2February 2012Hi Times Issue 5 Vol. 103

2011-2012 Hi-Times Staff Editor-in-Chief: Courtney West

Managing Editors: Cole Kellogg Abby Feikes

Copy Editor: Abby Feikes

Ads Staff: William Lott Nicky Mazur Skyler Shortt

Adviser: Miss Saoud

Staff Writers:

Taylor CriderHannah DemchakJenna DiehlMartin GarciaNicole GriffinErica LangJordan LenardKelsie LongZach McCoyKharson NurnbergAlex SaliwanchikTommy SnyderJenny SzymkowskiDusty UmphreyZach WinslettBianca WoosleyBrittany Zarazee

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By Jordan LenardStaff Writer

Facing the fear of filling out the FAFSABy Abby FeikesManaging Editor

SOPA causes uproar

Can the world live without Wikipedia for a day? The on-line encyclopedia is one of the Internet’s most visited sites, and at midnight Eastern Time on the 13th of January, it began a 24-hour “blackout” in protest against proposed anti-piracy legislation. Many websites made it challenging, if not impossible, for users to operate. This is in response to the Pro-tect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) under consideration in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, a pair of bills backed by the motion picture and recording industries that are intended to eliminate theft online. Online piracy from China and elsewhere is a massive problem for the media industry, one that costs them as much as $250 bil-lion per year and costs the in-dustry 750,000 jobs. But how the bills would counter piracy has left many scratching their heads. “I think there are better ways to go about this. Sites like Wiki-pedia are what students rely on to get their work done,” senior Dakota Dubbs said. Google joined Wikipedia by presenting readers with a black

bar over its logo, and other websites have prominent SOPA protest content posted. But the online encyclopedia’s blackout isn’t sitting well with some of its volunteer editors. “I try to stay away from using Wikipedia just because I know that anyone can post anything they feel like; so I don’t take the chance,” said senior Lauren Young. Instead of encyclopedia ar-ticles, visitors to the site saw a black-and-white page with the message: “Imagine a world without free knowledge.” It car-ried a link to information about the two congressional bills and details about how to reach law-makers. The shutdown created a big whirlwind and now there are people speaking out against the legislation. But the bill’s many supporters argue that those crit-ics simply misunderstand the bill. “Hopefully Wikipedia is back up soon and will never go away. I think it is a good site because most of the information is true and trustworthy,” sophomore Taylor Thompson said. This site is the life of the stu-dents and is packed with great information. Without it, life as we know it, may collapse.

It’s the time of year when se-niors need to buckle down and prepare for their futures. A necessary element in preparing for college is completing the FAFSA. The FAFSA, Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is an on-line service that concerns one’s financial state, what school the student plans on attending in the fall and what housing plans one has for school. FAFSA is run by the government and is completely free. Based on the information given, the govern-ment awards students a finan-cial aid package that is used for college. On January 1, a new FAFSA comes out for the following school year. The most impor-tant part of the FAFSA is filling out the form on the correct web-site, since there are many scams on the internet. The website ran by the government is www.fafsa.ed.gov. Any website end-ing in “.com” is not the correct FAFSA website and should not be trusted! An important part of filling out the FAFSA is being on time. Different schools and different states have their own dates for when the form needs to be com-pleted, so it is very important to know when it should be filed. For Indiana residents, it must be completed and submitted by March 10 at midnight central standard time. This deadline is crucial in receiving financial aid, because if you miss the deadline, no government financial aid can be received along with certain types of loans. “Don’t miss the filing deadline. Deadline is March 10. We recom-mend students filing by March 1, in case they have problems,” said counselor Mr. Wiley. Filling out the FAFSA can be stress-free if one has the cor-rect documents and informa-tion needed to fill out the form ahead of time. Knowing what to

expect on the form is also a ben-efit that can make the process easier. “Get a pin (student and parent need separate pins) early. Print out the FAFSA worksheet and fill it out before they file. This helps to have all the info they need,” said Wiley. Before starting the FAFSA, apply for a pin. A pin is used to sign your FAFSA after it is completed; it is used in substi-tution of an actual hand written signature. Applying for a pin can be done at any time and the pin created can be used for any current or future FAFSA forms. Although the pin can be used multiple times, it can take up to three week to re-ceive confirmation of a pin. A parent will also need to apply for a pin as a guardian. The parent’s pin will also be used to sign the FAFSA once it is properly completed.In order to fill out the FAFSA, one should collect le-gal forms includ-ing: social security number, 2011 or 2010 tax return, bank statements and parent’s social security numbers. Having these forms will make the entire pro-cess quicker and easier. The first part of the FAFSA is filling out basic information about the student applying. That is followed by a brief sec-tion about each of the student’s guardians. At the beginning of the FAFSA also contains a por-tion about schools that the stu-dent wishes to send their form too. The form allows up to seven schools for it to be sent to, so it is very important to have one’s college search narrowed down to seven schools by the time the FAFSA is filled out. Along with stating what schools the FAFSA should be sent to, the student will also have to decide if they will live on campus, off campus or will commute to school. Following this comes the part

everyone stresses about. The FAFSA will ask for financial in-formation that will need to be looked up on the most recent tax return form. While filling out each question there will be a box on the right that will inform the reader what line on the tax return form this information can be found on. The next step is filling out in-formation on the student’s and parents’ assets. This includes bank accounts, investments and trust funds. If a student warns their parents about this step ahead of time and what might be included, it will not be difficult. Usually the parent will be able to easily recover or recall the in-

formation needed in this section. After all of this is done, the student will need to sign their FAFSA. This is done by entering in the pin received at the beginning of the process. This form will also ask for a guardian’s sig-nature. This can be done by entering in a parents pin if a pin

was properly applied for ahead of time and was received. If a guardian pin was never applied for, a form is available to print off and a parent can hand sign it and then can be mailedto the FAFSA office. If all these steps are completed successfully, the FAFSA will be finished! Remember to watch deadlines, and check individual school’s websites to see when their deadline is for the FAFSA. Different schools will probably have different deadlines. Al-ways make sure that the web-site used is www.fafsa.ed.gov and that there is no charge! An-other deadline approaching this month is the local scholarship application. This application can be found in the counselor’s office and will be due February 25. On February 12 there will be a special session at PNC for students and parents who need help filling out the FAFSA.

Americans have recognized black history annually since 1926, first as “Negro History Week”, it is now known as Black History Month. Black history had barely began to be studied, or ever document-ed, when the tradition originat-ed. The roots of Black History Month can be traced to the early part of the 20th Century. In 1925, Carter G. Woodson, an educator and historian, began campaigning among schools, journals and black newspapers calling for a “Negro History Week” to be celebrated. He was able to institute this in 1926 dur-ing the second week of February. This time was chosen because Abraham Lincoln’s and Freder-ick Douglas birthday’s occurred then. Woodson was NAACP for his accomplishment. In 1976, Negro History Week turned into Black History Month. When asked what their thoughts were on Black History

Month, students were encour-aging about the holiday. Senior Elizabeth Poreba said, “I think Black History Month is great. We should celebrate all the great accomplishments, Af-rican Americans have made to change history.” In January, the movie Red Tails was released. This movie is an account of the Tuskegee Air-men, an all-black World War II fighter pilot squad. The squad-ron, which was sent to North Africa and Italy to escort white bomber pilots, consisted of some of the best fighter pilots in the Air Corps. Senior Taylor Teets said “Red Tails was such a great movie and very inspirational. I recommend that everyone should see this in-spiring movie.” The movie is a great way to not only get a better understanding on segregation during WWII but it also showcases the deter-mination of the African Ameri-can fighters. The movie was a great way to transition into Black History Month.

Recognizing black historyBy Taylor CriderStaff Writer

Presidential race gains momentum as candidates look to the future

May 8, the date of Indiana’s primaries, nears. Seven of the original Republican candidates have dropped out of the race, making our job a little easier. Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, and Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House from Georgia, are the front runners. Candidates Ron Paul, member of the House of Representatives from Texas, and Rick Santorum, Former U.S. Senator from Penn-sylvania, are trailing far behind. Here’s a run-down of the Re-publican nominees: Mitt Romney: Romney was the Governor of Massachusetts. He is firmly pro-life and also supports the “Don’t ask, Don’t Tell” policy. He wants to end the War on Drugs as he thinks it’s ineffective. He would like to repeal Obama’s new healthcare plan. He supports giving green cards to highly educated work-ers who hold doctorates to meet the needs of employers. Newt Gingrich: He is the for-

mer Speaker of the House from Georgia. Environmental protec-tion is a huge issue for him as he supported the Environmental Protection Agency and a flex-fuel mandate for cars sold in the US. He supports a tough immi-gration border policy. Gingrich is also anti-abortion. Gingrich would like to “repeal and re-place (the Democratic health care reform bill) with a pro-jobs, pro-responsibility health plan that puts doctors and patients in charge of health decisions in-stead of bureaucrats.” Ron Paul: Paul is a U.S. House Representative from Texas. He is the most conservative and lib-ertarian candidate. Paul wishes to return to the gold standard and voted against two bills that would raise the debt ceiling. He was the only one from the House to vote against the Iraq War Resolution in 2002. Paul endorses free trade and pledged not to raise taxes. He opposes the death penalty. Rick Santorum: Santorum is pro-life. He is against gay mar-riage. He opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants and believes

they should be deported when they commit a crime. He doesn’t put stock in global warming and has stated a policy of “drill ev-erywhere” for oil since there is “enough oil, coal and natural gas to last for centuries”. Santorum said he would push to reduce the corporate tax rate to zero for firms that engage in manufactur-ing. On the Democratic side, Presi-dent Obama is running uncon-tested. Some Democrats feel it would be a disadvantage to run against the incumbent president since this would draw votes away from him and, in turn, weaken the party. On January 31, Romney de-feated Gingrich in the Florida Republican primary. Romney walked away with 47 percent of the votes, and Ging-rich followed with 32 percent. In third was Rick Santorum with 13 percent. Ron Paul, who did not campaign in the sunny state, recieved 7 percent of the votes. For those over 18, be sure to vote in Indiana’s primaries on May 8!

By Zach McCoyStaff Writer

The Republican candidates are striving for success in the 2012 Republican primaries this spring.

Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Ron Paul Rick Santorum

“Don’t miss the filing deadline.

Deadline is March 10. We recommend students filing by March 1, in case

they have problems.” -Counselor Mr.

Wiley