See What’s Inside............

By Cassie Wade

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.

Students at Yutan High School attended an assembly Oct. 30 where they learned that this old adage does not always ring true.

The Theater for Outreach program, which is a class taught at Concordia Uni-versity, performed several skits on bullying. The skits dealt with common issues such as peer pressure, the consequences of spreading rumors and teasing that goes too far. Each skit had multiple endings and the students were able to interact with the actors to come up with solutions to stop the bully.

The first skit, which dealt with spreading rumors, was about a group of friends who were hanging out before school. One of the boys was going to go talk to a girl in his Spanish class, but his friend told him not to because of something she did.

The second skit explained how there are two different types of peer pressure: positive and negative.

The final skit was about a group of friends whose teasing went too far and gave examples on how to defuse the situation.

“I think educating kids is important because a lot of them aren’t aware of their behavior and how their actions and words can hurt other people,” said Rory Wendelin,

a secondary education major at Concordia. “They need to be made aware of that and what better way is there to do that than with education?”

Yutan has a no tolerance policy when it comes to bullying. Students can report a bully by talking to a teacher or they can remain anonymous by using the bully box in counselor Becky O’Malley’s office.

“It has to be a continued thing and not a one-time teasing, and if there is a continued harassment, then there is disciplinary action with Mr. McNamara,” O’Malley said.

According to the school handbook, bul-lying is defined as any ongoing pattern of physical, verbal or electronic abuse on or off school grounds.

With technological advances, bullies can now target victims on social media websites such as Twitter or Facebook. This type of bullying is known as cyber bullying.

“It’s (cyber bullying) something that re-ally can’t be controlled, but it’s hard to solve because there is no emotional tie with it,” junior Jayden Rannels said. “When you are online, you can write whatever you want.”

The handbook also states that “bully-ing disrupts a school’s ability to educate students and threatens public safety by creat-ing an atmosphere in which such behavior

can escalate into violence.” Besides being disruptive, bullying can have a profound impact on a student’s self-esteem.

“When people are making fun of you or teasing you, it will make a person not feel good about themselves,” O’Malley said.

By educating kids, programs like The-ater for Outreach can make a difference and someday put an end to bullying.

“I think in the long run I am making a difference,” Wendelin said. “I think in the long run kids will stop and think about what they are saying and doing to other people.”

Assembly shows effects of bullying

SECRETS DON’T MAKE FRIENDS - Eighth grader Bryland Menicucci listens as Nick Butcher tells him a secret about another student. The secrets were part of a skit performed by a Concordia University student group during a bullying assembly Oct. 30. Photograph by Jessica Wade.

Skits reveal options students can use

MAP testsreplace ITBSin assessingprogressionBy Cassie Wade

Number two pencils and bubble sheets are no longer required to complete standard-ized testing at Yutan High School. With the administration switching from ITBS to MAP, tests can now be taken online.

Students used to take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, which was a test used by schools across the nation to gauge the academic proficiency of students. The test consisted of several different categories including math, English, science and social studies.

According to principal Tim McNamara, MAP testing (Measures of Academic Progress) is sponsored by the Northwest Evaluation Association. It covers the same subjects as the ITBS, but it is taken online. It can be taken multiple times throughout the school year and results can be viewed immediately as opposed to several months later with the ITBS.

Continued on Page 5

BROTHERS IN ACTION

FBLA PUMPKIN PAINTING - Junior Christopher Stevens (middle) and his eighth grade brother Kyle assist an elementary student with pumpkin painting as part of an FBLA project. The Stevens brothers are in a family of 13 kids, with their ages ranging from 17 years old to two and a half months. Four of them attend Yutan Junior-Senior High School. Photograph by Lilly Kult.

Stevens family thrives with 13 childrenPages 4-5: In-Depth on GriefPages 6-7: Sports/ActivitiesPage 8: Feature - Twins

By LiLLy KuLt

When people think of family dinners, the first thing that comes to mind is the whole family sitting around a table, passing the food and talking about their day. But what if your family can’t fit around one table?

The Stevens family, which has 13 kids with the oldest being 17 and the youngest being two and a half months old, uses two dinner tables to fit everyone.

“Most the time we don’t even have the

same thing (for dinner) because we run out,” freshman Ashley Stevens said.

The family consists of five girls and eight boys. The majority of the children participate in extra-curricular activities from sports to boy scouts.

“One day, we spent five hours driving them around,” said Michelle Stevens, the mother of the 13 kids. “I was hoping we wouldn’t get a flat tire.”

The Stevens own a 15-passenger van with TV’s in it, which they take on their

vacations.“Last vacation, we piled into the van,

turned on the TV’s and drove to Colorado,” Michelle said. “We stop every two hours for snacks and bathroom breaks and keep driving.”

Even with 13 kids, Christopher, who’s a junior, said that discipline isn’t an issue.

“(We’re) usually well-behaved, which is weird actually,” Christopher said.

If the children misbehave, they are Continued on Page 3

The score was tied in the third set of the volleyball game against one of Yutan’s biggest sports rivals, Ashland-Greenwood. The players were working hard, diving on the floor for every ball they could reach. It was a home game, so there was a large crowd in the red and black bleachers.

Between the hitters’ kills and the ace serves, something was going on every mo-ment the girls were on the court. However, the attention of the crowd, coaches, players and officials was not on the game itself - it was on the sea of students in Yutan’s student section.

“Number nine! Hey, I know your boy-friend, number nine! Don’t mess up! You suck!” Comments such as these could be heard from a number of students throughout the game. As the administrators began to notice the demeaning comments being said to the opposing team, they made their way to the student section.

Even though the administrators told the students several times to quiet down, the students continued their defiance. Eventu-ally, one of the boys who continued his ranting was escorted out of the gym and told that he was not allowed to come back.

This kind of behavior should not be

2013-14Chieftain

Times StaffSarah PogueLilly KultEzra EffreinJessica WadeMadison EgrCassie WadeBailey JosoffConnor DevishRaven Leal The Chieftain Times Staff wel-comes letters to the editor and comments on our coverage of the school and concerns you might have. Please submit them to the journalism room. All items must be signed and appropriate. - Adviser Rod Henkel

Student Opinion

Continued on Page 3

STUDENTS ENJOYING SOME FUN AT VOLLEYBALL - Freshman Jayden Graham leads the student body section in a movement cheer during a volleyball match earlier this season. Students have shown good spirit by cheering at football and volleyball games, but some behavior has crossed the line of good sports-manship, according to administrators. Photograph by Sarah Pogue.

By ezra J. effrein

With the healthcare website starting out to be buggier than a bug bugging it out in a dune buggy, many people are starting to wonder: “Where can I buy healthcare?” The website where one is supposed to do that has started to become a major letdown – if it even works at all. Worse yet, some “prom-ises” that were used to sell the healthcare bill to the public - such as the myth that prices would stay down - are quickly being broken.

Our healthcare exchanges, while cur-rently workable to an extent, have become glitchy in terms of work - made even worse in larger states where people are getting onto the website to see how much their

new healthcare will cost only to have the website go down without giving them a proper estimate.

Worse yet, the recent crash of the web-site’s data hub may have nullified some

people’s previously entered data. The major issues with the website result from a traf-fic bottleneck due to the system trying to verify millions of people’s information with a limited amount of processing power, and ultimately being unable to handle the exces-sive workload quickly.

Another question spawning from the implementation of the new healthcare law is “How much will my new insurance cost me?” The answer has quickly become “A lot.” Currently, the new healthcare ex-changes have two groups arguing over how much it will cost.

The Democrats supporting the bill say that forcing insurance companies to pro-vide insurance for everyone regardless of pre-existing condition will make costs go down like a lead balloon on Jupiter. Right-wing Republicans — the functioning Dark Lord Sauron of our government, according to their political opponents — say that it’ll make costs skyrocket in a way resembling, well, a skyrocket.

So which side is true? Currently, costs are going up. According to Forbes Maga-zine, the average individual market insur-ance price for people who aren’t getting healthcare through their job — which is becoming larger as many businesses just don’t want to pay for the healthcare for all their employees — will increase at about 99 percent for men and 62 percent for women within the healthcare act’s first few years, contrary to the usual propaganda (and the

president’s speeches) claiming that forc-ing insurance companies to provide for everyone regardless of current health or preexisting conditions will ultimately bring prices down.

Also, the other major promise the presi-dent made over and over to sell this bill to the people was the idea that one would get to keep their current healthcare plan under the new system. Last month, hundreds of thou-sands of letters went out to notify people that their policies had been terminated under the new bill, and millions more are scheduled to go out.

Why did this happen? Because their policies were effectively made illegal by the new law, as they do not provide the coverage that the new system requires.

Basically, the law has become quite a mess. The bill was passed when less than half of America’s citizens wanted it, and then hurriedly implemented to prevent its opponents from having a chance to say

“Hey, check out what else this thing is going to do wrong.”

In fact, not long after the website started showing its issues, the Secretary of the De-partment of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, said that the website did not get “enough testing…for a very compli-cated project,” and that it would need five years of construction and one year of testing rather than “two years [of construction] and almost no testing.”

The bill’s rushed implementation caused the site it would use to be poorly built, as it requires time they did not want to take to create a functioning online exchange. Amazon.com wasn’t built in a day, so a government healthcare exchange shouldn’t be either.

Then again, a bad healthcare bill where most of the promises that the public was given were lies to get it put into law probably shouldn’t have been passed anyway.

observed in a successful school such as Yutan - but it was.

The success high school students have goes hand-in-hand with the kind of character they develop and the way they present them-selves. If we do not have good sportsman-ship, what we do athletically, scholastically, musically or artistically does not matter. Our poor sportsmanship will overpower our suc-cess, and there will be no way to recover it

once we earn a bad name for ourselves.During the first quarter of the school

year, all of the juniors and seniors were called to the gym after lunch to be lectured on sportsmanship. At this assembly, super-intendent Kevin Johnson informed the stu-dents that they were voted the worst school in the East Central Nebraska Conference for sportsmanship.

Not only does this reflect poorly on the

students, it looks bad for the administrators, teachers, parents and community as a whole.Being loud and obnoxious in the stands may seem like a good idea at the time because it distracts the other team, but it ends up distracting our team as well.

Showing unsportsmanlike conduct while playing in a game of basketball is punishable by ejection from the game or

Problems with sportsmanship arise

Obamacare website sparks controversy

Student Opinion

Continued from Page 2a technical foul. Although the fans cannot receive “fouls”, they can be asked to leave the game whether they attend school at the facility or not. If the players aren’t allowed to act that way during a game, why do the fans think they can?

Some students don’t realize that the way they act while attending sporting events is a direct reflection on their school and on them-selves. Even if other students do recognize this fact, they may just be getting “caught up in the moment.”

Whatever the case, showing good sportsmanship is an important lesson to be learned. The issue students have with show-ing poor sportsmanship has not gotten out of hand yet, but it certainly could if we let it go unnoticed.

Showing good sportsmanship is not only going to help you throughout your years of high school, it’s a skill that you will need to use the rest of your life. Therefore, it is imperative that we solve the problem now.

The best way to solve the problem is for the students to realize the way they are being seen by others. They are not being seen as “cool”; they are being seen as rude among many other things that are unbecoming of students who attend a school as successful as Yutan.

There’s no doubt that our sports teams need all the support they can get from their fans. However, the support we give as fans should be positive to both teams. Instead of yelling out, “Let’s play soccer!” when the other team spikes the ball into the net, we should cheer something like “Let’s go, Chieftains! It’s our ball now!”

Another way we can support our teams in a more positive way would be making signs to hold up for our athletes. By keeping the signs positive and school-appropriate, we will be perceived as respectful and sup-portive fans.

Instead of using harsh words to win games, let the athletes win it with their skill and don’t take away from the things they have accomplished. Take pride in your character, and always be aware of the words coming out of your mouth.

By Cassie Wade

Though there are more than seven billion people in the world, a single voice raised in opposition has the power to peacefully influence the thoughts of many.

“I come f rom a country that was created at midnight. When I almost died it was just after mid-day,” said Malala Yousafzai in the intro

of her new book “I Am Malala”.Yousafzai, a children’s rights activist, was born in Swat Valley,

Pakistan, where being a girl meant that you were to live a life of cooking, clean-ing and raising children. Women had to fight for their right to an education and were beginning to slowly make headway when the Taliban took over in 2009.

The Taliban, an Islamic extremist group composed of male supremacists, slowly began to dictate what people could and could not do. They banned movies and dancing; their rules were the law and they could murder whomever they wanted whenever they wanted. Eventu-ally, they decreed that girls could no longer attend school.

School houses were bombed and girls who tried to still attend school were tar-geted. Yousafzai was one of the few girls who dared to defy the Taliban; she spoke against them because she believed that she deserved an education.

She decided to write a diary under a different name and send it to the BBC where it was published online. Later, she spoke out in an online video using her real

name. She became a powerful figure in Pakistan and the Taliban began to send threats.

Though she bravely spoke out, Yousafzai was still afraid that the Taliban would come after her and her family.

“I was worried that the Taliban would come at night,” Yousafzai said in an interview with Diane Sawyer. “When I was sleeping, I would think should I put a knife under my pillow.”

On Oct. 9, 2012, Yousafzai was on her way to school when a man got on her bus and asked “who is Malala?”

The man fired three bullets at point blank range; one hit her in the left side of the head. She was rushed to the hospital where the doctor’s struggled to save her life with the basic first aid skills they had.

If not for English doctor Fiona Reynolds, Yousafzai would have died from an infection. She was flown to England where she slowly recovered with the help of several reconstructive surgeries to repair the nerves in her face.

One 16-year-old girl who dared to defy the Taliban has become a globally-recognized symbol of hope. With her methods of peaceful protest, she is an inspiration for all who fight for equal rights and education. She has been hailed as Pakistan’s mother Teresa and inspires hope in children all over the world who desperately want an education.

Though not everyone can stand up against an enemy as daunting as the Tali-ban, standing up for what you believe in is important. You have a voice that can change the world, your community and your own life. You also have the power to make a difference.

“One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world,” Malala Yousafzai said in a speech at the United Nations.

Student Opinion

punished with chores such as scrubbing the floors, washing the dishes or even washing the cars during the summer.

Michelle and her husband Loren still attempt to have date nights.

“They say they do, but usually, they take one or two of the younger kids,” sophomore Cody Stevens said.

Christopher said that being the oldest of 13 puts certain expectations on him.

“There’s an expectation that I have where I’m expected to be the example for the other kids,” Christopher said. “I like it. I wouldn’t trade places with anyone else.”

The average American household con-tains only two kids while the Stevens more than pass this benchmark.

Michelle said that she never intended to have so many kids.

“I guess we never set a number on how many we wanted, and I like having them around,” Michelle said.

Michelle said that she’s not sure yet if they’ll have more kids. She just returned home from having her youngest.

“I love them. I wouldn’t trade them for anything,” Michelle said.

Sportsmanshipcan leave schoolwith reputation:good or negative

Continued from Page 1

Stevens familyfeatures 13 kids

Pakistani girl fights for her rights,becomes symbol of hope for others

By JessiCa Wade

Preparing for college can be stressful for students; taking the ACT, deciding on a major and choosing the right colleges are all part of growing up. Students at Yutan have an opportunity that can help them make the transition easier: dual credit classes.

Dual credit classes are classes that can be taken for high school and college credit, an opportunity that senior Josh Blair finds invaluable.

Blair, who is taking four different dual credit classes, said that taking the classes in high school is helpful because they are cheaper and sometimes even free and will help him prepare for college.

Four of the dual credit classes offered are taught by teachers at Yutan, while others are taken online or through another school.

Twice a week, juniors Kylie Dahlhauser, Megan Wade, Jes-sica Pleskac, Courtney Fisher, Rachel Roll and Jordan French drive to either Saunders County Medical Center or South Haven retirement home to complete a certified nursing assistant class.

“We work with an instructor on different skills,” Dahlhauser said.

After completing the class, the juniors will be qualified to work as nursing assistants in a hospital or retirement home.

Ginger Eikmeier teaches the English composition and intro-duction to literature classes, something that she said she enjoys doing.

“This is a great opportunity for students,” Eikmeier said. “Although it’s more demanding, I enjoy getting to work with (students) at this level.”

Eikmeier understands the advantages of taking dual credit classes in high school.

“I took dual credit in high school,” Eikmeier said. “When I got to college as a freshman I actually had sophomore status, which gave me an advantage.”

Currently, eight seniors are taking Eikmeier’s class for dual credit, including Sarah Stanek.

“I’m in both advanced biology and English composition,” Stanek said. “There’s a lot of work, but it will prepare me for college.”

Dual credit classes provide options

DUAL CREDIT CLASSES - Senior Josh Blair prepares to do some welding in one of the four dual credit classes he takes. Dual credit classes allow students to receive college credit. Photograph by Jessica Wade.

Students can enroll in classestaught by Yutan instructorsor by teachers from schoolsacross Nebraska

By sarah Pogue

It was a big day for junior Anthony Galavotti—his varsity baseball team was play-ing one of their biggest games at home, and he was starting in the outfield. He walked through the halls of Highland High School in Colorado with his teammates, but all he could think about was the fight his parents had gotten into the night before.

Throughout the day, Galavotti’s teammates encouraged him to be excited about the game instead of worrying about his parents, but he couldn’t seem to shake the hurt and anger he felt toward them.

When it was time to warm up for the game, Galavotti looked over toward his house and saw a U-Haul in his driveway. He knew his parents were splitting up and his dad would be moving out, but he had no idea it would be that day.

Galavotti was up to bat in the first inning, and he decided to channel all of his anger to-ward his parents into the game. He hit a triple and eventually scored a run. With a smile on his face, he headed back into the outfield when the inning was over.

Galavotti looked toward the bleachers where he anticipated his father being, but he was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, he heard a voice behind him call out his name.

“Anthony!” Galavotti turned around to see his father by his truck in the parking lot, wav-ing goodbye to him. Galavotti waved back, not knowing that he wouldn’t see his father for another three months.

“I was devastated,” Galavotti said. “I wasn’t sure what to think. I thought maybe he was just going to drop off some stuff and come back, but he never came back.”

Divorce is difficult for any teenager to handle. Many times, teenagers feel grief and anger for years after their parents’ separation.

“The kids are usually angry with one parent or both,” guidance counselor Becky O’Malley said. “It’s a hard transition for them [the kids] when everyone’s not all to-gether all the time anymore. They spend some time at mom’s then some at dad’s, and there can be a lot of issues with that.”

If a divorce or separation happens when the children are young, the effects are usually more mild. Senior Amber Kunkel’s parents have been separated since she was two or three years old.

“I don’t remember them splitting up,” Kunkel said. “It’s just always been this way, so I don’t really think about it.”

Even though Kunkel is used to her parents being separated, she said it is still hard to accept the fact that her family will “never really be whole again.”

Athletic director Andy Timm had concerns for his children when he and his ex-wife decided to get a divorce in December of 2011. At first, Timm said he was “scared and lonely”, but over time he got used to being single and his relationship with his kids and his ex-wife has only become stronger.

“My ex-wife and I actually communicate a lot better than we did in the last few years of marriage,” Timm said. “We’re really good friends now, and we’re there for our kids. I think we put a positive spin on a negative situ-ation.”

Social studies teacher Lyle Mead also said that he and his ex-wife get along well and cooperate when it comes to raising their son, Hudson.

“We’re both there for things like birthdays and school stuff,” Mead said. “If he has a sporting event or something, we’re both there together supporting him.”

Although these two situations had happy endings for both the parents and the children, neither one started out being a walk in the park.

“I was so unsure of the future when it [the divorce] happened,” Timm said. “I was questioning if what I did was right for myself and my kids. It was the toughest part for sure.”

The more time passed, the more Timm got used to his new life. “It’s a major adjustment for both parents and children,” O’Malley said. “Time

usually heals all wounds, so the kids just have to be patient and understand that it’s for the best and the parents still love them no matter what.”

By Maddie egr

One of the hardest things to do is say goodbye to a loved one. The grief and heart-ache one can feel is overwhelming.

Senior Colin Embree has felt a great amount of grief recently and throughout his life. Embree’s grandfather passed away on Oct. 18 from pneumonia. He had battled lung cancer for years.

Embree said that he saw his grandfather every holiday, and that it hasn’t completely hit him yet because today is “just another day”. When Thanksgiving and Christmas come around this winter, he said it’ll be extremely hard for him to grasp and deal with.

“My grandpa and I talked on the phone all the time,” Embree said, “and he was doing completely fine last time I had talked to him.”

But Embree received a call on the morn-ing of Oct. 17 saying that his grandfather wasn’t doing well. Embree had plans to drive to Des Moines, Iowa, after school Friday to go see him. By the time Embree had completed the school day on Friday, however, his grandfather had died.

“You always have that one family mem-ber that’s always cracking jokes,” Embree said. “My grandpa was that guy. Holidays won’t be as fun without him.”

When Embree attended the funeral on Oct. 22, it was difficult for him.

“I don’t like to show my emotions. I stuck it out at the funeral, but I’m not going to lie, I cried when I was alone afterwards,” Embree said. “I had to be strong. My little sister and mom were there. I had to try and take some of the grief off of them, so I

couldn’t let them see me cry.”Aside from losing his grandfather, Em-

bree lost his father to suicide when he was four years old.

“I just try to remember the happy memo-ries with them [his father and grandfather], rather than their last few days,” Embree said.

Freshmen Tyler Henkel and Allan Cramblitt have also faced a grandparent recently dying.

Henkel’s great grandmother died in August.

“I just didn’t want to talk about it,” Henkel said. “Whenever my parents started talking about it, I would just walk away.”

Henkel used to spend a week with his great grandmother every summer. They would look through old antiques and she would tell him old family stories.

Cramblitt’s grandmother passed this summer.

“It was a long time coming,” Cramblitt said. “She had been diagnosed with cancer about a year before she passed. We were surprised she lived as long as she did.”

The cancer made Cramblitt’s grand-mother very skinny and she slept all the time. Cramblitt said that “she just wasn’t herself”. He didn’t want to see her suffer much longer.

“I was relieved and happy more than anything,” Cramblitt said.

People handle grief differently. Some shut it completely out and have a hard time working through it, while others let it com-pletely stop their lives.

“I think that when people my age are dealing with grief,” Cramblitt said, “it can affect their school work and focus.”

Families are affected by divorce

Students grieve over losing loved onesFamily dynamics are changed by death

By BaiLey Josoff

Dealing with grief can be difficult for everyone, but for some it’s harder than oth-ers. A number of things can cause grief - one being the tough times a student encounters throughout his or her competitive career.

Athletes face many hardships on their way to success. But how do these athletes deal with these hardships?

Junior Brooke Kelly was faced with a time of grief after losing to Mead and Free-man in the East Central Nebraska Confer-ence tournament.

“Our goal was (winning) ECNC since we got second last year, but we ended up getting fourth,” Kelly said. “It was a disap-pointment for all of us.”

Kelly realized that next year her team would have more experience since there are no seniors to leave the team; this was her way of coping with the loss.

Junior Cassie Wade dealt with grief dur-ing her last cross country meet of the year.

“I was pretty confident in myself going into districts,” Wade said.

Wade had qualified for state last year, but this year she ended up not making it

to state. “I was pretty upset about it,” Wade said.

“But I am looking forward to making it to state next year. That’s my goal.”

Not only do athletes struggle with this type of grief, but other students involved in extra-curricular activities have similar scenarios that also cause them grief.

Junior Skyler Limbach was an all-state qualifier for band last year, but this year she did not qualify.

“It was a disappointment for me,” Limbach said. “But I understand that they only let in a few students for the baritone saxophones.”

Limbach had her family by her side to help her through this time.

“I appreciate them being there for me, and I know that they will help me achieve my goal of making it next year,” Limbach said.

Many athletes deal with grief by look-ing forward to achieve their goals the next year. But how does a senior, not having another year to look forward to, deal with this grief?

Senior Lilly Kult faced hardships with her senior year in softball. This year, the Yu-

tan softball team did not qualify for state.“It was depressing. I felt like I let my

team down by not leading them to state,” Kult said.

But Kult had her own way of dealing with the loss. The night of her last game she slept in her uniform, dirt and all. Her father

and coach, Gary Kult, also played a big role in helping her deal with the grief.

“My dad tried cheering me up by tell-ing me I still have college softball to look forward to,” Kult said. “He also told me that I can’t change the past so I might as well get over it.”

Hardships cause students disappointmentTeens fall short of their goals

Organizations raise money for breast cancerStudents, facultydeal with the affectsof breast cancerBy BaiLey Josoff

The month of October is dedicated to breast cancer awareness. This month is used as an opportunity to spread the word about important steps women can take to stay healthy. It’s also used to honor those who have or are fighting this disease.

O n e o u t of every eight women are di-agnosed with this disease in their lifetime. One in 36 dies from it.

Breast can-cer is the most common cancer in the United States other than skin cancer. It is the leading cause of death for women between the ages of 40 and 55. There are more than 2.5 mil-lion survivors in the United States.

But women aren’t the only ones affected; more than 2,000 men are also diagnosed each year.

Many people organize fundraisers to help raise money and donate it to breast cancer awareness. Fundraisers can range from marathons to selling t-shirts. The Yutan NHS (National Honor Society) helped raise money by selling bracelets during school and at the Friday night football game.

“I really like raising money for breast cancer and being able to help donate for the cure,” said junior Brooke Kelly, an NHS member.

Even without donations, some still try to show their support by wearing the color pink

or wearing pink ribbons. People wear the color pink because it’s the color that symbolizes breast cancer. Pink ribbon also expresses moral

support for women with the disease.People are diagnosed with this disease

every day. Staff member Michelle Dooley’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in February of 2008 at the age of 60. Dooley was at work when she received the call from her father telling her the results for her mother.

“I was scared, since I have had a his-tory of cancer in my family.” Dooley said. “Some relatives have even passed away from it.”

Dooley’s mother went through treat-ments like chemotherapy and radiation to help defeat the cancer.

“I helped my mother a lot through this time, and it helped that my sister moved back home from college to help also,” Dooley said.

Seventh grader Paige Timperley’s mother was also diagnosed with breast cancer in February of 2005 at the age of 39. Timperley was at home with her father when she received the call from her mom

stating the news.“I was three at the time so I don’t re-

member most of it, but I do know that I am glad she survived it,” Timperley said.

Timperley’s mother also went through treatments to get rid of the cancer.

“I am thankful for these treatments; they saved my mom’s life,” Timperley said.

Dooley’s and Timperley’s mothers are both survivors of breast cancer and are cancer-free.

Although no cure currently exists for breast cancer, money continues to be raised in hope of finding one.

“I hope they find a cure soon,” Dooley said.

“I was scared since I have a history of cancer

in my family.”Michelle Dooley

“The idea of MAPs is that it tells you what the

student already knows.”Natalie Zabrocki

Continued from Page 1“The test can be given several times a

year and we can test every single grade level to see what they learn throughout the year,” McNamara said.

The MAP test differs from the ITBS in the way that all students are not given the same standard test. The computer adjusts the difficulty level of the questions based on an individual’s ability to answer correctly.

“If you are really smart, it challenges you,” McNamara said. “If you don’t com-pletely get all the concepts, the computer will show where you maxed out so that a teacher can go back and spend more time teaching those concepts.”

Students started testing in October and will take the test again later in the year to see if they can improve their scores.

“The idea of MAPs is that it tells you what the students already know and where they are,” math teacher Natalie Zabrocki said. “It will help us as teachers because we know this is what 75 percent of our students know. We don’t have to go over it a whole lot as opposed to something that only five percent of our students know.”

McNamara said that by taking more standardized tests on the computer, students will become more comfortable with taking tests online than with traditional pencil and paper.

“MAPs, like NeSA tests, are done on the computer, so, we hope that by doing MAPs twice a year, we can get students used to using the computer to take a test,” Mc-

Namara said. “The ques-tions that are on the MAP testing are a lot closer to the types of questions that students have

on the NeSA tests.”Though the MAP test is more convenient

because it can be given multiple times a year with results viewable instantaneously, there are several drawbacks.

Yutan’s graduating class of 2013 had

the best ACT average score in school his-tory. Unlike the ACT, MAP is not a timed test, which may impact a student’s ability to answer questions in a timely manner.

“I think it not being timed helped because you could spend more time on a problem and it would help you figure it out,” freshman Julia Pleskac said. “If you are rushed, you kind of speed through and miss more.”

McNamara is not worried about MAP not being timed because he believes learning the concepts is more important.

“If we can help kids understand the concepts they don’t get when they’re in school, they should do better on different types of tests, even though this isn’t timed,” McNamara said.

MAPs testing provides new challenges

Facts about Breast Cancer in the United States

*One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.*Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. *Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death among women. *Each year it is estimated that over 220,000 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 will die. *An estimated 2,150 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer; approximately 410 will die each year.

CHIEFTAIN KILL - Junior Madison Egr hits an attack past a Raymond Central defender in a match earlier this season. Egr was one of the leading hitters on the Chieftain volleyball team, which finished the season with a 17-12 record. Photograph by Sarah Pogue.

By Connor devish

The Yutan boys cross country team competed well during its season, winning six of its nine meets, including districts. When the Chieftains participated in state, they finished as high as any Chieftain team had, even though some said they could have done better.

The team easily qualified for state by placing first at districts at Branched Oak

Lake near Malcolm. Yutan scored 21 points, which was 41

better than second place (Johnson County). Five out of six varsity runners placed in the top 15. Senior Daniel Greblunas placed first, junior Jacob Schulz placed fifth, sophomore Tyler Ziemba placed seventh, freshman Cor-rigan Abraham placed eighth and freshman John Grinvalds placed 12th.

“Our performance at districts was great,” head coach Rod Henkel said. “We

had just competed on the same course at conference and they ran consideribly better times at districts.”

Greblunas led the team at state, which was held at the Kearney Country Club, by placing 18th with a time of 17:55.0. The team came in third with 89 points, only 20 away from 1st (Crofton) and 18 points away from 2nd (Nebraska Christian).

Also running in the boys race were Schulz, Ziemba, Abraham, Grinvalds and freshman Jayden Graham, who placed 35th, 41st, 56th, 81st and 88th, respectively.

“The team performed pretty well, but some of the top runners didn’t do their best,” assistant coach Natalie Zabrocki said. Zabrocki also said she expected the boys to get fourth or above, and third place exceeded her expectations.

It was Greblunas’ fourth time return-ing to state, placing 62nd, 42nd and eighth his previous years. It was also Schulz’s third time returning to state, placing 53rd and 37th during his previous years. Ziemba is a two-time state qualifier, placing 60th as a freshman.

“I didn’t perform like I expected to, and

I don’t think the team performed to the best of our ability,” said Graham, who said he expected the team to place first or second and himself to place in the top 50.

He said that the meet was nerve racking. “There was a lot more people and a lot more pressure,” Graham said.

Other than the boys, there was another runner who ran well at state.

Senior Sarah Pogue ran her last race with Yutan at the state meet.

“It was bittersweet – I’m going to miss cross country like crazy, but the way my career ended was amazing,” Pogue said.

Pogue was the only girl from the Yutan team who qualified for state. She placed ninth at the 2012 state meet and was 13th as a freshman in 2010.

Zabrocki said she expected Pogue to place in the top five, which she managed easily.

Pogue placed second with a time of 20:05.7, 9.7 seconds behind the junior from Ord who placed first, Katherine Lansman.

“I was expecting top five, but my goal was to win,” Pogue said. “It was an amazing feeling getting second at state.”

REPEAT STATE QUALIFIERS - Sophomore Tyler Ziemba and junior Jacob Schulz compete against each other at the Ashland-Greenwood Invitational. Ziemba and Schulz alternated as the team’s Nos. 2 and 3 runners as Yutan qualified for state for the third consecutive season. Photograph by Rod Henkel.

STATE RUNNER-UP - Senior Sarah Pogue competes in the Yutan Invitational earlier this season. Pogue finished second in the Class D state cross country meet in Kearney. She and Danny Greblunas became the school’s first four-time individual state qualifiers. Photograph by Jessica Wade.

Chieftain runners perform well at state

Chieftains suffer lossInjuries, lineupchanges createadversity for girlsBy sarah Pogue

Yutan suffered a tough regular-season volleyball loss against East Central Ne-braska Conference rival Palmyra Oct 22, which dropped its season record to 16-11. Although the Panthers had the home-court advantage, the Chieftains rallied several times, losing by an average of three points in each set.

“The girls were very positive and con-fident before the game,” head coach Becky O’Malley said. “They always do a nice job of warming up and getting focused, and that contributes to the way they play.”

O’Malley and her players agree that the match was one they had a good chance of winning. Their intense warm up led to a good first set, which they won 25-21.

“I think it [the first set] was our best set of the season,” said junior Brooke Kelly, who totaled 12 kills. “We were on our game, and we were communicating very well. We were really loud.”

The second set started off much like

the first. The Chieftains had been efficient in stopping Palmyra’s hitters due to their blocking and were reciprocating hard hits on offense, O’Malley said.

Toward the middle of the second set, sophomore setter Nealie Josoff went down with a sprained ankle after landing wrong while attempting to block an attack.

“I was really sad when I got hurt,” Josoff said. “I wanted to play the rest of the game, but I knew the girls who went in for me would do a nice job.”

Sophomore Raven Leal serves as the Chieftains’ back-up setter, but she was play-ing libero during the second set, making her ineligible for setting. To solve this problem, O’Malley decided to change the rotation by putting in a couple of freshmen—starting with Maddy Davis.

Davis, who plays primarily jayvee, said that she felt nervous going into a varsity game that meant so much to her team.

“I kept thinking, ‘What if I mess up?’” Davis said. “I didn’t want to disappoint my teammates or lose the set for us. I was really nervous, but I knew I had to pull it together.”

Davis said that she relaxed and played the set “just like a jayvee game or any other game” after a few plays. She gives credit to her teammates, who helped her stay calm

Continued on Page 7

Chieftain runners perform well at state

and play her best. After losing the second set 23-25, the

Chieftains were able to switch their rota-tion once again so that Leal could move to setter. Freshman Julia Pleskac took her place as libero.

“Libero is a spot that I’m not really used to,” Pleskac said. “I was pretty nervous be-cause of everything that was going on.”

Pleskac said she received a lot of help from teammates such as Egr and Leal.

“Julia went in in a tough situation,” O’Malley said, “but she did a great job and handled it well. The upperclassmen did a nice job making them feel comfortable and confident, which is always very nice to see as a coach.”

Palmyra gained the upper hand in the game by winning the third set 25-20. How-ever, the Chieftains rallied in the fourth set to win it 26-24.

In the fifth set, the score went back and forth.

“It was so close the whole time,” Pleskac said. “It could have gone either way.”

Davis said that a call made by an official shocked her team toward the end of the fifth set. She said it was a play that “could have been a game-changer.”

Despite a heartbreaking 14-16 loss, the girls said that they have a lot to be proud of. Throughout the game, they handled a lot of different adversity from players getting injured to officials’ calls.

Junior Maddie Egr led the team with 20 kills, while sophomore Bailey Josoff totaled 14.

“They have it in them to push through and persevere,” O’Malley said. “They’re such big competitors, and that really came out. I’m very proud of them.”

REPEAT ALL-STATE PERFORMER - Senior J.T. McLaughlin performs with the pep band during the homecoming pep rally. McLaughlin, along with three other Yutan students, were recently named to either all-state band or choir. McLaughlin is a three-time selection. Photograph by Jessica Wade.

By raven LeaL

In late November, four Yutan students will perform in the Lied Center. Each of these four students have earned all-state music positions.

J.T. McLaughlin has made all-state band in euphonium for his third year straight.

Sophomore Cody Stevens has been named in all-state band for the bass clari-net. However, Stevens can play up to five instruments.

“I didn’t have any expectations to make it. I thought I should just give it a shot,” Stevens said.

The difference for McLaughlin and Stevens in earning all-state, according to band instructor Kevin Koopmann, is that they’re up against everyone in the state. It’s unlike sports, he said, where teams are divided into classes.

Koopmann said the two all-state se-lections speak well for the Yutan band overall.

“Even though our numbers are low, this is probably one of the best playing bands,” Koopmann said. “I can see that they want it, and that’s what will bring us such a suc-cessful year.”

As for choir, junior Jayme Bussing was given an all-state position as a first soprano.

“I wasn’t as confident as I was last year, but I hoped for the best,” Bussing said.

After conversing with McLaughlin, Bussing said she is excited for the fun experience.

Junior Zachary Palmer earned all-state choir as a second bass.

Junior Kaitlyn Rider was named alter-nate.

This year, the students could video tape at home and send in their best take, as op-posed to past years when students tried out in front of judges.

“It was less nerve-wrecking when we could have retakes. Otherwise, you perform with one shot in front of people when you’re uncomfortable,” Bussing said.

More than 3,000 students auditioned, and the state of Nebraska only takes 440 students. Yutan competes with Millard and Elkhorn in its district.

“It’s impressive that these guys got in. With bigger schools in our district, we have competition that has a larger pool to pick from,” choir teacher Molly Schacher said.

As for choir numbers, this year’s group consists of 16 students. This is an increase from last year when only about 10 students were involved.

“Generally, it is harder with fewer num-bers, but the kids that we do have in choir are very musically skilled,” Schacher said.

Schacher said that sometimes it’s hard for them to find a song that fits the group of kids they have, especially when there are only one or two boys.

Four musicians earnall-state recognition

JessiCa Wade

Most high school students have an idea about what they want to do after high school, but not all of them have the chance to experi-ence their career interest first hand.

Junior Kylie Dahlhauser had that op-portunity. Dahlhauser spent a Monday with a Douglas County Deputy completing a job shadowing requirement for her dual credit class.

“We drove to a traffic stop and arrested a man because he had a warrant,” Dahlhauser said. “Then we went to a destruction of prop-erty call where a minor was spray painting his step brother’s new vehicle. After that we went to a domestic disturbance call that was hard because the mother was German and didn’t speak very good English.”

Dahlhauser is one of 27 students required to job shadow in order to receive credit for certain dual credit classes. Of the 27 students there are 21 juniors and five seniors.

“It wasn’t exactly what I expected,” Dahlhauser said. “It’s completely different than what you see on TV. They can’t turn their sirens on for everything; they can only be used if there is some type of injury.”

Dahlhauser said that she is considering going into criminal justice and job shadow-ing is a helpful opportunity in making sure she’s choosing the right career.

Guidance counselor Becky O’Malley agrees that job shadowing is helpful for students who are still deciding on a career.

“It’s definitely a good experience,” O’Malley said. “It helps to confirm that they really want to pursue that career.”

O’Malley said that students traditionally don’t job shadow until their senior year, but she thinks it’s great so many juniors have the chance to do it.

“Job shadows are always offered to seniors,” O’Malley said. “This is the first time juniors get the opportunity to experi-ence it.”

Junior Megan Wade spent her experi-ence watching foot surgeries.

“I job shadowed my cousin who’s a podiatrist,” Wade said. “I got to watch two surgeries; one was on a foot and the other on an ankle.”

Wade said that watching the surgeries was cool and gross at the same time.

“They had to drill a bone in someone’s foot,” Wade said. “There were bone frag-ments flying everywhere. The nurses kept on asking if I was going to pass out.”

Like Wade, juniors Jessica Pleskac, Rachel Roll, Jordan French and Courtney Fisher were among the students who had the chance to job shadow someone in the medical field. Pleskac went to the NICU unit in the Children’s hospital.

“I’m not sure what I was expecting,” Pleskac said. “I wasn’t able to help as much as I wanted to but I thought it was a really good experience.”

Continued from Page 6

Volleyball teamloses five-gamematch at Palmyra

Dahlhauser follows law enforcement officer

SINGING AND DANCING

CONCERT FINALE - The senior high choir, including freshman John Grinvalds, junior Jayme Bussing, junior Zachary Palmer and junior Christian Kazos conclude the Oct. 24 concert with a number that featured choreography. All the choir members were dressed in black for the final song. Photo-graph by Jessica Wade.

TWINS WORKING TOGETHER - Katrina and Tatum Devish work together on a project in Spanish. The sisters are one of six sets of twins in the high school, and they transferred this year from Papillion LaVista North. Photograph by Madison Egr.

By Madison egr

How would you feel if you had a sib-ling who was the exact same age as you, did and shared everything with you, totally understood you, was constantly compared or grouped with you and never left your side? Would you enjoy it or would it be annoying to you?

Most of the time you only hear the nega-tive things about being a twin. Most people say that they wouldn’t want to be a twin, but not sophomore Karly Zaugg.

“I love being a twin,” Zaugg said. “My favorite thing about being a twin is that you always have someone with you, like on the first day of kindergarten or high school.”

Six sets of twins attend Yutan High School: Jacob and Josh Trost, Karly and Wyatt Zaugg, Caden and Colten Remm, Ha-leigh and Scott Wuster, Tatum and Katrina Devish and Miranda and Mitchell Mueller.

Zaugg’s twin brother Wyatt said that his favorite thing about being a twin is that they were in the same class and always together.

Freshman Scott Wuster agrees that hav-ing someone around all the time is a huge upside to being a twin.

“If you are bored, you always have someone to hang out with. They are always around,” Wuster said.

The twins express the same positive aspect of being a twin: being together and relating to each other.

Freshman Tatum Devish said that her favorite thing about being a twin is that she and her sister Katrina are going through the same things. Therefore, they are there to understand and feel for each other.

Almost every set of twins agrees that

having someone around all the time is a major upside. They list sharing and always being compared as major downfalls.

Scott Wuster, Tatum Devish and Karly Zaugg talked about sharing everything from phones to clothes to friends to birthday par-ties and even sports positions.

“You have to share a lot of things,” Wuster said. “We had to share a phone for a while.”

Not only do they have to share these kinds of objects, but also food.

“A bad thing about being a twin is that Karly eats all my pizza rolls,” Wyatt Zaugg said.

Due to sharing everything all the time, it’s hard for twins to find their individual-ism.

“We used to dress exactly the same when we were little,” Tatum Devish said. “We also used to get the same presents for Christmas and our birthdays.”

In addition to having to share, they are constantly being compared, especially if they are twins of the same gender.

The Zauggs, Wusters and Muellers don’t see as much comparison as the Devish sis-ters, Trost brothers, or Remm brothers. Since they are the same gender, they compete for friends, in sports, academics, extracurricular activities, and for their individualism.

“I definitely think it’d be harder to be a twin of the same gender,” Karly Zaugg said. “It would always be a competition against each other I think.”

Whether or not you would like to be a twin, most twins love it and are glad they have an unbreakable bond that some will never experience.

“I’m more than glad I’m a twin,” Tatum Devish said.

TwinsLoveBeing Twins

Three sets of sixat Yutan High School

are same gender; three are different

Special bond exists

Birthdays at 16, 17, 18increase kids’ privilegesBy LiLLy KuLt

The idea of growing up comes off as exhilarating to many teenagers. The privi-leges continue to increase the older teenag-ers become, but along with these privileges comes responsibility.

Teens often see turning 16 as the first major birthday because of being able to obtain their driver’s license. Receiving their driver’s license just begins the list.

S i x t e e n -year-olds can a l s o b e g i n working, get a debit card and receive a 10-year passport without parental consent.

With parental consent, 16-year-olds can drop out of school, become an organ donor, donate blood and be married.

Some students said that they felt this was allowing too much at 16.

“Being married at 16, that’s a little…I don’t know about that one,” sophomore Cody Feist said.

Other students said that it was an ap-propriate age to start allowing these privi-leges.

“Once you can drive, you’re basically putting yourself on the line anyway, so you’re basically an adult,” senior Nick Josoff said.

Turning 16 years old only begins the list of benchmark ages for teenagers.

At 17, students can start watching R-rated movies without parental consent and enlist in the armed forces.

“I would say by 17, you’re probably ma-ture enough to make your own decisions,” Feist said.

Once students turn 18, the list distinctly

increases. Eighteen-year-olds in Nebraska can

make a will and have the power of attor-ney, make their own end-of-life decisions, own property and work overtime. They can receive medical treatment without parental consent, be completely independent from pa-rental consent, apply for credit in their own name, and be tried as an adult. Parents are no

longer required to support them and they can be sued for con-tracts they have signed.

They also become eligible for jury duty, can buy tobacco and etc, can get

tattoos and piercings without parental con-sent, go to clubs where alcohol isn’t served and get married. Men are required to register for the Selective Service as well.

Science teacher Brian Sass said that he didn’t think that these privileges were al-lowing too much.

“Kids are still probably not old enough to make their decisions correctly, but at 18 it allows them to grow up a little bit,” Sass said.

Students varied in their opinions from saying it was the right amount to being too many privileges.

“In general, that’s a lot of privileges to have,” Feist said.

Many said that it confused them why there were so many changes spread out between three years instead of just having one or two big years.

“It always baffles me what they let at different ages regardless of being 16, 17 or 18 since it’s only a year apart,” Sass said. “It’s very confusing as far as ages go. I think they should try benchmark ages like 16 and 18 instead of having it all spread out.”

By JessiCa Wade

Whether someone is using social media to keep in touch with a friend or to jumpstart a revolution like Google marketing execu-tive Wael Ghonim did for Egypt in 2011, so-cial media continues to change how people interact and communicate ideas.

“I like to use Facebook, since my family lives all the way in Dallas,” said study hall teacher Jayce Phillips. “It’s an easy way for us to share pictures and videos of my son with his grandparents.”

Junior Jordan French said that she uses Twitter and Facebook the most often.

“I use social media a lot during the day,” French said. “I usually check Facebook or Twitter during my study hall and when I get home.”

Phillips and French are two of roughly 1.4 billion people who use Facebook, a number that is actually declining as other forms of social media such as Twitter gain interest.

Despite the competition, Facebook re-mains the most popular form of social media in the world with Twitter second. When 10 students were asked if they preferred to use Twitter or Facebook, six of the 10 favored Facebook.

Phillips said that she thinks people pre-fer using social media because they find it easier to text someone rather than speaking

face to face. Guidance counselor Becky O’Malley agrees.

“I think that it’s a lot easier for people to say what they want when they can just type the words,” O’Malley said. “The emo-tional aspect isn’t there and it’s easier to say things that you wouldn’t normally say face to face.”

Teacher Amy Arensberg agrees that it’s easier for teenagers to message their friends instead of talking, and that’s not a good thing.

“I think social media is affecting people negatively,” Arensberg said. “It gives people a false sense of security.”

Not all forms of social media are used solely for communication. The website known as Pinterest allows users to “pin” images to a virtual pinboard and has ev-erything from recipes and crafts to comedy and events.

The site was developed in 2009 and by 2011 it was featured in Time magazine as one of 50 top websites in 2011 and is today the fourth most popular form of social media in the world.

“I love Pinterest,” Phillips said. “I’m always getting recipes from it.”

By January 2012, the quickly-growing website reached 11.7 million visitors, which made it the fastest site ever to accomplish the 10 million visitors mark.

.

“Once you can drive you’re basically putting yourself on the line anyway, so you’re

basically an adult.”Nick Josoff

Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook expand social media use