By Patrick KoeglerLove was not the

only thing that was in the air on Feb. 14, there was also poetry. The annual Poetry Out Loud competition was

held during 5, 6, and 7 periods.Poetry Out Loud was launched

across high schools nationwide in 2006 and has grown to involve millions of students across the country.*

The goal of Poetry Out loud is to promote poetry in the nation’s youth through memorization and recitation. The contest can also build confidence and public speaking abilities.

“I was honored to show my compassion to people that are willing to listen and understand the concept of

poetry,” said Daisy Ochoa, Div. 531.The contestants were judged by

appearance, how dramatic they were, basic understanding of the poem, accuracy, and the difficulty of the poem. The three judges were English Teachers Patrick T. Levins and Shannon White and Assistant Principal Eric Flores.

Sergio Santillan and Quintin Nadig co-directed Poetry Out Loud for their third year in a row.

Santillan said, “The competition gets better and better every year. I would defiantly want to see the freshman and sophomores return next year.”

Poetry Out Loud uses a pyramid

structure that starts at the classroom level. Winners advance to a school wide competition, then to a regional, then state competition, and ultimately to national finals. Each winner at the state level receives $200 and an all-expenses paid trip with an adult chaperone to Washington to compete for the national championship.*

“Poetry out loud was a very great experience. It helped me with public speaking and I was able to express my opinion through poetry,” Kristen Rigsby, Div. 812.

Ochoa competed in state regionals last Thursday. *www.poetryoutloud.oom

WINNERS1st place: Ochoa

2nd place: Sabrina Vera (Div. 619)

3rd place: Rigsby

4th place: Angelica Roman (Div. 619)

5th place: Celeste Castillo (Div. 517) Photos by Koegler

Edward Sanchez (Div. 730) reciting Alone by Edgar Allan Poe.

Maya Tanguma (Div. 733) reciting The Blues Don’t Change by Al Young.

NEWS

EDITOR BOX

Entertainment Editor

Shannon I. Staunton

Editorials Editor

Melanie N. Perez

Sports Editor

Rachel E. Daly

Features Editor

Claire A. Tierney

Copy Editor

Linda S. Loya

News Editor

Lahney D. Vilayhong

AdviserPatrick T. Levins

Editor- in- Chief

Gabrielle E. Mejia

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They are poets and they know it

Maya Tanguma (Div 733) reciting The BluesEd d S h (Di ) i i Al b

NEWS CONTINUED 3

Battle of the new year marks history By Foy Wei and Lahney Vilayhong

Battle of the New Year was Taft’s first jam where kids from the Chicago area danced it out in the

second floor gym on Feb. 7. The event was hosted by Hip-Hop

Club President Lahney Vilayhong (Div. 435) and Vice President Adan Osorio (Div.425). Renato Roldan, also known as Roldare, assisted the battle, along with Hip Hop Sponsor William McDade.

“It is not all about the money but the experience gained. This was my first time hosting a battle and the end results were phenomenal,” said Vilayhong.

The entire battle was run by students, but dancers were not the only ones contributing, Student Government and National Honor Society also had volunteers who set up, collected admission fees, waivers, and sold

concessions. The music was provided by DJ SE7EN also known as B-boy Virgil.

“I had no idea that some of those people were into dance,” said Fernan-dos Johnson, Div. 437.

An entire two week process was needed to get everything in order. The event started at 5:30 p.m. and ended at 8:30 p.m. Admission was $4 and anyone who did not attend Taft was required to bring a printed waiver. The event raised $512 in total and the proceeds went to the Mercy Home for Boys and Girls.

“My overall experience was great. There were a lot of other schools with great b-boys and dancers performing there so it made the compe-tition much more intimidating,” said Joey Georges, Div. 533.

There were two portions, 2 vs. 2 breakdanc-ing (B-boy) and 2 vs. 2 allstyle. There were 16 quads in the B-boy section and eight in allstyles.

The jam began with an introduction and welcoming all the families and friends present. The night started with the top 16 B-boys, and after it went into the top eight allstyles. It switched off until the top two final quads were reached in both portions. A cypher break was given between each section.

“The battle overall was inspiring, the audience was heated, aggressive but respectful. I was impressed with the process especially with the talent. In fact, there were three times the teachers than homecoming. It was dope,” said McDade.

Overall, the winners of the night were Storm Troopers for 2 vs. 2 B-boy and Cents Crew for 2 vs. 2 allstyles. The two crews received a trophy and $40 dollars each.

There were five judges. The first three were break dancers, Alexander Hayashi (B-boy Smiley from KIN Crew), Josh Valdovinos (B-boy Charicter from Boogie Knightz), and Imran Hamidi (B-boy Ram from Chicago Tribe). The two other judges were English Teachers Shannon White and Sergio Santillan.

“Being a judge is difficult because you have to pay attention to the smallest things. I base my decisions on energy, creativity, execution, style, musicality, cleanliness, character, and presentation. It is inspiring to see the new generation come up. The kids from Taft impressed me; I hope they keep up the good work,” said Valdovinos.

Topping it off, a special exhibition match was held between students from University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC) and University of Illinois- Urbana Champain.

“Big thanks to McDade for putting up with all the craziness, best sponsor ever. Huge shout out for our Assistant Principal Susan Gross for giving us the opportunity to make this all happen,” said Osorio.

Dancers on the fl oor doing their thing. Left to right: Allstyles Sam Cave (Div. 636), B-boy

William Ward (Div. 630 ), Allstyles Osorio.

All competitors for B-boy All competitors for Allstyles

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By Jorge MartinezTaft students

Megan Day (Div. 412), Sarah Zumba (Div. 412), and Estephania Hernandez (Div. 410) earned the Posse

Scholar title. The Posse Foundation is one of

the most comprehensive and renowned college access and youth leadership development program in the United States. Posse is a full tuition scholarship to certain schools, based off not only academics but leadership. There are a total of three rounds one must pass in order to be named a Posse scholar.*

“The winners are well deserved. The nominees prepared very well for their interviews and put a tremendous amount of effort in their academic career for this opportunity,” said Advancement via Individual Determination Teacher Anil Menon.

“The first round interview was held during September. Hundreds of students were nominated. Participants were placed in workshops where they had to show team leadership skills and working ability.

“I was really nervous in the first interviews because I was trying to make sure I was doing everything right. I did my best to work with the group activities and

after a week,” said Day.Second round interviews were held in

October. These were more of the tradi-tional interviews where two members of the Posse organization interviewed the student alone. In December, the three students were selected of 25 students to be finalists in the city.

“The second round interview was still nerve wrecking, but not as hard. I felt more pressure because the interviews were not as structured as the first round ones,” said Zumba.

Posse schools: Day for Denison University in Grandville, Ohio, Zumba for Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and Hernandez for Agnes Scott College in Atlanta, Georgia.

“I am both excited and scared, but I am happy that my hard work has paid off.I am happy that I have my Posse for these next four years of my life,” said Hernandez. *possefoundation.org

Zumba (left), Day (middle), and Hernandez (right) smile for the money.

NEWS CONTINUED 4

Posse, my full ride to college B

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ROTC drilling to second place

Photo provided by ROTC

By Lahney VilayhongOut of 13 schools,

cadets from Taft’s Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) earned second

place overall. This included Personnel Inspection, Color Guard, Unarmed Exhibition Drill in the Annual Chicagoland Drill meet at Wheeling High School.

NJROTC also placed third in Academics, and fourth in Armed Exhibition Drill and Unarmed Regulation Drill. Once the competition ended all the cadets’ participated in the ‘Knock Out’ drills. Commands are called and every cadet is judged on how well they perform it. There is both unarmed and armed knockout.

In the individual armed knockout drill out of 150 cadets; Cadet Steven Pohl (Div. 520) earned third, Cadet Max Lazalde (Div. 620) earned fourth, and Cadet David Guevara (Div. 621) earned sixth. In the unarmed knockout out of 350 cadets; Cadet Max Lazalde earned third place.

“Placing second made me feel excited for future meets. The teams proved that we can beat some of the better schools when

we are at our best. The meet really predicts how our future meets will go,” said Max Lazalde.

Each drill has an overall commander.

Armed regulation: Junior Cadet Pohl (Junior), Armed exhibition: Senior Cadet Michael Lazadle (Senior), Inspection: Cadet Lazalde, Unarmed exhibition: Senior Cadet Breannin Mahoney (Div. 427), Unarmed Regulation: Senior Cadet April Cyrwus (Div. 421),Colo r guard: Junior Cadet Edgar Chajon (Div. 520), and the New Cadet Squad: Freshman Cadet Samantha De Los Santos, Div. 733.

Both Exhibition drills are judged by 3-4 judges and are based on how creative a routine is, how the team can move together

and stay aligned to each other. The routine the team performs must be between seven through nine minutes long, which also goes toward the judging.

Regulation and Color guard are judged by about 3-4 judges and every move can receive 5 points (highest) and 1 (lowest), the team was judged on how well they can move together and sharpness.

“I could not have been more proud of the teams. It was a relief that all of our hard work finally paid off when we placed second,” said Michael Lazalde, Div. 421.

Inspection is where each cadet can receive a max of 25 points. They have five categories:

Knowledge,military bearing, position of attention,uniform, and their overall hygiene.

“The team has really become my second family. They should be proud of themselves and each other. Seeing them work hard and staying dedicated for the Navy Regionals in March is my greatest accomplishment as a cadet leader,” said Commander Cyrwus.

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cTROTC team standing proudly at the end of the

drill meet.

Photo by Martinez

By Patrick Koegler Taft held the fifth

Winter One Act Play Festival Feb. 5-7. The festival started at 7 p.m. each night and was approximately an

hour and 40 minutes. The winter one act plays were run

by students, but had supervision from Drama Teachers William Skar, Quintin Nadig, and Bryan Wilson.

There were a total of four different plays that were performed during the festival: The Flood, Icarus’s Mother, Death Knocks, and Inherit the Wind.

Skar said, “The winter one-act festi-val this year was very successful. I am very proud of all who participated and especially all of the seniors that were involved.”

Starting off the festival was Kolby Yates (Div. 423) adaptation of the play The Flood by Liza Farler. The play starred Kaitlyn Rentner (Div. 433) as Sophie, Max Burger (Div. 426) as Jakob, Josue Quintero (Div. 427) as Clark, Victoria Schwieger (Div. 516) and Joy Jedrzejczyk (Div. 718) as the party girls, and Bridgett Hennessy (Div. 627) as The Flood.

The story line was about a flood

and how it effects the town folks. The overall theme captures how they treat each other in times of need.

Inherit the Wind was directed by se-nior Metodi Popovski (Div. 410). This was an adaptation of the play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. The play consisted of Carlos Rodas (Div. 533) who was casted as Brady, Patrick Campbell (Div. 517) as Daven-port, Christina Pereira (Div. 443) as the judge, and Daniel Gromek (Div. 529) as Drummond.

The play is about a teacher who decides to teach evolution at a school and ends up being put on trial. The whole controversy behind evolutions and creationism is examined.

“I showed the whole trial in the play. I chose to do this play because it is controversial,” said Director Popovski.

Death Knocks, the third play, was directed by Sarah Zumba, Div. 412. Death Knocks was originally a play by Woody Allen. The play featured Meghan Kujawski (Div. 615) as Death and Kevin Cole (Div. 516) as Nat.

The play was about Death trying to take a mans life in a game of gin rummy.

“These are the actors that I wanted and I could not ask for a better cast,” said Director Zumba.

The final play, Icarus’s Mother, was directed by Carmen Fuentes, Div. 427. It was originally by Sam Shepard. The play consists of Xavian Quintero (Div. 812) as Bill, Tamira Fuentes (Div. 516) as Hayden, Michael Sandoval (Div.) playing Frank, Ashley Paul (Div. 516) as Pat, and Sabrina Wieczorek (Div. 636) playing Jill.

The play was about a group of friends gathering together for the Fourth of July. One of the friends decides to cause paranoia by pulling a prank that goes horribly wrong.

“It was just a great varierty. I think it was one of our strongest years so far,” said Nadig.

By Foy WeiStudent Govern-

ment sold candy grams for Valentine’s Day in the cafeteria from Feb.

10-Feb. 14. With every $1 donated, a

lollipop of your choice and card was distributed to your second period class.

The lollipops were ordered from the Maredy company and the cards were provided by Student Government Sponsor William McDade. There were many different flavors of lollipops students could have selected such as raspberry-lemonade, root beer, watermelon, melon berry, and tanger-ine.

Along with student government, volunteers from National Honor Society also lent a hand.

“We started off by ordering 900 lollipops and 400 cards. We originally planned to only sell for three days, but it ended up being four day

because we had a couple more left. Overall, the event turned out to be a success,” said Student Government President Shannon Staunton, Div. 427.

“It was a wonderful experience. It was best when we passed out the candy because you can tell by the

faces of some people that received one made their day,” said Student Government Treasurer Georgina Lozano, Div. 417.

Not only did add to a students good day , but it also went to a good cause. The money collected was donated to The Mercy Home for Boys and Girls. The total amount accumulated was $600.

“We chose to send it to the Mercy Home for Boys and Girls because it was the charity we had previously donated money from the candy grams in December, so we wanted to stick to that one. We

definitely sold more grahams than Christmas. I am proud of all the hard work we did,” said Student Government Vice President Bonnie Regan, Div. 447.

NEWS CONTINUED 5

The one[derful] act plays gain fameB

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Send a gram with love

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One of the scenes from Icarus’s Mother.

Photo provided by Yearbook

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Students enjoying their lollipop gifts.

By Foy WeiAcademic Center.

Environmental and Spatial Technology (EAST) class collaborated with Aéropostale for their Teens for Jeans

drive, which was created by the Do Something campaign on Jan. 29.

EAST is an Information Technology class where students help the community by using indus-try software and hardware. EAST focuses on teamwork, leadership, self-motivation, public speaking and more.*

“The students did a great job. Since we had two snow days, it was impossible to get fliers in the school so students depended on social networking sites,” said East Coordinator Trent Eaton.

Aéropostale is a mall-based, retailer of casual apparel and accessories, mainly targeting 14 to 17 year old young women and men through its Aéropostale stores and 4 to 12 year-old kids through its younger line P.S.

“I shop there all the time and receive emails from them. That is how I found

Jeans donated for teens

Kind things given for the kids at Lurie

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about the campaign. It does not only help my grade in EAST but also the community,” said Sabrina Messar, Div. 814.

The Do Something campaign is the country’s largest organization for young people and social change. The campaign

has 2,439,780 members who work on causes they care about such as bullying, animal cruelty, homelessness, and cancer. People ranging from ages 13 to 25 year olds who can make an impact without needing money, an adult, or a car.**

700 out of 825 jeans were brought to the Aéropostale at Westfield Old Orchard by EAST student Isabel Oganovich (Div. 812).

“It was my first time doing something like this and it was a wonderful experience.

It felt good to do something for someone other than myself,” said Oganovich.

The other students that had helped with the drive were academic students Max Villanti (Div. 812) and Nicholas Nelson, Div. 812.

The participant that donates the most pair of jeans will win $10,000 for their school including a $4,000 merit scholarship. The schools that participated will have a chance to win $5,000.

Eaton said, “[The] students did a great job. I am amazed by the

generous action that they did.” There has not been a winner an-

nounced yet, but stay tuned.*tafths.org** aeropostale.com***dosomething.org

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Photo provided by Eaton

The EAST team responsible for the drive, packing all the jeans collected.

Photo by Lahney Vilayhong

NEWS CONTINUED 6

By Jorge Martinez Academic Center

students Kristen Rigsby (Div. 812) and Amelia Keating (Div. 814), from Environmental and Spatial Technology (EAST) held a

toy and book drive for the kids in need from Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

Lurie Hospital opened up services for kids with special needs and special disabilities. Keeping kids safe is their central mission and toys are just a part of it.*

“It is an amazing feeling to be able to help these children out. When we heard about this opportunity with Lurie Hospital, we took advantage and decided to get the whole school involved with the donations,” said Rigsby.

Initially, the drive was supposed to be held during the Christmas season, but due to some delays in planning, it was post-poned and was held during the Valentine season.

“We wish we could have held the drive during the Christmas season to donate the

toys as a Christmas gift, but unfortu-nately we were not ready. Although we held it during valentine season, the meaning is still there and our goal remained the same, which was to help the children,” said Keating.

Two weeks prior to the event was needed for preparation. They created poster boards and hung them all over the school; a presentation was also made to show on the televisions in the lunch room.

“Aside from the fact that we received a grade, I really felt passion-ate about this drive. It is our responsibility as people to help those who cannot help themselves. I feel the importance of serving these children hoping to bring a smile to their faces,” said Keating.

Along with the physical aspect, they contacted Lurie’s Hospital with a plan of action for the toys and books. They have estimated 2500. They packed all the toys in boxes and delivered them on Valentine’s Day weekend.

In order to participate in the drive students had to bring two books, two maga

zines, or a lightly used toy. Students were then permitted to be out of dress code.

“This drive was really important to us. We wanted the whole Taft community to help us out, not just to be out of dress code, but to help the children in need. We hope these gifts came from the heart. We thank the whole Taft community for helping, ” said Keating.*luriechildrens.org

The girls proudly packing the books and toys into bags.

By Jorge MartinezThe Taft Jazz

Ensemble participated in a two day jazz festival at Northern Illinois Univer-sity (NIU) and New Trier High School.

The Jazz Ensemble spent their first day of the trip at NIU, where the 54th annual Midwest Music Clinic in Chicago was held and schools from all around the Chicagoland area were invited to perform. The day began with a performance from NIU’s very own Jazz Ensemble, directed by Ron Carter, with special guest saxophonist Jimmy Heath.

After the performance, the bands had the opportunity to attend learning clinics while college professors from all around Chicago, such as DePaul University, University of Chicago (UIC), and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

At the clinics, instructors gave lessons and tips on how to improve skill depending on their instruments. At the end of the day, each school went into their assigned performing room where they were evaluated by judges.

The Taft Jazz Ensemble preformed Date Dere by Bobby Timmons, Dannyboy by Paul Clark, and Afro Blue by Mongo Santamaria.They were evaluated by Judges Geof Bradfield and Marlene Rosenberg. Once the band finished, the judges gave comments and feedback on how they can improve their overall perfor-mance.

“Our trip to NIU was very fun. I feel that what the bass clinician said to me was very helpful and the NIU jazz Ensemble was amazing. I wish we could have played

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better, but for not being a committed band, which is normal in high school, we did very well,” said Bass Player Alex Jahnke, Div. 547.

The next day was held at New Trier High School. Around 50 schools were invited to perform and be reviewed again. The Taft Jazz ensemble performed the same three songs and were evaluated by one of the same judges at NIU.

“There is already a huge sign of improvement. Everyone improved on what they needed to improve and the whole

band was overall great,” said Judge Bradfield.

They had many clinics that helped students with their music understanding and theory, such as a sight-reading and Jazz performance.

Last minute, a performance was put

together by the teachers, showing their ability to sight-read. The final performance was by a Grammy award winning jazz ensemble, The Chris-tian McBride Big Band.

“The Christian McBride Big Band was amazing. I was

so happy to see them play especially since McBride is a bass player like me and they did an amazing job,” said Jahnke.

This two day event was a preparation event for competition that will be held on February 17 at UIC.

“Overall, the band did very well and represented our school very well. We played our songs at the level we practiced them daily and is probably one of the better Taft performances of the Jazz Ensemble. The trip itself was very beneficial to the students. They got to work with professors and world class musicians and they learned a lot and were motivated to move forward with music,” said Band D irector Kevin Harriman.

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NEWS CONTINUED 7

Taft brings the jazz to the festival ACT FAST By Patrick Koegler

The American College Testing (ACT) is approaching the junior class faster than it seems.

The ACT is a college readiness assessment and standards based educational and career planning tool that assesses students’ academic readiness for college.*

The ACT test has four parts: English, Science, Reading comprehension, and Math. Colleges look at students ACT scores to decide many things such as admission, course placement, academic advisement, and scholarships.*

The English portion of the test is 75 questions in 45 minutes, the Science test is 45 questions in 30 minutes, the Reading comprehension test is 40 questions in 35 minutes, and the Math test is 60 questions in 60 minutes.*

Senior David Ordonez (Div. 442) said, “I would advise juniors to practice for the reading portion because that one was by far the hardest test. Overall, I felt the test was not as hard as people said it was, but it is not something to take lightly and not prepare for.”

Taft is offering an ACT test prep club starting Feb. 4 all the way to April 10 with a payment of $120 The club will be after school on Tues. and Thurs. from 3:15 p.m. until 4:45 p.m. The English and Reading will be taught by English Teacher John McKinney in room 221. The Science and Math will be taught by Science Teacher Preet Singh in room 319.

“The ACT will be held at the end of April. This test is very important for college, so It is good to review and take the test very seriously,” said Counselor Sonia Abrego.*act.org

Artw

ork by Jessica Beltran

Photos provided by Emily Vidas

Harriman meeting Director Carter. Taft’s Jazz Ensemble in their performing room.

team makes it to the quarter finals and finals, they then are evaluated by three judges.

“Despite Taft being a small and underfunded team this year, we seemed to

By Patrick Koegler Taft gathered

at Schurz High School for a debate tournament where Natalie Steinberg (Div.

719) and Esperanza Santana (Div. 912) took second place in the junior varsity (JV) finals and Alex Jahnke (Div. 547) along with Tarik Shahzad (Div. 618) moved on to the quarter finals for the varsity team.

The schools that Taft competed against included Von Steuben, Kelly, Hubbard, Amundsen, and many more.

Debate team coach Ryan Glowacz said, “I am very satisfied with the the growth of the team in general and particularly with the JV team.”

Each debate participated in was evaluated five times between Fridayand Saturday by one judge. Once a

Taft scientist taking it to the extreme

Do not wait, just debate

Photo provided by Yearbook

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By Foy WeiOn Jan. 17, ten

Taft students attended the Chicago Public School (CPS) Regional

College Fair which took place at Wilbur Wright College, but Alyssa Sy (Div. 437), Kim-berly Berger (Div. 616), Bhatt Bhavin (Div. 718), Rozan Deeb (Div. 627), and Leon-ardo Sandoval (Div. 524) are the five who will move on to city.

Taft competed against high schools such as Lane Tech, NorthSide College Prep, Von Steuben, Lake View, Ogden, and many more.

The science fair gives the opportunity for students to explore a topic of their interest and perform independent experiment based on re-search. Projects require a strong motivation, effort and diligence by the student along with the support of a parent or guardian.*

Science Teacher Brian Hayes said, “The judges look at what the students learned about their topic. Those who

learned a lot usually have the confidence to defend their paper when asked tough questions. It is a really good preparation for future defense of dissertation in college.”

Before moving onto city, participants must present their board, a paper, and give a presentation for the judges. The project is also based on your display. A purpose and

hypothesis must apply to definite scientific question. The presentation may include graphs, charts, posters, 35 mm slides,

videotape, transparencies, demonstration of apparatus, and other components.**

“I felt extremely nervous being in front of the judges because they are very passion-ate about science. However, I felt accomplished when they called my name to move to city. All my hard work paid off,” said Sy.

This is the 64th year of the Chicago student science fair. The Fair will take place at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago from Mar. 20 to Mar. 23. All students who participated in the fair received a CPS shopping bag and a journal. The students moving on received trophies and a certificate.

“The real prize is to move on to city and have a chance at the bigger prizes. I am proud of all

their hard work to show the district how great Taft is,” said Hayes.*chicagostudentsciencefair.org**cpsscifair.org

Some of the students who participated in this years Science Fair.

have become somewhat of a power house of a team,” said Jahnke.

At the beginning of each school year, all city debate teams received a list of topics and cases that may be discussed during a debate tourna-ments throughout the year.

This tournament was the fourth of this year. The next debate will be held at the end of February or early March.

Shahzad said, “I am super confident and optimistic about our next debate. Our team is organized and everything is going smoothly. My coaches were very helpful and supportive during the event.”

Their first debate took place at Hyde Park and the following December a tournament in December at Kelly High School. All teams advanced to quarter finals in every tournament. They took part in conference championship on Feb. 21-22 at Lindblom High School.

Steinberg (left) and Santana (right) standing with their award.

NEWS CONTINUED 8

Photo provided by Glowacz

By Daisy Suarez What makes a good

teacher? Teaching is arugably one of the most complicated jobs in today’s society. A teacher is someone who has

broad knowledge of a certain subject, enthusiasm, a caring attitude, and a passion for teaching.*

What makes Spanish Teacher Daven Taba stand out from the rest is his desire to make a difference in the lives of his students.

Taba was born and raised in Chicago. His family is from the Philippines, and he is the first-born here in the United States from his family.

“I have been to the Philippines a few times, and it is totally different than it is here. There is a lot of poverty going on in the Philippines, and it makes you appreci-ate what you have, and how good we have it compared to other parts of the world,” said Taba.

Taba attended the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Spanish, and later attended Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU) for his teaching certificate. He has been teaching at Taft for six years, and even completed his student teaching for college here.

Kathie Doliente (Div. 433) said, “Mr. Taba knows how to keep his class en-gaged. He makes his students feel comfortable about speaking spanish, and he knows how to connect with us. He is

also very silly, which makes class more fun and enjoyable.”

Aside from teaching, Taba’s passion is music. He has been involved with music since he was a small boy. Starting at five years old, he learned to play the piano, and he has been singing since he was 13. At an older age, Taba began to work with a band, The Sama Sama Project, that would take traditional Filipino music, and turn it into contemporary music. Not only did he work with a band, but he was recently in an A-cappella group called The Uptones.

Taba recently had to put aside his A-cappella group in order to make room for a new chapter in his life: his newly-born son, Joseph Piovidio, JP.

Taba said, “My greatest achievement would be my baby boy. He is my first son, and just knowing that I am blessed with such a wonderful gift has been something unexplainable. It has been the most difficult thing that I have ever done, but also the most rewarding. It is funny how two min- utes of holding a baby can be worth all of the hours that you miss sleeping. It is such a blessing.”

Taba’s baby boy and his students are his pride and joy. He hopes to leave a positive impact on every single one of his students, and that they will learn from him.

“What motivates me to teach is simply my students. By the time I retire, thousands of students will have been in my classroom, and I know for a fact that they will remem-ber me, because if I do not make an impact on my kids then I failed. I make it a priority to really make an impression on my stud-

The all-in-one kind of teacher inspires ents. I want nothing but the best for them,” said Taba.

Taba’s spanish four students do not disagree with him.

Maciej Grzelak (Div. 442) said, “Mr. Taba to me is a different kind of teacher. He understands his students, and believes in them more than any other teacher I have ever met. He believes that every piece of paper with your name on it should be excellent because he truly believes in you. He has a lot of faith in his students.”

“Mr. Taba is one of the best teachers I have had at Taft. He is an excellent teacher, and knows how to keep class interesting. It is hard to find teachers like him,” said Jenna Greco, Div. 431.

Carlos Trujillo (Div. 432) said, “Mr. Taba is one of my favorite teachers because he is one of those teachers who is a respectful authority figure but is also a friend. He is a great teacher, and he prepares and teaches you about things that are going to prepare you for real-world challenges.”*greatschools.org

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Math:Nikola Mizguer

(Div. 531)

ESL:Kasim Awdh

(Div. 524)

Technology:Sebastian

Tarczynski (Div. 810)

Academic Center:Skyler Lorenty

(Div. 910)

Art:Alex Cruz(Div. 451)

Physical Education:Samantha Alanis

(Div. 718)

EnglishMax Burger

(Div. 426)

World Language:Hannah Vander Meulen

(Div. 913)

NJROTC:Steven Pohl

(Div. 520)

Social Studies:Natalie Steinberg

(Div. 719)

FEATURES

Photo by SuarezPhoto by Suarez

students of the month

By Valerie JanakTeenagers from ages

14 to 18 are allowed to hold certain jobs according to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.* Having a job in

high school is chal-lenging, but it has its benefits.

Paige Ommund-son (Div. 517) works at Iceland Skate Complex in Niles. Working there, she has met many new people who are older and more mature than other teens around her in school. Ommundson used to figure skate when she was younger, and she would come to this ice rink quite often. It was only a matter of time before this hobby morphed into a job.

Ommundson said, “I enjoy having this job because the values I learned at work taught me how to be more responsible at home and school. It also taught me to respect others, and be patient. I can now encourage others to get a job with the experience that I have.”

Lindsey Upton (Div. 522) worked at the Starbucks in the Dominick’s on Nagle and Devon until its closing on Dec. 21, 2013.

Originally, she was hired as a Domi-nick’s employ-ee, but she was then later promoted to a barista at Starbucks because of her great potential and punctual behavior.

“I love working here not only because of the free coffee and the title ‘barista’, but I really like the uniform as well. I just wanted to be the typical Star-bucks girl with the cute hat and apron. Working at Starbucks however, is not only

Features CONTINUED 10

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Real world: the prequelabout the image. It is hard because there is a lot of cleaning involved. Even though it is difficult, it helps me all around because staying clean at work gets me into the habit of being clean and orga-nized at home and at school,” said Upton.

Having a job teaches teenagers that to earn money they need to work hard, sometimes by doing unpleasant things such as cleaning toilets or tables. By working hard for the money, teens are more likely to be responsible with the money they earn, and spend it on items they really need instead of want. As they earn larger amounts of money, they will learn to save portions of it towards college and their future, as well as spending their money wisely, or be aware of the conse-quences if they do not.*

Adrian Szczepaniec (Div. 537) works at Tony’s Finer Foods in Niles. He earns hands on experience as a bagger, making money himself, so he does not have to rely on his parents or friends to borrow from.

Szczepaniec said, “It is working with generous people to make work a fun environment, and to keep me occupied instead of being on the streets, participat-ing in dangerous activities. I also like the feeling of helping someone out, yet I hate the rude customers, and the hideous uniform that I have to wear.”

Jobs can teach you valuable skills in life. Even if you do not like something, you often have to deal with it, especially if you are being paid. The more you deal with hardships at work, the more you will apply your knowledge of how to deal with it to the real world.

Szczepaniec said, “If you really want a job, apply everywhere and ask friends for their help because having a job is truly beneficial for respecting others, managing money, and learning valuable skills that you can apply to your own life.”*ehow.com

Photos by Janak

By Daisy SuarezWhile many of us can

barely balance school, homework, and a social life, Alondra Guevara (Div. 417) has been juggling all of that, plus

walking runways, traveling to different parts of the world, and even working with Music Television (MTV).

For years, Guevara has been working hard towards her future with the help of her family. Her dad has been coaching her in soccer since she was 13, and her mom has always been there cheering her on in the audience.

Guevara has been on the Taft girls’ varsity soccer team for four years. She also plays on FC Chicago Soccer Club during the summer, and has participated in numer-ous soccer teams throughout her life.

Edisa Dracic (Div. 417) said, “Alondra is a very skilled player. Her communication with the rest of the players makes her different from other teammates. Not only does she give 110% on the field, but she also excels in school and other extracur-ricular activities. She is a truly dedicated athlete, and a very well-rounded person.”

Not only does Guevara play on the field, but she also plays on the stage.

Guevara said, “I have always had an interest in film work. It started with an audition that opened many doors for me. I originally auditioned for acting roles, but I was casted for modeling as well.”

She attended an acting/modeling training school for three years. Through that, she was selected to participate in a showcase in New York. She auditioned in front of top agencies from all around the world, and she received eight call-backs.

Since then, Guevara has been working with a manager to succeed in the acting and modeling business, and she has met many talented actors and designers from different parts of the world.

In 2012, Guevara participated in a Redken hair show with Royal Model Management, and she also participated on set with Chicago Fire as an extra. Also, she worked as a stand-in for the series Mind Games.

“I love hearing all of her stories because she is so passionate about what she does. It is amazing seeing her juggle

Article continued on pg. 12

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Features CONTINUED 11Out of the cookie box

By Daisy SuarezWhen most of us hear

the words “Girl Scouts”, we automatically think of Thin Mints, Samoas, and Savannah Smiles, but there is more to Girl

Scouts than what is in the cookie box.The founder of Girl Scouts was

Juliette Gordon Low, also known as “Daisy Gordon”. In 1911, she met Sir Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides.*

Low spent several years searching for something useful to do with her time, and on March 12, 1912, she gathered 18 girls to register the first troop of American Girls Guides. The name of the organization was changed to Girl Scouts the following year. It went from the original 18, to 3.7 million girls today.*

Girl Scouts earn badges, hike and camp, participate in the cookie program, and much more. There are several different levels, or ranks, that the girls can achieve: Daisies (Grades K-1), Brownies (Grades 2-3), Juniors (Grades 4-5), Cadettes (Grades 6-8), Seniors (Grades 9-10), Ambassadors (Grades 11-12), and Adults (Ages 18 and older).*

At each level, Girl Scouts have one required element (tunic, sash, or vest) for the display of official pins and awards. For girls, ages 5 to 14, their “uniform” includes the a choice of a tunic, vest, or sash with their own solid white shirts and khaki pants, or skirts. Girl Scouts in high school can also wear a scarf that ties their look to the sister-hood of Girl Scouts around the world.*

There are three major awards that a

Girl Scout can earn: bronze, silver, and gold. The girls in the Brownie and Junior groups can earn the bronze award, Ca-dettes can earn the silver, and the Seniors and Ambassadors earn the gold. The Gold Girl Scout Gold Award is often compared to the Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts.

The Gold Award represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting. This award is only available for girls who are in high school. The project is a seven-step process: identify an issue, investigate it thoroughly, get help and build a team, create a plan, present your plan and gather feed-back, take action, and educate. Girls who receive a gold award are also eligible for scholarships.*

Brianna Falcon (Div. 412) said, “My gold award was a huge service project; it was called Helping By the Hundreds. My team and I completed over 100 service hours within a few months, and we worked with over 70 different organizations in honor of the 100th year of girl scouting in 2012. It was such a huge success, and it was such an honor earning my gold award.”

In 2012, Girl Scouts celebrated their 100th year of inspiring girls and young woman with courage, confidence, and char-acter. On June 9, 2012, nearly a quarter-

million girls met at the National Mall for the world’s largest sing-along. Perform-ers took the stage throughout the day, and thousands of people sang along to new and old song favorites.*

You may have heard of the popular cookie season, which is the most popular time of the year for the girls. Last year’s sales totaled $785 million in Thin Mints and Samoas.**

The other

cookies include Peanut Butter Patties, Trefoils, Do-si-dos, Lemonades, Savannah Smiles, Thanks-A-Lots, Dulce de Leche, Cranberry Citrus Crisps, Chocolate Chip Shortbreads, and Thank U Berry Munch’s.*

There is a deeper meaning for the girls than just making money, however. Every time a girl sells a box of cookies, she learns five essential skills: goal settings, decision makings, money managements, people skills, and business ethics. Overall, the girls are building a lifetime of skills and confidence.*

Alexis Garcia (Div. 410) said, “I have been in Girl Scouts since I was five, and the program has helped me learn a lot of skills that I would have never learned anywhere else. I have had to talk to many people which helped give me confidence, and I guess confidence is necessary when people bug you about cookies!”

Girl Scouts is all about offering new opportunities for the young women of tomorrow. With the help of this organiza-tion, girls of all ages, races, and personali-ties can make a difference in the world.

Girl Scouting is for every girl, every-where; where today’s girls can become tomorrow’s leaders.*

“I love being in Girl Scouts because I love helping my community. I have been a Girl Scout since second grade. I have sung Christmas carols to the elderly, had an animal drive for a local animal shelter, and so much more. I have learned to have a better appreciation for others and take pride in serving my community,” said Kelly Ross, Div. 410.*girlscouts.org**nytimes.com

Garcia (middle) at the offi cial council event with the CEO’s of Girl Scouts and her fellow scout friends.

Ross (top row 5th from the left) and her Girl Scout group showing off their awards in 2005.

Photo provided by GarciaPhoto provided by Garcia

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Photo provided by RossPhoto provided by Ross

initiatives for global progress through sport.**

Guevara participated in the Doha GOALS Forum representing the United States as a student ambassador, alongside students from Harvard and Georgetown.

“I met students from all over the world, as well as government officials, and Olympians. It was an unforgettable experience,” said Guevara.

Not only has Guevara participated in activities outside of school, but here at school she is also enrolled in the Advance-ment Via Individual Determination (AVID) program, the Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corp (JROTC) program, National Honor’s Society (NHS), and various clubs around the school.

As far as Guevara’s future goes, she is still waiting to hear back from her dream school, the University of Southern Califor-nia, but she has already received accep-tance letters from Loyola, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Illinois State University, Marquette, and Carthage.

Thanks to the Chicago Scholars Program and the World Sport Chicago Scholars Program, Guevara’s college process was a breeze.

“I got interviews with the colleges that I applied to because of these programs. They were truly helpful,” said Guevara. Guevara keeps in touch with everyone she has met throughout the years for career opportunities, and hopes to continue

school, modeling, soccer, and so many other things. I do not know how she does it,” said Danuta Polan, Div. 447.

Guevara has also been working with Chicago’s new international artist, Pmartt.* Pmartt was being scouted from MTV commercials, and Guevara was auditioning as a dancer.

Guevara said, “It was such an incred-ible experience being able to work with MTV.”

Besides working with acting and modeling, Guevara has been traveling. Recently, she traveled all the way to the Middle East where she had the opportunity to visit Qatar, and be a part in the Doha GOALS Forum which is the world’s premier platform for world leaders to create

10Features CONTINUED 12

Guevara puts in work on and off the soccer fi eld.

growing as a student, worker, and person.

“My parents are originally from Mexico, so I will be the first person in my family to attend a four-year univer-sity. It is a whole new adventure for me, and I hope to continue my education and move up in the industry. I have worked hard to be where I am today; I just hope to keep growing,” said Guevara.*mtv.com**dohagoals.com

Guevara in New York for a modeling competition.

Athlete by day model by night article continued from pg. 10

By Liz SkowronThe sound of the time

ticking is almost screaming in your head as you try to make the last few inches more of this mile. You have been running for what

seems like forever, and you can almost taste the medal prize as you inch closer and closer to the finish line. For English Teacher Alma Martinez, this is a feeling she has felt many times.

Martinez has been an active runner for four years now and loves it, but she has not always been a fan of running.

“In high school I absolutely hated it. I actually took gym in night school my senior year to avoid running the mile in the spring. I did everything I could do to avoid running,” said Martinez.

Martinez competed in seven races last year, and two so far this year, and she plans to compete in more. In her four years

of running she has won seventeen medals. “On my twitter I often tweet “Will run for

race bling [medals]. #noexcuses,” said Mar-tinez.

“No excuses” seems like the perfect motto to describe her life considering some of the races she has competed in. Being a serious runner there is no off season. She has competed in running streaks for three years, which included selective holiday streaks such as the Shamrock Shuffle sponsored by Bank of America.

Where many people strive to have the quickest speed, Martinez runs for the distance. She also does not listen to music while she runs or enjoys running on the treadmill.

Where music does indeed help people get motivated, Martinez finds it distracting once your playlist runs dry, and then you are constantly trying to find a new song. Being a teacher really plays a role into her running, as instead of listening to music,

Martinez enjoys getting creative ideas to try in class.

Running has taken Martinez all over the United States, such as Wisconsin and Nevada, but her favorite state of all was Arizona. Out of all the races she has been involved in, the Soldier Field 10 Mile, right here in Chicago, during Memorial Day weekend was her favorite.

Martinez has accomplished quite a bit in the past four years as far as running goes, and we wish her the best of luck in her future.

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Martinez posing with her participation medal at the Soldier Field 10 Mile race.

Photos provided by Guevara

Photo provided by MartinezPhoto provided by Martinez

The club has parties where everyone brings a dish related to the Hispanic/Latino heritage. Some dishes include: tamales, tostadas, arroz, empanadas, quesadillas, tortillas, salsas, tacos, guacamole, flautas, pan dulce, horchata, and many more.

“I have been involved with Spanish Club since my sophomore year with Salgado. I feel honored to be one of the Presidents. It is such a great way to have fun after school, and make new friends. We learn about the spanish language and all of it’s cultures. It is really interesting learning about things that you never knew before,” said President Cindy Alanis, Div. 537.

If you do not speak Spanish, do not hesitate to join. Spanish Club especially welcomes non-spanish speakers to join the club.

Espinoza said, “I encourage all students who are not taking spanish to become a part of the club. It really is a great way to learn about the Spanish culture and language.”*cuellar.house.gov

piñatas, play loteria (a Mexican game of chance that is similar to Bingo, except it is played with images instead of numbers), and eat traditional food.

By Daisy SuarezFor years now,

Hispanic culture and Spanish language have been a part of American society. With over 35 million Spanish speakers

in the United States, and over 40% of the population growth being Hispanic, it is no question that the Hispanic culture is something to consider learning about.*

With the Hispanic culture growing here at Taft also, Spanish Teacher Adrianne Espinoza sponsors Taft’s Spanish Club. This is her third year sponsoring the club, and she encourages all students to join. The club meets Mon. after school in room 105, and everyone is welcome.

President Karina Salgado (Div. 543) said, “Spanish Club is a fun after school club to be a part of. I have been involved with it since last year, and this year Cindy and I have become presidents. The best part is that you make new friends and create a second family.”

Spanish Club focuses on learning more about the different Hispanic cultures, and the Spanish language itself. They have

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Presidents of the Spanish Club, Salgado and Alanis.

By Maya Belter At Taft High School

you can find many hidden talents among the student body. Ian Cable (Div.435), stage name Zinc, is a practicing musician in

music composition. Christian O’Shields (Div.517) and

Cable’s family inspired him to become a

musical artist because they were very involved with music as well. Cable began to generate his own music in November 2012.

“Making music with Ian is like giving life to rhythm. He is a great influence and a hard worker,” said O’Shields.

Cable collaborated with close friends and began spreading the word about his music through Facebook and Sound Cloud, a website where small musical

artists can upload their own music to share with the world.*

Over this past summer he saved up enough money to purchase equipment for his at home studio. He is now in the process of making his first hip-hop mix tape named “Fool’s Gold”. He also has a music video coming out as well as many other tracks and demos this year.

After gradua-tion, Cable plans on attending Columbia College to major in Sound Production and Audio Engi-neering. He is very determined to pursue his music career, and receiving a college education will make his path to a successful future much smoother.

Cable said, “I am one of the lucky ones to know exactly what I want at such an early age. My end goal in life is to open my own record label and sign myself and others that need extra help on the way.” *soundcloud.com

Get your daily dose of ZincB

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Check out

Cable’s music at SoundCloud.

com/odkz.d..

Learn about your amigos

Photos provided by Guevara

By Maya BelterAside from being a

teacher and a father, AVID and English Teacher Juan Salinas has been in four consecu-tive bands since the age

of 19. His most recent was an experimen-tal alternative rock band he started with five other friends: Kelroy.

On stage, at age 27 Salinas was living out his musical dream, playing at the Metropolitan Theatre and straddling a Fender Stratocaster.

10Features CONTINUED 14

By Liz SkowronFrom juggling a hectic

senior year to starring in nearly eighteen plays, Erica Mendez (Div. 417) is definitely a star on the rise!

Mendez has been involved in the theatre since she was ten years old. Most of her performances were involved with the Saint Patrick High School’s theatre program.

Where everyone has their one true calling and passion in life, for Erica it is on the stage. It is her comfort zone, when she is acting, she does what she does best and performs with all her heart.

“I love theater because I love putting myself in another person’s shoes and experiencing the world through someone else’s eyes. The feeling I get on stage is indescribable,” said Mendez.

Being in so many productions, Mendez has played a multitude of different charac-ters, experiencing the challenging but overcoming feeling continuously of testing her abilities.

“I think my favorite character I have

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ever played would have to be Nancy from the musical Oliver. Nancy was such a unique character to play because she was so vulnerable, yet so strong. Playing Nancy was a wonderful experience,” said Mendez

Although Mendez has been heavily involved with St. Patrick’s theatre program, she also was involved in theatre elsewhere.

“I have been on a professional audition. I was actually casted in the professional downtown production of The American Girl Revue. I played Molly McIntire, and it was a surreal experience,” said Mendez

One common thought when it comes to theatre is the aspect of stage fright. Stage fright is the nerves that go through your body before performing in front of people, and even the best of the best get stage fright, in some form.

“I have never really gotten stage fright, but I have experienced the pre-show nerves. While I am waiting to enter the stage my stomach definitely flops, but once I step onstage all the nerves go away, and I just become the character” said Mendez

Mendez has no intentions on giving up what she loves anytime soon. As a senior in high school, she has to make choices in regards to her future, and she does not plan on letting go of the thing she loves most.

“I do plan on majoring in musical theater in college. I actually have three college auditions coming up this month!” said Mendez

Mendez’s hard work and dedication continues to shine bright in everything she does. We wish her the best of luck in her fut ure!

Mendez enjoying her role as Nancy in Oliver.

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Along with the Metropolitan, Salinas and his band Kelroy also played shows at other well-known Chicago venues such as The Congress Theatre, The Double Door, and The Subterranean. They also recorded their first album, “Blood Shot, Hungry, Paranoid”.

In 2010, Salinas put his music career on pause to devote all his energy to his family and school work.

“The best part of the experience was that we were able to record a really cool album and play some really great shows. I was doing something that I loved,” said Salinas.

Salinas still keeps his musical side alive today by continuing to play the guitar. He is also the sponsor of the Guitar Club here at Taft to help students enrich their passion for music.

Salinas is a proud supporter of his former band, Kelroy, which is still playing in Chicago today. If you would like to check out the band you can find them on their website at www.kelroymusic.com.

Salinas and his band members from Kelroy.

Kelroy’s band cover.

The Taft Today is looking for teachers with unique talents or accomplishments. Email your

ideas to ptlevins@cps.edu

Photo provided by MendezPhoto provided by Mendez

Kelroy is Juan in a million

Photos provided by SalinasPhotos provided by Salinas

By Kacie ZiemannYou wake up on a cold

winter morning at 6 a.m. eager to get to school and start learning. After the journey to school through traffic and snow all you

want to do is get inside the building.

However, when you turn the corner and see the path to main entrance backed up, your insides are filled with dread and annoyance. There has to be a better way to handle all the kids in the morning.

The only solution to the student traffic surrounding the main entrance is simple: open another entrance in the morning. Taft High School is the second largest Chicago Public School (CPS). With 3,087 kids there is no possible way for the morning to run smoothly with only one entrance.

They would need to scan approxi-mately 88 kids through each minute between 7:10 and 7:45 for every student to be here on time. Students are already cranky enough in the morning without

EDITORIALSB

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having to wait outside in the cold for an extra 10 or 15 minutes.*

Although one entrance has been the norm at Taft for years, sometimes systems need to be changed. Lane Tech High School, the largest CPS school, has two doors open during the morning.** With a little less than a 1,000 student difference, it

makes sense that if they open more then one entrance in the morning Taft should do the same.

Some might suggest that it would be simpler to just stop scanning backpacks at the main entrance and let students just walk through. What these people do not

know is that it is CPS security policies that dictate how the procedure works, not the school staff.

The main entrance is handled by Taft security guards and staff. They could station members of the faculty at another entrance without having to hire more

security guards. However, if they did hire more sercurity the average salary is $30,000. This would only be possibly though if there was room in the school’s budget to hire more staff members.*

The cost of purchasing a metal detector for another entrance would average about $5,000. While this might be costly, there are ways to earn money for the detectors. I am sure the students who complain about waiting outside in the cold and being late for

class would be willing to help raise money to afford equipment that is necessary to open a second entrance.***

The current morning entrance system is not working, and it is time to make the change and open more than one entrance.*cps.edu **lanetech.org ***ncjrs.gov

Photo by Nick Johnson

Students impatiently waiting to get out of the cold and into the warm building.

Hookah smokers go up in smokeBy Valerie Janak

Hookah pens and E-Cigarettes have become all the rage in the last year, so much that even kids who

swear they would never smoke are trying them out—and getting caught.

The hype is that hookah pens do not contain nicotine or tobacco, but they do. Nicotine is a toxic chemical found in tobacco plants, so they, like cigarettes are packed with the same chemicals to kill vermin and insects. Because most people just assume they are smoking just water vapor, they add other ingredients for more of a kick.*

The American Association for Cancer Research studied the difference between smoking cigarettes and smoking

hookah. They found that hookah smoking led to a different pattern of toxic exposure which may cause cardiovascular diseases and leukemia.**

Of course kids who are underage are going to become addicted to smoking in general, but this new age technology has made it easier for them to hide it. It has made smoking so easy that kids are even doing it in the classrooms behind teachers’ backs.

Smoking hookah delivers the same chemical compounds as smoking a cigarette. In fact, one session (usually about 45 to 60 minutes) delivers approxi-mately a hundred times the smoke as a

Article continued on pg. 20

Some hookah and E-Cig. pens from Duarte’s confi scation bin.

Photo by Janak

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swear they would

Taft opens arms, but not enough doors

EDITORIALS CONTINUED 16Jump off the bandwagon

By Kacie Ziemann“They are not real

fans, they are a band-wagon fans.” Any diehard fan has complained about “bandwagon” fans at one point or another. Although

people might take their hatred for band-wagon fans too far, there are undeniable negative effects they cause.

A bandwagon fan is someone who becomes a fan of something because everyone else is. This can be for a sports team, genre of music, celebrity, book, or anything else that has a large following.*

What is so wrong with more people enjoying something you already like? The people complaining about bandwagon fans are probably all just unique hipsters who do not like to share their interests, right? Although it sounds like these bandwagon fans are harmless, they do actually pose a real threat to many “real” fans.

In the last year, talk of bandwagon fans has been surrounding the Electric Dance Music (EDM) craze that is rapidly growing. EDM concerts and festivals are fun places to dance, listen to music, spend time with friends, and have an overall great experience. It is completely understand-able why more and more people would want to experience this. Although most people into the EDM scene tend to be very friendly, there still is a huge downside to the growing trend.

Festival 2014 is on pace to sell out faster than ever before.”**

Prices of Chicago’s own EDM festival, Spring Awakening Music Festival (SAMF) were $145 for a 3-day ticket last year. This year’s tickets are projected to be over $200.***

Long time popular EDM DJ Paul Van Dyk said in an interview, “Suddenly Rhianna and Usher want to become dance electronic artists. And we all know they’re not; they’re basically doing it because it’s popular right now and when the next thing comes along, then they’re doing that.”****

It is not fair to real fans of the genre that prices have increased to unrealistic amounts because of how popular the genre has become. No one can spend $400 just to see their favorite DJs live. It is understandable why people would jump the bandwagon for these festivals, but it is very unfair to long time fans of the music.

Another very popular place for bandwagon fans is sports. Look at this year’s Super Bowl. Some people who watched the game do not know about football or care for either team playing, it is all just for the hype.

“I had all my friends come over for a Super Bowl party. Honestly, none of us are huge football fans it was just a great

excuse to hangout, eat some wings, and watch funny commer-cials,” said Cali McLoughlin, Div. 433.

In Chicago, the recent success of the Blackhawks caused many bandwagon fans to surface. This was noticed

at last year’s victory parade when the Blackhawks won the Stanly Cup. Over two million people showed up to Grant Park for the celebration last June. This was substantially more than the turn out for the 2010 Blackhawks victory parade.*****

Because of how packed the park was, some fans were not even able to get inside. Although it is great to see the city

come together, there is no way all two million people at the parade were huge Blackhawks fans. It was unfair to the long time fans that were not able to experience the parade.

Many times when a book becomes a movie, the popularity of the literature increases. This is usually demonstrated with an increase in sales. When a book becomes a movie it usually means that the novel was already well known. However, sales show an increase in sales right around the time the movie comes out, which is known as the “book-to-movie bounce”.

When popular author Nicholas Sparks’ novel Dear John became a film in 2010 they sold one million copies of the novel. This is half of the all time sales of the book.******

The real fans of the books already have read and purchased a copy. The bandwagon fans, who buy the novels because of their hype, are the people making up most of these sales. Although it is great for the author, the majority of these people only want to read the book be-cause of the movie.

It is great to share interests with more people, but it is not great when new fans negatively affect experiences of those who have been there since the beginning. *urbandictionary.com**dancingastronaut.com***electronicmidwest.com****fuse.tv*****huffingtonpost.com******marquee.blogs.cnn.com

A downtown street fi lled with Blackhawks Fans.

EDM fans crowding the stage for the next performance.

The prices of tickets to EDM festivals and concerts have increased by large sums over the past few years. Ultra Music Festival, one of the largest in the country, has chosen to raise their ticket prices this year for the first time in three years. Tickets for the festival can cost as much as $399. In a statement about the rising ticket prices, Ultra Music Festival said, “In the first week of being on sale, Ultra Music

Photo by R

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Photo by R

achel Daly

Photo by Cristian ContrerasPhoto by Cristian Contreras

By Valerie JanakAnyone who owns a

car will understand that it has needs, and it is up to you to tend to them.

With ownership of a car, you become a slave

to it; paying for gas and car insurance as well as appliances and its “medical needs,” like taking it to the shop for an oil change or a tune-up.

Paying for gas and insurance is a hassle. The national gas price is $3.27 per gallon.* Depend-ing on the type of car you have, you will be spending about $80-$100 for V8 engines like in SUVs**, $60 to fill the tank of a V6 like the Nissan***, and about $46 on a V4 like the Toyota Camry, prices varying on how many gallons your car holds and the exact price of gas.****

It is illegal in all 50 states for motorists to drive without auto insurance. If you are caught driving without insurance you may have your liscene revoked for several months or longer. Other consequences are a hefty fine for endangering other drivers, a ticket for not having car insurance, and your car may be towed.*****

Popular insurance companies include Allstate, Progressive, Geico, StateFarm, etc. When choosing an insurance company that will give you the best prices on your car that will not break your bank, especially as a teen, you must think about rates, deductibles, good driver rewards, premi-ums, how much they cover when an accident occurs, and how much more you will have to pay if you do get into an accident.

According to an Allstate representa-tive, insurance is very important to have at any age. The cost depends on your age, location, model and year of your car, and driving record. The younger you are, the more expensive your car insurance will be. It could be about $300 for six months, even

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Are you car whipped?

With all the things you do for your car, how could you not feel like a slave?

more for an independent user or $300 or more on top of the premium that your parents pay. Amount also varies on the type of insurance you get such as only liability or full coverage.

“I hate having to pay for my insurance, but especially the gas because I am too nice of a person to tell people no or ask for gas money when they need a ride some-where,” said Melissa Rosa, Div. 527.

Maintenance is another way to dish out cash. Your car may start off perfect, but

it will not stay perfect forever.

Your car will need an oil change, new tires, a break job, and if you get in an accident, there is no telling what you

will need to get your “baby” up and running again.

These can rack up money over the years, especially with the winter weather being so bad, and being young, you may not be able to afford the hundreds or even thousands of dollars to fix it.

“The majority of jobs coming into my shop range from $200 to $600; however, it can range widely from $50 to $1500 depending on the type of car, what needs to be repaired, and how much work needs to be done. For teenagers, it is good to have the oil changed every 3,000 miles and bring it in to be checked if you hear any abnormal noises which tends to happen a lot,” said Mechanic Robert Janak.

Having a car means having freedom, but having freedom means having respon-sibility. As teenagers, we all want freedom, and we all look forward to that day where we start to drive, but having a car is not all that glamorous.

Are you ready to take on the responsi-bility of investing time and money into your car? Are you ready to become a slave to your car?*fox6news.com**chacha.com***ask.com****answers.yahoo.com*****agentinsure.com

The falling out of hair dye

By Kaitlyn Rentner75% of women dye

their hair in some form. Many women, and an increasing number of men, dye their hair.

Although hair dye can look cosmetically pleasing, there is often a price to pay.*

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), hair dye can lead to hair loss, allergic reactions, and even has links to cancer.**

Over 5,000 different chemicals are used in hair dye products, some reported to be cancer-causing. These include leukemia, breast cancer, and bladder cancer.***

Many of these chemicals can also lead to, but is not limited to, allergic reactions that can cause rashes, swelling of the skin, severe burning sensations, and facial swelling.****

Artwork by Wendy Hernandez

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Lord before and after bleaching her hair blonde.

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By Kacie Ziemann In recent years

there has been large emphasis on how the foods humans choose to consume effect our bodies. Particularly,

people have started to notice the negative effects of the way foods are produced.

Growth hormones and other additives to livestock have come to have a much larger effect then originally intended. A hormone is naturally produced in all animals.There are different types of hormones that work to control growth, development, and reproduction.

All animals, including humans, have hormones to regulate these bodily functions. However, scientists have found a way to abuse this natural process to help speed up production of livestock.*

Animals, particularly cows, are fed and injected with growth hormones. This is used to speed up the growth of young animals. They prematurely reach their full grown size.

This is done without concern for the baby animals being injected with chemi-cals, or without concern for the humans who will be digesting this meat.The only benefit of using growth hormones in livestock is to increase profits.*

Although this process already sounds like it is a bad idea, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does monitor the amount of hormones livestock are injected with, and say that we are at a safe level where it will not affect the people consum-ing the meat or dairy products produced from livestock fed with hormones.** Since

You are what you eat

a government agency is saying this is okay then it must be, right? Wrong.

In dairy cows the FDA allows a safe amount of the hormone rBGH to be injected into the cows. This hormone increases milk production in cows. While it does not personally have any negative affects on humans, it causes levels of another hormone, insulin-like growth factor, in the body to skyrocket. When levels of this other hormone increases it has been known to increase the chances of breast, prostate, and other cancers in humans.**

The word hormone might already sound familiar because it is usually used while explaining what puberty is to young adults. The increased production of

hormones is what starts puberty. Therefore, the addition of hormones to what we consume has to affect children eating these products. Studies have proven that children who consume more genetically altered livestock tend to start puberty on average seven months earlier than other children.** Does it really seem fair or safe to alter the natural progression of life, just so corpora-tions can save time and make more money?

In addition to growth hormones being added to foods, they also inject animals with antibiotics. Although you might not think this sounds as bad, humans take them all the time, the effects of antibiotics in livestock might have a greater affect on humans than growth hormones.

Like with most things, humans can build up immunity to some antibiotics. The use of antibiotics in

livestock can unknowingly help you build up your immunity to a certain drug. Therefore, if you get sick and need medication it will be harder for the drugs to work to make you feel better.***

It is upsetting that foods that should be natural, such as dairy and meat, are being altered and becoming just as bad for us as junk food. The phrase, “you are what you eat”, has never had such a literal meaning as it does now.

It is not fair that our health is being manipulated to only benefit the profits of a corporation. The negative effects of any chemical alteration to livestock completely outweigh any positive effects. *envirocancer.cornell.edu**huffingtonpost.com***cdc.gov

Cows are being pumped with enough hormones to grow bigger and stronger then intended.

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The falling out of hair dye contiuned from pg. 17Natalie Lord (Div. 423) has dyed her

hair over 60 times since 2007 (nearly 9 times a year) and has experienced the hardships of hair dye. This past January, Lord bleached and dyed her hair blonde from a dark brown. After dying it twice within 24 hours because she was not happy with the color, she was left with somewhat unsettling results.

“I ended up with short layers because the bleach basically melted off my hair,” said Lord. Because she has been dying her hair excessively, Lord also experiences slow hair growth, split ends, and dry hair that needs special treatment to stay

healthy. Bleach strips the hair of its natural oils,

leading to loss of moisture, more break-age, and chemical burns, like what Lord experiences.**

The FDA has come up with some suggestions for those who wish to dye their hair and want to be safe about it. This includes waiting until later in life to dye hair when the hair turns gray, using a plant based dye, wear gloves when applying the dye, and never dye eyebrows and eye-lashes.*****

In order to maintain a healthy mane, Lord uses egg yolk mixed with conditioner.

She then rinses it out with cold water, to avoid “cooking” the egg into her hair. This helps with the dryness of her hair, although it is not completely healthy due to dying it so often.

Dying hair is one way individuals express themselves, cover up grays, or just use it to create a new look. Unfortu-nately, there are far too many downsides to hair dyes and everything that goes along with it. *statisticbrain.com **hollistics.com ***cancer.org ****cancer.gov *****healthtip.hacres.com

By Cristina ChaidezMany employed

students may find themselves envious of the Ying Yang symbol, mainly because they find themselves in desperate

need of the perfect balance that the symbol so boldly boasts about. That is of course, the balance between their job and their education.

As students, we are expected to get good grades, strive to be successful young adults, and plan for our futures, but does this pile of endless goals entail that we are also expected to have work experience on top of such heavy requirements?

91% of employers seem to think so since they look for students with job experience or have had at least two internships before they graduate high school.*

Many students may find such requirements to be unimaginable since school consumes the majority of our time until it merely becomes obsolete. So how are students expected to make time for their jobs while balancing their grades?

Brian Adamusik (Div. 421) said, “Having a job while being a student is tough because you have to put aside time for each of them and you have to make sure you put these two things first above anything else.”

Sure, many people may argue and

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Artwork by Chaidez

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say job experience provides students with a taste of the real world outside of high school, in the hopes that students will gain communication skills, learn responsibility, and learn how to budget their money. However, if one were to dissect the surface of these highly praised expectations; one would find the soggy truth.**

Nearly 80% of students apply for a part time job and work an average of 20 hours a week.***

Juggling such hours while trying to maintain grades can have incredibly negative effects on learners. Having a job can shatter a student’s ability to achieve a passing grade in his or her academic work, cast anxiety and stress, leave students fatigued, and causes a student to become

less concentrated when in school.**** Although the idea of independence

and earning money can often lure students into getting a job, timing can sometimes be the enemy. Some students are enrolled in afterschool activities and if that student has a job, they are biting off more that they can chew.

Having work experience under your belt is quite important, but not as important as building the path of your education to be able to obtain your dream career in the future.

Being an employed student is like a double edged sword because if a student does not have work experi-ence, his or her chances in getting hired in the future is lower than a student with experience. However, if that student does work, their grades go down which could affect how colleges view that student, which is also vital for a career.*

Although the Ying Yang symbol fools us into thinking balance is simple, we must not psyche ourselves out into the impos-sible. The choice is yours to decide your number one priority, and it is up to you to find the proper balance.*lifehacker.com ** work.chron.com***thinkprogress.org**** everydaylife.globalpost.com

When balancing grades and a job, teens tend to weigh heavy on the money making side.

A dollar a day keeps the good grades away

Artwork by Josue Quintero

By Valerie JanakThe dispute

between diet and regular soda has been going on for a while. Some say diet is better for you, but only

the people who know the real facts know that regular soda is in fact, the better alternative.

Regular sodas use regular sugar and diet sodas use artificial sweetener. The artificial sweetener fulfills a person’s cravings for a sweet taste without the calories. However, it tricks your body into thinking it is being given real food. When your body does not digest the actual food it expects to, it becomes confused on how to respond, meaning if you drink diet soda, then consume real sugar, your body does not release the hormone that regulates blood sugar and blood pressure.*

Behavioral Neuroscientist Susan Swithers’s research says people have

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Diet vs regular: who wins the show down?messed up their whole system, so when they consume real sugar, your body does not know if it should try to process it, because it has been tricked by the fake sugar so many times.*

If that is not enough for you, then read this: the molecule found in sucralose is very similar to a sugar molecule which is why they taste a like, but our bodies cannot metabolize sucralose.**

So our bodies think that it is getting sweet food with the arrival of energy and nutrients. The more you drink, the more your body’s metabo-lism will stop working when actual sugary foods enter the body. Diet soda drinkers often gain more weight than someone who drinks regular soft drinks.**

Research shows that sweet taste can increase appetite and the regular consumption of the high intensity sweetness of artificial sweeten-ers may encourage sugar cravings and depen-dence.*

Diet sodas have zero nutritional value and all foods you choose to consume should have good-for-you vitamins, minerals, and phytonutri-ents. Diet sodas can also deplete the calcium stores, destroying the bones in your body due to

the phosphates that are found in diet drinks. The calories that people may think they are burning are actually coming back from the poorly metabo-lized sugar from other foods.***

Sweeteners can damage the “reward center” in your brain. This is the part of your brain that makes you think “since I had the diet soda, I can have an extra piece of cake.” Even if you do not gain weight, you are at risk of having diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.**

“I do not like to drink soda in general because it is bad for you and does not taste very good either,” said Seth Siewierski, Div. 532.

Needless to say, regular sodas are the better choice , but definitely in moderation. The only real solution to this problem would be to consume drinks like water and stay away from sugary drinks entirely.*thecharts.blogs.cnn.com**businessinsider.com***blog.foodnetwork.com

single cigarette, with 40 times the tar and ten times the carbon monox-ide.**

According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer high school students claimed to smoke cigarettes in 2012 than in 2011. However, that is because more have reported to be smoking electronic smoking devices creating a general increase in the tobacco and nicotine intake.***

Many Taft students have been caught smoking just normal cigarettes in the bathroom. Since the hookah pens and E-cigarettes came out, teens can now take a hit without lighting up a “square”.

At Taft, about 3 electronic smoking

devices are collected per day (in recent weeks). As these devices get more popular, more people tend to hop on the bandwagon and buy them or engage in the activity. Not only are they trending because they are easier and supposedly better than cigarettes, they are also less expensive and offer more flavors.*

According to Dean Samuel Duarte, the school will not be returning them, not even to the people who are of age, because it is illegal for them to be used on the property. The school must dispose of any tobacco once in their possession. They plan to follow the student code of conduct (SCC) when taking disciplinary actions, which would be a number of days of in school suspension and a conference with the parents.

“What we need to do is teach kids not to smoke in school, so when the smokers now

leave or stop, do not pick up on the habit,” said Duarte.

Overall, 23.3% of high school students (grades 9-12) said they had used a tobacco product at least once in the 30 days before they were surveyed in 2012. That was down from the 24.3 % who said they had used a tobacco product at least once in the same survey in 2011.***

Not only does it affect the people who are smoking it, but it also affects the people around them. Secondhand smoke is not a myth; you are inhaling the same fumes as the person who is smoking. Taft’s reputation is not what is being tampered with, it Taft’s health.*georgiastatesignal.com**www.njgasp.org***cnsnews.com

Start monkeying around

entertainment

because we have all been in that situation of wanting someone so much that we know we should not want, but of course, we do anyway. The rest of AM is just as deep, yet layered with a sound that makes you want to get up and move.

Music teacher Todd Finkel said, “The Arctic Monkey’s songs are usually so dancey and catchy that they get stuck in your head.”

It would seem the former teen English sensation has evolved from a few hit and miss singles per album to a world renowned album that captures the tunes the Arctic Monkeys has been trying to get across to music lovers and the like since the beginning of their music career. After years of sounding dangerously close to other bands like Franz Ferdinand or progressively making their sounds heavier and heavier, they have finally reached a harmoni-ous center with “AM”.

“I will definitely check out more Arctic Monkey stuff after hearing their new album, “AM”. The singer’s voice is so relaxing, especially in No.1 Party Anthem,” said Josue Quintero, Div. 427.

“AM” can be found in stores on CD or Vinyl, ranging from $9.99 to 11 dollars. It is also available on iTunes for $9.99. I know I will be buying it for my iPod soon, and after listening to it, I am sure you will be buying it too.* www.last.fm**slacker.com***pitchfork.com**** www.metrolyrics.com

rite Worst Nightmare” to “Humbug”, their albums contained one or two singles at most with the rest of the album filled with songs that could best be described as “meh”.

“The first song I heard by them, 505, was really good, but I was not really as into their later albums,” said Kevin Cole, Div. 516.

But on September 2013, the Arctic Monkeys released their newest album “AM”, which instantly became a worldwide hit. Such singles like R U Mine? which was published as a teaser before AM itself, and Do I wanna know are the reason pop-punk and indie music lovers cannot seem to stop talking about the album’s groovy beats.

Influences from R&B beats mixed with the classic vocals of Turner and alternative rock style of production works well for “AM” because the songs become impossible not to dance to, but still have that heavy tone the Arctic Monkeys seem to dwell more and more on seemingly on every new album.

The first, and my favorite track, on “AM” Do I Wanna Know has been getting the most attention from the album, thanks to radio stations constantly playing it. It seems to also be the favorite of most fans.The choice to start the album with this track was extremely

effective because it grabs the listen-er’s attention right away.

Fast paced guitars and edgy-rock sounds are all common themes in the Arctic Monkeys songs, but besides sounding good, they also include memorable and relatable lyrics. Do I Wanna Know’s popularity also comes from its lyrics, like:

“Been wondering if your heart’s still open and if so I wanna know what time it shuts Simmer down and pucker up I’m sorry to interrupt it’s just I’m

constantly on the cusp of trying to kiss you ****”

Lyrics like these cut deep

By Marilyn SegarraFor those who like

music beyond what you will find on B96 or songs with trivial lyrics, bands like the Arctic Monkey’s

newly released album “AM” is that something that you ne ed in your life.

The Arctic Monkeys are an indie rock, pop punk band from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Originally started as a well-known underground band as teenagers, Arctic Monkeys members Alex Turner (lead vocalist/ rhythmist), Jaime Cook (lead guitarist), Nick O’Malley (bassist/back-up vocals), and Matt Helders (drummer/ back-up vocals) reached mainstream stardom in 2005 with a record deal and the success of their first album “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not”. *

The use of Neo-punk and light dance punk in “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” and immediate change in genre in their 2007 album “Favourite Worst Nightmare” demonstrat-ed the constant genre experimentation and influence the Arctic Monkeys dabbles within their albums. Bands like Black Sabbath, the Pixies, and The Black Keys have a major impact and similar sound in a handful of Arctic Monkeys songs.

After their first album, however, it seemed the Arctic Monkeys lost the magic touch that captured the hearts of their fans in the first place. From “Favou-

The artctic monkeys Turner, Cook, O’Malley, and Helders pose for a shot.

Photos provided by telograph.co.uk

Whittemore, played by Colton Haynes, Allison’s father Chris Argent played by JR Bourne, and many more. Each character reveals a new problem and it is up to Scott to help fix them.

Season 2 of the show premiered June 3, 2012. In this season Scott’s life becomes even more problematic. While having to avoid his girlfriends’ werewolf killing family, he now has to worry about the Kanima. a killing lizard-like creature that is controlled by a master who is seeking vengeance.

Throughout the season Scott and his friends try to figure out who the Kanima is and more importantly, how to stop it. Derek’s new additions to his pack Isaac Lahey played by Daniel Sharman, Erica Reyes played by Gage Golightly, and Boyd played by Sinqua Walls join the cast along with, Allison’s grandfatherGerard Argent played Michael Hogan.

On June 3, 2013 season 3 premiered. Introducing an Alpha werewolf pack.Kali, played by Felishia Terrel, Ennis, played by Brian Patrick Wade, and the Twins Aiden and Ethan played by Charlie Carver and Max Carver, along with the leader, Deucalion

played by Gideon Emery.

Lydia starts finding dead bodies because of her supernatu-ral abilities and Stiles begins to see a pattern in the murders. Through their investigation they discover that mur-ders are not by a human or werewolf, but by a dark form of a

entertainment CONTINUED 22

Lose control on Teen Wolf

Collage by Colacino

By McKenzie Colacino If you enjoy teen

dramas filled with suspense such as Pretty Little Liars and Vampire Diaries, then Teen Wolf should be added to your

“must watch” list.Based on the 1985 film, Teen Wolf

was adapted into a show in 2011 for MTV by Jeff Davis. The show stars Scott McCall played by Tyler Posey, a socially awkward student at Beacon Hills High School. His life drastically changes when he gets bitten by mysterious werewolf in the woods one night, thus becoming one himself.

Scott tries to maintain a normal teenage life while keeping the fact that he is a werewolf a secret from everyone, except for his best friend Stiles Stilinski played by Dylan O’Brian. They meet another werewolf, Derek Hale played by Tyler Hoechlin, who also helps them along the way.

As Scott goes through mental and physical changes, him and Stiles try to figure out his life as a werewolf together one step at a time. The situation escalates when Allison Argent, played by Crystal Reed, moves to town. Scott immediately falls for her, but the show gets a taste of Romeo and Juliet when she comes from a family of werewolf hunters.

Throughout season 1 we meet very important characters including: Allison’s best friend Lydia Martin, played by Holland Roden, Lydia’s boyfriend Jackson

“I’m gonna rip

your throatout with my

teeth.”-Derek Hale

druid known as a “Darach.” The Darach captures Scott’s mom

Melissa McCall, played by Melissa Ponzio, and Stiles father Sherriff Stilinski, played by Linden Ashby. Out of despera-

tion, Scott decides to join the Alpha pack in order to find them.

Season 3 is split into two parts and the second half premiered Jan. 6, 2014. Teen Wolf has all the different compo-

nents needed in making a successful

show. There is romance, comedy, drama, horror, action and a fast pace plot that always keeps your attention.

“Stiles is definitely my favorite character, he is the most relatable and he adds the much needed humor to the show.” said Jonathan Bracero Div. 432.

Stiles is also my favorite character in Teen Wolf because of his personality. Even when things take a turn for the worst, he is always optimistic and keeps you laughing through every season.

The show captured my attention from the very beginning. Its initial story line was captivating, but the fast pace action and drama is what kept me watching. Each episode leaves you wanting more, and each season gets better and better. As the show progresses, you connect with the characters on a personal level as if you were in their shoes.

Teen Wolf is on every Monday at 9/10c with an average of 1.8 million total viewers each week.* Past seasons can be watched on Netflix and on Comcast On Demand. Each season gets better and better, and each episode will end with you wanting more. The only negative aspect about the show is waiting a week to see what happens next.

Teen Wolf is a very entertaining show that will capture your attention with its action filled fight scenes, its relatable teenage problems, and humor. I highly recommend this show to everyone, but especially to anyone drawn to the super-natural realm. *screenrant.com

Entertainment CONTINUED

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Get glam and gorgeous eyes for any occasion23

By Faiza Islam Makeup is an

important aspect of women’s daily appear-ance. Check out these unique eye make-up styles to do for parties,

every day wear, or other special occa-sions.

If you have a big party, event, or dance planned, then Smokey eye is the best look. Smokey eye is a very sexy look with a pop and shade of color to bring out your eyes for a night out. To achieve a Smokey eye,

Prime your eyelid with eye shadow primer. This important step will ensure that your eye shadow stays on all day and your makeup does not crease. It also brings out the color.

Cover your entire eyelid with your base color using your eye shadow brush.

Use a darker color in your crease with a crease brush.To apply, use windshield wiper motion under your brow bone until the color pigment shows.Then, using a blending brush, blend away any harsh lines.

Take a darker color, I prefer black, and focus this color on the outer “v” of your eye. This will make the look more dramat-ic.Once you have applied the color to your “v,” take your blending brush and again blend out any harsh lines.

This step is optional, but apply eye shadow underneath your bottom lashes to give it a smokier effect. It gives the illusion of eyeliner on your waterline.

Apply eyeliner and your favorite mascara and you have your finished smokey eye. For this look, dark colors work best such as, like black, blue, purple, etc.

Another type of eye makeup is the neutral eye shadow. I suggest this look be

worn on a daily basis because the colors are light and a subtle difference from the bare eyelid.

Prime your eyelid with primer. Next, apply a light neutral color, I recommend a beige or cream color, all over your eyelid.

Take a darker color, like brown, or an orange, and apply that in the crease of

your eye using the windshield wiper motions we used for the Smokey eye. Then, blend away any harsh lines.

Apply your favorite eyeliner and mascara. For this look, use warm eye shadow colors like brown, beige, and cream. Eyeliner looks best when very little, or none at all is used.

The “cat eye” is another famous look that can be worn day or night time. Your pupils will pop with the added wing eyeliner at the end.

Start at the middle of you upper eyelid and begin making small strokes outwards with any type of eyeliner.

Make small strokes from the inner corner of your eye and move towards the eyeliner you drew to connect the two.

To create the wing, draw a line starting from the end of your top lash line and bring it halfway towards the end of your eyebrow.

Once you have created your wing, draw a line back to your upper lash line and fill in the empty spaces with your eyeliner. Any type of eyeliner and mascara can be used.

Tip: To have your wing eyeliner straight, put tape in the corner of your eye.

The last style is the reverse Smokey eye. This look is perfect to wear for family or birthday parties or even a fancier occasion. For this look, instead of doing the crease a dark color you take the crease color, which is usually black, and place it on your lid. Then, take the lighter color and put it in your crease. Use dark

and light colors to add contrast for this look.

Use a black eyeliner pencil and cover your entire lid. This will act as an eye primer and will help intensify the lid eye shadow color.

Bring out your matte black eye shadow and apply it over your entire lid.

Take your crease color, which should be lighter than the lid color, and apply it to the crease of your eye using the wind-shield wiper motion and under your

eyebrow to high light. Blend away harsh lines.

Apply your favorite mascara. Eyeliner is optional due to the dramatic effect it already has.

Ashley Specht (Div. 517) said, “Makeup is a way to express yourself and express your style. When doing eye makeup, I think Maybelline’s eye studio gel eyeliner, Elf eye shadow, and Lash Stiletto Voluptuous Maybelline mascara are the best to use for these types of styles.”

The best place to find these brands is at Ulta or Walgreens. The Maybelline’s eye studio gel eyeliner is $10.00, the Elf eye shadow is $15.00, and the Lash Stiletto Voluptuous Maybelline mascara is $8.99.**

These eye makeup styles will definitely bring out your eyes and empha-size them wherever you go. They will also bring glitz and glamour to your eye, leaving people speechless. Time to upgrade a new look. *Specht**ulta.com

Photos provided by Specht

entertainment CONTINUED 24

Are you sick with a flappy bird addiction?“Flappy Bird helped me realize I have

serious anger issues,” said De’Ana Berrios, Div. 640.

Flappy Bird suddenly became one of the most played games, and turned out to be in the spotlight of everyone’s attention. It is now the main focus of daily conversa-tions. Some people had to go as far as deleting the game off their phone to finally find peace.

“I was so mad I wanted to throw my

phone out the window,” said Vinny Bursoni, Div. 527.

The game was originally released in May 2013 with support for the iPhone 5. Flappy Bird was then updated for iOS7 in Sept. 2013. In Jan. 2014, it topped the free category of the American and Chinese iTunes App Stores, and ended January as the most downloaded App. Nguyen revealed he was making $50,000 a day in advertising revenue.**

On Feb. 8, 2014, Nguyen announced on Twitter that the game was to be

Raise your voiceBy Faiza Islam Filled with singing, performing, and tips along the way, The Voice is an entertainment lover’s dream show. The show returned on Feb. 24

with the premiere of their sixth season. Celebrity musicians and coaches Adam Levine, Shakira (taking Christina Agu-ilera’s spot), Usher (taking Cee Lo Green’s spot), and Blake Shelton return to judge the new vocalists trying to rise to the top, along with Carson Daly hosting the show.*

In season five, (from Team Levine), Jamaican star Tessanne Chin, who won a recording contract and a $100,000 cash prize.** The show consists of four stages of

B paislos

competition: Blind auditions, battle rounds, knockouts, and live performance shows.*

In the blind auditions, the artists audition, while the musician coaches hear them perform by having their chairs turned back to them. When a coach is impressed by one of the artist’s, they push a button and turn around to select the singer for his or her team. If multiple coaches push the button for the singer, the singer has the power to choose whose team he or she wants to be in. If no coach pushes the button, the artist is automatically eliminated from the competition.*

Next, comes the battle rounds. Once the teams are set, the battle is on. The coaches help develop their artists to sing better with advice, sharing the secrets of their success and getting help from their

celebrity advisers.*“It is exciting to see what the judges

think of the contestants and it is very nervewracking becauise you never know who will pick who,” said Kyra Vidas Div.433.

During the battle rounds, the coaches have their two team members sing the same song against each other. Once that is done, the coaches must choose which of the two singers will advance to the next round. The losing singer is available to be stolen by another coach during the battle; however, each coach is limited to two steals. The strongest singer in each team will move on to the knockout round.*

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Artwork by Stetsiv

removed from both Google Play and Apple’s App Store, saying, “I am sorry Flappy Bird users, 22 hours from now, I will take Flappy Bird down. I cannot take this anymore”. The game was removed on Feb. 9.**

“Playing Flappy Bird made me want to kill myself, but after I deleted it, I am even more mad,” said Amanda Ciaglia, Div. 522.

The game received different views from critics, both positive and negative. Some have called it “insanely irritating, difficult, and frustrating”, while others think it is fun. There were many other addictive mobile games before Flappy Bird, such as Candy Crush Saga, Temple Run, Subway Surfer, and more, which reached their dawn of popularity at some point. However, Flappy Bird proved to be the most popular and addictive game so far, being called the “Drug of the

App Store”. “You cannot live with Flappy Bird, but

you can’t live without it either,” said Adam Pemberton, Div. 441.

If you have not played Flappy Bird yet, most would suggest to keep it that way. Countless hours in front of the screen, exhaustion, frustration, stress- you try to beat Flappy Bird, but it always beats you. *softdlspro.com

By Khrystyna StetsivIf you experience

symptoms like frustration, anger, and desire to throw your phone at a wall, you probably have a Flappy Bird addiction. No matter

how hard you try, it is impossible to get rid of it.

Flappy Bird is a 2013 game that has recently taken over the lives of many people, becoming a major addiction. Teenagers, and in extreme cases even their parents, spend hours playing the game and forgetting about everything else, trying to beat their high score.

The game was developed in Hanoi, Vietnam by Vietnam-based developer Dong Nguyen and published by .GEARS Studios. The objective of the game is to fly a bird by tapping the screen without hitting pipes of different height that serve as obstacles. Each time the bird flies through a set of pipes, the player gets a point. If the bird hits the pipe, the game is over.*

While the game might sound simple, moving through the pipes turns out to be very difficult, and for some reason, extremely addictive. Players often get very angry and frustrated when their bird hits the pipe again, and at first, it seems impossible to get a high score. However, after playing the game for hours and days, one gets better and earns higher scores.

entertainment CONTINUED 25

Spice up your music tasteBy Khrystyna Stetsiv Music can cure a bad day and turn a frown upside down in a matter of seconds. If you have not found the perfect music for yourself yet, Red Hot Chili

Peppers (RHCP) is an amazing band. RHCP is an American rock band,

formed in Los Angeles, California in 1983. Their musical style is mostly rock, with a mix of funk, and elements from punk rock and psychedelic rock.*

The band consists of the founding members Anthony Kiedis (vocals) and Michael “Flea” Balzary (bass), longtime drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who joined in 2009 after John Frusciante’s departure.*

“RHCP is definitely one of my favorite bands. I love how they manage to combine elements of punk rock and funk together and make it work. I also love how talented each of the band members is; they really know how to play their designated instru-ments, so their songs never sound boring,” said Miguel Sandoval, Div. 437.

RHCP was formed by four Fairfax High School friends, Kiedis, Hillel Slovak, Flea, and Jack Irons. The band’s original name was Tony Flow and the Majestic Masters of Mayhem, and their first performance was at the Rhythm Lounge in front of about 30 people. Involving some improvised music, the performance turned out to be an unexpected success. The band changed their name to RHCP, and played a few more shows at various LA clubs and musical venues.**

The band released their debut album, The Red Hot Chili Peppers on Aug.10, 1984. It did not set sales records, but airplay on college radio and MTV helped to find fans, and the album sold a total of about 300,000 copies. The band then went on their first tour, performing 60 shows in 64

Experience the evolution

By Linda LoyaOur lips are one of the

most sensitive skin areas on our bodies. Through food, accidental biting, acidic drinks, and harsh outdoor winds, we put our lips

through more than they deserve. That being said, chap stick is a daily

necessity, but choosing the right one is not always easy. Brands like Carmex contains harmful ingredients such as salicylic acid, which is the same acid used to kill skin

warts. In essence, the lip balms weaken and destroy the tissue on your lips after exces-sive and continuous use.*

“My first EOS lip balm was the raspberry one. I bought it purely for its adorable color and egg shape, but after using it religiously for a couple of weeks, my lips are softer than ever. I now have four different flavors,” said Jenna Greco, Div. 431.

For those who have an obsession with taking care of your skin, fear no more. EOS (Evolution of smooth) is a new brand of lip balms, hand creams, and shaving creams. The company aims to spread awareness of animal cruelty free and organic ingredients used to effectively soothe and soften lip skin tissue.

The flavor and scent of the products are not the only unforgettable aspect of them. The packaging consists of egg shaped balls, each in a vibrant color.

There are eight different flavors of EOS sold in stores yearly., such as “Lemon drop” and “Honeydew”. However, limited flavors do come around seasonaly, such as Vanilla Bean for the winter holidays.

These fun little chap sticks can be purchased for $3.99 at any local drugstore, such as CVS Pharmacy or Walgreens.*thegoodthebadandtheconsumer.com

Photo by Loya

days.**RHCP’s fourth album, Mother’s Milk

(1989), included “Knock Me Down”, a song about their deceased friend and former group member Slovak, who died in 1988 from heroin overdose. The album was certified gold by 1990.**

Listening to music is an important part of every teenager’s life, especially if it reflects their personal thoughts and feelings. I listen to all music genres and a variety of different singers and bands, but RHCP are one of my favorites. Some of their songs are wild and energetic, and others are relaxing and gentle, with an amazing ability to calm you down. A few of my favorite songs by them include Californication, Scar Tissue, Road Trippin’, Monarchy of Roses, The Zephyr Song, Snow, and many more.

“Every time I listen to RHCP, it is always a different experience. They seem to have a song for every mood, whether it is happy or sad, “ said Sandoval.

One of their next albums, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, became an incredible hit upon its release in 1991, eventually selling seven million copies in the United States alone, with hits such as “Give It Away” and “Under the Bridge”.*

The discography of the RHCP now counts ten albums, including Freaky Styley (1885), One Hot Minute (1995), Californication (1999), By the Way (2002), Stadium Arcadium (2006), and the last one so far, I’m with You (2011).*

Chili Peppers have received 16 music awards and 65 nominations throughout their career, including seven Grammy Awards, and 27 nominations for MTV Music Video Awards. They were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.*

This year, the infamous band performed at the Super Bowl half-time show on Feb. 2. They played Led Zeppelin’s live version of “Dazed And Confused” during the prestigious half-time perfor-mance at the annual American Football event with Bruno Mars. *allmusic.com**rockhall.com***nme.com

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Collage by Stetsiv

entertainment CONTINUED 26

The natural way is the best wayBy Faiza Islam

Thick and shiny hair is admired and wanted by all. Products that help achieve a healthy look are sold in coutnless stores for unreasonable

prices. However, did you know that you can take some of your mother’s daily kitchen products for the same, sometimes even better, results little to no cost? Want

to have nice healthy hair? Here are some hair treatments to make your hair healthy and nourished by using homemade ingredients.

Better knwon as a delicious fruit, avocado’s light and moist oils and proteins boast nutrients for smoothing and weighing down unruly hair. The process for using this treatment is: Mash up half an avocado and massage into clean, damp hair. Let the avocado stay in your hair for about 15

minutes before rinsing with water. To moisturize your hair more, combine the mashed avocado with 1 or 2 tablespoon of a hydrating ingredient, like sour cream, egg yolks, or mayonnaise. Use a ripe avocado if you do not want little pieces of avocado stuck to your hair. This treatment should be applied every two weeks. *

Another daily ingredient you can try is eggs. The egg’s yolk, rich in fats and proteins, naturally moisturizes your hair. The egg whites, which contains bacteria-eating enzymes, removes unwanted oils from your hair. Use the entire egg to condition your hair, eggs whites only to treat oily hair, and egg yolk to moisturize dry, brittle hair.

To begin, use ½ cup of which ever egg mixture is appropriate for your hair, and apply it to clean, damp hair. Leave it on for 20 minutes, and then rinse with cool water. The whole egg and yolk treatment is applied once a month and the egg whites treatment is applied every two weeks.*

Two popular oils are Argan and Moroccan. I use these for my hair to make it look healthy and hydrate the ends. These oils restore lasting shine and softness for the hair. They also help strengthen and condition dry, damaged or color-treated hair. It absorbs quickly, leaving hair shiny, silky, and manageable. Take as much oil that you wish and apply throughout the hair as needed, concentrating mostly on the tips. You can apply these oils on wet hair or dry hair; however dry hair is more efficient. This treatment can be applied every day or as frequent as needed.

Aisha Ali (Div. 534) uses a hair mask made out of all natural organic products. She uses yogurt, olive oil, and one egg yolk and mixes it together and puts it on her hair when it is dry. She leaves it on her hair for about 30 minutes. This hair mask helps put a lot of vitamins into hair and makes the scalp healthier. She puts the mask on once a week.

“I think not only is it important to keep your hair healthy, but also keep your body

healthy as well. If you have a healthy body, you will have a healthy hair,” said Ali.

There is also a very unique treatment using beer. Beer adds body to your hair and contains supplies of yeast, which works to plump weak tresses. After asking an adult, mix ½ cup of warm beer with 1 teaspoon of light oil and raw egg. Then apply to clean, damp hair, and let it sit for about 15 minutes. Afterwards, rinse your hair with cool water. When beer evapo-

rates, the remaining protein continues to strengthen and structure the hair. This treatment is applied every other week.

These treatments will definitely help you get strong, healthy, silky hair in no time. It is time to throw away those expensive chemical hair products, and start using homemade ingredients from home. Let’s get sexy hair the natural way!*womansday.com

Before the natural hair treatment After the natural hair treatment

watches. The coach chooses the winner, who then moves up to the next round, while the artist not selected will be sent home.*

Finally, in the live performance round the top artists from each team will compete against each other every week.

The television audience will vote to

save their favorite artists and the two singers with the lowest number of votes will be sent home each week. In the end, one will be named “The Voice.*

Marina Castillo (Div. 547) said, “I like the show because there are so many differ-ent types of talented people in it. The show motivates me to want to be a better singer.”

The talent searching show is the perfect a new hobby or past time. If you are currently in love with this show, or in case you are interested in becoming obsessed, “The Voice”, plays on Mondays at 8/7c and Tuesdays at 9/8c on NBC.**nbc.com**au.ibtimes.com

Raise your voice continued from pg. 24Artwork by Tessa Flaga

By Cristina ChaidezSeven of Taft’s Girls’

Varsity Basketball Team members were selected for the Windy City All Conference Selections. These seven ladies

included Kyra Vidas (Div. 433), Kaitlin Ulbert (Div. 422), Jasmine Correa (Div. 432), Samantha Anderson (Div. 530), Amanda Bernachhi (Div. 423), Marie Chew (Div. 440), and Morgan Tannehill, Div. 533.

The seven selected girls were divided into three teams based on skill level, the first team being the highest. Vidas and Ulbert were on the first team. Correa and Ander-son were on the second. Bernac-chi, Chew, and Tannehill were placed on the third.

The All Conference Selections was an honor given for each conference based on how the girls played, their season stats, and how they did in their routine.

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As a team, however, the girls took second in the Red North Conference with a 6-2 record, falling short of first place against Lincoln Park High School.

Vidas achieved great success by earning a spot on the 2013-2014 Chicago All City Girls Basketball Team, as one of the top 20 girls basketball players in Chicago. She also averaged 12 points per game this year.

Following conference, the Lady Eagles moved on to the City playoffs and made it to the Chicago Sweet Sixteen tournament in which the top and final 16 teams in the city compete. Subsequent to the City playoffs were the State playoffs that began the week of Feb.10. The girls lost to Maine South in the first round of state on Feb. 18, 72-44.

“I am proud of my team. It was probably one of our best teams, and we made it far in city,” said Vidas.

The Lady Eagles made Senior Night a night to remember with a victory against Clemente High School. The purpose of Senior Night was to honor all the seniors and to thank them for all the hard work they have done.

Head Coach Kirk Vidas said, “These girls’ shoes will be hard to fill next year.”

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The eight seniors showered with pink basketballs, fl owers, and posing with their parents/guardians at their senior night.

Wrestling team does not dissapoint

Photo provided by Kyra Vidas

N. Gallo standing on the third place podium at sectionals.

By Marilyn SegarraIt seems everyone is

talking about the Taft Varsity Wrestling Team and with good reason. From new broken records to five wrestlers awarded

at once, these wrestlers seem to be an unstoppable force.*

Wrestling Coach Michael Bakula said, “The wrestling team has been ecstatic about the outpouring support it has received this year from students, families, teachers, and administration. It is a great feeling to be at a tournament 30 miles from school and still see familiar, supportive faces.”

Nicola Gallo (Div. 417) placed third at Sectionals to qualify for the State Tourna-ment at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning last weekend.

Six members competed at the Sectionals Tournament at East Leyden on Feb. 14 and 15, but N. Gallo was the only

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to move on.At the Regional Tournament at Notre

Dame College Prepatory on Feb. 8, the results are the following:

• N. Gallo,182 lbs., Regional Champion

• Benjamin Garland (Div. 430), 145 lbs., second place

• Angelo Berardi (Div. 723), 106 lbs., Isaiah Torres (Div. 621), 120 lbs., Daniel Gallo (Div. 637),126 lbs., and Gibson Arlasky (Div. 424), 170 lbs., third place.*

Bakula said, “I expect my wrestlers to perform at such high levels versus suburban schools because they wrestle with and defeat them all year round.”

N. Gallo’s wins against Glenbard North 10-3, Notre Dame 2-1, and Willowbrook 2-1 at sectionals in-creased N. Gallo’s record to 42-2. N. Gallo broke the all-time Taft record

with 42 wins over Alum Ryan Fulton’s (2013) 35.

“I am really proud to have won, but the games that I lost motivated me more because there was more pressure on me to still qualify for sectionals, state, and championship,” said N. Gallo.*tafths.org

Photo provided by Bakula

SPORTSBy Cristina Chaidez

You can never play too many sports is a motto eighth grader Natasha Bernett (Div. 811) lives, eats, and breathes. With nine sports

under this fireball’s belt, one would be a fool to disagree.

If someone could name a list of sports off the top of his or her head, chances are Bernett plays it. Bernett takes part in Taft sports and among the many, she plays volleyball, basketball, soccer, poms, and cross country.

Take a breather because the list does not end quite yet, outside of Taft’s humble abode, she participates in swimming, track, dance, and

tumbling. “I love moving around and being

athletic. Just being able to learn the rules of the game motivates me to play them well,” said Bernett.

At such a young age, Bernett plays like a veteran for many of these sports since her athleticism for volleyball, basketball, track, and soccer sprouted when she was in third grade. Other sports such as

dance and tumbling began when she was merely two years old.

Jaquelyn Mendro (Div. 813) said, “I play basketball with Natasha and she always seems very motivated and cares about everything that she does. She does stay up late to get her work done and I really

admire her work ethic.” Bernett and first place are far from

strangers. Although it is safe to say this eighth grader possesses a plethora of trophies and awards, Bernett has taken first place in many swimming, track, and cross country meets.

With school, it seems as if sports could be a heavy load on a student’s grades, but Bernett would be one to disagree. This straight A, Academic Center student has her eye not only on the ball, but on her

Sports, school, service: this girl does it all B

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future as well. Bernett has her

heart set on becoming a veterinarian and believes education is the path to take to achieve such goal.

It is hard to believe that with so much on one’s plate, there is still room left for warm hearted deeds. But Bernett still manages to volunteer at her father’s work with the non-profit organization Rebuilding Together. This humble organiza-tion builds houses and provides critical repairs to low income homes for free.*

Stress is unfortu-nately inevitable, but when it takes its turn to

strike, Bernett has the support of her family and teachers to get her through.

“My mom is my role model because she is very encouraging, and whenever I am stressed out, she always helps me, which really makes my life so much better,” said Bernett.

Sports have obviously taken Bernett above and beyond the road to greater accomplishments, and at such a young age, there is no doubt success will be knocking in her bright future. *rebuildingtogether.org

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Photos provided by Bernett

By Karolina GolabekOn Jan. 24, as the

Taft Girls Varsity Basket-ball Team played one of their final conference

games against Lane Tech, Coach Kirk Vidas made a special announcement during half time.

With the season coming to an end, Vidas decided to make one of the last girls basketball games special by inviting alumni girls who used to play on Taft's

Once a Lady Eagle, always a Lady Eagle team and honor them during the game.

"I would say about 20 girls showed up. I called each one of them out with their

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graduating year as they ran onto half court and lined up for everyone to see," said Vidas.

Through the years, it is important to remember all the great athletes who contributed in making Taft's athletic department a huge success.

"I wanted to connect our new players with some of my old players and let them watch the game to see how the program has changed and grew over the years. I definitely want to do something like this again," said Vidas. The current Lady Eagles with alumni Lady Eagles.

Photos provided by Kyra Vidas

28SPORTS CONTINUED

Drop and give me four years of PE

Physical Education galore for all four By Cristina Chaidez

Physical Education (PE): whether the mere mention of its name makes you cringe or eager to throw on your gym shoes, it is a mandatory course

that Taft requires of their students for at least two years.

Like many, I could have not been more thrilled when I shook the hand of junior year and said my farewells to stuffy locker rooms and blue shorts. However, the question that constantly crept up was if two years of PE were sufficient; I think not.

The United States has been slapped with an alarming 33% obesity rate in adolescence and children. One of the many ways to decrease such a high percentage is to have a manda-tory four year PE course.*

“It is important for students to know why good health and exercise is essential because you use health and PE everyday of your life,” said PE Teacher Sara Polensky.

Sure, no one likes walking into their next class feeling

sweaty and smelling the like outdoors, but your body will thank you for it. In fact, PE can reduce the risks of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and high blood pres-sure.**

Not only does exercise help students with their physical state, but it can be mentally beneficial as well. Physical activities can help the brain process information more clearly and memorization due to the oxygen that is being pumped into the brain.***

How many of us have used the run down excuse, “I just do not have the time to exercise”? It is totally understandable. With

homework, afterschool activities, and for some, work, it is hard to cramp in a good 45 minute workout.

However, if students are required to take a PE course, then that excuse will fly right out the window because he or she will be getting their workout regimen while in school. Some may argue and say that many students will think of PE as a blow off class, but if students receive a grade for this course, it can help motivate them to work to their full potential while boosting their health.

Yet another perk of a four year PE requirement is that you do not have to carry

the weight of paying for a gym membership. Students can use Taft’s very own weight room free of charge throughout their high school lifetime.

As young adults, the proper amount of exercise is crucial and although not everyone loves the idea of PE, one can learn to fall in love with their health at the end of high school. *aacap.org**livestrong.com***positscience.com

Artwork by Chaidez

Artwork by Josue Quintero

By Marilyn Segarra and Rachel Daly

It is official. Starting the 2014-2015 school year, it will be required that all Chicago Public School (CPS) students participate in daily physical education (PE).

The decision was made when the Chicago Board of Education unanimously voted at their monthly meeting on Jan. 22.*

With making PE a mandatory class from grades K-12, positive affects on both a student's health and academics are expected. Studies show that daily high-quality PE classes cause improved brain function, test scores, behavior, and mental health.**

Since 1997, students in the 11th and 12th grade have not had to participate in PE due to a state waiver. While the waiver has been in affect for more than 15 years, come this June, the waiver will expire, and it will not be renewed. It is then up to each

high school's principal to make sure every student is scheduled for PE next year.**

Many programs Taft offers such as Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corp Academy (NJROTC), Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID), and Chicago Police and Firefighter Training Academy (CPFTA) require their students to spend a certain amount of time doing activities

and take a variety of classes. With the new PE policy, those variety of classes will be cut one short.

“International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma students would not be required to take four years of PE, but only two. Diploma students who have dropped out of the IB program, however, would still have to take the regular amount of PE classes,” said IB Coordinator Irene Kondos.

The new PE policy also affects elementary school students. It calls for a mandatory 30 minutes of PE per day. In the end of the week, the total time spent in PE would average about 150 minutes, if not more.**

Students are often busy after school with homework, clubs, and jobs. There is little time for fitting in daily excercise. With the new PE policy, students no longer have to worry about not getting their daily exercise.

Changes will gradually take place over the next three years. PE will no longer be seen as a blow off class, but a part of the core classes. *healthyschoolscampaign.org

SPORTS CONTINUED 29

Sporty siblings take over Taft

Amanda (Div. 522) and Alison (Div. 432) CiagliaSport played: Volleyball

“I think it is really fun playing volleyball with my sister. It is good bonding time. I

constantly see her and I find myself being bossy to her (she would agree). I can

spend more time with her when we play volleyball because I am not home all the

time,” said Allison Ciaglia.

Jorge (Div. 426) and David (Div. 629) Martinez

Sport played: Volleyball “It’s pretty exciting, very exciting. He

likes to bother me a lot, but I just take it in. We make a strong back row together. We

always have each other’s backs. I am looking forward to spending my last high

school season with him. We play together outside of school for fun, so playing

together on a team is not much different,” said J. Martinez.

Photo by Segarra

Photo by Segarra

Photo provided by the Batzorigt’s

Photo provided by L. Rendon

Liz (Div. 412) and Emily (Div. 412) Rendon

Sport played: Softball“At times it is fun to play a sport with

my sister because we can practice together and help each other on aspects we noticed we do not do well. The cons are sometimes

we over criticize each other or if we are angry about something we will argue during practice or a game affecting how we play. The positives of playing together is that I

always have a friend on the team,” said L. Rendon.

Photo provided by Amanda Ciaglia

Vincenzo (Div. 422) and Angelo (Div. 723) Berardi

Sport played: Wrestling “It is a good feeling having my brother

on the same team as me. I feel I can help him build confidence before I leave school this year. He is definitely a better wrestler than me, but I am proud of his talents. We

get to bond, practice, and spend time together. I am so proud of everything he has accomplished. He is making a good

name for the school. He will always be my brother, and I love him,” said V. Berardi.

Azjargal (Div. 470) and Ankhjargal (Div. 432) Batzorigt

Sport played: Tennis “It is really fun to play with my sister

because we both support each other in the game and teach each other new methods and routines. Our coaches confuse us for one another a lot of the time because we are twins. We can switch positions when we are doing doubles or if I cannot play,

see substitutes for me. Also, having her as a partner makes college coaches inter-

ested in us,” said Azjargal Batzorigt.

PPPPPPPPPhPhhhoto provided by Amanda Ciaglia

By Marilyn SegarraSurprisingly to some, many of the Eagle sports stars also play with their siblings. They have shared tears,

achievements, awards, practices, and dinner at their table. This is what some of them had to say:

Naomi (Div. 514) and Euneca (Div. 619) SoptSport played: Volleyball

“Having my sister on my team was weird at first, but then I realized how helpful

it is. We can go home and practice together. I’ll give her tips. I like playing with someone I know. Sometimes we argue and can get very competitive with one another. In the end, we only build each other up,”

said N. Sopt.

Photo by Segarra

Photo by Segarra

30SPORTS CONTINUED

By Cristina ChaidezBlood, sweat, and

tears are three vital essentials when it comes to making a dedicated athlete. However, blood, out of all others, can easily

become the most important aspect when you have a sibling on the same team as you.

Varsity wrestling champs and brothers Nicola Gallo (Div. 417) and Daniel Gallo (Div. 637) know firsthand that blood is always thicker than water.

The Gallo brothers have been wres-tling for what seems to be their whole lives: a total of ten years. Their passion for wrestling was a mere fume that sparked into an immense wild fire after they

Wrestling runs in the family

witnessed their cousin take third place in a state wrestling tournament when they were younger.

“Once you wrestle, it is like it has this effect on you that you cannot seem to explain and that effect changes who you are as a person,” said D. Gallo.

Their cousin’s skills must have rubbed off on these two wrestling champs since N. Gallo won first place in city and D. Gallo took second in city and first in the Evanston wrestling tournament this year. Although winning is an intangible beauty, it never hurts to strive for greater success, at least for the Gallos anyway.

“Winning city was a nice goal for the season, but my main goal right now is to make it to state. Overall I was pretty

excited,” said N. Gallo.

N. Gallo placed first and D. Gallo placed third in regionals and took part in the sectionals competition on Feb. 14 and 15 at Leyden High School.

“I have enjoyed watching them grow from freshman into city champions and sectional quali-fiers.They are the

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N. Gallo dominating against a Niles West wreslter.

D. Gallo taking down a Notre Dame wrestler.

N. Gallo and D. Gallo sporting gear from two of the programs that matter most to them.

Photos by Nicole Mullaney

first kids to enter the practice room and the last to leave. They are always sweating and working hard during practice, and I have never heard an excuse from any of them,” said Varsity Wrestling Coach Michael Bakula.

Competitiveness outside rival teams and between siblings is most likely to be anticipated.

N. Gallo said, “Being on the same team does get pretty competitive, you always try to top your brother, but when he is in trouble in a certain aspect, I try to coach him through times when he is down.”

“It is pretty cool to have my brother on the team because we get to

talk about it [wrestling] at home, and we get closer because we spend a lot of time together,” added D. Gallo.

The Gallo brothers never have to worry about not receiving enough support. With seven siblings at home with athletic backgrounds as well, support never strays too far away.

Success has

rained down on these two brothers on and off the mat. They both take part in the Advancement Via Individual Determina-tion (AVID) program and have already become acquainted with their futures.

N. Gallo has been eying the University of Illinois to attend after he graduates and has received a $20,000 scholarship to the University of Iowa.

Being a sophomore allows plenty of time to consider plausible college choices, but D. Gallo is planning on furthering his passion of wrestling when he attends college.

The strongest relationship one could possibly possess is within family, and becoming teammates can only make that relationship even stronger.

Photo by Marilyn Segarra

31SPORTS CONTINUED

Get ready to zumba

Exercising benefits in many different ways By Karolina Golabek

We are constantly told to take good care of our body- exercise daily, substitute junk food for healthier choices, drink lots of water, etc, but can

those small lifestyle changes not only positively affect our body, but our mind too?

Before questioning whether exercise is healthy for the mind, you must know what endorphins are.

Endorphins are chemicals in your body that are released when you exercise. When this chemical is released, it binds to the same neu-rotransmitters in your body as pain medicine, causing you to feel positive energy while exercising.*

Therefore, that boost of energy you feel when exercising, is your body releas-ing endorphins, proving that exercise does in fact affect your mind and body in a positive way.

Making exercise a part of your daily routine does not only have physical

benefits like strengthening the heart, lowering blood pressure, building stronger bones, and reducing body fat, but it has a ton of mental benefits as well. Daily exercise reduces stress, wards off anxiety and feelings of depression, boosts self-esteem, and improves sleep.*

With so many great benefits on both the physical and mental side, why would

you choose to not exercise? If you are not a fan of playing sports, there are other forms of exercise that you may enjoy. Running, jogging, biking, dancing, swimming, lifting weights, and yoga are all great workouts you can do to strengthen your mind and body.

Psychologists consider these habits for a healthy

mind and body: daily physicality for at least 20 minutes, intellectual curiosity, foster creativity by challenging your mind, human unity, spiritual connected-ness and finding inspiration, and energy balance.**

As difficult as adding a new habit to your lifestyle may be, start today. Put

down those chips and get off your couch. Instead, drink plenty of water, eat an apple, and go for a 30 minute run.

I guarantee, if you start taking better care of your body, it will thank you by strengthening and improving your mind.*science.howstuffworks.com**psychologytoday.com

“Health is a large word. It

embraces not the body only, but the mind and spirit as

well...”- James H. West*

Students taking advantage of one of the many pieces of exercise equipment in Taft’s weight room.

Photo by Khrystyna Stetsiv

Zumba Gold is an easier class for senior citizens, and Gold Toning is for making your granny muscular. Zumba In The Circuit is a very high-impact, short class. All classes induce sweat and loving your body.**

By Peter WielgusLifting weights is hard

work, and for some, it just is not the right way to stay fit. Zumba is an excellent alternative.

Zumba is a relatively new method of fitness. It is an aerobic dance class set to exciting Latin dance music. Developed by Beto Perez and launched in 1999, it became the most popular form of exercis-ing with dance music. It has been constant-ly growing in popularity ever since.*

Many different classes are available, all catering to different needs. The classes offered are Zumba Fitness, Toning, Aqua, Senato, Gold, Gold Toning, In The Circuit, and two kid’s classes.

Zumba Fitness is a general and popular class. You do simple steps and moves that slowly and steadily tone your muscles.

Zumba Toning focuses on working out and strength. Aqua Zumba is done in a pool, and is considered to be low-impact. Zumba Senato involves, stepping on, spinning around, hitting, and lifting a chair.

“The classes are very entertaining and interactive. They get me in the mood to exercise. It is a great way to incorporate working out while having a blast and learning new moves,” said Jennifer Tarde, Div. 428.

They are much different from other forms of exercise.They train your muscles and give you a long-lasting satisfaction.

“It is a lot of work, a lot of sweating, you feel exhausted, but you do not realize it because you are having such a good time,” said Tarde

Zumba is a rewarding and worthwhile activity. It challenges and engages you. It is also very accessible. Most gyms, such as XSport offer the classes for a low price, often around $10-$15 per session.*** The XSport nearest Taft is located at the Harlem-Irving Plaza. Get your exercise on and sign up for Zumba!*zumbacostablanca.com**zumba.com***zumbabellingham.com

Artwork by Sara Siudak

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