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Happy
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Page 8
2
S chool N ews
In this issue ...
School News
3.
School board meeting
Teacher feature: Mrs. Rapsky
School lunch prices labels
Senior banquet
4.
Rube photo essay
Sports/ clubs that we need
Spring break body
News
5.
Craigslist murder
Ukraine’s issue
Algrid plane crash
U of C student dies
Unemployment
George P Bush
Intruder snaps selfie
About the cover
March 10, 2014
6.
Student teacher evaluations
Protect the art
Subway vs Jimmy Johns
Dicaprio deserves an Oscar
Interactive
7.
Crossword puzzle
Features
8.
St. Patrick’s Day parade
St. Patrick’s Day traditions
Dying the river green
9.
Teen screen: Ben Ubert
Coach Y’s dog found
Popular Colleges
JV Scholastic Bowl ends strong
By John Anians
Features Editor
Senior Jelord Henderson dances by the
cafetorium for St. Patrick’s Day
Designed by Alyssa Aspan, Sarah Schimanski, & Ryan
Nelli
Opinion
Designed by Alyssa Aspan
Photo taken by Alyssa Aspan
Updates, school history,
and much more!
Recently, the MCHS JV scholastic bowl team won second in
conference, next to Oswego East.
Scholastic Bowl is a competition
in which students compete in
subject areas like math, science,
and other various topics, but also
with worldly topics like popculture.
“It was definitely exciting to
get that far even though we still
knew after a certain point that
we were going to place,” Mr.
Matt Marino, JV scholastic bowl
coach, said.
As for next year, Marino
thinks the outlook is certainly
positive. He knows for sure that
there are several freshman that
answered many of the questions
at conference, and will most
likely be great competitors by
the time they become seniors and
also varsity teammates.
David Feigel, freshman, was
one of the key players in this
competition.
“He definitely should be considered for setting a school record
for most questions answered,”
Marino said.
Andrew Feigel, senior, who
is also David’s brother, had
some supportive feedback on his
younger brother’s accomplishments.
“He has been working really
hard and he did really well in
junior high, and was given the
award of MVP,” Feigel said.
“Because I myself was in
scholastic bowl as a freshman, I
know how tough of a competition it can be, so I am very proud
of how well he is doing in it,”
Feigel said.
Follow the PPC on Twitter.
@peacepipechattr
A&E
10. The Lego Movie
Pompeii
2014 Oscars
11.
Netflix TV show reviews
Shia LaBeouf gone crazy
Twich plays Pokeman
12.
Irrational games
Fake Starbucks attracks all
Sports
14.
Olympics results graphic
March madness
Michael Sam comes out
15. Sports triathletes
16.
Girls bowling
Girl’s basketball update
The Peace Pipe Chatter
Minooka Community High School
301 S. Wabena Avenue, Minooka, IL 60447
mthomas@mchs.net
peacepipechatter.com
@peacepipechattr
Editors-in-Chief
Alyssa Aspan, Sarah Schimanski, Ryan Nelli
School News
Editor: Sara Dobbyn
Photographer: Samantha Magnus
News
Editor: Chelsea Cerveny
Interactive Editors
Jacob Pena, Chris Rubio
Features
Editor: John Anians
A&E
Editor: Graham Taylor
Opinion
Editor: Gabrielle Taylor
Sports
Editor: Tara Schumal
Photographers: Bri Bouchard, William Roberts
Copy Editors
Jacob Lopez, William Roberts
Broadcasting
Brennan Pagel
Photography
Head: Alexis Sponseller
Editorial Board:
Alyssa Aspan, Sarah Schimanski, Ryan Nelli, Gigi Taylor
Journalism I
Sheila Angus, Alexa Aspan, Mackenzie Baker, Miranda
Battaglia, Meghan Blenck, Tyler Castro, Brandt Compton,
McKenna Guertin, Danyelle Myers, Madalyn O’Dette,
Garrett Pagel, Keelin Polhemus, Alexis Schumacher, Kylie
Schutzius, Ashley Surrey, Josh Trainor, Michael Geyer,
Lucas Godsey, Jonathan Harb, Natasha Mentus, Sydney
Monroe, Brendan Riley, Ryan Sartori, Brian Stabile.
Submission Policy:
The Peace Pipe Chatter strongly encourages suggestions
and/or responses to material printed on its page. Letters to the
Editor should be submitted to Mr. Thomas’s mailbox or to a
Peace Pipe Chatter editor.
While submission does not guarantee publication, PPC
staff members will do their best to respond to all admissions.
Submissions will not be returned. All submissions are subject
to editing and will not be printed if they are inappropriate. They
must be signed but may be printed anonymous upon request.
S chool N ews
March 10, 2014
3
Designed by Sara Dobbyn
Winter Winners
By Sarah Schimanski
Editor-In-Chief
Students were applauded for their accomplishments at the MCHS school board
meeting on Feb. 20
After the typical pledge, Mrs. Kubinski
recognized two teams and three other students for their superb accomplishments.
To start off the night, Mr. Derrick
Rapsky, coach of the boys bowling team,
introduced his team who placed fifth at
the IHSA State Bowling competition. Last
year’s finish of fourth place was a little bit
of a let down seeing as they were in first
place most of the way through the tournament.
Entering this season, the boys bowling
team came back with a vengeance.
“It’s like Bill Buckner walking back
into Shea Stadium,” said Rapsky when
describing the return of the team to state
after the heartbreaking loss during the
2013 season.
Not only did the boys’ team finish
fifth, but also they had two seniors, John
Kauffman and Zack Segatto, who were
recognized with all-state honors, a first for
Minooka.
After bowling, the MCHS Arrowettes team was commended for their tenth
place state finish at the IHSA 3A State
Dance Competition. This was only the
second year that dance was recognized by
IHSA as an official sport. The Arrowettes
weren’t quite used to being judged with
all other categories of dance which gave
them a little bump in the road, but after
the first place finish in their sectional, they
were full steam ahead the rest of the way.
Although the judging was a lot harder,
the girls took the sectional by storm and
outscored all their opponents in 1A, 2A,
and 3A, which is very impressive.
Next, senior Dominick Scarcelli, was
mentioned in being a National Merit
Scholarship Program Finalist, with this
honor, Scarcelli will be able to receive
scholarship money to the college of his
choice.
Last, but definitely not least, Erin
Mathewson, senior, and Valerie Kolb, junior, were recognized for their incredible
accomplishment in being a member of the
Honor All-State Musicians. Mathewson
was seated in the oboe section, fifth chair
in the orchestra while Kolb was seated
in the band, third chair and played the
trumpet. This is also a first time MCHS
has had two all state band students.
During the administrative reports, it
was mentioned that our own Ms. Emily
Brockett, career center supervisor, has set
up the Grundy Area College Fair, welcoming more than 30 colleges. This college
fair will take place on March 11th from
5:30-7:30 p.m. at south campus in the cafeteria. There is an informational seminar
for juniors and seniors covering college
applications and scholarships with steps
and tips on writing essays for colleges and
scholarships. Some of the visiting colleges
include: University of Missouri, Lewis
University, American Academy of Art,
University of St. Francis, and much more.
To help keep the school a safe environment, Mr. John Bryk, business manager
is pushing to have cameras installed in
the stop arms of some of the buses that
are going through the busiest areas. More
than 20 deaths a year occur from bus arm
violators, and this will be enforced to keep
the students at MCHS safe. The process
may take a little while, with the projected
date being in August of the 2014-2015
school year. This procedure will be no
cost to MCHS.
By Chelsea Cervany
News Editor
It’s not easy to be a parent. Adults
know that. But it can’t be any easier to
balance a teaching job at the same time.
Ms. Ann Rapsky, English, had her
baby, Declan, at the end of September.
Her daily life has changed a lot in the past
five months.
Her day starts at five in the morning
and doesn’t stop until eight when she can
start grading.
“It’s all about time management,”
Rapsky said.
Despite working in the same building
as her husband, Rapsky said it was like he
wasn’t even there.
Before her son came along, Rapsky
coached softball for eight years. Even
though she is going to miss coaching, she
still enjoys going to the games when she
isn’t spending time with Declan, grading papers, or catching up on some much
needed sleep.
Rapsky really misses golfing and cannot wait for the warm weather to return so
she can return to the green.
Rapsky said that she has had several
incidents of ding-dong ditchers over the
year.
She feels like she has put a stop to
them, though.
“I saw them just walking down my
driveway after they rang the doorbell, so
I woke Mr. Rapsky and told him I was
going to catch the kids. I got in my car
and followed them. There were three of
them and I had two on one side of my car
and one on the other. I yelled at them and
asked for their names and address, saying
that I would tell their parents, but I never
did,” Rapsky said.
Rapsky met her husband, Derek Rapsky, math, through her cousin. The two
had gone to high school together. They
became friends, eventually started dating,
and got married in Las Vegas.
“It was a whim,” Rapsky said.
Rapsky can’t wait to see what new
things Declan will do each day. And she
cannot wait to spend the whole summer
with him.
By Gigi Taylor
Opinion Editor
Putting up prices would help all students. Transfers and freshman wouldn’t
be quite so confused when buying food,
and they might even have the time to get
exact change ready if they know the price
of their food.
“It’s just a mess. It could all be avoided
by adding prices,” Hannah Cichon, freshman, said.
Just as many students, however, claim
to be unaffected. The price of the day’s
special is always listed, and many simply
use their student ID rather than cash, so
they remain unaffected by the lack of
labels.
Price labels on the lunch items are
simple change. Those paying out of pocket
wouldn’t have to worry so much, and
others might be more conscious of how
they’re using their IDs. However, even
without them, getting a lunch isn’t too
much of a hassle.
Under The Sea 2014
Alyssa Aspan/PPC
By Brennan Pagel
Head of Broadcasting
Kaitlyn Walowski, senior, touches fish at
the Senior Banquet.
Senior year is full of a lot of exciting
events. You have graduation, prom, and
the highly anticipated Senior Banquet.
Every year, the senior class holds
a dance that is meant to celebrate the
seniors and give them a night to kick back
with their class. The notorious dance took
place on Feb. 16 and is most commonly
held at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.
The banquet provides a fun-filled atmosphere that includes everything from
watching beluga whales, to dancing to the
beat of D.J. music.
The banquet has become something
that all seniors mark their calendars for
and has become widely anticipated.
“Senior Banquet was the most fun I’ve
had out of my four years of high school
because I just got to be around my class
and hang with my bros,” said senior
Shane Taylor.
The night started out with time set
aside to look at the aquatic life. Jellyfish,
stingray, and penguins, you name it, they
had it. Students got the chance to take
pictures with the animals and even had a
chance to touch some of them.
After the water life events, came dinner. The main course included chicken
with pasta and salad. In addition, they
offered an assortment of desserts and
students got to sit at tables that were
within reaching distance of some of the
fish tanks.
With their fish cravings taken care
of and bellies full, the seniors ended the
night with a few hours of non-stop dancing, the passing out of senior awards and
most importantly, being together as one
class.
“I liked senior banquet, but there was
something fishy about it,” said senior
Zach Zamora.
PPC Staff photo
Teacher Feature: Ann Rapsky
Coach Ann Rapsky at the 2013 softball
State Championships while pregnant with
son Declan.
Students seek
out lunch menus
Getting a school lunch is common for
most students. Many will either buy their
complete lunch at the school, or buy a
snack or drink to go along with their meal.
Recently, students have been complaining about the fact that there is no price
menu for the lunchroom.
“I didn’t know the price of anything.
I was scared this was going to be too
much,” Sam Weteska, freshman, said.
For students who have to buy lunch
with actual cash, the lack of prices can be
a real problem. Many would appreciate a
few price labels.
“It would be nice, especially for new
students. When I first came here, getting
lunch was hard because I didn’t know
what everything cost,” Sarah Meneely,
junior, said.
4
S chool N ews
March 10, 2014
Designed by Will Roberts
Alyssa Aspen/PPC
Graham Taylor/PPC
Rube Goldberg
Juniors Ryan Pullara, Paige Wissel, David Aschenbrenner, and Ivy
Diaz put their Rube Goldberg “A Rubey Christmas” into action.
Alyssa Aspen/PPC
Alyssa Aspen/PPC
Seniors Erika Fruscione, Rebecca Peeples, Kara Gossen,
and Marah Kasuba demonstrate their Rube Goldberg presentation “Mining for GOLDberg,” which took first place
Juniors Joe Wegmann, Chris Hiscock, Nicole Klann, and Nolan Murphy display “Fly Fishing,” their Rube Goldberg physics
in the Rube Goldberg competition.
project designed to zip a zipper.
Juniors Emily Wielbik, Haleigh Sullivan, Kasey Watts, and Aly Gagnon set up
their Rube Goldberg “Countdown to Rube Day.” The team took second.
More clubs, more character Spring Break Bodies
By Will Roberts
Editor-In-Chief
MCHS is home to a huge range of different sports and clubs that give character
to the school and give students a chance
to find more about their talents or interests. However, students have suggestions
to add to the already 15 sports and 42
clubs/organizations.
“It would be amazing if there was a
video game club because most people in
the school play video games,” Kyle Hanlon, junior, said.
“I think there should be a cooking
club,” Haley Dzarnowski, junior, said.
“Tutor club: you just go to the club and
tutor other people. Also I demand a litter
club, in which groups of students clean
up trash around each campus because I
see too much of it. It would be good for
the sports teams, it’ll inspire them,” Joey
Teresi, senior, said.
“I think there should be a Ultimate
Frisbee team. I love Ultimate Frisbee,”
Andrew Gabriel-Nash, senior, said.
“Make lacrosse an actual sport instead
of a club, so we don’t have to buy our
own equipment,” Ryan Rogina, senior,
said.
“I think we should have a guitar club,”
Sarah Moore, senior, said.
“We should definitely have a pingpong team. It’s an Olympic sport. We
should have an opportunity to at least try
it,” Morgan Rhodes, junior, said.
“We need a rugby team. Everybody
loves rugby,” Ryan Fleming, junior, said.
“Ping-pong. Because, why not? Full
contact,” Daniel Staggs, junior, said.
“I think lacrosse should become a
sport instead of a club. Rugby, because
that’s a full contact sport and is very fun.
A hunting club for hunters, a club for different music genres, a club for guitarists,
a club for vocalists, and a club for drummers,” Ryan Chocholek, junior, said.
Students believe that there is room for
more clubs, whether it is a ping-pong,
hunting, or cooking club.
By Sarah Schimanski
Editor-In-Chief
With spring break right around the corner, the hustle of getting that sculpted body
comes right with it. Although everyone’s
“perfect” body differs, one thing is for sure
that winter weight has got to go.
Most people know it’s getting close to
spring break because the store front mannequins are all dressed and ready to go to
the beach. It gets people in the mood for
warm weather while advertising their new
trends. Here in Illinois, warm weather
won’t be occurring for a few more weeks,
but knowing that winter is almost over is
that more reassuring.
Being only two months into the New
Year most people have long gone forgot
about their New Year resolution of staying
fit, but as spring break nears so do the gym
memberships.
In order to stay healthy and shed some
unwanted weight it’s a must to eat right,
sleep, and exercise.
Since there is such little time before the
break, only small changes can be made.
For the record some of them can make
a huge difference though. The first one
would have to be eating right. The most
common mistake people make, especially
teens is they believe they may work out for
3 hours and still be able to eat McDonalds,
which isn’t going to fly. Fried foods, oils,
butter, chips, sugar, all need to be cut out
of the eating habits. Low-fat proteins are
your friends, such as; egg whites, chicken,
turkey and fish. If paired with a healthy potato or a vegetable, it will not seem as if
one is on a diet. Another way to minimize
calorie intake is by eating slow, according
to fitness.org. The tall tale of drinking water makes you bloated is just a myth. It’s
really great for the body. Not hydrating
enough can cause someone to store water
underneath the skins’ surface, creating a
much-unwanted bloated look. Stay away
from caffeine.
“Secret Life” continued on
page 13
N ews
March 10, 2014
5
Designed by Brennan Pagel
More than you bargained for
By Jake Pena
Feature Photographer
According to Liberty Voice, Miranda
Barbour, also named as a Craigslist killer,
was charged with murder.
In an interview from jail, she recently
confessed to killing at least 22 more people. She wanted to be honest about what
had happened.
The Craigslist killer is in jail currently,
and is in connection with murdering a man
that she met online.
Supposedly, she met him on Craigslist
through a companionship ad and lured him
into meeting her at the Susquehanna Valley Mall in Pennsylvania.
Third
Bush up
By Will Roberts
Copy Editor
The Bush family is one of the most
politically powerful families in the United States. For the first and only time in
American history, a father and son both
held position as president, and yet another Bush is standing in the political spotlight: George P. Bush.
This nephew of former president
George W. Bush, is running and campaigning for Texas Land Commissioner.
Bush’s name has been grabbing headlines in the news ever since he had announced that he was going to run for Texas Land Commissioner in 2013. Carrying
the dynasty of his family, Bush is extending the political roots of the Bushes even
further.
Although George P. Bush has been
gaining political power over the years,
former First Lady Barbara Bush spoke
out against maintaining a Bush political
dynasty when interviewed by CSPAN:
“If we can’t find more than two or three
families to run for higher office, that’s
silly, because there are great governors
and great eligible people to run.”
This was in response to the question
of whether her son and George P. Bush’s
father, Jeb Bush, will run for president in
the 2016 election or not.
While touring a local Texan school,
Jeb Bush said his response to running for
president will come some time in 2014
and are based on whether he wants to
endure the stresses of a presidency or
not: “I’m deferring the decision to the
right time, which is later this year. And
the decision will be based on ‘can I do it
joyfully’ because I think we need to have
candidates lift our spirits. It’s a pretty
pessimistic country right now. And, is it
right for my family?”
Some students believe that the Bushes
should not continue to run for office.
“No family deserves to have that
much political power to the point that
they have had two members in office and
more continuing to run, especially on
how much they messed up,” Ryan Price,
junior, said.
Whether the Bush family will continue to hold office will be determined at
some point this year.
“Going on Craigslist is just asking for
something bad to happen, I know it was
intended for good use but now it’s just
scary to even talk about,” junior Jessalyn
Marshall said.
She worked with Elytte Barbour, her
husband of three weeks, who is also in jail
for the murder. Prosecutors reported that
she picked the victim up at the mall 50
miles south of Sunbury.
Her husband was covered by a blanket,
waiting in the backseat of the car. He used
a cord to strangle the victim while she
stabbed him 20 times. She says she never
intended to stab him, but things got out of
hand.
“I feel so bad for the innocent people
who end up in these situations. You would
think people would be more careful but I
guess some don’t realize the things that
could happen to them,” junior Kaitlin
Schutzius said.
In Barbour’s interview on Friday from
jail, she stated that the killings were not
random and that she only intended to kill
bad people.
She admitted to killing people in different states, including her home state of
Alaska.
She killed in Texas, North Carolina and
California, too. She also claims to have
been part of a cult in her teenage years,
which made it easy to cover up all of the
murders. She told Pennsylvania’s Daily
By Bri Bouchard
Feature Photographer
Lately you hear the same phrase over
and over and each year it feels like it’s getting worse.
Everyone says that times are tough,
and it doesn’t help that everyone’s views
on unemployment are so different.
On Feb. 6, the Senate took the idea
of jobless aid and rejected it. The threemonth extension made for the unemployed was turned down.
Sources say this most likely means that
it will probably not be approved by Congress either any time soon.
The benefits that have expired at the
end of last year, causing 1.3 million Americans to lose their jobs, have now grown to
about 1.7 million. Meanwhile, Democrats
still have been fighting to extend these
benefits.
Although both sides, Democrats and
Republicans, have been trying to reach
one solution, there hasn’t been any luck.
According to the New York Times, this
not only changed a main idea of the president’s economic recovery plan, but it also
is now said to create even more debt.
President Obama is one of the fellow
people still pushing for this plan to be extended.
This program itself will supposedly
provide up to 47 weeks of payments to
those who are unemployed long term.
To many, it sounds like a great idea, but
to others, not so much. To Republicans,
this plan wouldn’t be getting through their
house any time soon.
The White House released a statement
last week, saying “Both sides of the aisle
have worked together to prevent this kind
of hardship in the past, and neglecting to
do so is unacceptable-especially given the
high long-term unemployment rate.”
Many spoke out against this, in which
Speaker John Boehner from Ohio could
be remembered as saying he would only
go forth with this “if it was paid for and
could stimulate job growth.”
Even though they are saying times are
tough, it’s just not cutting it for Republicans to go through allowing this program
and as long as this idea stands without a
solution, Democrats will keep pushing for
a go unless stopped otherwise.
By Brennan Pagel
Head of Broadcast
A mother and wife in Denver, is left
traumatized after realizing that a man had
broken into her home and taken a selfie on
her cell phone.
The nameless victim told police that she
was unaware that a man had snuck inside
of her house and snapped the unexplained
picture until she opened her camera roll
and witnessed the picture for herself.
The police claimed that at approximately 9:20 p.m. on Jan. 29, the unknown man
entered the home of a woman in Denver
while she was busy putting her children to
bed.
The man entered through the back door
and used the woman’s cell phone to take a
picture of himself and proceeded to leave
without stealing anything.
A local neighbor, Richard Gardner,
stated that he recognized the man in the in
the picture.
“Everybody says they didn’t see him,
but that he looks familiar to me, he doesn’t
have glasses when you normally see him
walking down the street. Maybe they’re
wearing a disguise, I don’t know,” said
Gardner according to CBS Denver.
Gardner goes on to state that he did believe the suspects visible facial hair in the
photo was real and that a nearby park has
a bad reputation of attracting odd personalities.
“I’d personally be more freaked out that
someone came into my house and took a
picture than if someone came and stole
something,” said senior Tara Babic.
The victim’s husband said that the selfie
was the only picture that the mystery man
took on his wife’s phone.
Item newspaper that she stopped counting
the murders after she reached 22.
“She tried to make it sound like she
was doing a good thing for only killing
bad people, but that seems like a straight
up lie to me. She’s nuts,” junior Arianna
Creamer said.
Steve Mazzeo, police chief in Sunbury,
has been in contact with the FBI and authorities in other states.
The judge granted a lawyer’s request
for a forensic psychiatric exam for Barbour.
One was already approved for her
husband. Authorities are considering the
death penalty for Barbour. She admits that
she would kill again if released.
Unemployment Death
hits home strikes at
college
Scary selfie
By Lexi Sponseller
Head Photographer
On Feb. 15, 20-year-old Nicholas
Barnes’ body was found decomposing
in his dorm at about 4:15 p.m. at International House on the University of Chicago campus. It is a residential and program center.
The body was only found after complaints of a foul odor were made that
were assumed to come from the room.
“Colleges are so strict about dorm situations such as alcohol and co-ed rooms,
why didn’t they find his body sooner and
before he even started rotting?” Sarah
Bishop, junior, said.
Barnes is from Pittsburgh, he had last
swiped his student ID card at the dorm
before 11 p.m. on Feb. 7, which was over
a week before they found his body there.
“It is so gross and ridiculous that it
took an entire week for them to find the
body or even realize he was missing,”
Paige Fenili, junior, said.
He graduated from Shady Side Academy in 2011, this is also where he grew
up at. He was known and remembered as
an athlete and a wordsmith.
Barnes, the third-year student, had
majored in Germanic studies; he also
went and studied abroad to Austria in the
fall of 2012.
They are still waiting on the toxicology report that is coming from the Cook
County Medical Examiner. The autopsy
was said to be inconclusive.
“I think it’s pretty shady that nobody
noticed that he was missing or dead,”
Kenzie Claysen, senior, said.
It was said by Karen Warren Coleman, vice president for campus life and
student services, through an e-mail that
no evidence of any foul play was found.
A memorial was said to be planed and
hosted by the university. The family will
be holding the funeral in Pennsylvania.
6
O pinion
March 10, 2014
S u b s Leo
versus
clubs
By Alyssa Aspan
Editor-in-Chief
By Jacob Lopez
Copy Editor
The sandwich is perhaps man’s greatest invention. The combination of meat,
tomato, lettuce, and often also olives,
onions, mayo, peppers, pickle, and sometimes bacon, all carefully constructed between two slices of bread to create such
a snack so desirable, it’s almost criminal.
Since its invention in the 18th century,
the sandwich has become a part of our
lives. However, in the 21st century, uncertainty has risen between two competing
sandwich chains in Minooka-- known as
Subway and Jimmy John’s—and I’m here
to settle the score once and for all. What is
the best sandwich chain?
Each sandwich joint has different advantages over the other. Subway gives
you more variety by letting you customize your sandwich step-by-step. And it’s a
little less expensive if you get a trademark
“five-dollar-footlong” deal.
On the other hand, Jimmy John’s gives
you sandwiches faster, with faster service
and a menu that’s organized and easy to
pick from. Plus, Jimmy John’s delivers.
Each place has their little “this and
that,” but what really matters is what
tastes better.
I bought a BLT from Subway and a
signature Jimmy John’s’ “Club Lulu” --a
bacon and turkey sandwich. Both sandwiches were sampled side by side to determine who was the better sub.
The Club Lulu was hands-down the
better sandwich. The puffy bread had a
better taste than Subway’s much thinner
bread. The lettuce was much crisper on
the Jimmy John’s sandwich and there was
more meat. There wasn’t too much mayo
or too little. It was delicious!
I have to say, I’ve never really cared for
whether I ate at Subway or Jimmy John’s
until I tried them side-by-side. Jimmy
John’s is the best sub place around.
Designed by Gigi Taylor
loses Oscar
technically was the bad guy, you still root
for his character and feel bad after his business-empire falls. Like all of his characters
he takes the role of, he portrayed his character perfectly. Which comes to the question of why hasn’t he won before?
Leonardo has just very bad luck. He had
had an impressing amount of roles over
the years including 2010- Inception, and
2006- The Departed. Unfortunately he always picked bad years to give great performances. Each time he has been nominated
he has been overlooked by other popular
actors who had won that year.
Like all actors who have racked up Oscar nominations with no wins, people feel
bad for him. “Poor Leo, will he ever win an
Oscar,” says Tumblr. Each year the internet
pours in with crying Leo memes and funny
jokes about the actor who, yet again, failed
to achieve an Oscar. In actuality, Dicaprio
had only been nominated four times for an
Academy Award, including this year’s. For
most actors it takes up to six nominations
before they actually win.
Dicaprio is the least pitiful actor in the
industry. At 40 he is beyond gorgeous,
filthy rich, dating a Victoria Secret model,
and owns three yachts. We should not be
feeling bad for him because he doesn’t
have a Oscar to polish in his trophy case
next to his golden globes.
Another reason he perhaps hasn’t won
is because the Oscar’s are so unfair. How
can you take all of the brilliant films and
actors of an entire year and choose just
one. They are all equally as deserving. At
the same time the Oscars, and other awards
shows, are held responsible for lost roles of
performances that weren’t reward, among
that list is a stretch of Dicaprio’s work.
Dicaprio should not win this award if it
is for the wrong reasons. He shouldn’t win
because of pity people feel on him, passing him up each time he is nominated, nor
should any actor. But, since he should win
it strictly for the role he was nominated for,
I believe he should win.
It is arguable that Dicaprio should have
won an Oscar a long time ago because his
roles have always been consistently good. I
can’t think of a movie I did not like by Dicaprio, nor could I ever picture a different
actor in Gatsby, Aviator, or Wolf of Wall
Street.
Over the course of two semesters, students often develop an opinion of their
teacher, whether good or bad. Near the end
of year *, students are required to complete
a survey evaluation of their teacher. These
evaluations have questions like “How
would you describe your teacher’s work
ethic?” and “How prepared did you feel for
tests in this class?” in which you answer by
bubbling 1 to 10 on a Scantron. It seems
that these surveys are inaccurate to students’ real opinions and essentially useless
to the teachers because of that fact.
Not only is the evaluation discouraging because many do not want to fill them
out in the first place, but also because the
evaluation is through a Scantron, making
it feel more like a test rather than an expression of student opinion. The only way
to get a proper response from students is
to provide them with an ideal template
to communicate through. This is why the
evaluations should be handwritten rather
than filled out. Students may be given
questions to help mold their written evaluation but their full opinion should come directly from themselves, not numbers. True
feelings and thoughts cannot be limited to
preset answers; students should have free
reign over what they are being asked, not
picking just an answer.
If this form of evaluation is unavailable
or disapproved by the school board though,
then the evaluation may as well be removed entirely. Again, the answers teachers receive are already technically inaccurate, so there’s no point in taking them. It
should be known that a plethora of students
are not giving their actual opinions of their
teacher, be it laziness and just filling the
survey to get it over with or legitimate inaccurate results due to confining questions.
ings. The arts act as an outlet for their creators, allowing them to express themselves
through pure emotion, feeling a raw type of
exhilaration from freeing that part of hisor herself and sharing it with other.
Not only do they provide an emotional
outlet for the creator, but they also evoke
emotions in the audience. A beautiful piece
of art, a well-written novel, or the melody
of a song can all incite an emotional reaction from both the creator and those who
may witness it. Art, in all its forms, can
reach out and affect hundreds across the
globe.
Some may even argue that art is a form
of immortality. Who hasn’t heard of Shakespeare’s plays, or seen some interpretation
of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol?
Romeo and Juliet plays such a large part
in our culture today, ranging from songs
to movies, even though the play’s creator
has been dead for hundreds of years. Who
doesn’t remember Vincent Van Gogh; who
hasn’t heard Beethoven’s Fifth?
So why, then, are these programs always
the first to go? They provide a healthy outlet for teenagers to release their confusion;
they provide a goal for the student to strive
for. The students learn something about
themselves, and at the end of the day they
cannot win or lose; they simply learn and
grow. They feel pride when others admire
their work, and they feel courage when
they allow a personal piece to be judged by
elders or peers. They learn to take responsibility for their own work, as well as how
to collaborate with others towards a vision
of their own making.
The arts are one of the purest representations of the human spirit. They are but
a small slice of their creators soul that is
displayed for the world to see. An artist
lives forever in the pages of a book, the
colors of a painting, and the melodies of
a song. Why, then, would they not be protected? The arts are precious and few, the
long, hard work of dreamers and philosophers, the eternal imprint of life. They are
a recollection of history, of a life and story
that those who bear witness may still feel
hundreds of years later. The arts are a resource that must be protected and praised.
Schools should not discourage their young
dreamers by disbanding clubs and cutting
off classes. The arts are a part of human
existence , a study of life itself that must be
guarded and revered.
Of all the amazing movies that Leonardo Dicaprio has created, Leo and other actors like Bruce Willis, Johnny Depp, Tom
Cruise, and Brad Pitt, remain Oscarless.
Dicaprio was nominated this year for Best
Actor, an award that people actually had
high hopes of him finally winning. However, other people believe there are other
out-shining actors this year who deserve it
much more. The question is, does he deserve this Academy Award?
Dicaprio’s most recent film that had
critic raging was Wolf of Wall Street. Talking less about the inappropriate language
and nudity that was such a big deal when
this first came out, the movie in general
was great. Not to mentions Leo’s flawless
performance. Dicaprio had me actually believing that he was the guy the movie was
based off of, an important goal of every actor.
He went through extremely emotional
states as his character and still managed to
be funny. No matter how much of a jerk his
character was you still found him sarcastically charming. Even though his character
“Leo loses Oscar” continued
on page 13
Are evaluations evil?
By Ryan Nelli
Editor-in-Chief
“Are evaluations evil?” continued on page 13
Should art programs be cut?
By Gigi Taylor
Opinion Editor
Are the arts worth protecting? As school
funding gets cut, these are the programs
that are always the first to go. Aren’t they
worth it? Of course they are.
While sports might teach about teamwork, artistic programs promote individuality and expressing oneself. The arts are
a small piece of a person, something deep
within them that they have chosen to express and share.
Many artists used their medium as a sort
of therapy. The joy of a child or the heartbreak of a break up can inspire songs; the
horrors of the past or the elation of triumph
can inspire novels; the beauty of a woman
or the desolation of war can inspire paint-
I nteractive
March 24, 2014
Designed by Chris Rubio
Word Search Madness
Find all the words that relate to this PPC Issue.
Word Bank:
•Apologies
•Craigslist
•Netflix
• Scholastic
• Ink
• Unemployment
• Oscars
• Craigslist
7
• Seniors
• Apologies
• Starbucks
8
March 10, 2014
Features
Green Chicago
River history
By Samantha Magnus
Feature Photographer
city of Chicago ever since he came up
with the green river. He died on Nov.
15, 1966, but for the past 43 years, every
Since 1961, the Chicago River has year, they continue to do this and keep the
been turning green for St. Patrick’s Day, tradition going.
So why does the green river attract so
attracting tourists from all over wanting
many people in the month of March?
to see this extraordinary tradition.
“I really love seeing the Chicago River
Stephan Bailey was a business manin March considerager of the Chicago
“...but for the past ing that I am Irish,
journeymen plumbers’ local union 43 years, every year, my family and I go
number 110. One they continue to do see it as much as we
day in early De- this and keep the tra- can,” Kirsten Czuczuk,
sophomore,
cember, a plumber
dition going.”
said.
walked into his of“I think it is always cool to see how
fice with Irish green dye splattered on his
overalls. Bailey had asked what happened they do it and it really fascinates me, and
and they then discovered that the green I am Irish too so seeing a green river is
dye used to detect leaks in the river turned always cool,” Sarah Knight, freshman,
a beautiful Irish green. Bailey looked at said.
Whether you’re Irish or not, it’s althe river and suggested they should do
this for St. Patrick’s Day. Being an Irish- ways cool to see how green they make it
man himself, he loved the idea and then and the history behind it was really interesting and unexpected. They usually dye
the tradition was born.
Bailey was very well- known in the it a few days before the actual holiday.
St. Patrick’s Day
fun festivities
By Sara Dobbyn
School News Editor
St. Patrick’s Day has been around for
centuries in countries all over the world
with many different kids of traditions to
follow. Whether your family is Irish or
not, people from all over jump into the
festivities for the night. From having
corn beef
and cabbage
for
d i n n e r
to
the
massive
amounts
of parades,
people everywhere
find a way
to
have
fun.
“ M y
favorite St. Patrick’s Day tradition is
hanging out with my family at the parade and seeing the dancers because not
many people can dance like that,” Nicole
Pierce, junior, said.
One of the most common traditions is
the Irish dancing. More and more people
around the globe are starting to join the
sport. To be able to move your feet like
that is not something that can be done by
many.
“I always know that St. Patrick’s Day
is getting close when McDonalds has
the shamrock shakes because I am constantly get one due to the limited time,”
Lindsey Quirk, sophomore, said.
Regardless of the fact that some people may not be Irish, they like to think
that they are for the day because of the
festivities that go on throughout the different parts of the world. For some, it
may be
getting
a shamr o c k
shake,
while
for others
it
may be
doing
what is
known
as the
“Irish
Jig.”
“When my older sisters and I were
young, we used to Irish dance. We performed shows everywhere and to this
day, it is my favorite tradition to be
dancing in the parade,” Paige Dobbyn,
sophomore, said.
A huge tradition is the changing of the
river in Chicago to green for the effects.
When the whole city of Chicago can see
the river, it gets them even more excited
to celebrate the magnificent holiday.
“Whether your
family is Irish or
not, people from
all over jump into
the festivities
for the night.”
Designed by Ryan Nelli
St. Patty’s
parades
pack people
By Alexa Aspan
Journalism 1
While Chicago is a buzzing city
on a normal basis, March gets to be
an exciting month as St. Patrick’s Day
approaches. Parades, festivals, and
races take place all over the city in
honor of this ecstatic occasion.
You could say that the city paints
itself green for this holiday, but that
would be an understatement. With the
iconic dying of the river, the Chicago
River is dyed the perfect shade of emerald green for the parade downtown.
As expected there are men playing
bag pipes, and girls dancing the Irish
Jig participating in the parade as they
head down Columbus Street. But others like kids dressed as leprechauns
and anyone who wants to show their
Irish pride is welcome to walk the parade, as long as they get permission
from the parade’s board.
Along with the Downtown parade,
The Southside Chicago Irish Parade
takes place on West Shore Drive and
is just as big and green as the one
downtown. The parade committee
also hosts the Emerald Run, which is
a mile long run that is the same day as
the parade.
But the parades aren’t the only
thing happening in Chicago during
March that is worth paying a visit if
you want show your Irish pride.
The city of Chicago will be putting
on an Irish film festival from March
1-8. It will be featuring classic Irish
films like The Good Man and Get the
picture? will take place at The Music
Box Theatre & Society for Art.
The Shamrock Shuffle, which is an
8 kilometer race that starts and finishes in Grant Park, takes place on Sun.
March 28 also takes place a couple of
days after the parade.
And along with the parade, a St.
Patrick’s Day festival is being held at
the Irish American Heritage Center,
where you can enjoy authentic Irish
food, dance and music.
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March 10, 2014
Features
9
Designed by John Anians
By Sara Dobbyn
School News Editor
Minooka has many amazing students
that walk the hallways every day of every
year. This student is one of many that try
to balance out a high GPA while participating in sports and handling life itself. One
of those students happens to be Ben Ubert.
“I’m in four honors/AP classes and I
try to maintain a 4.0 GPA,” Ubert, junior,
said.
When Ubert has free time, another hobby of his is playing with his dog. He has
owned the dog for currently eight years
and it happens to be a big Old English
Sheepdog named Elvis. While maintaining a good rank in school, Ubert also likes
to run cross-country and track, playing
bass, or just watching track. Though Ubert
has not been running that long, he found
his love for running through the sport of
Soccer.
“I had played soccer for about five
years and I started to noticed I liked running during practice, and I had heard great
things about Minooka running, so I decid-
ed to try it. I started running my freshman
year after choosing XC over soccer and I
haven’t looked back since,” Ubert said.
His love for music is balanced with
determination. Being a fan of U2, Muse,
Coldplay, Bruce Springsteen, Queen, Foreigner, and Talking Heads has got him
practicing the bass guitar more often. After six years of playing piano, he has been
practicing the bass more and more for the
past three years.
“My favorite U2 song is pretty hard to
pick because it changes often. But ‘New
Year’s Day’ is always a big favorite because I just love everything about it,”
Ubert said.
Since Ben has started running, many
Minooka alumni have inspired him. He
pushes himself through the different challenges he is faced to make him not just a
better teammate but also a better individual participant.
“I could name a bunch of pro runners,
but Minooka has a ton of great alumni and
coaches that really have and continue to
inspire me along with my teammates,”
Ubert said. Ben Ubert mentally prepares himself for the “First to the Finish” Invitational race.
Sarah Dobbyn/PPC
Teen screen: Ben Ubert
Popular college picks
By John Anians
Features Editor
Choosing a college can be quite the dutiful experience for most high school graduates looking to pursue their education.
Here are some of the most popular schools
picked by recent graduates.
A vast majority of students find themselves going to Joliet Junior College for
their first two years.
This way, they can get their general
classes out of the way at a much cheaper
price than they would at a traditional university.
Another college people decide to go to
is the University of St. Francis.
After paying a visit to the counselor’s
office and learning more about the college
choices of students, there are two main
universities people will go to.
First, there is University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign.
The general consensus on why students
seemed to choose this over many other colleges was because of how prestigious it is.
Mr. Liberatore, guidance counselor,
said that usually students will pick this
school based off of how well they did on
the ACT.
He said that if students are around a
score of 30 or so, then they are more likely
to apply to U of I due to its reputation as
the best in Illinois.
Another school many students applied
to was Illinois State University. Liberatore explained that this school is majorly
known for people who want to become
teachers, but there are also many other op-
portunities there as well.
Mr. Liberatore also had one specific
piece of information that was quite interesting.
“More students applied to Ivy League
schools in the class of 2014 than any other
class before,” Liberatore said.
These are just a few of the more popular
schools that are chosen by our seniors, but
there are definitely more schools to choose
from than just the couple that were mentioned.
By Lexi Sponseller
Head Photographer
It may not be 101 dalmatians missing
but one very loved dog, Pearl had gone
missing, unlike the famed movie, this Australian Shepard owned by MCHS coach
Frank Yudzentis, was pronounced missing
3½ weeks ago.
She is an 8-year-old dog,
“She has only been with us for two
months if you count the time that she
was missing from the house,” Mr. Frank
Yudzentis, P.E., said.
Yudzentis was missing her so much
when she went missing.
There were a total of about 14 days
where she was not reported being seen.
All of MCHS was aware of Pearl being
gone the girls bowling team was looking
out for her at all times.
“It was so sad the coach’s dog was missing we could all tell he was upset about her
not being home,” Heather McCubbin, junior, said.
They would see her at the farm on
McKinnley Woods Rd On a kattle farm
twice, but they couldn’t get her to come to
them because she was too scared.
She was spotted by many people in the
area but never caught by them. One day in
Indian Ridge someone spotted Pearl and
called her in, and Yudzentis was able to go
there with his other two dogs and they all
three began playing.
She was said to be there for about 9
days.
He was then able to catch her by the
other two helping when he called them in
she came with.
Pearl is now home and happy and safe
with her family.
Pearl happy at home once again.
Lexi Sponseller/PPC
Pearl returned safe and sound
10
March 10, 2014
Arts & Entertainment
Designed by Ryan Nelli
POMPEII IS A DISASTER ALRIGHT
By Ryan Nelli
Editor-in-Chief
Being categorized as a disaster movie
released in the “box-office dead zone” of
February, Pompeii unfortunately set out to
fill low expectations. Director Paul W.S.
Anderson has had a long line of films that
had disappointed movie-goers, so many
were weary of seeing this one with just
$10.3 million during opening weekend, demolished by The LEGO Movie with $31.3
million during the same weekend.
Pompeii tells the story of Milo, played
by Game of Thrones star Kit Harrington.
He is a travelling slave who later becomes
a gladiator in Pompeii and gains the attention of the beautiful, upper-class girl, Cassia, played by Emily Browning. Kit Harington was cast of course due to his role
of John Snow in Game of Thrones as well
as him being good eye candy for the ladies
in many scenes. All the while, the looming
Mount Vesuvius is just waiting to strike.
First of all, I like how the film focuses
on the horrors of death whereas most movies nowadays do not have that kind of effect. In the beginning, an entire village is
slaughtered by the Romans. Though there
is not much blood or gruesome shots, the
idea of families dying is still pretty unsettling. During this slaughter, Corvus, played
by Kieffer Sutherland, is the commander
ordering the deaths of the villagers and
eventually says the line, “Kill them. Kill
them all,” which he later says again in the
movie as if the writers forgot they already
wrote down the cheesy line the first time.
Of the people killed were Milo’s parents. Milo, 17 slave years later, notices
Corvus, now a Roman senator, in Pompeii
and naturally wants revenge to avenge his
village. Fortunately for him, the senator
was very easy to recognize, as he looks the
exact same as he did when he slaughtered
Milo’s family 17 years prior; it must be that
expensive Roman anti-aging cream.
Aside from the characters, the cinematography is noticeably not so good. During
the sword-fighting scenes, there is much
unnecessary zooming along with slow-motion shots that looked choppy in low frame
rates as well as an awkward feel to some
fast-motion parts.
The main problem with this film is its
predictability. I found myself foretelling things exactly as they would happen
throughout, including events and dialogue
(including the volcano erupting, though I
think we all expected that one). The dialogue is the worst though; not only does it
not feel like old Roman talk when the characters interact with each other, but it also
seems like the actors did not have enough
time to hone their accents and mannerisms,
especially Sutherland.
Usually known as the gun-wielding,
yelling CTU agent, Jack Bauer from the
TV show 24, Sutherland clearly was not
type-cast as his usual role, though he did
play a low-toned, growling villain. I was
not sure what exactly was going on with
Sutherland, whether he was performing
well and I was just not used to this type of
performance from him or if he truly did not
feel the role. More than likely, Sutherland
delivered a lackluster act with this character.
The immediate relationship between
Milo and Cassia was also very dull and
dumb. I hate to dispute over Roman historians, but the idea that an upper-class
woman, daughter of the leader of Pompeii,
would step out of her carriage, into the
mud to allow a random slave she is travelling with be unshackled and kill one of her
injured carriage horses, a kill she assists
with, is perplexing and unbelievable right
off the bat.
Then, in another scene, she runs away
from her guards in Pompeii to walk through
a marketplace to see what lower-class life is
like, a scene directly ripped from Disney’s
Aladdin. The Aladdin similarity continues
by elaborating on the idea of a “street rat”
falling in love with the “princess.”
Eventually, Milo is placed in a cell in
Pompeii with another gladiator, Atticus,
played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. As
it turns out, the dialogue between Milo and
Atticus in their cell is by far the best in the
film due to the fantastic acting of Agbaje.
The two eventually fight together in rather
exciting Gladiator reminiscent fights in the
arena.
Surprisingly, some of the most exciting
parts of the movie occurred as the volcano
began erupting and people started dying.
Other enjoyable points of the film occurred
for the wrong reasons though. For example,
at one point, the audience laughed out loud
at the stupidity of a line that was uttered
by a character in the film. Other laughable
moments were the ridiculousness of some
scenarios throughout the movie. “Pom-
peii” continued on page 13.
LEGO Movie builds Starbucks scandal
box-office bucks stirs up slander
Since it came out on Feb. 7, The Lego
Movie has made $183 million at the box
office. It is action-packed and still childfriendly, enjoyable, and full of many
laughs.
The first-ever full-length LEGO adventure follows Emmett (Chris Pratte) an ordinary, rule-following LEGO citizen and
construction worker. After he stumbles
upon the piece of resistance, he becomes
what the prophecy foretold as “the special,“ the most extraordinary person in
the entire universe. He is then expected to
lead an army of master builders to defeat
President Business and stop the Kragle
from freezing their entire LEGO world
forever.
It’s about time we saw animated character combinations like Wonder Woman,
Gandalf, Michelangelo, NBA all-stars,
and Batman who together create the ultimate super-hero team up and master
building army ever.
It definitely unlocked peoples’ innerchildhood. It got them excited to see so
many familiar character together in one
movie. Emmett’s crazy team consisted of
blind Vitruvius, the love of Emmett’s life,
Wyldstyle, a hilarious Batman, and princess uni-kitty, who has this crazy inner demon that she covers up with her positive
attitude.
I was very impressed by the LEGO
world, everything from the water in the
ocean, the food they ate, to the lasers
from the robot’s weapons was a LEGO. It
also didn’t look animated at all, it looked
like a little boy was actually playing with
LEGOs.
I also really liked how supposedly “everything is awesome” for the people who
live under President Business’ rules. Everyone follows a strict enforced book of
guidelines to make lives awesome. Everyone buys over-priced coffee at the same
place, and listens to the same song over
and over again. This utopian lifestyle is
something pretty out of the ordinary to put
into a kids movie but I thought it was actually pretty cool.
My favorite thing about this movie was
it’s overall moral behind the film. Emmett
is just an average nobody, everyone has
something that makes them special, but
he doesn’t. When he is finally singled out
to be special, he steps up in a giant way
going as far as sacrificing his life, eventually finding what makes him unique.
That “embrace what is special about you”
is repeated throughout the movie and is
very heart-warming to watch. He teaches
people to work together as a team and inspire all ordinary people to take what they
are good at and become all they can be, to
believe in yourself and achieve the impossible.
It also inspires kids and adults to use
your imagination, because using your
imagination is an awesome thing, but doing it together is even better.
In this movie everything really is awesome, and you become apart of this awesome world. The worst part of the movie
was at the end when the lights went up
and everyone realized that they were not
10-year-olds anymore.
By Christopher Rubio
Interactive Editor
franchise name placed in their name because of parody law. They basically have
the right to make fun of a business without
them actually doing anything, and the coffee that was served was free so the business didn’t really make any profit. Think
of it like Weird Al Yankovich making fun
of Michael Jackson’s song “Beat It.”
Starbucks has came forth about the
dumb coffee shop and questioned if they
Around Feb. 11, a buzz was created in
California about a coffee shop that seemed
to open over night. What intrigued people
more about this story was that it was a coffee shop named Starbucks, just with the
word “dumb” in front of it.
When walking into this store one might
think
its
your average
Starbucks,
just everything
was
“dumb” inside it. When
it came to
the menus,
to the music, and to
the size of
coffee you
chose
to
drank, the
word dumb
was in front
of it.
The own- The Californian “art project” attracts many visitors through its doors.
ers of the
store created such a buzz on the internet should take legal action, but no word that
that as soon as they knew, they had lines they actually pressed charges. By the end
forming from around the block, and just of the month, Dumb Starbucks was closed
for a little bit of free coffee. The owners down by the FDA for operating without a
were not at all affiliated with Starbucks, permit. Comedian Nathan Fielder seemed
and before you went into the store there to be the man behind this publicity stunt.
was an FAQ sheet which gave reasons on He works for the TV network Comedy
why everything they were doing was le- Central, and this was just a small social
experiment he performed on the people of
gal.
They are able to have the well-known Los Angeles.
Courtesy of BusinessInsider.com
By Alyssa Aspan
Editor-in-Chief
March 10, 2014
Arts & Entertainment
11
Designed by G. Taylor
War, religion, politics, and Pokémon?
A screenshot from Twitch Plays Pokémon. The left side of the screen shows the actual game being played, while the right side of the screen
is a running list of the all the commands that will be entered by the players and the votes for the government system, which is represented
by the bar in the top right corner.
By Graham Taylor
A&E Editor
On Feb. 12, what started as a bit of
stupid Internet fun quickly evolved into
one of the biggest social experiments of
the modern age. It is essentially a variation of the monkeys, typewriters, and
Shakespeare theory (the Infinite Monkey
Theorem for those of you playing along at
home) that is currently happening before
our very eyes. Except instead of monkeys,
it’s humans, there’s only one typewriter,
and the typewriter is actually a single
game of Pokémon Red.
What we end up with is Twitch Plays
Pokémon. Twitch.tv, the website hosting
the game, is, under normal circumstances,
a website to watch games being played.
People all over the world log in to watch
people play through games, break records,
or compete in competitions.
This time around, the site is being used
to play the 1996 Game Boy smash hit
Pokémon Red Version. While normally
a single-player game, it is being played
by tens of thousands of people simultaneously. This is accomplished by using
Twitch’ s built-in chat feature: by typing
“up” into the chat box, the player is essentially pushing the Up Button on a Game
Boy, and this means the on-screen character would move up one space. However,
when thousands of people all want to do
different things, with practically zero communication, it makes the game a tad more
interesting.
The goal of Pokémon games is to train
a team of six “Pocket Monsters” (dubbed
Pokémon, hence the name) and battle
them against eight Gym Leaders, and then
finally the Elite Four and the Champion
in order to become the Pokémon Master.
Pokémon battle 1 v 1 in turn-based combat. This requires both skill and knowl-
edge. Amazingly, despite the difficulty of
the game, the Internet has made it over
halfway through the game in little under a
week. At the moment, the Guinness Book
of World Records is looking into the matter to see whether or not any records are
being broken.
Twitch Plays Pokémon is without a
doubt one of the biggest Internet phenomena. It currently has over 20,000,000
unique views and rising, plus almost
100,000 players logged on and actively
playing at once. And while all of this is
interesting enough, from a sociological
standpoint, this is an amazing opportunity.
For all intents and purposes, Twitch
Plays Pokémon has spawned its own culture. What started as an experiment in
working together and problem-solving for
the greater good turned into something
that no one could have predicted. Since
day one, fans have been naming characters, writing lore, and even starting reli-
gions and two party politics systems based
on this simple game.
The religion started early on and revolves around the Helix Fossil -- a relatively useless in-game item -- that quickly
rose to god-like status. Shortly afterwards,
its counterpart, the Dome Fossil, become
a satanic deity. From that point on, both
sides started to assign prophets and martyrs, until a full-fledged faux religion was
born. Since then, the “Order of the Helix”
and the “Disciples of the Dome,” as they
like to call themselves, have been locked a
battle to control the player character, hindering the already slow progress.
As if the religion war wasn’t enough
internal conflict, on Feb. 18, a new “government” system was added. Players could
now vote for the traditional “Anarchy”
mode, where each command is considered
and registered, and “Democracy” mode,
where votes are tallied over x number of
seconds, and then the move with the most
votes is entered. While “Democracy”
mode is more precise, it takes a lot longer
for the already arduous journey to move
forward, as opposed to “Anarchy,” which
is quicker, but less predictable.
But despite all the odds, the community
continued to move forward. On Mar. 1,
the community managed to complete the
game. Against most peoples’ expectations,
the Internet collectively beat all eight of
the Gym leaders, the Elite Four, and finally
the champion. With a lot of luck, a bit of
loose coordination, and infinite amount of
patience.
But the fun doesn’t end their. Shortly
after the completion of Pokémon Red,
one of the sequel games, Pokémon Crystal, was set up as to allow the adventure
to continue.
Adding new Pokémon, new challenges,
and an all new region, will this game be
the one to test Twitch’s tenacity, or will the
Internet prevail once more? Is this a testament to human persistence, that regardless
of our differences, we move forward; or is
it still just a bit of stupid Internet fun?
Netflix not just for movies Shia says sorry
By Ryan Nelli
Editor-in-Chief
Since its official release in 1997, Netflix
has been the No. 1 movie streaming service in the United States. With 45 million
members, Netflix hosts billions of hours of
movies and TV shows each month. While
there are many popular movies and TV
shows like The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad on Netflix, the company itself has
begun producing its own series of shows
exclusive to Netflix members.
One Netflix Golden Globe-winning
original show is House of Cards. Starting
in Feb. 2013, House of Cards is a political drama based on the novel by Michael
Dobbs. Two-time Oscar winner Kevin
Spacey stars as Francis J. “Frank” Underwood, a Democrat from South Carolina.
In a Ferris Bueller-esque way, Underwood
often breaks the fourth wall to speak directly to the viewer. Underwood attempts
to move up in his position in government
while seeking revenge on those who betrayed him.
Orange is the New Black is another
Netflix original that follows Piper Chapman, a woman sentenced to 15 months
in prison. This Golden Globe nominee is
a mix of satirical comedy and drama that
exposes many raunchy and vulgar themes
with other inmates throughout the series
while still staying a structured television
program.
“It’s very easy to navigate,” said sophomore Kyle Donovan. “It suggests shows
based on what you’ve watched and I like
the large variety of movies and TV shows.”
In our modern society, we thrive on our
entertainment, and it seems that Netflix
is necessary. It makes watching movies
and TV shows much easier, without any
involvement of pesky advertisements. At
just $7.99 per month, you can gain access
to this service.
By Christopher Rubio
Interactive Editor
In the recent months, Shia
LaBeouf has transformed himself into
a blockbuster movie star, a plagiarist,
and now an artist. In early December,
LaBeouf was in Berlin for the premier
of a new film he stars in called Nymphomaniac. The only bizarre thing about this
premier was he wore a brown paper bag
over his head that said, “I am Not Famous
Anymore.”
Around that time he was also criticized
for plagiarizing his short film, which was
released in May. He then wrote an apology letter to the original writer, Daniel
Cloze, by hiring a sky writer and then
plagiarizing again in his own apology.
On Feb. 11 the actor turned
artist tweeted #Iamsorry. It was then
announced that he had collaborated with
two other artists to open up a limited art
exhibit named #Iamsorry in California.
The doors would be open that Tuesday
and would then close that Sunday. After
reading people’s reactions about the exhibit, it seemed very moving and nobody
knew what to expect.
“Sorry” continued on page 13
Shia Labeouf after he removed his paper
bag during his “i am sorry” performance.
12
Mar. 10, 2014
Arts & Entertainment
This is how
they disappear
By Gigi Taylor
Opinion Editor
“Fake Your Death” was released Feb.
17 as the last ever song by My Chemical
Romance. It was released to promote their
greatest hits album May Death Never Stop
You, which is to be released on March 25,
almost exactly a year from when the band
split up.
The band’s original split caused an
uproar from their fans, as the breakup had
happened abruptly. On March 22, 2013,
Gerard Way, lead singer, posted a simple
but painful goodbye on the band’s website, giving no explanation for the band’s
sudden split.
May Death Never Stop You is considered the bands final goodbye, a greatest
hits album spanning their entire career.
“On March 25, we will be releasing a
greatest hits album entitled ‘May Death
Never Stop You.’ The title is fitting,
because as sad as it was to say goodbye
to the band, we look at this collection as a
celebration of our best songs, and hope the
memory of them continues to bring joy
to you all as they have for us. The album
also includes some previously unreleased
material, including the infamous ‘Attic Demos,’ and one of the last songs we
worked on in the studio together,” Way
wrote on the band’s site.
Pre-orders started on January 21,
including a special shirt and DVD for
those who pre-ordered. The “last song”
Way mentions in his post about the album
is “Fake Your Death.” Way called it the
band’s eulogy song, admitting how proud
he was about its honesty.
The song is fairly soft, beginning
with a beautiful piano intro that carries
throughout the rest of the song. The piano
feels like a callback to their Black Parade
album, while the lyrics seem to fit better
in either their Conventional Weapons singles or their second album, Three Cheers
for Sweet Revenge. The melody and tune
seem like something out of their Danger
Days album. The lyrics are beautiful and
sad, the band keeping true to its reputation
for angst. A song that seems to cover every era and encompasses the band’s story,
there could not have been a more perfect
“eulogy” song for this band.
The music video was released on
YouTube just minutes after the song was
aired on the radio. The video takes clips of
other music videos, as well as interviews
and video diaries, all to make one beautiful goodbye.
“I think the reason “Fake Your Own
Death” hurts so much is because it’s over.
This song and its video are the most beautiful goodbye we ever could have wanted.
This is such a perfect way for an era to
end. As darkmiko once put it so poetically,
‘Thank you for everything. Thank you for
the Bullets and the love. Thank you for the
Three Cheers and for the Venom. Thank
you for the Black Parade. Thank you for
the Danger. And most of all, thank you for
the Romance,’” tumblr user take-my-upvotes posted in response to the release of
the song.
While the band may be done, their
shadow will continue to live on without
them in the hearts of the fans. The ghost
of MCR will haunt the music scene and
young punk rockers for years to come.
Even if lights can fade away, we’ll carry
on. So long, and goodnight.
Irrational Games
comes to a close
By Graham Taylor
A&E Editor
Ken Levine has taken us to the depths
of the ocean when we visited the city of
Rapture in Bioshock. He also showed
us that the sky is the limit in Bioshock
Infinite. But sadly on Feb. 18, Levine announced that after 17 years, he would be
shutting the doors to his studio, Irrational
Games, in the coming weeks.
“I am winding down Irrational Games
as you know it,” said Levine. “I’ll be
starting a smaller, more entrepreneurial
endeavor at Take-Two [the studio that
published Bioshock].”
The studio, which was first well known
for its 1999 hit System Shock 2, became
immensely popular for its 2007 hit, Bioshock which spawned a franchise. This
lead Irrational Games to be skyrocketed to
the forefront of the gaming world, earning itself many awards and honors. And
though Levine has loved working with the
studio, he believes that it is time to move
on.
“Seventeen years is a long time to do
any job, even the best one,” Levine wrote
on the studio’s website. “And working
with the incredible team at Irrational
Games is indeed the best job I’ve ever
had. While I’m deeply proud of what
we’ve accomplished together, my passion
has turned to making a different kind of
game than we’ve done before. To meet the
challenge ahead, I need to refocus my energy on a smaller team with a flatter structure and a more direct relationship with
gamers. In many ways, it will be a return
to how we started: a small team making
games for the core gaming audience.”
But fans of Bioshock need fear not. 2K,
parent company to Irration Games, plans
to continue the series.
“The ‘BioShock’ universe remains
a rich creative canvas for many untold
stories, and we look forward to exploring
the next ‘BioShock’ experience,” said a
2K spokes-person.
The original team may be breaking up,
but we can still both expect great teams
from both Ken Levine and the Bioshock
series.
Ellen DeGeneres hosted the 82nd Annual
Oscar’s on Mar. 2. The winner of each
category has been bolded.
•
•
•
•
Designed by Jake & Bri
Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)
Michael Fassbender (12 Years a
Slave)
Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Picture:
• American Hustle
• Captain Phillips
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Gravity
• Her
• Nebraska
• Philomena
• 12 Years a Slave
• The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Actress in a Supporting Role:
• Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
• Jennifer Lawrence (American
Hustle)
• Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave)
• Julia Roberts (August: Osage
Counry)
• June Squibb (Nebraska)
Best Animated Feature:
• The Croods
• Despicable Me 2
• Ernest & Celestine
• Frozen
• The Wind Rises
Best Cinematography:
• The Grandmaster
• Gravity
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• Nebraska
• Prisoners
Best Documentary Film:
• The Act of Killing
• Cutie and the Boxer
• Dirty Wars
• The Square
• 20 Feet from Stardom
Best Directing:
• David O. Russell (American Hustle)
• Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
• Alexander Payne (Nebraska)
• Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)
• Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall
Street)
Best Documentary Short:
• CaveDigger
• Facing Fear
• Karma Has No Walls
• The Lady in Number 6: Music
Saved My Life
• Prison Terminal: The Last Days of
Private Jack Hall
Best Foreign Language Film:
• The Broken Circle Breakdown
(Belgium)
• The Great Beauty (Italy)
• The Hunt (Denmark)
• The Missing Picture (Cambodia)
• Omar (Palestine)
Best Animated Short Film:
• Feral
• Get a Horse!
• Mr. Hublot
• Possessions
• Room on the Broom
Best Live Action Short Film:
• That Wasn’t Me
• Helium
• Just Before Losing Everything
• Do I have to Take Care of Everything
• The Voorman Problem
Best Adapted Screenplay:
• Before Midnight
• Captain Phillips
• Philomena
• 12 Years a Slave
• The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Original Screenplay:
• American Hustle
• Blue Jasmine
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Her
• Nebraska
Best Actor in a Leading Role:
• Christian Bale (American Hustle)
• Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
• Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall
Street)
• Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
• Matthew McConaughey (Dallas
Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Leading Role:
• Amy Adams (American Hustle)
• Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
• Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
• Judi Dench (Philomena)
• Meryl Streep (August: Osage
County)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role:
• Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
Best Production Design:
• American Hustle
• Gravity
• The Great Gatsby
• Her
• 12 Years a Slave
Best Costume Design:
• American Hustle
• The Grandmaster
• The Great Gatsby
• The Invisible Woman
• 12 Years a Slave
Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
• The Lone Ranger
Best Visual Effects:
• Gravity
• Captain Phillips
• Philomena
• 12 Years a Slave
• The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Film Editing:
• American Hustle
• Captain Phillips
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Gravity
• 12 Years a Slave
Best Sound Editing:
• All Is Lost
• Captain Phillips
• Gravity
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of
Smaug
• Lone Survivor
Best Sound Mixing:
• Captain Phillips
• Gravity
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of
Smaug
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• Lone Survivor
Best Original Score:
• The Book Thief
• Gravity
• Her
• Philomena
• Saving Mr. Banks
Best Original Song
• Happy (Despicable Me 2)
• Let It Go (Frozen)
• The Moon Song (Her)
• Ordinary Love (Mandela: Long Walk
to Freedom)
March 10, 2014
Jump
“Leo loses Oscar” continued “Are evaluations evil?”
from page 6
continued from page 6
He is a great actor, and does deserve
an Oscar. From his earlier roles like Jack
in the Titanic to Jordan Belfort in 2013’s
Wolf of Wall Street his performance has
always been a remembering one. Leonardo
Dicaprio has an amazing career so far, and
doesn’t need an Oscar to prove it, even
though we all know he wouldn’t mind one.
“Pompeii is a Disater alright ”
continued from page 10
Although there are a few redeeming
factors, the film was an overall mess,
leading to the audience just waiting for
the darned volcano to explode already
and end the movie. There were too many
things wrong with Pompeii. Aside from
the poor dialogue and writing, the set and
prop design was visibly poor, along with
many points of absolutely unacceptable
CGI effects.
In the end, Pompeii is a very passable
film. It was intriguing in the sense that
there are not any other movies based off
of the Pompeii disaster. Other than that,
the movie is just something to laugh during: a mockery and mash-up of many
films and ideas. Though there are a few
redeemable points in the 98-minute movie, it will likely be forgotten in the coming
year as yet another flop.
13
When it comes down to if the evaluations are even necessary, teachers knowing
their yearly performance is very important.
From be informed on how well they taught
their material and acknowledging their student relations, teachers can improve their
“Sorry” continued from
page 11
Everyone had similar experiences,
but some people got more than they
expected out of the art show. The line
extended around the block to see what
LaBeouf had in store. When the doors
finally opened, people were let in to the
exhibit one at a time in haunted house
fashion.
They then were greeted at the
front desk where items were placed in
front of you. Some items included a
Transformers toy, a whip (presumably
representing his role in Indiana Jones),
a bottle of Jack Daniels, a bowl of
mean tweets, and Hershey’s kisses. The
woman then asked you to choose an
item; she then led you to a room where
you would have a one on one personal
experience with Shia LaBeouf.
The room that you were brought
to was just the size of a closet, which
included two chairs and a table. Shia
was sitting on the other side of the table
with his signature paper bag over his
head, and most by accounts he said
nothing at all. Most people asked him
why he was doing all this and he re-
Designed by Alyssa Aspan
ethic for following years. Even though the
results do not necessarily affect the current
students, they absolutely will affect next
year’s. So it appears that caring for the way
your class is handled is just as important as
caring for the next students’.
sponded with tears. Some people even
questioned if it really was him behind
the bag, which he then took off his to
prove his point. Most of the time he
actually was in tears, and others tried to
make him laugh.
There were few accounts, which
people made him smile, but one that
absolutely stood out and it was posted
in a blog. It might have been the most
moving event that could happen in
someone’s life, long story short, she
made him smile and told him everything that’s happening in his life is
normal. Her post can be found through
her twitter username @jenninabox with
the title #IAmSorry. It was the most
inspirational moments I’ve ever read on
a blog, just because LaBeouf still said
not a word but embraced her with a hug
and held her hand the time they had
together.
The final day of the exhibit, Shia
walked out in tears to greet the rest of
his fans who didn’t get a chance to see
him. Everyone else joined him in the
memorable moment and hugged him. It
is still a mystery on why LaBeouf had
done this, but just reading about it was
very intriguing.
“Spring Break Bodies” continued from page 4
Sleep is the secret weapon in losing
weight. In a study by the University of
Chicago, researchers found that sleepdeprived subjects had a 55% reduction in
fat loss when compared to those getting
adequate sleep. Not getting adequate sleep
lowers levels of leptin (helps your body
to realize it is full) while raising levels of
ghrelin (stimulates appetite levels). Sleep
reduces belly fat because of the stress and
anxiety associated with it. Also the most
obvious answer, sleep gives you more energy (although if you sleep more than 9
hours you can feel more tired than when
you have 7-9).
Exercise is key to losing weight; it goes
hand in hand with a healthy diet. The key
is start and push every day.
Please recycle
your Peace Pipe
Chatter
Boys wrestling finishes season
By Tara Shumal
Sports Editor
With their season coming to an end,
the boy’s wrestling team battled one last
time. On Feb. 15, the boy’s wrestling team
competed in the IHSA 3A Sectional at
Normal Community West and the results
were high.
Three competitors, Erik Velazquez,
senior; K.J. Minor, senior; and Carson
Oughton, sophomore, qualified to the state
meet.
Velazquez, wrestling at 220, didn’t
have a clean clear cut to qualify. Losing
at the title mat to Edwardsville, he won
his next match against Awais Arain from
Plainfield East in the semifinals.
Minor, wrestling at 113, lost his quarterfinal match but won the next three to
head on to state and Oughton, wrestling
at 152, lost his quarterfinal match also
but came back on later to earn his spot by
winning his seminal.
Aside from the qualifiers, other Indians
who wrestled were Chris Hiscock, junior,
at 170; Bret Miller, senior, at 126; Nate
Vaught, sophomore, at 138; and Kenny
Kirkland, sophomore, at 145. Both Vaught
and Kirkland couldn’t pull through in
their first match and went on to lose in
the wrestle backs. Miller, on the other
hand, won his first match, but lost his
next. Hiscock won his opener but lost his
quarterfinals and the consolation bracket.
At the IHSA 3A Individual State Tournament on Feb. 20, all three wrestled in the
preliminaries but did not continue on due
to defeats.
Blood Drive
South Campus
March 13th
9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
District Office Hallway
14
S ports
March 10, 2014
Designed by Sarah Schimanski
Top Sochi Medal Count
By Sarah Schimanski
Editor-In-Chief
8 BRO
NZE
13 G
9G
OLD
12 BRO
NZE
R
LVE
I
S
1
1
Russia
OLD
R
VE
7 SIL
USA
11 G
10 BRO
NZE
OLD
R
VE
L
I
S
5
Norway
March Madness Michael Sam comes out
By Danyelle Myers
Journalism 1
Now that the Super Bowl and the winter
Olympics are behind us, the next event for
the sporting world is NCAA tournament.
The madness returns March 18.
For one month, everybody fills out their
brackets, predicts the upset and takes in the
madness. There are only a handful of regular-season games and conference tournaments left before selection Sunday (which
will be March 16), and there are high expectations for some teams.
The four teams that are predicted to have
a No.1 seed for the men are Wichita State,
Syracuse, Florida, and Arizona. These
teams are predicted because they are either
undefeated, have great defense, are winning
the most difficult league, or just by pure talent. All these teams have high talented players on them, so they will most likely get a
spot.
The selection process is based in a large
way on the ratings percentage index. With
only 68 slots available in the tournament,
teams with lower ratings percentage index
will look to boost their chances to get in
with convincing wins late in the season.
With March Madness being so popular
in the previous years, it should be interesting this year. It is kind of like a legacy that
keeps going on from generation to generation. The championship game will be held
on April 7. Let the madness begin!
By Ryan Satori
Journalism 1
The world is a rapidly advancing place.
Over the past 10 years we’ve seen huge
progressions in world of electronics, science, and in the medical field.
We’ve also started to change who and
what we accept in society. For decades the
gay community has been frowned upon,
but with today’s open minds homosexuality is becoming positively recognized.
Former University of Missouri defensive end Michael Sam is taking this movement to the next level.
With the NFL draft coming up in
May, Michael Sam took to the media to
announce that he is gay. Now if Sam is
drafted in May, he will become the first
active athlete to be openly gay.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of
a gay athlete, last year NBA free agent
big man Jason Collins made a similar Mizzou’s Michael Sam comes out about being
announcement.
gay.
Sam had a monster year for the Tigers
Championship game and a victory in the
during the 2013 NCAA football season.
He was adorned by multiple awards after Cotton Bowl. Sam is currently projected
recording 11.5 sacks and 48 tackles on the to go between the third or fourth round in
season, he was named SEC (South Eastern the NFL’s draft.
Sam did spark a lot of emotional comConference) Defensive Player of the Year,
and was added to the All-American team. ments from some pretty big names. One
He also helped lead his team to the SEC of which was the President of the United
States.
“I really like the fact that Michael did
it before the draft. Because his attitude
was, ‘You know what? I know who I am.
I know I can play great football and judge
me on the merits.’” said President Barack
Obama.
Contrasting Obama was Giants Cornerback Terrell Thomas who said, “At the
end of the day, you’re not just going to
have local beat reporters and ESPN in the
locker room. CNN, all these news outlets
are going to be coming to the team asking
about it. Nobody wants that attention.”
Obviously such social controversy is
going to create polar thoughts, so what do
the students of MCHS have to say?
Many people think that Sam is doing
the right thing,
“You shouldn’t be judged on your preferences you should judged on your skill.
Nothing outside the locker room should
matter, unless it effects your play,” junior Nick Graf said.
Graf’s point was reiterated by Rudy
Delaney.
“In life your sexuality should not judge
who you are and what you can do,” the
junior said.
The world is changing and its time that
everyone conforms to what’s going on.
March 10, 2014
S ports
15
Designed by Tara Schumal
Super Athletes: The Triathlete Way
By Tara Schumal
Sports Editor
Bethany Bachmann
“Playing three sports also keeps me in
shape, active, and always gives me something to do. I don’t think it is stressful
because it’s something I enjoy and don’t
worry about, and I’m kind of use to it by
now.”
So when it comes to balancing it all at
school, it’s a piece of cake.
“It’s not very difficult to balance for
me because I still have time to get all my
school work done, and I’ve been playing
three sports since sixth grade so I have
gotten use to it.”
Looking back on all her years playing
three sports, she can see the improvement.
“I think I have come a long way since
freshman year. I have really improved,
but also learned many things through the
different sports I have played. Not only
have I improved physically, but athletics
has really influenced my personality and
who I am, so I think I’ve changed a lot in
that way too.”
Dealing with this amount of sports,
Bachmann’s time has definitely been
limited but she doesn’t regret the time
spent at all.
“I honestly don’t know what I would
do if I didn’t play three sports. I would
feel so lazy and like my life is pointless.
Just taking a week off in between seasons
just makes me go crazy not knowing what
to do with myself.”
With basketball just ending and track
soon arriving, she’s got advice to keep
triathletes focused throughout all seasons.
“Anyone playing three sports should
stick with it because it keeps you out of
trouble and it’s a good outlet. It not only
helps you keep your grades up and do
well in school so that you can participate,
but it also is a good way to make new
friends and keep a variety of friends.”
So as basketball has ended, Bachmann
prepares for track missing basketball more
than anything.
“My favorite sport by far is basketball;
I love it more than anything else. I’ve
played since third grade and I’m really
upset that it’s finally over. Basketball was
the one sport that I’ve practically played
year round. Over the years I would get
tired of it here and there, but this season
was so much fun and I don’t want it to be
over. Basketball was probably the most
influential part of my life and the biggest
part of my life, so I’m really sad it’s over.”
Lacey Viano
Lacey Viano, senior, spends her school
year playing volleyball, basketball, and
soccer. Playing three sports doesn’t bother
her.
“I loved playing three sports! It always
kept me looking forward to new seasons
and friends. It’s sometimes hard to balance between friends, school, homework,
and life, but by my fourth year I feel like I
got it down!”
When it comes down to balancing it
all, she finds it easy.
“By senior year it became pretty easy
to balance it all. Since the three sports
that I’m in have practice everyday, I don’t
have much free time on the week nights
considering school. I usually go from
practice then shower then eat then homework then bed! On weekends Saturday
is usually partially filled with a practice
or a game, so then after that my weekend
starts! Plus, my teammates are friends, I
see them sometimes more than I see my
family! That brings us closer as a team
and makes the season all the more enjoyable!”
Her progress is what’s the most noticeable out of it all.
“I have come a long way since freshman year. I have improved physically and
mentally through the years. I have gotten
skillfully better and have had fun all four
years with my teammates! I’ve learned
that if you truly put your mind to something you can accomplish it. Being a 12
sport athlete has been one heck-of-a-ride
and I loved every moment of it!”
She finds being a triathlete not only
rewarding but worth it.
“It’s awesome playing three sports!
It’s challenging at time, but it’s definitely
worth it. It totally changed my attitude
about playing, too. I came into sports
freshman year thinking I always had to
win, but I learned that even if you lose,
you just get to hit the gym tomorrow, get
better, and fix the mistakes so you don’t
lose next time... because winning is such
an awesome feeling!”
And her advice to anyone playing three
sports a school year are as follows.
“To people playing three sports: keep
on going, you won’t regret it. You get to
meet some pretty amazing athletes and
make awesome friends. Get pumped
before game time! Everyone loves the energy, and it will give you a good attitude
about the game!”
Meredith Vesper
Meredith Vesper, senior, starts off the
year with fall and winter cheerleading and
finishes her school year as track. She can
tell you, for one thing, that being a triathlete is nothing normal.
“It is kind of crazy to be a three-sport
athlete because between all your sports,
you don’t really get that much of a break.”
When it comes to her school year,
cheer and track sometimes overlap but she
balances it all pretty well.
“Sometimes it’s hard to balance everything but it depends on homework and
stuff but it keeps me busy so that’s what’s
good about it.”
Competing in these same three sports
since freshman year can be repetitive but
it’s the progress that really shows.
“I have come a long way since freshman year and the one difference is that I
have a better attitude. When it comes to
the improvement in cheer, I started off
with no tumbling and now I have some.
We also went to state for the first time this
past season and that was awesome.”
As for right now, she’s getting ready to
start her last season of track.
Armani Zuniga
For Armani Zuniga, cross country,
wrestling, and volleyball are what make
up his school year. When it comes to
playing these sports, he doesn’t think it’s
stressful what so ever.
“I actually look at sports as a stress
reliever; I think sports are meant to be
fun. Time management can be an issue at
times, but for some reason I think sports
motivate me to get my school work done,
since I know I have limited time because
of practices or games.”
Here he is, four years later, still enjoying each sport.
“I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. I’ve
made a bunch of new friends that I would
have never even met if I didn’t do sports.
The experiences I shared with my teammates are my favorite part of participating
in all my sports.”
His favorite sport, by far, would be his
springtime sport, volleyball.
“Volleyball is hands down my favorite
sport. It’s so much fun and the volleyball
coaches at Minooka are great. My best
sporting experience was with the volleyball team my junior year of high school.
My teammates were awesome and we got
along so well. We shared such amazing
times together and I’ll never forget
Top, plays one of her first high school basketthose.”
ball games as a freshman.
With his last season of volleyball
Bottom: Bachmann stands with teammate durarriving soon, Zuniga can recall some
ing one of her varsity games as a senior.
advice to staying on top of things and
being a triathlete.
“Don’t stop. You benefit a lot from
doing multiple sports, because you learn
different skills and meet different people
and it keeps you active all year. You’d be
surprised by the amount of time you have
for school work and socializing, it just
takes a little sacrifice.”
Michael Cappel
Michael Cappel, senior, loves playing
three sports every school year.
“Playing three sports is great because
it keeps me busy at all times and it’s more
enjoyable than stressful.”
With all of it happening, he can balance it all pretty well.
“After four years of high school it’s
become a routine when something needs
to get done, I just do it.”
There’s even major progress from
freshman to senior year.
“Surprisingly it has taught me to now
become a better procrastinator.”
When he compares all three he plays,
his favorite sport is basketball.
“Most certainly basketball because it’s
the most fun to play and our team is so
close.”
Cappel started off freshman year
playing golf, basketball, and baseball and
now, as a senior, still plays the same three
sports.
“My advice to triathletes would be that
no matter what any coach tells you, don’t
give up on a sports just to specialize on
Top, Vesper poses after cheering one of her first
a certain one.”
games as a freshman.
Below, Vesper poses for her senior portrait
after cheering all four years.
16
March 10, 2014
S ports
Designed By Jacob Lopez
Girls basketball finishes up season
By Tara Schumal
Sports Editor
Photo courtesy of Bethany Bachmann.
It was Nov. 21, 2013 when the
Minooka girl’s varsity basketball
team walked into their first game
with nothing but hopes of a great
season. The first home game
against Lincoln-Way Central
turned out a success after a 76-74
victory. And nearly three months
later in the middle of February,
they were in the Regional finals.
After winning their first two
regional games, they lost to
Bradley, 50-35. And although
the season didn’t end quite how
they wanted to, they can still look
back on it and say it was a solid
season.
“We had a really strong team
this year,” Marah Kasuba, senior,
said. “That last game was really
upsetting, but it was a long season and it had to end sometime;
it was just unfortunate that it did
so early. I wanted us to get farther
than regionals because I knew we
were capable of going farther but
it is what it is.”
When it comes to the team
itself, even Coach Liberatore believes it was a great season.
“We finished the season 20-7
and anytime you can win 20
games it’s a special team. The
two teams that kept us from winning conference (Oswego) and Senior Bethany Bachmann sets up a play during Meet the Indians night, when the varsity girls scrimmaged the sophomore boys. The girls started
regionals (Bradley) are both play- their season with a win and finished with a record of 20-7 after losing to Bradley-Bourbonnais in the regional final.
ing for Sectional finals. The girls
out the season and coming to regionals together and made us all feel a part of the
“Altogether, we had a great season,”
were very disappointed Saturday night af- with the record of 19-6 is a record we were team. We were all leaders and that’s what Emily Knaub, junior said. “The team
ter the loss, which showed to us coaches proud of,” team manager Kennedy Wil- made us a great team.”
worked really well together as the season
how much they really cared.”
liamson, junior, said. “No matter what, I
So no matter what had happened, progressed. The last game was a tough loss
But the overall season showed success was proud of this team, especially the se- the girls’ still walked out with positive but I know the girls gave it their all and left
and that’s what they were looking for.
niors. They brought this team even closer thoughts on the season.
it all on the court.”
“We played some tough teams through-
Bowling to Fifth Place
The goals made for state this year for
MCHS girls bowling team were 5 marks
a frame and to place fifth or higher on the
second day.
“The goals we had were achieved by
the team and I am very happy with the
way the state tournament went this year,”
Emily Koulis, senior, said.
The girls bowling left for state on Feb.
20 and returned later on Feb. 22. Unlike
last year, the whole team made it on to the
second day.
“I am preparing for next year by practicing a lot and doing leagues and tournaments over the summer and into the next
year,” Kortney Sickler, junior, said.
To make it to the second day you have
to be in top 12 after the first day. After the
first day MCHS was placed at fifth with a
pin count of 5,947 and average of 198.2.
The MCHS Girls’ Bowling Team. Back row left to right: Carmella Russel, Lexi Jones,
Kourtny Sickler, Heather McCubbin, Emily Koulis. Front row left to right: Nora Russel, Kayly Windbiel, Cheryl Eyman.
Photo courtesy of Cindy Koulas.
By Lexi Sponseller
Photographer
After the long first day the bowlers
returned strong and ready to place in the
top 5 for their finish to make a face for
themselves.
“I feel that as a team we did well together. The chemistry was awesome this
year and we all really bonded at state. It
was a great experience for my second
time going,” Heather McCubbin, junior,
said.
The second day was just as tough as
the first day was for the girls but they
pushed and did what was needed to reach
the team goals. Placing in fifth, the girls
totaled in the two days 12,018 pins, averaging a 200.3, and trailing first place by
398 pins.
They put up a fight and held their spot
on the second day and improved their
spot from last year.
“I am very satisfied with the results of
the girls at state,” Mr. Frank Yudzentis,
head coach, said.