A L I M I T E D F O R U M F O R S T U D E N T E X P R E S S I O N

V O L U M E 1 0 0 | I S S U E F I V E | J A N U A R Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 2 | P U Y A L L U P H I G H S C H O O L | 1 0 5 7 T H S T . S W P U Y A L L U P W A S H , 9 8 3 7 1

A look atFight Clubs See page nine

1951 1954 195819561952 1957 1960

TIMELINE1951-1961

First fl ight to the North Pole in a single engine plane.

Premiere of the “Today Show” on NBC with Dave Garroway and Jack Lescoulie.

President Eisenhower gives the fi rst radio broadcast from space.

Johnny Cash begins to play his free concerts behind bars.

Failure to launch fi rst U.S. satellite. The Vanguard rocket explodes.

Elvis Presley makes his fi rst television appearance on “Dorsey Bros Stage Show.”

Bikini Atoll explodes from a 15 megaton hydrogen bomb via the U.S.

In honor of The Viking Vanguard’s 100th anniversary each issue will represent a decade. The fl ag at the top of this issue and timeline running at the bottom represent the 1951-1961 decade.

High school students starting a rock band is a common occurrence, but senior BrandonLee Cierley tried something different by starting the community jazz band Gated Community.

“It got started when Nate Englund and I talked about playing jazz with some of our friends,” Cierley said. “I acted upon that, I called some friends that I played in other jazz band groups or classical band groups with and asked them if they’d be interested in joining a community jazz band.”

According to junior Englund the students are primarily from PHS, but there are also a few students from Rogers, Graham Kapowsin and Auburn Mountainview high schools.

“It’s all student run, we don’t have a teacher to tell us what to do and how to do it, since we’ve been doing this for a long time,” Cierley said. “We are all good enough musicians to know good practice

regiments and have us sound good as a band. We can all get music, come back in a week and it’ll be all ready to go.”

Englund believes his involvement in the group has improved more than just his playing.

“I think working with other students without the adult supervision is a test of maturity. It has helped me become more productive,” Englund said. “It has challenged us as musicians and people to collaborate. It’s a lot more competitive, it’s crucial to have parts done and it has helped with confi dence.”

Band teacher Eric Ryan believes working on their own and the extra practice will help the band members.

“What will improve is their independence and confi dence which just comes with playing more,” Ryan said.

Ryan also believes the group is doing a service for the community.

“Them being able to perform and the community hearing them [is really good],”

Ryan said.The group has a gig coming up at the

Mandolin Cafe in Tacoma Feb. 4 at 1 p.m. Their fi rst gig occurred Dec. 23 at the Puyallup Anthem Coffee shop. According to Cierley it was met with great reception from the community.

“They love it; all the people in the band love playing the music and want me to keep getting gigs for us. The people listening are amazed that we can go unstructured and just make music together rehearsing only a few times a week prior to a gig,” Cierley said.

Gated Community is an audition only group making rehearsals easier according to Cierley.

“We don’t need a lot of rehearsals because we practice at home. In the school

band there is a lot of variety in skill, but since this is an audition-only group we’re all at a similar level,” Cierley said.

According to Englund the unique name came about from the fact that it is a

community band, but the desire to make clear the exclusive, audition only aspect of it.

Cierley intends to keep the jazz band going even when he goes off to college.

“It will probably keep going on when I go to college, most of the people in our group will be going to college

somewhat close so we’ll still be able to play,” Cierley said.

Gated Community has a Facebook page that they encourage students to check out for more information and upcoming dates.

“ I T H I N K W O R K I N G W I T H

O T H E R S T U D E N T S W I T H O U T

T H E A D U L T S U P E R V I S I O N I S A T E S T O F M A T U R I T Y . ”

N A T E E N G L U N DJ U N I O R

B Y P A U L A B I S I A R

N E W S E D I T O R

Above from left to right: Bassist Cameron Vreugdenhil, guitarist Elliott Turner and trumpet player Tyler Rasmussen all performed live at the fi rst Gated Community gig at Anthem coffee shop Dec. 23.

D A N I E L B A L D R I D G E | F O R V A N G U A R D

GATES OPEN FOR GATED COMMUNITY

S I O NO NO NO NO N

See p

NEWSP A G E T W O | P U Y A L L U P H I G H S C H O O L | I S S U E F I V E | J A N U A R Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 2 | T H E V I K I N G V A N G U A R D

NEWSY O U C A N U S E

SAT TESTING MARCH 10Students planning to take the SATs March 10 must register by Feb. 10. Register online at www.collegeboard.com

YEARBOOK SALES DEADLINE The deadline to buy a yearbook for $60 is Feb. 10. This is the last chance to purchase a yearbook before they are distributed at the end of the year.

FEB. 11: WINTER TOLO“Pick your Pair” tolo has been rescheduled due to last week’s weather. Coordinate cos-tumes with your date or friends and join in on the fun!

RUNNING START SIGN UPSOn Jan. 31, senior registration for the Pierce College Running Start program will take place after school at 2:30 p.m. in the library.

BATES COLLEGE TOURThe Annual Education Shadow Day is Feb. 7 and is hosted by Bates Technical College. If interested in touring a program, students can fi nd applications and fi eld trip forms at the Career Center. Openings are limited, see Mrs. Jellison for questions and information.

| W A N T T O K N O W T H E B E S T V I D E O G A M E S F O R N O N - G A M E R S ? S E E P A G E E I G H T | S E E T H E F O C U S F O R A

L O O K A T M O D E R N F A M I L I E S | W A N T T O A D V E R T I S E ? S E E B R I P E D I C O N E A N D S A R A P A R L I M A N I N R M . 3 1 3 |

Members of the Family Career Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) club held a Zumbathon Jan. 7.

The Zumbathon was meant to get students active doing Zumba as well as raising money and donations for St. Francis House.

“We chose to do Zumba because the students of the club wanted to fi nd something people could have fun at and fundraise at the same time,” FCCLA adviser Cassie Mueller said.

The club had confi dence in the Zumbathon being a success because of the time in which they chose to do the event.

“FCCLA wanted to do the Zumbathon because it’s right after New Year’s when everyone has set their New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and other things involving being more active,” Mueller said. “We knew doing it around this time would probably get more students to attend.”

Students of the club including junior Ashley Hager were extremely happy to see students at our school coming to have fun and support the cause.

“There was about 50 or so people there. It felt good knowing everyone there was having a good time and that we were all there

supporting such an awesome cause and doing something to help our community,” Hager said.

The Zumbathon turned out to be a success.

Over $200 was raised and over fi ve garbage bags full of winter clothing were donated.

“I’m extremely happy to see that the event was successful. It shows how all the clubs effort and dedication really pays off and also how team-oriented we are,” senior Courtney Lee said.

Since the event had such a great outcome, the club is already working on planning another similar event in the near future.

“We are talking about having another Zumbathon again because it was so successful. Around March or April is probably when it will happen and of course we are planning on attaching the event to another fundraiser,” Mueller said. “We are always looking for ways to help out our community.”

The students who attended the Zumbathon, including Hager, were very enthusiastic when asked if they would go again.

“Watching the guys who were there do Zumba was absolutely priceless,” Hager said. “Zumba is really popular. I think if we had events like this more often, then more students would be likely to show up.”

STUDENTS ZUMBA FOR CHARITYB Y A M A N D A S W E E N E Y

R E P O R T E R

Robotics kicked off their build competition Jan 7.The task: construct a robot capable of playing a

game of basketball. The contesting teams are given only six weeks to complete the project.

“[At the competition] each team has three robots on the fi eld,” junior Zach Moon said. “There are three levels of hoops: the top hoop is three points, the middle is two points and the bottom is one point. In the middle there are three bridges that your robot has to teeter-totter on and balance at the end.”

The club is currently brainstorming their strategy, debating whether to play more defensively or offensively.

“There’s about four or fi ve days of just designing and thinking about what we’re going to build,” junior Kody Gaines said. “After that, the drawings go on the board and we just start cutting metal.”

Second-year club members like Gaines show much optimism with this year’s project.

“At fi rst all the tasks seem daunting, but after you think about it, it seems a bit more practical and do-able,” junior Martin Mattes said. “As you get further in the season, you realize that you really can achieve what originally seemed impossible.”

Mattes claims that he has gained a lot from his involvement in robotics club.

“Robotics has really taught me how to work in a team better,” Mattes said. “Before I joined robotics I had a lot of trouble working in group situations. I think it’s really helped improve my teamwork skills.”

The build season can get stressful, especially as the deadline date draws near.

“Sometimes you get frustrated if it doesn’t work, but by trying different things it eventually will work,” Moon said. “I’m here to have fun. And win: winning isn’t bad.”

According to parent mentor Jim Kerl, snowy conditions have slightly hindered the club’s progress.

“Because of the weather, we are a week behind in where I would like to see the team,” Kerl said. “However, I am certain we will fi nish the build season with a good machine that plays the game well. As far as problems are concerned, that is the nature of this

challenge. We are given a task that seems too diffi cult, with too little time and not enough money.”

It will surely take quite some effort to move up through the levels of competition, as there are a huge number of teams involved.

“Some teams have anywhere from 15 to 200 people in their club,” Gaines said. “Locally,

we’re competing with about 150 teams.”According to Mattes, the end result is what it’s all

about. “[When it’s all done] there’s a little bit of satisfaction.

There’s also a feeling of accomplishment,” Mattes said. “A robot shooting a basketball into a basket—when you fi rst hear that, it sounds like it’d take years at the least, but you’ve gotten together with a group of people and done that work in six weeks. It’s pretty exciting.”

B Y J E S S E G I L E S

R E P O R T E R

Left to Right: Seniors Shay O’Day and Sarah Rothgeb dance in support of the FCCLA drive for winter clothing. The fund-raiser took place Jan. 7. FCCLA plans to hold another Zumbathon in the spring.

A N A D U E N A S | V A N G U A R D

“ A S Y O U G E T F U R T H E R I N T H E

S E A S O N , Y O U R E A L I Z E T H A T Y O U

C A N A C H I E V E W H A T O R I G I N A L L Y S E E M E D

I M P O S S I B L E . ”

M A R T I N M A T T E SJ U N I O R

E L I Z A B E T H N Y B E R G | V A N G U A R D

Robotics Club prepares to shoot for two

OPINIONT H E V I K I N G V A N G U A R D | P U Y A L L U P H I G H S C H O O L | I S S U E F I V E | J A N U A R Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 2 | P A G E T H R E E

VANGUARDT H E V I K I N G

E D I T O R - I N - C H I E F . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A D R I A O L S O NM A N A G I N G E D I T O R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C H R I S U T T E R B A C KO P I N I O N E D I T O R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A N N A W U L F E K U H L E F E A T U R E S E D I T O R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I S A A C S C H O E N F E L DF O C U S E D I T O R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . K A T H R Y N R U S S E L L A & E E D I T O R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J E S S I C A D I C K I N SS P O R T S E D I T O R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .N E W S E D I T O R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . P A U L A B I S I A RA D M A N A G E R S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S A R A P A R L I M A N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B R I A N N A P E D I C O N EC I R C U L A T I O N M A N A G E R . . . . . . . . . . A L L I S O N S U L L I V A N P H O T O E D I T O R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S O N I A X UG R A P H I C S E D I T O R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A N A D U E Ñ A SG R A P H I C S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S A N G W O O S H I NP H O T O G R A P H E R S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E L I Z A B E T H N Y B E R G. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A N N N G U Y E NR E P O R T E R S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A M Y C U R T I S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J E S S E G I L E S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Z A C H H A L T E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A M A N D A S W E E N E Y. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . J A C O B W A T K I N S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S Y D N E Y W E A T H E R B E EA D V I S E R . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . S A N D R A C O Y E R , M J E

E D I T O R I A L P O L I C Y :

The Viking Vanguard operates as a limited forum.

The Viking Vanguard’s duty is to expand student perspec-tives, maintain community relations and act as a student publication advocating voice. Besides providing an oppor-tunity for the exchange of viewpoints, The Viking Vanguard serves as an academic tool by which students can voice opin-ions as well as highlight issues facing today’s students.

L E T T E R P O L I C Y :

The Viking Vanguard accepts unsolicited copy from busi-nesses. Only signed and dated letters with addresses and phone numbers from community members, or grade level from students will be accepted. Letters must be limited to 350 words and will be published as space is available. The staff re-serves the right to edit any letter without changing its content. All letters are the sole opinion of the writer and do not nec-essarily represent the opinion of The Viking Vanguard staff. Letters to the Editor may be submitted by E-Mailing them to thevikingvanguard@gmail.com, or mailing them to The Vi-king Vanguard c/o Puyallup High School.

A D V E R T I S I N G P O L I C Y :

The Viking Vanguard publication staff accepts advertise-ments for most products available to the public. However, the staff reserves the right to reject, edit or cancel any ad-vertisement at anytime. Advertisements shall be free of im-plications that the staff deems offensive in light of normal public standards (WIAA 18.20.0 and 18.20.1). Ads violating this policy will not be accepted. The staff will not accept ad-vertising for products or groups which are racist, sexist or illegal for high school students. Advertisements do not nec-essarily refl ect the views, endorsements and/or positions of The Viking Vanguard, student body, faculty, administration or school board.

C O R R E C T I O N S :

The Viking Vanguard staff values accuracy, and wishes to correct mistakes made in previous issues. If you believe we have made an error, please contact us at: thevikingvan-guard@gmail.com.

*Missing graphic credit to Ana Duenas in Focus section.

HEY!

HEY YOU! YES YOU!

LOOK TO THE RIGHT!

DO YOU WANT TO SEE YOUR NAME IN

THE PAPER?

WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR AND

DROP IT OFF IN RM. 313 OR IN MRS.

COYER’S BOX.

NEW FAMILY MATTERS

In the 1950s, the average family was epitomized by the Cleavers; a television family consisting of the breadwinning father, homemaker mother and children. Seventy percent of families were made up in this way.

Currently, “traditional” families make up less than 15 percent of the nation’s families.

What once was known as a “broken family,” is now real life for a majority of families, but the negative connotation persists.

In this issue, we turned our attention to the unique and ever -changing aspects of a family by giving our Focus section a “Modern Family”

theme, with stories on age differences between siblings and growing up in the foster care system.

Families today come in all shapes and sizes, meaning something

different for everyone.

A “t r a d i t i o n a l ” family, although expected, can have just as many problems or successes as any other family.

T h e environment in which a person is raised can directly refl ect on the path they will take in life, but it won’t necessarily.

With every new defi nition for the word “family” comes a unique individual raised in that sort of family ready to fi nd their place in the world.

A family is who you trust and who trusts you. The people that you know will always care about you are your family.

Families now might have wide age gaps between parents, same-sex parents, adopted children or babies born via in vitro fertilization or surrogate mothers.

The picture of a family does not look like what it used to. Not everyone is born into their family, either.

Some people have to fi nd who they want to be in their family.

Some people fi nd family members in their friends.

Not everyone wants to fi nd a family.Healthy families come in a variety

of shapes and sizes, with different dynamics in each.

We have to get used to the idea that there can’t be one defi nition of a family because in the real world, that doesn’t exist.

The integral part of a family is love and support, not whether it belongs on a Hallmark card.

This week, as Democratic senator Margaret Haugen announced her support for same-sex couples to marry in the state of Washington, The Viking Vanguard turns its attention to the demographics of the modern American family.

“ C U R R E N T L Y . ‘ T R A D I T I O N A L ’

F A M I L I E S M A K E U P L E S S T H A N 1 5 %

O F T H E N A T I O N ’ S F A M I L I E S . ”

O U R V I E W

HOW TO WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

Think of a topic you feel very strongly about.1. Type up your opinion.2. Ensure that your letter is no more than 350 words.3. Sign the letter, including your name and grade level.4. Drop it off in Sandra Coyer’s box or e-mail it to thevikingvanguard@5. gmail.com or annawulfekuhle.vikingvanguard@gmail.com for use in our next publication.

We are here to be your voice, so SPEAK UP!

VANGUARDT H E V I K I N G

A N A D U E N A S | V A N G U A R D

Editorial Cartoon

Some people believe that time is like a circle, a continuous cycle of reoccurring events, while others think of time like a straight line, always moving forward.

The only thing I know to be true about time: it’s what you make of it.

One hour of class may feel like eternity; a dreaded swim meet may end quicker than expected; holidays anticipated and celebrated.

Each of these moments feel like small fragments of time, separate and dis-connected.

But if we lined up each hour of each day, of each month, of each year, we’d see how all these moments are stitched to-gether like a quilt.

We’d see how time has not changed, a min-

ute is still a minute and an hour is still an hour, time is constant.

The only thing that has changed is us. With each day comes new memories

and moments that slightly shape us in some way.

Some moments we remember clearly, some remain forgotten forever.

There are memories where I can envi-sion the setting I was in, what I was doing, how it felt to be “me” at that time.

A prominent day that I can relive in my head over and over again was during the summer of 2002.

The sun was shining proudly that day, making everything it gazed upon look fresh and enchanting.

It was scorching hot outside, which always resulted in inevitable water gun fi ghts with my brother Thomas.

I vividly remember chasing Thomas around our house, nailing him in the back with ice cold water until the water ran out, proceeding to crouch behind my favorite blueberry tree while he made his escape.

Absentmindedly, I soon forgot about water guns and focused my attention on the blueberries, picking only the round-est, juiciest-looking blueberries I could fi nd, only to be disrupted by Thomas.

I can still feel the rush of crisp water blasting me in the face, forcing all my hard picked blueberries to scatter in the grass.

Being six, I dealt with it the only way I knew how.

I cried. I let my tears water the soil and my woes

be heard by the sky. It was then laying there confessing my

problems to the world that I felt the grass for the fi rst time, nestled under my fi n-gers.

I watched as the weeping willow swayed to its own rhythm.

I listened to the way the leaves danced with the wind. I laid there for a long time listening, seeing and feeling everything move.

In that moment, time was moving but I was not.

But just like every memory fades, this moment passed.Minutes tick on.Hours trickle into days and by the time

you know it, 10 years will have slipped by.Examining my 6-year-old self and my

16-year-old, it seems so two-dimensional, like point A to point B.

But when we analyze each moment we remember, we take away something sig-nifi cant that we might have overlooked when we were in the present tense of that

moment. When my six-year-old self was lying in the grass, I was not thinking philosophi-

cally to myself, “look at the way the willow tree moves.” No, I was just lying there tak-ing everything in.

I was letting myself be. It’s refl ecting upon it now that the mem-

ory of it makes me realize how much I for-get about time.

We have this mindset that there will al-ways be enough time later to fi nish what we put off today. We assume that the min-ute hand will keep moving and everything

will carry on.Yet again, we forget that time is woven

together. There is no stopping or begin-ning; time just is.

Memories are not remembered at the time of day they occurred, time is merely in the background, making sure that just like all the others, this moment will move along.

As I stumbled across a photo that was taken on that summer day, I felt like I was holding time in my hands.

You see, photos can capture a moment in time; photos are memories that you can see and feel.

It does not feel that much time has passed since that day but it is evident in the photo how much has.

The girl and the boy once stood there, basking under the sun smiling widely, unaware of how that day would soon be over.

How they assumed they would be young forever; but the days continued on.

The tree is gone, the sandals no longer fi t and the boy is in college.

Yet the girl remains standing, wonder-ing how this moment could have passed, like turning the page of a book.

How she wished she could stand under that sun letting herself just “be” forever.

But she’s learned over the years that sometimes the music stops, that some-times in order to walk on the path of your dreams you have to let go.

I am no longer fi ghting time. I wave my white fl ag as I surrender to

this fruitless battle, as I realize the only fi ght I should be in is with myself.

I let myself be fooled by the thought of infi nite time

All the books I read tried to tell me the truth. I would not listen.

So I try to relive that moment in the photo.

I imagine laying there, nestled on top of the grass watching the world move.

I look to the weeping willow in all its glory, trying to recreate the feeling when a beautiful blue jay catches my eye.

I watch as it sits perched on the branch looking content, similar to the caged bird we all keep inside us.

A dream, a goal, a desire.Desmond Tutu said it best, “it is our

light, not our darkness that frightens us most.”

Too afraid to pursue it, we let it sit in-side us, festering, unwilling to let it out.

But this blue jay was free.She soon took fl ight, soaring high in the

sky, singing her song as she disappeared into the horizon.

Her wings took her places where she never thought possible, she broke from the fl ock.

Leaving me lying here, with my sad little bird all locked up.

My caged bird cries to be let out.She sings to me it’s time to let her be

free.And maybe, just maybe, this time I will

listen.

Q: What did you do during the snow days?

“ I P L A Y E D I N T H E S N O W . ”

H A N N A H L A U R E N Z A N OS O P H O M O R E

YADDA!

Y A D D A Y A D D A

“ I S T A Y E D A T H O M E A N D P L A Y E D W I T H

M Y D A U G H T E R . ”

K A R A H A R R I ST E A C H E R

“ I W E N T S L E D D I N G A N D S P R A I N E D M Y

A N K L E . ”

H A I L I E S A F L E YS E N I O R

“ [ M Y F A M I L Y A N D I P L A Y E D ] C H A R A D E S

A N D S H A D O W P U P P E T S W H E N T H E P O W E R W E N T O U T . ”

N A T A L I E T A K E H A R AJ U N I O R

“ W E S T A Y E D A T A H O T E L B E C A U S E

W E D I D N ’ T H A V E P O W E R . ”

F R A N K I E M O R A L E SJ U N I O R

‘CAGED BIRD’ SINGS OF TIME

S O N I A X U | V A N G U A R D

OPINIONP A G E F O U R | P U Y A L L U P H I G H S C H O O L | I S S U E F I V E | J A N U A R Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 2 | T H E V I K I N G V A N G U A R D

X U

C L U E L E S S A B O U T D U B S T E P ? R E A D P A G E T O F I V E F I N D O U T M O R E . C H E C K O U T P A G E T W O T O R E A D A B O U T

R O B O T S P L A Y I N G B A S K E T B A L L . M E E T O U R N E W C H I N E S E T E A C H E R H I D E E M A C K E N Z I E O N P A G E 1 0 .

We, two non-gamers, are on an epic journey through the virtual worlds of fi rst and third-person shooter and RPG. The fi rst thing we’ve asked ourselves… what is RPG? (P.S. it’s role playing game).

The non-gamers profi le: Bri Pedicone “If its not Mario,it doesn’t matter.”Sara Parliman “I own... at Sims. I make the best homes

and I know all the cheats.”We were given the task to participate in and review

today’s most popular games and we just so happen to be completely and totally inexperienced.

For those whose gaming experience is synonymous to our own, we bring forth our opinions and insight on these renowned games through the eyes of two “noobs.”

Though it’s both intimidating and inevitable that we fail miserably on several occasions… challenge accepted

Let the games begin!

Modern Warfare 3:

“Wait… so are we on a team or are we killing each other?” Bri asks.

Upon entering “The Dome,” not only were four teenage boys screaming at us, we too were screaming, but mainly at each other.

We started on multiplayer just to get the hang of all the controls.

We found that Sara can’t shoot and Bri can’t locate the enemy. We also jointly found that if you follow the other person around in circles, nothing is accomplished.

We believe the game to be very exhilarating and super bomb; pun intended.

We didn’t enjoy how complicated it was to aim at the enemy or how often Sara was bleeding out; it didn’t help that Bri didn’t know how to help Sara while she was bleeding out either, therefore it was long drawn-out process when it could have been easily avoided if Sara had any skill whatsoever.

Most aspects of the game were very interactive: meaning Bri could shoot a chicken and it would die. We also found that Bri could shoot a dog as well, but it killed her before she got the chance. It killed Sara too.

With more experience, we believe the game could be entertaining and addictive even, but that’s the point… we have no experience.

Skyrim:

Since this is a one-person game, we both took turns playing:

Bri: I walked through a vacant town, walking into walls, for that was all I could do due to the diffi culty of the controller. I talked to a lizard-man and stole from a house, then I realized that this game was so boring that I wanted to jump off a bridge, so I tried and it was so bad I couldn’t even do that. Perhaps it gets better with time.

Sara:“Bri, I quite enjoy this. I don’t know what your problem is. I could easily get addicted to this. What is

that? Oh, run. Steal. Steal horse. Go. Go horsey, AHH! THIS HORSE IS MAGICAL!”

I enjoyed the freedom of the game. Seeing as you’re playing through the eyes of your character and given free reign through the town, I considered it very personal.

Though I have to admit, the only thing I did the entire time was ride a stolen horse around on a path and killed dogs whenever they intercepted me on my self appointed mission to reach the top of the mountain.

Also, I’m noticing a recurring theme with these games and starting to wonder if maybe dogs are a requirement for a top-rated game these days.

Anyway, if I were given a longer turn at the game, I’m sure I’d learn to love it.

Bioshock 2:

This game is also one person. We took turns- once again:

Bri: I was terrifi ed from the beginning. This game is by far the scariest thing I’ve ever played or seen. I suppose it could do with the fact that I thought this game was called “Bioshark” and expected there to actually be a shark

However, even with my new knowledge that there aren’t sharks, I still don’t understand the objective; fi nd the girl, yes, but why?

It reminded me of a horror fi lm, in which I was the main character who barely escapes slaughter every three seconds.

The endless amount of gore was unpleasant, especially since my videogame career derives from Mario games. In my opinion, I’d rather hear, “It’s a-me, Mario!” over “Remember, big sister’s always watching.” Creepy.

The haunting soundtrack didn’t help. The music grows with intensity when someone pops out of nowhere and attempts murder. Again, I prefer Rainbow Road.

Overall, it was a bit too dark for my taste.Sara:Prior to playing this game, I was warned that I may

scream and possibly vomit. Then upon watching the intro I decided why some may fi nd this game vomit worthy though I myself am not one of these people.

Maybe Bri simply just doesn’t appreciate a dark theme like myself, or maybe I’m possibly much more demented than I originally believed, but either way, I found the game, concept and story very intriguing.

Unlike my counterpart Brianna, I thought the score to the game was very ominous yet beautiful.

I’d say I got most involved in this game of the many we played. It’s maybe even my favorite.

Portal:

Bri:This game challenged my mind. The challenge seemed even greater than my mind’s ability.

Or maybe the piercing headache from endless screaming around me was to blame for my massive failure.

“No, not there!”“Come on now, but the box on the platform, you can do

it! OH! OOHH! You did it!” Cue applauding.

I guess there could be worse insults on my playing than sarcasm.

The objective in this game is to either lead a ball of light through portals to another portal or a box to a platform. Sounds boring? Not even close.

I enjoy puzzle games and as the name suggests, this game is the ultimate puzzle. Creating portals in walls and ending up on the opposite side was appealing, but also distracting. Though seeing the back of my head by looking though a portal was, in a word, awesome.

What I found to be most attractive about this game was the fact there is no shooting or killing. Just mind games.

Also that the mechanical voice was, at times, hysterical“You’re not smart. You’re not a scientist. You’re not a

doctor. You’re not even a full-time employee.... When did your life go so wrong?”

Well excuse me robot, at least I’m real.Quit the sass!I may have not gotten far, but in the words of the

almighty robot voice, “Thank you for helping us help you help us all.”

Sara: Quite frankly, I deemed the game too boring to play at fi rst and upon giving it a chance, my suspicions were confi rmed.

It’s not that the game was necessarily uninteresting, it was just hard to get into after playing such fast paced games.

Though I will not deny the brilliance it demands to play, not to mention the hysterical narrative as Bri had mentioned.

Clearly, mind games such as Portal are not my thing, seeing as I enjoyed Skyrim and Bioshock. I’m not sure what that says about me but maybe mindless entertainment is more up my alley.

I suppose it wasn’t too bad, I’m just a tough critic.

Basically, we fi nd these games both terrifying and addicting. Our attempt to co-review was shattered by the realization that the games we enjoyed were polar opposites. Also, we found it’s valuable to have “videogame experts” on hand while playing for the fi rst time

Sara: What did I take away from this experience? That the cake is a lie. The day after playing and reviewing, I found myself yearning for a few more hours of Skyrim. I now comprehend how people who play videogames regularly, become addicted.

Bri: I had an epiphany. Videogame life does go outside of the world of Mario. Playing these games gave me a better understanding of why they are so popular and why people spend so much time playing them. To me, however, Mario still reigns the virtual world.

All in all, we’ve both gained and lost in this experiment. We’ve gained the absolute basic knowledge of videogame skills, yet lost hours of our lives.

Mission complete.

REVIEW:VIDEOGAMES FOR NON-GAMERS

A N A D U E N A S | V A N G U A R D

A&ET H E V I K I N G V A N G U A R D | P U Y A L L U P H I G H S C H O O L | I S S U E F I V E | J A N U A R Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 2 | P A G E F I V E

= The buttons equal our ratings for the game. The lowest being a one and the highest being a fi ve.

B Y B R I P E D I C O N E A N D S A R A P A R L I M A N

A D M A N A G E R S

Yintelligent and responsible ones.

Last-born siblings are charming and so-cial.

Middle-born siblings are independent and inventive.

Much of your personal-

out the window.

between them start to exhibit the charac-teristics of only children.

between siblings becomes less of a factor, allowing for a unique type of relationship to form.

Such a relationship has formed between sophomore Kristina Spooner and her new-born brother, Cordel.

FOCUSP A G E 6 | T H E V I K I N G V A N G U A R D | P U Y A L L U P H I G H S C H O O L | 1 0 5 7 T H S W . P U Y A L L U P , W A S H . 9 8 3 7 1 | A L I M I T E D F O R U M F O R S T U D E N T E

The age a person is in relation to their siblings can affect the dynamics of a family. Whether you have siblings old enough to be your parents or you yourself often feel like the parent to your younger siblings, age matters.

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P A G E 6 | T H E V I K I N G V A N G U A R D | P U Y A L L U P H I G H S C H O O L | 1 0 5 7 T H S W . P U Y A L L U P , W A S H . 9 8

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Hard work and success are integral parts of the American culture.

What a lot of people don’t realize is that one successful person is a representation of many people who have helped them get there.

Usually, that starts with the family they were brought up with.

The foster youth of America, however, may have a diffi cult time identifying with this concept at fi rst.

For many, it is community, foster family and volunteers that support them; so again, the answer is family – slightly

redefi ned and a lot more inclusive.

Math teacher Rachal Peart participated in this kind of family by fostering 5-year-

old Mekayla for nearly a year.“I felt like I had more to give to people and I knew

about the need in the foster care system, so I decided to try it,” Peart said.

It was very diffi cult at times, according to Peart.“They don’t come to you because they’ve had a perfect

life,” Peart said. “Mekayla is an amazing little girl but we had some issues to work out.”

Being a part of Peart’s family was benefi cial for Mekayla.

Her grades in school rose signifi cantly. She started doing gymnastics and even learned to swim

during her stay. “If you can get one thing for them to connect to for the rest

of their lives, it’s really benefi cial,” Peart said.No one knows this better than Independent Living Program

Manager Rick Butt, who oversees the Passion to Action organization.

“Meeting with these young people, learning their stories and seeing their empowerment – it makes this job do-able,”

Butt said.Head counselor Lesley Baczuk has had a

similar experience.“Generally speaking, the students I have met

within the foster care system have incredibly independent tendencies. The unstable environment they live with at home often forces them to really take initiative in their own life,” Baczuk said.

Aside from Butt, the Passion to Action council is composed of 20 foster alumni from all over Washington. Having been in the system, they advocate for positive change within child welfare. The board meets approximately six to eight times a year, but is diffi cult to coordinate.

“They have incredible dedication,” Butt said.Butt describes Passion to Action as a family. Indeed, their mission resembles something an older sibling

might offer his younger sibling: a better life than he lived. The group helps Child Protective Service trainees and

families looking to foster children, offering them their experiences and advice.

“It’s a chance for them to really have an active voice,” Butt said.

In addition to giving a feeling of belonging to many young people, Passion to Action also provides peer-to-peer mentoring.

The alumni meet with current foster youth to help them plan their future and provide them with options.

Some of these options, however, run the risk of getting cut by the state.

The $2 billion state defi cit will pull approximately $53 million away from the Children’s Administration.

That is why, from 5-7 p.m. Feb. 7, people will gather in Olympia for Youth Advocacy Day.

This year, it will be dedicated to the protection of safe housing for foster kids aging out of the system.

“It’s an opportunity to bring people in so they have a say in what happens in their lives,” Butt said.

The Foster Care to 21 Program is one safe housing program that is especially important both foster youth and those who want them to succeed.

It allows young people to stay in care, which enables them to attend college and other post-secondary institutions.

In 2009, Child Welfare Information Gateway estimated that 423, 773 total children were in the foster care system.

Deciding to be a foster parent may not be an easy choice, but it has redefi ned the image of a modern family.

“You have to do it for your heart,” Peart said. “I know that Mekayla will always be better for it, regardless of what happens in the rest of her life.”

You can look at birth order the way you might look at your horoscope.

First-born siblings are reportedly the intelligent and responsible ones.

Last-born siblings are charming and so-cial.

Middle-born siblings are independent and inventive.

Much of your personal-ity, some think, is formed

by how much you shared the attention of your parents and family.

National news-papers and National Public Radio (NPR) have done research on the impact of age order on siblings and reported similar fi ndings.

According to them, how old you are in comparison to your siblings strongly infl uences your behavior.

However, in cases of large age gaps between brothers and sisters, these com-

mon preconceptions are suddenly tossed out the window.

Siblings with four or fi ve years or more between them start to exhibit the charac-teristics of only children.

The perceived jealousy and competition between siblings becomes less of a factor, allowing for a unique type of relationship to form.

Such a relationship has formed between sophomore Kristina Spooner and her new-born brother, Cordel.

Unlike with her other three younger sib-lings, Spooner acts as more of a parental fi g-ure to the newborn.

“He’s defi nitely a lot to take care of,” Spoon-er said. “I’ve made a really close relationship with him though.”

In her mother’s absence, Spooner will take responsibility as caretaker of Cordele and her

other younger siblings. She acts as a mother fi gure

to Cordele: from bottle-feed-ing him to bathing him, to even changing his diapers.

Although she is happy to support her family, Spooner fi nds it diffi cult to balance her familiar obligations with other aspects of her life.

“With school, homework, family and friends it’s hard

to care for my siblings,” Spooner said. “I try to make a lot of time for my mom and family and friends all at the same time, along with homework and school, but sometimes it just doesn’t work out like it’s supposed to.”

Many experts in social rela-tions, such as mental health specialist Barbara Guerrero, ar-gue that older siblings like Kris-tina should not be put under that kind of pressure.

With a master’s degree in so-cial work, Guerrero argues that it isn’t good for an older sibling to take on such a responsibility at such a young age.

“Families who have older kids will often ask their older kids to babysit more than they should,” Guerrero said. “It’s not fair

to put that kind of responsibility on a child and more importantly it’s not healthy.”

It may be hard work, but for Kristina it’s completely necessary.

As the oldest sibling, Spooner feels it is her duty to watch over her family.

She realizes that she is a role model for her siblings and with her mom out of the house much of the time, the kids, especially Cordel, need to look to someone for guidance.

“They tend to look up to me because of the stuff I do for them, like taking care of them,” Spooner said. “I look a lot like my mom too so when my younger brothers and sisters see that, they see me as kind of like another mom.”

On the other end of the age spectrum, senior Lisa Zeiger is the young-est of four, with three older brothers: Ross (20), Joe (24) and Hans (26).

Lisa and Ross had spent a lot of time to-gether at school and had developed overtime a very close relationship.

“When I was a sopho-more my brother Ross was a senior here. I had a class with him and we hung out with a lot of the same peo-ple, so we had much more to talk about,” Lisa said.

Lisa doesn’t remember a time where her siblings

and she were in a serious fi ght. “For me, it’s easy to relate to siblings closer

to your age,” Lisa said. “But at the same time your older siblings have more experience than you and they know what you’re going through.”

All three of Lisa’s brothers went to PHS and ran on the cross country team.

After entering high school sophomore year, Lisa followed her brother’s footsteps and par-ticipated in cross country.

She says she is thankful to have such strong role models in her life.

“It’s really nice to have someone older to look up to,” Lisa said. “My brother Hans is a State Representative, so sometimes I feel pressured to follow after him, but at the same time he’s a great exam-ple for me.”

Guerrero also sees the ben-efi ts of having a signifi cantly older brother or sister.

“In cases of large age gaps in brothers and sisters, the older siblings will often act as a mentor for the younger ones,” Guerrero said. “I think that an older sibling could certainly teach them a lot of things and be almost as another adult fi gure.”

And for Lisa, it’s an experience which she wouldn’t trade for the world.

“It’s like having a really good friend that you know will always be there,” Lisa said. “You know that no matter where you go you’ll al-ways have them.”

FOCUSP A G E 6 | T H E V I K I N G V A N G U A R D | P U Y A L L U P H I G H S C H O O L | 1 0 5 7 T H S W . P U Y A L L U P , W A S H . 9 8 3 7 1 | A L I M I T E D F O R U M F O R S T U D E N T E X P R E S S I O N | I S S U E F I V E | J A N U A R Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 2 | P A G E 7

B Y J A C O B W A T K I N S

R E P O R T E R

AGE MAKES A DIFFERENCE

B Y A L L I S O N S U L L I V A N

R E P O R T E R

“ F O R M E , I T ’ S E A S Y T O R E L A T E

T O S I B L I N G S C L O S E R T O Y O U R

A G E . ”

L I S A Z E I G E RS E N I O R

“ F A M I L I E S W H O H A V E O L D E R K I D S

W I L L O F T E N A S K T H E I R K I D S T O B A B Y S I T M O R E

T H A N T H E Y S H O U L D . ”

B A R B A R A G U E R R E R OM E N T A L H E A L T H

S P E C I A L I S T

“ M E E T I N G W I T H T H E S E

Y O U N G P E O P L E , L E A R N I N G T H E I R

S T O R I E S A N D S E E I N G T H E I R

E M P O W E R M E N T . ”

R I C K B U T TP R O G R A M M A N A G E R

“ T H E Y D O N ’ T C O M E T O Y O U

B E C A U S E T H E Y ’ V E H A D A P E R F E C T

L I F E . ”

R A C H A L P E A R TF O S T E R P A R E N T

The age a person is in relation to their siblings can affect the dynamics of a family. Whether you have siblings old enough to be your parents or you yourself often feel like the parent to your younger siblings, age matters.

“ W I T H S C H O O L , H O M E W O R K , F A M I L Y A N D

F R I E N D S I T ’ S H A R D T O

C A R E F O R M Y S I B L I N G S . ”

K R I S T I N A S P O O N E RS O P H O M O R E

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The ‘traditional’ family in the U.S. made up of a father, mother, son

and daughter makes up only 15 percent of all the families in the U.S.

Family foundations have shifted from how they were in the past and

Vanguard has taken a look at its effects on students.

A&EP A G E E I G H T | P U Y A L L U P H I G H S C H O O L | I S S U E F I V E | J A N U A R Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 2 | T H E V I K I N G V A N G U A R D

DUBSTEP FOR DUMMIES

Review:local bands

B Y J E S S I C A D I C K I N S

A & E E D I T O R

Perry Acker Consider these guys the next

big thing out of the Gig Harbor area. Perry Acker was the fi rst place winner of Ford’s ‘Gimme the Gig’ competition February 2011.

Their sound is riddled with tidbits of soulful country, innovative jazz and the sweetest blues around.

They exhibit superb songwriting—lacking neither captivating choruses nor sonorous solos—and their second album “Places We Go” is ripe with mature musicianship.

See them live for an unparalleled sonic experience.

Upcoming show: Saturday, Feb. 25, 9 p.m. @ Jazzbones in Tacoma (21+)

*No all-ages shows scheduled as of now

A Hope Not ForgottenThis local hardcore

outfi t features over-the-top

breakdowns, throat-piercing screams and an altruistic devotion to their Christian beliefs.

Formed in Federal Way in 2008, AHNF has released two albums entitled “Leave it by the Wayside” and “Two Years and Counting,” both of which push the barriers that confi ne the hardcore genre.

They have shared the stage with notable acts, including Abandon All Ships and Miss May I. Expect to feel the passion, which is translated through drop-tuned guitars and pummeled drums, at their live show.

No upcomings shows posted.

Shoreline DriveFollowing in the footsteps of

such beloved acts as All Time Low and Taking Back Sunday, this young pop punk group has established a solid fan base in the Seattle area.

The band highlights heart-etching vocals, scene kid demeanor and loyalty to their genre.

Their only release is a well-produced single called

“Superhero (Save Me).” Although currently unsigned, Shoreline Drive is quite the blip on Seattle’s music radar.

Upcoming show: Friday, Feb. 10, 7 p.m. @ Showbox at The Market in Seattle

Ben UnionTo defi ne this Tacoma

band simply as rock would be erroneous, for they mash unfamiliar elegances into a rhythmic, bursting nebula of vibration.

The music video for their track “Kiss the Girl” was shot at an all-too-familiar location: the Tacoma Museum of Glass. Ben Union is far from the norm, which is perhaps the reason for their fi rm progress.

Soon to release the fi rst volume of their second album, “This Blessed Union,” the band could very well acquire national attention within the year’s end.

Upcoming show: Saturday, Jan. 28, 8 p.m. @ Louie G’s Pizza in Fife.

History:Wub,Wub,Wub.

Your parents are confused by it, the ravers have known about it for years and it’s slowly been remixed into your favorite song.

But what the heck is it? According to AllMusic, DubStep is

described as tightly-coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples and occasional vocals.

Instruments used in making the futuristic sounds include sequencers, turntables, samplers, drum machine, synthesizer, keyboard and a personal computer.

The characteristic of DubStep that makes it most recognizable is called the ‘bass drop’.

The bass drop is best described as “the percussion will freeze or the existing intro track will start to fade into the background. After a brief pause, all hell breaks loose and overwhelming bass invades the track that is essentially carried throughout the rest of the tune,” stated by UDubStep.

According to UDubStep the music infl uences came from the sub-genre of ‘Jamaican Dub’ which featured disco-style music remixed base undertones and the more modern British ‘Jungle’ and ‘Garage’.

Toward the end of the ‘90s British DupStep started playing at clubs in London, particularity Forward>> who dedicated itself to only playing the groundbreaking new sound. The owners of the club soon put out a CD and made a studio for more artists to perfect their craft like Skream and DJ Hatcha.

Popular artist that have sampled the rhythmic style of DubStep are Britney Spears, Ke$ha and Lady Gaga

Current names in the DubStep world include Skrillex, Nero, Dubba Johnny, Excism and SKisM.Though the original dark rooted DubStep is widely unknown by the average teenager, the undeniable dance beats have remixed our favorite songs creating a new wave of fans to this genre of music that isn’t stopping anytime soon.

Review: This isn’t my fi rst encounter with DubStep. If I’m being honest, I’ve listened to DubStep before. Usually it’s mixed into other songs or on the radio for a few minutes late at night, but I’ve never just sat down and only listened to just the thundering Dubstep. To start off on what was to become a literally

mind-blowing experience, I put on my noise canceling headphones and selected the “Dubstep Radio” station off Pandora. Ten minutes later, I’m nodding my head to the beat and starting to anticipate the drops. Forty minutes later and I get the feeling my brain is going to explode; the beat’s dropped and a repetitive small beeping noise just seems to pick up momentum as it goes tunneling through my mind. I have to take off my head phones: now. I take a few deep breaths; it got a little intense. I think maybe small doses mixed in with my usual music is all I can handle, but defi nitely something I’ll keep looking into. So it might not be the best thing while working on homework on a Sunday night, but if you want to get seriously lost while dancing, this might be for you.

You’ve heard of it but what ‘it’ is totally escapes you. Folllow our lead into the world of relatively new genre of music that kicks up the bass. Be advised it gets pretty loud.

Playlist:

I’ve prepared you all I can for the (epic word for hearing) journey you’re going to embark on, but DubStep is a big and scary world so here are some songs to get you started on the right track.

1. Cracks(Flux Pavillion Mix) by Freestylers2. Cinema by Benny Benassi ft. Skrillex3. Bass Cannon by Flux Pavillion4 Organ Donor by Zomboy5. Woo Boost by Rusko6. Power by SKisM7. 26 Basslines by Benga8. Graduation by Gemini9. Aerophobia by Dodge & Fusky10. Kickstarts (Bar 9 Remix) by Example

C O M P I L E D B Y J E S S E G I L E S

R E P O R T E R

J E S S E G I L E S | V A N G U A R D

B Y J E S S E G I L E S

R E P O T E R

In a survey of 375 students, 58 percent

said they enjoyed Dubstep.

Though the fi rst rule of Fight Club is to not talk about Fight Club, students have come forward to share

their experiences—both positive and negative— with participating in organized fi ghts. Captain Dalan

Brokaw of the Puyallup Police Department weighs in on the legality issues associated with these clubs.B Y C H R I S U T T E R B A C K

M A N A G I N G E D I T O R

“ I F Y O U S H O W E D U P , Y O U H A D T O

F I G H T . N O S P E C T A T I N G . ”

J O S H S M I T HF I G H T E R

“ I F T H E Y A R E O V E R 1 8 , T H E Y

C A N B E C H A R G E D T O D E L I N Q U E N C Y

O F J E V E N I L E S . ”

D A L A N B R O K A WP O L I C E D E P T .

S O N I A X U | V A N G U A R D

According

to a poll of 375,

39.2 percent of students

surveyed said that they had

participated in a fi ght with

another student.

FEATUREST H E V I K I N G V A N G U A R D | P U Y A L L U P H I G H S C H O O L | I S S U E F I V E | J A N U A R Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 2 | P A G E N I N E

No elbows, no head kicks, no pulling hair, no groin shots.

Some of Puyallup’s youth looking for ways to test their grit and learn to fi ght have been turning to a less-than-legal form of organized fi ghting, commonly referred to as fi ght clubs.

Fight clubs are simple: they involve groups of people getting together and fi ghting amongst each other. For fi ghter Josh Smith*, it all started with watching fi ghting on television.

“We would have these guys nights where we would watch UFC and afterward we would just fi ght in the backyard,” Smith said. “People liked that and started bringing their friends. If you showed up, you had to fi ght. No spectating.”

Of course there are things to worry about when participating in fi ght clubs.

Puyallup municipal code states that it is prohibited and according to Captain Dalan Brokaw of the Puyallup Police Department, getting caught fi ghting in public is considered a misdemeanor and can result in anything from a fi ne or probation to 364 days in a juvenile detention facility.

“As a juvenile, there is liability involved in anybody who hosts these fi ght clubs,” Brokaw said. “They can be civilly liable, whether or not the fi ghter consented or not.”

However this does not stop fi ghter Andrew Jenkins*. He has participated in fi ghts made up of about 20 people.

“It’s a natural thing to fi ght. We would just box; it’s a good sport,” Jenkins said. “It’s good to have some experience in fi ghting. It’s another way to compare your strength against another’s and see how you match up. It inspires you to do better.

According to Jenkins, they would fi ght in rounds of a couple minutes each. They would fi ght with gloves and the fi ght would continue until one of the fi ghters wanted to stop.

“It’s not that long of a fi ght. It’s until they stop,” Jenkins said. “We don’t [offi cially] declare winners; we just talk about it after.”

Smith’s fi ght club was organized more competitively. They had another person watching and giving points and a winner would be declared after the fi ght was over.

“[Winning is the] best feeling ever. You look around and think ‘drink it in for a minute’,” Smith said. “Losing hurts, but it’s motivating. It opens up who you are.”

Brokaw worries about the risks of having fi ghts in an

unsupervised environment and urges youth who want to fi ght to fi nd a controlled environment to do it in, like a dojo or gym.

“Look for a more accepted form of competitive fi ghting. Without experienced professionals there could be serious issues,” Brokaw said. “It needs to be done in a supervised setting where somebody with experience can step in.”

In his time with fi ghting, Smith never let things get out of hand. His club always had people waiting to step in if things went south.

“People’s tempers fl are; there are enough of us around to calm them down. If people get out of hand, we ask them to leave,” Smith said. “There

were no injuries. It was all voluntary: a controlled atmosphere.”

Brokaw believes that the rise in fi ghting among youth is a product of the popular internet video culture.

“I believe the YouTube viral video culture has spawned a rise in fi ght clubs,” Brokaw said. “It’s just for video popularity.”

For students, there are even more problems involved with fi ghting. If the school fi nds out that a student was fi ghting, whether it was

consented or not and that the school or its facilities were somehow involved, that student can face punishment from administrators as well as the law, according to assistant principal Jack Widmann.

“Whether it is a fi ght with friends or there is animosity, the district stance is that a fi ght is a fi ght,” Widmann said. “We try to squash it before it begins.”

The student handbook defi nes fi ghting as “any physical altercation with another, or promoting or encouraging an assault or altercation between others.”

Punishment is suspension ranging from short term, one to 10 days, to long term, up to 90 days, depending on number of offenses and severity.

As well as fi ghting directly on campus, the district gets involved if planning of any kind for fi ghts took place on school grounds.

“If an investigation is done and it is found that talk, text, or notes involved in planning [were exchanged at school], then it becomes our problem,” Widmann said.

In addition to the aforementioned punishment, there can be more serious punishment involved for those over 18 who are caught involved in fi ght clubs.

“If they are over 18, they can be charged with contributing to delinquency of juveniles,” Brokaw said.

One of Widmann’s worries about fi ght clubs is the

uncertainty of strangers who show up to fi ght, who could end up being dangerous individuals.

“It’s one thing when you know the people, but when word gets out and [strangers] from [other areas] start showing up, that’s when it can get serious,” Widmann said.

Widmann and Brokaw both expressed concern for the dangers involved in fi ghting without supervision. If someone were to get seriously hurt, they both pointed out that students would be disinclined to take that person to the hospital for fear of getting trouble, even if they needed medical attention.

“You know it’s all in good fun,” Smith said. “[Fight club] helped to get our testosterone out.”

*We have protected the identity of our interviewess by

providing them with pseudonyms.

It began with a T-shirt.Junior Noland Moore was at a loss

for present ideas for a friend’s 16th

birthday.The result of a collaboration with friend

Brandon Fox resulted in a depiction of Moore and Fox wearing dress suits.

In a shower.Putting pepper on a melon.It was accompanied by the title, “The

Peppered Melons.”The goofy gift resulted in the naming of

a duo.Moore and friend Elliott Turner, both

juniors, have played in orchestra since fourth grade.

Both are skilled at the viola as well as guitar and bass, according to orchestra teacher Todd Giltner.

“They sit fi rst stand in the viola section,” Giltner said. “They’re the brightest and best.”

Both Moore and Turner enjoy improvisation, as well.

“At lunch, they’ll just sit there and play stuff; it’s amazing to watch,” Giltner said. “They can go on for 15 minutes playing nothing.”

“One day, we thought it would be fun to just go play somewhere,” Moore said.

All that remained was a name.Back to the T-shirt.“For Noland’s birthday, to infuse the

idea, I got him some pepper and melons and that kind of solidifi ed the whole

thing,” Turner said.The Peppered Melons made their performance debut at local venue The

Mandolin Café.“The person who’s in charge [at The

Mandolin Café] said he thought we sounded very good, very cohesive,” Turner said.

Turner and Moore were offered a gig at the café and jumped at the opportunity,

playing for friends and other patrons.“As soon as we got

that show, we felt like we should play other places,” Moore said.

Their diversity as musicians allows them to stand out from other musical groups.

Alternating between viola, guitar and bass, as well as between original and covered songs sets the duo apart.

“We do a lot of arranging and covering of songs and we have an alternative-

sounding style,” Turner said.Also performing a multitude of styles,

The Peppered Melons have widespread appeal among different musical styles.

“We play everything from Hendrix to new stuff, from soft to really hardcore and light-hearted to really dark,” Moore said.

Turner’s favorite song of their repertoire is an arrangement of Whiz Kalifa’s “Black and Yellow.”

“I fi gured out the melody, so I taught it to Noland [and] I started writing down the chord progression,” Turner said. “We made it unique.”

Contributing to the unique style, Moore describes their musicianship as being more than technicality.

“We take technicality but also put emotion into it,” Moore said. “Being a musician [means] being able to take things that aren’t literal and put them into an in-your-face sound that anyone can hear.”

Turner views music as a creative and personal outlet.

“[I love] the freedom of expression, just being able to express myself through my instrument,” Turner said.

Moore enjoys the connections made through music and reaching others through performing original work.

“It’s really cool to see people getting involved in music they’ve never heard before,” Moore said.

A sense of satisfaction accompanies playing an instrument and crafting new artistic work, according to Turner.

“It sounds good to hear your own music when your whole life you’ve been listening to others play music,” Turner said.

Turner attributes their success to practice and skills learned in orchestra.

“Orchestra, though it does not get as much recognition, is a great place to start,” Turner said.

Basic musical knowledge is a fundamental part of success as an instrumentalist, according to Giltner.

“It’s like learning to write or learning to read; you can’t be an author without

it, “Giltner said. “You have to know the rules in order to break them; if you don’t know how to act, you’re not going to be very good at improv.”

In the midst of October, all the Chinese classes were put to a halt when teacher Hugo Chou suddenly had to depart PHS, leaving these classes without a full-time teacher.

Japanese teacher Laurie Pruden acted as a substitute for the Chinese classes during this time.

About a month later, native Chinese speaker Hidee Mackenzie was hired and began teaching four levels of Chinese.

“It’s very hard to fi nd someone to teach Chinese; you’re not going to walk out and fi nd candidates,” Vice Principal Conchita Moore said. “You want a qualifi ed person who is dedicated to students and learning and knows all of the current teaching instructions and skills.”

Mackenzie, who also speaks Mandarin, Spanish, French, Japanese and English, sees the struggle for those who want to become foreign language teachers.

“In America, it’s hard to fi nd a teacher; it’s hard for a non-native speaker to teach [the language]. For a non-native speaker, it’s hard to pass the Chinese part of the certifi cation test. For a non-English speaker, it’s hard to pass the English part,” Mackenzie said. “To certify you have to have good skills in both English and Chinese. It’s a challenge in the educational system right now.”

Mackenzie has lived in China for the majority of her life and recently moved from Tokyo to America. Before teaching Chinese at Puyallup, Mackenzie was a conversion teacher, one who taught elementary school children math and science through speaking another language.

Along with being a brand new teacher at Puyallup, Mackenzie was given the task of teaching Chinese 2 and 3 in her fi rst period and Chinese 1, 2, 3 and 4 in her second period.

There must be at least 15 people enrolled in a class to make it independent. With small numbers in the various levels, the levels had to be combined, according to Moore.

“I actually like it very much. Classroom management and preparation [are diffi cult]. Usually if you teach one level, you only have to prepare for [that] level,” Mackenzie said. “Since I’m teaching more, I have to prepare four different levels. You have to be prepared to carry the class lesson smoothly.”

Junior Carter Chiu is in Chinese 3 this year and fi nds Mackenzie to be an organized teacher.

“She’s done a pretty good job balancing,” Chiu said. “After the fi rst week or so we adapted.”

A smaller class may have infl uence on teaching multiple levels, according to junior Shalyn Van Beek.

“From what I’ve seen so far, it looks like she has done this before and has created a great plan of action,” Van Beek said.

Junior Nyda Ouch feels Mackenzie makes her job seem effortless when in action.

“She’s very methodical in her teaching style, which makes juggling the varied class levels seem easier than it must be,” Ouch said. “Considering

that she has to teach Kalles students in the same class as PHS third years, I think she’s doing well.”

Even though she’s new to Puyallup, Mckenzie expects a great deal out of her students.

“I have a different teaching style than the teacher before, it seems like I am a more strict teacher,” Mackenzie said. “From the beginning of class I told them that it wouldn’t be easy to get an A from me, so you have to perform at your level and master it.”

Chiu apprehended shortly after Mackenzie’s arrival that Chinese class needed more attention in his studies.

“Our new teacher is more rigorous; she expects a lot out of us,” Chiu said. “I always thought Chinese

was an easy class, something I didn’t really have to work for. Now we have to work much harder.”

The sudden change of teachers was hard on students, including Ouch.

“It was somewhat irritating to essentially begin working from scratch with a new teacher, but the fact that we had promise of a new teacher was exciting in itself, especially for juniors and seniors in need of their language credits,” Ouch said. “Because our former teacher knew where each student stood in terms of skill, the shift to a new teacher forced both a challenge to her as an educator and to students with an adjustment to teaching style.”

Van Beek had similar feelings with the switch and even feared Chinese might be cut from the school.

“I was frustrated with the possibility of Chinese being dropped and having to fi nd a new language,” Van Beek said. “I’d already put a whole year into Chinese and now there would be no way to get three years of the same language in high school like I had planned for college.”

Mackenzie has already noticed defi ned dissimilarities between her new job at PHS and her past jobs.

“The atmosphere isn’t as intense. It’s more relaxed between the staff, the principal and the students,” Mackenzie said. “I was at a school that had a lot of pressure from upper administration, it seems much more relaxed here and they trust the teacher so we can do the job that we want to be doing.”

B Y A N N A W U L F K U H L E

O P - E D E D I T O R

“ I H A V E A D I F F E R E N T T E A C H I N G

S T Y L E T H A N T H E T E A C H E R

B E F O R E . ”

H I D E E M A C K E N Z I EC H I N E S E T E A C H E R

“ [ I L O V E ] T H E F R E E D O M O F

E X P R E S S I O N , J U S T B E I N G A B L E T O

E X P R E S S M Y S E L F T H R O U G H M Y

I N S T R U M E N T . ”

E L L I O T T U R N E RJ U N I O R

B Y B R I A N N A P E D I C O N E

A D M A N A G E R

Chinese speakers welcome multilingual teacher

MELODY GROWS MELONS OVER TIME

FEATURESP A G E 1 0 | P U Y A L L U P H I G H S C H O O L | I S S U E F I V E | J A N U A R Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 2 | T H E V I K I N G V A N G U A R D

S O N I A X U | V A N G U A R D

Hunters. They wake up before the sun has a chance to

show itself and they drive miles and miles to si-lently sneak through the forest in hopes to bring home a six point buck.

But when picturing a hunter what comes to mind? Maybe it is an image of burly men in camoufl age holding rifl es?

How about a teenage girl?Junior Brooke Anderson started shooting guns when

she was in fi fth grade and ever since she has gone out to shooting ranges and taken up hunting as a hobby.

“I was fi ve when I fi rst shot a gun. Sure it was just a BB gun, but technically it was a gun. I shot my fi rst ‘real’ gun when I was 11 or 12. The fi rst time I used it, I was scared out of my mind that I was going to accidentally shoot someone and go to jail for the rest of my life,” Brooke said. “I successfully avoided any tragedies and now I’m not

freaked out when I use them, but I’m still careful.” Brooke started hunting with her father when she was six and he fully supports her hobby of hunting.

“It’s kind of like father-daughter bonding time. It’s also just fun for me,” Brooke said. “When I fi rst get asked to go, I’m usually not all that thrilled because that means a long car ride or having my toes freeze to my socks, but I enjoy it.”

Her dad was the one who got her involved with hunt-ing in the fi rst place and says he has supported and en-couraged her since their fi rst trip together when she was six.

“He’s always been a ridiculously devoted hunter and he would take me out on hunts with him when I was younger. He wanted me to get into it too, so we’d go to rifl e and archery ranges so I could work on my shooting,” Brooke said.

Brookes’ friends also support her love for hunting.“I have known Brooke for several years now and I think

it is really cool that she goes hunting with her family,” junior Josh Williams said.

Her dad, Mark Anderson, has been hunting for 34 years and loves being out-doors.

“There is so much to see and discover out there and it’s great to overcome that challenge of hunting and have a feeling of personal victory,” Mark Anderson said.

Brooke Anderson has been on many trips and caught a lot of different animals proving that women can hunt just as well as men.

One of her most memorable trips was when she went to Wyoming last year in October with her dad and her older brother Alex.

“My fi rst big animal was an antelope that I got in Wyoming with my dad and my brother. We drove 19 hours there, hunted for four hours, and then drove 19 hours back,” Brooke said. “My second big animal was a two-by-two black tail deer. There’s not really an exciting story behind that one except for the fact that I got him in one shot and had to drag him a quarter of a mile back to our truck with my dad just watching and making fun of me the whole time.”

Mark, Brooke and her brother Alex wrote up stories about their hunting trip and sent them in to “The Huntin’ Fool” magazine and they got published with the other online stories.

Mark Anderson also mentioned that hunter’s safety courses are free and open to all ages. For people who are not inter-

est- ed in hunting taking the safety class will make people familiar with gun safety.

“When Brooke was taking her safety course there was a seven year old in the

class with her,” Mark Anderson said.Both Brooke Anderson and her father agree that safety

is key; learning how to handle a gun before it is used is very important.

“Don’t ever point it at anybody, even if it isn’t loaded,” Brooke Anderson said. “Muzzle control was one of those things the instructors drill into your head in a hunter’s safety class. I’ve heard so many stories about people who were just messing around and accidentally shot some-one because they didn’t think the gun was loaded. And just because the safety switch is on doesn’t mean it will always work, so it should always be pointed at the ceiling or the ground.”

For those who are not into hunting, Mark Anderson says that anti-hunters donate about $1 million a year to prevent hunting and support animal wildlife but hunters end up spending a total of $5 billion a year on hunting supplies which fund the economy and the money that hunters pay for their licenses is used to support animal habitats.

Few can tout as many achievements in bowling as junior Andrea Westling.

Westling bowls for the varsity team as well as outside of school.

Encouraged by family, Westling started bowling at age six.

“My mom, my grandparents, my aunt and uncle all bowled, and they [said], ‘You need to bowl too’ so I did. I started at Daffodil and then I joined the team when I was a sophomore,” Westling said. “We practice about two hours a day, and before [I joined] the team I practiced two hours a week on Saturdays.”

Westling proves knowledgeable in the game of bowling and, according to coach Ann Carpenter, her knowledge is her greatest strength. To many, bowling is a simple game of throwing a ball down an alley to hit the white pins at the end of the lane. However, Westling explains bowling is more complicated than it seems.

“Some people struggle staying on the lanes, but I try to focus on curving the ball and releasing the ball,” Westling said. “[I struggled] learning how to throw the ball right. I didn’t do it right for the fi rst seven years.”

Learning also goes beyond the techniques of bowling, but also to each and every bowling alley as well. Not all

alleys are the same, according to Westling.“Paradise is way different from Daffodil,”

Westling said. “They use real wood instead of synthetic wood. And they also use different oil patterns, so if there is more oil, the ball doesn’t curve as much. That is what the 15-minute practices [before games] are for – so you can adjust.”

Westling takes pride in the bowling team. She considers going to State last year as one of her greatest accomplishments in her bowling career. It was also her fi rst year playing a sport for school. Westling’s personal highest score was a 232.

According to Carpenter, Westling has claimed the title of highest scorer in at least two matches this season. Her consistency in scoring has earned her the respect of team captain Jacqui Binam.

“[When I saw] her bowl for the fi rst time on varsity, I realized that we were going to have another good varsity teammate,” Binam said. “But for me personally, I’m going to have another person to be competing against for fi rst.”

Binam, a senior, is hopeful and optimistic of where the bowling team will take themselves next year.

“[Andrea]’s going to be great next year and it will be good to come back and see where the team is, see how she is improving and how everyone else is improving also,” Binam said.

Westling has come a long way from her once shy self, according to Carpenter.

“Now, being a junior, she’s grown a lot maturity-wise,” Carpenter said. “She was really quiet her fi rst year and now she has found where she fi ts on the team. She isn’t afraid to use her voice.”

Whether at school or at the bowling alley, Westling is passionate about what she does.

“[Andrea] has an awesome work ethic.

She’s a great student; she knows where she’s going and what she wants to do with her life. That’s what makes her stay focused,” Carpenter said. “You’ve got to have focus in bowling and in life.”

Westling, who also enjoys reading and camping, plans to fi nish bowling for PHS through her senior year, join a league in college and enter the women’s national tournament to travel and compete around the country.

SPORTST H E V I K I N G V A N G U A R D | P U Y A L L U P H I G H S C H O O L | I S S U E F I V E | J A N U A R Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 2 | P A G E 1 1

HOME ON THE SHOOTING RANGE

Junior kegler proves knowledge, passion B Y A N N N G U Y E N

R E P O R T E R

J E S S E G I L E S | V A N G U A R D

B Y S Y D N E Y W E A T H E R B E E

R E P O R T E R

SPORTS P A G E 1 2 | T H E V I K I N G V A N G U A R D | P U Y A L L U P H I G H S C H O O L | I S S U E F I V E | J A N U A R Y 2 6 , 2 0 1 2

There are several new faces on the boys varsity basketball team this year.

Among them stands the only senior on the team, number 32, Drew Ramirez.

Though new to the team, he is not new to the game of basketball.

“[I have played basketball] my whole life,” Ramirez said. “This is my fi rst year making a basketball team.”

This season’s team is comprised of three sophomores, nine juniors and Ramirez.

“It feels good [being the only senior on varsity],” Ramirez said. “It makes me feel like they look up to me, but at the same time I look up to everyone else because they have more experience than I have.”

According to Coach Scott Campbell, Ramirez is a valuable addition to the Viking family.

“Drew is a great teammate,” Campbell said. “He puts the team before himself. Every day he brings a great attitude and a great work ethic. He comes to work as hard as he can both mentally and physically.”

Despite newfound success, Ramirez has haD his share of challenges in the past.

According to Ramirez, he saw himself going down a bad road, so he put his life into his own hands and changed it.

“I [weighed] 210 pounds as a sophomore. So I stopped eating fast food and then I stopped doing drugs,” Ramirez said.

Currently 5 feet 11 inches and 180 pounds, Ramirez, works out every day lifting weights and playing basketball.

His efforts, in part, began as a motivation to make the basketball team. He had always loved sports and found his niche with basketball.

His mom, Ginal Ramirez, has been along side him his entire basketball career.

“I’ve always told [Drew] to work hard at what he wants because it’ll pay off in the end,” Ginal Ramirez said. “It’s great [having Drew on the basketball team] because it makes him happy which makes me happy. That’s what he wanted and he work hard for it, so it makes me proud. He really is doing what he loves.”

He was cut from the team in his junior year, but it only inspired him to work harder.

“From November of last year until June, he invested a lot of time in his grades, getting his body in shape and working on his game. He then tried out for the summer team and made it,” Campbell said. “It is very rare for a senior to join the varsity team as his fi rst year.”

Following into the winter season, Ramirez has made strides of improvement in understanding the game of basketball and his dribbling, according to Campbell.

Campbell and team captain Clint Absher, a junior, both agree on Drew’s greatest strength: shooting.

“When I fi rst met Drew, I wasn’t sure who he was but he was always a good shooter,” Absher said. “He is by far the strongest [person] on the team and he’s also one of our best shooters.”

Absher, along with being a teammate, has also become good friends with Ramirez through basketball and occasionally at the YMCA.

“He brings a spark that no one else on the team has because he has gone through a lot. He has a lot of determination and you can see it through

who he is as a person and how he has changed throughout his life,” Absher said.

Stepping onto the hardwood with the team was diffi cult at fi rst.

Ramirez admits that there is room for improvement, however he is optimistic.

“It was a rocky start at fi rst, but now we are starting to make chemistry, starting to play basketball and not worrying so much,” Ramirez said.

As for his future, Ramirez plans to play basketball while attending community college, and then transfer to a four-year university.

He would like to study to become a personal trainer to help others feel the same fulfi llment as he did.

“No matter how many times you fall, always get back up,” Ramirez said. “Keep fi ghting. If you love it, don’t throw it away – just keeping going for it no matter what. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

B Y A N N N G U Y E N

R E P O R T E R

S O N I A X U | V A N G U A R D

“ I [ W E I G H E D ] 2 1 0 P O U N D S A S A

S O P H O M O R E . S O I S T O P P E D E A T I N G

F A S T F O O D A N D S T O P P E D D O I N G

D R U G S . ”

D R E W R A M I R E ZS E N I O R