BuzZThe

May/June 2013Volume 11, Issue 7

“From the Stinger to...”

Denison High School1901 S. Mirick Ave. Denison, Tx 75020

Insi

de

From the

Edi tor

Page 9 Page 3 Page 10 Page 11

2012-2013

Kayla RobinsonEditor-in-chief

How Different are TAKS and EOC?

A Pokemon kid’s new addiction: Alpaca World

Running for the Cause:Buffy and NHS 5Ks

From Adviser to Staff...

Regional Sports

This has been a journey. The newspaper staff isn’t like the rest of the journalism department. We have fun and laugh, yes, but I can only work very diligently and quietly for a short period of time, in the little editors’ of-fice, listening to post-acoustic on YouTube. Sometimes that meant missing out on Eaves’ jokes with the photo and year-book staffs, or trying not to laugh while the Jacket Update was filming YouTube Classic Theatre on the couch. I’ve had to deal with staff issues and missed deadlines and every-thing that an Editor-in-chief hopes she never has to tackle, and I will say that I’ve never taken my responsibility to the newspaper lightly. Instead, I’ve focused my energy on produc-ing this newspaper for you, the student, to be able to look back and remember your accom-plishments. Whether you were involved in sports, the arts, or technical classes, I hope you’ve enjoyed our record of Denison’s year. Thank you all for allow-ing us to discover the students’ thoughts, and I wish you all the best of luck. I will miss you!

Here we are again at the place I have come to despise… the end of another school year… and the departure of another batch of graduating seniors from Journalism staff. I know I have to let them go, but sometimes that can be a difficult task. Now here, I need to say a few parting words to the Buzz seniors that are getting ready to leave room 105 for the last time. It’s clear that this room has created a situation where by the time you are a senior on staff, you know what your task is and you do it well. That is very much the case with this batch of Buzz seniors. Again, I continued to be spoiled by hardworking, creative self-starters who take pride in the work they do. Qualities I wish were contagious throughout our world. The Buzz newspaper staff this year contained seniors that will hopefully continue to explore the world around them and be both informative and inquisi-tive regarding the issues that affect them. To our editor-in-chief, Kayla the great… thank you for being the leader of this project all year. I know you dealt with many different challenges in your role, but you overcame them all. You learned about commitment and perseverance, both quali-ties that will help you in the future. Oh yes, and persistence. You know all those times when you needed me to look at pages and I forgot to go over them . Yeah, I wasn’t just ignoring you. Ok, maybe just a bit… To Callie, whose personality is much larger than she is… good job this year helping Kayla maintain some level of sanity. Even if the sanity level from you was not much better! You are a good leader and a dedicated worker that made things tolerable this year. I hope you have many more days ahead of you where your commitment to excellence has the abil-ity to shine through. To Mandi, the glorious romantic that you are… wow, what can I say about a person who has her own following of believers? Nothing more than thank you. Thank you for the comedy, the odd-ness and the complete and utter domination of the ENTIRE staff. Nice work this year! Good, creative designs are very much a part of what you brought to the newspaper this year... that, and so much more. To Devan… it’s time to take the lead. I hope that you will carry on the tradition of excellence that the editors before you have fostered and fueled.

Parting words from Eaves to the gang

From left to right: senior Callie Keese - copy editor, senior Kayla Robinson - editor -in-chief, senior Mandi Elrod - managing editor, sophomore Devan Holley -staff writer

2 School LIFE

May/June 2013 The

The Buzz newspaper is a student-generated publication that is produced, edited, and maintained by the DHS jour-nalism staff of room 105. The Buzz encourages student ex-pression and is designed to be a forum for open discussion.

As part of its mission to serve as a medium for debate, The Buzz supports and accepts letters to the editor. All sub-missions must be signed by the author and delivered to Room 105. The staff reserves the right to edit any material.

Editorials appearing in The Buzz represent the sole views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the administration or those of the DHS Journalism Department.

Edi tor i a l Pol ic y

Students Compete in Regional Academic Competition

On March 27, the UIL Aca-demics team competed at District at Lovejoy High School. Out of the 39 students that competed, 14 placed with 11 students and 5 teams qualifying for Regionals at UT Arlington. “I’ve been involved all four years. This was the first time I’ve been to regionals. It feels abso-lutely amazing. We all worked so hard and I’m so proud of us, es-pecially Samantha [McMillan],” senior Elizabeth Armstrong said. UIL Academics takes hard work and dedication from all that are involved. The students spend hours studying to prepare for the District meet every year to try and advance to Regionals. This year, the hard work paid off.

“It was really cool that we were able to move on to Region-als because it felt like all of the hard work, studying, and dedica-

tion to the events finally paid off in us succeeding. It’s really great to become really close with your team and sponsor while doing something that you all love with

a common goal; to do well and to succeed,” senior Rahat Aziz said. At District, a total of 193 points were scored by the students indi-

vidually, and 50 points through the teams in Calculator Applica-tions, Literary Criticism, Math-ematics, Science, and Social Studies. Due to the tremendous efforts by the students, the school was able to claim runner up. “Ending my involvement with UIL Academics at a Re-gional competition is a very bit-tersweet experience-on the one hand, it’s a bit disappointing

to have been so close to advanc-ing state, but the whole thing has been so rewarding and making it so far with my whole team… incred-ible,” senior MaKayla Reese said.

Callie KeeseCopy Editor

Mrs. Ivers Says Goodbye to her LAST Senior Class 2013. Wow. I feel really old. It certainly doesn’t seem like it has been 27 since I was in your shoes. But, I’m told numbers don’t lie. 27 years since I received my diploma from Denison High School.

The building hasn’t changed all that much. Even some of the people haven’t changed! Coach Williams was at DHS when I graduated. Randy Bullock was one of my band directors. Mr. Terry taught me biology! (Back then it wasn’t called AP biology, it was honors biology. We met for two hours a day-and we weren’t on a block schedule! And of course Monday night labs!) We didn’t have computers or cell phones. Technol-

ogy in the classroom was an overhead projector and film strips. (I doubt you all know what a film strip is!)

One very important thing has also not changed: JACKET PRIDE! You and your classmates will leave high school and pursue very different and unique path-ways. Some will go straight to work. Others will seek a college degree or some type of certification. Still others will join the armed forces and serve our great nation in that manner. No mat-ter where you go, or what dreams you chase (and hope-fully grab hold of ), remem-ber your roots. Be thankful for the dedicated educators you’ve had in your class-

room. No matter what the world may say, I assure you, those who can TEACH, and you have been blessed with some of the finest.

My goal for each of you is that you succeed and your life is filled with a sense of mean-ing and purpose. One of my favorite poems says it best:

To laugh often and much;To win the respect of intel-ligent people and the affec-

tion of children;To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure

the betrayal of false friends;To appreciate beauty;

To find the best in others;To leave the world a bit

better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a

redeemed social condition;To know even one life has

breathed easier because you have lived;

This is to have succeeded.

I wish I could tell you that everyone would have a fairy tale life. But, I’ve never lied to you, and I’m not going to start now. Life can and will bring difficult times; you will face heartaches, heartbreaks, and hard times. But, it is also filled with joy, happiness, and wonder! Graduation is called com-mencement for a reason. This is not the end, it is truly only the beginning! To quote a favorite song, “the best that I can hope for, no even better is what I pray, that the Lord in His mercy

keep you and that you hold on to a child like faith.”

You’ve been a blessing in my life. I can hardly wait to see all you will do! So, Class of 2013, this is your time. Get out there and show us just how you’re going to change your world for the better. And remember, “you are loved and someone here is always praying for you!”

SchoollIFE 3

ThE Buzz May/JunE 2013

Standardized testing has been a part of the United States of America’s educa-tion system since the mid-1800s; however, the tests have grown to have high stakes that threaten a student’s chances of graduating. The tests have had a drastic change on edu-cation, teachers, and students. Concerns about standard-ized testing were around as ear-ly as 1906, when the New York Department of Education told legislatures that it was wrong of the government to throw out

Devan Holley Staff Writer

A tradition here at DHS has since been taken away. Dur-ing test times, the seniors were given the pleasure of missing school all of those days. Only coming in to check in at 10 a.m. became something that under-classmen anticipated. Until of course, the state took it away. “I can’t believe this hap-pened, when I first got to school here in my sophomore year, and I heard that we didn’t have to

Students Stress Over Standardized Testing

systematic instruction and a comprehensive view of a subject and replace it with scrappy and unrelated knowledge gained by students who are persistently drilled in simply an-swering questions is-sued by the Education Department or other governing bodies. In 2002 the No Child Left Behind Act was passed and required annual testing. In

2009, it was found that the US

dropped from being ranked

Seniors Shocked Over Test Day ChangesMandi Elrod

Managing Editor

take all of those stupid tests our senior year, I was ecstatic. Now that it’s taken away, i can’t help but be really upset. It’s not fair to take that away from us,” senior Kelly Hughes said. At the beginning of the year, there was no talk of tak-ing it away whatsoever. Un-fortunately as the first testing came near, the news was let go. Seniors all over the build-ing groaned in disappointment

at the mere thought of having to come to school anyways. In-stead of continuing with class-es however, the school board made it a day where the seniors did activities, which most say was a waste of time anyways. “I don’t think that the school board understands what they’ve done. A lot of students left ear-ly, came late, or didn’t show up at all anyways, so it’s not like they fixed the problem as is. I

just don’t get why our freedom is being taken away so that they can meet some kind of quota,” senior Robert Gardner said. The situation was fixed part way when the school board decided to let the seniors just come in late on EOC days at the beginning of May, but even then the seniors found it un-fair to even come in at all, and spent the days still complaining about the unfairness of it all.

18th in math to 31st. Annual state spending on test-ing went from 423 million dollars before NCLB to almost 1.1 billion dollars in 2008. Recently, Chicago stu-dents boycotted the Prairie State Achieve-ment Exam to protest high stakes testing and the closing of 54 schools due to deficit reduction measures. Studies have shown

that standardized testing causes

“I understand where they’re coming from. I do. But it’s still not fair either way. I just don’t get why the leash can’t be cut off. I know we’re leav-ing in a month, but letting go works both ways and it’s hard when It’s only one sided,” se-nior Charise Hamilton said. Until the school board figures out what they’re go-ing to do, the seniors will continue to be disappointed.

V.S.

a great amount of pressure for both students and teach-ers. The pressure causes prac-tice and drill-like instruction and curriculum. The focus on minimal knowledge has less-ened the depth and richness of the curriculum. Teachers have been shown to feel the need to increase student test scores are steadily increasing. High rank-ing students have shown to feel like they must make high scores to make up for the rest, which often creates a disengagement from the learning process.

4 Commun i t y

May/June 2013 The Buzz

Munson Stadium has been an icon of Denison since its con-struction in 1938. Through its seventy-five years, wear and tear has caused it to be deemed unsafe by engineers which lead to the decision to upgrade the stadium, costing approximately five mil-lion dollars. On April 25, it was announced that Ms. Eva Gerard Baker donated the final million dollars to the renovation project. “It was money that my hus-band and I had designated for charity. So, I decided this was a good place to put it. We earned the money here, my hus-band and I. And the people of Denison supported us for years. It was our turn,” Gerard said. The Gerard family has been actively involved in the Denison school district for many years. Because of Ge-rard’s wish for her money to

stay local, the renovation proj-ect was just what she needed. “She’s lived here pretty much

all her life and has raised five kids here that went through Denison ISD,” Gerard-Baker’s

granddaughter Eva Renee Smith said. “Several of them played football and she just wanted to

give back to the community.” With the five million raised, the old stands and field houses will be demolished, a new field house that will be able to hold both teams, a restroom, and concession stand will be built, the east side of the stadium will be enhanced, and the light-ing and sound system will un-dergo upgrades. Gerard’s total of 1.4 million puts the proj-ect over the amount that was needed. The extra four hundred thousand dollars will go to up-grades throughout the stadium. “We need to do the right thing for Denison, Texas and that is to have a first-class stadi-um that this community can be proud of,” Denison Mayor Jar-ed Johnson said. “When other communities come to our com-munity they’ll think that Deni-son, Texas is moving forward.”

Citizen Donates One Million to MunsonCallie Keese

Copy Editor

Softball Stands TallMandi ElrodManaging Editor

Softball has been a key sport in the lives of many people for a long time. A universal sport, for children and adults alike, it’s a good activity for anyone to be a part of a team. It was invented by the Far-ragut Boat Club in 1887 by a group of Yale and Harvard alumni. Upon finding out that Yale had won in the football game against Harvard, one man threw a boxing glove at another member only to have the man hit it back with a large stick. A reporter by the name of George Hancock was with them at the time came up with the idea of playing

baseball inside of a building, and called it softball. By using the laces on the glove, he tied it together making it slightly round. He then used chalk to make the bases and seperated the groups into two teams. The ending score of the game was 41-40. When summer came around the game was moved outside, and played on a field much smaller than a baseball field. The game was known as an indoor-

outdoor sport. The sport grew over the years to a mere 40 million players all over the country. Hancock created a list of 19 rules that were later made le-git by the Mid Winter Indoor Baseball League of Chicago in 1889. Hancock’s game spread throughout the country eventually landing in Mineap-polis. Lewis Rober, a Mineappolis fire de-partment lieutenant wanted a way to to keep his firement fit, so he set up a diamond on a vacant lot close

by the station. He layed out bases with a pitching length of 35 feet. His ball was a small sized medicine ball and a bat was used that was 2 inches in diameter, different in size than a normal baseball bat. The game continued to grow as a popular sport, and became even more popular than baseball. Softball, origi-nally being created by men, for men, quickly became a sport that’s mostly played by women. The ball, bigger than a baseball, is lighter and harder. Softball will continue on as a popular sport for many more years to come.

graduation

>May 23- Socrates Banquet at 7:00 P.M.

> May 30- Senior Awards Banquet at 6:30 P.M.

> June 2- Baccalaureate at 5:00 P.M. at Waples Church

> June 6- Mandatory Graduation Practice at 3:00 P.M.

> June 8- Graduation at 8:30 P.M.

Our Time is

Children have a funny way of dreaming over-the-top for the future, always insisting that they want to be ballerinas, cowboys, or princesses. These hopeful aspirations are some-thing that high school students have usually forgotten by senior year, or at least packed away deep in their childhood memo-ries, to be mentioned at a fam-ily gathering sometime down the road. While seniors are always asked about their prac-

tical plans after high school, The Buzz staff decided to ask the students to dig deeper than their usual answer to find a left-over and matured remnant of their childhood dreams. “My childhood dream was to be a ballerina, and obvi-ously that didn’t happen,” senior Maria Hayes jokingly said. “My new dream with be-ing a labor and delivery nurse would be working somewhere on the border because there’s

women who come across just to have their babies. They’re literally walking across, nine months pregnant, huge, try-ing to give their kids a better life. That’s what I really want to do, but I think to do that I’d have to be more of a midwife.” While some students would like to help bring new life into the world, others want to preserve the life that is al-ready here. The medical field is a popular choice of occu-

pation today, and the field of medical research connects some students to their child-hood dreams of curing cancer or discovering a new disease. “I would want to discover something that would cure one of the major diseases. That’s the main goal you would have as a researcher,” senior Karina Kinghorn said. Throughout high school, many students have been influ-enced to come back to Denison

yOUR Childhood DreamsAre you ready to fulfill them, or are you preparing to leave them behind?

as an adult, some to even take over their favorite teacher’s job. “My dream job is to come back as the award winning Denison High School Jour-nalism adviser. I dream to be the “cool” teacher at DHS and help produce the year-book, Jacket Update, and young journalism prodigies. I want to be the teacher at DHS that both students and faculty admire and adore,” senior Katie Burkhead said.

Kayla RobinsonEditor-in-chief

Now

May/June 2013 The Buzz

Top 101.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Karina Kinghorn

Sarah Vogel

Matt Derichsweiler

Brennen Horton

Maria Hayes

“After graduation, I plan to attend Rice University to major in Chemical Engineering. I have no exact plans for a career yet, but I hope eventually to fulfill my childhood dream of working as an engineer for NASA. I have been a member of the National Honor Society, the Science Club, and the UIL Academics Social Studies and Science teams.”

“I got accepted to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Honors College. I plan to become a leader in the creation of the commercial space industry. I also plan to spend time as a writer. I hope to cata-lyze the advancement of space flight, in ways that are clean and inexpensive. I would like to bring some level of social change with my writing, and perhaps speaking.”

“I plan to attend the University of North Texas to study chemistry. After graduation from UNT, I plan to go into laboratory work.I am a National Merit Commended Scholar, an AP Scholar with Distinction, and have received many school awards for subjects such as AP English 3, AP World History, Pre-AP Chemistry, AP Chemistry, Pre-AP Biology, Spanish 2, and honor roll.”

“I will be attending Texas State University in San Marcos in the fall, pursuing a degree in nursing with a specialization in Labor and Delivery. I wish to work in a clinic for underpriveleged women or in neonatal care. I recently received a gold award working with the Texoma Health Foundation to create a resource room for women with breast cancer, Room for Hope.”

“ I will attend the University of Texas at Dallas to major in biotechnology. I hope to become a biomedical engineer in order to live my dream of making an impact on the world. I am president of NHS and co-captain of the tennis team. I am a part of Big Brother Big Sister and Rachel’s chal-lenge, and I was junior class secretary as well as a member of UIL Math and Science.”

Top 10 6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Sydney Muldrew

Kayla Robinson

Emily Schaffer

Farron Whitefield

Connor Malone

“I plan to attend the University of North Texas and major in biology, with an emphasis on pre-med. I hope to become an anesthesiologist and also continue to embrace my love for writing. I have spent many of my hours in high school working on “The Buzz” newspaper as Editor-in-Chief, playing tennis and golf, and reading in preparation for UIL Ready Writing.”

“I will be attending the University of Arkansas with an intended major in elementary education. I plan to come back and teach in Denison as an elementary school teacher, and hope to one day become a school counselor. I hope to achieve my goals of maintaining good grades in college, and having a positive impact on the lives of the children that I teach. I was in Tennis, and UIL academic competition for math.”

“As a junior I was Student Council Treasurer and as a senior I served as Vice President. I was also chosen to be junior and senior class President. I was chosen to be the JV Volleyball team captain in 2009, Varsity captain in 2011 and 2012. I plan on attending Texas A&M University Commerce, receiving a full ride scholarship into the Honors College as well as playing on the volleyball team. I hope to receive an education for nursing and further my career specializing as a pediatric nurse.”

“I plan on attending University of Texas at Dallas where I will major in Pre-med and Spanish. I in-tend to work at a hospital where I will be a doctor of internal medicine. The one thing I hope to achieve is to never live in monotony. I want a constantly evolving situation that challenges me and pushes me to my limits every day, which is why I am interested in the medical field.”

“I plan to become a professional actress. Denison High School’s amazing theatre program has inspired me and helped me discover this great passion. Not only am I a part of the theatre program I’m also senior class secretary, Denteens reporter, and a representative of the Friends of Rachel organization. I have been an award winning actress in One Act for four years, and on the thespian board of directors.”

in the times of Celtic groups. Only Druid priests were al-lowed to wear the hood as it stood for superiority and in-telligence. It also resembles the biretta worn by the Catho-lic clergy. Either way, the cap has origins that date back to either medieval Europe or somewhere around the time

For years, the mortar board or square academic cap has been an essential part of the outfit students graduat-ing from high school are re-quired to wear at graduation. Their history goes as far back as nearly 2,700 years ago. The academic cap might be referring to the hood back

May/June 2013The Buzz

The History of the HatDevan Holley

Staff Writer

graduation

Class of 2013

As the lights begin to fade, and music begins to play, the walk begins. Brothers, sis-ters, friends, and family stand tall as the tears begin to fall from their eyes. It’s a proud moment in the lives of everybody in the stadium, especially the teachers. “Graduation has always been a time of mixed emo-tions. I am proud to see how these students have gone from being kids to young men and women. Many times it’s similar

to the way you feel when your own children leave the nest. I always wish and hope for the very best,” Lynn Blount said. Nobody ever stops to really think about how sad graduation is for the teachers. After spend-ing months on end teaching and connecting emotionally with each of their students, those last few moments at graduation, are all they have left to say goodbye. “Charles Dickens once summed up graduation when he

Graduation Affects Not Only the Students, but the Teachers, Too

Mandi ElrodManaging Editor

said, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times”, and he must have been a teacher at some point. The best is that I’m so proud of this group of students; the worst is the realization that things will never be the same. But thanks to social media I will be able to keep up with them forever,” Roger Mitchell said. For those teachers who were there to see students grow up, even before their high school career started, the last good-

byes become the worst. Sure, new students will come in, and they’ll leave as the ones be-fore them did, but each time a piece of them will be taken with them. Teachers are strong peo-ple because they hold so much pain and pride at the same time. “To see them leave is heart-breaking for me, but they have made me so proud, and I am happy for them. I will cry as they walk across the stage at graduation, and I will admit

that the tears will be a mix of happy and sad. I will miss them terribly,” Kellie Matherly said. Even though the sadness of graduation starts to come and go, the excitement of it all seems to mask it. No matter how dif-ficult it becomes to see students walk through their doors, and later walk out, the teachers and staff of Denison High School will always cherish the memories that are made, and keep them in their hearts for years to come.

of the Romans. It’s rumored that the hat is square so that it resembles an open book. Different hats are worn for different achievements. A mortar board is worn for graduation from high school, tams and bonnets are used for graduation from college, depending on the degree re-

ceived. Schools also carry a bit of variety in the kinds of headgear worn by students. On top of the hat lies the tassel, which represents the students’ academic achieve-ment. The colors of the tassel can represent either the place of study one is graduating from or the stu-

dent’s area of study. When the tassel is turned from it’s place on the right of the hat to the left is known as “the turning of the tassel” or “the tassel turning ceremony.” When one obtains a Mas-ters degree, however, the tassel is instead turned from the left side to the right.

Commun i t y 9

May/June 2013 The Buzz

5K Benefiting Buffy Hanson

Mandi Elrod Managing Editor

Denison Teams Run for the Cause

On Saturday May 25, hun-dreds showed their support for cupcake baker Buffy Han-son of Buffy’s Cupcakes at the Lone Star 5K Benefiting Buffy. “That’s just so cool for my mom, to have everybody [show support] for her,” Buffy’s daughter Macy Clum said. Hanson was diagnosed with breast cancer in late January of this year. To help offset the cost of the medical bills, the Lone Star Lodge set up the 5K marathon. “You have all these people

Senioritis Race for the Cure

out here who help you and buy dinner for you or bring you things that you don’t know who these people are, and it’s just so nice,” Clum said. Around 300 people turned out for the 5K and raised thousands of dollars, much to Hanson’s thanks. “I’m overwhelmed with all of yesterday’s events, the success of the 5K, having so many people I love at the same place at the same time,” Buffy said on her Facebook.

Callie KeeseCopy Editor As students lined up at

the starting line on May 4, 2013, the only sounds that were heard were cheers of encouragement and hope. Each runner braced them-selves as their hearts sat beat-ing loudly in their ears. When the buzzer finally rang, the event began. The race for se-nioritis was on finally here. “I didn’t go to the race because I had to work, but I really wanted to be there. This race for the cure was a really good idea, because it brought all of the students together, and made them work hard for something,” senior Kelly Hughes said. The rush of energy filled the track as each runner shot forward without a second thought. The only thing go-ing through their minds was the finish. It was enough to keep them going for miles.

The sounds of feet hitting the ground, and tension from crowd, surrounds them. Then they see it, that big sign at the end of the road that says one thing, finish. At this point, the need to win is more fierce, and the short-ness of breath more prominent. “Any racer will say that the last mile of the race is always the hardest. No matter how fast you run, or how steady you start out, each little detail mat-ters in the end. The feeling of your feet hitting the pavement, and the feeling of sweat run-ning down your face becomes a major distraction. If you win, you win, if not, then the disap-pointment overcomes it all,” senior Brittyn Chester said. Anybody could race, whether it be a student or a teacher. The cost to race was $35 dollars, and all of the money made will be donated to one lucky student, given by the National Honor

Society. By giving the scholar-ship away, the society plans to help the epidemic of seniori-tis. The winner of the race was physics teacher Jeremy Green, who finished the race in record time. The winner of the scholarship however, was DHS senior Jake Walters. “I was very honored when they presented the scholarship to me and it will help so much in paying for my education at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. I am very thankful for everyone that has helped me,” Walters said. The senioritis race has been a tradition at DHS for many years, and will continue on as a treasured tradition for many more to come. The anticipation to see next year’s winner becomes greater as time goes on, and all that can be said, is good luck to whoever it may be.

The BuzzMay/June 2013

10 The In ternetA Helping Hand

After seeing the people who had lost their limbs to the Sierra Leone Civil War, survivor David Sengeh de-vised a way to create per-fectly fitting bionic limbs. Sengeh was born and raised in Sierra Leone, a west African country that is slowly rebuilding it-self after a civil war that lasted from 1991 to 2002. The war killed more than 50,000 people and many lost their limbs. Many chil-dren were left orphaned and some can no longer afford to go to school. Sengeh was inspired by his uncle, a surgeon who often performed surgeries for free. When he observed

that most amputee patients re-fused prosthetic limbs because of the discomfort they cause, he set out to find an affordable

Alpaca World is an app created by Ammonite Studio that was released in 2012. It allows players to raise, farm, and battle alpacas. “It’s so cute! It’s like re-ally laid back Pokemon, ex-cept it’s alpacas. It’s so fun,” senior Maria Hayes said. Unlike real alpacas, the alpacas in the game come in practically every color of the rainbow, and the skin of the alpaca can differ to the fur color. The game encourages players to capture as many colors of alpacas and docu-ment all 16129 differently

tures such as breeding. There are multiple areas that can be explored and the levels of the wild alpac-as in them increase as the player unlocks more areas. “I played it for a day, but then I realized how dumb it was and uninstalled it,” senior Devin Wible said. Alpaca World takes up 512 MiB of memory and is not compatible with ev-ery phone. It is available on Google Play and the iTunes App Store for free.

solution. He eventually was able to find a way to upload MRI scans onto a computer that would create a perfect

prosthetic socket by using a 3D printer that would create them with various degrees of stiffness based on the patient’s needs. Sengeh is using money from his success to spon-sor programs for the chil-dren in Sierra Leone and other developing countries to receive learning oppor-tunities that they can’t af-ford on their own and their projects. He believes that Africans don’t need prod-ucts and solutions from the West, when they can create them themselves in Africa.

Devan HolleyStaff Writer

Devan HolleyStaff Writer

Alpaca Your Phone

colored alpacas in the color index feature. The player can even dress up the alpacas adding even more variety. “Alpaca World is very cute, and addicting. If you’re having a bad day, it’s sure to brighten it! That’s the secret hidden mag-ic of Alpaca World,” se-nior Linnea Moran said. Players are given a rank based on how many alpacas they have captured and the level of their strongest alpaca. Higher ranks give the player more perks such as a higher drop rate or unlockable fea-

David Sengeh discovered a way to upload MRI scans to computers to create perfectly fitting prosthetics

with a 3D printer.

Sports 11

May/June 2013 The Buzz

Golf and Tennis Go to Regionals

On April 15 and 16, the DHS Boys Golf team trav-elled to Fort Worth’s Links at Waterchase for the 2012-2013 Regional competition after placing second at District. As their last tournament to-gether as a team, Region-als served as a farewell to high school golf for four out of the five Varsity mem- bers. “I thought o u r last tourna- ment went well, we b e a t the team that beat us in Dis-tricts so that definitely feels like a big success. It was kind of sad knowing that that was our last tournament together but we had a good run and won a lot of tourna-ments and set a bunch of records and a trip to regionals was a good end to a great run,” senior Ryan Shumaker said. The team advanced to Regionals for the first time since the late 90’s and Coach J.C. Doty is proud of the boys for accomplishing a goal he’d only

This season, three play-ers from the DHS Tennis Team advanced to the Re-gional competition, held on April 15 and 16. Sophomore Tyler Cannon competed in the singles bracket, and sophomore Jenna Robinson and senior Jordan Penn-white in mixed doubles. “Regionals was an amaz-ing experience with great teammates and great com-petition. I’m so thank-ful for my coaches and all the hard work that got us there! I’m definitely go-

begun to consider very recently. “I’m really really proud of

all five of them. It was a goal I think I’ve had

the last couple of years and we discussed it a lot. To be able to ac-complish that

goal makes me really proud of them. I’m re-ally going to miss them,” Doty said. When walking off of the 18th green on the

second day of Regionals, it was evident the im-

pact high school golf has had on these players.

“Going into Re-gionals, I knew it was my last tournament as a Yellow Jacket. I just wanted to go out with a bang and leave everything I had out there. Coach told us to

just go out and have fun. That was my mindset. I just wanted to go low for my parents and those people who have helped me throughout my career,” se-nior Dalton Johnson said. “I ended up shooting 77, 74 and was only 5 shots from state. I knew I left it all out there. After walking off that final 18th green of high school and hugging my parents was when all the emo-tions hit me. This team has made high school something I will remember forever. I can’t thank Clay, Ryan, Eric, Aus-tin, and Coach Doty enough.” While for some Region-als signified only the begin-ning of a golf career, for others it indicated the solidi-fication of life-long memories. “Once a Jacket, always a Jacket. It was bittersweet, knowing it was going to be the last time I got to play with my team. I’ve grown close with my teammates and Coach Doty and I believe that we have become a family, and I will never forget the times we had,” senior Eric Gann said.

ing to remember those memories forever,” sopho-more Jenna Robinson said. Penn-white and Robinson won their first match and lost their second while Can-non continued to the semi-finals on the second day. “It was a blast! Go-ing back to back years and improving my final result makes me pleased with how I played. I can’t wait for next year and get another shot to qualify for the State Cham-pionships in Austin,” sopho-more Tyler Cannon said.

Kayla Robinson Editor-in-chief

Shootin’ Par

Over the Net

May/June 2013 The Buzz

The Stingerette Spring Show always seems to drop a curtain on the year, mak-ing the last six weeks fly by like those very dancers who graced the stage with their poise and charm that April night. This year may have been even more poignant, as Captain Rachael Wood seamlessly led her team in the night’s dances, full of life and character and feel-ing. The Stingerettes shone

Kayla Robinson Editor-in-chief

The Last Dance of the Year

in flashing glow-in-the-dark vests and dug deep to their childhood as literary characters such as Alice in Wonderland and Dr. Se-uss, enveloping the stage with whimsy that mixed brilliantly with their tech-nical talent. The dancers stepped, quite literally, from the pages of a sto-rybook, a huge set piece that brought life to the intro videos while emcees Farron Whitefield, Lance

Hefner and Sergio Orona presented each new dance with clever new video montages and voiceover versions of songs in which Rachael Wood also joined. This use of technology was refreshing, as was An-thony McKinney’s partner work in the Encroix dance, The Garden of Eden. The chemistry between the Ra-chael and Anthony on a dancer’s level broke up the strict choreography one as-

sociates with the Stinger-ettes without disregarding it entirely. However, there was no shortage of appreci-ation for synchrony in the Stingerettes’ “Last Dance.” Seeing the kick line for the last time, the girls working together to keep each other on beat and striking each pose with a gleam of tears in their eyes, placed the 2013 Stingerette Spring Show alongside previous years in the record books.

Photos donated by Brittany Mitchell