Student Voice of Rock Canyon High School5810 McArthur Ranch Road • Highlands Ranch, CO 80124 • 303.387.3000

Volume 6, Number 2 • September 30, 2009

Seniors and juniors all throughout the school leave daily to go to various venues for lunch, reveling in open campus and the chance to eat at a restaurant for lunch, instead of in the cafeteria. However, the freshmen must stay at RC and eat the school food. Luckily, with Subway and the other new food options, both can enjoy good food, even if they can’t leave the school. “The school food has defiantly gotten better this year,” said Ashley Burns ‘12. “I like the variety as well.” With options like Subway and fruit smoothies available every day, many students don’t mind being unable to leave campus, and some who can leave even stay here for lunch, rather than take advantage of open campus. “If it weren’t for the Subway I would definitely try to leave more often,” said Ryan Howard ’13.

Maddie Jones

Subway is the way

When restaurants and other hot spots for open campus tend to be more expensive than a high school student can handle, one would think that eating at school would save some money. However, at Rock Canyon, that is not the case. The prices of school food compared to those of other food revenues are still un-able to cater to students needs for a cheap meal. “The price of a pizza is way too expensive,” said Hillary West ’10. A single slice of pizza is $2.75, which would mean that if a full pizza was bought, it would be $22, which is roughly three hours of working at minimum wage. Andrew Phillips ’11, always stays at school and tries to find the cheapest way to eat lunch. “I’m the one-sixteenth of the student population whose parents aren’t filthy rich and pay for lunch,” said Phillips.

Maddie Jones

A pizza worth three hours

Last year food was only available at lunch time and a few min-utes at breakfast. Now the cafeteria is open from 6 until 4, giving the students ample time to buy food, and the school more time to make sales. “I like that its open after school, it makes is a lot easier to get good food before [poms] practice,” said Sam Pusar ’12. Thanks to the availability of food, even some upperclassmen choose to stay on campus during lunch, and munch on various snacks during class, but it’s the underclassmen that really benefit form the availability of school food. “I like that good food is accessible for people who don’t have their license yet,” said Hannah Henry ’12. This year, the cafeteria is busy all hours of the day.

Maddie Jones

All day food buffet

Many students are using the extra 25 minutes of lunch time to be productive this year. “I do homework, and have more time with my friends, and I actually have time to eat. I don’t have to eat as fast as I can this year,” said Amy Michelson ’12. During lunch there is a blanket of books spread out on the grass outside; vocabulary , biology, algebra. You can see it all being done. “It’s a good time to talk to teachers and you can finish home-work forgotten the night before,” said Lauren Wetzel ’12. Students like Nick Merrill ’12, with an off hour right after lunch have a lot time on their hands. “I enjoy my free time, I do my homework and sometimes I go visit [Geoffrey] Brinker and [Melinda] Emch to say hi… and disrupt the class,” said Merrill. Students use their extra time to do many things besides eat.

Lauren Scheirman

Using their time wisely

Top right: Maddie Davis’12, and Rachael Hoday’12, eating Subway. Row two: Tara Pianko ‘10, eats lunch inside with her friends. Row three: Right, Kelsey Babilon ’11, left, Morgan Hengsteler’11, sitting in a circle with friends while eating lunch outside and lounging in the grass. Row four: The making of a fresh Subway sandwich. The lunch staff that works in the Subway attended Subway University to learn how to properly make a Subway sand-wich. Row five: Left picture from left to right, seniors Alexandra Nilsson, Emily Walker, and Natalie Seely are donating money to a leukemia fund. Right picture from left to right: Freshmen Chad Hayward, Brandon Cooke, and Darrian Felson wait in line to buy Subway sandwiches. Bottom row: Left Picture: April Oberkirsch’12, talking with friends while eating lunch in the sun. Right: Julie Neitzel, kitchen staff, preparing a Subway sandwich. “There are a lot of students at lunch this year. It’s really busy,” said Neitzel.

All photos by Alex Rowe

Gustavo Hidalgo ’10, and Evan Fisch ’10, both stay on campus not for the food, or to save money, but because they believe it is the right thing to do. Hidalgo is a starter for varsity soccer, and was named “Player of the Game” in the state championship game last season. “I stay a lot because of soccer,” said Hidalgo. “There are a lot of temptations outside that I need to avoid to have a good season.” Fisch stays because he is concerned with his classes. “I have calculus to do,” he said. “I stay at least two days a week. If it weren’t for the Subway I would want to leave, but calculus is too important.” Whether they are here for athletics or academics, it is their dedication that keeps them in the lunch room.

Alex Rowe

Calculus is too important

An increase in lunch profits Three weeks ago an audit of the Douglas County School Dis-trict cafeterias was conducted. It was discovered that Rock Canyon serves 20 percent more food than anywhere else in the district. “This can probably be attributed to the quality of the food,” said Assistant Principal Gregg Sheehan. Along with the increase in traffic in the cafeteria, there is an increase in consumer happiness. “We haven’t heard nearly the complaints we heard in the past,” said Sheehan. “We no longer hear the complaints about quality of food, variety of food, and of course about an open campus.” The longer lunch has not just been better for the students, it has been better for the administration. Sheehan says it is the best part of his day. “I get to be out of my office, and interact with students. It’s great,” he says.

Alex Rowe

02 soundtrack: “Dance, Dance” Fall Out Boy09•30•09

news

Think back to the first day of your freshman year; that day when your new shoes squeaked like mice, you had your hair styled perfectly in place, and you were ready for a brand new life as a Rock Canyon Jaguar. You walked through the doors and quickly real-ized that you knew, well, close to nothing. “The band hallway? Where the heck is the band hallway? And that senior said I had to go the 4000 wing for orientation. I didn’t even know there was a 4000 wing…”. Throughout the year, new students come from all across the country to attend Rock Canyon. With no one to lean on or talk to, the confusion multiplies by the second, much like how you felt during the first day of freshman year. Bobby Cosgrove ’10, muffles this feeling by giving tours of the school to new and incoming students. He has been an influential student at Rock Canyon all year, and makes new students feel right at home. “Whenever new kids come through, I give them the tour,” said Cosgrove. “I show them all the main areas: the commons, the gym, the library, pretty much everything, actually.” To recognize Bobby’s kindness and hard work, Susan

Judge, the registrar, nominated Bobby to be the Septem-ber ‘Jag of the Month’. “He always gives prospective students a positive feel-ing about Rock Canyon,” said Judge. “He answers their questions very intelligently, and he is always smiling.” When Kimmy Killpack ’11, moved from Oklahoma to attend Rock Canyon, she was nervous about the transition before she took the tour, guided by Cosgrove. “It was a pretty hard summer,” said Killpack. “Bobby made stuff a lot easier for me and he made me laugh and feel comfortable here.” Cosgrove went through her schedule, showed her all the classrooms she would be in, and introduced her to all the main areas of the school. “Yeah, he showed me the whole school. Everything,” said Killpack. “It was really helpful since I didn’t really know my way around when I got here.” Cosgrove’s positive attitude and encouraging manner have stood out to his peers, teachers, and new students alike this year. “Bobby’s a very upbeat kid,” said Judge. “I mean, you know Bobby. He’s just an overall good guy.”

Skyler Draper

Welcome to the jungleSenior male Jag of Month is a guy who knows his way around the joint

Bobby Cosgrove. Photo by Kathleen Kennedy Open minds, open clubProvocative club aims to stir debate, challenge assumptions, provide alternative to traditional youth group meetings and activities At RCHS students have many op-portunities to express themselves with academics, athletics, and clubs. The Atheist Club is a club where you can go to communicate and learn more about a belief system that denies the existence of God. “The main purpose of this club is to try and support and help students to think for themselves and make fellow atheist students fell okay about their view on religion,” said Will Ready ’10, the founder of this new club. Last year Ready and a group of recent graduates attempted to start this club, but had complications in the process. “We had it approved, but it wasn’t communicated to anyone so we ended up not being on the roster for clubs. We had one meeting but after that things went downhill,” Sam Classen ‘10, said. This year the club is approved and advertised and The Fellowship of Atheist Students have lots of hopes as a group. They encourage students to come to their meetings, atheist or not. Their main goal is not to change a student’s perspective on religion, but expand their horizons. At their first meeting on Sept. 21, Ready lead a group discussion on what

the club was going to do. Most of what they will talk about during their once-a-month meetings will be from the book “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins. He uses a scale of 1-7 on people’s view of Atheism, which the 10 students talked about within the first meeting. Each student stood up and talked about his or her background with religion, why they joined the club and what number they would be on Dawkins’s scale. “I grew up in a Roman Catholic family, was baptized and everything. But I always had that question in the back of my mind, which is why I joined the club. On Dawkins’s scale I would put myself at a 2.5 which means I am not atheist, but not Catholic,” James Landrum ‘13, said while introducing himself. This year the club hopes to positively affect people’s view on atheism. They would like to have people join them to watch movies, sell food for fundraising and much more. If you would like to join this club talk to Ready or go to room 9300 after school on Monday Oct. 5 for the next meeting.

Erika Guilbault

Mock trial focus on baby abduction The case is out, and the mock trial team has com-menced its fall season. Fall mock trial differs from the spring season in many ways. During the fall , The Providence Foundation offers students the opportunity to compete for cash prizes if they perform well in the courtroom. Another difference between the spring and fall sea-son is the amount of time allotted to students to prepare for the case. During the Providence Cup students only have six weeks to prepare a full court case whereas dur-ing the spring season they have three months to prepare a case. Providence Cup cases are also based on historical court cases. Last year the case was based on the sinking of the Titanic – this year the case is nearly identical to that of the Charles Lindbergh baby abduction and murder. According to Lauren Johnson, ’10, captain of the

mock trial team, “Providence Cup is a challenge that the entire team uses to build skill for our spring season. Rock Canyon is well known as worthy adversaries to schools such as Saint Mary’s Academy, Regis, and Kent Denver.” Despite complications with last years judging system, RCHS is expected to send two teams to the state compe-tition, the maximum any school can send. “The fall season is more rigorous with higher stakes than the spring competition,” Johnson said, “which trains us and enables us to dominate regional and state competitions as a whole.” Every Monday and Wednesday the eight students participating in the Providence Cup meet with attorney coaches and the head coach, social studies teacher Chris Page, to work through their case. The competitions take place on Nov. 6-7.

Connor Dozois

The Rock goes clubbing

Rated ‘M’ – no problemFridays end with digital blood and guts as TSA offers new gaming club Video game lovers now have a refuge in the school. This year, the Technology Student Association has started Game Club. Every Friday afternoon after school, if video games are on your mind, then stop by 8550 where you can satisfy your Halo needs with other students who enjoy the advantages of playing with peers. “Playing [video] games is a lot more fun as a group, it involves more strategy, you can make new friends, and get better at games,” said Brian Blanchard ’10. “I definitely plan on coming back.” With a signed permission slip from parents, students are allowed to play whichever games they choose. Among the most popular games at the last meet-

ing were Call of Duty 4, Halo, and Left for Dead. Something Blanchard appreciates about the club is that all games are welcome. “If they made us play E-rated games, I wouldn’t even come. It wouldn’t be worth it,” he said. Technology teacher and Game Club sponsor Christy Street believes this club is perfect for anybody who’s interested in video games. “We’re really excited to find out who’s interested in gaming. We really encour-age everyone to come and explore their interests.”

Ade Eichie and Rebecca Ruh

Rumor: Access is no longer manda-tory for students who have a D or an F in a classStatus: True. However, if your Advise instructor or any other teacher feels that you are not performing satisfac-torily in any of your classes, they can require you to attend. The conse-quences of refusing to attend will be handled by individual teachers.

Rumor: A new school dance policy has been generated to stop inappro-priate dancing at RC dances.Status: False. The administration is working closely with StuCo to ensure that all activities and events create a comfortable environment for all, but there has never been a dance policy, and there is not one now.

Rumor: If there are any confirmed cases of swine flu at Rock Canyon, the building will be closed.Status: False. Any cases of the H1N1 virus will be treated by district policy and will be addressed in a similar manner to seasonal flu. There are no plans to close school due to the virus. It is difficult to determine exactly how many students and teachers have H1N1, but we do know that at least 20 students have been diagnosed.

shh...rumor millShockingly, schools are full of rumors, some turn out to be true, some are wildly off-base.

Want to know about some ‘news’ you hear in the hall? Drop us a line or e-mail.

Game Night photo courtesy of TSA

academic bRiteSit’s not dead In the medieval history class taught by Darren Withey and Chris Page, a new project has been introduced. The teachers are trying to bring back chivalry. Each female in the class has been given a sheet of paper with every male’s name on it and space to mark good or bad. The male population of the class is encouraged to do things like: hold the door for the ladies, offer to buy them lunch, offer to carry an item, etc.

Sean McGavin

take the fifth Last week during US Government, Chris Page told the class to get out paper for notes, just as he does every day. However, this day turned out much different. Page rattled off the Fifth Amendment, but

this was the extent of our US government lecture. Instead, we ranted about how drug traffickers smuggle cocaine.

Skyler Draper

Good deed goes unpunished I saw a kid trip Monday, then fall face first into the ground, dropping all of his belongings he was holding so closely to his chest. Immediately people helped him by picking a couple papers up or handing him his binder. What a revelation – people actually caring for their fellow persons. Intense.

Curtis Stuck

Can’t get enough Homecoming 2009? Be sure to check out www.jagzone.us starting Oct. 6, for

photos, features and lots of your thoughts on the most spirited week of the year.

03soundtrack: “Dance, Dance” Fall Out Boy09•30•09news

Use your sleeve Rock Canyon, so far this fall, has had 20 reported cases of H1N1in students and one reported case in a teacher. Douglas County School District has not even considered shutting down schools in order to let the sickness pass. However, district-wide newsletters have been sent to notify parents and students of the illness and its symptoms. According to Rock Canyon school nurse Ann Creel, the number of students contracting H1N1 has gone down in the last two weeks. But we are early in the flu season, so the district notes that as the flu season continues, more cases will arise. Despite rumors, the district has no

intention to shut down schools. The school district has taken steps to keep students healthy. These include posting signs in schools to demonstrate the proper way to cough, sneeze, wash hands, and make contact with a sick student. DCSD has actually received state and national attention for its extensive information campaign on H1N1. “I believe that this sickness would not be an issue if students stayed home when they got sick. But students are afraid of falling behind if they miss school, so many attend school despite illness,” said Ethan Coppage ’11. Coppage suffered swine flu earlier this month.

Austin Frankel

Common sense appears to be best defense to latest global pandemic, but simple precautions don’t protect us all

Entrepeneurship

Class is small, but dreams big

AP Human Geography

Second-year classaffects the world

While most students shy away from fancy business terms like entrepreneurship, nine Rock Canyon seniors are drawn towards it. These nine students make up the Entrepreneurship class. For those who are baffled by the word “entrepreneur-ship,” according to dictionary.com an entrepreneur is “a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, esp. a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk” or, in simple words, an entrepreneur is a person who man-ages their own business. “If you want to go into business at all in college take this class in high school because it gives a good founda-tion,” Janna Robinett, teacher of the entrepreneurship class said. The class is also useful in helping students discover what industry they would do best in, or if they should look into another field. Responsibility is an essential trait for the entrepre-neurship students. Between advertising and running the school store it is also a bit of a time commitment. Students take turns spending class time in the school store selling T shirts and other merchandise that they designed and created in entrepreneurship class. From there the students are expected to make up the missed class work on their own time. According to Robinett, “This is the best hands-on experience you can get for running a business.” The entrepreneurship class has a slightly different atmosphere than most. “It’s like a family,” Camille Tan ’10 said, “we share everything, and the class is really flexible. I like it.” Robinett said that most of the students have known each other for four years through FBLA and after all that time they have learned to work together pretty well. Even though the class is more time consuming than most, it’s a good start to a future in the business world, according to all involved. The interest in entrepreneurship at Rock Canyon may be small right now, but these students are definitely not afraid to dream big.

Madelyn Falk

“Fair is not equal,” science teacher Jessica Muniz’s philosophy of teaching. Muniz teaches a biology class that is designed for students with ADD, ADHD, and other learning disabilities. Teaching a class with students who have learning disabilities, like any class, has its challenges, such as time manage-ment, students having low self-esteem, and students feeling bad because they need more time to grasp a certain con-cept, but Muniz doesn’t let that prevent her from doing the labs that her other classes are doing. “We did a lab looking at Beta fish and what makes them angry, and coming up we are doing a pig dissection,” Abigail Fuselier ’12, said. To keep the confidence of the students up Muniz has initiated a system called “filling the bucket” which gives each kid goals to reach. Once they reach them their “bucket” is filled. “To get a bucket other students nominate you,” Fuselier said. “[To get nominated] you give other people com-pliments, encourage them and help them out if they need it.” Once there are 30 nominations for a bucket, the class has a celebration. “Every two weeks we have a bucket celebration to celebrate all the students have accomplished,” Muniz said. Another of Muniz’s students is in a regular class, but is dealing with hearing impairment, rather than ADD or ADHD. “A student in my Aquatic Biology (Eliza Anderson ‘10) class that is listening impaired has had no problem thriving in the class and keeping up with the rest of

One of those choices is Advanced Placement classes, also known as AP classes. One AP class that is accessible here is AP Human Geography. This class is only offered during one period, third, and is taught by Melinda Emch. “I really wanted to teach this class because I LOVE World Geography and I think this class really teaches the students how to think more in depth and have a higher reasoning level,” Emch said about the class. In this class, Emch goes over the topics of popula-tion, migration, in depth study on culture, like religion, ethnicity, and language. They also study political geogra-phy, and end with the year talking about building cities. “So far we have talked about Population and Migra-tion and I have loved this class,” Eric Jong ’13, said. “I wanted to take it to be a challenge, and keep me enter-tained, not bored with World Geography. Mrs. Emch is an amazing teacher and she makes this class so much more fun.” All grades are able to take this AP class. In Emch’s class there are 31 students and 6 of them are seniors. “It is so much fun to be a senior in this class,” Sara Kleinkoph ’10, said. “The only thing is there are all dif-ferent kinds of thinking levels, since we have all grades. But as a senior I get my work done faster which is always great! “I never liked regular World Geography but when I saw this class I wanted to take it. This class is about more current problems and I love Mrs. Emch as a teacher. I have had her every year since I was a freshman.” In this class one of the main focuses is how humans affect the world and how the world affects humans. If you would like to take a faster past World Geography class and talk more about the physical side in this topic be sure to sign up for AP Human Geography class next year.

Lacy Hardaway

Giving science students a chance

Muniz focuses on

the class despite her disabilities,” Muniz said. “When we did a lab by taking water samples at a river she had no problem keeping up with the rest of the class and getting her work done.” “I was born deaf,” Anderson said, “but I wear a cochlear implant (CI) that is surgically implanted in my head behind my right ear. It transmits sounds into FM radio signals and travels through an internal wire leading to my brain for interpretation of sound.” Anderson hasn’t let her lack of hear-ing slow her down; she takes normal classes and plans on attending college in the fall. “I am taking regular classes with mostly science extracurricular,” Anderson said. “That’s what I want to do in life after college, do biology or chemistry.” Fuselier admires Muniz’s teaching style and her way of leveling out the playing field for those with a learning disability. “While some students may get to use their notes on a test or get a little extra help it may not seem fair but they need the help,” Fuselier said. “No student left behind is something Mrs. Muniz believes in.”

Amanda Becker

Jessica Muniz takes students though a lesson in Biology. Photo by Amanda Becker

touch of class

meet your senior royalty candidates – vote today in advise!

Jessie Salus Jody Hunt Megan Spradling Whitney Prior

Cole Christensen Connor Reagen Reid Carter Tanner Krietemeier

I feel very honored that everyone thought of me when we were do-ing nominations. I’m so excited for the events that we get to be part of.

I am thrilled to be nominated for royalty and think it will be a fun experience. I am so excited for the game on Friday.

I am really excited to be part of this years Homecoming royalty I am glad to see that new people, like myself, have been nominated. This is the cherry on top of my senior year!

Being nominated for homecoming royalty has truly enhanced my HC experience HC year. I can’t wait to participate in the events this week and to be more involved in the festivities then I ever have been before. This has been the best Homecoming ever.

I am absolutely thrilled to be nomi-nated. It’s a dream come true!

No comment. It’s sweet! I’ve never been apart of this before, it’s a good experience.

I can’t wait.

MCT Campus News Service

New data from the CDC indicates there have been 936 deaths and 10,082 hospitalizations from flu since August 30th. The data includes 572 flu-related deaths and 5486 hospitalizations in the past week.

JUNIORS:Heather ScottMadison StrimbuHannah WilsonKyle HawkinsStefan McLarenLevi Orlady

SOPHOMORES:Kelsey KarstKaitlin ReisigCourtney SchellengerBrandon BrouletteRobbie BrouletteAJ Cocetti

FRESHMEN:Adrienne GulliaSavannah SliferAlexis SunshineTommy HarrisonAxel LarsonBenjamin Ruh

All voting will be done in Advise this morning. Each Advise votes for their

own class nominees, plus the senior class nominees. Nominees were chosen after a

preliminary vote two weeks ago.

Nominees will be part of the parade Thursday, will be presented during

Friday’s assembly, and crowned at half-time of the football game Friday night.

04 soundtrack: “Dance, Dance” Fall Out Boy09•30•09

volunteering & community service

Passion for service Senior Kortney McPherson has taken community service to a whole new level. Volunteering at her church, teaching vacation Bible school, actively serving as a member of the Key Club, and tutoring children are more than just her community service – they are her passion. McPherson discovered this passion at the age of seven through teaching at her church. Since then, she has served the community in a variety of fashions, which made her a fitting nominee for Rock Canyon’s “stu-dent of the month.” Today she continues to serve through the Key Club, and by volunteering at two different tutoring centers, Whiz Kids and Girls Inc. She has been volunteering at Whiz Kids for one year; she has got-ten to know and tutor an elementary school student named Christina. This year, she started volunteer-ing at Girls Inc., a center where elementary school girls come to get help on homework. Through these programs McPherson has already accumulated over 250 hours of community service. “I love working with the girls, and I think I do well with younger kids,” said McPherson. On a typical day at Girls Inc., McPherson arrives at about 4 p.m. and watches the 5th and 6th grade girls as they play amongst themselves for 30 minutes. After this, they grab some snacks and then split up into groups of four or five for homework help. McPherson then works with this group and helps each girl with her homework, ranging from science projects to math problems. Often times she makes up examples to help them understand the concepts. “I think the hardest part is trying to recall rules from so long ago, and remembering where I was at that level,” said McPherson. Tutoring at Girls Inc. also takes leadership as it can be difficult to keep the girls under control.

“Sometimes the girls have problems among them-selves, but never do they have many problems with me,” said McPherson. “They’re pretty good about listening to me and doing what I tell them.” An incredible amount of responsibility was put on McPherson when a fire drill occurred. She needed to get all the girls in her group out of the building as quickly as possible while making sure not to lose any in the

chaos. McPherson ended up getting them out of the building in under a minute, without a single girl unac-counted for. In addition to men-toring, McPherson also converses and socializes with the girls, and gets to know each of them on a personal level. “You have to balance interacting with the kids in a fun way while being a teacher,” said McPherson. One student, after com-pleting her homework, wanted to play hangman

with McPherson. Since she spoke fluent Spanish, they played the game using Span-ish words allowing the girl to have fun while learning. “Kortney is really good at helping me with my math homework, and is really fun,” said Maricruz Torrez, a 10-year old girl who attends Girls Inc. McPherson tutors with a woman named Carla, a physical therapist who is also new to the program. “I think this is very important for girls, and helps them out a great deal,” said Carla. “The only time they are ever difficult is when they have too much sugar.” On top of assisting the girls with their school assign-ments, McPherson and Carla are also leading the stu-dents in a project, called the Sally Ride Tour Challenge, in which the girls break off into teams of 5 or 6, build a toy together, and then do a presentation on it, allowing them to learn and participate in activities beyond their daily homework load.

Matt Rabon

McPherson finds joy in tutoring elementary students, teaching Bible school

Something she really cares about For Junior Ellen Pherson every Sun-day morning means a rain storm of “cats and dogs”. Pherson combines her passion for animals and desire to serve in order to help change the world, her corner of it anyway. This has led her to become an inspiration to others around her. She has volunteered at the buddy center for six months now, making it a very important part of her life. “Originally I applied to volunteer just to get my hours in,” Pherson said, “But now I have become so close to the animals. I love feeling like I am part of something that makes a difference.” Every Sunday Pherson spends part of her day with orphaned dogs and cats, in what the buddy center calls “Kitty Corner” and “Canine Courage.” She plays with the animals, taking them out on walks, and giving them the comfort they

would normally receive. Now that Pher-son has spent time working with the dogs and cats, she is becoming an Adopting Counselor. “It will be a lot of work but I love seeing people adopt animals,” she said. “After they adopt them it makes me feel like I have made a difference.” Pherson deals with many heart tug-ging situations involving lost, abused, and abandoned animals. “There was a really sweet dog named Buster who only had one leg. No one thought he would be adopted and we were all prepared to put him down. A lady walked in and decided she wanted to look at him. Literally ten minutes later she adopted Buster.” For Pherson its moments like those that make her job worthwhile. Pherson’s co-workers are inspired by

Junior gives part of her Sundays caring for orphaned dogs and cats, helping with adoptions

Kortney McPherson ‘10, works with Maricruz Torrez, a 10-year-old elementary student, during one of their weekly tutorials.

Maricruz works on her math skills, under Kortney’s direction.Photos by Matt Rabon

Kortney with three of the kids she tutors. Photo by Matt Rabon

her enthusiasm for what she does. “Ellen loves her work and always gives 100% effort,” said Christine Walters a five year volunteer for the Buddy Center. Walters and Pherson both agreed that the hardest part about working there is seeing adoptions fall through. “Some people never show again, they call and decide against it, or their kids don’t get along with the animal,” said Walters. However, the Buddy Center is a fun atmosphere and a way for animal lovers to volunteer for something they really care about. “It has filled a hole in my life,” said Pherson. “It’s amazing when you see a family walk out, the kids are smiling and giggling and the dog is wagging its tail. It is such a great feeling.”

Caley-Rae Pavillard

Dave Ferguson/Eric Schmidt: These advisements have joined forces to sponsor a girl from Guatemala City. Each student is expected to donate $7. The money is meant to help take care of Beligica Emira Jotas Castro, it will go towards buying her basic needs. Along with donating money, the classes have decided to write her letters. “It feels good, it feels right.” TJ Jones ’11 says.

David Sapienza: With the students in charge, they are arranging trip to the Ronald McDonald house to service people there. “And in conjunction with my birthday party this year we are also going to try to organize a toy drive for the Holidays!” Says Carly Lombard ’12. These activities are not mandatory but it’s always encouraged to participate in lending a helping hand.

Shawny Fordham: While this class is yet to make a set plan of action, they do plan on getting involved. By second semester they will have a project and will be involved in doing their fair share of community helping.

Erin Toews: “We haven’t made anything for sure for sure but my freshman advise is planning on doing something, especially for the holidays.” Erin Toews says. The holidays are a great time to help others, who knows what clever project they can put together.

Kristy Piccone: The class joined together to collect and deliver school supplies for a Denver Public School elemen-tary. Specifically calculators were delivered. “It was an amazing experience to see the kids so happy and it makes me realize how thankful I am to have the things I have.” Taylor menning ’12 says. Piccone says, “Our goal was to help others in need. My goal was to provide an opportunity for the students to see how appreciative others are when you help them!” Through the year they plan to participate in more community service projects and they are hoping to help another classroom in need.

Reported by Jensen Bliesmer

Advise instructors encourage classes to take on service projects

Pherson holds her favorite kitten in the “cat quarantine.” The buddy center places newborns and stray kittens here that need extra at-tention and care. “I like working with dogs better because they are always happy and friendly,” Ellen said. “This dog just had surgery on its paws.” Photos by Caley Pavillard

05soundtrack: “Send Me an Angel” Real Life09•30•09� ne arts

Looking for angels

� ere’s an overwhelming feeling of pride in the period three drama classroom. � e class is pu� ing on their � rst production of the year; “Look Homeward Angel.” � e students in this class range from � eatre III to Independent Study, and grades from sophomores to seniors. � is is the � rst production put on by this class, and nerves are running high. “It is a drama,” Bria Pellandini ’10, said, “It takes place around 1916-1920, in North Carolina. It is about a fam-ily that owns a run down boarding house.” Pellandini plays Eliza Gant, the mother of the house. “I’m a mean character and my children do not like me. I have a lot of lines; she is a pre� y long winded character.” � e family owns a tombstone marble cu� ing com-pany that does not generate a lot of revenue. “� e di� erence between doing a show through a class, verses through the school is we have a lot less time to rehearse since we only get one class period a day, and we have to focus a lot more,” said Pellandini Sharron � olen ’11, plays Madame Elizabeth, the owner of a local brothel. “My character is very rich and owns a lot of land,” � olen said, “She meets the Gant family because she needs to purchase a tombstone for one of her girls. I want them [the school] to know it is very well done and we have worked very hard. It is a very believable show.” “It [the set] is going to be amazing because I helped build it,” said Morgan Hayes ’12. Hayes plays Mr. Farrell, a � amboyant dance instruc-tor from Tampa. � e understudies and minor characters have to work a lot on the set, since the leads spend so much time on the stage. “Everyone should come see this play because anyone can connect with at least one character,” Pellandini said, “even if they don’t connect with the show.” Alex Tuccy

CHECKING IN WITH THE ARTS

Mark your calendar for these fine arts events

Event– Orchestra Concert

Date-Tuesday, October 6

Support the strings, and don’t miss the orchestra’s fall concert! It is at 7 pm in the theatre. No admission cost.

Event- Look Homeward, Angel

Date-� ursday, October 8

� e � eatre III-IV class presents the theatrical adaptation of � omas Wolfe’s classic coming-of-age novel. � e play is FREE, and all are welcome to see it. It is at 7 pm in the the-atre. Don’t miss it.

Event- Choir Concert

Date-� ursday, October 15

Rock Canyon’s vocal department will be playing a concert in the theatre at 7 pm. Admission is � ee!! � is is a great oppor-tunity to see RC’s spectacualar Mens’ Choir in action.

Event–Auditions for the Spring Musical

Date-TBA

� e auditions for the spring musical, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” will be announced shortly. � e show is a lighthearted look into extreme o� ce politics. Interested? Keep your ears and eyes open for announcements in the upcoming months.

Strings attached A mutant jaguar-grizzly walks among us. Suzie Tellefson, the new orchestra teacher, has taken on some heavy chal-lenges, but there is nothing like a fresh face and new ideas to liven up the music scene. “She’s really nice and she’s challenging us in a way that I don’t think we’ve ever experienced before,” said Courtney Linch ’11. After � ve years of teaching orchestra at elementary schools, Tellefson has moved on to conducting two high school orchestras. Tellefson is a Jaguar when the morning comes around and a Grizzly by afternoon. She teaches at RC in the morning and at ThunderRidge for the remaining half of the day. Making the jump from handling elementary school kids to high school adolescents has been a unique experience. “They both have perks,” says Tellefson, “but they’re very di� erent so it’s hard to compare.”

Jensen Bliesmer

Testoster-tone Who knew that Linkin Park would be the inspiration for Rock Canyon’s newest addition to the performing arts? The idea of Men’s Choir was formed when Ben Bush ‘11, and three of his friends began singing the band’s songs and decided to give the group one more shot. “We had attempted to start the club last year, but it failed, so we actually worked to make it successful this year,” Bush said. The club meets every Monday and Thursday, and has about ten members, including two RCHS teachers: Jack Kennedy and Greg Doan. Sponsor Julia Dale has no-ticed that some members are a bit elusive. “Mr. Doan claims he’s in Men’s Choir, but we have only seen him once,” Dale said. Even though they are missing some members, and hoping for a few more, the csingers are hard at work getting ready for their � rst show on Oct. 15. “Men’s Choir is a really fun experience,” Bush said. “It’s just ironic that our sponsor is a woman.”

Taylor Pettaway

Recreating history The RCHS theatre department is about to share the history of the Holocaust in visual form. The drama of the fall season, “The Diary of Anne Frank,” begins rehearsals Oct. 5. Performances are Nov. 19, 20, and 21 at 7 p.m. Hayley Zulkoski ’11, will be tackling the role of Anne Frank It is anticipated to be a visually and emotionally-crushing play. “I’m ready and excited to take on the role,” Zulkoski said.

Brooke Skinner

One down... Drama Club met Monday to sell t-shirts and sign up for backstage crews for “The Di-ary of Anne Frank.” The club also spent time on � nal plans for its Homecoming � oat. Drama has already produced its � rst main stage show of the year, and rehearsals begin immediately for “Diary,” which will be presented the third weekend of November.

Ernie Kenerski

Advanced drama students direct, act, construct their way to the 1916 South

...because we do not live by prose alone

Q: What is the angel project for?A: It’s for a play that the drama department is doing. They asked me if I could help them build one of their props.Q: Why did you want to be involved with this project?A: I do it to help them out, it’s a good project for art club members. It’s a good way to have di� er-ent departments work together.Q: Have you ever done anything like this before, and how has it inspired you?A: In high school I did � oats for our class, I guess I am drawing upon those experiences.Q: How do you make this statue?A: The � rst process is coming up with a pose for the angel and then you need to make a very sturdy skeleton out of wood and then you add volume to the skeleton, using newspaper and tape. After that you � nish it using a plaster wrap.Q: How will it be used?A: From what I understood from the drama club it will be used as some sort of catalyst but I am sure their creative skills will � nd a place for it in other plays and activities.Q: Are there any personal touches on it?A: I used my own body to model the pose for the angel to get the proportions.

Compiled by Emma Kate Fittes

Q&AWith art teacher Daniel Gonzalez

Q: How did you become involved in this project?A: I went to the � rst art club meeting and that was one of the projects we could do.Q: Is there any inspiration or mo-tivation behind the angel?A: Basically we had to form the angel with news-paper to make it look like a human, so the human body is the inspiration as well as traditional angelic postures.Q: Have you ever done anything like this before?A: In previous art classes I made � gures with paper mache, so it is similar. But this is de� nitely a bigger project.Q: Is there any pressure to get it � awless?A: Well the whole time we were building it we were having fun. So there really wasn’t much pressure but the whole time we were determined to make it look authentic. Q: Are there any personal touches on it?A: We added a toga to it made out of a sheet and an afro, but we are not sure if that s going to make the � nal cut.Q: Why?A: We were just goo� ng around.Q: How will you make it look realistic?A: We haven’t added any of the angel’s features yet, but we are planning on paper macheing someone’s face to get a realistic structure. So far we just looked at our own body parts.

Compiled by Emma Kate Fittes

Q&AWith art student Cristina Vazquez de Mercado ‘11

Jacob Donaldson ‘11, and Ben Bush ‘11, rehearse a scene from the upcoming Theater III play.

Morgan Hayes ‘12, and Drew Goodman ‘10, work on constructing an elaborate porch for the set of “Look Homeward Angel.” Photos by Caley Pavillard

Winter Disease� rough the vast thin echoes,I have to hunt eggs to � nd any laughs.I trudge again through the wet snows,Dampening my soul till I am trapped.

I know they are just my moments,And I wonder about those who know fame.Are they like this? Once again only my � ckle emotions,But I have been broken from all my life’s claims.

� at is me, dancing � akes in my river bed picking smooth stones,� rough perpetual overcast hope is the � ssured sun ray. And I cannot re� ect, keep comfort, except through winter’s dead tones,It unlocks me to myself, I will maintain.

Austin Enterline

‘Look Homeward Angel’ – Thursday, October 8 at 7 p.m.

Poetry & ArtCONTESTColorado Humani-ties & Center for the BookFor complete guidelines and entry forms, go towww.coloradohumanities.org and click on the word “Students.” Deadline = Dec. 1, 2009

Writing & Visual ArtCONTESTThe Scholastic Art & Writing AwardsFor complete guidelines and deadlines, go towww.artandwriting.org• 30 categories, including printmaking, photography, painting, mixed media, dramatic script, humor, per-sonal essay/memoir, short story, science � ction/fantasy, jewelry, ceramics & glass, design, � lm & animation, short story... and more

06 soundtrack: “Home” Blake Shelton09•30•09

sports & community

Come support RCHS Athletics

Daz BogCoffee

20% of all proceeds made will go back to the RCHS Athletic Scholarship Fund. Come out and support your school!

Tuesday, October 6that the Castle Pines location

7298 Lagae Road (Castle Pines Parkway) • King Soopers Shopping Center

Current health care causes chaos for Canyon studentA $2 trillion health care crisis a� ects a Rock Canyon transfer student, forcing him to leave Kent Denver at start of his senior year

When I � rst heard we had a transfer student, Shayer Chowdhury ’10, on our tennis team, I expected a drug addict, previously expulsed student; however, he was just another American citizen, victim of the cur-rent health care

system. A� er his father’s heart surgery in April of 2009, Shayer was forced to transfer from Kent Denver High School to Rock Canyon due to � nancial di� culties in relation to his father’s heart surgery. “A� er the surgery, we had to decide how to budget. We were already part of the � nancial aid program and they really couldn’t do any more. As a family we decided it would be best to have me to transfer to Rock Canyon,” said Shayer. Shayer had a� ended Kent Denver from sixth grade on; in his mind he created not only emotional bonds with friends but one with the school itself. He, like many other Americans, was forced to make drastic changes to ensure the health of a fellow family member. Shayer’s father had a valve replacement surgery costing an average of $25,000 in the US, not including follow-up visits, as well as recovery and hospital stay. Nothing in the American health care system is cheap. � e cost of a bone x-ray in Denver averages between $250 and $1100 dollars; the same procedure preformed by our semi-socialist neighbors to the north cost only $75 dollars. “Health Base” is a website that helps people � nd lower medical fees by outsourcing to foreign countries. In Latin America, according to this site, you can � nd medical assistance for about half the price. Medical tour-

ists are the people utilizing foreign medical programs. � e doctors used by these medical tourists are bilingual, and are o� en US/UK board certi� ed doctors seeking higher pro� ts with lower percentage of malpractice lawsuits. Had Shayer’s father had the same surgery in Panama he would have saved around $20,000. If it wasn’t for in� ated medical costs in the U.S., Shayer just might have still been si� ing in AP Calculus class at Kent Denver surrounded by his friends. I am not saying that Shayer’s father should have had the procedure performed in a third world country, I am saying that the United States health care system has some � aws. People in America should not have to fall victim to the health care system, no ma� er their status in the social hierarchy. Some would say that in response to these � aws, we should socialize health care. I say nay. � e idea of social-ized health care appalls me, all the way from my paycheck to my health. On my last paycheck the total amount I received was $181. I had actually earned $196. But, a� er taking out deductions for Medicaid and Medicare taxes, I was le� giving away more than ten percent of my minimum wage to the government. Medicaid is only available for very low-income fami-lies; something for which few Rock Canyon students qualify. So why did I and every other student summer employee give up approximately ten percent of each paycheck to pay for medical care that doesn’t cover our medical costs? It’s because health costs have been driven up by a number of factors including malpractice, insurance, expensive drugs, and an ine� cient system for making sure that those who need help receive it and those that do not need it, don’t receive unnecessary and

costly tests and procedures. � ere are two ways of escaping the American health care system with your life. One is to have the premium insurance, what Michael Sco� from the O� ce calls “the Cadillac plan,” or plan to be so poor that when you show up to the hospital and they try to bill you the check bounces. � e people who really get jammed here in America are those falling in between those two extremes. We call these people “mainstream America.” Shayer’s family got caught in this jam between rich and poor. “We had insurance, however, it didn’t cover every-

thing.” Shayer’s family had insurance, however, with every operation, procedure and doctor visit there is what we call a co-pay. � ese co-pays are what the patient pays in coherence with the insurance company. I, myself, can relate to Shayer’s story having had a very large spine surgery my sophomore year. It cost $82,000 approxi-mately and a� er in insurance my family was le� with a $6,000 dollar co-pay.

Shayer’s father had a six-month recovery, taking time away from work. My whole family sacri� ced in various ways to make it through the rough times of my own six-month recovery, and in the same way, Shayer switched schools. “He had to take some time o� for heart rehabilita-tion, but he has resumed work,” said Shayer. Shayer’s father’s rehabilitation spanned from April of 2009 until the beginning of September. Missing work, unless given disability insurance, is one cost that cannot be covered. As a high school student, I am not any kind of an expert on the health care system. However, I know enough to know when something is not right, and what happened to Shayer was not right. Drew Dodds

THE ANGRYDrew Dodds

“”

As a family we decided it would be best to have me to transfer toRock Canyon.

-Shayer Chowdhury

Got a minute?• The United States spends more on health care than any other industrialized nation in the world• In 1997, health care costs in the US totalled in excess of $1 trillion• The average cost of health care per person in the United States approximated $3,925 in 1997• Lifetime medical costs aver-age approximately $225,000 per person in the US• 18,000 people die each year because they are uninsured• Half of all bankruptcies are caused by medical bills. Three-quarters of those � lings arepeople with health insurance• Administrative costs account for 31 percent of all health care expenditures in the UnitedStates.• The number of people without health insurance continues to increase reaching 43.4 million – 16.1% of our population – in 1997

Compiled by Drew Dodds and

Michael Dempsey

07soundtrack: “Dance, Dance” Fall Out Boy

Purely for the love of the gameUnified soccer is a program run by the special education department to give those students a chance to play sports. Over the past three weeks, both the players and coaches of the Unified team have been puttin gnothing but heart into the game. From far away, it looks like any other soccer game. Two teams, two goals, one ball. But moving closer, you can see that it is anything but an average game. The coaches are laughing and smiling. The fans are rooting for both teams. The play-ers are cheering for each other, opponent or not. At unified soccer, they don’t play because of the game. They play because they can.

For the coaches…A smile spreads across Jen Ottinger’s face as she watches her team from the sidelines. For her, unified is not about the game – it’s about the players. On the sidelines, Ottinger, “Miss Jen” to the players, can be seen coaching the team, helping them to learn the game of soccer, but mainly making sure that the players have fun in doing so. “My favorite part about coaching is just watching the excitement [on the field],” said Miss Jen. “When someone scores a goal, the kids clap and celebrate for minutes after, and meanwhile the other team has scored four goals. But it doesn’t matter – they are just happy for whoever scored.” Miss Jen is not only the unified coach but also one of the special education teachers. She decided to start the uni-fied program with her students after it was created at Chaparral. Both in the classroom and on the field, she not only teaches her students, but learns from them as well. “I love to just see what they can do. They teach us, and they also teach each other,” said Miss Jen. “I love watching them learn things that other people didn’t think they would be able to do. They can do everything other students and players can do, they just do it differently.” As Miss Jen cheers on the team from the sideline, the players often look back at her for reassurance and for advice on what to do next. “Miss Jen is cool and awesome and nice and helps us when we need help,” said Emily Fenton ’11. For the rest of the game, that smile remains constant.

For the peer helpers… A group of students run constantly up and down the field. Never ceasing to cheer on the players, they are filled with a passion to make the most of every game, and make sure that the players are always having fun. The peer helpers of unified

soccer have only one thing in mind: to make sure that the experience for the players is nothing less than perfect. “At certain games I help coach, but I am mainly there for motivation,” said Allie Boatright ’10. “I want to help make [the game] more fun for them.” Allie is one of many peer helpers from school. While the helpers are there to play with the kids and lead by example, they have much more of an effect on the players than simply teaching them the game. “It’s nice to have the peer helpers because it is more exciting for the kids to hear from someone other than an adult,” said Miss Jen. “But I think there is more of an impact on the helpers, and they get more out of it. They learn from the kids.” As the game continues, you can tell that the peer helpers are having as much fun as the players. They are laughing and enjoying themselves every minute, and when they are not on the field, they are rooting on the team from the sidelines. Without them, the game just wouldn’t be the same. “I think the peer helpers are awesome, because so many kids are involved,” said Lisa Stover, mother of players Hunter and Scout Stover. “It’s very nice that the

school gets so involved in the games.” “I like [the peer helpers] a lot,” said Emily. “I can interact with them. Its fun to play with them.” That’s why the peer helpers choose to be there, and why they get so into a game that they are not even playing. They are there to be with the players, to make a connection with them that is unlike any other. “My favorite part is the relationship, and how the kids interact with us,” said Allie. “I love how happy they all are. They can make your day so much better.”

For the parents… In the stands, the energy is as high as it is on the field. The parents are as en-thralled with the game as the players are. And, while beaming at their children on the field before them, they are cheering as loud as they possibly can. “The parents get really excited at the games,” said Allie. “At regular sporting events, parents will just cheer on their own child, but at unified, they are so sup-portive. They cheer for everyone.” While they are at every game support-

ing the team, the parents do not get in the way of the coaches and the peer help-ers; they sit back and watch as their kids create magical moments on the field. “The parents do not get too involved,” said Miss Jen. “But it’s a good thing, because then the kids mainly get to be with their peers.” As the parents watch the game from the stands, their kids constantly look up at them as they cheer, smiles beaming radiantly on their faces. They couldn’t be happier that their parents are there, watching them. “The parents are like ‘Come on! Come on!’ said Emily. “They always cheer for us.” “Here, [the kids] have an opportunity to play sports and learn how to be a team,” said Lisa. “If it wasn’t for this, most of these kids wouldn’t get to play.”

Rock: How did Unified Soccer get started?Boatright: Other schools in the county have them so our Special Ed teacher decided to start a team so these kids could be involved in something within the school.

Rock: What made you want to help out?Boatright: The teacher asked me since I play soccer and I thought it would be a cool op-portunity. I ended up loving it.

Rock: How many kids will be playing this year?Boatright:I think about 20 students will be playing this year from Rock Canyon.

Rock: What is your favorite part about the game?Boatright: I love how happy the kids get and the relation-ships I build with the kids.

Rock: What are you looking forward to this season?Boatright: There are more kids playing so I’m excited for them to get to experience it all and just to see the kids every week.

Rock: Why should students at Rock Canyon come out and watch?Boatright: The kids LOVE it when people come support them. It makes them so excited and they play harder for the fans. Also, it’s just a cool thing to experience.

Compiled by Courtney Schellenger

With peer helper Allie Boatright

The parents are more than thankful that their kids do get that chance. While they realize that unified sports are differ-ent than others, it doesn’t matter to them. “[The kids] feel very excited about it. Playing makes them feel good,”

said Marivel Vazquez de Mercado, mother of Fran-cisco, a unified basketball player. “We get the good part of sports – friend-ship.” They watch the rest

of the game from the stands together, never taking their eyes off the field. For the parents, the magic that happens out there is endless. For the players… Emily runs down the field with the ball, a smile on her face that cannot be mistaken for anything other than pure happiness. “It feels exciting when I play,” said Emily. “We cheer for them [the other team] and each other when we score a goal. It doesn’t matter what team we are on.” The players love every minute out on the field. Emily, playing goalie, cheers on her teammates at the other end. Scout yells, “Good job Andrew!” as he watches from the sidelines, waiting to get back in the game. High fives are all around as Andrew scores. Their support for one another is immeasurable. George Waggett, a sixth grader from Rocky Heights, is one of the youngest players on the team. Still, he loves “every-thing!” about unified soccer. No matter what, George is always smiling, even if he is just on the sidelines. “I love the games, and the program itself, because my son gets to know lots of kids in different grades,” said George’s mother Samantha Wagget. “[Unified] boosts George’s self confidence; I’m glad the kids get a chance to play.” The final whistle blows, and the game is over. It doesn’t matter who won or lost; the kids all celebrate together. They are celebrating the fact that they played a soc-cer game. The fact that they scored goals. The fact that they were just like everyone else.

Paige Newman

I love how happy they all are. They can make your day so much better.–Allie Boatright ‘10

09•30•09sports

Miss Jen congradulates Andrew Moore ‘12, on his efforts in the game after he is subbed out during their game.

Left: Andrew Moore ‘12, and Ashley Harvery’10.Below: Scout Stover ‘14 cheers after his team scores a goal during the game against Highlands Ranch High School last Thursday.Photos by: Paige Newman

Q&A

Balancing act Gymnastics is not a sport for the faint of heart. It’s all about technique, flexibility, beauty and grace. It is one of the only sports where points are taken away from your score, and not added on to them. You are truly scored for perfection.Gymnastics is four events, four judges, and four chances to show everyone what you are truly made of. From the big tricks, down to the last pointed toe.

Floor“The floor event is a 12m x 12m carpeted floor, on which the gymnast performs a 70-90 second routine with an accompanying music piece.” Frances Shea, ‘12, awaits the judge’s salute at the edge of the floor, ready to perform her routine. Her nerves are running wild as the judge tallies up the previous gymnast’s score. She steps out onto the floor, and cheers from her teammates erupted from the sideline. As soon as her music starts, silence breaks and the team is focused solely on Shea. Floor is all about the difficult tumbling passes, and intricate dance moves, and Shea’s routine is nothing short of that, and she was proud of the routine she had preformed. “I pulled a back rooty for the first time,” Shea said. She later described this move as as a double back tuck. She steps off the floor and recieves high fives and hugs from her teammates. For Adrienne Guilla, ‘12, her most challeng-ing moves come while competing on the floor. “One of my hardest tricks would definitely be my Arabian,” Guilla says. As each gymnast completes her floor routine, they are already preparing for the next event.

Vault“On the vault, a gymnast sprints down a 25 meter runway, jumps on a springboard, lands momen-tarily on the vaulting table, and lands on the mat behind. This often includes many airborne stunts.” Vault is the quickest event in the meet, but for some, it can come as a true challenge. The gym-nasts only get 10-15 strides to throw their bodies into the air over a small vault table, and Guilla is up. As she steps onto the runway, there is only one thing on her mind, don’t mess up. “Today was my first meet competing [in all four events],” said Guilla. With the pressure of her own nerves, and everyone else in the room, she can’t help but be nervous. However, Guillla manages to excel under pressure. “Vault was my best event of the day, and I threw a front handspring,” she says. Guilla got two trials on vault, as all gymnasts

do, in order to get the best score possible. The rest of the team completes their own two vault trials and ready themselves for the final events of the evening. As the half way point of the meet has come and gone, there are only two events left, and the gymnasts are more than prepared. Uneven Bars“On the uneven bars, a gymnast moves between 2 parallel bars at different heights. During the routine, they may pass over, under, and in between the two bars.” Guilla adds the last bit of chalk to her grips and steps up to the bars. She breathes in deeply, ready to show everyone her talent. “For me, the hardest event of the meet is bars, because it requires a lot of concentration,” said Guilla. Her concentration is seen on her face, as she blocks out everything around her and mounts the bar. None of the coaches or the gymnasts can breathe easy, as her routine leads up to one of her most ambitious tricks. “Along with my Arabian on floor, one of my hardest tricks is my giant on bars,” said Guilla. As she executes the giant, all that can be heard is the squeaking of her grips as they rotate around the bar. There is silence as she lets go to complete her dismount. As her feet hit the mat, not only does chalk fly, but so do the voices of her team.

Beam“The beam event is a choreographed routine from 60-80 seconds long, that is preformed on a four foot tall, 4 inch wide beam. This event requires extra balance, flexibility, and strength.”

It is an intimidating, skinny wooden beam which would ruin your score if you were to fall off. But that doesn’t stop the gymnasts. “My best event was beam, I did my full for the first time, and managed to stick it. My score improved by two points,” said Ashley Poindexter ‘12. Although Poindexter can now relax with her best routine of the night behind her, Lindi Riley ‘12 cannot breathe so easy. As her routine progressed, it was clear that she was feeling confident, nailing every trick she attempted. By the end, she couldn’t be happier. “Beam was my best event, I pulled a front full, and I didn’t even fall!” she says. Justinne Guilla ‘11 was also excited, because she was finally allowed to compete. “I have tendonitis in the 4 main tendons in both of my elbows, and my meniscus in my knee is tearing, and I also have cysts growing under my kneecaps,” Guilla said a few weeks prior. The moves they attempt every day have the potential to seriously injure the gymnast for any slight slip up. “This is the first time I competed during this season because of my injuries. I competed beam, and I did very well!” said Guilla. The mood of the team was optimistic, as they packed up after another long meet. There is no doubt that gymnastics is an ex-tremely competitive sport. Gymnasts practice every day, attempting to perfect anything that they can. But, at the end of the day, it is more than just the scores that matter. It is the friends they make, the lessons they learn, and the opportunities that they are presented with that matter the most.

Sara Heyn

Different events bring different challenges to the table for the gymnasts

Left: The Rock Canyon Gymnastics team gest pumped up before the meet in a team huddle. Below: Ashley Poindexter competes on bars in the meet at heritage. Photos by Sara Heyn

“Quoted”The golf play-ers give an up-date on their season and their hopes for state.

“The season is going really well, our worst has been third place.”

-Brendon Conolly ‘11

“I played middle school golf last year, but our golf team here is more organized, fun and a lot better.”

-Josh Gardella ‘13

“We’ve had four wins, four second places, and one first place. We’re currently first in continental league.”

-Drew Schneider ‘10

“I think we’ve improved a lot, we’ve got a lot of good freshmen, and the coaching is a lot better this year.”

-Matt Porter ‘10

“We have a lot of good players and we’re more experienced this year.”

-Cory Thelen ‘10

The boys fin-ished their final

practice yes-terday and are ready for state play to begin.

Left: Matt Porter ‘10. Center left: Brendon Conolly ‘11. Center right: Cory Thelen ‘10. Right: Brendon Conolly ‘10 playing the Saddle Rock Course on the 17th. Photos by Lauren Scheirman

Frances Shea ‘12

compiled by Alyssa jones

08 soundtrack: “Pump It” Black Eyed Peas09•30•09

sports

09soundtrack: “Burn it to the Ground” Nickelback09•30•09sports

Wacky weather causes problemsThe weather this past week forced some schedule changes, however, the jags managed to not lose their focus. As the softball team moves into week six, the team continues to get stronger as a group through each game. “Each game, were bonding a lot more and were start-ing to work together better. We are learning each other’s mentality, and we are beginning to find out the people you can yell at and will perform better and the people you have to be nicer to,” said starting pitcher Melanie White ’11. “We hope to make it far in the playoffs,” said head coach Debbie Kortbowi. “One of our hardest opponents would be Regis because they are the only other 4A in the conference so it’s more of a rivalry game.”

A Superstitious Start With almost any sport, there are always certain play-ers who have superstitions. This year’s softball team is no different. Pitcher Melanie White begins her preperation for the game by eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “I just do,” said White. “I like the peanut butter and it gives me protein.” Not only that, but putting on her socks and shoes consists of a methodical method. “I put on my right sock first and then I put on my left one. Then I put on my right shoe and then my left and I finish by tying my right shoe first and then the left.” White isn’t the only one who has superstitions on the softball team. For head coach Kortbowi, superstition is a common thing in sports. “Baseball and softball are very superstitious sports by nature,” Kortbowi said. “I have to have the lineup done

before everyone gets here and there can be no bats cross-ing in the dugout during the game.”

Rollercoaster Ride This past week, the Jags played two games: one against Heritage and one versus Mountain Vista, despite the sporadic weather. The weather when the Jags played Heritage on Fri-day, September 18th, featured sunshine and not a single drop of rain. The crowd was perfectly content wearing flip-flops, short-sleeve shirts and shorts. However, the following week’s weather caused a scheduling snafu. Because of the rain on Monday, September 21, the game against Mountain Vista was postponed until the next day. Even though the game was played the following night, the rain continued to fall and created very difficult playing conditions. “I wouldn’t say we were less focused,” said White after the game. “It was just really hard to stay focused because we were so cold and wet. Then on Wednesday, their game against Highlands Ranch was postponed to October 6th because of the constant rainfall throughout the day. The game against Heritage went down to the wire and was decided when Allie McCloskey ’13 singled up the middle and brought in Jessie Salus ‘10 from second base breaking the tie score of 0. The rest of the game was decided by Melanie White and the defense. White threw a 7-inning shutout which was fueled by the solid defense which featured a double

Left: Melanie White ‘11 pitching. Above: Taylor Dunn ‘13 fields a fly ball and throws it back in to the coach. Dunn attends Denver Chritian but plays for Rock Canyon. Photos By: Lauren Scheirman

play turned by McCloskey in the bottom of the fourth inning. The following Tuesday, however, pitching and hitting took a backseat in the game against Mountain Vista. The Jags lost 8-3 in a rain-soaked game with freezing temperatures. “Because of the cold, we don’t hit as well,” said Mc-Closkey. “We weren’t very awake.” Despite the overall loss, by the 7th inning the team began to pick up their game. They began to play better as a team. “I think when the game was almost over, we started hitting better,” said McCloskey. “We started to focus a lot more.” However, once the game ended, everyone was ready to go home. The freezing temperatures had gotten to most of the players. “When I get home, I’m going to take a shower and eat some Mac & cheese,” said Salus.

Coming Together As always, at the beginning of every new year, a new group of players join the Varsity squad. For head coach Kortbowi, getting everyone on the same page is very important. “We are going to have a team dinner and make tee-shirts,” said Kortbowi. “This will help the players get to know each other better and help them to begin trusting each other.”

Zach Tornabene

I’m extremely happy we won our first home meet, everyone is really pushing themselves.

-Jacob Dysart ‘12

We have received 7 out of 8 first place team awards in our last two meets. We are doing very well in 4A races and reasonably well racing in 5A

-Adam Gerken ‘12

So far, it looks like we will make it to state. We have placed very well in the meets.

-Brandon Bulmer ‘12Compiled By:

Sean McGavin

Left: Levi Orlady ‘11, Erick Olsen ‘11, Danny Kappes ‘11 and Stephen Theodore ‘12 follow closely behind a opposing runner during the first home cross country meet ever held at Rock Canyon. Above: Levi Orlady ‘11 streatches with the team while preparing to for his race in the meet. The team won three out of four of the races at their first ever home meet. Photos by: Lauren Packer

Cross Country

Rock: How many years have you played?Eggett: I began playing softball my freshman year at RCHS.

Rock: What team are you on?Eggett: I am currently the Captain of the JV team.

Rock: What position do you play?Eggett: I play 2nd base, or anywhere the coaches would like me to go. There are frequent changes in positions to try new things, to see what works, and what we can improve on.

Rock: How does the team this year compare to last year?Eggett :Speaking for JV, personally, I know our team is immensely more focused, and we are exceptional friends on and off the softball field. We know how to have fun, work hard AND win!

Rock: How does your diabetes affect your playing?Eggett: When my blood sugar is low, I am incoherent and shaky, so the coaches keep me on the bench. When my blood sugar is high it can be due to the adrenaline from the game, which actually can help me to either be excited, fast, and happy, or frustrated, slow, and angered.

Rock: What do you and the team do to prepare before each game?Eggett: We throw grounders, “pop-flies”, jog, review batting order and starters, fill our cheeks with Dill Pickle flavored Spitz Seeds, and hurrah out a magnum opus of a cheer!

Rock: What team are you guys worried about playing this year?Eggett: We all anticipated the D’Evelyn game, for they hurt our beastly alumni, Sam White, last year! Other than that, Mountain Vista is always one to look forward to.

Compiled by Jennifer Burton

Q&AWith JV captianAubrey Eggett ‘12

10 soundtrack: “If Today Was Your Last Day” Nickelback09•30•09

sports

Lady Jags endure grueling week of gamesThe varsity volleyball team played three home games back-to-back-to-back this past Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday In order to succeed in volleyball: think about your elephants. A technique unique to the varsity volleyball team, when there is a bad play or the girls are getting discouraged, head coach Ashley Tussing reminds them of their “elephants.” “We get mental. And in a circus, when they are train-ing elephants to sit or stay, they use a cement block. Over time, they just use a wooden stake instead of the block. So it teaches the girls to lighten up after a bad play and shake it off,” Tussing explained. “So over time, they won’t need to be told to lighten up anymore, it will just come naturally.” According to assistant coach Jeremy Newman, the girls break under pressure when they get negative during games. “We win one, and then we just don’t show up for the second,” said Newman. The amount of positive mentality that goes into win-ning a volleyball match is staggering, unperceivable to anyone but a player when it’s game point and your serve, with a bench full of teammates who are all counting on you to bring it home. The mental game of volleyball is as important as, if not more important than, the physical game. This past week brought new physical and emotional challenges to the Jaguars as they experienced three back-to-back home games, all against rivals. To make matters worse, many of the leading players were benched with injuries and illness, and Sydney Hunter ’11, was asked to play middle hitter, a position she had never played before. The week was an uphill battle and physically gru-eling, and proved to be the ultimate test of their strength as a team and individual mental endurance.

*** It’s “Pack the Gym” night and the Rock Canyon gym is incandescent. If it isn’t the cracking, charcoal, face paint lining the faces of thundering seniors, it’s the glow off the wooden floors, lined with spandex-clad high school girls. School rival, Castle View, gave us an easy victory in the first game. Their blockers were no match for the resounding slam of senior Kenzi Mitzner’s hit from the outside position. “Way to work it!” Tussing yelled from her crouch-ing position by the bench. But not all is well in this seemingly breezy game. Serves are missed left and right and as a result of Mitzner’s increased hitting, Castle View lightly tips the ball over the net again and again, gaining points. The score quickly becomes 23-16 with Castle View coming back. With every tip, with every missed serve, with every hustle that ends in a clamorous dog pile, Tussing bangs her neon orange clipboard against her knee and looks down. The first game ends in a Rock Canyon victory, but in a sport where the objective is to win three out of five games, complacency is the kiss of death. When the second game begins, Tussing immedi-ately notices a change in her players.

“We’re slow,” she said banging her clipboard as the first pass to Mitzner soars into the stands and the second hit from Alison Forrester ’10, is missed. Pack the Gym night is hampering the girls’ con-centration, and along with that, communication. After numerous failed plays and with the score 3-5, Tussing called a time out. “Stop playing for the audience,” Tussing scolded. In this close-knit team huddle, the gymnasium is far

too loud to keep this pep talk anything but brief. “They’re watching you, you don’t watch them,” she firmly closed, casting a brief glance at the stands. The pep talk is just what the girls need. The score quickly becomes 13-13 due to the hustle of Mer-edith Rollins ’10, who is running all over the court to save numerous sloppy passes.

*** The second game against

Castle View is just as sloppy. Countless missed serves bring even more countless bangs of the neon orange clipboard. The game ends in a Rock Canyon win, with a missed serve by Castle View and a final score of 25-19. As referee Rich Freehling put it, the second game made this night a lot more interesting.

*** As the rowdy crowd jumps aggressively to the “Do it, Do it” cheer, a team huddle is called in the third game against Castle View in an attempt to stop the one handed passing that has become prevalent. “We need to pick up our passing,” Tussing said, scan-ning the faces of the girls who keep glancing to the score-board: 13-10. Rock Canyon has the lead but everyone knows the score should be higher. “We have got to bring it, we are better than this,” Tus-sing concludes as the girls head out onto the court again. Minutes later, the score becomes 16-13 as Mitzner nearly knocks down a Castle View player, but as Castle View scrambles to receive the ball off of their teammates backlash, she winds up and puts the point away in a second hit. “She is the smartest player in the room,” Tussing said to the other coaches on the bench about Mitzner. Although many admire Mitzner and other volleyball players for their displays of sheer power, the ability to play smart is what makes a volleyball player great. Strong hitting is required to make it to the next level, but if a player can’t assess when and where to put a strong hit down, it’s all worth nothing. “I would take a smart player over an olympic-level player any day,” said referee Michelle Fix-Westall.

The strategy involved with the sport of volleyball may be imperceptible to the spectators, but all coaches and players appreciate individuals who use their brains while on the court under pressure.

*** The night ends with a Rock Canyon victory, winning three consecutive games against Castle View. The girls run through a human tunnel, a nice change from the usually empty bleachers and solemn nights. “The first game was awesome because we had the pack the gym night,” said Mitzner. “Thanks to the foot-ball guys!” But coach Tussing is not pleased with the overall performance. “We did poorly tonight, we played down,” Tussing said in a team meeting after the game. The girls unani-mously nod and agree to bring the intensity tomorrow. If the enthusiasm and mental readiness isn’t there, the girls know there will be no chance of a victory against Arapahoe High School, the team that’s ranked fourth in the state.

*** The second home game in a row against Arapahoe and the girls are already feeling the pressure. Tonight, they play a state-ranked team and team leader Mitzner has come down with flu symptoms. Seniors Emily Miller and Ashley Norton are benched due to injuries. Another senior, Victoria Burdon, is on leave due to citizenship and visa problems. Worried eyes scan an empty gym. School support is needed tonight, but it seems the girls will have to do without and press on. The buzzer sounds and the game starts as the senior team captains, Mitzner and Caitlen Pogue, walk onto the court.

*** The score is 17-14 and despite their lead, the girls are getting pounded. Mitzner takes a strong hit to the face and two others but she still manages to pass as lebaro Sierra Andersen ‘11, is feeling the heat in the back row. It’s all up to her whether the play is successful because, according to Tussing, “It all starts with the pass.” As the piercing Arapahoe hits fall heavily on the back row play-ers, Tussing calls a time out. “Get our defense up and butts down,” Tussing says the scoreboard reads 20-16. “If we dig them, they’ve got nothing.” Moments later and the mood in the gym is hopeful. The score is 24-19 and the girls on the bench are at the edge of their seats. But a missed serve and the bang of a clipboard send the ball back to the Arapahoe side. With only one point to go, Arapahoe dribbles the ball back to the serve line. Rock Canyon is on serve receive and Tussing senses the girls’ intimidation. They cannot give up all their hard work now. “Right now we only have one point, that’s it,” Tussing

“”

Remember your elephants.-Ashley Tussing

Above: The team holds candy in their hands as they await to be announced. Below: Mackenzie Mitzner ‘10 gets ready to follow through and finish off the point. All Photos by Zach Tornabene

Left: Nicole Modesitt ‘10 prepares to dive for a ball that was served to her by assistant coach Jeremy Newman. Before each game, the girls would line up and both coach Tussing and assistant coach New-man would give them tough balls to try to return. Below: Caitlen Pogue ‘10 gets ready to serve as Sydney Hunter ‘11 waits for the return. Photos By Zach Tornabene.

continued next page

said, looking at every girls’ face. “We are playing crisp and we are playing clean, all we have to do is stick a pass.” The team huddle works as the jags experience a three point win in the first game. Before the second game starts, Tussing sees the need for a reality check to make sure the girls don’t get too comfortable with their win.“We gotta do a better job of doing our job. We need to work on staying in rotation. We were playing not to lose instead of playing to win,” Tussing said. The huddle ends and after Meghan Tietze ’11, stands and gives everyone on the bench a round of high fives.

*** Arapahoe is missing serves, which gives Rock Can-yon a boost, but it won’t be enough. A score of 11-20 brings Modesitt back to serve, the hope of a comeback lays at her feet. But just as quickly as it had come, the hope was gone as Modesitt missed the serve and the second game ends in an Arapahoe victory. Right now, the team is its own worst enemy. “Pass a ball, set a ball, hit a ball,” Tussing said in a huddle before the third game. “We need to pull Mitzner off the bottom of the rope, she needs our help. We all need to do our jobs,” there is a pause before she speaks again, and then, “Think about your elephants.”

*** Despite the continued serves missed, the jags are finding their rhythm. Andersen is hustling all over the court to retrieve passes gone awry. Middle hitter novice, Hunter, is doing phenomenally according to Tussing, considering that she doesn’t have much experience play-ing this position. “This is my first time playing middle since I was thirteen,” Hunter said. “But it’s always good to learn new positions.” Tussing smiles from her sideline position while Hunter gets a hit against Arapahoe, making the score 17-17. Without Sydney, the team would be lacking enthusiasm. “When she gets a kill, the whole team explodes,” Tus-sing explained. “They all rile around her.” The fervor is showing and with a score of 22-21, Tus-sing calls for a time out. “We’re playing aggressive and we’ve got the momen-tum,” Tussing said. The girls smile and mutter “yeah” in agreement as the huddle concludes with, “Let’s win this.”Minutes later the third game ends. 23-25 and the loss can be read on all the faces in the gym. There is no crowd tonight to cheer the players up, it’s up to them to let go of their past two losses and win the next two games. “This is exhausting,” said Teresa Rollins, mother of senior varsity player, Meredith. “It’s the first time in four years here that we have had three home games sched-uled like this. They look kind of dead, they have less energy.” This lack of energy may be attributed to the flu symp-toms experienced by team leader, Mitzner. “It’s been making me really tired lately, but I am working through it,” said Mitzner. The fourth game begins as Tussing recounts the 14 missed serves they have had tonight. “That’s almost an entire game worth of missed serves,” Tussing said. If they want to win the next game they can not afford those “unforced errors.”

*** The fourth game is shaping up much like the third. Missed serves and missed passes by both teams keep things evenly matched, but when it comes down to crunch time with a score of 20-23, Tussing pleaded with the girls to find some aggression. “Fight right now, just stick a pass,” said Tussing, pounding her clipboard. “It’s only five points, push to the finish line.” Play after play, the serve receive switches off from Arapahoe to Rock Canyon but the low level of energy isn’t enough as a powerful hit from Arapahoe leaves the final score at 25-27, giving the girls a loss for the night, but a chance to go home and rest. The girls sit quietly on the hard wooden floor in the dark auxiliary gym after the Arapahoe match. The girls have a team huddle after every match, but this one con-sists of hushed voices and drooping eyes. “I’m very proud overall,” said coach Tussing. “You fought hard for two of the four games,” she said with a laugh. “We only need one more win to make it to the playoffs. We have a huge chance to win the league title.”

*** Victoria Burdon, a senior that has been absent the past two nights due to prob-lems with her visa, has returned tonight. Although she cannot play, any morale boost from the bench is appreciated. Tus-sing is dressed in all black except for khaki pants and her bright blue wristwatch, and tonight, instead of the usual yellow pencil shoved into her messy brown ponytail, there is a halloween pencil in its place. The crowd is larger, reminiscent of Tuesday’s Pack the Gym night, containing many seniors coming to support the team. “I think they go 110 percent out there, they are laying out everywhere,” said Gary Davis ‘10. “I think the more they get into it, the more we do,” added Keith Link ‘10.Tonight will give the girls a chance to re-cover from their exhausting match against Arapahoe and hopefully, add another win

to their season against Thunder-Ridge, who beat the number one ranked team Chaparral.

*** Spirits are high and Mitzner and Hunter are hitting smart. Caitlen Pogue ’10, is assist-ing Hunter in setting blocks, and the ThunderRidge players can’t break through, but while Hunter and Pogue are excelling, another senior is declining. Meredith Rollins ‘10, a setter, sets the second ball over the net instead of to a hitter, caus-ing Tussing to bang her clipboard twice. A missed serve by Rollins brings another bang, but the team isn’t feeling the hurt. The game ends 25-21 with a smooth transition into the second game. They have a chance at victory. “Are you hungry for a league championship?” asked a smiling coach Tussing, during a team huddle before the second game. The look on the girls’ faces and the energy in the huddle is a

unanimous “Yes.”***

A time out due to the mixing up of ThunderRidge lebaro’s sparks the first of many tedious rotation time outs, frustrating the girls and coaches. Once the game is on track again, Modesitt walks back to serve, but misses, as Tussing yelled “Shake it off.” She is in good spirits tonight. A ThunderRidge player with a mean jump serve disorients the Jags, but they don’t let it intimidate them for the score quickly becomes 24-18, and a missed ThunderRidge serve scores the game away as a Rock

Canyon victory. The crowd does the “We Are Marching” cheer. The air is jubilant, tonight is just what they need to erase last night’s memory.

*** Coach Ashley Tussing’s daughter, Avery, walks into the gym just as the third game is starting. Tussing’s face lights up at the sight of her daughter’s round face. “I’m afraid that’s about to burst open and go everywhere,” Tussing said nervously when she notices that her daughter is carrying a large purple Pixie Stick the size of her whole body. But as the buzzer sounds and the girls take their positions, Tussing puts her parenting cap to the side and picks up her orange clipboard. The third game is starting, and neither of the previous wins matter if they can’t bring the energy to the third game.

*** The first big hit of the game goes to the middle hitter neophyte, Hunter, bring-ing the score to 3-0. The game is off to a flying start, perhaps this will be the game where their pattern is broken. Mitzner fires up for her approach and slams the hit through the Thunder-Ridge block. She is recovering from her

lethargic flu symptoms and it shows. She’s been on varsity since she was a freshman, and she’s been the kill leader every year, but it will take more than Mitzner’s kills to win this game. A perfectly placed set from ThunderRidge is too much for Andersen, who couldn’t make it in time. The score board reads 16-18, but by the atmosphere on the bench, you would think they were down by ten. “Start talking, deep breaths. Do your job, this is all mental,” said Tussing in a huddle during a time out. “Find your elephant, this is our game.” The girls take the court once more and in a stroke of luck, a red card against the ThunderRidge coach brings the ball to Rock Canyon to serve as anxious eyes glance at the electronic numbers reading 17-20. A hit by Rollins from the right outside brings the score to 24-24. Biting her nails, Tussing calls a timeout, nervously pounding her clipboard on her way into the huddle. “This is the biggest point of our life,” said Tussing, and even as the girls laugh at the immense exaggeration, they all know that if they want to go home, they need to fight for these next two points. Another reverberating hit by Rollins brings the score to 25-24, but the absence of a hitter in the next play ties the score 25-25. ThunderRidge wins the next point and Tussing is kneeling on the sidelines. The next play is fast and swift. ThunderRidge sets up a fast paced hit and the loss doesn’t register with the team or the crowd until moments later. They cannot go home yet, they must play a fourth game with the exhaustion of the week weighing on their shoulders.

*** “Beautiful Sydney!” yelled Tussing from the side-lines. Hunter, playing smart, hits straight on the back corner line, a perfect spot. Pogue strategically sets a second ball to the back corner, another perfect spot. 17-13 and Modesitt misses a serve: 4 bangs of the clipboard. The serve comes back to the Jaguar side when ThunderRidge misses a hit. Hunter is up to serve. 22-14 and Hunter serves one of the very rare aces of the night, as the court and bench erupt around her in triumph. Another serving ace brings the score to 23-15 and when ThunderRidge touches the ball four times in the next play, the score becomes 24-15. A triumphant end to a positive night, Mitzner swoops in for the hit to make the final score 25-17. The wild throng of spectators form a tunnel for the players, a great end to an exhausting week. “We’ve never played three nights in a row,” said lebaro Andersen. “I think we are both physically and mentally tired.”

***

Nevertheless, the week ended on a high note. Win-ning two out of three games against Rock Canyon school rivals, including a team that beat the top rated 5A team, served as a motivation boost for the players. “They really want to take state this year,” said parent Lorrie Tietze. “We are taking it one match at a time.” As each game comes and goes, the team continues to grow as a unit. “They’re really pulling together more recently,” said parent Teresa Rollins. “Volleyball requires everyone to play; you can’t have one player be a superstar.”

Kate Ready

Above: Sydney hunter ‘11 goes up to spike the ball but it blocked by two Arapahoe players during the Wednes-day night game. Below: Nicole Modesitt ‘10 watches as Mackenzie Mitzner ‘10 gets ready to block a spike by the ThunderRidge team. Photos By Zach Tornabene

Clockwise from left: The crowd jumps up in attempt to catch the candy thrown by the vol-leyball players during pack the gym night. As the players were announced, they ran towards the crowd and threw a handful of candy. The first was against Castle View High School. Kenzie Mitzner ‘10 cheers after scoring a point against their third opponet ThunderRidge. Sierra Andersen ‘11 dives for a ball during a pre-game warm-up drill before the Arapahoe game on Wednesday night.

11soundtrack: “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” as performed by Harry Caray09•30•09sports

12 soundtrack: “We Will Rock You” Queen09•30•09

sports

Nick Graybeal ‘10, shields the ball before making a pass. The team tied the Eagles 1-1.

The recent injury of Cole Christensen ’10, left the Rock Canyon Varsity soccer team with some pretty big shoes to fill on the field. Julien Walker ’10, is ready to fill Christensen’s spot and make his team proud. “I’m just working hard, putting in effort, and being a team player,” said Walker. Coach Sean Henning is expecting a good season nonetheless. “Julien has been a solid player,” and we’ve still got a good [defensive line]. Henning said. “We’ll miss Cole’s on-field presence and leadership, but we can’t dwell over our loss.” The team is still doing well, with a re-cord of 3-1-1. The switches in the lineup have not affected the team severely. Captain Alex Davis ’10, has helped with warm-ups and overall team perfor-mance, but not with team morale. “I didn’t really have to keep spirits up because everyone understood that they need to step up their game,” said Davis Since Christensen’s absence, other players have had to step up as leaders on the team. “I have been more vocal on the field,” said Jacob Lissek ’10, “and I make sure the team is ready and focused for our games.”

Although they lost a leader, will stay together as a team as much as they can. Gustavo Hidalgo ’10, is personally work-ing towards this. “I keep the team as a family,” said Hidalgo, “and always remind them we are a great team no matter what’s going on.”

Leader lost, but team fills in the gaps

Blake Foley ‘13, plays up with the varsity team against Heritage High School. Foley is the junior varsity goalie but filled in for Jacob Lissek ‘10 who wasn’t able to play in the game due to sickness. Photos by Sean McGavin

October full of action October 22 against Sandcreek6:00 @Shea

October 2Homecoming game against Woodland6:00 @ Shea

October 30 @ Wide Field High School 7:00

October 9 @ Montrose High School6:00 – Montrose is currently #4 in 4A

October 17@ Mitchell High School6:00

Compiled by: Rebecca Ruh

The Jags look to improve to 3-2 against Woodland

Clockwise from left: Reid Carter ‘10, gets in position to make a catch as the opposing player makes an attempt to intercept the pass. Peter Sola ‘11, jumps to catch a pass thrown short . Kyle Hwakins ‘11, AJ Cocetti ‘12, Gary Davis ‘10, and Brad Williams ’10, work together to take down a Trojan player. Kyle Hawkins ‘11, takes down a half back player while trying to strip the ball. All photos taken during the game against the Fountain Fort Carson Trojans. Photos by The Rock staff.

The team has found renewed ambi-tion to win since Christensen’s injury. “We lost one of our leaders, but that just made us stronger,” said Hidalgo. “We’re gonna try and win it all for him.”

Max Wellman

The boys Varsity soccer team holds their heads high and continues to work despite the recent loss of a senior captain

13soundtrack: “Dance, Dance” Fall Out Boy09•30•09community

363 Village Square Lane, Suite 155, Castle Pines North, CO 80108 303.688.3837 www.castlepinesortho.com

Castle Pines Orthodontics Proudly Supports

Rock Canyon High School

GO JAGS!

Odd things heard around RCHS

Rock-arazzi• “Oh my gosh, look at the adorable wolf!”

• “This cake tastes like death.”

• “I’ve always wanted to shank someone....”

•”You know, I think my mom loves our snake more

than she loves me.”

• “No offense, but you smell really, really bad.”

• “ It’s a picture of Pikachu breastfeeding.”

• “In this analogy, you are Satan.”

• “We can sit in the back seat all by ourselves!”

The Flower Shopat Castle Pines

303-663-8835tim@theflowershopdenver.com

Colorado’s best kept secret!

Come see us for your Homecoming corsages and

boutonnieres • “Do you want to play chess with me on my computer?”

• “He keeps wearing the same clothes as me!”

• “Could you imagine seeing someone you know naked?”

• “You’re the guy with the nuts?”

• “You finally took your shirt off!”

• “I am NOT dying my hair!”

• “This song makes me want to dance like a pony.”

• “I don’t think I’m smart enough to take P.E.”

Compiled by Zach Anderson, Skyler Draper, Maddie Jones, and Laura Romer

Life's Little Victories

*Discovering it's half-off day at your favorite store... after you get there!

*Forgetting a project at home... and your mom brings it to you... with Qdoba!

*Being followed by a cop for more than a mile... then watching the guy next to you get pulled over!

*Going to see the sequel to your favorite movie... and actually enjoy-ing it!

*Heading to your favorite place for lunch... and getting back to school right on time!

*being complimented on your shirt... which was the last clean thing you had left!

*Arriving in class incredibly late... and your teacher gets there later than you!

*Forgetting to study for your test... and you ace it!

how to get a date... the creative way

1. Write your question on slips of paper, one word per slip

2. Put each slip of paper into a balloon, then inflate them

3. Present your date with the balloons and a needle

4. Encourage them to start popping!

09•30•09school spirit 14-15soundtrack: “Titans Spirit (Score)” Trevor Rabin

What is spirit...There are 1481 students at Rock Canyon, and school spirit means something di� erent to each one of them. Whether you are at a foot-ball game or sitting in class, spirit is what drives the school.

...at a football game?

...for the principal?

...for a teacher?

...for a theater student?

Homecoming is a very busy week for Principal Kim Rauh. “[Homecoming week] increases the energy of the school all day and all night,” said Rauh, “and by the end of the week we are exhausted.” Rauh loves homecoming week for all of the magic moments. As an ad-ministrator she understands the value of each day in class, but believes that isn’t the value of high school. “High school is all about the events that make you remember high school,” she said. “[During homecoming week] there is that sense of community, where everyone has the same goal, that you will never see again

no ma� er what you do.” Because of this, Rauh embraces the extra work, responsibility, and supervision that accompanies homecoming week. � e administration tries to allow for as many homecoming events as possible. � is year there are six dress up days, � ve a� er school events, and the dance which will see as many as 1,200 people. “Buy in to these activities is essential,” said Rauh. “We have a student body and parents that want to participate and be involved, which is awesome.”

Alex Rowe

It’s hard to � nd people who love their job. It’s hard to � nd teachers that genuinely love their students and being a Jaguar. Suzanne McKay has found many ways to wiggle her way into the school and the student body. “I love sponsoring classes and clubs, I love dress up days, and I love wearing my jaguar gear,” McKay said, “because I am proud to work here, and to be a part of what we stand for.” McKay is living proof that spirit can reside outside the stadium and gym. She has found a way to derive spirit from the everyday high school experience. “I try to hang as many posters as possible to support the shows, plays, and events,” she said, “I encourage kids to be involved in what’s going on here, and try to ask questions about games and such.” Growing up as an early Douglas County High School Huskie, McKay understands the struggle every school must face to de-velop traditions and a strong sense of spirit. “I think a huge factor in our ‘lack of spir-

it’ is that there are growing pains associated with being a brand new school,” McKay said. “We must � gure out the processes, systems, and events that can help enhance our spirit and inspire our students.” She believes school spirit must go be-yond class pride, that it’s about originality and passion. “It’s not about mimicking classes before you; it’s about starting something of your own,” said McKay. “Freshman will always look up to the seniors, and do what they do, so no new traditions will come to be.” She emphasizes the importance of se� ing a good model of spirit to the underclassmen and se� ing the bar high for the classes that follow. She believes that to create school unity everyone needs a ‘home’ or a place they belong. “I will do whatever it takes for just one child to feel apart of study body at Rock Canyon,” said McKay, “because high school is worth it.”

Lauren Packer

Kayla Bush ’10, is a student that takes school spirit far beyond simply wearing the patriotic black and gold. “I’m in � ve clubs, I’m the president of one, the vice president of one, and I greatly enjoy the other three,” she said. “I use my activities to express what things I actually like in high school (laughs).” Bush participates in Drama Club, the Gay-Straight Alliance, Art Club, Anime Club, and Go Club, while continuing to balance academics. “It’s not as di� cult balancing school work as it is balancing my time between the clubs,” she said. “I mean, many times I’ll have more than one club meeting in the same time period, so I have to manage my priorities.” Bush’s largest focus is in the study of theatre.

“In the beginning I had no friends. I was a nobody,” she said. “� en, theatre ac-cepted me. I now have a purpose.” She has been involved in every school play since her freshman year began, includ-ing stage managing, acting, and backstage working. She worked on last weekend’s play Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, and will be acting in upcoming play � e Diary of Anne Frank that will be opening on Nov 19. “I love theater—I’m addicted,” said Bush. “Spirit to me is supporting your peers even while not participating; and although high school has been tough, it has made me a be� er person, I do not regret it.”

Zach Anderson

...for a middle schooler? She’s not even in high school, yet she believes she has it. “Spirit is dressing up each day of the week in crazy things, showing your loyalty to your school,” says Lauren Yeckle ’14, as she walks home from her bus stop. Yeckle had a� ended Rocky Heights Middle School until the start of 8th grade. Recently, she switched schools a� er mov-ing to Westminster. “It’s kind of hard to feel a� ached to a new school since I just moved here and all,” said Yeckle. “But it’s starting to grow on me, I really like the kids.” She believes it’s harder to be a student if one is not active in their school. Feeling a� ached strengthens the learning atmo-sphere, or so she claims. For Yeckle, spirit is an important part of the school experience. She believes that

being spirited improves the whole school experience. Yeckle hopes high school is not like her new school, Ken Caryl Middle School. She hopes for an institution where there is less drama, an atmosphere of maturity, an increase in freedom, and a lot more spirit. “I think that spirit in high school is going to be way more intense and crazy,” says Yeckle. “People have more reason to be spirited. It’s the last of your school years before college and you want to make the most of it.” Despite switching schools, Yeckle plans on a� ending Rock Canyon for her high school career.

Myles Wallingford

A high school football game is about much more than what happens on the � eld. It has a di� erent meaning for each person a� ending. Some of the spectators sign up to be a part of the formal football ceremonies, and others just show up to be in the stands. � ere are di� erences in why everyone comes, but the grand purpose is universal; it’s about school spirit.

The Cheer Carly Lombard ’12, has been on the cheer team since freshman year. She sits in the stands surrounded by a group of li� le girls age four to nine dressed in identical yellow out-� ts. “School spirit is showing up to the games wearing all black and gold, screaming for your team,” says Lombard. “We got a pre� y decent spirit thing going on here.” A li� le girl standing next to her starts to get antsy, waving her bumble-bee pom-poms and smashing them together so they look like � reworks “Are you excited for hal� ime?” Lombard asks the li� le girl. “Why do people keep asking me that? I know what I’m doing.” says the young girl. � e li� le girls are here for a program sponsored by the poms and cheer teams at RCHS. It’s called the Jag Clinic. Each team spent two days teaching the li� le girls cheers and dances to perform during the hal� ime show. “I like helping them because they look up to you like no one else does,” Bri� ney Hill ‘10.

The Trombone About 30 yards away from where Lombard sits, on the same stands, comes the sound of instruments. Tanner Scurto ’11, plays the trombone for the school marching band. He’s a kid who mimics the clapping signa-tures of the cheer team, pu� ing full e� ort into his stomps. “What reason is there for possessing school spirit?” Scurto asks. “What other reasons are there besides its fun. It’s awesome!” Every eight minutes or so he’ll stand and put the mouthpiece to his lips. It’s easy to tell which sound coming from the mass is his; his is loudest. He takes a seat and a swig of water. “School spirit is the willingness to support your...” Scurto begins to say before the crowd’s cheering drowns out the sound of his voice. “School spirit is really loud cheering!”

The Freshman Sco� Levigne ’13, is here to support his team, as well as to see some familiar faces outside school walls. “Somebody who doesn’t have any school spirit must have a pre� y boring life or something,” says Levigne. “I think it de� nitely makes you a be� er student since you become more involved in what your school has to o� er.” He watches the game intently, as if he were in his own living room watching the pros. He and his friends chat throughout. It appears to be a typical social gathering. “I would have to say the best thing about high school is everybody is just sort of together.”

The Purpose School spirit is anything that involves the soul. It’s teaching the younger girls what spirit is, even if right now they just think that they are learning a dance routine. It’s playing your instrument at a high volume so that all people in the stands can hear the noise you create. It’s si� ing in the stands, simply being a part of the ac-tion. It’s appreciation of the fact that we are all one school, together under one roof or in this case- on top of one set of bleachers. Whatever the reason, it all stems from one place many could call their second home. Rock Canyon.

Myles Wallingford

Above: Jessie Salus ‘10, and Curtis Stuck ‘10, cheer on Jaguar football in the game against Pine Creek. Photo by Drew Dodds.Right: The girls from the cheer and poms “Jag Camp” enjoy the football game before their halftime performance. Photo by Drew Dodds.Lower right: Jessica Puccini ‘11, and Alex Puccini ‘11, make paper rings with the rest of student council to decorate the halls for homecoming week. Photo by Alex Rowe.

...in student council?Student council is responsible for creating and driving spirit during homecoming week. They start planning all of the events the school year before and keep working past the end of the homecoming dance. “It’s stressful, de� nitely, and it’s hard to plan,” said Tori Korthuis ‘12, Sophomore Class Vice President. It’s the tradition at Rock Canyon for the sophomores to plan homecoming. Tyler Wagsta� ’12, Sophomore Class President and Korthuis, are the two people making sure it all gets done. “It can be really stressful when things go wrong,” said Wagsta� , “like when commi� ees fall behind on their work.” Student Council creates commi� ees in the spring and continue working through the summer and fall. “Student council is broken up into di� erent commi� ees so that everything gets done,” Student Council sponsor Katherine Hartline said. “We have a couple meetings [over summer]. We make sure all the commi� ees are on track, but most of the big decisions are made when school starts,” said Wagsta� . All of student council must sign up to a� end at least eight spirit week events to ensure that everything runs smoothly, and they are required to a� end the dance. “I think the kids are focused on events moving smooth-

ly and ge� ing people to go to the events,” said Hartline. “[My focus] is that everything runs smoothly and that it is a safe and positive experience for everyone.” Student council is also graded on dressing up for spirit days. “People think that they are too cool to dress up for spirit days but [all of student council] does it and it’s a lot of fun,” said Korthuis. On the day of the dance, student council must show up at eight in the morning, to prepare the gym, and leave at noon. � en a� er homecoming they have to clean up and they get to leave at midnight. “� ey get to see the events from start to � nish so it is really rewarding to see all the hard work pay o� ,” said Hartline. Lauren Scheirman

...for the rest of the week?

What is spirit...What is spirit...What is spirit...What is spirit...What is school spirit...

What is school spirit...

What is school spirit...

What is school spirit...What is school spirit...

What is school spirit...

What is school spirit...

art by Zach Anderson

School feels like a home ...

“On the football � eld, because we work together and have fun.”-Trey Woods ‘10

“In the library, because it’s nice and quiet.”-Austin Duardo ‘10

“In the training room, because I spend a lot of time there and am really interested in athletic training.”-Katie Kopchik ‘10

“When I have to go there every day.”-Evan Kellog ‘12

“On the soccer � eld, because I love it, and have been doing it for four years.”-Alex Mierau ‘10

“When I see my friends.”-Rachel Branson ‘12

“At games and the school events, because it’s fun to go support our teams.”-Emily Miller ‘10

“Outside the classroom at games and activities, because people are a lot more open.”-Tori Eberlein ‘10

“In math class, because I love calculus.”-Luke Powers ‘11

“When you get to hang out with friends.”-Drew Baggett ‘13

“At basketball games, because they’re so much fun to watch.”-Cameron Lindermann ‘11

“At band practice and events, because I enjoy it and it feels like a second home.”-Erin Oehm ‘10

“When I’m surrounded by the people that I love.”-Louise MacDonald

“When I graduate.”-Valeria Gavidia ‘11

“Well, never, because everyone here is shallow.”-Courtney Linch ‘11

Compiled by Ma� Rabon, Courtney Schellenger, and Jennifer Burton

09•30•09school spirit 14-15soundtrack: “Titans Spirit (Score)” Trevor Rabin

What is spirit...There are 1481 students at Rock Canyon, and school spirit means something di� erent to each one of them. Whether you are at a foot-ball game or sitting in class, spirit is what drives the school.

...at a football game?

...for the principal?

...for a teacher?

...for a theater student?

Homecoming is a very busy week for Principal Kim Rauh. “[Homecoming week] increases the energy of the school all day and all night,” said Rauh, “and by the end of the week we are exhausted.” Rauh loves homecoming week for all of the magic moments. As an ad-ministrator she understands the value of each day in class, but believes that isn’t the value of high school. “High school is all about the events that make you remember high school,” she said. “[During homecoming week] there is that sense of community, where everyone has the same goal, that you will never see again

no ma� er what you do.” Because of this, Rauh embraces the extra work, responsibility, and supervision that accompanies homecoming week. � e administration tries to allow for as many homecoming events as possible. � is year there are six dress up days, � ve a� er school events, and the dance which will see as many as 1,200 people. “Buy in to these activities is essential,” said Rauh. “We have a student body and parents that want to participate and be involved, which is awesome.”

Alex Rowe

It’s hard to � nd people who love their job. It’s hard to � nd teachers that genuinely love their students and being a Jaguar. Suzanne McKay has found many ways to wiggle her way into the school and the student body. “I love sponsoring classes and clubs, I love dress up days, and I love wearing my jaguar gear,” McKay said, “because I am proud to work here, and to be a part of what we stand for.” McKay is living proof that spirit can reside outside the stadium and gym. She has found a way to derive spirit from the everyday high school experience. “I try to hang as many posters as possible to support the shows, plays, and events,” she said, “I encourage kids to be involved in what’s going on here, and try to ask questions about games and such.” Growing up as an early Douglas County High School Huskie, McKay understands the struggle every school must face to de-velop traditions and a strong sense of spirit. “I think a huge factor in our ‘lack of spir-

it’ is that there are growing pains associated with being a brand new school,” McKay said. “We must � gure out the processes, systems, and events that can help enhance our spirit and inspire our students.” She believes school spirit must go be-yond class pride, that it’s about originality and passion. “It’s not about mimicking classes before you; it’s about starting something of your own,” said McKay. “Freshman will always look up to the seniors, and do what they do, so no new traditions will come to be.” She emphasizes the importance of se� ing a good model of spirit to the underclassmen and se� ing the bar high for the classes that follow. She believes that to create school unity everyone needs a ‘home’ or a place they belong. “I will do whatever it takes for just one child to feel apart of study body at Rock Canyon,” said McKay, “because high school is worth it.”

Lauren Packer

Kayla Bush ’10, is a student that takes school spirit far beyond simply wearing the patriotic black and gold. “I’m in � ve clubs, I’m the president of one, the vice president of one, and I greatly enjoy the other three,” she said. “I use my activities to express what things I actually like in high school (laughs).” Bush participates in Drama Club, the Gay-Straight Alliance, Art Club, Anime Club, and Go Club, while continuing to balance academics. “It’s not as di� cult balancing school work as it is balancing my time between the clubs,” she said. “I mean, many times I’ll have more than one club meeting in the same time period, so I have to manage my priorities.” Bush’s largest focus is in the study of theatre.

“In the beginning I had no friends. I was a nobody,” she said. “� en, theatre ac-cepted me. I now have a purpose.” She has been involved in every school play since her freshman year began, includ-ing stage managing, acting, and backstage working. She worked on last weekend’s play Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, and will be acting in upcoming play � e Diary of Anne Frank that will be opening on Nov 19. “I love theater—I’m addicted,” said Bush. “Spirit to me is supporting your peers even while not participating; and although high school has been tough, it has made me a be� er person, I do not regret it.”

Zach Anderson

...for a middle schooler? She’s not even in high school, yet she believes she has it. “Spirit is dressing up each day of the week in crazy things, showing your loyalty to your school,” says Lauren Yeckle ’14, as she walks home from her bus stop. Yeckle had a� ended Rocky Heights Middle School until the start of 8th grade. Recently, she switched schools a� er mov-ing to Westminster. “It’s kind of hard to feel a� ached to a new school since I just moved here and all,” said Yeckle. “But it’s starting to grow on me, I really like the kids.” She believes it’s harder to be a student if one is not active in their school. Feeling a� ached strengthens the learning atmo-sphere, or so she claims. For Yeckle, spirit is an important part of the school experience. She believes that

being spirited improves the whole school experience. Yeckle hopes high school is not like her new school, Ken Caryl Middle School. She hopes for an institution where there is less drama, an atmosphere of maturity, an increase in freedom, and a lot more spirit. “I think that spirit in high school is going to be way more intense and crazy,” says Yeckle. “People have more reason to be spirited. It’s the last of your school years before college and you want to make the most of it.” Despite switching schools, Yeckle plans on a� ending Rock Canyon for her high school career.

Myles Wallingford

A high school football game is about much more than what happens on the � eld. It has a di� erent meaning for each person a� ending. Some of the spectators sign up to be a part of the formal football ceremonies, and others just show up to be in the stands. � ere are di� erences in why everyone comes, but the grand purpose is universal; it’s about school spirit.

The Cheer Carly Lombard ’12, has been on the cheer team since freshman year. She sits in the stands surrounded by a group of li� le girls age four to nine dressed in identical yellow out-� ts. “School spirit is showing up to the games wearing all black and gold, screaming for your team,” says Lombard. “We got a pre� y decent spirit thing going on here.” A li� le girl standing next to her starts to get antsy, waving her bumble-bee pom-poms and smashing them together so they look like � reworks “Are you excited for hal� ime?” Lombard asks the li� le girl. “Why do people keep asking me that? I know what I’m doing.” says the young girl. � e li� le girls are here for a program sponsored by the poms and cheer teams at RCHS. It’s called the Jag Clinic. Each team spent two days teaching the li� le girls cheers and dances to perform during the hal� ime show. “I like helping them because they look up to you like no one else does,” Bri� ney Hill ‘10.

The Trombone About 30 yards away from where Lombard sits, on the same stands, comes the sound of instruments. Tanner Scurto ’11, plays the trombone for the school marching band. He’s a kid who mimics the clapping signa-tures of the cheer team, pu� ing full e� ort into his stomps. “What reason is there for possessing school spirit?” Scurto asks. “What other reasons are there besides its fun. It’s awesome!” Every eight minutes or so he’ll stand and put the mouthpiece to his lips. It’s easy to tell which sound coming from the mass is his; his is loudest. He takes a seat and a swig of water. “School spirit is the willingness to support your...” Scurto begins to say before the crowd’s cheering drowns out the sound of his voice. “School spirit is really loud cheering!”

The Freshman Sco� Levigne ’13, is here to support his team, as well as to see some familiar faces outside school walls. “Somebody who doesn’t have any school spirit must have a pre� y boring life or something,” says Levigne. “I think it de� nitely makes you a be� er student since you become more involved in what your school has to o� er.” He watches the game intently, as if he were in his own living room watching the pros. He and his friends chat throughout. It appears to be a typical social gathering. “I would have to say the best thing about high school is everybody is just sort of together.”

The Purpose School spirit is anything that involves the soul. It’s teaching the younger girls what spirit is, even if right now they just think that they are learning a dance routine. It’s playing your instrument at a high volume so that all people in the stands can hear the noise you create. It’s si� ing in the stands, simply being a part of the ac-tion. It’s appreciation of the fact that we are all one school, together under one roof or in this case- on top of one set of bleachers. Whatever the reason, it all stems from one place many could call their second home. Rock Canyon.

Myles Wallingford

Above: Jessie Salus ‘10, and Curtis Stuck ‘10, cheer on Jaguar football in the game against Pine Creek. Photo by Drew Dodds.Right: The girls from the cheer and poms “Jag Camp” enjoy the football game before their halftime performance. Photo by Drew Dodds.Lower right: Jessica Puccini ‘11, and Alex Puccini ‘11, make paper rings with the rest of student council to decorate the halls for homecoming week. Photo by Alex Rowe.

...in student council?Student council is responsible for creating and driving spirit during homecoming week. They start planning all of the events the school year before and keep working past the end of the homecoming dance. “It’s stressful, de� nitely, and it’s hard to plan,” said Tori Korthuis ‘12, Sophomore Class Vice President. It’s the tradition at Rock Canyon for the sophomores to plan homecoming. Tyler Wagsta� ’12, Sophomore Class President and Korthuis, are the two people making sure it all gets done. “It can be really stressful when things go wrong,” said Wagsta� , “like when commi� ees fall behind on their work.” Student Council creates commi� ees in the spring and continue working through the summer and fall. “Student council is broken up into di� erent commi� ees so that everything gets done,” Student Council sponsor Katherine Hartline said. “We have a couple meetings [over summer]. We make sure all the commi� ees are on track, but most of the big decisions are made when school starts,” said Wagsta� . All of student council must sign up to a� end at least eight spirit week events to ensure that everything runs smoothly, and they are required to a� end the dance. “I think the kids are focused on events moving smooth-

ly and ge� ing people to go to the events,” said Hartline. “[My focus] is that everything runs smoothly and that it is a safe and positive experience for everyone.” Student council is also graded on dressing up for spirit days. “People think that they are too cool to dress up for spirit days but [all of student council] does it and it’s a lot of fun,” said Korthuis. On the day of the dance, student council must show up at eight in the morning, to prepare the gym, and leave at noon. � en a� er homecoming they have to clean up and they get to leave at midnight. “� ey get to see the events from start to � nish so it is really rewarding to see all the hard work pay o� ,” said Hartline. Lauren Scheirman

...for the rest of the week?

What is spirit...What is spirit...What is spirit...What is spirit...What is school spirit...

What is school spirit...

What is school spirit...

What is school spirit...What is school spirit...

What is school spirit...

What is school spirit...

art by Zach Anderson

School feels like a home ...

“On the football � eld, because we work together and have fun.”-Trey Woods ‘10

“In the library, because it’s nice and quiet.”-Austin Duardo ‘10

“In the training room, because I spend a lot of time there and am really interested in athletic training.”-Katie Kopchik ‘10

“When I have to go there every day.”-Evan Kellog ‘12

“On the soccer � eld, because I love it, and have been doing it for four years.”-Alex Mierau ‘10

“When I see my friends.”-Rachel Branson ‘12

“At games and the school events, because it’s fun to go support our teams.”-Emily Miller ‘10

“Outside the classroom at games and activities, because people are a lot more open.”-Tori Eberlein ‘10

“In math class, because I love calculus.”-Luke Powers ‘11

“When you get to hang out with friends.”-Drew Baggett ‘13

“At basketball games, because they’re so much fun to watch.”-Cameron Lindermann ‘11

“At band practice and events, because I enjoy it and it feels like a second home.”-Erin Oehm ‘10

“When I’m surrounded by the people that I love.”-Louise MacDonald

“When I graduate.”-Valeria Gavidia ‘11

“Well, never, because everyone here is shallow.”-Courtney Linch ‘11

Compiled by Ma� Rabon, Courtney Schellenger, and Jennifer Burton

16 soundtrack: “Feels Like Home” Chantal Kreviazuk

Graduates of Rock Canyon spread far and wide, some only going so far as Denver to get an extended education, others going to the coast, to get a taste of life on their own. Some, however, venture further than others. Malcolm Nicholson ’07, is one of those others. He traveled across the Great Pond two years ago to attend college and study philosophy in England. Malcolm was born in England when both of his parents worked there. His parents were forced to go back to the States when their visas

expired. “Most prospec-tive college students want a new and novel experience; I just followed that desire to a rela-tively further extent. I wanted to live in a large metropolis, and be as far as humanly

possible from Highlands Ranch,” Mal-colm said. Malcolm graduated in May and was in England by August. Though many would be intimidated to move to a new country at such a transitioning point in life, Mal-colm doesn’t find it too difficult.

“At the end of the day, [England] is essentially the same type of place,” said Malcolm. “In both countries most people obsess over the OC, read tabloids, eat at chain restaurants, and are wholly ignorant of their own government.” Even though the United States and England aren’t very different to Malcolm, living far from home can still be a chal-lenge. Malcolm can only return home for Christmas and the summer holidays, un-like many Rock Canyon alumni who live within a few hours from home, or even those who can fly home for every holiday. “I really do miss my family and

friends. It’s hard to only see people who constitute such a large part of your life two months out of the year,” Malcolm said. Malcolm plans on spending at least two more years in England, depending on what graduate studies he gets accepted to, and whether he gets a scholarship. “It would be nice to live back in the States where I can work all I would like and not worry about getting a visa or exchange rates. Being an expatriate is not easy.”

Maddie Jones

For Brie Strimbu ’09, college was a chance to start her life over. After graduating from Rock Canyon, Brie decided to go to the University of Colorado. Brie had the advantage of having some of her old classmates from high school in college with her, but she wanted to spread her horizons and branch out from her old group of friends, not knowing what she might be gaining or losing. “I really wish there were a million hours in a day to fit in studying, hanging with old friends, and meeting new friends,” said Brie. With the excitement of a new college life, Brie has been able to have different experi-ences than she had in high school, like meeting new people. She is trying to take advantage of this opportunity as best she can by meeting as many people as possible. However, balancing old friends and new friends has presented a chal-lenge in starting over. “In high school, all of my friends knew everything about me,” said Brie. “In college, the people you meet don’t know everything about you, so its fun to almost reinvent yourself.” Brie has tried to create a new group of friends in col-lege and branch out from her comfort zone. She wants to become the social butterfly that can give a wave or flash a smile to as many people as she can on campus. “I can’t even explain how much I have learned in this short time in college,” said Brie. “I have learned that there are such great people out there to meet, and the only thing that it requires is a simple smile and a hello.”

Alex Pedrinan

To Britain and beyond Branching out

Derek Rhodes ’09, can usually be spotted walking on the side of Castle Pines parkway throughout the week. He walks not for leisure; he has to be somewhere. Since graduating high school, Derek has worked at Dazbog Coffee full time to earn some extra cash. “I’m starting Metro [community college] in the spring,” said Derek. “I plan on living on Capital Hill with my friend, a former RC student, Caylee Clay.” Derek spent the majority of his summer hanging with friends who were headed off to colleges in different states. On top of that, he worked on his portfolio for fashion design- a career he intends on pursuing. “I want to eventually start my own small shop,” said Derek. “I want to have custom made pieces by me, because to me, fashion is more about art than clothing.” While attending RC, Derek could usually be seen wearing many stylish outfits- a quality he was well known for.

“My interest for fashion started when I was living in India,” said Derek. “I was involved in a community ser-vice project that happened to be a charity fashion show. My interest just grew from there.” After attending Metro, Derek plans on transferring to an art institute where he can further develop his craft. Looking back on his time in high school, there are many virtues that Derek views as important. As for advice to current students, Derek said, “Try not to lose yourself in the crowd. After high school, life moves on.” From his own experiences, Rhodes has learned that high school does have an impact on what the future holds. “If there was one thing in my high school career that I could do over, it would definitely be my homework,” said Rhodes. “In hindsight, the 20 minutes it would have taken me to do it would have saved me a lot of closed

doors in the future.” Though doors may appear to be closed for now, Derek is taking steps towards a produc-tive future, and hopes to pursue his dream of a career in fashion. “In high school, there is something that gives everybody an edge,” said Derek. “Some people try and lose their unique qualities to fit into the crowd. Don’t. When you enter in the real world, you want to stand out. It’s what makes you, you.” Alex Pedrinan

Taking steps toward a bright future

Life after high school After graduation, most students head off to college for their next four years. However, some choose to take different paths, like venturing off to other countries, pursuing their interests, and living out their dreams.

Right: Derek Rhodes ‘09, at work at Daz Bog last Saturday.

Left: Malcolm Nicholson ‘07, reads a book at his home in London.

Above: Brie Strimbu ‘09, poses for a picture with Jordan Goldman ‘09, at graduation last May.

09•30•09profiles

What you don’t know about Derek...• He goes to school four

days a week• His favorite way to

spend time is on the couch with friends watching a bad movie

Things you didn’t know about malcolm...• He is studying

philosophy in college

• He moved to America when he was three

Brie’s favorites...• Food: Her sister

Ty’s cupcakes• Color: Light pink• Sport to watch:

Hockey• Movie: Moulin

Rouge

09•30•09 17soundtrack: “Home” Daughtry

Jackie Moore ‘08 was one of the many sirens of the stage that RCHS has been graced with over its seven year life, but since graduating she has expanded her horizons to so much more than the stage. Jackie has traveled

to Mexico, the Philippines, and helped in founding a new organization to help those with special needs, and soon she will depart on her newest adventure in In-dia, while still sending her love and sup-port back here to Rock Canyon. Jackie especially sends her love to the Special Education Department, because that was always a place here that was near and dear to her heart. “Some people are meant to succeed in school, Jackie was meant to succeed in life,” said Kandi Hofmeister of the Special

Education Department at RCHS. Shortly a� er graduating, Jackie pur-sued her dreams of travel and spreading her faith, by participating in Up With People. � is is a foundation that is based on unity of all the cultures of the world for the be� er of mankind. While touring as an “uppie,” she worked in Mexico for � ve weeks, the Philippines for four weeks and throughout the United States for eight weeks. While with Up With People, she worked on various commu-nity service projects, such as rebuilding schools in areas that cannot a� ord to do it themselves. “I became more independent a� er this experience, because I didn’t have my family there with me, my relationship with God grew stronger,” said Jackie. Upon her return, Jackie couldn’t wait to sink her teeth into another service op-portunity. She became one of the found-ing members of Wellspring, an organiza-tion that allows young adults with special needs to develop both with friends and individually. She not only participated in their Wellspring choir, but she also wrote and directed a play that Wellspring put on. According to Jackie Wellspring is, “the most beautiful thing in the world!”

Now Jackie is embarking upon her newest endeavor; she is traveling to India with YWAM, Youth with a Mission. Jackie really wanted to spread her faith, and that was her exigence for going on this mission. She has been sponsoring a child in India for a few years now, and this only made Jackie’s appetite to travel all the more voracious. She will go for training in Florida for three months and then she will be in India for two months traveling around the country spreading her faith. Despite all of her adventures Jackie has not forgo� en her roots. Her younger brother, Andrew Moore, is a sophomore this year at RCHS, and Jackie still visits here and volunteers just so they can be together. “He is my hero, and I am so proud of him!” said Jackie. She cannot wait to see what the world and God have in store for him. “Jackie is the best, she’s funny!” said Andrew. Jackie is proud of all her accomplish-ments, but she recognizes that none of them would have been feasible if it weren’t for her time here at Rock Can-yon.

Sean Kovacs

When graduation day comes and real life � nally hits the seniors of Rock Canyon, what will happen? Will they pursue their life goals or will they decide to use the clean slate they are given to re-invent themselves? One such former Jaguar, David Brookman ‘09, is faced with these questions every day. A� er graduating, David made the choice to go to college at Colorado State University. His major is undeclared, so at the moment he is taking general classes which will apply to any major he chooses, but he would like to pursue technical journalism. “I’m training with the video program at CSU, which is awesome because it’s something I still enjoy to do, but I mostly do independent � lms for now,” said David. David enjoys making simple movies that make people laugh, like the RCTV clips he used to make at Rock Canyon. For now, the movies he makes independently are just comedic shorts because they don’t consume too much of his time and he continues to enjoy working on them. “David was very creative, and when he � rst started, we had to teach him to simplify his creativity,” said Mr.McClurg, RCTV teacher. “He tried to do things that couldn’t be shown on RCTV, but once he realized what was needed, he became very creative with ge� ing ideas, producing, and even acting in his � lms.” David was an involved high school student; he played Varsity soccer, emceed at school assemblies, and created � lms with RCTV. David had so many joys in high school, and so his main decision a� er graduat-ing was which direction to go next in life. In college, David is currently involved in a youth group called Navigators, and plays with a club soccer team in Fort Collins. Instead of picking one direction, he chose to follow all of his aspira-tions. “I always loved being as well rounded as I could be, and I wanted to continue with that mindset in college,” said David. David’s idea of fun is trying to do something new, such as making “I love CSU squirrels” t-shirts; he calls it his own version of school spirit. David gets excited at the chance to do something di� erent. David’s most exciting endeavor so far is his appearance on the CSU radio station. Since he is a freshman, he only gets late night hours, but he has a spot in which he helps host a segment on the radio station. “I try to get involved as much as possible,” said David. “I go to the football games as o� en as I can but I think there is so much more that you can do when you get to college to enjoy the experience. � at’s all I’m trying to do- enjoy.’

Curtis Stuck

Venturing far from home

David in real life

For most people, college is full of friends, parties, laughs, and lots of homework. For Christopher Crans-tone ’08, college entails rigorous training sessions, � ve minute showers, and a di� erent kind of homework. Christopher was among the second graduating class of RC and is currently a� ending the Virginia Military In-stitute in Lexington, Virginia, where he is a sophomore. � e spark for being involved in the military started dur-ing his sophomore year in high school, but the reasons behind it are still a mystery to Christopher. “When people ask me why I joined the army, I al-ways have a di� cult time responding,” said Christopher. “With me, there is just some feeling that makes me want to serve. I cannot describe it.” Despite this, Christopher knows he made the right decision regarding a� ending military school. Every day for him starts at 7 a.m. when the cadets (the rank that the students earn) line up outside the barracks for forma-tions, then march to breakfast. A� er meal time, they have anything from uniform inspections to physical training. Following this, classes and dinner, then a few hours of

free time to study before lights out at 11 p.m. � e sched-ule is very rigorous and very strict. “� ere are no parties on the weekends and you give up a lot of the privileges that your friends at regular col-leges take for granted,” said Christopher. “It’s not always the most enjoyable place to be, but for me, the rewards are great.” And for Christopher, the rewards will be well worth it. Upon graduating, he will commission as an o� cer in the U.S Army. Having a job that he loves right out of college it very important to Christopher and he is grateful that VMI secures military positions for all their graduates, when many other military schools do not. Moving thousands of miles away from his friends and family was a hard transition for Christopher. “It was di� cult at � rst for both my family and I, especially because cadets have very limited contact,” said Christopher. “I am only allowed to write le� ers and email; calling is not an option.” Now that Christopher’s family has visited him at VMI, he is positive that they are comfortable with him

being at military school, because they know that he is happy there. Christopher loves everything about military school and cannot wait for graduation and the day he becomes an o� cer in the army. He has learned so much through this experience and already knows that the skills he has developed will stay with him forever. “Military school is not for everyone; to be able to survive in this environment, you have to want to be here, or you will not make it,” said Christopher. “I want to be here, and I am very proud of everything I have accom-plished and the great things that are to come.”

Paige Hesen

Aiming to be strong: army strong

Bottom: Jackie Moore ‘08, poses for a picture while building a school in the Philippines for Habitat for Humanity last April.

Left: Christopher Cranstone ‘08, stands in front of the Virginia Military Institute, where he attends school.

Right: David Brookman ‘09, in his senior picture from last year.

pro� les

Fun facts about Jackie...• She is gluten

intolerant• She was in

three musi-cals during high school

Military fact:All cadets recieve their class ring during their junior year of military school. The ring is one of the most coveted possessions a cadet can receive at VMI.

What you don’t know about David:

• He has pet crabs• He has a hidden appre-

ciation for squirrels• His middle name is

Winston• He is Obama’s secret

advisor

18 soundtrack: “Fashion” Lady GaGa09•30•09fashion

Jaden Emmeluth ‘11

Shirt: Avon

Skirt: Pac Sun

Rachel Nickell ‘11

Plaid button-down shirt: Urban Outfit-ters

Jeans: Nordstrom

Marta Robledo ‘12

Grey tank top:Urban OutfittersScarf: Zara

Fall into fashion with plaid shirts this season. These button down shirts come in both long and short sleeves and can be found in a variety of places, such as Urban Outfitters, Forever 21, American Eagle Outfit-ters, and Pac Sun. Paired with bootleg or skinny jeans, these shirts are a great choice to wear out on the weekend or any day at school.

Kelsey Karst ‘12

Top: Forever 21Jeans:Forever 21Earrings: FrancescosShoes:Nordstroms

Robbie Broulette ‘12

Shirt:PacSun

Jeans: Buckle

Guillermo Arribas ‘10

Grey and black striped sweater: Old Navy

Cam Spies ‘11

Plaid button down light blue and grey shirt: Pac Sun

Lexi Heslin ‘10

Sweater: Bcbg

Jeans:True Religion

Morgan Miller ‘13

Sweater: J - Crew

Tank top: Abercrombie

Jake Macek ‘10

Sweatshirt: Vans

Shirt: Vans

Chelsea Peterson ‘10

Tank top and sweater: Forever 21

Pants: Urban Outfitters

Jewelry: Juicy Couture

Art by Zach Anderson

Photos by Paige Newman, Caley Pavillard, and Sean Kovacs

19soundtrack: “Homecoming” Kanye West09•30•09community

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20 09•30•09Disrespectsoundtrack: “Respect” Aretha Franklin

Disrespect in Douglas County

‘I will let you � nish reading this page, but I just want to say,

Beyonce made one of the best newspapers of all time.’

Lines winding out the doors, mobs of people rushing to the ticket booth and couples in love appearing joined at the hip. � e joys of seeing a movie on a Satur-day night. Text-aholics who refuse to put their cell phones away for even a minute, anxious customers, and overwhelmed employees erupt into crowds of chaos. “I’d say about 4 out of 10 people use their phone while trying to order.” Nah-Shone Alexander, a local movie theater employee said. Sure, sending a quick text while order-ing popcorn doesn’t sound like a big deal, but according to Alexander it starts to add up. “It’s distracting when they’re on their phones. It’s like, I have other people in line can we chop this up?” Alexander said. Along with the phone dilemmas, impatient movie goers also seem to cause problems by cu� ing in line. “One time I was working and this dude cut in front of everybody and ordered something.” Alexander says, “But people are generally pre� y civil here.” Dominic Lover, another local movie theatre employee who works in the ticket box, commented on underage people who try to buy R rated tickets. “� ey think it’s ridiculous that they have to have an ID,” Lover said. Disappointment � oods their faces as they are turned away. It’s only a ma� er of years before they too can join the R rated movie scene. Another theater frequency is the clas-sic case of showing a� ection in public. “It’s awkward,” Alexander says, “watching other people kissing is really kind of nasty.” Lover comments, “We’ve caught people straight up having sex on week-days, it’s like they think the theaters are empty but we’re still here.” Jensen Bliesmer

� e doors open and the scent of espresso sits heavily in the air. From behind the counter there is a frantic hustle and bustle going on, the baristas move as if in a choreo-graphed dance, gracefully evading their partner, while ge� ing to their end point with the upmost expedience. � e Starbucks scene is a busy one, and in a frenzied environment such as that people begin to show their true colors. � e line begins to grow and the patrons become more anxious. � e novice barista running the cash reg-ister gets � ustered and begins to write the drink orders down incorrectly as the customer becomes increasingly frustrated. Soon she is moving at a glacial pace, further aggravating the customers. A man gets to the front of the line and adeptly recites his order smoothly, knowing the exact price of his grande la� e, and shoves the $3.36 at her, and steps out of his place. A pregnant woman steps up carrying a young child, already annoyed that the line was moving slower than Methuselah, and bi� erly barks her order. When the young woman at the register calls it back incorrectly, Mt. Vesuvius erupts and spews insults at the young woman, calling her incompetent and praising God that the young woman doesn’t have a more impor-tant job than serving co� ee. Calmly � ghting back tears, the cashier gives the woman her change and begins to assist the next cus-tomer. � e next man in line kindly gives his order, and a� er all is said and done he slides a substantial tip in the tip jar and warmly provides a positive a� rmation to the young woman. � e man that morning showed the young Starbuck-ian respect and kindness that thus far had eluded her in every way. “Some people in the world are just not that polite, and I have no control over their disrespect,” said the Starbucks worker, “All you can do is hope for someone nicer and more respectful to come along.”

Invisible workers

Venti disrespect

A li� le boy’s cries � ll the mall cafeteria as passerbys stare at the mother who just sits and watches her child sob on the � oor. Inside of the store, XOXO, a few minutes earlier, a boy of less than two runs around, rubbing his hands on the various tuxedos and gowns, laughing loud and carefree. � e mother tries to stop the li� le boy to no avail. Simple words are not enough to calm him down; she pulls him away from the clothes and sits him down, try-ing to make him stop long enough for her to � nd a nice dress. � e towhead gets up again and starts going through the store once more, running though the rows of dresses and touching each one. � e mother, fed up with his behavior, grabs the boy’s arm and leads him out of the store. She puts him on the ground at the store entrance as he starts to cry, and tells him to stay there. � is time he listens, but grudgingly. His cries � ll the mall as his mother steps behind a pillar where he can’t see her. She leans her head against the wall and shuts her eyes, trying to block out the noise and the people staring at her child as they walk by. Eventually, she goes and kneels in front of her boy and quiets him a� er at least � ve minutes. She picks him up and disappears back into the store. Finally, the child respects the mother’s wishes, and gives in on the power struggle. He has learned a lesson in disrespecting his elder. Everyone else goes on about their business, glad to have a li� le less noise � lling the already loud mall cafeteria. Maddie Jones

Wailing to no avail

No longer do audience members sit politely in their seats. No longer do they keep their opinions to themselves. No longer are they respectful. Kanye West showed his true feelings about Taylor Swift’s video winning a VMA when he got on stage and declared that Beyonce’s video should have won. No matter if it’s a popular celebrity or teenager, disrespect has become a common theme in today’s society. In fact, it has been found around Douglas County. After spending hours at a Starbucks, a local movie theater, and the mall, a common theme among the three is the disrespect people have toward each other. Emma Kate Fi� es

Celebrity Moments

A boy sits in time out with mom watching after a � ght between the two at the mall. Photo by Maddie Jones.

“I swear to God I’m [expletive] going to take this [expletive] ball and shove it down your [expletive] throat, you hear that? I swear to God.” –Serena WIlliams“� e young lady seems like a perfectly nice person, she’s get-ting her award, what is he doing up there? He’s a jackass.”

–President Barack Obama

Kanye West arrives at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards in 2005. (Hahn-Khayat/

Abaca Press/MCT)

Sources: ESPN.com and Entertainment.com

You Said:Do you text while in conversation with people?

69% said yes. 31% said no

Have you ever blamed an employee for a slow line?

33% said yes 67% said no

Have you ever tried to buy a rated R ticket knowing you’re not old enough?

32% said yes 68% said no

Have you ever cut to the front of the line?

93% said yes 7% said no

Are you guilty of being disruptive in movies?

74% said yes 36% said no

Do you ever � nd yourself ignoring authority?

93% said yes 7% said no

“If people are texting and they’re tuning me out, it’s kind of lame.”

Nathan Zafuto ‘11

“There’s like a whole book on Phone Etiquette. You don’t text while talking to people. You don’t do it.”

Tanner Van-Es ‘13

“They days of being respectful are fading away... kids these days.”

Ellen Pherson ‘11

Quoted:

Compiled by Jensen Bliesmer

21soundtrack: “Sweet Dreams” Eurythmics09•30•09reviews

Coldstone Creamery

Cow. Color. These were the first two thoughts that entered my head when I entered MaggieMoo’s for ice cream. The small place exploded with bright colors and pictures of cows enjoying ice cream. It wasn’t just the atmosphere; it was the ice cream, too. I looked at the ice cream selections and my eyes popped. The colors were psychadelic. The bright green mint ice cream looked refreshing. The red velvet cake, which was the color of a bleeding tongue, looked revolt-ing. Clearly, this was not the place for someone looking for good old mom-and-pop flavors. Buttered popcorn? Cinna-moo? Having never been a particularly adventurous ice cream consumer before, this was a shock. Where was the vanilla and chocolate? I found dark chocolate, and since it is my favorite junk food, I was pretty excited to see it in ice cream form. Helped by the friendly manager, my companion and I selected the dark chocolate and mint in “regular” size cups. I was pleased to find that, with the order of a “regu-lar” cup or cone, you can get a free “mix-in”, a multitude of gummy animals and chocolate candies. We sat down at one of the few small tables in the and dug in. At first taste, I noted that the dark chocolate wasn’t very creamy. In fact, it was a strange mixture of soft-serve and ice cream scooped from a container. And then I tasted it… or I thought I did. The dark chocolate tasted nothing like dark chocolate. It was neither bitter nor dark-tasting, and it only tasted of too-milky chocolate milk. The mint ice cream was light and delicious, tasting of real mint. However, its was the same as the dark choco-late’s, but the taste was definitely more enjoyable. Maggie Moo’s ice cream chain has products that just miss the mark. It redeems itself slightly with a clean, warm atmosphere and helpful, personable service.If you’re looking for a good time out with friends, go here, but Baskin Robbins is still the ice cream king by a long shot.

Laura Romer

Maggie Moo’s As I walked into Gelazzi, I was greeted by a warm, eclectic atmosphere. The menu and furniture had a modern style, but the leaning Roman columns lent the shop a more vintage feel. Though the décor of Gelazzi was welcoming, the worker was not. After entering the shop, it took him several minutes to even acknowledge my presence. I felt as though I had entered a well-lit ghost-town ice cream shop. I wasn’t greeted with a warm “How are you doing today?” or even a “Hello.” Rather, the greeting I received was a man simply staring at me. I did retain some hope for the gelato because signs cluttered the store advertising Now 25% more free. When selecting, I was disappointed to notice that my favorite flavor, watermelon, was not in the freezer. Also disappointing was the fact that many other flavors were missing, leaving empty ice cream buckets in the freezer and adding more to the ghost-town sense. After sampling the cookie dough, I ordered a small with it and dulce de leche. Surprisingly, the worker liv-ened, offering me the option of a cup or a cone. Though this is typical of ice cream shops, it was relieving that Gelazzi still upheld my right to choose. My short-term excitement ended abruptly when I saw the portion I was given. It didn’t look like 25% more than before. Sitting down at a relatively comfortable seat, my lips absorbed the creamy sweetness of my ice cream. Though my expectations of Gelazzi left me disappointed in the sense of service, the gelato did not. The gelato was thick, creamy, and proved to me why the shop was so success-ful. The reason Gelazzi is so popular in Highlands Ranch is not because of its friendly workers, or great customer service. No, the only thing that allows the company to survive is the quality of its product. So please, go to Gelazzi in order to enjoy a tasty treat, but don’t expect anything of its employees.

Rachel Curtright

We all remember those lunch ladies: the ones who wear the hairnets and a permanent, grim, and most unpleasant expressions on their faces. The ones who hold that silver ladle between their fingertips in the latex gloves and slap the sloppy joes on to your Styrofoam tray. I thought the memories of these lovely creatures were gone... until I went to Baskin Robbins. From the outside, Baskin Robbins looks like it would be a sensation. A pink and red flashy sign hangs above the store to match the colorful walls you see inside. The upbeat music and overall ice cream store ambiance are good representations of the flavorful ice cream it serves. Pictures of ice cream recommendations were every-where you turned. 31 unique flavors are lined with bright tags and each sample I took was delectable. However, those same walls that hint at a bouncy, ex-citing staff, like you see at Cold Stone, did not match the personalities of the grandmas working there. The hands at the end of the sample spoons shook as I tried to grab a taste and the face at the other end had the snare of the lunch lady. She slapped the ice cream samples into my hand like the school lunch tray. Not only was this woman at the register unfriendly, she spent the entire time I was in the shop on her cell phone, paying no attention to any customers. I had to wonder where these ancient ladies had to go on a Tuesday afternoon when the cashier continued to check her watch every 60 seconds with disdain, while I was waiting to decide what to get. After surviving the service, I finally got a hold of my ice cream and luckily it met its great reputation. The appearance of the shop was concentrated into a delicious cup coated with hot fudge. My ice cream was delectable, once I got away from the cashier to enjoy it. It’s creamy, fresh taste satisfied my cravings for sweets. However, the lunch lady vibe turned the taste a little sour. Therefore, I consider my experience at Baskin Robins bittersweet.

Brooke Skinner

Gelazzi Baskin Robbins

Fast Facts• It takes 50 licks to lick away one scoop of ice cream.

• Sunday is the most popular day for ice cream to be sold.

• Kids ages 2-12 and adults over the age of 45 eat the most ice cream.

• Vanilla, chocolate, butter pecan, strawberry, and mint chocolate chip are the most popular ice cream flavors.

• Chocolate syrup is the most popular ice cream topping.

• 5 percent of ice cream eaters share ice cream with their pet.

• Ice cream novelties such as ice cream on a stick and ice cream bars were introduced in the 1920’s

• Former First Lady Dolly Madison created a sensation by serving ice cream as a dessert at the inaugural ball in 1812.

• The first ice cream parlor in America opened in New York City in 1776.

• Ice cream is an $11 billion retail industry.

• 80 percent of the world’s Vanilla Bean used for ice cream is grown in Madagascar

Source: http://www.makeicecream.com/icecreamtrivia.html

Compiled by Amanda Becker

When one is in the mood for a taste of summer, the only thing that may satisfy is a quick stop to the ice cream parlor down the road. Cold Stone Creamery was a delight, mixing child-hood sweets with a taste of modern creativity. The décor is simple and classic; bright red walls with checkered black and white tiles adorning the lower wall and floor. The selection was impressive, thirty-two flavors to choose from, along with dozens of topping choices. One can decide to be daring, sprinkling gummy worms and whole Twix candy bars into their creation, or stay with the classics: chocolate chips, cookie dough, and sprinkles. Once the final decision was made (I chose to go with Sweet Cream ice cream with cookie dough and chocolate chips) the ingredients were thrown onto a slab of stone and mixed and mashed together by the motions of two spoons. Before I knew it, the creation was born. After the ice cream had successfully made it into the cup or waffle cone of choice, a spoon was stuck into the mixture, and handed over the counter. One quick lick to the top of my unusually large ice cream blob and I was hooked. The flavor was rich, unlike that of any soft serve ice cream I had before. It wasn’t crystallized, or melting in

the bottom of my cup like soup. It was creamy, sweet and cold, just the way good ice cream should be. From there on, each scoop got better. The chocolate chips that freckled the vanilla retained their snap; the cookie dough blended in perfectly be-neath the layers of vanilla ice cream. The toppings didn’t out-shine the cream. They were a team, working together to provide a classic, yet fun taste. By the time the ice cream had disappeared, I was more than satisfied and realizing that I didn’t need another ice cream fix in a long time. I had licked my bowl clean. Ice cream isn’t the only thing Cold Stone provides for customers to choose from. Sorbet ($3.29) smoothies ($3.99) and ice cream cakes of all sizes are made to order along with an assortment of iced coffees and shakes. The best thing is, if you bring your student I.D. along with you on any Tuesday, you can get two love it ($3.29) size ice creams for the price of one. Cold Stone Creamery is worth a try for anyone who loves cold treats, even during the winter months. With its wide variety of flavors to choose from, you can find something to satisfy any craving. Dani Burrage

Photos by Dani Barrage

Photo

by La

ura Ro

mer Photo by Rachel Curtright Photo by Paige Newman

As we get closer to winter, the longing for that sweet taste of summer never fades...

22 soundtrack: “Lose Control” Missy Elliot

but their commi� ee is just a bunch of idiots who can’t get anything done right. I gain so much school pride when I hear StuCo members say student council is full of idiots, and when I am put down for trying to change things for the be� er. � e next morning I began to circulate a

petition. By � � h period, when I showed it to student council, I had nearly 500 signatures, proving that this is not only my stance, but that the majority of the student body agrees. In fact, with the exception of one student, the only people who refused to sign the petition were student council members on the grounds that “they will be kicked out if they sign.” I presented this petition to student council, and asked that even if they couldn’t allow everyone to participate this year, could they change the rules for next year. I was told that no promises could be made. Excuse me, but if student council truly starts plan-ning homecoming in the previous spring, then shouldn’t eight months be enough to � gure out how to do things the right way? Tonight, when you are at the powderpu� game, please cheer on your class. Paint your face and scream as loud as you can so that you’ll be hoarse in � rst period. But, don’t forget that some of your peers wanted to hear you scream for them, but were turned away simply because they were the 21st girl to go to the front o� ce. To everyone on student council: if you honestly be-lieve that only twenty girls should be on the roster, back out of the game tonight. Live under the same rules that you place on the rest of the student body, and realize that if you regulate the number of people who can participate in an event you do not deserve one of the few spots available. I love this school, and I try and push spirit as far as I can, but it is hard for me to support anything that turns interested students away for no reason beyond: rules are rules are rule are rules.

Tonight, when I watch the powderpu� football games I won’t be able to place my focus on the girls on the � eld. Instead I will be thinking about the girls in the stands, and that isn’t just my 17 year old hormones talking. � e powderpu� teams were limited to 16 girls and four alternates. Now, I don’t want to start a � ght with student council; they put months of work into homecom-ing week, and most events happen � aw-lessly. However, they are not le� ing all of the students participate in spirit events that want to. � is is wrong. � e senior powderpu� team had 22 girls turn in permission slips before the deadline, and there were more girls that asked the front o� ce and were not able to receive a permission slip because they had all been given out. � ese girls wanted to participate in a once a year homecoming activity. � ey wanted to be a direct part of the week’s festivities, and not a bystander, but were denied the chance to be a homecoming participant in their senior year. � at is a direct antithesis of student council’s du-ties. � ey are supposed to encourage school spirit and participation in every student, not exclude and alienate students by picking an arbitrary number of participants. And yes, I talked to student council repeatedly and the number is arbitrary. I approached student council about this problem

before the sign up deadline, and was told the powderpu� commi� ee would think about it, but there probably couldn’t be any changes. I repeatedly asked, “why not?” but was never graced with a response beyond: rules are rules are rules are rules. � e following Monday a member of student council came to the newspaper lab and a� acked me personally, a� acked the Rock, and harassed me for wanting to see policy change. A� er being yelled at for twenty minutes this member of student council le� by telling me they sympathize with our issue

During homecoming week everyone should feel at home. So why are some students being left out?

I can’t say life is hard here. We live in Highlands Ranch, where anything and everything we have the slightest interest in is at our � ngertips. I realize that there are kids around the world who have it much worse than anyone I know, but for the kids I know, life isn’t as simple as it could or should be. Beginning at a young age kids are bombarded with piano lessons, soccer practice, and dance class. � ey don’t have one waking hour where than can just be kids, discover themselves, learn about their world, or just be goofy. � eir parents, particularly their moth-ers, push them to be perfectionists at ev-erything. � ey won’t accept one mistake in school (god forbid you ever get a ‘B’!) or failure to meet the high expectations they have set for their children. It’s quite obvious that these “stage mothers”, “soccer moms”, or whoever

Obama’s speech to American students

The invasion of the stage moms

SHORT ‘N SWEETAlex Rowe

Rules are rules, but why?

Often in high school, parents end up controlling their child’s life, leaving no room for independence.

Was it meant to teach, or rather to taint?

“”

It is hard for me to support anything that turns interested students away.Art by Zach Anderson

Tuesday, I had to come into school early to make up a test, my alarm didn’t go o� and I was rushing to get to school on time. I get to school and � nd my teacher, who tells me the retake is Wednesday. Amanda Becker

“Get your books out and ready to be checked.” Book checks! What the heck are book checks?!

Austin Enterline

It’s block day? Oh sweet baby Jesus. Curtis Stuck

Today, I came to school with my shirt on inside out and backwards. No one told me about the tag near my neck until after lunch. Nice. Emma Kate Fi� es

Today, I attempted to throw a cracker at my friend, but instead it hit the guy behind him. If looks could kill, I would be dead. Lacy Hardaway

This morning when I was walking out of my room I swung the door open and it hit me smack in the face. Rebecca Ruh

Last week at the restaurant I work at, a drunk man walked up to the bar and cried for a beer. The bartender reluctantly disagreed, but then handed him a Guinness. After only a few sips, he could hold his beer no longer. The man sprinted to the bathroom, but, of course, didn’t make it. Guess who got to clean it up? Skyler Draper

Today I was texting my boyfriend and told him that I would go buy a homecoming dress if only he’d ask me already. He told me that I shouldn’t waste my time looking for a dress. Taylor Pe� away

I was halfway done on my ceramics project when the clay collapsed. Myles Wallingford

I saw this really hot chick from behind in the hallway. When she turned around, I noticed it was one of my teachers.

Connor Dozois

In 4th period today, I sent a text to my best friend that was sup-posed to go to my girl friend, and sent her the message that should have gone to him. Now he thinks I like him more than a friend and she thinks I’m disgusting.

Austin Frankel

That ‘s due today?

else, push their kiddos for many reasons. Some, of course, have simply led lame lives. � ey weren’t accepted in school and they either want something be� er for their kids or they are, quite frankly, living through them. Some honestly just want exposure for their kids with the belief that active students are be� er students. What frightens me most are the parents that still haven’t let go when their

kids make it to high school. I’m talking about the mom who impulsively checks her child’s grades, knows all the high school gossip, and may actually care more than their own children do about many aspects of the kid’s life. � en, before she knows it, her darlings are o� to college without being weaned o� her assistance and approval. � e teens are forced to go ‘cold turkey’- on their own without mom or dad to edit their assignments, correct the mistakes they have made, or approve every deci-sion they are faced with. What about the moms? What are they going to do when their kids are gone and they can’t follow behind them correcting their mistakes? Kids won’t grow up if they are su� o-cated by their hovering parents, and they will in fact never completely grow out of the habits their parents have embedded in them.

All my life I have been extremely proud to live in America. I feel that we have an incredible form of government that respects our opinions as citizens, while maintaining strong leadership. Recently, however, an event hap-pened that I think both disrespected the executive branch of government, as well as our opinions (I am speaking primarily to students). � is event happened on September 8th, when President Barack Obama gave his address to school stu-dents all across America. When I heard about this, I initially did not think much of it, as I � gured he would probably tell us the usual: stay in school, go to college, don’t do drugs, and only you have control over your future. I was, however, astonished by the response America showed to the President’s speech. People were u� erly outraged, accusing Obama of trying to indoctrinate their kids with socialist

ideas, and claiming that their students would be staying home that day. Obama was depicted with a Hitler mustache, and compared to being a Nazi. Schools started to make parent permis-sion forms, with-out which no student could watch it, lest our fragile and immature minds be warped to the President’s desire. � rough all of this drama, two things were clearly inferred. First of all, the President of the United States was disrespected in an unacceptable way. I don’t care if you like Obama. I myself did not support him, and though I am not old enough to vote, if I could have, I would have voted for

Senator John McCain. Regardless of your feelings toward him, he is the President of the United States, and if he wants to talk to students to encourage them to stay in

school, he should have the ability to do so. If his plan truly was to corrupt students with socialist doctrines, he would not have lasted another month in o� ce, and he was probably well aware of that. Secondly, students across America were also disrespected, and indi-

rectly called fools. � e de� nition of a fool is one who believes everything he hears, and is extremely gullible. � is is what we were seen as being, with no judgment or ability to hear what is told to us, and then make up our own minds about it, and I, personally, felt insulted.

09•30•09opinion

THE GENIUSMatt RabonTHE GENIUS

Everyone knows that feeling you get when you come to class and your teacher tells you to turn in a huge paper, and you

didn’t know it was due. When we get this feeling, we say “That was due today?”

THE OBSERVERLauren PackerTHE OBSERVER

09•30•09opinion 23soundtrack: “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” Bob Marley

The BarbieAlex TuccyThe BarbieAlex Tuccy

The CommentatorCurtis Stuck

The Commentator

THE STARCHATARIANMaddie JonesTHE STARCHATARIANTHE 45

Austin FrankelAustin Frankel

He said Austin disagrees with Maddie on the issue of how students dance at homecoming.

Maddie disagrees with Austin’s opinion on how the dance is the best part of homecoming week. Homecoming is one of the best times of the year. I love the entire

week. As a football player, there is so much going on each day that I’m involved in. From the parade to the football game, the buildup and excite-ment is intense. After the homecoming game, my next favorite part is the dance. Now, I am in no way a dancer, but on the night of the dance, it does not matter. The dance is always great. I usually go with a group. The evening starts o� with picking up the best looking girl in school (my date). Then everyone in the group meets up at one of our houses to take group photos then we all head out to dinner. After dinner it’s time to hit the dance � oor. We make our way to the school with a little pump-up music blaring in the car speakers. I have put some pride into my dance moves: my hips do not lie, if you get where I’m coming from. I’m not going to let these moves go unseen. I know how to move it, how to “do the do.” I’m going to make an appearance at the dance and “shake it like a Polaroid picture.” You know what I’m saying. As soon as the group rolls into the dance, we don’t hesitate to hit the dance � oor. I like to start o� with simple moves such as the sprinkler, q-tip, or even starting up the good old lawn mower. Slowly I’ll move into maybe some classic moves from Usher or Ne-yo. I keep it cool though, no Soulja Boy’s or Supermans. I always enjoy dancing with the girls, a little close contact with the date is always fun. Homecoming night is always great for the fun week all leading up to the wild dance. This year’s going to be the best, look for me throwing some Idlewild moves out on the dance � oor.

It’s like sex on a dance � oor, with the entire school participating. For some people, Homecoming is a night full of fun, but for me it’s more stressful than anything. I’ve never liked Homecoming, or dances in general. I don’t have a problem with getting dressed up and going out to dinner and having a nice night out. I love it. But when it comes to dancing…well, it freaks me out a little bit. I have no idea how to grind. That is the main reason I don’t like to go to Homecoming; not knowing how to grind takes away the joy of school dances, because that seems like the only kind of dancing anyone does. As a sophomore, I don’t have much experience with dances, but I have enough to know that the style of dancing most popular with the student body makes me uncomfortable. I wouldn’t go hug a kid I didn’t know, so why would I want some random guy grinding on me? It’s just too intimate. Even though I don’t know how to grind, I don’t have any desire to learn. The style of dancing that is grinding is, in one word, disgusting. Everyone might call grinding a form of dancing, but I disagree. It seems more like mutual rubbing together to a very loud beat. The dancing would be so much more bearable if they played a slow song every once in a while, or maybe something that just doesn’t shake the � oor when it’s played. At last year’s Homecoming dance, I didn’t hear one slow song. So for now, I’ll skip the “sex on the dance � oor” and just stay away from school dances, at least until I can learn how to dance.

Missing aim Let’s get real. If you really cannot aim into a toilet that is a foot below you and you choose to use the toilet instead of standing like a normal person at a urinal, you need serious 24 hour assistance. Are you smashed? Are the toilets danc-ing back and forth trying to dodge you? Are you a paraplegic and can’t use your arms or feet to li� the seat? I know mom can’t come to school to pat you on the back to do it right, but you need to break through the pressure one day. If you are the inconsiderate li� le kid out there, thinking it’s funny to make an underpaid janitor’s life more complicated, help us all out, and wear some Huggies because, clearly, you aren’t a big boy now.

Austin Enterline

Season of competitionI was at the mall on Sunday and wandered into the food

court for something to eat. As soon as I entered, I witnessed about 40 men si� ing in front of the big screen outside the sporting goods store. All of them sat at evenly spaced intervals, all with the same look on their faces. � eir wives/girlfriends were nowhere to be found, probably out ful� lling their roles as gatherers. � e men sat mesmerized. I won-dered what they were looking at. I peered at the screen and witnessed a game of football taking place. Is it testosterone that makes the concept of competition so appealing?

It’s de� nitely football season.Myles Wallingford

That time of year� e magic number is all that ma� ers now. Every game is

now a must-win situation. Scoreboard-watching becomes a religion. As that magic number creeps lower and lower with

every pain-staking win or San Francisco loss, the Rockies move closer and closer at a chance to repeat what they did in 2007; a chance to prove to EVERYONE that it wasn’t a � uke. � ink all the way back to the o� -season when Ma� Holiday, a god on Blake Street, was traded to the Athletics

and all chances for the Rockies seemingly went out the win-dow. Now fans are bringing signs to games that say, “Holiday

we miss you, but we’re going to the World Series without you.” Rocktober is upon us once again.

Zach Tornabene

Budget bluesHas the world go� en more expensive or is it just me? For

the past three months I have noticed my wallet ge� ing thinner and thinner and my amount of activity options

shrinking. No longer can I go to the mall with the usual $20 budget or buy a song on iTunes for $.99. Every time I reach

the cash register I cringe, even in the school lunch line. I don’t think I have reached poverty level quite yet, but why is it that I can’t � nd anything to do at an a� ordable price. Are people with a budget no longer allowed to have any fun?

Dani Burrage

Quick Hits

Taking sides People should form opinions based on the issue at hand. Being High School students, we are brought into the world of knowledge; we are thrown information and are given the opportunity to do with it what we will. � at is one beauty of America. People are entitled to their own opinions, for the most part.   Teenagers that we are, we will not see the other side of the issues we are faced with.  We will see our side and know that our side is right; even when it is not right in the minds of others.Situations in which we will not see the other side arise mostly in politics.  When actions are made, and opinions are formed simply against another political party, they are wrong.  People should not form opinions based on whether they are a Donkey or an Elephant.   When politics comes up, I tend to be classi� ed as an independent, but what am i truly independent of?  Political Parties?I should not be classi� ed based on my opinions. I should simply be a person, not a Republican or a Democrat.  Classify me on an individual basis, upon what side I take on an issue, if you must. � ere could be a sudden urge to match my opinions from one of the major political parties and I still wouldn’t name myself by that organization. I would merely agree with them.   People make mistakes by allying themselves with Republicans or Demo-crats. Rather, our country forces people to make these mistakes, America while being free, only provides two options for

politics. All others are pushed aside with reckless abandonment, a bad habit we still haven’t � xed since the birth of our country.   When has there ever been a situation when, without any forthright a� empt, a person had the exact same opinions as a political party? Never, I believe because, people can’t get along that well. If that’s how the world worked, we would merely be numbers instead of living beings with thoughts.  By having thoughts we have opin-ions. All that truly ma� ers is that people a� empt to look at situations where they disagree with a policy and voice their opinion, or at least note that there is a situation in which they do not believe their political party is absolutely perfect.   If everyone noticed this simple fact, that we are � rst and foremost people, not Republicans or Democrats, we would not be biased in ma� ers that should be thought about, instead of simply sup-ported to support the party.

Avoid ambiguityWhen is the conversation of RC going to get deeper? A wise man once told me and a class full of my peers to avoid ambiguity. At the time I shrugged these words o� . Sure, I thought, I’ve got opinions. � at was over a year ago. And since then I’ve realized just how closed o� I am. And it’s not just me. Everyday I walk through the halls and sit with my friends and the depth of conversation is always about as deep as that of a kiddy pool. I found myself starting, and even worse prolonging, a conversation about how much rain we’ve had lately.

Why is high school viewed as such a judgmental place? We are surrounded by people just like us, going through the ex-act same changes, and yet we are so afraid to open up. So we have these meaningless conversations. Just once I’d like to hear a conversa-tion that goes further into the psyche than just, “So what does you’re home-coming dress look like?” I challenge the students of Rock Canyon to rise above the ambiguity, and � nd some passion in their lives, and not

be afraid to talk about it. I’ve seen steps toward this goal. I applaud the GSA and the Atheist club, just for being strong enough to express themselves in ways that other people won’t. Life goes on. It’s what you do with it that counts.

She said

Art by Zach Anderson

24 soundtrack: “Love You Out Loud” Rascal Fla� s09•30•09opinion

What is it about love that has people so ba� ed? We seniors here at RCHS call AP Literature and Composition, AP Sex and Death, because these are the two unanswerable questions that life throws at us. Valid, I have only ever been in love once, but that one time taught me a few things that should not be taken lightly.

1. Stop comparing your love and relationship to those of other people around you.

By comparing the two relation-ships you are forge� ing a few vital facts. First of all, they’re not YOU! � ey are completely di� erent people, with totally di� erent lives. Rest assured, that couple has plenty of turbulent times, so by com-paring yourself, you are se� ing yourself up for disaster.

2. Stop dreaming of the love story that they show in movies and in literature.

Movies are made for our entertain-ment, and they are meant to make situa-tions that are not feasible in life, feasible. Case and point Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. He is an irresistible mytho-logical creature, and she is a gawky, pale teenage girl. � is is clearly � ction, so please, stop looking for it.

3. Don’t confuse love with lust. I understand that you are a bunch of high school students whose hormones are raging out of control like Oprah’s weight, but please, wait. � is isn’t a pub-lic service announcement for abstinence from your parents, this is purely fact. Sex make things more complicated, and so don’t do it, life is already hard enough.

4. Romeo and Juliet wouldn’t have lasted, so don’t try to emulate their passion.

At the risk of boring you with sci-ence, when relationships start your body produces endorphins, these put you in a boozy delirious state that you confuse with love. Wait a few months and that’s when the real work begins. � at’s why Shakespeare only made the story of “Ro-meo and Juliet” last for � ve days, there wasn’t enough time for them to think with the heads, and not with their pants.

5. � e English language is di� cult, because we only have ONE word for love, love. � e Greeks have multiple words for love. � ey have love for your mom, for your superior deity, and yes, one for you and your signi� cant other. Because of our native tongue we can’t su� ciently describe our feelings. To quote � e Supremes, “You can’t hurry love, no, you just have to wait. Love don’t come easy, it’s a game of give, and take.” If you are in love, you will know it, so don’t jump the gun.

Realize now, you will never under-stand love, and neither will I. Heed my advice, or else you are going to go mad.

Love actuallyHigh schoolers clearly do not understand what love is.

Home on the range? We laughed a li� le more than usual, we listened and responded, and had the wi� y banter that only occurs when a high school student puts aside the dramas of high school to talk to a father truly delighted to share the minutia of the day. We recounted how some Berkeley college student remembered Ben Franklin as his favorite president, my stressful week, our future tennis match, and � nally - where he had been staying. � e phone call ended and it was not until later that night that I began to wist-fully consider the farm in Fort Worth in which he described his current residence where horses, cows, tractors, ATV’s, and a parental anti-pop culture sentiment shaded a lovely, young brown-eyed olive-skinned girl named Rebecca. Her life sounded so peaceful and remote, a place where she was free to be innocent for as long as possible and the world of television and media would not

corrupt her. For me, this inspired hope, hope that pure childhood and innocence still do exist, even if it lives on an isolated ranch in Texas. Is this where a be� er, more valuable childhood lies? Should we be expos-ing our youth to the perfectly made up, pop-synthesized images that modern Disney Channel executives are constantly regenerating or does our hope of a pure childhood for our children lie in the shin-ing eyes of Rebecca, a li� le girl whose big-gest concern is that in the seventh season of Bewitched, the show changed Darrins? Instead of playing with dolls inspiring me to have “bra� itude” and dressing up an American Idol Barbie condoning future reality show viewership, I would have had horses, tractors and � elds to run around in. I would have encountered all that teenage image stu� when I was - how groundbreaking! - a teenager.

Life might have been easier if I had grown up on a ranch. � is sudden realization and yearning for a childhood on a farm was the result of a phone call from my dad Wednesday night. My father, away on his monthly military drill in Texas, served with the deputy group commander of his unit in Desert Storm and was invited to stay overnight on his farm. Looking back on it, he sounded truly happy for a family man away from home.

A rocky realization � e day � nally ended and I dug up ev-ery object in my bag looking for my keys. For the fourth time that month, I found them when I looked through my window of a locked car door. I’ve made a habit of positioning my-self next to the Rock in our school’s back yard on the days I wait for a spare key, but this time became my favorite. For two hours that day and watched people pass by. I am always amazed by the popula-tion’s ignorance of their surroundings, except the door in front of them and the cell phone in their hand. A� er my usual observations from the Rock, a li� le stranger walked straight up to me and planted his bo� om inches from mine. His name was Erik, and he was � ve and a half. We talked about his “profes-sional water polo career”, the “true” existence of ghosts, which he saw through friend’s ghost watching goggles, and

then I helped him climb the seemingly mountainous formation we were leaning against. � e experience surprised me. I have sat next to that peeling sculp-ture enough times to know that people don’t generally stop and reach out to anyone. I didn’t know where he came from or what he was there to see; all I knew was that he wanted to sit there with me. Not only did Erik make me laugh for 20 minutes until my stomach was sore,

but also, when the majority of people bolted inside to escape the scorching heat, I was blessed to stumble upon a mini gentleman who brightened the day and wanted to hold my hand. I think we are obsessed with ourselves. It’s maddening to witness humanity stick our noses in the sky, wondering what lies ahead and whom we can use next to get there. Even more frustrating was that Erik’s small deed had startled me. I am no exception. I have been pro-grammed to “do what is best for me” since I was in kindergarten, but I think it’s time to wake up. To me, the world’s moral seems to be dwindling and I’d like to restore our hearts by adding li� le deed each day. � e smallest gi� s, even just a 20 minute con-versation, are o� en the most meaningful. Brightening a li� le piece of our self-con-sumed world can make a big di� erence. Erik renewed this idea in me.

How innocence was unexpectedly found through a phone call.

Sometimes, an unexpected person can teach you a life changing lesson.

The Love DoctorSean Kovacs

Unbelievable

THE SWEATER GIRLKate ReadyTHE SWEATER GIRL

THE EXALTEDBrooke Skinner

Unbelievably believable

Believable

You can now pre-order subs at Subway, but they still won’t make them in advance. What exactly is the point?

Everyone � ipped out at Obama for trying to give a speech to children about staying in school. Working hard is apparently a socialist activity.

They found a suspected terror-ist in Arizona. It was all a decoy for Al Qaeda’s new station: The Bahamas.

It has now snowed, hailed, thunder-stormed, rained, and been sunny (a little bit) during summer. Up next, a tornado - hurricane - earthquake for Highlands Ranch

Kanye West’s little mishap with T-Swift. It was about time for Kanye to do something, well, Kanye-ish.

With the Broncos going 2-0, Colorado suddenly has many more football fans.

“All About Steve” was almot as terrible as “Beverly Hills Chihuahua.”

Sarah Palin is still on TV and giving speeches. So resigning was all just a publicity stunt. Who could have guessed?

They made a new “Halo” that is almost the exact same but still costs $60. Maybe Microsoft is just in it for the money.

President Ahmadinejad thinks Obama was blu� ng with his nuke warning. Also, the sky is blue and the grass is green.

Max Wellman

Art by Zach Anderson

09•30•09opinion 25soundtrack: “I Love College” Asher Roth

Shameful shariaHarsh implementation of Islamic law hits Aceh On Monday, September 14, man-kind took yet another step backwards from progressing towards a rational and peaceful race. A bill was signed into law in the Aceh province of Indonesia in which adultery in married couples is punishable by death (via the ever hu-mane method of stoning), homosexual-ity, gambling, and alcohol consumption are punishable by 400 lashes with a cane, and promiscuous and adulterous behavior amongst unmarried people is punishable by 100 lashes with a cane. � is insanity… this unparalleled idiocy that is the ever common byproduct of religious fanaticism in� ltrating politics, saturates the world with a sour, evil marinade of bloodlust. From the seemingly benevolent discrimination and selectivity of the Boy Scouts of America to the harsh Sharia (Islamic law) requiring execution of apostates in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, malicious religious convictions punch a devastating blow to human rights. Most people recognize the impact of theocratic law in Middle Eastern countries such as Iran, Saudia Arabia, and Pakistan, but other nations such as Tajikistan and the Netherlands receive very li� le a� ention from the media. � e Tajik government enacted various laws this passed March which restrict vari-ous rights and luxuries to Muslims exclusively. � e U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom publically declared that the laws would legalize harsh policies already in practice by the Tajik government, yet no charge of human rights violation has occurred. On November 2, 2004, Dutch � lm maker � eo Van Gogh was murdered by a reli-gious extremist a� er the release of his controversial short � lm, “Submission”. Van Gogh was shot eight times, nearly decapitated, and stabbed twice in the chest. Since then the Netherlands has been a stage for violence between Christians and Muslims. � e pervasive violence between various religious sects rips cultures and nations apart, and has reached a frightening pinnacle of potential destruction. n 2008, the president of Iran and Muslim radical, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that he wanted to plunder Israel geographically. If we, as an interconnected and complex species, fail to give equal legal equality to everyone regardless of religion, gender, or cultural background then how can we possibly make peace with those with whom we may disagree? Sharia in Indonesia is just one of many instances in which cultural autonomy has violated basic human rights. � e time has come to let those who do not conform to the ethical or social standards of a particular religion live their lives in peace, free from suppression and violence.

College conundrumApplying to colleges can bring about the realization of who you really are, and what makes you that person. � e thought of college stirs many emotions inside me. On one hand, it’s exciting to live on your own and be away from home. On the other hand... well, it’s scary to live on your own and be away from home. Although the class of 2010 is not packing their bags quite yet, the hours of preparation are just beginning. I am up to my knees in essays and le� ers of recommendations, and my eyes are permanently squinted from staring at online applications. To put it simply, I am drowning in a sea of college preparation. � ere is so much to consider when � lling out applications and preparing to send your accomplishments from the past four years to some old guy to read over and decide if you are worthy enough to a� end his school. I admit, I am scoring over every detail of my high school career to � nd interesting and notable quirks that would make me stand out from the thou-sands of other students applying from all over the United States. I am scraping out every last detail to make myself seem overly smart, overly involved, and pre� y much the best. When I really starting thinking about it though, I am none of these things; I am simply Paige Hesen. I get relatively good grades, I am on Varsity poms, and I do sparatic community service. I have never been student body president, nor have I ever won any major academic awards. I am very happy with the person I am, but I have begun to wonder if I am good enough for the colleges to which I am applying. � e person that my applications are about is not really me; it’s the super version of me. A� er reading over my application to the University of Colorado, Boulder, I had an epiphany. I erased the application and started fresh, � lling in only things that were truly important in my life, rather than the scrounged up details that made me sound like super woman.

So, I revised my personal essay several times to make it clear to the admission o� cers who the real me is. I wanted my application to be genuine. One hundred percent Paige. I was not about to send in a piece of paper bragging about myself and things that hardly impacted my life. You can’t put on your applications that you’re a good friend, or that you’re trustworthy. Or even that you try really hard, but sometimes you just can’t get that A. It seems to me that all the admis-sion o� cers see is the transcripts you send in and the 500 word essay about who your hero is. At this point, the tiny le� er grades on the “o� cial transcripts” and the number of community service hours you have accumulated seem to be the most important thing in the world. When you zoom out and look at the big picture though, the grades and academic achievements don’t make you a good person. I want to get into college not only because of my grades, but because I work hard, and feel like I can make an impact on this world, despite the “B” I got in math last semester. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that academics and athletic achievements are very important, and that having an outstanding resume can help get you somewhere in life. However, these are not the only things that can help you achieve greatness. I don’t want my col-lege applications � lled with nonsense and immodesty, because I am not fooling anyone.

MISS INVOLVED Paige HesenMISS INVOLVED Paige Hesen

Play Station 3 with Blu-Ray

“No Shave” November

Vegan

“There’s no ****ing way!”

Jon + Jon’s girlfriend + Jon’s other girlfriend - Kate + Paparazzi +8

Go Green

Sexy vampires

Xbox 360 with interactive game play

Shaving in November

Vegetarian

“Yes we might!”

Kate + 8 (Where is Jon?)

Stop global warming

Dracula

Pong

“No pants” November

“Ten cent Tuesdays” at Bu� alo Wild Wings

“Yes we can!”

Jon and Kate + 8

Save gas, fart in a can

Fruit bats

Max Wellman

In 5 minutes ago Out

WILL’S VIEW

Homecoming hassle Out of all the weeks in the year that we have to wake up and go to school, one stands out the most: Home-coming week. � e week is packed with activity a� er activity. From Ru� N’ Tough to Powder Pu� , and the big football game to the homecoming dance there isn’t a day that you aren’t doing something. � en why is it that, this is the week you get the most homework out of the whole year? Do the teachers want us to be stressed out more then we already are? Most kids during this week just blow o� their homework and forget about studying for all the tests they have. I know I have at least four tests this week that were scheduled in advance. Why couldn’t they just move it back a week? I understand it messes up the teacher’s schedules they have but it also makes their students not enjoy the week as much. More than half of our students are involved in the activities that are put on during the week. Without them there wouldn’t be a week of fun � lled activities. If it’s not fair to just let them o� the hook with their homework, then why not just eliminate all homework for the week.

Students would most likely do be� er work the week before homecom-ing or the week a� er then they do the week of. Even though one of the spirit days is super hero day we’re not super heroes you know? When the week comes to an end and your assigned three or four projects for the week don’t get done, come the night of the dance you forget about it. Even though your grade slips and you stress out for the next month to get it up, it’s all worth it. Good or bad, homecoming week is the week that will most likely stick out in your mind when you remember your high school experience.

It’s supposed to be homecoming week, not homework week.

THE MANConnor Dozois

THE EXCITED ONECourtney Schellenger

26 soundtrack: “Time of My Life” Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes09•30•09

satyr

Swayze returns to haunt the

Hello, I have taught one Baby to dance, and now I am here to teach all of you. I have observed that Rock Canyon is plagued with passionless and grotesque dancing in which the guys stand behind the girls and shamelessly partake in some genital to buttocks rubbing. Now, I appreciate this in the bedroom as much as the next deceased movie star, but what happens on the dance � oor should be about passion and fun, so I will be implementing the Swayze rules:

satyr

The Satyr would like to thank Patrick Swayze for his instruction in teaching us to dance from beyond the grave. He has touched our hearts and we will never forget him. When it was all said and done, Swayze’s actions spoke louder than his words as he lifted Renee into the air, and everyone dancing had a little bit more spirit.

The � rst problem of yours that I will � x comes from songs that tell you how to dance. True dancing is sponta-neous and soulfull. A good dance not only moves your hips, but your spirit. That is why I � rst need to condemn anything by Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em. Rule 1: Students caught doing the soldier boy will be enlisted in the army. Rule 2: Students dancing to “Down” by Flo Rida will go “down” to the basement for torture. Rule 3: Students caught “leaning back”, “two-stepping”, or “hanging like a chollo” will be escorted out. Rule 4: There will be no participation in the “Cha-Cha Slide.” Those caught doing the “Charlie Brown” will be sent to the doghouse.

Now for the next set of rules. In my time dirty dancing was provocative because we would train and put on beautiful shows that were just a step above the “non-dirty” dancing of the time. Modern dirty dancing is provocative because of the overly sexual, two pieces of fabric away from a child, nature of the dancing. When you grind those around you feel awkward and are embarrassed for you. Rule 4: I am reasonable and will say that students are allowed to grind. However, no eye contact, skin contact, breathing, or moving while grinding is allowed. Rule 5: However, if we catch word of you grinding (and I don’t mean dancing this time) we’ll � nd you and you will be attacked by ninjas. Rule 6: This rule should be with the � rst set, but the name disgusts me. Students may not “jerk it.” They may not even attempt to do “the jerk”, or teach others about the jerk.” “The jerk” should only be done alone, in the privacy of one’s one home.

This � nal set of rules are things I never want to see happen. These are the rules that will be implemented if the previous rules can not be followed. Rule 7: No � esh may be seen at all. Mummi� cation may be necessary. Rule 8: At the thought of making contact with the opposite sex, students will be doused with holy water and read Psalms. Rule 9: Every student will be issued cowboy boots at the door for the 2 hour 59 minute line-dancing portion of the dance.

� e situation, part one: � e dance instructor in Patrick Swayze � om “Dirty Dancing” was going to come to Rock Can-yon to teach us how to dirty dance. Not like high-schoolers fornicating on the dance � oor, but with style. � e situation part two: Unfortunately, Swayze has passed on into the spirit world. So the ghost in Patrick Swayze � om “Ghost” will be using the Satyr as his clairvoyant to send his message to the world.

Rule #1

Rule #7

The Satyr would like to thank Patrick Swayze for his instruction in teaching us to dance from beyond the grave. He has touched our hearts and we will never forget him. When it was all said and done, Swayze’s actions spoke louder than his words as he lifted Renee into the air, and everyone dancing had a little bit more spirit.

Rule #5

Rule #8

The Satyr realizes it is the product of misinformation and exaggeration. If you were insulted, hurt, or shocked while reading this page, The Satyr does not apologize. Also, it’s not spelled wrong. Google it.

09•30•09editorial 27soundtrack: “She Blinded Me With Science” Thomas Dolby

The goals of The Rock, the student newspaper of Rock Canyon High School, are to inform, educate, and entertain readers as well as to provide an educational opportunity for the students who produce it.

Alright, time to do some research! Hoorah.

Let’s see... step 1: Watch this video on Youtube.

htttp://www.youtube.com

Blocked!Sucka!!

What the-?

Blocked Again!Sucka!!

Google? Dang!

Anything you could ever hope to want or find on the internet is...

Blocked!Sucka!!

Anything!? Well, looks like I’m not doing my homework...

Windows is now shutting down

Stepping out of the 1990sIf there are security guards standing at the school entrances, then why aren’t we using Rock Canyon is an affluent, twenty-first century school that is focused on combining technology and education to create an optimal learning environment. Yet whenever a school computer con-nects to the internet, it is like going back to the twentieth century. It feels like every website is blocked that has any information beyond what can be found in an encyclopedia. Last fall, watching President Barack Obama’s inauguration speech in AP Language and Composition started as an interesting exercise in rhetorical analysis and quickly turned into a 30 minute search for a video that wasn’t blocked. Regardless of party lines, it is wrong that a historic speech that could define a generation can not be viewed on most websites. The district is taking too vague of an approach at how they choose which sites to block, and it has gotten out of hand.

“For example, the district starts by blocking everything with the word ‘game’ in it,” said Computer Resource Techni-cian Ed Watterson. “From there they go back and decide which websites to be unblocked.” There is an intensely bureaucratic pro-cedure to be allowed access to a website. The person requesting access must fill out a form and give it to Watterson. Wat-terson gives it to the District Webmaster who analyzes the validity of the request and can give a password to bypass the block in appropriate cases. “Teachers will almost always have their requests filled,” said Watterson. That is inefficient, and unintelligent. If teachers’ requests will be filled in almost all cases, then they shouldn’t have to go through the district. Instead, the administration and department heads should have a password that bypasses the blockade and rotates weekly.

That way, the department chairs could just give out the password as necessary. The worst case scenario would be that the student body gets a hold of the password and they are able to access the entirety of the internet, the same way they do in their own homes, for five days. If it is an issue of system security, then there should be a separate system for websites that are likely to let a virus leak into the system. This system would have no password and would be a permanent block. The Rock understands and appreci-ates the logic behind trying to keep stu-dents from wasting class time watching viral videos and playing games, but there is valuable information on Youtube that could enhance the classroom experience if teachers were allowed to access it. Let’s embrace the twenty-first cen-tury, not fight it, and use all of the new technology to its full potential.

Jagzone.us, a website and partner of , will be up next Tues-day, October 6, with some highlights of homecoming 2009.

Check there for more all of the homecoming coverage you and your mother can handle.

So if you are prepared to have your mind blown, enter the Jagzone.

art by Zach Anderson

Got a minute?

You so don’t Rock!

• Snow on the last day of summer?!? Ski season’s coming sooner than we expected.

• No pregnancies, drug overdoses, or crashes due to open campus. Take that, fearmongers!

• Kid’s don’t have to ditch class to sneak behind the church anymore.

• The new junior class chant, “X-I: So Fly.” Finally, a chant that doesn’t make us all pity the class of 2011

• “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.” A terrifying riot. Audiences laughed so much… it was frightening.

• Homecoming week, no explanation necessary.

•Having “A Night at the Roxburry” playing on opening night of “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark.” The cast’s time and effort overshadowed by a movie…

• The disease sweeping RC – seriously, everyone one has “The Schwein.”

• Stoplight day – if we didn’t feel bad about not having a date before, we do now.

• The themes days for Homecoming week. Not that we don’t love Nerd Day, but we were hop-ing for something a bit more creative.

• The freshmen standing in packs blocking the halls. You would think they’d figure it out.

• Locking three of four bathrooms at the bell.

You so Rock!RC gets a severe case of thoughtlessnessFor the sake of your peers, when you have a cough or a fever, stay home. We will all thank you for it. You know, if your closest friend, or even a complete stranger with a sparkling disposition came up to you, smiled, asked you how your day was, and then sucker punched you in the groin, you would be, to say the least, upset. However, those of you with swine flu, the normal flu, a cold, or even a contagious case of hiccups who are coming to school before you’re healthy, are doing some-thing far more nefarious. As wonderful as it is to see you back in school in an old hoodie nursing your sickness for all the sympathy you can, please, spare us. Spare us your wonderful com-pany, spare us your golden smile, and then spare us your cough which you don’t quite cover up and get us - and the other couple hundred kids - sick. It seems in Rock Canyon lately if we have any group of students larger than our posers, our wannabes, or our princesses, they would be topped by the number of students out sick. Be it a third of the varsity soccer team, or a signifi-cant portion of the cheer team, or the three of four kids missing from your English class, we have all noticed the pummeling Rock Canyon is taking from sickness right now. Infectious disease comes in second right now on the list of things to blame. Undoubtedly, the first place prize goes to student stupidity. Most likely not intentional stupidity, but unfortunately, ignorance and a severe case of being naïve is no less harmful. In every hall there is someone coughing hard enough to bring up a lung, in every classroom someone sneezing

on a desk some unlucky person will inherit next hour, and on every door handle, keyboard, and every desktop is the hands of half a dozen sick students mingling with everyone else’s. We are not blaming the student body for the inven-tion of germs, only for their insatiable desire to spread them. There is now a two minute verbal warning about coming to school with flu-like symptoms on the school attendance line, signs reminding you to cover your cough litter every bathroom and doorway, some bland story on the swine flu can be found on some local news channel nearly every night, even your teacher’s emails are now under attack from warnings about the flu. One would assume that this germy-barrage of warn-ings ought to be deterring the student body from spread-ing their illness, right? Wrong. It seems as though the increased effort to keep stu-dents healthy has only enticed more people to come to school sick, to borrow your pencil and cover it in germs, to cough all over you and ten other people in the hall, and mostly to just be stupid. As giddy as you may be to make it back to school a day or two earlier and have a few less pieces of make up work, or as excited as you may be to squeeze every possible drop of sympathy from your friends by coming to school early, looking like a train wreck, please spare your fellow classmates the joys of the flu, stay home, and re-watch Dead Poets Society or something.

Step by stepTo being allowed access to a blocked site.*Step 1: Fill out a request for access form and proceed to give it to XXXX Ed Watterson.

Step 2: Watterson will evaluate the request, and if appropriate, will send it to the District Webmaster.

Step 3: The District Webmaster will evaluate the form and if they deam it appropriate will either provide a one day pass-word around a blocked website, or will unblock a website.

Step 4: Use the previously blocked website inside of the school.

Editorial BoardAlex Rowe-Editor in ChiefConnor Dozois-Online Editor Logan Thompson-Online AssistantDaniel Wheeler-News Editor Ade Eichie-News AssistantMeghan Long-Sports Editor Zach Tornabene-Sports AssistantPaige Newman-Culture Editor Alex Tuccy-Culture AssistantRachel Curtright-Visual Editor Paige Hesen-Visual AssistantLaura Romer-Community Editor Alyssa Jones-Community AssistantThe Couch-Copy EditorJack Kennedy-Non-voting Adviser

Reporting and Photography StaffEvan AlmonZach AndersonAmanda BeckerJensen BliesmerDanielle BurrageJennifer BurtonMichael DempseyDrew DoddsSkyler DraperAustin EnterlineMadelyn FalkErika GuilbaultEmma Kate FittesAustin FrankelLacy HardawaySara HeynMaddie Jones

Sean KovacsMackenzie MarkeySean McGavinLauren PackerCaley PavillardAlexandra PedrinanTaylor PettawayMatt RabonKate ReadyRebecca RuhLauren ScheirmanCourtney SchellengerBrooke SkinnerCurtis StuckMyles WallingfordMax Wellman

The Rock invites your comments. Letters to the editor and commentary submissions are encour-aged. You are also encouraged to submit coverage ideas, cartoons, photos, or anything else you want to see in The RockOpinions of the staff of The Rock are presented as editorials. All editorials are at least the majority view of the editorial board. We also feature a number of columnists and commentary writers. Their opinions are their own.

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Rock Canyon High School5810 McArthur Ranch RoadHighlands Ranch, CO 80124Phone 303.387.3060 / Fax 303.387.3001

Congress shall make no law respecting an estab-lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exer-cise therof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The First Amendment2008-09 NSPA All-American

28 soundtrack: “Are you ready?” AC/DC09•30•09

snapshot

Left: Jordan Fickling ‘11, threatens Ellen Hefner ‘11, and Natalie Seely ‘10, as her character Velma Cringe. Below: Morgan Hayes ‘12, is hunting for the creeper as an asylum worker.

Keep your pre-show rituals For the actors, what goes on before show can be just as important as what happens on stage. Pre-show rituals start differently for each per-former, and at Rock Canyon they end the same for everyone. For a seven o’clock show, actors and backstage workers, or techies, begin to arrive at five. They take care of the necessities: hair, makeup, costume, props, etc. The air is full of energy as everyone begins to focus in their own way. Natalie Seely ’10, and Camille Prusse ‘12, say a prayer together before the show. Then Seely goes off by herself to focus. Dylan Webb ’11, Matt Hopkins ’12, and Morgan Hayes ‘12, lock themselves in the dressing room with loud music to get their energy up. Phil Collins and Duran Duran blast through the door. “We always have an ‘80s dance-athon,” said Hayes. Jordan Fickling ’11, and Ellen Hefner ’12, do the “Miranda Dance,” which is “a girl’s dressing room only thing,” said Hef-ner when prompted to dance by Fickling. David Loe ’10, does a traditional acting technique to focus. He uses part of the Stanislosky method and acts out what his character has been doing before his entrance. For “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” that meant pretending he was standing in the pouring rain. “I have to make it believ-able,” said Loe. Bailey Wilson ’10, and Daniel Wheeler ’10, get into character together by discussing their characters’ actions the day before. “We talk about preparing the house to be scary, and faking [Wheeler’s] death,” she said. “We just be morose.” After everyone has done their own pre-show rituals, the cast forms a circle in the middle of the drama room so they can prepare for the performance as a group. They start with vocal warm-ups, tongue twisters that prepare them to speak onstage. Though these change

with every show, there is always one that remains constant. Together, the whole cast will recite:

To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock,

in a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock,

Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock,

from a cheep and chippy chopper on a big black block.

Then comes the most important part of the night: “Keep yours.” Each member of the cast starts a statement with “Keep your…” and fills in the rest. These can be funny, personal, vague, specific, or anywhere in between, but their importance is so that the cast remembers not to let go of all of the won-derful moments they had while working on the show. “Keep your behavior at a PG-13 rat-ing, Keep your wings kinky, Keep your faints… faintastic, Keep your cast close, Keep your screams loud, Keep your best friends six inches away, Keep your memories dear…” Sometimes the whole cast will laugh, sometimes two people will crack up, and sometimes one person will recognize a sweet gesture. The meaning of what is said is rarely known outside of a small circle of people, even and that is what makes it special. After “Keep yours” everyone turns to the right, pretends to spit on their neigh-bor’s shoulder, a symbol derived from a Greek tradition to ward off evil. Stage manager Kayla Bush ‘10, calls for places, and it is show time.

Alex Rowe

Above from the left: Alex Tuccy ‘10, helps Morgan Hayes ‘12, do his hair to get ready to go on stage. Jordan Fickling ‘11, makes fun of other characters on stage. Daniel Wheeler ‘10, carries candelabrum to act as a stereotypical “creepy butler.” Ryan Cul-len ‘12, sits in the catwalks during dress rehearsal to work on lighiting. Right: As the Creeper, Dylan Webb ‘11, strangles Bailey Wilson ‘10. All photos by Alex Rowe