Westlake High School Volume 40 Issue 3 February 27, 2009 4100 Westbank Drive Austin, Texas 78746

Featherd

uster

the

what’s the?

Editor-in-ChiefSarah Adler

Managing EditorMolly Moore

Copy EditorsKatherine KlocHolly Heinrich

Brains + BrawnLeah WhitlockAsst. Anisha GangulyTrey ScottKaty RodenAsst. Meredith Kolda

People + PlacesAshley CarlisleAsst. Mary-Margaret ParrishAsst. Katie Sorenson

Trends + TradsJake WebbAsst. Helen Anderson

Rants + RavesLeslie ReynoldsAsst. Leland KrychAsst. Hannah Com-stockMaff CaponiAsst. Lauren NelsonAsst. Trevor Wallace

Web MastersMatthew ChangHetty Borinstein

Graphic DesignerSofie Seiden

Photo EditorSam WomackAsst. Shannon SouleAsst. Aaron Retersdorf

Ad ManagerAdrienne Cooksley

SubscriptionsMekala Keshu

PhotographersBarrett WilsonHannah KunzJacob McLaughlin Katherine FinnMoira BeringNathan KallisonLaura Aldridge

ReportersAbby Bost Abby HannaAlex BishopAlexandra BellAmrit KhalsaAnnie ValliantBlake Mackie

Brett MeleCaroline HuntChelsea KneplyChristina ShinCody CrutchfieldDanielle BrownEmily HuangHillary HurstJake BittingJamie LeeJamie MathisJasmin KhanJenna SteneJenny MesserJessee HaneyJulie DorlandKelsey RandleLeah-Marie DuranLee CaffeeLizzie FriedmanLuci OrtizMatt FrankMichelle LingMorgan RidulfoPeter SorensenRyan McGrathShelby ChristopherWalter BezansonZach Wasfi

AdviserDeanne Brown

The Featherduster Staff

The Featherduster, the newsmagazine of Westlake High School, attempts to inform and entertain in a broad, fair and accurate manner on subjects which concern the readers. The publication also seeks to provide a forum of ideas and opinions between the staff of the newsmagazine, the faculty and the local community about issues presented.

All material produced and published by The Feath-erduster staff is copyrighted and cannot be reproduced without the writer’s consent or that of the editors. Con-tent decisions rest in the hands of the staff, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier. Opinions ex-pressed in the columns that

appear in The Featherdust-er do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the entire staff, the school administra-tion or the adviser.

The staff encourages letters to the editor as an avenue for expressing the opinions of the readers. All letters must be signed to be considered for publica-tion. Due to space limita-tions, not all letters will be published, and the editorial board reserves the right to edit them for purposes of placement. No material will be printed that is libelous, advocates an illegal activity or which the editorial board deems is in poor taste. The restriction includes letters to the staff, advertising and anything else the board feels presents an inappro-priate message.

brains + brawnMusical questSeven bands duke it out to win time in a recording studio.

4people + places

Saving soulsSenior Chloe Jordan works with Falling Whistles.

36trends + traditions

All the fish in the seaWhat’s the lure of high school relationships?

44rants + raves

contents

Tell your fortuneUse our sophisticated methods to decipher your true destiny.

65

‘09February

Photo by Barrett Wilson

In response to a solid performance by The Callback, members of the crowd, including seniors Cameron Brock, Alex Hershey and Alex Wolff, rush the stage to applaud the musicians who eventually were picked by the judges as this year’s champion. The 14th annual Battle of the Bands was co-sponsored by The Featherduster and TEC.

They went from being cut during tryouts one year to win-ning Battle of the Bands the next. The Callback, four guys just hav-ing fun playing music, rocked the stage Jan. 24 at the 14th Annual Battle of the Bands in the Chap Court.

“We went in expecting to have fun, but not to win,” lead guitarist senior Grady Baker said. “We were the underdogs to people, so they didn’t expect us to be that good.”

Grady, bass guitarist senior Evan Reyn-olds, drummer freshman Carson Viglione and guitarist senior Chris Knight chose to perform a collection of all cover songs.

“We chose all covers because we thought it would be more fun for the audience,” Grady said.

Despite the fact that they played covers at the show, they plan on making a name for themselves using their own songs. With their win at Battle of the Bands, they got four hours of recording time at Tequila Mocking-bird studio, as well as the help of a recording

engineer.“We wanted to play only covers because we

wanted to play the best show possible,” Evan said. “But we’re probably going to use our Tequila Mockingbird time to make another version of our original demos.”

The members of The Callback have been playing together since sophomore year. Matt Sparks, a senior in ’08, left the band after graduation, opening up a spot for their cur-rent drummer, Carson. They’ve been playing together ever since.

“Performing and playing with people is fun,” Grady said. “We get to play together and hear ourselves get better.”

And over time, they have improved greatly. “[The last time we tried out for Battle of

the Bands], we hadn’t been together very long and we didn’t have great stage presence,” Evan said. “This year, we just wanted to have the best sound quality. We wanted to make the best sound we could.”

This year, they returned with full force.“Battle of the Bands was the thing that I

most looked forward to in high school,” Evan

said. “We were definitely going to try out again.”

Evan, who began his time with the Call-back as a drummer, eventually moved to playing bass. He made his way into the band through a connection in cross country.

“We were riding back from a cross country practice and Grady saw a drum magazine on the floor of the car,” Evan said. “I told him that I played, and then I started playing with the band a few weekends later.”

Evan plays a ‘60s Fender Precision bass handed down to him from his grandfather who used to play it in a polka band.

“I had the choice to play with a nicer guitar, but I chose to play with my grandpa’s,” Evan said. “It’s a cool guitar, and it looks a little beat up, too.”

While The Callback have decided to break up after graduation, they aren’t wasting any time before then.

“We’re going to try to make a CD and get that out before college,” Grady said. “If we get the chance, we might do a few shows too.”

—Jake Webb

Battle of the bandsThe winner: The CallbackSam Womack

brains + brawn4the scoop on school news and sports

the runners up:

Below: Cellists sophomore Danielle Suh, senior Nick Calvin and ‘08 graduate Nick Gregg, along with fellow musicians from the band Mother Falcon, perform during Westlake’s 14th annual Battle of the Bands.

Right: Singing at the top of his lungs, senior Lee Caffee and Captain

Chaos and the Space Cadets took most entertaining band.

Below: Guitarist senior Theo Halls basks in the glory of the charged

crowd’s praise after Captain Chaos and the Space Cadets finish their set.

Above: Rockin’ out on the bass, musician senior Sanyam Sharma plays alongside his band, Groove, during Westlake’s 14th annual Battle of the Bands.

the contests:best guitar freshman Drake McGarrah

David Lee Roth award senior Lee Caffeebest high-kick senior Theo Halls

best saxophonist senior Max Seiden

best drummer freshman Carson Viglione

most entertaining Captain Chaos and the Space Cadets

third place Mother Falconsecond place Secret Spice

musicianship award Secret Spice

Barrett Wilson

Barrett Wilson

Sam Womack

Sam Womack

Sam Womack

Right: Playing his heart out,

sophomore Joey Rousseau per-forms with his

band These City Lights at Battle

of the Bands. These City Lights performed after the show while waiting for the

results from the judges.

Every Friday night during football season, fans enjoy the halftime show just as much as the game. The line of 45 girls high-kicking their toes to their noses is flawless and well-rehearsed. How-ever, the minute football season is over, Hyline leaps right into preparing for competitions.

“When football season ends, many people think Hyline ends too, which is so not true,” Hyline officer junior Mallory Douthit said. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked, ‘So what do y’all even do in Hyline now?’ Our focus just shifts from halftime shows and high kicks to competi-tion dances.”

To prepare for competition season, the girls add over 10 more

hours of practice to their weekly schedule, including lengthy Satur-day rehearsals.

“It’s time consuming, to say the least, and waking up at 5:30 is just as awful as it sounds,” Mal-lory said. “But it’s well worth it.”

The team performs four danc-es: jazz, modern, pom and lyrical. The Funky Company—which has held the State title for the last two years—and the Jazz Company also compete, along with optional soloists.

“Everyone hopes to receive high scores this year but person-ally, I would like to see Funky Co. win for a third year,” Hyline offi-cer senior Sara Brown said. “Also, I would like Hyline to excel in our modern dance since it’s only the

second time we are competing in that category.”

Hyline competes in four solo and three team competitions, including The Klein Oak com-petition in Houston, where the girls bond by spending the entire weekend together. The team’s first contest was Feb. 7 at Bowie High School. Hyline is also antici-pating their annual performance, Zenith, on April 23-25 in the newly-renovated FAF.

“Each season is unique but contest season always seems to bring the team closer together,” Sara said. “Everyone works so hard to achieve a common goal and be the best.”

—Katy Roden andKatie Sorenson

‘Hy’ hopes for HylineDance team prepares for, competes in spring contests

Barrett Wilson

Fifty-five young women gathering together two Sundays a month sounds like trouble, but for the girls in Girls Giving Grants it couldn’t be for a less mischievous, more noble cause. The g3 program is the brainchild of Rebecca Powers, president of Impact Austin, a group of adult women who work philanthropically to benefit various organizations. Girls Giving Grants is her way of giving the same experience to her daughters and other teenage girls.

“We decided we would focus on the needs of youth in our county areas,” sophomore Oriana Wright said. “Most importantly we decided membership would be limited to middle and high school girls.”

Each girl donates $100, preferably earned by her, to commit to the grant that g3 gives every year. Every penny goes to the potential grant of one of the non-profit organizations that has gone through the exten-sive application process.

“The grant process is easy to follow and understand,” said Debbie Tate, director of Development and Community Affairs for The Center of Child Protection. “I think a rigorous grant process lends to the cred-ibility of the organization.”

Through the course of six months, the members put their skills to the test. The 55 girls are split into six groups. Each group gets a sec-tion of the grants which are narrowed down to two, they then present the grants in slide shows. The girls vote on their favorites and in April, they announce the winner and present the organization with its grant.

“Most of the members have experienced heartbreak,” Oriana said. “Due to the nature of the process, the grant application I have fallen in love with is not always the recipient.”

With the help of many mentors, the girls were able to set up g3 and keep it running for four years now.

In 2007, g3 awarded $2,600 to the Center for Child Protection, putting the money towards an emergency fund for families in crisis. The grant ended up aiding the emotional needs of the abused child and their family.

Coming into the fourth year as an organization, g3 has already proved itself to the Austin community, with their contributions to Lifeworks in 2008, Center for Child Protection in 2007 and Austin Children Shelter in 2006.

“The need for philanthropy and the hunger for young philanthro-pists is more now than it ever has been,” director of g3 Dinna Mavridis said. “This new generation as a populous is seen as lazy. The groups of girls in g3 are not even close to lazy.”

The g3 girls have given $10,400 to the city of Austin over the course of four years. They have worked hard to grow into the organization they are now.

“I was not aware that being a part of a single group would be able to change me as much as it has,” Oriana said.

Not only is g3 a learning process in finance for the girls involved, it is also a place to grow; many of the girls have been there since the group began, and they all have strong ties to one another.

“It helps with their communication skills, financial stability and makes the girls commit because of each other,” Mavridis said.

This year 55 grants were submitted and are in the process of elimi-nation. The g3 grant will be awarded in April of this year.

—Kelsey Randle

Students participate in philanthropic organizations

Performing during a basketball game, second lieutenant junior Shaila Isham dances to prepare for upcoming competitions. Hyline’s first competition was Feb. 7 where Funky and Jazz Co. tied for runner up and officers got second overall.

Girlsgivinggrants

“It’s 8 p. m. After a grueling day of school and a team dinner, various high school boys are on their way home—ready to sit back, relax and watch the latest epi-sode of 24. As their cars silently come to a stop in their driveways, they grab their bags and head inside only to be greeted by their moms and unusually enor-mous smiles—the kind they only have when they know a secret. Shrugging off their moms’ conspicuous good mood, they make a beeline to their rooms. However, this time when they step in, instead of being overwhelmed by the stench of dirty socks and rotting food, they are welcomed to an abnormally clean, decorated room. Streamers adorn every inch of the ceil-ing, creating an endless sea of red and blue, and balloons clutter the ground making it nearly impossible to walk. Setting down their bags and taking in the new “interior design,” they glance upon a sign reading “Beat Austin High.” But this time, it’s for soccer, basketball and baseball.

Ever since the start of Westlake, football has been one of the top priorities. In addition to countless pep rallies and the mind-blowing stadium, there is also the Senior Girls support group. However, over the last few years the Senior Girls program has expanded to cover baseball for the first time in Westlake’s his-tory.

“The Bleacher Babe program started as an idea to get senior girls involved in supporting varsity baseball,” head Bleacher Babe senior Kalen Faulkenberry said. “If we have a program for football, why not one for baseball as well?”

With the Bleacher Babes’ season just around the cor-ner, participation does not seem to be an issue as most girls find enjoyment in this relatively new support group.

“Being a Bleacher Babe is great because it’s a really fun way to support our varsity baseball team,” Kalen said. “Bleacher Babes typically make signs for their players for every big game and of course we bake them cookies and

brownies for game days. You know, just something to boost them up so they are psyched for the game.”

In addition to Bleacher Babes and Senior Girls, two brand new support groups have sprung up to join the pack. Senior Celina Artusi founded the Soccer Stalkers

and senior Caroline Kimble created the Basketball Senior Girls, both of which are currently decorat-ing rooms and baking dozens of cookies.

“I’m close with some of the boys on the team and I hung out with a few of them a lot over the summer,” Caroline said. “It was during that time when I came up with the idea because I just thought about how much they need to be recog-nized. Chris [King] told me they don’t get a lot of recognition, and I thought they really deserved something so I thought I could get a basketball Senior Girl thing started.”

After a bit of a scare, not knowing if it would happen or not, the Basketball Senior Girls were finally created. Thanks to the help of a parent, who brought it up during a parent meeting, the Basketball Senior Girls were able to get enough money and members to help sustain it, and so far, 10 girls have joined.

“Basketball Senior Girls is really relaxed,” Caroline said. “There aren’t themes like during football season and we don’t have to dress them up. Some girls are talk-ing about making signs to put around the school and in the Commons. Since there aren’t that many of us, we all work together and help each other out.”

Now that the Senior Girl phenomenon seems to be spreading, ques-tions are rising about why these groups didn’t start earlier.

“I guess it’s because once football season ended, the girls were probably just too tired to do another season,”

senior basketball player Jesse Breedlove said. “I know that I wouldn’t have the energy to do what they do for two seasons of sports.”

However, this time the basketball and baseball teams have lucked out as each sport proved to have enough girls willing to make the time commitment that comes along with being a Senior Girl, and so far, the guys love it.

“Ever since I heard that the football Senior Girls make snacks for their guy, I wanted a few Senior Girls of my own,” Jesse said. “Now, I finally have them.”

—Shelby ChristopherTrad

ition w

ith a tw

ist2009 puts spin on traditional Senior Girls program as it transitions from football to soccer, basketball, baseball

If we have a program for

football, why not one for

baseball as well?”

—senior Kalen Faulkenberry

Sam WomackTwo anonymous senior girls are hard at work decorating guard senior Chase Womack’s room.

brains + brawn8

MeetingsEvery other Wednesday

after school in room 910

Laur

en N

elso

n

The Austin Tea PartyAn upstanding club for Westlake’s chivalrous side

“Words once said by a teapot,” said senior Eric Upshaw, Lord Arch

Bishop King Duke Imperial President and re-founder of the Upstanding Gentlemen’s

Afternoon Tea Society. “‘Here is my handle. Here is my spout. Tip me over, and pour me

out.’” Gathered in a crowded “lounge,” snug between

table and couch, 30 formal wear-clad tea connois-seurs check their pocket watches, raise their glasses and laugh wildly. Though an average afternoon for most, Wednesdays mark a more grandiose occasion for the gentlemen and ladies of Westlake—tea time.

The Upstanding Gentlemen’s Afternoon Tea So-ciety was started four years ago by 2008 graduates Sam Westerfeld and John Hume. Though meetings became scarce, its reputation for elegance, ostenta-tiousness and top hats lived on.

“It was a club when I was a freshman,” Eric said. “I always wanted to join but never had

time, so I just revamped it.”One of UGATS’ basic founding principles

is its requirement that participants be elegantly dressed in formal attire.

“Everyone dresses ridiculously splendid in their formal wear,” senior

Karen Tennison said. “It gives the room a certain vibe that

speaks graciously

to the gentlemenship of it all.”Achieving the chivalrous status of a

gentleman is a hard-earned task that few are able to accomplish.

“Being a gentleman requires humility in the face of vanity, courage in the face of fear, kindness in the face of adversity and holding the door open for ladies,” Eric said.

Though a club for gentlemen, ladies are cor-dially invited to join in the teatime merriment.

“Ladyship is encouraged,” Eric said. “It only says ‘gentlemen’ because it sounds better in the title. There is no gender distinction.”

UGATS is interested in any joining member that has a “natural urge to feel as if [they are] polite, courteous, very grandiose and exaggerated.”

“My goal is to get a very diverse group with very diverse opinions and interests, so conversation never gets stale,” Eric said.

Creating an Alice in Wonderland appeal, the tea party and its lavishly clothed guests provide a surrealistic break for rest and relaxation.

“The purpose of UGATS is to have a good time with great people,” Eric said. “We try to have fun and not worry about things here. Stress is not our cup of tea.”

—Lauren Nelson

secondary headline will go here.....• AlastairWinston/Mat-thewGary(TeenDatingViolence)

We are all critics. We’ve all had the experience of walking out of a movie theater and thinking to ourselves, “Wow…I just spent $9 and wasted two hours of my life to see the worst movie in cinematic history.”

We have no problem criticizing movies, as long as we didn’t make them. Honestly, how many of us would be willing to put ourselves out there and have our films judged by oth-ers? It takes courage, something that West-lake’s film classes have in abundance.

Filmmaking is an exciting new addition to the student culture. In years past, film was something that students did outside of school. It was simply a hobby, not a subject for school. Now, with the creation of the new film class, students are working with ad-vanced technical equipment, using complicat-ed software such as Final Cut, and are finally learning how to turn their visions into reality.

“We have a state-of-the-art high-def Mac lab,” film production teacher Emily Burdett said. “The tools that students are using are industry standard. As a result, graduates can consider future employment in production.”

In November, Westlake received its first film award. The students competing were required to submit an advertisement for Schlotzsky’s “Sandwich Your Story in 60 Seconds” Competition. Westlake took home three wins. Seniors Ryan Summersett, Jackson Wimberley and Sarah Mullinnex all received $500 scholarships for their com-mercials and were awarded the honor of having their films screened at the Austin Film Festival.

Since then, Westlake Film students have been involved in other competitions as well. Most recently, Westlake swept the “Make A Movie, Make a Difference PSA (Public Service Announcement) Competition”, earning all five honors. The challenge was to design a

public service announcement about a con-troversial issue such as clean air, substance abuse or teen dating violence.

The finalists selected by Sheriff’s Depart-ment and Austin Film Festival judges were:

• Alastair Winston/Matthew Gary (Teen Dating Violence)

• Carly Berryhill/Jackson Wimberly (Teen Dating Violence)

• James Lambrecht/Ross Davis (Sub-stance Abuse)

• Olivia Reed (Substance Abuse)• Sean Elwood/Valerie James (Teen Dat-

ing Violence)Winners were announced Feb. 11. Two

teams won first in their categories: James/Ross and Valerie/Sean.

“We decided to go with the TDV choice,” senior Sean Elwood said. “It all consisted of stop-motion and took a little over two hours or so to shoot, and then about a week and a half to edit. This is the first ‘award’ we’ve received since we’ve made videos so it came to us as a surprise.”

The winners will receive week-long intern-ships with film companies and passes to the Austin Film Festival.

But filmmaking isn’t just about winning awards. It creates an opportunity for students who plan to pursue film as a career to get their work out into the community.

“It opens up dozens of possibilities to get your work out there,” Sean said. “The class teaches you how to write treatments for your film ideas, how to write a pitch and how to present it to a director to make him or her buy it. We practiced selling our ideas through pitches, and then the filmmaking class went to the Austin Film Festival, where some students actually presented their pitches to real directors. I got to meet one of my favorite

directors, Danny Boyle, who directed 28 Days Later and Sunshine, along with the recent film, Slumdog Millionaire.”

The film classes also produced music videos that will be shown in the Uncommon Space Gallery, and mini documentaries that will screen on The Featherduster Online at the end of this month. They are also entering some work in UIL and are about to embark on producing a few of the students’ short scripts that were written last semester.

Like other activities at Westlake, filmmak-ing also demands excellence. Students are re-quired to learn to use complicated programs and to work hard every day on their projects. It is definitely not a “blow off” class.

“Filmmaking has really inspired me to make a lot more films,” Sean said. “I now know how to use Final Cut Pro a lot better. Filmmaking takes a lot of time and patience and you can’t really procrastinate because you’re always on a tight schedule with a specific deadline so you can’t ‘dilly-dally’ one day and put off all the work until two or three days before the deadline. Editing takes a while and you want to get your project to closely resemble your vision on how you wanted it to turn out as much as possible.”

“We have very creative, hardworking students,” Burdett said. “That’s a great combo for a production. It was pretty fun to win our first contest out of the gate. Having advanced production students in a brand new program gives us a strong foundation. Their work serves as a great model for beginners and they themselves serve as great peer coaches. I think this has helped to raise the quality level of our work quickly. There are real film-makers here. I am happy we offer a place on campus where they can develop their craft.”

—Amrit Khalsa

Filmmakingclassgivesstudentscreativeoutlet

Lights! Camera! Action!

Make a movie,make a difference

“You, get over here, STAT,” the technician said. “Hold her arms steady.”

Her mind raced and her adrenaline kicked in. It was senior Caro-line Parrish’s first day observing in the ER of St. David’s Hospital, and she was already thrown into action.

“I had arrived in the ER and was told that a patient was being brought in by ambulance complaining of chest pains and shallow breathing,” Caroline said.

The ER personnel had been struggling to restrain the patient and place an IV in her arm.

“The patient didn’t know what was going on,” Caroline said. “The patient was flailing her arms, punching anything and everything in her reach, preventing the nurse from getting a clean stick.”

After multiple unsuccessful attempts, Caroline and the nurses were able to restrain the patient and place the IV smoothly.

“I plan on going to nursing school next year,” Caroline said. “This year I had the opportunity to take Health Science Technology II, pre-paring me for the medical world.”

HST II was added to the list of courses for the ‘08-09 school year and is currently taught by Sherry Moody. Students involved in the class travel to local hospitals three days a week, where they have the opportunity to observe and experience all the departments, rotating each week between the intensive care, X-ray, ER, physical therapy, lab and infant nursery.

“This class has revealed a whole new side of the healthcare world to me,” Caroline said. “I have always been in the patient’s place, but now I am behind the scenes. I have the chance to understand and see the way doctors think while interacting with the patient.”

For junior Zach Yates, the class also proved to be influential in deciding his future career.

“The class gives me the option to test the medical field,” Zach said. “Since I was 12 years old, I thought becoming a doctor was a possibility and now I know this is what I want to do with my life.”

Before a student can be in HST II, they have to take a year of Health Science Technology I, which teaches them about the body systems, medical terms and common diseases often encountered in the hospi-tals. After completing the class, students can then apply to be in HST II and observe in local hospitals.

“Last semester we went to St. David’s, but this semester our class is going to Brackenridge,” Caroline said. “We made the switch because Brackenridge is a county hospital, meaning they can’t refuse to help people, therefore the hospital gets a wide variety of patients, whereas St. David’s is a private hospital.”

Because the students are observing in the hospitals, they have to abide by hospital rules and regulations, including wearing scrubs.

“I wear my scrubs to the hospital and school,” Zach said. “Some-times I get funny looks, but honestly, I’m proud of being in this class and ‘promoting’ it in the best way I can, so it doesn’t bother me. People ask questions about my scrubs and I tell them it’s for HST II and that it’s worth it.”

Like Caroline, Zach also was able to work hands-on with his techni-cian.

“In my ICU clinical rotation, I was able to assist in repositioning a patient who was HIV positive,” Zach said. “He was on a ‘prone table’ for two days which rotates 360 degrees every few hours to help his ability to breathe. Working along side a Pathologist, I was also able to prepare multiple lab slides of bodily fluids for observation—we were looking for Sickle Cell Anemia, which causes the red blood cells to be-come sickle shape and clot in clumps which blocks blood flow in blood vessels, causing extreme pain.”

Through their experience in class and in the hospitals, students who take HST II are able to see and interact in all facets of the medical field, providing them with valuable experience for both college and their future careers.

“Three days a week I have the opportunity to see the good, the bad and the ugly side of nursing, not just the glamorous Grey’s Anatomy version,” Caroline said. “The class has confirmed my aspirations of being a nurse and at the same time has opened up even more doors in my search for the type of nursing I want to pursue.”

—Mary-Margaret Parrish

Students acquire real-life experiences observing in local hospitals

copingit out

MEDICAL TERMS TO KNOWAdenosclerosis: abnormal hardening of a glandVerrucae: wart, caused by viral infectionAdenomalacia: abnormal softening of a glandIdiopathic disorder: illness without a known causeAdipose: fat

Senior Caroline Parrish learns about the equipment used in one of the physical training gyms at Breckenridge Hospital.

Jake Webb

>On May 9-10, Westlake will host its first pottery festival which will integrate the work of students from Westlake and other local schools with professional work.

“We are encouraging as many students as possible to participate, especially since this is the first year,” festival coordinator and ceramics teacher Dawn Delgado said.

The show will include every major pottery organiza-tion group in the city. There will be an exhibit, a sale and a reunion cup shop for Art of the Pot. Art of the Pot is a tour of pottery studios which allows the public to meet 16 tal-ented artists and view a large representation of their work, according to their website. The Art Stream, a nationally known pottery gallery, is also coming down from Colo-rado. A silent auction of the professionals’ work will take place and a collection of student work will be available for purchase.

This is the only ceramics contest that Westlake stu-dents will participate in that is not being sponsored by the Scholastic Art and Writing Association or Visual Arts Scholastic Event.

“I feel as if those competitions have gotten too big and have so many rules and regulations that they have lost their charm,” Delgado said. “Although they are very im-portant I felt the need for a more user-friendly event.”

All students enrolled in Delgado’s ceramics classes are required to submit one piece as part of their grade.

“I’m really excited about the upcoming festival,” said senior Kaitlyn Herring.

This contest is unique in that unlike most art com-petitions, it is open to private school students as well as students not enrolled in art classes. Everyone is welcome to participate.

“This event will juxtapose student work and professional work in the same show, allowing kids to participate in a more trained manner, not as profes-sionals, but with professionals,” Delgado said.

The festival is also a fundraiser for scholarships. School money has traditionally gone to only college-bound students, but the profits from the show will be available to all students, whether they are college-bound or trade-bound.

“The pottery festival is a way to showcase art as a viable choice for a lifestyle,” Delgado said.

The festival hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 9 and noon until 5 p.m. May 10. There will be live music and refreshments at the opening reception which will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday in the Commons. Live demonstrations will be given throughout the weekend by The Greater Austin Clay Artists and WHS potters.

“We’re hoping that this becomes an annual event,” Delgado said. “It joins the different pottery junctions in the city for a common cause to educate and create awareness of the incredible talent that we have in our students and in our state as a whole.”

—Luci Oritz

Crafting Westlake Pottery Festival makes itsdebut with auction, fundraiser

Think your pottery has the clay that pays?

First: Get the entry form that is available online

Third: Submit your piece by March 22, 2009

a tradition

Second: Include a CD with two views of your entry (in JPEG or PDF format, 180 or 300 dpi) and $7 entry fee.

Katherine Finn

Photos courtesy of Daw

n Delgado

Junior Monika Knap works with meticulous precision, building her pot from the bottom up.

At the District meet, the two-time State Champion Westlake girls swimming team advanced 12 swimmers to the Regional meet, scheduled for Feb. 14 in San Antonio. With internationally ranked swimmers like junior Samantha Tucker, their advancement was no surprise. But this year, the boys team sent 12 of their own swimmers as well, more than 65 percent of their team.

“When you think of Westlake swimming, you think of the girls,” captain senior Niklas

Glenesk said. “But it’s really great to see guys come up and win Dis-trict and see them on the podium. It’s good to see the girls and guys winning together. It’s not just the ‘girls’ team and ‘guys’ team, it’s the Westlake team.”

The boys team is made up of mostly freshmen and sopho-mores, and they seem to be reversing the two-year slump

the team has gone through since the boys won State three years ago.

“We have also been a little careless and had a couple of boys relays disqualified from the Dis-trict meet in recent years,” coach Isaac Grombacher said. “We now have a very talented and very young team.”

Both teams placed well in almost every race, rarely par-ticipating in an event without a Westlake swimmer on the podium. To some swimmers, like Samantha and Nik, the Region meet is familiar, but others like senior Grace Cheney and fresh-man Mattias Glenesk will be advancing for the first time.

“I’m so excited,” Grace said. “It’s my first Regional meet and

I’m looking forward to my whole team doing well and making it to State.”

At the meet this past weekend, Samantha was named District 25-5A Female Swimmer of the Year, on top of the other medals she won in the 100-free, 200-free and the relays.

“I was surprised when they said my name because there were other people that did really well,” Samantha said. “But I felt great about winning because I had some good races, too.”

Now looking forward to Region and even-tually State, Samantha has set some pretty difficult goals.

“I already have Texas records in the 100-and 200-free but not high school records, because you have to swim them at State,” Sa-mantha said. “I’m trying to get the American record for the 200-free. I’m really eager and pretty confident. It’s my main goal for State.”

—Jake Webb

ith a strong start at a tourna-ment at Burr Field in East Austin Jan. 10, and coming out the first place victor at the first annual Capi-

tal City Slug Fest Jan. 17, the Westlake rugby team is looking forward to a successful season this year.

On Jan. 23, the rugby boys also won their first home match against the Dallas Jesuit rugby team, winning 46-22 in the first game. In their second game, however, Jesuit man-aged to grab the edge on the boys, defeating Westlake in a very close match.

“I think we performed pretty well given that we didn’t have a lot of experience,” junior Alex Putnam said. “We still have room to improve, but I think we’ll do well the rest of

the season.”On Jan. 31, Westlake competed in a mini-

tournament in San Antonio, where they won both games.

At Westlake’s first cup match Feb. 7, varsity defeated Stony Point 34-0 and JV took the win by forfeit.

“We’ve already beaten some of the tough-est teams around,” junior Kelvin Arrindell said. “We’re ready to dominate the rest of the season.”

The Westlake team formed this year after breaking away from the Austin Area High School Rugby Association. The team has club status and is not an officially sanctioned UIL sport.

—Jamie Mathis

Off to a running startWestlake Rugby launches into first season

W

Much to the distaste of the defenders, junior Ellis Glaw runs toward the end zone. Ellis played hard and the Chaps won 46-22.

Soaking in successWestlake douses competitors at qualifying swim meet

Nathan Kallison

Jake Webb

Jake Webb

Varsity senior Niklas Glenesk dives in during the District swim meet. Niklas, along with 23 other Westlake swimmers, advanced to the Region meet Feb. 13-14 in San Antonio.

During the District swim meet Jan. 30-31, varsity senior Grace Cheney does a butterfly stroke during the preliminary 200m IM. She placed 11th in the 200m IM with a time of 2:34.17 but advanced to the Regional meet in the 500m Free.

Barrett Wilson Hannah Kunz

It is morning in Westlake. The sun is rising over the horizon, shining upon the downtown Austin skyline. The varsity soccer team is heading out on the field for their regular 7:45 a.m. practice—some-times with temperatures in the 30s.

Under their big penguin-jackets, their cold-weather gear and their gloves and hats are 16 talented and optimistic guys and their motivat-ed coach. The team hungers for a District championship, which they haven’t won since 2004.

“I feel that our team this year has the talent to win State,” midfield-er junior Dillon Short said. “If we can come together as a team, there is no reason we should lose a game.”

Coach Ronny Michael is very positive as well.“We can go all the way to State,” he said. “If we get a good bounce

and if we are lucky, then we can go all the way.” In the game of soccer, communication, understanding and team-

work are some of the most important components of a successful team.

“Our key to winning this year is how we communicate on the field,” Michael said. “It’s so important that we talk, especially when we are going from offense to defense. We have to talk transition, and it has to be loud.”

The Chaps have nine returning players from last season, six of whom were starters last year. Among them are midfielders junior Bailey Hinners and senior Jackson Widner, both of whom earned 5A first team All-District. Senior Sam O’Brien made 5A second team All-District. Jackson also received 5A Academic All-District honors together with Sam.

“At this point in the season we’re much better than we were last year,” Michael said. “This year we are much more controlling with the ball and not just running north and south and trying to score as fast as we can. But we still have to admire what the guys did last year.”

One of the team’s strengths this year is that they have the ability to knock the ball around the other team without any problems.

“If we are not selfish and don’t try to do everything ourselves, then we should dominate our competition,” Dillon said.

The preseason scrimmages that the team competed in early on served as a great way for the team to develop chemistry.

“I think that the scrimmages were a great way to get more experi-ence with the team and a great way to bond,” midfielder senior Turner Willis said.

Michael is also pleased about what he has seen so far.“When you play five games in 20 hours as we did, and you’re not

yelling and screaming at each other but you are joking and relaxed, that shows a great team,” he said.

The team hosted the Capital Cup Jan. 8-10 and was very success-ful, taking third place.

“I think the Capitol Cup was a good start to the season,” Jackson said. “It got us into the soccer rhythm and made us play when we were both physically and mentally tired which makes us stronger.”

During last year’s first playoff game against Reagan, Westlake panicked because they had the wind at their back, causing them to go from playing their game with short passes and controlling the ball to just running up and down the field and trying to score instantly.

“We can’t just change our game because of the wind,” Michael said. “Actually, I hope we will get some windy games in District so we can learn from it. We have to learn to slow the game down and control the ball with our back passes and stuff like that.”

The team has already faced some tough District opponents. They played Bowie at Westlake, losing 0-2 and at Pflugerville, losing 0-1. But after a 0-2 District start, the release finally came against Bastrop with a 2-1 victory at home Feb. 3.

“It felt so good,” midfielder senior Eddie Maruri said. “We finally played as a team and everyone contributed on both sides of the ball.”

Eddie and Turner both said a big weight was taken off the team’s shoulders and that they can take the confidence and patience with them to the upcoming games.

“It was great to finally get some goals to our season as well,” Turner said. “It took us a while to score, but when we scored it was magic. We had a great build-up and a good finish.”

—Peter Sorensen

Kicking offVarsity soccer team aims for State

Midfielder junior Dillon Short controls the ball in the game against Bastrop Feb. 3. They dominated Bastrop 2-1.

Going for a goal, fresh-man Thomas Haws gets fouled by the goalie from Lake Travis. The goalie got a red card, and Westlake got third place in the Capital Cup.

This senior class has to lead by example with their work ethic.

—coach Rennie Rebe

Four girls earn the chance to pursue soccer in collegePutting their best foot forward

Carmela has been playing club soccer since she was four-years-old and has been on the Westlake varsity soccer team since her freshman year. Carmela’s club team won Premier this year and beat the number one national team. She has made State teams three times and will play soccer for a DII school, the Art Academy University in San Francisco. The school is not only offering her a chance to play soccer in college but also has the major she wants to pursue—fashion design and merchandis-ing.

Although Carmela has had to make social sacrifices this year due to soccer games, the lessons learned are well worth it. “I’ve learned so many life lessons I would have not otherwise learned,” she said. “I’ve learned about commitment and

perseverance. Sometimes [during a workout] while I’m thinking I’m going to die, I keep going and afterwards the feeling of accomplishment is worth the pain.”

Carmela Doerr

Lexi is planning to attend St. Edward’s University next year to play soccer after playing for Austin United and Lone Stars for eight years. However, her biggest achievement is actually in track; she holds the school record for the triple jump. She also has her name on the record board in the soccer locker room for benching 100 pounds, doing 88 sit-ups in two minutes, run-ning a snake in five minutes and 28 seconds and for finishing second to her sister, senior Alanna Iverson, in the two-mile run during this year’s soccer tryouts.

“This year our team has been working better together and the right people were chosen,” Lexi said. “We can see the dif-ference in the team this year, we’re much more aggressive.”

Lexi Iverson

In her junior year, Lauren committed to playing for Southern Methodist University. Her biggest personal accomplishment concern-ing soccer is being picked to play for the Adidas All-Region team of 11 girls her sophomore year. The girls were chosen from high school teams.

“Top players from club teams got picked for one team to go to State,” Lauren said. “It was a huge achievement.”Lauren was out for two months at the start of the Westlake season this year due to an ankle injury. Although it affected her play-

ing time during the beginning of the season, her chances of making varsity remained the same.“My injury didn’t affect my chances for varsity because [Coach Rebe] had seen me play during off-season practice,” she said. “And

I’m really confident in this year’s team because we have seniors who have been to State and who are very motivated to come back from our loss to Deer Park two years ago.”

Lauren Peterson

Erin hasn’t been playing on the Westlake varsity team for as long as the other seniors, but since college scouts rarely look on high school teams for players, her 13 years of club experience landed her an offer from Texas Tech University.

“The Tech coach, Tom Stone, is on the U20 Women’s National coaching staff,” Erin said. “The team won the World Cup in Chile this past December; I’m very lucky he’s going to be my coach next year.”

She received Newcomer of the Year last year for being the best new player in the district and also has her name on the record board for benching 100 pounds—tying with Lexi Iverson and for juggling a ball 251 consecutive times.

“Most people have no idea how hard we work,” she said. “Soccer is way more intense than people think. It takes a lot of my time but has also allowed me to do a lot of really cool things and travel with my friends to games. Our new coach’s style of play is much more aggressive and we’ve been matching up to the best teams in the state. We can win State this year.”

Erin Wikelius

—Meredith Kolda

#10

#13

#15

#1

Barrett Wilson

Sam Womack

Sam Womack

Sam Womack

I know these girls will do Westlake proud as they move on to the collegiate ranks.”“

Varsity boys lacrosse team determined to winStickin’ together

Hopes are high this year for the boys lacrosse team after an awe-inspiring appear-ance at the pre-season University of Texas Lacrosse Tournament. The team took first place and conquered many of its District rivals including Westwood, Austin and Bowie, as well as defeating an out-of-District team, The Woodlands. The varsity team had not beaten Austin High for many years, and after coming out victorious at the tournament, adrenaline is pumping and all eyes are on the District Championship and ultimately winning State.

“It felt awesome to finally beat Austin High,” senior Austen Reichhold said. “If we can beat them again in the actual season, then I think we will definitely have a shot at win-ning the playoffs.”

Head coach Dave Lapin has taken notice of the team’s unrelenting intensity and is adjusting his practice curriculum accordingly. In order to win State, Lapin knows that the team must be able to take on teams such as Highland Park and Dallas Episcopal who have repeatedly been named the State Champions.

“Both of the teams, [Highland Park and Dallas Episcopal] have been formidable op-ponents for the last couple years,” Lapin said. “But I think that this year’s team might just have what it takes to win it all.”

In order to garner respect in the Central Texas lacrosse community, the players are spending the first few weeks of their practice

schedule working on improving their physi-cal strength, speed and agility. With the help of five NCAA Division I coaches and a doctor experienced in plyometric exercises, the team is making better progress than ever before.

“We are making a lot of changes on how to get the players in their peak physical shape,” Dr. Ron Byrd said. “Rather than regular static stretching, we are leading the players through dynamic stretches which involves warming up the muscles through sport-specific move-ments; it’s what all of the professionals do.”

But simply having high endurance and fast feet won’t guarantee the team the State title; there needs to be a strong presence of senior leadership, something that has lacked dur-ing previous years, according to Lapin. With a group of 10 seniors, many of whom have been playing together since sixth grade, it is expected that someone will pick up the reins and lead the team to victory.

“Ever since I was at West Ridge, I have been playing alongside lots of the teammates that I still play with today,” senior Zach Bohls said. “I think that if the underclassmen see the seniors working well together, then they will try to do the same.”

Whether or not the team makes it to State is purely a result of their hard work and dedication. As Lapin often says, “Your input controls your output.”

—Aaron Retersdorf

Hannah Kunz

Player to watch: Junior John Jackson

He may not be the tallest player on the field, but the 5’6” attackman could have a big impact on the team this sea-son. John, or JJ, might have all the skills needed to dominate a game: speed, elusiveness and the vision to find open players for easy scores, but is still quick to dish all the credit back to his teammates.

“My teammates, doing what they’re supposed to do, help make my job easy,” JJ said. “Our game plan works when everybody executes their roles.”

Hannah Kunz

Senior Chris Case attempts to scoop the ball during a practice scrimmage. Chris is a part of a group of 10 seniors that look to guide the team to a District Cham-pionship and a possible run in the playoffs. “I’ve been playing with these guys for such a long time,” Chris said. “It’s cool to see how far we’ve come.”

The passes are quick and their forma-tions are perfect as they sprint down the field towards the goal. Hair flying behind them, red and blue uniforms soaked with sweat and their opponents rushing towards them, there is little time left for the girl’s lacrosse team to win. But these obstacles do not faze them as they take a shot and score.

With a promising season ahead, Westlake is ready to face tough opponents such as St. Andrew’s, Westwood, Cedar Park and Bowie.

“Although the official season hasn’t started yet, we’re doing pretty well [at tournaments],” sophomore Grace Nowstrup said. “We have a really good team this year and I’m looking forward to playing.”

While the team has been seen as a con-tender in the upcoming season, the girls are not out of the woods just yet. They still need a strong will to be able to make it through the time requirements that the practices demand.

“As with any sport, it does take dedica-tion, especially for varsity,” senior Katie Rose Gartman said. “We practice Monday through Friday for two hours after school. If you want playing time you have to practice hard, or you don’t get to play at all.”

This dedication is also needed to survive through the long workouts that the sport dish-

es out on a daily basis. Running around the field up to six times for warm-ups, practicing stick skills with partners, and doing strength training is only half of the daily practice.

“My favorite drill is stretching,” junior Jillian Letemendia said. “It’s the one time we actually get a break.”

Although the conditioning and drills can be a challenge, to some the sport comes naturally.

“Learning to play the sport was not so hard,” said sophomore Olivia Parker, who began playing in eighth grade. “I picked it up immediately and have enjoyed it ever since.”

The lacrosse coaches have an understand-ing for school and other important activities that run the average teenager’s life, making lacrosse a manageable extracurricular.

“If you have something really important to do or have to study for a major test, the coach-es understand,” junior Courtney Campbell said. “But most of the time we get out early enough to complete our homework.”

Lacrosse is similar to many other sports at Westlake. It requires protective equipment such as mouth guards, eye goggles, gloves, shin guards and helmets. Like soccer, the team travels across the state for competition, such as the Aggieland and Cy-Fair tourna-

ments. “I feel blessed to be a part of the team,” ju-

nior Rachel English said. “I’ve already gained what I’d hoped for from lacrosse: friendship, leadership, sportsmanship and confidence. I’d do anything for [my teammates].”

However there is little fan support for the girls. Throughout the season, they have had to become their own support system.

“Most of my friends play lacrosse, so we support each other at games and give each other constructive criticism,” junior Carly Campbell said. “Because girls lacrosse isn’t a school sport [not UIL sanctioned], there aren’t any rallies; however, we don’t need a bunch of pep signs to get pepped up for a game.”

Until UIL recognizes lacrosse as an official sport, the team will struggle for its share of acknowledgment.

“I think that lacrosse should get more recognition in Westlake,” sophomore Jamie Kaplan said. “It’s as viable a sport as any other available, after school practice shouldn’t be the only option in order to play. We practice just as hard as other sports so lacrosse should have its own period just like other sports at Westlake.”

—Jamie Mathis

Girls team seeks recognition

Stickin’ together

Player to watch: Junior Rachel EnglishYears played: FiveHours a week devoted to lacrosse: 11-13Why she chose to play: “It was different. Everyone else was playing soccer or tennis or

something, and I wanted to try something new.”Why she loves it: “I like my team and they make it fun. It’s good exercise, too.”

Barrett Wilson Barrett WilsonBarrett Wilson

Right: Battling for the ball, sophomore Ashley Berd and junior Sarah O’Neill run hard in a practice scrim-mage. The varsity team has practice every day after school for two hours.

Left: Junior Jill Capotosto practices after school. “I think this will be a strong season,” Jill said. “Our opponents lost some valuable seniors so we should have an advantage.”

Looking to pass, junior Lindsay Stevenson practices hard for the season opener

against Austin High.

Varsity boys sweep Austin High; secure spot in playoffs

Sam Womack Sam WomackBarrett Wilson

FastSa

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k

andfurious

2Attempting a slam dunk against Austin High, for-ward junior Carl Meyertons helps lead his team to an 83-58 victory. 3On Jan. 13, point guard

junior Cody Doolin shoots a free-throw against Austin High. Cody leads the team with a .76 ftp.

1

2 31During a well-fought game Jan. 20 at Bowie, junior Keaton Lancashire drives to the hoop. The Chaps lost 41-57.

Barrett Wilson

Fast-paced offense has been the recipe for success for the boys basketball team this season, as the Chaps have run-and-gunned their way to an excellent record and look to be primed for the playoffs.

When first-year coach Tres Ellis signed on with West-lake, he brought with him an up-tempo style of play that stressed pressure defense and transition baskets.

The system has worked. The Chaps average 69 points per game, 14 more than

last year. More importantly, their 23-6 record is a big improvement over last year’s, when Westlake had a 15-14 record through 29 games. Also worth mentioning are the two victories against rival Austin High, especially reward-ing considering the Chaps were swept by the Maroons last year.

Leading the charge has been point guard junior Cody Doolin, who leads the team with 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists per game. Classmates juniors Conner Kem-per, 15 ppg, and Gus Leeper, three blocks per game, have also been key to the success of the team, as has senior Cliff Houston, who has provided outside shooting and veteran leadership.

“The season is going well,” Cody said. “It’s coming to a close and we’re nearing an important part of the season because you start to wear down, but we have to keep push-ing ourselves in practice to get better.”

No one game might be more telling of the Chaps’ of-fensive abilities than the Dec. 1 match against Vista Ridge. After a quarter, Westlake led 16-3. At the half, it was 35-9. And when the final buzzer went off, the scoreboard read 82-30. It was a complete game, one in which no single Chaparral scored more than 13 points.

Every team, however, has their Jekyll-and-Hyde mo-ments. Nearly two weeks later in a game against the same Vista Ridge team, the Chaps lost 55-58. But as the season

has continued they have become more consistent and now look to have all the pieces in place. Now it’s just a matter of playing to their tempo and keeping their poise.

“We need to work on staying calm because sometimes we get rattled,” Conner said. “But we’re getting better at that. If we play our game and just play the way we’re used to playing, we’ll have a successful finish to the season. ”

—Trey Scott

Switching hands, 6’5” forward junior Conner Kemper beats Pflugerville forward Osas Ebomwonyi to the rim. Westlake lost to the Panthers 69-77 but rebounded with an 83-71 win over Bastrop in their next game.

Senior Chris King

Sophomore Cherrell Mays has loved basketball from the first time she picked up a ball in elementary school. Now in high school, she has become one of the best players on the varsity team, though she has had some help. Her dad, Travis Mays, is not only a college basketball coach, but also a former profes-sional player who played on four different teams and won numerous awards including being inducted into the UT Hall of Honor. Not to mention the fact that he has his own Wikipedia page.

“My dad played at Texas in college and was drafted in the first round to play in Sacramen-to,” Cherrell said. “Then he played in Atlanta and Boston. He started coaching in the WNBA for the San Antonio Silver Stars. Then he as-sistant-coached at Texas and is now assistant-coaching the women’s team at LSU.”

Cherrell’s situation works in her favor. Her dad serves as her own personal coach.

“My dad makes me evaluate myself when we talk about basketball,” Cherrell said. “He wants to know what’s going on since he isn’t here.”

Discussing her games with her dad isn’t just a way for Cherrell to become better at basketball. It is also a way for her to stay connected with him while he is gone. Cher-rell always tries to find time to talk about her games as soon as she gets back from them.

“We talk about my games on the phone; we’ll talk about how I could do better,” Cher-rell said. “Sometimes it’s hard because I have a lot of homework, but when we do catch up we talk about them.”

Although having a parent who coaches the

sport that Cherrell plays undeniably helps her game, it’s surprising that the situation doesn’t put even more stress on her.

“My dad doesn’t pressure me, he just tells me to be the best I can be,” Cherrell said. “I put pressure on myself just because I feel like I have certain expectations.”

Having played since grade school and living with a famous basketball player for 16 years, it’s safe to say that basketball is a huge part of Cherrell’s life.

“I haven’t thought about [playing for my dad in college],” she said. “He’s a good coach and if I played for him, I know he would treat me like any other player.”

But it wasn’t always all basketball for Cherrell. She tried a lot of things before stick-ing with it.

“I tried every sport before I did basket-ball,” Cherrell said. “I did soccer, tennis, golf, swimming and I was a power-tumbling cheerleader.”

When she tried basketball, though, there was no comparison between it and any of the other sports. But once she found the sport, it still wasn’t easy. Just like any other sport, it took practice.

“When I first started playing I was really frustrated because I wasn’t as good as every-one else was,” Cherrell said. “But my dad told me to keep practicing and it got more fun as I got better and there was more competition.”

The selection of basketball didn’t just make Cherrell happy, though. Someone else was pleased by her choice.

“I think my dad was happy because I chose the sport he loved,” Cherrell said.

Cherrell’s dad was glad she chose basket-ball but he never tried to influence what sport or activity she decided to stick with. He let her find out what she really wanted to do.

“He wasn’t really involved [in my choice of sport],” Cherrell said. “It was mostly me get-ting out there and doing it.”

It’s easy to see that Cherrell is an accom-plished basketball player when you take a look at her stats. She has averages of nine points, 4 rebounds and two steals per game thus far in the season. But these aren’t her only accom-plishments.

“It’s hard to say [what my biggest accom-plishments are],” Cherrell said. “We are 28-4 this season [so far] and I was All-Tournament at the Corpus Christi tournament.”

Although it’s great that her dad is a bas-ketball coach, the profession has proven to be one that has caused the family to spend a lot of time apart. Now that her dad is a coach at LSU, he rarely sees his family.

“He tries to come down as much as he can, but in the off-season he’s recruiting and I’m playing in AAU (Amateur Athletes Union),” Cherrell said. “We’re both really busy all of the time.”

The fact that her dad is no longer living with her hasn’t put a damper on her game. Her dad’s contributions to her goal of playing at a college level definitely haven’t left with him.

“The most important thing he said was to always be the one that worked the hardest,” Cherrell said. “Even if I had a bad game, he said to work the hardest.”

—Matt Frank

Didn’t

far fromthetree

fallDedicated basketball playerfollows in her father’s footsteps

Jake Webb

Varsity guard sophomore Cherrell Mays shoots a free-throw during a game against Connally which the Chaps won 43-42 in overtime. Cherrell is the daughter of former professional basketball player Travis Mays. “My dad makes me evaluate myself when we talk about basketball,” Cherrell said.

T he lights go out. Sur-rounded by darkness and music blasting from the speakers, juniors Morgan Dahlheim, Marie Jacobson, Erin Meyer and Jasmine Mills

prepare themselves for attack. They’ve been trained to defend themselves by any means possible, and they’re not about to back down.

For these four girls, who spend up to six hours a week practicing Krav Maga, this is a typical weekday afternoon drill.

“[Krav Maga] is an Israeli martial art, but it’s not a very pretty martial art,” Morgan said. “It’s more destructive, in a good, self-defense kind of way.”

Last June, intrigued by this atypical sport, they began classes at Fit and Fearless Krav Maga.

“I saw it on TV and I thought it was really cool because it’s a system based on instinct and real situations,” Jasmine said. “It’s used for warfare. So it’s not some fancy stand-on-

one-foot-and-meditate kind of thing. It’s just straight, basic self defense.”

Jasmine encouraged her friends to try a class with her, but not all of them were enthu-siastic.

“They dragged me along,” Marie said. “I didn’t really want to go.”

But the group, including Marie, soon be-came fascinated by the unusual martial art.

“It’s a lot of explosive movements,” Jasmine said. “The primary objectives are to assess the attack and if it’s a threat or not, and then you neutralize it by a simultaneous coun-terattack. So if someone punches you, you defend, and you punch them back. And then, you want to get out of there without getting hurt. The only rule of Krav Maga is don’t get hurt. You can eye gouge, you can kick them in the groin, you can do whatever.”

The partner drills are set up to prepare them for the distractions and obstacles they might face if attacked in real life.

“You’ve been assigned A and B,” said

Jasmine. “One of you closes your eyes and the other one walks around the room with the other A’s, and runs up to someone and chokes them. Your eyes are closed, you feel off bal-ance, the lights are off, and some big sweaty person just grabbed you and there’s loud blar-ing music and you just have no idea what’s going on. You get this adrenaline rush.”

The chances of being attacked on the street might be slim, but the girls have proven that they will be ready if the occasion arises. Erin has even managed to inflict a serious, albeit unintentional, wound on her instructor.

“He choked me against the wall, and so you would break the choke and then push him up against the wall,” Erin said. “So I got him against the wall, and I was elbowing, but [in practice] you don’t actually hit them. I did one elbow, and then his head went forward, and I was doing the other elbow and it col-lided, and it broke his nose. It was bleeding. It

was pretty bad.”Though much of Krav Maga is done with

your bare hands and brute body strength, techniques involving weaponry are taught as well.

“We do gun and knife defenses too,” Mor-gan said. “And long gun [rifle] defenses.”

In December, they took their yellow belt test, measuring their progress and moving them up to the next level.

“It was seven hours, and I don’t remember it,” Morgan said. “All I remember thinking was that I was dying. That’s it.”

“[Our instructor] wouldn’t let us drink water until he told us we could, and then he was like, ‘You have 10 seconds,’” Jasmine said. “And so we had our mouth guards in, and you can’t really drink with a mouth guard in, so half of the water you tried to drink was spilled on yourself. And then you just had to go straight back in to the test, which was just continuous punching and kicking and kneeing and elbowing your partner.”

This stamina is one of the main focuses of the training, which is largely centered around defense in the case of a street fight.

“They always say that you can’t mess up the technique unless you stop,” Morgan said.

Though the belts themselves have little physical significance, they are well-earned.

“Krav Maga isn’t so much based on belts as the other systems,” Jasmine said. “Your uniform is just a t-shirt and athletic pants. You don’t have to wear robes, and you never wear your belt.”

Belts aren’t the only prizes that they re-ceive for their work, however—the intangible rewards are often sweeter.

“My brother doesn’t sneak up behind me as much now,” Marie said. “That’s always good.”

Though their demographic is somewhat of a minority in their Krav Maga class, this only serves to add excitement.

“It’s really interesting because it’s not just people your age,” Jasmine said. “We’re the youngest people there. And there are more guys than girls.”

Above all, their zealous dedication to Krav Maga stems from its electrifying unexpected-ness and lack of formal constraints.

“There are no illegal strikes in Krav Maga,” Morgan said. “You can do anything.”

—Helen Anderson

Sometimes you’ll get choked by a 200-pound,

tattooed man in the dark with loud music playing.”

—junior Jasmine Mills“

Jacob McLaughlin

Juniors practice self defense with Krav Maga

In the middle of her Wednesday night training, junior Jasmine Mills practices her left hook drills. Jasmine and her friends train three times a week at Fit and Fearless.

outsKnockM

ichelle Ling

At the District 26 tournament Feb. 7 at Leander High School, the varsity wrestling team was able to advance nine wrestlers to the Region IV tournament in San Antonio. The Chaps fell short of win-ning their third straight District Championship, falling to Vista Ridge and taking second. Five Chaps claimed individual titles, three of which were repeats from last year. Juniors Chase Betzer (130 lbs.), Sawyer Morris (145 lbs.) and Peyton Burns (152 lbs.) all brought home gold for the second straight year. Other first place finishers include co-captains seniors Alex Hershey (160 lbs.) and Grant Perry (171 lbs.). Also advancing to Region-als are sophomore Connor Shults (119 lbs.), c0-captain senior Neils Hazen (135 lbs.) and junior Jim Gianakopoulos (140 lbs.). If wrestlers qualify in the top four of each weight class at Region-als, they will move on to the State Tournament Feb. 27-28 in Austin.

“It’s exciting. ” Peyton said. “We have a chance to send more people to State than we ever have in the past. ”

The varsity team brought home the runner-up trophy from the Sally George Invitational in Marion, Ohio Jan. 30-31. The Chaps had 10 place winners, in addition to five finalists. A placer is anyone who places in the top four or six depending upon the tournament. A finalist is in the championship match for first or second place.

For O’Harra it was a trip down memory lane. He began his coach-ing career in Ohio after graduating from college in 1993. He was inspired to coach by his high school wrestling coach.

“I went back and coached with him after college,” O’Harra said. “It was my best sport, and I always loved it. I still get very excited during the matches. ”

On Jan. 22 the team defeated Leander 75-6 winning 14 out of 15

matches. Then, on Jan. 28, the team beat Cedar Park in 12 out of 14 matches

to finish their regular season. Freshman Sammy Ivester, sophomores Curtis Loeffel and Trevor Hershey, juniors David Durham, Zain Khan, Chase, Sawyer and seniors David Nickelatti, Neils, Grant and Alex all put up wins against the Timberwolves.

“I was very happy for the seniors to go out in such a nice way,” O’Harra said. “Cedar Park was a nemesis of ours for years. They are a little down this year, but really well-coached. ”

The captains, Alex, Grant and Neils, have handled the responsibili-ties O’Harra has given them well.

“They do what you hope captains will do—come to the head coach about team concerns and motivate and lead the other wrestlers during practice,” O’Harra said. “They are all excellent role models, both on the mat and in the classroom. ”

As the senior captains start to look back at their high school wrestling careers, they remember the struggles and hardships as well as the victories and fun.

“The constant training, watch-ing your weight and the two and a half hour practices [are the hardest part],” Neils said. “But my favorite part is getting to be with all the guys. ”

The underclassmen are anticipating a bright future for next year’s team.

“I think it will be a good strong season,” Trevor said. “We’ve got a lot of juniors who are returning next year like Chase, Sawyer and Peyton who will step up and take the leadership role. I think I will have to step up some but we will have really good leadership in our seniors next year. ”

—Ryan McGrath

“

Jake Webb Jake Webb

Jake Webb

Barrett Wilson”I was very happy for the seniors to go out in such a nice way.

—coach Pat O’Harra

It’s a

of factTeam falls short of District;captains reflect on career

Varsity captain senior Neils Hazen pins his opponent during his final District match, capturing his spot in the Regional meet Feb. 13-14 and earning his team an additional six points. Neils took third in District in his weight class.

Varsity sopho-more Trevor Hershey controls his opponent dur-ing the Leander dual Jan. 22 at Westlake. Trevor won the match, helping the team to a 75-6 victory.

Varsity junior Chase Betzer

wrestles his Cedar Park opponent

during the dual Jan. 28 at West-lake. The Chaps

won 66-12.

matter

30It is 5:30 in the morning. Westlake High School head track coach, football coach and art teacher Mark Hurst is preparing for the day. Every morning he

is up long before the sun’s rays even begin to lap the edges of the sky, gathering his art les-son plans, football lineups and track times for the busy day ahead.

It is 5:30 in the morning.Mark Hurst is ready.This morning ritual has been practiced for

30 years, one of the longest of any teacher’s career so far at Westlake High School. Three decades ago, in the fall of 1979, 23-year-old Hurst was asked by the head football coach at the time, Bobby Etheredge, to take a job as an assistant coach. Although he was ignorant of further details about this 2A school out in the middle of nowhere, Hurst eagerly accepted the job.

“I knew nothing about Westlake,” Hurst said. “I didn’t even know where it was. I got lost going out there for the interview.”

Not only did Hurst agree to coach football, he was also signed on to do a combination of jobs that had not been mixed together by the likes of a coach at Westlake before.

“I was hired as a football and track coach and history teacher,” Hurst said. “Before school started the first year, there was an opening in an art class that they asked me to teach because I was trained in teaching art…

there was a lot of pressure for a first-time teacher with four different jobs at one school.”

Hurst’s first year at Westlake included the Chaps winning the District football champi-onship—a feat that had never been achieved by the school before—and a District victory for track as well. He thoroughly enjoyed his art class, while he struggled through the compli-cated dates and events of his history classes. But Hurst had to overcome much more chal-lenging barriers than simply sculpting the minds of adolescents—the kids themselves.

“It was very strange because I was straight out of college, which made me only a few years older than them,” Hurst said. “They treated me like a big brother. They sometimes didn’t pay attention to me in classes as they should and they joked around with me a little too much…I wasn’t as effective in teaching as I am now.”

Coincidentally, these so-called “trouble-makers” from the past find their way back into Hurst’s life through their own children.

“I’m excited that students from 30 years ago come back to Westlake to raise their families,” Hurst said. “It’s just like small town America. I feel proud for what my students have become and to see their children grow up and be so much like them is amazing.”

But not only do some former students return to Westlake as parents, others turn out to be legends. Hurst coached superstars such

as 1999 graduate Drew Brees, who is currently playing professional football for the New Orleans Saints, and 2008 graduate Justin Tucker, the starting kicker for the University of Texas at Austin.

“It makes me very proud and gratified as a coach to have even a little part of their high school experiences which, of course, eventually led to college and pro careers,” Hurst said.

But whether his graduates become superstars or parents of his future pupils, Hurst treats all of them the exact same way and pushes them so they can strive to

work to their highest potential all the time, no matter what they do.

“Sometimes I feel I get to know athletes and students better than their own families know them because I spend so much time with them in class, on the track, on the foot-ball field, or even all three,” Hurst said.

Hurst has watched numerous families flow into and out of the doors of Westlake, and now his own daughter is attending the school that has played such a major role in his life.

“I think it’s a lot of fun to have my daugh-ter in school with me so she can experience all that Westlake has to offer,” Hurst said.

With all of his hard work and effort he has put into these past 30 years, Hurst’s peers praise him for the sheer determination he puts into his work.

“I am impressed with the rapport Mark has with the players and students,” head football coach Derek Long said. “He has grown more confident in his coaching. I’m not sure there is another person in the state who understands our secondary and could coach it. Mark is an outstanding coach, a fine role model and a great friend.”

It is 5:30 in the morning. Mark Hurst packs his lesson plans and lineups into his black Toyota pick-up truck. The crunching of gravel beneath the tires of his car signal his arrival into the parking lot of Westlake High School as tiny specks of light peek over the horizon, signaling that daybreak is near. He steps out of the truck and strolls to the entrance of the high school.

It is 5:30 in the morning. Mark Hurst is ready.

—Hillary Hurst

Hurst impacts two generations of Westlake students Like one of the family

three decadesTouching lives for

Mark Hurst, Mark Cox, Dan Casper, Gorden Franzen and Ebby Neptune (kneeling) represent the football coaching staff for Westlake in 1984.

Courtesy photo

Shannon Soule

Mark Hurst teaches art and coaches football and track.

people + places24who’s who at Westlake

30When freshmen enter French teacher Libby Lucera’s Van Gogh-covered classroom for the first time, they may not yet

appreciate the knowledge and experience of their teacher. They probably know nothing of the traditions that have come and gone in the 30 years she has worked at Westlake. But if they were to ask Lucera what Westlake was like in 1978, they’re likely to hear some surprising stories.

“There was a sense of closeness,” said Lucera, who observed a calm pace and family environment at the school of 850 students.

Enrollment has since tripled, as have the responsibilities of those who call Westlake home.

“Students and teachers are busier and have more obligations every year,” Lucera said.

As a result, some of the traditions were lost as Westlake grew.

“The weekly pep rallies used to be held during the school day,” Lucera said. “They

would change the schedule every Friday to ac-commodate them. It was a major production. There was more time for things like that.”

There was also more time for the teachers, who enjoyed traditions of their own.

“We all used to eat lunch together in the teachers’ lounge,” Lucera said. “The teachers had theme lunches every Friday. We would have pizza or pasta Friday, and everyone would bring something. Now teachers don’t even go into the teachers’ lounge. I think it

was easier with a smaller faculty, because everyone knew everyone.

Being the only French teacher for 29 years hasn’t always been easy.

“There was, and still is, a tre-mendous workload,” Lucera said.

This year Spanish teacher Doctora Gloria Garza has added French I to her schedule, taking some of the weight off Lucera’s shoulders, but that also means that Lucera will not be acquainted with some of her French II students next year. However, the change has been a positive one for Lucera, who has always collaborated and shared les-son ideas with Garza despite teaching differ-ent languages.

Her interest in languages began at a young age, sparked by her Italian father.

“My father was the first in his family to be born in the United States,” Lucera said. “He refused to learn English, so at family gather-ings we always spoke Italian.”

Lucera’s father encouraged her to continue her study of foreign languages.

“I was a double major in college—French and Spanish,” Lucera said. “My first job that I got after I graduated was at a small high school in Illinois teaching French I and II and Spanish I and II. I was there for four years, and by the time I left I was teaching French I through IV and Spanish I through IV.”

The effort she puts into teaching does not go unnoticed by her students, with whom she develops a unique relationship over the course of their high school careers.

“She seems to really enjoy her work,” junior Ashley Charlton said. “She cares about her students a lot.”

A connection is also shared between the students within the French classes.

“There is definitely a bond among French students because there aren’t a lot of people who take it,” junior Stephanie Collinge said.

In the past, Lucera chaperoned students on trips to France during the summer, where they took classes for four weeks—an experi-ence that undoubtedly left a lasting impres-sion on the students, but also was a huge

responsibility for Lucera.“As far as I know, my students were always

so good on the trips,” Lucera said with a smile. “Although, one time in Paris a girl in our group didn’t get on the metro. We began counting everybody and we realized we left her at the station. So we made a plan to get off at the next stop and spread out along the platform so we could see into all of the train cars. Fortunately, she was smart enough to get on the metro and we eventually found her.”

When the time comes for retirement, Lucera plans to travel more often and abide by her own schedule.

“I’m looking forward to going to bed and waking up when I want to,” Lucera said. “Like having time to go to a movie on a Wednesday night and not have to think about grading.”

She also looks forward to spending more time with her animals.

“I’ve always loved animals,” Lucera said. “I think I got that from my parents, because growing up we always had dogs, rabbits, birds and fish, but my mother didn’t like cats. As soon as my sister and I graduated from college we each got a cat. Cats are my favorite.”

She will be eligible for retirement in five years, but plans to continue teaching indefi-nitely.

“I like to teach, and I am established as a teacher here at Westlake,” Lucera said. “I will keep teaching as long as I enjoy it and am in good health.”

In 1978 there were no computers at West-lake, grades were recorded with a pencil and German teacher Scott Gardner danced at the weekly pep rallies. Lucera still remembers the small, tight-knit school where she began 30 years ago.

Veteran French teacher Libby Lucera reflects on 30-year career

three decades

She knows so much

about the language and is always happy

to help you.” —junior Elisabeth Abell

“

A long-term romance

Libby Lucera began teaching at Westlake in 1978 when the entire high school enrollment was 850.

Shannon Soule

Picture Westlake 30 years ago. There were no $125 parking permits, no Chips and Queso, no Ninth Grade Center. It was a different place in 1979 when German teacher Scott Gardner started his teaching career.

“I was in graduate school at UT when I went into my class and saw a sign on a bulletin board for Westlake,” Gardner said. “I had to ask myself, ‘Where is Westlake?’ The card asked someone to teach German that wasn’t even certified.”

Gardner went in for the interview.“I was hired on an emergency basis, but I took it,” Gardner said.

“The teacher before me was on maternity leave. The school told me that I probably would only have the job for one year. She never came back so I just stayed. There have only been two German teachers ever at Westlake.”

The school that hired him those many years ago is almost unrecog-nizable these days. From the growth of the student population to the changes of the campus, he’s seen it all.

“The school only had 850 students when I came,” he said. “There was a time when Westlake was just pockets of neighborhoods. Cuer-navaca was the furthest away. It was way out there. The community is just bigger. I like where we are now. We are just a larger school. My first classroom was in a room that overlooked the football field—I called it the Penthouse. It was before they expanded the stadium, so I had a nice view.”

Once, Westlake was a small school, an environment that is some-what hard to imagine nowadays.

“It is hard sometimes not to yearn for the smaller school,” Gardner said. “I used to know some students that weren’t even in my German classes. It was more intimate.”

Gardner was asked by the Booster Club to be the first mascot in 1980, a position he would occupy for the next four years, before pass-ing the torch to students in 1984.

“They came up with a homemade costume that was just bad,” Gardner said. “It had a tail that sagged, so we would tie fishing line to the shoulders and the tail so it would stay up. I wore yellow tights and painted my Converse brown since they didn’t sell brown Converse back then. I would dance at every pep rally. I would do the cadence dance with the band. Whenever Westlake would score they would play the road runner song and I would dance along.”

But life as a mascot did come with its challenges.

“One time, I was running across the sideline, and it was hot

and my contacts were fogging up, so I barreled over a cheerleader,” Gardner said. “And there was a love-hate relationship between me and the middle school kids. They would taunt me.”

Homecoming is another thing that changed drastically over the

years. The dance was held in the old PE Gym and the teachers acted as the chaperones.

“Every grade was responsible for decorating a hall and then coming up with a skit,” he said. “It was a competition between the grades. Seniors normally won. After a while, they did away with the skits.”

Gardner sometimes struggles with the fluctuating enrollment in his classes but he has always kept his hopes up. This year, though, the amount of students has grown.

“It has been a challenge,” Gardner said. “I have never gone to the middle schools to make ‘the sell.’ Sometimes I feel most students at the middle schools don’t even know German is taught. It is great there are so many students in German I this year. I get a lot of students who have a German heri-tage. Sometimes I like to think students hear about me or they are looking for something different, so they enroll in my class.”

Though Gardner fell into teaching German by accident, it’s something that continues to suit him.

“First of all, teaching is fun because I like people,” Gardner said. “It was clear I wanted a career with people. German just kind of happened. I studied it in college and one of my professors got me interested in it. I never knew that I was going to be a German teacher when I started college. I was also interested in travel.”

Gardner has been able to pursue his travel in-terests by taking trips to Germany with his students every other year.

“Being in Germany is not like being in a classroom,” Gardner said. “It feels more real for the students. It is a really big motivator for them.”

Aside from all the paths German has taken him down, he has found great rewards in the simple profession of teaching.

“I still love teaching,” he said. “I haven’t lost the fire. There can be some stress at the end of the year. But I still feel it. It’s nice to know the program is still growing.”

Gardner plans on remaining at Westlake ready for more changes through the years.

“Certainly I am planning on teaching another six or seven years,” Gardner said. “As long as I enjoy what I do, I will continue.”

—Hannah Kunz

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?German teacher Scott Gardner not ready to say Auf Wiedersehen

Shannon Soule

Scott Gardner teaches all the sections of German offered at Westlake.

Scott Gardner in his yearbook photo in 1981. Courtesy photo

Courte

sy p

hoto

The average person at Westlake speaks English, and perhaps either some Spanish, Latin, French, German or Chinese. Graham Brodock, Westlake’s newest Latin teacher, is anything but average when it comes to languages. He

knows Latin and Ancient Greek, and has also studied Italian, French and Sanskrit. Yes, Sanskrit.

“I got into language two years ago, when I learned Latin, [Ancient] Greek and Sanskrit after one year of college,” Brodock said.

With such an impressive knowledge of foreign languages, it is surprising that Brodock’s interest in learning them was sparked just a couple of years ago. Language was certainly not a lifelong interest for him.

“I never liked languages in high school,” Brodock said. “They were always difficult for me.”

Instead, Brodock says he was more athletically-inclined, spending much of his time cycling and racing.

“My academic life didn’t really sprout until college,” Brodock said. “I decided to study economics after high school because I knew I was interested in business, and really enjoyed my economics class in high school.”

Brodock studied economics as an un-dergraduate student at Hamilton College, where he double majored in Art History.

“Because I went to a liberal arts college, there was no business program, so economics was the closest degree track I could pursue,” Brodock said. “I finished nearly all the require-ments by the end of my sophomore year, so decided to double major in Art History. I liked art history so much and my interest in economics was beginning to wane. I should have paid more attention to that, but my mind was quite set on a job in finance. Once my mind is set on a task, few things can slow its pursuit of the goal.”

Upon graduating from Hamilton, he took a job in finance as he had intended.

“I was so unhappy with my job,” Brodock said. “I didn’t enjoy it. Sitting in my cubicle, I began to read books on ancient history.”

With a growing interest in the ancient world, Brodock continued to read even more English translations of classical Greek and Latin literature.

“I started reading Homer, Polybius, Thucydides, Cicero, Tacitus and worked my way through two millennia of Greek and Latin his-tory,” Brodock said.

Having found his true passion in life, Brodock went on to study Ancient Greek at UC Berkeley, and then at UCLA, receiving a Post-Baccalaureate in Classics. He graduated this past June with masters in Latin and Classics at Cambridge.

“Spending time in a distant, multicultural and diverse institution like Cambridge was important in developing a more well-rounded out-look and perspective on things,” Brodock said. “I made some lifelong friendships, and worked with some of the brightest people in the field.”

When and how did this sudden interest in languages of the ancient world arise? Brodock has an explanation.

“For me, it’s about the study of history, and the way to best study the history of the ancient world is to study their language,” Brodock said.

His knowledge of these diverse languages also piqued an interest in travel. Brodock has been throughout Europe, especially Italy and Greece, but also to Turkey, North Africa, Israel and even Peru. He explored the ancient archaeological sights during his extensive trip, en-

joying the historical aspects of the countries to which he traveled.

“All of these ancient sites are magnifi-cent,” Brodock said. “Rome and Athens are spectacular. It is their past grandeur, the models of the western world that they once were, that so fascinates me today,” Brod-ock said. “A trip to Peru, where I inspected the ruins of another ancient civilization, the Aztecs, was also very formative. It was important to experience a world and culture unlike anything I had ever seen: poverty, sickness and disease. We take these things for granted in America, and it was quite something to meet people who hadn’t ever

seen a TV or a sky scraper.”When he returned to America, Brodock decided he could make an

impact educating, sharing his passion and enthusiasm with students. He decided to take a job at Westlake teaching one Latin I class and three Latin III classes. Brodock also coaches the girls JV soccer team.

About Latin, he says, “It’s a subject I really hold dear, and with the enthusiasm I have toward it, I’d really like to exude that, and try to af-fect people in the same way that it has affected me. I want to excite the students about the Latin language.”

As much as he loves learning and teaching Latin, when asked what his favorite language is, Brodock had another answer.

“Well, I shouldn’t admit it,” Brodock said, “but I really love [An-cient] Greek. It’s extraordinarily expressive.”

While Westlake has no Ancient Greek class in its future, Brodock encourages everyone to learn about the ancient world in any way that they can.

“I think we today would be wise to study more of our history in an effort to understand today and prepare for tomorrow,” Brodock said. “This is what it’s all about.”

—Jasmin Khan

Teacher shares Cambridge, travel, high school experiences

LatinNathan Kallison

For me, it’s about the study of

history, and the way to best study

the history of the ancient world is

to study their language.” —Graham Brodock

“

Latin Teacher Graham Brodock explains verb tenses to Latin I stu-dents on Feb. 5. This is Brodock’s first year at Westlake.

Roots

pantst’s the first day of school and you enter your final class of the day: Algebra II Pre-AP. Most of the kids in your class seem intelligent, or at least above average, considering it’s a Pre-AP class. About 30 seconds later, a little boy with glasses and a blue backpack enters the room. He looks a little too young to be in high school, but you don’t give this another thought and assume he just looks

younger because of his small size. Then you find out he’s not even supposed to be in high school—in fact, he’s only 12 years old.

Austin Brown is a seventh grader at Hill Country Middle School who travels daily to attend Pre-AP Algebra II during eighth period at Westlake. His interest in math spans from the time he was in third grade, when his skill sparked attention from others. In fifth grade, he took a private Algebra I class with his Gifted and Talented teacher’s as-sistant.

“I liked math for a long time but I got really into it when I went to the McDonald Observatory,” Austin said. “They told me that since I was having so much fun with math, I should get the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition calculator. I actually got it on the way back home. It was in like third grade. Then I got this book called Algebra the Easy Way, and that’s what kind of set me off.”

Austin may not look very intimidating, but he could easily surpass most of the student body in class rank before you can say “col-lege.” However, this 12-year-old prodigy does not want to only be known for his brain capacity. His focus on academics definitely makes him stand out from the crowd, but his schedule sounds similar to that of an average student at Westlake.

“I wake up, [then I] go to school,” Austin

said. “I had been going to cross country, but that’s done now. I do regular stuff like Latin and I do advanced English, then I [go to West-lake for math], then I go to a fitness program I do as a P.E. waiver, then I do my homework and start over again the next day.”

Even with a jam-packed schedule, he manages to only spend about an average of an hour to an hour and a half a night on home-work. So what does a genius do in his spare time? Read.

“I like to read a lot,” Austin said. “I mostly like to read fantasy or fiction. [My favorite se-ries] is the Eragon series because [the author] started it when he was 17 and it’s such a hit.”

In addition to reading, Austin enjoys learning and solving new math formulas and contemplating the books he’s reading.

However, he does not want to give people the wrong impres-sion that all he does when he gets home is hit the books.

“I try to make [other people] not feel like [being a prodigy] is such a big deal.” Austin said. “I’m not like this big

all-powerful person; I just like to do educa-tional stuff. I don’t want to be known as the 11-year-old who took geometry. I try to calm it down because I don’t want it to be all over the place. I just want to fit in, mostly.”

Though this middle schooler isn’t a typical preteen, he doesn’t feel that he doesn’t belong.

“The kids in my [high school] class are having relationships and are going through different stuff,” Austin said. “They’ll go to dinner with their girlfriends and I’ll be going to the science fair. But I don’t let it bother me. I might feel younger [than my peers], but I don’t feel out of place.”

Austin is also surrounded by unique people at home, including his younger brother who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. His

brother’s disease has inspired him to use his intelligence to help others in the future.

“I want to cure a supposedly incurable disease or solve something that nobody has been able to solve,” Austin said. “I would like to do some science and medical stuff [when I get older].”

He looks forward to living a normal ado-lescent life before possibly going on to achiev-ing some remarkable humanitarian awards.

“I’m probably going to still like math and stuff [in high school], but I’m not just going to be staying at home and not doing anything,” Austin said. “I’ll definitely be social.”

With a bright future, Austin has a good chance of leaving a positive mark in the world. But for now, he just wants to be like everyone else and have some down time from school.

“I don’t just sit around and do older guy stuff all day,” Austin said. “Sometimes I just feel like I want to play around.”

—Leah-Marie Duran

12-year-old prodigy tries to fit in while standing outSeventh grader Austin Brown enters Laura Ringwood’s Algebra II class on a Friday afternoon. Austin comes up to Westlake from Hill Country eighth period every day.

Nathan Kallison

The kids in my [high school] classes go to dinner with their girlfriends and I’ll be going to

the science fair.”—seventh grader Austin Brown

You walk into a cupcake shop and admire each and every savory morsel before you; with all of the endless options it seems impossible to pick only one. All of them are different and delicious in their own ways. The adventurous type may go for the maple walnut, while an eclectic person would go for pumpkin spice. Junior Michelle Suh is the type of person who would pick every flavor there is, curious to see what each has to offer.

“It’s like going to a cupcake shop,” Michelle said. “You can go, buy one boring cupcake and leave. I want to try everything, from red velvet to lemon coconut.”

This same thought pattern influenced her to choose to get involved in a wide variety of school activities.

“I am in Student Council as student body VP, yearbook as sports editor, symphony orchestra, Champs, Shamu Club as president, varsity golf, Mu Alpha Theta and Chemistry Club,” Michelle said.

Her list of achievements is long, but she remains entirely self-driven.

“To be honest, I do what I love to do,” Michelle said. “Westlake is such an amazing school that offers me such incredible oppor-tunities. We’re only here for four years, and I want to make the most of it.”

Michelle enjoys every aspect of taking part in so many things, from the opportunities they present to the experiences she receives. But above all else, she cherishes the people she is able to be involved with.

“My activities are all really different, so I get to meet the whole spectrum of Westlake students,” Michelle said. “I would never have met so many of my friends if I hadn't been in those clubs; I would have

just been resigned to a creepy Facebook-stalking relationship. I’ve realized that in the end, we're just all trying to make the best of life, and do what we love most.”

The organizations she belongs to require a demanding time commitment, but somehow Michelle has found a balance between all of the things that are significant to her.

“I understand I’m not going to make straight 100s or have 1,000 pictures on Facebook, but I’m okay with that,” Michelle said. “My New Year's resolution is to have better time manage-ment, so I can't really say I have it down. I try to use every minute as efficiently as possible, and I

prioritize like crazy. My hair doesn't have to be perfect every day, but my physics homework is going to be done. My dad used to tell me, ev-eryone has 24 hours: it's what you do with it that counts.”

And within those 24 hours, spending some of that time with her family is crucial to Michelle.

“We have a lot of fun conversations, which range from favorite jeans to people's motivations in life,” Michelle said. “We also recently

started experimenting in culinary matters; we've made chocolate-covered strawberries and apple waffles so far.”

Her mother and younger sister give her a break from her stressful school life while also serving as a support system.

“My mom has been incredible enough to drive me to orchestra sectionals, student council meetings and so much more,” Michelle said. “If I have a late night, she's there with me, making hot chocolate or just talking. She's given me the self-confidence and drive to be involved, and the abilities to achieve anything I want. My sister helps me a lot too. I was a little

irked when Danielle skipped her level of math and entered my math class. I’d already skipped a year to keep up with her, and I was embar-rassed. Now, she's my live-in tutor and best friend. My family relieves the stress a lot, and keeps life fun.”

Although her mother would never make her participate in so many school activities, she does push her to do the best she can. She has ap-plied this same philosophy to her plans down the road.

“My plans for the future are constantly changing but, to my moth-er's relief, do include college,” Michelle said. “I can't really say more after that. I think I’d like to go out of state, but my Texas pride might kick in senior year. My current career options range from teaching to medicine. I have plenty of time to find what I want to do with the rest of my life, so I’m not lying awake at night trying to decide.”

Her laid-back attitude may not match her rigorous school sched-ule and commitments, but she ultimately just does what she loves. Because of the diverse nature of her many activities, she has been able to develop skills in a variety of fields.

“Being involved will definitely help me in the long run, and not just if I become a high school Student Council sponsor,” Michelle said. “I’ve learned that balance is important in life, and that you really can have it all. Some specific things I’ve learned from being involved are the importance of communication, the power of big thinking and the necessity of organization.”

—Leah Whitlock

How to get involved:“Go for it. Westlake is a great place in that there are so many opportunities for students. Practically speaking, find what you’re really interested in, not what the ‘cool kids’ are doing or what colleges ‘want,’ and talk to a member or sponsor. Take the initiative and find a way to make your own unique mark.”

—junior Michelle Suh

cupcakeJunior Michelle Suh racks up experiences through extracurriculars

and eating it too

“I’ve realized that in the

end, we’re just all trying to

make the best of life, and do

what we love most.”

—junior Michelle Suh

Jacob McLaughlin

Having her

Along with Physics I AP, junior Michelle Suh also takes Chemistry II AP, English III AP and Calculus BC AP.

Sophomore Kari Davis embraces the glitz, glamor, difficulty of synchronized swimming world

Courtesy photo

C

Water ballerina

ombine the endurance of swimming, the strength of gymnastics and the grace and poise of ballet, put them together, apply it to music and you’ve got synchronized

swimming. Sophomore Kari Davis takes pride in being the only synchronized swimmer at Westlake.

“I first became involved with the sport in sixth grade,” Kari said. “My mom saw an ad for it and thought I might be interested. I de-cided it looked like fun so I tried it out. I was initially drawn to the sport because of its ath-letic qualities and creativity. I ended up loving all aspects of it and making great friends.”

Synchronized swimming requires a lot of strength and therefore a tremendous amount of training. Kari practices at the Town Lake YMCA at least three to four times a week, averaging about 11 hours.

“We start out with endurance training by spending the first hour swimming laps, just like a swim team,” Kari said. “Next we do exercises called unders, where we swim laps holding our breath for 25 to 50 meters. We usually spend the rest of practice doing figure techniques and practicing routines. We prac-tice hybrids, which are leg techniques, and we practice arm techniques. When we do team routines, we do a combo of both of those, and other things such as lifting each other out of the pool.”

Synchronized swimming is a competi-tive sport with teams at the Olympic level. At Kari’s level, they work in age groups. There is

the novice team for beginners split into age groups ranging from 11-19. The competitive teams are Juniors, (15 to 19) and Seniors (15 and up).

“The difficulties range between groups, because the higher up you go, the more experience you need,” Kari said. “If you are a Junior, you will need to make higher scores to make it to Seniors. Seniors do the most complicated routines. I am in both the Junior and Senior groups.”

Synchronized swimming involves many meets, ranging from regionals to zones to na-tionals. These meets have taken Kari all over the country to compete.

“Competition season starts around Janu-ary and lasts until July,” Kari said. “Every year we go to Junior zones, Senior zones, and age group nationals. To qualify for nationals you first have to make top three at associa-tions then top four at regionals. Last year we placed ninth at nationals and second at regionals. Competition spaces are limited, so we travel far for meets. I’ve traveled to Wash-ington State, Florida, New York, Washington D.C., Louisiana and all around Texas.”

Synchronized swimming is a performance sport, with appearance being a key attribute.

“You could say that we have elaborate costumes,” Kari said. “The costumes are covered in glitter and sequins. They usually range from $60 to $150, however professional costumes start at about $200. We wear heavy waterproof stage makeup and put Knox, a form of gelatin, in our hair to keep it up in a bun while swimming. It seems gross, but it

makes your hair smooth and healthy.”Once in costume, the teams perform their

intricate routines in the pool.“Routines last for about three to four

minutes,” Kari said. “We can do solos, duets, trios and terms, which are groups of four to eight. The routines take place both above and under water. It is against the rules to touch the bottom of the pool. It’s like the equivalent of running sprints for four minutes straight without getting a chance to stop for breath. We have to make it look easy and graceful and smile through the whole thing.”

Despite the demanding training and preparation connected with synchronized swimming, criticism surrounds the sport.

“People like to poke fun at it,” Kari said. “Many people don’t consider it a sport, but it is a sport and it is hard.”

Kari takes synchronized swimming seri-ously, but she doesn’t want it to determine what she does with her future.

“I’m not going to apply for a college just because they have a synchro team, but if I ended up at a college that had a team, I wouldn’t mind,” Kari said. “Only nine schools [in the U.S.] have competitive synchronized swimming teams and about 20 have recre-ational teams.”

Although Kari doesn’t want to pursue the activity professionally, she still enjoys it, as well as the individuality she has gained.

“I like being the only one from the school who does this sport. It’s different and I think it sets me apart from everyone else,” Kari said.

—Sofie Seiden

Sophomore Kari Davis smiles exuberantly as she breaks through the water’s surface during her solo performance at Junior Zones in Washington D.C. last February. Kari practices synchronized swimming many times a week at Town Lake YMCA.

Driver’s education

A

Sam Womack

Transfer student racks up the miles driving from Wimberley to WHS

At 6:30 a.m. senior McLean Shaw’s alarm clock starts to ring. He rolls out of

bed, knowing he has a long day ahead of him. He grabs a bite to eat and is quickly out the door. He hops into

his car and begins to drive, hoping to beat the traffic. He doesn’t want to be

late. The car’s engine and the sound of the radio begin to wake him up. He had stayed

up very late the evening before practicing his instruments and studying for the now looming physics exam. A typical late night for a Westlake student. But McLean is different from most. He has to drive an hour just to get to school.

McLean lives in the small town of Wimberley, southwest of Austin. It’s a nice, quiet town of about 14,000 known for its Southern hospi-tality, a tranquil state of mind and Market Days.

“Wimberley is a great place to relax on a Sunday and not have to be in a car for a few hours,” McLean said. “It is also home to Market Days. On the first Saturday of each month, vendors from the surround-ing area bring anything from arts and crafts to food and musical instruments to sell to people. This event attracts people from all over the state, and even people from places like Louisiana and New Mexico.”

Moving to the small town of Wim-berley from Dallas at the age of 14 was a gigantic adjustment. McLean went to Wimberley High School his fresh-man year, which with its freshman class of 169 people was a big change for someone who used to go to a school about the size of Westlake. McLean had heard of Westlake and decided to visit during his freshman year. Immediately he knew this was where he wanted to go to school.

“I chose to attend Westlake because I did not feel academically or musically challenged when I spent my freshman year at Wimberley High School,” McLean said. “I visited Westlake while I was attend-ing Wimberley and immediately felt at home. After spending the first 15 years of my life in Dallas attending schools in Highland Park ISD, Westlake was a great fit.”

McLean has been attending Westlake for three years and is enjoy-ing the experience. He participates in many clubs and organizations at Westlake, leaving him perpetually busy.

“I’m in the Symphony Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, Marching Band, National Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta and Chemistry Club,” McLean said. “When it comes to making time for my activities, I have to make sacrifices in other areas. If I am going to practice for an hour on music each night, that’s one hour that I can’t study for classes the next day. My mom has a rule that I must get at least seven and a half hours of sleep or I can’t drive myself to school the next day, so that puts some time constraints on me as well. In the end, my grades have definitely suffered from my participation in so many extracurricular activities, but since I have excelled in those activities I think it has been well worth it.”

The distance he travels daily is another factor of constraint. The time spent driving to and from school adds up to about two hours that could be spent on homework or his extracurricular activities.

“In the morning, the drive can be anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half,” he said. “During marching band season, I would leave home around 6 a.m. in order to get to school at 7. When marching band isn’t going on, I usually leave home around 7:20 a.m. and arrive at school just in time. As far as the return trip goes, it takes me about the same amount of time. If I leave right after school, it takes me about an hour and fifteen minutes, but if I stay and study, tutor, work out or practice then I can make it home in 40 or 50 minutes.”

Not only does McLean have to spend time on his extracurricular activities, he has to work on the loads of homework he receives each night.

“I take the most challenging classes that I can take at Westlake because I feel that if I don’t, then I’m not taking full advantage of the environment that I drive so far to get to,” McLean said. “I am in classes like Multivariable Calculus and Organic Chemistry. Physics has definitely been my favorite subject throughout high school, though.”

According to McLean, the differences between Westlake and Wimberley High are monu-mental. The size alone is a huge

adjustment. Just imagine for a second a graduation ceremony lasts barely an hour instead of 2 to 3 hours. Or passing through hallways, without bumping into someone. Crazy, right?

Some people take Westlake’s academic rigor for granted, since they have grown up in the Eanes district all their lives or arrived at a very early age. McLean ap-preciates every second of his experience here.

“It is hard to put into words how much easier it is to motivate yourself to learn at Westlake,” McLean said. “You are surrounded by students who want to learn and whose parents have always preached the value of quality education.”

As McLean arrives home in Wimberley after a long drive, he unpacks his backpack and begins to work on his assortment of worksheets and papers. He has to practice his instruments for band and orchestra and finish his household chores. McLean realizes that he will never be able to accomplish all of these, but he can try, because McLean Shaw lives life in the fast lane.

—Cody Crutchfield

Crowning Junior raises awareness for abused children by participating in pageants

t wasn’t long ago that junior Brooke Adair could not understand

the appeal of pageants. She envisioned spray-tanned, over-rehearsed teenage girls prancing up and down a stage in string bikinis advocat-ing world peace. Today she is Miss Teen Aus-tin, and for the past few months she has been preparing diligently for the Miss Teen Texas competition on March 22 in San Antonio. She realizes now the advantages of such a title, and is determined to make the most of it.

“I never wanted to do it because I thought it was just a beauty contest,” Brooke said. “I didn’t see how a girl could get on stage in a bikini and be a role model for modesty at the same time.”

However, when the pageant director for Miss Teen Austin contacted her and encour-aged her to apply, she agreed to give it a shot.

“I hesitated at first because I thought it was all about looks, but this was really based on personality and the interview; there wasn’t an actual pageant competition for Miss Teen Austin,” Brooke said.

After all the applications from Austin and the surrounding areas had been received, the Miss Teen Texas Board, directors, judges and scouts collectively decided that Brooke would be Miss Teen Austin 2009, with her reign officially be-ginning on Aug. 21, 2008.

“They called me in August and said, ‘congratula-tions!’” Brooke said. “I got goose bumps when they told me.”

Tiara and sash in hand, she looked at the next step: Miss Teen Texas.

“For the Miss Teen Texas pageant I have a coach, Miss Georgia USA 1995 and Mrs. Texas America 2004 Jenny Palmieri,” Brooke said. “To prepare I’ve been reading books on public speaking, becoming very involved in community service and learning more about

the issue I want to make the biggest impact on, which is helping abused and neglected children.”

Her personal experience with child abuse has motivated her to use pageants as a plat-form to raise awareness.

“I myself was a victim of abuse,” Brooke said. “When I was 3 years old I was abused by my biological father. To this day I can see and feel the emotions I had at the time. I didn’t always know why these things in my life happened, but now it’s all starting to come together. My history with abuse is a huge part of it. It’s what drives me.”

Brooke maintains a positive outlook in all aspects of her life, including past ordeals.

“I am a strong believer that everything happens for a reason,” Brooke said. “So if everything I went through when I was young was so that I could be able to connect, relate to and help abused children now, then I would go through it all over again.”

This maturity is one of the characteristics necessary for being Miss Teen Austin. In ad-dition to her pageant obligations and school work, Brooke is a Teen Teacher, a two-year member of Hyline and active in the American

Heart Association—all of which creates a busy schedule for the 17-year-old.

“I have to miss a lot of school at different times of the year, but I just have to make it up and the teachers are very understand-ing,” Brooke said. “Also, I find myself emailing people instead of text messaging in between classes, and instead of going to lunch with friends I have lunch

meetings.”Although she may miss out on a few things

now, Brooke believes that working persis-tently towards her aspiration of being Miss Teen Texas will pay off in the end, and her coach agrees.

“I really admire how Brooke has focused on this goal,” Palmieri said. “She is a natural leader and just the type of girl this competi-

tion is looking for. She has stepped up to every challenge I have given her and has everything it takes to bring the crown home to Austin.”

Despite assurances from her coach, friends and family, Brooke feels the pressure of the competition.

“I’m very nervous for the Miss Teen Texas pageant,” Brooke said. “Still, I think of it as an adventure. I just have to put myself out there and have fun with it. I think in the end it will be an experience that I won’t regret, and I’ll learn a lot from it.”

For the Miss Teen Texas pageant, Brooke will be foregoing the string bikini for more modest attire: fitness wear—a classy twist on the antiquated beauty pageant cliché. Now she understands the difference one person can make, and that pageants are an excellent place to start.

—Alex Bishop

I

achievements

My history with abuse

is a huge part of it. It’s

what drives me.”

—junior Brooke Adair

“After winning Ms. Teen Austin, junior Brooke Adair will compete for the Miss Teen Texas title March 22.

Katherine Finn

ome rooms tell you nothing about the owner. Others show you exactly who lives there. When you walk into junior Ailina Mayer’s room, you know instantly who it belongs to—a ballerina, and not just a ballerina, but a professional ballet histo-rian in the making.

The pink walls are filled with black-and-white photographs of famous ballet dancers, mostly from the 1920s and ‘40s. Ailina knows all their names, life histories, and the roles that made them famous. In between the photographs, dangling from pink satin ribbons, are pointe shoes signed by their former owners, some of the great American ballet dancers of the last century. All 200 books in her bookcase are about ballet; ballerina dolls and figurines sit on tables and shelves. Beside Ailina’s bed is her at-home practice area, a ballet barre next to a square of parquet flooring over the carpet. She makes time to work out there regu-larly in addition to the 2-3 hour classes she takes six days a week at Ballet Austin.

Ailina points out a gold tutu resting on her bedspread. Out of all the ballet memorabilia she has collected, it is her favorite.

“It was worn by Joyce Cuoco, a ballerina from the 1940s,” Ailina said. “She was famous because she could do six pirou-ettes and then stop en pointe. I didn’t know whose it was when I bought it, and neither did the woman who sold it to me.”

But when she got home and read the tag inside, she realized that it had belonged to the ballet legend. Ailina touches some

crystals sewn into the tutu’s gold lamé bodice and dan-gling from the tulle skirt.

“These are real Swarovs-ki crystals,” she said. “Each one sparkles with the lights onstage. Someone prob-ably sewed on all the gold by hand. They don’t make ballet costumes like this anymore.”

She sets the tutu aside and points out a male dancer in one of the framed photographs on the wall, a man whose autograph she got in person on a trip to New York with her best friend and fellow ballerina, junior Sally Davis.

“Every day in New York I’d carry around a binder with lots of different photos of ballet dancers just in case I met any of them,” Ailina said with a smile. “Sally thought I was such a

nerd.” But the effort paid off. “One night we were at a performance [by the American Ballet

Theater] of Sleeping Beauty,” Ailina said. “During intermis-sion, I recognized this famous ballet dancer, Frederick Franklin, who’s about 98 years old now. I wanted him to sign his photo for me, and we had to chase after him because I didn’t want to lose him in the crowd. We did catch up with him, and I asked him if he wouldn’t mind signing the photo, and he was so nice and signed it for me. I was so excited and shocked to be near such a famous dancer that I was shaking really badly. He left, and then I remembered that I needed a photo, and we had to chase after him again and asked if he minded. He laughed and said he didn’t mind at all, and now we have a photo with him for us to cherish.”

Ailina has been dancing since she was three years old. By age 10, she knew it was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.

“I’ve always wanted to be a ballet dancer, but only [a small percentage] of ballet dancers get into a top company, so that would be a pretty slim chance for me,” Ailina said. “I’ve always loved ballet’s history. I decided a way to incorporate my love of ballet’s history and still be a part of ballet would be to be a ballet historian. As a ballet historian, I would want to go around to different ballet schools and lecture about ballet. I’d also want to be doing archiving. I love ballet memorabilia, and by archiving I would get to work with famous dancers’ shoes, their tutus, and other historical pieces of ballet’s history.”

This summer, Ailina will get the chance to try out her dream job in her dream city—New York, a place that has witnessed some of the world’s finest moments in ballet history as well as its greatest innovations in dance. Last summer she visited the New York City Ballet Archives, and stayed in touch with a woman who worked there. She received an internship, and this summer she will be working at the ballet archives during the day and taking classes at Steps on Broadway at night.

Many little girls dream of becoming a ballerina, of standing in the footlights with a bouquet of roses in one arm and taking a graceful bow. But most never stop to think what they’ll do after the applause ends. Like many little girls, Ailina Mayer loved dancing and dreamed of being a ballerina. But she also loved the music, the costumes, and the stories of the great ballerinas. At 16, she’s already found a way to have a career in ballet that won’t have to end when she can no longer do the physically demanding work of a professional dancer.

“Ballet has always been, and will always be, the most influen-tial part of my life,” Ailina said. “It affects my posture, personal-ity and my career choice, but most importantly, my dreams. To achieve those dreams, I see myself not as a principal in a ballet company in the middle of nowhere, but as a ballet historian and dancer living in New York City. As the legendary dancer Martha Graham once said, ‘Dance is the loftiest, most moving, most beautiful of the arts, because it is not a mere translation or abstraction of life; it is life itself.’”

—Holly Heinrich

For the love of danceJunior Ailina Mayer channels passiontowards future career as ballet historian

Ailina Mayer

“[The gold tutu] was worn by Joyce Cuoco,” Ailina said. “She was famous because she could do six pirouettes and then stop en pointe.”

S

I decided a way to incorporate my love of ballet’s history and

still be a part of ballet would be to be a ballet historian.

—junior Ailina Mayer

“”

Shannon Soule

“I do get tired [from ballet], but I just remember how much I love it, and I wouldn’t trade that time for anything else in the world,” junior Ailina Mayer said.

FALLING

WHISTLES

Multiply Westlake’s number of enrolled students, approximately 2,442, by 18. Large number, right? Not even then will you get the amount of people dying each month in Africa’s Con-go—a grand total of about 45,000. The causes for the plethora in fatali-ties range from starvation to disease to genocide. After spending months in the Congo and witnessing these atrocities first hand, 26-year-old Westlake graduate Sean Carasso formed the non-profit orga-nization called Falling Whistles—agroup aimed at raisingawareness for, funding and promoting the art therapy school in the Congo called YOLE. Upon hearing Carasso’s story, senior Chloe Jordan felt a deep con-nection with the children who were affected by the horrific events and made a pledge to help.

“Ever since the colonization of the Congo there’s been intense conflict,” Chloe said. “The children are direct victims of the conflicts, so these kids are growing up in a war-torn environment and they’re subject to traumatic experiences.”

While traveling through Africa, Carasso ended up in the Congo. He kept a blog explaining what he saw. In a war prison he found five boys, none over the age of 16, who told him stories about what they had recently experienced. He learned that they were abducted from their homes and forced to fight in the war as children. Es-sentially, these young boys are given a whistle because they’re too small to carry guns. They were told that their job was to be in the front of the army and blow their whistles, making as much commotion as possible to distract the other army. If they failed, however, their bodies were used as shields for the first bullets. The soldiers would hide behind the battered bodies of these children.

Senior, alumni work to bettercurrent situation in Africa’s Democratic Republic of Congo

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Hearing their stories compelled Carasso to create Falling Whis-tles. He told his friends and family about what he had heard, trying

to gain as much awareness as possible. Through this, Chloe ended up hearing about the cause.

“Sean and I have been involved with the same non-profit organizations over the past few years,” Chloe said. “And over that time we’ve become friends. I’ve grown to respect him and his efforts. While he was on his trip in the Congo, I was reading his blog and just felt really connected with these children even though I didn’t know them and had never been

there. Sean has never been the appointer but rather encour-ages people to come together and make a change. [To help out]

I primarily fundraise because, in this stage, they need money. I also tell the story. Sean doesn’t come into town very often so I’m either involved in the big Austin events or when he does come to town I organize places for him to come and speak at

places like Barnes and Noble.”Events are one of the best opportunities for Falling Whistles

to get its name out. This year, Chloe has successfully coordinated an event not only benefiting Falling Whistles but TOMS shoes as well.

“We did the volleyball tournament for TOMS shoes,” Chloe said. “But we spread the word of Falling Whistles there also. On

Feb. 13 there’s a huge concert with DJs and bands and that will all benefit Falling Whistles. I usually just plug in with those and help out there.”

For Chloe, though, it’s more than just a want to help. She feels she has to.

“We have such huge responsibilities as humans to love and to call out injustices when we see them—we all have [those responsibilities] across the globe,” Chloe said. “I personally believe I’m supposed to have compassion for those who are oppressed and God is peace and that’s the biggest thing. Why wouldn’t I want to share and help with Falling Whistles? I was called to help and

I think God can use an 18-year-old girl in Austin to bring peace to someone thousands of miles away.”

So, how are these injustices corrected? What can be done to improve current conditions in the Congo? Chloe has two

main solutions for her most commonly asked questions.

“First thing you can do, of course, is donate at www.Falling-Whistles.com,” Chloe said. “You can also buy a Falling Whistles shirt. All the proceeds go to art supplies and the rebuilding of the school. The building itself is not big enough for all the kids they’re taking in. But the biggest thing now is telling ev-eryone. Bring it up in everyday con-versation. Bring awareness to the

Congo because it is so often forgot-ten. [Keep in mind that] it’s not just

Africa. People automatically say ‘it’s just Africa,’ but when people actually

hear a story, they want to do something about it. I have yet to meet someone who wasn’t personally affected by the story.”

Because Chloe is a high school student, she can’t just jet across the world to one of the world’s most conflicted countries. But

some-day she hopes to.

“I want to go to Africa so

badly,” Chloe

said. “I hope to go when I graduate college either through the Peace Corps, International Justice Mission or just Falling Whistles. I’ve always loved dancing, and YOLE is an art school, so I could help there or in the administra-tive part of it. I’m really not that scared though. I know it’s dangerous over there. There’s a huge chance I’d be abducted. There is just a lot of violence between political groups.”

With Falling Whistles just taking off, all that Chloe, Carasso and the rest of the sup-porters ask is for some acknowledgement for what is going on.

“Don’t think that just because you’re a high school student you can’t make a difference,” Chloe said. “Look around—our world is massive. There are lives around the world; you just have to look outside Westlake. There’s hurt and pain out there. We just have to see it.”

—Hannah Comstock

Hutus in Rwanda kill some 800 thousand Tutsis and moder-ate Hutus. Close to one million Hutus flee Rwanda once it was taken over by rebel Tutsis—many of these refugees were militants responsible for Rwanda’s genocidal killings.

1960Republic of Congo gains independence from Belgium.1965Joseph Mobutu names himself president.

1971Due to the Africanization policy, Mobutu changes the country’s name to Zaire as well as change his name to Mobutu Sese Seko. Zairians are forced to Africanize their names and adopt African dress.1990

Mobutu ends ban on multiparty politics but still retains much of the power. 1994

1997Tutsi rebels seize much of Eastern Zaire while Mobutu is away for med-ical treatment. Tutsi rebels accompanied by other anti-Mobutu rebels capture the capital, Kinshasa, and rename it the Democratic Republic Congo. Mobutu flees the country, Laurent-Désiré Kabila formally takes power. 1998

Rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda revolt against Kabila. The troops end up taking control of much of Eastern DR Congo.

Rwanda and Uganda withdraw their troops from the east after the DR Congo signs a peace accord in which they say they’ll disarm and arrest all Hutus responsible for the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda that are currently residing in their territory.

2002

Rwandan and the DR Congo governments decide to join military forces in the attempt to find and take down all the Hutu rebels currently residing in the DR Congo.

2009

Sources; www.news.bbc.co.uk, www.france24.com

A new constitution is adopted by Parliament with text agreed with by former warring factions.

2005

Featherduster: How has working with-out the FAF auditorium changed this year’s production?David Germann: Last year, the rehearsals were more realistic because we were actually on the stage we were going to be performing on. We didn’t have to change anything as far as adapting to the sets when they eventu-ally came in. It’s harder this year trying to visualize the sets and where we’re going to be performing. But other than that, we have a fine space in the Chap Court.FD: What do you like most about your character?Cameron Brock: I get to wear a mustache. I’m really excited. But we’ll see, it might be a re-ally complicated situation.DG: Yeah, like how you’ll have blond hair with a dark black mustache.Lexi Bixler: My character is out of her mind. Susanne Burgess: No, yours is fun! LB: No, my character is crazy. She’s loud and she’s actually pretty dumb. I mean she doesn’t have a lot of common sense…or any other sense…DG: Okay, so what’s your favorite thing about your character?

LB: The accent I get to do. And seeing Cam-eron’s face when I have to scream at him.SB: My favorite part is getting to hit David.DG: Like, literally, she slaps me. She leaves finger marks on my face.FD: That’s not staged?DG: No! It’s real! It hurts!LB: I get to beat Cameron down with a purse.DG: My favorite part would probably just be the songs. I really like the songs I sing. I liked singing them in my car and at home before I even knew I had the part.SB: My least favorite part is definitely my outfit. It’s ankle length and all the way up to my neck. I’m just a huge prude.DG: Yeah, it’s like you’re a missionary or something…LB: Mine’s pretty much the opposite…DG: My favorite line of the show is when Adelaide, Lexi, says “The doctor thinks I’m sick on the account of I dance with hardly any clothes on, which is what I usually wear.”LB: I’m a Hot Box girl. Not a stripper, a Hot Box girl. Everyone’s like “Are you a stripper?” No! It’s like a…SB: …a show girl.LB: Like a Rockette.

DG: And as [se-nior] Eric Upshaw puts it, they’re not strippers. They’re just people who take off their clothes to music.LB: We sing though…SB: (laughs) Yeah! They’re singing strippers!FD: Are there any funny stories from rehearsals so far?DG: The funni-est rehearsals are when [assistant choir director] Mrs. [Jenn] Goodner brings her son. He’s hilarious. He’s 2 years old, and he’s

a crazy child. He runs around screaming and tries to get on stage with us.SB: And he poos his pants. And it smells and…DG: All children do that!SB: But it’s gross!CB: Mrs. Goodner’s always like, “Ah, I’ll change him later…”SB: Yeah, she’s like “I don’t have a diaper, he doesn’t seem to mind…”CB: Oh, and the fact that [choreographer] Robin [Lewis] uses [senior] Hank [South] in all of the dances. That’s pretty funny.DG: He’s like, “We need someone to lift some-one else and throw them. Hank, come here.”SB: It’s like Guys and Dolls, featuring Hank South.FD: David, you played a lead role in last year’s production of Once Upon a Mattress. How does Guys and Dolls compare?DG: I like this show a lot better. I thought last year’s show was really fun and entertaining, but this year’s show appeals to a much wider audience, I think. And I like the other leads I’m with; it’s fun to spend time with them. It’s a lot more exciting to be a part of.FD: Cameron, your brother Johnson played the lead role in the choir’s pro-duction of Anything Goes! in 2006. Has he given you any words of advice?CB: He said to go crazy, basically. I asked him what part to try out for and he was like, “Well, do Nathan,” but basically he said like…I don’t know, to be crazy and to get into the role. I don’t know…that was a pretty lame answer.DG: Let the records show: lame answer.SB: As the rest of the cast laughs at Cameron Brock…FD: Anything you would like to add?SB: Just as a by-the-way, Lexi’s and my song is the best. If you only come for one part, just remember that.LB: Yeah, we have a man-hating song.DG: What about the songs we sing. You don’t like those?SB: I do like those.LB: Well, she has to kiss you and she doesn’t want to.CB: Let the records show…DG: Hey! That is the highlight of the show, let me tell you.SB: Oh, absolutely.

—Interview conducted by Katherine Kloc

Leads of Guys and Dolls on rehearsals, mustaches, strippersPlay your ace

Since the beginning of the semester, the choir and TEC departments have been preparing for this year’s production of Guys and Dolls, a musical set in 1940s New York City that follows the lives of two gamblers and their respective love interests. The Featherduster sat down with the leads, seniors David Germann (Sky Masterson), Susanne Burgess (Sergeant Sarah Brown), Cameron Brock (Nathan Detroit), and Lexi Bixler (Miss Adelaide) to discuss their experiences with the show. Guys and Dolls was performed at Lake Travis High School’s Performing Arts Center on Feb. 20 and 21.

Michelle Ling

Seniors Cameron Brock, Lexi Bixler, David Germann and Susanne Burgess play the leads in Guys and Dolls.

It is 5 p.m. on a Friday evening and the scorching Texas sun is beginning to release its heat. The clouds peacefully float along the blue sky and a calm breeze picks up the arena dust. At Rio Vista Farm, it’s the perfect time of day. For freshman

Emilie Gardner, it’s her time to do what she loves the most.A horse—majestic, strong, loyal—is the finest creature to walk this

earth in Emilie’s eyes. Ever since she was eight, she has been living, breathing and doing everything associated with horses.

“Loving horses has always been something programmed into my brain,” Emilie said. “They are my life.”

Every Friday evening, Emilie travels to the outskirts of Austin to take riding lessons at Rio Vista Farm. Upon arriving, she finds out which horse she will ride, prepares her horse for her rigorous lesson and focuses on nothing but horseback riding. Each lesson focuses on hunter jumping and usually consists of about four to eight people, each on a different horse. The task of the rider is to translate the directions the trainer gives them in a way the horse can understand and respond without error. The horse and the rider are both athletes; therefore, the bond between horse and rider is essential for success in horseback riding.

“A horse is kind of like a boyfriend,” Emi-lie explains. “It takes trust and commitment. Once you have built that bond, it’s impos-sible to break.”

Horseback riding is often brushed off as a hobby, but for many riders it can be consid-ered a separate way of life.

“You compete just like any other sport,” Emilie said. “It takes a lot of time and prac-tice to succeed in riding.”

The path traveled by horseback riders can fork into two separate routes: riding as a pastime or pursuing the road of strenuous competition. Emilie chose her route and takes part in competitions around the Austin area.

An average competition consists of the contender showing up, competing and then going home to celebrate the win or loss. In the horse world, the picture perfect competition is turned upside-down. For Emilie, just showing up requires waking up at 5 a.m., getting dressed in riding attire and driving to the stable in the dark of the early morning to warm-up the horse she has been riding regularly in lessons. Emilie tries to get to the show grounds early because she doesn’t want to ride in a dangerous schooling ring packed with dozens of horses and riders.

“Warming up can be a disaster,” Emilie said. “The trainers and rid-ers are always yelling ‘heads up!’ and it becomes a mass of confusion.”

After she prepares her horse, Emilie sits back, eats breakfast and plays the game hurry up and wait. Until the moment she rides, Emilie creates a plan with her trainer using tactics to which the horse and the judge will respond positively.

“Judges are looking for the way I work with my horse and the way my horse responds to me,” Emilie said.

Because it is considered hunter riding, judges look for elegance in both horse and rider. In jumper riding, the horse must tackle a complicated and somewhat dangerous course in a certain amount of

time. In both kinds of riding, the horse and rider are dependent on each other. It’s a give-and-take relationship.

“Hunter is a more relaxed and graceful way of riding, unlike jumper where your adrenaline is al-ways rushing,” Emilie said. “Either way, the horse and rider both have to work just as hard.”

Depending on the height of jumps and the number of riders, she could ride anywhere from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“At the end of a show, I’m tired and exhausted, but I know that it’s all worth it in the end,” Emilie

said. Aside from focusing her energy on horseback riding, Emilie has

found that her riding connects to her outside life as well. She has learned valuable lessons that apply to situations in the real world, and these lessons have made her a more mature teenager. She realizes that in horseback riding, if you miss a turn or jump the wrong jump, you can go back and fix it, but in the real world, second chances aren’t just handed to you. Reality is not as forgiving as horses are.

“The choices you make in riding affect the horse, while the choices you make in life affect the people around you as well as yourself,” Emilie said.

In the future, Emilie plans to ride for a college level team and study to be a veterinarian. Her dream is to open her own stable and become a trainer for riders who love horses just as much as she does.

It is now 7 p.m. on a Friday night and the sun has set upon the horse pastures. The passing clouds reflect the ending sunset, and the breeze is tame. Another day, another lesson, another moment has ended for Emilie, and many more are to come in her bright future.

—Caroline Hunt

Laura Aldridge

Preparing for a lesson at Rio Vista, freshman Emilie Gardner tightens Gabby’s girth. “I have been riding for about seven years. I started when I was seven and I haven’t outgrown my passion for horses.”

Emilie Gardner jumps into the competitive aspect of riding

orsing around

A horse is kind of like a boy-friend—it takes commitment.

Once you have built that bond, it’s impossible to break.”

—freshman Emilie Gardner

“

POINT

WHAT’S

the

Everybody does something. Some boys take dance classes, and hundreds of students join Student Council. Some people spend weeks fretting over relationships that might last an hour. Others spend their summers taking classes so that they can get out of high school as fast as they can. The spendthrifts blow a ton of money on clothes, while the thrifty count every penny. The risk-takers ignore their fears to achieve the craved adrenaline rush. And now, with the economy, many of the kids who just wanted to get away are opting to stay right here for college. This is all just what they do. But we can’t help but wonder: why?What’s the point??

Living on theedge

Hunter LearSenior Hunter Lear has always had a love of motocross. He started to ride his bike at the age of 7 and became serious about it when he was 13 years old. Hunter would ride at least twice a week and race about every weekend. It was around then that he noticed he had a passion for this extreme sport.

“I started riding just for fun,” Hunter said. “But as soon as I started competing, I was hooked. I never had to decide whether or not I wanted to race—it just happened.”

Hunter’s plan was to continue riding, but in his freshman year, motocross took him in a different direction.

On March 5, 2006, Hunter was in a race at the Cross Creek Cycle Park outside of Elgin. His bike stalled at the start so he was behind everyone else and out of the chaos. Hunter was racing about 50 miles per hour. Half way through the race, he lost control and fell off sideways, knocking him unconscious.

Hunter was rushed to Brack-enridge hospital where he spent about six hours in the trauma room before spending six days in recovery. He was diagnosed with a compression fracture of his thoracic sixth, seventh and eighth vertebrae. Hunter had to wear a back brace for about four months. He made a close-to-full recovery but it’s still something he deals with today.

“I had a pretty gnarly wreck,” Hunter said. “My doctor told me that I barely escaped pa-ralysis and even death with my injury.”

Hunter stopped doing motocross after his accident. With his doctor’s instructions in mind, Hunter decided to stop being too serious about the sport. He still keeps up with it sometimes, but he doesn’t want to have an-other accident that could end his life. Hunter hopes to be involved with it again, but his racing days are over.

“Honestly, it’s still too soon for me to get involved in motocross again because of how hard it was to let it go,” Hunter said.

Motocross is a dangerous sport, but death is very uncommon. However, the better riders have a higher chance of injury because of the

increased speeds and difficulty of tricks.“I am not opposed to riding trails by any

means,” Hunter said. “There is nothing I love more than just being able to ride, but as soon as you bring speed into the equation, every-thing changes.”

Alex UsseryDuring winter break, junior Alex Ussery ex-pected to enjoy a fun vacation at the Monarch Ski Resort outside of Salida, Colorado, where he would hang out with his youth group from his church. On New Years Eve, Alex went on a snowboarding run that was anything but fun.

Alex and his friend, senior Kory Curtis, went to an organic terrain park where there are logs instead of metal rails. Alex was sliding down a rail when his board slipped and he fell forward, landing on his head and shoulder.

“My head really hurt for a couple of min-utes, so I just laid there,” Alex said. “When I tried to push myself up, my right shoulder really hurt so I knew something was wrong.”

Alex nursed his arm as he and Kory boarded to the infirmary tent.

“The doctor checked me out and said he thought my shoulder was partially dislocated and I should go to the hospital sometime soon,” Alex said.

One of the adults from the church took Alex to the closest hospital in Salida, about an hour and a half away. He had to wait for four hours because the hospital only had one doc-tor. The doctor took x-rays and found out that Alex’s collarbone was actually broken.

“I just had to hang out at the lodge the

Senior Hunter Lear suffered a serious back injury three years ago while racing his bike. Although he still loves riding, he will never be able to compete again.

trends + traditions42

Four students risk life, limb for the adrenaline rushShannon Soule

An accident on the slopes sent junior Alex Ussery to the hospital over win-ter break. Alex broke his collarbone but will not let this event stop him from snowboarding in the future.

Katherine Finn

next day and the 18-hour bus ride back home was pretty uncomfortable,” Alex said.

When Alex arrived back in Austin, he went to see Dr. Crawford at Westlake Medical who looked at the x-rays.

“The bone was in three pieces and the way it was broken made it shorter than normal,” Alex said.

The doctor said that if Alex left it to heal itself, it would probably affect his shoulder movement and be painful later on. The doctor suggested surgery to put the pieces back together and repair it properly.

“They would cut me open, realign the bone and screw a metal plate on to keep the pieces in place,” Alex said.

Alex and his family discussed their options and decided that it would be best to have the surgery, which took place Jan. 9 and lasted for two hours. Alex went home as soon as he became conscious again, recovered all weekend and came back to school the following week.

“It hurt pretty badly for about a week, but the biggest problem was not being able to write for a while,” Alex said. “I had to take a Chemistry 2 test by telling someone what to write for me, which was really weird.”

However, Alex’s shoulder is healing well, allowing him to loosen his sling and write a little at school.

“I’m supposed to be all healed up in three weeks, but my shoulder muscles won’t be as good as normal so I’m starting physical therapy,” Alex said.

Despite this whole ordeal, Alex still loves to snowboard. No injury or fear of one will keep him from living his life normally.

“My accident isn’t going to make me stop snowboarding or anything,” Alex said. “The things that are more dangerous to do are usually my favorites, so to me, getting hurt is just a risk of having fun.”

Charley CoppA day at the lake changed senior Charley Copp’s perspective on life when he had a close call with

death.In June

2005, while he was attend-ing Camp Longhorn, he was wakeboard-ing on Inks Lake with three of his friends. He attempted a back flip and failed. Charley landed on his back and at the same time, a jet skier jumped the wake and collided with his head, split-

ting his skull.“If I didn’t land on my back, I would have

gotten decapitated by the jet ski,” Charley said. “Being a couple of inches below the water saved my life.”

Charley was unconscious in the water and his three friends, seniors Jesse Breedlove, Reed Johnson and Sterling Meyers pulled him out as his head was bleeding.

“I became conscious once I had been pulled back on the boat about five minutes after the accident,” Charley said. “Everyone standing around me was screaming.”

His friends rushed to the shore and quickly took him to the hospital where the doctors im-mediately sewed his head back up. He had 17 stitches on his hairline. After four hours in the hospital, he was released.

“Everyone that day saw my skull and thought I was a goner,” Charley said. “Counselors and my friends were freaking out on the guy that hit me.”

Charley still has back problems, a scar and four hairline fractures that run throughout his

skull, all of which remind him of his ordeal. With his near fatal incident, Charley now has decided to enjoy life rather than bicker about it. He learned that life is precious and it can be taken away in a split second.

“I was given another chance at life so I’m taking advantage of every second of it,” Charley said. “I still live the same life but with a bit of a different mind set.”Shannon SouleThis past fall, senior Shannon Soule did the most outrageous stunt that she has ever pulled—she jumped out of a plane.

“I went skydiving because not many people get to do it,” Shannon said. “I like to cross things off my list and try everything I can.”

Despite all of the obvious reasons to be ter-rified, Shannon was calm as the plane soared through the air.

“The only thing that kind of freaked me out was the fact that I wasn’t freaking out, even when I was dangling my feet out of the plane in the air,” Shannon said.

Shannon didn’t jump out by herself—she jumped tandem, strapped to an instructor. Though the feeling of falling has often been com-pared to that of a roller coaster, the experience was actually different.

“When you jump out, it’s not what people

would think,” Shannon said. “You’re already moving at the plane’s speed, so you don’t actu-ally get that feeling of falling. It feels like a bunch of air blowing on your belly.”

She was able to free fall for approximately 30 seconds at 90-110 miles per hour before the instructor pulled the chute.

“The best part was when they opened the parachute and you just floated in the sky,” Shan-non said.

She could even see Austin and College Sta-tion on opposite sides of the horizon.

“The landing wasn’t bad at all,” Shannon said. “I put my legs up and the instructor ran for me.”

Skydiving is mostly a safe sport. The only issues that commonly arise are with their para-chutes. But Shannon’s adventure went smoothly and didn’t result in serious injuries.

“I felt great when we were done but my ears really hurt from the extreme change in pres-sure,” Shannon said. “I couldn’t really hear well for a couple of hours.”

No matter how badly her ears hurt, Shannon would go skydiving again.

“I would jump out of a plane the moment the next opportunity arises,” Shannon said.

—Christina ShinFor more, check out www.westlakefeatherduster.com

Preparing for her big jump, senior Shannon Soule gets strapped in before her skydiving experience.

BMXOther(62)

BMX (11)

Mountain Climbing (43)

Motocross (15)

Mountain Biking (34)

Scuba Diving (42)

Skydiving (13)

Wakeboarding (70)

Bungee Jumping (18)

extreme sportsdo you do?

What

Courtesy photo

308 students polled

I became

conscious once I had been

pulled back on the boat

about five minutes after the

accident. Everyone standing

around me was screaming.”

—senior Charley Copp

“

After a near-fatal wakeboarding incident, senior Charley Copp has a scar marking the spot where the doctor used 17 stitches to sew up his head.

Laura Aldridge

In the big fishbowl called Westlake, it wouldn’t be abnormal to assume there would be a fish to swim around with. A special fish to join you on aimless car rides, to text you non-stop during that dreaded math class or to listen to your complaints about weight training that day. Oh, there is definitely a fish in the sea among the hundreds of students. In fact, chances are there will be many. Because this is high school, and nowhere else does the saying “there are other fish in the sea” apply more appropriately.

Dating in high school has transformed into almost meaningless speed dating where the only prerequisite to infatuation is texting on a regular basis. I can’t even keep up anymore with who dated whom, who broke up with whom, who hooked up with whom or any other variations of the latter (probably because I don’t text). Relationships do not even fit the definition; they are more like little blips of interac-tion with someone who has an appealing personality. But just give it a few years, and most of it probably won’t matter. Don’t get me wrong, there are those rare cases of high school sweethearts and playground soul mates. But aside from those few couples who stick together through these troublesome years, a high school relationship will not really be a factor in the grand scheme of your life. Right?

The life span of a high school relationship can range from two hours to two months, and rarely lasts longer than that. So why have one? All that texting to a new main squeeze during class can’t be good for grades, and all those late night phone calls can certainly be a health hazard. The worrying that comes with being “in like” with someone can only worsen the mental condition of an already overwhelmed teenager. Yet, a majority of students still participate in this thing we call dating. There’s got to be a catch to catching that special fish in the sea.

In order to get to the point, let me tell a little story. My dad was one of those guys who didn’t have a single girlfriend in high school. He was a star football player, surely an eligible bachelor, but he never showed

any interest in dating someone in high school. In fact, his mother forced him to go on the only date he had in high school. She claimed he needed a date to an awards ceremony at the end of the football season, and even then he made the experience as short-lived as possible.

His logic? “It just seemed to always cause a lot of heartache. It didn’t really seem like much fun.”

This theory isn’t entirely unreasonable. I think everyone knows that some unpleasantness can come from a relationship gone wrong. But once he got to college, he realized it was much harder to form relation-ships because he didn’t have those rudimentary experiences with his peers in high school. By avoiding potentially upsetting situations, he set himself up to be underdeveloped in that arena when he got older and when it really counted.

What I’m trying to say is: in order to gain the experience and knowledge of what to look for in a person, along with what makes a relationship with another person worth it, it is necessary to date a little. Even if it means getting rejected by a crush or dating someone for about a week before realizing that the situation is better off friendly rather than romantic (or maybe neither), we should still attempt dat-ing. Now is the time to learn how to put up with all the drama that goes along with dating someone. It is the time to explore possibilities while retaining the ability to bounce back quickly and find someone new if things go wrong. Putting off all the silly crushes until later is a one-way ticket to floundering in that big ocean of prospective fish.

So ultimately, the relationships that are formed in high school re-ally do count for something in the big picture. They might not be a big something, but they exist for a reason. Although it may not be a good idea to pursue empty relationships, don’t avoid romance just because it never seems to last. After all, we are in high school and that doesn’t last either.

—Adrienne Cooksley

Gen-Hook, line and

sinker Alyssa Creagh

Feel like you’re drowning in a sea of romance?

tThink back to Nov. 8. Homecoming: an eagerly anticipated and heavily prepared for evening. Sept. 10: The day quite a few upperclassmen journeyed to the Commons to donate a record-breaking amount of blood. Who was the driving force behind those events? Student Council.

There are those who feel that Student Council has no purpose and isn’t a crucial aspect in the function of school. And there are just as many who feel Student Council is the engine that powers the machine that is West-lake. The organization allows for students to be heard and relate to their academic environ-ment. Student Council constantly strives to ease the ever-present overwhelming academic pressure in various ways. This past Novem-ber, the group teamed up with food services to provide a festive hamburger lunch for stu-dents. Also, Student Council plans the themed dress-up days for Homecoming week.

“We are supposed to serve as an overarch-ing organization to help the student body feel connected,” Student Council sponsor Melissa Dupre said. “There is a lot we have to do in terms of school functions, but we also try to solve problems.”

Consisting of two groups, General Council and Executive Board, Student Council prides itself on having a place for everyone. General Council is for anyone who wishes to partake in the organization, while Executive Board is made up of elected representatives. Approval from both Dupre and head Executive Board members, as well as teacher and student signatures, give students the opportunity to hold a place in General Council. Both groups readily provide the members with unforget-table experiences.

“I feel responsibility to use the posi-tion I hold to its fullest,” student body vice president junior Michelle Suh said. “I hope that as vice president, I’m creating an or-ganization where people have the power to take the initiative and do what they want.”

As a whole, Student Council is known, but the work they consistently accomplish is not always recognized. With six or seven meetings a semester, this year’s Student Council has focused on giving considerably to the community. Food drives and fund raisers have both been significant factors in meeting this goal.

“The opportunities we have to help out our school and other organizations are al-ways interesting and inspiring,” freshman class vice president Olivia Cheney said.

Student Council also helps to smooth the transition for some freshmen, but for a few older participants as well.

“Student Council has allowed me to get involved in a short amount of time,” Student Body President senior Sam Womack said. “I came from a school of 40 kids when I was a freshman, and the fact that I had the courage to run at Westlake was a big deal. Personally, it was a huge milestone.”

But why do students feel it is important to run in the first place? While the words “col-lege” and “resumé” are prevalent thoughts when making the decision to run, many stu-dents become fully immersed in helping the school and community, and eventually find this to be a small reason for joining.

“This year we have been trying to turn Stu-dent Council into an organization that is made of motivated and driven kids,” Sam said.

As the student voice to the administration, members believe it is crucial that everyone get involved. Students don’t have to be members of Student Council to voice their concerns and opinions. By relaying ideas to the class officers, anyone can make an impact.

“We really just want to improve student life at Westlake,” Michelle said. “We are doing everything we can to make a difference. We’re

trying to allow more independence from members, and delegating responsibilities. I want Student Council to be the most active organization on campus.”

As a whole, the members want the group to be composed of different types of students. Dupre believes that each member adds a huge component to the organization, making a suc-cessful Student Council.

“We are solid now, but we have the poten-tial to be great,” Dupre said.

The administration often listens to Student Council’s concerns and ideas. Around daylight savings time, students were finding it difficult, and even a bit scary, to walk from the Ben Hur parking lot to school in the dark mornings. Once Student Council informed the adminis-tration, a security guard was placed on duty. It is times like those, when solutions to concerns are put into action, that gives the members a sense of fulfillment.

“Student Council helps Westlake feel like ‘your’ school, rather than just a school you go to,” Michelle said. “I have learned that there is always a place for you.”

—Lizzie Friedman

We all need

Junior Davis Breedlove laughs with friends during a Student Council meeting Jan. 27. Davis has been a member of the Student Council for the past two years.

Student Council strives to reach full potential

Exec

utiv

e Bo

ard>Student Body Officers: speech required, elected by student body, must be

previous Executive Board memberClass Presidents: speech required, elected by classCommittee Chairs: appointed from General Council to Executive Board by Student Body Officers and sponsorExecutive Officers: speech to General Council, elected by General Council, i.e. Historian, Secretary of Membership, etc. Gene

ral C

ounc

il>Vice Presidents, Representatives at Large: speeches required, elected by classEveryone else involved in Student Council

Nathan Kallison

counciling

Junior Davis Breedlove laughs with friends during a Student Council meeting Jan. 27. Davis has been a member of the Student Council for the past two years.

DSenior Kate Cummings makes her mark with styleFirst impressions are important. Although we do not like to admit it, people automatically judge us by the way we look, act and, yes, how we dress.

“Whether you realize it or not, you make a statement with what you’re

wearing,” senior Kate Cummings said. “Dressing up doesn’t mean you have to wear four-inch patent pumps and a silk dress—it can just be your own personal style you’re expressing. If you’re the kid that’s really into music and you’re into concerts and stuff and wear concert t-shirts, I think that’s cool, too.”

Although some find dressing up for school every day to be a wasted effort, Kate has made her mark in her class thanks to her bold fashion choices that often allow her to stand out from the crowd.

“I love Kate’s style because she puts a ton of cute, simple things together and makes it look high fashion,” senior JJ Picone said. “She doesn’t dress nice every day specifically to please other people, she just loves fashion.”

Classic and vintage pieces also seem to be at the center of Kate’s style. She describes her style as “vintage chic,” which is apparent in the outfit she wore to our interview—a yellow patterned ‘40s-style dress with a simple black long-sleeved t-shirt underneath, with patent black boots and vintage jewelry.

“I think vintage is really cool,” Kate said, “but I like mixing it and not just wearing vintage pieces. [I add] contem-porary and trendy pieces, but of course, trends can only get you so far.”

Her style inspirations come from the music industry as well as popular

fashion magazines such as Vogue, Teen Vogue and Elle. Fashion icons such as Katie Holmes, Ashley Olsen, Emma Watson and Rachel Bilson also give her motiva-tion. As for favorite design-ers, Kate’s include Miu Miu, Diane Von Furstenburg, Chloé, Betsey Johnson and Fendi. However, designer clothing is not all that fills Kate’s closet.

“Normally I don’t shop at the mall,” Kate said. “I usually go to boutiques to get original pieces, and I also shop a lot when I travel. Last summer I went to Italy and Paris. I went to see some little boutiques

in Paris and some shops in Rome. You can’t buy a lot, but the pieces that you do buy are really special. I [also] think Forever 21, Zara and H&M are really nice for bargain shopping.”

When shopping, Kate keeps her eye out for pieces with bold patterns to mix with neutral pieces. Her closet staples include a favorite pair of dark denim jeans that she can dress up or down, a nice white blouse and a little black dress, or LBD. However, there are also trends that she sees as potentially good additions to your wardrobe.

“I really like patterned tights and accessorized headbands,” Kate said.

When finding your personal style or new items for your wardrobe, Kate believes that not all pieces have to be expensive to be considered fashionable.

“I don’t think it’s about how much money you spend, it’s just how you put things together,” Kate said. “Wear what you like and like what you wear. If you have the confidence to wear something, then I think that’s what sparks your personal style.”

—Leah-Marie Duran

Aaron Retersdorf

As you slam your car door closed in the Westlake parking lot, you pull your sunglasses over your eyes, hike your spaghetti straps over your shoulders and tug on your microscopically short miniskirt. You smile as you walk down the hall, avoiding the assistant principals’ office and a potential dress code violation as you make your way to the Commons.

Four “standards” make up Westlake’s dress code, the first of which consists of 12 descriptions of outlawed clothing (the complete list is acces-sible online in the student handbook). Girls most frequently break the rules that forbid spaghetti straps and short skirts and shorts, while boys are most often caught because of visible underwear or shirts boasting inappropriate logos.

“I wish it wasn’t my job to catch kids in the hallway [for dress code violations],” math teacher Jenell Graham said. “It’s frustrating to find kids in the hallway that aren’t [in my classes] in inap-propriate dress code and I wonder how they got through the whole day looking like that. It’s hard to have a confrontation with a kid [I don’t know] and send them to the office.”

Students have devised several tactics to avoid being dress coded. One of these most often used by girls is to wear a sweater or a jacket over their skimpy tank tops and take off the jackets when they are at lunch or in a classroom with a lenient teacher. Girls use a similar strategy to cover up short skirts and shorts, putting a jacket across their laps in hopes that the teacher will not notice the rule-breaking lack of material.

The AP office staff admits that on average, five students per week are sent to them for dress code violations. The punishment depends upon the number of previous dress code violations. The students always have to change clothes—they have to either wear something from the office or a parent has to bring them a different outfit. Ad-ditional punishment usually includes sack lunch.

The Austin ISD dress code is stricter than Westlake’s, allowing no baggy pants or tank tops. Westlake students have the more lenient version of this with the “two fingers rule” for shirt straps.

“The dress code consists of only a few restrictions—most of them very understandable,” freshman Lucas Chao said. “I think one would have to go out of his or her way to violate it.”

—Julie Dorland

Senior Kate Cummings fills her closets with unique items that she puts together to make her very own style.

ressed for succe How to follow the dress code

Junior Jeffrey Brimberry’s guide to frugal living

Moira Bering

Working attentively at C. Jane, senior Jenny Giles prepares the schedule for the upcoming week. Jenny works from 6 to 24 hours a week and gets 25 percent off. She uses the money she earns to go towards her shopping sprees.

From eating to car insurance to gas to entertainment, teenagers spend an average of $103 each week according to Teen Research Unlimited. If they were to spend this amount every week over the course of one year, they would spend $5,356. Senior Jenny Giles, however, spends almost that on clothing alone.

“I overspend on clothes a little too much and I get in trouble with my parents for it sometimes,” Jenny said. “I find myself taking money from other areas of spending to put it towards a spe-cial piece of clothing. For example, I will occasionally sacrifice going out to lunch with my friends to a restaurant to buy a cute dress I have been saving up for.”

Like some Westlake students, Jenny’s parents support her financially and will continue to do so throughout college. To supplement this, Jenny works at C. Jane, an upscale retail clothing store, so she can buy the things that she wants that may be considered more of a luxury.

“I work two or three days a week,” Jenny said. “I work anywhere from six to 24 hours a week. I get 25 percent off and if I earn my goal for what I need to sell that day, I get $10 store credit.”

Jenny does not usually have a specific budget, although knowing when to stop has occasionally been a problem for her in past shopping trips.

“When I go shopping now, I use my paycheck to buy whatever I want. But if something is really expensive, my par-ents will usually cover the rest.”

Despite the expense, Jenny considers designer clothing to be an investment.

“It is not so much the designer name that makes me want to buy a piece of clothing; it is the quality of the cloth-ing,” Jenny said. “If something is cheap, and there is the exact same thing in the designer brand, I will obviously want to purchase the cheaper item instead of the insanely priced one.”

Some may call Jenny’s shopping hab-its excessive. Compared to the spending of most teenagers, her budget is higher than the average. But for Jenny, her selections will have enduring value to her, so it comes down to a question of priority.

“I try to buy things that I know I love and things that I will use, so I will have them for a long time,” she said.

—Jenny Messer

Confessions of a shopaholic

— I only put $10 or $20 worth of gas in my car so if I see cheaper gas somewhere I can fill it up the rest of the way.

— I don’t always shop at the mainstream stores, (Ameri-can Eagle, Abercrombie and Fitch, Polo, Tyler’s, Hollister, etc.). I’ll hit up Target every once in a while, but I like to stick to stores like Ross, Savers, Goodwill and sometimes I snag some stuff from my dad’s closet instead of buying new clothes.

— I take really good care of my phone and iPod and what not. I bought them myself so I know how much they cost. I really can appreciate their worth and not throw them around and let them break because I can’t just go out and buy a new one.

— I try to eat at home before I go somewhere, especially the movies, because popcorn is expensive.

— I make my own lunch and bring it to school most days to save the $3-4 that adds up when you buy it at school every day.

— I love a good cup of coffee from Starbucks or Trianon, but I only do that every once in a while because a mocha coffee every morning adds up.

— I work at Ben & Jerry’s 25 hours a week on top of school to make money for gas, clothes, lunches at school and meals when I’m not with my parents.

ressed for succe $ $

Graduation—a time all seniors have been working toward since freshman year. It’s also a time to celebrate and spend those final days of high school with fellow classmates. But today it seems like more students are pulling the plug early on their high school careers by graduating early. The reasons students graduate early vary. Recent Westlake graduates Michael Lisch, Alex North and Jack White decided to graduate early based upon sports, a dream and a change of scenery.

—Jenna Stene

Featherduster: Why did you choose to graduate early?Alex: I chose to graduate early because I was ready for a change of scenery. I felt that I could gain all that I needed from three years of high school and I wanted an opportunity to try new things before college. I decided graduating a year early and then taking a year off before college to work would be best for my own personal maturity.FD: What college are you attending?A: I am not currently attending a college, though I am in the process of applying as an incoming freshman. I’ve taken the year off to work and save money. I’m working six days a week at a restaurant, waiting tables. I really enjoy it actually, and holding a full-time job before turning 18 is very rewarding and eye-opening. FD: What colleges are you applying to?A: I am applying to Johns Hopkins, UT, Carleton, Dickinson, Gettysburg, Bucknell, Washington & Lee and Haverford.FD: How does taking a year off affect your chances of getting in?A: I’m not sure how admissions offices will look at my year off. I think as long as I assure them that I was productive in this year, they will be able to look at it as a positive asset of mine. And even had I spent the year just traveling or sitting around, I think most col-leges would be able to understand someone wanting a break every now and then.FD: Whose decision was it?A: It was my decision to graduate early. My mother would have liked it had I stayed in school for that last year, but she was very sup-portive in my decision to get out early. FD: How did you get all your credits done in time?A: I had taken a bunch of high school credit

classes during middle school—Algebra I, health and speech. And during my fresh-man and sophomore years, though I had not intended to graduate early at that time, I only took one elective, newspaper journalism. I got my technology credit from journalism and already had most of my core courses out of the way, such as foreign language and math. I took P.E. summer school at Westlake after my freshman year and U.S. History at ACC the summer after my sophomore year. During my last year, I took both junior and senior English, senior social studies courses, as well as taking one P.E. course at ACC and another through Texas Tech correspondence. And I still had time to take two APs, be part of The Featherduster and to take another elective course.FD: Are you upset you’re missing out on the full “high school experience?”A: No. I felt I had gained the full high school experience in three years and didn’t need a fourth year to affirm that. It was a little weird to graduate with a different class, and I did miss out on stuff like Project Graduation and other senior traditions. But that sort of stuff isn’t very important to me and I stand firm in my decision to spend this year working rather than in school. FD: What are the advantages and disad-vantages of graduating early?A: I’ve found early graduation to be overall rewarding. Some problems would be that most of my friends are still in high school, and my work schedule does not exactly align with that of the school, so it’s hard for me to find time to see my friends. It does sort of suck when my friends are all going out on Friday night, but I’m working until 10 p.m. and then have to up and ready to go to work again the next morning. Another disadvantage is that I

was not in school when teachers and counsel-ors remind everyone to apply to college, fill out all the necessary paperwork, meet all the deadlines. I had to do all that and figure out everything that I needed by myself. I missed a couple deadlines because I just was not in that mindset and didn’t really have anyone to help guide me through the application process. An advantage is that it makes you a very interest-ing applicant to colleges to graduate in three years. It makes you stand out amongst 4-year graduates because it shows that you worked hard enough to be ahead in your credits, and to take on an extra load to finish up early. If you can keep your GPA pretty high while you’re at it, all the better. But overall, I have really enjoyed this year. If given the chance to go back, I’d still choose to graduate early. I’ve had a lot of time for reflection and growth. I’ve saved a lot of money towards college and have a lot of free time to just be me. I have time to read books, watch movies, write, draw, lounge around in the park...not to men-tion I have money to spend from working six days a week. I feel I have become much more independent this year and have a better feel for what life after schooling will be like.

their move MakingNorth

Alex

Shannon Soule

Featherduster: Why did you choose to graduate early?Michael: I chose to graduate early so I could gain valuable experi-ence at the college level. I knew that it would be to the benefit of my soccer future to have a semester of getting bigger, stronger and faster, and also of getting used to school.FD: Why did you choose to attend Wake Forest?M: I chose Wake Forest because they have the best soccer pro-

gram in the nation. They won the national championship when I committed. Also I wanted to go to a school that had fantastic academics. So I got the best of both worlds. FD: Was it your choice to start early or was it expected when you signed to Wake Forest?M: It was my choice to start early. At Wake Forest they were hesi-tant about telling me to come because it takes a lot of work on the college’s part to get me enrolled and accepted halfway.FD: How did you get all your credits done in time?M: I took some summer school courses at ACC (art and BCIS). Then to get the second semester of senior English I took a course by correspondence with Texas Tech.FD: Are you upset you’re missing out on the full “high school experience?”M: The high school experience is what you make of it. I enjoyed my first semester of senior year and now I will be having lots of fun at college and college is known as the best years of your life.FD: How have you done on the college circuit?M: I have done very well in college. In high school I played every day so when I came to college nothing changed and the school work is not too difficult. It’s just a lot more reading outside of class than we did in high school. I’ve adjusted fairly easily.FD: Did you always plan on graduating early?M: I did not plan on graduating early until one of the coaches that was recruiting me from another college asked me if I could possibly graduate early. After he brought up the idea, I looked at what it would take and I decided to go for it. I also talked to people who graduated early for sports, like Justin Tucker, and he said that it was totally worth it, so now I am here.

Featherduster: How did you get all of your credits done in time?Jack: Honestly, I have trouble figuring out how I finished all of my credits in time. I didn’t decide to graduate early until January of my junior year, so I only had a semester to finish junior and senior year. I took a full schedule of both senior and junior classes, then another six classes by correspondence. So, I ended up taking 14 classes in one semester. FD: Are you upset you missed out on the full “high school experi-ence?”J: When I first graduated all I could think about was how relieved I was. But now as I look back on it, I realize that I completely blew through a really big part of my life. As dumb as it sounds, I’ll watch a show like The O.C. and think to myself “I really missed out...” and it makes me kind of sad. I’m still really glad I did it; I’m getting to do some things that I have always dreamed about doing that I wouldn’t have the chance to do otherwise. Being in a band and not being in school allows me to do some amazing things. Sometimes, I’ll be sit-ting at home and my manager will call and tell me that I have to be in Seattle next week, so I just book a flight and go. I get to spend a month in New York City with all expenses paid this summer to

record. In April I get to go out to L.A., play a show for 10,000 people and hang out for a couple days.FD: Since you graduated early to pursue your musical career, do you think you’ll eventually go to college?J: I may end up going to college; it’s kind of hard to say though. Probably not any time in the near future. You’re only young once—I feel like if I want to take a risk in my life, it’s better to do it now. I would like to eventually go in the future, even if I already have a career and don’t really need to.FD: How’s everything going with the band?J: Everything is going amazingly well.We’re about to make a huge announce-ment, but I can’t really talk much about it. We’re writing a new record right now and we’ll be recording it this summer in New York City with producer Mike Sapone. He recorded bands like Taking Back Sunday and Brand New, two of my biggest influences, so we’re all really excited about the future.FD: What do you miss about high school?J: Not a whole lot, actually. I still see most of my friends and I live pretty close to [my girlfriend] Katherine, so I see her every day. At times, I miss the certainty of high school, if that makes any sense.

White

Jack

Lisc

h

Michael

“When I first graduated all I could think about was how relieved I was.”

—Jack White

Eva Cranford

courtesy of Travis Tank

1 Consider work-study programs2Seek a different payment schedule

Junior Kasie Ifesinachukwu dreamed of going to Tulane University, a handsome New Orleans private school with a hefty $50,000 a year price tag. However, the recent decline in the stock market has changed that plan.

“Before this economic crisis my dad had set aside $100,000 for me to go to college and I really wanted to go to Tulane University,” Kasie said. “But now, all of the money is gone and I’m going to have to go to a state school and get scholarships instead.”

Cassie’s college fund, like millions of other Ameri-can teenagers’, was set up in a 529 plan, an education savings plan where investors put pre-tax dollars into an account that offers a range of mutual funds and oth-er investments. The tumultuous state of the stock mar-ket has induced some astronomical fund losses, which, according to studies conducted by Applywise.com and Next Step Magazine, have led 50 percent of families nationwide to limit their child’s college options due to new economic restraints. This has caused many col-leges to be concerned about their future enrollment.

“Private schools are worried that kids aren’t going to apply because they are scared about the economy, and they are doing everything they can to keep kids interested,” college and career counselor Jeff Pilchiek said. “All of the private colleges are dipping into their endowments more and are coming up with creative ways to save money so that they can give kids more. The representative from Claremont McKenna in Cali-fornia said that he has stopped traveling the country to save money. Now instead of visiting schools, he does web seminars, where kids ask questions as they watch him give a presentation on the screen.”

Though colleges are attempting to accommodate students during this economic crisis, many challenges are preventing them from doing so. A number of state legislatures are beginning to slash allowances to state-sponsored post-secondary institutions as they are forced to balance departmental budgets and the endowments of many private schools have faltered due to the waning stock market. These developments lead many experts to believe that many institutions are like-

ly to cut merit-based aid, normally offered to attract particular middle-and-upper-class students whose test scores will raise the school’s national ranking, and contribute these funds to need-based aid instead.

According to a report by the American Council on Education, public four-year institutions give only 44 percent of their aid dollars to students with financial need, while 38 percent goes to non-need scholarships. Thus, a shift to increase need-based aid would drasti-cally change college finance and demographics within student populations of many institutions, as a lot of students might change their school choice due to a lack of merit-based aid.

“Merit-based financial aid is a huge part of my col-lege decision,” senior Robyn Barber said. “My parents would love to send me to the best school possible, but honestly, that’s not realistic. If merit-based financial aid decreases, I’m in trouble.”

The increased need for new finance options has caused numerous financial aid companies to find student loans unprofitable and various student loan providers have stopped providing federally guaranteed loans and private loans.

With federal loans being one of the primary ways to pay for higher education, the government has assured that it will work to insure the availability of student loans. The request for federal loans is expected to increase this year; already the number of federal aid applications is 13.5 million, up nearly 10 percent from last year’s 12.3 million.

“I’ve had more questions about the FAFSA form and the financial aid process this year than in any of the three years I’ve been at Westlake,” Pilchiek said. “This year people’s financial situations have shifted and now people are starting to worry about how they will pay for college.”

The current economic crisis has also led many re-cent Westlake graduates to transfer to lower-cost col-leges and universities mid-year as the volatile economy and scarcity of student loans has prevented them from being able to continue attending higher-cost institu-tions.

See if your school offers alternative payment programs. Instead of paying two large lump sums a year, many schools have a 10- or 12-month plan where families and students can pay in smaller amounts each month.

Students can make a couple of thousand dollars per year working on campus. Though pay isn’t wonderful, most of these jobs allow students time to do homework and study for their classes, making these jobs more attractive.

How to make college more affordable

Paying the priceEconomic situation likely to make paying for college difficult; students change plans

4Think about an accelerated degree plan3Consider a single tuition rate

“We’ve had a lot of transfers from private schools to state or in-state schools this year,” Pilchiek said. “We had over thirty since the beginning of this semester alone. A lot of it is due to the economy. People are no longer able to afford a school like Pepperdine so they transfer to a cheaper, in-state school like Baylor mid-year.”

According to College Board’s Trends in College Pric-ing, the 2007-2008 total costs for higher education, including tuition, fees, room and board, books and sup-plies, transportation and other expenses, were, on aver-age, $17,336 for students who attended four-year state college and universities in-state, $27,791 for four-year state institutions out-of-state and $35,374 for students at four-year private colleges. These hefty costs have led many parents and students to stretch themselves eco-nomically, halt retirement savings and take out multiple loans to cover expenses.

“In the last two years, I’ve seen kids starting to take student loans for themselves, instead of parents doing it for them,” Pilchiek said. “Before it was Westlake parents that took on debt for their children to get an education, but now, costs are so high and students want to go to college so badly that kids are willing to sacrifice their economic future in order to get their degree.”

Ultimately, despite this strain, parents and students are likely to continue this trend of stretching and some-times exceeding their economic means. According to a study done by Sallie Mae, a national provider of student loans, 69 percent of parents believe that higher educa-tion is essential for a better way of life for their children. Many parents and students believe that every penny sac-rificed is going towards the ultimate cause—their future.

“Normally, my parents send money to my family in Nigeria and we go and visit them during the summer,” Kasie said. “But this year, our plans have changed. We’ve had to cut back the money we normally send and we can’t go to Nigeria this summer. My parents want to save everything they can for my college fund. It’s hard to give things up, but my family and I understand that it is necessary.”

—Ashley Carlisle

Many schools offer a flat tuition rate that doesn’t change each year. Some schools offer this guaranteed tuition rate for free, while others charge a fee. Make sure to check with your college of choice before making a decision.

Many schools have programs that will allow students to obtain an undergraduate and post-graduate degree in five or six years. These programs not only allow students to enter the workforce earlier, but also save years of tuition payments.

Cost of four years at UT Cost of two years at ACC and two years at UT

Two years at ACC: $2,748 +

Two years at UT: $35,556=

$38,304 $71,112

One year at UT: $17,778

X 4=

The Community College/University HybridThough students are instilled with the belief that a four-year university or college is the only recipe for a successful life, there are many other more affordable options for receiving an undergraduate education. In fact, many economists are suggesting a community college/university hybrid in which a student attends community college for two years, completing general education requirements, and then transfers to a traditional four-year university or college to complete his/her coursework and receive an undergraduate degree. Such a hybrid saves students and their parents thousands of dollars while allowing them to obtain a degree from the same university or college that any other student, who attended the institution for four years, would.

Each day, three students spend their after-noons attending dance rehearsals: one here at Westlake, one at the tap studio Tapestry, the third at Ballet Austin. One rehearses Dance I-level hip-hop and jazz, one practices his com-binations of shuffles and ball changes, the last sashays and pirouettes. Between them, they have 17 years of dancing experience in ballet, musical theatre, hip-hop, jazz and tap. How-ever, one defining difference sets them apart from other dancers—they’re all guys. Despite its time-consuming nature and the stigma of being a male dancer, sophomore Dennis Dacarett and juniors Jeffrey Olson and David Mullins are paving the way for guys to take a step into the female-dominated world of dance.

Three boys who can cut a rug share their dance experiences

As a snare drummer for Drumline and member of the band Secret Spice, music is an important part of Jeffrey’s life. However, drumming isn’t the only way that he likes to spend his time. For the past 10 years, Jeffrey has tap danced.

“I started tap dancing when I was really young, about 5 or 6, but at first it was my mom that made me do it,” Jeffrey said. “After a couple of years, though, I realized how much fun it was and how easily it came to me.”

Though Jeffrey was reluctant at first to tell people about his tap classes, he eventually received a lot of positive feedback from his friends.

“When I first started dancing, I was really nervous that people would think I was a geek or a sissy,” Jeffrey said. “I always kept it on the down low, but as it turns out everyone I’ve ever told has had a re-ally positive reaction. Admittedly, they do some pretty bad imperson-ations of tap dancers, but on the whole they think it’s awesome.”

Despite the initial reservations with the gender stigma, tap has become a central part of Jeffrey’s life.

“Right now tap dance is extremely important,” Jeffrey said. “It’s

how I express myself, like when I’m playing drums, and I have a really huge family at my dance studio that I can hang out with any time I want. A lot of those dancers are some of my best friends.”

Throughout his experiences with dancing, Jeffrey has observed a growing interest in tap dance in pop culture.

“What really motivates me is the fact that tap dancing is really getting popular again,” he said. “With the integration of jazz and hip-hop culture, as well as movies like Happy Feet that exhibit real tap dancing, a bunch of people are starting to dance, and as a member of that younger generation, it’s awesome being caught up in the art form’s revival.”

I bet you look good on the dance floor

Jeff OlsonJake Webb

trends + traditions52

Three boys who can cut a rug share their dance experiences

Dennis has had a life-long passion for the performing arts, beginning with an early interest in musical theatre, and later working with Ballet Austin.

“I started ballet at 14, the summer going into the ninth grade,” Den-nis said. “I had always been involved in the performing arts throughout my childhood, particularly musical theatre. I had been in a produc-tion of Guys and Dolls as Nathan Detroit and one of my friends in the Pre-Professional Division told me I should try an open class sometime. That summer, I went to New York City with my dad and saw some of my favorite shows on Broadway: A Chorus Line, Spring Awakening and Chicago—all strong dance shows in some aspect. The shows truly inspired me to start taking my craft seriously.”

After working with Ballet Austin for the past year, Dennis was asked in November to play a rat in The Nutcracker.

“Dancing in The Nutcracker for the first time at the Long Center was an eye-opening experience,” Dennis said. “Watching the produc-tion come together from backstage is a completely different experi-ence. I got to observe the different components of a professional full-length ballet come together.”

With this impressive performance behind him, Dennis looks for-ward to his bright future in both ballet and musical theatre, including possible options for college.

“Right now, I’m keeping my options open, but I know ballet will have some kind of position in my future,” Dennis said. “I’ve looked into company traineeships for ballet and conservatories for musical theatre. I’m actually going to go visit Boston Conservatory and NYU this year, two of my top picks for musical theatre. I like keeping my options open, which also means maintaining my academics.”

For now, Dennis leaves after seventh period to take classes each day for two to three hours at Ballet Austin to make the most out of his talent.

“I’ve learned that there are things that can’t be expressed in words,” he said. “Movement is integral to communication. From the start of the audition to the last performance, the process is just fulfilling.”

At this year’s Spotlight, the audience noticed one very differ-ent costume in one performance. On closer inspection, they real-ized that this year, Dance I fea-tured the only male dance student at Westlake—David Mullins.

“I took dance simply because I really like dancing,” David said. “I started dancing when I was 8 or 9, and I danced all through elementary and middle school. I finally took dance this year be-cause my schedule worked out.”

On first look, you’d never think that David would be a dancer. A dedicated CX debater, he devotes most of his time to re-search and preparing for various tournaments. However, he sets aside time in his busy schedule for dance.

“Debate takes up the majority of my time, but the nights before try-outs and the rehearsals before Spotlight got pretty busy, because I really wanted to get it right,” David said.

As a member of Dance I, David learns a variety of danc-

ing styles and combinations, but certain types of dancing appeal to him more than others.

“My favorite is definitely hip-hop,” David said. “It’s just really fun, because you can have a lot of energy. You get to improvise more, and it’s not as technical as other dances.”

Though he didn’t make Star Steppers last semester, David hopes to win a spot on the dance team at the next audition.

“I’ll try again,” David said. “I really enjoyed the try-out dances, actually. They were really hard, and we had to learn them in only three days, but hopefully I’ll make it next time.”

In spite of being the only male face in Dance I, David views the uniqueness of his position as a positive thing.

“Being a male dancer is awe-some,” David said. “I get my own dressing room all to myself. People ask if others make fun of me, but they don’t. Everything’s been great. Dance is awesome.”

—Anisha Ganguly

I bet you look good on the dance floor

David MullinsJake Webb

Dennis DacarettBarrett Wilson

People as directionally challenged as I am should consider the invention of the Glob-al Positioning System a godsend. With one simple press of a button you have immediate feedback regarding your current location, des-tination and the all-important restaurants and landmarks in between. This electronic map also helped revolutionize the realm of treasure hunting into the form of geocaching (see side bar), allowing everyone willing to spend the money for a GPS the opportunity to discover riches in their own backyard.

Like most electronics, the GPS carries with it one major flaw that prevents it from being the perfect navigational tool—you have to know how to work it. This is one key aspect that keeps floods of people from descending upon the geocaches. Although this truly isn’t a manufacturing fault, some might disagree, thinking that just by owning a GPS you morph into a living, breathing, navigational expert. I would like to scoff at the stupidity of these people, but then I would be considered a hypocrite, seeing that I, too, wandered into the search for geocaches in Austin without knowing how to use the tool that was sup-posed to help.

In my defense, it was not me who decided to tramp clueless into the unknown. That mis-take can be blamed on my friend, sophomore Andrew Guengerich, who actually convinced me to go geocache. I was tentative as to whether Andrew truly knew how to interpret the GPS correctly, but after being told that the cache was not too far away from where An-drew lived and he knew exactly where it was, I decided to join him. During our time trying to find the geocache, however, I would come to regret the decision.

The first major obstacle was getting from Andrew’s house to near where we thought the geocache was, since it involved us precariously riding our bikes along Stratford, and then down Red Bud Trail.

After safely making it down the two roads with no major incidents, Andrew and I arrived at Red Bud Isle. Directly crosswise from Red Bud Isle lies a small bridge with a steel gate on it, on which signs are posted saying “No Trespassing.” I, being brilliant and having keen observation skills, recognized that it was probably not a good idea to go beyond the gate, but since Andrew said the geocache was directly behind it, we decided to make the trek anyways. Throwing our shoes to the other side, we swam the short distance under the bridge to the road beyond the gate and began

walking. Barely three minutes later, Andrew realized his mistake.

“I think that it is on the other side of the dam,” Andrew confessed.

Frustrated, we turned back. By this time, a stitch in my side had progressively gotten worse, and my patience was waning.

“How far away is it now?” I whined. “Only .5 miles,” Andrew replied. We were noticeably closer, though Andrew

quickly realized an obstacle to our success. We were on the Hula Hut side, and the geocache was located directly across the lake. Having no mode of transportation across the lake made us debate the options. I jokingly said that we could ask someone to give us a lift to the other shore, but Andrew took me seriously.

“How about we ask that guy?” Andrew said. Of course, he just had to be pointing towards the shadiest looking man on the lake. Shirtless and covered with tattoos, the guy appeared more likely to stab us than give us a ride across the lake. However, Andrew was not fazed at all, and proceeded to ask him.

After giving us a did-you-really-just-ask-me-that look, he replied, “Yes.” Surprised, Andrew and I got in the back of the boat, and after being dropped off we found yet another problem. The geocache was located in what seemed to be impenetrable vegetation.

Soaked to the bone, Andrew and I contin-ued on, looking for the elusive cache that had caused so much anguish. Among the harm-less native plants, vines with noticeably large thorns grew, which covered both mine and Andrew’s legs with red scratches. We slowly gained on the geocache…45…40…30…noth-ing. A mere 32 feet away, we realized that the cache was on the other side of a 10-foot metal fence. By this time I was too exhausted to be the extremely disappointed person I should have been, and we simply turned back the way we came. Hitchhiking on another boat, we made it back to the other side of the lake and proceeded down the hill to Red Bud Isle.

Though it was disappointing that we were not able to find a cache filled with crappy objects and all of their delights, my first try at geocaching turned out to be an immensely fun new experience for me. It allowed me to do something that I never dreamed of doing and made me remember that complete strang-ers were capable of huge acts of kindness. For anyone who has not already had a try at geocaching, I would highly recommend it, but only if you have a chunk of a day to spare.

—Jake Bitting

Caching inTale of defeat, utter confusion

For those wondering what geo-caching actually is, it basically is a modernized treasure hunt. Anyone with a GPS, patience and a mild sense of direction can join in the search, given that they do a few things ahead of time. One of these is down-loading the coordinates of the geocache of interest from any number of places: another GPS, online at geocaching.com, or a disc. Here are a couple more things to keep in mind:•The geocache being searched for is usually con-tained in a small plastic box, and is usually well hidden.•When you find a geocache, you are welcome to take anything in it. However, for everything you take, you must replace it with something of equal or greater value.•You can geocache pretty much anywhere. Currently there are over 700,000 in 100 countries.

Geocaching:S

W

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E

If there is one thing I have learned from

living among human beings for 18 years, it

is that people love to believe they

are right. Men and women alike will do everything in their power to

convince you that they are 100 percent

correct in a matter even when they have no idea what

they are talking about. Thus, mis-taken beliefs are made.

Urban legends, myths, ru-mors—they are all the same. And

how exactly is that? Well, they all exist to con-vince people that they are accurate. Take for example, the middle finger. I cannot tell you how many times I have been told that flipping others off had its origins in the French Revolu-

tion. In reality, there are references to this “bad” hand gesture in the ancient Greek com-edy The Clouds. How did I find such miracu-lous information? I simply took one minute of my time and typed it in Google. Ah, but that is the one step the public does not take.

It is actually quite astounding the amount of information that humans believe in that is simply not true. Hair does not grow back thicker or darker after it has been shaved. Gum does not take a long time to pass through your stomach. Daddy Long Legs actually can bite you and are not extremely venomous. The list goes on. So who or what do we blame? Well, word of mouth is one of the fastest ways for false information to spread. As for those who do the spreading, it is simply a little bit of stupidity and gullibility mixed together.

So the next time you hear that a goldfish’s memory only lasts three seconds, or that you should wait to go swimming after you eat, make a loud, indignant snort and reply that you know better thanks to The Featherduster.

—Lee Caffee

Clearing up some more urban myths —The color red does not attract bulls—People do not only use 10 percent of their brain—There are not more people currently alive than have ever died—The average person does not swallow eight spiders a year—Adult opossums do not hang by their tails—Walt Disney was not frozen upon his death—Lemmings do not hurl themselves off cliffs

How to find the factsYou might be wondering where I found this information. It really was not hard. First and foremost, there is the powerful tool of Google at the world’s disposal. I suggest you use it. Second, there is a great site called Snopes that will clear up any urban myths you might hear—it addresses whether or not the rumor is accurate and sources where its data is collected. Finally, you can always resort to the professionals—the Mythbusters. If you go to Google and type in “Mythbusters results,” the first link will show you every experi-ment the two Discovery channel gurus have attempted and the verdicts that followed based on their deductions.

Facing the facts

Common misconceptions, how to catch them

Michelle Ling

best

Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends by Coldplay—Coldplay has made their living by riding catchy, radio-friendly singles into the top of the Billboard charts. With Viva la Vida they continue to do exactly that while still experimenting with and refining their sound, striking a fine balance between pop and art rock. It’s the boldest album they’ve made by far and easily the best.

Oracular Spectacular by MGMT—2008 was a great year for new bands, but the debut from this Brooklyn indie duo tops them all. Though the song quality is not consis-tent all the way through and the three singles really are the best songs on the album, it is a remarkable first effort from a band that should be around for a long time.

—Maff Caponi

Dear Science by TV on the Radio—The third album from this post-punk rock band from New York is that rare experimental art rock album that someone other than music critics can rave about. Combining hip-hop, horns, passionate and pointed lyrics, euphoric choruses and bit-tersweet melodies, this is an album that is more than just musically stunning; TV on the Radio have captured the mood of the world and are reveling in it.

Movies2008 featured Jokers, millionaires, robots

MusicIndie debuts, come-

backs rule 2008 These are The Featherduster’s favorite mov-ies of the past year. Though some got more Oscar recognition than others, The Featherduster trusts our own judgment considerably more than that of an organization which continues to allow George Lucas to make movies.

1The Dark Knight—If by now you don’t know that Heath Ledger gave (literally) the performance of a lifetime as The Joker then you clearly live in a cabin in the woods of Montana and we’re really not quite sure how you got this magazine. In addition, the rest of the acting was solid, the script was not nearly as cheesy as a superhero movie should be, the plot was intense and engaging and it fea-tured the single coolest car/truck stunt ever.

Slumdog Millionaire—Though slightly over the top at times, Danny Boyle’s masterpiece about an Indian boy whose life was a series of fortuitous circumstances that al-lowed him to win the Indian equivalent of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? is still one of the best and most popular movies in recent years, especially for one without any big-name actors. Beautifully directed and shot, it is easily the most aesthetically pleasing film of the year.

Iron Man—It may have been “just” a summer blockbuster, but it was a very good one, with Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow delivering excellent performances that help take the movie to another level. There is a surprising amount of depth to the characters and even though the story isn’t as compelling as The Dark Knight, it is engag-ing, funny and visually exciting.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button—It’s a weird movie with a weird premise. But the fantastic acting of Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, as well as the pseudo-artsy and brilliant directing of David Fincher and some amazing technical trickery to age Brad Pitt from 80 to 18 turns this F. Scott Fitzgerald short story into a very fulfilling award winner.

WALL-E—Most animated movies these days are aw-ful, tired remakes of the same plot with a different cute, unique dog or child who strives to “be yourself” in a sea of poorly crafted opposition. WALL-E (the robot) is just a so-cially awkward robot who wants to impress the cute robot and escape the fat humans. Both excellently animated and written, this is a very rare “kids” movie.

Death Magnetic by Metallica—Metallica’s career was dead in the water following 2003’s dreadful St. Anger and they were quickly becoming hard rock’s biggest joke (after Nickleback). Death Magnetic began and completed their return to the top of the heavy metal scene before the rest of the music industry knew what hit them.

Consolers of the Lonely by The Raconteurs—This might be the rare side project that turns into something bigger than the original. Jack White, of White Stripes fame, combined with solo artist Brendan Benson and two members of the Greenhornes to drop a near-class-sic alternative rock album that won over critics and fans alike.

3

5

2

4

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In my honest, humble and infallible opinion as Reviews Editor of this most glorious publication, The Featherduster, these are the five “best” albums realeased in 2008, which was quite a good year for music. I am sure that many will disagree with these choices; unfortunately for them, they are wrong.

January 21. Why is that day special, you ask? No, not because it’s the birthday of famed Russian mathematician Ivan Mikheevich Pervushin, but you would almost be right if that’s what you thought. On Jan. 21, Lost, the best show on television since The Joy of Painting, commenced with its fifth season.

Explaining the plot of Lost to someone who hasn’t watched it before is a nigh impossible task, with a difficulty level similar to consuming a large number of saltines and not choking to death. Essentially, it’s about a group of survivors whose plane crashes on a mysterious magi-cal island. Imagine having a dartboard, and on all of the different parts of the dartboard, you had really bad ideas for TV plot lines. Now, imag-ine going up to that dartboard, blindfolding yourself, throwing some darts, and then basing a TV show around whatever crazy idea your darts land on. This might seem like a horrible idea, but somehow, Lost manages to take those ideas and make them not suck. The majesty of Lost, and what makes people not like it, is how insane the story gets. In the first season, the survivors are nearly mauled by a polar bear. A polar bear that lives on an island in the Pacific Ocean. Things just get crazier from there. Soon enough, the survivors are getting attacked by a giant smoke monster and

discovering random hatches in the middle of the island. Eventually, the survivors manage to blow open the hatch and inside, they discover mysterious ladder that leads to EVEN MORE MYSTERY.

And all of this happens within the first season. Eventually, it is revealed (spoiler alert!) that the smoke monster

belongs to the DHARMA Initiative, a research project that took place in the ‘70s and ‘80s in order to study the properties of the island. The members of DHARMA were all eventually killed by Ben Linus, a disgruntled member of the project who is in cahoots with the “native” inhabitants of the island, called The Others.

During the final episode of last season, Ben moved the island in order to escape from mercenaries sent by Charles Widmore, the father of Desmond’s girlfriend. Naturally, this has some hilarious repercus-sions in the form of the island not moving in space, but moving in TIME! This gives the characters on the show ample room to start using some time-related puns. If one character were to ask “Where are we?”

the designated response is now “Where? Mo’ like WHEN! OH SNAP!”

With only two seasons remaining for Lost, any-one who wants to should hop aboard the Lost Express before the train goes completely off

the rails…WITH AWESOME.—Zach Wasfi

Lost in translationHit TV show befuddles, delights viewers

The characters on Lost are often just as confusing as the story. Naturally, everyone on the ill-fated voy-age happens to have some sort of sordid past and luckily, everyone who wasn’t exciting died when the plane crashed. The characters’ pasts are primarily developed through the use of flashbacks that show the wacky adventures the characters went through in order to end up on flight 815.

Jack Shepard is probably the most important main character on the show. He is the leader of the survivors, almost a shepherd to their flock. He and another survivor, Claire, share the same father but neither of them know that. So it’s sort of like Star Wars, but with less incest.

Kate is the sassy woman of the group. She blew up her abusive father’s house to protect her mother. But seeing as murder is still illegal, she became a fugitive in the process. Her tracking skills come in handy, being on a big island and whatnot.

Sawyer is like the hooker with a heart of gold, ex-cept that instead of being a hooker, he’s a con man.

His dad killed his mother and himself after they fell for a con artist’s scheme when Sawyer was nary more than a tike. Jack, Kate and Sawyer also happen to form a love triangle—as if things weren’t saucy enough!

Sayid is an Arab. Thankfully, in today’s non-racist world of modern television, only a few people accuse him of being a terrorist. He also happens to have worked in the Iraq Republican Guard as an interrogator. He helped a childhood friend escape from execution, and has been trying to atone for his scarred past ever since. This makes him possibly the only Arab on American television who can be both awesome and teach viewers an important moral lesson. Just like Mr. Rogers.

John Locke was a paraplegic who was told that he couldn’t partake in a spirit walk, due to the fact that he couldn’t walk. He found that after he crashed onto the island, he could magically walk again. Naturally, he very much enjoys being able to use his legs, and has serious doubts about leaving the island. Every so often, like some sort of clever

Scooby-Doo-esque ne’er do well, he foils the plans of the survivors who attempt to leave the island.

Hurley is the overweight person on the island, and therefore, plays the comic relief. He also happens to be a millionaire, having won $114 million by winning the lottery using a series of numbers which he believes to be cursed, primarily because they continue to reappear to haunt him.

Ben is the show’s antihero. The leader of The Oth-ers, he has no problem manipulating or killing the rest of the gang to get what he wants, to the point of even coercing Sayid into becoming his own personal hitman. He is also tasked with bringing back six of the survivors who managed to get off of the island.

Desmond crashed his boat on the island while he was participating in a race around the world, to prove to his girlfriend’s father that he wasn’t a total loser. He also spent three years living in the hatch, under the belief that the whole island was ravaged by a contagious disease.

The CharactersKatherine Finn

I was going to write a headline and then I started playing Tetris

The intro I was going to write for this story was going to be awesome. It was going to be funny, engaging and totally going to get you ready to read a completely amazing story. Attractive females would have approached me in the hallway to flirt with me (get in line, ladies) just because of how flipping sweet it was going to be. Like I said, I was going to write something 18 different kinds of cool, but I got senioritis, so I didn’t.

To reach the pinnacle of one’s high school career is truly an experience like no other. Braving these hallways and surviving the stern talking-to’s of the school librarians gives one more knowledge and maturity than any freshman would think themselves capable of gaining in just four years. Despite this, the average senior comes to the end of his high school ca-reer to find himself filled with just one emotion: apathy.

Seriously guys, this is what it’s like being a senior? Grant-ed, the disdain I remember seniors having for me when I was a freshman makes more sense from this perspective, but I expected better. Where are the pranks? Where is the six-inch-long beard I was going to grow? What I’m trying to say here is, “When Lord!? When’s gonna be my time?”

The answer is now. Come on seniors, “Carpe Señor.” Seize the senior. Unless that senior is your grandfather. He’s old, and that’s just disrespectful.

I am issuing a call to the seniors: begin living like you’re about to leave. You’re not going to see these freshmen again; it’s entirely alright for you to treat them like something disgusting you would wipe off your shoe if you stepped in it. The same thing applies to just about everyone else here. It’s completely okay for you to begin avoiding the friends you’ve secretly begun to dislike. It’s perfectly fine if you want to walk up to that guy who made fun of you in middle school and tell him he’s a jerk. And it is certainly permissible for you

to inform your ex-girlfriends or ex-boyfriends that you bought their Christmas present that one year at a garage sale.

The failure on the part of the senior class to re-alize they’re about to leave has also created a trou-bling lack of senior pranks. At no point has anyone this year pulled the traditional attack on the junior parking lot. This prank was a classic. It didn’t cre-ate extra work for the custodians or disrupt class. More importantly, it kept the underclassmen from

getting uppity. When I was an underclass-

man, we treated the seniors with something resembling respect. Sure we gave them lip, but we waited until their backs were turned and we were sure there could be no chance of retribution. Today’s underclass-men sass us like they’re minor-ity citizens in a bad ‘80s sitcom right to our faces because they know we aren’t going to retali-ate.

Seniors have exercised too much leniency for too long. Some have even gone to the dis-tasteful length of dating fresh-men (you know who you are).

In lieu of this, I am issuing a demand to any and all underclassmen: stop step-ping on the W in the Commons.

This seemingly simple act will have vast impor-tance. For one thing, it will serve as a symbolic act in which underclassmen express their commitment to honoring Westlake traditions. More important-ly, it will give power-tripping seniors something to cling to. Let’s be honest here, no one is ever actu-ally going to follow through on the threat to spit on freshmen who break this rule. I mean come on, that would just be icky.

But remember seniors, it’s a brand new day. So go ahead and make that “that’s what she said” joke in your physics class with pride and pretend you don’t know your siblings because they’re freshmen, because it may be your last opportunity to do so.

—Trevor Wallace

The top 10 ways to procrastinate1. Doodle

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Searching for direction?1. Cut out the blue square along the outermost solid line. 2. Starting with this side up, fold in half along one diagonal line. Open it back up, and then fold in half along the other. 3. Unfold completely.4. Fold the corners over the solid lines so that all corners meet in the middle and the colors are facing up.5. Flip the fortune teller over.6. Fold the corners forward over the light dotted lines so that all of the corners meet in the middle.7. Fold in half, then fold in half again.7. Slide your fingers under the flaps on the outside of the fortune teller, then push your fingers together.

—Hetty Borinstein

>>>

>>>

The results are in; the indisputable winner of the plasma-fueled death match between singular-horned creatures is…drum roll please, neither! See, the high-tech monitors that we have doing the computation have this outcome: Solo would indeed cause the most injury upon Chuck and indeed give him lethal injuries, how-ever Solo would then accidentally ingest some of Chuck’s blood which would give him a fatal curse, thus causing utter destruction. So, we decided that this was kind of morbid and came to the realization that these creatures need to be free. Last we heard they were at the county fair, and Chuck won Solo a teddy bear. How cute.

—Leland Krych

Statistics Chuck Hornis Horn SoloHeight 8 feet high 4 feet wide

Length 12 feet, including 2 foot long horn

26 feet, including 10 foot long tusk

Flailing Capacity Befuddling Tremendous

Magical Properties Horn and hair used as wand core and potion ingredient, used to resurrect Voldemort

None, but it’s darn good at flailing, aw shucks!

Favorite Soda Mr. Pibb Orange Fanta

If I could be a popstar I would be...

Gene Siskel, oh that’s not an answer? Um... Yanni?

Sugar Ray

Favorite Dustin Hoffman movie

I’d have to say Hook The Graduate, whoo party!

There is one question that I have always wondered about, one little inquiry that has always piqued my interest, tickled my curiosity, wiggled my attention, shaboopied my confloigle. Oh wait, that last one was inappropriate, sorry. Um, but really, haven’t you always wondered, in a fair fight, who would win: a unicorn or a narwhal? Yes, yes, I know they are both masters of their terrain. The narwhal, who I will dub “Horn Solo” would be the undisputed guru of the sea, and likewise the unicorn “Chuck Hornis,” would be the predominant leader of land. But say in some crazy mixed-up world where water was land and land was water, and Solo and Chuck were nowhere near this place and fighting in some plasma, who would win? The Featherduster is here for answers. But first, stats.

Theunihornsof thebattleM

ichelle Ling

Showing off for out-of-towners—Hamilton PoolRelatives coming in for the holidays? Need a surefire way to impress the socks off your friends? There are few other destinations in the area that offer a level of natural beauty as remarkable as Hamilton Pool. The picturesque swimming hole and 50-foot waterfall are definitely worth the half-hour drive and parking fee, as this nature preserve is truly one-of-a-kind. Swimming, hiking and picnicking are all welcome when weather permits, but don’t forget to bring a camera, as the collapsed grotto and canyon are a great habitat for wildlife and lush plant popula-tions.

First dates—Mayfield ParkForget dinner and a movie. If you’re looking for a date idea that is cheap, fun and romantic, look no further than Mayfield Park. Many Austini-tes pass by Mayfield on their way to Mount Bonnell, not knowing of the park’s solitude and beauty. At just 22 acres, Mayfield offers a series of easy and circuitous trails that meander in the lush surrounding woods. In ad-dition to koi ponds and a historic cabin, Mayfield Park is famous for the bevy of peacocks that are often seen roaming the property.

Picnics or barbeques—Pease ParkDuring Austin’s brief period of spring-like weather, few places are as inviting as Pease Park. Home to Austin’s one and only Eeyore’s Birthday Party celebration, Pease Park is bustling with interesting individuals on any nice day. Plenty of picnic tables and ample room to spread out make the park a perfect destination for a picnic or barbeque, in addition to a game of Frisbee golf or a dip in the wading pool. Expansive fields allow sports fans plenty of practice room, and the playground makes the park inviting for young children (and the young at heart).

Nature walks—Commons FordCommons Ford is one of those hidden gems that should stay hid-den, or else the charm of its privacy and peacefulness might wear off. The park is a great place to spend an afternoon—playing Frisbee, hiking, explor-ing the waterfall or just lounging in the sunshine. The park includes an unfurnished ranch house which is available to rent for day use, not to men-tion the best climbing tree in the county. Nestled against the Lake Austin shoreline, the park offers great opportunities for boating, fishing and water sports. It is a prominent destination among the bird-watching community, as its isolation pro-vides a habitat for many rare species.

—Leslie Reynolds

Here in Austin, we love our green space. In fact, most Austinites will tell you that they prefer fresh air to fluorescent lights any day. But the only problem is, with so many great places to be outside, how do you choose where to spend those valuable hours of daylight? But don’t worry, I’ve spent countless hours sunbathing and playing Frisbee in the name of research, and I’ve compiled a guide to the best parks in Austin for…

More information:614 Commons Ford Rd. Open Tuesday through Sunday, 1 to 6 p.m.

More information:1100 Kingsbury St. 78703Open 6 a.m.-10 p.m.

More information:3505 West 35th Street, 78703Open during daylight hours

More information:Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.$8 parking, $3 biker/pedestrian

Going out on a limbExploring parks around town

Hannah Kunz

Hannah Kunz

Hannah KunzOpen Tuesday through Sunday, Common’s Ford Park is a popular location for bird watchers and water sports enthusiasts.

Peacocks and koi ponds are among the attractions of Mayfield Park, a 22-acre plot just down the road from Mount Bonnell.

Pease Park, part of the Shoal Creek Greenbelt, is home to the Jazz Festival and Eeyore’s Birthday party.

Stuff We Like

Manual Pencil SharpenersInstead of “What’s the point?” the theme of this issue should be “Where’s the point?” because manual pencil sharpeners should just be renamed Pencil Manglers. I mean seriously, how many times have you stuck your semi-sharp pencil into the manual pencil sharp-ener over the trashcan that sort of wobbles when you use it, and, after several loud cranks, you withdraw your pencil to find not only that the lead is nowhere to be seen, but that your pencil has effectively been bruised and battered in a writing utensil hate crime. Even if your pencil does come out, and it is sharp by some miracle, as soon as you sit down to start writing the lead falls out and you curse that wobbly abomination and hope you don’t mess up your notes because today you’re using a pen.

Kurt RussellYou call yourself a man? Have you ever escaped New York with only an eye patch and a cool looking ‘80s haircut? Have you ever battled kung fu masters and an ancient evil sorcerer in Chinatown? We bet you haven’t even saved the world from a shapeshifting alien in Antarctica, have you? Weakling. Don’t feel bad, though. No one is as cool as Kurt Russell. In fact, no one even comes close to rocking those random B mov-ies you stumble across on FX or TNT quite as well as this guy. In fact, Kurt Russell is so good that he doesn’t even need to be in the movie to be the best actor in it. He has evolved above us lesser beings into something beyond—something we can only call “fwiibunkle.”

SnuggieHold it. Hold everything. We have a great idea. What if you took a blanket…and added a sleeve…NO WAIT! TWO sleeves…Sweet Maria, what an absolutely glorious idea. No! It’s beyond glorious. It’s uber-fuber glorious. What? That’s not a word? Too bad! This idea is too good for real words. And we will call it…SNUGGIE! Muhahaha! Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you saying? Someone already made this? You mean someone STOLE our IDEA? DEATH TO THEM! DEATH TO ALL!

Intersection of Bee Caves and 360How do we love thee, o infernal convo-luted obstruction of traffic? Allow us to count the ways. Not one, not two, but three blessedly useless rows of traffic lights do you possess, allowing for maximum congestion capabilities. The construction surrounding your exterior will never be completed, but we are quite alright with this; the mass of attractive orange traffic barrels that block half the lanes compliments your inability to facilitate the swift and speedy transference of persons from one side of your cursed funnel to the other. With the extra 20-30 minutes we spend sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic that stretches all the way to the outskirts of Cuernavaca because of the catastrophe wait-ing at your border, we have that much more time to contemplate not giving any money to the kindly old homeless disabled vets.

Moira Bering

Katy Doughty