FEATURESthe lancer4 june 3, 2009

Juniors in AP U.S. History joinedwith U.S. History CP on the finalproject of the year. Each groupchose a decade and worked to-gether to perform a skit as wellas a dance to display the cultureand customs of that decade.

BY KATIE BUTLER

Staff Writer

After the stress of studying for the U.S.history AP test, Robert Haar’s junior classsoaked in the revelation that there would beno more late nights or weekly essays topractice writing.

Down the hallway in Krister Swanson’sCP U.S. History class, students were wind-ing down the year, getting ready for finalpapers and studying for the final test.

Neither class knew that soon they wouldbe collaborating for a creative end of yearproject involving dance and song.The two classes merged for a project where

both AP and CP students picked a decade

from the 50s to the 90s and performed adance and skit that went along with the cul-ture of that decade.“This is something we always did when we

had Mrs. Beaudoin here and this is the firstyear we’re doing it with Haar. It’s a great wayto wrap up a year of history,” Swanson said.In the past, Haar’s class has prepared oral

and video presentations on important histor-ical people and events. Haar feels that bothfinal projects are beneficial to wrap up hisclass this year.“Both are good at giving us an avenue of

creativity and we get more personality out ofthese assignments that gives you a new lookat the person performing their project, evenat the end of the year,” Haar said.Group members Katrina Futilrich, Meagan

Forrest, Kayla Barkley, Madeline Fryzek,Daniel Kim, Daniel Adelpour, and DakotaJones chose the 50’s bubblegum rock fortheir project after Barkley suggested the ideato the group.“I’ve seen Grease a lot of times and I

thought it would be fun and easy to write asa script,” Barkley said.

Some of the songs included in the skit arewell known such as “Earth Angel,” “Rock

Around the Clock,” and “Twist and Shout.”Along with the dancing and singing, the

group had to interview people who wereteenagers during the particular time periodand present the social issues of the era withinthe script.“I play a greaser who falls in love with a

girl and tries to impress her by winning a carrace and I also end up getting into a fight,”Adelpour said. Rehearsals happened regu-larly to practice the skits for perfection.“We practiced every class day, and every

day after school,” Fryzak said. The final per-formances were June 1 and 2.The group felt the project was a good way

to wrap up the year.“As far as final projects go, it’s a good

idea,” Barkley said. Haar is not sure if thedecades project will replace his former onebut is pleased with the success of both.“Whether it happens next year or not de-

pends on scheduling and if it fits in withSwanson’s schedule or not,” Haar said.As the PAC curtains closed on the 90’s

decade, both classes went back to separateclassrooms with a shared commonality ofsharing in the culture of the past through songand dance.

Junior Nolan Fulton decided thathe wanted to increase his musclemass through consistent exercise.He began weight training and haslearned a lot about body-buildingtechniques in the process.

BY ARLAN CASHIER

Staff Writer

In the summer of 2008, following his soph-omore year, junior Nolan Fulton stood at5’10” and weighed 135 pounds. He was mod-erately athletic, running cross-country andplaying pick-up football on the weekends, buttired of physical mediocrity and gettingridiculed for being slow and weak.It was during that summer that he made the

decision to start lifting weights.“I started seriously lifting about 8 months

ago,” Fulton said. “I did it because I was tiredof being small and I wanted more attentionand to be stronger than other people.”As he began to learn more about lifting,

Fulton’s quest for physical superiority ledhim to bodybuilding. Unlike powerlifting,body-building centers on stimulating musclesand adding muscle mass rather than lifting asmuch weight as is physically possible.

“At the end of the day I’d rather be hugethan to just be able to lift a lot of weight,”said Fulton. “It’s about stimulating the mus-cle, not lifting as much as possible with badform.”Like many aspiring young lifters, Fulton

made the mistake of not properly educatinghimself before he began lifting.“At the very beginning,”he said, “I didn’t

know the right way to train so I would basi-cally spend three to four hours in the gymevery day thinking I was getting jacked.”Fulton soon realized he was overtraining

and wasting time at the gym. He took tipsfrom professional natural bodybuilder LayneNorton, whose internet videos are a criticalsource of information for many bodybuilders.“Once I started training the right way, I

started getting results and started to make myway from 135 pounds to my current weightof 170.”Despite adding 35 pounds of muscle in less

than a year, Fulton remains unsatisfied andrealizes he has a long way to go.One of the most difficult aspects of Ful-

ton’s transformation was the 180 degree shiftin his daily life.“It’s a 24/7 ordeal. I have to devote all of

my time to making sure I’m getting the rightnutrition, supplements, and sleep to compli-ment my training.”Fulton’s workout routine focuses on

adding muscle and keeping his body healthy.He lifts every three days followed by one dayoff. The first day of the rotation is spentworking the chest and triceps, while the sec-ond and third days exercise the legs, back,bicep, and shoulders. On his day off, Fultondoes High Intensity Interval Cardio exercisesto keep sharp away from the gym.“I try to set up a program that can allow me

to target my weak points and improve them.”Weight lifting is a serious activity, and Ful-

ton encourages anyone entering into thearena of competitive lifting or bodybuildingto research extensively beforehand to main-tain a healthy lifestyle.“My advice to people who want to get into

lifting or bodybuilding is to educate yourself.Do some research on the proper ways to train,eat, sleep and everything before you step intothe gym.”

THROUGH THE DECADES— Swanson and Haar’s group project required groups to dance andperform skits that captured the music, culture and society of their given period of time.

EEvveerryy LLaanncceerr HHaass aa SSttoorryy::

Blasting into the decades through historical music

Nolan Fulton

“ At the end of the day I’drather be huge than to justbe able to lift a lot ofweight. It’s about stimulat-ing the muscle, not liftingas much as possible withbad form.

TRAINING PAYS OFF— Over the past year, Fulton has devoted his time and energy tostrengthening his muscles and improving his body mass index.

- Junior Nolan Fulton

“

PHOTOS BY KATIE BUTLER

PHOTO COURTESY OF NOLAN FULTON