Nov 20 2015 hi line

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HI-LINETiger

Friday, Nov. 20, 2015 Volume 56 Edition 10

FLYING SOLOJunior readies for his pilot’s license in December/Pages 10

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By News Editor Sarah

Perched on his stool a few weeks ago, math teacher Rich Strike had to share some heart-breaking news with his students. After the words “I have cancer,” students and staff were left dev-astated, but a spark of inspiration ignited beneath them.

Strike is certainly not letting prostate cancer get him or his classroom down. He continues to stand by his students’ and staff’s sides for their every needs, so they’ve come to terms that it’s time they stand for him.

Students of Strike’s AP calcu-lus class have decided to come together to show their support for their treasured math teacher this Friday. In honor of his last day before surgery, they’re plan-ning to surprise Strike by wearing T-shirts that they designed and organized themselves with some help from Strike’s co worker Lin-sey Zimmerman.

“When I heard Mr. Strike had cancer, my heart sunk. Anytime you hear news like that it’s dev-astating,” Zimmerman said, but through the power of prayer and good thoughts, those around

him are doing the best they can to stay as positive as he is. “We need to keep him in our thoughts. He keeps a positive outlook on things. The doctors are all positive, and I think it’s important we all help him stay as positive as he is,” Zimmerman said.

“He’s definitely on my list of top teachers,” senior Jason Rathjen said.

Strike’s kind but sarcastic hu-mor allows him to stay constantly engaged with his students and staff around him. His dedication to his has never veered from 100 percent. “Mr. Strike always goes the extra mile to be cer-tain that his students and staff

are OK, which is pretty cool,” Rathjen said.

“As soon as we heard the news, we felt awful, but shortly after everyone instantly went into the mindset of what we could possibly do to help,” Rathjen said.

His class took the issue to their AP calc group chat, and in-stantly ideas on what they could do to support him flew left and right. With the logo of “Strike Out Cancer” on the front, and “Strike’s Army” on the back, there’s no doubt that Strike has the support of those fighting with him.

From the preliminary design of the light blue color in honor of

Today, 42 CFHS musicians are in Ames preparing for this year’s All State Music Festival which will be held this Saturday, Nov. 21.

After making All State, stu-dents in both band and orches-tra continue to practice and pre-pare for a critical part of their All State process: chair placement auditions.

These auditions took place yesterday on Thursday, Nov. 19, day one of the three day event. As soon as all the busses of ea-ger student musicians arrive in Ames on Thursday afternoon, the chair placement auditions began.

Senior Liz Swanson, a three-year All Stater on the clarinet, was nervous about the height-ened competition that comes

On Oct. 1, nine audition tapes were digitally sent to South Da-kota featuring the singing voices of nine talented CFHS students. Weeks later, word got back to the CFHS choir department that six of those nine students were ac-cepted to perform in the North Central American Choral Direc-tors Association Regional Honor Choir.

These students include senior Libby Swartley, junior Dani Mc-Combs, junior Aastha Chandra, sophomore Maia Clasby, senior Harrison Sims and sophomore Makenna Carroll.

In order to prepare for this audition, the students have spent a month prior by recording a sample of themselves singing 16 measures of a piece, a scale on the top and bottom of their range and a cover of “My Country, ‘Tis Of Thee” in a certain key.

The NCACDA honor choir is

prostate cancer, to the photo of Strike’s well known idol of Albert Einstein, down to the military font in honor of Strike’s involve-ment in the Army, the detail and care students have put into the shirts to support him is apparent.

“It made me so happy. It warmed my heart seeing every-one come together as a student body so we could be there for our teacher,” senior Kayla Baker said.

As they worked together to produce the shirt, the relation-ship between Strike and his stu-dents just within the first quarter in a half is very impressive. “They all care for him and want him to know that they care and support him. To know that your students care is big,” Zimmerman said.

In addition to designing T-shirts, students came up with the idea of hosting a trivia con-test. The contest included math, Army and golf questions all per-taining to the important areas of his life. Students anticipated the trivia event on Thursday, Nov. 19 during power hour.

For $1 per person, the origi-

nal plan was for the proceeds to go to Strike, but when they shared the idea with Strike, he refused to take the profits.

“How about we donate the money to Jane Carter?” Strike asked. Every day his selfless character shines through his ac-tions. Thinking of others and what he can do to benefit those suffering around him was no sur-prise.

“Strike wanting the money to go to a different cause is completely him,” Zimmerman said. In light of the huge sup-port Carter has been receiving, they’ve decided that the money from the trivia contest will be donated to the USO (United Services Organization), a cause that supported him immensely during the time he served.

“As a fighter, he’s so strong. I know that’s cliché, but with the way he grew up, being in the Army, I feel like that’s really shaped him into who he is today. He’s so selfless. That’s the best

Standing for StrikeStudents, staff show support for math teacher facing cancer

Musicians celebrating recent prestigious efforts known to be exceptionally selec-tive, only accepting around 170 students not only from Iowa, but also from other midwestern states such as North Dakota, South Da-kota, Nebraska, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

The concert is scheduled for Feb. 20 in Sioux Falls. Before the performance, the students will ar-rive in Sioux Falls two days early to rehearse all day Thursday and Friday and stay in a hotel for two nights during the trip.

“It’s not something that many people get in, and [the choir] has a very wide variety,” McCombs said. Clasy was also excited over being accepted. “I wasn’t 100 percent sure on what it was. It was just something I wanted to audi-tion for,” Clasby said. “I’m really excited because it’s a huge honor, and it’s really amazing that all of us got in.”

The honor choir only occurs

every other year, meaning that students like Carroll and Clasby have another chance during their senior years.

“There will be more people coming in since it happens every other year, so we don’t know [if we’ll be accepted again,]” Carroll said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to grow enough in our music that we’ll be back in.”

Choir teacher Eliott Kranz showed enthusiasm over the ac-cepted students as well.

“I think it’ll be a great experi-ence for those students, and I was happy to have even nine audi-tion,” Kranz said. “I have been in the concert itself, and it was a wonderful experience working with students from all over the region to sing and make music together.”

Five named to regional Honor ChoirAll State musicians aimingfor first chair placements

with chair placement auditions. “This competition is the people who are good enough to be at All State,” Swanson said.

Her goal for this year was to be one of the top players on the second clarinet part. “I know the people who made the first part, and if I’m not competing against them, then I have a really good chance of being high up,” Swan-son said.

Senior Liv Martin, a four-year All Stater on the cello, hoped to secure principal spot, the first chair cellist. “I would really like to end my four years as an All Stater as being first chair,” Martin said. “It would mean a lot to me and would be a great experience, but we’ll see what happens.”

FIRST CHAIRSContinued on Page 2

STANDING FOR STRIKEContinued on Page 2

AP calc students are surprising math teacher Rich Strike today with T-shirts showing support.

Allie Taiber Photos

ALAMBy Editor-in-Chief Zuhayr

TAIBERBy Staff Writer Allie

Leah Forsblom PhotoOne of the 42 CFHS musicians at All State this weekend, senior Ol-ivia Martin’s next test was to earn the prestigious principal spot as the first chair for the event. This picture is from a high school concert in Ocotober.

Change is coming to a large stretch of University Avenue in Cedar Falls. After many con-cerns were brought to the city’s attention in 2008, the city de-cided to fix many of the prob-lems on University Avenue such as traffic flow.

To fix the problem, the city hired a Cedar Rapids engineer-ing firm known as Foth Engi-neering. The city decided to go ahead with Foth’s plans after the firm revealed three designs in late February.

The first design consisted of only traffic lights and amassed a total value of $33.2 million. The second design had more traffic lights and fewer roundabouts and came to a total of $34 mil-lion. The final design, and the design that the city ultimately chose, consists of more round-abouts and fewer traffic lights. This design was the cheapest of the three with a total value of $32.5 million. Contrary to what many believe, the roundabout option was the cheapest.

The design consists of six new roundabouts and will bring the total number of traffic lights down to two. The plan will also reduce University Avenue from six lanes to four. Two of the six roundabouts will be at the intersection of University and

Highway 58, with the other four located at the intersections of University with Boulder Drive, at the intersection of University and a storefront road, at the in-tersection of University, McClain and Waterloo Road, and one more at the intersection of Uni-versity and Cedar Heights. The remaining traffic lights will be at the intersections with Rownd Street and Midway Drive.

Traditional traffic lights are made to group up traffic and release all of the cars at the intersection at once, essen-tially platooning traffic. Round-abouts are made to thin out the platoons which can lead to smoother and steadier traffic flow. Roundabouts can also in-crease fuel and time efficiency. According to Foth’s estimates, the design will save motorists over 60,000 hours a every year along with almost $25,000, which is by far the most out of the three designs. However, this design will also cost the most to maintain, coming in at a total of $68,000 a year compared to $51,000 for the second design and $17,000 for the first one. Foth estimates that the design will be able to handle projected traffic growth until around 2040. Research conducted by the state of Washington shows that

roundabouts reduce accidents at intersections by 75 percent. The proposed design will force some companies to have small-er parking lots and may cause others to relocate entirely.

Senior Isaac Svoboda said he does not like the design.

“Roundabouts are harder for emergency vehicles and semi trucks to maneuver around,” Svoboda said. “Per-sonally, I have seen more ac-cidents around roundabouts than anywhere else. I believe that this is because the older generation was never trained to drive on them, which creates conflict.”

Senior Chris Keys said that roundabouts will be more effec-tive in the future.

“I think that roundabouts will be beneficial for Cedar Falls in the long run,” Keys said. “However, initially, people will strongly dislike them, and I think there will be a spike in ac-cidents for a few years.”

Senior Isaac Kippes agrees with Keys.

“It’s a lot better to keep driving at a slower speed than to have to come to a complete stop every so often for 30 sec-onds,” Kippes said.

Driver’s education instructor and social studies teacher Kevin

Are you in favor of roundabouts on University Avenue?

Boys78% Yes22% No

Girls33% Yes67% No

Overall in Favor

This Hi-Line Poll represents 12 percent of all students in proportion to gender and the three grades at the high school. The poll was conducted by staff writer Amie Holzapfel.

Friday, Nov. 20, 2015 HI-LINETiger

The

NEWS2

Stewart has mixed feelings about the design.

“In general, I like round-abouts. They are effective and efficient for dealing with traf-fic and intersections,” Stewart said. “With the proposed de-signs, I have mixed views. They could benefit the city in some ways, but they will hurt business due to reduced lanes and traffic flow.”

Stewart said that the round-abouts will not change the way that he teaches driver’s educa-

tion.“We go down to Univer-

sity Avenue a lot anyway, so the kids will be experiencing roundabouts whenever we go to practice there,” Stewart said. “I may put a little more empha-sis on them when we go over them in class, though.”

Current plans have con-struction beginning in 2016 and ending near the beginning of 2018.

Roundabouts rile up CFHS drivers

For Swanson, the initial All State auditions are more stress-ful than the chair placement au-ditions in Ames. “Once you get there you know you’re in, it’s just the matter of how high up you will be,” Swanson said.

But without a doubt, chair placement auditions will be the most stressful and nerve racking part for Martin during All State. “[Auditioning] is pretty scary, and I know everyone is nervous, but I think I especially feel it more than other people because there is such a high expectation for me to do really well,” Martin said. “Whenever there is an expecta-tion, it makes things even more nerve racking for the person who has to perform to those stan-dards.”

The band chair placement auditions are similar to the or-chestra ones in the way they make the players’ palms clammy and their hearts beat quickly, but that’s where the similarities end. “For us [band], there are two people sitting at a table trying to intimidate you a lot,” Swanson

said. “They have the music open, and they say start at this measure. Ready, go. They don’t give a metronome. They don’t give you anything. You just have to take a deep breath and go for it. These au-ditions have given me good practice in calm-ing my nerves.”

Chair placement au-ditions for orchestra are blind auditions. “The judges can’t see you, but they can hear you,” Martin said. “You can’t even speak inside the room because the judg-es can’t know if you are a female or a male. It’s supposed to be the least biased audition possible.”

One positive that Martin finds in these chair placement auditions is the great learning experience they provide which will help her prepare for her fu-ture career. “I want to become a professional musician and play in a professional orchestra,” Martin said. “All State has been a really good way for me to get a taste of the experience that I would

have auditioning for professional orchestras.”

Despite her nerves and stress, Martin hoped to snag that first chair spot and make her last All State a memorable one. “There’s a solo I really want to get, and you have to be the principal to get the solo,” Martin said. “It’s my last year doing All State, and I really want to kick some butt and get that principal spot.”

FIRST CHAIRContinued from Page 1

STANDING FOR STRIKEContinued from Page 1

SANDERMANBy Staff Writer Hannah

word I can use to describe him,” Baker said.

And selfless is exactly what he is. “There’s so many days and nights and weekends, even dur-ing the summer, he’s here doing things for us, always caring for his students and staff. For us be-ing able to support him now is a great thing,” Zimmerman said.

The initial concern has always been for his students and wheth-er or not they’d be OK through the transition without him for a while. As he’s the only qualified teacher to teach AP calculus, Strike has organized multiple UNI professors to be here for his classes, but he has never wanted the attention to be on him.

The cancer was especially unexpected for those who know Strike because he is an ac-tive, healthy person who even walks to school every day. “The whole thing was so surprising. You don’t think of someone you know to ever actually go through that. I’ve never watched some-one so close to me that I see ev-ery day struggle through cancer, so it was a big deal,” senior Kayla

Baker said. But for others, the news hit

home. “It hit me hard when he told us. My grandma has had cancer five times. I have a good idea of what he’s going through, and I can really relate with the pain he and his family are experi-encing,” Rathjen said.

Students are using their emo-tions to be there for Strike in his time of need. “I was so sad. I’m still sad. I get anxious almost. It’s good he’s getting this treatment so early, but it’ll be hard. It’s early in the year, and we’ve all already gained such a good relationship with him; it’ll be different when he’s gone,” Baker said.

Through their support, stu-dents have already raised $300 in just T-shirt profits for Strike, and more shirts are available for purchase. “I just hope that in the end, no matter what happens, that he is OK, and that he knows that all of his classes, and even those who don’t know him are here to support him,” Baker said.

Friday, Nov. 20, 2015HI-LINETiger

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OPINION3

AHRENHOLZ

At 5:45 a.m. on Nov. 27, 2014, I stood at lane five waiting for the doors to open and the crowd of people to burst through. Employees like me were scat-tered throughout the store, and there is a buzz in the air so electric I swear it could almost shock you. I stared at the door in anticipation.

It was time.The doors finally opened and the

people came running in, and the next four hours went by in a blur of motion.

As a teen that works in retail, Black Fri-day is something that I am definitely very familiar with. With this being my second year behind the register, it doesn’t feel nearly as overwhelming as it did this time last year.

You hear all these horror stories about how awful Black Friday can be for employ-ees, and I thought that maybe I would go through the same.

Now, I can only speak from my own personal experience, but for me Black Fri-day isn’t nearly as awful as it is said to be.

For one, Target, where I work, has a wonderful rule that minors can’t work past 9:45. So I realize that I am one of the lucky few where long hours staying up all night doesn’t really apply.

Another thing is that people tend to be a lot more sympathetic to the people working on the busiest shopping day of the year. Black Friday has started earlier and earlier each year, which means that workers have less time with their families on Thanksgiving. With that knowledge,

people aren’t nearly as rude and mean as you would at first expect.

But I can’t speak for all people. I’m sure there might have been a few upset guests that went through my line, and maybe the TV they wanted was sold out or they just had to fight someone for the last “Frozen” on DVD or something I don’t really know, but as soon as they left, I must have brushed it off and took it completely outside of my head because I honestly don’t have any negative memories from last Black Friday.

This year is going to be a little bit dif-ferent for me, though. I am one of the lucky few that get to spend all of Thanks-giving with my family that night and report for work at six in the morning bright and early to work Guest Services for a nine-hour shift. It is a lot different than what I was doing this time last year, so again I’m in a place where I don’t really know what to expect, but the fear factor of Black Fri-day doesn’t really exist in me anymore.

If I had anything to ask of you who are shopping this Black Friday, no matter where you choose to shop, it’s that you smile at the employees and show them thanks. Even though we do get paid to be there, we are taking time away from our families, and it makes it a lot easier when we know that what we are giving up is ap-preciated by the people we are giving our time up for.

By Staff Writer Annebeth

BECKERBy Staff Writer Daphne

While most people are filling up their tummies of turkey and ham and falling into a very deep sleep, people like me are getting ready for the Black Friday rush.

I work at the Waterloo Super Target and plan on working during the most chaotic weekend of the year. Working on this day is pretty much a sacrifice be-cause it is a lot of work to be done and a lot of time taken out.

Although it’s hard work, it is time and a half pay, so I’m definitely fine with working. My goal for Black Friday is to stay as calm as I can and help as many people as possible. I have never worked on a Black Friday before, so I’m kind of nervous about it, through all the stories

of people getting killed on Black Friday because of how many people want a certain thing and will definitely kill for it, but on the other hand I am really excit-ed for it because of the rush and busi-ness of it all and also the extra money.

I normally don’t work as a cashier, but I’m pretty positive that’s what I’ll have to do, due to all the people com-ing in, and I’ll have to be there for extra help. I’m not really nervous to work as a cashier because I have all the training. I’m more concerned on if I get to have a break or not because we’ll be so busy, but the excitement for Black Friday for me is definitely through the roof.

Teens embracing Black Friday from other side of checkout lines

First time worker looking forward to extra pay‘Veteran’ worker revels in rush of shoppers

WALKERBy Staff Writer Drew

Do you plan on shopping on Black Friday?

This Hi-Line Poll represents 10 percent of all students in proportion to gender and the three grades at the high school. The poll was conducted by sports editor Jason Rathjen.

34%Yes

30%No

36%Maybe

Junior Sammi Alexander Who are you thankful for?Ally ConradWhy?“One time when I was in band I saw

Ally and Michelle Anton playing the flute together, and I wanted to be her best friend. Then when we started to go to school together we became best friends, and we’ve been that way since 7th grade.”

Senior Gus Marty Who are you thankful for?Gaven O’Hair, Connor Houlihan and Nathan ShullWhy?“Because we have been through a

lot together. We have never left each other. We can always cheer each other up and make each other laugh. We have never had a problem with each other. We’re all going to college together and rooming together.”

Junior Megan LumettaWho are you thankful for?“My dog, Buster. For 13 years he has

always been able to make me smile, and his presence just helps make me happy no matter what is going on in my life.”

Madison Hall Who are you thankful for?“My sister, Sammi Hall. We always

have such a great time together no matter what we do. She is always there for me.”

Who

are youthankful

for?


The

OPINION4Our View

The Tiger Hi-Line is a weekly publication of the journalism classes at Cedar Falls High School, 1015 Division Street, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613. Our website is www.hiline.cfschools.org. The Hi-Line is distributed to CFHS students on Fridays to read during their third period classes.

Columns and letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hi-Line staff or Cedar Falls Schools. The Hi-Line editorial is presented weekly in the editorial la-beled Our View, and it is the view of the majority of the editors listed below. Reader opinions on any topic are welcome and should be sent to The Tiger Hi-Line staff or delivered to room 208. All letters must be signed. Letters must be submitted by 3 p.m. on Monday for publication in the following Friday edition. Letters may not exceed 300 words and may be edited to meet space limitations. Writers should include their contact information for verification.

Editors-in-Chief: Zuhayr Alam and Sommer DanielsenEntertainment Editor: Tana Gam-AdNews Editor: Sarah StortzOnline Editor: Zuhayr AlamFeature Editor: Sommer DanielsenSports Editor: Jason RathjenGraphic Artist: Sierra SteenStaff Writers: Annebeth Ahrenholz, Billie Ann Albert, Daphne Becker, Madi-

son Belden, Jamie Blair, Ben Boezinger, Abbey Carlson, Gabi Carr, Miranda Cole, Amanda Crockett, Ashton Cross, Sommer Danielsen, Alyssa Dekutoski, Noah Fork-er, Emma Gerdes, A. J. Godbey, Camryn Grubic, Amna Haider, Aaron Heimbuck, Noah Hermansen, Cody Hood, Nathan Hoy, Jacob Jensen, Kierston Johnson, Brennan Kohls, Mercede Kraabel, Sam Magee, Olivia Martin, Jade McBroom, Scott Miller, Nolan Nickerson, Madeline Nicol, Kaylee Olson, Austin Reyhons, Hannah Sanderman, Lane Schwickerath, Lexi Sheeley, Allie Taiber, Tehya Tournier, Isaac Turner-Hall, Drew Walker, Isabella Wilson

Contact Us

Pray for Paris, Pray for the WorldWho would have thought

that Friday the 13th would have lived up to it’s superstition? Mul-tiple terrible events around the world happened on that fateful day, though one stood out in particular. Start-ing around 9 p.m., a series of raids and bombings fell upon the famous city of lights, Paris.

So devastating were the attacks that the country has de-clared emergency, an event that has not happened in 71 years. The country has also closed its international borders.The death count is currently above 160 and eight of the at-tackers have died through suicide bombings or have been shot down. Six main attacks occurred that night, all in places which attract plenty of people.

Three important targeted places were the Bataclan Con-cert Hall, the Petit Cambodge restaurant and the Stade de France, where the president of France was among those watching the soccer match between France and Germany.

In order to pay homage for the deceased citizens, the Eiffel Tower went dark. Usually the tower doesn’t turn com-pletely dark even at midnight. Many people who stay nearby the Eiffel Tower were proclaiming that they feel like they missed something.

In light of the dire situation, people in France have start-ed the hashtag #porteouverte, which means “Open Door.” The initiative was meant to connect people looking for shel-ter with those who could offer space for the evening. The doors didn’t open for everyone, but for some seeking a safe place, the show of support was a comfort on a night of ter-ror. Another trending heartfelt hashtag was #prierpourparis, “pray for Paris.”

Though this has been a horrible experience for the world and especially for those in France, this is only a small part of what the world has faced under ISIS. In less than a month, bombings, raids, and other horrid events have happened in Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and so many other coun-tries, yet they go unnoticed by the public eye.

We should use the Paris attacks as a wake up call and an eye opener for all of us to be able to see the bigger picture that has been going on for a while. We should pray not only for Paris, but pray for the world.

STORTZBy News Editor Sarah

My 7-year-old self sat all alone in a cluttered, white room inside Cedar Heights Elementary, surrounded by shelves filled with board games and toys. While looking down at my chair and dangling my tiny feet, a woman walked into the room carrying a deck of cards with her.

She told me that we’re go-ing to spend the next hour or so playing Go Fish.

Initially, I didn’t really ques-tion why this woman took me out of my classroom and brought me there. I was just happy that I got to miss learn-ing about subtraction in favor of playing games.

Little did I know at the time, this woman actually had a hid-den motive behind this simple card game.

Earlier, my teacher had requested for me to see the school’s speech therapist after noticing that I struggled with a lisp. More specifically, I had an incredibly hard time pro-nouncing words with a “sh” or “ch” digraph. Whenever I said a word with these digraphs, I would overly exaggerate pro-nouncing them, almost like I’m making a spitting noise. This is a problem that I probably had ever since I could talk, but I never became aware of it until then.

The speech therapist knew that I would frequently say the word “fish” while playing this game, so she she took this as an opportunity for me to re-hearse speaking words that I couldn’t say.

I still remember her con-stantly directing my speech whenever I was playing. “Don’t stretch your mouth out so much when you speak. Move it more forwards like this,” she said.

As a young child, I never truly understood why she felt the need to constantly cor-rect my pronunciation like this. I figured as long as people knew what I was talking about, why would it matter how pro-nounced certain words?

The effect did eventually start to wear on me, though, and after a couple months of speech therapy, I received a certificate stating that I suc-cessfully completed my ses-sions, smiley face stickers and all.

However, that didn’t last long. Only a couple weeks lat-er, I quickly forgot how to prop-erly enunciate, and my speech

patterns were just like before. Despite my teacher’s annoy-ance, I really didn’t mind this at all, and the rest of the world around me didn’t seem to care either.

Lisps aren’t very uncom-mon with small children who are just learning how to speak, so if anything, having a lisp was just another cute, childish quirk that I had at the time.

That started fading away almost immediately when I first started going to junior high. The cuteness factor of having a lisp now seemed dorky, and for a good duration of junior high, I had face differ-ent peoples in my classes who would ask me, “Why do you talk like that? Don’t you know how to speak?”

The tone of my classmates and the way they said that just felt incredibly condescend-ing. Of course I know how to speak. I’ve been speaking for as long as the rest of you, haven’t I? I just do it a little differently. All of the remarks from everybody made me feel so bad about myself that I al-most didn’t want to speak up at school.

Thankfully, I found most people in high school are ma-ture enough not to comment on my lisp. Nonetheless, I still feel an aura of judgement from others whenever I talk to them. What I think many people don’t realize about lisps is how many people with them actu-ally feel insecure about it and how hurtful it is whenever it’s

brought up. They’re in a very similar vein to body image in that they’re both aspects that you have little control over, but lisps are nowhere near discussed as often. I still wish I could’ve heard more about speech impediments and how much it affect others, especial-ly when I was younger.

I am now an 18-year old adult who is planning to move out and attend a college 80 miles away in less than a year. I’m about to meet a whole new slew of people with their own individual stories in a new town.

When I introduce myself to these people and tell them my story, I fully intend on speaking to them with my lisp.

Almost all of my life, oth-ers have tried to get rid of my lisp, and I knew that I couldn’t just let them take something away from me like that. I think a lisp brings a unique charm to a person’s voice that I love to hear, and I couldn’t be proud-er to have that same type of charm in my own voice. I’m finally at a point where I can say that I love my lisp with all of my heart, something I never thought I could do five years ago.

Without my lisp, I never would have gone through the process of self-acceptance, and that will always carry more significance than pronouncing a bunch of words as everyone else expects to hear them.

Speaking stuggles lead editor on journey of self-acceptance

“When I introduce myself to these people and tell them my story, I fully intend on speaking to them with my lisp. “

For news editor Sarah Stortz, some pages in the dictionary create a particularly challenging test.

Sarah Stortz Photo

Sierra Steen Graphic

Pride is a great quality to have. It allows people to be-lieve in themselves and to be proud of their accomplish-ments, but, when it goes too far, there can be severe conse-quences. In our society, male pride has become synony-mous with masculinity. This is a problem and a root cause for war, domestic abuse and many other acts of violence in the world.

Terry Crews, the actor from the famous, crazy Old Spice commercials, in an interview for Dame Magazine, accurately calls out the problems of male pride: “My message to all men is that you have to kill pride. You’ve been taught that pride

is a manly thing, that pride is a good thing. But the problem with pride is that it stops you from growth. When you’re so proud that you won’t change, you’ve got problems. Male pride causes wars; millions of people have died because of male pride, because one man would not back down.”

In Crews’ 2014 book, Man-hood, he recounts his difficult childhood and the lessons he has learned throughout the

years. Crews was in the NFL for six seasons and then became an actor. You wouldn’t expect someone who has been in a culture of male pride for so long to be so articulate about the problems within it. Maybe Crews’ background is what he learned from to come to his re-alization? However he came to his conclusion, it is one worth really thinking about.

Boys learn from a young age that to have pride is an


The

OPINION5

MARTINBy Staff Writer Olivia

Last Thursday in an interview, Presi-dent Barack Obama claimed that ISIS had been contained. The next day radi-cal Islamic terrorists, all belonging to ISIS, killed 129 people in coordinated attacks in Paris. Obama’s foreign policy of “lead from behind” and that global warming is a bigger national security threat than terrorism is a complete and utter failure, and it has killed Americans and people all over the world.

On Nov. 1, 2012, Obama said, “The war in Iraq is over. The war in Af-ghanistan is winding down. Al-Qaeda is decimated. Osama bin Laden is dead.” Apparently he forgot what happened almost two months earlier at our em-bassy in Benghazi, Libya, where four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed by an al-Qaeda-affiliated group. We knew that Benghazi was a very dangerous area, but for some reason, we had an Ameri-can embassy there with very minimal security.

Of course, the biggest blunder of Obama’s foreign policy was the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. ISIS was cre-ated as a branch of al-Qaeda in 1999 and did participate in the insurgency in Iraq but did not appear on our televi-sion screens until the summer of 2014. They murder and rape thousands of in-nocent men, women and children. They kill Christians for simply being Christian, among many other unspeakable atroci-ties. Now they are completely sepa-rated from al-Qaeda and have formed their own “caliphate” in Syria, using Raqqa as their capital. They became the powerful insurgency we know today when Obama pulled all of our combat troops out of Iraq in 2011, just so he could use the “I ended the war in Iraq” slogan for his re-election campaign.

Pulling out of Iraq all at once was a colossal mistake made by the Obama administration. You have to slowly pull troops out while easing the new gov-ernment’s troops into a combat ready

force. Obama ignored all common sense and pulled everyone out so he could win the election. He didn’t think about the consequences of it. Opera-tion Iraqi Freedom was a success: we had Iraq secured, the government was still a little shaky, but all we had to do was keep advising them and transition them into full control while pulling small numbers of troops out slowly.

On Jan. 7, 2014, Obama said this about ISIS, “The analogy we use around here sometimes, and I think is accurate, is if a JV team puts on Lakers uniforms, that doesn’t make them Kobe Bryant.” Just four days earlier ISIS took control of Fallujah, a city in Iraq that many American service members lost their lives securing in the Iraq war. This was before ISIS became a household name.

In June of 2014, ISIS had captured 70 percent of the Anbar Province in Iraq, which held many cities that Ameri-can service members fought and died for, such as Fallujah and Ramadi. This is the same group Obama called “JV” five months earlier.

What grabbed the world’s atten-tion to ISIS was when James Foley, an American journalist, was beheaded in front of a camera by the now recently killed Jihadi John on Aug. 19, 2014. Sept. 2, 2014, Steven Sotloff, an Israeli-American journalist was beheaded by Jihadi John. Peter Kassig, also an Amer-ican, was beheaded by ISIS on Nov. 16, 2014. Doesn’t seem like a “JV” team anymore does it?

Our air campaign started on Aug. 8, 2014, but we still have not been able to stall ISIS’ advances. Airstrikes are a good way to cut supply lines and make sure the terrorists keep their heads

down, but when there are so many re-strictions on airstrikes, we are usually too late to hit a target. Obama has the “zero civilian death, minimal collateral damage” restrictions, which severely holds back our jets. You cannot expect to win a war without any civilian casu-alties. You just can’t. There has never been a war in history with no civilian ca-sualties or collateral damage. We need to stop tying our troops’ hands behind their backs and let them do what they do best: destroy the bad guys. We need to make all jihadists know that if they stick their heads out of their caves, there is a bomb with their name on it.

Fast forward to last week. On Nov. 12, Obama claimed in an interview that ISIS has been “contained.” The next day ISIS militants killed 129 people in coordinated attacks throughout Paris. In retaliation for the attacks, France bombed ISIS’ capital, Raqqa. They de-stroyed a command center, a training camp, an ammunition depot and a re-cruitment center. They did in one day what we should have done a long time ago. We need to show the jihadists the full might of our air power.

Obama still will not change our strategy. Don’t you think after a year of bombing and no result that we might change our strategy a little bit? Obama’s strategy of leading from be-hind and only bombing will not destroy ISIS. We need to have limited numbers of coalition forces on the ground, and work closely with the Peshmerga forces while providing constant air support. We cannot let up in the bombing cam-paign. We have to shell Raqqa to the ground and every other ISIS strong-hold. As Lt. Col. (Ret.) Ralph Peterson

Old Spice actor explains the pitfalls of male pride

Bad foreign policy leads to attacks in Parissaid, “You have to kill them, keep on killing them, until you kill the last one. Then you kill his pet goat.”

Even after we found out that one of the attackers in Paris was a Syrian “refu-gee,” Obama still wants to bring in hun-dreds of thousands of “refugees.” Peo-ple will say, “They aren’t all terrorists.” If someone gave you seven grapes, and two of them were poisoned, would you eat the grapes? We cannot let terror-ists take advantage of our compassion, these refugees are not documented. We can’t do a background check. We can’t do anything to check their past, so why would anyone think that it is a good idea to bring undocumented refugees from a region that is crawling with jihadists? All it takes is one terror-ist posing as a refugee to kill a lot of Americans. Obama seems to care more about these “refugees” than American citizens.

We cannot defeat the enemy when our own president will not call them by what they are. For whatever reason, Obama will not say the words, “Radi-cal Islamic Terrorism.” “ISIL is not ‘Is-lamic,’” said Obama in a press confer-ence. Every Muslim is not a terrorist, but Obama needs to realize that what we are fighting is radical Islamic terrorism.

Obama’s foreign policy has been a complete failure. ISIS is becoming the powerful terrorist organization it is to-day because of Obama’s poor judge-ment in Iraq. He claims that groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS are on the run, but clearly they are not. We have to stop with the “no collateral damage” policy. We cannot accept hundreds of thou-sands of “refugees” who have no docu-mented background or past.

As we’ve seen in France, ISIS already has operatives posing as “refugees.” It’s time that we change our strategy to destroy and ultimately defeat radical Is-lamic terrorism.

“ISIS is becoming the powerful terrorist orga-nization it is today because of Obama’s poor judgement in Iraq.”

“The problem with pride is that it stops you from growth.”

—Terry Crewsactor from Old Spice commericals

important part of being a man. Just like Terry says, boys have been “taught” by society to think this way. It is fine to have pride. In fact, it is a good thing most of the time. But, there has to be a distinction between “having pride” and “not back-ing down.” Contrary to mes-sages fed to men from a young age, not backing down is not a good thing. Not backing down isn’t always the strong or right thing to do. Sometimes the best and most mature thing to do is to change, to see a new perspective, to open one’s mind to other possibilities and to step outside one’s comfort zone.

Think about all of the wars

that could have been avoided, all of the lives spared and all of the friendships kept if men felt like they could abandon their differences and peace-ably agree. They fear that if they give up they will be ridi-culed with names like pussy and loser, and be thought of as weak, powerless and infe-rior. We need to stop teaching boys that in order to be men, they can never back down. That type of mentality is too destructive, not only for the boys it impresses on, but also for the consequences it cre-ates for the rest of us.

KOHLSBy Staff Writer Brennan

Frisday, Nov. 20, 2015 HI-LINETiger

The

ENTERTAINMENT6

HOODBy Staff Writer Cody

The group of various adventurers steps into the room, only to find the gate close behind them all. The large orc in plate armor stands before them, raising his weapon and charging toward the adventurer with his sword and shield raised. The blow against his shield rattles throughout his entire body. Various allies cast magical spells in an attempt to keep the shield-wielding warrior alive while others with bows and daggers provide constant damage to the orc. Minute af-ter grueling minute passes by, the orc fi-nally falling to the group’s weapons and magic.

World of Warcraft is a MMORPG cre-ated by Blizzard Entertainment. It was made on Nov. 23, 2004, and has had five expansion packs to the game since, with a sixth coming in September 2016. The game has an initial cost of $50 and then a subscription cost each month for $15.

Each expansion of the game has its own story and plotline, but they all cohesively come together in a way to create a full timeline. Explaining it now would make this review too long, so the summary of the current expansion, War-lords of Draenor, is as follows: Garrosh Hellscream, defeated within the Siege of Orgrimmar, is offered a second chance by going back in time to rewrite the world’s entire history. He accepts and goes back in time to Draenor, a world yet untamed while the Iron Horde, a band of orcs, prepares their assault on Azeroth in an attempt to take over and rewrite history.

The gameplay has improved over each expansion, with Blizzard continuing to try and keep each class balanced so that each class can have fun using their specialization that they have chosen. Each class has at the minimum three specializations, each bringing their own niche to the table in order to assist in

raiding or player vs. player combat.A positive is the amount of things

that can be done at the max level, which is level 100. There is player vs. player combat, as well doing raids. Raiding clusters 10 players in the same group to-gether to tackle a single instance. These raiding teams have their teamwork and knowledge put to the test in each boss fight by learning mechanics and reacting to them accordingly.

A system was added to the game in the fourth expansion by the name of Transmogrification. The process uses an old piece of gear and applies its look to a current piece of gear, retaining the cur-rent gear’s stats. It’s really nice for cus-tomization as well as making characters look unique, using various pieces of gear to make their own masterpiece.

One negative of the game is finding what to do. The game is very large, and once level cap is hit, joining a large guild might be necessary to see the later con-tent to its full extent. The content also scales with levels of difficulty that require a large amount of time and concentra-tion in order to do.

Another negative is the negativity of the playerbase at times. Many say that World of Warcraft is dying due to a loss of subscription numbers, but it’s still the most subscribed MMORPG in the indus-try. There’s no doubt that it will not go anytime soon and will still stay strong for at least a few more years.

The game is still fun, even on its 11th year. The fact it’s going so strong with such a long lifespan truly shows how strong the game actually is. It’s the vet-eran of the RPG industry that has yet to be taken down and won’t be for years to come. I’d give the game an 89/100.

Miranda SingsHer crazy red lipstick and

horrible singing might not be for everyone, but I laugh out loud at this character played by Colleen Ballinger who has racked up over five million sub-scribers. On this channel you can expect covers of hit songs, as well as original songs and a whole lot more that will turn you into a Mirfanda in no time.

Connor FrantaBeing one of the first You-

Tubers I started watching regu-larly, his videos are some of the first I click on. Every week you don’t know what to expect. It’s a channel that keeps you thinking long after it’s over and some-thing you can relate to or makes you smile. I promise you won’t be disappointed by his quirki-ness and creativity.

Meghan RienksAfter watching any one of

her videos, you’ll immediately want to be her best friend. This aspiring actress has started to branch out from only posting beauty and fashion videos. Now her channel is filled with not only monthly favorites and hauls but also skits, comedy and challenges that will keep you coming back for more.

Joshua David Evans (JoshuaDTV)Watching his daily vlogs or

video blogs is like watching re-ality TV except way better. I first discovered his channel through his then fiancee, now wife, Col-leen Ballinger who not only has her own channel (which I would recommend checking out) but who also plays Miranda Sings. Once you watch one vlog, you’ll get drawn in by his sweet fam-ily, love for sushi and his catch-phrase “be nice to people.”

BuzzFeedYou may know them for

their popular website, and even though this isn’t a one-person channel, I had to include it in my top five. Constantly coming out with different content across all four of their channels — I’m talking multiple videos a day — BuzzFeed never ceases to amaze me. Some of my recent favorites include Girlfriends Choose Their Boyfriends’ Hal-loween Costumes and People Try Novelty Astronaut Deserts.

SANDERMANBy Staff Writer Hannah

personalities: who do you watch?

World of Warcraft still going strong on 11th year

“Did you get the new S n a p c h a t update?”

“Do you like the new S n a p c h a t update?”

When Snapchat launched in July of 2011, it was originally called Picaboo. When it first launched, users could send a “self-ie” for one to 10 seconds, write a small message on it and doodles if they desired.

Today, users still have those features, but there are so many more things one can do. In October of 2013, Snap-chat released the “Story” feature to users. This allowed the users to post photos or videos to all of their “friends” and allow them to view them as many times as they wanted for 24 hours. At first, people complained about the feature, but now people post things on their stories daily.

The story feature has been very popular at Cedar Falls. “I like the Snapchat story feature be-cause it’s easier than sending mass snaps to everyone individually. As long as people don’t add a bunch of stuff to their story, I watch them since they are usually funny,” se-nior Madisen Timmer said.

Along with the stories, Snap-chat included the “Discover” op-

tion, which allows the viewer to watch stories that consist of short video clips and some new ar-ticles. They include writers such as Buzzfeed, Cosmopolitan, Food Network, Comedy Central and more. Like the stories, Timmer en-joys using discover. “Other than watching my friends’ stories, I also like to watch the Iowa Story and the stories that take you to differ-ent places around the world. It’s almost like you’re experiencing it first hand.”

In June of 2014, Snapchat added the “chat” feature, which

is basic text m e s s a g i n g that allows users to see when the other person

is typing or opens a mes-

sage. Also, while users are both in the chat at the same time, they can video chat with each other.

Along with that, Snapchat added filter options to add to the snaps. This year a “Tiger Nation” filter has been added to Snapchat. Snapchat will also show differ-ent filters based on user location. For example, for the UNI Dome, there’s a UNI filter, and the state users are in can lead to filters with those states’ names on them. The filters also show users’ speeds if they were moving while taking pic-tures, the time the pictures were taken and temperature.

“I watch them since they are usually funny.”

COLEBy Staff Writer Miranda

Snapchat’s StoryPopular app gets bigger and better through the years

—senior Madisen Timmer

Frisday, Nov. 20, 2015HI-LINETiger

The

ENTERTAINMENT7Pokémon of the Week: Mega-Alakazam deserves its high rank

Alakazam, the final evolution of the Abra line, is a powerful special-attack-ing Pokémon. Its main form of attacking is hitting hard and fast. It can take hits, but not many, if any at all. Alakazam is in the OU tier, which means it is “over used.”

There are three sets that people may use to set up an Alakazam for wi-fi battles (not recommended for in-game playing). The first set, and my personal favorite, is the Mega-Alakazam. The recommended move set is psychic, focus blast, shadow ball and encore/substitute.

This set makes your Alakazam very powerful and increases most of his stats. With this set, your Alakazam can hit faster and harder, but if it gets hit by a ghost or bug move, you’re basically done. I would highly recommend this set, as I’ve used a Mega-Alakzam, and it is OP (over-powered).

In my eye, the other sets are for serious battlers, while this is for some-one who wants to have fun. Its ability would be trace in this form, which isn’t the best, but it allows you to copy your opponent’s ability the first time your Al-akazam is sent in.

The second set recommended is the life orb set. The move set for this

set is psychic, focus blast, shadow ball, HP (hidden power) and ice/encore. The only dramatic difference in the moves in HP ice would be help in hit-ting flying types and dragon types. While nei-ther are a major threat to Alaka-zam, they could be a threat to your other Poké-mon.

As for its item, the life orb, this item can be very good or can screw you over. This is because it does increase your attack by 30 percent, but it takes 10 percent of its HP (hit/health points) each time it at-tacks. This makes it a lot more powerful; however, the more you use it, you’re ac-tually hurting yourself a decent amount.

The ability for this set is magic guard. It prevents in-direct damage like from a move like toxic, which poisons its target. This ability goes nicely with life orb because then it can be not be dam- FORKER

By Staff Writer Noah

aged by a poison/burn plus its life orb. Unfortunately, this still means it can be paralyzed and put to sleep, which could

cause problems if you’re not prepared.

The final set is the re-venge killer set. First, the item for this set is the focus sash. S e c o n d , t h e moves for this set are psychic, focus blast, HP (hidden power), fire/Ice or grass knot, and thun-der wave. This move is inter-esting, consid-

ering I can not think of a time Alaka-zam really deals with a Pokémon that it needs HP fire for.

I also have a hard time thinking of a time to use grass knot, since heavy Pokémon are very bulky and Alakazam is not good with dealing with bulky Pokémon.

As for the item, focus sash isn’t that good unless, as the name of the set im-

Alyssa Dekutoski Cartoon

plies, you need some quick revenge. The focus sash allows the holder to live one attack with one HP (hit points).

This item is kind of a two-sided sword. I say this because it can be good if you need some easy damage to fin-ish a battle; however, if you get hit, the item is used up and can’t be used again. The item is good, but only if you know how to use it.

Alakazam is my No. 1, favorite Poké-mon, and so when Mega-Alakazam was announced, I had to use it. It can take hits pretty well but is not meant to be a tank in any sense. Alakazam is meant to be a fast sweeper, no matter what you put on him.

While he’s my favorite Pokémon, I will say he has his cons. A con of Al-akazam is he can NOT take hits from a super-effective attack very well. If he’s hit by a bug, dark or ghost type, he’s basically done. However, he can also be built to take these hits.

Alakazam in no sense is supposed to be a switch-in to take a hit. If you’re going to send him in, wait until your current Pokémon faints. I highly recom-mend Alakazam to be your either third or final Pokémon.

Tubular ’Toons Cartoon Network’s offerings emphasized quality over quantity

Johnny BravoIf Johnny Bravo taught us anything, it was how

NOT to attract women. Johnny was a perfect example of having too much confidence. With his tight clothes, sunglasses, smooth walk, big hair and an even bigger ego, Johnny Bravo kept us laughing with all his idiotic mishaps.

Last week we dove into the wonderful world of the cartoons of our childhood. You might ask yourself why this topic is important. Most people don’t think of cartoons as major influences in our lives. I urge you to think differently. Cartoons are what helped us learn les-sons, expand our imaginations and most importantly

save us from extreme boredom. Personally, I think we grew up in the golden age of toonage. Then again, ev-ery generation thinks that. I’m here to tell you why our generation’s television is a top contender for the best ever, so let’s throw it back once again for part two of Tubular Toons.

This week we will look into the underdog of the cartoon world. Cartoon Network is a little different from the rest. They play a lot of old cartoons such as the Flintstones and Scooby Doo but can’t claim them as their own. They also have a late-night adult program called Adult Swim. Since most of us weren’t allowed to watch Adult Swim, I won’t be including those shows in the list. However, Cartoon network quietly put up quite an impressive lineup of entertaining shows. They may not have the quantity of Nick or Disney, but they definitely have the quality.

Dexter’s Laboratory Many of us can relate to having ignorant parents

and an annoying sister. However, not many of us can relate to being in elementary school and owning a giant secret lab. Nobody can forget the famous voice scream-ing out “DEE DEE!” The creative cartoon mesmerized us with crazy inventions and whacky experiments.

Ed, Edd, ‘n EddyHow hard is it to find 25 cents to buy a jawbreaker?

For the trio of Ed’, Edd ‘n Eddy, it is very hard. We got to go on the journey through adolescence with these three and all the complications along the way. There wasn’t a day in the cul de sac where Eddy wasn’t caus-ing some sort of mischief.

Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends In my opinion, this was the most creative show

Cartoon Network ever produced. It was hilarious while also showing the reality of how we lose our innocence as we get older. Blue, Mac and the rest of the gang taught us to never lose our imaginations. It was a great show that actually provided a good lesson.

Codename: Kids Next DoorYou may have started a club with your friends when you

were younger, but not like this one. KND was a worldwide force of kids trying to stay young forever. They would fight against the evil adults and older kids with makeshift weapons and gadgets. They also had one of the most awesome tree houses ever built. This was without a doubt a classic.

Courage the Cowardly DogChances are this show creeped you out when you

were a kid. It was an eerie show that seemed more like a nightmare than a cartoon. Even though it was out of the ordinary and quite strange, it was comical and oddly satisfying. It was a great example of conquering your fears.

HEIMBUCKBy Staff Writer Aaron


The

TRAVEL8

TRIPS

Seniors Kayla Ramirez, Madi Harris and I were walking in the Katoski woods just off of Ridgeway this past Sunday afternoon when we saw a big tree with a metal cross nailed to it on all four sides. It was the coolest thing. I wanted to climb the tree, so I did, and I just sat up there taking more pictures from above.

None of the pictures looked very good, so I got down and we continued around the corner to find a bridge with graffiti under it. I cannot exactly tell what it is, but it looks cool, like a dragon lurking among a swirl of spirals.

If you park in the south parking lot on Ridge-way Avenue right after you cross Black Hawk Creek, it is pretty much a straight shot all the way back there. The only wrinkle is when you come to the fence at the end right by High-way 20, you will take a right and you are basically at the tree.

My journalism teacher Brian Winkel suggest-ed this park would be great for pictures, and now that I have gone there myself, I completely agree. He said he used to live right by these woods and still finds himself walking through them a couple times a month. He recommends early spring right after the snows disappear for some closeups of some of the best early flow-ers in the Cedar Valley, and some of the other trails will take visitors around sloughs, lakes, open fields and more.

These woods are gorgeous, and the walk is not too torturous. As you’re walking down the path, you will notice a tire swing hanging down into the water that looks tempting to try out, and later down there will be a little waterfall like thing going on. It is very pretty, and I would definitely recommend driving 10 or 15 minutes to go walk or bike down the many paths of Ka-toski Woods.

ALBERTBy Staff Writer Billie Ann

Katoski Woods delivers wide rangeof magical Cedar Valley encounters

One Tank

Billie Ann Albert Photos

Seven years af-ter the tornado hit Parkersburg on a Sunday in May, the overwhelming transformation has left little evidence from the ruins of that storm.


The

TRAVEL9

By Staff Writer Austin Reyhons

PhotoExpeditions

Exchange Park, located in Waterloo, is home to many attractions including baseball, basketball, children’s play-grounds and a skatepark. It also holds a massive disc golf course. The skatepark and disc course appeal to me personally, but what really brought me to Exchange Park for this week’s expedition is to express the beauty com-monly missed at this park. Most people are caught up in pointless affairs, but if we all took a look around during our regular lives we could realize the beauty that surrounds us at every moment. You just have to look for it.

Exchange ParkUnderlying Beauty Shines in Local Area


The

FEATURE10

The only thing separating junior Jus-tin Gray from the 10,000 foot plummet to earth is a thin sheet of aluminum that holds together the small, two-seater Cessna 152 airplane that he flies across the sky.

Gray spends his weekends soaring across the sky, piloting a small plane across the open fields of Iowa, and it’s a flight toward a life-long dream. “I’ve always been interested in travel. I had a few small plane flights when I was a kid and knew it was something I wanted to do,” he said.

Gray first saw his opening when he learned that his church priest was a flight instructor, and he capitalized on this op-portunity by asking his priest to teach him how to fly.

To be able to obtain a full license, pilots must be 17 and pass all require-ments, including 40 hours in the sky with a certain amount of hours at night and passing an FAA (Federal Aviation Admin-istration) exam. Gray sailed over these requirements in February and is now ea-gerly awaiting Dec. 12 when he will turn 17 and receive his full pilot’s license.

For most of his training, he flew in a Cessna 152, which is a smaller airplane only containing two seats. Throughout his flying career, however, Gray has also flown in a few Pipers, and they are a little nicer airplane than a little 152.

Gray flies mainly on weekends, and this passion of his does not stop in the winter. Flying is a full-time, year-round gig for the high flying, adventure seek-ing junior.

The only real difference between the full pilot’s license and the intermediate license is that one can haul passengers and fly at night with a full license, but with an intermediate license one can only fly cross country if approved by an instructor.

“I’m completely in control by myself,” Gray said. “There are no obstacles.”

Rising above the clouds and leaving the ground for a few hours is Gray’s way of getting away from the world and feel-ing like nothing can stop him.

Flying for fun is not where this hobby stops for Gray. In his mind, this hobby will someday turn into a career and a lifestyle.

Reflecting on his passion for flying, Gray sits back in his chair as a slight smirk appears on his face. “I hope to be an air show aerobatic pilot or commercial air-line pilot some day,” he said. “I love a little risk. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be pursu-ing the career I am.”

Gray grins and laughs a little more. “This summer I went flying with my in-structor to practice flying in the clouds. The engine started to run rough, so we turned back, but it was very unreli-able. When we got back, there was no power being given off. Everything was vibrating, and the radio even fell off the compartment. You just really never know what’s going to happen. That’s the fun

of it.”As Gray comes in for landing, mess-

ing with all the dials, switches and knobs, he is more confident than ever trusting the hours of experience he already has. He can’t help but smile from ear to ear as he thinks about the possibility of fly-ing and living out his passion for the rest of his life.

The second the wheels hit the ground, the only thing on Gray’s mind is the next time those same wheels will lift off from the cold hard pavement and fly above the world full of worries and be free from it all.

FLYING SOLO

With the UNI-Dome in view far, far below, junior Justin Gray was able to log more flight time on his quest toward his full pilot’s license. Gray spent most of his training in the Cessna 152 pictured below, and now he is awaiting the official certificate of completion in just a few weeks on Dec. 12.

Submitted Photos

Junior just weeks away from earning his wings

By Staff Writer Nathan

HOY


The

FOOD FEATURE11

SCHWICKERATH By Staff Writer Lane

Step 2

Step 3

Step 1

Step 4

Lane Schwickerath Photos

Prep: Mix some Lawry’s and cajun seasoning into the flour on a paper plate.Flour each side of your pheasant.Put oil in the pan and heat it up.

Cook:Put your floured pheasant in the pan.Brown each side.Pour the Beefy Mushroom soup on each piece of pheasant.let simmer for 5-10 minutes or until tender.Serve with your favorite sides.

Fried PheasantFeeds: 1-2 peoplePrep time: 10 minutesCook time: 10 minutesNeeds: 1 whole pheasantLawry’s seasoningCajun seasoning1 can of beefy mushroom soupFlourOil1 medium-sized panA paper plate

Hour of Power LunchesFried Pheasantmakes easymeal in under 60 minutes


The

SPORTS12Athlete

Weekofthe

Sophomore Taylor Lynch and the Tigers volleyball season came to an end last Thursday in five sets at the state tournament semifinals to an experienced Bettendorf team that had six D1 recruits. Lynch led an impressive comeback after the Tigers fell down two sets to none, racking up 16 kills and setting the stage even at two sets apiece before falling just short in a hard-fought fifth and final set.

What was it like to make such a deep run at State as a sophomore?

It felt great to get to that point with my teammates and to see that all our hard work and extra time in the gym paid off, and as a sophomore it was a great experi-ence to play in that kind of environ-ment at such a young age and go-ing against the best competition in the state.

What would you say is the biggest thing that this year’s se-niors taught you?

That teamwork is everything. You can be the best player you can be, but you won’t go anywhere or accomplish any major goals with-out your teammates.

What expectations do you have for next year’s team with so many returning key players?

I hope to go back to State next year, and if we work hard, I believe we can do it with Taya Mahi, Claire Gerdes, Grace Burken and a ton of juniors all returning. I know the pieces are there, and we just hope to build off of this season’s success.

Taylor Lynch

Volleyball

AHRENHOLZ By Staff Writer Annebeth

Tiger Nation proved again just how motivating and encouraging it can be last Thursday at the state volleyball game. Led by se-niors and well known for the loud high schoolers that par-ticipate in cheering at CFHS sporting events, there is no question that Tiger Nation was the best student section at the U.S. Cellular Center as the volleyball team compet-ed at state, making it to the semi-finals.

Senior volleyball player Emma Gerdes was thankful to have such a strong stu-dent section. “Having Tiger Nation makes playing more fun, and they create a fun atmosphere to play in. It’s cool to know your classmates have your back,” she said.

Students all throughout the high school also enjoy being a part of Tiger Nation.

“I like to dress up for all of the silly outs, and it’s fun to be able to cheer alongside all of your friends. I love the sense of unity you feel when you’re all chanting the same cheer,” senior Alyssa Brass said.

Senior Drew Nida agreed. “It’s cool to know ev-ery single person standing in the student section is rallied

around two goals: being the loudest student section in the state and winning.”

Tiger Nation is known for being loud and getting rowdy.

“It’s lit,” senior Sean Fern-holz said.

Tiger Nation also has a Twitter page with over 1,000 followers. The current num-ber of followers is 1,438.

Sophomore Shelby Hartwig enjoys being a part of the student section.

“I think that the student section at Cedar Falls High School is great. It brings us all together because it’s a super fun way of expressing our school spirit, giving us as students the opportunity to support our school and have a good time together while doing so. Standing in the student section and seeing how many of us from the high school and junior high come to support our teams is amaz-ing. I love seeing the impact our student section can have when there are so many of us cheering so loud for our athletes. I genuinely think Ce-dar Falls has some awesome school spirit,” she said.

Tiger Nation standing strongThe volleyball team’s sea-

son ended last Thursday after a heartbreakingly close loss to Bettendorf High School.

The Tigers arrived at State after beating Marshalltown in a hotly contested game. After winning the first two sets 31-29 and 26-24, the Tigers lost the third set 26-24. The Tigers ral-lied late in the fourth set to win with a score of 25-23 and ad-vanced to the semi-finals with a final score of 3-1. The Tigers headed to the U.S. Cellular Center ranked 3rd in the state.

Sophomore Taylor Lynch said she was ecstatic.

“It was really exciting. We were all really happy, and it was just an awesome feel-ing,” Lynch said. “Words can’t describe how I felt when we won.”

Senior Emma Gerdes en-joyed getting to play with her sister.

“It was really exciting. I knew we could make it to State all along,” Emma said. “Being able to go with my sister was really fun because it was the last time we’ll play together.”

The first game at State, a quarterfinal, pitted the Tigers against the Kennedy Cou-gars, a team that had beaten the Tigers earlier this season. Similar to the previous game, this game was an incredibly in-tense contest. The Tigers won the first two sets at 25-22 and 25-20. The Tigers then lost the next set 16-25 before coming back and winning the final set 25-20 to advance to the semi-finals with a score of 3-1.

Senior Erin Hendrickson said she was elated to make it to the next round.

“When we won the first game, the whole team was so excited because we made it to the semi-finals and we knew we were good enough to pos-sibly win the next game.” Hen-drickson said.

Head Coach Matt Johnson agrees with Hendrickson.

“Winning the Kennedy match was awesome. That was definitely as excited as I have been after a volleyball match in a long time,” Johnson said. “Our girls had been thinking about that opportunity for six weeks and were absolutely ready for the challenge of beating them.”

With hundreds of students travelling to Cedar Rapids, the Tigers played the State semi-final on Thursday against the Bettendorf Bulldogs.

The Tigers spent a large part of the near two-hour game playing from behind, losing the first two sets at scores of 22-25 and 19-25.

Emma was nervous after going down 0-2.

“I was very nervous to be honest. I thought we were done,” Emma said. “I didn’t want to lose in three, and I know that no one else did ei-ther. We tried to spark a rally after that, and tried to win each point one at a time.”

Emma’s sister, sophomore Claire Gerdes, agreed.

“I was feeling a little dis-couraged, but I tried to push that to the side,” Claire said. “I didn’t want the next set to be the final set.”

Johnson never lost confi-dence in the team.

“Even though we had lost the first two sets, I felt like momentum was starting to turn and we were getting Bet-tendorf to take some tired swings,” Johnson said. “I had a ton of confidence in our play-ers because they had been in tough situations in the past and responded very well.”

And respond well they did. The Tigers were able to pull off a remarkable comeback win-ning the next two sets 26-24 and 25-21.

Hendrickson was ready for the fifth set.

“When the fourth set end-ed, I knew that we had a very great chance of winning the game. Our excitement was up and the momentum was going our way. We just had to fight through one more set,” Hen-drickson said. “I think what sparked our rally was our de-termination to win. We weren’t going to give Bettendorf an easy win.”

But unfortunately, the mo-mentum wasn’t to last. After going up early in the fifth set, the Tigers’ momentum died out and Bettendorf managed to escape with a 15-9 win, advancing to the final with an overall score of 3-2.

But Johnson was proud of the team.

“As a competitive person, I was bummed that we lost, but I was also extremely proud of the way our players handled adversity and responded when things got tough. I was satis-fied that our players had done everything in their power and left everything on the court,” Johnson said. “I’m disap-pointed that I’m not going to

Volleyball team fights to five-set finish

have the chance to coach our seniors anymore.”

Burken said she wanted more.

“I was disappointed. Scratch that. Disappointed is an understatement. I felt that I let my team and the seniors down, and I wish that I could have done more,” Burken said. “It was hard realizing that we didn’t reach our goal and that we were so close to it. We worked hard all year and put so much effort into getting as far as we did, and it was a let-down to know that we didn’t finish the way we wanted.”

Senior Alicia Harrington credits the fans for making the trip to Cedar Rapids.

“I think that the fans really motivated me and the team,” Harrington said. “Being able to look up and see all the people cheering and believ-ing in me was amazing and motivated me to play the best I could.”

Lynch is proud about the

season as a whole.“We got to State, so I feel

like it went really well, and I feel really happy about it. Hopefully we’ll be back next year as well,” Lynch said. “I think we played really well. We came together as a team. A lot of people stepped up.

Johnson will leave next year’s goals up to the team.

“My goal is to make sure the girls are enjoying being part of our program and are having fun,” Johnson said. “I would guess based on how this season went and the great junior and senior classes that we will have, the goals will be pretty high.”

Claire looks forward to the future.

“Next year, the goal is to make it to the state tourna-ment again, and to hopefully do even better than this year.”

ALAM By Editor-in-Chief Zuhayr

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Nov 20 2015 hi line