February 2011

Hi Times602 F Street, LaPorte, IN 46350Issue 5, Volume 102

Happy Ads! Page 4

Body Art: Health Hazard or Self-Expression? Page 2

Exclusive Interview: Christina Perri Page 6

By Skyler ShorttStaff Writer

By Courtney WestStaff Writer

Photos by Brittany Belkiewitz and Lauren Dipert

(Left) When Sean Rogers has questions about homework, he visits Senora Krause during success pe-riod.

(Right) Senorita Brinsfield is a first-year teacher at LPHS, and she displays unique student proj-ects on her bulletin board.

By Skyler ShorttStaff Writer

By Cole KelloggStaff Writer

Despite the rough economic downspins, 2010 had a strong economic finish. During the month of December, retail spending rose .6%. This gain brings hope to 2011 because consumer spending will give the first quarter of the New Year a helpful boost. But not everyone is convinced that this year will start on such a high note. Economist Arthur Laffer is predicting the economy will take a steep fall right at the beginning of this year. Laffer, after taking all factors into consideration, has compared the state of our economy to the sink-ing of the Titanic. New jobs are being created, but it’s not enough. There are still mil-lions unemployed and in need of a stable job. Steep tax increases also follow this grim news. No one knows or can be sure of what the future holds. “If our government continues to increase America’s exports and if American citizens are responsible with credit, I believe the economy in 2011 will continue to grow, but we must remain cautious,” said junior Terry Wicks. Based on Laffer’s predictions, it sounds like jumping ship may be our only option.

In a high school classroom, teachers can have from zero to around forty years of experience. In most institutions around the country, there are both first year teachers, as well as those that have taught generations of teens. This fact provokes the question, ‘Which type is better to have?’ If one teacher has much more experience, won’t they lack the relatability that students want? I mean, a high school student doesn’t want to be overloaded with homework, but someone who understands what is going on in his life right now. On the other hand, new instructors will not really know what helps teens retain information better, will they? In order to achieve a high grade, students want to have a teacher that explains the material well. To try to compose an informed opinion on the matter, I went undercover, “Bond” style, into the classrooms of Señorita Brinsfield and Señora Krause. Realistically, 007 never sat in the back of a Spanish class quietly observing, but you catch my drift. As each bell rings, students slowly enter the classrooms, about as excited to learn as any adolescent ever is. Miss Brins-field stands at the head of the

room, greeting students individu-ally. Miss Krause sits in her desk engaging in conversation with students that arrived early, or helping those with preguntas (questions). Brinsfield chooses to use a warm-up overhead to encourage classroom participation early. Krause’s students are almost immediately thinking, due to the long list of verbal directions they receive, in Spanish, of course. Señorita begins partner work early on in the period. Her recent collegiate experience taught her to build a comfortable environ-ment before getting deep into discussion. “[I am] focused on building

a comfortable classroom envi-ronment before trying to teach the specific subject,” said Miss Brinsfield. Señora Dora opens up with vocabulary and sentence transla-tions. Krause’s secondary educa-tion and teaching experience has led her to believe that this method works best. As class time progresses, movies are shown and most of the activi-ties are similar. Senora Krause begins partner work near the end of the period, after all necessary activities are done.“The students work in pairs and individually, depending on the activity. I believe there are ben-efits to both,” said Senora Krause.

“When they work individually it allows me to see their strengths and weaknesses. When they work in pairs, they are practicing social skills while still reviewing the material.” A difference in the level of re-spect is obvious, though. While the young teacher’s students qui-etly joke during lectures, Krause’s children maintain a respectful silence. Unfortunately for newer instructors, high school students will always have an undeserved sense of entitlement in their classrooms. Brinsfield does a great job of controlling the beasts, though, and relating to students is simply a trait that cannot be

feigned. Señora Krause, on the other hand, has developed a respect from students over the past “few” years she has been here. This respect keeps her classroom quiet and under control as she is speaking. Another contrasting aspect of these two teachers’ classrooms is the way students are rewarded. As any that have had her should know, Miss Krause gives poker chips out for correct answers during class. “You do a lot of hands-on learning in Krause’s class. And she puts you on the spot, which forces you study,” says senior Cory Kraus. Señorita Brinsfield rewards her intelligent and respectful classes with group work. “I like Brinsfield’s class, we do a good amount of our activities in groups,” said junior Troy Nelson, who is currently in Señorita’s class. One thing that these two profe-soras de Español definitely have in common is a sense of humor. Realistically, this is an important quality for high school teachers. Students want to have fun in class, no matter how unnecessary it is. And both of these instruc-tors maintain a great sense of humor which they incorporate into everyday lessons.

Teaching styles and techniques differ according to experience

LPHS’s academic clubs have been quite successful in past years. They hope that this year will prove to be the same. The clubs competing right now are Quiz Bowl, Academic Super Bowl and JETS. Quiz Bowl is a competion similar to Jeopardy, in which participants are quizzed on various topics such as math, history, art and sports. At this point, they have competed in five competitions. The Varsity team is 2-3, while the JV is 3-2. Quiz Bowl’s strongest competitors are Maverick Blanton, Matt Stearns, Rebecca Frye and Zach Crook. Mr. Sherrick, who leads the Quiz Bowl team, has high goals for this year. “We hope to be one of the top four teams in the conference standings at the end of the season. This qualifies us for state competition,” said Sherrick. Academic Super Bowl tests participants in English, math, social studies, science and fine arts. Students are separated into groups of four to complete in each of these categories. The competitions consist of 25 multiple choice questions, where each team is given 20 seconds to decide on an answer. Mrs. Niksch is in command of this team, while Mrs. Kanney takes charge of the English participants. This year’s theme is Latin America. JETS, Junior Engineering Technical Society, is an academic com-petition that puts participants’ math skills to the test. Mr. VanHook leads the team to prepare for a four-hour exam is taken to assess each students knowledge. These academic teams will continue to compete throughout the year. Each team has a common goal in mind: to win and make LPHS proud by their accomplishments.

The annual Girl Reserves dance is quickly approaching. Each year, the dance’s theme is withheld from all the attendees. Only the cabinet knows the specific details concerning the dance. GR is available to all girls who are students at LPHS. The core value of the club is to learn the im-portance of volunteering. Members must earn around 30 points by participating in community service projects to be eligible to attend the dance. Girls have already begun to ask their dates in fun and creative ways. Sophomore cheerleaders Kayla Dunbar and Paige Pope asked their boyfriends, Connor Podkul and Jared Ross, at the boys’ basketball game on January 28. “Well, Jared means a lot to me and I wanted to make sure that I asked him in a unique way and I wanted to make him happy, of course,” said Dunbar. “Paige’s mom suggested we use cheerleading to our advantage, so we put our creativity together and did the best we could to make our men feel special,” said Dunbar. The girls made banners asking their dates to GR and during a timeout cheer, they held them up for the crowd to see. Both of the boys were caught off guard. “I was shocked, very shocked, because I was just talking to my friends, and then all of the sudden I heard my name in a cheer and I looked up and saw her standing with a huge banner,” said Podkul. Podkul and Ross both said yes, of course. The date of the dance is set for February 26.

Economy revives slightly

Academic teams compete

GR dance approaches

This year, the ISSMA (Indiana State School Music Associa-tion) contest was held at Val-paraiso High School on Satur-day, February 5. LPHS students performed in the contest. The solo and ensemble competition gives students the choice whether they want to perform alone, or they can join an ensemble. There are separate classes of competition, divided up into beginning, intermediate and treble sections. There are several performance rooms in which different groups will sing; a variety of musical genres are selected. Here, per-formers introduce themselves to a judge and inform their audi-

By Lauren DipertStaff Writer

ence the name of their ensemble and which school they attend. More than likely, their accom-paniment is provided by LPHS’s very own Mrs. Devries. Koral Hurley, a freshman, said, “I’m not in the ensemble, but I am in beginning women’s choir, and I think it’s a really neat thing that the choirs get the op-portunity to do something like this. It gets them prepared for the future.” LPHS fans are always wel-come to attend ISSMA contests to cheer on their high school’s choir members! The ensemble groups includ-ed: Boardman, Cornett, Ebsch, Garwood, Gerick, Haller, Johnson, Kayser, Khan, Nees, Steck, Strelesky and Tucker ensembles.

LPHS solo performers in-cluded: Shirin Azarvan, Emily Barsic, Tim Boulahanis, Holly Buresh, LeeAnna Ciastko, Al-yssa Gerick, AnnaMarie Gerick, Ashley Hodge, Coburn Hoff-man, Jenna Kalsow, Kami Khan, Abbi Meinhard, Alex Nelson, Kylie Schriber, Miranda Steele and Keziah Tucker. Anyone who was unable to attend the competition on Saturday could have gone to the preview night on Wednesday, February 2. However, this year, the preview night was canceled due to inclement weather. Jeremy Kreitz, a junior, said, “We’ve all been working really hard!” Good job to all of the LPHS performers who traveled to Valparaiso!

Slicer singers succeed at ISSMA