6
News MENTOR the M Nov. 6, 2012 Manhattan High School, Manhattan, Kan. Volume 100 issue 9 BOE determines fate of senior release tomorrow Navy Recruiters November Event Calender Pittsburg State University Nov. 1 at 11 a.m., PSU will be in the conference room giving a presentation. Picture from pittstategorillas.com Nov. 8, during both lunches, Fort Hays State University will have a booth set up in the commons. Picture from fhsu.edu Fort Hays State University North Central Kansas Tech Nov. 28 at 11 a.m., NCK Tech will be in the conference room giving a presentation. Picture from surveymonkey.com Nov. 5 the Navy recruit- ers will have a booth in the commons during both lunches. Picture from unicor.gov Army Recruiters Nov. 6 the Army recruit- ers will have a booth in the commons during both lunches. Picture from goarmy.com Marines Recruiters Nov. 7 the Marines re- cruiters will have a booth in the commons during both lunches. Picture from marines.com Air Force Recruiters Nov. 8 the Air Force re- cruiters will have a booth in the commons during both lunches. Picture from wikipedia.org Immunizations up to Date Nov. 26 all immunization records need to be up to date and turned in to the nursing department for all those who got notices. Picture from usd261.com Throughout November, colleges like Pittsburg State University will be here at Manhattan High either giv- ing presentations or just visiting at lunch. If you want to attend the presentations, see Dustin Duntz in the counseling department. Nov. 9, during lunch, Nation- al Guard recruiters, will have a booth in the commons. Picture from nationalguard.com National Guard Recruiters Naomi McClendon Entertainment Editor Over the course of just a few months, proposals of dras- tic change for USD 383 have been discussed, voted on and in one case, passed by the school Board of Education. Tomorrow at the regular BOE meeting there will be a hearing about senior early re- lease. The meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. at the Robinson Ed- ucation Center and the hear- ing will begin at 7 p.m. Stu- dents and others are invited to express their views on senior early release at this time. Before the school board votes on any proposal, they hold a community hearing where teachers, administra- tors, principals, parents, com- munity members and students are given the change to ex- press their opinions or con- cerns about the topic. While many students express con- cern about what the school board does, the turnout of student representation at meet- ings is extremely low. Every BOE meeting not attended is a missed opportunity for stu- dents to express their opinions on their school. Superintendent Bob Shan- non and the rest of the school board have constantly request- ed more student voices at regular meetings, commenting that “students’ voices are the ones that really matter.” Liz Logback Features Editor The variety of cultures present at Manhattan High School are an opportunity for cultural education, according to the MHS Heritage Panel. The group has had their first few meetings in preparation for an event-filled year. heri- tage panel has begun planning ways to share students’ cul- tures with others in MHS and in the Manhattan community. The goal of Heritage Panel is to educate others about the cultures that are less known of in America and get to know students with diverse back- grounds better. To accom- plish this, group members dis- cussed planning a trip to local elementary schools where they could teach students about their countries and inform the kids about traditions they are unfamiliar with. There was talk of having Indian or Philippine event in locations like the Kansas State University Union or on the K- State campus. There would be an opportunity to enjoy the culture’s food and possibly even get to see some dancing or performance common to the country of interest. Mem- bers of the club would be ex- posed to other’s customs and traditions of their country. The next meeting has not been set yet, but a schedule for the club is starting to come together. If there are any ques- tions about events or the club in general students can check the Heritage Panel Facebook page or talk to Jacob Theis. Kaitlyn Wichmann Photo Editor German Club is coming to the rescue for all those over- flowing recycling bins. Be- ginning Nov. 14 and continu- ing every second and fourth Wednesday of each month, the German Club, along with Key Club, will collect the pa- per recycling. “It’s a little frustrating that we are getting started so late on recycling,” sponsor Elke Lorenz said. “However, Key Club hasn’t started recycling, either. I like to get things done on time usually.” German Club’s last meet- ing was Monday, Oct. 30, and they next plan to meet again on Nov. 13. Lorenz said it was a good meeting, although there was some confusion about guest speaker Steffi Wimmer. “She turned up early and thought the meeting was canceled,” Lorenz said. “Hopefully it will work out to have her speak at the next meeting.” Despite the loss of the guest speaker, there were sev- eral other important topics discussed. “We talked about ordering T-shirts,” sophomore Kristen Fraley said. “Hopefully the T- shirts will be coming soon.” Besides shirts, the club hopes to plan some fundrais- ers such as lollipop sales, Ger- man chocolate sales, and a potluck. The club also plans to contact the German Club at Kansas State University for future interaction between the clubs. Clubs join together to fix recycling problem Julianne Harkness Staff Writer Even though Halloween is done and passed, Spanish Club is still in the spirit, cel- ebrating the Spanish holiday Day of the Dead by selling candygrams. On Nov. 2 they delivered around 90 candy- grams that were sold in the commons during lunch. This earned them a total of $45 after paying back the money from their personal purchase of the skull-shaped lollipops used for the candygrams. The candygrams were sold Oct. 26 through Oct. 31. They were $1 a piece and included a lollipop and a piece of paper with a traditionally decorated skull for the Day of the Dead that was the card of the can- dygram. Throughout the sales and distribution of the candy- grams, 25 students who are in Spanish Club helped with this process. “We sold them at lunch and let students know what we were doing,” club president Joe Coonrod said. “We let the officers sell the candygrams to whoever wanted them. We sold a lot, and it was a lot of fun for all of us.” Throughout the years the process of selling the candy- grams has changed just a bit. “This year we tried more advertising, because we want- ed people to be aware of what we were doing,” Coonrod said. The next Spanish Club meeting will be either Nov. 12 or 13, but it will take place before the next activity period on Nov. 14. At the meeting, the Spanish Club presidents will determine what to do with the money they earned with the candygram sales. “We would like to use the money that we earned to sup- port more fundraising projects and other ideas to help sup- port the Spanish Club,” Coon- rod said. Candygrams sales help support Spanish Club Spreading diversity on club’s agenda Julith Perry Staff Writer With two meets coming up this week, Scholars Bowl pre- pared by having practices on Mondays and Tuesdays. At the meets, the team usually gets assigned into a pool of six to 10 teams depending on the size of the tournament. The teams play head-to-head and typically the top two teams advance to a championship bracket. Their first meet is to- day at Hayden High School, and the second meet is on Thursday at Wamego High School. Returning from last year’s State qualifying team are se- Maddie Ross Trending Co-Editor Student Council members have worked with Kids Voting Kansas to create a mock elec- tion today at both campuses. The voting took place during both lunches. “I think it’s going to be ex- citing, because most students don’t get to be involved in the real thing. It gives us a voice,” StuCo member Dheepthi Pe- rumal said. “Being a person myself who has never had in- terest in politics, it’s a way for me to get the feel of politics.” Kids Voting Kansas is a non-profit organization whose objective is to increase voter participation by educating Kansas’s students and involv- ing them in the voting pro- cess. niors Nicholas Donohoue and Logan Sutton. “I feel confident. We have a good team,” Donohoue said about both meets. “I feel pretty good. Our league isn’t the strongest so we normally win,” Sutton said. New assistant coach Regina Harden seems to have a posi- tive effect on the team. “Mrs. Harden is doing pret- ty good. She did it a few years ago in Missouri. She’s getting the hang of it again,” senior Austin Canady said. Harden isn’t the only one helping the team with prepar- ing for the upcoming meets. Ted Dawdy, the team’s aca- demic coach, helps the team with preparing for every sub- ject, math in specific. “They both definitely have expertise on different subjects. It’s really useful to have math and science on one side and then literature and fine arts on the other side,” senior Jack Hubler-Dayton said. Going into both meets the team has a mixture of new kids and old kids. “We’ll have to see how the experienced kids blend with the new kids and hopefully advance out of pool play,” Dawdy said. Scholars Bowl players practice on Mondays and Tuesdays for their head-to-head competition. John Rockey, Photographer Mock elections aim to increase voter participation Harden has positive effect on team

MHS Mentor Volume 100 Issue 9

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Page 1: MHS Mentor Volume 100 Issue 9

NewsMENTORtheMNov. 6, 2012 Manhattan High School, Manhattan, Kan. Volume 100 issue 9

BOE determines fate of senior release tomorrow

Navy Recruiters November Event Calender

Pittsburg State University Nov. 1 at 11 a.m., PSU will be in the conference room giving a presentation.

Picture from pittstategorillas.com

Nov. 8, during both lunches, Fort Hays State University will have a booth set up in the commons.

Picture from fhsu.edu

Fort Hays State University

North Central Kansas Tech

Nov. 28 at 11 a.m., NCK Tech will be in the conference room giving a presentation.

Picture from surveymonkey.com

Nov. 5 the Navy recruit-ers will have a booth in the commons during both lunches.

Picture from unicor.gov

Army RecruitersNov. 6 the Army recruit-ers will have a booth in the commons during both lunches.

Picture from goarmy.com

Marines Recruiters

Nov. 7 the Marines re-cruiters will have a booth in the commons during both lunches.

Picture from marines.com

Air Force RecruitersNov. 8 the Air Force re-cruiters will have a booth in the commons during both lunches.

Picture from wikipedia.org

Immunizations up to Date

Nov. 26 all immunization records need to be up to date and turned in to the nursing department for all those who got notices.

Picture from usd261.com

Throughout November, colleges like Pittsburg State University will be here at Manhattan High either giv-ing presentations or just visiting at lunch. If you want to attend the presentations, see Dustin Duntz in the counseling department.

Nov. 9, during lunch, Nation-al Guard recruiters, will have a booth in the commons.

Picture from nationalguard.com

National Guard Recruiters

Naomi McClendonEntertainment Editor

Over the course of just a few months, proposals of dras-tic change for USD 383 have been discussed, voted on and in one case, passed by the school Board of Education.

Tomorrow at the regular BOE meeting there will be a hearing about senior early re-lease. The meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. at the Robinson Ed-ucation Center and the hear-ing will begin at 7 p.m. Stu-dents and others are invited to express their views on senior early release at this time.

Before the school board votes on any proposal, they hold a community hearing

where teachers, administra-tors, principals, parents, com-munity members and students are given the change to ex-press their opinions or con-cerns about the topic. While many students express con-cern about what the school board does, the turnout of student representation at meet-ings is extremely low. Every BOE meeting not attended is a missed opportunity for stu-dents to express their opinions on their school.

Superintendent Bob Shan-non and the rest of the school board have constantly request-ed more student voices at regular meetings, commenting that “students’ voices are the ones that really matter.”

Liz LogbackFeatures Editor

The variety of cultures present at Manhattan High School are an opportunity for cultural education, according to the MHS Heritage Panel. The group has had their first few meetings in preparation for an event-filled year. heri-tage panel has begun planning ways to share students’ cul-tures with others in MHS and in the Manhattan community.

The goal of Heritage Panel is to educate others about the cultures that are less known of in America and get to know students with diverse back-grounds better. To accom-plish this, group members dis-cussed planning a trip to local elementary schools where they could teach students about

their countries and inform the kids about traditions they are unfamiliar with.

There was talk of having Indian or Philippine event in locations like the Kansas State University Union or on the K-State campus. There would be an opportunity to enjoy the culture’s food and possibly even get to see some dancing or performance common to the country of interest. Mem-bers of the club would be ex-posed to other’s customs and traditions of their country.

The next meeting has not been set yet, but a schedule for the club is starting to come together. If there are any ques-tions about events or the club in general students can check the Heritage Panel Facebook page or talk to Jacob Theis.

Kaitlyn WichmannPhoto Editor

German Club is coming to the rescue for all those over-flowing recycling bins. Be-ginning Nov. 14 and continu-ing every second and fourth Wednesday of each month, the German Club, along with Key Club, will collect the pa-per recycling.

“It’s a little frustrating that we are getting started so late on recycling,” sponsor Elke Lorenz said. “However, Key Club hasn’t started recycling,

either. I like to get things done on time usually.”

German Club’s last meet-ing was Monday, Oct. 30, and they next plan to meet again on Nov. 13.

Lorenz said it was a good meeting, although there was some confusion about guest speaker Steffi Wimmer. “She turned up early and thought the meeting was canceled,” Lorenz said. “Hopefully it will work out to have her speak at the next meeting.”

Despite the loss of the guest speaker, there were sev-

eral other important topics discussed.

“We talked about ordering T-shirts,” sophomore Kristen Fraley said. “Hopefully the T-shirts will be coming soon.”

Besides shirts, the club hopes to plan some fundrais-ers such as lollipop sales, Ger-man chocolate sales, and a potluck. The club also plans to contact the German Club at Kansas State University for future interaction between the clubs.

Clubs join together to fix recycling problemJulianne Harkness

Staff Writer

Even though Halloween is done and passed, Spanish Club is still in the spirit, cel-ebrating the Spanish holiday Day of the Dead by selling candygrams. On Nov. 2 they delivered around 90 candy-grams that were sold in the commons during lunch. This earned them a total of $45 after paying back the money from their personal purchase of the skull-shaped lollipops used for the candygrams.

The candygrams were sold Oct. 26 through Oct. 31. They were $1 a piece and included

a lollipop and a piece of paper with a traditionally decorated skull for the Day of the Dead that was the card of the can-dygram.

Throughout the sales and distribution of the candy-grams, 25 students who are in Spanish Club helped with this process.

“We sold them at lunch and let students know what we were doing,” club president Joe Coonrod said. “We let the officers sell the candygrams to whoever wanted them. We sold a lot, and it was a lot of fun for all of us.”

Throughout the years the process of selling the candy-grams has changed just a bit.

“This year we tried more advertising, because we want-ed people to be aware of what we were doing,” Coonrod said.

The next Spanish Club meeting will be either Nov. 12 or 13, but it will take place before the next activity period on Nov. 14. At the meeting, the Spanish Club presidents will determine what to do with the money they earned with the candygram sales.

“We would like to use the money that we earned to sup-port more fundraising projects and other ideas to help sup-port the Spanish Club,” Coon-rod said.

Candygrams sal es hel p su pport Spanish Cl u b

Spreading diversity on club’s agenda

Julith PerryStaff Writer

With two meets coming up this week, Scholars Bowl pre-pared by having practices on Mondays and Tuesdays. At the meets, the team usually gets assigned into a pool of six to 10 teams depending on the

size of the tournament. The teams play head-to-head and typically the top two teams advance to a championship bracket. Their first meet is to-day at Hayden High School, and the second meet is on Thursday at Wamego High School.

Returning from last year’s State qualifying team are se-

Maddie RossTrending Co-Editor

Student Council members have worked with Kids Voting Kansas to create a mock elec-tion today at both campuses. The voting took place during both lunches.

“I think it’s going to be ex-citing, because most students don’t get to be involved in the real thing. It gives us a voice,”

StuCo member Dheepthi Pe-rumal said. “Being a person myself who has never had in-terest in politics, it’s a way for me to get the feel of politics.”

Kids Voting Kansas is a non-profit organization whose objective is to increase voter participation by educating Kansas’s students and involv-ing them in the voting pro-cess.

niors Nicholas Donohoue and Logan Sutton.

“I feel confident. We have a good team,” Donohoue said about both meets.

“I feel pretty good. Our league isn’t the strongest so we normally win,” Sutton said.

New assistant coach Regina Harden seems to have a posi-tive effect on the team.

“Mrs. Harden is doing pret-ty good. She did it a few years ago in Missouri. She’s getting the hang of it again,” senior Austin Canady said.

Harden isn’t the only one helping the team with prepar-ing for the upcoming meets. Ted Dawdy, the team’s aca-demic coach, helps the team with preparing for every sub-ject, math in specific.

“They both definitely have expertise on different subjects. It’s really useful to have math and science on one side and then literature and fine arts on the other side,” senior Jack Hubler-Dayton said.

Going into both meets the team has a mixture of new kids and old kids.

“We’ll have to see how the experienced kids blend with the new kids and hopefully advance out of pool play,” Dawdy said.

Scholars Bowl players practice on Mondays and Tuesdays for their head-to-head competition. John Rockey, Photographer

Mock elections aim to increase voter participation

Harden has positive effect on team

Page 2: MHS Mentor Volume 100 Issue 9

Nov. 6, 2012 OpinionsMENTORthe2

Question of the Week

editor in chief/opinions -- Ben Shields

news editor -- Sarah Shi

entertainment editor -- Naomi McClendonsports editor --

Nick Bandyfeatures editor --

Liz Logbacktrending co-editors -- Connor Bliss Maddie Rossphoto editor --

Kaitlin Wichmanncopy editor --

Kayla Diekermultimedia editor -- Dheepthi Perumalbusiness manager -- Jerry Sextroadviser --

Kristy Nypcartoonist -- Halsey Camera

the Mentor

The Mentor is published each Tuesday that school is in ses-sion at Manhattan High School, 2100 Poyntz Ave. Manhattan, Kan. Telephone (785) 587-2114. More than 1,500 Mentors are printed each week and distributed free of charge to all faculty members and students. MHS journalists are members of the Scholastic Press Association. The Mentor is an open forum that accepts contributions from the public. E-mail us at [email protected].

writers/photographers -- Tre Fuentes Julianne Harkness Tristan Knott Julith Perry John Rockey Seth Runyan Derrek Williams Jordan Morriscontributing writers/photographers -- Alan Brown Kelsey Crawfordcirculation -- Kristyn Baker Leonard Castilow David Clinkinbeard Patrick Falcone Caorey Garrison Sam LeFleur Kasey Morris Mallory Morris Kendall Oatney Emma Rowley Austin Tatum Seth Wagner

The Mentor welcomes letters to the editor from students, faculty members or staff members from Manhattan High School. Letters should be a maximum of 300 words in length and must include your signature. Letters may be edited for length, grammar and AP Style and must meet standards of appropriateness generally accepted by the MHS audience.

To submit your letter please email it to mhsmentoropinions@gmail .com or deliver a hard copy to C-107 or Kristy Nyp’s mailbox in the main office at MHS-West.

Klein for Heisman

You receive a mysterious package at your front door. You open it and find something that makes you extremely happy. What’s in it?

Sportsmanship absent among fans at MHS football games

Breast Cancer should be treated as an illness, not a meme

“A hundred baby puppies so I could just roll around with them.” - Molly Bollman, sophomore

“A beautiful woman with a plate in her hand and on that plate sitting a perfectly made BLT with my name written on top of it.”- Jacob Biller, junior

“A note saying I won the lot-tery.”- Tony Andrade, teacher

“Robert Downey, Jr.”- Dareian Cone, senior

“One Direction. All five of them.”- Lexie Nichols, freshman

“Plane tickets to Seattle.”- Alexis Caponera, junior

“The sock I lost last week.”- Connor Strain, sophomore

“Free time.”- Ilana Budenosky, senior

“The girl of my dreams.”-Ahmed Abdou, freshman

“A box with a plane ticket to London with a blue scarf ac-companied by a text message reading, ‘I need your help with a case. - SH’- Abby Sachnik, sopohomore

“Double-stuffed Oreos or chocolate.”- Alex Poulson, sophomore

“Ranch dressing.”- Chastity Smith, junior

“A big, juicy piece of water-melon.”- Brandon Staatz, freshman’

“Angelika Houn.”- Gabby Lopez, junior

“Either Jordy Nelson or a baby elephant.”- Emma Miller, senior

“Simba.”- Valerie Mays, junior

“It would probably be some-thing from Germany. A book from my friend in Germany.”- Elke Lorenz, teacher

“Psy.”- Soichiro Hiromasa, freshman

“A ping-pong table.”- Tanner Knapp, freshman

“A puppy.”- Vanessa Moreno, junior

“Donuts.”- Calen Erickson, senior

“A turtle wearing a beanie.”- Alyssa Fry, sophomore

“A letter from my long-lost family from Mars explaining my heritage of royalty.”- Ethan Schmidt, junior

“A bunch of potatoes.”- Jacob Richards, freshman

“Jesus.”- Alex Stenberg, sophomore

“The football season return-ing.”- Madison Long, junior

“A thousand-dollar iTunes card.”- Haley Johnson, junior

“‘Workaholics’ seasons 1-3 on DVD.”- Xavier Watkins, freshman

“A lifetime supply of ice cream...that’s not poisonous, or something.” - Rachel Beach, sophomore

“A toaster.”- Janelle Collado, junior

“A wish.”- Abby Kim, freshman

“A full-ride scholarship.”- Marlee Evans, junior

“The key to end world hunger. But not some stupid riddle.”- A.J. Pablo, freshman

“Well, obviously the pack-age is a blue plice box and so it’s the Doctor with his TAR-DIS.”- Audrey Reever, sophomore

“A hedgehog, brand new gold-plated dentures or my Hog-warts acceptance letter with a note saying, ‘We are sorry for the delay.’”- Mai Mizuno, sophomore

“A plain manilla envelope containing a golden ticket to Oprah’s space arc.”- Reid Erdwien, sophomore

Want to contribute a guest column to the Mentor? Contact Editor-in-chief Ben Shields as [email protected]

Alan BrownStaff Writer

Collin Klein deserves the Heisman trophy.

Of course, Kansas State University is much too humble to bluntly parade that opinion around the world of college football. They instead prefer “Most valuable player.” The flyer that was sent around the country promoting Klein does not show his face, only his bleeding arm and bandage. Number 5, “Be tough, mentally and physically.”

I don’t think Klein would have it any other way. His focus is not on the award, and he’s made that perfectly clear. His focus is on winning the next game, supporting his team, his family, his uni-versity and his community. He consistently makes plays, pushes himself to his utmost potential, braces through tough conditions on the field and in the end always wins. The awards mean nothing to him in comparison to these priorities, and that is exactly why he deserves the award more than any other. Number 6, “Self-Discipline; do it right, and don’t accept less.”

Klein is an individual like no other, and not just on the football field. He is smart; he plays the violin and the piano, he’s an accounting major and a man of great faith. He will point to his faith as the most important thing in his life, and he is said to go to church every Sunday, despite how sore he is from the previous

day’s game. Not only does he point to his faith as a reason for success on the field, but he gives all the rest of the credit to his teammates, coaches and players. They are all just one big happy family, and as their honey badger (as he was once nicknamed), Klein is the leader of the pack. He is their role model; the perfect wildcat. He never curses in a game, but if you listen closely, you might hear a “jeepers” here and there. When things go wrong, perhaps a pass is incomplete, a run is stuffed for a loss, or it’s time to punt, Klein will simply clap his hands and coolly transition to the next play. Most Heisman candidates are not capable of keeping their composure like this. Geno Smith, the former Heisman frontrunner, would throw fits and panic after ev-ery touchdown his team gave up to K-State. When the Heis-man talk latches onto a player, often his ego gets the best of him, but not with Klein. I believe that is what separates him from the rest. Number 2, “Unselfishness; There is no “I” in team.”

All Klein has done is won games. To be a Heisman win-ner, you need to be just that: a winner. In 23 starts, Klein has a 19-4 record. No, he doesn’t play for a big name program like Ohio State, Alabama or Texas, instead he plays at a mid-size school in the heart of Kansas. Champions can win at small schools, and players like Robert Griffin

of Baylor have proven that. Klein is capable of following in their footsteps, and it’s his smarts, size and quickness that would get him there. K-State head coach Bill Snyder knows his quarterback is ca-pable of big things, and has placed his trust in him. That’s an accomplishment not many players can claim. Snyder has set up the option offense with Klein perfectly placed in “the driver’s seat.” Do you hand the ball off to John Hubert, touch the ball and run it your-self, toss the ball back to Ty-ler Lockett or drift back into a play action pass? These are the thoughts probably rolling through Klein’s mind during every play, and most often, he make the right decision. It’s no coincidence he is among the nation’s best in passing efficiency, and has limited himself to only two intercep-tions. Many players would fall apart under this kind of stress, but not Klein. I believe it’s his good decisions that keep him winning games, as well as his unbelievable consistency. Number 14, “Consistency; do your very, very best every time.”

Klein makes plays. If you were to play college fantasy football, I’m sure he’d be a top five pick. He has a nose for the end zone; he can run it in as well as pass. This year alone, he has 28 total touchdowns. Klein isn’t what you consider a “quick strike” type of player, but if you need someone who is consistent and reliable, he is just what the doctor ordered.

He always falls forward, and by the goal line defenses can-not stop him from scoring. Klein is what keeps the K-State offense on its feet, and he is what keeps K-State head and shoulders above its rivals. He believes every game can be won, and that’s why he keeps pushing himself, play after play. Number 12, “No self-limitations.”

Collin Klein deserves this award, not only for K-State, but for college football. There is no man in the game that plays harder on the field, is as devoted to his goals, as hum-ble or is as excellent a leader as Klein. He keeps winning, not only because of his physi-cal gifts, but also thanks to his intelligence, good decision making and his willingness to be a team player. Let’s face it; college football is a selfish sport, made up of chains of greed, high egos and exces-sive pride. At a time of scan-dals such as those that went on at Ohio State and Penn State, Klein shows us a bright-er side to the sport. It’s a side built up of teamwork, loyalty and family. It’s the side where hard work really does pay off in the end, and it’s the side where dreams really do come true. Klein not only deserves this award because he sticks to his priorities, but because we should stick to ours. Which type of college football do we want? By choosing Klein, we are choosing the brighter path. Number 13, “Expect to win, and truly believe we will.”

“Save the Boobies.” It was a common phrase

seen during October, which was Breast Cancer Awareness month. Obviously. It was kind of hard to miss. It seems as if every company came out with some product to ‘raise aware-ness’ for breast cancer. I’m all

for showing my support by wearing pink socks or buying a T-shirt, but at what point does it become too much? And how much of the profits are really going to breast can-cer research?

It seems to me that by turn-ing a product pink, companies suddenly think they’re doing something great for breast cancer research.

Throughout October, the NFL auctioned off pink gear worn during games and sold several ‘awareness’ products online. According to “Busi-ness Insider,” the NFL doesn’t actually profit from this, but only 5 percent of money from

sales actually go to the Ameri-can Cancer Society. The rest goes towards the NFL’s own campaign, “A Crucial Catch.” The way I see it, the NFL is using breast cancer to adver-tise itself.

Awareness months have turned into ways for com-panies to self-promote and make themselves look better. 5-Hour Energy came up with a ‘pink’ flavor for October and celebrates awareness in their commercial but in reality do-nates little to no money to the campaign. Besides that, it’s a product that I wouldn’t want to drink if I was avoiding can-cer-causing chemicals.

Pink became so common that it was impossible to walk into a store without seeing a stand covered in pink prod-ucts. Pink towels, nail polish, gloves, socks, shirts, phone cases, lanyards, everything. It seems to me like the ‘pink’ as-pect of the campaign is mov-ing from awareness to trend-ing.

Breast cancer, like any other cancer, is a serious topic and should be treated seri-ously, not as a fashion state-ment, or God forbid, an ad campaign.

Kayla Dieker

copy editor

In a time with fall sports in the playoffs state of mind, everyone can hardly contain themselves with all the poten-tial for State champions in our midst. We can be sure the ath-letes will be able to uphold the standards of good sportsman-ship and class in which fans at some of Manhattan High games have been severely lacking.

As an athlete and a big fan of the athletics at MHS, I’m

disgusted and peeved that there are numerous persons who constantly make the very definition of sportsmanship seem like a running joke or rule that is too frivolous to fol-low.

On numerous occasions, I have observed fans shouting and booing at the other team and the referees different things along the lines of “You Suck!” or “Go back home, hicks.” It is so humiliating to be in the middle of a pack of students that are shouting dif-ferent curses at those on the field.

So many times there have been people who jump around to the point where they or many people around them fall down from where they may stand or sit. I have witnessed tennis balls and popcorn be-ing thrown across the stands

or even onto the field. A cou-ple of guys started fighting each other on the seat behind me and fell down a row before they were stopped and taken out of the student section.

The Junction City game just recently was among the lowest amount of class I have ever seen. Food was being chucked about during the course of the game. A bunch of seniors were pushing people around to the point where a large group of people fell down just a few rows from where I stood try-ing to watch the game. Some students behind me started shouting “BS call, Ref!”. One person I overheard behind me not only said we should give up in the first quarter of the game, but also planned with others to shout “F JC!”.

Seriously. These few individuals give

not only people in the stands a bad name, but also reflects upon how other teams view us -- as classless and undignified people that try and poke fun at the opposing teams with no regard as to what is uttered or demonstrated.

I do believe in cheering for our team and shouting en-couragement on the sidelines or in the stands. I am off the wall when we score a touch-down. But if the ref should make a bad call, just grit your teeth and shrug it off. It hap-pens. Get over it or keep your mouth shut. Either should work fine. Win or lose, hold your head high and remem-ber to get ready for next week. Do not whine, shout, pout or quit.

JohnRockey

sta� writer

Page 3: MHS Mentor Volume 100 Issue 9

Entertainment MENTORthe3

Nov. 6, 2012

What to look for in the MHS fall musical

Sarah Shinews editor

“I was really nervous. I can’t believe I made it. I had to check the choir roster a couple times to make sure that I actually got in,” junior Jaylen Condra said. “When I went into one of the rooms my hands were sweating so bad that I had to switch hands holding the sheet mu-sic so it wouldn’t fall.”

Nerves were definitely on most people’s mind last Saturday as the Manhat-tan High School Choir and

Band traveled to Junction City to participate in the Kansas Music Educators Association(KMEA) Dis-trict Auditions. For choir, each student was required to sing the same three songs, “Sing Unto God,” “Osjusti,” and “Rejoice.” For band students, each instrument group was given an assigned song to perform, as well as play a scale, and do sight reading. Both choir and band students

were called to audition by their assigned number instead of their name and played in front of a screen where the judge couldn’t see them and

vice versa, making the audi-tion process more systematic.

“I wasn’t too nervous.

I guess I was pretty chill,” senior Mariah Messmer said. “I’ve been getting into the honor choir since my sopho-more year.”

48 Manhattan High students made it into the North Central District Honors Choir, which made up 29 percent of the 169 total mem-bers.

Top students, who score high in their audition are chosen to go to State and on Dec. 1 they will perform at the KMEA North Central District Convention.

“The judges graded on

Band, choir students participate in KMEA auditions

Ben Shieldseditor in chief

“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” is a satire with elements of romantic comedy that had its first Broadway run in 1961. The main character, J. Pierrepont Finch, rises from a window-washer to a high-powered executive in a short amount of time by following a handbook of which the musical named after. As he learns more and more about the business world, he soon is forced to become a part of the backstabbing, double-dealing and dirty politics of the office.

SCENE

SONG

Styling

Milton Gatch (Alex Tolar) is tricked into the seduc-tion of his boss’s mistress, Hedy LaRue (Claire Freeby).

Song: "I Believe in You," sung by Da'Merius Ford as the lead role, Finch, played by Nick Jonas in the 2009 Broadway revival.

Junior Macy Lanceta applies makeup to Willie Michaels, sophomore, in Black Box Theatre.

students who had the best sound quality, technique, and musicality,” Nancy Monacle said.

“I was really excited,” senior Andrew Schulz said. “I made second chair for The Euphonium instrument. I’m really proud of myself that all my practicing paid off.”

“I was really happy I made it into the jazz band,” senior Natalie Shank said. “I just need to practice my music and know it well for the con-vention.”

Eleven out of 14 students made it in the honor band

at the district auditions. “It’s great to see that all their hard work paid off,” Band Director Joel Gittle said. “The students will get the convention music in the mail and then start preparing for it.” Before the band students auditioned, each band coach worked with each student individually. Mo-nacle worked with woodwind while Gittle with percussion and Scott Freeby with the bass instruments.

“I’m happy with how things went,” Gittle said.

“I was really nervous. I can’t believe I made it. I had to check the choir roster a couple times to make sure that I actually got in.” - Jaylen Condra

Admit One901623

9016

23

Musical tickets on sale for $5.00 in the

MHSW box o�ce located outside of

Rezac Auditorium.

How to Succed in Business

Without Really Trying

TURTLE ISLAND QUARTET

A Leahy Family Christmas

Beauty and the Beast

On Tuesday, Nov. 13, the Turtle Island Quartet will perform with special guest jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton. Turtle Island has been performing for over 25 years and received two Grammys for their redefined version of chamber jazz. Sutton has performed in the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and the Holly-wood Bowl and has had several successful record-ings and four Grammy nominations for best vocal jazz album.

A Leahy Family Christmas will perform on Dec. 5. The family grew up on a farm learning the instru-ments of their Irish-Scottish heritage. They will be performing Celtic melodies along with some Christmas carols with vocals, fiddles and other traditional Irish-Scottish instruments.

Everyone knows about Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” and the Mc-Cain auditorium will show the Broad-way musical on Dec. 11. The musical is based on the Academy Award-winning film and has been seen all over the world by over 35 million people.

Friday, Nov. 16, McCain Auditorium will hold an event dedicated to and held on the new stage. Starting at 6 p.m. with a cocktail reception, the night will continue with the Thundering Cats Big Band performing for guests to listen and dance to while they are being served dinner from 6:30 until 9 p.m. Tickets are $100; there will be a cash bar and guests will receive dinner, beer, wine and a piece of the old stage to take home with them. All proceeds will benefit the McCain Auditorium’s Education Program, which works to help people of all ages on and off the stage in the campus and the surround-ing areas. Cocktail attire is not required but is admired. Seating is limited so they request for tickets be purchased by Friday, Nov. 9.

MCCAIN PREVIEWDerrek Williams staff writer

kelsey crawford, photographer

Page 4: MHS Mentor Volume 100 Issue 9

SportsMENTORthe4

Nov. 6, 2012

Shocking EndingDodge City abruptly ends Indians’ playoff hopesTre Fuentesstaff writer

The last five meetings be-tween Manhattan High and Dodge City have been playoff games, and after the Indians defeated the Red Demons 55-0 last year in a one-sided victory, Dodge City turned the tables Friday night at Bish-op Stadium.

The Indians fell in the first round of the playoffs in a 6-38

Tre Fuentesstaff writer

Jacob HollowayThe quarterback posi-tion is arguably one of the most important positions in football. For Manhat-tan High, Jacob Holloway is that guy, accounting for 19 total touchdowns on the season. Holloway ended his season with a total of 1,030 yards, just on the ground. He helped the blue and red to its fifth straight playoff appearance and a finish as district champions.

Q: What motivated you to start playing football?

A: When I was a little kid I would go to high school games and see the huge crowd. I would see the foot-ball players put their heart and soul into those games and see the sense of accom-plishment they got after a victory. I thought that was a cool feeling to have and I wanted to be apart of that.

Q: How do you prepare during the summer?

A: During the summer I do a lot of lifting and con-ditioning. I usually start at 6 in the morning; I like to start my day on a high note and I feel more energized and focused the rest of the day.

Q: Do you plan on playing football after high school?

A: I haven’t decided. It’s just something that a lot of thought and consideration goes into, but it’s definitely an option that I have.

Q: Who is your favorite athlete?

A: Michael Jordan. He’s not a football player, but his work ethic and deter-mination to succeed is an example for athletes who participate in any sport.

Q: What is your favorite meal on gameday?

A: I like subs, especially from Subway. I like the en-ergy it gives me.

Athlete of the Week

loss to the Red Demons and finished the season 6-4 with a share of the Centennial League title and an outright district title. Despite the sea-son’s successes, the only thing visible after Manhattan’s loss Friday night was devastation, not a sense of accomplish-ment.

In a scoreless first quarter, the Indians committed two turnovers in what would be an early indication of how the

rest of the game would unfold. Both defenses were stubborn in the first, but in the second quarter the Indians slowly started to wear down. After Dodge City scored the first touchdown midway through the second quarter, a success-ful onside kick on the very next play gave the Red De-mons momentum, and the score was 21-0 in the Red De-mons’ favor at the end of the first half.

Things never got going for the Indians, and two quarters later Manhattan’s Regional hopes came to an abrupt end. Senior running back for the Red Demons, Parker Davis, had just over 200 yards by himself, as the entire MHS offense accounted for just 269 yards of total offense.

“It was crucial that we got off to a good start, and that didn’t happen,” head coach Joe Schartz said. “Our team kept fighting, kept trying, but there is only so much you can overcome.”

After a season of disap-pointments, redemption, re-cords, hard work and team-spirit, the loss was not taken with ease. Quarterback Jacob Holloway, however, was able to put the game into a positive perspective.

“In our four years here at Manhattan we have learned so much,” Holloway said. “Yeah, it’s about football, but in the

background Coach Schartz has taught us so many life les-sons we will always keep with us. Our fans and the students here also mean a lot to us. Even though we were losing since the first half, our fans

stayed with us and kept cheer-ing us on. It’s pretty special when you have such a support-ive fan base.”

Junior Darian Taylor ex-presses similar thoughts. “I love my team through every-

thing, couldn’t ask to be on any other team with any other people.”

Jacob Halloway7 rushing12 passing19 total

Darion Taylor10 rushing

Kellen Myers1 rushing2 recieving3 total

Josh Mullin6 rushing

Chris Hudgins3 rushing

Cross Country runners lead team

Top 5 touchdowns scoredFootball Statistics

Kayla Diekercopy editor

What time is it? Race time.

What time is it? RACE TIME!

Pumping up a team for vic-tory at 9 a.m. is no easy task, but for cross country captains junior Chris Melgares and senior James Leblow, it’s just another part of the job.

Melgares is the Chief of the team -- the highest leadership position available. Melgares was voted Chief by the other members of the cross country team, and when the results were in, coaches approved the final decision. Melgares uses his position to encourage the

team to do their best during races.

“I try to lead by example and try to be as dedicated as I can,” Melgares said.

He also works to make sure that other runners aren’t ner-vous and are able to focus on their race.

“Everybody can use me as an example,” he said.

In the off-season, Melgares works to keep his teammates interested in running and practicing to ensure success for the next season.

Leblow is a Brave for the team. Braves are also voted on by the team, and Leblow is one of four. The other Braves are junior Nick Bandy and sophomores Michael Melgares

and Isaiah Koppes. Leblow’s responsibili-

ties are much the same as Melgares’. He helps lead the breakdowns before races and also works with coaches to make team decisions.

“Before the games I talk to [the other runners] and get people hyped up,” Leblow said.

Leblow also works hard to encourage his teammates to do their best.

“I do my job to set an ex-ample for the other kids,” he said.

This Saturday Leblow and Melgares will travel with sev-eral other runners to South Dakota for the Nike XC Re-gional Championships.

Junior Brett Fehr lines up at the wide receiver position before the start of a play. The Dodge City defense proved to much for Manhattan as they held MHS to only 269 yards of total offense and only one touch-down scored in the final minutes.

Derrek Williams, photographer

Nick Bandysports editor

Many people would consid-er Manhattan High Football head coach Joe Schartz one of the greatest coaches in the school’s history.

Schartz is not one of those people.

“I’m just the fortunate recipient of a program that has been well established. We are doing everything we can to carry on the tradition,” Schartz said.

Schartz took the reigns from coach Butch Albright in 2009. Albright’s final record

between 1998 and 2008 was 72-44, and he finished his ca-reer by going 7-3 and taking MHS to the playoffs in 2008.

In 2009 Schartz led the team to an undefeated regu-lar season and a 10-1 record. Schartz is now in his fourth year and has a 36-6 record, but still remains humble over his success.

“I have been blessed with a great coaching staff and play-ers that want to be good. The players know we’re going to work hard and play hard ev-ery year,” Schartz said.

Schartz firmly believes he is only continuing the success

in MHS football, not starting a new era, and his knowledge of the past fuels his desire for success. In his office hangs a poster of the previous MHS coaches, none of whom have a losing record.

“I hang up this poster to re-mind myself of our impressive history,” Schartz said.

Last week MHS played Dodge City, having won a their first round playoff game every year under Schartz.

“We take it one game at a time, we don’t get ahead of ourselves and we’re not look-ing in the rearview mirror,” Schartz said.

Schartz following old traditions, starting new ones

Graphic by Dheepthi Perumal

Page 5: MHS Mentor Volume 100 Issue 9

Features MENTORthe5

Nov. 6, 2012

Big bellies, big lessons

Debate continues in strong season

National Merit students go above and beyond

Teen Pregnancy

Stats

34% of teens in the U.S. become

pregnant before 20

years of age

80%of teen

pregnancies are unintended

33%of teen

mothers complete high

school

11%of births in the U.S are from teen mothers

25% of teen

mothers will have a second child within 2 years of their

first

79%of teens who

become pregnant are unmarried

A+

Kaitlin WichmannPhoto Editor

“Can I touch it?” That is the most common question senior Mikayla Jackson-Barth, and probably many others, got asked when wearing an Empathy Belly.

As a 100-point assignment for their Foundation of Early Childhood class, students were required to spend a full school day wearing a strap on “belly” that mimics the weight and nuisance of an actual pregnant stomach.

“The empathy belly is supposed to help us realize how being pregnant would affect us in an actual childcare and working environment,” Jackson-Barth said.

School is definitely a strong work environment, as well as social environment, in which

to wear the belly. “People would look

at me and laugh,” senior Miranda Dooley said.

“And then they would ask me when my baby was due.”

The belly serves as a sort of experiment for students to practice being pregnant for a day.

“I can h o n e s t l y say that it made me think twice about having kids,” Dooley said. “The belly was so heavy and I

don’t think I could handle all that weight.”

The teacher, Karen Klein, even has a way

to monitor kids who might possibly ‘cheat’ on the

assignment.“We have a signature sheet

that each teacher in every hour must sign,” Jackson-Barth said. “This prevents someone from just wearing it to Mrs. Klein’s class and not for the rest of the day.”

Naomi McClendonEntertainment Editor

As fall draws closer to its end, seniors are scrambling

to take the ACT, ask for recommendation letters and apply for scholarships before deadlines. But a few students have gone above and beyond the norm in regards to testing and scholarships.

Of the 1.5 million who take the PSAT/NMSQT every year, only 32,000 students across the country are recognized as commended students, and only 16,000 are semifinalists for the National Merit Scholarship Program.

This year, five of the select few are from Manhattan High — Jake Seaton, Cale Benne and Sophie Wang are commended students, and Austin Canady

and Sophia Harms are semifinalists.

The National Merit Scholarship Program began in 1995 and serves to recognize students who meet high academic standards. High schoolers enter the program when they take the P S AT / N M S Q T test as juniors. In order to qualify as a commended scholar, students must score in the top two percentile of their state. In order to qualify as semifinalists, students’ scores must rank in the top one percentile of their state.

After being recognized as semifinalists, students may advance to a finalist standing, and by meeting other academic standards, can win scholarships. Canady and Harms have spent the past few weeks applying for the finalist standing. “A year after the PSAT, the program contacts your school to tell you you’re a semifinalist,” Harms explained. “After that, you fill out an application similar to college apps. You have to

write an essay.” According to Canady,

semifinalists also had to undergo additional testing. “In addition to the ACT, we also had to take the SAT,” Canady said.

Harms went on to explain that the accomplishment is not all about the scholarship. “You don’t find out you’re a finalist until spring,” she said. “The final prize is a $2,500 scholarship, but what’s more important is how it looks on college applications. A lot of students actually opt out of the scholarship because they get such good offers from schools.”

Although commended students don’t go on to compete for the final scholarship, they often become candidates for other scholarships.

These recognized students didn’t achieve their high academic standing without hard work. Each student has their own secret to success. For Canady, it has to do with dedication and appreciation for school. Canady is currently in six AP classes, and will have 11 by the time he graduates. On average, Canady spends four to five hours a night on homework. “It’s actually not that much. I think I’ve already taken the hardest classes, so this year isn’t too bad,” Canady said.

In addition to the rigorous schedule, Canady received a perfect score on both the SAT and the ACT. Canady attributes his success to his

previous classes. “It has to do with higher level thinking classes. The tests depend more on how you can handle new problems, not current knowledge. Classes like APUSH help with that,” he explained. “I’m also okay with learning stuff,” Canady said. “I like school.” Despite his academic standing, Canady isn’t interested in Ivy League schools. Next fall, Canady plans to attend either K-State or KU and become a high school teacher. “I’ve had a lot of really good teachers in the past,” said Canady. “That has really inspired me.”

While Harms, like Canady, engages in a rigorous schedule, she attributes her success to something else. “I don’t spend too much time on homework. I do independent research at K-State. I’m there until 5, and then I ride horses,” Harms said.

According to Harms, school isn’t the only thing that matters. “It’s important to be well-rounded. Life’s not about school. And the tests aren’t about what you’ve memorized, they’re about critical thinking, which can be learned just as well out of the classroom,” Harms said. “I don’t think success is directly related to how hard you work in high school classes.”

Harms isn’t sure where she’s applying for college. “I’m not quite sure where I want to go, but I want to study biochemistry. Ivy Leagues are nice, but they’re a lot of money, and I haven’t decided if they’re worth it.”

Seaton agreed with Harms in terms of what helps a student become successful. Seaton, in addition to scoring well on the PSAT, has excelled

in extracurricular activities. Seaton was a member of the Varsity Tennis team, and has been a part of the Debate and Forensics team for four years. Seaton is currently part of the highest-ranked debate duo in Kansas. “In regards to testing, it’s not really about the classes you take and what you learn,” Seaton said. “It’s more about critical thinking and developing those skills.”

Wang travels a different path to success. “Staying focused on your goals and looking at the big picture is what matters,” Wang explained.

Wang is currently enrolled in A.P. classes, and should have by the time she graduates. “Doing well on tests takes a lot of preparation,” Wang said. “It’s a lot of studying, and ruling out a social life. Everyone should do that,” Wang joked. “It really improves your GPA.”

While Wang joked about having Asian parents, she also attributed her success to their tough love. “I’m lucky to have parents who care about my future,” Wang said. “They help me stay in the right direction.”

Liz LogbackFeatures Editor

The Manhattan High debate season is off and running, collecting awards and top scoring teams along the way. With over 10 tournaments finished, the team is working hard towards Regionals, NFL and State.

Everyday after school, the debate team researches and practices in their competing teams of two. On Thursday evenings, they stay until almost 10 p.m. rehearsing and preparing for upcoming tournaments. They run mock debates and look up information to support their position for the upcoming debate. Currently, seniors Jake Seaton and his partner Jordan Deloach are researching transportation infrastructure for their assigned topic at Regionals. The duo are

currently ranked number one in the state of Kansas and consider themselves the “unofficial team captains.”

“But not really,” Seaton said, “We’re just the only fourth year seniors.”

In a tournament, there are five rounds. The number of rounds won and how many points the judges award determines if the team will proceed to the elimination rounds. Once there, they will compete until a final champion is decided.

“I definitely think it’s worth all the training after school,” sophomore Trevor Bashaw said.

Seaton anticipates sending many people to State. “Hopefully we’re looking to qualify a team of four speakers and then four teams of two speakers,” he said.

Besides the training and researching, the students

in debate have also formed “intense bonds” as sophomore Molly Bollmann called it. Bashaw and Bollmann were partners at one point and shared a laugh together at a tournament. As they were competing, a member from the opposite team fell out of his chair and got caught underneath a metal bar on the table. “I was trying so hard to not bust out laughing at him,” Bashaw said.

The judges then had to help the student back into his chair so the tournament could continue. “We still won, though,” Bashaw said.

The team will continue prepping for their upcoming tournaments and debates. Information on dates and places of tournaments can be found on the debate web site at: https://sites.google.com/site/manhattanhighdebate/.com.

Data courtesy of teenhelp.com and womenissues.com

ClassifiedFree Hedgehog: Cage, bedding, and other accessories all included. E-mail [email protected] or visit C107 for more information.

For sale: Fender Squire guitar with tuner and stand, $100 obo. Visit C107 to inquire.

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Senior Austin Canady uses class time for an assignment.

Jordan Morris, photographer

Senior Sophia Harms checks her school work. Jordan Morris, photographer

Above: Senior Mikayla Barth attaches an empathy belly to senior Kayla Sheilds (also left). Jordan Morris, photographer

Jackson-Barth had to go through a lot of the same troubles pregnant women might experience during a typical school day. The main thing she learned from the experience was “that it makes so much more sense

to wear your backpack on your back.”

“ Imag ine carrying your b a c k p a c k , along with s a n d b a g s , around on your stomach all day,” J a c k s o n -B a r t h said. “It’s not fun. It d e f i n i t e l y was not an e n j o y a b l e experience.”

D o o l e y , on the other hand, saw

some benefits in the project.

“It definitely made me think about how much work having a kid would be,” Dooley said. “So in the long run I think it was worth it.”

Page 6: MHS Mentor Volume 100 Issue 9

TrendingMENTORthe6

Nov. 6, 2012

Julith PerryStaff Writer

One of the most anticipat-ed albums since Adele’s “21” is finally here -- Taylor Swift’s newest creation, “Red,” has hit stores and the iTunes charts.

T-Swift fans must be pleased and overjoyed with excitement. I am neither. I re-ally wanted to like this album because T-Swift hasn’t disap-pointed me up until this point. Her best song by far this year has been “Ronan” and it’s garbage that it’s not even on the album. After listening to this album repeatedly, I tried to place it as country but I couldn’t because it’s not, and it’s not pop either -- well, not

the real kind of pop, it’s the modern pop.

If we go back to the early T-Swift years, we can label her songs as country but over the years, it has lost its mean-ing.

“I don’t feel like she is good country music, or if she is country music at all. I think she means well but she shouldn’t label herself as country music,” senior Kayla Wendler said.

T-Swift’s music has slowly made the shift into what is now considered pop music, if we really think about it, pop along with T-Swift have made transitions into some-thing they are not.

“Pop died in the ‘90s,”

senior Ada Davis-Nouri said. “The last true pop were the boy bands and now everything that is con-s i d e r e d pop is the club mu-sic. True pop does not exist anymore.”

P o p m u s i c went from the every-day Beatles music to Katy Perry. Every now and then we get someone like Adele who gives us a bit of hope that true pop music is

still alive. “I don’t take [Swift] as se-

rious as other mu-s i c i a n s , ” s e n i o r K i r s t y n N o r r i s said. “I just think that their s o n g s have more m o t i v e than Tay-lor Swift. I just think

that every time she has a problem it be-comes her newest hit.”

As much as I love some of T-Swift’s songs I do have to

The annual blockbuster hit “Assassin’s Creed” gives us its newest installment, “As-sassin’s Creed III.” This new installment from Ubisoft takes the player back in time as ex-pected while mixing the story with history -- this time during the Revolutionary War.

With the new assassin, Rotanhnhaké:ton, or Connor, Ubisoft takes us through the

assassin’s life while also bring-ing a close to Desmond’s story arc. You will learn how Des-mond is destined to save the world and also Connor’s role in showing Desmond his path to success.

“AC3” takes the franchise to places it’s never been before, and that’s due to the graphics. Ubisoft made a brand new en-gine for this game specifically, and it shows. This is the most beautiful “Assassin’s” game yet. Water has never looked better and killing templars has never looked more gruesome. This game also has some of the best looking lip-syncing and facial expressions as well.

The controls have also had a welcome change as well, most notably when you are running.

Instead of holding the right trigger down and holding the A button to sprint, Ubisoft simplified it to only having to hold the trigger down. This b e -comes e x -treme-l y u se fu l w h e n you are r u n -n i n g a l o n g t h e treelines and away from those dirty Red Coats.

The most amazing fea-ture about Assassin’s Creed is its scale. Ubisoft has stated

that the map in this game is roughly 1.5 times bigger than “Brotherhood’s” Rome; it’s gi-gantic. With such size comes great responsibility, and Ubi-

soft clearly knew what they were putting themselves into. You can literally do nearly any-thing you can imagine: hunt-ing, exploring, fight clubs, se-

cret caves and so much more. Another amazing feature in this game is naval combat, a first for the franchise. Ubisoft could not have executed con-trolling a ship any better than they did.

Since no game is without flaws, “Assassin’s Creed III” is no exception, unfortunate-ly. With such a large map, there are a handful of bugs, which are not massive by any means. While you’re galloping around or defending yourself on Bunker Hill, you might see an occasional gun floating in the air. Things might go out of your control while you’re run-ning along trees and you may even accidentally fall into a haystack. While these do af-fect your overall experience

Miss: Some people (Julith) still don't realize that Taylor Swift is at least as good as Carole King and probably just released the album of the year.

Miss: As Connor pointed out above, "Avatar 2," a new "Star Wars" install-ment, "Avengers 2" and a "Justice League" film are all slated for 2015. What film culture?

Miss: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame now inducting bands and art-ists based on number votes from the public. That's right, the R&RHoF turned into "American Idol," folks. The Sex Pistols were right.

Miss: The right wing attempt to turn Sandy into Obama's Katrina. Whoops.

Miss: The media turns Chris Christie's non-partisan approach to handling Hurricane Sandy into an Obama endorsement, forcing him to clarify that caring about his constitu-ents doesn't mean he's a Democrat.

Hit: Carrie Mathison.

Ben’s Hits and Misses

Weather Forecast

Eli RedekerGuest Writer

Tuesday: Adele sets fire to the rain. There were no survivors.

Wednesday: Hurricane Sandy has ravaged the Eastern Seaboard. Which one of Spongebob’s friends will strike next?

Thursday: Acid Rain Featuring the Grateful Dead

Friday: Cloudy with a chance of meatballs

Saturday: Dew Point is 37˚ (No one on Earth knows what this means.)

Sunday: Twister! It’s a fun game or a horrible ex-perience!

Monday: How many more El Nino years must America endure? Close the borders!

Graphic by Dheepthi Perumal

SethRunyan

sta� writer

ConnorBliss

trending co-editor

‘Assassin’s Creed I I I ’ a deeper game then previous titles

agree with Norris. Every time she breaks up with a guy she has to write a song about him. Sometimes too much of the same can get boring and over-rated. T-Swift has definitely fallen under the pop music genre, whether she considers herself as such or not.

“There’s this huge catego-ry, everything from Justin Bie-ber to LMFAO, and people don’t know what to define it as anymore, so it gets labeled as pop music,” Norris said.

The key factor that has led to T-Swift’s transition into pop is that she started writ-ing songs like “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” a song not entirely written by her. She collaborated with

Max Martin and Shellback on the song after she finished writing for her album “Speak Now.” While it is catchy and at first somewhat appealing to the typical “ I hate my ex-boyfriend, he was such a jerk” teenage girl emotions, the song is just not that great (if at all).

“Red” is definitely not T-Swift’s best work. While there are some noteworthy songs such as the title track and “Ronan” (which is not even on the album), T-Swift needs to realize that she is not 15 anymore and that her ex-boy-friends can’t be the subject of every song she writes.

There has never been a good video game movie ever -- from “Super Mario Bros.” to “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.” But now “Wreck-It Ralph” has broken the trend.

“Wreck-It Ralph” is an homage to all things video games and does an excellent job of telling an original fresh story while still heavily refer-encing the past.

Ralph (John C. Reilly) is an old arcade video game vil-lain whose job is to wreck the building, get thrown off and do it all over again. Meanwhile Felix (Jack McBrayer) fixes up the building as Ralph wrecks it. Ralph is tired of being the bad guy and wants to win a medal and be appreciated. Ralph heads out of his game and into Game Central, a hub for video game characters, in order to win his medal. He ends up in Sugar Rush, a rac-ing game, and meets up with Vanellope (Sarah Silverman), a glitch who longs to race but

is not allowed to. The rest of the movie is

spent developing Vanellope and Ralph’s relationship as they prepare Vanellope for her first race to get Ralph a medal. The film is full of subtle “Por-tal” and “Gears of War” and not-so-subtle “Street Fighter” and “Tapper” references. The plot uses these references as more of a springboard than as the main structure of the movie.

The characters seem to have been modeled after the actors, especially McBrayer’s character, Felix, who seems to borrow his personality from McBrayer’s other famous character Kenneth Parcell, the overly-enthusiastic page from “30 Rock.” While this could take away from the characters, in the end it makes them more relatable and fun to watch.

“Wreck-It Ralph” is the movie all video game nerds have been waiting for and deserve. It has cameos from “Pong,” Zangief and Bowser; it’s made for people who have been playing since the ‘80s, for people who started play-ing “Jetpack Joyride” on their iPhone yesterday or for people who haven’t even heard of vid-eo games. “Wreck-It Ralph” is for everyone.

‘Wreck- It Ralph’ makes jump from video game to silverscreen

Swift part of pop transformation

Connor BlissTrending Co-Editor

$4.05 billion. That’s how much George

Lucas sold Lucas Films to Disney for.

With that comes a whole new “Star Wars” trilogy, the first to be released in 2015. People will now flock to Mc-Donalds to pick up their lim-ited edition plastic mini-light-sabers and spend ridiculous amounts of money on action figures from the movies.

Many “Star Wars” fans have a love/hate relationships

with Lucas. They love him for the originals and hate him for the prequels, Midi-Chlorians and who shot first? Some-times a little more hate than love. Maybe “Episode VII” can even it out.

“Episode VII” will be an original storyline not taken from the novels, comics or cartoons. Disney has also an-nounced that all previous fic-tion in the “Star Wars” uni-verse excluding the movies is not canon anymore. The 2015 release date is fixing to be a big year for movies with the release of “Avatar 2,” “Star

Wars: Episode VII,” “Aveng-ers 2” and a “Justice League” movie.

The purchase of Lucas Films includes “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones” and “Red Tails” -- not that they’ll make another “Red Tails.” What would the plot of that be? For any of you worried, which is no one, “Angry Birds Star Wars” is still coming out this Thursday.

If you were wondering about Lucas’s plans of taking over the world with the extra cash, don’t worry. He said in an interview with “The Holly-

wood Reporter” that he plans to donate most of it to char-ity.

Another movie franchise that you shouldn’t be sur-prised if another sequel is announced for is “Indiana Jones.” Some are skeptical that Spielberg would be will-ing to direct anymore, but we shouldn’t put it past him to produce one. He did for all three “Transformers”.

Fans have a lot to rejoice

with the game, it most cer-tainly does not keep the game from being one of the best.

“Assassin’s Creed III” does what most games don’t bother to include, thematic ideas. This shows the effort that went into the game’s great writing and makes you consider whether being an as-sassin truly is the right path to follow. With some of the best looking graphics, Ubi-soft helps transport you to a time only used in textbooks and a few movies. “Assas-sin’s Creed” sets the bar up high for the rest of the year’s new releases and also future installments of the franchise and is truly a must buy to not miss out on.

for and cheesy “Star Wars” Disney toy tie-ins to buy. There is a two to three year wait but don’t worry, you still have three other movies (sorry, some movies acciden-tally had the title “Star Wars” posted on to the front of the box) to quell your excitement with. Who knows what the new movie will be about, but hopefully Goofy and Mickey have cameos.

Disney obtains Lucasfilms

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