LON GBOAT

SKYWARD on page 3

VIKI

NG

photo by Nick Gregory

IMMEDIATE IMPACT on page 10

10.31.2012 Haslett High School Volume 18 Issue 25450 Marsh Road Haslett MI 48840

A NORMAL LIFE on page 4

Maggie McDaniel, Delany Johnson, and Hannah Safferman

Students tempted to take a peek at the test of their peer or throw a punch at the student bothering them might want to start thinking twice about their actions.

Skyward, the online program used to track students’

grades and school progress, is familiar amongst its users. What many students may not realize, however, is that any disciplinary violations, defined in the school handbook, will be archived in Skyward and follow the student until graduation.

by Patrick Gifford

The sky is filled with blue and purple balloons. The track glows with the shimmering light of hundreds of candles. Sadness permeates the air as the Haslett com-munity mourns the passing of Emily Rapson, who was to be a junior at Haslett High School.

For junior Emily Kaczmarczyk, the most moving part was walking around the track with all the candles. “It

by Quinn Alexander and Breanna McGuire

Students learn to cope

A Normal Life

Skyward Knows

Cheaters be on lookoutby Reid Fowler

Immediate Impact

Freshman racks up tackles

Freshman defensive tackle Blake Roe has found a new home. For the next three years, it will be the high school foot-ball field.

Looking back on his first varsity football game, Roe still smiles.

“The feeling I had running out there for the first time was unexplainable,” freshman Roe said. “The adrenaline was rush-ing so much and I couldn’t believe the moment was finally here.” A moment, that didn’t come without hard work for Roe. “In the offseason I would

The days move by one at a time. Every day is the same routine: get up, get ready, go to school. There are a few instances a day where I feel like I’m going to spon-taneously combust because of the pent-up hatred of monotony.

The smoking crater where I sat will be my personal legacy - how I will be known from that point on. I will be known as that dude who blew up in class because we spent a week on the same section of the same chapter. To be honest, I wouldn’t mind a legacy like that. But could we af-ford a “legacy” like that?

It seems every year there is a new buzz-word or hypephrase tossed around in the curriculums and assemblies. Last year in-troduced “Academic Integrity,” the value of being honest with schoolwork and bar-ring yourself from cheating to discourage laziness and codependency. Of course, those who cheat are still going to cheat, and those who don’t care about their work aren’t even going to put in the effort to cheat.

However, the campaign wasn’t for naught, it got students talking about aca-demic integrity. Even if talk was mostly about the inefficiency of the whole thing, it still left some sort of message.

What’s the purpose of the legacy stuff that’s been brought up this year? Aca-demic integrity seemed to only exist as an essay topic for the first week of school. So far, “legacy” looks to be the same thing. I wrote two essays in the first two weeks about what kind of legacy I hope to leave, and the word was never mentioned in class again.

In every speech principal Bart Wegenke says while at a podium, “legacy” is the word that links the last one to the next

one. It baffled me at the start of school as to why nobody would notice it. I hoped people did and were just too busy talking about more important things, like “Big Brother,” or how ugly that girl’s shirt is. The senior class meeting consisted mostly of a Powerpoint with rotating presenters and the resounding message of “Don’t mark our school with a legacy you can’t erase.”

I only speak on the senior meeting, as that’s the only one I attended. So, I’m not entirely sure if it was a personalized mes-sage for the Class of 2013 or a generalized topic presented to all classes. This does cause me to wonder if the Class of 2013 is a class of a possible “worrisome” legacy?

Being a part of the class, I’m not sure how troublesome we are. But I’ve heard for years that we are the worst class in a long while. That may be true for some, but I honestly don’t believe that holds true for the whole 2013 class. A judgement for a whole group of individuals makes no

sense. Ever. Do you know what your friend ate for

breakfast yesterday? What about what they drank last weekend? Classes aren’t cohesive bodies of learning that will do what they’re told. They’re made up of in-dividual students and thinkers. Some will listen and others will tune everything but themselves out.

The message of leaving a positive or negative legacy will not deter students from continuing to do what they do, the same way academic integrity makes zero difference to those who cheated previ-ously.

There’s only so much influence a word with a liquid meaning can have on a build-ing crammed full of hormonally-charged adolescents. For something to make an impact, it needs to carry weight, and the threat of a negative legacy isn’t enough to stop negative behavior.

At least breaking the rules breaks the monotony.

Staff Editorial: Get in the know

This year’s buzzword: legacy

by Zach Hebel

OPINION October 31, 20122

Young people are impressionable. We can’t deny that we lack experience and understanding, but we manage to think around it. When it comes to the discussion of global issues, such as politics, it is difficult to avoid the pitfalls of misinformation and pretension.

And given the nature of politics, where information is warped by string-pullers to herd people in one direction or another, it is especially difficult for a younger person with less knowledge of the world to get a clear picture.

But the blame can’t be placed entirely on the puppeteers.

As young people we allow ourselves to make extrapolations, perhaps misguided ones, from what we have heard from our parents, the internet, and from what we think we already know. Maybe it is even easier for us to make our arguments when we have more faith in others’ sources of our information than the information we garner from our own experience. Perhaps the easiest point to argue is the point we did not reach ourselves.

Additionally, we grow out of our preferences. Say we clean out our closet and come

across the odd CD recorded by a since fallen chart hero. The tunes have lost their relevance and our tastes have matured.

Pop icons don’t carry the same weight as we might perceive politicians to, but they are comparable in the masses willing to follow them. Maybe we should hesitate before attaching our idols to entire programs and parties, and criticising them unfairly.

As young people we can’t be sure what our political beliefs will be in years to come, when we are occupied with careers, properties, families. For some of us, the future is

a very near thing. Some of us will be leaving our nests within the next year, and in addition to living out from under our parent’s roofs we’ll be out from under their influence.

Youth and education have a liberalizing effect on minds, but age can bring pragmatic conservatism. Regardless of what sides we choose, let’s agree to keep ourselves out of things we don’t understand until we’re knowledgeable enough to make points on them.

The Viking Longboat is a monthly publication of Haslett High School, 5450 Marsh Road, Haslett, MI 48840. It is published by the fifth hour Newspaper Production class and Journalism class. The Longboat has been established as a student run public forum circulated within the school and to subscribers in the community and outside the school district. The Longboat is a member of the National Scholastic Press Association, Journalism Education Association, Colum-bia Scholastic Press Association and Michigan Interscholastic Press Association. The publication is an eight-time Spartan award winner and CSPA gold medalist. Letters to the editor are accepted at the discretion of the editorial board. Forms of speech not protected by the First Amendment will not be published. Letters must be signed by the author and may be edited for grammar, spelling and style. Direct all questions to the Publications Room, Room 411.

Editor-in-ChiefErik FrobomFeaturesQuinn AlexanderNewsNick LemmerOpinionsReid FowlerSportsPatrick GiffordPhotographySierra DoveNick GregoryDesign EditorsZach Hebel

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Drop the finished product off in the Publica-tions Room, room 411, for consideration to run the in next issue of the newspaper. Thank you!

Letters to the Editor are here to help! We know that you all have issues with different things around the school and in our com-munity. Trust us, we want to hear what YOU have to say.

We do NOT accept annonymous letters. If you have an issue with something, you should be able to admit who you are. Let-ters to the Editor are NOT here for you to simply rip on people, take on the issuses, tell the truth.

The Viking Longboat

Cory BerryMadison BradyJonah BrownBridget FarhatMichael Garnett Katelyn HarrisSunny HavensStephanie HilkerMarcus HooperCaitlyn LaidlerHanna LeeSamantha LeifkerBreanna McGuireJordon WallingAlexa Walkowicz

Staff

Write a letter to the editor!Let your voice be heard!Administration tosses

up new ear-filler

photo by Erik Frobom

Social Media: New Political Twist

It’s Monday, Oct. 22 and the faint light of the TV screen glows with the final Presidential Debate. And in this day and age, the glow of the TV is not alone. The screens of laptops and iPods are all brightly lit — tuned to Facebook and Twitter. Many students have been closely following the presidential election, not just through the television, but through social media as well.

Social media has become an ever-increasing part of not only pop culture, but political culture as well. With the ability to talk to local and federal

representatives now at the tips of our fingertips, it only makes sense that people would begin to use Twitter, Facebook and other live feeds to talk politics.

The 2012 election has seen an increase in social media activity, with the Oct. 3 Presidential Debate becoming the most talked about political event in Twitter history. As many Haslett students become more politically active, it can be felt in their online presence.

Senior Alex Kozlowski won’t be able to vote in this upcoming election. However, he feels it’s important to stay aware of the issues. It is because of this that he has made several posts about the

current election, most notably during the Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates.

“I’m mostly on Politifact’s Twitter page during the debates,” Kozlowski said. “But I also like to jump on any ignorant posts I find.”

While Kozlowski openly admits to supporting Barack Obama in this election, he doesn’t consider himself to be a mindless follower. Any story he sees, whether it’s on Facebook or Yahoo, he searches the Internet for any stories confirming or denying facts, before he draws an opinion. “If I’m going to try and be unbiased, I’ll do my best to not jump to conclusions,”

Kozlowski said.While some see social media

as a way to post opinions on issues that matter to them, senior Thomas Grubb feels differently.

“People just post heated things, just so people can agree or disagree with them,” Grubb said. It is because of this, that Grubb finds himself untrusting of any political post he finds on Facebook. “It frankly annoys me because it’s always the extremists who post stuff,” he said.

While the relationship between social media and politics might be a relatively new one, so far it seems to be off to a good start.

Perplexing Proposals

student until graduation.“If there is an issue, teachers

are required by the policy to put it into Skyward,” social studies teacher Brad Brunner said. “It is not an option.”

When a survey was taken by students two years ago, administrators found that the student body felt it was at its worst in the field of cheating and dishonesty. “That’s what led us, as a teaching staff, to say, ‘maybe this is something that we should make more of an attempt to deal with,’” Brunner said.

This led to the creation of a committee in the fall of 2011 to crack down on the academic integrity policy. “The motivation behind it was that we were behind most other schools in the area in regard to where their policies were,” Brunner said. “And when we looked at the major universities and where their policies were, we were behind on our policy there, too.”

Colleges like Michigan S t a t e U n i v e r s i t y and the University of Michigan, as well as local high schools like Okemos, DeWitt and Will iamston, all exceeded Haslett in terms of policies on a c a d e m i c integrity. These schools kept electronic records of all instances of student integrity violations. Seeing the advancement of other schools in this field, all Haslett administrators are now required to record any behavioral or integrity issues on Skyward.

“Let’s say a student did cheat or copy homework or was dishonest with a teacher or even with another student, those records are kept on Skyward,” Brunner said. “They go in as regular behavior issues.”

Once submitted to Skyward, the policy violation will follow the student throughout the rest of high school. Teachers can, however, add information about the severity of the violation. Minor issues can be noted as such, and likewise with more serious incidents. Once entered, the information goes directly to the principal and vice principals as well as to the

teacher who recorded it.A common misconception

is that colleges can readily access this information. “Colleges cannot access that information,” Brunner said, “but they can request it.”

Principal Bart Wegenke also stresses that records could end up in the hands of colleges. “Remember that if caught, we do document cheating offenses which colleges can request if you have been caught cheating before,” Wegenke said.

“Something to keep in mind is that if colleges want to have access to it, they can,” Brunner said. “And colleges

do talk to Ms. (Heather) Woodworth and Mrs. (Samantha) Brunnschweiler and ask them about particular students.”

The students this affects most are borderline students; those who may or may not get into a school. The

school will contact Haslett and ask for disciplinary records to make sure they don’t accept a student who will only cause disruption and scandal at their school — something colleges don’t let slide. “At a university level, if you get caught cheating, they’ll just kick you out of the school,” Brunner said.

With this upgraded system, a greater sense of liability is in order. “It is definitely a policy that has much more accountability than our policy did in the past,” Brunner said.

However, the overall goal of the new policy is not to rank ahead of other schools or look high and mighty. The goal is to sustain academic integrity among the students of Haslett High School.

“Students shouldn’t be concerned about how we document information in Skyward,” Wegenke said.

If anything, students should know one thing for sure: don’t cheat.

3NEWS

Students react to new media incorporation into politicsby Nick Lemmer

October 31, 2012

Skyward

Michigan voters will see an unusually high number of proposals on Nov. 6 ballot.

With so many different proposals, many voters may not know exactly what they will be deciding on this coming election.

Proposal One is the only proposal that will not affect the state constitution. Most supporters are in favor of the proposal because they believe that if the local government is not able to or not willing to resolve the problems, an emergency manager is a good idea.

The opposition, however, is not in favor of a governor-appointed emergency manager being able to “abolish overall local control,” social studies teacher Bradley Brunner said. “Americans care about what the country does, what the state does, but most of all what the community does. The local officials running the community - they’re invested in the community,” Brunner said.

Proposal One may not a huge concern for Haslett students because “we have a balanced budget, we work well,” Brunner said.

Proposal Two is important to students because it will affect teachers’ and other public employees’ abilities to collectively bargain and join labor unions. Supporters are in favor of the proposal because they want to guarantee workers the right to collectively bargain. “Working people have very little in the way of protection,”

history teacher Russell Olson said.

If this ability is not guaranteed, Olson said, “you’ve essentially taken away their power to present themselves as a united front.”

The idea of “two sides coming together is at the heart of collective bargaining,” history teacher Jeff Smith said. He is also “a big supporter (of the proposal), as a teacher, and coming from a family with a background in GM,” Smith said. “There are a lot of misleading ads. Reading the ballot, it says there can be no public employee strikes.”

Though the proposal allows laws to be enacted to prohibit public strikes, there is opposition to the proposal as well. The opposition may point out that collective bargaining already takes place without it being written in the constitution. Because it appears, some see it being written into the constitution as unnecessary and as if the unions are trying to gain more power over businesses.

Many supporters of Proposal Three are in favor of it because they believe in using renewable energy and say it will benefit citizens’ health. Those opposed say it will come at a high cost, the technology is not available to responsibly harness and use the renewable energy, and that the state constitution is not the place for a changing energy initiative.

Most every Michigan citizen has heard someone talking about “Snyder’s Bridge,” or has seen one of the ads for on television. The Bridge is the

main issue in Proposal Six. Supporters of the proposal generally recognize that the bridge will be built with Canadian funds, but believe that the decision should be made by citizens instead of pokliticians. “It’s less about bridges and more about the people of Michigan being able to pass laws by referendum,” Olson said. “It’s an important power for the people to retain.”

Those opposed to the proposal say that the need for an additional commerce route is badly needed. Michigan is in “the perfect spot to facilitate trade,” Smith said. Canada is footing the bill for the bridge. In return, Canada

will keep all the toll revenue until Michigan’s part of the cost is “paid off.” Afterwards, Michigan will begin receiving some toll revenue. “To me it sounds like a good deal,” Smith said. “It’s free now and we’ll make money later.”

With all the varying opinions on each of the proposals, it is hard to sift through all the information put out by both parties. Smith says that it is important that students and voters pay attention to the credibility of the information they are receiving.

“There is misinformation regardless of the side,” Smith said.

Continued from page 1

by Alexa Walkowiczon the ballot

• Proposal One is a referendum on Public Act 4 of 2011. Public Act 4 of 2011 would ‘establish criteria to assess the financial condition of local government units, including school districts.’

• Proposal Two is a proposal to amend the state constitution regarding collective bargaining.

• Proposal Three is a proposal to amend the state constitution to establish a standard for renewable energy.

• Proposal Four is a proposal to amend the state constitution to establish the Michigan Quality Home Care Council and provide collective bargaining for in-home care workers.

• Proposal Five would ‘allow in-home care workers to bargain collectively with the Michigan Quality Home Care Council (MQHCC) [and] continue the current exclusive representative of in-home care workers until modified in accordance with labor laws.’

• Proposal Six is a proposal to amend the state constitution regarding the construction of international bridges and tunnels.

Proposals are overwhelming for Michigan voters

“If there is an issue, teachers are required...to put it into Skyward. It is not an option.”-Social studies teacher Brad Brunner

School starts at 7:50 a.m., every student attends six classes, and leaves

at 2:23 in the afternoon. This is the schedule students follow day after day until summer va-cation.

Sophomores Delaney John-son and Maggie McDaniel and junior Hannah Safferman are no exception to this. Despite each girl having a disability, they’re all trying to live normal lives as a high school students.

In the U.S., 150,000 people have been diagnosed with nar-colepsy and only four percent of those people have a rare form called cataplexy. Last March, Johnson was diagnosed as one of those four percent.

“Cataplexy is the brain’s in-ability to recognize when the body is awake and asleep. So when I pass out, I’m not actu-ally passed out,” Johnson said. “It is my body thinking I am going into REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which is the deepest state of sleep. So I go into a sleep paralysis and my mind is still active and I can hear and feel everything going on around me.”

Johnson has cataplexy at-

tacks (the correct term instead of “passing out”) from extreme rushes of emotion. “If someone jumps out and scares me, I will probably scream and then have an attack,” Johnson said. “Or if I get overly excited, way too upset, or if I am really stressed out, then it will happen.”

When Johnson has an attack, her body melts forward, mean-ing her knees are affected first then her hip, then her shoulder.

“It’s important to know that I’m in no danger when I’m hav-ing a cataplexy attack,” John-son said. “The only danger is the fall and I’m fine when it happens. Basically the only thing people have to be certain of is that I’m flat on my back and I’m breathing.”

Johnson wasn’t the only stu-dent dealing with medical woes earlier this year. Hannah Saffer-man was diagnosed with POTS (postural orthostatic tachycar-dia syndrome) in July.

“POTS is when my nervous system can’t control my heart rate and blood pressure,” Saf-ferman said. “When I pass out I just drop to the ground and I can’t feel or hear anything. When I wake up, I don’t know

how long I’ve been out.” When discovering her condi-

tion, Safferman was actually re-lieved. “I was pretty upset that I had something, but I was hap-py it wasn’t something too seri-ous or deadly.” However, there is hope for Safferman because most POTS patients grow out of it during their mid-twenties.

In addition to both John-son and Safferman, Maggie McDaniel started fainting last winter due to something doc-tors say might have to do with her heart and her nerves. Un-like Safferman and Johnson, McDaniel can hear and feel things when she passes out, but forgets most of it when she wakes up.

“When I pass out, don’t flip out and hit me,” McDaniel said.

Before passing out, McDan-iel’s eyes flutter. “I can be out for as little as 30 seconds or as long as an hour,” McDaniel said. “But I am usually out for 15 minutes or less.”

Despite all of their condi-tions being different, they all have had to give up various activities. “I was an archer and I was being trained to be in

the Olympics,” Johnson said. “I raced motor-cross, I used to skateboard and ride my bike all the time and now I can’t be anywhere alone.”

Both Safferman and McDan-iel had to give up participating in the marching band and Saf-ferman can no longer swim for the girls swimming and diving team. McDaniel has also given up drinking her favorite energy drink, Monster.

The girls also agree they have changed as people since dis-covering their conditions.

“I have changed activities and so I have different friends,” Safferman said. “I also feel less active and energetic.”

Since being diagnosed, John-son’s eyes have been opened up to a new outlook on life. “I think I have changed. I don’t know if it has been for the bet-ter or for the worse, but I have seen how precious life is,” she said. “I’ve seen you gotta live for the small things that make you smile because even if the big picture is kinda foggy, there are always little things that are good about it.”

Johnson also admits she has broken down and has at times

felt like she doesn’t want to keep trying because she feels trapped in her own body. But it’s the people around her that keep her moving forward.

“A lot of people tell me they’re really impressed that I’m so positive about the whole thing and, honestly, everyone saying that makes it possible,” Johnson said. “I feel like if peo-ple see me struggling and they see me come out of it then its inspiring.”

Johnson has also found that music is the way she escapes reality and the burdens of her disability.

“Music is all I have left and it’s where I go every time I feel stressed about it. I kinda forget everything for a while,” John-son said. “I have never passed out when I’ve been involved in music. When I’m singing or playing my guitar or playing the piano, I have never passed out and I have always felt safe when I’m doing it because I feel like it just couldn’t hap-pen.”

Safferman has also found a way to escape by sketching. “It relaxes me,” Safferman said. Anime club has been a way for

McDaniel to forget about her condition for at least an hour every Wednesday.

Even in moments of doubt, all the girls have found some-thing that drives them to con-tinue coming to school and tak-ing in activities.

“The fact that it’s a good en-vironment to be in even if there are people who spread rumors and say bad things about me,” Johnson said. “I know there are people here who are always go-ing to support me and really care.”

Safferman’s friends have rein-forced her confidence in com-ing to school.

“It’s how my friends drop ev-erything to help me, that’s why I keep coming back to school,” Safferman said.

Each of the girls is deter-mined to live as normal a life as possible. “I’m not disabled. Even though I have all this stuff going on, I don’t need to be ba-bied,” Johnson said. “I’m OK.”

“I’ve seen you gotta live for the small things that make you smile...”

Delaney Johnson

“...I was happy it wasn’t something too serious or deadly.”

Hannah Safferman

“When I pass out, don’t flip out and hit me.”

Maggie McDaniel

4 October 31, 2012NEWS

Three girls copewith challengingdisabilities

LIFEA NORMAL

By Quinn Alexander and Breanna McGuirephotos by Nick Gregory

5October 31, 2012 EVENTS

The finish line of the third annual Race for Ralya

Show business star Marty Klebb visited Ralya Elementary School to speak against bullying and raise awareness for a January fund-raising event.

photos by Sierra Dove

photos by Sierra Dove

Movie star and little person Martin Klebba, better known as “Marty,” visited Haslett High School and Ralya Elementary Thursday, Oct. 25.

Klebba, known best for his role as one of Jack Sparrow’s crew members in “Pirates of the Caribbean,” toured the high school’s gymnasium to scout it as a possible location for a celebrity vs. little person basketball game fundraiser to be held Sunday, Jan. 20. Ce-

lebrities like former Michigan State University football player TJ Duckett are already looking forward to the event. All profits made at the event will go to-ward the World Dwarf Games held at Michigan State in Au-gust.

While in town, he also spoke to students at Ralya Elemen-tary on discrimination against dwarfs and bullying in the little people world. At the end of the event, Marty, who is also the fastest dwarf ever, raced a few of the students at Ralya.

by Marcus Hooper

‘Pirates’ star visits Haslett schools

For a more in-depth interview, look forward to the next issue.

A participant makes for the finish line on Oct. 14.

Pop-up shops storm shop-ping malls, and orange leaves blanket the pave-ment. News stations tend to repeat warnings about razorblades in apples and cyanide in candy. “The Purple People Eater” and “Monster Mash” are put into radio rotation and get overplayed just as fast.Facebook is littered with

pictures of small kids in big costumes and big kids in small costumes. In the days leading up

to All Hallow’s Eve, small communities have a cer-tain atmosphere that isn’t attainable at any other point of the year. Darkness and the macabre become marketable to the major-ity, and haunted houses filled with blood-soaked employees work their moneymakers to scare the desensitized youth of the 21st century. I have vivid memories

of Halloweens throughout the years. My birthday is in early October, usually permitting me to do some-thing fun on Halloween. From the age of eight, I

traveled to Cedar Point for Halloweekends ap-proximately every other year. Memories of my first impressions of the park,

to the first time I rode a roller coaster mesh with the existing cornucopia of trick or treating memories. Being out late at night

was always empowering when bedtimes were still a rule that could be bro-ken with severe conse-quences. Halloween gave me a reason to stay out for hours and collect free candy while dressed as a recognizable movie mon-strosity or favorite televi-sion show. My favorite part about Halloween is the smell; the smell of the dead leaves, dry bark and cold air. Haunted houses, candy

and costumes are only part of the fun of this season; the sometimes dreary, sometimes beauti-ful environment is a large part of the mood. All of my memories are tinted orange, red and brown, taste like chocolate and sugary suckers. There isn’t much I per-

sonally find more enjoy-able than the autumnal season leading up to Hal-loween. Although some of the youthful charm of Halloween is replaced with the pressures of ado-lescence, nostalgia will al-ways reign supreme.

By Zach Hebel

6 7

Each gust would sweep the curling colors of fall farther toward the wire mesh. Those leaves al-ready hugging the fence beckoning their compan-ions to join them, as if there was something to recommend about the ex-perience. Sometimes the wind

would blow intermittently, and the oncoming leaves would cease to move and fall to the grass for a mo-ment, as if their travel was laborious and demanded pauses for recuperation, before coming to rest a fi-nal time at the fence.For a rarer leaf, the fence

seemed not to be their destination. The same gusts that brought other leaves to rest also freed these uncommoners, and they slipped past the metal links of the fence.All this was observed by

Lester, who found little else to amuse himself with during recess. He likened himself to the leaves that had ventured beyond the fence. While he stood at the edge of the field, the rest of the fourth grade stu-dents limited themselves to the playground archi-tecture and ball courts. Lester didn’t so much ask

for solitude as much as he found himself in it. No one came his way...But there was Emmett,

running full stop toward Lester. Emmet’s dark, straight hair bobbed with with his stride. He passed Lester, taking a leap into the pile of leaves at the fence. Upon Emmet’s landing, the leaves pro-tested with crunches and snaps, flattened and scat-tered against their will. Emmet righted himself, finding a seat among the leaves. Lester hadn’t moved.The boys exchanged

looks, one firm, the other smiling out from under-neath the scraps of or-ange clinging to his bowl cut. Emmet, too, did not ask for solitude: rather he evaded acceptance by his peers. The bell had been rung

and adults were shepherd-ing the children back into the school. Gathered by the entrance, children waited while adults count-ed heads. Some stragglers ran, waved on by their impatient friends at the doors, stopping occasion-ally to catch their breath.One gave his hand to an-

other, and helped him up.

By Erik Frobom

ENTERTAINMENT ENTERTAINMENT

October MusingsRecess All hollows’s eve

“This is what happens in a pushing match,” freshman Nik Bucholz says as he pushes forward on a joystick with his thumb.

The high school robotics team’s robot, Hal, collides head-on with another competi-tion robot belonging to one of the middle school teams. The middle schoolers’ robot has a tracked drive base, providing more surface area for traction, but the robot assembled by Bu-cholz and the rest of the high school team is much larger and

has more weight resting on its wheels, giving it the combatant edge.

The smaller of the two me-chanical warriors retreats on its caterpillar tracks. Nik points out the skirting around Hal’s drive base, to keep stray bean-bags from snaring the wheels.

Visible from a gap in the skirting are curious conical roll-ers, which Bucholz explains as components of a holonomic drive. With a flick of his thumb he sends the machine into a side-step, a movement made possible by the rollers, and Hal takes on the character of a crus-tacean navigating a beach.

AHEAD OF THE CURVE

This is the Haslett robotics scene, an intersection of sci-ence and craft. Boxes and bins of mechanical and electronic hardware lie open, reveal-ing their varied contents. The youngness of the participants contrasts with the matter of their work; it is clear that no simple engineering is taking place.

Compared the untested middle school contraptions, Hal looks to be designed with careful consideration by expe-rienced hands. Bucholz and

his team are preparing for their third VEX robotics competi-tion, a regulated contest for amatuer robotics enthusists.

Success has followed them from their introductory year. During the 2010-2011 season, they won top awards at an MSU-managed tournament when Bucholz and many of his teammates were in their sev-enth grade year.

“The Dewitt robotics team doesn’t like to talk about that day,” Bucholz said, recalling the victory.

“They lost 58 to six,” fresh-men Austin Scheer chimed in, grinning from behind safety

goggles. “--to the haslett middle

school team,” finished BucholzBoth previous years has seen

the team invited to the VEX world championships, where the team earned rankings of 69th and 43rd out of divi-sions of 100 competitors. VEX competitions feature themed matches where teams’ robots compete for top scores based on performing objectives.

A DIVERSE TEAM

As suggested by his protec-tive eyewear, Scheer is behind a lot of the construction. VEX

competitions demand problem-solving skills backed by an un-derstanding of engineering.

Sheer enjoys seeing his team’s designs become op-erational objects of metal and wire. Freshmen Connor Row-ley and Hannah Kempel write programs to bring the machines to life. Freshman Kearny Shine and Sophomore Matt Watson build and prototype design fea-tures.

Everyone learns from what does and doesn’t work.

For sophomore George Da-vidson, taking his first AP class is a challenging experience but he believes it is worth it. The credits he will obtain for it will benefit him greatly in the future and help his future career as a political scientist or being in-volved in law.

“Taking AP Government is a great experience, for what I want to get into for the fu-ture,” Davidson said. David-son worked really hard over the summer to learn the infor-mation he needed before he started the school year. “There is a lot more homework or highlighting, it takes up to two to four hours,” Davidson said. Davidson plans on taking more

AP classes, including AP calcu-lus and AP U.S. history.

For Junior Jacob Gornick, who is also in AP government; has a similar interest in history classes. “It will look great for college,” Gornick said. “ Also, you are able to put yourself out there to be able to chal-lenge yourself to an extent.” When Gornick is not studying, he is playing lacrosse, tennis, and swimming; which takes up most of his time. “I spend about a half hour to about an hour a night working on the homework for government, Gornick said. “Compared to a normal class there is more advanced work, and higher expectations,” Gornick said. “I am also able to have an experi-ence with upperclassmen.”

For senior Mariah Beebe,

taking AP English puts her an-other step closer to her goal of becoming a teacher.

“I am taking AP English to get more prepared for col-lege,” Beebe said. “I also want to become a elementary school teacher, so I would say basic math and English are very im-portant in that career path.”

AP English is Beebe’s first AP class. She acknowledges that compared to a regular English class there is a lot more work involved. “I was in Brit-ish Literature during my junior year and American Literature during my sophomore year, so even though they weren’t tech-nically AP classes, they have the same rigor,” Beebe said. “I think that I was very well pre-pared and it was not much of a difference for me.”

“VEX Raptors” vex competition Decorated amateur robotics team flaunts veteran status as underclassmen

by Erik Frobom

Junior Olivia Brenner found her niche in high school as part of the school’s quiz bowl team.

“I joined because I thought it would be a cool way to meet cool, nerdy people who I could be geeky with without any shame,” Brenner said. “Turned out I was right.”

Thanks to her addition to the team, the quiz bowl quad has grown in size and brain power. The team has also had a very successful time, so far this year. On Sept. 25, the quiz bowl team was given the opportunity to compete on the television game show, Quiz Busters on WKAR TV. Brenner, seniors Tessa Clarizio, Matthew Heard and Katie Panter were the team members chosen to attend and

compete on the show. “Quiz Busters was very

exciting,” Clarizio said. “The questions were diverse, from pop culture to math to science.”

After multiple rounds of extensive questioning, Haslett won the game. Now the team

is eligible to return to the show for the semi-final round where it will compete once again for the winning title. And if that is obtained, then team members can go to the finals and possibly win the Quiz Busters championship.

“It was terrifying to be on television, but getting the right answers was the biggest adrenaline rush I’ve ever had,” Brenner said.

“When we won, it felt like we had defeated a huge army in battle.”

The date for the team’s return on television has not been set yet. But the quiz bowlers are working hard to prepare for their next visit.

by Madi Bradyby Sunny Havens

Busting their classesChallenges of and suceeding in advanced placement courses

Common brains uniteLike-minded students find niche on quiz bowl team

October 31, 20128 NEWS

Freshman Connor Rowley scrolls through lines of programming code These robot limbs and radio controllers are just some of the team’s toys Freshman Nik Bucholz and Sophomore Matt Watson with their robot photos by Erik Frobom

Every morning, the sounds of saws, hammers, student voic-es and techno music can be heard blasting throughout the Performing Arts Center.

These students are a part of the Capital Area Career Cen-ter’s Students in Entertainment Technology (SET) Program, which is one of the many off-campus programs the Career Center offers.

The goal of the SET Pro-gram is to educate students about lighting, sound, construc-tion and the other aspects of theater production, as well as

to prepare them for a potential career in the field.

The program, headed by Patrick Hepfer, has had years of success here at the high school, and has seen count-less kids go through it and be successful in this career. Some alumni of the SET program have gone on to work on tech-nology crews at random con-certs, cruise shows,and even Cirque du Soleil.

The program has given kids the joy of finding what they love to do, and being with oth-er students who have the same interests. Senior Joey Meier, a second year member, has en-

joyed working in the SET Pro-gram.

“I enjoy being a part of the SET program because it’s pre-pared me for a potential job opportunity in the production field,” Meier said. “It has also taught me how to see the rea-sons behind everybody’s ac-tions.”

The program has also taught Meier some life lessons. “SET has helped me learn how to cope with the stressful situa-tions that life throws at you. It’s also helped me to develop social skills and how to interact with people I don’t necessarily get along with.”

SET program sets the stageby Michael Garnett

Haslett’s latest musical pro-duction, “Damn Yankees,” has the school abuzz with questions about the plot.

The intriguing story begins in the 1950s when an old man, Joe Boyde, played by senior Jordon Walling, sells his soul to the devil, personified by the character, Applegate, played by senior Caleb Jarvis.

In exchange for his soul, Joe, played by junior Patrick Harney, becomes a young man who helps his favorite baseball team, the Washington Sena-tors, reverse their dismal re-cord and win the pennant. Al-though he sold his soul, Joe has a sly plan to return to his wife Meg, played by junior Quinn Rulison.

Given the musical’s focus on a baseball team, the stage

for “Damn Yankees” will have a locker room and a baseball field.

Junior Austin Endres plays a cocky, bigshot baseball player named Rocky. “I’m not too cocky about myself, but I can pretend to be,” Endres said. He describes singing as his “home court.” Endres played a role in last fall’s production, “Joseph and The Technicolor Dream-coat.” He has noticed a few

differences between the two musicals saying,“‘Damn Yan-kees’ has more humor, and is more easy for the audience to follow.”

Musical director Erich Wangeman described “Damn Yankees” as a traditional Broadway musical, containing a plot, drama and humor. The plot has presented a challenge because it revolves around a sports team, and most of the

drama occurs on the field, Wangeman said. “It’s difficult to tell a sports story without the details of each game,” he said.

However, Wangeman is excited about the production and there have been, “no low points at all.”

After dedicating 14 to 15 hours a week to practice, one of Wangamens’ favorite parts is watching his students come into their characters and roles,

while visualizing the end prod-uct.

Sophomore Lizzie Pratt is excited for her first musical at the high school. She plays a Washington Senators fan and especially likes the songs in the musical. Although she is enthusiastic about being in the production, she is also a little nervous, “It’s scary to think I’ll be on the stage in front of ev-eryone,” she said.

by Stephanie Hilker

‘Damn Yankees’ is classic baseball story

HHS-hosted program interests students, prepares them for careers

NEWS 9October 31, 2012

Cast members of “Damn Yankees” learn their choreography during a practice Saturday in preparation for the November preformances

Photos by: Nick Lemmer

DAMN YANKEES

Showtimes:November 16 - 7:30 pmNovember 17 - 2:00 pm November 17 - 7:30 pm

Tickets are available online; visit the Haslett Public Schools site for more information.

Construction of the set for “Damn Yankees” is being taken on by students participating in the SET Program.

Photo by: Nick Lemmer

train every day for two to three hours,” he said. Whether it was working out at Eagle Eye or flipping tires in his lawn, Roe, who benches 225 pounds, put the work in.

Recognized for both his im-pressive size and play, Roe’s most exciting feature is perhaps the passion he shows during games. “Football is a game of emotion and intimidation,” he said.

“And making a big play really pumps me up.” Roe uses these big plays as an op-portunity to be vocal with his teammates. “Even though I’m younger, I still look to try to excite the entire defensive line before a big moment or key play,” he said.

When on the field, Roe doesn’t think about potentially being lined up in front of a guy who is three years older than him.

“I’m not out there thinking I’m a freshman,” he said. “I’m out there thinking that I’m a varsity player.”

And a good varsity player at that. Heading into the team’s regular season finale against Chelsea, Roe had collected 50 tackles with four of them being for losses.

But it is not just the statistics that he takes pride in. “I just love being there for my teammates,” he said. “We win together, we lose together, and we feel pain to-gether. And it is im-portant that I’m a big part of that.”

Roe’s success can also be attributed to the support and encouragement he’s received from both players and coach-es. “I love my team,” he said. “They’ve accepted me from day one.”

Roe has also been working hard with his coaches on ways to improve, such as using his hands more.

“Every single one of my coaches have worked with me and believed in me,” he said. “And that’s been a big help.”

Although Roe is only near-ing the end of his first term as a high school student, he has found that it is never too early to begin making future plans.

“I have a good number of goals I look to accomplish by

s e n i o r y e a r , ” he said. R o e , w h o plans to r e a c h 6 - f oo t ,

3-inches, 290 pounds and dou-ble digit sack numbers, hopes his ability will provide him with an opportunity to play college football. “It is a definite goal of mine to play Division I foot-ball. I just have to keep work-ing hard every day,” he said.

Upon the the completion of this year’s football season, Roe will have three more years of high school football.

He is sure to make impres-sive gains both in the weight room and on the football field.

Coaches are counting on the freshman to transition into a leadership role, and impress his work ethic and dedication onto his teammates. Fans are anxious to see if the big defen-sive tackle can help lead the football team into the playoffs for years to come.

No matter the ultimate result of Roe’s high school football career, he will have a tremen-dous freshman season to look back on.

Whether Roe chooses to daydream about his fourth down goal line stop against St. Johns, or the feeling he got the first time he heard his classmates chanting “Roe, Roe, Roe” from the student section, he will undoubtedly look back and smile on all of the fond memories.

Roe named all-league by coaches

Freshmen Blake Roe (59) and Senior Tom Baldwin (9) get set for a defensive play against East Lanisng

Photo by Eddie Whaley

Brewer reflects, takes next stepSenior’s last season is one to remember

The clock strikes zero, and a chapter in senior Connor Brewer’s life comes to a disap-pointing end.

With a 28-14 loss at the hands of Chelsea, the varsity football teams’ season had come to a close as the boys finish with a record of 4-5 and narrowly miss a playoff berth.

All is not lost for Brewer, however, as he completes an impressive 2012 season in which he led the area in both rushing yards and touchdowns.

“Coming into the season, I didn’t think I would have this kind of success,” Brewer said. “My teammates definitely helped motivate me to work hard, they all wanted to win just as bad as I did.”

Brewer and a core group of seniors led workouts through-out the offseason, which led to him being named captain heading into the year. “As cap-tain, I know that a lot of people

look up to me and I have to show them how to handle dif-ferent situations,” he said. “So it is important for me to always keep my cool”

The commitment to hard work in the offseason that earned Brewer a captain posi-tion also laid the foundation for his strong senior season.

Starting on both offense and defense (three back and safety), Brewer is hardly on the side-lines.

“It was p r e t t y t i r i n g the first game, but I have got used to it and it became pretty easy,” he said. But even as the workload becomes easier for Brewer, he still gets a case of the jitters as each game begins. “The first run of every game my stomach drops,” he said. “But it gets better as you go.”

After accumulating STATS, Brewer gives credit to much

more than just his own abili-ties. Being a 3 back in a Full House offense, the faking and blocking ability of the other two running backs is crucial. “With our offense, every run-ning back is dependent on each other,” he said.

Brewer also had the luxury of running behind a solid of-fensive line.

“They don’t have much size, but they have w o r k e d r e a l l y hard and g o t t e n the job

done,” he said.Brewer also has his sights on

continuing his football career into college. “Next year I hope to play Division II football,” he said. Brewer is considering Saginaw Valley State Univer-sity, Albion College and Ferris State University.

The senior understands that although he will miss his time

playing football at Haslett, there is much to look forward to.

“Everyone says that high school football is tough to match, but I know that the next level will be fun,” he said.

As fun as it may be, Brewer will have to form new bonds with his college teammates. “I made a lot of friends here that I wouldn’t have without football. And that will be difficult to re-place,” he said.

Brewer is sure to experience success at whichever university he decides on. He will have an opportunity to display the lead-ership and great football ability that both his teammates and community members have had the pleasure of watching grow.

And while it will be “rough” for Brewer to move on all from all of his fond high school foot-ball memories he has his sights set forward.

“I know there are bigger things ahead,” he said.

Immediate impact

by Patrick Gifford

“I’m not out there thinking I’m a freshman, I’m out there thinking that I’m a varsity player.“

“Everyone says that high school football is tough to match, but I know that the next level will be fun.”

10 October 31, 2012SPORTS

Photo by Seth Carncross

Senior Connor Brewer (2) follows behind the blocking of junior Graham Riley (20).

continued from page 1

ATHLETE OF THE MONTH

Luke CorderSport: Cross Country. Grade: 11. Age: 17. Re-cent accomplishments: Set the ninth fastest 5k time in school history after finishing in 16:26. Favorite part of running: The feeling of know-ing you just ran a strong race. Team Outlook: Looking to have four runners place in the top 15 at regionals in order for the team to qualify for states. Pre-Game Ritual: Peanut But-ter and Honey Sandwich two hours before the race.

There are a lot of differences between Haslett cheer now and Haslett cheer six years ago. Music is no longer allowed, the Michigan High School Athletic Association has jurisdiction over the program, and there are fewer participants.

One thing that has not changed is the presence of Nicole Demarco. Demarco is

a former captain of the cheer team and is now the current head coach of the team.

Her cheer career has taken her full circle. Starting out as a captain of the high school cheer team in 2006, Demarco tried out for the Michigan State team the following year, and made it.

“After cheering for four years (at Michigan State), one of my teammates approached

me and told me there were open tryouts for the Detroit Pis-tons,” she said. “So we decided to give it a try.”

Demarco began cheering for the Pistons in 2011. Last year was also her first year as the high school coach. Her cousin, Kristen Clark, was the former coach but moved to Texas for her new job. Demarco was asked to take over, and she gladly accepted the position.

“I love cheering,” she said. “Not only is it exciting to do, but you also get to know a lot of different kinds of people.”

And Demarco has gotten the opportunity to get to know many new people with her po-sition as head coach. “It’s such a unique group of girls, and I’ve loved getting to know each one of them,” she said.

Varsity cheer coach returns home

IN THE GAME

This year’s varsity soccer team’s success is partly due to the eight seniors on the team and the strong leadership they provide. At one point ranked sixth in the state, this stout group of seniors has guided the team to one of the winningest varsity soccer seasons to date. “We have been playing for around 10 years together,” se-nior Brandon Diebolt said.

Through these 10 years, the seniors have grown together. “I know these soccer players better than anyone else in the school,” senior Thomas Grubb said. “This team is a family.”

These students have been playing together since the year they learned how to play soc-cer. “Playing together for so long helps with the team chem-istry, and knowing each other’s tendencies and flaws,” Diebolt said.

“Chemistry between us is stronger than any other team I have played for,” Grubb said. “I know when someone is go-ing to make a mistake or make a great play.”

The team’s winning ways are not something new. The seniors have been experienc-ing great success from the day they started playing together. “We have always been good,” Grubb said. “In middle school we had two straight undefeated

seasons.”The varsity soccer team has

never won a district champi-onship, and heading into the playoffs the players believed they had a good chance of making school history. “I think we could have won districts, and even made it past that,” Diebolt said. The team, how-ever, fell short, losing in the second round to the fourth ranked team in the state, East Lansing.

Even after this tough loss, the seniors held their heads high and knew they had many good memories to look back on. “Hard work definitely paid off for us,” Grubb said. “We’re not the most talented group of players, but we outworked our opponents for a lot of victories this year.”

After this year, the seniors are undecided about moving on to play college soccer. “It’s hard to tell what my schedule

will be in college, or if I will have enough time to play soc-cer,” Diebolt said.

Even though the team was centered on the seniors, next year it should still have a great season. The varsity squad has many talented juniors and un-derclassman returning to help the team have another strong season.

11October 31, 2012 SPORTS

Boys Varsity Soccer

Now: Lost in second round of district playoffs

Then: Defeated top ranked Mason 2-1 on Sept. 29

Record: 14-4-2

Coach’s Word: “Our team this year set the tone for how soccer should be played at Haslett. The guys approached every game with energy and a team based focus.”

Girls Varsity Swimming

Now: League meet Nov. 2 and 3

Then: Defeated Dewitt 95-91 on Sept. 28

Record: 8-4

Coach’s Word: “Our team is headed for the CAAC Blue Division meet this Friday and it is always a cool meet to watch all of the ‘tapered’ swimmers go for their lifetime bests.”

Boys Varsity Tennis

Now: Finished number 20 in the state

Then: Won both league and regional tournament

Record: Went a perfect 13-0 during season

Coach’s Word: “We are very proud of the effort and dedication put forth by our players. Each member of the varsity team played an important role in helping us have a successful season.”

Varsity Cross Country

Now: State tournament starts Saturday Nov. 3

Then: Gebissa and Corder qualify for state meet

Record: Girls earn fourth in league; boys second

Coach’s Word: “The 2012 cross country season has been a great year for all runners. Pretty much everyone has improved and ran their best times at the end of the season when it counted most.”

Boys Varsity Football

Now: Narrowly missed a spot in the playoffs

Then: Earned big wins over St. Johns and Okemos

Record: 4-5

Coach’s Word: “Six out of our nine games came down to the last minute which is exciting for fans, but unfortunately we lost three of those games by a combined seven points.”

Girls Varsity Volleyball

Now: Districts began Tuesday Oct. 30

Then: Co-Champions with Dewitt in the league

Record: 39-11-4

Coach’s Word: “I saw my players transform this year into stronger physical players and delevop leadership skills through hard work and tremendous commitment to our goals.”

Senior leadership propels soccer team to successby Marc Hooper

by Jonah Brown

Demarco’s career comes full circle

12 October 31, 2012THE STERN

Haslett Community Church Youth Group fundraise for their next mission trip. The youth group at H.C.C. decorated pumpkins, and held a bake sale to help fundraise for their next mission trip, which will be this spring. The destination of the trip is a surprise to participants. In addition to selling pumpkins, they hosted an activity for people to come decorate their own.

1. Senior Sophie Kirchoff helps sell baked goods after the Sunday morning service at the church.2. Pumpkins that the youth group decorated themselves and sold to community members.3. Juniors Jake Gornick, and Grahm Riley sold pumpkins in front of the True Value hardware store.4. Freshman Alison Stamm, advertises the pumpkin sale on the corner in front of H.C.C.5. Senior Katie Flagg and her mom set up the bake sale and pumpkin sale in the H.C.C. after the 9 am service.6. Sophomore Frances Fernandez and junior Graham Riley manage the bake sale table.7. Classic jack-o-lantern pumpkins that the youth group painted for the pumpkin sale.

Photo Story by Sierra Dove

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