Volume 42 Issue 1 October 2013Student Newspaper Of Shaler Area High School

by Gabrielle Lazzaro

Shaler Area High School is proud to welcome a new assistant principal, Mr. Thomas Misko, to the administrative staff for the 2013-2014 school year. Even though he has only been at Shaler Area for a short time, Misko already feels at home.

“It is an honor to be here. I’m really fortunate to be here and work with the administrative team I have. I’m happy I made this jump,” he said.

Prior to coming to Shaler Area, Misko worked in two other school districts as a high school math teacher. First, he worked in his home district in Dubois, Pennsylvania. Then from 2007 until last year, he worked in the West Allegheny school dis-trict. He decided to make the change to administrator and received his degree from the University of Pitts-burgh.

“I’ve always taken on a leadership role,” Misko said. “It felt natural for me to go back to school to take the necessary administrator classes to move into that role.”

Between working and spending time with his

wife and son, Misko works as a volunteer fire-fighter. He is a captain so he acts as the “building principal of the station,” overseeing the people and equipment that respond to emergencies.

“I’ve done it since I was 18,” Misko said. “My grandfather was a fireman, my father was a fireman. I’ve been around the fire department since I could walk. It’s a family tradition.”

It’s sometimes difficult to fit firefighting into his schedule, but Misko is more than will-ing to respond to calls when he can.

“I believe that you should always work on giving back to the community. It’s my way of trying to help out, especially if it’s people in need,” he said.

Right now, Misko is still trying to get used to Shaler and find his place in the school. Every school works differently, he said, and he is looking forward to working with the adminis-trative team and getting to know the students.

“The great parts of the job are meeting people, going into classrooms, still being part of instruction, and seeing the great things our teachers

and staff do for the kids. That’s what makes this job worthwhile,” Misko said.

High school welcomes new assistant principal

by Sara Gaskill

This year all teachers have received iPads, and plans are be-ing made for students to receive them sometime in the future. This is because Shaler has teamed up with Apple for “Project ACE.” Project ACE implements iPads into schools to enhance education.

“We have examined the curriculum, perception of academ-ics in the district, as well as researched the latest trends in edu-cation. We have shifted our focus to infusing more 21st Centu-ry skills into the classrooms, such as collaboration, creativity, communication and of course the use of technology,” Mrs. Kara Eckert, Shaler Area Assistant Superintendent, said.

The shift away from traditional books to technology can be a challenge for a staff of more than 100 teachers at the high school who have a various levels of knowledge with iPads. So far, it has gone well.

“I have had great response from veteran teachers saying that they are more energized than ever to teach because of what this device can bring to their teaching,” Eckert said. “I have offered my time to assist teachers in the classroom as a support to imple-ment the device properly.”

As that shift takes place, the focus may be on more technolo-gy, but the teacher will still be the primary focus in a classroom.

“The iPad will never replace the teacher. The iPad is a tool for teachers and students to use to supplement the learning pro-cess. Teachers are facilitators of learning. They set the stage for the content they are teaching, and good teaching occurs when teachers lead students through their learning,” she said. “(An iPad) is a tool in the toolbox. It will not be the one and only method of learning, nor the only piece of technology used. The device will allow learning to take place and bring the content to life in a way that hasn’t been able to happen with just the use of a textbook,” Eckert said.

Whether teachers or students like it or not, the transition to devices such as iPads is inevitable.

“It has been stated by major textbook companies that in 5-10 years, textbooks will be non-existent. They do not intend to cre-ate paper textbooks. How will we deal with that if we are not

by Alexis Werner

In America, 3.5 million people experi-ence homelessness. In Pittsburgh alone, 1,229 single adults and 195 families are homeless. According to alleghenycounty.us, reasons for being homeless include substance abuse-22%, mental illness 16%, a combination of both 40%, AIDS 4%, domestic violence 21%, and Veterans 24%.

The epidemic that has been a problem not only in America but all around the world was recognized by Emma Poveromo at the start of her sophomore year.

“I was cleaning out Gregg Dietz’s office at lunch and found a bag full of hotel soaps

and lotions. I was thinking about it, and I decided to put something together to collect more,” she said.

Poveromo made it her mission to help those in need who are unable to purchase hy-giene products.

This is when she began project Soap. Poveromo is asking the Shaler community to donate their products to those in need. She has put up barrels to collect donations. There will be two barrels in the middle school and three at the high school. Every two weeks the goods will be collected and donated to orga-nizations like Northside Common Ministries and women’s shelters.

Soap leaders held a contest for people to create designs for the barrels. A board of stu-dents and faculty judged the barrels and de-cided on Carley Adam’s and Paige Kaiser’s designs. The Art Honor Society and volun-teers have helped to paint the barrels.

Acceptable items to donate include: un-opened bar and liquid soap, shampoo, con-ditioner, razors, shaving cream, face soap, toothpaste, and toothbrushes. Leaders ask that you please refrain from donating used items, towels, or washcloths. Soap kicked off October 21 and will continue the rest of the school year. Barrels can be found near the Activities Office, the main office, and in the library.

Poveromo started the project out of a de-sire to help others.

“I want it to work because it helps peo-ple that don’t have the supplies I have. I just want people to be able to wash their hair. I know it can be tough to get theses necessi-ties, but I think we can help,” she said.

Project Soap to help homeless community

Barrel for soap collections (Poveromo)

Assistant Principal Mr. Tom Misko (Gabrielle Lazzaro)

Project ACE brings iPads to school staff

continued on page 7

The OraclePage 2 October 2013

OPINIONS

The OracleEditors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Anna Cunningham, Emily Matthews

Staff: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cameron Bildhauer, Emily Daquelente, Sara Gaskill, Alexander Gercak, Ethan Griffin, Luke Grossman, Anthony Imhof, Justin Jockel, Summerly Kelly, Gabrielle Lazzaro, Margaret Potter, Jennifer Sheets, Kayla Snyder, Alexis Werner

Faculty Advisor: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mr. Eric Schott

The Oracle is the official student newspaper of Shaler Area High School. Although it is published by the journalism classes, one does not have to be enrolled in a class to contribute.Opinions expressed in The Oracle are those of the individual writers. Letters to the Editor are encouraged and welcome. Any letter intended for publication must be signed, but names will be withheld upon request. Articles and letters may be mailed to the high school (ATTN: The Oracle) or emailed to oracle@sasd.k12.pa.us. The Oracle reserves the right to condense or omit any letters or articles unfit for publication.

by Anthony Imhof

Walking through the halls of Shal-er Area HS can be very stressful. Push-ing your way through a huge crowd of people, knowing that your time to get to class is running out can be aggravat-ing. Is there a solution to this problem? Well stressed students of Shaler Area, let the heavy weight of worry roll off of your shoulders, because the school has found just the thing to keep students calm in the hallway.

Every student of Shaler Area knows about the infamous network of hallways on the main floor of the high school. Sharp corners, hallways that look exactly alike, and too many intersections are the cause of students’ grief. Throw a trian-gular hallway in the middle of it, and the second floor be-comes something that even seniors fear to navigate. However, as you are lost in the maze that is the second floor, all you have to do is look up, and you will be struck with a sudden calmness.

I am sure you have all noticed the baby blue colored walls above the lock-ers on the second floor. It only took me three weeks of school to notice them. I am also sure that you have been won-dering what the purpose of these walls are. A meeting with Dr. Tim Royall revealed that the newly colored walls were his idea.

“We were tired of the plain white walls. They are so uninviting,” Royall said.

Royall approached art teacher Mr. Boyles and his students, asking them to pick two calm colors that would complement each other. Boyles and his students proceeded to pick the col-

ors baby blue and cream. That’s right Shaler Area, not only is there one new color on the walls, there are TWO new colors on the walls. If you had not no-ticed the baby blue color, I am positive that you noticed the cream color next to it. The two complement each other magnificently, and calm frustrated stu-dents at the same time.

You may have noticed that only a select section of the hallways have actually been re-painted. No, it is not because they ran out of paint. It is be-cause they wanted to test how the new-

ly colored hallways af-fected stu-dents. If you walk through the second floor hall-ways, you should feel significant. You are con-tributing to a

very important study: how baby blue and cream colored hallways affect stu-dents.

Now I know you are all asking, why did the administration not re-paint the walls Shaler colors?

“The dark Shaler blue would have darkened up an already dark hallway. We wanted to pick something bright-er,” Royall said.

As for the red, I guess Shaler red is too aggressive of a color. So the next time you look at the baby blue hall-ways, take a deep breath and relax; even if you’re going to be late to class.

The next time you are running through the hallways, dodging all of the people who have no idea how to walk in public, just look up above the lockers at the baby blue and cream colored hallways and feel the heavy weight of frustration roll off your shoulders. The walls may not get you

What the Heck? New colors in the hallways

by Margaret Potter

Have you ever noticed that at the beginning of every school year, you come down with a sore throat, head-ache, stuffy nose, and a cough? This year, this phenomenon is known as the “Shaler Suds”. Now, we’ve all seen the SpongeBob Squarepants episode when poor SpongeBob comes down with a terrible case of the suds. In this episode, SpongeBob gets the suds be-cause he left the refrigerator door open and fell asleep, and the cold made him sick. But what’s the reason that we’re all getting sick?

“School starts and everybody is back together. Also, when students come back to school their lifestyles change. They’re waking up earlier, they’re not eating regular meals, they’re un-der more stress, and they’re not getting enough sleep”, Mrs. Sheuer, the school nurse, said.

Scheuer said that she has had up to 74 students in her office in one day com-plaining about being sick, but she also said that this massive amount of students

in the nurse’s office is nothing out of the ordinary; every school year starts off like this.

The Suds this year have really af-fected the students at Shaler Area High School.

“The suds are a sickness that rocks the body to its very core,” Senior Sam Bartsch said.

The Suds not only make students feel awful, but it also impacts the students’ ability to concentrate on school work.

“It’s hard to learn physics when you’re constantly coughing or blowing your nose,” Junior Vince Evans said.

How can we help alleviate our Suds? “The number one way to prevent

the Suds is to wash your hands well for twenty seconds, especially before you

eat,” Sheuer said. Sheuer also suggests that we stop sharing our things, as this easily spreads

germs. She also suggests taking the time to take care of yourself. Fortunately for the students at Shaler Area High School, Sheuer believes that

we will see a decrease in Suds as the year goes on.

Shaler dealing with “suds” epidemic

Math electives should count for math credits

by Emily Matthews

If it sounds like a math class, looks like a math class, and feels like a math class, it’s probably a math class, right?

It turns out that’s not always the case at Shaler. The class Honors Prob-ability and Statistics counts as elec-tive credit, even though students use formulas and probability concepts that are also essential in math credit courses.

Many colleges are now requir-ing students to complete four credits of math in high school. That means if you took Honors Calculus in 11th grade, like I did, you have to take AP Calculus Senior year in order to get your four credits.

Some math oriented people would excel in AP Calc. I’m not one of those people. I struggled enough in Honors Calculus. I just couldn’t get it, no mat-ter how many hours I spent studying

or trying to get help. I wouldn’t be able to get through AP Calculus with-out a significant drop in my GPA, an-other factor colleges look at.

If Honors Probability and Statis-tics counted towards math credit, it could be a way for those of us who don’t belong in an AP math class to meet the requirements we need for college.

Honors Probability and Statistics is not the only class that falls under the strange elective credit category. Some science classes, such as Honors Anatomy and Physiology which is a full year class and even includes a lab, are counted as electives. What makes these classes different from the ones that do contribute to science credits?

Colleges are starting to change their admission requirements. It may be time for Shaler to modify its credit distribution in order to help students meet these new qualifications.

I am sure you have all noticed the baby blue colored walls above the lockers on the second floor. It only took me three weeks of school to notice them.

to class earlier, but it might put a smile on your face. Maybe. Just make sure

you don’t run into anyone as you stare at the walls.

The Oracle Page 3October 2013

by Summerly Kelly

The Memory Project is an art initiative in which high school students all over America receive pictures of orphans or disadvantaged children from various countries. The students paint portraits of the kids and send back unique and personalized keepsakes.

The project was invented by a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin named Ben Schumaker in 2003 while he was vol-unteering at an orphanage in Guatemala. He realized the children had very few personal belongings and had hardly any pictures of themselves to serve as a memory from their childhood.

He decided to get high school art students around the country to paint portraits of the children to allow them to have a very special memory of themselves to keep for the rest of their lives. The Memory Project was officially born in 2004 and high school art classes have been taking part in it ever since.

The Memory Project came to Shaler Area High School several years ago, and has been a huge hit amongst Studio Art 3 students.

“It was a really great experience…it’s not like a normal art project,” senior Jess Webb, a 2012 participant of The Memory Project, said.

Students who have previously participated in the memory project agreed that it was a very emotional and humbling experience.

“I loved it…the painting itself was a new medium for me to explore but afterwards when we sent it to them and we got pictures back it was a good feeling…I almost cried,” senior and AP Art student Daela Munoz said.

The Memory Project also serves as an eye open-er to students, giving them a better perspective on tragedies and poverty throughout the world.

“I think it gives you a personal connection, see-ing that these people aren’t just people in ads or pro-paganda images that we see of third world countries. We see that these are real people suffering from these tragedies that are orphans and some whose parents have died from things like HIV,” senior Ava Puglin said.

While the art students spend up to three weeks working on these projects they are not permitted to

write letters or develop any sort of personal connec-tion with the orphans.

“It’s actually pretty sad,” Munoz said. “The children may get attached to us…we weren’t allowed to send a note because they will want us to adopt them…we could just send a picture of ourselves to say, ‘this is the artist that painted you.’”

The artists are only permitted to include their first name in the painting so that the children have no way of getting in contact with them because they may try to ask for donations from the students.

The artists are also not permitted to display their portraits on social media sites due to the fact that, in some countries, it is considered illegal and the children would be punished.

Although the students were assigned to paint their portraits based off of the pictures that were sent in, they were still left with some creative room to add a personal flavor to their paintings.

“Everyone did their portraits in a different style. Mine was more of a paint by numbers thing where the colors blended together and it was more child like,” Webb said.

Munoz took a more impressionistic approach and added bright surreal looking colors to her portrait.

The importance of The Memory Project is widely recognized amongst students.

“Not only does it help give the students perspective themselves but it helps the kids realize

that there is someone that will care for them and it lets them keep a memory of themselves throughout their lives,” Puglin said.

The charity that Shaler Art Students are providing for these disadvantaged children seems to have a profound impact on both the artist and the child.

“You’re making this kid’s day,” Webb said, “It’s important to realize how much a simple thing could mean to someone.”

Studio Art 3 students work on the Memory Project

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A child recieves Jess Webb’s painting of himself.

The OraclePage 4 October 2013

by Kayla Snyder

Senior Sam Bartsch has been the President of his class since his sopho-more year at Shaler Area High School. He is an active member in the Student Government, Youth Advocacy League and he works with a lot of non-profit organizations.

“I’ve done Three Rivers Commu-nity Foundation and that group was Teens for Change, and we had a base amount of money to give away and we gave it away to different charities in Pittsburgh. I also worked with Seeds of Hope and then Empowerment, which is women’s rights and then Neper which is my own,” Bartsch said.

Bartsch has made improvements in trying to keep the reputation of Shal-er’s community set high. He came up with the idea to build off-grid green-houses in low income areas in hopes of helping the community obtain better quality foods.

“The project is an effort to change the way that food is produced and con-sumed in low income areas. So, we built greenhouses that use natural en-ergy sources like solar panels and geo-thermal technology to run completely off-grid, producing its own power and heat. Then the produce that is grown there is given to people of the commu-nity and it’s completely organic and lo-cally grown,” Bartsch said.

The idea was started when Bartsch submitted his idea to the Volvo Envi-ronmental Program which is a coali-tion between Volvo and the United Nations Environmental Program. His project was chosen from hundreds of ideas internationally.

Bartsch also aims to teach the youth to create a lasting impact by

serving the community and also intro-ducing environmentally friendly ideas such as hydroponics and overall educa-tion in planting.

“He helps with the Shaler North Hills Library. He taught them about hydroponics and planting. I know what he does in school but sometimes he does things that I don’t even know about,” Activities Director, Mrs. Min-dy Thiel said.

Besides being heavily involved with the community, he also carries

some major duties. His goal as senior class president is to try to engage as many students as he can into activities.

“I’ve been president since sopho-more year so I figured it’s our senior year, and it’s really important to have good leadership your senior year be-cause it’s the last year to win the Home-coming float competition, which we did, for the first time in, I think, 11 or 12 years. It’s also a time to raise class funds and plan Prom,” Bartsch said.

Winning the float competition

serves as a huge accomplishment not only for Bartsch, but for his en-tire class. Surprisingly, this was not his biggest accomplishment though. The accomplishment that he is most proud involves none other than the community.

The most accomplished award he feels he has ever received was a silver medal at the Jefferson Awards for Community Service.

“The Jefferson Awards for Community Service was started by Jackie Kennedy Onassis and Sam Beard to commend people who make fundamental changes in their communities. It is very presti-gious,” Bartsch said

Shaler’s own Youth Advocacy League has won not one, but two Jefferson Awards for Community Service. In spring of 2012, YAL won bronze and spring of 2013, they won silver and Bartsch said this year, they’re going for the gold.

The involvement of commu-nity is important in any event, big or small. In order to be successful you need the support of the people. Shaler is one community that has a huge heart when it comes to those types of services.

“No matter what function we have there is always a community member there that we didn’t expect or we don’t know that is there to support us in whatever we do,” Bartsch said.

Bartsch’s motivation and drive helps him create the projects and ser-vices that he has partaken in, but through everything, he aims to create a pleasurable high school experience for everyone.

In the future, Bartsch plans on studying politics and running for a government office.

by Emily Daquelente

The Holocaust class has become one of the most popular electives to take here at Shaler Area High School. The class was originally taught by Mrs. Mindy Thiel. It is now taught by Ms. Catlyn Kriston who is currently fill-ing in Mr. Nicholas Haberman’s shoes for the year. The rise of popularity for the class was unexpected at first but to learn about such a horrific event clearly appealed to a number of people.

“One, it is so recent that we have survivors living within minutes of our school. Two, it is one of the first ter-rible events caught on film and photog-raphy, so those who have to see it to be-lieve it, can actually see it. Three, it is so horrific and unimaginable thus it be-comes fascinating. How and why could people bring themselves to do such ter-rible things to innocent men, women, and children? But also, how and why could people bring themselves to sur-vive such terror?” Haberman said.

The fact that there are so many resources to help students learn and understand what happened in Europe from 1939-1945 makes the informa-

tion, or evidence, all the more emo-tional because they can see it and feel it. Haberman and Kriston both admit-ted to having a connection with the material of the class and knew that the students would develop one as well.

“To study [the Holocaust] is to be trumatized. I have nightmares. I have great difficulty dealing with this material,” Haberman said, quoting the famous author, Richard Rhodes.

However Haberman realizes the importance of teaching this class and so he continues. He said that the ex-periences he has been able to have

due to this class have changed his outlook on life.

“After a few years reading about the Holocaust in extraordinary detail, becoming friends with survivors and children of survivors, watching countless hours of video footage, and trying to use all of my imagination to put

myself in once unimaginable situations, I cannot look at the world in the same way. After devoting a portion of your life to genocide, there are no more bad days – nothing I have experienced or (hopefully) will ever experience comes close to the “bad” that was the Holo-caust,” Haberman said.

The class ranges from studying before World War II, and the problems Jews faced in the beginning due to an-ti-Semitism, to as far into detail as the Einsatzgruppen, an underground sec-tor of the German police who commit-ted mass murders, killing up to 16,886

people in a day. Current events can also be a part of class discussion, such as the issues going on in Syria today.

Many students find the class inter-esting and their reasoning for taking the class varies.

“My grandma was in the Holocaust and what we learned about it in history class did not go as in depth as I would have liked. I wanted to learn the ins and outs and have a further understanding of how and why such a thing was pos-sible, so I took Holocaust class,” senior Emily Jordheim said.

The Holocaust class has an impor-tant lesson behind its entire curricu-lum; it teaches students about preju-dice issues and how far things can go if people do not speak up against what is wrong. The class teaches students why it is necessary to a voice.

“The overall importance is to teach the unawareness of what happened and that this kind of stuff still goes on to-day. There have been quite a few geno-cides since the Holocaust, and it cre-ates an awareness that you cannot just stand and watch. There is a point where you have to step in and take a stand for things morally,” Kriston said.

Senior Sam Bartsch a leader in the school and community

Holocaust class emotional for all involved

Senior Sam Bartsch at his greenhouse in Millvale

“After devoting a portion of your life to genocide, there are no more bad days – nothing I have experienced or (hopeful-ly) will ever experience comes close to the “bad” that was the Holocaust.” --Mr. Nick Haberman

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The OraclePage 6 October 2013

by Ethan Griffin

Most students seem to think that the teachers of Shaler Area go home after teaching and do nothing. Believe it or not, a lot of the teachers at Shaler Area are very talented, especially when it comes to writing and performing mu-sic. Outside of teaching, many teachers enjoy playing music, whether it’s an all teacher band, a solo performance, or just playing to relive some stress. Many famous musicians had a his-tory of teaching. Guitarist and mem-ber of famous rock and roll band, KISS, Gene Simons, was a middle school teacher before making a career out of music. Art Garfunkel, found-er and half of the famous Folk rock band Simon and Garfunkel, taught for a while at a prep school before making music his full time career. Many Shaler teachers began play-ing music at an early age and they enjoyed it and progressed over the years. Though not all of the teachers said they would want to be a full time musician, all said it is something that will always be a part of their lives. Mr. Shannon plays guitar, bass, key-board, and sings. Mr. Shannon began writing and playing music his fresh-men year in high school at Alldardice after growing up in a very musical en-vironment. Shannon says his music is important but is second when it comes to his family.

“Without my family, there is no music.” Shannon said

Shannon, who has built up a local reputation, was recently invited out to

California for a song writ-ing workshop. He and 13 other people were chosen out of 1,000 people to team up and write songs for three weeks and have the chance to share their music to new audiences. Shannon has recorded two albums, one of which is available on iTunes. Music is something that is meant to be shared, Many teachers said they enjoy playing live and getting a real connection with the audience. They also enjoy seeing listeners relate to the music and seeing their hard work pay off. Many of the teachers have played live shows at venues such as Mr. Smalls Theater, Hard Rock Café, Chicago House of Blues and the former Mellon Arena. Mr. McDermott, Mr. Krenn, Mr. Anthony, Mr. Stivason, Mr. Haber-man, and retired teacher Mr. Kho-rey are the members of the band Act 80s. The Act 80s mainly play charity shows and social events. Mr. McDermott, who plays the guitar in Act 80s, began playing in eighth grade when he was taught at St. Se-bastians and said he could feel and pick out the melodies. He said play-ing the guitar and playing in a band is a great way to release some stress when you’re doing something you re-ally enjoy with friends. He has also been a part of three recorded albums. Mr. Anthony, who plays keyboard in

Act 80s, began playing when he was seven and took lessons all the way to the end of high school. His first experi-ence of playing in a band was in the high school jazz band. Previously he only played solo, but now says he en-joys playing in a band. He says he also enjoys listening to music and playing just as much.

“Being a musician is something I appreciate as I get older,” Anthony said.

Many of the teachers I talked to are also in a band full time. Being in a band is like being on a team; you have to rely on one another. Playing in a band can sometimes be stressful and can al-most be a second job, but the teachers I spoke with said it’s better when you’re in a band with friends and you’re all having a good time and doing some-

thing you all really enjoy. I spoke with Mr. Stearns who plays

guitar in a band, Five Alarm Flood. He got into music because it was what his friends were doing and it was just the thing to do. Mr. Stearn’s band plays shows about once a month and says he really enjoys playing to an audience who is really enjoying the music.

“It’s great playing to an audience that really gets into the music.” Stearns said.

Mr. Mangold, who plays a variety of instruments from saxophone, gui-tar, and bass, says the saxophone is his main instrument. He began playing music around fourth grade and it just progressed over the years. He plays in a band full time, Tobacco Road, but is hired out to play with other bands and can end up playing up to three nights a week. He prefers an audience over be-ing in a studio.

“There is a real connection with the audience; you’re relaying a mes-sage to them,” Mangold said.

Mr.Mangold is probably known by the students as the man behind Shalerpalooza. He started it five-years ago when his band was playing at Mr. Smalls Theater and he decided to have some student bands open up for them and it just took off from there.He also talked about the growing number of students and the variations in genre. He says the toughest part of planning Shalerpalooza is getting sponsors and selling the tickets; however they get about 300 people a year. Mangold hopes of one day selling out Mr. Smalls Theater for Shalerpalooza.

Teachers talk about their musical accomplishments

Mr. Stearns plays his guitar (Jim Stearns)

The Oracle Page 7October 2013

During this year’s Game On homecoming, the Senior class’s Pac Man float won first place. The band’s Candyland float came in second place, ending their three-year winning streak. The judges’ decision was based on the movement and neat-ness of each float.

Homecoming 2013

by Jennifer Sheets

Headlines such as “Threat of strike cancels Shaler’s first day of classes” and “Shaler teachers to go on strike” had a lot of students jumping for joy at the thought of an extended summer. Meanwhile some seniors were worried about graduating on time.

No matter what the concern, many members of the community, including students, supported the teachers as they picketed.

“The community support was overwhelming,” Mrs. Melissa Ravas, a math teacher here at the high school and president of the Shaler Area Edu-cation Association said. “We had fami-lies dropping off water and ice, and snacks and goodies. It was more than I expected.”

For some, the strike was a bless-ing.

“I was definitely saved by the strike because I didn’t do any of my summer assignments,” senior Hannah Lavia said.

Summer homework wasn’t the only concern for most students. Sports and other activities were also in mind. Superintendent, Dr. Wesley Shipley, posted a memo at the beginning of the strike stating that Homecoming and all

other sporting activities would not be interrupted. Marching band continued to have practices, a football game was still played, and sports practices were still held even if a teacher who was in-volved did not attend.

“I felt that it was very important to get information out as soon as possible so that the families could plan accord-ingly,” Shipley said. “I wanted to re-main as positive as possible under the circumstances and be completely hon-est about the situation.”

Now that the strike has been re-solved some other concerns have been addressed.

Last year, while teachers were still without a contract, the annual Powder Puff game did not happen. This year, the junior and senior “Lady Titans” will battle it out.

Activities director Mrs. Mindy Thiel said, “the Powder Puff game is scheduled for Tuesday, November 26.”

The only remaining signs that the strike happened is the revised sched-ule. Several days originally scheduled as days off will now be school days. Now the only days off appear to be those of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter break. As of right now, seniors should still get to graduate on time. If it snows a lot, that could change.

With strike over, most everything back to normal

prepared?” Eckert said. “The landscape of education is rapidly changing, and in some cases we are behind. This initiative will allow us to take the necessary steps to providing a quality education with the resources that are available to all students. We are providing the resources that will align to the educational trends and resources,”

Initiatives like this do not come as foolproof. The Los An-geles United School District is-sued more than 30,000 iPads to students. Every student was giv-en an iPad with security software that was supposed to prevent them from getting access to any-thing but the preloaded educa-tional software. That backfired. Several students, within hours of receiving their iPad, found a way around the system.

“We could see this thing coming,” Sarah Bradshaw, chief of staff for District five of the Los Angeles United School District told ABC News. “So much of this has been rushed and so ill-thought out.”

Eckert said Shaler Area is doing more planning to make Shaler’s transi-tion yo the iPads is more successful.

“I have researched a lot, and we have spoken with other school districts, local and in other states, who have implemented an iPad deployment. I strongly believe your success lies within your pre-planning,” she said. “We are meeting regularly to discuss issues and how we plan to solve them. There are many success stories that never get publicity. It is typically the negative stories that make the news.”

There are still some answers left undetermined, but the district is working to make sure that the Project ACE stories that get publicity from Shaler Area are positive ones.

“Our district is committed to changing the culture of learning and trans-forming our classrooms into innovative spaces. We are focused on this vi-sion,” Eckert said.

Project ACE brings iPadsfrom page 1

This initiative will allow us to take the necessary steps to providing a quality education with the resources that are available to all students. -- Mrs. Kara Eckert Asst. Superintendent

The OraclePage 8 October 2013

SPORTS

by Justin Jockel

For the fifth straight season, the Girls’ Volleyball team advanced to the WPIAL playoffs. Captains An-nie Bozzo, Liz Kline and Emily Miller have worked hard this year with hopes of winning a WPIAL title. However, it is not just these three players that are contributing to a sensational season.

“We are a very balanced team and everyone con-tributes every night,” Head Coach Kristine Ruppert said.

Ruppert, who is in her 10th year of coaching, has led Shaler to eight consecutive WPIAL playoff ap-pearances. During that span, Shaler has made six WPIAL Class A quarterfinal appearances but has not advanced further.

Last week, the Titans advanced to the WPIAL quarterfinals after beating Connellsville.

“We will just make sure we prepare for each op-ponent each step of the way. If we play our style of offense and maintain our passing and strong defense we should win,” Ruppert said.

In 2012, Shaler lost to Upper St. Clair in the pre-liminary round. Although the two teams may meet again in the playoffs, Assistant Coach Paul Stadel-man believes that this year will be different.

“This year’s team is more experienced. Six or seven of our starters have all been involved in a play-off game and a playoff type atmosphere, so they have a better idea of what to expect,” Stadelman said.

This year’s starting rotation includes eight play-ers: Liz Rhodes, Annie Bozzo, Liz Kline, Hannah Bradford, Nicole and Natalie Pilewski, Taylor Bos-tick, and Julia Bernesser. Laurel Gavin has mainly played the role of a utility player and can fill in at two positions when needed. Bozzo and Kline are the team’s biggest offensive threats.

“Annie is our top hitter and one of our setters. She provides great leadership on the court. Liz is a great all around player. She has a very high volley-ball IQ and is our top defender,” Ruppert said.

Along with Bozzo and Kline, another captain, Emily Miller, who has been a captain for four years, is a great leader and organizer on the court.

Coach Stadelman is not just satisfied with how the captains play this year, but the whole team effort as well.

“All the players have stepped up and have served certain roles and have been crucial and key depend-ing on where we are in the season,” Stadelman said.

Shaler is 9-0 in section play, and 11-2 overall as of November 7, 2013. The team was undefeated un-til a loss to North Allegheny in late September. One reason for the team’s success this year is that they are very close friends and teammates.

“We are very talented and we get along very well,” Captain Annie Bozzo said.

Captain Emily Miller also concurs with the fact that the team is so close.

“This year has probably been my favorite year because all of us girls on the team are extremely close and I think other teams underestimated our ability to

win,” Miller said. Although there have been ups and downs

throughout the season, Liz Kline feels that this year has been successful so far.

“Overall it has been a good, consistent year and I think that the work we put in this year will pay off in the playoffs,” Kline said.

However, the team is not satisfied with just mak-ing playoffs; they want to make it into finals and semi-finals, something the team has never done.

“I expect us to be coming strong into the playoffs and being prepared to win and have the mindset that we can beat any team,” Kline said.

Although Emily Miller feels the team can go far, she thinks that it will be a rough adjustment from sec-tion play.

“I think it’s going to be difficult because our sec-tion is not very competitive and the teams who we will be playing against in the playoffs are very good. We are very good too, but it’s going to be very hard to adjust, but I think we can definitely pull it together and win,” Miller said.

However, the girls’ volleyball team was able to pull off a first round victory over Connellsville to continue their run towards a WPIAL title. The coach-es still have high hopes for the team throughout the playoffs.

“Our expectations are to go far. Coming in ranked Number 2 right now hopefully means that we are looking at a WPIAL title match as something on the horizon that we would like to achieve, but we are going to take it one game at a time,” Stadelman said.

Girls volleyball excited for playoffs

Laurel Gavin has mainly played the role of a utility player and can fill in at two positions when needed.

by Justin Jockel

The girls’ tennis team, who was 8-8 this year, had a very productive season. The team improved in a lot of areas and, although the team did not make the playoffs, Varsity Coach Chuck Mura and Junior Varsity Coach Brian Duermeyer were very pleased with how the season turned out.

“Every girl improved. Coach Mura and I are very proud of the strides they have made as play-ers. I am especially proud of the senior class. They led us within a victory of the postseason,” Duer-meyer said.

This year, in the team’s last match, the girls were unable to beat Woodland Hills which pre-vented the team from making the postseason. Sha-dyside Academy and Fox Chapel took the first two spots, and then it came down to Shaler and Wood-land Hills to determine the third spot. Shaler was unable to overcome Woodland Hills.

“We had all these strategies going into the match. Our number one girl gave it her all and so did Taylor Elrick, as well as the double teams,” se-nior Michaela Golden said.

Despite not being able to beat Woodland Hills, the team had some encouraging wins throughout the season beating Penn Hills, Plum, Gateway, and McKeesport. Senior Larissa Guering played first singles, followed by senior Michaela Golden in second singles, and junior Taylor Elrick played third singles. Although the seniors will be leaving this year, the team is excited about the amount of young girls interested in tennis.

“We have a lot of younger girls coming up, which we are excited about because tennis was not a big thing when we started, and now we have a lot of younger people interested,” Golden said.

The team is confident that with the foundation the seniors laid, the juniors and the rest of the team will pick up right where they left off.

“The future is bright because of the depth. Hopefully we can attract more freshmen next year,” Duermeyer said.

Taylor Elrick is confident in the fact the team will step up next year and fill in the necessary slots to make the playoffs.

“Coming up one win shy of the postseason, we definitely want to perform better next season,” El-rick said.

The coaches love the fact they get to work with kids and help them learn a sport.

“The tennis program gets boys and girls who have limited or no experience in tennis, bring them along, and hopefully by the time they become a ju-nior or senior, they can contribute,” Mura said.

Tennis team posts .500 record

by Alexander Gercak

This past September the Lady Titian golf team made strides as a dedicated group of golf-ers. Despite not having a winning season the girls made important moves towards improving them-selves as a team and looking towards the future. “We have a young team, mostly freshmen and sophomores so this year was good for developing as a team, and for developing the players themselves for years to come” head coach Mr. Thomas Anke said. With the close of another season and the prospect of new and even more successful seasons to come, this marks an end to another chapter in the Lady Ti-tian’s golf book.

Lady Titan golfers progress

by Anna Cunningham The boys’ golf team had a good start to

their season and hoped to see more improvement throughout the season.

“We started off a lot better than last year, and broke our previous scoring records,” senior captain Ryan Ochsenhirt said.

Unfortunately for the boys, once school started their playing slowed down. The team’s re-cord was 2-8, and they beat North Hills and Butler.

The team is led by Ochsenhirt and three other seniors, Ryan Byers, Dave Reig, and Cameron Bildhauer.

“We practice all summer, five to six days a week,” Ochsenhirt said. “You have to be able to help each other out, develop your swing and learn each other’s games. It is a team sport in some as-pects.”

The team is constantly looking for ways to improve their playing. Next year they are looking forward to developing some of the younger players on the team and winning more matches.

“We’re planning on working through some stuff and helping the younger guys to improve, Och-senhirt said. “We’re looking forward to improving their skills and hopefully getting some more wins next year.”

Senior golfers develop young team

The Oracle Page 9October 2013

SPORTS

by Anthony Imhof

The Boys and Girls Cross Country Team is nearing the end of its season, meaning that the WPIAL championship race is rapidly approaching.

“We are in the toughest section of the WPIALs,” head Coach Mike Dusch said. “Some of the top teams [such as] North Allegheny and Seneca Valley will be there, so it will be very difficult.”

Being in the toughest section of the WPIAL, the team has had a hard time gaining victories. Throughout the season, the team had not won a single meet, however, this does not mean it was unsuccessful. While team victories might be scarce, individual victories are where the athletes truly shine. Dusch keeps track of all the times that each runner completes in a race. This collection of information showed nothing but improvement.

“I try to see as the season progresses how [the athletes] are doing as far as the times when they run the races,” Dusch said. “If you look at the information sheet, you can see that overall the athletes are improving as we go on. For me that’s the number one thing; seeing improvement as the season progresses. And I definitely see that, not only in the best runners but also in some of the runners that will need improvement as we go along.”

The team traveled to the WPIAL championships on Thursday, October 24.“We have already qualified for the WPIALs,” Dusch said. “At the qualifying meet, you’re al-

lowed to take eight, but you only run seven.” The team ran all seven runners for both the boys and the girls at the championships. Brianna

Schwartz, a junior, broke the course record by seven seconds and took first place for the second year in a row, while many other runners broke their own personal record for the season.

by Luke Grossman

To stay committed to something you must be able to see the ideal end result. Whether it’s a scholarship for college, a marriage in a relationship, or a championship in sports, that conclusion must seem within reach.

But what if standing between you and that goal was your classmates telling you that you will never reach it. Next to them is every media outlet in the area talking about how you came up short once again. Then, you look down at your phone and social media is covered with ridicule.

These are just some of the things that the student ath-letes on the Shaler Area football team face every day.

Senior quarterback Josh Crawford and the Titans have seen firsthand what that kind of pressure can do to some ath-letes.

“We have seen some kids quit due to the struggles. They just couldn’t handle it,” Crawford said.

So how do the players that have stayed true to their team remain committed even though they haven’t won a game in 20 some weeks? How is it possible to wake up each morning and exchange time for homework or friends with practice and film sessions?

The fact that head coach Chris Siegle’s crew has yet to win a game could be what ends up making this team extraordi-nary.

“Our commitment has gotten higher. We have worked harder [recently] than we have ever worked before,” senior wide receiver and team captain, Zach Carney said.

Even though a WPIAL Champion trophy might not be placed in the locker room at season’s end, the team has set a goal to get the first win.

“The will and desire to win is what brings us back week after week. We want to be the one that gets to say we got that first W,” Carney said.

With the season winding to a close and the team becom-ing desperate, practices are even harder than day one.

The team faced some issues with player commitment during the season’s infancy, but they believe they have found the group that can help them reach their team and personal goals.

“The players that have stuck around have that mental-ity of wanting to win as much as they want to breathe,” Carney said.

These kids are truly an inspiration having battled through all of the adversity and continued giving 100%.

“We have to keep fighting,” Carney said. “That’s all that we can do.”

by Luke Grossman

Even though the Lady Titan soccer team has struggled in the past, any Shaler sports fan should keep them on their radar.

Head coach Chris Catanese says they are “building” for the future. This year’s ros-ter only had two seniors, and seven freshmen saw significant varsity action.

“It is always tough being a 9th grader going against 12th graders. They took their lumps and made their mistakes. This year will pay off for this group when they are in 11th and 12th grade,” Catanese said.

One of the biggest first year players was freshman Josie Fenn. She found her role in a defensive position and turned into a con-crete varsity player as the season progressed.

Unfortunately the team will lose the senior leadership of this year’s captain, Sam Bahorich.

“She may be the best leader that I have had in all my years of coaching,” Cat-anese said.

Last year she backstopped the team as the keeper and was selected to the All-Section team. This year she was moved to defense and was, once again, selected to the All-Section team.

While junior Carley Feehan was the one called upon to replace Bahorich in goal, all of the juniors on the team will be the ones expected to replace her leadership. Several juniors made big contributions to this year’s team.

Julia Jashinski, Megan Schwartz, Em-ily Hardek, Lea Wenger, Sam Bagwell, Lexi Reiser, and Kate Tuite were all positive ad-ditions on the field during their junior cam-paigns.

Jashinski helped Bahorich anchor the defense. She will be looked upon to fill that gap that is left when Bahorich graduates.

The team’s top scorers were Hardek and Schwartz.

Schwartz had big expectations to fill coming into the season. She was selected as a WPIAL “Player to Watch,” only one of two juniors to do so.

“Megan scored against some of the best teams in the WPIAL, including NA and Seneca Valley, and showed why she is one of the best forwards in the area,” Catanese said. “I think next year is her year to go big.”

It seems as if the puzzle pieces are fi-nally falling together for Coach Catanese and the Lady Titans, and the season for them to “go big” is quickly approaching.

Football players show committment to team

Girls’ soccer team is up and coming

Although the boys varsity soccer team did not have a winning season, they certainly had a winning attitude. Nick Polito, a senior and one of two captains, had only positive words to say about the team. “We had a tough season this year. Many ups and downs, but we worked hard and gave everything we had each and every night,” he said. “Our record does not accurately describe our team. We had some tough breaks but worked through them and got better because of them.” The team held their annual Senior Night on Tuesday, October 15th at the turf. Those honored were John Colarusso, Justin Landry, Robbie Phillips, Nick Polito, and Scott Stuthers. (Photo by Lisa Montini)

Cross Country team finishes season strong

Boys’ soccer completes season

The OraclePage 10 October 2013

The Back Page

by Alexander Gercak

In recent weeks people from all around the Pittsburgh area and beyond have been flocking to Point State Park. Not to see the famous fountain, which has recently reopened after almost four years of renovations, but to see a rather unconventional art installation: a giant inflatable duck?

The duck is a part of a series of mammoth-sized float-ing sculptures created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, aptly named the “Rubber Duck Proj-ect.” The fleet of floating sculp-tures has been systematically sent out worldwide to several major cities in Europe, Asia, Aus-tralia, and South America over the past six years. The duck arrived in Pittsburgh on September 27 and de-parted on October 20th, our city is the project’s first stop on its North Ameri-can tour. The main goal of the interna-tional art experiment is simply to unite people from all walks of life through a 40-foot tall rubber duck, which by all accounts it has succeeded in doing.

I was lucky enough to get down to the Point on the third day of the Duck’s stay in Pittsburgh. The duck could certainly draw in a large crowd. Up and down the Point people clus-tered together taking photographs of the duck, posing for photos with the duck, and simply gazing at the giant bath toy.

The presence of the duck in Pitts-burgh is something of an indicator that points to Pittsburgh’s newfound status as a major international city. Students here at Shaler are taking notice.

“It’s an honor to be recognized on the international scene, but the duck itself is quite a spectacle” Senior Chris-tine Chirdon said.

Run by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the duck exhibition is part of the “Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts” a collection of international art pieces and performances that have nev-er before been exhibited in the United States until now.

However the enthusiasm for the duck has not been entirely universal.

“I hate the Duck! I think it’s stu-pid that all this attention is brought to a giant piece of plastic when it could be brought to things that matter, like hu-man rights. Also my Facebook and Ins-tagram newsfeeds have been blown up with Duck pictures” Senior Tim Welch said.

Love it or hate it the Duck has certainly captured the interest of people both here in Shaler and worldwide.

SCG What is your favorite candy?

A leaky Huggie

What’s the worst

thing you’ve

gotten trick or

treating?shaler culture grid

Fright Night or the

Scarehouse?

Fright Night

A rock

A toothbrush

Danny and Sandy from

Grease

A cow that squirts wa-

ter out of its udders

A ninja

CRUNCH

Reese’s Cups

All of it Fright Night

The Bible

My neighbor-hood is scary

enough

Hershey Bar Scarehouse

What is your

best costume

idea?

Legend of the Hidden Temple Contestant

Senior

Lance Corbett

Junior

Britta Moletz

Freshman

Noah Seelye

Sophomore

Rachel Beck

What do you carve into your pumpkin?

Self-portraits

A face

by Margaret Potter

As Halloween approaches, the number one question on all every-one’s minds is “What will my Halloween costume be?” In my past 17 ½ years of life I have noticed a very frightening trend in the tradition that is Halloween; no one gets creative with their costumes. There seems to be two spectrums of Halloween costumes in high school; either your costume is incredibly inappropriate or incredibly basic. This year, I challenge you all to think outside of the box and to get out of your comfort zones. I realize how hard this might be for some of you after years and years of going as vam-pires, witches, and Snooki, so here a few prime costume ideas.

Since this whole “getting creative” and “thinking outside of the box” is a whole new frontier and can be very stressful, a group Halloween costume may be the best choice for you. The term “group costume” means gathering a group of friends, or friend as the case may be, and coordinate a costume. For example, if you would like to show off your musical and theatrical side going as the cast of Les Miserables would be a superb option. How can one achieve this costume? Simple! Wear torn long dresses, dirt on your face, tousled or teased hair, and carry French flags. If you’re going to go as the cast of Les Miserables you’re going to have to play the part. Throughout the school day, randomly break out into song and then drop dead. A few other group costume ideas are a group of Hobbits, the cast of Breaking Bad, and Timmy Turner and his fairy godparents.

If you either don’t like your friends, or have none a group costume would not be the ideal choice for you. But, there’s nothing wrong with rock-ing a Halloween costume all by yourself! Over the past few years, there have been several Kardashian sister Halloween costumes. These costumes usually consist of tight, short dresses, too much makeup, heels that no one can walk in, and middle parts in your hair. This year, why don’t you shake things up a little bit? Instead of going as Kim or Khloe, go as Bruce. For this costume, you’ll need khaki pants, a polo shirt, two stud earrings, high socks, tennis shoes, and a remote control airplane. The real key to the Bruce Jenner costume is all in the face. You will need to have facial expression that is the perfect mix between “I’m so happy I want to die” and “I’m in so much pain I want to die”. Also, you have to play the part of Bruce. Walk up to random groups in the hallway and say something, then everyone will either roll their eyes and ignore you or just stare at you then ignore you. A few other costume ideas include a giant duck, Mamma June from Honey Boo Boo, and your favorite school teacher.

Crazy and creative costumes are not only a great way to make friends; they are also a great way to show your individuality. Whether you steal one of these impeccable ideas, or you come up with something all on your own, you are guaranteed to have a fantastic Halloween. So please, be your own person this year on Halloween. Because if I see one more poorly done Snooki Polazzi I’m going to fist pump someone.

A face

A werewolf

What is your favorite Starbucks fall drink?

I wouldn’t know, I’m not a white girl

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Hot Chocolate

I’ve never had Starbucks

Would you rather rake leaves or shovel snow?

I don’t do physical labor

Shovel snow

Rake leaves

Rake leaves

The duck docked at Point State Park

Duck Dynasty Don’t be a Halloweenie