27 February 2014 Cover 1
ALTITUDEHanford High School | Richland, Wash. 99354 | Feb.27.2014
volume fourteen issue five
Controversy yields resultsIn response to the uproar over removal of the concrete let-ters at Fran Rish Stadium, Superintendent Rick Schulte has created a committee of interested parties, including school officials and students, to oversee future developments related to the issue.
3
Season reviewMany teams and athletes did well this winter season. School records fell in boys swim and girls basketball. Swim, bowling, gymnastics and wrestling all went to the state competi-tion.
5
Mama miaWhere’s the pizza? Whether you prefer sit-in or take-out, a page of A&E is dedicated to every-one’s favorite Italian cuisine.
10
Ordering the courtAP government students dust off their figurative suits and briefcases, arguing the importance of their chosen Supreme Court decisions before the highest tribunal in the school, their peers.
13
Junior Sean Thompson takes a break at the DOE Regional
Science Bowl. Thompson and Sathvik Ramanan were members of the first place team that won a trip
to Washington, D.C., for the National Science Bowl
at the end of April.
Fever football players celebrate freshmen academic success with high-achieving students the morning of Feb. 18 in the Commons. Freshmen who earned a 3.0 or higher G.P.A. first semester were honored.
photographersophie lin
pages 7-9
courtesy of melanie cushing
27 February 2014News2
In the Winter Olym-pics the American ring didn’t light up.”Madi Oldssenior
Only four out of the five rings lit up at the opening ceremony on Feb. 7 when a technical glitch caused the fifth ring to fail to light up and open. In the closing ceremony, a dance routine acknowl-edged the glitch by recreating the scene with dancers.
‘The Lego Movie’ came out, and I really want to go see it.”Hunter Elmsfreshman
“The Lego Movie,” a P.G. movie directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, came out on Feb. 7. In the movie, the 3-D character Emmet embarks on an epic quest to save the world. On rotten-tomatoes.com, the movie earned a 91 percent fresh rating from audience and a 96 percent fresh rating from critics.
Venezuela is protest-ing against socialistic government.”
Cidney Longaneckerjunior
President Nicholas Maduro has been trying to control anti-gov-ernment demonstrations, as inflation topped 56 percent last year, and crime rates soared. For weeks, anti-government Venezuelans have been marching to show their disapproval.
MURMURSWHAT HAVE YOU HEARD IN THE NEWS?
On Feb. 22, Hanford Science Bowl teams claimed three of the five top spots in a regional competition at W.S.U. Tri-Cities. There were three teams of five members each, varying from sophomores to seniors. The Hanford 1 team made up of seniors Chenchen Li, Sathvik Ra-manan and Jonah Bartrand as well as junior Sean Thompson and sophomore An Wang won the competition and will be competing at the National Science Bowl held in Washington D.C. from April 24 to 28.
Science teacher Brian Palmer has been the adviser for Science Bowl for 15 years now. “I was very confident in our chances to win again,” Palmer said, “as this year four out of the five members of team one won regionals last year.” The Science Bowl teams meet up every Tuesday after school to practice “how the game is played and how the questions are phrased so the situa-
tion becomes familiar at competition,” accord-ing to Palmer.
Senior Sathvik Ramanan has been in the club since his freshman year. “To make it to region-als, you have to show up to science bowl prac-tice every week and show dedication,” Ramanan said.
Simply showing up to practices, however, is not enough to succeed. “To do well, you need to make an individual effort to study on a wide variety of subjects over the year.” As he will be graduating this spring, Ramanan expresses sad-ness. “This will be one of the things I miss most about high school.”
Both individually and overall, Hanford per-formed well at the competition. Seniors Jonah Bartrand, Niraj Suresh and junior Peter Li each received an all-star award. Three out of six all-stars were awarded to Hanford students. Addi-tionally, the three teams came out of the double elimination tournament ranked 1st, 3rd and 5th.
A REASON TO CELEBRATE...Feb. 27-Polar Bear DayFeb. 28-Tooth Fairy DayMarch 1-National Pig DayMarch 2-Old Stuff DayMarch 4-Poundcake Day
March 8-Be Nasty DayMarch 9-Panic DayMarch 13-Earmuff DayMarch 14-Pi DayMarch 15-Ides of March
March 17-St. Patrick’s DayMarch 20-Spring EquinoxMarch 22-Goof-off DayMarch 23-Toast DayMarch 25-Waffle Day
Science Bowl com-petitors re-view science concepts during a lunch break. All three Hanford teams suc-cessfully came out at the top of their respective divisions to enter the final double elimination bracket.Not so Bohr-ing
Some of these fun and crazy holidays may look familiar to you. Others, not so much.
C.B.C. Art Show ‘Robin Hood’Blood DriveStatus: Completed Status: In Progress Status: In Progress
7967
Showtimes: Auditions
38CALEB GREER-SHORT. ZACH HARPER.KATIE SMITH.
pints of blood were collected,
volunteers helped run the blood drive. One such volunteer was junior
19 more than the goal of 60.
I got a free shirt. And then it was one free sad-
wich at lunch.
caleb greer-short
When it finally arrives every-one’s in a frenzy. . .excited to
see who got awards.
katie smith
I am most looking forward to making a horse head and
putting it on someone’s head.
zach harper
The show runs from Feb. 24 to March 7. Exhibits are open weekdays 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and weekends 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
for “Robin Hood” occurred on Feb. 19 and Feb. 20.
The art can be viewed at C.B.C.’s Gjerde Center. Participants include junior
cast and crew members are working to make “Robin Hood” a success. One such diligent person is head costumer and sophomore
photographeran wang
27 February 2014 News 3
At the school board meeting on Jan. 29, board members discussed the removal of the concrete letters at Fran Rish Stadium and Carmichael Middle School.
On Jan. 9, the iconic “R” and “H” at Fran Rish Stadium were removed as part of a renovation effort on the visitor’s side of the field. In order to replace the bleachers, which were a safety haz-ard, the letters had to come out too. The events leading up to the decision are a bit murky, with Superintendent Rick Schulte saying that the director of facilities told the contractor to go ahead with removal. He thought that he was act-ing on the will of a group of people, a group that Principal Ken Gosney was part of.
However, according to Gosney, removal of the letters was never on his agenda. “I never made any request to remove the letters,” he said. “We’re there essentially five nights a year, and any issue surrounding them was nowhere on my priority list.” Gosney conceded, however, that he isn’t too concerned about it. “It appears that they were going to come out anyway due to construc-tion,” he said, “so I didn’t worry about it when I heard they had been removed.”
The board had no prior knowledge of the removal. Schulte said that if he had to pinpoint a single area where the blame should fall, it was in the fact that a formal work order was never placed. Board member Rick Donahoe pointed out, however, that “that type of work is not done through work orders.”
Following the controversial removal of the letters, Schulte has formed a committee of alumni, students, staff and community members to discuss future actions that should be taken in regard to this situation. Gosney and Executive Council members Evan Foraker and Marissa Savitch are on the committee representing Han-ford. “When I first heard about it,” Savitch said, “I was a little disappointed. I wanted to help as much as I could.” The committee has met only once so far, but Savitch feels like they are mov-ing in a positive direction. “The letters are not only important to me but I feel like most of the district,” she said. “It represents both Hanford and Richland, so it’s important that we have the symbol of both at our home field.”
The baseball and soccer facilities are far removed from Hanford’s main buildings, which poses a problem for spectators. Sitting in the stands can become a miserable ordeal when the nearest restroom is inside the far-off main buildings, or even worse, a Port-A-Potty.
Fortunately, a saving grace has arrived.“The district supported the idea of having
water and sewer taken out to areas near our fast-pitch fields and our soccer field,” Athletic Direc-tor Eric Davis said. “The idea is that the Booster Club, in conjunction with our athletic program, will build a building at each site.”
The new facilities are to be built to provide sports spectators with a more comfortable and convenient experience. “Each building would have a concession stand, restrooms, and stor-
age for the teams that are using the fields,” Davis said.
Junior baseball player Jacob Anderson said, “The improvements will make the baseball field a better environment for both the players to play and fans to watch and hang out.”
There’s been some controversy on the topic among many of the baseball and softball players, but to Anderson, it’s a good project from start to end. “I definitely support it because anything that makes our facilities better is worth it,” An-derson said. “The team and crowd would benefit from improved facilities. The better the field and equipment, the more people become interested.” These improvements will encourage the contin-ued interest of spectators, who in turn will boost the players’ morale.
However, these new luxuries won’t be ready until next year. “We are planning on breaking
ground on this project at the completion of the fastpitch season in late May or early June,” Davis said.
Fran Rish letter effort continues
OLYMPICS RECAP
Field renovation set for May ground breaking
YES
65.83%
34.17%
NO
Results for maintenance, educational programs and operation levy election of Feb. 11, 2014
Levy: a taxA 60% majority was required for passage of the levy. This levy replaces the current levy, which expires at the end of this year. The levy provides 18% of the operating budget for the school district. Money raised by the levy pays for a variety of programs, including but not limited to: art, music and physi-cal education programs; bus transportation; building main-tenance and substitute staff.
28 medals
9 gold 7 silver
12 bronzeUSA
The United States skiing team swept
the men’s slope-style skiing event,
taking home all three medals. Joss
Christenson took gold, Gus Ken-
worthy took silver and Nick Goepper
took bronze.
36-year-old Bode Miller became the oldest person ever to medal in an alpine event after winning bronze in the Super G. Miller, whose brother recently passed away, was deeply moved by this win.
Sage Kotensburg-Men’s Snowboard SlopestyleJamie Anderson-Women’s Snowboard SlopestyleKaitlyn Farrington-Women’s Snowboard HalfpipeDavid Wise-Men’s Ski Halfpipe
Ted Ligety-Men’s Giant SlalomMaddie Bowman-Women’s Ski HalfpipeMikaela Shiffrin-Women’s Slalom
Meryl Davis & Charlie White-Pair Figure Skating Ice Dance Free Dance
Above is shown the blueprint of the concession buildings to come. The school plans to break ground on the project in late May.
courtesy of eric davis
Gold Medalists:
data gathered by jonah bartrand
27 February 2014Sports4
Junior Kendall Watson tore up the basketball courts this season and made a name for himself throughout the tough Mid-Columbia Conference. Watson has been consistent with either dishing out dimes or pulling up from three. Before the season started he was ranked 10th in the preseason player rankings. He has taken over the leadership role as a junior, with this being his second season on varsity.
“I realized that the team feeds off my energy, and decided to be as positive as I can and play hard to set an example” Watson said.
Watson’s older brother Jalen played on the team last year, and left with a legacy leading the team one victory shy of
state. Now that Jalen has moved
on to bigger and better things, Watson is looking to continue that legacy.
Watson’s older brother has taught him a lot about what to
do and off the court. Watson has taken a lot of the advice to heart and displayed it on the court. “He told me to take the game into my own hands when others aren’t stepping up,”
Kendall said.Watson is a two-sport ath-
lete—in addition to excelling at basketball, he plays lacrosse for the Richland Lacrosse Club.
Not only does he work hard on the court, he works hard off the court as well, pushing himself to the limit and never giving up.
To prepare for the upcom-ing season, Watson has been hitting Gold’s Gym up every day working on his shot and ball handling.
“I am constantly playing basketball, working on my handles, working on shooting and doing plyometrics,” Wat-son said. “I want to improve to make my goal of first team all-conference and to break records.”
planteon sports
jourdan plante
The weekend of Feb. 22 to 23 was an emotional time for our sports
teams as they headed off to state. Many contenders went for gold—some got so close they could touch it, while oth-ers were not so lucky. Never-theless, what a great weekend for our sports teams. One group of four bleach blond competitors went to state and came back as victors. Their grueling practices and hard work paid off spectacu-larly—they broke a previous re-cord. Day after day they battled to get to state and then put on their best performance. Yes, we all know and love them—it’s the wrestling team.
The athletes who com-peted had been on a roll from the start of their season. For seniors Jeff Weyend, Dal-lon Grinder and Will Bishop, they finished their high school wrestling careers with a bang. Weyend and Bishop placed fourth at state—Weyend at 285 pounds and Bishop at 185 pounds. Grinder placed second at 285 pounds. As for junior Blake Llarenas, he finished in fourth at 113 pounds.
While all of the seniors were returning to state to compete this year, Llarenas is a prime example of just the opposite. Though Llarenas has also been on the team since his freshman year, this was his first year there, after an impeccable season.
In a display of great talent and dedication, the team as a whole accomplished something that had never been done be-fore—they broke the previous record by placing eighth overall at the state tournament.
“I wasn’t expecting this at all,” senior Will Bishop said. “However, I was happy that we placed eighth as a team, and was impressed on how we performed.”
Bishop has been a wrestler for four years and has done ex-ceptionally well, going to either going to state or regionals at the least every year.
While all of the seniors were returning to state to compete this year, Llarenas is a prime example of just the opposite. Though Llarenas has also been on the team since his freshman year, this was his first year there, after an impeccable season. Being the new guy has been a hardship but has also pushed him more and more.
He fought through the whole season and getting to state was the ultimate payoff. His work paid off and he gained the others respect and admiration. Llarenas has a good standing for next year as one of the leaders.
wrestlers soar
Gall breaks scoring record
Senior Collete Gall looks to pass the ball to a teammate in a game against Richland. Gall ended up breaking the scoring record from 1986-87. Her record is 1,429 points.
How did it feel when you broke the record?
Was this a goal of yours in high school?
Did you expect it?
Continuing the legacy
Junior Kendall Watson gears up to take a free throw at a game against Richland. The team ended up losing the game.
Winning is best when a thousand hours of hard work tangibly add up. Every loss is just motivation to win the next game.
The girls basketball team has hard work, dedication and motivation. With strong seniors, the team had high hopes for the season—and even though they fell short of some of their goals, the season generally went well.
Coach Evan Woodward said, “There were numerous ups and downs, but I was proud of how the team fought hard in each competition.”
“This year we have worked super hard,” senior Ashley Stewart said. “We really wanted to go to state this year. So we tried to do everything precise and with a purpose. We finished every drill and even practiced with a group of guys to speed our play up.”
“Although we ended sooner than we had hoped for,” Woodward said, “it was a positive season in many ways. The relationships made and the memories that will be recalled will last longer than our record.”
One standout senior that emerged during the season was
Stewart. “My season this year has been everything I hoped for,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot about being a leader.”
Even with a great season, the team came first. Knowing one another was key during the season. “Our team chemistry on the court, I would say, was pretty strong,” Stewart said. “Most of us have been play-ing together all four years at H.H.S., if not longer. So we all know each other’s strengths and weakness.”
Seniors made up almost the whole team. Knowing it was their last season, they all fought extra hard in each game.
“It was a bunch of mixed feelings,” Stewart said. “It was sad to think it was ending, but when I look back at all the memories I have made, it makes me really happy.”
I felt extremely excited and my family and friends were extremely proud of me. I was running back to defense and it all of a sudden hit me and I was “Oh, I just broke the school record, but then kept on playing.”
This was not necessarily a goal but I knew at the beginning of this year it could happen. I knew about half way through my career that it was pos-sible to reach it and I wanted to. But winning and being a good teammate was more important to me. It is really exciting beating the record though.
The night before the game that I broke the record, my dad told me I had eight more points until I could beat it. I didn’t tell anyone so nobody during the game knew I had broken it. But, afterwards, Mr. Woodward announced it and gave me the game ball.
TEAM PRESSES FULL COURT
The girls play intense defense against Richland, trying to prevent a shot from being thrown, at their annual pink game. They ended up winning against the cross town rival. Clockwise are seniors Ashley Stewart, Coco Gall, Miranda Foraker and Sydney Shintaffer.
The relation-ships made and the memories that will be recalled will last longer than our record.coach woodward
photographerainsley gettis
photographermaxwell weil
photographermaxwell weil
Interview conducted by Nismeta Kabilovic.
He told me to take the game into my own hand when others aren’t stepping upkendall watson
27 February 2014 Sports 5
How did it go? winter wrap up
Four boys went to state: seniors Will Bishop (above), Jeff Weyand, and Dallon Grinder with junior Blake Llarenas. They placed 8th overall.
Seniors Will Wertz and Parker Schumacher, alongside juniors James Bennett and Joel Johnson beat the school record 400 relay time at state.
The still new team got eight place at state this year in the 3A division, with a combined score of 6,695. Above Junior Robin Hansen lets a ball roll.
Senior post Miranda Foraker closes out on a Richland guard. In the first round of playoffs, the team lost to Shadle Park.
The boys won the loser-out game to get into the playoffs, but they ended up losing in the first round to University.
Junior Kayla Lasater placed eighth at state for bars in the 3A division. She is the only gymnast representing Hanford.
girls basketball
wrestling
boys basketball gymnastics
bowlingboys swim
courtesy of kayla lasater
photographersydney galbreath
photographersydney galbreath
courtesy of shelby schumacher
Senior Parker Schumacher prepares to dive off into the pool at state on Feb. 22. He placed 12th in the 100 and helped the 400 relay team win and break a state record.
courtesy of shelby schumacher
Breakingrecords
At the state swim meet senior Will Wertz became the first Falcon to bring in a state title in the 200-meter freestyle. Wertz also led two relays to new school records.
Leading up to this culminat-ing moment was hours of hard work as well as team support from students over the last couple of months.
“You can only get better if you keep at it,” senior Parker Schumacher said. Schum-acher, along with Wertz, junior James Bennett and junior Joel Johnson placed fourth at state in the 3A 400-meter freestyle
relay with a time of 3:16.70, a school record.
Sports aren’t just statisticss and victories, although the trophies and titles may look great on a shelf. “As a senior,” Schumacher said, “I’ve noticed that’s it’s less about winning, which we still do, and more about the boys and having fun.”
“Whether it’s from team-mates to coaches or friends and families,” Wertz said, “to have others around that can bring you to your full potential; that’s what really helps you grow.“
At state, Wertz won the 200-meter freestyle, touching the wall in 1:41.81 minutes. “The state championship was
awesome,” he said. “I did very well. I dropped some time in my races and won the 200 free, which was a long-time goal.”
Wertz, who plans to pursue swim at the University of Seattle, also placed third in the 100-meter freestyle.
This season was the last for swimming coach Kathy Piper, who served a vital role in the boys’ success at the state cham-pionships. This year’s team was marked by a dedicated coach and hard-working teammates.
Schumacher summed up the season of sweat and ac-complishment: “Swimming is like a younger brother; you hate him when he’s there, but you pine for him when he’s gone.”
Will Wertz Will Wertz James Bennett James Bennett Parker Schumacher Sam Hart
photographermaxwell weil
photographerainsley gettis
200-yard freestyle 100-yard freestyle 200-yard freestyle 100-yard butterfly 100-yard freestyle Dive
STATE CHAMPION3rd overall13th overall 12th overall 12th overall 17th overall
1:41.8148.86
athlete event placing time
27 February 2014School&Career6
JOB SPOTLIGHT: photographermaxwell weil
Unlike regular math tests in school, stu-dents aren’t supposed to earn a perfect score on the A.M.C.
“The A.M.C. wasn’t made to be aced by the average person,” soph-omore Ryan Wang said, “so it gives me a good idea of where I am in math compared to others who took it and compared to the top.”
On Feb. 4 in the Commons, 228 stu-dents took the 2014 A.M.C. 10 and 12. A.M.C. stands for American Mathemat-ics Competition, the first of a series of exams used to de-termine the nation’s Mathematical Olym-piad team. Freshmen and sophomores took the A.M.C. 10, while juniors and seniors took the A.M.C. 12.
A few underclass-men, however, chose to challenge them-selves more and take the 12 instead of the 10.
One of them was Wang, who took the A.M.C. 10 last year and was the only student last year from Hanford who achieved a high enough score to qualify for the next level of tests, the American Invitational Mathematics Exami-nation (A.I.M.E.).
“I take the A.M.C. math tests because I’m used to taking math tests and because I feel pressured by society,” Wang said. “I didn’t re-ally feel anything mak-ing it into the A.I.M.E. I feel no honor in it.”
One has to score in the top 2.5 percent of all A.M.C. test takers in order to be invited to the A.I.M.E., as Wang was. Competi-
tion math is drasti-cally different from school math and often requires differ-ent problem-solving approaches that aren’t encountered in class, which is why extra work is often neces-sary to do well in math competitions.
“I prepared for the A.M.C. by taking a couple practice tests a few days before the actual exam date,” Wang said.
Going into this year’s exam, Wang had expectations for his performance.
“Everybody expects to get a score within a certain range or at least a bare minimum,” he said, “unless they have absolutely no idea what’s going to be on the test.”
Regardless of what those expectations are, A.M.C. results come out in mid-March.
Making the markInterview conducted by ketsia kahanbwe .
What do you do? I make coffee and frappuccinos. And I get to talk and communicate with the custom-ers and make their day a little better.What do you like about your job?I like talking with people. I like being able to meet a variety of people and just the fact that I can say something that could change someone’s day. Fun fact: I know how to make over 87,000 different drinks since working at Starbucks!What don’t you like about your job?I don’t like how it’s very repetitive, and sometimes you get very rude customers, and you still have to be nice and friendly.Has anything exciting happened on the job?There was one time where I saw someone getting arrested right in front of me. There are other times where we catch someone who didn’t pay, and we have to go sprint-ing into the parking lot to catch them.
Senior Mateja Sekulic: Barista at Starbucks
Information collected by an wang.
Seniors must pick up their Best Works folders from the Career Center prior to the scheduled presentation.
A senior Culminating Project and High School and Beyond Plan are Washington State REQUIREMENTS to graduate. Culminating Portfolio: Best works, High School and Beyond Plan, team works and employment documents.
Information collected by jane moon.
March 12-14: On-campus seniors present their port-folios. April 18: Current seniors enrolled in Consumer Economics, Economics and Running Start present their portfolios.
Tips for a successful portfolio presentation:
You will receive a yellow postcard in the mail with your presen-tation time and more tips for a successful presentation.
Help is available in the Career Center!
Language Arts
Physical Education
Science and Math
Psychology
The Arts
Other
History
5%
5%
18%
9%
11%
20%
32%
Don’t miss these classes
Upperclassmen were asked the question “What class would you recommend to underclassmen.” These are the results from a survey of 110 juniors and seniors. The most popular individual classes included Drama, Woodshop and Athletic Strength and Conditioning. Counselors will be in classrooms the week of March 10 to assist students in planning for next year. Final forms are due the end of March.
Senior preparation for graduation
Proofread, proofread, proofread; remember, it must be error freeDress appropriately (as you would for a job inter-view)Be ready to discuss your High School and Beyond PlanBe prepared and arrive five minutes early
27 February 2014 Under the Influence 7
*Numbers from 2012 Healthy Youth Survey. More information inside.
Rehabilitation:
a student perspective
Were you against marijuana, or were you al-
ways open to the idea of doing it?
I knew I didn’t want to be like a crazy pothead or anything,
but I just never thought it w
as like a horrible demon drug.
I’ve seen so much other stuff; lik
e, other drugs just control
other people so much, and marijuana doesn’t really do that
nearly as much. At least openly.
At Hanford, how easy do you think it is to get
weed?
If someone came to the school or whatever and was deter-
mined to get some weed hookups, it would take them like, no,
less than a day.
So, do you think the majority of the senior
class has gotten high?
Without a doubt in my mind. I remember I le
ft when I was a
sophomore, and I came back as a junior, and sophomore year
there was barely anyone that smoked, and then when I came
back, everyone was blazed.
Do you think that marijuana has negative ef-
fects on your life?
If you’re just sitting smoking weed all day and doing nothing
productive, obviously that is negative. There are people who
get high all the time and pull off really good grades and have
a job, and I’m just like, ‘How do you do that?’
Did it ever really start affecting your school-
work?
I just started to smoke so much that it w
asn’t. . .it wasn’t for
fun, and it was more to be high. It was more like that addic-
tion kind of thing. After, it’s not that much fun, and you’re
sitting there smoking just to smoke.
So they sent you to boarding school and rehab
for smoking marijuana?
It was weird being in rehab for marijuana. There were all these
people talking about [overdosing] and stuff, and the worst
thing that happened to me was that I got high and fell asleep
on my couch.
How have [your parents] been since you got
back?
It’s been nice. They see how much good the programs have
done with me. ‘Cause I did learn a lot of good life lessons that
anyone could learn, like good routines, and decent ways of
life, all different kinds of good life skills. Take what you want
and improve your life from there.
When you smoked it every day, was there any
point when it just consumed your life
?
Well kind of, there was times when I was high all day; I w
as
smoking weed before school, at lunch, after school, through-
out the night, before I went to bed. I didn’t
even think it was a big deal.
I’ve always held myself to a pretty good
standard, the things that I do. I don’t just
want to be a bum or an unproductive citizen
in society. I kind of forgot about it fo
r a
while; it was kind of an epiphany kind of
moment where it’s like I don’t want to be
smoking weed every day. I want to be doing
something with my life. Am I going to be
able to do that and be stoned all day? Every-
day? I don’t think so.
Recreation:
students’ views
“Samuel”
“I started last summer,” Samuel, a senior,
said. “I was curious; [my friend] introduced
me to it. I was always against [sm
oking mari-
juana], but he said it feels good, makes you
relaxed. I just decided to do it.”
“Before, I just thought it w
as stupid. I
heard stories of people getting caught; a lot
of bad things happened with parents, with
school, sports. I don’t know what changed
for me.”
Samuel said his parents are aware of his
smoking marijuana and are against it. But
they have more or less resigned themselves
to his habits.
“Yes, my parents know,” he said. “They
said it’s nothing they didn’t do, you know,
since they grew up in the 70s. But they’re
against it because they want me to be safe.”
27 February 2014Under the Influence8
SMOKED CIGA-
RETTES IN THE
PAST 30 DAYS
DRANK ALCOHOL IN
THE PAST 30 DAYS
USED MARIJUANA OR
HASHISH IN THE PAST 30
DAYS
BULLIED IN THE PAST 30
DAYS
ENJOYED BEING AT
SCHOOL OVER THE PAST
YEAR
These statistics were taken from 2012’s Healthy Youth Survey of sophomores and
seniors at Hanford High School and across the state. 281 out of 352 of 2012-2013
sophomores were surveyed, and 250 out of 384 of 2012-2013 seniors were sur-
veyed. Look up www.askHYS.net for survey methods and other information, such as
margins of error, confidence intervals, and question wording.
KEY (in order)
Grade
Gender
10F
10M
12F
12M
10F
10M
12F
12M
HHS
Washington
State
PERC
ENTA
GES
An introduction
All data presented in pages 7-9 are from the 2012-2013
Healthy Youth Survey, which provided statistics from
our school and state. Additional information, such as
data collection methods and other relevant topics, can
be found at www.askHYS.net.
The following articles were written and interviews
conducted by seniors Jonah Bartrand, Virginia Kuan,
Chenchen Li, Austin Sisayaket, Emelia Stephan and
Michael Tyree.
To protect the students who were interviewed, all stu-
dent quotes have been kept anonymous and are under
false names. Please read the editorial on page 15 for
more information.
Cover illustration by Sawyer Henry and Chenchen Li.
Photos on pages 7-9 taken by Ainsley Gettis. Graph by
Chenchen Li.
Rehabilitation: a student perspective
So, do you think the majority of the senior
class has gotten high?
Without a doubt in my mind. I remember I le
ft when I was a
sophomore, and I came back as a junior, and sophomore year
there was barely anyone that smoked, and then when I came
back, everyone was blazed.
Do you think that marijuana has negative ef-
fects on your life?
If you’re just sitting smoking weed all day and doing nothing
productive, obviously that is negative. There are people who
get high all the time and pull off really good grades and have
a job, and I’m just like, ‘How do you do that?’
Did it ever really start affecting your school-
work?
I just started to smoke so much that it w
asn’t. . .it wasn’t for
fun, and it was more to be high. It was more like that addic-
tion kind of thing. After, it’s not that much fun, and you’re
sitting there smoking just to smoke.
So they sent you to boarding school and rehab
for smoking marijuana?
It was weird being in rehab for marijuana. There were all these
people talking about [overdosing] and stuff, and the worst
thing that happened to me was that I got high and fell asleep
on my couch.
How have [your parents] been since you got
back?
It’s been nice. They see how much good the programs have
done with me. ‘Cause I did learn a lot of good life lessons that
anyone could learn, like good routines, and decent ways of
life, all different kinds of good life skills. Take what you want
and improve your life from there.
When you smoked it every day, was there any
point when it just consumed your life
?
Well kind of, there was times when I was high all day; I w
as
smoking weed before school, at lunch, after school, through-
out the night, before I went to bed. I didn’t
even think it was a big deal.
I’ve always held myself to a pretty good
standard, the things that I do. I don’t just
want to be a bum or an unproductive citizen
in society. I kind of forgot about it fo
r a
while; it was kind of an epiphany kind of
moment where it’s like I don’t want to be
smoking weed every day. I want to be doing
something with my life. Am I going to be
able to do that and be stoned all day? Every-
day? I don’t think so.
Recreation:
students’ views
“Samuel”
“I started last summer,” Samuel, a senior,
said. “I was curious; [my friend] introduced
me to it. I was always against [sm
oking mari-
juana], but he said it feels good, makes you
relaxed. I just decided to do it.”
“Before, I just thought it w
as stupid. I
heard stories of people getting caught; a lot
of bad things happened with parents, with
school, sports. I don’t know what changed
for me.”
Samuel said his parents are aware of his
smoking marijuana and are against it. But
they have more or less resigned themselves
to his habits.
“Yes, my parents know,” he said. “They
said it’s nothing they didn’t do, you know,
since they grew up in the 70s. But they’re
against it because they want me to be safe.”
Samuel’s schedule isn’t a light one, either—not only is
he involved in multiple sports, but he is also in several A.P.
classes.
“If I’m playing a certain sport, I won’t sm
oke during
the sport. I try and stay healthy then; if I did it every day I
wouldn’t be able to work out,” Samuel explained. “It makes
you tired, zones you out, makes you lazy.”
“Huey”“The first ti
me I ever smoked weed was sophomore year,”
Huey, a senior, said. “My friends would always do it around
me, and I slowly got into it. It
was something I never tried,
and when I did try it, I enjoyed it; it
was a new form of recre-
ation for me.”
Huey said his parents don’t know that he smokes, and they
consider smoking wrong. However, they are not as anxious
about it as other parents are.
“It makes my weekend more fun. Considering that I was
influenced by my friends, I consider sm
oking a social activity,
although it doesn’t have to be. At first I didn’t do it as much,
but as I got into it, the activity increased,” Huey said. “I don’t
think it’s wrong or harmful to anybody, and I accept the legal
consequences. If I get caught, I would embrace them entirely.
When I was younger, I considered smoking an enigma; I
didn’t know anything about it. I guess growing up in my gen-
eration made it seem like it was a stigma, but in modern day,
especially in Washington State, it’s all right.”
“Janine”“The first ti
me I came in contact with a substance was in
eighth grade,” Janine, a senior, said. “Some friends and I were
at a football game brown baggin’ it, drinking vodka. It w
as
pretty classy,” Janine said sarcastically, but vodka wasn’t the
only substance Janine came into contact with.
“My first time smoking marijuana was in front of [a local
high school] with a friend. He had some in his backpack, and
I just thought, why not? I didn’t think it was a bad thing; it
was just an opportunity.”
With marijuana, Janine said, “One of the most memorable
moments was of my friends and I picking huckleberries, and
we thought there was a herd of turkeys chasing us trying to
kill us. I haven’t been the same around turkeys sin
ce.”
Turkeys aside, not everything was smooth sailing with
Janine. “Things are better, and I’ve become more in touch
with my spirituality, but I had a lot of stuff going on at home
at the time,” she said. “It was a darker chapter of my life that
I’m past now. I personally don’t think marijuana is bad. But I
think a lot of people do it for the wrong reasons and abuse
it. If you’re going to do it, you should be in a good place
mentally and emotionally.”
Rules & violations:
school officials
The number of students caught with drug violations this
year is higher than in years past, possibly due to the recent le-
galization of recreational marijuana use by Washington State.
Mike Gaddis, assistant
principal, said that interviewed of-
fenders commented on the accessibility
of marijuana especially.
“They say [marijuana] is really easy to get,” he said.
“It’s cheaper; it’s
easier to get, and we’ve been having quite a
few more kids getting caught with it.”
Several school officials have expressed doubt about the
preventive efficacy of the current penalties for drug viola-
tions. Rob Oram, the head football coach, said, “The current
rules for [drug] violations are punitive, not educational.”
Ken Gosney, the principal, said that the state is looking
at the effectiveness of the current zero-tolerance policies.
“The problem you run into is if you have a kid, and you need
to expel them from school for bringing a weapon or selling
drugs—if the kid does not have access to school—you’re re-
ally shutting down opportunities for that kid down the road,”
Gosney said. “Essentially, you’re funneling them into the life
of a criminal.”
According to Gosney, achieving the optimal balance
between prevention and rehabilitation is difficult. Having
students under the influence of an intoxicant on campus is a
danger to other students, but at the same time, “you have to
still. . .provide an opportunity for the students that get them-
selves into a little trouble to move forward and be successful,”
he said, “because it’s a little
too early in life to make the call
that you’re doomed for this kind of lifestyle.”
Medical viewpoints:
drug counsellors
Simon Tedrow, co-occurring disorders counselor at
Lourdes Medical Center, said that there are a number of
reasons for students to start using marijuana. “I think kids get
bored. Some kids don’t feel adequate compared to other kids;
they don’t measure up,” he said. “[Marijuana] doesn’t have a
huge pull, but it definitely has a pull.” Tedrow believes that
regular marijuana use is more common than regular alcohol
use among high school students.
Numerous independent studies have established the harm-
ful effects of persistent marijuana use, despite claims to the
contrary from marijuana users. According to Dale Rodgers,
a prevention and intervention specialist with Educational
Service District 123, “The major reason for adolescents is
that
they are still developing, and the substance use can get in the
way of physiological, mental and sociological development.
Also, it significantly affects learning.” Method of use affects
certain health problems—for example, ingesting marijuana
reduces the respiratory damage caused by smoking—but any
prolonged use will cause adverse mental problems. Use while
still physically and mentally developing (high school age and
younger) has greater negative effects.
Students seeking help with a drug or substance abuse issue
can contact their counselor for help. A number of agencies in
the Tri-Cities provide drug treatment.
27 February 2014 Under the Influence 9
ENJOYED BEING AT
SCHOOL OVER THE PAST
YEAR
27 February 2014A&E10
*Best of...PIZZA
Dominos:Pizza Hut: Papa Johns:Papa Murphy’s:Little Caesars:Other:
Survery of 128 students conducted on Feb. 14
“Little Caesars always wins because it’s cheap and the crazy bread.”
“Pizza Hut is the best be-cause of the cheesy crust.”
“Papa Murphy’s because their ranch pizza has tons of meat.”
“I like how Italiano’s is differ-ent and not the same like all the normal pizza places.”
senior tyler zirker
senior peter qafoku
junior darko stankovic
sophomore cyrus stephens
28%24%17%15%10% 6%
Neapolitan, wood-fired pizza is becoming popular in the Tri-
Cities. Not only is it delicious, but because the wood ovens are so hot, the food is also prepared quickly. In imported Italian ovens, it takes about 90 seconds to bake a fresh pizza.
With the Tri-Cities boom-ing, the restaurant industry is starting to become more upscale as well. Within the past few months, two wood-fired pizza restaurants have opened in our area. One is Fire, located in Kennewick across the street from Red Robin, and the other is Stick and Stone on Queensgate in Richland.
Fire is one of the most modern and beautiful res-
taurants around, requiring a reservation if you want to eat on a weekend evening. The restaurant is sleek with two floors that are decorated all around with minimalistic photos and a brilliant view. The style of the architecture alone is something you would never expect in the Tri-Cities, let alone the amazing pizza.
Senior Tyler Cowen loves the environment. “It had a good vibe when I walked in,” he said. “The building was two stories tall and was very clean. The pepperoni pizza is a lot different than the regular pizza I am used to because the pep-peronis were massive, and the crust was cooked perfectly.”
Stick and Stone has a mel-lower atmosphere with neutral colors. They seat customers in a matter of minutes.
The servers are friendly, ea-ger to answer questions about the menu and give advice on what is good.
The restaurant is very open, and from any location of the room you have a perfect view of the baker spinning pizza dough and the beautiful wood-
fire oven. T.V.s are also placed on
each side, pleasing any sports fans who want to enjoy a big game and pizza.
They also have a hardy lunch special that includes a personal pizza or sandwich and a choice of soup or salad as a side.
The tomato bisque soup is a delicious side to a good pizza on a windy Tri-Cities day. Stick and Stone also offers gluten free pizza, which is just as good as that made with the regular imported “double-zero” Italian flour.
Both of the restaurants are excellent choices. They serve customers quickly, the servers are polite, and the restaurants are some of the cleanest and best looking around.
Fire is a bit classier but possibly farther of a drive depending on where you live.
Stick and Stone, on the other hand, is close and laid back.
Both pizza places have unique vibes and are guaran-teed to treat you to arguably the best pizza in the Tri-Cities.
miranda menard
stick+stone vs firelocalcuisine
photographervenkatesh varada
photographervenkatesh varada
27 February 2014 A&E 11
In 1987, the original film “Robo-Cop” became both a cult and critical hit for its graphic violence, humor and sly commentary on the culture and politics of
the time. It told the story of a cyborg policeman attempting to protect a dystopian Detroit from a crime wave and a corporate takeover.
I myself was skeptical of remaking such a classic film. But I’ve got some good news for you kids—this film surprised me. While not nearly as funny or gory as the original, the remake is something quite different: thoughtful, grounded and more interested in the question of free will and emotions versus technology than it is in goofy satire. The reboot of “RoboCop” continues the original’s bold sociopolitical com-mentary as well, but with updated themes to ad-dress issues Americans should be debating now and will surely grapple with in the near future.
The basic premise of the film remains the same—in the not-too-distant future, a dedicated Detroit cop named Alex Murphy (played by Joel Kinnaman) is gravely wounded and has the salvageable parts of his head and body placed inside a crime fighting robotic body called Robo-Cop made by a company called OmniCorp, with Murphy’s memories and humanity doing battle with his programming as he cleans up the streets and attempts to untangle a conspiracy linked with his own murder.
But, thankfully, the makers of the new “RoboCop” gave themselves some freedom with their adaptation, adding major characters like the well-meaning but conflicted chief scientist heading the RoboCop project (played by Gary Oldman), Murphy’s wife (played by Abbie Cor-nish), OmniCorp’s head of marketing (played by Jay Baruchel), a military and weapons advisor (played by Jackie Earle Haley) and a bloviating conservative commentator named Pat Novak
(played by the great Samuel L. Jackson), whose persona and TV show are obviously based on the shows and antics of Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck.
A key contrast in themes between the films is how they treat military issues—while the 1987 film makes a military-industrial complex point with OmniCorp’s plans to refine their robot technology in American cities before making a killing selling it to the military, 2014’s CEO of OmniCorp Raymond Sellars (played by Michael Keaton) makes a forceful argument for bringing military drone technology used overseas to US soil, facing a resistant Senate and American public. He attempts to rebrand his product by adding a human element in order to make huge profits in the States.
The focus on drones, how to sell them to the American public and the need for humanity in how we fight wars and crime is where the new “RoboCop” truly distinguishes itself while plac-ing it firmly in science fiction’s proud tradition of using visions of the future to address current issues.
The murky ethics of using drones overseas is a discussion Americans as a whole are not hav-ing—but we surely will as politicians increasingly consider using them in the U.S. for law enforce-ment and patrolling borders. And as robotics and artificial intelligence continue to improve, we’re seriously going to need to grapple with who -- or what -- we trust to enforce the law, as well as the lives of human beings.
There are a lot of other ways the new “Robo-Cop” differs from the original, including the fact that Murphy never has his memory erased, and that the rebellious humor of the original (with its use of TV shows and commercials for jokes and social commentary) is sorely missed.
But fans of the original will find a lot to like about 2014’s “RoboCop,” which pays appropri-ate homage to the original while still making enough changes that it feels like it was worth re-making.
It’s exciting to think that an action movie like this may spur audiences to think about our cur-rent and future ethical use of drones. All in all, it’s a dope movie.
Every time I learn that a new Beck album is released, I always wonder what the genre will be. From his early days of anti-folk to the mix of folk and
rap of his legendary single, “Loser,” to his shift to alternative rock and experimentation in “Odelay,” and then to a mellow, acoustic feel in the groundbreaking “Sea Change,” it is fair to say that Beck really has no genre. He simply graces the title of “musician” with absolutely no barriers.
Beck has been on a hiatus since his 2008 upbeat rock album “Modern Guilt,” and many have speculated that he ran out of ideas to pro-duce more albums. However, the musical genius has returned with “Morning Phase,” and with it again proves that his style is limitless.
“Morning Phase” returns to the acoustic and folk themes of “Sea Change.” The album opens with the piece “Cycle” that clocks in at 39 seconds. From the first second, the tone of the entire album is set. Just like “Sea Change,” “Morning Phase” paints a watercolor-like picture in front of your eyes and tells a sorrowful yet beautiful story to your ears.
The track list is relatively simple, consisting of wishy-washy synthetic vibes that lie behind an acoustic guitar part along with drums, remi-
niscent of Radiohead’s “Kid A.” In traditional Beck style, other occasional instruments sneak in. There are orchestral segments in “Wave,” violin and piano solos in “Blackbird Chain,” and harmonica riffs in “Country Down.”
There is a whole lot of music going on here, and Beck was able to connect it all flawlessly. The 47-minute album flows seamlessly from track one to track 13. Albums produced in the last five to 10 years are more single based than album based in the sense that the flow from song to song is not as important as having individual songs stand out. This album’s true glory and art are best heard from start to finish in one sitting. Think of it as one huge song with the track list only pointing out certain segments of the song.
The vibes in “Morning Phase” undoubtedly work, and the lyrics flow equally well. Every song, all written by Beck Hansen, has themes of isolation and sadness, but he also occasionally contrasts this with a sort of optimism. “Morn-ing” conveys the sufferings of losing someone; “Wave” discusses entering a world “like some tiny distortion,” all alone, and “Blue Moon” is about trying to get someone to “cut me down to size so I can fit inside” and never leave you. There are dark underlying tones present in “Morning Phase,” yet every spoken word is alluring. Simply put, if you took the lyrics out of “Morning Phase” and read them individually, you would think you were reading pure poetry.
“Morning Phase” is a stunning album, one of the most beautiful and elegant albums I have ever heard in my life. It is a must listen to any music fan of any genre.
michael tyree
venkatesh varada
RoboCop is NOT bad
beck
’s r
etur
n
LEONARDO DICAPRIOwolf of wall
street
MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY
dallas buyers club
CHRISTIAN BALE
american hustle
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR
12 years a slave
23.4% 62.8% 7.4% 6.38%
BESTactor
AMY ADAMS
american hustle
31.25% 51% 7.29% 10.4%
BESTactress
SANDRA BULLOCK
gravityCATE
BLANCHETTblue jasmine
JUDI DENCHphilomena
MERYL STREEP
august: osage county
HER12 YEARS A SLAVE
GRAVITY WOLF OF WALL STREET
NEBRASKA DALLAS BUYERS
CLUB
29% 11% 21% 7% 2% 8% 3% 1% 15%
BESTpicture
AMERICANHUSTLE
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS
PHILOMENA
DESPICABLE ME 2 THE CROODS THE WIND RISES
FROZEN1.06% 5.3%7.4%16%70.2%
ERNEST & CELESTINE
BESTanimated movie
The Oscars are Sunday, March 2, at 4 p.m. on CBS. This survery of 124 students conducted on Feb. 14 shows who we think should win.
survey by cataline legraphic by elisa apra
AND THE OSCAR GOES TO
27 February 2014Features12
Choral arrangement Over the weekend of Feb. 15, music students
selected from all around Washington State traveled to Yakima to rehearse and perform in All-State honor groups. Seven students from Hanford were selected, and the Jazz 1 band performed as well.
“I’m kind of going up there blindly,” senior Caylee Olson said, “like, ‘Hey, let’s play music!’” This was Olson’s first honor band experience; she has played the string bass for eight years, and she was the only Hanford student accepted into the All-State Concert Band.
Junior Gracie Dai was selected for the All-State Treble Choir, along with fellow junior Hinako Kawabe and senior Paige Foelber. All three are sopranos who sing in Richland High School’s Chamber Choir.
“It’s prestigious to get into it,” Dai said. “It’s a really fun experience that I’ve been wanting to do. I did it in middle school, but I never actually had the chance to do it in high school, so I’m really excited to do it.” Junior All-State is held at the same venue as the high school All-State, and Dai remembered being impressed with the high school students she saw practicing.
“It’s just the feeling of being in a really good choir; I’m really excited about that,” Dai said.
“When you go to All-State, you just start singing, and it sounds so good already. Everyone does their work beforehand.”
Olson was hoping in part to learn new techniques: “different ideas that I can put in my brain to kind of jive with what I already do with playing,” she said, “and help build up what I play.”
In addition to playing with other talented musicians, both Dai and Olson looked forward to playing under the directors based on previous experiences.
“One year,” Dai said, “there was the director Vijay Singh, and he’s nationally renowned about his music; he writes music, too. Every single director they have is a really good musician, and they know how to help us get better.”
“Every director has different ways they teach: Swisher has a different way, and Newbury has a different way,” Olson explained. “We had Lewis Norfleet come in about a month ago, and he just had so many different ideas, and it was just really, really cool to hear his thoughts on what we were playing, and so I’m excited to get that experience again with different directors.”
Senior Hannah Mowry, a trumpet player, and junior Diana Wang, a violinist, also played in the All-State Jazz Band and the Chamber Orchestra, respectively.
Junior Hinako Kawabe, senior Paige Foelber, and junior Grace Dai pose at the All-State Treble Choir in Yakima. All three girls are in the chamber choir at Richland High School.
‘Magic: The Gather-ing’ of friendship
In the loud Commons, exciting chatter and complicated lingo rises from one of the lunch tables. There’s magic in the air.
Senior Taylor Jones, sophomore Isaac Lang-ley and senior Michael O’Toole met a year ago and became closer friends by playing “Magic: The Gathering,” a trading card game that is similar to “Pokémon” and “Yu-Gi-Oh,” but is more strategy based. The game involves two people who battle as powerful wizards and try to defeat the other by using spells, artifacts and magic. Depending on how the deck is shuffled determines how the game will proceed. Some-times the game can last for five minutes and other times an hour.
When asked about how he got into the game, senior Michael O’Toole said, “I was watching my friends for a couple of months and I just got
into it.” O’Toole enjoys being around his friends and socializing. “My first deck was a gift. Then I’ve been trading around and bought some at Adventures Underground,” said O’Toole.
Every morning during zero hour and some-times during lunch the three meet up to play the game. “’Magic’ helped bring the four of us closer together,” Jones said.
Langley got into the game when a friend of his started playing. “I eventually bought cards,” he said. “I like this game because it’s easy to learn but hard to master.” Similarly, O’Toole said, “It’s a thinking game. The fun part is the strategy involved.”
There is a “Magic: The Gathering” club that junior Zachary Knowles started early this year. “You get to be around friends and socialize. That and it’s a really fun game,” said O’Toole.
The students meet in French teacher Sarah McMenamin’s room weekly after school.
Seniors Michael O’Toole and Brandon Merkel play a game of “Magic: The Gathering” before school in the Commons. The club meets every friday in room
photographermickey shin
Club Spotlight: Ecology ClubHanford boasts a range of clubs; from
Music Club to German Club, there is some-thing to suit everyone’s interests. Among the sea of clubs, one of the lesser known is Ecology Club. By definition, ecology is the scientific study of interactions among organ-isms and their environment, but this club does more than just sit around and discuss the environment.
“We work in the green house, do cuttings on plants and plant vegetables in the spring. We also go on nature walks and do ecology-type projects,” said club adviser and biology teacher Dale Johns.
Sophomore Caroline Waring joined the club one Wednesday after school, and she said that she would recommend others to join. “We’re a pretty small club, so it’s all welcoming and fun,” she said. “It’s pretty fun to work in the greenhouse, and we actually get to move
around and do things.” Junior Grace Dai has been in the club for
at least a year. “I love the greenhouse. It’s very soothing and calming after a long day of school,” Dai said.
The Ecology Club has a plant-sale fund-raiser coming up this spring where they will be selling a variety of plants, including tomatoes, flowers and herbs. Along with the sale, the club usually takes a trip to the Portland Zoo in May and has a Bear Day where they just relax and watch a movie about raising a baby bear.
Johns said his favorite part about the club is watching the students work with the soil and get excited. “They take care of their plants like little babies,” he said.
The Ecology Club meets in room 2613 every Wednesday after school. Currently, the club is planning spring events, including a plant sale in late spring. The club also oversees the plant cultivation in the school’s green-house.
courtesy of paige foelber
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photographermickey shinJunior Grace Dai poses in front of the Ecology Club bear poster by the foreign language hallway. The club meets every Wednesday after school in Dale Johns’ room, 2613.
27 February 2014 Features 13
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Sydney Lesterfreshman
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Timmy Gormleysenior
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I’ve always liked Marvel. I like how it’s small and convenient, yet cute.
It’s the only back-pack which can fit the contents of my entire house.
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To most people “March Madness” means an annual event involving brackets for college basketball. Mentioning the phrase to students in Steve Perez’s A.P. U.S. Government and Politics class, however, might conjure up fairly different mental images—not of colleges and basketball players, but rather of the Supreme Court and important court cases.
For the past few weeks, students have worked on a project that shares both its name and basic structure with the college basketball tournament, though it focuses on battles of court case knowl-edge and debating skills rather than basketball prowess.
To start off the project, students each chose a Supreme Court case and were placed into brackets against other students with different cases. Perez instructed students what informa-tion to obtain for their cases, but senior Elisa Garrett, who represented Brown v. Board of Education, said that before the competition she was also “getting a basic grasp of the other case” to prepare.
During a match, each participant was allowed one and a half minutes to present his or her case before facing off in a short debate: the rebuttals.
The winner of each match, chosen through class voting, advanced to the next round of the competition and then faced off against other winners from the previous round, similar to how the March Madness basketball tournament func-tions. The process continued until one person in each period was crowned the victor of the competition.
Before the competition started in fourth hour, Garrett said that she was “pretty much go-ing to destroy because I’m a master debater,” but when the dust settled, senior Lucy Wang won with the case U.C. Regents v. Bakke.
Junior Shanta Katipumula won in second hour with Gitlow v. New York.
Senior Wafiq Hossain, who competed with Schenck v. U.S., found the project informative. “I didn’t know much about court cases before this,” he said, “so this is a learning opportunity.”
In second hour, senior Nikki Sinton repre-sented Brown v. Board of Education. “I doubt I would have learned so much about these court cases if I wasn’t in A.P. Government,” she said.
Representing Schenck v. U.S. in second hour, senior Niraj Suresh made it to the semifinals. “I lost to a case that I absolutely despise,” he said, “and I feel cheated, but even the best people lose sometimes.”
Senior Sasha Townsend speaks about her court case, West Virginia Board of Education v Barnett. AP Government students prepared debates for a class assignment.
Debate heats up class
courtesy of melanie cushing
Senior Madison Whitlock joins freshmen for the honors breakfast on Feb. 18. Freshmen with a 3.0 G.P.A and above gathered for cinammon rolls and milk to celebrate their first semester success.
photographervirginia kuan
Breakfast of champions
27 February 2014Features14
Open House
On Friday, Feb. 21, to celebrate Scholas-tic Journalism Week, the publications class hosted an open house, with free food and previews of yearbook pages on display for everyone to come see. Scholastic Journalism Week is a nation-wide event that promotes the benefits of journalism and the First Amendment. People dropped by the room, picked up a doughnut or two and stayed around to look at yearbook pages, too. Junior Kristen Baker, freshman Abum Okemgbo and senior Brandon Merkel were in that
group. “I think it’s a really good idea to get the
publicity out on the yearbook,” Baker said. “I think something really cool about our school is that a lot of people already enjoy getting the newspaper and the yearbook and have a lot of pride for it because not a lot of schools in the Tri-Cities have a newspaper or a really cool yearbook.”
Okemgbo, intrigued by how the yearbook was turning out, said, “It’s pretty interesting to see how the yearbook is.”
“We are celebrating journalism,” Merkel said. “Hooray!”
Librarybookworms
Freshman Daniel Sosa sits at the library doing his home-work. Sosa likes to work in the library because it quiet compared to other places in the school.
Bringing back tradition
Almost every Hanford student has heard of the Dirty Bird Association (D.B.A.); however, not many students know the truth about its origin. The D.B.A. started back in 1975, nearly 40 years ago, when social studies teacher Paul Mayer was attending Hanford. As Mayer recalls, the D.B.A. was created by two of Hanford’s craziest fans. The two boys would come up with chants, and they had a giant finger they would use to point at people in the crowds. “It was just awesome,” Mayer said. He came back to teach in 1995 and “brought back the idea to resurrect the Dirty Birds,” he said.
“I really like how it unites the school as one; it’s our thing;
it shows we’re all together,” junior Marissa Savitch said. Although the D.B.A. started with two fans, it has become increasingly less exclusive. With ideas such as the Baby Birds and the Dirty Birds in training, the D.B.A. has been expanded.
Not all students agree with these changes. “It should be for fans who are passionate and attend games,” sophomore Evan Foraker said.
The fans of sports teams have helped the D.B.A. to grow. “People got so into it,” senior Tenley Weil said. But as the D.B.A. continues to change it seems to be more about the special T-shirts than supporting the school. Weil has brought up the idea that a fan club would be helpful to create a stronger fan base. “It would be a nice senior structured project,” she said.
Webster’s Dictionary defines an “association” as “an organized group of people who have the same interest.” The D.B.A. was not made for the T-shirts, the nicknames or the battles between classes, but rather for a supportive Hanford fan base. As Mayer likes to say, “A rowdy fan base. . .beautiful!”
students express thoughts on fanbase
photographeralisa chuang
Major motivation for advanced jazz students
Jazz I students play at a guest artist concert on Feb. 24. The concert with Mel Haug raised funds for the upcoming music trip to Indianapolis.
courtesy of rachel bowman
On Feb. 24 at 7 p.m., students and music lovers congregated in the audi-torium to attend the Jazz 1 guest artist concert featuring Mel Haug and Friends. This concert was one of the concluding fundraisers for the upcoming Indianapolis trip for the wind ensemble and orchestra. The student musicians were thankful for an opportunity to expand their horizons by playing with professionals.
Senior Brooke Patton expressed an added level of motivation. “We played with musicians that have performed with top bands,” said Patton. “We didn’t want to sound like the typical high school jazz band.”
Junior Trevor Shibley suggested that listening to professional musicians was a
great way to become a better musician. “Bringing in guest artists gives us a great opportunity [to listen to professionals],” said Shibley.
He also expressed his gratitude to the music directors, Kevin Swisher and Chris Newbury. “We are lucky to have such amazing directors who bring in all these great musicians,” said Shibley. “It is really cool to get to listen to great musi-cians play, but it is even cooler to get to rehearse and perform with them. And not many people get that opportunity!”
As for the concert, the students thought it went exceptionally well. “Any time that Jazz I gets together to have a jam session, it’s going to be amazing whether we have an audience or not,” said Patton.
Senior Tommy Hill thought the
concert went fantastic. “I really enjoyed playing all the pop tunes, especially with Mel Haug,” Hill said.
The musicians all agreed that memo-ries and important lessons could be taken away from this collaboration experience. “The thing I could take away the most was how easily musicians can adapt to any change we made in the music,” said Patton.
Hill recollected that “my favorite part was playing exciting tunes with all of my friends.”
Shibley enjoyed playing the “Theme from Sesame Street.” “One of my favorite parts of the concert was playing ‘Trea-sure’ by Bruno Mars,” said Shibley.
“I had no idea Mel Haug knew Mr. Newbury while he was growing up!” said Hill.
Every day, all kinds of peo-ple filter into the library. Some need to print homework, while others come in for research. Some people like getting lost in a book, and some just like to read manga online.
Sophomore Ariana Kittles does her homework in the library. “I don’t want to do [homework] at home,” she said. “[The library is] like my getaway.” Kittles goes to the library just about every day.
Seniors Morgen Hildreth and Cassandra Elkins hang out in the back room and watch videos.
Other regulars, such as sophomore Devin Helms, come for the books. “I come daily, to read, usually,” Helms said. “It’s a nice and quiet place to read, and it’s a complete change from the busy and noisy hallway and classrooms. It’s a good place to hang out.”
Sophomore Emma Tyree drops in for homework. “So
far,” she said, “I’ve just gone to the library to type and print out assignments. I like the library, but I don’t go very often.” She usually reads fantasy novels, as does Helms. “I like the library, but I don’t go very often,” Tyree said. “I usually use the computers.”
Freshman Daniel Sosa, a semi-regular, swings by every now and then. “[I go] to finish my homework,” he said. He usually comes by during lunch but doesn’t read. “I just don’t like reading,” he said.
Sophomore Amber McNabb usually comes in once or twice a week. “I usually go for classes,” she said. “I usually run errands or something for my teachers. But I do go occa-sionally to read.” Her favorite author is John Green, and she plans on reading more of his books in the future. “It’s a nice library,” she said.
If you ever need a book to read, or a paper to print, you know where to go. It’s a hang-out, it’s a haven. It’s the library.
I really like how it unites the school as one; it’s our thing; it shows we’re all together.
marissa savitch executive council
27 February 2014 Opinion 15
Editors-in-Chiefjonah bartrandchenchen li
Editorscarolyn rice, copylucy williams, copyanne liu, business manager emily tan, newsan wang, newsmickey shin, featuresvenkatesh varada, a&enikki kabilovic, sportsjane moon, careervirginia kuan, opinionemelia stephan, humor
Photographersainsley gettissawyer henry
Staffnaveena bontha, ben casas, hannah clauss, shibani datta, ketsia kahambwe, shanta katipamula, natasa kvesic, olga laskin, catalina le, miranda menard, ellie mendoza, jourdan plante, joel staudinger, michael tyree, michelle wang, zach willis
Editorial Policy: The Altitude is an open public forum for the stu-dent community at Hanford High School. The paper is published by the Newspaper Club, informing and entertaining its audience in a broad, fair, and accurate manner.
The reporting and opinions published in the Altitude do not represent views of the Richland community, school board, adminis-trators, faculty, or student body of Hanford High School.
Advertising Policy: The Altitude accepts advertising for most products and services available to the public. Advertising which promotes illegal products under Washington law, opposes any religion, is written in bad taste, or which includes false statements will not be accepted. The Editorial Board has the right to refuse any such ad.
Letters to the Editor: Signed letters to the editor will be ac-cepted and published. The staff reserves the right to edit the letters for poor taste, space, libel, and grammar.
Memberships: WJEA, JEA, SPLC
Printing by the Daily Sun News, Sunnyside, Wash.
THE ALTITUDE27 february 2014 issue 14.5
Every year when we brainstorm ideas for in-depth reporting, drug use always comes up. However, due to the complex-
ity involved in presenting a comprehensive over-view of the issue, the editorial staff had always declined to pursue it.
The obstacles to obtaining information stem from issues of legality. Though recreational mari-juana use was recently legalized in Washington State for those over 21 years old, non-medical marijuana use is still a federal crime for minors.
When arranging interviews for this issue, one student declined to be interviewed because he (universal “he”) was worried about the possibility of identification. Anonymity also makes writing the articles more difficult: writers must be cau-tious to exclude information that might lead to
identification. A note to those readers attempting to divine
the identities of the interviewees: Don’t even try. The names used are false, and all identifying information has been removed.
Obtaining accurate survey results was another concern: How could we guarantee respondents’ anonymity? Luckily, the Washington State Healthy Youth Survey questions sophomores and seniors across the state every two years over a broad range of topics, including drug use. Prin-cipal Ken Gosney and other administrators were more than helpful in providing time and access to information.
Another issue that the staff had not fully considered at the time was the potential liability of possessing knowledge of criminal activity.
Fortunately, the Revised Code of Washington § 5.68.010 protects the “news media” from being required to “disclose the identity of a source. . .that would tend to identify the source where such source has a reasonable expectation of con-fidentiality.” In several cases, Washington State courts have not contested the fact that student news organizations qualify as “news media.”
Our goal in this issue is to raise awareness of drug use at Hanford and to faithfully represent multiple perspectives, from students’ experiences to a drug counselor’s advice. While we will not argue about the legalization of marijuana, we do believe that students would be foolish to con-sider marijuana use just another harmless activity.
The highest-paid public employees in 26 states are university football coaches. In Washington State, the civil servant with the highest base income is Chris Petersen, the new head football coach at the University of Washington. He will be paid $3.2 million. Com-pared to salaries of coaches in other states, such as Alabama’s Nick Saban at $5.4 million, Petersen’s pay is fairly modest, but there is no getting around the fact that $2.7 million is a lot of money.
Now, I don’t begrudge a rich man his money if it is
fairly earned. But government institutions rarely provide a competitive field subject to market constraints of supply and demand. Public uni-versities receive significant funding from the state and federal governments, allowing these schools to draw from a larger baseline budget. Football coaches may be seen as an investment for a university, raising money from ticket sales and media rights contracts. But do these coaches actually gen-erate money for the schools?
This issue is larger than exorbitant coaches’ pay. Ac-cording to U.S.A. Today, only 23 of 228 Division I athletic departments turned a profit. And some of these depart-ments that are not in the red, including the University of Washington, still receive sub-sidies from the university gen-eral fund. The University of Washington subsidy amounts to more than $3 million per year. Is the athletic department
worth this much?No. Universities are loca-
tions intended for the acquisi-tion of knowledge relevant to a student’s future career. With only 1,696 employed N.F.L. players, I would not lay money on any particular college ball player making a career of football. To those arguing that college sports provide a valu-able “cultural experience,” then perhaps that value should be reflected by higher ticket prices at the gates.
As a current taxpayer and soon-to-be college student, I resent that my money is used to financially support a program that I do not philosophically support. With just the money paid to the head football and basketball coaches at U.W. and W.S.U., $5.4 million, the state could pay the salary of 77 teachers that would teach more than 10,000 students each year. I ask you, which is a better investment in the future?
jonah bartrand
$3.2 million salary for a football coach? FAIR PAY:
In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected to serve as the 16th president of the United States of America. On Feb. 12, Lin-coln’s birthday, America reveres the man who held together this nation in its time of greatest need. Shortly thereafter, on Feb. 17, we observe Presidents’ Day and George Washington’s birthday. Together, these days make February the month we celebrate the men who have led this nation since its birth 220 years ago. However, despite the achievements of these men, many of the citizens of this country are entirely unaware of
the dates or even the existence of the days to honor our presidents. Still others may ask, “Why waste time on a holiday like that? These guys have been dead for more than a hundred years.”
Umbrella Day on Feb. 10 is a useless holiday. Hippo day, Feb. 15, is a useless holiday. The day on which we remem-ber men who worked to propel our country to a brighter future is far from a useless holiday. Without Lincoln, slavery could have lasted a hundred more years in the U.S., and there’s a chance that our very country would have split in two. This man, this president, who started like any other man in this world, grew up ultimately to sacrifice his life to make America free and whole.
We all know who George Washington is, but perhaps most of us can’t think of a good reason to take a specific day to remember him. But Washington was more than
just the first president of the United States. Most of the men in power at the time of Wash-ington’s election wanted to make him the king of America; Washington refused. He was one of the men who envi-sioned a democratic America, and because of him America isn’t ruled; it’s governed by the people, for the people. Wash-ington was a brave, selfless and level-headed man who not only attended but also made pos-sible the birth of the United States of America.
So, at the very least, take a minute to think about President Lincoln or Presi-dent Washington. Google the presidential achievements of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John Fitzgerald Kennedy or Andrew Jackson. Do some-thing; tell someone something about your favorite American president, or just think a little about how much they sacri-ficed to achieve greatness for our country.
joel staudinger
PRESIDENTS’ DAY:
An extension of the First Amendment, this code gives students the freedom of speech and press, and “no school district shall limit these rights except for good and sufficient cause.”
Washington Administrative Code 180-40-215:
This gives citizens the fundamental freedom of religion, speech, press and for people to peaceably assemble and to petition the Government.
The First Amendment:
“Every person may freely speak, write and publish on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that right.”
Washington State Constitution:
Freedom of the Press
SIFTING THROUGH THE ISSUE
Results from a survey of 96 students conducted at the beginning of February. Each participant chose from four choices.
Remember to appreciate presidents
Have you ever entered a casual conversation only to discover that the person you’re talking to is an offender of everyday language? They open their mouth and out pours an excess of overused slang painful to the ear. Or maybe you’re just tired of seeing #hashtagstatuses on Twitter and Facebook, always faithfully captioning pictures of duck faces or beautiful scenery. Based on the survey below, “swag” takes home the prize for most annoying slang.
#Yolo Swag?
After a Hazelwood East High School’s newspaper article was kept from publishication by the principal, Cathy Kuhlmeier brought the case to court. Hazelwood won because he merely exercised editorial control over the content of student speech. This court case clarified the rights of the First Amendment applied to students, en-couraging states to adopt administrative codes regulat-ing student publication content.
Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier:
Advisernancy e. smith
Celebrating free speechSCHOLASTIC JOURNALISM WEEK
This editorial is the concensus of the Editorial Board.
27 February 2014The Back Page16
This article is writ-ten for the six of you whose parents actually
go to parent teacher confer-ences.
I hope your mid-quarter grades are the best they can be for these upcoming days of awkward interactions.
Now, as many of you inferred from what I just said above, or from eerie calls you
may have received from the school district’s automated voice messaging system, this is parent-teacher conference week.
Tomorrow our parents are welcomed into our home terri-tory with expectations of getting a glimpse of how we behave in school. They will ask questions such as, “How’s our little Johnny doing in his ceramics class?”
Then you hope they’ll receive a response along the lines of, “Oh, your Johnny boy is just a gem, an absolute treat to have in class!”
Too bad this never happens. Here’s a more realistic hypothetical conference: “Well, hello
there Mr. Math Teacher, how’s my son Bob doing in class?”“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I don’t believe I have a Bob in any of
my classes.”“But according to his schedule, Mr. Math Teacher, you have
him fourth hour for geometry?”To which Mr. Math Teacher would reply, “Oh! That little
darling Bob! He’s just the brightest boy I’ve ever met. Quite the shining star, I’ll tell ya. Such a beautiful kid. You must have been the luckiest mother to have produced such a brilliant young fawn. He’s doing great!”
At that point, any parent would be beaming from ear to ear at the seemingly heartfelt comments given by a teacher who has no idea who their sweet Bob is. For all the poor teacher knows, Bob could be that kid who shows up once every two weeks and eats the erasers off his partners’ pencils. Either way, his parent is left content, and our teacher is one parent closer to leaving.
Some of you are probably sitting here in disbelief, thinking to yourself that there is absolutely no way any teacher would ever do that.
But you, my friend, are wrong. Take this from firsthand experience: it is possible. I hope
you all experience the day when your teacher taps you on the shoulder a few weeks after conferences and guiltily explains how he had no idea who you were at conferences, so he just left your mother with some nice general comments. He’ll ask you to have no hurt feelings because he knows who you are now.
On the flipside, even though my teacher doesn’t know me, at least he doesn’t know me for being a bad student.
ellie mendoza
the witticism:
mickey shin
It’s been spreading like a wildfire in the Amazon, sweeping
the nation in a way never seen before. It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Flappy Bird!
So it was a bird in the first place, tapping its way into the phones and iPods of people everywhere. If you look, just about
everyone has Flappy Bird on their phones. But after a while you get just a tad frustrated with the game and tend to either throw your phone or delete the game.
How is this game so fun? This game taps into peoples’ com-petitive spirits. Ha, ha, see what I did there? It’s one of the most addicting games ever. In the lunchroom people have competi-tions to see who can get the furthest, and it lasts all but two minutes or so. Every minute, you hear something like “Dang it!” and other words that shall not be named.
What’s an average score, you ask? It’s about four or five, and on a good day, six. However, you do sometimes get that one long run that usually leads to your high score.
With the immense amount of stress from school, you’d think that students would try and find an outlet to relieve it—but no. Flappy Bird ruins the lives of teenagers. Students play Flappy Bird, adding anger, frustration and stress to the situation at hand.
Not only is there Flappy Bird, but there’s more. A rival com-pany has create the hardest game on earth… IRONPANTS! This impossible game is similar to Flappy Bird except there is no bird and it’s 50 times harder. You’d better take up the opportunity to download it, because after only a few short weeks of intense fame, Flappy Bird was deleted from every app store.
Despite its unavailability, Flappy Bird will go down in history as one of the best games of 2014. But make no mistake—this is not a good game. It is just a frustratingly popular one.
A word of warning to those who choose to read this article: DO NOT PLAY FLAPPY BIRD! But that’s just a suggestion.
Do what you want. No one is going to stop you.
jourdan plante
To most people, jam is a filling eaten between two pieces of bread. If
you’re like my parents, you probably believe that all jam is good jam, and the wilder the flavor, the better. My normally cautious parents have no qualms about jam flavor.
As they like to say, “It all gets mixed in your stomach in the end, so what does it matter, eating an orange, peach, and a mango, or eating Orange Peach Mango jam?”
This month’s flavor hap-pens to be Cherry Raspberry
Rhubarb. In one word: yuck! I don’t mind cherries, I
have a torrid love affair with raspberries, but I’m not really sure about rhubarb. I think the leaves are poisonous and that people make pies out of it, but I couldn’t tell you one way or another with full confidence.
Who decides these weird flavor combinations anyway? I always imagine this total Charlie and the Chocolate Factory moment: the dubi-ously sane “Creator” reclin-ing on a futon, talking to his psychiatrist.
“I think that cherries, coconut, pineapple, and mango are good together. Kinda psychedelic, you feelin me bro? The eater can pretend that they are on an island.”
Flavor aside, the other thing that bugs me about my jam is the texture. I mean, the flavor is gross, but it’s manageable. Finding
chunks of fruit in my jam is the worst. It’s like drinking a cream of mushroom soup. The
flavor bugs you, but the soup itself is easy to swallow if you just ignore the taste—now add these huge chunks of gooey, rubbery mushrooms to that broth. The texture and flavor are immediately enhanced, but not in a good way.
Just like the mushroom, jam becomes blacklisted by
my taste buds with the addi-tion of those chunky fruits. My stomach turns in revolt every time I see one of those chunks in my sandwich. The worst part is that you get so hypersensitive about the chunk. I like to do the whole eat around the chunk dance. Constant vigilance! Eat around the chunk, eat around the chunk, eat around the chunk, and bang! The chunk slips in. Gag reflex, are you there? It’s me, Naveena.
This is probably the most traumatizing moment of my day.
Forgot my homework? Pshh, whatever. Got an F on a math test? Don’t care. Find a chunk of fruit in my sandwich? Hyperventilation: activate! The FBI should really use the fruit and weird jam flavor combination to get prisoners to talk. They would squeal their nation’s secrets in no time.
naveena bontha
Just like the mushroom, jam becomes black-listed by my taste buds with the addition of chunky fruit.
naveena bontha
Bird PandemicIn a jam: love and poison
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