Sailors On the ScenenewsmagazineJune 2009 | Volume 3 | Issue 6

MONA SHORES MIDDLE SCHOOL I 1700 WOODSIDE I MUSKEGON, MICHIGAN 49441

On the InsideStudents show off their talents

Sports recapWhat to do for Summertime Fun

www.sailorsonthescene.com

sai lors on the scene ~ staff

Page Two2

On

The

Coverphoto by: mallika madduri

Eighth grade pitcher Jacob Fisher throws a strike against North Muskegon, while eighth grade first baseman Greg Chandonnet anticipates a hit.

staff writers:editor-in-chief:nicole shady

managing editor:lindy torvinen

photo editor:kelly mcmahon

section editors:sammy burmeisterkatie debruinzak drabczyktaylor groenhoutmallika maddurimegan schluentz

sam andradenicole bertapellenicole brownkayleigh dakinrachel greenmegan hertelrachel kellybrianna panicimolly schaub

trevor boydderek copeashley corycorinne deWittjacob deWitttyler diltsamber dionmeghan ebareleah glubrechtrachel mattsontaylor mccarthymegan moranpaige quallsmeredith smithbriann wilson

adviser:mike phillips

editorial board:marie bettenken byardshelly dykstrajacey ecclestontrisha hallcheri kimballpatty mercermichelle phillipsmatt schuchardtamy stielstralori veurink

In the Lead 3

by: ashley cory, amber dion and anna beechnau I staff writers

Girl Scouts earn gold award and raise awareness

Our Voice

The Sailors On the Scene staff would like to take this last issue to thank all of those people at school that never get enough, or any thanks throughout the year. These are the people that we depend on every day, yet rarely take the time to say, thank you.

This list includes all of the hard working staff in the kitchen that help to keep our bel-lies full. And as much as students complain, their day isn’t complete without you. And

the ladies in the front office that help with our problems, big or small. You are always there for us. Our counselors, you make sure everything is okay and always have time to lend an ear. To the custodians that help to keep the school clean and running smoothly, thanks for all that you do. Parapros and support staff, you never get enough credit for all that you do to help make sure that no student gets left behind. And for all of

those that we may have forgotten, thank you. Thank you for all that you do to help make Mona Shores Middle School the best that we can possibly be.

For all of those that never get enough credit, we thank you

Our Voice is the opinion message selected by the editors of the Sailors On the Scene newsmagazine.

Students, parents and teachers lined up for “Run for your Life” on April 25 to help promote fitness in children lifestyles.

The event was put on by the Girl Scout Troop 288 as a way for them to receive their gold award, which is the equivalent to becoming an Eagle Scout.

“I feel accomplished and proud of myself and the other girls for doing something we never thought possible and making it a reality,” Girl Scout and Run for your Life organizer Liz Rich said. “It has always been a goal of mine to earn this, so in a way my dream is coming true.”

145 people attended the “Run for your Life” event that was held on the Mona

Shores Middle School cross country course and included a 5K race as well as a “Fun Run” mile walk.

“The girls that organized the race were some of my favorite students from a few years ago and I really wanted to help make their race a success,” eighth grade science teacher Mike Buboltz said.

Kids 14 and under also filled out a “Log a Marathon” gathering initials from parents each time they exercised for 30 minutes. There were 26 boxes for initials, each one representing the number of miles in a marathon.

“Logging my miles helped to keep me motivated to run more to improve my

times,” eighth grader Kayla Schulte said.Eating healthier foods and keeping your

body in better shape, can help you in the future to stay healthy.

Run for your Life influenced many to stay in shape, including the 145 that participated. With child obesity on the rise, our genera-tion needs to stay active and on their feet to show the youth the importance of making healthy choices.

“Our goal was to educate students on how to live a healthy lifestyle,” Run for your Life organizer Maria Helsen said. “The choices they make right now will influence the rest of their lives.”

courtesy photo

Hosting the Run for Your Life event were (from left to right) Katy Matthews, Alyssa Fletcher, Ellen Woodcock, Natalie Clark, Mary Valentine, Jessica Possanza, Kathleen Grace, Liz Rich, Sara Jones, and Maria Helsen.

Twenty-five acts performed in the talent show displaying the talents and abilities of the students and teachers at Mona Shores Middle School.

Before every act, eighth grader Morgan Schwing and seventh grader Kyle Peter-son acted as the show’s MC’s. Peterson got many laughs out of the crowd with his improvised jokes.

“It was truly an honor to be one of the MC’s,” Peterson said.

Stepping onto the old and creaky stage by yourself can take an excessive amount of courage. For eighth grader Andrea Spag-nuolo, sixth grader Karli Paggeot, seventh grader Regan Wilcox, and many other stu-dents, singing in front of the entire school showed how brave they truly are.

“It was a rush of excitement, but at the same time I had lots of butterflies,” Paggeot said.

Starting the show off with a bang, the

teacher band got the crowd excited with their interpretation of Play That Funky Mu-sic, while dean of students Ken Byard and eighth grader Darnell Longmire showcased their dancing skills in a comedic skit.

“I will do whatever it takes to put a smile on everyone’s face,” Byard said.

If singing in front of the entire school isn’t enough, sixth graders Alyssa Bouchard and Katie Huizinga sang their hearts out while performing with an instrument. Bouchard sang Slide, while strumming on her acoustic guitar and Huizinga provided a soulful performance of I’ll Stand By You on piano.

“I have been playing the guitar for three years,” Bouchard said “I even got to play at Biggby’s Coffee House.”

Due to a misunderstanding during the first show, eighth grader Devon Sargent was banned from joining the jazz band’s second performance of Soul Man, and his fellow

eighth graders in the show stopping finale, School of Rock.

Since Sargent cursed loud enough for the entire audience to hear, he received an in-school suspension. Eighth grader Sean Rush filled in singing lead during Soul Man and eighth grader Alex Pearson took center stage for Sargent keeping the crowd alive with his guitar skills.

“I had a lot of fun performing in the tal-ent show, but when I found out that Devon got kicked out, I was furious,” Rush said. “It was challenging to learn all the lyrics because I learned it in fifth hour and sung it in sixth hour.”

For the audience as well as the perform-ers, the talent show was an event filled with enthusiasm, anticipation, and excitement.

“It was rewarding to see students working so hard and having fun while showing their friends their many talents,” Student Con-gress adviser Marie Betten said.

by: lindy torvinen I managing editor and molly schaub I staff writer

Mona Shores performers dazzle in talent show

Features4

Left: Sixth grader Alyssa Bouchard strums on her guitar while singing the song Slide. Right: Seventh grader Kyle Peterson and eighth grader Morgan Schwing steal some laughs from the crowd while acting as the show’s MC’s.

photos by: jonny lawton

Features 5

The annual trip for eighth graders to Washington, D.C. offers history in a hands-on way and connects with the students.

The tradition of an eighth grade trip to our country’s capital started 29 years ago by former science teacher Ron White.

“We go to D.C. because it is a great op-portunity to learn while having fun,” eighth grade social studies teacher Kyle Kurant said.

The eighth graders visit many places while on their trip, including Arlington National Cemetery, Lincoln Memorial, and Ford’s Theater with each place having a significant part in America’s history.

“I want to see the Smithsonian Museum,” eighth grader Ben Kulikowski said. “I’ve already been there once and I want to see more.”

The most-anticipated place is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Four students from the middle school have a chance to write an essay to lay a wreath there.

“I wrote an essay to lay the wreath to honor the people who have died,” eighth grader Danny Bryant said.

The total cost for the trip is roughly $900, but there are fund-raising opportunities such as selling candles and coffee.

Mr. White’s idea of having an annual eighth grade D.C. trip proved to be success-ful, judging by our school’s tradition that has been passed on to over 3,500 students.

“The eighth grade trip has always left a lasting impression on students after they return home,” eighth grade science teacher Eric Wahlberg said. “That’s why we take them there. To show them what our country is all about.”

by: taylor mccarthy and megan moran I staff writers

D.C. trip benefits students every year

Two groups of teens called STATS (Straight Talk About Tough Stuff) came to Mona Shores Middle school and educated Life Management 1 and 2 students about the dangers of substance abuse and other tough topics.

STATS is a group dedicated to providing

straight talk about tough stuff to teens in Muskegon and they work hard so that kids realize the consequences of bad decisions.

One of the STATS group members told Life Management classes his story about the dangers of alcohol and driving, this is just one of the many inspirational stories.

“That story was very inspirational and it showed me the consequences of drinking and driving,” eighth grader Lauren Johnson said. “It really gave me more reasons to not do it in my future.”

It can be difficult to talk to teachers and parents about problems, so STATS uses skits that relate to all the tough things students will go through as they enter high school.

“It really made it easier and more fun to learn about things that are normally harder to talk about,” seventh grader Parker Slagh said.

To show how fast diseases can spread

they play games, that one game really showed the consequences of not following the path of abstinence.

“Yes, the games helped me because they made a fun way to learn things we really don’t want to talk about,” eighth grader Torrie Fett said. “It taught us something without making it awkward and the lessons really stuck.”

The STATS group was founded on volunteering, hundreds of teens try out, but only fifty are selected for the group, and it was free to get them to come here, but out of good manners lunch and snacks are provided.

“STATS is a group that really relates to life management and the only high school group I know of,” life management teacher Cindy Soyars said. “I think that it’s better to have a high school group because they can better relate to the middle school students and make it fun and educational for them.”

by: nicole bertapelle I staff writer

STATS group inspires Life Management I and II classes

Life Management II class takes part in a game with the STATS groups.

Top: At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, last year’s eighth graders pose

together before laying a wreath. Bottom: Mona Shores Middle School is

permitted to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier every year.

courtesy photo

photos by: eric wahlberg

Cell phones, PSP’s, Nintendo DS’s, iPods, and MP3 players are just a few of the many electronics students use; our school could benefit from a variety of help-ful things from these.

The five minutes between classes is spent getting books, talk-ing to friends, or in the bathroom. Instead of spending the majority of the time talking to friends we could just text them. Being able to have cell phones during passing time would let us text our friends instead of try-

ing to reach them down the long and crowded hallway. It may lead to less tardy’s because we

would be texting rather than rushing down to our classes as the minute bell rings in our ears.

Some people love to play video games, and they would love it even more if they were able to play them at school. We should be able to play PSP’s and Nintendo DS’s during our 30 minutes of freedom in a school day. Just as some students relax by

reading or social-izing with friends, others relax by gam-ing. It’s our time, shouldn’t we be able to do what we want with it?

iPods and MP3 players can be very help-ful to the students, we just need to use them for the right reasons. We can download books on our iPods and most other players to listen to, rather than reading it. For those students who have a difficult time reading, having iPods in school could help them.

Mona Shores Middle School needs to get with the program and let the students use their electronics during school. Just think about it; technology is in our future, so why don’t we start using it now?

Life management teacher Cindy Soyars makes her classes fun with all of her exciting activities and fun teach-ing lessons that she puts together.

I look forward to going to her class

everyday, because I know we are going to do something that doesn’t involve sitting. She makes class fun by getting many people involved and playing games.

Life management isn’t just about cooking. We do many other activi-ties like yoga, walking, and playing games that

help build character character-istics. We also get to watch

Super Nanny as a way to get a better under-standing of baby sitting. Another reason that makes Mrs. Soyars a great teacher is that she teaches basic life skills that will “really” help us in the future. She applies what we already know to her class work, like how to write checks,how to deal with stress, and caring for children.

Mrs. Soyars’ class has taught me a lot, like being more comfortable in uncomfort-able situations and being more confident in the kitchen. It is definitely one class that I will apply what I learned to everyday life.

Technology is our future, so don’t we use it in school?

Opinions6

BriannWilson

KatieDeBruin

Life management I and II impacts students’ lives

Mrs. Soyars connects with her eighth grade students in fun and entertaining ways.

photos by: briann wilson

Two eighth grade students enjoy their lunch hour by listening to music and texting friends.

photo by: katie debruin

— Britni Gielow ~ 8th

“Cell phones should only be allowed during passing time because otherwise it will be very distracting.”

— Emma Tripp ~ 7th

“We should have iPods during lunch because it’s our time to relax and maybe compare songs with each other.”

— Mikayla Day ~ 8th

“Mrs. Soyars is nice and positive. She also cares a lot about our future.”

— Dustin Morrise ~ 7th

“Mrs. Soyars activities are fun and creative.”

At Mona Shores Middle School students are unable to dye there hair any unnatural hair colors such as blue, purple, and pink.

This rule is unfair in so many ways. We can’t dye our hair because it supposedly “distracts

or negatively impacts the learning environ-ment” of our school. This may have been the case twenty-two years ago, but these days it’s not uncommon to see people with purple or pink hair. It’s time for the rule to catch up with the times and trends.

Most people have had thoughts about getting there hair highlighted an unnatural color, but they can’t because of the school rules. Students should be able to dye their hair any color they want to be unique and that shows that the’re not afraid to be differ-ent and stand out.

Lets say one day a girl came to school

with her head shaved, don’t you think that would be more of a distraction? Let’s say a guy came to school with his head

shaved, would that distract anyone? No, because it’s much more common for a guy. So if a girl were to get her head shaved it would seem to be more distracting than dye-ing her hair.

This rule needs to be changed. It’s unfair and not a big deal because people are going to do it anyway. You see a lot of celebrities doing it, so kids will want to also because it is the style now.

The 80’s might be in our past, but it’s inspira-tion and uniqueness will also be in our future as a trendy style icon, great toys, movies, and amazing music for years to come.

When you look in the hallway, what would you see? Bright jewelry, cute bracelets and bangles covering arms? Those accessories originated from the 80’s culture. Have you ever tried some-thing on and heard your mother say, “I use to have a shirt just like that?” That means nostalgia is occurring, which means longing for the past. The world missed the past, so they brought it all back.

The 80’s was extremely trendy and showed attitude. The 80’s was a nostalgia fashion era. Celebrities such as Rhianna, Kayne West, and Miley Cyrus have worn hints of 80’s style clothing. From music to fashion, Madonna was huge in the 80’s,

and is a major influence on today’s culture. Some of the trends include jelly bracelets, string bracelets, shutter shades, neon, mini skirts, polo’s, leggings, tight skinny jeans, band tee shirts, and hair bows.

Not only fashion has come back, also

Care Bears, Pacman, and Star Wars. The Star Wars franchise has brought in over four billion dollars since 1977, not including all the memorabilia. Music from the 80’s is also making it’s way back into our hearts. Journey was huge in the 80’s and still is today. Teacher’s enjoy playing this music during class, and the students enjoy it as well.

The loved 80’s culture and style has come back with a bang and is here to stay.

Opinions 7

Eighth graders Sam Russell, Jordyn Falcon, Matt Fairfield, Trey Fett, Meghan Ebare, and Natalia Narviaz talk while the 80’s is coming back.

illustration by: sam andrade

SamAndrade

BriannaPanici

NicoleBrown

Hair color rule needs to change with the times

Mona Shores is bringing the 80’s back

illustration by: andrea spangnuolo

— Cassey Reiley ~ 7th

“It’s unfair because you should be able to choose your hair color and this rule should be changed because I think a lot of people would change the color of their hair.”

— Mike Buboltz ~ staff

“(My favorite thing about the 80’s was)Star Wars, my friends and I would get together and watch the movies. I even had little toys and space ships that I would fly around. I pretended I had the force.”

Center Section8

To Do:1) Unity Christian Music Festival2) Art In the Park3) Summer Celebration 4) Bike Week 5) Coast Guard Festival 6) Summer Camp7) Travel

“Freak out is my favorite rid

e

because I just lo

ve fast rides.”

7th grader Kyle Peterson

“I like Summer Celebration’s music but I hope there’s better bands than last year.” 6th grader Jordan Peterson

“I liked Unity because I like all

the music they play and I like the

A Stage the best.”

6th grader Ben Romaniello.

“I like to watch all the cool bikes going

up and down the street. The bikes are

colorful and the flames intrigue me.”

8th grader Steven Pelfresne

“I’m excited for Summer

Celebration so I can hang out

with my friends and I’m definitely

looking forward to the beach.”

8th grader Kelley Wheeler.

“When I go to the beach I like to

catch some rays and make sand

castles with my daughters.”

Mrs. PhillipsSummer Fun

Center Section 9

“I wanna skateboard, hang out with my friends, go swimming,

and probabaly make fire crackers.” ~ Josh Newell, 7th grade

Beach

Michigan’s Adventure

“The Thunder Hawk is my favorite ride.”

~ Darnell Longmire, 8th grade

“I ride my bike maybe 200 miles in the summer.”

~ Mr. Buboltz, 8th grade teacher

“My favorite place to go camping is

Ludington State Park.”~ Ryan Bramer, 6th grade

Summer Celebration

Camping

“I don’t even know whose playing at summ

er

celebration.” ~ Jessica Calkins, 8th grade

“I’m going to Atlanta, Mississippi, and that’s it.”

~ Diamond Dickson, 7th grade Vacations

Bike Rides

In The Sun

Sailor Days10

TeacherThis Secret Sailor favorite color is pink. Her favorite thing about working in the school is the students and staff. She attended high school in Elinwood, Kansas where she was class president. Her favorite actor is Sean Connery. And her most embarrassing moment was when a student threw up on her in church. Who is this Secret Sailor?

6th GradeThis Secret Sailor was born at Hackely Hospital. Her favorite color is lime green and her middle name is Taylor. When she is not in school she enjoys playing basketball. She is allergic to horses. And her favorite holiday is Christmas. Who is this Secret Sailor?

7th GradeThis Secret Sailor’s nickname is BMW. His middle name is Scott and his favorite color is lime green. He enjoys golfing during his free time. He has a pet fish named Clyde. He has a fear of swimming with sharks and his favorite soda is Cherry Coke. His most memorable moment is when he got an autographed T-shirt from Justin Abdelkader. Who is this Secret Sailor?

8th gradeThis Secret Sailor’s middle name is Mae. She has two cats and her favorite color is yellow. If she could go anywhere in the world she would want to go to Australia. Her favorite class is Digital Film. She has a fear of spiders and her favorite college is Hope. Who is this Secret Sailor?

S e c r e t - S a i l o r s Secret Sailor Answers: Teacher: Mrs. McKibben / 6th Grader: Lauren Mairne / 7th Grader: Andrew Wieman / 8th Grader: Alex Beall

If you could be any celebrity who would you be and why?

voices

Blake Yin 6th GRADE

“Will Smith, becausehe is cool.”

“Dwayne Johnson because he is awesome.”

Kaylyn Chandonnet7th GRADE

“Kristen Strewart, because she gets to kiss Robert

Pattinson.”

“Susan Sarandon, because she stands up for what

she believes in.”

hallsfrom the

Michael Bell8th GRADE

Mrs. PhillipsTechnology Teacher

Marah Matthews6th GRADE

“I would be Taylor Swift, because she’s myfavorite singer.”

“Paris Hilton, because she’s my role model.”

Zack Proksa7th GRADE

“Adam Sandler, because he’s a good actor.”

“I’d like to be any professional golfer because you travel

around the world.”

Brooklyn Sabin 8th GRADE

Mr. Brainard Gym Teacher

Dhanveer Singh6th GRADE

“Kanye West, because he is a great singer.”

“Kobe Byrant, because he has sweet basketball skills.”

Samantha Torrez7th GRADE

“Angelina Jolie because she adopts kids because she

loves them and she makes a lot of money.”

“I would be Brad Pitt because he’s a humanitarian.”

Gavin Collings 8th GRADE

Mrs.Cargill 7th Grade Math Teacher

Sailor Days 11

Studentsof the month

Student-Athletesof the month

TrackTrack

8th Grade

8th Grade

Taylor GroenhoutHailey Hrynwich

Jasmyn WalkerRachel Resterhouse

1A. Lauren Yadlasky 1B. Sam Russell 1C. Natalee Townsend 1D. Brandi Gabris 2A. Steven Pelfresne 2B. Arik Abdullah 2C. Reed Schlender 2D. Sean Rush 3A. Rachel Resterhouse 3B. Shanilla Balcom 3C. Amy Zuidema 3D. Amanda Smith 4A. Taylor McPhail 4B. Grant Fortenbacher 4C. Colin Rabach 4D. Chandler Mancuso 5A. Amy Gesiakowski 5B. Ravene Morales 5C. Reina Davis 5D. Corianna Pulaski 6A. Evan Tucker 6B. Tino Rameriez 6C. Simon Karel 6D. Nick Garvey

A

D

C

B

Eighth Graders Seventh Graders Sixth Graders

A

D

C

B

A

D

C

B

A

D

C

B

A

D

C

B

A

D

C

B

1

2 4

3 5

6

The Mona Shores eighth grade baseball team had a close victory at Delmar Field, May 12th, against North Muskegon.

In the beginning of the game, errors by the team caused North Muskegon to be up by four runs until the end of the third inning.

“We couldn’t score a run because we couldn’t hit the ball,” Joey Bush said.

Donovan Wilcox scored the first run of the game for the Sailors after being walked to first base and stealing his way all the way to home.

“After scoring the first run, it gave us good motivation,” Wilcox said.

After that first run was scored in the fourth inning, spirits rose and it gave the Sailors four runs that were scored by Jacob Fisher, Derek Baker, Tyler Scheibner and Connor Deur.

“It was exciting to slide into home,” Baker said.

In the end of the fourth inning, the teams were neck in neck with a score of 9-9, that was until Jesse Anderson scored the winning run.

“I got a hit and ran to first and second, stole from third base and stole home,” Anderson said.

The score of 10-9 gave the eighth grade team one more triumph to their three previ-ous wins.

“I think we played alright, but we could’ve done better,” Tyler Bryant said.

by: mallika madduri and megan schluentz I section editors

Eighth grade baseball pulls out victory against North Muskegon

Sports12

by: kayleigh dakin I staff writer

Seventh grader stays focused on sports and academics

Seventh grader Libo Chandler is setting new highs for Shores. With a new record, almost three tenths of a second faster than the old one, coaches are excited to see what this student will bring in the future.

Chandler started this track season running the 100 meter, 400 relay, and long jump with flying times.

On May 4 Chandler broke Daryl Smith’s record of 12.0 seconds that was set in 1991 with a time of 11.78 seconds.

“Libo has set a record that goes back 18 years and that says a lot,” track coach John Adams said. “To know that he’s the fastest runner in this schools history, I’m sure he feels good about that.”

Every year Mona Shores loses track athletes to other sports when moving up to

the high school, but Chandler says that he is planning on continuing his track career all through high school.

“In the end its up to him and how hard he’s willing to work,” coach Adams said. “He can achieve a lot of great things for our school, no doubt about that.”

Chandler will be keeping himself busy with track, football, and wrestling along with academics.

Even though sports are a big part of his life, school is more important.

“Sports are important, but school always comes first,” Chandler said.

photos by: mallika madduri

Left: Matt Fairfield slides into second base, narrowly avoiding an out.Top: Jacob Fisher caught in mid-action as he leaps for the ball.

Seventh grader Libo Chandler anchors the 400 meter relay on April 16.

photo by: mike phillips

The eighth grade girls softball team season went undefeated this year. “The game that stood out was our 26-1 win over Orchard View where three girls, Meghan Birr, Lauren Johnson and Kayla Miller, hit in-the-park home runs,” coach Sells said.

The seventh grade girls softball team record is 5-5. “My favorite game was when we played Catholic Crusaders because they were very easy to beat,” Bethany Vaughn said.

The Wrestling team ended their season with a record of 12 wins and two losses. The most memorable moment of the season was winning the Grandville Team Invitational. Overall the wrestling team did a outstanding job wrestling against the other schools and having an all-around great season. “The team progressed each week and peaked at the end of the season,” coach Andy Hogston said.

The girl’s track team had a remarkable season, finishing undefeated. Their best meet was beating Holland West Ottawa 63 to 60. “We were loosing at the end of the meet, but with a few calculations, we prevailed,” coach Leah Kern said. “Our most valuable players for our eighth grade team were Emma Milek and Meredith Smith, and our most valuable players for our seventh grade team were Jessica Gauthier, Courtney McKenzie, and Kalana Lewis,” coach Kern said. “These ladies are a great bunch of girls.”

Breaking many school records this year were; seventh grader Libo Chandler, 100 meter dash with a time of 11.78 seconds, eighth grader Jessie Anderson, the 70 meter dash with a time of 8.43 seconds, and eighth graders Ossie Gordon, Jessie Anderson, Aaron Boynton and Darnell Longmire the 800 meter relay race with a time of 1:40.02 at the conference meet ending the boys season with a record of 7-1. “The Otto twins were the most improved runners from last year,” coach John Adams said. All 50 boys that participated in track this year got to run in at least one meet.

Swinging the tennis racket is part of life to some of the young players that are on the tennis team. “Our team has improved a lot and we do the best at our single matches,” says 7th grader Sam Kling. For some, it’s like a second family to them. So far this year, the tennis team has fought off some challenging matches for both the seventh and eighth grade teams, and the seventh graders and sixth graders record is 4-0, “The team worked very hard in practice and shinned on match day. I’m very impressed with the ability and talent of the whole team. We even beat the eighth grade team. Way to go guys and girls. Great season,” coach Tim Duiser said, with the eighth graders record being at 3-0 with the games against Whitehall, Fremont, Grant, and Reeths Puffer. “The whole team in general is improving every match we play out, the team continues to improve,” coach Andrew DeBruyn said.

The eighth grade boys baseball team ended the season with seven wins and five losses. “The game that stood out to me the most was when we played Catholic because they are our rivals, even though we lost 8-12 we still ended putting in a good last effort,” Jacob Fisher said.

Seventh grade boys baseball team has a record of 3-7 so far. “The game that stood out to me was when we played North Muskegon because we won by one point. It was very intense and we ended up hitting three home runs that game,” Logan Smith said.

The eighth grade girls blue volleyball had a great season, finishing up at 12 wins, 1 loss and 3 ties.

“All the games were fun and all the girls played great, but I really enjoyed our last two matches when we beat the two Grand Haven teams,” coach Kyle Kurant said.

The eighth grade girls white volleyball finished up the season 8-4. “I would say that both Kendall Sells and Lindy Torvinen played significant roles on the team. Kendall ran the front row with blocking and spiking and Lindy controlled the back row with setting and digging,” coach Leah Kern said. “Kaleigh Deruiter and Jillian Klein would be the most improved.”

The seventh grade blue volleyball girls finished the season with seven wins and only five loses. “The Friendship Tournament was a great success. We played some tough teams and came out on top,” coach Stephanie Shaffer said.

Seventh grade white volleyball girls season ended with six wins and six loses. “The girls learned a lot and showed improvement over the course of our season. They learned the importance of working together as a team,” coach Nicole Helsel said.

Sports 13

Sports in BriefTennis SoftballWrestling

Baseball Volleyball 8th Grade

Track

Volleyball 7th Grade

by: corrinne dewitt, tyler dilts, rachel mattson and meredith smith / staff writers

Summer Celebration, also known as “The Big Party”, brings entertain-ment from June 25 till July 5 every year with exciting world known bands and other fun entertainment with local performances.

Every year different genres of music are played and performed in Heritage Land-ing along the shores of Muskegon Lake in downtown Muskegon. This year’s roster of bands include Saving Abel, an alternative rock band, The Counting Crows, another

alternative group, and Shinedown, an R&B sound. Also John Legend, a well known

pop artist. These are a few among many other bands coming to celebrate summer by

performing on the main stage.

The Mid-way where most kids go to have

fun in the carnival area offers fun rides and snacks. There are tons of games that you can play to win prizes and have fun. The House of Mirrors is one of the games, also bumper cars and rides like Freak Out and Super Shot are in the midway.

Art in the Park is in its 48th year and runs July 4-6 in Hackley Park. Featured vendors come from all over and have very differ-ent perspectives on art. Many people come over for the three day event and participate celebrating the historic Art in the Park.

Have fun this summer. Be sure to go and enjoy the entertainment Summer Celebra-tion has to offer.

Downloading copyrighted material is now something almost everyone does, whether it’s music or movies, but people need to remember that there are consequences.

According to the music industry, illegally downloading music started shortly before 1999. Many students are downloading music illegally when they share their music online by using peer-to-peer programs like Limewire. Peer-to-peer programs allow someone to share all of their downloaded music with millions of

other users.With the

advance-ment of technol-ogy and high speed

internet, stu-dents have made the switch from download-ing music to download-ing movies.

Students have begun to download and share movies online that are still in theaters, and most are getting away with it. Even with more companies offering subscriptions to movie services, students continue to ille-gally download movies.

While most students don’t get caught downloading and sharing copyrighted mate-rial, some must face the consequences. One 12 year old girl in New York was sued for downloading one thousand songs illegally. At first she tried to fight it, but eventually agreed to pay two thousand dollars or two dollars per song. While two dollars per song doesn’t seem like very much, if you down-

load hundreds of songs it can really add up. With downloading music and movies

becoming more popular and easy, everyone needs to remember that you can get caught and the consequences can be harsh. When downloading a movie or a song, try to use a site that will allow you to do that legally.

Downloading and sharing copyrighted material is illegal

Entertainment14

With more and more people illegally downloading music, the music industry is starting to sue people as young as tweleve years old.

photo by: abby wilson

Super shot is a thrilling ride at Muskegon’s Summer Celebration in the midway.

photo by:www.summercelebration.com

The BIG party at Muskegon’s Summer Celebration

SammyBurmeister

RachelGreen

— Mckenna Birch ~ 7th

“I use Limewire to download my movies and music.”

— Nicole Shady ~ 8th

“I do not download music illegally, I use iTunes andbuy them.”

— Kyle Willson~ 8th

“I am excited for Mr. Nimtz to peform at this years summer celebration.”

— Rayfield Bell ~ 7th

“Probably John Legend because that is the only person that I know this year.”

Cell Phones have been around for many years. They are used for texting, instantly con-necting to friends and family, and using them to get on the web.

Texting is a great way to instantly connect to

your friends and family no matter where they live. The LG Sidekick 3 is the best cell phone if your main purpose is texting. It has a full

keyboard, trackball interface, and a land-scape screen.

Verizon is one of the most popular services, with over half of the students that were polled using it as their phone service. They appear to have the best reception, es-pecially where other carriers seem to break up. Verizon also allows you to call or text anyone on their network for free.

There are many great inexpensive phones you can buy, the best is the Palm Centro. For $99, you get 3 Gigabytes of data speed and memory, a full keyboard, a high resolu-tion touch screen, and just a great overall phone.

As you can see there are many great cell phones that are used for texting, connecting with friends and family, and great inexpen-sive phones.

Many people have seen Susan Boyle’s video of her perfor-mance on Britain’s Got Talent. Nearly everyone who has watched the video has felt guilty of judging Ms. Boyle by her cover.

Susan Boyle was a dowdy, single, 48 year-old who lived alone with her cat, Pebbles. She has never been kissed or even on a date, and up until 2007, Boyle spent all of her time taking care of

her elderly mother. Children in her village in Scotland made fun of her elderly appear-ance, or what they saw on the outside. Until they heard her sing, ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ on ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.

Despite the ignorant audience, Susan was very confident in herself and her singing. All jaws dropped once she sang the first few

notes of her song. Many people left knowing that you should not judge some-one by their

appearance.Boyle’s shocking video had over 100 mil-

lion hits after only nine days on YouTube. Many people are inspired by her incredible appearance on ‘Britain Has Got Talent’. Even the strict and rude Simon Cowell was charmed by her surprising performance.

Today Susan Boyle spends her time re-cording new songs, rehearsing for her next appearance on Britain’s Got Talent, visiting talk shows, and of course reading fan mail.

Boyle has been on Oprah and many radio shows.

Susan Boyle

inspired nearly everyone who watched her perform on Britain’s Got Talent. After her performance nobody saw her as the dowdy, old woman. They then saw her as the woman that could really sing and encourage others to be themselves.

Entertainment 15Britain’s Got Talent Star inspires viewers around the world

Taking the confusion out of great cell phones, services, and texting

DerekCope

LeahGlubrecht

MeghanEbare Susan shows the doubtful audience her

confidence in her singing.

www.talent.itv.com

— Mike Caughey ~ 6th

“I thought she sang really good, but she didn’t fit the part.”

— Royce Johnson ~ 8th

“Alltel, has unlimited texting and unlimited mobile web, the phone signal is weak though.”

— Mr. Moran ~ Staff

“She was doing what she believed in and she did a terrific job.”

The T-mobile Sidekick 3 is the best phone for texting.

www.t-mobile.com

16 Photo Story

MSMS Track takes off

The Sailors of Mona Shores took on the Bucs of Grand Haven on April 16. Both the boys and girls

won their meets.

Eighth grader Adam Ulfsax hurtles neck and neck with opposing Grand Haven runner.

Seventh grader Annjuar Chappel passes off the baton to seventh grader Jamarius Williams in the 800 meter relay.

Eighth grader Trevor Boyd jumps in the high jump.

Tired eighth grade runners Samantha Andrade and Jessica Dubuc finish up the 800 meter.

Seventh grader Jacob Rohlman stays strong during the 800 meter.

Seventh grader Christian Zurchauer runs side by side with a Bucs opponent.

Seventh graders Diamond Tarrio and Skyla Davis stay focused in the 200 meter.

Eighth grader Jessie Anderson gets off to a great start in the 70 yard dash.

Mona Shores girls get off to a great 1, 2, 3, 4 start.