Harbinger Issue 1Shawnee Mission EastPrairie Village, KSSept. 7, 2010

the

What’s Inside

Head of the PackStudents apply to college early

Page 3

Exchange StudentsQ&A with the four new students

Page 13

Summer Roundup“What’d you do this summer?”

Page 16-17

Ice Cream BonanzaThe summer’s hottest cold spots

Page 24-25

Lancer FootballFull coverage of the upcoming season

Page 28-29

1.72An Inside Look

The number of AP/IB tests a school takes is widely used to judge its achievements and success

or the first time ever a Shawnee Mission school made Newsweek’s “America’s Best High Schools” list. In fact, both East and Shawnee Mission South were named to the list this past summer.

The list uses a ranking system wherein the number of Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalau-reate (IB) and Cambridge tests a school gives are taken and divided by the number of seniors in the graduating class that year. Any public school with a score of 1.000 or higher makes the list. East’s score last year was 1.718 and ranked 938th while South was 1,705th with a score of 1.025.

The honor correlates with a recent rise in the number of AP exams taken by East students during the past three

years. The number of “passed” exams has also been grad-ually improving since a dramatic drop in scores occurred in 2007. As more AP tests are being taken, students and staff members, including AP Calculus teacher Rick Roy-er, are wondering whether the greater stress placed on the AP exam is the right thing to do.

Since 2007, the number of exams taken by East stu-dents has risen dramatically. Nearly 300 more tests were taken last year than in 2007. This jump coincides with a district policy requiring students in AP courses to take, but not “pass,” the AP exam to receive the AP designation on their transcript. District director of curriculum and instruction Betsy Regan said the district doesn’t believe a student has truly participated in an AP course until they have prepped and taken the AP exam.

“Is it nice that two of our schools are on [the News-week] list?” Regan said. “Absolutely, and I would celebrate that, and as you know, particularly in these challenging economic times and as families are searching for schools for their students to be able to use those competitive fac-tors, it’s very nice for the district, but that’s not the rea-son we went into the policy change.”

According to Leigh Anne Neal, associate superin-tendent for communications, the policy change was in-tended to ensure the rigor of the AP course. Neal said that the AP exam is a big part of the AP course and prepares students for tests they may see in college. Neal also said that while getting more students to take the test was the major aim of the policy, it was not the only one.

FLoganHeley

ABOVE 1.72 is East’s Challenge Index score, which is used to compare it to other schools on Newsweek’s “America’s Best High Schools” list. This number ranked East as the 938th “best” public high school in the nation.

Continued on page 2

Principal Karl Krawitz said that the only reason he was ever given for the district policy was to get a SMSD school on Newsweek’s “America’s Best High Schools” list. Jay Mathews, a columnist for the Washington Post and the developer of the Newsweek list, said he is happy to use the clout of Newsweek and people’s needing to be on the list to encourage them to do what he calls “the right thing.”

“Anything they’re going to do to get on the list is going to be for the benefit of students at that school,” Mathews said. “There’s nothing they are going to do to hurt students since the more kids you have taking AP, the more kids you have that are likely to go to college.”

Senior Lauren Stanley doesn’t agree with the district poli-cy. She feels it isn’t fair for students to go through the rigors of an AP course, but not get credit for it because they didn’t take the AP exam.

“People who don’t take the test have done just as much work as [those that do],” Stanley said. “Just because you don’t take the test doesn’t negate any of what you’ve done before.”

Royer believes the policy is “self-serving” because of the district’s desires to have a school on the Newsweek list. On a personal level, he would like to see the policy scrapped.

“I wish that I could teach Calculus the best way I think the students learn it and not worry about a particular evaluation at the end,” Royer said.

Even so, Royer doesn’t think the policy is necessarily a bad one to have. He believes that having students cover the dif-ficult AP material is good for them. One problem he makes a note of is that since East allows any student to enroll in AP courses and take the AP exam, the results East receives aren’t as high as schools that encourage only certain, higher-level students to take the AP exam.

U.S. History AP teacher Vicki Arndt-Helgesen feels that an AP course is complete when the student takes the AP exam.

“I think that [it] is really a good thing when students take that exam—kind of like a final blessing,” Arndt-Helgesen said. “To me, it’s a celebration.”

While Arndt-Helgesen encourages all of her students to take the exam, she feels that if they have taken an AP course that follows the syllabus that AP has approved, the students should receive the AP designation on their transcript.

AP exams are graded on a number scale—a one being the lowest score possible and a five being the highest. Many pub-lic universities give credit for fours and fives, and some accept threes. A three or higher is generally considered to be a “pass-ing” score. In 2007, 72 percent of AP tests taken at East came back with a score of three or higher. The following year, the district policy mandating that students take the AP exam to get the AP designation on their transcript was put in place.

In 2008, the percentage of passing scores went down to 58 percent. It then rose one percent in 2009 and last year was 65 percent.

Even though East’s AP performance has improved in the last three years, it still lags behind two of the four other Shaw-nee Mission schools including South, the perennial leader in SMSD AP exam scores. In 2009, 82 percent of AP exams taken at South received a score of three, four or five. At West, that number was 67 percent.

Dr. Krawitz believes the reason for East’s scores is because students don’t take the AP exams seriously enough because they don’t see any value in it, even though each exam costs $87.

“They don’t want to get a four or five because they don’t want the credit,” Krawitz said. “Look at the socioeconomics of our [school]. Do people here necessarily worry about whether they can save money on a three-hour course? I don’t think so.”

According to Mathews, East’s scores are slightly above the national average and what he would call “a very good

number.” He is also glad that East doesn’t restrict who can enroll in AP classes such as schools like Rockhurst High School. According to Greg Owsley, the math department head at Rockhurst, a student must receive an 87 percent or higher in Pre-AP math in order to take AP Calculus and similar restrictions are present in other subject areas. Ow-sley said the rationale for that policy is because allowing lower-end students into honors courses would take away resources from the higher-level students.

“They deserve to have just as much attention for their sake,” Owsley said. “They may get a five on the test if I just threw a book at them, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t get something out of the class.”

Owsley believes that school and district policies en-couraging as many students as possible to take the AP ex-ams aren’t there solely to benefit students.

“The motive for [policies that encourage students to take the AP exam] is to make their school look better, to help [the student] get into college because they have AP on their transcripts,” Owsley said. “And AP likes that and will promote that because AP can make more money. Know what I mean? They’re getting more out of it and the stu-dents are getting something out of it by being more com-petitive on their transcript…that’s true. But they’re not necessarily learning more.”

The district allows any student that wishes to enroll in an AP course because, according to Regan, every student should have the opportunity to take advantage of higher level classes such as AP and IB without having certain re-strictions, such as a “cut score,” placed upon them.

Last year, Royer changed his whole teaching philoso-phy in an effort to have his students do better on the AP exam. He disallowed the use of note sheets and calculators on tests, something he had previously allowed, in an effort to have students study more. He started giving take-home exams instead of worksheets and adjusted in-class tests to focus more on AP topics to prepare students to take the AP exam. His new methods served their purpose as nearly 43 percent of his students who took the exam passed com-pared to just over 11 percent the year before.

Even though his students’ scores improved last year, Royer isn’t sold on the fact that his students know Calcu-lus better.

“It’s hard to write a test that really evaluates how well they understand what’s going on in Calculus, so they’ve got a handful of skills that they seem to emphasize and if the students are good at that, they’re going to score well, even if they aren’t necessarily understanding what they’re doing…” Royer said.

According to Regan, the money students spend on AP exams returns to the district in ways where students wouldn’t necessarily see it such as training teachers and developing curriculum.

“If we wanted to sit down and design college-level courses in Shawnee Mission, we could probably do it,” Re-gan said. “But, we’ve got another entity who can do that for us and that saves us a lot of money.”

Dr. Krawitz thinks that AP exams don’t function as the subject report card they are supposed to. He also feels that testing has become entrenched in society, and not for the better.

“People believe [standardized tests] at face value be-cause it’s the only thing they’ve ever known,” Dr. Krawitz said. “…Testing in this country is big business. And those of us who understand it, understand what it’s being used for and unfortunately, you know, it prevails because it’s backed by money and people believe that… This is a game and you’re in the game. You’re playing the game.”

NEWS02 9 07 10

continued from page 1

SLIGHTLY ADVANCING SCORESMore AP tests taken at East and scores increase by small margin

AP Test Policy Change:Points will no longer be deducted for questions answered wrong.

East students took

AP tests this spring31 more than in ‘09

603 3.8Was the average Chemistry score

ANDand the highest subject average

The core subjects with the most AP tests taken and the average scores in each

KEY: = 2 AP tests

THE BIG THREE

ENGLISHlanguage & compaverage : 3.4

EUROPEAN HIST.average: 2.8

CALCULUS BCaverage: 2.3

RECENT RESULTSa breakdown of East’s

98

86

56

ahead of

KevinSimpson

03 NEWS issue 1

As his plane soared somewhere between Annapolis, Md. and Kansas City, senior Jack Harrigan made up his mind—he wanted to attend the United States Naval Academy.

Harrigan had spent a week at the acad-emy, and he had endured all the rigors that a typical student there goes through. He woke up at 5 a.m. each day. He performed exhaust-ing amounts of push-ups and sit-ups and long runs. He took on the obstacle courses at the academy. And he loved every minute of it.

“When I got back, I realized that I want to be challenged,” Harrigan said. “I don’t want to go to college and just skate through. It was exhausting, but once I got back, I just thought about how I want-ed to go back and do it all over again.”

Harrigan is one of the many high school seniors these days to have made up his mind at such an early date. Ac-cording to a story in an August edition of the New York Times, high school seniors, including some of East’s own, are apply-ing to colleges earlier than ever before.

Counselor Laurie Carter has been at East for ten years, and she has seen the upward trend in admissions firsthand. She attributes this spike to the improving overall awareness of students toward the application process.

“School [admissions] are getting more competitive,” Carter said. “The value of a college education has increased. People get it more so than they did in the past. There is a huge value in having a col-lege diploma so that you can get a job.”

Madison Loeb, an admissions rep-resentative at Kansas State University, feels that college applicants have be-come “smarter consumers,” leading to the increase in earlier admissions.

“It seems like students are smarter about knowing what’s out there,” Loeb said. “They start searching around their sophomore or junior year, so by the time they get to their senior year, they want to get everything taken care of early.”

Loeb sees a chain effect that pays

off for the student when they ap-ply earlier. The sooner the applicants turns in their admissions, the sooner they can apply for housing and scholar-ships, which can help Loeb out on her end.

“It makes it easier so we can make sure they have everything they need,” Loeb said. “We want students to get scholar-ships just like they do, so we can follow up and help them through the process with more time if they apply earlier.”

Jessica Walters, a senior admissions coun-selor at the University of Kansas, says that she has seen a definite increase in phone calls and e-mails from potential applicants. She sees the trend as a sign that students not only want to figure out their future education as soon as possible, but also or-ganize their future financial commitments.

“Their parents are trying to figure out how much it’s going to cost, and they want to plan for it as soon as pos-sible given the economy,” Walters said.

Both KU and KSU have rolling admis-sions, so the schools can return a quicker decision to students that apply earlier.

While Loeb sees no true drawbacks to an earlier application, Walters has seen cases in which the applicant could have dedicated more time to the process.

“If a student applies early and rushes through their application, they might have some errors and it might not be as concise and neat as it could be,” Walters said. “I don’t want them to apply early just to apply early. That’s the only drawback.”

While Carter said that determin-ing whether a student is applying too early is judged on a case-by-case basis, she can see some of the ways the re-cent trend has benefited her personally.

“We encourage the students to let us know [where they’re apply-ing],” Carter said. “Last year, I wrote 34 recommendations. It takes awhile.”

Senior Alissa Pollack already knows where she’s headed next fall. She attended

a Junior S c h o l a r s

Pro-gram at Miami of Ohio this summer, and now, accord-ing to Pollack, her acceptance at the school will be a mere formality.

“I applied in March for this program, and you go to school all summer and you take classes,” Pollack said. “If you meet all the requirements, you still have to apply but you knew that you get in by August 1. I already know that I got in.”

Pollack filled out an entire college applica-tion to the school and sent it in, and she will get her letter in the mail on Dec. 22. By keep-ing a 3.5 grade point average during her seven-week stay this summer, Pollack assured her-self of a spot at the university in Oxford, Ohio.

Unlike Pollack, Harrigan has just begun a lengthy application process to gain entry to the Naval Academy, which had a 10 percent acceptance rate last fall, according to US News.

“It’s like getting into an Ivy League school, just as hard,” Harrigan said.

Since his dad was in the Marine Corps for 21 years, including service in the first Gulf War, Harrigan was able to clear his first hurdle: a nomination from either the presi-dent, a congressman or another acceptable alternative - in this case a retired Marine. Now, he’s currently working on securing a congressional nomination to the academy in order to improve his chances of admission.

Harrigan sees the benefits in apply-ing to colleges at an earlier date, but he said it hasn’t softened the workload.

“It kind of makes things easier that I don’t have to think about it anymore,” Harrigan said. “But right now, I’m not even working on homework. I’m working on writing to con-gressmen and trying to get letters of recom-

mendation. That’s really replaced my

h o m e w o r k . ”Pollack has enjoyed

the relaxation that comes with know-ing what the future holds. Other seniors haven’t quite made it that far in their col-lege search. Senior Peter Bautz is currently working on applications for 10 different schools, and he estimates that the process, which he began nearly a month ago, has added up to around 20-24 hours of total work. Instead of lounging around before bedtime, Bautz works on supplements to each school’s application, along with es-say writing for his common application.

“It definitely changed my evening routine,” Bautz said.

However, Bautz—who has a current top five of Harvard, Princeton, Amherst, Grinnell and Macalester—hopes that the work that he puts in now will pay off in the long run.

“It’s probably going to stay stressful for the next couple of weeks, but I’m hop-ing to avoid major stress by not waiting until the last minute to submit every-thing,” Bautz said. “I’ve had the luxury of time to be able to sit down without being rushed to write in a week, as opposed to having two months to write a good essay.”

Pollack is past the rigor of college ap-plications, and she’s not looking back.

“It takes so much stress off of senior year,” Pollack said. “Everyone’s worrying about where they’re going to apply, and I don’t have to think about it anymore.”

Take challenging courses to build strong language, mathematics and critical think-ing skills.

Keep a record of academic and co-curric-ular achievements.

Take the PSAT for practice. The results will not be used for college admission.It is never too early to start researching col-leges and universities. vVisit the counseling center for brochures or surf the Web and check out college home pages.

Look at colleges that you are interested in and evaluate the list on a regular basis.Register in a SAT and/or ACT prep class.

Acquire all of the application papers needed for college admission.

freshman sophomore junior seniorCollege Preparation Timeline

THE PACKMore high school seniors are completing their college applications early

National Association for College Admissions Counseling

”

More LOW-INCOME studentsThe club will focus on spreading awareness rather than raising money.

Middle school kids can’t drive home from school after meetings or to events. This could cause less students to be able to participate.

“I think this will make more of the kids more compassionate about global matters. At East, the diversity is limited and some of the kids were not as concerned about life outside of Prairie Village.”

David Muhammad walked into East two years ago as a ninth grade World Geography teacher. The first thing you’d have noticed about him was his

style; he dressed like someone ready for a night on the town. Then you might have taken a look at his personality—how he performed above the calling of his title as a teacher, refusing to pass through the motions like an assembly line conveyor belt. Peel back the layers even further to find a man with a mis-sion, a drive to “educate students about world atrocities.” You might even begin to question who David Muhammad was.

David Muhammad was a teacher.School budget cutbacks forced Muhammad out of East at

the end of last school year, though he remains in the district as a social studies teacher at Trailridge Middle School. Sopho-more Brennan Williams felt his absence immediately.

“I was devastated,” Williams said. “He made each of us feel important, brought us all together. Mr. Mu raised us up that way.”

David Muhammad was a club sponsor.Coalition can be defined by its mission—to help those

who cannot help themselves. This mission is what drives 50 or so kids to attend meetings every Thursday after school in room 202. It’s why they host 8-hour dance marathons and walk up Mission Road without shoes, draw up signs and scribble on sidewalks with chalk, book native speakers from Uganda and hold benefit concerts for sex trafficking; anything that will fund-raise money or aid. It’s also why Muhammad arrives home later on Thursdays.

“As a Social Studies teacher I teach about current events all the time, and that’s one level—recognizing problems,” Muhammad said. “But in Coalition you actually try to do something about [those problems], which is why I want to be involved wherever I go.”

Where is it that Muhammad goes? Not just to a seminar about a world conflict, but to the conflict itself. Muhammad, along with senior Emily Collins, this year’s head of Coalition, will fly to Kampala, Uganda on Dec. 17 for 13 days. They plan to work at St. Mary Kevin Orphanage, designed for kids who have lost at least one parent. For two weeks Collins will teach sewing, while Muhammad gives lessons in Karate. They both do.

The idea for this trip arose after hearing former East stu-

dent Kaley Herman speak to Coalition about her time in Uganda. Collins and Muhammad made constant eye contact as Herman showed videos of the region she’d visited. Later that night Collins told her mother she was going to Africa.

That was last October; they’ve been planning ever since. According to Collins, the trip to Uganda is just one example of how Muhammad does more than is required of him.

“He feels a connection to the world and his eagerness shows,” Collins said. “It’s nice to have someone who not only provides the room and signs the papers, but is also one of the most enthusiastic people in the club.”

David Muhammad was a motivator.After leaving East, Muhammad pledged to remain in-

volved in Coalition. Not only that, he wanted to start his own Coalition at Trailridge.

Muhammad’s speech quickens as he details his plans. First is promotion. He’ll jump on the announcements: “Come sup-port something new!” he’ll tell them. Trailridge has an after-school intramural program, so he’ll stop by and chat with the kids. First meeting kicks off tomorrow. He must inform students right away about Charity Water, Partners in Health, Change the Truth—clubs he learned about through East’s Co-alition. Invisible Children arrives at Trailridge this November to raise awareness; he contacted them over the summer. But he hasn’t forgotten about East’s Coalition. He’ll have to re-member to attend their Love146 benefit concert in the winter. Then he’s off to Uganda with Emily Collins. So much work to be done there. So much work to be done everywhere.

“[At East] I didn’t have to do much more than...keep the kids on task and provide space,” Muhammad said. “They were self determined, asked questions; at Trailridge it might be dif-ferent. I mean the kids are younger and less aware of world issues.”

Williams, however, believes Muhammad will have little trouble recruiting for his new club.

“He got me interested in Coalition in the first place. You see people in [Coalition meetings] you’d never expect to see, because he brings everyone.”

Everywhere, David Muhammad was a role model.Collins stresses that Coalition members miss Muhammad

and will feel the impact of his absence. However, she makes it clear that Coalition is by no means slowing its pace. After all, around 120 kids showed up to this year’s first meeting.

“Sure, it’ll be different,” Collins said. “Mr. Meara is the spon-sor this year and is getting really excited. He’s another young, talented artistic person that Coalition needs. There’s different people all around but we’ll be able to build on the enthusiasm we already have.”

Although Muhammad can no longer attend after-school meetings, he will be there to support dances, fundraisers and other events sponsored by Coalition. Events like Toms’ Walk: A Day Without Shoes, in which Coalition members walked to school without shoes as a demonstration.

If you were to get up early enough on one bitterly cold morning in early April, you’d see a group of fifty or so teen-agers roaming about Mission Road. Looking closer you could tell they were dressed in black with red X’s taped over their chests and back, holding signs, walking without shoes. One man might stick out to you, the ninth grade world geography teacher with the peculiar clothes, for you’d see this man zig-zagging through the mob of kids like a gamma wave. He makes it his mission to talk to everyone. When the group reached East, you’d see the kids drop their signs and hug one another, some crying, a couple people’s feet bleeding. They are happy because they now know that pain, and that means they had accomplished something. This is Muhammad’s fa-vorite memory. To him, it’s the essence of Coalition.

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget that morning,” Muhammad said.

Muhammad carries that memory wherever he goes, whether that’s to a Coalition meeting or Trailridge or the far-away turmoils of Uganda. He wishes every school could share a moment like that bitter April morning. The first school was East, the second will be Trailridge. Two down.

“Mr. Mu has a different sense about him,” Williams said. “Every single thing we do is important to him; I mean he danced for all eight hours at that marathon.”

Who was David Muhammad? During his time at East he was a ninth grade world geography teacher. He was a club sponsor. He was at East for only two years. But he was so much more. He was an advocate for those who could not advocate for themselves. A teacher, but one who taught much more than world geography. A friend. But why think in the past? The question should be who is David Muhammad, for though he has moved on to Trailridge students believe he is still very much a part of East, and his message will be taught here for

years to come.

IanWiseman

schoolNew Goalsame

Differences Muhammad faces starting Coalition at a middle school and how he will adjust

Lack of SPORTS TEAMS”

I think this will make more of the kids more com-passionate about global matters. At East, the di-versity is limited and some of the kids were not as concerned about life outside of Prairie Village.

David Muhammad

Transitioning

Former East teacher David Muhammad brings Coalition to Trailridge Middle School

There are less after school activities for students to be involved in, so more will attend Coalition meetings.

Trailridge

Inability to DRIVE

Higher ethnic DIVERSITY

NEWS04 09 07 10

to

Muhammad discusses plans for Coalition with Trailridge middle schoolers SamanthaBartow

CarolineCreidenberg

JuliaDavis

05NEWSissue 1

LEADING After nearly a decade-long hiatus, the Lancer mascot returns with high hopes

Black leather boots and a flowing jean skirt, topped with a Lancer blue Pep Club Exec shirt, walks down the main hallway. Destina-tion: Pep Assembly. For years, art teacher Jodie Schnakenberg has been attending pep assem-blies, but this year things are a little different. Schnakenberg is now a part of the pep assem-bly. Organizing, planning, and doing.

Last year government teacher, Nick Paris, stepped down as Pep Club sponsor and two new sponsors took his place, Schnakenberg and science teacher Jennifer Davis. This year they plan to make Pep Club stricter, more or-ganized and more involved.

“Revamp” is what Schnakenberg is plan-ning on doing to Pep Club this year. She and Davis want to make pep assemblies, and just

Pep Club in general, more entertaining and interactive.

“This year we are getting involved,” senior Pep Club vice president Cameron Smith said. “And having skits and getting the whole stu-dent body involved too.”

Sophomore Pep Club class representative Addie Anthony said that she thinks the pep assemblies will be more fun. After the first pep assembly Anthony thought they had al-ready improved greatly.

“Everyone participated and we were a lot more peppier than last year,” Anthony said.

She thinks it could still be a lot more orga-nized, but that they will get there.

For the past three years Smith has been on the exec board for pep club and said this year

by far he has the most re-sponsibility. Part of this is because the meetings are mandatory this year. Ac-cording to Schnakenberg, if someone is consistently missing meetings they will be kicked off.

“If you’re not available to be in Pep Club, that doesn’t mean you neces-sarily can’t participate, but in terms of being an exec we need you pres-ent,” Schnakenberg said.

The meetings will also be more organized this year. Anthony feels that they are getting more stuff done at meetings this year than in the past. At the beginning of the meetings the execs go over the past events they held and find ways to improve them for next time. There is an agenda and as Davis reads it off, students brain storm ideas to make events do-able and fun. Pep Club is not always fun and games though, their job for the Lancer Day Pa-rade is to clean up the candy from the streets after the parade. While small things such as picking up candy have been added to Pep Club’s jobs, Anthony feels there is also a big difference in the involvement of underclass-men this year.

“I actually feel like I’m helping plan the pep assemblies this year,” Anthony said.

In years past, senior presidents and Vice Presidents were the ones coming up with the ideas and planning the events. This year, because of the organized meetings, students of all grade levels and positions are contrib-uting. Sophomore class representative, Ali Felman, talked about how the junior seating at the pep assembly wasn’t good and senior Lizzy Ward brought up issues about Lancer Day Parade.

According to Smith new things such as having set group of people attend sports games and maybe even a spirit stick will be happening this year. Skits will be done at pep

assemblies and points might be given out to grades when they attend games.

Senior Pep Club president Caroline Doerr said she thinks the sponsors are a great mix and really balance each other out. Smith and Anthony both said Schnakenberg is the cre-ative one and Davis is the organized one.

“She [Davis] is the very left brain to this op-eration and I’m kind of the real right brain,” Schnakenberg said.

During the meetings, Davis would be the one reading the agenda and writing down ideas, while Schnakenberg would chime in with ideas and thoughts. When Davis ex-plained how they were supposed to pick up candy on the streets after the parade, students explained they had sports and Schnakenberg threw out an idea.

“You’re going to be walking back up any-ways, if you see a Laffy Taffy why not just pick it up,” Schnakenberg said. “It won’t kill ya.”

Pep Club agreed the first pep assembly was a success except for the organization. Also awkward transition periods were an is-sue. They only had two weeks to prepare and believe that with a longer timing period, the assemblies will be even better.

“I hope we start this chain, to get people really proud of being at this school and I’m really proud of the kids who are still here and I think they can re-energize the school,” Schnakenberg said.

There was a hush over the crowd; no one knew what would come next. Principal Karl Krawitz and the administra-tion had just finished their rock tribute to KISS as sophomore Ali Felman walked timidly into the center of the gym for the year’s first pep assembly. Four boys clad in the orange, red, yellow and green of the other Shawnee Mission high schools menacingly walked toward her. They knocked her books to the ground and started pushing her. And then, out of no-where, a figure appeared. Wearing a silver suit and helmet, with a black covers across the eyes and a blue belt with a big letter “E” in the center, the figure approached the boys and took them out one by one. The Lancer mascot had arrived.

For years now, East has been without a mascot. There have been the kids who adorned cheap plastic armor from U.S. Toy, or those that brought homemade shields and swords in spirit, but for the first time in 10 years, East has a legiti-mate mascot.

Senior Logan Heley headed the idea for the costume. He first came up with the plan of getting a Lancer suit during his sophomore year, but only put it into motion last year.

“I felt that our school was lacking the high level of spirit I thought it could attain,” Heley said.

Senior Alex Rorie also played a role in the process of get-ting the costume. Hoping to be the mascot of the University of Missouri next year, Rorie spoke with athletic director Jim Ricker last year about getting a mascot at East in order to get some experience before the collegiate level. While the idea hadn’t fully matured yet, Heley also approached Ricker with a plan.

With the athletic director’s assistance, the Gridiron and All-Sports Booster Clubs donated the funds necessary to help

finance the project. Scollon Productions, a well-known mas-cot company responsible for the University of Kansas Jay-hawk and Kansas City Chief’s KC Wolf, designed and manu-factured the mascot.

“I really think it will be a great addition,” Ricker said. “It will just add to the spirit of what’s going on.”

The mascot’s job at games will be to get the crowd pumped up; “rabble-rouse” as Heley puts it.

“They will hopefully work with the cheerleaders and maybe the drill team to perform some stunts and some cho-reographed things,” Heley said.

Six people will share the responsibility and honor of be-ing the face behind the mask. The general feeling between the group is mostly excitement.

“It’s a lot of eyes. Constantly, no matter what’s happening on the field, someone will be looking at you,” a sophomore who Pep Club requested not be named said.

One of the main goals that pep club has for the mascot is to be more involved than just football and basketball.

“I’m hoping that it won’t just go to sporting events but also other events in the community and other events that are happening at the school,” Heley said. “I hope it represents our school well to the people living around us.”

So far, the Pep Club is planning on having the mascot show up to all the home boys soccer, volleyball and football games. They are taking it one season at a time for now.

So far, the mascot has received a positive response from the student body and staff, and expectations are high.

“I think the mascot will really bring together a lot of the spirit and symbolism of what the Lancers are,” Rorie said. “The high school togetherness, and also all the energy.”

A NEW REGIME New pep club sponsors revamp the club in hopes of more participation and student involvement

TomiCaldwell

theLANCERS

During Lancer Launch on Aug. 12, the Lancer mascot makes its inaugural sprint across the gymnasium floor.

Tryouts were held on Aug. 26 to find a few spirited students to fill the costume of the still-nameless Lancer.

LindseyHartnett

Dressed as district rivals, seniors Cooper Toombs, Mark Mergen, Zach Colby and Kevin Simpson surround sophomore Ali Felman before she’s rescued by the mascot at the Aug. 26 pep assembly.

the week in

News BriefsNEWS06 09 07 10

Taking a peek at East’s upcoming events

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club meeting

It’s certainly not “Footloose.”“Machinal” is based on the story of

Ruth Snyder, the first woman to receive capital punishment in the state of New York in the 20th century. Snyder was executed by an electric chair for mur-dering her husband. Student director Grace Martin thinks the drama’s mature subject matter presents a unique oppor-tunity.

“This isn’t really something that is be-ing performed at any other high schools

in the area,” Mar-tin said.

Another distinctive as-pect of the play is that it will b e presented as nine fast-paced episodes, in-stead of the usual three acts. This is char-acteristic of Expressionist plays. Martin also plans on utilizing many different sound effects, as has been done in previ-ous productions of Machinal.

Students who try out must prepare a one-minute dramatic monologue and

show up earlier than their scheduled audition times.

“No matter if you make it or not, it’s a good experience to audition,” Martin said. “The only way you’ll definitely not get a part in the play is if you don’t audi-tion.”

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&AUDITIONSfallplay

8 NIGHT

Computer-aided design teacher Mr. Jason Smith likens Black and Veatch’s Col-lege Night to a meet and greet between high school students and construction in-dustry professionals.

“They open it up for students to come in and talk with people[...]that are engineers, architects, and designers,” Smith said. “It’s a good way to get everyone together.”

The meeting is hosted by the Explorer Post, a Black and Veatch program for stu-dents aged 14-19 who are interested in math, science and engineering. It will take place at the company’s corporate loca-

tion at 11401 Lamar Avenue from 7-9 p.m. Parents are welcome to attend.

Junior Jakob Yedo plans on going“I want to be a biomechanical engi-

neer,” Yedo said. “This will be a good way for me to find out about some opportuni-ties for myself.”

Smith thinks of the night as a network-ing opportunity.

“I try to get my students to got to it be-cause...the more contacts you make, the better off you are,” Smith said.

photos

There are two ways East students choose to spend their summer vacations: in Kansas, or on vacation. Senior Susie McClannahan opted for the more exotic choice.

McClannahan spent seven weeks of her summer studying the Korean lan-guage in Seoul, South Korea, through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth program. She stayed with a host family who spoke limited English, but she was able to learn about the culture through their actions.

“One day, my host mom was laugh-ing at me at breakfast, and I couldn’t figure out why,”

McClannahan said. “I was drinking juice with my rice…and apparently it’s weird to drink juice at breakfast.”

This is only one of the many cultural differences between South Korea and America that McClannahan plans to talk about at the International Club’s meet-ing after school on Wednesday, Sept. 8 in the library. She hopes to hear interesting stories from other students as well.

“I like meeting people from other cultures and being able to talk about our different experiences,” McClannahan said. “It doesn’t matter who you are, people should come to International Club if they’re interested.”

international

Freshman Ellen St. Clair peers through the crowd dur-ing the Freshmen Orientation Day.

Choir teacher Ken Foley directs Cham-bers at the Lancer Launch.

East swimmers lure in cars to their fundrais-ing car wash.

Freshman Leila Sea-baugh laughs as her classmates toss tape balls during Link Crew classroom activities.

Parent walks through the sophomore hall during Back to School Night.

college

5

MorganChristian

GrantHeinlein EdenSchoofs LindseyHartnett GrantHeinlein GraceSnyder

One hundred forty-five International Baccalaureate, hon-ors and Advanced Placement (AP) courses available. 1,613 AP tests administered in 2009. 198 students named AP Scholars the same year.

The Shawnee Mission School District flaunts the increas-ing number of its students that are participating in these col-lege-level exams.

Of course, that’s because we’re being forced to.District policy states that a student enrolled in an AP course

must take the corresponding exam in May to receive the AP designation on his or her transcript. This policy puts emphasis in the wrong place: on gaining a credential rather than on un-derstanding class material.

If the district were genuine about the philosophy of the AP program, it wouldn’t need a requirement like this to get more kids to take AP classes and tests. Students simply would, because they would be excited about the academic opportu-nities the program has to offer. What we need is a change in attitude—course participation and higher scores will follow.

One way to start fixing this enthusiasm gap is by adopting a different policy, one that brings attention to AP’s opportunities for higher-level learning, rather than its opportunities to beef up a transcript. If students received the AP designation simply for passing their AP classes, our problem would be fixed.

Right now, though, students are essentially paying to re-ceive the AP designation. For $85 they can bubble in their names and have “European History” changed to “European

History AP.” Not only does this defeat the purpose of taking an AP course, but it’s also unfair to those students who can’t afford to take the test. They are un-able to receive any rec-ognition for their deci-

sion to challenge themselves.Furthermore, AP test scores are not used in calculat-

ing grades or GPA’s. Their only significance comes in the role they play in determining college scholarships, credit hours and course placement. And taking the test is a great way for students to exhibit their knowledge to universities.

However, the current policy has nothing to do with preparing students to be successful at college. They can get the AP designation without any under-standing of the material at all—no matter whether they pass or fail their classes, or get ones or a fives on their exams.

The proposed change, however, will put our focus back on gaining an understanding of the curriculum and, if we so choose, proving that un-derstanding to colleges and universities. Admis-sions officers will still have the choice of where to place students based on their letter grades and test scores. Though it might help if they fo-cused more on the former than the latter.

It seems the school district cares more about rankings, numbers, and appearances more than meeting the AP curriculum. The students of Shawnee Mission East want to truly understand their course material so they will be better prepared for college, and d e c r e a s i n g the focus on AP tests will allow that to happen.

07OPINION issue 1

Shawnee Mission School District should allow its students AP designation without being forced to take the AP test

ARBITRARYPLACEMENT

12 00for against absent

The majority opinion of the Harbinger Editorial Board

Letters to the editor should be sent to room 521 or smeharbinger.net@gmail.com. Letters may be edited for clarity, length, libel and mechanics and accept-ed or rejected at the editor’s discretion.

Editors-In-Chief Andrew Goble Annie Sgroi

Assistant Editors Kat Buchanan Evan Nichols

Head Copy Editor Kevin Simpson 

Art and Design Editor Emma Pennington

News Editor Jack Howland

News Page Editors Morgan Christian

Editorial Editor Katy Westhoff

Opinion Editor Raina Weinberg

Opinion Page Editors Ian Wiseman Emily Kerr

Mixed Editor Anne Willman

Spread Editors Lilly Myers Toni Aguiar

Features Editor Sarah McKittrick

Features Page Editors Chloe Stradinger Haley Martin Alysabeth Albano

A&E Editor Aubrey Leiter

A&E Page Editors Kennedy Burgess Tom Lynch

Sports Editor Corbin Barnds

Sports Page Editors Matt Gannon

Freelance Page Editors Christa McKittrick

Photo Editors Grant Heinlein Dan Stewart 

Assistant Photo Editor

Eden Schoofs Freelance Page Editors

Christa McKittrickCopy Editors

Evan Nichols Andrew Goble Annie Sgroi Kevin Simpson Kat Buchanan Jack Howland Morgan Christian Anne Willman Logan Heley  Bob Martin Matt Gannon Chris Heady

Staff Writers Grant Kendall Alex Lamb Chris Heady Julia Davis Zoe Brian Caroline Creidenberg

Paige HessEditorial Board

Andrew Goble Annie Sgroi Corbin Barnds Logan Heley Kevin Simpson Jennifer Rorie Jack Howland Evan Nichols Kat Buchanan Bob Martin Morgan Christian

Photographers Katie East Grant Kendall Anna Marken Sammi Kelley Samantha Bartow Claire Wahrer Tomi Caldwell Grace Snyder Riley Meurer Marissa Horwitz Kaitlyn Stewart

Ads/Circulation Manager Jennifer Rorie

Staff Artist Alex Goldman

Online Editors Logan Heley Pat McGannon

Online Assistant Editor Maggie Simmons

Online Copy Editors Kennedy Burgess Lilly Myers

Online Photo Editor Lindsey Hartnett

Multimedia Editor Maggie Simmons

Convergence Editor Bob Martin

Homegrown Editor Nathan Walker

Podcast/Blog Editor Jeff Cole

Video Editor Alex Lamb

Videographers Thomas Allen Nathan Walker Andrew Simpson

Live Broadcast Editor Jeff Cole

Live Broadcast Producers Thomas Allen Tom Lynch

Anchors Andrew Simpson Jeff Cole Chloe Stradinger Corbin Barnds Kevin Simpson Nathan Walker Paige Hess

PR Representative Chloe Stradinger

Online Staff Writers Andrew Simpson

Online Photographer Nathan Simpson

Adviser Dow Tate

a publication of shawnee mission east high school7500 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS 66208

Sept. 7, 2010issue 1, vol. 52

Harbingerthe

The Harbinger is a student run publication. The contents and views are produced solely by the staff and do not represent the Shawnee Mission School District, East faculty, or school administration.

OPINION08 12 07 10

I don’t remember a lot of my childhood.

With great thanks to three concussions, and multiple hits to the noggin during various activities, I can’t extract

much. The earliest memory that I can recall is sitting

in the nose-bleed section of a Chiefs versus Jaguars game and thinking how phenomenal the entire thing was.

Here were 22 grown men, duking it out on a 100 yard battlefield and laying their bodies on the line, all for an undying passion for sport; or so I thought. Since that experience, the mantra of professional sports in my mind has been all about the winning, all about being the best in the league for bragging rights and giving everything you’ve got for a simple win.

But I’ve witnessed events in the past six months that have contradicted my childhood vision of pro-fessional sports.

On shows at pre-season training camps, players demand trades and playing the free agency field to switch onto teams and just join up with their buddies to dominate; these are two of the many things that make me realize how wrong I was about pro sports.

Nowadays it’s all about the money. All about the politics. Its all about how to make the most money, not about who can get the most wins.

I’ve realized that pro sports isn’t what I had always hoped it would be.

Professional sports is all business, and I don’t like it.

I’ve played a variety of sports in my day. I pre-tended to be Michael Phelps in the pool, Alfonso Soriano with the bat, and LeBron James on the court. I played soccer with orange pulp in my teeth on Sat-urday mornings, and have watched every NBA game on Christmas Day since I can remember. I have seven editions of Madden, and more baseball cards than you could ever imagine.

As a kid I always wanted to be a pro athlete. Like every other little kid, I started playing sports for the love of the game, and that’s why I still play today. I don’t run 10-in-60’s for this school so that I can get paid more. It never crossed my mind until recently that sports may be something like a business.

But honestly, what would happen if pro athletes got paid as much as say a lawyer? Or a teacher? How many players would stay in the league?

It seems like the older I get, the more selfish and greedy the players get.

Darrelle Revis is arguably the best corner-back in the NFL. He’s also one of the most selfish and greedy players that I’ve ever seen or heard of. Because of his ego, he is currently in a holdout with the New York Jets. Revis is due for $1 million for this next season, but since he thinks that he is God’s gift to the game, he wants to be paid $162 million more. At the moment, he has no job and isn’t any kind of role model for

young athletes. He obviously isn’t playing the game of football for a profession because he loves it—he’s in it for the green.

This is just one instance of how players always want more money, and always want more attention. I feel like half of pro players strive to be on MTV Cribs rather than be on ESPN or gold in their teeth rather than a championship ring on their finger.

Sports is a business. I have to keep reminding myself of this day in and day out. I just don’t want to accept it.

Why is the third string quarterback the #1 sell-ing jersey for the Denver Broncos? Why did LeBron James leave the Cavs?

Because sports is a business. Players like Tim Tebow, LeBron James and Alex

Rodriguez bring in bank just by the name on the back of the jersey. And the name on the back of the jersey brings in money for the name on the front of the jersey. It’s as simple as that.

Though they have shown their talents on-field, they are celebrities in the public eye and because of that, people want to see them because they are “famous.”

It’s almost like the players are the product, and the team is the company.

I play basketball at East and I don’t get paid a cent. In the two years I have been at this school, I haven’t seen one player quit because they don’t get paid enough, they don’t get thrown the ball enough, or they don’t get enough playing time. Why can’t professional players do the same? Why can’t they find their roots?

LeBron James leaving the Cavs for the Heat in July this summer was a business move. He had an opportunity to play with a better organization, and possibly get a NBA ring, so he took it. He gets more money from the Heat and Cavs, he gets to play with better players and his friends, who wouldn’t take that job?

It’s just like if you are working at one law firm, and you get offered to go to a better law firm, would

you do it? You’d be kidding yourself if you said no. Sports is a business. The discovery of happiness I acquired when I watched

the Chiefs Jaguars game long ago isn’t what I thought it was cracked up to be.

Sports is a business. But I’m not near ready to accept it.

an opinion of Christopher Heady

OPINION08 09 07 10

KatieEast

Junior believes today’s sports pros play for the

FiascosPros’1

2

3

Love theBusiness

Two letters. One player. Infinite ego. Of the entire sports world, this is the sports star that would have a reality show. T.O. is the only person in the universe that can go out on his front lawn, do crunches, get asked questions by reporters and still be able to cry in a press conference a week later about his quarterback since he obviously didn’t get enough attention that week. Terrell Owens gets the tool-of-the-year award. Congrats T.O. Two years running. See you next year.

The most recent egotistical jerk on the list this year is a newcomer. Formerly known as the King, this basketball star became the villain of practically the entire world this July by turning his back on the entire state of Ohio. You love him, it’s LeBron James. Yes, James may be the two-time MVP, but don’t let that phase you. He had an entire hour on ESPN dedicat-ed to his decision on where he is going to play next fall, and after a nail-biting four minutes, he shocked absolutely no one but by leaving his team, the Cavs. Great role model Bron!

Let’s face it, baseball has become a sport of who can get away with the most HGH and who can score the most steroids, not runs. The popper of this movement

to destroy America’s pastime is none-other than our favorite A-Rod. The baseball monster has

hit over 600 home-runs now, and he even took the time to stall three weeks before

hitting his 600th. Though he is a great player, his ego is bigger than his steroid infested arms.

Heady examines the top egos in professional sports

of

09OPINIONissue 1

an opinion of Raina Weinberg

To be honest, I can’t say I got much out of my time in middle school. I came out of the experi-ence having only learned one thing. No, I didn’t happen to learn anything about literature after reading “I Know What You

Did Last Summer” in English class, and I certainly didn’t gain any self confidence from my painfully awkward communica-tions class. What I did learn, to my eighth grade social studies teacher’s dismay, was how to lie.

The lies originally sprung from my lack of work ethic, or as my mom would say, my “utter laziness.” I would also like to make a call out to my good old friend “stress.” That’s always a good emotion to blame my lies on. I can honestly say—as honest as a liar can be—that I tricked myself into feeling stressed. The one page group project due on Anne Frank was not, nor will it ever be stressful but somehow, I managed to forgo the whole thing.

At home, I was always assaulted with my dad’s nagging question, “Is your homework done?”

I casually glanced at my unopened backpack... “Of Course!”It was too easy.So, pretending I had done my homework, I would proceed

to waltz into school the next day with blank worksheets, or as I liked to say, “homework I did all night and forgot at home.” At the time, it seemed brilliantly crafty to pretend that it was the teacher who lost my worksheet. Now, I know how incred-ibly wrong I was.

Every lie begins small. Some may say small lies are harm-less but for me, every lie I have told ended up hurting me in the long run. They were always white lies or larger lies that es-calated and turned out bad. I’d like to call those the whoppers. They all took something away. Channeling my optimism, I believe that I gained something from these experiences, pay-ing no attention to the fact that I usually got in trouble.

The White LieIt wasn’t long before I realized that the JFK paper due be-

fore spring break was easily the lowest thing on my priority list. Being in eighth grade, the items that came before my pa-per ranged from who the winner of American Idol would be to what Aeropostale polo I would wear with my new Birken-stocks. Turn in date quickly approached and I had yet to crack

open my 12 page biography, on JFK, from the children’s section of the library, on JFK. As all my class-mates passed up their thick es-says, I glanced around the room, making sure my teacher doesn’t notice that mine is missing from the stack. Two weeks later, the last day of spring break, I received a call from no other than my social studies teacher. Before I knew what was happening, I was tell-ing her that I had turned it in and could not believe she had lost it. The whole guilt thing seemed to work like a charm.

The next day, I came into school, prepared to do what I thought would be impossible. Safely tucked away in my back-pack was my two page, double spaced, 16 pt. font paper, not to mention I had thrown it together at 10 the night before. I was told to sort through papers and try to find my “missing” report. The next part happened faster than I can remember and in the end, I was walking out of my social studies class wearing a smirk and being profusely apologized to by my teacher. I had done it.

Before you turn on me, I do have a conscience, and even more, the goody-goody type of conscience that tends to set in immediately after I do something that I feel rotten for.

Lesson LearnedFrom this, I found that I shouldn’t be such a jerk. I had no

reason to procrastinate on this project and even more, no rea-son to lie about it. To redeem my negative feelings, I gave an immense amount of effort to every project assigned for the rest of the year. Ultimately, I realized that the whole situation could have been easily avoided had I done the required work.

For a time, I kept a clean lie-free streak. Then, under the pressure of stress, I reverted to old habits.

The WhopperThe way I saw it, I had three options; throw myself down

my flight of stairs and hope to score a trip to the emergency room, slash all four of my parents tires, or, the worst option of all, tell the truth. Visions of chaos erupted around me when my mom uttered three vile words my junior year- “parent/

teacher conferences.” Gulp. A lie that I told had spiraled into a life of its own. Fast-forwarding to a year and a half later, the lie was in the back of my mind; it had become a part of my life that I didn’t even notice anymore.

Sophomore year, feeling trapped and stretched to the lim-it, I took my second semester report card and scanned it onto Microsoft Paint. It was too easy. Within 20 minutes, my C’s and D’s were transformed into A’s and B’s. This continued for a year. It was the nag in the back of my mind and led to more stress than I could have imagined.

Returning to reality, I knew I didn’t have any desire to wear a lime green cast on my arm that would inevitably have pro-fanity written on it within the first days of getting it and I cer-tainly did not want to be responsible for paying to get replace-ment tires. I was left with one terrifying option: honesty. I paced around my living room for what felt like hours until, in an outburst of tears, I told my parents everything. The lie, the details, and how bad I had felt. In that moment, a weight that I had unknowingly been carrying fell away and I felt light.

Lesson LearnedThis lie taught me something about myself. I had avoided,

denied and pretended that there was no issue—almost to the extent of sabotaging myself. Once the lie was out, my relief was immense. Everyone involved felt better about knowing the truth and I was able to turn things around.

Since my time as a liar, I have told the occasional tall tale, but nothing harmful. There is nothing good about lying nor should it ever be used to get out of self-created problems. Now, after I’ve said that I lie, and told my stories, I leave it to you. Maybe this entire column was created at the BS fac-tory, or perhaps, I really have changed. I suppose you’ll never know.

Lie-O-Meter

The little white lie

Often just a minor switch of Can make the “teller” seem far less

dull than they actually are.

A stretch of the truth

Okay so maybe you weren’t actually driving 100 mph...

but it sure makes a bet-ter speeding story.

Props to you for creativity.

Liar liar, you’ve told a fib and now you are in too deep. Maybe convincing your little brother he is adopted from Czechoslava-kia wasn’t such a good idea after all.

You either lack a moral compass or could

be a pathological liar. Time to shake this habit for ‘lie”fe.

Pants on fire

Mortal Sin

FROM A LIARLESSONSSenior reflects on a bad habit from her past

“The Little White Lie”“I once told my neigh-bors that I would watch their dogs for the week-

end. I didn’t check on them once. They

didn’t die.”-Sophomore Brennan Williams

“Pants On Fire” “Mortal Sin”“Last year I told my math class that I was getting expelled and Dr. S immediately in-sisted on calling the office and defending me. I was not getting expelled at all.”

“Stretch of truth”“I told people that I was going to the Hamptons for a month to avoid seeing them. I truthfully only went for a week and pretended that I was still out of town.”

“I spread a rumor that Dan Stewart had swine flu last year. It got all around the school and even cir-culated to the nurse. It caused some discom-forted parents.”

-Senior Dan Stewart -Senior Katie East -Senior Chris Melvin

SamanthaBartow

FEATURES10 09 07 10

B

the city’s

alumniA look at the Second City’s famous alumni

secondcityAdam McKay, 1995Writer of: “Step Brothers,” “Talledega

Nights” and “Anchorman”3Chris Farley, 1989“Tommy Boy,” “Beverly Hills Ninja,” “Billy Madison”4Steve Carell, 1989

“The Office,” “Get Smart,” “Evan Almighty”2

Tina Fey, 1996 “Saturday Night Live,” “Baby Mama,” “Date Night”1

Sophomore Annie Sullivan attended a two-week camp this summer at the famous comedy club Second City

4top

“”

It was amazing to be able to stand where the famous comedians get to stand. Sophomore Annie Sullivan

www.secondcity.com

illus

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Chl

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tradi

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AnneWillmanSurrounding sophomore Annie Sullivan are walls covered

in hundreds of autographs. In black Sharpie, names of famous comedians are visible— Steve Carell, John Belushi, Dan Ayk-royd and John Candy. Newspaper clippings clothe each wall. Some are framed and others are taped. History has been made in this little room, famous people have touched these walls, it is the green room backstage.

“I was overwhelmed walking in, nothing seemed real,” Sullivan said.

Backstage Sullivan is standing. She is in one of the most prestigious comedy clubs in the country—Second City. Sul-livan had an ambition two years ago that she would be able to travel to Chicago to learn from some of the top instructors. The dream of becoming a comedian started when she first en-countered her love for comedy.

Sullivan started acting at a young age. In fourth grade, her mother, Missy Sullivan, signed her up for improv classes at The Culture House and Coterie where she learned techniques, participated in acting exercises and performed in front of au-diences. Sullivan found that after taking classes that she enjoyed the spontaneous feeling of improv.

Missy said, “Seeing, Annie up on stage makes me feel very proud because she is up there for who she is and not who she is at home.”

At home Sullivan exerts a different attitude when cleaning her room or doing her chores. On stage she comes alive, she is a completely differ-ent person. She is free to say what comes to her mind and free to be loud.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I would stay up late to watch Saturday Night Live,” Sullivan said. “I became interested every time I turned it on.”

She would stay up each Saturday

evening to see which sketch would be acted out and who would be performing. As she sat in front of the television each Saturday she wondered: How do these people get onto SNL?

Sullivan searched the Internet and found the answer—Second City. Scrolling down the page Sec-ond City web site, Sullivan looked at the long list of classes she could attend.

“I was excited as Annie about Second City,” Missy Sullivan said. “So many legendary comedians are from there.”

Many comedians stand on the expansive stage at Second City, the lights beating down on them, and soon they are dis-covered. A chance to go to Second City means following in the footsteps of past comedians.

After first discovering that classes were offered at Second City, Sullivan’s drive to attend Second City did not halt. Sul-livan began doing odd jobs to earn enough money to pay tu-ition.

Sullivan did everything from lawn mowing to taking out her neighbors’ garbage. Sullivan also spent many hours baby sitting and doing any job that was available.

Once her hard work was completed and she had earned enough money, it was time. Sullivan’s dream was finally go-

ing to come true; she would be able to train at Second City for two weeks.

When Sullivan arrived at Second City nothing seemed real to her—the building, the instructors, the people, nothing. Sullivan had waited long enough to make her entrance. She had worked to make it pos-sible. She was ready to take on her dream and embrace

the environment of Second City.“I was nervous in a way. I thought that I might not be fun-

ny enough or no one would laugh at my jokes,” Sullivan said.Sullivan soon learned that being at Second City should

not change the way she performed. Everyone was there to learn and to share with others what they all had in com-mon— comedy.

Sullivan attended classes in improv, sketch writing and stand up. Each class was taught by a different instructor.

“My improv teacher, Jason Ball, told us that doing an im-prov does not mean doing mistakes but making new discov-eries,” Sullivan said. “That really stuck with me and I will re-member that.”

At the end of the two weeks of instruction each of the students performed in a “showcase”. There, Sullivan had an opportunity to have three sketches, which she had written, performed. She also was a part of five improvs. Not only did Sullivan get to perform, she had the opportunity to perform on the actual Second City stage.

“It was amazing to be able to stand where the famous comedians get to stand,” Sullivan said. “A huge revelation was that I shouldn’t care if people think I am funny or not.”

Sullivan is backstage; she walks in a circle frantically. She second-guesses herself. She asks herself: What are my lines? Oh no, I forgot my lines. She is overwhelmed by ner-vousness. On stage, Sullivan waits. She is ready to deliver her lines. Everything fades, her doubts float away and her confidence begins to boost. She is prepared to do her job— make people laugh.

Sullivan begins her lines: “Hi, hello, Pizza hut? Do you deliver? My wife is having a baby.”

Freshman Hayden Wylie was finally 14 years-old, just old enough to go. Thousands of other scouts had hiked the mountain trails at Philmont Scout Ranch. It sounded fun when they talked about it; challenging, but fun. It would be the chance of a lifetime. He had been in Boy Scouts all his life and dedi-cates hours and days each month to it. What was there to lose hopping on the 14-hour train ride that would lead him into the Rocky

Mountains to then hike for 11 days? Hayden went for it this summer with

Troop 1132. But this first trip was just the beginning. This two-week trip was not the extent of Hayden’s travels. He not only trav-eled to Philmont, but also to Camp Gieger in St. Joseph, MO and The Boy Scout National Jamboree in Bowling Green, VA. Hayden spent virtually his entire summer with his Boy Scout troop; more time than with his own family, a fact that affected them while he was gone.

“He is my best entertainment and he is willing to go places with me that not every-one would want to. I like to have fun a lot and not to have a partner was tough,” Hayden’s mom, Lea Wylie said.

Hayden hiked 51 miles in 11 days in the Sangre de Cristo Range of the Rocky Moun-tains near Cimarron, New Mexico with nine other boys and leaders. The area where they were hiking, a working cattle ranch, was donated to the Boy Scouts of America by a wealthy oilman named Waite Phillips, of the Phillips 66 family. It is 214 square miles of pure hiking and adventure. Thousands of scouts have hiked the trails there and had ex-periences they will never forget, and Hayden is no exception.

Hayden has gone hiking on other oc-casions and even backpacking, but never anything to the extreme of Philmont. For him, 51 miles wasn’t what he was thinking of - 70 sounded more his speed - neverthe-less he hiked the 51 with a smile on his face. He wanted the extra challenge of 20 more

miles, but the others in his troop weren’t thrilled about it.

“I’ve done other stuff, but this is the major topper of the cake,” Hayden said.

One night at Philmont around 4:00 a.m. Hayden and his tent mate woke up to their scout master yelling about a bear. The bear was about 60 yards away in the woods, and was hoping to snap up the food out of their bear bag. The boys made enough noise to deter the bear, but they were on

the look out for another one for the rest of the trek. When they reached

the next campsite, there was word of a bear that would get into food day and night. That night the boys and leaders were taking turns staying awake all night to keep watch for the bear. Hayden kept the coffee flowing for those on lookout, but luckily none of them ever saw a bear.

Hayden spent merely two weeks at home after Philmont before he headed off to the National Jamboree. This year’s Jamboree was a huge celebration of boys and Boy Scouting because it was the 100th anniversary of Boy Scouts in America, so thousands of scouts from around the world met in Virginia to cel-ebrate this momentous year.

Hayden’s troop spent a few days in Wash-ington D.C. before heading to Jamboree, and visited places like the Spy Museum and the Smithsonian Institution. On the bus ride to camp there were boys that got car sick, but unfortunately one boy did so right as they were pulling into camp and the doctor was getting on the bus. Hayden and his troop were put in quarantine for 36 hours. Hayden wasn’t able to enjoy the festivities on the first

day, but the second day he rose early at 6:30 a.m. to get the day started.

During the remainder of the event, Hayden found activities to do such as shoot-ing a 50 caliber rifle, scuba diving, BMX, and throwing tomahawks. However, the main event was the stage show each night com-plete with fireworks and light shows, along with guest appearance from Mike Roe of “Dirty Jobs”, the rock band Switchfoot, and a slightly humorous appearance by Miss America, Katie Stam.

“She called us girls on accident. She was like sorry I talk to girls all the time,” Hayden said.

Visiting Philmont was a huge part of Hayden’s scouting adventures, but to him scouting is more than just hiking and earn-ing patches. For Hayden, it is a great learn-ing experience, and teaches him skills such as fire building and survival techniques he couldn’t learn anywhere else. Scouting started for Hayden in 3rd grade when his dad, John Hayden, started a Cub Scout troop. Since then scouting has just been a normal part of his life. Hayden realizes that some people think it’s nerdy, but to him it’s their loss.

“I don’t really care if people make fun of me for it. Getting your Eagle Scout looks amazing on a resume and on college applica-tions, it’s a learning curve,” Hayden said.

Giving up more than half of his summer to scouts wasn’t hard for Hayden, but he did skip out on activities that he generally doesn’t miss. He missed out on treasured summer time at the pool and hanging out with his best friend Nathan. Although he didn’t get to spend as much time as he wanted with Nathan, he went on two of the trips with his other good friend Steven Schmidt. The two have been in scouting and attending school together from the beginning; they were even tent mates in Philmont. The biggest thing Hayden missed was visiting his grandparents in Nebraska. They usually shoot off fireworks and go golfing, two of Hayden’s favorite ac-tivities, but Hayden missed it all for scouting.

Hayden came home for good that sum-mer Aug. 5, and finally hung out with his best friend and went to the Prairie Village pool for the first time. He spent more nights in his sleeping bag than his bed, and when he put on his tennis shoes after hiking those 11 days in his boots they were no longer comfortable. Hayden was able to have the rest of summer to spend with his friends, family. He especial-ly spent time with his sister, Mackenzie, an East graduate, who was leaving for college.

He had the summer of a lifetime, and says that he would do it all again “in a New York minute.”

11FEATURESissue 1

JenniferRorie

there’s abadgefor that

a look at unusual scout badges and the requirements to earn them

dog care: scouts must be able to discuss the history of dog domestication, know dog body parts, take care of a dog for two months and train a dog correctly

coin collecting: scouts should be able to understand how coins are made, collect foreign coins and know how to properly store coins

cinematography: scouts must know the elements of a good motion picture, demonstrate different motion shooting techniques and research careers in cinematography

Scouting it out

cooking: scouts must plan menus, un-derstand the food pyramid and describe food-related illnesses

scouting.org

RileyMeurerFreshman devotes summer to Boy Scouts

JackHowland

FEATURES12 09 07 10

Orlando’s Teen Nights have seen a rise in the number of East attendees ORLANDO’S a night at

TEEN NIGHT BASICS

Where: Orlando’s Nightclub126 Clairborne OlatheWhen: Sundays if no school the next day, and Saturdays starting Sept. 11

What to wear: Dress for the theme, strict on dress code

What time:8 p.m.-12 a.m.

How much:$5 before 8 p.m., $10 after 8 p.m.

Senior Scott Watson hurriedly hops out of his friend’s car and heads inside his home. He doesn’t have much time to get ready. He quickly showers, then throws on a plain or-ange tee-shirt with khaki shorts. Nothing special.

Tonight, he’s going to go to a club where teens can dance. That’s really all he was told. He doesn’t know what to ex-pect, more than anything he’s curious. Curious to see how a collection of teenagers act in a night club setting. He has no idea what could happen.

A Honda Accord pulls into his driveway. He’s ready for his questions to be answered.

“One of my buddies told me what it was and I was like ‘Yeah, sure, I’ll go,” Watson said. “They said it’s so unique and that I had to try it at least once.”

Watson went to Orlando’s on one of many “teen nights” that took place over the summer. These have become a popular spot among East students as they’ve been drawing larger crowds from local high school fare. Watson was one of the first to go.

Watson and East graduates Paul Wolff, Amanda Privitera and Hannah Quillec tried it on a whim one Sunday night. His friends got word of it through peers laughing at the thought of barely legal drivers going to a full fledged night club. Walking into the bass-thumping, strobe-flashing, strip-pole-bearing spot, Watson and pals burst into laughter.

“It was not like your normal Shawnee Mission East dance, that’s for sure,” Watson said. “It was dark and pretty creepy, with a lot of random strangers close to your age.”

Initially, the teen night feels more like prom held at a 21 and over night club. Watson looks to the floor and sees nothing more than teenagers uncomfortably staring at each other, stuck in a momentary lapse of no dancing.

As the DJ continues to spin songs, the uncomfortable stares begin to fade. Just in time, the unmistakable synth intro to “Your Love Is My Drug” booms out of the speakers right on cue. They dance and continue to song after song, high-fiving and cavorting around the dance floor.

After hours of equal weirdness and fun, the night ends. Watson’s group doesn’t know what to think.

“Everyone had the same kind of look,” Watson said. “Just confused at what was going on.”

On the car ride home, the group of Lancers is ecstatic. Laughter fills their car along with an overpowering clicking

of text messages.We’ve got to tell everyone!Through texting and word of mouth, senior Cooper

Toombs caught wind of the new club.“They were just saying that it was ridiculous,” Toombs

said. “And it was kind of funny because it’s not what East is at all, but it was refreshing in a way.”

At first, Toombs was skeptical of Orlando’s. He heard from Watson and others that it was indescribable and un-like other KC run-of-the-mill entertainment. But he was still uncertain.

A seemingly insignificant Sunday he sat at the pool. Three of his friends came up to him and told him they were planning to go. After a lot of “will it be fun, won’t it be fun” debating, Toombs was in.

“It was one of those things where I was like ‘Yeah, I’ll go as a joke,” Toombs said. “Then it turned out to be pretty fun.”

Toombs’ group enjoyed themselves with the mentality that no one they knew was there. He and four of his friends went to the club around 8 p.m. They saw mostly strang-ers and the occasional familiar face. With only a few other small groups of East students in attendance, Toombs’ group shifted from tentative to out-of-control.

Later in August, they went again. There were more than a few East groups this time.

“It’s definitely [gotten more popular],” Toombs said. “It’s sort of become a cult phenomenon.”

This “phenomenon” is largely attributed to Facebook. Towards the beginning of last May, Orlando’s developed a Facebook profile aptly named “Orlando’s Teen Nights.” This grew substantially over the course of the summer. Ten new friends on some days. Twenty on others. Eighty-one of them are listed as Lancers.

Senior Kirsten Clark was unaware of the Facebook page before she gave the club a try. Her knowledge of Orlando’s was mainly restricted to drill team conversation and radio commercials. Upon hearing the advertisements, Clark typi-cally would laugh and think how funny it would be to actu-ally go to a teen night. Her drill team friends had the same thoughts.

“It was always a joke before, we were like, ‘Yeah, let’s go to Orlando’s!” Clark said. “Then one time we were like, ‘Should we actually go?”

The entire drill team went on Orlando’s back-to-school themed night. Clark thought the evening could be a gro-tesque experience. A sweaty, uncomfortable mess set to pop music. Somewhere between watching masses of kids climb up a pole and hang from the ceiling, and getting in a spon-taneous dance-off with a stranger, Clark realized it was fun.

When she went, she was overwhelmed with how many East students she saw. Quickly after the night, Clark friend-ed the Facebook profile. She was one of the later people to do so. Co-owner of the club Wendy Orlando maintains the page and attributes the recent popularity of the club to it.

“We were reinventing ourselves [at the start of summer] and with the help of Facebook, it really gave us the avenue to advertise and contact our target audience,” Orlando said. “Because, as you know, Facebook is the place to be.”

Now with the help of a good reputation and newfound friend-ing skill, the teen nights are more popular than she’s ever seen them. She estimates they are currently doubling or tripling the number of kids that attended at the start of summer.

Barring alcohol consumption, Orlando’s does nothing differently on teen nights than they would on a regular eve-ning. They give kids the full night club experience. Strobe lights and all.

Toombs and Watson both are planning to go again. Sept. 11 is the first Saturday teen night, and it’s a black light theme. They both can’t wait for the club’s patented craziness and 95.7 the vibe-esque playlist. Maybe they’ll see someone climb the stripper pole and do casual pull-ups from the rafters again. Or they’ll see a friend embarrassing himself with inexcusable dance moves. They’re confident they’ll enjoy it either way.

“I think there are definitely a lot of people who will [continue to] like going there, who will probably go a lot,” Watson said. “Then some people will probably treat it as a joke, but I bet there’s people out there that will really enjoy it.”

Photo Courtesy of Orlando’s

For additional coverage, view a video feature on Orlando’s at www.smeharbinger.net

Name:Country:Age:

Christian OtzenDenmark

13FEATURESissue 1

the inside scoop on east’s

The girl who laughs the most *laugh*.

Name:Country:Age:

Nicole BrobergSweden

17

Name:Country:Age:

Tatiana VerdonckBelgium

18

Q:A:

What were you best known for where you are from?

Q:A:

Did you get to choose to come to Kansas?No, I couldn’t choose. I did hope for California, Florida and New York. I am getting back money because I didn’t get there, but I mostly paid that money so I wouldn’t end up in the South.

Q:A:

What is the biggest difference between East and your old school?

The schedule and the school system. It is all different. The times mainly, in Sweden we have breaks between classes for 15 minutes to two hours some-times and lunch is at least an hour. We don’t have hours like first, second, third. We just have a lesson and one class with all of the lessons put together.

The girl who laughs the most (laughs).

Name:Celia Faye Jacobsen DenmarkQ:A:

What were you best known for where you are from?I was called the psychologist. Usually if people were sad then I would try and listen to them.

What is one thing you miss the very most from your home country?Q:

A: The freedom that you have as a teen. You can drink when you are 16 and drive when you are 18. You can get around as a teenager with public transportation and in America it’s harder to be a teen.

Q:A: Cross country and international club

because I’m automatically a member and at the meetings there are cook-ies, which is always a plus.

What clubs or activities are you get-ting involved in here at East?

What is one thing that’s happened to you in your time here that you didn’t expect?

Q:

A:

15Age:Country:

I’ve seen that pretty much all people are really open. I kind of knew that before I came here but it took me by surprise. Americans are really welcoming, just a little immature sometimes.

all photos by EdenSchoofs

HaleyMartinexchange tudents s

Q:

A:

What were you most looking forward to upon your arrival in the United States?The team spirit (pep rallies), the friendly American high schools, yel-low buses, cheerleading and things that we see in the movies but are actually real.

Q:A:

What new foods were you looking forward to trying?

Hamburgers, Mexican food, peanut butter and jelly and the typical American things.

Q:

A:

What is one thing that’s happened to you in your time here that you didn’t expect?

I tried out for volleyball, but I had never played in my life. But I made it to the last day there were only 13 people left and only 10 could make the team. I did pretty good. I was sad I didn’t make it, but I’m very happy because I’m on cross country and I get to meet so many people.

Q:A:

What were you best known for where you are from?

I am a very good listener and I enter-tain theater. I also danced in Copen-hagen.

What is one thing that’s happened to you in your time here that you didn’t expect?

Q:

A: I really don’t know what I was expect-ing. I want to see the rodeo and for my host family to take me there. When I came for vacation last year, my family drove three hours to find a rodeo and no luck. So I am very excited about the rodeo and they are very jealous.

Q:

A:

What were you most looking forward to upon your arrival in the United States?

It is hard to explain. When you are sitting on the plane to America you don’t think. You have only slept a few hours because you are so excited and you don’t know what to expect. The first time I really thought about what I was doing was when I was at my host family’s house laying in bed. But you don’t expect anything, it is very hard to explain to people who haven’t experienced it.

17

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(and Prairie Villagian)^

Buy a Black Out T-Shirt. Wear it to the Game.

2010 Football Black Out GameThis Friday vs. Lawrence

Get your Black Out t-shirt Thursday and Friday at lunch or at the gate on Friday. Look for tables outside the cafeteria - $10 while supplies last.

The Lancer Gridiron Club wishes all Lancer athletes, teams and coaches the best of luck

and thelivin’s easy

SPREAD16 09 07 10 17SPREAD issue 1summertime

Fresh

man Diamond McDonald

Kansas frommoved toNathanAre

ate garden salsa YOU

SUNCHIPS Lesl

ie Hamiltonsailed

in DOLake Lotawana

S O P H O M O R E

MASON

this summer?

went to6FLAGS

Day 1After 14 hours of travel,

sophomore Tiernan Shank lugs her camping gear down the Eugene, Oregon terminal. Trying to avoid any more problems like the one earlier that day when her flight was canceled, she glances around anxiously trying to find any-one from the program, Apo-gee Adventures, with whom she’ll be conquering a 635 mile bike ride from Eugene to San Francisco. After frantic searching, she finally spots them--a group of eight teens and two supervisors gathered in the far corner near the bag-gage claim.

Day 2 — Mile Count- 0If first day awkwardness

wasn’t enough trouble, the team wakes up to find that raccoons ate every last morsel of food.

“It was an awful start, see-ing the food boxes all torn up and littered with bagel crumbs,” Shank said.

The team begins their 635 mile biking trek with empty bellies, which forced them to take a pit stop to the closest grocery store about five miles away.

Day 13 — Mile Count- 400 Today, the team will vol-

unteer at Redwood National Park. The group eats a delec-table breakfast of waffles and bacon in honor of a team member’s birthday.

“It was such a good change of pace to not be eating ba-gels!” Shank said.

The team rides up to the park and is greeted by Ranger Nicole, who promptly takes the group on a 10 minute tour of the park. Then the ranger has the

team weed the trails. “They gave us these huge

orange things that we were supposed to weed with,” Shank said. “I ended up most-ly using my hands.”

Day 20 — Mile Count- 598 The team wakes up elat-

ed—only 37 miles left of the trip. They pack up camp and head down a biking trail, in contrast from the usual High-way 101.

“We passed through a small town, and I was amazed to know towns like that still existed!” Shank said. We hadn’t been near civilization in forever! Suddenly, we saw a bridge in the distance, and we were like ‘What is that?’ But once we went over several hills it was obvious—we were staring at the Golden Gate Bridge!”

“Crossing the bridge wasn’t as amazing as I thought it’d be, because there were a ton of tourists who wouldn’t move, which was annoying consid-ering how much work I’d put in to the trip.”

After finally crossing the Bridge, the group goes to a youth hostel, unpacks, and eats a hearty lunch for a job well done.

Day 22— Mile Count 635Shank’s flight departs at

6:00 a.m. for Salt Lake City connecting to Kansas City, where she is greeted by her family.

“I really got to know my-self on this trip, like my physi-cal boundaries and how much I can do,” Shank said. “At first I was like ‘Why did I do this?

I’m gonna die!’” But af-ter the trip it was like

‘Whoa, I can bike 635 miles!’ That was the best part.”

ErinReillyTHE EXPLORER

Rain pounds down onto their campsite as sopho-more Chris Watkins ques-tions if he has made the right choice. The soaking packs, which originally weighed 45 pounds, now felt as if they were carrying buckets of wa-ter on their backs. After wait-ing out the nine-hour down-pour, Watkins and his group had no choice but to set up camp and cook in the rain.

Watkins and a group of seven teenagers and four adults spent 10 days this sum-mer hiking up the mountains of Northern New Mexico. The group did practice runs throughout the year at parks and the Ozarks, but even with the training, according to Watkins, it was a very chal-lenging trip.

The group was given a Ranger the first two days they were there. She intro-duced all procedures and everything they would need to know on the first day. The second day she only observed the group so they would have to use their knowledge and remember what they learned.

Once they got the basics down, together, they started their hikes of 10-13 miles a day before the sun rose, and they would be forced to take down their camp once the sun set. As a fifteen year old with no real training for hik-ing, Watkins found him-self feeling as if he could barely lift his legs. He could not mentally prepare, because he had no idea what to ex-

pect. Once he got through it, he realized what he was ca-pable of.

“At times, I didn’t think about anything” said Wat-kins. “I just concentrated solely on walking.”

Watkins had built up stamina playing soccer and swimming in the weeks lead-ing up to the trip, so he be-lieved he was going to have it easy. Though Watkins had trained hard for this expe-dition, the mountains had other plans for him. The mountains didn’t only push those who are in bad shape; it also challenged Watkins just as hard.

One of Watkins’s most memorable days was when the group woke up around four in the morning, and hiked a total of 13 miles to reach the top of a mountain. It was so dark that they could barely see anything outside the range of their flashlights. The group felt it was the big-gest accomplishment once they got to the top.

“Looking down from the mountain was a rewarding feeling, said Watkins. “It was hard but worth it.”

Watkins and the group say that they appreciate things a little better, now that they have gone for 10 days without eating normal food, showering and having no

real amenities. “It really does put

things into perspec-tive,” said Watkins, “no matter how ready you

think you are.”

INTO THE WILDPaigeHess

Papers scatter across the empty office. Junior John Horvath jogs to a shattered window and climbs out-side—descending into the chaos that is Soviet Russia.

Gunshots sound at a con-stant rate. Bombs drop in the distance. Through the smoke Horvath spots his comrades racing down the street. He aims his M16A4 assault rifle at a nearby enemy, only to be struck in the chest by a bul-let.

Horvath falls to the ce-ment, clutching at his heart. Blood splatters across the television screen.

Click. Not bothering to check the scores of the match, Horvath shuts off the video game, cracks his knuckles and springs up from the brown leather love-seat in his family room. Call of Duty would be the closest he’d get to leaving the coun-try this summer.

While his friend junior Michael Hill went to debate camp for a month, and his brother Mike was off visit-ing colleges, Horvath stayed in Kansas. All summer. The farthest he drove his dad’s white 1996 Lexus was 35 miles to Lawrence.

Tucked away in Prairie Village, he followed a strict schedule of sleeping in un-til 11, lifeguarding at Prairie Village pool, and playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Throw in a few musical jam sessions with friends and multiple fajita

chicken burritos at Chipotle, and you’ve got the summer of Horvath: 2010 edition.

“I basically worked a lot, made a lot of money, got a tan and met new people,” Horvath said. “It was pretty repetitive...but it was nice to have the money, so it bal-anced out to be a decent sum-mer.”

As a lifeguard, Horvath spent more than 350 hours looking out for the lives of lo-cal pool-goers. He found that the values he gained, such as being on time and putting duties before play, carry over to real life.

“It was a good learning experience” Horvath said. “I feel like I know about how business works and how to act professionally.”

Another thing Horvath learned this summer was how many shades darker he could get. In early June his SPF was in the 30’s, but by late July he was using SPF 4—sparingly.

“This one girl asked if I spray tanned,” Horvath said. “And on the first day of band camp someone asked if I fell asleep outside.”

As long as he doesn’t fall asleep on the stand, Horvath is hoping for a salary raise next summer. He’s currently saving up to buy his own car, preferably a used Toyota

Solara. One thing he won’t be spending

any money on is an M16A4 assault rifle in Russia.

THE KANSAS BOYLillyMyers

It may be small and out of the way, but for senior Meagan Dexter, the “super geeky” tattoo inked into her right foot is per-fect.

In chemistry, the equilib-rium symbol represents balance and equality, and for Dexter, it’s something she can see when she wants to. Hide when she wants to. Ever since taking her first chemistry course sophomore year, science has been Dexter’s scholastic passion. And it’s the thing that led her to spend six weeks of summer studying at Vanderbilt University.

Dexter first heard about PAVE, a pre-college academic program at Vanderbilt, from a generic mailer that thousands of students receive nationwide. After talking with her mom, she decided that she should apply. Dexter then began the lengthy process of writing essays, send-ing in her transcript, and even getting a letter of recommenda-tion from her favorite teacher, chemistry teacher Cole Ogdon.

“I’m always excited when I know students are going to go above and beyond, and take a look at real research,” Ogdon said. “This was not a play camp; this was truly about students who have a propensity for and interest in actual research.”

With roughly 200 students accepted from a pool 3,000 ap-plicants deep, Dexter didn’t hear anything until the second week of May. Her mother received a call informing her that one ac-

cepted student had backed out of the program and after review-ing the remaining applicants, they had decided on Dexter. Overjoyed, she accepted, and on June 29th was headed to Nash-ville, Tennessee.

The six week program in-volved the ins and outs of Van-derbilt’s bio-medical and chem-istry courses. With 8 hours of classes a day, Dexter had any-where from 45 minutes to three hours of homework every night, and a 10-15 page lab report ev-ery other weekend. Along with classes, the students also took part in real research projects, including analyzing a flooded Nashville river and measuring the electricity levels on human skin when a muscle is used.

“It kind of gave me a good idea of what I want to do in col-lege, and what size I could adapt to,” Dexter said.

Only three weeks into her senior year, Dexter is already back in the lab taking AP biol-ogy and honors physics. Hoping to attend Vanderbilt next year, she’s doing everything in her power to boost her resume, and believes that PAVE played a big part in that. While she plans to major in chemistry or mechani-cal engineering, Dexter still isn’t sure about whether or not to pursue a science career.

“I think once you get through a major like that in college, that’s really intensive, you’re kind of set up to apply yourself in anything you want to do.”

SUPER GEEK

RobertMartin

Heather Nelsonwent

to Justin

se-to the

bieberconcert

All photos by DanStewart

junior Amy Sachse nannied

withhersister

junior

CLIMBED

MT.YALE

senior Henry Foster

Adam

seniorISENBERGwentto theLAKE

of theozarksfre

shm

an Ashley Wassonwent to the

zoo

with her family

s o p h o m o r e senior

Emilyc o l l i n sworked at a campcare package company

Last summer, senior Mad-die Bavley’s daily routine consisted of sleeping in and spending time with friends at the pool. This summer her days were spent educating kids about environmental awareness and building con-crete walls.

Bavley spent eight weeks working and living in the town of Lomobonita, Pana-ma, an opportunity offered through the Amigos de las Americas program.

She first heard about Ami-gos in her Spanish 3 class.

“I didn’t know much go-ing into it, but I went to the informational meeting and it sounded like a cool experi-ence,” Bavley said.

During her stay in Panama, Bavley spent her days teach-ing the children of the com-munity environmental aware-ness by playing variations of tag.

“In the games, the kids were like trees or animals. It was more the format of sum-mer camp than school,” Bav-ley said.

In the evenings, Bavley and her family went to many events for the Santa Liberada Festival happening in Las Tablas, the city next to Lomo-bonita. The festival kicked off with a city- wide p r o c e s s i o n h o n o r i n g Saint Lib-erada. People of the city followed the small float

carrying a statue of the saint to the church. The ceremony ended with a fireworks show. The following nights con-sisted of singing, dancing, and torros, or bull fights.

Over the course of her stay, Bavley began to feel like part of the family.

“Whenever they would go anywhere they would take me with them, and we always joked around. It was easy to become close with them because my siblings were around my age,” Bavley said.

Bavley spent many hours playing cards and hanging out in the town with her siblings, Gilisa, Dianis, and Mario, and the local jovenes, or teens. She felt welcomed by them from the minute she arrived.

The most important thing she gained from her experi-ence was independence.

“I had to go there by my-self and I didn’t know anyone, but I got to meet a lot of neat people,” Bavley said.

Half way through her trip, she had a mid-term. This was the only communication with her parents, other than a few letters. While Bavley thought she would be homesick after weeks away from her family, the warmth of her communi-ty made her feel at home.

“I would love to go back and visit my

community if p o s s i b l e , ”

Bavley said. “ M a y b e

next sum-mer.”

A TRUE AMIGOAnnaMarken

Five students share experiences from their summer vacations

what did

and thelivin’s easy

SPREAD16 09 07 10 17SPREAD issue 1summertime

Fresh

man Diamond McDonald

Kansas frommoved toNathanAre

ate garden salsa YOU

SUNCHIPS Lesl

ie Hamiltonsailed

in DOLake Lotawana

S O P H O M O R E

MASON

this summer?

went to6FLAGS

Day 1After 14 hours of travel,

sophomore Tiernan Shank lugs her camping gear down the Eugene, Oregon terminal. Trying to avoid any more problems like the one earlier that day when her flight was canceled, she glances around anxiously trying to find any-one from the program, Apo-gee Adventures, with whom she’ll be conquering a 635 mile bike ride from Eugene to San Francisco. After frantic searching, she finally spots them--a group of eight teens and two supervisors gathered in the far corner near the bag-gage claim.

Day 2 — Mile Count- 0If first day awkwardness

wasn’t enough trouble, the team wakes up to find that raccoons ate every last morsel of food.

“It was an awful start, see-ing the food boxes all torn up and littered with bagel crumbs,” Shank said.

The team begins their 635 mile biking trek with empty bellies, which forced them to take a pit stop to the closest grocery store about five miles away.

Day 13 — Mile Count- 400 Today, the team will vol-

unteer at Redwood National Park. The group eats a delec-table breakfast of waffles and bacon in honor of a team member’s birthday.

“It was such a good change of pace to not be eating ba-gels!” Shank said.

The team rides up to the park and is greeted by Ranger Nicole, who promptly takes the group on a 10 minute tour of the park. Then the ranger has the

team weed the trails. “They gave us these huge

orange things that we were supposed to weed with,” Shank said. “I ended up most-ly using my hands.”

Day 20 — Mile Count- 598 The team wakes up elat-

ed—only 37 miles left of the trip. They pack up camp and head down a biking trail, in contrast from the usual High-way 101.

“We passed through a small town, and I was amazed to know towns like that still existed!” Shank said. We hadn’t been near civilization in forever! Suddenly, we saw a bridge in the distance, and we were like ‘What is that?’ But once we went over several hills it was obvious—we were staring at the Golden Gate Bridge!”

“Crossing the bridge wasn’t as amazing as I thought it’d be, because there were a ton of tourists who wouldn’t move, which was annoying consid-ering how much work I’d put in to the trip.”

After finally crossing the Bridge, the group goes to a youth hostel, unpacks, and eats a hearty lunch for a job well done.

Day 22— Mile Count 635Shank’s flight departs at

6:00 a.m. for Salt Lake City connecting to Kansas City, where she is greeted by her family.

“I really got to know my-self on this trip, like my physi-cal boundaries and how much I can do,” Shank said. “At first I was like ‘Why did I do this?

I’m gonna die!’” But af-ter the trip it was like

‘Whoa, I can bike 635 miles!’ That was the best part.”

ErinReillyTHE EXPLORER

Rain pounds down onto their campsite as sopho-more Chris Watkins ques-tions if he has made the right choice. The soaking packs, which originally weighed 45 pounds, now felt as if they were carrying buckets of wa-ter on their backs. After wait-ing out the nine-hour down-pour, Watkins and his group had no choice but to set up camp and cook in the rain.

Watkins and a group of seven teenagers and four adults spent 10 days this sum-mer hiking up the mountains of Northern New Mexico. The group did practice runs throughout the year at parks and the Ozarks, but even with the training, according to Watkins, it was a very chal-lenging trip.

The group was given a Ranger the first two days they were there. She intro-duced all procedures and everything they would need to know on the first day. The second day she only observed the group so they would have to use their knowledge and remember what they learned.

Once they got the basics down, together, they started their hikes of 10-13 miles a day before the sun rose, and they would be forced to take down their camp once the sun set. As a fifteen year old with no real training for hik-ing, Watkins found him-self feeling as if he could barely lift his legs. He could not mentally prepare, because he had no idea what to ex-

pect. Once he got through it, he realized what he was ca-pable of.

“At times, I didn’t think about anything” said Wat-kins. “I just concentrated solely on walking.”

Watkins had built up stamina playing soccer and swimming in the weeks lead-ing up to the trip, so he be-lieved he was going to have it easy. Though Watkins had trained hard for this expe-dition, the mountains had other plans for him. The mountains didn’t only push those who are in bad shape; it also challenged Watkins just as hard.

One of Watkins’s most memorable days was when the group woke up around four in the morning, and hiked a total of 13 miles to reach the top of a mountain. It was so dark that they could barely see anything outside the range of their flashlights. The group felt it was the big-gest accomplishment once they got to the top.

“Looking down from the mountain was a rewarding feeling, said Watkins. “It was hard but worth it.”

Watkins and the group say that they appreciate things a little better, now that they have gone for 10 days without eating normal food, showering and having no

real amenities. “It really does put

things into perspec-tive,” said Watkins, “no matter how ready you

think you are.”

INTO THE WILDPaigeHess

Papers scatter across the empty office. Junior John Horvath jogs to a shattered window and climbs out-side—descending into the chaos that is Soviet Russia.

Gunshots sound at a con-stant rate. Bombs drop in the distance. Through the smoke Horvath spots his comrades racing down the street. He aims his M16A4 assault rifle at a nearby enemy, only to be struck in the chest by a bul-let.

Horvath falls to the ce-ment, clutching at his heart. Blood splatters across the television screen.

Click. Not bothering to check the scores of the match, Horvath shuts off the video game, cracks his knuckles and springs up from the brown leather love-seat in his family room. Call of Duty would be the closest he’d get to leaving the coun-try this summer.

While his friend junior Michael Hill went to debate camp for a month, and his brother Mike was off visit-ing colleges, Horvath stayed in Kansas. All summer. The farthest he drove his dad’s white 1996 Lexus was 35 miles to Lawrence.

Tucked away in Prairie Village, he followed a strict schedule of sleeping in un-til 11, lifeguarding at Prairie Village pool, and playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Throw in a few musical jam sessions with friends and multiple fajita

chicken burritos at Chipotle, and you’ve got the summer of Horvath: 2010 edition.

“I basically worked a lot, made a lot of money, got a tan and met new people,” Horvath said. “It was pretty repetitive...but it was nice to have the money, so it bal-anced out to be a decent sum-mer.”

As a lifeguard, Horvath spent more than 350 hours looking out for the lives of lo-cal pool-goers. He found that the values he gained, such as being on time and putting duties before play, carry over to real life.

“It was a good learning experience” Horvath said. “I feel like I know about how business works and how to act professionally.”

Another thing Horvath learned this summer was how many shades darker he could get. In early June his SPF was in the 30’s, but by late July he was using SPF 4—sparingly.

“This one girl asked if I spray tanned,” Horvath said. “And on the first day of band camp someone asked if I fell asleep outside.”

As long as he doesn’t fall asleep on the stand, Horvath is hoping for a salary raise next summer. He’s currently saving up to buy his own car, preferably a used Toyota

Solara. One thing he won’t be spending

any money on is an M16A4 assault rifle in Russia.

THE KANSAS BOYLillyMyers

It may be small and out of the way, but for senior Meagan Dexter, the “super geeky” tattoo inked into her right foot is per-fect.

In chemistry, the equilib-rium symbol represents balance and equality, and for Dexter, it’s something she can see when she wants to. Hide when she wants to. Ever since taking her first chemistry course sophomore year, science has been Dexter’s scholastic passion. And it’s the thing that led her to spend six weeks of summer studying at Vanderbilt University.

Dexter first heard about PAVE, a pre-college academic program at Vanderbilt, from a generic mailer that thousands of students receive nationwide. After talking with her mom, she decided that she should apply. Dexter then began the lengthy process of writing essays, send-ing in her transcript, and even getting a letter of recommenda-tion from her favorite teacher, chemistry teacher Cole Ogdon.

“I’m always excited when I know students are going to go above and beyond, and take a look at real research,” Ogdon said. “This was not a play camp; this was truly about students who have a propensity for and interest in actual research.”

With roughly 200 students accepted from a pool 3,000 ap-plicants deep, Dexter didn’t hear anything until the second week of May. Her mother received a call informing her that one ac-

cepted student had backed out of the program and after review-ing the remaining applicants, they had decided on Dexter. Overjoyed, she accepted, and on June 29th was headed to Nash-ville, Tennessee.

The six week program in-volved the ins and outs of Van-derbilt’s bio-medical and chem-istry courses. With 8 hours of classes a day, Dexter had any-where from 45 minutes to three hours of homework every night, and a 10-15 page lab report ev-ery other weekend. Along with classes, the students also took part in real research projects, including analyzing a flooded Nashville river and measuring the electricity levels on human skin when a muscle is used.

“It kind of gave me a good idea of what I want to do in col-lege, and what size I could adapt to,” Dexter said.

Only three weeks into her senior year, Dexter is already back in the lab taking AP biol-ogy and honors physics. Hoping to attend Vanderbilt next year, she’s doing everything in her power to boost her resume, and believes that PAVE played a big part in that. While she plans to major in chemistry or mechani-cal engineering, Dexter still isn’t sure about whether or not to pursue a science career.

“I think once you get through a major like that in college, that’s really intensive, you’re kind of set up to apply yourself in anything you want to do.”

SUPER GEEK

RobertMartin

Heather Nelsonwent

to Justin

se-to the

bieberconcert

All photos by DanStewart

junior Amy Sachse nannied

withhersister

junior

CLIMBED

MT.YALE

senior Henry Foster

Adam

seniorISENBERGwentto theLAKE

of theozarksfre

shm

an Ashley Wassonwent to the

zoo

with her family

s o p h o m o r e senior

Emilyc o l l i n sworked at a campcare package company

Last summer, senior Mad-die Bavley’s daily routine consisted of sleeping in and spending time with friends at the pool. This summer her days were spent educating kids about environmental awareness and building con-crete walls.

Bavley spent eight weeks working and living in the town of Lomobonita, Pana-ma, an opportunity offered through the Amigos de las Americas program.

She first heard about Ami-gos in her Spanish 3 class.

“I didn’t know much go-ing into it, but I went to the informational meeting and it sounded like a cool experi-ence,” Bavley said.

During her stay in Panama, Bavley spent her days teach-ing the children of the com-munity environmental aware-ness by playing variations of tag.

“In the games, the kids were like trees or animals. It was more the format of sum-mer camp than school,” Bav-ley said.

In the evenings, Bavley and her family went to many events for the Santa Liberada Festival happening in Las Tablas, the city next to Lomo-bonita. The festival kicked off with a city- wide p r o c e s s i o n h o n o r i n g Saint Lib-erada. People of the city followed the small float

carrying a statue of the saint to the church. The ceremony ended with a fireworks show. The following nights con-sisted of singing, dancing, and torros, or bull fights.

Over the course of her stay, Bavley began to feel like part of the family.

“Whenever they would go anywhere they would take me with them, and we always joked around. It was easy to become close with them because my siblings were around my age,” Bavley said.

Bavley spent many hours playing cards and hanging out in the town with her siblings, Gilisa, Dianis, and Mario, and the local jovenes, or teens. She felt welcomed by them from the minute she arrived.

The most important thing she gained from her experi-ence was independence.

“I had to go there by my-self and I didn’t know anyone, but I got to meet a lot of neat people,” Bavley said.

Half way through her trip, she had a mid-term. This was the only communication with her parents, other than a few letters. While Bavley thought she would be homesick after weeks away from her family, the warmth of her communi-ty made her feel at home.

“I would love to go back and visit my

community if p o s s i b l e , ”

Bavley said. “ M a y b e

next sum-mer.”

A TRUE AMIGOAnnaMarken

Five students share experiences from their summer vacations

what did

PHOTO ESSAY18 09 07 10

In his third year on varsity, senior Zach Colby, above, fights for possession of the ball against freshman Ben Tschudy.

As juniors Jeremy Young and Nathan Ross collide, above, the ball springs into the air in the direction of the Varsity team. “We were both going in to tackle and we collided—my cleat hit his ankle,” Young said. “I wasn’t frustrated, I was concerned, because I hit him pretty hard. It didn’t phase us though.” After the collision, the two boys sprung from the ground and got right back to the scrim-mage. The play ended up being in varsity’s favor.

Sophomores Tyler Rathbun and Tommy McGillicudy, below left, chase after the ball. McGillicudy fought hard for the C-team throughout the entire game contributing to the close score in the varsity and C-team scrimmage.

Senior Cam Smith, left, passes the ball up the field to a teammate to make an attempt for a goal. “The JV scrimmage set the tone for the upcoming season, Smith said. “It showed us the necessity to progress and play as a team.”

DanStewart

DanStewart

DanStewart

GrantHeinlein

BONITO”“JOGAThe soccer team chose this phrase as this year’s motto, Por-tugese for “Play Beautiful.” Varsity is ranked sixth in Kansas.

30

19 MIXEDissue 1

SECONDSwith

Helenasophomore

Buchmann

the page about life

I am excited for the DECA trip in New York City.

SILLY This summer, Silly Bandz be-came the new craze in Kansas City. Spotted all around are dozens of colorful bands cov-ering seemingly every wrist. Selling at $2.99 per pack, they are affordable and in style.

BANDZ

Q.

What is the youngest grade you have been mistaken for in this past year?

Where do you get your clothes?I get most of my clothers at Gap Kids, Target Kids and I just started fitting into Forever 21.

How tall are you and your parents?I am 4’9’’ and three quarters. My parents, on the other hand, are 4’11’’ and 5’5’’.

I have been mistaken for a sixth grader this year. Yeah, that was pretty great.

A.

A.Q.

A.

Q.

Q.What do say when people ask you about your height?A. Usually I just go along with it and then walk away.

“I think that I am up to 50 now. They keep piling up, I get them from friends, family and I buy them.”

Sophomore Chloe Hubler

“I have collected my bands from friends. My favorite by far is my dragon one.”

Junior Frankie Miner

Senior Drew Auer

the

BIGquestion????

What are you looking forward to this fall?

I am looking forward to the football games. I think that they will be a blast.

Sophomore Emma Vickers

“The weekends...breaks from school.”

Freshman John Sallaz

“The soccer games. They will be great.”

Junior Boomer Welsh

“I am so excited to perform in the Musical Revue. It should be a great show!”

Sophomore Maggie Niven

all photos by Kaitlyn Stewart

{ {MMMMM EEEEXXXXXX DDDDDDDIIIIII

A&E20 9 07 10

OPEN LUNCHthe new

a preview of five local restaurants for seniorsEvanNichols all photos by AnnaMarken

1Wyandot BBQLocation: 7125 W 75th St.Travel time: 5-6 mins

3 Five GuysLocation: 3936 W 69th Ter.Travel time: 3-4 mins

Location: 8600 Ward PkwyTravel time: 7-8 mins

5

What this small BBQ joint lacks in style and appearance, it makes up for in its quick, home-style ribs and sandwiches.

The chimney was smoking as I pulled up to the little stone

building (which used to be an A&W’s drive-thru in the 80’s) lo-cated just west of the 75th and Met-calf intersection. It was quiet and uncrowded, with no waiting in line.

The service was the fastest out of all the stores I had been to before, with the cashier shouting back my order to the cooks right after order-ing. My pulled pork and fries came out two minutes later on a lunch tray flanked by two full bottles of ketchup and barbecue sauce. With a drink, the whole meal cost a little over $8 total.

The sandwich itself was a little dry, but it was salvaged with plen-ty of the surprisingly sweet BBQ sauce. Only bits and pieces of pork remained after five minutes of eat-ing. And as for the fries, tasty as they were, they lacked the fresh-ness of the Five Guy’s fries. They looked like the type you find in the frozen foods section of the grocery store.

Wynadotte: Good barbecue at the expense of not-so-good atmo-sphere.

Let’s be honest here. If you’re looking for some comfort food, some well cooked burgers and fries, Five Guys is the place to go. Walk-ing into the simply decorated, red and white checkered restaurant in the former Ward Parkway McAllis-ter’s Deli, it reminded me of sum-mer cookouts- the smell of cooking burgers, sizzling fries, crunching peanuts and the comforting sounds of classic rock playing softly in the background. I was waiting for American flags to roll down from the ceiling and bald eagles to land on my shoulder; this place was sim-ply American.

I ordered a regular hamburger (beware: regular hamburger means two patties, you’ll have to get the “little hamburger” for one patty), regular fries, and a drink. The price- almost $10, a bit on the expensive side for open lunch.

The meal itself, pricey as it was, couldn’t be topped by any other my past burger experiences. Perfectly cooked, juicy, loaded with onions, lettuce and peppers. And the fries? Thick, generous cut, natural flavor, fried in peanut oil, loaded into a 12 oz. cup. I had enough for the drive home, the taste of America linger-ing with me. Simply delicious.

1CALL IT IN.For restaurants that are

farther away (Five Guys), ordering ahead means less

wait time, more eating.

Don’t waste time. Enjoy your food and your time

out, but use your 37 min-utes wisely.

2EAT FAST.Carpool. Or if you don’t feel like

shelling out the money to go to a restaurant, find a couple of friends and have a “house lunch” instead.

3GROUP UP.

DINEONTIMEquick tips for quick eating

2 Great HarvestLocation: 4002 W 83rd St.Travel time: 2-3 mins

Cafe Provence

STAR SCALE CHECK PLEASE AVERAGE DELIGHTFUL CULINARY GENIUS

The name gives it away. Great Harvest bakes fresh bread and cook-ies daily, with generous free sam-ples available at request. In-store soups aren’t available while it’s still hot outside, but come fall they’ll start the cooking again.

The store itself is located in the center of the Corinth shops, on the same block as the recently opened BRGR. Although it has some diner-style swivel chairs and a small bar, there are no true sit down tables.

The store produces five basic breads daily, and the other types de-pending on the day of the week. The “samples” are actually full pieces of the bread on display, which makes for a nice snack to add to your meal.

As for the sweets, there’s a bounty of different choices — from Alpine Cookies and Mountain Munchies to Biscotto and Cinna-mon Rolls.

I went with a piece of Wood-stock and an all chocolate cookie, only $2 total (the bread was free). Both were fresh made that day, and extremely soft.

It may not be a place to stop for a full lunch, but if you’re looking for a cheap dessert or an extra addition to your lunch to tide you over for the rest of the day, Harvest is the place to go.

Another small independent PV restaurant, C Jack’s Sidewalk Cafe is a perfect bet for a quick, inexpen-sive meal. It’s contemporary, light and laid back, and the cafe itself already has some established ties to East, employing several students and displaying new works of stu-dent photography every month.

The menu offers a variety of op-tions including soups and salads, sandwiches, wraps, paninis and pastas. All the individual meals and the combinations — say a soup and half salad, or half sandwich and cup of soup — range from only $6-9, a pretty thrifty buy compared to Provence.

The Fajita Grilled Wrap I chose was made right after ordering, and the freshness shined through. The chicken was largely sliced and suc-culent, and that combination of that and the fresh vegetables made for a delicious wrap despite the generous amounts of chipotle sour cream gobbed inside. Along with the caesar salad, it made for a quick, fairly healthy meal, all in under 20 minutes. C Jack’s wins as my per-sonal favorite in the PV area.

4 C Jack’s CafeLocation: 6937 Tomahawk Rd.Travel time: 3-4 mins

Quietly tucked into the shops of Prairie Village, Cafe Provence comes in on the high-

er-end of open lunch options, with a formal selection of French cuisine to choose from.

Perhaps a little too formal and cozy for a half-hour lunch break.

With a countryside mural wrap-ping around the walls of the entire restaurant and fully set-up tables the atmosphere is relaxed, formal, cozy. Although the restaurant does feature a lunch menu, it isn’t ex-actly fit for a high school wants; it seemed more fitting to serve a busi-ness meeting. The prices follow the same suit; none of the lunch items go for under $10, and that’s not in-cluding drinks or a side item.

I went with a salmon salad, or “Salade de Saumon Fume” as it was called on the menu, partly because I had trouble recognizing any of the other choices. The wait time was longer, around 10 minutes, due to the fact that it was a true sit down restaurant. Also portions were also smaller than I had expected. Al-though the food was excellently prepared, I wouldn’t suggest this as a go-to lunch spot for the seniors. For the sake of your wallet, very spe-cial occasions only.

For maps and further directions for all of the restaurants reviewed, visit www.smeharbinger.net

Heist flicks have always followed a for-mula. A team of thieves joins together and devises the perfect plan to steal a huge pay-load. Inevitably, something goes wrong dur-ing the job, igniting a race against time/the police/whoever betrayed them as they vie to make it out alive and with the money. There’s not a problem with the formula, but when a film follows it to a T without bring-ing something fresh to the table, and bla-tantly rips off of other, better movies, that’s when the heist genre is relegated to medioc-rity like “Takers.”

The film opens with a skyscraper rob-bery, wherein a team of professional thieves (played by Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Hayden Christensen, Michael Ealy and Chris Brown) enjoys the rewards of a successful heist. That is until recently released Ghost (rapper Tip ‘T.I.’ Harris, recently released from prison in real life, too), a former team member of theirs who got caught on a previous job, ap-proaches them with an opportunity to rob an armored truck carrying $20 million.

The catch: they only have five days to prepare and they’re unsure if they can trust Ghost. In addition, a pair of detectives (Matt Dillon and Jay Hernandez) are investigating the skyscraper robbery, hot on their tail.

Despite the risks, the team takes the job, and anyone who’s ever seen a heist film can easily guess where it goes from there, es-pecially anyone who’s seen the crime epic “Heat” and/or “The Italian Job.” The real agenda of “Takers” doesn’t seem to be about the characters stealing money, but about

the movie stealing the structure, plot points and characters of these two far supe-rior heist flicks.

Copying off of such great material, you’d think that writers Peter Allen, Gabriel Cas-seus, Avery Duff and co-writer/director John Luessenhop would at least be able to produce something exciting to make up for the lack of originality. Unfortunately, Lues-senhop’s style of jittery, never-ending quick cuts and overuse of shaky-cam keep viewers from becoming engaged in the action, more often just leaving them wondering what’s going on.

Seeing as how the writers struggled to come up with their own story and only cre-ated hackneyed, underdeveloped characters, it’d definitely be too much to expect service-able dialogue. Many conversations either abound with clichés or are just plain annoy-ing. The latter usually involve T.I., who fails to ever make his performance anything be-yond irritating and vacuous.

In the sequence where the team ambush-es the armored truck, T.I. describes every ac-tion the audience is seeing onscreen into his comm radio (“Aw mann, watch out fo’ these guys!”). What a shame, because this is one of the few set pieces that’s moderately cool, but it loses half its entertainment value due to the rapper’s inane running commentary.

But the other musician in the movie, Chris Brown, turns in the biggest surprise.

He’s likable and fun to watch, and almost redeems himself for his infamous behavior against Rihanna through a parkour-styled foot chase. Agilely running through the subway, streets and jumping from roofs, this sequence makes for the only legitimately thrilling part of the film, and helps elevate the second half of “Takers” to watchable sta-tus, until it starts falling apart at the end.

Few of the other actors leave much of an impression, however. Walker simply plays his “Fast and Furious” character again, and Ealy feels overly serious. Elba, on the other hand, emanates coolness by speaking in his natural cockney accent, taking charge of the robbers, while Christensen drops his Anakin Skywalker whining routine to prove himself a charming presence.

Both of the detectives play their stereo-types well, but Dillon’s done this part sev-eral times before and he’s obviously tired of it here. Hernandez performs competently beside him, but fails to make his character stand out. For such a star-studded cast, there was a lot of potential in this genre piece, but Luessenhop fails to take advantage of all the talent on display.

Earlier this summer, “Inception” treated moviegoers to a completely unique and orig-inal heist experience. Now, at the end of the season, “Takers” slaps us with the antithesis of that, a humdrum heist flick that can’t even steal its ideas from other movies without screwing them up.

Don’t let this botched robbery take your money.

21 A&Eissue 1

AlexLamb

STAR SCALE STAY AT HOME RENT IT WORTH SEEING OSCAR WORTHY

Bank RobbingThe business of

True Romance

The Italian Job

Heat

Film guru Alex Lamb discusses the superior heist flicks that “Takers” steals from.

The ultimate crime movie epic, “Heat” follows a group of bank robbers planning a huge heist, while a tireless cop tries to hunt them down. “Takers” essentially copies most of its dual narrative from “Heat,” but drops the deep characters and intense shoot outs.

Slick and stylistic, this fast-paced heist movie follows an elite team of robbers who are double-crossed by their inside man, then set out to steal their loot back from him. The robbers in “Takers” face a similar set-up, and also have to steal from an armored truck.

While not exactly a heist film, “True Romance” follows two love-birds who steal and try to sell a briefcase of cocaine. In the movie’s climax, several groups vying for the coke show up and have a shoot it out in a hotel room. The climax of “Takers” is almost a carbon copy of this scene, but not nearly as cool.

Derivative ‘Takers’ exhausts all heist movie clichés

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23A&Eissue 1As of late the horror film genre has

been bombarded with mockumentaries, hand-held cameras and attempting-to-be-indie films. From Quarantine (and the much superior original Spanish film, [Rec]), Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity, this style has seemed to draw audiences in and guarantee box office success. While any Lost-Footage film causes questions like “Where is that mu-sic coming from,” “Who found this ‘lost footage’”and “why is this footage edited,” to distract from the films other aspects, these films showcase a new way of tell-ing a story. Technically speaking though, if you’ve seen one of them you’ve seen them all. They all have the same exposi-tion, lack of music and the always shaky hand-held camera.

As expected, The Last Exorcism be-gins with interviews of family members and routine scenes of characters at home and work. From the get-go, Reverend Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) shows an ironic lack of faith considering his line of work. Through sermons over ba-nana bread and a magnetic Jesus fish for his car, Cotton’s skepticism obviously doesn’t weigh heavily on his mind. Even though Cotton justifies his exorcisms as an almost medical service, he admits that exorcisms are a scam and sets out to expose them as such. Followed by a camera-man (actor) and sound assistant (Iris Bahr), Cotton takes a case deep in the bayous of Louisiana. Having only skimmed the letter pleading for his help, Cotton is surprised to find that it is not the man who wrote him who wants to be exorcised, but his doe-eyed 16 year-old daughter, Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell). Uncomfortable conning a child, Cotton tries to leave but is stopped by Nell’s overbearing father Louis (Louis Herthum).

In probably the strongest sequence

in the entire movie, Cotton performs the ‘exorcism’ with many tricks. As the exorcism is performed the audience is shown clips of Cotton explaining each trick used in the ceremony. From wires to sound effects to dry-ice producing crosses, this sequence reveals a comical and well-planned agenda behind the film. While this light touch is welcomed in a genre of over-the-top scenes the film lacks any scare-factor for the first hour.

When Cotton and his team are left alone in the house with Nell, the film finally takes a horror-oriented turn for the better. When the team finds Nell chained to her bed, they release her and hope she will sleep. But after the team goes downstairs they hear the sound of a crying baby. As they rush up the stairs with the camera man in tow the shaky filming adds to the suspense of what could be up those stairs. While the re-veal is anticlimactic, the suspense and sense of running up the stairs with them restores the credibility of the almost trite shaky camera. Soon after we experience another pleasure of the mockumentary style. Cotton’s assistant has the sound bites from the last scare and they review them after the reveal, leaving the audi-ence with more thirst to discover exactly what is happening to Nell.

In an equally tense scene Nell gets ahold of the camera and films herself while possessed. After a shot of her blue teeth and green eyes she undresses and leaves the house. Turning the camera off and on, Nell enters her father’s tool shed and zooms in on a white cat. This scene is enhanced by the fact that we are only seeing what Nell wants us to see. This trick may be used in nearly every film of the “I made it myself!” category but writ-ers Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland (the mastermind duo behind the upcom-ing Virginity Hit) have a trick or two up

their sleeves. Throughout the methodi-cally slow paced scene of Nell drawing closer and closer to the cat, the audience surely will find itself saying “No! Not the kitty!” yet still thoroughly enjoy what happens next. While this scene wasn’t anything spectacular, it showcased Bot-ko and Gurland’s fresh take on the plot while also breaking out from the typical-ly restrictive ‘behind-the-camera’ point of view.

Throughout the film Nell’s sanity comes into question as well as the san-ity of those around her. With an overly religious drunk father, a creepy mum-bling brother, and a recently deceased mother, Nell’s home seems like a breed-ing ground for abuse and incest. But is it possible that the only thing causing trouble in the home is supernatural forc-es? Could Nell just be acting out? Or is it really possession by an entity not yet understood? These questions and many more keep the audience intrigued while also frightened at the thought of an an-swer.

This well thought-out and engaging take on the familiar exorcism plot is sup-ported by Fabian’s strong acting skills and entertaining jokes throughout the film. While some bits, including the ending which is unexpected, but not in a good way, are disappointing, the movie as a whole works out surprisingly well. Throughout the film the question of whether or not Nell is possessed probes at the back of your mind along with the feeling that something just isn’t quite right about her family. Cotton’s journey through his faith and Nell’s journey through a living hell make the film a suspenseful and well-done horror expe-rience while retaining the dignity of a smart and funny script.

ZoeBrian

STAR SCALE STAY AT HOME RENT IT WORTH SEEING OSCAR WORTHY

all photos byhttp://www.sbs.com.au/films/movie

Paranormal Activity2009The epitome of and indie film turned main-stream, Paranor-mal Activity was made with a small budget and nobody actors but caught the atten-tion of Steven Spielberg who quickly changed the ending, not for the better, and gained a more public campaign.

The film that started it all, Blair Witch Project first terrified audiences in 1999, claiming, and convincing the audience, that the footage was shot by three students who disappeared during the making of the movie and found one year after their disappearance.

the Blaire Witch Project1999

This remake of the Spanish film [rec] somehow manages to copy 90% of the film, shot by shot, yet at the same time ruin the scariest moments and make the characters feel flat while still making a killing at the box offices. Honestly, just watch the original.making a killing at the box offices. Honestly, just watch the original.

Quarantine2008

The Last Exorcism delivers a predictable and enjoyable mockumentary horror film

perfectlypossessed

Mockumentary Films

through the decade

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ucked in the corner of a strip mall is a self-serve frozen yogurt shop, Peachwave. Driving down Mission, one may make the mistake of overlooking it. The bland outside design and barely noticeable sign make it easy to miss, but after one taste of what

they offer, you’ll never skip over it again.Any hesitation to visit disappears when you

walk in. You can usually expect that upon any trip there will be a line all the way to the door. This place is so popular that it already has loca-tions on Foursquare, a social networking site that allows you to see where your friends are visiting. People are “checking in” to the “Peach-wave Patio” and even the “Peachwave Bath-room.” Upon walking in you are dropped right into the amazing atmosphere that Peachwave has to offer. The walls are painted bright white which makes the lime green accents really pop. But what caught my eye the most was the tile mosaic wall leading you right to the self serve wall—my favorite part.

Peachwave has over 25 flavors, although

not all are available each day. They only have room for 16 flavors on the floor, so they rotate every so often. They range from “original tart” to mango to Tiramisu and everything in between. The topping bar they have is adequate, but not impressive. They have basics such as sprinkles, chocolate chips and marshmallows, which was enough for me but if you wanted to get really creative with your dish it would be pretty dif-ficult.

After taking my time to look over all the fla-vors, I finally decided on chocolate, coffee, rasp-berry and “original tart.” The self-serve set-up al-lows you to pick as many flavors and how much of each of those flavors you want. This is how I perfected my signature mix--half chocolate, half cheesecake with cheesecake pieces, chocolate chips, marshmallows and chocolate syrup. But this time, I decided to try something new.

The “original tart” tasted a lot like yogurt, so much so much that it tasted like I just took yo-gurt out of my fridge. The yogurt taste was just a little too strong for my taste, I prefer more flavor in my frozen yogurt.

Because of this I was excited for the choco-

late and my excitement was well warranted. The chocolate here is a must have. The texture was very smooth and creamy for a frozen yogurt. The chocolate flavor wasn’t too rich and over-powering, leaving it just right for my taste buds. The small amount I had wasn’t enough and I was left wanting more. I tried coffee next and as I took my first bite I was overcome with a strong coffee flavor. I personally enjoy things that are flavored with coffee but not actual coffee. How-ever, if you are a huge coffee drinker you may really enjoy the taste.

Next was the raspberry and I have to admit it was delicious, even more so than the choco-late and it was so creamy and true to taste that I couldn’t stop eating but was also much lighter than the previous flavors. The raspberry flavor was refreshing and by far the best flavor I ate there.

With it’s ample seating, frozen yogurt flavors and toppings a stop at Peachwave is a must. Al-though it is generally busy, after your first bite you won’t mind the wait in line.

FRENZYFRO-YO

T

The Harbinger reviews new self-serve frozen yogurt places around Kansas City

“I don’t really like the ice cream all that much but people are always there. It’s fun when there’s noth-ing to do. “

Why do you like going to Peachwave?

Senior Cooper Toombs

“I love going to Peachwave be-cause I get to see all my friends and it’s a really fun environment. It’s also inexpensive for some-thing really good.”Senior Olivia Mansfield

“I like seeing a ton of people I know cause it’s really popular. I work two days during the week and one weekend day.”Junior Morgan Denton

y love for frozen yogurt is extreme, some might even call it an obsession. With so many new shops opening up nearby, my fixation may never end. Here’s the scoop on some places that are already local favorites.M

Mayor of Peachwave on Foursquare Regular at Peachwave Peachwave Employee

AlysabethAlbano

PEACHWAVEall photos by GrantHeinlein

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few streets from The Plaza is a small, often ignored, area with a great atmo-sphere. Located at 49th and Main these four blocks are full of restaurants and shops, such as Spin Pizza. And now they have added Yogurtini, their newest fro-

zen yogurt place to the line up. Crammed between a Chipotle and The Mixx,

Yogurtini can barely be seen from the street. The only sign that anything had filled the once va-cant spot was the “Now Open” sign still hanging in the window. I heard a lot of buzz about this place and with my love of frozen yogurt, I had to try it.

Finding the entrance and a parking spot was a bit of a task. The only parking they offer is a parking garage shared by other nearby shops and restaurants. Since it’s shared, it is always packed. If I wasn’t craving my fro-yo fix I would

have given up after my fourth circle around the garage.

From the outside it doesn’t look all that im-pressive but once you step inside you see it has a much classier atmosphere than Peachwave. The walls are painted in a mellow blue and brown giving it a much calmer feel. The biggest differ-ence I noticed was they have someone at the door to greet you and help guide you to “your perfect flavor.” They had their menu of flavors displayed proudly on the wall which helped me select my flavors before going to the self-serve wall. It was also a lot less busy then Peachwave, which was a definite plus.

When I went to grab the flavors I had picked out I was really let down. Most of the ones I wanted were out of order, which was an incon-venience. With their advice and my own curi-osity I decided to have the Green Apple Tartini, Chelsy’s Cheesecake and Summer Berry Sorbet.

The Green Apple Tartini was by far the best frozen yogurt I have ever had. It was light, re-

freshing and had great consistency. The green apple flavor reminded me a lot of candy, like a green apple Jolly Rancher, but it wasn’t too sweet. I love cheesecake everything, so obvious-ly I was pumped to try Chelsy’s Cheesecake and to be perfectly honest it was awful. It didn’t even faintly taste like cheesecake.

The last one I tried was Summer Berry Sor-bet. Yogurtini doesn’t offer very many fruit fla-vors but I am glad they had this one. It had a very nice fresh, fruity flavor and was light and creamy. It was a nice combination for your taste buds.

Then I saw the topping bar and was totally infatuated—they had everything you could want. It offered so many unusual options such as pie crust, waffle cone pieces, runts, vanilla wafers and even pop rocks.

Next time you’re down by the Plaza , take a detour a few blocks over to Yogurtini. It’s defi-nitely worth the drive and the search for a park-ing spot.

his past July, local comedian El-liot Threatt opened a new fro-zen yogurt shop at Oak Place. Located near UMKC, it claims it “offers a healthy choices in yogurt in an environmentally friendly space.” From the out-side it seemed to have an awe-some atmosphere since it was

located in a more downtown-esque area. But from the inside it has a very different feel. The walls are painted grey with red and black ac-cents placed around. Even though the decor is very modern and sleek the place is still incred-ibly small and it is hard to look past. Your first step in the store put you right in front of the self-serve wall. I barely had room to turn around and grab my cup from the counter behind me.

The thing that really caught my eye was the “Red Mango vs. The Other Guys” sign next to the yogurt. On it says that unlike the “other guys” they offer 100% all natural non-fat, low-

cal gluten-free yogurt that is also good for your immune system. It was interesting to see how proud they were to healthy alternative to frozen yogurt.

Like the other two shops, you can serve yourself although this feature is only offered at certain locations. They have up to ten flavors to choose from and rotate them weekly. Unlike the other two places, though, there were hardly any options to choose from. They all sounded way to healthy, which in retrospect was probably what they were going for.

But after awhile I finally decided on POM, Madagascar Vanilla, Key Lime Pie, and Manda-rin Orange.

The POM was not very good at all. With my first bite I was immediately overcome with this gross milky taste, I couldn’t take another bite. I would stay clear of this one.

Next I tried the Madagascar Vanilla and again it wasn’t very good. It tasted like the original flavored offered at all three of the shops. After

both of these flavors turned out to be duds I was really discouraged going in to the Key Lime Pie but surprisingly it was delicious. It was really creamy. It really tasted like key lime pie which is important to me because I hate when things aren’t true to taste.

The last flavor I tried was Mandarin Orange and I was really impressed. The best part was it didn’t taste like fake orange sherbet. It actually tasted like I took the time to peel an orange and eat it. I would definitely get this again.

My second favorite part of every shop is their topping bar and theirs disappointed. A lot of the slots that were supposed to hold toppings were empty and what they had didn’t look appealing. I was used to sprinkles, candy, and syrup but I only saw fruit, cereal and Mochi balls here.

This place isn’t worth the time or gas it would take you to get there. If you’re in the neighbor-hood and really craving fro-yo you could take a chance and stop by.

T

A

RED MANGO

YOGURTINI

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september edition

RAIN: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES

HURLEY

EASY A Hand All Over

a&e26 09 07 10

AubreyLeiter

sept. 8-14sept. 14

sept. 17

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Superbad’s Emma Stone uses the rumor mill at her school to improve her social and financial status by let-ting guys say they hooked up with her in exchange for money. As a modern day version of ‘The Scarlet Letter,’ this movie is sure to be hilarious.

With the familiar fac-es of Amanda Bynes (The Amanda Show) and Lisa Kudrow (Friends) you defi-nitely won’t want to miss it.

The Broadway show “Rain” is showing at Starlight Theater this week. The band Rain has mastered every song of legendary group, The Beatles, and is delivering a live, infectious performance of The Beatles greatest hits. This tribute will take you back in time and deliver anything from the Beatles early work, to the classics, to their last album. So get a group to ‘Come Together’ to ‘Twist and Shout’ at Starlight. Tickets range from $10-75.

You won’t want to miss the dance punk duo, Matt and Kim, when they come to the Granada Theater in Lawerence on Sept. 23. The duo hasn’t performed in Kansas City since last summer, when they opened for Blink 182. Even though the show is on a Thursday night, SMSD has blessed us with Parent/Teacher con-ferences the next day—leaving us out of school. Plenty of time to recover from this mind-melding show. Tick-ets are $21 and the show starts at 10 p.m.

The CW Premiere of

by Maroon 5

Maroon 5’s third album, “Hands All Over,” will be their first new material since the very popular 2007 album “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long”. This album features their newest hit single, “Misery,” which is currently one of Mix 93.3’s over-played pop music songs.

The band Weezer and the television show “Lost” might not have much in common, but on Sept. 21, all that will change. The band will release their new album cover with actor Jose Garcias portrait covering it. They also named the album after Gar-cia’s character on the show, Hurley. The groups eighth album brings you 10 new songs including their latest single “Memo-ries.” The album is expected to deliver just as well as past work.

The CW has a new series adding to their lineup on Wednesdays featur-ing Ashley Tisdale and Aly Michalka. Think a mixture of “Bring It On” and “Gossip Girl.” The new show focuses on the action-packed and drama-filled lives of college cheerleaders.

This new show is about the character of Ni-kita who, after forced to be an assassin her entire life, is seeking revenge on a team of murderers who killed her husband. This show is sure to be filled with action and should keep you on the edge of your seat.

Who wouldn’t want to see a 3D movie about owls? This animation-adventure is based on a series of books called ‘Guardians of Ga’hoole’ by Kathryn Lasky. Com-ing from the same animation studio as ‘Happy Feet’, Legends of the Guardians is expected to be a heart-felt, exciting adven-ture about the owls of Ga’hoole who help the innocent. Also, this is coming from the same director of ‘300’ and ‘Watchmen,’ so be prepared for fan-tastic special effects.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’hoole BUZZ BEACH BALLThe Buzz has delivered a strong alternative line-up for this year’s Buzz Beach Ball at Sandstone Amphitheater. With Smashing Pumpkins, Cake, Anberlin and others scheduled to show up for the festivities, there should be a packed house. The show begins at 5 p.m. and general admission tickets are $32. Expect to see guys in their little sister’s jeans and plenty of crowd surfing.

b2b.optone.com

kcstarlight.com

cwtv.com

allmoviephotos.com

allmoviephotos.com

BY WEEZER

Hellc

ats NIKITA

MATT AND KIM

mattandkimmusic.com

anberlin.com

weezer.com cwtv.com

UPand

RUNNINGCross country members reveal their diverse secrets for success

ChloeStradinger

CROSSCOUNTRYCULTURE

NEWBIES

VARSITY

As coach Tricia Beaham announced the three mile run on the first day of cross country, a jumble of negative thoughts ran through sophomore Brennan Wil-liam’s head, on top of which perched her neon-yellow “BAM!” bow.

“What am I doing here?” Williams thought. “I won’t be able to finish this run…I’m not a runner.”

But she did finish it. And all of the runs after that, since the beginning of the season. Before those runs, she never would’ve thought she’d be improving each day, or planning on running for the rest of her high school career. And, against her expectations, she was actu-ally enjoying cross country.

“I always thought cross country wasn’t for me, but you can go your own pace, be your own person,” Williams said. “And I can still wear my bows.”

The vast, mountainous Colorado terrain stretches before junior Reid Frye’s eyes as he looks down at his accomplishment. He and his teammates had climbed up Gray’s Peak-all 14,000 feet of it.

“I looked down and saw what me and my teammates had just completed,” Frye said. “It was the highlight of my trip.”

The trip Frye took this summer was with the varsity boys’ and girls’ teams. They went to Grand Lake, CO, where they ran in a race and took long climb/runs up the local mountains. At nights, they all played games like poker and Twister for fun after their day of rigorous activity. They bonded as a team, which was one of Frye’s fa-

vorite parts of the trip, since he said his team-mates make cross country enjoyable for him.

“It got us focused for the year and ready to go,” Frye said.

BEFORE THE MEET POPSICLE PARTIES THURSDAY JERSDAY

27SPORTSissue 1

A recent custom of the cross country trade, Thursday Jer-sdays were established this year by a group of senior guys. Each male in the group wears a sleeveless jersey to practice. “Jason Sabin set the bar high with some sort of New York hy-brid jersey in the first week,” se-nior Kevin Simpson (left) said.

As a special after-practice treat, runners from all of the teams get to indulge in cold popsicles pro-vided by the parents of runners on select Wednesday evenings. “It’s nice to have a popsicle after a long run but I feel bad because sometimes varsity gets back too late to have any,” said junior Jake Seitz, a C-team runner.

Although cross country meets can be grueling, runners enjoy the moments before the races when the teams come togeth-er and yell out their signature chants: “Good, better, best,” “Rufio” and of course, “Blood makes the grass grow. Kill, kill kill!”

SCANDAL SQUADSeniors Katy Richardson and Betsy Blessen walk side by

side along the field as Richardson crams a handful of gold-fish into her mouth. Chatting and munching, the pair re-mains oblivious to what is going on around them on the fall morning. Only when the starter fires his gun signaling the beginning of the girl’s first Cross Country race do they realize they’re supposed to be running.

With a scream of surprise, they run off to join the rest of the girls in the C-team race.

From talking on race mornings to chatting on runs, Rich-ardson loves socializing at cross country. She runs to be with her friends, as well as to keep in shape. Richardson and her friends were passed down the honorable “scandal squad” name by the seniors who established the group the previ-ous year.

“We [the scandal squad] aren’t looking to be varsity run-ners, just looking to enjoy the sport,” Richardson said.

While Richardson and her friends always keep cross country fun, they know it’s hard work.

Next year, the scandal squad will pass down the honor to a group of the coming year’s C-team senior girls with the same positive attitude, and who, of course, love to socialize. Because after all, that’s what the scandal squad is all about.

all photos by GrantKendall

From left: seniors Katy Rich-ardson and Jordan Herring,

sophomores Helena Buchmann and Brennan Williams, juniors

Mitch Daniel and Adam Simmons, senior Hanna Jane Stradinger, junior Emily Kerr

This team is built on players that all care about this team and this season and would give up almost anything for it to be successful. Ask them how good they think they can be and they say that they can win state, and they mean it. These players have put as much into this season as any team they will play; that is all they can do to be as good as they can be.

PRIMEDforHISTORYIN COACH CHIP SHERMAN’S SECOND SEASON, THE LANCER FOOTBALL TEAM IS PREPARED FOR ITS BEST SEASON IN SCHOOL HISTORY

YOUR FRIDAY NIGHT PLANNER (AND A FEW THURSDAYS AND SATURDAYS TOO)

2010 FOOTBALLPREVIEW

One thing East has not had enough of over the past few years are big players upfront. Senior George Brophy brings that size and collegiate talent to go with it. Bro-phy will be able to disrupt the offense on defense and dominate his man on offense.

PLAYERS TO WATCHJOHN SCHROCKQB, SENIORSince his sophomore year, Schrock has been getting varsity snaps; meaningful or not they have all been building up to this year. In each of the previous seasons, Schrock has been splitting time with senior Robby Moriarty, but this off-season Sherman gave Schrock the nod, allowing him to finally take total control over this offense. At 6’3”, Schrock is the ideal quarterback and has all the skills to make the passing game tick.GEORGE BROPHYOT & DE, SENIOR

JOSH MAISLB & OG, SENIORJust like Brophy, Josh Mais has some major size for a high school linebacker. Leading the linebacking corps, Mais will be able to stuff the run like a brick wall.

QUAN BRUNTWR & CB, SENIORThis is somewhat of a wild card but senior Quan Brunt especially fills a desperate need for East : speed. A convert from the soccer team, this will be Quan’s first full year of foot-ball. Although he may be a tad raw, he will surely make plays.

THE MORE YOU KNOW

IN 53 YEARS, SHAWNEE MIS-SION EAST HAS WON 206 GAMES. IN 23 SEASONS, CHIP SHERMAN HAS WON 203

SPORTS28 9 07 10

FINAL PREDICTIONS

SM NORTHWEST

SEPT. 2NORTH STADIUM

SM NORTH

SEPT. 16NORTH STADIUM

OLATHE NORTH

SEPT. 24OLATHE DISTRICTACTIVITY COMPLEX

LAWRENCE FREE STATE

OCT. 1LAWRENCE FREE STATE

LAWRENCE

SEPT. 10NORTH STADIUM

all photos by GrantHeinlein

CorbinBarnds

This team is built on players that all care about this team and this season and would give up almost anything for it to be successful. Ask them how good they think they can be and they say that they can win state, and they mean it. These players have put as much into this season as any team they will play; that is all they can do to be as good as they can be.

MAKING THEDIFFERENCEA 4-6 TEAM DOESN’T MAGICALLY BECOME A STATE CONTENDER IN THE MATTER OF AN OFF-SEASON. HERE ARE FOUR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THIS TEAM AND LAST YEAR’S TEAM.

YOUR FRIDAY NIGHT PLANNER (AND A FEW THURSDAYS AND SATURDAYS TOO)

PLAYERS TO WATCH

29SPORTSissue 1THE OFFENSE

THE DEFENSE

DEDICATION This team is built on players that all care about this team and this season. Ask them how good they think they can be and they say that they can win state, and they mean it. These players have put as much into this season as any team they will play; that is all they can do to be as good as they can be.

EXPERIENCE The Lancers’ best players will be seniors all across the board, with most of their starters being se-niors. Each night they will be putting everything on the line because they know it’s their last chance to leave a mark on this school’s athletic history.

WINNING THE WAR UPFRONT

EFFICIENCY THROUGH CONSISTENCYFor this team to be as good as people think they will be, the offense must be able to make big plays. Fortunately, they have the players to do that. With a solid line led by seniors Jack Harrigan, Josh Mais and George Brophy, there should be holes in the defense for junior running back Adam Lowe. To com-plement Lowe’s speed, senior Will Severns and junior Jeff Cole will pro-vide the power to the running game. Without question, the passing game will be the strength of this offense due to their depth and experience. The options that senior quarterback John Schrock will have are as good as any quarterback at East has ever had. The receiving corps consists of Seniors Grant Ellis, Krey Bradley, Alex Pirotte, and Quan Brunt; senior tight end Brett Miller and junior Elliot Faerber round off the group. Schrock will have the weapons to make this offense move, but can he make everything click?

RHYTHM Just like a batter on a baseball team, the quar-terback has to be in a rhythm to be successful. Instead of splitting time like last season, quarterback John Schrock will finally have the opportunity to be the only quarter-back throwing to his receivers.

4ROUND TWO One of the biggest bonuses of having the same coaching staff for two years is that the team will already know the system going into the season. In-stead of working on the basics a week before gameday, they can be polishing what they have. The players will already know what to expect from the coaching staff and their philosophy before they even have their first official game.

3

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Coordinated by Coach Chip Ufford, this unit is expected to be the strength of this team. Anchored by two bookends on the line, seniors George Brophy and Brett Miller will give the defensive line the size that East teams haven’t had in the past. Although the linebacking corps loses junior Chris Pinne, they return two playmakers in se-nior Josh Mais and junior Seth Hartman. With only one defensive back with game experi-ence, the defensive backfield will be the wild-card. If they can manage to hold their own against the pass, this defensive unit could be a top three defense in the league.

GAMES YOU CANNOT MISS SHAWNEE MISSION NORTHWESTIf students at East only remember one game from the previous sea-son, without question, it is the Shawnee Mission Northwest game. Nothing marked the arrival of Coach Sherman better than the goal line stop to win the game that was no step short of a miracle. Not only will East remember that game for a long time, but so will Northwest, which was robbed of a playoff berth with the loss. There is no better way to open the season than against the Cougars, and no better way to prove that under Sherman, East is going to be a daunting threat for the perennial powers of the Sunflower League.

OLATHE NORTHThe fourth game of the season against the defending state champs could go two ways: things could go the way they went last year or East could make this a winnable game. Last year, Olathe North led 14-13 at halftime in the playoffs matchup against a Lancer squad that went 2-8 the year before. And that was before the Eagles lost their best running back in school history, a linebacker to Kansas State and a defensive tackle to Missouri. I’m not trying to say that the 4th ranked team in the metro, according to Metro Sports, is go-ing to be deprived of talent, but it is certainly a game that will be great to watch.

SHAWNEE MISSION WESTOn October 12, Shawnee Mission East will line up against West; a game that any of the Metro Sports anchors will have already marked off as a sure win for the Vikings. But with Coach Sherman in the headset, any game is winnable. The number 12 ranked team in the metro according to Metro Sports, the Vikings lose a very good quar-terback from last year and an even better game-breaking defensive back and receiver. West still will have a very good team led by 23 seniors and spearheaded by senior running back William Livings-ton. If the Lancers defense can contain Livingston, who averaged 7.3 yards per carry last season, there will be a new king of Shawnee Mission football, putting the Lancers into a spotlight they haven’t seen in a long time.

FINAL PREDICTIONSFINAL RECORD: 7-2

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: GEORGE BROPHY

SURPRISE PLAYER: SETH HARTMAN

BIGGEST UPSET: EAST OVER SHAWNEE MISSION WEST

STATE FINISH: STATE SEMI-FINALS

LAWRENCE FREE STATE

OCT. 1LAWRENCE FREE STATE

OLATHE NORTHWEST

OCT. 7COLLEGE BOULEVARDACTIVITY COMPLEX

BLUE VALLEY NORTH

OCT. 15SOUTH STADIUM

SM WEST

OCT. 22SOUTH STADIUM

SM SOUTH

OCT. 29SOUTH STADIUM

KatieEast

For additional coverage including a video-interview with Salonoa visit sme-harbinger.net

SPORTS30 09 07 10

New volleyball coach, Rosacarla Salonoa, is ready to add some Brazilian flare to this year’s squad

Senior Julie Aliber walks off the court after her first practice with new volleyball head coach, Rosacarla Salanoa. Aliber is exhausted from over two hours of intense conditioning and going over new plays that Salanoa has

designed for the team.“With Rosa we really have to earn our spot on the

team,” Aliber said. “We have a more intense warm-ups and more conditioning. We’ve set higher goals than last year and are getting pushed a lot harder to achieve them.”

Salanoa is replacing former coach Scott Dowis, who left East after four seasons to coach the new Blue Valley Southwest volleyball team. Salanoa, a native of Curitiba, Brazil, has played and coached for several school teams and clubs, including representing Brazil in the interna-tional stage.

In 2009, Salanoa led St. Pius to a 27-3 season as well as earning the Missouri Coach of the Year, before applying for the coaching position at East. Once she was offered the position, Salanoa didn’t hesitate to accept.

“I was coaching my club team in a tournament and got a voicemail right after the last game,” Salanoa said. “I played it three times in my car and couldn’t be more ex-cited.”

Former athletic director Jim Ricker, who hired Salanoa in the summer, said he didn’t even have to make a pitch to entice her to come to East.

“She really pitched to us,” Ricker said. “Rosa wanted to be at East. She knew about our history and where we wanted to go.”

Despite only having been in the area for five years, Salanoa knew all about her new program.

“Shawnee Mission East volleyball has a good reputa-tion of parents and students that are very supportive,” Salanoa said. “East is always in contention and has a good team every year. I want to make this program even better.”

According to sophomore Audrey Hitchcock, Salanoa’s practices are much more demanding than Dowis’. They begin with 15-20 minutes of warm-up, in which they work on ball control and conditioning. Then, the team works on passing and hitting drills for another 40 minutes. For the rest of practice, the team works on game situations and de-signed plays such as “white, blue and black” - a play that is supposed to trick the opposing team by having the outside

players switch sides. Ricker also believes Salanoa can bring her competitive-

ness and experience as a player to the program.“She understands all positions and knows how to get

the best out of her players,” Ricker said. “To be a good coach you have to put in a lot time. She is more than will-ing to doing that and has got the community more in-volved with volleyball.”

This community involvement will start next sum-mer, when Salanoa will lead volleyball camps for girls from fourth grade up to high school. Salanoa wants to get younger girls accustomed to good fundamentals such as passing, approaching and how to rotate in the court.

Reaching out to the younger kids is just one of Sala-noa’s challenges this season. The volleyball team lost two top seniors in Lindsey Sauls and Kareen Schwartze - two of the top players in the state of Kansas last season.

Despite their absence, Aliber is optimistic and believes the team could even be better than last year’s.

“Last year we were really built around two players,” Aliber said. “This year we are a lot better conditioned and have a better rounded team. ”

In tryouts, Salanoa looked for players that could play in her offensive style. She is planning to use a 5-1 formation in order to be very aggressive both offensively and defen-sively. Salanoa stressed hard work and playing smart on the court in tryouts and wanted the players to be competi-tive to earn their spot on her team.

“We don’t have a really tall team so we are going to have to play smart and not waste points,” Salanoa said. “Every offense is going to start with passing. We are going to need to think of what were doing when we’re on the court.”

Salanoa also wants every player to improve and get bet-ter through out the season. Every two weeks, Salanoa sits down with the players individually and goes over what the player should work on to get more playing time and to see if they have any concerns.

“She really wants us to improve,” Hitchcock said. “She works us hard to get us to where we want to be. That’s her number one goal.”

Coach Salanoa is optimistic about the teams chances to go far this year.

“We have a very good group of girls and I truly believe we can make state and contend.”

CHANGINGGAME

CULTUREthetheof

AlexGoldman

“It’s definitely more intense this year, and she’s more about the defense instead of the offense. I love her accent, though.”

“She’s a girl, so we can relate better, and it’s very differ-ent from before. She is still getting used to the traditions we have.”

“Her accent is funny. She mispronounces words a lot and things get jumbled up. She’s definitely more fun off of the court.”

Senior Lauren King

Junior Taylor Wolf

SophomoreAudrey Hitchcock

Varsity players explain the pros of their new coach

all photos by GrantKendall and SamBartow

PRAISEfortheCOACH

BOYS SOCCERLED BY A CORE GROUP OF SENIORS, HOPES ARE HIGH

The boys soccer team this season is one of the most experienced in school history due to the 17 seniors that are on the team. After not having the most satisfactory sea-son last year, the team hopes to get back to their winning ways.

Opening their season today against Blue Valley, the Lancers have the capability to show the state that they are indeed a threat to compete not only for a league champion-ship but a state championship as well. Se-niors Lucas Throckmorton, Cam Smith and Zach Colby will be the keys to this season.

With so many seniors, this team’s time to win is now.

GIRLS GOLFDESPITE LOSS OF FOUR SENIORS, STATE IS GOAL

Just like the volleyball team, the girls golf team lost four seniors, three of which were play-ers on varsity but the team still has its eyes on state. Leading the team are sophomore Anne Willman, and seniors Sarah Genton and Lizzy Ward.

Standing in front of the Lancers on their way to state is Blue Valley North. The Mustangs won the 6A state title last year. For their dreams of state to come true Willman must be able to place top five at state along with top finishes from a few other players.

Though it will be tough, the Lancers have a serious shot at winning state. Things just must go perfectly during the days of state.

GIRLS TENNISWITH FOTOPOLOUS, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE

After last year’s strong second place finish at state, the Girls tennis team hopes to build on what they have, with the mindset that they could beat Blue Valley North and win state.

After losing two key seniors from last year, juniors Mimi Fotopolous and Mollie Cooper will be leading this team. Fotopolous is one of the top players in the country and has a legitimate shot at winning state individually. Winning singles will most likely be necessary for the Lancers to surpass the Mustangs on the final day of the season, but they must also place high on their doubles teams as well. Winning state is possible but coach Sue Chipman has her work cut out for her.

KEY GAMESSEPT. 11SM DISTRICT TOURNAMENT

SEPT. 18PEMBROKE VARSITY TOURNAMENT

SEPT. 30SUNFLOWER LEAGUE TOURNAMENT

PREDICTION: SECOND AT STATE

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YOUR ONE WEEK PLANNER

CAN’T MISS SPORTS EVENTS OF THE FALLFOOTBALL VS. SHAWNEE MISSION WESTFRIDAY, OCT. 22

(POSSIBLE MATCHUP) SOCCER VS.BLUE VALLEY NORTHSATURDAY, SEPT. 11

FOOTBALL VS.BLUE VALLEY NORTH (HOMECOMING)FRIDAY, OCT. 15

SEPT. 7, 9, 10SOCCER IN KA-MO TOURNEY

SEPT. 10FOOTBALL VS. LAWRENCE

SEPT. 14SOCCER VS. OLATHE EAST

SEPT. 11TENNIS IN DISTRICT TOURNAMENT

KEY GAMESSEPT. 27SM EAST INVITE

SEPT. 20SION INVITE

OCT. 12REGIONAL TOURNAMENT

PREDICTION: THIRD AT STATE

KEY GAMESSEPT. 7-11KA-MO TOURNAMENT

SEPT. 14OLATHE EAST

OCT. 21BLUE VALLEY NORTH-WEST

PREDICTION: SEMIFINALS AT STATE

MackenzieWylie

DanStewart

AnnaPetrow

MackenzieWylie

MackenzieWylie

DanStewart

Junior Lanie Leek, above, gets tossed into the air during the

varsity cheerleaders’ first pep assembly performance of

the year. Leek is new to the varsity squad. For her, being

on varsity rather than JV allows her to perform stunts

and routines during pep assemblies.

GrantHeinlein

Principal Karl Krawitz, left, dons KISS apparel as he and fellow administration members put on a lip syncing show in front of the entire student body.

Grasping the new school spirit stick, senior

Matt Hoffman, above right, yells with enthusiasm. The idea is to get the different

classes more energized during the assemblies by

rewarding the most spirited class with the stick.

DanStewart

After getting clotheslined by the new school mascot, senior Zach Colby, right, dramatically flies towards the ground. Colby

was decked as the mascot fought to save a young Lancer

girl from rival school bullies. GrantHeinlein

This year’s first pep assembly marked the beginning of new traditions at East

Senior pep club presidents Caro-line Doerr and CC Creidenberg, below, address the East student body with the fall sports run-down. “I was definitely nervous being in front of 2,000 people,” Creidenberg said, “but once the assembly went on, it got much easier.”

GrantHeinlein

PHOTO ESSAY32 09 07 10

PRIDENEW LANCER

KatieEast