The first thing we do when we get up in the morning is communicate with others. This could be through a text message, email or phone call. No matter the means of communication, we take it for granted. What would living in a world full of no technological interaction be like? Most of us are so dependent on our phones that we could not imagine this. Aside from the different forms of technological communication, there is spoken communication. What would the world be like if we were unable to speak freely and understand each other? Our society functions because of our abilities to converse with one another, and people often forget to appreciate this freedom.

In addition to speaking our native languages, we fail to realize all the different languages that may be present in and affect our lives. At PLHS alone we offer four foreign languages. There are so many different opportunities in our building to learn about a language that is not familiar to us, and it is important to utilize these opportunities while they are available. It is amazing to be able to learn a different means of conversation.

In addition to the spoken means of language, there are written forms, which most of us would probably not recognize. How do you think you are able to use any sort of electronic device? Electronics are able to function because of written codes enabling them to do their desired job. Although this is not a language we personally see, unless we are programming something ourselves, its effects impact our lives daily.

The number of ways in which we are able to converse and perform tasks just by the use of various languages is endless. This is why it is so important that we dedicated this issue of “The Scepter” to understanding the importance and influence of language in our lives.

Communication

3 FEBRUARY 2015 THE SCEPTER

Focusing in on

9

BY JOSHUA ACTON

Students consider the possibility of teaching English in a foreign country.

The words of love, insults, jealousy, understanding and comfort humans say to one another; those words have the ability to reach out to anyone of any language. For many of the students here, it is their pursuit in life to prove that true. They want to teach English abroad in countries like Spain and Germany and the Philippines. They want to spread the crucial ideal that the words humans say to one another are universal. “I want to teach English,” senior Jacob Moore said. “I want to teach students.” These students want to see the world for what it is, and overcome all the challenges they may face in order to become a English teacher abroad. All the while, they want to hit the ground

running and accomplish their goal. “I want to go into [teaching English abroad] completely blind,” junior Austin Cruz said. “It’d be cool to teach people.” Like any teacher, a four-year degree along with a positive attitude for teaching is required to even begin to hope to step into the playing field that is teaching. However, teaching abroad is an entirely different ball game. Extensive and grueling language training with a year or two of studying abroad as well as at least a small in depth understanding about the country’s culture is very important. “It’d be for the experience,” Cruz said. “And an overall new personal perspective on things.” Teaching English abroad is heavy with countless opportunities

and priceless experiences, though. With more and more companies spreading their influence overseas, and English being the most common language second only to Mandarin, this growing field of occupation has more than enough advantageous opportunities to attract a crowd of eager teachers. “Teaching someone else a foreign language would be great,” junior Christian Collins said. “I’ve always liked learning different languages, so I want to teach other people, too.” We may be creatures of an untold amount of faces and countries, but we are one human race. Teaching English abroad to those who have yet to learn it is beyond humble. It’s inspirational, astounding, and life changing, all just one word at a time.

PHOTOS: JOSHUA ACTON

Junior Christian Collins hopes to teach English in Spain or Mexico.

Junior Austin Cruz plans to head to the Philippines for his English teaching career.

TelltheWorld

Joshua Acton, Claire Horner, Laura Kramer, Emma Quast, Matthew Walters & Ethan Wolbach

Papillion-La Vista High School

10

the same time it has morphed into a nuisance to make others jealous. We post pictures with our significant others to rub it in that we have something others do not. I go to parties where all I see is girls taking pictures with each other to post with a caption about how much fun they had. However, they spent so much time on capturing that perfect picture that they forgot to actually have fun. We are so focused on sharing what we have that we forget to bask in the glory of actually having it. But the negativities of social media go way beyond the emotional aspects. One of the most obvious yet underestimated is the power of cyber bullying. 15-year-old Bart Palosz, shot himself after years of being a cyber bully target. Classmates of Cynthie Sanchez, through social networks, went as far as to describe how she should kill herself, which led to her suicide at only 14 years old. Every one in 10 of the 20 percent of cyber bullied kids who have contemplated suicide, have actually attempted it. This means that there are 18 other teens represented by Bart and Cynthie. 18 other stories could just as easily be someone you know. If you follow me on Twitter, I can already hear you calling me a hypocrite. And you’re not wrong. Social media impacts me everyday. Without it, I’d be lost in today’s society. Social media gives you an insight on other people’s lives, so there’s not as much catching up to do the next day. However, we’ve moved past just trying to catch up through these networks, and we’ve gone on to speeding by where we left off and ending up in the next area code. The fact of the matter is that social media manages to be our lives while somehow ruining it, all with a few retweets and likes.

QUALITY NO

TQUANTITY

OPINION BY LAURA KRAMER

An opinion on social media’s impacts on today’s society.

44% of Twitter users have never sent a tweet

400 millionSnapchats are sent everyday

1 in 3

teens have experienced cyberthreats online

Smartphone users check

Facebook14timesa day

The first step in becoming anti-social is to join social media. It all started in 1971 when the first e-mail was sent. And its effects have heightened each year, leading us to today’s world of Twitter and Instagram. As teenagers who grew up immersed in a world full of technology, we are blinded from the true repercussions they create. We see popularity in having thousands of followers, or how attractive you feel when the selfie you posted reaches 100 likes. Unfortunately, these great feelings are defeated when you’re sitting in a room full of people, yet stand alone because you’re too shy to remove the screen from between your faces. They call it mass communication, but I call it mass distributing. You can tweet your thoughts on a subject as deep as the meaning of life yet you’re limited to 140 characters and the most meaningful feedback you can get is a retweet. Just like handing out fliers about a missing cat, doesn’t mean you will find it. This is why I believe communication is lost thanks to social media. We have conversations with people online but make awkward eye contact with those same people in the halls. Why is it so hard to say hi to a person face-to-face but so easy to slide in the dm’s? The answer is fear. We’re afraid of rejection. We can’t see the eye roll when they open your message, but seeing that eye roll is what makes us grow as human-beings. We need that rejection to grow as people. Just like we need compliments to boost our self-confidence rather than comments with heart eye emojis. At first social networking was a way to connect with other people faster than ever before, and it still does that. But at

ask.fm has been linked to numerous

700pictures are posted per second on

suicides around the world

Information compiled from: bullystatis-tics.org; Daily Mail; adweek.com; seemyc-ity.com; factslides.com

11 FEBRUARY 2015 THE SCEPTER

BY ETHAN WOLBACH

As people’s lives revolve more and more around technology, face to face conversations are slowly becoming a thing of the past.

A Life Consumed By Technology

Senior Tony Ripa checks Instagram during advisement. Ripa believes social media is destroying society.

PHOTO: ETHAN WOLBACH

Technology; advancing society yet also holding us back. Today’s technology is being used in ways that could be causing more problems than it is solving. Social media, text messaging, Snapchat. All forms of technology that are not advancing society in one main aspect, face-to-face communication. Social media is evolving in ways that are hindering the advancement of individuals in real life. “People are becoming so worried about what is going on with the social media world that they are missing out on the exciting parts of life around them,” senior Adam Bartels said. Twitter has 284 million monthly active users that can send tweets and share their opinions and experiences. Users are allowed to be themselves or live a double life through a screen and keyboard. “Some people are much more expressive of their feelings on social media than in person and are completely different on social media than in person,” Bartels said. Social media and technology is changing the way people communicate with one another. Face-to-face conversations are slowly becoming a thing of the past. “People are too obsessed with their phones now, and it is prohibiting natural human interactions without technology,” senior Max Gendler said. Face-to-face conversations

have several advantages that, in reality, the wonders of technology are lacking in. “I personally don’t have trouble communicating face to face,” Bartels said. “But I have noticed numerous people who have trouble communicating face to face because of their addiction to texting and social media.” According to TheBusinessCommunication.com, conversations face to face show respect and allow expression of true feelings to be felt through eye contact and body language. “Sometimes people don’t go out and talk in person, instead they sit inside and tweet/text the same people that they are in the room with,” senior Tony Ripa said. Face-to-face conversations can be started as simple as “hello, how are you?” rather than a “sup, what’s going on?” through a text. The peers around you have things they want to say; they will only share their thoughts if they know it will be heard. Technology is advancing and talking with one another is slowly but surely becoming a thing of the past. There needs to be a change and it starts with the individuals holding the power of social media in their hand.

Step-by-Step Guide

to starting a face to face

conversation

1. Set down your phone

2. Look up

3. Start with a simple“Hello”

4. Maintain eye contact

5. Look interested, no one likes a boring conversation

12

Langueязыкla lengua

LanguageBY CLAIRE HORNER

Senior Aubri Henke shares the reasons why she is learning so many languages.

High school students are required to take a foreign language class, but who wants to take the time to learn an entire new language? Senior Aubri Henke does. In fact, she is in the process of learning a fourth language. In high school, Henke has taken Spanish, French, and Russian and is currently learning German through a foreign exchange student from last school year. The ample amount of time and energy it would take to learn a new language might seem surprising to many people. “Sophomore year, I had a lot of people telling me that if you took a second foreign language, then it makes you look better on scholarships and college applications so that’s why I took it,” Henke said. “But when I actually got into French, I really liked it and then I realized that I really like learning other languages.”

Spanish and Russian teacher Ms. Julie Phillips has a view as to why students should learn more than one foreign

language. “It helps you to understand

the world better,” Phillips said. “Rather than having a really narrow view and thinking that the whole world is like everything that you have experienced in your life.”

Although Henke’s choice of career (bioinformatics) does not have anything to do with knowing so many languages, she knows that it is a beneficial knowledge to gain. “It’s good to know because it helps you think more about vocabulary and the roots of language,” Henke said. “It’s better to communicate with people [on the job].”

Phillips sees many benefits of knowing more than one language as well.

“She gets a broader view of the world and if she wants to go and continue in her studies or afterwards, she’s already got a head start,” Phillips said. “Her curiosity has peaked.” Many college students dream of getting the chance to study abroad and travel to countries to learn all about the languages and

cultures. Henke definitely wants to study abroad in as many countries as she can. In the future she would like to visit France, Spain, Germany, Russia and any other country. The love of languages Henke has will not stop. “I really want to learn Arabic and Swedish, and really just as many languages as possible,” Henke said. On the downside, she is not sure if she can learn these languages in college but is hopeful for another solution. “I suppose I can go to these countries and see if I can pick up the language,” she said.

Next time you think learning something is useless; think of the endless possibilities of why it is not. Whether it is to receive large scholarships for your vast knowledge, getting the chance to visit another country and be able to communicate with the people living there, or being hired to the job of your dream because you have that extra boost of speaking another language, it can be worth it.

13 FEBRUARY 2015 THE SCEPTER

Test de langue avec Aubri Henke

What is “Valentine’s Day” in Spanish?

Aubri’s answer:Día de Valentine?

Real answer:Día de San Valentín

What is the capital of Russia?

Aubri’s answer:Moscow

Real answer:Moscow

Universal Phrases throughout our languages:

Français: Salut!Au revoir!Je t’aime!Oui / Non

Pусский: privEt Привет!ПокаYa tibyA l’ublyU Я тебя люблюда / нет

Deutsch:Hallo! Tschüß!Ich liebe dichJa / Nein

Español:¡Hola!¡Adiós!¡Te Quiero!Sí / No

Among Spain, France, Russia, Germany and the US, which one is the most

visited?Aubri’s answer:

France?Real answer:

France

What is “love” in French?

Aubri’s answer:amour

Real answer:amour or aimer

English:Hi!Goodbye!I love you!Yes / No

14

Cracking the code

15 FEBRUARY 2015 THE SCEPTER

What if the Internet disappeared? No YouTube, no Twitter, no Instagram and no Tumblr. Mobile communication is dead and buried, with no hope of return.

Sounds like some cliché plot for a post-apocalyptic movie, right? This is how the world would be, were it not for those who took the time to learn the language of code.

Like all languages, code comes in different variations. There is HTML, C++, CSS, JavaScript, Binary, and so on. The unique aspect of code, is that it can be used for a variety of reasons.

Website building, program creating, server hosting, word processing, video game development, video game mods and hacks, all come from code. While it sounds complicated at first, it’s not impossible to learn.

“I’m only a beginner at programming,” junior Travis Schwartz said. “But I am constantly trying to teach myself new stuff.”

Code has different values for every line, and every line will produce something new. To produce anything with code, a programmer must know what they want and how to tell that to the computer.

“It all depends on the

complexity of the site,” Schwartz said. “It also depends on what kind of plug-ins you want like, graphics, drop down boxes, etc.”

Luckily, coding isn’t completely custom. Software programs exist to make the language easier to understand and manipulate. Website creation is

perhaps the easiest, as there are various services that will do most of the work.

Creating entirely new programs, however, is not an easy task. One cannot entirely rely on the work of outside software to do most of the work. This is why many employers are looking for those with skills in computer science.

“The demand for computer careers is going to be astronomical in the coming years,” Schwartz said. “And so will be the demand for qualified programmers.”

BY MATTHEW WALTERS

Juniors Colin Worley and Travis Schwartz share their experiences with programming.

Computer programmers are currently sought after because of their unique skills. Not very many people are willing to take the time to learn code.

“I started in eighth grade,” junior Colin Worley said. “It was hard until I found some college teachers to help me.”

“ “I am constantly trying

to teach myself new stuff.

JUNIOR TRAVIS SCHWARTZ

Getting started on code is just like any other skill. It takes practice and classes. Luckily, there are plenty of classes in computer science in many universities.

“I took two classes [at Metropolitan Community College]: Introduction to Computers and Computer 101,” Worley said.

While the Internet will not be disappearing anytime soon, it’s important that people learn the skills necessary to make such an invention stay alive and strong.