MUSTANG EXPRESS03.01.12 THEThe student publication of Sunrise Mountain High School Volume 16 Issue 4 http://mustangexpress.org

Emily BridgewaterSection Editor

It was Valentine’s Day but for my dad and I, it was spent downtown celebrat-ing Arizona’s Centennial.

The day started out with a walk from Phoenix City to the Capitol building. This was the reenactment of the walk that the state’s first governor George W.P. Hunt did on February 14, 1912. Hunt left City Hall to walk to the Capitol and said, “Sir, let’s make a state.”

The group of revelers next proceeded to the State Capitol where the celebra-tion continued. Dad and I sat down with our little Arizona flags. We got cupcakes and chocolate milk that I, of course, spilled on me.

Channel 10 News anchors Kari Lake and John Hook talked to the crowd as

MC to the event that took place. There was a Native American dance and His-panic dancers who provided entertain-ment. Along with the dancers, State Historian Marshall Trimble provided stories about Arizona. In addition, Rex Allen dedicated a song to Arizona.

Governor Jan Brewer signed a bill stating February 14 is officially regarded as Centennial Day. Gov. Brewer, along with the Postal Service, unveiled the new Centennial stamp that is a forever first class stamp. The stamp was drawn my Ed Mell, who captured Sedona’s Ca-thedral Rock in a painting.

Booths aligned the Capitol front yard with booths of places from several wom-en’s leagues, art museums and historical museums.

The booths were filled with Arizona history and culture. I managed to make

friends with all the old ladies from the women’s leagues. The booths were mini-history lessons for Arizonans, both na-tive and snowbirds.

Arizona has invested a lot for the Centennial. Washington Avenue is now also called Centennial Way. Down Cen-tennial Way, there are now small monu-ments that are dedicated to the 22 feder-ally recognized Native American tribes in Arizona along with historical signage about Arizona’s 15 counties. At every in-tersection there is a cobblestone cross-walk with the Arizona Centennial Logo on it.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a day down-town without me tracking down honor-able guests such as The Honorable San-dra Day O’Connor. Sadly, Sandra was whisked away before I could shake her hand.

Mr. Faulkner receives promotion to position at Peoria district officeBrooke SchattnerStaff Reporter

As most of the student body is aware, math teacher Warren Faulkner has been promoted to a position at the district of-fice. He began this new venture on Jan. 23.

It is bittersweet for students like ju-nior Dalton Worsnup that Mr. Faulkner is only on campus for first hour now.

“[His promotion] is great, but I’m sad to see him go,” Worsnup said. “He helped me grow in all ways. He’s a role model all students should look up to. Yes, [he helped me become successful] I learned everything I know from this man.”

Although it is hard to let such a valu-able teacher go, Worsnup believes he de-served this promotion.

“He definitely deserved it,” Worsn-up said. “He’s like the best guy in the world.”

Not only do students believe he is ex-tremely deserving of the promotion, but teachers do as well.

Math teacher Brian Stephens believes Faulkner is absolutely qualified to be promoted.

“I honestly think he’s the best man for that job,” said Mr. Stephens. “I do know he cares [about his students]. He’s a fan-tastic teacher. I can tell he really cares for his students, they do really well.”

Mr. Faulkner has been a part of the Sunrise Mountain staff for 15 years. He has taught every math class Sunrise Mountain offers, as well as concep-tual and AP physics. According to him, though, he teaches more than just math-ematic concepts.

“Some people say I teach more than math…I teach life,” Mr. Faulkner said.

Mr. Faulkner looks forward to out-reaching and helping even more stu-dents than he does already.

“This way I have a chance to help more students, now I can make an im-pact on all the students in the district, and not just Sunrise’s students,” Mr. Faulkner said.

Mr. Faulkner’s outstanding teaching methods, love and passion for teaching and desire to see his students be suc-cessful is what most likely got him this new job.

“I think the best method for teaching is to make people have fun while they’re learning,” Mr. Faulkner said. “I’ve been a teacher 21 years and I haven’t worked a day in my life.”

Arizona celebrates 100 years of statehoodIllustration by Alexandria Stephens

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARIZONA!: Feb. 14 marked Arizona’s Centennial. Arizonans celebrate the state’s birthday in several ways, one of which included joining in on the festivities in downtown Phoenix at the State Capitol. Above is the stage standing before the capitol. Directly to the right, Gov. Jan Brewer presents the Arizona state stamp. Far right, a man holds an American flag with 48 stars on it, Arizona being the newest addition to the country. Photos by Emily Bridgewater

The Dispatch 03.01.1202Science club prepares field trips to aquarium, reserve

Spiritline places first overall in State

The Sunrise Mountain Science Club has been running strong as the school year goes on and more in-depth topics are explored.

Club sponsor Cheryl Fiedler has been a part of the club since 2003 and is ready for the club to engage in more projects to expand their scientific knowledge.

“We are currently get-ting ready for a field trip to Out of Africa, then the Sea Life Aquarium at Ari-zona Mills and the Beari-zona Wildlife Preserve. Then, we will be doing the kiss-a-senior-goodbye grams for the graduat-ing seniors” Mrs. Fiedler said.

The club has already completed multiple proj-ects since the new school year began and is eager to participate in more, as in previous years: they have sponsored the Rock and Roll Paint-a-Thon, which is a community ser-vice project that painted the house of a person in need.

The club has also taken field trips to the Phoenix Zoo/Wildlife World Zoo and helped with the Holi-day Angels on campus by purchasing angel gifts.

The members meet ev-

ery other Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. in Mrs. Fiedler’s classroom, there is cur-rently a total of 20 mem-bers.

The members are dedi-cated to the club and take an interest in their work; from researching new topics to presenting their information to others, they are hardworking stu-dents. The students not only participate in science related projects but also take part in school and community related activi-ties as well.

“It provides them with a group of students to in-teract with who are inter-ested in science, and the opportunity to do commu-nity service for the school and the community,” Mrs. Fiedler said. “As well as provide them the chance to take field trips to learn about the scientific world around us.”

The club is a great ex-perience for anyone in-terested in science, and Sunrise students are en-couraged to join.

“The science club is a student-run club whose members are interested in science,” Mrs. Fiedler said. “Anyone who would like to learn about the sci-entific world around them should stop by a meeting and see if the science club is a match for them.”

recipient of the money they earned.”

COOP Supervisor Jodi Dowler feels grateful for the donation.

“We feel honored,” Ms. Dowler said. “They could choose anybody in the whole school and they’ve decided to choose us and that tells us that we are meaningful; that’s pretty special.”

Digital Photography teacher Robert Panzer has volunteered to paint the mural for the COOP.

“The mural is going to have a landscape element to it,” Mr. Panzer said. “It will have some mountains in the back representing the idea of Sunrise Moun-

New mural brightens COOP playground

The Child Oriented Occupational Program, more popularly known as COOP, received a dona-tion from the SMHS cheer team toward a new mural for their playground.

The cheer team wanted to help the school in some way and as a result the team chose to give money to the COOP program.

“We were told that cheer had sponsored some kind of competi-tion here on campus and earned money and they’d like to donate money back to the school,” COOP Director Gail Svor said. “They chose COOP as the

The Spiritline put on an overall state-cham-pionship winning show at the AIA State Spirit-line Championship the weekend of Feb. 4 and 5. The All-Girl Stunt Group placed first, while the Cheer team placed second and the Pom team plac-ing fifth. These scores el-evated Sunrise Mountain above the competition.

The Spiritline has es-tablished a long tradition of winning.

“Last year we placed first in stunt, second in cheer and third in Pom,” Varsity Cheer Coach Ash-ley DeMott said. “We real-ly just wanted to up [from last year].”

These accomplish-ments do not arrive easy for Spiritline.

“Cheer practices six days a week, two to three hours a day since July,” Ms. DeMott said. “Pom has been practicing since September three days a week.”

The competition was

beneficial in more than one way.

“[The experience] was fun and learning because I had never been a com-petition like that before,” pom team member and sophomore Courtney Mulvihill said.

Some of the members of Spiritline performed with more than one team in the competition.

“[My experience was] hectic because I am on five-girl and show cheer so I compete in both,” se-nior Jessica Brown said.

According to Ms. De-Mott, in addition to hav-ing a lot of dedication, the team has stunting and tumbling skills that helped them qualify for state.

“I am most proud of the girls leaving every-thing on the mat and put-ting their hearts into it,” Ms. DeMott said.

Spiritline will continue to stay busy: they per-formed at a charity com-petition at Kellis High School on Feb. 25, and nationals are at the end of March.

Laura JohnsonPage Designer

HIP HIP HOORAY: Pom performs at the Hoopcoming school assembly on Feb. 1. The cheer team will be competing in nationals at the end of March. Photo by Maddie Riddick and Anissa Saenz-Ochoa

Alyssa SabatelStaff Reporter

Anissa Saenz-OchoaSection Editor

tain. There will [also] be a sunrise coming up behind the mountains… it’s going to have some kids in there too.”

The mural will also in-clude cacti, mustangs and other desert plants.

Ms. Dowler is excited for the mural to be paint-ed in the playground so that the children can re-late to it.

“It identifies us with the community we live in,” Ms. Dowler said. “The kids can look at that and realize they’re not too far from home.”

The overall outcome the mural pleased Mrs. Svor.

“I think it’s going to be something that’s going to brighten the walls of the playground for years to come,” Mrs. Svor said.

Ms. Dowler mentioned how excited the COOP kids are to have a mu-ral painted on the wall of their playground. They have already begun to take ownership.

“They’re very proud of it,” Ms. Dowler said. “It feels like it’s their own part of campus.”

CHILD’S PLAY: The mural in the COOP playground is in the process of being painted. The cheer team donated money for the project. Photo by Anissa Saenz-Ochoa

AP, Honors bump AIM off future schedulesChelsie AtkinsonStaff Reporter

Students currently en-rolled in AIM classes are going through changes in their schedules. Instead of taking AIM classes next year, they will be taking AP classes.

“I’m not sure how it’s going to work, but I like how if you take the test at the end you will be able to get college credit,” fresh-man Taylor Selbach, who is currently enrolled in AIM Science, said.

Some of the students think that it will be easier with the new classes, but

some think that it will be more difficult.

“I think it’s going to be harder because you have two different teachers,” Selbach said.

AIM Science teacher Cheryl Fiedler thinks that the new changes will be beneficial to the students.

“I believe that the stu-dents will benefit from the changes because the changes have updated the curriculums and will include new technology and information,” Mrs. Fiedler said.

When times change,

curriculums change to adapt the society and the new information ob-tained.

“Overtime, we have to update our curriculums to keep up with the latest technologies and new in-formation,” Mrs. Fiedler said.

Some students prefer the old schedule over the new and improved one because they feel comfort-able with it.

“I like the way things are arranged now,” Sel-bach said. “I am going to do the AP class because I

want to stick with advanced English. If I had a choice between AP and regular AIM I would go with the regular AIMS because that’s what I’m used to.”

As of next year the stu-dents enrolled in AIM classes will be taking AP or Honors courses.

The Scene03.01.12 03

Seniors’ graduation bucket list

The remaining months of the school year are bittersweet. Seniors have only three months left at Sunrise and they have an incredible list of goals before graduation. Here are some of the best bucket lists of the class of 2012:

Meet my high school sweetheart. Go to France.Get a dog. -Marion Cambrelin

Meet a celebrity. Go skydiving. Go to Chipolte for the first time. -Ashlyn Balogh

Catch up on “One Tree Hill.” Ride in a hot air balloon. Sneak out of the house just once. -Becca Wood

1

2

3Are girls crazier than boys? Recent studies have shown that girls are crazier than boys. We went around and asked the students their opinion.

Facebook users switching social media sites

As of Jan. 23, Tumblr hit 15 billion page views per month. This is a 2 billion increase since the beginning of 2011 (accord-ing to Mashable.com).

Other recent Mashable sta-tistics have shown that other, less popular sites like Tumblr and Wordpress have seen a rapid increase in users. Even though Facebook still has a name for itself, the recent and

multiple changes to their site might be the cause of the steady decrease in activity. A recent student poll showed that Face-book is getting less interesting. Out of the students polled, 83 agreed that Facebook is getting boring, and 27 of them have an account on another social net-working site.

“Yes, Facebook is changing and I feel like it’s pointless to have one now,” freshman Al-exandra Dillmore said.

While Facebook is still her

main website for social net-working, Dillmore also said she has another account on the blogging site, Tumblr.

“There is nothing to do [on Facebook] and everything is changing,” freshman Kyana Hayes said. “I used to go on [Facebook] for hours but now I just go on for communica-tion.”

Even with the slight drop in usage, Facebook still remains the go-to site for social net-working.

American Idol faces new rivalries on television

When American Idol first premiered on June 11, 2002, it took the world by storm. People were captivated by the brand new television sensation because of the funny auditions, the tal-ented competitors and the fa-mous judges: Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul.

At the time, American Idol was the one and only sing-ing competition show, but nowadays, shows like X Factor and The Voice have been becoming much more popular.

“Yes [I have watched American Idol before], be-cause it was on, and they judged people who couldn’t

sing…it’s comedic,” said se-nior Aaron Aguirre. “No [I haven’t seen the X Factor,] but I have seen The Voice, though. I thought it was dif-ferent. I liked the whole idea of the show and how you can’t see their faces.”

Aguirre has a specific preference to one of the three shows.

“[I prefer] The Voice,” Aguirre said. “[People turned away from Ameri-can Idol] because the main judges people liked left, so it’s not entertaining. Better shows have come out…like The Voice!”

Sophomore Roman Cast-agna gives his take on the shows.

“I have watched all [three shows] before,” Castagna said. “[I watch them] be-cause they help people reach success.”

Castagna believes Ameri-can Idol is his preference.

“[I prefer] American Idol because it is a classic,” Cast-agna said.

Bloggers keep readers’ thoughts in mindEvery four seconds

a new blog is being cre-ated on the internet. With social media at its peak, people are warned to take caution about what they post online; it is critical to censor oneself when writ-ing personal blogs.

With blog sites like Tumblr, Blogspot and Wordpress, many online diarists post and write about the most private details of their lives and their most treasured thoughts. While some people question why dia-rists would write their own journal online, oth-ers find it interesting.

Senior Toni Miller has a blog which she de-scribes as “nerdy.” She talks about Harry Potter in her posts and she occa-sionally vents about life’s daily obstacles. She be-lieves that online diaries

are popular because of people’s natural curiosity.

“I feel like everyone is interested in how a per-son feels so they could find a common ground,” Miller said.

Junior Alexis Noriega has an interesting take on her blog. Her blog consists of movie reviews and hatred for the actor Nicholas Cage. To Norie-ga, personal blogs have advantages but have dis-advantages as well.

“[You] can take time to think about what you are saying and not be in the spur of the moment,” Noriega said. “The disad-vantage is that not only you and your friends are reading it, other people can read about your situ-ations.”

Anything written or posted online is there to stay. Fashion teacher and blogger Jennifer Wool-sey believes that no mat-ter what age, teenagers

and adults should keep in mind the content they are writing.

“Bear in mind anyone could see it unless you set it on private,” Mrs. Wool-sey said. “You have to self-regulate. You have to be aware of the purpose of your blog and who is your true readership.”

Potential employers have also begun turning to social networking sites prior to hiring individu-als. They turn not only to Facebook or Twitter, but to personal blogs as well.

Noriega believes that bloggers should write appropriately and think about and monitor the content of every single one of their posts.

“I think about my fam-ily and what they would think [when I blog],” Noriega said. “[Just] make sure that you keep your blog private and ap-propriate and you do not advertise.”

Brooke SchattnerStaff Reporter

Josh YodiceStaff Reporter

Gilliene YapSection Editor

Research compiled by Adrienne Sebade

Gilliene YapSection Editor

Illustration by Amanda Briggs

The Spotlight 03.01.1204

Edmodo: ‘Safe’ Facebook for schoolThe founders of Facebook, MySpace,

Twitter or any other social network-ing site probably did not think this worldwide trend would find a way into schools.

Edmodo is a website recently discov-ered by SMHS that lets teachers and stu-dents to interact in a classroom setting online.

“[Edmodo] started three years ago by two guys in the Chicago school district,” assistant librarian Mrs. Roxie Blackson said. “They offer the site free to every district so that is one of the reasons that our school uses it.”

This new website has various applica-tions that teachers can use.

“There is a grade book feature, [teachers can post] quizzes and teachers can award badges to students [for good work],” Mrs. Blackson said. “I haven’t

fully implemented [the website] in the library but I put book club on there so I could have meetings or announce-ments.”

The site is a great resource for teach-ers who have to take time off.

“I took a week off from school because [my baby was born] and I was able to use Edmodo to tell the class, give the class instructions and then they could reply to me,” Mr. Ramon Rodriguez said.

Students can access Edmodo from more than just their computers.

The social networking site is useful for students as well.

“You can see what other people have posted and get help from it,” University High student Lauryn Olsen said.

“They have an app for smart phones which is one of the things they are push-ing,” Mrs. Blackson said. “Students can post anytime anywhere from their phone.”

Not very many teachers have an Ed-modo account right now.

“Mostly the University High teach-ers [are using it right now] because they really want us to push technology with those guys,” Mr. Rodriguez said.

Mrs. Blackson said that the district has begun offering training to teachers on how to use Edmodo correctly and ef-fectively.

This site could potentially be used for all of the class on campus.

“I could do [a page] for every class like Spanish I, Spanish II and regular high school kids and they have it separated so all they see is their own class and not anybody else’s,” Rodriguez said.

Teachers can talk to more than just their students on Edmodo.

“There are collaboration commit-tees so teachers can collaborate with other people who teach the same subject across the globe,” Blackson said.

There are still a few glitches in this system though.

“It is really slow and you have to refresh every time there is a new com-ment,” Olsen said.

Between the combination of students and teachers, Edmodo currently has an estimated three million users registered as a member.

Laura JohnsonStaff Reporter

Heavy backpacks threaten students health

ers, a bag of chips and some bean dip,” Armenta said.

She is one student who is already ex-periencing the dangers of a heavy back-pack.

“Sometimes my back starts to hurt,” Armenta said. “It can get to a point where it slows down my walking. Even-tually my hips can go out.”

Heavy backpacks carry many risks. Students can experience neck and shoulder pain, muscle spasms or poor posture. Injuries can escalate to serious cases such as permeated or herniated discs.

Several students at Sunrise Moun-tain carry extremely heavy backpacks. Junior Robert Geiger must drag a 29.6-pound backpack through the hallways each school day. He could be at risk of health problems.

Students who have any of these issues should seek help immediately to prevent future back and shoulder problems.

Rigorous classes and busy schedules literally weigh students down as they are forced to carry more in their backpacks.

Though many students do not ini-tially recognize it, a heavy backpack can lead to multiple health problems.

According to “US School Children At Risk from Heavy Backpacks,” a 2001 study proved that 7000 students on av-erage make emergency room visits each year due to problems caused by heavy backpacks.

This is a hidden danger. Many stu-dents fail to realize the magnitude of this dilemma.

Junior Michaela Slezak transcends the corridors of Sunrise Mountain car-rying a backpack that weighed in at 16.7 pounds.

“Oh God yes, I can’t even sit up and pick up my backpack,” Slezak said. “It’s ridiculous. Every time I have to leave classrooms, I dread having to pick up my backpack because it’s so heavy.”

As students join additional programs and take more rigorous schedules here at Sunrise Mountain High School, they rely on their backpacks to hold more of their life.

Senior Karey Armenta is involved in numerous activities around the school campus and her backpack is crammed with materials that she needs through-out the day.

“I have two water bottles, two bind-

Bryce DudzinskiStaff Reporter

HEAVY WEIGHT: Michaela Slezak poses with heavy backpack. Photo by Bryce Dudzinski

Seniors move on, DECA club is left behind

As current seniors of DECA prepare to

venture out of Sunrise Mountain, and into the ‘real world’, many are curious as to what will become of DECA when the senior leaders move on.

DECA advisor Tricia White is one of the few who will miss these talented students, as they surely left their mark.

“[It’s going to affect the club] immensely, because those who medaled, that are going to state, and participate in district, were my seniors, so they’ll be missed,” Mrs. White said. “Some of them it was there first time being in DECA and they did so well, so h o p e -fully my freshman, sophomores and juniors that are now in DECA will just be keep growing.”

Although the six of her seven officers plan on graduating, she has high hopes for the future of DECA.

“It’s gonna be tough because I’m los-ing six of my seven officers,” Mrs. White said. “But the four members at large I have right now seem to be picking up the slack, so hopefully they’ll be as gung ho and ready

to go as my current officers are. Hopefully, we’ll just be getting stronger and stronger,”

Vice - President and active member Kayli Schattner thinks the club will survive with-out their senior members, as they once went through the same experience.

“I think that with the use of our members at large we’ll be

just fine, absolutely; I think it’ll definitely be

a learning process for them, we’ve

all done it, and this is only my second

year in DECA” Schattner said. “It’s a

challenge but I definitely think that all of us as officers

this year definitely completed the tasks to the best of our abilities

and the members at large this year will be more than capable at taking positions af-ter we’ve all gone to college.”

Schattner believes that DECA’s success is all due to the hard work and effort Mrs. White has put in.

“I think DECA has been so successful because, honestly it’s Mrs. White, she’s put-ting so much effort, so much work, it’s only her second year here, she’s one of the best in state, we have the best materials to study from for DECA competitions, and we’re given the best opportunities. We had the most overall wins at our regional competi-tion, and we hope to bring that into the state competition this spring,” Schattner said.

Being bilingual may be a little difficult, but don’t be discouraged. Learning other languages can aid you in job searches later in life.

According to World Languages and Cultures, approximately one billion peo-ple speak Mandarin Chinese, 490 mil-lion speak Hindi, and 420 million people speak Spanish.

Americans should learn a foreign lan-guage for many reasons.

“It only broadens people’s under-standings of different cultures,” Spanish

teacher Ramon Rodriguez said. “It’s al-ways beneficial whether you’re older or younger.”

Americans do not live in an area where there are a lot of different languages, but that does not mean we should not learn one.

“If you compare Europe with us...you’ve got Germany, France, Italy, Spain and England,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “You have all those countries and they know three or four languages because they need to.”

Not all people agree that foreign lan-guages need to be learned.

“We live in America,” senior Stormi

Alvarez said. “I mean, they can learn if they want but I don’t think it needs to be forced upon us.”

Foreign languages will always be help-ful in future careers.

“It’s really good for jobs,” junior Re-becca Icke said. “You can have more ad-vances because you can work with differ-ent people.”

The main question is which foreign language to learn?

“If you could, Latin,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “Latin goes into French, Spanish and Italian. It’s a base for all languages.”

While Latin might end up being dif-ficult to learn, there are other languages

that will benefit you. “Spanish,” Icke said. “It seems like it

is pretty popular and in the U.S., a lot of people speak Spanish.”

Sophomore Casey Lee agrees, but also has another idea.

“Sign language or Spanish or Eng-lish,” Lee said. “English first, and then probably Spanish.”

You never know; learning a foreign language now might help you later in life. Just picture 20 years from now.

“It’s just good to know other lan-guages,” Mr. Rodriguez said. “[I guess it would be] so you could go on vacation when you retire.”

Spice up your knowledge curve with foreign language Adrienne SebadeStaff Reporter

Bayan AbubakrStaff Reporter

The Spotlight03.01.12 05

President Barack Obama’s speech to lower college tuition causes Arizona leg-islature to react in a negative manner.

On Jan. 27, at the University of Mich-igan, President Obama gave a speech that raised the eyebrows of colleges. He proposed supersizing a loan program for students with a lower income and to take away financial aid from colleges that re-fuse to lower tuition.

“You can’t assume that you’ll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can’t stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down,” President Obama said in his speech.

In retaliation to this, Arizona legisla-ture submitted bill 2675. This bill would require full time students that are not merit scholars or athletes to pay at least $2,000.00 a year towards their educa-tion.

“I feel that this bill is not fair because not everyone can afford to pay that much

at once, and it is unfair to everyone who is not an athlete or a scholar,” senior Taylor Jennings said.

This new bill might affect the amount of students that have the opportunity to go to college.

“I will still go to a University, but it would [make it harder] to pay,” senior Madison Tidwell said.

Tuition has risen because states cut funding during the downfall of the econ-omy. However, Arizona has a low per-centage of people with college degrees, therefore; government officials are try-

ing to find new ways to make college af-fordable.

In President Obama’s speech, he called on states to make more respon-sibility even proposing a figurative race between states. This race would encour-age states to boost graduation rates of college students, and help them gradu-ate faster.

This year, in-state tuition and fees at four-year universities average to $8,244.00, which is an 8.3 percent in-crease over the past year according to the College Board.

Taylor RussellStaff Reporter

A large number of Sunrise Mountain students graduate and go on to one of the Arizona in-state, public universi-ties: Arizona State University (ASU), Northern Arizona University (NAU) and University of Arizona (U of A).

High school prepares students to make some of the most important deci-sions of their lives; they have to decide what career to pursue and how to get there. In order to do this, they must de-cide which university best suits them and their future.

Many students agree that the col-lege’s programs and majors can be a deciding factor.

Career Adviser Cindy Fair suggests students to look first if the university has their major.

After searching for her college ma-jor, senior Khylie Gardner found Inter-national Studies at NAU.

“They have a really good interna-tional studies program there. And that’s what I was looking for,” Gardner said.

However, when contemplating col-leges, the cost can often persuade stu-

Arizona colleges that lets personality come alivedents to attend or avoid that college of choice.

Senior Nikita Satapathy said that her

scholarships from ASU persuaded her enrollment.

“I get free tuition and I wanted to

save all the money I could for med school,” Satapathy said.

The cost for college can be over-whelming but there are many scholar-ship and financial aid programs that different colleges offer. For any assis-tance regarding paying for college, Mrs. Fair in the Career Center can answer any question.

“See who gives you the best financial aid package,” Mrs. Fair said.

Within a college, there is much more than the major and cost. There are many other factors to help students decide on a college: campus, location, weather and size.

“Explore. See everything and find what you like,” senior George Nguyen said. Nguyen plans on attending U of A next spring to study physiology.

Many students planning to attend NAU are eager for the cold weather.

“It’s really nature-oriented,” Gard-ner said. “The atmosphere and envi-ronment there was what I was looking for.”

Mrs. Fair encourages students to start looking at universities as early as freshman year. It is never too early to start planning for college.

Students venture off into real world

With the end of the school year rap-idly approaching, seniors are gearing up for the next step in their lives.

For some, that next step is college. For senior Cassandra Carmody the next thing on her agenda is just that.

“I plan on going to GCC and attend-ing their nursing program there through NAU,” Carmody said “And then I plan on going to Africa and becoming a nurse there.”

Scholarships are ideal, and the path many students choose to take. Many scholarship myths circle around the idea that there are so many students apply-ing and there are just not enough schol-arships according to Scholarships.com. This is what causes many students to give up on the goal they had been pursu-ing throughout their high school career.

Junior Cheyenne Adamonis hopes to receive a golf scholarship. She has per-sisted up until now, and will continue as she enters her senior year to ensure that she meets the goal she has set for herself.

“I am looking into scholarships and getting a lot of information for college and trying to get all organized before I catch the bad case of senioritis,” Adamo-nis said.

As a junior, Adamonis’ advice for un-

derclassmen as they move up on the to-tem pole would be, “Don’t be scared if you don’t know what you want during the first year because I guarantee you’ll find something that really appeals to you and don’t be set on one thing because you’re going to change [your mind] all the time.”

Although college is not a path some people find important, Carmody feels college is the way to go.

“College is something that’s always been important to me and my family.”

College is something that Senior Drake Kvaale feels is important for his future as well, “[Yeah], I plan on going to Brown Mackie college in Phoenix.”

Earning a scholarship and being ac-cepted into college in general takes a lot of drive and dedication.

AIMS test benefits Mustangs As testing season rolls around, stu-

dents and teachers alike are gearing up for the annual AIMS test.

As most are aware, the Arizona In-strument to Measure Standards is a statewide test that is required for gradu-ation.

Exceeding the AIMs is beneficial to students, as a 25 percent tuition waiver is guaranteed.

“Absolutely [the tuition waiver is use-ful], if you’re going to an in-state univer-sity, they pay attention to that,” guidance counselor Julie Selbach said. “When you go to college you have to pay for books, a dorm, food, transportation and most importantly tuition, the 25 percent [tu-ition waiver] really makes a difference, tuition is a big deal.”

Over the past few years, the tuition waiver has changed drastically. In 2010, the Arizona Board of Regents decided to cut the tuition waiver to 25 percent, claiming the scholarship was too easy to earn. In past years, if students excelled in all areas (Math, Reading and Writing) they were eligible to receive a full state university tuition waiver valid for one year after graduating high school.

“The problem is the seniors get the full scholarship, but everybody that’s

graduating after 2012 has to exceed the AIMS, get a 28 or above on the ACTs and earn a 1300 on the SATs to get that 25 percent tuition waiver,” Mrs. Selbach said. “The tuition waiver won’t help much if you plan on attending university out of state.”

Students who have exceeded the AIMS say the tuition waiver is beneficial.

“It’s not a deciding factor [when you apply to college] but it does help; it is 25 percent of the total cost,” junior Conor Yates-Koch said.

Even though a quarter of costs are cut from tuition, students who have excelled the AIMS in the past two years feel that the previous tuition waiver was of great-er worth.

“I mean the scholarship is worth-while, but before it paid for your full first year of college, if you have a lot of other scholarships it adds up,” Yates-Koch said.

The AIMS is definitely a worthwhile exam, it not only reduces costs for col-lege tuition, but opens doors to other scholarships.

“It’s really worth it, you can benefit a lot from the scholarship.” junior Abbie Kulinec said.

The AIMS testing sessions take place on Feb. 28 and 29.

“Just try you’re hardest and study, it really pays off,” Kulinec said.

Bryce DudzinskiStaff Reporter

Michaela Emrich Staff Reporter Bayan Abubakr

Staff Reporter

Arizona legislature reacts to plan that lowers college tuition

06 03.01.12

“It’s the end of the world as we know It.” -r.e.M

“It will either be complete and utter chaos or sheepish, one or the two that’s my guess. We’ll probably have all sorts of crazy technology like our RFIDs will be great, quantum computers will the fastest computers that ever existed and we’ll have much faster means of transporta-tion and maybe interstellar travel.” Dalton Worsnup, 11

World ending? SMHS can handle itJosh YodiceStaff Reporter

Countless predictions have been made by peo-ple through time that the world will end. One event in particular was in 1806, when a hen laid eggs that somehow delivered the message that the end of the world was near. Then, fast forward to

Jan. 1, 2000 what most know as Y2K. The theory that computers would go haywire due to the new millennium was popular, with nobody really know-ing what to expect. People formulated this

idea that the end of the world would be brought on by everything from blackouts to nuclear ho-locaust. Yet here we are, still

ready to take on another rumor of the world com-ing to an end. Whether you believe the

Mayan calendar, your friends around school, have seen the movies

or visited that crazy guy down the street, chances are you have heard about the world ending in 2012. See the results for a poll

taken at SMHS and see how the students are re-acting to another “End of the World” theory.Out of the 93 students

surveyed, almost all said that the world will not end any time soon, but we will just have to see what 2012 brings us.Not everyone would be

terrified if the world were to end. Junior Colton Ashcroft

said that he would “walk calmly down the street.”Others might have a case

of Post Dramatic Stress Disorder, like freshman Edith Rivas, who wrote in her poll, “[I would] go racing in my lovely Hon-da and crash it.”Then there are the survi-

vors who already have it all figured out.“[I would] dig a hole,

jump in and get some root beer and Cheetos and cover [the hole] up.” freshman Jacob Van De Walle said.

Compiled by Hannah Mure

Graph by Josh Yodice

“I predict that the world will be so far advanced that human beings will no longer need suste-nance nor oxygen to survive… that is all.”Amanda Briggs, 12

Who believes the world is going to end in 2012

Students who say the world will NOT end

Students who DO think the world will end

93 people surveyed

90%

10%

The Horseshoe 07

“I think there’s going to be weird technology, like there’s going to be a railroad that goes everywhere. I’m thinking flying shoes, flying cars, and stuff like that. And the cities are going of be made of glass and everything is going to be made of glass. And teleportation will be made with people and we won’t need airplanes anymore and stuff like that. Styles will be way different, it will be creepy neon jumpsuits that will be popular I think.” -Chris Zbacnik, 9

“I think we’re going to be more sophisticated and work-ing more energy efficient for the planet and have more economy friendly cars. The economy will be better and as for technology, everything will be voice controlled and touch screen. I don’t see there being any time travel, but I think we’ll have the technology to be able to live on another planet.” Ian Stoddard, 11

One hundred years from now, will Earth be non-existent? Rumors have circled throughout many countries that the end of the world is in our midst. Some theorize that the

human population will meet the same fate as those on Easter Island. The people on Easter Is-land slowly ran out of resources and human-ity slowly died off. Oth-ers think the world will have the same attributes as it does now. Many sci-entists believe that the earth has begun to slip below its “tipping point”, or the point of no return. Then there are those who believe that, based on the ancient Mayan calendar, the world will end on Dec. 21 this year.Sophomore Jake Jelinek

shared his view on the change in the earth in 100 years. “I think the climate will

be different, also there might be catastrophic

Earth goes downhill in future

differences in the mag-netic poles,” Jelinek said. “Because they are slowly shifting, we might see a bigger difference in the way animals migrate.”Everyone has their own

predictions as to what the world will look like in 100 years. Among those predictions is the thought that many of the world’s coastal areas will be un-derwater.Freshman Brooklyn Pel-

land disagrees.“I think it [the earth] will

be exactly the same” said Pelland.Then there are those who

have a completely differ-ent outlook on the fate of the earth in 2112.A pair of futurologists

agreed on the idea that in 100 years people will be able to control the weath-er according to an article on BBC news. This could be helpful considering the fact that other scientists believe that an eruption of a major volcano in Wy-oming will wreak havoc on a majority of the West-ern United States. Also, that it will cause fault

lines to rupture and tor-nado activity to increase. Then there is the topic of how humans will have impacted the earth.“[I think] there will be

more wars,” Pelland said. Jelinek believes that

humans will not have demolished the earth by then. Integrated science teach-

er Chris Moore agrees. “No, not in 100 years.”

Mr.Moore said. “Sooner or later we will all fig-ure out that we have to make some changes to survive, and we will,” Mr. Moore seems to have hopes and doubts for the world in 100 years. “[Physically the earth] will have gotten warmer and sea levels will have risen, flooding many coastal areas,” Mr.Moore said. “I think and hope many of the earth’s for-ests will have rebounded and we will have pre-served many wilderness areas and plant and ani-mal species.” Although the fate of the

earth is uncertain, every-one has their own theory.

invented in 2112, contrary to popular belief. In the movie Back to the Future II, it showed a sky with flying cars for the year 2015. However, a ver-sion of the flying car has already been invented by a company called Terra-fugia but there are many reasons why we don’t use them. Dave Duttson, who

writes for the car rentals website listed a few rea-sons as to why flying cars are a bad idea. • Every bad driver

is now a bad pilot, which is even worse because there would be no traffic direction.• This allows

someone to fly by your house or bedroom win-dow taking stalking to a

Future techonology unexpected, unpredictableTaylor Russell Staff Reporter

There are endless possi-bilities for technology ad-vances in the year 2112. “I think we will have

hovering cars and robots to replace human jobs,” junior Amanda Manus said. According to the BBC

news, one top prediction is that the state Califor-nia will split off from the United States. One of the top futurologists Ian Pear-son says the likely hood of California splitting off is eight out of 10. There is already some proof that California is going to split because of the pressure that builds up with the tectonic plates over time. Another prediction is

that flying cars will not be

new level, (literally)• If you run out of

gas or your car stalls you and your car will fall.Some people want to see

robots. “I would like to see robot

maids and virtual reality games that actually put you in the scene and you can feel like you’re there,” junior Morgan Conyers said. In the Dec. issue of La-

dies Home Journal from the year 1900, they made predictions for the year 2000. One prediction was that no foods would be exposed; meaning stores would have liquid air re-frigerators.One hundred years later,

their prediction was true. We never know what we can expect for the future.

Michaela EmrichStaff Reporter

Do YOU think the world will end from technology or problems with the Earth?Go to mustangexpress.org and respond!

Ph

otos by: Han

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Cartoon by Alex Stephens

2 Cents 03.01.128

Mustang Express Newspaper Staff

Advertising ManagerAlex Curtis

Hannah MureSamie Galindo

Bryce DudiznskiTaylor RussellGabriela Barge

Brooke SchattnerJosh Yodice

Sarah GilmourAdrienne SebadeJessie O’Cheltree

Janie SchutteRylee Layton

Page DesignersBraden Taylor

Arianna Saenz-OchoaLaura Johnson

Editor-In-ChiefNatasha Hossain

Online EditorKellie Reynolds

Section EditorsEmily Bridgewater

Anissa Saenz-OchoaJennifer Soules

Gilliene Yap

The Sunrise Mountain High School Mustang Ex-press is a student newspaper whose purpose is to inform the community of events that are relevant to SMHS and its surroundings, to interpret and analyze current events and to provide entertain-ment. The staff aims to be fair and impartial, accurate and responsible, and to ad-here to the SPJ Code of Eth-ics. Letters to the Editor are printed at the discretion of the editorial staff and SMHS administrators. Opinions voiced in the letters do not necessarily represent those held by the staff or Sunrise Mountain High School. The staff reserves the right to edit all letters for grammar and content. Anonymous letters will not be published.

Editorial Policy

The number grows each year of teenagers or children who have been bullied in any kind of way. Each year, there have been deaths because of bullying in schools, over text mes-sages or Facebook. We hear about it, students may witness it, but never seem to put a stop to it.

Students seem to ig-nore bullying and just walk away. Name calling

Samie GalindoStaff Reporter

Learning to drive be-gins in the Driver Edu-cation class, but that doesn’t mean that at the end of the course you have a class full of high school students that are perfect drivers.

Teenage drivers are interesting elements that are added to the dangerous combina-tions of drivers that fill our streets every day. According to the Arizo-na Automobile Associa-tion, 16 year old drivers are twice as likely to be involved in fatal crashes as older drivers. Most teenage drivers can be sorted into two types of drivers: overconfident and scared-to-death. Both have their own negative and positive effects.

Overconfident teen-age drivers can be some of the most offensive and dangerous drivers on the road. Nobody or nothing can stop these drivers; they are the kings and queens of the road. Blasting music, peeling out of parking lots, revving engines and weaving in and out of traffic like they are the only ones on the road are just a few of some noticeable char-

Braden TaylorPage Designer

acteristics of an overcon-fident driver.

Scared-to-death teen-age drivers can also be dangerous drivers, but also can be frustrating as well. They are so afraid of doing something wrong or coming upon a hazard that they become hazards themselves. Going un-der the speed limit, con-stantly hitting the brakes for every little thing and struggling with decisions are few signs of a scared-to-death driver.

Now, being an overcon-fident driver or a scared driver both have their positives. Overconfident drivers can go with the flow of traffic and scared drivers may not be mak-ing many risky decisions and driving safer, but in a perfect world we would have teenage drivers who are a combination; who have confidence but are scared at the same time. That does not mean that there are not those teen-agers that are “perfect” sitting behind the wheel, but they are out num-bered by those not “per-fect” drivers.

The path to become the ideal driver can start even after the gaining of the driver’s license. Driv-ing is something that must be adapted to all times and in all places. Adapting and becoming more comfortable behind the wheel can do so much for a driver. Teenagers no matter how stubborn must become more com-fortable and be in control while driving to make driving for everyone saf-er.

Teenage drivers put red light on safety

Bullying rises amongst adolescentsis used a lot but the dam-age it causes someone in-side is usually never no-ticed. Bullies think their actions are meaningless but to others, it can put them down in ways that could make them think certain things that no person should ever have to think of.

According to, Teens Health two of the main reasons people are bul-lied are because of ap-pearances and social sta-tus. Bullies pick on the people they think don’t fit in, and because of how they look, their race or religion, or because the bullies think their target may be gay or lesbian”. In 2005, there were an estimated 270 children at the ages 10 through 14 that committed suicide. Some were being verbally

and physically bullied by a classmate.

No young teen or child has to feel afraid to en-ter their school and feel threatened or frightened in their class or at home. Staff members are sup-posed to stop what is hap-pening immediately, but they might not notice it or be able to stop it. “I’ve heard name calling, seen fights but never really put a stop to it, “Junior Dayna Bailey said. “ I’ve watched and just walked away.” Words my hurt more than actions but then again they could both bring pain that will never heal, and never forgotten.

Different types of bul-lying can be prevented such as:

Cyberbullying-being harassed, threatened and being humiliated by tech-

nology.Verbal bullying- affects

one’s self-image emotion-ally and psychological ways.

Physical bullying-hit-ting, pushing, tripping, etc.

Statistics say that 7-12 percent of bullies are habitual and pose a seri-ous threat. According to School Bullying, “71% of the attackers were moti-vated by being bullied and picked on.” Bullying never seems to be prevented en-tirely. If you witness bul-lying put a stop to it do not just walk away. If get-ting bullied, don’t pay at-tention to them; have that ability just to walk away and don’t give them the fear that they want from you. Be that person to be able to stand up for your-self.

http://mustangexpress.orgFacebook: SMHS Newspaper

Emily BridgewaterSection Editor

Piracy is an ongo-ing problem because of sites like YouTube and Megaupload. New bills introduced in Congress designed to protect movie and music stu-dios from copyright in-fringement recently led to a 24-hour shut down of several online com-panies in protest.

SOPA creates major controversy How many times do

you go on YouTube, click on a movie, and find that it has been taken off due to copyright infringe-ment? YouTube goes through its videos to find movies or TV shows that violate these laws. This is so that the movie produc-ers do not sue YouTube.

The bill was introduced by Representative Lamar Smith (TX) and is known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). This act al-lows officials to obtain court orders to sue against websites that connect to these videos and songs.

Yes, we can all say that we are guilty of obtaining illegal songs and mov-ies. It is easier to get free

songs than paying for a $1.99 download from iTunes. But put it into perspective. Those music and movie producers get paid for how much money is made off of the num-ber of songs downloaded. If music and movies are downloaded illegally, the labels don’t get paid. We, the people, are the reason why most labels are still in business. Think of it this way, the more we pirate, the more businesses will go out of business.

Opponents of the bill state that SOPA is a viola-tion of the First Amend-ment.

Personally, I don’t agree that it’s a violation of the First Amendment, but

I can see why it is upset-ting. The new bill doesn’t violate freedom of speech, freedom of petition or freedom of assembly. In fact, kind of agree with this whole SOPA idea. I think it is a shame that music labels and studios suffer because of pirat-ing. That is not right. If it weren’t for the labels and producers, we would not have the hilarious movies or the good music blaring in our ears every day.

My main problem is trying to watch old shows on YouTube. I guess the only solution I have for this is that TV stations should not get rid of the all the great shows that use to be around.

Michaela EmrichAlexa Bailey

Alyssa SabatelCarolyn Corcoran

Amber EllisonAlex Stephens

Bayan AbubakrKelsey ShoresBecca Wood

Sydney AdamonisChelsie AtkinsonMegan McGovernMaddie Riddick

Reporters

AdviserKristy Roschke

Online Etiquette Dont’s1. Give out TMI

2. Have a never- ending whine fest

3. Make your English teachers cringe

4 .Become a status clone

5. Be a bully

We all spend a lot of time online. We’re talking to friends on Face-book, updating the world on Twitter, and sharing ideas on Pinterest. Sadly though, many of us have lost our man-ners in the process.

Using correct grammar shouldn’t be hard. If autocorrect keeps messing you up, people can tell, but if every other post is insulting your third grade Eng-lish teacher, there’s a problem. Make sure to re-read what you write before you post it.

If you’re having a bad day, it’s okay to express that. Everyone’s been there before. However, try not to post something every day that makes people want to grab a large spoon and a tub of Ben and Jerry’s ‘Chocolate Therapy’ ice cream. Attempt being positive and if you’re feeling down in your own life, don’t bring others down with you. Have an encouraging attitude toward your 300+ friends and the exciting things they do in their lives.

Speaking of life, it’s not necessary to tell everyone you just brushed your teeth. Unless a bear climbed through a window and mauled you within inches of your life while you were brushing those pearly whites, it’s unimportant. Of course if your one follower is your mom, she’ll probably be very proud.

She won’t be, though, if your pictures

and statuses scream you have a bright future on Jersey Shore. Make sure your profile would make a future employer want to hire you in an instant. It should highlight that winning personality and vast range of knowledge everyone knows you possess.

It’s fair to assume that you are your own person. You’re not a robot. No one is controlling your mind. Another student has not possessed your body. Therefore, make a point not to be a clone of other people on your friends list. You and your peers have mutual friends, so if you copy and paste your statuses every day, check to see it hasn’t already been used by eight people on your news feed. People want to get to know you, not what status website you visit daily.

This goes for quoting songs too. When the new Taylor Swift album comes out,

don’t contribute to the flood of deep, girl- empowering lyrics on every website you have access to. The fact that she’s had plenty of dating experience was ob-vious in the first three albums.

Now, if you’re going to give your opin-ion on something, please, spare every-one the hassle of having to correct you. There’s nothing more annoying than an uninformed, misguided post. Despite what you may believe, people think very highly of you. Don’t prove them wrong by tweeting China’s president, Kim Jong-il, is going to do great things in 2012. For one, Kim Jong-il was an infamous dicta-tor and two, he wasn’t China’s. He was North Korea’s. If you didn’t know any of that, it’s likely you also didn’t know he died in December 2011.

Last, but definitely not least, don’t be a bully. You never truly know what’s

going on in someone else’s life, despite what their profile tells you. Refrain from unleashing that vicious, critical animal inside you. One like, retweet, or encour-aging comment could mean the world to someone and if you really can’t stand them, delete them from your friends list. They won’t die if you stop following them on Twitter. Maybe deleting “friends” is a healthy decision. These websites can cause stress, drama and lower self-con-fidence. Be aware of this and make deci-sions to get rid of anything on your pro-file or news feed that causes that.

Social media has the power to con-nect, inspire, and educate the world at the click of a button. Don’t abuse it. Remember these social media etiquette tips and you’re sure to have a much bet-ter experience in your future online in-teractions.

2 Cents03.01.12 9

Global giant Google said in January it was simplifying its privacy regulations, consolidating 60 policies into a single policy, which goes into ef-fect today March 1.

This new update to their policy created a firestorm of controversy which prompted Google to write a letter to Congress in an attempt to quash the public’s concern. Google’ Director of Public Policy Pablo Chavez’s wordy at-tempt to explain the new policy did not do much to alleviate the public’s out-cry.

The truth is that Google has been collecting users’ information from differ-

ent services, like Gmail, for years, but with this new policy they are ex-panding their effort to encompass user informa-tion across all of its prod-ucts and services. Privacy advocates, along with us-ers, were concerned that Google wouldn’t offer an opt-out option.

The biggest change to their policy is that indi-viduals no longer need to be signed into Google to use many of their services and if a user is signed in, the search history can be edited or turned off. One can also switch Gmail chat to ‘off the record,’ control the way Google tailors ads to her interests using our Ads Preferences Manager, or use Incognito mode on Chrome.

If users still don’t like Google’s policy they al-ways have the option to stop using Google’s ser-vices, however, Google’s practices aren’t different from other companies. Even Facebook and other modes of media use simi-

lar processes, Facebook collect users’ history to provide ads that match their interests. Such methods of collecting and sharing information are how Facebook and Google manage to offer their free services.

The problem isn’t whether user information is going to be collected be-cause all companies will continue to collect such information. The prob-lem people have voiced with Google is when their information starts being used to filter out the in-formation deemed unnec-essary by Google.

As the internet has evolved it has taken on a new role as the primary source for many people’s information. Filtering is a process that uses a per-son’s search history and data cookies to custom tailor their results. Many websites now use this process to make the infor-mation more personal but the danger is that a person isn’t seeing all the results.

Social media etiquette do’s, dont’s

Gabriela BargeStaff Reporter

may receive entirely dif-ferent results because the results are tailored to what Google thinks their interests are from the data it has collected. This no longer makes the internet a place of the world but instead makes a world of one and that isn’t a good idea no matter how you slice it.

Instead they are seeing only the results that re-late to their past queries, which limit the informa-tion they can receive.

In the beginning of the internet, there were gate-keepers, editors, who dis-played the important in-formation of the day or all the information of the day. Now in the later days of

the internet, the job of the editors has been replaced by algorithmic bots that lack the civic responsibil-ity to display the proper information needed.

The tailoring of infor-mation creates a filter bubble that limits what people actually get to see. Two people that “Google” the same search word,

New Google policy raises firestorm to regular users

Illustrated by Becca Wood

Hannah MureStaff Reporter

Lists compiled by Gabriela Barge

Online Etiquette Do’s1. See glass half-full

2. Share the necessary information

3.Remember basic 3rd grade grammar

4. Make mamma proud

5.Have originality

Playing Field 03.0.1210Senior athletes leave behind legacy

In late January and early Feb-ruary,thewintersportsheldtheirannu-alseniornights.Theeventsareheldtorecognize graduating seniors’ contribu-tionstotheteamandprovideanicewayto say goodbye. Friends and family getto watch as all the senior players walkformally across the field, court or mat towards their coaches and teammateswhowaitwithgoodbyegifts.It’sanemo-tionaltimeforeveryoneinvolved.

“I’veneverhadateamthatI’vebond-edsomuchwith.We’realllikeafamily,”saidseniorvarsitybasketballplayerIda-raEkpoh.“After[seniornight],noneofusaregonnasteponthiscourtwiththesamepeopleandplaybasketballagain.”

Ekpoh,hasabrotherontheboysJVandvarsitybasketballteam,isoneofthe

many athletes on campus who partici-patesinthesamesportastheirsibling.SophomoreBryleeHawkins,agirls’var-sitysoccerplayer,hadtosaygoodbyetoherbrother,seniorRyanHawkins,andclosefriendsontheteam.

“We learn from each other. [Ryan]taught me to not give up and to justgo for it,” Hawkins said. “My cousinsplayedandthenmybrotherplayedandthenIplayed.It’saneffect.That’swhatweliketodo.”

It’s not uncommon to find families with generations of members play-ing the samesport.Parents teach theirchildren, siblings learn from siblings,siblings introduce it tocousinsand thecyclecontinuesthroughthefamily.Witheachplayer, there’sa legacythey leave,notonlyforfuturefamilymembers,butfor future teammates who will remem-

berwhotheyare.SeniorvarsitywrestlerCordCoronadounderstandstheimpactsenior teammates have. He hoped toplace first in his weight class prior to the StateChampionshipFeb11.

“Iwanttoleavebackthestatecham-pion. So the other wrestlers will havesomeonetolookupto,”Coronadosaid.“[Seniors] don’t really give vocal lead-ership. It’s more of a silent leadership.Wejustperformbyouractions…andwedon’t talk about our accomplishments.We’rerealhumbleaboutit.”

Seniorswhoplaymultiplesportswillexperienceseniornightmorethanonce.Though the final graduation is in May, seniornightisaclosesecondtothefeel-ing high school’s final chapter brings. Seniorshaveanimpactontheirsiblings,teammates and peers who agree theywillberemembered.

SAYINGGOODBYE:TheGirlsVarsitySoccerteamgivesfarewellstotheseniorsontheteamonJan.26.Allsportsholdaseniornighttorecognizetheseniorathletes. Photo by Gabriela Barge

Gabriela BargeStaff Reporter

Brennan Smith wins first at state competition, learns from wrestling

The wrestling matsknowhisnameverywell.Hehasdefeatedmanyop-ponents and has left hismark on Sunrise Moun-tain.

BrennanSmithstartedwrestlingineighthgrade,andalegendwasborn.

“Mymiddleschoolen-couraged it,” Smith said.“Itwaskindof thepopu-larthingtodo.”

In order to be a goodwrestler, certain qualitiesmustbepresent inastu-dent.

“Brennan basicallywrestles year round,”wrestling coach Steve

Decker said. “In order totake it to the next levelthat’s what you have todo.”

The wrestling teamshowedstrengththissea-son, with two championsatthePeoriaInvitational.

“A lot of the toughestteamsarethere,soforusto have two champions

was really huge,” CoachDeckersaid.

Smith has wrestledthrough high school andis going to be attendingHarvardnextyear.

But it was not all justwrestling.

“Ihadtoslaveandsac-rifice social life to train of-ten,”Smithsaid.“It’skind

Adrienne SebadeStaff Reporter

TAKING FIRST: Senior Brennan Smith wins first at a state wrestling competition on Feb. 11.Hewaslookingforwardtothewinatthiscompetition.Photos by Michael Bralish

oflikea50/50thingwithwrestling and academ-ics.”

Senior Max Shepherdsaid that Smith is a goodleader,bothonandoffthemats.

“He really pushespeople to a higher level,”Shepherdsaid.“Heknowswhat’s best for us as a

team.”WhileSmithmaymiss

nothingfromhighschool,histeammatesandcoach-esmightmisshim.

“He’s a funny kid, hasagoodpersonalityandhebringsalotofgoodquali-ties to our team,” Shep-herdsaid.

ThebestpartofSmith’swrestling season is yet tocome.

“[The best thing thathashappenedinmyhighschool career] is going tohappenin10dayswhenIwinState,”Smithsaid.

He met his expecta-tions and placed first at the state wrestling com-petitiononFeb.11.

Smith has a bright fu-ture ahead of him, andCoachDeckerbelieveshecanhaveitall.

“I think Brennan basi-cally can be anything hewantstobe.Heis intelli-gent,”CoachDeckersaid.“I think if Brennan putsforththeeffort,hecanbeamultipletimeAll-Amer-icanatHarvard.”

What will you miss about the winter sports season?

HITTINGHEADON:Smithtakesonhisopponentonthemat.Smithhasbeenwrestlingsincemiddleschool.

“Beingwithmyteamandthefeeling[Igetwhile]playingbasketball.”-AsimMehmedovic,12

“Alltheseniors,eachofthemdemonstratedgreatleadership.”-VanessaDiggs,11

“Beingwithallthegirlsandbeingabletohangoutwiththemafterschool.”-CarlyDixon,10

Playing Field03.01.12 11

Not only did the boys basketball team famously slaughter Liberty at the Hoopcoming game with a score of 54-43, but they ended with a .500 season of 13-13.

Coach Jason Pasinski felt that his favorite mo-ment was at the second Liberty game, not only because of it’s final tri-umph, but also because of the spectators cheering for the crowd.

“Our student section was phenomenal,” Coach Pasinski said. “We have the best student section in

the state.”The team itself had a

fair season as well, win-ning seven out of their last 10 games.

“They really started to play unselfish basketball,” Coach Pasinski said. “Dif-ferent guys could score different nights.”

The team suffered a few losses as well, and Coach Pasinski said that long stretches of games were a weakness.

“It wasn’t for lack of heart or effort, we just couldn’t get the ball to go in,” Coach Pasinski said.

However, the challenge was a blessing in disguise.

“The poor start forced us to go in one of two di-rections: either break us up or bring us together, and I think it pulled the kids together,” Coach Pa-sinski said.

Coach Pasinski will look back on the season fondly.

“I had a great time coaching,” Coach Pasin-ski said. “It was a fun season, great kids, great families. I’m going to miss the four seniors that are graduating.”

Winter sports wrap up another season

With a final record of 12-12, the girls basketball team improved on their previous season.

Coach Jennifer Kubo felt the team improved greatly. She was proud of third place in the Camp Verde tournament.

“The majority of the girls played together since freshman year, so that helped a lot in connecting on the court,” Coach Kubo said.

The team played their last game Feb. 3 against

Girls

Socce

r “finished very strong.”“I have enjoyed all of

the time we have spent together and seeing the girls become such friends outside of soccer as well,” Coach Johnson said.

The team’s personal goal for the season was met.

“One of our goals for the season was to develop a sense of one cohesive group and to work togeth-er as one group,” Coach Johnson said.

Overall, the season was a success.

upset, but we still ended up 6-7, which is better than what we’ve done in the past.”

Even if the season did not go as hoped, the team did beat rival school Lib-erty with a final score of 6-5.

“When we played Liberty, we were totally different,” Coach Rodri-guez said. “We definitely played at a different level than we did against other teams we played.”

The varsity boys soccer team did not do as well as the girls this season, but they finished strong with a 3-2 win against Peoria.

Coach Ramon Rodri-guez hoped to do better than they had due to the number of seniors this year.

“We were kind of hop-ing to make it [to the play-offs] and do better this year because the guys re-turned,” Coach Rodriguez said. “That was kind of an

two this year,” Coach Decker said.

Coach Decker points out seniors Brennan Smith, Cord Coronado and Kevin Hunt as key members of the wrestling team.

“We had some really good wrestlers that were juniors wrestling varsity,” Decker said.

The wrestling team finished a successful sea-son with a record of 19-5 in dual meets, breaking personal records at Sun-rise.

Coach Steven Decker felt the team had an “out-standing season.”

“The school has never had a Peoria Invitational Champion, and we had

Boys

Socce

r

Wres

tling

On Jan. 26, the girls soccer varsity team fin-ished the season with a record of 8-5 for power point games.

“The team is very strong in persevering through adversity,” Varsity Coach Shauna Johnson said in an e-mail interview. “Throughout this season, we have overcome illness and injury and were still able to finish the season in a strong fashion.”

They ended with a win against Peoria, 7-0. Coach Johnson said the team

The boys basketball team finishes the season with a record of 13-13. They earned the first place trophy for winning the game against Liberty. Photo by Gabriela Barge

Girls varsity basketball finishes the season 12-12. The girls lost against their rival Liberty, but have learned from the season. Photos by Chelsie Atkinson

The girls varsity soccer team finishes the season 8-5. The team said good bye to their senior players. Photos by Gabriela Barge

Stories accumulated by Kellie Reynolds Online Editor

The boys varsity soccer team finishes the season 6-7. They earned a win against their rival Liberty. Photos by Adrienne Sebade

The varsity wrestling team finishes the season 19-5 in dual meets. They worked hard to have two Peoria Invitational champions. Photos by Haylie Konakis

Dysart, but they were de-feated.

“I think [the season] went well,” Coach Kubo said. “I think we could’ve had a better run at the end, but... I think we did good. I think it was much more improved than last year.”

Overall, Coach Kubo thought the season was quite successful.

“You know, this was a really good season,” Coach Kubo said. “It was a stepping stone.”

Boys

Bask

etba

ll

Girls

Bask

etba

ll

The Round Up 03.01.1212

Aristotle called teaching the highest form of understanding. It is a field that requires much time, effort, dedication and patience. It is vital to the nation’s future success. It’s one of the country’s largest career fields, but it is also a job that is commonly underappreciated but more importantly, underpaid.

What makes a school what it is? Is it the school spirit? The classes it offers? The food served in the cafeteria? Or is it something deeper? What really is the reason students continue to come to Sunrise to learn? Why Sunrise is ranked excellent by the district? The answer most definitely lies with the teachers.

Teachers spend a majority of their days with their students, putting in ex-tra hours before and after school to ben-efit our learning experience. Their work even often follows them home. They may not be throwing winning touch-down game passes or performing a life-changing heart transplant, but their job is just as important. Their goal is setting the young generation on the path of suc-cess, creating the future scientists and award-winning writers of the world.

What makes a good teacher? Some would say it’s their personality in class, how they bring life to the lesson or how the get to know each student on a per-

sonal level. Others would say they ad-mire a teacher’s control over the class, his or her push to do the best or just the patience he or she often displays.

“I admire teachers who are really personable,” senior Hayley McKeever said. “The teachers you can relate to, on more than just a student-teacher basis. Ones who actually care about your well being.”

S u n -rise is re-n o w n e d for having exce l lent t e a c h e r s and staff. Whether it is in a core class or an elective, students can appreciate many lessons learned from these models at Sunrise.

“I value their desire to teach students and to better our education for us,” senior Ash-ley Warda said.

A December 2011 Harvard Univer-sity study found that the value of a good

teacher is so extraordinary that it has an affect students’ immediate future. The study suggests that just by having a good fourth-grade teacher stu-dents are 1.25 percent m o r e likely to go to college. They even found

that young girls would be 1.25

percent less likely to

b e c o m e p r e g -nant as a teenag-er. Ac-cording to the

s t u d y ’ s f indings,

s t u d e n t s will go on as

an adult to earn, on aver-

age, $25,000 more over a life-

time. All because of that teacher

back in fourth grade. That’s how much a

good teacher is worth, a lifetime of benefits.

But teachers don’t get all the credit they deserve for their generous efforts. According to the New York Times, the

average teacher’s salary can be com-pared to a pay of a bartender. Teachers make 14 percent less than profession-als in other occupations that require a similar level of education. And for many teachers, the salary is only getting worse as time goes on.

If these teachers are so vital to the fu-ture of America, why are we continually taking money away from them? Why are we cutting money for materials and sup-plies that could supplement teaching in the class?

So what do teachers do to cope? They take on second jobs, teach extra classes or some even go back to college to get a different degree. The New York Times found before their fifth year of teaching, 46 percent of teachers quit nationwide.

“Pay cuts have caused some teach-ers to retire, or to leave teaching and get other, better paying jobs,” Brian Wool-sey said.

What is to be done about this is-sue? Students can’t necessarily increase teacher’s pay but can start by taking small steps in the classroom. Respect teachers, the students are the reason teachers come to school. Appreciate their knowledge and effort to teach.

“Actually pay attention in class,” McKeever said. “Do your work and turn it. Writing a nice card makes them feel good as well.”

Teachers deserve more appreciationNatasha HossainEditor-in-Chief

Teacher who is the most...Mr.Raymond

ENTE

RTAI

NING

2. Rizer 3. Hunter 4. Panzer

Mrs. Raleigh“I love what I do every day. I love the students and the subject matter.”

INSP

IRIN

G

2. Panzer 3. Roschke 4. Joice

Mrs. Hunter

BENEFICIAL

2. Gilsdorf 3. Faust 4. Berge

Mr. Rizer

FAVORABLE

2. Raymond 3. Faulkner 4. Budoff

“I want to make sure students look forward to coming to my room every day. School is a great place and I think that all students should enjoy it. It can be a great place if you want it to be.”

“I think students are capable of doing and learning much more than what we give them credit for.”

“I think students like my class because I make the class fun while they are learning.”

KindDedicated

Patient

Personable

Colorful

Fun

Inspiring

Interesting

Creative

Cool

Loud

Organized

Spontaneous

Helpful

Productive

Stern

Caring

Tech Savvy

Knowledgeable

Exciting

Intelligent

Passionate

Relateable

Encouraging

Hard Working

Firm

Modern

Energetic

Professional

Honest

Hard working

200 students surveyedInformation compiled by Natasha Hossain