Vol. XLVI Issue 3Elk Grove High School November 9500 W. Elk Grove Boulevard, Elk Grove Village, IL 60007

The GuardianBlack Friday is right around the corner and we have some tips on how to shop efficiently.

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Features:

Elk Grove searches for sponsor over artificial turf field

Over the summer, new synthetic turf fields were installed at Buffalo Grove, Prospect and Rolling Meadows, leaving Elk Grove the only school without a new football field.

“We are the only school in the dis-trict without turf and we are concerned about that,” principal Nancy Holman said.

A committee of parents, community members and school representatives are working to confirm a corporate sponsor to place artificial turf, a surface of syn-thetic fibers made to look like real grass, in the stadium.

The synthetic fields that were ap-proved by the school board last Febru-ary cost about $1 million but the district agreed to split the cost with various part-ners.

According to Assistant Principal of Student Activities Rick Mirro, turf is critical for physical education instruction and various sports and extracurriculars.

“With this new type of surface you can use it for a lot of things,” Mirro said. “You can put sports and P.E. classrooms on there; it’s a multi-use surface with minimal wear and tear.”

Furthermore, Elk Grove will also be able to realize the profits of renting out the stadium with an artificial turf.

“You can rent out that facility and in turn get money that we can use for all of our different activities,” Holman said.

In addition, other advantages in-clude that turf will also help us remain competitive with other schools in the mid suburban league conference and it will allow us to equalize access to practice time, according to Mirro.

However, one thing that junior Adam O’Malley is worried about are turf burns; it occurs when falling on a field made of synthetic grass in a similar way a person gets rug burns.

“A disadvantage of turf would be turf burns because they really hurt a lot,” O’Malley said.

Senior Miguel Rodriguez, who fre-quently plays soccer on a turf field at Olympic Park in Schaumburg, counters that the synthetic field allows for a faster played game.

“I like it because the ball goes faster, and it creates a faster-paced game,” Ro-driguez said.

Julianne MicoletaEditor in Chief

Tom ScearceManaging Editor

In-Depth foucuses of Veterans Day and how ROTC gets involved.

In-Depth:

Check out who are some key players lost and gained in our winter sport Preview!

Sports:

CHOICES TO MAKE: Students in a first period Info Processing class learn and practice various computer pro-grams. Starting next year, Info Processing will no longer be a requirement to graduate. Also, gym waivers are now an option for students who participate in marching band and ROTC.

See Pages 6 & 7 See Page 11&12Check out our website at: www.eghsguardian.com

Photo by Alex Ostrowski

For the technologically impaired and those who dread the 12-minute run due to sore legs from marching, some good news is coming your way.

The District 214 School Board re-cently made some major overhauls in the academic handbook and curriculum, which take effect next year.

Info ProcessingThe technical computing class Infor-

mation Processing is no longer a gradu-ation requirement; now it will be offered solely as an elective.

The class was created in the early ‘90s when the district began a major technol-ogy initiative. Now that students are more tech-savvy and technology is an everyday aspect of their lives, the need for the class has diminished, hence the main reason for the change.

“The course has evolved over the last 15 to 20 years into something that is no longer needed for some people,” Associate Principal Kyle Burritt said.

Right now, it is unclear how this will impact the teachers in the future. Busi-ness education teacher Kristen Fisher feels that the class teaches vital skills and more data should have been used in the deci-sion, such as the fact that not one student passed the proficiency exam this year.

“I think it’s unfortunate that the deci-sion was made to no longer require Info Processing as a graduation requirement,” Fisher said. “The class teaches students a lot of computer skills that they can utilize in their other classes, as well as college. Mi-crosoft Excel is a great example. If we’re not teaching students these skills, where are they going to learn them from? I am hopeful that some of our students will still choose to take Info Processing next year as an elective.”

There are mixed emotions among the students. Obviously, students who have al-ready taken the class are fuming and those who haven’t are smiling. However, most feel some skills taught in the class are just common sense

“I think it’s a waste of time because most students already know most of the skills, like Word and typing,” sophomore Miranda Miller said.

Burritt believes that some students who are really interested in the computer field stop taking related classes after Info Processing. He says that there are many other options and believes that this change will only emphasize those options.

“Over the long haul, I do believe that this change will result in a better comput-er education for students in the district,” Burritt said. “Our comprehensive high schools will continue to offer a pathway for students who want to pursue a career

or college degree in computers. With this graduation requirement removed, these pathways might be more attractive to stu-dents and they may have more time to take these courses.”

Gym waiversIn addition, students in ROTC and

competitive marching band will have the option to waiver out of physical education.

Assistant Principal Valerie Norris em-phasizes the fact that this is completely optional.

“It’s entirely the student’s choice,” Norris said. “Nothing is mandated.”

If this appeals to students, they would report this to their counselors during course selection.

Students in band are generally antici-pating this.

“I’m looking forward to having a study hall to get ahead in class,” sopho-more band student Alex Diez said. “Peo-ple don’t realize that we do work hard in band, and it’s not just sitting around like everyone thinks.”

While it is too early to tell how this will exactly impact teachers, they are generally on board with this.

“Waivers for P.E. are good if genu-inely used the right way,” physical educa-tion teacher Anthony Furman said. “Our staff feels that P.E. is important and if they don’t have P.E, they are missing out on daily physical activity, but we understand.”

Students optionalized with Info Processing, gym waivers

NEWS2 november 9, 2012

CartoonistYumi Miyazaki

Cartoon by Yumi Miyazaki

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Every Tuesday after school room, 217 is filled with bright chatter. However, the room is filled with nothing but silence as they settle down and begin to play chess.

When asked to describe chess in a phrase, captain senior Adam McDonough said, “It’s chess.”

The EGHS chess team consists of roughly 10 mem-bers. The chess team kicked off its season this year with high expectations.

The team holds matches every Thursday in order to experience the challenge of playing against different students of every level. Ultimately it will lead to the Mid Suburban League state meet, which is held later in the year in late January or early February.

“Imagine a silent room filled with over 2,000 stu-dents playing chess. That’s what it’s like at the MSL state meet,” McDonough said.

With the loss of many upperclassmen and experi-enced chess players from last year, this year the team is mainly focusing on rebuilding.

“Although we lost many players from last year, the key players to look forward to this year are the two team captains seniors Adam McDonough and Alex Nicoara, “Coach and physics teacher Peter Wang said.

In spite of chess being a quiet activity, that is not to say that the team does not socialize. In fact, because it only has a select number of students, the team gets along well together as they pass time in friendly competition over their favorite game.

“Chess is just a great way to just have fun and hang out,” Nicoara said.

Because of the lack of people last year, the team was unable to compete in the MSL state meet. However, with the new underclassmen this year, the team looks forward to competing at state.

“We can always use new players. Everyone at any experience of playing chess is welcomed,” coach Peter Wang said. “Chess is just a tactical and challenging game that is fun to play for everyone.”

This school year is sophomore Ethan Cas-tro’s second year with the debate team, and al-ready he’s come so far. He’s proud of his team, of its progress and of its leadership. In this short amount of time, his experience this season has already been rich.

“I think the coaches are doing a really good job so far,” Castro said. “So far, this team has really been organized, and they’ve always been there to help.”

The team has, again, placed high at another event. At the Stevenson tournament on Oct. 20, the team placed third overall. According to senior Ronak Patel, one of the two debate cap-tains, the trophy for third place was even bigger than the trophy they had received for first place at the Hersey tournament.

Individuals received recognition for their outstanding performances at the Stevenson tour-nament as well. The other debate captain, senior Harry Patel, won first place in his chamber and best presiding officer, as well as his counterpart Ronak Patel. Senior Anna Dowd won second place in her chamber, and high scorers Castro and junior Jacob Anderson helped contribute to the team’s third place victory.

Along with receiving first place in his cham-ber and best presiding officer, Ronak Patel was selected by the judges as “critic’s choice”-- the best in his chamber, the scorer of the most points. Aside all of the victory, the team has no room for letting their guard down.

“I think we did well, really well. But I think there are still errors we can improve on,” Ronak Patel said. “Practice, and hopefully we can finish in at least third place for the rest of the tourna-ments.”

The debate team has been prospering-- new members have joined, and returning members are now able to participate due to the ending of fall sports. Debate coach Rebecca Jordan believes that this, along with the excellent team-work, is what will help them win in the other tournaments to come-- the Hoffman tourna-ment on Nov. 10 being the next.

In a nutshell, the debate team, so far, deems successful. They’ve acquired high ranks, trophies and new leadership to top it all off. Debate nov-ices alike are also experiencing the same feelings as Castro. Sophomore novice Brandon Lim es-pecially enjoys his early experience.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s really exhilarat-ing,” Lim said. “There’s a lot of chemistry in the team, and I’ve required a lot of comrades.”

Greens Grens and Tech Crew hosted an Electronic Recycling Drive and a Food Pantry Collection on Oct. 27.

“It was much more successful than we’d ever imagined it to be,” counselor and Green Grens sponsor Steve Gordon said.

Many of the students who volunteered stayed extra hours and offered to help with the clean up of the drive. At the end, they were able to collect four to five tons of used electronics and more than 300 pounds of food donations. Also, the vendor that they worked with was will-ing to donate $60 for every ton. So in total, they collected about $250 to $300.

“[All the money] Is going to Green Grens and we will be donating it to various charities,” Gordon said.

Some of the charities that they are planning to donate money is The National Wild Life Fed-eration, Arbor Day Foundation, Alliance for Cli-

mate Education, and many other charities. The money donations will likely be donated to local charities.

This electronic drive can at the end benefit all of us.

“A major benefit to the community is that the heavy metal that are part of the electron-ics won’t be washed into groundwater that is drunk,” Gordon said.

Gordon also adds that if these electronics are not recycled properly we will continue to poison ourselves in little amount and without knowing.

Gordon said that the students who helped out at the end felt like they have done a good deed.

“I got the impression from each of them that they were pleased that the electronics will be recycled properly,” Gordon said.

Recycling properly though can just make someone feel good.

“People can get a warm fuzzy feeling when they recycle something legally and properly,”

Chess checks into MSL state meet

Working together for charity:Green Grens, Tech Crew raise money for food pantryYesenia Cruz

Managing Editor

Morgan LoxleyCopy Editor

Debate continues successful seasonCartoon by Yumi Miyazaki

Features 3November 9, 2012

“Baby, it’s cold outside.” It may be too early for Christ-mas, but the cold is still here. Dry skin is hard to get around, but it can be controlled.

Have no fear, winter skin care is here

Black Friday frenzy:Bargains, bogos, coupons, oh my!

Black Friday is a day for sales and shopping. Black Friday falls the day after Thanksgiving and it is one of the busiest days of the year. With that said, this day should be prepared very carefully. Here are some tips on how to survive Black Friday.

ResearchIf you want a certain item, look online to see what

store carries that item. If they don’t it’s most likely that another store will.

Also, check prices! One store may seem like they are selling the item at the cheapest price but in reality its big-gest competitor might be selling that same item for less. So

always compare prices to snag the best deals. Coupons can also help save a ton of money. The

Thanksgiving Day newspapers are usually filled with great deals. They have coupons for many items and most of the time they can be combined with other coupons. Not all stores allow the combining of coupons though, so it never hurts to ask ahead of time to make sure.

Have a game planWe all know how busy Black Friday can get. People get

hurt and they end up in hospitals. Of course, you wouldn’t want that to happen, so when you are waiting in line to go into the store get a game plan together. Decide what your priorities are and decide what section of the store you are going to first. And it wouldn’t hurt if you had your mom, sister, aunt, grandma or your significant other helping you

get all the items. That way you can get your items quicker and there is less running around.

Come prepared Before embarking on your Black Friday expedition

make sure you eat something. After Thanksgiving you might be stuffed full with Turkey but once you start shop-ping at 3 a.m. you will get hungry quick. In order not to spend money on Thanksgiving deals as well as food, make sure you eat before you go and pack some snacks just in case. Bring granola bars and water. Plus you can’t forget your money when you go Black Friday shopping but I sug-gest you put it in a safe place so you don’t lose it or get it stolen. Purses are too much of a hassle and backpacks are too big....fanny pack anyone? Happy Shopping!

Yesenia CruzManaging Editor

MoisturizeOne major rule to control

dry skin is moisturize as often as possible. All day, everyday, mois-turization is needed because skin absorbs all that moisture very quickly.

WaterAlthough water does not

exactly keep skin hydrated, it does keep your body healthy. A healthy body will return all of those fluids to the skin.

HandsHands tend to be less oily

and are harder to keep moist. The cold weather makes them crack and itch, so wear gloves anytime you’re about to brave the cold, harsh weather.

1.I take a lot of pride in being left-handed.2. I think powdered sugar is one of the grossest things ever.

3. If I could, I would drink Arizona iced tea at all hours of the day, the raspberry kind.

4. I own around 80 rubber ducks.5. I like weird, twisted movies. My favorite is “A Clockwork Orange.”

6. I’ve been a vegetarian since April 1, 2009.7. I’m not five foot yet and I never want to be.

8. My favorite band is Pink Floyd,and my favorite singers are Dono-van and Jimi Hendrix.

9. I’m a freak about washing my hands.10. I’m really, really scared of water and swimming.

10 things you didn’t know about sophomore Autumn Carney

Kaylinn EsparzaNews/Features Editor

FeetAlong with hands, feet are

the next body part that dry up the fastest. Consider changing up the type of lotion to one that is stronger. It should include some-thing like petroleum jelly. Also, using exfoliants is best to get rid of dead skin. This allows for the moisture to soak up faster and reach deeper.

CleansersFor any skin that is ex-

tremely dry, avoid using alco-hol, masks or harsh peels. All of these types of products will strip vital oils and moisture from the face. Try to use anything that adds more moisture and leaves the skin soft and smooth.

Look for products like cream cleansers and masks that are hydrating and don’t leave the skin hard after use. At all costs, try to use them as little as possible.

If acne is a problem, it is best to use a gentle product along with a strong moisturizer. This will replenish any moisture lost from the harsh cleanser.

Showers/BathsHot showers and/or baths are great after a long

day at school, but they can strip all of the day’s mois-ture. The safest bet is to use warm water and keep the shower short and sweet.

A bath with baking soda or oatmeal is one way to relieve itchy, irritated skin.

Sunscreen/SPFAlthough there may not be

the sun shining on your face, sunscreen is a must this winter. Winter sun and the glare from the snow is dangerous and can dam-age your skin. As usual, reapply as often as possible, considering how long you intend to stay outside.

One big tip: when you get out of the shower, pat dry-- don’t rub all the water off. Keeping some water on will help once lotion is applied because more moisture is locked in.

Now no need to fret; winter is only three or four months long and soon enough summer will be back. Until then be good to your skin, even though the weather may not be.

Photos and information by Yumi Miyazaki

Features4 november 9, 2012

There is always a book in senior Beth Wilkins’ hands and it’s always dif-ferent. Even though she’s a senior and spends a lot of time with college applica-tions and schoolwork, she still reads for fun.

“I read when I finish homework early, before I go to bed or sometimes on the bus,” Wilkins said. “I read a lot on the weekends, too.”

Wilkins says that her interest in reading was what

made her want to join the book club. Every couple of months, the club chooses a new book to read. Usually, it’s a fictional novel, but the club is always open to new genres and novels.

A recent study by the Pew Research Center states that teenagers between the ages of 16-29 are more than likely to use a library in the past year. In other words, 83% of teenagers between 16-29 have read a book in the past year.

However, the study also mentions that this pat-

tern may be influenced by needing books for school.

Sophomore Jay Baccay also spends a lot of his free time reading.

“I like to read any fic-tion books, but my favorites are sci-fi,” he said. “Right now I’m working on the Sherlock Holmes series. I just finished the ‘Hound of the Baskervilles’ and am going to start the ‘Valley of Fear’ in a bit.”

Baccay says that when he reads for fun, he prefers to read the words as what they are: a story.

However, senior Sarah Kinnard says that her literature classes have taught her to be-come a better reader. She says that her teach-ers have taught her to read the book critically instead of just looking at the basic story.

“I always look for the hidden meaning in books and I always try to figure out the author’s points,” Kinnard said.

Highest Earning Majors 1. Petroleum Engineering 2. Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Administration 3. Mathematics and Computer Sciences 4. Aerospace Engineering 5. Chemical Engineering 6. Electrical Engineering 7. Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering 8. Mechanical Engineering 9. Metallurgical Engineering 10. Mining and Mineral Engineering

Lowest Earning Majors 1. Counseling and Psychology 2. Early Childhood Education 3. Theology and Religious Vocations 4. Human Services and Community Organizations 5. Social Work 6. Drama and Theatre Arts 7. Studio Arts 8. Communications-Disorders Sciences and Services 9. Visual and Performing Arts 10. Health and Medical Preparatory Programs

Information from TIME Magazine

Reading becomes ‘novel’ experience for teenagers

Recent class of 2012 graduate Nolan Peterson had a plan. He got accepted to Illinois State University last year and was going to attend there this fall. However, Harper Community College had another plan set in store for him.

“I was planning on going to ISU this year, and then I received the distinguished scholar award at Harper for 60 credit hours or two years paid full,” Peterson said. “So I chose to stay at Harper to re-duce my college debt.”

Peterson is among the 48 percent of graduates from the class of 2012 who chose to pursue a two-year college for vari-ous reasons against the 47 percent who went off to a four-year university, accord-ing to college and career counselor Paul Genovese.

In the current state of the economy, more and more high school seniors are turning towards community college for a cheaper option in lieu of paying the in-

creasing costs of a four-year university.And according to a new study from

the National Student Clearinghouse Cen-ter, those that have gone off to four-year institutions are now coming back.

“Roughly 14 percent of first-time stu-dents who enrolled at a four-year institu-tion in the fall of 2005 had transferred to a community college by 2011” the study notes. “Of the transfer group, about 17 percent eventually returned to their origi-nal four-year institution. A larger group, about 28 percent, went on to a different four-year. The other 55 percent either stuck it out at community colleges or dropped out, with that group split right down the middle.”

This research sheds light on this “reverse transfer” pathway for students, which Genovese said is growing to be a sort of “phenomenon.”

“These days, finances are really af-fecting the ability of a family to pay for college,” Genovese said.

He also adds a scenario in which col-leges are offering presidential scholarships

to students as a marketing ploy, but all of a sudden that money will suddenly just “disappear,” forcing that student to have to return back home because the burden of paying the lofty college tuition would just be too much.

Another change he’s also noted is how in recent times, he’s more likely to advise students not to go to college undecided in order to save money.

For senior Marissa Luisi, a way around this is going to Harper where she’ll be paying less to figure out her future.

“The biggest reason I chose to go to Harper is because I’m unsure of what I really want to do yet,” Luisi said. “I don’t feel as prepared as I should be to actually go to a university. It’s also an easy way to get all of my gen eds out of the way, which to me is really important.”

While many students come to this de-cision under the duress of their parents, Luisi proudly admits she’s come up with this plan on her own.

“Going to Harper is entirely my own decision,” she said. “My parents support

what I want to do. And after two years, I plan on transferring, but I’m unsure on where.”

However, Genovese reiterates that four-year institutions or even two-year in-stitutions are not the only option.

“College is a really good choice; schooling is important and schooling be-yond high school opens up doors and gives students opportunities-- period. But, one type of schooling isn’t better than the oth-er of schooling,” Genovese said. “There are trade schools, there are certificate pro-grams, and one type of degree isn’t better than the other either.”

Therefore, having options and keep-ing them open is key to the college process, which is exactly what Peterson did.

“I applied there [Harper] because it’s just always a good idea to have that op-tion,” Peterson said. “Even if you don’t plan on going to a community college, something might come up and it’s always a good idea to have that as an option. I kept my options open and Harper seemed like the best choice for me at the time.”

Community colleges become valuable options for students moving forwardJulianne Micoleta

Editor-In-Chief

Digital Editor-In-Chief

Ellie Papadakis

Car

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Entertainment 5November 9, 2012

The ability to craft and manipulate worlds has always been an attractive prospect. In the last few years, the video game world has opened itself up to this kind of gaming.

It’d be hard to find someone involved in the video game community who hasn’t heard of “Minecraft.” How-ever, for those individuals out there who regard the title “Minecraft” with confusion, here is a short summary of the hyper-popular crafting game, developed by Mojang (PC) and 4J Studios (XBOX 360).

In “Minecraft,” the player becomes immersed in a block-built world that is open to any kind of manipulation. Anything imaginable can be built from the resources that the world provides.

The world is randomly generated based upon the seed

code added to the game before playing, thus resulting in any number of unique worlds to explore.

Of course, the game can be customized by adding any mods that the player desires. Such mods include, but are not limited to, the addition of new animals, the addition of new texture packs and the addition of new resource blocks.

“Minecraft” costs around $15 and is available for both PC and XBOX 360 (though it should be known that mod-ding is only available on the PC, which is arguably why the PC version is more fun to play).

Also know that “Minecraft” updates faster on the PC.Another crafting game, which became available ear-

lier this year, is “Kerbal Space Program.” Currently, “Kerbal Space Program” is still under heavy

development, so updates and bugs should be expected.In “Kerbal Space Program,” developed by Squad, the

player is able to build and manage their own spacecrafts, and the goal is to send Kerbal astronauts and engineers to

the moon of their planet. Who are the Kerbals, anyway?The Kerbals are a race of tiny green creature with big

dreams. Their lives are in the hands of player, so building an operational spacecraft is important.

Of course, building an operational spacecraft is dif-ficult. The spacecrafts built are heavily affected by realistic physics. If there is any flaw with the spacecraft, there is a high chance that it won’t fly and that the Kerbals will crash to the surface of their planet and meet a fiery death.

Currently, “Kerbal Space Program” is available for purchase for $18, and the purchase is available on Squad’s site: kerbalspaceprogram.com.

There are a plethora of crafting games out there, but these are some of the most unique. It’s just important for you to find one that suits your tastes best.

Finally, international bestsell-ing author James Patterson col-laborated with Maxine Paetro and released the long-awaited new book, “Confessions of a Murder Suspect.”

And I have to say, as a Patter-son fan, his new book may spark the interest of “Maximum Ride” fans.

After reading the free excerpt released earlier, I could not wait to finish the whole book. I had to keep guessing throughout, and the results were unexpected.

When the parents of four exceedingly talented children are suddenly found dead, all fingers point to them.

To bring justice to the Angel name, emotionless and calculating Tandy Angel, musically and artis-tically gifted Harry Angel, head-and-body strong Hugo Angel and all-star athlete Matthew Angel take it upon themselves to inves-tigate their parents sudden death while also maintaining the status of a suspect.

Their parents, Malcolm and Maud Angel, strive for perfec-tion from their children. They accepted nothing less. This is way beyond extreme parenting.

As Tandy discovers more of her parents’ secrets, her memories and family secrets are revealed and most of them leave readers perplexed.

Does this sound familiar to “Maximum Ride” fans? Instead of saving the world, these charac-ters are here to solve the death of their parents while also discover-ing the secrets that are kept inside the family.

Can Tandy trust her family? Can Tandy trust herself ? There are so many ‘what ifs’ going in the book that readers have to ask their own ‘what ifs.’

Each Angel child could have

easily murdered their parents be-cause each child had a grudge against their parents that cannot be simply forgotten. Would you forgive your parents if they de-manded for perfection and pun-ished you for the simplest mis-takes?

What if Tandy murdered her own parents for the sake of re-venge? What if the murderer is her own flesh-and-blood?

As a Patterson fan, this book satisfied my craving for a science fiction and mystery thrill. The tension keeps rising as Tandy gets closer to unveiling the murderer.

The book is written in Tan-dy’s perspective, so we get a sense of her psychological changes. Tandy shows more emotion like a normal teenage girl should. She questions herself and her own alibi, while more of her memories are revealed. They will shock you with disbelief and raise eyebrows.

Hey, nobody’s perfect. There are times when you do stupid things that need to be kept hidden even from yourself. I’m just not sure if Tandy should reveal her hidden past.

Unfortunately, the ending was not what I expected. I wanted more drama or even a sudden turn that points to another sus-pect. All I got was a sudden stop to the murder case and all is well.

Even if this book has ended, there are still cases that Tandy needs to investigate. And I am not going to reveal them. Hello! Spoiler Alert! Revealing these cases would ruin the whole point of a sequel.

Anyway, the new excitement that Patterson gives his readers leaves them craving for more. The questions asked and answered will leave you perplexed. New mys-teries will be answered and more cases will be solved by the Angel family.

Some movies are completely, indescribably in-sane. Sometimes, that’s a good thing. Sometimes, a break from the wave of regular hit-and-miss dra-mas and high octane blockbusters is desperately needed. Sometimes, people like to see impossible amounts of blood spurting from a laceration or bullet wound.

These movies, however, don’t come as often as they should.

On a good year, audiences might receive two of these films. But most years, like last year which was one of the worst movie years in history (seriously, when “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” became nominated for an Oscar, that should have set off alarm bells in everyone’s heads), have none of those crazy masterpieces.

This year though, oh boy, there is not one, not even two, but three crazy, insane, thrilling, gory films.

For the mathematically challenged, that’s three more than last year.

Probably the most anticipated of the three is Quentin Tarantino’s new movie “Django Un-chained,” which is due to release on Christmas this year.

Tarantino has his own category of films and arguably should have a spot reserved for him in a mental ward.

“Reservoir Dogs” put Tarantino on the map and during the opening scenes of that film, he an-nounced to the world that he was mentally unstable and here to stay.

Tarantino then presented the world another crime package with “Pulp Fiction” (which is per-haps even more well known), which was the launch pad that gave him the power he wields today.

After “Pulp Fiction,” Tarantino went relatively quiet for a while and then came back with arguably his most violent film: “Kill Bill Vol. 1.” There went on to be an equally violent “Kill Bill Vol. 2” and a “Kill Bill Vol. 3” has been announced.

Then he took another hiatus and eventually came back in 2009 with the stunning “Inglorious Basterds.”

The story spins its own version of the story that led to the eventual death of Hitler (although Hit-ler’s death comes a lot sooner than you think).

Tarantino seems to have his hand in two of this year’s crazy movies. He directed “Django Un-chained” and has an unofficial credit in RZA’s (yes the rapper, weird right?) “The Man with the Iron Fists,” which was released on Nov. 2 of this year.

This looks to be the most violent film of the three, and looks to have a Tarantino feel to it. That would make sense since during the filming of “Kill Bill Vol. 1” RZA, while creating the soundtrack for “Kill Bill Vol. 1,” took extensive notes on how Tar-antino went about his directing.

On to the most surprising release of this year: “Seven Psychopaths,” which was released on Oct. 12 of this year.

It was directed by Martin McDonagh and was actually presented to the public as a comedy about dognapping. It was so much more than that and is definitely worth going to see in theaters.

The film is equal parts tragic, hilarious and excessively violent. It is boosted mostly by its great comically dark performances from the relatively unknown Sam Rockwell and the great Woody Har-relson.

It also includes one of Christopher Walken’s strangest roles to date and is Colin Farrell’s second comedy in his otherwise action movie-oriented ca-reer.

War movies aren’t going to be included here because if they were, they would claim top prize before the competition even started because, well, it’s war. “Saving Private Ryan” would win with just its opening scene

Foreign horror movies also aren’t going to make on the list because they are usually just...weird?

No, that’s an understatement. Let’s put it this way: if I had known what I was about to watch when my older cousin played “High Tension,” di-rected by Alexandre Aja (if you ever have two hours to waste and want to be deeply disturbed afterwards then this is for you), I would have ran home, hid under the covers and remained blissfully unaware of the atrocities someone was allowed to put into a film overseas.

There are a lot of good looking movies that are going to be released in the coming months, many of them are going to be nominated for Oscars.

All you have to do is look at the cast members. “Flight” is directed by Robert Zemeckis(“Forrest Gump”) and stars Denzel Washington(anything he’s in is awesome), “Lincoln” has Steven Spiel-berg, Daniel-Day Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy-Lee Jones.

The list could go on and on. The bottom line is, when the Oscar rush comes around, audiences should take a break from all the drama and sit down to a well-put together gore fest.

Abbie Gail LimStaff Reporter

Andrew NoonanOpinions Editor

Something with Pixels by Abby Ray

Newest Patterson book thrills with story, disappoints with ending

Gory films provide nice break from serious, dramatic films

Crafting games bring customizable fun to players

Mojang

SquadCUSTOMIZATOIN: Crafting

games, new and old, continue to bring joy to the faces of many creative video gamers.

In-Depth In-Depth 7november 9, 20126 november 9, 2012

For students, when enter-ing the school on Wednesday mornings they encounter a puzzling sight: a large group

of students all dressed up in matching uniforms. It is a group that consists of both males and females and of both under and upper class men.

The whole school knows of their existence, yet only a few students know what the group actually is called. They are ROTC, Reserved Officer Training Corps., also referred to as Naval Science.

From the way they are perceived, students automati-cally believe that it is an army recruiting class. However, that is false. Senior Max Jacobs said, “ROTC is not a military recruitment tool: what we focus on is leadership building, ACT prep and self confidence.”

Every Wednesday after school, ROTC loads into a bus and head toward Wheeling High School. They are there until 8:30 p.m.

At Wheeling, they first have class time. Students learn about topics such as the values of sea power. Afterwards,

they have time to eat dinner, which is called “chow.”Drill practices follows chow time. The students prac-

tice marching and saluting during the practices.ROTC is also split up into five teams: Academic,

Physical Training, Drill Team, Marksmanship, and Ori-enteering. But overall, although ROTC seems military focused, in actuality it is a military sponsored group that primarily focuses on helping students become strong leaders in the future.

Putting aside the serious facade of ROTC, there is also a fun side to this scholarly program. Every year ROTC sponsors a ‘Military Ball’ at the end of the school year.

For many of the members the dance is one of their favorite memories in ROTC. The group also tries to hold an annual trip. This year they plan on traveling to San Diego.

“I first heard of ROTC when I was at an event called Character Counts Collision. I’m not all too sure of why I was interested in joining in the first place, but I’m glad I did,” sophomore Autumn Carney said.

Jacobs, however, had a more serious motive for join-ing.

“I got involved when I went to Wheeling High School where the unit is based. I was interested in it for the uni-form, the drilling, teaching new cadets and the possible leadership roles I might have in the future.”

Jacobs also looks forward to using the experiences from ROTC and enlisting in the U.S Navy.

Although ROTC seems to be strict and uniform in its teaching and learning style, the process in which to join is quite simple. Just ask your counselor and that’s all there is to it.

“I think students should know about ROTC because first of all, it’s an awesome class. It’s great getting to meet new friends from all the schools of District 214,” Carney said. “There’s also a lot of community service opportuni-ties; we help out Northwestern football games and vol-unteer at Lamb’s Farm just to name a few. In class we also learn a lot about how to prepare for college and the transition of shifting from student to a responsible adult. It [ROTC] really serves towards your future.”

“I was interested in it for the uniform, the drilling, teaching new cadets and the possible leadership roles I might have in the future.”

-Senior Max Jacobs

ROTC provides pathway to future goals

Q: What year did you graduate/enlist?a: I graduated in 2011 from Elk Grove, and I enlisted in the Marines on December 1, 2010.Q: What influenced your decision to join?a: For college and my grandpa was a Marine.Q: What has the experience been like for you and your family & friends?a: The experience is great, and I am still close with everyone back at home.Q: What training did you do and What are you doing right noW?a: Boot Camp- Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, Calif.Marine Combat Training - Camp Pendleton, Calif.Comp School -Twenty Nine Palms, Calif.Right now I am stationed at Camp LeJeune in NC.Q: What is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned so far?a: Don’t be the guy that screws up.Q: What is a normal day like for you?a: I wake up at 5 a.m., do PT (physical training) with my unit, go to work until about 5:00 p.m., get food, have some free time and go to bed. Q: What gets you through the rough times?a: Being able to talk to the people I miss the most and being with friends on the base.

Q&A with alumnus Lance Corpral Matthew Mayberry

Veterans Day means that students get another day off of school. But to most, that’s all it means. Many forget that the true purpose of that day off is to celebrate those who have fought and died for our

country.Veterans Day is celebrated on Nov. 11.

The idea came about after the end of World War I, when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on the elev-enth hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. A year later, President Woodrow Wilson declared that there should be a holiday to commem-

orate that day, called Armistice Day. “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice

Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those tho died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the op-portunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the na-tions,” Wilson said.

The day was supposed to be celebrated with pa-rades and a break from work beginning at 11 a.m., traditions which are continued today.

Originally, Armistice Day was set aside for people to remember those who had served in World

War I, but after the Second World War “Armistice” was replaced with “Veterans” in order to commemo-rate the soldiers who served during World War II. Over the years, the meaning of Veterans Day has expanded to include those who fought in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq and every war in which the United States had taken part.

This day holds historical significance. It is used as a day of remembrance as many families visit the graves of their loved ones, some of whom were lost too soon. It is also a day to remember those who have served, who want to serve and those who are serving our country and keeping us safe.

did you knoW:

“They dropped us from around seven or eight hundred feet.

My reserve chute was worthless; my main would have failed.”

Their plane had left O’Hare late. They were flying down to Arkansas and had ar-rived somewhere around 12:30 a.m. in the middle of the night.

“Unfortunately, they close the drop zone at midnight.”

They didn’t have any lights, a starting point or drop point; yet they jumped any-way.

What happened next is what Elk Grove alum-ni, class of ’82, Brian Oehlerking describes as a scene in a movie where there were guys just “lit-tered in trees.”

Some had to be cut down while others just released their harness and climbed down.

As Veterans Day approaches, Oehlerk-ing reminisces over memorable times he experienced during his five-year service in the army.

“The problem was,” he explains, “is that the air force dropped us so low that by the time you got out of the turbulence, you looked around and said ‘There’s the tree line’ and you went to pull your pack and said ‘Crap’ and then you hit the ground.”

He then goes on to describe how dif-ferent this jump was from what he and the other men that he served with during 1984 and 1989 called as “Hollywood jumps.”

“We called them Hollywood jumps because you get to float around, stare and have a good time,” Oehlerking said.

It was later that night they decided that they wanted to experience one of these jumps on their way back home. They bribed the air force with a case of beer to make it happen, for every beer case they give them an additional thousand feet would be added to their jump.

“We came back and we were going to jump into Joliet. We gave the air force three cases of beer to drop us from 4,000 in air,” he said laughing. “But once again they dropped us from 900 feet.”

And sticking the landing, he said, was not easy.

“It’s a fun ride down until you hit the ground because military chutes are dif-ferent from the ones on TV,” Oehlerking said. “You don’t come in and dance on two fake feet and go ‘Wee look at me land!’ It doesn’t work like that.”

Military chutes are not designed with passenger comfort in mind, he reiterates; they’re designed to hit the ground hard.

Carrying around 75 to 100 pounds of gear also makes this more difficult.

“We always jumped with rifles, heavy packs and if you were camping out you’d jump with your tent, sleeping bag and ev-erything that you needed to survive,” he

said.

And in one case, he had to jump out with a jeep.

“We got to make what they call a tail-gate jump,” Oehlerking said. “Very seldom we go to do that but it was like what you see on TV where they lower the ramp and you literally jump out of the airplane.”

The jeep was strapped down on skid with two parachutes, a pilot chute and a main chute, and the back of the platform had nothing but rollers. Suddenly, the air force men started to count down and the pilot chute deployed, and for a brief second it fluttered before the chute opened.“And faster than you can snap your fingers it just yanked that jeep right out of the plane,” Oehlerking said. “After the jeep, we all just jumped off of the back of the plane. It was incredible.”

It was such an incredible experience that he even likens it to “one of the neat-est things”he’s ever done in his life. That, or the one time he was in Idaho where the drop zone had big gopher holes in it.

“It was really scary to land because

once you got low enough to realize there was one [gopher hole] there, you couldn’t turn in time,” he said.

And at one point his escapades with the gopher hole included C4 bombs, but that’s something he probably shouldn’t mention, he said laughing.

His time in the army brought him to nine different states but most importantly, he said that the discipline that the army taught him was life-changing.

But, “That goes without saying,” he said.

Would he recommend the army expe-rience to anyone? He would, he said, “just do it during peace time.”

Military experience nowHowever, with the outbreak of the War

on Terror in 2001, the reality of serving in the military is now inherently different for thousands of men and women and their families involved

T a k e sopho- more Anna Szymanski, for ex-ample, whose older brother Mike, an Elk Grove graduate, who has been serving in the army for the past three years.

“Ever since he’s gone to Iraq he acts normal on the outside,” she said. “But the war really messed up his train of thought, and it’s changed him completely.”

This, however, has not changed their relationship with one another. In fact, it’s brought them closer together.

“We’re closer now since he left,” Szy-manski said. “We haven’t been around each other 24/7, but he still treats me like his little sister that I’ve always been. He gives me advice, talks about how protective he is over me and dating, and somehow it’s brought us closer.”

What she’s learned from all of this is simple: To never take anyone you love for granted.

“Every second when they’re gone, it’s praying and missing them and hoping that they’re OK,” she said. “It just hits me that it’s real life. War is real.”

Gaining perspective through service

For senior Lauren Kelly’s cousin Da-vid Jasinksi, now an engineer in the U.S. army, his reality was being shot, mortared and being put at the risk of being hit by an indirect explosive device during his tour in Iraq during 2008.

“Being there we had very limited free-doms unlike being at home,” he said. “So I have learned to cherish every situation, whether it is waking up in your own bed, being able to wear regular clothes, the free-doms of just getting in your car and going somewhere and, most importantly, being able to see my family.”

With this, comes an ability to see the silver lining in even the most ominous clouds.

“But with every bad there is always good,” Jasinski said. “There, I saw how these people live their everyday life, learned all about a new culture and met some of the best friends anyone can ever ask for.”

Like Jasinski, senior Claire Tal-larovic’s dad, a LT. Colonel in the Air Force, says that the companionship he experienced during his active duty is what he remembers the most.

“The best memory was the time I got to take an F-16 ride,” John Tal-larovic said. “Most of all, I remem-ber the camaraderie and the sense of purpose.”This was the same type of purpose

that led Mike Szymanski to be separated from his little sister for months, the purpose that brought David Jasinski to near-death experiences on an everyday basis and the same purpose that had Brian Oehlerking jumping out of airplanes willingly in the dead of night.

“I always wanted to be in the army,” Oehlerking said. “I just always wanted in. I wanted to serve.”

War stories students, alumni serve country

Julianne MicoletaEditor in Chief

Yumi Miyazaki Cartoonist

Military experiences creates memories, teaches life-changing lessons

Photo courtesy of Brian Oehlerking

Photo courtesy of David Jasinski

David Jasinski poses during

training at Fort Carlson,

Colorado.

Brian Oehlerking practices how to operate machine guns at Camp Fort McClellan, Alabama in 1985.

Additional reporting by Codi Oehlerking, Yumi Miyazaki and Kaylinn Esparza Information compiled by Julianne Micoleta

Information compiled by Ellie Papadakis

In-Depth In-Depth 7november 9, 20126 november 9, 2012

For students, when enter-ing the school on Wednesday mornings they encounter a puzzling sight: a large group

of students all dressed up in matching uniforms. It is a group that consists of both males and females and of both under and upper class men.

The whole school knows of their existence, yet only a few students know what the group actually is called. They are ROTC, Reserved Officer Training Corps., also referred to as Naval Science.

From the way they are perceived, students automati-cally believe that it is an army recruiting class. However, that is false. Senior Max Jacobs said, “ROTC is not a military recruitment tool: what we focus on is leadership building, ACT prep and self confidence.”

Every Wednesday after school, ROTC loads into a bus and head toward Wheeling High School. They are there until 8:30 p.m.

At Wheeling, they first have class time. Students learn about topics such as the values of sea power. Afterwards,

they have time to eat dinner, which is called “chow.”Drill practices follows chow time. The students prac-

tice marching and saluting during the practices.ROTC is also split up into five teams: Academic,

Physical Training, Drill Team, Marksmanship, and Ori-enteering. But overall, although ROTC seems military focused, in actuality it is a military sponsored group that primarily focuses on helping students become strong leaders in the future.

Putting aside the serious facade of ROTC, there is also a fun side to this scholarly program. Every year ROTC sponsors a ‘Military Ball’ at the end of the school year.

For many of the members the dance is one of their favorite memories in ROTC. The group also tries to hold an annual trip. This year they plan on traveling to San Diego.

“I first heard of ROTC when I was at an event called Character Counts Collision. I’m not all too sure of why I was interested in joining in the first place, but I’m glad I did,” sophomore Autumn Carney said.

Jacobs, however, had a more serious motive for join-ing.

“I got involved when I went to Wheeling High School where the unit is based. I was interested in it for the uni-form, the drilling, teaching new cadets and the possible leadership roles I might have in the future.”

Jacobs also looks forward to using the experiences from ROTC and enlisting in the U.S Navy.

Although ROTC seems to be strict and uniform in its teaching and learning style, the process in which to join is quite simple. Just ask your counselor and that’s all there is to it.

“I think students should know about ROTC because first of all, it’s an awesome class. It’s great getting to meet new friends from all the schools of District 214,” Carney said. “There’s also a lot of community service opportuni-ties; we help out Northwestern football games and vol-unteer at Lamb’s Farm just to name a few. In class we also learn a lot about how to prepare for college and the transition of shifting from student to a responsible adult. It [ROTC] really serves towards your future.”

“I was interested in it for the uniform, the drilling, teaching new cadets and the possible leadership roles I might have in the future.”

-Senior Max Jacobs

ROTC provides pathway to future goals

Q: What year did you graduate/enlist?a: I graduated in 2011 from Elk Grove, and I enlisted in the Marines on December 1, 2010.Q: What influenced your decision to join?a: For college and my grandpa was a Marine.Q: What has the experience been like for you and your family & friends?a: The experience is great, and I am still close with everyone back at home.Q: What training did you do and What are you doing right noW?a: Boot Camp- Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego, Calif.Marine Combat Training - Camp Pendleton, Calif.Comp School -Twenty Nine Palms, Calif.Right now I am stationed at Camp LeJeune in NC.Q: What is the most valuable lesson you’ve learned so far?a: Don’t be the guy that screws up.Q: What is a normal day like for you?a: I wake up at 5 a.m., do PT (physical training) with my unit, go to work until about 5:00 p.m., get food, have some free time and go to bed. Q: What gets you through the rough times?a: Being able to talk to the people I miss the most and being with friends on the base.

Q&A with alumnus Lance Corpral Matthew Mayberry

Veterans Day means that students get another day off of school. But to most, that’s all it means. Many forget that the true purpose of that day off is to celebrate those who have fought and died for our

country.Veterans Day is celebrated on Nov. 11.

The idea came about after the end of World War I, when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on the elev-enth hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. A year later, President Woodrow Wilson declared that there should be a holiday to commem-

orate that day, called Armistice Day. “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice

Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those tho died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the op-portunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the na-tions,” Wilson said.

The day was supposed to be celebrated with pa-rades and a break from work beginning at 11 a.m., traditions which are continued today.

Originally, Armistice Day was set aside for people to remember those who had served in World

War I, but after the Second World War “Armistice” was replaced with “Veterans” in order to commemo-rate the soldiers who served during World War II. Over the years, the meaning of Veterans Day has expanded to include those who fought in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq and every war in which the United States had taken part.

This day holds historical significance. It is used as a day of remembrance as many families visit the graves of their loved ones, some of whom were lost too soon. It is also a day to remember those who have served, who want to serve and those who are serving our country and keeping us safe.

did you knoW:

“They dropped us from around seven or eight hundred feet.

My reserve chute was worthless; my main would have failed.”

Their plane had left O’Hare late. They were flying down to Arkansas and had ar-rived somewhere around 12:30 a.m. in the middle of the night.

“Unfortunately, they close the drop zone at midnight.”

They didn’t have any lights, a starting point or drop point; yet they jumped any-way.

What happened next is what Elk Grove alum-ni, class of ’82, Brian Oehlerking describes as a scene in a movie where there were guys just “lit-tered in trees.”

Some had to be cut down while others just released their harness and climbed down.

As Veterans Day approaches, Oehlerk-ing reminisces over memorable times he experienced during his five-year service in the army.

“The problem was,” he explains, “is that the air force dropped us so low that by the time you got out of the turbulence, you looked around and said ‘There’s the tree line’ and you went to pull your pack and said ‘Crap’ and then you hit the ground.”

He then goes on to describe how dif-ferent this jump was from what he and the other men that he served with during 1984 and 1989 called as “Hollywood jumps.”

“We called them Hollywood jumps because you get to float around, stare and have a good time,” Oehlerking said.

It was later that night they decided that they wanted to experience one of these jumps on their way back home. They bribed the air force with a case of beer to make it happen, for every beer case they give them an additional thousand feet would be added to their jump.

“We came back and we were going to jump into Joliet. We gave the air force three cases of beer to drop us from 4,000 in air,” he said laughing. “But once again they dropped us from 900 feet.”

And sticking the landing, he said, was not easy.

“It’s a fun ride down until you hit the ground because military chutes are dif-ferent from the ones on TV,” Oehlerking said. “You don’t come in and dance on two fake feet and go ‘Wee look at me land!’ It doesn’t work like that.”

Military chutes are not designed with passenger comfort in mind, he reiterates; they’re designed to hit the ground hard.

Carrying around 75 to 100 pounds of gear also makes this more difficult.

“We always jumped with rifles, heavy packs and if you were camping out you’d jump with your tent, sleeping bag and ev-erything that you needed to survive,” he

said.

And in one case, he had to jump out with a jeep.

“We got to make what they call a tail-gate jump,” Oehlerking said. “Very seldom we go to do that but it was like what you see on TV where they lower the ramp and you literally jump out of the airplane.”

The jeep was strapped down on skid with two parachutes, a pilot chute and a main chute, and the back of the platform had nothing but rollers. Suddenly, the air force men started to count down and the pilot chute deployed, and for a brief second it fluttered before the chute opened.“And faster than you can snap your fingers it just yanked that jeep right out of the plane,” Oehlerking said. “After the jeep, we all just jumped off of the back of the plane. It was incredible.”

It was such an incredible experience that he even likens it to “one of the neat-est things”he’s ever done in his life. That, or the one time he was in Idaho where the drop zone had big gopher holes in it.

“It was really scary to land because

once you got low enough to realize there was one [gopher hole] there, you couldn’t turn in time,” he said.

And at one point his escapades with the gopher hole included C4 bombs, but that’s something he probably shouldn’t mention, he said laughing.

His time in the army brought him to nine different states but most importantly, he said that the discipline that the army taught him was life-changing.

But, “That goes without saying,” he said.

Would he recommend the army expe-rience to anyone? He would, he said, “just do it during peace time.”

Military experience nowHowever, with the outbreak of the War

on Terror in 2001, the reality of serving in the military is now inherently different for thousands of men and women and their families involved

T a k e sopho- more Anna Szymanski, for ex-ample, whose older brother Mike, an Elk Grove graduate, who has been serving in the army for the past three years.

“Ever since he’s gone to Iraq he acts normal on the outside,” she said. “But the war really messed up his train of thought, and it’s changed him completely.”

This, however, has not changed their relationship with one another. In fact, it’s brought them closer together.

“We’re closer now since he left,” Szy-manski said. “We haven’t been around each other 24/7, but he still treats me like his little sister that I’ve always been. He gives me advice, talks about how protective he is over me and dating, and somehow it’s brought us closer.”

What she’s learned from all of this is simple: To never take anyone you love for granted.

“Every second when they’re gone, it’s praying and missing them and hoping that they’re OK,” she said. “It just hits me that it’s real life. War is real.”

Gaining perspective through service

For senior Lauren Kelly’s cousin Da-vid Jasinksi, now an engineer in the U.S. army, his reality was being shot, mortared and being put at the risk of being hit by an indirect explosive device during his tour in Iraq during 2008.

“Being there we had very limited free-doms unlike being at home,” he said. “So I have learned to cherish every situation, whether it is waking up in your own bed, being able to wear regular clothes, the free-doms of just getting in your car and going somewhere and, most importantly, being able to see my family.”

With this, comes an ability to see the silver lining in even the most ominous clouds.

“But with every bad there is always good,” Jasinski said. “There, I saw how these people live their everyday life, learned all about a new culture and met some of the best friends anyone can ever ask for.”

Like Jasinski, senior Claire Tal-larovic’s dad, a LT. Colonel in the Air Force, says that the companionship he experienced during his active duty is what he remembers the most.

“The best memory was the time I got to take an F-16 ride,” John Tal-larovic said. “Most of all, I remem-ber the camaraderie and the sense of purpose.”This was the same type of purpose

that led Mike Szymanski to be separated from his little sister for months, the purpose that brought David Jasinski to near-death experiences on an everyday basis and the same purpose that had Brian Oehlerking jumping out of airplanes willingly in the dead of night.

“I always wanted to be in the army,” Oehlerking said. “I just always wanted in. I wanted to serve.”

War stories students, alumni serve country

Julianne MicoletaEditor in Chief

Yumi Miyazaki Cartoonist

Military experiences creates memories, teaches life-changing lessons

Photo courtesy of Brian Oehlerking

Photo courtesy of David Jasinski

David Jasinski poses during

training at Fort Carlson,

Colorado.

Brian Oehlerking practices how to operate machine guns at Camp Fort McClellan, Alabama in 1985.

Additional reporting by Codi Oehlerking, Yumi Miyazaki and Kaylinn Esparza Information compiled by Julianne Micoleta

Information compiled by Ellie Papadakis

Opinions8 november 9, 2012

Cesar Millan--in some cases, he’s a household name.

A self-taught expert in the field of dog training, Millan has written a number of books on the subject and hosts his own television show (“The Dog Whisperer”) about how to train unruly dogs.

On the surface, Millan sounds harmless enough--his goal is sim-ply to train aggressive and ner-vous dogs to behave in ways that their masters deem appropriate. Yet there is something undeniably fishy about his training methods.

Millan trains dogs using “dominance theory.”

Now, you may be asking your-self “What exactly is dominance theory, anyway?”

Dominance theory is a meth-od of dog training based around the belief that dogs, much like their ancestor the wolf, are extremely in-tune with their base instincts and respond best to being subjugated by a “pack leader” (in this case, their human masters).

Centuries ago, this method of dog training would have made sense in conjunction with the then-understanding of how wolf packs were organized. What most people believed then (and still be-lieve now) is that wolf packs are organized with the most aggressive (or dominant) males and females at the top, and these wolves then subjugate the wolves below them.

However, recent studies sug-gest that wolf packs are organized

more how our own families are or-ganized. The alphas are simply the parents, and the rest of the pack-- their offspring and the rarely-accepted outside wolf.

Fights for dominance are not as common as one would think, as young wolves will eventually leave the pack to start families of their own.

With a more modern under-standing of wolf behavior and social structure, this now renders dominance theory an outdated way of training dogs.

Dog trainers who are advo-cates of dominance theory, such as Millan, act as “alpha wolves” and correct dogs via neck-grabbing, forceful correction and pinning. In dominance theory training, praise for good behavior is not doled out in good amounts, as punishment for bad behavior are the focus.

Forcing a dog into submis-sion, which is what dominance theory-based training entails, does not allow the dog to form a close and healthy bond with the owner. Pervasively forcing a dog into sub-mission (an example being pinning a dog down every time it barks or growls out of turn) shuts them down and reverts them to a state of “learned helplessness.”

Learned helplessness is a state of being that a dog enters when all healthy connection with the owner is severed, and a dog may slip into fits of sudden aggression when ap-proached or corrected, as it feels that fighting back is its only chance for survival.

Now, Millan’s intentions are

not bad--his goal is to train aggres-sive dogs that many shelters would not give a second chance. Howev-er, he is training them with crude methods and aggression. Introduc-ing more aggression into the life of an already aggressive creature can certainly not produce a positive re-sult.

To form a long and healthy bond with a dog, the most im-portant training element is trust. It’s hard for a dog to trust a hu-man (especially a strange human, such as an outside trainer) who approaches them with aggression and a forceful stance.

The best way to train a dog is by rewarding positive behavior and working around negative behavior.

For instance, if a dog is de-structive when alone, that might mean that it is bored and could use more exercise and playtime. If a dog jumps on guests to greet them, guests and owners can cor-rect the action by simply turning around and ignoring the dog (be-ing ignored is generally boring, so the dog should lose interest).

When training a dog to learn tricks and simple commands, use food or toys to encourage them (in fact, some dogs can be motivated by the leash--who doesn’t love a good walk?).

Dogs, granted they had a healthy upbringing, love and genu-inely trust humans, and that trust should never be broken for the sake of correction.

Abby RayEntertainment Editor

Dominance theory:

Starting next year, stu-dents in District 214 will not need to take Information Pro-cessing in order to graduate. Those who have taken it, or are taking it now, are grum-bling. Those who have not taken it yet are breathing a sigh of relief. Yet the class is still important, but making it an elective choice won’t make students take it for fun.

The problem with the class is this: It’s outdated. It was first implemented in the 1990s when technology was something shiny and new. Twenty-two years later, how-ever, and the class started to act like Windows 7.

It needed to be updated.Most students know

about “Online Living.” Actu-ally, most of them live online. While some may argue that this part of the curriculum is still important, they also have to understand. This is the In-ternet. It will always have the dark corners which people shouldn’t turn. Plus, students

nowadays have been drilled with the consequences of cy-berbullying and the terrible ways the Internet can change their lives if it’s not used in the right way.

While it’s true that many students don’t know how to write a formal letter, most of them can send an email. It’s safe to say that most students also use an online email ser-vice provider, not Microsoft Outlook. On that note, most students don’t work with In-ternet Explorer. They use Chrome, Firefox or Safari.

But then there are those dreaded typing skills and we get to why Info Processing is such a valid graduation re-quirement.

Most students don’t know how to properly type. They’re in front of the computer all the time, but their backs are slouched, their feet are crossed and they think they have developed the fastest typ-ing method for them, but in reality they haven’t. Spending 20 minutes properly typing a day wouldn’t be a bad thing for them. They’re not going to start otherwise, and their hab-

its will never change.Finally, we have our Mi-

crosoft Office programs. Pow-erpoint: check. Word: check. Excel? Not so much.

In Info Processing, less class time should be spent teaching students practi-cal things they already know and more should be spent on teaching them things that they don’t. Creating a spreadsheet and computing data is one of those things.

At the very least, the dis-trict should allow classes like Web Design and Computer Science to also count for the Info Processing requirement.

Info Processing is still a pertinent class, no matter how much students may gripe about it. Because the class will no longer be a requirement, it might, frankly, no longer ex-ist. But it needs to, or at least classes similar to it need to last. Technology is changing every day, and the classes need to change with it.

Ellie PapadakisDigital Editor in Chief

Info processing worth taking

How to tellWhen your dog

is stressedPanting: Nervous panting in a dog is marked by the lack of the trademark “smile” that is the product of a relaxed dog panting.

Outdated method of training remainspopular with Dog Whisperer followers

Timeline of Technology

November 4, 1868Christopher Latham Sholes invented and patented the first typewriter.

1979The first laptop was invented by William Moggridge for Grid Systems Corporation.

1973The first cell phone was in-vented by Martin Cooper who was working for Motorola.

Eating Less: A dog that suddenly re-fuses food, but normally eats well, is most likely suffering from some kind of stress. Identify the stressor and remove it to ensure healthy eating in your dog.

Stress Shedding: A dog that sheds in excess at odd times of the year is ex-perience stress. The majority of dogs stress shed at the vet, especially when they are new to that environment.

Yawning: Yawning more than usual is a big sign of stress, especially if the yawn is exaggerated, which causes the facial muscles to tighten excessively.

Infographic by Abby Ray

Infographic by Tom Scearce

2010Apple relesased the iPad.

Opinions 9November 9, 2012

With Yellow Ribbon week upon us, we are reminded of the Amanda Todd story. The tragedy of a girl’s life ended by bullying is a sad one. She made some poor decisions when she was younger and was bullied for it years later.

Even as she moved schools her bullies found her and continued to infect her life. She made a YouTube video about her story, about all the things she had been through. Not too long after making her video she ended her own life.

What would it feel like to not have any-one? To be so alone you had to resort to hurt-ing yourself ? This is what Todd put up with everyday, not just once or twice; everyday her peers treated her like she was garbage because she made a mistake. Just one mistake.

We are human beings; we make mistakes. Todd’s mistake just happened to be one large enough to have received the judgement of her peers.

Obviously she was not completely in-nocent. We should always be aware of the choices we make throughout our lives. Our decisions dictate our life.

Yet who are we to judge others on their choices? We do not have the right to discrimi-nate people because of their mistakes.

Bullying is a problem, whether we per-ceive if it is serious or not. Many people are bullied everyday. It ranges from small things like comments about their weight and height

to larger actions such as being pushed, shoved and physically abused by someone.

“It’s not my fault,” or “everyone was do-ing it.” are common excuses. That doesn’t excuse our actions of being rude and hateful.

We post the negativity of bullying all over social media sites, but getting likes on a page isn’t going to decrease the amount of bullying.

We all see it and experience it in our ev-eryday lives. Why not instead of just using social media to make people aware, we make an effort everyday to stop being part of the problem and be the solution.

We might think that we ourselves are not bullies but even making a joke at someone’s expense is bullying. We need to be more

aware of how we affect others through our ac-tions and words even if it is not intentional. If we see bullying it is our responsibility to report it because if we just watch, we are still part of the problem.

Sometimes, it is not the generations be-fore us that are fueling the bullying pandemic but it is ourselves. We are being bullied and we are also doing the bullying.

We make decisions to be mean - we choose to physically and mentally abuse some-one. It’s inexcusable to make someone feel worthless and bad about themselves.

We are the next generation; we can change what is happening and what happens in our future. It is our future and as the voice of EG students we would like to stop.

Let’s stop all the prejudice and actually embrace our many differences. Let’s stand up against what we know is morally wrong. Let’s finally take responsibility for the many deaths we have caused.

We are the problem but we are also the solution.

The Grenadiers football pro-gram produced another exciting season on the gridiron. Three wins came at home with winning mar-gins over 33 points. However, the Robert E. Haskell Memorial might go through some big changes be-fore next fall.

Elk Grove High School is cur-rently searching for a corporate sponsor to install an artificial turf surface on the football field. Arti-ficial turf is made up of synthetic fibers that resembles the look of natural grass.

Artificial turf has many ben-efits. It can receive large amounts of usage, requires low maintenance and is economically a smart buy.

“I don’t think you will find any-one who wouldn’t support this,” Associate Principal of Operations Kyle Burritt said.

The turf field would benefit more than just football. Soccer, track, P.E. and science classes could

use the field more. The Sugar Bowl bound Marching Grenadiers also use the field to practice their award winning performances.

“Marching on turf will defi-nitely make us better,” senior Alli-son Nowak said.

Although there seems to be many advantages to synthetic turf, it isn’t all positive. A 2009 report published by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture claims that an artificial surface’s low maintenance cost is a myth and that its long term durability is not fully known.

It is also noted that a turf field could cause an increase in injuries and infections among athletes. Some students have also said that turf is messy and gets caught in equipment and uniforms.

However, Elk Grove High School is the last school in District 214 to still have a field covered in natural grass. Buffalo Grove, Pros-

pect and Rolling Meadows are the most recent schools to install the popular playing surface. Elk Grove High School is struggling, though, to find a sponsor in time for next year.

“You have to get all the con-struction bids in, find a sponsor and get everything in place by around this time,” Assistant Principal for Student Activities Rick Mirro said.

Athletic advantage is another concern. Practices and even games have been moved from EG due to sloppy conditions of the field. While other schools are improving their game, the Grens are searching for a facility to use for practice, and we lose valuable time on the field.

Overall, artificial turf has its unknowns, but unless more re-search is done that shows major flaws, turf is a good choice for this day and age.

Jack KaupStaff Reporter

Staff Editorial

EG tries to bringnew turf era;benefitsstudentactivity

“It’s not you I’m worried about; it’s everybody else.”

That’s what my dad ex-plained to me when he first taught me how to drive. He called it de-fensive driving. It’s where you as a driver focus on everyone around while also focusing on the road. This involves observing, thinking and planning ahead.

You think about other drivers wanting to change lanes, observe how distracted they are and plan for the unexpected. As a driver you should be confident in your abilities to drive - the act of get-ting from point A to point B - but as a defensive driver you should be cautious of everyone else’s ability.

We all get distracted some-times when we drive - whether changing the radio station, reach-ing for your Starbucks latte or staring at the gorgeous hunk driv-ing next to you.

One time I saw a man play-ing the recorder while he was driving. What? That’s crazy! Whoever said keep your eyes on

the road should have added “and your recorder at home.”

These distractions cause drivers to put themselves and others at risk. Defensive drivers eliminate these distractions.

Notice I didn’t mention tex-ting while driving as a distrac-tion. That’s because, according to DMV.org, in Illinois it’s IL-LEGAL to text and drive. Plus, for drivers under the age of 19 using a cell phone AT ALL while driving is illegal. In that case, be-ing distracted by your cell phone while driving shouldn’t even be an issue.

Fact: According to Distrac-tion.gov (the Official U.S. Gov-ernment Website for Distracted Driving) more than 3,000 people were killed in 2010 in accidents caused by distracted driving and, compared to adults, teens are more likely to be these distracted drivers.

Face it: teenagers have short attention spans. We can’t fight the urge to change the radio station when KISS FM keeps playing the same five songs over and over again. Plus being a good driver comes from experience - some-

thing teenagers just don’t have yet. But still, everyone can prac-tice defensive driving.

Distractions aren’t the only thing causing accidents: people are just not aware. Just the other day my mom was driving in a high school parking lot on a two lane, one way road. She was driv-ing on the inside lane, about to turn down an aisle to park, when a car from the outside lane turned left, cutting off my mom and drove away.

The driver didn’t even glance in her mirror or her blind spot to make sure it was safe! It wasn’t that she was distracted with her

phone or something she just didn’t take the time to make sure it was safe to turn. She also didn’t check for other cars or pedestri-ans.

Thinking it’s safe and know-ing it’s safe can be the difference between life and death. Don’t be a distracted driver; be a defensive driver.

To learn about the conse-quences of distracted driving go to YouTube and watch this video called AT&T Don’t Text While Driving Documentary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DebhWD6ljZs&feature=youtube_gdata_player

License to kill: Risks of distracted drivingChristine JuhasStaff Reporter

The G u a r d i a n

StaffEditor in Chief

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The Guardian is printed by Son’s Enterprises in Skokie, Ill. Distributed 10 times a year, this award-winning stu-dent publication welcomes a free exchange of ideas. Let-ters to the editor are encour-aged. To contact the staff, stop by room 131.

(847) 718-4501500 W. Elk Grove Blvd.

Elk Grove Village, IL 60007

Julianne Micoleta

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Some material courtesy of the American Society of Newspa-per Editors/MCT Campus High School Newspaper Service

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Mission Statement

The primary purpose of The Guardian is to encour-age, protect and enhance free speech and a positive exchange of ideas within Elk Grove High School and the community.

CartoonistYumi Miyazaki

Yellow Ribbon week calls for initiative

Cartoon by Yumi Miyazaki

Opinions10 November 9, 2012

TOMS, the crazy successful brainchild of Blake Mycoskie (who refers to himself in interviews as the leader of a “movement”), has gathered support from celebrities suffer-ing from white guilt to middle school kids try-ing to look trendy. The idea is simple: you buy a pair of shoes, TOMS donates a pair to a child “in need” in Africa.

I understand the trend. I happen to love the classic and simplistic design. Sometimes they’re covered in sparkles. What slap-happy teenage girl can resist sparkles?

People forget that TOMS is not a char-ity; it is a for-profit corporation. A 2009 spe-cial on CNBC called “The Entrepreneurs” revealed that TOMS shoes are produced for about $8 a pair. The companies “one for one” slogan really should be “buy one for the price of two.”

TOMS run for about $50 a pair. Essen-tially, they are not taking a cut by donating a pair; they’re profiting.

Shoes are probably the least helpful thing you could give these kids. These kids need clean water sources, food and job op-portunities, rural health care clinics and AIDS education.

People who wear TOMS are some of the same kind of people who refer to Africa as a country. Africa is not a place that needs your pity. Not everyone lives in a mud hut in an expansive desert. Many Africans live in sprawling metropolitan areas.

It is also rude to assume that all Africans want western luxuries; some are perfectly content living their nomadic lives.

This is the perfect example of westerners in shining armor. TOMS allows for people to pay to travel on distribution trips as shoe fit-

ters, therefore promoting poverty tourism. Magazines and websites selling the shoes

feature pictures of sad, shoeless brown chil-dren and then white college students placing shoes on their feet.

Ahhh, heartwarming. These images just further westerners’ paternal vibes towards poorer countries.

The TOMS 2012 Giving Report re-vealed that TOMS are made in Ethiopia, China and Argentina under “local labor laws.”

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), it is estimated that 53.7 percent of children between the ages of 10 and 14 were working in Ethiopia. That means there is a pretty good chance that the children you think you’re helping are the ones making the shoes.

Besides an attempt at giving, some peo-ple genuinely think TOMS look “cool.”

If you’re wearing a pair of these shoes right now, know that I’m not trying to attack you. Great, buy shoes you like, go ahead.

I hope you realize that when you pur-chase TOMS, you’re supporting a for-profit company that exploits poor African children in brochures that uses these images to help Americans write off their capitalism as good-will.

In short, these kids can’t be saved from their poverty caused by western colonial-ism by receiving a pair of grossly overpriced shoes.

If you really want a new pair of shoes that look like TOMS, buy a $20 pair of al-pargatas that look exactly the same, and then donate the $30 that you would have spent on TOMS to a worthwhile charity, such as Doc-tors Without Borders or The Trevor Project.

TOMS: Misleading charity provides little for African childrenPaige Crenshaw

Staff Reporter

“We’re kinda like a lopsided, obtuse triangle all put together. Like a deformed shape.”

No, this was not said by a preschool dropout.

Mama June, a star of TLC’s show “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,” gave this description of her “beautimous” family.

It isn’t hard to believe that this same woman has allowed for her family to become America’s latest running joke. It is hard, however, to fathom that she is allowed to cast her children in such an un-flattering light.

“Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” is, in theory, a show following Alana, an aspiring child pageant star.

In reality, it is a show that makes a mockery of Southerners through mocking its stars’ behav-iors.

Reality television, particularly the new hit “Here Comes Honey Boo

Boo,” exploits its stars who are not aware of the consequences of partici-pating in such shows.

Children like “Honey Boo Boo’s” star, Alana, do not give consent to be on these shows; their par-ents do.

This exploitation of children on reality televi-sion is not a rare occur-rence.

TLC’s “Toddlers in Tiaras” showcases a new group of misbehaving children making specta-cles of themselves under their mothers’ “watchful” eyes each episode.

Some argue that these shows are all in good fun; after all, shows like MTV’s “Jersey Shore” are much more trashy.

These assessments are short-sighted. Al-though “Honey Boo Boo” will eventually come to an end, embarrassing images and videos of Alana will be around forever.

Even worse, thanks to the Internet, these portrayals will be read-ily available for anyone to see at anytime. Alana

will undoubtedly be tor-mented by her peers, whom will have no short-age of “Honey Boo Boo” inspired jokes.

This is what sets “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” and “Toddlers in Tiaras” apart from “Jersey Shore” and E!’s “Keeping Up with the Kardashians;” Snooki is well-aware of the con-sequences of her reality stardom, Alana is not.

Although the popu-larity of “Honey Boo Boo” and “Toddlers in Tiaras” is sure to die down, preventative mea-sures need to be taken. Stricter parental consent laws need to be passed to stop the exploitation of children.

Until such laws are passed, the only obstacle between national audi-ences and naive children are parents like Mama June.

The futures of chil-dren on reality TV are not “beautimous.”

Katie Weber

Staff Reporter

Shallow society exploits naive children on reality television The tiny starlets of

reality TV

1

2

4

3

4

19 Kids and CountingTLC, Monday at 9 p.m.

Dance Moms Lifetime, Wednesday at 9 p.m.

Here Comes Honey Boo BooTLC, Wednesdayat 8 p.m.

Toddlers and TiarasTLC, Tuesday at 9 p.m.

Photo by Tom Scearce TOMS, TOMS EVERYWHERE: Students across the nation are sporting this trendy yet misleading shoe brand. TOMS profit on its ability to appeal to teens while offering very little to impoverished African children.

Sports 11November 9, 2012

First Game: Nov. 30 vs. Buffalo Grove

Key players lost: Peter Kinsella, Chris Barreto, Zach Solorio and Jeff Miceli

Key players to watch: Seniors Kishan Patel, Austin Amann, Brian Kelly and Jake Gatziolis

Goals and expectations: “Improve as a team each day, and to practice at the same level as we compete in games. Also, year after year, we have a goal to compete for a conference championship and most importantly to prepare each player for life after high school.”

- Coach Anthony Furman

First Game: Nov. 15 vs. North

Lawndale

Key players to watch: Se-niors Diamond Boyd and Kelly Naughton

Last year’s record: 14-14

Goals and expectations: “Good amount of talent among this group. If they work together, they can do a good amount of things.”

- Coach Kathie Swanson

Boys Basketball

Winter Sports PreviewA sneak peek into last year’s records, players lost and athletes

anticipated to stand out this season.

Girls BasketballBoys Swimming and DivingFirst Meet: Nov. 30 vs. Schaumburg

Key players lost: Marek Burtan

Key players to watch: Seniors Kyle Phillips and Bart Kosciarz; junior Krystian Szczepaniak; sophomores Co-lin Williams and Chris Doruff

Last year’s record: 11th at conference

Goals and expectations: “I am looking for more hard work and dedication to continue to move the Elk Grove Boys Swimming and Diving program in a positive direc-tion.”

- Coach Keith Kura

Senior Jake Gatziolis

Senior Diamond Boyd

First Competition: Dec. 9 at Stevenson High School

Key players lost: Shannon Evans, Tori Duce, David Prince and Martin Diaz

Key players to watch: Seniors Deonte Sales, Kendall Lydon, Julian Hurtado and Paige Bending, sophomores Jodie Mandik and Claire Bending, freshman Bella Lindquist

Goals and expectations: “To reach the final day of the state championships is our main goal, and to work efficiently to become a family throughout the year.”

- Coach Steven Quaglia

Co-Ed Cheerleading

Senior Kendall Lydon

Sports

Dr. Pepper

AP Naptime

“Long enough to grab distant objects

because I’m too lazy.”

Basketball Powerlifting GymnasticsGren Grid

If you were a worm, how long would you be?

Do you prefer Coke or Pepsi?

If you could create your own elective, what

would it be?

Coke Coke

Hockey 101

“41 inches, my foot-ball number.”

Pepsi

10 inches

Coach Kura’s coaching skills

“19 inches because that’s my favorite

number.”

Fantasy Football 101

FreshmanCasey Majer

Sophomore Jess Szulewski

information compiled by Patrick O’Malley Senior

Lauren KellyJunior

Marquis Sanabrias

Cheerleading

WrestlingBowlingKey players lost: Ashley Dolce, Dana Ohm and Tedra

Tado

Key players to watch: Senior Abby Nix and junior

Kayleigh Duff

Last year’s record: First in conference, first in sectionals

and 13th in State.

Goals and expectations: “This year I again expect our team to be competitive and fight for another conference championship. Overall this year should be fun and exciting and I can’t wait until the season begins.”

- Coach Jason Svehla

First meet: Nov. 21at Elk Grove

Key players lost: Joey Hauser, Vince Greco, Tom Jansen, Greg Johnson, Alex Mertes and Kohji Horibe

Key players to watch: Everyone, but specifically senior Jon Ebert and sophomore Dominic Stacey.

Goals and expectations: “Develop a deep team bond centered around respect, hard work and commitment to self and team.”

- Coach Phil Winter

Senior Abby Nix

First meet: Nov. 27 against Fremd

Key players lost: Natalie Pryzybylski, Kim Fortin, Ioana Manahilova , Kat Baldovin

Key players to watch: Junior Amelia Rafferty and senior Kalina Kirilova

Last year’s record: 3-5

Goals and expectations: “For the girls to have fun, master skills that they want to accomplish, at least one gymnast to make it to state (and to) beat our record from last year.”

- Coach Heather DeCook

Girls Gymnastics

Poms

First Game: Nov. 11 vs Grays Lake North

Key players lost: Tina Ostowsk, Jen Busser, Villina Tordova, Kait-lyn Reiter

Key players to watch: Seniors Sarah Farmer, Najeli Esparza, Natalie Piechowska and Sarah Barts

Goals and expectations: “ Our goal is to make it to Stateand to learn the ropes of being and IHSA sport.”

- Coach Naomi Edelstein

Senior Sarah Farmer