JANUARY 31, 2012ISSUE 5

COUGAR COURIERHN

What’s insideNews...................1Entertainment...2Features..............3Sports.................4

Entertainment:• Horoscope• Downshift Dilemma• Playlist• Movie Review

Features:• This or That• New Year’s Resolutions• The End of the World• Recipe• Valentines Day

Sports:• Player of the Month• Girls Basketball• Swimming• Boys Basketball

the same grade to now have an A. The newer scale is traditional, an A is a 90% and above, a B is an 80-89%, a C is a 70-79%, a D is a 60-69%, and an F is a 59% or be-low. Not everyone was for the new grading scale; there were some who did not want it changed. Simp-son said, “There was a mix of votes, some were in favor of changing and some were not. The issue is that hon-ors level students have to work harder and score higher.” When the survey

was taken by the teachers the result was 30-3 with the new proposed scale having 30 votes. The initial thought of the new scale is that it will not affect

very many students in any way; howev-er there are differ-ing opinions. English teacher Tony Rowe believes it will affect all the honor students in the school, while math and science

teacher Jeremy Shireman feels that it will affect only about 10% of the students in North Harrison High School. Mr. Simpson

believes that it will not affect any student; it is just a simplified way of grading. The newer grading scale offers a more uniform well rounded scale that is equal and fair for the student, but

what do the teach-ers think about the new scale? Shire-man said, “I person-ally think that the honors scale does a disservice to our students. First, the

grades are not in equal incre-ments. There is a 7% window for an A, a 9% window for the B and D, and an 11% window for the

C. “I think it would make things much easier to make all grades the same increment,” said Senior Cassie Wagner, “the high achieving students are already pushing

themselves to be the best they can, so why are they trying to make it harder on us to be successful?” Wag-ner continued on to say, “I know at other local schools the grading scale is the same for all classes and they also have the weighted courses.” Shireman stated, “If a student at a different school gets a 90% in Trigonom-etry they get the A which will show up as a 5.0 on their GPA. Here if they get a 93%, they get a B which is a 4.0 on their GPA. This makes it seem like the other student did better than our student and makes them more qualified to get the scholar-ships. I do not see

Construction project at high schooltling on the south-west corner of the building. There has also been some settling, beginning at the staff restroom in the Ag hallway, and working west through the drama dressing rooms, drama storage, room C205 and out to the west trophy case.” There have been noticeable cracks in sidewalks and also in certain walls around school. ”Raising the floors on the north side of

the main wall that runs the width of the building, getting pressure off door jambs, and getting support solidified is what will settle this issue,” said princi-pal Kelly Simpson. During home basketball games, there are always two separate entry ways that people are allowed to go through when entering the gym. However, it is nar-rowed down to only one now that the southwest doors

are closed. Athletic direc-tor Hal Pearson said, “We usually open the southwest corner doors for boys game and get a decent number of people that prefer that door. They are able to find parking spots easier in the front parking lot. With those doors closed, we’ve had to restructure our ticket takers and where they actu-

Photo by Brittany BurnsConstruction zone at North Harrison high school.

A newly proposed outline for North Harrison High School’s grading scale has been drafted by the staff. “The new system will be one unified system used by all teachers throughout the school system,” said Principal Kelly Simpson. Everyone will still have the op-portunity to take the honor classes and still receive their weighted grade, but the scale will not be as rigorous as it is currently. For in-stance, if a current student in a weight-ed class receives a 93% the student would receive a B+. The new grad-ing scale outlined would allow the same student with

Hearing unordi-nary noises while sitting in a class-room has recently become the norm at North Harrison. Certain parts of the high school are un-dergoing construc-tion at this time, and will continue to for the remainder of the school year. Maintenance worker Jeff Brown said, “There has been significant set-

Regular Scale

Ashlee Jones

News Writer

Rachel Watts

News Writer

Letter Grade Percent

A 100-90

B 89-80

C 79-70

D 69-60

F 59- Below

Letter Grade Percent

A 100-94

B 93-84

C 83-75

D 74-63

F 62- Below

See GRADING SCALE on pg 2A.

See CONSTRUCTION on pg 2A.

Honor’s Scale

News 2aJanuary 31, 2012 The Cougar Courier

Send news ideas toMacy Allgeier at newspaper.nhcs.in.us.com

Winter Homecoming

2012

Photo by Mary Grace Gehm

Friday night on January 27th, North Harrison held their annual winter home-coming game. Brittany Burns, Peyton Harley, Cassie Wagner, Alyssa McAfee, Erin Tweedy, and Emily Giles were the girl candidates, and were escorted by Collin Book, Michael Cox, Josh Wenning, Jordan Robbeloth, Cody Morgan, and Ryan Smith whom were the boy candidates. In between the JV and Varsity games, all twelve candi-dates were aligned on the court. Previous winners, Lacy Vincent Davis and Lincoln Jones then crowned Alyssa McAfee and Michael Cox as the new Queen and King. The Cougars went on to defeat the West Washington Senators in an intense battle.

North Harrison

North Harrison High School winter homecoming was on Friday, January 27. To prepare for homecoming, the high school par-ticipated in spirit week and hall wars. Spirit week is the week of homecom-ing, and students

are encouraged to participate in set dress-up days.

Monday was hat day, Tuesday was redneck day, Wednesday was pajama day, Thurs-day was Hawaiian day, and Friday was blue and white day. Class competition points were award-ed for the number

of students who participated. Hall wars took place on Wednes-day night, the 25th, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Each class was assigned to a hallway in the aca-demic wing of the building to deco-rate. The theme that the classes had

to go by was “NH School Spirit.” The students could choose any way they wanted to decorate their hall whether it was in blue and white, banners, signs, cougar paws, and much more. Cougar Crazies sponsor Amber

Sater said, “the point of hall wars and spirit week is to enhance school spirit for homecom-ing.” Students have many different reasons for want-ing to participate in hall wars and spirit week. Senior Hanna Walter said she wanted to “help my class get class

competition points and to show school spirit.” Junior Kailey Adams had similar reasons and said she participated in hall wars because she “wanted to help out my junior class.” The hall wars results ended with seniors in first, then sophomores, juniors, and Fresh-men finishing last.

Grade scale Continuedany benefit for having a grading scale that makes it harder in a class that is already more difficult from the beginning. I would think the students in classes that use the weighted and the honor scales will be glad to have a more uniform scale and a scale that is eas-ier to earn higher grades.” Rowe has a dif-ferent take on the matter. He said, “The higher grading scale gave a sort of wiggle room for a teacher in a weight-ed or honors class. For example, if I had a student that did well on a paper, but still made a few egregious errors, I could give them a 92% which would be a B. When a weighted scale is transferred by a col-lege or the counsel-ors that B becomes

an A-. When the grading scale is changed, I no lon-ger have that room. A student earning a B will receive an 89% or lower. No conversion will make that B into an A-. And, speak-ing for my class, a B will still be a B. I will not lower my standards in order to make the grades sound higher. No, I do not think it was a good idea to change the scale. I am still not sure if we are supposed to lower our standards for the students, or expect them to be less competitive. The top students should be expected to be the top, not that we should lower so that they can fit in the middle. As for me, I will be changing the crite-ria for my classes that the scale will be lowered in. Now,

to make an A, a student will have to truly be doing A work, not getting close and earning a 92 or 93% and earning a B. The honors classes are really going to have to step it up in order to represent the top achieving students well.” Rowe also thinks that by lowering the scales, we are in a sense saying, “You do not need to work as hard to achieve success. We will just lower our stan-dards to meet you.” Not only do the teachers have their opinions about the future scale but students at North Harrison High School have their own opinions also. “The grading scale change will not affect me too much. Although, a 90% or above will now be an A in an

Construction Continuedally are. Everyone is now brought into the northeast corner doors and it has made things a little congested and slightly more difficult.” Although

people have ripped off the caution tape and used the stair-well anyway, ac-cording to Pearson, there have not been any complaints about the situation.

The amount approved by the school board for the schools construc-tion was $519,000. “At present there is no definite comple-tion date for this

Photo by Carley GancherSophomores Jordan Stewart and Shelby Aus-tin dressed for hawaiian day.

Photo by Carley GancherSophomore Regan Comer making Homecom-ing signs.

Photo by Carley GancherSophomore Austin Nolot, Junior Kristen Mertz and sophomore Molly leffler Snug-gled together for a ‘Pajama Day’ Picture.

honors class, I feel that the class mate-rial will be harder so that getting an A will still be just as challenging. It really depends on the teacher and how they feel about the grading scale change,” said junior Mitch Bolin. Junior Jacob Outcalt said, “I think that it’s a good thing it’s changing, people in honors classes already have to deal with harder classes. We don’t need a harder grading scale on top of it.” Despite the differ-ing opinions, NHHS will be undergoing changes with the new grading scale. There are positive and negative issues on each side, but both sides have been equally con-sidered with North Harrison’s students in mind.

project. Weather will play a signifi-cant role in that. I would guess that it will be midsummer before everything is completed,” said Brown.

Spirit week

Becca Casabella

News Writer

Entertainment 3A

Send entertainment news to...Taylor Washer atnewspaper.nhcs.in.us.com

January 31 , 2012 The Cougar Courier

As a fan of the classic Red Hot Chili Peppers songs, I was extremely ap-prehensive when buying their new al-bum. Will it ruin my love for them? Will I have to stab myself in the ears? I have been force fed The Red Hot Chili Pep-pers since I was in a car seat, trying to sing all the words to “By the Way,” though I knew less than half. Neverthe-less, I signed into my Amazon account and hit purchase. From the moment I pressed play on my beaten up iPod classic, my fears were put to rest. The Red Hot Chili Pep-pers are obviously making music for a new generation of listeners. That target audience is, of course, the cool children of the

Sun is in a certain constellation, that constellation be-comes your Zodiac sign. Meanwhile in Eastern cultures such as China, their Zodiac consists of twelve year cycles with each year be-ing represented by a different animal. If you are born in a certain year, that year’s animal be-comes your Zodiac sign.In the Western Zodiac, January possesses both Capricorn the goat and Aquarius the water-bearer. Cap-ricorns are those who are born in the range December 21st to January

Generation X-ers. Some close minded people call this pan-dering, but I see it in a different light. I feel like the Chili Peppers are finally finding themselves. Forming in 1983 and going through many guitarists, the true heart of the band has always remained. With an instantly recogniz-able sound and a wild, sometimes ir-regular bass player named Flea, they are the same band they always have been. While I may be stuck in the early

RedLindsey Hornickel

Co-Editor-in-Chief

Photo by Lindsey Hornickelthe Red Hot chili pepper’s album cover of I’m with you.

The New Year has just passed and the first month of it is now over. Two astrological events have happened in the month of Janu-ary: the Sun left the sign of Capricorn to enter Aquarius and the Chinese New Year was celebrat-ed. In the Western world, the Zo-diac are the twelve constellations the Sun seems to travel through as the Earth revolves around it. The Sun “stays” in each con-stellation for about a month; if you are born while the

19th; Aquarians are those born from January 20th to February 18th. Capricorns are said to be ambitious,

corns: Martin Luther King, Jr., Richard Nixon, Joseph Stalin, and Elvis Presley. The characteristics of an Aquarius are being honest, reli-able, very tolerant, like to help others, eccentric, unreal-istic in ideas and dreams, and acts superior to others. Careers that suit them are social worker, scientist, product research, or jobs in the medi-cal or technological fields. Susan B. Anthony, Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln, and Frank-lin D. Roosevelt are some well known Aquarians.

The Chinese Zodiac signs occur in the same order every twelve years. The signs are switched at the Chinese New

be brilliant, coura-geous, energetic, gifted, charismatic, bossy, egocentric, and power hungry. Careers for Drag-ons include politi-cians, artists, man-agers, movie stars, talk show hosts, or astronauts. Famous people born in past years of the Dragon are John Lennon, Al Pacino, Bruce Lee, and Nicolas Cage. If you are interested in knowing your Chinese Zodiac, here is a list of years and signs:1992 - Monkey, 1995 - Pig, 1993 - Rooster, 1996 - Rat, 1994 - Dog, and 1997 – Ox.

hard workers, disci-plined, self-reliant, greedy, bossy, and narrow-minded. Some good careers for this sign are a politician, police officer, a lawyer, system analyst, or director. Here are a few famous Capri-

Year; this year the Eastern cultures celebrated New Year’s on January 23rd. January 23rd marked the begin-ning of the year of the Dragon. The Dragon signifies luck, and people born this year are to

Zodiac symbol for Capricorn.

Zodiac symbol for aquarius.

Dragons, goats, and water-bearersTaylor Washer

Entertainment Editor

Band biography: Downshift dilemmaTaylor Washer

Entertainment Editor

There’s a local band that is pretty well known around town. It’s even been rumored that this awesome band con-sists only of teenage boys; teenage boys who know how to rock! The spectacu-

lar band of which I speak is none other than Downshift Di-lemma. Made up of Jordan Robbeloth, Collin Book, Eric Rhodes, and Ryan Smith, this group

have been told that once college starts, they probably won’t be able to keep do-ing it. If you have yet to hear them play, you need to before they retire.

The name for the band came from Ryan Smith’s cousin. Ryan’s cousin had originally come up with the name for his own band, but he never formed

formed in 2008. They came to-gether in the pursuit of fun; the idea of creating a band came to them and they went with it. Jordan Robbe-loth plays bass and Collin Book is on drums; Eric Rhodes sings while Ryan Smith plays guitar.

one and told Ryan he could use it. Downshift Di-lemma plays 5 to 6 times a year. They play covers of the same type of music that influences them which is southern rock and country. Though the band has been together for about 4 years, I

2000s, it does not mean that today’s bands have to be. The music may not be what we as mu-sic lovers are used to from them, but who cares? “Rain Dance Maggie” has the same heart and soul as “Can’t Stop.” “Meet Me at the Corner” makes me feel just as mel-ancholy as “Zephyr Song”. While their music may change with the times, their influence never will. Go out and buy “I’m With You today”; I highly recommend it to everyone.

ReviewHot

Photo courtsey of Downshift DilemmaDownshift dilemma members (left to right): Jordan Robbeloth, ryan smith, collin book, and eric rhodes.

Entertainment 4A

Send entertainment news to...Taylor Washer atnewspaper.nhcs.in.us.com

January 31 , 2012 The Cougar Courier

Principal-- Kelly Simpson

Assistant Principal-- Steve Hatton

Advisor--Amber Sater

Co-Editors-In Chief--Brianne Pinnick--Lindsey Hornickel

News Editor--Macy Allgeier

News Staff--Becca Cassabella--Rachel Watts --Ashlee Jones

Co-Sports Editors--Jordan Robbeloth--Collin Book

Sports Staff--Josh Wenning--Regan Comer--Josh Guy--Bethany Wiley

Ads Editor--Cassie Wagner

Ads Staff--Brittany Burns--Peyton Harley--Kristen Mertz

Co-Features Editors--Lorraine Engleman--Rachel Bacher

Features Staff--Jessica Turner--Lexie Smith

Entertainment Editor--Taylor Washer

Entertainment Staff--Kelsey Chinn--Genna Brock

Co-Photo Editors--Carley Gancher--Mary Grace Gehm

Co-Film Editors--Fred Polen--Theo Cox

1. I Believe in a Thing Called Love—The Darkness

2. (Every Time I Turn Around) Back in Love—L.T.D.

3. Love and Affection—Neon Trees

4. Lovesong—The Cure

5. Love Train—The O’Jays

6. Love is a Battlefield—Pat Bena-tar

7. What is Love—Haddaway

8. Crazy in Love—Beyoncé feat. Jay-Z

9. I Will Always Love You—Whit-ney Houston OR Dolly Parton

10. Love Shack—The B-52’s

11. The Look of Love—ABC

12. You Can’t Hurry Love—Diana Ross

Songs of Love The Kitschy, Sappy, and Rockin’Lindsey Hornickel

Co-Editor-in-Chief

food is the best, and the restaurant is beautiful inside. Of course, the best part of the whole meal is the cheese-cake! They have over 30 different fla-vors of this dessert. They have every-thing from burgers to pasta, so there is something there for everyone. The only downside is that it is all the way in the St. Matthew’s Mall.

These are just a few of the many restaurants around this area. Some others are: Long-horn Steakhouse, Rocky’s Italian Grill, Logan’s Steak-house, Macaroni Grill, and Mag-dalena’s. Just remember, it’s not about where you eat or what you do on Valentine’s Day. It’s about showing your love.

Kelsey Chinn

Entertainment Writer

Valentine’s day restaurants

TALENT SHOW Friday March 2nd at 7pm

$5.oo entry fee

Prizes will be given!!!

Proceeds will benefit the

Juvenile Diabetes Foundation

See Mrs. Tillquist for further details

*in case of b-ball conflict re-schedule date will be March 9th

Photo by Kelsey ChinnO’Charley’s , one of the few local places to go for a nice romantic date.

Valentine’s Day is sneaking up on us once again. Many couples go to the movies or bowling, but only after they have had a romantic dinner; which means most couples will be looking for places to dine on this Valen-tine’s Day. Whether you prefer a roman-tic restaurant or a more casual place to eat, I’ve found some great places to take your sweet-heart to this Febru-ary 14th. Cheddar’s- It’s a really nice res-taurant but more casual. Cheddar’s is very popular and can become crowded quickly. The prices are very

reasonable, and the food is great. Ruby Tuesday- It’s very pricey, but the food is excel-lent, especially the steak and salad bar. The service can be a little slow because the place is often crowded. O’Charley’s- Since it is lo-cated in Corydon, O’Charley’s is one of the nicer restau-rants that is close. They have pretty good food at mod-erate prices. The servers are nice and entertaining. Olive Garden- The food is amaz-ing! You get un-limited breadsticks and salad which is a steal. Prices are okay. The Cheesecake Factory- This place is pretty pricey. The

I really don’t be-lieve that the world is going to end in 2012. They thought the world was go-ing to end in 2000, too, but obviously that didn’t happen. Some people really and truly think that the world is going to end this year. All of these crazy ideas inspired a movie called 2012. The movie 2012 was released in 2009. 2012 describes the

ending of the planet Earth due to the inner core of the Earth heating up at unrealistic rates. Geologist Dr. Adrian Helmsley warns

the President of the United States of this event years be-fore 2012 to make sure they can save enough people to rebuild human civili-zation. Once 2012 came around, crazy things soon began to happen, like cracks ran-domly occurring in the earth’s surface and Yellowstone’s ground becom-ing so hot that its lakes complete dry up. Very few people knew that

Kelsey Chinn

Entertainment Writer

End of world movie review

Photo by Rachel BacherKelsey gives 2012 a big thumbs down.

the rapidly increas-ing temperatures of the earth’s surface were the cause. During the fiasco, struggling writer Jackson Cur-tis takes his kids to Yellowstone. There, he and his children discover Char-lie Frost, a crazy radio host who has predicted the end of the world. So far, all of his predictions about the state of the United States have come true. Due to this, Jack-son believes what

the man says. The man tells Jackson that the government is building “arks” to save people, but only those like Bill Gates. After dis-covering this news, Jackson, his kids, his ex-wife, and her new husband board a plane in an attempt to reach the arks. They will do whatever they can to try to make it out of this whole disas-ter alive. Overall, this movie was better than I expected.

It was a little hard to understand in the beginning, but it got better later in the movie. The special effects were pretty amazing. It was also pretty action-packed and suspenseful. The scene when all of California begins cracking and swirl-ing into the massive hole was cool. If your not a fan of sci-fi films, you will hate this movie. If you do like sci-ence fiction, you may enjoy it.

Features 5AJanuary 31, 2012 The Cougar Courier

Send features ideas toRachel Bacher & Lorraine Engle-man at newspaper@nhcs.k12.in.us

Coke or Pepsi It’s a timeless question not only pondered by scien-tists everywhere, but also one so fa-mous that it’s pub-lished in a series of fill-in opinion books: Coke or Pepsi? There is nothing more fascinating than a caffeinated beverage. Irresist-ible to nearly all of us, it’s one of the few things you can down to quench your thirst and still be thirsty after you’re done. This makes for not only a drink that never loses its draw, but also a marketing technique quiet convenient for any-one trying to sell it. I’m sure you all are dying to find the answer to this one, so allow me to end your agony. I’m par-

tial to Pepsi, but the subject of taste is debatable until we all fall asleep; I’m counting on facts and popular opinion to help me out with this. Who better to get popular opinions from than our very own students here at North Harrison? A friend and I set up an experiment table at all three lunches for one day. We put Coke into pink cups and Pepsi into blue cups, both unmarked. Anyone who didn’t ignore us had the chance to give their input on which was better, and then test both the beverages to see if they could tell which one was which. The final results were: 69% for Coke, 31% for Pepsi. No mat-ter which one was chosen, almost ev-eryone was pretty

Photo by Rachel Bacher

Sophomores Ryan Heilig, Brad Missi, and Trevor Bot-torff take on the Coke or Pepsi taste test challenge.

sure they could pick out their favorite. However, 23% of those surveyed got it backwards, so perhaps they can’t truthfully say which is their favorite. According to the student’s choice, Coke is better tast-ing. Which is better as for something you’re ingesting, though? Nutritionally speaking, there’s

only a small mar-gin of difference between the two. When compared to Pepsi, Coke has ten less calories (140) and two less grams of sugar (39), but fifteen more milligrams of sodium (45). As far as ingredients, they both contain carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, phosphoric

acid, caffeine, and so-called natural flavor. The only difference is that Pepsi has citric acid

and sugar listed as ingredients and Coke does not, (but we can assume the 39 grams of sugar are in there some-where even if they are not listed as ingredients). In the end, it looks like Coke is the favorite. I can’t say I agree, of course, but I find it weird the difference a little citric acid makes. I guess the only way to find out which is the best is for you to chug some and decide for yourself. Or water is al-ways good, too.

Let us know! Do you prefer Coke or Pepsi? E-mail us at newspaper@nhcs.k12.in.us or give the editors (Rachel Bacher or Lorraine Engleman) your opinion for next month’s paper!

New Year’s resolutions New Year’s Eve is a time for re-membering all great memories you’ve made over the past year and to look for-ward to the one that is coming. What changes will hap-pen this year? Most people make a New

Year’s resolution. The following are the top ten most popular New Year’s resolutions. 1. Lose weight and get fit. 2. Quit smoking. 3. Eat healthier. 4. Save money. 5. Spend more time with family. 6. Travel to new places.

Photo by Jessica Turner

Enjoy this hot, delicious beverage on a snowy day... if that snowy day ever comes.

curl up by the fire.

Ingredients:(1 serving)1 cup of milk¾ (1 ounce) square semisweet choco-late (chopped)1 peppermint candy cane, crushed¼ cup whipped cream1 candy cane stick (optional)

Directions:In a saucepan, heat milk until hot, but not boiling. Whisk in the chocolate and the crushed peppermint can-dies until melted and smooth. Pour hot cocoa into four mugs and gar-nish with whipped cream. Serve with a candy cane stirring stick. Enjoy!

Peppermint hot chocolate

Lorraine Engleman

Co-Features Editor

Lexie SmithFeatures Writer

Jessica Turner

Features Writer

7. Be less stressed. 8. Get out of debt. 9. Find a spouse. 10. Move out of your parent’s house. Once you’ve made your resolu-tion, it’s hard to actually go through with it. There are always plenty of obstacles to get in

Hot chocolate is definitely the “holi-day drink”. It’s quick and easy to make and the perfect drink to sip while the weather’s cold outside. Here is a different recipe to try, so get ready to make a cup, get in your Snuggie, and

The end of the worldtransformation. Scholar students say that this totally misdirects the Ma-yan Calendar. The Mayan Cal-endar is based on religion, mathemat-ics, myth, and the numbers 13 and 20. Using highly ad-vanced science and math, the Mayans calculated that the world will last 5126 years, the last day being Doomsday. I’d explain the specifics of it, but it might fry some of your all’s brains. The other ques-tion about Dooms-day is “how?”. Some scientists say from a solar flare, an asteroid, or possibly a black hole. Others say the poles will switch ends, resulting in multiple and un-imaginable natural disasters that could break continents apart. Other people, like lunatics running around with nothing but barrels on, say

we’ll die the exact same way the dino-saurs did. The only problem is, we don’t know what made them go extinct! Many cultures say we will be abducted by aliens because of signs of crop circles and sight-ings. Others, such as the Egyptians, say because of natural disasters or universal catastro-phes. Many people have quit their jobs to prepare for the end of the world. Many web-sites have been dedicated to selling survival gear and have made a ton of money. If the world doesn’t end, just imagine the look on their faces. Whether you believe it or you don’t; only time will tell. It doesn’t mat-ter when or how or even if we cease to exist, we must live as if tomorrow will never come.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “What would you do if you died tomorrow?”. Well, some people think that phrase might come into effect soon... very soon. In the 1990’s people said we’d never live to see the 2000’s, and then the same thing for 2001, 2010, and 2012. You would think we’d get it right sometime! Thankfully though, we haven’t. Other disaster dates are 12/12/12, 12/1/12, and most heard of, 12/21/12. This is supposedly when the Meso-american Long Count Calendar is supposed to stop counting the days. Some think that we might enter a new era where people undergo a spiritual or even physical

Rachel Bacher

Co-Features Editor

your way. A study shows that 60% of people who make New Year’s resolutions break their goal in the first two weeks. If you are hav-ing trouble with your resolution, try breaking down it down into steps to make it more simple. Good luck!

25%

75%

Last month’s poll: summer or winter?

Winter Summer

Features 6AJanuary 31, 2012 The Cougar Courier

Send features ideas toRachel Bacher & Lorraine Engle-man at newspaper@nhcs.k12.in.us

Will you be mine? quiet!clothes and shirts with “riding solo” slogans on them. They also stuff their faces with black cookies and cake with anti-love songs blaring in the background. And what party would be complete with-out a piñata? They just fill up a giant heart with candy and whack it away with some seri-ous baseball bats. Some people even go out of their way to make voo-doo dolls of their exes or draw all over photos of them. It’s most likely that people hate Valentine’s Day because they are single, but let’s face it; the divorce rate

Photo by Lorraine Engleman

Sophomore Rachel Bacher snarls as she rips her valentine into pieces.

pressured every year to spend crazy amounts of money on their sweetheart and then get the worry of whether they spent to much or too little. And they wonder why we girls get so stressed out. Maybe, but high-ly unlikely, people relate the current February 14th to February 14th, 1929. Most com-monly known as the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. This was definitely the opposite of what Valentine’s Day was supposed to be. Not to bring religion and history into this debate, but instead of the one famous Saint Val-

entine, there were actually three. Only one was remem-bered, though, as the one who died over his religion and for healing the blind daughter. The day before he was executed, he wrote the first “valentine” that was sent to a girl, and signed “From, your Val-entine”. This went on in history to be known as Valen-tine’s Day. Whether you hate, love, or have no opinion at all about Valentine’s Day, don’t ruin the day for others. You can hang out with your friends, get a date, or simply ignore the holiday all together.

now is 50%! No wonder people are single. Or perhaps, like in the movie “Valentine’s Day”, many think it to be

a “Hallmark” holiday where chocolates and roses are produced just to make money. Men especially think this; they are constantly

What’s your New Year’s Reso-lution?

Sidney Gieselman

“To make new friends”

Sara Lang

“Get in shape”

Other resolutions:

“No Big Macs”-Miranda Whelan

“Come to school more”-Jon Sandman

“Get in shape”-Tina Brown

Alex Robson

“To have more fun”

Valentine’s Day is the day where people’s fantasies come true, and they finally get the guts to ask that special someone out on a date. It’s also a day to get fat from chocolate hearts and dizzy on the smell of roses. Who wouldn’t like that, you say? Well, I’ll tell you that I’ve met one too many people for my liking that despise the “love” holiday. Most anti-Valen-tine’s Day people throw crazy parties to show their lack of appreciation for the holiday. They splurge into black

Rachel BacherCo-Features Editor

Lexie SmithFeatures WriterPhotos by Lexie Smith

Sports 7AJanuary 31 , 2012 The Cougar Courier

Send sports news to...Collin Book & Jordan Robbelothnewspaper.nhcs.k12.in.us.

Lady Cat Basketball in review

The North Har-rison Lady Cats have a record of 9-9 in the season. They have lost their last three games, their latest one being to the Brownstown Braves. The Lady Cats started off hot in this game scor-ing seven straight points, but Brown-stown stormed back to take the lead and never looked back. The Brownstown Braves ended up winning the game 65-48 on the Lady Cats senior night. The three seniors on the Lady Cats are Rebecca Stephen-son, Haley Rennek-er, and Emily Giles. Throughout the season, the Lady Cats have had to deal with many injuries that include four starters, which

has hurt the team at times. Senior Haley Ren-neker said, “The season is going good. We have had to deal with a lot of injuries but overall we are doing good and playing hard.” The Lady Cats look to change their losing streak on January 31 in their game against the Charlestown Pirates. The Cats have two remain-ing games on their schedule until the post-season. The sectionals are held at Charlestown this year. Continue to come out and show sup-port for our Lady Cats as they roll into their post-season play. Even with the injuries they have endured, the ladies are certain to be in contest for a sec-tional.

NHHS Swimming breaking records Swim season is coming to an end, but the girls sure do know how to go out with a bang with regionals still in their future. They went out to Salem on January 17 for the Mid-Southern Conference Girls Swimming Champi-onship, and ended up coming in 2nd place with a final score of 219. School records were broken and all-in-all, it was a good meet for the ladies. Freshman Bailey Seitz indi-vidually broke two new school records, the 50 yard free-style at 27.30 and the 100 yard back-stroke with a time of 1:09.08. The relay team comprised of senior Kelsey Stick-ler, senior Olivia Davis, sophomore

Alexis Curts, and freshman Bailey Seitz, who also set two school records as well including the 200 yard relay at 2:15.13 and the 200 yard freestyle at a time of 2:03.62. Senior Olivia Davis set a new school record as well. She finished the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:17.61. The team was very supportive of their fellow swim-mers as they were competing. They had nothing but encouraging words to say. “The season has been great and I’m really going to be sad at the end of the season. Our team has done amazing this year. The only expecta-tions I have for regionals is to make my coach proud,” said senior Sydney Taylor.

All the swimmers pushed themselves to improve their times. Sophomore Kendall Frantz

said, “We’re doing better this year. Our coach has re-ally motivated us to improve throughout the season. I like

finishing out the season strong. I’m definitely looking forward to next sea-son but I will miss our seniors.” Their

coach seemed to be impressed by all their efforts, but they aren’t done yet, they must keep up their hard work.

Boys Basketball Topples Eastern (cont. on back page)

The North Harrison boys’ basketball team has achieved a great deal of success so far this

season. The cou-gars have caught fire as of late, riding a five game win-ning streak with wins over Heritage Hills, Austin, Pekin, Scottsburg, and Floyd Central.

The home games have been espe-cially thrilling, with many coming down to the last minutes. Coach Walters was very optimistic about the season so far, and was

very pleased with the home crowd. “Our home crowd, especially our stu-dent section, has been a big positive and has created a lot of energy in the building. We still

have a lot of road games left to play in tough environ-ments. We hope that our student section can travel with us and give us the lift we need to compete on the

road.” The cougars are led by seniors Collin Book, Cody Morgan, and Josh Wenning. Walters contributed a great deal of success to these seniors. “We have had a lot of

Josh Wenning

Sports Writer

Bethany Wiley

Sports Writer

Senior Ben Wellner swims at a meet during a very successful swim season. The swim team broke many records over the course of the season.

Photo contributed by Mrs. Isbell

Josh Guy

Sports Writer

Senior Hayley Renneker jumps for the tip in their loss to the brownstown braves on senior night.

Photo by Carley Gancher

Sports 8AJanuary 31, 2012 The Cougar Courier

Send sports news to...Collin Book & Jordan Robbelothnewspaper.nhcs.k12.in.us.

Girls Take hard loss to Corydon The Lady Cats lost a hard fought battle to Corydon 41-37. The leading scorer was Kendra Lambert with 18 points, and Kim Chiquito with 7. The Lady Cats led the way for 3 quarters, but fell short in the 4th. Sophomore Ken-dra Lambert said, “At times we played together well, but when it came down to it we fell apart.” Between injuries and a new arrival, the girls are still trying to learn how to effectively work together and get to the spot Coach Voyles wants them to be. “The girls ex-ecuted our game plan very well in the first half. We were attacking the basket and aggressive on defense. The second half was a different story. We didn’t handle their defensive pressure very well and we

were passive on of-fense,” Voyles said. With Corydon being North Har-rison’s rival team, the pressure was on the girls. “I don’t think the rivalry in general caused us

to breakdown. We haven’t handled close game situa-tions well in other games this year. In the last five minutes of a game, it’s really important to have good offensive ex-

ecution. We have had some letdowns late in the game throughout the year. Hopefully, we will learn from this loss and improve in this area of the game prior to tournament

this year,” Voyles said. On January 19th the lady cats hosted Bedford North Lawerence. The Cats lost the game, but played hard until the end.

Cougars topple Eastern Cont. from page 7A

senior leadership, and it has paid off for the entire team.” “It is one of the worst feel-ings to lose”, said Wenning, “but los-ing when you are good drives you to become better and better.” “This season has been really fun so far”, said Morgan. The cougars had their best start in several years, and Book commented on that fact. “The season has been a success so far, and hope-fully we can be part of the turnaround for North Harrison basketball.” After a 9-2 start, Walters is looking forward to the rest of the season. “We want to continue to get better as students,

as players, and as people, win or lose. We want to continue to com-pete each night and give our best effort.” The students, along with the many faith-ful North Harrison fans, will watch the rest of the cou-gar’s season as they compete for a conference and sectional champi-onship. Upcoming games for the cou-gars include West Washington, Madi-son, and Crawford County. The Cou-gars conference record stands at 4 and 3. Come out and show your sup-port for the Cou-gars in their hottest season, the seniors are playing as hard as they can for their final season.

Player of the month An exceptional player over the last month has been sophomore Cory Smith. Cory has scored over twenty points in several of the big games that the cougars have faced. Cory has stepped up to the challenge and has led the cou-gars to their current

record. Cory is not only a scorer for his team as he is also very active on defense. He is good at pressuring the ball and causing turnovers for the other teams. The Cougars have had an extremely good start to their sea-son this year. They play with a smaller

lineup which eas-ily enables them to expose the oppos-ing teams defensive mismatches. They take advantage of these mismatches, look to control the pace of the game, and play it the way they desire. The Cougars have a current record of 9 and 4.

Sophomore Cory Smith hits a shot with a foul on the play. He would finish the play with the free throw in their win against Heritage Hills

The Lady Cats are playing hard nose defense in their loss against Corydon Central last week. Kendra Lambert finished the game with eighteen points.

The girl’s record now stands at 9-7. Continue to come out and support your Lady Cats and our seniors in their last season on the court against their opponents.

Regan Comer

Sports Writer

Junior Tyler Bement hits a very acrobatic layup in their victory against Pekin Eastern on January 13th.

Photo by Regan Comer

Photo by Carley Gancher

Photo by Mary Grace Gehm