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May 21, 2008 - Volume XVIII - Issue 9 - Dexter High School - 2200 N. Parker Road - Dexter, Mi 48130

Community members voted 1586 - 799 on May 6 to approve the $47,890,000 bond issue. The bond has a $0 tax levy increase, but the current debt levy will extend for an additional 7-10 years.

The bond will mean improvements to DCS infra-structure and energy efficiency, security, traffic and pedestrian safety, technology, athletic fields and facilities, Wylie Pool, land acquisition for further growth, music and performance, transportation and the senior center.

According to Principal Kit Moran what would eventually have happened if the bond had not passed is computers would break and the district would not be able to replace them to keep pace with the de-mand. However, since the bond passed Moran said students will be ready for the 21st century.

“Specifically the bond will impact technology,” he said. “This means more computers. Twenty-five per-cent of the bond will go to technology. (At the high school) what we would really like is improvements to the mobile computer labs and to improve the wire-less connection signals.”

According to Board of Education President Larry Cobler, community member should expect to see im-provements to the schools in two large ways: by the purchase of equipment like busses and also technol-ogy, out of the bond, that would normally have to be purchased from general funds, which will take a little pressure off the DCS budget.

“This will in no way solve the budget problems we have due to inadequate state funding,” Cobler said.

“It will relieve some of the pressure.” Secondly, DCS will be able to pay for needed re-

pairs, maintenance, safety and security and class-room equipment. In addition, Cobler said the dis-

trict will be able to provide additional support to community members who attend functions in the arts and athletics.

Superintendent Evelyn Shirk and DHS Principal Kit Moran both encouraged voters to vote yes on the bond issue so that the district could make improve-ments with buildings, buses and technology. And last September Shirk said she worried about the deterio-ration that would happen if the schools did not re-ceive the bond money to help pay for their upkeep.

Having the bond money in the district will also mean more money will be available to spend on text-books and classroom materials because bond money will foot the bill for the school’s technology, trans-portation and building improvements that would have otherwise taken up that money.

According to the Dexter Community Schools School Bond Issue, studies have concluded that strong schools play a key role in attracting new busi-ness to communities, providing good jobs for fami-lies, enhancing property values, recruiting outstand-ing professional staff, and providing community pride.

“Over the last four decades, the community has chosen to rely on bonds to support the school infra-structure,” Cobler said. “If our general funding from the state does not increase so that we can devote more to these capital sustainment activities, and the community continues to value their school environ-ment, it is possible that the community would choose to use the bond mechanism again in the future.”

May 21, 2008 - Volume XVIII - Issue 9 - Dexter High School - 2200 N. Parker Road - Dexter, Mi 48130

Heather Sillernews editor

Bonding with technologyDrug sniffi ng dogs, approved by the board

of education, made their fi rst visit to the high school on May 1. During second hour, the dogs and their handlers went through the student parking lot and got hits for drug resi-due on eight cars.

According to Principal Kit Moran, no tickets or penalties were given, but the visit was a success. He also said the police and the high school administrators tried to make the process as painless and as private as they could.

“When the dogs and their handlers come, we don’t control,” he said. “We waited until we had a list of all the cars the dogs liked, and then we began matching license plates to the parents and kids the cars belonged to.”

The search was more of a training run for the dogs, Moran said, so when a dog stopped at a car, they would be led away and another dog would pass the cars to make sure their was no confusion between the hit.

After second hour, the dogs and their han-dlers left and the administrative staff began calling students whose cars were hit down to the offi ce throughout the day.

Moran said, “We weren’t accusing any of the students, but we did ask them if there was any reason the dogs would like their car.”

Junior Alex Erber was one of the eight students brought down to the offi ce. Ac-cording to him, the staff handled the whole process really well.

“They didn’t accuse me or make me feel guilty at all,” Erber said. “I thought at fi rst

they had made a mistake when I got brought down. I was really surprised they wanted to search my car, but I didn’t really care if they wanted to because I knew I didn’t have any-thing.”

Erber said he was asked some questions in the offi ce, and his backpack was searched. After that, he was brought out to his car and School Liason Deputy Paul Mobbs looked in it.

Nothing was found, but according to Mo-ran, that isn’t uncommon.

“The dogs are really smart and can smell if there is any residue in or on the car, or even if someone has smoked in the car re-cently,” he said. “It is possible that someone could have just smoked a joint and touched a couple cars, and the dogs would pick up that residue.

Saline High School also had a visit from the dogs, and according to Moran, they got many hits inside the school. For this reason, Moran said the dogs will probably be back this year.

Larry Cobler, President of the Dexter Board of Education, said the Board would support a second search as long as it was done in a safe and respectful way.

Moran said that the biggest complaint he got was that parents were not called as soon as their kids were brought to the offi ce. Al-though the students called down said they were comfortable with the whole process, Moran said he would make sure that in the future, the parents would be called.

He said, “We care about the students here, and we don’t want Dexter to be a place where kids can go to buy and sell drugs.”

Students’ cars sniffed, searchedOlivia Scheffl erstaff writer

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School hopes new bond will bring better education

A Nor t h C ent r a l A c c re d it at ion v i s i t i ng te a m c a me to D e x ter Hig h S cho ol a nd a s se s se d t he scho ol on t he ba s ic s f rom A pr i l 8t h to A pr i l 9t h . T he te a m fou nd a scho ol on t he r i se a nd c on sidere d a h ig h ly f u nc t iona l scho ol .

A c c ord i ng to P r i nc ipa l K it Mor a n, t he NC A ac c re d it at ion c on si s t s of t he scho ol g iv i ng i t se l f a se l f-a s se s sment a nd t hen a l low i ng f ive of f ic ia l s to c ome i n to t he scho ol a nd a s se s s i t .

I n t he pro c e du re of t he NC A a s se s s i ng t he scho ol , t he v i s i t i ng te a m of f ive p e ople c ome i n a nd p er for m s a qu a l i t y a s su r a nc e re v ie w. T he y i nter v ie w r a ndom s t udent s , pa rent s , te acher s a nd pa r aprofe s s iona l s . A nd t he y a s se s s t he scho ol a f ter t he se l f-a s se s sment .

A f ter t he a s se s sment t he scho ol re c eive s a re c om mend at ion. T he b e s t r a n k i s ac c re d ite d op er at iona l le ve l , fol lowe d by ac c re d ite d w a r ne d , ac c re d ite d probat ion, deny or d rop ac c re d it at ion. D e x ter re c eive d ac c re d ite d w a r ne d due to hav i ng b e en r a n ke d w it h one or more “emer g i ng” r a n k i ng s .

Mor a n sa id t he scho ol d id b et ter t ha n e x p e c te d howe ver. “ T he f ive of f ic ia l s t hat c a me i n r a n ke d u s h ig her t ha n we or ig i na l ly a s se s se d ou r se lve s , so t hat went pret t y wel l ,” he sa id .

T here a re fou r r a n k i ng s t he scho ol r a n ke d i t se l f on i n t he se l f-a s se s sment: not e v ident , emer g i ng , op er at iona l a nd h ig h ly f u nc t iona l . A nd on t he scho ol a s se s sment of f ic ia l s r ate d DHS a s a n emer g i ng scho ol , wh ich me a n s t he scho ol ha s b eg u n t he pro c e s s of enga g i ng i t s s t a ke holder s to c om m it to a sha re d pu r p o se a nd d i re c t ion.

D e x ter Hig h S cho ol w a s se l f-a s se s se d by sc ienc e te acher Je f f Da g g a nd P r i nc ipa l K it Mor a n.

T he h ig he s t r ate d c ategor y w a s s t a ke holder c om mu n ic at ion a nd re lat ion sh ip s , a s i n t he scho ol fo s ter s e f fe c t ive c om mu n ic at ion s a nd re lat ion sh ip s a mong i t s s t a ke holder s . It w a s r a n ke d a s h ig h ly f u nc t iona l .

T he p oi nt of t he NC A w a s to g ive t he scho ol p oi nt s t he y a re doi ng wel l on a nd p oi nt s t he y ne e d to i mprove on ac c ord i ng to Mor a n. “ We got a lot of go o d i n for mat ion on what we ne e d to i mprove on a s wel l ,” he sa id .

D o c u ment i ng a nd u s i ng re su lt s w a s one of t he lower sc or i ng c ategor ie s .

A not her t h i ng D e x ter re c eive s a f ter t he QA R a re re c om mend at ion s t atement s . T he re c om mend at ion s t hat

D e x ter re c eive d were t hat t he scho ol ne e d s to u se d at a to g u ide a l l p er for ma nc e de c i s ion s , t he scho ol ne e d s to a g re e up on a u n i f ie d v i s ion to i n for m t he d i re c t ion of t hei r scho ol i mprovement e f for t s , t he scho ol ne e d s to de velop a s y s temat ic w ay to re v i se goa l s a nd i mprovement e f for t s a s ne e de d a nd deter m i ne d by t hei r d at a .

I n add it ion, e v idenc e c om i ng f rom t he i nter v ie w s of t he s t a f f show s scho ol i mprovement goa l s do not a l l c u r rent ly me et t hei r ne e d s .

DHS re c eive d c om mend at ion s t hat t he h ig h scho ol s t a f f

i s h ig h ly re sp on sive to i t s c om mu n it y of s t a keholder s a nd t here i s a s t rong c om m it ment a mong s t a f f to ma ke suc c e s s for a l l s t udent s a top pr ior i t y. Power S cho ol w a s c i te d for b ei ng h ig h ly re sp on sive to t he c om mu n it y a s wel l a s pa rent-te acher c on ferenc e s .

T he NC A w i l l not b e v i s i t i ng for a not her f ive ye a r s b e c au se i t ’s a f ive ye a r c yc le . “A l l i n a l l we d id r at her wel l on t he NC A ,” Mor a n sa id , “a nd for t he s t u f f we d id n’t do to wel l on , we c a n ju s t t r y a nd f i x t he m i nor problem s.”

22 The SquallWednesday, May 21, 2008

news

School maintains accreditationNCA offi cials rank DHS higher than in self-assesment

Kyle Borencontest manager

Dunn paralyzed in car accident

A car accident involving two former Dexter students took place at the intersection of Jerusalem and Steinbach Roads at approximately 5:06 a.m. on April 12.

The driver, former Dexter student Pat Dunn, 16, was paralyzed from the chest down as result of the crash. The passenger, former Dexter student Tony Tomshany, sustained minor injuries to his hands, but he received no permanent damage. Both Dunn and Tomshany were wearing seat belts when the accident occurred, according to the police report.

After the accident, Dunn was removed from the car by fire department personnel and transported to the University of Michigan Hospital via survival flight.

Dunn shattered three of his vertebrae and hit his head in the accident. He was rushed into emergency surgery and given a 50/50 chance to survive the surgery. He survived the surgery and has since began to recover.

“He can use everything above his stomach,” said Deborah Dunn, Pat’s mom. “But the stomach is about where he loses all feeling. His memory is good. He didn’t have too much injury to his brain. He actually was conscience for most of the

accident.”Tomshany sustained injuries to his hands and was alert the

entire time. He was transported to the hospital by ambulance. Since the accident, Tomshany has made a full recovery and doesn’t have any permanent damage.

The accident occurred when Pat was driving eastbound on Jerusalem Road and lost control of the silver Ford Focus he

was driving. The car ran off the road on the north side and went airborne. The car flipped, hit a tree, flipped again, clipped another tree and skidded on its roof into a field.

Tomshany had been driving earlier in the night, but let Pat drive because he was “too drunk to drive”. He knew Pat didn’t have his driver’s license but let him drive anyway, Pat said in the police report.

The police report says drugs, alcohol and speed were all factors in the crash. Jerusalem Road is an unpaved road, but police established that under normal driving conditions the road would not pose a safety hazard.

Calculations made by police reveal that a minimum speed of 74 mph was needed to obtain the damage sustained in the crash.

According to Pat’s brother and former Dexter student, Kyle Dunn, Pat and Tomshany arrived home at about 4:30 a.m. and

woke Kyle up by knocking on his window. Kyle went out to the car and immediately smelled alcohol and marijuana. Pat asked him if he wanted to go “drifting” with them in Tomshany’s car, but Kyle declined because he had to wake up early the next morning.

Kyle went back to sleep but was awaken again at about 5:10 a.m. to the sounds of emergency vehicles. Deborah, was also awaken by the sirens. She and Kyle left their house and went to Jerusalem Road where they found Tony’s car flipped onto its top. The accident occurred only about a quarter mile away from the Dunn’s house, Deborah said.

“It was a mother’s sixth sense (that made me go to the scene of the accident),” Deborah said. “We called the one kid’s phone who was in the car, and he didn’t answer. But it was mainly my motherly sense.”

According to the police report, Pat said there were four people in the car at the time of the accident. But by the time emergency personnel arrived only Pat and Tomshany remained.

Pat and Tomshany face several charges including: driving under the influence of alcohol, allowing an unlicensed driver to operate a vehicle, permitting a person under the influence of alcohol to operate a vehicle and having a blood alcohol content of less than .02%.

“It’s a sad thing you know,” Deborah said. “They’re both really lucky to be alive. But it’s a thing they both gotta live with for the rest of their lives. They’re both just so young. It’s just really sad.”

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illustration by David Bays

car flipped, hit a tree, flipped again, clipped another tree and skidded on its roof into a field.

the night, but let Pat drive because he was “too drunk to drive”. He knew Pat didn’t have his driver’s license but let him drive anyway, Pat said in the police report.

and speed were all factors in the crash. Jerusalem Road is an unpaved road, but police established that under normal driving conditions the road would not pose a safety hazard.

““They’re both really lucky to be alive. But it’s a thing they both

gotta live with for the rest of their lives.”

- Deborah Dunn, Mother of Pat Dunn

Kevin YarowsStaff writer

Drugs, alcohol, speed all cited as factors in police report; charges fi led

newsBRIEFS

33The SquallWednesday, May 21, 2008

news

During April there were numerous zip-tie strikes. It started as one person zip-tieing a backpack’s zip-pers together so the student couldn’t open their bag. Soon the trend caught on and lockers, doors and bath-room stalls were zip-tied.

“We gathered info, found names and brought the people in. We had a pow- wow and in the end obtained a culprit,” Dean of Students Ken Koenig said.

For punishment Koenig said the “zip-tie bandit” must reimburse the school employee for stolen zip-ties, and if there’s ever another zip-tie problem, the “zip-tie bandit” will be the first one blamed whether they did it or not.

Koenig said the reason behind this is the person was at fault for the trend so they must take the pun-ishment as well.

Zip-tie bandit caught in act

National Honor Society will be holding its officer elections on May 7. This is also the first junior meeting of the year. According to adviser Cheryl Wells, the old leaders/ officers make ballots, put the ballots in a hat and the club picks who they think fits the requirements.

After choosing the new officers, these new of-ficers start to meet every Tuesday of the month. Then people sign up for different commit-tees, and the committees meet once a month.

In terms of how well the new officers will do, Wells said, “Well, I have no idea. They’re the new crop, or lay of the land, (it) depends on how well the old officers taught them.”

NHS holds offi cer elections

Seniors conduct food auction

The senior food auction held on April 18 raised more than $2,300 in 45 minutes. Half of the money raised went to a program for Muscular Dystrophy and the other half went to a program for Cystic Fibrosis.

“It’s a good spring event that brings seniors to-gether, and the donations made goes to a good cause,” Wells said. All of the food at the auction is donated by staff.

DCS searches for superintendent

Superintendent Evelyn Shirk will retire at the end of this school year. And the board of education has named four finalists for the position.

All of the candidates are already administra-tors in other districts. The final four were Harrison Cass, superintendent of Marshalltown, Iowa; Bri-an Metcalf, Assistant Superintendent of Marshall; John Savel, Superintendent of Trenton; and Nancy Staub, Assistant Superintendent of Pinckney.

Cass dropped out of consideration on May 8. The final pick will be made on Wednesday, May 28. “Throughout the week of May 11- 16, Dexter admin-istration will be doing site visits to get information about the candidates,” Principal Kit Moran said.

At these visits administrative and board of ed-ucation members will be going to the candidates’ schools and interviewing students and staff about the candidates.

New classes require new books

The new Michigan Merit Curriculum require-ments will cost the district a little over $200,000 thousand in new books, but Principal Kit Moran said he and members of the staff are working to get new materials needed to fulfi ll these require-ments.

Moran and various department chairs present-ed textbook requests needed as part of Michigan’s new Merit Curriculum for classes to the Board of Education on the April 28 meeting. “Most of the books we want are 2009 editions and are aligned with the Merit Curriculum,” Moran said.

The graduation requirements for the class of 2011 include one more science credit, an arts credit, two language-other-than-English credits, and four mathematics credits.

Because of these new requirements, there will be more students in these required classes, which leads to the need for more books.

“Since (these classes) are now required, when

(students) become seniors and juniors, there will be kids in these classes that weren’t required for students to take in the past,” Moran said.

For example, students are now required to take a third science credit .

This will increase the number of students who take science classes. “We’ll need more books since we’ll be getting more stu-dents,” biology teacher Ka-tie McKinley said.

The books currently in use are not in good shape either according to McKin-ley. “They’re old and are falling apart,” she said. “(The new books are) visu-ally appealing, well organized, they have lots of guided resources and have big nice colorful pic-ture.”

When it comes to buying new books, Moran said a book’s weight, price and age are all things

that he was concerned about. At the April. 28 board meeting he and the de-

partment representatives asked the board to dip into the district’s savings for money to pay for the

books. “We checked for the best prices and worked out the best deals we could get,” Moran said. “The text book companies are having a hard time selling their books, so they are open to offering dis-counts.”

For instance, he said that because the district ordered so many books, the book companies were willing to of-fer discounts on shipping.

Moran said he is optimis-tic about the decision the board will make at the next meeting on May 19. “The board seemed very pleased with our presentation,” he said. “They were very positive and supportive of what we’re trying to do.”

Rachel Butlerstaff writer

best prices and worked out the best deals we could get,” Moran said. “The text book companies are having a hard time selling their books, so they are open to offering dis-counts.”

because the district ordered so many books, the book companies were willing to of-fer discounts on shipping.

“ We checked for the best prices

and worked out the best deals we

could.”

- Kit Moran, principal

High hopes for new libraryThe new Dexter library, which has been under

construction since the ground breaking ceremony on May 7, 2007, is scheduled to be fi nished in late fall of 2008.

“Over the course of the winter, we did lose a couple of weeks due to weather conditions and the exposed nature of the sight,” library director Paul McCann said in an e-mail. “Our construc-tion managers from O’Neal Construction believe we will still be able to meet the late fall deadline and hope to make up some of the time that was lost over the winter as the weather improves and the building takes shape.”

Some of the constraints in the current library that are going to be improved in the new library include insuffi cient room to house new books and

other materials added to the collection, Allison Brueckner, the library’s web site coordinator, said on the web site.

There are also narrow aisles that don’t facili-tate browsing, especially for children, seniors and people with disabilities, extremely limited study space, inability to segregate quiet areas from pub-lic service areas, and a limited capacity for pro-gramming.

The new building will also have several study areas and a quiet reading room that is separate from the children’s area according to McCann.

“I’m really excited because it’s going to be re-ally big and nice,” frequent library user and junior Jasmine Injejikian said. “If there’s a lot more books, I’ll be really happy because I feel like I’ve read all the books in the library.”

The children’s books and young adult books will be located downstairs, while the adult books and reference area will be upstairs.

There will also be meeting rooms large enough to accommodate 150 people and several smaller ones that hold up to 50 people.

“The library will be looking to add computer instruction classes, movie nights, additional book discussion groups for different age groups and additional presentations by outside groups and performers after the new building opens,” Mc-Cann said. “There is never a membership fee for residents of the Dexter District Library’s service area.”

Though the new location is not far from the current library, the bigger plot of land allows for less crowding which pleases junior Emily Wil-liams.

“Now I’ll have a better place to read. I think it will have a better selection and it’ll be close to the school,” Williams said. “I’m so excited about the new library.”

Allison Sutterstaff writer

photo courtesy of Paul McCann

Construction site: A construction worker helps to lay the foundation of the new district library next to the farmers market in downtown Dexter. The village expects the library to be fi nished in late fall of 2008.

Womens tennis heads to regionals with high hopes

On May 15 the womens tennis team will attend regionals. Only the varsity team is going and a few JV players will tag along.

Regionals will be held in Farmington Hills starting at 6:30 a.m. and going on the rest of the day.

According to junior Jenna Kolakowski, “We’ll do pretty good depending on where everyone is seeded and if they are. The only team I’m really worried about is Farmington Hills.”

photo by Chas Sloan

Ever since social studies teacher Ryan Baese at-tended Ovid-Elsie High School, north of Lansing, and watched his father as the principal there, he dreamed of becoming a principal himself.

So after student teaching at DHS for a year and teaching at DHS for four years, Baese decided to add to his education and get the degree necessary to be-come an administrator. After completing his under-graduate degree from the University of Michigan in education with a major in social studies and a minor in earth science, Now he’s going back to U of M for his masters of graduate studies of public administra-tion with a concentration in education administra-tion.

All of this extra education, he said, is to bet-ter prepare him for an administrative position. But it doesn’t look like Baese will be turning in his classroom and students for a walkie talkie and an iTouch.

“The whole administrative thing is defi nitely for the future,” Baese said. “It depends on the oppor-tunity. I don’t want to leave the classroom anytime soon.”

“(Becoming an administrator), has been some-thing he has been passionate for, for a long time,” English teacher Andrew Parker said, “He put himself

in a god position for all the things he has done such as being a class advisor, coach, going to the dances and a lot of other school related activities.”

Becoming qualifi ed is the fi rst step One of the reasons Baese would like to become an

administrator is to create a high school he envisions. With a principals position, Baese said, he wants to be able to institute his vision and direction into his school. “To really institute positive change in your school.”

One of these ways would be hiring quality teach-ers. “Maintaining a high level of quality teacher shows that you care,” Baese said. Although someday Baese would like to gain control of a public school, he said he will miss teaching.

“Some of the things that I will miss is just some of the relationships with the students as a teacher and the connections that you make,” Baese said. “That’s what I will miss the most.”

But Baese doesn’t want to leave the high school scene. “High school would be the most challenging,” he said, “but what I could do the best.”

His belief in being able to manage a high school is because of his relationships and people skills.“I think I can manage people well,” Baese said, “I think I can be a strong leader and value the input of others.”

By listening to everybody’s opinions and voices, Baese plans to be “very democratic,” when it comes to running his school and the decision making.

Parker also believes Baese’s people skills will be his strong point. “(Baese) will get to know the peo-ple in the building,” Parker said, “And by having as many teachers as possible involved in the decision making process.”

This way of governing was largely infl uenced by his father. Baese looked up to him and admired the way he did things. From doing the punishing to lis-tening to people on what they think about things go-ing around in the school

“Just the way that he is able to deal with people,” Baese said, “To stroke that balance of being the boss and making the decisions. But at the same time be-ing very personable with people.”

But Baese’s father was not his only role model and someone that helped him out.“(Mr. Moran) has been meeting with me a lot,” Baese said. Moran went as far as allowing Baese to follow him to shadow him for a day.

“(He’s) showing me how decisions are being made, and how to run things,” Baese said, “I’m just trying to learn from him.”With all this learning ex-perience and education, Baese hopes to become the best administrator possible. When it comes how he would like to be perceived, Baese said he would not like to be seen as the punisher.

“I want (kids) seeing me as the boss.” Baese said, “Don’t know too many who relish the punisher role.”


feature

Baese ponders principal position

Taking a tardy for Darfur

2003: Drought, oppression, small-scale confl icts and poor allocation of govern-ment resources cause two rebel groups to mount an insurgency against the cen-tral government. These groups represent “non-Arab black African” Muslim farmers.

In response: the Sudanese govern-ment supports tribal militias known as the Janjaweed. Their members are composed mostly of “Arab black Af-rican” Muslims who herd livestock.

No mercy: The Janjaweed begin wip-ing out entire villages, systematically murdering, torturing and raping hun-dreds of thousands of Darfuris. This all happens with the support or at least approval of the Sudanese government.

Summer 2007: Violence between tribes of the Janjaweed begins to occur more frequently. Tribal fi ghting is now kill-ing more people than the clashes be-tween the government and rebel forces.

The Crisis Now: Humanitarian opera-tions are increasingly targeted by both sides of the confl ict. Vehicles are being hijacked and robbed, aid workers are assaulted while carrying out their work and offi ces are broken into and looted.

Crisis in Darfur: Darfur, an area about the size of Texas in western Sudan, holds some of Africa’s poorest people. They exist largely on either subsistence farming or nomadic herding. Even in good times, the Darfuri people face a very harsh and diffi cult life; these are not good times in Darfur.

Refugee photos from http://physiciansforhumanrights.orgInformation from http://www.savedarfur.org

Forty students were, for once, quiet. Seven o’clock on May 1, they scram-bled to their places: lying prone on the ground in front of the main en-trance as a part of the Peace Club’s Darfur Awareness Week Activities. Each

wore a sign that said, “I represent 13,000 people murdered in genocide.” Everyone who came in to school on time had to walk through two rows of motionless

students, and it was hard to miss the giant spray-painted “Genocide: The deliberate killing of a race of people” sign next to the bell.

Sophomore and Peace Club president Alex Everard said the morning was inspired by the peace rally they attended in Ann Arbor, where demonstrators lay on the ground to represent fallen soldiers in Iraq. He also said it was ideal for raising awareness. “Obviously when you walk into school and see 40 people passed out, you wonder what’s going on,” he said. “I think it brings it all into perspective for people.”

And Everard thinks the Darfur genocide needs to come into the spotlight. “It’s govern-ment-sponsored elimination of a certain people because of their race or beliefs,” he said. “And a lot of people just ‘hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.’ They’re turning their head away so they don’t have to realize it’s going on. That’s the approach lots of governments are taking, and we’re trying to say it’s not right. Just because they’re thousands of miles away doesn’t mean they’re not dying.”

The club didn’t stop at lying down, however. Throughout the week, members put up large signs in the stairwells and commons, circulated a petition, submitted announcements and sold “Stand for Darfur” T-shirts, all in an attempt to let students know what was going on. “I like to think we got people to think about it, if only for a second,” Everard said. “I don’ t think a lot of people knew.”

For students who thought about Darfur for more than a second, there are better things to do than think. For example, Everard suggested signing the petition at savedarfur.org, sup-porting fundraisers like the “Stand for Darfur” T-shirts, demonstrating and writing Congress. “At the high school level you can’t go over there yourself,” he said. “But there is lots you can do to show people on Capitol Hill you want things done.”

As the 7:35 bell got closer, Peace club adviser Ryan Baese and science teacher Jessica Kreeger began to outline the demonstrators in chalk, a lasting genocide reminder that is sill partially visible. Seven-thirty-fi ve became dangerously close, and the demonstration was over. “OK guys, it’s about that time, ” Baese fi nally said. “Take a tardy for Darfur. Good job.”

Maria Brundagecopy editor

killed in the Darfur genocide*this is the conservative estimate

All other photos by Maria Brundage

2.5 millionfl ed their homes in Darfur and

now live in refugee camps, rely-ing on aid organizations.

1 millionstill live in villages under

constant threat of bombings, raids, murder, rape and torture.

Playing dead: Sophomores Megan Hee-Jung-Kim, Waleed Mansour and Max Berry each represent 13,000 dead in Darfur.

A line on the concrete: Peace club adviser Ryan Baese traces a student’s outline on the sidewalk. The Peace Club wanted the demonstration to continue after they stood up.

ALL YOU CAN EAT

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pasta-pizza-salad-breadstixraffl es & freebies

11:00 a.m.- 9:00p.m. MAY 29th

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Every Wednesday11a.m.- 2p.m.

Kevin Butlerstaff writer

Says he’s not looking to leave

classroom anytime soon however


feature

Katie Johnsonfeatures editor

Journalism teaches important life lessons

For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved to write. When I was little, I always preferred crayon and paper, writing stories about my world: my brother, parents, friends, everything that made up who I was.

Every week in fi rst grade, we used to write short sto-ries. We would publish our stories, with red, green and yellow covers with titles written in thick permanent marker. They weren’t much, maybe two or three pages, but they were always my favorite part of the week. I still have some of them tucked away somewhere in my closet as a reminder of the very beginning.

I continued writing throughout middle school, confi ning my thoughts to the pages of a journal, but it wasn’t until high school that I fell in love with writing. It wasn’t until I arrived at DHS my sophomore year.

I’ve moved for most of my life, living in numerous towns in Michigan and in Texas for fi ve years. When my parents told me we were moving to Dexter, I’d nev-er heard of the place but fi gured it’d be like any other move: make new friends, get involved in something and wait to move on to a another town.

The move went as I planned. I made new friends, joined the basketball team and had even started to like Dexter a little as it became more familiar. But even after being at DHS for a semester, I still hadn’t found something that fi t with me, something that just clicked. I fi nally found it the fi rst day of second semester.

I can still distinctly remember the fi rst time I walked into the journalism room. I was just joining the newspaper staff, and to say the least, I was a little intimidated. I remember seeing awards littering the walls and ceiling and everyone sitting at a computer, claiming their territory.

Even though this was scary, above all, I was afraid that now, people could read what I wrote. At fi rst I struggled to fi nd my own voice in my writing, but each day, the room became less intimidating, and I became more confi dent of my writing. It wasn’t until the end of that year that I realized I had found it. I had found what I clicked with.

Since then, I’ve never stopped writing. After almost three years on The Squall, I can’t imagine what high school would have been without it. It’s been my outlet, the one thing that has become as much a part of me as anything else. It’s been my slice of the real world, my one escape from the monotony of school.

The Squall is my own summary of high school. If I were asked to summarize senior year, or our four years at Dexter, I couldn’t do it. I could rattle off stories about teachers, friends, classmates, but I wouldn’t do justice.

It’s different for everyone else. After all, high school is only four years of your life. That by no means defi nes you as a person, but it may help you get to know your-self a little better. Take it for what it’s worth. In the end it doesn’t matter how anyone else saw you. It matters how you saw yourself. I know that in my four years, that is exactly what I’ve learned.

Students participate in pageant

Last year the lights fl ashed and the stu-dents screamed as 15 senior boys had the times of their lives on stage. This year ev-erything is promised to bigger, better and packed with even more excitement accord-ing to the Mr. Dreadnaught pageant coordi-nator Megan Ullmann.

This year’s Mr. Dreadnaught pageant is Friday, May 16.

“This year the whole pageant will have more excitement than last year,” Megan Ull-mann said. “The senior class is very excited for it because of the participants.”

However, this is going to be a challenge for senior class because of the lack of par-ticipants and shortage of time between the day of starting to plan and the date of the pageant.

“One problem we have is that we don’t have a ton of people who signed up,” Ull-mann said. “Right now we have eight con-testants, and we are hoping for more. If we don’t get at least 10, we will consider cancel-ing the event. Also, we don’t have a ton of time to plan and get ready so it’s going to be hard to get everything ready.”

Although this problem lies ahead, many seniors say the pageant will be even better than ever due to the students being involved in Mr. Dreadnaught. Senior Ryan White is one of the many students who feel this way.

“This year’s Mr. Dreadnaught pageant will be even better than the pageants in past years because our class has a lot of really

talented guys who are participating in it,” he said. “The seniors this year are really going to make the pageant better because they are really funny and are truly a great bunch of guys who are guaranteed to entertain.”

Senior Jessi Pressley, who attended the Mr. Dreadnaught pageant last year, agrees.

“Last year was so much fun,” she said. “The performances, songs and modeling were so fun to watch and despite the short-age of people this year I still plan to go and to have a ton of fun.”

White plans to participate in this year’s pageant and try to make what Pressley said come true.

“I have gone to school for 12 years, and this is my last chance to show the school who I am and leave something behind for people to remember me by,” White said.

Ullmann and White both agree that se-niors who are in the Mr. Dreadnaught pag-eant are going to have just as much fun par-ticipating as the students watching.

“The guys participating in the pageant are going to have a lot of fun, and the students are really going to get a kick out of watching them,” Ullmann said. “The whole experi-ence is great for the guys to go through and the students to watch.”

This will be the fourth annual Mr. Dread-naught pageant. Students who attend will pay a couple of dollars and see participants respond to an interview, model evening wear and perform a talent.

White said he is still unsure about what is he going to do up on stage for the talent portion of the pageant, though.”

“Although I am not for sure on what tal-ent I am going to choose, I know it will be one that people will enjoy watching me per-form up on stage,” he said.

While everyone is watching the pageant, students may be surprised to know that the winner of the pageant will not receive any regular prize from past years.

Another difference between this year and last year’s Mr. Dreadnaught is that the winner will not only receive the title of Mr. Dreadnaught and the glory of being the “top dog” of the senior class, but will also receive a scholarship of a couple hundred dollars.

“If I were to win, the winning for me wouldn’t be just the crown and the title of Mr. Dreadnaught; it’s the feeling inside of knowing that I will represent my senior class,” White said. “Just knowing that I could be remembered for years to come by winning or simply participating, makes the whole experience worth it.”

White said, however, that winning Mr. Dreadnaught isn’t everything. He said he thinks most of the guys are excited to par-ticipate, no matter what the outcome may be.

And having fun seems to be a common theme through seniors, students and teach-ers that who plan to participate in the Mr. Dreadnaught pageant.

“Sure, winning would be great,” White said. “However, it’s far from the most im-portant thing to gain from the experience. Mr. Dreadnaught is something fun for me to participate in, a good time and a good way to end my senior year with a laugh.”

Student places second in Dalai Lama contestEntering poetry contests isn’t something sophomore Aiyana Em-

erson normally does, but this April she stepped outside her comfort zone and entered a contest where the top fi ve poems would be put into a booklet and presented to the Dalai Lama, the Buddhist spiri-tual leader of Tibet, in his visit to Ann Arbor on April 19.

Emerson’s half-sister’s grandmother, Rory Russell, works for “Current Maga-zine,” a free magazine listing upcoming events in the Washtenaw County area. She heard about the contest across Ann Arbor and surrounding communities in southeast Michigan and contacted Em-erson right away.

“Last year Aiyana told me that she wanted to be a writer, and I stored her dream in my heart,” Russell said. “When I heard about the student poetry contest, I immediately thought about Aiyana and sent her the contest rules. There was only a couple of days until the deadline.”

Emerson said she jumped at the opportunity and wrote a two page poem about peace as soon as Russell contacted her.

“I have never entered a poem into a contest before, but I thought it would be really cool to have my poem presented to the Dalai Lama,” Emerson said. “I didn’t expect to even place in the contest. I wasn’t

very confi dent in the poem.” Zoe Starkweather, a sponsor of the contest, said 29 students rang-

ing from third grade through seniors in high school entered a total of 35 poems all judged by eight community judges who read the poems and selected the winners by consensus. Despite Emerson’s doubts, she placed second.

“When I read her poem, I wept. I had no idea that she was such a gifted writer,” Russell said. “I was so happy to see Ai-yana receive recognition for her work that came right from her heart. It takes courage to outwardly express your creativity, but it is the only way the dream can take form.”

The fi ve winners’ poems were bound and presented to the Dalai Lama when he visited Ann Arbor on April 19 by the winner of the contest. The fi ve runners’ up poems were also put in the booklet.

“The poems had to be about peace, happiness, sus-tainability or passion, and they were presented to the Dalai Lama during his presentation on sustainability,” Emerson said. As a prize for placing in the contest, Emerson was given two tickets to the Dalai Lama’s presentation on sustainability.

His presentation on sustainability is not the only presentation Emerson attended, though. She and

her mom had prior plans to attend every one of the Dalai Lama’s presentations. “Seeing him was exciting because it’s something I’ve been interested in for my whole life,” Emerson said. “I was raised Buddhist, and it was a really good opportunity to see the Buddhist spiritual leader of Tibet.”

Betsy Eberstaff writer

yana receive recognition for her work that came right from her heart. It takes courage to outwardly express your creativity, but it is the only way the dream can take form.”

to the Dalai Lama when he visited Ann Arbor on April 19 by the winner of the contest. The fi ve runners’ up poems were also put in the booklet.

tainability or passion, and they were presented to the Dalai Lama during his presentation on sustainability,” Emerson said. As a prize for placing in the contest, Emerson was given two tickets to the Dalai Lama’s presentation on sustainability.

presentation Emerson attended, though. She and

“When I read her poem, I wept. I had no idea that

she was such a gifted writer.”

- Rory Russell, Current Magazine

Facts about Dalai Lama poetry• Jewel Heart, the University of Michigan and Washtenaw Intermediate School District assisted in advertising the contest

• The poems were inspired by themes dear to the 14th Dalai Lama - harmony, kindness, sustainability and peace

• All of the curriculum directors for the public school districts in Washtenaw County received e-mail notifi cation of the contest.

•The volume of poetry presented to the Dalai Lama was titled "Poems from the Heart and Dedicated to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama."

•The book was in memory of Allen Ginsberg, Jewel Heart’s Eternal Poet Laureate.

Information courtesy of Zoe Starkweather

Nichols, Sacks, Slanks, Sendelbach &

Buiteweg

Attorneys at Law(734) 994-3000

photo by Maria Brundage

Dancing queens: Seniors TJ Fenske, Phil Huddleston and John Crist practice the dance “Bye, Bye Bye” for the Mr. Dreadnaught pageant. Seniors Michelle Chirby and Danielle St. Pierre helped the boys choreograph the dance.

Brittany Martinistaff writer

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The Squall66health

For a teenager the pressure to look good comes from many different sources: friends, family, fashion magazines, even store windows. As a re-sult, many turn to the process of dieting, but some diets are more healthy than others.

With the introduction of Atkins, the grapefruit diet and the cabbage diet, among others, “crash diets” have been an easy way to get a quick fi x of weight loss for an important event.

But such diets might actually hurt one’s body rather than help.

“They do not promote healthy eating habits or lifestyle changes,” school nurse Aileen Kerno-han said. “You may lose weight initially but usu-ally gain it back once the diet is stopped. Some diets can upset the met-abolic balance in your body, leading to various health problems.”

Even diets that re-ceive a lot of media at-tention and seem at least somewhat credi-ble, like the South Beach diet or Atkins, are not diets recommended by many health offi cials.

“I do not believe in any crash diets,” Kernohan said. “The best way to lose weight and maintain weight loss is to eat a healthful diet and exercise appropriately. A healthy diet includes plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, grains (complex car-bohydrate), some healthful omega 3 fatty acids such as those found in salmon and other fatty fi sh, nuts, avocados, etc, and adequate protein.”

If crash diets are so unhealthy and eventually make a person gain weight, then why do people all over the country still rely on them?

“I think the reasons are varied,” Kernohan said. “Some teenagers want to lose a few pounds in a quick way for a social occasion; others have a distorted body image and feel they need to diet when they don't; still others wanting to lose wait think it's a good way to get a jump start on weight loss.”

Also making it harder to resist crash diet schemes according to Kernohan are the adver-tisements and commercials from diet companies that are plastered all over popular magazines and TV programs.

“I think teenagers are attracted by the idea of quick fi x, of losing 8 - 13 pounds in the fi rst two weeks,” she said. “Unfortunately the weight loss is often water and muscle mass, not fat, and when the fad diet is stopped the weight comes back.”

As a matter of fact, a lot of these commercials are embellished Kernohan said. Many viewers are amazed and inspired at the fact that the hefty brunette woman holding up her huge trousers and the petite blond woman 10 times smaller are the same person.

In reality, they are so remarkably different be-cause they are two different people.

To lose weight in a healthy way, Kernohan recommends simply watching what you eat, exercising regularly and paying attention to portion sizes.

“A good general rule for por-tion control is one portion equals the size of your fi st or cupped hand,” Kernohan said. “Calorie intake should not exceed output and should be less than calorie output if weight loss is required. A healthful weight loss is 1/2 to two pounds a week.”

As more companies present more ways to lose weight, it is still hard to tell whether they are get-ting more or less popular.

“I have encountered many crash diets over the years,” Kernohan said. “The Grapefruit, the Fat Flush, the Zone, the Atkins, The Sugar Busters, The Eat 4 Your Blood Type, The South Beach, The Three Day, The Cabbage Soup, The Scaresdale, The 7 Day, The Metabolism diet, the list goes on and on.”

To people who are attracted to the world of crash dieting, Kernohan urges them, teenagers in particular, to think before they diet.

“I can tell you people are always looking for a magic cure,” Kernohan said. “I would hope the instance is falling as students become better edu-cated about good nutrition and healthful weight loss.”

“It’s kind of hard to recall those stories,” junior Steve Lokie* said. “The last thing I remember was jumping on my friend’s table and breaking it in half. When I woke up, I was in a pile of splintered wood and beer cans. There’s a point where you drink so much that you can’t remember anything from last night.”

Lokie’s story is not an unusual one. Many students say they have experienced fi rst hand the adverse health effects associated with binge drinking, which is defi ned as a heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time that brings the blood alcohol level to 0.08 or above.

For a typical adult this would be about four or more drinks for a female, and fi ve or more drinks for a male, over a two hour period.

According to school nurse Aileen Kernohan, short-term effects of binge drinking include blackouts, continu-ous vomiting, and hangovers usually felt the day after and make the user feel ill and groggy.

“There are many (ill effects to binge drinking) in addi-tion to being hung over; frequent binge drinking can cause diffi culty concentrating thereby affecting school function-ing, memory lapses and mood changes,” Kernohan said.

Long-term effects of binge drinking can be more severe. According to Kernohan they include weight problems, high blood pressure, and a propensity toward alcoholism, and liver and nerve damage.”

But junior Eric Bacon* said the health risks of binge drinking don’t bother him at all. “I usually don’t tend to worry about the health risks,” Bacon said. “I just like to get f----- up with my friends and have fun.”

Bacon said his biggest binge was on Halloween two years ago. “I drank half a fi fth of vodka to myself,” he said. “It was my fi rst time drinking vodka, so I wanted to make it count.” Bacon said he soon regretted drinking so much however.

“After about half an hour I started puking nonstop. Af-ter that I blacked out and my friends called my parents. When they came and got me, I was still passed out. They took me to the hospital and had my stomach pumped. I wasn’t even grounded or anything. They seemed more dis-appointed in me than angry.”

But Kernohan said students like Bacon should worry more about drinking too much because there are more health risks associated with binge drinking than just alco-hol poisoning.

“Other health consequences include disease, injury and death,” she said. “For example, getting hurt or injured in accidents; engaging in unplanned sexual activity leading to STDs and or pregnancy; driving impaired or riding with an impaired driver which could cause serious injury or fatal accidents; and death from choking on vomit and/or respi-ratory arrest from alcohol poisoning.

Signs and symptoms of alcohol poisoning include ex-treme confusion, an inability to be wakened, vomiting, sei-zures, slow or irregular breathing, low body temperature, bluish or pale skin.

Kernohan also said If you think someone may have al-cohol poisoning, turn them on their side and call 911 right away.

But despite the numerous things that could go wrong, students like Bacon say they continue to binge drink.

“It’s more of a social thing,” Bacon said. “You don’t want to be the only loser at a party who’s completely sober. And plus, the ladies love it.” * Name changed for privacy

Teens think binge fun calls for binge drinking

Emily VanDusenstaff writer

Jake LaRosastaff writer

Factbox• Crash diets can lead to kidney failure, liver failure, heart attack or stroke among other health complications

• Crash diets are a quick fi x that promise dieters will loose six to 13 pounds in two weeks

• The Atkins, cabbage soup, and Special K diets are just a few of the many popular crash diets

health.yahoo.com/weightloss-dietplan/

Kernohan recommends simply Kernohan recommends simply watching what you eat, exercising regularly and paying attention to portion sizes.

tion control is one portion equals the size of your fi st or cupped hand,” Kernohan said. “Calorie intake should not exceed output and should be less than calorie output if weight loss is required. A healthful weight loss is 1/2 to two pounds a week.”

“ You may lose weight initially but usually gain it back

once the diet is stopped.”

- Aileen Kernohan, school nurse

make a person gain weight, then why do people all make a person gain weight, then why do people all over the country still rely on them? over the country still rely on them?

“I think the reasons are varied,” Kernohan said. “Some teenagers want to lose a few pounds in a quick way for a social occasion; others have a distorted body image and feel they need to diet when they don't; still others wanting to lose wait think it's a good way to get a jump start on weight loss.”

• Crash diets can lead to kidney failure, liver failure, heart attack or stroke among other health complications

• Crash diets are a quick fi x that promise dieters will loose six to 13 pounds in two weeks

• The Atkins, cabbage soup, and Special K diets are just a few of the many popular crash diets

Photo illustration by Val Argerio and Leah Gibson

photo illustration by Valentino Argiero


arts

I think the most important thing I’ve learned in my four years of high school is how great a distraction art can be from real life. More and more I’ve realized that my ritual absorption of art is a cornerstone of my life.

Many summers when people wanted to go see the biggest blockbuster at Quality 16, I’d be up in my friend’s basement with a stack of old VHS tapes from the library.

Half of them were usually in a different language, others were just relatively big hits that everyone forgot about. These dusty old tapes would include such classics as John Woo’s “The Killer,” or Otto Preminger’s “Anatomy of a Murder.”

I remember constantly pushing my parents into letting me see “The Matrix” for the first time when I was nine years old. My mind was so rattled by the ideas that I stayed up in bed all night, shaking like a crack fiend.

Even more so than movies though, music has had a profound effect on me.

It’s also hard for me to imagine life without the hyperactive pop guitar of The Strokes, or the carefree, accessible hooks of Third Eye Blind. Or on the other hand, the driving brutality of bands like Lamb of God.

Generally speaking, there’s a type of music to match the mood I’m in, and I’ve learned not to discriminate. Except against country music, but that goes without saying. Although My Morning Jacket definitely has a country twang, and they’re growing on me.

I don’t think I’ve ever been teased more in my life than when I made the mistake of saying that I didn’t mind the song “Rock Lobster” that much. What can I say. The B-52’s have a strange place in my heart since my dad used to play their CD in the car before all my soccer games in elementary school.

I was also pretty shocked to discover that “Rock Lobster” was in the top half of Rolling Stone’s top 500 songs of all time. It takes different strokes, I guess.

All jokes aside, music has really helped me through some hard times. I started to miss home after living overseas for a few years, but when my parents introduced me to the cosmic blues of Jimi Hendrix, somehow I could overcome it.

Vacations were always a bittersweet experience because even though all of Europe was at our fingertips, no exotic location or experience can give a person roots. For most of my childhood, I felt like a refugee, an alien both back home and where I was living.

I can remember driving through some barren country side in Portugal that was being beaten down by the most vicious thunderstorm with all these restless thoughts going through my head.

Late in the night my dad put “Wish You Were Here” by Pink Floyd on the radio, and I was able to fall asleep.

When the news came that my parents were getting divorced, I went to the bathroom and dumped water on my face about a half hour.

I think I was trying to wash off the news, maybe. Right after that, I put on my headphones and fell asleep to a myriad of artists who could say what I was feeling better than I could understand it.

After many years of memorizing facts and dealing with day to day life, there were few things more meaningful than spending an afternoon soul-searching with whatever album I was into that week. There’s real power in the escapism that art can grant those who take the time to invest in it.

Growing up is a process that everyone goes through, but some have found a way to allow themselves to grow up in an art-bound world. The Ceramics class allows students to learn and grow in the field of art.

One of these students is Advanced Ceram-ics student senior Marcia Grace. “Clay is a fun medium once you learn the tricks,” Grace said.

Ceramics class is run by art and math teacher Tracy Wolsefer.

“My favorite thing about clay is that it has instant gratification.” Wolsefer said.

According to Grace, ceramics isn’t just the traditional mind set of making pottery on a wheel; ceramics takes it to another level. In addition to making pottery on a wheel, stu-dents can make sculptures out of clay and other materials like wire.

“We make both functional (plates, bowls) and nonfunctional (sculptures) pieces,” Wol-sefer said.

Although ceramics can be intimidating, Grace says that beginners can enjoy it too. “I

have been doing ceramics since kindergarten and have gone to Blue Lakes Art Camp to get better,” she said.

Newcomer senior Jessica Otto said that she learned the fundamentals of forming clay.

“In ceramics class I learned the essentials about making ceramics,” Otto said.

Wolsefer said that one of the strengths of ceramics is its versatility.

“I like the fact that clay is a very giving me-dium,” she said, “in the sense that students can experiment with it.”

Grace has entered her art work in differ-ent art shows and displayed them in different places, including the Ann Arbor Art Show and the Ann Arbor Art Festival.

“I entered a mermaid sculpture at the Ann Arbor Art Show,” she said. “The body was made of clay, and the tail was made out of wire.”

Wolsefer said she was impressed by Grace’s ability.

“I’ve had Marcia in class before and this year her work is showing maturity that I’ve never seen before,” she said. “I think it comes from her ability to translate things into clay.”

Even though the rookies don’t enter their

ceramics into shows, they still walk out of the class with an experience they will never for-get and some pieces of art that will make good decorations. “I’ll never have any art to dis-play,” Otto said, “but I still have memories.”

Another place where students can display their ceramics is at the Ann Arbor’s teen cen-ter the Neutral Zone.

Grace said The Neutral Zone allows stu-dents to grow through art, because it allows teens to meet new people and display their ceramics in a non-judgmental environment. “The Neutral Zone is fun,” she said. “You leave your problems at the door.”

Many students who involve themselves with ceramics seem to love it.

“I hope to stay with it. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s a good hobby,” Grace said. “It’s a way to beat out your anger because you get to hit the clay.”

Even newcomers would like to stay with ceramics and keep it as a hobby. “I would like to continue doing ceramics,” Otto said. ”It is interesting to play with clay.”

For her part Wolsefer said, “Everyone should take it, I think people would be very surprised quickly they catch on to it.”

Ever since she was 6 years-old, sophomore Anna Petrovskis has loved to sing and act. But when she started performing in plays with the Pinckney Players in third grade, she never thought she would one day attend a boarding school for singing and acting. Next year, though, Petrovskis will attend Interlochen Arts Academy near Traverse City.

It’s a long way from where she began her acting career in “The Wizard of Oz’’.

“I was really little, so I played a munchkin,” she said.

Though she has done many plays over the years, Anna said her favorite one was Annie with the Pinck-ney Players. “I played Annie in ‘Annie’ when I was in seventh grade,” she said.

The Pinckney Players appealed to Petrovskis be-cause of the great shows and new people to meet.

“I ended up loving it,” she said. “It’s outside of Dexter where I can meet new people, and they have really good shows and an amazing theatre.”

Although Petrovskis loves to do Pinckney shows, she has done a few shows in Dexter. “I did ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘Oliver’ in Dexter,” she said.

Petrovskis said her family first began looking into Interlochen when she was in eighth grade.

“My dad was researching arts schools, and I wanted to go in eighth grade, but it was way too expensive,” she said.

Petrovskis’s dad, Erik Petrovskis, said it was Anna’s idea to look into Interlochen again this past winter.

“Anna checked out the Interlochen web site and wanted to pursue it further,” he said. “So, she took charge, called the school and started to prepare her application and audition materials.”

Petrovskis began filling out the 25-page school ap-plication and financial aid application. “We literally decided in January to apply, and the application had to be in by Feb. 1,” she said.

Erik thought that applying to Interlochen would be a good opportunity for Anna.

“(I) thought that it would be a great experience to go through the process, whether she was accepted or not,” he said.

Erik said he wasn’t too enthused about Anna at-tending Interlochen until he saw how much she want-

ed to go there.“The tide turned after her visit to the school, where

she was thrilled about the stimulating environment, diverse student body and theater immersion,” he said. “After doing more research on Interlochen programs, faculty and alumni, I began to realize what an incred-ible opportunity this would be.”

Out of a pool of about 1000 applicants, Petrovskis was chosen to attend the school based on her applica-tion, monologues and singing abilities.

“I will be taking half academic and half arts class-es (at Interlochen),” Petrovskis said. “I have to take more English classes, but I like math better.”

Petrovskis also said the experience she will get from acting and singing every day will be very benefi-cial to advancing her skills.

“I want to go there to take acting classes every day,” she said. “It’s every different than just being in a show.”

With this opportunity ahead of her, Petrovskis said she is ready to take on the challenge. “It’s unreal

that I’d actually be gone all year,” she said, “I’m really excited. I’ll come back (to DHS) for a day since we have long breaks (in school).”

Anna’s dad also thinks she is ready for the challenges and opportunities Interlochen will present.

“I am thrilled that Anna will have the opportunity to grow as an artist and mature as an independent think-er,” he said. “She’s ready, and I am

confident that she will succeed.”Leaving her friends and family for long periods of

time is a downside to attending Interlochen. “I’m sure I’ll miss Dexter,” she said. “I’m going to miss (Alex-ander) Dobbs and (Alex) Ev (erard) in French very much.”

Even though Erik is excited for Anna to have this opportunity, he said he will miss her while she is gone.

“It feels like Anna is starting college a few years early,” he said. “I’m sad that she’ll be gone but happy that she’ll be studying with a group of like-minded kids.”

At Interlochen, Anna said she plans to combine music and theater programs because they don’t have a specific musical theater curriculum. Through study-ing at Interlochen she said she hopes to achieve her dream of attending University of Michigan. She said, “I want to study musical theater at U of M. That’s my ideal goal.”

Entertainment offers escapism

Ceramics class adds interest to art curriculum

Sophomore Petrovskis plans to go to Interlochen

Alexis Sobczakstaff writer

Matt Kaasstaff writer

“My dad was researching arts schools, and I wanted confident that she will succeed.”

“It’s unreal that I’d actually be gone all year.”

- Anna Petrovskis,sophomore

Photo courtesy of Anna Petrovskis

Ryan Aliapouliosentertainment editor

Lights on Broadway: Sophomore Anna Petrovskis performs as the lead role of Annie in the play ‘‘Annie’’. Petrovskis plans to attend Interlochen next year, dedicated to study acting and singing.

Enjoying ceramics class: Junior Jamie Innis digs away at a mold of clay in order to start making her ceramic piece. Ce-ramics class is a new art elective that was added this year as an effort to broaden the choices for students aimed towards vocational careers.

Photo by Allison Sutter


sports

Michigan weather interferes with trackFor many seniors, sports are the best part of their high school career. They

fi nally have seniority over everyone, and unless they are going onto college sports, it’s their last chance to make it to regionals and beyond.

However, this year for track and fi eld members like senior Mari Couasnon this dream may not come true. Because of recent weather conditions, many track meets and practices were canceled for the safety of the participants. Couasnon said these setbacks in the season have greatly affected the team.

“It’s hard for a lot of the people who are on the verge of qualifying for region-als,” Couasnon said. “When they lose the opportunities to practice and get bet-ter, their chances of qualifying get worse.”

According to Couasnon, losing opportunities to qualify for regionals isn’t as bad as the mental affect the cancellations have on the team.

“It’s hard because you get all psyched up for the meet during the day,” Couas-non said. “And then for it to be canceled is a major disappointment.”

Athletic Director John Robinson said this is not a new thing for any outdoor sport to have to deal with and the weather cancellations should have little effect on the track and fi eld team’s performance in the post season.

“Track is more of an individual sport,” Robinson said. “You don’t need the playing time to function as a team because it’s done individually. As long as you are working hard at practice and consistently improving, you should be OK.”

Coach Tom Barbieri also said these meet cancellations should have little af-fect on the team because of their past experience with these kind of set backs. “We have a veteran team,” he said. “They’re used to this kind of thing. They’re really fl exible, like Gumby.”

According to Robinson, the MHSAA is considering adding a fourth sports season between winter and spring sports for womens basketball. This addition

would push back the spring sports season making it less likely for weather to interfere with the many outdoor sports.

“The spring sports season is caught in the middle,” Robinson said. “The late winter weather and the early post season leaves little time for competition. If they moved the season back, the late winter weather would be less likely to in-terfere with the season.”

Robinson said, however, what many students don’t know is sport schedules are set up, up to a two years in advance. This makes it very hard to plan for the weather, he said.

“In November we might schedule a soccer game for April 23,” he said. “Be-cause it is only November, we don’t know if April 23 will be snowy or if it will be sunny and 70. This is Michigan were talking about.”

According to Barbieri there is no good way to prevent the weather from interfering with any spring sport. By scheduling meets late in the season the chances of nice weather are higher, however you also end up scheduling right up to the post season.

“You have to try and schedule things later in season, because that’s when your chances of playing are better,” Barbieri said. “You have to be careful though because you don’t want to end up with several meets right before regionals.”

Cousanon said these kind of setbacks have more of an affect on the younger runners who need the experience of running competitively compared to the veteran runners who have been doing this for years.

“It’s hard on the new runners,” Couasnon said. “It takes a lot more work for them to qualify then it does for some of the older runners. But for the program to continue to be as good as it is, we need the younger runners to qualify.”

But while the team has only missed one meet because of weather, Couasnon said every meet lost, even if it’s just one, affects the entire team.

“It’s nicer to have more chances to compete and qualify for regionals,” she said. “Every chance we lose, is one less chance we have.”

Just four years ago, when senior Mike Swager was a freshman, rugby had just begun, and the Devils were a brand new team in Division 3. “I’ve been starting on the rugby team since it started when I was a freshman and every year besides last we have gone down a division, because now were Division 1 which is as high as you can go,” Swager said.

And rugby’s came a long way. Currently, the team is 6-0 and they have won all of their games by a large margin. Still, they had to test their skills against the top teams from the region on Saturday, May 10 in Elkhart Indiana. Some of the elite squads include teams from Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana.

At the regionals the team fi nished 1-2 and came in 12th place out of all of the teams that attended. This doesn’t contribute to their overall record, however, since tournament play is not counted.

Their fi rst game was against Lasselet High School in Indiana who proved to be a tough contender for the Devils who were handed their fi rst loss of the season. Lasselet is an all boys Catholic school, and they are #1 in the state of Indiana. The Devils lost this match but held high hopes going into their next game seeing that this team was one of the best in the nation.

In the second game Dexter played their rival Birmingham

who was #1 in the state of Michigan. The match was one of the most even games the Devils played all season. They came out victorious by a single point, building steam towards their next game. Heading into their last game, the Devils hopped to come out of the tournament with more wins than losses.

Then, in the fi nal game of the regionals, the team faced off against Saint Charles from Illinois. Dexter lost 10-3, ending their regional tournament with 12th place. Swager said he took some positive things out of the tournament and the experience they have now gained playing against some of the best teams in the country.

Swager said, “We did good even though we lost. We didn’t get a fair shot because we got seeded last. Since we got seeded last, we had to play against all of the toughest teams. If you don’t win the fi rst round game, the highest you can get at the regionals is ninth place.”

But the team’s season is far from over. The Devils, now the number one team in the state, can still look forward to the state tournament.

This year’s team captain, senior Pat Farrell, likes the experience the team has gained from the regional tournament.

“I think that regionals has really prepared us for states,” Farrell said. “We just played against some of the best teams from around the country, so I think we’re going to come in ready.”

Kaitlyn Shepardstaff writer

Ian McCarthyStaff Writer

Rugby team ready for State

Devils face some of the toughest teams in the country

Senior Brad Williams runs to the fi eld to attempt a try.

Senior Matt Janos and junior Kyle Boren lift teammate and senior Ben Vanderput to catch a thrown in

photos by Hadley Stoll

photo by Jojo Parin

It’s raining, it’s pouring: Freshman Shaun Kreimes runs on the indoor track. Michigan’s weather has kept the track team often kept the track team from practicing outside and has forced the cancellation of some meets.

Junior Jordan Marken estimates he wil l have missed

f ive school days by the end of the year. Not from sickness or personal issues, but due to his high school golf matches scheduled inconveniently during school days.

Marken said the quints, or matches, scheduled during school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, have not affected his academic performance or grades just yet , despite the fact he misses sixth hour frequently and has missed several ful l days of school.

“I ’m OK with missing school,” Marken said. “It hasn’t real ly affect-ed me.”

I f a golfer had a test he had to take that day, Marken says i t ’s only tough love from coach.

“If we have a test that day, (coach) just tel ls us to get i t done on our own time,” he said. “To take it either be-forehand or after (the match or tour-nament).”

Marken also said i f a player were to miss a match, and instead go to school, the rest of the team would become frustrated and disappointed. Choos-ing school over a match is something the rest of the team would frown upon.

Marken said no golfer has done this yet or even thought about i t .

There is one scheduling confl ict that could in fact cause seniors to miss their last tournament, and instead go to school. It is also the seniors ’ last day of school.

The seniors ’ last day, which is May 21, is also the day of the men’s golf SEC tournament. This confl ict could answer the question, what ’s more important: sports or school?

Senior Don Knight is one of the athletes who is choos-ing golf , and missing the last day of his high school career to play.

Knight estimated he wil l have missed seven or eight

days of school by the end of the year because of golf . And l ike Marken, he said it has not affected him.

Knight said it was a relatively easy decision, choosing golf over his last day of school.

“I might regret (going to the tournament instead of school) a l i tt le bit ,” Knight said. “But i t ’s my last golf

tournament, so I don’t think I wil l regret i t that much.”

Knight also said his coach, as well as the athletic director, are upset over the confl ict ing schedules.

Athletic Director John Robinson, too, is familiar with confl icts between school and golf . But said there is l i t t le to do about the confl ict .

“The golf schedule is dictated by course availabil i ty,” he said. “The school does not have their own course, so we, as well as the other schools in the league, have to use the courses when they are open.”

Robinson said the reason the team has 3 p.m. tee t imes, which causes the ath-letes to frequently miss sixth hour, is the goal of the golf team is to get to the course before they become crowded by

the general public .“We need to get on and off the course before league

play starts for the public,” he said. “We do occasionally get to use a course on the weekend, but with 16 play dates to get in within a six to eight week period, we can’t play them all on the weekends.”

Although members of the team say the school work missed hasn’t affected them, it could catch up to them, and according to Robinson, the scheduling has been a re-occurring issue throughout the years.

“This has always been somewhat of an issue,” Robinson said. “But i t is the responsibil i ty of those who play golf to make up any missed work. I f i t ever became a real prob-lem, then it may have to be considered to el iminate golf as a high school sport.”


sports

Golfers take absences for sportCharlie PettitSports Editor

Athletes thought to hold a greater value

Throughout the thousands of years humans have been on this gaseous planet, sports have provided en-tertainment, brought different cultures together and essentially kept us all from going crazy.

No matter what sports you are into, it ’s a release from your everyday stresses and allows you to turn your aggression into something positive rather than a destructive behavior.

Looking back at ancient civil izations, many games, some sti l l played today, were developed by native cul-tures and the people of ancient Greece. These athletes were not paid mill ions of dollars to play their hardest. Soccer started out in small vi l lages, today it is played in every venue of the world.

The Olympics, as well as tradition, has kept these sports alive for centuries with very l itt le change con-sidering the eras in which they have been played.

Today, those who are exceptionally talented at a sport are paid much more than our congressman on Capitol Hill . Don’t get it twisted. I love my sports just as much as the next person, but I don’t see how society has turned professional athletes into a kid’s role mod-el for their skil ls on the field, rink, diamond, course or pitch.

As multi-mill ion dollar athletes stand in the l ight of Muhammad in all of our eyes, we constantly forget they are real f lesh and bones l ike the rest of us. There have been myriad cases where high-profile athletes f ind themselves getting caught breaking federal laws but are not punished because people hold their sports stars so high above everyone else on a pedestal and turn the other cheek.

The powers we vest in our “famous” people is sick-ening. They should not be making more money than those who are making decisions that affect the l ives of not only mill ions of Americans but Iraqi and Afghani people as well .

But who can you blame? Thousands f lood into are-nas across the nation and spend the mill ions of dollars that pay the athletes these ridiculous amounts of loot.

Let ’s think about all the Piston’s jerseys that are sold. There are hundreds of sports teams with more memorabilia than most households can fit without ex-ploding. Every purchase that is made, they get a cut of the profit , and it ’s as if i t is coming off the trees at their houses.

People become so consumed by their televisions they don’t see their children grow as individuals. And if many more were playing the sport they are instead watching on the couch, then Americans wouldn’t be as fat as we are.

Sports require a hell of a lot more movement than pushing the clicker and feeding your face. That is the difference between us and a lot of the world. We are lazy, and anytime someone has to move around, they are all red faced. In our society, i f you make your l iv-ing using your back (besides in sports), then you are not as good as the man to your left with a suit on.

It ’s amazing to see how far sports have really come, but at the same time I ’m sti l l nervous to see what they turn in to within the century.

Pilkerton takes pole vaulting to new heightsSenior Rebecca Pilkerton likes to get high.

In fact she has been doing it since her fresh-man year. However, Pilkerton doesn’t use drugs or alcohol. All she needs is her pole vaulting.

Last April Pilkerton broke her own school record during a meet versus Tecumseh. When she recorded a height of 12 feet 3 inches, re-sulting in a personal best for her.

Pilkerton said breaking the record was re-ally exiting. The height was only three inches off the state record, which she said she hopes to break this season.

Pilkerton said she dedicates her year to pole vaulting. From the winter through the fall she trains.

By lifting weights and running Pilkerton is able to stay in shape year round. Besides a small break during fall, Pilkerton said she doesn’t really have an off season.

Despite breaking the school record she said she hasn’t lost her drive and determination and attributes her work ethic to her constant desire to improve and better herself.

“I really want the state record,” Pilkerton

said. “I always want to get better and go high-er.”

In addition to her goal of setting the state record Pilkerton will also attend the Univer-sity of Minnesota in the fall where she will continue her pole vaulting career.

She also credits her friends for always pushing her and encouraging her to do her best and try her hardest.

Senior Christine Murray, one of Pilkerton’s friend’s and fellow pole vaulter, will be the fi st to tell you of Pilkerton’s work ethic.

“Sometimes I forget things at practice and will come back an hour after practice is done, and she will still be there practicing or some-thing,” Murray said.

According to Murray, Pilkerton’s work eth-ic is infectious. Through pushing herself she sets a good example for the rest of the team.

“She keeps the rest of the team motivated,” Murray said. “She sets the bar really high, both metaphorically and physically.”

Without her friends Pilkerton says she wouldn’t be nearly as successful as she has been in pole vaulting.

“It’s tough training by yourself,” Pilkerton said. “Having my friends there really helps me stay focussed.”

it that much.”

the athletic director, are upset over the confl ict ing schedules.

is familiar with confl icts between school and golf . But said there is l i t t le to do about the confl ict .

availabil i ty,” he said. “The school does not have their own course, so we, as well as the other schools in the league, have to use the courses when they are open.”

3 p.m. tee t imes, which causes the ath-letes to frequently miss sixth hour, is the goal of the golf team is to get to the course before they become crowded by

“ “I f we have a test that day,

(coach) just te l ls us to get

i t done on our own t ime.”

-Jordan Marken, junior

Fact Box

• Pilkerton broke her own school record with a jump of 12 feet 3 inches

• Pilkerton will continue vaulting in college at the University of Minnesota

•She began pole vaulting at the beginning of her fresh-man year Information from interviews with Rebecca Pilkerton

Joe SayreStaff writer

Morgan QuistStaff writer

Inconvienent golf matches prevent golfers from attending school

Photo by Maria Brundage

Skying high: Senior Rebecca Pilkerton practices pole vaulting. Pilkerton holds the school record of 12 feet 3 inches.

photo by Kevin Butler

Looking to the pin: Senior Don Knight hits a long drive in his last golf match. Knight had to miss school for this match which happens on a regular basis. However, most golfers say missing these classes has not affected their GPAs.


columns

opinions editor

Leaving DHS, some things will be missed, others not so much As excited as I am to begin my college years, there will be things I’m going to miss about this place I’ve so hated waking up to come to for the last four years:

•Being able to make Mr. Riethmiller references without having to explain why they are funny.

•Spicy chicken sandwiches with all the fi xings. Lettuce, tomato, banana peppers and ranch if you know what you’re doing.

•The Squall. It has given me the freedom to do everything from warn people about how to deal with a staph infection to single-hand-edly ticking off the entire emo nation. And a little side note to the kid who thought he’d be tough by throwing that article at me while I was trying to eat my lunch: apology accepted. I say this because you said the words, “I’m sorry,” about 300 times when I ever-so-politely con-fronted you. Now back to the things I’ll miss.

•Hanging out behind the Mobil. Who am I kidding, though? I’ll still hang out there, just with less respect for myself.

•Sports. From here on out, I’m only a spectator, which isn’t so bad. I do know, however, that come next school year, I’ll be missing Tom and Randy.

•All the teachers and staff members I have had the pleasure of interacting with. Some of you were awesome and some of you, well, not even close. Either way, I appreciate the effort.

•Not caring. I’ve come a long way, and I’ve accomplished quite a bit, all without much concern about the future or a whole lot of effort. Unfortunately, this will probably no longer be possible.

•Knowing who most of the people around me are. This year more than any other, I have been seeing people in the halls I have never seen before. However, I can still accurately match the name with the face of roughly 87 percent of the kids in the classes of 2008 and 2009. Next year, I’ll be not only be going to school with, but living in a 12-by-10 room with, complete strangers.

I’m not going to act like I’ve loved everything about high school, though. Of course, there are some things that I will gladly leave be-hind:

•I will certainly not miss the feeling I experienced in, coincidentally, 87 percent of my classes, that there was no legitimate purpose in my being there for an hour each day, pretending to be attentive.

•In high school good grades meant a good college. Well, whoopdy freakin’ do. In college, good grades lead to making money. Cha-ching.

•Having a scheduled lunch time. I like to eat. For the last 12 school years, I have only been able to do so when the school allowed me to. Well, no more shall I be held down by such oppressive bonds.

•The parking lot. I’ve endured countless walks in all kinds of weath-er from the back of the lot to the school doors in what might be one of the most inconveniently designed parking lots in the world. You can park in the front row and still be a good 75 yards from the entrance, and still have to walk all the way down the front hallway, through the cafeteria and past the library before you get to any of the classrooms.

Even with it’s shortcomings, DHS has been a huge part of my life for the last four years, and I leave it a much wiser, more humble and mature young man. Or at least that’s what my college thinks.

Facing fear of change All in all, I’m a good kid. I work hard. I’m responsible, and I’m usually pretty nice. But everyone has a weakness and mine is change. That’s the fancy way of saying I’m a big old scaredy-cat. A first rate chicken. A play-it-safe sissy. I tend to explore all my options, get a feel for things and do some research before making any decision. These mind-boggling decisions include anything from, “What ice cream f lavor do I want for dessert?” to, “What col-lege should I go to?” It’s not that I freak out or need to control everything. I’m actually pretty good at handling changes once they come, but it’s just something I’m afraid of. I like to take baby steps, and I like to know what’s going to happen. Risks are risky, and the only surprises I like are parties. My discomfort with changes didn’t fully hit me until high school, but looking back it makes sense: I cried when I moved from my first house, and I had to say goodbye to my tiny bedroom, even though I knew I’d be getting a bigger one soon. I cried when my dad picked me up from the last day of third grade because I didn’t know what the next year would hold, even though I was just dying to be one of those cool fourth graders. And though it’s embarrassing to admit, I wrote my fair share of angry-girl poetry through those days of middle school puberty. Coming to Dexter at the beginning of my freshman year was the biggest change in my life, though. I can still remem-ber that first day when I walked into Mr. Parker’s American Studies class and couldn’t decide (of course) if I wanted to run out the door or just cry. But being the rule-follower that I am, Parker said to me, “Hey, take a seat,” and I knew the tears would have to wait. I still remember what I was wearing. I still remember Deke Glahn, the first Dreadnaught to speak to me, and what he said: “Hey ... you new?” It’s all very life changing, I know. I still can’t believe how many of the little details I remem-ber (it’s slightly pathetic), but that just goes to show how much changes stick with me and why I fear them so much. Four years has nearly f lown by since that first day and now there are some greater changes out there for me to

worry about. But I’ve been OK so far, and I’ve learned that if you sur-round yourself with good inf luences, like supportive parents, smart friends and a fine environment like the one we have at DHS, the changes will be a little easier to get through. Now I know my personal story isn’t all that fascinating, and I won’t go into the details of how long it took me to find a lunch table to sit with that first year here (I think I settled down sometime around March ... The Commons really are intimidating). But I’ve come to realize we all go through changes, and we’re all a little scared to some degree. But that’s OK because changes make us learn and grow, and only good can come from that. And if you’re like me, you’ll want as much help/advice as possible. So here goes: Freshmen: You’ll probably grow a little in height and ma-turity. So that’s a good change – nothing to fear there. Don’t get too cocky and give the incomings a break. Sophomores: You know what they say about junior year. So you might need to buckle down on the studies and start thinking about college. It had to happen sometime. Juniors: Aren’t you in for a treat ... Senioritis comes as quickly as the year goes. Take it from a first-hand victim. Even the hard workers and rule followers find it hard to stay on track. Stay respectful and don’t slack off. And to you, my fellow graduating class members of 2008 (pretty cool, eh?), I think I’ve become bold enough in the past four years that I can look change in the figurative eye and say, “Hey, Change, you’re not bad. You are good. Change is good.” And if I can do that, then we can do anything.

opinions editor

We all have a little bit to learn from hippies

For the last two years of high school, peers have la-beled me a hippie girl. Apparently I stand for peace and love and say things like, “I just want to be free.” I’m not saying I don’t have any hippie-like qualit ies; however, I think people are taking the idea and running too far with it. So I plan to apply every stereotype when describing a hippie to see if I f it the role. Am I a true hippie girl? Let’s see. I wear my peace sign shirt from time to t ime and eat yogurt and granola every morning. I braid my hair and love long, f low y skirts. I’m all for big headbands and tie-dye shirts. But who can blame me? Even non-hippies think these things are cool. Yes, my favorite clothing store is Urban Outf itters, and I wear my Birkenstocks almost every day, but what can I say? It is just my style. I admit my favorite, f lower-covered shoulder bag doesn’t exactly help my case, but whatever. If you want to call me a hippie just because of my appearance, that’s for you to decide. Go for it. A real hippie, however, is def ined by their attitude and outlook on life. Hippies are all about peace instead

of war and love instead of hate. They think everyone and everything is beautiful. It is true I stand for all of these things, but what kind of pes-simistic person doesn’t? I think it is important to recycle and take care of the Earth. I hate people who lit ter and people who waste things. I’m not saying I have a compost station in my house. I’m saying I recycle my pop cans and don’t throw my McDonald’s garbage out the window of my car. I don’t believe these should only be considered hippie qualit ies, though. These things make a person a good cit izen of the world. Hippies are human rights activ ists, which I do not consider myself. I would actually consider myself slight-ly naive on global issues. Of course, I am anti-war, but when it comes student r ights and social justice issues, I am inactive. And the biggest hippie stereotype of all, I do not f it. Hippies are known for smoking weed. I am in no way, shape or form a stoner. I’m not saying I am opposed to those who smoke a lit t le hash now and then, but I don’t take part in such activ it ies. Because weed is not an essential part of my day, a fairly large chunk of the hippie facade is taken away from me. It is fair to say I f i l l many hippie stereotypes, how-ever, some crucial pieces are missing. For this reason, I cannot call myself a true hippie. Sure, I like the hippie style, but I’m not sure I have a complete hippie outlook on life. Call me a hippie if you please. But remember, stereo-types don’t always f it and don’t def ine people. And to be honest, I think everyone has a lit t le hippie in them.

The Cartoon By David Bays

David Pisanoopinions editor

Celia Kuzonhealth and arts editor

Michelle Chirbycopy editor


editorial

Squall

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:Austin ShapiroMANAGING EDITOR:Scott Crompton

EDITORS

DESIGN: Candice WiesnerFEATURES: Katie Johnson ENTERTAINMENT: Ryan AliapoliousNEWS: Heather SillerOPINIONS: David PisanoPHOTO: Jeff LeonardSPORTS: Charlie PettitHEALTH & TRENDS: Celia KuzonuPAGE & Get Involved: Hunter LyonsCOPY: Maria Brundage & Michelle Chirby

DESIGNERS & PHOTOGRAPHERS

Chas Sloan, Val Argiero, Leah Gibson, Maria Brundage, Melanie Pytel, Lauren Daugherty, Kasondra Engholm, JoJo Parin, Derek Wooton

MANAGERS

ADVERTISMENT: Caitlin Henderson, Brittany MartiniCONTEST: Nic Miller, Kyle Boren, Jake LaRosa

STAFF WRITERS

Sarah Akbarifard, Kyle Boren, Kevin Butler, Rachel Butler, Michelle Chirby, Shantal Daratony, Betsy Eber, Alex Everard, Casey Hall, Caitlin Henderson, Matthew Kaas, Jake LaRosa, Pat Ledwidge, Brittany Martini, Ian McCarthy, Nic Miller, Brent Muse, Morgan Quist, Lisa Ritchie, Joe Sayre, Olivia Scheffl er, Kaitlyn Shepard, Alexis Sobczak, Karly Stanislovaitis, Allison Sutter, Emily VanDusen, Kevin Yarows

CARTOONIST

David Bays

ADVISER

Rod Satterthwaite

POLICY:The Squall is distributed monthly to 1,192 students and is estimated to reach 4,786 people with each issue. The Squall is printed by the Owosso Argus Press in Owosso, MI and produced by the fi rst and second hour newspaper class.

TALK BACK:The Squall is an open forum for student expression. It accepts letters to the editor from any and all concerned parties. The Squall reserves the right to screen and/or edit any and all letters for inappropriate content and length. All letters must be signed. Requests to remain anonymous will be considered by the editorial board.

AWARDS/MEMBERSHIPS:Members of MIPA since 1999

SquallTHE

illustration by David Bays

Newly approved bond well received

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PRO

On the list of the most annoying things on earth, poorly functional drinking fountains rank right behind Hannah Montana, Britney Spears’ latest album and sports columns that wrongly criticize high school athletes.

Nothing gets me more ticked than walking up to a drinking fountain, nearly dying of thirst, only to discover that the water tastes like it came from a lake.

To be honest, I’m not sure if we ever fi xed the unbalanced copper levels that made the water undrinkable at the start of the year. And if we did, perhaps we shouldn’t have because it sure tasted better. Nothing wrong with a little too much copper in your system. Puts hair on your chest (sorry, ladies).

And if you like to get a refreshing drink with a friend, good luck. If one foun-tain is in use, the opposite one will merely leak, making it impossible to drink out of.

Some may try and tell you the sinks in the bathrooms have too much pres-sure, making them more annoying than the pathetic drinking fountains. That is simply not the case.

Besides, even if the sinks were fi xed, some people still wouldn’t wash their hands. That means even if you had the utmost personal hygiene and scrubbed those hands, you would then walk fi ve steps and put those same hands on the disease-ridden door handle which most likely houses E. Coli and possibly SARS.

The easy alternative to the sinks is a little miracle I like to call Purel. What’s the alternative to the drinking fountain issue? Carrying around a Nalgene wa-ter bottle? Please, I feel like a big enough tool writing an article about drinking fountains. I don’t need to look like a wannabe mountain climber.

Perhaps the reason the fountain issue has been neglected thus far is due to the fact that administrators get to sip out of water dispensing machines far su-perior to the student body’s.

I hear Moran’s personal fountain offers Mountain Dew, Hawaiian Punch, or a luscious blend Magarita mix and fruit juices straight from the Virgin Islands. (This may not be true. Actually, I just made it up).

But for the sake of our student body, someone, please, fi x our drinking foun-tains so I can quench my thirst without sacrifi cing my health and my dignity.

Everyone should wash his/her hands after participating in restroom ac-tivities. The sinks in our school provide all the necessary characteristics in order to get the job done.

Our sinks provide a water supply and faucets that allow the water to fl ow out of the pipes and onto students’ hands, thus allowing students to partici-pate in post-restroom activities. Also, our sinks provide a source of collecting the water that passes over our hands. This is the basic defi nition of a sink.

However, what our sinks do not do that is absolutely necessary for com-plete satisfaction, is provide pleasure for students while washing their hands. I am not talking about a pleasure that runs throughout the entire body and brightens your day. I am talking about receiving the pleasure washing your hands can bring.

This pleasure comes from the satisfaction of knowing that the germs are ridded from your hands while only getting your hands wet.

What I continue to realize about our sinks is they do not provide the neces-sary and complete satisfaction, however.

When I wave my hand in front of the motion sensor implanted in the fau-cets, I have about a 50 percent chance (yes, I did test this in a scientifi c man-ner) of the faucet releasing water. This is a huge problem.

Students do not have the time to stand in front of a sink waving their hand back and forth in front of an inanimate object while looking like a complete fool because they cannot get a simple machine to work. The sinks in this school must fi nd enjoyment out of making students look at least half retard-ed. Otherwise, they would work the fi rst time.

In addition to never working the fi rst time, our sinks tend to spray every-where when they do work. One hundred percent of the time the water hits my hands, it bounces off and ends up soaking my arms as well as my shirt and pants/shorts depending on the weather.

Behavior like this from the sinks will not be tolerated. I encourage every-one to boycott the use of school sinks and be dirty for the rest of the year. For every unwashed hand, 10 new and usable sinks are made. Help rid the world of this evil.

CONSchool drinking fountains

"Nothing gets me more than walking up to a drinking

fountain only to discover that the water tastes like it came

from a lake."Alex Everard Scott Crompton

"When I wave my hand in front of the faucets, I have about a 50 percent chance of the faucet releasing water. ”

The $47,890,000 bond issue passed on May 6 and the funding will gradually im-prove our future.

Specifi cally, our community will see sig-nifi cant improvements in technical equip-ment including improvements in every classroom called “ The Classroom of To-morrow”.

Every class in the district will now be equipped with data projectors, sound fi eld systems, interactive white board, multime-dia cameras (digital still and video) and documents cameras.

Surprisingly, the bond passed with ease, 1586-799, with none of the expected ten-sion from eliminating some of the sports requests from the bond.

We would like to offer a heartfelt thank

you to the community for understanding that we need continual funding to create the optimal learning atmosphere.

However, we would not only like to thank the voters of Dexter for understanding the importance of funding for schools, but also for being willing to accept some of the debt that comes with the bond. And we would like to thank those who campaigned for the bond and did the behind-the-scenes work.

Perhaps even more importantly we thank those who had the nearly impossible job of formulating the bond: all the board of edu-cation members who helped construct the bond including, President Larry Cobler, Vice President Michael Wendorf and Super-intendent Evelyn Shirk.

The bond will provide funding for remod-

eling and constructing additions to several buildings, energy conservation, security im-provements, acquiring land, improving and developing sites including play grounds, play fi elds and outdoor athletic fi elds.

Specifi c improvements will also be seen in the district’s transportation with the ac-quisition of school buses and in the techno-logical department, which will acquire and install new equipment in every building in the district.

Though thanks are all we have to offer at this time, we hope all community members will soon see the benefi ts reaped from the passing of this bond, benefi ts that will be evident not only in our lives but in the lives of the next generation of Dreadnaughts as well.

managing editorstaff writer

12 The SquallFriday, May 21, 2008

Above: Senior Mike Champagne hands his prom ticket to the collector at the prom entrance.

Below: Senior Remme Cortwright poses with one of the Oompa Loompas that decorated DHS.

Above: Prom-goers watch as teams compete for candy in a game of Willy Wonka Squares.

Below: Junior Jesse Schoof takes a ride on the “Chocolate River” slide.

Above: Senior Omega Skeean walks into the dance with Joe Quist, her date from Northview.

Seniors Jessie Boren and Amanda Marsh try to guess their dates’ responses to the Nearlyweds questions.

Seniors Deke Glahn and Zack Jerger, junior Logan Powell and senior Scott Rescorla listen to the questions posed by the host of the Nearlyweds Game.Junior Adam Boonstra and sophomore Alex Watson play

a game of putt-putt golf.

Above: Seniors Jimmy Hamby, Cody Masten, Kevin Pawlik, 2007 graduate Justin Fegtly and senior Trevor Wheeler sing karaoke.

Below: Junior Emily Rion sings karaoke on stage.

Above: Seniors Jaimie Brougham and Geo Rutherford dance during a break between prom

Right: Senior Julia Burke and her date, 2007

graduate Nate Cook, have their picture taken by the

prom photographer.

Below: Junior Jocelyn Coast plays blackjack with a group of friends.

Above: Juniors Jasmine Injejikian and Steve Merz pose for a picture taken by one of their friends.

Below: Junior Jamila Odeh looks around at the prom decorations as she enters the school.

Below: Senior Trevor Wheeler pushes hanging streamers out of his way as he arrives at prom.

Lisa Ritchiestaff writer

Operat ion Decorat ionG a m e s a n d g a r l a n d s m a k e p r o m a n i g h t t o r e m e m b e r

Expensive dresses and the extensive smell of hair-spray fi lled the Willy Wonka-themed cafeteria. Couples walked up and down the decorated halls, and the prom was deemed a success by many.

“The decorations were really awesome,” junior Lind-sey Simon said. “But Dexter is known for its amazing decorations, so I wouldnʼt have expected any less. It was cool, because you couldnʼt even tell where you were in the school--there were so many decorations.”

Although junior Alex Bercu was impressed by the free candy, streamers and game show setups, he said that one of the decorations was absolutely unforget-

table. “There was an Oompa Loompa,” he said. “An actual live Oompa Loompa woman. Iʼve never been so fascinated.”

There were many activities to choose from, but many of the attendees found the Nearlywed Game to be the best. “It was my favorite thing about prom,” senior Matt Cambridge said. “It was just really fun to learn how much I knew about my date.”

Many seniors said this was an amazing to end their high school career. “I had a lot of fun with my friends playing the Nearlywed Game, singing karaoke and dancing,” Cambridge said. “All in all, it was a great night, and a great way to go out.”

Photos by Rachelle Alcini and Ruby Grammatico

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