The WarriorNiskayuna High School October 5, 2012 Volume 39, Issue 4

a student-run publication since 1974, now weekly

Inside this issue...Monsters Inc: Monsters Univer-sity release soon,page 6

Fall Fun Run is a good time for all,page 7

Election crack-down,page 4

E l e c t i o n a p p r o a c h i n gby Nisha Detchprohm

News

Presidential elections are coming up, and we all know it’s between the Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. Our voting deci-sions are based off parts of their campaign such as health care, immigration, and foreign poli-cies. People vote for the candidate who shares similar ideas with them. To get closer to victory, candidates express opinions they think will appeal to voters; then people go to polls and fill out ballots in their favor. Demo-cratic and Republican candidates gain support by convincing vot-ers to believe in their ideas and criticize the other candidate’s policies through with the media.

One way the candidates express their opinions is through the presidential debates. Oftentimes these debates can be the turning point in elections. These debates can determine whether a can-didate wins or loses. For those who keep up with political debate, the first one was scheduled for October 3 at 9:00 pm to discuss domestic policy; then Paul Ryan and Joe Biden will duel in the Vice Presidential debate. The topics of that debate will include foreign and domestic policy and will be held on October 11 at 9:00 pm. The second presidential debate will be in a town-meeting format on October 16 at 9:00 pm. In this format, citizens can ask the candi-dates questions. The final debate

will be on October 22 at 9:00 pm.“I think the stakes have never

been higher for an election before. Both sides, have completely dif-ferent ideas for America’s future. However, I don’t particularly like the way that the election season is turning out because of all the negativity. Both sides are launching attack ads and trying to destroy the opponent. This is hurting the election season as we aren’t getting clear view of each person’s idea for America’s fu-ture,” says a freshman who wishes to remain anonymous.

S o m e t i m e s o p p o s -ing po l i t i ca l cand ida tes share similar viewpoints.

As this freshman claims, “Mitt Romney said Barack Obama’s idea with healthcare in ‘08 and medicaid didn’t work, so when he proposed his own, it was almost exactly the same thing as the one now.”

From this we can conclude those who didn’t like President Obama’s healthcare plan will not agree with Mitt Romney’s plan either.

Somet imes the impor -tance of electing our country’s leader is lost in the contest.

“Presidential candidates are always trying to find a way to get ahead of the other person because they want to win,” says freshman Lesley Santos.

It can be confusing trying to figure out which candidate has the advantage prior to the actual election. The simplest

way to tell is by looking at polls and statistics. Most of the time, the leading candidate gain the advantage by campaigning their ideas and convincing citizens to agree with their policies.

“I think Obama’s shown a pretty c lear advantage but anything can happen,” says freshman Matt Ziegler.

The political candidates have visited multiple states pres-ent us with their ideas, but New York specifically is a pro-Democratic state, which means Obama has the advantage here, though there still enough Re-publicans in New York State to have an impact on the polls.

“This election season it seems like we’re picking between weak and weaker. Obama has not been a strong president by any means; the economy, while im-proving, is still not great. How-ever, at this point it seems like Obama will win a second term, only because he’s up against such a weak competition,”says freshman Emil Friedman.

To get those who don’t fully support him to consider him when voting, Obama went to UAlbany’s new nanoscale and engineering facility, HVCC and GE to check out our progress. Complimenting a state will get you their votes, thus results in your advantage which equals you leading. Every little action will have a huge effect if the op-posing party picks up on it. Every

decision sets off a whole chain reaction, especially when you are on national television. One little slip-up and the media explodes or you gain another anti-you com-mercial that can really lead to your downfall among the people.

The biggest problem they have right now is the government deficit. Romney is spending way too much and he’s going over the limit, but Obama’s ac-counting skills show that will make less than he promises.

Considering Obama has the lead right now, Romney has made an obvious effort to try and win the always important battle of the swing states; but in the end, it all comes down to the one who has better provisions, technology, strategy and attitude.

New York State Election Poll (YouGov)

58% Obama34% Romney8% Neither

2 The WarriorNews October 5, 2012

H a z i n g – a n e c e s s a r y e v i l ?by haNNah hamiltoN

News

When thinking about college and campus life, one of the first things that comes to mind is fra-ternity and sorority living. With parties, cushy dorm rooms and a V.I.P. social life, who wouldn’t want to be a member? Fitting in with a new environment is one of the most concerning aspects for college kids. For some students, it can be so important that they would even risk their safety just to be part of an exclusive group.

The terms “sorority” and “fra-ternity” signify that such groups are sisterhoods or brotherhoods, respectively. This implies that all members of the fraternity are loyal to other members, that they share common interests and hang out with one another. In that way, fraternities can be extremely positive parts of campus life, pro-viding young adults with a sense of security, stability, and cama-raderie when away from home.

However, it isn’t easy to become a “brother” or “sister.” Oftentimes, aspiring members must prove their dedication and desire to be a member by engaging in some inappropriate activities. These are more often than not just harmless, taboo challenges which must be completed by those wishing to join the group. Sometimes they can be emotionally or physically harm-ful, and occasionally even fatal.

“Hazing” refers to any activity required by a group that humili-ates, degrades, or jeopardizes the emotional or physical welfare of potential members, regard-

less of the potential members’ willingness to participate. Such activities can include verbal, physical and sexual abuse. Apart from numerous safety issues, when things go wrong during “initiation ceremonies,” legal battles often come into play.

Last November, at Florida A&M University, 26-year-old Robert Champion was beaten to death by his fellow marching band members aboard a charter bus. The occurrence was an ex-ample of brutal hazing and has developed into a nearly year-long lawsuit with the university. The University maintains that they are absolutely innocent of blame.

In this particular situation, it’s hard to place who’s to blame due to the fact that Champion was in his mid-twenties and had retired from school events. While the school claims that it was Cham-pion’s fault for allowing the events to transpire, his family and friends obviously beg to differ. They argue that the University has sanctioned the existence of exclusive groups such as marching bands and fraternities, and should therefore be monitoring what members do.

Hazing is currently one of the biggest problems facing colleges in terms of campus living. It can result in physical injury, hos-pitalization, emotional trauma, and in certain cases, even sexual violation or death. Hazees some-times endure “branding,” similar to what is done to animals, as well as having to do menial and humiliating tasks. Hazing causes not only immediate also but

long-term issues for its victims.Before you get all caught up in

the debate over whether or not sororities and fraternities should even be allowed by universities, keep in mind: Students who are nonmembers of sororities/fraternities are at higher risk of hazing than those who are. Much of the time, dangerous initiation processes occur in “non-Greek” groups. This is because students hoping to join a group feel like they’re more or less alone on cam-pus and would do almost anything to have a stable s o c i a l c i rc le .

O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , sorori-ties and frater -n i t i e s c a n offer a second fami ly to stu-d e n t s a n d provide t h e m w i t h strong s u p -p o r t during t h e i r college

Find it every week and save

your copies to get a chance to win

a t-shirt at the end of the year.

SAT WORD OF THE WEEK

Camaraderie: mutual trust and friendship among people who spend a lot of time together.

years. Hazing is an activity that gives these positive groups a bad name, and many states have made legal moves against hazing, deem-ing even the most minor forms illegal and felonious behavior.

Any college student is ex-tremely susceptible to hazing, and therefore everyone should be knowledgable of such dangers before going to live at school. The more educated you are on the subject, the more likely you are to live a positive, safe college life.

Warrior Graphics / Lex AlstonTO HAZE OR NOT TO HAZE?: Hazing is a serious issue at many universities.

3October 5, 2012The Warrior News

Apple harvest affected by weatherby clauDia alaNt

News

Fall seems the most popular time for going out and picking your own produce, but the weather throughout the New England area has recently had a negative effect on the local harvest. Currently, unpredictable weather ranging from mild rainfalls, to drought, to high temperatures, has, as in past years, caused this season’s crops to bloom earlier than usual. There was little snowfall last year, and it was said that there would be no trouble with farming and harvesting the crops. However, a late frost devastated apple orchards by killing many of their early blos-soming apple trees. Shortly after the winter, a terribly hot spring and summer with record temperatures, and little rain weakened the crop yields for farmers. Statistics show it was the one of the warmest 12-month period the country faced since 1895. The heat made the ground very dry and not fertile for plants. The forecasts of very little snow this coming winter will make it tough for farmers once again because there will be no snowpack melt in the spring to keep the ground moist.

What does this mean for consumers? The locally grown crops are expected to come earlier than usual. This means there is a smaller picking season so you may have al-ready missed the best of this year’s crop. It also means that there prices will be a driven up. The weak apple harvest has manifested itself in the price of apple cider. It has gone up from an average of $3.99 a gallon squeezed at local pastures or orchards in 2011 to $4.99 a gallon. Many orchard owners share the sentiments of orchard owner Allen Aires-man when he says, “It’s a lean year. I have maybe 10 percent of the crop I usually have.”

Crops are affected, not only in the North-east, but all over the country. “Unfortunately, [nationwide], this year the crop we’re project-ing is 10 percent lower than last year,” says Mark Gedris, an association spokesman for

the United States Apple Association. He also concludes that the crop last year was 224.5 million bushels while this year it has dropped down to 202 million bushels. Specifically in New York, we are expected to lose 14 million bushels, which is half of the whole amount last year. The Empire State has not seen such a year where the crop has been reduced so much due to weather since 1945. As for apples, the weather has an effect on the color, a little effect on the texture, but not much effect on the taste. Apples produced earlier in the year are reported to have a less crispy texture. It has been said the early growing apples like the Honeycrisp or Gala may not be very appealing to feast your eyes on, but they still have the same flavor they always have.

Though the reduced apple crop is of concern, consumers will still be satis-fied by the classic taste of the fall harvest.

Warrior Photo / Olivia CoxAPPLE A DAY KEEPS THE DOCTOR AWAY: Junior Katherine Quinn enjoys a delicious and nutritious apple in the High School Art Gallery.

PowderPuffFriday, Nov. 2nd

$5 entry feeT-Shirts COMING SOON!

Hey Niskayuna high school! Guess whose coming? Is it ADELE? Is it Usher? No! It’s some-one even better, Taylor Mali! Now I know what you’re thinking, “this is too good to be true, and I can’t believe it!” Well believe it Niskayuna, be-cause the master weaver of words, Taylor Mali is coming to the Capital District on November 8th. All ticket proceeds go to help funding a local youth group’s trip to Guatemala. If you are interested feel free to contact Alex Whisenhunt or Emer-son Wells in the War-rior homeroom (D107) for more information.

Photo Credit / http://www.patheos.com

E l e c t i o n c r a c k d o w n

EDITORIAL POLICIES

Letters to the editor are welcome from all members of the school community, and can be delivered toWarrior staff or sent via

email to: thewarrioropinion@gmail.com. The Warrior reserves the right to edit letters for grammar, length, and content.

Signed opinion articles express the opinions of their creators. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus of the paper’s edito-rial board, consisting of the Opinion section and the Editor-in-

Chief.

The op-ed pages are a forum for students’ opinions and ideas.

The WarriorNiskayuna High School, 1626 Balltown Road, Niskayuna, NY, 12309

http://www.nisk.k12.ny.us/nhs/warrior

For a one-year subscription to The Warrior, please send a check for $25.00 to: The Warrior, c/o Niskayuna High School, 1626 Balltown Road, Niskayuna, NY 12309.

4 The WarriorOpinion October 5, 2012

mal people and mechanical in his actions. This is quite opposite in reality. Mitt Romney has shown sternness and forceful leadership in times that really count. When Senator Newt Gingrich made gains on Romney when he was still trying to claim the GOP nomina-tion, Romney stepped up game during the final debates. He met Newt Gingrich objectively, force-fully, and effectively, in an unex-pected and necessary way that won him the nomination. This demonstrates Romney’s ability to be a strong and able leader when it counts, and this is what Romney needs to do over the next 5 weeks if he is going to win this election.

Editor-in-Chief:Eunu SongOlivia Jaquith

News:Olivia Cox, EditorAnna Lochte, EditorKatherine Quinn, EditorAlex Whisenhunt, Asst

Opinion:Alison Xu, EditorJoe Parisi, EditorMiles Tepper, EditorSara Bobok, AsstEntertainment:Sophie Kemp, EditorCynthia Zhao, Asst

Advisers: James Edgar Russell McDowell

Sports:Christopher Herman, EditorAniket Tolpadi, EditorMichael Sise, EditorSuman Padhi, AsstMagazine:Alisha Desai, EditorSwati Mehrotra, EditorSanjukta Dutta, EditorStephanie Acquario, AsstSarah Beitch, Asst

Additional Staff:Junia George, Copy EditorEmerson Wells, Copy EditorElizabeth Patt, Copy EditorLex Alston, Graphics EditorOlivia Hess, Distribution Manager

almost 3,000 casualties, civilian and otherwise. Not to metntion, Bush disguised the purpose of this contrversial war by using the Twin Towers as a cover up. It’s true purpose was to “promote democracy” in Sadaam Hussein-controlled Iraq. Let us not forget that it was Obama that moved the focus of the war to Afghanistan, to where the real problem existed. It was Obama who upheld the government’s image in the eyes of the people by using the military we were told our taxes went towards. He upheld a cause for justice and against terrorism, as opposed to what some people claim as a power struggle for control over

Middle Eastern oil. Obama and the Democrats are hon-est people that care enough to not disguise their reasons for war in the Middle East.

The American people de-serve a stable economy. This requires a different approach than the one that caused the mess in the first place. The Republican approach of giving tax breaks to the rich so they can invest in the economy is not a solution, but rather a way to satisfy the wallets of the Republicans themselvves. One must realize that most Republicans are wealthy individuals themselves; thus freeing up most of their own money, which by the way, they are not obligated to invest back to the economy, since the government can-not tell people how to spend their money, is not the right way to help the economy.

the republicaN

political columN

It is necessary that Mitt Rom-ney win this election for three reasons: his buisness history, his competence in administration, and his drive. The most vital is-sue our country faces in the next 4 years is decreasing our coun-try’s deficit and stabilizing the economy. Our current president is extremely weak on these poli-cies. Before he was governor, Mitt Romney created and became the CEO of Bain Capital. It is indis-putable that a position such as this requires extraordinary busi-ness aptitude. A CEO handles the allocation of capital and jobs. He must understand production costs vs. profits. These kinds of qualities are important in a leader ready to take on a broken economy.

Romney has shown competence and the ability to get things done as Governor. His abil-ity to work against the divisions in politics and fairness in leadership was demonstrated by the passing of his health care bill in Massachu-setts. This is a qual-ity that has been lack-ing in the grid-locked Obama Administration.

Thirdly, Mitt Romney has a bit of an intro-verted personality. He’s a thinker and often this quality has been falsely depicted as him being out of touch with nor-

the Democrat

politcal columN

To every anti-Obama enthusi-ast out there that keeps asking the world, “What has Obama done to help the economy?” I say Obama has done enough to keep it from deteriorating. He has limited the harm that would have followed the stock market crash by simply being a Democrat.

Let us not forget that it was Bush and his presidential antics that got us in trouble in first place. It was he, not Obama, that initiated a controversial war that has resulted in over 100,00 civil-ian casualties in the Middle East over an incident that resulted in

POLITICAL CARTOONby Lex Alston

5October 5, 2012The Warrior Opinion

ALL OPINIONS expressed on the op-ed pag-es represent the individual viewpoints of their authors. The content does not necessarily repre-sent the views of The Warrior, the high school, the school district, or the Board of Education.

Dear “The Warrior”:I am Christopher Caulfield, a senior and

long-time reader of your newspaper. An ar-ticle was run on the twenty-first of September that put me off so much that I felt it was my civic duty to write this letter to you. I am thoroughly appalled by your decision to run the misleading, libelous, and incorrect article that was published in your newspaper that week. I am, of course, talking about the ar-ticle entitled, “The Zombie Apocalypse? Eh.”

As any well-prepared and sensible human knows, zombies are a very real threat and are to be taken quite seriously. Your article played down the dangers of zombies and was filled to the brim with myths conveyed as facts, and even some blatantly false claims. It seems as though the author you accepted a zombie article from didn’t even know anything about zombies! Would you have your sports com-mentators do articles on politics? Probably not!

I would like to address individually the prob-lems that led me to writing this letter sitting before you. Firstly, it is known that animals do NOT eat zombies. According to The Zombie Survival Guide, one of the best known resources in the field of zombie information, animals will run away as soon as they catch a whiff of zom-bie and will not try to get anywhere near them, let alone eat them. Bacteria will decompose zombies, as bacteria typically do with dead things, but other than this, nothing will at-tempt to do anything close to eating a zombie.

The first sentence of the fifth paragraph thoroughly shocked me. The Warrior, do you typically allow blatantly false information to be presented in your articles? I guess you must, be-cause otherwise “They have to bite you to spread disease,” would not have been printed! It is a

common misconception that a zombie must physi-cally bite you in order for you to become infected. This is manner in which Hollywood and literature usually describe Solanum infections occurring, but this is far from the only manner in which the virus can be transmitted. Solanum is transmitted via bodily fluids, so one could be infected by com-ing into direct contact with zombie remains, get-ting zombie fluids into cuts, or anything else that could lead to fluid-to-fluid contact. If you think you can comfortably walk around a pile of zombie corpses and be fine as long as you aren’t getting bit, you won’t last very long when the zombies come.

I was also quite disappointed by the manner in which zombies were so strongly downplayed. Everyone knows that one zombie is nothing to fear. One shot through the brain, and all is done there. However, that is not how things normally play out. Zombies don’t get you with speed, power, or durability; they get you with numbers. By the time it becomes an apocalypse, the zombie problem will have destroyed all remnants of society, and the zombies will have become spread throughout the entire world. The zombie apocalypse is not frightening because of the stats of each individual zombie, but rather the fact that you can easily get infected if you drop your guard. Human society has already collapsed, and the zombies are everywhere.

I feel like I have done a good enough job of setting the record straight. I used to have a lot of trust in the factual accuracy of your paper, but I feel like your record has been tainted. If the Daily Gazette or the Times Union published an article filled with such a level of false information, there would be an outcry! Regardless of the subject, whether it be sports, poli-tics, or zombies, make sure you check your accuracy better. Do this, and you’ll have won me back over.

Sincerely,Christopher Caulfield

Life On M a r s ? !

LETTER TO THE EDITORSZOMBIES ARE A REAL THREAT!

by elyssa coNNolly

opiNioN

NASA says their Curiosity rover has found signs of an ancient river on Mars, but honestly, I don’t believe that there is any living thing on Mars or any other planet. They say that a river once ran ‘vigorously’ across the surface that the rover drove on.

The rock that exhibits the ef-fects of water erosion has been named “Hottah,” after the Hottah Lake in Canada. William Dietrich of UC Berkeley is Curiosity’s Science Co-investigator. He examined the size of the gravel and postulated that the water used to move at a rate of three feet per second.Dietrich also deduced that the water would have been ankle to waist deep.

Where did that water come from and where did it go? If the rocks they found show that there was some sort of moving water present, I think that water should still exist on the planet.

The rover landed on Mars on Aug. 6, 2012 after an eight and a half month journey. After all that time, wouldn’t you think the rover would have found some sort of life other than rocks that look like they had been deformed by water? If there is life out on Mars, why don’t we have pic-tures or videos? Well, what do you think: is there life on Mars?

Slip of tongue will cost election by emil FrieDmaN

opiNioN

As reported extensively in the media for the past week or two, a “leaked” video has surfaced of Mitt Romney speaking at a cam-paign fundraising dinner about the 47% of our population that can’t be convinced to “take care of themselves.” These kinds of comments are fundamental to the Republican Party. That’s why it’s hilarious how media outlets from the left (MSNBC) and right (Fox News) have been jumping on these comments as outrageous. The Republican Party was built on the general mentality that some will do well

in this country while others will do poorly. Mitt Romney evidently estimates the latter category to encompass 47% of the country.

It’s true that a good portion of our population is on welfare and food stamps. However, the 47% of Americans that do not pay income tax include military personnel. I think is it reasonable to give them a tax break since they fought for our country.

The Obama campaign is seizing the op-portunity to turn Romney’s unfortunate comments into a new string of attack ads against Romney. Since the leaked video sur-faced, Obama’s poll numbers have gone up,

while Romney’s numbers, have plummeted.Mitt Romney needs to realize how incred-

ibly detrimental his remarks have been. I personally think that his comments will cause to him to lose the election. It’s clear that his remarks will be a major talking point dur-ing the debates, and I believe they’ll haunt Romney for the rest of the campaign season.

6 October 5, 2012 The WarriorEntertainment

Sequel to childhood staple anticipatedAs many of you have probably

heard, Disney Pixar’s “Monsters, Inc 2: Monsters University” is in the making. Many of us high school students grew up with the mystical worlds of of “Find-ing Nemo”, “Monsters Inc.” and the Toy Story trilogy. “Finding Nemo” was a huge success when it was first released, earning a total of $907 million worldwide. Coming out in 2013, (yes, 2013 is coming up, let’s hope we don’t experience the Armageddon) is “Monster’s University”, the se-quel to the hit “Monsters, Inc.”

“Monsters University” is go-ing to be a flashback into the early lives of monsters Mike Wazowski and James Sullivan, giving insight as to how they their friendship blossomed. If you haven’t seen the first movie then you have missed out on a truly special experience. Mike Wazowski and James Sullivan both work for an energy factor in which the monsters would scare humans, whose screams would then generate power for the city.

The monsters hid in the closets of children waiting to scare them, living under the impression that humans were toxic and deadly.

However, this all changes when Mike and Sulley meet a little girl named Boo and they realize that humans are not actually toxic and deadly. Boo proves that human beings can be cute and Mike and Sulley fight to protect her from the rest of the monster world.

Upon being asked about this upcoming film, juniors Mariam Baig and Madeline Karafanda excitedly explained, “We are so

ecstatic; we feel as our hearts could pop out of our chests! We just can’t contain our joy! We hope it’s as fabulous as the first install-

by Jack Gallo

eNtertaiNmeNt

by reGiNa Foley eNtertaiNmeNt

Proctors is sure to shine this seasonFor the longest time, I have enjoyed

autumn for one very important reason: it means the new season of Broadway musicals will be coming to Proctors!

Musicals this year include hits like “Mary Poppins,” “A Chorus Line,” “Les Misérables,” and, of course, the ever-popular “Wicked.” Un-fortunately, “Mary Poppins” is finishing its last week at Proctors, so, if you didn’t get a chance to see it, this Friday is the last day it is playing.

Many people are excited for the return of “Wicked,” and for good reason. It is a fantastic show in all aspects. The music is wonderful and unique, the plot is intricately woven, and the actors are some of the most talented in Broadway tours. The musical runs at Proctors from November 7-25, and I for one plan on going, even though I’ve seen it before. It is one of the best musicals I have ever seen, and never ceases to entertain me.

But “Wicked” isn’t the only exciting mu-sical out this season. “A Chorus Line” is playing from December 14-16. This musical

is all about a group of dancers auditioning to be in a Broadway show. How very meta! Anyways, this is a very fun show that anyone interested in dancing will not want to miss.

Gearing up for the holidays, there are two shows in December that are perfect for get-ting into the holiday spirit. The Northeast Ballet’s Annual Nutcracker is on December 8th and 9th. The classical music and beauti-ful dancing make want to return every year. “Cirque Dreams Holidaze” is playing from December 28-30, and consists of acrobats and costumes that are sure to catch the eye, along with more dancing and the holiday spirit.

If dancing isn’t your thing and singing is more your speed, you’ll definitely want to rock out and see “Million Dollar Quartet,” which shows the true story of how Sam Phillips brought together Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. Imagine how much great music can be made about these rock legends. This amazing story of these four musical giants is playing from January 22-27.

Geeks will revel in other January shows like “Potted Potter” and “One Man Star Wars.” In

the former, two actors portray 360 characters from the seven books in the Harry Potter series. This show, running from January 15-20, is sure to be hilarious and entertaining for any Potterhead. In “One Man Star Wars,” one man instead of two (like in “Potted Potter”) plays all the characters from the original “Star Wars” trilogy from January 25-27. All in all, I am very excited for the upcoming year at Proc-tors, as there are many and excellent shows coming. The theater is an amazing place for entertainment, and I highly recommend it to anyone who can go. I look forward to seeing all these shows and more at Proctors, my favorite place in all of downtown Schenectady.

Movies: Argo, Frankenweenie, Seven Psychopaths

Music: Fitz and the Tantrums, Tame Impala, All Time Low

Books: Dark Star by Bethany Frenette, Son by Lois Lowry

Video Games: Code of Princess, Naugh-ty Bear: Panic in Paradise

Your Weekly Entertainment Fix

A Note from The Warrior Staff:The September 21 hu-mor piece entitled “The Zombie Apocalypse? Eh.” was heavily inspired by a similar piece published on Cracked.com called “7 Scientific Reasons Why a Zombie Outbreak Would Fail Quickly.” Although the student author used his own words, the source for the ideas should have been cited. The Warrior sincerely regrets this error.

laughingsquid.com

ment. See you in the theaters!” Out of a ten person survey, all ten voted “yes” when asked if they were excited for “Monsters, Inc: University.” One passerby stated, “It’s basically my childhood! I’m so sad that Harry Potter is over but now with these upcoming flicks, I can feel like a kid once again.” Pixar stated they’re going to need to really amp up the ante for this film as they’re hoping that

it will be breath-taking. There has been a lot of recent criticism and skeptism about the lack of creativ-ity in Hollywood and the endless remakes that keep being churned out. However, Pixar deserves a lot of credit for coming out with many beloved childhood staples, and the critics are expecting an even better turnout for “Monsters University” than was seen for “Toy Story 3.” Tickets for “Find-ing Nemo 3D” were sold at an average of $12, so similar prices should be expected for “Monsters, Inc 2: Monsters University.”

7October 5, 2012The Warrior Sports

Girls XC approaches mid-season by Joshua korN

sports

Several girls race for the woods at the sound of the gun, and among them is the Niskayuna girls cross country team. Al-though they lost key teammates such as Leigh Ann Labate and Shannon Trant from the class of 2012, new kids are stepping up and filling the gaps, such as Emily DeWald, Felicia Sciortino, and Danielle Skufca are just a few. These three girls along with the rest of the Niskayuna girls team have as of now have a solid shot at a sectional title.

Although there is tough com-petition in the girls Section II lineup, Sciortino has been racing hard and leading the girls team to top five finishes in invitational competitions. With Skufca and DeWald finishing close behind, the girls team is stronger and faster than past years. Accord-ing to sophomore boys runner

Joseph Gunderson, “The girls have a bright future as long as they keep running hard, in and

out of practice. They have been doing a great job of making a team effort, and with that they will be able to out-run the other teams.”

Cross country is a team sport with the winning team having the lowest score. Of the seven runners

that compete on the varsity team, the places of the top five runners are added up and that becomes

Run for fun at the Fun Run

back into the Town Hall area and the finish.

[CONTINuATION ON PAgE 8]

onto Orchard Park Drive. After heading out toward Balltown Road, the racers turned around and went back toward the high school. The final stretch of the race went down the Orchard Park Drive hill and took a sharp turn

Photo Credit / Joshua KornAT THE START: The cross country girls line up to take on the competition in another race.

by Jack mcGill aND chris lemeliN

sports

This past Saturday, the Niskayuna Fall Fun Run took place. The event, now in its fourth year, is composed of a 5K, a one mile run, and a 100-yard dash for younger kids. For those who weren’t running, the Fun Run also had a wonderful atmosphere: there was music throughout the evening, activities for kids who weren’t old enough to run, prizes for the runners including a gift-card raffle, and most importantly lots of pizza and drinks.

The main event, the 5K, attracted a whop-ping 165 runners and walkers to Niskayuna Town Hall, where all the activities and the start/finish line were set up. The partici-pants in the race ranged from 7 years old to 63 years old, and there was a near balance between males and females. The race began at 5:30 p.m. and competitors took off behind the pace car. Considering that the weather report was rather ominous for the race, the racers were lucky that the rain held off until the last runner crossed the finish line.

The race course started between the Niska-yuna Town Hall and the Nott Street entrance of the high school and proceeded down the hill towards Van Antwerp Road. From there, the runners took a left onto Comanche Trail, then onto to Mohawk Trail, and finally merged

Photo Credit / Chris LemelinPEOPLE LOVE TO RUN FOR FUN: Niskayuna High School students participate in the Fun Run, in-cluding senior twins Anka and Iuli Parzych, and freshman Robert Kaucic.

the team score. The six and seven runners are the deplacers and make it so other teams have high-er scores. For a team to be good all seven runners need to be strong.

The freshman girls team is also doing well with Lexi Scior-

tino winning a handful of races with Marissa Devitro, and Laura Labate following close behind. With more than fifteen girls on the freshman team alone, even more girls will have opportunities to record PR’s and run big times.

Recently, sophomore Emily De-Wald broke the 20-minute mark in the 5K, running a 19:49, or 6:36 per mile. She helped the team to a one-point win over Ballston Spa in the recent meet at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Although it is a tough course, it is known to be the course of PR’s and that’s exactly what happened that day with other runners recording PR’s as well. Sopho-more Makaylah Woodward took almost a minute off her previous time in the span of one week.

The girls cross country team is currently at 2-4, and looks to the future. Hopeful-ly they will have some great wins and memories in October.

October 5, 2012 The WarriorSports8

Don’t forget to recycle this issue when you finish reading it!

Football in need of strong finishby aNiket tolpaDi aND christopher hermaN

sports

Through five out of seven regular season games, Niskayuna’s football team has found themselves in the middle of the Section II standings. The team has earned a record of three wins and two losses overall, with a one win and two loss record in Section II play. Coming off of a tough 16-19 loss to Colonie, the Niskayuna team hopes they can turn it around in the upcoming weeks.

Niskayuna’s record puts them in a tie for fourth place in the Section II, with remaining games against the undefeated Shaker team and the team tied with them for fourth place, Schenectady. Needless to say, Niskayuna’s focus must be on winning both games, as this would make give them a decent shot at getting sole possession of third place, with a possibility of ending up in second place. As with many things, the task sounds extremely

easy on paper, but it will not be nearly as easy as it sounds.

Shaker, Niskayuna’s op-ponent tonight, is yet to lose this year, and is the current favorite to win Sectionals. They have demolished Columbia and Colonie, two teams that defeated the Silver Warriors, by a combined 67 points. Being such a strong team, Niskayuna will need to play in a disciplined manner and execute their gameplan to near perfection in order to take down the mighty Blue Bison. However, the team believes they have the talent and leadership to accomplish this monumental task. Regarding this topic, senior quarterback Christopher Herman said, “We have a lot of talent on this team. Everybody has worked

hard in the offseason in order to ensure success for the team this year and I am confident that we will come through when we need too. Our defense has been on fire, especially last week at Colonie. We also have an excellent offense with weapons at many positions. I’m ex-cited to head into the Shaker game. We are hungry for a nice upset, even though we don’t see it as an upset!”

A common theme this year has been the ridiculous impact that injuries have had on the team. For example, two of their captains,

seniors Johnny Camuglia and Nate Martin sustained ACL and MCL injuries somewhat early in the season. Additionally, juniors Jordan Ivery, Justin Carter, Mike Sise, and E.J. Akpanikat sustained knee, foot, arm, and shoulder injuries, respectively. Injuries can be devastating to a team, especially when a team lacks viable depth to fill the voids left by injured players. However, the team has repeatedly fought through these injuries, and will need to continue doing so if they intend to reach and be successful in sectionals. With the talent they have, and the leader-ship from senior captains Mike Struzzi, Tyler Pantalone, Uwem Akpanikat, and Josh Sanzo, that hopefully will be exactly what occurs.

Come out to support Niskayuna this Fri-day against Shaker. In such a vital game, they can use all the support they can get.

Warrior Photo / Aniket TolpadiUP THE SIDELINE: In this play, which Niskayuna refers to as “Military Right,” the running back (number 36) takes the ball up the sideline.

Warrior Photo / Aniket TolpadiPITCH IT: The Niskayuna football team practices a play simi-lar to the option attack often seen in college football, in which the quarterback has the option of running with, throwing, or pitching the ball.

[CONTINuATION fROM PAgE 7] Along the course, residents of the de-

velopment surrounding Town Hall were out on their lawns watching the race, with some handing out water or spraying water on the runners with garden hoses (although that would have felt rather un-pleasant, considering how cold it was).

The spray of the garden hoses was only a precursor for the eventual downpour that started as the last runner came in. All those in attendance filed into Town Hall, where pizza and drinks were served. Unfortu-nately, the one-mile run and 100-yard dash

had to be postponed for a later date due to the rain, but everyone still had fun. The raffle was held, and medals were given to the overall winners and the age group winners.

Speaking of winners, the overall winner of this year’s 5K race was 37-year-old Sean Swee-ney of Schenectady, with a time of 17:52. He was followed by 52-year-old Johan Bosman, who came in at 18:31. The next two runners were sophomores Robert Kaucic and Metin Ozisik, who were running their second 5K of the day, as the cross country team also had an invitational in Queensbury that morning. They came in together at a time of 18:40.

The fifth overall finisher, first female finisher, and also last year’s winner was senior Anka Parzych, who finished with a time of 19:27.

In only four years of its existence, the Fall Fun Run has become a fun event for the whole community, as evinced by the turnout. Despite the rain cancelling part of the day’s activities, the Fun Run was most certainly a success. As it was put by race photographer and junior Christopher Lemelin, “The Fun Run was a blast. Everyone had an awesome time. And most of all, the pizza was delicious.” Hopefully, next year’s Fun Run will be just as great, but much drier than this year’s.

Nisky plays hard

Editors:Alisha Desai Swati MehrotraSanjukta DuttaAsst. Editor:Stephanie AcquarioSarah Beitch

Volume 39, Issue 4 October 5, 2012SilverThe Warrior Magazine

Nisky plays hard

Warrior Photo / Sanjukta Dutta

The Warrior Magazine October 5, 2012Silver

Row, row, row your boatby Irene Kulbida

MagazineThe fall season is underway

for the Niskayuna High School rowers! Last Saturday was the “Tail of the Fish” regatta and it was held on Fish Creek in Saratoga. It was originally scheduled to be on the Hud-son River in Schuylerville, but the venue changed due to weather-related problems.

The morning did not start off well. The air was chilly, there was a slight drizzle, and it was still too dark to see very well. The rowers were all at the boathouse by 6:30. The sun had not yet be-gun to rise. Not only was the weather horri-ble, but every-one had to wait outside longer than expected due to the fact that both buses arr ived late. After the bus-es did arrive, the rowers piled in and began the forty minute ride to Saratoga.

Due to the late start, there was a bit of a rush to get the boats down and rigged once the rowers arrived. This year, Niskayuna’s trailer and chuck wagon was situated between Shenendahowa High School and Albany High School.

Niskayuna had a total of ten boats racing; one of them was the freshmen boys coach racing in a single (though he was technically racing for Ni-skayuna Community Rowing)! There were also three varsity girls eights, three varsity boys eights, one freshmen girls four, one freshmen girls eight, and one freshmen boys eight.

The day passed by in a breeze, because everyone was always busy doing some-thing! In between rigging and de-rigging, there was racing and eating and jam-ming out to some awesome tunes that were playing on the radio! When they did have a moment of free time, many people chose to take a nap on the tarp under the tent, or go shopping.

The different vendors offered everything from

key chains to rugby shirts, sweatshirts to water bottles, pinnies to sunglasses, and of course the official regatta t-shirt! The only problem was that because the venue change was so last minute, all the t-shirts had Hudson River, Schuylerville instead of Fish Creek, Saratoga on them!

One of the most ridicu-lous things about regattas, though, are the prices of food. You can buy a small ice cream at the “Ben and Jerry’s” at the regatta (which is actually about the same size as a kiddie cup) for about $4.50. Or you can go to Stewarts, which is only about 50 yards away from that ice cream stand, and

buy two double scoop cups for the same price! Not only that, but you can choose from about thirty more flavors. Talk about crazy!

One of the highlights of the day for our varsity girls team was the “christening” of the new Vespoli. It was named the “Silver Anniversary” because Niskayuna Rowing is celebrat-ing its 25th season this fall. The christening was done by David Buckner, the varsity girls Head Coach and Program

Director, and his speech ended with a tiny bottle of champagne being poured over the bow of the boat.

The day it-self turned out to be a huge success! A l l t h r e e varsity girls boats me-daled, as did the freshmen girls four and

the freshmen boys coach! The girls Junior 8+ earned a silver medal, and in the girls JV 8+ category we had two boats (an A and a B boat) that received a silver and bronze medal respectively. The freshmen girls four were awarded a gold medal and the freshmen boys coach received a silver medal.

I am proud to say that the Nisky rowers really stepped it up last weekend. Despite all of the obstacles we faced, we had a successful and fun regatta. Let’s hope this good fortune continues next Saturday, October 6, at the Head of the Mohawk. Come watch Nisky crew, we’ll make sure it’s worth the trip.

Warrior Photo / Sanjukta Dutta

Dear Readers,As it gets colder, more of us just want to stay inside. Don’t let your-self get lazy, have some fun with any of the great sports that you can play in the fall! It’s time to play! Love,The Editors

The Warrior Magazine October 5, 2012Silver

by Laura DonovanMagazine

It is the most wonderful time of the year! Everyone, clear your schedules for November 2, because Powderpuff is fi-nally here! Powderpuff is the annual flag football game between junior and senior girls, and the winner gets official brag-ging rights for the rest of the school year.

You have probably heard a number of girls already whispering in the hallways. They are probably discussing how they will be building their teams and deciding who is going to be playing what. For those of you who are not familiar with football, the positions that need to be filled in-clude center, running back,quarterback, wide receiver, and many more.

The hype surrounding Powderpuff will continue to elevate this upcoming month. Soon, team rosters will be put together and girls will start practicing after school, coached by none other than our own Niskayuna football players and teachers. This year, the talented Jason

L e t t h e g a m e s b e g i nBach will be coaching the junior girls.

This year the junior class will be bring-ing back the tradition of the male cheer-leaders, who will be coached by Laura Donovan and Krista Tricozzi. In case you were thinking of not coming, watching sixteen and seventeen year old boys hopping around in cheerleader uniforms should definitely be enough of a reason to change your mind and attend the game.

Every year, the same rumor floats around the junior class. Every Powder-puff, without fail, juniors complain that the game was “rigged” by the officials in favor of the seniors. But with the surpris-ing win of last year’s juniors, that rumor was crushed. This puts all the more pressure on this year’s juniors to step up their game and maintain their title.

Will the juniors this year fight for the big win, or will the seniors defend their ground and prove that last year was a fluke? Either way, it is a great way to spend your time every year, and having it on a Friday night for the first

T e n n i s : t h e n a n d n o wby Sarah Beitch

MagazineThe game of tennis dates

back thousands of years and was originally created by monks for entertainment purposes during religious ceremonies. When the game was first played, the ball was hit by hand. The cre-ation of the tennis racket came later. Not only has the tennis racket evolved over the years, but the tennis ball has evolved as well.

Unlike the neon-green or yellow balls we associate with tennis today, the original ten-nis balls started off as carved wooden balls. Over the years, the ball underwent changes to make bouncing it easier. In no time, the ball went from being made of wood to made of leather, filled with a cellulose material.

Tennis became popular very quickly. It was popularized primarily in France where the royal family adopted it as a favorite pastime. The game was highly regarded by kings and noblemen. Tennis quickly spread all over the world to countries such as Russia, Canada, China and India.

Before tennis courts were invented, the smooth croquet courts of the time served as makeshift tennis courts. The familiar tennis courts used today differ tremendously from the early tennis courts dating back as early as 1625.

One of the earliest ten-nis courts built in 1625 is in England and is still played on today! The first Wimble-don tournament was played on a rectangular court in 1877, marking an early game played with similar rules

used today in modern tennis.The United States is not un-

familiar with the sport what-soever and there are many re-nowned American tennis play-ers, including the Williams sisters and Andy Roddick.

The U.S. Open, or the last event of the Grand Slam series, is held for a period of two weeks in August and September in Queens, New York. The first U.S. Open was held at the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island in Au-gust of 1881. It has been over one hundred years since the first U.S. Open tennis game was played in Rhode Island!

Tennis is a game of skill, athleticism, and agility. In the United States, tennis may seem less “hardcore” of a game compared to sports such as tackle foot-ball and wrestling. However,

tennis takes an incredible amount of skill, practice, and passion to master. Never underestimate this sport and its difficulty to play.

Tennis has a long, in-volved history that should be cherished along with other sports that are played all over the world! Next time a tennis tournament is on TV, sit back and watch it!

Revel in the fact that you now know the history be-hind the facinating game. Perhaps after reading this article you will remember some of the history of this great sport of tennis. Maybe learning so much about this unique and historical sport, you too will be inspired to join Niskayuna’s tennis team! I know I’m excited to try out for the team next year!

time, instead of on a Thursday, will hopefully result in a bigger turnout. As the upperclassmen battle it out on the field, the responsibility of having a loud, exciting “red zone” falls on the underclassmen. It is good experi-ence for them to have when it will be their turn to manage school spirit.

Keep listening for announcements within the next few weeks, and contact one of your class advisors if you are a junior or senior interested in playing or cheering! And remember, if you can’t catch a football for your life and a touch-down is still a foreign concept to you, you do not have to play! A lot of people just stand on the sideline and cheer on their teammates, and that is just as fun.

Powderpuff is truly the time of year that can bring the entire school together, and every grade level can contribute in their own way. I just cannot wait to see how it turns out this year and I know it will be a blast! Hope to see you all there, supporting our classmates!

The Warrior Magazine October 5, 2012Silver

Basketball, the 360 degree viewby Stephanie Acquario

MagazineBasketball is the sport of

champions. People who play basketball have “swag”; they listen to rap music, have games at the local park, and dunk on the lowered six foot hoops in their driveways. They play basketball with their little brothers in the driveway and try to pass the ball through their legs four times in a row and fail miser-ably. Oh, wait, that’s just me.

Actual ballers rock the Nike half calf socks, Air Jordans, baggy pants and a huge drive to win every game. There’s something about the buzzer blaring at the end of a vic-tory that makes any player feel like they’re glowing.The satisfaction of playing a fantastic game pumps you up for the rest of the week. But it’s not all about the personal achievements. Basketball is all about the team. You spend every day with them, share wins and losses, ups and downs, and sweat. So much sweat.

Usually basketball is ste-reotyped. As I said before, people assume that basket-ball players are lumbering, husky, tall girls who could touch their fingers to the rim when they raised their hand. This is a total lie. Basketball depends on the skill of the player, usually not their size. If you can make a shot behind the foul line with someone trying to block you, no matter what your size, the team considers you to be a valuable player.

Most of these stereotypes originate from professional basketball. All the players are over six feet tall, towering masses of muscle that can bruise their way through a

play. Most of the time. Profes-sionals spend a huge amount of their time going over plays, thinking about decisions that need to be made, and deciding what they need to do in order to score points.

Plenty of easy layups are made in professional basket-ball, but when a team is even-ly matched against them, the game gets serious very fast. T h e ball be-comes a blur in the p l a y -e r s ’ h a n d s and you can see t h e i r e y e s s h i f t -ing for a play t h a t will be m a d e f i v e m i n -u t e s l a t e r. T h e s e p l a y -ers are m o r e t h a n just brutes. They have a spo r t - o r i en ted m ind .

Forwards are the ones that should be tall, because their position is under the basket, but even then, brains versus brawn applies.

Another stereotype that absolutely begs for recogni-tion is the stupidity of the game.When it gets to the higher levels, this sport is not a free for all. Thinking on your feet is the biggest part of basketball. Plays are made, just like in any other

sport, but many times the other team figures it out.

They anticipate where the ball is going, they steal, they score. Over and over again. The point guard needs to call out new plays if they see this, or let the team know what the next step is. Sharp passes have to excecuted and smart decisions, even if it entails going against the plan.

I t is the po l a r oppo-site of recre-ation-al bas-k e t -b a l l f r o m fifth or s i x t h grade, o r e v e n a pick u p g a m e at the l o c a l b a s -k e t -b a l l court.Y o u have a

position, you run a play and run a defense, man to man or zone defense. If you have the ball and the defense is all behind you, make a break for it. Run it out and score an easy layup, then bask in the glory of your singular accomplishment.

Niskayuna girls basketball, when they win, bask in more glory than a player with a fantastic layup. For the past few years, the Niskayuna girls basketball program was des-perate for people. Last year,

twenty three people showed up to tryout...for all three of our teams: Freshman, Junior Varsity, and Varsity. The freshman team had to be cut, due to low numbers, and after that, things just went downhill. The teams had the skill, but they didn’t have the players. They were exhausted, all game long.

This is the very reason why Niskayuna has a million reasons to smile when they become the champion. They work as hard as any other sport, they make do with the ten or eleven people on each team, and they put every last drop of sweat and perspira-tion to defeat their opponent.

No matter if they had to play the entire game, if they did not have any subs that day, or if all they wanted was a sip of water. Practices every day was a boot camp, improving on our shooting, speed, and technique to make the little things count against players that were bigger, stron-ger, and faster all around.

Playing neighboring schools Shaker and Shenendahowa was a nightmare. But every point was a success for the team. Even after every loss , the coaches were never discouraged, constantly at-tempting to improve. They took lost games as an op-portunity to correct what was wrong in our form, our speed, and our thought pro-ess. Every loss was a learning experience. Even every win was a learning experience. At every advance, they cel-ebrated, and at the end of the season, they reflected on the past season as something they would certainly never forget, for the glory of a rare win,and for the improvements made on every mistake.

Warrior Art / Swati Mehrotra