 182’s song “Down,”

seniors JT Thomas and

Robby Friedlein

perform at the North Street

Coffeehouse. Thomas and

Friedlein also performed this

song, as well as other cover songs, at this

year’s Frau Fest under the name

of Prestige Worldwide.

(crystal friedman)

Sophomore Jenni Wyandt brings down the tempo of the many musical perfor-mances by reading a piece of personal poetry that she wrote for creative writing class last year. (crystal friedman)

Using India ink and watercolors, senior Holly Edmondson created this piece called “Senioritis.” She was required to make this drawing while sitting in the hallway. (crystal friedman)

Practicing blind contour drawing, senior Josh Grezinger brought out the emotion in his art through the various mixtures of colors. (crystal friedman)

Sophomore Joyce Moon made a piece of cheesecake for a project in which students had to recreate a piece of food that would be seen in a restaurant . (crystal friedman)

Senior Erin Kennedy created this hand out of wire and driftwood that was gathered by Sculpture 1 teacher Zach Smithey. One piece of wood resembled a thumb and forefinger, inspiring Kennedy to create the skeleton looking hand. (crystal friedman)

Sophomore Ellice

Estrada reads a piece of her own poetry to the audience.

One of her favorite

poems she shared, which

had been about a daisy,

was written in dedication to a student

at North who comforted her during a tough

time in her life. (crystal

friedman)

snap

.shot


Senior Nick Marquart reads a piece of original poetry entitled “When Will It Ever End.” Marquart wrote the poem during freshman year in response to the various cliques seen in high school (crystal friedman)

Juniors Seve Manzoor and

Jacob Robinson both sing and play

guitar. They performed an original song

called “Told But Never

Spoken” for which they wrote the

music and lyrics. (lydia

ness)

Claiming to read a personal poem depicting the complications of her love life, senior Erin Kennedy actually reads the lyrics to Lady Gaga’s song “Poker Face.” Kennedy enjoys hearing the poetry at the Coffeehouse, but chose to perform a parody of the song in order to lighten the mood from some of the more serious works of art. (crystal friedman)

Seniors David Tecklenburg and Shelby Misuraco perform “Never Alone” by Barlow Girl. Misuraco also performed earlier in the day singing “Feel This” by Bethany Joy Galeottwith senior Leslie Gaines. Tecklenburg also sang and played guitar in a duet with senior Chrissy Lentini. (crystal friedman)

Sophomore Liz Leonard and senior Thom Loeffler practice performing the song “Love Story” by Taylor Swift between a passing period. Originally, Leonard was singing “Bless the Broken Road” by Rascal Flatts, but decided to switch songs and have Loeffler accompany her with acoustic guitar. (crystal friedman)

page design by kelsey.bell40

FHNtoday comyour source for Knightly news

The student life gallery holds hundreds of photos from events around school, including great shots of the winter pep assembly. Photos of winter sports, DECA districts, and the prom fashion show can also be found.

Sound slides

Knightlife

The multimedia tab leads Nicole Thompson’s sound slide featuring Brryan Jackson along with others.

Check out the podcast this Friday for sports and news coverage.

Stories Other Perks

Cartoons

Newsletter

Calendar

Video columns

Online storeCheck out all of RJ Howe’s weekly cartoons when you need a laugh.

Stay familiar with things going on in your school and community by reading stories posted daily.

Sign up online and receive free weekly e-mail newsletters to stay updated on what’s new online.

Instantly see what’s scheduled to go on with clubs, sports, and special events by viewing the calendar.

Check out Julia Gabbert’s online video blogs about her struggle through a week without wasting.

Yearbooks from the last decade at FHN can be found online along with T-shirts, flash drives and more.

Photo galleries

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speak.ou

tENTERTAINMENTUP&COMING...to a theater near you

“Alice in Wonderland”

March 26

March 12

march 5

“How to Train Your Dragon”

“Remember Me”

American Idol has entered its ninth season with yet another new judge: Ellen DeGeneres. With her goofy personality she is sure to be a good fit with the three other judges’ personali-ties, but what about her music experi-ence? Though others might doubt her credentials, Ellen feels that she does know what a good voice is and under-stands what a quality musician is.

The judge this season who has stepped down from her chair is none other than Paula Abdul. The hype

about Abdul being gone has really seemed to put a damper on the pro-cess; the contestants no longer have someone there to give them that posi-tive boost when all the other judges have ripped them apart.

Furthermore, the word is out that Simon Cowell is leaving after this season. Cowell, the man who knows his music and will tell everyone exactly how he feels about their talent or lack thereof, will be leaving to promote his own series called the “X Factor.” With it being his last season I can only imagine how much more blunt he will

get with contestants as time goes on. With DeGeneres and her fun

personality here, and Abdul and her sweet personality gone, will the show survive? I highly doubt that the show will see more than this season and the next. Hopefully the talent this year though will bring a fresh start for not only the contestants but the judges and viewers as well. I suppose the American population will just have to wait and see what this hit series has in store for us.as well.

MUSIC: Megan and Liz

Dear Taylor Swift,

Don’t get too attached to that album of the year, for you’re not the only one with golden pipes; twin sis-ters Megan and Liz from Michigan are ready to take your place in the hearts of teen girls across America.

At the moment, you can find the two making a name for themselves

on YouTube, singing their hearts out to numerous covers of Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, and even Beyonce. However, their original numbers like “Maybe, possibly” and “Homerun,” as well as the rest of their debut album “All of our Boyfriends,” can be sampled and purchased on iTunes.

Their lyrics are not only easy to relate to (many are centered on high school related problems) but they’re a much needed breath of fresh air from

the same six songs about iPods on replay and boys that belong with me that pollute the radio on a daily basis.

So, as you can see Miss Swift, you’re not the only one that knows how to impress a group of teenage girls, and soon, you won’t be the best either.

From the makers of “Shrek” comes an animated movie that follows the story of Hiccup, a Viking teen-ager who is looking to prove himself in a community where fighting and slaying drag-ons is the norm. However, after injuring one himself, he discovers there is more to the dragons than meets the eye.

PG-13

lauren.skinner

lizzie.johnson

preview by betsy.blanchard

Rich with humor, drama and romance, “Remember Me” tells the story of two young people who each meet each other and soon discover the importance of life and love. Starring Robert Pattin-son (Twilight) and Emile De Ravin (The Hills Have Eyes), “Remember Me” promises to be a must-see romance.

preview by justin.jones

Alice in Wonderland is a fantasy adventure film based off Lewis Carroll’s novels. With a great cast list includ-ing Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Anne Hathaway as The White Queen, and Mia Wasikowska as Alice, director Tim Burton puts a dark twist on this classic. Because of Burton’s changes, I can’t wait to go see the movie.

preview by allison.sheffler

photos from Fox

fhn today com

To check out “American Idol” go online to www.Fox.com.

PG-13

PG

American Idol: SEASON NINE

page design by hannah.hamilton42

Everyone should have a bucket list to follow their goals

on behalf of theNorth Star

editorial staff

editorial.staff

Lately I’ve noticed my friends have started doing something that’s caught my attention: creating a

bucket list. It has not only caught my attention but peaked my interest into making one of my own.

Some of you may be asking yourself what a bucket list is. In simple terms, a bucket list is defined as a list of goals you plan on accomplishing before you “kick the bucket.”

More and more, it’s become a normal occurrence for me to see my friend pull out her fancy journal in class and jot down a new goal to accomplish. While we’re taking notes in class, I’m not sure what sparks a new goal but it’s a goal good enough

allison.sheffler to add to the list. I love that my friends are setting goals and talking about the next time they’ll be able to cross something off.

I strongly believe we all have numerous goals tucked away in the back of our minds that we often forget are there. Making a list and posting it somewhere we’ll see it everyday not only encourages us to meet these goals but it’s also a reminder to cross off the ones we’ve accomplished. I’m not even able to accomplish the simplest goal of writing a bucket list, but seeing all my friends jumping on the band wagon has made me realize I need to join in on this.

Goals are a great thing to have and an even better thing to accomplish. Accomplishing them makes you feel

a sense of pride that you’ve done something you’ve always wanted to do. Between our soccer practices and studying for our math tests, we lose track of our goals and only when we see something that reminds us do we remember we ever made that goal in the first place.

One day, these people, the bucket list ones, will become some of the most successful people I know. They push themselves to accomplish their goals.

Any of us can make a list of goals in our head, but it takes the motivated ones to write them down and share their lists. You could even make ‘write a bucket list’, the first goal on your bucket list. Then you’re already on your way to crossing something off!

North Star Take: It’s time to act your age

The senior banner lays on the bleachers immediately following the Snowcoming pep assembly. It had been ripped and drawn on by students in the senior class. Senior class officers had to dispose of the banner completely. The junior class banner suffered the same fate. (betsy blanchard)

The concept of respect is nothing foreign to most of us. However, whether we actually take the

time to implement it into our daily lives or not is another thing altogether. We’ve all been briefed numerous times on respecting ourselves, our friends, and our family. But what about our school? Last month’s pep assembly perfectly exemplified our school’s inability to do so. While this does not directly apply to the majority of students, the minority provides cause enough for necessary change. Though it should go without saying, the most horrifying incident at the as-sembly was the not-so-silent moment of silence. Whether you knew Al or not should have had no weight on your volume during that time. And if you didn’t want to be silent for him, you should have been silent for everyone else in the room. It was not too much of StuCo to ask for thirty seconds of silence to honor someone’s entire lifetime. And despite popular belief, it was not only a few sophomores who disregarded this courtesy. Though they might have seemed to be the loudest, outbursts were made from each class and it is not fair (disrespect-

ful, even) to make them the scape-goats. In fact, what was perhaps the most obnoxious display of disrespect at our assemblies was that towards other classes. Contrary to popular belief, age differences do not grant any sort of “privilege” to boo any other class. Is it such a novel concept to simply

cheer louder for your own? This issue is a time-old tale, but one that cer-tainly has not warranted the attention it deserves. Sadly enough, the lack of respect was carried even further. Disrespect for other classes was not the only issue; ironically, several classes faced opposition from within. The senior

and junior class banners were ripped down and graffitied by members of their own class. Symbols of class spirit, destroyed. You know things have gone too far when it comes to that. What’s worse is that no one attempted to stop them - successfully, at least. Those who had and dismissed the opportu-nity to say something are almost as much at fault. A banner may seem to be a little thing, but it represents so much more. Everyone at this school is either at or nearing adulthood, but it’s a select few that actually act their age. Respect was something taught in kindergarten. Constant reminders should not be necessary, and those still struggling with the concept should be embar-rassed. For the first time in Howell North history, the pep assembly was broad casted live on FHNtoday.com. The Web site had over 600 visits that day. Who knows how many witnessed our tragic inability to show any semblance of respect.

page design by scott.jones 43

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Environmental Studies is a real eye opener. During our solid waste unit, Mr. Brocksmith slapped me in the face with facts about the effect humans throwing things away has on the environment. For example, every day the average American throws away almost four and a half pounds of trash that wind up in landfills or floating in the ocean. I am simply not OK with this. That is the reason that this month, I went a week without wasting.

Unfortunately, my house does not have recycling pick-up along with garbage. Most of the time, I keep a bag for all the paper products I throw away, so I can take them to the bins outside of most schools for recycling. But that doesn’t account for everything I throw away. I had to be conscious of what I was using and whether it could be recycled. Styrofoam became my enemy. By the end of the week, my record wasn’t perfect, but I think the most impor-tant part was becoming educated on the topic of recycling. From now on, I will be making a conscious effort to reduce what I throw away. There is no way four and a half pounds of garbage will be coming from me anymore.

S O F Tabbey.grone

Laziness affects Americans in so many aspects today, the most vital being health. Though it

should be something that we should be able to control, Americans continue to suffer from obesity.

Being overweight is an issue that over half of the U.S. is dealing with, but in all honesty, it’s really no surprise why this is an ever grow-ing problem. In 2008 alone, $110 billion was spent on fast food - and that does not include all the unhealthy frozen foods that fill freezers across the nation. Americans today visit fast food “restaurants” daily, purchasing greasy, calorie-infused foods. Gross. And it’s not only the type of food, but how much food is consumed. Is it

really worth the clogged arteries and excessive weight gain?

It’s not that time consuming to cook a meal every once and while. Even if time is an issue, there are healthy foods that don’t need to be cooked: fruits, vegetables, cold deli sandwiches. Instead of grabbing a pop tart in the morning as you rush out the door, grab an apple. Instead of heat-ing up a TV dinner, prepare a salad. Instead of visiting the drive through, pack your lunch.

But it’s not only the ridiculously poor eating choices that cause the weight issue, it’s the hours and hours spent in front of TVs and computers instead of time spent burning calories and being active. In a 65-year life, the average American spends nine years in front of the TV. That’s nine years

Americans standards of living diminishmallory.mueller

JULIA LIVES WITHOUT:

julia.gabbert

wasted. It’s ridiculous; people spend 10 minutes driving around a parking a lot looking for the closest parking space instead of just parking farther away and walking. Americans do ev-erything that they can to avoid physical activity, and it might reduce physical activity, but it causes several negative harmful affects to health.

In simple terms, Americans need to reevaluate how they spend their time. If people only watched 30 min-utes of TV and only updated Facebook statuses two times a day instead of five, they would save so much wasted time. This time could be used to go walking or doing some other form of physical activity. And in turn, America would be so much healthier.

It’s simply a matter of taking the time to take care of ourselves.

Senior Julia Gabbert sits in a recycling bin to show how she spent a week not throwing anything away. (sam hurrell)

fHn TOday cOm

To see the day-to-day struggle that Gabbert had to endure during her week without throwing things away, check out her video blogs on FHNtoday.com.

At first I thought Snuggies were a joke. It looked like some guy tried to market his bathrobe that he put on

backwards one day. All of the random products sold by ‘As Seen on TV’ just shock me and never seem to last, but the comfort and warmth provided by

a Snuggie is totally worth the small cost of $15.

Not only are they nice for just sitting in the house and watching TV, but

taking the Snuggie into your car just puts the icing on the cake. I just turned 16 and I drive my sister’s car. If you know my sister Coleen, you know her car is special seeing as she paid $100 for it. A $100 car isn’t very luxurious, so we don’t have heat. Luckily, the sleeves on the Snuggie make it easy to drive without freezing.

Perhaps the only problem with the Snuggie is the length, it’s so long I always trip on it. However, seeing as that’s the only problem I can find with this wonderful product, I would definitely recommend it to anyone.

throwing away

illustration by rj.howes

2014 Winter Olympics

page design by zach.meier44

barbara.jean.palmer

I have never been a person to go and spend money on gum but that all changed when I tried the new Trident Layers. Perhaps the most delectable aspect of the gum is that it’s like a sandwich; the pineapple is literally in between the layers of apple which

makes it unique and quenching. Not only is it delicious, but it’s healthier for you too since it’s sugar free. Even better, the non-sugar aspect of the gum doesn’t affect its everlast-ing taste. If you’re one of the people out there that get disappointed when

gum’s taste goes away so fast, this is definitely for you. One piece of gum can last me half of the day. I highly recommend that you don’t get this out in the middle of class, though, because your pack of gum will be gone within seconds as students will be harassing you for it.

nicole.renner

logan.ponche

Video game highscores should not be as high as test scores

I think it’s pretty ridiculous how many teens these days spend all of their time and money on video

games. As my family sits at dinner having the usual two or three differ-ent conversations going on at once, I’m always stuck listening in on my brothers’ foreign conversations. Here’s the thing, they are speaking English, but gaming words I don’t understand. From Halo ODST to Brutes to COD ops, I feel like I’m listening to people from a different country talk because I don’t know what any of these mean, but since they paid for the game they own the rights to know.

I know there’s a kid in every fam-ily with the ‘not so hot’ grades. In my

abbey.grone

When it comes to movies, the word remake can be used in only two contexts. The first

being a doubtful if not cheap and sarcastic way; the second used with sheer hope that they’ll get it right this time. It’s a black and white spectrum. Either Hollywood will produce a work of art bringing an old film to life from the dust or it will be completely hor-rible and disgrace the name forever.

Throughout my 16 years or so of critiquing, watching, and loving movies, I have seen my fair share of a tragic Box Office remake. These movies cause me to cringe, hiding away from the world of cinema.The remake of Psycho for example was unnecessary. When a movie is made from the vision of the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, that magic can rarely, if ever, be duplicated.

You would think with all of the young directors roaming about Hollywood, production companies would be bursting at the seems with new ideas. Are things so bad that they have to time travel a generation or two back to find a movie that was a classic to begin with and rip it to shreds? Or is the originality and pure wonder in Hollywood fading? I cannot whole heartily believe that though. Not when

new priceless works have come out of the shop such as Disney’s Up and P.S. I Love You.

As a rebuttal to my own argu-ment, there have been a handfull of

remakes that beautifully bring about a new magic to timeless classics. This occurrence is rare but when it happens it creates a box office masterpiece. Movies like Star Trek, which was released in 2009, broke the barriers that it once faced with the wonders of CGI and new cinematic technology that simply couldn’t have been done in its earlier version.

One upcoming movie that I have yet to make a decision on is the release of Alice in Wonderland. While Johnny Depp has proven his flexibility to mold to the oldest of characters, I am never one to welcome a Disney remake without apprehension.

The opinions on a “good” and “bad” remake obviously vary. With all of the garbage floating through Hol-lyWood it’s hard to tell at a glance if a movie will turn out well or not.

However, movies can escape being categorized into the dark abyss of horrid remakes by looking at two statements. If it was timeless the way it was because of when it was made and what it captured, leave it be. Only when another ‘original’ can be pro-duced should remakes be acceptable. Anyone can remake a movie. Only few with enough vision and talent can remaster.

family, that would be my brother. He’s the kid that will pay the extra $20 for a game so he can have it first, and I think that’s why he gets the grades he does. Hours a day are spent brainwashing your mind with gun shots and dead bodies lying all over the TV screen instead of studying that nights math problem or the maps for tomorrow’s history test and I just don’t understand why.

In my opinion, the teen era has gone a little to crazy over these stupid little disks with crazy graphics instead of focusing on things that matter, like school work. I think the score of your tests and even your simple homework is 50 times more important than your highest number of kills in the newest rated M game.

With four simple words, I was sold on China House Buffet: All you can eat. Located by Bass Pro Shop off Fifth Street, this new restaurant solved the biggest issue I have with Chinese food: it’s great, but never enough. For less than ten dollars, China House gives

you piles of rice, tables of noodles, and rows - yes rows - of

chicken. And if for some

reason you’re there and not in the mood for Chinese, the restaurant also offers American classics such as chicken wings, chicken strips and ice cream. As I refilled my plate again, again and again, I was filled not only with delicious food, but a love for a restaurant that has become my new favorite food spot.

T A S T E

Junior Nicole Renner, watches Pride and Predjudice the 2005 version, and remake of the 1995 film. Renner watches gladly, seeing this remake as a great new perspective on the old classic. Renner believes the film has been revived and puts a good name to a classic love story.(fareeha amir)

Abbey Grone voices her opinion on how video games and how they impact peoples lives. (nicole thompson)

T A S T E A double-take on the movie remakes

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Letter to the Editor

Guidelines

Excessive cutting in lines is disrespectfullizzie.johnson

• Letters must be signed by the author and verified for publication

• Letters may be submitted to room 026 or Mr. Manfull’s mailbox

• Letters must include the author’s phone number and e-mail for verification

• Letters should not exceed 300 words

• Letters will not be printed if content is obscene, profane, invasive of privacy, encouraging physical disruption of school, and/or implies libel

• Letters may be edited for length, grammar, spelling, and content

• Authors will be notified if any changes are made to the letter by the editorial staff

fhn today com

For the full-length version of the editorial policy, and the full-length version of the letter to the editor guidelines, check out FHNtoday.com

Senior Lizzie Johnson waits in the cafeteria food line. Johnson voices her opinion on the cutting in line during lunch. (lyida ness)

It’s 11:10 a.m. and there’s only one thing on my mind more important than the French Revolution test

I’m taking fifth hour: the line for the chicken. Yet, it doesn’t matter how fast I sprint through the halls or how early I leave my fourth hour class. No matter what, there is always a mass of people already assembled by the pretzels and the under-filled baskets of breaded poultry.

What is supposed to be an orderly line that wraps around the wall to-wards the pizza, has recently become what more accurately resembles a commercial pond filled with over zeal-ous catfish fighting for the last nibblet. On the rare occasion I do make it to the “line” before the rest of 4c does, my efforts are always overshadowed by the twenty or so people that disregard the line completely in favor of cutting in with a friend instead. Before I have a chance to grab a drink from the fridge, I’m already at least 25 people back.

I won’t lie, I’ve pulled the “Hey there best friend” [that I haven’t talked to since middle school] move myself too. Because, when you’re the one cutting in line, it doesn’t really seem like you are going to make a difference for the people behind you.

However, when the roles flip, and sud-denly you’re the one behind a group of people as large as an English class, it does matter.

Ever since we’ve entered the dou-ble doors of our elementary schools, we’ve been taught time and time again not to cut in line. Can order only be restored by bringing my kindergarten teacher Mrs. Strubelt to stand and

watch us? As high school students, I think we can manage ourselves. Not only is it common sense, but it’s a common courtesy to respect those around you and their spot in the line.

You would never think of cutting in front of someone at the hospital or at church, so why should a line for food be any different?

correct answers: 1.) Thomas Jefferson 2.)”Big Village” 3.)48 4.) Finger nail

Matthew Meier, 12 Eliessa Polhamus,10

“Thomas Jefferson”

“Let’s play some hockey eh!”

“43”

“Finger nail”


“Mateo is a cheater”

“48”

“Toe nail”


“Big village”

“44”

“Finger nail”

Who was the third president of the U.S?

In the Indian language, “Canada” means what?

How old is President Obama?

Which nail grows faster, toe nail or finger nail?

Test your

The North Star asked two random students and a teacher four random questions. How many would you have gotten right?

Q1:

x

Ryan Johnson, Teacher

Q2:

Q3:

Q4:

x xx

x

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North Star, March 2010