2270 Highway 133 Carbondale, CO 81623 April 2015 Volume 8 Issue 7

The Rampage-Edgar Reyna

Girls Soccer: The RFHS girls soccer team is facing some challenges with CHSAA’s new rule where only two teams from the 3A brack-et are chosen to play in the playoff bracket due to the new 2A schools added to our league. Head soccer coach Heather Fox said playoffs will be harder this year so the girls are working on leadership skills and coming together as a team. Fox stated that it’s very important to set goals so they can go beyond their own expectations. With every season beginning with a new group of girls, the RFHS soccer team is willing to put in the hours of work to succeed. Lily Nichols, a freshman on the varsity team, mentioned, “It’s going pretty well. We’ve lost a couple of games, but we are looking forward to our next win.” Despite the team’s losses, Fox is determined her team has what it takes to accomplish their goals. “We have good leadership, [we are] willing to work together at all costs, and, most importantly, we have proven we are willing to fi ght to the end,” Fox said. Fox said she is looking forward to working with a new group of girls this season and seeing how they work as a team on and off the fi eld. Fox wants her team to know, “I believe in them and that if they come to practice everyday and work hard, they will achieve the goals they’ve set.” Their current league record is 1-2 bringing their overall record to 2-3-1.

Spring sports in full swing at RFHS

Boys Baseball:

April 18 RFHS @ Gunnison DH 11-1April 25 Aspen @ RFHS DH 11-1April 28 RFHS @ Coal Ridge 4:00May 2 Moffat County @ RFHS DH 11-1

Lady Rams Soccer:April 16 Rifl e @ RFHS 4-6April 18 RFHS @ CRMS 11-1April 21 Rangley @ RFHS 4-6April 24 RFHS @ Moffat 4-6April 28 Grand Valley @ RFHS 4-6

Rams Track and Field: April 17 Rangley Invite April 24 Montrose Invite May 1-2 WSL League @ Grand Junction May 8-9 Tiger Invite (Last Chance Meet) @ Grand Junction May 14-16 State Championship @ Denver

Baseball: Despite their rough start with a 0-6 record, head coach Mar-tin Madsen maintains his team has what it takes to turn it all around. “Our defensive capability is really good fundamentally. It allows us to stay in the game,” Madsen said. Although Madsen hopes to get a few wins along the road, winning is not his fi rst priority for his players: “School fi rst, act like gentlemen, give RFHS a good name, and, most importantly, act like men,” he said. Drew Broadhurst is a freshman on the varsity team and said that their infi eld defense would be the team’s key strength, but they still have work to do. Broadhurst hopes to improve his own skills for when he’s an upperclassman: “I’d like for the younger kids to look up to me.” By the end of the season, Madsen hopes his team understands that “if you don’t give respect, you won’t get respect.”

Track and Field: Coach Ken Woodard commented on how the track team is doing so far this year: “The season’s going great, and the athletes are awesome.” Adrian Chavez, a senior on Roaring Fork’s track team, has high hopes for this season. “My personal goals for this season are to participate in State and get in the best shape I can for the Marine Corps.” Chavez owes his strong season so far to his coaches and teammates, who he credited with pushing him far-ther than his own expectations. Although Chavez is having a great season, he feels all the weight on his shoulders due to the lower-classmen on the team that look up to him. “I try to participate in all the activities and workouts just to set a good example and hope they do the same in their near future,” Chavez said. Chavez wants people to know that track isn’t just about run-ning. “Track is a chance to make friends, bond with teammates, have fun, and, most importantly, give it your all at every cost.”

Whatʼs Inside:

Sophomore Cindy Salinas goes for the ball at the Rams’ home game against Basalt. After defeating the Longhorns in their fi rst game, the Rams unfortunately ended this game in a 0-0 draw.

Come support the Ramsʼ spring sports teams! Here are schedules for the remaining events:

Avalanche! (Page 3)

Model UN in NYC (Page 2)

April: National Poetry Month (Pages 4 & 5)

PARCC Testing (Page 7)

*

*Happy belated April Fools’ Day from The Rampage Staff!

Feature2 Rampage | April 2015

seniors Eber Silva and Ariel Palomera played a key role in re-opening the school’s snack shack in the commons that has not been open for fi ve years. “Without the students, it would have never worked,” said Wright. The travel group has had to overcome a few ob-stacles with the store re-opening, including state regulations which determine what they are or are not allowed to sell. For example, they can’t sell soda or cookies doing the school day, and they can’t be open at the same time that the cafeteria is in opera-tion. All proceeds from the snack shack go toward students funds for the trip. Along with the snack shack, the group has volunteered at children’s booths at Mountain Fair and served hot chocolate and food at Carbondale’s First Friday events. There are fi ve students attending the trip: Sergio Vega, Erik Carillo, Eber Silva, Eddy Meraz, Abe Her-

nandez and Yasmin Castillo. Sergio Vega, a junior, de-cided to join because he wanted to go on the trip with his friends. “I’m excited to go to the beach and see a different culture,” Vega shared. Senior Erik Carrillo shared his per-spective on fundraising and even called it “fun.” “We have done a lot of different things that led us to meeting new people. In the end it will be worth it when we are laying on the beach with a coco-nut in Costa Rica.”

-Katie Weimer

Palm trees, sandy beaches and salty waters are very different from Colorado’s tall mountain peaks. Costa Rica is the destination of choice for a small travel group led by English teacher Denise Wright. With a price tag of $2000 compared to the World Travelers Club travel costs to Europe of $4000-$7000, this trip to Central America is unique and more affordable. They depart in July of this year. The idea for a trip to Costa Rica came about from students who wondered what it was like to travel outside of the country. Wright is a strong be-liever in students paying for the expenses on their own. “I want a trip that is achievable for kids. I want it to try and open up kids’ worlds,” said Wright. As part of fundraising for the trip, Wright said

nandez and Yasmin Castillo. Sergio Vega, a junior, de-

wanted to go on the trip with his friends. “I’m excited to go to the beach and see a different culture,” Vega shared. Senior Erik Carrillo shared his per-spective on fundraising and even called it

“We have done a lot of different things that led us to meeting new people. In the end it will be worth it when we are laying on the beach with a coco-nut in Costa Rica.”

Broadening horizons: Costa Rica

At 4:15 am, March 2, 18 students gathered in the dark high school parking lot and set off for New York City. We were headed to the National High School Model United Nations Conference, an international meeting for Model United Nations teams. 3,800 students gathered there to spend a week debating real-life issues from the management of ebola to the establishment of access to clean water in Sub-Saharan Africa. It was an incredible opportunity to

delve deeper into diplomacy and international relations and explore global challenges in depth. In the conference, our team represented Cambodia in a variety of committees mirroring those of the real United Nations. There were a total of fi ve committee sessions throughout the conference, and in each session we re-searched, debated, and fi nally drafted resolutions addressing the problems our committees were tasked to solve. Outside of meetings, we immersed ourselves in the culture of New York City, exploring street food, subways, and iconic destinations like the Statue of Liberty. Below are snapshots of several trip highlights.

Model UN takes a bite out of the Big Apple

Content curated by Tavia Teitler, Fiona Laird,

and Emily Bruell

Feature2 Rampage | April 2015

seniors Eber Silva and Ariel Palomera played a key role in re-opening the school’s snack shack in the commons that has not been open for fi ve years. “Without the students, it would have never worked,” said Wright. The travel group has had to overcome a few ob-stacles with the store re-opening, including state regulations which determine what they are or are not allowed to sell. For example, they can’t sell soda or cookies doing the school day, and they can’t be open at the same time that the cafeteria is in opera-tion. All proceeds from the snack shack go toward students funds for the trip. Along with the snack shack, the group has volunteered at children’s booths at Mountain Fair and served hot chocolate and food at Carbondale’s First Friday events. There are fi ve students attending the trip: Sergio Vega, Erik Carillo, Eber Silva, Eddy Meraz, Abe Her-

nandez and Yasmin Castillo. Sergio Vega, a junior, de-cided to join because he wanted to go on the trip with his friends. “I’m excited to go to the beach and see a different culture,” Vega shared. Senior Erik Carrillo shared his per-spective on fundraising and even called it “fun.” “We have done a lot of different things that led us to meeting new people. In the end it will be worth it when we are laying on the beach with a coco-nut in Costa Rica.”

-Katie Weimer

Palm trees, sandy beaches and salty waters are very different from Colorado’s tall mountain peaks. Costa Rica is the destination of choice for a small travel group led by English teacher Denise Wright. With a price tag of $2000 compared to the World Travelers Club travel costs to Europe of $4000-$7000, this trip to Central America is unique and more affordable. They depart in July of this year. The idea for a trip to Costa Rica came about from students who wondered what it was like to travel outside of the country. Wright is a strong be-liever in students paying for the expenses on their own. “I want a trip that is achievable for kids. I want it to try and open up kids’ worlds,” said Wright. As part of fundraising for the trip, Wright said

nandez and Yasmin Castillo. Sergio Vega, a junior, de-

wanted to go on the trip with his friends. “I’m excited to go to the beach and see a different culture,” Vega shared. Senior Erik Carrillo shared his per-spective on fundraising and even called it

“We have done a lot of different things that led us to meeting new people. In the end it will be worth it when we are laying on the beach with a coco-nut in Costa Rica.”

Broadening horizons: Costa Rica

At 4:15 am, March 2, 18 students gathered in the dark high school parking lot and set off for New York City. We were headed to the National High School Model United Nations Conference, an international meeting for Model United Nations teams. 3,800 students gathered there to spend a week debating real-life issues from the management of ebola to the establishment of access to clean water in Sub-Saharan Africa. It was an incredible opportunity to

delve deeper into diplomacy and international relations and explore global challenges in depth. In the conference, our team represented Cambodia in a variety of committees mirroring those of the real United Nations. There were a total of fi ve committee sessions throughout the conference, and in each session we re-searched, debated, and fi nally drafted resolutions addressing the problems our committees were tasked to solve. Outside of meetings, we immersed ourselves in the culture of New York City, exploring street food, subways, and iconic destinations like the Statue of Liberty. Below are snapshots of several trip highlights.

Model UN takes a bite out of the Big Apple

Content curated by Tavia Teitler, Fiona Laird,

and Emily Bruell

Feature 3Rampage | April 2015

Senior Spotlight: Chering Sherpa

-Kristin Page

Chering Sherpa, a se-nior at RFHS, moved to Carbondale his sopho-more year in 2012 from Nepal, when his aunt married a local. His im-mediate family decided to move here for bet-ter education and life-style. Sherpa was the last of his family to ar-rive. Being new to this

-Roy Benge

The slope fell out from underneath me. By the time

I realized I was in an avalanche, I was already 15 feet down the hill. I could hear the shouts of my friends around me and the whooshing of snow as it cascaded toward the trees. I slid out of control down the slope into the trees, straining to keep my feet in front of my body. My shoulder clipped one tree, my ski tips clacked another, and I skidded over a ledge. I dropped, surround-ed by snow, unaware until I landed that I had been swept over a jutting 10-foot granite outcrop. I landed right side up in a tree well, buried to my waist, in position to brace myself yet unsure if the well would shield me from the snow or instead act as a pool to be fi lled up. In the next second or two, the rest of the snow crashed by. All was still on the slope around me, but I could see almost noth-ing from my tree well.

Immediately, we all started yelling to each other, fi rst each others’ names. The moment between when the ava-lanche stopped and I heard each of my three friends call out was one of terror; any of us could have easily been buried. “Tanner! Eric! Weav-er!” I called out. “Up here!” replied one of the Froelicher brothers among the chorus of shouts. “Holy smokes! We were in an avalanche!” I yelled. “We could be dead!” someone else called. A steady stream of curses supplemented the dialogue. Eric Froelicher, a Colorado Rocky Moun-tain School senior and longtime friend who, like all of us, has skied his whole life, was hung up on some trees 20 feet above me. His older brother, Weaver, a college student visit-ing home, was hooked by the armpit in some trees off to Eric’s side. Tanner Spence, like me a senior at Roaring Fork High School, had

not been swept into the trees like the rest of us. From the shouts below we realized that he had been taken a couple hundred feet down the mountain. He lost both skis and swam with his arms and legs, trying to stay above the snow. He later said, “I could feel it pulling me under.” We were all ex-tremely lucky as the wet snow could have eas-ily trapped any one of us, and since we were skiing within resort boundaries, we had no backcountry equip-ment such as beacons, probes, and shovels. It would have been a dif-fi cult task to locate and dig out a person, as we learned trying to fi nd Tanner’s skis. By luck, Eric found one ski a few feet under the surface, and ski patrollers re-covered the other later, after we reported the incident. The avalanche hap-pened in Rock Island, my favorite run of all time--located high on Snowmass and offering cliff drops, pillows, both tree-glade skiing and open slopes, a variety

of pockets and stashes, and a high-alpine feel among cliffs and blow-ing snow. We four had been skiing powder all day, almost exclusively on Rock Island, which was truly unreal, as we fl oated down over the features, catching face shots with each turn. On this particular run, we had been cut-ting the highest line of the day, and hit a weak spot in the snowpack. As all four of us entered a small clearing at the same time, we triggered the avalanche. The slide was about 50 feet wide, with a two-foot crown (vertical fracture). In-bounds avalanch-es are very rare. In fact, in listing ski fatalities in the last fi ve years, U.S. Avalanche Acci-dents Reports (on ava-lanche.org) cites 48 in the backcountry, with only one death within resort boundaries. Still, we believe we should have taken more safety precautions and been more mindful, at least in scoping each sec-tion and then spacing ourselves out. The ski patrollers had been do-

ing a good job with ava-lanche control, bomb-ing many sections to mitigate the danger, but we were unlucky. We are very fortu-nate to have skied away relatively unscathed, whether on two skis or, in Tanner’s case, one ski. We are also fortu-nate that we have this

caliber of terrain to ski; just about every other ski resort out there is tame compared to what the Aspen Snowmass resorts offer. There are risks associated with this kind of skiing, and we have to remember that, even if our minds are clouded with pow-der.

Snowmass avalanche! A personal account

Above, Eric Froelicher stands in front of the snow shift. The crown of the avalanche can be seen above Froeli-cher who is standing halfway down the chute.

country, he didn’t know much English although what little he did speak helped him succeed. “My biggest struggle throughout high school has been talking to girls and getting used to speaking English,” ad-mits Sherpa, “But I’ve been getting more com-fortable with girls and school is much easier here.” Sherpa’s English

speaking has improved since his fi rst year here and speaks three other languages: Nepalese, Indian, and Tiberius. He plans to visit Nepal for a few months in the summer. Playing bas-ketball on Varsity his senior year has been his fondest memory of high school, and Sher-pa wants to continue playing basketball in college. He has applied

to Colorado Mesa Universi-ty, CU Boulder, and Fort Lewis, though he is still undecided on where he’ll be next year. CMC in Glen-wood is also an option he has considered. “I really like it here. There’s no reason for me to leave.”

Prom Date

To Do List:

TuxedoFlowers

�e Floral Boutique 963-0866

FOCUS4 Rampage | April 2015

Poetry is an essential part of life for many students at Roaring Fork High School. Many use it as a way to better express their feelings and connect with others around them. In March, poets Myrlin Hepworth, Mer-cedez Holtry, and Logan Phillips came to the Roaring Fork Valley to perform and lead poetry workshops for students of all ages. This created a buzz around po-etry and even more students began writing poems of their own. Students and teachers at RFHS joined with local poets and artists to create a monthly Poetry Crew, which meets every third Thursday of the month at Steve’s Guitars at 4:30pm. The Poetry Crew gives students and other local poets an opportunity to share their poetry with others. Join the Crew this Thursday!

Justice BouchetProject: LandscapeWhat do you like about art? It’s fun. I...like working with my hands to create anything, really, so that’s why I do a lot of sewing and weird crafting, and art is just a great way to do that and get credit for it.Inspiration? I picked a desert because that’s what I really like. I was like, “Oh this is pretty, I’ll do that.”

Hector PelayoProject: Grid DrawingWhat do you like about art? You get to let your mind go free and do whatever you want. It’s kind of based on what you want to do, and it’s cool because you have a bunch of freedom. Inspiration? Well, I like sports, and I like people who change sports, and so I drew Jackie Robinson because he was...the person that let all African Americans play baseball.

Art is an integral part of the Roaring Fork High School community. With a wide range of art classes, from ce-ramics and jewelry on drawing and painting, the ma-jority of students at RFHS have been able to explore their artistic side. Recently, Roaring Fork students took first place at the Battle of the Walls, an art competi-tion between schools throughout the Valley. Several of our students were curators or artists in the Aspen Art Museum’s Young Curators exhibit that was on display throughout March. These recognitions and Roaring Fork’s art program showcase the passion for creativity and self-expression that many of our students possess. In this month’s focus, we highlight some of Roaring Fork’s great artists and the incredible work they have created.

Excerpt from “Makayla” by Portia Brown

In Mrs.Carneys room we were our own crew

thinking we were blessed thinking we never needed rest

never thought of how those years happened to be our best

And now we’re in this mess of you leaving

to an island on the Pacific

Where your cheaply bleached hair will surely fade into salt water

and your pale skin will no longer glisten but turn sun kissed

There will be countless Instagram pictures where my body will be missed

and I will no longer be ableto assist your needs

hidden by long sleeves

You have too many fears but we’ve coincidentally

faced all of them throughout these past fourteen years

I will always miss all this white furniture

that has sat here

But besides all this I’m sitting here

surrounded by Pepto pink wallsand album covers

on the interior of halls fidgeting with a comforter that’s no longer your style

Art

and

Po

etr

y Sh

ow

ca

se

FOCUS Rampage | April 2015 5

1629 EAST DOLORES WAY CARBONDALE CO, 81623 (970) 948-8989 kids@sopriscrossfit.com

CrossFit Teens Monday, Wednesday, Friday @ 4:15pm

Jackson Hardin

Excerpt from “Long Distance”When she is here, everything is light. The sun shines sweetly Through every cloudy day and every-thing smells of lilacsWhen she is gone, each yesterday becomes a little less brightAnd each tomorrow is a desert to be survived

Some days, you won’t be able to distract yourself long enoughTo not think about how much miss-ing her makes you miserable

When even the music in her voice isn’t enough to pick you upThose are the really dark days.The ones when you feel like life’s sweetness is ash in your mouth And though you try your damndest, you just can’t feel her anymore

You wonder, how the hell can all this anguish be worth it?Wouldn’t it be easier to part waysAnd leave this stop-and-go romance waiting in baggage claim?Of course it would be

Were it not for the way the sunlight catches in her hairOr the rhythm of her breath when she sleeps Like the endless waves upon the shore Tide bearing away all the pain and resentment of so many lonely nights

On my darkest days I think about the electricity inside her collar bones And the unbridled joy in her laugh that still reaches me across so many milesI remember when she asked me if I was certain I wanted to do thisI remember most because she needed me to and I needed her

Because that kind of self-destructive insanity can only exist When you love someone With every shallow breath And every beat of your crooked heart

Luke KlotzProject: Landscape

What do you like about art? Just the expression and the creativity, the “boundaryless-ness” of it.Inspiration? I think...well, ski sea-son was coming up and I was su-per jazzed on that...There’s noth-ing really like skiing.

Paige GianninettiProject: Grid Drawing

What do you like about art? It al-lows you to express your emotions and how you’re feeling at that time, whether it’s through a color scheme or patterns or the type of image you’re drawing.Inspiration? I chose to draw a horse because I grew up on a farm, and I’ve been riding horses since I was a toddler. I just thought that was a big part of me and I wanted to do that.

Naomi PulverFire

You told me she wasn’t here, and that I was a fire,so I kept you warm.

You later said a fire is a fire,and left when my coals turned to stone.

You’ll tell your friends you were cold,that the back of your knuckles had begun to compile with snow,

that that night I was the chill that clung to your body, I was the one who made you froze.

But what’s a flame to a fire if both can burn up an entire town?If either are guilty of its vices, then our chances must be slim...

We are but old flames,torches still lit,

lights to guide us home.But you told me a fire is a fire, and you were cold.

I may not be a perfect Disney princess nor am I a nuestra-belleza-LatinaMy hips are a little too wide, I’m short and crankyI look like I’m 12 when I am gonna be 18 soon.I have a dark past, full of pain and suffering, 7 was the age I found out truly how cruel the world could be. Broken and consumed in darkness for yearsbut with you I saw a lighter side of the world, the true meaning of the word Hope.I am the hopeless romanticSoy la novelera CursiThe writerThe girl who spends a little too much time wishing on starsThe girl who wants to show you that you are such a wonderful human being and you’re worth so much even if you don’t believe in your self.And if you’re lucky, I might just write a poem about you,and even better I might just share it in a poetry slamBecause everything’s better when I am with you.

You see ,I would do anything humanly possible, and if it isn’t pos-sible, then I would die trying.Okay, maybe not die, but I do make really good tacos.

Excerpt from “The Things I Should Have Said” by Anali Garcia

Little Rams jump to stardom

Sports6 Rampage | April 2015

Everyday during lunch, a large group of RFHS students crowd into the gym to watch friendly competitions between students and teachers. P.E. and health teacher Ken Woodard created the intramu-ral sports program to “bring the people to-gether at lunch in a fun atmosphere,” and “get some school spirit.” Intramural sports, according to Woodard, is “a bunch of individ-ual and team activities.” Each game lasts be-tween 15 to 20 minutes and includes basketball, soccer, volleyball, and other alternative games like ping pong, corn-hole, and dodgeball. So far, intramural has had over 200 participants, but has been lagging in female participation. Woodard hopes to turn this around by the end of the year and rally a lot of girls for next year. Sergio Vega, a ju-nior at Roaring Fork who won the basketball

Friendly lunch time competition

Like the bodybuilders, the Division I, and All-American athletes before us know, lifting and weight training are a big part of being athletically successful. Lately, there has been a big debate over the different substances and how they aid in weight lifting. Many students use a form of protein or cre-atine before or after their workout. These substanc-es, like many others, are to help muscle growth and

muscle recovery. For students attempting to get into a college for a sport or athletic ability, it is crucial for them to be as fit as pos-sible. That’s where creatine comes in. Creatine is an organic acid that is trans-ported through the blood by an active transport system, it is then used by muscles that have high energy demands, such as the brain and skeletal mus-cle. Therefore, when you take it, you build muscle faster. There has always been controversy over whether or not these substances are good for muscle growth. Although RFHS Weightlifting instructor Lar-ry Williams explained that creatine can help students increase their muscle mass, he cautioned against using it because it can “cause dehydration, there-fore causing you to cramp up.” “I have used creatine in the past and it helped me bulk up faster,” Junior Conrado Dolores, winner of the Iron Ram award, told us. “The one problem I had with creatine is that I found that I had to come off of it slowly, or I would lose a lot of my gains,” he continued. There isn’t much conclusive research yet, but people do say you have to stop taking it slowly because you can lose a lot of your muscle mass. Protein and creatine are very helpful for building muscle in the short-term. Another drawback to using protein and creatine is that you have to lift before or after you use these substances. Creatine is a lot like a protein shake -- you can add it to water or any liquid. You can also drink it bland. Both are not meant for drinking at anytime. Williams ultimately concluded that students shouldn’t use creatine.“I be-lieve it is better for younger kids to not use substances and just eat lots of pro-tein from meats and vegetables to reach their goals,” he said. Dolores ended by saying, “I feel that now I have more time to work out, so I don’t need to use protein or creatine. I only eat healthy foods to help me gain muscle.”

Pain and gain: Does creatine hurt or help?

tournament, believes that intramural is unit-ing, and he likes the competition that it pro-vides. The only draw-back he found was hav-ing to play the teachers. Leslie Keery, RFHS art teacher, played corn-hole in intramurals and reflected on playing the students: “It’s fun! It cracks me up that they kick my butt.” Intramural has be-come an important part of RFHS’s schedule -- besides being a fun way to bring the school together, it keeps more kids on campus during lunch. Many students clear out at lunch time to go eat at home or grab lunch from a res-taurant. Many students left at school only need a portion of the 40 al-lotted minutes to eat, and they spend the rest of their time wandering the school. In Assistant Princi-pal Kelsie Goodman’s words, the students in high school “have

much more free time, that’s not completely monitored,” compared to previous years. From preschool to middle school, students are su-pervised during lunch and recess and told pre-cisely what is expected of them. When high school comes around, students are faced with the time and freedom to choose how they behave and what they participate in. Options like skipping class, not doing homework, or engaging in reckless behaviors and activities can present themselves during lunch, and it can be hard for students to say no to. Intramu-ral “provides a positive choice” for students, Goodman said. Intramural has a large amount of support from the student body, and everyone is excited to see it here again next year and to participate in what Woodard called “low-stress, good-kind-of-playground fun.”

-Maeve O’Donnell

Friday, March 20: Students from all over the

school fill the Crystal River El-

ementary School parking lot to par-

ticipate in the annual Jump Rope Day

celebration, a legendary exhibition of jum-

propeian talent, sponsored by gym teacher

Marty Madsen. Spotted at this event were kin-

dergartener legends (counter-clockwise from top)

Alondra Herrera, Emmy Lopez Mendoza, Simon

Cox, and Edwyn Lopez. Another kindergartner,

Bram Marlow, debuted with striking mastery of

the pre-rope-swing jump. Jumping success, he

claimed, really depends on the technique. “If

you bend down,” he elaborated, “it’s easy,

but not as fun.” Rising star Tess Hayes, on

the other hand, says that the secret to

her vibrant success has been “to

just practice and practice and practice and practice.”

-Emily Bruell

-Hayden Bernot

Little Rams jump to stardom

Sports6 Rampage | April 2015

Everyday during lunch, a large group of RFHS students crowd into the gym to watch friendly competitions between students and teachers. P.E. and health teacher Ken Woodard created the intramu-ral sports program to “bring the people to-gether at lunch in a fun atmosphere,” and “get some school spirit.” Intramural sports, according to Woodard, is “a bunch of individ-ual and team activities.” Each game lasts be-tween 15 to 20 minutes and includes basketball, soccer, volleyball, and other alternative games like ping pong, corn-hole, and dodgeball. So far, intramural has had over 200 participants, but has been lagging in female participation. Woodard hopes to turn this around by the end of the year and rally a lot of girls for next year. Sergio Vega, a ju-nior at Roaring Fork who won the basketball

Friendly lunch time competition

Like the bodybuilders, the Division I, and All-American athletes before us know, lifting and weight training are a big part of being athletically successful. Lately, there has been a big debate over the different substances and how they aid in weight lifting. Many students use a form of protein or cre-atine before or after their workout. These substanc-es, like many others, are to help muscle growth and

muscle recovery. For students attempting to get into a college for a sport or athletic ability, it is crucial for them to be as fit as pos-sible. That’s where creatine comes in. Creatine is an organic acid that is trans-ported through the blood by an active transport system, it is then used by muscles that have high energy demands, such as the brain and skeletal mus-cle. Therefore, when you take it, you build muscle faster. There has always been controversy over whether or not these substances are good for muscle growth. Although RFHS Weightlifting instructor Lar-ry Williams explained that creatine can help students increase their muscle mass, he cautioned against using it because it can “cause dehydration, there-fore causing you to cramp up.” “I have used creatine in the past and it helped me bulk up faster,” Junior Conrado Dolores, winner of the Iron Ram award, told us. “The one problem I had with creatine is that I found that I had to come off of it slowly, or I would lose a lot of my gains,” he continued. There isn’t much conclusive research yet, but people do say you have to stop taking it slowly because you can lose a lot of your muscle mass. Protein and creatine are very helpful for building muscle in the short-term. Another drawback to using protein and creatine is that you have to lift before or after you use these substances. Creatine is a lot like a protein shake -- you can add it to water or any liquid. You can also drink it bland. Both are not meant for drinking at anytime. Williams ultimately concluded that students shouldn’t use creatine.“I be-lieve it is better for younger kids to not use substances and just eat lots of pro-tein from meats and vegetables to reach their goals,” he said. Dolores ended by saying, “I feel that now I have more time to work out, so I don’t need to use protein or creatine. I only eat healthy foods to help me gain muscle.”

Pain and gain: Does creatine hurt or help?

tournament, believes that intramural is unit-ing, and he likes the competition that it pro-vides. The only draw-back he found was hav-ing to play the teachers. Leslie Keery, RFHS art teacher, played corn-hole in intramurals and reflected on playing the students: “It’s fun! It cracks me up that they kick my butt.” Intramural has be-come an important part of RFHS’s schedule -- besides being a fun way to bring the school together, it keeps more kids on campus during lunch. Many students clear out at lunch time to go eat at home or grab lunch from a res-taurant. Many students left at school only need a portion of the 40 al-lotted minutes to eat, and they spend the rest of their time wandering the school. In Assistant Princi-pal Kelsie Goodman’s words, the students in high school “have

much more free time, that’s not completely monitored,” compared to previous years. From preschool to middle school, students are su-pervised during lunch and recess and told pre-cisely what is expected of them. When high school comes around, students are faced with the time and freedom to choose how they behave and what they participate in. Options like skipping class, not doing homework, or engaging in reckless behaviors and activities can present themselves during lunch, and it can be hard for students to say no to. Intramu-ral “provides a positive choice” for students, Goodman said. Intramural has a large amount of support from the student body, and everyone is excited to see it here again next year and to participate in what Woodard called “low-stress, good-kind-of-playground fun.”

-Maeve O’Donnell

Friday, March 20: Students from all over the

school fill the Crystal River El-

ementary School parking lot to par-

ticipate in the annual Jump Rope Day

celebration, a legendary exhibition of jum-

propeian talent, sponsored by gym teacher

Marty Madsen. Spotted at this event were kin-

dergartener legends (counter-clockwise from top)

Alondra Herrera, Emmy Lopez Mendoza, Simon

Cox, and Edwyn Lopez. Another kindergartner,

Bram Marlow, debuted with striking mastery of

the pre-rope-swing jump. Jumping success, he

claimed, really depends on the technique. “If

you bend down,” he elaborated, “it’s easy,

but not as fun.” Rising star Tess Hayes, on

the other hand, says that the secret to

her vibrant success has been “to

just practice and practice and practice and practice.”

-Emily Bruell

-Hayden Bernot

News 7Rampage | April 2015

PARCC causes controversy

Opinion

-Rampage Staff

Prom is just around the corner on Saturday, April 25, and many students feel pressure to fi nd the perfect date. Lately, there have been a rush of “promposals” at RFHS, with junior and senior boys creatively asking girls to be their dates. In fact, it seems like all we talk about at The Rampage these days is prom–what we’re wearing, where we’re eating dinner beforehand, what we’re doing afterward–but by far the most-asked question is, “Who are you going to prom with?” “It’s probably the most stressful thing to go through,” reporter and RFHS junior Bella Bailey shared. Although some might think snagging a date for prom is silly or insignifi cant, Bailey said she feels there’s a deeper meaning to getting asked. “[You] feel loved. It makes you feel important,” Bailey remarked. Copy editor Fiona Laird, also a junior, added that it is much more important to fi nd a date to prom than any other dance. Thanks to tradition, students typically think having a date is necessary to attend prom. After all, your date is usually your dance partner, and it’s often part of the fun to color-coordinate your outfi ts with your date. Although prom is supposed to be a fun milestone in teenagers’ lives, many juniors and seniors agree that fi nding a date -- or waiting to be asked by someone -- is just plain stressful. With only a few weeks left until the big dance, many students feel panicked to fi nd a date. Bailey and Laird agreed that they would go with their friends if they didn’t get asked. The Rampage staff hopes that every student at RFHS -- whether you plan to attend Prom or not -- feels loved and important. Don’t let having a date de-termine your self-worth; and know that you matter to others whether someone asks you to prom or not. And girls, if you already have your eye on someone, don’t wait for him (or her) to ask you out! Be bold, and get yourself the date your deserve.

Say yes to the dress, no to the stress

-Carley Moravek

In the past, students across the country have taken standardized tests on paper. But this school year, the tests have been changed to a completely new format: computerized. This new assessment is called The Partnership for As-sessment of Readiness for College (PARCC). In high school, ninth through eleventh graders take PARCC twice a year, and each student is assessed on their level of English/Writing and Mathematics. 10 percent of RFHS students opted out of taking the exams. PARCC has had more controversial reviews from students than previous state-adminis-tered tests, as many found PARCC to be very time-consuming. RFHS fresh-man, Bella Ulrych, shared that she would opt out of future PARCC testing because the test scores would not affect her transcript or grade. She also stated that time spent testing could be spent working on homework instead. According to Kelsie Goodman, Assistant Principal of RFHS, “The junior class had the most students opt out of PARCC … due to the fact that the ACT is also taken this spring.” Many juniors felt that taking two tests in such a short amount of time was too taxing, and would detract from performance on both tests. At RFHS, test anxiety, con-troversy surrounding state test-ing, and parents wanting to wait until the second year of imple-mentation, were the leading reasons students chose to opt out of testing. “All new testing formats can be controversial, but since stu-dents are given the option to opt out, it is more on the forefront,” Goodman explained. Goodman continued to say that even though it is “too early to tell if [PARCC] will be better or worse than previous tests,” she did not encourage students to opt out of the test because of the long-term benefi ts for the school and individual students. “Ideally, the scores from these tests will be accessible to students very quickly so students can use their scores to compare themselves to students around the nation and push themselves on what they need,” Goodman said. Both Goodman and RFHS history teacher Matt Wells believe assessing students is very important. “We need to know where [students] are so that we as teachers can adjust, improve, and change what we are doing to make sure we meet [their] needs” Wells explained. But Wells doesn’t believe the sheer quantity of testing is necessary. He would rather see one assessment a year as opposed to “multiple standardized assessments.” This way, it would limit the amount of disruption to instruc-tional time. The fi rst portion of PARCC took place the week of March 11 with the sec-ond portion of PARCC taking place the week of April 28.

-Jacqueline Jacquez

As the end of the school year approaches, many seniors are beginning to feel excited about leaving for college. Before they are able to offi cially leave, though, most college-bound seniors still face the looming task of fi guring out how to fi nance their education. Scholarship deadlines are quickly approaching, which means many se-niors are chaotically fi lling out applications, writing essays, and asking for letters of recommendation. Anxious senior and active Student Council member Abril Mendoza has been busy applying for scholarships. “Scholarships are a great opportunity to get money, and they help you achieve your dreams of going to college,” Mendoza mentioned. She claimed that scholarships are worth students’ time to help them maintain a more bal-anced budget. Fellow senior Kendra Quezada offered some additional pointers. “Apply for college in the fi rst semester, and in the second semester, apply to scholar-ships. Then you’re set,” she said. Quezada applied for six scholarships and has received three of them, which is a big step in the direction of paying for her college education. “I must admit that the process is a pain, but it’s all worth it,” she said. Andrea Caruso, counselor and college advisor at RFHS, also offered some advice to juniors who are not yet mired in the college application process. She advised juniors to attend the workshops she provides, and to ask for let-ters of recommendations during the summer so that teachers have enough time to write meaningful letters. Caruso also reminded juniors to complete their volunteer hours during the summer months. “100 hours of community service are an important requirement for many scholarship applications,” Caruso said. If seniors take advantage of the support RFHS offers, then they will feel more confi dent applying to college and scholarships. Don’t complete your ap-plications at the last minute, and remember that scholarships are free money that can make your economic situation easier to handle. Every dollar counts toward making a difference in your fi nal calculations. For further infomation, visit http://rfhsfuturesroom.blogspot.com.

April 25: Prom at the RVR Barn from 9:00- 12:00 April 28: ACT for all juniors April 28: PARCC testing May 6 and 7: AP Spanish and English exams May 8 and 9: RFHS Musical

Scholarship applications amplify senior stress

Upcoming Events at Roaring Fork

Rampage Staff

Editors in ChiefRoy Benge

Kristen Joiner

Managing EditorFinn Featherstone

PhotographerLucy Stevens

Editorial StaffGrace BrownKayla DerbyJake KelleyFiona LairdJames Long

Caitlin O’GormanJake RusbyTavia Teitler

JournalistsJonny ArandaBella Bailey

Hayden Bernot Emily BruellElle Derby

Eryn DohertyJacky Jacquez

Carley MoravekMaeve O’Donnell Pax

Edgar ReynaBeymar SilvaKristin Page

Katie Weimer

Policy Statement:

Published eight times a year, the student

newspaper of Roaring Fork High School is a public forum, with its student editorial board making all decisions

concerning its content. Unsigned editorials express the views of the majority of the

editorial board.

Questions? Concerns?

Contact us at rframpage@gmail.com

Heard in the HallwaysEntertainment8 Rampage | April 2015

“You are more loved than you will ever know. There is no failure, only unfinished success. Be the change.

Be the hero of your own story.” - Sue Edelstein and Bill Spence

“So, from a guy’s perspective, what are the biggest stresses of prom?” “Well we wouldn’t know, we don’t have dates.” “What?! Why not?” “You are literally asking the worst guys possible.”

“Dude, look at all my Hotwheels!”

-Kristen Joiner

As the ski season comes to an end, there’s still plenty of adventure waiting to be found in the warm months here in the Valley. Roaring under the bridge in West Glenwood lays the iconic “wave” that has become wildly popular among kayakers and boogie boarders alike. The Wave was artificially constructed out of huge pieces of concrete from the old bridge.

How to get there:Driving from Carbondale, head towards Glen-wood via Highway 82. Keep going all the way through town into West Glenwood. At the roundabout just before the Glenwood Mall, take the exit towards Midland Ave. At the sec-ond roundabout, continue onto the exit to-wards Midland Ave. Take your first left after the bridge, and you will see parking spaces on your left. Walk down the steps, and you’re there!

What to do:There are many fun aquatic opportunities wait-ing for you at The Wave! If you’re not an ex-perienced kayaker, you can dive right in with a boogie board. Other activities include paddle boarding, tubing, and surfing. If it’s your first time there, the side near I-70 is the easier side. As you progress, you can start venturing out to-wards the middle.

Word to the wise:Although The Wave is super fun, it’s equally dangerous. If you’re not the best swimmer--and even if you are--a life jacket is highly advised. Also, there’s always the danger of getting pulled under The Wave. Have fun, but be aware it is a huge and powerful force of water.

“Nothing’s more uncomfortable than getting poked by your uncle on Facebook.”

“Oh man, look at all this math that I don’t know how to do.”

“My tolerance for school is about at the same level it is for my siblings: very low.”

The Rampage would like to thank the RFHS Booster club and the Town of

Carbondale for generously supporting our newspaper.

Whoopers• Road ice is no longer killing cars.• We only have two months of school left!• Spring time has arrived, and it’s light enough to

spend time outside after school.• Ruby Lang received the Daniels Fund Scholar-

ship.• Prom is less than two weeks away.

Gems of the Valley

Bloopers• Two of our English teachers aren’t returning next

year.• The ski season is over.• A drunk guy recently stole a RFTA bus.• Out-of-shape mountain bikers are plaguing the

trails.• Testing season is officially upon us.