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March 2013 LV-5An open forum for student opinion and expression TRICOLORTIMES.COM

Granger’s softball team steps up to the plateBy Anela AlagicSTEPPING onto the diamond is what these girls have been think-ing about all year. The smell of the dirt, the crack of the bat, the fun practices with their teammates. Our team is ready for a new sea-son, a successful season. “I want to make varsity this year!” Mona Alhamdani (10) said. This will be her second year trying out for softball. She was on the team last year as a freshman. She loves how close everyone is getting with each other. She believes the workouts in athlet-ics have been very helpful. She hopes their hard work will start to show in the pre-season because of all the tough teams they will be facing. “I want to get all Region this year and for my senior year, I’m aiming towards All State and a full-ride scholarship!” Summer

Judd (11) said. She has been on the team since her freshman year. She got all region her sophomore and freshman year. “It is unbelievable how young but talented the other girls are. I wish it was like this when I first started playing my freshman year,” Jazmin Gonzalez (12) said. “My main goal this season it to hit two home runs!” Gonzalez said. She also would like to win three region games and at least two pre-season games. Gonzalez plays second base and outfield from time to time. “I’ve been playing softball since I was seven years old and I love it!” Ashley Olsen (10) said. She wants to better herself and keep playing varsity. There are so many young girls trying out this year with a lot of talent and ex-

perience. “I want to work on my mental game,” Ylessa Rizzi (11) said. Last year she tore her ACL in soccer and was able to recover by softball season. She just wants to keep improving and not let her head keep her from playing the game she loves. She’s not scared about her knee anymore. She doesn’t have to wear a brace and isn’t as nervous as she was last year. “I’m happy we’ve been lifting in athletics,” Caitlin Cook (10) said. Who has been playing since her freshman year. She wants to get better at hitting and make the varsity team! She enjoys play-ing third base and occasionally catcher. “My personal goals are to make varsity, hit better and work on our team spirit.” Beverly Congrove (11) said.

“I want to get faster at pitching and improve my accuracy too.” Kimberly Felion (10) said. She’s been playing since she was ten years old and she’s been playing for Granger since her freshman year.“I want to win three regions games this season!” Ameila Knudsen (10) said. She has played outfield for varsity since her freshman year. “I just want to hit home runs!” Sydney Davidson (10) said. This is her first year trying out and she hopes to make the varsity team. She’s been playing softball since she was eight years old. She loves playing second base. The work-outs in athletics have helped her learn to just push through tough situations. She’s become really close with all the girls and thinks that’s ex-actly what they all need.

Summer Judd is preparing for this softball season by practicing her catching in athletics class.

Creating the band “Below Fiction”By Tariah HathaleON JANUARY 24th, a band called “Below Fiction” came to-gether. This unique name came along from looking on the web from a few of the members. This name will get you to think what “Below Fiction” is along with this band showing you that they can hopefully change history. “Hopefully we can be in Warped Tour and go beyond that,” Bryan Guzman (10) said. This goes to show that Below Fiction definite-ly is taking their music more seri-ously than ever by putting effort in each other. If they can get about five songs done by next month, they will be able to open up for a band. They’ll absolutely be doing talent shows for our school still. The style of the music genre

in this band is a post-hardcore metal. “The fact that we get to be together and make music as a unit is nice,” Nick Holt (12) said. He was asked to join the band because they were in need of an-other guitarist. Holt went for it because he himself enjoys music since he was little. “My family travels a lot and so do bands with their tours. I also love the hype I get from the crowd,” He said. “My favorite part of being in a band is being able to make music people can enjoy,” James Mor-due (10) said. He is the drummer for Below Fiction whose dream was to be in a progressive band one day. This band is going far. They have their very own logo. It’s a Panda that Tyler Talbot, who is

an eighth grader who’s attending West Lake Jr. high, created. He is the bass player for Below Fiction. Mordue drew a wolf but Below Fiction is still deciding on what it will be. They have their very own Fa-cebook page and would love for you to like them. “Like us on Fa-cebook and love us,” Holt said. Getting fans can be a big part in the career for a band. “Anything worth getting in life is worth working hard for,” Guzman said. Being up on a stage can be pretty nerve wracking and scary, but all of these guys know how to handle themselves. “It felt so natural to me being up there,” Holt said. He’s been playing the guitar for seven years, so he’s definitely got experience in the music depart-

ment. Another member of the band who has already graduated is the vocalist in the band is Andre Bet-tinson. The total of all the mem-bers in the band is five. “If you’re giving energy to the crowd, the crowd will give it back to you” – (Tenfold). That is an inspiring line this band loves to take in them when they perform.

March 2013, page 2 VOL. LV Issue 5

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Girls basketball team ends with a great season

By Brenda NguyTHE GIRLS basketball team has been gearing up for many victo-ries, and they look better than ever this year. Practicing almost every B-day after school in the gym and every A-day in athletics and sometimes even on Saturdays, but never on Sundays; these Lancers work to their fullest potential. This is what made the team strive so far. The Lancers made it all the way to state. Making it to state was one of their biggest goals, hard work and determination made this team succeed. One of the play-ers who made this possible was sophomore point guard Jessica Matheson (10). She confidently tried out and made the team. She has been playing basketball since she was about five or six years old. She practices anywhere she can either at the recreation center or at home it has always been her favorite pastime. “Basketball is fun; it’s the best. I love it,” Matheson said. She has been on Valley Junior High’s var-sity team all through 7th, 8th and 9th grades, and she plans to con-tinue playing on Granger’s team all through high school. The girls basketball team has had many close-call games. One game Jessica recalls was when the Granger Lancers played against the Kearns Cougars. “We went overtime, and it was intense and fun at the same time,” Matheson said. With five seconds left on the clock, Amber Wright (12) went in for a lay-up and ended the game leaving Granger with 64-58 win. It was a memorable game for the girls’ basketball team. All that effort and hard work finally took the girls basketball team to the 5A state tournament against the Layton Lancers.

Pela Tapusoa (12) couldn’t take part in the game because she had recently torn her anterior cruciate ligament or A.C.L. In the Hunter verses Granger game. She sat on the sidelines as she watched her girls play, cheering them on as they played. Tapusoa continued to play in the games until senior night. While it was definitely a great battle between both Lancer teams, the first day of the 5A state tournament against the Lancers wrapped up and left Granger with

an ending score of 30 and Layton with 56. “I think the only reason we didn’t win was because no one paid attention. I don’t think they were ready for this game,” Tapu-soa said. But in the end, Girls’ basket-ball has yet again been one of the only teams to make it to state this year. Every single one of the girls on the team will admit it has been certainly a great and fun season for the Granger Lancer’s girls basketball team.

Amber Wright knows it takes hard work to win a game. She always gives 100%.

Sterling Scholars

By Daniel WebbTHERE are many requirements to be a Sterling Scholar. First off, a cumulative GPA of 3.6 and port-folio of academic work including a cover letter. Brooke Rolfe (12) earned the title Sterling Scholar in the field of dance. To win, she had to cho-reograph an original dance of her own. The reason she wanted to ap-ply was because she loved watch-ing the Sterling Scholar for dance perform in 2011. It was her soph-omore year, and she enjoyed it. “Some benefits to becoming a Sterling Scholar though is that you can get a lot of scholarships and you have doing it in the pro-cess,” she said. Later on though she got an of-fer to the University of Utah for a full year. “I would get to go to UVU if I go to regionals this year. I would get a full-ride scholar-ship,” she said. Later on in life, she wants to major in dance and become a

dance teacher. Mathematics Sterling Scholar Wyatt Gehlen (12) said the way he got to be the Sterling Scholar of math was because he took a lot of math classes and passed every single one of them. “I love math. It has always come easily to me, and I really enjoy it,” he said. The requirements for him to become a Sterling Scholar were a lot different compared to Brooke Rolfe’s. When Wyatt got to meet the teachers who all taught math, he found he had a lot more inter-est in math than he expected. On February 4, 2013, the Ster-ling Scholars gathered for dinner to celebrate their accomplish-ments. Their dinner was at the Olive Garden at the Valley Fair Mall from 5 p.m. till 6 p.m. thanks to Ms. Woodward who is the advi-sor for the Sterling Scholars. She met with Mr. Haslam to discuss if they would be able to do some-thing like this, so he treated them to dinner.

Granger’s Sterling Scholars enjoy dinner with Mr. Haslam and Ms. Woodward.

Granger Lancers embrace fashionBy Tariah HathaleYOU MAY see a lot of people wearing different unique clothing materials. Here at Granger is a place for students to find the inter-esting details in apparel. There’s always something out there that can interest a person. There may even be fun and exotic colors that can easily stand out. “I became more open with who I was when I was around my 9th grade year,” Imani Trammel (11) said. She enjoys wearing clothing that’s based on how she feels. Ev-ery now and then she has her girl days and other times the laid back boy days. Most people love going to a store called Hot Topic. “I like when they have discounts because ev-erything is so expensive,” Demi Smith (10) said. She definitely enjoys going to that store when it’s the back-to-school time or even Christmas. Trammel likes to wear Lil Wayne’s Diamond clothing brand. “I like how some guys dress here, it gets me to want to create my own swag,” she said. When she

sees girls have men’s style, it gets her to think that she is interested in dressing like them. “I like ripped jeans and vans,” Belen Hernandez (11) said. She likes to shop at Rue 21 at The Gateway Mall, and at a store called 5.7.9. However, for Trammel she does not like shopping. She just goes to the mall and if she sees something she likes, she gets it. “It doesn’t matter if it fits or not,” she said. “When I got into 9th grade, I was new to the school, and I thought I should make a statement,” Van-essa Gonzalez (10) said. With the comfort inside the clothing she’ll wear it. Gonzalez will shop any-where but her favorite is Urban Outfitters. Smith’s favorite outfit is her orange jeans with black boots. It was the time around 8th grade when her mom bought a certain pair of boots along with colored jeans. She still continues to wear this style today. Trammel’s mom had asked her to try out a fabric dye when she came home. “She always likes to

do stuff like that,” she said. Her dye colors are light pink, dark pink, and red. With Smith going to Hot Topic, she has a lot of hype for all the accessories they’ve got. “I like how they’re bringing back Sailor Moon,” she said. Hernandez started her style she has today when in 10th grade. She enjoys dressing up, she looks up to her cousin’s style. “I don’t like girly stores. It makes me feel too girly,” Tram-mel said. When she goes to the top on dressing like a girl, she’ll go all out on it. “When I see someone wearing something that I think is cute, I wonder if I could pull it off,” Gonzalez said. Trammel likes solid bright col-ors along with t-shirts with funny graphics on them. She also loves wearing heels to extend her legs and of course her fashion. “Just be comfortable with what you wear. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t wear a certain style because they don’t like it,” Gonzalez said.

March 2013, page 3 VOL. LV Issue 5

Tri-Color Times Staff

Granger High 3690 South 3600 West West Valley, UT 84119 385 646-5320

The Tri-Color Times serves as a student forum for student opinion and student expression. The views expressed herein reflect neither the opin-ions of Adviser John Carlisle and Granger High School, nor those of Granite School District. The Tri-Color Times invites and publishes letters to its editorial board; all letters will be edited for taste, length and legality.

Journalists Journalists

Anela AlagicCeleste Anguiano

Briana BauerMatias CaceresSandy CarrilloDenise CuencaTariah HathaleDaven Hintgen

Alexandria JohnsonHunter Kaio

Juan LanderosChauntel Lee

Katie Lee

Andrea LomeliChantalle LunaSkyler MalpassVictor MelaraTyler MitchellBrenda Nguy

Vanessa QuilesJosseline Rendon

Jessica RubioKelly SanmiguelJazmine SaucedoAnthony Shields

Daniel Webb

EditorTaylor Bailey

Managing EditorAlexander PageCopy Editor

Naomi Newton

Photo EditorCasey OwensPrint Editor

Alyssa HendrySocial Media Editor

Valeria Chavez

Twitter, Snapchat, InstagramBy Jessica Rubio IPHONE apps are very interest-ing and there are so many variet-ies. There are so many apps and people have many favorites. In a survey of Granger’s stu-dents, several popular apps stood out as favorites. “My favorite apps are Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and Tumblr, But my favorite is Twitter,” Jena Mar-tinez (10) said. She said it’s a way she can com-municate with friends and tweet what she wants. “My favorite apps are Instagram, Twitter, Tem-ple Run 1 and Emoji,” Andrea Lopez (10). She also said Twitter was her favorite app. She also likes Twitter the most be-cause she can socialize and talk with people. We asked students and most of their favorite apps were Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and Temple Run. They say it’s their favorite cause they can tweet snap or put up the pictures they want. They say it’s a way to express themselves, but there is a bad side to these apps. These kind of social apps can be very dangerous as much as fun they seem there are bad sides. There can be bad Tweets that start problems, bad pictures that shouldn’t be sent, and photos that shouldn’t be posted.

Lancers seem to like all the so-cial apps and game apps. They seem to be more entertaining and addictive. They are more at-tracted to them because they’re mostly made for have teens to play them. Students base their choosing of apps on what other people think

of them. Twitter is a very popular app and website right now because stu-dents can follow favorite music stars and celebrities. It’s also very similar to Facebook, but on Twit-ter you don’t have to ask to follow

someone unless their profile is on private. Fransbely Cortez (10) said her favorite apps were, “Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube and Voxer.” Cortez likes these apps because she can see photos, watch videos and interact with other people. All of these people’s favorite

apps are all almost the same ones. They seem to be the trending apps. Melisa Saxton (11) said she also likes Snap-chat, Temple Run, Voxer and What’s the Word. She likes these because they’re the only ones she has on her phone. Most of the apps that are the favorites are also all free; students say they can’t afford the more ex-pensive apps. Our Lancers favorite iPhone apps by far are Twitter, Snapchat, Insta-gram and Temple Run. If you haven’t tried them, it’s highly recom-mended you do. You’ll never know if you’ll like it unless you try. These apps are also some of the highest rated apps in the Apple Store in general.

Temple run for a while was the number one app in the store, then Twitter and more game apps came along. So try out these apps and see if they could be some of your new favorites too, you never know what you might like.

Many phones at Granger are loaded with the same apps.

Not every senior hassenioritis

Opinion by Brianna BauerBEING a senior brings a lot of great things to many students; you get to buy all the awesome senior stuff, you get to become an adult as the year passes on and you get to rule the school after two years of waiting. But for those few students who feel that they aren’t ready to leave high school, they just don’t tend to get senioritis. Senioritis is well known among most of the senior class as each year passes on. You will always hear about those few Lancers who don’t end up gradu-ating because they just start to feel the spring time in the air and do not want to come to school. They think that only missing a few days won’t hurt their chances to walk at gradua-tion. Seniors have a few days where they just don’t want to get out of bed and want to sleep the day away, but they just can’t do that or maybe they have all of your credits so they just don’t feel like going anymore. And that’s how it is for many Lancers who finished up all their credits during first semester: when second semester hits they just stop coming and it slowly but surely ruins their chances to walk at graduation. There are many reasons that stu-dents don’t want to graduate; hav-ing to figure out what college they want to go to, having to get their own place or move in with friends or even getting a better job so they can support themselves.

I know that I am not ready to leave high school yet, I feel like my senior year has been going by way to fast and it just needs to slow way down. Growing up doesn’t seem as adventurous or amazing as it did when we all wanted to grow up, the reality is that growing up ac-tually seems worse than just stay-ing a kid. Having no senioritis is weird

because everyone I know has it and they just stopped coming to school. They just don’t want anything to do with school anymore. I wonder if maybe I should have senioritis to, but I don’t think that I could have it knowing how everything will be finished in just a few short months. I know I am excited in some ways for gradu-ation but I don’t think that I am excited for all the right reasons. Most the rea-sons why most

are excited it to just get out of high school and to start their “real life”, but real life has already be-gun. I think I am just most excited to see all of my family and be able to see everyone that I don’t see all year long, but I am excited to a point to get into my future more and more every day knowing ex-actly what I want to accomplish. From the senior skip day to se-nior dinner dance, there actually aren’t many more weeks until we walk across that stage as one se-nior class. We all know how real it will get when it hits that point.

Photo: Weston Colton

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Pajama party thrills Granger studentsBy Brianna BauerLET’S WIGGLE the night away in our pajamas. This passing month we had our morp dance, which was a pajama party theme. It was the last one of our girls’ choice dances and seemed to have the best theme. Many Lancers find the dances to be more enter-taining when they change up the ways of asking each other. “I just asked my friends to go with me, because I didn’t feel like it would be cool to ask a guy to go with me. My friends kept making me dance and be crazy the whole night with them,” Cindy Cuevas (12) said. “I think that more people should have come because it would have made a lot more people want to dance and everything, but I know I didn’t dance at all,” Cuevas said. The cheerleaders put the idea together for the morp theme and seemed to have a blast doing it. “I think going to morp has made me want to get asked to go

to prom with someone besides friends because it is my senior year, and it is a very big deal to me to go,” she said. Asking a guy to a dance shows that our Granger’s girls can ask whoever they want and get a great reaction out of it. “Morp without a Halloween theme is so much better, because I remember not a lot of people go-ing to it. Changing the date and the theme seemed to make more students interested in going,” Cuevas said. “I went to the dance just to say I went, so I just went with one of my friends from the team. I thought the PJ theme was pret-ty cool, but I think it was lame that barely any people actually showed up -- I mean it was the easiest theme possible,” Jessica Matheson (10) said. Having morp before prom is go-ing to prepare so many people for asking each other to prom, and get them excited about what is to come in the very near future.

“The DJ was good, he played songs everyone was able to dance to from fast ones to slow ones; you name it he played it,” Matheson said. Morp was traditionally the Halloween theme for our school years, but Lancers seemed to like the change for most dances this year. “I think we should have more stomps with themes like our dance themes because then I know I would go to the stomps more and plus Lancers can always come up with the best themes for us,” she said. Lancers went as mostly groups while very few asked dates be-cause groups seemed easier and the Lancers seemed to have a blast matching and dancing with their groups. “I thought actually asking a guy was lame, so me and a team-mate just went together, but we were lame and mostly just sat around and didn’t really dance,” Matheson said.

Weather? Ain’t no-body got time for thatBy Denise CuencaWEATHER isn’t any challenge for the Lancers. I went around the school asking all the athletes I could find pretty much all told me the same thing. Jonathon Avila (11) is man who hardly speaks. But, I got some words out of him. Just because the weather is bad doesn’t mean we’re going to practice inside. “We don’t submit to cold weather, we just try hard-er,” said Avila. I was fasci-nated that they don’t cancel practices for bad weather. Vicente Luce-na (11) plays soccer for the Granger boys, “YEAH GO LANCERS!” he said. The prac-tices are the same with bad weather or without it. They kick, run, Insanity, conditioning. “We still prac-tice outside no matter how cold it is outside,” he said. Vicente Lemus (11) is a really athletic person he goes to the gym six days three hours a week. “I work hard to look good for them ladies,” he said. Lifting weights, cardio and playing basketball keep him in shape. “Working out is what takes everything off my mind,” said Lemus. I ran into a softball player in the hall, so I just had to take advan-tage. Amelia Knudsen (10) I was

surprised that the softball play-ers practice inside. “If the field is too wet, it is hard to practice on,” she said. Batting and ladders for conditioning are things they do when they practice inside. “I like to practice outside, I just hope the

weather gets better now,” she said. Angel Ri-vera (12) Soc-cer player for Granger. “We have to play every day no matter how bad the weath-er is” River said. “If it’s re-ally bad snow, we practice in-side, but if it’s a little BOOM we’re outside” he says. When the weather interferes with their practices, they go inside and play in-door soccer. “It’s not so bad playing inside, but I prefer to be outside -- it’s just fun and less hot.” Rivera said. As you can see, not all the athletes at Granger care

how the weather is they prefer to practice their sport outside. It’s what they do. They love it, and they’re not going to let weather get between them and their ath-letics. They will always play their sport inside or out. As for me I play soccer and do track I think the weather helps in so many aspects. You can always take advantage of the weather while playing sport; it all just de-pends on how you do it.

“We don’t

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Conference for Latino Empowerment

By Brenda NguyIN A SCHOOL where more than half of the students are of Latino or Hispanic descent, many choose to be a part of a school club called Latinos in Action. The main con-cept of this club is to help Latinos get to college, help them plan for their future, and just be better people in general. The students carry out tutoring and translate for parents that don’t understand enough English at parent teacher con-ferences. Their advisor, Ms. Booth, assists them through every step of the way. “The main factors of this class are leadership, service, and prepa-rations for college,” Ms. Booth said. On Wednesday, March 6, the LIA members took a field trip over to the Weber State College for a conference that hap-pens once a year. It involved all Latinos in Action affiliations from all over the state that gathered and learned many new things. The con-ference explained the purposes of Latinos in Action. The students had the opportunity to talk to many inspiring speakers, like Olympic gold medalist, Mar-len Esparza. Esparza explained how she could box although she is a woman and how she proved people wrong. They had Latino dances near the end from junior high and high schools from all over the state of Utah. They also met the founder and creator of Latinos in Action, Dr. Jose Enriquez. He talked about

his life and Latino empowerment and how he wants to make stu-dents into leaders and get them into college. He says that they all have a Latino drive. After all the serious talks and

lectures, the students got to do a fun activity before they left. All the members from all over the state took part in a “Harlem Shake” of their own; the video is posted on the Latinos in Action Facebook page. The conference lasted the whole school day, and it was very motivational for all of the members of LIA, leaving them enlightened. Marvin Barahona’s (12) fa-vorite part of the meeting was be-ing able to learn about his culture

and be around people who share the same dreams as he does. “My favorite speech was from a group called Cool Speak. They were unny and talked about dreams and Latinos in their group succeeding

and not giving up.” Barahona said. First year LIA mem-ber Amy Casillas (11) loves it, and she is definitely doing this next year for sure. “I like it because it helps me prepare for college and makes me want to go further in life. The conference at Weber State was cool! We got to meet an Olym-pic gold medalist,” Casillas said. Ampelio Hernan-dez (12) thought the conference was awe-some. “It had many motivational speeches about Latino empow-erment,” he said Hernandez has been in LIA for two years now and is happy in it. He became a part of it because he need-ed community service but now he’s glad he’s in it. The class also pro-vides tutoring sessions at local elementaries. They tutor during 2B

at Monrow Elementary, Pioneer Elementary and Rolling Meadows Elementary. “I like tu-toring because I learn something new about the kids every time. I also have pleasure seeing them succeed.” Hernandez said. Overall, the students of Latinos in Action are glad they are a part of this class. The conference held at Weber State enlightened their minds with inspirational speeches and guided them to a path toward college by being better people and helping others.

Ms. Booth assists the students through every step of the way.

Latinos in Action plays a big part at Granger, and their activities include college preparations and tutoring at elementaries.

The PJ stomp brought students together for a friendly dance party.

March 2013, page 7 VOL. LV Issue 5

Top-quality mentor for LancersBy Tyler MitchellTIMOTE Houma is the newest mentor at Granger, and he is a Pa-cific Islander. He really connects with the Pacific Islanders and wants to help them the most. Houma studied at the University of Utah for five years. He believes in good communication with the

students, and he is always reach-ing out to the students. He helps students one-on-one, and he helps out with football and hopes to help with rugby in the spring. Houma does not like the statis-tics of minority put downs and their graduation rate, and the rate in which they enter college. His

goal is to better achieve more students into going to college in which he tries his best to help ev-eryone he can graduate. Houma also helps Alex Ander James Turner- Brotherson (10) get to class. He helps get him to lunch, walks him down and sits with him while Brotherson eats. He also helps him get ready to go home by opening his locker and getting his jacket on. “He’s a very cool and encourag-ing guy,” said Brotherson. His fa-vorite thing about Houma is that he has a great sense of humor. He’s always there to make sure Brotherson has good grades, and he looks up to Houma a lot. Lunch time is always his favor-ite part together because they al-ways have good laughs. “Timote is good with math, which makes him one of the only mentors who is,” mentor Jason Chandler said. One of Chandler’s favorite things about Houma is his fa-cial hair, because it’s always on point. Mentor Gina Togiai said her favorite thing about him is his Michigan gear. Miss Havea said that Houma fits in perfect at Granger because of his recent graduation from the University of Utah. It also allows him to be a role model to the stu-dent at Granger High School. She goes on to say how personable he is. Mr. Wessman said Houma has been nothing but professional since he has been at Granger. “He is a laid back role model to the students, Houma is always will-ing to help,” said Wessman.

Should teachers carry guns?

Opinion by Kelly SanmiguelTHE PAST decade has been filled with tragic stories of violence aimed at students and teachers in the school settings. Recently these attacks have caused a huge debate between those who are pro-guns and those who are anti-guns. Whether you’re for stricter gun regulations or against them, I feel it would be pretty wrong to forget the fact that guns have been used for means of protection for a very long time. We cannot avoid the fact that it is simple for a gun to fall into the wrong hands, but the right amount of regulations could help avoid that. The older gener-ation has taken it upon themselves to fight for the matter, yet have they realized that they are not the ones facing a big possibility of another act of violence towards a SCHOOL? Of course, not every teacher would be comfortable having possession of a loaded gun, but

that does not mean that there aren’t any teachers who wouldn’t love the extra comfort a gun could bring to a classroom. Let’s not forget the fact that the right to bear arms is in the second amendment, it doesn’t seem right to be allowed to practice rights

only in certain places. Society is evolving, things are changing. It is sad to say we live in a world where hate is seen as often as love is, but we cannot stay oblivious to the fact that bad things do happen to good people. It would be ex-aggerated if rifles and military used arms were al-lowed in schools, but I believe a small handgun in the posses-sion of a respon-sible teacher and/or administrator wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

Students spend 7+ hours in school, five days a week, for most of the year. Aside from home, school should be the next safest place for a child. Just like anyone else, students deserve safety.

Teachers read for funBy Victor Melara SO FOR the teachers that like to read, well there’s a book club now. The whole thing is very new to all since the first time it was held was last week. It is a real op-portunity for teachers to socialize with other teachers about some-thing they enjoy. The first book that was discussed at the book club was the won-derful book called Won-der. The book is about a boy who is de-formed and goes through school for the very first time, and the story is told from dif-ferent points of view” said Ms. Green. At the book club meet-ings I’m told that they have conversations They just talk about the book and about bul-lying, students and life. I myself have never read the book, but I have talked to people who have, and from what I have heard it’s a great read. After chat-

ting with Ms. Carson, she told me she “liked it very much and I was able to relate to it because at the time I was reading it I had just gotten out of surgery.” The book I’m told is also very emotional after an interview with counseling secretary Rosy Mar-tinez. “I usually don’t cry or get

very emotional at books but I did get misty eyed while reading this book,” Ms. Martinez said. She was also able to get a student to read this book and surprisingly

she might not be a teacher, but that is why the teacher book club was started. I Interviewed Ms. Asay the originator for the teacher book club. It started it to give teach-ers the opportunity to talk and refer and encourage students to read. The book Wonder is good

and worth the read. I would recommend it and I’ve start-ed to read it. The next book for the T e a c h e r s book club is “I Am Mes-senger” by Markus Zu-sak. It’s a book about an underage cab driver who acciden-tally stops a bank robbery. Then he starts to get playing cards in his mail box and they’re mis-sions to help people, so he

becomes like a hero. The only thing unknown is who is sending him the cards. Check with Ms. Asay in the library to learn more about up-coming titles in the teacher book club.

Ms. Reese catches up on her reading.

Mentor Timote Houma enjoys helping the many students at Granger High.

The Dream Act

By Jessica RubioTHE DREAM Act is a new law that was passed to help undocu-mented students get a chance to study and get into a career. People think this is important, and it ac-tually impacts more Lancers than you think. “The Dream Act for her is an op-portunity to go to college and get a good job,” Jennifer Ochoa (11) said. Ochoa also said she feels this is good, and it will help a lot of stu-dents who want to achieve their goals. Ochoa said, “I think this will make people want to go to school more because they can actually get somewhere”. “It’s having a great impact on me because I want to go to col-lege and now I can,” she said. This may be right. Students should actually feel like they want to go to school because they can graduate with a career and they can do something higher in life. Maribel Lopez (11) said that athough she isn’t affected by this, she thinks it’s good. “It’s good for the government to help students who actually want to study but can’t,” Lopez said. It’s also good for students get the opportunity. “It’s up to them

if they want to take it or leave it now,” she said. The Dream Act is something very important to some of our Lancers. Although they may not notice, it may be something that can change their lives. “I think ev-eryone should have the opportu-nity to study go to college and get a career and with this they have the opportunity,” Lopez said. Erick Hernandez (11) said he feels good about it and also thinks it will help a lot of people. “It’s good because I can get a good job now,” Hernandez said. He said it will impact him a lot because he can get a good job and go to college now and get a license for a future career. “I plan on going to college and studying a good career now thanks to the Dream Act I can.” This Dream Act is helping a lot of our Lancers more than you know it’s a great opportunity for anyone who can’t study because they don’t have “papers”. This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to change their legal status here in the United States and study. It’s up to the students now whether they accept it and want to become superior or they just let the opportunity go away.

The Dream Act impacts some Lancers more than you know.

Guns have fueled a big debate, yet would it be right to dismiss the fact that they can bring safety to

schools and not just destruction.

Of course, not every teacher

would be comfort-able with having

possession of a loaded

gun.

March 2013, page 8 VOL. LV Issue 5

Lancers see one third of Cinderella

By Katie Lee ON FEBURARY 19, some Lanc-ers went to go see Ballet West’s Cinderella. The ballet started at 12:30 p.m. After arriving, the dancers got to introduce them-selves. They explained that the ballet was in three parts. Since we didn’t have enough time, we would see the second third, which is when Cinderella meets the prince for the first time. When they started, it was so wonderful; the stage props looked so real, it really looked like she was in a ball room dancing with the townspeople. The dancers were so wonderful; it’s hard believe they can dance for so long. One of the best parts of the bal-let was when the prince meets Cinderella. The funniest part though would be seeing the ugly step sisters fighting over which suitor was theirs. They also had Fairies that rep-resented the seasons: spring, sum-mer, autumn, winter. Their cos-tumes even matched the colors of their seasons. Cinderella’s step sisters were

played by boy dancers which was very funny. Another cool thing was watch-ing Cinderella change back into her rags when the clock struck twelve, They did a cool thing where the prince was in frantic search for her because she left so sudden ly and she dances through a crowd and then she was instantly in her rags when she was out of the crowd. She ran up the stairs and disappeared back stage and left her glass slipper. Also, the way they made the clock look so real was awesome because it was like a huge old grandfather clock. Another thing: dancers all matched with their partners. Cin-derella wore blue and so did the prince. The season fairies wore their colors and their suitors wore the same colors. Sadly, we didn’t end up seeing the first part with the introduction of the step mother the father and fairy godmother or the third part in which they ended happily. All in all, the whole ballet was magical. The dancing was beauti-ful, and the dancers were beauti-ful. It was just wonderful.

Lancers arived just as the curtain rose on the middle third of Cinderella.

The soccer team open up their season with a win By Celeste AnguianoTHE BOYS soccer team had their tryouts in February and started to play their pre-season games on the first weeks of March. To defeat those teams took a lot of work; it wasn’t an easy task, before the season or even try-outs, the guys started conditioning on weekdays at 6 a.m. to get them ready for the season. Erwin Contreras (11) said he is very excited to see how the whole season goes; he also stated that the team has to work on bonding with each other. The boys soccer team plays on Tuesdays and Thursdays, varsity starts at 3:30 p.m. and junior var-sity starts at 5:00 p.m. on the foot-ball field. The games are free, and everyone is invited to watch them play. “I like to see my friends at my soccer games,” Contreras said. “I feel like we have it all this year, we have good forwards, good middle, good defense, and specially me,” Vicente Lucena

(11) said. Although it’s only pre-season, the boys soccer team gives it their all. “We play hard. I like that feeling I get when I slide tackle someone. We want to win so bad; I’m ready for this season,” Angel Rivera (12) said. “I go to see my boyfriend play,. My favorite part about being there is messing around with my friends and watching Granger win; my favorite soccer player this year is number 17,” Jennifer Perez (12) said. “I do think they’ll make it to regions, they have a lot of en-thusiasm and they give it their all when they play, I can see it,” Perez said. “I like going because I like to show support to our school team and I love soccer. I think if they continue to practice they’ll get way better, and they can make it to regions,” Fabiola Abarca (12) said. Although Jonathan Avila (12) wasn’t on the soccer team last

year he said he “enjoys practices where they have to sprint.” He thinks the soccer team could work on speed and bonding as a team. Although a lot of the boys on the soccer team seem to think that they need to bond, their skills on the field have been very success-ful. Rivera commented that he believes all the success this year come thanks to the new way they practice. He seems to think that practicing separate from junior varsity has helped a lot. “I like to play as a defense this year, I don’t really like to score as a forward that’s boring, and if you score as a defense you get more credit,” said Lucena. For some Lancers on the team, they had to make adjustments to what position they play. Lucena used to play forward but he knew there were many forwards so he decided to start playing as a de-fender. They’ve only won their pre-sea-son games, so these Lancers have a lot to prove. Jennifer Perez enjoys watching #17 as he prepares to pass the ball.

Fees are chasing seniorsBy Skyler MalpassATTENTION seniors, do you have any fees? Don’t know? Well you’d better check. Fees may not sound that bad, but they are more dangerous than you think. Fees will keep you from walking at graduation, so look out. “I will be send-ing out March letters to let people with fees know,” financial secretary Erin Winkler said. “I still have ID’s that can’t be claimed because of fees.” The most dan-gerous of the sneaky fees are the fines stu-dents get for missing text books. “Stu-dents don’t bring them back,” li-brary secretary Kaydean Judy said. “We had about 100 miss-ing math books last year.” The reality is seniors get all exited for grad-uation and go-ing out on their own that they forget the lonely math books that never left their lockers. If you think walking at graduation isn’t that big of a deal well prepare to be annoyed. “We will continue send you return letters even after grad-uation,” Ms. Winkler said. “We want our books back, and they aren’t cheap.” Students are very lazy when it comes to returning their books. “We had about 300 to 400 miss-ing books from last year,” Ms. Judy said. Students: they’re not cheap. An

average textbook in the library costs around $75 to $120. The school will get their book or mon-ey -- one way or another, even if they have to track you down has an adult. This year is pretty slow. “Check-

outs are down from last year. But there are still a lot of missing books,” Ms. Judy said. “I like that the school is trying to get all seniors to walk,” Tatyana Carrillo (11) said. “Seniors with fees have a who-gives-a-crap attitude,” Carrillo said. “They should be working with the counselors, teachers and administrators who are trying so hard to get them to walk.” Head librarian Michelle Asay

is currently keeping track on all check outs and returns and the numbers are ugly. About 2-3% of books checked out are never re-turned. “They are shocking num-bers,” Ms. Asay said. “Fees have always been a prob-

lem with seniors,” Ms. Winkler said. “But these last few years have been terrible.” Currently there is $18,586 worth of lost items from the library. “$14,000 in text books alone,” Ms. Asay said. “There are 507 lost items so far this year.” “The books that hit kids the hardest are un-returned textbooks,” Ms. Asay said. “AP books can cost almost $120.” “We aren’t in it for the money, we just want our books back,” she said. In a good month, the library averages about 1,200 to 2,000 check-outs, with most of the books getting retuned. But there are always books left behind. “The worst offenders in missing books are drop-out students or students who trans-fer,” Ms. Asay said. “From 2007 until now, we have 234 lost books,” Ms. Asay said. “And those were just the regular books, not the expensive text

books.” It’s an issue that will cause ex-tra problems this year as the media center prepares to move all books to the new building. The last thing Ms. Asay wants is a stack of 200 textbooks arriving in the media center on May 31. “Since the start of this year, we have 125 missing,” she said. “If you know your book is due, just come in and renew it. And please keep track of due dates in your phones.”

Pay fees and fines at the window before and after school or during lunch.