Pattonville’s Spirit Week was held Oct. 8-12. Throughout the whole

week, the number of students participating in each grade was tallied up to determine which class had the most spirit. Each day, members of Student Coun-cil would announce the winner. In the end, seniors won the title followed by the juniors, sopho-mores and freshmen.

The class competition started on Monday, Oct. 8 with Neon Day. Everyone wanting to participate wore bright pink,

yellow, orange, green, and blue to school.

“Neon Day was really cool because everyone was wearing bright, highlighter, neon colors,” said junior Casey Prosise. “I think those bright colors are re-ally fun and my favorite is neon pink, which I was wearing that day.”

On the following day, Tues-day, Oct. 9, many Pattonville Pi-rates showed what a true Pirate looked like.

On Dress Like A Pirate Day, students came to school wear-ing eye patches and pirate hats.

Some decided to actually wear a full pirate costume.

“I think Pirate Day was a great idea,” said nurse Heidi Lanham. “It really showed school spirit because, I mean, we are the Pirates.”

Elderly Day was on Wednes-day, Oct. 10, and students such as seniors Morgan Mars, Erik Solorio, Nikki Spencer, Maysa Daoud, and science teacher and STUCO adviser Megan Hernke dyed their hair gray or wore wigs.

“I think Elderly Day was one of the harder days of the week,

but I would say it was one of the more fun days too because people dressed up really quirky and weird,” said junior Nathan Samples.

It was a blast from the past on Thursday, Oct. 11, as stu-dents tried their best to match the dress in class designated decades.

Bringing back the poodle skirts and leather jackets, the freshmen traveled back in time to the 1950s. The sophomores went back to the 1960s, also known as the hippie years. The juniors brought back the disco

years of the 1970s wearing big afros and bell-bottom pants. Seniors were decked out with styles from the 1980s with a lot of girls teasing their hair really big, wearing bright leggings and bold eye shadow while guys popped their collars.

“For Decades Day, I dressed up as Sally Ride, an astronaut from the 80s,” said Hernke. “The astronaut suit was actually an original. Seeing the students dress up in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s was really funny. It was awesome how accurate the

Pirates represent their classes by participating in daily contests, seniors have highest percentage of students involved and win the annual title

Students show pride by dressing up during spirit weekBy Jessica Vargas

High schools around Missouri are required to conduct multiple safety

drills in order to get the students and faculty familiar with specific emergency procedures.

This is because multiple staff members find student safety as a critical aspect of the school experience, which needs to be controlled for a peaceful school environment.

“We need trust within safety [from faculty and students] so that students can learn and teach-ers can teach effectively,” said As-sistant Principal Gene Grimshaw.

The school conducts four spe-cific drills throughout the year. These include intruder alerts, and drills for earthquakes, tornados, and fires

“We have a prescribed action step for all of these drills for teachers and administrators to follow,” explained Grimshaw. “[Drills] are a necessary part of every high school for the safety.”

Fire alarms are the most common drills that take place. Two are required to be done in the first two weeks of the year, along with five additional drills throughot the first semester, and a total of 10 by the end of the school year.

In addition, Pattonville is required to follow procedures for intruder alerts, tornado drills and earthquake drills twice each year. This adds on six more drills, including three in one semester, that account for the state-re-quired 16 by the end of the year.

“I think [drills] are necessary so that we can get use to leaving the building without thinking too hard and knowing what to do,” said English teacher Kenneth Lopinot.

Each individual drill involves different instructions and com-

An alarming curiosity

By Joey Schneider

School must conduct 10 safety drills in first semester

>> See ALARMS, page 2

By Tim Vleisides and Brady Bell

Pirates get their “Game On”

A bit of Homecoming magic seemed to be present Saturday after-noon in Pattonville Stadium. The

forecasted rain managed to hold off, stu-dents, teachers, and alumni alike were all present, and the Pirate Boys gained their first win of the season. The significance of the Homecoming game for players like senior wide receiver Justin Morrow did not diminish, despite the Pirates’ 0-7 record leading into the day.

“It was our last home game at the new stadium in front of all our friends so we had to have a good game in front of the crowd,” Morrow said. “I also wanted to look back when I graduate knowing that we at least won our Homecoming game.”

Sophomore wide receiver/quarterback Jake Stroker was just as optimistic, say-ing the game would be “the beginning of new things” after the 22-14 victory over Hazelwood West.

Yet the Pirates knew that victory would not come without teamwork.

Before the game, junior Lamar Wilkes talked about his intangible responsibili-ties as quarterback, saying, “I have to lead my team, pick them up when they’re down, and cheer them on no matter what the outcome.” Wilkes went into the game with 41 completions for 552 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Yet along with this togetherness comes execution according to Coach Steve Smith.

Smith mentioned how “staying on top of the gameplan in practices” helped lead to a victory on gameday. He also touted his team’s resilience, claiming that they “try to focus in practice. The attitude of the kids is that they’re still fighting; one

thing we won’t do is quit.”As gameday arrived, Smith’s team

warmed up on the field as usual. To an ordinary fan, nothing may have ap-peared differently in the way the players stretched, went through position-specific drills, and discussed last-minute ar-rangements with their coaches. However, according to offensive lineman Shane McAtee, the team felt more excitement before this game than any other.

“[The locker room was] amped. Every-one was yelling and jumping and pushing each other around,” McAtee noted. “We were ready to go.”

This same eagerness followed the team as they propelled onto the field through a tunnel of pompoms, cheer-leaders, and the enormous paper banner filled with balloons.

That morning, the Pirates’ attitude reflected that of a team with everything to gain from a Homecoming win; as acknowledged by Smith.

“A win would be huge. It’d boost the morale of the kids, help them have a more enjoyable Homecoming, set the tone to possibly do interesting things to-ward the end of the season and a possible run in district play.”

By the end of the day, the Pirates would earn their first varsity win of the 2012 season. As the players’ cheers rang loudly from the locker room, many fans were equally as excited.

“I’m very excited for [the team],” Tay-lor Jackson said. “It’s great that all their work ethic finally paid off.” v

Editor’s note: DeSmet defeated Pat-tonville 41-0 on Oct. 26 in the first round of the Class 6, District 2 playoffs ending the 2012 season.

Quarterback Lamar Wilkes hands the ball off to running back Robert Barnes in the Homecoming game on Oct. 13. The playbook, with a balance of rushing and passing calls, led the Pirates to their first victory of the season. Photo by Brady Bell

Senior Josh Walker leads the football team onto the field in his final Homecoming game. After pumping the athletes up, the Pirates ran through the banner held by the cheerleaders. The team won its first game in the new stadium, 22-14. Photo by Brady Bell

Quarterback Lamar Wilkes had nine completions for 171 total yards and one touchdown, including a season-long 92-yard pass to junior Robert Zimmerman. Photo by Brady Bell

>> See SPIRIT WEEK, page 5

PIRATEPRESS

PattonvilleTODAY.com @phsTODAY

Homecoming Weekend, pgs. 4-5 Fright Fest at Six Flags, pg. 7 Democrat, Republican Clubs, pg. 8

Pattonville High School 2497 Creve Coeur Mill Road Maryland Heights MO 63043 l Vol. 77 Issue: 2 November 2012

Verb: Bullying may be defined as the activity of repeated, aggressive be-

havior intended to hurt another person, physically or mentally. Bullying is characterized by an individual behaving in a certain way to gain power over another person.

“Bullying hurts self-esteem. It’s degrading and it gets people nowhere. It really shows your true colors,” said Katherine Bahr, a member of S.P.E.A.K. and vice president of GSA. “To

me, bullies are people who look for others’ insecurities and uses it to their advantage.”

Ally Week was Oct. 15-19 and GSA was excited to spread the word.

“All I want is for people to come together and support each other,” said Shawn Houston, sec-retary of GSA. “I want everyone to be open-minded and not judg-mental because someone is gay, or bi, or even straight.”

S.P.E.A.K. showed their support by wearing purple on Friday. People across the na-tion were encouraged to wear

purple on Oct. 19 to take a stand against bullying. GLAAD’s Spirit Day is an annual event in Octo-ber when millions of Americans wear purple to speak out against bullying and to show their sup-port for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth.

GSA had students sign an anti-bullying pledge during all lunch sessions.

“If you signed the pledge, it means you are a proud support-er of the LGBT community and we need all the support we can get,” said Houston. v

NOVEMBER 2012 l PIRATE PRESS l 02

By Bionca Maldonado

Feature >>ALARMS, from pg.1 GSA makes effort to stop bullying

“An annoying alarm clock,” said Doan Trieu (12)“It sounds like a cicada or loud bird,” said Kyle McFarling (11)

“Like a normal fire truck,” said Amber Hall (10)

However, all three interviewed students think that the loud alarm sound motivates people to exit the building faster. v

On top of an increase in frequency of drills, the alarm system has appeared to sound louder and more agitating to students than in the past. While construction and changes were happening to the school over summer, the fire alarms were replaced with a higher pitched decibel sound.

“There were three different settings of horns and sirens that we could choose from,” Grimshaw said. “The one [chosen] has been set to the lowest possible decibel system so that the school could pass state requirements.”

Students have mixed opinions on how they feel about the new alarm system and what they sound like.

The New Fire Alarm System

What does it sound like?

Dodgeball tournament set to take place despite uncertainties of enough teamsThe tournament raises money for Prom, provides competition for students on the teams

Teams consisting of five boys, five girls, and one teacher will be compet-

ing in Pattonville High School’s annual dodgeball tournament on Nov. 5, and sponsored by the junior class and put together by teachers Heather Lopez-John-ston and Christine Edwards.

The tournament is designed to raise $110 per team, which will be collected and used for the junior and senior prom.

Lopez-Johnston explained that if there is another tourna-ment later in the year, the prof-its collected will go to a charity or organization decided by the students at that time.

At the time of publication, not all teams have been con-firmed, but Lopez-Johnston expects around 20 teams to participate this year.

The due date for order forms was originally Oct. 12, but was pushed back after almost no

order forms were turned in. With a cancellation threat

being issued if there was not enough interest, teams were actually finalized.

The tournament has already attracted some participants from last year, such as senior Sean Glankler, who said his favorite parts of the tourna-ment are “hitting people, dodg-ing stuff, and watching the big people hide in the back and do nothing.” v

By Taylor Holmstrom

Students sign a GSA pledge at lunch; show anti-bullying by wearing purple

Scheduled to premiere on Nov. 16, tickets for Break-ing Dawn Part 2 are on sale

for advanced purchase. And if you missed the first

four movies, Wehrenberg The-atres offers guests the chance to watch the Twilight Breaking Dawn Marathon featuring all the Twilight films (with a running time of 376 minutes) leading up to and including the midnight premiere of Breaking Dawn.

After the premiere of The Twi-light Saga: Breaking Dawn Part

1 on Nov. 18 of last year, avid Twilight fans have been anx-iously awaiting the release of the last and final movie of the series.

The Twilight series started with a character named Bella who falls in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen.

There are four books, with the last one being split into two movies.

New Moon focused more on Jacob and Bella’s relationship after Edward left her only to re-turn after Bella saves him from killing himself.

Eclipse, the third story in the

series, builds Bella and Edward’s relationship more in spite of Jacob being mad that Bella plans on becoming a vampire.

In Breaking Dawn Part 1, the Cullens have to focus on keep-ing Bella alive and Renesmee is born.

All of this has led up to the last and final part being told.

The second part of Breaking Dawn focuses more on Renes-mee (Mackenzie Foy). It contin-ues with the Cullens gathering all the vampire clans to protect Renesmee.

The Volturi are wrongly ac-

cusing her of being a dangerous vampire who is too young to control.

The Cullens therefore ask their friends to witness her growth and prove to the Volturi that she is part human.

Kristen Stewart returns to her role as Bella Cullen and Robert Pattinson stars as Edward Cul-len. It also features Taylor Laut-ner as Jacob Black and Dakota Fanning as Jane.

The movie is rated PG-13 for violence and some disturbing images. v

Second part to Twilight: Breaking Dawn to be released Nov. 16Popular book series written by Stephenie Meyer comes to an end on the big screen in NovemberBy Sierra Peerman

Pirate PatronsPirate Patrons receive a subscription to the Pirate Press as well as recognition in the newspaper with a yearly donation.

First Mate - $75

Buccaneer - $50

Crew - $25For more information on becoming a Pirate Patron, contact the Pirate Press at (314) 213-8000 ext. 8158 or BHeyman@psdr3.org or visit PattonvilleTODAY.com

Captain- $100James and Maureen JettAnonymous

Mr. HeymanCoach Kern

Deb BarhamJulie and John BellBarb and Steve HeymanLou and Mac HeymanElise MoserAlice PeermanJerry PeermanAnonymous

To view a full list of partners of the Pirate Press, please visit: PattonvilleTODAY.com

George and Anne Souris Paul and Linda SourisVirginia and Franklin D.Roberts

Follow the Pirate Press on Twitter: @phsTODAY

mands. Most of these drills are scheduled and cut into specific class periods. However, Grim-shaw suggests that all drills are urgent and involve good com-munication between the staff and students.

One unexpected drill oc-curred on Sept. 12. The school had received a phone call that a bomb was present. Students walked toward the football field expecting that it was nothing but a mandatory fire drill. As a large amount of time had elapsed, some students became slightly more concerned and began to listen directly to the commands of the principals.

“On the day of the bomb threat, students and staff were very cooperative and we were able to do [our part] safely in under an hour because of that,” Grimshaw said. “We had a trust-ing student body and staff that assured us everybody was safe.”

While students regrouped with their 3rd hour teachers, police were searching the building to make sure that all students and staff were away from the possible danger of the scene.

“Even though there have been a lot of drills this year, they help out with knowing what to do in the case of an emergency,” said junior Kyle McFarling. v

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Advertisement03 lPIRATE PRESS l NOVEMBER 2012

Students participate heavily in Spirit Week

Freshmen - Class of 2016 Sophomores - Class of 2015

“S.E.N.I.O-R-S we are the best, go seniors! Go seniors!”

At the end of spirit week, the senior class came out on top with a total of 170 points. Maysa Dauod, senior, said, “The fact that every-one was so involved really made me feel as if the senior class was one group rather than a bunch of strangers. The atmosphere was fun and friendly.”

Throughout the week, the classes took part in competitions including spirit days, tug-of-war, float building and more.

Erik Solorio, STUCO president, said that to prepare for spirit week, “[STUCO] had a lot of meet-ings and decided the spirit days as a group. The officers and execu-

tives worked well together to make the best spirit week.”

Each class came together for friendly competition and bragging rights.

Darleen Bequette, STUCO repre-sentative, said it took a lot of work to get people involved and spirited.

Bequette said, “STUCO mem-bers sent out group texts, posted on the STUCO Facebook page, hung posters in the hallways, and made announcements during school.”

For underclassman Jazmine Webber, spirit week inspired her to be more involved next year.

Webber said, “I found it exciting to see so many people involved in spirit week, and I definitely want to be more involved next year.” v

Spirit Week ResultsFirst place – Seniors (170 points)

Second place – Juniors (155 points) Third place – Sophomores (110 points)Fourth place – Freshman (65 points)

By Erin Leventhal

Freshman float: Clue

“The freshman homecoming float to me was really nice. A lot of effort and hard work was put into making it.” – Freshman Nathalie Solorio

Sophomore float: Game of Life

“It was a lot of fun to do because everyone got along and it was fun working on it.”-Sophomore Zoe Blaesing

On a cloudy Saturday morning, Pattonville High School held its an-

nual Homecoming parade down Creve Coeur Mill Road. The pa-rade, which centered around the theme of “Game On” acted as a conclusion to the school spirit

week competition, and served as a way to kick off the events on Oct. 13, which included the Homecoming football game and dance.

As police cars cleared traffic, the parade began with the Teacher and Support Staff Member of the Year serving as grand marshalls.

Following them were various performing groups such as the band and color guard. Each Pat-tonville graduating class also ap-peared in the parade with floats based off of board games such as the Game of Life and Monopoly.

“The students enjoyed work-ing together,” Heather Lopez-

Johnston, one of the overseers of the float designing, said.

Clubs such as Caring for Oth-ers, Student Quest, and PALs also appeared in the parade, along with floats from other Pattonville schools, including Remington Traditional, Rose Acres Elementary, Bridgeway

Elementary, and Briarcrest El-ementary. A car designed to look like a pirate ship and a firetruck, both full of Pattonville students, brought up the rear as the floats, with students who threw candy toward spectators, moved into the parking lot as the parade came to an end. v

Parade is a game-winner for spectators

Juniors - Class of 2014

Junior float: Monopoly

“Though our float turned out different than we planned, a lot of people showed up to help with it which was awesome.” – Junior Rachel Murphy, Class President

Seniors - Class of 2013

Senior float: Candyland

“It was awesome to see the float come together after hours of hard work. The senior class really went all out.” – Senior Blake Anderson

By Taylor HolmstromStudents build floats for specific board game, while others walk and threw out candy

1.

3.

Homecoming

1. Marching band members hold their fist in the air as the football team kicks the Homecoming game off at Pattonville Stadium. 2. Senior Taylor Jackson drops her flowers as she reacts to her name being announced as Homecoming Queen during halftime. 3. On the sidelines, the football team looks onto the field during the second half of the game. 4. Senior Sean Glankler works up a sweat as he dances the night away at the Homecoming dance on Saturday night. Photo By Erin Hubbartt. 5. Students line up on the floor to dance to the “Cu-pid Shuffle” during Homecoming. Photo by Abby Kieffer. 6. At Homecoming, stu-dents dance the night away to popular songs with friends. Photo by Erin Hubbartt.

outfits were. They probably stole some clothes from their parents, but they put a lot of thought into it.”

The last day of spirit week, Friday, Oct. 12 was Class Color day to compliment the class competitions during the pep rally in the main gym. Freshmen showed their pride of being the Class of 2016 by wear-ing yellow, the sophomores wore blue,

juniors were dressed in red, and the Class of 2013 went all out with the color green.

The seniors wore green from head to toe. Senior girls Allison Anth, Rachael Newberry, Erin Collier, Hannah Williams, Taylor McGhee, Melanie Lywiski and Sammie Bauer made their own senior headbands made with a bandana and silver rhinestones. Some “dyed” their hair

green, wore long green socks, wore green bead necklaces, and even painted their faces green and white.

“I thought Class Color day was the best spirit day because it helped contribute to the atmosphere of the Homecoming assembly,” said senior president Isaac Caverly. “It really showed the pride and spirit that our student body entails.” v

>>SPIRIT WEEK, from pg. 1

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

Saturday’s2.

6.

4.

5.

For more pictures from Homecoming week, visit PattonvilleTODAY.com and search Photo Slideshow. Also available: Video from Friday’s Pep Rally and the Homecoming Parade.

NOVEMBER 2012 l PIRATE PRESS l 06Sports

Rams aim for more success than in recent years

Professional football hasn’t been a prime topic of discussion

in St. Louis since Marshall Faulk retired in 2004. However, the Rams are looking forward to chang-ing that as they strive to reach big goals under the management of new coach Jeff Fisher.

Although the Rams have not finished a season above .500 since 2006, the team is 3-5 as of Oct. 28.

“Coach Jeff Fischer has been key to their success,” senior Josh Smith said. “He brought the AFC-style defense to the Rams and has taught them how to be physical.”

Smith believes the

defensive leaders have stepped up their game to get the big wins.

“Chris Long and Court-land Finnegan take the defense to another whole level, especially with the defensive rushing game.” Smith said.

While the defense has vastly improved since last year, the offense will need to be just as effective.

“Sam Bradford will have to throw the ball and find ways to get the offense going as the franchise quar-terback,” Smith said.

The team has two run-ning backs in Steven Jack-son and Darryl Richardson to accompany the young core of wide receivers.

“Even though Amendola

is hurt, the receivers are maturing more, and Bran-don Gibson is teaching the rookies how to play,” junior Zack Balzer said.

The Rams adjusted on both sides of the ball with a new set of athletes as 27 players who were on the team in 2011 are no longer playing in the NFL.

The Blues are currently involved in a lock-out and the Cardinals were knocked from the playoffs, leaving the Rams as the only St. Louis professional sports team playing right now.

It may take time for Rams spirit to increase, but “People are actually excited to say they have tickets on a Sunday to a game at the Dome,” Balzer said. v

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Cheering for yourself to win

The varsity cheerlead-ing team traveled to Columbia, Mo.,

to perform in the state competition on Oct. 21. They competed in the 5A Large Division and finished in 7th place. The state champion was Liberty High School.

“We didn’t do as well as we could have done,” varsity cheerleader Emily

Bartram said. “Overall, the performance was good, but I just feel like a lot of us were nervous.”

For some V-Rahs, it was their first appearance at the state competition. Last year, the cheerleading team was unable to compete because of injuries.

Sophomore Zoe Blaesing said there was added pres-sure to perform.

“It felt like we were do-ing a different routine out

there,” Blaesing said. “It was a bigger stage and we weren’t used to performing like that.”

Blaesing said she had learned a lot for the future at the competition.

“We just need to be a lot more confident and make sure we know what we are doing,” Blaesing said. “In the future, we will just work a lot harder in order to be prepared.” v

Varsity squad finishes in 7th place at Missouri State ChampionshipsBy Erin Collier

By Joey Schneider

It is the opinion of the Pirate Press that Cardinals fans around the school shouldn’t be too upset about this year’s postseason results.

While the Cardinals are rich in tradition and postseason memo-

ries, their 2012 postseason run ended suddenly and abruptly after blowing a 3-1 NLCS lead against the Giants.

But who is there to blame? Every player on the roster

could be blamed for the team’s failure to reach the World Series. People could brainstorm a mil-lion of ideas and complaints about both the Cardinals pitch-ers and hitters, but in the end, this criticism won’t likely help out the team.

One fact that few fans take into consideration is that with-out the addition of the second Wild Card spot this season, the Cardinals would not have quali-fied for the playoffs.

When compared to last year, the Cardinals made a similar run this postseason, but with many new faces on the club. Tony

LaRussa is no longer bringing his managerial expertise to the club, while former icon Albert Pujols left the Cards for money in the offseason. In addition, veteran leaders Chris Carpenter and Lance Berkman encountered injuries that kept them out of play for the bulk of the season.

With all of the excuses the Cards could’ve used in their fa-vor to underperform, they were able to put most of those issues behind and finish above .500 in Mike Matheny’s first full season as a manager. Finishing with more than 81 wins may seem like a simple task for a reigning World Series champion, but with a new outlook of coaches and players it was far from easy.

The Cardinals have also ex-perimented with something that hasn’t been done a whole lot in the past. The team has relied on home-grown talent to fill in big roles. In fact, 17 of the 25 players on the postseason roster were original Cardinals draft picks, who worked up to the big leagues. Yadier Molina and Ja-son Motte highlight some of the big names that came up through the Cards minor league system.

With departures and injuries of Redbirds from 2011’s team, many young players have had to find roles on the team. Matt

Carpenter became an effective utilityman and pinch-hitter, while Mitchell Boggs found a role as the 8th inning man.

The Cards had the whole trad-ing deadline to consider swap-ping some of their homegrown talent for experienced players. While they did acquire veteran pitcher Edward Mujica, the team stayed put at the deadline because Matheny and GM John Mozeliak found confidence and trust within the young core.

The team has relied heavily on young talent to win games along with veteran leaders. After all of the epic comebacks and mo-ments that led to a playoff berth, it is fair to say that rookies such as Trevor Rosenthal and Pete Kozma made contributions that were just as important as vet-erans like Matt Holliday, Carlos Beltran and Kyle Lohse.

The season can be categorized in a few ways. Some may think that injuries and quick mana-

gerial decisions set the team back. Others simply believe that inconsistency in the all-around mechanics lead to the team’s NLCS collapse.

The Cardinals put everything they could in the tank with the resources they had, and came up just short. Sure, the Cards may not be playing in the World Series, but at least be apprecia-tive that the Cardinals put in the commitment they did to be a postseason threat in 2012. v

PATTONVILLE HIGH SCHOOL2497 CREVE COEUR MILL ROADMARYLAND HEIGHTS, MO 63043

07 lPIRATE PRESS l NOVEMBER 2012

PIRATEPRESS

Editor-in-Chief Jessica Vargas

Managing EditorSierra PeermanCopy Editor

Allison LeventhalDesign EditorJoey Schneider

Photo EditorElizabeth Ferguson

Staff WritersKyleigh Ambrosecchia

Katherine BahrBrady Bell

Taylor HolmstromAbby Kieffer

Erin LeventhalSamantha MaddenBionca MaldonadoThomas SarsfieldPhillip SchererLeroy Taylor

Timothy VleisidesAdviser - Brian Heyman

The Pirate Press is the public forum newspaper of Pattonville High School. The newspaper, while serving as a training ground for future journalists, is part of the school curriculum and recognizes all rights and responsibilities under the First Amendment. Student editors make all decisions regarding content. As the members of the 2012-2013 staff, we dedicate ourselves to the accurate and objective dissemination of information to all readers. The viewpoints of all staff members are to be regarded as being separate from those of our administration, faculty, peers and adviser.

Allison’s Angle

In many high schools, foreign language classes are offered with options like French,

German and Spanish. But I believe that American

Sign Language (ASL) should be offered as a foreign language in high schools. Just as any language it takes hard work and practice.

ASL is used by the hearing, hard of hearing, and of course deaf people in the United States.

In most languages, pronuncia-tion is key; stressing the wrong thing can vastly change the sentence.

When signing, you have to be careful of what you are trying to say because the slightest change in movement can change the phrase “Nice to meet you” to “Nice to eat you.”

Roughly 2 million people nationwide use ASL and it is important to learn in order to communicate with all people.

In attempt to persuade the school district to add ASL as a class, I provide three of the 11 standards that the American Council on the Teaching of For-eign Language use to consider a foreign language appropriate for a school classroom:

Standard 1.1: Students en-gage in conver-sations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions;

Standard 1.2: Students under-stand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics; and

Standard 1.3: Students pres-ent information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics.

These standards definitely align with Pattonville’s expecta-tions to be considered a foreign language.

Currently, Pattonville High School offers an ASL Club after school.

This club meets on Tuesdays from 6:45-7:15 a.m. and has about 15 active members.

I hope this club will grow in membership which will encour-age administrators to make it an available class during the school day. v

By Katherine Bahr

Katie’s Korner Opinion

Fright Fest provides a unique experience, promotes Halloween Spirit

As all of you should know, the school parking lot is allowed to be used only

by the juniors and seniors. Last year, and the first few weeks of this year, due to construction and overflow parking, the school sent some students to park in Grace Church parking lot.

At the begin-ning of this year, the prin-cipals made the school parking lot available to seniors only. As the construc-tion cleared up, they slowly issued juniors school parking lot stickers to al-low them to park at the school.

Personally, I think only the seniors should be allowed to use the parking lot because we should have seniority.

I understand the seniors are already given a lot, but it is our final year to enjoy high school.

Of course the underclassmen whine and complain about the things they cannot do or have, but seniors should have certain privileges that the rest of the classes do not have.

It may not seem fair to them at the time, but just like all the privileges that we have had to wait for, the underclassmen will get when they are seniors just like us. v

By Elizabeth Ferguson

Seniors have earned their senior privileges

Talk with your hands

Staff Editorial

Ferg’s Focus

Between the scares and the rides, Fright Fest at Six Flags was the place to be for anyone looking to be in the Halloween

spirit. Beginning the weekend of Sept. 28 and

ending the weekend of Oct. 26, Six Flags was open to give people one last scare before clos-ing for the season.

All rides were running normally, the only difference being it was nighttime instead of daytime.

Riding a roller coaster through the pitch black night was sure to be scarier than being guided by the light of day.

Six Flags also had a few attractions such as Insanity Alley, the Slaughter House, and the

Back Lot Terror Tour that could only be seen during Fright Fest.

Each of these attractions had a haunting background story, and when people walked through they were meant to experience the entire story in real life.

Of course, one could have received quite a shock just by walking through the park.

Zombies, vampires, and witches could have been around any corner, waiting to jump out of nowhere and scare someone half to death.

And if that wasn’t a high enough scare factor for someone, there were also men and women with chainsaws following people around.

Although not every area of the park was filled with zombies and people with chainsaws, it was recommended that children under the age of 12 not attend Fright Fest.

The rides, decorations, and all attrac-tions at Fright Fest this year made for a great way to spend a weekend before Halloween.

Next year’s events are sure to be just as frightful. v

By Allison Leventhal

Cartoon by Eric Bateman

NOVEMBER 2012 l PIRATE PRESS l 08News

Mitt Rom

ney (R) vs. Barack O

bama (D

)

Politics at Pattonville

As the election season heats up, the Young D

emocrats

and Young Republicans

clubs have organized themselves

to further their understanding of the political parties as w

ell as educate students to further their cause.

Young Republicans public rela-tions offi

cer Blake Anderson said,

“We help students understand

what Republicans stand for. W

e are an open group and w

e have debates, learning Republican policies.”

Through their leaders, Isaac

Caverly (Republicans) and A

dam

Kam

insky (Dem

ocrats), the clubs closely follow

the campaigns of

both parties, both at the local and national levels.

“So far, we have helped the M

c-C

askill campaign by canvassing,

and we have had M

ary Nichols

come in to speak to the club,” said

Kam

insky. Th

ese special events have al-low

ed the Young Dem

ocrats to further their ow

n understanding. “W

e learn about the policies

and are able to form our ow

n opinions rather than forcing our view

s on our mem

bers,” said Young D

emocrats offi

cer Anjali

Fernandes.A

nderson of the Young Repub-licans does, how

ever, have one issue w

ith the organization of the Young D

emocrats, the $3 dues

that they require for mem

bership. “W

e want everyone to be able

to come and not feel like they are

being forced into paying money,”

said Anderson, w

hose club does not require dues. “W

hat if some-

one does not have those dues just laying around?”

The Young D

emocrats have a

different view on this issue.

“Our dues are used to pay

for T–shirts, food, and to make

our club an official chapter of the

Young Dem

ocrats of Am

erica,” said Fernandes.

As the elections begin to get

closer, both clubs intend to do m

ore things to further the cause of their clubs.

Maysa D

aoud of the Young D

emocrats said, “W

e have had debate-w

atching parties and are

planning a big party on Election D

ay.”The Young Republicans are also

planning big things, according to all involved.

“We are planning on having

a variety of guest speakers talk to the club as w

ell as scheduling m

ore events as we get closer to

Election Day,” said A

nderson. Th

e Young Republicans want

everyone to know that they are

welcom

e to join, even if they are actually D

emocrats.

“We w

ill actually have Dem

o-cratic guest speakers com

e in throughout the year. W

e just want

people to understand our policies. Th

e main thing w

e want people

to know is that w

e just want to

explain ourselves, rather than bashing the other party.”

Regardless of political af-filiation, both clubs are excited to educate students about the political parties and w

ant every-one to becom

e involved. “We

want everyone to form

their own

opinion and become excited to be

involved in the political process,” said D

aoud. v

Every four years, the electorate of the U

nited States is given the abil-

ity to choose the politician that w

ill lead their country. O

n the Tuesday following

the first Monday of N

ovem-

ber, the eligible voting popu-lace of the U

nited States go to their local polling places to cast their vote for the Presi-dent and V

ice President. A

s the day wears on, the

total votes are counted, but this victory of w

inning over the m

asses does not guar-antee a candidate the O

val O

ffice.

The President-to-be, also

called the President-Elect, isn’t form

ally announced until after the Electoral C

ol-lege convenes and votes on the M

onday after the second W

ednesday in Decem

ber.Th

e Electoral College w

as the result of disagreem

ents betw

een early Am

erican lead-ers. O

ne side of early leaders w

anted the President to be directly picked by the people them

selves, however, the oth-

er side wanted the President

to be decided by a select few

who have the people’s interest

in mind.

The Electoral C

ollege was

created as a comprom

ise to the tw

o sides.Each state has a num

ber of electors that is equal to its num

ber of U.S. Senators plus

the number of its U

.S. repre-sentatives.

Missouri has 10 electoral

votes and there are 538 elec-toral votes in the country. A

candidate needs 270 in order to be declared the victor.

Most of the tim

e, the votes are based on w

ho receives the m

ost votes in that state, but there is no law

keeping electors giving their votes to a specific political party.

The electors of each state

meet in their state capitals

to cast their votes and these votes are offi

cially read on Jan. 6 w

ith the winner sw

orn into offi

ce at noon on Jan. 20 at noon.

There have been only four

elections in Am

erican history w

here a candidate has won

the popular vote, but ended up losing the presidency.

The first w

as in 1824 when

Andrew

Jackson actually w

on the popular vote and the m

ajority of the Electoral vote, but he didn’t have the m

inimum

131 electoral votes needed at the tim

e to secure offi

ce. So, it actually ended up going to the H

ouse of Representatives, w

here John Q

uincy Adam

s was picked to

be President. In 1876, Rutherford H

ayes w

on the election by one vote in the Electoral C

ollege but lost the popular vote by 250,000 ballots.

In 1888, Benjamin H

ar-rison w

on the electoral vote, but lost the popular vote by nearly 100,000 votes.

In more recent history,

George W

. Bush won over

Al G

ore in the 2000 election narrow

ly with five electoral

votes. How

ever, Gore w

on the popular vote by about 540,000 votes. v

How

does a President get elected to office?By Tom

Sarsfield

-Withdraw

from A

fghanistan in 2014

-Healthcare should be reform

ed on the federal level

-Taxes on rich should increase

-Decrease m

ilitary spending by .5% and

troop levels by 100,000

-Am

erica should invest in green energies

-Conduct W

ar on Terror by targeting terror-ist leaders

-Cut corporate taxes from

35% to 28%

(information from

BarackObam

a.com)

-Withdraw

from A

fghanistan in 2014 if U

SA is ready

-20% A

cross-the-Board Income Tax C

ut

-Healthcare should be reform

ed on the state level

-Increase military spending by $2 tril-

lion over next decade

-Taxes on rich should not increase -Repeal O

bamacare

-Balanced budget amendm

ent

(information from

MittRom

ney.com)

The Search for the Right PresidentDemocrat and Republican Clubs

By Phillip Scherer

State Representative Patrick Brennan talks to the Young Republicans C

lub.Bottom

: Projected through a m

irror, Adam

Kam

insky (center) addresses the m

em-

bers of the Young Dem

o-crats C

lub.Photos by Phillip Scherer.

(AP Photo/D

avid Goldm

an/Eric Gay)